Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 7 - Heads of the Houses

After Daphne had calmed down, Harry called Dobby and asked him to bring them all some hot chocolate. They all sat around the table, drinking the warm drink and allowing the events of the day to sink in. Terry began explaining what they had done after Harry and Katie had left.

"We figured that even if Hogwarts is rich, the money will run out eventually, so Daphne and Susan have been organising a fundraiser during the Christmas Holidays while the rest of us worked on long-term solutions." Terry shuffled the paper in his hands before continuing. "The forest has creatures like unicorns and Acromantula in it as well as several types of wood that are important to wand-making. We could let wandmakers in for a price. There's also the Quidditch pitch and Herbology greenhouses. The Quidditch pitch can be rented out during the summer holidays and the spare space in the greenhouses can be used to grow ingredients for St Mungos, as they are the single biggest potions and plants consumer in Wizarding Britain, and one of the biggest in the world."

Katie nodded along.

"We also thought, depending on the result of the fundraiser, that we could make the Wizarding Culture and Etiquette class open to everyone who wants to attend for an additional fee. Another option is if there is enough interest in the subjects, we could run the optional courses that we chose between at the end of year two for people who want to retake or didn't get to do all the courses they wanted to, or just felt like learning something new. They could be in the evenings instead of the summer, that way any premises we buy on Diagon Alley will be used all year round."

Harry nodded. "Sounds good. Katie, mind telling everyone about Hogwarts finances?"

And so Katie did. "Hogwarts is just about breaking even, with a little help from the Ministry every six months, with about a million Galleons floating around in the Hogwarts vault." Most of the students looked a little downcast at that. Draco quirked an eyebrow, and Luna smiled serenely. "But Harry's thought of a solution, haven't you Harry?"

Harry looked at Luna startled, and several of the others raised eyebrows. "Why do you think that, Luna?" Harry asked curiously.

"You look like someone who's seen the crumple-horned snorkack, and there're known for revealing themselves to people who've thought their way around a difficult problem." She explained dreamily.

Draco shuffled his chair away from Luna a little.

"Well, I figured I could give Hogwarts a loan from the Potter Vault if Hogwarts doesn't have enough money." Harry explained.

"That's a good idea, Harry." Susan said. Draco nodded grudgingly and Daphne looked at him appraisingly.

"I'll ask my Gran if she'll help." Neville added. "She'll probably want proof that you know what you're doing though."

Harry looked at Neville wryly. "But, Neville, I haven't the foggiest idea of what I'm doing."

A few people chuckled, but Harry only quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, I wasn't kidding."

"It's okay Harry, you'll figure something out." Justin said. Harry shrugged. "I hope so. By the way, I had a thought. There are a number of secret passages into and out of the school, right?"

Nods all around. "I guess so, but I've never seen any." Susan said.

"Well, my dad was part of a group called the Marauders, they were James, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew or Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail. They created the Marauders Map, a map of Hogwarts that actually tracks everyone in the castle, even if they're using Polyjuice potion. Anyway, as it said on one of the inside pages of the Daily Prophet the Pettigrew is a Death Eater. Well, as he knows secret passages into the school, he could lead others in."

Draco swore and Terry rubbed at his temples tiredly. "Well, we could collapse the passages. That way we wouldn't need to worry about being killed in our sleep." Terry said slowly.

Harry shook his head. "I don't want to do that for several reasons. One, the passages are a part of Hogwarts, I'm reluctant to tear something down that has been standing for hundreds of years. Two, the passages provide a good escape route if necessary, and I don't want to leave students trapped with no way of escape if I can help it. Three, Fred and George had the Map for years, so they know the passages as well as Pettigrew. I want to hire them to set up defences inside Hogwarts, maybe traps that only activate upon sensing the magic of a Dark Mark, or something. That's another reason I want to keep the passages open. We might catch Death Eaters in those traps, and the more of them in Azkaban the better."

