A House Divided

Albus felt a tightness in his chest as Remus escorted the Potters' lawyer into Hogwarts for their appointment with Minerva. The headmaster felt like a trapped animal, aware of the approaching storm but unable to do anything about it. All the experience and advantages he'd spent decades building had been whittled away until even his own students no longer respected him, far less held him in the reverence Albus felt he'd not only earned but deserved.

He could find no trace of this mystery author who was writing a devastating expose of his life, nor it would seem do anything to stop both Potters and Black dragging him to court. The Potters had very effectively courted the support of the ministry, the British wizarding public as well as the staff and students of Hogwarts.

Dumbledore was left not only without allies but facing trouble and condemnation no matter which direction he turned. It all hinged with the Potters, Albus could no longer think in terms of just Harry. That wife of his was as fierce as a tiger in defence of her mate, leaving the old headmaster with no idea where to turn next.

He had cast his bait into the water and now, like fishermen the world over, was forced to sit patiently and wait for the fish to make its move. Albus was worried that any trial could see him out of the castle for a prolonged period, leaving your hook unobserved was the surest way of losing your bait. In this high stakes game he was playing, that was not an option he could contemplate.

Albus decided to wait until Halloween before thinking of removing the stone from Hogwarts, if the Potters and Sirius Black were successful in the courts then he didn't think he would be spending Christmas in the castle. He wasn't worried about being flung into Azkaban, Fawkes would have him out of there in a flash. His greatest concern was losing the position of Headmaster, that would start the downward spiral toward becoming Albus Nobody.

His biggest problem at the moment was not being in control of everything, this was something Albus had not experienced for many, many years and he definitely didn't like it. At the moment he didn't even have control over his own destiny, far less anyone else's. No, Albus Dumbledore did not like this feeling one bit.

Ron Weasley had to do something, his entire Hogwarts experience was turning sourer than last month's milk. He tried hard not to stare at how the rest of his year mates were spending lunchtime, talking, laughing and joking with each other, comparing this to what he had available to him did not make for pretty viewing. Draco was so insanely jealous of Potter that he wouldn't actually speak of it, only his father's direct orders stopped the blond boy from plotting some form of revenge. Pansy was Pansy, the only thing she was interested in was Draco. Crabbe and Goyle were harder to get a read on, that could be because there was nothing there to actually read!

Ron couldn't spend the next seven years like this. He never expected to be the centre of attention but to be sidelined and completely ignored was as unexpected as it was unacceptable. Again his mental focus shifted to what the redhead attributed the root of all his problems to, Potter!

He needed something to bring the golden boy down a peg or two, just to let everyone see their idol wasn't perfect. Ron decided the hat must have placed him in Slytherin for a reason, it was time to be sneaky about the situation. One gesture wasn't going to turn this around but any dent in the golden git's shininess would be a start.

He then had a brainwave, challenge the arse to a duel at midnight. Not only would he be safely tucked up in bed, he would make sure Filch and that bloody cat of his were lying in wait for them.

A spell of detention should tarnish the gloss of Mr Perfect and spoil any plans they had for the weekend, it wasn't much but at least it was a start. His pause for thinking over, Ron went back to what he does best, eating.

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