(no subject)
Title: Between Here and Now and Forever, Chapter 12
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: The Founders, various OCs
Rating: PG
Summary: Salazar has a job for Rowena and Godric. Rowena has a superiority complex (always!), and Godric has a plan.
Chapter 1
Master Founders post
Chapter 11
"Lady Ravenclaw," Salazar said at the next staff meeting, "I am... somewhat concerned about your reasoning for taking in some of these students. It seems that no less than twelve of our new students this year are of Muggle parentage, and seven of these have parents who may cause trouble for the castle, should they choose to do so." He spoke levelly and neutrally, but Rowena couldn't help her irritation. They were bright children; they deserved an education in magic that Muggles were neither willing nor able to provide.
Gritting her teeth, she took a deep breath, and instead, said, "While I can see your concern, especially after the incident with Lord de Malfoie last year, I can assure you that I have asked every single parent beforehand and confirmed that none of our children are simply coming without parental approval." She sighed. "Doesn't that mean they're safe?"
"People are fickle, especially Muggles," said Salazar. "I am not willing to take that risk with the students' lives, or ours. Might I also remind you that this is my castle?"
She winced. "Well, yes, Lord Slytherin, however --"
"And I think we ought to let the others talk, as well," said Salazar patronizingly. Rowena grimaced. He'd just spoken twice, but as soon as she began to defend herself, she'd been asked to give someone else a voice.
"I quite agree with Rowena," said Helga. "Any child with magical skill ought to be able to come here."
Salazar grinned, though Rowena saw nothing funny in this. "Every child with magical skill?"
"Well, perhaps every child in Britain," muttered Helga.
"That is still quite a few children," said Salazar, "and there is no guarantee that they will put their new knowledge to good use."
"It's their choice to do whatever they wish with their knowledge," snapped Rowena. "They can't put it to good use at all if they haven't got it to begin with!"
"Indeed," said Salazar, "but one may still make certain... educated guesses, if you'll pardon the pun."
Rowena felt she was losing ground, quickly. She used her wand to reach over and jab Godric sharply in the ribs. "Godric! What do you think?" she asked, managing to make it sound more like a command than a question.
"Well..." Godric was looking doubtful. "I still think Lord Slytherin's right."
She frowned at him.
"After all," he said, "it's not as though any of us wants to deal with more armies. Particularly not me. Anyway, I don't think that... that Muggleborn wizards are much better off knowing they have magic," he said. "After all, it never did me any good."
Rowena nearly said, Well, that's because you're an idiot, but he wasn't really an idiot. He wasn't incapable of learning, he'd just never bothered to learn anything. Which made him an even worse idiot. Instead, she demanded, "What do you mean?"
"Well..." he started. He appeared to be having trouble putting his thoughts into words. How typical. "Never mind. It's nothing."
She sighed. "Look, it may be your castle," she said to Salazar, "but you can't run the school without good teachers, and Helga and I are good teachers. As is Basil, of course," she added quickly. Neither Basil nor Jasper was here; Basil because it was the day after the full moon, and Jasper because he had a class. "Now, if you want me to take responsibility for anything unpleasant those students might bring upon us, I'll be glad to take it."
"Anything at all?" Salazar asked. "Detentions? Invasions? Pranks, accidents, duels --"
"Anything," said Rowena quickly, knowing she was going to pay for this over and over. She didn't want to take back what she'd said in front of everyone, though -- she had her pride.
"Very well, then," said Salazar pleasantly. "I hereby transfer all responsibility for the Muggleborn students over to you, Lady Ravenclaw. Though I shall certainly continue to teach them Potions. And if the others wish to continue teaching them, they may."
"All of the Muggleborn students?" Helga asked in disbelief. "As well as the purebloods she's got in her common room already?"
"I said I would take them," said Rowena stubbornly.
"You can't take them all," said Helga. "Your tower will... will explode! Or something."
