Hello everyone! This probably isn't the chapter you are waiting for, but this needs to get published first.

So far 31 people have voted, which is not as much as I hoped for but I closed the poll anyways. This are the pairings I will use with their respective percentages. They are the highest ones. If you don't like them and didn't vote, too bad. Shouldn't have been so lazy.

Luna/Neville 16%

Hermione/Blaise 13%

Ron/Pansy 12%

Viktor/Cedric 9%

Bill/Fleur 8%

Please review!

Chapter 21: For the Greater good of whom?

"Albus Dumbledore, you are hereby dismissed from your position as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, on account of negligence and mismanagement for nearly half a century. You will be replaced during the winter holidays." Madame Marchbanks conveyed the judgement with about as much sentiment as an ice statue. Professor Tofty and Madame Bourke were equally stony.

The silence echoing through Dumbledore's office was deafening. The old wizard was dazed by the unanticipated announcement. The twinkle in his eyes, despised by many, had disappeared. The other teachers were just as shocked, but also secretly relieved. They had seen the damage happening up close and had been powerless to do anything about it.

After a good five minutes, Dumbledore finally regained some control over his senses, and mouth. "May I inquire as to whom will succeed me?" he asked, with a slight tremor in his voice.

Madame Marchbanks nodded her head. "Most certainly. We are not just here to deliver the bad news, Albus, but also to clarify the measure we feel necessary to bring Hogwarts to a higher level of education. After much deliberation we decided that Lady Malfoy was the only qualified person in all of Britain to lead an institute such as Hogwarts.

We took a long time to find a suitable replacement, because most male Lords would encounter the same problems you have. They already have a full schedule and would not be able to give Hogwarts's the attention she deserves. The Ladies, on the other hand, do not have that problem. We have had in-depth interviews with several candidates, but Lady Malfoy came out as the clear winner, as we expected."

Severus stepped closer to Dumbledore. "Lady Malfoy loves children and is very concerned about the education of the future generation. Not to mention Lord Slytherin, who will put his own two cents in. Hogwarts will be in capable hands," Severus gently reassured Dumbledore.

Dumbledore took another minute or so to compose himself before asking about the other changes that would be made.

Madame Marchbanks described the reintroduction of classes like spell crafting, alchemy, elemental magic, and so on and the need for extra teachers to reduce the workload. The budget had been examined in detail, with many exclamations over the greediness of the board members. She also explained their reasoning for substituting Astronomy with COMC as a core subject, before sending everyone out so they could give the teachers their evaluation in private.

Hagrid was the first to be called back in and Madame Marchbanks explained, with uncommon compassion, that he simply wasn't qualified for the job. She did praise him for the lessons that had right and told him that Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank was interested in his help and knowledge of the Creatures of the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid was quite sad, because he liked teaching, but even he realised that Professor Dumbledore had gone out of bounds by giving him the job. Also, he'd had some time to reconcile with the loss of his teaching position. That the next professor and her apprentices were willing to work with him cheered him back up and he left feeling at ease with the news.

Sybil Trelawney on the other hand left crying. She was no longer to teach at Hogwarts, because her Gift made her an Oracle, not a Seer. Quite a difference, because Oracles have no control over the prophecies they make, which are 90% of the time self-fulfilling. Divination would eliminated as a class, and students that tested positive would get a letter of recommendation to an acknowledged Seer so they could be trained properly.

Dumbledore was sad to see her go, but with Tom being sane again and the prophecy null and void — yes, he had checked after the first Wizengamot meeting— there really was no reason to keep her drunken ass on.

Professor Sinistra took her class's demotion with grace. She herself had seen much of the same as the inspectors. She did request for the old observatory to be reopened so classes could be once again held during the day. Her students' grades suffered greatly from the late hour, after all.

After the half hour of arguing it took to convince professor Burbage that she was not suited for her post, a break was held. House-elves brought in fairy-cakes and tea and professor Babbling saw her chance.

She politely knocked on the door and when she was called in, she started explaining her case immediately, to stave of the irritation of the WEA members. "I'm very sorry to interrupt your well-deserved break, but I feel you absolutely need to see this. I was grading my fifth-year tests, when I noticed one of my students had doodled on the back,"

Here she pulled out Mr Potter's test papers and showed the pentagram to the esteemed witches and wizard. Professor Tofty in particular leaned over in curiosity — he had gained his Mastery of Ancient Runes at 25, the youngest ever —. Within minutes they were all trying to figure out how to close their mouths, even the dignified Madame Bourke. A 15 year-old casually DOODLING a pentagram was beyond their understanding.

"Professor Babbling! You must give me the name of this student! He or she will be able to take their OWL and their NEWT, back to back, at the end of the year and I insist on taking care of the exam myself. Afterwards I will recommend a mastery, or rather I will announce their name to our community and masters will be scrambling to get their hands on such a talented student!" Professor Tofty's voice reached a rather uncomfortable high pitch thanks to his excitement, but no one could really blame him for it.

Bathsheda smirked. "Yes, had it been any ordinary student, this would be amazing enough, but the student in question actually only started this year. Within weeks he had caught with the one I had deemed the genius of her generation, Miss Granger, and surpassed her. Mr Potter has deep waters, it seems."

"Mr Potter?" Surprise and disbelieve was leaking from Madame Marchbanks' voice.

Bathsheda noded. "Yes, I long suspected he is quite bored with class, but I had not realized just how advance he was. Severus confided in me that it is all self-study and I'm inclined to believe him."

