The Boy-Who-Squibbed Chapter 8: Politics, a harry potter fanfic

TL:DR for the AN I placed at the bottom of the chapter:

This fic is not a Dumbledore bash fic. Thank you for reading

Albus Dumbledore rubbed his eyes tiredly and put down the letter he had been crafting. The last three years Hogwarts had all involved some form of scandal and it always fell on him to handle how the information about them was shared with the public. In the 91-92 school year he had dealt with Quirinus suddenly going rogue and trying to steal the philosopher's stone. While at the beginning of the year Albus hadn't known exactly who was after the artefact, that knowledge wasn't necessary for the plan he had devised to catch the thief. Each of the teachers had placed an obstacle that would seem sufficiently difficult to stop someone while actually being quite simple to traverse if the perpetrator was sufficiently capable with magic. What no one other than Albus had known, however, was that he had added to the traps so that if the person tried to turn back they would find it quite impossible as a complicated series of wards activated, cutting off all means of magical escape and placing nigh-indestructible physical barriers in their path. In addition to all of that, the Mirror of Erised offered a nearly inescapable trap of its own. It took someone of indomitable will or a desire that was truly impossible to achieve to break away from its siren call without outside help. Dumbledore still remembered the image he had been shown when his curiosity became too much to bear. He and his beloved Gellert, living together in their old age, running the school, and helping to rear the next generation of witches and wizards. With difficulty, Albus shook the image from his mind. He must be getting very tired indeed if his thoughts were so susceptible to flights of fancy. Sitting up he spoke in a clear voice.

"Slippy, could you come here please?" he called out to the empty air.

Suddenly, a pop was heard throughout the office, startling poor Fawkes on his roost in the corner, and a house-elf appeared before Albus's desk.

"How can Slippy be serving Master Dumblydore today?" the diminutive creature asked.

Slippy was the head elf of the castle and the only one that personally served Albus as the headmaster of the school. He was a venerable elf, showing signs of age but still appearing to be in his prime. He wore a stately toga made from a tea towel and watched Albus attentively with large kind eyes.

"Thank you for coming, Slippy. Would you please make me a cup of tea and, if possible, ask Poppy if she might give it a shot of pepper up potion as well. I still have a dreadful number of letters to get done tonight, you see, and I find my energy is waning."

The elf bowed deeply upon hearing the request.

"Of course, Master Dumblydore, it would be my pleasure." With that said, the elf vanished with another pop.

With a sigh and a disturbing amount of creaking from his old bones, Albus stood and began to pace about his office as he waited for the beverage. His current task was disturbingly similar to what he had to do at the end of last year, when that fop Lockhart had been arrested. As much as Albus tried to see the good in people he could not excuse someone who thrived on the suffering of others, and a man who stole the accomplishments of people just because he thought they were boring definitely fell onto his list of ne'er do wells. Albus was just happy that a student had uncovered the discrepancies before the man had the chance to cause harm to the student body. Throughout that year Albus had been extremely preoccupied with the activity in the Wizengamot leaving him woefully oblivious to the day to day procedure of the school. He had left the hiring procedure for a new professor to the heads of houses and Severus had lobbied heavily for Lockhart to get the position. A part of Albus believed that the potions master knew the man was a phoney from the beginning and that he had worked so hard to get the man hired out of petty revenge for being looked over for the position again.

While Albus admired much about Severus from his prodigious ability with potions, to his devotion to the well being of the students in his house, he also found that the man's single-minded focus could manifest itself as a pig-headed refusal to accept outside opinion or inconvenient truths. That trait led to many of the hardships Severus had faced in his life. For example, his desire to fit in with his housemates had led to the decline of his relationship with Lily Evans. What's more, his desire to please Voldemort led him to put her in danger by sharing the prophecy with him. Now, he had this obsession with holding the post of defence professor despite Albus's warnings about the jinx on the position. He seemed to see it only as a challenge, a way to prove that he is better than Voldemort by beating his old master's last mark on the school. But he, like so many others, misunderstood the nature of jinxes. So many people thought of them just as minor curses with irritating yet harmless effects, but the power in a jinx was that it was subtle. A jinx often worked as the first domino in a series of events that could end in a spectacularly terrible conclusion.

Take for example this year and what had become of poor Professor Lupin. Albus knew for a fact that Remus was a responsible man who took his ailment extremely seriously. He had never missed a dose of wolfsbane potion throughout the entire year, yet somehow as the fourth quarter was coming to an end the goblet with his final dose slipped from his fingers the evening before the full moon, leading to him running through the castle in full view of the students so that he could make it to the forbidden forest before transforming. This of course led to students writing their parents about the incident and the parents contacting the board of governors and it all ended with him writing out letters to the parents telling them that a good man had a bout of bad luck that cost him his job. And this duty of course was piled on top of him juggling his responsibilities in the Wizengamot and with the International Confederation of Wizards.

