Chapter 28: Apprentices
All too soon, it was the last week of August and two days after the weddings of Hermione Jane Weasley and Ron Bilius Weasley and Harry James Potter and Ginevra Molly Potter. The dual wedding took place in the Great Hall of Hogwarts and was officiated by Minister Bones herself. Originally, Albus was going to officiate, but Harry and Ginny asked that he and Minerva sit with Remus and Tonks as family. After the ceremony, Harry took his wife and his best friends to the Black Family retreat in Bermuda for their honeymoon. It was only a few days, but Harry decided that next summer, they were all going to enjoy the beach house in Malibu, California.
As the last week of August arrived, the staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry and those people who would soon become Hogwarts Apprentices arrived to. The apprentices would be arriving via portkey, floo, and apparation. Their new home would be the freshly remodeled apprentice's tower. As the owner of Hogwarts, Harry decided to host a dinner party for everyone tonight in one of the private dining rooms.
Harry and Ginny wee sitting at their desks going over a number of report and budgets. Harry had made Ginny an integral part of his daily life, including all important decisions regarding Hogwarts, the Potter and Blacks investments, and his investments in Gringotts. As the piles of paperwork were shifted around, Dobby appeared in the office.
"Begging your pardon Harry Potter and Ginny Potter, Grandpa Albus wished to ask you of you would like to have lunch with him and Grandmum Minnie."
Harry glanced over at his wife, then up at the clock and saw it was indeed lunch time.
"Please tell Grandpa and Grandmum Dumbledore that we'd be delighted to have lunch with them."
With one last bow, Dobby disappeared. Harry stood up and stretched out his muscles while he moved towards the window that showed the main courtyard of the castle. Downstairs were the newlyweds, Ron & Hermione Weasley, with a picnic basket heading towards the Black Lake.
'I am really glad they finally found each other. They really are happy together.' "Come on sweetheart, let's do lunch."
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After a very enjoyable lunch, then a very enjoyable time locked in their suite, Harry and Ginny made their way down to the entrance to officially welcome all the staff and apprentices. The former board of governors would meet the new staff every year on the first day back. The Potters decided to continue with that tradition and changed into their black formal Hogwarts robes and headed for the entrance hall with Apollo and Hedwig riding on their shoulders. When they arrived, they spotted the Dumbledores milling about waiting for them.
"Ah Harry, Ginny, I'm glad that you are here. I did some research and historically the Lords and Ladies of Hogwarts always greeted the staff. As you know, the board of governors did this for years; now would you like to reestablish this tradition?"
Harry smiled at his wife then his grandfather, "Albus, we are not dressed in dress robes for nothing…Yes, we will be holding true to traditions. Now, will you two make your marriage public knowledge, or should we keep it a secret?"
At this moment Minerva spoke up, "We'll tell everyone during dinner tonight. Shall we, Lord and Lady Gryffindor?"
Albus stood tall and proud and in a loud voice spoke, "I Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Head of the House of Dumbledore, present myself to the High Lord and Lady of Hogwarts to fill the role of Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry." Albus then handed Harry a folder filled with information. Harry looked it over then handed to his wife who read it over as will.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, I accept your credentials and confer upon you the title and position of Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry with all rights and privileges entailed."
Harry shook Albus' hand and a binding light emitted from them. Harry then turned towards Minerva. Minerva in her, deep Scottish accent spoke.
"I Minerva McGonagall Dumbledore, Head of Clan McGonagall, present myself present myself to the High Lord and Lady of Hogwarts to fill the roles of Transfiguration Professor, Head of Gryffindor House, and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry."
As like with Albus, Harry examined her credentials and then passed them over Ginny then spoke.
"Minerva McGonagall Dumbledore, I accept your credentials and confer upon you the titles and positions of Transfiguration Professor, Head of Gryffindor House, and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry with all rights and privileges entailed."
Then he shook her hand, and bowed slightly, the binding light was emitted once again. Harry then smiled.
"Good now that this is out of the way, let's continue with the staff. Albus I assume everyone knows what to expect?" With a simple nod to Harry, Albus took his place next to Harry and Ginny while Minerva stepped outside the entrance hall and shut the door. Two minutes later, there was a loud knocking on the door, Harry smirked and then asked Hogwarts to open the doors.
As per tradition, each member of staff, no matter if they were living in the castle beforehand, had to exit the castle and then request to be admitted to castle as a member of the current staff. As part of this ceremony, the staff member would present their contract and credentials to the Headmaster and Lord of Hogwarts for either rejection or acceptance. The procession would begin with the Heads of Houses, then the other professors with Hagrid last followed by Madam Hooch, Madam Pomfrey and her two assistants, then Madam Prince and Argus Filch. After them would be the apprentices in alphabetical order.
