Albus Dumbledore
The last few weeks have undoubtedly been one of the most stressful times for him in the past decade. Everything that happened in February: his suspension, the protests and subsequent riots, one of the Hogwarts teachers turning out to be a homicidal maniac (again), it all weighed heavily on his mind, filling him with doubts about his competence in running the school. The fact that most of these events took place when he was too far away to help made everything even worse.
Fortunately, after spending almost a full month dealing with bothersome wizarding politics and negotiating with various officials, he somehow managed to have his suspension revoked and return to Hogwarts, embarrassed but not defeated. It was a rather humiliating experience all things considered,, but there were some silver linings. Had it not been for his suspension, he would not have been able to enjoy the particularly angry expression that was currently on Lucius Malfoy's face.
"Can you ... repeat what you just said?" Lucius Malfoy asked through clenched teeth, a vein clearly visible on his forehead. The man sat on the other side of Albus' desk with a furious expression on his face, clutching the armrest of his chair so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
"Of course. It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that, after much deliberation, it has been judged that you are no longer fit to serve as the school governor. Your recent behavior has also raised some concerns about the safety of the children studying at Hogwarts, so from now on you are also forbidden to enter the school grounds without written permission from either Hogwarts Headmaster or the Board of Governors." Albus repeated his earlier words, his face completely straight despite the quiet satisfaction he felt inside.
Albus didn't consider himself particularly sadistic, but bringing Lucius down a notch after having to put up with his constant attempts to undermine his authority felt surprisingly good. It also didn't hurt that it happened to a former Death Eater, who avoided Azkaban only because he lied about being under the Imperius curse.
"That's...!" exclaimed Lucius furiously, for some unfathomable reason surprised by the decision. Albus was frankly baffled by his reaction. Did this man really think that his actions would have no consequences? "While I admit that my actions may have been a bit...rash, this punishment is completely excessive!"
"Really? In my opinion it's quite a light punishment, considering that you openly attacked a student and caused school-wide riots with your actions." Albus stated, his tone a little colder than before.
"Spare me your disapproval. I only did it because everyone else seemed to have lost their minds!" growled Lucius, angered by Albus' words "A dangerous criminal was on the loose, attacking pureblood students, and what did your precious teachers do? They pampered some unruly brats instead of dealing with the real problem! It was completely unacceptable, so I had to take matters into my own hands!"
"And yet the 'heir' was exposed and driven out of the castle without your involvement. While you were busy attacking children, three of my students valiantly fought Lockhart, forcing him to flee" Albus stated, looking Lucius in the eye, "Isn't this proof enough that your actions were unnecessary?"
"No, because it didn't address the real source of the problem. These attacks will not end until...!" Lucius began, his voice becoming increasingly heated, but stopped when he realized he had said too much. Albus stared at him with cold eyes, making Lucius flinch slightly.
"Would you care to elaborate, Lucius?" said Albus, pinning the man with his gaze. While he already suspected that Lucius was somehow involved in the whole mess, with his strange obsession and suspicious behavior in the last months, he still didn't know what that involvement entailed. Unfortunately, without Lucius' confession, he wouldn't be able to find out more, so it would have been nice if Lucius had given him some clues. Albus supposed it was one of the drawbacks of being a light wizard- you couldn't just use force to extract information from your enemies, no matter how much you wanted.
"It's...! No, I would not! It's clear that you called me here just to humiliate me, even though everything I've done, I've done for the school! I see no reason to stay here any longer!" declared Lucius, his voice only slightly trembling. Well, it seemed that Albus' glare had lost some of its potency with age. Ten years ago he would have been able to make a man squirm. Quite a shame.
"I see. I'm very sorry to hear that. I didn't mean to humiliate you," Albus said with feigned sadness in his voice, "I hope we'll meet under better circumstances next time, Lucius"
Lucius didn't seem to believe him, as he left the office without even bothering to respond, leaving Albus alone with his thoughts. The old man sighed, leaning back in his chair and looking at the ceiling of his office, deep in thought.
What did Lucius Malfoy, Gilderoy Lockhart, the Heir of Slytherin and the protesters have in common? Albus was sure that these puzzles were connected in some way, but it was clear that they lacked the necessary pieces to create a complete picture. There were simply too many variables and too few clues in this case for Albus to fully understand the situation.
