6-Headmaster

Based on his older self's experience, Harry expected to be summoned to Dumbledore's office within a few days. Indeed, a house-elf brought him Dumbledore's invitation during breakfast, the next morning. Not wanting to show unexpected knowledge, he asked for directions to the headmaster's office, which the house-elf was quite willing to give.

That evening, after dinner, he knocked on the headmaster's office door. "Come in," was the immediate reply.

Harry opened the door and closed it behind him before sitting on the indicated chair and refusing the offer of lemon drops.

"I was quite surprised to find you've contacted the DMLE on your own. I thought you'd ask me or one of the teachers," Dumbledore said.

Harry shrugged. "Why should I? That had nothing to do with school matters, as far as I know."

Dumbledore smiled reassuringly. "Well, we're here to help our students in any way we can, and not only concerning school stuff."

"That's good to know," Harry said nonchalantly, "especially since some of the teachers are acting in very unhelpful ways even concerning their own subjects. You're probably not aware of this, or you'd have certainly done something to correct the situation."

Dumbledore kept his expression under control as much as he could. Harry still noticed a quick wince, testifying that the headmaster was quite aware of the situation. "Whom are you referring to?" Dumbledore asked cautiously.

"Well, our potions teacher is certainly unhelpful. He started berating almost everybody who's not in his house during the first lesson, and continues doing this each and every lesson. It would not have been so grave, has he been teaching us, but he only copies the instructions from the book to the blackboard and orders us to start working. We don't need a teacher for that."

Although Harry enjoyed turning the board on Dumbledore, he still refrained from looking at his eyes. He'd managed, in his older self, to advance a bit with his Occlumency, but he had no doubt that his shields were too feeble to hold back Dumbledore, and being back in his eleven years body didn't help either.

"You must know that Professor Snape has achieved his potions mastery much younger than any other master. I have full confidence in his abilities," Dumbledore said in a condescending tone.

Harry shrugged. "I'm sure he's a great potions master, but he's a bad excuse for a teacher. And then we have a ghost that makes everybody fall asleep and another teacher who stutters so badly that nobody can learn anything from him."

Dumbledore tried to hold his temper. The kid was absolutely right, he had to confess in his mind, but he couldn't just replace these teachers for reasons that he was unwilling to tell even his deputy. Well, he needed to put the meeting back on track. "We can talk about that some other time, but I'd like to learn about why you thought it best to handle everything by yourself."

Harry thought this was his chance to mention the "loving care" he got from the Dursleys. He shrugged, as if this was of no importance. "Well, since I can remember, I could never turn to an adult for help in any matter. My relatives abhor me and don't want to even hear my voice. I got punished for even asking questions. They also told the neighbours and the teachers at school to treat me the same, so I learned not to trust any adult and care for myself to the best of my ability. I saw no reason to change since I came here."

"You must be exaggerating!" Dumbledore couldn't accept that he'd made such a blatant mistake by placing Harry with his relatives.

Harry shrugged. "Don't take my word for this. Ask them."

Dumbledore needed to return the conversation to its tracks. It wasn't going as he'd expected it to go; not at all. "But you still asked for Professor McGonagall's help."

Harry made a gesture of, "what else could I do?" before answering. "I knew what should be done, but I don't yet know enough to do it myself. Had she refused, I would have asked another professor or tried to ask you, but I think it has been a long and tiring day for you too."

Dumbledore would have preferred to handle this himself, gaining some favours from Sirius and Harry and helping improve his relations with Madam Bones. She had never accepted his idea of second and third chances. And yet, the boy seemed to be considerate of his elders, and that was very good.

"I'm glad it turned out alright. With Peter captured and bearing the dark mark on his arm, nobody would doubt Sirius's innocence."

Harry just nodded, still careful to not look directly into the headmaster's eyes. A moment later he was dismissed.

Hermione was waiting for him in the common room. "How was it?" she asked eagerly.

Harry looked around, making sure that nobody was paying them any attention. "It went alright. I played the student who's disappointed by bad teachers and then also told him about the treatment I get from my relatives. I think he tried some Legilimency, but I didn't look into his eyes, so he couldn't do much. I still think we should work on our Occlumency."

"We'll start tomorrow," she agreed.

