Options

Nick followed Snape into the office calmly and noticed Dumbledore hunched over his desk writing on a sheet of parchment. The old man seemed to notice them but continued writing for a couple moments before tapping the parchment with his wand. This caused the letter to fold itself and slip into an envelope that he then wrote a name on and handed to Fawkes. "I am terribly sorry for the actions of Gilderoy Lockhart this evening. When I hired him for the position I truly thought he was harmless if a bit dull." Dumbledore said sincerely.-

"You reported him to the ministry already correct?" Nick asked seriously. "That letter is my report on the matter after Severus and I interrogated the man under veritaserum. To think such a foul individual was prancing about so openly." Dumbledore said with a sigh and a shake of his head. "In this regard you aught to be applauded as without your capture and reporting of him he would likely have gotten away with it." He added on honestly. Nick shook his head "So long as he gets a proper punishment I would rather not think of the man if that's alright with you." he said and the old goat nodded.-

"I understand. I take it you are here for the two issues Severus was meant to discuss with you correct?" Dumbledore asked calmly. Nick nodded "I need your assistance in removing the curse due to the reason professor Flitwick has already likely informed you of." he said and Dumbledore nodded. "As for the matter of the DADA position there are a few possibilities in fact." Nick said with the smallest hint of a grin. Both Dumbledore and Snape seemed surprised at this as they honestly couldn't think of any solutions to this problem much less several.-

"What are these options? If it's not too much trouble explain your reasons as well as we would very much appreciate it if you did." Dumbledore said with a look of interest. "First is to convince Horace Slughorn to return to Hogwarts as the potions teacher while professor Snape here takes the defense position. The second is to give hire Sirius black for the position since from my understanding of the man he is quite skilled at the subject. Inversely you could hire Lupin as well for the same reason so long as I create a werewolf ring for him to have full control of his transformation."-

"The final option of course is to hire Alastor Moody for the position since he is more than qualified." Nick explained with a slightly widening grin. He couldn't help but get excited by the prospect of each of these possible ideas. "I can understand myself and Alastor Moody and even Lupin" Snape said with the final name being especially venomous sounding "But Sirius Black is a terrible choice for the position with his mentality." he finished clearly upset at the mere idea of sharing space with Sirius.-

Nick shrugged "While I can understand your hatred of the man due to his past actions , I can also not dismiss his ability from an unbiased standpoint. To be fair though I believe having you take the position to be the best outcome due to your intimate familiarity with the subject." Nick said honestly. "We appreciate your candor in this matter but this will require serious discussion before a decision is made." Dumbledore said and Snape nodded ever so slightly. "With that settled I can begin the process of removing the curse if you would be so kind as to show me the affected part of the ward." Nick said changing the subject.-

Dumbledore stood up and walked over to the nearby wall that had all the portraits of the previous headmasters on it and tapped it on a specific spot with his wand. Nick took this time to examine the elder wand with his magical senses but felt a slight chill when he found it returning the stare. 'The elder wand possessed intelligence!' he thought in horror that he had to fight to keep off his face. This was a very big deal as it meant whoever had crafted it was way more skilled then even Olivander.-

Nick stopped trying to examine the wand and instead focused on the wall that was sliding open to reveal what was the biggest ward stone he had ever heard of. The biggest in recorded history was merely three feet squared but this ward stone was nearly triple that and looked like a very large boulder covered in various runes and enchantments. It glowed so brightly in his magical senses that Nick needed to turn them off entirely to prevent the veins in his nose from bursting at it.