Chapter eleven

Albus Dumbledore was in shock, he had been found guilty for more than a dozen crimes, not serious to send him to Azkaban, but they were still crimes. He now had to pay a huge fine but he also had to compensate Sirius Black for his twelve years in Azkaban. He lost his three very important jobs, including Headmaster. He also had been legally ordered to stay away from Harry Potter by his legal guardian, Madam Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law. He had no idea how everything went wrong, all his plans were in place, now they had fallen apart. He had no say over Harry Potter anymore, he could not get the boy to return to his aunt, he could not make the boy stay with the Weasley's or marry Ginny.

Harry had Amelia and Sirius on his side, and Sirius wasn't one for being told what to do, he would not agree with Albus if he felt it wasn't right to do so. He was never one of his order who would just do whatever Albus said. Sirius always questioned everything, that is why Albus did not want him to raise Harry after James and Lily died. Albus took the letters from the cottage in Godric's hollow so no one would ever interfere with his plans. He knew there was nothing he could do, he also realised he was lucky not to end up in Azkaban. All his plans that would lead to him, Albus, he would be seen as the hero again when he took care of Voldemort after Voldemort killed the-boy-who-lived, now none of that will happen. He knew it was arrogant but he liked having the admiration of wizarding world.

Right after dinner, Hedwig delivered a letter to Harry, 'He was found guilty, lost his jobs, all three of them, he was also fined. Amelia said she has also made an official order that he must stay away from me,' Harry handed the letter to Susan to read it at the same time.

'Hopefully it means your luck has turned around Harry, first having a new guardian, second is Sirius, now the old man is out of your life,' Susan said.

'First was getting out of Gryffindor, then having you say yes, I also got rid of Weasley. How could he believe I would just accept what he tried to do, marry that…witch, ahhh,' Harry shuddered.

'Do you think McGonagall will get to be our headmistress?' Hannah asked.

'Probably, but since she never did anything to help me, I doubt she will do any better as head. I know it was Dumbledore that allowed Snape to get away with the way he treats everyone, maybe she might do something about him.'

'We can only hope Harry, I know Aunty was furious with Dumbledore for the way Snape is. Maybe she will talk to the governors now Dumbledore is not here. Most people do whatever the old man wanted, I doubt many will still do that now he is not headmaster or chief warlock. The trouble is if people like McGonagall and others still support him he might influence them here at Hogwarts,' Susan said.

'I'm sure your aunt will talk to the governors, she knows what goes on here, thanks mainly to you and lately thanks to Harry,' Neville said, 'She could speak with my gran who knows how bad some of the teachers has been since Dumbledore became headmaster. She told me it was because of Dumbledore that she gave up teaching.'

'You're gran was a teacher?' Hannah asked sounding surprised.

'Yeah, hard to believe, but she told me she loved teaching, that's this place has really gone downhill since the old man took over.'

'I hope Amelia can do something, but um, I have one thing I'm really worried about, but I can't do much until the holidays so I was hoping you three would help, maybe some of the other puffs.'

'We'll try, so tell us what's wrong?' Hannah asked.

'Mad-eye Moody, he watches me all the time, but I also noticed that he seems to turn up wherever I am. We know someone put my name in the goblet of fire, I thought it might be Dumbledore. I've told you about Quirrell, the chamber and all the other things I ended up involved in. I figured he was using them to test me or something, the tournament was just another test. But what if it was Mad-eye, who is friends with Dumbledore?'

'Then we'll make sure you have a few of us around you all the time until you can get to your vault and get the ring. If it was Dumbledore, it's not like it would help with whatever he was planning since he has been ordered to stay away from you.'

'But what if he does have some plan and Mad-eye decides to carry it out, or he tells Mad-eye to carry it out?'

'He could, so we'll make sure you're never alone.'

