Chapter 42: Interview - part 2

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 24th, 1992, 8:27 PM

"... Most of his fortune was gifted to Hogwarts to pay for first-generation students' studies, and the rest, together with some land, was divided between Selena and his daughter."

Erik finished his tale. Mr. Cuffe was a little shocked by that. To think that the Hogwarts' founder that was known to be a blood purist is responsible for funding muggleborns' magical studies. He needed to know more about that.

"So, Lord Ravenclaw, you are saying that Salazar Slytherin, the founder that is known to be a blood purist, is the one funding muggleborns' magical studies?"

Mr. Cuffe asked. Selena let out a giggle and Erik chuckled hearing the question.

"Mr. Cuffe, why would godfather be a blood purist when he was a second-generation wizard and his wife, the one that my husband already told you that he loved above everything, was a second-generation witch too?"

Selena answered in Erik's place. Mr. Cuffe's face went from a little shocked to shocked a lot. But Erik continued Selena's answer, not letting the 'reporter' ask more.

"The one that was a bigot was his disowned son. But that was because the boy could not understand the things that happened with his mother's murder, and he blamed the non-magical with passion. Salazar understood it very well, and he could discern that just like there were good and bad wizards, there were good and bad non-magicals. He understood it so well that he and his wife, Esmeralda, were the ones that convinced the other founders to offer Hogwarts as a home between school years to those students that didn't have a good home to go back to."

"You have to understand too, Mr. Cuffe, how was the world at that time. The church was expanding its influence everywhere, and they convinced the masses that everything that was not natural or accepted by their God was the devil's work. Wizards and witches were viewed as the spawn of satan. I had friends that went back home between school years and did not return. When the teachers looked after the disappearance, they found that the kids' neighbours had denounced the family to the church, and the entire family had been killed. Portkeys were not yet invented, so they could not have an emergency escape plan and there's so much a kid could do against a mob of people invading his house in the middle of the night. Hogsmeade was a village created by those students who manage to escape with their families, and by the students that didn't have a home to return to anymore after they finished their education in Hogwarts."

Eri finished explaining. He served some more tea for him and sipped it while the room stood in silence.

"The first portkey was invented by a first-generation witch who managed to escape one of these hunts by accidental magic. After that, it was standard procedure to give the student going back home an emergency portkey. Why do you think that the real witch burns became so few after a time and magic became something of a myth to non-magicals? But even so, accidents still happened. The emergency portkey procedure was discontinued after the passing of the International Statute of Secrecy and the creation of the ministries."

Erik added to the past answer. Selena served her more tea, and they stood there, in silence, waiting for Mr. Cuffe next question. The old editor had a thoughtful face while he sipped some of his tea. It took some minutes for him to gather himself and continue.

"It must have been difficult times…"

He commented.

"They were, indeed."

Erik said. Some more minutes passed in silence. It was like they were paying their respect to all the lives lost for the simple reason of being magical.

"Next question. This one comes from a reader. Britain wants to know, Lord Ravenclaw, why have the Ravenclaw family disappeared from the magical community?"

Mr. Cuffe asked after recovering from the last answer.

"That's very simple, Mr Cuffe, but to answer it better, let me quote for you a phrase from Lord John Acton: 'power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely'. What kind of power, political or not, do you think that a thousand year old wizard would have if he stood in the same place during all this time? I saw, first hand, what too much power can do to an individual, and that's why we, my wife and I, decided to retire from the public's eye. We put down some rules for Hogwarts' inner workings, put down some precautions, and we retired."

Erik made a small pause to sip his tea, and continued

"We travelled the world together. We spent almost three hundred years just travelling, and we still have not seen everything that there is to see. The world that we live in is a VERY, very large place, Mr. Cuffe."

Erik spoke, emphasizing the world 'very'.

"And what are these precautions that were taken for Hogwarts?"

Mr. Cuffe asked, wanting to know more about the subject.

"We put in place some watchers. These watchers keep their eyes on the school and if something happens that puts the students at risk and the actual administration is not managing to resolve the problem, or they are the problem, they can summon us to visit the school."

Erik said, explaining the ghost council job without saying who are the watchers.

"You mentioned in the letter to the Daily Prophet that this time you two were summoned to the school because of the petrification attacks that had started. Can we have confirmation that there are no more risks to the students?"

Mr. Cuffe asked.

"Yes, we can. Like what was written in the letter, during our first night back at the school we identified the problem and called for the DMLE and the Unspeakables. The item responsible for the attacks this time is in the hands of the Unspeakables and they are investigating how it was brought into the school. I'm sure that if the person behind it had nefarious reasons, he or she will be punished according to the laws."

Erik explained, answering Mr. Cuffe's question.

"You said 'The item responsible for the attacks this time'. It talks abouts a previous attack of the same nature. Can you tell us more about it?"

"Only what I know about and would not harm the investigation in progress. Almost fifty years ago there was a wave of similar attacks on students. Various students were found petrified through the school year. Investigations were made by the administration of the time, but no culprit was found. It was when a student was found dead, that the culprit was apparently found and expelled. It's just that the expelled student was not the real culprit. The real culprit then crafted a malicious artifact with the intuity to one day restart the attacks. When the attacks began and the Headmaster decided to do nothing about it, the watchers summoned us."

