Unofficial Portkey Archive

The Shoebox

by Jardyn39

Chapter 4 - Whatever you are selling, Mum says we don't need any

Or They Let You Teach Here Without Getting Any Newts?

"Hermione, it isn't that funny," said Harry, still trying to get one of her knitted hats off his head. He'd jammed it on in an attempt to encourage his hair to lie flat, except it hadn't worked at all. Somehow his hair had managed to weave its way through the wool fibres, making him look even more ridiculous.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she said, still very red in the face from laughing. "I dare not try and vanish the hat. Any more magic and your hair might just give up and fall right out."

"Right now that seems a tempting alternative," he said, grimacing with pain as he tugged.

"Just leave it for a while. It will be much easier later when the magical discharge is reduced."

He gave up and lowered his arms.

"Did you see Ron's interview in the Evening Prophet?"

"I've not read it, but Professor McGonagall said he did okay."

"Will you have time to do evening classes as well as teach here?"

"Professor McGonagall said she'd let me move my free periods around and if Moody and Lupin both agree to help out, it shouldn't be too bad."

"Are you sure the Ministry will agree to Ron's demands?"

"I'm not, I must admit. Professor McGonagall seemed to think they might agree in return for avoiding an inquiry into the finances."

"I was going to push for an investigation, actually. There were thousands of Galleons donated. I'd like to know where all the cash went. You should too, after the amount you gave."

"I'm not on the list of benefactors, Hermione."

"Oh, come off it, Harry. Just because you gave anonymously it doesn't mean you didn't make a donation."

"Well, once they have announced what they are going to do, you can demand to see details if you think there might be a shortfall."

"Might that not compromise you?" she asked.

"No. I didn't agree to anything on your behalf. To be honest, so long as those people get the help they need, I don't much care about the money."

"You'll soon care if the Ministry reduces the payments made to Hogwarts."

"They couldn't do that, could they?"

"It could be argued that Hogwarts reserves are sufficient to justify a reduction. It's certainly the first place I'd look to save money. As the money will still be used for educational purposes, that would make it easier to justify."

Harry sighed.

"Hermione, Neville said something strange yesterday. He said I should be careful about using wandless magic. He seemed to think it might be outlawed."

"Nothing official has come through the Wizengamot, but legislation is the responsibility of the Ministry. We can't influence whether or not anything becomes law."

"Who decides, then?"

"Each new law or amendment gets drafted by a Ministry Department and then presented to the Minister. If the Minister agrees to take it forward, the Department Head presents the law to a Committee who debate it. They then take a vote and if there is a majority, the Minister signs so it becomes law. In an emergency, the Minister can enact laws without bothering with the Committee."

"Would wandless magic be considered an emergency?"

"No, not unless something really bad happened."

"So long as the law has to be debated, there isn't much chance of it becoming enacted, don't you think?"

"I'm not sure, Harry. Not so long ago, I'd have said that the majority of Committee Members were proficient in wandless magic, so it would seem pretty stupid to try and get a ban past them. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of changes recently. The Minister appoints new members, so he may have promoted people sympathetic to his views."

"But why ban wandless magic?"

"Well, the number of people practising it are clearly in the minority. Minorities are always useful in politics, Harry. They can be blamed for all sorts of things and victimised."

"Mm," he agreed.

"The good news is that it'll be almost impossible to control or ban wandless use."

"How? Wouldn't they just send people to Azkaban or seize their assets?"

"How long could Azkaban hold you, Harry?"

"The dementors can affect anyone if they have them long enough."

"I suppose, but I still maintain that the majority of wandless witches and wizards could look after themselves."

"The Minister would know that."

"Look, let's not worry too much until we know for certain something is going to happen."

"Neville seemed very concerned."

"Well, we can quiz him properly when we see him. Have you worked out what weekend is best for you?"

"Me? I thought you were the one who had to decide."

"No, Harry. I did tell you."

"I'm sure you didn't. Anyway, I'm free any weekend you like."

