Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!

Title: Responsible Professors (Working Title)

Posted Date: 8 April 2023

Tags: Proper Professors, Mentor Sinistra, Canon Snape, Manipulative Dumbledore, Worthless Main Heads of House

Possible Challenges: Stupid Man-Child Sirius Black, Stupid Lupin, Bad Hermione Granger, Good(?) Weasley adults, Cult of Dumbledore

Tropes not to be used: Harry going back to Dursleys, Political Harry, Multi-Lordship Potter (maybe allow two?)

Professor Aurora Sinistra had a bad feeling about the school year 1994.

She was the Astronomy Professor and had been teaching at Hogwarts for roughly 14 years at this point, being the eldest of the "newcomer" trio comprising herself, Septima Vector and Bathsheda Babbling, to work at the institution almost immediately after graduating and obtaining their respective masters. She was not unaware of her reputation for her work habits or her looks.

Out of the entire senior staff, Professor Charity Burbage who handled Muggle Studies was the only one to interact with the three younger women on a daily basis. After all, Burbage was the previous hire before them, and their subjects were only considered in the third year, giving them a lot of free time on their hands depending on the number of students attending them. Not that she did not pay attention to the other staff, it was more that they had not much in common to talk about, and when it came to Severus Snape, it may be best that she did not talk with him much given how much she would want to smack him for all the crap he allowed his students to get away with.

She had seen much from the time she had arrived at Hogwarts to learn magic to the time she obtained the position, and had taught much to the students. She had also seen first hand the state of the school, ranging from the actual castle to the students themselves. There was so much wrong going on there that she had no idea how none of this got advertised about the "safest place in Britain". She had suspicions that Dumbledore would have done something to ensure no bad word would get out of the school to maintain control, after all it would not do for people to know that children were getting hexed, cursed, potioned or get into accidents on a semi-weekly basis that would have most people baying for blood. The problem was she had circumstantial proof at best, and if she tried to confront the man, the best that could happen to her would be to lose her job. Otherwise, something else might happen.

In the early years, Sinistra had to do a lot of disciplining to get the students in line, something that she felt should have been done by the heads. Granted, Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout do ensure their students were kept in line, the latter having better success with Hufflepuff students being very well-behaved while the former would punish his Ravenclaws and those that had clearly violated the rules. Minerva seemed to be too stretched out with her three posts to do anything proper with the Gryffindor students, and the less said about the Weasley Twins, the better. As for Snape, she would rather make sure that any students not of Slytherin did not get the short end as the guy was more likely to award points to his own house for some stupid reason so as to give his students the lead in getting the House Cup. Dumbledore, the old fool, claimed that she was being too strict on the students and she should leave the discipline to the heads of house. Well, she would not have to do that much if they were doing their damn jobs!

But for the school years of 1991 to 1993, the situation had escalated really quickly and in a very messed up manner.

School year 1991, the senior staff were involved with some weird thing with Dumbledore that she and the others found out near the end of the school was some weird corridor test with different types of security coming from the main groups of magic, all to house a certain item that was supposedly at the end of the corridor.

School year 1992, something happened on Halloween involving the old school legend of the Heir of Slytherin, and that got dragged on for the entire school year that had muggleborn or halfblood students and a cat petrified along with one girl kidnapped by the perpetrator.

School year 1993, which was last year, was in her honest opinion the worst school year to date. That fool of a Minister decided in his great wisdom to place Dementors around Hogwarts so that the Ministry could try and capture Sirius Black, the notorious left-hand of Voldemort. That year had the worst score records due to insomnia, hysteria, colds and a few close shaves with the soul-sucking demons.

What do these years all have in common?

Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived.

The kid could not catch a break from the time he was in school, and Sinistra could not believe the attitudes of the children and some of the staff. They switched between glorifying him and tearing him down, hexing and cursing him when he was accused of being Slytherin's heir, and the only times the students would get punished for their attacks on him were if they were caught by her or some of the fairer ones. Sinistra had to wonder what was going on in Minerva's head with her attitude towards the boy like she was expecting him to be a copy of James Potter when anyone with proper working eyes and a brain could tell that the boy was anything but a carbon copy. And Sprout acted like Snape during the second year.

Then in his third year, the Dementors kept coming for him like he was a particularly juicy morsel for them to feed on, causing him to collapse during that Quidditch match with Hufflepuff, and then get attacked by Black. She had argued that the boy had to be better protected, yet the blasted old man insisted that the boy not be told and be allowed to enjoy his childhood.

Bah, that man had eaten too much of his muggle sweets to have his brain addled.

Because of all that had happened, when Dumbledore announced in the staff meeting before the new school year that Hogwarts was going to host the Triwizard Tournament, Sinistra had the bad feeling that Harry Potter was going to get involved somehow. Not helped when Dumbledore made that announcement again at the start of the year to the students, there was an odd feeling of smugness that got her back up in agitation.

She did not like that feeling at all.

~ooOOoo~

There were times Sinistra really hated her gut feelings, and this was one such moment.

The two schools had arrived at Hogwarts that evening and done their display of introducing themselves. Sinistra had to roll her eyes at the manners they did for their performance. The students from Beauxbatons appear to be dependent on their looks, if the whole 'charming' of the skirts by the boys and the shaking of bums while sighing by the girls were of any indication followed by the particularly loud applause from the Hogwarts male population. Headmaster Igor Karkoroff of Durmstrang on the other hand appeared to bring only the male students as an attempt to show off some form of machoness with their entrance and the appearance of Victor Krum.

Then Dumbledore went to present the Goblet of Fire in the casket drawn by Filch, talked about how it was impartial to all who wished to join, and gave a reminder that the champions should only be aged seventeen or above as the challenges were dangerous and not for the faint of heart. And then he cast an Age-Line around the goblet to enforce on that. It was when Dumbledore kept his wand and declared the cup open for dropping the names that Sinistra knew what was the bad feeling she had gotten since she heard of this tournament.

