Convoluted Conversations. A/N: *this shows talkin Convoluted Conversations. A/N: *this shows talkin Convoluted Conversations

Thursday April 6th, 7:30pm.

Harry and Hermione were seated in an abandoned classroom on the ground floor of the castle, waiting for Daphne to arrive. After deciding to go for it yesterday they had each gone separate ways to think about any worries or concerns moving forward.

Having arrived a few minutes early the Gryffindor students had set about cleaning the room and transfiguring the furniture into much more comfortable chairs. Harry and Hermione were in identical La-Z-Boy's with an empty chair across from them, with the chairs laid out in a equilateral triangle. A coffee table was in the middle.

A pot of tea was steeping on the table, alongside a plate of biscuits, just to add environment for the upcoming talk. Harry was going to take a backseat and let the girls take the lead, as he felt that they would have more that needed to be covered.

The pair looked up and over at the door as the handle rattled, leading to the door swinging open. Unsurprisingly Daphne walked in, closing the door behind her. She looked at Harry and raised an eyebrow.

Brandishing his wand he sealed the door and cast several anti-eavesdropping charms. They would be undisturbed during the sensitive conversation ahead.

"Daphne? Why Do you always get Harry to cast the privacy spells?" Hermione asked Daphne to start things off on a different note.

Daphne took her seat before answering. "Because it's the safest way. While me and you might be more technically proficient, straight power has its benefits and Harry has that in spades. I bet only a handful of seventh years and not even all the teachers would be able to take down Harry's charms and even then it wouldn't be easy for them and would give us a warning. If the discussion is private I trust Harry to keep it that way."

"Harry isn't that powerful… Wouldn't it be safer if a more technically sound privacy charm was used?" Hermione didn't like it when she was told somebody else is better suited for a task.

Daphne poured herself a cup of tea before responding. "Technical proficiency is invaluable, but at the end of the day you can't teach power. Some witches and wizards, for whatever reason, just are born with larger levels of magical power and Harry is one of those. You know it, I know it, Harry probably knows it even though he would never admit it. It's not a competition, it just is what it is. Now that doesn't mean you can't defeat someone more powerful than you, it just means you have to use your advantages against him in return. Use your brain. Outthink him, trick him, use a variety of spells that he doesn't know in the hopes that he will get something wrong. It's not a competition Hermione. Can we move on?"

"Okay." Hermione's response was barely a whisper. She didn't like being corrected like that.

Daphne was getting frustrated. "Stop that! There is no shame in being wrong about something, or not knowing the most about a topic! What's that saying? You learn more from failure than success? You will have to get used to not always knowing everything for this situation to work. I know more about the Magical World then you because I grew up in it, and so did my parents, and they have taught me my whole life. Let alone my own observations. Harry will have access to aspects of history that you won't find in any textbook, or the truth behind rumours and legends that very few people could find out. The Potter family is very old and have seen much of British history and their records won't be the "official tale" but what they saw. You need to listen and learn from us, not get pissy because we tell you something other than what you believe, otherwise this will never work."

It was harsh, and Harry could imagine how much Mione was hurting right now, but he agreed. "Hermione, while I disagree with how she went about it, I do agree with Daphne. We need to support and help each other grow and that can't happen if you have a fit every time that we correct you or try and teach you something. There is much that is not part of the curriculum, and Flourish and Blotts is great for school books and entry level or basic books but they are limited when it comes to rare tomes or high level information. You won't find Mastery students or apprentices shopping there as they don't stock anything of worth along those lines. Knowledge is power Hermione, and the old families aren't in a hurry to share that power, but you will have access to much of the Potter collection."

"How is that fair? That people are allowed to hide knowledge?" The bibliophile did not like that possibility.

Daphne indicated that Harry should be the one who fielded that. "It's not like that Hermione. Remember it's much the same in the world we grew up in. If you create something you don't have to share it with anyone or if you want to make money out of it you patent it so that only you are allowed to make it. This is much the same, why would enchanters let everybody know how to do the complex things that they get paid to do? If they did people could do it themselves rather than pay the enchanter to do it."

"I guess…" Hermione recognised the truth in her words, even if she didn't like it. "So I have to do a Mastery to learn more than the basics on anything?"