Hermione just smiled and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Oh, hang on. I can't do this weekend because I need to finish those lesson plans and the weekend after I'll be marking tests. The weekend after that-" he managed before Hermione hit him with a cushion.

*

Harry closed the door to the Three Broomsticks and looked around the crowded bar. He wasn't too surprised that Moody saw him first.

"Harry! We're over here."

Harry turned and waved. He removed his travelling cloak and wound his way over to the booth where Moody had called from.

Lupin rose up to shake Harry's hand.

"Harry, you're looking well."

"You too!"

Harry shook Moody's rough hand and said, "Hi, Mad-Eye. I can't say how pleased I was that you'd both agreed to do this."

Harry sat and Lupin pushed one of the foaming tankards over to him.

"The Ministry were most insistent, actually," said Lupin lightly with a smile. "Their final offer was most generous."

"Well, so it should be. Cheers," said Harry, taking a long draw on his beer.

"You know the Ministry didn't approve of my efforts?" said Moody, taking a swig from his hip-flask.

"So what?" said Harry. "As far as I'm concerned the Ministry can take a running jump. We need to help these people, not worry what the Ministry thinks."

"Agreed," said Lupin.

"What I wanted us to agree was how we are going to take this forward. I suspect that none of our initial intake will be interested in taking their studies to OWL standard. I propose we put them all in one class and have them progress through a series of achievable grades. We can give practical tests to assess them."

"How about presenting them with some form of certificate or diploma?" suggested Lupin.

"I like that idea, but only so long as we can guarantee everyone will get something. The bar needs to be pretty low at the beginning, or they'll give up."

"We need to maintain certain standards, though," added Moody. "We can't have them finishing a course believing they can defend themselves against any enemy in a fight."

"True," agreed Harry. "Actually, I was hoping we could give particular emphasis to practical defence. We can start with simple stuff and then progress."

"What other areas did you want to cover?" asked Lupin interestedly.

"I'd like to include cooking and cleaning skills, and perhaps even limited Potion making."

"That's a good idea," agreed Lupin.

"I'd also like to get guest lecturers along too. I'm sure I could persuade some of the teachers at Hogwarts to spare an evening to help. And, speaking of helping, I'd like to encourage families to come along too."

"That may not always be possible," said Lupin.

"How about if we set homework that will get other people involved?" asked Moody.

"Or maybe an open evening where our students can demonstrate what they are learning?"

"Great!" agreed Harry. "I also want to set up a crèche so everyone can attend."

"I can see this is going to get interesting," said Lupin, raising his tankard.

"Well, that's the idea. Should we ask for a single large teaching space or a few smaller classrooms?"

"Why not ask for both?" suggested Moody. "The Ministry is too afraid of criticism from the Prophet to say no right now."

"Alright," agreed Harry. "Now, I've drawn up a list of spells that I think we should try and cover. To be honest they are mostly Charms with a good measure from Defence Against the Dark Arts. I wondered if even simple Transfiguration might be too much, though."

He handed them each a wad of parchments that also contained his outline lesson plans.

"I'd like you to look through these and let me know what you think. If there are any you think we should add or where they might be too advanced, just say."

"Alright," said Lupin.

"When we're all happy I want to get a syllabus printed up and published," said Harry.

"I don't see many Potions here," commented Moody, leafing through Harry's notes.

"Well, most people use ready-prepared potions these days," said Harry.

"What are these?" asked Moody, reading the last page of notes.

"Those are some spells that might be useful around the house. Things like cleaning and laundering."

"I can't do any of these," commented Moody dryly. "You know, I might actually sign up for this class."

The three of them laughed and Harry raised his tankard.

"Here's to a successful teaching venture."

Lupin raised his tankard and clinked Harry's. Moody actually raised his untouched tankard and touched it to the other two.

*

Harry knocked on the door to the cottage and waited. He turned and smiled seeing that the lawn beside the front path was strewn with an assortment of toys.

