"And as of yet, he is still remaining silent." Dumbledore said partway through a meeting of the order of the Phoenix. "It is my belief that Voldemort plans to stay in the shadows," He said, ignoring the shivers and flinches from others as he said the dark lord's name. "without any proof of his return people will not believe us. It will make it much easier for him to catch them off guard in the future." He added, frowning deeply.
"That will be made all the more easier by the nitwit Fudge." Harry said, also frowning. Ever since the end of the last school year the daily prophet had been releasing a large amount of articles that were painting Dumbledore out to be a mad old fool who was losing his touch with reality. That was something that Harry thought was not entirely inaccurate, especially given the way the man dresses, but they were making it far worse than it actually was. And it was blatantly clear that they were trying to discredit him so less people believed in Voldemort's return.
"Indeed," Dumbledore sighed before turning to Severus Snape. "Severus, what do you have to report?" He asked.
"He-who-must-not-be-named has continued to show interest in Potter," Snape began. "he has instructed Lucius to stop or at the very least reduce the amount of negative press Potter will receive."
"Why?" One order member asked with a frown.
"Because he fully intends for Mr Potter to join him," Snape drawled, glaring at the member for interrupting him. "he believes that the stronger Potter is, the better an asset he will be. If Potter's reputation suffers too much then that makes him less useful."
"The logic is unassailable, with the exception of the fact that I'm never going to join him." Harry replied.
"You think he cares about what a brat like you wants?" Snape sneered at him. "As far as he's concerned you are just a weapon that he desires."
"I think he cares for me more than anyone else cares for you." Harry said with an innocent smile, so naturally this time he was the one receiving a glare from Snape.
"Gentlemen." Dumbledore spoke in a tired voice
"Fine," Harry rolled his eyes before turning to Snape. "here's an important question, whose wand is he using?" Harry asked, "I distinctly remember snapping his." he added.
"The dark lord has been using a spare wand that Macnair has been able to procure," Snape added, he looked like he very much didn't want to talk to Harry but continued to do so. "but he is also experimenting with other wands. He wishes to get a new one, likely from Ollivander as he is well known to be the best wand maker in Britain, but the dark lord is limited in his movements by his desire to stay unnoticed."
"In that case it would probably be wise to alert Ollivander to future dangers." Kingsley Shacklebolt, an auror who used to work with Tonks, said.
"Aye," Mad-Eye Moody nodded in agreement. "we should form an extraction plan as well to get him out if needs be." He added.
"We should also keep an eye out on other known wand makers." Tonks suggested. "If old Voldy can't get the best then he'll likely start settling for the rest until he can. I know there are a couple of wand shops in Knockturn alley, not really Ollivander levels of quality but more than good enough."
"That is indeed a good idea," Dumbledore nodded before sighing. "however we shouldn't waste too much time on that, I doubt Voldemort is going to risk blowing his cover to go and personally get a wand. He may or may not send a couple of his death eaters to buy a few for him, we'll do our best to keep track of them. Now, it is late, unless there is anything else to discuss, we should end the meeting here."
"One more thing," Harry quickly spoke before anyone else could agree. "do we have any idea what the ministry is planning?"
"As far as I can tell, Cornelius is hoping to remove me from my positions." Dumbledore responded.
"And you're going to let him?" Harry questioned him whilst raising an eyebrow.
"Less jobs for me means more time I have to focus on Voldemort," Dumbledore said with a small shrug. "besides, I have no doubt that I will be offered these positions once again after it has been proven that Voldemort has returned. My focus will primarily be on Hogwarts and tracking Voldemort's movements."
"Headmaster," Kingsley spoke in his deep voice. "you are aware that Fudge will be wanting to remove you from Hogwarts as well?"
"Oh, undoubtedly." Dumbledore nodded. "though it will take him a very, very long time to accomplish that. Though a very pressing concern that I have is their plans for this year, I have received word that Fudge plans to shove one of his workers into school."
