Chapter 8

Attention

Harry sat in the front row of his first Transfiguration class, flanked by Hermione and Neville.  The bell had rung two minutes ago and oddly enough, the usually punctual Professor McGonagall had still not arrived. 

They only had to wait a few more minutes however before the door to the classroom swung open and Professor McGonagall strode briskly to the front of the room.  The chatter in the class room died down immediately and only the most observant one in the class noticed her slightly red eyes and tear stained face.  Despite Harry's curiosity as to what had upset the professor so much, he kept it to himself.

After McGonagall was seated at the front of the class she seemed to be thinking for several minutes, just staring of into space.  Some in the class nearly jumped when she finally did speak in a dead and tired voice, "open your text books to page three hundred and seventy."

Harry leaned down to pick up his enormous text book but looked up halfway through to catch his professor looking at him with an expression that was part pitying, part sad and part unreadable.  The old woman quickly averted her eyes as the former thief gazed back at her.  She then proceeded to teach the class as usual, though she was much less enthusiastic than normal. 

By the end of the class Harry and Hermione were once again amongst the few who had been able to master the hue switching spell they had been practicing during the period. 

After class Harry headed down to lunch with his friends having completely forgotten the professor's odd behavior at the beginning of class.

After lunch Harry and Hermione were walking through the entrance hall.

Hermione was on her way to arithmancy class and Harry was on his way to his lesions with Remus.  But they both stopped when the doors to the great hall burst open and a short, stocky man sporting a truly horrible bowler hat strode into the hall followed by several others, some of whom were camera men and news reporters. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught sight of the headmaster coming down the stairs to the right. 

"Albus," the unknown man said, "Is it true, if so why did you not inform me?  As Minister of Magic it is my obligation to be informed of such important maters as this."

The headmaster replied in a slightly cold voice, "Maters such as what Cornelius?"

The minister was quite annoyed by his response and replied, "I'm talking about Harry Potter.  Now, where is the boy, we have many things to discus with the boy, and you and I need to talk too Dumbledore, about the boy.  Now where is he."

Upon realizing what this group of people were here for, Harry began to back away towards the exit.  He wasn't entirely sure what this groups intentions were but he knew that they would be even worse then the annoying kids who kept gapping at him in the halls and whispering whenever he passed.

As inconspicuously as possible, Harrt continued to go on his way hopping that no one had seen him.  But unfortunately, someone had.

"There's Potter, Right there!" a voice from somewhere in the crowd yelled.

Harry could tell that that voice had come from Malfoy, so he just kept walking, not wanting to give him any satisfaction.  But as luck would have it, Colin Creevey just happened to be standing nearby.

"Harry, why aren't you stopping?  Harry, the minister needs to see you," the small boy squeaked. 

By now nearly every one was looking at Harry.  He felt Hermione place a comforting hand on his shoulder from behind him but it did not stop him from being irritated. 

"Where, who is Harry Potter?!?" the minister said looking quite confused.  It was easy to tell who all the people were staring at but the man clearly did not expect the boy who lived to be such a rough looking boy.

"Aye, dat 'd be me," the green eyed boy said slowly.  Hermione noticed that that he had used the same distrusting voice he used when they had first met him in the factory days before.

The minister seemed to take a minute to take in Harry's appearance.  His hair was covering his face almost completely as it usually did so all the man could see was the two piercing green eyes which always seemed to shine through his thick, black curtain.

After a moment's hesitation, Fudge strode forward towards the boy, his companions in his wake.  "Harry my boy," the man said, "It is great to have you back, I am sure you…."

"Who are ya?" Harry interrupted.  He knew exactly who the man was by now but he already didn't like him.  And the low growl coming from his dog proved his feelings to be just.

The minister looked shocked at his question.  "Me!  Why, I an Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic.  Surely you must have known that.  Don't you read the Prophet boy?"

"Da what?" Harry asked.  At his question, the minister and his companions began to laugh as if he had just made a fool of himself, but the other students in the hall who by now had realized that Potter was not a boy to get on the bad side of, remained silent in anticipation of how Harry would react.  And although it was hard to tell through the thick curtain of stray hairs, Harry began to get an angry scowl on his face at the boldness of these men.

"Well Harry," Fudge said as he overcame his laughter, "The Daily Prophet is a newspaper, surely you must have known that.  But never mind, that's not important right now.  My companions here are from the daily prophet and various other newspapers and magazines."

An irritated Harry was by now fuming on the inside.  Wanting to make these people squirm in the most harmless way possible, he nodded to the people in recognition and said "well dis 'ears my companion" with a nod to Mag who began to snarl at them.

Hermione began to grin in spite of herself as the pompous minister and his companions began to back away in apprehension from the savage looking dog.

