Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 15: Feasts, Electives, and Student Organizations (pt 1)

1 September 1993
Hogwarts

Thankfully, the rest of the journey to Hogwarts was without incident, and Harry and his friends soon made their way to the castle. Once inside, as the other students were being ushered into the Great Hall, Harry told Blaise that he needed to go to the loo and to save him a seat. The other boy looked at him quizzically as if there were some imperceptible subtext he wasn't getting. Finally, he shrugged and nodded before heading inside while Harry walked to the nearest boy's restroom where he quickly checked to make sure no one else was present. Then, he hesitated as if somewhat embarrassed by what he was about to do before speaking out with a firm voice.

"Ahem! May I please speak with the house elf known as Tweak?" he said loudly. Nothing happened for several seconds, and accustomed as he was to Dobby's immediate arrival upon summoning, Harry assumed that the Slytherin house elf would not answer his call. But then to his surprise, there was a soft pop heralding the arrival of Tweak, a surprisingly serious-looking elf dressed in an apron covered in flour and who looked decidedly vexed at being summoned away from the feast preparations to answer a student's call.

"Begging the young master's pardon," Tweak said in a tone of voice that was firm, bordering on cold, "but house elveses are not to be answering calls from students. And particularly not during preparations for the Great Feast. Tweak has twenty shepherd's pies that have to come out of the oven very soon."

"Um, sorry, Tweak," Harry said with some embarrassment. "But Hoskins at Longbottom Manor said I could perhaps talk to you. As did some former Slytherin students you may recall. You see, I need a favor."

Tweak crooked an eyebrow in a manner that conveyed far more dubiousness than Harry had ever seen on a house elf's face before.

Meanwhile at the Ministry of Magic ...

There was a hard knock on the door to the Senior Undersecretary's office, which caused Dolores's head to jerk up suddenly. Swiftly, she pulled her wand and a small compact mirror out of her handbag, and with a quick spell, she fixed her runny mascara and restored her makeup to normalcy.

"Enter," she said somewhat shakily.

The door opened, and she fought back a grimace. It was James Potter, perhaps the last person she wanted to see this evening.

"Forgive the intrusion, Madam Umbridge," he said brusquely. "Minister Fudge has left to consult with the Muggle PM, and both his assistant and yours have gone for the day. I figured I might as well give a report on that debacle with the Hogwarts Express to someone and you're the only one still here."

"Of course, Chief Potter," she said with a sniff. "Do come in."

Potter entered the office and took a chair but then paused as he studied the woman before him. He wasn't sure but he suspected Umbridge had been crying.

"Madam Umbridge? Is ... is everything alright?" he asked hesitantly.

She chuckled and smiled at him wanly. "I think you know the answer to that, Chief Potter. You're the one here to deliver to me a report on my mistakes."

"Your mistakes?" he asked in confusion.

"Yes. I was, after all, the one who came up with the brilliant idea to manipulate the dementors by stationing them near Hogwarts, which apparently has had the effect of placing the entire student body in danger before they could even get through the front doors." James started to respond, but she continued before he could. "I want you to know, Lord Potter, that I have already tendered my resignation to Minister Fudge, but he has refused to accept it. His belief is that since no one on the train was actually harmed by the rogue dementor, it would be best to minimize the incident rather than undermine confidence in the government. Nevertheless ..."