(minor revisions of turns of phrase in this chapter, 13th October 2013)
Disclaimer: I am not J K Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter. I am not Leslie Charteris. I do not own The Saint.
Note: The following is by way of a teaser/piece of background material for the 'Saint Potter' crossover story I'm working on, and features an encounter between Filius Flitwick and Albus Dumbledore in the headmaster's office in Hogwarts. The Sorting Hat is also present. The date is September the first, 1991, and the staff are gearing up for a new school year.
This is set in an alternate universe which was impacted by The Saint, and some characters and events have diverged from canon.
"I came via the great hall, since I was curious to see Severus' speech this year. It was very rousing." Professor Flitwick said to the Hogwarts headmaster. "'A new power is rising in the west, and the name of that power is Hogwarts. And that power begins with we who are gathered in this hall right now, underpinning everything that happens here.' Very exciting stuff."
"I could hear the house-elves whistling and stamping from here." the headmaster responded. "Sometimes, I think Severus gets a little carried away in his duties, and imagines that it's the age of a goblin rebellion, and he and his 'army' of helpers are the last hope of civilisation."
"They enjoy it. And happy, enthusiastic, house-elves make for a better run school." the charms professor pointed out.
"Be that as it may," the headmaster did not dispute the point, but moved on, "since Barty Crouch was unsuccessful in his efforts to locate Kara Black and initiate proceedings to make her a Ministry ward before she turned eleven – despite having had almost a decade to do so – Miss Black will be arriving at Hogwarts later today, as an underage witch but the heiress to a vast fortune, and her fate and that of the trust which her late father, Regulus, set up matters almost as much to the school as the house-elves. Given her importance, I seem to recall that I sent you to personally deliver her Hogwarts letter, Filius. Remind me of her leanings and character."
"She's annoyed that she and her mother had to spend so long in hiding from the magical authorities to avoid control of the Black fortune and properties being seized along with her person by the Ministry. As far as an eleven year old is capable of it, she has something of a grudge against the former minister. On the other hand, she's tremendously proud of her father and what she's heard of him, and is eager to see exactly what has been going on here thanks to the Black foundation."
"House leaning?" the headmaster asked.
"You know I don't like to try and pre-guess sortings, headmaster." Professor Flitwick said.
"If I gave you five galleons to place, the winnings to get something for your Ravenclaw library, and the loss entirely my own personal cost to bear, how would you put it?" the headmaster asked.
"Don't mind me." the Sorting Hat snorted from the mantelpiece, when Filius gave it a wary glance. "I ignore pretty much everything you lot say about how you expect sortings to go, anyway. Just so long as I'm dusted down properly before I'm taken out, I'm unlikely to be biased towards any sorting by anything you say."
"I'd put three galleons on Slytherin and keep the rest, so I was sure to get something." Professor Flitwick said. "She's proud of her father."
"Well, her father was a Slytherin but a worthy one." the headmaster said thoughtfully. "Still, I think that this year, I shall direct our friend here to be extra careful in how it sorts students, and not to accept 'well my father was in x-x-x' as the sole reason for a placement."
"If you wish to direct me to ignore family traditions, and to place students where I feel best that they fit – assuming the most obvious choice would not endanger them in some way – then by all means do so." the Sorting Hat chuckled. "I don't have to deal with the howlers from enraged parents wanting to know why their precious little cherub has ended up in Ravenclaw instead of Hufflepuff after all."
"The last howler I had about a sorting was when you insisted on putting Percy Weasley in Slytherin, four years ago." the headmaster said mildly.
"If you'd seen what was inside his head at the time, you wouldn't have questioned why I put him there." the hat replied. "And I believe that the events of the past few years have more than justified my placement. It would have been a waste to put him in Gryffindor just because his closest relatives in several generations had all been there, and I note Molly raised nary a murmur of protest when I sent her twins to Ravenclaw two years ago."
"Yes, well, I think she would have concurred with your opinion that they are without doubt, outlandishly clever, and Ravenclaw is not such a burden for a traditionally Gryffindor family." the headmaster said.
