Story Arc 6, Chapter 1
Albus Dumbledore had just finished up the summer session as the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. Geneva, Switzerland was a lovely place this time of year. While he would have preferred his sherbert lemons, they did supply lovely chocolates for the members to partake and he made sure to stuff some extras in his voluminous pockets. He'd taken his time with his morning ablutions before taking his portkey back to London since Geneva was one hour ahead of London, so he timed his return right as the Ministry would be starting work. Granted, it was a Sunday, but there were still shifts changing in some areas.
He stepped gracefully out of the International Portkey Arrival area and nodded to the worker manning the desk. While he could have used Fawkes to transport him over and back, he liked to let the general populace think he abided by the same transportation rules they did (when it suited his needs). He then went down to the Atrium and over to the apparition point. There were people hurrying around, and it seemed more than usual for a Sunday morning, but he'd not been made aware of anything of note happening while he was gone.
He got to the apparition point and gracefully turned on the spot, planting the image of his office firmly in his mind. All was well until he hit, what felt like to him, a brick wall. He found himself on the ground in front of the Hogwarts gate. Thinking he must have not been concentrating properly, he tried again. And found himself twisted on the ground. He tried to get a sense of the wards, but they seemed to be operating normally. Rather than trying a third time, he opened the gates and walked up to the castle.
When he got to the Entry Hall, he once again reached out to the wards. This time they responded to him. As he searched through them, he saw where someone had gone through and strengthened them. His access to apparate and portkey directly into the Headmaster's Office was gone, as was Severus'. He concentrated and tried to reinstate them, but the wards refused to respond! Hoping he would get a better response from his office; he made his way there.
First, he queried the wards for a list of people who had been in the castle since his departure. When a whole list of people who shouldn't have been able to enter the castle was reported to him, especially since over twenty of them were goblins, he knew someone had definitely been playing with his wards. When one of them was listed as Harry James Slytherin Peverell Gryffindor Potter, he knew that the boy had discovered his heritage. Albus knew about the connection the Potters had to both the Gryffindor and Peverell lines, but Slytherin? This was not a good thing.
He then searched for Minerva, only to find her with Pomona and Filius in the Staff Room. Minerva should have felt him come through the wards, so it wouldn't be a surprise to her when he showed up.
"Minerva, Filius, Pomona, good morning! I trust you had a good week."
Pomona replied, "One of the best ones, Headmaster."
Filius said, "It was quite enlightening."
Minerva said, "It was a very good week."
"Were there any visitors while I was away?" queried Albus.
Minerva knew that Albus could get the information from the wards, so she felt no hesitation to tell him. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, and Mr. Lupin spent a few hours here on Wednesday. They were escorting a group of goblins who rendered the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets and took it away."
"THEY WHAT? Who authorized it?" Albus shouted.
"No need to shout, Albus. Our hearing is just fine," said Pomona.
"No authorization was needed. Mr. Potter killed the beast and it was his right to salvage it. As he is the only one who can let anyone into the Chamber, he had to be here," said Minerva.
Filius pulled out Friday's Daily Prophet, "Harry also brought the victims of the basilisk in and we had a lovely time taking pictures of it. I must say, Mr. Creevey does some lovely photography work."
Albus was ready to blow, but he couldn't let them know it. "Did anyone adjust the wards while I was gone?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter did. When he assumed the roles of Lords Slytherin and Gryffindor, he was given information that required an immediate adjustment of the wards. He took care of that while he was in the castle. I must say, the changes were needed years ago!" said Minerva.
"But he can't! I'm the only one allowed to manage the wards! I demand he restore them to their original status!"
"Demand all you want, Albus, but it's not going to happen. Harry has made the castle safer for everyone. We don't have to worry about dark objects coming into the castle, or dark creatures escaping the Forbidden Forest. The rule against no magic in the halls can now be enforced by the wards. Girls can no longer go into the boys' dorms. Overall, I'd say this is a much safer castle, Headmaster," said Minerva.
"The castle ghosts specifically asked for that last one," said Pomona.
"He should have talked to me first!" said Albus.
The three professors were snickering at the temper tantrum being thrown by their Headmaster.
"Oh, Headmaster. Were you aware that we are in violation of the Hogwarts Charter?" asked Filius.
"The Charter was abandoned years ago when the Board of Governors was established. We are fully in compliance with their directions," Albus said.
The three professors gave a barely perceptible nod to the others. Minerva pulled out an envelope and handed it to Albus.
"Here is my resignation as Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House. Now that I have been made aware of the requirements of the Charter, I do not want to find myself in conflict and risk the loss of my magic," said Minerva.
