Hermione had been wearing a silly grin all day. Ever since the moment she had woken up with Minerva wrapped around her; she had felt high and giddy, like she was a bit drunk. The older witch kept shooting her incredulous glances but mostly she just seemed amused at her high spirits.
It seemed that Minerva actually enjoyed exploring the market and bazaar with her. The Conclave was composed of people from many countries and cultural traditions; there was no place more than here where that showed, a huge variety of food, goods, and clothes were for sale. Hermione's sharp ears could presently hear six different languages being spoken, a few of which she understood and the conversation was invariably focussed on her and Minerva.
The older woman was currently rummaging through a second-hand book stall with a soft smile on her face. The simple joy of that was one that Hermione could understand; looking at books, smelling them, touching soft bindings, it made her happy too. Right now however, she was simply content to sit and watch the witch browse. They had already purchased additional clothing, personal items, writing supplies, an extra desk for their chamber and the like.
Minerva looked up at that moment, her stunning emerald eyes sparkling as she met Hermione's gaze. Her smile widened teasingly, "Did I have a spending limit, my dear?"
"I may live to regret this… but knock yourself out."
Minerva visibly bit her lower lip to suppress a laugh, the sight sent a shiver down Hermione's spine and her heart gave a loud thump. The stall owner laughed at the two of them and said cheerfully, in heavily accented English, "I give you discount. Good customer."
"You've only just met her." Hermione was incredulous.
"Aaah but I can tell."
"You don't give me a discount!"
"You afford your books. But you cannot buy books for both you and the pretty human."
Minerva was holding onto the stall, her shoulders shaking, tears of laughter glimmering in her eyes as Hermione continued to argue with the owner, seemingly unsure if she should most be miffed about the lack of her own discount or the insinuation that she wasn't a good customer.
"If you're quite done bickering…" The ebony haired witch held up a rather high stack of books. The stall owner left his bantering with Hermione and bustled over, to pack them in a cloth bag. Like all of the shopkeepers thus far, he handed a piece of paper over to the wolf who glanced at it, twice, rather wide eyed the second time and then silently handed the man a pile of paper money.
"Lunch Minerva?" They started walking again, towards the smell of food; a melange of different spices and cuisines.
"Shopped out already?"
Hermione nudged the older woman with her elbow. "Not at all, but if we see it all today, there will be nothing left for tomorrow."
"Fine." Minerva huffed, mock irritated but couldn't quite keep the grin off of her face. "Where do you want lunch?"
Hermione stopped close to the area that was full of cafés, restaurants and food stalls. "There's a trick my mother showed me when I was small, we could try it?" Minerva nodded, intrigued by the hint of vulnerability in the young woman's voice. "Close your eyes." Gentle fingers traced her face, brushing against closed lashes, "Lift your nose into the wind." Feeling a bit ridiculous, Minerva obeyed. "Smell and taste the different food scents in the air. Take your time. Whatever appeals to you most, is what you want."
Perhaps a minute passed, then Hermione kissed her on the cheek and Minerva opened her eyes. "This way." The animagus walked off without preamble, towards whatever she could smell.
The wolf shook her head fondly, "Bloody cats."
Hermione had been right, the school was an absolute mess. Forget Hogwarts, it had more in common with Minerva's mostly forgotten Muggle Infant School than with any wizarding school she had ever seen. It was a tiny building, tucked away behind the main school - with only six classrooms and students grouped by ability or subject, rather than age. There were only thirty eight students with four teachers; not one of whom had a single teaching qualification, or even a NEWT.
The potions teacher was a middle-aged woman who didn't offer a name but seemed content enough to have Minerva observing and was fairly competent. The students were happy to be in the classroom, getting on with their brewing with minimal fuss. The room was well-appointed, stocked with ingredients, supplies and books.
