Journal of Albus Dumbledore

Week # 2

Hello Again! I must say that this week has absolutely flown by. The students will arrive in a few days and there is so much still left to be done. My staff has been handling things beautifully, especially since I have been called away so often by Cornelius Fudge. The more I see of the Minister, the more concerned I become. However, it is certainly nothing that I cannot handle.

My meeting with the heads of houses went very well this week. Even Severus and Minerva were getting along for the most part, although Minerva did set down some pretty stern rules for Severus in dealing with her Gryffindors. He does tend to come down rather hard on them, a subject I should speak with him about in the near future. Of course, Filius and Sprout were as accommodating as ever. I believe that this year at Hogwarts will prove to be most successful. We have some of the best and brightest wizards and witches teaching, a fact of which I am most proud. It has been a very long journey but a satisfying one in the end.

I did have a few meeting this week, which were not as pleasant as I had hoped. The first was with Argus Filch. He continually insists on reinstating methods of torture as punishment for our beloved students. I have always denied him and will continue to do so. I must say that I do have a soft spot for those who have been at Hogwarts for a long time. I cannot find it in my heart to let him go and I must admit that he does accomplish his tasks with amazing efficiency. But his continuous complaints can wear on one's nerves.

I also had a special meeting with Kettleburn who is talking about retiring in a few years. I must say that he has made so many sacrifices for his students and the school in the form of loss of his limbs. But he is still so attached to the creatures he shares with the students that he finds it difficult to actually retire. I assured him that whenever he wished to leave, I would grant his request. And until that time, the students and staff would benefit from his great knowledge. He seemed pleased and this year even mentioned a replacement.

I must say that Hagrid's name had come to mind when thinking of the position in future years. He would be very flattered to know that Professor Kettleburn thinks so highly of him. Hagrid has helped him immensely in these last years and would certainly deserve the position. I should talk it over with Minerva and see what her thoughts are on the subject. I know she is as fond of Hagrid as I am and will more than likely share the same view on the promotion.

Alas, this brings me to my last meeting of the week. It was anything but what I expected it to be. As I stated in last week's entry, I called Minerva in for a private meeting on her recent distance aimed in my direction. I was running late for the scheduled meeting with Minerva since I had been called by Cornelius on what he considered to be an important matter. Before I had a chance to leave, I received an emergency summons from Minerva in regards to Hogwarts. Let us just say that it was not what I expected when I returned in haste. Such behavior from Minerva was completely unexpected. But back to the meeting itself. It seems that she has several concerns regarding both personal and business matters.

First off she mentioned the journal. She detests having to waste her time and effort on something she considers frivolous and possibly dangerous. She mentioned a rather embarrassing incident with a remembrall that occurred a few years ago as an example of why the staff should not have to bother with this project. I listened to her argument but told her that the project was under tight control and that no one had access to her thoughts. After which, she again reminded me that a similar guarantee was issued by me about the rogue remembrall, as it has been unfortunately named. And I must add that the incident was hardly my fault. After all, one can never know what effects certain spells will have on magical objects. It was a great learning experience and one of my more interesting projects.

You see, I was attempting to take a remembrall, which is so popular at the school, and cause it to not only glow when you have forgotten something but to also tell you in plain English. After all, even though something is glowing at you, it doesn't mean that you will remember what it is you have forgotten. I hope that was not too confusing. Well, needless to say, the enchantment worked but had some rather unexpected side effects.

The remembrall seemed to sprout a mind of its' own. I suppose I should first state that I had given the remembrall to several professors for testing. Maybe not the best part of the plan as it caused the most problems. Quite suddenly, the remembrall started to fly about all of Hogwarts to remind different professors of different things. I can nearly guarantee that I used no spell that would have caused it to fly but fly it did. And rather than reminding each professor of their own tasks, it reminded them of other's tasks. Which would normally have not been a problem, except that some of them were rather personal. I will never forget the outrage on Xiomara Hooch's face when she came to my office because Severus Snape had just come by to smirk about her planned facial for the weekend. Or when Severus came in to say that he would tenure his resignation immediately, if Filius didn't stop squeaking about helping him charm his labs to clean themselves.

The icing on the cake however, happened when the remembrall came flying into my office while Minerva and I were having a meeting and it blurted out that she needed to take her…well, um personals to the cleaners. It seems that she was rather embarrassed to have the house elves do it so she opted for one of those places that are set up automatically with no one in attendance. I do not believe she has ever turned so red or been so furious with me.

All in all, it was a disastrous experience. But I assured her that this was a professional business and that the journals were well tested. Nothing unforeseen should occur and although she was still skeptical, I believe she has reached an accepting point with the little book.

She was also quite unhappy with me on a personal level and was more than honest about her feelings. It seems that I have been taking our friendship and professional relationship for granted. I admit that I should have consulted her before hiring Making Businesses Beautiful but I knew she would detest the idea. I decided that letting her experience it before judging would be better. It seems that that course of action was a mistake.

And I must make it a point to give her more responsibilities. She is more than competent to handle anything that I can handle. Maybe more so in some cases. She will make a superb Headmistress when I retire. In the meantime, I must mend the issues between us and have asked her to join me for a private dinner the night before the students arrive. There is so much we need to catch up on and it took her pointing it out before I realized how long it has been since we have really talked.

Now I must be off but I look forward to our next scheduled date!