Chapter 13 - Baboons
The opportunity for vengeance came surprisingly quickly. After the sloppy breakfast, the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years assembled at the Quidditch pitch for their first flying lesson.
Harry was delighted to discover that he had an unexpected talent - flying just came naturally to him. While the other students struggled to coax their brooms into rising, his seemed to want nothing more than to lift him into the skies.
It all went pear-faced when Longbottom slid off his bucking broom and landed on his wrist with a crack heard around the world.
"Did you see that fat lump cry?" Malfoy laughed to his lackies. The Slytherins chuckled along.
"Shut up Malfoy! He was really hurt!" Parvati patil yelled bravely.
"Ooh Patil and Longbottom sitting on a broom…" a pug-faced Slytherin girl sang.
Harry ignored the pointless prattle of the rest of his year mates and kept his focus on Malfoy. His heart was hammering, he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. The time for action was near. His lips were dry and his nostrils flared. He quietly urged Malfoy to pick up Longbottom's remembrall. Harry watched in suppressed glee as the blonde ponce did exactly that.
"Look what we have here, the fat cry baby's forgotten his little trinket," Malfoy called out while throwing and catching the cloudy ball in his hand.
"Give it here Malfoy!" Weasley yelled, stepping forward with an enraged expression.
Malfoy sneered like some pantomime villain, "I don't think so weasel. I think I'll just hang onto..UFFF"
The class gasped as Malfoy's words were drowned out by a black haired blur slamming into him and knocking him to the ground. The assembled children watched in morbid fascination as the boy-who-lived sat atop the Slytherin with one hand choking the blonde boy and with the other punching him repeatedly in the face.
Fwip! Fwip! Fwip!
The beating seemed to continue for ages before Harry was finally yanked off by Malfoy's bodyguards who proceeded to kick Harry wherever they could. He curled up into a ball and started laughing.
"Depulso!"
One of the gorillas was pushed away by a violet spell as an irate Madam Hooch came running up to the melee. Her eyes were wide and her mouth gaping. She grabbed the remaining gorilla and pushed him away from Harry.
"Never in all my years!" she shrieked.
Harry was lying on his back now gasping for breath and groaning as his laughter caused his undoubted bruises to ache.
"Malfoy stole…memall" he tried to argue in between pained breaths.
"I don't think so, you wildling. I saw everything. You are in serious trouble Mr. Potter," Hooch snapped at him.
He shrugged and closed his eyes. It had been worth it.
(Break)
It had not been worth it.
After a brief and terse recuperation in the hospital wing, Harry was summoned to the headmaster's office. Professor McGonagall had barely said a word to him as she led him there. From her flared nostrils, narrowed eyes and thin lips he could tell that she was livid.
Just as spoke the password to the gargoyle she left him with a parting message," James Potter was a troublemaker like no other but even he never displayed such sheer brutality."
Harry stared at her for a few moments, caught off guard by the incredibly cutting statement. Something about it rubbed him wrong but he couldn't figure out what. So he just shrugged and responded,"I wouldn't know what James Potter was like would I?" He was pleased to see that the old witch left him with a stricken look on her face.
He made his way up a spiral staircase and found himself facing another door. He knocked on it loudly and heard an ethereal voice say, "Come in."
Albus Dumbledore looked everything like Harry would have imagined a wizard would look like. He was wizened with long white hair and beard and an absurd choice of hat and clothing. He observed Harry from behind half moon glasses.
Harry's attention was captured however by another being in the room. A massive bird made of golden fire sat atop a perch near Dumbledore's desk and stared at the approaching boy.
"Fawkes Mr. Potter. A phoenix," Dumbledore explained.
"He's gorgeous," Harry whispered.
The bird trilled and left a sonorous note in the air which was undoubtedly magical. Harry felt the tension in his head and shoulders fade away.
"While I'm sure Fawkes would appreciate further compliments I'm afraid we must get on with business Mr. Potter. Please have a seat."
When Harry was settled, Dumbledore steepled his hands before him and asked, "Are you recovered from your wounds Mr. Potter?"
Harry nodded in reply.
"That's good. We would be lost without the ministrations of Madam Pomfrey," Dumbledore said. "Tell me Mr. Potter, what was going on in your mind when you decided to assault young Mr. Malfoy?"
Harry looked away and mumbled, "He was stealing Longbottom's memory…thing…which his grandma sent him."
When he turned back Dumbledore had a sceptical look on his face, "Come now Mr. Potter. The truth please. Otherwise you and I will be here all day and we both have better things to do."
Harry stared the old man down. It was important to show adults that he wasn't cowed by them. When he thought he'd made his point he replied, "Malfoy is a prick. He swans around bullying people. He picked the wrong person to bully."
