Rebuild What's Gone Unsteady

September 1st, 2000
Friday

The start of a thing is paramount, hence the necessity of a kiss at the start of the New Year and fresh parchment at the start of school. The beginning foretells the action and eventual ending. Thus, it is vital for a thing to be begun well.

Pansy knew this as deeply as she knew that subtlety triumphed over boldness and every rune had its meaning. So, in the continued absence of the Hogwarts Express-- an absence caused either by the lack of a decent Mechamancer or friction between the Muggle and Wizarding governments, depending upon whom one asked-- she had designed the welcoming of students to be pleasant and awe-inspiring.

Outside of Hogwarts wards, just beyond the far edge of the Quidditch Pitch, Pansy had convinced Draco, through a toxic mixture of flattery and cold rationality, to create a safe area for portkey arrivals. Then, just within the wards, two professors, who would change frequently throughout the day, beginning with Lisa Turpin and Zacharias Smith, watched over a small picnic area where students could gape at the castle, snack, and converse.

The pick-up locations had been selected with the utmost care and the schedule of arrivals decided, re-worked, and finalized several times over until no overlaps or oversights remained. Draco and a skeleton crew stood by, watching the wards and waiting for trouble. If she opposed Hogwarts, Pansy would attack on the first day to disrupt the start and hopefully throw the rest into disarray. Knowing this, Pansy had approached a state of paranoia in preparations and counter-plans.

Nothing could possibly go wrong, which was precisely why something did.

The air in the arrival area contracted and shimmered as though suddenly heated. Then, with a sudden expansion that was both nothing like an explosion, but resembled nothing else, a ring of students, each sitting on his or her trunk and grasping a knot in the loop of rope that was the portkey, appeared. Roger Davies, soaked, Pansy noticed with delight, from the waist down, accompanied them.

Before she could greet the students, Davies coiled the rope up with a quick flick of his wand and shoved it against her. "Your Apparation coordinates were off," he said, his breath hot and foul against her face.

Pansy widened her eyes with false innocence. "Were they?" she asked. "I am dreadfully sorry. I was not aware. Perhaps you should go change your robes. They're wet, you know."

Davies glared at her, his false eye trying to pierce through her. Pansy waited. Five breaths, then he pushed away from her and stalked up to the castle. Pansy dropped the rather heavy rope by the others and turned back to the students. They watched, some warily, some with interest. Pansy noted a couple Slytherin crests and she wondered what sort of power struggles and opportunities they were imagining. She smiled brightly at them all.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said, beginning her spiel. She directed the students to the area within the wards and told them to leave their luggage. Those who did not stand up quickly enough, fell to the ground as House Elves appeared and disappeared with the trunks. Pansy suppressed a smile. She knew her amusement was cruel, but the day was hot and getting warmer, even with Cooling Charms, and she, unlike others, would not receive reprieve until lunch. She was, after all, the Deputy Headmistress. Beyond that, however, she simply did not trust anyone else to oversee the first day of Hogwarts after two years.

Once the students had passed through the wards and were out of earshot, Draco walked up beside her. "That wasn't very nice," he said.

"Are you referring to Davies?" Pansy asked.

"Yes."

"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean then. I gave him those coordinates in good faith. Though, of course, had the numbers been altered slightly to ensure that he found himself within a lake rather than on a bank, I could only assume that the one doing the tampering had good cause."

"Such as?" Draco did not look at her, but watched instead the temporary protections around the arrival area. The protections repelled Muggles, which was not an easy task outside of those areas that had long warded them off, wildlife, an even more difficult endeavor, and those who do harm, the most difficult of all as it relied upon the intent, rather than type or class of being. The effect was permeable and subtle, which Pansy appreciated. She did not wish to draw extra attention.

"Such as the fact that Mr. Davies is a complete and utter prick."

Now Draco laughed. He motioned to her sheaf of notes. "Who's next?"

Pansy did not even have to look. "Abbot." She had, out of pure selfishness, scheduled Hannah's retrievals to take place at mostly even intervals throughout the day. This ensured that Pansy was able to see her every couple hours. She had also taken care to place Hannah after any moments that Pansy anticipated as distasteful, in other words, after both of Davies' trips. Hannah was also her last group of the day.

