AN: For those of you who didn't see the update, I've deleted the original story and started over. I hope you enjoy it!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters, locations, or anything else from Harry Potter. All rights go to the owners.
The small white canvas swayed in the breeze as Godric Gryffindor walked his younger sister down the isle. The bittersweet duty had fallen to him when his father had passed away six years ago in an explosion. As they started their journey to the front of the rows of simple chairs, Godric smiled half-heartedly at the few chosen attendees. He simply could not bring himself to support Helga's marriage to David. How had his kind, gorgeous, pureblood sister grown to love a muggle? He knew what Helga would say if she could hear his thoughts.
"Hector and I are meant to be together. If he was a wizard, you would be overjoyed to see our marriage," her voice spoke in his head. And she was right. For a year, Helga had taught Muggle Studies and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. However, when the Headmistress insisted that she lose weight to provide a better model for her students, Helga left, bitterly disappointed. She'd wanted to teach since she was a little girl, and being the compassionate young witch that she was, she was very good with children. However, Helga's brief return to home (she'd stayed with Godric after she'd left Beauxbatons), took a turn for the better when she ran into a gentle muggle man named Hector Hufflepuff. Helga had gone to a nearby farm to buy meat for dinner when Hector, the owner's son, had charmed her into eating there instead.
Dinner gradually turned into a lasting relationship. They were celebrating their three-year anniversary when Hector walked in on Helga lighting candles with quick flicks of her wand. Terrified but unwaveringly honest, Helga told him the truth of her powers and the world from which she came. Given the option to leave her, Hector firmly declined, and their anniversary was celebrated as planned. Now, on their six-year anniversary, they were finally tying the knot in the same spot where they had met: Hector's father's farm.
Godric looked sideways at his sister. He'd never seen her smile so brightly. Following her gaze, he looked across the royal blue carpet that formed the isle and let his eyes settle on Hector. He was returning Helga's gaze with the same expression, of pure, simple love and joy. Godric felt his lips twitch upwards into a true smile. These two were happy together. Who was he to stand in their way? Godric felt Helga's happiness lift him up like a broom in one of his famous Quidditch matches, and he and his sister floated down the isle towards the altar.
A curtain of jet-black hair fell forward as Rowena lowered her face into her hands. She couldn't believe she'd ever found her job at the Ministry of Magic exciting. After all, what did she care if the house elves at Beauxbatons had changed the type of food they would be serving for the coming year? But her boss insisted that the information be included in the educational column of the daily prophet, the column which she, unfortunately, was in charge of.
It wasn't that Rowena wasn't interested in education - in fact, that was quite the opposite of the truth. Rowena had attended Beauxbatons herself as a young witch, but she had no love for the school. Rowena didn't care about image, a concept that was prioritized in the French academy. Rowena had no patience for social niceties or activities; She loved to LEARN. She felt as though the word had become ridiculously undervalued in their society. She was reminded of this as she came across a brief notice in her weekly notes from Beauxbatons, about a professor who had left the school six years ago getting married. Rowena, of course didn't care about the woman's marriage. But, as she read further, she found a statement from the professor explaining why she'd left. The headmistress had demanded that the professor, H. Gryffindor, lose weight in order to become a better model for the students. Infuriated but unable to act immediately, Rowena wrote herself a note to request an interview with Professor Gryffindor.
She then set her information from Beauxbatons aside and turned to the thin packet she'd received from Durmstrang. Though the school was considered unfavorable due to its apparent focus on Dark Magic, Rowena had always wished that she'd attended the Northern school rather than the French academy she'd been assigned to. The Headmaster of Durmstrang had never been very interested in submitting information to the Daily Prophet, but he complied, if minimally. To Rowena's surprise, the news included a story about the Headmaster himself. However, after reading the first sentence of the article, Rowena thought she understood its inclusion. The head of such a school would be proud of an "accomplishment" such as this.
Headmaster Salazar Slytherin of the Durmstrang Institute expelled a student on Thursday for the sole offense of being "half-blood."
Disgusted, but not surprised, Rowena added to her previous note to request an interview with Professor Slytherin as well. Rowena was of the belief that education should be provided to all who were intelligent and eager to learn, no matter their blood status. She would far rather teach an intelligent muggle born than a blithely idiotic pureblood.
The rest of her notes proved to be, in her opinion, useless and boring. Looking through her schedule for the week, she groaned and wondered whether it would be possible to conduct both interviews at once.
An hour later, she was scheduled to meet with Helga Gryffindor (now Helga Hufflepuff, as the former professor's name had changed with her marriage) and Salazar Slytherin at the Leaky Cauldron on Tuesday. Both conversations had been rather strange: Helga had requested that her brother accompany her to the meeting, and Salazar's voice sounded almost like a hiss. However, oddities aside, the interviews were scheduled and Rowena could throw out her note. Feeling as though she had much preparation to do but lacking the energy to continue working, Rowena packed up for the night and exited her office. In comparison to the dreary gray of the walls she'd just left, the shiny black walls of the atrium looked magical. She passed the enormous statue of a wizard, witch, centaur, and house elf, wondering about her upcoming interview and thinking that magic, though stunning, would never be as thrilling as learning.