Chapter 103: Difficult Position

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3 December 1992, Hogwarts

Sometimes, Albus Dumbledore feels like this whole long-term investment in Neville Longbottom was too much of a headache. It might have been urged by the powers of light, who guided him into creating the boy who lived, but no magic could save him from the headache that this boy kept sending his way.

And it had been going too well before the brat even attended Hogwarts. Weaponizing a prophecy for his own gain took a lot of time and effort. The ritual he had given the Longbottoms, and the Potters had worked. Lord Voldemort had been defeated, and turned into a pale shadow of a living being, activating the prophecy. That meant that the moment Neville Longbottom was marked by Voldemort, half the prophecy was completed, meaning that the other half must happen as well, the energy was there, and the price was paid. Breaking the prophecy himself could liberate this energy and use it to create magnificent things, that could warp reality in unpredictable ways.

And it was this potential that stopped him from just killing the boy out of frustration for his actions. Who in their right mind uses a flying car to get to school, just because they missed the train? Just using a floo for a couple of sickles to get to Hogsmeade and send an owl would have been enough. But no, the boy who lived had to make Albus' life miserable. The number of favours he had to call in, not just on a national scale, but international as well, to make this go away was staggering. Breaking the International Statute of Secrecy was a big taboo, and if it had been a random muggleborn doing something like this, he would have been found dead from mysterious causes hours after the incident.

Honestly, the Headmaster didn't care about indiscretions as long as they were in private, and well, he could always use them to motivate people. But seriously, sometimes Albus wondered what went on in that empty head of Longbottom's.

He was having a perfectly nice night before Severus sent him a Patronus message telling him that Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, were discovered to be infiltrating the Slytherin common room having drank a Polyjuice potion. Worse, they were discovered in public and reverted back to their original appearance in the middle of the crowded common room.

And that alone was a political mess. The Crabbe, Goyles, and Bulstrodes were not particularly powerful families, but they were essentially in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. So, making something like this go away would take a lot of effort and concessions on his part. Breaking into another's house's common room was already bad enough, and the school charter proclaimed that it should be severely punished. But it was still a school matter. But the use of an illegal potion publicly was also a problem since it was technically grounds for the ministry to interfere. They rarely ever did it, but with the mess that this school year has been, and Malfoy probably pushing Fudge to do something, there was the very real possibility that this would escalate.

Luckily, there were other ways to impersonate people, so as far as anyone else is concerned, they could be holding some kind of illusion artefact that malfunctioned at once, due to spell interference. The bigger problem was the fact that impersonating members of another house was grounds for a blood feud. Thankfully, family matters for events occurring in Hogwarts were under the headmaster's purview, as long as the judgement is fair. It was an obscure law written in the school charter to avoid honour duels between students for some slight or another. The Ministry of magic hadn't been created yet, and since Hogwarts was technically considered outside of their involvement, Albus could deal with it himself.

Of course, the fact that Hogwarts wasn't governed by the ministry didn't change the fact that they could make things difficult if they wanted to. The castle wasn't under their control, but the curriculums, the exams, the funds, and many other things were. It was possible for them to interfere, but it wasn't usually worth the effort.

So, that meant that Dumbledore needed to put on a show of sorts, and explain that no one was above the rules. And honestly, the brats deserved it. Who in Merlin's name does something like this, and why?

Although Albus also shared some blame for that incident. He had allowed Neville, Ron, and Hermione, immunity from the wards on all common rooms. That was a mistake he had made the previous year when he wanted them to investigate the stone and he had forgotten to remove the access. None of this mess would have happened if it wasn't for this oversight. He was so preoccupied with the stone and Nicholas that he forgot.

Of course, that was when Minerva and Severus arrived with two students following behind. Ah, so Miss Granger got off the hook somehow. He gave his deputy headmistress a questioning look and she immediately got his message, "Miss Granger has been punished already, but since these two have broken their agreement and couldn't wait for an entire semester without causing another scandal, I thought it would be prudent to take them to you."

Ah, yes, he had gently threatened them with expulsion after the flying car fiasco. He looked at the two students that were staring at the sleeping Fawkes in awe, "Ah, this is Fawkes, my companion of many years. He found me when I was just out of Hogwarts when I was lost and needed a little guidance. As you could probably tell, he is a phoenix. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and they make highly faithful pets," Fawkes looked up and gave him a slight glare, "According to him, I am the pet."

