Chapter 12: Lining Things Up

That night, which was a Wednesday, Remus talked to Harry. "Harry, we need to get into the Chamber of Secrets," he told the teen after they had practice the Patronus for the night. Harry was coming along in that spell really well. He got a shape, but not a full one.

"What? Why?" Harry asked, a bit unsure about going back down there. It was a scary place and he had almost died down there. That and the way was blocked, they would need to bring a lot of people down to get the rocks out of the way. Then again, magic.

"Well, for one thing, we need to render the basilisk so that you can get the money from it. You killed it and it's just going to waste. And we found some things that need the venom to be destroyed, like the diary," Remus explained, hoping the teen listened.

"Money? I can get money from a dead snake?" he asked, not sure what to say about that.

"Yes, quite a bit too," the werewolf stated with a chuckle. "I would say that you could live quite comfortably for your life with the sale," he added and watched the boy's face go through a lot of different emotions over that tidbit of information.

"I'll have to think about that," Harry said, not sure what to think about being richer than he already was. It was mindboggling. Ron might not like that. He was glad he had other friends now that didn't care that he had money or a good broom, or anything else really.

Neville was just as rich as he was, and he didn't care if Harry wore rags or finery. He just liked Harry just the way he was. Dean and Seamus were pretty cool as well, they were neat to talk to and didn't demand his time. Ron was still a good friend, but he hated sharing Harry with others.

"Yes, and don't forget we need to get the venom for the other objects," Remus reminded him, bringing the boy out of his thoughts.

"There are more like the diary?" Harry asked, more afraid of that than the snake. It was dead, if there were more like the diary, then Tom wasn't. Not that he was afraid of Tom, per se, but he could hurt others, like he had Ginny.

"Yes, and we want to get rid of them, so Tom doesn't come back," Remus said, putting a hand on Harry shoulder. He then added, "There's also some residue in your scar that we need to get out, and Bill, that's Ron's older brother, wants to get it out on Halloween." He was trying to make it as blasé as possible. That way Harry didn't freak out.

"Residue?" Harry asked, thinking that didn't sound too bad. It would explain why his scar hurt when he was around Quirrell.

"Yes, like the diary, but not quite," the werewolf said, thinking back to what Bill had said. That it couldn't be a full horcrux because there was no ceremony. It had to be a leech. They decided to call it a residue, since Lily's protection rendered it harmless. Mostly.

"How will he get it out?" Harry wanted to know. He hoped they didn't have to stab him like he had the diary. That would be bad and painful.

"I'm going to sneak you out of school on Halloween and we'll go to Sirius's place and get rid of it and all those other items at the same time," Remus said, completely truthfully. "Bill promises that it will be painless." He made sure to tell the worried boy that.

"When did you want to go to the Chamber?" he asked, hoping it wasn't right now. He was tired after a day's of using magic, and it was close to curfew.

"Within the next few days. I've got to call Bill and arrange it," Remus said, nudging him to get his stuff together. "You go ahead and get to bed. You look knackered."

"I am," Harry said, grabbing his bag and leaving.

"Bill Weasley," Remus said into his mirror. When Bill's face showed, he told him, "Harry agreed to show us the Chamber."

"I'll contact the goblins," Bill said as he grabbed some parchment and ink. He said good-bye and started his letter to his contact in Gringotts.

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The next day Dolores Umbridge disappeared. Everyone wondered if it had to do with the article that came out about her. The headline read:

Umbridge Lies to Get Her Position.

The article that followed read that she was a half-blood that lied and told the minister that she was a pureblood. There was a family tree that showed that her father was a pureblood that married a muggle and that she had a squib brother.

It said that her father had disappeared under mysterious circumstances and hinted that maybe she had something to do with him leaving his position as a janitor, or that he might even be dead. There were rumors that she was blackmailing half of the ministry, with some evidence, though there were no names mentioned to protect the innocent.

Sirius and his group, bar Moody, didn't know what happened to the woman. They were just glad that they didn't have to take care of her anymore. Amelia had an inkling, but kept her mouth shut. Plausible deniability and all that.

