CH 12
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
"It is December fifth, nineteen hundred ninety-one. The seven hundredth and sixty-second meeting of the Hogwarts Board of Governors and Trustees is now in session," Lucius Malfoy banged a solid oak plank with a round gavel ball made of hardwood. The minutes of the meeting were being recorded by a charmed quill and parchment.
"We've all had time to review the information packets provided to us at our previous meeting by our newest member Lord Sirius Black." The blonde's tone of voice had changed when mentioning the name of his wife's ex-convict cousin, but there had been nothing that he could have done to stop the man regaining control of his estate and assets. The only question in his mind had been, 'How in Merlin's name did he do that from prison?'
"What about the Harry Potter situation," one of the members asked, "My daughter has not seen him at Hogwarts and the newspapers are spreading rumours that Harry Potter has died before being able to attend our famous school."
Sirius snorted and chuckled. "Really gentle witches and wise wizards," he said. "I am the boy's godfather. I know where he is."
"Well then," demanded another. "Why is he not at Hogwarts?"
"Have you not read the information packets that I handed out to you during the last meeting," Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course we have," came the reply too quickly. "But this information cannot be correct."
"It is," Sirius told them in a bland tone, clearly unimpressed with their blindness to the dire situation regarding the education of their children.
"This," he slammed his hand down on the folder with a loud smack. "This is the reason why he refused to go to Hogwarts. The educational levels are not on par for an International Level of education and…," he stressed that word. "Why would he want to attend a subpar institute?"
He flicked his wand and sent everyone a copy of the two school supply lists that Harry had received this summer. "With his permission here are copies of the supply lists he received from the two schools that have invited him to attend their hallowed magical halls of learning. Be sure to note the number of books and supplies required for a first year student for his current school. It is more than three times the number required for Hogwarts. From these lists he interpreted it as a fact that his current school would offer him more choices in regards to what he would be able to learn there."
Everyone noticed the watermarked letterheads on which the school lists had been written. It had shocked them more than the supply list itself. However they did notice that there were more subjects being taught at the other school. Most were subjects that had been dropped over time during the current Hogwarts' Headmaster's tenure or by that man's influence when he'd been the school's Deputy Headmaster under Armando Dippet.
"But he's a muggleborn," one of the members exclaimed. "They don't accept muggleborns at their school, do they?"
"Actually he isn't a muggleborn," Sirius told them. "By Ministry definition a muggleborn is a magical human being born of no magical parents or of one magical parent. Harry Potter was born of two fully magical parents and therefore is considered a magical pureblood human." He sipped a bit of water and then said, "Technically he's a first generation pureblood for those of you that think such things important and I know for a fact that that school does accept muggleborns. They're just better integrated into their magical society that you can't tell where they came from to begin with."
A couple of the members of the Board had sour looks on their faces, but it couldn't be denied that the boy was pureblood by definition and that the second school had been within their rights to invite him. The rest of the members muttered over the school supply lists.
"Ice fishing gear," one muttered.
"Animal skinning kits," another questioned. "Why?"
"We had speculated at the time that it had to do with obtaining raw ingredients to supplement their basic potions supplies," Sirius told them. "Harry has since confirmed that yes all students are required to learn how to collect their own ingredients from the local environment, but that those supplies are also part of a physical education class that includes a bit of survivalist training and survival magic."
"The number of books alone," one member muttered. "One can almost infer what type of classes that a school will have as part of their curriculum based on the titles of the books a student is expected to bring and how much more advanced they expect them to be."
"Is he really that much further along in his education," another member looked at Sirius.
Lucius was the one to answer this time, "If we believe the papers' statements that the Boy-Who-Lived has already obtained a passing O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. grade in the field of Potions then perhaps the current Hogwarts curriculum would have been too boring for the child."
"It would have been, considering the fact that it's only in third year at Hogwarts that Arithmancy and Runes are offered. He's had to study both in order to pass the N.E.W.T. Potions exam," Sirius nodded. "Even if none of you believe the statistics that had been gathered perhaps you'd like to review the WEA and iWEA regulations for exams given at their secure testing site. Perhaps we should be looking at the actual test questions administered to independent or home-schooled students as opposed to students that have attended formal schooling at Hogwarts within the last hundred years."
