February 17, 2009
6:20pm

Two owls exchanged and Knox had effectively invited himself to Tulojow Nagde's hut for dinner.  He Apparated into Hogsmeade and by then it was already quite dark, so he walked up the road to Hogwarts with wand lit.   He hadn't been by this way since the attack in October, and he'd not be ashamed at all to admit he wasn't as jumpy as a hare the entire way.  His head turned to every noise, and he even spun around a few times to make certain he wasn't being followed, even jogging for a spell until he realized how irrational the whole thing was.  It wasn't a full moon, after all.  No one was out to get him.  But place would always have a way of haunting him.

Tulojow's hut was a beacon of warmth on a cold wet evening.  It was lit up and smelled like a hearth fire.

He announced his arrival with a booming voice as he approached the house, "Little bird, are you in?"   After a silent walk up from Hogsmeade, his own voice comforted him by making him feel he was the biggest, boldest creature around.  And despite the verge of panic that had journeyed with him up the path, his voice didn't waver and he was reassured in himself.

There was a paper-wrapped package under his arm - more of that falafel that he kept making.  It was easy and warm, warm, warm.  He hoped she cared for falafel. 

From a professional standpoint, the hospital hut was quiet and peaceful.  After a couple of weeks of nearly constant activity that involved Healers and school governors and Aurors and students, all the hospital and treatment beds were empty.  But, the building hardly felt sterile or dead.  Healthy fires were crackling in both the living room and kitchen and music drifted from the phonograph in the corner with Tulojow's own voice joining in on the harmonies. 

A warm, hearty pea soup simmered over the fire in the kitchen and some homemade blackberry wine had already found its way into Tulojow's glass.  Though, in all technicalities, Knox had invited himself it had taken no more than a quick exchange for Tulojow to extend the invitation. 

"It's open," she voiced in return, from her seat by the fire.  The statement was meant more as an invitation as an offering of information.  It was usually a given that the door was open.  With her knee just starting to recover from the long couple of weeks, he'd probably let himself in before she'd even managed to get to her feet.  "Come in, come in.  Or, one can only guess what rumors might start spreading." 

"How are you doing?" she offered Knox with a warm embrace.  "You're looking good but cold.  Would you like some wine?  Tea?"

Knox's big frame only added more warmth to the small, cozy spaces.  He shrugged off his heavy over coat and then his over-robes as well, leaving him in just his shirt and vest.  He rubbed his hands together vigorously and then ran them over his hair to wipe off any of the cold moisture that accumulated in his thick black hair.  He was just waiting for a comment about his appearance - it had been long enough since he'd seen Tulojow that she might notice what everyone else had.  His longer, thicker beard was no trick of the eye.  His sideburns and brows seemed to have grown out in kind.  Were his ivory-white teeth just a bit sharper? No, just a trick of the imagination, surely.

Whether she said something or not, he wasn't bothered.  If he was honest, he was almost comforted by the outward change in appearance which seemed to justify the change that was going on inside him. 

He returned her embrace, ever marveling at how strong the old witch's frame was. 

"Tea first, wine later!" He was enthusiastic in accepting the offer.  "You look well, considering.  Not that I doubt your hardiness," he was quick to add.

"Just quite a bit more excitement than we're used to having here.  But then I suppose that could be said of just about everything that's gone on since... since, well, since I left!"  By the time he was finished with his morbid observation, he'd begun laughing, having not made that connection until the words were leaving his mouth.  The Remembering Day massacre, the Infirmary fire, the problem at the Halloween party, Ava Grosvenor!  He was both thankful and rueful that he hadn't had to preside over all that.

He set the falafel down on the table and took up a seat in the largest chair.

There was no comment about Knox' appearance and there would likely be no comments.  Tulojow had a very specific perspective on lycanthropy; one not shared by many of her colleagues.  She was a healer and she approached the condition ... yes, medical condition ... from a healer's perspective.  It was a communicable disease, much like any other in the wizarding or muggle worlds.  If it were up to here, witches and wizards with lycanthropy would be handled exclusively by St. Mungo's and the same disability protections that muggle governments provided those with incurable and progressive diseases would be extended to those who were infected with lycanthropy.  That change of mindset would go a long way to improving the treatment of those individuals. 

And, unless there was a medical reason to do so, one didn't comment on the gaunt appearance or hair loss of a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy.  There was no need to comment on the symptomatic changes after infection unless the changes had medical significance. 

"Setting a good example," Tulojow responded with a soft chuckle as she poured some fresh tea from a kettle on the hearth.  Despite the good example, she'd continue with her wine.  "Considering things have gone from crazy to chaotic?  Well, to be honest, the part of me that misses being in the field enjoyed the little bit of excitement.  Of course, it wasn't worth the cost but it was a nice reminder of how things once were." 