Moody knew who was going to vanish next too. He wondered why they hadn't used this resource before. Then realized for all they were gung-ho about fixing the issues, they were still good people at heart. Well, he wasn't. He was a warmonger at heart and didn't mind getting his hands dirty. Especially for someone as rotten to the core people, like Umbridge. There was no redeeming her.

Umbridge's disappearance had a lot of people worried. She was a predominate person in the ministry, and they were worried they might be next. There was a stampede to get protection from the Aurors, which was shot down by Amelia Bones right away.

"We are here to solve crime, not to protect your arses. If there is a crime we will come and investigate, until then get out of my office," she told the crowd, angry that they were taking up her valuable time.

Fudge walked in and demanded, "Find out where my Undersecretary is." He already had a protection detail, so he didn't need to demand one. They were Aurors, but not of the same caliber as the ones that solved crime.

"I am doing that already," she snapped, pointing to the door. "Leave so I can do more." She was so firm that he didn't even question her.

Fudge left in a huff. He was upset that Dolores had lied to him and he wanted answers. He was going to fire her, of course, but he still wanted answers.

Amelia put her best Aurors on the case and decided to get something done that she had put off. She marched up to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and went to the pest control department.

"I understand that there is an infestation of Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts. I mean within walking distance of the school. It is your job to get rid of them," she said to the man behind the desk. His name read Prickle

"Acromantula, those are class XXXX creatures, you need to go to the beast section," he said lazily waving her away.

She rounded the desk and grabbed him by the ear and dragged him with her to the beast department. She wasn't going to be given the runaround. "This man says that Acromantula are your responsibility, are they?" she asked a man named Steenbras.

"Of course not, they are pest," the man said, looking at Prickle like he had lost his mind.

"Look, there are giant spiders near the kids at Hogwarts, one of you is responsible for them. Figure it out, or both of you are going to wind up in my cells until I read your job descriptions and figure it out for myself," she demanded, stomping her foot in frustration.

"Now see here, you can't do that," Prickle said, rubbing his sore ear, having just been let go.

"Watch me," Bones stated, tapping her toe as if to dare them to test her patience.

The two men looked at each other and sighed. They pulled out their own pamphlets and read them over. It seemed they were both right, it was both their jobs to get rid of them, with the help of the Aurors, which none of them knew.

"We'll do this tomorrow, which is Friday," Bones said, hoping it would be when the goblins would go after the Basilisk. She knew it was the same time the Wizengamot was meeting. She was supposed to be there, but she could miss the meeting and assign someone to proxy for her. She knew Sirius would be there, but she wanted to be at the school in case something went wrong.

They all agreed to the plan, and she went back to her office to gather a few of her stouter Aurors to let them know what they would be doing tomorrow. They paled a bit but were determined to get the Acromantula away from the children.

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Bill made his way to the bank to keep his appointment and went to Slashtongue's office since he was his contact in Gringotts via Black. He would set everything up. He knocked on the door and waited to be bid enter and did so when he was. He took the chair indicated. "There is a dead basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets," he said not beating around the bush. "We need some goblins to render it for Harry Potter."

"A child claims the kill?" the flabbergasted goblin asked, dropping his quill. A goblin child he might believe, but a human child, that was one for the books.

"Yes, he killed it with a sword to the mouth," Bill said, a broad smile on his face. He was so proud of the boy that saved his sister's life. He would do anything for that boy.

"Are you sure?" Slashtongue asked, looking at the man sharply. He wouldn't put it passed the man to lie to him, to make the hero of the wizards look better.

"Yes, I am sure," Bill said in a firm tone. His eyes never wavered.

"There is a fee," the goblin stated, pulling out a contract and filling out some of the blanks.

"Which I will pay," the oldest Weasley sibling said shocking the goblin once again.

"You would pay someone's fee? Why?" Now that was just not done without good reason.

"He saved my sister's life," Bill said with a shrug as if it was a given. He didn't care if the goblins thought less of him for that.

"Ah," was all Slashtongue said as he continued to fill out the contract. "How big was the basilisk?" he asked, pausing his writing.

"About sixty feet," Bill said, remembering what he read. "That is a guesstimate. It might be longer," he added, not wanting Harry to get shafted because the book might be wrong. The boy's eyes had been closed when he had been describing it after all.

