Chapter 10
What could happen if there were no prefects:
Hermione Granger could not believe what had happened. For some unknown and unrealistic reason, Ron Weasley had been made Gryffindor prefect, instead of Harry. The moment she found out, she had decided to return her badge, but she wanted to do more. Before she left the kitchen, she noticed that Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black seemed angry, yet he was trying to hide it.
Hermione gave Sirius a look and a nod before she walked out of the room and went to Sirius’ bedroom. She could not risk anyone seeing what she was doing. She found parchment, ink, quills and envelopes. She wrote her first letter to Professor McGonagall and she did not hide her disgust or disappointment. The placed the letter in the envelope, then placed the prefect badge that she had hoped to get, into the envelope. She had hoped to work beside Harry as she knew he deserved the badge, Ron did not. She would not help the staff patrol after this decision. She wouldn’t tell Harry, not yet. She knew he was already upset with everyone.
Hermione wrote many more letters. She called Hedwig, Harry’s owl, who was only too willing to help her master’s friend. After Hedwig flew off, Hermione waited. She wasn’t sure how long she would have to wait but she knew sooner or later the person she was waiting for would turn up.
It was only a half an hour later that Sirius opened the door, roughly and slammed it shut.
‘Why?’ Hermione said.
‘I don’t know, but I’m not going to allow them to do that to my godson.’
‘Neither am I. I returned my badge to…McGonagall and told her how I felt. I then wrote to the rest of Gryffindor’s prefects, then to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. I even wrote to the head boy and girl.’
‘Is that why you asked Minerva who they were?’
‘Yes, now I’m positive that the Gryffindor’s and most of the Hufflepuff’s will not like this. I explained how Ron is, lazy and will end up forcing the others to do the work and he will use it for his own advantage. Also, he looked at me with that smirk and he believed I would be forced to spend time alone with him.’
‘Why would he want to spend time alone with you and not with his best mate?’
‘He believes Harry gets everything and he believes Harry…well, likes me, more than a friend. He’s determined to take me from Harry. Harry and I spoke after all the rumours during the tournament. We spoke for a long time and spoke honestly. We worked out how we feel about each other. Family, Sirius, we feel like we’re family. There are no romantic feelings whatsoever. I made sure Harry wasn’t just saying that because of what I said. He told me he actually had his eye on someone, a girl that’s about to start her fourth year. I knew instantly who it was and why Harry turned his attention to her.’
‘Can you tell me?’
‘Luna Lovegood. She has been bullied and hurt ever since she began at Hogwarts, yet no one, not even Flitwick has ever done anything about it. From what Harry said, the twins made sure the bullies knew what could happen if they didn’t change their ways. A few times the girls who bullied Luna, ended up pranked. Once they ended up bald, then they looked like they were two hundred years old. They were told that these could end up being permanent if they kept going. It was only a couple of weeks of the end of term that Luna’s belongings were returned and she was left alone. But about this prefect situation. I thought I knew Professor McGonagall, now I’m not so sure. She knows what Ron is like, how lazy he is and how he would use this to abuse his position. How could she name him prefect?’
Sirius sighed then sat on his bed, ‘I don’t think it was Minerva. I think it was Albus. I have no idea why but I did overhear Mad-eye telling Albus that he was wrong when it came to Harry and it was going to come back to bite him in the arse. Albus said Harry had enough on his plate, he didn’t need anything more.’
‘That’s bullshit. The only thing Harry has right now is worrying about what…he’s up to. It was lucky that Madam Bones watched Harry’s memory or Fudge would have tried to cover everything up since he’s such good friends with Malfoy.’
