Hello everyone! :3 A new question:
Where does the sorting hat know Fleur from? Did it just sense her somehow in her daughter's mind?: Well, do you remember how Harry talked to the sorting hat later on in the series, but the sorting hat was still up-to-date on what Harry was doing? It still knew that he would be great in Slytherin, so on and so forth, even though the hat hadn't seen Harry or anything like that. Somehow, the sorting hat can get inside the minds of people in Hogwarts without seeing them or whatnot, it just knew. Maybe Dumbledore was talking to the sorting hat, and that's how it knew what Harry was doing, but either way, the hat would have known Fleur. Fleur was in Hogwarts, so if the hat could just get inside people's heads, it would've known her that way. Or, if it was Dumbledore talking to the hat, Dumbledore certainly would have mentioned Fleur, one of the Tri-Wizard champions. One way or another, the hat would have known.
The school term began as to be expected, with few unusual or exciting things happening. Victoire fell in love with the Ravenclaw common room, just as Severin had, and found herself enjoying her new House. She quickly made friends among the other first year students, and as such began spending more and more time among students her own age.
That was well enough, though, because the older students had other concerns on their plate - they were going to become animagi, and trying to hide it from Victoire would have been a pain. Over the summer, Rom had been talking with his parents extensively about the art of becoming an animagus (even though they had no idea their son was planning on becoming one as well), and he had kept a running list of everything they would need in a notebook.
The eight students met in the library one day a few weeks into term and found a table near the back, where they would be able to speak undisturbed. They all had books and papers that they had found about becoming animagi, but Rom's notebook was the crowned jewel of their collection. They had just opened their books to tell each other what they had found when Professor Longbottom walked quickly and suddenly over to their table, a small frown on his face. The children started, their eyes wide, and quickly shut their books. They pretended they were talking about something else, and Professor Longbottom pursed his lips together slightly.
"Hello," he said, looking at them suspiciously.
"Oh, hello Professor Longbottom!" Lucy said, feigning surprise, "We didn't see you there."
"Yes, I can see that," he said with a tinge of sarcasm (he must be picking up a few things from McGonagall), raising an eyebrow at them. Even so, he didn't ask what they were doing. "Tavish, Professor McGonagall would like a word with you."
Tavish looked at Professor Longbottom, and all the color drained out of his face. The eight of them were suddenly filled with fear and adrenaline; did McGonagall know what they were up to? How had they been found out so soon? Why would McGonagall only call Tavish to her office, if she knew all of them were becoming animagi?
Tavish swallowed hard and stood, following Professor Longbottom out of the library and through the corridors towards the Headmistress's office. It was a journey Tavish had only made twice before, but one he remembered well. They stopped in front of the statue that marked the hidden entrance, and Professor Longbottom greeted the door readily: Ear Nougat! and then stepped forward, Tavish following behind. The griffin rotated and rose, bringing Tavish and Professor Longbottom with it, up through the spiraling tube towards McGonagall.
Tavish wasn't sure what McGonagall wanted to talk to him about, but he resolved not to say anything about the animagi until she said something first. He wasn't going to admit doing something wrong until she absolutely made him, because otherwise he might get out of trouble yet. The griffin finally grated to a halt and they stepped inside.
The room was apparently empty, with her desk sitting some twenty meters in front of them and the portraits of previous headmasters lining the walls between him and the desk. Tall shelves reached up to it with many items he recognized sitting there; a remembrall and the sorting hat, to name a few. There were also plenty of things whose uses he couldn't imagine, and he stared at them with evident curiosity. There was a stick shaped like a wand but twice as long, with a string and a bell on the end rather like a cat toy. There was another stick that forked in the middle and had something shimmering and silver wrapped around it, which seemed to produce its own light. There were numerous jars, viles, and tubes filled with all forms of liquids, gases and powders, a collection that could rival Slughorn's.
"Professor McGonagall," Professor Longbottom called out, dragging Tavish's attention away from McGonagall's shelves. "Tavish is here."
"Excellent," she said, and appeared at the top of the staircase in the back of her office. She walked down slowly and gingerly; she was getting old, and it was beginning to show. She walked more gingerly now, although still with great confidence. Her hair was white, and her face was well-lined with years of exhaustion and stress. Tavish had to remind himself that she was eighty-six now, and she wasn't getting younger any time soon. Perhaps 86 was not so old in wizard terms, considering Dumbledore didn't die until the age of 115, but Tavish was only 13, and in his eyes she was positively ancient.
"Hi, um, you asked for me?" Tavish said, shifting uncomfortably.
"Yes," McGonagall said. "Thank you, Neville, you may go." Professor Longbottom nodded and walked down the stairs with the griffin, disappearing from sight. Tavish turned to McGonagall uncertainly, waiting to see what she had to say.
