Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale. There will provably be changes in the first hour or so as I find things that didn't come out the way I wanted.
At Hogsmeade station, Efa, Emyr and Dobby turned up to take their familiars and trunks up to where the others were waiting.
Once out on the platform though, Harry frowned as he looked down to where Hagrid was calling the First years to him. "Hagrid has too good a heart to have been involved in this, and given the fact that the anti-giant feeling was even stronger back when he and Professor Flitwick attended Hogwarts, he would have had to be outstanding to even get in…. I'd lay money on the fact that Dumbledore's been interfering with him to keep him down at this level. We need to be putting more effort into helping Hagrid."
Hermione hugged him. "We will Harry, but at the moment our priority is to get a couple of boats so that the others can enjoy their first sight of Hogwarts in peace." Harry nodded, hugging her back, and they headed down to where Hagrid was.
It was fun watching Nev, Sue, Luna, Daph and Tori's awe as they first caught sight Hogwarts, but their enjoyment ended when they were waiting to be led into the Great Hall for the sorting, because Malfoy came up with Crabbe and Goyle and like Weasley, Malfoy sprouted the same lines as he had last time.
Harry looked down at the hand the Malfoy had stuck out at him and then looked back up at him.
"Are you really Draco Malfoy? Because I'm certain that I heard Duke Black order the annulment of your parents' marriage a few weeks ago."
Malfoy was livid. "Yes I am! Father corrected that error straight away!"
Harry chuckled. "Ooh, that must have cost him a bit, especially after the House of Malfoy lost so much to the House of Black…. but that doesn't explain how you can be so ignorant of the rules of our society…"
He looked at Sue, Nev, Daphne and Astoria (as the ones raised to observe House politics) in feigned confusion, but they just shrugged and shook their heads as if to say that they didn't understand either, so he turned back to Malfoy.
"After all, I have only been in this world for less than a month now but I've had time to learn the rules…. So I would have certainly expected someone who has been raised in what is rumoured to be, or at least was, one of the richer families in Magical Britain, and who's mother was part of the House of Black at one point, to understand that it is never acceptable for a social inferior to introduce themselves to their superiors unless their social status is within one or two levels at most of their superiors'…. Therefore, while it would have been acceptable for Countess Bones, Heir Longbottom, Heiress Greengrass or Heiress Lovegood to introduce themselves to me…."
(The fact that he had named them in the proper order of rank was noted by those who knew these things but Sue, Daphne, Luna and Nev tried to cover up their laughter at this by bowing their heads as they curtsied or bowed as applicable.)
"We all know that the Heir to the…." he gave a cough of laughter "Noble House of Malfoy would be at least six or seven levels below the Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter…. I am of course presuming that your father has completed the process to formally accept you as his heir again…. and ignoring all those ugly rumours that your family's elevation to Noble rank in Henry the Sixth's Second Reign was never actually formally confirmed, because otherwise you would be at least nine levels below me, as you would no more than an ordinary member of a Minor House…. If that, because if your father hasn't formally accepted you back into the House of Malfoy, you aren't even a part of House Malfoy…."
Most of the Purebloods were laughing openly now, because the ones who were informed about these things knew that what Duke Potter (it did stick in the craws of many of them to have to refer to a Half-Blood as that, but then the Potters had been blood traitors for centuries, it was even worse for the ones from the Dark Faction Houses to have to refer to him as Heir Black, because the Blacks had remained pure up until now) said was correct, and they were quite sure that Malfoy's father wouldn't have bothered doing those things. That titbit about the Nobility of House Malfoy being in question was delicious though, they had to look into that. Their fathers had been laughing about the fact that the only reason he'd given his wife and son the Malfoy name back was to save face in the Wizengamot after Duke Black backed him into a corner by ensuring that everyone in the court room witnessed the fact that he was powerless to do anything about the annulment of their marriage and the loss of so many of their holdings and so much of their fortune.