"It's a bit risky." Susan said. "If they get past the traps ..."

"Not if we had some kind of alarm system that automatically alerted the Aurors if anyone tried to access the school." Daphne said. "My family has a similar system, Hogwarts is definitely important enough to warrant such a system."

"What if some students try to sneak out?" Terry pointed out logically.

"We'll put the alarms at the end of the passage further away from the school. Fred and George's traps can easily immobilise any students before they get that far, and if we make it so the Headmaster is alerted any time any of the traps go off, then we can let them down pretty quickly."

"It's risky ..." Justin said slowly, biting his lip. "If the Aurors don't get here in time and the traps don't keep all of them out, the students will be in danger. But if they do, we'll catch Death Eaters and keep more people safe in the long run ..."

"The wards can be extended over the secret passageways as well. Breaking through them would take time, and alert the Auror department to the attack. The traps would give the Aurors enough time to respond." Neville added.

"We should vote on whether or not to risk keeping them open and maybe catch Death Eaters or shut them down, maybe cut off an escape route for students and definitely shut down a possible entry point for Death Eaters." Harry said. "All in favour of collapsing the secret passages out of the school?"

Terry, Katie, Justin, and Susan raised their hands.

"All in favour of protecting the secret passages and making sure that the Death Eaters can't use them?" Harry asked.

Luna, Neville, Draco, Daphne, and Harry raised their hands.

"It's decided then, we'll owl Fred and George for help. We should also owl Ragnok, let him know about the secret passages. We'll warn him about Fred and George and get them to work together on the passages, make sure that they haven't missed anything." Harry said. "Let's owl them now, then rest for the night."

Together they wrote out two appropriate letters. The one to Ragnok was very formal - Daphne dictated that one, as there were formalities required even in writing to the goblin king, and the part of the letter concerning Fred and George's traps and the possibility of working together had to be put down as a politely worded suggestion. The letter to Fred and George detailed what they wanted the twins to do and the possible fees involved, but only said that the letter was from the council of the new Headmaster, as they couldn't risk the letter being intercepted and the general public being alerted to Harry's new job yet. Harry was betting that Fred and George would love the irony of him being Headmaster enough to keep his secret for the time being.

"Will you use your own owl to send these?" Susan asked curiously. Harry shook his head. "Hedwig is really recognisable, and an obvious target for intercepting mail. A couple of school owls will be far less inconspicuous, especially now it's dark outside."

"I'll take them to the Owlery and send them off for you." Luna said dreamily, before taking the letters and skipping off.

"So tomorrow, what will we do? Maybe we could get an agenda ready?" Terry asked. Harry nodded. "We need to talk to the Heads of the Houses about my appointment as Headmaster before McGonagall announces it at dinner."

"We should do that first, to get it out of the way. We should also tell them about our ideas so far, so if we've missed anything really obvious they can tell us before we make a mistake." Terry said, scribbling furiously.

"We need to send an official owl of dismissal to the Board of Governors." Neville put in.

"We need to contact Pureblood tutors to see who would be willing to teach large classes of muggleborns during the summer holidays, for children 5 years old and up." Daphne added.

"We could run it at Hogwarts during the school year as well, for those who don't want to take summer classes. It could be held on Saturday afternoon or something?" Katie asked. "Most of the Muggle parents who've already sent children off to Hogwarts won't want to lose them during the summer as well."

Terry nodded. "Good idea."

"Harry and all the others in here who haven't got Pureblood wardrobes need new wardrobes." Daphne said firmly. "If you want any of the Purebloods to respect you, you're going to have to look the part. Don't even argue with me." She added warningly. "This is important. If you don't have the money to pay for it then Draco and I will cover it."

"How will you explain us leaving school premises?" Harry asked. "Students don't go home for another three days."

Daphne smirked. "Who said we were leaving? I'll call my tailor here. He won't say anything to anyone about who he was fitting, it's part of his job."

Harry sighed and admitted defeat. "Anything else?"

