Hello there, welcome my friends to the next chapter.
It's been a while, hasn't it?
I got a bit stuck on this book, but I'm hoping to finish it before this year is over as I have another Potter story in the works and it wouldn't feel right to upload that when this is still unfinished.
Hope you enjoy it.
It was breakfast time, two days after the sacking of Professor Trelawney, and Parvati was curling her eyelashes around her wand and examining the effect in the back of her spoon, "I'll bet you wish you hadn't given up Divination now, don't you, Hermione?" Parvati asked, smirking.
They were to have their first lesson with Firenze that morning.
"No, not really." Hermione said indifferently, who was reading the Daily Prophet, "I have never really liked horses.", she turned a page of the newspaper and scanned its columns.
"He's not a horse, he's a centaur!" Lavender said, sounding shocked, "A gorgeous centaur!"
"He still got the lower body of a horse." Alex pointed out, "So does he have a human or a horse one penis? Do you know how big a horse penis is? Have you girl ever seen a horse penis? Anyway, I thought you two would be all upset that Trelawney is gone?"
"We are!" Lavender assured him, "We went up to her office to see her; we took her some daffodils, not the honking ones that Sprout's got, nice ones."
"How is she?" Harry asked.
"Not very good, poor thing." Lavender said sympathetically, "She has been crying and saying she'd rather leave the castle forever than stay here where Umbridge is, and I don't blame her, Umbridge was horrible to her, wasn't she?"
"Umbridge isn't so bad. She just needs a high five. In her face." Alex said, "With a chair..."
"I think this is only the beginning." Claire said, "She is going to want revenge on Dumbledore for appointing a new teacher without consulting her. Not to mention the verbal beatdown Jaeger gave her.", taking a piece of bacon and eating it.
After breakfast Claire and Hermione departed for Arithmancy class as Harry, Alex, Ron and Neville followed Parvati and Lavender into the Entrance: Hall, heading for Divination.
"Aren't we going up to North Tower?" Neville asked, looking puzzled, as Alex bypassed the marble staircase.
"How is Firenze going to climb a ladder?" Alex said, "It's in classroom eleven now."
"How do you know that?" Harry said.
"It was on the noticeboard yesterday." Alex said.
As a dull March blurred into a squally April, life seemed to have become one long series of worries and problems again. The teachers and Hermione persisted in reminding them, the OWL's were drawing ever nearer. All the fifth-years were suffering from stress to some degree, but Hannah Abbott became the first to receive a Calming Draught from Madam Pomfrey after she burst into tears during Herbology and sobbed that she was too stupid to take exams and wanted to leave school now.
If it had not been for the moments alone with Claire and the OW lessons, Harry thought he would have been extremely unhappy. He sometimes felt he was living for the hours he spent in the Room of Requirement, being trained hard by Sephylon and his knights, he thoroughly enjoying himself at the same time.
They had finally started work on Patronuses, which everybody had been very keen to practice, though, producing a Patronus in the middle of a brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different from producing it when confronted by something like a Dementor.
"They are so pretty!", Cho said brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped Patronus soar around the Room of Requirement during their last lesson before Easter.
"They are not here to be pretty. They are here to protect you." Sephylon said, "Next time we will see if any of you can conjure it under circumstance similar to a dementor."
Neville was having trouble. His face was screwed up in concentration, but only feeble wisps of silver smoke issued from his wand tip.
"You have got to think of something happy." Luna reminded him.
"I'm trying." Neville said miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually shining with sweat as Luna's Patronus, a hare, hopped through the air, "What do you think about..."
"The day that you and Alex came to my help. Because it allowed us to become closer." Luna said with a dreamy smile, making Neville's already sweaty face blush.
"Nice going, Luna." Alex said with a chuckle as he produced a wolf Patronus.
Sephylon let out a small chuckle upon his remark as he walked towards Hermione, who had produced a shining silver female wolf, which was running around her.
"They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said, looking at it fondly.
"Yeah, they are." Sephylon said, "Good work, Hermione."
A few days since, when Alex, Ron and Neville where walking up the marble stair during the evening after they had dinner in the Great Hall.
"I had a very weird nightmare earlier today." Alex said.
