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Harry Potter: Thinking like a Thief.
Madam Pomfrey handed Harry a copy of the report. "Here you were, Harry," she said, the usually stern nurse looked distinctly unhappy with the finding she had just discovered and the story she had been given, "the results of the check-up; there are definite signs of truth potion in your bloodstream, but thanks to the counter potion I gave you, there shouldn't be any long term damage."
The school nurse was furious a student had been given a truth potion and yet Poppy found it incredibly hard for herself to be honestly surprised by the discovery given how she had spent the last few months treating a number of injuries caused by Blood Quills of all things, but every time she tried to take it to Dumbledore, the headmaster refused to do anything about it.
She could understand the logic of his arguments, of course. If Fudge's Under-secretary was discovered as a torturer of students then the Minister would cause problems, but why would that be a problem in itself given how the ICW were involved, she didn't know. Personally, she had the feeling Dumbledore was playing one of his games, but what the long term goal was, she didn't know; Dumbledore had also made sure she couldn't do anything, like raise an alarm. She had long since felt Dumbledore didn't care about the students, now she had the proof. What was painful for the nurse was she could not do anything.
Poppy remembered Dolores Umbridge as a nasty piece of work during her time as a student at Hogwarts, but she had never expected the woman to return to the castle and torture the students, but what angered her most of all was how the staff knew what she was doing but they refused to help.
It was madness.
She had assumed Dumbledore and the others would have learnt from their mistakes by now, but apparently not. Somehow she wasn't surprised that Umbridge had moved on to using truth potions, but what interested her the most was why Harry had asked for a copy. Something told her that Harry had guessed what Umbridge was doing, and he was going to do something about it. That was the only reason she was doing this.
Harry took the copy and briefly read over it, nodding as he did. The report told him everything he needed to know and it would prove to be precisely what was needed. Now all he had to do was figure out a way of getting it to the ICW without Dumbledore's interference. "Thanks, Madam Pomfrey," he said as he looked into the nurse's face, and he saw her troubled expression. "What's wrong?"
"Are you planning on releasing that?"
Harry blinked at how bluntly he had been asked that, but he nodded nonetheless. "Yes. I do. The Umbitch is too dangerous to stay at Hogwarts if she is willing to use truth potions that exceed the dosage."
"She is dangerous, so be careful. I knew her as a student, she liked to believe she was better than the other students but in truth, she was hardly a bright spark of the bunch," Poppy pointed out. "Still, she is dangerous. What do you plan to do when you've released that?"
"I don't know. I hope the ICW does something about her, and hopefully, this will cause problems for Fudge. Anyway, I've better be off," Harry said, standing up from the bed and heading towards the door.
"Alright, good luck Harry."
Harry chuckled. "Thanks," he said sincerely.
As soon as he was out of the door, Harry took out the Marauder's Map and silently activated it. After seeing that Filch was only a few corridors away and there was nobody nearby, for now, he felt it was safe although he spotted a cluster of names. He transfigured the piece of paper into a handkerchief and tucked it away and he walked back to the dorm, keeping a hand on his wand; with how Filch had been following him around recently, keeping watch on him, the precaution seemed prudent.
As he walked away from the infirmary, Harry's keen hearing caught something.
"…I can't go to the nurse," a small voice whimpered. It was a young girl.
"You have to, Clarissa," another female replied, and Harry stiffened when he recognised the voice of Hannah Abbot, a Hufflepuff girl he had learnt to distrust years ago with her quick to accuse attitude.
"You can't let her get away with this," another girl spoke up. "Look, let's go to the nurse and we can send word to my aunt. She's the head of the DMLE. She can tell the ICW investigators; before you know it Fudge will regret the day he sent that bitch here to Hogwarts."
"But…she-she said if I told anyone, my mum and dad and little sister will pay. They're muggles!" The young girl wailed.
"She can't get away with this! You're a Hufflepuff, and we stick together. In any case, you're not the only one who's had their hands cut open by a Blood Quill. The only reason Professor Sprout can't do anything is that Dumbledore is blocking all attempts to get word out!" There was nothing but outrage in Hannah's voice.