Thirty minutes after Davies' arrival, the air began to tighten and shimmer once more. When it expanded, Pansy needed only to see Hannah's bit lip and worried eyes to know something had gone wrong. Then she saw the gap in the rope. Between a fair-haired boy in Hufflepuff colors and a skinny girl still in Muggle dress, hung an empty knot. Someone was missing.

Before she could even think about that potential crisis, Pansy needed to greet the students who were present. She shook her head tightly at Hannah, whose pale blue robes, she noted absently, had a rather pleasing affect when contrasted with her yellow hair, and glanced toward the knot so that Hannah would, hopefully, understand that she understood. Hannah's shoulders relaxed, allowing Pansy to focus upon the eleven students who had arrived.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she greeted them. Once they were out of the way, the rope coiled and ready for another use, Pansy approached Hannah asking, "What happened? Who is missing?"

Hannah shook her head. "I don't know and Gretel Slurryhill, a first year and Muggleborn. I thought maybe her parents forgot, but when I went to the house it was empty. No one was there. I nearly missed the portkey."

Pansy looked through her papers and used the moment to calm down and think. Serenity amidst calamity did not come easily to her, but after the battle at Hogwarts she had been working harder to obtain it. It was one of the many unofficial rules of Slytherin; if one absolutely could not avoid a mistake, one could at least exploit the error by learning from it. She found Gretel's name and a plan began to form. "Slurryhill," she said. "Adrian accompanied her to Diagon Alley for her school things." Pansy let the papers fall back to their original page and she looked up. Hannah had her arms crossed and was slipping her lower lip in and out from between her teeth. "Abbot, you are not to assume all the blame for yourself. You are a Hufflepuff, not some idiot Gryffindor." She reached out and gently squeezed Hannah's elbow. "We will find her." She weighted every word.

Hannah sighed and lowered her arms. "All right," she said. "What do we do?"

"Locate Adrian and inform him that he is to track down our lost little lamb. The family and Gretel may be more responsive to a familiar face. Afterward, tell--" Pansy checked the waiting area. Turpin and Smith had already left. "--Brown and Thomas that one of them shall have to cover for Adrian at 11. Lastly, remain on the Pitch and watch over the students until the lunch hour."

"Thanks," Hannah said, and she took off for the castle, her blond hair streaming behind.

Pansy made a small notation by Gretel's name and motioned for Draco. "I fear," she said, "we have encountered a bit of a difficulty. Could you arrange for your team to check over the wards? I suspect that this single missing student is merely the beginning of whatever sabotage some wretched fool has planned for us."

Draco kept his face blank, but his eyes hardened like two little stones. "I will check myself," he said, before Apparating away. Not only did he make no sound, but the disappearance was subtle, as though he transformed into sun and shadow. Pansy made a mental note to learn the trick. Just because they were out of school did not mean she could allow Draco to best her at Apparation.

Alone, Pansy waited. Children chattered to each other behind her, arguing loudly about which House was best and whether the rule that students enter a year behind their age was fair. Apparently, no one had seen fit to inform the students that they would have the chance to advance to their true year providing they passed the initial assessments of their professors. She heard none discussing the missing girl; and so she did not intervene. Thomas and Brown could tend to the rest.

She did not pace, despite her anxiety. She had anticipated problems, even if missing students had fallen out of her scope. Instead, she tried to decide who would most benefit from the events, provided they continued uncorrected and became publicized. The Board of Governors would be furious, even more furious than normal.

Pansy recalled her first and, so far, only meeting with the men and women who had contributed enough Galleons to Hogwarts in the past or during the rebuilding that they felt entitled to oversee the management of the school. Pansy understood the sentiment and necessity, but, as a member of the faculty, she despised their interference. Perhaps it was the absence of Dumbledore that made them so bold, but they had tried to assert a right to the shape of the curriculum. Different books, lists of goals for year levels, additional tests-- Pansy realized that she had as little teaching experience as they, but at least she had an understanding of her own subject. Sweet Circe they had tried to tell her that it was good and proper to cover all of Ogham within the first month and then to switch to hieroglyphics. To Brown they had suggested a completely different and far more basic text series than the one she had selected and, in fact, already purchased.