She was sure it was more excitement than the school was used to having but it was much more on par with the forty some odd years before she came to Hogwarts.  "It has been an interesting and unsettling year.  I don't quite know what to make of it.  I haven't been here that long myself and, with all the new faces around, even I feel like an old timer." 

"How have you been?" 

Knox stirred his tea a few times to give it a quick cool down before he took a sip.  It was just what these cold Scotland nights needed to warm him through and through starting from the tummy out.  He kept the teacup in his hands.

Knox could never forget that before her very pastoral life up here treating bloody noses and Skivving Sickness, old Tulojow had been an Auror.  And Knox had been seeing more of those now than he'd ever had.  He had frequent occasion to speak with them about criminal cases pending in the Wizengamot, to read their reports and see them around the Ministry of Magic.  What they did was a controlled chaos down over at the Corps HQ but the job seemed to attract people who hungered for that 'excitement'. 

Tulojow sounded like she was in a constant state of restraining herself and Knox wondered to himself what drew her to this quiet cottage in the first place.

When asked about how he was, a million notions bottlenecked at his tongue hoping to get out first.  There was just so much!  His work in the Wizengamot was stressful but exciting.  Devlin was being horrible - his predicament was worse.  Being a werewolf was a giant pain in his ass.  Ava's death had been incredibly painful.  And he'd heard rumors that Sasha Schlagenwiet had left Hogwarts at the School Governors' request.  But the new Slither Girls was out as well, and he just hoped he could get a copy before some other Wizengamot Elder spoiled the ending for him.

"Well, there are four of them now," he said, inadvertently cryptically.  His thoughts had moved a little quicker than his mouth, so he had to backpedal to explain.  "Four very bright students are out of school.  And only one of them by Madam Snark's hand, so I can't lay all the blame on her - just Olivia," he said with a dark undertone.  "Devlin's case is serious and I'm not sure how we'll fare there.  Who knows what's going to become of Darcy.  And Sasha - well that kid just can't seem to catch a break."  He was speaking very quickly, and a level of frustration was fueling his little rant to the only person he felt who would understand his worries.

"They just deserve more," he said emphatically and sat away from the table back into his chair back.  He shrugged his shoulders.  "They're bright, Tulo.  Brilliant students.   Disturbing trend to see them leaving school in droves."  It was hyperbole but that's what it felt like.  All four of them in the span of a year.

"Four?" 

That vague statement could have referred to just about anything.  There could have now been four werewolves.  Unlikely, since it seems that word would have spread.  Or, now there were four sons?  Except, he didn't seem nearly panicked enough for that. Given his state on the previous occasion when there'd only been one son in question. 

"Yes.  That's true," Tulojow said quietly, shaking her head.  The elaboration was a somber one though it made sense and offered an explanation as to what drew Knox back to the school.  To her cabin, at least.  "Well, not all the blame."  While the Headmistress certainly didn't hold all the responsibility, she was the captain of the ship.  She established an environment of intolerance from the first day when she expelled Olivia and showed a willingness to punish those that disagreed with her.  Intolerant environments only fostered profound apathy, more intolerance or rebellion. 

Tulojow had seen it over and over again.  On Bloody Sunday, on Alcatraz, in Tiananmen Square and in South Africa.  The climate of the day fostered those acts of violence and rebellion and the responding violence to control the dissonance; the climate of the day is largely dictated by those in authority.  People had free will, of course.  Darcy chose to set the fiendfyre in the old hospital wing.  Devlin chose his own actions.  However, Snark fostered an environment in the school that gave those choices a breeding ground.  Her level of culpability was, in Tulojow's eyes, quite open to debate.  And, of course, there's no question by reassessing her own leadership techniques, Snark could have done quite a bit to have prevented it.  After all, in all of Knox' time as Headmaster, how many students had been dismissed?  If the ship sank, it was usually the Captain who took responsibility.  Whether or not the actual fault was his.  Such was the not-always-welcome charge of being the leader. 

"It is sad.  I offered to try to get Olivia in my own alma mater but that is a bit of a distance.  They would have welcomed her, though.  Darcy made a foolish, grave mistake.  And, just as with Devlin," an understandably sensitive subject.  And, Tulojow had been out of the Ministry circuit enough that she didn't know the exact details behind the situation, either.  "Sometimes, it seems, we over react to stupid mistakes and create bigger problems with the punishments we issue.  I saw it over and over again.  We arrest some kid just out of Hogwarts for, in their ignorance, thinking the Death Eaters would give them whatever they hoped for.  We lock them up and, by the time they come out of Azkaban, we've fostered the criminal we thought we sent in there." 

She shook her head and sipped her wine.  "Assuming nothing unexpected comes out of all the legal formalities, Sasha's the least of my concerns amongst that group.  He's got options and the means to pursue them.  Sounds like he could even transfer to Dreogan Eleor's alma mater once everything's straightened out.  He may even have more of a support network now than he had before."  A strange irony. 

