He was at yet another Board meeting. Those seemed to be happening at a higher frequency ever since Sirius joined them. But this time he was confident. He had good news for them and since the culprits on Harry’s attack had been arrested and would be tried soon he hoped young Sirius would be more amenable to bring the boy back to Hogwarts. “As you requested, the students have been given the antidote and I am happy to announce that I am confident that I have stopped the attacks.”

And so he was. It had been a struck of luck. Mr. Filch had come into his office raging about students flooding the halls and had dropped a book that apparently one of the students saw fit to dispose of in the out-of-order second floor girls’ bathroom. At first Albus had thought nothing of the matter and had dismissed Filch with platitudes of finding the culprit. It was later, when examining the book closer that he saw something that made him freeze. Inside the blank book were the words: Property of T.M.Riddle.

After careful examination of what he had previously thought was a blank journal and many detection charms he came to the horrifying conclusion that it was a Horcrux. Now, it wasn’t all just luck. Albus had been trying to figure out how Voldemort had survived for years, since, thanks to Severus’s Dark Mark, he had known the man had not indeed died. And the creation of Horcruxes had been a possibility. A strong one. One that Albus had been investigating thoroughly.

He also realized that said Horcrux must have been controlling whoever had been writing in it and they must have started fighting it and tried to get rid of the journal. Which Dumbledore agreed was a wise move, and with controlled Fiendfyre he proceeded to do the same.

This explained much, how Voldemort hadn’t died when hit by the killing curse, but it also posed even more questions. Was this the only one? Albus didn’t think so. Voldemort seemed to become more unhinged with time and less human. Probably as he fractured his soul.

This also brought a horrible realization to Albus, or more of a confirmation. He knew Harry and Voldemort had a connection. He had sensed the dark magic concentrating on Harry’s scar when he had scanned the boy that fateful night, when he had Hagrid bring him to Hogwarts where he had stayed until Albus managed to erect the protection spells and blood wards around Private Drive number four. The boy had felt Voldemort’s closeness last year and Albus had known it. That was why he orchestrated the detention in the forest. To be sure it had been Voldemort.

But he didn’t believe Voldemort made Harry into a Horcrux on purpose which led to the belief that his soul had already been so fractured that it broke unintentionally.

“Oh,” said Lucius Malfoy in his customary drawling voice, “And have you apprehended the culprit?”

Dumbledore sighed internally, not the least because he had been sure Lucius must have had something to do with the issue. “Alas, no. But I believe whoever was behind the attacks was being controlled by means of an enchanted diary that belonged to Voldemort,” the expected hisses were heard, except from Sirius, and funnily enough Alexander Nott. Despite his youngest son being a Death Eater and Nott having been a schoolmate of Voldemort he never joined the man. He never seemed to think much of the man despite being a traditional pureblood who didn’t like the mixing of Magical folks with Muggles. “So as you can see, they bear no blame. And they did begin to fight the possession and disposed of the diary which is how I found it.”

“So,” Sirius started and Albus cringed. He so missed the times when the boy would just take his word. “You mean you got lucky and you have no intention of finding out who actually opened the Chamber. Don’t you think that if you are right they might need help with the aftereffects of the possession? And that is if you are right and they weren’t acting of their own accord, a willing participant who just got cold feet. But let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you are right. Which still leaves how and who smuggled one of Voldemort’s school things into Hogwarts and is therefore accountable for the attacks. This matter is far from closed but I do agree that maybe the school can stay open, given you maintain the extra protection measures enforced during the attacks until all is clarified.”

Murmurs of assent were heard around and Dumbledore made a mental note to put up extra protection measures before they found out he hadn’t put any. “Yes, of course,” he agreed with a cordial smile masking his discomfort.

“Good,” Sirius nodded. “Now to the matter of your teachers’ substandard-“

“Excuse me Sirius,” Dumbledore interrupted. “My teacher-“

“Have been leaving a lot to be desired for a long time,” Sirius stated flatly. “The Heads of House, for instance, have not been performing duties outlined in the Bylaws for a long time. At least since I’ve been in school maybe even longer. But that is a matter for later as it is not so urgent. The urgent matter, considering the OWL and NEWT students need a lot of help catching up, are Binns, Lockhart and Snape.”