"Black," Lucius had a frown now on his face. "We've been led to believe that Hogwarts is a world leading school. What changed?"
"How should I know what changed or when," Sirius told them with a slight shrug. "I remember having an art option available in our first year when I was there, but the magical art class has been dropped. It is now delegated as a club rather than some formalized lessons with a teacher in charge of the subject to show the students the spells for creating magical art rather than a structured class offered to everyone?"
"What else," one of the members said.
"Look at the section on WEA exams," Sirius told them. "The WEA is governed by international regulations and by a country's Ministry of Magic's Department for Magical Education. Nearly every magical ministry has such a department, but we do not."
"That is true," several muttered and nodded their heads.
"Their educational departments are there to ensure that the schools meet international level qualifications for any continued magical education up to a Master Level as well as ensuring that the students can meet those levels based on a specific standard of education," Sirius told them. "The WEA and iWEA are the ones that administer top level exams based pre-approved regulations that haven't been changed in the past four hundred years. They have no reason to alter their examination methods nor the knowledge level of their exam questions unless directed to do so by their Ministry of Magic or by request from a school's administrative body."
"Are you saying that they've altered the passing level of the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s exams to allow students of Hogwarts to consistently pass them," one board member asked in shock. "That they lowered the passing standards by Ministry or the Headmaster's direction?"
"Consider the time frame of the potions exam alone," Sirius told them. "At Hogwarts how long did your potions O.W.L. last including the practical?"
"About an hour and a half for the written," someone answered. "Maybe two hours for the practical, why do you ask?"
"How many potions were you expected to make in the practical," Sirius asked.
"Only one potion," Lucius said. "Again, why are you asking?"
"Harry told me that for his O.W.L. exam he had two hours for the written portion and then three more for the practical part of it when it was administered by the WEA at their secure facility," Sirius told them. "Also he had to do three potions which included one from memory. He also had to ensure that his tools were not corrupted before he began making his potions. I've asked and received the test questions for the Hogwarts students for the same year that Harry took his O.W.L., plus the questions that Harry was made to answer." He swished his wand to send both sets of questions and grading criteria to the members and waited for everyone's reactions.
"This is insupportable," one of the board members declared in outrage after seeing the differences. "How can this be so?"
"It also raises the question about the qualifications of the Potions Master at Hogwarts," another replied. "He's been renowned as being the youngest Potions Master on record, so how could he hold such a title if he was a Hogwarts student too?"
"The man is a friend of mine," Lucius told the members of the Board. "I know for a fact that he re-wrote his N.E.W.T. exam under WEA supervision at their facility prior to studying for his Mastery under a reputable Potions Master. This was done at the instructing Potions Master's request prior to even considering on making an offer of apprenticeship to Severus Snape."
"I guess the exams at the WEA are supposed to be much harder than we realized," another member commented. He'd been stunned by the difficulty of the questions he was seeing. "How can we change these things?"
"Obviously the faculty of the school must be made aware of these discrepancies," Lucius said. "We must also ensure that our Ministry develops a proper Department for the Education of our people and our society."
"What about the muggleborns," a member said. "Weren't they the reason that our levels were dropped in the first place?"
"What can we do about that situation," someone asked.
"Invite them to attend an elementary school of magic," Sirius told them. "Have them integrated sooner into our society."
"Why bother with such a thing," Lucius sneered. "We've no need of them."
"We need more magical humans in our society," Sirius looked at the man. "The number of squibs being born from so called 'Pureblood' families has increased and muggleborns factor into that solution."
"How so," one of the members asked.
"More muggleborns are being born," Sirius told them. "That's a plain fact. Also more squibs are being born which means that there is a direct link between the two. Having a muggleborn marry into a magical family never used to be a stigma. Everyone here should consider carefully the reason that muggleborns are being shunned. It's not because of their blood, but because they come from outside our magical society and culture. They have been raised outside of it for the first eleven years of their life. They are culturally ignorant of our traditions and we continue to treat them with contempt because of it. They finish their education with us and then return to muggle society because we continually do not offer them a place in ours. They take away nothing of educational value related to their society and are received without censure, but they also walk away with a fount of magical ability that is very much needed in ours."
"It's true that they bring with them strange thoughts and ideas," one member said. "What are we to do about it?"
