Chapter 40

Upon passing through the doors to the Entrance Hall, the first thing that Harry heard was the sound of several second year Gryffindor girls screaming.

He did not have to look far to find the answer.

Peeves the poltergeist was welcoming the students back to the castle in the only way he knew how, with chaos. Last year it had been a barrage of water balloons. This year he had decided on throwing ink pots at the new arrivals.

As usual no staff were about to deal with the pest, so Harry supposed that it fell to him to do something.

"Peeves!" he yelled "Stop that now!"

The poltergeist turned to face him, a wide and sadistic grin on his face "Why, if it isn't Potty wee Potter! Thinks he can tell Peevesy what to do does he?"

"I don't think I can Peeves, I know I can." retorted Harry.

Peeves stuck out his tongue, blew a massive raspberry and then hurled one particularly large ink pot towards Harry.

However, the young wizard was prepared for this. From the first moment he had called out to Peeves to stop he had had his fingers clasped tightly around his wand. The moment Peeves made to throw the ink pot, Harry raised his wand and waved it through the air.

"Depulso!"

The ink pot came to a stop right in front of Harry's face and then shot back towards Peeves, smacking into him right between the eyes. The Poltergeist flipped over backwards twice before righting himself. Then he threw his sack of ink pots over into an empty corner and then raced away, making noises that sounded suspiciously like sobs.

"Wow." exclaimed Susan.

"Yeah." agreed Hannah

"To think that after all this time, that was all it took…" muttered Ernie.

"HARRY POTTER!"

All eyes turned to see Professor McGonagall, the deputy head of the school marching towards Harry looking rather cross.

"See ya, Harry." said Susan, making her escape.

"Later." added Hannah, following her.

"Traitors." Harry mumbled under his breath as the entire Hufflepuff contingent abandoned him to his fate.

Cho followed them, making sure to brush close to him as she passed him by.

Harry shook his head at her behaviour and was just bracing himself to deal with McGonagall when another, entirely different woman moved in to separate them.

"Good evening, Professor Umbridge," said Harry to the pink-cardigan-wearing, toad-faced monstrosity that now stood before him.

"Good evening, Mr Potter," Dolores Umbridge replied politely, and Harry was fairly certain that doing so was causing her to die a little inside "I just wanted a quick word before the feast begins."

McGonagall finally reached them and tapped the other woman on the shoulder with the roll of parchment that contained the names of the new first year students "Pardon me, Dolores, but I was just about to have a word with Mr Potter."

Umbridge turned her flabby face towards McGonagall and said "Not at all, Minerva. This will only take a moment."

McGonagall visibly bristled at being referred to by her first name, but turnabout was fair play.

Umbridge gestured with her arm and Harry followed her over to one side.

"How can I help you, Professor?" he asked once they were out of McGonagall's hearing range.

"I simply wished to know if there were any problems on the train?" the Professor replied.

"Nothing much," replied Harry "A few prefects had trouble accepting the new status quo, but I was able to make examples of them and the rest quickly fell into line. After that everyone was pretty well behaved."

"Very well," replied Umbridge "Please get your report on those prefects to me as soon as possible."

"Will do," replied Harry "I was forced to issue a strike against the two troublemakers, and will need to inform their Head of House after the feast. I trust that if I end up requiring assistance in that matter…?"

"Of course," agreed Umbridge "I imagine that some of the staff will have the same problems as some of the prefects to begin with. Never hesitate to ask for my help."

"Likewise," replied Harry "Oh, and before I forget, Prefect Patil of Ravenclaw House was very helpful in resolving the situation on the train, and has been awarded a merit for her actions."

"Very good," said Umbridge "That's what I like to hear. The more merits you can give out, Mr Potter, then the more it shows that we are winning."

Harry nodded in reply before asking "Was there anything else? Only Professor McGonagall's got a vein throbbing in her forehead from being kept waiting."

Umbridge turned slightly to look over her shoulder at the other woman. Seeing the scowl on McGonagall's face, Umbridge smiled and turned back to Harry before replying "Just one other thing, are you prepared for your speech?"

"All set to go." replied Harry.

"Good," said Umbridge "Carry on then, Mr Potter."

And with that she turned and walked towards the doors that led into the Great Hall, where the welcoming feast would shortly begin.

Harry felt rather dirty after having to be so polite to the old toad for so long.

McGonagall came over and snapped "I suppose it's alright to talk to you now is it Potter?"

"Of course, Professor," answered Harry.

"Good." she replied tersely "Now, first of all I would like to know what you think you were doing earlier when you confronted Peeves."

"I think that I was giving the sorry excuse for a phantom a taste of his own medicine," replied Harry.

