Chapter Nine

Jennifer

Spending some quality time with his family did a lot to bolster Quintin's mood, and by Sunday afternoon with both the Truth Seeking lesson and lunch out of the way, Quintin as back to his old self again, walking next to Rus as if he was ready to take on the world at a moment's notice. Jennifer smiled softly at that. He bounced back so quickly, and every time he did, his friends rallied around him again, feeding off of that influence. It seemed to be his uncertainty that threw them off, Jennifer mused, wondering what to make of it. But when he was confident, he fed off of his friends even more. His friends were rather like... Severus, when he was supporting her during conferences and public speeches, she decided, when his thoughts mirrored only a positive version of herself and helped her during times when otherwise she could very easily spiral in the other direction.

"You seem to be a thousand miles away tonight," Severus noted from her distant expression. They had just put Serendipity to bed and were having a late dinner while preparing classes for the next week.

"I was thinking of Quintin, actually," Jennifer admitted, Severus gazing at her curiously. "His experiences with growing up a Truth Seeker are very different than the others. Rus is a more like Aurelius, really. He's having to cope with Jay's troubled emotions as well as attempting to deal with his mother during visitations, who can only show them focused thoughts that seem rather disingenuous to him."

"She is trying, in her own way," Severus replied.

"Oh, yes, I'm well aware. She's doing it for them," Jennifer agreed with a smile. "And then there's Truman, who reminds me a lot like me at his age, actually, so it's easy for me to understand what he needs. But Quintin's need to be front and center with his friends and to have them feed his confidence like that is quite different. They marvel over him, but then feel quite uncomfortable when he does falter, not wanting to admit that their chosen leader could ever do any wrong. But the truth is, he does share those same insecurities we all share under the surface, and that's what it's so polarizing."

An extremely worried expression crossed Severus' face and he quickly got up and walked around the room before she could study what he was thinking.

"What's wrong?" Jennifer asked, and he pondering it as he walked over to his violin corner. "You may as well say it, you know you can't hide anything from me for very long anymore."

"Simply that he reminded me of someone after you made that point, Jennifer," Severus admitted reluctantly.

"James again?" Jennifer asked.

"James would be a more acceptable answer, even if I'll readily admit that I don't know how to temper that part of his personality," Severus replied, still looking away. "Rather, I was thinking of another person with Truth Seeker abilities, that had such charisma and leadership that everyone around him looked up to him and flocked to him, feeding his confidence and beliefs until it festered."

"Severus Snape! I can't believe you're actually comparing our own child to him, of all people," Jennifer scolded him.

"I only meant that his effect on others was similar. I never meant to imply anything more than that," Severus said, tuning his violin.

"Perhaps in a way, but Tom was filled with hatred, Severus. Our son may have strong mental talents and personal presence, but his motives are the exact opposite, seeking peace instead of disruption, and wanting to help everyone and include everyone without judgment. He only wants to bring out the good in people, and I don't see that ever changing. I only worry that his dependence on his friends isn't all that self-sustaining over the long run, especially as they mature and aren't as willing to hang on to his coattails any longer," she explained. "In fact, I've no doubt that he has some rough years ahead, but I think we both know he'll be alright in the long run."

"That can still change, Jennifer," Severus warned, knowing she was thinking of their encounters of him as an adult.

"Well, yes I know, theoretically," Jennifer said, having no intention of getting into another Temporal Magic discussion. "But I have faith in Quintin. He has a good heart and always wants what's best, and he has a better temperament than any of our children other than Serendipity. It's not really Quintin's development I'm worried about." Severus glanced over to find that Jennifer had a particularly dark expression.

"The Maxens and Villins?" Severus inquired, and Jennifer nodded at that. "Come to think of it, they don't get training full year around like ours do, do they?"

"Oh, they do, actually. It's simply from a distance, is all," Jennifer explained. "Worley's influence really hangs over his younger children, despite Rel's attempts to temper it. I keep hoping they'll break free from it like Eben seems to have... Culver, at least. But I don't think any of them have escaped it, really. Laura and Danny have been doing what they can to give them plenty of opportunities to free themselves, but so far, none of them have. I've asked them both to inform me if the situation gets worse for any of them."

