Chapter 92 – Continuing Education
Once all the issues had been identified and all the constituencies heard from, it was decided that Mrs. Longbottom would teach three different programs.
The original plan for an intensive two-week program was still in place, but it would be augmented by a four-week program of evening classes. The two-week program was largely given over to Harry's personal international invitees, as well as a small group of private citizens and Ministry workers who could be spared for the two weeks. Albus Dumbledore wanted to attend, as did Severus Snape, and Sirius Black, as well as Arthur and Molly Weasley, and Kingsley Shackelbolt. In the end, this made the two-week program more private and separate from the more public offerings, which worked out well in light of the Ministry's decision that it could not support Harry's decision to include witches and wizards from other countries in the programs.
Because the Ministry complained that it could not possibly spare its entire Auror corps for two solid weeks, Mrs. Longbottom agreed to teach a separate four-week program of classes in the evenings, so that those with daytime responsibilities could tend to them while still participating in the program by flooing in at night. Most of the Aurors, the Hogwarts students who were accepted into the program, interested Hogwarts faculty and an assortment of private citizens made up the students in that program.
And, of course, as she'd promised, Mrs. Longbottom would also present monthly public sessions for the general public, to augment the articles that she was writing with Hermione Granger in the Daily Prophet.
Wizard space being what it is, and with the Hogwarts house elves being so adept at adjusting the spaces in the castle to meet frequently-changing needs, it was not difficult to arrange the space needed for this massive educational outreach effort. The biggest challenge was replicating the Great Hall, on a smaller scale, to serve as the venue for the educational programs, but the house elves managed it with little problem. A new set of doors appeared next to the centuries-old doors into the Great Hall, leading to a large open room that was outfitted with seats and tables for the students. The wing of bedrooms that had been created two years ago to house the Beaubaton delegates to the Triwizard Tournament was never actually dismantled, so it was just freshened up to house those who were going to be staying at Hogwarts during the programs.
Once all the decisions were made and logistics worked out, arrangements were made in Harry's name for the international guests to arrive by floo to Harry's offices on Sunday, to stay at the castle for two weeks. There was some push-back and complaining, but the rules were made clear to all and strictly enforced. The invitations were personal, just for the witch or wizard to whom they were extended. Invitees could not bring guests of their own, nor could they bring their own security forces, aides or secretaries. If anyone did arrive with an entourage, the others could return home via floo or stay nearby in Hogsmeade, but room could not be made for them at Hogwarts. A few of the invitees (especially the ones who held political positions) seemed to be quite put out by those conditions. However, when it was made clear to them that Harry would not yield on those points, they allowed themselves to be mollified by the reminder that they would have constant access to owl post and two free days over the weekend to address urgent matters that required their presence via floo or port key travel.
Only one really odd request came in. Pharaoh Nitrocris asked if she might be able to stay in one of the Hogwarts dormitories. She explained that she had been schooled in the palace at Thebes, and not allowed to attend a regular school. She'd heard of the big wizarding boarding schools and was very excited for the chance to be at Hogwarts for two weeks. She was hoping she could have the complete experience by being allowed to stay in a Hogwarts dorm. As the Pharaoh was only 17 years old, the youngest of the international invitees by a good margin, that seemed to actually be a good idea, as Professor McGonagall pointed out. Harry was pleased to inform her that she would be able to experience Hogwarts from a dormitory.
X X X X X X X X X X
Severus persisted in his work on the Ventus notes while awaiting the arrival of the needed plants to serve as his ingredients. He'd had to owl Eustace Landon for assistance, as the young man had already left the castle, but had received a reply by return owl that he could expect the delivery of a healthy rosa caedes within a few days. In the absence of his own ability to brew to test the potions about which he was reading, he worked with painstaking detail through the existing material and started to see some areas that Ventus had not explored at all, and a few spots where he suspected he might have missed something or made an error. He'd found some intriguing references in his mother's notes, that he definitely wanted to incorporate into his review of Ventus' work, but he found nothing that seemed relevant in the translated Slytherin notebooks. Harry was preparing a table of contents of the notebooks for him, and had promised to work first on the items that looked most promising for this research.