"It depends upon how combustible they are," said Salazar. "Perhaps we should get rid of the less promising students? Or the more combustible ones."
"No!" said Helga and Rowena at once.
"We can't just send them home!" shouted Helga.
"What will their parents think?" Rowena asked.
"What will they think?"
"They'll hate us! They'll send armies!"
"They'll think they've been rejected, that's what they'll think!"
"You wouldn't like that very much, Lord Slytherin, would you?" Rowena asked quietly
"And they'll be right!" Helga said. "But will we have had good reason? No!"
"Perhaps," said Salazar after waiting for them to calm down, "you would like to take some of them in, Mistress Hufflepuff?"
"I certainly would," she snapped, "and moreover --"
Rowena shushed her -- otherwise she might keep ranting forever.
"It appears," said Salazar, "that a total redistribution of the student body is in order. It's a pity Jasper isn't here; he'd enjoy the challenge. But what we need right now," he said, "is a system of organization. Agreed?"
Rowena nodded, having to agree, though she didn't trust Salazar. Helga and Godric nodded as well.
"In which case, I think representing both views is only fair," Salazar continued. "Therefore, I designate responsibility to Lady Ravenclaw and Master Gryffindor."
She caught a look of pure terror from Godric, though whether he was terrified at the prospect of working with her or at whatever Salazar intended to do, she couldn't tell. Helga had opened her mouth to say something, but Rowena said "Very well" and nodded before she had a chance.
"And if that's settled, I think this meeting had best be over, as it's getting late and some of us have classes later on," said Salazar.
Well, that was fast, she thought, wondering how the meeting had managed to spin so utterly out of her control. And now she had to devise some sort of system -- with Godric, who would doubtless prove to be nothing more than a dead weight against progress. She swept out of the room, not bothering to say anything to the others.
* * *
Godric, meanwhile, was petrified. He'd been about to leave, and ask Rowena what they should do, when Lord Slytherin motioned for him to stay in the room.
When Rowena and Helga were gone, Godric finally spoke. "If this is about the dinner, I'm very sorry, I didn't mean any of it and it really wasn't very -- very -- I mean, I shouldn't have said it in front of her. Or you. Even if I did believe it. Which I don't. Not that I'm in the habit of --"
Lord Slytherin motioned for him to be silent. "Actually, I thought about what you said. And I shall certainly take it into consideration when I am Chief of the Wizards' Council."
Godric had nothing to say to this. Well, he did, but he was caught between mindless relief and astonishment at anyone who would be so confident of his ascension to Chiefdom to use "when" and not "if."
"The current problems are, for the most part, a product of poor leadership," Lord Slytherin continued. "I am, of course, attempting to remedy the situation, and at the moment, I must say I pose a considerable threat to Lady Aeaeae's position. However, what is needed at the moment is something that will tip the scales slightly. Not overwhelmingly -- sudden changes frighten people, especially those in power. And while these gradual changes are occurring, stability elsewhere is absolutely necessary, especially in regards to things I am perceived to be in charge of. Do you understand?"
Godric nodded, though he didn't know if he did, exactly. He was trying to work out how this had anything to do with him.
"Good. Now, as you can see, neither of us would like any more armies or other malcontents attacking this castle. Nor would I like to see Lady Ravenclaw attempting to wrest any more control, as doubtless the situation would suffer somewhat..."
He thought this was a bit unfair to Rowena, but had to admit it was probably true, especially where he was concerned. "Yes, it probably would," he said.
"And so you can see why I'm asking you to keep an eye on her while she does this," said Lord Slytherin. "I think she lacks Ophelia's cruelty, but she is her mother's daughter, and I must admit, trusting her entirely when she has gone so openly against my orders so recently is quite outside the realm of possibility. And I would rather this project not be sabotaged."
