Albus bristled internally. "I see. As awful as this is, I am sensing that some of you hold me responsible for this?" he asked, making sure to sound tired and sad. "You have refused our input when picking teachers. It is the Board's job to decide who is hired; however, since becoming the headmaster you have yet to hold onto a teacher for more than a year."
"Yes, well—"
"And what's more, the man is clearly incompetent. Why, a second year has been more successful tutoring students in Defence these last few months," Lucius finished with.
Albus stared at the man for a moment, barely holding back his contempt. "As the headmaster, I feel that I should hire my staff. I know the school and the students the best; however, I will admit that perhaps I have made a mistake with Mr. Lockhart."
Sirius bit his lip to stop himself laughing. Perhaps? There was no perhaps about the situation.
"As a matter of precaution, I have a signed letter of approval from Madam Bones and the Minister himself for you to lock the Hogwarts wards, stopping Mr. Lockhart from leaving the school grounds," Lucius said, pulling out the mentioned letter and passing it over to Albus.
Quickly reading the letter, Albus hid his anger and carefully concealed how his hands shook with rage. "I see. However, I don't agree that such drastic action needs to be taken." He hoped his grave voice would sway the crowd and he saw a few members falter slightly.
Sirius, however, wasn't moved and quickly spoke up, "It's just a precaution and as a staff member, he should not be leaving before the investigation is completed anyway. If the investigation turns up with nothing then he will be apologised to and released. Why, with how worried you look, it's almost as though you believe he is guilty."
Closing his eyes briefly to hide his anger, Albus bit back another snarl. "I have the utmost faith in my staff," he said eventually. "Then let's get to it, some of us have important things to be doing," Atticus Vane said. Although Neutral, the man was a former Slytherin and throughout the meeting he had observed the headmaster, and he had not liked what he had seen.
Knowing he was unable to get out of it, Albus stood and gathered the ward book for the school. As headmaster, he had primary control of the wards; however, McGonagall could take the reigns as deputy and, in the cases of emergency, the Heads of Houses could make a few edits. Pushing his magic into the book, Albus allowed the Board to witness him binding Gilderoy.
After it was done the group left, many not even bothering with polite farewells. Their dismissal of him had Albus trembling in rage; he would have to carefully plan how to get the man out now - he didn't trust him not to spill all he knew in a desperate effort to save himself.
Lucius and Sirius, however, detoured back to the Great Hall in the hopes of seeing their sons and heirs.
~
Meanwhile
The Great Hall, Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry
School
of
Harry, feeling the school's wards flicker, allowed a smirk to fall into place. When Sirius had written to him about the plans to bind Lockhart until he was arrested, his final plans had fallen into place.
"You know, you look rather terrifying when you do that," Blaise said, observing Harry's face.
"Terrifying? Me? I'm an angel," Harry said, allowing his eyes to widen and an expression of innocence to take over.
The group all paused to look at him.
"Merlin, you're good at that," Draco said.
"Yeah, do you teach lessons?" the twins asked. "Because, if you do sign us up," Fred continued.
"Yeah, Minnie would never punish us if we could look like that!" George finished.
Harry snorted and allowed his face to go back to his normal expression. "It's a gift," he deadpanned.
Hearing the doors open, Harry looked up to see Sirius and Lucius enter.
Smiling, Harry stood and walked to his father figure. "Constructive meeting?" he asked. "Very," Sirius said, pulling Harry into a sideways hug.
Smiling at the action, Harry allowed the contact. "I felt the wards change. I take it the peacock's bound?" he whispered.
Sirius nodded and was slightly disturbed by the look that passed over Harry's face.
"Am I going to need an alibi again?" he asked, only half joking.
Harry snorted. amateur."
"Please,
I'm
not
an
Lucius, who had caught the last of their conversation, looked intrigued. Seeing this, Harry sent the man a nod. "Over Christmas I think we could do with meeting up, there are things you need to know."
Lucius nodded. "I look forward to it."
The rest of Harry's friends took that moment to join them. Sirius was happy to meet the twins and share what he remembered about making the map.
As the adults left, Harry wasn't the only one barely holding back laughter. The awestruck expressions on the two Weasleys faces had drawn a crowd which was shaking to remain emotionless.
"Harry, you're related to the second coming of Merlin," Fred said with awe on his face. Nodding vehemently, George stood next to his twin with a matching expression.
With that Harry lost it, laughing until his eyes watered.
•
🚀New updates on my Ko-fi!🚀
Support me and read the novel, now available in PDF, with the advanced chapters.
•
https://ko-fi.com/cmrowling