AN: Another year almost over. I hope you're safe and well. Have another chapter to escape reality for a while.

oooOOooo

Festival

Today was the day that everyone was invited to Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall had said all visitors would chance the possibility of being selected for the job as Headmaster. So they'd better consider carefully. The Board of Governors had not been happy with the proposal of the festival, but had to concede as they had no better idea.

Abraxas had told Tom that they wanted to have more people there at the same time, so they organised a festival on the grounds of the school to get as many people as possible there as fast as possible.

Yesterday evening Lily and Tom had debated the pros and cons of taking on the title of Headmaster or Headmistress and had come to the conclusion that they would enjoy the responsibilities. So they had agreed to visit the fair together with Harry later that day.

Tom wondered how growing up in the castle would have been.

He had to cut this train of thought short when he reached the meeting chamber in his Headquarters. Before they could go to the festival both of them had a few errands to take care of.

Using his locket Tom concentrated on Macnair and called him through the mark. Time to check if the wizard had managed to get some useful information out of Fletcher.

His Death Eater was quick to arrive. Macnair had been down in the so-called dungeons. "My Lord." He went down in the appropriate bow and waited.

"Walden. What have you learned?"

Before Walden gave his report he raised his head but not his eyes. Tom had noticed quite some time ago that it was more of a strain trying to catch all that was said while the speaker was facing the floor – especially if there was background noise or the person didn't tend to speak clearly – than the show of subservience was worth.

"Fletcher has supplied over 100 pounds of muggle explosives to several different groups. A few of them were muggles." Tom was surprised. He hadn't given the thief and black market dealer enough credit. That was an impressive amount of dangerous material and quite an extensive net of contacts. "A portion was also sold to one person whom he knew was Alastor Moody. He tried claiming that it might have been a disguise, someone trying to hide their appearance." Walden shook his head as if he was still amused by the attempt to get out of the situation somehow. "There's also still some material left that he hasn't sold yet."

"He did tell you where it is hidden?"

"Yes, my Lord."

That was an opportunity to get the Aurors on this without having to share the means by which the information had been found. "Leak the information somewhere that you know Aurors will hear of it quickly. Make sure the place is observed – discreetly – until the DMLE arrives. No need risking that this material might fall into the hands of other dangerous people."

There was a small voice that tried to tempt Tom to take the explosives to use them himself. But letting things explode wouldn't benefit him in any way. On top of that getting Moody and Sirius Black and who ever else was connected to them out of the way was a lot more important.

"Yes, my Lord." Walden got off his knee, gave another bow and went to carry out his orders. Tom idly thought that he hopefully would remember to clean his clothes and hands before leaving Headquarters.

After that was taken care of, Tom walked to his office to check if he had answers from all the Death Eaters he had ordered to attend the festival on Hogwarts' grounds.

He had send out the notes to several of his Death Eaters over breakfast. Letting a house elf deliver his orders to those of his followers he thought capable had made sure they would receive it in time actually to follow them.

Arriving at his desk, Tom was pleased to see that there was a small stack of scrolls waiting for him. Sitting down and opening the first scroll from the top, Tom made quick work of them. Once home he quickly slipped on some cheerfully coloured robes and his most comfortable boots, and made a short stop at his altar to Magic before leaving.

Moments later he walked down Diagon Alley. Lily and he had agreed to meet at Prince's Potions. As she wanted to try talking Severus into coming along, the young man's potions shop was a good meeting spot.

The chime sounded as Tom walked through the door of the shop. There were a few customers browsing the wares and a few standing at the register. He smiled. This plan was working out rather well. Severus had reported that there was a decent turnover for candles and dried plants and other ingredients commonly used in the traditional rituals they needed to revive.

He nodded to the one shopgirl – just out of Hogwarts if he were to hazard a guess – and slipped through the door to the backrooms. The moment he had passed the ward on that door he heard Harry enjoying himself with loud shouts and shrieks that he had rediscovered recently as well as Lily and Severus talking.

He only started to understand what was said when he came closer.

"I will not accompany you to Hogwarts today, Lily." Severus tried for finality in his voice but sounded a little worn out.

"Can't you imagine what a boost your social standing would get if you were selected as worthy by Hogwarts herself?" Lily sounded eager and excited.

Tom was amused. Lily was always for helping others reach their best. More than once Tom had listened to her plotting how to get her friend into higher standing. Not that she had really told him why she wanted that. But he was more than observant enough to know that Regulus Black and Severus Snape were attracted to each other.

"I don't care what a pile of stones and masonry thinks of me. I will not be responsible for a whole castle filled with dunderheads. And don't try to tell me that the Headmaster never has to interact with the students!" Tom slowed down. This was too good to miss and he only felt slightly guilty for eavesdropping. Harry had stopped his enthusiastic shouting. Sounds of glass against glass indicated that he had found another thing to entertain himself with.

"It's not that much." Lily's protest was feeble.

"Eating in the Great Hall. Meetings with the Board of Governors." Tom could picture Severus counting the different situations on his fingers. "The parents. Meetings with the staff, professors, and everyone else. And on top of that, the occasional interaction with students, who were dunderheaded enough to get caught doing something that warrants a visit to the Headmaster's office."

