'Professor Watson wanted to join Hermione's hopelessly silly little organisation?'
Harry and Ron exchanged baffled looks across the table, looking utterly lost..
Surely Professor Watson wasn't after Hermione's modest little pile of Galleons. After an entire summer spent at Grimmauld Place, they all knew perfectly well that the workshop Remus ran on Bryan's behalf practically printed money on its own.
Aside from the old commercial titans like the Malfoy family, with their centuries of accumulated wealth and their extensive entangled holdings across half of wizarding Britain, there was hardly anyone in the magical world who could rival Professor Watson's personal fortune.
The idea that he might be motivated by Hermione's thousand Galleons was, on its face, absurd.
Hermione, too, had gone rigid with shock, though for an entirely different reason.
The truth was, her organisation had been inspired, in its earliest form, by something that had happened between herself and Professor Watson.
But—
'Wait. That wasn't right.'
Hermione blinked, the pieces of the conversation began rearranging themselves rapidly in her mind as she finally caught up to what was actually being said.
"The Society for the Welfare of Sentient Magical Beings?" she asked, her voice faltering slightly over the unfamiliar phrasing.
"That's right—" Bryan nodded, visibly pleased by how quickly she had caught the distinction.
"Not just house-elves, Hermione. Sentient magical beings. All of them." He set his glass down with a small click. "Don't you think house-elves aren't the only ones treated unjustly in our world?"
'Well—that much was certainly true.' Hermione bit her lip, turning the thought over.
But fighting for fair treatment of every sentient magical beings like goblins, and centaurs, and the dozens of other beings she'd read about, each with their own grievances and their own centuries of complicated history.... wasn't that a bit beyond what she could manage?
"Here's the actual situation—" Bryan finally stopped being coy. "Next school year, Hogwarts is going to see some changes. First, you'll be getting an additional course."
He held up a hand at the alarm beginning to spread across several faces. "Don't worry—it will function rather like Physical Education. This new class won't count toward your O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s, not yet. It's only a trial run, nothing more, for now."
'A new course?'
Harry forgot all about Hermione's absurd organization and asked with interest, "Will you be teaching it, Professor Watson? What will it cover?"
"Ah, this particular course will be handled by specially appointed professionals, Harry—" Bryan said it with a smile.
"As for exactly what it will teach, allow me to keep that under wraps a little longer. But I do hope all of you will take it seriously when the time comes, because mastering it, I believe, will be of tremendous and lasting benefit to your own strength."
Harry's interest sharpened further at that. Professor Watson never spoke simply to fill space. If he was saying this much about a class, he wouldn't even name, the class had to be genuinely significant.
Beside Harry, Ron had an expression of grim determination. Giving up P.E. was probably the regret of his life; thankfully, with Harry and Hermione's support, he'd still managed to pick up some real skills. Whatever happened, he wasn't about to let this new chance slip through his fingers!
As for Hermione, naturally, she had already resolved, somewhere in the back of her mind, to excel in this mysterious new class above every other subject she was taking.
But that resolution didn't quiet the question still sitting at the front of her attention. She gazed at Professor Watson, waiting. He still hadn't actually explained why he wanted to join her organisation. Or rename it, while he was apparently already restructuring it without having asked her either.
"There's something else." Bryan continued, moving forward. "Much like Beauxbatons and Durmstrang visited Hogwarts in years past, next year Hogwarts will be hosting an exchange delegation from another magical institution."
"An exchange delegation?" Hermione blurted, startled into interrupting.
"From another magic school—oh!"
A thought struck her with. She clapped a hand over her own mouth, staring at Bryan with an expression of stunned disbelief.
"Ah, you've worked it out again—" Bryan chuckled, genuinely delighted by the speed of her deduction.
"The exchange delegation will be quite the variety—not simply wizards from some other school of magic, the way Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were. So far, confirmed participants include goblins, centaurs, giants, werewolves, and vampires. And, of course, there will be house-elves as well.
Honestly, not many elves were willing to participate of their own accord. So far I've only managed to 'persuade' Kreacher and Freodom to take part. Though there's a little elf named Dobby who got quite interested entirely on his own initiative and signed himself up—"
Harry's mouth fell open, and he had no idea what expression to make in the face of this earth-shattering news.
'Was this an exchange delegation, or was this a mass invasion of Hogwarts by Dark creatures???'
How had Professor Watson talked Professor Dumbledore and the rest of the Hogwarts staff into agreeing to any of this?
Hermione, beside him, had been stunned into a silence of her own.
Goblins. Giants. Werewolves. Vampires. Centaurs.
Wait.
These were the sentient beings she was apparently now supposed to organise a welfare society around?
"Of course, you understand that these beings know essentially nothing about wizard magic in any formal sense…." Bryan continued and explained,
"…. Just as we know little of the magic passed down through their own respective races. Add to that the considerable inter-species tension that exists between several of these groups and you can see why they're not exactly well suited to simply sitting together in a single professor's classroom.
So, I thought it best to organise things as a club instead where everyone can learn from one another at their own pace, in their own way and to find one outstanding, willing student to act as liaison.
Someone to look after their lives here at Hogwarts, smooth over the inevitable friction, make sure the arrangement actually functions rather than simply existing on paper."