Pomona handed him her envelope, "And here is mine as Head of Hufflepuff. I find that being Herbology Professor and managing the greenhouses is quite enough."
Filius handed his in as well, "This is my resignation as Head of Ravenclaw. While I find my duties as Charms Master tasking, I would not be averse to teaching a course or two in dueling."
"You can't do this! I won't allow it! Where did you get this idea from?" asked Albus.
The three said in unison, "The Charter!"
Minerva pulled out a copy of the Charter that Harry and Sirius had left with her as well as the list of positions that needed to be filled.
"As you can see, the Ministry has no say over the running of Hogwarts other than evaluating our students at OWL and NEWT. We've gone over the Charter with the help of Lord Slytherin Gryffindor and his advisors and agree with their findings. Now, based on these statutes, we will require House Masters/Mistresses for all four houses," said Minerva.
"I heartily agree with their suggestion that we hire married couples for these positions. They will provide strong guidance to both the boys and girls. They can begin giving career advice early on and help their students when it comes to picking their additional classes for third year," said Pomona.
"What's this about a new History teacher? Cuthbert is adequate," asked Albus.
Filius replied, "Cuthbert has gone on to his next adventure. There was a containment ward in his classroom that kept him there. Once it was removed, he gratefully moved on. Oh, and Bill Weasley removed the curse on the DADA position, so you should be able to find someone qualified for that now."
Albus scowled. He knew about the containment ward but had no desire to teach the children the true history as it could give them ideas contrary to the Greater Good. Plus, his salary ensured Albus had the quantity and type of robes Albus felt were befitting of his station. And a competent DADA professor would teach them to fight when they needed to learn peace and forgiveness.
Albus looked further down the list. Finding a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was a huge problem. And what's wrong with Hagrid teaching Care of Magical Creatures?
Minerva added, "Hagrid is not qualified to teach any class. He does an admirable job as groundskeeper, but he does not have a Mastery. In fact, you should have ensured his wand rights were restored after the Chamber incident. Mr. Potter took care of that with Madam Bones on Wednesday. He should be getting an official reinstatement owl anytime now."
"Perhaps you could ask Wilhemena if she would like to return to teaching, Minerva?"
"That's your problem, Albus. I'm no longer your deputy!"
"What about the new muggleborn first years?"
"They have all been contacted and provided their introduction. Mr. Potter and Miss Granger are arranging to meet them all in Diagon Alley next month to get their supplies. We only have eight new muggleborns this year," she replied.
Albus rubbed his forehead. He was getting quite the headache.
"The Muggle Studies course should be fine, however. Why do we need a new professor?"
Minerva laughed, "That course has been out of date for more than fifty years. While Charity is a nice person and tries her best to convey her subject, she has no idea what she is talking about. As a pureblood witch, her only contact with muggles on a regular basis was when she went to Kings Cross Station. Miss Granger dropped the class for next year because she couldn't stand all the misinformation being touted as fact. Nothing is covered about current modes of transportation, communication, entertainment, and a myriad of other things. She even talked to me about my attire when I visit muggleborn families. Apparently, I'm almost a century behind. I would suggest Charity develop the Introduction to the Magical World course. As there is only a NEWT and no Mastery for Muggle Studies, I think we could find a recent muggleborn graduate to fill that position."
Albus' headache was getting worse. When he got his hands on Harry Potter, he was going to take those rings off his fingers and ensure he never thought about being the Lord of any house now, or in the future.
Albus was relieved that Severus' position wasn't on the list. Perhaps he could persuade Severus to ignore the Charter and continue in his two positions. Now, however, he needed to find a deputy in a hurry.
Filius took pity on the poor man and said, "Here, Albus. We've put our heads together and come up with a list of potential candidates. You can take them or leave them, but you have six weeks before classes start again to get things in order."
"Some of these will have to wait until next year. Or the year after. It will take time to find the funding for these extra positions. I feel some of them can be done without too. A castle chatelain. Mr. Filch is quite adequate in maintaining the castle with the help of the elves."
"I believe Mr. Potter has bigger ideas for that than just sweeping up after muddy footprints and threatening students with bodily harm. As for funding, I believe he's already working with Gringotts on that issue. Most of the money used to pay the Board and Binns will cover them. Albus, it's time you took this school seriously. You have until one week before classes start to decide whether you want to be a full-time Headmaster or a politician. You will no longer be able to do both," said Minerva.
With that, the three professors left the headmaster to figure out what his true priorities were.