He had no idea where Sirius was going with his sudden change in subject but Albus assumed it was nowhere good for Albus.
"So I get why you allowed Harry and his friends to investigate the mystery. I'm sure they weren't the only ones; declaring something a no-go area to children is like waving a red flag to a bull." The dryness of his tone was somehow even more chiding than his anger. "I know James and I would have been up to the third floor corridor in a flash."
Sirius pointed at Albus. "But to encourage their curiosity when you knew the danger – when you were responsible for the danger was beyond the pale. You set a trap for a Dark Lord in a school full of children, Headmaster." He said coldly. "You used my son, James's and Lily's son, as bait and he ended up in no less than four life-threatening situations. You allowed a man possessed by Voldemort to teach. You placed dangerous creatures within the school – within the school! You failed to fulfil your duty of care ten times over."
Albus couldn't argue with him. He nodded despondently. "It was not one of my better moments, Sirius, and believe me when I say I learned from it. I would not do the same again."
"Well, the second year disaster when Harry was almost killed by a basilisk wasn't your fault, I give you that," Sirius said.
Dear Merlin; the boy really had talked of his adventures. Albus sighed heavily.
"But you didn't do much to ensure the safety of the school either. What were you thinking allowing the school to remain open when there was a basilisk roaming the corridors?"
"I could not locate the Chamber to deal with the basilisk and there was no information on who was being possessed." Albus defended himself briskly. "If I had merely closed the school, neither issue would have been resolved and the problem would just have reoccurred once the students returned. I confess that I did overlook Myrtle quite badly as a source of information but alas, I assumed her place of death was meaningless as a clue."
Sirius nodded. "OK, I can accept that although there were other additional precautions you could have taken; hiring some more roosters once the first lot were killed, for instance. But then there's the whole matter of allowing Harry to be mostly ostracized for being a parselmouth." He held up a hand. "I know it goes with your theory of education; children need to learn to handle rejection and not always being liked but you fail to realise that not stepping in condones the poor behaviour of prejudiced children being mean to another child. Just as never stepping into stop bullying behaviour allows it to continue and punishes the child being bullied."
"We have recently realised this and have agreed a new bullying policy." Albus rejoined, ignoring that his agreement had been grudging and given only after Minerva's sharp words on the subject.
"Does that include stopping the staff bullying the students too?" Sirius remarked crisply.
"You're referring to Severus." Albus said with a sigh. "I have talked with him about his behaviour with Harry."
Sirius harrumphed.
Albus decided he had been on the defensive too long. "Shall we discuss why Harry was in danger last year?"
Sirius gave a small laugh. "Oh, I accept my part and I'll even admit that I know you were forced to take the Dementors as guards under severe protest since Cornelius already confessed all to me, but you still didn't ward the passageways into the school; didn't think to leave an alarm on the Shrieking Shack; didn't think to specifically alarm Gryffindor tower. I got into the dorm! If I'd really been after killing Harry, I would have succeeded!"
The criticism hurt and Albus could see in hindsight that he should have done those things – it just hadn't occurred to him as he had been confident his security measures were sufficient. "Perhaps there needs to be a security review." He murmured. "I believed the usual wards would inform me if you entered the school which they failed to do."
"I have come this close," Sirius held up his forefinger and thumb showing a distance of less than an inch, "to finding Harry a different school."
Albus's eyes widened with horror. The financial impact if Harry withdrew would be tremendous as others would follow in his wake; the damage to Hogwarts' reputation would be immense; and, sentimentally, Albus wanted Harry himself to simply attend and enjoy Hogwarts as Albus had done, as James and Lily had done.
"However," Sirius said, "Harry loves Hogwarts. So he stays and I will be taking the Black seat on the Board of Governors." He looked over at Albus and for the first time the fire that had been in his eyes had disappeared. "A security review seems to be a good idea especially since you're opening up the school to the Tri-Wizard Tournament."
"I would appreciate your help," Albus said immediately, "and perhaps I can convince Amelia to put some of the new funds at her disposal towards the tournament." He smiled at Sirius proudly. "That was well done today, my boy, very well done indeed."
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