Yule Ball
Barty watched how Jazzy's look was given the last touch by Winky. He couldn't take his eyes off his wife. She looked radiant. She had already looked beautiful when she was trying on the altered dress robes, but now Winky was also doing her hair and make-up. Winky was determined that her new mistress would outshine everybody on the ball. Barty was sure that she would succeed with that plan. Jazzy's hair was woven into a large number of small braids, in which Winky had added some golden and emerald leaf accessories, to match her jewellery. Not too many, just enough to add to the theme of the clothes and jewellery Jazzy wore tonight.
She had also added a broach formed like a golden leaf to keep his cape closed in front of his robes. It was another part that matched him with Jazzy. Winky was an expert at subtle impressions like that. He didn't mind. He planned to impress the assembled guests tonight. It would be to his advantage if they got a good first impression of him and his wife. And he knew that the Daily Prophet would send reporters to write an article about the ball. He only hoped it wasn't Skeeter. That woman couldn't keep from turning a proper article into a gossip piece.
When Jazzy was done, he had to control himself. He knew he couldn't take her right now. They first had the ball to attend. But she was a great temptation. But later, he would show her how much he appreciated the work that had gone into her looks tonight.
"Ready, love?" he asked lovingly.
"Yes. I can't wait," she replied giddily.
"Then let's go. I told Endymion we would meet him and Hermione in five minutes," Barty informed Jazzy.
"Ok," nodded Jazzy, put her high heels on and walked over to him.
He offered his arm and let her take it and then walked towards the door of the suite.
"Have fun," wished Winky and then popped away to work on something else. She had a lot of work to do, which she loved.
Barty and Jazzy walked towards the end of the corridor, where their friends' suite was located. Barty knocked on the door and it didn't take long for Endymion to open it.
"Hello, you two," he greeted with a smile, "Just a minute, we are nearly ready."
The two nodded and soon after Hermione and Endymion came out of the door. Hermione wore a sleeveless periwinkle blue dress with her hair in a bun from which some ringlets fell down. She also wore a nice necklace with a white snowflake that had a sapphire in the middle. On her wrist she had a matching bracelet. And like it was with Jazzy, her hair showed a few snowflake highlights that matched the jewellery that she wore.
"Jazzy, you look great," complimented Hermione.
"You do too, Hermione," replied Jazzy.
"Yes, we will be the envy of all other wizards at the ball," nodded Endymion seriously.
"We will have to keep the others away with a beater's bat," added Barty.
The two guys grinned at each other, incredibly happy to have two beautiful witches as their wives. Then they escorted their ladies down to the Great Hall, where the ball would take place. When they reached their destination, many eyes turned towards them.
"No way, that's Granger?" asked one girl when they passed a group.
"She doesn't deserve Endymion," grouched another.
"How did Potter clean up like this?" asked a boy.
"Shit, what a transformation," added another boy.
Hermione and Jazzy ignored the jealous looks and secretly enjoyed that for once they were the ones being envied for their looks. Inside the Great Hall, Professor Flitwick was explaining how the seating was arranged. When he spotted them in the crowd, he came over.
"You look wonderful, you four. As we expect that a lot of attention will be on you next to the three champions and their dates, we decided to place you at a table that's close enough to the teacher's tables to let us step in if things go too far. I also got two of your classmates from Ravenclaw to share your table, Mr Lestrange. They promised to also act as a buffer if you need one," said Professor Flitwick.
"Thank you, Professor, I appreciate this," nodded Endymion.
The others voiced their thanks as well and went over to the table he pointed at. While it was close to the front, it was in the second row of tables, meaning it wasn't in direct line of sight from the dance floor. They took their seats and soon after Endymion's housemates arrived. They introduced themselves. There were Richard Glowfield and his date Ginelle Idotibio and then Quentin Charploss and his date Esmeralda Boot. Richard, Ginelle and Quentin were seventh year Ravenclaws like Endymion, Esmeralda was in their year but in Hufflepuff. Introductions were done quickly by Endymion and then they started talking about all kinds of things, the other four seventh years carefully avoiding anything to do with the ritual.
The two girls complimented Hermione's and Jazzy's looks and congratulated to their marriages. Ginelle even told Hermione that she was glad that Endymion was now married to her and didn't have to suffer from all those girls trying to make him fall for them anymore. She had been extremely annoyed by it in the end. After about fifteen minutes, Professor Dumbledore stood and called for silence.
