Chapter fourteen

Amelia informed Susan, Harry and Sirius that she would be busy over the next few days so Sirius was going to take the teens shopping. The first stop was to get the rings out of the vault, the Potter ring and the Bone's ring.

They went to the Bones vault first, Susan gathered some money the looked around until she found the ring box, which was just inside the door. She picked up the box then stepped back out to join Harry.

'It is for your safety, Susan, put it on,' Sirius said.

Susan nodded then slowly opened the box, 'My dad wore this last.'

'I know love, now it will keep you safe,' Harry very gently removed the ring from the box the held out his hand, Susan placed her right hand in his, 'Your parent's would want you safe,' He slipped the ring onto her finger.

'They would, just like yours, so let's go make sure you've got some protection.'

After another ride in the carts Harry stepped into his vault, he saw a lot of small boxes that could hold jewellery, Sirius pointed out which one.

Harry gathered some money then joined his girlfriend and Sirius in the cart. This time Susan took the ring then held out her hand to Harry. He smiled then placed his hand in hers, she slipped the ring onto his finger.

'A phoenix with crossed wands, that's the Potter coat of arms.'

'Yes, your dad never told me why it had a phoenix.'

'Its nice.'

'It is, now we're protected, at least from some spells and poisons. Let's go do some Christmas shopping,' Susan said.

'Yeah, let's spend a lot of money.'

Harry, Susan and Sirius spent all day shopping, and they did spend an enormous amount of money.

Over the next few days they only saw Amelia at breakfast, and all she could say was the search so far had not found anything apart from a few girly magazines and a few love potions. So far nothing too serious or dangerous.

Christmas morning was the first time that Amelia spent the entire day with her niece and Harry. Sirius and Remus joined them for the day. Harry got to speak with Remus about everything he was thinking and feeling when he thought Remus had abandoned him. Even though that was a serious discussion, the people in Bones manor had a wonderful Christmas. Harry had been surprised that he received a gift from Hermione, it was a book, which is what he usually got from his first female friend. But this time it was more on the history of Harry's family. Even though it would be late, Harry thought he would send something to Hermione, he would do that in a couple of days. Susan and Harry thought Hermione might finally be thinking about the actions of people instead of just trusting them because they happen to have a reputation.

Harry and Susan were allowed to go shopping alone. They found some books that Hermione might like but they also decided to get her a necklace, something really girly.

A few days day before Harry and Susan were due to return to Hogwarts, Amelia explained they were having some guest that evening. But there would also be an unexpected announcement that would involve Hogwarts.

Harry and Susan looked up when Amelia, Sirius, Neville and lady Longbottom stepped into the room.

'Neville,' Harry grinned then got up to hug his friend, he turned to Neville's grandmother, took her hand giving her a bow, 'Lady Longbottom, it's a pleasure to meet you.'

'The pleasure is all mine Mr Potter. I wish to thank you for your friendship to my grandson, it seems since you became friends he has finally started to show that he is a powerful magical child.'

Harry glanced at Neville who shrugged, 'Neville just needed a bit of confidence, but he found it hard in Gryffindor when most thought he was hopeless. I got to see what Neville was really like, but I also saw that he was a good person, who has turned out to be a very loyal friend.'

'Yes, Neville explained that he never felt comfortable with anyone in Gryffindor house, apart from you. I was surprised to hear he had a girlfriend. I would normally wish to be the one to introduce my grandson to some suitable girls, the one he chose comes from a very good family. It seems Neville has a good head on his shoulder.'

'He does ma'am.'

'How about everyone sit,' Amelia smiled then watched as Harry, Susan and Neville sat together, the two boys on either side of her niece.

'Do you know what this information is that we're going to hear?' Neville whispered.

'No,' Harry and Susan whispered back.

'Now, most people believed that Minerva McGonagall would get the job as Headmistress, some believed she was the best person for the job. There were some like me who thought she was not right due to her belief and support of Albus Dumbledore. I spoke with many people about a person who I believed would serve the school, who would care about the students and who would bring Hogwarts back to the premier magic school in the world. The last fifty years has seen a big decline in Hogwarts, not just with the bad choices Albus made in his staff. When Albus took over as Headmaster he removed some classes from the curriculum, classes that some of us believe are necessary.

