A Prefect's Duty

Roy stood in front of the magic wall that hid the stairway to McGonagall's office. He drew out his wand and muttered, "Accio office bell." Dumbledore's old gargoyle, which had once served as a door guard, had been damaged in the Battle for Hogwarts nineteen years ago and subsequently removed. McGonagall had invented a simpler system. Anyone who wanted to see her simply had to ring the office bell. It was hanging on a string, so it could not follow the Summoning Charm and fly into the wizard's hand, but it moved with a gentle ringing sound. McGonagall would now use a Petrinvisibilis Charm to make all stone objects nearby, including the walls and floors, invisible to herself in order to see who was standing below.

A few seconds later, the magic wall slid apart with rumbling noises, revealing the spiral staircase to the Headmistress' office. Roy took a deep breath and let the stairs, not unlike a helical escalator, pull him up. When he stood in front of the door, it opened before he could knock, and he entered.

McGonagall's face was deadpan. "Sit down, MacAllister."

Roy took a seat and looked into her face.

"I have sent for you because you have been accused of having disregarded your duties as a Prefect."

"And the person accusing me is ... may I guess? Patricia Higrave?"

On Minerva McGonagall's desk was a handwritten document whose sender, judging by the writing, was Patricia.

"This doesn't matter, it's all about the facts," McGonagall countered coolly. "Is it true that the word 'Mudblood' was uttered in the Slytherin common room on Friday night?"

"That's true."

"Is it also true that you explicitly refused to report the incident to the school headship?"

"That's correct, too."

"And you did so in spite of being aware that the Ministry of Magic's Decree Against Discriminatory Speech in Public Institutions, together with the Implementing Regulations for Hogwarts, imposes this very duty on you?"

"Duty? There can be no duty to do wrong."

"I don't think," McGonagall said, and her voice sounded even a little sterner than usual, "that it is up to you to judge what is right or wrong in such a context. Combating such expressions is well within the educational mission and authority of the school."

"Of the school, yes, but not of the Ministry. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the school headship is supposed to report every incident of this kind to the Ministry of Magic, isn't it?"

"That's what I am instructed to do," McGonagall replied coolly.

"How do such rules square with the Hogwarts autonomy?"

"The autonomy of Hogwarts is governed by law, and so are the restrictions on that autonomy, including this decree. And you will not pick and choose which laws you will or will not condescend to obey."

Of course, McGonagall understood that Roy was trying to steer the conversation away from his own behavior and towards that of the Ministry.

"Forgive me, Professor, but as far as I am informed, you yourself did take the liberty of disobeying instructions of the Ministry under reference to their unlawfulness, namely under Thicknesse."

"No matter how eloquent you are, MacAllister, you can't deceive me about the fact that you're comparing apples and oranges. Thicknesse was a murderer."

"Who committed his murders on a strictly legal basis," Roy replied dryly. "I wonder what to expect from a Minister who has file notes made on the statements of eleven-year-olds? I wonder what purpose such notes serve, if not that of surveillance and intimidation? And I wonder what's the point of surveillance and intimidation if the Ministry is not at some time going to pass on to sanctions in case of so-called discriminatory speech? If the Minister, which would be the logical consequence, is issuing a decree that such students are to be expelled from school: Will you respect such an instruction?"

"Of course not!" snapped McGonagall with indignation.

"So, you also will pick and choose which laws you will or will not condescend to obey, won't you?"

A slight, almost imperceptible smile curled McGonagall's lips.

"MacAllister, I know young people don't like to hear it, but indeed, you are still very young, judging these matters very much from a radical point of view, treating them as a matter of principle. Please don't misunderstand me: I want my students to use their own brains to think, and not to accept everything coming from above, but comment on it with a critical mind. Nevertheless, there is a huge gap between critical commenting on laws on the one hand, and disregarding them on the other. – Yes, I once did it myself, but it takes a certain experience of life to judge whether there is such a stark exceptional situation that you have to disregard the usual rules, which has to be a strict exception. Your error of thinking, MacAllister, is that you try to derive a principle and a rule from this exception, thus turning the rule-exception relationship upside down."