"We need to look into premises at Diagon Alley for the summer classes, and hire someone to get that set up the way we want it. Remember, it needs to make an impact on both the Muggleborns and the wizards. We want the wizards to see it as a way of stopping Muggleborns walking in and dismissing our culture." Draco said. Susan nodded. "I think there's an alley for that kind of thing. I'll ask my Aunt."

"We also need to research how good Hogwarts is compared to other Wizarding schools." Terry said. "We can do that for the rest of the day, with whatever spare time we have, inbetween the main items. Daphne, make sure your tailor comes in the afternoon, we should have finished talking to the teachers then." Daphne nodded.

"Well, that seems to be it for tonight." Harry said, before standing up and stretching. "I think it would be best if we all went to bed now, it's really late and tomorrow is going to be a long day." Murmurs of agreement went round the table and Harry bade them goodnight and left.

Harry was relieved to note that there was no-one in his common room when he arrived. That meant there was a good chance Ron and Hermione had kept their mouths shut, since some people would have tried to stay awake to ask him about his new job if there was a rumour about him being Headmaster.

When Harry entered the dorm, the room was filled with snores, although Ron's bed was suspiciously quiet. Harry sighed upon seeing the closed hangings of his ex-best friend and pulled his own curtains shut. He found it difficult to get to sleep that night, and once sleep did claim him, it wasn't restful.

Harry was in a large, gloomy and empty hall.

Almost empty.

At the head of the room, where the Lord of the Manor would usually take his place, sat Lord Voldemort, on a throne of white bone that seemed to gleam evilly in the dark room.

"Harry Potter." The Dark Lord hissed sibilantly. Harry knew then that this was a dream that Voldemort was sending him on purpose, and he knew that Voldemort had set up this room in his mind to talk to Harry. "You have ruined ... everything."

Harry felt slightly apprehensive. The line of his shoulders, the tone of his voice ... Voldemort was angry. Very, very angry.

"You have shown the Wizarding World that I am alive, when I did not wish to be revealed yet. Your torture woke up Hogwarts herself, who wrested control of the school away from the Ministry, away from those who would have given me control of the impressionable young minds in that castle freely ... you have proved to the Wizarding world that you are a hero, rather than the lying schizophrenic I was enjoying you being portrayed as ... you are very inconvenient. And, at least for now, you cannot be touched ... for now. But do not think I am unaware of the pain these dreams cause you. Do not think I am unaware of the fact that if I cast the Cruciatus while you are watching in your dreams, you feel the pain too. I cannot truly touch you, Harry Potter ... But I can cause you such pain as you will wish you were dead. Crucio!"

Harry woke, shivering and shaking, and stumbled out of bed. Pain coursed through his limbs, steadily fading. Hands shaking, he pulled a cloak around his shoulders and stumbled downstairs to the common room, to find Hogwarts waiting worriedly for him. "How come none of my room mates woke up?" Harry asked quietly.

"I leaked a fairly strong sleep spell at them. I didn't think you'd want them crowding around you." Hogwarts explained.

"I need to learn Occlumency." Harry said softly into the silence. "And if he's going to do this every night, I need to learn Occlumency fast."

"I can teach you." Hogwarts said. "In this body, I can show you how, though as a result of you learning from me you will have unusual barriers. I don't think in quite the same way as most people."

Harry nodded. "Thank you. As long as it can keep Voldemort out, thank you."

"You need a potion to help with the aftereffect of that curse." Hogwarts said, nodding towards Harry's trembling hands. "Snape is still awake in his classroom, and I know he always keeps a supply of that potion handy, just in case."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Not Madame Pomfrey?" He asked mildly.

"She's sleeping." Hogwarts said. "Besides, I was under the impression that you have things to do tomorrow. She wouldn't let you leave until lunchtime at the earliest, you know." Harry snorted and nodded. "I know." He paused. "What do you think about the ideas we've come up with so far?"

