Headmistress' Office, Hogwarts, Scotland, Earth, Sol, Local Cluster.
June-14-2176
8:20 AM GMT.

"This is unacceptable! A muggle teaching at Hogwarts! No, you've gone too far this time Ginevra!"

Headmistress Ginevra Malfoy was swiftly losing patience with her cousin Charlus.

She watched form behind her desk as he paced back and forth in front of her, gesticulating wildly as he ranted. Having heard enough she said.

"Mr. Potter, I've made my decision. Who would be better to teach muggle studies than someone who has intimate knowledge of the subject?"

Charlus' Scowled at that and said angrily. "If Professor Truman were still Headmaster…"

"But he is not." Ginevra interrupted in a firm voice as she rose from her seat.

"Whether you like it or not dear cousin; I am the Headmistress of this school and have been for several years now. So unless your fellow Governors vote against me in this matter, which we both know, they will not; we have nothing more to discuss. Good day Mr. Potter."

He stared at her in shock for a moment, then regained his composure and said coldly. "This isn't over." And with a flourish of his robes, he strode out of the room.

"The most common words spoken by men who know they are beaten. How cliché."

She looked over at the portrait of Phineas Nigellus who had just spoken. She smirked at this and replied "He always was a spoiled brat whenever he didn't get his way. One of the many reasons he was such a bitter disappointment to our Grandfather."

"And I'm sure the fact that you were Albus' favorite grandchild made him hate you all the more." Phineas said back.

Ginevra smiled and said "Perhaps, but now is not the time to consider that. It would seem we have a guest. Come in Andrea."

"Good morning Professor." Andrea said, once she had entered the office. Ginevra smiled warmly at her favorite student and said "Good morning Andrea. To what do I owe your visit today?"

Andrea took mock offence at that and said "Can't I just want to know how my favorite teacher is doing?"

Ginerva's lips twitched in amusement as she replied "Maybe if you were a puff, but one of my snakes? No, if you just wanted to know how I was you would be sensible enough to ask in a letter. So I'll ask again. Why are you here?"

"Have you heard about Elysium yet?"

"Do you mean the story about you using Fiendfyre to destroy an alien army? No, I haven't heard everyone talking about it or seen it on the front page of a certain paper."

Andrea looked shocked. "I was on the front page of the Daily Prophet?!"

Ginny had to stifle the urge to snort at that. "You weren't exactly subtle Andrea. Someone was bound to report it."

Andrea groaned and asked. "So, am I the second coming of Harry Potter or the next dark lady?"

With the classic Malfoy smirk, Ginny answered. "That would depend on who you ask. But either way, most mean it as a compliment."

"Well, at least they haven't turned on me."

"Yet."

"What?"

Ginny smiled softly at her student and said. "They haven't turned on you yet. Remember, the only thing more fickle then public opinion is the wizarding world's public opinion."

"Sage advice."

"But not the advice you came for, I think. So I'll ask one more time, why are you here Andrea?"

"The Alliance brass gave me a commission."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you. But that's not all. They also offered me a place in their SF program."

"Ah." Now Ginny knew what was upsetting her student.

"So you feel like you're being rewarded for getting you subordinates killed. Is that about right?"

Andrea flinched at that, and asked. "Do you have any advice then?"

"Yes, I do."

"And it would be?"

"Get over yourself Andrea."

"Excuse me?"

"No, I don't think I will. The fact of the mater Andrea is that this all comes down to your ego."

"That's not true!" Andrea shouted, clearly upset by the accusation.

The Headmistress raised an eyebrow and said. "Is it not? Very well, let us examine the facts. As a Gunnery Chief did you have the authority to use Fiendfyre at your discretion?"

"No." Andrea admitted grudgingly.

"And given your knowledge of Alliance protocol, had you ask for authorization before you did were you likely to receive it?"

"No."

"Then the obvious conclusion is that there was no choice within your power to make, which would have both kept your squad alive and completed your objective."

"And that makes it okay that they died?" Andrea asked, with indignation in her voice.

"No, but it does mean it wasn't your fault. So I say again, get over yourself Andrea. It's too late to prevent your friend's deaths, but it isn't too late to make their deaths mean something."

With a look of slight disbelief Andrea said. "So that's your advice than, just ignore it and accept the position that they're offering."

"Essentially, yes. I know it's not a very satisfying option and it won't be easy, but nothing worth doing is."

"This isn't what I was expecting when I came here today." Andrea said with an air of resignation about her.

"I only say these things because I care about you Andrea." Ginny said in a kind tone and with a look of compassion.

"It would be much easier for me to simply stroke your ego, pat you on the head and send you on your way. In the end though, you would be worse off for it."

"This is a lot to take in. And I'm not sure what I think about it."

"Take your time with it; don't rush into any one decision. Consider all your options and their implications carefully. I believe in you Andrea, and I know that you'll make the right decision; whatever that may be for you."

Andrea sighed and said "Well I for one had quite enough of that topic for one day. So, with that in mind what's been happening here in the castle?"

Ginny had to suppress a grin at the thought of all the gossip she could share.

"Well, do you remember Mr. Jordan from your year?"

A look of concentration crossed Andrea's features as she tried to remember the man in question.

After a moment she said "Wasn't he the Ravenclaw prefect that eloped with a Muggle right out of seventh year?"

"Indeed. Well it just so happens, that that Muggle he eloped with that is going to be the new Muggle studies professor next term."

Andrea laughed at that and said in a mock scandalized voice "You didn't."

Ginny grinned back and said "I did."

Andrea laughed again and said "I can't imagine Lord Potter will be very pleased by this."

"He was just here actually. You must've just missed him."

"Please tell me you didn't select her just to annoy Mister Potter?"

"Of course not. Mrs. Jordan is honestly the most qualified person I could find for the job and shall make an excellent professor."

Having said this, Ginny grinned maniacally and added "The fact that her selection will annoy my least favorite cousin to no end was just an added bonus."

Their conversation continued in this manner for a good long while. Until Andrea checked the time, and saw it had been nearly two hours since she first entered the office.

"It is been good to speak to you again Professor, but there are other things that I must attend to while here on earth. So I will take my leave."

"Of course; as always do not hesitate to come to me should you ever need anything. Good fortune to you Andrea Sheppard in all your endeavors."

"And in yours as well Professor."

AN: Wow, I can't believe it's been more than a year since my last update.
Sorry for the long hiatus.
The sad and/or funny thing (depending on how you look at it) is that 60% of this chapter was done a year ago.
I have a vague idea of what I want to do with the next chapter.
So hopefully I'll be able to get it out sometime next month.
Oh, before I go; there was a response to a review in my hiatus notice that this chapter is replacing.
I'm going to copy it here so that it won't be lost.

I want to respond to something said in a review by Tellie571. Which was later parroted by TheSlain. First off, I can not believe that in two thousand plus years of galactic history; no one thought of a way to rapidly cool an automatic weapon. So as far as I'm concerned, I didn't make a mistake; Bioware made a mistake and I corrected it. And secondly, there are several examples in the Harry Potter verse of offensive magic having physical force to it. For instance the disarming charm would routinely knock the target back several feet on impact. This force would then be detected by the sensors connected to the Kinect barrier, thus activating it. Now, the only inanimate object that the killing curse or any other offensive spell was ever shown to penetrate was clothing. Which offers little to no resistance to physical force, and also is directly touching the intended target. A Kinect barrier on the other hand will always try to exceed the force that is impacting it and is not physically connected to the wearer. Thus, in theory a Kinect barrier should stop offensive magic. At least until it loses its charge.