"The defence against the dark arts teacher." Harry said knowingly.
"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "that is where I expect them to try."
"Why not give Tonks the job?" Sirius asked, gesturing to Tonks.
"He can't," Harry frowned. "believe me, I'd love it, but Tonks had been fired by the ministry. They'll pull up whatever fault they can find with anyone they don't like applying. If she gets a job at Hogwarts then they'll take it as if Dumbledore is purposefully spitting in their faces and then they'll start going on and on about how Dumbledore hired an 'unstable ex-auror'." Harry paused and looked at Moody. "Well...a second one."
"Smart-ass." Moody muttered, though he had a small grin on his face.
"Sirius, if you applied then they would bring up Azkaban, if any person who is not firmly in Fudge's pocket applied then they would do whatever they could to get rid of them." Harry said, running a hand through his hair. "Shame though, I would have liked seeing Tonks as a defence teacher."
"Dad's got me a job at his law firm," Tonks said. "it's not anything adventurous, I'm basically just his assistant. But still, it'll last until we're proven right. And thank you, I think I'd make a great teacher, or at least I would before you beat me in front of everyone."
"Yeah, hey, when you get your job back then you and I can maim this Umbridge woman." Harry grinned. "Oh, did I say that out loud?" He asked innocently, earning a few amused looks.
"Well, I believe that the meeting is over now." One order member said, after several goodbyes the majority of the order had left, though Dumbledore had stayed behind, having been told before the meeting that Mr Weasley wanted to talk to him.
"Headmaster," Mr Weasley began. "we're terribly sorry about this, but we were hoping you could possibly help us find a new safe house to say?" He asked, his voice awkward and apologetic.
"A new safe house?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is there a problem with this one?"
"Yes, there is!" Mrs Weasley quickly spoke up. "This...horrid boy is kicking us out!" She said, gesturing to Harry.
"Part true." Harry nodded.
"Could you perhaps explain?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, I can." Harry replied. "These weasels were allowed to stay here, instead of being grateful and trying not to cause trouble, they have decided to make life difficult for everyone around them. Because of them the rest of my family are uncomfortable living here, or at least more so than before when you consider we had to move in here for protection, plus because of their family Ted had nearly lost an important client and his own job. Not to mention the fact that Mrs Weasley over here thought it was an acceptable idea to start removing books from the Black family library to throw out."
"They were dangerous books full of dark magic!" Mrs Weasley protested.
"The books didn't physically or magically attack anyone," Harry said, glaring at her. "I won't deny that they held knowledge of dark magic but that was not an excuse to throw them away. The only thing you had the right to do was forbid your children from going near them. Those books had been in this house, this family, for years, likely longer than you've been alive. They're all expensive as well, so unless you're willing to pay or replace them I'd advise not touching them." Harry said before turning to Dumbledore. "I gave these imbeciles a choice, their first option was to leave. Their second option was to behave and pay rent, the third was me kicking them out. Since they seem incapable of controlling themselves and unable to pay rent they've been left with option one and three. Fortunately for them they're smart enough to know option one is far less painful."
"I see," Dumbledore said with a heavy sigh. "and is there no way of fixing this?"
"No." Harry said in a cold voice.
"Very well," Dumbledore said before making his way to the fireplace. "wait here please." He said before he flooed away.
Later that day the residents had of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place had actually cheered now that the Weasley's were gone, they had apparently been given permission to stay at Longbottom Manor for the remainder of the summer since Ron knew Neville and Neville's grandmother had owed Dumbledore a favour. Though Harry doubted that the Weasley's would be too pleased with staying there, Mrs Longbottom had a reputation for being a witch you did not mess around with. She likely wouldn't put up with any of the Weasley chaos for long, though Harry didn't really care, the Weasley's were no longer his problem.