"The one about the rabbits and their Molotov cocktails?" Neville asked.
"Worse! Harry and Claire had a kid named Albus who was sorted into Slytherin where he became friends with Malfoy's son and then they went back in time to save Cedric who had died. Also there was tis girl with stupid hair who was the daughter of Voldemort!" Alex explained, "And worse of all, we were all middle aged!"
"That's... A strangely detailed dream... It also sounds very, very, very stupid." Ron said, "Mind if I use it when I have to record my dreams again for Divination?"
"Hey, no fair!", Neville complained.
"Why? Because its a little like cheating? Similar like copying Claire's homework?" Alex said, "That's not something we haven't done before."
"Of course not. But I wanted to copy it." Neville simply explained, "By the way, where are Harry, Claire and Hermione?"
"Harry has his privet time with Snape, and Claire and Hermione are having girl time?" Alex explained, "Whatever that means."
"I enjoy our girl time." Claire said, "Just the two of us."
"Same here." Hermione said as they walked towards the Gryffindor Common room.
They had just turned around another corner when somebody tapped Claire on the shoulder and, turning, she found himself almost nose-to-nose with Filch the caretaker.
She took several hasty steps backwards; Filch was best viewed at a distance.
"The High Inquisitor would like to see you, Kent.", he leered.
"Well I don't." Claire said, but decided to go along anyway.
Filch seemed to be in an extremely good mood; he hummed creakily under his breath as they climbed the marble staircase. As they reached the first landing he said, "Things are going to change around here, Kent."
"I'm pretty sure they won't." Claire dryly, she theorized that Umbridge is going to some lengths to get Filch on her side, and the worst of it was that he would probably prove an important weapon. His knowledge of the school's secret passageways and hiding places was probably second only to that of the Weasley twins.
Leering down at Claire as he rapped three times on Umbridge's door and pushed it open. "The Kent girl to see you, Ma'am."
The surfaces of Umbridge's office had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each one residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolor kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. These were so foul that Claire stared at them, transfixed, until Umbridge spoke.
"Thank you, Argus." Umbridge said sweetly as she was sitting behind the desk, busily scribbling on some of her pink parchment, but she looked up and smiled widely at their entrance.
"Not at all, Ma'am, not at all." Filch said, bowing as low as his rheumatism would permit, and exiting backwards.
"Sit." Umbridge said curtly, pointing towards a chair.
Claire sat, crossing her legs as Umbridge continued to scribble for a few moments. She watched some of the foul kittens gamboling around the plates over her head, wondering what she had in store.
"Well, now." she said finally, setting down her quill and surveying her complacently, like a toad about to swallow a particularly juicy fly, "What would you like to drink?"
"What." Claire said flatly.
"To drink, Ms. Kent." she said, smiling still more widely, "Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?" as she named each drink, she gave her short wand a wave, and a cup or glass of it appeared on her desk.
"I'm good thanks." Claire said.
"I wish you to have a drink with me." she said.
"And I wish to live on a beach somewhere in the tropic's with my boyfriend, making love to him every day, have five meals a day and be entitled to shoot fire balls at every fool who crosses me." Claire told her dryly, enjoying the look on her, "But we don't always get what we want."
"Choose one." she said, her voice becoming dangerously sweet.
"Fine, I'll play along." Claire thought before saying, "Just give me a cup of coffee, if your so persistent. I take mine black."
She got up and made quite a performance of adding coffee to a mug, and if Claire wasn't mistaking, something else when she came bustling around the desk with it, smiling in a sinisterly sweet fashion.
"There." she said, handing it to her, "Drink it before it gets cold, won't you? Well, now, Ms. Kent... I thought we ought to have a little chat."
Claire said nothing as she settled herself back into her seat and waited. When several long moments had passed in silence, she said gaily, "You are not drinking up!"
She raised the mug to her lips and then, discreetly as possible, she Vanished a portion of the black liquid in her mug.
"Good. Very good. Now then..." she whispered, "Now, Ms. Kent, let us not play childish games. What is Dumbledore planning? I know that you know more then you let on."
"I have no idea what you are speaking of." Claire said, pretending to drink once again she was watching her very closely.
