Two days passed since Harry had his explosive meeting with Dumbledore. Not much happened in these two days except for Rita Skeeter's scathing attacks on Severus Snape and Igor Karkaroff. He had to admit that the woman was a persistent career wrecker who was hell-bent on destroying her target. Against someone like Snape who had garnered so many enemies from his attitude alone, Skeeter's job became all the easier.
Each day Skeeter would bring up testimonies from previous Hogwarts students that were all too eager on repaying the resident bat of the dungeons for all the troubles he caused them. Harry didn't know how, but Rita Skeeter was becoming his favourite person in this world. Perhaps he was in sheer awe of the woman's abilities. He did always found women attractive if they had strong personalities. Talent was what he preferred in women and Rita Skeeter had proven herself extremely talented.
He took another peek at the latest edition of Daily Prophet.
'Severus Snape is not just a professional bully but a gifted destroyer of dreams of aspiring wizards and witches." says Charlotte McGrath, an employee of the Gringotts bank and a former student of Hogwarts. 'The man is a bully. He would find faults where there are none and find pleasure in punishing non-Slytherin students. Many times we complained about Professor Snape but the Hogwarts Staff refused to take any action. The man can hardly be called an educator. He is the worst teacher I ever had in my life. I have a daughter that is growing up and I have decided she would be going to Bauxbatons if that man remains the Potions Master of Hogwarts.'
Arnold Pierce who works at the Foreign Relations Department of the Ministry had this to say. 'I had dreamed of becoming an Auror. I scored an O for my Potions OWLs exam. But because of Snape, I decided to not take Potions for the NEWTs as I couldn't stand being bullied by the man. Without Potions NEWT I couldn't become an Auror. Many of my friends had the same experience.'
On and on the accounts of previous students poured in. It was as if a dam was broken and the breach no matter how small refused to be sealed away. Even Igor Karkaroff didn't receive this much bad press. Sure Karkaroff's entire life and his list of crimes got dragged into the public eye once again by Skeeter but Snape was surely under a storm of hatred. This just highlighted how much of a douchebag Snape was to everyone.
The intended effect Harry expected did come to pass. With two new possible villains on the scene, the hostility that he received from the students was now directed at Snape and Karkaroff. This didn't mean the Hufflepuffs became friendly with him overnight. They still threw dirty looks at him from time to time but the rate had gone down considerably. The effect from all of this was not going to last, this he knew.
Sooner or later Skeeter was going to run out of stories to publish against Snape and Karkaroff. It also has to be taken into account that Snape has powerful backers in the form of Dumbledore and Malfoy.
From what he has seen so far Dumbledore has remained unbothered with the whole fiasco. The old man refused to make a move which he had hoped not to be the case. A reaction of any kind would have actually helped him assess Dumbledore but no such luck so far.
He sighed disappointedly and concentrated on the new Transfiguration book he took from the library. He had a free hour and after that, it was double Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid.
In part, he was reading the Transfiguration book to distract himself from thinking about Hagrid's Blast-ended Skewrts. At this point, he was expecting Hagrid to crossbreed dragons and Acromantula. Giant flying spiders that can breathe fire was a nightmarish creature. He let out an involuntary shiver at the strange thought and concentrated on the book.
Transfiguration, he found was an epitome of imagination, will and magic. The most essential component being the will. Most animate to inanimate Transfiguration required imagination alone. But, for inanimate to animate and animate to animate transfiguration required enormous will.
To make a rock into a flying bird truly required tremendous will as this piece of magic was dealing with creating life even if it was temporary. While exerting will seems to be easy on paper it was another matter when faced with the application. Transfiguration requires changing the natural order on the most basic level and that requires a certain finesse and discipline. A smudge of hesitation or doubt would make the spell fail and it would have dangerous results especially when used on another living being.
The spell used by Barty Crouch Junior on Malfoy which changed him into a ferret comes to mind. That sort of transfiguration spell required aptitude that allowed one to exert his/her will upon another sentient being.
Harry was not even reading about human transfiguration. His focus was on inanimate to animate transfiguration spells. In his quest for learning elemental spells, he came to realise that there was a point where a lot of spells sort of exhibited the properties of different disciplines of magic.
