Hey everyone,
It's party-time, yet there will be a few ups and downs that will take place during the party as well.
Let's wait and see,

Venquine1990

Chapter 18
An Interrupted Party – Part 01

24th of June 1995
Great Hall, Hogwarts
James' POV

As we traveled from the Quidditch Pitch to the Great Hall for the party, I decide to cover a topic that Lily and I had feared could become problematic for our son.

Yet as I brought it up with Harry, our concerns were alleviated. While Harry had definitely been annoyed with how the Yule Ball had been forced upon him, it hadn't made him hate or despise dancing or dances in general.

Yet the boy had still been somewhat shocked to hear that, as a member of a Most and Most Ancient House, organizing dances and balls were supposed to have been part of his life since the day he was born, as it had been part of mine.

And, just to make sure that this news wouldn't negatively affect his opinion about it all, I had encouraged him to try and dance with either Lea or Cedric and told him:

"Trust me, dancing with someone you really care about can really affect your enjoyment of such an activity. I always enjoyed dancing with your mother way more than I did with someone who came to one of our parties, just because their families were in Alliance with mine."

Harry had nodded and Cedric, who had been walking slightly behind us, had told us that he had really wanted to ask my son to the Yule Ball and dance with him.

"I just hadn't, because I didn't want to give Skeeter more ammo. And with how few couples that went to the Ball were of the same sex and with us both being Champions, I just knew that she would completely misinterpret the whole thing.

Heck, I could already see the headlines on the next morning's Daily Prophet front page:

Harry Potter; cheater and manipulator.

The Boy Who Cheats uses "unknown" magic to influence the preferences of the True Hogwarts Champion.

What Did Our "hero" do to get poor Cedel Digger to go to the Yule Ball with him?

And thanks to the articles that the woman has been publishing over the course of the last year, especially the one that everyone was reminded of earlier this morning, I just know that the boy is right and that he was right to be cautious like this.

Yet then Harry smirks and says: "To be honest, that's another reason I planned to make sure that Cedric would be considered the true Champion. Now his title more or less equals mine in the public opinion.

I'd like to see Mss. Skeeter try and slander him now, especially now that Fudge has seen her for the little bug that she is."

We all laugh at the boy's clever choice of words. And from the corner of my eyes, I notice Harry's smile widen as he watches us laughing at his joke.

Yet our glee is short-lived as Minerva is standing in the doorway to the Entrance Courtyard and, to my instant annoyance, her critical stare focuses itself upon my son as soon as she sees us approach.

Already I know what she wants and why she's waiting for us.

And I don't feel like giving her a chance to put unfair expectations on my son again, especially when it comes to something that she herself ruined for my son in the first place.

So as we approach her, I stretch out my arm and gently push/guide my son to walk behind Lily and myself. Minerva seems to ignore this – or perhaps just not notice it – yet I don't care.

Before the woman can fully open her mouth to speak, I interrupt her and snap: "Don't even think about it, McGonagall."

And the fact that I am using her last name, something I didn't do for at least the last year before my death, instantly silences the woman.

Lily and I share a look and I can almost read her thoughts through the look in her beautiful green eyes: "She always liked you more. It will be more effective if you criticize her about this."

I nod at her and turn back to Minerva. This whole event takes less than a minute and Minerva still seems somewhat befuddled.

"You don't have the right to throw any expectations upon my son, Minerva. Not with how callously you treat your responsibilities as Gryffindor's Head of House and how you couldn't even bother to put the truth and Harry's rights above your need for protecting a reputation."

Minerva stares at me and while Lily guides Harry, Cedric, Lea and Sirius a little further into the castle, they stay standing a few steps away.

In the meantime I simply continue: "You knew that Harry didn't put his name in the Goblet and that he didn't want to be in the Tournament, that he was fully supportive of Cedric being the Hogwarts Champion. You knew that.

