Disclaimer: As I've mentioned many times before, I just own this fanfic and OCs Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V4. J.K. Rowling owns the rest, no copyright intended!
Chapter 14: The Search For Competent Teachers
The next morning after breakfast, Minerva left the castle to search for a new transfiguration teacher, as well as a new potions teacher and a new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher (since she was now the Hogwarts headmistress). While finding another transfiguration teacher and another DADA teacher was going to be hard, Minerva had an idea on who could take over the position as potions teacher and head of Slytherin House. So she apparated over to a house somewhere out in the country, walked up to the front door and knocked. The door opened a minute later and a tall wizard with gray hair and gooseberry-coloured eyes peeked out the door.
"Oh, Minerva!" greeted the wizard. "I wasn't expecting to see you! How are you?"
"Neutral right now, Horace!" stated Minerva. "I've just recently been elected as the new Hogwarts headmistress because Albus and Severus have been committing crimes, and they were fired because of it. I was wondering if you'd like to come out of retirement and return to potions teaching and head of Slytherin House."
"Well, if Albus asked me, I'd would've asked for a raise first," said the wizard named Horace. "But since you're the headmistress, there won't be any need for me to do so. I'll return to teaching potions and being head of Slytherin House."
"Thank you, Horace!" said Minerva gratefully. "I'll let you get back to what you were doing now."
"Okay, I'll see you on September first." said Horace.
He closed the door to his house, then Minerva began pondering her thoughts on who should be the new transfiguration teacher and the new DADA teacher. Minerva also realized that there needed to be a new head of Gryffindor House, too. Then she immediately had an idea on who could be the new transfiguration teacher and the new head of Gryffindor House, so the new Hogwarts headmistress apparated away to find the person. Meanwhile in Diagon Alley, the shopping district was packed with families purchasing school supplies for the children going to Hogwarts. One particular wizard dressed in muggle clothing was searching for somebody when he spotted the wanted posters featuring Dumbledore and Severus. The 'unidentified' wizard pulled his wand out and cast the gemino charms on the posters for one copy of each, then he pocketed them. Once that was done, he apparated away to a seemingly run-down shack in the southern part of England. Inside, he cancelled what he had cast was a glamour charm. The supposed unidentified wizard was Albus Dumbledore and his accomplice also residing in the shack was Severus Snape. They had to come to the shack they were in since Severus' house over at Spinner's End was being patrolled by aurors looking for the other criminals involved in kidnapping Harry (even though Harry escaped).
"Severus, I finally found out why there were aurors over at your house." Albus informed the former potions teacher, handing him the copies of the wanted posters featuring them.
"Somebody must've tipped them off about where I live." Severus deduced, his voice full of contempt. He looked over the wanted poster featuring him. "I'm also gonna face extradition to the french ministry when and if I'm caught? If the brat cooperated and didn't bite me, everything would've gone smoother! What'll we do with him now once we get a hold of him again?"
"I haven't a clue, Severus," said Albus. "I haven't heard from Molly for a while. Maybe she and her two youngest children are having trouble keeping Harry in line, but I can't fire call her, just in case there are others around her who aren't involved in the Greater Good."
"Will we need to wait for the right moment before we strike again?" asked Severus impatiently.
"I'm afraid so, Severus," stated Albus. "Everything needs to cool down first. Once it has, they'll forget the whole kidnapping malarkey ever happened."
Inwardly, Severus groaned in irritation. The wound from the bite on his right hand was mostly healed, but Severus knew the scar would be permanent. Every time he'd see that, it made him more and more eager to teach 'the Potter brat' a harsh lesson. A couple hours or so later, an owl flew through an open window and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet on the coffee table. Albus picked it up, read the headline and gasped in horror (his eyes widening at the same time). The article said:
Molly Prewett Arrested On Conspiracy, Attempted Line Theft and Kidnapping Charges
Molly Prewett was arrested three days ago at her former home on charges of conspiracy, attempted line theft on House Potter and kidnapping Lord Harry James Potter. When questioned while under the influence of Veritaserum, Molly revealed that she and her two youngest children were in on Albus Dumbledore's plan for the Greater Good. Apparently, the plan involved leaving Lord Potter alone and friendless by leaving him with his abusive relatives, the Dursleys, in hopes that Harry would be so grateful to them that he'd see them as his saviours if they rescued him. Molly also mentioned that she helped Albus draw up a void contract to have Harry marry her daughter, Ginevra on his eighteenth birthday. Molly also admitted to have helped Albus arrange plans to kidnap Harry, with help from Severus Snape. The plan succeeded temporarily, but Harry managed to escape and told Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (and head of House Bones) everything. Lord Potter even stated that his escape was accomplished with team effort from the Lovegoods and Arthur Weasley's twin sons, Fred and George. Molly is currently in a ministry holding cell, awaiting trial for her crimes.
