~OOooOO~
Amelia could feel the shock radiating in waves off of the other members of the Board; none of them had expected things of this nature when the Sorting Hat...Tavin...had begun to speak. She kept a close eye on both Remus Lupin and Lucius Malfoy; she knew that they were closer to Harry Potter than any of the other members, including Sirius Black and Arthur Weasley.
Lucius, seated next to his partner, could feel the anger from Remus and placed a calming hand on his leg; they could discuss this more when they got back to their room, but now was not the time and here was not the place. "Calm, Love...stay calm."
"Easy for you to say...you weren't just told that your son was missorted because of that meddling, manipulative old man's 'plans'!"
"I know, Remus, I know...but there's nothing we can do about it right now. Harry's out of here; he's no longer where anyone can hurt him." These words, more than the hand now rubbing in circles on his thigh, worked to calm Remus; Lucius was right, Harry was no longer a student here and couldn't be harmed by Albus Dumbledore again. He nodded and fought to relax his battle-ready muscles; slowly, but surely, it worked.
Amelia looked back at the shell-shocked former Auror only after she received a nod from Lucius, telling her that Remus was calming down and no one was in any danger...at least...no one in that room. "Tavin, you mentioned other students...tell me about them."
Alastor relayed the question and they all waited with bated breath for the hat's answer.
"Ah, my children, I am so sorry to say that almost every student who has attended Hogwarts since 1957 has been missorted. I was able to squeak past on some of the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, but other students weren't so lucky. Neville Longbottom was one of the more unlucky students; this should come as no surprise to anyone who knows this young man, but he should have been placed in Hufflepuff, just like his mother. He has bravery in him, oh yes, but I am afraid it would only be brought to the forefront during a time of immense strife. Theodore Nott, Jr. should have been placed in Ravenclaw; his intelligence far outweighs his ambition. Ginevra Weasley should have been sorted into Slytherin House." Arthur surprised those around him by nodding in agreement; he was under no illusions about his daughter's ambition and cunning. He thought about something the hat had said before.
"You also mentioned my son, Ronald Weasley; where should he have been sorted? He waited, barely breathing, for the hat's answer; he had a feeling he knew what it would say.
"I am truly sorry to have to tell you this, but your youngest son is another one like Peter Pettigrew; he should not have been allowed to attend Hogwarts as a student."
"Why?" Everyone in the room could hear the suppressed tears in Arthur's voice.
"Unfortunately, he is not an acceptable candidate for this school; his magic is just barely above the cut-off point between being a wizard and being a squib." Arthur bowed his head and let the tears flow. "This is not from anything that he has done or that was done to him, but comes from, as it was once put to me many years ago, spreading the magic too thin. There are reasons that wizards, as magical beings, usually only have one or two children; the magic that parents are allotted to give their children for the creation of their magical cores will only spread so far, unless the parents are both exceptionally powerful. The first-born child is always the most powerful; the second-born child will be a little less so, and if there are more after that, the magic sort of, to use a colloquialism, peters out. There are occasionally aberrations to this rule, such as your twins, Mr. Weasley; if you look at their power levels, as compared to those of your third son, Percy, you will find that his magical strength is not as great as theirs. Your daughter is a little more powerful than Ronald, but not by much...she just knows how to use it more wisely."
Arthur slowly nodded his head; he had been right...Ronald shouldn't have been allowed to come to Hogwarts at all. He knew that the decision to allow Ronald to attend had been made by Albus Dumbledore himself; most likely he wanted a friend for The Boy Who Lived and wanted to make sure that that friend was from an incorruptible Light-sided family. He knew, had known for years, that he was allowing his family to be manipulated by the old man, but hadn't honestly thought that it was quite this bad. Albus had mentioned that Harry's relatives would probably not treat him very well and he was going to use that to his advantage; if the boy latched on to one of the first people to show him compassion and caring, it would shape the way he looked at the war...it would keep him from going dark. Arthur sighed and resigned himself to having a very uncomfortable conversation with Amelia Bones and Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"What about Severus Snape and James Potter? You mentioned them as well, Tavin." Alastor Moody's question gained the attention of everyone in the room.
"Hmm...Severus Snape...Ravenclaw, of course; his thirst for learning and proficiency with potions would have assured him a definite place amongst the Ravens. He did, of course, excel at potions, even though he had been placed in Slytherin; I do believe this was because of his natural leanings toward that subject. If I remember correctly, his mother, Eileen, also excelled in potion making. As for James Potter...his tendencies to be sneaky, cunning and generally ambitious would have served him well in Slytherin House...where he should have been sorted. Before you all become angry with me, I am merely telling you what I saw in these student's minds. James Potter was not the brave and daring hero that most want to make of him; he was more cunning than that. He could look at a situation, plan a prank and find at least three avenues of escape before the basic plans of the prank were ever shared with his cohorts; those are the actions of a true Slytherin. Also, do not forget...his mother, Dorea Potter, was born a Black...a family most noted for their dark sympathies and tendencies; most will not remember this, but that lady was sorted into Slytherin House when Dumbledore was still the Transfiguration professor."