"Very well." she said, though she looked displeased, "In that case, you will kindly tell me what your parents are planning."
"Parents? I have those... Oh, right." Claire said, "You must be referring to Sirius."
"Ms. Kent." Umbridge said, "Let me remind you that it was I who almost caught the Black and Ms. Kent in the Gryffindor fire in October. I know perfectly well it was you they were meeting and if I had had any proof neither of you..."
"I have honestly no idea what your talking about." Claire said, "The only thing Sirius has planned is for me and him to build-up our father-daughter bond. Seeing as he was unjustly locked up in Azkaban for the better part of my life."
They stared at each other.
"Very well, Kent, I will take your word for it this time." Umbridge said as she stood up, "But be warned: the might of the Ministry stands behind me. All channels of communication in and out of this school are being monitored. A Floo Network Regulator is keeping watch over every fire in Hogwarts, except my own, of course..."
Some time later, after Claire left Umbridge's office, walking down the hall when she noticed Snape and Malfoy hurriedly past her. Claire frowned as she headed back to the entrance hall and down the dungeon, making her way towards Snape's office.
Peeking through the door, she saw Harry standing over a Pensieve sitting on Snape's desk.
"Mr. Potter, shouldn't you be going back to the Common Room and spend time with your brilliant girlfriend? Like giving her a foot rub." Claire said with an imitation of Snape's voice, making Harry jump in surprise.
"Jesus Christ, Claire! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Harry said regaining his breath, "That sounded way too much like Snape!"
"I will talk like him when we have sex later.", the black haired girl said, standing next to her boyfriend at the desk, watching the Pensieve's silver-white contents ebbing and swirling within.
"A voice like Snape's should not come out of a cute girl..." Harry muttered, earning a smile from the girl next to him as he pulled out his wand, before he gave the contents of the Pensieve a small prod with the end of his wand.
The silvery stuff within began to swirl very fast. He took a great gulp of breath, and plunged his face into the surface of Snape's thoughts before Claire could stop him. At once, the floor of the office lurched, tipping them into the Pensieve.
The couple found themselves standing in the middle of the Great Hall, but the four house tables were gone. Instead, there were more than a hundred smaller tables, all facing the same way, at each of which sat a student, head bent low, scribbling on a roll of parchment. The only sound was the scratching of quills and the occasional rustle as somebody adjusted their parchment.
It was clearly exam time.
Sunshine was streaming through the high windows on to the bent heads, which shone chestnut and copper and gold in the bright light.
"Where is he?" Harry said as he looked around carefully, "Snape has to be here."
"Oh, is tis Snape's memory?" Claire said dryly as she gestured at a table right behind Harry, "I thought it was Salazar Slytherin's."
And there he was, teenage Snape. He had a stringy, pallid look about him, like a plant kept in the dark. His hair was lank and greasy and was flopping on to the table, his hooked nose barely half an inch from the surface of the parchment as he scribbled.
Moving around behind Snape and read the heading of the examination paper:
Defense Against The Dark Arts - Ordinary Wizarding Level
So Snape had to be fifteen or sixteen, around their age. His hand was flying across the parchment; he had written at least a foot more than his closest neighbors, and yet his writing was minuscule and cramped.
"Five more minutes!"
Turning, the top of Professor Flitwick's head moving between the desks a short distance away. Professor Flitwick was walking past a boy with untidy black hair... very untidy black hair...
"No way..." Harry said as they moved quickly.
The back of the black-haired boy's head drew nearer and he was straightening up now, putting down his quill, pulling his roll of parchment towards him so as to reread what he had written.
Coming to a stop in front of the desk and gazed down at the fifteen-year-old version of Harry's father, James Potter. It was as though Claire was looking at Harry with deliberate mistakes.
James's eyes were hazel, his nose was slightly longer than Harry's and there was no scar on his forehead, but they had the same thin face, same mouth, same eyebrows, same hair and when James would stand up, he and Harry would be within an inch of each other in height.
James yawned hugely and rumpled up his hair, making it even messier than it had been. Then, with a glance towards Professor Flitwick, he turned in his seat and grinned at a boy sitting four seats behind him.