"Start at the beginning," Sirius told them. "How does the Ministry of Magic even know when a child is a muggleborn or not? How do the different schools know or find out? Let's take examples from other Ministries of Magic and find out more through the Department of Magical Cooperation."
"Clearly this issue must be brought up during parliament and during a Wizengamot session, but for now," Lucius looked to each member of the board with a glare and said. "I believe we should all re-read the information packet in order to be better prepared to deal with the school's administration and faculty first."
Sirius nodded his head in agreement.
"Do you have any proposals ready for the Wizengamot or the Ministry of Magic related to improving our children's education," Lucius looked to the ex-convict.
"Of course I do," Sirius told them. "I had planned to bring forth this same information packet at our next session along with the suggestion to add day schools for younger children, much like the muggles do with their own children. I have a proposal ready for voting to add a Ministry Department to be dedicated purely to Education in our society to improve our declining standards."
"Day schools," a member asked. "They send their children away," she looked confused. "To day schools?"
"Yes," Sirius told them. "Their children attend a day care or school beginning at ages of four or five depending on the age of the child and it usually is for a three to six hour day. The children do attend formal schooling until they are of age to be gainfully employed. They no longer use an apprenticeship system. Well not the way we know it to be."
"Something else to consider then, I suppose," Lucius muttered.
"If our children attended such schools," one member noted. "Then they'd all be receiving the exact same type of education. They probably would be better prepared to attend Hogwarts or any other place they choose to go to."
"Where would such a school be located," someone asked. "Who would attend?"
"Ladies and gentlemen," Lucius banged the gavel ball a few times to get their attention. "Our duty here is to Hogwarts first. We must address the diminished academic levels immediately. We must improve the quality of education within our jurisdiction first. Bring all your ideas and solutions to our next meeting especially if you want to see the Boy-Who-Lived come back to our honourable society."
There were murmurs of agreements and brief plans. Everyone agreed to go home and re-review the information packet as well as do their own research based on what their family members could tell them about the education they used to expect from Hogwarts and whatever else they may know about the International Education Levels.
"Our next meeting will take place after the Yule Holidays. Lord Black bring us some ideas about the first year level of education that young mister Potter is receiving and how we can get initial changes started for Hogwarts. The rest of you read the packets and do your own research. Talk to family portraits if you have to, but get to the truth about all Hogwarts lost courses." Lucius told them. "The next meeting will be the second Monday of January at the regular time, agreed?"
"Agreed," the others confirmed.
The blond man banged the ball one last time and everyone in the room wandered out. "A word Sirius," he said. "Just a bit of clarification, if you please."
"Sure," the man replied. "What would you like to know?"
"Who did the research for this packet," Lucius asked as he fingered the folder.
"An independent company called Hunter Research Incorporated," Sirius told him. "The company was set up for those that needed help researching things. It's a small company, but they do know where to look for official answers as well as in-depth ones. I believe that's their motto. 'Hunter Research Inc., looking for information, we know where to look and discretion is guaranteed' or something like that."
"I see," Lucius said. "Do you happen to know where they are located?"
"You can only contact them via post owl," Sirius said. "They do advertise in the Prophet and a few other papers and magazines. So their contact information can be found." He was about to leave when he noticed the brief frown on the other man's face. "Anything else?"
"Do you truly believe that Harry Potter will want to attend Hogwarts if we make changes to the courses offered," Lucius asked.
"Of course," Sirius said. "Harry actually wanted to go there, but he also knew that he'd have a harder time due to his supposed celebrity status. He figured that he'd ease into attending an actual school first by attending one that had no expectations from him other than making sure that he passed courses." He paused to put on a squat top hat like thing on his head and then asked, "Will that be all?"
"Yes," Lucius said as he gripped his snake headed walking stick. "I think I have quite a few things to ponder on."
"Of course," Sirius nodded. He walked a short distance and then apparated away like all the other members of the board.
'Quite a few things indeed,' Lucius thought. He looked at the supply list with the Durmstrang letterhead. 'I think I need to contact or visit an old friend.'
Harry - James - Potter
Visiting an old friend took some doing since the man in question had been refusing all forms of correspondence and visitation attempts from all former acquaintances.
"What's the matter dear," Narcissa Malfoy asked when she joined her husband in his study. She'd noticed his increased irritation with one particular letter. "Is there anything that I can do to assist you?"