Dumbledore put on his most grandfatherly reproachful look and fixed Sirius, “Sirius, you shouldn’t let childhood grudges dictate your work as a governor.”

“I’m not the one letting childhood grudges interfere with my work. Notice Snape wasn’t the only teacher I mentioned. But since you did bring him up, let’s start there. Snape is a potions genius, I’ll give him that. He has made many contributions to Potions studies in the last decade or so, but that he can do does not mean he can teach. He is an awful teacher who bullies and intimidates his students and does not teach. And I did my homework Dumbledore, before you accuse me of bias.”

“Young Sirius brought several disturbing facts to our attention Albus,” Nott said. “Facts that were corroborated by my grandchildren. Two of which have already graduated and one who is still in school. All Slytherins.”

Nodding at Nott Sirius continued, “I have been going through the school scores for all classes. Hogwarts has an average of around 40 students per class year. Potions NEWT classes however have an average of 3 students, on some very few occasions he had 5 students, but never has he had more.”

“Severus is very strict. He only accepts students with Outstanding on their OWLS-“

“And yet he doesn’t prepare them to achieve said standard,” Augusta Longbottom cut him. “According to the OWL scores over the years since he has been teaching the Hogwarts Potions’ OWL average is Dreadful to Acceptable, against Slughorn’s Exceeds Expectation average. But the funny thing Sirius brought to our attention Albus is that, despite that low average on their OWLs and despite the only 3 official NEWT students, an average of around 30 Hogwarts’ students takes their potions NEWTs every year. After all, to take the exam you don’t have to be enrolled in the class. You just need an A on your OWL, and Potions is a requirement for most careers. And you want to know the other startling discovery?” No, he didn’t. “The Hogwarts Potions NEWT has an average of EE. Care to explain that phenomenon?”

“Er,” he had of course been aware of that, but since the students were managing and he needed to keep Severus on the position he had let it be.

“I will,” Amelia Bones stated. “After interviewing several current and former students we found out that after doing so abysmally on their OWLs the students seek outside help. Many of them having to retake their OWLs at the Ministry on their sixth year to be able to take their NEWTs on time. And it is the tutors these students hire who bring the average up.”

“I believe,” Sirius said picking up one of the parchments in front of him. “That Mr. Ryan, a trainee healer who had an A on his OWLs and an O on his NEWTS exemplified this situation perfectly. He said and I quote, ‘Before Mr. Wyatt started tutoring me I had no idea why I had to stir this way or that, how the ingredients interacted with each other. Snape just puts a recipe on the board and expects us to brew while he hovers over us. I found out later that the students who manage to get on his NEWT class were all being tutored with outside help since first year. Mostly students with older siblings who already knew the drill.’ And before you complain of bias, Mr. Ryan was a Slytherin. Though I have a stack of interviews from students from all houses who pretty much say the same. Even the students who did get into the NEWT class said they needed a tutor to pass their NEWT. Here is a recently graduated Ravenclaw.”

“I had a tutor for my entire Hogwarts career. My older sister was a sixth year when I entered and my parents already knew I wouldn’t get into NEWT class without help. They thought it was Snape’s way of filtering out the potions geniuses, you know? Whoever gets in must really love potions. Man, were they surprised when I entered the NEWT class and found out Snape is just the same as before.  All I know about potions I learned from my tutor.”

Dumbledore was now frantically trying to think of arguments to save Snape’s position when Sirius continued.

“As I said, Snape is a potions genius. That doesn’t mean he can teach. He is more suited to a lab where he can be as crabby as he wants. As a teacher he is doing damage.”

“I agree that Severus has a strict way of teaching, he expects his students to research for themselves as he did-“

“In his mastery,” Sirius said. “Slughorn taught us potions the right way. These are children not adults. They need to be taught why they do things and how to research so that when they do get to the stage where a teacher only leads the student in the right direction and expects the student to find the answers on their own they know how to.”

“Here, here,” Nott said. “I don’t remember you entering a room and expecting your students to be proficient at a transfiguration you hadn’t shown them Albus. But maybe my memory has become faulty since I was your student. Did you?”

