A Brave New World

by catchingafallingstar

(COMPLETED - Chap 4 revised) In less than two years a baby came from nothing to be able to talk and interact with the world. Then something strange happens, and you have a 'normal person'. But what if the curiosity and thirsty for knowledge isn't killed so soon, but encouraged? What kind of person you will have, and how far could they go? Let's explore this possibility...

26. Chapter 26

Author's Note: I thank all of you who have been accompanying this story, marking it as favourite and sending comments. I am very happy to receive in my e-mail these small reminders that some people appreciated this effort, giving me the courage to continue. We are no more than three chapters from the end of the first of the two phases planned for this story. In my naivety as a first-time writer, I thought that point would be reached in half a year, and I find now that I am spending three times more. Living and learning...

Chapter 26 - The New Hogwarts

The return trip to Hogwarts was quiet. In a way of commemoration, the group that made the first trip together reunited in the same compartment, with one exception. Pansy, forbidden by her father to attend the year-end meeting, was admitted to that restricted group as a consolation prize.

Rachel once again settled on Paul's lap and monopolized the boy's attention, but this was not only expected but also another consolation prize, since the little girl had been well behaved and had given Paul considerable freedom during the short vacation.

This time the children avoided drawing attention with impressive and luminous magical deeds. The mood was one of expectation, and the Foundation was a little apprehensive of what might be waiting for the children at Hogwarts. With all the upheaval caused by Voldemort's attacks, the great reunion of parents for the end of the year, the important meeting with Saul Croacker and the inauguration of so many new schools around the planet, spying the actions of Dumbledore and Fudge were activities that were neglected, and it seems that the old headmaster spent a very active Christmas.

Suspicion about Dumbledore's activities caught the Foundation by surprise in the form of two letters, one addressed to Sirius and another to Selene, inviting them both to take up positions as teachers at the magic school. Sirius had been invited to the position of professor in the new introductory discipline of Magical Economics and Finance, and Selene for an advanced course in Spell Design.

At first, they thought the invitations were meant to put Selene and Sirius under the watchful eye of the old wizard, counter the criticism of the teaching at Hogwarts, and to try to create a situation that would lead the Boy-Who-Lived to attend the renowned school of magic, also placing it under the sphere of influence of Dumbledore. Selene politely declined the invitation, again using the excuse of being overloaded at the time, but Sirius, amid the pleasure of returning to Hogwarts, the chance to spend more time near his godson and teach him some secrets about the castle and the art of pranks, and the opportunity to use the knowledge he had received as a pureblood to instruct Muggleborns in the wiles of the magical world, came to accept.

His main argument was that it would be important to have an adult watching the headmaster and diverting his attention away from the children by beckoning him to be persuaded to enrol Harry at Hogwarts next year. That way, as soon as the children boarded the train, the old Marauder apparated near the castle gates, to attend the welcome lunch to the new teachers and the meeting scheduled to discuss the novelties introduced by Dumbledore.

-o0o-

At the Foundation, as soon as it was clear the extent of the changes that the headmaster was introducing in the school, various activities were interrupted so that the adults would follow, through the various sensors in Sirius and Dumbledore, the events occurring in the castle. At the Hogwarts Express, the children also followed the whole process through their special receivers, and didn't like much what they discovered.

Perhaps to avoid harming the more advanced students who were preparing for their important exams and had probably already planned their last years at Hogwarts in detail, the changes were concentrated in the first three years with new electives that could be picked by students upon their arrival to the third year, and some new introductory courses compulsory for students in the first two years.

Certainly the new material would take a lot of the children's free time. They were sure that they could learn more and faster if they could use that time freely, but they recognized that, compared to the previous curriculum, progress was being made. The problem was at another point, soon perceived and denounced by Xenophilius and Mr Greengrass.

Dumbledore had hired as many of his allies as possible to have them close to him at Hogwarts: Kingsley Schaklebolt would be the new Defence teacher, Sturgis Podmore would teach Magical Customs and Traditions in the first two years, idem with Molly Weasley in Home Spells (only for girls) and Daedalus Diggle with Domestic Repairs (exclusive for boys). To replace Binns in History of Magic Albus had been able to hire the renowned author Bathilda Bagshot, and Horace Slughorn would again be the Potions teacher.

What was not clear is whether Dumbledore had purposely attempted to involve the Ministry in the changes, or whether Fudge had resolved to interfere on his own initiative. What was certain was that the Foundation received with surprise and visible disgust the hiring of Narcissa Malfoy as a teacher of Social Etiquette and Behaviour, and of Dolores Umbridge for Politics and Magic Government, both compulsory for the first two years.

Two new electives were offered from the third year: Magical Health and Hygiene, by Madam Pomfrey, and Civil and Commercial Magic Law, by Elphias Doge, another old friend of Dumbledore's. And everyone noticed the absence of Muggle Studies among the electives offered. It was clear the tone of the changes: to reinforce the magical culture and to minimize the muggle influence. And if the new disciplines offered didn't make that clear, the meeting after the banquet removed any doubts that might have remained.

Dumbledore explained to the teachers that he was dissatisfied with the discipline of the students. In order to change this picture, he called for the collaboration of all in rigidly applying the rules of the school, which had undergone some 'minor changes' detailed in a document of which he handed copies to all teachers. Sirius picked up his and slowly flipped it over, allowing the sensors on his tie to convey the contents of the document to the Foundation while he kept his attention on the headmaster's words.

As Sirius sensed Dumbledore's intention to put the students under strict discipline, putting teachers in the role of the boring punishers while he played the role of the good grandfather who relaxed some of the punishments here and there, the Foundation compared the new rulebook to the old.

Soon the changes made in the rules became evident: a clause added to the list of prohibited items at school not only eradicated any muggle material, from clothes to MP3 players, and from ballpoint pens to telescopes and all kinds of toys, but could also be interpreted so that even the receiver of the Critical Thinker could be confiscated if it was inserted in a list of 'forbidden magic artefacts' which, when consulted, soon proved to be the case, the receiver mentioned there individually, along with the generics 'black magic artefacts' and 'artefacts for adult use only'.

In addition, several of the rules of the school had its text remodelled in order to facilitate the punishment of violators. Notable example was the curfew rule. Previously, it allowed only the punishment of students found outside their Common Rooms after hours. Now it allowed the punishment of students who were not found in the Common Rooms after the curfew. A subtle change, but one that facilitated punishment by no longer requiring the students to be found outside their quarters, being sufficient that they were not found there. A number of other rules had undergone similar modifications, and new ones were included to make life difficult for younger students, to the point of practically prohibiting them from meeting outside of classrooms, common rooms, meals and the library, except under the supervision of a teacher.