‘Tonks told us earlier that Amelia has arrested Malfoy along with more of those that were in the graveyard. A couple escaped. She refuse to send them to Azkaban since she knows…he will break out his other death eaters. She worked with one of the unspeakables and hide them somewhere. No one knows where except Amelia and the unspeakable and Tonks said no one knows which unspeakable helped. She threatened Fudge with Azkaban as she had proof about some bribes. It seems he realised his time as minister was up, so sacked his staff then he resigned, but named Amelia to take his place. She has but she said it’s only temporary until the war is over. There’s going to be a lot of changes but the first thing she did was seal all vaults, everyone until every person, including all family members come in and be questioned using veritaserum. Kingsley and Tonks told her about me, also how you, Harry and Ron saw Peter. She’s working on my freedom but admitted it’s not a high priority right now. She’ll get it done in case anything happens. She did cancel the kiss on sight order and also made sure that the aurors are to leave me alone. But she let Kingsley question me using veritaserum to prove I’m not a death eater or guilty of what I’m accused of. He will be taking the memory to her so my vault will be unsealed. As Harry is underage, I had to give permission to use veritaserum. Kingsley did that earlier, before you came down. Anyway, so these letters, do you think they will help?’
‘Yes, but there will be some who won’t help, especially the Slytherin’s. They will use this to their advantage, somehow. We know that some of them have parent who support…him, they will use this somehow to help, I’m just not sure what they will do, except it could be dangerous.’
Sirius stared at the girl who was best friends with his godson. He knew she was right, which could mean Harry, Hermione and many others could be in danger. It was time he used his Marauders side, not for pranking, but to deal with some dangerous teenagers who will end up death eaters, like their parent’s. Sirius wanted them dealt with before they hurt or killed some innocent children. He also knew his godson would be on the top of the list. James and Sirius had spoken a lot about the death eaters when they were still students, both felt that they needed to be taken care of quickly and permanently. Sirius was raised a Black, he knew magic that was extremely dark and some of that dark magic wasn’t known so it was not classes as dark so it wasn’t illegal.
Minerva McGonagall was shocked when she read the letter from her favourite student. She was shocked and saddened. She warned Albus that passing over Harry Potter as prefect could hurt Hogwarts. Well now the only two girls who could end up Gryffindor prefect are too irresponsible to even consider. She wasn’t sure what she could do. Reading through Hermione’s letter for the second time, she knew there was nothing she could do, but she also realised she had lost the respect of the brightest witch at Hogwarts. She already knew she had lost any respect or trust from Harry Potter. She was sure James and Lily would be glaring down at her for allowing their son to be placed in danger every year. She had a lot of thinking to do and she wondered if there was anyway to fix this.
Over the next week, Minerva was more than shocked. She had received letters from every Gryffindor prefect, all turned in their badges. The two girls who might have replaced Hermione, refused the badge. Filius and Pomona told her they also received the badges back from every prefect, along with the head boy and girl badge. Now she knew it was time to fill in the headmaster about what is going on and work out who is going to patrol the Hogwarts express and the corridors of the castle of an evening. She would be refusing since she did not agree with Albus when he forced her to give the boy’s badge to Ron Weasley over Harry Potter, who had better grades. Harry also saved the school from closing. He saved Hermione and Ginny’s life. He also won the triwizard tournament.
Minerva began by explaining that Hermione refused to be prefect. Albus instantly said he would expel her. Minerva explained that if he did that, he would have to expel about eighteen other students. She finally showed the headmaster all the letters, along with the badges. He realised if he didn’t change things, the ministry would get involved and he could find himself out of Hogwarts. Amelia Bones would not just listen to him, she would investigate and that was the last thing Albus needed.
Albus had floo called Molly to explain Ron being made a prefect was a mistake. By the law set down for Hogwarts, the person had to be one of the top two out of the boys, or girls in their house, yet Ron’s marks were the third lowest of the entire students in his year. It also went on detentions and Ron had more than most. Molly went off but she ended up doing what Albus told her to do. Tell Ron he wasn’t a prefect. But Molly went off at Ron about his bad marks and promised he would end up living with Muriel unless he got at least six owls. But he had to get O’s or E’s. She had hoped if Ron did prefect duties with Hermione than Harry would spend some alone time with Ginny. Now that wouldn’t happen.