The aged headmaster was chuckling at the end of the sentence. He really liked to show Fawkes up. Phoenixes really were rare creatures but very few people knew of their nature and Dumbledore wanted to keep it that way.

Albus motioned to the chairs in front of him and continued, "Well, Neville, Ron, please sit down. I believe we have much to discuss. I believe that I must congratulate you for being the students that caused the most non-educational work for the faculty in a single semester."

The Longbottom boy looked down, "We're really sorry about all of that, sir."

"Nonsense, my dear boy, we can more than handle the increased workload, even if it comes at the cost of a few nights of sleep. The only occurrence you need to be apologetic for is the most recent one pertaining to Polyjuice Potion. It is very illegal to be caught in possession of that particular potion. Normally, we would have been required to inform the Department of magical law enforcement about it, but for some reason, it appears that we couldn't find any traces of the potion anywhere, so we must assume that you used some kind of illusion spell that helped you impersonate other students to break into the Slytherin common room, and illusion spells are not illegal, are they?"

It took a little while for the boy to understand where he was getting at. The Weasley boy still looked confused. Seriously, did Molly Weasley drop him as a child or something? Severus, who was standing behind the boys, gritted his teeth and nodded. He wasn't happy, but he was willing to play along and dispose of the Polyjuice for now.

Young Neville finally understood what they were going for, "Yes, sir. Of course, sir, we used an illusion spell."

Alright, with that settled, they avoided the Aurors' interference, at least. Now, onto the rest, of this mess, "Now, to make sure that he wouldn't be able to confess to ingredients being stolen from his cupboard, Professor Snape will make a list of missing ingredients that you will have to reimburse for borrowing and losing them."

The Weasley boy started to protest, "You can't…"

"You'll find that I very much can, Mr. Weasley. Theft is not authorized in Hogwarts. I will personally contact your guardians with the final amount, and the circumstances of this mess. I believe that it will be a considerable amount, especially considering that a few of the ingredients were quite rare. I also believe that impersonating the children of magical families can have very steep consequences, so I will leave your families to deal with the reparations themselves."

The two children's faces paled in fear of their guardians finding out, and at the amount of gold they will probably have to pay. Young Neville was due for a very terrifying scolding session. Augusta Longbottom will probably severely punish the boy enough for him to at least keep his head down this year.

"Now, before we proceed with your punishment, and believe me, you will be punished, I need to understand why you did what you did."

The redhead exploded first, "We only wanted to catch the heir of Slytherin."

"Ron, shut up," young Neville interjected, "we wanted to clear my name by finding out who was petrifying the other students. Ever since people found out I was a Parselmouth, everyone looked at me like I was on second away from attacking them."

And wasn't that a reveal that flipped the entire board? Albus never had the chance of studying Parseltongue enough to understand how worked, or how it was transmitted. It couldn't be through blood, but honestly, the headmaster didn't know exactly what had happened on the night Neville Longbottom survived the killing curse.

He didn't even understand the ritual that he had given to Alice Longbottom. The Light had guided him in its creation, but its details were obviously beyond him. The premise was supposed to be simple. A life for a life. After all, only death may pay for life. And then it happened, an unstoppable force in the form of the killing curse, met an indestructible object, who according to the ritual is supposed to be protected, and well, that caused an explosion of raw magic. It became a blind spot for everything, and by the time the residue cleared up, there was nothing, but a destroyed room filled with ash and an unconscious boy with a scar on his forehead. Young Neville's scar was still protected by the magical event, and well, Augusta Longbottom didn't let him study the scar afterwards, and the headmaster didn't feel like it mattered enough for him to press her about it. Now, he would need to do it. The next time the boy finds himself in the infirmary, Albus was going to keep him asleep and study whatever was going on in this scar. His theories so far were worrying, especially considering the method he theorized Voldemort used to live on past his death.

Instead of saying any of that, Albus stayed composed, "And you thought that breaking into the Slytherin common room would help you how?"

The Longbottom scion looked down, embarrassed, "We thought that the Slytherins would know more than the rest of the school."