Crabbe and Goyle just looked confused about what in the seven hells was going on but Malfoy's face was turning an interesting shade of purple as he worked himself up to an explosion so Minerva hustled them all into the Great Hall before this could escalate any further…. and to stop herself bursting out laughing as Harry had obviously inherited both his mother's sharp wit and his father's sharp tongue…. Lily's tongue had been sharp enough too if someone irked her but that had definitely sounded like James, because Charlus and Dorea had ensured that he knew the rules of the Magical Houses.
Once inside, Harry flashed a smile over his shoulder at Hermione as she was repeating what she'd said last time about the magical ceiling to Luna, but at least the repeat was intentional this time. They all applauded when Sue was selected for Hufflepuff again, and waited to see what happened with Hermione, because the plan was for all of them to get into Hufflepuff with Sue. Auntie Mona had been crowing good naturedly about that to Auntie Minnie and Uncle Fili.
Harry he was drawn into Hermione's discussion with the Sorting Hat almost as soon as Minerva put the Hat on her head. 'I knew that I was right about the link between you two!…. Oh dear, I am so sorry for what you both had to go through….but Lady Hogwarts has requested that I formally welcome the true heirs of her Founders back to the school on her behalf…. and please allow me to do the same for myself!'
The Sorting Hat raised an issue when they asked to have all eight of them put into Hufflepuff. 'We have a serious problem with that My Lord, as I have just discovered that the Headmaster has put a compulsion on me to ensure that Harry Potter is sorted into Gryffindor, and it is too strong for me to ignore…..' he stopped at the grim laugh from Harry over the link 'What is there to laugh at My Lord? I cannot ignore this compulsion….'
'You have indicated that you can look in my head over the link friend Hat...'
The Hat cut him off there. 'I prefer to be referred to as Merlin My Lord, you see….'
'I'm sorry Merlin, but may the story wait until after we've resolved this issue please?'
'Of course My lord, I do apologise!'
'No need to apologise Merlin, but what I was saying was… look inside my head and see what my true name is.'
Merlin laughed delightedly (over their link only) a moment later. 'Ah yes, I see your point Duke Henry James Potter-Peverell….. I would be delighted to honour your request to place your entire party together in HufflePuff My Lord, and your's as well of course My Lady.'
He chuckled at the sense of regal approval that Hermione managed to project at that, but seemed disappointed when he asked…. 'Do you think we have taken long enough to determine Lady Granger's house?' and they both agreed over the link. He announced. "HUFFLEPUFF!" and Hermione went to sit with Sue.
Tori was next, and even though Merlin had agreed, they all relaxed when he quickly announced "HUFFLEPUFF!" and she happily went to sit with Sue and Hermione. Then it was Daph's turn and it went even quicker.
It wasn't too long before it was Nev's turn and Merlin announced "HUFFLEPUFF!" almost immediately. Luna took longer but Harry was fairly sure that was just because she was having a nice chat with Merlin.
He tried to tune out Weasley's loud and insulting comments about Nev and Luna as they happily headed over to sit with Sue and the other girls, but he was gratified that it didn't take more than a meaningful look at his arm in a sling and an evil smile to shut him up as he sullenly subsided in fear of what he saw in Harry's eyes.
Harry just laughed when Malfoy proudly strutted to the Slytherin table after he was selected, expecting the accolades and deference due to the Heir to the House of Malfoy, but they just laughed at him because the other first years had already told them what had happened outside. It was disconcerting to see Harry getting approving nods from the children of some of Magical Britain's most established Pureblood houses at the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables, who were recognised as being the school's foremost experts in the history of the Houses of Magical Britain (some actually knew more than many historians).
The reason for this approval was that a House's proper place in the social structure of Magical Britain was even more more important than blood status to many of the old families such as their's, so they simply had to acknowledge such a masterful put down of an upstart like Malfoy. Especially when it utilised such detailed historical knowledge of Magical Britain, because while the detail had gone beyond what they themselves knew, what they did know supported it as being accurate. Some of these history buffs were trying to work out how to get enough of the first years who'd heard it down to the Ministry of Magic to ensure that they got all the details of what was already being referred to as 'The Malfoy Put Down' from their memories.
By the time Minerva called "Duke Henry Potter", Harry was eager to get this over and done with. Dora was yet to come but he didn't expect any issues for her, considering that she'd just spent the last seven years here as a Hufflepuff.