'You aren't at the moment Harry, you and Susan are always together and when you're not off snogging then usually I'm with you. If we're not in the Hufflepuff rooms, then Neville joins us. It's only two days of classes before the holidays, we just double our efforts of keeping you with us,' Hannah said.

'Two days of classes, none are defence which is good. I might stay inside the Hufflepuff rooms as much as possible over the next two days, apart from classes. There's no use using my cloak, his eye can see through it because of his creepy eye.'

'We'll keep you safe, we know more about these dangerous situations you've found yourself in so we know there is more to all that then just coincidence,' Susan said.

'Yeah, too much happened for it to be a coincidence, but onto another subject, well sort of. Amelia said I would need to be questioned about my home life, but I wasn't called, I wonder why?'

'She may have used her own memory of when she spoke to you in the three broomsticks that day. She would have questioned the Dursley's, using approved potions that can be used on muggles.'

'Oh, so there is a veritaserum that can be given to muggles?'

'Yes, it's not as potent nor does it have any magic connected to it. If the aurors questioned them then there would have been enough evidence that you wouldn't need to testify. Aunt Amelia does not like to bring children into court, not unless she really has to. She believes it's too traumatising for them, especially if they have to go over stuff like abuse, not to mention, face their abusers.'

'Even though Madam Bones had them in court it was mainly to find out how Harry was treated which goes to more charges against Dumbledore. But it's a shame that we can't prosecute muggles, we've heard the odd story about a witch or wizard that's been attacked by muggles, now we've heard about Harry,' Hannah said.

'Yeah, you would think there was a way to take them to court, whether our courts or there's. I mean there are squibs out there in the muggle world, why can't they be used to take them to court? They could be trained to be like aurors or muggle police, they could even become a lawyer which could help with magicals and muggles,' Harry said.

'Maybe that's something we can strive for when we're older, a way to prosecute muggles, either in our courts or the muggle courts. But I agree with what you said Harry, we'll stick to the common room as much as possible. No other teacher is allowed in without Professor Sprout's permission, apart from the Headmaster or Headmistress. You know, we could tell her about your suspicion, that way she won't allow him in, if he wanted to that is,' Susan said.

'Her room is attached to Hufflepuff house, we could go first thing in the morning,' Hannah said.

'Good idea, then I just have to get through the last two days then we will be leaving for the holidays.'

'You can mention it to Aunty when we get home.'

'She's done so much already, I didn't want her to waste her time if it's just me being paranoid.'

'It's not paranoia Harry, it's your instincts, they have kept you alive, trust them again. You could have gone to see Flitwick about changing houses, but you're instincts told you to see Professor Sprout. Think of this as well, last year you thought Sirius was a murderer and betrayed your parent's, yet you hesitated when you could have killed him. That was your instincts or gut feeling, something was telling you that there was more to him that what you knew. You could have killed him Harry, most would have understood if you did, but you didn't, you decided to listen to his story, now you have a godfather.'

'Susan's right Harry, you have some type of sense which tells you when you're in danger. If Mad-eye is giving you those feelings, then trust them, I would,' Hannah said.

'I will, but this is great, whenever I tried to talk to Hermione about things, she would begin to sound like a book that was boring or she would instantly tell me to talk to Dumbledore. See, she trusted him and expected me to go to him all the time, not all adults are honest or right, she just doesn't see it, hopefully now she does. You two, you will listen and give an honest opinion without going on about talking to an adult, not unless I want to or I think I need to,' Harry kissed Hannah's cheek then Susan's lips. He believed he had finally found some true friends, not just a girlfriend either, but a real friends that would be in his life forever.

Harry did wonder if maybe Hermione finally understands that adults make mistakes like anyone else and sometimes those mistakes can be serious. She would know that Dumbledore had lost his jobs now, if she decides to find out the reasons then she should know that just because he was respected and powerful, didn't mean he could break the law whenever he wanted. He was paying for that now, Harry just hoped he never saw Albus Dumbledore again.