\/\/\/

It took them a few more days, though. Despite searching meticulously, and even searching the restricted section at night, under the invisibility cloak, they could find nothing about the mind arts. Harry wasn't surprised. If Dumbledore wanted to use Legilimency freely, then he didn't want students to learn about it and how to protect themselves from it, and removing any trace of these arts from the library was quite logical.

This also reminded him of the Triwizard tournament. Although he hoped that the knowledge gained from his older self would be enough to prevent him from being forced to participate, he still wanted to be prepared, just in case. His older self couldn't find the rules of the tournament in the library, yet they found several copies of the rules while searching for the Occlumency books. This didn't help with his mistrust of the old man. He had a distinct feeling that these books were taken out of the library just before the tournament to disallow him the option to fight his selection as a champion.

Just to be safe, they borrowed two of the rule books, each a different edition. They then moved to an out of the way room, where Hermione used a copying spell to make permanent exact copies of the two books. They would not be caught unprepared in this matter, at least.

Their search in the library also brought them another unexpected bonus. Tucked in a corner, far from all the useful books, they found genealogy books of many magical families. These were of the self-updating kind so that they always reflected the latest status of each family. They found family books of Abbott, Bones, Crabbe, Davies, Greengrass, Longbottom, Malfoy, Weasley and Zabini, among others, yet the one most important for Harry was the Potter book. He opened it eagerly, trying to find any living relatives, but was disappointed. While the Potters had once had several branches, they all died, leaving his ancestors as the only viable Potter branch. He could trace some very distant relatives to other families, though. His grandmother was a Black, so he was related to Sirius, in a way, and another ancestor married a Longbottom woman, a few centuries earlier. Actually, it looked like his ancestors married into every possible family line in wizarding Britain, and some foreign lines too, as well as a few first-generation witches, like his mother.

The family tree alone was very interesting, as Hermione pointed out. "One of your ancestors married a Peverell, which explains your cloak, and another married a Slytherin, a few generations later. That may explain your parselmagic. There were also wives from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff ancestry. Only Ravenclaw is not represented."

Harry didn't understand why, but he quickly found the Ravenclaw family book. "Look, Rowena Ravenclaw had two daughters. One died childless and the other was a squib. She then married an… Evans?"

Hermione peeked over his shoulder. There were many generations between Rowena and the next magical person in that line, but she had no doubt about it. "Harry, your mother was a direct descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw. You are the descendant of all four founders. Maybe you can even claim the castle!"

Harry lifted his eyes to her. "What good can it be? I don't need any additional fame, you know."

Hermione could barely hold her enthusiasm. "Harry, if you are really the heir of all four founders then you can control the castle and its wards and also the school. As the owner, you are above the headmaster and you can overrule any of his decision. You can even dismiss the board of governors – they are only politicking anyway."

Harry sighed. "I don't think I need it right now. Besides, there are other descendants of the founders, aren't there?"

Hermione turned pensive. "There may be, yet the heir is usually the descendant of the older line. For example, we both know that Bones are also Hufflepuff descendants. Let's see their book."

When they checked, it became evident that a Bones married the last descendant of one branch of Hufflepuff about two hundred years earlier. The Potter family tree showed a Hufflepuff marrying a Potter more than six hundred years earlier. By this criteria, assuming there were no other descendants, then Potter had priority.

"That still doesn't mean that I'm the heir of this line or any of the other founders," Harry said, almost whining.

Hermione smiled and gave him a short reassuring hug. "It may not matter much at the moment and nobody needs to know yet, but if you really are the heir of all four founders then you can use it to assure a much better future for us all, not to mention much better education."

"What do you mean by that?"

Hermione's smile widened. "We already know that a few teachers are no good. We intended to do something to replace them. If you claim your position as the heir then you can sack them and hire new teachers without resorting to other means. We also know that the wards around the school are compromised, or the troll wouldn't have come in, not even if brought by someone. Then we also know the wards allowed Death Eaters in and even Voldemort himself. If you take hold of the wards, nothing of that could happen."

Harry gave it a thought. He didn't mind the teachers as much as Hermione did, but their safety took a much higher priority in his mind. "How can I take control of the wards without alerting the headmaster?"