"Tavish..." she began, and Tavish cringed. Please don't mention animagi, please don't mention animagi, please don't... "... I don't think you know, but you are top of your class."
"What?" he asked, caught off guard.
"You are," she continued, misinterpreting his reaction. "By a good deal, actually. A few students might beat you in one subject, but over all, you are the best in your year."
"Really...?" He wasn't sure what she was getting at. "Well, that's... good?"
"Yes," she agreed, squinting at him. "So, tell me, Tavish. Are you enjoying your classes? Are they challenging enough? Come sit with me."
Tavish followed her over to her desk and sat in the chair opposite her, frowning slightly. "Yes, I'm enjoying them. Some are easier than others, but most people feel the same..."
"I'm not asking about other people. I'm asking about you."
"Well... I suppose I wish they were more challenging," Tavish admitted. "But, I still have some catching up to do before I can complain; after all, Teddy still has me beat by a landslide in Transfigurations, and Severin's better at potions-"
"Tavish. I am not asking about them," McGonagall said again, reprimanding him gently. "This is no time for modesty."
"Okay, then yes, I wish they were more challenging," Tavish agreed.
"There we go, a straight answer," McGonagall said, sitting back with a smile. "Now, as you know, I can't have you skip levels. You have to pass your exams and besides, if I let you, you would run out of classes by your seventh year. And I can't change the class itself, because other students are not as far ahead."
"Okay..." Tavish said, wondering what the point was.
"However, I can get you some..." she paused, searching for the word, "extracurricular activities."
"Extracurricular activities?" Tavish asked. He still had absolutely no idea what McGonagall was trying to get at, and was beginning to lose his patience.
"Yes," she said. "You could be an apprentice of sorts. I could teach you more on different subjects that interest you, as well as showing you things in the magical world. It could be an internship, I suppose. By the time you graduate, you will be perfectly set up for whatever you might persue, on a higher level."
"You're offering to teach me outside of class?" Tavish asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," she agreed. "If you want to learn more, to be challenged, I am offering you an internship."
"Oh- Wow," he said, frowning slightly. "Why?"
"Well, Tavish, what do you want to do?"
"I don't know," he said, surprised. "Maybe... Be an Auror?"
"You could certainly be one, if that's what you want," she agreed.
"Or... Maybe teach Defense Against the Dark Arts or something," he said.
"Then perhaps it would be a good idea for you to see things you wouldn't in the classroom."
"Yeah," he agreed, "But why me?"
"You are the top of your class," McGonagall said. "This is the best way to give you something more challenging - unless you have another idea?"
"Well... No," Tavish agreed.
"So, would you like to be my apprentice?"
"Yes," Tavish agreed. He wasn't entirely sure what he was agreeing to, but he couldn't come up with a reason not to. Besides, it was true that he was bored in some of his classes, and this would give him an opportunity to learn more. He was always ready to learn.
"Good," she said with a smile. "I'll be in touch with you. Until then, go back to your friends and continue studying, or whatever it is you children seem to do these days." Tavish nodded, bewildered, and got to his feet.
"I'll - uh - be seeing you, then," Tavish agreed. "Thank you, Professor." He turned and left, leaving McGonagall sitting at her desk and tapping her fingers idly. She glanced at the portraits hanging from the wall, which looked back at her.
"I suppose that is a clever way of keeping an eye on him," Snape said with a slight frown. "It could have been better executed, though. You could have led into it, or done something more so this seemed like a less strange proposal."
"Well, you could have made that suggestion sooner," McGonagall shot back.
"I think it will work out," Dumbledore said, running his hand across his beard thoughtfully. "And this has the added benefit of training someone while you are gone. Not all Heads stay at Hogwarts until they die, you know; you should be considering retiring. Longbottom will be the next Headmaster, I imagine, and Slughorn is getting old; in five years, you will both be retiring and those children will be the ones filling the positions. Tavish would make an excellent new Head of Slytherin, if he is handled properly during these important and formative years. I'm sure one of the Gryffindor children would make an excellent replacement for Longbottom. Then, Tavish will be trained to take Longbottom's place as Headmaster one day. You are setting everything up quite nicely."
"Certainly better than you left it," Snape quipped, and Dumbledore shot him a glare.
McGonagall sighed, "You two have been dead for over a decade and you are still fighting. Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with you two."
"You should be more concerned with young Tavish," Snape cautioned. "You can be certain Voldemort has left behind symbols of his reign. Tavish is not out of the woods yet; you have to be careful Voldemort does not get inside his head."
"That's why I'm going to be watching him so closely, Severus," she said, scowling. "He will not remember his life as Voldemort; everything will be fine."