"And why did you simply not vanish the ink pot after stopping it?" asked McGonagall "Why did you have to fire it back?"

"Because that is about the only thing that a bully like Peeves understands, Professor." replied Harry "He learned a long time ago that no matter what he does, all he will get is a stern talking to by one of the teachers, and maybe a few threats of exorcism by Filch, and then he can go back to causing havoc."

"It was a very irresponsible thing to do," said McGonagall "What if it had hit another student?"

"I had faith in my aim," retorted Harry "And had I hit another student I would have promptly apologised."

She regarded him with a steely gaze for a few moments longer before abruptly changing the topic of discussion "Where were you this summer, Potter?"

Harry blinked once before replying "I didn't think that my whereabouts during the holidays was any concern of the staff of this school, Professor."

The two stared at each other for a few moments longer before McGonagall spoke again "I have to go and greet the new first years now, but rest assured Potter, these matters are not settled. You will report to the Headmaster's office as soon as the feast is over."

"Actually that will not be possible, Professor McGonagall," replied Harry "Once the feast is over I have to have separate meetings with both Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick, and I will be cutting it close to curfew as it is. Perhaps we can reschedule?"

McGonagall's nostrils were flaring with anger now, and Harry knew that he was pushing her very close to the edge "I cannot fathom a reason why you would need to talk to either of them this early in the school year, but if you must talk with them, I will ask Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick to come to the Headmaster's office so that you can meet with them there as well."

"That might cause conflict-" began Harry, but McGonagall cut him off.

"This matter is not open for further discussion, Mr Potter. You will go to the Headmaster's office after the feast, and Professors Snape and Flitwick will be there to meet with you."

And with that she turned in a swish of tartan robes and stalked off to greet the new first year students.

Harry shook his head and turned towards the Great Hall. He hadn't thought that his respect for Minerva McGonagall could fall any lower, but she had just proven him wrong.

He thought back to some of the banking documents he had received from Gringotts and one of the many issues found there…

Flashback

"Is it all making sense, Harry?" asked Sarah, a large cup of coffee in her hands as she joined Harry and the others sitting at the table.

"I guess so," replied Harry, leafing through several pieces of parchment. Income from the family investments is added every month, and a third of the annual school fee is taken out every term, once after the summer holidays, once after the Christmas break and once after Easter. Once a year, near the end of summer there is an amount taken out of the trust fund by me to pay for my school things. That much is simple."

"And the rest?" asked Madam Bones.

"Well, it appears that every month thirty five galleons are taken out of the trust fund, converted to Muggle money and put into my Uncle Vernon's account with Barclay's bank. That works out at around £174 per month that the Dursleys are getting out of me."

"That's not too bad for room and board," said Sarah "too bad they kept most of it for themselves and spent as little on you as possible."

"They always made out that I'm such a burden," said Harry sadly "Look, they even get paid for the months that I am at Hogwarts. And Gringotts charges my account a five galleon conversion fee every time they do this."

"Goblins like to earn themselves a nice bit of gold for every transaction." explained Madam Bones "Any other issues?"

"Several," replied Harry "Look at this one?" he turned the piece of parchment around and showed them. It was dated the 1st February, 1994, and was a withdrawal for 475 galleons.

"What on earth…?" muttered Madam Bones.

"Are you sure that this wasn't some kind of annual withdrawal?" asked Sarah.

Harry shook his head and replied "No other year has any amount of money withdrawn on the February 1st."

"That's a lot to go out in one go," said Madam Bones "And you would have been inside the castle when it happened." she looked at him "You didn't order anything through Owl Post did you?"

"No," replied Harry "And even if I had I'd have never spent that much in one go."

"Hang on," said Hannah from her position next to Susan at the kitchen counter "In third year you have to buy a new broom didn't you? After your Nimbus got smashed up by the Whomping Willow."

"Yeah, that's right," said Susan "You got a Firebolt, and it arrived just before your match against Ravenclaw, which would have been in early February."

"But I didn't buy the Firebolt," said Harry "It was a present."

"Could it have been bought with your money?" asked Sarah.

"It was a Christmas present," said Harry "so the dates don't match up."

"So why was it all over the school well into January that you were still training on school brooms?" asked Susan.

Harry shook his head and replied "I didn't have the broom. Hermione got it confiscated. She thought that Sirius Black might have sent it to me, and she told McGonagall, who agreed and took it for Professor Flitwick and Madam Hooch to look over. You know, to check for hexes and things."

Madam Bones frowned and said "There are several things wrong with that sentence Harry. First of all why was no one with any experience in dealing with the dark arts asked to look at your broom? Flitwick is an expert at duelling and a master of charms, but he is far from qualified to identify and dispel the worst the dark arts have to offer, and nor is Madam Hooch."

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