Chapter 18
The arrival of Amarantha Keil to visit her son Alaric, who was fostered by the Snapes, was expected.
What was not expected was that she had with her a defensive looking man with the merest touch of goblin about him and a beautiful little girl of about nine or ten who was significantly more goblin.
"These are Tom and Rachel Crockford, Severus" said Amarantha, flushing slightly. "I met them when I was poking about for Narcissa."
"She rescued my little girl and saved my life" said Tom Crockford. "The local pimp decided he wanted Rachel for one of his clients who pays well for pretty little girls. I had told Rachel to run, and fortunately for her, she ran straight into Amarantha" he looked fairly adoringly on Amarantha.
"Amarantha was WONDERFUL!" declared Rachel "When that awful man and his leg-breakers came running after me, she turned him into a six foot chicken; and when he went to peck her, she made his legs and his beak turn into jelly. It was dreadfully silly!" she giggled "And then she hoisted them all in the air by one ankle" she added "And we went to find daddy because they'd beaten him up pretty bad, but she knows heaps of healing spells!"
"I did get something out of my exclusive education" said Amarantha. "And of course I shopped the pimp to Draco."
"And she didn't even use a WAND to deal with the bad men!" said Rachel.
"Well my dear" said Krait to Amarantha "It was a hard lesson you learned but that which does not kill us makes us stronger. You've explained all your vicissitudes to Mr Crockford and Rachel?"
"Yes" said Amarantha "And they've come to meet Alaric because even though I think he's better fostered by you – and brought up European to inherit properly – he's still going to be Rachel's step brother."
"Oh EXCELLENT news" Krait kissed Amarantha "You've stopped being off men altogether then?"
"Any man who will let himself be beaten to death to save his little girl is a different proposition to my late husband" said Amarantha.
"Reckon she married a right head case" said Crockford.
"No; just a traditional German" said Severus "On the other hand you're quite right. Traditional Germans ARE headcases. I take it you'd like Rachel's name down for the school?"
"If it's all the same to you, Professor" said Crockford "I'd like to have a look at the place and see what the atmosphere's like. There's a perfectly good free school in Obscura Alley where they learn them plenty; and I was going to send her there where her cousins go. Only Amarantha is pretty keen for her to go here; she says you know how to help kids do best for themselves. Well, the professors at the free school are civil and good to the kids and I won't be swayed by snob value."
"Quite right" said Severus "If your daughter feels a preference to be a day pupil and be near her daddy especially when taking on a new stepmother you would fail in your duty to send her away. Naturally I feel that my school is the best; because I take effort to develop the esoteric skills of artistic children as well as those of academic excellence which is why I also have an entrance exam. Please make yourselves at home; Amarantha knows her way about, though the music rooms, hobbies rooms, art studio and stables are new, Amarantha; though you have seen the building of such."
Amarantha nodded.
"We'll pop and see Alaric first if that's all right?" she said.
"Oh consider yourselves my guests for several days" said Severus "I'm off to a gymkhana with sundry pupils tomorrow because we have a horsy reputation now – though Cerellia went home just so she could go with her Uncle Lucius and his ménage – and I permit the residents and exam classes to take part. Or to come along and watch to interrupt their studies firmly. All work and no play and all that; Hogwarts keeps the OWL and NEWT candidates in the hopes they may revise over the Easter break. I keep mine to interrupt their revision."
"I like that attitude sir" said Tom Crockford.
Severus gave a wintry smile.
"Since the time of Amarantha, as I DO cater to the academically inclined, we have compulsory periods of leisure" he said "And strict rules about when and where prep may be undertaken. I also chase them out in the winter to have plenty of exercise outside – though Amarantha will recall THAT."
"And cruel we thought you at the time, though I've the sense now to realise why you do it" said Amarantha. "But then we were as precious as Mimbulus mimbletonia plants and needed a bit of hardening off."
"Drove me grey" said Severus. His hair was as thick and black as ever. "Well the last year of Cackle's intake leave – both of them – after NEWTs this year; the rest of that year are all extras. None of them academic, but at least they're all amiable enough and none of them giggle at Amortentia."
Amarantha shuddered.
"Morgana Fairchild…. Oh dear" she said.
"NOT as bad as the Tugwood twins" said Severus "Or sundry Hogwarts students I have known. Well, make yourselves at home."
oOoOo
Rachel discovered horses during the visit and asked shyly if she might go along to watch the gymkhana and see the pupils ride them.
