Headmistress McGonagall rose from her chair and tapped her glass with a teaspoon. The ringing echoed across the Great Hall and everyone turned to look at her.
"I know that the events of the last week have been quite frightening for most of you." Minerva began without any preamble. "I also know what it is like to not know what is happening, what measures are being taken to protect you, the rumours that spring up in the absence of information.
"It is time for you all to be reassured.
"The Wards protecting us are already stable and by the end of the month, will be stronger than they have ever been before. The new Wardstone is equipped with its own protections and is encased in a spire of Spellglass, the same substance which the windows of Lord Potter's home are comprised of. Spellglass absorbs spellfire and uses it to strengthen itself and the wards it is linked to. Coupled with the reinforcement runes engraved into them and the reactive defence wards around the Wardstone, it is fully protected against those who would wish to damage it.
"The Centaurs are now equipped with shields that can deflect spellfire, making them even more capable than they were before. In addition, they have assigned one of their own as the official liaison between the Forest Herd and Hogwarts. May I take this opportunity to introduce Herd-Warrior Firenze, ambassador for the Forest Herd. In addition to his duties, he has volunteered to occasionally help out with Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures and the areas of Divination which Professor Trelawney does not cover."
The lightly-armoured centaur in the corner nodded in what was almost a bow as a large round of applause (with the occasional cheer) filled the Great Hall. Once it had died down, MacGonogall continued.
"Professor Dumbledore is returning… as the new Transfiguration Teacher. Albus?"
Albus rose to his feet, smiling almost wistfully.
"Thank you, Minerva. Yes, I am returning, but looking back, I see that I could not devote the time to doing my many jobs as well as was required, and all three of my positions suffered as a result.
"In my absence, Minerva has done a far better job than I could have done and she is willing to continue to do so. It is said that the hardest lesson to learn is when to step aside and let those who know what they are doing perform the tasks that need to be done. I cannot be the Headmaster that you deserve, so I step aside that you may get the Headmistress who is indeed up to the task. Please, join me in giving a big hand for Headmistress Minerva MacGonogall!"
The hall seemed to tremble under the weight of the applause and Minerva raised one hand to quieten the students down, her lips twitching as she tried to retain her stern expression.
"Thank you, Albus." She said once the hall was quiet enough for her voice to carry. "Because of Albus' other duties, I will step in to take his classes when his presence is required at the Wizengamot or the ICW, that will not be too often as the paperwork seems to breed whenever I am out of the office."
Remus' nod of unwilling agreement and resigned expression caused a wave of laughter to sweep the hall.
"After a long discussion with Head of Slytherin Severus Snape, we have decided that the result of the Ravenclaw/Slytherin match will stand, even though we are uncertain as to how many of the players were indeed who they claimed to be." Minerva resumed. "The argument that decided it was that a two-hundred point loss was far less than others that have been suffered and Slytherin may still come second."
The students on the Ravenclaw table seemed to emit an aura of smugness while the Slytherins were resigned but confident.
"I am pleased to confirm that for her actions in raising the alarm, Miss Luna Lovegood is to be awarded an Order of Merlin, Third Class, this upcoming weekend."
Minerva paused as the entire hall seemed to erupt in celebrations, some of the students using their wands to summon short-lived flocks of birds, clouds of butterflies or flashes of light as a physical counterpoint to the cheering. Luna herself appeared shocked just before she vanished under the wave of people trying to congratulate her.
"She'll be fine." Filius chuckled from where he was standing on his seat for a better view. "Heir Longbottom got there first, he'll keep her from being crushed."
As Minerva opened her mouth to ask for clarification, the growing mound suddenly seemed to bounce, then the students were pushed away by an orange-haired Ape that was half-crouched protectively over Luna.
"Oh, right. His Animagus form is an Orang-Utan." Minerva shook her head as Neville glared at everyone before resuming his human form. "Everyone, sit down!"
Once everyone was back on their benches, Minerva gave the covert hand-signal to tell the House-Elves to do their job.
"I have only one more thing to say to you all." She stated as the banquet materialized on the tables. "Help yourselves!"
.
Draco frowned at the Ravenclaws, then applied himself to claiming some of the beef stew from the tureen in front of him.
Due to his near-obsessive practice of Occlumancy, he knew that he had discovered something about Potter, but the Obliviation had removed what he had learned.
Once the year had ended, he would go through the file that his father had started on Potter and which he had expanded.
He would figure out what he had learned.
Even if he had to hire a Mind-Healer to undo the Obliviation, with all the risks that such a procedure entailed.
.
"We have more Animagi students than teachers at the moment." Minerva noted almost ruefully. "Five Ravenclaw students versus three teachers."
"Given I may actually have a bit of time in the future, I do believe that I shall explore the possibility that I may be able to become one," Albus noted as he lowered his goblet. "It is the one skill of yours that I have truly envied, Minerva, but I failed the Mandrake Leaf portion of the ritual every time."
