Harry joined the curse-breaking team on the first day. Despite the vision that was probably given to him by the castle, he let the team into the chamber of secrets first, considering it the most probable place for Riddle to hide something since it could only be accessed by a parselmouth. This was probably what Dumbledore thought to be the right place and he didn't think he should already show he knew more.
He didn't expect much. Although the carcass of the Basilisk was still there, Harry didn't think there was much more than the skeleton left there. He certainly didn't expect to see the Basilisk there, looking as if it was just killed a moment earlier.
He also couldn't expect the surprised gasps from all the curse-breaking team. "Who killed it?" the team leader asked.
Harry was unable to refrain from telling. "I killed it with a sword after it managed to punch my arm with a fang. Luckily, Fawkes – that's the headmaster's phoenix – shed some tears into the wound and saved me."
This only evoked some additional questions, forcing Harry to tell the whole story since the message about the kidnapped girl was discovered until they all arrived at the headmaster's office. He was glad he was still able not to reveal the identity of the girl. And then Bill Weasley, who was a member of the team, said, "Neither Ginny nor Ron told me about it. Has anybody told you what that diary was?"
At Harry's shrug, Bill explained, "It was probably a Horcrux – the vilest piece of magic known. It's used to prevent its creator from dying, or that's what most think. It can't really do that. A Horcrux can only keep a person alive for as long as one could live without being killed prematurely. Otherwise, we would have still had some Pharaohs running around. Still, to create such an abomination, one needs to use a vile ritual and kill an innocent." He shuddered at the idea.
The goblin was more interested in the basilisk, though. "Did you have any help at killing the beast?"
"No. The girl was unconscious and there was nobody else to help me, except for Fawkes."
The goblin dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "That means that you're the sole owner of this carcass. If you allow, I can have a team come here to render it into usable materials that may gain you quite a bit of money. The venom alone can bring you at least half a million Galleons. The meat is considered a rare delicacy by our kind and the dwarves; the veins and tendons are useful for wand and staff creations; the blood and the venom, as well as some other parts, are used in rare and extremely expensive potions. Its hide is also extremely useful for creating clothes that are resistant to most magic and still light enough to not encumber the wearer."
Harry sighed. He didn't feel like he needed that kind of money, but if people wanted these parts, it would be unfair not to put them on the market. "It's been here for more than two years. Is it still good for anything?"
The goblin looked incredulous. "Basilisk parts can keep for centuries. The last one, before this, was slain about three hundred years ago and its parts are still fresh enough for even the most exacting potions. Rendered well and stored cautiously, the parts of this beast can keep your descendants going for many generations."
Harry sighed again. "Alright. I'll need an estimate of the work to be done and the value of this carcass, once properly processed, before I can decide."
The goblin seemed satisfied. "I'll have Gringotts handle this promptly."
They found a few more surprises there, although not the alleged curse. Behind some fake walls, a vast library was found. About half the books and scrolls there were unintelligible to others, but Harry could easily read them, making them all understand these were written in Parselscript. Another hidden suite held quite a few artefacts that were clearly Salazar Slytherin's own belongings. Most had no intrinsic value, only historical ones.
Another pleasant surprise was an opening that led into the forbidden forest. While not very useful under normal circumstances, this could help the rendering team work on the basilisk and move in or out of that place without interfering with the rest of the school. Since that job could not start immediately and would take more than a few days, according to the goblin curse-breaker, that was quite a welcome surprise.
Harry then led most of the team to the seventh floor, as the castle informed him. Following the instructions, he opened the room of lost things and let the curse breakers search the huge room and the innumerable items stored there.
Due to their efficient methods, the curse breakers were able to find quite a few cursed items there within the first few hours. One was a diadem identified as originally belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw. It contained some magic too dark to handle at the castle, certainly so close to the beginning of term, so it was promptly sent to Gringotts, where it could be properly cleansed and returned to its original state. Another item was a galleon coin, hidden in the drawer of an old, partly broken desk. It seemed to contain the curse that so severely affected the position of the DADA teacher. It was also sent to Gringotts, although in this case, it was more for finding a way to disallow any curse to be cast on the coins. The goblins seemed to take it as a personal insult that money was used to contain a curse.