Daphne shook her head. "I doubt it. While there are families that tend to follow a discipline, like the Ollivander's and wand-making, the Potter's were never like that. They have had people in every field imaginable and I would be surprised if they hadn't stored all of the material that they gained from those Mastery's."

"They did. I know where we have stashed all the advanced material on every branch of magic imaginable. And Hermione you will have access to it." Harry backed up his Slytherin fiancée.

Hermione pursed her lips. "While I am grateful for that, I still don't like it."

"We will discuss it more later, but that isn't the topic of this meeting. I want to start." Daphne waited for the others to nod before continuing. "Harry you are marrying the pair of us separately. And I am not marrying Hermione. While we are a team, and will be working together, I am not interested in women and will not do anything with her. To that end I believe seperate bedrooms is a must."

"I agree! I am not interested in Daphne at all. No offence Daph, but I do not swing that way." Hermione was quick to back the other girl up.

While Harry looked disappointed for a moment, he was quick to cover that up. "Fair enough. I have an idea… Yes that should work, maybe. But I need to consult some records."

"What should work, Harry?" Hermione didn't like being in the dark.

Harry shook his head. "I would rather not say just yet. There are some details that need to be ironed out, and I need to make sure it is even possible, and I don't want to bring it up before I'm sure about it. But I agree with both of you on the raised point, and will not ask or try and force you into anything.

"Good. You get next point Hermione." Daphne thought that it was fair if they all take turns raising concerns, issues or questions.

The Gryffindor girl took time to think about what she wanted to bring up first. "Harry you really hurt me when you just ran away the other day. I understand that things are overwhelming for you at the moment, and that you have a lot to learn in a hurry, and it wasn't an easy thing to hear but you need to do better in the future. I know that teenage boys aren't great at talking things through, and can act rashly, but you can't do that again. I forgive you, but you need to know how much you hurt me when you did that because I don't know if I can handle something like that again."

"I understand and agree Mione." There were no words to justify his actions so he didn't try. "I am willing to try and listen and talk more in the future, and will need both of you to keep me on the level if I am failing to do so. However there is something I need to tell you, just like I told Daphne yesterday. There are some secrets that I can't tell you yet, and I need you to respect that, but outside of those several things I will do my best to honestly and openly talk with both of you."

"I'm not sure if I like it Harry, but I trust you. Hopefully you can share those secrets with us soon. It's your turn to pick something Harry." Hermione looked like she was swallowing a bitter pill as she said that.

The boy shook his head. "I think I will wait until the end to ask any questions I have. You go Daphne."

"Okay. How are you going to bring this up with your parents Hermione?" Daphne quickly moved on to the next concern she had.

"I don't know. I have thought about it, but there is no good way to go about it as far as I can tell. They won't understand, or accept this at all." Hermione let her worry show as she fidgeted around on her seat.

Daphne got an evil smirk. "I think it is only fitting that Harry be there to calm them down and answer any questions they have."

"They will kill me!" The boy's eyes were wide as a house-elf's.

Daphne laughed, evilly, still smirking. "Serves you right I think. A bit of karma for hurting Hermione like you did."

Harry shut up, knowing that he wasn't going to win this debate. Daphne could be downright vindictive if she wanted to be, and that was something that he made note of. He would do his best to not draw her wrath in the future.

"So when should we tell them? When we are all of age?" Hermione was happy to move on as quickly as possible, not wanting to think about the awkward and angry nature of that future meeting.

The Slytherin disagreed. "No. We have to tell them soon, as soon as possible actually. Unless we get their permission and a signed contract we could run into problems. Without that we would have to wait until you are of age and we can't afford to wait that long. You won't be the only person who has worked out that Harry can have more than one wife and it is only a matter of time before other Lord's try offering him alliances for their daughters hand in marriage. Turning them down could cause major problems if you don't have the solid excuse of having that line tied up and you could make more enemies. I am sure you agree, Harry, but that is something you don't need. If we get out in front of this early we can prevent that."

"When do you recommend we do this Daph?" As much as he wasn't looking forward to it, he bowed to her superior understanding on how this should be handled in the Magical world.

She thought it over for a minute before responding. "As soon as you can. During the Easter break will be best."

Harry whistled at that. He was not expecting it to be so soon. Being the first boyfriend to a teenage girl, who happened to be an only child, meeting her father was sure to be a harrowing experience in the best of circumstances.

This was not the best of circumstances. On top of all that Harry happened to already be engaged to a different woman. He was going to be murdered.