"Welcome everybody to the traditional Yule Ball. It has been established as a well-loved part of the Triwizard Tournament to not only celebrate the upcoming holiday season but to offer all the students from the participating schools a chance to meet in a non-competitive atmosphere to be merry and meet new friends. I hope that everybody will enjoy this opportunity. Now, please stand and greet with me our three Triwizard Champions. Representing Beauxbatons Académie de la Magique, Miss Fleur Delacour, accompanied by Mr Roger Davies. Representing Durmstrang Institute for Magic Arts, Mr Viktor Krum, accompanied by Miss Pamela Rostakov. Representing Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Mr Cedric Diggory, accompanied by Miss Cho Chang," announced Dumbledore and started clapping, which was taken up by the other guests.
The three champions entered in a line, promenading around the dance floor before walking up the middle to stop before the head table, where the five judges of the tournament, with Percy Weasley substituting for the recently deceased Barty Crouch senior were seated. The three boys bowed while the girls curtseyed in greeting.
"Now, before we start the feast, let's have our champions open the ball with the traditional opening waltz," continued Dumbledore and the orchestra led by Professor Flitwick, started playing, which led to the three couples on the dance floor to start with the waltz.
The other guests watched and when the dance was finished after about three minutes, they all clapped politely for the champions. The champions and their dates then took their seats at the head table next to the judges and people started wondering how they would get their food. Many had already perused the menus on the tables, but there was no information how to order what they had decided to get.
"Pork chops," stated Dumbledore clearly into the silence and the dish appeared in front of him on the table.
Now understanding how they were to decide on their food, the other guests voiced their choices and soon the sounds of cutlery on plates was heard, next to the clinking of glasses to toast to each other.
Jazzy and Hermione were reminded that they weren't allowed to drink anything with alcohol in it by their husbands.
"Why wouldn't they be allowed some alcohol?" asked Quentin, "I mean, butterbeer doesn't have much of it anyway."
"Oh, it can't be?" asked Ginelle, suspecting something, "Are you pregnant?" she asked in a low voice.
"Yes, a side effect of the ritual," nodded Jazzy, "Please keep it for yourself. I don't want to imagine what the press would make out of that. The hubbub they made over the part of the story they were told was bad enough."
"Of course. That will be hard on you both to deal with your studies and raising babies at the same time," commented Esmeralda worried, also speaking in a low voice.
"It will be difficult," agreed Hermione, "especially as we have to sit our OWLs next year. I want to do both things justice, but I worry if I will manage."
"Don't worry, Mione," assured Endymion, "You aren't alone with this, and will have the help you need. I have a nanny elf in my employ and once we open up Lestrange Manor next summer, I will let you two get familiar with each other. During the times you are in classes, she can look after our baby once he or she is born. And I will assist you with preparation for the OWLs when they come up. I have already passed them after all. I know lots of tricks to make study for them more effective and less time intensive."
"Thank you, Endy," replied Hermione with a smile.
Jazzy was surprised that Hermione didn't complain about having an elf to assist her. But she wouldn't ask about that here. They could do that in private. But it seemed that Endymion had explained certain things to her best friend and got her to accept them.
It took about an hour until everybody had eaten his fill and Dumbledore stood again.
"Now, I again ask our champions to the dance floor to lead all of us in the beginning of the dancing. There will of course be refreshments for all of you, which can be found at the long table at the side of the Great Hall," he informed the guests.
The three couples with the champions again got up from their seats and started the dance, again a waltz, but this time the teachers joined quickly after, led by Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall.
"May I have this dance?" asked Barty, holding his hand out to Jazzy.
"It will be my pleasure," she replied with a smile and let him lead her onto the dance floor.
Hermione and Endymion followed, with the other two couples directly behind them. The boys spun their partners into position and then started to move around the dance floor.
One person glared at the dancing couples. Ron Weasley was angry. He had everything planned out. He would make Jasmine Potter fall for him over time and then marry her and get to be Lord Potter. He would have a large and great house and money to splurge. He would never be poor again, not even need to work. Everybody knew that the Potter fortune was large after all, and he had thought he was in the perfect position to win Jasmine for himself. While he hadn't been enthusiastic about having her as his wife, as she didn't look that great, the money had made that fault up in his mind.
But now the girl he had stuck to for three years had transformed into one of the hottest girls in school. She was certainly in the top three of his year. He was angry that he couldn't have her anymore, as she was already married. That shouldn't have been possible. His mother had told him that the earliest anybody could marry was at the age of sixteen with parental permission. But both Jasmine and Hermione were much younger than that and were now married. He was jealous of the unknown Crouch heir. He didn't care so much about Hermione being married too in that ritual. But he hated that he couldn't have Jasmine anymore.
