Chapter Fifteen
by Lionheart
I O I O I
As he collapsed into the Ministry holding cell to await trial Monday morning, Severus Snape was never more grateful for bare stone walls, and notably the absence of: Dementors, the stench of rot and death, and the endless, howling and screaming of men with broken minds. No, the holding cell was heaven at that moment. They might even let him wash the scabs and sores or give him a potion to deal with his growing illness so he didn't infect the court.
Not for the first time, Severus found himself in awe over Sirius' ability to stay untouched by that environment, when a mere few days had been hell, and he'd seen how it had all but destroyed some of the strongest people he knew, Death Eaters he had truly admired.
He had almost stopped gibbering by the time Dumbledore arrived.
The Headmaster acted as though under a heavy burden as he conjured a chair to sit on. "I don't know what to do, Severus. I asked Professor McGonagall for help and she vowed to use her influence to drive me from the school if I continued to support you, which she has begun to do. After a brief period to recover my wits I asked Professor Sprout for aid and she went so far as to spit in my face when I said I needed help protecting you. I will spare you what she said. Professor Flitwick mysteriously fails to hear me, constantly changing the subject whenever I bring you up, and most of the other teachers follow his lead, though both Professors Vector and Sinistra told me to my face that a trained monkey could teach Potions better than you, and Hagrid, who has always seemed so trusting, told me that he would go ahead and order one to replace you if I found our current substitute inadequate, his face inflamed by what I believe to be rage. So I put this question to you: what, exactly, have you done to offend my entire staff so bitterly? And how might we repair the damage in time to save your life and perhaps career? Though I am afraid I can no longer guarantee the latter. It seems that my own position is more shaky than I'd previously thought."
"You know full well what I've done, and why I did it." Snape found enough of himself to sneer spitefully.
"Ah, yes." Albus agreed remorsefully. "I'm afraid I do. Yet I am beginning to see the other side of it now, and I do begin to wonder if the cost was worth it."
"What do you mean?" The Potion Master speared him with a gaze.
"Your work, Severus, has been abysmal. I tried to encourage you to teach students other than your own Slytherins by giving you two Houses per class. But you managed to work around me. I found some time this week to ask around among the older students and you have consistently managed to keep all Houses but your own ignorant of basic ingredient preparation, rules of stirring, and other essential facts required to brew properly. I know you know them, Severus. But you have refused to teach them, or at least refused to impart the most basic, essential facts to anyone you did not like, and it has been inescapably brought to my attention that you hated three of our Houses by default. So I begin to wonder how many extra Aurors and Healers your tenure at Hogwarts has cost us. I am ashamed that it took me this long to notice that your prejudice runs so deep as to deal so grievous a wound to the entire wizarding world out of your own childish grudge. But as I look over evidence at last, it is undeniable it has. In short, you have refused to teach the subject you were hired to teach. I don't know what to do for you, or what I should do with you, Severus."
"I had to maintain my cover," the greasy man pled.
"Voldemort knew that you were a spy, Severus. You told me yourself that he had ordered you to join the side of Light. Perhaps I was more foolish than I thought to trust you with so much. My choice to do so has cost so many good Order members their lives, and I now begin to see just how many careers it has destroyed as well. Cost for benefit, you were a very poor choice of investment, I'm afraid, and I am ashamed of myself for only discovering this as I tried to gather evidence to defend you, and found that there was none. In the words of the rest of my staff, your behavior has been inexcusable."
Snape's face went stiff and guarded, but he said nothing.
Albus broke into a smile. "Still, I am a firm believer in second chances. After I get you out of here it will be my pleasure to take you back to Hogwarts, where perhaps you will find it in your heart to do better this time."
"I believe he will find me a better patron." Lucius Malfoy said from behind the old man, his hands toying with the silver head of his ebony walking stick as he stood in the open door of the cell. Looking past the Headmaster, Lucius captured Snape with an imperial gaze. "Come along with me, I've paid your bail. You are free of this wretched place until your trial. We have much to discuss to prepare you for that."
