Xander

Things were chaotic at first when we got back to school, but have calmed down that they know the McGonagall is in charge.

The new Transfiguration teacher is good, not as good as McGonagall, but still good.

We’ve been going over the new Ministry and what is happening there with Mr. Montgomery and we’ve been surprised at how smooth things are going.

The new Minister is really taken hold of things and that you and the others in the alliance have helped loads.

I see that you are using this chaos to further the family goals as well which I’m not sure whether I should be happy your willing to do this at this time or not. Mr. Montgomery told us that now is when everyone will be lining up to further their own powerbase which I think is a little cold myself, but I’m here and your there, so I’ll let you take control and do what you think is best for the family.

I do agree that now is the time to get the non-human bills passed though, and the ones in the offices who oppose it taken out. Mr. Montgomery told us that after the Goblins and others find out that we are serious about it they will give us more than a token job and help.

He also told us that with the new menace that brought about the Dementors we will need all the help we can get.

Hagrid has been going out to see the Centaurs, to get them on board as well, and that he has taken the new head of Centaur relations out with him so that they can tell her what they want.

Susan is hyped that her aunt is now the head of the Wizengamot and we are happy that the minister kept his word and removed himself as head after she was elected.

Now all you have to do is name someone to represent us in the ICW.

Mr. Montgomery told us that they have picked a new head from Switzerland and that they are keeping watch on the whole thing to make sure that the rouges are taken out.

In your last letter, you told me that you are trying to force through a bill that would make it so we take out our own Dementors and place regular guards there instead. That it would be safer than the threat that they would team up with their new brothers and I agree that we need to do that. Last thing we need is for our own Dementors going rouge and teaming up with the new ones, I don’t think that anyone would be safe; and not just here in the UK

Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Woodard have been going over the war with Grindelwald so that we can see where our own Dementors came from.

I’m surprised that someone like Dumbledore didn’t stop them from bringing Grindelwald’s own guards here to the UK to take over the prison.

Thankfully most of them had been destroyed before hand by the other countries or we would definitely be in trouble.

On a more positive note, we won our Quidditch game against Hufflepuff and the team is real happy with the new brooms because of it.

I barely squeaked by getting the snitch from Cedric and I think that the faster broom was all that kept him from winning.

It turns out that we are not the only ones using the new workout room and pool area, a lot of the other houses are using them as well with the team captains feeling that they can get some work done with their teams to keep them in shape despite the weather.

Oliver was the first to do this, but the others have followed behind him not wanting to have our team get the Cup.

However with Slytherin out of the way we only have to go against Ravenclaw now.

Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have their game in March then ours with Ravenclaw in May to find out who gets the cup.

With our new brooms and the work Oliver is giving us I can’t help but believe we won’t get it this year even if I am hurt before the game.

I have been working with Ginny to make sure she can take over in case that happens and she is doing well.

She has the small body for it and has been practicing without her family’s knowledge for a few years now, so we should be good there.

You told me that your read the non personal stuff to the Granger’s so I’ll tell you that Hermione has been working hard as usual. We had a debate over the whole Dementor thing and this time we had For the Dementors being taken out and the girls had the Against.

Even though she agreed with us, we still barely won against her arguments.

I’ve added a copy of the debate for you so you can see what we did and so that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and the Grangers can see as well.

I think that Hermione is going to do a good job working in the government like she wants to.

She is working hard in the class so that she can work for Mr. Weasley for a bit before trying to sit on the Wizengamot board herself; having taken over for Mr. Weasley when he retires.

The new laws allowing Muggleborns to get higher positions in the government if they are qualified really went over well with the students as well.

Ron works with Mr. Woodard a lot over the battles in history and such and is doing great in classes with Hermione’s help.

Thanks to the long talk he had with you and his dad, he is doing his own work now instead of tricking Hermione into doing it for him and is getting a lot of good comments from the teachers because of it.

Neville is also doing a lot better than in the past. It seems the wand he was using was seriously backing him up since he had to fight it and now he not only is doing well in the practicles but with his studying with us, has excelled in the written as well.

Our family alliances are showing up even here with Hermione, Ron, Neville, and I, in the top five with Hermione at the top and Susan in second.

Ron has a serious case of “like” for Susan and it’s getting funny to watch him stammer around her.

The Ravenclaws are working hard to drive Hermione and Susan out of the top spots as well as taking us out so we have to work all that much harder to keep the spots.

The Ravenclaws aren’t taking the fact the they don’t have someone in the top five very well and are being pains about it. If I didn’t know better, I would think that they were the old Slytherins with the way they are acting.

However, unlike Dumbledore, McGonagall won’t put up with the bullying that he did and they keep losing points when they are caught so now they are doing it behind the teachers back.