There were many more cursed items in that room, mostly jewellery. "We shall cleanse them all and retain their value as jewels," the team's leader promised. "With so many items, this room may add to your vaults about the same value as the basilisk carcass."
Aside from cursed items, the room contained many books, some of them many centuries old, along with other items used at school many generations earlier. There were also wands and staffs, some still in good working order. Still, more than half the items were broken or damaged beyond repair. While a few could probably be sold as antiques, Harry thought it was too much of a bother and ordered the teams to vanish whatever was not useful as raw material and unrepairable as an item.
It took the team a few days to finish scanning both the room of hidden things and the Chamber of Secrets. Aside from removing many curses, the value of all the discovered items was astounding, and that was without including the basilisk's carcass. The revenue from just selling a small part of the old items more than covered the cost of the project.
"I also want you to scan the whole school for any lingering curses or jinxes. I want the school to be as safe as possible. We should consider to also repeat this scan every few years, I believe," Harry instructed.
This didn't lead to any significant new finds but helped remove some residues of curses cast long ago, making the castle seem more welcoming and more cheerful. The Potters liked the subtle change very much.
–..–
Dumbledore was surprised at the number of cursed items found. He had barely believed that the DADA curse was real, until the evidence was presented to him. Then, finding that many corridors and classes had residues of curses that could still affect the students, was a sobering experience. He would have never believed that young students could even cast such long-lasting curses. His belief that everybody deserved a second chance was severely shaken. He didn't totally reject that belief but felt that it needed to change a bit. He now believed that proper punishment and re-education, along with a sincere desire to change, should precede giving second chances. He wondered if his original belief hadn't caused the death of some of his followers during the war. He could only hope it hadn't, as he couldn't stand the idea that it did.
This change of heart also helped him realise that the way he had let Severus act was not right for the school or even for Severus himself. The young man needed some caring, loving treatment to leave the past behind. Instead, Albus had let him abuse his position and jeopardise too many potential careers in the hope he would finally change his way. He should have given Severus some serious incentive for a change, not just meaningless words.
While the castle seemed to become more cheerful after the removal of the curses, Albus didn't feel cheerful at all. He felt as if he'd been cursed for a long time and when looking back on his decisions and actions, he couldn't justify too many of them. That wasn't a cheerful thought at all.
–..–
Dolores Umbridge, the senior undersecretary of the Minister for Magic, wasn't content. Until recently, she was aiming at getting a position on the Board of Governors for Hogwarts, so that she could make sure it didn't let the unworthy in. After finding the werewolf whom Dumbledore let teach, she was sure that Cornelius, her beloved minister, would assign her to a position there. The last year was too soon and she had no chance to work on persuading him quickly enough. The man was only persuaded quickly by large sums of money, sums that were beyond her reach. Still, by talking to him day by day, he seemed to eventually agree. And then this blasted Potter took control of the school and dismissed the Board completely. That was preposterous! How could the education of the next generation be left in the hands of such a young child? She needed to change that. If left alone, who knows what kind of rebellious ideas would come out of that? Hogwarts needed to be kept under strict control to disallow any new ideals from coming to life, or the elite pureblood families may lose their hold on the rest of the population, and this was simply too horrific to even think about.
Cornelius, as usual, wouldn't support anything unless it lined his coffers with gold, but she could use her influence on others instead. She started drafting a law to put an end to the independence of Hogwarts and bring it under full control of the Ministry. With some judicious use of blackmail and bribery, she was sure she could pass that law in the Wizengamot, even without Cornelius backing it.
She found an ally in the Malfoy patriarch, a member of the now-disbanded Hogwarts' Board of Governors. "Potter is a half-blood and he married a mudblood, a foreigner and a blood traitor. How can we leave the education of our children in their hands?"
