New Hogwarts

True to Harry's prediction, the first few months of the school year simply flew by, with the three Heirs too busy to do anything but work. It wasn't until the bulk of the children had gone home for the Holidays on the Express, followed by a few more meetings, and a lovely dinner, that the Heirs were able to relax in their quarters for an evening together.

Of course, Hermione's ever-present 'to do' list – now expanded to several dozen sheets tacked to a conjured corkboard on wheels – was still looming in the corner, but the Heirs had chosen to ignore it that evening. Of course, despite his choice to relax, and his excitement over Sirius arriving tomorrow for a real family Christmas, Harry still found himself mentally reviewing everything they had accomplished in the last few months.

The Parent-Teacher Board had been formed, with an eclectic mix of members that promptly infuriated the former board of Governors. As representatives of families with multiple students attending, the Heirs picked Arthur Weasley and Deidre Diggle, the latter of whom had three children and two nieces as current students, with three more on the way between her and her sister. Arthur had been found to be completely ignorant of the plans that his wife, Molly, had hatched with Dumbledore, and he had fully supported the DMLE's case against her. The Heirs had been wary about including someone with such close ties to Dumbledore, but with seven of his own children and more than a dozen nephews and nieces as former, current, or future Hogwarts students, Arthur's input would be invaluable.

Amos Diggory, Sirius Black, and Augusta Longbottom we brought in to represent the neutral, dark, and light old families, respectively. Mary Thomas and Elsabeth Finch-Fletchley represented the parents of muggleborns. Binns and another former teacher, a plump, grandmotherly, ghost named Professor Anna Greenbriar, were the castle's representatives. The living teachers were represented by Vane and Wiggleswade, while the goblin Ogrestone, centaur Swiftlet, Mermaid Kesa, and House Elf Junnie made up the non-human allies. Harry had rigged a pair of mirrors with built in translation spells so that Kesa could attend meetings from the lake.

The heirs hoped to one day have non-human students learning alongside their wizarding counterparts, but that was many, many years away. Still, having non-humans on the teaching staff and Parent-Teacher Board were steps in that direction.

The last member of the board was Professor Krum. She was a former Dumstrang teacher turned IWC tester who had recently retired. She had several grandchildren in Durmstrang, from her family in Romania and her brother's family in Belarus, while other relatives had children in Poland's Giewont Szkola, Germany's Rhinenixie, and Italy's Pompeiinido and Vegoia.

She herself had been one of the IWC testers in Spain and Portugal, covering Duende, Feudo Bruixes, and Moradia Moura. She had come highly recommended by Winthrope, and her diverse connections made her a perfect choice to help with the Hogwarts restructuring.

The board met weekly – a far cry from the semi-yearly meetings of the past – to cover all kinds of concerns with the Heirs. The board members were appointed as ambassadors, as such, and helped to facilitate the new changes, such as meeting with muggleborn families, organizing the parents' weekends, and working with the ministry testers to overhaul the OWL and NEWT exams. They also functioned as a first line of contact for parents with questions and grievances, dealing with them in place of the heirs. It saved Harry, Neville, and Hermione from dozens, if not hundreds, of short meetings with parents like those they had suffered in their first few weeks.

Sirius, Ogrestone, Ms. Thomas, and Mrs. Diggle were also formed into a sub-committee to deal with Dumbledore's tuition shenanigans. Diggle was a muggleborn, married to a half-blood, who had kept in close contact with her muggle relatives. She was excellent at relating the two worlds to each other and explaining things clearly to both sides. As a muggle, and more importantly a manager in a police office, Mary Thomas very good at finding the muggle families who had been unable to afford Hogwarts, while Sirius's own experience with Wizarding injustice made the trio uniquely suited to work with the Goblin on sorting out that mess.

Five families were immediately contacted – those whose children should have been first or second years this year. Arrangements were made, and all seven students were quickly brought to Hogwarts. While the four second years would be behind their peers in the magical subjects, they would be far ahead of them in the new, muggle, classes. The Heirs hoped that the new students could find some friends willing to help them out for a little reciprocity.

Another sub-committee was formed, consisting of Madam Krum, Professor Greenbriar, Elsabeth Finch-Fletchley, and Amos Diggory, which was tasked with dealing with the testing changes. Hermione was more than happy to turn that fight over to them, supplying input from the Heirs and teachers as needed, but able to avoid the stubborn ministry testers.

Harry and Neville were focused on their respective sides of making Hogwarts self-sufficient, and had turned the corner around Halloween. Hogwarts no longer imported anything but drinks, condiments, and a few rarer delicacies for special occasions. The larger upfront cost had been well worth it, as their monthly expenditure almost immediately dropped to practically nothing.

Harry also assisted with the swimming and Mermish lessons, as well as the lakelore club, though Kesa was getting much better at English. He estimated that by the next school year he wouldn't be needed to translate at all. Her enchanted mirror was also used when it was just too cold for the Mermish and Lakelore lessons to be held outside, while the pool inside the sport center was used for the swimming classes.

Kesa had also been teaching several of the other merfolk English just as she taught Mermish to the students, and Harry envisioned lively conversation springing up under the lake very soon. Several students were throwing themselves into the magical language classes, and Harry suspected that they, like himself, had passive magic in that area.

Neville spent a lot of time with his parents, making up for the lost years, but never neglected the school. Soon there was almost as much greenery inside as outside, the various fields and orchards had been warded for the winter, and he had made a map of important plants in the forest that were both handy and close to the castle for the students to pick.

The forest was another of Harry's pet projects, and by Halloween it too had been cleared of anything that could harm the students. Essa had a nice stockpile of acromantula under a stasis charm that Harry had placed; enough to feed her for several years. Teachers were now encouraged to take the students into the forest as classes and clubs progressed.