Junior Headmaster

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Series is not mine, Harry Potter and all related characters and/or concepts are trademarked and copyrighted To JK Rowling. I am a mere Fanfiction author. With far too much time on her hands and no social life.

Rated: T

Notes: Very AU. Voldemort was stopped in Year 4, no Horcuxes, only Death Eaters and unnamed extras died. Sirius has been cleared and is Harry's guardian. Good!Logical!Dumbledore, Good!Weasleys. Smart!Logical!Poltically Savvy!Harry

Prologue:

It all started simply enough. Somehow, in his First Year, Harry had gained a reputation as a fair mediator. Students would come to him when they needed an unbiased judge. He was fairly good at it; the Dursleys had beaten out any thirst for violence he may have had and he always preferred to talk issues out anyway. So, aided by Ron, with the pureblood perspective, and Hermione, always the logical one, he did as asked. Little did they know they were setting up something grand.

Second Year rolled around and things changed slightly with the atmosphere. Ron became the Counselor, the one the students could go to for an ear. Harry and Hermione were still advisors but with Dumbledore being temporarily retired and Hagrid sent to Azkaban for no good reason Hermione had delved into the world of Law and was also often seen helping the new Headmistress with the piles of paperwork. Harry, hoping that if he wasn't about that the kids would still go to the other two, receded from the public eye and instead began to review the protections on the castle and grounds, hoping to find the weak point the perpetrator was exploiting. He found not one, but several and realized that the castle had been crippled for decades. He contacted the Goblins of Gringotts and paid for the upgrades from his own pocket. Thus ended the Heir of Slytherin's rampage as the wards caught a possessed Ginny Weasley opening the Chamber of Secrets. The beast was slain and the body rendered for anything usable. The funding was put into the school budget.

Also caught was an illegal animagus, the supposedly dead Peter Pettigrew, and thus the true betrayer of the Potters was found. Sirius Black, previously incarcerated for that and the murder of Pettigrew and thirteen muggles, was released and as Harry's godfather took him away from the foul Dursleys. Snape, the foul-tempered cruel Potions' Master of the school, was also forced to flee as his Dark Mark reacted to the wards.

Third Year was the easiest yet. No monsters or Dark Lords anywhere near the school. And yet more divisions appeared. Gringotts was now going through Harry to deal with the needed paperwork for the school; Hermione was the one to double and triple check everything he was going to file, handled his schedule and Ron's, and kept a book on magical law on her person; Ron was becoming more independent in giving advice to those that spoke with him. It was during this year that the House-Elves gifted them with a suite of offices. Each had their own but they were interconnected by door and Floo.

And their personalities shone through into the offices. Harry's was semi-Spartan; sparse furniture and not much clutter. On his desk sat a bowl of muggle jelly-beans, which he was wont to offer to visitors. One could often find him staring out the window of his office that gave an unmatched view of both the lake and Hagrid's Hut. On an empty wall hung a very large Hogwarts banner. His amazing owl, Hedwig, had a perch in his office because he had found that people would often calm down while petting an animal. He favored a muggle fountain pen, seeing it as a much updated quill, which was always within his reach.

Hermione's was a private study; the walls were lined with books on Magical and Muggle Law. Her furniture was wood, lacquered to almost black and very rigid. While she stuck to quill and parchment, she also had an old fashioned, metal typewriter. Tea, with milk and sugar as options, was always on offer as were fresh fruits and nuts.

Ron's was…cozy was a good word for it; homey and welcoming there were overstuffed armchairs and beanbag chairs and low tables. There were always homemade sweets from Missus Weasley waiting to be gobbled up and an assortment of muggle candies for the Muggleborn who were homesick.