Harry closed his eyes even as he heard the gasps from the other girls, wondering what Dumbledore's newest scheme was all about now. He knew the old wizard liked playing social games with the students, but what was he trying to do in this case? After a moment Harry decided that he didn't care about Dumbledore's motives, right now he was going to find more evidence. Harry slowly moved closer to the voices, taking out the hanky and his wand, and he transfigured it back into the copy of the report to shove into the Hufflepuff girls' faces.
"B-but w-what if my family die!?" The little girl cried.
"Then we'd better hope somebody kills her for the good of the human race," Harry said out loud as he turned the corner, and he found himself facing the three girls. He recognised Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot, two Puffs he barely knew and didn't really bother with, and a small first year with dark brown hair. She was crying her eyes out and looking at him with shock and fear.
"What are you doing here?" Susan demanded.
"If you're going to have a private conversation, either ward it off so nobody else can hear it, or find somewhere more private. What happened, what's Umbridge done?" Harry asked.
"What's it got to do with you?" Hannah asked warily, remembering the last time she and the other members of her house attacked him. He had put seven people in the hospital wing last year as a warning to not go after him again.
Harry raised a brow at the hostile attitude he was getting, but he shook it off as natural given how he'd never had the best relationship with the Hufflepuffs before. He held out the report. "Read it and weep," he said.
The three girls leaned in and read. Very quickly they gaped at the report.
"Is this for real?"
"It is. Umbridge stopped me from going to the village and she questioned me, but I was suspicious of what she was doing so I got myself a check-up. What did she do to you?" Harry turned to the youngest of the Puffs.
The girl jumped in fright, regarding Harry with wide eyes. She knew about him, knew about his reputation and how he had become so dangerous first years like herself were warned of what would happen if they crossed him. Harry, of course, didn't care about the reputation Hufflepuff had given him, but if it left him alone then he welcomed it.
"She threatened your family," Harry said soothingly. "What did you do?"
Susan could see he was merely trying to help. "Clarissa's a muggle-born," she paused, wondering how he would take that. All she got in return was a sour look.
"Yes, so was my mother," Harry sent her a pointed look that Susan didn't understand; clearly she didn't remember the accusations she and most of her House had levelled at him and truthfully if she couldn't be bothered to stretch her mind he wasn't going to do it for her. They were stupid, like most people in the magical world. "Let me guess; she discovered your heritage and like all people who buy into that blood junk, she threatened you?"
Hannah sighed. "She's not the only one," she said, now sure that Harry Potter was not here to cause problems for them. "Umbridge is out of control. She's going for all the muggle-borns in her class, its like second year all over again."
"Yes, I remember that. Go on," Harry said.
"Some of the first years and a few of the other years have been getting detention with Umbridge, and she's making them write lines using a Blood Quill," Susan told him, wrapping a comforting arm around the little girl. "Clarissa's just another one."
Harry's expression became thunderous. He knew what Blood Quills were, but the idea of Umbridge using them on kids… Fuck! What the hell is Fudge thinking? Hold it, does he know what Umbridge is doing, or is he just ignorant?
"You know I sometimes wonder where Fudge keeps his brain; he's currently under investigation by the ICW, and yet Umbridge is doing this. She knows about the ICW investigation as well; it must have entered her mind not to do this," Harry gestured towards Clarissa.
"My Aunt's told me about her," Susan's voice was full of dark fury. "Umbridge believes she's untouchable, simply because she works so closely with Fudge."
"Except when and if he's kicked out of office, she'd be one of the first to go when the new administration comes," Even as he spoke Harry doubted that would happen. Most people clung to their power regardless of the changes, and Umbridge was no different. "So what were you planning to do?"
Clarissa looked at him in confusion, surprised by his sudden shift; one minute he was talking about Umbridge and politics, and the next he had turned his attention to her again. "What do you mean?"
"What are you going to do about your injury?"