At this point even Sirius was glad they were gone, he had honestly quickly grown sick of how mothering Mrs Weasley had been, though he didn't mind the twins too much. The only person who was somewhat upset by the departure of the Weasley's was Roman, but that was only because his best friend unfortunately had to go with them. But on the plus side, with the Weasley's gone there was more time for training. Roman didn't think he was capable of beating Harry but he did know that he was definitely improving. The only other being in the house who was disappointed that they were gone was surprisingly Jet, though not because he missed them.
"It's a shame that they left before we could start fighting them." Jet said repeatedly throughout the summer. "We would have won."
Eventually it was time for Harry to go back to Hogwarts, he was able to get a carriage and had Roman guard it for him and look after both of his familiars while he went to attend a prefect meeting. Harry was honestly more than a little bit surprised that he had become a prefect, especially given how his relationship with Professor Snape had gotten worse over the years. He had asked Dumbledore about it after one of the order meetings, apparently Professor McGonagall had helped decide the Slytherin prefects given Snape's relationship with Harry. Harry personally thought that Dumbledore was basically trying to say they didn't trust Snape's judgement.
Even without Snape's blatantly blatant biasedness against all things Potter, Harry didn't expect to get the position given his last outburst in the great hall.
"Oh that," Dumbledore had said dismissively when Harry had mentioned it. "you had been suffering from severe magical injuries and yet you were still determined to warn students against a potential threat, if that's not perfect prefect material then I don't know what is." He smiled before turning serious. "I have reasons for making you a prefect, I am well aware that you have some level of control in Slytherin house, though I am not sure how much. This is a responsibility that I'm trusting you with as I believe it will not only make life easier for you but will also affect the other students. Positively, I hope." He had said.
Harry knew that his standing in Slytherin house was a bit odd at the moment, he held the respect of many but so did Voldemort. He was feared, but so was Voldemort. Voldemort was incredibly dangerous and experienced, Harry was incredibly dangerous and hadn't even finished his magical education, so his strength was still growing.
"Harry!" A voice called out. Harry had just managed to turn around when he saw Daphne wrap her arms around his neck and pull him into a passionate kiss, one he gladly returned.
"I missed you too." Harry chuckled once they had let go. "How have you been?"
"My summer was fine, would have been better if I could have seen you." Daphne commented before lightly kissing him once more. "And what about you?"
"Well...I had to deal with the madness that was the Weasley family." Harry sighed.
"Oh, you poor soul." Daphne frowned deeply.
"Indeed, the second I had a good enough excuse I kicked them out." Harry replied. "The majority of my summer has been training and preparations."
"Training?" Daphne asked.
"Yeah, I've picked up a few tricks or two." Harry said with a small grin. "Daphne, I am a target now, that makes you one as well. You still want to be with me?" He asked.
"You really think I would leave you?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at him like he had just said the stupidest thing she had ever heard.
"No," Harry easily admitted. "but it'd annoy me later if I hadn't at least given you the option."
"Well, you don't have to worry. You're not getting rid of me." Daphne said after slapping him on the back of his head for being stupid.
"Hey, you're a prefect." Harry noted upon seeing the prefect badge that Daphne was wearing.
"Yep," Daphne nodded proudly. "I'm not surprised that you were made prefect."
"I am a little bit, given my last outburst in the hall." Harry replied.
"Well...despite that you're still the best student in our year." Daphne reminded him. "Now, are you going to accompany me to the prefect meeting or not?"
"Gladly, my lady." Harry smirked before offering her his arm, she took it and the two walked to the prefect compartment with a smile.
A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter, bit short but I'm feeling a bit off today so please bear with it until the next chapter. I have some great things planned for Harry's relationship with Umbridge.
I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has been reading. When I started writing this fic the main thought throuhg my head was 'try and make a Slytherin Potter and try and make it not shit', now my success could be argued but I like to think I did well. I checked the site today and was stunned by what I saw:
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I am genuinely stunned and I honestly find it hard to believe. This story had also flowed better than my other stories, I've only just noticed how many chapters in we are. I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support.
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