So far we are in the lead with points for the House Cup and Ravenclaw is demanding that they also get the extra classes with Mr. Montgomery so that they can get extra points. We have all tried to point out that he doesn’t give out points only detentions but they won’t listen, so he is going to talk to you about opening the classes up for other students.

That’s all for now;

Love Harry

Harry;

I have been busy with the investigation into the Dementors and what happened to Dumbledore and have had to go out to the camp again to check things out with the Polish Unspeakables and the representatives from the ICW.

I can tell you that we feel that Dumbledore was fighting against the person or persons who used the power of the place to raise the Dementors, just as Grindelwald did during the war.

I get the feeling that a sacrifice was made to bring in the fresh blood that were needed for this to happen but feel that they used the strong emotions that had already been here for some of that.

The new Dementors have moved onto the camps in Bosnia and that area. So the ICW has been working hard on getting them captured and killed off before things get out of hand.

We have been able to pass the bill to kill off our own Dementors and will be doing so by the time you get this letter.

We have been talking about what to do with the prison. Since the Death Eaters were declared to be terrorists and executed for their crimes, there really aren’t very many people there anymore.

Most of the surviving prisoners have been placed in a secure ward in St. Mungos, so that pretty much empties the place.

I’m all for tearing the place down and sinking the whole island, but cooler heads have prevailed and let me know that that would contaminate the local water to the point that it would kill off all life in the water area and then contaminate the local land areas as well moving into the areas that surround that, so no sinking of the place.

It looks more likely that we will ward the sucker off and then keep watch over it to make sure that no one tries to use it like they did Auschwitz; with the ICW doing most of the work and later guarding.

The ICW has also decided that they need to guard the other concentration camps as well to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

I’m glad you are doing well in classes and hope you keep up the good work.

I have gotten a letter from Mr. Montgomery and have talked to McGonagall about what you told me and we have decided to open the classes up to the rest of the school and have talked to Earl into giving and taking points now, so we will see what happens.

I heard your game on the WWN since they were broadcasting it and feel that you really did a great job. I’m hoping to get to your next game in May and am planning on having you come for the Spring Equinox since we have to have you lay the beginning wards on the castle. It will be a four day weekend for you, but this time it will only be you that will be coming since we are laying down the wards.

After the wards are done I plan on us heading off to London to catch a few plays and movies and such so plan on having fun.

I will talk to you later;

Xander

&&&&&

Xander put down the letter he had just written Harry, and sealed it for Dobby to take later.

The Dementors were gone, at least the ones here in the UK and the ICW was working hard on rounding up the new ones. Problem was the whole Bosnia thing was a bog that even the UN was having problems with and the representatives from the ICW were getting killed just as much as the UN troops

Here in the UK, Madam Bones and the Minister were working on increasing the Auror force as well as the Unspeakables now that the rot was taken out.

Unfortunately, they were having a hard time of it because; between Dumbledore dumbing down the curriculum and Fudge’s own actions, it was hard finding qualified people to take over the open spots.

They had brought in the older retired Aurors and that was helping but they still needed to get new troops in.

To get what troops they could in now, they had to expand the teaching years for the Aurors to three years instead of the two they were used to and that was helping but not enough, so it looked like they were going to be really pushing for the DADA this year and in the years coming. No more going with idiots like Lockhart or Quarrel.

The Minister had even stated that he would bring in one of the retired Aurors or even an active duty Auror to teach if he had too, they NEEDED qualified people if they were going to have a hope of fighting off the new bad guy if he or she came here.

To help they had managed to pass bills that brought in cameras to watch the areas like Diagon and Knockturn much like the Mundane authorities had done in London.

Once the Aurors were up and running they would have full troops to spare for attacks, but until then they were setting up Auror stations in Diagon so that there could be someone in place to monitor it much like police stations in the Mundane world.

With the information they had gathered from the Death eaters, Knockturn had been raided and many of the areas they had done business in such as Borgan and Burkes were taken out.

The other stores and such there were allowed to stay and were flourishing since they didn’t have to put up with the darker element anymore.

Aurors were being placed in the larger police stations to help there and they already had people in Scotland Yard so that was a help as well.

The Mundane Minister had been briefed on what was going on and there was talk of placing a guard with him if the danger showed up on their shores.

Xander had brought up the point that they should be ready to bring out a type of Army force if the Dementors and their maker(s) came to them and they were drawing up the lesson plans that they would need.

Xander was bringing his soldier memories to the fore for this one and there was talk of sending some people to the Mundane military to learn from them so that they could be prepared on that front as well.

The news about Ravenclaw was a bit disturbing and would have to be watched. He put a note down to talk to Flitwick and McGonagall about it.

Xander looked at the clock and realized that it was late and that if he wanted to be ready for the upcoming session of the Board of Governors he had better get to bed.

End Chapter Sixteen.