And yet, while you could've easily supported him in proving this and still getting what you wanted – to preserve Hogwarts' somewhat acceptable reputation – you were so damned focused on your own damned pride – you ruined the whole event for both of you.

After all, if you had just said something like Mr. Potter, please know that attending the Yule Ball will influence certain aspects of the Second Task. I understand that you don't want to be a Champion, so I won't ask you to open the Yule Ball. We will leave that to Mr. Diggory.

Let me finish!

However, because you have been so focused and stressed about your unexpected inclusion into the Tournament, I feel you deserve to have some fun this year, especially with the cancelation of the Quidditch Season this year. So I suggest that you find someone you like or who you are friends with and ask them.

That way, you can have fun and your enjoyment being witnessed by our foreign guests will help improve Hogwarts and Gryffindor's reputation. Can you accept this?

How does that sound, McGonagall? Because to me, it sounds like this statement comes from a Head of House who cares about the truth, the reputation of her House and, most importantly, her damned students!"

By now Lily, Harry, Lea and Cedric aren't the only ones standing around to watch my confrontation. And, to my silent sense of pride, there are quite a few students and others around us who nod in agreement with my statement.

And I definitely don't feel like taking the bite out of my tone as I snap: "So don't you even dare to try to put unacceptable expectations on my son, McGonagall.

Not when you yourself can't even live up to the expectation of being Gryffindor's mother that people like Molly and others put on you when they put their kids on the Hogwarts Express.

You don't have that right.

And besides, I told Harry that, as Heir of my House, he should've been raised with balls, dances and feasts being part of his yearly routine.

And thankfully, your need to put improper expectations on my son and his role in the Tournament didn't ruin his belief that he can enjoy a party or a dance like that.

So while I won't expect him to dance the night away with his new partners, I know that my son will enjoy himself tonight. And that, to me, is all that matters.

Now if you'll excuse me. I haven't been able to dance in the Great Hall with my wife in years, not since our Graduation back in '78."

And with that I leave the stunned woman standing where she is. Yet thankfully, as I laid into her, I noticed a look of growing remorse in the woman's eyes.

And while I haven't seen the woman approach my son even once for the few times that she has done him wrong or fallen short of her duties towards him, I still feel somewhat confident that she might just be inspired to do so as we read the books.

And simply because I'm sure the books will reveal Dumbledore for the bastard that I consider him to be, I ignore him entirely when he tries to approach me and reprimand me for how I, in his eyes I'm sure, unnecessarily humiliated "poor" Minerva – or something.

The sound of the man's spluttering as I callously pass him by is like music to my ears.

And as I guide my family – both by blood and those that will soon be my family by bond – Lily whispers: "At least warn her about her draconian mistake."

I nod at this, because we both know that Minerva really is a much better and more responsible person than her current boss – and main influencer.

I tilt my head towards her and whisper: "How high do you rate the chance that her, Hagrid and him dumping our boy on that doorstep will be part of the first book?"

Lily softly whispers back: "High enough that we might want to warn them both. Not him tough, of course."

I grin at him and repeat her last few words.

I turn from her to Harry and ask: "Son, would you mind staying close to Siri, Lea and Cedric? Your mum and I need to take care of a few more small things before we can enjoy this dance."

Harry nods and when he asks if everything's alright, I nod and reassure him that his mother and I just want to warn those who deserve it before we read the books. That we feel that some people deserve to be warned that their actions might be described in a negative light in them.

Harry, Cedric and Lea nod in understanding at this.

And so, while the three of them and Sirius move over to one of the round tables that has been set into the Great Hall, which is big enough to seat six or even seven people, Lily tells me that she'll take Minerva this time.

I nod and tell her that I will meet with Hagrid and see if I can get his side of the story about how he handled the aftereffects of Norbert being moved to Romania.

The two of us part.

And somehow I feel as if either Lady Hecate or some other God smiles down on me.

Hagrid is standing in the back of the Great Hall, close to the door to the Antechamber and seems to have completely missed my confrontation with Minerva.