He was however sure of one thing. Gilderoy Lockhart was not the real Heir of Slytherin. The former DADA teacher may have been a relatively intelligent man, but there was no way he was capable of accomplishing something so grand on his own, despite what the Ministry believed. No, it had to be someone else, but who? His gut, trained by years of dealing with powerful dark wizards, was telling him it was Tom's doing, even though almost all the evidence suggested otherwise. But why would Tom, vulnerable and weak after his failed attempt to obtain the Philosopher's Stone, infiltrate Hogwarts for the second year in a row just to attack pureblood children? It didn't make sense, which made the whole situation even more alarming.
Because if it wasn't Tom, it was quite likely that there was an unknown third player out there, who was manipulating Lockhart and the protesters from the shadows. It was possible that some future Dark Lord was currently attending Hogwarts, following the same path as Tom once did. Albus sighed. The whole situation was already a mess, and he suspected it would only get worse in the future.
Fortunately, there were some silver linings in this whole fiasco. Although Lockhart's actions damaged Hogwarts' reputation, the damage was mostly offset by the fact that it was three students from his own house who exposed him and forced him to flee Hogwarts. Luna Lovegood, Marcus Fawley and Michael Brown showed brilliance and quick thinking befitting their house by tricking Lockhart into confessing, recording said confession and using the distraction to weaken him and escape to safety. In addition, the fact that the group consisted of two purebloods and one muggle-born proved quite useful in calming tensions between the purebloods and muggle-borns, making it easier for Albus to convince the protesters/rioters to finally disperse. For all this, Albus decided to give each child fifty points to reward their valiant deeds and hopefully convince other students to follow their example.
Still, even if he was somehow able to prevent a worse scenario, the situation was still quite dire. Someone was operating in the shadows, plotting and sabotaging Hogwarts for some unknown purpose, and Albus had no idea who it was. Was there any way to solve this mystery?
Then something occurred to him. Albus turned to one of the pictures hanging in his office, looking at one of the former headmasters with a slight smile on his face.
"Vindictus, could you ask Minerva to bring Mr. Potter and his friends to my office? I'd like to talk to them," said Albus. Hadn't Lucius said something about the Weasleys being responsible for the attacks the last time they met? He supposed it was time to find out what he meant by that.
Lucius Malfoy
He left Dumbledore's office full of rage.
He walked through the castle with clenched teeth and a scowl on his face, wondering how it was possible for Dumbledore to be so stupid.
Didn't he understand that Lucius was doing them all a favor?! He was just trying to make them focus on finding the diary, the real source of all their troubles! As long as the diary was at Hogwarts, the attacks would continue! Therefore, getting rid of it was much more important than some stupid protests! And yet they did nothing! Yes, it's true that he didn't tell them about his involvement, but the attacks themselves should make dealing with the heir a priority! He...!
"Mr. Malfoy, please wait!" Suddenly, as Lucius was nearing the main entrance to the castle, a voice called out to him from behind, causing Lucius to turn around in surprise.
When he did, he saw someone he didn't expect to see at all. Standing before him was Harry Potter, the child responsible for his master's downfall. The boy stood in front of him with some sort of wrapped package in his hand, looking at Lucius with an expectant gaze. Why in Merlin's name did he want to talk to him? And why was he looking at him like that?
"Yes? What do you want, Potter?" Lucius asked tersely. It had better be something important. After the humiliation he had suffered, he had no intention of staying at Hogwarts any longer than necessary. Hearing him, Potter smiled, for some reason not offended by Lucius' attitude. What was wrong with this boy?
"I'm sorry to bother you, but I want to return something to you" After these words, Potter handed him the package he had been holding in his hand earlier, making Lucius look at him in confusion. Return? He had never given the boy anything, nor would he ever do so. What was he even talking about? Ignoring his confusion, Potter went on "I've had a lot of fun with it over the past few months, for which I am very grateful. It's however not fair for me to hoard someone else's property, so I think it's time for it to be returned to its rightful owner. Thank you for everything, Mr. Malfoy"
Without even waiting for his response, the boy turned and started walking away, apparently having nothing more to say. Lucius looked at the boy confused for a moment, not quite understanding what had just happened, before hesitantly unwrapping the package, at this point actually somewhat interested in its contents. Inside, he found a plain old diary with yellowish...
What the actual Merlin fuck?!
Lucius immediately raised his eyes in panic, desperately trying to locate Potter and wrangle answers out of him, but the boy had already turned the corner, disappearing from his sight. Because of that, Lucius was unable to see a cruel smile, completely at odds with his usual friendly demeanor, appear on the boy's face.
Things about this chapter:
1. Dobby still works for Malfoys.
2. While Tom is not aware of this, he might actually harbour some subconscious hatred towards Harry Potter.