He wanted to say that Rowena wasn't her mother, wasn't plotting against Lord Slytherin, and, at the very least, wasn't trying to be unreasonable -- but then he considered what Rowena would doubtless have said about him. He would have liked to ask what was in this for him, and why he had to dodge her curses, or perhaps just to say something about the goblin Peeves -- but he considered himself to be fortunate, having escaped Lord Slytherin's wrath in the matter of the Veritaserum Dinner, and pushing the scarce luck he had didn't seem like a good idea. So all he did was nod and say, "Yes, sir. I'll try to keep her out of trouble for you."
* * *
The unfortunate thing about having to work with Godric -- besides, of course, the obvious -- was that Rowena knew she was going to have to do all of the work. There was, however, an advantage in this -- it meant that the work was going to get done right, because even if Godric tried to have a say in it, she'd be able to shut him up.
So when they finally met to discuss the prospect of some sort of student separation method, she was not prepared for Godric to say, "All right, I've got sort of an idea that that might actually work, for once in my life."
"You have an idea?" she asked, surprised. "It must get very lonely, poor thing."
He glared. "Multiple ideas, but they're all connected."
"Bound in chains so they won't run away in despair," agreed Rowena.
"I was thinking --"
"Did it--"
"No!" he snapped, rolling his eyes. "It didn't hurt. You always ask that. Anyway, I was thinking that if we could somehow make something capable of gathering thoughts together, each of us could put some requirements for students together, tell the thing, and have it sort the students into groups like that. It would deal nicely with students who didn't seem to offer much, although Helga's going to kill me when she finds out."
"Godric, that's impossible," she said flatly. "Now, what I was thinking was that we could test the students. The highest-scoring purebloods could go to Lord Slytherin, of course, since he'd rather take them in -- Muggleborns being too dangerous," she said, rolling her eyes. "And you could take the lower-scorers, and Helga and I can divide up the Muggleborns similarly."
"I still like my method better," he said.
"Yes, but it's impossible," she reminded him. "Nobody's ever been able to do something like that. You'd need an insane amount of magical power, and the spells would just be unnecessarily complex. I mean, unless it was a Horcrux, and your blank expression tells me that your naive little mind's never heard of those, poor thing. Anyway, I think that --"
"You're afraid you won't be able to work out how to do the spells, is that it?" he asked, seeming amused.
"I'm not afraid," she snapped. "I'm just -- well, it seems like such a silly thing..."
"You don't think you can do it."
"I don't want to waste my time on it!" she snapped.
"Perhaps you're right," he said dismissively. "Perhaps you can't do it. I've done a bit of preliminary research, however, and I'm willing to pursue it until I --"
"What about the Voluma Animaguum, then?" she asked. "We're getting to be a rather lopsided school, aren't we? The Transfigurator doing impossible things with spells, the Enchanter becoming the first Animagus... next thing we know, Jasper will announce that he's going to become a duelist and Helga will start making potions!"
"You will not be the first," he said, more seriously. "I'll be the first. You will be the second."
"Oh, you'll get to be first in everyone else's eyes," said Rowena, shrugging. "Bad form, topping the Great and Powerful Transfigurator at his own game. But you'll always know that I let you win."
He sighed. "You won't need to let me win. Arguing about it is pointless -- the proof will come when it comes. Now, back to the thought-comparer. I read about a thought-collection device in my researches of something else, and it made me wonder if we could adapt it to our purposes."
"A thought-collection device?" Rowena asked, frowning.
"Yes. There's no proof it actually exists, though," said Godric. "It's all rumors so far. Apparently people are suspicious it might be used for the purposes of mind-control, which was what I was researching at the time."
"Mind-control?" Rowena demanded. "You were looking into methods of mind-control?"
"Well, it's just another kind of Transfiguration, isn't it?" he asked. "You can change something's outward shape or color -- simple. You can change something into something else entirely -- middling. You can change handwriting, language, scent, weather -- it starts to get rather more complex. And if you can change someone's mind -- well, that's the ultimate in difficulty."
