Chapter 28: Staff Meeting - part 1

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 23rd, 1992, 1:00 PM

After a quick lunch, where Erik put Selena and the girls on par with what had happened that morning, Erik saw himself entering the staff meeting room. He looked around and saw that most of the professors were already there. He walked through the room and got to the head of the table, a position normally occupied by the Headmaster. With a wave of his hand, Erik summoned some blank parchments and took his fountain pen from the pocket inside his blazer. He then looked at the chair that was 'ready' for him at the table's head. It was another damn golden throne-like chair.

*sigh*

"A house-elf, please."

Erik sighed and asked for the presence of a house elf. With a pop, a house-elf appeared beside him.

*pop*

"How can Pisty help Lord Ravenclaw?"

The house-elf asked Erik.

"Hello Pisty, can you, please, change this… abomination, for a normal chair? And after that, please, arrange some tea and black coffee to be delivered to us together with some biscuits."

Erik made his request while pointing at the golden chair. The house-elf disappeared with a pop, together with the chair.

*pop*

A normal chair soon appeared and Erik took his seat on it. He took his fountain pen and a parchment and started some topics to be discussed in the meeting. Two minutes later, various tea sets, a pot of coffee and some plates with biscuits appeared on the table. Erik calmly served a cup pf black coffee for himself, and took a sip of the black drinkable gold. He very much liked tea, but just after lunch he preferred the taste and aroma of a good coffee. Erik looked around and saw that pretty much everyone was present. He then checked with the wards and felt that the last missing member was on her way.

"We will wait two more minutes, then we will start the meeting."

Erik said and took his time sipping his coffee. Not the best that he had ever drunk, but not the worst either. He would have to give the elves of Hogwarts some good books about how to brew a good coffee. While drinking, he observed the professors in the room, some were serving themselves tea, or coffee, in the case of Professor Flitwick. Others were doing small talk between themselves and their neighbors. During these two minutes, the last expected member, Professor McGonagall, entered the staff meeting room and took her seat, beside Erik.

"Good to see you join us, Professor McGonagall. How is your student?"

Erik asked the Professor that had just sat, and started to serve her a cup of tea. He finished the serving and offered the woman the cup.

"Thank you, Lord Ravenclaw."

Professor McGonagall thanked her 'boss' for the offered cup of tea and took a sip. She then let out a sigh and replied to him.

*sigh*

"He is resting right now. Madam Pomfrey will have to plan a treatment that better suits his needs."

She said, taking another sip of her tea.

"Thank you, Lord Ravenclaw, for warning me."

Professor McGonagall thanked Erik again.

"No problem, Professor. There was a time when the school had protocols for all students raised in the non-magical world for cases like this and the like, and it seems that they will have to be implemented again."

Erik said nonchalantly. He then took his pen and started to take note.

"It seems that this will be one more thing that will have to be revisited… Perhaps a partnership with St. Mungos, so that we don't overload Madam Pomfrey."

He finished while taking some final notes about it. Erik then looked back to Professor McGonagall and gave her a small smile. He then turned back to the rest of the table and started.

"It seems that all the necessary members of the staff are present. Let's start this meeting."

Erik said.

"Lord Ravenclaw, Professor Lockhart is not present."

Professor Babbling said, having noticed the absence of the ponce blond.

"As I said, Professor Babbling, all the necessary members of the staff are present. I was informed by the wards, this morning, that Gilderoy Lockhart was leaving the castle's grounds, and after that I checked and confirmed that he emptied his office and chambers."

Erik replied to Professor Babbling. Some members of the staff were shocked with the revelation, but others seemed to be expecting something like that. Erik continued.

"But, fortunately, the student's education will not be affected by his… unpleasant… behaviour. After reading his files, I had it already in my mind to relieve him of his duties as Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Even if his described 'feats' seemed impressive, he lacked the desired specifications for being a Professor, like, for example, the lack of a mastery in the subject or even a desirable NEWT evaluation. With that in mind, I had already made an agreement with Director Bones, so she will give us some of her Aurors to teach classes until the school can find a desirable replacement for the DADA Office."

Again, some of the staff members were shocked with the revelations, while some made a face that said that they already expected that.

"The Aurors will be arriving next monday. Due to some urgent investigations happening in the DMLE, they are flooded in service right now. So from tomorrow until Friday, the Defense classes will be taught by me, or Selena. And I hope that with the malicious ward gone, we will have some good choices to choose from for the position by the end of the school year. "

Erik concluded about DADA Professor. He then looked at 'his' staff and decided to talk about this subject right now.

"With that taken care of, let's start with the first subject for this meeting. The staff numbers. Two hundred and forty years ago, Hogwarts had at least three times the number of Professors that it has today, and it is my objective to bring this number back."

Erik started. Professor McGonagall, being the Deputy-Headmistress, knew about the school financial situation, and took turns to talk.

"But Lord Ravenclaw, I don't think that Hogwarts has the Galleons necessary for all this new staff."

"Yes, Professor McGonagall, the school does not have the Galleon for it, right now. But it should have. The salaries for the professors didn't change that much since that time, just like the base cost for the tuition and the number of students didn't change either. So can someone tell me where the money that should have been used to pay for additional Professors is?"

Erik asked the Professors, and some made ugly faces, already putting the puzzle piece together. Professor Sprout was one of the ones that reached a conclusion about the missing Galleons.