Even Severus was surprised how much "potions work" he could get done without setting foot in a laboratory or touching a single potions ingredient. Harry certainly appreciated the time that they spent together in the evening, rather than apart while Severus worked in his lab; he was not complaining about this new approach to potions work. Nonetheless, Severus wanted to get into his lab and put these theories to the test. That was really the only way to take a theory from just speculation to possible cure or treatment.
Eustace arrived at Hogwarts on Friday morning, transporting a large, heavily warded crate, and was directed to Severus' office, where he was able to meet the Professor between classes. "Good news, Professor Snape! Our firm has a special relationship with a small farm on the Isle of Wight, one of the few remaining sources of the really rare and powerful roses, and they were able to provide a particularly healthy rosa caedes."
Severus shook the offered hand, and smiled at the pride in the young man's face. "Thank you, Mr. Landon, well done indeed! We will find a place for this down in the Hogwarts greenhouses."
Severus led Eustace and levitated the crate down to the greenhouses to supervise the planting. "One of the students who tends to some of the more exotic plants in our greenhouses will be taking care of this one for me," Severus offered as he escorted his guest down the path.
Neville was ready for the new arrival. He'd done some further research on the two ancient forms of magical roses that were now to reside in the Hogwarts greenhouses, and had learned that they were territorial, in addition to their other less attractive properties as garden plants. If these two plants were placed in the same greenhouse, it was very likely that neither plant, nor any other plant in the greenhouse, would survive; there were even reports of greenhouses themselves being destroyed by a floris sempiternitas that felt its territory had been invaded. He'd already selected and prepared a space in a nearby greenhouse that should be a satisfactory distance from the floris sempiternitas for the new arrival.
"Longbottom, I'd like you to meet Mr. Eustace Landon, who I'd mentioned might be able to assist us in locating a rosa caedes. He has just arrived with the plant. Mr. Landon, Neville Longbottom."
Neville walked around the potting table where he'd been feeding ground meat to a bulbous looking plant with thick, waxy skin, and extended his hand to the visitor. "Mr. Landon, very nice to meet you. And thank you for finding a rosa caedes! I was concerned that we might not be able to locate the plants that Professor Snape needed. I have a place prepared for it in the greenhouse across the way, so it doesn't upset the floris sempiternitas."
Eustace looked surprised. "You have a floris sempiternitas? Here?"
"I can show you as soon as we are able to get this one settled into its new home. I'm sure you don't want to leave it stunned and under wards any longer than necessary."
Severus was quietly amazed at the authority and confidence the usually-bumbling Neville showed in directing the planting of this dangerous rose bush. He worked quickly but carefully, wanting to keep the plant stunned for as short a time as possible. He was careful to orient the plant in the prepared hole, and then direct soil laced with dragon dung gently over the root ball, and finally levitate a watering can with distilled warm water deliver a gentle drizzle to get it all settled. When Landon released the stunning spell, the rosa caedes needed just a few moments of twisting and shaking to get itself comfortable, and it calmed right down. It had taken Professor Sprout more than double that time to get the floris sempiternitas to the same placid state.
"It seems to like its new home. I found some references to this one in an old book in Professor Sprout's library, and learned its basic likes and dislikes. If you have any additional information, Mr. Landon, I'd be happy to add it to the card I've started on this one, should anyone else have to step in to care for it. The card is back in the office."
Neville led the others back to the office and produced the card for the rosa caedes for Eustace to review. Actually, it appeared that Neville had found out a few things about this rose that Eustace had never known. Eustace was still feeling a bit discomforted that a student had been so fully prepared for the arrival of this very exotic plant, knew just how to get it planted, and did a very competent job of it. The last time Eustace had been tasked with planting an aggressive rose bush on his own, one far less frightening than a rosa caedes, he'd nearly been killed by the damn thing. These people couldn't know this, of course, but the whole thing made Eustace feel at a disadvantage and he hated that feeling, even more so because he wanted to make a favorable impression on the renowned Potions Master. He just gave the card back with a curt nod, and said nothing.
"Did you want to take a look at the floris sempiternitas? It's been here for a couple of days already, and seems pretty comfortable here. Let me cast a cleaning spell on us all before we go into that greenhouse, then – this one is very temperamental and I don't think it would be pleased if any of us had the smell of another rose on us when we went near it."
Neville cast his cleaning spell over all three of them. Severus was expecting a very simple spell to remove dirt and plant debris, and stood up a bit straighter when he felt a much more thorough spell waft over him. He cast a questioning look at Neville.
