Harry Potter and the Stitch in Time

Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Sirius stood up in the Wizengamot as it was his turn to speak on the proposed bill. "My fellow Warlocks, I hope you can all see this bill for what it truly is. The Chief Warlock is doing nothing but trying to make his way back into Hogwarts after, I would like to remind everyone, he was removed because he was a danger to the children. He saw nothing wrong with illegally kidnapping students and putting them at the bottom of a lake. Even if the school needed a High Inquisitor, does Albus Dumbledore really sound like the man for the job? This is nothing more than a power grab to gain back control over the students and staff that he was rightly stripped of. What say you, Warlock Greengrass?" Sirius invited Greengrass to use the remainder of his time to prevent the Chief Warlock from skipping him again.

Warlock Greengrass stood up and nodded to Sirius in thanks who then sat back down. "Thank you Warlock Black. Warlocks of the Wizengamot, not only would I urge you to vote no, I think this whole procedure should be scrapped. It took me some time going over the school's financial records, but I have finally uncovered a number of irregularities. Irregularity one: the wages for the History of Magic professor. On the surface this looks normal, a wage was paid out every month that was the same as all the other professors that went back all the way to first month that Dumbledore became headmaster. The problem, I'm sure most of you have realised, is to whom was this gold paid? It certainly wasn't paid to Professor Binns, who I don't need to remind you all is a ghost. A meeting with a manager at Gringotts was enough for me to confirm that Albus Dumbledore, then headmaster, current Chief Warlock, and our representative to the wider magical world, embezzled money from a school.

"For thirty-eight years, Dumbledore embezzled the salary of a professor. While the actual Galleon amount is lower because the value of gold drops in our economy as the goblins and dwarfs mine ever more of it, I can say that Warlock Dumbledore has defrauded the school of the buying power of over two hundred and fifty thousand Galleons." He paused for dramatic effect. "And that's just on the first case of embezzlement I found. Professor Hagrid was most surprised to learn that his salary as a professor was twice as high as his salary for a groundskeeper. He never received an extra Knut over what he was earning before he became a professor, despite the fact it was meant to be triple what he was getting." At the mention of two hundred and fifty thousand Galleons, there was a lot of harsh muttering amongst the warlocks in the chamber.

"From conversations I have had at the bank, all this extra gold was funded into accounts owned and controlled by Warlock Dumbledore. We shouldn't be looking to give this man power over the school again, we should be debating how long he should spend in Azkaban!"

Warlock Doge stood up next without being invited or called upon, but the Chief Warlock didn't call him on his lack of decorum. Not surprising, as the man practically adored Dumbledore and was obviously about to speak on his behalf. "Warlock Greengrass, those are serious charges and I hope you have the evidence to fully back them up, else I for one would vote for you to be censured for your slanderous remarks. However, as I see it, this is nothing more than an attempt to shift the focus away from giving the most inexperienced headmaster magical Britain has ever had since Hogwarts was founded some much needed oversight."

"Oh, I welcome oversight," Warlock Greengrass said, "as long as it's the right oversight. If Madam Marchbanks in her role as Head of the Department for Magical Education, or someone she appoints wishes to go over every decision I have made in my new role, I will gladly accept the process and most likely find a few mistakes I have made in my inexperience. However, I will not allow Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, kidnapper, child endangerer, and embezzler Albus Dumbledore to set foot on the grounds of Hogwarts while I hold the position of Headmaster. My daughters go to that school, and knowing what I know of that man and the things he has done, I refuse to allow him to manoeuvre himself to where he holds any authority over them or any other of our children. That is the duty I was given when I became a father, and a privilege that was expanded to protect so many when I accepted my role as headmaster. "