With a shock of excitement, Claire saw Sirius give James the thumbs-up. Sirius was lounging in his chair at his ease, tilting it back on two legs. He was very good-looking; his dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance neither James's nor Harry's could ever have achieved, and a girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully, though he didn't seem to have noticed because he seemed to only have eyes for a particular girl sitting two tables away from James.
Claire's stomach gave another pleasurable squirm, its was unmistakably with her blue eyes and long black hair, the left side of her hair is longer than the other. This was the teenage version of Elizabeth Kent, a confident smirk on her face as her hand flowing over the parchment, the answers flowing from her hand.
"Mum..." Claire muttered.
Just behind her sat a teenage version of Remus Lupin. He looked rather pale and peaky and was absorbed in the exam: as he reread his answers, he scratched his chin with the end of his quill, frowning slightly.
So that meant Wormtail had to be around here somewhere, too... And sure enough, they spotted a small, mousy-haired boy with a pointed nose. Wormtail looked anxious; he was chewing his fingernails, staring down at his paper, scuffing the ground with his toes. Every now and then he glanced hopefully at his neighbor's paper.
They stared at Wormtail for a moment, then back at James, who was now doodling on a bit of scrap parchment. He had drawn a Snitch and was now tracing the letters 'L.E.'.
"What does that mean?" Harry muttered.
"Maybe..." Claire said, "What was your mother's maiden name again?..."
"Sirius told me it was Evans." he said.
"Maybe L.E. means Lily Evans.", she suggested.
"Quills down, please!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, "That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! Accio!" over a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet.
Several people laughed. A couple of students at the front desks got up, took hold of Professor Flitwick beneath the elbows and lifted him back on to his feet.
"Thank you... Thank you." Professor Flitwick panted, "Very well, everybody, you're free to go!"
James had hastily crossed out the 'L.E.' he had been embellishing, jumped to his feet, stuffed his quill and the exam paper into his bag, which he slung over his back, and stood waiting for Sirius and Elizabeth to join him.
A gang of chattering girls separated Snape from James, Sirius, Elizabeth and Lupin, and by planting themselves in their midst, Harry and Claire managed to keep Snape in sight while still capable of hearing the teenage Marauders.
"Did you like question ten, Moony?" Sirius asked as they emerged into the Entrance Hall.
"Loved it." Lupin said briskly, "Give five signs that identify the werewolf. Excellent question."
"Do you think you managed to get all the signs?" James said in tones of mock concern.
"Think I did." Lupin said seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors eager to get out into the sunlit grounds, "One: he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin."
Wormtail was the only one who didn't laugh, "I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail." he said anxiously, "But I couldn't think what else..."
"Really? How could you..." Elizabeth said, sounding truly perplexed, "It's not like you have the chance to run round with a werewolf once a month..."
"Ethelwulf, please keep your voice down." Lupin implored.
"Sorry, Moony." the sole girl said, "But you know I am allergic to idiocy."
Snape remained close by, he was still buried in his exam questions. But this was Snape's memory and if Snape chose to wander off in a different direction once outside in the grounds, they would not be able to follow the Marauders any further.
However, when the five friends strode off down the lawn towards the lake, Snape followed, still poring over the exam paper and apparently with no fixed idea of where he was going.
"Well, I thought that exam was a piece of cake." Sirius said, "I will be surprised if I don't get 'Outstanding' on it at least."
"Me too." Elizabeth said, reaching into her pocket and took out a struggling Golden Snitch.
"Where did you get that?" James asked as his friend threw it to him, catching the small golden orb skillfully.
"Took it with me after our last game." Elizabeth said as she watched James playing with the Snitch, allowing it to fly as much as a foot away before seizing it again; his reflexes were excellent.
Wormtail watched him in awe.
They stopped in the shade of the very same beech tree on the edge of the lake where Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione had once spent a Sunday finishing their homework, and threw themselves down on the grass.
Snape had settled himself on the grass in the dense shadow of a clump of bushes.
The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which the group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting, with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water.
"Liz, shouldn't you be joining..." Sirius suggested.
"No." Elizabeth said plainly.
Sirius let out a disappointed sigh and began to stare around at the students milling over the grass, looking rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so. Lupin had pulled out a book and was reading.