"With respect, Professor, if I am waiting until I will have as much life experience as you have now before allowing myself to judge what I see, there won't be much left of the wizarding world. Not under the leadership of this Minister."

McGonagall sighed, somewhat annoyed. "I know you don't like her very much ..."

"...which may be the Understatement of the Year ..."

"... but I think your fears are – to say the least – dramatically exaggerated."

"Professor, you just said that stark exceptional situations sometimes require us to disregard the rules that usually apply. Well, since taking office, Granger Weasley has made a series of exceptional decisions. It is an exception for the Ministry to rule directly into Hogwarts affairs, the last time this happened was under Thicknesse. The same applies to the monitoring of students' statements. Ditto Muggle Studies as a required subject even for the first-years. An exception without precedent is enforcing the admittance of a Muggle as a Hogwarts student, poor Wildfellow is probably to be used as a guinea pig. Also an exception is that the Hogwarts sub-unit of the Ministry has been upgraded by two levels to a department and equipped with considerably more staff, which means that the denunciation decree we are talking about is only the beginning, the Minister is up to take over competences on a grand scale that so far have been those of the school headship. Furthermore, it is a blatant exception that the Auror Department's responsibilities have been expanded far beyond combating Dark Magic. Now, they are to prosecute 'Death Eaters' as well, though for lack of a Voldemort it is completely unclear who or what is supposed to be meant by this. In case of doubt, it will be all wizards whose views differ from the Minister's. And ..."

"How do you know all this?" interjected McGonagall in amazement.

"I've been watching Granger Weasley very closely since she came into office a year ago, I even subscribed to the Ministry's weekly bulletin to keep up with decisions that are not in the Daily Prophet. I have studied all her speeches that give the background music, so to speak, to her decisions: Wizards and Muggles, so she says, have to engage in a dialogue, approach each other, learn from each other and enrich each other. Which implies no less than the cancellation of the International Statute of Secrecy of 1689, of course without publicly admitting this, and without discussing, let alone proving that the reasons for that secrecy had become irrelevant. Accordingly, the Minister recommends – or should I say commands? – the use of history books in which the medieval persecutions of wizards and witches are attributed to the misconduct of the witches themselves, that is the victims, not to that of the Muggles and not to the problems inevitably arising when people live together, some of whom can do magic while the others cannot. Further ..."

"It's all right, MacAllister," McGonagall interrupted him, raising her hands placatingly. "I see that you have done your homework and your research thoroughly. I also concede that you haven't made your judgment carelessly, and yet I am sure that your conclusions are premature and your fears exaggerated at best. By the way, you will very soon have the opportunity to address the Minister herself on this. She will be giving an important keynote address the Sunday after next, and Hogwarts will be honored to host the event. I am sure that you will judge the Minister differently once you have met her in person. According to the schedule, the students will have the opportunity to discuss with her. This certainly will help to dispel some, er ... misunderstanding."

"Certainly. In particular the Minister's misunderstanding of being able to take anyone for fools."

With an expression of indulgence, McGonagall shook her head, as if to say: How can you be so stubborn? For a few seconds, she looked at Roy, thoughtfully and with a hint of benevolent smile.

"I've been a teacher at this school for over sixty years and have seen thousands of students come and go," she finally said. "Do you know who you remind me of more than anyone else?"

Roy thought, then frowned: "Don't say Hermie."

"You should entitle our Minister for Magic a little more respectfully, but yes: I am speaking exactly of our former Miss Granger. You are both Muggle-born, both excellent students, both highly gifted and highly intelligent, both more at home in the library than anywhere else at Hogwarts, both with the same passionate interest in subjects that would probably be called 'political' in the Muggle world, both with the same strong sense of responsibility, both deeply loyal to Hogwarts and its rules, but, nevertheless, both tending towards disobeying these rules when you feel it necessary for the sake of a just cause."