"Let's not rush into anything… I think 3, no 4, years is a good time to wait before telling them." He wasn't proud of it, but Harry would do anything to weasel out of that meeting.

Hermione laughed, and Harry was filled with dread at the sound of it. "Actually that sounds good Daphne. That way I will be there as well. I think on the Saturday will work best, I will confirm with my mum but 5pm for dinner should work. Do you want to come Daphne?"

"It certainly sounds entertaining, but I think my presence will only make things worse. I will just have to hear about it after the fact. Just keep my fiancée alive, and preferably in one piece." Despite her joking, she genuinely seemed disappointed to be missing the upcoming fireworks.

Harry was really starting to regret agreeing to this talk. "So next Saturday is my execution? At least I have forewarning I guess."

"It won't be that bad Harry." Hermione's words would have be reassuring if he hadn't caught the whispered "I hope" at the end of the sentence.

The next ten minutes were spent strategizing, trying to plan mature responses and fact filled answers for the likely questions that Hermione's parents would ask. It wasn't perfect but having a pre-planned strategy went some of the way to comforting Harry's nerves.

Hermione had the next question after they were satisfied with the previous discussion. "I know this is in a completely different direction, but what you said yesterday raised a question that I hope you can answer. You said that the Death Eaters didn't have any real political power? So did none of the ten families that make up the heredity seats back You-Know-Who?"

"Voldemort, Hermione. Or Tom Riddle if you prefer, but not You-Know-Who." Harry admonished her.

Daphne chose to ignore that. "Harry how about you answer the question, you probably have more to go on then I do."

"Of the ten families only two people were Death Eaters. Bellatrix Lestrange who was one of Voldemort's Generals, and was born Bellatrix Black, and her cousin Regulus Black. For a long time the Black's have been considered Dark so it never surprised anybody that several of them became Death Eaters and was why everyone was so willing to believe Sirius betrayed my parents. Bellatrix's sister is also connected, loosely, because she married a Death Eater just before the end of the war, not by choice I must add. Regulus was Sirius' younger brother so was third in line for the head of the family, but had no real power in the family and couldn't act on behalf of the Black's and did not represent the family. Sirius' grandfather, the head of the house at the time, hated Voldemort with a passion despite believing in a lot of the rhetoric being spouted and refused to back the man. He believed that the Blacks were beneath no-one and refused to give any support or money to Voldemort. He almost killed Sirius' mother for her role in Regulus becoming a Death Eater." Harry and Sirius had spent a lot of time going over known Death Eaters, alive, dead or in Azkaban, because Lord Black believed that Harry needed to know who his potential enemies were.

The girls spent a minute digesting all that information. "Sirius' brother was a Death Eater?"

"Yes. He went missing before the end of the war, and according to Sirius and Black records he died in '79." It hurt Sirius to talk about his brother, whose only fault was his inability to shake off Walburga Black's influence, so Harry had only been told the broad strokes. "Bellatrix was a supporter of Voldemort's even at school, but after her marriage it became fanatical. We believe that her husband has forced her into it to some extent, whether because Voldemort offers her protection or some Dark magic."

Harry looked at Daphne, trying to pass on a hidden message. She nodded to show that she understood what he was implying. A large part of the villain that Bellatrix Black was seen as by the Magical community could be due to the Subservience Clause that she would have with Rodolphus Lestrange.

"Why did Bellatrix marry a Death Eater?" Hermione was still trying to unravel it all.

Harry laughed, a cruel, humourless laugh. "With Sirius, and to a lesser extent Regulus, in direct line for the Head of the Family position the only aspect of their lives that their grandfather was actively involved in was around marriages. Apart from that, and the lessons that they went through about the family, he was not involved in raising the boys. For Bellatrix and her two sisters he was even less caring about them given that they were all daughters and quite far away from the role of Head and he let their parents do what they wanted with the girls. Unfortunately their father had a gambling addiction, and he was a bad gambler at that, and when his accounts were empty he used marriage contracts as currency. I pity both Cissa and Bellatrix, it's a fate nobody should have to face, and Andromeda who was the oldest of the three was lucky enough to run away before that hit her as well."

"Are marriage contacts still common? I mean I know you two are engaged because of one, but apart from that?" It was all so far from what the Gryffindor was used to.