The front door opened a crack and a small face peered out.

"Yes?"

"Hello, my name is Harry Potter."

"Whatever you are selling, Mum says we don't need any."

Harry smiled and said, "I'm not selling anything. I'm a teacher up at Hogwarts and I've come to deliver-"

"Is it my letter?!" the girl asked excitedly, throwing the door open.

"I'm sorry, but I do have a package for Mrs Ledred. Is she your mother?"

The girl's face fell and a woman appeared from a side door.

"Mrs Ledred?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I'm Mrs Ledred."

"Hi. I'm Harry Potter and I'm going to be taking your evening classes. I was going to owl this but it seemed silly as you live in Hogsmeade."

Harry handed her the package.

"In there you'll find a copy of the draft syllabus as well as a list of dates."

"I'm not sure I'll be coming to any more classes," she said doubtfully. "I don't have anyone to look after Janeen here and I don't have money to waste for travelling."

"Well, the Ministry is still sorting out our classrooms so we're going to start lessons up at the school. As for Janeen, you'd both be more than welcome."

"I can go to Hogwarts?"

"It'll only be one evening a week," said Harry with a smile. "How old are you?"

"I'm Ten and a half."

"Well, hopefully you'll get your Hogwarts letter soon then."

He turned to Mrs Ledred and asked, "So, can we expect you?"

"I'm not sure. I still haven't got a new wand."

"Didn't the Ministry send you a voucher?"

"Mum said we can't afford a new wand," said Janeen quickly.

"Shh. I just haven't had time."

"But the voucher is for a new Ollivander wand," said Harry. "The Ministry will pay."

"No, the voucher is only good for the first Ten Galleons," said Mrs Ledred. "We have to pay for the difference and frankly, that really isn't worth it. After all, I may never learn to use it properly."

"That really isn't the point," said Harry angrily. "I'm sorry, but I was assured that everyone would get free wands. That's what it said in the Prophet. These days I doubt if you could get any Ollivander wand for less than forty Galleons."

"Yes, that's what we thought."

"Look, I'll have to look into this. In the meantime, please consider coming along on Monday evening. If nothing else you'll see that there are plenty of other people in the same situation as yourself."

*

"Enjoying the evening air?" asked Professor McGonagall.

Harry turned and smiled. He was standing at the top of the stone steps to the entrance of the castle.

"I was about to go down and open the gates for our new students. That is, assuming any bother to turn up."

"I'll join you if I may," she said and the walked down the steps and along the gravel path towards the gates.

"By the way," said Professor McGonagall lightly, "I understand that the Minister called a Press Conference this afternoon."

"Really?" said Harry innocently.

"Yes, he blamed the limit on the wand Vouchers a clerical oversight and assured everyone that vouchers would cover the entire cost of the wand. He also promised full refunds for those that had already paid."

"That was nice of him," said Harry dryly. "Are they going to cover the travelling expenses too?"

"I doubt it. Please don't take this the wrong way, Harry, but embarrassing the Minister into these things could backfire on you. I know it worked this time, but he'll bear you a grudge. This isn't the first time, either, is it?"

"I know," admitted Harry. "I honestly intended to go and have a quiet word but when I got there he was holding another Press Conference in the foyer and I couldn't resist it."

"I was surprised you weren't on the front page."

"Well, I managed to have a quick word with the photographer before I left. I, um, bribed him not to use the one he had of me."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows at him.

"I promised he could have an exclusive photo of me when we move into the Ministry classrooms."

"You intended to bar the Press from the opening?"

"No, but he didn't know that. This way there'll just be one photographer to keep an eye on."

"Indeed."

They arrived at the great metal gates and Harry lightly tapped the chains holding the pair of gates closed. Instantly the chain unwound itself from the bars and the gates opened.

"Professor!"

Professor McGonagall beamed at the group of witches and wizards approaching them.

"Welcome," she said warmly. "Welcome back to Hogwarts."

