Chapter 39: Guests

(January 4, 1994)

 (General POV)

It was the day before the start of the new term at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the returning students were just entering the Great Hall for dinner before they would go turn in for the night. "Hey, now that Elise had her baby, who is going to be the new potions teacher?" Hermione asked after Savrin had welcomed the students back and everyone was eating food.

"You're a little too familiar there with the teacher, Hermione if you're referring to her by her first name." Godric stated, earning a look of embarrassment from the bushy-haired girl. "Well, she told me to call her that when I went to visit Harry over the holidays." Hermione admitted, forgetting the Lady's status and position she held here at school.

 Ignoring Godric's comment, Rowena spoke up, "The headmaster hasn't said who will replace her for now, but he did say he found someone to fill the position until the end of the school year. Probably someone from the Ministry." Everyone frowned at that, not having appreciated the last person the Ministry sent the school, even though it wasn't in an official capacity.

"Berrycloth was sent by the Ministry, and look how good that turned out. I'll bet whoever it is will be well suited for the job. The headmaster wouldn't stand for anything else." Salazar chimed in, raising the hopes of everyone else. It was true. Savrin had standards, and if one didn't meet those standards, they were as good as gone.

It took just one look at Sybill Trelawney, the former Divination teacher who had been demoted to a tutor, to know she was well on her way out the door. With no one being able to sign up for her subject, and the fact that there was no one for her to "Tutor" there wasn't much of a reason to keep her around.

The students saw it, the other teachers saw it, hell, even with how blind she was to the present and future, even she could predict her end was coming. Savrin was most likely waiting until the end of the school year so as not to make a scene in front of the students.

 Once everyone had finished eating their food, Savrin stood before them all at a podium. "Before I send you off for the night, I would like to inform you all that this Saturday, Hogwarts will be playing host to two other schools. Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in France and Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in America. The two schools will be staying with us for one week, during which time the schools will participate in a dueling tournament. By faculty vote, we have decided to only have one class in the mornings during this week so you all might go and watch your schoolmates participate in the tournament."

Savrin had to pause his speech because the students suddenly erupted into cheering. It was quickly cut short when he waved his hand over the room and everyone was unable to utter a sound, and the frown on his face told them he was not happy with the interruption.

"As I was saying, I expect you all to be on your best behavior or you will lose the privilege of watching the duels, and we will put an end to the tournaments once and for all. I will not tolerate you tarnishing this school's image…" There was another pause as Savrin surveyed the room with a frown before he once more took on a neutral expression.

"To those of you who have been selected for the tournament, you are exempt from classes for the week of the tournament to give you time to prepare. That is all." Savrin finished, then turned and walked back to his chair.

 It was only after they had exited the room that the students were able to speak once more, and all of them were now buzzing with excitement.

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 The following morning at breakfast many of the students were looking at the staff table in the hope of finding out who the new Potions teacher would be, and it was there they saw a woman with light-brown hair wearing the finest robes money could buy.

The first thing Godric thought when he saw her was, 'Wow!' The lady was stunning to say the least. As for Harry, he was not sharing Godric's thoughts. On the contrary, he was wondering why Andromeda was sitting at the head table, at least until he clued in, which took a bit longer than it should have.

He knew full well the woman was a potion's mistress, and a talented one at that if Sirius and Ted were to be believed. Being on good terms with the woman, and knowing her personality, Harry was quite sure he would still very much enjoy Potions class.

 Across the room at the Slytherin table, Draco was having the opposite thoughts. 'No. No. No. No. This can't be happening. No. No. What is she doing here?! Why is this happening to me?! I want to go home!' Draco was shouting internally, not believing he was going to have to put up with Andromeda again. It was bad enough to have to deal with her over the summer, but now he had to see her at school. 'This is hell!' He thought miserably.

 "The new potions teacher is gorgeous!" Godric said to the group, not caring that none of them cared for his opinion on the matter. "Don't, Godric! That's my Aunt Andromeda. She's married, and I don't want you to say anything to upset her." Harry said quickly, hoping to stop Godric from saying or doing anything to piss off another teacher, especially one he happened to really like and had to see outside of school.