-o0o-

Sirius was tired of the looks he received from the others every time the headmaster mentioned words like 'discipline' and 'behaviour'. Of course he had certain fame for being a Marauder, but what were they expecting from him? That he start fires or student revolutions? Of course he wanted to do this, but he knew he couldn't! At least, couldn't get caught doing...

So entertained was Sirius with his plans that he almost missed the moment when Dumbledore's speech reached an important point ... It helped that the old man looked directly at him at that moment, as if to say that he knew of Sirius' involvement in that subject.

"A publication, neither permitted nor sanctioned by our government, has caused serious damage to our society recently, both through heavy and not always justified criticism of our society and its noblest and older institutions, as well by the disclosure to the general public, without due censorship and explanations to facilitate their understanding, of matters that should have been kept as State secrets. Those responsible for this publication hide in their anonymity and use magic of questionable origin to unveil their ideas unilaterally and with impunity, restricting our government from its right role as censor to ensure the reliability and quality of the texts released and the just right of response of the offended parties."

Clutching his beard and looking directly back into Sirius' eyes, who quickly looked away as he felt his earring heat up as it halted a legilimency attack by the old wizard, Dumbledore attacked the Foundation again.

"While we do not yet have the necessary proofs, and I assure you that this is just a matter of a little more time, investigations have pointed to the involvement of the Lovegoods in the creation and distribution of this ominous publication, probably with the help of an apparently Muggle family. I said 'apparently' because I have serious doubts about it: they are the Zurkhofs. I cite these names for two reasons. The first is that both families have children enrolled here in our first year, exactly coinciding with the beginning of the unpleasant and unreasonable changes in our school. The second is that we suspect that a girl from the Zurkhof family, not enrolled with us, but known to be a very skilled Mental Arts practitioner despite her young age, spent much of her time here in the castle, in close contact with the other first year students. The purposes of her presence here escape us, but the mere fact that she has circulated among us without permission or warning suggests that they cannot be so innocent. If you come across her, she must be detained for questioning and I should be warned immediately."

"Albus," Minerva protested, "don't you think that's a little too drastic?"

"Minerva, I received serious criticism for putting our students in danger. I will not allow a stranger with unknown purposes, probably connected to an organization under government investigation, to have free movement in the precincts of this school!"

A sharp, irritating "Ah-ham" sounded in the room before Professor Umbridge, senior secretary to the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, addressed Minerva.

"Professor McGonagall, our esteemed minister has a deep interest in knowing more about this defamatory and subversive organization that has acted in our midst, and if you, or any of our comrades here, have any information relevant to the case, we expect you to comply with your duties and seek me out to report what you know. Should I understand that you've seen the girl in question?"

"N-no," Minerva stammered, but she quickly composed herself. "I haven't seen her in person, but be assured that I will fulfil my obligations if this happens."

"The British magical society is going through a crisis," Umbridge explained, with an expression that Minerva doubted whether it was an attempt at a smile or an expression of pain. "But it is a passing crisis, caused by a few people dissatisfied with the success of our esteemed Minister, and be sure that he will crush this opposition quickly and effectively, as has been all his actions at the head of our government."

Sirius was having trouble. It would have been better if this meeting had been held before lunch. That boring conversation was rolling his stomach. It was too much hypocrisy to swallow in one bite.

-o0o-

At the Foundation, the adult members were amazed with the actions taken by Dumbledore. They expected the Minister could try something, but they didn't expect him to get the headmaster's support, or that Albus would try to be so proactive in his actions. They were counting that the search for Atlantis was taking most of his and Voldemort's time.

"Dumbledore seems to have decided to declare war on us, and sought an alliance with the Minister to try to block our efforts," Robert Davis summed up the situation. "Daniel, do you think it's convenient to put the kids in 'poker game' mode?"

Mr Greengrass smirked before replying, "Yes, it may be the best for the moment. But we must beware. If Dumbledore and Fudge stay too long without finding any relevant information, they may choose to harden the game even more against the children."

"How long do you think it would take to get the whole group of kids out of Hogwarts, if that's necessary?" Robert asked Selene.

"If they're all together, in less than a minute they could all come here, but we now have members in the first three years, and sympathizers in every other year and in the staff," Selene mused. "We must prepare ourselves so that if the need arise at a time when they are well scattered throughout the castle, we would have a plan ready."

"They are all using at least one of the enchanted jewellery," Beth confirmed, checking out the special map they had created for the purpose of keeping the children under observation. "Let us instruct them to use more than one, for safety, and to hide them as best as they can. Liz must return here by the end of the trip, and it's best if she doesn't return to Hogwarts as long as the situation stays this way. What else can we do?"

"Paul and Luna will be under strict surveillance, and we have to keep the Room of Requirement secret, even if at the cost of failing to use their resources except in emergencies," commented Xenophilius.

"Their visits here at the Foundation should also be restricted to emergencies, unfortunately," Helen said.

"We will have difficulties with our little ones," commented Isabel. "They will complain about the absence of visitors."

"This situation will certainly be fleeting," said Beth. "The way things are going, I don't think it will take long for us to see the conclusion of this whole story."

-o0o-

Defined a strategy to confront the on-going changes, the adults came in contact with the children and presented their ideas, receiving in return some additional suggestions.

Shortly afterwards a portal was opened, and the children sent to the Foundation all the Muggle articles they had with them as well as the Critical Thinker's receivers, so that nothing would risk confiscation. Liz, unwillingly, said good-bye to her friends and returned to the Foundation. Without the receivers, her continued mental connection with Paul would be the basis of all communication between the children and the adults.

At Luna's suggestion, Xeno would not publish any news about the changes at Hogwarts at the time. He would only write and send a warning to the children's parents so they would know that the communications would be temporarily suspended, and not be worried by the lack of contact from their children.

-o0o-

Having discovered Dumbledore's plans prior to the arrival of the Express at Hogsmeade was providential. As soon as they got off the train the children were placed in queues, and passed through personal inspection effected by Aurors of the Ministry. Sure enough, after the children's inspection was finished they'd be checking their luggage before shipping it to Hogwarts. Hermione was devastated. She had to send back twenty-two books, plus more than half of her clothes and lots of games, equipment and other items purchased in the non-magical world. And she was by no means the only one unhappy with all that.