Pansy did notice the trend in their complaints. Longbottom, Thomas, Turpin, and Abbot had all been heartily approved while she, the other Slytherins, and Brown had been slain. The blatant nature of their disapproval was what finally prompted her to action. She had stormed their meeting without permission and slipped notes to a few of the board members. The notes mentioned such minor activities as the re-sell of a ring taken from a home during rebuilding, the name of a young man who provided carnal comfort after hours, and the sudden loss and reappearance of funds between one account and another. Normally she disliked engaging in blackmail so publicly, but she had desired for even those she did not threaten to understand the lengths to which she would go for her school and reputation.

With the worst critics silenced, though still not supportive, Pansy had laid out her concerns. She'd feared that she would have to end up withdrawing one of her complaints, when help had come from an unexpected quarter: Draco's cast-out aunt. Andromeda Tonks cut an imposing and impressive figure, even with an ever-morphing toddler on her hip. She re-stated several of Pansy's arguments and talked to the Board as if they were her grandson. In the end she had won for Hogwarts a year without meddling and reconsideration at the school year's end. If they did well, the Board would retreat to the sort of role it had held during Dumbledore's years, more a court of appeals than a governing body. If they did not, Hogwarts would lose much of its autonomy.

They would not learn of this fiasco with Slurryhill. They simply could not.

Hannah returned, flushed and gasping, with Adrian, Jamison, and Thomas in her wake.

"Did Abbot explain our current predicament?" Pansy asked once they reached her.

"Yes," Adrian said. "I'll go and look for the girl."

"I'll help," Jamison said quickly. Adrian's jaw tightened ever so slightly at the interruption and his body shifted the tiniest bit away from Jamison. Pansy found this fascinating. Adrian was clearly discomforted by their Caretaker, but did not wish for anyone to know. Quite a pretty puzzle for when her mind was not otherwise occupied. She caught Adrian's eye and glanced at Jamison. He looked away from her and she suppressed a smile. Fascinating indeed.

"I assume then that Thomas will be retrieving the students from Kent by himself?"

"Yeah," Thomas said.

"Very well. Return with good news, gentlemen," she said. Adrian nodded and Apparated. Jamison was a moment later and loud like a novice. Pansy marked Slytherin off her mental list for Jamison's possible House, along with the Ravenclaw she had discarded earlier that summer. She knew him. She knew she knew him, yet she could not place him.

Pansy equipped Thomas with a rope and coordinates and, a second later, he was likewise gone. Hannah remained.

"Do you think they will find her?" she asked.

"Yes," Pansy said. "She must be found and so she will be found."

Hannah's mouth drew up at one corner. "I don't think the world works that way, Pansy."

"I know."

In the arrivals area, the air contracted and released. Hannah gasped and Pansy cursed. On the ground, alone and coiled, laid a rope. Daphne Greengrass and the twelve students she had gone to Cumberland to retrieve were completely and utterly absent.

Pansy wove her wand through the air and, in glowing green letters, wrote out the Apparation coordinates she had earlier given to Daphne. "Go," she said. "Find out what happened."

Hannah read the numbers, closed her eyes, and was gone. Pansy summoned a chair from the area where students rested and sat down. She would need to tell McGonagall soon if something did not quickly improve. Just then an unwelcome thought struck Pansy and she straightened in her chair. If the students remained missing, would they be required to inform the Aurors? She could not imagine the Ministry hiding children, but exploiting the situation was well within the realm of their capabilities. She checked the time. It was only 10:40 yet. The Sorting would not take place until 6:00 that evening. They still had plenty of time.

Ten minutes later, Hannah returned. "They're not there," she said. "But--"

"I hope this is a marvelous 'but,'" Pansy said.

"They were seen boarding the Knight Bus."

"The Knight Bus," Pansy repeated, flatly. "I am going to kill Daphne." Pansy knew Daphne disliked Portkeys. She said they were like cymbals, which made no sense, but Daphne was a Musician and so allowances occasionally had to be made. Even so, Pansy had hoped her friend would have had better sense than to go off on the bus when the portkeys had been pre-arranged and agreed upon. At the very least she could have sent a note.

