Harry leans against a wall in the Hufflepuff common room with a small, half carved cylinder of wood in one hand, and a small, sharp knife in the other. Their eye's distant as their fingers find their own rhythm and grooves in the gift.
Beside them, Marianne exclaims, "Ow! I don't understand how you can make that look so easy."
Harry just continues to stare into space as their fingers work. From a chair, Daphne puts a spool of tin-copper wire down in her lap, with the pliers she's using, "Who here watched Celtic Watch, or caught a clip of it, over the holidays?"
The only person who doesn't put their hand up is Ernest, helpfully Susan says, "Auntie bought a TV for the house, but we ended up having to go to the local pub to see it. She also mentioned that there will be uproar about the new international arrest warrants."
Daphne nods and sighs, "Marianne, both Harry and I have domains that lend themselves to crafting. While we're both trying to make things that don't use those domains, some skills are just pretty universal. What I want to know, is why is Harry so quiet."
Harry looks up briefly as their name is called, before staring back off into space, "Sally-Anne."
Megan shakes her head, "Look, I get that. I really do. I think we're all worried about her, Dean especially. But you can't let it take over your life." Marianne shakes her head, and tell Megan to shut up quietly, but Megan is looking around the group, "I mean, it's not like any of us can do anything about it."
As Harry's head drops, and they start to cry, Susan sighs, "That's not true. Harry, is it alright if I tell them?"
Harry laughs bitterly, "Go ahead, it's not like I'm worthy of it anymore."
Marianne slaps Harry, "You take that back. You are as worthy of it as your mother is her own. We're 12, not 30 or 2,000. Look at everything you've done for our families. My mum wouldn't be here without you, Marie would have died, Daphne, well she can speak for herself."
Daphne nods, "You protected me when you found out about my occlumency. I wouldn't be me if you hadn't."
Susan shakes her head, "I'm sure you'd have pulled through eventually."
Daphne shakes her head, "I couldn't have done. There was nowhere I felt safe enough to let down my occlumency barriers. If Harry hadn't shown me the Otherside, I don't think I would have done. Father's still having it worse than I did, as he has years of memories to process. Thing is, Harry can possibly save Sally-Anne, but he, she?"
Marianne shakes her head, "Go with they, that's what we've been doing at home."
"They have to pass a test in order to do it. Harry had to almost be dragged away from the test in order to come to the school with us."
Wayne shakes his head, "What could be so hard that Harry couldn't solve it?"
Marianne shakes her head sadly, "Facing yourself and accepting every single part of yourself."
"I don't get it, don't we do that all the time?"
Daphne shakes her head, "It gets so much more complicated when domains are involved. I know so much about building that it would take multiple lifetimes to learn the normal way. Is that me? Is that part of who I am? Or am I just pretending to be that person. When you strip all of that away, who am I?"
Marianne adds, "Mum2 said that Harry could do it with someone else, as they're not Brigid so they can make their own rules. But none of the family can go with them for various reasons. Now, can we drop this subject please?"
Justin points at the work the three of them are doing, "Is this for the end of winter celebrations?"
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In their new accommodation, the four newly minted leaders of the school sit in their common room.
Skye looks around at the other three, "So, is anyone here actually happy about this?"
From a nearby shelf, the Sorting Hat says, "I am."
Skye growls at the hat while Marie shakes her head, "I want to know where our titles came from."
Filius looks up from his drink, "I got mine from the duelling circuit when I was younger."
Kate almost whispers, "I was reborn."
Filius shakes his head, "I keep meaning to ask, what's going on with that. Oh, and Kate, if it helps, I'm only half human. My father is a goblin in clan Spellbreaker, well that's the English translation anyway."
On the shelf, the Hat mutters, "And this is why I said you needed to be more Observant."
Kate visibly relaxes when she finds out Filius isn't entirely human, so Filius starts to ask, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what happened to cause…"
Skye interrupts, "Filius, if you finish that question, be prepared for the full and unadulterated answer to it, as Kate cannot lie. Not won't, cannot. If you do ask, then I'm going to bed, as I know enough about it to know I don't want to know any more."
Marie nods, "I'm with Skye on this one."
Kate looks down at her hands, "Sometimes I wish I didn't know either. They offered to take it away, but it wouldn't help with the trauma. Just the nightmares. I chose to keep that knowledge because I wasn't the only one that was hurt like that, and knowing about it from the wrong side will allow me to help others." She looks up at Filius, "For me it was The Chair, for other women it's different things. I can't imagine that there aren't men out there that have their own version of The Chair. That thing that breaks you and allows someone else to mould you into what they want."
Kate's eyes go distant, and the pain she's suffered shines through, "That's why I'm learning to heal from Madam Pomphrey, and I'm doing evening courses to bring my education up enough that I can do a degree in psychology. Even with the help of a skilled mind-healer, I'm going to carry my past with me forever."
Marie interrupts, "I'd say I'm sorry to interrupt, but honestly, I've heard enough details that I don't want to go through them again. Kate, this is nothing against you, as I know your hurt is never going to go away, just as mine isn't. It's just that I think we have more important things to talk about right now. Such as what we're supposed to be doing as the leaders of the school. Isn't that right Mr Hat."
