Hermione left the Defense room fuming, which wasn't anything new these days as far as Harry and Ron were concerned, Harry was just happy that he hadn't left with another detention. Last lesson, he'd been put in one for breathing too loudly and disturbing the other students. He was starting to wonder if she wasn't getting tips from Snape.
"What the- Hermione?" Ron asked, confused when she stopped in the middle of the hall.
"Something wrong?" Harry asked, doubling back when he realized his best friends weren't right beside him anymore.
"I just had an idea!" Hermione burst out, and took off down the hall.
"Hey, wait!" Harry called, then looked at Ron. "Library?" He guessed, used to Hermione rushing off to the library when she got an idea or a question and just had to research it then and there. They'd had to chase after her and drag her to class a few times over the years when she'd done it between classes. Luckily they were now done for the day.
"Most likely." Ron grunted, "Come on. Let's wait for her in the Common Room." They would only get in the way or distract her if they went after her now. Which would make her mad if doing so made her lose her train of thought. They didn't mind too much, her ideas usually benefitted all three of them in the end. They would go get her if she didn't return by dinner time, although Pince was pretty good about kicking students out of the library around that time.
(She knew that if she didn't, some of the students would never eat. Especially some of the Ravenclaws and Hermione. And she didn't allow food in her domain, so they were just going to have to leave. They could always come back after dinner until curfew.)
They didn't see Hermione again (except for class and mealtimes) for two weeks. "Whatever she's working on, it's big this time." Ron commented as he focused on his chess game with Seamus.
"You don't know what it is?" Ginny asked, looking up from her homework in surprise.
Harry and Ron shook their heads. "She should be almost done with whatever it is. Her research streaks have never lasted this long." Harry assured the Weasleys. And, naturally, she was still turning in excellent essays despite her current distraction. Harry almost wanted to check to see if she'd been given another Time-Turner.
"I saw her taking letters up to the Owlery." Fred collapsed onto the seat next to Ron.
"Had a whole pile of them." George confirmed.
"Really?" Harry asked. "Huh. Wonder what it is, then." He glanced at the portrait hole, wondering if it would be worth it to go check on her and ask.
"Fred." Hermione suddenly sat down beside the Twins at the Gryffindor table.
"What..." Fred asked warily, glancing at George. George looked just as confused as he was.
"I need you to help me sneak out of Hogwarts, and into the Ministry." She said bluntly.
Everybody within earshot turned to stare at her in absolute shock.
"Who are you?" Ginny actually drew her wand on the other girl, making sure the teachers didn't see it, especially Umbridge.
"It's me." Hermione told her dryly. "We spent the summer at Headquarters with Snuffles." She informed the girl before she went back to staring Fred down. Ginny blinked and lowered her wand.
The Twins glanced at each other again. "Alright. Meet us in the Common Room in fifteen minutes." Fred said slowly.
She nodded and moved down the table to her usual spot by her boys. "I'm going to need to borrow the map." She said quietly. Ron and Harry glanced at each other, but guessed (correctly) that this had to do with her two week research binge.
"Are you going to tell us what you've been up to?" Harry asked, handing over the Map.
"I'll tell you when I get back." She promised, leaving.
"This is going to be interesting." Ron muttered. "Why didn't she ask you for help sneaking out?" He asked Harry, confused and a little hurt. Harry was just as good at sneaking out of Hogwarts as the Twins, the three of them were the 'go-to' guys for the Gryffindor parties or anything another student needed and didn't have time to Owl-order.
"This isn't just sneaking out. She also wanted help sneaking in." Harry reminded Ron under his breath. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Umbridge come in, and quickly stifled all conversation at the Gryffindor table about what Hermione and the Twins were currently up to.
Besides, he was watched too closely by Umbridge, while it wasn't unusual for the Twins to disappear for hours at a time. Nobody would even notice that they were gone.
"You going to tell us what's going on?" Fred finally asked. He'd only managed to contain himself until they reached the middle of the tunnel.
"I think I have a way to get rid of Umbridge." She revealed.
"What?" George asked, excited.
"Well... a school as prestigious as Hogwarts is supposed to be has to have standards, right? I know we haven't had the best examples of Defense Professor's, but honestly I think even Lockhart was better then her." After knowing what she knew about the man, she felt safe saying that. "He at least taught us something, even if it was what not to do sometimes. But all she's doing is telling us to read a book and if we're ever attacked, call for help and hope it arrives in time. That's just not good enough. Especially with what we know is going on."
"Not to mention what happens in detention with her." George muttered.
"That, too." There was no way what she was doing was legal. No. Way.
"Alright, so..." Fred said, trying to prompt her into continuing with her theory.
"Did you know, that it's written into law- British Wizarding Law- that any teacher of Hogwarts or any other school that may be formed within the British Ministry of Magic's purview must have an OWL and a NEWT in the subject they are teaching, of at least Exceeds Expectations for both. For the Core Classes, they are required to have a Mastery. They are also required to have a teaching certificate issued by the International Teachers Guild." That was an amendment that came later, of course, as the Teachers Guild didn't exist when the law was first written.
The Twins whistled. "This isn't just going to get rid of her, you realize that?" They never even questioned if Umbridge might actually qualify. They all knew she didn't. But Hagrid might get caught up in this, too. He didn't even have a wand, let alone his OWLs or NEWTs. They didn't know about the other teachers aside from the Heads of House. They had their Masteries, the Twins knew.
"I know... but honestly, you can't tell me that Hogwarts is the school that the Founders envisioned." She admitted. "I was talking to our guests last year, and they have more classes then us, they don't have deadly yearly events, they don't have all this rivalry and fighting amongst the students, they don't have this constant revolving door of professor's for such a vital subject..." She threw up her arms in frustration.
"True." The Twins said after a moment.
"Fudge was right about one thing. The standards at Hogwarts are falling. He's just going about it all wrong, and for all the wrong reasons. He's only doing this to shut Harry and Dumbledore up." Hermione shook her head in disgust. "I've arranged to meet with representatives from the Wizarding Exam authority, the education department, the Teachers Guild, and the DMLE. Problem is, if Umbridge knew why, she would stop me from leaving, and I can't walk out the front door without her noticing, and I have reason to believe she's watching the Floo."
"Which is why we're sneaking out instead of you using one of the teacher's Floo's." George reasoned.
Hermione nodded. "I doubt they would let me use it, anyway. Even if I tried to explain what I'm doing. Harry tried to tell McGonagall what was happening in her detentions, she didn't even let him talk. She just told him to 'keep his head down'." She scoffed. "She's overworked, she has no time for us. It's hurt Harry more then a few times." Starting when she refused to believe him about the Stone being in danger of being stolen. Looking back, they probably would have been safe enough to not go after it themselves, but there was no guarantee that Quirrelmort wouldn't have figured out the enchantments Harry said Dumbledore had on the mirror.
"We tried to tell her, too. So did a few others that we know have been under that quill. She's brushed us all off." George revealed. He didn't know about the other houses, and if they'd told their Head of House or not, but if McGonagall wasn't going to do something about it, he doubted that any of them would be able to act.
Hermione shook her head. "Well, that is going to end. Hogwarts is not the school it could be. And I am not going to let that toad of a witch ruin our education, our- our bodies, our magic, or our independent thought and free will." She was trying to squash all chances of free thinking and creativity, and she would not stand for it. Especially not when the Ministry she was trying to make them so dependent on was proving to be so corrupt and inept.
Hopefully the presence of the international representatives would force the Ministry members to actually accept what she was telling them.
"Let's do this." Fred smirked as they arrived under the trapdoor leading to Honeydukes cellar.
"Homenum Revelio." George whispered, waving his wand towards the roof of the tunnel. "We're clear." He assured Fred, who immediately lifted the door, pulled himself out, and reached down to help Hermione up while George gave her a leg up. George quickly followed her up, and Fred quietly closed the door while George Disillusioned both himself and Hermione. He waited until he felt George's hand on his shoulder before Disillusioning himself.
"Quiet." He murmured as he started up the stairs. He made a mental note to collect some chocolate on their way back into the castle, assuming that they came back through this way. If they were meeting with somebody from the DMLE, they might be apparated straight to the gates, or Flooed straight back into the school.
"Alright." Fred finally said, coming to a stop on the outskirts of the village, near the cave Sirius had used the year before. Within moments the spell was lifted and they could see each other again. "George, you take Hermione?" He questioned. George had done better on his Apparation test, after all.
"Sure." George shrugged. "Straight to the visitor's entrance." Fred smirked, and with a Crack and a small warning, the three disappeared.
*cough, cough* Fred grimaced as he rubbed Hermione's back and held her hair away from her face while George conjured a glass and filled it with water. "Sorry, most people don't handle that well for the first time."
"You get used to it."
"And it's much easier when you do it yourself, instead of Side-Along."
Hermione grimaced and wiped her mouth, taking the water. "That was foul." She said hoarsely, standing and stumbling away from the mess she'd just made.
"Yeah, it can be." The Twins agreed.
"You alright, now?" Fred asked, watching her carefully. She nodded. "Entrance is this way."
"Seriously? A phone booth? You know that phone booths are becoming more and more outdated? They're already starting to take them down as less people use them." Hermione commented. Muggle Studies was another class that she was hoping would be fixed with this.
The Twins glanced at each other. "Huh." Was all they said.
"Let's see here, what were those numbers...? 62442." Fred muttered while typing the same numbers in.
Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business here today. The cool voice echoed in the booth.
"Er- Hermione Granger, Fred Weasley, and George Weasley. We have meetings with the DMLE." He said, and their visitor badges popped out with a rattle.
Thank you. The voice said again. Please take your badge and attach it to the front of your robes. Visitor, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, located at the far end of the Atrium. Have a nice day. As soon as she stopped speaking, the booth revealed itself to be a lift.
Hermione took a deep breath and adjusted the straps on her bag nervously, mentally double checking that she had everything. Hopefully this worked.
"Ah, Miss Granger, right? Come in, come in." The Trio were ushered into a conference room quickly, those that were from the Ministry knew that Fudge would not take kindly to any attempt at removing his pet toad from Hogwarts, but they also knew that having international allies in this endeavor would greatly help, so were willing to try.
"Thank you. This is Fred and George Weasley. I had to sneak out to get here, I'm a known friend of Harry's, and Umbridge has it out for him especially. They can also provide some evidence of what she's been doing." Hermione introduced the two of them. They nodded in greeting, giving the meeting all the seriousness it deserved.
"Good to meet you three. This is Professor Jack Clemmons from the International Teachers Guild, Madam Griselda Marchbanks from the Department of Education, Professor Aimée DuBois from the European Wizarding Exam Authority, and the Head of the DMLE Amelia Bones. I am Auror Cleo Johnson." The Auror introduced the group of adults to the teens as she sat down beside her boss.
Hermione was pleased to see that Marchbanks had a few files in front of her. She'd clearly come prepared and had some idea of what was happening.
"Before we begin, Miss Granger, I want to hear why you are launching this inquiry when there is already one in place." Bones said, eyeing Hermione curiously.
"The fact that an inquiry is needed, isn't what I disagree with the Minister on. It's how he's going about it, and the reasons behind it. Umbridge is not the one who should be heading this, and he's not doing it because of falling standards. He's doing it because he's paranoid and scared. He's doing it with an agenda that has nothing to do with educational standards in the UK. And the students are the ones paying for it."
The representatives sat quietly, watching her. She barely resisted the urge to fidget. These were some of the most powerful and well respected people in their fields in the world, and they'd come at her request when they could have just mailed her back declining this meeting.
"Well said, Miss Granger." Amelia gave the girl a rare smile. She'd heard about Hermione Granger from her niece, and was pleased to see that Susan had not exaggerated.
"Alright. First off, in your letter you brought up the requirements for being an educator within the UK." Marchbanks said, wanting to get started. "I can tell you right now that Madam Delores Umbridge does not have the OWL and NEWT scores required for her to take any position at Hogwarts. In fact, in reviewing the staff, Professor's Hagrid and Trelawney don't have any of the qualifications needed either. Hagrid doesn't even have a wand, he was expelled in his third year."