He hadn't been happy when the two were kidnapped on Halloween, but he hadn't exactly worked out that something had happened. Too many interesting things had taken place on Halloween and he had been thinking of the feast in the evening, which would be greater than normally, as there were guests from two other schools. Hogwarts had to come up with something special to impress them after all. And the best part, there were two feasts after another. One on the thirtieth and one on the thirty-first. It was incredible. But then news spread that the two girls were missing. He hadn't thought too much about it at the time. He only noticed that he had more free time, as Hermione wasn't always nagging him to do his homework when he tried to get the two girls to goof off. That part was great.
But now they were back and married. He didn't know why that Bartholomew Crouch got to have Jasmine when he hadn't even known her before that stupid ritual everybody was talking about. How could a ritual get around the age barrier anyway? But Dumbledore had said they were married, and he knew what he was talking about. All his plans were in tatters. How would he now get rich and could live a carefree life?
Draco Malfoy watched the two newly married couples. Contrary to many others, he had kept back when the two couples returned to the school. He had written to his father and reported the events and the information Dumbledore had given. He had got a letter back to not harass either of the ones involved in the ritual, as that would be in unbelievably bad taste. The public was currently pitying the four that had been forced to participate and it would be social suicide to attack them in any way.
Next to that, Draco also knew that observing would give him a better base to act from in the future. He hadn't expected the new Lady Crouch to go through this big of a transformation. She had turned from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. His mother had told him the old story of a witch experimenting with chicks of different birds to figure out if they could be transformed from one type into another. It had worked with a duckling that was changed into a swan chick. Even the muggles had somehow noticed that part and made a fairy tale out of it. Jasmine Crouch was the epitome of that happening.
It also told him that he had been right to suspect that something was wrong with the way Potter had been raised. While it still irked him that she had refused to listen to him at the beginning of first year, when he offered his help, this proved that somebody had truly messed up. And if he was right, this would be a blow to Dumbledore's image. He had after all ensured the wizarding world that the girl was raised safely and by a good family. This change told a much different story. Clearly the ones raising the girl had barely given her any care. This looked as if somebody had used highly potent potions to bring out her full potential.
That also made sense. He knew enough about sacrificial rituals from his mother that the ritual would be more powerful in its results if the sacrifices were in perfect condition. Dumbledore had said that the ritual entailed a virgin's sacrifice. That meant, Pettigrew had fed both girls with potions to ensure that everything would go perfectly. Fudge had said that Pettigrew was a Death Eater that had managed to fake his death. While it was annoying that with Sirius Black exonerated there was no way he could lay any claim to the Black fortune, that had been a shaky chance anyway. He knew his mother was born into a branch of the family and it was a few generations back that his line crossed the main line. Potter, now Crouch, was closer to that. Not to mention that Sirius Black was her godfather. If he didn't sire an heir, which might be difficult as Azkaban influenced the ability to sire children in wizards as far as he knew, she would be next in line. Sirius Black was also disinherited, meaning, he might not be able to take the title of Lord Black.
Though there was some doubt if he was fully disinherited. He knew the name was blasted from the family tree at the Black town house in London, his mother had told him about that after a visit to her aunt Walburga. Still, nobody had seen an official document signed by Orion Black or Arcturus Black that Sirius was out of the line of succession. He had been cut off from all financial benefits that came with being part of an important family like the Blacks, but Draco wasn't one hundred percent sure if after his younger brother Regulus died, the full disinheriting had been seen through. It took a while for everything to be finished.
From what he had been taught, a family would first declare a descendant to dishonour the family and cut them off from financial support, then, if the subject of the punishment didn't relent, they could cut them off from being able to request shelter from any family member. Every step had to wait for three months after the previous one, as it was a system that was out to bring the fool to see reason and follow the will of the family head. If that didn't work, then the intention to take the person's claim to family magic would follow and as the last step, the person wouldn't be allowed to carry the name anymore.
Parents could declare that one child was out of the line if inheritance for their branch of the family from the second step onward. But the only way for the person to be out of the line of succession permanently was if the head of the family went thought with the fourth step, which hadn't been done, as Sirius was still a Black in name. Meaning Arcturus Black, the last head of the family, hadn't decided to take that step. And more importantly, he didn't exclude the line of Sirius from the headship. Probably because Arcturus would have hoped to mould a child from the line into a proper heir for the Blacks. And from what his mother had explained, as he was Jasmine Potter's godfather, she was his legal heir as long as he didn't have biological children.