She stared. He was actually serious. That's impossible. He can't do that! It's wrong and it's completely impossible and -- The thought was abruptly cut off with an image of a small, sputtering fire, grungy army-tents encircling it, and goblins wandering from tent to tent, jabbering in their own language. She shook her head to rid herself of the image, and then looked up at Godric. "You!" was all she managed.
"Erm, yes," he said. "Sorry about that. You've got to know what the thoughts you're trying to change actually are," he said, "and it's next to impossible to control what they turn into."
"How did you know what I was thinking? Have you got a spell for that, too?"
"Somebody else is developing one, I think," said Godric. "But I just used common sense, really. You don't believe in God or ghosts, and you certainly don't believe in anything I come up with," he said. "Naturally, it's all impossible. That was it, wasn't it?" He looked very smug, especially for Godric. "And now that I've proved that I know what I'm talking about, can we move on?"
"As long as you promise never to mention any of what you just said to Lord Salazar, or my mother, or anyone remotely connected with the Wizards' Council," she said. "Politicians are in the business of changing minds. And they aren't nice about it like you think you are. And that's another thing," she snapped. "Don't you ever, ever do that to me again. Ever. It's worse than Imperius."
He shrugged, as the term 'Imperius' was evidently something he was unfamiliar with. "I won't use it again unless it's necessary," he said.
"Never, Godric. Never. People can convince themselves that a lot of horrible things are necessary," she added. "Even people like you."
"All right, never," he said, rolling his eyes. "Now, moving on, if we could get access to one of these thought-collection things, we could alter it -- give it permanent access to our thoughts on student requirements, and then close that off so it couldn't be accessed or changed by the students. Then have it inspect the students' thoughts -- what they think of as their own best strengths -- and put them in the closest-matching group."
"Yes, but what if what they think and what they are don't match?" she asked.
"It's better than nothing," he said. "At least we'll know what they want to be."
"Well, it might work," she said reluctantly. "If we can get our hands on one of these thought things, and change it enough to make it work for our purposes."
"You work on getting the device," said Godric. "You've got connections and things. I'll show you where I read about it. I'll work on changing it -- it's about all I'm good at -- and if necessary, I suppose we could try building one from scratch."
"All right," she said, still having trouble believing she was taking orders from Godric. Well, they weren't actually orders. Godric didn't give orders -- he just asked nicely. It went against everything her mother had taught her. Then again, considering what her mother was like, that should have been a very good thing indeed.
"Oh, and another thing," said Godric.
"What?" she snapped.
"Er." He wrung his big stupid hands, looking ashamed. "Lord Slytherin thought you might try and sabotage this project," he said. "That's the only reason he's got me working on this. He told me himself."
"I suppose it would have been too much for you to correct his assumptions?" she asked, glaring at him.
"I -- I just thought you ought to know, that's all," he said, cringing. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right," she said bitterly. "I can't say I blame him all that much, really."
"But you won't, will you?" he asked. "I mean, with your idea, you couldn't have, but with mine, you could say 'Let in all of the students that will really piss off Lord Slytherin' and no one would know."
"Well, then, you should've thought of that before you gave me that option," she said.
He nodded. "I had." He sounded almost disappointed.
"It appears that you are not Lord Salazar's most trustworthy assistant," she observed, somewhat amused. Godric was going against authority! Repeating secrets! What a daring thing he'd done. Of course, for Godric, it was, which made it all the more pathetic.
"Lord Slytherin isn't the most trusting man, considering what he's told me. And what he hasn't." He looked uncomfortable. "He probably wanted me to tell you that. But I do trust you. I mean, about this."
Rowena shrugged. It was flattering, but he was stupid to trust her. "Well, thank you for telling me, I suppose. I won't compromise you, much as I'd like to. And look at it this way -- maybe he's doing things behind our backs, but at least he knows how to work around people who don't trust him. Mum just has them killed."
Godric winced. "And that makes them trust her?"
Rowena nodded. "You'd be surprised how trusting they are after mysterious deaths. They'll agree to anything."