"Good, I'm glad your on top of it. Feel free to let me know if any require my direct intervention," Severus said.

"Of course, I had planned to," Jennifer replied. Severus grimaced and looked over at her.

"I'm telling you how to do your job as Head of Advisors again, aren't I? Sorry," Severus said.

"For what? Being a good headmaster?" Jennifer asked with amusement. "It's alright, Severus, but after discussing all of that, I'll admit to being a bit done up on work for the evening," she confessed, stacking up her papers without any concern on which pile she put it in or which class it was.

"And just when do you plan to do all of that?" Severus inquired.

"When I can, I suppose," Jennifer replied. Severus sighed in exasperation, setting his violin back down before going over to spend time with her.

It had been over two years since Severus restructured school administration, adding the School Accountant, Head of Advisors, and Security Assistant positions (so that Jennifer could manage both Head of Advisors and Security). Laura took over Ravenclaw House, and Andrew had taken over Gryffindor House. Between the new senior positions and the extra staff both full and part time, the school was much more balanced than it was before, taking the strain off of Jennifer and Hermione especially so they could comfortably do their jobs and still have time for Whitebridge, the Order of Libris, and other meaningful pursuits. Including getting in over their heads, Severus had added dryly on occasion, and while it was obviously said in amusement, it was not without knowing how right he was when he had said it.

So far, they had been too busy adjusting to their new roles and learning to juggle their affairs abroad to get into too much trouble. Jennifer had condensed all of her work at Whitebridge to Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, with an occasional 2 a.m. Saturday thrown in for Order of Libris meetings when Hermione dropped the hint that it was a meeting that Jennifer didn't want to miss.

Hermione, of course, had to attend every order meeting now that she was the Order of Libris Chairwitch, but other than that, she stuck to pursuits that were closer to home. She spent most of her time going between the school and her new home in Hogsmeade, and sometimes helping out at the newly formed Hogsmeade Village Library, which had been put into a converted storefront conveniently located right next to the Enchanté Tea Room and Patisserie.

But now that the new house had been settled, schedules fixed, advisors trained, and security adjusted, Jennifer and Hermione were eager to delve full force into what in the world had possessed the Sorting Hat to do such a thing in the first place.

Jennifer wandered over to Aurelius' classroom at lunch on the day that he came in to teach his three classes; Sixth Year Defense, Seventh Year Defense, and Wizard Laws and Regulations. Typically, he ate in his classroom on that day, so she was unsurprised to find him in there setting up for Wizard Laws when she came in. He sighed as he listened to what his mother had to say, putting scrolls on each student desk filled with information on what laws he was planning to teach them about.

"Look, Mum, I agree that you're right and that it's not in the school's best interests to let what happened at the Sorting Ceremony go. And I also agree that we can't protect Quintin from the Maxens forever, especially since they've been starting to stretch their wings a bit," Aurelius responded to her arguments. "But I'm not going to tell you anything about that secret, it'd be a complete breach of trust and I'm not going to do that."

"That's all well and fine, and I really didn't expect you to, Aurelius. But I also can't let this go. Between being in charge of security, and Head of Advisors, not to mention Items Expert, it's my job to investigate this more thoroughly," Jennifer informed him. "Besides that, I really can't finish Quintin's training until there aren't any barriers between us. He's in Hogwarts now, and he should be learning how to protect his thoughts himself in his own best Defensive interests over the long term."

"Dad knows you're looking into this, right?" Aurelius asked.

"Well, he knows I'm running some tests and things, and he wouldn't stop me from doing something that's clearly in my job description anyway," Jennifer replied.

"Somehow, I think you could bend just about anything to fit in your job description," Aurelius said flatly.

"And that's exactly why he won't get in the way," Jennifer concluded with a smile.

"Fine, but I'm still going to monitor the situation, because I don't want it come out at a bad time," Aurelius said with exasperation. "Let me talk to the Sorting Hat to explain this to him... and to warn him that you're up to something."

"Oh, feel free to warn away. I'm not going to be outmatched by any sort of magical item, no matter how clever," Jennifer said unconcernedly, then wandered off to speak to Hermione.