"At least they aren't missing," Hannah said.

"There is that," Pansy granted. "Thank you, Abbot, m'dear. Now, if you don't mind, I do believe that Brown could use your considerable aid." A loud peal of laughter from the Pitch underscored her point.

Hannah smiled. "Call me if you need me," she said, and she walked past Pansy to the waiting area within the wards.

Pansy checked the time. Thomas would be arriving soon with the next batch of students. With luck he would arrive with all students accounted for and no problems to report. Pansy stood up, preparing herself for the incoming students. She knew better to trust in luck. At exactly 10:30, the ring of students appeared, two knots empty. Pansy abbreviated her greetings and waved the students to the waiting area behind her.

"Two?" Pansy asked afterward.

"Muggleborns," Thomas said.

"And first years as well, I presume?" Pansy asked, hoping she was incorrect.

"Yeah. Er, Elsbeth Wright and Gavin Temple. I took Elsie to Diagon; she asked about dragons, wouldn't shut up about them actually. Any news from the others yet?"

"No. Return to the same coordinates, please, and see if you can't find either student. Speak with neighbors, anyone who may have an idea as to what exactly is happening."

"Sure thing." Dean Apparated immediately.

Pansy returned to her chair. Three students now. She checked the names, seeking connections. The three were all from different areas of the country and each had gone to Diagon Alley with a different professor. Slurryhill with Adrian, Wright with Thomas, and Temple with Vector. A shadow darkened her pages.

"What did you find?" Pansy asked.

"A few areas were weakened, but everything was intact. I've got my people on alert now." Draco leaned against her chair. "And on your end?"

"Daphne decided that taking the Knight Bus without informing anyone was far more preferable than following the plan. Meanwhile, two more students have disappeared."

"Odd."

"Quite. I cannot uncover any similarities between the students beyond their age and blood quality. Trying to find anything more is positioning me upon the long road toward insanity, I think." Pansy closed her notes. "Distract me," she said.

"Which genre of distraction would you like?" Draco asked. He skirted a finger down the side of her neck. Pansy leaned away.

"Not that sort," she said.

"Of course. I forgot."

"Liar."

He grinned slowly and then bent down by her ear. "Three nights ago, I had a rather unexpected affair."

Pansy turned toward him. "Who?" she asked, examining his face for the minute ticks that always gave away his lies to her.

Draco's grin turned wolfish and he stood up. "A proper gentleman would never tell."

She glared at him, curiosity nibbling at her as she built a list of names. "Draco, for this to be a proper distraction you must, at least, provide me with a clue of some sort."

A second later, Draco began to hum. The melody took a moment for Pansy to place, but once she did, her mouth dropped open a little. She couldn't help it. "You are lying," she said.

"I'm not. Strangely, I don't even need to change the lyrics. He still can't block a thing."

"Draco," Pansy said, groaning at the poor and rather tasteless joke. "And do you--" she could not fully articulate the question, which was understandable as she could not yet envision what Draco was telling her.

He shrugged. "Quid pro quo, or, in Gryffindor terms, 'fair play.' To be honest, I was as startled as you to find him in my bed again."

"Again?" Pansy asked.

Draco gave her an odd look. "Didn't Adrian tell you about the Solstice party?" he asked.

"Apparently not. So how exactly did you and--" The screech and squelch of tires and breaks swallowed the rest of Pansy's question. The huge purple Knight Bus stopped in the middle of the portkey arrival area. She heard students making noise over it. The door opened and a reedy young man bellowed, "All leaving for Hogwarts."

Daphne was the first off the bus. Pansy stood and strode over to meet her. "Daphne, dearest, you and I must have a little chat later concerning plans and following them."

Daphne blinked at her. "Students were missing. I could not leave. I retrieved them and called for the bus."

This was the best news Pansy had heard in the last hour. "Good," she said. "Next time, however, please inform me of your intentions so that I know not to worry."

"All right."