"Hmmm," Madame Marchbanks hummed a bit before coming to a decision. "Put Mr Potter with the seventh years, I'll talk to Lady Malfoy. Tofty, you can handle his OWL and NEWT at the end of the year. It's far past time we do something back for Mr Potter, don't you think?"

Professor Babbling left the room looking like the cat that got the cream. Mr Potter's talent would be put to good use and he wouldn't be bored again in her class.

Break over, Binns was easy to convince to give up his post. Apparently he had merely been waiting for a replacement and once he had picked suitable teachers from the available profiles, faded away.

Professor McGonagall was quite happy to give up her lower years and Deputy position. She had been wanting to spend more time with her lions, but her workload made it impossible. She also proposed to start the job orientation as soon as third year, when electives had to be chosen. It was a very sensible idea, since most students chose what their parents or friends told them to.

Professor Snape rattled of a list of suitable names for assistant professors. They had all graduated with at least an A on their OWL and NEWT and most had pursued a career of some sort in potions, but were hindered by their blood status.

Professor Flitwick was ecstatic to hear that duelling would get it's own elective and proposed to work together with professor Moody for the rest of the year, as he was focussing on that already.

Both professor Vector and Babbling were in and out again, having simply been informed about extra assistant professors and asked to make a list with names for the position.

Andromeda smiled gently at the young boy before her. He was perched on the edge of his seat, fidgeting with his sleeves. Well as much as his manners and upbringing allowed him to.

When Sirius had asked her to take on his love interest and Harry Potter, she had been intrigued, yet apprehensive. Sirius had confessed the whole sordid history between him, the Marauders and Severus Snape, and Andromeda had not been impressed whatsoever.

After a lifetime of abuse, opening up to a stranger would be extremely difficult for the Potions Master. Especially since he embodied all the clichés of a Capricorn. Severus Snape was as reserved and closed off as they came.

Her preliminary appointment with the professor had gone about as well as could be expected. He had tried his best to open up and keep the sarcasm to a minimum and Andromeda had responded with attentiveness and genuine interest. They had mostly talked about Harry and how Severus wanted to be the best father possible for the teen, despite the fact he didn't really know how. Severus Snape had a long way to go, but she was confident he would get there in time.

Refocusing on Harry, she offered him a cup of hot chocolate. He accepted it with a shy smile and looked back down to his lap. Clearly he was to nervous to open up and her approach was getting her nowhere.

"So, I heard you are being Courted by my nephew."

This did get Harry's attention. His head shot up and a delicate blush appeared on his cheeks. "You are family of Draco, Mrs Tonks?"

Andromeda nodded. "Indeed I am. Narcissa is my younger sister you see. And please, call me Andy. There is no need at all to be so formal with me. "

Harry chewed on his lip, thinking about that. "Call me Harry. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Now that I have your attention, will you please tell me what you need my help with? Severus explained the bare bones to me, but I want to hear it from you. No need to get embarrassed. I've heard a lot of sobs stories in my 20 years of being a therapist. I've sworn a magical oath not to tell any soul, dead or alive, about the things you disclose to me." Andromeda kept her tone gentle, yet assured. Harry needed to take this step, if he wanted to begin his life with Draco.

The raven-haired teen briefly adopted a deer-in-the-headlights look, before pulling himself together and beginning his tale. His voice was awfully soft, barely louder than a whisper, but gradually his courage rose to the occasion and so did his volume.

"The Dursleys didn't want me. Aunt Petunia considered magic freaky and against nature, and she poisoned her husband and son with her hate. They wanted to normal so very badly, and I was the living proof they'd never be ordinary.

They kept me away from them as far as possible, to prevent being infected by my freakish nature and made me do a lot chores to keep me busy. The cupboard was my room for as long as I remember. I loved it, because at least there I wasn't beaten or shouted at. It became my safe haven, even if it was cramped and filled with spiders.

They blamed me for everything, from Dudley's bad scores to car accidents. If someone went wrong in their lives, it must have been my fault and I was punished for it. Mostly with no food, sometimes a beating. They didn't like to touch me though, so they often left the last to Dudley.

I didn't actually know my own name until I started elementary school, being used to Boy or Freak. School didn't improve the situation. If I got higher marks than Dudley, I'd be punished and I was always blamed for Dudley's misbehaviour. I had no friends and the teachers looked down on me. The Library was heaven, because Dudley couldn't chase me there. I still like reading. Just not like Hermione does for attention.

Then my Hogwarts' letter came and I actually let myself hope things would get better. Except they didn't, until Halloween. As much as I love Hermione and Ron, they never really saw me before my name came out of the Goblet, no one did. Everyone sees Harry Potter. The Boy-who-lived, son of James and Lily, attention seeking, liar, future Dark Lord, the Wizarding World's only hope. No one ever saw me as just Harry, no one even tried!

I was vilified and adored by the press for things I had no choice in! And people just bought the stories, without even asking about my opinion about it! Always assuming that what they thought about me must be the truth!"

Harry broke down, sobbing in his hands and Andromeda's heart cried out for all the injustice this child had been put through. She gathered him into her arm, rubbing his back and muttering motherly nonsense.

It could have been hours or minutes, but that didn't matter. Harry was crying, that was good. It meant he had finally accepted what happened to him and was ready to deal with it. Granted he would cry more over the next couple of months, but he had family to support him, to walk that road with him.