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Chapter 49
Minerva stepped off the Night Bus and onto the quiet pavement of a sleepy neighborhood, a thin coating of snow crunching under her feet. Pulling her traveling cloak tighter round her shoulders to ward off the wind, she checked the house number closest to her and began walking. Her talk with Maria had been delayed the day before, first by the discussions with Harry's father, Tannim, and the revelations they had held, then later by the duties of being Headmaster of a school in the midst of a major upheaval caused by a large sporting event and three visiting schools.
She shook her head. It was understandable however, with so many students in such tight quarters, there were bound to be some misunderstandings. Sometimes, as amusing as they could be, they need to be dealt with before they escalated.
Arriving at her destination, she unlatched the small garden gate and stepped onto the walkway of her one time student's home. It was a two story tudor style home, and from appearances very well kept, as even the walkway was already cleared of new fallen snow.
Her knock on the door was soon answered by a young girl of eight or nine, if she was any judge of age, dressed in denim pants and a blue jumper. "May I help…"
Maria appeared from someplace behind her. "June, sweetheart, I've got this. Go get your brother and turn off the TV. I want to introduce you both and then you and Jay can play upstairs till daddy gets back."
The little girl turned. "Ok Mum," and took off deeper into the house.
"Please come in Headmaster," Maria said swinging the door wider. "May I take your cloak?"
Minerva smiled. "Thank you." She stepped into the foyer. "She is a lovely girl," she said as she removed her cloak.
Maria took it and hung it up. The two children soon made an appearance. "Headmaster, may I introduce my children, June and Jay. Kids this is Headmaster McGonagall from Hogwarts."
Jay's eyes grew. "Do you really have ghosts at the school?" asked the boy.
Minerva nodded. "Indeed. Several, and one very naughty poltergeist." She looked the young man over, he was younger than his sister by perhaps two years, possibly three. She saw him pale slightly. "But they are nothing to fear, they are all quite nice, though they do take a little getting used to." She smiled softly, trying to reassure him.
He nodded slowly as his mother knelt next to him. "It's okay Jay. They aren't like the ones at the tower." She hugged him, then leaned back and adjusted his shirt. "Listen, why don't you and your sister go watch cartoons upstairs, while Mummy and the headmaster have tea, then when Daddy gets home we'll go out and have pizza for dinner. How does that sound?"
His sister's hand wrapped around his and she tugged him toward the stairs. "Come on Jay, Gargoyles will be on in a few."
When she heard the door close upstairs Maria turned to face her, unshed tears in her eyes. After a deep sigh she said, "We made the mistake of going to the Tower of London recently. It was a school trip for June. He wanted to go with us, and since it was on a Saturday, instead of leaving him with my mother or Dan's parents we took him. That was a mistake. He seems to be very sensitive to them… He can even see things…" She broke off, and wiped her eyes. "Mr. Silverhair said his gift is called Ecto-mancy, he said it is a rare ability, and he has put us in contact with someone that can help, but after the tower, ghosts terrify him. Evidently there is much more there than even a witch can see, and to him they are as clear as day."
Minerva felt stunned. "I hope that something can be done to help him, I would hate for him to be afraid at Hogwarts."
She nodded as she wiped her eyes again. "Please," she gestured down the hallway, "I have a kettle on."
Harry stood at the back of the large metal shipping container. These were the objects from within the Potter vaults, not something he had really wanted to deal with at the moment, but they didn't want to leave a semi truck container sitting in their yard either. So today, with the help of both the Grangers and more than half of the staff they had gone through it all, sorting it. Things to keep, things to sell (one group magical, one non), and dangerous objects (so far the smallest group).
Out of the other groups, the next smallest was surprisingly the keep pile. It contained so few items that Sirius had expected to find there he had immediately stormed off toward the portal and back to England, ranting the entire way.
Harry had already dealt with the dangerous, Keighvin was making preparations for each piece, having them checked carefully then destroyed if necessary, or added to the 'to be sold' group, or in a few cases the 'to keep' group. Unfortunately, at least to Harry's mind, most of what was in the keep pile tended to be furniture, all of it, he had been assured, well made, beautiful and sought after (not that he thought so).
He sat on the fainting couch, which he thought was ridiculous and ugly, and began to dig through some of the smaller things. Something had caught his eye earlier, and he thought it had been put in one of these boxes.