Hogwarts smiled. "You've done very well Harry. I'm glad I chose you."

Harry relaxed slightly, and stood up. "I'll see you around, Lady Hogwarts." He said as he crossed the common room and left through the portrait hole.

Harry knocked softly on the door of the potions classroom before walking inside. As Hogwarts said, he was at his desk, marking homework, it looked like. "Professor?" Harry asked quietly, slightly nervous despite himself. He hadn't had any contact with Snape outside of lessons and that incident with Umbridge since the disastrous episode with the pensive. Snape's head snapped up, and his eyes narrowed dangerously, only briefly taking notice of his shaking limbs before glaring hard at the new Headmaster. "Potter." He spat. "What do you want?"

"A little less animosity would be nice, but I'll settle for whatever potion lessens the effect of the Cruciatus Curse." Harry said dryly, staggering slightly as he collapsed bonelessly in the nearest chair. Snape's eyes narrowed again, but he went into his potions cupboard without a word and handed Harry a small vial of a foul-tasting concoction. Harry downed it in one mouthful and grimaced, but the shaking in his hands slowed.

"Who used the Cruciatus on you?" Snape asked harshly.

"Voldemort." Harry answered, slightly bitterly.

Snape carefully controlled his instinctive flinch. "Explain." He demanded.

"He sent me a dream, but this one was more like a message than the trap he set up with the false image of Sirius. Anyway, he went on for a while about how I'd ruined everything. He didn't want the Wizarding World to know he was back yet, he didn't want them to know I wasn't a liar, and he definitely didn't want Hogwarts to be in the control of Hogwarts, where he can't get it."

"He holds you responsible for this." Snape said irritated, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Harry nodded. "Yep. He was very, very angry. He went on to say that I shouldn't think he didn't know about how if he cast the Cruciatus while I was watching him in a dream, I would feel the pain too. Then he went and did exactly that."

"It seems you will have to learn Occlumency, and quickly." Snape said grudgingly.

"Hogwarts offered to teach me." Harry said quietly.

Snape nodded. "That would be best."

There was silence in the room, before Snape asked Harry another question. "Why come here instead of the Hospital Wing?"

"Hogwarts said you were awake and had the potion I needed." He replied. "Besides, I need to be out of the Hospital Wing in the morning, but Madame Pomfrey would never let me leave."

Snape snorted. "She's rather strict with her patients, it's true." He paused for a minute before resuming glaring at Harry, having seemed to forget at some point in their conversation. "Now, why exactly do you have to be out of the Hospital Wing tomorrow morning? Classes have already finished for he year, you're going home in three days time."

Harry winced internally at the word home, but answered anyway. "Hogwarts made me the new Headmaster. Me and a few others are planning on asking the Heads of the Houses to see us tomorrow morning about the stuff we want to change."

Snape tensed slightly. "And what changes would those be, Potter?"

Harry was surprised by the edge in the Potions Masters voice, before he realised why the man was tense. "We're not firing you, Professor. Draco and Daphne told us about how you try to keep students from having to take the Dark Mark before leaving school. You'll teach NEWT potions and you'll still be head of Slytherin, but we'll hire another Professor to teach the younger years. It will be your job to make sure that the new teacher teaches everything on the curriculum and doesn't show favouritism or anything. That way you won't be teaching anyone who doesn't want to be there and will make an effort in your class."

Snape relaxed, slightly, but he still seemed on edge. "You decided to keep me on as a teacher and Head of Slytherin ... because of two Slytherins?"

Harry nodded. "Yep, although it was also decided that you were a good potions master and was worth keeping because of that as well."

Snape blinked. "That is a very Slytherin way of looking at things. May I ask what exactly you did to convince Mr Malfoy and Miss Greengrass to help you?"

"I figured that I didn't have a clue what I was doing, so I asked two students from every house to come to the Room of Requirement and basically make a council, of sorts. I promised not to ignore the Slytherins opinions and that I really was going to try and change things, so Daphne decided to join for the political power if what we planned worked and Draco because he didn't like how Slytherin was treated." Harry explained.

