Chapter 37: Repercussions

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 24th, 1992, 7:02 AM

Erik looked back at the three naked bodies sprawled on top of his bed a last time before exiting his bedroom. The night was a wild one. Selena had kept her reward promise to Erik and had gone wild that night. That she had managed to pull Joan and Leona to help her was just a very good bonus in Erik's humble opinion. Erik walked out of his chambers with a big smile on his face, being sure to greet every portrait on his way to the Great Hall. Going down the staircase, he arrived at the first floor and entered the Great Hall.

Half-dozen students were already up and reading books while sitting at their respective house tables. Erik walked through the house tables and took his seat at the chair in the head of Ravenclaw's house table. As he sat, a breakfast 'set' appeared in front of him and of the other students. Erik then served some black coffee with a dash of milk for him and together with some scrambled eggs with bacon. He then heard a soft pop by his side.

*pop*

Erik looked down and saw a house-elf with some letters in hands. He recognized it, Mitsy.

"Good morning, Mitsy. What do you have for me?"

He asked the house-elf.

"Lord Ravenclaw received some letters this morning, and Dimpy asked Mitsy to deliver it before breakfast."

The house-elf said. Erik smiled and directed the house-elf to leave the letters on the table.

"You can leave the letters on the table, Mitsy. And please, get the newspaper of the day for me too."

Erik spoke to the house-elf, who disappeared with a soft pop after leaving the letters on the table.

*pop*

Erik sipped his coffee while one of the letters floated in front of him. It had the seal of Gringotts. With a snap, the seal on the envelope was breached and the letter floated out of it, unfolding itself and staying in place for Erik to read it. Erik read it with sips of coffee and mouthfuls of egg and bacon in between. The letter mainly acknowledged the orders in his first letter and second one that he had sent last night, confirming that the Hogwarts account managers was already sending the 'thieves' the notice that their bills were already debited from their accounts in accord to the contract that they had signed when they had accepted the post on the now defunct Board of Governors. The letter also had an annex with the resume of Hogwarts' account, with its previous and actual balance. Erik could confirm that the sum of a hundred and fifty years of galleons robbed by the Board of Governors was a very big number.

Erik folded the letter back with a mental command and put it back inside the original envelope, leaving it to the side. He saw that Mitsy had already delivered the newspaper of the day and could read the headline of the first page in big and bold letters that read 'LORD OF HOGWARTS IS BACK!'. Erik had a small smile on his face after reading it, but let it be to read it after the last letter.

The second letter then floated in front of Erik while he sipped again from his cup. With a snap, the seal of it was breached and a parchment floated out of the envelope. While it unfolded, Erik took time to see who was the one to send that letter. He read the sender field on the envelope and saw that it was from the editor chief from the Daily Prophet, the most read magic newspaper in the British Isles. Erik then went back and started to read the letter. It basically thanked him and his wife for sending a letter to the newspaper and that it was printed in full in today's edition. It also confirmed the interview invite for that night and that he, the chief editor, Barnabas Cuffe, would be the one coming for it together with a photographer.

Erik folded the letter back with a mental command and put it back inside the envelope that it came from. Taking some time to finish his breakfast, Erik looked around the Great Hall and saw that a lot of students were already up and eating their breakfast. He also saw Professor McGonagall entering the Great Hall. As the woman passed near him, Erik called and greeted her.

"Professor McGonagall, good morning."

"Good morning, Lord Ravenclaw."

Professor McGonagall stopped and replied. Erik then offered her the first letter that he had read that day, the one that he got from Gringotts.

"I thought that you, in your position as Deputy-Headmistress, should know about this. Read it calmly and then give it to a house-elf so he can let it in the office in my chambers."

Erik said, and Professor McGonagall took the letter and gave a nod to Erik. She then walked to the staff table to have her breakfast.

Erik then took the newspaper and opened it to read. As he had seen before, the main story of the Daily Prophet on that day was about him and his wife's arrival at Hogwarts.

~~~~~~~~~~

LORD OF HOGWARTS IS BACK!

By Barnabas Cuffe

Yes, dear readers. You all didn't read wrong. The Lord of Hogwarts is back to his castle. Last night, I, the Editor in Chief of your favorite newspaper, received a long letter addressed to this newspaper. It had the official seal of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on it and was signed off by Lord and Lady Ravenclaw. At first, I confess, I doubted it, but after casting every spell known by me and by some of my top reporters to check forged documents, I can assure you that the letter was genuine. And 'oh boy' what a read it was. My own words can not put a resume to it, so we, of the Daily Prophet, decided to print it in full, with no cuts, so you all can read yourselves.