Sirius had been sneaky, he found out who the Slytherin prefects were and the new ones. He also made sure to find out if any Slytherin was going to be head boy or girl. He had been sneaking off to the cellar to work on a few…pranks. These pranks would not make anyone laugh. He wasn’t just going after prefects, but also the ones that he knew would join their parent’s and Voldemort. He hoped that apart from making sure the students were safe, it would make Albus realise just what he’s decisions had done.
When Sirius returned to his room, he was surprised to find Harry in there, standing at the window, staring out at the street.
‘Where you waiting for me pup?’
‘No, well, not really. I just needed to be somewhere that no one could find me. You told me you ward your room but I was allowed in.’
‘Only you and Hermione can get in here. So who were you escaping from?’
‘Three people, well, four really. First is Ginny and her looks. I’ve told her outright I don’t like her, but she keeps staring at me. Then it’s her mum, who keeps saying how good we look together. She went as far as saying it was like seeing James and Lily Potter again. I threw her the most disgusted look I could give then walked out. She was shouting at me to come back, I shouted back no, but I called her a bitch for trying to use my parents to get what she wanted. I was in the library first, hoping to talk to Hermione but she wasn’t there. The old man and Snape found me. I ended up pushing the old man until he fell then got to this room as fast as I could.’
‘What did they do?’ Sirius growled.
‘The old man wanted Snape to teach me occlumency and privately, I refused. They said I would have no choice, I said there’s always a choice even if it means being expelled. That’s when I pushed him. I’ve decided not to return to Hogwarts. I plan to sneak away and hope you can help.’
‘You don’t need to sneak away. There are two more hidden floors to this house and one with a balcony and a small garden. It has its own kitchen, living rooms and bedrooms. It used to belong to my grandfather, so he could get away from my mother and father, not to mention, all the other relatives. He basically remodeled it so it’s a whole other house. You can apparate from there, fly off if you want and it’s warded to only me, as head of the family. I can spell you in.’
‘Can you do that tonight, once we know he’s gone?’
Sirius put his finger up, then cast a few spells, ‘Those were spells only taught to a member of the Black family. No one will see you or hear you so follow me.’
Harry followed Sirius into the study, a room that only a Black by blood could enter. They went through a hidden door. They went up a flight of stairs and came out in a large library.
‘I’ll say it again Sirius, I love magic.’
Sirius barked his dog like laughter then began to show Harry around, ‘I just wouldn’t trust Kreacher not to find a way to tell someone you’re here so I’ll work on getting rid of him. We’ll need to work on stocking up on food.’
‘I’ve got that covered. When the old man made me return to the Dursley’s, I was going to refuse to be their slave but I knew they wouldn’t allow me to eat. I ended up calling Dobby, the house elf. Well, he expanded my room. He fixed the furniture in there, got my trunk and wand back, then he brought a heap of ready made meals for me. All I had to do was tap them with my wand and I had proper, hot or cold meals. The same with drinks. Since this place has a kitchen, I can cook.’
‘So, they made you cook?’
Harry sighed as he nodded, ‘Like I said to you before, let’s put them in the past since I’m never going to return. Even though I’m still a little upset with Hermione, is there any way she can be allowed to visit? She has to know that this is a secret though and if she tells anyone, then we’re done.’
‘She won’t and she’s really upset with Minerva and Albus. She’s finally realised that sometimes you shouldn’t listen to the teachers.’
‘Why? What happened to make her angry with McGonagall?’
‘The badges, Harry. She was disgusted that Ron got it and not you. She returned hers and from the way she sounded, she let Minerva know exactly how she felt.’
Harry sighed as he sat, ‘She always wanted to be prefect, now she’s refused. I don’t get it though Sirius. Even if I wasn’t considered, Neville and Dean should have been next, but not Ron. He has the worst grades out of all the Gryffindor’s and he has a temper. He’s also lazy. He won’t do the work needed for a prefect, or he will, then use it for his own purpose.’