She was soon surrounded by her former students, all eager to greet her properly. Smiling at the sounds of laughter from the group, Harry made his way towards the rear where Ron was accompanying Mrs Ledred. Her daughter was a few steps behind them, walking along with Moody.

"I'm glad you could make it," Harry said to her. "I was wondering if I would have to come and get you!"

"Your friends had the same idea," she admitted.

Harry smiled and nodded.

"Have you seen Lupin, Ron?"

"No, he wasn't on the train."

"Lupin is coming by Floo Powder," said Moody.

Harry nodded and smiled down at Janeen.

"Hi," he said. "Looking forward to seeing the school?"

She grinned and nodded back enthusiastically.

"When are you hoping to get your Hogwarts letter?" asked Ron.

"This summer, hopefully."

"Are you sure?" asked Moody with a lop-sided grin. "From the way you have been interrogating me, I assumed you'd skip school and go straight into the Auror programme."

Harry and Ron laughed at Janeen's indignant expression.

"I was only asking what it was like working as an Auror," she insisted. "How many NEWTs did you get, anyway?"

"Ah, well I joined before they set such high academic standards, I'm afraid. They let me in with a couple of OWLs."

"I didn't think I'd be good enough to get all the NEWTs you need," said Janeen sadly.

"Well, they do still take people without NEWTs," said Moody. "Potter here, for instance, joined without NEWTs."

"I think it may be a bit soon to start writing yourself off, Janeen," said Harry with a smile.

"They let you teach here without getting any NEWTs?" said Janeen.

Harry shrugged and struggled to find a response.

"Don't worry," Ron reassured her. "By the time you get here I'm sure Professor McGonagall will have got Harry up to scratch."

"Thanks, Ron," said Harry with a laugh. "Come on, we'd better hurry up. The others are almost at the castle and I haven't even locked the gates."

*

Lupin was waiting for them at the top of the steps.

"Remus, this is Janeen. She is Mrs Ledred's daughter."

"Ah, I'm delighted to meet you," said Lupin, smiling and gently shaking her hand. "I recall your mother telling us what a help you have been to her while she has been unable to perform magic."

Janeen blushed and smiled.

"Harry," continued Lupin as he straightened up, "Professor McGonagall said you didn't want to use the Great Hall this evening?"

Harry snorted and said, "No, I thought we would start with something a little different this evening."

He stepped inside where everyone else was waiting.

"Hello everyone," he said brightly. "As we won't be spending many evenings here at Hogwarts I thought we should use the facilities we probably won't have back at the Ministry. If you'd like to follow me?"

He led them down the stairs and along the wide corridor leading to the kitchens until he arrived at the painting of the bowl of fruit. There, he began to tickle the pear until it giggled and transformed into the kitchen entrance door.

"So that's how you do it!" said an elderly looking wizard.

Harry entered and led the group into the kitchens where they were immediately greeted by many house elves.

"Okay," said Harry, turning back to them. "Take your travelling cloaks off and hang them up over there. Then I suggest we wash our hands at those troughs.

"Tonight, we will be doing a little cooking by magic.

"There's plenty of room, so find yourself a space at one of the tables." He waved over to the four house tables.

Harry looked around to see Janeen helping Moody with his cloak. The only other child present was a baby who was fast asleep in a travelling cot.

Once everyone was washed and seated, Harry addressed them again. Most of the house elves were scurrying around bringing pots and dishes to the tables now.

"First of all, I'd like to thank the Hogwarts house elves for agreeing to pay host to us this evening. Indeed, I've been making a nuisance of myself down here for a few evenings now.

"Unfortunately, my early efforts at cooking were quite abysmal. I soon found it really isn't as easy as these house elves make it look.

"This evening we won't bother with making anything actually edible. All we want to do is learn a few basic skills."

Harry tapped the bowl in front of him and the wooden spoon began stirring the mixture inside.

Next, he moved onto a portable griddle. Tapping the grating, a small purple flame erupted into life and Harry placed a frying pan over it.

