Harry Potter: The Making of a Dark Lord

Harry exited the Come-and-Go Room and walked glumly toward Gryffindor Tower, in desperate need of a shower. All of the portraits he encountered along the way seemed to be watching him with interest, and Harry figured that his esteemed guardian had ordered them to keep an eye on him. Yet another thing to love about the old bastard, thought Harry bitterly.

As he approached the fat lady's portrait, he saw Professor McGonagall walking toward him from the opposite direction.

"Mr. Potter. A word please," she called out.

Harry slowed to a stop and waited on her. He was quite irritated with his Head of House at the moment. She had been in the castle for his entire tenure here, now approaching three weeks, and he had only seen her three times. All thoughts of confiding his troubles in her had fled after his first encounter with her. She had apparently heard about Harry's one-sided shouting match with the Headmaster, and had rebuked him coldly for daring to raise his voice to Albus Dumbledore.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Let us go to the common room. I must speak with you about the coming year," she said officiously.

The two Gryffindors entered through the portrait hole and took seats in front of the empty fireplace.

"Mr. Potter, as you may know, Hogwarts has had a hard time filling the Defense position in recent years…"

Harry almost snorted at her. Yeah, he laughed to himself. Three out of the four tried to kill me, and the fourth didn't seem to like me very much.

"Well," continued McGonagall, "this year, unfortunately, is no different. We were unable to locate a qualified candidate who was willing to take the position, so the Ministry has appointed one of its own people."

Now Harry did groan out loud. Sweet Merlin, he thought, here it comes.

"Yes, quite," McGonagall answered his groan. "The, erm, person they have assigned is the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Dolores Umbridge. I wished to speak with you to warn you, Mr. Potter. She is an especially vocal critic of yours within the Ministry. She was even demanding you be expelled and tried for underage magic use after the unfortunate attack, but the Headmaster was able to provide sufficient evidence on your behalf."

Harry could hardly believe this. "They wanted to put me on trial for casting a patronus charm against dementors?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, certain, um, elements within the Ministry didn't want to believe your account of the attack. Dementors, after all, are supposed to be under Ministry control. But with your cousin kissed—and I am sorry for that, Harry—and Auror Tonks as a witness, they weren't able to press charges."

Harry thought this over briefly. "The Ministry didn't know that anyone was guarding me over the summer. Do you think they could have sent the dementors to set me up for a trial? It's common knowledge that I can cast a patronus."

"Unfortunately it is a very real possibility, Mr. Potter. That is why I want you to be very careful around Dolores Umbridge this year. She is almost certainly reporting back to the Minister on what happens at Hogwarts. Be careful what you say around her, and for Merlin's sake don't let her goad you into doing something stupid," McGonagall said, severely at the end.

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I'll do my best Professor, but if she attacks me I'm going to fight back. Every year the Defense Professor has it in for me, and now the stakes are just too high to let some Ministry idiot put my life in danger."

McGonagall nodded. She knew this was the best she could expect from the angry new Harry Potter. "That is all that I ask, Mr. Potter. Just be on guard around her. I don't think she's a Death Eater, but both she and Minister Fudge are friendly with Lucius Malfoy."

McGonagall rose and straightened her robes. "Do remember to finish your summer homework in the next few days, Mr. Potter. Thank you for listening to me."

"You're welcome, Professor."

Harry leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling as Professor McGonagall exited the room.

Merlin, he thought, this year is really going to suck.

.....

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