Meaning, her husband would become regent Black until they had a son. Which might be sooner than anybody might expect. Draco suspected that both girls were pregnant already. Neither had touched any alcohol during dinner. He had been able to watch from his table, which was only two down from theirs. And he also knew that if new life was created during a ritual, that would add an additional boost. His mother had been thorough when she taught him these things that were basic knowledge in the Black family. Should it be true, then he could expect Bartholomew Crouch and Endymion Lestrange becoming incredibly protective of their wives.
It was not advisable to get between overprotective wizards that stood to become fathers and the ones they protected. Perhaps he could even use this. While he and Jasmine Potter hadn't started on the best of terms, his main clashes had always been with Weasley. He honestly hadn't thought that a Potter would actually be friends with a Weasley. But observation of the girl during their first year showed that she had absolutely no clue about the wizarding world. She was like a mudblood in how little she knew. And over the years her knowledge didn't improve much. The things that did improve were behaviour that was simply expected of witches, which he attributed to the Gryffindor chasers, and her attitude in classes. As much as Granger, now Lestrange had irked him with her doing as well as she did in classes while being a mudblood, at least she had proper study attitudes and Potter now Crouch followed her. Weasley, well, he honestly wondered how that moron planned to pass his OWLs. His grades had fallen spectacularly since the girls were kidnapped.
Probably he had only copied from Granger. Well, that wouldn't cut it for the OWLs. Draco couldn't wait to see Weasley fail. He hoped he would see the idiot fail his OWLs and then either leave Hogwarts or at least have to repeat his fifth year. Even Dumbledore couldn't protect him if he didn't pass his exams. He would continue his observations and stay out of the business of the Crouchs and Lestranges for now. Both families were too important to risk anything without having a clear picture of the current situation. One thing he would be able to do easily now. Go after Weasley. Without Crouch and Lestrange to keep him out of trouble, he would be easy prey. That caused an evil smirk on his face. Yes, that should give him enough entertainment for a while.
Dumbledore watched how the four escapees danced different dances of the ball. Considering that Minerva had only given them two lessons and only in two dances, they were doing quite well. Though he had to give the Lestrange couple credit, they could dance more different dances than the Crouch couple. But as Jasmine didn't have any dance lessons before, she was doing really well in the two dances she had learned in two days. And the two girls certainly drew admiring and jealous looks to themselves.
Thankfully, he had managed to force Barnabas Cuffe, the editor of the Daily Prophet, to send a decent reporter to write about the Yule Ball. He had given the man a simple ultimatum. Either he sent somebody that would report the true events and not make up things, especially about the two couples that were involved in the ritual, or he would ban any reporter of the paper from further reports of any kind. And with the wards on the level they were, he had no trouble enforcing that part. Remus Lupin had truly helped them close the holes in their protection. Who would have known that the secret passages were a loophole in the wards?
That was how Pettigrew had kidnapped the two girls. Remus, once he had returned from overseas, had informed him that his group of friends had figured out that only the parts of the wards that weren't blocked by stone and earth would register if somebody crossed them. The passages that led out of the school and crossed the wards while being underground would let people get out unnoticed. While he couldn't adjust the automatic alarm for that, he could with the help of Remus place his own ward lines that informed him if somebody crossed them. It would also tell him who was crossing them. This had allowed him to pacify the Ministry. And he had honestly not known that the wards had such a fatal weakness. He didn't know why the wards had such a weakness, but perhaps the founders had their reasons for setting them up this way.
As long as they didn't overlook any secret passages out of the school, this event would never see a repeat. He had also adjusted the animagus wards of the school. As among the staff only Minerva was an animagus, he specifically keyed her into the wards and locked all others out as long as they were in their animal forms. Even if they crossed the wards in their human form and then tried to transform, he would be alarmed. He wouldn't risk a repeat of Pettigrew sneaking inside and trying to kidnap a student. Even if he suspected that for the moment the four teenagers would be safe. And they would stay at the school during the next Hogsmeade weekend to be safe. Four aurors would be given polyjuice to look like them to flush out possible attackers. If nothing happened, they could consider letting the four visit the village during the following scheduled weekend. He was sure they wouldn't mind. They were pretty frightened when they had arrived at Hogwarts after all.
It was also understandable. Being used in a ritual that forced them to have sex with a person they didn't know before would scare everybody, but especially teenagers like them. He would have to watch how things developed. Thankfully, it seemed that the two couples' general magical compatibility made up for now being married to basically strangers. While a few of his plans would now need to be adjusted, he had done that too often to be disturbed by it. Having lived as long as he did, he knew that plans were merely general guidelines for different possible events. Preparation for those situations was essential, but the details could differ depending on how both sides acted.