"It's her blood I suppose" said Tom "You see, we're in descent of the Withers family."
"Oh? I thought they were almost extinct" said Severus, interested.
"Well, it's like this" said Tom "Family history states – and goblins and part goblins are real hot on family history and learn it by rote – that Colter Withers married Lysistrata Malfoy to stop her nagging her brother, and their daughter Epona was a notorious horsewoman and a bit of a hellraiser and she had illegitimate twins, Penthesilia and Philippa who ran away with their goblin groom and there's a whole load of us descended from them, mostly from Philippa. She's my great-great grandmother. My mother's five sixteenths goblin and my dad's human; making me five thirty-seconds. It matters in the Umbrous Lane complex" he explained. Severus nodded and Tom went on "My wife, Laura, was half goblin; so that makes Rachel twenty-one sixty-fourths or as we say it for short in the Umbrous Lane region, a third."
"Which it is, close enough" said Severus. "A complexity that I had not considered – and it matters? Dear me. In this school, it matters if a child works hard; their ethnic and racial background is of no moment. I wonder if Neville Longbottom is aware of the undercurrents of one-upmanship for sixty-fourths and if it extends into his school environment?"
"I don't know Professor. Should I apprise him of it?" asked Tom.
"If you would, Mr Crockford, I should be grateful" said Severus "It's time that such malarkey was put to bed entirely; people are people. We didn't fight Voldemort and see to goblin rights to have bickering over the degree of goblinness or otherwise any person might carry, dear me NO!"
Tom Crockford was impressed. The suddenly blazing zig-zag scar added to this.
"Well I can spread it about my family to make a stand to refuse to count the fractions" he said "THAT will set a few cats among a few pigeons but you're right; it's time to take a stand."
"Besides it's silly" said Rachel "It's not like it affects how well you can think, not like the poor part trolls, who are often stupider for having more troll to their names, though it doesn't always follow and no more does how troll they look always mean how troll they think neither."
Severus gazed on her with approval.
"That's a deep thinking little girl you have there" he said "If you decide to send her here, assuming she passes – and I don't see that she won't, having chatted to her – I'll be very glad to have a child who uses her eyes and her brain."
"Please, will I get to learn to ride?" asked Rachel.
"Oh yes; it's on the curriculum" said Severus.
"Then PLEASE daddy, may I?" asked Rachel.
"Well you have an exam to take" said Tom Crockford. "But if you think you can handle being at boarding school and it's not just a fad to be with horses, as Amarantha is prepared to pay for it, I don't see why not."
"I want her to be happy, Tom; and I think she'll be happy here" said Amarantha "I wasted my chance to be happy at school; I don't think Rachel will waste HER time."
"No nor do I" said Severus "Well if your daddy says you may come to see the gymkhana I see no reason why you should not; you are to stay close to the other children though and obey any prefect as though you were already in school. When does she turn eleven?"
"Not for another year round" said Tom.
Severus nodded.
"A year more then to get used to having a stepmother; good" he said "Then all things being equal she'll be starting in the September of 2010. Wrap up warm for tomorrow, Rachel; the journey will be chill. We fly there on the horses."
oOoOo
The Gymkhana was well attended as usual; Lucius was there with Cerellia and with his daughters Lucasta and Penny, Penny being home for the holidays; and Jade had along her contingent of horsy children. Sevnev took Rachel to meet 'my nephew Rainer Von Luytens' who was, this year, in the same age class as Sevnev as Sevnev had moved into the bottom end of the nines to under elevens. Lucasta went in the same class as did Falk Kesselring, half brother of one of Jade's friends, and the three cousins and friend were cheerfully competitive without it affecting their friendship. Sevnev was not in the same league as the others; but he only competed for fun in any case. Jade's older pupils took it seriously however because it was their entrée into the world of social acceptance; and it was amusing to watch young Magda Schmitt be lionised since Von Frettchen had treated her publicly as though she really was related to his wife and young Wilhelm Schmitt. Wilhelm and Serrik were there competing under the aegis of the Duke, and the outraged stares at a goblin boy competing were amusing.
Severus' own older competitors were Marius, George, Yelisaveta – whose success at Hellibore's had brought her out of her shell and willing to compete in public with friends along – Cecilia Villeneuve as she was there for revision anyway, Johanna Schiff, who spent Easter in the castle, and Sarah likewise; and Paul among his younger pupils, ready to renew acquaintance with the younger riders of Schloss Adler.