"I'll leave it open to final measurement," the goblin said, making a note.

"Can we do this tomorrow? Dumbledore will be at the Wizengamot. He'll be there when we get there, but he'll have to leave to the meeting. We also want to get it done as soon as possible," Bill asked, needing them to understand that they wanted to tweak the old man's nose.

"That is doable. Will the boy need to be there?" Slashtongue asked, thinking he needed to get the Potter manager, Bragrast, there as well. That way the sale could go off without a hitch. All parties would be represented.

"Yes, he is the only parselmouth in the castle," the other man said, brushing some lint off his knee. He was ready to get back to Black's place.

"Very well. I will get this to Bragrast, and we'll set it up for noon tomorrow," Slashtongue said, picking up the contract and leading Bill to the door.

Bill nodded to the goblin on his way out and left to go back to Black's place. He wanted to read the books again. This time he was going to start from the beginning and go to the end.

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That night after work, Amelia finally got to read the last book and was reading it when Alastor interrupted her. She was sitting on her couch with a glass of wine and slippers on her feet.

"What should we do about Snape?" he asked as he stomped into her house. He was her old mentor and had an open invitation to her house.

"Besides being an arsehole and general bastard, he has broken no law," she said, putting her finger on the page to save her place. She picked up her glass and took a sip. She leaned back on her couch and lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, you haven't gotten that far yet," the one-eyed man said, seeing she was only at the beginning of the book. "Turns out he's a good guy," he said in a gruff voice, like he still didn't believe it.

"I got that from the sixth book," she said, having read between the lines on the whole Snape killing Dumbledore plot. "I still think he's an arsehole," she said, picking up the book and started reading again.

"I want him out of the school," Alastor said, making her stop again. She glared at him for that.

"Tell Sirius, he's on the board," she said, lifting the book again, this time with an air of finality.

"Fine," he grumbled and stomped out of the house. He made his way back to Black's house. "Sirius, you old mutt, where are you?" he bellowed, waking up the portrait they still hadn't gotten down yet. Though they did have fun shutting her up, which Alastor did right now, by shooting a spell at her mouth and making it disappear. Too bad it was only temporary.

"In the kitchen," came the reply to the inquiry.

Moody stomped to the kitchen and found Bill and Sirius eating dinner. "What are you going to do about Snape?" he asked, sitting down, and grabbing some food. There was fish and chips for a meal this time.

"Nothing at the moment. I'm getting rid of Binns first, then Trelawney. Then I'll worry about Snape," Sirius said, knowing the other two were worse than Snape any day of the week.

"I guess you're right," Alastor said, thinking at that. "I still don't like a Death Eater teaching the kids," he stated, cutting his fish up and taking a bite.

"Reformed," Bill said, though he didn't like the guy either.

"Ain't no such thing," Moody said with a smirk, which twisted the scars in his face into a grotesque picture.

"According to Dumbledore," Bill said, stabbing his fish and pushing it around his plate. He was hungry, but seeing that look on the other man's face…

"Dumbledore would forgive Voldemort," Sirius said, not in defense, but in ridicule.

"There is that," agreed the redhead, knowing what the dogman said was true.

"So, back to the question, what are you going to do about Snape?" Moody asked again.

"After I get rid of the other two, I'm going to talk to the board and put the whole lot of them on probation. There will be an audit," Sirius said, grinning like a fool.

"An audit?" Bill asked, not sure what that meant in teaching terms. He knew what it meant in banking terms.

"Yeah, we'll judge if they are teaching material," Sirius said, knowing that some will fail miserably at this. Those like Snape and Burbage probably wouldn't pass. One knew his material, but couldn't teach, the other could teach, but didn't know her material. Though, maybe that wasn't her fault, that remained to be seen.

"And if you find him lacking, but Dumbledore doesn't let him go?" Moody wanted to know.

"See, that's the thing, he is not the last word. The board is. We are the check to his balance. If we find someone lacking, then we have the right to dismiss them," Sirius said, lifting a finger. "That and we have years of complaints about the man," he said, lifting another finger.

"Good for you," Alastor stated, turning back to his meal, glad that soon the man would be out of the castle.