Author's Note: Another chapter. That makes three days in a row, and this one is the longest chapter I have written so far for this fanfiction. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it is the longest fanfiction chapter I've ever written. Yay! Anyway, enjoy, I think you'll like this chapter, I certainly really liked writing it, and I think that it is my favourite chapter so far. Enjoy!
The Experiments of Tom Marvolo Riddle – Chapter 8
Written By YT12J
"I'm not quite sure what happened to her, Professor Dumbledore." Madame Pomfrey murmured as she slowly moved her wand above the mangled form of Dolores Umbridge. "It seems that she was exposed to multiple Dark Curses, many of which mutilated her, however Professor Snape was unable to identify them, indicating that the attacker must be extremely well versed in the Dark Arts."
"Yes, thank you for looking over her Poppy. I'm sure you did your best, and while she may not make a full recovery, she will live, which is quite a relief."
Cornelius Fudge, the third person in the Hospital Wing, glared at Dumbledore, his accusing eyes narrowed. "I have had it, Dumbledore! My undersecretary was supposed to teach Defence against the Dark Arts here, not get a first-hand experience on what they are like! And don't think that I don't know what you're up to. This is all just a strike against me; it's likely that the next person to be found almost dead will be my mutilated body!"
Dumbledore calmly took the abuse that Fudge was throwing at him, while Madame Pomfrey looked at Fudge through disbelieving eyes. She opened her mouth, presumably to confess that she would be the person to attack him, but stopped when Dumbledore held up his hand.
"Cornelius, please, calm yourself down. Nothing good will come of shouting at m – "
"Nothing good?" Fudge yelled. "Perhaps if I do shout at you, you'll actually understand how serious this situation is. We have a woman who is probably insane by now, and you're almost smiling at – "
"Enough!" Dumbledore angrily spoke. "Poppy, please excuse us for a few moments."
Madame Pomfrey nodded, and went into her office. Dumbledore turned back to Fudge, having finally lost his temper.
"You are being extremely foolish, Cornelius! Do not dare to accuse me of actually finding this situation amusing. I am as shocked and angry as you are, but rest assured, the attacked will be brought to justice. You forget, I am still Headmaster of this school. You do not lose your temper while you are my guest here."
Fudge glowered, clearly not happy at being told off like that, but did not lose his temper again. Instead, he calmly spoke. "Fine then. You can look for the attacker, and maybe you will find whoever it is. But if you don't, I already know who the primary suspect will be."
"Harry is innocent, Cornelius." Dumbledore spoke quietly, while not as angry, he was not happy at one of his students being accused of something this horrible. "Do not think that he is even capable of this. You looked at the medical reports; there is no possible way in which Harry could have used these terrible curses. Do you think that he is capable of finding someone to teach him the Dark Arts over the summer?"
"Well that's just it, isn't it?" Fudge hissed. "He needed someone to teach him, and who better than a corrupt old schoolteacher, who cannot even face facts, and realize that he was wrong all along. I'm watching you, Dumbledore. You're no longer that all-powerful wizard that everyone looks up to. You never were."
At that, he put on his bowler hat, and did his best to storm out angrily, failing slightly. Dumbledore sighed. This was not good. He knew that Harry was definitely innocent, but he had a hunch that, while Harry didn't do it, he was somehow involved with it happening. Mainly because of the fact that Minerva had informed him that Harry had a detention with Professor Umbridge that ended just before the attack.
He could only hope that Minister Fudge wouldn't do the worst thing possible, and try to send Harry to Azkaban for attacking Professor Umbridge. And he was also hoping that someone would take up the Defence position before the Minister found another spy for that job.
Break
Harry was currently eating breakfast in the Great Hall with Ron. Hermione was in the Library, doing some studying. She left as soon as she had a bite of toast, even though Harry tried to make her eat more.
"Mate, have you noticed how both Dumbledore and Umbridge aren't there?" Ron muttered to Harry. Harry glanced up at the High Table, and noticed that Ron was right. Both of them were missing. Harry knew why Umbridge was missing, mainly because of the fact that when Tom returned last night, Harry had pointed out several chunks of flesh on Tom's clothing, something that had made him need to run to the toilet.
He guessed that Dumbledore was probably dealing with whatever repercussions there were from whatever Tom had done to her, which were probably quite severe if the Minister had got himself involved in it.
"Umbridge is probably off in a meeting with Fudge, and Dumbledore is probably petting Fawkes." Harry answered, coming up with the excuses off the top of his head.