Most of the water spells were modified to perform a higher function and those spells had elements of transfiguration. One particular spell that he had found from the ROR library was extremely useful. Unfortunately, that spell in its base form was not so useful. But a variant of that same spell was certainly powerful enough to be a distraction for the dragon. The spell was mighty difficult to perform as it required a certain finesse in Transfiguration. With Transfiguration being his weakest for some reason he had to prop himself up in the subject. He could see some improvements in classroom practice but the development remained slow.
The one good thing that came out of his research for elemental spells is that he fixed air and water as his go-to element. Both air and water were extremely useful in dealing with a dragon and they were easy enough to learn.
Fire is dangerous to use and most fire spells are hard to control. Besides, the only fire spell that he was confident to be harmful to a dragon is the Fiendfyre curse. The spell is deemed to be dark magic and the use of it by anyone under any circumstances is punishable by a hefty fine and a year-long stay in Azkaban. Seeing as he had no interest in saying hello to Dementors anytime soon he crossed that spell off his list.
Lightning was another element that is a sure bet against dragons or any other magical creatures except the Thunderbird. The problem however is the inherent danger to the castor of Lightning spells. In his brief search so far he found only two lightning-based spells out of which only one had the necessary power to knock out a dragon. The problem is that the spell has the tendency to destroy the wand or even rebound on the castor. On reading further about the spell he learned Occlumency is a prerequisite for performing the spell safely. This prompted him to avoid the spell altogether for the time being.
His recent deflection of Snape's mental probe notwithstanding he knew very little about Occlumency. He was going to read up on the subject soon as possible as he had no intention to depend on the instinctual Occlumency he was gifted from the ROB. There was no telling whether it would work all the time. Having said that he would only dig deep into Occlumency after the First Task.
Shaking away the distracting thoughts he focused on the book in his hands. He was so engrossed in the book he didn't even notice Hermione sitting opposite to him at some point. However, he looked up from his book when Hermione cleared her throat. She was looking at him with a disapproving scowl on her face.
Hermione has been cross with him following his explosive interview with Rita Skeeter. Surprisingly, she had no problems with the contents of the article as a whole. She did however had some strong opinions about him coming clean about Sirius. She believed that it would bring a lot of scrutiny on Hogwarts and Sirius could be in danger especially with the date of Sirius's floo call approaching fast. He was not so worried as he had a plan to circumvent any Ministry oversight but he was not going to share that with Hermione.
However, the main reason that Hermione was cross with him stems from the fact that he did not share his plan which was somewhat silly in his opinion.
"Are you still cross with me because of that article in the Prophet?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No." Hermione huffed which let him know that she was indeed cross with him. It was kind of cute in a childish way.
In the last few days that he came to know Hermione, he found her to be a bit obsessed with certain aspects of her life. She hardly liked surprises and preferred to live in a bubble where everything is predictable. Not to mention she also has a strong sense of right and wrong and is willing to act on it even if those actions infringe on the personal liberties of others. All in all, she is a socially awkward girl trying to make the world sensible to her by controlling aspects of it that affected her.
"It is not as if I planned to meet Rita Skeeter Hermione. She was just there and I thought the truth would work better than made up falsehoods." said Harry with a shrug. He was finding it increasingly easy to lie and manipulate others but perhaps that was because he was surrounded by children.
"Truth?"
"Truth as I know it." He amended before shaking his head. "Look. Let's just put this behind us yeah? Obviously, you disapprove of some parts of that article and so do I. Let's just focus on the present and the future rather than something in the past."
"Alright." Hermione sighed before her eyes traced Ron who was playing Gobstones with Dean Thomas in the Common Room. Harry noticed where she was looking and he became curious.
"Did Ron tell you something?" he asked
He saw the hesitation in Hermione and that let him know the conversation must have been hard for her. He did sympathise with Hermione's plight but there was nothing he could do for her. "That bad huh?"
"Ron is just being a prat. The article in the Prophet did not help either." Hermione shook her head in exasperation.