"We need to get rid of even the most minute trace of the fragrance or magical signature of the rose caedes before we go into the greenhouse. If the floris sempiternitas knows that another magical rose is here, it will be impossible to work with. It's been very good these past couple days. I've even been able to water it directly, and do some minor pruning. It would likely attack me if it could smell this other one."
Eustace was clearly amazed to see the plant when they arrived at the back of the greenhouse. He'd heard of these, and had seen a picture or two, but had never seen a live one. As if knowing that its fierce reputation was on the line, it flailed menacingly at the three visitors, even as Neville spoke to it soothingly. After an impressive display of aggression, it finally heeded Neville's admonitions that all was well and there was no cause for it to become alarmed, and settled itself back.
While he was seeing for the first time a side to Neville Longbottom that Harry had insisted did exist, and he was mildly amused by young Landon's posturing, Severus had to get back to his own office to prepare for his next class, and he excused himself after asking Landon to send the bill for the plant to him at his Hogwarts address.
Once the professor was gone, Eustace seemed to feel more comfortable about indulging his curiosity about several things. "Where on earth did you get this floris sempiternitas? I've read about them, and never imagined that I'd get to see one up close like this."
"Professor Snape is doing some research, and came to our Herbology professor for help in locating plants for which he only had 400 year old names. She gave me the assignment, and I worked out what those plants were called today, and then it was a matter of finding them. Professor Snape recognized the name when I told it to him, because it turned out that he had this one growing on his family's property; Harry mentioned that Professor Snape's mother did some research with roses. Professor Snape tought that your firm might be able to help us locate the rosa caedes, as none of the firms we usually work with had anything like this on offer."
"Harry – Harry Potter?"
"Of course. He's been my friend since first year." The brevity of Neville's response and look on his face gave Eustace pause in pursuing more information about Harry though this source, although Neville's stock had risen in his eyes with the information that he and Harry Potter were friends for so long.
"Longbottom – I've heard that a Mrs. Longbottom is going to be teaching some courses here on defensive magic. Is she a relation?"
"My grandmother. She was an Auror years ago. I gather that she and Professor Dumbledore suspect that we'll be seeing some similar tactics from You-Know-Who as they saw from Gellert Grindelwald years ago, and she was really good at defending against some of the things he used. Since we haven't seen anything like this in so many years, she offered to teach the what she knows to the people who will have to defend us all this time out."
"I have to do a great deal of traveling on behalf of the family business, and I'm often in rather desolate places. I'd love to learn more about defensive magic. Is there any chance that I might be able to participate in her classes?"
"It's all by invitation only, except the public sessions. She allowed Hogwarts students to apply to attend, so perhaps she'd be willing to consider including you." Neville decided that he could pursue some curiosity of his own, now that it was just the two of them speaking. "Did you have Professor Snape for Potions when you went to school here? What business is your family in, that you get to travel so much?"
"Oh, I was home-schooled. My family hasn't sent a child to Hogwarts in centuries. I did take Potions, of course, and my teacher told me stories about some of the Potions Masters he'd met. He always spoke about Severus Snape with awe, so I was very excited to meet the man myself. Our family is in the business of supplying potions ingredients, and we source from all over the world."
The two shared stories of the magical plants they'd encountered as they walked back to the castle.
Augusta Longbottom met briefly with Eustace Landon, and had her doubts. Her very basic test, administered to all prospective students in the four-week course (except the Aurors, for whom it was already a requirement of their job) was the ability to cast a Patronus charm. When she invited Eustace to cast his, he could not even produce a vapor, let alone an actual Patronus.
Patting the disappointed young man on the shoulder, she said "There, there, Mr. Landon, nothing to be distressed about. Many wizards can't manage a Patronus; it takes a certain temperament, beyond magical strength. If you are interested in getting involved in things here, you are of course invited to the public sessions I will run, and you might want to get involved in the programs that Professor Sprout is organizing with one of her former students. We're doing an introduction to magic for the squibs who only just learned they have magic. There were more of them than we expected. She's looking for people who can present on all sorts of topics, and I'm sure you have several areas of expertise that will be of interest to her."