"Petting his bird?" Ron said with an incredulous look on his face. "I don't think Dumbledore would miss a meal for that, Harry. He can pet his bird in his spare time."
Before Harry could reply, the doors burst open, and before the eyes of the student body, Minister Fudge came striding in, two Aurors flanking him on either side. He had an almost possessed look on his face, and Harry had a hunch that this wasn't a regular school inspection.
"I'd just like to inform all of you of an incident that happened while your dear Headmaster was looking over the school. Don't let me interrupt your meals." Fudge said pleasantly. Every single student was looking at him with a confused look, and even the Aurors with him seemed surprised at this proclamation.
"Now as you all know, Professor Umbridge was here to teach you Defence against the Dark Arts, and just last night, a tragic incident occurred, involving her. She was brutally tortured, mutilated, and driven insane by many Dark Curses that we have been unable to identify."
Shocked expressions appeared on everyone's faces, and even the teachers looked horrified at this. However, as Fudge turned to look at him, Harry had a feeling that he knew what was going to come out of the man's mouth.
"Of course, with the excellent resources that the Ministry has, we have managed to track down the culprit. The culprit is…" And just as he started to raise his arm to point at Harry, the air behind him seemed to shimmer slightly. Fudge stopped, and hesitated, a confused look on his face. Just as people started to murmur confusedly to each other, he straightened up, and continued talking.
"Unknown!" He finished. "We have no idea who the culprit is. I have my top Aurors working extremely hard to investigate, and I can guarantee that they will find the culprit eventually. Enjoy the rest of your day."
Suddenly, he turned around and quickly walked out, the Aurors with him struggling to keep up. Many people started to whisper to each other, wondering who the culprit was, how badly Professor Umbridge got tortured, and why the Minister seemed to lose it for a minute. Harry knew the answer to the last question, having guessed when he saw the air shimmer behind the Minister.
Break
"It was you." Harry said to Tom, as soon as he walked into the Boy's Dormitory. Tom looked up from the spell book that he was flicking through, and said nothing. Harry continued.
"There is no way that Fudge just decided to change his mind like that! I don't know what you did, but I saw whatever spell it was hit him. You must have been behind him, and I'm guessing you used some sort of curse, the Imperius maybe?"
Tom smiled. "I didn't use any sort of curse, I simply used a Confundus Charm. It is simple, yet very effective as I am sure you can tell from the Minister's display back there."
Harry frowned. "That would work non-verbally, but wouldn't you have to speak to him as well to fool him into not suspecting me?"
"That would be true usually," Tom began "However, some people, mainly the most powerful, only have to think something, and the victim – I mean, the person would be confused into thinking whatever."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "I didn't think that was possible."
Tom glanced at him. "No-one thought that it was possible to survive the Killing Curse, and yet you are living proof that it is possible. Something that I am not too happy about, considering whom it was the curse rebounded off onto.
Harry shrugged. "What can I say, I'm just so powerful, that even the deadliest of curses bounce off me."
Tom glared. "Don't push it, Potter."
Break
Harry, once again, had Potions, the subject that he despised the most. Though in his defence, it was clear that Harry was the student that Snape despised the most.
Funnily enough though, Snape actually wasn't in for that lesson. When the class walked in, they found Dumbledore standing at the front, a magazine about knitting in his hands. Harry noticed Malfoy scowling at this, and for once, didn't entirely blame him. It was slightly odd that Dumbledore decided to read about knitting while taking over a class.
"Good Morning, class." He greeted with a smile. "Due to unfortunate circumstances involving a bet, a Centaur, and some Goblins, Professor Snape shall be off for a day. I shall be covering for him. Please follow all of the instructions on the Blackboard, and if you need any help at all, do not hesitate to ask. While I am not a Potions Master, I am capable of lending you a helping hand, should you need it. You may begin."
Harry sat down next to his current Potions partner, Daphne Greengrass. They had learnt to get along with each other during lessons, and while they were not exactly friends, they weren't enemies either. Harry found that she was quite a fun person to be around, to some extent, and he didn't really mind anymore that he did not get to sit near Ron or Hermione. Besides, it meant that they could get closer together, as they were having quite a few fights that year.
Harry followed the instructions on the blackboard, and began to prepare his potion. Today, they were not working in pairs, and instead were working independently. Not that he minded, in fact, it was easier when they were working in pairs, as Daphne was quite good at Potions, and therefore Snape couldn't really fault him for anything other than "Being too lazy," and "Not helping out your partner."
"Potter," Harry heard Daphne say in a low voice.
"Yeah?" He said back. "What is it? Do you need help with your Potion?"