The first person to enter the castle was the part goblin Filius Flitwick. Filius smiled at the three people in front of him and then spoke in his squeaky voice.
"I Filius Isaac Flitwick, Head of House Flitwick and member of the Goblin Clan Gringott, present myself to both the Headmaster and High Lord of Hogwarts to fill the roles of Charms Professor and Head of Ravenclaw House."
As like with Albus and Minerva, Harry examined his credentials and then passed them over Ginny then spoke.
"Filius Isaac Flitwick, I accept your credentials and confer upon you the titles and positions of Charms Professor and Head of Ravenclaw House with all rights and privileges entailed." Then he shook his hand, and bowed slightly, the binding light was emitted once again. The professor beamed and was escorted up the stairs by Dobby and towards the private dining room. The next person to enter was the Herbology Professor Pomona Sprout.
"I, Pomona Elizabeth Sprout, present myself to both the Headmaster and High Lord of Hogwarts to fill the roles of Herbology Professor and Head of Hufflepuff House."
Harry examined her credentials and then passed them over Ginny then spoke.
"Pomona Elizabeth Sprout, I accept your credentials and confer upon you the titles and positions of Herbology Professor and Head of Hufflepuff House with all rights and privileges entailed."
Then he shook her hand, and bowed slightly, the binding light was emitted once again. The professor was then once again escorted up the stairs by Dobby and towards the private dining room.
The last head of house entered next, none other then the hooked nosed, Severus Snape. "I Severus Oswald Snape, Head of House Snape, and member of the Order of the Phoenix, present myself to both the Headmaster and High Lord of Hogwarts to fill the roles of Potions Master, Professor of Potions, and Head of Slytherin House." Harry didn't even bother to look over his credentials, he just passed them straight over to then spoke, "Severus, we have had a very good relationship this summer. I wish to continue what we began, but understand this, because I will only say this one time, and one time only, if I find out that you have abused your position here in ANY way, then you'll wish for Tom Riddle's Cruciatus Curse. Do we understand each other?"
Severus looked directly into Harry's eyes and lowered his Occlumency shields to allow Harry to see his thoughts, "Perfectly clear, Lord Gryffindor."
"Excellent. By the way, I suggest you check out your Occlumency shielding, it seems to have degraded." Harry then took on his formal look once again.
"Severus Oswald Snape, I accept your credentials and confer upon you the titles and positions of Potions Master, Professor of Potions, and Head of Slytherin House with all rights and privileges entailed." Then he shook his hand, and bowed slightly, the binding light was emitted once again. The professor was escorted up the stairs by Dobby and towards the private dining room.
This continued all the thru the staff until it came time for the apprentices. The first of the apprentices was Hanna Abbot. In a very business like tone Hanna presented herself.
"I, Hanna Anne Abbot, present myself to both the Headmaster and High Lord of Hogwarts as an apprentice in the field of Magical Healing for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Harry examined her credentials and then passed them over Ginny then spoke.
"Hanna Anne Abbot, I accept your credentials and confer upon you the titles and positions of Apprentice in the field of Magical Healing for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and that of Assistant Professor with all rights and privileges entailed."
Then he shook her hand, and bowed slightly, the binding light was emitted once again. The apprentice was then once again escorted up the stairs by Dobby and towards the private dining room.
The next apprentice was Susan Bones.
"I, Susan Amelia Bones, present myself to both the Headmaster and High Lord of Hogwarts as an apprentice in the field of Astronomy for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Harry examined her credentials and then passed them over Ginny then spoke, "Susan Amelia Bones, I accept your credentials and confer upon you the titles and positions of Apprentice in the field of Astronomy for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and that of Assistant Professor with all rights and privileges entailed."
Then he shook her hand, and bowed slightly, the binding light was emitted once again. The apprentice was then once again escorted up the stairs by Dobby and towards the private dining room.
This continued all the way through all the apprentices including the newest Mrs. Weasley, Hermione Weasley, who hugged Ginny and Harry, Neville who wore his family sword with him, and Ron who also carried a sword. Upon closer inspection, Harry noticed that the sword looked like Excalibur, the sword of King Arthur.
With a simple smile, Harry knew Ron would explain later. With all the staff now in place, Harry, Ginny, Albus and Minerva headed off towards the dining room. Fawkes, Apollo, and Hedwig were flying along behind them.