The two Death Eaters swept out of the cell, leaving Dumbledore alone.
I O I O I
Under cover of a happy coincidence of the Headmaster having to deal with the Sorting Hat and Snape acting as distraction, a certain History Professor got in and out of the Headmaster's office unseen, and without using magic, just martial arts and chi abilities.
But with Dumbledore at last dealing with those emergencies, they had a little time. Nodoka called the group together, ran them through a magic circle boosting her Time Turner, taking them back several hours, and then took them to her private tower.
Arriving in a jumble, the girls learned at last what the rush was all about.
Cologne swished up to the backup class-sized pensieve that Nodoka kept in her office, lifting a rack of bottles filled with what appeared to be silvery mist. Setting it down once they had seen it, she selected and then opened one, pouring its contents into the stone basin. "I have this rather annoying talent for breaking and entering, when it is needed. This theft I am sure will get discovered within hours after it was made. So I discussed it with Nodoka and she agreed that we should make use of this at once, despite the almost certainty that we will get caught doing it. The only time we have for sure is that twelve hours we traveled back."
Replacing the empty bottle on the shelf, she smoothed her skirt down over her hips. "I found this rack in Dumbledore's office, labeled as his research record into Voldemort. I think we should all see what that old man has collected, don't you?"
They dove in, finding the first record to be of the Gaunt family, last pureblood descendants of Salazar Slytherin. What they saw of that family did not impress them with the nobility of that bloodline, but it did lead to a useful surprise - all of them could understand, and speak, parseltongue. Nodoka told them if it had been a magical gift of Voldemort's, presumably it should have been shared out among them by the magic ritual where they stole some of his powers. Certainly none of them could ever recall listening to snakes talk that way before, so it appeared to have done so.
Going through the rack, it became obvious that Dumbledore had been collecting memories associated with Voldemort for a very long time. They witnessed several of Tom Riddle's school experiences, from Dumbledore's perspective and others. They saw the cruel young boy informed that he was a wizard, and when he admitted to having some effective control of his magic without either formal training or wand they became quite impressed at the basic power level they had stolen.
Cologne made notes to begin practicing wandless magic at once, so they could hopefully achieve at least the same measure of control.
The group forged on, watching precious stored memories from dozens of sources, some of those quite confusing until they later watched others and obscure hints and references came clear at last. After each memory Cologne and Nodoka each made copies, using advanced spells to create duplicates they hid in drawers. The only drawback to that spell, assuming you could cast it, was they could only make copies of memories they had already seen. So they charged through them as quickly as they could.
They saw the boy Tom Riddle go to the Gaunt home and heard what he learned there. At the end of each memory Nodoka kept a log, making notes and keeping a transcript of the information they'd learned on the expectation they'd lose this resource soon, as its theft was sure to get discovered, and who knew if Dumbledore could detect and take their copies?
As time counted down the children all donned muggle disguises in anticipation of being found out, and removed their Hogwarts robes to put on unmarked, oversize ones that hid any distinguishing characteristics. They wanted to see those memories and not be recognized. A slender hope for security was better than none, and they hadn't planned this out well beforehand.
They had just finished watching the young Voldemort interview with Hepsibah Smith when they heard the Headmaster's voice coming from the tower entrance. "I should think, Nodoka, that movies would be more suitable to young children than filling their minds with innocence destroying tales of evil. Cologne, I am both surprised and disappointed to find you here."
Cologne shot him a very cocky grin as the children darted under the table to hide under the trailing edge. "And miss this History lesson? Headmaster, you underestimate my curiosity towards my subject." The young matriarch giggled confidently. "How could I turn this chance down? We've just seen young Tom Riddle shown a pair of priceless antiquities, including a locket that once belonged to his mother."
"Hepsibah Smith unfortunately died not many days after that scene, and both of those items went missing from her collection." Dumbledore strode powerfully into the room, and with a stroke of his wand, caused that his rack of precious memories shrank and flew into a sleeve on his robe, where it disappeared. They'd probably never view the rest of them.