"Hagrid at least has his teaching certificate. He barely passed the requirements to get it, though." Clemmons shrugged, he'd pulled all their records for Hogwarts professors for this meeting. The other two did not have the certificate, though. Although how he got that certificate if he'd been expelled...
"He was proven to have been innocent of the incident that got him expelled." Hermione cut in. It wouldn't save Hagrid's teaching career, but maybe she could get his wand rights returned to him so he could get his OWLs and NEWTs, maybe even be able to work on a dragon reserve since he loved dragons so much.
"Oh?" Amelia asked, curious. Most students knew he'd been expelled, but Hagrid never talked about it, despite attempts to loosen his tongue.
Hermione nodded and explained what happened, including events of her second year. "Hmm..." Amelia hummed and glanced at Griselda, who nodded. They would discuss that in more detail later. That wasn't the purpose of this meeting. It was something Amelia would have to investigate in more detail later on.
"How is Defense Against the Dark Arts taught?" Clemmons asked, wanting to know.
"It's not. She tells us to read our book while she sits at her desk and watches us." Hermione said dryly, and passed over the book they used, along with her written copy of the class aims from the first day. Fred and George nodded in agreement.
The group eyed the book and read through the course aims with growing disgust.
"That's not all, either. There's what happens in her detentions." Hermione said grimly.
"Oh?" Griselda asked, frowning.
"She uses some kind of quill that cuts the words they're writing into the back of their hands." Hermione revealed, staring straight at the Aurors.
"It's true." Fred said quietly, rubbing the back of his hand without thinking about it. "She especially has it out for Harry, she put him in detention for breathing too loudly in class last week, for walking too fast a few days before that."
"Use of that quill outside of signing contracts or other official documents is strictly forbidden. Are you telling me she is using it to torture underage children?" Amelia asked to clarify.
"Yes ma'am." Hermione said firmly. "Anybody that tries to tell Professor McGonagall what's happening, she cuts them off before they can say anything and is told to keep their heads down."
"Things are worse then I thought, then." Clemmons said softly. He'd been hearing things about Hogwarts in previous years, but any attempt to ask questions was met with a brick wall from Dumbledore. The rest of the professors at Hogwarts merely said that everything was fine when asked. Every attempt in recent years to send an inspection team had been blocked by Dumbledore as Supreme Mugwump.
Amelia looked at Cleo, who nodded and left immediately.
"While she handles that, let's continue, shall we?" She suggested.
"I retrieved the class information and student size, staff appointments, and exam scores for the last several years, but how do you feel things are in Hogwarts?" Clemmons asked, laying the folder in front of him.
"Well..." Hermione started, and launched into a recount of what she'd seen during her years at Hogwarts, with the Twins adding bits that they'd seen before Hermione got there.
The students sat in shock as a group of Aurors entered the Great Hall at the tail-end of the lunch hour, marched straight to Umbridge, and arrested her for abuse of authority and torture of a minor.
All attempts by Dumbledore to gain control of the situation were met with silent disdain from the Aurors, who hauled her off under a Silencing Charm. (If they looked a little eager to be doing so, none of the students blamed them).
As soon as she was out of the doors, a loud and wild cheer started and quickly swept the Hall. The party would last well into the early hours of the morning, the students at one point were joined by several of the staff for a few hours before they had to get back to their grading and such, and they were kept well supplied with food and butterbeer by the House-elves, who were just as pleased to see the Toad-Woman gone as the humans in the castle.
All attempts by Dumbledore to end the party were ignored, after a few hours Hogwarts locked him in his office and temporarily removed his ability to communicate with the outside or remove points and give detentions. All the Houses were already at zero from his earlier attempts, but the students didn't mind, nor were the other teachers inclined to see the detentions he'd assigned the entire school through.
For once none of the students cared about what House they were in, everyone was too relieved to see her gone, even the Slytherin's who had largely been on her side.
Hermione and the Twins were given a hero's welcome by the Gryffindor's after Harry quietly informed the House that the three had been at the Ministry all day.
"Things are worse then I thought. Much, much worse." Clemmons said, shaking his head as the students were escorted out, and back to Hogwarts. He reshuffled the notes he'd taken of the meeting, the three students had raised good points, especially Ms. Granger. It was clear she'd done her research, while the two boys were more or less along for the ride and as extra witnesses to what Ms. Granger had to say.
"What do you mean?" Marchbanks asked.
"Half of the classes I have listed here, apparently don't even exist. They'd never even heard of half of these teachers, the teachers they do have are clearly overworked and outnumbered by their students. There is no way they can properly ensure discipline or safety with so few of them. The core classes should at least have assistants. And only one school nurse for hundreds of students, that's not safe at all. There should be at least three for that number." Clemmons started. "The students are allowed to run wild, the teachers do nothing about mass bullying of a single student, even when it's happening right in front of them!" Which was consistent with what both Karkaroff and Maxine told him shortly after the Yule Ball. "They're not even learning half of what they should be!"
"The only part of our reports that is accurate are the exam scores, or at least the OWLs and NEWTs since that is graded purely by you, Griselda." DuBois spoke up, shaking her head. And the OWLs and NEWTs were the only ones that truly counted for after Hogwarts. The other years exams were simply for the teachers to determine if the student was able to continue.
"I hadn't even realized how much our standards for OWL and NEWT had dropped, it happened so slowly." Griselda shook her head, looking at the information DuBois had. She'd known they dropped, but she hadn't realized just how much.
"We need to fix this. Properly." Amelia said, looking around at the table. Ms. Granger was clever, very clever. If it weren't for the presence from the guild and exam authority, she and Griselda would be brushed off with empty platitudes and assurances that it was being handled. Umbridge would probably be released and sent straight back to Hogwarts without a care. But because there were two foreigners who had heard the whole thing, and had reports of their own to back the children up, she could actually do something. Because of the foreign presence, she would be able to prosecute Umbridge like she'd been wanting to for years, otherwise Fudge would lose what little international respect he had (if he even had any left). She would have to move fast, though, and not give him a chance to think of an argument.
"Yes, Fudge should have consulted us from the beginning, anyhow. It's not his place to interfere with Hogwarts, he's the Minister, an elected official, not the king or whatever he fancies himself as." Griselda huffed. "He's never worked in education a day in his life!" Wasn't he part of the DMLE before turning his sights on the top office?
"Alright, how do we do this?" Auror Johnson asked, turning to the educational experts in the room. She'd dealt with Umbridge and returned halfway through the students' recitation, glad to have finally put that toad behind bars where she belonged.
"First we need to get a new Defense teacher, one that will actually teach, while putting a real High Inquisitor in place." Clemmons said.
"I know somebody who can teach Defense." Dubois said, and made a mark. "I will let you know if he agrees. Instead of another Inquisitor, why don't we put together a full inspection team?" That way they could all keep an eye on each other, just in case memory charms started flying, and it would be harder to hide things from a team of people rather than one person.
"We would be able to have an expert in each subject there that way, instead of one person having to guess if the professor is correct and up-to-date." Marchbanks agreed.
"I will send two of my Aurors along to escort them, and to see about disciplinary measures for the students, as well as checking the security measures for the school." Amelia offered, knowing that there wasn't much else she could contribute from this point on until her Aurors reported back on whether criminal charges could be filed against somebody at Hogwarts or not. But from now on, it was all up to the educators to handle it until they told her they needed her for something. She already had two Aurors in mind, who she knew she could trust.
"We should perhaps bring in a financial expert, as well, to take a look at the accounts and help get them in order if needed." Cleo suggested, having been silent until now. "I know Gringotts can handle it, but the goblin in charge of the Hogwarts accounts might be compromised if he's allowed inconsistencies like this." Referring to all the classes and teachers Albus claimed he had that did not actually exist.
"Yes, that is a good idea."
The next hours were spent putting a team together, sending owls, and making plans for who could replace the teachers they already knew had to go, like Trelawney and Umbridge. They would wait to reserve judgement on Hagrid until they saw him teaching, there was still the question of how he obtained his certificate without a wand or even completing his third year of school, let alone having his OWLs and NEWTs.
Albus was pensive.
While he was glad that Ministry woman was out of his school, it wasn't because he ordered it or arranged it. He would have preferred it if it was on his word, he did not like it when people moved on their own.
She was useful for establishing to the students that the Ministry couldn't be trusted, but he, Albus Dumbledore, could. She was good for driving Harry further into his grasp and providing a challenge for the boy to overcome. But now she was gone, and he didn't know what to expect next.
He had not expected Amelia Bones to make a move like that, she had been keeping her head down after Cornelius threatened to fire her for incompetence, she knew that she couldn't do anything in the coming days if she were fired, she was more use to the people of Britain as an Auror. At least, that was what he imparted to her in an effort to get her out of his business after she tried to persist in pursuing her line of questioning after the third task. Cornelius threatening her job had just been a bonus.
So now what?
He yet again had to find another teacher for DADA, and soon. It was always so much more difficult to find somebody in the middle of the school year, as opposed to during the summer. But if he didn't find somebody quickly, who knew who Cornelius would assign this time. For sure nobody as unpleasant as Delores, nobody was that unpleasant, but still.
In the meantime, he needed to have a word with his students after their blatant disobedience the day before. And his staff for allowing it!
Jack Clemmons looked around at the crowd and nodded, satisfied.
They had decided on a team of ten. The two Aurors, a Healer to check out the Hospital Wing, and six others who were experts in their various fields. Rather then select one person per subject, they chose people who held double Masteries in some fields, like Potions and Herbology, or Defense and Creatures. Those subjects interconnected so well that it was very easy to hold both Masteries. The last person was from the Teachers Guild and was there to watch the teaching practices going on.
Not only would they be looking at the teaching practices, disciplinary measures, and the subjects themselves, but also the classroom, to make sure that it was a safe environment for students to learn in.
For example, was the potions lab properly ventilated and lit? Was the equipment in good shape? Were there appropriate wards around the more dangerous plants in Herbology? Were the animals in Creatures properly cared for and the appropriate precautions being taken when introducing the students to these animals?
Judging by what the three students had said, these precautions were not actually being taken, but that would be for the experts to decide in the end.
The Aurors main job was going to be making sure the Headmaster did not do anything to the inspection team, and to look at the security measures around the entire castle, like the wards and to look for any of the famed secret passages in and out of the school. They would also be making surprise inspections of the dorms to make sure nothing was being brought in by the students that shouldn't be.
"Sorry I'm late, I had to take care of something." Remus Lupin entered the room, slightly out of breath.
Jack took a moment to study the werewolf, the Defense Master Aimée had chosen to take the post. When he reviewed the man's records, he had been impressed. Despite his monthly problem causing him issues within the prejudiced society of Britain, he was a highly respected Master of Defense, while also holding Masteries in History, Transfiguration, and Ancient Languages. According to his file, he'd already taught at Hogwarts two years ago, but had to leave after an unspecified incident. According to the reports, the official reason was because he was a werewolf and the Board had not known that when they agreed to Dumbledore's choice of hire. After his status was let slip to the students, he'd quietly quit his position before the Board could forcibly remove him, possibly getting the Ministry involved in the process.
Lupin had already disclosed what the incident was to both Aimée and Amelia, though, and they were still fine with him taking the post, though, so it couldn't have actually been that bad, right?
"Not a problem. You are not too late." Jack assured the man. "Well, that is everyone, I believe. John, you have everyone's files?" He double checked with his colleague from the guild, who nodded his agreement. "Alright, good luck. And stay vigilant." He said, and watched them leave to go to Hogwarts.
"Next!" The Goblin at the teller desk called, bored.
"Greetings. I need to speak with whoever is in charge of the Hogwarts accounts and possibly the bank manager." Andromeda handed over the letter she'd been given from Marchbanks and Bones, detailing what she was here for. She knew that she was selected because she'd been out of the political scene for so many years, and she ran a very profitable financial business in the Muggle world.
The teller read the letter, then looked up at her. "Why are they bringing in a human accountant?" He asked, suspicious.
Andromeda raised an eyebrow. "I believe that is a question for you manager to be asking me, not a teller." She said sharply, reminding the Goblin which family this witch was born into.
He called a runner, and instructed him to take her to see Ragnok.
"Thank you." She said politely, and followed the runner.