~~~~~~~~~~

What followed was a long letter composed by Selena about why they were summoned back to Hogwarts. It contained a short introduction of them, together with all the wrong things found in the castle, like the deactivated wards, the dark artifacts, the disrepair of the level of education that in no way was the Professors fault, the missing books and the petrified students. After describing each problem, the letter went on what was done to fix the castle. It detailed how, after the reactivation of most of the wards, that included the malicious artifact detector and the deactivation of a malicious ward that was believed to be the cause of the rumoured curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts Office, the Aurors were called together with a team of Unspeakables, and that while Director Bones, in person, together with a team of her Aurors, took care of the low level Dark Artifacts that were detected, the team of Unspeakables took care of the most dangerous ones that were detected and found, and that no more information about what was found would be given to not disturb ongoing DMLE investigations.

The letter went in detail about the number of 'lost' books recovered for the Library and how it now boasted a collection of more that sixteen thousand books. It talked too about what Lord Ravenclaw had found while checking the accounting book of the school and the sheer approximate monthly amount that was being robbed by the members of the Board of Governors. It then went on what measures were taken, including the disband of said body. The letter painted the members of the now defunct Board of Governors in a very poor way, with how they deliberately sabotaged the education of the entire British Isles, including the education of their own children and themselves, the last one by their parents, and highlighting that the galleons that were robbed by them should have been used to keep the school facilities up to date, like the substitution of the flying lessons old broomsticks, and the hiring of staff - it said that the normal numbers of professors is at least the triple of the actual numbers that the school had. It also spoke about how the now former Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was removed from his position because by the charters of the school, the Headmaster can't accept a position of political power, and he had two of them. That rule was to be sure that political games would not be brought inside the school, that way protecting students and professors alike.

The letter finished with why they were sending this letter, and it too included an invite for a personal interview with Lord and Lady Ravenclaw. The reporter, Barnabas Cuffe, then continued his writing after the letter ended.

~~~~~~~~~~

So dear reader, after reading this letter I ask you that you read it again and take from it your own conclusions. The fact is, that the owners of Hogwarts are back and they are fixing the school. We will, hopefully, see the birth of a new golden age for Magical Britain.

In virtue of the scheduled interview with Lord and Lady Ravenclaw, this reporter of yours asks you, the readers, to send your questions addressed to this newspaper. The best ones will be selected and used during the interview together with my own questions. The interview will be written fully in this same newspaper in tomorrow's edition.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was a really big article. So big that it took the entire front page and continued through page two. As Erik finished reading it, he looked around the Great Hall and could see groups of students joined around people who received the newspaper, trying to read it too. He looked to his side and saw the little blonde seated nearby. She looked up from her tower of waffles and gave him a smile, which was replied with a smile of his own. Erik drank his last sip of coffee and got up from his chair. He passed by the little blonde, who was named Luna if he remembered right, and she asked him for the newspaper.

"Lord Ravenclaw, can I borrow your newspaper?"

"Of course you can, Luna."

Erik replied and gave her the newspaper.

"Thank you~. I will give it back to you during classes."

Luna said while taking the newspaper and opening it to read.

How she knew that he would be teaching today was a mystery to Erik. By his knowledge, nobody had said anything to the students about it.

'Well, whatever, maybe she has a gist of vision or something like that.'

Erik concluded in his thoughts, continuing his walk between the houses' tables and exiting the Great Hall. He climbed up the Great Staircase and stopped by the third floor. On it he located the classroom titled '3C' and entered it. He quickly looked around and started to organize the classroom, after all, he was the substitute teacher for the week and he would be damn sure that the students would learn in his class and at the same time have a little fun. At least with the lower years.

The first thing that he did was to ask the castle to change the format of the room to that of a greek auditorium. It took a little time, but the classroom slowly expanded and changed, assuming the asked format, where the students' desks were in 'C' format around a lowered platform for the Professor to use for demonstrations. The room now had three rows of classes divided in two sections by low stairs that went from the entrance doors of the classroom to the lowered platform in the middle. Each row of desks was half a meter higher than the previous row, this way allowing all students to see the Professor without obstructions. The first row of desks was already half a meter higher than the central platform and had four desks on each side, totalling eight desks. The second row of desks had six desks on each side, totalling twelve desks. The third and last row of desks had eight desks on each side, totalling sixteen desks. In total, the new classroom configuration had a capacity for thirty six students. A number that would be more than enough for now if you took in consideration that only two houses shared the same classes.

The Professor's desk was a little behind the central platform, in its own elevated platform and at a height equal to the students desks of the second row. The entrance to the Professor's personal office was through a door located behind said desk. The black board was on the wall of the professor's desk in a way that allowed the entire room to perfectly see it.

Content with the result of his modifications, Erik climbed the stairs up to Professor's desk and sat, waiting for his first class.

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