"Well, you know what they say. There is no medicine for jealousy." He shrugged and went back to reading the book.
"The both of you are being stupid. All the two of you have to do is to speak openly and everything will go back to normal." said Hermione with a huff.
"Don't expect me to go begging for Ron's forgiveness. I didn't start this fight and I certainly didn't do anything to make him call me a liar. If he wants to talk to me he knows exactly where I am."
Saying that he went back to reading only to be interrupted by Hermione's nagging once again.
"Harry you are being stupid. There is no reason for you to hold a grudge with Ron over this. You know how stifled he feels with his brothers' shadow loving over him."
"I understand it well Hermione. But that is not the issue here now, is it? He thinks that I lied to him when I say that I didn't enter my name into the Goblet of Fire. He is jealous and I understand why he is so. That doesn't mean I will take it easy when he calls me a liar." He argued fiercely.
"Harry! If the two of you just lock heads and be stubborn how will anything be resolved? I know you are hurting with Ron's absence and so is he. The two of you are just too prideful to make amends." Hermione accused and at the same time, she indicates with her hands to keep their volume low. Harry noticed that others in the room were looking curiously in their direction so he lowered his voice.
"I have lived eleven years without a single friend. I can live the rest of my life with one less friend especially one that calls me a liar because he feels inadequate compared to his brothers." said Harry and he raised his palm forestalling Hermione from making any comments as he was by no means finished making his point.
"You may call it pride or whatever as the cause for my reluctance to seek out Ron. I call it a healthy dose of vigilance on my part. Last year's events taught me even lifelong friends can betray one another. My parents made the mistake of trusting the wrong person. I won't make that same mistake."
Hermione kept her silence when faced with that argument. Before either of them could say anything else they were interrupted by Neville.
"Uh, Harry?"
"Yes, Neville."
"Professor McGonagall asked for you in her office."
Harry raised an eyebrow at that and frowned in thought. 'Now what would be the sidekick of Dumbledore want with me?'
"Did she say why?" he asked curiously to which Neville shook his head no.
He looked at the time and noticed that the break was a few minutes away from coming to a close. "Tell Hagrid I am with Professor McGonagall will you?"
A few minutes later he was standing outside McGonagall's office. The fact that McGonagall was asking for him after two days of inaction was not lost on him. This just confirmed a few things for him.
One, Dumbledore is a brilliant son of a bitch. Two, Dumbledore didn't plan on confronting him directly and is using his pawns. Three, McGonagall is a pawn. Four, from now on he was sure Dumbledore will be watching his every move in Hogwarts.
He collected himself and knocked on the door twice and waited patiently.
"Come in."
Harry opened the door and held back his instinct to flinch at the red and gold colour scheme of the room. It was bad enough that he lived in a tower with that same colour scheme but this room triumphed even the Gryffindor tower.
"Please take a seat, Mr Potter." McGonagall indicated to a chair without taking her eyes from a piece of parchment she was reading.
"Thank you, professor."
Harry took the seat and waited patiently seeing the power play for what it is. If he was a regular teenager there was a 50/50 chance that he would have been intimidated. Instead, he found this meeting to be a waste of his valuable time. While that is what he thought he had the sense not to spill that thought into the open. So he waited silently and the only sound in the office was the sound of a quill running on the parchment.
A few minutes into his stay McGonagall looked up from her parchment. She took a deep breath, set aside her quill and leaned back in her chair.
"Mr Potter, you have raised several issues pertaining to yourself when we met last time in the Headmaster's office. In light of recent events I have decided to involve myself in certain matters." McGonagall paused and Harry remained as impassive as he could but he was nonetheless surprised.
"But before I begin I would like to hear your thoughts. I understand you have several grievances against the staff and I would prefer if you were honest with me over the course of this meeting."
Harry was pleasantly surprised by this turn of events for a moment. He took some time to curse all those fanfiction stories depicting McGonagall as a blind lackey of Dumbledore. He took a moment to carefully construct his thoughts before responding.
He had not thought that McGonagall would seek him out like this. At best he had hoped McGonagall would have taken some actions to shore up discipline among students but never this.