"Relax, Harry. I'll be nothing but a perfect gentleman in front of her." Godric said assuredly. Sitting across from him, Susan began coughing and sputtering as the juice she had been drinking was caught in her throat. "It looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't believe what you just said." Salazar remarked with a smile, quite enjoying the reactions of their acquaintances. 

 (Later on that day after Potions Class)

 "Can you believe that woman?! Her first day, and already giving me detention!" Godric growled angrily at the lunch table. "I very much can believe she gave you detention. You can't say that to a woman, especially one who is old enough to be your mother, and is in fact, already married." Hermione argued, having witnessed the reason for Godric's detention like everyone else in their class.

"Come off it, Hermione! It was all in good fun, she knew that. If she thought I was being serious I probably would have been expelled, not just been given detention." Godric said, still not happy with the matter. Everyone else simply shook their heads, knowing Godric did as Godric would do.

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 (January 8, 1994)

 Saturday morning, Hogwarts school was buzzing with excitement at breakfast, the main topic being that today was the day the students from the other schools would arrive for the tournament. "This is so exciting! I can't wait to see everyone!" Hannah and Susan squealed in giddiness. "Me too. It is a shame Godric won't be here for it. He loves meeting new people." Helga said in mock sadness.

She actually didn't care that Godric wouldn't be there to greet the students from the other schools, figuring that things would probably go a lot more smoothly without him. "Hehe, aside from being forced to miss breakfast, I heard he has to clean the Potion's classroom with nothing but his toothbrush." Rowena said happily, quite enjoying how Godric was getting what he deserved.

"He's also getting etiquette lessons, and it's about time too." Salazar said joyously. None of the group had seen him happier than he was now, and it sort of weirded them out. "How do you know he's getting etiquette lessons?" Helga asked curiously. "I stopped by there before breakfast to check up on him. I also took a few pictures. I'm going to get them framed and put on my wall." Salazar answered simply.

 It was about that time when a student from Hufflepuff came running into the room shouting, "They're here! They're here! Out by the gates!" Almost as one the students rose from their seats and began running towards the exit.

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 (One Hour Earlier)

 (Savrin POV)

 Inside his office, Savrin, Arcturus, Amelia Bones, and the newly appointed Minister of Magic, Alastor Moody were seated and discussing a number of topics while they waited for the other schools to arrive.

"I've prepared fifty rooms for the students and teachers to stay in here at the school, as well as another fifty rooms if needed for their friends and family in Hogsmeade village. Madam Rosmerta at the Three Broomsticks is prepared to handle the influx of patrons." Savrin informed the three highly-ranked public officials of the first thing on his list.

"I stopped at the Three Broomsticks before coming here, and I have to say, the additions you added were quite spectacular." Arcturus complimented. It wasn't uncommon for witches and wizards to enchant their homes with expanding spacial charms to get a bit more room, but the additions Savrin had made to the Three Broomsticks was more than anyone else had thought possible, and it deserved some praise.

 "How many students, teachers, and families of the students are coming to watch this tournament?" Amelia asked. In response to her question, Savrin slid a piece of paper in front of each of them.

"Twenty-one students from both Beauxbatons and Ilvermorny, making forty-two students in total. Each school will have one teacher for each group of students, so there will be three teachers per school, to which there will be six teachers in total. Of course the Headmaster of Ilvermorny and the Headmistress of Beauxbatons will also be here, totaling up to fifty people. As for the families who wished to come and watch their children, I was asked to provide one room for the families of each student, however seven or eight additional rooms have been made available just in case." Savrin explained, summarizing what the papers showed.

Of course he knew the names of every student and teacher coming, all of whom would be under his care while they were here at the tournament, which is why they would be staying here at the school. The families of those students on the other-hand were not under his care, hence the need to place them outside of school, but near enough that they could come to watch the tournament. 