Albus was left speechless once he was done reading the article. Severus read it himself and looked as though he was going to foam at the mouth. No wonder the Potter brat escaped so fast, he had some assistance from several people. Trying to bust Molly out of ministry custody wasn't an option because Albus and Severus were wanted felons.
Meanwhile at Delacour Manor, Harry, Gabby and Fleur were coming back from taking a walk. When they finally walked inside, they witnessed an owl dropping a letter in front of Remus (who was sitting on a couch in the living room), and he saw that the owl was wearing the Hogwarts crest over it's chest. He picked it up, unfolded the letter and started reading it and it said:
Remus,
Just thought I'd let you know that I've recently been asked to be the new headmistress and I accepted. I also wrote this letter to offer you the job as the new Hogwarts Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher. Since term starts in three weeks, I'll give you a week to think it over. Once you've come to an ultimate decision, let me know as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry
"Moony, what is it?" asked Sirius (who was sitting on a nearby armchair) when he saw the surprised look on Remus' face and him opening his mouth repeatedly rendered speechless.
"Minerva just offered me the job teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts!" stated Remus once he was able to find his voice, handing the letter to Sirius (who was grinning as he read it).
"You should accept it!" said Sirius in an encouraging voice.
Harry, Gabby and Fleur also nodded their heads (with smiles on their faces) in approval at Remus. With a smile on his face, Remus got up and sat down on a desk to write a reply. While that was happening, Antonio and Apolline came home for lunch. They were given the full scope and they even approved of Remus going to teach DADA at Hogwarts. Once he finished writing his reply to Minerva letting her that he accepted, Remus tied the letter to the Hogwarts owl's leg and then it took off. Ten minutes or so later, another owl flew in through the open window and dropped a letter in front of Harry. He unfolded it, which said:
Hey Harry,
I've got some exciting news! Professor McGonagall asked gran to be the new transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts and the new head of Gryffindor House! She accepted both. Hope all is well for you and Gabby.
From,
Neville Longbottom
Once he finished reading the letter, Harry showed it to Gabby, Fleur, Antonio, Apolline, Sirius and Remus. They all grinned when they found out about Augusta becoming the new transfiguration teach and head of Gryffindor House. They all even wrote notes giving the head of House Longbottom congratulations on her new job. Once all that was done, the letters were tied to the owl's leg, then it flew back out through the window and on it's way back to Longbottom Manor.
Meanwhile at the Burrow, Fred, George, Lee and Luna were busy with creating their joke products. They were also laughing because they had received letters from several kids at the orphanage, with each letter giving different explanations as to what happened between Ron and Ginny. Fred, George, Lee and Luna were laughing so much that they couldn't decide which story was the funniest. Once they finished laughing, they left the Burrow and started walking down to the village of Ottery St. Catchpole (hoping they could come up with inspirations for future products). As they walked into a convenience store to buy some muggle snacks, Luna saw a bag of popcorn and immediately widened her eyes in ingenuity as she thought of an idea. Once they all bought some snacks (which they had to pay for with muggle money) and started walking back to the Burrow, Luna turned her attention to Fred, George and Lee.
"This bag of popcorn inspired me for inventing a new product!" stated Luna.
"What kind of idea did you come up with, Luna?" asked Fred, George and Lee in unison, with intrigued looks on their faces.
"Popcorn poppers!" Luna began explaining her idea. "I was thinking we could make them look like actual popcorn, but they'll eventually inflate and pop if they're bitten down. Maybe we could even lace them with potions that'll turn the inside of the victims' mouths into different colours for a limited time when they actually try to eat them!"
"Wow!" the twins responded in their twin talk, with fascination in their voices. "That's excellent, Luna!"