“No, I didn’t,” Albus said uncomfortably, “What do you suggest?” he asked the man defeated noticing that Malfoy had remained uncharacteristically silent during the whole debate. He knew why. Malfoy was thinking that if Snape lost his position next to Albus Voldemort would not be pleased. Nott’s youngest son probably wouldn’t be either and Albus wondered if Nott Sr. knew that and didn’t care or of if he just didn’t get involved at all in that aspect of his son’s life.

“Replacing Snape would be nice,” Sirius said simply. “But I do realize that the Potion’s Master position is not one easy to fill, especially not with so little of term left. But we can’t leave the OWL students hanging either just because the NEWT ones are covered.”

“What if he improves his teaching method?” Lucius finally offered his opinion and the other governors snorted. “Sirius said so himself, Severus is a potions genius who needs to be able to impart that knowledge.”

Sirius seemed to be considering the option. He looked at Dumbledore and smirked with a knowing look, “Fine. Probation then. He keeps the students through first to fourth year and the sixth years and we ask Slughorn if he’d be willing to temporarily take the OWL and NEWT students to bring them up to speed for their exams until the situation is resolved. I suggest though Albus that you start looking for a replacement, just in case. Oh, and the school shouldn’t suffer for Snape, which means whatever we need to pay Slughorn gets cut off of Snape’s salary. After all it’s for his benefit that we are bringing another teacher in to do his job for him. All in favor?”

The motion was passed and Albus gulped. Severus would not be pleased at all.

“Now Binns. I don’t believe we can wait to deal with him. The man should have retired years ago. He hasn’t been teaching anything new since he died and his OWL scores are even worse than Snape’s.”

“No arguments here,” Lucius said.

“That can’t wait though. The OWL students need to be brought up to speed and I’ve noticed the NEWT students take a similar approach as with Snape. Those interested on a NEWT sought outside help. We already only have a few months to help these students,” Sirius explained and in no time Dumbledore was given a week to replace both Binns and Lockhart who had been deemed an incompetent buffoon.

“DADA is too vital a subject to have incompetent teachers,” Apollo McGonagall, Minerva’s brother, said firmly

“I know, but I have been unable to keep a teacher for more than a year. There is a curse that was placed in the position-“

“Then change the position,” Amelia said simply. “Cancel the DADA class and call it some other way but find a decent teacher. The amount of Auror trainees I get every year who don’t know the basics is astounding! They were lucky they managed to pass their NEWTs on their own but they are lacking in so many other areas. I pretty much take them on on potential more than skill nowadays or I’d be left without Aurors and I waste valuable training time bringing them up to speed with things they should already know!”

---

“I asked Professor McGonagall yesterday, she says she doesn’t have any official news.”

“Do you think the Prophet is right and he’s with Black?”

“I don’t know,” she bit her lip and voiced the question both of them were wondering. “Do you think he’ll ever come back?”

“Would you?” he asked and she shook her head. No she wouldn’t. How could they have been so stupid? The moment she heard the hissing she let logic fly out the window and only remembered what she had read in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. Logic, later, pointed out that the snake was about to bite Justin and that after Harry hissed it stopped. It was obvious he was helping and yet, she forgot all about logic, all about the fact that she knew Harry better than that. That she had seen Harry want to fight to stop You-Know-Who despite his young age. She didn’t even have the excuse that she had been raised fearing Parselmouths that Ron had. And instead of helping their friend they just stood by not knowing what to do and scared to speak up. Scared they would be attacked too.

Sure they didn’t join the others in burning his things or hurting him but they didn’t stop them either. Unbeknownst to her Ron was thinking the exact same things, how he could have let his friend down that way.

On Saturday morning, when the older students had left to Hogsmead, they had started looking for Harry but found no trace of him. They had thought of telling a teacher they couldn’t find Harry but were scared the teachers would force Harry back to the Tower, and wherever he was he was safer than in the Tower.

 They had already realized they had been stupid pretty much that same night. But facing the entire student body had been scary. Ron snorted, Neville had been the only one who hadn’t been afraid to say he thought everyone was a bunch of idiots and point out that Harry probably saved Justin. Neville, who was scared of his own shadow, wasn’t scared of standing up for what was right. He had paid the price though. The other students hadn’t tried to hurt him like they had Harry but only Ron and Hermione, and the Twins sometimes, had been talking to Neville since. Well, at least until they had been all hauled in for questioning by the Aurors. After the questioning and the articles that came out in the Prophet the students were all singing a different tune. How they knew that being a Parselmouth didn’t make Harry evil all along. After all, Harry saved the Philosopher Stone the previous year. He couldn’t be evil.