Then Harry tapped a rolling pin. It immediately began rolling back and forth over a small ball of pastry.

Finally, he came to a small bowl of soapy water. He muttered an incantation and the surrounding plates jumped into the water and began cleaning themselves.

He looked up and grinned.

"Um, Harry," said Ron from two tables away. "That may be a bit too advanced for us. Well, me, anyway. I couldn't do three of those before I lost my magic."

There were several nods of agreement.

"Ron, I wasn't aware you'd even tried to roll pastry," said Harry with a grin. Then he addressed everyone.

"I don't expect you to perform all of these by the end of our session this evening. It takes practise to do these things. It took me hours to get the rolling pin to work properly, I promise you.

"Now, having said that, you won't succeed at anything unless you try, will you? You should also know that I chose these four skills for a particular reason."

"Did Luna put you up to it?" asked Ron to several laughs.

"No," said Harry, chucking. "There aren't four spells to learn. There are only variations on two. Let's start with the easiest one; producing a small flame to cook with."

Harry conjured a row of flames in front of him. Each was either a different size, colour or intensity from the others.

"Let's say the incantation without wands first," said Harry.

It wasn't long before half the kitchen was filled with tiny flames burning inside a variety of jamjars. Harry, Lupin and Moody had moved around the class showing how to perform the spell. By the end everyone had produced some form of fire. Even Janeen, using Moody's wand, had produced one.

"Right," said Harry. "Now onto the more difficult spell."

He pulled a large bowl over to him and placed a wooden spoon inside.

"Now, when I first tried this, it did get a bit messy. In fact, the evidence of my early efforts is still on the ceiling. To begin with, we should have a go with nothing inside the bowls. I've also taken the liberty of placing unbreakable charms on these bowls too. I broke quite a few before I got it right."

Harry proceeded to slowly explain the incantation and wand movements. This time, even Moody was paying attention.

Many people had trouble controlling their stirring spoons, with more than a few sending their bowls spinning off the tables. Far from being discouraged, everyone was laughing and showing a great deal of enthusiasm.

Harry returned Moody's bowl after it flew wildly up at Harry.

"Damn!" cursed Moody. "This is harder than it looks."

"Language," warned Harry gently. "Don't put so much effort into it. Imagine the spoon just needs a little encouragement."

Mrs Ledred was the first to set her spoon stirring in a controlled manner. She grinned as everyone cheered and applauded. Ron and Lupin tied for second and in the end only Moody had failed to perform the charm successfully.

"Excellent!" said Harry. "You've all done really well. For homework, I'd like you to try and practise these charms as often as possible. Take the bowls you have because they are unbreakable. Next time we'll cover the rolling pin and washing up."

*

Professor McGonagall joined Harry, Lupin and Moody back down in the kitchens after the students had all gone home, most of them carrying and eating armfuls of food given to them by the house elves.

"Well, that seemed to go rather well," she said, sitting down next to Lupin.

"Yes," agreed Lupin. "It was a good idea to begin with a charm that almost anyone can perform. It gave everyone the confidence to succeed with the second."

"I hope you're not going to do spells I can't perform every week, Potter," growled Moody. "Otherwise there's not much point in my being a teacher. I might as well just enrol."

Harry grinned back at him.

"I happen to know you were just pretending. Well, at the end at least. Some of our students were pretty desperate to beat you."

"I'm still going to introduce a defensive spell that you can't do," retorted Moody.

Harry laughed.

"I was glad young Janeen came along," said Lupin.

"She seemed to enjoy herself; fetching all those errant spoons back again," said Harry.

"Oh, yes," agreed Lupin. "Still, I suspect that once word gets out we'll have several more children coming along."

"Maybe we'll need to think about a crèche after all."

"Young Janeen won't like that," said Moody with a smile. "She was badgering me all night to know when we would start duelling training. She seemed to think her Auror career prospects might suffer unless she started as soon as possible."