'If you do not know what type of wards protect Hogwarts and it's students then let me tell you that Albus also removed many of those. The basilisk you mentioned Harry, if the wards hadn't been cancelled, then the moment it woke up the wards would have alerted the staff. After a few meetings, we decided on a wise and powerful person who would do wonders for the school. Apart from reinstating those old classes, new ones would be implemented as well. A lot of these decision on classes and wards came down to you Harry, which I will explain later,' Amelia looked at one of her guests.

'I have been named Headmistress of Hogwarts and my first order of business will be to sack Severus Snape, and the ghosts who teaches history of magic. I am also going to reactivate the wards.'

Harry, Susan and Neville sat with their mouths hanging opened. Sirius burst out laughing, Amelia and Augusta smiled.

'Are you three still with us?' Amelia asked but she sounded amused.

'Um, gran, you're really going to be Headmistress?'

'I am Neville, I might not get to teach again but I believe I have a lot to offer the students of Hogwarts.'

'Wow,' Harry said, 'Um, sorry, but I think this is brilliant.'

'Yes, it is,' Amelia said, 'Now to what I said Harry, you mentioned how overwhelmed you were when you began at Hogwarts. Over the years many people have asked for an introduction class for all students raised in the muggle world. Well, we have gone further, we are going to be bringing children from the age of ten to Hogwarts for a five day stay. This will happen during the summer holidays. They will get to see the castle, they will see what their classes will be like, they will be given tours of the grounds and the animals they will see and study as a student. When they leave they will be given books that will help them adapt easier to the sudden change of environments. They will be able to send queries to Professor Longbottom at any time, as I'm sure some parent's will want more information. Now those students will be having an extra class which will last all year. They will learn all about our laws and customs, they will be given lessons on how to use a quill. At the same time the pureblood children or children raised fully in the magical world will be having new and updated classes about the muggle world. This class will be taught by a muggleborn and not a pureblood that knows hardly anything about the muggle world. Many aurors I worked with made mistakes when they interacted with muggles. Some mistakes were so obvious that they had to call in obliviators, something we do not like to do if we can avoid it. Also, the new first years will come two days before the rest of the students. They will still travel on the Hogwarts express and have their trip in the boats, if it is not raining. They will be sorted when they arrived. They will have these two days to get settled before the rest of the students arrive.'

Harry, Susan and Neville were all going on about how great it sounded. Harry thought if only it was like that when he started.

'One more thing I am implementing or re-implementing. When the founders began the school they also used the school to protect all magicals from the muggles who feared us. Back then, if a magical was found by muggles they were burnt to death.'

'Like the witch trials,' Harry murmured.

'Exactly Mr Potter, the founders offered every magical person sanctuary inside the castle. One more thing the founders did was take in any orphaned magical child and raise the child themselves, if there was no one close to family that could take them. They could only take them if they were magical.'

'So Harry could have been kept from a baby and not abused by those muggles, if that was still around today,' Susan said as she squeezed Harry's hand.

'Yes, Harry is not the first magical child hurt by their muggle relatives. It has happened throughout history, though it is rare for it to happen now a days. Now if a child is orphaned and does not have a magical relative, or godparent to take them then the child will be placed in Hogwarts care. The staff will help care for the children but the house elves will be their main carers. Now a lot of people may say a house elf is not the best person to raise a child, but like so many things that changed over the years, the nanny house elf disappeared. We are organising for mature house elves to be given courses in child care so they will be ready if they needed to take care of an orphan. There might not be any orphans right now, but there are children who are muggleborns and their parent's just can't seem to accept them. So these house elves will be caring for them during the holidays. There will be many changes at Hogwarts, some are new and some are ones that were changed or cancelled when Albus Dumbledore became headmaster. It may be a bit disruptive to begin with, but I'm sure the students will see how beneficial these changes will be, don't you agree?'

Harry, Susan and Neville looked at each other, nodded then turned to face Lady Augusta Longbottom.

'Yes Professor Longbottom,' they said together making Sirius laugh, Amelia chuckled and Augusta couldn't help but smile. It seemed three students, all different in their own ways have already told her she was doing the right thing for Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.