An uneasy Fudge then spoke up in a much less cocky voice, "Um, Mr. Potter, I do not believe it would be safe for you to keep such a… wild animal hear amongst the students, surely Dumbledore does not allow it."

Dumbledore, who had walked over to stand beside Harry then said, "Oh I assure you Cornelius, Mag is an extremely obedient dog and is a delightful contribute to the castle."  He then reached down and ran his hand down the dogs back and Mag immediately became calm.  This had shocked Harry, for up until now, he was the only one who was ever able to control the beast.  He looked up to Dumbledore disbelievingly.  The headmaster turned to look at him and gave him a small wink.

Fudge, who seemed relieved at the dogs sudden calming, spoke once again, "Well Harry, we do have many questions for you, first of all, where have you been all these years?"

Harry, who was not about to tell his life story to this stranger, much less the entire school, replied shortly, "London."

Fudge, not being satisfied by his answer, asked, "Well where in London where you?"

Harry still refused to explain anything about his life to the man, shook his hair out of his face and replied, "Here an' der."

"Well where exactly is 'here and there boy… BLOODY HELL, where did you get all those scars!" Fudge exclaimed having first noticed Harry's numerous battle scars.

Harry then realized that uncovering his face was not a good idea but replied all the same, "Here an' der."

Fudge seemed to be truly aggravated by now and said in an impatient voice while taking a step towards Harry, "Look Potter, no more games.  Now either start answering our questions or…"

Fudge was cut off by an angry dog who began to snarl at him once again for advancing on Harry.

It was then that Dumbledore, seeing that things were about to go south, stepped in.  "Minister I am sorry but I must ask you to stop harassing my student.  Harry is entitled to a personal life just as every other one of my students.  His private business is of no concern to the public unless of course he chooses it to be, which he obviously does not.  So if you are would be so kind as to leave Harry and the rest of the children alone so they can return to there studies I would be greatly appreciative.  Good day to you minister.  Come Harry, I would like to have a few words with you on your way to Professor Lupin's."  With that he turned away from the fuming minister and strode out of the hall.  Harry gave Hermione a brief wave and a smile before hurrying to catch up with the headmaster.

It was not until they had turned out of the crowded hall and into a nearly disserted one that the Headmaster finally did speak.  "I'm terribly sorry about that Harry, some times our dear minister tends to be a little, ah what's the word, press-happy." 

Harry smiled at the mans vocabulary and replied, "I's no problem sir, jus' a bit annoyin'.  And to be honest, I don' really want da whole world knowin' my life story."

"I don't blame you my boy, never was a big fan of the press my self to be truthful" the old man replied.

Both were silent for a brief moment before Harry thought of something else to ask.  "Um, sir, las' night I was talkin' ta 'Mione an she tol' me dat everyone went home fer da summer an' dat I wouldn' be able ta stay here fer da summer.  An' I was jus' wonderin' were I could go, cuz, I guess you wouldn' wan' me ta go back ta da street's, Would ya?"

Dumbledore replied shacking his head, "No, of course not.  That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about Harry.  I just wanted to let you know that you can rest assured that I will find you a place to live, hopefully somewhere that suits you.  I can promise that you will have a roof over your head this summer and will not have anything to worry about other than the trivial matters of youth, as it should be."

Harry wasn't entirely sure he understood the man but he had got the gist of what he was saying and so he smiled his thanks at him.

"I also wanted to ask how you were fairing so far, having any troubles with class or more importantly, the other students."

"School is goin' grea', never though' I could learn dis much so fast.  The other students 're okay fer da mos' part, I jus' wish they'd stop starin' at me.  It's bloody annoyin'.  Pardon my language but I can' stand 'em."

Dumbledore sighed, "That is something that I am afraid can not be helped.  You are quite celebrity weather you like it or not.  All I can offer you is my assurance that after time they will become used to you, but until then, just try your best to ignore them."

Harry and Dumbledore continued to converse about nothing in particular for the rest of the journey.  "Well Harry" The old man said as they reached the defense classroom,"It was truly a pleasure speaking to you.  And do rest assured, You will not be left alone this summer, I will take care of every thing."

Harry thanked Dumbledore again and entered the class room to be greeted by a sight he never thought he would have seen again.  There in a chair by the fire sat one of Harry's oldest living friends.  As the man looked up at the boy a wide smile formed on his face.

With a smile of his own Harry said in an even, but positive voice, "Ello Fletch."

END OF CHAPTER 8

A/N- How was that?  Good?  Bad?  Let me know.  On another note I must once again apologies for my lateness.  I've been working sixty hours a week for a landscaping company the last few weeks so I'm usual either at work or to tired to write.  I could work less and write more I suppose but if there is one thing I love more than writing fanfiction, it's really fast muscle cars, which are very expensive.  I'll try to get the next chapter out quick.  Bye.