Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom approached theirhead of house to request a meeting with the teachers, only to be told that ameeting had already been called for following dinner in the Great Hall.
The ten second year students and one third nervously butquickly ate their dinners.
As the meal came to an end, the Headmaster stood andbegan to speak. "As some of you are aware Professor Lockhart left us atthe end of autumn term. I would like at this time to introduce his replacementProfessor Remus Lupin."
Harry couldn't help himself, he whipped his head towardsthe teacher's table. Then he studied the man who had been his father's friend.He wondered if this was the Headmaster's next ploy to try and "bring himaround." There had been afew subtle attempts by the Headmaster to getcloser to Harry last term and Harry had rebuffed him every time. Harry didn'ttrust the man. If the Headmaster wanted anything from Harry he was going tohave to openly and honestly ask, with all the facts laid out. Anything less, andHarry would take great pleasure in denying the Headmaster his cooperation.
Harry knew from observation that the Headmaster wished tobe the head of Magical Society. For the most part, Magical Society was willingto let him. Although Dumbledore outwardly denied it it was so, pointing to theMinister of Magic and the Wizengamot, anyone with decent observational skillscould see it. When he had been head of the Wizengamot he had the power to stopthe Minister of Magic, and Fudge had acknowledged that fact by bombardingDumbledore with owls.
Harry thought magical society lived like ostriches, headsburied in the sand. There were the hardcore purebloods, the so called darkfamilies, who Harry basically surmised were mostly stupid and bigoted. Therewere the moderates and then there was the "light". Moderates had tobe careful because the dark families didn't trust anyone. Most moderates werefrom mostly pureblood stock, but most felt that freshening the blood was a goodidea. Many of the "light "were all too willing to brand anyone withthe label of dark even if they weren't really. The response to him being sortedinto Slytherin had convinced him of that. Harry had observed many of the socalled light were just as bigoted as any hardcore pureblood. Harry smiled tohimself as he contemplated how lucky he was that his chosen advisors all fellmostly into the light side of moderate standing.
Harry suspected that Dumbledore had intended to hold himup as the light's chosen successor. But Harry had no desire to fall intoDumbledore's mold. The old man was impractical to an extreme and seemed to holdthat all could and should be redeemed to the light, right up until one of his'redeemed ones' either did something or it was politically expedient to believethe redeemed one did something. After which the old bastard would look theother way mournfully, and allow the axe to fall. With his Godfather as anexample, Harry had no intention of ever being close enough to the Headmaster tohave that metaphorical axe fall on him. Besides Harry valuedself-determination, the power of the individual, and independent thought he hadno desire to lead the flock of brainless sheep that made up most of thewizarding world. Let them have their benign dictator, Harry would have no partin such nonsense.
Dumbledore continued his speech to which Harry onlylistened with half an ear. "Due to circumstance it has been decided thatteachers will be escorting students to their classes, please for your ownsafety do not go anywhere unescorted. We are still attempting to figure outwhat is behind the attacks on the students."
Harry shook his head. Honestly did the Headmaster have nologic. He supposed it shouldn't surprise him that the man lacked logic; all youhad to do was look at his actions. They screamed illogical.
Dumbledore continued. "The teachers and I will behaving a brief meeting with some students then we will come back and escort youall to the dormitories."
At the Slytherin table Harry, Blaise, Daphne, Tracy, andAaron nervously rose to their feet to follow the teachers, while at theHufflepuff table Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, and Ernie MacMillan and at theRavenclaw table Michael Corner, and at Gryffindor Neville Longbottom andHermione Granger did the same.
Neville came shoulder to shoulder with Harry and said,"I start, but I and Hermione expect you and the others to jump in when youhave something to add. Merlin, what if they don't believe us."
Harry smirked before replying, "You're a lion whatdo you think?"
Neville gave him a dirty look and since he and Harry werethe last two in the room he closed the door behind him. "Thank youHeadmaster, Professors, for meeting with us. We, um, we were scared by theattacks on Mrs. Norris and Colin, so we met together. We came up with a list ofquestions that we felt finding the answers to would help solve the situation.We scoured the library, and other school records, and we interviewed a coupleof people, er rather one person and ghosts. Because of that we think we knowwhat the monster in the chamber is and we might know where the entrance is,what we haven't figured out is the who, the why, and the how.
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