Erik answered.

"Is that why Headmaster Dumbledore was removed from his office?"

Mr. Cuffe asked Erik.

"It is one of the reasons, but not the main one. That would be that as a Headmaster of Hogwarts, he shouldn't have other positions of political power, and Dumbledore had two of them. That rule was put in place as a means to protect the students and staff from political disputes. A headmaster that was too much active in the political agenda would have little time to manage the school and he would eventually bring his fights inside the school, dividing the student body and putting their education at risk."

Erik spoke and took another sip of his tea.

"In your letter to us, you wrote that the members of the Board of Governors of the school were robbing the funds destined to the school maintenance. We had some readers wanting to know more about it. Can you tell us about specific values? And what will be done against them besides the disban of the Board of Governors?"

Mr. Cuffe asked for details.

"It would not be right to reveal numbers, but I can give you an idea. The Board had twelve members, and these members met two times a year on a schedule. Each member was receiving a monthly stipend that amounts to three times the same amount that a Professor with Mastery was receiving to teach. Of course that amount was not the same since the beginning. It all started with a very low amount, but they started to increase that amount at each meeting, until it reached a point where they started to lay out staff to raise their salary. About thirty years ago they stopped increasing it, because if they continued they would have no more Professors to teach the core subjects."

Erik spoke, giving a pause to sip from his tea cup, and continued.

"Action was already taken against them. All the galleons stolen since the beginning of it were already recovered or will be recovered very soon. The galleons will be used to put the school back in its former glory. That means more professors, new teaching material, etc."

Erik finished saying, remembering the numbers that Gringotts had sent to him earlier that day.

"Our next question came from some readers too. You wrote in the letter that more than five thousand books were recovered, and some of our readers related that books went missing from their private libraries. Can you tell us about it?"

Mr. Cuffe asked, and this time it was Selena that chose to answer the question.

"Sure, we can. I would say to the readers that wrote about the missing books that all Hogwarts' library's books are marked by the school magics the moment that the said book is added to the library's collection. That is to allow the library to recall all 'lost' books back to it, no matter where it is. From what I could understand, a 'recall' has not been done in the last fifty years, so that's why the number of recovered books was so big. If these readers want some kind of restitution, I ask them to look for me with the book's name. I will then search our Book of Records about when it was 'borrowed' and then fine the person according to the number of days that the book is due to its devolution."

Selena explained.

"So the only books recalled were books that were owned by the school?"

Mr. Cuffe asked in confirmation.

"Exactly. The person can try to erase the Library stamp from the book, but they would not be successful in it. My mother was relentless in the magic that marks the school's books. I will tell you, I was the one who did this last book 'recall' and it showed me where some books were being kept, and it was not just from the British Isles that books were recovered."

Selena finished. She was not being entirely truthful in her last answer. Her mother had indeed done a very good work with the library stamp, but she had added her own work over it, and that was what made sure that the stamp could not be removed.

"I understand that some of these volumes would not be seen with very good eyes in today's standards."

Mr. Cuffe asked, imagining that some of these volumes would be of very sensitive nature.

"The recovered books were screened by all Professors and the subjects were separated into categories specific to the students' ages. For example, a first year student doesn't have access anymore to a book with NEWT material. Dangerous materials are now kept in a VERY restricted section, and the books in it can't be removed from there and are only for local research. And finally, outlawed material is only available to Professors with Mastery in their subjects."

Selena explained in more detail, putting Mr. Cuffe's doubts at ease.

"Continuing with the readers' questions, can you go into details with us about the new security measures that were restored to the castle?"

Mr Cuffe asked, and Erik tackled this one.

"Sure, the system of wards…"

Erik started to talk about the wards that were restored in place, together with their functions. The explanation was really a detailed one and after finishing hearing about it, Mr. Cuffe was sure that the students were safer than ever inside the school. He decided to ask the next question.

"Another question from readers. You wrote that Hogwarts used to have at least triple the staff that it has today, does that mean that Hogwarts will be hiring more staff?"

Mr. Cuffe asked.

"Yes. Very soon we will be announcing the hiring of more staff for the school. The positions are not yet decided fully, but we are expecting to triple the number of teachers and to hire more personnel to diverse positions. Those with interest can wait for the announcement that will be made by the start of the new year. The new Professors are expected to start their functions fully in the next school year, but the other personnel can be expected to start before easter."

Erik answered.

"Three times the number of teachers? What for?"

Mr. Cuffe asked.

"It was like this before. Each discipline had from one to three teachers. For example, potions is a core discipline and it should have three teachers. One teacher teaching the first three years, one teacher teaching the OWL years, fourth and fifth years, and a Professor teaching the NEWT years, sixth and seventh years. Study of ancient runes is an elective discipline, and should have at least two teachers, one for the OWL year, including third year, and a Professor for the NEWT years. Some new electives will be again offered at school, like law studies and administration. We intend to search for professors for some advanced disciplines too in caracter introductory, like alchemy, crafting and enchanting, and magecraft. But for the last ones, like I said, it will depend if we manage to find Professors for it."

Erik finished his explanation about the new hires.

"We of the Daily Prophet, for sure, will be waiting to see Hogwarts' new age. Now for our next question… "

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a/n: Next chapter will be the last one on the interview.