Severus then snorted, "Of course you did. What an imbecilic response! I am glad that your idiocy is not contagious Longbottom, or I would fear for the next generation of wizards and witches in this country."

"Hey! We were right," the redhead protested, "Potter knew stuff about the Chamber of Secrets. He said that he figured out what the monster was."

The two professors stiffened but that little exclamation made Dumbledore freeze, "Explain!"

His tone wasn't the gentle one he used earlier, and the Longbottoms scion stiffened, "He started up with a lecture on the Chamber of Secrets, like how it was older than the whole blood purity thing, that it was probably a place that Salazar Slytherin used to swindle the other founders of their magic while hiding his own for his heirs. It was kinda interesting but it was hard to pay attention because of how nervous we all were."

"What about the monster?" Albus pressed.

"Well, he said it was obvious, but didn't say what it was. Only that me being a Parselmouth confirmed it. He said it had to be a long-lived reptile that could petrify people. That it was obvious that you knew what it was but didn't say anything since that would close down the school. He said that you knew for a long time from when it was opened fifty years ago and that you said nothing because the school would have been declared unsafe and would have closed down permanently."

Albus had tried to figure out the secret of the chamber of secrets and tracked it down to the bathroom young Myrtle died in, probably accidentally. He had found nothing but a snake carving on one of the sinks, but he could not get it to open. He tore down the bathroom, but nothing was underneath. Even the Elder Wand could not get inside.

Tom had been very clever back then, a far cry from the sadistic man he became late in life. He had an Alibi for every attack, and he struck seemingly randomly to push as much terror as possible at him. Dippet was pushing Dumbledore towards solving this mystery, being the greatest mind of his generation and whatnot. He hated to admit it, but Voldemort had been very close to getting him kicked out if he hadn't stopped after Myrtle Warren had died, and just framed Hagrid at the threat of the school closing.

And so, the Basilisk remained hidden, hopefully forever. Albus Dumbledore couldn't get into the chamber and kill it, but Tom seemed to change afterwards and had no desire to reopen the chamber. That is until now. Honestly, if it wasn't for the reports, he had gotten about Voldemort being in Albania, he would have assumed he had possessed someone else. Alas, he couldn't find the logic of him doing it instead of getting a body of his own. Perhaps, he had a secret son or a daughter he was using to do this?

It didn't matter. Hogwarts was Dumbledore's place of power; he wouldn't let some scared parents close it down. He needed to stop the attacks, but they were just so random, and only two of them happened so far, not enough to find out what happened. He had tried to find the bathroom once more for the mark, but the snake carving was gone. He didn't understand what that meant, to be honest, only that the entrance of the chamber wasn't in Myrtle's bathroom anymore.

But it was worrying that Harry Potter had figured all of this out. Very worrying indeed. Perhaps, the boy would need to be discouraged. Although, he had the good sense not to tell everyone about it and spread fear.

The aged Headmaster sighed heavily, "I'm afraid that young Harry is correct in his conclusion. Quite the smart lad, isn't he? I do know what the monster is, and it is why I wish to handle the issue discreetly. It is a very dangerous monster but if we close down the school, the monster will remain here forever, meaning that Hogwarts would be gone, with no replacement in sight. Only the heir can open the chamber, hence why I couldn't do it. Salazar Slytherin was a very impressive wizard, after all. Believe me, I will do my best to stop this monster from continuing, but I need your word that you will not speak of this to another person about any of this."

The two boys nodded, and Dumbledore continued, "Now, back to your punishment. I'm afraid that with your repeated offence this semester, I have no choice but to suspend you until the end of the winter holidays. I will contact your guardians with the details as well, but this is the lightest punishment I could give you, especially since I am breaking my promise, I made earlier in the year that you would be expelled if you do something as egregious as the manner that which you arrived to school in September."

The two baffled looks on the boys' faces were priceless. Served the brats right for giving him so much work. Now, he only needed to meet up with Harry Potter to make sure that brat wouldn't talk.

And he also will need to speak to Severus and Minerva and explain to them why he had allowed Neville, Ron, and Hermione, immunity from the wards in all common rooms. He could tell that it wasn't going to be a nice conversation.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.