Albus Dumbledore had no idea how long he sat alone in the great hall, reconstructing this mornings events in his mind and trying to figure out where it all went so horribly wrong. In a mater of a few moments he'd lost his gold, the brat Potter, half of the current third year and his four most senior members of staff, Albus still couldn't work out how it was done, where did that arse Potter get his information from?
Marching into his school as if the little shit owned the place, if he hadn't put a stop to it half the bloody school would have followed Potter out the castle.
Albus had watched the older students wrestle with the prospect of leaving verses exams next year while the younger ones were gathering their courage to stand up in front of everyone in the hall, when he factored in the effect of the two Slytherins standing as well he now considered his estimate of half to be some what conservative.
He decided to go and visit Severus in the infirmary; they needed to have a long, serious chat with damage limitation at the top of the agenda.
Poppy watched the headmaster enter the infirmary and had to call on all of her professionalism just to be civil to the man, she more than anyone knew of Harry's injuries and some of the marks on his body had nothing to do with Hogwarts. Unfortunately protocol dictated that she report these matters to the headmaster who dutifully sent the young boy back to his abusers every summer.
Poppy had left the hall before Hannah made her vow and had no idea what had happened since, she was quickly coming to the decision that she could no longer work for this man all on her own.
"Poppy my dear, how is Severus?"
She hid her anger, letting her years of experience keep her from betraying the fact she wanted to strangle this bastard with his own beard but she didn't quite manage the civility, "your pet death eater is missing a hand and an arm just below the elbow, the amount of time he held it and the ferocity of that vile curse seems to have affected his magical core. Apart from that I'm afraid to say he'll live."
Dumbledore thought he was over the shocks for today but a healer, especially Poppy Pomfrey; being displeased that someone had lived was another blow to the normality of his world.
Poppy wasn't finished yet, "after today I am ashamed to be even associated with Hogwarts under your leadership therefore my resignation will be with the board before the day is out."
Albus was crestfallen, "Et tu, Brute?" he was not above using a little emotional blackmail to get what he wanted, at this point he was not above using any means at his disposal. To late he realised that he'd given information away without having time to formulate a plan to deal with it.
"Who else left then?" Poppy asked.
Albus knew he couldn't hide the facts of this morning, but he just wanted a bit of time to put the proper spin on them, "Minerva, Pomona and Filius all left with Potter and his band of fans."
The healer was elated, it looked like she wasn't the only one to grow a backbone today, "it would appear that you are going to have a busy summer headmaster, interviewing prospective staff members instead of interfering in that boys life. I'll save you a task and wont request a reference – it would probably count against me."
Albus stormed away towards the bed containing Severus only to find his way blocked by a rather large, black auror.
"Can I help you sir?" the deep voice boomed out.
"I'm just here to visit my friend auror, sorry I don't know your name."
"My name is unimportant but the fact that you called this death eater your friend is, this thing just used the torture curse on a young female student so I would advise you to leave here now before I arrest you for associating with a known criminal."
Why was nobody showing him the respect he deserved? "I demand your name auror and I will be taking this matter up personally with minister Fudge."
Shacklebolt just smirked at the old wizard, "Fudge is gone, he resigned this morning and having seen the charges that Madam Bones has in store for you resigning might be contagious."
Albus tried to bluster and push passed the auror, "I'll have you know that this is my school and that is a colleague of mine lying th…" the young pink haired auror had activated an emergency portkey and both she and Severus were gone from the castle.
"My partner may be young but she's almost as smart as she is quick, let me be as honest as I possibly can, the only thing as bad as someone getting their jollies from using the torture curse is the person standing idly watching. The leader of the light left two children to deal with a dark bastard like Snape, that puts you right near the top of my shit list."
Amelia Bones entered the infirmary with Dobby and couldn't fail to notice her auror going eyeball to eyeball with Dumbledore, she knew Shack could never win a magical fight against the old wizard, she also knew he had no intention of letting it become a magical contest.
If Albus had even twitched Shack would have started breaking his bones, Dumbledore had made a serious miscalculation letting the physically powerful younger man get so close and Shack was like a magnificent black mamba ready to strike. She almost wished she could let him.
It was just beginning to dawn on Albus that he might be in a spot of trouble here and, despite his better judgement; his hand was instinctively inching towards his wand when he heard the voice behind him, "everything ok here Shack?"
The auror's eyes never left Dumbledore as he gave Amelia his report, "all under control boss, this gentleman was insistent that he see his friend so Tonks removed the death eater to our secure location. Oh and I'm being reported to minister Fudge."
Dumbledore whirled round to face Amelia, "why was I not informed that Cornelius had resigned? As head of the Wizengamot it is my right to …"
Amelia decided to kick this old bastard where it really hurt, she had considered kneeing him in the nuts but felt trampling all over his pride would cause more pain. "Can it Albus, you have been suspended from the Wizengamot pending the criminal investigation regarding your dealings with Lord Potter."
"This is preposterous!" Albus roared.
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