Hagrid shook his head furiously and looked angrier than anyone could ever remember seeing him. "No," he declared forcefully. "Always told me it was Old Dippet wanted me expelled. Said Dippet wouldn't listen to 'im when he tried to tell 'im tweren't me pet that did the girl in. Said it was all he could do to get me me hut on the grounds and the job as Games Keeper and Keeper of the Keys. But old Dippet wouldn't even pay me proper on a'count of me not finishing my schoolin' all proper like. He tole me Dippet said I could count me hut as my pay for my work and be glad o' it or get out."
Calmly Lucius inclined his head. "Well surprise, surprise. It seems we've caught him in another lie then. I will take a closer look at your pay packet, Mr. Hagrid and see if it needs adjustment while your are regaining your British wand right and getting your certification. As I was saying though, certainly, he should have done it three years ago when the Chamber was opened for the second time. Instead, he let Cornelius send you to Azkaban and let another innocent boy take the blame for actions he didn't take. I apologize for that, by the way. I fully expected Albus to step in at the last minute and save you from that place. He didn't and by the time I realized he wasn't going to, it was too late."
"Albus is a Great Man, yur Lordship. But he… well he makes mistakes sometimes. As do we all, ya know. None o' us is perfect, see." But everyone noticed Hagrid was frowning in confusion. They knew it would take time for the gentle giant to understand Albus had never worked in his best interest unless it was first in the best interest of Albus Dumbledore.
The next morning much to her dismay Delores Umbridge found herself and all her belongings forcefully removed from Hogwarts. The house-elves had packed all her things for her as she refused to do so since Cornelius wanted her in the Castle to keep an eye on things and to discredit that awful boy, Harry Potter should he start running his mouth. An awful boy who really wasn't any such thing as far as she could tell.
Not that she'd been able to do anything to discredit him. As far as she could see the boy was a model student. He came to class, listened attentively to the lecture or discussion, read his textbook and did his assignments. He was never late, never spoke out of turn or tried to argue with what she said. She'd never even caught him running in the halls. Let alone doing something dangerous she could take advantage of. And she'd watched him very carefully after what Albus had said about him added to what her dear Cornelius was expecting from him. Then those liars had begun targeting him and trying to rile her up against him by trying to convince her he said things he hadn't said or saw things he hadn't seen. It was so easy to tell they were lying when their faces would swell up like that.
She'd been on her way to breakfast with a full head of steam for whomever had removed all her belongings from her rooms when she suddenly found herself on the wrong side of the Castle Gates with her packed trunks and bags at her feet. When she'd finally gotten her bearings enough to look around herself she headed for The Three Broomsticks where she flooed straight to the Ministry to complain to her dear Cornelius. She brushed right by the aurors who had just exited the floo without noticing them.
Albus never showed up at the Castle for his belongings which the elves had gone through before packing. Many of the items found in his private rooms and office did not in fact belong to him at all. And more than a few had either the Potter name, crest or emblem on them. All of those items were turned over to Harry as he was the last of the Potters and no one believed he had given them to Albus. What was left was moved to the Come and Go storage room where it would slowly begin to gather dust equal to what covered everything else in the room.
Neither Ron nor Ginny had gone home for the holiday being too afraid to face their Mum with their scarred faces. But the twins had gone home after agreeing to pave the way so they could go home at Spring Break. They didn't want to but Harry had talked them into it because they'd have to go home sometime. Maybe if Molly had the rest of the school year to get used to the idea and was only exposed to their marks briefly during the Spring Break, by the time they went home for summer she'd be over the worst of it and actually do something constructive to help them deal with it.
Almost reluctantly, Augusta had moved into the private rooms of the Headmaster position and taken over the office. She was only reluctant because she had grown used to living at Longbottom Manor and had hoped this wouldn't be a long appointment. But even with the mere month she had been looking into Albus' handling of the school, she knew it would take a few years before everything could be straightened out and Hogwarts brought back to it's former glory. Because the Albus she was beginning to see through dealing with everything he'd been doing here was nothing more than a crook. A conman and a swindler who saw everyone as nothing more than a potential mark for him to fleece. Like the flimflam men of lore he talked a good game but that's all it was to him. A game and the only winner was Albus Dumbledore. Much to her disgust, one of her first visitors in her new job capacity was Molly Weasely.