His expression changed, however, from disappointment and anger to something else like surprise when he saw the open log sitting by Nodoka's elbow. Without asking, he picked it up and perused a small selection, then began to flip pages, looking steadily less upset, and at last a trifle jolly. He lowered the book, after precious minutes, with something of a smile on his face. "You can understand parseltongue, Nodoka?"
"Yes," She nodded carefully watching him for signs. "Apparently as a side effect of my ritual with Nagini."
"Interesting," Dumbledore turned back to the book, continuing to flip until he had perused the whole log. When he lowered it he did not look as mad. Not at all, he looked almost glad. "Understand me, Nodoka, when I say that I had feared somewhat because of your family and habits, that you might have a connection to the dark; especially in light of your treatment of poor Severus. But I find here no record of anything like admiration for Voldemort, and no interest in following in his footsteps, only a desire to see him destroyed. That reassures me, and also I find this transcript of what was said in parseltongue to be most enlightening and useful. I had feared that it could have been many things. Many of those concerns are now laid to rest, and I can concentrate on other venues of my search."
He took the log, and shoved that also into his sleeve. "I shall borrow this for a time, Nodoka. In return I would like to share with you one or two little insights into Tom Riddle; and the first is that he is a trophy keeper, one who seeks to inflate the image of his own importance by establishing ownership of things important to others, or the world at large. Secondly, that he has never had any friends, nor did he wish any. Many have thought they were close to him, and all of them were wrong. His followers are his disposable soldiers, viewed as easily replaceable and unimportant individually. He is a most dangerous person because to him no one else has any importance or value, nor have they, or will they to him, ever."
Dumbledore left and under the table the children lifted their eyes from the floor where they had dropped them upon hearing him enter, partly to give an appearance of innocence and remorse, but mostly that came as a useful side effect of the key issue of avoiding eye contact so he could not read their minds.
I O I O I
Breakfast in the Great Hall was awkward, as Snape had rejoined the staff at the head table. While officially removed from his teaching position until review by the Board of Governors, he was still Head of Slytherin House and remained on due to the machinations of Lucius Malfoy, one of those school governors. Dumbledore had been only too glad to receive his old friend back as an on-call substitute.
This eagerness of Dumbledore's was just one aspect of Snape's return that was resented by all of the rest of the staff. Nodoka had refused to even join the head table that day, and was instead sitting with her daughter at the Ravenclaw table, laughing and making jokes like an oversized student.
Snape had been glowering at her all morning, and snapping at anyone nearby. When he asked for a plate of sausages to McGonagall's left he did it so nastily that at last she'd had enough and, once she'd picked up the heavy, deep, silver dish, she swung it as hard as she could and beaned him in the face with it, knocking the man and his chair backwards away from the table, spilling franks and hot fat all over himself and his clothes.
Minerva McGonagall then strode away from the staff table and went and sat with the Gryffindors, choosing a spot that the Weasley twins opened up for her with wide smiles and glad faces.
Susan Bones won an awful lot of money on that bet she'd made earlier that week.
I O I O I
Nodoka excused herself from the table at the conclusion of breakfast with a nod toward her daughter. The girls in her study group had a busy day of socializing and making friends planned, building up contacts and of course having fun. Having your mother hang around could easily be misinterpreted and get in the way.
Instead, Nodoka immediately began to leave the grounds. Something Dumbledore had said about Voldemort's character had been tickling at the back of her mind and she wanted to check to see if her hunch was right. So no sooner had she reached the outer limit of the wards than she apparated away, appearing at the edge of a country road next to the ruins of the Gaunt house. But her eyes were not for that, and the elegant woman quickly made her way down the lane to Riddle Manor.