"I doubt it," he replied. "The man's not married so you can't apply to see his wife on some pretext."
"Who is it then," she asked.
"Igor Karkaroff," Lucius told her. "Rumour has it that he's now the Headmaster of Durmstrang. I'm just seeking confirmation of it."
"Why," she asked.
"Apparently Harry Potter is attending Durmstrang," he told her. She gasped with her hand in front of her mouth.
"That's not possible," she said.
"It is," Lucius said. "He's a first generation pureblood by Ministry definition." He watched his wife blink and then nod. She'd been quick to figure that out.
"Would he be attending that school with his own name," she asked. "I don't believe that they'd appreciate him being there unless measures were taken to ensure his privacy or the security of the school."
"Good point," Lucius said. He thought about it and then said, "Maybe you can apply to Potter's guardian as you were born a Black?"
His wife nodded and said, "I'll see what I can do about it then. Do you want me to request a family meeting with the Head of House Black?"
"Invite him and his ward to your Yule Ball soirée," Lucius said. "The boy will likely be out of school by then. Perhaps it will be neutral ground enough to meet the child and have him meet our son. We might be able to get answers from the child or Sirius then."
"I will mail them an invitation and add them to the list of guests," Narcissa said. "I could send one to your friend too, if you like."
Lucius nodded, kissed his wife on the cheek and that was her signal to leave him to the rest of his business.
Harry - James - Potter
Harry had received the invitation to the Malfoys for a Yule Ball taking place December twenty-six to which his godfather had sent him a letter stating that they'd discuss it once Durmstrang released their students for the holidays.
The Boy-Who-Lived shrugged and began his homework for his transfiguration classes. He'd done his research and was doing some extra study on spells that may include minor transfiguration to latch or ground other spells. These were specific to his study of the Dark Mark, but he was passing it off as extra study for better grades and understanding of the subject.
He had researched a few things and he had a few private tomes of ancient script that he carried with him always. 'It's gotta be in one of these,' he thought as he made different notes. 'I recall reading about using something as an anchor and that transfiguration had a key spell that could've been used.' He paused and then thought, 'I'm going to have to scour the Family vaults again and re-check the books I brought back with me.'
Harry - James - Potter
Days later Harry and his friends had secured their school items that they'd planned to leave behind, like unneeded potion ingredients and the ingredient gathering tools. They packed some of their preferred clothing, winter school cloaks and the presents that they'd made for their families during some of their classes and club times.
He'd been constantly surprised in his classes with what he'd been permitted or encouraged to learn. He knew that he'd have to set up a correspondence program for his second year of school since he knew that Hogwarts wouldn't have everything that he needed to continue his Slavic-Bulgarian education. He didn't want to fall behind in his preferred studies which were all Alchemy, Rituals, and Ancient Runes at level five, Arithmancy level four and his initial martial magic studies.
Martial magic had surprised him and yet he knew that he'd like those classes based on the syllabus' description of it. They were physically exhausting and mentally challenging. They were harder on the body, but he got more out of those classes than he'd ever gotten by flying for Quidditch practice or games at Hogwarts.
'Stupid Dumbles,' he thought. 'That man ought to be strung up by his beard and released from his duties to the school. What a mess he's created. He should just choose to be political or be the Headmaster. The students are not to be made into chess pieces for his good versus evil vendetta.'
Harry tossed a heavy llama wool knitted sweater into his trunk with a grin. It was one that he'd been forced to make during several social history classes along with the other students when they studied the origin of clothing and how to process them. 'No Weasley sweater this year,' he thought. 'No Weasley anything this year, thank all the Gods. History studies is far more interesting than anything old Binns had ever taught what with these odd participation requirements.'
Xeni popped up beside him and said, "Master Harry, I be packing."
"Of course," Harry said with a pat to her head transferring feelings good will, appreciation along with tingles of magic down their bond. "Thank you, Xeni."
"Yous welcome," she replied beaming.
"Careful with the packages," Harry replied. "They don't take to shrinking well."
"Yep," she said with a grin and popping the letter P.
"Oi, Harry," Tsaran called out from his own room.
"What do you want," Harry yelled back.
Tsaran walked into the room and said, "What are your plans this holiday?"