"An independent audit on the Hogwarts accounts." Ragnok grumbled, reading the letter the runner handed him. "Do they not trust Gringotts to be truthful in our findings?" He demanded.
"Of course they do. But there are concerns that Albus Dumbledore may have been free with his wand to keep the problems at Hogwarts quiet, we cannot be sure that this did not extend to any of you, especially the goblin in charge of the Hogwarts accounts. Besides, you know what those old men on the Wizengamot are like." She shook her head in annoyance at the thought of them.
"Yes, I do." Ragnok grunted, annoyed. "Very well. We will instigate a bank-wide audit as well and offer you whatever you need for your investigation." He said after a moment. "Before the audit begins, everybody helping with the investigation will be seen by a Healer and purged of all outside influence if need be." He declared, and one of his assistants immediately left to see that his wishes were carried out.
He was unsettled by the implication that one of them could have compromised. If that was the case, the integrity of the entire bank was in question. They prided themselves on their security and trustworthiness in protecting the wizards' treasures and money. The attempted robbery a few years ago had been a stain on their reputation, and hopefully none of their accountant managers had actually been compromised, as that would be an even bigger stain.
"Thank you." Andromeda bowed slightly and stood up.
"Take her to conference room two, make sure she has everything she needs." Ragnok instructed her guide.
"I will need the accounting ledgers for Hogwarts from... Oh, for as long as Albus Dumbledore has been Headmaster." She informed the Goblin as he led her out of the room. "And a lot of parchment." She sighed and rubbed her already aching hand. Thankfully she'd thought to bring a pen with her, they were so much easier to use and were better for her hands.
"I will retrieve them for you. Some tea, or coffee as well?" He suggested, knowing that she was going to be here for a while.
"Tea would be wonderful, thank you." She said as she was let into the conference room.
"What is this?" Albus asked, aborting his move to sit down after appropriately scolding the students for their disobedience yesterday, staring at the crowd that had just entered the Great Hall.
"We are here to inspect Hogwarts. Concerns have been raised about dropping standards." John Wallace announced. "Also, to introduce the students' new Defense Professor to them." He stood at the bottom of the teachers' dais and turned to the students before Albus could protest. "Students, first we apologize for what happened with Delores Umbridge, measures are being taken to correct that grievous oversight by the educational community. As part of fixing the problem, the Teachers Guild and European Exam Authority representatives have chosen Remus Lupin as a replacement professor for the remainder of this year. He holds Masteries in Defense, Ancient Languages, Transfiguration, and History, so feel free to come to him for any help you may need." He introduced Remus, who turned slightly red at the recitation of his accomplishments.
He could feel Albus burning a hole in the side of his head, he had not informed the Headmaster about this.
Those who had Remus for his one year were on their feet, cheering that they had their favorite professor back. The only ones who were silent were those prejudiced or scared of him for being a werewolf.
"Remus! You didn't tell me you had your Transfiguration Mastery!" Minerva scolded him slightly, smiling in pride.
"Or history!" Pomona added.
Remus turned even more red. "It didn't come up." He shrugged modestly, taking a seat at the end of the table, greeting Professor Babbling.
"I was not aware of an inspection. And I am sorry, but I did not approve of Mr. Lupin being hired." Albus said, trying to figure out what was going on now.
"An owl was sent regarding our presence. And the Board was informed about Professor Lupin being here." John didn't know, or care, how the ladies got the Board to agree.
"Lets speak in my office." Albus said after a moment, wanting to get them out of here before they said anything else and get them to go away quietly.
"No." John refused, and turned back to the students. "You will see us in the halls, and during class times. We are not here to be disruptive, in fact you probably won't even notice us unless we see something absolutely wrong. With us are two Aurors, they will be inspecting the Wards and other security measures in place, as well as making surprise inspections of the dorms to check for contraband or other dangerous items. So that you know who we are in case of any questions, we have Healer Smith, Herbology and Potion Master René Allard, Defense and Creature Master Wáng Lui, Historian Claire Sanchez, Transfiguration Mistress Dimitra Aetos, Charms Master Caleb Meyers, and our Runes and Arithmancy Mistress Jaqueline Walters."
The Hogwarts staff murmured amongst themselves as they realized what they had done. They brought in experts in each of the major subjects offered at Hogwarts, that way the inspector could actually follow what was going on. All of the people on that inspection team were highly regarded all over the world, frankly some of them were looking forward to being able to share a good conversation with somebody who could actually follow. (They didn't get many intellectual conversations from students). The only major subject not covered by them was Astronomy. Albus looked like he was about to explode.
"While they make sure the subject material is up-to-date, I will make sure the teaching environment is safe and the teaching methods are acceptable. I will also be looking into discipline in this school, and ensuring this school deserves its reputation as a premier school." He didn't mention that as a first-generation (Muggleborn) himself, and one who kept up with advancements, he was going to personally inspect the Muggle Studies class. "Questions?" He asked, ignoring Albus' attempts to get his attention.
"Why did you bring a Healer?" One of the younger students asked, curious. The others she could understand, but why a Healer?
"There are too many students for there to only be one Healer on staff, no matter how skilled that Healer may be. Healer Smith is here to make sure that standards in the Infirmary have not slipped in Madam Pomphrey's efforts to take care of students and to give her what I am sure will be a much needed break." He said, and listened to the whispers that broke out. Poppy slumped a little in relief. She'd been asking for years if she could have an assistant, maybe now she could get it.
"What do you mean by making sure the teaching environment is safe, exactly?" Another student called out over the others murmuring.
"Making sure the Potions classroom is properly ventilated and well-lit, making sure it's warded properly so that the rest of the castle is not affected by a cauldron exploding or something. Making sure the Greenhouses are properly warded so that the more dangerous plants are contained, things like that." He said, and was dismayed to see the confusion on some of the students faces about such simple concepts.
"Finally." Both Severus and Pomona muttered at once. They did what they could, but they weren't experts in warding. They knew the basics, and some of the more common protective wards, but they were no experts. Maybe now Severus would be able to move his classroom somewhere more appropriate, or at least get repairs done on his current classroom. René heard them and thought that it did not bode well for what he would find in their classroom areas.
"I will show you where you can set up, and make arrangements for quarters for you." Minerva said, standing when she saw that Albus had just about reached his limit and was going to do or say something he would regret soon. "I expect every courtesy to be extended to our visitors, and for all students to cooperate during their time with us." She announced sternly, looking out over the sea of faces before she started leading the inspection team. "Remus, I will arrange for a different classroom and quarters for you, the Aurors have yet to finish with Delores' things so they have not yet been cleared out." She said, looking back at him as an after-thought.
"Thank you, Minerva." Remus smiled vaguely and started to enjoy the meal that just appeared in front of him. He'd been so busy getting everything around and making sure Sirius knew that he couldn't come that he hadn't eaten yet today. He was sure that Sirius would find some way to show up, though. He could at least speak with Harry and ask why he had yet to use his mirror.
"Now, do you know about Remus', ah-"
"Furry time of the month?" John asked, already not impressed if she was going to say what he thought she was.
"Yes. Do you already have arrangements made for him to receive Wolfsbane or go somewhere for that night? I don't believe there is time for Professor Snape to make him any for this month. Nor do I think he would after what happened last time." She said, concerned. "Last time he was here, we took turns covering for any classes he had to miss." She revealed. She needed to know so she could set up a rotation again.
John relaxed, realizing that she was just wanting to know if she needed to make any further arrangements today. "Arrangements have already been made, yes."
"Very well." She nodded once as they stopped outside one of the many unused classrooms. "Here we are. You can use this room as a staging area, Pippy!" She called an elf. "Pippy, these guests are here to inspect the school and make sure we are up to standard. You are to make sure they have everything they need." She instructed the elf. "This is their work area, and I will be giving them suites 709 and 810 in the guest wing, if you could get a team of elves together to make it ready." She requested of the elf, who nodded her agreement and snapped her fingers before leaving, cleaning the room and repairing the furniture. A moment later a tea service appeared on the desk at the front of the room. A moment later, their luggage disappeared, too, except for their work bags with their files.
"The Hogwarts elves are very efficient." Healer Smith commented, blinking.
"They are used to cleaning up after and providing for teenagers." Minerva said ruefully. "Most of our students come from Pureblood houses and are used to being waited on hand and foot, and therefore don't think anything of leaving a mess behind or complaining about something." She shook her head. "This is also a very large castle, even with one hundred and fifty elves, they still struggle to get everything done sometimes."
"Even with most of the castle sitting empty?" Sanchez asked, curious.
Minerva nodded. "The empty classrooms and quarters get cleaned once a month, and they have to go through every inch of the castle regularly to make sure pests and other creatures don't start taking up residence in the unoccupied areas, as you know that all the magic in the air here will attract them and they will spread quickly if not caught. They also keep up the maintenance on the building itself. Most of the vegetables and fruits we serve are grown here, we have a garden and orchard that the elves maintain and harvest as needed, along with a moderately sized herd of livestock for our meat that the elves care for. All this while cooking and cleaning for hundreds of teenagers and occasionally getting called away by a member of staff for something."
"Wow."
"Mopsy is I think the least busy elf we have, she's assigned to keeping the Hospital Wing clean, and sometimes assists Madam Pomphrey by handing her things or retrieving Professor Snape if she needs him." She told Healer Smith, who looked concerned.
"Professor Snape is the Potions Master here?" René asked, knowing full well who Severus Snape was.
"Yes. He also has his medi-wizardry license, so he is able to assist, and he's our resident Dark Arts expert." She hoped they didn't hold that against him, most people became wary of him after learning that. "So if a student has come across something or been cursed and Poppy doesn't recognize it, he usually knows what it is and the counter. As well as providing specialty potions she needs that he cannot keep a regular stock of for some reason or other."
"And what if he were in the middle of a time-sensitive potion? He cannot just drop everything and leave, some of them will explode if not constantly tended to."
"Then Poppy has to do without his help until he can get there." Minerva said grimly. Many students had become permanently scarred or disfigured because Poppy could not get to them in time due to only being one person with multiple patients.
"Well, I believe you will find me in the Hospital Wing, I may as well get started. If you could show me the way?" Smith asked, shaking her head.
"Mopsy!" Minerva called the elf in charge of the Hospital Wing. When the elf popped in, she looked at Minerva in question. It wasn't often she was called by anybody other than Poppy. "Can you show Healer Smith to the Hospital Wing? She is part of the inspection team, and will be in the Hospital Wing for most of it."
"Mopsy shows the way!" Mopsy grinned hugely, pleased that maybe her Mistress could get some help now. There was only so much she could do, after all. Smith nodded to the others and swept out of the room after the little elf.
"I will leave you to get settled, I will be back in an hour to show you around, Hogwarts can be very confusing to navigate if you have never been here before. I just need to go arrange for Remus' classroom and quarters." She left them to get set up, hopeful in a way she hadn't expected to be.
"The staff seem eager to have us here." Jaqueline commented, pulling two student desks together and transfiguring them together into one large oak desk before turning a chair into something more comfortable. That done, she pulled out her equipment and started carving runic wards into the walls and around the door to keep people out and for privacy.
"I believe they have been attempting to make improvements for a long time, but were unable to sway the Headmaster." Lui commented, doing the same thing and claiming the corner of the room as his before casting his own wards in Chinese.
"That is worrying." John muttered, setting up his own area.
"Wow, I did not expect that." Harry muttered as McGonagall led the team out, then he narrowed his eyes at Hermione. "Why is it whenever you go on a research binge, something big always happens?" He asked suspiciously.
She shook her head. "Are you complaining?" She asked. "The problems in this place can finally be fixed, or at least worked on." She shrugged and went back to her food, content.
"I'm just glad Umbridge is gone." Ron smirked. "When do you want to go visit Remus?" He asked.
"Let's give him time to get set up. Then we'll go find his new office." Harry decided.
"Everyone, to your Common Rooms!" Dumbledore barked, not at all pleased and barely able to restrain his anger at what just happened. He stormed out, intent on making some Floo-calls and getting answers.
"Oh boy."
"This should be interesting." The Twins said from further down the table.
The next day, Monday, the students were surprised to see none of the inspectors were at the Head Table, instead they were scattered around the House tables, speaking with the students sitting closest to them and answering questions from others walking by.
