AN: Harry Potter and canon are the intellectual property of JK Rowling. Anything in Italics is quoted from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 5.
Tom leaned back and looked at her. "The first part of image is bearing; hold yourself with confidence, don't keep your head down as you walk or hunch your shoulders. Back straight, head high, shoulders back. Up, you need to practice."
Eileen and Tom spent some time practicing her walk before Tom was happy with it. Over the coming months, they would work on her grooming habits ("you have beautiful eyes, draw attention to them."), social skills, and diplomacy. Eileen was the sarcasm queen, but Tom worked with her to learn when and how to utilize her sarcasm to best effect. While Tom did tutor her in her school subjects at times, she did not need much help there. He did set her to learning more about politics and encouraged her to pay attention to the political debates in Slytherin house to get a feel for them. He also got into the habit of subtly casting a stinging hex at her if she hunched her shoulders or walked with anything less than total confidence; she learned quickly.
Between Eileen, studying for OWLs, the dueling tournament, and keeping himself on top in the games that Slytherins played amongst themselves, Tom found he had little time for chess club. He kept up with charms club because it was good practice for OWLs, and dueling was also relevant for OWLs since Johan had taught him to use charms and transfigurations in his duels. Chess, however, was something he could drop for a year without missing much; he still honed his strategic abilities in the Slytherin political debates.
When the announcement was put up with the appointment times for each student's career interviews with Slughorn, Tom discussed things with Johan first. Tom wanted to become an unspeakable, climb up the ministry ladder as far as he could, then retire to teach at Hogwarts. Johan had laughed and said that he did not expect anything less from Tom. Johan shined with pride for a week after their talk, and gave Tom the journal of Edwin Tufts, who had worked in the Department of Mysteries in 1842-1867. Slughorn was also encouraging, though he was only told that Tom wished to work for the Department of Mysteries. Getting a job as an unspeakable for the Department was very competitive – Tom would need excellent references, high grades, and some research experience before he would even be considered. Between his Hogwarts professors and Slytherin housemates, Tom was confident in getting good references from important people. His grades should also not be an issue, especially since he was not at all challenged during his OWL exams. What he needed to work on was research experience.
Tom and Johan continued their tradition of travelling for the summer holiday, this time to Egypt. Simon, who had become quite fond of Tom, introduced them to an old colleague of his who still worked as a curse breaker in Egypt. Adnan, the curse breaker, gave them an extended tour of his worksite and allowed to job shadow him for a week before setting him up as a temporary, unpaid assistant. Johan was happy to sit back and drink iced tea while poor Tom spent his days under the desert sun categorizing artifacts and making lists in between running errands for everyone. Tom did learn a lot and ended the summer with a great reference letter from Adnan, who had been very impressed with Tom.
Tom's OWL results had reached them late July, and Tom had immediately sent back his course selection for his sixth year.
Dear Mr. Tufts,
You will find the results of your Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations along with a list of the minimum grades required to continue in the NEWT level of each subject. You are expected to mail your head of house your NEWT course selection by no later than July 31. A list of the spellbooks and supplies required for all NEWT level courses is included to allow you time to shop for them.
We would like to congratulate you for achieving record breaking results for seven of your courses! You also hold the record for most OWL records broken by one person. The Wizarding Examination Authority provides a grant of one hundred galleons to students who achieve the highest marks of their year in any subject, which you have done for every one of your subjects! We therefore are very pleased to present you with a Gringotts' draft for one thousand galleons.
We also have a note from yourself and Madam Selwyn regarding your self-study in healing next year. There is a NEWT examination for healing available should you choose to take it. We have included a list of topics covered by the healing NEWT examination as well as recommended textbooks.
Best wishes,
Griselda Marchbanks
Wizarding Examination Authority
Ordinary Wizarding Level Results
Pass Grades:
Outstanding (O)
Exceeds Expectations (E)
Acceptable (A)
Fail Grades:
Poor (P)
Dreadful (D)
Troll (T)
Cadmael Tom Marvolo Tufts has achieved:
Ancient Runes O*
Arithmancy O*
Astronomy O
Care of Magical Creatures O
Charms O*
Defense Against the Dark Arts O*
Herbology O
History of Magic O*
Potions O*
Transfiguration O*