"Well, at least you weren't enough of a dunderhead to try and do everything on your own." Snape said dryly. "I suppose the stupidity of Gryffindors does know bounds after all."

Harry didn't even bother replying to that comment. "Thanks for the potion, Professor. Goodnight." He began walking to the door.

"Potter." Snape called. Harry looked at the Professor. "Why did looking at the Sorting Hat give you the idea to manipulate Umbridge into checking for attackers at the Ministry?"

"Something the Sorting Hat told me when I was eleven." Harry said. "And Slytherin would help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that." Harry quickly slipped out of the classroom and Snape stood frozen behind, stunned at this new knowledge. Potter could have been in ... Slytherin?

The next morning, Harry and his council were gathered in the Room of Requirement again, all the paper stacked neatly and sorted into piles, a list of thing to do today in the center. Everyone was seated and ready to go through everything they had planned with the teachers. Almost everyone was nervous. "Okay, is everyone ready?" Harry asked. Nods all around. "Yeah, I think so." Katie said. "But will they go along with what we've planned? It's not like we asked their opinion on any of it."

"We're asking them now." Susan said uncertainly.

"Okay, Dobby?" Harry called. Dobby popped in with a smile. "How can Dobby be helping Master Harry Potter sir?"

"Can you please ask Professor McGonagall to come to the Room of Requirement with all of the Heads of House please, Dobby?" Harry asked the house-elf with a smile. Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "Dobby be doing that right away, Master Harry Potter sir." He said before popping off.

Draco snickered slightly. "Master Harry Potter sir?" He asked, amused.

"Shut up, Draco." Harry said back, without and real heat and amusement in his tone as well.

Ten minutes later, Professor McGonagall walked in, with Professors Flitwick, Snape and Sprout following behind.

"Good morning, Headmaster." Professor McGonagall greeted, her lips twitching slightly as Harry winced. "Please don't call me that." He all but begged.

"You'll need to get used to it, Mr Potter, might as well start now." The Transfiguration Professor said sternly. Harry grimaced, but didn't argue.

"So you're the new Headmaster then?" Professor Sprout asked kindly. "I'm sure you'll do fine." Flitwick didn't say anything, but he nodded in agreement.

Chairs appeared for the heads and they all sat down, Snape glowering as usual.

"This is basically to explain all the changes we want to implement so you can tell us if you agree and add anything if you have any ideas of your own." Harry sighed a little. "Terry, what's first on the list?"

"Staff changes." He read. "Seeing as that's fairly simple, except for the DADA post, which is a bit more complicated." He shuffled his notes, and began. "To summarise, we decided that we need to replace Binns, because he isn't a good teacher. We also decided that the curse on the DADA post should be removed, but even it was, it would still be difficult to get a teacher for the coming year. We also found that while there were some good reasons for removing Professor Snape, there are also good reasons for keeping him."

"So, as of next year, Professor Snape will be the Head of Slytherin house and teach NEWT level Potions. You will also be required to ensure that the other Potions Professor we will hire teaches everything required and to the correct standard. We'll put out an advert for a low-level Potions teacher in the Daily Prophet along with a new history teacher. The DADA teacher brings us onto the next topic, finances."

Harry took a deep breath and started talking. "Katie and I went to Gringotts late last night to enquire about the Hogwarts finances, and ended up being taken to Ragnok, the Leader of the Goblin Nation."

The teachers stared in amazement and Snape spoke first. "You managed to not get yourself executed by him?"

Harry glared, slightly affronted. "Obviously."

"And you didn't get thrown out or barred from Gringotts for life?"

"No." Harry said flatly. "As a matter of fact, we didn't. Why are you all so surprised?"

"Ragnok hasn't met with a wizard - any wizard - since Dumbledore became Headmaster, decades ago." Professor McGonagall explained. "If you offended him, no wizard probably would have seen him for decades more. And that's if he didn't declare war because of it."

