Meeting - Jason

The evaluater fiddled with the chairs, trying to make the distance between them precise. He expected his remarks would be under scrutiny but a neat room made him feel better. He was nervous. This was going to be a hard one. Yes, the leader being evaluated was dead and so was unlikely to retaliate, but he had been so loved. His followers, sometimes self identified as an army, might leave their vigil by the white tomb and become violent. Additionally, the power of the man himself was renowned, who knows what curses might be in store at a particular indelicate comment.

The Minister had asked for this evaluation, so she could better select the next Headmaster. While she had loved the evaluatee , she had always suspected that he was not the best man for the job. Yes, he had been a very powerful wizard, but even as a student should could see the error of his ways. So, she had asked 360 Leadership to do a full evaluation of Dumbledore and in just a few minutes she would be here to participate in the deposition.

When Minister Hermione Granger walked into the room she struggled under the weight of a large portrait. The image of Dumbledore wavered trying to keep balance as his chair slid from right to left within the frame. His bearded face went from euphoria to terror, like he was riding a roller coaster. When she got into position, she placed portrait on the arms of one of the office chairs. It make it so a little Dumbledore looked over the edge of the table.

“I am certain this review will be brilliant. Thank you for taking your time.”

“Thank you, Minister Granger, for asking Leadership 360. If you will take a seat.”

The evaluater pointed to one of the chairs, beside the one holding Dumbledore and Hermione gently took her place. The evaluater then slid her a folder, three hole punched with a clear front, Albus Dumbledore, it read on the first page. This was a collection of the findings of the evaluation.

“First, Minister, you will see there are some good traits of the former headmaster.”

“I should say,” said the portrait.

“He was very powerful, powerful enough to wield the Elder Wand, fend off several Death Eaters at the same time, even contend with Voldemort for a time. Over all, it is very good for the students to have such a role-model and protector.”

Both the Minister and Dumbledore smiled at this, perhaps they thought of some triumph.

“Additionally, he was noted to have inspired incredible loyalty. The majority of the students loved him, he lead the Order of the Phoenix, he was able to call on powerful Aurors to teach at a whim, and because of their respect for him he caused people who otherwise would not work together to form a united front. How else do you explain Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall and Rubeus Hagrid working so closely together? When you select the next Headmaster, he too should inspire this kind of loyalty.

“Now, not everything is so rosy.”

“Really?” questioned little Dumbledore, suddenly straightening.

“Take his hiring and coaching. See, a good leaders first job is to hire the right people, but then, if he has some that don’t exactly fit the mold, he is to coach them into better practices. Under Dumbledore's watch Hogwart’s hired Hagrid, who routinely endangered the lives of the students, who brought dangerous creatures onto school grounds, was found to participate in the illegal dragon trade, to which the headmaster seemed to ignore. He certainly didn't spend anytime counseling the groundskeeper. He also kept on Professor Snape, who took great delight in bullying and belittling the kids, Quirrell who you might remember was possessed by Voldemort, Gilderoy Lockhart, who basically taught a class on his fake life, Trelawny, who 99% of the time had no idea what she was talking about…”

With this Dumbledore started to shout, “Hey, hey, she was perhaps the only living oracle. She spoke the most important prophecy the ministry held. I thought she was a right fine choice for a Divination teacher.”

“She was a little obsessed with the death of Harry.”

“What of Filch? Who seemed to only want to catch the children doing something wrong. Or Binns? Who would drone on and on, not caring if they paid attention. Why would you keep them?”

“Because they were my friends.”

“That is hardly a good enough reason. Not only were his hiring practices poor, but he seemed to have no sense of danger.”

“My students were never in danger.”

“Really, Headmaster, what decision making was it that allowed you to conclude that Voldemort was returning, that he would want the Sorcerer's Stone and the best place that you could keep it would be in the midst of hundreds of students? Did it never occur to you to maybe keep it, and Voldemort correspondingly, far away from children? It would have been better to introduce them to dementors. Oh, that’s right, you did that as well, or at least you let the ministry post them as guards around the grounds. This was even knowing the periodically were not in complete control.”

“They were outside the school. No one was in real danger.”

“You mean like the danger you exposed them to when you placed a giant three headed dog behind a door which was locked so simply that first year students could open it? Or perhaps you mean the danger one is exposed to when you let an underage wizard participate in a tournament which is notoriously dangerous.”

“You’ve gone to badgering the portrait,” said the Minister.

“And I don’t like it one bit.”

“I’m sorry, it is all in the report. A good headmaster, first and foremost is looking after the safety of the students placed in his charge. They should keep the dangers a far distance from them. Not engage in activities which are going to draw dark wizards and work to keep the monsters safely controlled and at a distance.”

“Lastly a the headmaster of Hogwarts needs to be fair, not have the appearance of a arbitrarily doing things, which brings me to the house points system. The could and should be a great system. Gaining points for good things and losing points for bad things. If one student is caught up and it means their house loses 10 points, it should mean that no matter their house. Well, we here at 360 leadership have looked into how that system worked under the watch of Dumbledore and thought you might be interested in the following things. In a year in which the Slytherin house was solidly in the lead the headmaster awarded points for extraordinary actions, which under his watch was not that unusual, but the points given seemed to be a bit arbitrary, you know 50 here, 60 there, until you realized that those last 10 points, given to the Longbottom fellow was just enough to give his favored house the lead.”

“Dumbledore, I never did ask you about why Gryffindor always seemed to win the house cup while I was there. Do you care to comment?”

“10 points to Gryffindor!”