For a moment Albus pondered, and not for the first time, whether he had taken on too many responsibilities in his old age. But honestly what else did he have to do with his time. Despite his illustrious academic career, he didn't have the heart of a researcher like his good friend Nicholas Flamel, and despite how much he enjoyed the profession he felt that being a simple teacher again was a waste of his abilities. While Albus tried to stay humble, he was also a realist and he knew that he was one of the brightest and most powerful wizards in the world and that he was a symbol for the light. People needed to see that a good man was doing his best to steer the world in the right direction, and while Albus wasn't perfect, he did know right from wrong. He had faced evil enough times in his life to recognize it when it tried to rear its head. Suddenly he was alerted by a ward he had recently placed over his fireplace that someone was trying to contact him through the floo network. The added security measure became necessary after the third set of parents had ambushed him in his office to angrily berate him about having a werewolf in the school. Turning to the fireplace Albus opened the wards just enough for the head of Fudge's new Head Secretary, Delores Umbridge, to poke through.

"Speaking of evil," Albus thought to himself.

"Headmaster Dumbledore," the toadlike woman said in a professional tone, "the Minister will be visiting you shortly, please lower this ward immediately."

When she finished speaking, her head disappeared back into the flames but they stayed green showing that the connection hadn't been severed. Dumbledore sighed as he mentally prepared himself for the unscheduled meeting. It was so late that there was no way this wasn't happening now on purpose. The sudden order from the board of governors to contact the parents about Professor Lupin's employment had wreaked havoc on Albus's schedule forcing him to work until the wee hours of the morning. Albus also knew that Fudge had friends on the board who would have been more than happy to share that The Great Dumbledore might be vulnerable to an ambush such as this. But Albus had lived through two wars and he wouldn't be caught flat-footed by such simplistic political machinations as this. Straightening up to his full impressive height Albus marshalled his faculties and put on his best grandfatherly smile before turning and lowering his fireplaces' wards with a mental command. As soon as they were lowered the Minister of Magic and his batrachian underling stepped through the verdant flames.

"Cornelius, thank you so much for joining me." Albus made sure to speak first to wrest control of the situation. "I am sure that this meeting is related to your proposed motion that I blocked in the Wizengamot during the last meeting."

Fudge froze with his eyes wide for a second before regaining control of himself.

"Actually, Albus, I am here on other business. Namely the endangerment to the students that you perpetrated this year."

"To what are you referring?" Albus said flatly, the twinkle leaving his eye.

Fudge smirked feeling he had gained control of the conversation. "Come now, Albus," the headmaster's name leaving his mouth with a hint of disdain, "you are only up this late because you were ordered to write to the parents of your students explaining your actions. Bringing a dangerous creature like a werewolf into the same place as children would leave some to question your grasp on reality." Fudge's smirk deepened as he continued, "And that isn't all, this is the third instructor you have hired of questionable humanity, two of which are still employed at this school despite one of them endangering students by trying to teach a curriculum that was too advanced for them. Why if things had gone a little differently we would have been forced to put the poor hippogriff involved down, a severe danger to their already dwindling population."

"You need to be careful Cornelius, what you're saying sounds awfully similar to the diatribe of the death eaters and blood purists," Albus said seriously halting the other man's words. "Rubeus Hagrid and Filius Flitwick are both consummate professionals. The incident with the hippogriff resulted from the student's refusal to follow instruction and Rubeus saved the boy from harm at great risk to himself. As for Filius, he has been a decorated member of this staff for longer than you have been in office and has faced all manner of discrimination from students and adults with enviable good humour. As for Remus Lupin, he is a fully qualified expert in his field who sadly, due to matters outside of his control, voluntarily resigned from his post, but he never put the student body in danger. Don't try to use my people against me, you will find no quarter there."

"Oh? And what about the fraud from last year," Fudge rebutted.

Albus smiled, "Why, we only hired him due to your shining recommendation. After all, you yourself pinned the medal for the Order of Merlin Third Class on his chest."

