Chapter - 22 : A Clash in the Infirmary part - 2

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Cleaning his knife and sword again wasn't strictly necessary, but the repetitive and familiar actions required for this task offered Harry some comfort. At this moment in time, that was as good a reason as any for Harry to be sitting doing nothing but that. After his shower, he didn't really feel like facing anyone else at the moment. He was currently holed up in his room but was surprised when his self-enforced solitude was broken by the Ravenclaw house ghost.

The Grey Lady passed through his closed door to speak with the young Ravenclaw. "The Quirrell problem has been dealt with by the senior staff..."

"Yeah? Just a pity they weren't in time to deal with the troll problem in the infirmary."

"You did very well today young champion, your father will be proud of you."

This was scant comfort to the hurting young lad. "He might be the only one, the headmaster certainly wasn't too happy with me."

"You should come down to dinner, see your friends..."

Harry gave that idea a resounding no. "I think I'll just stay in my room. My father is coming to Hogwarts tomorrow, I can't wait to see him."

Seeing the boy was struggling with the consequences of his actions today, his house ghost made a suggestion. "Hogwarts can ensure you're not disturbed, if you wish?"

He had a faint smile on his face at that suggestion. "Yes, I would like that."

As the ghost left, a tray of food appeared on the bed beside him. Hogwarts would look after her champion.

-oOoOo-

The senior staff were all in Dumbledore's office, there was a half-empty bottle of firewhisky on the headmaster's desk. The bottle would take even more of a hammering before their meeting was finished.

Minerva repeated the question that had three heads of house hitting the fiery liquid. "How can Voldemort not be dead? Even the death of poor Quirinus didn't finish him off, we all saw that spirit escape."

Pomona though was looking at the incident from an entirely different angle. "I find it very hard to believe that Albus just happened to mention he was going to be removing the item from the third floor this weekend, and we were all fighting a possessed professor the very next day. Was that why the stone was brought here in the first place, as a trap for the dark lord?"

Filius didn't like the further implications behind Pomona's conjecture. "I have trouble believing it could be mere coincidence that this all happened the year Mr Crow came to Hogwarts?" You could practically see the wheels turning inside the little professor's head as he replayed the other disturbing information that had recently been revealed. The conclusions he was coming to were scaring the Head of Ravenclaw, he rounded on Dumbledore. "You knew Voldemort wasn't gone and decided not to tell anyone, didn't you? I'm willing to bet the goblins discovered this, and that's why you were barred from Gringotts."

These assumptions also led Pomona to draw her own terrible conclusions. "Child of Prophecy, Hogwarts Champion and now slayer of trolls. I'm also willing to bet the prophecy concerns that child and Voldemort, and Albus Dumbledore knows all about it!"

Minerva had no problem following her two friends' train of thought. She also didn't like where that train was heading, nor was the Head of Gryffindor shy about taking her complaints to the conductor. "If I discover you were in any way responsible for that troll incident today, I will take my findings straight to the board of governors. Children's lives were put at severe risk with that creature loose in the castle!"

Filius had more to say. "In light of our suspicions, I demand to be at that meeting with Barchoke tomorrow. I am Mr Crow's head of house and intend to see his best interests protected while Harry's at Hogwarts."

This was one bandwagon Minerva definitely wanted to join. "I demand to be there too. If Voldemort returns and young Harry is involved, it will undoubtedly affect the entire school. You have lost the trust of your heads of house, we no longer believe that you can be relied upon to fulfill your obligations as a headmaster should."

Pomona was in wholehearted agreement with those sentiments. "This doesn't just affect a specific house, those pupils in the infirmary could have been from any of the four. Poppy is a renowned healer but would be the first to admit she was out of her depth today. Young Mr Crow literally saved their lives, and all you could do was attempt to reprimand the lad."

The head of Hufflepuff's disgust at Dumbledore was there for all to hear, her inbred sense of loyalty well and truly offended. "I saw Hogwarts respond instantly to his call for assistance, I feel she will also take action against any attempts made to circumvent her champion. I can't help but think Harry being there today, clearly possessing the appropriate training and tools, has further endeared Hogwarts to her chosen champion. You could find yourself out a job headmaster." She gave this a few seconds to sink in before making her own demands. "I also intend to be at this meeting, I want to hear what the lad's father has to say about this."

Minerva remembered what had taken place during her lesson earlier. "There may be more of us looking for a job than you think Pomona. Mr Crow claimed that transfiguration was the easiest form of magic to master - requiring only one spell - and then proceeded to prove it. He turned a book into a chicken with no recognised wand movement or spell incantation."

Snape had been quiet the entire meeting but couldn't hold back at this, his reply was dripping with contempt. "You've obviously been pranked, no first year could do that. The book would have been pre-spelled to transfigure on command."

The Hogwarts Deputy was in no mood to mollycoddle anyone's feelings and ripped right into the potions professor. "I am well aware of how that prank works Severus, which is why I gave him a book that belonged to me and determined the item I wanted the lad to transfigure it into. He also further transfigured the chicken into a woven basket and finally a kitten, all by the same method."

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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