This chapter is completely about The Marauders confronting Dumbledore about everything. By everything, I mean all of it. That's why it's quite long.
Dumbledore arrived through the Potter Floo Network to be greeted by four nasty glares. Two glares in particular, from James and Sirius looked about ready to kill him. After the Hogwart's headmaster, another face they all hated stepped out of the Floo Network. It was Severus Snape.
"Hello Professor," James and Sirius said through gritted teeth. It took all of their self-control to refrain themselves from attacking Dumbledore.
"Now, now, James and Sirius. I understand that you would both be furious. But I had to do it for Harry's safety. You were both against sending Harry to the Dursleys so I had to put you in prison to carry out my protection plan for Harry. I knew I wouldn't be able to convince you to send Harry to the Dursleys," Dumbledore tried to explain.
"Darn right I would never have agreed to give Harry to those dreadful people," James said with a clenched jaw as he shook his fist.
"James, you have to understand. It is essential that Harry returns to The Dursleys," said Dumbledore.
James and Sirius had to be held back by Harry and Remus as they lunged at Dumbledore.
"Since Lily sacrificed herself for him, the protection charm to protect him from Voldermort can only work if he has a home with her blood," said Dumbledore.
"But professor, Voldermort has lost all his power," said Remus.
"I'm afraid Remus, Voldermort is not gone forever. When he rises to power again, Harry needs the protection wards he has from Lily's blood," said Dumbledore.
"There are other ways and other types of magic to protect a person, professor. And it doesn't explain you cutting me off from Harry or disregarding James and Lily's decision on their son," Remus pointed out.
James's face was flushed as he clenched his fist. "You didn't even do a darn thing to ensure Harry was treated well at The Dursleys. They made him sleep in a cupboard under their stairs for ten years where they would often lock him up with no food as punishment."
"Not to mention they treated him like a house-elf and they once locked him up and put bars on his windows the summer before his second year," Sirius added, looking just as red with anger as his best friend.
"That bastard, Vernon even hit him as punishment," said James enraged.
Sirius crossed his arms as he glared at Dumbledore. "Forget everything else, but we refuse to accept your lame reasoning for betraying us and sending us to prison."
"In all fairness Sirius, it was illegal for James and you to become illegal animagi," said Dumbledore.
"Oh, so this is about upholding the law now. Then we should get you thrown in prison for forgery, illegal manipulation of the law and being an accessory to child abuse, proofesssor," Sirius fired back.
"We know you used your influence to increase our sentence from 7 years to 17 years. And you didn't just do it for Harry's protection. You wanted him under your control until he was of age. Which explains why you produced fake documents that left you as the guardian of Harry and my family's assets." James pointed his finger at Dumbledore.
"That is not true," said Dumbledore defensively, although he knew it was true that he wanted to control Harry as his weapon against Voldemort.
"You made me out to be dead instead of making it publicly known that I was in prison," James said furiously.
"Of course he did. He didn't want Harry to know his father was still alive as it may have led to Harry learning about his manipulation," Sirius said with equal contempt.
"You also stopped me from having any contact with Harry. He never received any of my letters. You had something to do that with too didn't you, professor?" asked Remus
Dumbledore knew that there was no point in denying it.
"You stopped Remus from having contact with Harry because you didn't want Harry to have a relationship with someone else he might trust more than you. You wanted to be his most trusted confidant, so it would be easier for you to control him," said Sirius knowingly.
"And you were afraid that Harry being in contact with me would lead to him learning about Sirius and eventually, James. James' cousin, Luke wanted to take Harry with him to The United States, but you put a stop to that too," said Remus.
Dumbledore sighed as the Marauders called out his true intentions. He had nothing against the boy, but the boy was unfortunately his biggest weapon against Voldermort and he did everything he could to have full control over his weapon. He didn't do a thing about Harry's treatment at The Dursleys as he knew it would make him more vulnerable and lower his self-esteem, which would make him an easy target to bring under his control and influence. His main concern was Harry being kept alive at The Dursleys.
"Dad, you have a cousin?" asked Harry.
"That's right. He moved to the United States shortly after you were born. He offered to take you in but Professor Dumbledore put a stop to it, telling him you were only safe with the Dursleys," Remus explained.
"He knew he wouldn't be able to control you if you were raised by people that cared about you." Sirius twisted his lips as he shook his head.
James pressed his lips together with a frown. "If you were raised by my cousin, you would have been attending Ilvermony. Of course, he couldn't have that. He wanted you under his nose at Hogwarts."
"But Harry loves Hogwarts," Dumbledore appealed.
"He would have loved any magic school he went to," Sirius countered.
"Speaking of Hogwarts, I don't think I want Harry returning to Hogwarts. The amount of times he could have gotten himself killed in his first two years there is unbelievable," said James, shaking his head.
"Professor, why would you choose to hide the Philosopher's Stone in the school?" asked Remus.
"It was the safest at Hogwarts. Hogwarts has the best security," said Dumbledore.