Luckily Dumbledore avoided overloading the children, tired of the long journey, with many novelties at dinner. He simply announced that they would be implementing changes that would be presented the next morning and introduced the new teachers, saying at the end that the first to third year students would be excused from classes the next morning to be informed of their new courses, new rules and new schedules.

The group was surprised to see the Malfoy family at dinner. Narcissa as a new teacher, Draco trying to regain the leadership of Nott's group, telling his experiences in Italy alongside his fiancée who, judging by her expression, preferred to be far away, and Lucius, at the main table, giving the support of the Board of Directors to Dumbledore's reforms.

The girls were already planning how to probe the new Hogwarts student, who would have to share a room with them. Daphne, Pansy and Susan, three representatives of traditional families, would make the initial approach.

The children of the group did well as poker players, as Robert had suggested. They were impassive, trying to show no emotion in their features, and confined their conversation to occasional whispers. They had to avoid each other's eyes, or they might burst into laughter. They also avoid looking at the main table for the same reason: it was clear that the adults in Hogwarts were expecting them to behave quite differently, as showed by the astonishment in their features in seeing most of the children so indifferent to everything.

Of course there were exceptions. The cry of "WHAT? MORE LESSONS?!" from the younger Weasley was expected, but he was soon silenced by a stern look from his mother. After a slow, silent walk at the end of the banquet, the children were soon lying down, physically tired but mentally anxious to gather in their night trip and discuss the 'new Hogwarts'.

-o0o-

The group that was reunited with the new student, Beatrice Berenice Borgia, was the last one to arrive, but they brought the girl with them, already converted and sworn in as a member of the group. Better yet, by the end of the evening, with guidance and help from the new member, the group gained another sixteen members in Italy and two in Switzerland, among friends and relatives of the girl in the same age group. And Daphne and Susan wasted no time in instructing her new friend about how to use British customs and the new school rules of propriety, decency, and good conduct so she could distance herself from the exclusively male group her betrothed was attending.

Liz had joined them too, bringing with her the ideas and considerations of the Foundation's adults. There was doubt whether these changes were all simply a move to improve the image of the school, and consequently of its headmaster, or whether the strange partnership between Dumbledore, Fudge, and Lucius Malfoy could have other, more comprehensive and potentially unpleasant ends.

In any case, the way the changes were being decided and implemented only aggravated the children's discontent with most adults. Again everything was being solved by the 'power summit', without any consultation with those who would be most affected by the whole scheme, the children. The would-be leaders did not realize, or did not want to acknowledge, that any reform, however well-intentioned it might have been, was dictatorial and arbitrary if it did not involve all those affected in its process of creation.

-o0o-

Breakfast was another exercise in using the poker player face. During the dessert the woman from the Ministry revealed with undisguised sadism the new disciplinary rules. Some poor and innocent fruits suffered as the children expressed their frustration and anger over them, while listening with calm expressions on their faces. See, for example, the piece of melon that Hermione gargled so hard that a part of it flew against the side window of the Great Hall, a good four yards away from the girl.

Draco didn't like watching his bride despise his company to stay between Pansy and Daphne. As soon as Umbridge finished the long exposition of the new rules, he turned to his father and they came together to the girl, but they were followed by the senior secretary, eager to begin to exercise her new powers. Beatrice explained the situation, and to the chagrin of the two Malfoys, the nosy woman soon praised the foreign girl for her efforts to obey the new rules and act with propriety, stopping any chance of father or son interfere with the girl.

Soon the students were released for the rest of the morning in possession of the new schedules, and returned silently to their Common Room in a well-ordered double row, at least for those belonging to the group. They were still using the tactic of keeping poker player expressions, and this helped when they found out that they were followed by the headmaster and Madame Umbridge, who stood in the corner of the room watching everything.

Under such pressure, the children occupied the study tables and began to study or read to pass the time. Madame Umbridge was soon circling around them, and she wasted no time in attacking Paul as soon as she saw what the boy was writing on a parchment.

"This symbol like a snake, boy, what is it?" She asked, folding her arms and looking at the boy with a typical 'I got you' smile.

"It's a stylized letter 'S', indicating a sum of elements, ma'am," replied the boy as politely as possible.

"And is it not by chance a Muggle symbol? I do not remember seeing this symbol in any magical book."

Paul thought a little before answering with a question: "The alphabet we use in the magical world is also of Muggle origin, isn't it? Is there an exclusively magical alphabet that we should use?"

It was Umbridge's turn to pause for a moment. She didn't like the path the boy gave to the conversation. Morag, who was sitting in front of Paul, took the cue to disarm the poisonous woman.

"There is, yes, Paul, they are called runes. But only in the third year can we begin to study them. Until then I think we'll have to keep using Muggle symbols, will we not, madam?"

Umbridge even considered the possibility of demanding their homework written in runes, only to complicate the lives of those impertinent children to the maximum, but she remembered in time that she herself would have great difficulty in reading and correcting the work. Gathering her strength, she gave the children a smile more yellow than egg yolk, and with an "Of course" that was clearly sombre, she hurried away. The smile with which Paul thanked Morag's intervention was immensely more genuine and better received.

Soon the two adults left the children in peace, and Luna took the opportunity to go up to her dormitory from where, via portal, she soon arrived at the Foundation for an important mission.

-o0o-

Until her happy encounter with the Zurkhofs, Luna had spent an almost solitary childhood. The exception was Ginny Weasley, a little redhead girl who lived about five hundred yards from her, and with whom she could play eventually. The 'eventually' was not 'often' for two reasons: Ginny's mother Molly, although she tolerated Luna's parents and treated them amicably, considered them a bit too eccentric to let her daughter visit Luna's house often. On the other hand, Luna's visit meant that the two of them had to stay under Molly's constant watch or suffer from the pranks of the twins or Ronald's rude and biting criticism of everything they did or said.

After meeting the Zurkhofs, Luna moved in with them and barely saw her old friend. She had even talked to her mother, early in their relationship with the Zurkhofs, about trying to get Ginny involved in all that, but Ginny's mother was too attached to Dumbledore and too protective of her offspring, causing serious security problems to consider.

The fact was that Luna felt indebted to her first friend, and would do her best to make Ginny soon be part of that wonderful group.

-o0o-

"Paul? Can we talk a moment?" a nervous Neville Longbottom asked the one who had become the most important influence in his life.

"Of course, Neville," Paul replied, looking at his friend with a smile. "Always! How can I help you? Is your new wand working well?"

