On Tuesday, Hermione was regretting not adding Cornelius Fudge to the list of targets for the Weasley Twins to prank.
"The Ministry of Magic has no records of another school of magic existing!" Fudge roared, holding up a sheaf of papers. "How can something like this have existed entirely under our noses this whole time?"
"Dunno what's hard about 'secret' to understand, Minister," Sirius Black said lazily, leaning back in his Wizengamot seat with a smirk. "Besides – does it matter? Education's independent of the government, anyway."
"Well, yes, but—"
"I think it's more the matter of now there's another school representing our country in an international tournament," Dumbledore said, almost apologetically. "In order for the Ministry to manage our image—"
"None of this would be a problem if you'd stopped the bloody tournament and pulled Harry out," Sirius said stubbornly. "But you didn't, so now it's your problem to deal with. I am not about to air out the school's secrets just so you feel better about things. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons certainly aren't telling everybody all their secrets, are they?"
"Do we really need to discuss this?" one of the regional representatives complained. "If the school isn't drawing on tax galleons, let the Blackwell School of Spells do whatever they want."
Fudge rounded on the regional representative, fire in his eyes.
"Oh? Do you have important business for the Wizengamot, then?" Fudge sneered. "What's so important in Northern Ireland for us to deal with?"
"N-nothing," stammered the representative. "I just thought—"
"Oh, Azkaban's been fixed," Amelia Bones interjected. "The Wizengamot should be made aware of that."
There was a stunned pause.
"What, just like that?" Fudge demanded.
"Just like that," Amelia said calmly.
"We need more details than that, Madame Bones," Carrow insisted, eyes narrowed. "You came before the Wizengamot, citing needing funding for your cause—"
"The Valkryie came and fixed the prison," Amelia said, her voice perfectly even and normal, "in exchange for amnesty, as was promised. Once it was arranged, she quickly fixed up the prison and left with her little entourage."
"Her entourage?" Geraint Weasley said, alarmed. "The Valkyrie has followers?"
"Does it matter?" Amelia raised an eyebrow.
"How did she fix the prison, Madame Bones?" Dumbledore asked. "The prison has been resistant to all magic thus far. For her to overcome this obstacle so easily…"
"No idea," Amelia Bones said, shrugging. "But she did. And I'm glad for it, really – less to worry about now. It was a good idea, to offer amnesty," she said, looking at Phaedra Lestrange and giving her an edged smile. "Worked like a charm. I shouldn't have fought against it like I did."
Phaedra looked startled by this praise, then smug and pleased. Dumbledore looked very annoyed at not getting any details, while Fudge was very red, practically too angry to function or know where to turn.
"Let us focus on what is important, then," Crouch said loudly, glaring around the chamber. "Azkaban has been fixed. This is unquestionably a positive. And regardless of the secrets of this Blackwell school, they are now in the light of the public. Are they likely to cause us scandal if they stay hidden?"
"No," Sirius said firmly. "They are not."
"Then let us focus not on them, but on what is more likely to actually embarrass us as a nation," Crouch said curtly. "Mainly: the Hogwarts champion came in last in the First Task." He glared around the room. "A fourth year beat the Hogwarts champion. What does that mean for our curriculum? What does that mean in terms of Hogwarts being the premier school of magic in the world?"
"Now, Barty," Dumbledore said, an edge to his voice. "It's only been the first task. There are two more for Mr. Diggory to perform in—"
"And will he?" Crouch asked coolly, folding his arms. "The Beauxbatons girl used musical charm work to lull her beast to sleep. Durmstrang's champion used a curse taught in Dark magic textbooks. And Hogwarts' champion… turned a rock into a dog."
"What are you suggesting, then?" Bagman asked, caught off-guard. "The tournament's already started – we can hardly make changes to it now—"
"I am proposing," Crouch said, "that the Wizengamot fund a study into the curriculum of Hogwarts, with the intent of determining if our students are still competitive on an international scale."
"Barty, Hogwarts has acted independently of the Ministry since its inception," Dumbledore said, his voice cold. "It is not the Ministry's place to force change—"
"It is in the Ministry's best interest to make sure British witches and wizards are among the most skilled in the world," Crouch said, his own voice now containing an edge. "I would like the Wizengamot to fund a study into the Hogwarts curriculum, compare it to the curriculum of other leading schools of magic, and have the results presented to both the Wizengamot and the Hogwarts Board of Governors."
"I would support such a study," Lucius Malfoy said, standing. He gave Barty Crouch a nod. "Though I often differ in opinion from Mr. Crouch, I agree here. Our country can only benefit from improving the education of our youth. A study is the first step. What changes to make, I daresay, will be when we begin to butt heads, but we are at least in accord on the first step that needs to be done."
"We don't have any more money," Fudge complained. "How much is a study, anyway?"
"We'll be discussing the 1995 annual budget starting next month," Rowan Greengrass pointed out. "We can make sure to budget it in."
This started a new argument about the budget and whether or not taxes were going to be raised, and it was one Hermione firmly turned out – the British youth didn't have to pay taxes, so Hermione could safely ignore it all.
Hermione had owled Barty Crouch her notes on the potential differences in curriculum between the three magical schools a week prior, as he'd requested not long after the start of the school year. She'd also included her own analysis of the differences, hoping her synthesis would help instead of Ministry underlings drawing surface-level conclusions.
It was easy for a person to look at Durmstrang and say 'oh, they learn Dark Magic and Dueling'; it took a keener observer to point out that the environment of Durmstrang was purposefully structured to be as competitive and cutthroat as possible, putting their students into an aggressive mental state where they would be more likely to use dueling or Dark magic day to day. It was simple to look at the Beauxbatons class list and think 'oh, they spend a lot of time on language and philosophy'; it was more subtle to notice that many of their classes were focused on the methods of persuasion of others, be it through rhetoric, language, music, or mental magic, rather than the active magic to do things outright themselves.
Hermione honestly didn't know what changes she'd even want to see Hogwarts make. She definitely wouldn't want it to become cruelly competitive like Karkaroff's school was. And while she'd like to have Philosophy and Ethics and Mental Magic, Hermione knew there were only so many hours in a day, and she hardly wanted to sacrifice something else.
Maybe after O.W.L.s, classes could be done semester by semester, instead of year by year, Hermione brainstormed. She could take a semester of Alchemy, then take a semester of Dueling, and so on.
Hermione looked at Crouch curiously. He was the Head of International Magical Cooperation, but it seemed unlike him to get so involved with the curriculum of the school. She wasn't sure what department would oversee Hogwarts, really, if any, but it wasn't as if Crouch had any children who were going to go through Hogwarts soon. What was his angle? Why did he care?
Crouch's legacy in the Ministry had been destroyed by the scandal of his Death Eater son, Hermione knew. Maybe he was trying to build a new one now, before he was gone – like how the legacy of the four founders had lived on. Maybe Crouch wanted his legacy to be something good, too, like the improvement and excellence of the school.
Hermione bit her lip, feeling almost bad for him. Crouch was a singularly unpleasant person, and he always looked like his eyes and mustache were judging you. Even if he did improve the school, she doubted anyone would be willing to let him take the credit or be added into the history books in any kind of positive way.