Harry huffed and told him, "Some party at the Malfoy's, I think? Maybe shopping in Diagon Alley or someplace else. I think I might have to do a tour of Hogwarts." He used fingers to quote 'a tour of Hogwarts' as though his tone didn't tell his friend how he truly felt about that. "As if I need to visit that place when I'm here for the first year."
"First year," Tsaran questioned. "What do you mean for the first year?"
"Didn't I mention it to you," Harry replied. "Could've sworn that you knew?"
"Knew what," the other boy asked with a frown.
"I'm going to alternate schools until I get to the start of year five," Harry said. "I'm hoping that Hogwarts will get its act together by then or else I'll be finishing the rest of my schooling here at Durmstrang."
"So that means what exactly," Tsaran asked with a frown.
"I'm doing my first year here, my second at Hogwarts, my third here," Harry said. "My fourth at Hogwarts and by then I'll be able to judge just how well Hogwarts would help me complete my magical education or not. Truthfully even if that school gets it together in time, I might just prefer finishing here due to the level of magic taught here."
"Wish I could do the same," Tsaran said. He shook his head and waved away what Harry had been about to say with, "Never you mind. You come back here in year three ready to try a beat my top scores. We can continue talking through post owl."
"Don't you worry about that," Harry said. "I'm planning to do some correspondence courses so that I can keep up with all the courses not being offered at Hogwarts."
"Bah what do I care," the other boy said with feigned disinterest. It was all for show since he truly didn't want to think about this news until the end of their school year. "So shopping in the Alley eh? Want to meet up then?"
Harry looked at his friend and nodded. "Sure," he said. "We can make a day of it or something, owl me about it. Could add muggle London too if we have the time."
"Maggie might want to join us," Tsaran said as he was about to leave the room to continue his packing. "I'd have to introduce you to my parents too."
"Acceptable," Harry nodded as he wrapped another present for Remus. The students of Durmstrang were permitted to copy the library books as the librarian and the school had an understanding that predated copywriting laws. All books in the school library could be copied for a student's personal library.
So when Harry used his mother's spell, he'd been able to get a few rare tomes copied more than once, especially if he whispered the spell in Parseltongue. He knew that he could give them away as gifts since the spell he used was not a standard copy spell. He'd ordered several, high quality, leather bound, magical note books in order to be able to effectively transcribe various books for his godfather and his honorary uncle Remy. He was positive that the men were going to love them.
Harry - James - Potter
The Durmstrang students were released for their Yule Holidays. They had two weeks of vacation, but their Professors had not been idle. They handed out various homework assignments to ensure that their students would be ready for the new subjects coming in the New Year.
Harry had made arrangements to travel back to the school four days before the start of the following term. He had an appointment that he couldn't afford to miss. His Headmaster had given him permission to study the Dark Mark and that's just what he planned to do.
"Children," Headmaster Karkaroff stood to address his students. "Study hard and you shall conquer your weaknesses. I wish you Happy Holidays and we will all," he gestured to the professors seated near him. "See you in the New Year."
"Yay," the students cheered. They stood up and wished their professors or fellow students holiday greetings before they walked to the pier where their transport ship was waiting for them. Some had chosen to remain behind, but that was something that all boarding schools had to contend with. Those that had personal house-elves had their things already aboard whereas others had had their trunks shrunk with timed spells that would allow them to carry them home without worry.
Again they boarded the ship in order of seventh years first, down to the first years. This time around the first years had already learnt a few spells to change the semi-cabins in the hold into something far more comfortable to sit on and colourful to travel in.
"I wish we could have done these spells when we first came here," Magdalla mentioned after turning her hard seat into something cushy and fun with wild colour and fur.
"There was nothing stopping us," Harry commented as he turned his seat into a bean bag chair that moved as he did, but was still securely strapped to the wall during the ship's launch. "I just didn't think about it. What about you?"
"Nope," Tsaran said. "I didn't think about it either and we did have several minor charms and transfiguration spells under our belts too."
"All right fine," the girl huffed. They'd been joined by her two other friends and soon they had a small tournament of gobstones and chess to occupy their time. The fifth student in their group that had been left out, played one of the losers while the second loser had to wait their turn.
One of them had set up a challenge board and that was how they tracked who had played and who needed to wait a turn to play. Those waiting worked on homework or else read their school texts to get ahead in their studies in order to cut down unwanted study times during their holidays.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
TBC...
