Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

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"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter is not beta-read yet.

chapter 33: Things go downhill

Albus Percival Wufric Brian Dumbledore was thinking hard about the implications of the letter he had received from Olivanders yesterday afternoon. The brother wand to Voldemort's was sold, but it didn't chose any of the two boys he thought could be the chosen one. Instead, the wand chose the youngest of the Weasley sons... But shouldn't this wand belong to the chosen one?

The old headmaster could think of two possible ways out of the situation. One, the wand, even this one, was really nothing more than a tool and it didn't matter who had it. And, two, he made a mistake when he was deciphering the prophecy Sybill had made, and neither Potter nor Longbottom were the real chosen ones... But in this case, how was it possible that Ron Weasley was the one?.. Or it could be possible that the prophecy wasn't talking about this time period at all.

No, the last option must be wrong, if nothing else because Voldemort was believing in it. So, it left Dumbledore with two options. And he was not sure, which one he should choose. On one hand, Potter boy had already shown that he was capable of stalling the Dark lord, and did some other things that no normal twelve years old wouldn't be able to. And he bore a mark from the Dark lord... On the other – Harry didn't act like the savior of the magical Britain should, and he had some darkness in him, while young Mr. Weasley was as light as one could be, even if he didn't show any special talents so far. Longbottom... Longbottom seemed to be somewhere in between these two, and, honestly, at this moment of time Dumbledore didn't see him as a possible chosen one...

Shaking his head, the old warlock taped his pensieve with his wand, making a ghostly image of Sybill Trelawny rise from the basin.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. … Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. … The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…" The image said in a voice that unmistakeably belonged to a seer making a true prophecy. It was far from the first time the Hogwarts headmaster had listened to this memory in the last twenty four hours, but he was still not getting closer to deciphering it in a way that would make sense given the current situation.

Albus Dumbledore shook his head again, he was getting nowhere with the way he was doing things right now. So why not trying another approach? It was a commonly know fact that prophecies often made sense only after the events they were talking about happened. So why not trying to decipher it that way? But for that to work, he needed to know which of the boys was the true chosen one.

Five days later, Dumbledore decided that found the solution to his problem with the prophecy. It took him a lot of work, but he finally made it make some sense again. But with that, another problem arose: how was he to break the news to the world, or, specifically, to the family of the chosen one? And what to do from there?

Well, while politics was the art of telling lies, there were some situations, when telling the truth as it was, was the best solution, so, the ancient wizard decided, he will announce his findings to the public as soon as he had talked to the chosen one himself and his family. And as for what he should do from there – it was simple: the chosen one needed to be trained, so that when the time comes, he will be ready to face his destiny.

So, the great Albus Dumbledore walked up to the fireplace in his office and threw some floo powder into the fire.

"The Burrow." He called, once the flames became emerald green, and then he stuck his head into his fireplace, having it magically reappear in the fireplace at the house called 'the Burrow'. Molly Weasley that was starting dinner at that time, saw him almost as soon as he (his head) appeared.

"Professor? Is there something I can do for you?" The witch asked. Dumbledore nodded.

"Is your family all here?" He asked. Receiving a nod in response, he asked another question: "Can I come through? This is something that is better said face to face and not over the floo." Molly nodded and invited him into the house.

~/ *** \~

On Friday, August the sixth, late in the morning, the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge was having his yearly visit to the least welcoming place in the whole magical Britain: the Azkaban prison. Mostly though, this visit consisted of him talking to the warden and the aurors stationed there, but this year, for some reason, Fudge decided to go down to the holding cells and pay a visit to one of the 'greatest criminals' of the recent time.

"I hope you have a nice time rotting there." The Minister of Magic greeted the prisoner #c81122, otherwise known as Sirius Orion Black. The man, as dirty, unshaven and shabby as he was, was too sane for someone who had spent twelve years in Azkaban, so managed to come up with a witty reply:

"All that I miss in my room is a couple of nice girls to keep me warm at nights." Cornelius scowled and did a step back from the cell's door, just in case Black decided to try and attack him. "Anyway, minister, as much as like this place..." Even someone as stupid as a troll could hear a sarcasm here. "...It sorely lacks things to read, so much that I'm afraid I'll turn into the wild beast here." Still, Sirius Black wasn't completely sane, as no one but he himself could find a joke here... Once he finished his barking laughter, he continued: "Anyway, would you have anything to read on you, minister?"