Harry allowed Daphne to answer that one. "They are sort of common, but not every family still use them. One or two girls in every year of Hogwarts has or will have one. Maybe as many as 5 in some years."

/

Friday April 7th, 19:30pm.

Harry was seated in the middle of the Board of Governors table in the Hogwarts room reserved for them alone. The other four Governors were laid out on either side of him and the Headmaster was seated in front of him.

"Just so I am understanding you correctly, you want to completely rework the hierarchy of the staff here at Hogwarts?" Albus Dumbledore was stumped. Looking at the five people in front of him he was quite sure that the youngest was responsible for this. "Is this because of your personal opinion of Severus, Harry?"

Tho boy shook his head. "No it is not, in fact I hadn't even thought about it until you just mentioned it. No this is because I noticed what I believed was a flaw in the staff, and after talking with the rest of the Board and running through the positives and negatives of the decision we voted in favour of it. 4 to 1 if you must know."

"Can you please go through the changes that will be made." Given that this was staff related Dumbledore had the potential to veto the Board, but he would listen to their logic first.

The rest of the Board left the explanation to Harry, it was his brain child after all. "We will start with Professor McGonagall. We all love her and have the utmost respect for her but believe that she is stretched thin in her roles here. To give her best she can not be expected to be your Deputy, the Head of Gryffindor and as the teacher for one of the core subjects. Those core subjects have the heaviest course load and the most students. We will talk with her about what she prefers but we believe the options available to her are either to just be the Transfiguration teacher, we will find her a qualified replacement and she can be the Head of Gryffindor and your Deputy but no longer teach, or a replacement to teach first to O.W.L year students while Minerva teaches only the N.E.W.T students as well as staying Head of Gryffindor. We feel that this will reduce the stress she must be feeling trying to uphold all three positions and allow her to flourish even more than she currently does."

"I am not sure how she will respond to this Harry, but I understand what you are saying. When will you tell her?" As much as Albus had grown to rely on his right-hand woman he had noticed the damage it was doing to her staying so busy.

Harry continued where he left off. "She has been asked to present herself here at 8 which is when we will tell her our reasons and ask her to think over what she would prefer. For the same reason as I mentioned earlier we do not believe it is in the best interests for either the Professors or the students to pile the extra duties belonging to the Heads of House upon a core subject teacher. We will be asking Filius, Pomona and Severus to stay on in their respective teaching positions, while asking three of the rest of the staff to fill those vacant Head positions. We recommend Miss Vector as the Ravenclaw Head, Madam Hooch for the Hufflepuff position, and Miss Babbling for Slytherin and Mrs. Burbage if Minerva chooses to move on from that position, but of course that decision in the end falls to you."

Dumbledore had a lot to think about, this was all quite unexpected. He knew about Harry's position on the Board but was not expecting him to be so involved so soon. The boy's youth and inexperience scared the grizzled old man. After all he remembered what he was like as a teenager.

"How are you planning to pay for all this? There is potentially a whole salary that you will have to find, and the current Head's might not enjoy a pay cut." It was an important question, but Albus mainly asked it as it gave him longer to think about all this.

Mrs. Carmichael, a 5th year Ravenclaw's mother, and the Board Treasurer answered. "Professors Snape, Flitwick and Sprout will have a salary 52 galleons less than their current, or one less galleon per week, and the remaining 200+ galleons required will easily be produced. Harry has offered to fund a new greenhouse for the sole purpose of growing rare and exotic plants. He will also be providing the up-front capital to purchase said seeds or the importing of bulbs. This will provide the students with a more indepth and well rounded Herbology education and the profit made off of those plants will easily cover any extra costs as well as off-set the current funding provided to Hogwarts by the Ministry, and no staff will be let go."

Dumbledore slowly nodded. "You have obviously thought this over and at this stage I agree with your assessment. I assume you mean to implement this changes during the summer holidays and not now?"

"That is correct Headmaster, however there is one last, awkward, thing that we must discuss." Madam Marchbanks responded.

For the briefest time Harry thought he saw fear in the man's eyes, but it was gone before he could be sure. "You are not firing me… Are you?"