"And maybe the different colours could even have different effects!" Luna went on. "Like the red potions could cause the victims to experience a sweet taste no matter what they eat, maybe blue ones could make them experience a sour taste, and maybe the green could make them experience a salty taste!"
"Now that could be something!" said Lee with fascination in his voice.
"And Ickle Ronnykins will chomp on them without any hesitation, since we all know about his fondness for food!" stated the twins. "He won't even bother checking for any potion laced in these popcorn poppers."
"We also should keep the different potion colours separated," Luna advised. "So no one will end up trying to eat a handful of the poppers and have them ingest all three of the potions at once."
"Yes, you're right, Luna," stated Lee in agreement. "Since that could have dangerous side effects."
"Which could ruin their taste buds." stated Fred and George. "The insides of their mouths could also get irritation, painfuls bumps, or any number of bad effects."
"Hopefully Harry, Gabby and Fleur will enjoy the idea of popcorn poppers as a joke product." said Luna.
"They will, Luna," assured Fred, George and Lee simultaneously in soft voices. "If it makes you feel better, you can write them a letter and explain your idea."
Luna smiled at the suggestion. They all left the Burrow by floo travel to go to Diagon Alley and get some extra parchment, bottles of ink and quills to write down different ideas for other future joke products and draw up what they ought to look like. Luna sat down at a table in The Leaky Cauldron to write a letter to Harry, Gabby and Fleur to tell them all about her newly developed idea for popcorn poppers. Then she folded up the letter and took it to an owl post office to have it mailed. Once that was done, Luna went to find Fred, George and Lee (who had already bought the ink, parchment and quills, and were now at Zonko's).
The owl that had Luna's letter grasped in it's beak started flying off to Delacour Manor. It was around mid-afternoon when the owl made it (since it had to stop and rest a couple times because of the summer heat). Harry, Gabby and Fleur were outside working on their tan when Harry felt the letter drop onto his back because he was laying on his stomach, but the owl flew away before it could be noticed.
"Huh?!" Harry responded in bewilderment, as he started reaching behind his back with his hands.
"Are you alright, Harry?" asked Gabby and Fleur in unison, as they sat up (they had been laying on their backs on towels).
"Yeah, I felt something," said Harry. Then he pulled the parchment off of his back and looked at it. "Oh, it's a letter from Luna."
"What did she write?" asked Gabby and Fleur.
Harry unfolded the letter held in front of himself, Gabby and Fleur. The letter said:
Hi Harry, Gabby, Fleur,
How are you three doing? Fred, George, Lee and I went down to Ottery St. Catchpole, a village not too far from the Burrow. We were working on some future joke products, then we walked down to the village to see what kind of muggle snacks they had. I found a bag of popcorn that inspired a future joke product called Popcorn Poppers. It's supposed to look like actual popcorn, but I imagine them inflated before popping once they're bitten down. I even imagined them getting laced with three different colours of potions to cause different effects for the victims. Red would make the victims taste food as if it was sweet, blue would make them taste food as if it were sour, and the green would make them taste food as if it were salty. Do you like the idea? We hope to hear from you soon.
Love,
Luna
"I like the idea!" said Fleur enthusiastically. "I do wonder if the popcorn poppers will be the same colour as the potions they're laced with."
"I think so," stated Harry. "If it wasn't that way, it would be confusing for the customers purchasing them."
"That's a good point," said Gabby, agreeing with Harry's statement. "Luna certainly has a great idea there and I like it!"
"Same here!" agreed Harry. "We'll have to wait until Hedwig gets back before we can write a reply to Luna."
Then Harry, Gabby and Fleur went back to working on their tan before dinner. They knew that the first day of the new school year at Beauxbatons was exactly three weeks away, so they wanted to enjoy every bit of their holiday as much as they could until then. It was especially going to be something new for Harry and Gabby, since it would be their first year while Fleur would be starting her fourth year. Harry and Gabby started wondering what their classes were going to be like. Even though Fleur told them a little bit about lessons at Beauxbatons, being in the classrooms and actually learning magic would be different.
To be continued!
Author's note: The letters that Fred, George, Lee and Luna received from the kids at the orphanage Ron and Ginny were in, I'm going to leave it to you to decide what were written in them.