"Today," Dantes told her flatly. "Once the students get on the train the school will close until I think we are ready to reopen. You will need to let the students know, because I doubt I will have all the changes, I want to make, done before September."
"Surely you can see how disruptive this will be to the children's lives, especially those who are second through sixth year." Dumbledore protested. "Why not do a gradual shut down, but don't take in any new first years and then as each year finishes, it will not be replaced, until the second years complete their seventh year? That way their lives are not disrupted and it will give you seven years to complete your plans."
"No." Dantes disagreed. "I have thought this over and it would be far better in the long run for them to be with other children their own age, rather than realising that with each year they are getting fewer and fewer in number. Not to mention the stigma they will feel at knowing they were the last. You have your orders headmistress. Let the students know today before they leave. I have already made arrangements for the parents to be notified by owl post tomorrow."
"What about the house elves, the paintings, and the ghosts?" McGonagall wanted to know.
"The house elves will be staying on. Hagrid will also be asked to stay on and help with the modifications as well as the current maintenance along with Mr Filch. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to upgrade this castle to get it ready for future students and I hope they will help with that. As for the paintings and the ghosts, I have no doubt they are being told right now." Dantes gestured with his thumb toward one of the empty portraits of one of the former Headmasters.
"You do realise that some may choose not to come to this new school of yours?" Dumbledore pointed out.
"That's possible," Dantes shrugged. "But if purebloods and halfbloods won't attend the new Hogwarts, muggle-borns certainly will. And who knows we might even get students from other countries as well."
"Is there anyway we can convince you not to go through with this plan?" Dumbledore was willing to beg if that was what it would take.
"No." Dantes told him. "I am the master of Hogwarts and after today, it will only listen to me."
...
On July 31st, a large portion of wizarding Britain received a shock when they opened their morning paper. In big bold type the headline read: Hogwarts Closed! and then underneath it in slightly smaller print Founder Rowena Ravenclaw's Heir Lord Liam Dantes states that Hogwarts will be closed for the foreseeable future.
The article took up the whole front page. It outlined Dantes reason's for closing the school at least for now and how he was able to take control of the school back, given Fudge had violated the terms of the charter ceding control of the school to the people of magical Britain by placing Delores Umbridge into Hogwarts as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher while she also remained an active Ministry employee. A Ministry legal expert had confirmed that Lord Dantes did indeed have the right to do so because of Fudge's actions, though he lamented the fact that Dantes had chosen to do so. The parents who had children who would've been first years at Hogwarts this year and former students who had no students currently attending were furious at both the Ministry for creating the situation that allowed him to take control of the school back and Dantes for doing it.
At the Ministry, it was discovered that Fudge had not shown up for work that morning, but a quick check of his home showed he was still alive. He was apparently unwilling to step beyond the wards of his house, until the furore died down. The aurors were just glad he had chosen to do so. That meant they weren't wasting manpower trying to protect the idiot.
What passed almost unnoticed that day in the Daily Prophet because of the chaos caused by the news of Hogwarts closing was a small article listing the death of Albus Dumbledore, the former Headmaster of Hogwarts and defeater of Grindelwald. The article had listed his accomplishments and also it listed the fact that the previous month he had been reduced to little better than a Squib for violating the terms of the Potter's wills by placing their son with Lily Potter's sister. The article also claimed that the reason for Dumbledore's rapid decline was he had lost the will to live after all the losses he had suffered through the previous year from the loss of his seat on the Wizengamot to losing his position as Headmaster as well as his spectacular failure at trying to keep Lord Harry Potter in magical Britain.
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