The children had noticed a strange contradiction with the boy. Neville was one of the best in wandless magic, but it was one of the worst using a wand. It was not long before they discovered the reason: Neville was using his father's wand, rather than one suitable for him. Paul and Liz arranged for a new one for him as a Christmas present, after Amelia and Selene managed to persuade the stern Madame Longbottom, the boy's grandmother, to let him spend most of his year-end vacation at the Foundation. She herself had visited the Foundation often enough to ease her concerns about the friendships her grandson had been cultivating, and was pleasantly surprised by all she had seen.

"Oh, yes, it's been so much easier to do the spells now! Thank you very much for the gift! It helped me a lot," the boy replied, visibly happy. "But I'd like to ask you something, if it will not disturb you."

"Not at all, Neville. What is it?" asked Paul curiously.

"It's about the girls ..." the boy began timidly.

"Already?" asked Paul, half-jokingly. "Are you falling in love with any?"

"N-No!" replied Neville stammering and blushing a lot. "It's just that ... well ... I cannot explain it right, but the girls in our group ... they are different from the others ... And the other boys, those not in our group, they say that this is wrong, not that I believe them, but it's so difficult having Nott and Weasley agreeing to something..."

"Oh, I think I got it," said Paul, making Neville remarkably more relaxed because he didn't need to explain himself better. The young heir of the Longbottoms was suffering from a common problem at their age, developing ideas and concepts that he still haven't the ability to express clearly. It is a pity that most adults, when faced with children experiencing the same problem, were rarely patient and willing to help, rather preferring to criticize and ridicule.

"I think their behaviour here in our group is normal ..." Paul explained. "Here among us we do not blame them for being as smart or smarter than we are, nor treat them as inferior for whatever reason or difference there may be. You were with us when Daphne and Susan explained the situation of the women in the wizarding world, weren't you?"

"Eh ... yes, I was," Neville replied. "But then, is it not their own fault if they are in such a situation? How did they let men take all power and responsibility and did nothing to stop it? Even seeing how the girls in our group live with more freedom, the older ones are doing nothing! Why that?"

"I'm not sure how that kind of situation developed ..." Paul confessed. "I think it is very much related to the fact that men are usually physically stronger, and generally are the only ones to carry arms, but there are so many examples of women who have succeeded as warriors, from Boadicea to Joan of Arc, that I don't know to what extent this is valid. There is also a religious influence. Religions generally reflect certain chauvinism; monotheists usually represent God as an old man. And in Judeo-Christian tradition, women is seen as a later creation, from the rib of Adam, and this gives them a certain inferiority, and adding that they are portrayed as responsible for the expulsion of the couple from Paradise, for having left be deceived, well, the image that remains isn't the best, and seems to have installed in them a certain sense of guilt that I think is unjustified…"

"But the magical world does not attach much importance to the Muggle religions ..." argued Neville.

"However, they only split up around the year 900. By that time much damage had already been done, and the women were already in this sad situation ..." commented Paul. "And, let's face it, it's not an easy situation to reverse. On the one hand, no one who has acquired power and privileges often gives up easily. On the other hand, going against customs and traditions is always problematic. Many of the older girls, as you mentioned, are not only not following the example of our friends, but are harshly criticizing them for going against what is expected of them. Deep down, they are fighting their own interests by acting like this, perpetuating this discrimination, and the worst is that they do it without realizing it or perceiving it but fearing the repercussions and envying the success of others. This is a terrible condition, envy. It leads people to want the failure of others just to not feel inferior because they don't achieve the same successes themselves."

"So you fully accept the equality of women?" asked Neville.

"Oh, no, not at all!" replied Paul, much to his friend's astonishment.

"What?! But..."

"Easy, Neville. Let me explain," Paul asked, waiting for a moment until poor Neville assimilated the surprise and signalled to Paul to continue. "What I mean is that, on the one hand, I am fully in favour that all people, regardless of gender, race or any other superficial difference, should have the same rights. And in this I am comprehensive enough to include elves, goblins, centaurs and any other intelligent species that exist. But on the other hand, I think it is important not to overemphasize this idea of 'equality', because differences exist and they can be important in given situations. For example, until science comes up with something new, women get pregnant and men do not. Pregnancy then becomes a factor that needs to be taken into account, and it would not be fair to expect a pregnant mother to maintain the same level of work throughout this period. Her body will be undergoing radical changes, and she will be in a very different situation from the one she was before she became pregnant, or the situation the future father is going through in the same period, you see it?"

"I think so," replied Neville, struggling to understand. "Any two intelligent beings will be different in some respects and similar in others. Both the differences and the similarities are to be understood and accepted, without them becoming grounds for evaluating and judging the other, either as superior or inferior. We have to accept that it is possible to be different without necessarily accepting that this indicates that one is better or worse, is that it?"

"In a sense, yes," agreed Paul, but continued. "However, I think it goes further. Difference is not just something we should accept, but desire. Differences bring options, bring different ideas, different perspectives ... Basically, I think progress would be much slower, if it really did occur, if we were all the same. Don't you think that, as a group, we advance much more than we could individually? And don't you also think that the advantages we get as a group come from exactly the diversity, the differences between us, its members?"

"Each complementing the other, helping each other where one is weaker, isn't it?" Neville pondered. "Yes I agree. I just hadn't made all those connections ..."

"Sometimes we have our difficulties there, and it is difficult to reach consensus on some issues, but even that ends up being beneficial," Paul argued. "The discussions that arise lead us to examine certain topics in much greater depth, which enriches us a lot. Even if we didn't come to an agreement in the end, each one of us would have reflected much more, seeing the subject from different perspectives, and gained a much more serious and realistic understanding than if he had simply accepted the first idea that pleased us and left things like that."

"I see ..." began Neville, but stopped when a portal opened and Luna passed thru it. "Hey, Luna. By the smile, your mission was a success?"

"Oh, yes, it was a lot easier than I expected," said the girl to Neville. "I had underestimated how much Ginny is independent and adventurous. It was an easy job to point out these same qualities in our efforts and the chance of a little rebellion against her overprotective mother so that she would be enthusiastic about the idea. But our friend Paul here is going to have some work ..."

"Me?" asked the boy, surprised. "Why?"

"Oh, not Paul exactly ..." Luna commented. "It's more of a problem for the Boy-Who-Lived. Do you remember Susan at first? Ginny is absolutely in love with the Boy-Who-Lived. Rachel will have another competitor."

"But she never saw me! How could she be in love with me?" asked Paul, still perplexed.

"Not you like Paul, she doesn't even know you exist," Luna explained. "But Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, has been her favourite story ever since she started talking. And with all the material you have signed on The Critical Thinker, she thinks she knows you and adores you for everything she thinks you are."