Much of his and Hermione's discussion with Merlin this time was about the fact that the reason he preferred to be called Merlin was because Merlin had bonded his image into this Mage's hat (a much more comprehensive image than the ones that generally went into the later magical portraits, as it actually retained a great deal of his knowledge and some of his magic, which had only grown after being immersed in the magic percolating through Hogwarts from the lay lines which joined under her for a thousand years) in the Sixth Century so that he could continue to serve the rulers of the land as an advisor after he was gone. Four centuries later, he had been passed down to Godric Gryffindor, so when they were having trouble matching students to the best school houses for them in the early days of Hogwarts they tried using him as he suggested and it had worked well. The Founders were having trouble getting acceptance from some of more the traditional witches and wizards at the time, so Merlin had agreed to let them to use the story that Godric had created him to improve the Founders' credibility.
Merlin was also complaining that he hadn't really had anyone but them and Luna to talk to for at least seven hundred years because they only ever wanted to use him to sort students once a year, so when Harry and Hermione said that they'd be happy to talk to him if they could work out a way to do it, he excitedly talked them through the bonding ritual that Merlin had created to link him to the rulers he was meant to advise (though he was already linked to Harry as Head of the House of Emrys, because he was an Emrys heirloom), saying that that would hopefully allow them all to talk as Harry did with Hermione. When the ritual was done, he thanked Harry and snorted. 'Oh, I can't wait to see the Headmaster's face when I announce Hufflepuff…. I don't know what happened to that boy Harry Potter who was supposed to come before you though Duke Henry, do you or Countess Hermione have any idea?'
Harry snorted at that, but tried to cover it up. 'No...wait, maybe he's that red headed boy?'
'Oh no, that one has Slytherin written all over him! …'
Merlin laughed delightedly again when Hermione rebuked them 'Harry... Merlin, Behave!' because he had obviously been quite lonely.
'Oh well, I suppose it's time to see whether I can give the Headmaster a heart attack, let's hope!'
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
When Minerva stepped up and took the Hat off his head with a smile, Merlin anxiously called to them over the link to ask whether it had worked and Harry and Hermione were reassuring him as Harry started to head for the Hufflepuff table, only to be brought to a stop by a shout from the High Table. "Stop Harry! You must go back to be re-sorted! The Hat has made an error!"
When he turned to cast a cool look at the High Table, no-one could work out how his quiet voice carried to every corner of the hall. "As you should know Headmaster, my proper form of address is Duke Potter. I do not know you and therefore your use of such a familiar form of address for me is both inappropriate and unacceptable. However…. in deference to your position as the Headmaster here at Hogwarts, I will permit you to address me as Mister Potter if you insist on being so informal. I will let this error pass Headmaster, but no repeats of this will be countenanced!"
Severus Snape shouted at him from his seat beside Dumbledore. "Potter! You will show the Headmaster the proper respect! You insolent…..."
Harry shifted his attention to Snape and his icy tone made most in the hall pull back, because it was still carrying throughout the hall as he cut him off. "And you appear to be hard of hearing Professor! Because as I have just advised the Headmaster, my proper title is Duke Potter, and you are not permitted to address me as anything else! Seeing as you were raised in the Muggle world as I was Professor, I will explain to you just once how things work in Magical Britain. You have quite publicly addressed the Head of one Most Noble and Most Ancient House and the Heir to another in a most insulting and aggressive manner. Therefore, the only options available to you here are for you to either make an equally public apology which is sincere enough for me to accept, and ensure that you never make another mistake of this nature again or…."
"You insufferable brat! You're just as bad as your father! I'll make you pay for trying to threaten me! You will rue this day for the rest of your miserable existence here!"