"Well of course, they can't get things from our perspective unless they actually talk to us." Hermione said sensibly.
"It's just weird to see adults at the tables, that's all." Ron shrugged. The staff weren't very approachable. Yes, you could go and speak with them in their office at (supposedly) any time, but there was also no way of knowing when they would be in there. The Heads of House were especially difficult to pin down and talk to, because they taught the core subjects and had Head of House duties to deal with that kept them very busy. Snape and Sprout were even worse as Snape was in charge of stocking the Hospital Wing and Sprout had to tend to the Greenhouses, no matter how much students helped with that during class itself.
"Tell me about it." Harry muttered, and watched in surprise as the adults finished their conversations, got up, and moved to another part of the Hall, taking their food with them.
"They seem to be making their rounds." Neville commented, watching as the Defense Master moved from the Hufflepuff table near the first years, to sit with the Slytherin seventh years.
"Well, they want to get as accurate an idea as possible of what goes on here." Hermione pointed out. "That can only happen by getting as many opinions as possible instead of just talking to one group like Rita Skeeter does for her articles about Harry." In her articles about Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid the year before Rita only talked to a few Slytherin's, and it was the few Slytherins that had shown the most animosity towards the three over the years.
"They're already showing themselves better then she was." Harry nodded in agreement.
"Hello." They looked up to see one of the Aurors standing beside them. "Can I sit?" She asked.
"Yeah, sure." A few students moved over to make room as Hermione and Ginny separated so she could sit between them.
"Thank you. As you know, myself and my partner over there are in charge of seeing what security measures are in place, and I hear you guys are the ones to talk to about ways in and out of the school." She said bluntly, spearing a carrot while she talked.
Harry bit his lip. "There are a few passageways going out of the school, but I'm sure we don't know where all of them are. Filch knows about some of them, and some others are actually inaccessible." He said after a moment.
"Like the one on the fourth floor behind a mirror. It's completely caved in." The Twins chimed in from nearby.
"A cave in could be fixed with magic if you're careful." She pointed out, and made a note to check out the mirrors on the fourth floor. "Do you know where it led to?" She asked.
"There's a cave system outside Hogsmeade. The tunnel led to a pretty big cavern deep in that system. We think that it used to be an evacuation point until it was forgotten or something." Fred shrugged. Until the tunnel collapsed a few years ago, they used the cavern as a make-shift lab/experimenting zone. After it collapsed, they'd had to sneak out the tunnel under Honeydukes so they could find the cavern from the outside just so they retrieve their things and move them to an unused classroom instead.
"Huh. Interesting." She was quiet for a bit longer before she started asking more questions about tunnels and passageways leading in and out of Hogwarts, and various things that happened over the years, like rumors of the third floor in Harry's first year, events of his second year, and everything that happened with Sirius Black in third. According to other students she'd talked to, all the strange or dangerous things seemed to be focused around Harry Potter and his group of friends.
"Well, the general feeling among the students is curiosity for most, and caution for others. Everyone seems more then relieved that Umbridge is gone." John said after breakfast, as his team gathered in their room before they went to their first class inspections.
"Well no wonder, did you see the list of 'educational decrees' she had posted? And the ones she was still working on!" Claire asked. "I'm amazed the students were allowed to wipe their noses without permission."
"That woman had no business being around children."
"Auror Johnson, Auror Moon. Did you learn anything interesting?" He asked them, knowing that Moon had spent time with Harry Potter's group.
"The Weasley Twins are going to take us around to some places in the school that aren't widely known later on, including a collapsed tunnel going from the fourth floor to a large cavern outside Hogsmeade. It sounds like a promising evacuation route if we can secure it properly against being used by attackers to get in. Other than that, we have a troll entering and attacking students on Halloween, a possessed professor here to steal the Philosopher's Stone of all things, a Cerberus behind a locked door with no other protections, and that's all in Mr. Potter's first year! In his second, there was the whole thing with the Basilisk, and I'm going to have to do some digging into the artifact he claims is responsible, because from what he described it sounded familiar. Then there were the events in his third year when Sirius Black broke in, repeatedly, and I believe everybody knows about his fourth year. I'm wondering how the school wards did not register any of this!" She informed the rest of the group.
"Oh wow."
"It gets better!" She said, mock cheerfully. "Did you know there is a very large Acromantula colony in the Forbidden Forest? Mr. Potter and Mr. Ronald Weasley barely escaped being eaten by them in their second year."
"Acromantula?" Lui asked, shocked. "So close to all these children? Did they say just how large the colony is?"
"No, but the 'father' of the colony is at least fifty years old, from what they were saying, so who knows how many children he's spawned in that time." She said grimly.
"Excuse me, I must call the ICW Endangered and Dangerous Creatures Committee right away." Lui said, and left to get that colony away from the school.
While Acromantula were not endangered, they were highly dangerous. Not only was a lone Acromantula capable of decimating a local ecosystem, they ate anything and everything and grew very large, but their preferred food source was human. To consider the kind of damage an entire colony of them could do... And so close to a school full of children...
He had no idea why the Acromantula had yet to make a move on the castle and the hundreds of vulnerable children, especially if the colony had been there for so long, and frankly he didn't want to take the chance that whatever held them back... stopped. He also knew from his own time on the committee that the Forbidden Forest around Hogwarts was home to several endangered species, and several others that were precious, like Unicorns. The committee had no idea that there was an Acromantula colony, if they had they would have taken steps years ago to relocate or eradicate it.
"While he does that. You two, go ahead and get to work. It sounds like you have a lot of it." John sighed. "Alright everybody, we know what to look out for, lets get to it." He shrugged and left, intent on starting his day with Divination.
René's first stop was the Greenhouses, he would cover Potions the next day, while Claire headed for the History room, Caleb went to find Professor Flitwick, and Jaqueline decided to head for the Runes classroom first, Dimitra decided to do something a little different and went to the library instead of Transfiguration.
She already knew that Minerva knew what she was talking about and was up-to-date in the field (they often got into spirited debates at conferences), so she was going to hold off on inspecting her lessons for a bit. She wanted to see what kind of source material was available to the students. She wanted to see if the famous Hogwarts library lived up to its reputation and she wanted to get the librarian's opinion on how things were going around Hogwarts.
The quiet atmosphere of a library meant that students sometimes talked about things, believing that nobody was around to hear, the librarian was like a bartender in that regard. Everybody talked in front of her and never really noticed. She could tell Dimitra about trends in the student population, about things she'd noticed that nobody believed she would have, and the students' study habits.
"Well?" John asked, absolutely exhausted from his day. He didn't last ten minutes into the first Divination class of the day before canceling the rest of the lesson and firing Sibyll Trelawney on the spot. The woman may have the Sight, he didn't know. However, he was not going to continue allowing her to predict death and destruction upon the students with every other word that left her mouth. She should be lucky he wasn't pressing charges for mental and emotional abuse of minors. And he could smell the alcohol on her! Even over the clouds of incense she was burning.
After that he had to fight with Albus Dumbledore about it. Luckily he'd managed to work out a deal with the local Centaur herd for one of their members to cover classes until they could work something else out (They were known for their skill in Divination, even if it wasn't the same as human Divination practices). (He won the fight, by the way, she was unqualified to teach and it showed).
"The Acromantula will be dealt with first thing in the morning." Lui reported, happy with how his day had gone. He'd been in conversations with the Committee all day, and hadn't even gotten around to inspecting his lessons yet, so he didn't have anything else to report.
"Not tonight?" Claire asked, concerned about having a colony so close to the school.
He shook his head. "There is a team doing a survey now to estimate numbers and sizes, but Acromantula are most active at night. It will be too dangerous to try and round them up in the dark, especially with their dark coloring. And once the survey team is done, we have to decide upon how to deal with them and make arrangements for where to put them if they decide upon partial eradication and removal."
"Alright, well, we will say something at dinner to make sure the students know to stay out of the way tomorrow." John decided. "How did it go in your classes today?"
"Pomona Sprout certainly knows her plants. She grows most of Hogwarts greenhouses from cuttings she's taken from the wild, instead of buying them. According to her, there are a few she would love to buy, but it is not in the budget. Same with proper safety gear. The ear protection the students use against the Mandrakes is a simple pair of earmuffs that she casts noise-repelling charms on. What if the charm fails while the students are repotting or uprooting a mature mandrake?" He asked. "She does the best she can, though. Other than that, I think a little more theory before they actually start working with some of the plants." René finished his quick report, having already written it up as the day went on.
"I will inspect the classroom areas tonight after dinner." John decided. "Dimitra?"
"I visited the library. Madam Pince was full of information on the school for me, including a very long list of books that have been removed from the library every year, and the list that she tries to buy every year that gets rejected. Look at that list." She handed it over.
"Magical Theory: How it Works. A True History of the Dark Ages. Genealogical Record of the Ages. What is this?" John asked, reading just a few of the titles out loud. The rest of the titles were puzzling, as they were excellent source materials.
"I don't know. I wanted to see what kind of source material the students had available to study from, and I am shocked and struggling to understand how students are supposed to understand the material without such basic source material as Magical Theory: How it Works." She admitted. "That is a required reference book for every first year student in America. I don't understand how the first-gen or no-maj raised are supposed to keep up without it." The magical-raised students should have been taught it from birth at least.
"Write up a report on what Pince told you, we will look it over later." John finally said, looking up from the very long list. "Did you visit Transfiguration today?"
"Yes, Professor McGonagall was very knowledgeable, and very clear in her instruction. I believe, however, that a better balance of theory and practical is needed." She handed over that report, too. "There are some things that I think should be covered sooner in the students' education that I saw, but I will wait until I see more."
"Claire?"
"That ghost has got to go." The normally bubbly woman said seriously. "Within the first five minutes of his droning lecture, all his students were either asleep or were getting there. Two boys even brought a pillow and blanket to class, ready to take a nap. Some of the more studious brought earplugs and started either reading the textbook or doing homework from another class. His entire lecture was on the history of the different wars and 'rebellions' with the Goblin Nation, all from a strictly wizarding point of view, painting the goblins in a horrible light. That was for all years. The homework he set, didn't even have anything to do with the lecture."
"Oh wow." Caleb said in surprise.
"After lunch, I put a silencing ward around him and taught them myself. He didn't even notice." She was actually rather upset about it, Cuthbert Binns was a rather well respected historian before he died, it was disappointing to walk into that classroom and witness that.
"I will handle it." John promised, making a note. Well, there was Divination and now History that they would need to find a new teacher for, and it was only the first day. "Caleb?"
"Professor Flitwick is very good at keeping the students engaged and at helping them understand the material. I think the first years could use a little more theory before moving onto practical, and I think that some of the slower students could do with some more one-on-one instruction, maybe outside class time so that the rest of the class can move on when ready, but otherwise I have no complaints about him." Caleb shrugged.
"Jaqueline? Did you cover Runes or Arithmancy today?"
"Runes." She nodded. "I have no complaints about her teaching material so far, but the equipment is ancient and needs to be replaced. I also think that the students would benefit from Runes being offered sooner than third year, as there is a lot to cover before their OWLs."
"Alright, well, this is only the first day. We will gather a more clear picture in the coming days, but this is a good start so far. In reviewing the different professors' files, they all have the required OWLs and NEWTs except for Trelawney, Hagrid, Vector, and Burbage. Vector got an Acceptable on her NEWT, Burbage got an Acceptable on both her OWL and NEWT, Hagrid didn't even take his OWLs or NEWTs, and Trelawney... well, enough said. She's already been fired." John said, shuffling his papers.
"Already?" Dimitra asked, shocked. "What did she do?"
"Every other word out of her mouth was a prediction of a students death or other tragic event, and for the homework assignment she'd set them, a student told me that they just make things up. The more gruesome or tragic for them, the more she likes it. He showed it to me, it was a list of more and more gruesome ways that he was going to die in the coming month." He said grimly. "She praised it and said that he was more open to the 'sight' then everyone else."
The rest of the group were staring at him in shocked disbelief.
"I- wha- oh wow." Lui finally settled on before muttering to himself in his native Chinese.