"Oh, no! I'm fried!" Paul panicked, making his two friends laugh at his situation. "What am I going to do?"

Luna moved closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder, bending slightly to look the boy in the eyes.

"You don't have to do anything, Paul. It will not be that bad. Just have a little patience, as with Susan," she said, still curious at the intensity of his reaction. "Give her a little time and she'll end up fitting in well with the group."

"I hope you're right," Paul replied, showing that some doubt remained.

"Am I not always?" Luna asked, moving away as she laughed at the situation.

-o0o-

"Maybe you now believe me when I tell you girls are smarter than we are, Neville?" Paul asked his friend.

"No doubt," he replied. "Girls are a mystery. I never know when they're serious or when they're making fun of us."

"Probably because they're doing both most of the time," Paul agreed. "I've never been able to win a verbal battle against Liz or Luna, and now with Hermione, Daphne, Tracy, Morag, Padma ... Aff! Most of the time I feel like a little boy wanting to participate in the adult conversation without understanding what is really going on ..."

"I know. I feel that way most of the time," Neville confessed.

They were both silent for a moment. Paul could see that there was something else Neville wanted to discuss, so he waited patiently until his friend got his thoughts in order and expressed himself. He didn't have to wait long.

"It's interesting this thing about sex, isn't it?" said Neville at last. "From a biological point of view, I mean. It doesn't look very effective, does it?"

"What exactly do you have in mind, Neville?" Paul asked uncertainly.

"It's a double cost in reproductive terms. Remember the idea of Dawkins about the selfish gene in that book Luna loaned me? If the purpose of genes is to guarantee their own reproduction and survival, and nothing more, it would be far more advantageous for each organism to make a copy of itself without engaging exchanges with another."

Paul mused a little before answering, "I think I understand what you mean. Using sex for reproduction, only half of my genes will pass to my children, when I could pass all of them if I just split myself in half, or spawn a baby by myself. Is it what you're thinking?"

"Yes, that's what I mean. What's more, if each individual reproduces himself instead of needing the help of another, you end up having double the number of offspring," replied Neville. "I remember what we read about the advantages of switching genes to improve survival chances, but is it such a big advantage that it makes up for the double cost over reproducing the genes directly?"

Paul thought for a few moments before answering: "In that case, it is best to imagine a specific situation. First, let's consider a sexual and an asexual species. We will initially have a distribution of the efficiency of individuals of each species around an average. For simplicity, let's say that the distribution is a symmetric curve around 50% efficiency, the amount of individuals in each percentage rising between 0 and 50%, then decreasing from 50 to 100%."

"That curve in bell we saw in statistics, isn't it? A Gaussian curve," Neville commented.

"Exactly," Paul confirmed, before continuing. "In the case of asexual reproduction, each individual creating a copy of itself, the tendency would be for the next generation to come out very similar to the current one, isn't it?"

"Yes," replied Neville, but then asked, "But wouldn't it be the same in the case of the sexed species?"

"Maybe in our species, which is monogamous, but in most species I think males compete with each other, and only the best reproduce," commented Paul.

"Oh, yes, I remember reading about it," Neville said. "Hornets flying high in a race to fertilize the new queen bee, and walruses and stags fighting each other, and everything."

"So think about what would happen if only males with 80% or more of efficiency have offspring," Paul suggested.

"In that case, we would have an average efficiency of 50% in females and 90% ... No, it would be less than 90% because the curve is downward, but let's say 86% average efficiency for males ..."

"Yes, you're doing well ..." commented Paul. "Then you see that the average efficiency of the next generation would jump from 50% to a 68%, using a simple average of the efficiency of the parents ..."

"Sweet Merlin in a box!" Neville was surprised. "And in just a generation!"

Paul smiled happily at his friend's success in understanding that reasoning, and just how exceptional his group was. A mere half a year ago it would be inconceivable to find a magical child reasoning like that.

"Hey!" exclaimed Neville. "That then means we humans aren't benefiting at all from that competitive advantage, are we?"

"No, we're not," Paul commented before grinning, "Do you want to try to persuade Weasley, Crabbe, and Goyle to castrate themselves for the good of the species?"

Paul amused himself with the mixed expression of astonishment and fear showed by Neville.

-o0o-

Meanwhile, Luna went to Parvati and Lavender, curious about their serious countenance, whispering in a corner of the room.

"Hey girls, are you okay?" she said as she approached.

"Oh, yeah. It's just that we've been thinking ... " Lavender began to respond, but was cut short by the newcomer.

"Wow! And did it hurt too much?"

"Too much funny today?" Lavender said, folding her arms and trying to display outrage.

"No, I'm sorry. I just couldn't help it," Luna replied temporizing. "But I was curious. Why all this seriousness, and why this dress?" she said, pointing to Lavender. In fact, the two of them were dressed in admirable simplicity, without make-up or the profusion of trinkets they used to wear.

Lavender deflated her pose, and replied with some sadness: "We've been losing so much time with this whole fashion thing!"

"And it's all silly!" concluded Parvati, equally disappointed by her earlier actions.

Luna threw herself into an armchair near the couch where the two of them sat before asking, "Oh, don't make suspense. Tell me everything!"

"We've been doing that exercise trying to see a subject from a new perspective ..." Lavender began.

"And, imagine, we chose fashion as our theme ..." added Parvati.

"And the results were terrible!" Lavender resumed, but apparently she was in doubt about what she had just said. "I mean, we did everything right, and the results were fantastic, just terrible, you know?"

Luna seemed to not have understood so Parvati elaborated a bit more: "The method gave great results, and helped us to understand fashion much better than before. We just don't like the conclusions we get ..."

"We conclude that fashion, in the end, is a tremendous nonsense ..." Lavender interjected. "To begin with, if you pay attention to fashion, you end up wasting a lot of articles that are still in good condition ..."

"Clothes, jewellery and accessories can last for a long time, and be used many, many times ..." Parvati explained. "But if you let yourself be influenced by fashion, you will stop wearing them just because other people are telling you not to wear them anymore!"

"It's terrible! It's commercial manipulation!" said Lavender. "They create in us this compulsion to keep up with fashion in order to make us buy more and more articles, things that we don't need and often don't even like but that we end up buying just to not feel outside."

"And it has all this attachment to the ego involved!" added Parvati. "Do you know what I'm talking about? This behaviour of wanting to feel better than others just by being better informed or by owning the latest release. I feel so bad for acting like this!"

