Chapter 37
"So, what exactly did you want to talk with me about, Dinah?" Minerva asked on Thursday evening after dinner, striking a rather different image than Dumbledore did as she sat behind the huge desk. But she did fit the part of headmistress well.
"I would like to request that some key, important changes be made in the Triwizard Tournament's second task," Dinah decided to be blunt.
The headmistress blinked, "Changes? What possible changes could you want made? It is the decision of the Board of Governors and the Ministry how to conduct-"
"They are conducting it unfairly!"
The older woman sighed and seemed to resign herself to hearing Dinah out, "How so?"
"For example," Dinah began, trying to figure out the best way to approach this, "I was reading newspapers that came out at the time of the last tournament and it came to my attention that four different species of dragon were randomly assigned to the champions."
"Yes, and your point is?"
It was Dinah's turn to sigh, "Why am I the only person who can see the issue here? Harry Potter, the youngest participant and a participant that you yourself wanted excluded from the tournament in the first place due to his age, somehow managed to randomly pick the notorious Hungarian Horntail."
"Yes, that was unfortunate," Minerva's gaze drifted into reminiscence, "But we were unable to argue with the laws of the Tournament."
"But that's the point I'm trying to make. We need to change the laws at their source, before anything like that can happen again. Even without the age issue, Hungarian Horntails are extremely more aggressive than any other species of dragon. One student will be at a severe disadvantage in comparison to the others, and that is not fair at all. How can one pick a true winner of the Tournament if the students are not all given equal challenges?"
Minerva frowned, "You may have a point. However, the Tournament was not necessarily designed to be fair, you must understand. The champions are expected to be strong enough and prepared to face unfairness and that is a part of the challenge of the Tournament."
"No," Dinah shook her head, "I can't accept that. You may think you have a slight point, but I can counter it. The students must all have the same dragon!"
"One dragon for all students?" Minerva looked, understandably, doubtful.
"No!" Dinah exclaimed, exasperated, "That would be silly. The dragon would be so tired out that the last student would be the natural winner. I mean all the same species of dragon, obviously."
"They must have that?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, "You do realize how complicated that would be, getting all of the people involved to change the Tournament rules? I must say you are a determined Hufflepuff. Even Pomona has never gone this far about something in the interests of fairness, though I suppose perhaps she has come to accept the status quo of things, having been here so long. You young professors present me with quite a challenge on many different counts," there was a hint of teasing in the old woman's gaze.
Dinah flushed at the offhand reference to her pregnancy and let her hand briefly float over her rounding abdomen, "Yes, well, either way I am determined to see this through."
"I can see that. But I'm afraid an argument based only on idealism will-"
"My argument is not based solely on idealism!" Dinah retorted, having been prepared for that accusation and glad that Lucy had given her some ideas with which to defend herself. "If you would allow me to counter the point that I mentioned before, even if the student given the difficult dragon is strong enough to face the challenge, if the student given the easier dragon is of a stronger nature themselves, well then you can see how they might win by default no matter how hard the student with the tougher dragon works. Therefore…" she continued, trying to lay out her reasoning in the best, most logical, Ravenclaw-like way that she could.
Minerva, Gryffindor that she was, seemed more exhausted the longer she listened and completely lacked the proper enthusiasm for Dinah's points, but in the end she kindly agreed to talk to the Board of Governors about this and see what they said, and then go from there.
Still, Dinah figured she'd have a fight on her hands, convincing all of the people involved to make these changes.
But she would not give up until she had achieved fairness in the Tournament. Of that, she was certain.
She felt both triumphant and a little apprehensive as she made it back down to the dungeons.
"And how did it go?" Severus asked, looking up from where he sat at the table doing some late grading.
"She's going to talk to the Board of Governors," Dinah admitted. "They're the first step, and then the Ministry. And hopefully Lucy will have Charlie on standby to get some better dragon selections."
He snorted, "You still think this is somehow going to go through? Even with Lucy's logic, the Tournament rules have been in place for so long that I doubt anyone will be willing to change them, no matter how strong a point you make."
"Don't say that!" she exclaimed, feeling pregnancy hormones start to rear themselves for attack, "Nobody takes me seriously about this, not even my own husband."
Severus blinked and his gaze softened slightly, "Dinah, that's not what I-"
"Well you've just been snorting and scoffing about the whole thing as of late," she argued, plopping down on the couch and biting angrily into a plum she summoned over from the leftover fruit bowl from dinner, "Oh, and rolling your eyes at me. I know I'm a Hufflepuff but is that any reason that I can't be determined enough to make this go through? I will make it go through! You can count on that and then you'll see what I – oh!" she flushed as he had suddenly appeared at her side, so quickly she was sure she hadn't seen him coming. Unless he had apparated there, but there seemed to be little point to that.
She looked up at his impressive figure standing next to the couch and hovering over her. "What?" she demanded, trying not to cry.