Albus and Fudge stared each other down. Their conversation at a standoff. Albus was becoming irritated with the Minister's meddling. Ever since the debacle with Harry Potter's wizarding status the man, who Albus had once believed to be a perfectly serviceable civil servant, had begun to make drastic changes to his policies. Growing the government with several new departments, attempting to regulate nearly every part of wizarding life, and doing it all under the claim that he was trying to soothe the fears of the wizarding world. The issue was that the man could put on a strong face but in actuality, he was morally invertebrate. Fudge was getting pushed around by Umbridge, by Malfoy, and by a host of other opportunistic families. A worrying amount of the new departments he had opened were being headed by people with questionable allegiance during Voldemort's first grab for power. And if Albus's fears were ever realized the dark wizard would have an all too easy time seizing control of the ministry. Sadly, Albus couldn't do anything even with his position in the Wizengamot because Fudge, as the head executive of the government, was allowed to staff his offices however he wished so long as he stayed inside his budget. What Albus could do with his legislative authority was block the man from making any dangerous new laws.

The tense atmosphere of the room was suddenly shattered when a sharp pop ripped through the air. With the sound came the appearance of the diminutive form of Slippy, holding a cup of tea out to Albus.

"Master Dumblydore's tea," The house-elf said simply.

Albus blinked at the turn of events, the conversation having made the request he gave the elf slip his mind, but he quickly recovered and smiled down to the creature, accepting the proffered drink.

"Thank you, Slippy," Albus said kindly before taking a drink of the tea.

Immediately he felt a blend of energy from the shot of pepper up potion mixed with the caffeine of the drink and calm from the warm liquid travelling down his throat. As it took effect, his mind cleared from the cloud of irritation it had been feeling. Albus could tussle with the best of them but he was always at his best when he had a calm mind. Rejuvenated and ready to continue the bout he turned to face Fudge and Umbridge once more.

"Terribly sorry for the rudeness," he said with his grandfatherly tone back in his voice, "I forgot to ask if either of you would like a refreshment."

Fudge grit his teeth at the sudden change of topic, but his British sensibilities wouldn't allow him to ignore the offer.

"No thank you, Albus,"

"Ah, very well," Albus then turned back to the elf, "thank you for your service, Slippy. You may return to your post."

With a bow, the elf vanished with a nearly silent pop. Albus smiled slightly. The elf had interrupted purposefully at a moment that would be most beneficial to the Headmaster. He would need to go down to the kitchen and heap praise upon the elves as a demonstration of his gratitude.

Choosing not to re-engage with the Minister, Albus walked to his desk and sat in his throne-like chair. It was about time that Fudge remembered that he had entered Albus's domain when he chose to come to the school. With a hand, he gestured to the seat in front of his desk and it magically duplicated and pulled out inviting the two visitors to sit, all without an incantation or wand present.

"Please sit, Cornelius," Albus implored, "Let us talk about what really brought you here tonight, your so-called dead houses bill."

"Albus, please use its actual title, not the sensationalist one spread by The Quibbler and other disreputable sources." Fudge growled as he made his way over to the desk and sat. Umbridge stayed standing behind the Minister's shoulder though she was noticeably displeased at the Headmaster regaining control of the conversation. "The bill is called the Legacy Reclamation Act. Its purpose is to reclaim the lost legacy of houses that don't have viable heirs. There are hundreds of vaults in Gringotts that are filled with troves of knowledge and wealth that the wizarding world as a whole could benefit from, but they are untouchable because they are set up as trusts with the bank until an heir appears. Those accounts right now are only serving to increase the wealth of the goblin nation."

"Cornelius, if you tried to seize those funds from the goblins our relationship with them would crumble. The current symbiosis we both enjoy balances on a knife's edge, and if we were to get into another goblin war it would be catastrophic. What's more, those trusts are there for a reason. There have been countless families that were thought to be dead that had a revival years later. My own family was believed to be dead back in the 900's for nearly a century and not only that but my brother and I are the only living magical Dumbledores. When we pass our wealth will go into a trust in the hopes that our bloodline emerges at some point in the future."

"You may be able to argue that your family has enough off-shoots for a viable heir to appear in the future, but what about families that don't have that possibility." Cornelius argued.

"Name one such family" Albus asked.

"The Potters for instance" Fudge said matter of factly.

"The Potters?" Albus asked incredulously, "What are you talking about? They have a living member, and even though he can't use magic himself he is more than capable of siring a magical heir in the future."

"Do they?" Umbridge suddenly interjected. "You claim the Potter boy is alive but no evidence of him has ever been made known to the wizarding world as a whole. His current whereabouts aren't on record with any of the departments of the ministry and any attempt to locate him magically has failed. All we have to prove that he is alive is your word."

"That and the notice you yourself received three years ago saying he was a squib," Albus said.

"We have looked in the records of the ministry and no such notice was filed," Umbridge claimed quickly.

"What?" Albus asked, "Cornelius, you called me on the floo yourself that day to ask if the report was genuine."