Chapter 13
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: The Founders, various OCs
Rating: PG
Summary: Salazar has a job for Rowena and Godric. Rowena has a superiority complex (always!), and Godric has a plan.
Chapter 1
Master Founders post
Chapter 11
"Lady Ravenclaw," Salazar said at the next staff meeting, "I am... somewhat concerned about your reasoning for taking in some of these students. It seems that no less than twelve of our new students this year are of Muggle parentage, and seven of these have parents who may cause trouble for the castle, should they choose to do so." He spoke levelly and neutrally, but Rowena couldn't help her irritation. They were bright children; they deserved an education in magic that Muggles were neither willing nor able to provide.
Gritting her teeth, she took a deep breath, and instead, said, "While I can see your concern, especially after the incident with Lord de Malfoie last year, I can assure you that I have asked every single parent beforehand and confirmed that none of our children are simply coming without parental approval." She sighed. "Doesn't that mean they're safe?"
"People are fickle, especially Muggles," said Salazar. "I am not willing to take that risk with the students' lives, or ours. Might I also remind you that this is my castle?"
She winced. "Well, yes, Lord Slytherin, however --"
"And I think we ought to let the others talk, as well," said Salazar patronizingly. Rowena grimaced. He'd just spoken twice, but as soon as she began to defend herself, she'd been asked to give someone else a voice.
"I quite agree with Rowena," said Helga. "Any child with magical skill ought to be able to come here."
Salazar grinned, though Rowena saw nothing funny in this. "Every child with magical skill?"
"Well, perhaps every child in Britain," muttered Helga.
"That is still quite a few children," said Salazar, "and there is no guarantee that they will put their new knowledge to good use."
"It's their choice to do whatever they wish with their knowledge," snapped Rowena. "They can't put it to good use at all if they haven't got it to begin with!"
"Indeed," said Salazar, "but one may still make certain... educated guesses, if you'll pardon the pun."
Rowena felt she was losing ground, quickly. She used her wand to reach over and jab Godric sharply in the ribs. "Godric! What do you think?" she asked, managing to make it sound more like a command than a question.
"Well..." Godric was looking doubtful. "I still think Lord Slytherin's right."
She frowned at him.
"After all," he said, "it's not as though any of us wants to deal with more armies. Particularly not me. Anyway, I don't think that... that Muggleborn wizards are much better off knowing they have magic," he said. "After all, it never did me any good."
Rowena nearly said, Well, that's because you're an idiot, but he wasn't really an idiot. He wasn't incapable of learning, he'd just never bothered to learn anything. Which made him an even worse idiot. Instead, she demanded, "What do you mean?"
"Well..." he started. He appeared to be having trouble putting his thoughts into words. How typical. "Never mind. It's nothing."
She sighed. "Look, it may be your castle," she said to Salazar, "but you can't run the school without good teachers, and Helga and I are good teachers. As is Basil, of course," she added quickly. Neither Basil nor Jasper was here; Basil because it was the day after the full moon, and Jasper because he had a class. "Now, if you want me to take responsibility for anything unpleasant those students might bring upon us, I'll be glad to take it."
"Anything at all?" Salazar asked. "Detentions? Invasions? Pranks, accidents, duels --"
"Anything," said Rowena quickly, knowing she was going to pay for this over and over. She didn't want to take back what she'd said in front of everyone, though -- she had her pride.
"Very well, then," said Salazar pleasantly. "I hereby transfer all responsibility for the Muggleborn students over to you, Lady Ravenclaw. Though I shall certainly continue to teach them Potions. And if the others wish to continue teaching them, they may."
"All of the Muggleborn students?" Helga asked in disbelief. "As well as the purebloods she's got in her common room already?"
"I said I would take them," said Rowena stubbornly.
"You can't take them all," said Helga. "Your tower will... will explode! Or something."
"It depends upon how combustible they are," said Salazar. "Perhaps we should get rid of the less promising students? Or the more combustible ones."
