First of all, my apologies for not updating as much as I promised in the beginning of the summer. I did not take into account that my summer holidays would become very busy at their best and absolutely hectic at their worst. My beta, SoraKairiRikuNamine, has the same problem, so even though this chapter was ready almost two weeks ago, it wasn't fit for publication yet.

Secondly, I had a hard time writing this chapter. What you are reading is the sixth or seventh revision and it still is only passable in my opinion. I really want to get on with the important stuff like the Yule ball, eviscerating Dumbledore and dreary goodness, but to do so I need to flesh things out.

Which brings me to my final problem. I could not decide how to pair up the side couples. I tried, I really did, but it was impossible. So I opened a poll on my profile page, where you can choose your favorites. Please take that precious minute of my time to go to my profile and vote, I simply can't go further without establishing the pairings. I wrote down the twelve pairings I could find myself writing, but feel free to offer suggestions. I will let the poll continue until I have enough data (50 voters) to write. It's a blind poll, so you won't be able to see the results until I publish them in my next chapter.

Happy reading! Leave a review and a vote on your way out!

Chapter 20: Decisions made

"Hey 'Mione. Fleur decided that it would be in our best interest if we focused on dancing for the next month as she and I are the only ones who can dance well enough not to embarrass themselves thanks to private lessons,"

Harry cautiously didn't point out Hermione's lateness or her red cheeks as he informed his friend of the activity of the evening. She wasn't the only one to arrive past the usual time. Fleur had arrived only five minutes earlier, just after Cedric. Viktor trudged in after Hermione, shoulders scrunched higher than usual in agitation.

Earlier that day during Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall had announced the Yule ball and the need for partners for the champions. Of course Severus had mentioned this already and Harry had shared the news almost as quickly as he had gotten it.

Fleur had finally managed to bully the boys into agreeing with dance lessons. Her argument that bad dancing skills would put off their partner had withstood all counters and came out victorious. When Ron tried to bring up the compulsory dance class later that month, Fleur asked if he wished to make a fool of himself in front of his classmates. That shut him up quickly and ended the discussion.

Pairing up, both for the lessons and the ball itself, was proving to be difficult though. Fleur refused to go with any boy outside their group, since her Veela charm made most boys drooling sacks of hormones and she preferred her males taller.

Viktor, Cedric and even Harry were plagued with fan girls, who were attracted by their fame and looks. The fact that Harry was being Courted didn't deter them in the least and he was getting impatient for Draco's proposal. Only a day had passed and already they were getting beyond frustrated with the lack of privacy.

Cedric had considered going with a year mate, but ever since the Tournament he felt closer to his new group of friends, instead of his old circle. They had often pressured him beyond his boundaries.

Ever since she'd arrived, Luna had been staring at the ceiling, her usual blank smile present as ever. However Harry believed he'd seen a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. She had undoubtedly Seen how they would pair up by now and going by her hidden amusement, it would be quite shocking. Whether it would be shocking for them or only for the rest of the school remained to be seen.

Ron noticed the shine around Hermione's neck when she stepped further into the room and was very vocal in demanding an explanation behind it. Not out of jealously, which would have had Hermione up in arms, but out of protective friendship. Hermione willingly allowed her friends a good look at the beautiful necklace, but her mouth remained shut about the person who gave it and their reasons for doing so.

The pendant on the end of the silver chain had the form of an iris made from amethyst. It fit her so perfectly, Harry wouldn't be surprised to hear Hermione announce her Courting at the Yule ball.

Hermione's continual refusal to give up the name of the giver or the reason behind it held strong and thus attention turned back to dancing. Fleur and Harry knew all the expected dances by heart thanks to intense private dance lessons and Viktor, Cedric and Neville were somewhat competent, because of their positions as heirs, though Viktor tended to stumble a lot.

Fleur paired up with Ron, who had the most difficulty. Viktor and Harry also paired up to balance Viktor's left feet with Harry's knowledge of the female part and Luna stole Cedric. That left Hermione and Neville.

Music was provided thanks to Dobby who had gotten an old-fashioned gramophone and vinyl records from somewhere. He refused to give up his sources, saying that some things should better remain a secret, Master Harry Potter, sir.

