Author's Note: I'm back, sorry for the delay in posting, but here's the next chapter, and my writers block has cleared.
Chapter 18
That night at Hogwarts
Arthur Weasley and the rest of the staff are waiting for the board of governors to arrive for the meeting, they are in an unused classroom on the first floor of Hogwarts, which Arthur plans on renovating into a conference room to be used by staff to hold meetings in the future.
"What's this about Arthur?" Filius asks while they're waiting for the governors.
"Besides a break from paperwork? I am hoping to start expanding and improving the curriculum here." Arthur says, while straightening up the paperwork in front of him. "Which is why I'm waiting on the Board to get here, the sooner they can approve the changes, the better in my opinion."
"That's quite ingenious Arthur, you are doing very well despite not having the position long." Horace says.
"Thank you, Horace, is there any way I can convince you to stay on staff for another year?" Arthur asks.
"Will it only be for a year?"
"Yes, I promise."
"If the budget can allow a 2% raise and find someone else to be the Head of Slytherin house, then I'll agree to stay on for the one year." Horace says.
"We can review it with the board, they just came through the front doors, so they will be here shortly." A few minutes after Arthur says this, there's a knock on the door and the board of governors quickly pile in, including Remus Lupin. "Ok, now that everyone is here, lets get this meeting started." Arthur says. "I have asked you all here this evening in order to kick start some changes around here. I would like to review the curriculum and see if there's any room for improvement, but first, I would like to hear from the staff on what you think we should do to improve the school."
Ted Tonks is the first to speak up, "First, I think we should have at least two teachers for each of the core classes, it would help reduce the amount of paperwork for the teachers." Andromeda quickly follows her husband with what she noticed in the short time that she's been in position of Deputy Headmistress.
"We need to re-evaluate the electives and maybe start offering some muggle courses along with our normal courses."
"Why do you think that Andromeda?" Filius asks, curious as to where her train of thought's going.
"We all know there's no way you can teach Divination to students who do not possess Seer abilities, Care of Magical Creatures needs a refresher on safety procedures, and the Muggle Studies course is severely out of date." Pausing to take a sip of tea that the house elves graciously provided, she then continues, "Quirrell, when was the last time you ventured into muggle London further than the Leaky Cauldron?"
"It was quite some time ago; I think 5 years." Quirrell replies.
"Do you know what a computer is? Or what's the latest car model available?" Andromeda asks.
"No, I don't. Should I?" Quirrell asks.
"The muggle world is rapidly evolving, they have weapons that can cause more damage than a bombarda maxima curse, they can send messages without an owl or using a post office, every muggle has a telephone in their house so they can talk to another person without having to kill their knees sticking their heads in a fireplace. They also have found a way to impregnate people who have trouble conceiving. If you are to teach the students about muggles you need to be up to date with the technology they are creating." Andromeda explains.
"May I ask how you know all this Andromeda? You are a Black, aren't you?" Horace asks.
"I may have been a Black, but I am now a Tonks, Ted and I mostly live in the muggle world and unlike Quirrell here, I keep myself abreast of the newest research and products that have been released." Andromeda explains calmly, while slowly losing her temper at her colleagues.
"That's amazing, would it help with the purebloods conceive more than one child?" Ponoma Sprout asks.
"I highly doubt it, research that the muggles have done shows that women can have trouble conceiving or keeping a pregnancy to term if their spouse is too closely related to them. With a lot of the purebloods marrying their first or second cousin for the past 60 years, their DNA is too similar and can cause a lot of physical and mental disabilities." Ted explains. "An example of this would be the Old Order Amish in Canada. Amish live in small communities, mostly farms, but some do own sawmills, leather shops, and breed and train horses. Every few years some of the members of the community will have to move to another community to keep the businesses and the communities strong, because over the years the gene pool gets smaller, so by moving to another community, they can keep the genetics from getting too tangled."
"So, in short, the purebloods needs to get off their high horse and start marrying people other than other purebloods?" Filius asks, making sure he's following Ted's line of reasoning.
"That's correct Filius, it would be beneficial if they would marry muggleborns or muggles." Ted says.
"There's an issue with wizards marrying muggles though, anyone remember a little thing called the Statue of Secrecy?" Horace asks.
"That's an issue for another day, right now we need to get back on track to updating the courses here." Augusta says, trying to steer the conversation back. "Neville is with a babysitter, but I would love to get him to bed before midnight."
"Of course, thank you. So, we either need a new teacher for Muggle Studies or Quirrell, you are going to need someone to give you a crash course on the muggle world." Arthur states.
"If I may make a suggestion," Remus pipes up, "Why don't we hire a muggleborn student to teach Muggle Studies and find another job for Quirinius? It would be easier in my opinion."
"That sounds doable, Quirinius, what do you think?" Augusta asks.
"I'd agree to taking a sabbatical from teaching, but I don't think I want to leave the school. Would it be possible for me to just be the Head of Slytherin House?"