A slightly shocked silence filled the room for a moment, before Harry broke it. "Daphne." He asked slowly. "Can you teach me more about Goblin customs? Just in case?"

"Yep." Daphne said succinctly.

"Katie, would you please summarize the Hogwarts finances?" Harry asked.

Katie nodded. "Hogwarts has about a million galleons in coin in it's vault. It's just about breaking even with the income of new and returning students and semi-annual money from the Ministry, verses the expenses of teachers salary, Filch, Pomfrey and Pince's salary, Potions ingredients and scholarship funds. Daphne and Susan are planning a fundraiser during the Christmas Holidays. We can let wandmakers into the Forbidden Forest, and we can grow Potions ingredients for St Mungos. We could also let out the Quidditch Pitch during summer holidays."

"I can make some of the rarer potions for St Mungos without the younger classes to teach." Snape offered curtly, looking anywhere but at Harry.

"Okay, that all makes sense so far, but what about the DADA teacher?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"When we were thinking of things to improve, we thought it would be a good idea to try and have goblin curse-breakers break the DADA curse, sweep the school for dark and dangerous items, and upgrade the wards as much as possible, to stop things like Moody being Polyjuiced from happening again. In the end, I made a deal with Ragnok. In exchange for telling him about Voldemort's various plots over my school years, because the ministry wasn't giving him any details and Voldemort might attack the Goblin Nation eventually because he sees goblins as less than him, Ragnok would pay for breaking the curse on the DADA position and sweeping the school for dark and dangerous items. In return for upgrading the wards to the best they can be, he would provide next year's DADA teacher and I would allow three half-goblins to attend Hogwarts next year. They'll arrive the day after everyone goes home for the summer."

Flitwick started chuckling. "The Ministry are not going to be happy with you when they find out. I'm a half-goblin too, and the only reason I was allowed to attend Hogwarts is because my father is a high-ranking goblin and the Nation threatened war if I wasn't allowed to attend. The Ministry made it clear that no other half-goblin would be accepted it they could help it."

"Well, it's a good thing they can't then, isn't it?" Harry said grimly. The more he learned about the magical government, the less he liked it.

"What are you going to do about the Board of Governors, though? They won't like your decisions." Professor McGonagall said. A few chuckles went around the table, and Neville began to explain. "They don't exist. Hogwarts is a private institution and the Board has no power unless a document has been signed by the owner of Hogwarts, but no-one knows who that is."

"What's more," Harry added, "they can't claim Hogwarts because it has no known owner since the records of the Goblins show that there is an owner, they just won't know who until whoever it is has a blood test done, and the Ministry can't claim it without the Goblins co-operation."

"Which the Goblins won't give until there are no living heirs left, known or not." Katie finished.

"Well, it certainly seems like you have everything in hand." Professor Sprout said happily. Professor Flitwick nodded in agreement. "Indeed. An excellent use of knowledge that can be applied in everyday life. Well done, everyone."

"Okay, so what's next on the list?" Professor McGonagall said.

"Internal defences." Harry said after a moment of thought. "Pettigrew knows a number of ways into and out of the school, because he helped create the Marauders Map. Fred and George held the map for ages, they know the secret passages in and out as well as Pettigrew does. We figured we could hire them to set up traps inside the school that wouldn't go off until Hogwarts sounded the alarm, and after that they'd only target people carrying Dark Marks or something. Also, we figured they could set up permanent traps on the passages into and out of the school, they would catch anyone trying to sneak in or out. As soon as one of those traps went off Hogwarts and I would be alerted. We would make sure that the wards covered the passages too, and as soon as anyone tried to break through the wards the Auror department would be alerted."

The teachers thought their way through that, and nodded. "I think the traps would be able to stop any students sneaking out and accidently alerting the Auror department." Professor Sprout said.