There was an old caretaker, but that man was easily charmed - by words, not by magic. Nodoka was a wealthy woman, and a duchess. For her to be in the mood to obtain a large property like this one was perfectly in keeping with normalcy, and asking to be shown around before she made that choice was all too everyday an occurrence. Except that this home was said to have been the site of a terrible tragedy and haunted, but there wasn't a complete lack of people who sought out supposedly haunted places for thrills, or just plain did not believe those stories.
So Nodoka got the guided tour of the whole place, by the one man left who had once seen it in operation as a family dwelling, and been a servant to that household.
As she was led through, Nodoka saw signs everywhere that Death Eaters had used this place for secret meetings and such in the time since the family had died, so no wonder no muggles had bought it. It was truly a lovely property, but incidents had almost assuredly befallen any muggles who had dared to come close to it. Absently, Nodoka wondered how many times this kindly old caretaker had been Obliviated or subject to Imperius.
At the end of her tour Nodoka was impressed. This was a wonderful house, and on the spot the duchess decided to buy it to put it back into operation, if only to deny it as a secret headquarters to her enemies when Voldemort returned. So she sent off the caretaker to fetch a real estate agent with the necessary paperwork, and while he was gone, she began to poke into likely looking corners for the magical tomes and treasures the Death Eaters had probably hidden away.
That was when a sudden figure came upon her by surprise around a corner.
"The Cup!" Nodoka swirled around, astonishment written on her features to see the school's Headmaster emerge from a previously unnoticed, magically concealed secret passage in the manor, holding in his hands a small golden cup she recognized had once belonged to Hepsibah Smith, and long before her, Helga Hufflepuff.
She didn't need to state the obvious fact that Dumbledore had followed her here from the school, and probably wandered off into a passage he'd discovered while she was taking the tour.
For that matter, he didn't feel the need to state so obvious a fact either.
"Ah, thankfully I was alert to signs of magical concealment." Dumbledore smiled, eyes a-twinkling, as he held the cup to his chest with one hand. "And it is indeed a horcrux. I find I must wonder how many of them Tom Riddle made. Alas, I fear it would be of small use to you, Nodoka, as you have already tasted of Voldemort's power."
Nodoka sighed and met him in the eyes. "No. But I do want to save that cup, which is a priceless artifact. And I am willing to draw an echo circle, so a group of your choice gets the same benefits I did. I may not be your friend, Albus, but I am certainly not your enemy."
"Truly?" He interrupted her, a kindly twinkle in his eyes. "I seem to recall certain instances I could hardly term as anything but hostile."
Nodoka rolled her eyes at him. "It's true I am opposed to you on certain issues. But if you'd ask yourself this: Have you ever taken a blow from me when you weren't defending some evil thing? You'd get your answer: No, you haven't. You have protected horribly abusive people, and it has cost you, Albus. My attacks have been directed at them, not you. The injuries you suffered by my hand you gained in shielding those who had committed crimes from receiving the proper punishment due those crimes. I have yet to launch a single attack directed at you. Now do you want to be a parselmouth? I confess that I don't think the ritual would do much for your power level."
"Alas, I cannot participate. However, I have many friends, including a few who may desire that advantage."
"I am willing to help, provided you don't ask for anything objectionable."
"Your help would be greatly appreciated, Professor Malfoy. I have, alas, no one else I could trust who is able to draw an appropriate echo circle." Dumbledore twinkled.
"Well then, who would you like to attend the ceremony?" She lofted an eyebrow.
"Well, of course, I would like to start by..."
"Not Snape." Nodoka interrupted him. "Whatever professional integrity he ought to have, he doesn't. If you have no regard for his inability to teach, and his complete lack of courtesy or professional decorum, you might have some regard for the indisputable FACT that what power he already has he abuses constantly. I will not be a party to giving him any more, and if you choose to insist on it we'll have to end this discussion before it has started."
"Ah, yes," Dumbledore nodded sadly. "I know better now than to challenge you on your position on this, though I do wish you'd reconsider."