"I could have misread another form Albus," Fudge deflected, not being able to meet the Headmasters eyes as he lied, "I see a disturbing number of those notices each year as more and more children are diagnosed as squibs." Looking up to Albus's eyes then, the man spoke with affected emotion in his voice. "Our numbers are dwindling more and more each year, Albus. With the Legacy Reclamation Act we can protect our way of life. You may be right that we need to be discerning about which accounts we try to collect but there are plenty of houses that have only left behind records and funds with no hope of being rebuilt."

"Like the Potters," Albus said.

"The boy was hit by the killing curse," Umbridge said. "It is impossible that he survived, as you claim, especially if he was a squib the entire time."

"Listen, Albus," Cornelius said, grabbing the reins of the conversation from his secretary. "I didn't come here to fight, and convincing you isn't necessary, I have the votes of nearly two thirds of the seats. You as chief warlock only have the ability to break a tie vote if one takes place. You won't win when we vote on this next November if you agree to back the act you would have more say in how it is implemented."

"Can you prove that you have two-thirds of the votes? Such a large majority of the Wizengamot agreeing to a proposition like this is highly irregular." Albus asked.

Wordlessly Fudge held his hand out to Umbridge and the secretary pulled out a roll of parchment, handing it to the Minister. Fudge then passed the paper to Albus who opened it and began to read. The document contained a list of family names, each one holding seats in the parliamentary body. Deep down, Albus knew this was a bluff. There was no way that Fudge actually had confirmed votes from all these people but it was proof that he had more support for this motion this time around. Albus would need to do something drastic to kill this bill. Rolling up the document he returned it to the Fudge.

"As impressive as that is," Albus said, "I cannot support your motion. You are putting the peace of the wizarding world in danger by provoking the goblins and you will undoubtedly hurt the future of prominent wizarding families. In addition, having a system like this in place is just setting the stage for abuses of its power."

"Well, I am sorry that we couldn't come to an agreement." Fudge said as he stood from his seat. "We shall see our own way out, come along, Delores."

With that the pair made their way to the fireplace and, after throwing in a pinch of the floo powder Albus kept on the mantle, left through a new batch of emerald flames, leaving Albus alone to think about his options. He needed shock value. Something that would shake the foundations of the wizarding world and allow him to change the minds of the wizards and witches on the Wizengamot. As loathe as he was to use a child for this, the only option he could think of was to bring in Harry Potter. But how could he possibly bring the boy into the wizarding world and still keep him safe from the politics he would doubtlessly be drawn into. As he stewed over the question he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," He said absently.

When the door opened it revealed that his current late-night visitor was Argus Filch, the caretaker of the school.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, sir," The man said as he stepped into the office, "Sorry to bother you but I am sure that those Weasley boys were out and about tonight after curfew. I swear I almost heard them. I think they should get a few detentions just in case."

"Argus," Albus said exasperatedly. "While I appreciate your zeal for your responsibilities, we can't give students a punishment when there has been no proof of an offence. No matter how probable it may be that they were breaking rules."

As he was speaking Albus looked up at the caretaker and scrutinized him momentarily as he grumbled about being denied. The man was always in an ill temper and he looked for any opportunity to punish students that stepped out of line. Albus appreciated the disciplinarian nature of the man because it allowed him to be a bit more lax. One thing that Albus knew was that Argus never falsely accused students, so if he came with evidence about a student being involved in an incident Albus could be sure that he was telling the truth. Chances are Fred and George Weasley were out of bed, but Argus was, unfortunately, unable to find any hard evidence due to the boy's wily nature. As Albus was pondering the squib caretakers personality, he suddenly had an idea.

"Argus, how long have you been serving as the castle's caretaker?" Albus asked suddenly, interrupting the man's rant about what he wanted to do to the prankster Gryffindors.

"Huh?" the man said confusedly before answering hesitantly. "Most of my life I suppose. Why?"

"Well I think that it is about time that we found you an apprentice," Dumbledore said. "Someone you can share your vast knowledge of the inner workings of the castle with so that whenever you do decide to move on we won't be left wanting."

"I'm sorry what?" The man said seriously.

But Albus wasn't listening, he needed to figure out how to pull off the plan currently forming in his head. As much as he hated to treat people like game pieces on a board, he lived by a very utilitarian philosophy of doing everything he could to bring about the greatest good possible, and right now that meant pulling Harry Potter out of his hiding place and into the light.

"What?" Harry asked, praying that he had misheard Headmaster Jacobs.

"I am sorry Harry," Jacobs said solemnly, "I truly am, but your aunt and uncle have recanted on their previous agreement allowing you to stay here this summer. I asked for an explanation but they refused to offer one and we have no recourse to make demands because you staying over the summer was always a voluntary agreement on their part. The only thing we could do is open an investigation through NSPCC."