Neville was surprised at the gentleness with which his grandmother let Eustace down. He'd already heard that she'd been her usual blunt self to some of his classmates who sought entry to her program but lacked the ability to cast the Petronis charm. He'd been getting far more looks of sympathy than usual from other students lately.
X X X X X X X X X X
Harry had come down to the dungeons after the last class Friday afternoon, and settled himself on the sofa to finish off his homework so he could focus on his translations after dinner. He was working on the Light notebooks, as he preferred to work in his rooms with Severus rather than by himself up in his office in the tower. He knew he needed to make progress on the notebooks from Mr. Malfoy, but he'd promised to keep them in his office, and he got lonely up there. He'd heard that the new rose had arrived, and was in a sour mood at the prospect of evenings spent alone now as Severus sequestered himself in his lab.
When Severus swept in from his office about a half hour after Harry, he acknowledged him glumly. "Neville mentioned that you've got your new rose bush."
Severus was a bit taken aback by Harry's attitude. He was angry at the arrival of a rose bush? How was he supposed to deal with that?
"Yes, Mr. Landon arrived with it this morning and Neville got it settled into one of the greenhouses for me. Is there is problem?" he ventured cautiously.
Harry looked annoyed. "No, of course not. You'll be spending your evenings now working in your lab on your potions. I'll have the sitting room to myself."
Why on earth would Harry be annoyed about having the sitting room to himself? Severus had no idea what was going on here. "Is that a problem? Do you not want the sitting room to yourself? Is there something wrong with the sitting room?"
With a surprisingly dramatic sigh, Harry just mumbled "It gets lonely."
Severus had a hard time with drama, and mumbles, and things left unsaid. This little interaction had large portions of all three, and it clearly had the potential to give him a major headache. However, his developing understanding of how to deal with Gryffindors had taught him that you can't just walk away from a situation like this, because it will only get worse. There will be bigger drama, more mumbles, things said that should have remained unsaid, and probably some shouting, too. Stifling a sigh himself, he took a seat in his chair next to the fire, and prepared to sit it out.
"You get lonely here by yourself? Or do you want to make a change to the sitting room?"
Harry glared at him. "No, I'm just fine."
"Obviously not. Tell me. What's wrong?"
"I was enjoying the evenings we spent working together here, and I know once you get to brewing, I won't be seeing you all night."
This was so simple. And so easy to fix. Why was the young man in such a dither? Ever one who preferred action to discussions like this, Severus stood abruptly and disappeared into his lab, ignoring the angry look on Harry's face as he did so. It took just a few minutes for Severus to summon a house elf to extend one side of the room in which the lab was set up, and transfigure a small table into a solid, well-lit desk and a stool into a comfortable chair. There. They could share the same space while each worked. Goodness knows, it was not like they spent all evening in the sitting room in conversation. More often than not, they each worked in silence, with each other for company. Maybe this arrangement would make Harry happy?
Severus reappeared in the sitting room, and in silence, walked over to where Harry was sitting. He was being pointedly ignored, to his amusement. "Mr. Potter, would you please join me in the lab?" He was still being ignored, so he tried again. "Harry, would you please step into the lab for just a minute?" No response.
"Harry, if you don't answer me right now and come into the lab, I am going to carry you there myself."
He was pretty sure he saw Harry's lips twitch at that, but got no other response. He left it for a count of three, and swiftly bent down and collected Harry into his arms.
"Put me down! You can't do this!" but even as he protested and squirmed, Harry had begun to chuckle at the situation. Severus carried him easily across the sitting room and down the hall into the lab, before standing him up next to the newly-transfigured desk.
"If being on your own in the sitting room is a problem, we can set you up to do something constructive right here, where I can keep an eye on you."
For his part, Harry was actually very pleased with having a part of Severus' lab for his own, being able to spend the evening hours with Severus rather than on his own. As much as he did not want to admit that, he could not keep the grin from his face. He surveyed the new arrangements in the lab, and looked a bit shyly at Severus. "You're sure you don't mind?"
With a bit of a smirk, Severus grunted. "As long as you don't interfere with my brewing, we'll get along fine."
Harry went to get his books and some parchment and ink to set up his desk, while Severus readied his workstation for brewing after dinner.
By the time Harry had assembled his supplies and Severus had gotten his cauldron ready, it was dinner time. As Harry stood to leave, Severus blocked his way.
"I believe I said that we'd have dinner together periodically, just a week ago, I recall."
