Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.

Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers. There are also several references to canon abusive & manipulative actions. Please exercise understanding of personal sensitivities before and during reading.

Author's Note(s): Just to give everyone a head's up, this piece does not pull any punches for canon misdeeds. While everyone who sides with them gets a bit, it's pointedly Not Friendly towards Albus Dumbledore & Severus Snape.

Challenge/Competition Block:
Stacked with: QL (Season 8); MC4A
Team (Position): Wigtown Wanderers (Keeper)
Round Info: Season 08 – Game 02
QL Prompt(s): Write about a character who has a lot of influence or control over something/someone.
Individual Challenges: Gryffindor MC (x3); Slytherin MC; Hufflepuff MC; Magical MC (x5); Neurodivergent; Lunar Era; Old Shoes (Y); Short Jog; Bucket Listing (Y); Green Ribbon
Other MC4A Challenges (Prompt): Sp Bingo [1C](Union/Covenant); Tr Bingo [2D](Obfuscating Stupidity); Hunt [Sp Writing Diversity](Autism); Ship [Sp Medium 1](Acts of Service); Chim [Joyce](Secret Genius)
Representation: Golden Trio QPR; Autistic Harry Potter
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenge(s): Found Family; Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Zucchini Bread; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still); Chorus (Pear-Shaped; Wabi Sabi)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Toad); SN (Rail; Negate)
Word Count: 2301 (just story); 2330 (story & epigraph)

-= LP =-
The Spoke
-= LP =-
"We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice; we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself." – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-= LP =-

Harry was used to what people said about a person did not match how that person acted. The neighbors always talked about how nice the Dursleys were, but that didn't actually make them any kinder. The other members of the church they attended always mentioned how pious and saint-like Aunt Petunia was. Yet Harry had never seen her utter so much as a grace for dinner, not even the rare times that they had guests over it. The Tysons over on Magnolia Lane were supposed to be just as much criminals as Harry allegedly was, but other than the plants Tyrone Tyson grew in their basement, they didn't do anything wrong. The Polkisses, on the other hand, had a kennel full of dogs and a couple of roosters that changed out every few months due to reasons that no one wanted to discuss.

So when Hagrid had mentioned how great and good Albus Dumbledore was, Harry had known to take it with a pinch of salt. The whole description had felt off to Harry. The bits of story that he had managed to wring from the man had not quite added up either. Harry knew better than to ask too many questions, especially since Hagrid probably wouldn't have had the answers anyway. He was still left with far more questions than he had answers, and a lot of them seemed to circle back to a certain headmaster who had also managed to head two different major political bodies.

It was worth the slight guilt at tricking the simple man when Harry managed to slip a dozen or so extra titles into their selection. He would have felt worse about taking advantage of the difficulties the man had with reading in general, but he had learned from the Dursleys that new situations were inherently fraught with danger. The only way to offset that was to figure out the expectations before he failed to meet them. The best way to do that was research. People lied, both deliberately and not. Even books couldn't be counted on to be unbiased.

In the month between his shopping trip and leaving for Hogwarts, Harry had made it through all of his books at least once. When he got to Hogwarts, he made sure to sneak away at least a few times a week to the massive library and read some more. The more he read, the less things made sense.

At the top of things that didn't make sense was Albus Dumbledore. The man had graduated Hogwarts back before the turn of the century, making him over a hundred years old. (Harry was beginning to realize that witches and wizards aged differently than Muggles.) He had buried a sister under an unspecified scandal. When the war with Grindelwald came, he waited until the last possible moment to get involved despite how his involvement had allegedly been what had finally ended things. Most people held him as a hero for that; others criticized why it took so much begging for him to help at all.

Albus Dumbledore still became the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizardry as well as the headmaster of Hogwarts. He had been offered the position of Minister of Magic as well, but to serve even one term, he would have to give up the Chief Warlock position. There was no guarantee that he would be able to regain it afterwards.

Yet for all this power and influence that the man had amassed, Harry couldn't find anything he had done with it. People said a lot of things, but Dumbledore didn't even make speeches outside of the Hogwarts feasts. He didn't champion any new bills or strive to overturn any laws. The man barely blocked bills were obviously questionable even to Harry's inexperienced eyes.