"We've been trying to get the first year Hufflepuffs to see Professor Sprout, but there's nothing she can do," Hannah spoke up for the first year. "But she's not happy about it. Sprout even said Dumbledore won't get involved."
"No, he wouldn't. Dumbledore might care about keeping the school from being invaded, but beyond that, he refuses to do anything else. I don't know why, but if I were you I wouldn't waste my time on the teachers," Harry was already seeing this as a bonus for his plan to get rid of Umbridge, "How many other kids are going through this, do you know?"
"Yeah, so far there are about….20 kids?" Susan said the number as if uncertain which made it clear the number was growing by the day. "It's mixed between muggle-borns, half-bloods, and a few purebloods."
"How come none of them has told their parents? Even if the teachers refuse to do a thing, or say their hands are tied they can still send the word out to their parents, so why haven't they done it?"
Susan and Hannah shared a worried look when they realised he had a terrifying point. "W-we don't know," Susan admitted, upset.
But Harry went for the kill."And why haven't you sent word to your aunt, who is in the DMLE no less?" He asked pointedly.
Susan stared at him with genuine horror. "But I did," she whispered, "I sent my aunt a dozen letters, but all of her replies don't mention it. Why?"
Harry nodded grimly, his suspicions confirmed. "Dumbledore. He's the headmaster of the school. Back in second year, the Daily Prophet didn't mention any reference to the Chamber of Secrets being opened. As the headmaster, he controls the flow of information in and out of the school."
"W-why is he doing it?" Clarissa squeaked.
Hannah and Susan had both assumed over the years Harry Potter was Dumbledore's golden boy, like so many others. To hear that he wasn't was a surprise, but what he said next confirmed it in their minds. And both of them were nonetheless curious about the implications. If Harry Potter disliked Dumbledore, what else did they get wrong?
"I don't know what he gets out of it long term, but I've always felt Dumbledore might be good at looking towards the big picture but he's just absolutely incapable of dealing with the more immediate problems. But in this case…I think he might be planning to gain some type of leverage over Fudge and Umbridge," Harry said as he turned over everything in his mind, although the shortsightedness and the corrupt backstabbing nature of magical politics left him with a spinning head. "Anyway, enough of that; pureblood politics has a weird and twisted logic in itself, and right now all I want to do is get Clarissa here checked out."
Harry's hand whipped out his wand like a snake striking, and before either Susan or Hannah could react, the little girl was being levitated. Clarissa let out a squeak as she suddenly found herself in the air, the sound instantly making the older girls take out their own wands. "Don't do anything," Harry warned them, "I don't want to waste any more time dragging her to the hospital wing. You can stay here and chat, or you can come, either way, I couldn't care less."
As he led the way to the hospital wing where he hoped Madam Pomfrey would be able to do something for Clarissa's hand, Harry reflected on everything he had just learnt. He wasn't surprised the teachers were being hemmed in by Dumbledore's complacency, but if he was right about what the old wizard was doing then he wouldn't be surprised since it fitted the bill with Dumbledore only too well. But what disturbed Harry was how all of the teachers had been forced to go along with it, but if there was one thing he had learnt over the years it was the teachers were sworn by contract to obey Dumbledore.
The fact the old wizard was sick enough to make sure they didn't stop Umbridge when he could do so much good in the current circumstances. Well, if Dumbledore refused to do anything about it, he would. He might be a thief with a plan, although after his last pamphlet he wondered now if he could truly be bothered with it since it had been a last-minute addition to his original scheme anyway, after seeing the wound on Clarissa's hand and the wanton cruelty towards a young girl whose only crime was being born outside the magical world, Harry wondered if the pamphlets were even a good idea to promote some kind of growth or change.
X
Dumbledore sat behind his desk in his office. He had been presiding over the meeting with the Heads of House because the meeting concerned them. He had called the meeting a few days ago, taking advantage of the Heads seniority to arrange the meeting behind Umbridge's back. He knew the odious woman would force herself into the meeting, but when he had learnt she had plans to speak to Harry, he had taken advantage of the matter. He knew Harry wouldn't tell the woman anything mostly because, in Dumbledore's mind, the boy knew so little. In any case, all the students despised Umbridge. The woman would learn nothing.