"I want a public declaration from the staff of Hogwarts that I did not enter my name into the Goblet of Fire."
"To be fair we have not established that fact." said McGonagall neutrally and Harry felt a smudge of ire rising in his mind but he dismissed it.
"Is that so? Then please provide evidence that would indicate my guilt." He looked expectantly at his head of house who remained tight-lipped. "Innocent until proven guilty. Considering that you refused to support me when the whole Heir of Slytherin fiasco was going on in the second year I would appreciate a leap of faith from your side professor."
"I will consider it and you have my word that this matter will be resolved before the First Task." McGonagall promised to which Harry nodded appreciatively. "Anything else?"
"I request that you take action against the students that are wearing the badges that slanders my name and that of my family. If Hogwarts staff do not take action then you leave me no choice to retaliate to protect the honour of my family."
"You will not do anything of that sort Mr Potter. Those who are wearing these badges and the one who created them will get the punishment they deserve today itself." said McGonagall sternly directing a heated glare at him.
"If you take action against these students and ensure nothing of this sort will not happen again then I will conduct myself with discipline and restraint professor." He promised but that was not going to happen. It is in his nature to be vindictive to those who wronged him and a reality-switch was not going to change that aspect of his character.
"Is that all Mr Potter?" asked McGonagall with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, there is Professor Snape's conduct and as you know I am not the only one who is raising the issue." He pointed out.
"I am not blind Mr Potter. Professor Snape will be facing a disciplinary hearing from the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Setting that aside Professor Dumbledore is planning to call a meeting regarding Professor Snape's behaviour towards you. The matter of his leglimency use will be addressed in this meeting." said McGonagall and Harry felt that this was done on her insistence.
"Now, is there anything else?" asked McGonagall
"Nothing that I could think of Professor." He admitted
"Good. Now, keep in mind, Mr Potter. I would very much prefer to punish you for the language that you used in the Headmaster's office and your behaviour. But considering the fact that emotions were running high, I am turning a blind eye to that event for the time being. Make no mistake if I find you disrespecting the headmaster or any of the staff I will take action against you."
"Yes ma'am."
"Good. Now, Professor Dumbledore would like to meet you preferably after the First Task is complete. I am told it is regarding a personal matter."
"I have no objections so long as you are present in this meeting." He said to which McGonagall merely nodded. He was glad that was the case as he didn't fancy spilling all the reasons for asking her presence. He had no intention to be exposed to that man who is grooming him to be a lamb for slaughter.
Just then a knock on the door attracted their attention.
"Come in." McGonagall called
The door opened and Harry was surprised to see that it was Filius Flitwick followed by a group of students. Seeing as the green and silver uniform being the most common uniform among the group he had an inkling where this was going. Although, he noticed a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws among the group.
"I believe Professor Flitwick already explained why all of you are in my office." McGonagall said as she stood up from her seat glaring at every student in the group. At that moment Harry thought McGonagall should have had an animagus form of a Lioness instead of a cat.
"Each of you has been found guilty and caught red-handed in the process of slandering a fellow student. Hogwarts does not allow any forms of political campaign and what you have done through the distribution of this badge comes under this category." said McGonagall as she plucked out a badge from a Slytherin student's cloak. "This is a place for learning not a space for settling your personal vendetta. As such each of you will lose fifty points for your respective houses."
McGonagall's declaration was met with a string of protests, especially from the Slytherin students. From a quick glance, Harry counted more than ten Slytherins in the group. Which means a 500+ point reduction for House Slytherin in one day. While he could care less about some stupid contest for a House Cup the Slytherins certainly cared. Not to mention these students will be forced to explain to the rest of their house why they are now in the negative just a few months into the academic year.
"The most shocking development is that even the prefects are involved in this scandalous behaviour." said Flitwick in a serious voice.
This was the second time that Harry seeing the Head of Ravenclaw House abandoning his usual jovial tone.
"Prefects, remove your badges at once. I believe Hogwarts will no longer be in need of your services." said McGonagall sternly.