James was still playing with the Snitch, letting it zoom further and further away, almost escaping but always grabbed at the last second. Wormtail was watching him with his mouth open.
Every time James made a particularly difficult catch, Wormtail gasped and applauded. Harry noticed that his father had a habit of rumpling up his hair as though to keep it from getting too tidy, and he also kept looking over at the girls by the waters edge.
"Put that away, will you." Sirius said finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a cheer, "Before Wormtail wets himself with excitement."
Wormtail turned slightly pink, but James grinned, "If it bothers you." he said, throwing the Snitch back at Elizabeth, who stuffed it in her pocket.
"I'm bored." Sirius said, "Wish it was full moon."
"You might." Lupin said darkly from behind his book, "We have still got Transfiguration, if you're bored you could test me. Here..." and he held out his book.
But Sirius snorted, "I don't need to look at that rubbish, I know it all."
James turned his head as he looked at a commotion. Sirius became very still, like a dog that has scented a rabbit.
Harry and Claire turned to see what Sirius was looking at, Snape was laying panting on the ground, his wand twelve feet away as a group of Slytherins stood around him. Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had got to their feet and were edging nearer. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained.
Snape lay panting on the ground.
"How did the exam go, Snivelly?" one of the Slytherin said.
"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment." a Slytherin girl said shrilly, "There will be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word."
Several people watching laughed; Snape was clearly unpopular. Snape was trying to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him; he was struggling, as though bound by invisible ropes.
"You wait..." he panted, staring up at the three Slytherin with an expression of purest loathing, "You wait!"
"Wait for what?" the second boy asked amused, "What are you going to do, Snivellus? Stab us with your large nose?"
Snape let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away nothing happened.
"Oi!" James yelled as he pushed his way through, "What the bloody hell do you think your doing!?" Sirius, Elizabeth and Lupin right beside him.
"What do you want Potter?" the Slytherin boy said.
"That you leave him alone!" James ordered aggressively.
"Or else what?" the second boy said,
"Or else you have to deal with us."
Hearing that voice, James's free hand immediately jumped to his hair.
It was two of the girls from the lake edge.
The one who spoke had thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders, and startlingly green almond-shaped eyes... Harry's eyes.
"Mum?..." Harry muttered.
"She is gorgeous..." Claire admitted before giving the second girl a look over, much to her surprise, she looked like an exact replica of her mother.
"All right, Evans?" James said, and the tone of his voice was suddenly pleasant, deeper, more mature.
"Time and place, James." Lily said.
"This isn't any of your business." the first Slytherin said, "You filthy little Mud..."
It all happened so quickly, the three Slytherins where disarmed of their wands and thrown back by knock back jinxes.
In a second flash of light, the Slytherin was hanging upside-down in the air. Many people in the small crowd cheered; James, Sirius, Lily and Margaret roared with laughter. Elizabeth jerking her wand making the Slytherin boy fall into a crumpled heap on the ground, "Petrificus Totalus!" and the boy became rigid as a board.
"Anyone else? Come on, boys and girls! Step right up! Step right up!" Margaret said, looking around, but the Slytherin's picked up their wands before quickly running away, "Yeah, that's what I thought!"
Lily picked up Snape's bag, while James walked over to Snape. "You okay, mate?" James said, as he helped the Slytherin back to his feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Snape said as he dusted himself off, "Could have handle them myself."
"Of course, you could have." James teased, "Told you, you should stick with your tribe."
"You know Sev always wants to go over the exams." Elizabeth said.
"He's worse than Evans in that regard." Sirius said, "It's bad enough we have to go through them once!"
This caused the group to laugh at Sirius remark.
"Having fun?"
With a thrill of horror, the fully grown, adult-sized Snape standing right beside them. The summer's day evaporated around them; they were floating upwards through icy blackness.
Then, with a swooping feeling as though they had turned head-over-heels in midair. Their feet hit the stone floor of Snape's dungeon and they were standing again beside the Pensieve on Snape's desk in the shadowy, present-day Potion master's study.
"So, been enjoying yourself?" Snape said.
"Professor, we..." Claire began.