Tom walked through the door to the staff room where the three of them were seated around the table, Harry stacking small glass dishes – probably spelled unbreakable judging by Lily's relaxed pose – and the adults drinking tea.

Lily huffed and then turned to smile up at Tom. "You've been listening," she accused him with a grin.

"If you didn't want to be overheard you could have done something to prevent it. There are spells for that." Tom grinned as well.

"Tea, my Lord?" Severus had almost jumped out of his chair to offer Tom tea and a seat the moment he had been spotted by the younger wizard.

"No, thank you, Severus. The festival will begin shortly and I think Harry is looking forward to visiting the castle grounds."

"Yes! Howarts!" Harry agreed with a big grin.

Lily stood and picked their son up. "And I really can't tempt you to come along?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Lily, you have tried for the last two hours. And you started to repeat your arguments after only thirty minutes. I have no interest in being Headmaster. I'm happy here."

With a few parting words, the three of them – his family – left the potions shop and once again walked down the Alley, Harry between the two of them, holding onto a hand from each.

"Are you excited?" Lily wanted to know.

"Why should I be excited? I'm sure you are more capable for the position than I am. Your temper is fiery, but mine tends to be explosive."

Lily started to slowly swing her hand holding Harry's. "I disagree. When you teach something you are very passionate but also patient."

"A Headmaster's duties are more akin to a paper shuffler than a teacher. And I'm really not patient with paperwork." He really was not. One of the reasons he preferred oral reports over written ones.

"We'll see." Lily sounded too smug. Tom narrowed his eyes at her but she only gave him an angelic smile that made him even more suspicious.

Certainly she could not influence Hogwarts' decision, right?

oooOOooo

They had apparated to Hogsmeade and were now walking up the path to the school. Harry was running back and forth, easily covering twice as long a distance as the two adults did.

And they were not the only people on their way up the path, walking past the Shrieking Shack, ever closer to the castle.

"I heard there will be Hippogriffs to ride on!" a child, maybe eight years old, exclaimed excitedly.

"Mandy said the lake is filled with chocolate for today! Can you imagine how much that is?"

"My brother told me that there are plants big enough to eat us in the Greenhouses!"

Lily looked over to Tom and saw her own smile reflected there. Children and their enthusiasm were truly infectious in the best way.

"Looks like almost everyone will be here today," she observed, stepping to the side as not to be barrelled over by a group of small children running down the path back towards the village.

"The invitation did sound very enticing. So why would anyone stay away?" Tom's question was obviously a rhetorical one and didn't need an answer. "And then there is the nostalgia for all alumni. Going back to Hogwarts for a day. Seeing her again and getting to eat in the Great Hall..." He sounded nostalgic, just as he had said many would be, eyes fixed forward waiting for the castle to become visible. "What do you want to eat again? Some meals can only be made right by the house elves in the castle. Or at least I think that's the case."

"What was your favourite dessert?" Lily asked him, not answering his own question. She was curious, and maybe they would manage to get the recipe out of the house elves so they could get their favourites at home.

"Apple crumble and trifle. What were yours?"

"All the different crumbles, obviously, and the scones with jam and marmalade." She hummed. "I think I have to ask the elves at home to make something like this more often for us."

"You won't hear any protests from me."

A few minutes later the first notes of music could be heard. Some lively tune that invited the listener to dance. And voices. Many voices.

Then the castle and the gate came into view. The gate was open and decorated with lights, flower garlands, floating animal-shaped balloons, and a big sign proclaiming that the "Big Hogwarts' Summer Festival" would be taking place the whole day.

"That has the makings of a tradition starting," Lily said under her breath. "Do you think this will take place next year as well?"

"We'll have to ask the new inhabitant of the Headmaster's tower," was Tom's response before he let go of her arm to bend down and catch Harry running towards them. He moved from picking Harry up right into a spin around, holding Harry high over his head.

Lily felt herself grinning even more at Harry's delighted laugh.

They stepped onto the grounds and followed the path right into what looked like a fun fair to Lily. There was no real hippogriff to ride on, for which she was glad, but there was a carousel with different fake animals to ride on. Dragons, owls, abraxans, to name only a few.

Then there was a small race track with child training brooms. A game where one had to toss a miniature quaffle through three small hoops clearly meant to resemble the hoops of a real quidditch pitch.

All in all, there were games and rides just like at the fun fair her family had gone to a few times while Petunia and she had still been little. Only in a magical version, of course. Levitating instead of strings or poles. No electric lights or motors to move stuff. Only magic.

It was a glorious sight.

"Dad! Thee!" Harry pointed at a booth that was open on all sides, a hexagon in shape, and had a pool of water in the middle.

They walked over and Lily saw that the children around that booth were each handling a long stick with a hook at the end, trying to catch one of the small animated figures out of the pool. Lily wondered if there would be little things to win just as at the fun fair she had been to. She didn't see any prizes, but as no one had to pay for any of the games, it was unlikely one could win anything.