"Or you, the Minor House of Snape and the Noble House of Prince will all be penalised for the insult rendered here in front of so many witnesses... But you have now taken this to another level altogether by actually threatening the Head and Heir of two Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses in front of all these witnesses, so now you must be tried and sentenced for your crimes against the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter and Black. In addition to whatever other punishments you are sentenced to by the Wizengamot…. by the Most Ancient House Laws of Magical Britain I, Duke Henry James Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, require that the Noble House of Prince and the Minor House of Snape be formally eradicated in Magical Britain, and everything belonging to Severus Tobias Snape, the Minor House of Snape and the Noble House of Prince is now forfeit to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter in penalty for your crimes here today, so mote it be!" He intended more penalties for Snape, but that would have to wait until his Wizengamot trial.
When Hermione, Sue, Luna solemnly repeated "So mote it be!" everyone in the Great Hall felt the magic accept Harry's decree, because the Great Hall of Hogwarts was the original court of Magical Britain and under the Most Ancient House Laws of Magical Britain that were invoked, the Heads of the Most Ancient Houses' word was law there. This meant that the Noble House of Prince and the Minor House of Snape had now ceased to exist and the Professor formally known as Severus Snape had lost the family magic of the Noble House of Prince and the Minor House of Snape, and much of what he had created himself as well, because any major achievements of any members of the House became family magic, rather than the members', and as such it had now been transferred to the House of Potter. At the same time, every possession of Severus Snape, the Minor House of Snape and the Noble House of Prince had also been transferred to the House of Potter. He sat back, suddenly feeling rather confused and strangely depleted and he was trying to work out what the hell had just happened. The history buffs were whispering furiously to each other and Minerva, Pomona, Filius and Poppy were looking at Harry, Hermione, Sue, Luna with a mixture of awe and grim satisfaction.
Harry turned to Professor McGonagall. "Professor McGonagall, would you be so kind as to call the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to come to Hogwarts and address this matter immediately please? It would also be appreciated if you could inform them that I will require a pensieve to record memories of the details of two other separate altercations involving two students who attacked my party on the Hogwarts Express which must also be dealt with."
Minerva shook herself out of the amazement that she'd just witnessed the first known invocation of Most Ancient House Law in over half a millennium (the agreement of over half of the Heads of the Most Ancient Houses was required to invoke Most Ancient House Law, but between them Harry, Hermione, Sue and Luna represented fourteen of the twenty Houses) and curtsied, saying. "Most certainly Duke Potter. I shall do so post haste." before heading for the door.
Just before she reached the door, Dumbledore came out of his stupor and shouted. "Professor McGonagall! What do you think you're doing? I forbid you to contact the DMLE! This is an internal Hogwarts matter and as such it will be addressed by me!"
She turned and gave him him a grim smile which held more than a trace of malice…. The old fool had just experienced that display of the power of the old magic and he still believed that he had any authority here? What an idiot! "Headmaster, as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, I find your lack of understanding of the legal requirements of Magical Britain extremely disturbing! As Duke Potter has quite rightly stated, under the foundation laws of Magical Britain, the only option available to us in the event of what has occurred here is to call in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and turn the matter over to them immediately. I for one fully intend to comply with my duties under the laws of Magical Britain."
With that, she curtsied to Harry again and proceeded on out of the Great Hall, returning nearly half an hour later with the Director of the DMLE and a team of Aurors, it would have been sooner but they had to make a stop to collect Arthur Weasley, and that had required stunning Molly Weasley and placing memory charms on both her and Ginny. While they were there they also had a formal inheritance test done on Ginny, to find out who's daughter she actually was.
Minerva was grateful that Pomona's prefect had brought his detailed description of what he saw of the altercation in their compartment to her as soon as he arrived at Hogwarts, because this meant that she could openly hand his report to Amelia when she arrived to initiate that portion of the investigation. While she was gone, Professor Sprout had continued with the sorting of the rest of the First years.
Harry had continued on to the Hufflepuff table and sat with the others without another word or glance to the High Table when Minerva left the Great Hall. Even Dumbledore had worked out by then that trying to take the matter further would just make things worse… Severus was still trying to work out what the hell had just happened.
There was considerable amusement at Ronald Weasley's reaction to being sorted into Slytherin, but Merlin's clear response when Dumbledore demanded for a second time in anyone present's memory that a student be resorted was even more interesting. "No…. Mister Weasley has no discernible courage, chivalry, intelligence, interest in work or loyalty…. his only motivation is ambition, and most of that relates to what he can do with the money he'll be getting from you for spying on Harry….."