"Me too!" Lavender confessed. "And the worst thing is that I didn't even realize what I was doing! I didn't recognize my motives for what they were: naïve attempts to get a place among the others, to try to get some transient notoriety. I was worrying about appearances, rather than giving importance to my essence. It was like trying to live the life of a character, not my own life!"

Luna was dumbfounded. She had never cared about fashion, and it had seemed strange that these two cared so much about it, but she had respected their choice and had never criticized it. She thought that in time they would reconsider the matter, but she didn't expect that this reconsideration would come so soon, or be so radical.

"The worst we found when we began to review the articles that were being announced as trends for the next season," Parvati said. "We tried to analyse the items in rational terms, using criteria of beauty, comfort and practicality. Some of them had something in terms of beauty, but even then several of them left a lot to be desired. Now, as for comfort and practicality, for Merlin, it was absurd!"

"Stiletto shoes!" Lavender interrupted. "They are terrible! It's a danger to try to walk with something like that on your feet! Uncomfortable, they hurt you if you use them for long, difficult to walk with grace without immense training, and totally impossible to have fun with them! They are totally inadequate for running, jumping, dancing ..."

"If fashion was good and rational, there should be continuous progress not only to obtain more beauty, but also more comfort and practicality, but there isn't" said Parvati. "Many of the items we reviewed, articles featured as top fashion, seemed to have only one intent: to shock, that is, to get attention."

"It's all so self-centred!" Lavender concluded, displaying all her disappointment at the subject.

The three of them were silent for a moment, contemplating what had been said. With nothing to say, Luna said nothing, just got up and hugged the two girls before leaving.

-o0o-

The first days under the new rules were quite tense. The new classes and the extra burden of studies and homework they brought left the children with little free time, which they spent in the most behaved and irreproachable way possible.

This, of course, did not please them at all. First, the additional classes were not very interesting. Second, the children had to stop their special projects, and stop using the Room of Requirement, for safety. Third, they were being constantly watched, and had to keep their expression of "poker player" on continuously, which was tiring. To compensate for all this stress, they were spending as much time as possible in their night trips, going to bed at seven in the evening, just after dinner, waking up only at seven in the morning to go straight to breakfast.

Dumbledore tried to put Umbridge in the place of First-Year Head of House, with the excuse that Dolores had more free time than Septima, but the Arithmancy teacher didn't accept the exchange, arguing that Umbridge still didn't have the necessary experience as a teacher and as a member of the Hogwarts staff to do the job well, and that the children were already accustomed to her and the change would be detrimental to them. Albus even tried to insist, but the support of Filius, Pomona and Minerva, among others, sealed the question.

The old headmaster had to give in, but soon found an alternative. With the excuse of visiting her son, Molly Weasley became a constant presence in the first year students' quarters. If it was only for spying, the situation would not have been so tense, but Molly insisted on praising her lazy son and wanting to include him in the activities of the Foundation group, which left both Ron and the children in the group quite irritated.

With so much time that the children of the group spent in the astral helping the new students of the Foundation, the new schools soon became a success, calming Beth and Remus, who were very worried about the new groups.

However, all this time hidden in their rooms was soon reported to the headmaster, and Madame Pomfrey was soon called to check each of the children to find out why they were sleeping so much. Seizing the opportunity, they all complained as much as they could about the banning of Muggle goods, excessive discipline, lack of leisure, and everything else they thought needed change. Dumbledore, tired of hearing the complaints, cancelled the medical checks, arguing that it was "only a phase of adaptation to the changes that would soon pass."

Luna and Paul, as expected, were getting too much attention from the headmaster and new teachers. Nothing too direct, it was more like these adults were lurking, waiting for the right moment to attack. For safety, they were always surrounded by other children in the group and avoided to draw more attention to themselves.

Seeing that the children had taken no drastic measures against the changes, and that the situation therefore progressed much more slowly than he had expected, Albus took advantage of the relative calm and his recent alliance with the Minister to try to gain access to the records of the Department of Mysteries about Atlantis, still convinced that Voldemort was in search of the legendary secrets of this missing civilization.

Saul Croacker was aware of Dumbledore's suspicions and activities, and decided not to interfere much. Just a little bit, to waste Albus' time, have fun irritating the headmaster and to not create suspicion, since it was usual that he always make the path of the old wizard as difficult as possible.

-o0o-

Cornelius Fudge had little reason to accept an alliance with Dumbledore. The old wizard was not the sort of person an experienced and ambitious politician could want as an ally. He was too accustomed to being on top, and to be obeyed without contradiction, that his natural tendency would be to take the lead of any undertaking in which he engaged, treating others as subordinates. This was a situation Fudge would never accept.

The problem is that the Minister didn't get any other heavy ally to look for. The Boy-Who-Lived was the key point of this entire crisis, but the brat not only had refused all his attempts to approach, as he had publicly humiliated Fudge in the Diagon Alley. The Wizengamot was more divided than ever, and only the names of Dumbledore and Malfoy had any special importance there, and yet it was not so much as in the past. The Unspeakables, who at first seemed to be by his side and even alerted him to the importance of little Potter, were too involved in some activity that they refused to tell the Minister, which made him very worried. Fudge was feeling abandoned, cast aside as an unimportant piece in the midst of the greatest crisis of British magical society in at least a decade, and he simply would not accept such a situation.

If Dumbledore and Malfoy were the allies he had in hand, then Fudge would make use of them as best as he could. When Dumbledore sought him out to ask for his support for the changes he wanted to make at Hogwarts, Fudge saw his chance to interfere and position himself better to take advantage of the upcoming events. It had been easy to convince Lucius of the importance of participating. His greatest political ally wanted a chance to return to the Island with honour, and not like the coward who he had shown himself to be by taking his family away at the first threat of danger, and Fudge had negotiated for him to have such a chance. Lucius still controlled the Hogwarts Board of Governors, and his support would be instrumental in implementing the new measures at the school. His wife would be a perfect ally within the faculty of the school, along with another person of his choice.

Now that the changes were in place, it was time to put the second part of his plan into action. First, use the Daily Prophet to move ahead of Dumbledore as the leader who implemented the changes at Hogwarts. Second, gaining public opinion to ask the Boy-Who-Lived for his presence in the esteemed magical school, since Fudge would make it clear that the changes requested by the boy were met. Third, and here he still had some doubts, to reveal the role of the boy as the prophesied exterminator of Voldemort, forcing the public to press the boy to fulfil his destiny under the tutelage of the zealous Minister of Magic.