"How does this sound? Quirinius, you finish this year teaching Muggle Studies, and then next school year you can be the Head of Slytherin House?" Arthur replies.
"That sounds doable Arthur." Quirrell replies.
"Excellent, now, what do we do about Divination, and why is it even a course offered?" Augusta asks.
"I believe Albus started that course to keep Sybil here under his thumb, I believe that she can stay here, but more so as a guidance counsellor to the students. If she notices a student possesses the Inner Eye, she can teach them how to control their power, but other than that, she can use her inner eye and crystal balls to help second years choose their third-year courses for all I care, or even just be a listening ear for the students." Arthur says.
"That's actually not a terrible idea Arthur, I have had many of my Ravenclaws ask me about which courses they should take, but it all depends on what their strengths are and what they want to do once they graduate." Filius replies.
"Ok, so we have an idea on what to do about Divination, now what about the muggle courses?" Andromeda asks.
"That might take a bit more to plan out, since in the muggle world you need to go to university to become a teacher, specifically for the course you're planning on teaching, and you need to be a substitute and student teacher for a certain amount of years before you can even start teaching on your own." Remus explains.
"Well, we can start working on that, and hope we can include it in the curriculum in the next 5 years." Arthur says, "Now, how do we make Care of Magical Creatures safer?"
"As much as I would like to disband the class altogether, there are far too few magical zoologists out there. I recommend bringing in Newt Scamander to give a refresher course to Kettleburn, if that isn't an issue professor?" Filius explains. "If more people are educated on magical creatures, then there would be far fewer accidents and maybe one day, there will be a person who comes along to get rid of the Dementors altogether. There are far too many Dementors and it is cruel to keep prisoners around them in my opinion."
"That would be acceptable to me, I'll even ask if he would help me teach a course or two so I could learn more from him." Kettleburn replies.
"Excellent, now, I mostly have the budget straightened out thanks to Minerva. I asked her to send me a copy of a previous budget that she had approved so that I could use it as a reference guide. Now, as of today, everyone is getting a 5% increase on their salaries, and do we have a lead on a History of Magic teacher?" Arthur asks everyone.
"I have been talking to Minerva on that, once Sirius Black has his trial, and from what I've heard, once he's exonerated, he will be offered the position." Remus says.
"I guess Binns can finish this week for History of Magic, and when the new teacher comes, we will let the students know which classroom they will be in." Filius says.
"It's all we can do right now, so if there's nothing else, I call this meeting adjourned." Arthur says once no one else speaks up about the courses and the changes he wants implemented. Once everyone leaves the conference room, Arthur calls the head house elf and goes over his plans to make this classroom into an actual conference room with a table, comfortable chairs, notebooks, and a snack table for future meetings, hoping that it will be easier for everyone in the upcoming years.
Wednesday Morning, at the old school
"Well Molly, what do you think? Would this be acceptable for a daycare centre?" Minerva asks once they get to the old school they are hoping to turn into their daycare.
"I think its brilliant! If we lock the doors to the rooms we don't need, put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, buy some toys and kid friendly paint, we can get this place up and running by the beginning of next month." Molly replies, already seeing what this place could become. The school has bay windows in every room, that can open quite a bit to let the summer breeze through, curtains that they could close for nap time or a movie, cubbies for the kids to put their stuff right along the door, and individual chalk boards that the children could play with.
"I agree Molly, as much as using magic to get this place up and running is quicker, we need to do it the muggle way or questions are going to be asked." Minerva replies. "Also, I was talking to the goblins and they advised that we invite muggle children into the daycare as well. It would help get our investment back quicker and since Gringotts has a muggle side, we can collect both muggle money and wizard money, as long as we can use a notice me not charm on the currency the magical parents use when they pay us, we can keep the Statute of Secrecy."
"Why, that's marvelous, and maybe we can even get some young people looking for part time jobs hired to help out here, regardless of if they're magical or muggle." Molly says, partially thinking out loud.
"Yes, we can do that, I was going to suggest that as well. We can put up flyers in nearby businesses stating that the daycare will be opening soon, and we need part time help and every child is welcome. Now, all we need is a name for our daycare centre." Minerva asks.
"How about Play Castle? Every small child dreams of being a knight in shining armor or a princess." Molly says.
"Play Castle, I think its perfect. It works for both the magical and muggle community and with the stonework in the hallway and on the outside of the school, the kids could easily imagine that this place is a castle." Minerva says. "Now, lets go to the hardware store and get some paints, Remus is babysitting Harry at the moment, so I think we should get the paint and begin getting Play Castle open, I will start working on the flyers later this week, or when we are close to having this place up and running."
"Excellent, lets go, I am so glad these clothes aren't new or stylish. I would hate to ruin them." With that, Minerva and Molly leave the old school to go the hardware store two blocks away to give the place a new beginning.
End Authors Note: That's all I have for now. Next chapter will hopefully have the rest of the death eater trials, including Sirius'.