Severus' riders acquitted themselves well enough; they were there for fun, not wins, and consequently did better than those children who crammed their poor ponies in a desperate attempt to win. There were a scattering of blue ribbons among them including the pairs carriage race that Jo and Yelisaveta had entered on the spur of the moment and just for fun. Marius had come second to Magda in the senior races, pushing George into third and excluding the German aristocrats entirely. Fortunately the girl who was inclined to temper tantrums had turned eighteen and was out of the top class of juniors, which permitted those still seventeen to compete. Marius was just within the limit; though only by a few days! Severus introduced him firmly to Von Frettchen as a lad preparing to train as an Anwalt to join a respected family firm; and Von Frettchen asked if Marius intended specialising in race and steeplechase issues and the various law suits that arose out of quarrelsome adult competitors. Marius brightened and said that he had not thought of that. He thanked Von Frettchen for the suggestion and said happily that unhappy people kept Anwalten rich. Von Frettchen roared with laughter, slapped him on the back and declared that he liked an honest man who did not wrap things up in sanctimony.
On the whole it went very well.
oOoOo
Back in the castle was a slight problem to be dealt with; though fortunately Krait was more than equal to dealing with it. The last year's attack by large numbers of fey, who had been thoroughly disrupted by electrocuting them with a chanted up storm, had left a small amount of very powerful magical residue; though most of the electrical discharge had been grounded by the copper rods set up around the castle for that purpose, one of the rods held something of a charge, and when the Grey Scholar took it into his head to perch atop the said rod, his magically formed insubstantial body flew apart.
Fortunately the incident was seen by Yrdl Breuer, who ran for Madam Malfoy at once.
Krait was probably the only person in the world with experience in putting together a splinched ghost from the time when Professor Binns of Hogwarts had passed through the classroom temporarily open to Basingstoke rail station and had lost parts of his pearlescent body on the eleven-seventeen. She picked up all the quivering pieces of the Grey Scholar and chanted until they were whole again.
"What did you DO to me?" wept Finsternacht.
"Put you back together, you poor prune" said Krait crisply. "Don't even START to accuse ME of being responsible for your state which was entirely your own fault for tinkering with magic beyond your level of understanding. You grounded the residue of a spell to defend the castle I believe; though it is NOT impossible that actually what happened was that you sat on a lightening conductor at a time when lightening was conducted to it and actually got hit by lightening" she added musingly "Only a complete IDIOT sits on a copper rod in regions where lightning is common."
"Well what do you have copper rods for if they attract lightning? Dangerous I call it" said Finsternacht.
"Are you completely idiotic you fatuous little man?" asked Krait "Don't you realise that the point of having a lightning conductor is to give lightning a safe path to earth so it passes where we WANT it to pass rather than risk striking the castle? Really, the Grey Scholar is a misnomer for you; you're scarcely a scholar at all. And the way you go on about females not knowing anything; I wager my youngest daughter Merope – she's five – knows more than you" she added in scorn. "I can understand a painting, stacked for centuries in an attic, not being able to keep up with modern knowledge; but a ghost has seen all that has passed and has no excuse for being quite so ignorant and foolish. Now don't even start or I might lose my temper and just electrocute you by spell, just because I can."
The Grey Scholar fled.
He believed her.
Women who pretended to be scholars and learned a dangerous amount of magic did not ought to be allowed!
oOoOo
Severus laughed heartily when the riding party returned and Krait related the incident to him.
"What an idiot he is!" he said "And what an awful warning that I might too have become like him – too much of a knowledge snob to actually carry on learning and believing he knows it all!"
"Somehow" said Krait dryly "Whatever happened I can't see you ever stopping learning; you love LEARNING. Herr Finsternacht gloats over the knowledge he has gleaned."
Severus considered.
"I think you may have a point there" he said. "He really is NOT a very nice character."
Krait shrugged.
"Well, the kids won't learn any younger that some grown ups can be very inadequate even after they're dead" she said. "You won't succeed in turning out the strong and fighters against evil if you cushion them and surround them only with nice people. We can't keep kids who depress the rest for their bad attitude unless we can change them fairly quickly; we're too small a school and a seriously disruptive kid reverberates further. But nor do we do the kids any favours by sheltering them."
"You know, I do believe you actually said that without any sense of irony" said Severus "I hardly think that permitting them to take part in fighting against such as the Sons of Zirnitra could actually constitute sheltering them."
Krait considered.
"I suppose not" she said. "I guess I was thinking about their daily experience of how they are treated by others in their life rather than the incidental little interruptions to routine."