They were astounded to discover that the Hat could move on its own then, because it quickly hopped off the sorting stool and scurried under the nearest table to avoid the Reducto curses that Dumbledore had started throwing at it. When it was under the table, Harry told it to hold still for a moment using their link and quickly cast non-verbal wandless disillusionment and summoning charms on it, stuffing it into his robes as soon as it came to him.
That left them in the situation where they had one student left to be sorted without the Sorting Hat, so Pomona asked him. "Where do you think the Hat would have placed you Mister Zambini?"
His dismissive drawl as he said "Slytherin of course!" left no doubt in her mind that he was correct.
"Very well, Slytherin it is! Off you go now!"
Dumbledore was too tied up in his own worries about whether Potter had heard enough to work out what the Hat was saying to note or care that Pomona had bypassed the normal sorting process with that last boy. He, Snape and Quirrell had also missed the fact that there were now several disillusioned communications mirrors trained on them from the Hufflepuff table, and that six of the Aurors who arrived with Amelia just after that were in fact Angela, Sirius, Remus, Alastor, Ulfr and Snorri under heavy glamours.
The group of new Hufflepuffs were taken off to Professor McGonagall's office two at a time to record their memories of what happened on the Hogwarts Express, and what happened with Snape (Amelia, Sirius, Angela, Alastor and Arthur were in awe as they watched the memory of the invocation of Most Ancient House Law), and discuss their plan of attack. Quirellmort (the others liked that) hadn't worked out that he was their primary focus here as yet, so unless he forced their hand they would wait until they had everyone in place before they moved on him. They were fairly sure how Severus and Dumbledore would react when they stunned Quirellmort, so they wanted to have everyone in position to take them down too. The plan for Quirrellmort was to stun him into next week, rush in to slap magic suppressing shackles on him and then knock off the turban off his head so that everyone in the Great Hall would see Voldemort's face growing out of the back of his head. There was no doubt that he was there because they could all feel his foul presence.
The others were worried when Harry insisted that he had to be the one to take Dumbledore out to gain mastery of the Elder Wand and they had to remind themselves of how powerful he was, and that he'd probably seen more fighting in the seven years it took him to defeat Voldemort than most of them had in their lives. Even then, Harry still had to remind them that Dumbledore wasn't really as powerful as the stories about him said, as that was mostly the Elder Wand while Dumbledore's main strength was catching people unprepared and using memory charms and compulsions to get what he wanted from them. That reassured them enough to relax and take note when he told them exactly where to find Dumbledore's original wand, which he always carried as well as the Elder Wand, explaining that it looked similar enough to the Elder wand that most of the people in the Great Hall wouldn't be able to tell the difference afterwards, so they were to take the Elder wand and replace it with his original wand before they revived him. He added that casting a Confundus on him before he was revived should keep him befuddled enough to make their play work, but if he tried to attack he'd be much less dangerous without the Elder Wand.
It took the Aurors quite a while to collect statements and memories from many of the people in the Great Hall and students were being taken out and brought back all the time, so no-one really knew where anyone was. They had also been putting mild short term compulsions on the students to ignore the High Table before they were sent back to limit the number of clear memories of what happened. They were all watching Amelia when she returned and acted as soon as she gave the signal. Angela, Sirius, Remus, Alastor, Kingsley and Amelia whipped out their wands and stunned Quirrellmort, with Sirius, Remus, Kingsley, Ulfr and Snorri immediately racing up to slap extra strength magic suppressing shackles on his hands and feet that were linked to a magic suppressing belt as well to prevent him doing anything with his magic.
