Here is the next chapter. Please enjoy it and read and review love Hannah xxx
"As you know it's a double edged sword Minerva. I don't think I'd be alone in saying that Albus gives us all far too much work to do. He knows I must help my father out at the bank a couple of times a week for an hour or two yet he still expects me to teach and be a head of house also. It's quite obvious you've been stretched too thin for a while now and things have gotten neglected" he said pausing to drink some of his tea.
"As you know Harry Potter was often the main person in dramatic situations based solely on who he was sometimes. Give yourself a break! The point is we need more staff and Albus has not been good at hiring them. Let's face facts there is too little staff and the ones he does have don't all do anything outside their subject with the kids. Sybil is an example of this. I don't doubt she's good at teaching divination but I don't think it would be wrong of me to say Albus doesn't force her to watch over the kids when she's not teaching either. In fact I think I might even tell him that" he said as she swiped at her eyes with her tissue.
"I know you're right Filius. Yes I know with the board and things he doesn't have the best reputation for hiring people but I did something when he wasn't here this summer because I could. You know that there are rumours of a curse on the DADA position and it was true until I removed it this year. I had a ward specialist come out and redo the wards for the whole school. What with it being so large he asked me to leave him to it and come back in four days. I didn't tell Albus this and to be honest I don't plan to. He caused so much hassle always having an excuse as to why he couldn't fix it so I did it for him. I was disgusted with him. Also I need your advice as an employee of Gringotts too!" she said referring to him working there whenever he could.
"Well you know what because I am a goblin I noticed the changes at once when I came back this year but didn't mention it as I didn't see the need to. I am happy you fixed it because I said it to him on too many other occasions and quite frankly he always had a reason as to why he couldn't do it and it's simply not good enough. What did you need my advice on?" he asked happy. They had been best friends for many years and trusted each other implicitly. If one of them said something was not good it would never be done.
"Ok so do you know of the room of requirements?" she asked as he quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes I do actually. It has become a bathroom when I needed one and on another occasion it became a library for me so I know it can become whatever the user needs at that time. It's on the seventh floor and quite marvellous if I do say so myself. I am not a Ravenclaw for nothing! I mean think of the intellectual opportunities!" he said as she rolled her eyes at him in a joking manner.
"Yes well this room has a default setting which I found and this is a room full of many hundreds of years of junk. In this room I found many trunks full of money and I wanted to ask you what I should do with it. Should I renovate the school, keep it or give the staff a pay raise?" she asked as he chuckled.
"If it were me Minerva I would do all three. I would have it counted and then broken into thirds of which I would keep one third and use the other to update everyone's pay with a bonus and fix parts of the school which need it" he said as she exhaled a breath she'd not realised she'd been holding in. He noticed this and gave her an unusual look.
"I…umm…had it counted and it was twenty million galleons in total. It had been collecting for centuries so obviously there was a lot of it there. I will do as you suggested. The room also contained one hundred broomsticks which I've tasked Rolanda with scanning and checking out. Any that she thinks are no good will be burned along with the current ones and either the remaining ones will be used if they are good enough or if not we'll just buy new ones" she said surprised at the glint he suddenly had in his eyes.
"That's fantastic. I've done something too. You see I was tired of always having a headache when around Sybil so I asked Lottie to clean her rooms thoroughly and remove anything smelly at all and destroy it. I told her to leave the incense behind though. She found so many bottles of sherry which she took away at once. I imagine we'll be seeing a much cleaner and more sober Sybil from now on. It's high time she got her shit together. Also I went up to that room before and it was filthy. I'd never let my classroom get that dirty" he said as she giggled really loudly.
"I can't wait until we can see that. Now in terms of redecorating the school is there anything you need in your own classroom?" she asked as he thought about it. Did he really need anything? As he thought about it more he blushed.
"Actually yes I do. I need a long platform which has steps leading up to it so I may stand on it and walk around at a level where I can see everyone and they may see me. It really would be best. I also need a new chalkboard, desks and chandelier in my classroom. The seats are all fine. In my personal office however I do need a new desk and chair. Thank you Minerva" he said with a smile.
As time moved on that day some of the changes were put in place at once such as new desks and chairs in offices and classrooms as needed. The platform would be ready for Filius to use on Monday as it was currently being crafted by the local magical carpenters in Hogsmeade who was very happy to get that job. Albus didn't notice much because he was always so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the new wards nor the fact that school felt safer as a whole. Minerva paid for some beast masters to come out and scour the entire forbidden forest killing anything which caused difficulties for humans of any kind. So far the acromantula den had been found and destroyed using fiendfyre which was then put out once all of them were dead. Hagrid didn't know about it because he was at the other side of the school working on some plants and things with Pomona and would only hear about it later on. As the beast masters were told Albus was far too busy to be bothered with it they chose to just keep her informed of their progress.
On Monday morning the new platform arrived and was installed in Filius Flitwick's classroom and the beast masters were finally done. At last the forbidden forest was safe. There were clear areas which were designated for the Centaurs, Unicorns, Hippogriffs, Abraxans and Thestrals. Also many trees in the forest were diseased from the Acromantulas spinning poisonous webs around them and so they were cut down and destroyed. Albus however was not so self-absorbed that he didn't notice this. He asked Minerva about it who told him she had organised it herself when an acromantula nearly killed her on a walk through the forest. He was very angry he'd not been consulted on the matter but was still very relieved that she was ok.
Poor Hagrid had taken to the drink pretty hard after the death of Aragog but was relieved that Minerva was ok none the less. He'd get over it eventually as he did most bad things which happened to him. Once again Minerva and Filius were having tea when the paper was delivered to him and they saw the damage done in Godrics Hollow after it had been cleaned up. It would seem more animals were killed and more blood was put on Harry's grave. It would seem Hermione had been going out again and they were both disgusted by it. It took a truly evil person to deface a grave after all. As time went on one hundred thousand galleons was deposited into the accounts of every teacher at the school and labelled as a bonus payment for which they were most thankful. Filius stepped up to Albus' door. This meeting he was about to have with the headmaster would be interesting for sure.