"A-ah..." Seeing nothing wrong in giving Black something to read (after all who can escape Azkaban with a newspaper?), Fudge produced a week-old edition of the 'Daily Prophet' – the one where he was congratulating Arthur Weasley on winning the lottery – and threw it at the man, hoping that it would hit him across his face. Black, though, cough the newspaper.

"Thank you, minister." The imprisoned man said. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to catch up with the world outside." And in a display of absolute lack of manners, Sirius turned around and, opening, the newspaper, started reading it. Huffing angrily at the lack of respect shown to him, Fudge stomped away from Black's prison cell...

While the minister was finishing his visit to the Azkaban prison, Sirius Black was re-reading for dozenth time the article about Arthur Weasley winning some lottery, all of his attention concentrated on the photo: there was a familiar rat there... It took him some time to notice this, but the rat that was sitting in Arthur's youngest son's pocket was no one other than supposedly dead Peter Pettigrew in his animagus form. And since the rat was still alive and Ron – or whatever the boy's name was – was of the same age as Harry, Harry was in a grave danger! And as a good dogfather, Sirius decided that he needed to catch Peter before he had a chance to hurt his godson. And if he needed to escape the hell on Earth he was sent to without trial, so be it...

That night the aurors that patrolled the prison reported Sirius Black talking in his sleep. Usually that was nothing unusual for the prisoners of Azkaban, but... Black kept saying 'He's at Hogwarts', while a newspaper opened on the photo of the Weasley family lay next to him. It looked like Sirius Black was planning a new murder.

~/ *** \~

The next morning Harry was in the garden of the Salazar's cottage, playing with his 'pet project' a bit, while his thoughts were about what he should do next, now that Violet had found him a proxy that he had accepted. This proxy was a sixty-eight years old wizard by the name Ernst Schmidt, hailing from one of the low-class pureblood families in Germany. His upbringing and the two wars he had lived through had made his political views very similar to those that young lord Potter-Slytherin had...

Harry's thoughts were interrupted, when an owl carrying the latest edition of the 'Daily Prophet' landed on bush in front of him. Paying the bird five knuts for the newspaper, the young wizard took it from the bird. Unrolling the 'Prophet', he scanned the articles. At first it looked like nothing interesting was in this edition, but then his eyes landed on the title saying that Albus Dumbledore made a surprising announcement this Friday.

Since Harry knew that the Hogwarts headmaster rarely addressed the public in the recent years, this must be something important. Or maybe not, as the article was closer to the middle of the newspaper... Still, the green-eyed wizard flipped the pages and read the article:

"Wizards and witches of Great Britain." Albus Dumbledore said as he appeared in front of the crowd yesterday. "I know that many of you think that because of the deeds I have done in the past, I can't do anything wrong. Sadly, that is not the case, as I'm still a human like any of you. Yes, I'm older and wiser than most, and I make mistakes not as often, but when I do make them, my mistakes, unfortunately, are far greater than those of an average man. And, I'm afraid, twelve years ago, just after that fateful Halloween night, I made a great mistake. When the young Mr. Potter miraculously survived the killing curse cast by the dark lord, I foolishly assumed that he was the one who will bring peace and prosperity to the magical world." Here professor Dumbledore made a pause, letting the crowd to calm down, so that he could continue. The reporter wrote. "But this summer I was presented with an evidence, that, after a careful study, revealed that that assumption was an incorrect one, and the boy who will guide us all to the Greater Good was someone else. This time, not to repeat the mistake I had already made once, I did a very thorough research, and in the end, the results I got indicated that the true savior of our world was all this time hidden in the shadows of the false one. And so I must tell you all that young Mr. Ronald Bilius Weasley is the one chosen by the fates to guide magical Britain towards the Greater Good." After the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot left the stage, I took a small interview from him. The reporter continued.

"Good afternoon, professor Dumbledore. Can you answer some questions for the readers of the 'Daily Prophet'?" I asked. The greatest wizard of the century just nodded in response. "Can you tell us, what made you come to a conclusion that Mr. Potter is not the real chosen one?"

"I'm afraid, this is the information which is better left unknown by the masses, especially since those who seek to send magical Britain into the darkness are lurking everywhere." Albus Dumbledore replied. "Though I think I can say that I had some suspicions that Mr. Potter was not the chosen one even before this summer."

"Again, if this is not a secret, what gave you the clues about the identity of the real chosen one?" I asked then. The reporter wrote then.