"But, they all do deserve more.  With the underage wizardry laws, though, there's only so much they can do on their own, though.  They could figure out the academics.  Beyond that, they'd be breaking laws to pursue their education.  That's the stupidity."

Tulojow had an excellent point.  The system just wasn't quite built for strange cases.  But historically, most of the young magicals who didn't attend, did so by choice - and most opted out of school by the time they were 17 and were free to practice magic.  The time until Darcy, Olivia, and Sasha were 17 was going to put a severe dent in their progress. 

"The system just doesn't seem to have room for them, these strange little creatures," he agreed dourly, and sipped his tea.

"Sasha is the best off - agreed.  As far as I can tell, his removal wasn't permenant and the lad's so driven.  By the beard, he'll end up best in his year despite all this, I reckon."  His eyebrows raised in marvel at the unusually adept muggleborn Ravenclaw.  It was rare that Greyfriar had ever seen his equal.

"Devlin's a much worse case I think.  Perhaps as brilliant as Sasha, but torn apart with turmoil.  Doesn't seem to have the single-minded focus as Sasha's got.  Nor the resources."

Knox would pay for a tutor for Devlin if the unruly boy would accept it.  Knox would tutor Devlin himself if he had any suspiscion a history lesson wouldn't end in patricide. Or infanticide for that matter.

"Red Rocks is lovely this time of year but I should hardly think they should have to uproot so drastically for a basic magical education.  The Founders must be rolling."

He'd rambled on, as he was wont to do, but he'd not had an opportunity to really process all his thinking on the subject of his former students and their plight.  Tulo was an excellent, and trusted sounding board.  She'd also interrupt if she felt like it.

"Systems rarely do," Tulojow pointed out as she sipped her wine.  Systems implied a cohesive working structure - a connection of cooperative element.  Strange cases, by their very nature, wouldn't have room in a system.  "Such are the drawbacks to the comforts of status quo." 

"We'll see.  As I understand the school will offer Sasha a chance to return.  Only time will tell whether he'll take it.  I have complete faith he'll do fine academically.  Socially, mentally - I'm concerned that's a different story.  He's lost a lot and he still puts trust in that Kronos fellow."  And, unfortunately, it became clear the week he'd stayed in the Hospital Hut that boy had a tendency to internalize things and was very reluctant to open up to people.  All things considered, passing OWLs was the least of the boy's concerns. 

Slowly, Tulojow shook her head.  Lacking single-minded focus was putting it mildly.  Perhaps Knox was starting to show a little paternal behavior by trying to look at it optimistically.  "He's going to end up in Azkaban," Tulojow said, bluntly and unapologetically.  "If he keeps going as he has been.  He doesn't need school, ... well, he does.  But, until he decides the path he's leading isn't for him, all the schooling in the world's not going to make a difference." 

Tulojow chuckled at the man's failing memory and shook her head, grinning good naturedly.  "I'm sure Red Rocks is quite lovely.  Certainly less rainy than my own alma mater."  She wasn't offended; few witches and wizards outside of the Northwest even knew of the place.  They didn't have much of a qudditch team; their crew team competed more against other muggle schools than their quidditch team competed against magical academies.  "I don't know if Red Rock would take Olivia, though.  I don't know how much of the local skinwalker mythology filters into the school."  If enough of the local Navajo tradition filtered into the school, chances were slim they'd accept someone with lycanthropy.

"As I recall, the British Ministry of Magic allows for homeschooling.  What do those youngsters do?  Do they sit the OWLs and NEWTs?"

Knox's blood pressure surged when Tulojow laid the word Azkaban out on the table, like she was laying down The Sun Moon Inquisition Gambit in a round of Wizard's Poker.  It sat there and stared him in the face, a bit fat truth just looking up at him with that toe-tapping, what-did-you-expect look.  He knew it was true and it was heart-breaking.  Kid as young as Devlin stopped up short, ruined by prison. He finished his tea abruptly and slid away the cup and saucer, through the imagined physicality of Azkaban at the center of the table.  It swirled away in a puff of red-gray smoke.

"Accio glass - no, bigger than that."  The smaller cup did a u-turn only to be replaced by a much larger one, which sped to Knox's hand just in time to catch some wine. 

As he was pouring he looked up, eyebrows nearly to his hairline.  "You didn't go to -? Bollocks, Tulo, mea culpa," he apologized swiftly, not expecting a response from the other witch who probably wasn't at all fluffed.  Who could keep track of all these new-fangled founded-in-the-last-200-years schools popping up everywhere?  Northwest - yes, that was the one. 