"I doubt Minerva could have coped with those two." Filius said. "They certainly keep me on my toes. Do we have any twins in this year's intake? It's always so fascinating to see them at work, especially if they end up in the same house."
"The MacDougal girls and the Patil girls, I believe." the headmaster said. "Minerva vaguely knows the MacDougal family, and thinks they could be Hufflepuffs. I neither know nor have heard anything of the Patils; well not beyond the details my contacts have supplied of the wands which they purchased."
"Anything exciting?" Professor Flitwick looked politely interested.
"Well not about the Patil girls." the headmaster adopted a canny look. "One got a dragon heartstring core, and the other a phoenix feather, suggesting they may have somewhat different temperaments. But the most exciting gossip about wands I heard all summer arose from events the day Severus went off on his errand and Gringotts had their unfortunate excitement. During a half hour period on that day, Garrick sold two wands in most unexpected fashions. The first, the wand which would be the brother-wand to Voldemort's very own – should that latter wand still exist – went to a young lady by the name of Patricia Yaxley."
"To who?" Professor Flitwick asked.
"I must confess that was my reaction, too." the headmaster admitted. "I have made enquiries. Mother a minor member of the Yaxley family. Father some unknown wastrel believed to have got her drunk one night and taken most ungentlemanly advantage. I can make neither head nor tail of it. It makes no sense whatsoever, that some unknown girl should get so significant a wand."
"Was she born in July?" Filius asked.
"That was also my thought. Her birthday is the seventh of April. I checked most carefully. It is quite out of the question that the prophecy could have referred to her." the headmaster said. He went on. "The other wand did go to The-Girl-Who-Lived. It was an Ollivander 'special' – something extraordinary and experimental with a core of unicorn hair and hammered silver wire. There is no conceivable way, Garrick was almost certain, before she walked into his shop, that a witch or wizard who would suit its temperament would ever turn up. And yet practically the moment he started measuring her, he was sure that that was exactly the wand for her. It is my hope that if The-Girl-Who-Lived has such a wand, then that at least is a positive sign, even if it is not the brother-wand."
"She does have a name, Albus, and you know you can't go calling her The-Girl-Who-Lived to her face." Filius sighed. "She's grown up – at your insistence, I might add – with practically no knowledge of or contact with our world."
"That was necessary to keep her safe." the headmaster said. "Although I must confess that I find the streets around her reported address rather confusing, and awkwardly numbered. Neither I nor Minerva have been able to personally locate her residence in several tries. And I shall address Soapy by her name, rest assured."
"It's Sophie, headmaster. I believe 'Soapy' was a silly nickname James had for her when she was a baby, which I doubt she has heard used in close to a decade." Filius' sigh had an edge of polite exasperation to it this time.
"Ahh. That explains perhaps a great deal." the headmaster looked momentarily nonplussed. "Including a good many strange looks I have attracted in the Wizengamot over the years…"
Author Notes: (marginally revised and tidied, 16th September, 2012, and 13th October, 2013)
In this particular alternate universe, Severus Snape, occupies the role of Hogwarts' caretaker, in which capacity he is also commander-in-chief of the Hogwarts house elves. It made sense for the person responsible for maintaining the school to be in charge of those who do most of the maintaining and running of it outside of the classroom. The occasion in 1980 when in this alternate universe the school was invaded by Voldemort's forces over the summer (more on this in a later chapter) is also a factor in an increased role and responsibilities of the caretaker over what appears to be indicated in canon.
Barty Crouch (senior) was Minister for Magic in this universe for much of the 1980's.
I'm unclear how Hogwarts is funded in canon, but in this universe, Regulus Black set up a foundation, financed from the Black fortune, to provide additional money to the school for certain areas of spending of which he approved. Regulus died before the end of the end of the wizarding war, leaving behind a widow and one daughter (Kara) who had to go into hiding for some time to avoid the attentions of unscrupulous politicians out to try and seize the family assets.