The Expertise of a Hat, or
Where I Go Every Day
Chapter 12
Professor McGonagall left the banquet a bit early and went up to her office. No longer Dumbledore's office, no longer even looking like Dumbledore's idiosyncratic space but entirely her own brand of wild Scottish severity, but it was still difficult to believe it as her own office. The Sorting Hat had been brought back up, and she sat down and clapped it on her head.
Little Minerva McGonagall…
"What did I tell you earlier?" she snapped.
Well, now, little Minerva—
"Oh, stop it! I told you, no more shunting Death Eater relatives or otherwise 'bad' students into Slytherin! The little Malfoy girl was supposed to be in Ravenclaw!"
Bonnefoy.
"What?"
Her name is Bonnefoy. It appears that little Minerva McGonagall still hasn't learned that she can't control everything.
"What are you talking about?"
I tried, little Minerva. I offered them all—Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw. She didn't want them. Chose Slytherin, she did, just like you chose Gryffindor. Sometimes the choice is more important than the natural talents. Not always, but sometimes.
After a moment of silence, Professor McGonagall said, "Did Albus know?"
The Hat said snidely, That's not for me to tell.
"He believed she had a task to perform here. Like Harry. Only not so grand."
Or traumatic?
"I imagine living in Slytherin will be quite traumatic enough for any normal child," she said acerbically.
The Hat snickered. Depends on your definition of normal, dunnit?
"Alright, enough out of you. I need the list of mentoring pairs."
She was still writing down the last ones, wearing the Sorting Hat, when the three other Heads of House, the eight Prefects, and the Deputy Headmistress arrived. Calmly she removed the Hat before their curious eyes and replaced it with her own. It looked to be a little crowded, but there was a genius about the Headmaster's office that no matter how many people it held, there were always enough places to sit.
"I have asked you to meet with me so we can go over a few of the new guidelines. I want to especially address the issue of Slytherin. It is time for a complete change in that House, and it looks like we now have the perfect opportunity. The Death Eater sympathisers are all gone, and the students who are left are young enough to be trained out of any bad habits and attitudes. We have a new Head and new Prefects," she nodded at them, "all of whom have shown the goodness and strength Slytherins are capable of. I will not deceive you into believing that it is going to be easy. You have years of history to oppose, as well as the current perceptions. People are afraid of Slytherin. Miss Greengrass, Mr. Pritchard, you must lead your House in proving the perceptions to be false. Professor Sinistra, I chose you as Head of Slytherin because you are known as a Slytherin who is wise, self-controlled, and gentle, each of which is a great strength that can be drawn out of your House.
"Now, I wish to address the one issue that I know you are all thinking of. Miss Lucia Bonnefoy."
They all stirred a little and nodded, relieved she'd brought the subject up.
"The rumours you have probably heard are true. She is Lucius Malfoy's daughter, Draco's sister."
They all stirred again, and whispered. Graham Pritchard, the male Slytherin prefect, went a little pale. He had suffered under Draco's rule in Slytherin. Only Astoria Greengrass kept looking at her, unblinking.
"Her mother is a Muggle, and she has been raised as a Muggle. She has never met her father or her brother, and Professor Dumbledore believed her character to be quite different to theirs. He helped her mother protect her from her father's attention—it is quite possible that Lucius has forgotten she ever existed. He would not want to acknowledge a half-Muggle child. This has been to her benefit. She has had a private tutor, so she is not entirely ignorant, but she will be behind most of the others in the Fourth Year.
"I am telling you this so that you will not treat her like a Malfoy. You needn't coddle her, but you also must not accept any prejudice from your students. She is to be treated in every way like any other student. There will be no more petty and dangerous rivalries such as developed between Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. I expect my students to control themselves. For a year or two, we must run a tight ship, as the Muggles say. I expect you all to contribute. Understood?"
Nods all around, and she unbent a little and smiled at them.
"Good. Now, here are the lists of mentoring pairs. Pomona, we are one student off, so the sorting hat suggested you ask your one Seventh-Year student to mentor my remaining Third Year…."