Harry stood without being dismissed and he turned smartly on his heel and he left the office. He took a moment to breathe at the bottom of the stairs as a flare of ice-cold anger had him pausing. It had taken him a lot to hold on to his anger in the office and he needed a moment to regain his composure.
He kicked off from the wall and made his way to the Owlery, he had a letter to send to Lucius Malfoy, who could get the other governors involved with this matter, especially after the Umbridge debacle. Her trial would be coming up soon and he really, really couldn't wait to see her sentenced. He would get his Firebolt back and he refused to entertain the thoughts of apologising to his dormmates' when they had been trying to steal from him. He was not in the wrong on this issue, he was the victim of thoughtless, blind attacks of petty jealousy and hate and he would not put up with it. He had no reason to put up with it and he wouldn't and if he had to call on his adoptive parents for their help, then he'd been assured that that was perfectly alright. He would not be used or made into a victim by anyone, he would make this stop by any means necessary, even if he did have to charm all of his belongings and petition to have his own rooms. He would not let them win.
Harry was grinning behind his glass of pumpkin juice when twelve people walked into the Great Hall, including Lucius Malfoy, who had been reinstated as a governor, and incidentally as chairman of the board of governors when he'd shopped Umbridge to them and to the Ministry. He had waxed poetic about his two poor sons, one of whom had been seriously injured and permanently scarred and had almost had an Unforgivable curse used on him by the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. He'd been welcomed back onto the board as the previous chairman had been, very quickly, fired for not checking on the welfare of the students of Hogwarts and allowing Umbridge to hurt over two hundred students with the serious and severe misuse of a contract quill.
"This is a surprise, Lucius." Albus said genially from the top table, standing up from his golden chair and smiling welcomingly at the entire board of governors who had entered the Great Hall.
"It is?" Lucius asked in false surprise. "I believe that my son told you that I would be arriving with the other governors. May we proceed to your office? I'm sure the children have better things to be doing than listening in to our conversation."
"Of course. Of course." Dumbledore said with a twinkling smile.
"Harry, come with us if you would." Lucius called out to him, not having to raise his voice in the silent hall.
Harry stood and slung his bag over his shoulder, moving to walk to his father.
"Is it really necessary to bring Harry into this discussion?" Dumbledore asked.
"As the student to bring these allegations forward, you know that it is necessary for him to be present." Lucius replied smoothly. "I have been reinstated as the chairman for the board after Mister Wibblum's ah…unfortunate dismissal. I have no doubts that you cowed him into letting you do as you please, but as you know, I am not so easily persuaded. I have spent the week implementing all of my old rules and regulations; you will find things changing for the better around this school once more. Now, if you would like to lead the way to your office so that we might settle this matter quickly. I have a lot to be getting on with."
Harry allowed Lucius to prod him in front so that Lucius could watch him walk and they went up to the headmaster's office, where Lucius waved his wand to conjure thirteen, very impressive, sumptuously upholstered armchairs and Harry sunk into the one next to his father happily.
"Now, as Harry's father and the chairman of the board, I would like to ask you, first and foremost, why you allowed my son's personal belongings to not only be stolen more than once but also allowed them to be completely destroyed by the other boys in his dormitory. Harry tells me that he came to you with this complaint the moment that he'd realised that it had happened, yet not only did it happen a second and almost a third time, but my son's broomstick is still missing over a month later. Yet that is not even the end of it, no, I have checked and double-checked, but the perpetrators have not even had a single hour of detention nor any loss of house points. They haven't been punished at all for attacking my son or stealing his property. This is unacceptable."
"Harry did put a charm on his trunk which severely blistered his dormmates' hands. They couldn't use their hands at all for four days, which severely affected their school work. I believe this to be punishment enough."
"Punishment enough? A mere theft charm on a trunk?" One of the other governors scoffed. "I believe the charm was only used on their third theft attempt as well, why were they not punished right from the offset? They should have been punished from the very first instance where they stole another student's property and not doing so has only enabled and even encouraged their unacceptable behaviour to continue. Their parents never even had a letter to explain that their children had stolen another student's belongings twice and had tried to do so for a third time. Why should Lord Malfoy have to foot the bill to replace all of his son's damaged belongings? It should be the parents of the children involved who bought all of young Harry's new items."
"I spent rather a lot on my son's belongings just this August and having to replace them all again in October, just two months later, is preposterous. This should have been stopped at the very first instance of theft." Lucius said silkily, his voice soft with anger. "Harry has given me the names of those involved and, as governors, we have written to the parents of all those involved and informed them of what their children have done and, as of today, they will spend an hour every evening for the next month serving detention with their head of house."
"A month seems a little harsh." Dumbledore tried.
"I believe that it is too lenient, but I was outvoted by my fellow governors." Lucius Malfoy inclined his head to the other eleven governors. "I admit that as my son is involved, I might be allowing my personal emotions to influence my decisions, but I refuse to allow them to get away with a slap on the wrist for what they have done."
"I hardly calling blistering their hands a slap on the wrist, Lucius." Dumbledore cajoled.
"Harry had every right to protect his belongings after they had been stolen twice. This is not up for discussion, we have laid out the punishment that all twelve of us have agreed on and it will be implemented. Now, onto Harry's missing broomstick, where is it?" "I do not know. I have been searching and following leads, but so far, it hasn't turned up. I'm sure that Harry has just misplaced it."
"Don't you dare blame my son for 'losing' his broomstick when everyone in this room knows that it was stolen and is being purposefully kept from him. Do you know where the missing Firebolt is, yes or no?"
"No, I do not."
"I tried summoning it." Harry said softly, waiting just the right amount of time so that he didn't cut Dumbledore off, yet didn't speak over his father either. "I am the only one in this school with a Firebolt, so I tried summoning it like I did in my fourth year for the first task of the Tri-wizard Tournament. It came to me then, so I thought it would work this time, only it never responded. I think, that where ever it is, it might be under an anti-summoning charm."
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