 "I'll have a few additional Aurors posted in Hogsmeade for the tournament in case something happens." Amelia stated, making a mental note of this for when she got back to her office. "I don't have to meet any of these people, do I?" Moody asked with a frown. He didn't like meeting the people he was required to meet with, so adding to that list was a big NO.

"Of course not. I just need you to make an appearance, and welcome the people to our fair country, then you can go home." Savrin said, earning a sigh of relief from the Minister. "Leave meeting and greeting our guests to me, Alastor. It will do well for House Black to have more contacts in America." Arcturus chimed in, looking a little excited at the prospect of more allies.

Frowning at him, Moody growled, "Every time you do something that benefits House Black, it usually means I get a headache! Whatever you do, it better not fall back onto me or I'll resign!" It was a fair request, after all, Arcturus' and Savrin's last big plan was to make Moody Minister for Magic, and the man absolutely hated his position, nor could he figure out why he even accepted the position.

Taking a glance down at his restored limbs, he did know why he accepted, but in his mind he was now better suited to going back to the life of an Auror than Minister, but he had to stay on for a short while at the very least.

 "Do you need any Ministry personnel to help watch over the guests inside the castle?" Amelia asked, which only earned her a frown from Savrin as he stared back at her. "After the last joke the Ministry sent Hogwarts, I don't think I nor the students would stand for it. Regardless, I have everything under control. The students and staff will be on their best behavior." Savrin said.

Before Amelia had a chance to argue that Umbridge was Fudge's doing, Alastor chuckled darkly before saying, "Fair enough. Less paperwork for Amelia, and one more paper I don't have to pretend to have looked over and signed."

Quirking a brow at her friend, Amelia wondered if she should actually look over Alastor's paperwork to make sure he didn't accidentally sign over the Ministry to another country. 'He probably would do that, even if he did know about the paper's contents. He doesn't even care if he gets fired.' Amelia thought, now somewhat dreading having helped orchestrate putting Alastor into the Minister position.

 There were a few other small matters they discussed for a while, then the topic changed once Savrin made a ring appear on the table. "What are you doing?!" Arcturus asked abruptly as he stood from his chair, looking pointedly between the ring, Moody, and Amelia.

He had been shown the ring just after Christmas by Savrin. He knew what it was and who it had belonged to, and he didn't know why Savrin was showing it to people who didn't know about the Horcruxes.

"Sit. Down." Savrin ordered with a frown on his face, not liking Arcturus' reaction. It was true, they had agreed to keep the matter of the Horcruxes a secret so word wouldn't get back to Voldemort, but Savrin was certain that neither of the two individuals present wouldn't say a word on the matter.

 "What's going on?" Amelia asked, looking between Arcturus and the ring Savrin was holding. "Unlike my predecessor, Albus Dumbledore, I thought it best to loop a few people in on the matter at hand. You see, Voldemort isn't actually dead, and won't die because of this ring and other objects like it." Savrin paused as he let the two digest his words.

""Explain."" Moody and Amelia both chorused in unison, realizing that anything to do with Voldemort was a serious matter indeed.

"Have either of you two heard about Horcruxes before?" Savrin asked, getting a look of confusion from Alastor, however Amelia was a different matter. Based on her reaction, she did in fact know full well what a Horcrux was, and she looked a little scared.

 Both Arcturus and Amelia explained what a Horcrux was to Alastor, and by the end of his explanation, he did not look happy in the least. "So you're saying he's bound his soul to that ring, and he might come back someday because of it? Let's destroy it then!" Moody said even as he drew his wand.

"It's not that simple." Arcturus sighed heavily. "Unlike most other insane dark Lords, Voldemort went a step further than most. He didn't just split his soul once. This is the sixth Horcrux we've been able to gather, and we have reason to believe there could be a seventh one out there." Arcturus finished his words by looking to Savrin, who in turn made a number of items appear.

First was a pile of ash, which confused them. Second was a golden locket with a serpent on it, then a golden chalice with a badger, a diadem with an eagle was next, and finally the ring joined them.