Unfortunately, Umbridge was the subject of the discussion. Dumbledore had been presiding over the meeting for the last half an hour. He had been prepared for a long, boring meeting and he was right to be worried about it.
"I wish we could get rid of that woman, Albus," Minerva was saying. "She's got another six of my Gryffindor first years and even a couple from the upper years writing with that damn quill."
"And she's got sixteen of my Hufflepuffs in this week, that makes forty of my students now, and the number is rising each day," Sprout added, "Are you sure there's nothing that can be done?"
"I know how you feel, believe me, I do. Unfortunately, you know as well as I do, if we call in the DMLE or inform the ICW, Fudge would cause problems; the DMLE would be the easiest for him to stonewall the investigations regarding Umbridge. Amelia Bones is a brilliant and fair-minded woman, but Fudge could easily limit what she can do. In the ICW's case, all he would need to do is deny everything and he could even accuse one of us of torturing the students just to get rid of her and make him look like a dictator," Dumbledore said, disguising the real reasons without any effort.
Umbridge's torture of the students, while annoying and disturbing when you took into account her many disgusting fetishes, was actually a benefit since a little adversity would only make the students stronger than they were. In the meantime, Dumbledore would have the time he needed thanks to Fudge sacking him from several of his positions to make preparations for Voldemort's open return.
It was coming.
Dumbledore knew the more time that passed this year, the easier it would be for Voldemort to declare a full-scale war. When that happened the Ministry would go to him for help and guidance, and nothing worked better than being proven right. And if Fudge, by some miracle, was kept on as Minister then Dumbledore would have the perfect means of keeping the pompous gas toad in line, or if he decided to help get rid of the little fool, he could easily decide to give the DMLE evidence of Umbridge's actions. The scandal would destroy Fudge and Umbridge, and would see both of them sent on a one-way trip to Azkaban.
That was worth a bit of torture in his mind. While it was regrettable, if he decided to let Umbridge continue with what she was doing under the excuse if others outside of Hogwarts knew what she was doing, things would become much, much worse, it would be used for great benefit as time passed.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Flitwick and Snape looking at him with the same suspicion. He wasn't surprised; the Death Eater was Slytherin enough and cunning enough to know and recognise the sign of somebody with a greater plan in mind, even if his own ability to make such plans was limited, and Filius was goblin enough to see there was more to this matter than met the eye.
Unfortunately, there was little he could do about that.
"Is that why you've locked down the school, preventing anyone from telling their parents what Umbridge is doing?" Flitwick's voice was low, and Dumbledore shuddered; he knew from long experience how the Charms professor was only this angry when he was truly calm and his voice was low.
"It wouldn't have made any difference either way," Dumbledore regretted what he had just said the moment the words were out of his mouth. The parents wouldn't accept an excuse like that either way.
"What, so you prefer playing your games to allowing the parents to do something about Umbridge?" Flitwick demanded angrily, turning his eyes towards the other heads, and seeing as only Pomona was willing to back him up while Minerva was left looking like a rabbit staring death in the eyes and Snape just sat back with a sneer.
"Is that what this is about, power politics?" Sprout was furious and it showed in how incandescent with rage she was.
Dumbledore wished he had the power to alter time and go back and urge himself not to open his mouth. It took him ten minutes to try to make the teachers calm down; the discussion he had hoped for in order to assuage the teacher's worries about Umbridge had become a fight to the death. By the time he was finished, Dumbledore was exhausted after giving out every single one of his best excuses and sagely words to stop them attacking him, but he had needed to use all of his years of experience to keep himself from making any more mistakes.
The old headmaster had only just succeeded when Snape noticed something in the window.
"Something is on fire in the village," he declared.
Dumbledore, delighted by the unexpected disturbance, raced to the window and studied the smoke. Tapping the window glass with his wand, Dumbledore enlarged the view, like the glass was a one-dimensional binocular lens. A house was ablaze in Hogsmeade with students and villagers panicking as they tried to put the flames out.