Severus was already on edge because he was still trying to work out what had happened, and knew that he was done for if he was taken in and questioned by the Aurors, and Dumbledore was even worse because he couldn't imagine any way of getting out of either what Severus would most likely reveal or Voldemort's presence as a Hogwarts Professor if it was discovered without being ruined, let alone both. Therefore it was no surprise when they both leapt up, pulling out their wands in shock as soon as Quirrell was stunned, but they were stunned into next week before they could get much off because Harry, Amelia, Alastor and Angela were ready for them. Sirius raced over to Dumbledore, pocketing the Elder Wand before anyone else could see it, quickly retrieving Dumbledore's other wand from where Harry said it would be and casting a Confundus Charm on him before he stood up with Dumbledore's wand in plain view in his hand and revived him, though he was chuckling to himself as he did so because that massively overpowered stunner that Harry hit him with would have probably been more than enough to addle his brain by itself, as the way he was bounced off the wall behind the High Table like that had almost guaranteed a severe case of concussion.
Dumbledore immediately demanded that his wand be returned as soon as he was revived, but he was distracted by the (genuinely) furious Director of the DMLE in his face, demanding to know what in the seven hells he was doing, joining those creatures in attacking her Aurors? His head was fuzzy and he couldn't understand what in the world she was talking about until he saw Voldemort's face in plain view on the back of Quirrell's head as he was being levitated out (just high enough over their heads to get everyone's attention and make sure they saw Voldemort's face) in magic suppressing shackles without his turban, and Severus being levitated out the same way right behind him, with the sleeve torn off his robes to expose the vivid Dark Mark on his bare arm.
He tried to demand that they release Severus at once and was enraged when Amelia ignored his authority and turned on him angrily. "I wouldn't be making any demands if I were you Headmaster. While you may have managed to get your pet Death Eater off last time, this time we have memories from over half the people in this Hall of the threats and verbal attacks he hurled at the Head and Heir of two Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses, and the Laws of Magical Britain are quite clear on that, just as they are on the fact that he attacked my Aurors in the performance of their duties of arresting… what was that again? Duke Black put it so well… oh yes! The common Half-Blood usurper Tom Riddle who falsely styled himself as Lord Voldemort…." She caught Sirius' eye as he smirked at that, then went on.
"The problem is, while we can understand why your pet Death eater would leap to assistance of his master when Riddle attacked my Aurors, we cannot understand why you would stand with the one you claim to oppose. For that matter, why did you not report Riddle's presence to us? His foul presence was clear to us from the moment we entered the Hall, that was how we were ready for him when he attacked. If you missed something that obvious, you are clearly no longer able to adequately protect the students at Hogwarts and should step down as Headmaster. Rest assured that I will be raising this matter with the Hogwarts Board of Governors, and the Wizengamot and ICW as well, because there must be questions raised as to whether you are capable of carrying out any of your duties in light of this."
Dumbledore tried to argue, but a grim faced Arthur Weasley entered the Great Hall with an Auror at that point and Percival and Ronald Weasley were called forward before Amelia went on, casting a sonorous (even though everyone in the Hall had heard every word she'd said up to that point quite clearly). "All the evidence in the matter of Duke Henry Potter versus Percival and Ronald Weasley has been reviewed by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Mister Arthurus Weasley, Head of the Ancient Druid House of Weasley and Patriarch of the Weasley Family. This evidence has conclusively proven that Ronald Bilius Weasley and Percival Ignatius Weasley both attacked a group of first year students without provocation in two separate incidents on the Hogwarts Express earlier today. The fact that the majority of the students attacked were in fact Heads and Heirs of Most Ancient Houses renders severe punishments mandatory for their crimes, however as the primary victim of these attacks, Duke Henry James Potter has advocated leniency and so it has been agreed between myself, Madam Amelia Bones, Director of Magical Britain's Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Duke Henry James Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and Mister Arthurus Septimus Weasley, Head of the Ancient Druid House of Weasley and Patriarch of the Weasley Family, that under the Most Ancient House Laws of Magical Britain, Ronald Bilius Weasley and Percival Ignatius Weasley's punishment shall be to be expelled and banned from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, stripped of their magic and have their wands snapped, so mote it be!"
Harry, Hermione, Susan, Luna and Sirius quietly intoned "So mote it be!" and they all felt the magic accepting the decree again.
Percy and Ron immediately collapsed as their magic was stripped from them, and Aurors dug out and snapped Ron's wand. They started to look for Percy's wand but Amelia told them not to bother as it was already broken. The Hogwarts symbol had also disappeared from their robes, so Hogwarts had expelled them as required.
