Lord Potter - "I am grey!"
By Rita Skeeter
During an argument in the Great Hall of Hogwarts with the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, Lord Potter declared himself 'grey'.
The announcement came after a shocking accusation of bullying was made against Lord Potter by the Headmaster, in front of the whole student body. The Headmaster claimed that Lord Potter was the ringleader behind the ostracisation of Hermione Granger, his once friend.
Unwilling to take the accusation lying down, Lord Potter refuted the claim, and offered that just because he decided to cut ties with her, following the discovery that she was 'spying on him for the Headmaster', did not make him a bully.
Lord Potter also pointed out that when he himself had been bullied, and at times, ostracised by the entire school, the Headmaster hadn't lifted a finger to help him.
Headmaster Dumbledore then further claimed that Miss Granger had only been acting to Lord Potter's benefit, to ensure that he didn't 'turn to the Dark Arts.'
While he didn't shout or scream as one might expect a teenager to do upon losing their temper, Lord Potter chose his words carefully when he told the Headmaster that he wasn't dark, but he was also no longer firmly on the light side.
He announced himself, both to the Headmaster, and the rest of the school, as 'grey.'
He also took a moment to ask the rest of the students if they thought it was right for the Headmaster to involve himself in the relationships of his students, and cast doubt that he'd do so for anyone other than Lord Potter.
Upon receiving news from Hogwarts of this argument, I decided to reach out to Alex Jackson to ensure I had the full picture before publishing an article. He in turn spoke to Lord Potter late last night, and this statement was sent to me from Lord Potter himself.
'I apologise for causing any alarm with my words. I lost my temper with the Headmaster and I shouldn't have. My only defence is that this was the latest in a string of manipulations attempted against me by him, and I'd had enough.
When I declared myself 'grey', it wasn't to make people panic. Please be assured that I haven't turned my back on either my destiny or on doing the right thing. I haven't joined the dark, nor do I ever intend to.
It was a way for me to separate myself from the Headmaster. He's been known as the head of the so-called 'light' side of the Wizarding World for so long that it's almost impossible to be 'light' and not associated with him.
Given that I don't wish to join the dark, but have no wish to attach myself to Dumbledore any longer, I needed a new term for myself, since the world seems to need labels to box people up. Personally, I believe we are all magic, but if a label is needed, then I wish for one that has no association to either of the current 'sides' to this war.
Sitting in the middle offers me some leeway. I'd like to offer help to the many people who don't agree with either side, and I'd like for any like-minded people who also want to help to reach out. I want to work, not only to end the war, but to push towards a more equal future for the Wizarding World at large.
There are few people in our world that are solely light or dark, and I think we need to remember that and work towards a world where people can live no matter their inclination, as long as they don't hurt themselves or other people.
The 'light' side preaches equality for all, but what they really mean is that they are offering equality for the people that match up to their ideals and nobody else. In comparison, the 'dark' offers equality only to Pure-Bloods, with Half-Bloods, Muggleborns and magical creatures all targeted as being 'unworthy.'
My opinion, one shared by my friends and advisers, is that every human, creature or animal life is a life worth saving, regardless of bloodline, gender, nationality, race, or anything else that makes an individual unique.
I make the offer for anyone who agrees with me to contact me via my account manager at Gringotts Bank. The Goblins there have provided me a lot of support and continue to do so as they offer their services as a go between for me while I'm finishing my education.
If you want protection, I'll try my best to help. If you want to help us, then anything you can do will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my statement, and again, I apologise if my words caused anyone panic.'
And there we have it, Ladies and Gentlemen. Impressive, no? So, to reiterate Lord Potter's message, there is now a third side to the war, one that also has the full backing of the Ministry of Magic, according to a brief statement given by Minister Fudge early this morning.
'Lord Potter is a very mature young man, and he takes the opinions of those around him very seriously. I believe he will be the one to truly end this war, and myself and my Minister stand behind him entirely. I have every faith in Lord Potter, and believe he will go on to do extraordinary things for our world.'