There was another round of protests but McGonagall and Flitwick were not budging on the issue. Harry counted four perfect badges on McGonagall's desk along with the other badges she confiscated from the students. Three Slytherins and one Hufflepuff lost their positions which was epic in his opinion.
"I am aware that Mr Malfoy distributed the badges. I would like to know who created them?" asked McGonagall looking at the students like an angry lioness looking for her prey. As a spectator, Harry was thoroughly enjoying all the drama.
"If you are not forthcoming each of you will be serving detention for the rest of this year and all of you will have your Hogsmeade pass revoked for the rest of your Hogwarts academic years." said Flitwick which broke the dam so to speak. A majority of students including the Slytherins were now pointing at a Seventh Year Slytherin.
"Is this true Mr Hendricks?" asked McGonagall turning on the greater of the badges.
"Malfoy paid me 100 galleons to make the badges professor." Hendricks confessed to Harry's amusement. He didn't know what Hendricks hoped to achieve with coming clean like that. McGonagall was not going to reduce the punishment either way from what he can see. But this was giving him valuable insight into Slytherin House.
Obviously, Malfoy did not own the Slytherin House in its entirety. If that is the case, then he could think of a few ways to dismantle Malfoy's standing as payback.
"In that case, both Mr Malfoy and yourself will be in detention for this entire year."
He had to say McGonagall is now in competition with Skeeter on his list of favourites. Skeeter was at the very top but he felt McGonagall was now a close second.
After the eventful meeting in McGonagall's office came to an end Harry was on his way to Hagrid's class. As the Care of Magical Creatures classes is held near Hagrid's hut there was quite a walk from the castle. Halfway to his destination, he heard his name being called from his back. He identified the person as Malfoy from the sound itself. Nonetheless, he paused and turned around facing the whole fourth year Slytherins approaching him.
Draco Malfoy was at the helm of the group and Harry tied his hands behind his back while discretely pulling his wand out of the holster. He palmed the wand but held back on showing it to the group approaching him.
"Potter! You will pay for this." Malfoy snarled.
"Pay for what? Your stupidity?" Harry asked with obvious amusement. He did notice however that a group of four split away from Malfoy and his cohorts. A quick glance told him that this group included Blaise Zabini, Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass and Lilian Moon. He found it interesting that Slytherin house was already fracturing.
"You will not be insulting me anymore Potter." Malfoy snarled as he pulled out his wand threateningly to which Harry laughed openly at his supposed rival.
"I have always found your games amusing Malfoy. I have even entertained a few just to get a measure of you." Harry shook his head in exasperation. While he kept up his act he was preparing himself for what was obviously coming. "A son of a branded slave who thinks he is my rival my equal even! You have always put yourself on a higher pedestal never realising that a worm can never be king of the forest. That title always remains with a lion."
He was purposely goading Malfoy to react. This was the same tactic that Malfoy consistently used on the real Harry and then Snape would swoop in for the one-sided punishment. But Snape was not here and Harry was more than happy when Draco reacted just as planned.
"Densaugeo!"
Harry didn't pull out his wand forward as there was hardly any need. A shield materialised around him with nary a gesture. Malfoy's spell rebounded with record speed and struck him squarely on his face.
Malfoy fell down with a groan cupping his face. The other Slytherins like Nott, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode raised their wands but Harry merely brought his wand to his left arm and gave it a flick. The shield around him let out a pulse that knocked away the Slytherins off their feet.
A quick summoning charm saw that the wands of all downed Slytherins neatly arranged itself in his free palm.
"I know you are all a little bit embarrassed and in pain but listen to me for a moment. In the ancient myths of Rome, there was a God named Janus, the God of crossroads. You see the god is depicted as having two faces. One face would tell you the truth while the other tells you lies. Similarly, you have only seen one face of Harry Potter till now. Just look around you Malfoy. I merely flexed my limbs and you are on the ground groaning in pain, your precious bitchy Snape is in hot water and your house is in tatters. From now on stand against me at your own peril."
With that said he turned his back but not before giving a warning glare to the other four standing Slytherins. A small grin was now on his face as he continued his trek to Hagrid's class. The fun was just going to start.