 "Provided the pile of ash is or used to be a Horcrux, that makes five. Where's the sixth?" Moody asked. "The sixth one was actually a child. Voldemort split his soul on the night he died and latched onto a baby." Savrin answered, and Amelia gasped in realization.

"Don't worry about the boy. We already took care of his unwanted guest. It was actually how we found out about the other Horcruxes." Savrin said, hoping to put their minds at ease. They weren't.

"That's all well and good, but how do you know these are even Horcruxes, and how do you know there aren't hundreds more like them?" Moody asked, finding the whole situation to be worse than he had believed.

"If you focus carefully, you will feel a presence latched onto each one of them. It's almost like a hissing in your ear. Anyway, the pile of ash here used to be Voldy's diary. When he put a piece of his soul into it, he also made it so the diary would be able to devour the soul of anyone who wrote into it, giving it the ability to consume their bodies and return him to life. I was able to speak to the fragment inside the diary and confirm that he believed the best number was Seven because he believed it is intrinsically linked to magic. Also, the most he could have split his soul would have been ten times before it was too fractured and simply dissolved." Savrin explained calmly, though Arcturus was weary of him because Savrin wasn't someone you'd speak to the way Moody was, and Arcturus was worried Savrin was going to lash out any minute.

 "Why tell us about the Horcruxes now? Why not when you first learned about them?" Amelia asked. She didn't believe information like this came without a cost, especially not from someone like Savrin. Regardless of how little she interacted with the man, she knew enough to know that he was smarter than that, and that he also did not trust people.

"Dumbledore feared if certain people knew about the Horcruxes, word might get back to Voldemort and he would hide the objects in places where only he knew about them. I don't have that problem. However, I simply didn't tell anyone but those I kept in my strictest confidence, and up until recently, I didn't trust either of you very much. I still don't in fact. But for my end goal, someone in the Ministry needs to act, and that's where you come in." Savrin said, bringing the room up short. None of them, not even Arcturus knew what Savrin's end goal was.

 -------

 It took some explaining, and the rest of the hour before Savrin finished giving the short version of his master plan, of which all three of his guests had objections, none of which he cared for. He would go through with his plan, and they could follow along with it and handle the repercussions appropriately, or they could be left in the dark and look like fools when it was all over.

"If this plan works, every Death Eater who managed to weasel their way out of Azkaban will be dealt with. I'm in." Moody said, much to the surprise of Amelia. "Are you serious? It's insane! It'll cause a mass panic!" Amelia shouted angrily. She was looking at the picture as a whole, and the plan would cause everyone to feel fear.

"That's where I come in. You let me worry about the fallout with the public." Savrin said, not the least bit concerned about the public. Hell, if had his way, they would have all been killed two and a half years ago, so causing them to be scared for a few weeks was nothing.

 "Anyway, the other schools should be arriving by portkey in five minutes, so we best make our way down to the main gate." Savrin said after looking over at the clock hanging on the wall.

Being the one to orchestrate the tournament with the other schools, Savrin had of course set up the transport for the schools to arrive at Hogwarts. Beauxbatons wanted to come in their flying carriage, but Savrin insisted on using the portkeys he had made solely for this event.

Ilvermorny and Beauxbatons were each given three portkeys, one for each group of students arriving. Unlike every other portkey that required one to hold onto it, the ones Savrin made were a bit different. At the set time on the portkey, a dome of magic would appear and anyone inside the dome would appear at the set destination. There was also none of the spinning or confusion that came from using normal portkeys, which he suspected would be a big hit, and just one more thing he could market to the imbeciles of this world.

 The four of them didn't speak to each other as they made their way to the front gates, and it was only when the domes of light appeared that three of the four forced the frowns from their faces to ones more suited to greet people.

Six bursts of light and they were greeted with the sight of a little more than a hundred people. It appeared that some of the parents who had come had opted to bring their younger children who were not yet old enough to attend school, as Savrin could see children around seven and eight mixed in with everyone else.

 The first to step towards him was a tall man with short hair cut in a military fashion, at least what was left of it. Given how old the man looked, Savrin would guess him to be anywhere between ninety and seven-hundred years of age. It all depended on how well he kept his body, but that was unimportant.

