Harry's POV
Just after the Aurors left, and after getting the students to calm down, McGonagall went to the Gryffindor table to relay the message. "Mr. Potter," she started, making the boy turn in her direction, "the Headm… I mean Professor Dumbledore has asked me to ask you, if you would meet with him. I believe he has something very important to tell you. It would be in your best interest if you comply." She looked down her nose and pursed her lips, knowing that the teen wasn't going to just take her word for it. However, she had promised Albus.
"I wouldn't willing go within a hundred feet of that man," came the snarky answer, complete with a look of derision. He couldn't believe that she would ask that, knowing how he felt. "Don't you know that just by talking to him you broke the law. You should've tried to capture him and turn him over to the bobbies. But you didn't, did you? No, I'll bet you played the perfect minion, and tried to let him in the castle. Tut, tut, McGonagall. What kind of example are you setting for impressionable minds?" he asked, shaking a finger in her direction. "After all, the wards must have kept him out for a reason."
The current Headmistress all but snarled at the teen but couldn't deny the accusation. "You would do well in listening to those older and wiser than you," she tried to reason through gritted teeth. In her mind, there had to be valid reasons for everything her friend had done.
"That man mind-raped me, kidnapped me, and threw me in front of a giant fire-breathing lizard. Why the bloody hell should I even give him the time of day?" Harry said with a tight voice, standing, and getting in the woman's face. He had little love for this person, and had no problem letting her know. That, and this was over the top. That she would even suggest that Dumbledore had his best interest at heart made him angry. He was holding on to his temper with both hands.
"You will not speak about the Headmaster so. Everything he did, he did to protect you, you stupid child," she said, glaring at the angry green eyes in front of her. She wasn't going to let this boy win; she was made of sterner stuff. Oh, how she wanted him gone. His disruptive behavior had other children looking at her as if she was wrong in her treatment of the boy hero. To her reasoning, the boy needed a good caning, but those times had passed, and she was left with verbal reprimands. Which didn't seem to faze him one bit.
Taking a deep breath, and looking her straight in the eye, Harry decided to drop it, for now. In his opinion she had no control over him. He knew she tried to boot him out, but right now everyone wanted him in sight. Sure, they used stupid and lame excuses, but they kept spouting off things to make sure he was a… well, not prisoner, but hostage?... no, that wasn't right either. Well, whatever they labeled him, they wanted him at Hogwarts where they could keep their eyes on him. He could leave whenever he wanted, but he was safer here behind the wards, now that he controlled them. That and, his friends and godfather were here, so he stuck around.
"Right, you keep your delusions about the old man, and I'll stick with the facts. If you hear from him, you tell him that it will be a cold day in hell that I meet up with him on purpose. I will do my level best to never set eyes on his crooked face again," he stated, and then turned to dismiss her.
She snarled at his back, and then looked around at all the students who were watching the latest confrontation with jaded eyes. She patted her bun, and then calmly made her way back to her seat. She wasn't going to show the students that Harry Potter once more defeated her in verbal combat.
"Can you believe her?" the dark-haired wizard asked his friends as he picked up his fork and ate some potatoes.
"I can't believe that Dumbledore came here," Hermione stated, pushing her noodles around her plate, "or that McGonagall didn't detain him. All my thoughts on her doing the right thing have shattered," she said with a heavy sigh. It had taken a lot, but after the first task, she had little respect for the teachers at Hogwarts. The higher up ones, anyway. With what just happened, the last wisp of reverence disappeared.
"I know, right? How could she ask me to meet with a man who has done me so much wrong?" Harry asked, looking at all his friends, and seeing understanding in all their eyes. He was thankful that he didn't have to fight them on this topic anymore.
"Don't worry, Harry, we won't let you go anywhere outside the castle unescorted. I, for one, think you should stick close Hogwarts, or the Shack. That way you're not an open target," Neville said, pouring himself some more pumpkin juice.
"You should also avoid pictures of knights," Luna foretold, looking over his shoulder, and seeing nothing.
"That might be harder that is seems," Harry stated, remembering all the portraits of knights he had seen in his wanderings. Nevertheless, he'd do his best to steer clear of them. Luna hadn't been wrong yet, though some predictions were different than she saw, they did all come true in the end. Even her musings about the new Potions Professor leaving for a new job had come to pass, much to Hermione's, and many of other girls', frustration.
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