3 December 1992, Hogwarts
Sometimes, Albus Dumbledore feels like this whole long-term investment in Neville Longbottom was too much of a headache. It might have been urged by the powers of light, who guided him into creating the boy who lived, but no magic could save him from the headache that this boy kept sending his way.
And it had been going too well before the brat even attended Hogwarts. Weaponizing a prophecy for his own gain took a lot of time and effort. The ritual he had given the Longbottoms, and the Potters had worked. Lord Voldemort had been defeated, and turned into a pale shadow of a living being, activating the prophecy. That meant that the moment Neville Longbottom was marked by Voldemort, half the prophecy was completed, meaning that the other half must happen as well, the energy was there, and the price was paid. Breaking the prophecy himself could liberate this energy and use it to create magnificent things, that could warp reality in unpredictable ways.
And it was this potential that stopped him from just killing the boy out of frustration for his actions. Who in their right mind uses a flying car to get to school, just because they missed the train? Just using a floo for a couple of sickles to get to Hogsmeade and send an owl would have been enough. But no, the boy who lived had to make Albus' life miserable. The number of favours he had to call in, not just on a national scale, but international as well, to make this go away was staggering. Breaking the International Statute of Secrecy was a big taboo, and if it had been a random muggleborn doing something like this, he would have been found dead from mysterious causes hours after the incident.
Honestly, the Headmaster didn't care about indiscretions as long as they were in private, and well, he could always use them to motivate people. But seriously, sometimes Albus wondered what went on in that empty head of Longbottom's.
He was having a perfectly nice night before Severus sent him a Patronus message telling him that Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, were discovered to be infiltrating the Slytherin common room having drank a Polyjuice potion. Worse, they were discovered in public and reverted back to their original appearance in the middle of the crowded common room.
And that alone was a political mess. The Crabbe, Goyles, and Bulstrodes were not particularly powerful families, but they were essentially in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. So, making something like this go away would take a lot of effort and concessions on his part. Breaking into another's house's common room was already bad enough, and the school charter proclaimed that it should be severely punished. But it was still a school matter. But the use of an illegal potion publicly was also a problem since it was technically grounds for the ministry to interfere. They rarely ever did it, but with the mess that this school year has been, and Malfoy probably pushing Fudge to do something, there was the very real possibility that this would escalate.
Luckily, there were other ways to impersonate people, so as far as anyone else is concerned, they could be holding some kind of illusion artefact that malfunctioned at once, due to spell interference. The bigger problem was the fact that impersonating members of another house was grounds for a blood feud. Thankfully, family matters for events occurring in Hogwarts were under the headmaster's purview, as long as the judgement is fair. It was an obscure law written in the school charter to avoid honour duels between students for some slight or another. The Ministry of magic hadn't been created yet, and since Hogwarts was technically considered outside of their involvement, Albus could deal with it himself.
Of course, the fact that Hogwarts wasn't governed by the ministry didn't change the fact that they could make things difficult if they wanted to. The castle wasn't under their control, but the curriculums, the exams, the funds, and many other things were. It was possible for them to interfere, but it wasn't usually worth the effort.
So, that meant that Dumbledore needed to put on a show of sorts, and explain that no one was above the rules. And honestly, the brats deserved it. Who in Merlin's name does something like this, and why?
Although Albus also shared some blame for that incident. He had allowed Neville, Ron, and Hermione, immunity from the wards on all common rooms. That was a mistake he had made the previous year when he wanted them to investigate the stone and he had forgotten to remove the access. None of this mess would have happened if it wasn't for this oversight. He was so preoccupied with the stone and Nicholas that he forgot.
Of course, that was when Minerva and Severus arrived with two students following behind. Ah, so Miss Granger got off the hook somehow. He gave his deputy headmistress a questioning look and she immediately got his message, "Miss Granger has been punished already, but since these two have broken their agreement and couldn't wait for an entire semester without causing another scandal, I thought it would be prudent to take them to you."
Ah, yes, he had gently threatened them with expulsion after the flying car fiasco. He looked at the two students that were staring at the sleeping Fawkes in awe, "Ah, this is Fawkes, my companion of many years. He found me when I was just out of Hogwarts when I was lost and needed a little guidance. As you could probably tell, he is a phoenix. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and they make highly faithful pets," Fawkes looked up and gave him a slight glare, "According to him, I am the pet."
The aged headmaster was chuckling at the end of the sentence. He really liked to show Fawkes up. Phoenixes really were rare creatures but very few people knew of their nature and Dumbledore wanted to keep it that way.
Albus motioned to the chairs in front of him and continued, "Well, Neville, Ron, please sit down. I believe we have much to discuss. I believe that I must congratulate you for being the students that caused the most non-educational work for the faculty in a single semester."
The Longbottom boy looked down, "We're really sorry about all of that, sir."
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