"Claire, Jonathan!" Tom greeted, and Lily half-turned to look at the two Tom had spotted while also keeping an eye on Harry, who tried to catch a grindylow out of the pool.

"Tom!" The two muggles, who now were included in a lot of their parent group's activities, called out to them, waving. And wasn't that an interesting development. They walked over with Justin in tow.

"How did you know this festival was taking place?" Lily wanted to know, pushing her wonder over two muggles on the Hogwarts grounds to the back of her mind. There hopefully would be some point in this conversation that she would learn of that.

"Narcissa told me when Justin and I visited her," Claire answered, setting down her son to run over to where Harry was still trying to catch his target. "It sounded very interesting, so I asked my husband if he would also like to attend, and he said yes."

Tom smiled, and Lily once again felt a little bewildered, but glad over the fact that two muggles had managed to become part of the upper society of magical Britain.

Jonathan showed them a small bracelet. "Lucius arranged for us to get these neat bracelets so we're not affected by any standard muggle-repelling wards. Initially to be able to make it to Malfoy Manor for dinner, but it works everywhere."

"Yes, he is a very considerate man." Claire added, nodding.

The conversation wandered to what Lily called the parent topics quickly after that: How the children were doing, what new words they had learned, which food they avoided or demanded recently, and anecdotes of the accidental magic as well as non-magical shenanigans small children usually got up to.

She was sure adults without children would probably tire of this kind of conversation sooner rather than later.

They drifted from booth to booth. Playing games against each other, or watching the two boys play. Only once did they end up talking about the reason the fair had been organised.

"Why isn't Lucius here? Or Narcissa? I hope little Draco isn't sick?" Claire asked while they watched the little ones riding on the carousel for the tenth time.

"As he's already Minister, he wasn't going to risk also being selected as Headmaster. Narcissa stayed away for the same reason. She simply doesn't want to take on that task," Tom explained.

"So both of you would be fine with being selected?" Jonathan wanted to know. "Who does select the new Headmaster? Is this fair held every time when a new Headmaster is needed?"

"The school will pick the most suitable candidate from everyone visiting the castle," Lily answered, waving to Harry who came back into view after being on the far side of the round the carousel was turning.

"The school picks?"

"Can you imagine the uproar if one of us would was picked, dear?" Claire laughed in glee.

"Is that possible?" Jonathan didn't share his wife's amusement. "I know nothing about what a Headmaster needs to do. Let alone what would be different in a school of magic!"

"I actually don't know if that is possible," Tom mused, his eyes filled with the gleam he always got when he was presented with something new that he deemed worthy of investigation.

Lily laughed, that was the Tom she was going to marry. Too curious for his own good.

"When will the appointment of the new head of the school take place?" Clair wanted to know.

"And how will we know?" Jonathan added. "Will the person start to glow? Some ethereal music? Fireworks?"

They all had a good laugh over that before Tom attempted a serious answer. "As far as I know, the school opens the door to the Headmaster's office only to the new headmaster once a new one has to be selected. But usually the person filling that spot is picked from the staff. No idea how this will work."

"Maybe everyone will have to walk up to the doors and see if they open?" Lily offered up as a possibility.

"That would take rather a long time. And make sure that only those who go to that door could get the job," Jonathan observed. "Didn't you say that everyone who came here could be selected?"

"I did say that," Tom nodded. "Maybe there will be fireworks after all."

Justin and Harry were really tired by the time the elves called everyone in to eat. While walking to the Great Hall Lily started a mock argument on where they would sit. She insisted on the Gryffindor table and Tom, obviously, was advocating for the Slytherin one.

"Harry and I are of the Slytherin family. We clearly are in the majority. So we will sit at the Slytherin table."

Lily huffed, that was a rather good argument. But maybe there was a way for her to turn it around. "Jonathan, Clair, what do you think, which House would you see yourself in?"

"I certainly would have been a Ravenclaw!" Clair declared with a decisive nod.

"And I'm not sure if I would have been a Hufflepuff or a Slytherin. I did reach my schoolboy ambitions through a lot of hard work."

"Let's sit down at the Hufflepuff table," Tom said, and made his way over there. "Hard work is too often overlooked in our world."

Lily could only agree. The taunting Hufflepuffs were subjected to at Hogwarts was simply ridiculous.

The food was as good as she remembered, Clair and Jonathan praised it to high heaven, and Tom was helping Harry eat. Her little boy did ignore all the vegetables in favour of exclusively eating a cherry crumble.

The noise in the Great Hall was quieting down, and everyone settled into the cosy atmosphere. Lily wondered idly who would get picked and what would change at the school as a result of that.

And then suddenly a soft glow started to surround Tom. It was getting brighter and brighter until everyone was looking at them.

"Looks as if you were right with your guess, dear," Clair deadpanned.

The Great Hall exploded into pandemonium.

oooOOooo

AN: I did debate with myself if I wanted to go the obvious route or not. In the end I decided to go with Tom as the Headmaster. It is the biggest "f*** you" for the Order, and therefore better for the story.

First published 10th of December 2021

next chapter scheduled for the 14th of January 2022

Thanks to Jordre and Jake for helping to improve my spelling!