"Who was missing?" Pansy asked. She already had her list of names ready and her quill hovering over the only two who were Muggleborn and eleven.

"Capulets," Daphne said.

Pansy marked the names beneath her quill. Felix and Ada Capulet, twins and escorted to Diagon by Lisa Turpin. "Where were they?" Pansy asked.

"Home."

Knowing that getting anymore information out of Daphne would be difficult and exceptionally painful, Pansy stepped back and allowed her odd friend to walk past and wind her way up to the castle and, more likely than not, her violin. Pansy returned to her notes and tried to puzzle out why the first year Muggleborn students were proving to be so suddenly reluctant after their intital enthusiasm. She had to know; what had changed?

By midday, Pansy was no closer to solving the mystery of her missing students. Longbottom's group, the last before lunch, had arrived with all students intact, but, considering that Longbottom's group was also all older students, Pansy did not think much of the success. Adrian and Jamison had returned right before lunch with tales of hostile neighbors and an empty house. Eventually they had discovered that Slurryhill's parents had taken her to relatives in Italy and Adrian was in the castle right at that moment charming old friends into allowing him to jump the queue on the international Floo.

For her part, Pansy was trying very hard to give the impression that nothing at all was amiss. The children enjoyed their picnic lunch, delighting over the cool pumpkin juice, sumptuous sandwiches with thick cuts of various meats and cheeses on rich slabs of dark bread, and chilled soups. Madame Hooch had brought out brooms and quaffles and the students were playing an odd variant of Quidditch with half of the players in the air and the other half running along the ground. A breeze flitted around playfully and made the day more bearable than the morning had threatened.

Pansy smiled, forced herself to smile, and tried to think. The consistency of the Muggleborn first years bothered her; it could not be coincidence, but she did not yet know the method by which the students had been contacted and secreted away. She was dissecting the morning once more when Neville interrupted her thinking.

"Parkinson," he said.

"What is it, Longbottom?" Pansy asked, irritated by the disruption.

Neville seemed utterly unaffected by her tone and Pansy realized, belatedly, that she had been spending far too much time in his company if he was immune to her distemper. "I have a student I think you should talk with. She was in my 9 a.m. group. First year. Her parents received a letter."

"A letter?" The possible schemes began to unfold in Pansy's head like spreading of butterfly wings. This was what she had been missing.

"Yes, telling them that Hogwarts was dangerous and not trustworthy."

Pansy leaned forward, her smile sharpening with anticipation. "And does the young student in question possess a copy of this letter?"

"She does."

"Bring her to me."

"I already have." Neville stepped aside to reveal a small girl composed entirely of lines and triangles from the angry arch for her brows to her painfully sharp shoulders and pointed shoes. This is Carrie Thorpe. Carrie, this Professor Parkinson, she is the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. Please show her what you showed me."

The girl-- Miss Thorpe-- pulled a grubby envelope from the back pocket of her trousers. Pansy noticed with some distaste that her knees were scuffed with dirt. "M'mum said it was no bother t'them what the school wasn't or was. They didn't have no money t'send me overseas and they weren't going t'deal with m'magic acting up no more."

Pansy mentally translated the girl's swift spiel into proper English and accepted the envelope. "Thank you, Miss Thorpe," she said. She turned the envelope over in her hands, noting the stamp and address. She lifted the rather messily torn away flap and extracted the letter. She read it once, checked the envelope again, and read through it once more. The confusion, worrying, and frustration of her morning coalesced and cooled into a far more practical rage. She looked over the paper at the girl. "Do you mind if I keep this, Miss Thorpe?"

The girl shook her head. "Naw, that's why m'mum gave it to me anyway. I woulda got it to you sooner, but I forgot. There was so much t'see and eat. Food here is mighty delicious."

Pansy smiled wryly. Had she been less concerned about amazing the students, perhaps the young Miss Thorpe would not have been distracted from passing along the letter and the great mystery of the morning solved far sooner. "Thank you again, Miss Thorpe," she said. "Why don't you return to lunch now?"

The girl nodded, turned, and ran off. Pansy looked to Longbottom. "Did you read this?" she asked.

"I did."