"I take you seriously, Dinah. My Slytherin sensibilities find you amusing and slightly ridiculous, yes, but don't let any of that ever make you believe I don't take you seriously."
"Is that so?" she challenged.
He sat next to her, "I admire your dedication to this, and I suppose, if you do continue with this sudden stubborn streak of yours it might be possible for your changes to go through. I simply do not want to get your hopes up."
"Oh," she felt a small smile form, but inwardly scolded her hormones for making her emotions jump around like this. "Well, good."
"Now, if my ridiculous idealist is finally secure in my faith in her should we entertain ourselves with something else?" Severus purred in question, pinning her back to the couch.
Dinah had to laugh. "Mm," she agreed, meeting his kiss.
Should she tell Dinah about the letter? Her friend was watching closely from across the staff table a couple days later and Lucy could only assume her rather subdued mood had something to do with it. No, this wasn't Dinah's fight and her friend shouldn't have to worry about it at this time in her life.
"Professor!" Agrona called, rushing up to her with Derwent in tow. "Isn't it great that Amedeus got chosen for the champion? I was kind of upset I didn't get chosen but after the clue he told us about I'm kind of glad I wasn't. I can't afford to have any kind of treasure taken from me. And what happens if the champions don't find it? Do they lose it forever like the clue said?"
"Oh," Lucy said, frowning, "I'm sorry Agrona, I'm not really supposed to help with that. Though I suppose it couldn't hurt to say that forever might be a bit of an exaggeration."
"I told you," Derwent said to his girlfriend, "If they took it forever that'd be like stealing or something. And if you'd remember right Harry Potter got help from Barty Crouch Jr. not a professor. He wasn't even supposed to be alive let alone teaching at Hogwarts. Crouch rigged the whole thing if you ask me."
Sirius chucked, "In hindsight, I'd think that was rather obvious."
Lucy grinned, her husband's chuckle making her feel more at ease, "Well, looking back we can always see what we didn't see then. You guys had best get off to class though. Just because the Tournaments going on doesn't mean you get to slack off in your classes. I expect both of you to do very well on your N.E.W.T.s you know."
Agrona smiled and nodded, "Yes, Professor. We wouldn't let you down."
"I never thought you would. Now, go on. I'll see you two in class later."
Lucy gasped and sat up as fast as she could in their squeaky, Hogsmeade House bed.
"What is it?" Sirius asked, sleepily. They'd recently gone to bed and he'd likely just started to fall asleep.
"Your birthday's soon!" Lucy said, shifting around to face him as he lay on his back in the middle of the bed.
"Lu, it's next month. That's not soon," he said, rubbing a hand over his face.
She rolled her eyes at her ridiculous husband, "It's at the beginning of the month; that makes it soon. We have to do something."
"It's late. What exactly do you wish to do about it?"
"Well, I don't know precisely but it will require planning. We can't just do nothing. It is a big day for you."
"I don't mind doing nothing. In fact I'd be quite pleased to spend the entire day with you in bed."
"Lovely as that sounds," Lucy countered, "it's not going to happen. First of all, as our favorite bed amusement is off limits I think we'd get rather restless after awhile. Secondly, I'm pretty sure December third falls on a Friday which means I have class most of the day. But don't you worry. I am going to plan something wonderful. Oh! I'll make a cake!"
"Lucy," Sirius said, sounding amused with her chatter, "I'll gladly let you do whatever you want if you'll just go to sleep now." He reached up and pulled her giggling form down to him, shifting her so that Lucy lay on her side next to him. Kissing her temple he said, "You can plan all the parties you want if it will help get you out of this mood you've been in."
Lucy stilled and became quiet for a moment, "I'm trying not to think or worry about it."
"I know,' he said, running a hand up and down her back, "That's why I haven't brought it up. You're doing your best. And you know we might have to have two parties anyway."
"Why?" she asked, confused.
"Well, I don't think Harry and the Snapes are ready to be quite that chummy."
"That's true," Lucy nodded. "Okay so we'll have two parties then. This'll be fun," she murmured, snuggling into her husband's side and slowly drifting off to sleep.
"So," Lucy said, practically skipping up to Dinah during the start of the fourth Game Night of the year, "I'm throwing a party for Sirius's birthday. Two parties actually since Severus probably doesn't want to go to a party that Harry's attending. Anyway, you two can come can't you? I mean you sort of have to, everyone else will becoming to the 'family' one so you'd be the only guests. Unless you think Severus would be okay with inviting the Lupins too but somehow I think they'd fall into the same category as Harry regarding socializing with them."
Dinah blinked, probably surprised at her cheerfulness; "Uh... sure. Well, the Lupins are more tolerable than Harry's group but he'd probably just as soon prefer a two on two thing," Dinah admitted.
"That's what I thought. Now, I'm going to bake a cake and get some decorations and maybe it'll snow by then…if we weren't so big I'd suggest you bring Twister. Sirius seems to like playing that and I have to say I do too…" Lucy frowned for a minute while she thought, "I'd have to check the calendar to be sure but I think his birthday is on a Friday this year. It was a Thursday last year I remember because you and I had a movie night and he almost kissed you when he snuck in to surprise me."