The Board of Governors stayed silent for a moment, and the silence was left just long enough for it to start to get on the man's nerves. Eventually Harry spoke up. "Professor your commitment and contributions to Hogwarts are unmatched and we have no desire for that to end. However… However we are unsure if you can give the position the full attention that it deserves, and requires. For this reason we are going to ask you to do something very difficult. When your term as the Supreme Mugwump is ending in two years please do not accept the position again. The same with the Chief Warlock position in three years. The school, and its students need a Headmaster who is willing and able to devote their whole time to those responsibilities, not be off playing politician. If you find yourself unable to meet this requirement the next school year will be your last as Headmaster of Hogwarts."

While it was better than being fired, Albus was stunned. Understanding and respecting the Headmaster's position the Board stayed silent as the ultimatum ran through his head.

"Do you need a decision straight away, or will I be allowed some time to think it over? Maybe discuss it with some trusted friends?" He needed more time to process the whole evening.

O'Flaherty was the quickest to respond. "Yes of course, Headmaster. We understand how hard a decision this must be for you, as you ponder where you can do the most good, and we have no desire to rush you into a decision. You have up until the evening of the Final Task to make your choice, so take that time to make sure you will make the decision that will make you happiest."

A knock at the door alerted them to the arrival of Professor McGonagall. "Before we let Minerva in, Harry will you meet me at my office after you are done here?"

"Of course Professor. However you are welcome to stay for this meeting, I am sure your friendship and wisdom will be appreciated by Minerva during the upcoming discussion." Harry was not surprised at the invitation to the Headmaster's office, but was expecting him to invite him sometime during the coming weekend.

Albus stood up and crossed to the door, letting in his Deputy Headmistress. "Welcome Minerva. I trust you have had a pleasant evening?"

"Yes it has been, Albus. However I am unsure about my presence here this evening as I am usually only called to the Summer Holiday Board meetings. Oh, hello Mr. Potter I see you have taken up the Potter seat on the Board, a bit earlier than I expected but congratulations." Minerva was quite flustered, as only bad things could have led to them asking for her presence.

Harry was caught off guard, having never seen his Professor this out of sorts. "Please, Professor, have a seat." He pointed to one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Please relax, you are not in trouble."

The relief was evident in Minerva's posture instantly. "Well perhaps you can enlighten me as to the topic this evening then?"

"Down to business, quite right. We have been assessing your work and workload and have found what you do for Hogwarts to be, simply put, amazing. We are worried for you however." Madam Marchbanks had known McGonagall longest so started things off.

Minerva had heard of something in the muggle world called a sabbatical, perhaps this was what was going to happen. "Thank you for your kind words, however I am unsure what you mean by worried?"

"You are currently the Transfiguration Professor, the Head of Gryffindor House, and the Deputy Headmistress. Frankly put we are worried about the stress that all this work will be putting on you." Marchbanks continue, her tone caring and supportive.

Maybe she was getting that well deserved sabbatical. "It can be a lot of work, but I love my job. At least when Harry isn't getting into trouble." That got a laugh from the entire room.

"I should probably just explain the assessment we made, the decision that we came to from that, and where to go from here. Simply put we believe that you are currently doing three jobs and that you shouldn't be. We believe that the workload you are being asked to do yearly is unreasonable and must be adding a lot of stress to your life. We have come to the decision that no longer will core subject Professors be eligible for the Head of House position. The core subjects have the most students and therefore the largest workload falls to those professors and they should not then have added work on top of that. Filius, Pomona and Severus will all be told about this shortly and will all still be Professors, should they wish to stay at Hogwarts, but other staff will be the new Heads of Houses starting next year. You however are in a slightly different position due to your extra duties again. We concluded that one of three courses will be best, but the decision of which one will fall to you." Harry told her about the new direction that Hogwarts will be taking.

Minerva's brain was racing. Have I failed in my duties in some way? Is this a punishment? It is a lot of work, could this actually be good for the students? "What are the three courses?"

"Firstly: you can stay on as the Transfiguration professor and nothing else. Secondly: you stay on as the Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor but retire as a professor. I am sure you would be invited to do guest lessons on occasion. Lastly, is a mishmash. You continue teaching the N.E.W.T students and stay as the Head of Gryffindor while we find someone else to teach the first five years and a new Deputy Head." Harry kept it clear and concise.

She spoke straight away. "The third option. I choose the third option."

"Are you sure? You can take some time to make a decision." Albus clarified.

Minerva nodded firmly. "My love of teaching rules the second option out straight away, and I still want to care for my Lions ruling out the first option. My heart has never been in the administration duties that the Deputy Head position involves and I only took the role to aid you Albus. I am happy with my decision."