"Jefferson Carter, it is a pleasure to see you again!" Savrin said in greeting as stepped forward to shake the hand of Ilvermorny's headmaster. He had only met the man twice before, the first being when he went to invite their school for the tournament, and the second time being when he went to deliver the portkeys.

"It is a pleasure to see you as well, Savrin." Jefferson greeted cheerfully. "I must say, that was one of the most pleasant modes of travel I've ever experienced. Truly fascinating." Jefferson said in what sounded like awe.

 Stepping aside the man, Savrin moved to greet the headmistress of Beauxbatons, a half-giantess by the name of Madame Olympe Maxime. She towered over everyone present, and was also probably taller than Hagrid too if Savrin guessed correctly.

"Olympe Maxime! We are blessed to welcome both you and your students to Hogwarts!" Savrin greeted cheerfully, much to the surprise of Arcturus. 'It's almost as if he's a completely different person. If I didn't know any better, I wouldn't for a minute believe Savrin was anything to worry about. It's a good thing I know better.' Arcturus told himself.

 What followed was the parents who had come with their children from the other countries were all given access cards which would permit entry into the school on the first day of the tournament, however for the time being they were simply told to wait in Hogsmeade.

Amelia had a number of Aurors apparate to their position to escort the families to the small town and show them all where they would be staying. As for everyone else, they were all led into the Great Hall of Hogwarts where Savrin introduced the headmaster and headmistress, then the teachers.

Arcturus and Amelia both greeted the teachers and the school heads, however Moody simply frowned at them all to the point they ignored him. It was only when he was introduced as the Minister for Magic and asked to step up to the podium that the newly arrived guests learned of who he was, and needless to say, they were shocked. More so at his speech than anything.

"Welcome to Britain, and to Hogwarts. Don't do anything stupid. Thank you." Moody said in a deadpanned voice, then he turned and left the room, leaving everyone who witnessed his words dumbstruck.

"That went better than I thought it would." Arcturus said to Amelia, who only smirked before replying, "That went almost exactly like I thought it would. I am a little surprised he didn't threaten anyone though."

 With the introductions taken care of, Savrin showed the guests where they would be staying, which was a building he had constructed the day before. The building itself was still connected to the castle, only it was its own separate space. One had to go outside of the castle to enter it. With that, the prefects of Hogwarts were asked to give everyone tours of the school and show them around, meanwhile Savrin offered to give the teachers and Heads of the two schools a tour of the castle.

 -------

 In his office, Savrin stared through a crystal showing an image of himself escorting people around, sounding all cheery and warm. "Stupid fucking spirit… She's making me out to be too welcoming." He growled.

He had not had the slightest bit of interest in showing people around, however Elysia had jumped at the opportunity, and as she had pointed out, no one knew the school better than she did.

'I'll have to think of a proper punishment for her. However it'll have to be a bit unorthodox. The damn thing likes being punished too much for ordinary measures to work.' Savrin thought, wondering what he could do to punish the castle's spirit. 

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 (Godric POV)

 Godric had cleaned the Potion's classroom from top to bottom, scrubbing the floors, doors, walls, ceiling, windows, cupboards, chairs, tables, and even the utensils they used for potions. He thought that after cleaning everything he would get to go, but Andromeda had other plans. She sat him down and began correcting his posture, his speech, his mannerisms, and even the way he dressed.

To top it all off, she had even decided to cut his hair, though that was more because he had mentioned his hair was a little too long for his liking, but he didn't think she would sit him down and begin to cut his hair. Still, it was a bit long, and was starting to get into his eyes so he wouldn't complain.

"I really don't understand you, Godric. One minute you can be rude and insensitive, and the next minute you're kind and welcoming." Andromeda said as she cut a strand of hair from Godric's head. "What's so hard to understand? It's just how some people are." Godric responded, not seeing what was so confusing.

"Yes, but I'm trying to figure out what made you this way. Usually there is some reason as to why you are the way you are. Some people, it's trauma, other's it's because they were neglected. You on the other hand are all over the place." Andromeda voiced.