"No!" said Helga and Rowena at once.
"We can't just send them home!" shouted Helga.
"What will their parents think?" Rowena asked.
"What will they think?"
"They'll hate us! They'll send armies!"
"They'll think they've been rejected, that's what they'll think!"
"You wouldn't like that very much, Lord Slytherin, would you?" Rowena asked quietly
"And they'll be right!" Helga said. "But will we have had good reason? No!"
"Perhaps," said Salazar after waiting for them to calm down, "you would like to take some of them in, Mistress Hufflepuff?"
"I certainly would," she snapped, "and moreover --"
Rowena shushed her -- otherwise she might keep ranting forever.
"It appears," said Salazar, "that a total redistribution of the student body is in order. It's a pity Jasper isn't here; he'd enjoy the challenge. But what we need right now," he said, "is a system of organization. Agreed?"
Rowena nodded, having to agree, though she didn't trust Salazar. Helga and Godric nodded as well.
"In which case, I think representing both views is only fair," Salazar continued. "Therefore, I designate responsibility to Lady Ravenclaw and Master Gryffindor."
She caught a look of pure terror from Godric, though whether he was terrified at the prospect of working with her or at whatever Salazar intended to do, she couldn't tell. Helga had opened her mouth to say something, but Rowena said "Very well" and nodded before she had a chance.
"And if that's settled, I think this meeting had best be over, as it's getting late and some of us have classes later on," said Salazar.
Well, that was fast, she thought, wondering how the meeting had managed to spin so utterly out of her control. And now she had to devise some sort of system -- with Godric, who would doubtless prove to be nothing more than a dead weight against progress. She swept out of the room, not bothering to say anything to the others.
* * *
Godric, meanwhile, was petrified. He'd been about to leave, and ask Rowena what they should do, when Lord Slytherin motioned for him to stay in the room.
When Rowena and Helga were gone, Godric finally spoke. "If this is about the dinner, I'm very sorry, I didn't mean any of it and it really wasn't very -- very -- I mean, I shouldn't have said it in front of her. Or you. Even if I did believe it. Which I don't. Not that I'm in the habit of --"
Lord Slytherin motioned for him to be silent. "Actually, I thought about what you said. And I shall certainly take it into consideration when I am Chief of the Wizards' Council."
Godric had nothing to say to this. Well, he did, but he was caught between mindless relief and astonishment at anyone who would be so confident of his ascension to Chiefdom to use "when" and not "if."
"The current problems are, for the most part, a product of poor leadership," Lord Slytherin continued. "I am, of course, attempting to remedy the situation, and at the moment, I must say I pose a considerable threat to Lady Aeaeae's position. However, what is needed at the moment is something that will tip the scales slightly. Not overwhelmingly -- sudden changes frighten people, especially those in power. And while these gradual changes are occurring, stability elsewhere is absolutely necessary, especially in regards to things I am perceived to be in charge of. Do you understand?"
Godric nodded, though he didn't know if he did, exactly. He was trying to work out how this had anything to do with him.
"Good. Now, as you can see, neither of us would like any more armies or other malcontents attacking this castle. Nor would I like to see Lady Ravenclaw attempting to wrest any more control, as doubtless the situation would suffer somewhat..."
He thought this was a bit unfair to Rowena, but had to admit it was probably true, especially where he was concerned. "Yes, it probably would," he said.
"And so you can see why I'm asking you to keep an eye on her while she does this," said Lord Slytherin. "I think she lacks Ophelia's cruelty, but she is her mother's daughter, and I must admit, trusting her entirely when she has gone so openly against my orders so recently is quite outside the realm of possibility. And I would rather this project not be sabotaged."