-o0o-

Dumbledore returned from the Ministry of Magic with a smile on his lips. Let Cornelius play his little political games at will. The Minister was considering himself clever for a small victory, taking on the fame of being the cause of the changes at Hogwarts. The poor, like most politicians, did not have a long-term or far-reaching view of events. He had jumped to grab the chance for a small immediate victory, not realizing how this little victory could become the cause of his defeat further on.

Albus knew that the changes did not appeal to the children, and that they would not please Little Potter at all. He knew this because he had planned them so. His intention was not to win the Boy-Who-Lived's support, but to force the Foundation to reveal its real intentions and to play more openly, relying on their errors or weakness to conquer or nullify them.

Cornelius, taking on the fame of the perpetrator of change, had also assumed responsibility for them. When the Foundation countered, and Dumbledore was sure it was only a matter of time for them to do so, it would be the Minister who would burn, whereas Albus could, as he liked to do, leave the episode smelling of flowers, untouched by the repercussions.

Not only that, but the Hogwarts headmaster still had obtained some favours as a 'payment' for his connivance with Fudge's manoeuvre. Dumbledore had forced the Minister to give his endorsement for the inquiries the old mage wanted to make in the library of the Department of Mysteries, both on Voldemort and on Atlantis, and Fudge also recognized that Narcissa and Dolores, as members of Hogwarts staff, should report to the headmaster about their actions and obey his directives, virtually nullifying the benefits that Cornelius had thought to acquire by appointing the two.

Let us then let poor Cornelius enjoy his moment of glory, he thought. Soon his flame will fade and the light to lead the nation will be another, the one in the hands of the natural leader of the magical world, Albus Dumbledore.

-o0o-

The children of the Foundation were generally positively surprised by the new classes. Schaklebolt, Pomfrey, Slughorn and Bagshot were admirable teachers, both endowed with great knowledge and great ability to pass on this knowledge. Sirius was doing his part well, though the subject was not of much interest to most children. The same could be said of Elphias Doge and his class on Laws, with the aggravation that the teacher was a great friend and admirer of Dumbledore and always praised the headmaster too much, to the point of irritating the children with his excesses.

The situation with the other disciplines was a little worse. Podmore and Mrs Malfoy knew their disciplines, Customs and Traditions for the first, Etiquette and Behaviour for the second, but they simply described the topics without explaining their origins or, worse, their value. They simply demanded that traditions and rules be respected, without giving any valid reason other than 'because this is how we do it'. Nothing worse for a teacher than asking curious, intelligent and independent children to accept impositions without good reasons. As the children were still 'playing poker' until notice to the contrary, they did their best to avoid laughing or causing discord, but each day became more difficult.

Worst of all was Madame Umbridge and her 'Free Political Propaganda', as the children began to call her classes, since all she did was to praise the Minister and preach obedience and respect to him. This woman's classes were so bad that the two other small dissident groups of Weasley and Malfoy ended up revolting before the Foundation's children, only because the group supported each other and soon began to pour out their disappointments in a series of articles in The Critical Thinker, easing the tension they felt.

Finally, Molly Weasley and Daedalus Diggle's classes were just a waste of time. The children in the group were already able to do without a wand what those two had to teach, and although the two were great advocates of the headmaster and overly strict with the discipline of the students and the zeal for propriety and decorum, they did not bother much.

In the meantime, the children would take everything in the rhythm of waiting, making bets on who would take the initiative first and do something stupid to try to force a reaction from them. Umbridge, Sirius, and Dumbledore were by far the highest rated, with Mrs Weasley farther off in the fourth position. Professor Umbridge was not patient or subtle at all, hence her expressive vote, but as Sirius was also not very patient and Albus had been bothering the Marauder a great deal with his persistence in getting information about the Foundation and his godson, and getting more and more irritated by Sirius' refusal to cooperate, the children were worried about how long it would take until they had to interfere in a serious fight between them.

-o0o-

It was taking a long time, but Dumbledore was gradually being convinced that the Department of Mysteries had no further information on the legendary Atlantis. But even this negative result did not convince the old headmaster that the whole story was just legend, nor that Voldemort could have given up because of the lack of results. The wizard of the long white beard was very patient, and it did not pass through his head how much more immediate his opponent was.

Voldemort was already ready to give up soon after his first failures to get more news about the mythical kingdom. When he discovered that Dumbledore was so close in his pursuit, the Dark Lord left the area immediately and went on to pursue other goals.

Voldemort's first action was to take care of his appearance. Not that the improvements obtained were significant, but it was essential that he should not appear weak, or it would be difficult to get and keep minions under control. One stop in ancient Persia and another in China made sure that most of his burns went away, and that his appearance was close to usual.

The next step was to find a weapon that gave him as much power as his enemies have. The explosion from which he had escaped had frightened him and convinced him that his enemies had found a powerful weapon to aid them. He would need an equal or greater weapon to overcome them, and the question now was to find out what that weapon might be and where it could be found.

Voldemort didn't need much time to confirm what he already knew. This subject had interested him in the past, and he had done extensive research before beginning his first reign of terror. History spoke of five exceptional foci of magic, two of which had long since been destroyed: the Macuahuitl of the Aztec emperor Montezuma and the jade sword of the Chinese emperor Huangdi.

Of two others there was no mention for many centuries, and Voldemort thought them to be as mythical and non-existent as Atlantis itself: the sceptre of the Egyptian pharaoh Cheops II and Merlin's staff.

But from the last of them, the wand of destiny, there were many reports, and its history could be traced back to a recent period. This was the weapon Voldemort wanted and would try to gain to exert his supremacy over the whole magical world.

-o0o-

The Critical Thinker soon began the task of informing the magical people of the details of the changes at Hogwarts. The first topic dealt with was the extinction of the Muggle study discipline, arguing how little the magical world understood of this larger population, how much they failed when they wanted to go unnoticed by them, and how fast they were changing and progressing, achieving, through science and technology, deeds that most wizards would have difficulty performing with magic.

But that was just the beginning. As classes progressed, four disciplines received special attention. On the one hand, the publication has revealed the facts that Traditions and Etiquette omitted in class: the trivial, and generally spurious, if not wholly irrational, elitist origins of what magical society most valued in its customs and behaviour. On the other hand, and much more importantly, they used Magical Politics and Law disciplines to start revealing how many extra privileges and rights were reserved for the purebloods, and the many and unexplained differences between how they and the less favoured wizards and witches were treated. To reinforce these points, constant comparisons were made with the magical societies of other countries, where the differences were noticeably smaller and the population was treated with more equality and justice. It was not long before the British magical society realized how much it had been exploited by the ruling elite, and began to protest against the situation.