Hermione considered her answer carefully. "Well, I'm not sure about the headmaster. I think he's bound to notice that the wards no longer respond to him, no matter how you do it. As for taking control… I don't think there's any mention in the books about where the main ward stone is, although it must be somewhere under the school. Maybe in the dungeons. Access to that place is probably highly restricted. Still, you may not need to go physically there. We can ask the ROR to help us."

Harry nodded hesitantly. "We should think of ways to make the change undetectable on our way there."

A short while later, they stood in a room unlike any Harry had ever seen. Well, it was quite dark to start with, but the walls seemed to glow with magic and a large rock in the centre of the floor seemed to shine with magic so intense that they could sense it even with their eyes closed and their backs to the rock. Yet the glow wasn't menacing. It was actually quite comforting and welcoming, especially for Harry. The magic in the room seemed to communicate directly with his own.

They stood silently for a while. Harry moved his hand to Hermione's, finding it halfway through and entwining their fingers. They both felt calmer and more empowered that way.

Nothing seemed to happen for some time. Then, Harry started sensing something very vaguely. It was as if somebody was talking to him in his mind, although no words were used. This didn't last too long. After a short while, the vagueness disappeared, and the indistinct feelings were translated into meaningful words. 'Welcome, the heir of Hogwarts. How can the castle serve you?'

Harry didn't know how to respond. Talking didn't seem right, so he just thought his answer back. 'I want to take control of the wards without letting the headmaster sense it. Can this be done?'

He sensed an answer. 'Of course, my lord. You can set the limits for his ability to control the wards. He can still sense them, as if he controlled them, and even control whatever you allow him to, while you keep the full power under your command.'

He turned to Hermione. "Can you sense it too?"

She nodded, seeming overwhelmed. "I feel like I'm witnessing a great event, but can't really take part in it."

'You'll be able to share the burden after you finish your bond, but you're still a bit too young for that,' Harry sensed the answer. He thought he knew what it meant. He knew he had to force his mind to other subjects every time he felt enticed by Hermione during the last months of their quest, before they went back in time. Just thinking of it made him blush.

He couldn't dwell on that. Regaining control of his thoughts and emotions, he tried to give the right instructions to the castle. 'I want the wards strengthened to disallow any dark artefacts into the castle and its ground, nor any dark or dangerous creature. Anybody wearing the Dark Mark should also be disallowed.'

The reply came with a delay of a few seconds. 'Done, my lord. What should I do about the two people who are currently in the castle and bear the Dark Mark?'

Harry knew that expelling them would expose the change as if he was shouting it in the Great Hall. He tried to find a subtler way of doing it. 'Don't they leave the castle occasionally?'

'One leaves it almost daily. The other leaves about once in a fortnight,' came the answer.

'Wait until both are out and then disallow them both.'

He sensed as if the castle was smiling. 'It will be done as requested. Now, what do you allow the headmaster to change?'

Harry gave it a thought. He felt as if Hermione was also thinking with him, but that couldn't be true. Could it? 'He may allow temporary apparition to or from the school for specific individuals and places. He may make portkeys out, but no portkeys into the school proper. He may tighten security further, if he feels the need, but shouldn't be able to lower it below its current level. He should also get all the alerts he currently gets. I don't need that distraction, except when there's a breach attempt.'

'It will be as requested. Anything else?'

Harry couldn't think of anything else to request. A moment later, the room became completely normal: bare walls and floor, with nothing standing out and no magical glow. Harry turned to Hermione. She looked stunned. 'She's so beautiful!' came the unexpected thought to his mind.

Hermione was slowly recuperating from the fabulous experience. "This was nothing like I could expect. It looks like the castle recognizes you as the legitimate heir of all four founders. It was fantastic sensing it talk to you."

Harry smiled. "It also talked to you," he noted.

Hermione frowned. "It mentioned a bond. Do you know what it is?"

Harry sighed. "Not really, but I think it involves us getting intimate, when we're ready for that." His face brightened. "Well, we were heading in that direction before coming back, you know."

She blushed. "At the end of the ritual, I felt like that was what I wanted the most, but sleep took over, as expected."

"I felt the same," he confessed.

Hand in hand, they left the room. They knew it would take quite a bit of time, but they would eventually reach that stage and that bond. They were in no hurry.