He would also have to do a reading of Jasmine's scar when things had calmed down a bit. He knew thanks to the diary that some piece of Voldemort's soul had got stuck there. This was the reason why the girl felt when Voldemort experienced strong emotions or felt pain when he was close. After determining that the diary was a horcrux, it led to the sad realisation that the girl had to die for Voldemort to die. But he needed to know how much the ritual had influenced the soul piece. Rituals were unpredictable at the best of times. Sacrificial rituals even more so. And if his suspicion that the ritual was performed to give Voldemort a body back proved true, the soul piece in the scar might have been influenced by it as well.
From the reports of Madam Pomfrey, he already knew that the bindings he had placed on Jasmine when she was a child had been lifted or been forcefully broken by the ritual. It wasn't clear, as the readings had been imprecise due to the recentness of the ritual. He only knew that the girl posed a large threat now. He couldn't allow her to grow too powerful. Too much power tempted the young, like it had done with Gellert, Tom and himself. He knew that if not for Ariana dying, he would have thrown in his lot with Gellert and he feared to imagine what they could have done together. No, for the Greater Good, Jasmine Potter now Crouch needed to be controlled. But new bindings weren't an option now. It would inevitably harm the baby and that would cause a magical backlash he wouldn't survive. Magic had a way to protect magical children. Especially when they weren't even born yet.
Jazzy enjoyed the ball. Dancing with Barty was wonderful. Though she also accepted a dance with Fred and George each. They, contrary to Ron, were much easier to tolerate around. She had got to know them over the course of her first year, due to being on the Quidditch team. And going through Wood's bootcamp from hell knit a team together like few other things could manage. The twins told her that they were sorry for what had happened to her and Hermione. They had been stuck at the hospital wing for hours to get rid of the beards they had gained by trying to trick the age line with ageing potion. Otherwise, they could have noticed that she and Hermione hadn't been present and used the map to figure out that they were gone. That might have been soon enough to track down a lead to where they were taken.
Jazzy didn't blame them. They couldn't have known. If anybody should have alarmed the teachers earlier, it was Ron and the other fourth years, especially the girls. They should have noticed that they hadn't been seen all day. As nothing extreme had happened before, they should have at least told Professor McGonagall when they hadn't been present for lunch. But it was no use to complain about things that couldn't be changed anymore. And Jazzy was happy with Barty. While she wouldn't have chosen to marry when she was just fourteen, she was falling in love with her husband more and more.
She and Barty danced for those songs that let them use the waltz and quickstep they had learned during the dance lessons from Professor McGonagall and when there was no fixed style needed. It was all great fun. They regularly took breaks to get something to drink, again with Barty making sure that she only drank things without alcohol in them. To make things fair, he also abstained from drinking them. It didn't matter much to her. There were very tasty kinds of juices and non-alcoholic cocktails that were offered, and she loved trying different kinds. After three hours of dancing and mingling with other students, they decided to get some fresh air. Jazzy was now happy that Winky had included the shawl for her shoulders as, despite there being wards around the rose garden that kept it warmer than the normal weather, the wind was still fresh when her shoulders and arms were bare.
It was really nice, even if they stayed away from the spot where Snape and Karkaroff were talking about something heatedly. Barty, unnoticed to Jazzy, spotted how Snape glared at them from afar. He would have to make sure that the man didn't continue to transfer his hatred of Jazzy's father to her. He also needed to find out if he had thrown his lot in with Dumbledore or if he was still loyal to the Dark Lord. Snape could be extremely valuable for the plans of the Dark Lord but not if he for some reason had joined Dumbledore's side. Dumbledore stood for stagnation and keeping up the corrupt status quo. And that would ruin their country sooner or later.
But his thoughts about that issue were pushed back when Jazzy pulled him over to a secluded spot and started kissing him enthusiastically. There were more important things than worrying about Snape.
Lucius Malfoy sat opposite Severus Snape. He had invited the man to his home. As the school was still on Christmas break, Severus could visit for a day without Dumbledore saying anything about it. Severus had just reported about the observations he had made during the Yule Ball, including how Draco had shown himself. Lucius was quite happy with his son's behaviour and presentation. According to Severus' report, Draco had shown himself competent at dancing different kinds of dances, was polite and respectful towards his date Pansy Parkinson, not openly showing that he didn't want a deeper relationship with the girl, and overall showed manners befitting a pureblood scion. Severus also told him that Draco seemed to observe the other guests at the ball and made mental notes on things.
