Life After Death - An Erica Black Continuation (4)

Sixteen

"And finally; Mr Jones?"
"Yes Professor, my question is, who was the other baby...and why did Harry Potter end up being the chosen one?"

"That is a very interesting question that perfectly leads us to what I wanted to cover in this lesson because as I said previously, there were two children who met the requirements of the prophecy. Both Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom were eligible for the title of the chosen one bu- Yes Miss Finnegan?"
"Professor Longbottom?"
"Yes," Erica smiled at the question, "Yes, Professor Longbottom from your Herbology classes" she chuckles and waited for the student's hand to lower before continuing. "Both the Potter's and the Longbottom's had a child born at the end of July, both couples had defied Voldemort three times. However, Tom Riddle chose Harry, likely due to his blood status, Harry's mother, Lily was a muggle born witch, making Harry a half-blood wizard. However Alice and Frank Longbottom were pure-blooded and therefore produced a pure-blooded son. This could be why he picked the Potter's son for two reasons. Either he decided we would rather kill a non pure-blooded wizard, which would make sense considering his whole ideology revolved around pure-blood supremacy. Or, he saw Harry Potter as his equal, both of them were half bloods. Does that answer your question?"
"Yes Miss Black"
"Wonderful! Our next person of interest is Albus Dumbledore who is widely considered a great wizard and an undeniably good man. However, following his death some questions were raised about his character. Dumbledore had been involved with the dark wizard Grindelwald in his youth who was also interested in the supremacy of magical blood. He never disputed, or apologised for, his past behaviour.    He also had a long history of lying, deceit and manipulation. Does anyone happen to know any examples before I continue?"
Silence echoed around the room, bouncing off the bare stone walls, not a single hand was raised.

"No? Okay well an example of this would be how he knew Rubeus Hagrid didn't open the chamber of secrets. Maybe not immediately, but at some point during his lifetime it would've become very obvious to him that Hagrid was not the one responsible for what happened or the death of that girl. Yet he did nothing to rectify that situation. He never made any effort to clear his name or to return his wand to him despite the number of times Hagrid willingly put his life in danger or did petty errands for the headmaster. However, I believe it may go even deeper than that; Albus Dumbledore was an accomplished legilimens. Which is, to grossly oversimplify it: mind-reading. Which raises the question, why didn't he know or at least find out immediately? Even if Tom Riddle had the skills to evade Dumbledore's efforts, Hagrid wouldn't have. Even if he hadn't been able to be certain Riddle did it, he could've been certain Hagrid didn't. Does this make sense to you so far?"
A few nods stuck out to the professor from her students but there were still a few confused faces.

"Okay," she hesitated for a moment before continuing, "let's try another example, Sirius Black. Yes that's right, my own father." She interrupted herself to confirm the whispers that radiated around the classroom, "In 1981, Sirius Black was accused of not only the betrayal of the Potters but also the murder of Peter Pettigrew and over a dozen muggle witnesses. And he was convicted, without fair trial of all offences. Albus Dumbledore has known Black for years, he had watched him grow up at Hogwarts and observed his friendships with James and Lily Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin for a decade. And yet Albus Dumbledore, a master legilimens, fully believed that my father was guilty of betraying his oldest and best friend and the senseless murder of all those people, including another of his closest friends? Not only that but he made no effort to push for a fair trial, despite his position as the chief of the Wizengamot. He clearly had the power to do such things as Severus Snape, who we'll go into more detail with later in the course, was cleared of his charges  as a death eater purely due to Dumbledore's word regarding Snape's character. He then gave Snape a job as a professor and head of house which he maintained for 15 years before taking Dumbledore's place as headmaster after his death. So, what's the difference between my father, Sirius Black and Professor, Severus Snape?
Severus Snape had nothing to live for. He had no loyalties other than Dumbledore which is exactly what the headmaster wanted, however, my father had something else to keep him going. He wanted to prove his innocence for one, he craved freedom. But he also had Harry, my self and my god father, one of his oldest friends, Remus Lupin. But beyond even that; he craved revenge, he had been betrayed, framed and imprisoned, you see?" 

There were some nods and mumbles of agreement throughout the classroom which caused a bright smile to spread across the professor's youthful face. "Wonderful!"  The witch exclaimed happily. "Horace Slughorn was a potions master here, at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry when Tom Riddle was studying here. And he was well renowned for collecting people, that's what he did every year. He'd carefully select the students with the most talent, ambition and connections. He hand picked the most promising students and kept them close- He enjoyed having the connections and gifts... Albus Dumbledore also collected people but he was a lot more subtle about  it, very few people caught on to what he was doing. Whilst Slughorn wanted the witches and wizards with the most potential, Dumbledore collected those who he could be sure would remain loyal to him regardless of and above all else."

The bell rang out through the castle and Erica Black closed her notebook with an air of finality and gave a subtle nod to her students to signal her permission for them to begin packing up their belongings and filing out of her classroom.