"Indeed." John muttered. "Burbage... I'm not sure what she's doing teaching such a vital subject, or why it's even optional for third years on. It should be mandatory for all wizard-raised, preferably taught by a first generation who keeps up with their nonmagical heritage. She's a British Pureblood, and she doesn't even have the required scores to qualify. I'll speak with her and take a look at what she's teaching tomorrow, but I'm not expecting much. All the core subject teachers have their Mastery and teaching certificates, along with Babbling."
"What does her being a British Pureblood have to do with it?" Dimitra asked, confused.
"You've clearly not spent much time around that bunch." Lui snorted.
"Lets just say that the British Purebloods don't interact with or know the first thing about no-majs." John shook his head. "I spoke with one once, he was convinced that 'fellytones' are to be used with the mouthpiece to your ear, and that eklict- I can't even pronounce it. He couldn't pronounce electricity. Anyway, you get the idea. And he was supposed to be the Ministry expert."
"Oh wow."
"That's tame compared with some others I've spoken with." Lui muttered.
"Anyway, who is covering Astronomy tonight?" He asked, reading through his notes.
"I will." Caleb volunteered.
"Very well. I will set up times tomorrow to speak with the Heads of House to see what their duties are and how they carry them out... What did you two find?" He asked the Aurors.
"The Twins and Mr. Potter really know their way around the castle. They showed us areas that we never knew about, and we went to school here, too." Auror Grey Johnson snorted. "We have some potential problem areas mapped out and possible evacuation routes as well. After lunch, we did a surprise inspection of the Gryffindor Tower, we found a shocking amount of love potions in the girls dorms, and a few other things that no student should really have. We put a secrecy oath around the inspection so that the Lions can't warn the rest of the school, and we'll do the other three houses tomorrow before lunch."
"After lunch we'll check the wards." Andrea shrugged. "Then we'll start investigating the rumors of things going on in this castle over the years."
"Let us know if you need help. The rest of us will keep our ears open, as well." Jaqueline offered.
"Thank you, we'll let you know." Grey nodded at her.
"Did you have fun today?" Hermione asked Harry fondly. He'd been excused from the rest of his classes before lunch after Divination was canceled so that he and the Twins could show the two Aurors around. Apparently they were looking into how secure the school really was, and to do that they needed to see what the three who knew Hogwarts best knew about it.
Normally she would have something to say about him missing classes, but she supposed that helping the Aurors make sure Hogwarts really was safe was important too. He knew he could come to her if he needed help with something, even though she knew that he could figure it out himself if he just thought about it a little more.
"Yup. We talked some about the stuff that happened over the years, too. Like with the Stone, and the Basilisk, and all that. I'm going to take them to see the Chamber in a few days. They need to finish the inspections on the dorms first and check the wards around the school tomorrow." Harry shrugged. "We even found an interesting room on the seventh floor, the elves we talked to called it the Come-and-Go-Room, although Auror Johnson said it looked like the fabled Room of Requirement." They were going to talk to the elves about any more areas like that that even Harry and the Twins didn't know about.
"Really?" Ron asked, curious.
"The Twins didn't even know about it, and its not on the map." Harry said.
"We'll have to go check it out." Hermione decided eagerly. Harry smirked at her.
"Enough about all that. Did you hear what they found in the dorms?" Dean asked, sitting down beside them suddenly.
"No?" Harry asked, glancing at Ron, who shrugged.
"They found love potions on the girls' side." All the boys collectively shuddered at the thought and felt sorry for whoever the intended targets were. "And some really questionable books and other things all over the place." He glanced at Hermione, who sighed and shook her head.
"Some of the books were mine, Si- Snuffles let me borrow them this summer and I was still reading them when school started. I was going to send them back with you over winter break." Hermione told Harry. "I explained to them where they were from and why I had them. I was talking to Bill about some of the curses he handles, and was researching them some more." The Aurors were going to deliver the books to Gringotts, care of the Black manager, after she proved where they were from. They weren't banned, or restricted or anything. They weren't even considered too dangerous. They just weren't anything that should be in a school. And it wasn't like her intentions were bad.
Harry nodded his understanding while everyone else nearby (who didn't know about the Order) looked confused about who 'Snuffles' was. They didn't pry, though. They knew that they wouldn't be able to get a straight answer from any of the Trio.
"How many of the things they found were in the seventh year boys room?" Ron snorted, changing the subject.
"Surprisingly few. They did have to get the Twins since they had no idea what half the stuff they found was or what it was supposed to do. They mentioned something about getting a contract set up with the Twins for the Auror department for some of it once they graduated. They stipulated that the Twins had to get their NEWTs, though, and challenged them to get straight O's." Seamus said, amazed.
"Really?" The Trio blinked at him in shock before turning to see the Twins, who were in a corner pouring over a stack of parchment.
"Oi, Fred, George!" Ron yelled. Their heads snapped up. "What's this about getting a contract with the Aurors?" Heads all over the common room popped up and whispers started.
The Twins glanced at each other. "They were amazed at some of our stuff, they were." Fred polished his fingernails on his chest, a smirk spreading across his chest.
"They found a lot of use for it in catching or chasing criminals." George agreed, propping his elbow up on his brother. Especially their Instant Darkness Powder that they imported from Peru and figured out how to make more of for themselves. Their shield hats had drawn their interest and the Aurors had suggested gloves or cloaks as well. Their swamp holes had even garnered some interest as it would allow them to capture suspects easier if they could throw one of them down and chase the suspect into it. Their Skiving Snackboxes would make it easier for them to get somebody out of the way temporarily without arousing suspicion.
The Twins had never considered their pranks to be anything other than pranks, and were actually excited about it. Everything would just need a little tweaking to make it Auror-grade instead of just prank-worthy.
And a contract with them would make it easier to get some of the more restricted materials they needed for their creations and experiments. They weren't too happy with the stipulation about their NEWTs, but realized that the DMLE would have to be able to show that the person they just got a contract with actually knew what they were doing and were qualified, otherwise they opened themselves up to a lot of problems if something happened. Auror Johnson even said they might be able to work the contract so that the Ministry sponsored them for a Mastery if they were so inclined to go that route. Although, they weren't exactly about to turn down a challenge like the one they'd been given.
The Common Room burst into chatter, with many congratulations being directed towards the Twins. They grinned, happy with the response they got.
Of course they were still going to do their shop, they were already looking at premises in Diagon, they knew that they wouldn't be able to afford anything in Hogsmeade for a while yet, but they were already making tentative plans for expansion in the future. They would see how well they did first. This contract would help open those doors, and they didn't mind creating a more serious line of product, especially with what was currently going on and whatever was to come with Voldemort.
Andromeda shook her head in disbelief.
She'd only been here for a day, and she'd already found more discrepancies in the accounts for the first year then she'd seen in most business accounts for a decade.
Ragnok sneered at the piles of parchment in disgust and barked out an order in his native tongue.
"What about the goblin in charge of the Hogwarts accounts?" She asked warily. If he was part of this, he was dead. If he'd been compromised, his career as an account manager might be over. This was a coveted job within the bank, to lose it would put his family in disgrace for centuries.
"He was found to have numerous controlling potions in him, as well as evidence of past compulsion spells, including the Imperious Curse." Ragnok growled. "A few of our managers and tellers were found to also be compromised."
"What will happen to them?"
"The spells have Albus Dumbledore's signature on them, even though he tried to cover it up. We will institute new policy about the matter, to ensure this never happens again, and submit everything to your DMLE. If your Ministry does not do anything about it, we will. As for the goblins he spelled, Grinder is almost old enough to retire to our halls. He has been offered to do so early. The others will be moved somewhere else within the bank." Ragnok answered.
If it had just been Grinder, he would have been forcefully demoted in disgrace for allowing such a thing to occur to him. However, because it was so widespread, it was clear that it wasn't just him, which meant that he could quietly retire and be an Elder of their race. Elder's were highly respected and were often consulted on matters as they were often seen as wise. They'd experienced much in their lives. Some Elders were in charge of teaching the young ones, others guarded their knowledge.
The rest of Grinder's life would be marred by this, but he was being allowed to retain his status, which would go a long way in how others viewed him and his family.
Andromeda nodded her understanding. "Alright, first things first, getting the remaining funds in order so that the school can stay open for the rest of the year. Thankfully, it seems that most of the expenses for the year are paid at the current Hogwarts standard." Which wasn't very high in her opinion. She would have to check with the Board to see if they had any requests on file for funding from any of the teachers. She would also have the inspecting team ask the teachers themselves, just in case the requests got 'lost' or 'misplaced'.
"While we do that, I will have a team work on tracing the stolen money and returning it to where it belongs." Ragnok agreed and sent for his team.
She sighed and rolled up her sleeves. "Let's get to work." She shook her head and bent over parchments filled with numbers and a long, tangled mess.
"What do you mean there is an inspection team at Hogwarts?" Lucius Malfoy growled. "Why did we not know about this?" He demanded.
"Why didn't you step in and remind the Minister of his place? Why did you allow him to send his atta- ahem, Undersecretary as a professor and High Inquisitor when she did not have the qualifications?" Amelia countered, raising an eyebrow along with Griselda and Jack. "It is clear that things at Hogwarts are out of control, and this body is part of the problem."
The rest of the Board of Governors either squirmed a little in their seats, or stared impassively, not giving away how they felt about being rebuked in such a manner.
"What do you mean 'out of control'?" Ted asked, frowning. None of the reports they received from the Headmaster indicated such, and they hadn't received any student complaints beyond the usual ones about Snape, but Albus was always able to explain those away as exaggerations. His own daughter had the same complaints, but she was also a disaster on feet, she tripped over air all the time. He couldn't imagine that putting her near a cauldron would be any better. Which meant that Snape was right to be a little extra stern with her if he wanted to keep everyone else alive.
"Tell me, how many teachers does Hogwarts have? What classes are offered?" Jack asked, knowing what the answers would be.
"The usual core classes, Defense, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, History, Astronomy, Latin for Muggle-raised or did not otherwise learn from their parents. And then Etiquette, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Divination, French, German, Goblin, Muggle-studies, Wizarding Culture, Law and Political Science, Finance, Dance, Music, Art, Spell-crafting, and a few others." Augusta said, wondering what was going on. She knew Neville only took Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, especially after dropping Divination after third year, but he'd also already learned the rest of it growing up and she occasionally tested him to make sure he did not forget it.
"The only classes actually offered at Hogwarts are; Defense, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, History, Astronomy, Care, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Divination, and Muggle-Studies." Jack revealed. "All those other classes that are listed, none of them actually exist except on a piece of paper." Or parchment, since he was in Britain.
"How do you know this?" Ted asked, shocked.
"Simple. We actually talked to the students and did not brush their concerns off." Griselda frowned. Why was it such a surprise? Sure, they offered those OWL and NEWT exams for the missing classes, but only because it was on the exam applications when the students were signed up. If they were in the class, they were automatically signed up for the exam by their teacher, the other exams the student had to request to take, which she was sure the Muggleborn and raised weren't even aware of.
"Speaking of those students, one of the ones we spoke with had an interesting story for us, of a broom going berserk during a first year flying lesson. I believe your grandson was riding that particular broom, he broke his wrist." Amelia turned to Augusta. "Why were those brooms never replaced if they are clearly that old and dangerous to use?" They were the Board, they approved the final budget! Of course, she could understand if they were apparently approving the pay of teachers and budgets for classes that did not exist, but surely there was money set aside for something like the brooms to be replaced every so often?
"What are you talking about? Those brooms were replaced in the summer of 1990." Augusta said indignantly, shocked. Why was she never informed that her grandson had such an accident?
"Did you see the new brooms purchased? Did you look at them? Did you confirm with your own eyes that it happened?" Amelia challenged her. Obviously none of the Board had done anything beyond approving the purchase and trusting the report that it had been done.
"You are clearly out of touch with what is happening in that school if you don't even know that your grandson was hurt and why." Jack scoffed, unable to believe this. They were the Hogwarts Governors, they were supposed to keep an eye on this.
"If those classes do not exist, I suppose it is then safe to assume that the teachers for them also do not exist." Daniel Greengrass said after a moment, frowning thoughtfully. "And yet, we have been paying those teachers salaries for... oh, however long it's been since those classes were evidently canceled."