An ancient relic known to enforce magical contracts on people, with the penalty of their magic being taken, and the only thing guarding it was a bloody Age-Line?!

Has the bloody old man lost his bloody senses!

As most of the staff got up and left the Great Hall along with the other students and guests, Sinistra held back a little and signalled to her friends to slow down. The two noted that and moved to her while the majority of the group had left the Great Hall.

"I think we need to keep a close watch on the Goblet of Fire tonight and maybe tomorrow." Sinistra spoke while looking at the item in question.

"You suspect something will go wrong?"

"I am concerned that the goblet could be manipulated into accepting names it shouldn't." Sinistra answered seriously.

"You suspect older students want to prank the young students?" Vector looked at the relic with a considering expression. "Or younger students using older students to enter their names?"

"Both are possible concerns. But my biggest worry is someone trying to manipulate the goblet into accepting someone who shouldn't be in the tournament with the intent of bringing them harm." The two women nodded at that reply from Vector with frowns.

"You already know about my reluctance about using the Goblet of Fire to choose students." Babbling answered. "The fact that people could potentially lose their magic from this is something."

"You have made it very clear on that when Dumbledore told us about it." The trio turned to find Burbage looking at them with a raised eyebrow. "As I recalled, you have very creative vocabulary to express your displeasure."

"Charity." Sinistra greeted her senior who nodded at her.

"By your concerns, you are worried that someone might enter Harry Potter into this tournament." Burbage stated it as a statement rather than a question.

"Can you blame me?" Sinistra threw her arms up in slight agitation. "Ever since he came to Hogwarts, something dangerous seems to come up and he ends up in the middle of it all. And given that the drawing of names is tomorrow, Halloween?" The others grimaced at the memories of the previous years.

"Should we ask the others for help?" Babbling's query drew a pause before consecutive snorts from all of them came out.

"They have done nothing to help much with security for the past few years, and the four heads listen to Dumbledore too much to think for themselves." Sinistra answered a little derisively but it was something the others could accept. "You have seen how Dumbledore handles any of the students that hex or attack others. He would rather pat them on the head and send them out with minor point deductions or detentions at the worst, while the victims have to deal with the backlash. Not to mention the security has been dropping in the time I came here to teach. And that is before Mister Potter came to Hogwarts."

"The age-line." Vector gasped as she looked to the boundary.

"Exactly. Just that alone does not fill me with confidence. I would rather be paranoid and have the younger students safe, than to have those like Mister Potter in this damn tournament."

"You have a point. As Mad-eye would put it, it would be best to have constant vigilance." Burbage hummed before nodding. "Let us take turns guarding the goblet, and if I may suggest adding our own protections? This way, we can cover more options." The others mused on that suggestion and nodded in agreement at that thought.

"In that case, let's think of what to add on the protections, I don't trust any Head of House with this responsibility given their track record. Let's make sure only those aged seventeen are allowed to go to the goblet with their own names." said Professor Sinistra in a businesslike voice, "Who wants to go first?"

"I can take the first watch until midnight, dear. I don't have any lessons tomorrow, and I know you have lessons tonight." Burbage offered. "I can start with the simpler spells around the general perimeter to deter anyone with the thought of entering a different person's name."

"I can take the watch after her." Professor Vector spoke next. "I do have a few interesting curses and hexes for anyone trying to pull a fast one on us. I can handle a few hours in the early morning."

"I might as well take the one after that until noon." Babbling shrugged in good nature. "My lessons have been cut by half for the afternoon, so I will swing by during Burbage's watch to set up some of the runes first to aid your guarding, then I will put up the rest. They will test the intent of the person and make them go elsewhere if they try to force it."

"In that case, I will take the remainder of the watch until tomorrow's drawing." Professor Sinistra spoke by that point. "I'll continue monitoring until the champions are selected. Bear in mind the watcher must not leave until the new watcher is clearly present."

"Got it." The others nodded before Burbage went to prepare herself for the first watch while the others returned to their respective offices to get ready as well. Sinistra looked at the goblet while waiting for Burbage to return. By all accounts, they should be involving the other professors, but given their track record, she was not impressed by it. And all of their concerns were brushed aside by Dumbledore who insisted that all would be well.

Well, she was not going to trust Dumbledore and his constant assurance that fell flat of expectations. Sinistra was going to do what was necessary to protect all the younger students from being forced into the tournament. And in doing so, protect the boy who always ends up in the heart of the craziness.

If she could stop Harry Potter from being forcefully entered into a blood sport by being a paranoid adult wanting to do the actual job of protection, so be it!

~~ Author's Notes ~~

I always felt that lots of the dangers that came about are results of how the professors handled security and discipline. And when it came to the fourth year, a lot of authors like to point out a lot of ways for Harry to be forced into the tournament since there was only a simple age line to deter younger students directly. My take is to have someone actually supervising the goblet, and not depend on a single spell and an ex-auror doing the security especially when the latter is an imposter. That way, none of the bullshit would happen.

This will be different from other stories that would have the heads of houses like Filius or Sprout doing the extra steps. I felt like the other teachers were side notes for both canon and fiction, so for this story, let's have them be the competent ones while the heads be the ever trusting idiots of a bad Dumbledore. Depending on the idea, if say Sirius / Lupin are man-childs who believe everything from Dumbledore's farts, then Sinistra and her friends become new guardians for Harry.

The story should last the entirety of the fourth year. Whether Harry stays or leaves at the end of it is not considered yet, but Dumbledore should lose all influence over the people, and if using the bad character routes, Harry had new guardians and friends.

What do you think of this idea?