"Thus, the mistress of litotes" grinned Severus. "Come here woman; I need my daily experience to be disrupted by you."
Krait giggled and complied happily.
oOoOo
The rest of the holiday passed smoothly enough; the two exam classes were firmly taken out for days to interrupt excessive studies from time to time and last minute panics about principles not quite understood were addressed by the staff. On the whole the exam classes were sensible; the upper sixth were sensible to the point of being almost stodgy, even the four Muggle Marauders; and the fifth were composed largely of the blooded or by the hard-working but biddable ones who would stop work when told for it being in the rules. Roseli Accola was the only one who fell outside this generalisation, not being quite of the calibre of a Marauder but definitely not as meekly obedient as Antti Laakkonen, Blaise Paddock or even Reinulf Grindler. Roseli's main obsession however was with her art; and Severus was always more lenient over artists and musicians dealing with a muse than with normal study. For such, their art was as much a part of their life as breathing and as well one might have tried to insist that they not breathe for a certain length of time each day. The talented were merely to be watched and distracted when they might reasonably be so that they not become stale for over-concentration on their art. Roseli was happy to go for long walks, however, and might be permitted a small sketch book and aquarelle pencils to make visual notes; because looking at the beauties of nature refreshed her spirit adequately and this she acknowledged.
This year Severus had arranged that the exam classes would climb each of the three peaks of the Unnütz or 'Useless' range so they might joke that they had spent their holiday in Useless endeavour; the peaks, north of the Achensee, rose between 2007m to 2078m and might take a leisurely day's climbing with time to stop and sketch for those so inclined, and take pleasant picnic stops. A dedicated alpinist would make each climb in under four hours; the school children were to be encouraged to dally a bit more.
Naturally the children enjoyed looking to the south west to see the Prinzhorn from a different angle; and the artists among them had to stop to make sketches. Severus promised to have some of the best sketches from his senior artists, and too some of the photographs taken by others, made into post cards so that others in the school might send home views of their school and its surrounds.
Having them on sale in the village for the tourists who came for the steam rack rail and for the caves might not be such a bad idea either; and Randolph readily donated his efforts for the scholarship fund; as too did Roseli. She was grateful for her education, which she had never expected or even hoped to have; and with a career as an artist ahead of her did not expect to find herself in the sort of difficulties a half goblin might well be, even with qualifications. Especially as her sister was to be established as a Professor, even if it was only in a small school!
"Just think, assuming we pass our exams, in a couple of months we shall be let out upon an unsuspecting world; looking across the valley kind of brings it home" said Pru.
"They aren't letting you out, my girl; they know how much trouble you are" said Fred Lowther lazily "Severus is keeping you to teach because he's afraid of your impact on the world."
Pru poked him.
"It is a little nervous to think that soon we embark on adult life" said Frieda. "But me, I have a job lined up in Belsornia, as a warden of the magical creatures there. I am most pleased; because I thought all I should ever be able to do is to marry."
"One might marry and still keep a career" said Leneli glancing shyly at Milos.
"Oh yes; but how nice to have the option; and too to be able to support myself until I meet someone I WANT to marry, not have to marry anyone who considers my bloodline suitable for his offspring and will put up with me being slow" said Frieda.
"You're not really slow" said Marius "You need to take time over complex things is all; and if people fluster you, then you find it harder to think quicker. You should not do yourself down. But it is important, I think, for you to prove to yourself and any who would scoff that you can do well on your own account. Go for it, Frieda."
"Have we all actually got careers lined up without having to meep to Severus about what we can do?" asked Rory.
"Reckon so" said Peter "Twin and I are playing quidditch and then mean to coach; Milos and Leneli and you are teaching – you are going to one of the free schools to teach care of aggressive magical plants, aren't you old man?"
Rory answered this rudery about his Herbology skills with covering Peter in a growth of nettles that needed Severus to help with the unjinxing of, and the dry comment that spells where muggles might climb was NOT the best idea, tempting as it was to leave Peter as he was bar giving him a heavy mulch.
The Muggle Marauders grinned unrepentantly at their headmaster's waspish comments.
"Getting back to the discussion in hand" said Randolph "I'm already earning well painting; Marius is fixed to go into the family firm; Mungo, you're doing research, aren't you?"
"Yes" said Mungo "And I might hang out here as a base; dad said he'd pay so I had peace to do original research. I want to write a book on all kinds of shapeshifter. There are some that haven't been researched at all, like the fey hytersprites of East Anglia and the Kludde of Belgium which has THREE natural forms; black dog, cat and raven-like bird."