In short order he had placed the box on the ground and had a carved box on his lap. He ran his fingers across the lid where an old steam train was expertly carved into the aged wood. He slowly opened it to find an amazing golden pocket watch upon a pillow of four colors; red, yellow, blue, and green, while inside of the lid was the Hogwarts crest along with a piece of parchment. He set the box and watch to the side and carefully unfolded the parchment.
Gifted to Charles Philip Potter, 1877 August 31. In appreciation of his generous donation of a replacement locomotor for use by Hogwarts. The first having been destroyed by parties unknown just before the end of the school term of 1876.
He folded the parchment closed again, replaced it, and lifted the watch from the pillow. It was heavier than he expected. Raised on its golden face cover was a finely crafted locomotive with silver inlayed into the wheels and highlights. Popping it open he looked at the face, it looked like fine porcelain.
A voice broke his thought process, "Beautiful isn't it?"
Harry swiveled to see Keighvin sitting down next to him. "Your grandmother showed it to me, it's got a couple of enchantments on it…" he touched a small rune on the edge of the case and the locomotive leapt into life, chugging along for a few seconds till the whistle finally blew as it came to rest again. "The other one I think I'll leave for you to figure out."
Harry smiled, as he turned the watch over in his hand and looked at the back. A small frame meant for someone's initials was etched into the gold. It was empty. He shut his eyes and sank into his meditation quickly and opened his eyes to his mage sight. He followed the small tendrils, around and under the watch till he found something inside the back cover. Trying not to drop his meditative state he asked, "How do you open the back?"
Keighvin reached over slipping a fingernail into a very thin groove, and pried. With a small 'pop' the back came open. Harry then studied inside the back. "It is some form of alert… it sets off the first enchantment automatically… four times a year…" He studied each rune set closely. "It will go off twice a day on those four days… One is in late summer, two in winter, the last… early summer…"
He dropped his mage sight, and turned to face Keighvin. "The train! It keeps track of the time it leaves and arrives! When they use it for school!"
"Exactly!" He ruffled the young man's hair, "Good use of deductive reasoning! And I'm glad to see your training progressing so well. Your control of the sight is improving! It won't be long till you can hold it outside the meditation. Your rune knowledge is much better as well."
Harry smiled. Once he could hold the sight outside his meditations he would be ready for the next stage of his training, the use of more 'wild' magics, adding them to his own. As it was he was restricted to his personal reserves, to keep him from overloading his system and causing himself injury.
"Though," Keighvin continued, "I don't think that you will be starting that training till after this blasted tournament is over even if you complete that feat." Harry nodded, he had suspected that would be the case. It would be too distracting to add to an already full schedule. Keighvin continued, "I came to talk with you about your challenge with the boy…"
"Draco," Harry supplied, "Draco Malfoy."
"Yes, Malfoy…" He sighed. "I have had… dealings with the man I suspect is his father since the opening of the bank. A thoroughly unpleasant individual, he has been one of the most outspoken about our endeavor… But that is neither here nor there. I wanted to ask you something."
He shifted to face him better. "Now, whatever way you decide I will abide, and support you with, and I do applaud you on your choice of stakes, as he thought to take advantage of the situation. What I want you to think about is the contest. If you do this you will have a bit of fun, yes, but at what cost? What will he do when he learns he is to be humiliated?" he asked.
Harry started to answer, but Keighvin stayed him. "He knows nothing of cars, and less about driving. Once he was on the track what would happen? Would he take the chance to keep either of you from completing the race? Could one of you be injured? Killed?" Harry tried to speak again, but Keighvin continued. "What kind of damage could be done to the cars? Or the track?"
It started to sink in at that point; Harry knew the risks that came with being on the track, and accepted them, but Draco wouldn't. Would he deliberately try something? Harry had to come to the decision that yes, he would. He was more than ready to go after his wand for the smallest of slight. He was as hot headed as they come and as mean as a snake… a nasty combination at best.
"Damn it!" he said. "I-I… I accepted the challenge… and set the weapons… What do I do?"
Keighvin smiled. "I have an idea or two… Ones that will keep the odds of one or both of you being hurt down, as well as property damage, and still serve up a hefty dose of humiliation… if you win."