"Well, at least my son seems to grow up a bit," commented Lucius pleased, "Some of the things you told me about showed a lot of immaturity in past years."
"True. His constant needling of Weasley and in some parts Crouch were childish," agreed Severus.
"What do you think about the newly married couples?" asked Lucius, knowing that he needed to figure out where Severus stood in his position. It was something the Dark Lord has asked him to do during the regular meeting he had with the man during the Christmas break.
"Surprisingly, they seem well matched. Lestrange even managed to tone down some of the less pleasant habits of his wife. Her crusade against house elf enslavement showed a clear lack of knowledge of things for one. I don't have a good read on Barty's son yet to say much about him. As I didn't have him in classes before, it is more difficult to form a reliable picture. But the closeness that both couples show is unexpected. I would guess that both of the girls fall into the group of submissive witches with their partners to some level. That is the most logical explanation why they don't protest things in any way. Just being resigned to not being able to change things wouldn't achieve that. It would take much longer," analysed Severus.
"Yes, it would," agreed Lucius, "I haven't seen the four teenagers themselves, thus I can't really build an opinion. But the pictures of the four in the Prophet certainly held a surprise in Mrs Crouch's new looks. Whoever brewed the potions that turned her from the plain underfed thing I met at the bookstore at the beginning of Draco's second year into a lovely young lady certainly knew his craft."
"I can only agree with you there, Lucius. Those potions had to be extraordinarily potent to correct all the neglect caused by the muggle relatives of Mrs Crouch," nodded Severus, "I mean, only a blind fool wouldn't have noticed that before. I can only hope that her looks won't go to her head now."
"As you mentioned it, why didn't anybody prescribe her those potions at Hogwarts?" asked Lucius, "I mean, Poppy Pomfrey had the girl under her care often enough to have decided it was necessary. If such a strong change was caused, there had to be immense medical problems next to the looks."
"I don't know, Lucius. I know I reported my suspicions about child neglect and possible abuse to Dumbledore two weeks into her first year at Hogwarts. Potter's daughter or not, as a teacher, it is my duty to look out for medical and behavioural problems among the students. I might not like the girl, as she is as arrogant as her father, thinking she doesn't have to follow the rules like other students, but I would never let something like that stand," replied Severus, "I don't doubt that Poppy noticed even more when she treated the girl but in the end, she could only act with permission of the girl's magical guardian, which I suspect is Dumbledore, as the Wizengamot would have voided the rights of Black when they convicted him to Azkaban."
Lucius pondered that information while taking a sip from his cup of tea. That meant that Dumbledore had possibly neglected his duty with the girl more than already assumed and proven.
"That doesn't paint a nice picture of the headmaster," he commented.
"I have long since realised that the man might talk a lot and want to not let the dark movement gain any significant influence, but he isn't any champion of good like he loves to portray himself as. You know I wouldn't have stayed in a position I dislike, as most of my students don't even bother to learn the basics of brewing safely before they heat a cauldron for the first time, if I didn't need his protection," pointed Severus out.
"What would be a position at Hogwarts that you could see yourself enjoying?" asked Lucius, knowing that his Lord had plans for the school. This innocent question would help determining if Severus was even interested to stay there.
"Well, as you know, I enjoy the brewing of Potions but detest how those brats can't even follow simple instructions carefully. If I could concentrate on those that actually have proven talent and determination to do well in the subject, it would be a lot easier for me. I generally have less trouble with the older students that know how to take things seriously. If it were up to me, I would only take students at NEWT level, next to brewing potions needed at the hospital wing. I also enjoy the head of house position, as I know that guiding my snakes to achieve their ambitions in cunning and intelligent ways is extremely rewarding.
"I know that most students hate me for my attitude in classes, but it is the only way to prevent horrible accidents that could kill large parts of the classes. If I only think how many disasters in the making I had to prevent with Longbottom, I shudder. That boy should be forbidden to go near a cauldron. Much safer for everybody if he has to buy his potions at an apothecary. Let him concentrate on growing plants. There he seemingly has some talent.
"I really regret that the Dark Lord fell into the mental state he showed at the end. If he had kept his ingenuity of the early years of the movement, I wouldn't be forced to deal with dunderheads all the time. His ideas for educational reforms that he presented to us were inspiring," sighed Severus.
"That they were. If I hadn't instructed Draco to follow the guidelines that Augustus had worked out to give the best possible development for one's magic, he would be far away from ever reaching his full potential magically," nodded Lucius.