"Ah, is that what Andy has been up to?" Ted perked up slightly. "She told me she had been requested by the Ministry to audit some accounts, it is the Hogwarts accounts she is going over, isn't it?" She hadn't been able to say which accounts, evidently she'd been asked not to. They'd known that her husband was on the Board and had not wanted to risk the Board members interfering until they had more of an idea of just what was happening.
"Indeed." Amelia said. "Those funds are being traced, and she is working with the Goblins to get everything straightened out and back where it belongs. She tells me that the accounts are a mess, however, and it may take a while."
The Board was silent, stunned at the revelations at how badly they had failed the students of Hogwarts.
"Your team will have the full backing of the Hogwarts Board of Governors to do what is needed to raise standards at our once prestigious School." Lucius finally declared after looking around at the rest of the members and seeing their silent agreement. "We will start looking for teachers for those missing classes, taking any recommendations you may have into account, Professor Clemmons, as well as new professors to replace anyone being let go due to ineptitude or missing qualifications."
Jack nodded his understanding. He hadn't come to this meeting seeking their permission, but having their backing instead of hindrance would greatly help.
"Professor Snape, I see you have made requests to update your labs and move them to a different location?" John asked Severus after he dismissed his second year Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff class. John was going to wait to address the teaching method the man used until later. For now he had another concern. He was looking around the dank, poorly lit and ventilated dungeon room in horror.
René had already been in here, and had nothing but good things to say about Severus' subject material or what they were covering, even if he raised questions about the teaching method, or seeming lack of. It seemed Severus Snape scoffed at the lesson plans the Headmaster had given him, and formed his own plans based on when he was a student, although a little more advanced. However, he shared John's concerns with the lab conditions.
"Yes, I have. Each year I have been denied citing budget issues." Severus sneered at the thought. The main reason why students were sometimes late to his class, not that he was going to give them any leniency for it, was because of where his classroom was located. Oftentimes they were held after their previous lesson because the teacher wanted to speak with them, and let them go without a note thinking that they still had time to get to their next class, without taking into account that their next class was in the dungeon. Or when a class came to him straight from the North Tower.
He didn't even want to get into the times when a class came to him from Herbology or Care and did not have time to clean up because they lived in either the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw towers.
"Where would you like to move your classrooms to?"
"There is a room on the second floor that is large enough, is well-lit, and easy to reach from the rest of the castle." Severus answered.
"I will take a look at it." John made a note. "We may be able to move everything up there over the weekend. Actually updating the equipment will of course have to wait until the schools finances get sorted out." He muttered. He was not making students put up with this depressing room any longer.
Severus nodded his acceptance, pleased.
"Now, I do have some things regarding your teaching style, or lack of it." John finished writing and pinned Severus with a Look. Severus inwardly winced, but met his gaze and breathed.
It would not do to lose his temper with the inspector, he just had to stay calm.
"Thank you for coming." John said formally, standing at the head of the table in the staff lounge. The rest of his team was sitting on either side of him, looking thoughtful or grim. "As you all know, we've been looking around the castle for the last week, studying how you teach your students, looking at the material, and seeing if it is a safe learning environment for the students." He paused and looked around at the teachers, pausing briefly on the smug expression crossing the Headmaster's face. "I must say I am rather disappointed by what we found."
Of the professors that didn't qualify, they were all hired by Dumbledore. Where those that did qualify were either Board hires, or they were highly recommended by their mentors or the previous professor. Or, in the case of Flitwick, were hired before Dumbledore became Headmaster and took charge of hiring.
The teachers murmured to themselves, some surprised, others not. The look on Dumbledore's face disappeared as his features hardened.
"Professor's Burbage and Vector, you do not have the correct qualifications to teach your chosen subjects. I am sorry to say as you are not qualified to be here, you are dismissed from your positions." He handed the two shocked professors a folder containing their severance pay information, since qualified or not they both had contracts and had put some time in.
"You can't do this!" Charity Burbage stood up, outraged. She was a good teacher!
"I'm afraid I can. I have been given the authority by the Hogwarts Board of Governors and the British Board of Education to do what we need to do in order to raise standards here at Hogwarts." John leveled her with a look. "For that matter, not only are you unqualified, have you ever even stepped foot into the nonmagical communities? If you had, you would know that your subject material is at least a century out of date!" He snapped, losing his patience for a moment before he visibly calmed himself down.
"You have until tomorrow after dinner to gather your belongings and leave Hogwarts. After that we will need your quarters for the new teachers. Have a good day, both of you." He dismissed them from the room, Vector went quietly, still shocked, while Burbage had to be escorted out, spluttering the entire way.
"Now, my dear boy, I'm not sure that was necessary. They were fine teachers." Dumbledore stood, staring at John with his patented disappointed Grandfather look.
"By British law, they are unqualified to be teachers." John said simply before moving on, unaffected by the disappointment on the Headmaster's face. "I will inform Professor Hagrid when he returns from his trip, that until he takes his OWLs and NEWTs, and passes with good enough scores, his services as a teacher are also no longer needed. He can, however, retain his job as Groundskeeper and Keeper of the Keys." He wasn't sure what a Keeper of the Keys was, but whatever. "Professor Grubbly-Plank, you are qualified, and have been doing well, the Board and Department of Education would like to extend an offer of a permanent position to you."
"Oh, dear." Minerva winced, Hagrid loved teaching.
"I would love to." Grubbly-Plank said, surprised. Lui handed her the standard teaching contract to read over and sign.
"Hagrid is a fine instructor and has my full confidence." Dumbledore frowned, not liking what was going on at all. First Trelawney was fired, Binns was released, now Vector and Burbage, and even Hagrid had lost his teaching position! And he had no input about any of it!
"I'm sure he is. I do not know either way, however, since he isn't here for us to observe. That is not the point right now. The point is, he doesn't even have a wand, let alone the required OWL and NEWT scores that would qualify him as a professor within the Magical United Kingdom. He also has a history of putting his students before creatures that are far outside their skill level. Not to mention his 'pets'." And really, keeping an Acromantula has a pet? Letting it breed so close to children? What was the man thinking?
Thankfully the colony had already been dealt with, although the eradication and relocation team lost three people in the process. The parts of the killed spiders and all the silk from their nest had been sold, with the profits going straight into Hogwarts accounts, which had been frozen except for a small budget for essential school function. The colony had been one of the largest ever found, at over four hundred spiders, of all ages and sizes.
He shuddered to think of what could have happened should the spiders attack the school. It would have been a massacre.
"Hagrid-"
"When or if he gets the required OWL and NEWT scores, he can reapply. However, until then, he is not qualified." John ended the debate firmly, not interested in hearing whatever excuse the Headmaster tried to come up with.
"Now, we have been observing and we have a few suggestions that we feel would be in your students best interest." John moved on after a moment, and the next hours were spent going over classes and how they could be better conducted or what material needed to be covered and when as per international educational standards, versus what was actually covered in the Hogwarts syllabus.
Every attempt by Dumbledore to interrupt the meeting, derail the meeting, dismiss the meeting, or otherwise stop the changes that needed to be made from being revealed to his staff were ignored and treated with contempt by John.
Finally, he snapped. "Do you honestly want your students to fail in the outside world?" He demanded, glaring at the old man. "Because I can tell you that is exactly what has been happening for the last five decades. Unless a student has an old name and money behind them, they are stuck in dead-end jobs if they can get one at all! The number of young people leaving Magical Britain to seek out jobs in the Muggle community has been rising, putting the Statute of Secrecy at risk along with the British economy. When your students try to find work outside Britain, they are laughed out of businesses when its learned they are Hogwarts graduates! Your students are unable to get apprenticeships unless they have money. And you are content with that? You are going to stand there and proclaim that there is nothing to change? You are going to try and tell me that Hogwarts is a premiere school with such a joke of a curriculum?"
The staff were quiet at hearing about how woefully unprepared their students were after school. Even Albus Dumbledore couldn't find anything to say to the accusations thrown so blatantly out there.
He knew the facts, and he found that he didn't quite care. They furthered his plans in not only creating a nice divide in the community, but of ensuring that he was the one with all the answers, that he was the one people turned to. That he was the smartest one in the room.
Claire scoffed at the Headmaster. "And you call yourself an educator." She scowled at him.
After a few more moments of silence, John got the meeting back on track, this time without any interruptions from the Headmaster, who might not be the Headmaster any longer if John had his way. It was becoming more clear to him that Headmaster Dumbledore had an agenda, one that had nothing to do with the wellbeing and education of his students.
"I think that's everything I had." He glanced down at his notes. "You are all dismissed except for the four Heads of House." He informed the staff. Slowly, the left, still reeling from the entire meeting. Even Dumbledore stormed out instead of trying to find out what he wanted those four for.
(He had to find a way to fix this, he had to find a way to get them out of his school and get everything back to normal. Not even he could memory-charm every single student here, not even counting the fact that some of the Purebloods would have measures against such a thing happening to them.)
"Madam Pomfrey and I want to schedule the students to come and get checked out." Healer Smith said once the room was cleared, and handed out the schedule that she and the Hogwarts Matron had written out. "The first years, at least, should be getting a check-up at the beginning of their first year, but apparently that hasn't been happening. Madam Pomfrey just has so much to do, there is only one of her, and apparently the Headmaster has forbidden her from asking for help from St. Mungoes for this." Every time she thought of scheduling the checks, she was already getting patients from classroom mishaps.
Since none of the students currently at Hogwarts had ever gotten a health check done, and the students never saw the inside of the Hospital Wing unless something happened that they needed to see her, they were now having to get all the students in, instead of just the first years.
"It never even occurred to me." Minerva muttered, thinking back. "Although... I do remember having a health check when I first started school." She said slowly, thinking back. But it was so long ago, she honestly couldn't remember either way.
"You should have." Healer Smith said curtly.
"I will inform my students." Filius promised, scanning the schedule.
"Good." Healer Smith said, and leaned back, her part in the discussion over for now.
"Now, we wanted to talk about your Head of House duties, and how you carry them out." John said, now that that was out of the way. They already knew from the students where the Heads were lacking, but they wanted to find out if the Heads even knew about that part of their duties, if they honestly just didn't have time with all their other duties, or if they were just negligent.
Well, they already knew that none of them really had the time to give the students the attention they deserved, but they still needed to know how much could be attributed to different factors.
"What do you mean?" Minerva asked after a moment, slightly confused.
The team collectively winced, now knowing that this meeting wasn't going to end any time soon.
"Hey, you think we should get some curse-breakers in here?" Auror Grey Johnson asked his partner, Andrea Moon. They were standing in the doorway to the Room of Requirement, the Room of Hidden Things.
They'd decided to take a small break in between dorm inspections, and were seeing just what this room was capable of. In the course of their messing around, this room appeared when Andrea wondered out loud if there was a room a student might be able to hide things in.
"Probably." She said, looked around.
"This is a lot of junk."
"Some of it's probably worth a good bit."
"Maybe be a bit of lost family history that somebody wouldn't mind seeing returned."
"Some of it might also be cursed. Or the magic warped. Who knows what kind of pests are in here."
"Who knows what kind of things students hid in here."
They glanced at each other, turned, and left the room, closing the door firmly behind them. Andrea then summoned her personal House-elf and set her to guarding the door until she returned.
She did not want students stumbling across it and possibly getting hurt by something, especially after the stories she'd heard of the Trio's adventures and how they seemed to get into all sorts of trouble. She didn't doubt that they would find themselves up here sooner or later to explore, Harry was with them when they found out about this room from the elves, after all.
"Ok... I think we've gotten what's left straightened out. The addition of the profits from the Acromantula parts was a huge help." Andromeda said, leaning back in her chair, feeling very accomplished. The Goblins in the room with her looked similarly pleased.
"We have a request from the inspection team, and the Board, for updated lab equipment and five assistants. One for Madam Pomfrey, and one each for the four Heads of House." A Goblin said, pulling out a parchment they'd received earlier. "The lab we can authorize..." He said slowly, glancing over the current account balance and doing some quick mental math. "As well as the assistant for the Healer." The accounts would only support one new salary this year, especially since they were having to pay out two severance packages as well. The other four would just have to wait.
But the lab was a major safety issue, and the Healer really should have had an assistant (at the very least) years ago.