"And teaches at Durmstrang" said Marius lazily. Mungo grinned.
"Almost – at least in the old days" he said. "There's a lot of research to be done over how much the actual skill of shapeshifting has been influenced by the fey; and whether Rakshasa and Lycanthropy are independent or whether shapeshifting came into the wizarding community via the fey. I'll be travelling to Takeo's school when he has it up and running to look into the kitsune, the fox spirits, and into badger spirits; and staying with Assim and Bella to poke around Rakshasa; though I think I might have to rephrase that."
"I would" said Randolph "I know Bella well enough to know that she'd EAT anyone who poked HER Rakshasa."
Mungo laughed.
"I believe that" he said.
"Am I the only one who hasn't got a career lined up then?" asked Muriel "I want to do something with animals, but I'm not sure what."
"There's always a shortage of Care of Beasts teachers" said Rory. "Darryl and Mimi were talking about a free French school; and frankly there's no care of beasts teacher for the Munich school either. And you're awfully good with small beasts too; and running a pet zoo to show inner city kids the differences between mogs and kneazles and what to look for on crups and how to avoid getting their brighter items nicked by nifflers might be something Severus would sponsor you know. And various free schools could hire your services to show the animals they don't have access to."
Muriel brightened.
"Well they're all good ideas" she said. "And by the way, were we going to clear up and move on so we can finish collecting this Useless trip and get back before it gets dark?"
"Probably wise" said Severus "It may be chilly up here in the wind, but it's been very pleasant in this sheltered spot; my elderly bones are militating against going on which is why I haven't hustled you."
"You can outclimb and outwalk any one of us any day of the week Sev" said Rory cheerfully.
"Scarily, true" agreed Severus "And the day IS moving on; let's get going."
"Go on kid, let's blow this thing and go home" murmured Fred Lowther.
"Good quoting; don't get cocky kid" retorted Severus.
oOoOo
"My I'm glad I'm not so elderly I have to worry about jobs, aren't you, germs?" said BaHH, in the younger exam class as they got up to move on.
"I'm sorted" said Arbrek. "And when my quidditch career is over I shall be a potioneer because I am good at it and establish a chain of apothecary shops in goblin neighbourhoods across Europe staffed by locals as far as possible." Arbrek's father was well off and the idea of setting up a chain of shops was not unreasonable.
"Well if I don't make it as an Auror I might come and work for you" said Reinulf cheerfully "Because that's the career I was thinking of; or rather, Vehmgericht."
"I'm going to be an Auror" said Emil.
"And I an artist" said Roseli.
"Aren't we Marauders joining the teaching team to swell more free schools?" asked Yrdl.
"Could do" said Crow.
"And then we get to carry on researching in a school environment like Severus" said Batty.
"And get jinxed by rotten kids who pull the sort of japes we used to, remember" said BaHH.
"So?" said Yrdl "If they misbehave too much we do as Severus did and play one back."
BaHH grinned.
"It WAS a bit of a turn up for the book to have the Headmaster playing jokes on the school" he said "And a nice gentle rebuke that we were overdoing it a bit. Antti, you'll be teaching in the Scandinavian school that Bertel Elstrup is to set up, aren't you, and Hanna too?"
"This is something I should like" said Antti. "To have a school that is a part of the Northern European mind set means that we are able to be closer to our own culture, but please do not call Finns Scandinavan. We escaped from it and prefer not to be so classed, though by Geography we must work with them."
"Sorry, old man," said BaHH. "I forgot. The other Scandinavians need Finland though as a rather effective first line of defence against Russia. Even muggle Finns can beat Russians," he added.
"And with an emphasis on Finnish magic likely to shine in Triwizards too" said Yrdl hastily before anyone suggested making Molotov cocktails. "And another alternative to Durmstrang; you will have to be aware, Antti, that some will come who expect to throw their weight around for their blood status."
"Then we shall have to squash them thoroughly" said Antti "I have learned much about life here at school as well as my lessons; and that blood status is utterly irrelevant. I know now too the difference between wrongdoing and mischief; and I am not the silly little boy I was when I began school. But I shall be sympathetic to those who are unable to understand the difference" he added.
"Good for you Antti" said BaHH "We haven't always been that kind to you; which is our bad as well as your silliness. You were a BRICK over supporting Arbrek. And I vote we stop calling you The Finnish Flobberworm and call you the Finnish Freedom Fighter."