"You will take a pay cut, Professor McGonagall. Down to the payscale that all the Head of Houses are on, not your current Deputy salary." Mrs. Carmichael informed her.

The professor waved that off. "I get by quite comfortably. I will not miss the money."

"I feel I should probably tell you that the Board has delivered me an ultimatum. If I am unwilling to give up my political positions outside of Hogwarts when their current terms expire, next year will be my last as Headmaster." The Headmaster believed that he should inform her of the complete list of changes that the Board were bringing out.

Minerva turned and raised an eyebrow at Harry, making the boy squirm and speak up. "Both these decisions were not made for personal, political or underhanded reasons. We believe that the Hogwarts staff should all be devoted to what is best for the students, and excessive workloads or outside jobs do not meet that requirement. We want the best to be provided for each and every student that comes in these doors, and will be holding the staff to a higher standard for as long as I am on this Board to achieve that."

"Your heart is most certainly in the right place Harry. I will think long on what you have told me tonight. Goodnight all." Minerva needed to seriously consider what a Dumbledoreless Hogwarts would look like.

Albus stood up with his Deputy. "Minerva let me escort you back to your rooms. Mrs. Carmichael, Mrs. Bluestone, Madam Marchbanks, Mr. O'Flaherty, good evening. Harry remember our meeting just after this."

/

Harry walked into the Headmaster's office and looked around. The room was still empty showing that Albus had not yet made it back from his walk with Minerva. The advantage to being on the Board meant he had a password that would get him through the Gargoyle rather than being stuck waiting to be let up.

Harry walked over to the only other living thing in the room, Fawkes. "Hello old friend, how are you today?"

The gorgeous bird sang out. *Hello child. It is good to see you again, and not in pain or trouble either.*

"Yes it's nice having not been injured since the Second Task…" Harry had a double take. "Wait I just understood you!"

The bird turned a speculative eye on him. *Is that so? You think you understood me?*

"Yes! I just did there as well. I have never understood you in the past, what is going on?" Harry was equal measures excited and confused.

The Phoenix looked stunned for a moment. *It has never happened during my lifetime where I have met a human who can understand me who isn't bonded to me. With Albus, who I have been bonded with for more than 50 years, we have never had this complete of a conversation. Most intriguing.*

"How long have you been alive? Just for a reference point as to how unusual this is." Harry asked the magical creature.

Fawkes seems increasingly interested in this development the longer it went on, and indulged the boy. *427 years as you humans measure time. Could this be something to do with my tears in your blood? None of the other humans I have healed have developed this trait.*

"Of course! I can't believe it slipped my mind!" In all the excitement Harry had forgotten his animagus form!

A second later a smaller, gold coloured Phoenix was hovering in front of the older bird. *Impossible! How can this be?*

*We can't be completely sure but we believe that your tears in my blood made this my animagus form. That must be why I can understand and speak with you.* Harry spoke for the first time in this form.

Fawkes trilled out his happiness. *Most interesting, but I can't think of anybody better to be given this gift. You should turn back into your real body now.*

"Why should I change back?" Harry asked in english after making the change.

It wasn't the Phoenix that responded to him. "Probably because I am here now."

"Headmaster!" Harry almost jumped out of his skin. "How was your time with Professor McGonagall?"

"Quite pleasant I must say, however it appears that I will be needing to talk to her again tomorrow." The good nature Professor smiled as he slid into his desk chair.

Harry was caught out by the sudden change of direction. "Why is that Sir?"

"Because she has been keeping secrets from me. So you are an animagus? A Phoenix animagus at that." He quirked an eyebrow at the student.

Harry knew he was teasing but couldn't help but jump to the defence of his Head of House. "She didn't tell you because I asked her not to tell anybody. Secrets have a tendency of coming out the more people who know them, and I need every advantage I can get to not only survive, but win this blasted tournament. Minerva, Poppy, Sirius and now yourself are the only people who know, and I was planning on letting Remus in on the secret next week."

"Next week? Ah yes the full moon is on the Saturday is it not? I take it you are planning on joining him and Sirius on their run like your father used to do?" The Headmaster was quick to link the dots.

Harry was stunned at that. "You knew about them being animagi?"