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The formal dining room was packed with people milling about making small talk. When Harry entered the room, everyone's attention was focused on him. He motioned for everyone to sit. Harry sat at the head of the table with Ginny on his right. On his left sat Albus and then Minerva. As dinner was served, conversation started back up. Harry was just finishing his treacle tart when Blaise Zabini stood up from his seat, "I would like to propose a toast."
Everyone raised their goblets high into the air, "To a Hogwarts!!"
A number of murmurs in agreement were heard. Albus rose from Harry's left and spoke to the group, "Thank you Mr. Zabini, now since we are all filled to the brim, why don't we adjourn to the sitting room next door and begin our meeting."
Everyone rose from the table and headed into the rather large sitting room decorated in colors from all the houses. At one end was a wall that had what looked like a large piece of parchment attached to it. The entire room was lit with hundreds of candles and lanterns. After everyone was seated, Albus rose from his seat and proceeded to the front of the room where the wall size parchment was hung.
"Good evening everyone and welcome back to another here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. This year will prove to be an interesting year in many different ways. First off we have the return of the Hogwarts Apprenticeship Program. When these apprentices have finished their time with us, they will have earned a mastery in their appropriate field as well as possibly many other fields.
Also this year we have a number of new classes and professors as well as capital improvements. This is all due to the coming of age of the High Lord & Lady of Hogwarts, Harry and Ginevra Potter. At this time, I would like to turn this meeting over to Lord Gryffindor, Harry Potter." With a large round of applause, Albus sat down and Harry stood up and took Albus' place.
"Thank you Albus. Well hello everyone, well we have a lot to cover tonight so lets begin shall we? First and foremost this is an institution of learning, not just for our students, but for our staff as well.
"Because of this, there are some new general rules and regulations that we will follow; the first will be your appearance. While on duty and in public locations all staff will present a professional appearance. This means no running around starkers, or other wise embarrassing this school.
"Secondly, we are all on the same team now. There is to be no favoring of any house over another. I do not care of you are a head of house or not. House rivalries are fine, but hating another student just because they are from a different house, this is not allowed. Also, ALLpunishments, such as house points, detentions, etc will be reviewed by the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress weekly. If they find that any staff member has abused their privilege, then they will be severely reprimanded.
"I feel that this is a good time to inform everyone that the day-to-day operations of the school will fall upon Albus Dumbledore as the Headmaster with Minerva McGonagall continuing as the Deputy Headmistress. As the High Lord and Lady of Hogwarts, my wife and I will oversee the duties that the Board of Governors was supposed to handle as well as the Apprenticeship program. While Ginny & I are not technically professors, we are to be treated as such.
"Ok some of the more interesting things…Ah yes, Everyone, I would like you too meet my Chief Steward, Dobby Potter and his mate Winky Potter, who will serve as the director of hospitality." Harry motioned for both Dobby and Winky to stand and join him in front of everyone.
"Yes they are house elves, but they are free and are members of my family. You are to treat them as you treat another person who works in the castle. Also, I want to bring up something that really bugs me, the way we treat magical creatures.
"As you know, Remus Lupin has returned to take up the position of Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. When he last served here, he met with mistrust and extreme prejudice; now Remus has been cured of Lycanthropy thanks to three phoenixes but I was horrified at how he treated. The following year, I learned many things about how we as wizards treat others. So because of this, general rule number one is this: If I catch any of my staff abusing ANY magical creature, you will be arrested, taken to trial, and fired!! Does everyone understand me? We have over 349 house elves who work in this castle, they love to serve, but just be courteous and respectful.
"Ok, what else…ah yes…Charlie Weasley, who is an ICW certified Dragon Handler, will be bringing five different dragons onto the grounds. They will be a permanent fixture here for both Care of Magical Creatures and the Defense of the castle. Also, all of the animals that can be ridden safely are available to you as long as you coordinate that with Hagrid as well as the use of any of the boats.
"Hogsmeade is open to you during your off hours as long as you follow these rules: 1.) You inform my chief steward, Dobby Potter, that you are leaving. 2.) You carry with you one of our new staff Portkeys. They will return to the hospital wing if activated. 3.) You are not permitted to return to school intoxicated. If you return intoxicated, the Goblins have been instructed to detain you until you are sober. Also you will be docked one week's pay for each offense. Finally Albus will have your duty rosters ready in a few days for your patrol schedule including Hogsmeade weekends. Tomorrow after breakfast, I would like everyone to meet up with their appropriate apprentice and professor, the first official meeting for the apprentices will be on the 29 of August in my office. With that, thank you and good night."