"That's another part. I mean, if the founders already knew what was needed to bring out the potential that the children are born with, why would it be ignored so much these days? I mean, both the Ministry and Dumbledore and his predecessors cut out important parts of the curriculum, supposedly because they are too expensive to realise. I know enough about economy and balancing a budget to see that those are weak excuses. Instead the brats have too much time on their hands now, as they don't have any guidance what they need to do. The lazy ones, which are far too many for my comfort, use the free periods to goof around and think up stupid pranks. The few ones that use it to study still don't invest enough time into the practical parts.
"I mean, nearly three quarters of Ravenclaw basically live in the library when they don't have classes, thinking they can be better witches and wizards in the end by just reading up on spells, runic arrays and potions," ranted Severus, "If I didn't keep a firm grip over Slytherin and create my own timetables for them, they would fall prey to some of that as well."
"I heard about that from Draco. That's something you thought up, as I don't remember Professor Slughorn setting those lessons up," mentioned Lucius.
"Yes. I detest wasting potential. Not to mention that Sluggy's approach to cunning and ambition was far too limited. He only supported those that had useful connections and, in few cases, extraordinary talent. He failed to nurture the hidden potential of all his house. That's something I won't do. In some cases, it is wasted time and effort, but even I can't do anything against inbred stupidity. Crabbe and Goyle are prime examples of that. If not for the tutoring lessons I force them into, they would have failed their first year," stated Severus, "but the others, there I can at least give them the tools to get to the top. One of the first lectures I hold for the first years is the information about how they need to set up their days to become the most powerful magically that they can be. And nobody can tell me that with proper organisation any kind of homework can't be finished within two hours each day. Even my essays."
Lucius could only nod. This was promising. Severus didn't follow Dumbledore's ways out of conviction but out of lack of other options. And this experience in organising the development of his house was beneficial in a possible change of his position at Hogwarts.
"Do you see any points of attack against Dumbledore that could be used to change things? I mean, after the revealed holes in his security of the school during such an important event, he might not be as secure in his seat as before," asked Lucius.
"Several actually, but I wouldn't recommend using them, as the alternative is worse," sighed Severus.
"What do you mean?" asked Lucius.
"Have you seen who pulls the strings at the Ministry?" asked Severus sarcastically.
"Many times," confirmed Lucius, understanding what Severus was implicating, "That means, while Dumbledore could be pushed out of the school, if that happened, Fudge would listen to idiots like Umbridge and bring the school down even further than Dumbledore does. Sadly, I can see that happen."
"And the DME is a toothless lion. They may set up the OWL and NEWT examinations, but you and I both know that they take bribes to adjust some scores to at least not show failure of certain families' children," added Severus, "Otherwise we would at least have weeded out the hopeless cases on NEWT level and could work through the material at a faster speed. But even morons like Crabbe and Goyle will be pulled through and allowed to take three NEWT subjects that they might just manage to pull through."
"That is indeed troubling," nodded Lucius, "I'm just glad that I don't have to fear such a performance from Draco."
"No, your son's pride forbids him to slack as he fears that Mrs Lestrange will pull too far ahead if he does. And despite some youthful follies he gets up to, at least he doesn't suffer from inbred stupidity. You and Narcissa are one of the couples I have among the parents in my house that understood that marrying too closely to your lines was a terrible idea," commented Severus.
"Yes. I am thinking about what to do in that regard with Draco. For one, I know that he doesn't like any of the girls that would be appropriate for him to court if I simply looked at their family names. I have been considering looking farther away. I want magical and in best case powerful grandchildren one day," stated Lucius.
"That will probably be your best chance to achieve that. The later phase of the war cost us too many pureblood families. And those that we have are often too closely related. For some reason, the Blacks influenced too many people negatively with their stupidity. I mean honestly, Narcissa and Andromeda got lucky that their magic is somewhat balanced and didn't negatively influence their minds. But Bellatrix is a basket case," declared Severus.
"I know that far too well. If I hadn't insisted that Narcissa got kept out of our operations because she was pregnant, Bellatrix would have dragged her into raids. And those raids weren't what I signed up for when I joined our Lord. I joined to change our world, to bring about the vision he had that convinced me after I finished Hogwarts," admitted Lucius.
"Same for me. I wanted to help create a world where family connections were secondary to actual talent and power. Where intelligent wizards and witches would be at the top, not the fools that sadly make up most of the Ministry. I mean, with that kind of standards there, it was no surprise that we nearly won," pointed Severus out.