"Alright, let's release those funds, the rest of the account can stay frozen until we figure out where all the money went and figure out how to get it back." Andromeda decided, and started a letter to the Board telling them what they were doing right now. Because of the mess the accounts were in, despite the Board apparently reviewing the accounts regularly, they were no longer on the accounts at all until this was all straightened out.
The only ones who could now authorize any money moving out of those accounts were Gringotts and Andromeda Tonks. And they both had to be in agreement. The Goblins would make sure the money actually went where it was supposed to go, too.
"The Aurors inspecting the castle have requested a team of Curse-breakers to go through the fabled Room of Requirement, they found the Room of Hidden Things. According to them, there is at least a thousand years worth of junk and treasures to sort through." Another goblin poked his head in to let them know what was currently happening.
"Hogwarts doesn't currently have the funds to pay for a team." Andromeda said, biting her lip momentarily before abruptly releasing it.
"We can work out a deal." The goblin assured her. She nodded and the goblin left.
"Oh, that's good." A goblin said, reading a message he'd just gotten.
"What is it?"
"An anonymous donor just opened an account and stipulated that the funds be used to buy Hogwarts new brooms for both the first year flying lessons, and for the Quidditch teams to use."
"Good, the school needed new brooms." She muttered. She couldn't believe it when Ted told her that the Board released those funds five years ago, and were assured that the funds had been used for new brooms, only to now learn that no such brooms were ever purchased. She'd left him to sleep on the couch, ears ringing, over the fact that none of the Board followed up and made sure with their own eyes that it had actually happened.
Especially him! He was married to a financial consultant! He knew better than to just trust anyone's word when it came to such large amounts of money!
"I will negotiate a good deal with a broom company... perhaps Cleansweep." Another goblin muttered and left. Truthfully, he didn't know much about wizard brooms. Goblins didn't use them. They knew which companies did well, of course, and which ones did better then others. But he didn't know much about the individual products they produced. All he knew was that he'd heard that Cleansweep brooms were better for beginners, and they were cheaper then Nimbus.
And he'd only heard that from parents going through the bank as they tried to talk their spawn down from a temper tantrum over not getting one broom over the other.
Maybe if he got a good enough deal on the brooms, he could invest the rest of the account and turn it into an account just for Hogwarts Quidditch. It could be used for both replacing brooms when needed, new equipment, and for pitch upkeep. He would handle this, and then put the idea to the donor, even if they wanted to remain unknown, the owl would still find them. He didn't think they would mind, the account would still be going towards what it was intended for, after all.
Back in the room, a goblin got an idea. "Maybe we should check the Board for controlling potions or spells." He suggested. After all, they let a lot of things slip past them on Dumbledore's word.
Andromeda gave him a Look, and sighed tiredly. "I'll mention it to Professor Clemmons." She muttered, and turned back to figuring out the mess that the Hogwarts accounts were in. All she knew was that they were going to be here for a while.
"Hey, Professor!" Harry poked his head into the office with a grin, already knowing Remus was alone.
"Hey, you three." Remus greeted with a slightly tired smile. He'd only been back at Hogwarts for a few days, but he clearly must have forgotten how much work it was. Either way he did not remember having to do so much to get the students caught up. "Come on in." He invited them inside and gestured towards his tea set off to the side. "Help yourselves."
"Thanks." Hermione poured tea for all three of them, glaring Ron into taking it. "We would have come by sooner, but we wanted to give you a chance to settle back in." She explained.
Remus chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I knew I'd see you eventually." He waved off. Frankly, he'd been grateful they hadn't come barging straight into his office, he'd had a lot to get ready before his first classes of the year. Luckily, he was the only one not being inspected since he'd been chosen to come by one of the committee members Hermione met with, so he didn't have to worry about that. He'd still had Master Lui sit in, of course, but he thought that was just being thorough.
"How is Sirius doing?" Harry asked, worried about his godfather.
Remus raised an eyebrow. "He's fine, a little depressed that you haven't called him on the mirror yet." He gave Harry a pointed look.
"Mirror?" Harry asked, confused. He did feel guilty, though, he didn't want to be the one to worsen Sirius' mental state...
Remus sighed. "You didn't even open the package Sirius gave you when you left his house?" He asked, exasperated.
"I don't want to be the reason he gets caught!" Harry tried to defend him.
"Having conversations with the man isn't going to get him caught." Remus said bluntly, a little disappointed. "And he is a grown man, what he does is his own business. It is not your job to look after him." He reminded Harry, for what felt like the hundredth time, even though it was really only the fourth or fifth. "Call him tonight. He already misses you, it will do him good to speak with you." He instructed. That was part of what had almost made him late to come to Hogwarts with the team, he'd lost track of time making sure Sirius knew that he couldn't come with.
"Madam Bones should be getting in touch with him soon." Hermione said suddenly, studying her tea cup intently.
"What?" The three males demanded after a moment of silence. What did she do?
She still wouldn't look up at them. "When we were meeting with them, I was telling them some things about Hogwarts, and our adventures over the years. I... may have started on a rant about Fudge and how he was so incompetent he tried to Kiss an innocent man and refused to listen to us when we tried to tell him about said man's innocence." She admitted. "She wanted to know what I was talking about." She finally looked up. "Look, everything I've ever heard about her says she's fair, she follows the law, she promised to look into Sirius' case! We all know he's innocent, this could clear his name!" She tried to defend herself, not wanting Harry to yell at her.
She'd heard from Sirius and Remus over the summer that Harry's temperament was a mix of both his parents. He had his fathers laid-back attitude, but his mothers temper. Slow to simmer, explosive when boiled over, and slow to cool. Having experienced Harry's temper first hand, she was completely understanding of why both Marauders still spoke with fear of the times they'd gotten Lily Evans truly angry with them. She'd even seen Professor Snape shudder with fear once when he was within hearing distance of one of the stories.
Remus sighed, cutting Harry off from his temper exploding in his worry. "Well, it's not ideal, it could blow up, but... it's probably a good thing. She can get the ball rolling on at least getting him officially questioned, and Sirius is smart, he won't go walking straight into the Ministry on her say-so. He'll probably arrange for a meeting in Gringotts if she does get in touch." He sighed, hopeful that his friend could soon walk around as a free man again, but not holding his breath on it happening too soon. He would send him a note letting him know what happened.
Hermione relaxed slightly when Harry deflated without going off on her.
Bill whistled when he caught sight of the room. "We're going to be here a while." He muttered.
"You think?" His partner asked sarcastically.
"Could we ask the room to organize this stuff a little more, maybe?" One of the team wondered out loud, and then squeaked in surprise when the rest of them zeroed in on him intently. "Like... well, like have Quidditch stuff in one area, and books in another, and so on." He stammered slightly at the beginning. "That way we don't have to focus so much on organizing, we can just focus on curse-breaking and cataloging."
Even as he spoke, the Room of Requirement organized things the way he said to do it, much to the curse-breakers' shock.
"Why can't the tombs be this accommodating?" Bill's partner asked dryly.
"I wonder if the room could separate out family heirlooms or books from the rest of the pile?" Bill wondered out loud, staring around and was pleased to see a new pile form. "Ok, that pile of stuff belongs to different families. If we don't see a name or family crest on something, set it aside. The Goblins or the families might have record of it."
"What if the family is extinct?"
"I'm sure there is someone who can take it, even if they have to go for distant relatives. Or an old family vault somewhere that they can put stuff in." Bill shrugged. Honestly, that part of things was not his problem. Once it was cleared, cataloged, and out of this room, he didn't have to deal with it anymore.
Albus sat in his office and fumed quietly.
His attempts to get rid of the team were ignored, they refused to listen to him. His attempts to demand (bully) the Board to get rid of the team had been ignored, they simply cited that they had allowed things to slide for long enough and that an inspection was really long overdue. His attempts to go to the Wizengamot were failures, as well. Fudge, surprisingly enough, had no complaints about the team, but then it was probably because somebody had pointed out to him that the International Teachers Guild was involved, which meant that they were under international scrutiny that Fudge could not afford, not after the mess that was the year before.
His attempts to go straight to the Teachers Guild were met with failure, apparently their representatives were sending back daily reports and so far they did not find those reports to be encouraging. He'd even tried going to the ICW to get rid of them, but both of the chairman for the Endangered and Dangerous Creatures Committee and the Educational Committee's had instead started bombarding him with questions about the reports they themselves were getting from Hogwarts, to say nobody was pleased to hear about the Acromantula Colony so close to a school was an understatement.
What was worse, when he tried to buy something, using the Hogwarts accounts of course, he'd been denied! When he went to the bank to straighten the matter out, they wouldn't even let him in the doors! Instead they'd blasted him away when he tried to subtly Compulse the stupid creature into letting him through. After that, he was informed that his vaults and all his property within Gringotts walls were to be considered confiscated, and to never darken their doors again.
He didn't understand what happened, or why, but they seemed to have upgraded their wards in the two days since he'd last visited.
From what he'd overheard from his staff, it sounded like the Hogwarts accounts were frozen, anyway, except for a minimal amount designed to cover basic operating costs for the rest of the year, and every request had to be approved by two separate parties, neither of which was him or even the school Board. He'd tried to stall or redirect when he overheard that Severus was finally getting the new lab equipment he'd been wanting, he'd already moved into that classroom he'd been wanting to move to for years, despite Albus' protests. And Poppy was getting an assistant.
And, judging from their excitement, the Heads of House had been told to start thinking about who they wanted for their own assistants, which they would be able to hire as soon as the budget opened up more. That along with all the new teachers that were being hired, the classes being brought back, the books that Irma was happily buying and the new brooms that were scheduled to arrive soon...
No, Albus Dumbledore was not a happy person. Not at all.
When he found out who it was that triggered this, he was going to have their head.
"Alright, lets get this meeting underway. Any questions?" John asked, looking around at the Hogwarts staff a week later, pleased to see the newest arrivals being welcomed instead of shunned.
"Yeah, I'm sure I already know the answer, but just to clarify, we were told the vaults were frozen except for a small amount to cover basic operating costs for the castle." Minerva started. "And then next thing we know, Poppy has a new assistant while similar requests from the rest of us were denied for now, Severus has a new lab in its entirety, and the school has more new brooms than we've ever seen. Why were those funded, but not the rest of us?" She was sure she already knew the reasons, she just wanted to know for sure, and to make it public so that others could start grumbling.
She was sure their reasons were the same arguments she'd been making with Albus for years.
John smirked. "Simply put, those things that were funded are health and safety issues. And the vaults could support what they did pay for, but not the rest of it. The old lab equipment was, well, old. And getting worn out to the point of being unsafe for students. They had perhaps a few more years of life to them, but when dealing with students, other people's children, we prefer to not take things to the end of their life and replace it sooner rather than later. In Potions, faulty equipment can mean death or serious injury. In your subjects, not so much. You are next on the list for new equipment, Professor Babbling, as soon as we get some more funds cleared." He added to the Runes teacher when he saw her about to say something. She sat back, satisfied.
Her classroom equipment was far past the point of needing to be replaced, and Runes could be just as volatile as Potions could be.
"The assistant for the Hospital Wing was just as much a matter of safety, as Madam Pomfrey really cannot be expected to handle everything in a timely manner needed during an emergency, not when there is potentially a crowd of young patients because of some classroom mishap. She really should have had an assistant, at the very least, this whole time. That's a serious issue that she has not. And for the brooms... I was told those were an anonymous donation."
"Really?" Hooch asked, surprised. While there were quite a few people she could think of off the top of her head that could have afforded that, she couldn't think of any of them that would have done it and then kept quiet about it. Something like that would have been a good political statement, and good press with the public. There were very few rich purebloods who would not want to use that, they were all about furthering the family name in some way. While the brooms were not top of the line, they were simple Cleansweeps that the students could learn safely on, the amount of them that were brought in would have cost a pretty penny.
She had new brooms for the first year flying classes, and enough brooms for all four House teams to have their own set, one for each player, to use as needed. Which she was really pleased about since it should open up try-outs a little more. Right now, the only ones on the teams were those that could afford their own broom, which left the Muggleborn and most of the Half-bloods out of the picture even though some of them were probably better flyers then the Purebloods who actually got on the teams. This was simply because none of them had anything to fly on, and they didn't want to take the risk with the old school brooms. She'd already said something to the captains about holding another try-out, for all positions, for that very reason.