The Sorting Hat seems to smile, "Indeed. And the founders chose to spread the responsibility for leading the school out because they were all scholars of one sort or another. They didn't want to be tied up with the dictates of leadership to the point they couldn't do what they loved, teaching and learning. This is supposed to be a place for all magic to be taught in all of its myriad forms, so that no traditions are ever truly forgotten. Godric often complained about how long it took to teach someone to use a weapon well enough that they were ready to learn to be a battle mage. But he was only the first to voice the same complaint about their own traditions, including Rowana about wizardry. A favourite quote of hers was 'Wizardry isn't just about waving a wand around to get a result. If it was we'd be surrounded by wizards. It about knowing why you're waving the wand in just that way to get a result. It's about understanding the underlying theories that drive wand magic, and then using that understanding to do new things.'"
Filius thinks for a moment, "So… What you're saying… Is that using our current system, the first two years should be building a foundation that's common amongst as many magical disciplines as possible. While the third year onwards is about learning those disciplines in a structured way."
Skye shakes her head, "That's all well and good but how do we pay for it?" She looks around, "What? Am I the only one that followed the train of thought about breaking treaties to its logical conclusion?"
The sorting hat gives a coughing laugh.
Marie jokes, "Maybe we could find a farming god that didn't plant an apple tree, and bring them on staff."
Skye starts to laugh, "There is only one god amongst the Irish pantheon that would apply to, and unless you want the castle to turn into an episode of East Enders or Coronation Street, you'll never have him in the same building as Morgana. There might be others from Scotland, Wales, or northern France, but we never really had that much contact with those pantheons."
Filius looks at Skye, "It has been pointed out that I'm not the most observant person around, unless it interests me. But even I can't ignore that. Are you saying that you are setting yourselves up as gods? As that's against the Statute of Secrecy… No, you're not, are you. Subject to the statute and setting yourselves up as gods. What's going on?"
Skye smiles, "Would it help if I said that Morgana is The Morrigan from myth, and Harry found their way into her care as a baby."
Filius looks around wildly, "But, the Celtic people were wiped out… And gods were just powerful… Oh…"
Marie nods, "Yep. Oh. Imagine my own surprise when I found out that the person who had been teaching me about Celtic culture was actually a goddess. One that I admired and wanted to take away the loneliness in her existence. And now I'm her sister. Certainly makes up for misogynistic professors and mothers who grew up in an era where that sort of thing was not only expected, but an acceptable way of advancing your career." Seeing the look in Filius' eyes, she adds, "I was raped for turning the professor down. I came home and went to one last Celtic Day to say goodbye to Morgana. And here I am, new family, new life."
In response to Filius' wild eyes, Kate adds, "While I have been claimed as family, I am just a chosen of a god, not a god myself. So's Dora."
Filius downs his glass of fire whiskey and then grabs the bottle.
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"This is Rachel Sanders for the Celtic Watch winter special. We are in an undisclosed location to celebrate the return of the sun, and the end of winter. As you can see behind me, we have an authentic long house to hold our celebrations in. As the Cameraman pans around, you'll see that we also have authentic homes from the different regions and time periods of the Celtic people in Ireland. These are where our audience will be sleeping tonight, and they have been staying for the last few days. If you'll follow me inside, the festivities are due to begin shortly, as the sun dropped below the horizon only a few minutes ago. Hopefully, one or more of the known gods will be dropping by to join in with our celebrations and provide their own insight into what the festival means for them."
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The next morning, Filius stands up and walks to the front of the unusually packed hall, "Good morning everyone. I'm sure that you're all eager to find out what we discussed last night. Truth be told, we were mostly moaning about having all this extra responsibility thrust upon us. Professor McGonagall, you have my utmost admiration for the work you've done over the last few months."
After a pause for a round of both laughter and applause, Filius continues, "We did managed to reach some agreements though. Starting immediately, Kate of Brigid will be teaching all 1st and 2nd years basic math and science. This will take place during the periods that later years normally have their electives. Skye, or Professor Harris as many of you know her, will be teaching 1st and 2nd years wandless magic instead of Defence against the Dark Arts. As the school's advisor got the four of us into this, we have also decided that he should play a larger role in the school as well, and so he is replacing Professor Binns as the history teacher, effective immediately. Finally, we would like both Minerva and Irma to be the schools administrators until we have things under control."
As the level of conversation and complaining increases, Filius pauses to allow those changes to sink in, before using his wand to emit a high-pitched whistle.
"We have also decided to continue OWL and NEWT education, as it is a required part of living in magical society. However, we will be looking into what subjects are legally required, and from 3rd year and above, only those subjects will be mandatory. Instead, you will need to make up the additional subjects with electives, one of which will be the mundane studies, and comes with it education to mug… mundane standards and an established identity in the mundane world. The OWL equivalent of Mundane Magic will also still be offered. That's all we know for now, please enjoy your breakfast everyone."
As he walks back to his seat, the sorting hat grumbles, "When did we decide I was teaching history of magic?"
Kate chuckles, "Just now I think. Filius did drink rather a lot last night."