I want to take the opportunity to thank both Lord Potter and Minister Fudge for their statements. I'm sure all of my readers will agree that this open dialogue is a refreshing change in keeping the public aware of the happenings of our most prominent figures, and it's greatly appreciated.
…
Harry had been hoping he could avoid breakfast in the Great Hall the day after the fallout with Dumbledore. He'd skipped dinner, choosing to have it delivered to him in his trunk, where he'd been with Alex and Sirius, but Alex had pointed out that if he missed breakfast as well, people would believe he was hiding, and that could be damaging.
So, with his head held high, Harry walked into the Great Hall with Neville and Ron bracketing him on either side, and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Many of the students—and indeed some of the staff—gave him curious looks, but there didn't seem to be as much animosity as he feared there would be.
Of course, it was entirely possible that that would change once the Daily Prophet arrived, but he'd wait and see. It wouldn't be long now.
The three boys filled their plates quickly; Harry had no doubt that Dumbledore would be furious with his statement, and he doubted that he'd let it pass by with no repercussions. Given Harry wasn't sure if he'd even make it past breakfast at the castle, he decided to enjoy his meal.
He'd already forewarned Snape via their connection that there could well be an explosive Headmaster at breakfast, and when he glanced up at the high table, he could see the anticipation in the man's gleam as he looked around the hall.
Harry, prepared for anything, had his trunk shrunk down and in his pocket, just in case, and Neville had done the same thing, insisting that if Harry left, Neville was going with him.
Harry had explained the situation briefly to Ron and Hermione, promising he would send for them and their family as soon as he could. He knew they would be safe at the school, and that Molly would have a heart attack if they disappeared along with Harry, and the last thing he wanted to do was upset her.
Augusta had already told Neville to do what he had to do to support Harry, and promised they had her full backing with whatever they felt they needed to do, so Harry knew he wasn't going to cause any problems for Neville with his grandmother. It was the only reason he was allowing Neville to do what he was doing.
Though he had a feeling that Neville would have ignored him even if he had demanded that he stay at school. He was quite stubborn, Harry was discovering, much to his eternal amusement.
Harry had also seen a preview of the full article; Rita had sent it to Alex first thing before printing, so he'd been able to show Harry before breakfast. Given it had let Harry prepare for whatever the Headmaster might throw at him, Harry decided he rather liked being on the up-and-up with the press.
A whooshing sound overhead made him look up, and he saw the post start arriving and wrinkled his nose at Neville. This wasn't going to be pretty.
…
Harry watched as the Headmaster accepted his own paper, a wide smile on his face. He was clearly expecting a scathing article about Harry, and probably hoped that it would 'put him in his place'.
The paper unscrolled in front of him, and Harry had to hide a grin as the smile fell from Dumbledore's face as he read. Looking along the table, he watched the other teacher's expressions. Professor McGonagall was looking thoughtful, and while Harry knew she cared about him, he couldn't help but wonder if she could possibly be swayed away from Dumbledore entirely.
Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick were both looking between Harry and the Headmaster, clearly waiting for the fireworks to start. Snape just looked amused, and he looked over to catch Harry's eye and winked subtly.
"Look at the Slytherins," Neville murmured, and Harry did as he was bid, his eyes finding Draco first, who was in the middle of the table and looked particularly smug as his housemates seemingly bombarded him with questions.
Harry wondered how many of them would be contacting the bank for safety in the next few days.
The majority of the Hufflepuffs were smiling at him, some of them giving him thumbs up, other's nodding their heads in favour as they pointed at certain sections of the article and discussed it amongst themselves.
The majority of the Ravenclaw students still looked unsure, though they too were discussing the paper amongst themselves. Harry wondered if the article about Tom Riddle that was due out in a few days would possibly sway some of them.
As usual, the lions were the loudest, a lot of the students shouting down the table that they were with Harry all the way, or some variation of the sentiment. Harry chanced a glance at Hermione, and saw that she didn't even have a paper open in front of her, choosing instead to read a book.