John nodded, amused with her shock. "Yes, and from what I was told, the donor agreed to the Goblins investing the remaining funds and turning into a 'Hogwarts Quidditch fund'. You should be getting the vault information when the audit is complete."
"A Quidditch fund? I get my own vault?" She asked, stunned. No more having to beg and cajole the Headmaster for every Knut so she could properly maintain the stadium and pitch, or for new balls and bats, or new uniforms? She could buy new brooms when she needed to instead of making do with broken down pieces of garbage?
John nodded with a smirk.
"YES!" She cried, standing up and doing some sort of strange dance, to the professor's shock and amusement.
"Wait, Rolanda!" Minerva cried in shock, running to the door to try and call the woman back when she ran out the door, intent on getting something together to properly thank their anonymous donor for their generosity.
"I don't think we'll be seeing her for the rest of the meeting." Severus commented dryly, sneering slightly at her reaction even though he knew he would probably react similarly if he were given the same news about his labs and classroom budget.
"Well... shall we continue?" John said after a moment, slightly shocked himself at her reaction. "Any more questions before we get on with it?"
"How is the audit progressing?" Filius asked, curious.
"They are still working to track down the missing money, but it is taking a while." He grimaced, glad that wasn't his job and feeling sorry for the ones whose job it was. "Any more? No? Alright, the new teachers will begin in earnest after the winter break, in the meantime here is the schedule we have come up with in order to start getting students caught up in those subjects..." He passed out the parchments that he and the new staff had sat down and worked out so he could start explaining what was going to happen.
He was fairly certain that the OWL and NEWT students were going to want to murder him over this, and frankly he was sorry for doing this to them since it wasn't their fault, but he didn't see much choice. They should just be glad that Marchbanks had agreed to give them a watered down version of the OWL or NEWT in these subjects, depending on if they indicated that they'd been tutored in these subjects or not. Those that were getting the watered down version would also receive a letter explaining how to go about taking the full OWL or NEWT in the future, since some of these were going to be considered core subjects from now on and therefore required to graduate.
Either way, he was prepared for a lot of protesting at dinner that night when he explained everything about the new schedules to the room full of potentially angry teenagers.
Magical angry teenagers.
Oh, this was not going to be fun. Not. At. All.
Sirius got off the mirror with Remus, and sighed. Part of him wanted to be angry with Hermione for spilling everything so easily, but at the same time... Hermione had only done what Dumbledore should have done. What he himself would have done if he wasn't being watched so closely and kept imprisoned here. What he should have done that same night he was helped to escape from Fudge, before Dumbledore ever caught up to him and told him in absolutely no uncertain terms what he was going to do next, and how much it would be a shame if the Aurors were to catch up with him should he deviate from his instructions.
But apparently Amelia had not been idle in the two weeks she'd had this information.
He'd gotten a letter that morning, requesting a meeting in a neutral location after expressing the knowledge and understanding that he had no reason to trust her or her word. As such, she'd suggested Gringotts and already made the arrangements for the use of one of their conference rooms and one of their law wizards kept on retainer.
That was the Amelia he remembered. That was the Amelia he'd worked with in the past, the Amelia that occasionally helped Lily keep them in line even though she was ahead of them in school. That was the Amelia that defended Harry, Neville, and Susan from five Death Eaters who decided attacking her house while she was babysitting was a good idea.
He was happy that that Amelia had not been destroyed by the politics and bureaucracy of working in the Ministry. He'd been concerned when Harry told him what happened during his trial and described Amelia Bones as one of those that questioned him briefly, and then sat back and said nothing more. He was going to have to demand answers about that, too.
Grabbing a sheet of parchment, he started writing his reply to Amelia's, and then he went to the Potion lab in the lower basement for a vial or two.
Opening the door, he looked around and grimaced in disgust. "Kreacher!" He snapped out, staring around
"Yes, nasty master?" The old elf asked sullenly, appearing.
"I have had enough of this! You will clean this house, top to bottom! You will get this house shining again like it was when I left at sixteen, or so help me you are going to wish my mother was around to throw out the Crucio's for your failure. Do you understand me?" He demanded of the elf.
Kreacher stared up at him in shock before bowing and murmuring his understanding. "Good, you can start with the lab, and then move onto the kitchen and dining room. After that the bedrooms." He ordered, and watched the aged elf get to work for a moment before he carefully entered, found the vials he wanted, and carefully left while casting all kinds of cleaning charms on them as he went. He made a mental note to bring in a younger elf at some point in the coming weeks, acknowledging the fact that Kreacher was not young anymore, even if he was far younger then his current appearance would suggest.
At any rate, it was time to start getting elves back into the Family, after the visit with Amelia he was going to have to take advantage of being at the bank to get some of his family business squared away and find out how the estates had been doing. Who knows, maybe there was still another elf or two at one of the other properties. He shook his thoughts off and started pulling memories out of his head, carefully stoppering and labeling the vials after putting each memory inside.
The entire lot of them went into a box with the letter carefully tucked inside, and taken to the small owlery on the roof. One of the first things he'd had Remus do when he was forced back to this house was go out and get a few owls, which he hadn't really had cause to use yet, but they would get their use now. He briefly mourned his old Familiar and wondered again what happened to her when he'd been arrested, but put the thought out of his mind.
"I have a package to be delivered." He announced to the owls, and was amused by how quickly they all converged on him, all wanting the work after living here for so many months with nothing to do. "I know, I haven't really been keeping you very busy." He murmured, choosing one at random to tie his package to and making sure to lavish attention on all of them. "That should change soon." He told the feathered creatures.
While they were nowhere near as smart as Hedwig, Remus had chosen some smart ones.
"Take that to Amelia Bones, make sure nobody else gets it." He instructed the owl after a few minutes of petting feathery heads. She hooted and took off quickly.
Hermione's jaw almost dropped when she heard what the big announcement was. "Five new classes? That are mandatory? This late in the year? And during our OWLs?" She finally hissed, incensed that this was happening.
"Don't look at us, you're the one that started this." Harry defended himself, quickly reminding her that it was not his fault. This time.
"I know. But that's not the point. How do they expect us to start five new subjects and expect us to complete the OWLs for them in the same year?"
"He's explaining that part now." Ron cut in, causing her head to whip back to the front of the room so she could pay attention.
"Huh." She muttered when he was done explaining how they were going to do this for those students that hadn't already been tutored in these subjects. She felt a familiar rush of anger at the reminder of the unfair and unequal opportunity there was in the wizarding world before shoving it aside.
The Twins glanced at each other, slightly concerned with how this could affect their NEWTs, and therefore the promised contract. They would have to ask the Aurors about it, although they were fairly confident that those classes wouldn't be held against them as long as they still passed the others, and there was still the challenge to get straight O's.
"Did anybody else notice that we haven't seen the Headmaster around for the last few days?" Katie asked the Trio, who blinked at her before scanning the Head Table.
"Now that you mention it, we haven't." Hermione glanced at the boys, concerned.
"I heard he's been going back and forth between the Ministry, the Board, and the ICW, trying to get rid of the inspection team." Dean leaned over. "And we all know about what happened at Gringotts." Dumbledore being given a life ban from Gringotts had been front page news, complete with pictures of the Goblins actually blasting him backwards, down the steps and into the street.
The only reason there wasn't outrage over the Goblins actions was because they gave a lengthy interview about why they had done it, including the mess that the Hogwarts finances were in and the Compulsions and similar spells and potions they had found to be controlling the actions of some of their Goblins. Knowing that, everyone was more confused about why the Goblins hadn't just arrested him on the spot, why instead ban him?
On the upside, the reveal about Hogwarts had resulted in a mass of donations, both monetary and in services or equipment. A well-known Apothecary supplier had invited both Snape and Sprout to have free range of their fields for the remainder of the term to restock their supply cupboards and greenhouses, provided that they let the farm manager know when they would be there and what they took of course. He'd even arranged for a field trip of the NEWT potions classes to come out and see just where their ingredients came from and what was involved in growing them in such mass quantity.
Babbling had almost been in tears when she entered her classroom one morning to find new carving stones, knives, a Rune dictionary and compendium, and focusing stones on every table, along with a box containing enough for every student to be given their own set to keep. Hooch had been thrilled when new uniforms and other play equipment had made their way into her office, along with a large supply of broom maintenance gear. That same day, the maintenance team from the English National team's stadium had shown up and looked over the Quidditch stadium. Pince had closed the library for an entire weekend just so she could sort through the mountain of books she suddenly had available to her. She had enough copies of some books that new shelves appeared in the common rooms with the most common of the reference books on them, enchanted so that they could not be hogged by one student.
The Goblins had reportedly offered a team of warders at a discounted rate, which shocked everyone enough that nobody grumbled about them still charging the cash-strapped school. Everybody knew, though, that Goblins did nothing for free. (What nobody knew was that the Goblins gave their wizard employees one paid vacation day, as long as they could prove they were doing something Hogwarts related and weren't just skipping work.)
A construction business had then shown up and built them a new outdoor classroom for Care, instead of the students gathering by Hagrid's hut in all weathers and temperatures. There were work tables, supply cabinets, and the entire outside of the structure was lined with Runes to keep the rain, snow, and cold out. Then they'd gone through and rebuilt two of the Greenhouses before building two new ones for Professor Sprout because the existing Greenhouses were getting overcrowded. Then they rebuilt the broom shed to better accommodate all the new brooms and equipment that Hooch had gotten. According to rumor, they were going to start fixing up the locker rooms today.
Then a pest control business had come in and gone over the castle, helped by the House-elves and Filch, to make sure that there wasn't anything unwanted breeding in the unused areas of the castle. Ollivander had set up shop in the Great Hall and offered to check that everyone's wands were still a good fit or were still in good condition. For those that were using an ill-fitting family wand, he replaced it for free. Needless to say, McGonagall was not about to let that opportunity pass by and had immediately set up a schedule for everybody to see him by year, seventh years first since it had been longer since they had last seen him compared to the rest of the school and they were learning more complex spells and things.
Needless to say Neville shocked everyone when he went from one of the weaker spell casters of their year to one of the stronger ones, only slightly behind Harry, even if his main talents still lay with Herbology. Augusta Longbottom's ears were reportedly ringing for hours from the volume of the tongue lashing she was given by Minerva McGonagall.
That was only a few examples of what was happening since the reveal of what had been happening at Hogwarts for the last several years.
"I don't understand why he is so against the team being here. And I really don't understand why he allowed things to get like this in the first place." Hermione shook her head.
"I don't think we'll ever understand that, Hermione." Harry laid a comforting hand on her arm, knowing how she felt about authority figures, and how she'd idolized the Headmaster in the past.
"Just be glad that Umbridge is gone, and we're finally getting some standards around here." Ron said, bumping shoulders with her. Not that he really cared about the standards part, but still.
Saturday breakfast- Hermione requests the Twins help in sneaking out. Lunch- Umbridge arrested, triggers huge party.
Sunday- inspection team arrives
Day one- Herbology, history, charms, runes, library, transfiguration, divination
Representatives for Hermione's meeting:
- Wizarding Exam authority: Professor Aimée DuBois
- the British Education Department: Griselda Marchbanks
- International Teachers Guild: Professor Jack Clemmons
- DMLE: Amelia Bones, Cleo Johnson
Inspection team:
- Teachers Guild: John Wallace (covering Divination, Muggle Studies)
- Healer Elizabeth Smith
- Auror Grey Johnson, Auror Andrea Moon
- Herbology and Potion Master René Allard (French), Defense and Creature Master Wáng Lui (Chinese), Historian Claire Sanchez, Transfiguration Mistress Dimitra Aetos, Charms Master Caleb Meyers, Rune and Arithmancy Mistress Jaqueline Walters (all covering Astronomy)
Not qualified professors: Hagrid, Trelawney, Vector (A on NEWT), Burbage (A on OWL and NEWT)
Qualifications required by British law: EE or better on OWL and NEWT across the board, core subjects (Transfig., Charms, DADA, etc.) require Mastery, teaching certification through International Teachers Guild