"No," Harry said with a sigh, "that would just put my enrollment here in danger." Suddenly a feeling of dread overcame him and he looked to the headmaster with fear in his eyes. "They didn't withdraw me from Stonewall did they?"

"No they did not," the Headmaster said reassuringly, "I made sure to ask about your continued attendance and they said you would still be going to school, but in full disclosure, they said it in a way which makes me think they hadn't given it much thought. For now, however, you will stay enrolled as a student here."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief at least he didn't have to worry about that yet. He tensed back up immediately though when he thought about his friends and the plans they had been working on for the upcoming summer. They were going to have a repeat of last summer where they all came together at Nish's house for a week. They planned to work for Nish's father during the day to earn money for the evenings and the weekend. The time wouldn't be as carefree as last year but they would have been together which was what they really wanted. Now there was no telling what would happen, but a small part of Harry couldn't give up hope. Harry bid Headmaster Jacobs farewell and left the office, Mrs. Banks was waiting for him outside, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and leaned down to speak softly to him.

"Sometimes life doesn't go the way we want, but the important thing is to always face challenges with your head high. Stay strong Harry, I know you can make it through anything."

"Thank you, ma'am," Harry said with a watery smile and was surprised when the secretary brought him in for a quick hug. The two had a good relationship by now after Harry's many visits with the Headmaster led to them having ample time to converse. Even though she was strict, Harry knew that Mrs Banks was a very kind woman so Harry had no qualms about returning the hug.

"Oh, Harry, by now you know me well enough please call me Prim." She said as they separated

"Prim?" Harry asked.

"It's short for Primrose, my family had a thing about naming girls after flowers."

Harry smiled and bid her farewell before leaving to tell his friends the news. That evening the friends were all sitting around outside with Huan lying on the ground nearby as Harry told them what he had learned in the Headmasters office today.

"This is rubbish," Travis said when Harry finished. "I can't believe that your aunt and uncle would suddenly switch gears like this, it makes no sense."

"I know," Harry said. "But it is what it is. Like the headmaster explained, my staying here over the summer was always done with their approval and without it, I am stuck going back to them after the year ends. But you guys don't have to worry, I am sure that I can convince them to let me go for our planned week. You guys remember how much my uncle like Nish's dad."

"You still shouldn't have to put up with them," Nish said in a surly tone. "Can't you call the cops on them or something."

"No, I already told you guys that it wouldn't work, and even if it did, chances are I would be shipped off to some random corner of the country and I would lose my place here at Stonewall." Harry absentmindedly scratched Huan's head as he spoke.

"Harry," Liam said sadly, "just promise that no matter what you won't lose contact. This has been the first real group of friends I have had and I don't want to lose track of you all."

Harry looked to Liam with sad eyes then wiped his face and forced himself to smile. "Guys, come on, you are acting like I am dying or something. I am still going to be here at Stonewall next year no matter what. And Liam I promise, this is my first group of friends too, you guys would need to force me away to separate us permanently. We are the Heroes of Stonewall right?"

"Yea!" all of the boys shouted at once and Huan let out a bark in agreement making them chuckle.

"I am just sad that no one will be here to take care of Huan for the summer." Harry finally said.

"Oh, I am sure that mutt can take care of himself," Nish said good-naturedly.

Harry and his friends talked for a bit longer about the upcoming finals until it started to get dark making them worry about curfew. As they walked to the dorm Harry felt at peace in his heart. Even if he was going to have to spend more time than usual with the Dursleys there was no way they could take away what he had here. His bonds to this place and his friends were too strong. Stonewall was his home and even if he had to be away for a while, he knew he would always find his way back here.

Special thanks to ACreativeMindAtWorkHere for being the beta reader.

AN. Hello readers. First, I want to thank everyone who has shown interest in this story. Reading your reviews and seeing how many people have been following this story has helped me to stay motivated while writing and built my confidence as an author. I don't usually write author's notes but I felt that I should preface this chapter by saying clearly that this is not a Dumbledore bash fic. I know that the trope of turning Dumbledore is very common among Harry Potter fics and I wanted to be extra clear with all my readers. Dumbledore isn't some kind of conniving villain purposefully trying to ruin Harry's life for his own glory or pleasure. I hope that I did a good job of showing that as I described the reasoning that Dumbledore follows when he decides to pull Harry into the Wizarding World.

That is all I wanted to say. I hope that going forward you enjoy the story as it progresses, I have several exciting twists and turns planned and I hope that I am able to do the story justice. Once again thank you for reading

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