"I'm sorry, but this too is something, I'm not willing to uncover at the moment, as it can prove to be a threat to the National Security." The Chief Warlock said.

"Very well, my next question would be..."

Harry threw the newspaper on the ground and drew his wand, wanting to set it on fire with some nasty spell, but then he stopped himself. Why was he even angry that now someone else will have to carry his burden of fame? Whatever the foolish idea made the Hogwarts headmaster say that Ron was the chosen one, it set him free... At least if the people would be decent enough to leave him to his own devices, like he wanted them to.

On the second thought, knowing how lazy and narrow minded and prone to putting his foot in the mouth his red-haired classmate was... Should someone had a bright idea to entrust the magical Britain to Ron in hopes he'll guide it towards the 'Greater Good', the young lord Potter-Slytherin thought, he'll have to find another place to live at, for nothing good will come out of that foolishness...

~/ *** \~

At the same time as Harry was thinking what the Dumbledore's announcement meant for him, in the Ministry for Magic a small meeting was held by the higher-ups as they were trying to decided what they should do now that the situation changed drastically.

"...And so, this brings me to a question: what should we do now, minister?" A certain toad-like witch that held the position of the senior undersecretary asked. Cornelius Fudge thought for several seconds, before replying:

"As far as I know, the Weasley family is too deep in Dumbledore's pocket to get the chosen one see the world was we need him easily. That doesn't mean that it is impossible, so your mission at Hogwarts stays the same, Dolores. I need you to bring the chosen one to our side." He said. The senior undersecretary nodded.

"Of course, minister, I'll do what I can. But... What should we do with the Potter brat? Frauds and liars like him do not belong to the noble society of magical Britain." She said. Cornelius leaned forward in his armchair, folding his hands in front of his face.

"I will organize something before the school year starts: Potter needs to be shown that frauds are not welcome here. But should he find a way save his ass from justice, I want you to do everything in your power to have him out of our noble homeland as he does not belong there" The minister said.

"I'll do that." Dolores Umbridge said. "But can you tell me, what do you have in store for the brat? I'm curious." The minister of Magic nodded and started telling her his 'evil' plan...

~/ *** \~

Yesterday it was confirmed that notorious murderer Sirius Black, known for betraying Potters to you-know-who, had accomplished something we all thought impossible and broke out of the Azkaban prison. The newspaper read. It is not know how he managed that at the moment, but the Ministry for Magic assures that nothing similar will happen ever again, and that when Black is caught, he will receive dementor's kiss immediately. In the meantime, it is strongly advised that everyone remains vigilant and informs aurors about any suspicious activity, or any other possible leads to Black's whereabouts.

We, in the 'Daily Prophet', also remind our readers that they are not to confront Black under any circumstances – he had already shown that he wasn't Voldemort's right-hand man for nothing, when he killed Peter Pettigrew (order of Merlin, first class, post mortem) and twelve muggles with a single spell. If you see Sirius Black, leave the area without getting his attention and inform aurors about his whereabouts immediately!

Harry swore. Just a week ago Dumbledore had turned the magical world on its ears with his announcement about Ronald Weasley being the chosen one, and now this. It looked like he would not have a quiet year as he hoped he would. Oh well...

At least he should be more or less safe as no one alive but him knew where Salazar's cottage was, and no one in the right mind will attack Hogwarts. The train was a weak point here, but Harry was sure that there will be some extra protections that will keep Black away.

But there was one thing that didn't add up: Voldemort had no memories about Sirius Black being a Death Eater or anything like that. Instead, according to Tom, he was a Dumbledore's agent who, along with the rest of the 'roasted turkey order' had prevented many of the raids from being successful... Something was not right here, and Harry intended to find out the truth. So he sent a letter to Violet, asking her to find Black's trial record for him: maybe that will clear some things up.

~/ *** \~

The next morning the young lord Potter-Slytherin received and interesting missive from the Wizangamot. It was mostly interesting because it was not like an official correspondence sent out by the august body, no, this missive was just a slip of parchment with a single line written on it:

Mr. Potter, you are to appear in the Wizangamot chambers on August 19th at 10:00.

For some reason, to Harry it looked like some plan to (completely) destroy his reputation – so that he will have no chance to overshadow the new 'chosen one'. So, in case his gut feeling was right, he contacted Violet, telling her to be there as well as his personal assistant and, if needed, barrister.

That's all, folks!
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