"I'll be checking for Polyjuice before we start any rituals, Albus. I'll only arm the circle AFTER I am confident that your spy is nowhere nearby." Nodoka looked no less stern than before. "I cannot possibly emphasize enough how strongly I feel about this."
"So I see," The old man nodded once again, looking more tired than before. "In that case I would like you to consider Argus Filch."
Nodoka's eyes widened in disbelieving shock. "Filch treats students as if they are vermin to be eradicated from his castle! The only thing keeping him from being a terribly dark wizard, and probably a Death Eater, is that he's not even a wizard at all! Heaven made the world a better place when it made him a squib, and I find your lack of regard for anything resembling character in your first two recommendations appalling! Perhaps you have forgotten the most important prerogative? If so, let me enlighten you. I am willing to participate, yes even do the whole thing for you, but I insist that people whose magic are to be boosted are those who can be trusted implicitly to use those extra powers for Light. No spies or questions, Albus. If not, I will withhold my help from you on this."
The old man looked defeated. "I recommend him only for one thing, Nodoka, and that is his hate and his anger both stem from jealousy. And I feel that if that matter were resolved he might come around to being an excellent fellow. He was one once, you know, his first year before he dropped out."
"However he came by his dark emotions, Albus, they are well established now. And it would do well for you to consider that basic changes in fundamental character are rare, and more so the older we grow. If Filch were to have the moral fortitude to change his nature before getting a power boost I might consider him. Then again I might not, as there are plenty of better candidates more deserving, with proven track records."
She regarded him with a long look and a wry grimace. "Take your pick, Headmaster. You can do this ritual yourself, take your chances at duplicating my precautions, and get only one subject's magic boosted - did you not just admit that you had no one you could trust to draw you an appropriate echo circle? But doing so you could have the slimiest, sleaziest rapist and murderer of your choice with morals as reprehensible as you could ask. Or you could do this according to my preferences and boost the powers of seven good people and true who are likely to continue the fight even if it looks like we are losing. Character is important for a reason, Albus, as are morals to choose the right."
"Do you have any objections to Molly?" The old man tentatively asked.
"None whatsoever. I think she is a fine choice, and if you'd started with her we never would have ventured into an argument based on character. I also think her husband Arthur would be an excellent person to consider, but leave that selection up to you. It is your cup, after all. I am just an assistant on this."
Albus nodded. "Arthur and Molly are both acceptable to me. How do you feel about their two oldest boys? Bill is a Curse Breaker for Gringott's, and Charlie a Dragon Keeper in Rumania. Both have excellent moral character, and close ties to the Light and their family."
"I'll have to meet them, of course. But they sound fine." Nodoka allowed.
"I shall arrange it, hopefully for this weekend. Does Professor McGonagall meet with your approval?"
"Indeed, she does."
"Then I hope my last two choices do not shock you. There is a miss Arabella Figg, a squib of my acquaintance, who helped us fight Voldemort in the last war. I cannot recommend her loyalty highly enough, but perhaps it will be sufficient if I explain that it was she that I trusted to look over young Harry Potter while he was in hiding these last ten years."
"I'm sure you think well of her, yet I'd still like to meet her. Although it amuses me that of your seven potential candidates for this, you'd chosen a pair of squibs. Though the first one had to be refused."
"The way I see it, Nodoka, they stand to benefit the most from this procedure of yours. It is those who already enjoy the most power who need a gain the least. Arthur and Molly both have a regrettable lack of raw potential which I'd like to see corrected. And their two oldest boys have compensated quite admirably for lower than average innate talent by acquiring exceptional knowledge and understanding. I feel with this boost to their potential they'd have what it takes to be truly great wizards, and we shall need such on our side."
Nodoka looked curiously at the old man. "Agreed, but then why did you recommend your Transfiguration Teacher?"
"Something of an apology for abusing her trust all these years. But she also suffers from almost the same troubles as the two oldest Weasley boys, though slightly less extreme on both ends: Her lack of potential is not as serious, and her drive to obtain knowledge is somewhat less. Yet once again, through this process I feel she could be a fine witch indeed. One worthy of being feared by Voldemort and his allies, instead of almost disregarded."