"But only one of us has the ambition to rebuild the wizarding world to her liking and to turn anything upside down. And speaking of comparisons: There was another highly gifted and highly intelligent wizard, who was also not born into the wizarding world, but had a fanatical will to rule and transform it. I'm talking about Voldemort."

"MacAllister, this comparison is absurd and tasteless!"

"Why? Because her dictatorship comes creeping in on felt slippers instead of stomping in on boots?"

"You're comparing apples and oranges again." McGonagall sighed. "MacAllister, I appreciate your outspoken nature and even your cross-grained self-will, and that's one of the reasons why I pushed you through again as a Slytherin Prefect – which hasn't been easy." She particularly emphasized the last half-sentence. "You have an unparalleled talent for jangling your teacher's nerves, including mine. This is also where your resemblance with Hermione Granger ends, who was as much of a know-it-all as you are and passed every exam with flying colours – just like you. But unlike you, she brought her knowledge to the class, while you continuously demonstrate it's none of your business, you just don't participate."

"Why should I?" asked Roy in amazement. "After all, the lessons will take place without me as well. And when asked, I do know everything."

McGonagall rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. "Do you have any idea that your behaviour comes across as arrogance?"

"But it's not quite true. Every now and then, I do speak out in class."

"Yes, you do, but only to contradict your teachers!"

"Well," Roy shrugged. "If they deserve it ..."

McGonagall had to sit back and take two deep breaths to retain her composure.

"MacAllister, you are one of the most gifted students of your generation. All doors could be open to you if you just wanted. Under normal circumstances, it would have been just a matter of course to appoint you Prefect. But with your arrogance, your rebelliousness, your impertinence and your permanent opposition to anything coming from the Ministry, you have antagonised half the staff, including the Head of your house. You even manage to make yourself disliked with some of your outstanding accomplishments. I remind you of the study you wrote in Muggle Studies last term about the relationship between wizards and Muggles in Africa. In its way, a brilliant analysis, and I stand by the award I gave you for it. But your teacher said he wouldn't have given you the subject if he had known what you were going to make of it."

Roy grinned: "I suppose overly brilliant analysis – I am sorry, I'm just quoting you – is unwelcome, particularly in Muggle studies?"

McGonagall ignored the interjection. "Even your standing among your peers, which in itself is a first-class argument in your favour, turns against you in the view of many colleagues. They fear that you are exerting a – fatal influence."

"Fatal to whom? To my peers or to the re-education project of a Minister exceeding her authority?"

McGonagall was a teacher in heart and soul, and patience was one of her greatest virtues, but this MacAllister ...

"Don't you see, MacAllister, it's not about the Minister, it's about you, your future and your career, which could be just as splendid as Granger's, but which you are about to ruin with your stubborn, futile rebellion! For my part, I still believe in you, I believe in your skills and, above all, I believe in the sincerity of your character. But I don't know if I will be able to push you through as a Prefect again next year, as even this time, I had to make use of all my authority, because – I say it again – they are afraid of your influence!"

Roy thought for a moment. "Is this the reason why I was given Patty Higrave as a colleague, Hermie's model student? As a counterweight? As a watchdog with a direct line to the Ministry? As my officially appointed chaperon and babysitter, so to speak?"

McGonagall's eyes narrowed, her mouth became tight-lipped.

"I don't think that you are in a position to comment on decisions of the school headship in that tone. Ten points off Slytherin for your impertinence!"

Short silence. Then Roy asked: "And how many points off for not snitching on Malfoy?"

McGonagall stared at the parchment still in front of her, and Roy could have sworn he read a certain disgust on her face. Finally, she said:

"None. You have rebuked him, thus you have served the school's educational goal. I am leaving it at a reprimand.

"And Malfoy's behaviour" – for the first time Roy spoke softly, and surprisingly, his voice sounded pleading – "is not reported to the Ministry?"

Again McGonagall was silent, again she looked at the sheet of parchment, then she answered emphatically: "No."

Roy breathed a sigh of relief. May I kiss you, Professor? was what he would have liked to ask. Aloud, however, he only said: "Thank you."

"You may go, MacAllister."