Minerva bent down to rip the prefect's badge off Percy's robes and turned angrily on Dumbledore, partly to distract him from what had just happened (again!), but mostly because she was genuinely angry.
"Never again will I let you override my decisions in regard to the representatives of my house! You forced me to make that one of my prefects against my better judgement, and he was obviously no more fit for the job than some of your choices of professors! By the way Headmaster, shouldn't you be getting busy finding Hogwarts another Potions master and Defence master? After all, their classes are supposed to be starting tomorrow!" With that she turned and stormed off, and as Percy and Ron were being taken out to be checked over by Poppy before Arthur took them home, Amelia indicated for Sirius to give Dumbledore his wand.
Even through his rage at the events of the night and being spoken to like that, the concussion and the Confundus, Dumbledore could tell that this wasn't the Elder Wand and he angrily said that this wasn't his wand and demanded that his real wand be returned to him at once!
Amelia just shook her head at him. "I cannot understand how we did not see this before Headmaster, you have obviously lost your faculties. I saw my Auror pick up your wand before he revived you, are you trying to say that he created a false wand at that very moment? If he were capable of doing something like that, Mister Brown is seriously under-utilised as a common Auror. I can see that this is disturbing you though, so…. Thompson! Go and get Mister Ollivander please, hopefully him validating the Headmaster's wand will help settle him."
Dumbledore tried to stop the Auror (who was Remus under a glamour) but he was already gone. He was enraged at being treated like this. She had actually had the gall to call him a mental incompetent in front of all his staff and students! Piled on top of the blatant disrespect that McGonagall and Potter had shown him in front of everyone and worry about what they would get from Severus and Quirrell, he was beside himself!
He was so worked up that he failed to note how suspicious it was that the Auror had returned with Garrick Ollivander in about ten minutes, or that Garrick refused to look him in the eye as he took the wand and examined it. When he was done, Garrick looked at Amelia, saying "Yes, this is indeed the wand that my grandfather, Gerbold Ollivander, sold to Albus as a child…. its outward appearance has been altered somewhat a long time ago…. at least eighty or ninety years ago I'd say… but the fact remains that this is unquestionably Albus Dumbledore's wand." as he handed the wand to her.
Amelia looked at Dumbledore. "Are you satisfied Headmaster? Magical Britain's foremost expert in wand lore, the grandson of the very wand maker who sold you your wand, has confirmed that this is your wand, surely you cannot question Mister Ollivander's word?"
Dumbledore snatched the wand from her and stormed out of the Great Hall without a word. Amelia looked after him, trying to keep a straight face as she asked. "Where is he going in such a hurry?"
Minerva scowled at her as she was trying hard not to laugh. "Perhaps he's anxious to secure us a new Potions master and Defence Against the Dark Arts master…" she paused as if something had just occurred to her. "Though I do hope that he doesn't choose another Dark Lord for that role!"
She paused again. "There is something else that is more urgent actually… as Slytherin has no House Master now and with the disturbances of tonight the students will definitely need someone to turn to…. Septima, this doesn't normally come under my purview as the Deputy Headmistress, but as you are our only Professor who was in Slytherin, would you be prepared to take over as Slytherin's House Mistress, temporarily at least…. I'm afraid that Albus will most likely overturn this when he hears of it, purely because I suggested it."
Septima nodded, trying to cover a smile. "I will gladly step in for as long as I am needed Minerva. It will be good to get back into the Slytherin Dungeon again, as Severus was adamant that none of us were allowed to enter his domain since he took over ten years ago."
While they had an audience (as just about everyone was watching and listening), Amelia added. "I'm sure that you will do admirably Professor Vector, and if you and the students want you to stay on in the role of the Slytherin House Mistress, let me know, I and the other Hogwarts Governors are quite capable of making the appointment permanent."
They were all surprised when the Slytherin House Ghost, the Bloody Baron, suddenly appeared and weighed into the discussion, rising through the floor and bowing in turn to Minerva, Septima and Amelia he said. "Please call on me if you require any assistance in convincing the Board of Governors of this Madam Bones. Miss Vector was a credit to our house when she was a student here and she is a credit to the school now as a Professor, which is far more than I can say for the ones that your Aurors just removed."