James roles his eyes. "Oh sure, the best security, where Voldermort can just walk in at the back of a teacher's head."
"Not to mention, the danger you put the students in with that three headed dog guarding that stone," said Sirius.
"I mentioned that the third floor corridor was out of boundaries," said Dumbledore.
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Right, because children always listen to those warnings."
And what about sending Harry and his friends to the Forbidden Forest as punishment, when students weren't allowed into the Forbidden Forest?" asked James.
"They had Hagrid with them. I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.
"Hagrid split the group up and sent Harry and Draco off by themselves with a coward dog," said James indignantly.
I don't know what Hagrid was thinking, sending two first years off by themselves in the Forbidden Forest," said Sirius disbelievingly.
"Not to mention the dangers he faced trying to save that stone from the wrong hands," James added.
"Come of it Potter. Your son would not have been in any danger if he wasn't nosy enough to snoop around or arrogant enough to think he could save the stone by himself. No one asked him to save the stone, but your big-headed son and friends tried to save the stone so they would get the glory of being heroes. He's just as arrogant, big-headed and rebellious as you are," Snape sneered, earning annoyed glares from James and Sirius.
"It's not like any of the school staff did anything to stop Quirell, nor were they even aware that someone was attempting to steal the stone. Any adult that my son approached in the school only dismissed his concerns. At least my son was heroic enough to save the stone by himself," said James proudly.
"If his first year wasn't enough, my godson faced the same thing in his second year," said Sirius.
"Again, your godson was the one who chose to go meddling and getting himself into trouble," said Snape.
"It wasn't just him, the four petrified students only survived because of sheer coincidental luck of having something to look through the basilisk with," said Remus
"The school should have been temporarily closed down for investigation after the first attack, but the only step the school took was to start a dueling club run by the least competent teacher in the school, as if the students could have used their dueling skills to fight against a monster. The school was still running as usual, with so called extra precautions, even after four students were attacked." James shook his head with disbelief.
"They didn't temporarily shut the school down because Professor Dumbledore over here probably cared more about the school's and his own reputation than the safety of its students," Sirius pointed out.
"They only decided to close the school down once Ginny Wesley was taken into the chamber. Even then, they chose to task that dimwit, Lockhart with handling the monster, knowing full well that he wasn't capable while the other staff did basically nothing." James crossed him arms as his face went a shade redder.
"Harry and his friends were the only ones who actually figured out the mystery and had to go down there themselves when none of the adults seemed to do anything," said Remus.
"Harry received assistance through my phoenix, Fawkes," Dumbledore appealed.
"I bet that was your plan all along wasn't it? You wanted Harry to risk his life going down that chamber, as part of your training for him to fight Voldermort. Your phoenix assisted Harry because you needed him alive. To you, he's nothing but a weapon that you wanted fully prepared when Voldermort rises to power." James's face was now redder than the Weasley's hair as he continued shooting Dumbledore a look of disgust that never wore off since the headmaster arrived.
"Even with the Philosopher's Stone, I bet it was his plan for Harry to save the stone as part of his 'training'," said Sirius with equal contempt.
Dumbledore knew he had been cornered. As much as he prided himself for his intelligence, he could not think up of any good excuses to make up for his actions. The Marauders had accurately called out his intentions. He had done everything in his power to have full control over his weapon against Voldermort. He had sat back and let Harry deal with Voldermort in his first two years as part of sharpening his weapon.
Dumbledore looked down in shame, unwilling to meet their eyes. He then reluctantly looked up at them and tried to appeal to Harry. "Harry, please believe me. I never meant you any harm. Everything I have done was for your protection and to prepare you for your destiny."
"I'm sorry professor, but what you did to me, my dad and my godfather was disgusting," said Harry angrily as he turned his head away from him.
"No point appealing to my son, professor. We're filing a lawsuit against you," said James.
Dumbledore gasped. "A lawsuit?"
"Are you out of your mind, wayward hair? Don't be an ungrateful prat," said Snape.
"Stay out of this, hooknose! I'm not out of my mind. I'm actually filing a legit lawsuit against Professor Dumbledore for forging legal documents, manipulating the law to increase prison sentences, and being an accessory to child abuse," said James determinedly.
"Heck, we may even throw in questionable running of his school for good measure," said Sirius.
"I used to respect you, professor. Probably even more than my own father, but now you've completely lost that respect. I would appreciate it if you and Snape left," James said with every sign of hurt and disappointment.
Dumbledore knew it was not wise to continue arguing. He would have to appeal to them again, once they had cooled down.
"Come on Severus, let's go," he said with an air of defeat.
Before leaving, both James and Snape glared at each other one last time. It was hard to tell who hated the other more. The Hogwarts headmaster and Potions master both took turns disappearing through the Potter's Floo Network.
=to be continued=
A/N: Please FOLLOW the story if you want updates and please FAVORITE if you liked the story. Thank you so much!
Please review! If you felt this chapter was draggy, I apologize, but I had to have a lengthy confrontation between The Marauders and Dumbledore. I promise the next chapters won't be as draggy.