Harry blushed at the memory.
"I have had some food delivered to the kitchen for a stir-fry. I think you'll enjoy the preparation, and the cooking is very straightforward and quick. Would you like to have dinner here, rather than go to the Great Hall?"
Severus did not have to ask Harry twice. He was even rewarded for his thoughtfulness with a huge grin, and an enthusiastic hug as the two walked to the kitchen.
"And can we take a walk in the moonlight tonight, too?"
Severus quirked his eyebrow at that. "I suppose so. Maybe after we eat and get some of our work done this evening." Another big grin was followed by a hug, and then a kiss, that delayed dinner preparation by half an hour.
X X X X X X X X X X
One outcome of the time that Harry and Severus finally spent in their joint office/lab on Friday evening was concern about the potential impact of steam and vapors from brewing on delicate older volumes, like the Slytherin notebooks or the Ventus notes. The parchment was in good enough condition, but the volumes and notes were priceless. If there was any sort of accident or explosion, those in the office could be lost. While a good shield charm might keep them safe, a really bad accident might trump the power of the shield.
As they walked to the Great Hall for breakfast on Saturday morning, Harry was still thinking over ways that he could enjoy the use of the office space Severus had carved out for him in his lab, while making progress in translating all the ancient Parseltongue documents that had suddenly invaded his life. He wanted to get that done, but was not interested in spending all his time up in his office, or in the dungeon sitting room or library by himself. Then it came to him.
"I wonder where I could find a photocopier. I'll bet that parchment would copy well, don't you think?"
Severus looked at him as if he was speaking a foreign language. "What are you talking about? What's a photocopier?"
"Oh, yeah, a muggle thing. You might not know about that. It's a machine that makes copies of things like documents or pictures. You put your document on a glass plate in the machine, and it makes exact copies of that document on paper from the machine. It would be perfect – I could have exact images of all the notes and notebooks on regular paper, and do my translating work from the copies. We could leave all the valuable old parchments up in the warded cabinets in the tower, so they'd be safe, and I can keep a spare copy someplace, and have a working copy."
"You want to make two complete copies of all those notebooks and notes that we have? Isn't that rather a lot to copy?"
"All you do is put the original down and press a button. You can set the machine to make a dozen copies, if you want."
Severus looked amazed. In the wizarding world, certain documents could be created to be replicated magically, but if a document was not created for that purpose, you needed to charm a quill to create a copy. The problem with the documents in Parseltongue was the fact that there were no charmed quills that could write the language. Muggles did come up with some very interesting stuff, it appeared. "Well, perhaps Miss Granger will have an idea."
And, indeed, she did.
As Harry maneuvered into his usual seat between Hermione and Ron, he was already asking for her thoughts on where such a device might be found. "Hermione, I want to make copies of all the documents we've got in Parseltongue. I need to keep the originals safe, but I'd like to work on them downstairs, maybe even in the lab with Severus."
She pondered that for a second. "I can see that it would be helpful with Ventus' notes, to have them right there as you and Professor Snape are discussing some of the formulas. There's nothing like a good old Xerox machine in the wizarding world, you know. They have those charmed quills, but that's about it."
The pureblood wizards listening in on this conversation had questions about photocopiers and "good old Xerox machines," and Harry and Hermione had to explain pretty much everything that Harry had just explained to Severus.
"After breakfast, let's see if I can firecall my parents at St. Mungos. They have a big photocopier in their office. If there's power, I assume the machine will work. It could handle all those documents. It's too much of a distance to apparate; I've never apparated that far, anyway. Maybe we could get port keys made, or maybe we can floo to the Ministry and get there on foot, or maybe apparate from there."
Albus was very happy to allow Hermione access to his floo to firecall St. Mungos, and once Michael Granger had confirmed that the photocopier was in the dental assistant's office, extra reams of paper were stored in the cabinet with the insurance forms, and that the copier was in working order the day they left the office, they were good to go. "And who will be going, Harry? I'm sure you, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley will go, but you must have someone along for protection, just in case."
Arthur Weasley had been invited by Ron, and was nearly beside himself at the chance to see a muggle dental office, and to actually work with a muggle photocopier. He was perhaps a bit too enthusiastic. Albus was reluctant to leave him in charge of protecting the group, when there was no reason to believe he would not be totally swept up in the excitement of the visit.