‘Hermione said the same thing. She wrote to the other prefects and believes that Gryffindor is going to be with only one prefect. She wrote to the other houses as well, but she’s not sure if they will return their badges. Who would get the girls badge from Gryffindor now Hermione returned it?’
‘Either Lavender Brown or Parvati Patil. Both only talk about boys, makeup and clothes. Nothing they do is serious. Their marks are better than Ron’s, but I know both aren’t that bothered to do more than necessary as they want to own their own clothing shop when they leave Hogwarts. They’ve been saving for years and both said their parent’s are going to help them get started, as long as they behave, not get expelled, or pregnant. They are nice enough but won’t really care about doing their job as prefect.’
‘Then I’m sure I’ll hear about it, sooner or later. I should go down before they realise I’m gone and think I’ve left with you. You know they will believe you left.’
‘Good, hopefully it will make the old man realise just how I feel about him and his pet death eater.’
At first Sirius’s eyes widened in shock, then he couldn’t control himself as he fell to the floor, laughing.
Harry stared down at his godfather for a minute before he laughed. He realised what he said would shock a lot of people, but it’s the way he felt. And it was funny, Sirius had agreed with him.
Albus instantly called a meeting of the order of the phoenix the moment he realised Harry was no longer in the house. He didn’t know that none of his spells or Mad-eye’s eye could see the extra floor’s. They were for people with Black blood only and only the head of the family could give permission to enter those rooms.
‘Sirius, Miss Granger, did Harry speak with either of you?’
‘I hadn’t seen him Professor. Every time I tried a room, someone said he just left. We kept missing each other.’
‘All he said to me was he had enough,’ Sirius said, ‘he said it was all to do with you, Snivellius and Molly. I could tell he wasn’t going to say more, so I didn’t push.’
‘He would be easy to find, he’s so recognisable,’ Hestia said.
‘You really believe you could find one boy in the middle of nearly sixty million muggles. Harry knows how to blend in since he was raised in the muggle world. It would be easy for him to disappear,’ Hermione said staring at the woman.
‘Sixty million?’ Hestia gaped.
‘Just in this country alone. There are billions of non magicals, some countries have more than Britain. Harry knows all about things like computers, NASA, heart transplants and everything else, so he won’t stand out like most witches and wizards do.’
‘There’s also Harry’s invisibility cloak.’ Sirius said with a shrug, ‘It seems allowing that death eater to carry on treating Harry as he had has lost you the-boy-who-lived.’
‘You do not seem concerned about your godson Sirius, which makes me suspicious.’
‘I know Harry can take care of himself since he’s been taking care of himself since he was four years old. He even knows how to cook and he has money. You have to remember Albus, a teenage boy in the muggle world will not stand out and he will be able to find places to stay without any problem or having to deal with the muggle aurors. I wish Harry was here but I understand why he left. He’s finally had enough of the danger and Snivellius. Maybe if you rained in your pet, Harry might have stayed.’ Sirius gave Albus one look of disgust before he got up and left the kitchen. The rest of the order seemed shocked at the way Sirius had spoken to Albus, they were also shocked that Harry Potter had left. They didn’t really understand most of it, or why Albus was so anxious to find the boy.
The moment the students returned to Hogwarts and Harry Potter wasn’t there, had many begin to ask questions. What would keep Harry away from Hogwarts and where was he?
Dean had been given the prefect badge over Neville since Neville was shy and Dean was friendly with everyone. Hermione still refuse to accept the badge so Parvati said she would, as long as it kept being fair. The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prefects, along with the head boy and girl all accepted their badges back, with conditions. No Slytherin prefect can do anything apart from policing their own house.