"It took me three attempts," Minerva admitted. "I do believe the way that Sirius has found is far simpler than the official method. Safer, too."
""It is," Sirius interjected, showing that he had been paying attention. "There's no real chance of getting stuck halfway, it either works or it doesn't and if it doesn't, that just means you need to work on your mental discipline more."
"I remain astonished that you actually had enough mental discipline to perform it." Severus snarked, earning a laughing 'oi' from Sirius. "You must admit, back when we were students, you were never really the studious sort."
"I agree with Severus." Remus chuckled, earning a look of betrayal from Lord Black. "All you were interested in back then were Quidditch, pranks and chasing girls."
"Good times." Sirius smiled.
"Only you could think that being hexed for trying to spy on the girls shower room was good times." Severus retorted.
"How did you know about that?" Sirius protested, then he shrank back as Minerva half-turned to glare at him. "Ummmm… it was Peter's idea! Really! Back me up, Moony! Moony? Help?"
.
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Harry hid a grin as Neville sprinted into the Ravenclaw common room and promptly transformed into his animal form, swarming up the shelves and into the rafters. A split second later, a veritable flood of females charged in and paused, looking around.
"He must be in his room!" One of the girls shouted and the mob charged up the stairs.
"I think I need to move out." Neville's voice came down from above. "Maybe Hagrid'll let me use his couch."
"Why are they all after you, anyway?" Hermione asked curiously.
"It's because he proved that he was a powerful wizard," Luna replied almost absently without looking up from the copy of the Quibbler that she was perusing. "He managed to outlast that wand Ward to free Hagrid and he's an Animagi, something that very few magicals can achieve under normal circumstances. Add his position as Heir to the House of Longbottom and the only one here who's a better catch is you… Lord Potter."
"Have a point for a perfectly accurate summation, Miss Lovegood." Filius chuckled from the doorway leading to his office.
Harry gave his Head of House a confused look.
"So… why is it Neville getting chased like that?"
"You jealous, Harry?" Neville teased from above.
"Just curious." Harry shrugged.
"Well, as an Emancipated Lord, you have legal options to either fend off would-be suitors or, should you be inclined that way, trap them in a Marriage Contract, should they try anything." Filius waved one hand. "As Heir, Neville doesn't have such options, meaning that he is safer to chase."
"Huh." Harry finally managed. "I hadn't realized that. It does explain quite a bit, though."
"I think I will need to activate the gender-ward on that staircase, though." Filius mused as the girls searching for Neville returned to the Common Room, looking round for any sight of him.
"Probably a good idea." Hermione agreed.
.
.
Minerva tapped the top of her new desk and a variety of immaterial documents rose from it, angling so that she could read them easily. A knock on the door caught her attention.
"Enter!"
The door opened and Albus Dumbledore stepped in, pausing at the sight before him.
"Ah, Albus. How did the lesson go?"
"They were very eager to learn, Minerva." Albus smiled as he moved round for a better view. "If I may ask… I have never seen a spell like this before."
"It's not entirely a spell." Minerva said as she used a hand-movement to pull one of the projected documents into the desk, then she grabbed an inkless Quill and scrawled her signature on it.
"Print." She ordered and to one side, a box-like device whirred into life, depositing a sheet of parchment into the output hopper. A wave of her wand sent it across the office and into the filing cabinet, the drawer opening to accept the paperwork.
"How efficient!" Albus marveled. "I wonder if I could get a similar thing for my other jobs."
"You'll need to speak to someone from Evans Enterprises," Minerva said as she waved a hand to dissipate the other sheets. "So, what brings you here?"
"The Wizengamot is meeting the Thursday after next." Albus sighed.
"I'll be happy to teach the classes on that day." Minerva nodded, and then she looked up. "Thursday… I assume that Lord Potter will be attending the session too?"
"As will Lord Black, but Remus will be covering his lessons that day." Albus confirmed. "Hagrid is coming as well, but Firenze will be dealing with his classes."
"Having extra teachers to pick up the slack is a great idea." Minerva noted. "Why did we not do so before?"
"Finances, mainly." Albus briefly looked every day of his age. "Between the need to keep the castle maintained, paying various expenses, the wages and running costs... not to mention trying to build up a reserve for unexpected issues… we simply could not afford it. At least until Lords Black and Potter stepped in. You know that Sirius and Remus are performing their jobs gratis?"
"I… didn't know." Minerva sounded surprised. "Neither of them said…"
"They wouldn't." Albus agreed with a slight smile. "They are both prone to bad jokes and pranks, but they are good people. They would not seek to make others feel bad over relative wealth."
"Sirius has definitely improved since he was a student here," Minerva admitted. "Of course, spending a decade in Azkaban would change anyone…"
"It would indeed." Albus agreed. "Well, I expect you have more paperwork to wade through, so I shall leave you to your Sysiphian task and go teach my next class of eager students."
Minerva glowered at the departing Professor.