Severus was not going to let Harry go to London without him, even with the others, so he was prepared to go. However, everyone felt much safer when Kingsley Shacklebolt offered to join them, as well.
The various notebooks and notes were gathered, and shrunk to fit into the pockets of the members of the group and Albus prepared round-trip port keys from some butterbeer caps for them. "I do think this is the most secure means of travel, and the most private. We don't know all that's going on in that neighborhood, so please, stay in the building, in the Granger's offices, and don't wander. Be safe."
The butterbeer caps were activated, and the group found itself standing in the waiting room of a small, but seemingly prosperous medical office. There were several muggles stretched out and snoring softly on the floor, but otherwise everything looked just fine. Hermione led the group through the office, finding that most of the lights were still burning. By force of habit, she was turning the lights off as they passed unused rooms. She guided them to the assistant's office, and powered up the large photocopier and checked that it had sufficient paper. The others emptied their pockets of the parchments and documents they had transported, resized it all, and left it on a nearby table.
Arthur was enthralled with the copier. Lifting the lid at the top, he marveled the mechanics in the lid that moved paper through, and at the glass plate, and at the drawer that held an enormous stack of paper. He was mesmerized as the various lights blinked on and off as the machine warmed up and prepared to announce itself "Ready." Hermione began the process of placing each sheet on the glass, closing the cover, and having the machine make a copy; to her amusement, Arthur nearly hyperventilated watching the completely mundane process.
The others were wandering about the office, Kingsley and Ron fascinated with the small switches on the wall that made the lights go on and off. Harry and Severus checked on the several sleeping muggles who'd been inside the office, some of whom were still sitting in the chairs in which they'd slumped over. They levitated everyone to carpeted floors and settled them there; it might not have made a difference to the muggles, but it did look more comfortable.
Hermione had stepped aside to allow Arthur the chance to use the copier, and went to the window to look out on the street in front of the building. Everything looked fine, but everything was wrong. It made her sad, uncomfortable and even a bit frightened to look out on such a changed scene. Normally on a Saturday morning, the street was bustling; there would be a steady stream of cars, and lots of people out and about on foot from the nearby neighborhoods. Now, there was no one out there. No cars, no pedestrians, no signs of life. It was peaceful I none way, but eerie and disturbing in another. She really missed the normal world, the one that likely was now gone forever.
Hermione's dreary interior monologue was interrupted by a shriek came from one of the interior offices. She followed the sound to one of the rooms where a large dental chair was located, and found the other four men staring in horror at the dental tools and a large syringe that had been placed on the table, ready for the next patient. With a roll of her eyes, she explained the uses to which the various items were put in providing care for muggle teeth. Ron looked nauseous, especially when she lifted the syringe and showed how it was used to inject novocaine into gums. Severus and Kingsley did not look too comfortable, either. Harry had never been to a dentist, a combination of the neglect of his relatives and his own good fortune to have healthy teeth, but he'd heard about them and knew more than the others about what went on, so he just watched with polite interest. Arthur took the tools and syringe in stride, but was really interested in the drill apparatus that hung above the chair. He startled all of them when he found the button that activated the drill, which emitted a loud, grating whine. Hermione had to laugh when poor Ron had to sit down when she explained the process for using that drill on teeth to fix cavities.
She herded the group back to the safer confines of the assistant's office, where everyone had a go at making some copies. Harry took the complete set of copies that they'd made and placed it into the feeder on the lid and set the dial to make two more copies, just in case. Arthur was even more amazed with muggle cleverness when he saw that the stacked pages in a certain spot on the lid automatically fed down into the machine to be copied, and then two complete sets assembled themselves in a bin on the side.
"Hermione, do you think I might be able to get one of these copiers?"
"There are smaller versions, you know. I'm sure, when things get back to normal, I can have my parents get one for you. It needs electricity, so you might need to rig something to make it work, but I'm sure we can get you one to work with."
Arthur was still smiling like a small child on Christmas morning when the group gathered all the originals and copies, shrunk them for transport in their pockets, and activated their port keys back to Hogwarts.
Not two minutes after the group had left the office building, it shook with a massive explosion in the street below, that shattered windows in buildings for blocks in every direction, spewed soil and asphalt and all manner of other debris, and left a black smoky cloud in its wake.