"What about the rest of our children? You said that most of the school had been missorted...what of my daughter?" Maximilian Bulstrode's deep voice echoed in the room; he was backed up by Roderick Parkinson's emphatic nod.
In response to Alastor's relaying of the question, Tavin's features scrunched up in thought; most of the room wanted to laugh at the expression, but the atmosphere was too heavy for levity. "Millicent Bulstrode...as much as this may anger you, dear Sir, your daughter would have been better served in Hufflepuff; she is kind, loyal and very faithful to her friends. Not that she hasn't done the Slytherin House proud with her abilities, but she shouldn't be there."
Maximilian frowned for a moment and then his facial expression eased. "It doesn't matter...she is her mother's daughter and that's where Estelle was placed." He nodded in acceptance and rested against the back of his chair; he would have been proud of his daughter, no matter where she had been sorted.
"Mr. Parkinson, your daughter was one of the few in that year that I was able to sort correctly; she should have always been placed exactly where I sorted her...Slytherin House...there was nowhere else that she would have fit in. I was also able to sort Draco Malfoy correctly; Dumbledore seemed to realise that I had overridden his instructions on several of the students during that sorting and strengthened his instructions right after I sorted your son, Mr. Malfoy." Lucius sighed in relief; the only other option for sorting Draco that he would have easily accepted would have been Ravenclaw. Tavin seemed to realise where his thoughts had gone and let out a rusty chuckle.
"Yes, he would have gone to Ravenclaw if Dumbledore had tightened his restrictions before Draco's sorting...you need not have worried on that point. I saw the intense fear of being placed anywhere else in his head and acted accordingly; it would have done him more harm than good to have been sorted into a different house. Most of the incorrect sortings actually did very little to no harm to anyone; the students just had to learn to accept their weaknesses and work on them until they became their strengths."
Amelia scrubbed her face with her hands; there had to be a way to fix this mess. "Is there a way to fix this? Can it be corrected...or is every student from here on out going to be sorted into the wrong house?"
There was a brief pause as the hat thought about the question. "There is a way, but it would have to be done by either the Headmaster or his Deputy. I cannot just ignore the instructions I have been given; over the centuries, several of the Headmasters have made small changes to my instructions, but this was, by far, the most all-encompassing change that has ever been made. I would suggest that Minerva McGonagall, as the Deputy Headmistress, should make the change, allowing me to return to the previous set of instructions; before Dumbledore's change, they were last altered in 1745. That set of instructions worked very well for two hundred years; before that, it had been almost three hundred years since the prior alteration."
Amelia nodded and made a note on a separate piece of parchment; she was going to see that done as soon as this meeting ended.
~OOooOO~
Albus had received notification from Kingsley that the Board of Inquiry was going to be at the school for closer to a month, rather than the two weeks that had been originally stated. Albus knew that the students would have to stay at the school as long as the Board was actively performing interviews; he wasn't looking forward to the howlers he was going to receive from parents when he sent owls to inform them of this new development. From the howlers he had already received, he knew he was already skating on thin ice when it came to certain families; Molly Weasley had demanded that Ginevra be sent home immediately, as she didn't want Arthur to speak to their daughter.
Albus couldn't understand the woman's fears; she had signed the permission slip allowing Veritaserum to be used on her daughter. He knew that Arthur had signed the slip for Ronald and was dreading that interview; he didn't know if the Finnegans had signed the slip for their son, but Hermione Granger was already seventeen...Veritaserum would automatically be used during her questioning.
He sighed as he looked around the office he had occupied for the last forty-one years; he thought he might as well start packing. Once some of the things he had done were revealed, he knew he'd be sacked immediately...they might not even wait for the investigation to be concluded. Albus didn't regret anything he'd done; it had all been for 'The Greater Good' and, in his mind, that was more important than seeing that children were coddled and pampered. He hadn't had much of a childhood after his father was carted off to Azkaban, why should Harry Potter's life have been any better?
Albus found his righteous indignation rising again as he thought of his little chess piece; it hadn't been fair that Harry Potter had resigned the game before it had ended. All of his plans, all of his manipulations since the death of Voldemort...all for nothing.