"Not this again. I told you, I'm not suffering from anything." Godric said with a hint of exasperation in his voice. Since the beginning of his detention she had been asking him random questions in the hopes of "Diagnosing" him. 'Of all the people I had to get into trouble with and it had to be a would-be shrink!' He grumbled internally.

 "Maybe it has to do with your mother." Andromeda said. Narrowing his eyes at her, Godric spoke, "It has nothing to do with my mother." "Your reaction says otherwise. You're so tense just by the mention of her." Andromeda said calmly. Her goal wasn't to make Godric angry, but he couldn't move on from his past if he didn't at least acknowledge that something was keeping him there.

There was also the fact that she knew more about Godric than she would have thought from the stories Harry had shared with her, and based on her own observations during class and the days leading up to his detention, Godric seemed to be a bit of a ladies man, or at least he considered himself one.

He could read people very well, and used his observations to get close to them. In that same breath, he would let people get close enough to him to feel a kindle of joy, then he would do something to push them away. Almost as if he was scared to get close to them, and Andromeda thought this had something to do with Godric's mother.

 "I'm tense because you're bringing up things that don't concern you." Godric shot back, doing his best not to overreact. It didn't help that she had a pointed object in her hand, but he had been in worse situations.

"I'm only trying to help-" Andromeda began, but she was cut-off when Godric suddenly stood from where he was sitting and began to leave the room.

"Where are you going? Your hair isn't finished, and you're still in detention!" Andromeda shouted, but Godric didn't seem to care. "I'm done. I didn't ask for your help, and I don't want it either." He said without looking back at her and left the room.

 He was walking through the hallway when he passed by a group of fifth-year Ravenclaws, all of them snickering as they looked at him. "Nice hair, Godric! Did you get-" Whatever the boy was going to say, Godric didn't know, and he didn't care, which was why he struck out faster than lightning, punching the kid square in the throat and dropping him to his knees.

"Anyone else have anything to say about my hair?" He asked them. They all dumbly shook their heads in the negative, completely shocked at his reaction. "Good. Now take him to Madam Pomfrey." Godric said before he continued on his way.

 Rather than go to the Great Hall to get some food like most people would have suspected, Godric made his way outside, then headed straight towards the front gate. As soon as he exited Hogwarts grounds, he disappeared in a crack.

 -------

 It wasn't until the following morning when breakfast was halfway through when Godric walked through the doors leading into the Great Hall, his hair back to normal, though slightly shorter than usual, with his same smile on his face.

He ignored the looks he got from the Ravenclaw table, and if he noticed the looks he got from the teachers at the head table, he certainly didn't show it. He sat down like usual with his friends, also ignoring their looks as he stole a buttered toast from Sally's plate.

"Where were you?" Harry asked, earning a look of confusion from the man in question. "What are you talking about, Harry? I've been here this whole time." Godric said seriously, causing everyone else to look between one another.

"But you were-" Hermione started before Godric cut in, "I've been here this whole time. If you didn't see me then you should get your eyes checked." Turning his attention to Salazar, Godric asked, "I was here this whole time, wasn't I Salazar?" To which Salazar replied, "Of course you were, Godric. I can never seem to be rid of you."

 With that, the discussion of Godric's whereabouts were put to rest, as according to him and Salazar, he had never left. "Did you really clean the potions classroom with your toothbrush?" Rowena asked after a minute of silence.

"It wasn't my toothbrush. I used Ron's." Godric said, causing the redhead at the table next to them to begin choking on his food. "Anyway, let's take it easy for the day, because tomorrow we have some duels to win." Godric said excitedly, quite looking forward to dueling new people.

'Come to think of it, they should have already arrived yesterday.' He thought, remembering how he had been stuck in detention during their arrival. Looking around, it was only then he noticed the number of unfamiliar students dressed differently than everyone else. One of them was even sitting not two feet away from him.

"Well hello there. The name's Godric, and it will be a pleasure to beat you."