Harry hoped that meant that she'd decided to remove herself from the war entirely. He would truly hate to face her on the battlefield. Regardless of her betrayal, they'd been friends for a long time, and he did still care about her. He didn't want to see her get hurt.
Beside him, Neville checked his watch. "We've got Charms, we should think about making a—"
He was cut off by an ear shattering shout. "Harry Potter! My office, now!"
Harry turned to see Dumbledore had stood up and was leaning on the table with both hands. Harry stood up and tilted his head slightly to the side. "Why, sir?"
"Do not talk back to me! Get to my office!" Dumbledore roared. The first year students around the hall looked rather frightened, and Harry barely repressed rolling his eyes. The Headmaster really had lost the plot at this point.
"Why, sir?" He asked again, ensuring his tone was respectful and polite. It would just be so much more satisfying when people heard about this.
"You are going to draft another statement for the Daily Prophet, retracting this nonsense," Dumbledore demanded, shaking the paper in front of him. He stepped away from the table and walked around it, down towards Harry.
Harry stepped away from the table slightly, not wanting anyone else in the way of the Headmaster-on-the-warpath. Harry could protect himself, others would likely get hurt.
He reached out to grab at Harry's arm, only to be repelled by an electric force sparking through his hand, forcing him to pull away.
Harry shook his head. "I have no intention of printing a retraction, Headmaster, and I have no idea why you think you can force my hand on such a thing." Lowering his voice so that the students couldn't hear him, he added, "You're beginning to get ideas above your station there, Albus."
"You are hereby suspended for a week," Dumbledore announced, calming his tone a little, as though only just remembering that he was in a room full of people. "Please collect your belongings and vacate the school grounds in a timely manner."
Harry grinned and nodded. "Okay. See you around, Sir." He turned away, waving to Professor McGonagall, who stood up and looked like she was about to come down and slap the Headmaster upside the head herself. He made it three steps before he was called back.
"Excuse me, Mr Potter, what do you mean, you'll 'see me around'? I will see you in a week from today in my office, where we'll discuss exactly why you have been suspended and make sure such a thing doesn't happen again."
"Actually, you won't," Harry corrected. "Since you have no grounds to actually suspend me as per the school charter, and seem to be making your own rules up as you go, I don't think Hogwarts is the right place for me anymore. And, as I am no longer a student, you will kindly address me by my proper title."
Harry took a few more steps towards the door and then turned again, waving to Ron and Neville. "Bye guys, I'll write to you."
Neville was watching on with an amused smile, surely seeing exactly the direction this was going to go, just as Harry could.
Before Harry could reach the doors, they swung shut with a loud bang. He turned to see Dumbledore watching him smugly. Apparently the old man thought he had Harry trapped and could cow him with a show of power.
Two could play the power game though. Letting his wand slip down his sleeve into his hand, he cast a blasting curse at the middle of the door, and they swung open with such force it sounded like a cannon had gone off.
He turned and tilted his head at Dumbledore. "I'm sorry, was that supposed to keep me inside?" he asked coolly, sliding his wand back up his sleeve.
"You cannot simply decide that you are no longer going to attend school," Dumbledore said, the shock on his face that Harry could overpower his magic evident.
"You're the one that told me to vacate the premises, Headmaster," Harry pointed out. "If you're going to lift the suspension, do it soon, won't you? I'd hate to be late for charms."
There was a pause, and it was almost like the whole hall was holding their breath waiting for Dumbledore's decision.
"Fine," he snapped eventually, knowing he was beat. "Suspension lifted." He looked around at the students, and shouted, "Haven't you all got classes to go to?" as he stormed out of the hall."
Neville was the first to reach Harry and he smirked at him and then nodded to the stairs. "Come on then, since you didn't want to be late for Charms."
Ron joined them and shook his head. "You've got some balls, mate."
Harry just grinned and the three of them left the hall together. Harry kept his calm outwardly, but inside, he was cackling. He couldn't wait to show the memory to Alex and Sirius later.