"Yes I knew. Within days of your father's first change I was made aware of the fact. Given they were still students, and they became them to aid a friend, I was willing to overlook it. It is a lovely thing that they did for Remus, and I commend you for joining the tradition." Albus was proud of the man that his favourite student was becoming.

Harry nodded and smiled at that. "Thank you Sir. What did you want to discuss when you invited me here?"

The Professor's face took a more sorrowful turn when he was reminded of why he had asked the boy to come. "Harry, have I hurt you or failed in my duties as Headmaster? Is this all because of something I have done?"

"No!" Of all the things it could be, Harry was not expecting the meeting to be called for because of insecurity. "This is not because of you, Minerva or any of the staff but because I feel that creating a stronger focus on the students by all the staff will only help. I want to maximise the staff's potential to help the children of Hogwarts, starting at the top. It should also reduce the stress in your life, as well as Minerva and the other Head's, by more evenly spreading the workload."

The Professor lit up at that answer. "Thank you for calming the fears of an old man. When I was only a little older than you are I was full of so much ambition, wanting to bring about great change and be a political powerhouse. I was close friends with Gellert Grindelwald and after that exploded my world was changed. I no longer wanted power, fame and all that, instead I wanted to help future generations by sharing my love of learning. I have never regretted that decision and ironically out of that decision I went on to achieve the loftiest of political heights. Now this decision is before me again and I am worried that I won't have the same strength as I did back then. Your words have brought me comfort."

"I am happy to help, Headmaster. If you need someone to talk this over with more before the deadline do not hesitate to ask. Can I ask you a question before I go? It is about something completely different." Harry stood up, preparing to leave the office.

Albus had also stood up when the student did. "What is it you would like to know my boy?"

"Sirius has been teaching me a lot about the war with Voldemort, and I have a question about it?" Harry waited for the man to nod. "In 1972 and early '73 Voldemort was trying to gain political power. He had a lot of backers, but only 3 members of the Wizengamot on his side, but then all of a sudden he started making attacks in the open, and the Death Eaters became a known force. Why?"

The sadness was evidence in the Headmaster. "Unfortunately I was somewhat to blame for that. He had gained those 3 supporters in the body rather quickly, but had stalled. He had courted Lord Black who had openly rejected him and publicly insulted Tom, which cost him several other members he had been courting. I believed that his attempt to bring his hideous views into our worlds government was over and as a celebration started on some experiments I had been delaying. One went horribly wrong and I was paralyzed for a month and took several more months of rehab to get up to shape. Somehow Voldemort gained knowledge of this, I had kept it pretty quiet given that it occurred during the holidays so my absence from the public eye wasn't suspicious. It was during that time that the attacks started, and by the time I was healed he had gained too much momentum, created too much fear, and it couldn't be stopped."

"After you were back to your top why did you not seek out Voldemort and therefore stop the Death Eaters in their tracks?" Harry regretted it the moment the words left his mouth.

Albus instantly looked like the broken old man he really was. "I wanted to Harry, I truly did. So many times I grabbed my wand and was halfway out the door before I stopped myself. Us magicals are granted with long life, I myself am in my 13th decade of life, but our magic is strongest between the ages of 16 and 80, roughly. Tom Riddle is one of those once or twice a generation wizards when it comes to magical power, just as you and I am Harry, and if he had killed me who would have stood in his way? Just by being alive I was able to stop him marching into the Ministry and declaring himself Emperor, and I sought to stay that way until the next person came along who could stand up to him, hopefully together. I was not waiting for you per say Harry, in fact during the early years I believed that it would probably be a foreign witch or wizard, but I was willing to frustrate him and keep him confined to fear tactics until I wasn't alone. I am still, even at my age, more powerful than the average wizard, and my wide knowledge gives me a further advantage, but I am a magnitude weaker than I was when I defeated Grindelwald. Maybe 25% weaker today, and closer to 20% back then. I did what I believed was right, and I stand by what I did. Never forget that I lost many friends, and many more former students of mine because of that choice, and I have to live with that everyday. People like me and you, whether by a freak of genetics or random luck, will always be called upon to make tough decisions because we are extraordinary individuals. Learn from my decisions, my successes and mistakes, so that you will be more informed when your time comes Harry, because I can guarantee you that just like me you will be forced to make the hard choices. Get some sleep, Harry, I feel we shall both need it after tonight.

A/N: Here is another chapter