"Then you think of Snape the same way?"
"Not entirely. He is overall a moderately strong wizard who has remarkable gifts for Potions and the Dark Arts. Yet I feel that in his unique position he could benefit us greatly from being able to understand the secret tongue Voldemort uses. Are you going to relent? I feel if you give Snape a chance he could be enormously useful."
"No, I will not relent. No matter what his talents, he has only ever used them for evil. I'm not going to be a part of granting him more power. So, am I to assume that you will be the final person of the seven to participate?"
"No, Nodoka. There is no need. I am already quite powerful enough as it is. Instead I would like for you to consider an unusual request: One of our older students, a seventh-year by the name of Nymphadora Tonks. She has a most unusual gift, in that she is a natural shape shifter, a metamorphamagus. Once again she compensates for below average powers by a determination to succeed, and is well on her way toward a career among the aurors. I feel having her talents available to us could be a great advantage, perhaps greater if she was also a parselmouth."
"Young Nymphy is a metamorph?"
"You know her?"
"Her mother and I were old friends. We even traded letters for a few years during the war, though by muggle post as owls were likely to be intercepted. I always longed to bounce her daughter on my knee, but never got the opportunity. We even traded photographs, though that had to stop, as Regulus visited her once and saw my picture on her mantle. He was still loyal to Voldemort then, and told the Death Eaters of that lead. Thankfully it was of me in a simple swimsuit on an empty beach, so they had no real clues to follow. But we did have to cut off contact with each other, lest they attack her to get to me. Snape did pop by once, with a few of his Death Eater friends, but thankfully aurors showed up in time to drive them all off. Poor Andromeda had to move after that experience."
"So Nymphadora is acceptable?"
"Perfectly. I've spoken with her several times since school started and she is a wonderful girl I'd be happy to have on our side in this war. Nymphadora has actually impressed me with her cheer and drive, I just didn't suspect her of becoming an auror or being a shapeshifter."
"How soon would you like to proceed?"
"Presuming I can meet everyone beforehand, I could have the ritual ready for tomorrow night. You'll just have to trust me with that cup an hour or two beforehand."
"Do you require secrecy?"
"No."
"Then I shall trust it to you, but would like to watch your setup, and what you do to prepare."
"The thought makes me uncomfortable, but if we are to be allies it is only fair."
I O I O I
Nodoka and Dumbledore came back to Hogwarts school well in time to reach the regularly scheduled, weekly staff meeting held just prior to lunch.
Unlike previous years where these were dull, monotonous affairs where very little new was going on and virtually no issues had to be discussed, something was obviously different about this one right off.
For one it was noisy, with several folks chattering at once. This was quite a change from the regular, dull, almost-classroom level of hypnotic stillness. Another great difference was the level of animation of the teachers involved. People were moving about, gesturing, talking and sometimes even laughing.
Now, some of this was due to the rather remarkable events of this, their first week of school that year, where they had already had one teacher suspended (and Snape's fate was high on everyone's mind, even though he'd chosen not to attend this meeting), several fights between staff, the as-yet unresolved burglary of Filch's office (and what effect the loss of his detention records would have just HAD to be discussed at length), the Headmaster's own decreased popularity and political troubles, not to mention the rather remarkable dynamic of the new teachers and the increasing colorization of the Hogwarts robes by pretty girls after a flattering wardrobe.
All of those would have been big events in other years.
It was, in all cases, measuring up to be quite a year, and yet that wasn't the whole of it. What made up this meeting's conversations was not so much the events, but the students. It seemed every teacher there had noticed a change.
Once Dumbledore had called the meeting to order and asked for input Sinistra was the first to stand and present her report, which had been discussed beforehand with the other staff and judged to be most important to all of their own relevant points.
