Chapter 30

Severus Snape made for a very poor teacher and, despite all evidence to the contrary, Albus Dumbledore was well aware of that fact. The man was spiteful, ill tempered, biased and had an extremely short fuse, all bad qualities for a teacher to possess. Yes, he was a genius when it came to making potions, but he simply lacked the temperament to pass that knowledge on to others, particularly young students. The man had an attitude of "I already know this, therefore everyone else should as well, and if you don't then you are just a dunderhead and it's not my problem to deal with you."

Nevertheless, Severus Snape was an essential person to have at Hogwarts. As Dumbledore's spy within the ranks of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, the man had to be seen as being close to Dumbledore. Having Snape at Hogwarts ensured that illusions were maintained, and allowing the man to be ruthlessly biased in favour of the Slytherins and against everyone else, especially the Gryffindors, made sure that the offspring of the other Death Eaters sent home nothing but praise for the man. And what did teaching a generation of students to correctly brew potions matter when compared to getting all the information he could on Voldemort's activities?

Rubeus Hagrid was another example to that mould, but in a different shape. To give him his due, the half-giant was very knowledgeable about the various magical creatures found across the globe, especially those of which that were found in the forest, lake and mountains that surrounded Hogwarts. But the man did not have the right temperament to pass that information on. This was not out of a cruel streak like Snape, but rather a combination of his own misconceptions and the relative ease with which he could become flustered. The man had a fixation on large and dangerous beasts and assumed that everyone else felt the same way. And he led students such as Draco Malfoy get under his skin far too easily.

Despite this, Hagrid was still essential to Dumbledore's overall schemes. First of all the man represented a kind-of beacon of hope, although most might not recognise it. With a half-giant occupying a prominent role at the school, people would be led to believe that it was indeed possible to overcome odds that are heavily stacked against you in order to become someone important. That illusion went hand-in-hand with the reasons for Binns' boring lessons, making Muggleborns believe that Wizarding society is not as biased as other evidence points out.

The second reason for Hagrid's importance was that he was one of Dumbledore's "yes" people, much like McGonagall. Hagrid was one of the more extreme examples of the kind of people who thought that the sun rose in the sky because Dumbledore wanted it to, and therein laid his main use. Dumbledore had ensured that Harry Potter befriended Hagrid very early on, and with the half giant going around telling anyone who would listen what a great man Albus Dumbledore was, Harry Potter was sure to develop a similar mind set.

Especially when coupled with his friendship with the Weasley family, another example of strong fans of Dumbledore.

On the subject of Harry Potter, that was where Dumbledore's other chief concerns lay. Following his trial at the Ministry on the twelfth of August, the boy seemed to have simply disappeared, and his continued absence was greatly troubling to Albus Dumbledore.

He had called upon many of his contacts within the Ministry, but he had received nothing in return but for a couple of vague hints. From what he could gather, the trial before the Wizengamot had come to a halt and Harry had left the courtroom to attend a private meeting with Minister Fudge and Madam Bones in the Minister's office. Where he went after that was unknown. What was known was that the trial had been completely called off, with Harry Potter being acquitted of all charges.

So Harry had not been expelled from Hogwarts, he had not been placed into Azkaban prison, and he had not returned to the house of his relatives.

It was infuriating that the only two people who likely knew for sure, Minister Fudge and Madam Bones, were also currently the last two people on earth who would disclose that information to him.

The only saving grace available was that with the involvement of Madam Bones, Fudge was not likely to have done something stupid like send Harry to live with the Malfoy family.

Albus Dumbledore had a sinking feeling that Harry Potter was now in the care of Madam Bones, and with each hour that passed that feeling only got worse.

While she was most assuredly a light-sided witch, Amelia Bones was not one of Dumbledore's staunch supporters and was one of few who were likely to bring him to task when she felt he was acting in an inappropriate fashion.

And if she were to ask the right questions, there was a lot of things she could discover from Harry Potter that Dumbledore really did not want her knowing.

And if she ever got even the slightest hint about those potions in Harry's system…

Dumbledore shuddered. He did not like to think what would happen then. He was sure that he could use his influence to survive the fallout, but there would then be too many questions asked of certain others, and of Severus Snape and Poppy Pomfrey in particular.

It was infuriating that his spy at the trial, Nymphadora Tonks had gotten caught before completing her mission. He had been quite surprised that Madam Bones had come down on her as hard as to take away her Auror badge and boot her out of the Ministry.

But he supposed that he ought to have been thankful, as even though it caused the disappearance of Harry Potter, it allowed him to hire the young metamorphmagus to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor and thus prevent a Ministry spy entering Hogwarts.

Well, prevented it until Fudge pulled this latest stunt.

Sometimes Dumbledore felt like the entire world was against the greater good.

Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, was sitting in his study at home having a quiet celebratory drink.

And why shouldn't he? He was delighted.

After his first attempt had failed, he had now successfully secured Madam Umbridge a place within Hogwarts Castle. Once there she could not only revolutionise the teaching of History of Magic, but also assess the situation with the rest of the school, and also keep an eye on Dumbledore, collecting evidence for when they eventually brought him to task for seeking to overthrow the Ministry.

To be honest though, that was not why he was celebrating, as that decision had been passed by the Wizengamot yesterday, and he had already celebrated that idea.

No, what he was celebrating today was the rather brilliant idea that had come to him just a short while ago. With Dolores Umbridge securing a position within the castle, the Minister had turned his attention to one to the ideas voiced by young Harry Potter.

In their meeting the boy had suggested that the Ministry appoint a student to assist Madam Umbridge in her work. A kind of prefect who worked with her to make the school a better place.

Fudge had spent some time pondering just which student he ought to put into that role. For a brief time he had considered contacting his old friend Lucius Malfoy and asking if his son would like to take on the role. However he had heard through the grapevine that Lucius had been bragging about young Draco receiving his prefect's badge. That meant that the boy had been nominated by his head of house and approved by Dumbledore.

Draco Malfoy therefore was no longer an appropriate candidate.

The puzzle of just who to choose had then troubled Fudge for a short while longer. Then, quite by chance he had passed by Arthur Weasley talking to Perkins and overheard the balding red-head tell the other man that his youngest son Ronald had been made a prefect.

A quick check had shown that Ronald Weasley was a classmate of Harry Potter's, being in the same year and the same house.

And with that discovery Fudge had discovered the perfect candidate for his plans for Hogwarts. For Harry Potter, the very person who had suggested the idea in the first place, had not been made a prefect by Dumbledore.

It made perfect sense: the boy was well known, likeable, and had a good amount of respect for the Ministry.

Yes Fudge could see it now. He would have his people in Hogwarts, and have the endorsement of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived to support him in his endeavours.

It was fool proof.

Peter Pettigrew was a nervous man at the best of times. His current situation only made this worse.

His master, Lord Voldemort, had collapsed more than two days ago, and had shown no signs of waking up ever since.

Peter was currently tasked with waiting by Voldemort's bedside, watching and waiting for any sign that his master might be beginning to come around. His task would be to alert the healers immediately.

But by Lord Voldemort's bedside was a bad place to be. It left Peter Pettigrew vulnerable.

When he eventually awoke, Lord Voldemort was very likely to want to know what had happened, and as yet no one knew the answer. And not having the answer to something that Lord Voldemort wanted to know was a sure fire way to get yourself hit by the cruciatus curse.

And given a choice between a healer and Peter Pettigrew, the rat animagus knew exactly who the Dark Lord would aim for.

All things considered, today was not a good day to be Peter Pettigrew.

And that ghastly snake curled up in the opposite corner or the room was doing nothing to improve matters.

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