The evening passed with lots of laughter, since mishaps where basically inevitable, what with Ron's clumsiness and Viktor's two left feet. They changed partners every second dance so feet would be spared. Seeing the lack of girls, all boys offered themselves up to dance the female part, although Harry protested that he liked dancing the female part. They did so more or less under pressure when Fleur insisted on dancing with someone less prone to accidents and stole Luna away from Cedric.

Seeing Viktor and Ron stumble through the room was a sight Harry would treasure forever and Hermione and Fleur made an unexpectedly stunning pair as they glided over the floor. Neville was the true surprise of the evening. He displayed an astonishing amount of grace and had a very good feel of the rhythm, making him the ultimate dance partner, despite his height. He even made Viktor look graceful as they partnered up for the Waltz.

Progress was made despite the great deal of mishaps and falls. After two hours Fleur declared that none of them would shame themselves in the dance class next week and if they continued to practice three times a week, they would certainly steal the show at the Yule ball, as should be.

Bathsheda Babbling stretched her back as she reached the middle of her stack of tests. While entirely necessary to check the progress of her fourth years, they meant a lot of boring and repetitive correction and she despised having to teach the tedious basics to a group that would more than half after the OWL's.

In a way the tests with lots of mistakes were more fun as they gave her some diversion with oftentimes ludicrous answers. Therefore she sighed as she reached for Harry Potter's test and debated whether anyone would notice if she just gave him an O.

Despite entering her class a year late, he had surpassed her top student, his friend Miss Granger, immediately and never scored anything but an O. She would lover to see his full potential, because she knew he held back in class, but had forgone putting pressure on him with the whole tournament mess.

In the end, she decided to buckle up and read through his answers. As expected an O was swiftly added on top of the first page and she turned the bundle around to lay it on the stack of corrected test. As she did so she noticed writing on the back and, interest piqued, started to examine it.

Within minutes, Bathseda's jaw nearly touched the floor. Apparently Mr. Potter had made good use of his leftover time, because he had sketched a fully working pentagram! His calculations on the side proved as much and that shouldn't be possible, because she knew some of the 6th years still struggled with making a good pentagram.

She wondered how long it had taken him to make and whether any of the present inspectors would be willing to test Mr. Potter for his Ancient Runes OWL. If he was as good as this sketch indicated, he should be studying with the seventh years!

Madame Marchbanks opened the end-of-the-week discussion, as was her right as head of the WEA. "Good evening everyone. I suggest we start with the certain fails to get them out of the way. I was of course observing Divination for the Fourth years, but who else has been watching that fraud?"

Ellsworth, Baldwin, Pope, Rigby, Foster and Darwin had all come to the same conclusion as Madame Marchbanks. Trelawney had to go and Divination would be eliminated from the curriculum. Gifted students would be given a letter of recommendation for a true Seer, so they could learn to use their gift properly. Tests to determine the Gift of Sight would be held after the winter holidays for all students.

The ones observing Care for Magical Creatures had also questioned the students about the teacher Professor Grubbly-Plank was replacing. The verdict was disastrous for Dumbledore. He had hired the groundskeeper, who had been banned from using a wand at 12, had no concept of danger and had no qualifications whatsoever!

They had to admit that some lessons, according to the students, had been perfect, like unicorns for the second years and thestrals for the seventh years, but the Blast-Ended Skrewts were most certainly illegal and dangerous.

It was quickly decided that Professor Grubbly-Plank could stay on and the course would replace Astronomy as part of the core classes with more emphasis on creatures students could encounter in daily life and a joint venture with DADA at the appropriate time.

Muggle Studies was another problem class. The class material was horribly out of date and the professor was a half-blood raised in Magical Britain. Not many students attended the class as newbloods and many half-bloods had no use for it and purebloods had no interest. Most of the inspectors felt the change that was coming and interpreted it as a deeper separation between Muggle and Magical. For now, they would advise to seek a new teacher and revise the curriculum, but the class would most likely go extinct on it own.

All assembled were in favour of exorcizing Binns, as he had been a teacher in their days and not a single person amongst these elderly witches and wizards had had him as a living teacher. In all those years his lectures hadn't changed a word, nor had the tendency of the students to nap diminished.

Problem cases over, the rest of the courses passed by very swiftly. There was a positive remark on Snape's improved teaching methods and Astronomy, which would be taken out of the core classes, but on the whole nothing extreme had to be discussed.