Stupid two faced gits. He shuddered as he remembered his interrogation and figured theirs had been the same. To make matters easier the Aurors decided to interrogate the students at Hogwarts instead of their previous idea of making everyone go to the DMLE. After the first batch of students showed up escorted by their Head of House they realized that it was unpractical. He didn’t know if it was because it was Harry or if it was because of the noise Sirius Black was making but the Head of the DMLE herself made a point of interrogating the students herself, and let her displeasure at so many young witches and wizards letting their prejudice cloud their judgment known too. And believe me, that wasn’t a lady Ron wanted to ever cross. She was scarier than Snape on his worst day. Susan Bones, who apparently was her niece and because of that had been interrogated by both Madam Bones and the Head Auror, had approached them the next day asking if they knew how to reach Harry. She had a thick envelope and her eyes were blotchy. She said she needed to send an apology letter.

“Maybe we could write to him?” he asked hopefully but Hermione shook her head.

“I think what we did needs an apology in person.”

“I know, but we don’t know where he is.”

“I know,” she said gloomily and stared out of the window of the common room.

---

“Sirius, may I have a word?” Albus asked at the end of the meeting. He was sporting quite the headache and already had the task of finding two competent teachers in a week and create the paperwork for a new position. He confessed he never thought of that as a way to get around the curse. He hoped it worked.

Sirius shrugged and followed Dumbledore to his office sitting down in one of the chairs offered to him in front of the desk. He was surprised to see Dumbledore sitting in the chair next to him instead of behind his desk. Well, at least there was a chance the Headmaster had realized he wasn’t a little boy to be scolded anymore.

“I understand your resentment and I do agree Severus’s classroom manners are lacking but you need to understand that-“

“He can’t play double spy without a position close to you. Oh, I do understand that Albus. But you need to stop paying for this war of yours with innocent children. If you need him close to you make him your secretary but do not sacrifice a whole generation’s future for your war. Bad enough the childhood you already stole.”

And there was the problem, Albus thought to himself, “How is Harry doing?” he asked and at the stony silence he was met with he said, “Sirius, everyone realized he is with you. Where else would you have gotten some of the information you have, or Harry’s pensieved memories?”

“Oh, you mean the fact that you allowed a teacher who was willingly sharing his body with Voldemort within Hogwarts? Or how about you sending eleven-year-olds into the Forbidden Forest too find whoever was killing unicorns, or that-“

“I needed to be sure Voldemort was behind those attacks and Harry seems to have a unique connection with-“

Sirius smirked as if he had known something Albus didn’t. “Yes, unique connection. Tell me Albus. Harry tells me he was under Pomfrey’s care at least twice, so how is it that the Healer I hired to do a full check-up on him found not only obvious signs of abuse and malnutrition but also quite an interesting fact about Harry’s scar that Pomfrey didn’t’?” Albus breath hitched for a second but he hoped Sirius hadn’t noticed. No such luck as the smirk grew. “Care to share anything? I bet that little journal has something to do with it. No. Silence. Well, the Healers I have on the case think they may have a way to dispose of the foreign presence in Harry’s scar.”

“That is not possible, only the destruction of the vessel-“ he realized he had said too much when Sirius’s eyes narrowed and he hissed leaning forward dangerously:

 “No one will be hurting Harry even if I couldn’t get rid of the Horcrux- Oh I know Albus, one of the perks of coming from a family such as mine,” he finished leaning back again and continued studying his hand instead of looking at Albus, as if he was remembering something far away. “I never believed in that prophecy and will do everything to make sure that adults take care of the problem, not a child,” he turned to look Albus in the eye, “You can work with me or against me. But think on this, right now Voldemort is a disembodied spirit, have you thought of what might happen if we get rid of all the Horcrux he has made? Because I’m sure there wasn’t just that one. But tell me, what are you waiting for? You’ve had eleven years more than I did to figure all this out and act, what have you been doing? Waiting for Harry to grow up and do your job for you?”

And with that Sirius stalked away from his office and Dumbledore realized that had been exactly what he had been doing. He sat down heavily on his chair left with a lot to ponder.