Dumbledore nodded sagely and hummed. "Yes, young Draco's behavioural proclivities are not lost on the staff. And yet, I find myself asking whether your response to young Draco's bullying was proportional?"
Harry shrugged. He was feeling more and more comfortable talking to the old man. He didn't know why but he suspected that the fact that Dumbledore didn't seem to be talking down to him made all the difference.
"There's only one way to stop a bully. You have to show them that the cost is too high."
Dumbledore nodded again but was silent as he seemed to consider Harry's words.
Harry's attention drifted around the office as the silence continued. The office was situated in one of the tall spires of the castle. The large windows framing the walls afforded a glorious view of the Black Lake, Forbidden Forest and the Highland mountains.
"You have lived a harder life than most," Dumbledore spoke suddenly. He sounded …off as he said it. " I will not insult you by trying to gainsay your learned experiences."
He waited to see if Harry would respond and when the boy didn't he continued, "Tell me, do you like Hogwarts?"
Harry considered the question seriously. "The food is great, the bed is warm and I love magic." He replied finally.
Dumbledore smiled at that. A genuine soft smile.
"And yet you were ready to give that up over a petty squabble. I ask not to judge but to understand."
Harry shrugged, "what's the worst you can do? Snap my wand and throw me out?"
Dumbledore furrowed an eyebrow,"And you don't consider that a serious loss?"
Harry shook his head, "it's just a wand. And it's just a school. You can't take my magic from me."
Dumbledore looked genuinely perplexed now," Whatever do you mean?"
Harry held up an index finger, the symbol for 'wait, let me demonstrate.'
He brought up his memory of that day with Piers Polkiss, of throwing caution to the wind, of rejecting fear, of rage and of domination. Of sheer audacity and willpower. He remembered conquering and destroying his enemy. The feeling that it brought.
Then he opened his eyes and focused on Dumbledore's peacock feather quill and held his hand out. The feather quivered and hung in the air for a tense moment before shooting into Harry's outstretched hand.
"Oh my! Oh my word!" Dumbledore exclaimed.
Harry panted as Dumbledore quietly applauded his feat.
When he had caught his breath he told the old wizard, "The wand is just a tool. And experience is the best education. I can live without Hogwarts but I can't live knowing I let a bully get away with disrespecting me…especially the son of a Death Eater."
His last words seemed to change Dumbledore's posture. "Aah so you have been catching up I gather. I might hasten to correct your summary of young Draco. He is the son of an alleged Death Eater."
Harry scoffed.
"So what now? Do I get to take the train back to London or find my own way back?"
Dumbledore dismissed Harry's question with a wave of his hand.
"Were you any other student and were this any other situation you would have been on your way home by now. However we can't ignore that the Boy-Who-Lived beat the son of an alleged Death Eater ostensibly because the same son of said alleged Death Eater was mocking the injured son of war heroes. As livid as Mr. Malfoy was to learn of the brutality with which you dispatched his son, he was at pains to suggest that the School not punish you harshly."
"What?" Harry shouted in shock.
Dumbledore nodded, "Whatever one may think of Lucius Malfoy. He is a consummate politician. Despite my encouragement that he press to have you expelled, he was adamantly against such a proposition. I suspect the Daily Prophet tomorrow will carry a tale of his magnanimity towards a poor orphan."
"You wanted me expelled, not Malfoy?" Harry asked incredulously.
Dumbledore nodded, "Indeed! I abhor wanton violence. And as the Headmaster I must at least attempt to apply the rules equally."
Harry scoffed again, "Yeah Malfoy and his goons swan around bullying anyone in their paths and you talk about applying rules equally."
Dumbledore wagged his finger at Harry, "You're misquoting me Mr. Potter. I said I must attempt to apply the rules equally. As our current situation suggests, politics usually overrides my attempts at performing my duties."
Harry sat back confused and exhausted. "So what now?"
"Now Mr. Potter, I may not be able to expel you but I can certainly suspend you."
"Suspend? Where do I go during this suspension?"
"While not typically the concern of the School, given your…home situation, Mr. Hagrid has kindly volunteered to host you in the Gamekeeper's Hut for the duration."
Harry felt equally warm and guilty. He had treated the big man like a dunce but the giant's kindness still prevailed.
"You will of course have to assist Mr. Hagrid on his regular duties. Not to worry though as you will not be attending classes for the duration of the suspension you will have sufficient time for the same."
"How long is the suspension for?" Harry asked, his mind already alive with possibilities.
"Oh I think a month ought to do it."
When Harry left Dumbledore's office his mind was swimming with ideas. This was a chance to really spend a lot of time on the valise. With no schoolwork but the opportunity to use magic he could make a lot of headway in setting up a self-sufficient mobile home.
And he had to plan how to get back at Malfoy's baboons. No one would get away with kicking him when he was down.