Minerva

She looked at the portrait of Dumbledore. He was sleeping. She could have asked him for advice, but she chose not to. Would the advice he would give, even be useful? How many secrets had he kept from her, Potter, Snape, and the rest of the world? He was brilliant, kind, and loyal. But he also had deep trust issues. Resources could have been pooled to find the Horcruxes. If Severus wasn't so bloody obsessed with playing the villain, they could have worked together to minimize the suffering of the students. It was as though Dumbledore was playing a massive game of chess where everyone was a pawn, including himself.

The question Minerva, was asking herself was: What could she learn from his mistakes?

Hermione was coming in an hour as they had agreed. She wrote in her owl there was something important she needed to talk to her about, but didn't go into details. Minerva could guess what it was about.

There was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she said. She had other business to attend to first.

Jerome Fowler was a curious-looking man. Only slightly shorter than her, he was half-elf with pointy ears and a white chin-strap beard with shoulder-length white hair. His tailored green suit resembled some from the Edwardian era. Jerome bowed.

"There is no need for that sir," she said.

"Oh, but it is my pleasure," he said in a lilting musical voice. "You have earned it in defeating Mr. Riddle."

"I was only a minor player in what transpired."

"You got the children out of the school. Harry Potter may have been the one with the wand but you saved innocents."

"Not all of them," she said sadly.

"Children are stubborn little things, aren't they? You can only do so much."

"Regardless. I understand you have plans made up for how to fully restore the school."

Out of his coat, he pulled out a thick scroll the height of a walking cane.

"This should meet all your needs," he said. "I wish you could have all the time in the world to review it, but if you want the work done by the time the next term starts, I need your final approval in four days."

Minerva took the scroll. "Are you sure you don't need any outside help? This is the first time Hogwarts has been under attack directly."

"You're not my first school," he said with a smile. "Not even the oldest."

Minerva couldn't help but smile. "You strike me as someone with stories."

"All sorts," he said with a wink. "When I'm done you can take me out for a drink and I'll share a few."

"I have a librarian who will want to be hands-on in restoring her collection."

"We have plans for how to ease her mind," he said with a chuckle.

She thought better than to ask what he meant by that.

"Are you sure I can't ask the ministry to come up with some sort of emergency funding for you?"

"We prefer to deal directly with Gringotts. Ministries come and go so our kind does not put a lot of faith in them. Whatever arrangement we come to, you will get a copy of, and so will the ministry, after the work is complete."

"After I give final approval, what then?"

"I'm going to ask you and anyone who is still in the castle to leave. I know you have many questions, but we do our best work without interruption from outsiders. The librarian and the caretaker will find no reason to bother us. The gamekeeper is welcome to stay in his residence and report back to you what he sees. I know you'll be itching to see what we're doing to your school, but to do this work my kind needs privacy."

"I understand," she said. "I'll inform my faculty and find another place to live for that time."

"I think I know what you're going," he said. "A trip behind the veil."

"What?" she said.

"I see everything, Headmistress. In my two-hundred-fifty years on Earth, I'd rank Mr. Riddle as a middle-strength dark wizard in the League of Grindelwald. What is hunting you, is older and more dangerous. But I do believe, especially now, you can handle the threat, especially with help from some friends of a younger generation."

"I'll take that into consideration," she said. "Thank you for offering to restore Hogwarts."

"Oh, it is our pleasure. In English terms: Humans expect something for doing something good. My kind sees the task itself as reward enough."

Jerome was not a house elf. His kind originated from what is now Germany. They rarely want anything to do with the United Kingdom as they deplore how house-elves are treated. This was most likely the first time one of his kind has stepped foot in Hogwarts.

"I'll have my recommendations to you shortly," she said.

"I have no doubt you will," he said and bowed. "Good day."

He left. Minerva checked her watch. Any time now.