Aurelius watched her go with a slight smirk and a shake of the head, knowing that the Hat was likely to be more of a challenge then she thought. Still, if it did all come out now, it was the Sorting Hat's own doing, especially after adding another house like that. Glancing at the time to make sure he had enough, Aurelius stepped out and over to the Doorlift, finding the Headmaster Study doors open.

"If you're looking for your father, he's having lunch in the daycare room with your sister and should be back shortly," Armando Dippet reported.

"I'm not. I'm just here for a quick word with the Hat," Aurelius said and walked over, putting it on his head.

Hello, Aurelius. Are you here for the latest gossip from the Study? The Hat asked.

No, I'm here to let you know that my mother's thrown down the gauntlet, Aurelius informed him.

Took her long enough, the Hat thought with amusement. It's alright, dear boy, I knew from the start that one of them wasn't going to let this go, and I'm not surprised it's your mother.

No, neither am I, but I came to let you know that I'm not going to stop her from nosing in. You're on your own this time, Aurelius warned.

If I am, it's not for long, the Hat predicted. Thank you, Aurelius.

Good luck, Aurelius thought, taking the Sorting Hat off his head and setting it back down again.

"Game on," the Sorting Hat said out loud.

"Just so you know, my mother likes to cheat at games so that she always wins," Aurelius warned him.

"What a coincidence! So do I," said the Sorting Hat.

That evening, Hermione invited Jennifer to dinner at her house. Ron couldn't help but sigh with exasperation when it became obvious that by doing so, Hermione brought her work home with her, and found them immediately talking of school intrigues and destroying any plans he had at getting Hermione to set aside work for awhile.

"The legend of the Sorting Hat is pretty well known," Hermione said. "In Hogwarts, a History, it talks of how Godric of Gryffindor came up with the idea, and that the four founders added their magic to the Sorting Hat and created his intellect and self awareness."

"That's the trouble I have more than any other part of this, Hermione," Jennifer said. "Self awareness implies sentience, and there aren't any spells that can grant sentience, only mimic it."

"What about paintings? Surely the Rogue Painting is sentient," Hermione said. Jennifer smiled at that.

"Do you know that was the same argument Severus gave when this whole thing started and we were questioning how it was possible?" Jennifer admitted. "Just what is it to be sentient, anyway? And where does it come from?" she pondered, then shrugged. "Well, all I know is that I can't let philosophy cloud my research any more than I can let a legend cloud it. I'm not looking for the legends, I'm looking for facts. Do you know of any books from that time period that list any facts about the Sorting Hat? Any specifics as to how it works, what spells were used on it, anything? And who really cast on that thing... because the timing is strange. There's no way the part where it says 'they all started to wonder about how to do it after they died' could remotely be true, Hermione. Ravenclaw was Half-Fae and had longevity that Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin didn't have. In fact, it was because Slytherin worried about his mortality that he got so obsessed with the idea of using Ick to secure his family line."

"Well, if Slytherin was the one obsessed with it, maybe he's the one that brought it up," Hermione suggested.

"Maybe, but then it'd be strange that Gryffindor went along with it enough to lend him his Sorting Hat, since I'm sure things had started to fall out before then. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't something Gryffindor did on his own, being that he was already running the school at that point," Jennifer said.

"Well, I don't mind doing a bit of light research to see what I can find out about that time period," Hermione said. Ron rolled his eyes at that then turned his attention towards his dinner. "But wouldn't it be easier to simply ask Janus and Ick about it? They may have still been there when it happened."

"I plan to, and both of the Sentinel Paintings too, but they're all biased and tend to back each other up when one of them fibs a little. Anything you can dig up in print from that time period to collaborate would be useful," Jennifer said.

"Got it," Hermione agreed. "More tea?"

"Yes, please, and perhaps we should change the subject. Ron is quite bored," Jennifer informed her.

"I enjoy the visit," Ron said politely. "But perhaps we could talk about something other than work?"

Hermione and Jennifer pondered that, trying to think of something, but ended up asking him about how things were going at the Daily Prophet instead.