It went downhill from there, the woman acting as Transfiguration Professor had, at best, a third year understanding of the subject. From talking to her she determined that Janice preferred to teach Magical History and Defence against the Dark Arts, minus the Charms elements of the latter. Her lack of understanding and enthusiasm in the subject showed clearly. It was painful to watch.
Minerva had managed to catch Luca in action in the lesson before Hermione was due to take over. It turned out that he couldn't teach First Year Charms, let alone anything more advanced. Apparently he preferred Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, not naturally talented in practical magics.
The final teacher was a man named Roberto, he taught Herbology and Magical Creatures but had all the personality of Severus Snape, without the flair or talent. The students in his lesson were clearly bored and a little rebellious.
"Can we go somewhere to talk please?" Minerva had quite frankly seen enough. Benjy gave a nod and led her through the corridor; the office he led her into was almost empty. Obviously uncared for and dusty.
"I want to ask you what you think about this Minerva, but I believe that I already know the answer." He gestured to a pair of chairs that were beside the window.
"What the hell went wrong here?"
"A lack of new blood I guess. The old Headmaster retired suddenly, there was no one qualified to take over and he was the only thing holding the school together. He went to live in a lone cabin on his ancestral lands and has not been seen since." Benjy paced for a moment, "There weren't even any student files or teaching information left when I got here but frankly it was a mess long before that. I've done what I can but I'm not a wizard, I don't understand any of the subject material."
"So to put it succinctly, there are four unqualified teachers; two of whom refuse to teach aught but their own subjects, two others who teach everything else but often to the detriment of the students because they are incapable of it. When not in lesson, the children spend their time in unsupervised study sessions that appear anything but studious."
"Yes." It was all he needed to say.
"How far behind are the students?"
"It varies, some like Katerina are leagues ahead of the others because she studies on her own. Most leave still mastering the basics. The only person capable of really answering your question is Hermione."
Minerva nodded, somehow expecting this. "And she won't leave her current position?" It wasn't really a question.
Benjy popped his head out of the door and asked a passing student for refreshments, "Has she explained much about what she does?"
"Somewhat, but there hasn't been a lot of time for such discussions."
"Well, she has instigated huge reforms in her department, which have cut down the loss of human life along our borders by almost half. And it's improving all the time. Her campaign to the Council has basically stated that she can drop that to near zero, given support."
"She mentioned that the Council isn't fully in agreement that magic is the answer to the issue of trespassers on your land."
"That's partly because of this mess." He waved a hand at the general direction of the classrooms. "While it is just Hermione instigating change, setting up wards and the like - it's easy for them to discount magic. Without a reliable way of training young people in these skills, any magical defence will be lost with Hermione."
A knock came at the door, a young wizard came in, balancing a tea tray with a very shaky Wingardium Leviosa. He was dressed in the uniform all of the children had been wearing; black trousers, white shirt and grey jumper, with a white wolf sewn into the left breast - superimposed on top of it, was a black wand. The boy nodded, sniffed nervously in Minerva's direction and fled.
"You have to remember Minerva, that to us it is human and wizarding kind who are the threat, something to talk about around campfires or scare children with. The Council are no different, just big pups, scared of what hides under the bed in the dark."
Minerva watched him pace for a long time, sipping her tea and feeling the familiar buzz of magic around her. "If I take over and it is still an 'if' at this point. I want full authority to make any changes I deem necessary. I have a few ideas but I will need carte blanche to enable them to work."
"You'll have it."
"Complete authority." There was steel in her voice, the male wolf gulped in response and unconsciously tilted his chin slightly in submission.
"You have my word."
She nodded, not letting her surprise at his action show. "Good."
The wolf took a pad from the drawer and a sparkly pen from his pocket, "I assume that you have a list in mind of what you need for now."
"Student files of all present students. List of assigned books for each subject. Current timetables. Any professional reports regarding the subject teachers. Is there a Code of Practice anywhere?"
"I'll have all of those for you by this evening. There is no CoP but I can get you one from the main school." Still a little taken aback, the man drank his tea and waited in vain for the witch to break the silence. "When do you want to start?"