"Get everyone," she said. "We must find a way to counter this spleen before we end up bereft of Muggleborns."

"All right." Neville took two steps back and then jogged over to where several of the professors were eating and talking. Pansy took advantage of the quiet moment to read over the letter again.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe,

My name is Bethany Highcastle and I was the mother of a young wizard. I am writing this letter to ensure that you don't make the same mistake I did. I lost my son because of Hogwarts and the wizarding world. I hope you and your daughter can avoid the same fate.

From that maudlin beginning the letter laid out a clever mix of facts and lies intended to twist the parents' affection for their child or children. Accounts of the war were braided with reports from the States and supported by frozen articles from the Prophet that had been copied into the letter by some kind of magic Pansy had not encountered before. Though the letter was handwritten, the letters were too uniform or perfect to be natural. She suspected a Quick-Quotes Quill, a regular tool for anyone wishing anonymity.

From a purely objective point-of-view, Pansy admired the letter. It was a work of art; if she were a Muggle parent, she would certainly question sending her child off to Hogwarts after reading it. This also comforted her; the only kidnappers involved were concerned parents, not some third party as she had feared. However, parents would also be less centralized than a third party and more difficult to overcome. Pansy folded the note and waited as the professors gathered. Adrian was still inside, unfortunately, and Vector was finishing preparations in the library for the mystery librarian McGonagall had hired to replaced Madame Pince.

"Have you figured out what's going on yet, Parkinson?" Thomas asked.

Pansy lifted the note. "Listen," she said. As she read the letter out loud, the people around her tensed. Brown, upon hearing the section about the dangers of werewolves at Hogwarts, shut down. Her limbs stilled and her face dropped into the vague stoicism of a doll. Hannah's stance widened; Pansy recognized the motion from when Hannah had worked at the Cauldron and was standing up against unruly patrons. Pansy noted all of the reactions; none seemed forced or false, for which she was quite glad. While seemingly genuine reactions were not enough to completely discount the possibility that a professor had been involved, they did slip the chance further down the list.

"What do we do?" Hannah asked.

"We have to find the parents and explain," Longbottom said. Pansy agreed that the families needed to be found and thought it rather cute that Longbottom thought a simple explanation would solve everything.

"Do you think they'll listen?" Brown clearly agreed with the futility of talk, though Pansy suspected for she did so for rather different reasons than Pansy.

"Memory charms?" Davies offered.

"And mire the school in all the legal difficulties that would result?" Pansy asked, stepping into the conversation before it could spin away and far from topic. "No, we will locate the families, but we will offer more than mere words."

"What did you have in mind?" Smith asked.

"Weekly updates of their children, monthly Floo calls-- staggered, of course--, and bimonthly visitations."

"Will Pureblood parents have the same options?" Smith asked.

"Yes. Brown, you, Turpin, and Thomas will visit the parents. Be frank. If you find another family has gone on holiday, contact us immediately." Pansy hoped that meeting Brown would allay fears about her lycanthropy. Thomas would add the Muggleborn perspective and Turpin's boyfriend, she'd learned, had recently followed the Charms Master he was studying under to the States. She should be able to answer some questions on that score.

Pansy waved her wand and wrote out a list of names in the air. "Please note your name and times," she said. "This is our new retrieval schedule." Pansy passed out the coordinates and provided Brown with a list of locations for the missing and anticipated as missing students. As the lunch time ended, the professors dispersed and Pansy returned to her station by the arrival area.

The rage that had cooled her earlier was now exciting her. Pansy knew she should be upset that someone had dared to meddle in her affairs, but too much time had passed since she had had a decent opponent beyond the newspapers. She'd never expected how greatly she would miss her school years until after the War ended.

Slytherin was not, as many of the other Houses suspected, a den of vice and evil. Students in Slytherin were born of ambition and used the House to forge connections, practice politics, and increase the sly nature and, often, loose ethics that the Sorting Hat had uncovered within them. To fuel ambition, they competed frequently. Some fought battles of strength and competency. Draco's guards were rarely bested in those regards. Others strove for ever-increasing subtlety in their magic. Daphne Greengrass, the ever strange and quiet, was never fooled by concealment or magic. She identified charms without effort and found people no matter how sneakily they hid. She claimed she heard everything, but Pansy was not sure if that was truth or story. Misdirection was one of the first lessons Slytherin imparted. Pansy missed the long conversations in which one person would describe a location, a room, a fortress, a hidden glen, and the others would try to breach it. Every attack would be parried and every parry routed. Of course that game had taken a rather different cast later on when Draco found the weakness in Hogwarts' protections.