Dinah's face reddened, "Oh, that time... when was that exactly? You think it will snow by then?"
Lucy smacked her forehead, "Sorry, I don't know why I thought you'd know when his birthday was, there's no reason why you would. It's December 3rd."
That got another blink out of Dinah, "You're kidding, right? And you're going to buy a cake and decorations now?"
Dinah's reaction made Lucy laugh, "No, I'm going to bake a cake Dinah. It is a bit early to be getting decorations I know, but it is a big birthday and since I'm still not supposed to be on my feet too much I have to do all the shopping through catalogues and I don't know how long delivery will take." Lucy shrugged, "I know it's kind of insane, Sirius thinks so too, but it's giving me something to do and keeping me occupied."
"I see," Dinah said, giving Lucy that considering look again. She opened her mouth, and then closed it, choosing instead to smile, "That's good. Just don't bake the cake right now or it might taste bad in December."
Lucy giggled, "I wouldn't do that. Maybe make a couple trial cakes…oh! I don't know if you remember Angelina from my hen party or not but we just got word after dinner that she and George are engaged. The wedding's going to be this April! I guess I started a trend in the family for quick weddings."
"Well, give them my congratulations," her friend smiled, teasing; "I assume the circumstances surrounding their 'quick wedding' differ from yours, though?"
Lucy blushed and ran her hands over her unborn child, "No, no. Angelina and George were both adamant that there is no way Angelina is pregnant."
"Just checking," Dinah laughed. "It will be lovely attending another wedding, I'm sure. You'll probably be attending a wave of weddings soon, large as your family is."
"Yeah," Lucy agreed, "I wouldn't be surprised if most of them end up married in the next few years. If Charlie gets married though it'll be awhile. His job is number one right now and it probably should be. I'd hate to have him really injured because he was being all lovey over a girl. At the same time though he's been talking an awful lot about Violetta in his letters. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I hope both of them have a chance to come here later."
Dinah agreed. "You haven't heard back about the dragons yet, have you? I'm still waiting for Minerva to convey my complaints to the Board of Governors but it can't hurt to keep the extra females on stand-by," she said, determined to see this dragon thing through. Lucy had never witnessed such stubborn Hufflepuff determination before.
"Charlie said he thinks it'll be likely they can have two of the same kind of dragon and a third of a similar temperament, but he can't really guarantee it any more than a healer could have guaranteed us getting pregnant around the same time."
"Well, that will have to do," Dinah frowned. "Now it's just the Powers that Be that I have to worry about. But I'm determined to get this change put through!"
"Charlie will do his best for you I'm sure. It just all depends on what dragons lay eggs and which don't. So," Lucy said, shifting in her chair while she watched Agrona, Jania, and Mae play a game together, "I was looking at some cots with Sirius. I'd like to get one soon so we can set up the nursery before One gets here."
"One?" Dinah repeated, looking very confused, "One what?"
"Number one," she said pointing at her stomach, "I know this hasn't been the easiest of pregnancies so far but there's no way I'm stopping at one. I'm having at least one more. I was an only child. I don't want to have one." Lucy shrugged, "I just started calling the baby One. I mean I can't name it yet. Anyway, I wanted to get a cot and then Sirius pointed out, quite rightly, that Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur would want to get us something larger for the baby so we should probably wait until after the baby shower."
Dinah nodded, "Yes. That's why I haven't really bought anything either. But it's quite convenient! Muggles have these things called electronic gift registries where you can have a store record the things you want and send the list out to all your relatives, so you know what to buy and what not to buy and the buyers can compare...Oh, I suppose I should probably tell you what's on the registry or something, shouldn't I...?" she trailed, considering.
Lucy giggled, "Probably. Though if it's something that only exists in the Muggle world then I'm probably not going to get it anyway. I don't have a list myself…"
"Well, I'll show you, but if you want to know what's already been bought then you'd have to contact my family or Rosa and Luke. There are enough basic things on there that can be found in both worlds, of course, like a cot, a high chair, cloth diapers, etcetera."
"Mmmm. Hey now," Lucy said, looking down at her stomach, "Night time is not play time. You don't get to sleep all day and keep Mummy up all night."
Dinah smiled, "They can be persistent, can't they?" Her gaze drifted around the room, "You know, I'm really pleased with how well the Durmstrang and Beaxbaton's students are taking to these game nights. I guess it's because they already are interested in making friends at Hogwarts and they come from schools where there is no sorting, but... I'm glad. This might help the Hogwarts students get used to these events. Starting them up during the Triwizard Tournament year seems to be just what was needed. What a stroke of luck." It was nice seeing Dinah finally looking confident about these game nights.
"Yeah, it was lucky wasn't it," Lucy grinned back at Dinah, "I think you've got a success on your hands here."