And digging into recent Hogwarts history didn't improve the impression that Harry was getting.

Hagrid had been expelled for keeping dangerous creatures in unsafe manners, which allegedly led to a student's death. It was questionable, but reasonable given how Hagrid had been set to raise a fire-breathing dragon in a wooden hut. Yet instead of sending Hagrid away afterwards, Dumbledore had arranged to keep him on the grounds. On the surface, it seemed like a kindness, but it only increased the danger that Hagrid's habit posed to the students by removing his ability to learn wards and other magical measures for reducing the threat.

The only thing it did was make Hagrid blindly loyal to Dumbledore.

Everything continued in that pattern. Dumbledore only intervened when it would either directly affect himself or gain him someone's loyalty (or at least their service). Meanwhile, the education standards of Hogwarts declined in most areas and interpersonal tensions rose.

The worst example of both things was Dumbledore's decision to hire Severus Snape and then to keep him on no matter the complaints logged. Several periodicals from the aftermath of the War with Voldemort had acknowledged the man's record as a Death Eater. Apparently everyone in the Dark Lord's inner circle had turned in the man as Voldemort's Left Hand. Dumbledore intervened every time, keeping Snape from ever standing trial for what was an impressive list of crimes even if half of it was outright lies. The man was allegedly good at brewing, but beyond the curricula of Hogwarts, he was completely self-taught. In an article in Potion Maker Quarterly, Harry found out the associated guild had unanimously agreed to never accept Snape's apprenticeship application.

Not that mastery in a subject automatically translated to the ability to teach it, but Snape's lack of credentials did explain why his version of teaching was to bark orders without explaining anything.

Harry kept his doubts to himself, just like he kept his extracurricular reading hidden. Ron and Hermione were good friends and Harry wouldn't give them up for anything. But Ron's entire family seemed similar to Hagrid and McGonagall in their admiration of Dumbledore, and Hermione's devotion to authority figures was scary at times. Then again, Hermione was scary at times. Ron didn't seem to realize that Hermione had decided that the best way to create a distraction during that first Quidditch game was to set a person on fire.

After the disastrous end to his first year and the confusing conversation with the headmaster, Harry had vowed to never trust the man. After all the events of his second year and how the headmaster had not interceded to help beyond the bare minimum to stay involved, Harry decided to never depend on him for anything either. But it wasn't until the summer before his third year that Harry began to consider that the man might actually be an enemy.

Sirius Black had been James Potter's best friend. He was the laughing man in the pictures of his parents' wedding. In one of those pictures, he had exchanged more than friendly kisses with first one parent and then the other. In another, Sirius was dancing with the newest Defense professor, the one who didn't mind Harry staying after class but who also got uncomfortable if Harry lingered too long. All four had worked against Voldemort during the War. They had apparently done so under Dumbledore's leadership.

Sirius Black had been registered as Harry's godfather. Even if Harry hadn't figured out a way to get around the ministry decree that had sealed his parents' wills, that formal registration with both the Ministry and Gringotts meant that Sirius was Harry's legal guardian by default. Yet after his parents' deaths, Harry had been left on the Dursleys' doorstep like a bottle of milk. Sirius was willing to take him in immediately; he sounded like he had been ready to do it immediately all those years ago, too.

The imprisonment had derailed that.

Sirius' claim of never receiving a trial explained a few gaps that Harry had found in his research. In none of his reading had he found anything about one or about a formal sentencing. By all accounts, Sirius Black had been thrown into that terrible place and left to rot without any kind of due process. He had lost everything while fighting Dumbledore's war, and Dumbledore had returned that sacrifice by abandoning him.

And when they had all been captured, Dumbledore had demonstrated no intention to override Fudge's execution order. As the headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore controlled its sovereign powers, including the ability to grant sanctuary to individuals. As Chief Warlock, Dumbledore had the right to call for trials. As Supreme Mugwump, Dumbledore had the responsibility to see that the UK was following international standards. Without intervention, Sirius was going to die.

Harry couldn't let that happen.

Not even if it meant giving away his secret habit of researching everything he could.