"Yes. But things will only change once we can bring Hogwarts back to the top. Otherwise, the school will churn out too many idiots to be acceptable. I mean, I use that fact regularly to see things that I need done realised, but it is frustrating that those people only work properly when they get bribed. They should be doing their work properly anyway, as they already get paid some of the highest salaries in our world. I have to work more for my money," commented Lucius.
He owned five different businesses and had to ensure that all worked properly to keep up his lifestyle. And there he didn't allow any idiot that simply could present a pureblood family name and heritage to work. He chose his employees from the best graduates from Hogwarts that were purebloods and halfbloods. Simply because he needed qualified employees, not morons that would ruin things. If he only employed purebloods, he wouldn't get enough candidates for the open positions. Many didn't know this, but he was realist before he was elitist. If he was elitist, he shared Severus' preference for intelligent and skilled people that at least had some proper lineage. Those raised in the wizarding world in traditional families were his preferred choice.
"Well, what do you expect when Dumbledore regularly places some of his favourites in positions there to grant some favours? We both know how the old man chooses his favourites," sneered Severus, "He mainly looks for Gryffindors that he can easily manipulate and then adds a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs to the mix."
Lucius nodded. That was a known fact. It was one reason why people had such a good impression of Gryffindor house. The headmaster favoured them over the other houses, as they went along with his plans easiest.
"Are there any things you were told about for the next term?" asked Lucius.
"You mean concerning the Crouchs and the Lestranges?" asked Severus, which Lucius confirmed with a nod, "So far, nothing was said, but I overheard that both witches have set dates for check-ups with Poppy."
"Regular check-ups you say? That's unusual. If it was because of the ritual, that would be done for all four of them and then normally on short notice," pondered Lucius.
"I wouldn't be surprised if I was told that the two girls would not take potions for the next term. If I consider the nature of the ritual, it wouldn't be unusual if both were pregnant," said Severus.
"Yes, a virginal sacrifice includes sexual intercourse and having the participating girls pregnant afterwards is a common occurrence. That would be interesting to watch how it will influence things at the school. After all, in this situation, the normal course of action would be out of the question," pointed Lucius out.
Nobody would send the girls home to be home-schooled for something they didn't participate in willingly. Not to mention that it was the Girl-Who-Lived that was involved. Dumbledore would make special arrangements for her. And the other girl would simply be included as she was her best friend, and it would look bad on Dumbledore to not treat both cases the same.
"If I'm right, both babies will be born in the second to third week of September. That isn't too difficult to arrange for the studies of the girls. As Hogwarts has numerous house elves, once the girls have recovered from giving birth, they can be added to reduced timetables again. And, as with a baby Crouch wouldn't be able to play Quidditch anymore, both would have the time needed to work through a carefully planned schedule for the OWLs. And the most taxing parts take place in the second term, when the students go through all the material that was taught during the previous years," commented Severus, being used how the students behaved in fifth and seventh year, when the important exams took place.
"Yes, I remember how it was during that time," agreed Lucius, "It would be immensely helpful for all students to have a guideline how to structure their time during those important years. If it was left to them, many would only do the minimum or concentrate on useless things."
"I suggested that already, but Dumbledore blocked it," admitted Severus, "I have established that model in Slytherin though and it works really well. Therefore, you can expect Draco to do well in his OWLs next year."
"Really? I hadn't heard that so far. But it is great. I wonder why Draco didn't tell me about it before," wondered Lucius.
"That's easy. I have the ones fifth year and older sworn to secrecy, as overambitious students, which often are sorted into Slytherin, would attempt to study by the plan for fifth year and up," snorted Severus, "And that is detrimental to their development. The plan for OWL year is based on the fact that all students have had their third stabilising boost of magic, meaning they are fifteen years old. If it was attempted by younger students, it could harm their cores, which I don't want to hear complaints about. But their normal schedules challenge them already at an appropriate level, thus they don't catch onto the method for the higher years."
"That's reasonable," accepted Lucius.
Silently he was extremely impressed how Severus had gone about his duties as head of Slytherin. That bode well for a possible promotion to headmaster once their lord took over. It also sounded like a successful model. He would have to get a list of the graduates from Slytherin from the years since Severus took over the head of house position from Slughorn. This was important information for their lord as well. He let Severus explain more about the model, under the pretence that if Dumbledore fell far enough and they could find a suitable replacement, it would be great to use in all houses of the school. They continued their conversation for two more hours before Severus left for Hogwarts, as he needed to make sure that his snakes didn't get up to too much mischief during the break. After all, except for the younger ones that had gone home, all others were present this year, thanks to having attended the Yule Ball.