The idea of a new contest with real stakes and a clever, unknown opponent thrilled Pansy. She sent off Brown, Turpin, and Thomas partially wanting them to succeed and partially wanting the Other to counter.

Smith arrived with the first group of post-lunch students. Then, Davies with his a half hour later. Davies had two students missing, which was one less than Pansy had anticipated. The one who arrived admitted to using the owl he'd bought in Diagon to find the closest witch or wizard, in his case, Nirav Patil, the father of the Patil twins, to talk with his parents. After several long discussions and another trip to the Wizarding World, his parents had agreed to let him attend. Pansy made a note to thank Mr. Patil later and let the boy go play with the other students.

Shortly after Davies returned, Adrian joined Pansy in the arrival area. He had the annoying smile on his face that he got whenever he knew something others did not.

"I thought you were going to the continent," Pansy said.

"Our new librarian will bring over Slurryhill when he arrives."

"You know who the librarian is," Pansy said.

The smile broadened. "I do. We had a rather nice conversation."

"Lovely. Has anyone told you about the letter yet?" Pansy knew he wanted her to ask more about the librarian and so she did not.

"Only that it exists."

"Indeed." Pansy outlined everything she had discovered during the lunch period and her plan.

"Have you run that scheme by McGonagall yet?" Adrian asked.

"I was rather hoping to present it fait accompli."

Adrian laughed under his breath. "Of course. She won't be happy."

"No," Pansy admitted, "but she is not culpable for what she does not know. If the Board of Governors protest, then only I will be blamed." Pansy felt disgustingly self-sacrificing for such a suggestion, but she knew that no other arrangement would work half so well. McGonagall was a king on the board for Hogwarts; she had to be protected. Pansy only wished she knew how many people she was playing against.

"You think they will?"

"Protest? Certainly. I am promising to allow students to contact Muggles via Floo. Either their homes will have to be connected to the Network or the Muggles will have to be taken to a fireplace that already is.

"So why make a promise you know they'll hate?"

"I want to see how they react."

"You suspect one of them?"

"Unlikely, but I should like to rule the possibility out. Besides, I believe that the Board will become a source of frustration in the future and it will be helpful to know where the members' loyalties and ideologies lie."

"Of course. Any ideas on who wrote the letter yet?"

"Some, none of them very pleasant." She pulled the empty envelope from her robes and passed it to Adrian. He waved his wand over the paper and cast a spell that would allow him to briefly see the magics laid over or that had been laid over the paper. All Arithmancy students learned it; Pansy had learned from Draco.

"Concealment and--"

"Confusion," Pansy finished for him. "I noticed those. Do you see anything else? I still cannot make my image very sharp."

Adrian cast the spell again and frowned. "That looks like--" he stopped. "Every Muggleborn received one of these letters?"

"They did. What did you see?"

"A mild compulsion charm, probably to make the letter more believable."

"An illegal charm, interesting. Do you notice anything else odd about the envelope?" Pansy asked.

"Looks pretty standard to me."

Pansy folded her arms. "Adrian, I do know you are more capable than this. A hint, whose standard?"

"Muggle, but I don't see how that makes a difference."

Pansy took back the enveloped and flipped it over so that she could see the stamp and address. She pressed her lips together. "Perhaps I am merely being paranoid again," she said, and she slipped the envelope back into her robes. "So, who is our mysterious librarian?"

Adrian grinned. "You'll see at dinner like everyone else. Now, what can I do to help?"

"Babysit. Greengrass and Jamison are playing with the children."

"Jamison?" Adrian asked, his voice slightly strangled.

Pansy raised her brows. "Is that a problem?" she asked.

Adrian glared. "No." He walked back to the Pitch.