"Don't do this, sir," Harry said as Fudge had turned to leave the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore sighed as if disappointed while Snape sneered at Harry's audacity. That was fine. Harry didn't need either of them to listen right then. He needed Fudge's attention, and judging by how the politician had turned back, Harry had it. "It will not end the way you want it to, and you will spend whatever time you have left in office trying to cover it up."

"Are you threatening me?" Fudge blustered. He twisted his bowler around in his hands. Harry dropped his gaze just slightly, as he would if he was trying to appease Aunt Petunia. "Did Black curse you so hard that you cannot recognize who I am?!"

"Of course I recognize you, Minister," Harry protested. Dudley would have been so proud at Harry mimicking his method of sucking up, not that Harry would ever tell him. "I also know that you are a good man who would relish the opportunity to rectify the blunders of a previous administration."

"What's this, then?" Fudge asked even as Dumbledore took a deep breath. The old man looked like he was about to interrupt. Harry rushed to finish his explanation.

"Of course I could tell that you didn't know, sir! After all, it's only natural to presume that proper procedure was followed in the first place, especially since Black was in the highest security section of the prison! How could anyone have guessed that he had never received a trial?"

"What does it matter if Black had a trial?" Snape interrupted. His shallow face was flushing, creating the horrible effect of giving him an orange cast. "He's clearly guilty!"

"I would be more circumspect about mentioning that, Snape," Harry said as casually as possible. He met the man's dark gaze directly. "One might start to wonder just how loyal you are to your master."

"Harry," Dumbledore scolded as Snape sputtered indignantly, "it's Professor Snape."

"Imagine the headlines, Minister," Harry cajoled instead of letting himself be derailed by Dumbledore's insistence on respect for his pet bully. "Fudge Fixes Bagnold's Blunder—why you'll be a hero, sir!"

"A hero, you say?" Fudge muttered. Harry nodded solemnly. "I do suppose that it couldn't hurt to verify this claim. We have him in custody now, so it should be easy enough."

"What?" Snape screeched. "You can't do that! You're supposed to kill the mangy mutt!"

"I can't just kill a potentially innocent man," Fudge protested as if he hadn't been about to do just that. "Why, that would make me no better than You-Know-Who!"

"And you're certainly not that kind of monster," Harry agreed. He barely managed to keep his smugness from his voice and face. Snape glowered at him openly. Dumbledore was at least a bit more subtle in his frustration at being thwarted. "Everyone knows just how effective and just you are as minister!"

Fudge puffed up with pride at the praise.

"I need to make some arrangements, Albus," Fudge said. He placed his hat back on his head. "I'll need to borrow the use of your Floo."

"Of course, Cornelius," Dumbledore agreed. The pair left with Snape sweeping along behind him like the bat he resembled. Hermione stared at the closed doors before she let out a low whistle of appreciation.

"That was amazing, Harry!"

"Thank you," he told the girl. He gave her a shy grin. "It's nowhere near setting him on fire, but I do try to live up to your example."

"Oh, hush, you," she replied while batting the air in his direction. "Do you really think I would believe any flattery from you after watching that?"

"Who said anything about it being flattery?" Harry asked nonchalantly. "Setting Snape on fire was pure genius. It would certainly be an improvement."

"Was he really a Death Eater?" she asked nervously. "That isn't just a rumor?"

"Yeah," Harry whispered, "it wasn't a rumor. By all accounts, he was not only in the inner circle but Voldemort's Left Hand."

"But Dumbledore—"

"—is an old man with far too much influence," Harry interrupted. He forced himself to meet Hermione's eyes so that she would understand how truthful he was being. "He used his position as Chief Warlock to keep Snape from being tried, no matter how many people testified about his crimes."

"Wait, Dumbledore was in charge of who got trials," Hermione said. 'Penny in the air,' Harry thought as he could practically hear his friend's thoughts racing. Then a look of horror crossed her face. "Why wouldn't he get Sirius one?"

'And the penny drops.'

Even if he had to have the conversation a thousand times with a thousand people, Harry would chip away at Dumbledore's control of the wizarding world. He would exercise each influential tendril like vining weeds in a garden. Harry's childhood had taught him that starting fights was a futile effort.

It had also taught him to never rely on others.

Only he could be counted on to be the spoke driven into the wheel of injustice.

-= LP =-
An Ending
-= LP =-