Chapter 156
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.
5/12/93
Dear Harry
I really cannot think of a reason Dumbledore would want to be kicked out of the school, the whole idea sounds ridiculous at first thought, though your suggestion is a possibility as horrible as it is to think about. But then it occurred to me, Dumbledore wasn't arrested like Hagrid or forcibly removed from the Castle and Grounds by the Aurors or security. In fact, after being told he had to leave the castle he was probably allowed to go back in and pack his things, and I can't see him letting Malfoy follow him around supervising what he packed and making sure he left as soon as possible. You didn't see or feel the wards being changed to prevent him entry, so we only have the assumption that Dumbledore actually left the castle when he was told to. Remember right at the start I speculated that the cat had been attacked to prevent it from revealing someone hidden in the unused parts of the castle. We dismissed it as not being very likely that someone could hide in the school like that at the time and it doesn't fit with what else has happened since. But Dumbledore has lived at Hogwarts for decades. I doubt there's anybody alive that knows that castle better than he does. If anyone is capable of preparing a comfortable hidden set of rooms and remaining in the castle somewhere without anyone knowing, it would be him and he wouldn't have the problem of how to get food because the house elves at Hogwarts have been looking after him for decades and nobody ever thinks to ask them what they're doing. I'm sure he could order them to bring him whatever he needed and keep his presence in the castle secret. I have to admit though, it's just a theory, I still have no idea why he would want people to think he had left the school when he hadn't any more than why he would allow himself to be driven out by Malfoy. My other theory is that Dumbledore has something outside the school he wants to do, or concentrate on that we know nothing about, he does have two other full time jobs after all so maybe a holiday from the school would be in his best interests elsewhere. If he'd just left, he'd be accused of abandoning the school during the danger but he's been kicked out so whatever happens now isn't anything to do with him. Or that he knows it's been sheer luck that a student hasn't been killed and the ministry won't approve a proper search of the school until then so he doesn't want to be in charge when it happens to avoid being blamed..
You're right to think that Dumbledore must know more about what's going on at Hogwarts than he's admitting to. He knows the castle and it's recent (and not so recent) history better than anyone else. So the question then isn't why he allowed himself to be suspended? (Or to at least appear to be driven out of the school?) The real question is why hasn't he either stopped the attacks or admitted that the attacks were unstoppable and that there was the potential for students to die and closed the school before this?'
You said that you believed that Dumbledore has the power to prevent Lucius Malfoy and the board of governors from kicking him out of the school. You might be right about that but sometimes choosing not to use up all your favours and political manipulations can also be a valid choice. I'm sure as soon as a student is killed then the parents will be crying out for Headmaster Dumbledore to come back to the school and make their children safe, and complaining about Malfoy having sent him away in the first place. The gains Dumbledore has received from this may not be evident to you or me because we don't know enough or they just might not be evident for a while yet. I can't think that Dumbledore likes the power Mr Malfoy has over his school.
I've noticed that you call the ghosts at school, by descriptions rather than their names, and some of those descriptions sound unkind. Is that a thing, that you shouldn't say the name of a ghost for some reason? Do they pick their own descriptions? Or has someone in the school picked it at some stage and it's stuck like a lot of derogatory high school nicknames that people keep using without thinking about their meanings? All these ghosts can talk, can't they? You've told me about conversations with 'Moaning Myrtle' (Are you using her name or was her name something other than Myrtle and she's been given that name because it goes so well with 'moaning'?') So they would have told people their real names. You know 'Nearly-Headless-Nick's' real name. Do you call him by it? It isn't polite to give names like that to living people, so why do wizards do it to ghosts?
The way they portray that Batman's glasses stop Batman from using his X-Ray vision is ridiculous, if he can see through wood and concrete buildings a bit of clear glass or plastic isn't going to stop him. Of course, it's probably to make the general public feel better about the ability. Very few people would be comfortable with the idea that someone could see beneath your clothes or through your walls to watch what you get up to in private whenever they wanted to. Nobody would want him around no matter how many people he'd saved.
Your friend always
Spencer
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.
Please stay safe everyone.
A/N2: I'm still getting reviews about messing up my superheroes. Harry and Spencer are deliberately mixing up Batman and Superman to tell each other that they don't think they've been coerced to write any of the letter. They planned it out in Chapter 98 if you want to reread the discussion.