Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lucius read the letter in his hand. He, like all the governors, had received an update about what was happening at Hogwarts. At first he had not given a second thought to the squib caretaker's cat being petrified, but now that a student had also been petrified, he began to wonder – could this be the work of Riddle's diary? After all, it had been a Muggle-born who had been attacked.

And there was the mystery of the message that had been left when the cat was attacked: "Enemies of the heir beware. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened." That made Lucius strongly suspect it was the work of the diary, but how? Rumor said that the Chamber had been opened when his father had been at Hogwarts, which was coincidentally when Riddle had been at Hogwarts. Could the Dark Lord be Slytherin's heir? That oaf Hagrid had been implicated in the attacks, but he had never been convicted. The attacks had stopped and once again the Chamber returned to the realm of legend.

Owls flew feverishly amongst the school governors. He was forced to show concern, though he did try to point out that Filch was incredibly unpopular with the students and that they had been playing pranks on him for years. As to the Creevey boy, he had to be a little more delicate, reminding the governors that magical accidents routinely happened at Hogwarts, that it was likely that whoever had developed the means of petrifying the cat had decided to try it on a person. Creevey had merely been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

For the time being, that seemed to satisfy his fellow governors. There was no sign of panic from Dumbledore or the other teachers at Hogwarts, though many parents were receiving letters from their children asking about the Heir of Slytherin and the Chamber of Secrets – something seemingly no one could answer.

All of that changed when Lucius received a flurry of owls one evening. One was from Draco stating that Potter had spoken Parseltongue and that now people were thinking he was the heir of Slytherin – an idea that both Malfoys found preposterous. Another was from Dumbledore reporting a second attack on a student – this time Justin Finch-Fletchley – another Muggle-born, though Finch-Fletchley did come from a prominent Muggle family. The rest were from the other members of the Board, most of who seemed to be in a state of panic.

Malfoy decided that convening the school governors could no longer be put off and sent owls to the other governors calling a meeting for Monday, which would allow parents time to get to King's Cross and pick up their children at the Hogwarts' Express. For a moment he thought of sending an owl to Draco telling his son to come home for the holidays, but he reasoned that as pure-bloods and loyal servants of Voldemort that they were not 'enemies of the heir' and thus safe. Instead, he sent Draco an owl reminding the boy to look for opportunities to assist the heir.

Sitting down with a very old glass of Scotch, he tried to determine how the diary could be working to open the Chamber. He knew that Ginny Weasley was likely a typical young girl and could be easily manipulated, but could she be the one opening the Chamber? He chuckled at the irony of Muggle-loving Arthur Weasley's daughter letting lose the monster from the Chamber. Of course, he could not share this suspicion with anyone, but he could allow the thought to amuse himself.

At the meeting, he permitted the others time to air their frustrations and complete lack of knowledge on what to do next. One suggested they should summon Dumbledore to answer their questions directly. Others argued that Dumbledore's place was at Hogwarts where he could protect the students.

"He doesn't seem to be doing that right now," Lucius said dryly, taking advantage of the opportunity they had given him.

"And what do you suggest?" snapped Darius Findley.

"I wasn't suggesting anything. I was merely pointing out that allowing Dumbledore to remain at Hogwarts was not preventing the attacks." He tried to sound casual. At this point he wanted to put the idea of removing Dumbledore into the heads of the other governors, but he didn't want them to think it was his idea. As a Malfoy he preferred manipulating events from behind the scenes – at least for now.

For years he had thought that Dumbledore was turning into a doddering old fool, revered for his past deeds, but never evaluated for his current mental state. These attacks could serve the dual purpose of ridding the wizarding world of Mudbloods and finally providing the impetus to remove Dumbledore from his ivory tower – to prove to the wizarding world that he was no longer as great as he was when he'd defeated Grindelwald in his prime.

"Remove Dumbledore?" Findley said, clearly aghast.

"Look, Darius, this is the second attack in a matter of weeks. Clearly this situation is beyond Dumbledore's ability," said Angela Diggory. "His reports have as much said that he has no idea the source of the attacks or what to do to stop them."