"Adrian, wait." Pansy stopped him. He clearly had no desire to be near Jamison and, while that information was interesting and Pansy certainly did wish to observe his behavior around Jamison, pushing Adrian toward the mysterious Caretaker would only result in a tetchy Adrian. She had too many other issues to resolve to create another one. "Actually, could you locate Thomas, Turpin, and Brown and inform them about the compulsion? That could aid their efforts, I'm sure."

Adrian nodded and Apparated. Pansy settled into her chair and waited for the next group to arrive. The rest of the day passed without incident.

By evening all students were safe and counted. Three had fled to the continent, but Adrian assured her that their librarian had all in tow. Others had been hidden in basements or with other relatives. Pansy's delegation had worked hard to locate each child and win their parents' support. The last three were those that had left the isles. When Pansy, standing with McGonagall and Madame Hooch to greet the new additions to their school, saw who the librarian was, she understood Adrian's smug amusement earlier that day. She, too, would have treated the man's identity as a most delicious secret. Viktor Krum was nothing if not unexpected. Pansy just hoped he could tend to books as well as he could fly.

"Thank you, Mr. Krum for bringing us the last of our wayward students," McGonagall said.

"It was no trouble," Krum said. "They haff promised to help me in the library."

"Have they now?" McGonagall said. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she said to the students. "I am Professor McGonagall. I am your headmistress. This is Professor Parkinson, my deputy, and Madame Hooch, your flight inspector. Madame Hooch, would you mind escorting Mr. Krum and the students to the Great Hall?"

"Not at all. This way." Madame Hooch, Krum, and the three students left the office. McGonagall turned to Pansy.

"I hear you have been keeping secrets from me." McGonagall's face was neutral. Not for the first time, Pansy wondered how McGonagall had become a Gryffindor. She seemed far too sly and subtle for the House.

"I have."

"And?"

Pansy pulled the letter and envelope from her robes and gave them to McGonagall. "The parents of each of our Muggleborn first year students received a copy of this letter approximately one week ago. The envelope is layered with concealment, confusion, and compulsion charms. The letter is masterful and convincing enough that only a few of the students whose parents read this letter still made it to the portkey locations."

"I see. How did you convince the parents to allow their students to attend our school?" Pansy explained her plan involving the Floo and visits. Rather than the anger Pansy had expected, McGonagall seemed intrigued. "You will be doing this," she said once Pansy finished. "I do not know if you intended to follow through when you made the promises, but you will be doing so now."

"I always keep my promises," Pansy said.

"Good." McGongall tapped her finger against the edge of the envelope. "One last thing, Professor."

"Yes?"

"Are all of the letters addressed this way?" She held up the envelope as example.

"I believe so."

"Find out how they got the addresses."

Pansy's eyes widened and her estimation of McGonagall rose. "The only place with that sort of information is the student roster," she said. "How many copies of that are there?"

McGonagall's thin lips pressed together grimly. "Two. The one created by the Quill in my offices and the copy that I gave to you this summer."

"They must have used mine. If anyone finds out--," Pansy said.

"They will say the letters were yours."

"Yes." Pansy had reached this conclusion before she had even met with the other professors about the letter. At first she had blamed herself for being too willing to see monsters within shadows, a notion that Adrian had inadvertently confirmed, but now the Headmistress was suggesting the same. "I will oversee the visitations myself." The more she could divide herself from anti-Muggle sentiments the better.

"That may be best," she said. "As for the copied roster--"

"I will task Draco with recovering it," Pansy said. "If we've any luck, they will only have the names of the students they contacted."

"Luck, Professor? I did not realize that Slytherins believed in such a thing."

"We know it exists; we simply are not fond of it."

McGonagall smiled. "You know, Pro-- Pansy," she paused and Pansy nodded slightly, granting the permission to her given name. "I may actually enjoy working with you."

"Likewise, Headmistress."

"Minerva," McGonagall corrected. Pansy repeated her name. From someone as stately and old-fashioned as McGonagall, this was either a sign of friendship or respect. Pansy hoped the latter. She followed McGonagall out of the office; and, together, they descended the tower and entered the pandemonium of the Great Hall.