"I certainly think that your current plan covers most bases." Professor Flitwick added. "I usually stay in the school during the holidays, do you mind if I stay and oversee the passages protected and help the Twins Weasley? I know the ways of Goblins, I can act as a go-between."

"That's a good idea. Thanks, Professor." Harry said. Flitwick positively beamed at him.

"Well, what other ideas have you managed to half-plan?" Snape sneered.

"Draco, would you explain the summer classes please?" Harry asked.

To Snape's eternal surprise, instead of throwing an insult at Potter, Draco simply nodded and started talking. "A lot of the neutral and Dark families feel that Muggleborns dismiss our culture as backward without even trying to learn why we do things the way we do. That's why we thought classes for Wizarding Culture and Etiquette, that all Purebloods are raised with, should be made available to the Muggleborns and Muggle-raised Halfbloods. This would mean that Muggleborns and their families would be contacted by a representative of the school after the first bout of accidental magic, and offered a place at a summer school for Wizarding Culture and Etiquette at Diagon Alley at the age of five. This class would also be held at Hogwarts during Saturday afternoons for anyone who wished to attend, and during weekdays at Diagon Alley for everyone who has left school but still wishes to learn, for a fee."

"That could work, although only if you can make enough money to back up the changes." Snape said, for once not sneering. "Somehow, you managed to get straight to the heart of the matter." He seemed too shocked to properly insult Harry.

"What's next on the list?" Professor Sprout said curiously. "I'm quite looking forward to what you all come up with next."

"Pens and paper." Susan said. "It's quicker to write with ballpoint pens and Muggle paper. We thought we could make notebooks and pens available for note-taking, but not compulsory. The final assignment would still need to be turned in on parchment, though, for traditions sake."

McGonagall nodded. "When the Purebloods see everyone else using the pens, they might try it and realise that some things in the muggle world can be useful."

"Exactly." Justin said with satisfaction.

"Okay, I think that's it for now. Today we're going to research other magical schools, we might see about adding other courses depending on what everyone else has in comparison." Terry said.

"Actually, there's something else." Daphne broke in. "At the moment no-one outside Hogwarts knows Harry is Headmaster, and we should try to keep it that way for as long as possible. The less time they know that Harry is Headmaster, the less time they have to try and find a way to remove him from the school."

After a moment the teachers nodded seeing the sense in that, even Professor McGonagall. "The Headmaster's name is always on the letters going out to the students, your new job will probably be revealed then." She added, and Harry nodded in acceptance. "In the meantime, I'd like to tell the other teachers about Hogwarts's choice."

"That's fine." Harry agreed. "So long as we keep it to us and the staff until the last possible moment, that should work out okay." He rubbed his eyes. "I think that's it for today, more or less. Anyone have anything else to add?"

"Nope." Katie said cheerfully.

"That's good. It means we can start researching the other magical schools." Terry said without even a hint of humour. A chorus of groans went through the room and Harry allowed his head to make contact with the table. McGonagall's lips twitched and Flitwick and Sprout laughed kindly. "We'll leave you to it then, Mr Potter." And with that, Professor McGonagall left, Flitwick and Sprout gathering up notes as they prepared to leave as well.

"Can we go too?" Justin said. "Because we need a break, and besides, it's almost lunch and if we keep missing meals then our friends are going to start asking questions."

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "I think a break is a good idea. Come back here a half hour or so after lunch ends, then we'll carry on."

With a rush, everyone stampeded out of the Room, leaving Harry and Snape alone.

This was over 5,500 words. It wouldn't have been that long, except I wanted to get the Council's meeting with the Heads of the houses out of the way. Please, please review if you enjoyed reading my story, because the more nice comments I get, the more motivated I am to write more. If you've spotted any mistakes or plotholes, please let me know in a review so I can fix it as soon as possible.

Also, on another note, thank you to everyone who replied to my query concerning the document manager limit. As you can see, I've figured it out now.

Enjoy this really, really massive update, Shib. :)