He looked directly at Hermione. "Mm. You'd be willing, wouldn't you, Hermione?"
"I—"
Hermione blinked, genuinely confused now in a way that had moved past mere surprise.
This didn't seem to be remotely the same undertaking as her original house-elf welfare organisation not in scale, not in scope, not in the sheer diplomatic complexity of what was apparently being proposed.
"Why are you organising this exchange delegation in the first place, Professor Watson?"
Harry shot Hermione a sympathetic glance—she clearly needed a moment to process and then, after a brief consideration, decided to speak up on his friend's behalf while she gathered herself.
"As far as I know, most of these beings aren't exactly friendly toward wizards. Some of them have good reason not to be."
"Ah, you're quite right, Harry—"
Bryan went on, still smiling.
"Throughout the long history of magic, wizards and sentient magical beings have spent most of that history at odds with one another in one form or another—it is a state of affairs that has persisted for thousands of years. If we don't actively seek to change that pattern, the tension will only go on and on."
Bryan paused for a moment before continuing. "We need to understand one another better. That matters enormously for wizards too—far more, even, than the war we currently need to win against Voldemort!"
"How could that be?" Harry exclaimed in shock.
"Ah, perhaps you haven't realised this yet—" Bryan said, turning his wine glass slowly in his fingers, his breath dropping a little, his tone turned slow.
"The modern magical world has developed to a point where the magic we use day to day has almost entirely stopped innovating. This is something the academic community broadly agrees on.
The great spells, the foundational theories, the core architecture of how magic works—most of it was discovered centuries ago and has simply been refined, taught, and repeated ever since.
If this continues and wizardkind keeps walking the same well-worn paths without finding new ones, the decline of magic itself, as a living, growing tradition, is practically right around the corner. We need to find a way to change course before that decline becomes irreversible."
The sight of the young wizards listening so earnestly warmed Bryan's heart.
"You all know that the magic these sentient beings carry within their own respective races is equally remarkable, in its own distinct fashion.
Goblin metalcraft involves magical principles that wizards have never properly studied because we've simply never bothered to ask. Centaur divination operates on a logic entirely separate from anything in our own prophecy traditions. Giant magic, what little of it has ever been documented, follows rules that don't map cleanly onto anything in our spellbooks at all."
He spread one hand slightly in an open gesture.
"Hogwarts, as the educational heart of British wizarding society, could see its own students draw inspiration from contact with these races and their traditions—make connections no one's made before, have insights that wouldn't otherwise occur to anyone.
Who knows? Perhaps an entirely new system of magic might be born in the hands of one of you, sitting right here at this table, simply because you were curious enough to ask the right question of the right person."
'A whole new system of magic.'
Ron looked suitably awed by the scale of the idea, though it was fairly clear from his expression that he hadn't followed the majority of the actual argument.
Harry glanced at Hermione. From the bright, shining look over her brown eyes, it was already clear that she had been completely won over.
"Of course, practical difficulties remain." Bryan's tone returned to something more grounded.
"Given the long and complicated history between our various peoples, the first contact between Hogwarts students and this delegation may not go altogether smoothly.
I need someone open-minded, someone patient, and someone idealistic enough to care about getting this right rather than simply getting it done, to help build that bridge between us. Do you understand what I'm asking, Hermione?"
Bryan looked at her directly.
"The persistence and kindness you've already shown in fighting for house-elves' rightful rights makes me believe you are genuinely the best person for this task.."
Colour rose in Hermione's cheeks, spreading warm across her face. Her breath quickened, and a swelling, unmistakable sense of purpose filled her chest.
Help breathe life back into a stagnating magical academia. Help magic itself grow and evolve, before it could decline.
What a magnificent cause. What an extraordinary, almost unbelievable opportunity to be handed.
"I—I accept, Professor Watson!" Hermione's lips trembled as she said it.
"Ah, wonderful—simply wonderful!"
Bryan laughed, looking genuinely pleased.
"We'll go over the full details once term starts properly. There will be some day-to-day responsibilities involved—for instance, when you're teaching basic magical concepts to members of the delegation, they'll be issued wands temporarily for the duration of the lesson, and once it concludes, you will be the one responsible for collecting and holding onto those wands."
He continued, ticking through the list.
"Or, say, whenever any of them share their own unique magical traditions with Hogwarts students—you'll need to record what's shared and pass it along to me for proper compilation. And, naturally, you'll need to ensure there's no conflict between the delegation and the student body. That none of them are bullied, or mistreated and so on."
As he spoke, Bryan's fingers had begun working at something in his robe pocket.
"Hogwarts will be establishing a scholarship next year, Hermione. Your contributions in this particular area will be carefully recorded and weighed heavily in the selection process when the time comes. Oh, and there's also this—"
A badge glittered suddenly in the afternoon sunlight slanting through the Leaky Cauldron's window.
Ron let out a startled, involuntary cry. "A Prefect's badge!"
"That's right—" Bryan produced not one but two Prefect badges from his pocket, setting the first down on the table directly in front of Hermione.
Hermione stared at it. Then up at Bryan. Then back down at the badge, she was nearly delirious with joy.
But when Bryan set the second Prefect badge down in front of Ron, all three young wizards, Ron very much included, froze stiff at the table once more!
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