Minerva idly thought that the man spoke like her participation was a foregone conclusion but then it probably was. "Monday." Hermione had taken the rest of the week off to help her settle and she wasn't about to spoil the remaining uninterrupted time that they had together.
"Alright, Monday it is. I will get the paperwork drawn up." He paused and asked, "Would you like to sneak out and see Hermione teach?"
Minerva smiled, "I would, actually."
Hermione greeted the advanced Charms group warmly. They were a nice bunch of kids ranging from Ewan; an almost eighteen year old behemoth of a teenager, whose magic was unremarkable but capable for lower level work and he did try at least. On the other end of the scale was Katerina; the fourteen year old who was talented and driven, much like she had been, but the small wolf had come into her control over the inner animal much later, and unfortunately that meant she missed out on the chance Hermione herself had been given.
The other students were a mix of; talented and unremarkable, eager and apathetic but they all had one thing in common. Until Hermione Granger had walked into their classroom that afternoon, they had been unmotivated by the thought of spending an hour with Luca fumbling through work he couldn't do, trying in vain to teach it to them.
"Afternoon everyone."
"Hermione." Came the cry from the assembled group of eight.
"So today's lesson I'm told is Defodio. Who knows what that is?" Katerina raised her hand. "It was on the reading list for your last study session, so more of you should have some idea."
A slight boy of about sixteen raised his hand, "Please Hermione, I hit my head and forgot about it."
"You want to watch those head injuries Jorge, you may damage that last lonely brain cell you still possess." The kids all giggled, "Katerina?"
"The Gouging Charm is used to carve through solid materials, such as rock and earth but can be used on other substances with varying success."
"Well done." She took a breath, "Now as this can be a little… explosive to learn, we are going outside. Leave your books and things here, all you will need is your wand."
Hermione led the chattering and now energised group across the courtyard and to the nearest exposed rock face. It was pock marked and blackened in places with the damage from an untold number of spells over the years. "Alright, so as always with Charms, you can alter this spell by your intentions and the amount of power that you put into it."
She affected the formal stance for charms that her teacher at Ilvermorny had instructed them on. Pointing her wand at the wall, she clearly enunciated the incantation, whilst telegraphing her wand motion, "Defodio." The power that she infused the spell with was middling at most and gracefully moving her wand around, she carved a symbol into the mountain. "That is the wand motion that you are looking for. Up, to the right and up again, like a side view of a stair. Show me without wands first please." Hermione gently corrected two students but the rest seemed to have the hang of it.
She turned back to the wall and again applied the charm, this time with greater power - gouging a large hole into the solid rock. "When speaking the incantation, the emphasis is on the FOH sound in the middle, 'deh-FOH-dee-oh', not 'deh-foh-dee-OH'."
She listened to them repeat the word until she was satisfied. "Alright, line up in four rows of two. Spaced well out. Start off with minimal power and we can move onto the big stuff once you manage that."
Within twenty minutes all of the students had managed the charm, admittedly with varying degrees of success and control, but they all managed it. Hermione stepped back and allowed them to practice at the same time, confident now that they wouldn't kill each other by accident.
She glanced back at the school to see Minerva and Benjy crammed into a window together, staring out at the class. Hermione raised a teasing eyebrow at her friend and intended mate, then grinned before turning around again. "Jorge, when I next look at your work, that particular phallic symbol you are carving, had better look like something else. Just because my back was turned doesn't mean that I am not aware of your actions."
"Yes Hermione."
The witch shook her head fighting the urge to chuckle at the very typical teenage behaviour. A snippet of conversation blown on the wind from the direction of the building had her grinning again; Minerva's voice uttering two words, "She's good."
Authors Note: Thanks again to Libby for the beta. We're rapidly getting towards the end of the prewritten chapters... So keep the reviews coming and I'll keep the chapters coming as quickly as possible.