But Snape held up his hand, "I understand Potter's curiosity. But there are somethings you are just not ready for." Snape said firmly but sternly, "You will not repeat what you saw to anybody."
"No. Of course..." Harry said.
"Good." Snape said, "Now, I believe its time for you to leave."
It was the first day of the Easter holidays and Hermione, as was her custom, had spent a large part of the day drawing up revision timetables for the six of them. They had let her have her way, it was easier than arguing with her and, in any case, they might come in useful.
As though to underline the importance of their upcoming examinations, a batch of pamphlets, leaflets and notices concerning various wizarding careers appeared on the tables in Gryffindor Tower shortly before the end of the holidays, along with yet another notice on the board, which read:
Career Advice
All fifth-years are required to attend a short meeting with their Head of House during the first week of the summer term to discuss their future careers. Times of individual appointments are listed below.
The fifth-years spent a considerable part of the final weekend of the Easter Break reading all the careers information that had been left there for their perusal.
"Well, I don't fancy Healing." Ron said on the last evening of the holidays, he was immersed in a leaflet that carried the crossed bone-and-wand emblem of St. Mungo's on its front, "It says here you need at least 'E' at NEWT level in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. I mean... blimey... Don't want much, do they?"
"Well you are taking care of people." Alex pointed out, "Kind of important to be smart."
"You don't seem to need many qualifications to liaise with Muggles.", Hermione said absently, as she was poring over a bright pink and orange leaflet, that was headed, 'So You Think You Would Like To Work In Muggle Relations?', "All they want is an OWL in Muggle Studies: Much more important is your enthusiasm, patience and a good sense of fun!"
"You would need more than a good sense of fun to liaise with my uncle." Harry said darkly, "Good sense of when to duck, more like."
Alex laughed at this as he was halfway through a pamphlet on wizard banking, "Listen to this: Are you seeking a challenging career involving travel, adventure and substantial, danger-related treasure bonuses? Then consider a position with Gringotts Wizarding Bank, we are currently recruiting Curse-Breakers for thrilling opportunities abroad, they want Arithmancy." he said, "Sounds like something for you, Claire!"
"No thanks." Claire said as she leaned back and looked out of the window, "I already know what I want to do after school."
"Me too!" Alex said, holding up his hand, "Kent Cousins for the win!"
The two high-fived each other as Hermione said worriedly, "Do we even want to know what you want do to?"
"I want to become Minister of Magic." Alex said simply.
"You?" Ron said, "You want to get into politics?"
"I am brave enough for it!" Alex protested, "You have seen the corruption that runs through it. People like Hermione are getting discriminated against just because of her blood status. People in power either let it go on because they benefit from it, or they just shrug and don't do anything about it. It can't keep going like this, I want to heal the world."
Alex little speech had gotten the attention from everyone at their table, "Well..." Neville said, "You have my vote."
The next day, Claire arrived in Professor McGonagall's office for her career appointment. Inside the office, she found McGonagall and much to her surprise, Umbridge sitting there, a clipboard on her knee, a fussy little pie-frill around her neck and a small, horribly smug smile on her face.
"Sit down, Kent." Professor McGonagall said tersely. Her hands shook slightly as she shuffled the many pamphlets littering her desk, Claire sat down with her back to Umbridge.
"Well, Kent, this meeting is to talk over any career ideas you might have, and to help you decide which subjects you should continue into the sixth and seventh years." Professor McGonagall said, "Have you had any thoughts about what you would like to do after you leave Hogwarts?"
"I... Well tis a bit silly but..." Claire said, taking a deep breath before speaking up, "I would like to become a teacher."
"A teacher?... Surprising. You would need very good grades for that.", Professor McGonagall said, extracting a small, blue leaflet from under the mass on her desk and opening it, "While you will not need any form of specific education or training, it will be best to keep your grades from falling under 'Exceeds Expectations' grade, though with your current grades, you should be fine. You also need at least three years of after-school life experience."
At this moment, Umbridge gave a very tiny cough, as though she was trying to see how quietly she could do it. Professor McGonagall ignored her.
"You will want to know which subjects you ought to take, I suppose?", she went on, talking a little louder than before.