Harry looked at him incredulously. "I'd never lose to…"
"Never say never, my friend," Keighvin said, lightly clapping him on the shoulder.
Minerva sat at the small kitchen table as her host pottered around the kitchen putting the final touches on a small tray of food to go with their tea. She thought it was odd that the woman did so without use of her magic. Before her time in the woman's classroom the day before she would have thought that it had to do with her living in a muggle home and all of the curious things scattered across that home, but today she knew different.
As a student had once told her 'there are no stupid questions', so she asked. "Why not use magic to finish what you are doing?"
The young woman smiled. "There is something to be said for doing it with your own two hands, besides it won't take any longer this way." She placed the final plate on the tray and made her way across the room with it.
She sat and served them both, offering food as well before she began. "Have you thought about what I asked you yesterday morning?"
Minerva nodded as she sipped, the tea was excellent and she told her host so before answering. "I have, and until you spoke about it I am sad to say I had not given it much thought. Even with the isolation offered by living and working at Hogwarts I find it odd I have not seen more muggleborns."
Maria shrugged. "Most people don't see us at all. I rarely go to the alley, only a handful of times since I left school, and one of those times left me in such a state I had no wish to set foot in the magical world again."
Minerva was shocked by what she heard. "What happened?"
The woman chuckled, "I went job hunting."
Minerva's shocked face contorted to one of confusion. "Why would that leave you wishing never to return?" She asked.
Her host sat her cup back onto her saucer. "I was eighteen, fresh out of Hogwarts, a Ravenclaw with exceptional scores on my N.E.W.T.S. Top in not only potions but Arithmancy and Runes, and yet not only was I turned away multiple times, but on my return trip each position I had applied for had been filled… with people who were purebloods or, in a few cases, half bloods with less than half my grades or ability."
She sat back as that settled in, "That was when it was explained to me by none other than the bitch, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, that not only was I a mudblood but one that hadn't even managed to catch the eye of a patron, let alone a pureblood husband. That I had no chance at any job I had applied for!" She leaned forward. "She did give me the address of a job she thought even 'someone like me' would be suitable for. It was for a brothel… As 'my kind' was only good for making a living on my back!"
She shook her head as she sat back and spoke again. "I never wanted to go back after that. I went home and begged my parents for help, thankfully they did. I started by getting a part time job at a local grocer, and taking night classes to get my A levels. After my second section at night school I was asked to stay behind after one of my classes, and was introduced to someone from the British government. They knew about Hogwarts."
Minerva gasped, but she continued. "They asked a lot of questions; the state of the government, who was in charge of what, what my opinions were. Then they asked about other muggleborns, they wanted to know any names I knew and where they may have been from."
Minerva nodded, if they knew that much then… "There were five of you, if memory serves."
Maria shook her head. "No, Jason Thomas was killed after my fourth year, the last year of the war. That left us with four, Alison McKnight, Linda Fields, Malcolm Roberts, and myself… Alison McKnight… she committed suicide the summer after we graduated. Linda moved to Australia two years ago, her daughter had just turned five and she refuses to have her go to magical school here."
Minerva looked down at her hands, had it really been so bad for them? How had they all failed to notice? Maria continued. "Malcolm joined the military, I get a Christmas card from him every year…"
The young woman sighed drawing Minerva's attention back up to her. "We kind of have a loose support group, the muggleborns, we try to keep track as the students graduate, whether that is after their O.W.L.S. or N.E.W.T.S. In the last few years with the new computerized school records, that is becoming easier as they just need to compare the records of students at the age of eleven when their letter would arrive. That will give them the chance to offer support and education, so no more Alisons happen."
That had Minerva's full attention. The muggle government was figuring out how to track the children through their records! "Is- Is that…" Her voice trailed off. Of course it was necessary! After looking through the books Harry and the others had been using she could see that it would have been imperative! Seven years would be a lot to catch up on even with a solid foundation of the basics, and if they need to learn to use one of those computer boxes… "Have things truly not gotten any better in our world following the war?"
The other woman shrugged. "You would be in a better position to see that than I."
Minerva looked down at her cup again, lost in thought. She needed to talk to someone, someone not as isolated as she and her fellow professors, one name sprang to the forefront of her mind.