"No, especially not from you, you're not exactly amazing. I just wanted to say, I – I believe you. About You-Know-Who returning. I know that some people think that you lost it, but I think that you and Dumbledore are telling the truth, and that the Ministry are purposefully ignoring the truth. My whole family believe you as well."
"Erm," He mumbled. "Thanks, I guess. It's nice to know that some people do believe me."
She smiled at him. "You're welcome. You know, you're not so bad. After all the rants that Draco had about you in the common room, I thought that you would be a really big-headed, arrogant person. But you're the exact opposite of that."
Later on in the lesson, Harry went and handed his completed, but not especially well, potion to Dumbledore.
"Here you are sir." He said, placing it down on the desk where Dumbledore had a stack of knitting magazines. Instead of looking up, Dumbledore did the exact opposite, and looked the other way. "Ah, yes, thank you Harry. You can go now, there are only three minutes left of the class."
"Thank you sir." Harry muttered, not too happy that Dumbledore was still ignoring him. He had no idea why he was doing it, but he hoped it would stop soon. It was getting really annoying, and Harry felt like he was starting to think less of Dumbledore.
Break
"And I just don't know why he's been ignoring me so much lately." Harry continued, currently lying down on his bed in his dormitory. "It's almost like he doesn't trust me anymore, like if he looks into my eyes, they'll suddenly send Killing Curses at him, and – Why the hell am I talking to you about this?"
Tom stopped scribbling down notes in his notebook, and looked up, the transfigured glasses sliding down his nose again. He was even dressed in a white coat, also transfigured. This was all mainly because he had nothing better to do. He had already read all of the interesting books in the Restricted Section, and had less and less to do. And he couldn't exactly leave yet. After travelling through time once, he had to wait for many months until it was possible for him to do it again. Usually, if he was going to use the same method to return, he would have to wait years, but he had found a quicker method that involved making a portkey through time.
"Well Harry, it seems to me that you need to find some way to get closer to Dumbledore, instead of pushing him away. Maybe find some common ground, like a mutual hobby, or – "
"Who is he, my girlfriend?" Harry asked, irritated.
Tom frowned. Then he looked through his notebook. "Is there something you need to tell me, Harry?"
"Arghh," Harry burst out. "This is ridiculous! I don't need your stupid help!"
He then got up, picked up his bag, and proceeded to walk out the dormitory. "And one more thing," He said, poking his head back in. "Never, ever, become a therapist. You would just drive your patients insane."
Break
"May I have your attention?" Professor Dumbledore spoke loudly over the chatter in the Great Hall, which immediately ceased. "I would like to introduce Professor Algernon San-Claw. Professor San-Claw is a very good friend of mine, and has agreed to take over the position of Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. I wish him a very good time at Hogwarts, and I hope that we can all give him a warm welcome."
After the applause died down, Harry spoke to Ron and Hermione. "Did you hear Dumbledore, Professor San-Claw is a friend of his."
"So?" Ron said. "Why does it matter? Everyone's friends with Dumbledore."
Hermione answered his question. "It means, Ron, that this new Professor, whoever he is, is probably not some Ministry spy. Professor Dumbledore must have found him just in time for the Minister to not place somebody else at Hogwarts. Though I don't know why he didn't take the job before the year began."
Ron frowned. "But I thought that new Educational Decree meant that the Ministry can appoint somebody, even if Dumbledore doesn't approve. Isn't that how Umbridge got appointed?"
"Nope," Hermione replied. "According to the Daily Prophet, Educational Decree Number Twenty Two states that the Ministry can only appoint somebody to the position if the Headmaster cannot find anybody else. Umbridge got in because nobody else actually wanted the job, but now this Professor is willing."
"Let's just hope that he's nowhere near as horrible as Umbridge was." Harry muttered. Hermione frowned. "Speaking of which, does anyone actually know exactly what happened to her? I heard that apparently it was so horrible, that she looked even uglier than before. I wonder who could do such a thing."
"Oh," Harry smiled "I can think of someone."
Author's Note: Please try to review, it means a lot, and in fact your suggestions in your reviews help me out with the stories. The idea of Fudge accusing Harry was actually something that somebody wrote in a review, though that person said "Let's hope it doesn't happen" so sorry . But thanks for that review, it was useful. Also, I would like to respond to a review by Scaehime-KingofKing's Daughter. The vanishing cabinet was broken, but Tom fixed it. Sorry I forgot to write it into the chapter, it skipped my mind as I was writing it, but thanks for pointing it out. Until next time!