"Hear hear" there was a chorus of assent. Antti flushed and looked pleased. He was not sure exactly what a 'brick' might be if it were not an item of building material but the tone of voice said it was a compliment.
"Any ideas what you want to do, Blaise?" asked Reinulf politely of Blaise Paddock.
"Not a clue" said Blaise "I'm never going to set the world alight like some of you types; I've no real talent at anything, I just do well enough because I know how to graft. Maybe I'll teach; maybe I'll go into the ministry."
"You'll be a bit out of kilter there old man" said Crow.
"How's that?" asked Blaise.
"Well, do you know how many people work in the English ministry?" asked Crow.
"Not a clue" said Blaise.
"About one in three" said Crow "So someone who knows how to graft is a bit out of kilter."
Blaise poked him without rancour.
"And maybe it's about time someone who DOES know how to work went and shook them up" he said.
"Huh, you'd be depressed in no time flat" said Crow "Because industry isn't rewarded – well, except in certain offices – because it's all jobs for the boys and the ones who float to the top like turds in a tank are the ones who know where the bodies are buried. I've heard it said that England only retains a ministry to keep the useless and turgidly corrupt from being anywhere where they can contaminate decent folk."
"And he's only half joking I'm afraid" said Severus, who had overheard the later part of the conversation. "Unless you want the Beings relations office, Blaise, I'd stay out of the ministry. Arthur Weasley has the muggle, goblin, elf and other offices fairly well run, but the education office is a joke. Unless you teach for a year and THEN join that to sort it out with quiet efficiency; or go for something useful like being a desplincher. You're methodical enough to make a good one."
Blaise brightened.
"Well I shall have to see how good I am at apparating, sir, but being a desplincher actually would be a good and useful career even if people do make jokes about it. Though shouldn't I be taking geomancy?"
"Oh well, if it's a career you like the sound of, there's nothing to stop you studying some geomancy alongside your NEWTs" said Severus "I don't believe anyone in the transport ministry has a qualification above OWL; though some have odd bits of NEWT level knowledge. Most people who've taken geomancy seriously find more interesting applications for it than monitoring the Floo Network and organising day trippers and their portkeys. And it DOES have a bit of a bad reputation since the death eaters, and before them the less savoury elements of Rufus Scrimgeour's administration used it to keep tabs on people's movements."
"Lumme, sir, it almost sounds as if any of us who are honourable and have scruples almost have a duty to work there to prevent such things happening!" said Blaise.
"Well don't do it for that; but if you WANT to do so, do it for that reason" said Severus. "You are a straight 'E' student, Blaise; and if I were you, I'd consider a post as coach or tutor to such delicate children whose health means they cannot attend school immediately they are of age. You are gentle and kind and patient and I think you'd be a very good tutor. Bearing in mind that the concept of 'too delicate' can mean 'a little monster of vanity who puts on its parts about going to a school where ordinary kids will knock its corners off'; and such children need specialist handling. But if you found yourself thus engaged, I would always be available to you for advice; as I would over how much a truly delicate child might be stretched."
"THANK you sir" said Blaise "And you know, you've nurtured us and taught us and I can't actually think of a much more useful and NOBLE profession than teaching; though I'd be nervous teaching in a big school. Tutoring one or a few pupils might just answer."
"And there are those families who just disapprove of boarding schools you know; and kids that would hate them" added Crow "And in that case a wizarding community might be happy to hire a tutor amongst half a dozen kids of mixed ages from two or three families. You may not get them as far on in as many subjects as in a big school, but I guess there are plenty who would be happy to go on to school when they were fourteen to start electives and would then be self confident and know that their tutor had kept them to grips with the main subjects available. And if they did NOT want to go to school, I guess you could get them through five or six OWLs which is better than a lot of dame schools and then their options would be wider."
"Very cogently put my boy" said Severus "Boarding school is not the ideal experience for all children. And certainly not all are ready to go away at eleven years old. Especially those who have a healthier relationship with their parents than some of us, and who would not wish to leave younger siblings either. I will certainly give you a recommendation should you embark upon such a career. Still, you have two more years to consider it; and if you DO wish to teach thus I would strongly advise that you take a year in a school as a coach for the slower pupils to help them catch up essential subjects. And as you speak German adequately, I would suggest going to my daughter's school to bring on those who need a little extra help. Actually teaching, and in an environment where there are other teachers to ask for aid, will be invaluable."
"Thank you sir!" said Blaise, certain that he had finally found a vocation!