Dolores lost her composure right after the first attack on her (lack of) didactic and extreme pro-government propaganda. She wanted to discount in somebody, and Paul Zurkhof, a Muggleborn named by the headmaster himself as one of the leaders of the subversive movement at the school, was awarded the first detention for "disrespect to the magical government and the distinguished person of the Minister." Not that the boy had opened his mouth once in the whole class. Only that Umbridge wanted a victim, and he had been the chosen one.

What the teacher had not counted on was finding, as she entered the classroom after dinner to apply 'just punishment' to her ill-behaved student, not just the boy, but almost the whole lot of first years sitting around the boy, patiently waiting for her.

"What does this mean? Why are you all here?" she asked the students, already irritated by the situation.

"You said it was your duty to punish everyone who disrespected the government. Since I think most of the members of the government care only of themselves and never about the collective good, I am here," answered a little redhead girl in the front row.

"For my part, I think that most members of the government only occupy their positions by inheritance or exchange of favours with other powerful people, and that a test of minimum qualification would put most of them on the street," said another girl, to the left.

And so went on for several minutes, each child making a more bitter criticism of the government, justifying their presence in the room. Oh, Umbridge would like to punish all those stupid little children with severity, but she would not have survived in the government for so long had she not been able to catch a trap like that. The first to respond had been the niece of Madame Bones, head of the DLME! It was clear that they had turned the situation against her, and she should be careful not to give grounds for any reprisals.

What a pity! No blood quills today. It wouldn't be possible to make that brat suffer, it would be too dangerous. Dolores let the series of offenses continue as she decided what to do. There was no choice; she would have to be soft; much softer than she wanted to be.

"Enough!" She screamed as she made up her mind. "You all will write lines! Lots of lines!"

On the blackboard, after a wave of her wand, the phrase appeared: "I'll fail this discipline if I don't understand the benefits that the government brings to the magical society."

-o0o-

Paul was starting to get worried. The siege on him was starting to close, and he didn't like the situation at all. He was not afraid, since he had many advantages in his favour. His knowledge and ability in magic were very advanced, and totally unknown to the headmaster and his allies. The other children had also made great strides, and they were powerful allies in the event of an emergency. His constant mental contact with Liz was known to Dumbledore, but Paul was sure that the old wizard was not taking this into account, or didn't realize everything it meant: that all the adults in the Foundation were aware of everything that happened to him.

Still, the situation was not pleasant at all. Paul had always been a boy of action, although his companionship with Liz and Luna had taught him the advantages of being patient and of thinking before acting. But still it was hard to bear to see the pressure mounting without doing anything.

The detention with Umbridge had been the pinnacle, but not the beginning of his problems. Looking back on the whole situation, it had started with Molly Weasley trying to make her son Ronald Paul's best friend, even considering that the redhead had a real dislike for Zurkhof and his fellow scholars, who wasted time on books rather than enjoying the pleasures of life. Between Molly and Dumbledore he was having to answer questions about his family two or three times a day, and it was clear that none of them believed when Paul said that his mother and sister were visiting some foreign country and would not return so soon. On one of these occasions Paul even felt his anti-legilimency medallion heat up, but Liz assured him that the old man had not gotten into his thoughts and that she would react with determination if he insisted.

Dolores and Narcissa used a different tactic. They treated all Muggleborns with phenomenal disdain, trying to incite them to revolt in some way. So far they had succeeded in avoiding a confrontation, but it was common for one or more of them to need some support from the others at the end of each class with one of these women, so was the size of the stress of swallowing that entire racist and elitist ballot without arguing.

Sirius and Septima were being great at shielding the kids as much as they could from the invasive actions of others. The Weasley twins were also doing a great supporting job, interfering with Molly's approach, irritating Ron to the point of him wanting to distance even more from the group and making Percy spend more time in the infirmary or shower than trying to spy on the group. Prefect Weasley was being bullied so many times that few risked being close to him, afraid to be involved in the strange situations he faced daily.

-o0o-

The Minister of Magic was beginning to realize the delicate position in which he had placed himself. The articles in The Critical Thinker were criticizing and ridiculing the changes made at Hogwarts, and many of the articles were signed by Harry Potter, stating that, despite some changes for the better, he had difficulties in considering the set of changes as progress, and that he saw no reason to be subjected to an environment as hostile to children as it was implemented at Hogwarts.

If those few criticisms had already been enough to nullify the small increase in popularity that the Minister had achieved in announcing the reforms, the detailed and corrosive criticisms that The Critical Thinker had been making to the laws and politics of the wizarding world were being overwhelming. Taking advantage of the chance that the Magical Politics and Law disciplines had opened, that publication had been revealing every little advantage bestowed on the purebloods as an affront and an injustice against the rest of the magical community, and the discontent of the population was very visible. Cornelius Fudge's popularity was steadily falling, and it was already the lowest that a Minister of Magic had faced in this century. And to make matters worse and to put a touch of personal humiliation on the situation, the episode of his fruitless hunt for the Boy-Who-Lived on Diagon Alley was quoted almost every time his name was mentioned.

His support among the members of the Wizengamot also declined day by day. That legislative body had acted with caution and slowness for years to ensure its privileges, which were now under threat because of the open and detailed discussion promoted by the publication which had exposed to the population all the details of the manoeuvres used and the real consequences and beneficiaries of the Laws approved.

Fudge was becoming terrified by the situation, and summoned the four new teachers most persecuted by The Critical Thinker to a meeting in his office that weekend. Something would have to be done, or soon he would run the risk of no longer hearing the applause of his followers and supporters, muffled by the boos of the increasingly unsatisfied population. Rotten eggs and tomatoes did not match with his new, impeccable Italian suit.

-o0o-

Meanwhile, the Foundation was dealing with a very different problem, a problem of non-magic origin.

They had fallen in love with the place where they built the Foundation, and had taken very good care of the place since they decided to use it as their headquarters. They renovated and refurbished the old facilities, preserving their original features to the maximum, while expanding the buildings respecting and preserving the characteristics of the region and its natural riches. But now all that work was being threatened by the possibility of a large store of industrial waste being built nearby. They had to find some way to keep it from happening, and quick.

However, to prove that a difficult situation can always get worse, they barely started a meeting to discuss the problem when alarms started ringing all over the building. Xeno went wild in the 'map room', as they got used to calling the control centre of the sensors that spread throughout the Island and they were spreading through various other places on the planet, returning shortly afterwards with the confirmation:

"It's him! Voldemort is back to England!"