"Someone is embezzling Hogwarts' funds?"

She said with a face that said 'I can't believe that someone would do that'.

"Exactly, Professor Sprout. This morning, before and during breakfast time, I was analysing and checking Hogwarts' Accounting Book and had found the irregularity."

Erik took a sip of his coffee, and soon continued saying.

"Sometime around a hundred and fifty years ago, the School's Board of Governors saw fit to give themselves a small salary to justify the service that they were providing to the school during their bi-annual meetings. The amount was really minimal at the time, and was being taken from the leftover of the annual fund."

He said and took another sip of his coffee, letting the staff members present sink in the news. Erik soon continued.

"That was not a problem per se, but two years later, the same Board voted to increase the value a little. Two years later, they voted on it again. And then again, two years later. Then again, and again, and again… Until it reached the value that is today. And that value is three times the salary that a Professor with Mastery in the subject that he teaches receives."

Erik finished and let the 'news' sink into the staff members head. Then, all exploded at once. The staff members were angry, and most of them started to yell at the same time, drowning the meeting room into a cacophony of voices. It took some time, but Professor McGonagall, with the help of Professor Snape, managed to return their colleagues to silence. She was fuming with the news too, but understood that yelling was not going to solve their problems.

"Thank you, Professors."

Erik thanked the professor for the help, and continued to talk.

"This problem will be solved this evening. I sent summons to all members of the school's Board of Governors, and will be terminating their obligation with the school during the meeting. Reparations to the damage done to the school's funds will be taken too, but until there, the school's fund will have a reprieve without their leeching."

Erik took another sip from his cup of coffee. The staff's reactions were varied, but all of them seemed happy to know that their leech problem was being solved.

"With the 'new' funds available again, we will start the recruitment of new teachers with the objective of going back to three teachers per discipline. From two of the three teachers per discipline, the school will not require a Mastery but a minimum of 'O' in their NEWT marks for the subject that they desire to teach. These two new contracted Professors will be responsible for teaching the initial years, while the professor with Mastery will be teaching the advanced classes. This system was once in place so that the Professor could focus better on their students."

Erik said and took another sip from his coffee. He observed that the idea seemed to appeal to the Professors. Erik then continued talking.

"If the Professor that has a Mastery so desires, he can get an apprentice. And, again, if he so desires, the school can keep the position for teacher of the initial year to said apprentice. After all, you can learn a lot about a discipline by teaching others about it. Of course, the apprentice would receive a salary by teaching these classes, taking in notice that they reach the requisite of 'O' marks in their NEWT."

Some Professors were happy at the idea of taking an apprentice, and even more when said apprentice could teach to earn some money back. An apprenticeship wasn't a charity, after all, and not everyone that had the potential, had the money too to pay for it.

One of the Professors, Professor Snape, caught Erik's attention with a question.

"Lord Ravenclaw, what if a Professor desired to change his Office?"

Erik looked at the man's black eyes, and replied to his question with another question.

"Does said Professor have a Mastery in the desired discipline and in the actual one?"

"He does."

Professor Snape replied.

"Then I see no problem with that. He would still receive the same salary he was receiving before since the base salary for Masters is the same."

"Then I would like to request a transfer from the Potions' Master's Office to the Defense Against the Dark Arts Master's Office. No apprentices."

Professor Snape didn't lose time, and requested the change in Office. Erik nodded at the request, acknowledging it.

"Your request was acknowledged, Professor Snape. Please send a formal request together with your resume addressed to the Headmaster's Office. I expect an official notice from every Professor too, with a notice that says if they want to take an apprentice and if they desire said apprentice to be given classes to teach. Now, still in the same subject, I would like to make one addendum here. Professor Binns, how are you still teaching here?"

Erik said, addressing first Professor Snape, and second, all the other Professors. Lastly, he turned to the ghostly Professor of History of Magic and asked the ghost. He remembered Cuthbert Binns from his last visit to Hogwarts, two hundred and forty years ago. At that time, Professor Binns was a student fresh out of his NEWTs and was employed with a Professor-Apprentice contract. But now, two hundred and forty year later, here he is, still teaching the history of magic. The ghostly Professor chuckled, shocking some of his colleagues, and replied to Erik.

"I'm waiting for my substitute, Lord Ravenclaw."

"Your substitute?"

Erik asked again. Professor Binns nodded and answered.

"Yes."

"How long?"

Erik asked one more time, this time more serious. Professor Binns gave Erik a soft smile before answering him.

"Too long, Lord Ravenclaw, too long."

*sigh*

Erik sighed at that answer.

"You have my apologies, Professor Binns. I will personally start the recruitment for a new History Master as soon as I can get to it. If you so desire, you can pass and I will ask Selena to teach your classes until we can find a permanent Professor."

"I thank you for your offer, Lord Ravenclaw. But I can hold it until the end of the first semester."

The ghostly Professor said to 'his' Boss. Erik smiled at the man's dedication to Hogwarts. He had been holding back to pass on, waiting for his substitute, so that the students' education would not suffer. But it seemed that the past headmasters and the Board of Governors had tried to exploit his situation, after all, a ghost has no need for Galleons. He would have to do something about that too, and such dedication to the school could not go unseen.

"You have my word, Professor Binns, we will hire a good substitute for you."

Erik said to the ghostly professor. Cuthbert Binns' ghostly appearance floated more straight after hearing that, like an enormous weight had just been taken from his shoulders.