And just like I expected, the giant man almost completely envelops me as I approach him and declares how happy he is that Lily and I are back in the realm of the living.

I agree with him, ask if I can talk with him and guide him into the antechamber.

There, because I know that Hagrid is much more childlike, and even slightly incapable of being properly responsible in his behavior and acting, than Minerva, I make sure to add less of a bite to my tone as I start breaching the subject.

"Hagrid, we both know that, when we read the next book, the first one, Norbert will be mentioned, including everything Harry did to convince you to send him to Charlie, right?

Because in the aftereffects of that event, both you and Minerva made a statement that Lily and I just can't accept. And Lily is informing Minerva about this, but I feel the need to do with you as well."

The man seems shocked, even though a look of resigned agreement had flashed across his face at first. I grimace and say:

"Hagrid, you told Draco Malfoy as well as Hermione, Neville and my boy that they were there because they deserved to be there.

But you were the adult, Hagrid, the adult who had to rely on eleven year old kids to be more responsible about your home and your role as Gamekeeper than you were.

They made sure that Norbert was somewhere where everyone could be kept safe and where he could grow up pleasantly. That was something you should have done, can you agree with me on that?"

Hagrid nods and then he amazes me as he says: "I didn't mean it the way you think, James. I – I just wanted to impose on him the same lesson I had realized in the time between Norbert leaving and that detention.
I had realized that I should have reported my actions and my inaction when it comes to my job to either Minerva, Dumbledore or someone else. And I felt that they should've done the same. I just wanted them to learn that, but – I guess my choice of words didn't properly project that."

I feel properly impressed with the man's explanation, yet I sigh and say:

"Hagrid, I get what you're saying and I agree with you. At least someone in the group involved should've been responsible enough to do this.

But you never had the right to supervise that detention. You should've come clean to Minerva, tell her that you had been the reason –."

But then Hagrid really shocks me as he asks: "Wait, Professor McGonagall didn't know that? I – I thought she had taken those points and assigned that detention, because she felt that they had been irresponsible in how they handled Norbert.

And I wanted to prove that I felt the same about my own irresponsibility and that I could redeem myself, so I asked to supervise the detention."

I stare at Hagrid for a moment as I realize that, just like the woman never told Harry that I had three friends growing up, she never told Hagrid about her reason behind either the Point loss or the detention. And she probably never told her other colleagues either.

I put the elbow of my right arm in the palm of my left hand and rub my temple, just above my glasses, with my right hand as I decide to be honest with the man.

"Hagrid, McGonagall thought that Harry had tried to pull a prank on both Malfoy and Neville, lied to him that she had never seen four students out of bed after curfew and then took the 150 points for exactly that.

Norbert, as far as she knew and cared, had nothing to do with it.

And yes, Lily is warning her about this, as we speak."

Hagrid sighs in relief at this and mutters that he can't imagine that anyone will take kindly to her actions when it's read about.

I smile at him and say: "And that's why we both decided to warn the two of you. Though Lily is also impressing our combined negative opinion about all this onto the woman, while I only felt like warning you about it.

And I'm glad that I did. At least now you and I both understand where we respectively stand in all of this. And while I can agree with you that Harry and the others should have reported on you, can you agree that you didn't have the right to supervise that detention?"

Hagrid nods, I smile and compliment him and then guide him back out of the Antechamber and recommend that he enjoys the rest of the evening.

The man makes me laugh as he says: "We've got a chance to end things before they go bad, Harry's got everything he ever deserved, Sirius got declared innocent and you guys are back.

I'm not just going to enjoy my night; I'm going to enjoy the rest of the year."

And while I'm sure that there will plenty enough written in the books – especially the ones about the next three years – that won't be as enjoyable, I remember the final lines of the last book.

And like my son in the book, I decide to follow the same advice.

Good luck, James.
So, that's Hagrid and Minerva taken care of. Who else will the Potters ask if they can have a moment of their time?
Wait and see,

Venquine1990