When all the staff spoke about this, they realised if they didn’t agree there could be a lot more trouble. Albus also knew that Susan Bones would contact her aunt. Slytherin prefects was put on restricted conditions. Severus Snape was also put on the same conditions. He could not longer give or take points, nor give detentions. If he felt a student deserved detention, he would have to show proof to Minerva, then it would be up to her.
It was only a week later that Severus entered the Slytherin common rooms to find out why his snakes had not gone to breakfast. He found three quarters of his students unconscious. The others had just woken to find everyone else unconscious. They were just about to go find their head of house when he arrived. Madam Pomfrey came to the Slytherin rooms instead of having so many students transported to her hospital. She informed Severus that they were all in coma’s and was not sure when, or if they would wake.
Severus had been furious and stormed into the headmaster’s office, going on about someone, he accused Harry Potter, hurting his godson and the rest of the Slytherin’s. Minerva had been in there at the time. She heard enough and stunned the man then told Albus that either Severus goes or the rest of the staff will leave. They had enough of him and wouldn’t allow him to speak like that to them or the students any longer.
The moment Albus hesitated, Minerva quit then sent her cat patronus to the rest of the staff. Within minutes, a bunch of different patronus’s arrived in Albus’ office with the words, I quit.
Albus was in shock, by the time he left his office to speak with his staff, to talk them into staying, they were gone. But so were many of the students. He could not find them anywhere and the only staff members left, apart from Snape who was still stunned, was Sybil, Hagrid, Argus and Binns.
Sirius was sitting with Harry talking over the lessons he planned to give Harry when they heard the door. Harry quickly put his cloak on and left the kitchen via the tunnel in the wall near the cellar.
‘Remus, what brings you to this dump?’
‘I got a message from Minerva. It seems that her, along with the rest of the staff, apart from Snape, Trelawney and Hagrid, quit. They also took half the students with them. She never told me where they were, only they had enough of Albus and Snape. Snape came storming into Albus’ office threatening to kill Harry for what happened to his students.’
‘Did she say what happened to the Slytherin’s?’
‘No, but they all knew Harry had nothing to do with it since he wasn’t there. It looks like either Albus and Snape has to leave or Hogwarts will end up closed. She asked me to message her if I want to help teach the students.’
‘Are you going to?’
‘Yes, she would also like you to help out, but she believes you would only do that if Harry returned. Have you heard from him?’
Sirius stared at his old friend before he sent his patronus off. A couple of minutes later, Harry appeared.
‘He never left, he just didn’t want Albus or Snape to know the truth.’
‘I heard what you said. It’s about time something was done before the students ended up hurt because Snape allows his snakes to get away with everything. So often Malfoy cursed Hermione yet we were punished. I said no more. Both those men should be locked up, not in a school.’
‘So does the ministry know?’ Sirius asked.
‘Minerva sent word to Amelia and she believes Susan Bones also let her aunt know what is going on. Minerva said if you decide to help, she has a pensieve that can project the memory in the air. She plans to show my memory of Peter, from the shrieking shack, but she also hoped, if you found Harry, if he would share his memory of when Peter, on Voldemort’s orders, killed Cedric.’
Sirius turned to Harry, ‘It was only Snape and most of the Slytherin’s that kept me returning, the old man was part of it, but mainly Snape.’ Harry said.
‘Then it looks like I’ll be helping teach and Harry will return to his proper education. Let Minerva know so we can go to where she is. I have a feeling I know but if it is the place, I only know because Minerva mentioned it to Lily during an order meeting,’ Sirius could see that Harry and Remus were curious, ‘Minerva has an old family home, it’s a castle somewhere in Scotland and been in her family for generations. She never said more than that.’
‘Even a small castle would house the students and staff.’ Remus said.
‘If it’s smaller than it might not be as drafty as Hogwarts,’ Harry said.
‘I don’t think we’ll be there for very long. Amelia will make sure Snape and Albus are gone. She will know Minerva and the rest will not return with them there. Minerva’s been biting her tongue for years. She’s finally said no more. It gets to a point where most people will feel the same,’ Remus said.