They didn't have to feign confusion at that. "But Professor Quirrell wasn't in Slytherin Baron?"
"Oh I wasn't referring to him Madam Bones, I was referring to Tom Riddle…. Actually it is strange that the Headmaster did not recognise Riddle as he had quite a bit to do with him here as a student, he brought him to Hogwarts actually, found him in a muggle orphanage as I recall..."
Amelia looked at Harry and he nodded as the Bloody Baron's words brought the memories back to him. She nodded contemplatively. "I thank you for this news Baron, may we have an opportunity to discuss this further with you at a later date?"
He bowed to her again. "Certainly Madam Bones, just advise Merlin when you wish to discuss the matter." With that he sank through the floor.
She went to ask what he meant about Merlin but Harry caught her eye and shook his head.
Just then Angela caught her eye and signalled that the goblins had finished destroying the Horcruxes so it was time to get rid of Quirrellmort. Amelia nodded and let Minerva know that they had to go, picking up Angela, Sirius and Alastor along the way to the floo.
When they reached the Ministry of Magic they proceeded to the Department of Mysteries and hence the Death Chamber, where there a few people were waiting, Kingsley and other trusted Aurors were guarding Quirrellmort, Saul Croaker and a few Unspeakables were in the room, Rufus Scrimgeour (the Head of the Auror's Office), Bartemius Crouch and a number of prominent Wizengamot members, Griselda Marchbanks, Tiberius Ogden, Cyrus Greengrass and Augusta Longbottom, plus Baron Greystoke, who had been invited to witness the elimination of the one who almost stolen the Philosopher's Stone for the Flamels.
When Amelia arrived, half of them demanded to know what was going on, and she explained that when they were called to Hogwarts to investigate three separate instances of attacks against the Heads and Heirs of Most Ancient Houses, she and the Aurors with her recognised a foul presence emanating from one of the Professors. This put them on guard, so when he attacked in his attempt to escape, a number of them stunned him and secured him with magic suppressing shackles. The turban he was wearing was knocked off when he was stunned, and they discovered that he actually had a second face growing out of the back of his head. Those who had faced the one styling himself as Lord Voldemort in the past recognised the taint of his magic, so he was brought here to be executed, in the presence of them and other significant members of the Wizengamot.
Scrimgeour, Crouch and some of the others tried to argue that this couldn't be Voldemort because he was killed by Potter ten years ago, even though the evil emanating from him was palpable and the presence of a second face controlled by a separate entity was rather conclusive proof of a particularly heinous form of possession, one which was obviously killing Quirrell's body (the signs were that Quirrell himself was gone, as nothing remained of the person he'd been before he left on the quest that he returned from like this). Amelia called the old Aurors like Alastor who had faced Voldemort and the unspeakables to identify who this was, and the consensus of opinion was that this was definitely Voldemort, so the questioners backed down.
At that point, the last of the invited Wizengamot members arrived, Elphias Doge, Julius Macmillan, Thaddeus Nott and Lucius Malfoy. Minerva looked at Amelia in disbelief but she murmured that doing it this way meant that neither side could claim there was a conspiracy or that they had been deliberately excluded. As expected, as soon as she explained what they were there for Doge demanded to know why the Chief Warlock wasn't present and tried to hold things up until he was, but Amelia did a good job of looking regretful as she said that the Chief Warlock's competence was another concern that would have to be addressed in view of his actions tonight, but the blight of Voldemort was too great a danger to risk allowing it to continue any longer, so they had to proceed with the execution immediately now that all the witnesses were present.
The rest of them overrode Doge, Macmillan, Nott and Malfoy's objections and the Aurors sent Quirrellmort through the veil, screaming, pleading and threatening right up to the point where he actually passed through the veil. They all felt cleaner once that foul presence had passed through the veil, but Nott and Malfoy were worried because they'd flinched from the pain in their Dark Marks as their master passed through, and they'd caught the significant looks that Amelia and Alastor were giving them.