"Well do you have an idea?" snapped Findley.

"Of course not," replied Diggory defensively. "I'm not there and don't have any access to any of the evidence... and neither do you."

"I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt then..."

"Until when? Until one of our children is killed? Or did you forget that the last time this happened a student died!" shouted Belvedere Greengrass.

Lucius did his best not to smirk at the chaos he had caused. He listened to the arguments, interjecting when necessary to ensure that his fellow governors took seriously the idea of removing Dumbledore.

By the time the meeting ended, no consensus had been reached, and most of the governors still supported allowing Dumbledore to remain as headmaster and find the perpetrator. But at least Lucius had planted the idea that someone other than Dumbledore might be able to stop the attacks.

Weeks and then months passed with no further attacks. Lucius began to wonder if young Weasley had become suspicious about the diary. He reminded himself that there was nothing to tie him to the diary. He had made certain that no one witnessed him placing the diary into one of her books. She was young enough that it should not occur to her that he had slipped the diary into her Transfiguration book. After all, people were always finding interesting things inside of used textbooks, and the diary was small enough that it could have been overlooked by the bookstore staff.

It was May when an owl arrived with word that two more students had been attacked. This was the moment he had been waiting for. Now was the time to force the governors to act and remove Dumbledore. He wouldn't leave the meeting without ensuring that the headmaster was removed.

Of course, the attacks would have to stop for the removal to remain permanent, but this was a step in the right direction. With Dumbledore gone, the way could be made for a return to wizarding values and a removal of Mudblood favoritism.

Lucius Apparated to the board meeting. He was neither the first nor the last to arrive. The general mood was one of shock and outrage, and he made to sure to voice his opinion that now was the time for change before the formal meeting started.

Once the meeting was formally convened, he did his best to control his emotions. Most of the governors were still waffling on removing Dumbledore, obviously remembering the man as he was, not as he is. Finally he could not control himself.

"Don't you understand? Do none of you understand that Dumbledore is helpless in the face of these attacks. Now is the time for change. Now is the time to remove him from his position so that we can make way for someone more capable, someone who is not in the twilight of his life."

"Remove him? After all he has done for the school, you suggest we fire him?" asked Angela Diggory.

Lucius waved his hand dismissively. "Call it forced retirement. Whatever you like. The simple truth is that it is time for change at Hogwarts. Dumbledore, and many of the instructors, have been there for decades. Our children will benefit from changes at Hogwarts, and perhaps a younger wizard or witch will be more capable of solving the mystery of the Chamber." Lucius preferred to convince the other governors to voluntarily remove Dumbledore, but he would not leave this meeting without their signatures approving his removal.

"No one knows the castle better than Dumbledore," said Belvedere Greengrass defensively.

"Is that so? Then why has he not been able to find the Chamber? Or I should say, stop the monster since the Chamber is nothing more than a myth." He didn't really believe this, but he wanted the others to believe that. "We all know that last time Rubeus Hagrid was keeping some sort of monster in the castle and that after he was expelled, the attacks stopped." Lucius had already reminded the Minister of this information, and he was sure that it would soon be acted upon.

"Time is running out. For the safety of our children we have to act. I have a declaration that we call the removal of Albus Dumbledore as headmaster. For the safety of our children, we must do this." He slapped the piece of parchment on the table and signed his name to it. "Anyone who does not sign this is condemning our children to death or to the closing of Hogwarts. I will not allow any of you to place my child in jeopardy. Anyone who does not sign this clearly does not care about the future and will pay most dearly for their arrogance in keeping Dumbledore on as headmaster," he said menacingly through gritted teeth. He cast an intimidating gaze at them all, locking eyes with each member until they broke contact first.

One by one, the governors slowly passed the parchment around the table and signed it. He could tell that several were quite reluctant, but one menacing gaze from him let them know that he was serious about this declaration being signed.

Once they had finished, he rolled up the parchment and tucked it into his pocket. "You will not regret this decision." He then spun on his heel to personally deliver the news to Dumbledore. This was a good day indeed.