It was easy for Minerva to show the staff and the students that Sirius Black was innocent. Harry and Sirius supplied their memories before they showed themselves. Sirius showed the memory of when he spoke to Lily and James about switching secret keepers to Peter who could turn into a rat. Even though the memory was shown for a reason, Harry couldn’t help staring sadly at his parents.
They spoke about Peter and the reason he was asked to be the secret keeper. It would be easier for him to escape since a rat was so small, which should have kept Lily, James and Harry safe. Everyone accepted what they were told and saw.
It was only a day later that Amelia Bones arrived at the McGonagall castle. She watched the few memories supplied by Sirius, Harry and Hermione. She instantly declared Sirius cleared of all charges. After that, she spoke with Minerva and the rest of the staff about Albus and Severus.
‘Susan has already showed me a few memories. Even though Albus should have been sacked years ago, no one believed they could force him due to his reputation. Now he will know that he and Snape have to leave Hogwarts or there won’t be a Hogwarts. I’m sure you all know that for Hogwarts to remain open, it has to keep a certain number of students and right now, it’s way under that number.’
‘There has been many changes I wanted to make but Albus always turned me down. Also, the brooms the students use that belong to Hogwarts are dangerous, yet again, he refused to update them. It’s the same with the library. We have all been told to continue to use the same books. I have not been allowed to change the books for transfiguration for thirty years, yet we know magic is always advancing.’
‘Since you will end up headmistress, I would tell your staff that they need to shop for more books.’
‘Even though I will miss teaching, I am getting older so it is time to retire from teaching. Over the years I’ve done more and more of Albus’ work because he had to go to the ministry. I doubt I will have any trouble adjusting to my new position.’
‘You could change things so you could take only seventh years and whoever takes your old job can take the rest of the years.’ Remus suggested.
‘That’s a very good idea Remus, I may just do that.’
‘Have you heard anything about Voldemort?’ Remus asked Amelia.
‘No, he’s been quiet. I’m not sure if we should worry or not. He has to be planning something.’
‘I’m sure sooner or later we’ll hear something,’ Sirius said. He tried not to smile because he knew no one will ever hear anything from Voldemort, no one will see him since Sirius had worked on some of his deadly poisons to end up at Malfoy manor. Anyone in the house would have died, but Dobby would have rescued any innocent prisoners that had been there.
Apart from Voldemort and his death eaters being taken care of, Amelia was about to make sure that Hogwarts ended up with staff that will put the students safety first.
It only took a week for Amelia to make everything official. She was the one to take the news to Albus that he and Severus had to leave Hogwarts. Her aurors kept the two men surrounded while they packed their personal possessions before being escorted from the castle. Moments after they were outside the gates of Hogwarts, Minerva along with the staff she took with her arrived at the gates. A few minutes after that, Remus and Sirius arrived with all the students. Harry was with them, he was standing next to Hermione. Albus went to move closer but the aurors instantly surrounded him. Sirius quickly got Harry through the gates and into Hogwarts. He didn’t want his godson near Dumbledore.
The students who had remained at Hogwarts all stared as Minerva led the staff and students into the great hall. Harry sat beside Neville who was near the Weasley twins. Those three boys along with Ginny had not been allowed to leave. Ron would also have been made to stay except he had been taken out of Hogwarts by Molly and Arthur Weasley. Their other children stayed as they supported Albus Dumbledore. There had only been around one hundred and eighty students left at Hogwarts when most of the staff left. Now the great hall was full again.
Hogwarts was changing but so was the ministry of magic. No one apart from Sirius knew that Voldemort and anyone who had been with him had been taken care of. But their world was already a better place now that Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape had been forced out of Hogwarts and Amelia had already cleaned out the ministry. The students could finally be normal students without life threatening danger and people could go to work at the ministry without having to put up with people that supported Voldemort.
Yes, the wizarding world was a far better place than it had been only weeks before.
The end: