It is my-canon that Board of Governors members are parents of current Hogwarts students. Thus in October 1990, it would be impossible for either a Longbottom or a Malfoy to serve on the Board. As for the selection process, a new Governor is selected each year by the Spirit of Hogwarts. Whilst the headmaster/headmistress may suggest candidates, a Founders-invented process keeps the Head from rigging each year's Board-member selection.

If you're JK Rowling, or someone else who believes that Albus PWB Dumbledore is a right fine bloke, pass up this entire chapter. You have been warned.

Chapter 11
Albus Gets No Respect, Part 1

Friday, 19 October 1990, 11pm
Dumbledore is released from prison

Because Dumbledore had been in a complete news blackout for the past six months, he did not know many things when he was released from prison—

• Sirius Black's trial had followed immediately after Dumbledore's trial. Sirius had been acquitted of all charges except for being an unregistered animagus, and had been sentenced to no prison time for this misdeed. Sirius had asked for, and had been given, guardianship of Harry Potter, whilst Dumbledore's magical guardianship of Harry Potter had been revoked.

• In the six months of April to October, Sirius Black had not killed anyone, attacked anyone or otherwise shown signs of insanity caused by eight and an half years being close to Dementors.

• Harry now has magical family, besides Sirius: the three Tonkses and Lord Arcturus Black. Remus Lupin was Harry's "unofficial uncle."

• Harry's guardian Sirius was dating Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE.

• Harry, when he would attend magical schooling, would attend Manchester Magical Academy from the start; Harry never would attend Hogwarts.

• Harry Potter no longer was currently attending school at Saint Grogory's Primary in Little Whinging.

• Harry no longer was living at Number 4, Privet Drive.

• Neither Sirius nor Harry was living at Black Manor (Grimmauld Place).

• Harry had made a friend in Wizarding Britain: Neville Longbottom.

• Harry had made a second friend within the last six months; in fact, Harry had met his soulmate.

• Sirius and Harry were living near where Harry's soulmate lived, in an house with a Wizard Notice-Me-Not Charm cast on it.

• Sirius not only was not disowned from the Black family, he was the Black Heir Primary (now wearing the ring).

• Among other outcomes of Sirius donning the Black Heir ring, now Sirius could not be mind-whammied. Albus Dumbledore could not outmagic Sirius's mental protection, because Dumbledore had lost the allegiance of the Elder Wand.

• Harry not only was the future Lord Potter, Harry also was the future Lord Malfoy (by Right of Conquest). Harry would be allowed to claim the Potter Heir Primary ring at age eleven, not age sixteen as Dumbledore had ordered. Harry likewise could claim the Malfoy Heir Primary ring at eleven.

• At Gringotts, Bronzedagger no longer was the Potter Account Manager. The new Potter Account Manager, Axefrenzy, had no prior relationship with Dumbledore.

• Tom Riddle was dead, his horcruxes all were destroyed, and his Death Eaters (including Snape) all were dead.

At 11:33pm, in the Prisoner Property Room, DMLE

Albus, before prison, had been friendly with three Aurors—Alastor, Kingsley and Hestia. Albus was keenly disappointed that none of the three were here now, to welcome Albus back to freedom after six months' undeserved confinement.

In the Prisoner Property Room, former prisoner Albus was given back the clothing, Portkeys and two wands that he had possessed when he had been arrested. In the PPR shower room, Albus removed his dirty, stinky Azkaban robes, showered, then put on the blue and green robes, with dancing elephants on them, that he had been wearing when he had been arrested.

The robes were looser now; Albus had lost weight.

In the process of removing the Elder Wand from its evidence bag and putting the Elder Wand in a pocket of his robes, Albus for a few seconds held the Elder Wand in his hand. The wand felt ordinary now.

Albus realised with dismay that in the one second when Amelia Bones had taken the Elder Wand away from Albus by physical means, not magical means, this had been enough for the Wand to switch its allegiance. Amelia Bones, not Albus, now was the master of the Elder Wand.

Albus felt panic. Whilst Albus knew many spells, when it came to magical power, Albus in truth was only ordinary. Albus's great reputation at duelling—not to mention, the "impossible" magical feats that Albus had achieved with bulk Obliviations and bulk Confundus Charms—all had come from Albus possessing the superpowered Elder Wand. Which now was not superpowered at all.

Then Albus had another dismaying realisation—

When Albus had been arrested, he had lost the feeling of the Hogwarts wards. Now that he was released from prison, he should be feeling the wards again, because he was Headmaster again. But he did not feel the wards at all.

What did this mean? Had the Board of Governors sacked Albus Dumbledore, Defeater of Grindelwald?

When Albus walked out of the shower room, now dressed as he preferred, an Auror was waiting for him. In the Auror's hand was a folded, wax-sealed parchment.

The Auror said, "Senior Auror Shacklebolt told me to give this to you."

"Do you know what it says?" Albus asked, hoping that the answer was no.

"All I was told was that it's personal, not Auror business; but that Senior Auror Shacklebolt wanted for you to read it as soon as possible. He gave it to us because, he said, he didn't want to worry about owls chasing you from A to B to C."

Albus was pleased that Kingsley had remembered him. As Albus put the letter in his pocket, he said with a smile, "I'll read this at Hogwarts." Hopefully in the headmaster's suite, Albus added in his thoughts.

Albus was hubristic, not stupid. So rather than blithely attempt to Apparate directly into the headmaster's office at Hogwarts—which would result in serious injury if the Hogwarts wards would not allow Albus to go there—Albus Apparated to outside the Hogwarts front gate, then waited for Hagrid to allow Albus onto the grounds of Hogwarts.

When Albus had walked through night darkness to the Entry Hall, where Albus had waited in 1892 to be Sorted, he now found Minerva McGonagall waiting for him. She was wearing night robes, her hair was in a braid and her expression was the Minerva-version of "dignified angry."

Albus nodded his head, making a shallow bow. "Minerva, good evening."

Minerva raised her chin and commanded, "Address me by my title, Mister Dumbledore!"

Albus paused to consider the matter, then said, "Acting Headmistress McGonagall, good evening."

She snapped, "I am not 'Acting' Headmistress now, I am fully titled as Headmistress, by the decision of the Board of Governors. This has been the case since August. Tomorrow you will meet with the Board. Whilst you probably will be given back the post of Headmaster and I probably will be demoted to Deputy Headmistress, this is not a certain thing, Albus."

Minerva glared at Albus and explained, "Several voices on the Board, I do not know how many, wish to see you banned from Hogwarts for the rest of your life."

"Why, Minerva? What have I done? This entire thing with Harry was just a big misunderstanding. Tell me what you know before I talk to them."

Minerva snapped, "I'll let the Board members explain to you why they're angry with you. You, Albus Dumbledore, who has to know everything, about everyone, every minute, will just have to wait to be told."

"Minerva, I refuse to be kept ignorant like this! I insist—"

"Silence, Albus! This is not your school tonight, so don't give me orders."

Then Minerva added, "After you were sent to Azkaban, but before Severus died, Mr Potter wrote Severus a letter. Mr Potter told Severus what his life had been like, and wrote that you did nothing to stop the abuses. Severus shared Mr Potter's letter with us other professors. Speaking for myself, Albus, after what you let James' and Lily's son go through, six months in Azkaban means you got off lightly. I'm ashamed of the part I played in causing Mr Potter's miseries."

"Minerva, I'm so disappointed in—"

"Wrinkly!" Minerva yelled, interrupting Albus. Wrinkly was the head Hogwarts house-elf.

"Headmistress McKitty calls Wrinkly?"

"Wrinkly, tonight Albus Dumbledore is not to be taken to the headmaster's office if he orders it. The headmaster's office is off limits to Albus Dumbledore tonight. Now put him in one of the honoured-guest suites."

"Wrinkly will." Wrinkly snapped his fingers, and both the house-elf and Albus vanished from the Entry Hall.

As Albus was preparing for sleep in Guest Suite Badger-1, he figured out why Minerva had not allowed him in the headmaster's office when Albus was not (yet) headmaster: Minerva knew with certainty that if Albus could be elf-popped into the headmaster's office and could search it with Minerva not there to stop his explorations, he would spend hours searching the office to learn all its new secrets.

Just before Albus went to sleep, he thought, Now would be a good time to read Kingsley's letter.

Minutes later, Albus wished he had not bothered.

.

Dumbledore,

Until six months ago, I had a bright future in the DMLE. Now I childmind Aurors Second Class and Aurors First Class, and get only other sorts of "carry out procedures" assignments. But assignments that require me to investigate crimes? Assignments fraught with risk and danger? Assignments that would show I have what it takes to earn promotion to Master Auror? I don't get those assignments anymore, Nigel Grenwick gets them. My career has been frozen after the Boss Lady caught me talking to you. So you and I are done. The only way I can revive my career is by arresting you. Fortunately for me, I'm sure that if we ever meet again, you'll give me an excuse to arrest you—because you don't believe that the rules for everyone else apply to you too, do you? KEEP AWAY (for the Greater Good).

KS

The next morning (Saturday, 20 October 1990), 9.06am
Albus meets with the Board of (seven) Governors
In Meeting Room One at Hogwarts

Aloysius Farley, father of Gemma, said sarcastically, "Look, everyone, the man of the hour finally has arrived. And only six minutes late."

Albus said solemnly, "I am late because I had things to do."

"Such as to check on the Boy Who Lived, to make sure he isn't abused? No, no, Albus Dumbledore can't be bothered to do that."

"Leave off, Aloysius," said a woman Board of Governors member whom Albus did not recognise. "He's the Defeater of Grindelwald. Show respect."

Aloysius replied, "Welsa, that was forty-five years ago—and we have only Dumbledore's word how things happened with Grindelwald. In any case, now in 1990, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore disgraced himself and the school. This is what we're here to discuss, not something that happened before most of us on the Board were born."

Halburt Higgs (father of Terence Higgs; Halburt worked as an Unspeakable) walked up to Albus, whilst holding three folded newspapers. "Andromeda Tonks, Sirius Black and Mr Potter clearly have decided they won't let you sneak back into the school and sneak back into the headmaster's office. This is from yesterday's Prophet."

So saying, Halburt laid a newspaper on the conference-room table—

.

POTTER'S SCAR IS GONE!

POTTER TELLS DP, "I'M WORRIED ABOUT DD"

.

Halburt laid down another newspaper. "Here's the Prophet of two days ago."

.

BWL APRIL INJURIES-LIST OVER 3 FEET LONG

HEALER DESCRIBES BWL IN APRIL AS STARVED, HIS BONES HEALED WRONG, BRUISED

.

The remaining newspaper was dropped on the table. "Three days ago."

.

LILY POTTER'S IGNORED WILL: "ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY" MY SISTER WON'T RAISE HARRY!

BUT BECAUSE OF DD, SISTER DID

.

POTTER'S BEDROOM TILL APRIL HAD BLOODSTAINS ON FLOOR

.

BWL WAS ABUSED

POTTER IN APRIL WAS SKELETON-THIN, SMALL FOR HIS AGE, HAD MANY BRUISES

DD NEVER CHECKED UP

.

Halburt, his face and voice expressionless, said to Albus, "I wonder what your reaction is to these news stories."

Meanwhile, Aloysius was looking at Albus and grinning cruelly. "The Board has received much owl-post from Hogwarts parents in the last three days. Many feel that no way, no how should someone convicted of neglecting a child in their care ever be Headmaster again."

Welsa replied, "How odd, Aloysius, I remember seeing many, many letters from Hogwarts parents saying, 'Dumbledore made a mistake, he's sorry for it and Hogwarts deserves the prestige of having the Defeater of Grindelwald as its headmaster.' "

Aloysius said, "Welsa, even you must admit it hasn't helped the old man's case when we found the 'Don't write about Snape' ward."

Albus thought, Shit! Nobody was supposed to find that.

In 1980, Albus as Headmaster had added a ward, which was powered by the ley lines that ran under the castle, that compelled every student in the castle to think What Snape has done is not bad enough to write anyone about.

Albus knew that when the students went home for hols and were face-to-face with their parents, the students would complain loud and long about Severus—but this did not matter. Unless the parents had a Dicta-Quill set up, there would be no evidence of Severus's misbehaviour in writing.

Now Welsa said, "But now Severus Snape is dead and we have a replacement Potions professor, so it doesn't matter about that unwise ward, which was taken down anyway."

Blossom Bentley (mother of Brandon) replied to Welsa, "Tell Dumbledore, we have a replacement Muggle-born Potions professor, from that Manchester school."

Halburt sighed. "Blossom, please remember that our first choice, to hire an Hogwarts graduate to teach Potions, didn't work. We wound up needing to offer the position to older Aurors and older Healers, who had rank enough that they refused our position offers; and parents would have dragged us outside and Killing-Cursed us all if we had hired another young Slytherin to teach Potions. And nobody else recently from Hogwarts, but not from Slytherin, had 'Outstanding' on his or her Potions NEWT—Snape had made sure of that! So who did this leave? We decided that a British Muggle-born from MMA was automatically a better choice than the American applicant, because he was an American. Professor Miller has been with us for six months now, and the students have made no complaints about her. Unlike before."

Albus asked, "You have definitely replaced the Potions professor? When the Death Eaters died, Severus died too?"

Aloysius replied with a smile, "All the Death Eaters, including the man you had full confidence in, died in less than an hour, six months ago. It's wrong to speak ill of the dead, but I'm told three Houses acted just short of throwing a party in the Great Hall when Madam Pomfrey pronounced Severus Snape dead. Only Slytherin and a few Ravenclaws mourned the man."

Then Aloysius's face changed. "We're getting off topic. Parents have a right to know if their children are being taught by a shoddy Potions teacher. You, former Headmaster Dumbledore, abused the castle's wards to prevent them from knowing. Snape would have been sacked years ago if parents could've proven to the Board how bad a teacher Snape was."

Albus said pompously, "A future event of great concern shall happen, and I needed Severus here at Hogwarts when this event occurred. The protection of Wizarding Britain was, and is, more important than keeping parents informed."

Aloysius said, "And would you explain to us members of the Board exactly what this 'future event of great concern' is?"

"I shall not answer that. Wizarding Britain would be harmed if the wrong people learnt some of my secrets."

"Really? My understanding is that 'the wrong people' died six months ago."

Halburt said, "Aloysius, you're playing word-games and hypotheticals with Dumbledore. He excels at that. Five minutes from now, he'll have you agreeing that the sun is blue and the sky is yellow, fish fly and birds swim."

Aloysius said, "You're right, Halburt. Let's do the job we came here to do."

Then Aloysius stared into Dumbledore's eyes. "You want to be Headmaster again, and Minerva McGonagall demoted? Then you'll need to give us an oath on your magic. Halburt has the text of the oath written out."

Halburt pulled a folded parchment from his pocket. Unfolded, the parchment was a foot long, and solid with text.

Albus said piously, "I do not make magical oaths. A magical oath that is poorly worded is dangerous to the oath-giver."

"Splendid!" said Aloysius. "I was hoping this would be your attitude. I'll inform Minerva that she shall continue on as Headmistress. Where do you want Wrinkly to deliver your personal effects? To Dumbledore House?"

Albus thought, Blast it, he's supposed to offer concessions, not end negotiations altogether! Aloud, Albus said, "If we would work together on the wording of the oath, I would be willing to speak the oath."

Welsa said, "This sounds like an excellent idea."

Aloysius said, "Such pretty words, 'would work together.' But I hear that a decade ago, when you were heading the Order of the Phoenix, 'Let's work together' from you meant 'Obey me and don't question.' "

"I would not put it that way. The Order of the Phoenix was a team." This was a lie, but Albus was lying for the Greater Good.

Halburt said, "Dumbledore, that's a lie. But lucky for you, it's against the rules for me to 'borrow' the Department of Mysteries Truthstone and to question you about your many lies to us. The Board of Governors and you would have a quite different relationship if we could prove you lied to us, every time you did."

Aloysius grinned. "Dumbledore, the trouble for you is, A, we in the Board of Governors are not your employees or minions, who may not call you a liar or a moron; and B, now you've been convicted of neglecting a child in your care. Harry Potter suffered nine years of torture because you thought, 'I'm Albus Dumbledore, and I alone know what's best.' Listen up: Your days of being unquestioned and unsupervised as Headmaster are over."

Then Aloysius added, "By the way, you've been dismissed as Chief Warlock in the Wizengamot; and you're no longer Britain's representative to the International Confederation of Wizards, which means you aren't the Supreme Mugwump there. All of which means, if you don't come to an agreement with us, you're unemployed!"

The only reason that Albus spoke Halburt's oath was that Albus knew that Tom was hiding out there somewhere; and when Albus had defeated Tom (with Harry's help and Harry's eventual sacrifice), Albus then could arm-twist the Board of Governors to renegotiate all agreements and oaths.

The oath that Albus made, said that he would carry out no important actions as Headmaster without consulting with the Deputy Headmistress; and if he rejected her counsel, he had to give a written explanation why—an explanation that had to be at least an half-foot of parchment in length.

Halburt's oath also required that Albus not mind-whammy any of the Hogwarts staff, including professors.

Albus saw the trap in Halburt's oath, but felt he had no choice. It still was the case that if he as Headmaster gave Minerva an order as Deputy, she would obey it; this had not changed. But if she had counselled him to do A but he then ordered her to do B, she would have a written record of their disagreement. (Which, since he now was oath-sworn not to mind-whammy his employees, meant that he could not order her to get rid of his written explanation to her.) If Albus ordered Minerva to do B and B turned out to be an unwise choice, Minerva would have a document that was incriminating to Albus, to show the Board.

After Albus spoke the oath, he was given the standard Headmaster employment contract, to sign at Gringotts with a blood quill—

The contract was word-for-word what Albus had signed the first time he had become Headmaster, in 1945. However, this time the words "Signee shall be dismissed immediately if he brings the school into disrepute" were highlighted bright yellow.

Albus hated negotiating from weakness. But this "devil's bargain" was the only way that the Board would allow Albus to resume being Headmaster; and being Headmaster was the only way that Albus could catch and could destroy hidden-away Tom Riddle so that Albus could regain his glory.

In a contract-signing room at Gringotts

Aloysius said to Albus in an insincere voice, "Congratulation on returning to the post of Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. You are succeeding a right good headmistress, Minerva McGonagall. In the six months she was at the top, she replaced the Potions professor because she had to; but she also hired Gringotts to destroy the DADA Curse, and she exorcised Binns."

"Who's the new DADA professor?"

"An Auror named Proudfoot, loaned to Hogwarts for one year. Next year it will be up to you to hire a permanent DADA professor—which I'm sure you can do, because no longer will you need to focus your attention on matters outside Hogwarts, hm?"

"And the History of Magic professor?"

"An Australian named Farmton. He insists that the house-elves provide him with some horrid Aussie food to smear on his bread at breakfast, and for the first time in two hundred-something years, Hogwarts has to pay the History of Magic professor. On the other hand, the students hear about more than goblin rebellions now, and they don't sleep in his class."

After Dumbledore returns to Hogwarts Castle

Since it was Saturday, none of Albus's new subordinates were teaching class now. In theory, Albus could meet with all of them right this minute; instead, he ordered house-elves to pass the word to the professors that Albus would meet with all of them during the two-hour lunch break at noon.

So Albus had a choice, until noon. He could refamiliarise himself with the budgets and other parchmentwork that the headmaster had to deal with, or Albus could serve the Greater Good.

The choice was easy.

The first thing that Albus did, once he returned to the Headmaster's office for the first time in half a year, was to have Minerva's things boxed up and sent to the Deputy Headmistress's office. He sent for Wrinkly to find Albus's own boxed-up things and to put them back out where they had been six months earlier—

Except that all of his silver doodads that tracked Harry Potter were gone. According to Wrinkly, Minerva had boxed up the silver doodads herself, and had told Wrinkly she had been "strongly considering" simply vanishing them. Her reason for destroying Albus's doodads? Doodads of Albus Dumbledore's to track Harry Potter no longer had been necessary when Sirius Black had become the boy's guardian instead of Albus, Minerva had explained.

Also missing from the headmaster's office: some books with "Library of House Potter" bookplates. One of those books explained Dark magic (including horcruxes) to Light readers. Albus was annoyed that the Potter books were gone; those books should be here, for the Greater Good.

Albus was unsurprised to discover that some books that he had removed from the Hogwarts Library's Restricted Section decades ago, but never had returned, likewise were gone now. Damn and blast Minerva!

Belatedly Albus realised that Fawkes's perch was not here. Which led to Albus wondering, Where the bloody hell did Fawkes go?

Albus called Fawkes. Albus waited, at first patiently but with mounting panic, but Fawkes never flamed in.

Albus wrote a note to Sirius Black. The note said, "Where are you and Harry now? Harry is in danger, so it is vital that you let me know where Harry is so that I can protect him."

The note also said, "I insist that you let me speak to you and to Harry in person."

Albus's note to Sirius contained no words that in any way whatsoever could be interpreted to mean I'm sorry I let you rot in prison for eight and an half years without a trial, when you were innocent. I made an huge mistake and I admit it, sorry.

Forty-five minutes later, Albus received a letter that was handed to him from a Potter-house elf. The letter was in Sirius Black's handwriting. Albus did not like the implications of Potter house-elves being cozy with Sirius Black.

The letter read—

.

Albus,

(The whiskered wanker who, when you were Chief Warlock, could have set a trial for me at any time, because you knew I was innocent of all the charges, but didn't lift a finger and you left me to rot),

It should come as no surprise that, even after the humbling that would come to anyone else after they spent months in Azkaban, you still ask me nosy questions and you still make demands of me as though you have a right to.

Harry and I are not living at Black Manor; only Remus lives there now. (Lord Arcturus Black ordered me to hire the goblins to tear down the previous Fidelius Charm, the one that had my mother Walburga as Secret Keeper, and to put up a new Fidelius Charm with me as the Secret Keeper—and I won't tell you the Secret any more than my mother did.)

In short, Harry and I aren't at Black Manor. As for where we are, let me say this as politely and respectfully as I can—

Why the bloody buggery should I tell you anything more than bugger-all?

The Wizengamot stripped you of being Harry's magical guardian, and you're related to neither Harry nor me. You are no longer my headmaster. Harry has yet to start magical schooling; currently he is attending a nonmagical school. So you aren't now Harry's headmaster. You are no longer Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump, and you never were King of England, King of the British Isles or King of the World. What you are is the ex-convict wizard who directly harmed me, and who was convicted of directly harming Harry.

So what, other than your deluded mind, makes you think you're entitled to know where Harry and I live?

Harry and I are in no danger now. The Death Eaters (including Severus and the traitor Pettigrew) all are dead. According to both the Unspeakables and the goblins, whose positions include knowing things that nobody else knows, Voldemort is dead too.

The only wizard whom Harry is in danger from is you. I'm sure you've convinced yourself by now that avenging yourself on a ten-year-old boy whose abuses were the reason you were sent to prison, is somehow for the Greater Good.

In short, if I let you come here to "protect" ten-year-old Harry, you'll "protect" Harry so well that he'll never live to eleven. Or maybe you'd wind up dead on the floor like Voldemort and Lucius did—I can only hope.

To close, because I'm tired of thinking about you—

You "insist" that I let you meet with myself and Harry? How about instead, you walk up to Director Ragnok at Gringotts and "insist" that he give you unrestricted access to the Black coinage vaults? This would be better for you because Ragnok's response would not be to point a wand at you.

Drop dead,

SOB

.

Albus scowled. Sirius was thwarting Harry's destiny of dying by Tom's wand—this was wrong.

When Albus had time, he would search Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley; Albus was certain that Sirius and Harry would be living in one of those two places, or in Black Castle.

Albus then wrote a note to Remus Lupin—"Come to my office. We need to discuss important topics."—and ordered an Hogwarts house-elf to deliver the note (assuming that Black Manor did not have anti-house-elf wards).

Fifteen minutes later, the house-elf delivered Remus's reply—

.

Don't call me to you like a well-trained dog! I have better things to do with my time than to meet with you. Why won't I meet with you? Because you wronged Sirius, you wronged Harry, and you played me for a fool both during and after Hogwarts. So I no longer feel gratitude towards the headmaster who "let" a boy werewolf attend Hogwarts—and who has let no werewolf child attend Hogwarts after me.

Now before you even think of threatening to tell the Aurors that I almost killed Severus when we were both students, realise that Amelia's next question would not be to me, it would be to you: "Dumbledore, if you knew Remus Lupin was a dangerous werewolf and you knew he almost had killed a student, why did you not expel him and contact the DMLE?" I daresay, "Leader of the Light," you soon would be returned to Azkaban, and your newly restored Headmaster title would be gone forever. So do your worst, but I'm still not telling you where Harry is.

Remus J Lupin, Werewolf

.

Albus was annoyed. First Sirius, now Remus, were failing to dance to Albus's tune. Albus needed to find Harry, and these two were blocking him!

At this point, the time was a bit after 10.30 in the morning. Albus either could spend not quite two hours reviewing the Hogwarts budget before Albus met with the Hogwarts faculty, or he could again serve the Greater Good.

Greater Good it is! Albus Apparated from his office to the street just outside the offices of the Daily Prophet.

At 11am, in the office of Barnabas Cuffe
Editor-in-chief, the Daily Prophet

Albus had come to Barnabas's office to bloviate beautiful words that Barnabas would faithfully print. In the process, Albus's sterling reputation would be restored, the sheeple would again adore Albus, and Albus would plant hints that Sirius Black was secretly Dark and that Harry Potter was going Dark.

The meeting between Barnabas and Albus did not turn out as Albus had planned.

Albus had been in Barnabas's office for all of ten seconds when the editor-in-chief bragged to Albus about his office's "new goblin-invented ward scheme": Barnabas said, "Now, no Death Eater can kill me in my own office, and no Death Eater can mind-whammy me in my own office. Isn't that great? It would be bad for the Prophet's trust by readers if someone could mind-whammy me then tell me, 'Instead of printing such-and-such true thing, print this-and-that false thing,' don't you think?"

The raised eyebrow that Barnabas was giving Albus whilst he was saying this, sent a message of Don't even try to mind-whammy me, Albus; you won't like the results.

When Albus tried to hint that Sirius had gone Dark, Barnabas asked, "Dumbledore, is this why you let Black remain in Azkaban without a trial, when you could have called for a trial at any time? Is this why you thought you should have access to the Potter vaults as magical guardian, instead of Black? What do you say when I tell you that nothing has crossed my desk in the past six months that hints that Black has behaved as less than a model citizen?"

When Albus hinted that Harry was going Dark, Barnabas snapped, "Don't be ridiculous!" Whenever Albus tried to lead the conversation back to "Harry is going Dark," Barnabas immediately said, "We're done with that topic. Move on."

For most of the interview, Barnabas let Albus speak how he wished, with Barnabas asking only clarification questions (or opining "That's ridiculous!")

But just before Barnabas told Albus to leave his office, Barnabas said, "How did this interview between you and me happen? Did I invite you to come here and to speak with me? No. Did I run into you on the street, and I just happened to have a Dicta-Quill and parchment in my pocket? No. It was your idea to come here, telling me, 'It is important that the wizards and witches of Wizarding Britain read what I have to say.' Which I must tell you, Dumbledore, was annoying to hear, because it's my job to decide what is important for the people of Wizarding Britain to read. Anyway, I let you come in here, I let you talk, I wrote down what you said, and you've now spent twenty-eight minutes in my office. Here's my final question—

"Why have you chosen to leave your work at Hogwarts this morning, which is your first day back in six months, to seek me out and to talk to me for twenty-eight minutes, when this is not one of your duties as headmaster? Meanwhile, in eight and an half years, you claim you couldn't spare even one minute at the Dursley house, which would have given Harry Potter an easier life."

Albus stammered, then he said, "Everything I did for Harry, I did for the Greater Good." Barnabas rolled his eyes, then he stopped his office's Dicta-Quill.

At noon

Albus's Saturday-lunchtime meeting with the Hogwarts professors, both new and old, continued the trend of Albus being treated with less than the deference to which he had become accustomed.

Minerva, Filius, Pomona, Aurora and the other carried-over Hogwarts professors continually projected the attitude that they were only seconds away from hitting Albus with Stinging Hexes that were nasty enough to leave welts. Silently scornful was their attitude.

As for the new professors—

Albus could feel Auror Proudfoot, the temporary DADA professor, craving to break out his blue wand to arrest Albus on any flimsy excuse.

The Australian, History of Magic professor Cecil Farmton, when he was not putting food in his mouth, sat through the entire lunch meeting with his arms crossed, radiating an attitude of I do not believe a word you say, Pommy.

Enyd Miller, the Muggle-born Potions professor whose schooling was Manchester Magical Academy instead of Hogwarts, outright challenged Albus: "I wish to know, sir, which is more important to you right now: that I'm an Hogwarts professor, or that I'm a first-generation witch. You wouldn't let a Slytherin student speak disrespectfully to any other professor up here, and you certainly would not tolerate any of the other professors up here receiving Slytherin jinxes and hexes. But the word I heard at MMA, and I heard here when I was first hired, was that whilst you were headmaster, Slytherins could do anything and everything they pleased to first-generation students, and your attitude was to refuse to give punishment, explaining, 'Everyone deserves a second chance.' Which by the way, was not Headmistress McGonagall's attitude."

Albus snapped, "Enyd, I do not like your attitude. After lunch, you and I shall retire to my office, where we shall discuss this further."

Enyd shook her head. "At MMA, you were even more notorious for your Obliviates and your Confundos in your office than you were for how you let first-gens be treated. No sir, you and I shall resolve this in front of the others; or I shall give immediate notice, and you can hire the American whom the Board almost hired for Potions."

Albus, through gritted teeth, wound up telling Enyd that she had unrestricted authority as a professor, both in her classroom and when she patrolled the corridors.