Maintaining Hogwarts (3)

As they reconvened for dinner, Harry was pleased to note that the students appeared to be happy, for the most part. They were all covered in dirt, but chattering cheerfully with their neighbors. Harry also noted quite a few of the younger years sitting in mixed groups.

"I assigned them into cross-house groups," Neville confessed, noticing where Harry was looking. "The younger ones seemed to get on quite well."

"They're awfully dirty," Hermione pointed out, joining the boys.

"The oldsters taught everyone the hand cleaning charm before we got back inside the castle," Neville said a bit defensively.

Harry chuckled as he fed a tidbit to Adelyte. "I wish I'd known that one, growing up." He'd often had to sneak a moment to wash with the garden hose before coming inside after working in his Aunt's garden. "How did it go, Nev?"

Neville sighed happily. "We're in a much better position than I feared this morning. The first and second years marked out the edges of each garden, orchard, and field. The sixth and seventh years went through the old orchards and marked every tree that was dead, so we can pull them out tomorrow. The middle groups picked up the tilling spell quite quickly and tilled the first two fields and three gardens."

"That's quite impressive!" Hermione agreed. "So they'll finish the prep work tomorrow?"

"Yup. The youngsters will start planting, the middle group will finish the tiling, and the oldsters will rip out all the dead trees." Neville explained. "Acacia and Rhodera turned me on to a Nursery that operates in both the muggle and magical worlds, Barcham's. They're providing our orchard stock, and they also have a device that will magically chip the dead trees. We'll be able to mulch the gardens with them and also get a good start on the composting area for the kitchens."

"Excellent!" Harry was quite pleased with that progress. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade had been entirely self-sufficient in the past, and all three heirs wanted to get back to that standard, or as close as they could. "And how was your afternoon, Hermione?"

Hermione blew her bangs out in a tired sigh. "Thankfully, the parent visits appear to be tapering off. Some of them seem to have been warned by the others, though, so the yelling has cut down a bit. I'll be glad to hand them over to you tonight!"

Harry chuckled. "I know, I've gotten off easy today. Well, I've got the first batch of resumes from Gringotts for you to go over tonight. Plus they've got some information on House Elves tucked in the back. I just glanced through it, so I'm not sure what they actually said."

"Great!" Hermione accepted the packet and began flipping through it.

Neville chuckled at her enthusiasm. "So how did your afternoon go, Harry?"

It was Harry's turn to sigh deeply. "The aurors are going to be busy tomorrow. We might even need to call in some Hit Wizards."

"Really?" Hermione was shocked. Hit Wizards were the magical equivalent of the Special Forces.

"The heart of the forest has been taken over by giant acromantula - over a hundred of them!" Harry snarled. "The centaurs haven't done anything about them, because, and I quote, 'They don't bother us. Why should we worry about dangers to wizards?'"

The other two gasped. "They've completely forgotten the treaty?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded glumly. "Yup. And that isn't the half of it. They claimed that any game in the forest is theirs and theirs alone, obliquely threatened any students who venture there, and directly threatened any warriors I might bring in."

"That's insane!" Hermione protested.

"What are you going to do?" Neville asked.

Harry grinned ferally. "I'm going to remind them exactly what their ancestors promised Slytherin all those years ago, and hold them accountable. If they do not agree to fulfil the treaty, they will be evicted."

"How are you going to get rid of the acromantula?" Hermione wanted to know.

Harry's grin widened. "Let's just say that I have a secret weapon, assuming she's still here."

Hermione accepted that. "So tomorrow, Harry's in the forest, Neville's working with the students on the grounds, and I'm going through resumes?"

"I'd say you could even start hiring," Harry said. "I know Ravenclaw and Evvie taught you all about judging teachers. I trust you to hire who we need."

"Me too," Neville nodded. "You spent all that time with Lares and Selly too; I daresay you could run this whole place without us."

Hermione blushed, but accepted that. "Alright, I'll begin the hiring. Though I'll send a House Elf for you before taking on anyone who will be working on the grounds with you two."

"Fair enough," Harry acknowledged. "That sounds like a good plan for tomorrow."

"Anything tonight?" Hermione asked.

"I'm going to be making some floo calls," Neville said. "I want to make sure we have everything set up for the orchards."

"We should talk to the ghosts and elves about making the new dorms," Harry realized. "Get the students moved as quickly as possible, so they get used to it."

Hermione nodded. "I can do that first. And you've got the parents?"

"I want to meet with any muggleborn and muggle-raised for a quick word after dinner, but then yes, I'm with the parents," Harry took the teasing good-naturedly. He had been quite lucky to get out of doing that yet today.

"What do you need to meet with them about?" Neville asked.

"Teachers," Harry explained. "We need people who actually understand muggles to teach our muggle-based classes, and no wizards schooled at Hogwarts qualify, with their abysmal muggle studies curriculum. I want to see if we can find any teachers in the families of Muggleborns, or students with a muggleborn parent who raised them in a muggle-household."

"Anyone with experience teaching english, maths, science or history, would great for the Firsties, but also the language classes, sport program, and some of the NEWT electives could use Muggle experience. There are plenty of classes that a Muggle or Squib could teach, not to mention the Muggleborns who have been discriminated against in the past."

"Good idea," Neville said. "But I thought I had the fourth and fifth years after dinner."

"Shoot, I forgot about that," Harry frowned.

"I'd announce it to all the students," Hermione said suddenly. "There could be some with a muggleborn parent who don't identify as Muggle-raised. Or pureblood students with a squib relative living in the Muggle world."

"True, I hadn't thought of that," Harry said. "My concern was having some Pureblood claim to be an expert in Muggle history just because they've taken the Hogwarts Muggle Studies class, but not having any actual experience with modern Muggle life. But if you don't mind weeding those applicants out, then it couldn't hurt to tell everyone. And that still leaves the after-dinner slot free for Neville."

With the other two in agreement, Harry stood and made his quick announcement to the hall, asking for applications from any family with teaching experience, including muggle and squibs. The trio then finished their dinner, and set off to work again.