"Also the point stands, why was a four X rated magical beast locked up within the school anyways? Where any young student could find it?" Of course, he knew the answer already, but the headmaster didn't know that and neither did their listeners.
...
Seeing there was no immediate answer on the headmaster's tongue for once, he moved on, pressing his advantage. "Not to mention a group of first years wandering around the forbidden forest in the middle of the night serving detention, when there was dark creature about capable of slaughtering a creature as fast and powerful in magic as unicorns for their life-blood," he added as his audience gasped in shock.
"Was it normal Chief Warlock, under your tenure as headmaster, for students to serve detentions in the Forbidden Forest, in the middle of the night, when something capable and willing to kill unicorns was in the area? I heard from the groundskeeper, Hagrid, that if it weren't for the timely intervention of the centaurs that call the forest their home that Neville Longbottom, our beloved Boy-Who-Lived, would have been attacked, and in all likelihood killed whilst serving detention that night, along with the two other first year students accompanying him.
It seems to me former Headmaster Dumbledore that you were awfully lucky that night," his words had the desired effect of making the headmaster pale a tad and subtly look around at the increase in the volume of muttering in their audience.
"That was a simple mistake, the detentions were misallocated," the former headmaster of Hogwarts stated clearly.
Pushing his advantage after such pathetically weak excuse, he kept on the attack. "It may have been another simple, honest mistake on your part, but children could have died because of it," he pressed forward, knowing that the now silent audience behind him was a very good sign that his point was getting across and the legend of Dumbledore's power and infallibility was slowly being chipped away at. It was also being made clear to these powerful and influential individuals that he was his own man and not another Dumbledore sycophant.
"How do you think their parents would have felt if those students had been murdered that night due to a simple administrative mistake? Would that have given them comfort? Lessened their despair? When you were headmaster of Hogwarts you were ultimately responsible for the safety of all the children placed under your care, parents place their absolute trust in the headmaster/mistress to protect their children while at school. Therefore that mistake and all the others that could have cost them their lives while under your care, lies at your feet, and yours alone."
Collecting his thoughts for a pregnant pause, he launched his next verbal assault, "Let's also not forget why we are here today. There were three nearly successful attempts on my life this past year at Hogwarts, along with several attempts on Neville Longbottom's life.
Before you make the excuse that the reason why these numerous attempts were so successful was due to a school governor being involved, remember the attacks resulting from the chamber of secrets and the attacks on me were also driven by Lord Malfoy's desire to have you removed.
Arguably, our attempted murders were all just a means to ultimately hurt you," stabbing his finger in the former headmaster's direction. "An auror assigned to be my body double was murdered at a meal in the Great Hall due to the many security failures around the school, security that was undermined even further by your allowing unscreened individuals within Hogwarts' walls.
Goblets and dining utensils that should have been enchanted to detect poisons weren't, allowing a good wizard to be needlessly poisoned for real. He left behind a wife and two young children by the way. How many children could have been accidently poisoned if they had drunk from that poisoned chalice?" he repeated an argument made many times in the Daily Prophet recently for the growing audience, playing on their fear.
"In light of all the facts I just reminded you of, I believe my original statement concerning how unsafe Hogwarts is is rather accurate, I hardly consider parents misguided or alarmist for wanting their children to be safe when out of their care. They expect much, because they risk so much. Is it wrong to expect that assurance of safety from the head of Hogwarts? After all, we don't all have the same magical prowess or skill as you do with the wand Chief Warlock," he offered in a flattering tone, his words causing the soft muttering of agreement from his audience, as the former disgraced headmaster realized he could not challenge the explanation without undermining the idea of his own prowess and skill, or without insulting the parents within the audience by implying that they were stupid and overreacting, which would surely cause even more headaches down the line.
But, stupid was a relative word really, compared to the headmaster's own intelligence and knowledge most people could be considered 'stupid,' even Harry could be considered stupid when measured against the headmaster. Yes, he was smart compared to his year mates, but compared to the Chief Warlock who had had over a century to gain magical knowledge, he was rather dumb. "Let's not mention the thousands of carriage sized man eating spiders' groundskeeper Hagrid keeps as seeming pets in the forbidden forest," he added seemingly as an afterthought, rather enjoying this exchange before turning to Sirius.
"Godfather, as a former Auror, do you believe my assessment is incorrect or overstating things?" With this question he innocently pulled Sirius into the public discussion, at the same time reminding their audience of Sirius' expertise and qualifications to give an informed opinion that should be listened to. He noticed Rita hidden amongst the crowd, her deadly quick quotes quill and notepad already in her hand.
'That woman must have a sixth sense for a story,' he noted to himself with an internal smile, whilst waiting for Sirius' response.
"I have to agree with my godson on this matter Chief Warlock," Sirius thoughtfully agreed after seeming to consider the question carefully for a few silent moments, publically giving voice to the crowd's own thoughts and thus validating them, making them seem far more than merely a personal opinion.
"Not even during my own troubled time at Hogwarts, with the persistent threat of You-Know-Who hanging over all of us like a dark shadow, did we have so many serious security failures around the school in such a short period of time." Sirius' words caused the Headmaster's eyes to widen just for a second, for some unknown reason, before the old wizard's mask was firmly back in place once again.
He suspected that the veteran political operators in the audience saw that brief lapse as well as he did. "Then there are the failing standards of teaching in such fundamental and vital areas as self-defence, potions, divination, and history of magic that have gone on in the last two decades under your leadership.
This is a worrying and dangerous state of affairs for the future of British magical society. Were you aware that a little less than half of all fifth year students fail their OWLs in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions. And that this failure is the cause of an incredibly dangerous skilled labour shortage in the auror corp, the ranks of healers, and the potions brewing sector? Need I remind you that a Potions OWL is required for numerous vital jobs in our world, like that of a healer or an Auror.
This is in turn weakening Britain as a whole due to this skill shortage. In my business discussions with several Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot with interests in the potions sector, for example, they simply can't find qualified people to hire and replace those employees that retire, much less hope for any kind of expansion.
In fact even after 12 years since the end of the war with You-Know-Who we have not recovered the numbers of healers and aurors we had before the start of the war. As a country we may even be forced to hire aurors, healers, and potions masters from foreign countries simply because our schools are seemingly incapable of producing any of our own!"
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