"Yes." Claire said, a hint of excitement in his voice, "The class I want to teach, along with the core classes."
"Naturally..." Professor McGonagall said crisply.
Umbridge gave another cough, a little more audible this time. Professor McGonagall closed her eyes for a moment, opened them again, and continued as though nothing had happened.
"I ought to tell you now, Kent, that I do not accept students into my Transfiguration NEWT classes unless they have achieved 'Exceeds Expectations' or higher at Ordinary Wizarding Level. I would say you're averaging 'Outstanding', if you keep it up you should be fine. Then you ought to do Potions, and I must tell you that Professor Snape absolutely refuses to take students who get anything other than 'Outstanding' in their OWLs, so..."
Umbridge gave her most pronounced cough yet.
"May I offer you a cough drop, Dolores?" Professor McGonagall asked curtly, without looking at Umbridge.
"Oh, no, thank you very much." Umbridge said, with that simpering laugh, "I just wondered whether I could make the teeniest interruption, Minerva?"
"I daresay you will find you can." Professor McGonagall said through tightly gritted teeth.
"I was just wondering whether Ms. Kent has the right temperament for an teacher?" Umbridge said sweetly.
"Were you?" Professor McGonagall said haughtily, then she continued, as though there had been no interruption, "Well, Kent. If you are serious in this ambition, I would advise you to also take Charms, always useful. I see Professor Flitwick has graded you 'Outstanding' for the last two years, so your Charmwork seems to be up to par, same as for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Overall your marks have been generally perfect... Are you quite sure you wouldn't like a cough drop, Dolores?"
"Oh, no need, thank you, Minerva." Umbridge simpered, who had just coughed her loudest yet, "I was just concerned that you might not have Kent's most recent Defense Against the Dark Arts marks in front of you. I'm quite sure I slipped in a note."
"What, this thing?" Professor McGonagall said in a tone of revulsion, as she pulled a sheet of pink parchment from between the leaves of Claire's folder. She glanced down it, her eyebrows slightly raised, then placed it back into the folder without comment, "Yes, as I was saying, Kent, though I must say with your aptitude it would almost seem like a waste for you to..."
"Did you not understand my note, Minerva?" Umbridge asked in honeyed tones, quite forgetting to cough.
"Of course I understood it." McGonagall said, her teeth clenched so tightly the words came out a little muffled.
"Well, then, I am confused... I'm afraid I don't quite understand how you can give Ms. Kent false hope that..."
"False hope?" Professor McGonagall repeated, still refusing to look round at Umbridge, "She has one of the keenest minds ever to pass through Hogwarts and achieved extremely high marks on her test the past five years."
"I'm terribly sorry to have to contradict you, Minerva, but as you will see from my note, Claire has been achieving very poor results in her classes with me..."
"I should have made my meaning plainer." Professor McGonagall said, turning at last to look Umbridge directly in the eyes, "She has achieved high marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher."
Umbridge's smile vanished as suddenly as a light bulb blowing. She sat back in her chair, turned a sheet on her clipboard and began scribbling very fast indeed, her bulging eyes rolling from side to side. Professor McGonagall turned back to Claire, her thin nostrils flared, her eyes burning.
"Any questions, Kent?"
"Yes, actually." Claire said, "In the three years that I would need to attain, 'life experience', would it be possible to participate in the Dueling Circuit?"
"You really aren't an easy one, are you Kent?" Professor McGonagall said, taking out a light blue leaflet.
"I think you will also find." Umbridge said, her voice very cold now, "That the Ministry looks into the records of those applying to be teachers. Their criminal records."
"I wouldn't normally advice the Duel Circuit to any student, but I think you could make a name for yourself." Professor McGonagall said, "Especially after your performance during the Tri-Wizard Tournament."
"Which means that this girl has as much chance of becoming an teacher as Dumbledore has of being the Headmaster of this school for much longer."
"A very good chance, then." Professor McGonagall said, "Kent, that concludes our careers consultation."
Claire swung her bag over her shoulder and hurried out of the room, not bothering to look at Umbridge. She could hear Umbridge and Professor McGonagall begin to shout at each other all the way back along the corridor.
And that is, hope you enjoyed.
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Mischief Managed.