"Headmaster, something remarkable has gone on with the students." She went on before he could interrupt and ask, with a twinkle, what she'd meant. "It seems almost every one of them has suddenly acquired an astonishing degree of understanding of my subject. At first I didn't know what to think of it. But through the week I've been checking more thoroughly and the problem just grows. I don't know what occurred to cause this, but every student from all seven years has suddenly acquired an almost perfect understanding of Astronomy. Pupils in older grade levels I knew by experience were deficient are suddenly better than I am, and our first years are no less proficient. There was hardly a question I could pose a random student wouldn't answer with the greatest of ease. At first I was certain they were cheating, because the only way I know to be that accurate is to be checking a star chart at the time you answer. But if they are cheating, it is universal, and I can't detect it. Nor do those pupils I am close to know what is going on. They say they just know the answers, and don't know how or why they know them. I have found the only exception is Slytherin, where no change seems to have occurred at all, with none of them any more ignorant or knowledgeable than before. Aside from them, I don't know what use I am teaching my subject."
"This has had an effect upon my course as well," Professor Vector stated, standing up just as Sinistra sat down. "Every student, even myself, has always struggled before with some of the star calculations that are required, because they have to be precise and they change constantly. And yet now, except for the Slytherins and myself, that suddenly seems to be the easiest part of Arithmancy! Three Houses are leaping ahead. I've awarded five hundred points this week alone, before I began to anticipate this and throttled back! This knowledge was completely unexpected. But at the rate Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Houses are progressing I'll have students venturing off into difficult areas of Arithmancy I am weak on before the year is halfway through! Already they have asked questions I have been more than one night up researching."
Dumbledore's face was slack in astonishment. There had been too many surprises this year and all too few of them had been good ones for him to anticipate much different from this.
The Ancient Runes professor got up to say mostly the same thing, to a lesser degree as the extent of tie-in was not as great. However, the teacher was followed by Trelawney, and even a blind person could tell she was upset, alternating angry and tearful as she explained what had been going on in her classroom.
Apparently, boiled down to its essentials and taken with a drop of cynicism to clear away the deliberate obfuscation, Trelawney was upset because all of her dodges and excuses about 'the stars' this, or 'the phases of the moon' that about why her predictions were less accurate than random guesswork were no longer being swallowed by the students at all, who were beginning to view her as the fraud she was. Sybil was gesticulating wildly about how their near-perfect understanding of Astronomy had robbed her of the methods she'd used to conceal her incompetence and keep her job all of these years.
The surprise was Flitwick, who came to stand on top of his seat so that everyone could see him above the shoulders of the other teachers, and bounced excitedly in his happiness. "It appears that this knowledge our students have gained is substantial enough that I have been able to start teaching certain advanced charms early - And they can handle them! I've already been doing this with the older years, spells so dependent on star formations that I don't think they've been formally taught for centuries! Yet our students are finding them easier than I am!"
As the excited professor resumed his seat, the groundskeeper stood up, an interesting contrast between the small and the large.
"You know, what the surprise is..." Hagrid drew himself to his feet, a laborious process. "I can tell what this is like from the student's end. All of er sudden, sometime early during the week, I could just tell what the phases of the moon were, an what stars were where, the time o day, and things like that. An it's weird, cause I just know em. Don't take no effort at all, either. It's like knowing where my fingers are, ye just do."
"On an interesting, yet I'm sure related, note," Professor Kettleburn was next. "Our students, again from the three Houses of Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff, have acquired a new and highly unusual affinity for unicorns. I don't know if this extends to other animals, as I only saw the difference during one lesson this week. But despite knowing some of the students for quite some time, every one of them had acquired, all at once, the manners of a master handler. I had young wizards riding those unicorns as mounts within minutes of seeing one for the first time, when that never happens and they usually prefer witches anyway."
The issue got discussed at length, but in the end remained a mystery.
I O I O I
Author's Notes:
Yes, they are starting to discover those changes wrought by Professor Malfoy on the student body, and as you see they aren't altogether happy with them. Of course, the biggest part of that is not knowing where they came from.