He wanted to say that Rowena wasn't her mother, wasn't plotting against Lord Slytherin, and, at the very least, wasn't trying to be unreasonable -- but then he considered what Rowena would doubtless have said about him. He would have liked to ask what was in this for him, and why he had to dodge her curses, or perhaps just to say something about the goblin Peeves -- but he considered himself to be fortunate, having escaped Lord Slytherin's wrath in the matter of the Veritaserum Dinner, and pushing the scarce luck he had didn't seem like a good idea. So all he did was nod and say, "Yes, sir. I'll try to keep her out of trouble for you."
* * *
The unfortunate thing about having to work with Godric -- besides, of course, the obvious -- was that Rowena knew she was going to have to do all of the work. There was, however, an advantage in this -- it meant that the work was going to get done right, because even if Godric tried to have a say in it, she'd be able to shut him up.
So when they finally met to discuss the prospect of some sort of student separation method, she was not prepared for Godric to say, "All right, I've got sort of an idea that that might actually work, for once in my life."
"You have an idea?" she asked, surprised. "It must get very lonely, poor thing."
He glared. "Multiple ideas, but they're all connected."
"Bound in chains so they won't run away in despair," agreed Rowena.
"I was thinking --"
"Did it--"
"No!" he snapped, rolling his eyes. "It didn't hurt. You always ask that. Anyway, I was thinking that if we could somehow make something capable of gathering thoughts together, each of us could put some requirements for students together, tell the thing, and have it sort the students into groups like that. It would deal nicely with students who didn't seem to offer much, although Helga's going to kill me when she finds out."
"Godric, that's impossible," she said flatly. "Now, what I was thinking was that we could test the students. The highest-scoring purebloods could go to Lord Slytherin, of course, since he'd rather take them in -- Muggleborns being too dangerous," she said, rolling her eyes. "And you could take the lower-scorers, and Helga and I can divide up the Muggleborns similarly."
"I still like my method better," he said.
"Yes, but it's impossible," she reminded him. "Nobody's ever been able to do something like that. You'd need an insane amount of magical power, and the spells would just be unnecessarily complex. I mean, unless it was a Horcrux, and your blank expression tells me that your naive little mind's never heard of those, poor thing. Anyway, I think that --"
"You're afraid you won't be able to work out how to do the spells, is that it?" he asked, seeming amused.
"I'm not afraid," she snapped. "I'm just -- well, it seems like such a silly thing..."
"You don't think you can do it."
"I don't want to waste my time on it!" she snapped.
"Perhaps you're right," he said dismissively. "Perhaps you can't do it. I've done a bit of preliminary research, however, and I'm willing to pursue it until I --"
"What about the Voluma Animaguum, then?" she asked. "We're getting to be a rather lopsided school, aren't we? The Transfigurator doing impossible things with spells, the Enchanter becoming the first Animagus... next thing we know, Jasper will announce that he's going to become a duelist and Helga will start making potions!"
"You will not be the first," he said, more seriously. "I'll be the first. You will be the second."
"Oh, you'll get to be first in everyone else's eyes," said Rowena, shrugging. "Bad form, topping the Great and Powerful Transfigurator at his own game. But you'll always know that I let you win."
He sighed. "You won't need to let me win. Arguing about it is pointless -- the proof will come when it comes. Now, back to the thought-comparer. I read about a thought-collection device in my researches of something else, and it made me wonder if we could adapt it to our purposes."
"A thought-collection device?" Rowena asked, frowning.
"Yes. There's no proof it actually exists, though," said Godric. "It's all rumors so far. Apparently people are suspicious it might be used for the purposes of mind-control, which was what I was researching at the time."
"Mind-control?" Rowena demanded. "You were looking into methods of mind-control?"
"Well, it's just another kind of Transfiguration, isn't it?" he asked. "You can change something's outward shape or color -- simple. You can change something into something else entirely -- middling. You can change handwriting, language, scent, weather -- it starts to get rather more complex. And if you can change someone's mind -- well, that's the ultimate in difficulty."