Allegria Butler had been approached by Flitwick, whom she knew from the duelling circuit back in the day, to reinstate a duelling class. Professor Tofty was all for it and proposed to make it a part of the extracurricular activities, like quidditch or perhaps reinstate the former elective.

Otis Pickering expressed his bafflement over Dumbledore's decision to remove the class from the curriculum when he took his post as headmaster back in 1965 and others chimed in.

The focus turned to other removed classes like spell crafting, alchemy, healing, elemental magic and more. Naturally most of such classes would need an entrance test. To wield elemental magic for example you needed to have a natural affinity and to learn spell crafting an OWL in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy was essential.

Talking of finding teachers for these electives brought them to the workload of the current teachers. Teaching seven years was not easy and when coupled with extra duties, it became near impossible to do anything proper. Further more Masters of their chosen field were often not very good at explaining the basics to beginning students.

Bernice Miller, an excellent accountant with M* on her Arithmancy NEWT, confirmed that Hogwarts had plenty of budget left each year, which went to the members of the board in various forms. That money would be enough to take on two extra teachers for every subject, including the newly added electives, and still have half of it left at the end of the year. The Carte blanch given by the Wizengamot would ensure that the members of the board wouldn't be able to complain about it.

The core subjects would need a teacher for the first till third years and the fourth and fifth years. Electives would have an OWL teacher and a NEWT teacher. No masters would be needed for those years as apprentices knew enough to teach those classes and would get necessary training from it.

Professor McGonagall would need to relinquish either her Head of House position or her Deputy position, since both gave her too much of a workload. Freeing Professor Snape from his first to fifth year classes would give him more time for experimentation, thus giving Hogwarts more esteem on the international field.

All possible topic exhausted, the members of the WEA were about to leave the comfortable sitting room for dinner, when a soft and brittle voice spoke up. "What about Albus Dumbledore? During his tenure he has done more damage to the education of our children than all previous headmasters combined."

The voice came from a small, elderly witch sitting on the corner. She looked rather like a sweet old grandma, with her Victorian clothes and her fluffy white hair. Rarely did she examine any students since she preferred to advice Madame Marchbanks on leading the WEA.

But make no mistake; this sweet-looking elderly witch was not to be taken lightly, despite her 247 years. Madame Theodosia Bourke was still a formidable witch. She had defied the expectations of Society more than once, first by marrying a Lord of lower standing, who worked in the Ministry and then by creating the WEA in her husband's department in 1783.

She had outlived her husband for over a century by now, taking pleasure in guiding new generations to a brighter future. Her advice was well valued by every member of the WEA and past generations of students remembered her with equal measures of fondness and fear.

Therefore Dumbledore's misdemeanour and mismanagement could not be ignored or waved away on account of his victory of Grindelwald. He was stretched between his many posts and so was unable to do any of them well. The WEA could not make him give up his political positions, but they could pressure him into giving up his title of headmaster. The past discussion had proven that Dumbledore was unsuitable; he didn't focus on what was best for his students, nor was he able to manage Hogwarts correctly.

However Madame Marchbanks refused to dismiss Dumbledore without having a proper replacement ready. Lord Slytherin would be ideal, but they feared the same problem: being pulled in several directions thanks to many responsibilities.

Lord Malfoy was also up for consideration, despite the lack of the trust the WEA had in him, because of his past exploits. Lord Black suffered the same fate of Lord Slytherin and none of the other lords would take the job seriously.

They needed a person who would be acceptable for the Board, had experience with managing and held the best interests of the students. The person also had to be strong enough to withstand the Ministry and needed to command certain respect from teachers and students alike.

An hour passed, but no fitting names came up. Suddenly Professor Tofty perked up, a wide smile gracing his aged features. "We have been thinking in the wrong direction. No wizards are deemed acceptable to become headmaster of Hogwarts. I think it is past time that Hogwarts finally had a headmistress. Lady Malfoy for example fits all the necessary points."

* I invented a new grade for the OWLs and the NEWTs: M which stands for Merlin and is the highest grade possible. It means a perfect exam with extra credit. I know many authors go with OOO or something like that, but it came to me as I was readying this chapter for publication. It also is an automatic qualifier for a mastery on OWL and NEWT level and leaves masters scrambling to apprentice the student in question.