Saviour of Magic

Change in Leadership

Three years later ...

September 2018

Potter Castle

"Dobby!"

The house-elf immediately popped in front of his master and beamed, "Master Harry is calling Dobby? What can Dobby for the great Harry Potter?"

A hint of a fond smile formed on Harry's face. He was sitting in his favourite armchair by the floor-to-ceiling windows in his study, going through the list he had prepared of people he suspected might be collaborating with the Muggles.

"Did you trail Hermione Granger?"

"Yes, Master," Dobby nodded fervently, his ears flapping in excitement. "Dobby did exactly as Master instructed him to do. Dobby followed Miss Grangye everywhere for two weeks."

"And?" he pressed.

"Miss Grangye is not interacting with Muggles, Master," answered the house-elf. "Sometimes she goes to the Muggle world to buy things, but she didn't meet anyone. She is simply staying at home, and Dobby's scans showed that she was always surrounded by books."

Harry exhaled in frustration as he struck off another name from his list. "So she's doing nothing suspicious?" he inquired again.

"No, Master. Miss Grangye mostly stays at home the whole day. Dobby is not sure what she does at home. There are wards that prevent house-elves from directly entering, but Dobby was able to see that the book-witch was mostly reading or writing or casting spells."

Harry bit his lip in contemplation. "You did a good job, Dobby. Thank you. That is all."

Dobby beamed at him and Disapparated with a crack.

"I told you," said Daphne. "It was only a matter of time before Granger resigned from her job. I always wondered why she didn't pursue higher education and instead joined the Ministry immediately after graduating from Hogwarts."

"It was probably due to lack of money," shrugged Harry. "Not everyone receives a scholarship to go to a university and without her parents for financial support, what else would she do?"

"Yeah," Daphne agreed quietly. "You know, now that I'm older and calmer, I feel like I should have handled the situation in our fifth year better. Maybe that Confundus Charm was unnecessary. Just making them shut up would have been enough."

"You were a fifteen-year-old girl," Harry pointed out. "The fact that you enchanted that book was quite a feat in itself. We never asked her to complain to McGonagall, Daph. She being a tattletale was what caused the problem in the first place."

"Well, she was a young girl too. I can't fault her for blaming us – me – for what happened. At the time, I wasn't mature enough to realise it, but should the situation be reversed, I would be pretty mad too. Yes, Granger was at fault, but it wasn't like I was innocent either."

Harry shook his head. He still believed that what Daphne had done then was right. Severus Snape had been a real problem during the Voldemort war, and her Confundus Charm had managed to keep the secret of the Defence Association from getting out and managed to get rid of Snape at the same time. If Granger had a problem with his teaching methods, she could have simply stopped attending his classes. She had no right to stop others from learning.

"Anyway, Granger now pursuing higher education is not something surprising," she shrugged. "Yes, she was a high-ranking employee, but maybe she just wants to study more?"

"Do you really think Granger, of all people, would be fine with the amendment?" Harry asked darkly. "Daph, we have a breach. Information about the magical world is trickling its way into the Muggle internet. It's getting very hard for us to erase such information. Anti-wizard sentiments haven't been this high in a century!"