She stared. He was actually serious. That's impossible. He can't do that! It's wrong and it's completely impossible and -- The thought was abruptly cut off with an image of a small, sputtering fire, grungy army-tents encircling it, and goblins wandering from tent to tent, jabbering in their own language. She shook her head to rid herself of the image, and then looked up at Godric. "You!" was all she managed.
"Erm, yes," he said. "Sorry about that. You've got to know what the thoughts you're trying to change actually are," he said, "and it's next to impossible to control what they turn into."
"How did you know what I was thinking? Have you got a spell for that, too?"
"Somebody else is developing one, I think," said Godric. "But I just used common sense, really. You don't believe in God or ghosts, and you certainly don't believe in anything I come up with," he said. "Naturally, it's all impossible. That was it, wasn't it?" He looked very smug, especially for Godric. "And now that I've proved that I know what I'm talking about, can we move on?"
"As long as you promise never to mention any of what you just said to Lord Salazar, or my mother, or anyone remotely connected with the Wizards' Council," she said. "Politicians are in the business of changing minds. And they aren't nice about it like you think you are. And that's another thing," she snapped. "Don't you ever, ever do that to me again. Ever. It's worse than Imperius."
He shrugged, as the term 'Imperius' was evidently something he was unfamiliar with. "I won't use it again unless it's necessary," he said.
"Never, Godric. Never. People can convince themselves that a lot of horrible things are necessary," she added. "Even people like you."
"All right, never," he said, rolling his eyes. "Now, moving on, if we could get access to one of these thought-collection things, we could alter it -- give it permanent access to our thoughts on student requirements, and then close that off so it couldn't be accessed or changed by the students. Then have it inspect the students' thoughts -- what they think of as their own best strengths -- and put them in the closest-matching group."
"Yes, but what if what they think and what they are don't match?" she asked.
"It's better than nothing," he said. "At least we'll know what they want to be."
"Well, it might work," she said reluctantly. "If we can get our hands on one of these thought things, and change it enough to make it work for our purposes."
"You work on getting the device," said Godric. "You've got connections and things. I'll show you where I read about it. I'll work on changing it -- it's about all I'm good at -- and if necessary, I suppose we could try building one from scratch."
"All right," she said, still having trouble believing she was taking orders from Godric. Well, they weren't actually orders. Godric didn't give orders -- he just asked nicely. It went against everything her mother had taught her. Then again, considering what her mother was like, that should have been a very good thing indeed.
"Oh, and another thing," said Godric.
"What?" she snapped.
"Er." He wrung his big stupid hands, looking ashamed. "Lord Slytherin thought you might try and sabotage this project," he said. "That's the only reason he's got me working on this. He told me himself."
"I suppose it would have been too much for you to correct his assumptions?" she asked, glaring at him.
"I -- I just thought you ought to know, that's all," he said, cringing. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right," she said bitterly. "I can't say I blame him all that much, really."
"But you won't, will you?" he asked. "I mean, with your idea, you couldn't have, but with mine, you could say 'Let in all of the students that will really piss off Lord Slytherin' and no one would know."
"Well, then, you should've thought of that before you gave me that option," she said.
He nodded. "I had." He sounded almost disappointed.
"It appears that you are not Lord Salazar's most trustworthy assistant," she observed, somewhat amused. Godric was going against authority! Repeating secrets! What a daring thing he'd done. Of course, for Godric, it was, which made it all the more pathetic.
"Lord Slytherin isn't the most trusting man, considering what he's told me. And what he hasn't." He looked uncomfortable. "He probably wanted me to tell you that. But I do trust you. I mean, about this."
Rowena shrugged. It was flattering, but he was stupid to trust her. "Well, thank you for telling me, I suppose. I won't compromise you, much as I'd like to. And look at it this way -- maybe he's doing things behind our backs, but at least he knows how to work around people who don't trust him. Mum just has them killed."
Godric winced. "And that makes them trust her?"
Rowena nodded. "You'd be surprised how trusting they are after mysterious deaths. They'll agree to anything."
Chapter 13