She knew she could trust Lucius to do most of the work for her, in this case, and his methods were usually even more effective than hers.
–..–
Harry didn't expect the Ministry to accept the changes in Hogwarts without protest. He expected some form of a fight for domination of the school after his new position became commonly known. He didn't expect it very soon, knowing how slowly the Ministry was doing things, but given enough time, it would react.
Dumbledore was also expecting some reactions. Malfoy was not one to lose his position concerning Hogwarts in silence, and he had the Minister's ear in his pocket. There were also others, no doubt. Luckily, he still had his connections in many places in the Ministry and he kept himself well informed, so he could act wisely when needed.
At first, he was reluctant to share most of this information with the Potters, but after the removal of the curses, he changed his mind.
"It looks like you will need to use your political powers to deflect the new initiative to take control of the school," he told them during their next meeting.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, looking worried.
"Umbridge and Malfoy are trying to pass a law that would force you to re-instate the Board of Governors and let it set policies, the way it had been until recently," Dumbledore told them.
He couldn't understand why she seemed to relax, but Harry asked, "What can we do to stop it?"
Dumbledore started explaining. "You'll need to reclaim all your Wizengamot seats. The founder lordships give you three seats per lordship, and most of the others – just one. Still, that means you can claim more than twenty seats, ones that are currently held by the Ministry. This will change the Wizengamot quite significantly. Now, to claim your seats you need to be present at the beginning of the next meeting and claim specifically each position. You need to show the Lord or Lady rings to prove your claims."
"I don't think we need to bother," Hermione intervened.
Both Harry and Dumbledore looked at her with evident surprise. "Why not?"
She looked at Harry, although her words were intended for Albus just as much. "Don't you remember the documents we've read about the founding of the school? The Magical Council, which was later replaced by the Ministry and the Wizengamot, signed a magical contract with the founders, allowing Hogwarts full autonomy. It also included penalties for any breach. If the ruling authority wants to take control of the school, it must buy it at full price from the time it first opened. It means that the initial price should be augmented by the amounts that could be gained by investing that money wisely for the whole period since. Even at a modest one percent yearly growth, that means it should pay more than twenty thousand times the initial price, which wasn't cheap at all. I'm not sure this sum can be paid even if using all the gold at Gringotts, and the Ministry can't pay even if it was only ten times the initial cost.
"Then, there's also another part of the contract, one also signed by the king at that time, giving Hogwarts and its terrain the status of a semi-independent duchy. This means that we can act as a sovereign country as long as we don't oppose the British monarchy. If any other power tries to take control of Hogwarts, that's an act of war and can be treated as such. In this case, applying to the queen will force her to intervene and disallow that takeover. By turning Her attention to the Ministry for Magic, it may make Her curious about how it's behind the times and why. I'm sure this is a much bigger threat for the ruling elite than any threat they can see in us taking control here."
Harry smiled too. "So, they can't really pay to take control peacefully, and if they try otherwise, we make the Monarch check the Ministry, which would surely lead to major changes. They should leave us alone or else…"
Dumbledore didn't smile. While he didn't want the Ministry to control the school, exposing the anachronistic Ministry to scrutiny was an idea he couldn't accept either. He knew that any change in the Ministry would remove his influence there. Still, losing the school would make him lose his political position anyway. He didn't like either alternative.
Susan was more practical. "I suggest we write an open letter to the ministry and put it in the Prophet, for everybody to read. We can state that since we're so young, we can understand their concerns, so we're ready to sell the school in accordance with the old contract. On the other hand, if anybody tries to control the school otherwise, we shall close our school and send the students home. We shall then apply for the queen to judge. She will probably check the way the Ministry reached its decisions and how it acted; the criteria for anybody getting a position, and other aspects, before giving Her decision, which we should all accept and act accordingly. While not threatening at all, we can show them that any such action would be a complete folly and change the magical world even faster than we can."