Checking Signatures

Checking Signatures

Albus Dumbledore decided he couldn't put off the chore any longer. He took out the parchments with the lists of fifth-, sixth- and seventh-year pupils, and the stacks of permission slips. He tapped the four stacks with his wand and spoke the charm which made all the genuine signatures glow. As he did so, he recalled another permission slip, many years earlier, when the wording on them had been shorter and simpler.

*

Albus swallowed nervously and knocked on the door of his father's study.

'Enter,' came the response. He entered and went up to his father's desk with the permission slip. His father looked first at him, then at the small piece of parchment, but said nothing.

'This is for you to sign to allow me to be given a Nonpater potion, as a disease preventative,' said Albus, handing the permission slip to his father.

'Really, boy? You conveniently forgot to inform me that its efficacy is greatest against diseases spread by fornication. Why is that? And why no mention of its effect on male fertility?'

Albus turned red and failed to answer.

'Is there a particular girl whose virtue you have designs on, or do you intend to patronise "ladies of the night"?'

Albust imagined Maeve Morrigan's face smiling at him. 'There is a particular girl whom I love.'

'Does she love you? Why do you feel the need to besmirch her honour instead of honestly marrying her?'

'I have proposed to her ...'

His father glowered at him. 'Without ever meeting her parents? Without us ever meeting her? Is she of good family? What house was she Sorted into?' A thought struck him, and he paled visibly. 'Surely she is not a Muggle-born?'

Albus worked through the list of questions. 'I met Maeve's parents when they visited Hogwarts last year for the Quidditch Tournament. You met her at the same Tournament. Her family is as good as ours. She is in Gryffindor. She is pure-blood for at least three generations.' He thought, 'And why does that last fact matter so much to you?'

'She sounds acceptable enough, at least.'

'I have proposed to her,' Albus began again, 'and she accepted. We intend to marry after finishing our studies at Hogwarts, once I can support her.'

This appeared to bemuse his father. 'I fail to understand why, if that is your intent, you cannot simply wait for marriage. I presume that she believes she loves you.'

'She does return my love.'

'Then you will wait for marriage.'

'We want to share love before then.'

'No. You will respect her virtue, and practice another virtue: that of patience.'

'Yes, father,' said Albus. He considered the wisdom of falsifying his father's signature, and wondered if Maeve had succeeded in getting her permission slip for Prophylaxis potion signed.

His father looked at the slip before him, then dipped a quill into the inkwell, and wrote 'Unsigned' at the bottom, adding lines to strike through the rest of the space, leaving no space to forge a signature.

*

Albus sighed, remembering what might have been; Maeve had married someone else, despite her assurances that the permission slip didn't matter to her. After leaving Hogwarts, she had returned to Ireland and married a Muggle she met there.

However, all this reminiscing wasn't getting this year's permission slips checked. The usual pattern for them could be predicted from the pupils' Houses. Gryffindors would brave the confrontation with their parents, and only forge a signature if their parents refused. Hufflepuffs would also face their parents, but not forge a signature; they'd generally accept their parents' decision. Ravenclaws tended to keep bringing the subject up until their parents finally signed to get some peace. Slytherins usually just forged a signature.

Dumbledore took the stack of slips that Professor McGonagall had collected from the Gryffindors and prepared to summarise the results for Madam Pomfrey. Seamus Finnigan and Lavender Brown had forged signatures. Neville Longbottom and Ronald Weasley hadn't returned their slips; all the rest had genuine signatures.

Next, he took the Hufflepuffs' slips. Four hadn't been returned, but there were no forgeries as such; Hannah Abbott, though, had signed her own name and written 'once I'm 16, I can decide for myself without parental permission' at the bottom of the slip. This wasn't the first time he'd seen that approach, but it remained an unusual one; the school preferred parents to have at least the illusion of participating in the decision.

Third was the stack of Ravenclaw slips. Only Lisa Turpin had forged a signature -- and all their slips had been returned.

Lastly, he looked at the Slytherin slips. He noted with amusement that although all had been returned, only Vincent Crabbe, Queenie Greengrass and Pansy Parkinson had real signatures. The quality of the forgeries varied from Draco Malfoy's perfect copy of Lucius Malfoy's signature, to Gregory Goyle's scrawl of 'my dad'.

He noted on the pupil lists which pupils had parental consent and which had given their own assent; Hannah was counted as such, along with all those who had forged signatures. The lists could now be given to Madam Pomfrey for consultation when she was asked for the Prophylaxis or Nonpater potions. Most of the new slips were for fifth-years, but there were a few sixth-years whose birthdays had fallen after the end of term in the previous year, as well as sixth- and seventh-years who simply hadn't returned their slips the previous year.

Dumbledore looked again at a spare slip, and considered the current wording again. Should there be a note that the school simply recognised the inevitability of pupils experimenting, and did not encourage it; that the potions were being given out to minimise the results of such experimentation? The wording was already a lot longer than it had been when he was a pupil. He would have to consult with the Heads of Houses, and perhaps Madam Pomfrey. Setting the slip aside, he decided to defer the decision until the spring term.

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