The Gathering: The New Order of Merlin Book 1

74. Clever prankster

       There was a clever prankster running around Hogwarts. Severus Snape was cursed with a chair-breaking jinx, and Irma Pince had to deal with an animated pot of stew. Both were impressive pieces of magic that none of the staff could undo. Albus tried to hide his reaction when he learned of them, but Minerva knew him too well, he found both amusing. Still, he felt bad for Severus and attempted to remove the curse plaguing him but to no avail. The magic was too formidable even for the great Albus Dumbledore.

So it was a great mystery as to who had created both jinxes. It had been days, they should have worn off by now, and yet they hadn't. Could one of the students really have done it? And so now, all teachers were on high alert, worried that they were going to fall victim to the next prank.

Minerva surveyed the first-year class in front of her. It couldn't have been any of them of course, they were too young. Besides, the worst misbehavior she'd seen from them was showing up in her class barefoot. Well, there was one student who kept committing that particular offense.

Her twins' performance improved tremendously after she had given them proper attention. From then on, she was keeping a close eye on them to not let them fall behind again. The rest of the class was making progress as well. Maybe one more lesson, and she would move on to the next transfiguration.

When she thought about students who were falling behind, her eyes landed on the poor Ealdor boy. He wrote wonderful essays, Miss Granger did a splendid job tutoring him in the transfiguration theory, but he was still terrible at practical execution. Some people simply did not have the talent for it.

Remembering directions from her Headmaster, Minerva pulled young Merlin aside after the lesson.

"Mr. Ealdor, a word, please." She felt very awkward in her request and now forgot how she wanted to phrase it. "I would like to be present during your next... gathering."

"Gathering?"

She cleared her throat. "Gathering of the followers of the Old Religion, if that is not a problem."

He scratched his head. "No, it's not a problem but we didn't schedule any gathering."

"Oh. I was under the impression that you were a leader of sorts."

"I wouldn't call myself their leader, although, I do know more about it so they're expecting me to teach. With everything that has happened, I put those plans aside for the time being. Colin Creevey was one of the children who wanted to learn."

Minerva felt a lump in her throat at the mention of the boy. "Yes, I see how that would change your priorities. How many more students practice Old Religion in this school?"

He smiled weakly. "Not as many as I'd like to see. Jack and Elsa Nix for start, although their mother didn't teach them much about it. Besides them, Colin and Luna Lovegood expressed interest in learning, and I will gladly have them as well. Other than that, I don't know of any other practitioners in this school. It's not like there's a way to tell us apart from a distance."

While he paused, thinking, Minerva tried to unpack the amount of information he threw at her. What was that detail about the twin's mother?

"Maybe there is a way to reach out?" he continued. "But I need to be subtle. I'm not keeping Old Religion a secret, on the contrary, but history has taught me to be cautious. Being publicly branded Pagan usually has negative connotations."

Minerva felt moved by his words. Did she not already form a negative opinion of his faith simply because of its association with paganism?

"You're right, we should have a gathering," he finally said. "I have detention for the next few days so maybe sometime after that. I'll let you know the time and place, professor."

"What have you done to deserve detention, Mr. Ealdor?"

"I got caught when I broke the curfew," he said with a shrug. "It won't happen again."

"Let me remind you that the curfew is there for your protection, Mr. Ealdor. Indeed, it better not happen again. And I mean breaking the curfew, not just getting caught."

"Of course."

"Keep me posted. You may go."

He left her with quite a lot to think about. It didn't escape her notice that he didn't act as arrogant today as she'd seen before. That observation coupled with what she knew about his poor health, and how it appeared that he had been persecuted for his beliefs in the past, softened her attitude towards him. There were a lot of sides to everyone's character. She may have misjudged his.