He drank some of the warm wine and let its tanons do their thing, while sitting in relative silence listening to Tulojow do her own processing.  She hadn't been here long, but she must be getting as attached to all the students as others before her had.

When she brought up schooling system requirements, he shook his great head a little.  "It's all a bit murky, that home-schooling business.  I think it requires certain appeals, but I don't know that the process is forbidding.   I'm certain it happens without their knowledge, but I can imagine they entertain themselves with some modicum of imaginary authority.  Teaching magic in the home's as old as wands.  But the Governors do allow non-traditional testing.  You've seen the fluff stories in the Daily Prophet about old witches sitting their N.E.W.T.s after seventy years because they had to leave Hogwarts early for some reason or another.  So N.E.W.T.s certainly, but I'm not sure how the Examination Authority treats O.W.L.s which no one outside of Hogwarts pays any attention to."

That middle-year examination always seemed more of an internal measure or checkpoint than the hefty job-qualifier as the N.E.W.T.s, but Hogwarts still had no control over it.

"Those tests aren't childs' play," he observed.  "I don't know that home-schooled students have any stunning success, what without all the disciplines Hogwarts offers."  He had a hard time imagining your run-of-the-mill stay-at-home witch having a great deal of knowledge about the Seven Shield Spells or the Goblin Rebellions.

Beating around the bush usually wasn't beneficial to anyone.  It wasn't necessary to be brutal with the truth but it was important to not muddle or confuse it with attempts to dull the edge.  Knox was an adult - and a wise one at that.  She had no doubts he could handle the truth of what was really at stake here but he did need to accept it as a distinct possibility.  Only when one accepted the identity of their foe could they be best prepared to face them.  If one kept convincing themselves it was simply an annoyed monitor lizard, and not a full-grown basilisk, awaiting them around the corner, they were going to end up being lunch.

And, with the summoning of a wineglass, it became apparent the former Headmaster had accepted the unfortunate possibility of Azkaban at its full value. 

Tulojow chuckled and shook her head unconcernedly as she sipped her own wine.  "NWA isn't even widely known in North America.  It's pretty dinky.  But, there weren't many schools accepting those like me back then."  The wizarding world in North America was, in many ways, just as behind as the wizarding world in Britain.  Things had improved in the last twenty years but the age old tendency to cling to very narrow definitions of magic were slow to fade. 

"O.W.Ls are purely internal, aren't they?"  Tulojow set her glass down on the coffee table and tugged her carved pipe from an inside pocket.  "They are used to rule out which students should or shouldn't continue with a specific class as I understand.  So, they'd only really be necessary in the event a student returned to Hogwarts.  So, if there's any chance they'd return they should sit those exams somehow."  There were many factors at play in each of these cases; whether any of them would be able to or would choose to return they'd just have to wait and see.  However, if the opportunity did arise, it shouldn't be the absence of an examination that prevents them from doing so.  "Would the Examination Board administer O.W.Ls to students outside of Hogwarts?  Or allow them just to sit the examinations?" 

As Tulojow made to partake of her long-stemmed pipe, Knox got more comfortable in his chair, shifting a little.  The warmth from the wine had calmed somewhat the Azkaban agitation, and now that they were on the topic of academics (among his favorite things) he seemed more at ease.  Sure, the implications of all this for those poor young students was still looming, but he just felt like he was doing something when he really couldn't do anything.

It was a sort of ironic predicament.  He'd felt many times before that a position with the Wizengamot would give him a venue to participate in real change, and help others.  But being away from Hogwarts, he felt completely unhelpful.  Ineffective somehow.

But he still knew a thing or two about the Examination Authority and he'd gladly share it with Tulojow.

"I'm sure they have some provision for it, forgive me if I can't be more specific than that.  I do recall that I had a Gryffindor come down with dragon pox of all things one year..." he said, "Yes... that must have been '02 - Andrew Thornton.  Sat his O.W.L.s. sometime during the summer.  I'm not sure where - it wasn't at Hogwarts.  Perhaps at the Governor's administrative offices in Edinburgh, or home-proctored.  It was a pain in the ass for the Thorntons, but Andrew got his scores."

He sipped his wine, now visibly cheered.  "Why? You're thinking of our misfit crew?"

"And, how did he prepare for the exams?"  Tulojow asked around the mouthpiece of her pipe before getting settled more comfortably in her her own chair.  She nodded to confirm it was, indeed, their crew of misfits she was thinking of. 

"The written exams seem straightforward enough.  If they've got the discipline, they can pursue those independently.  I presume, though, they will be required to demonstrate their practical abilities with magic.  The system isn't really set up to allow for independent study in that area." 

There was no question there were practical reasons for the decree against underaged sorcery.  But, at the same time, the decree also served to clearly define from where one could obtain a magical education.  In short, Britain had all its magical education eggs in one basket - which was all well and good until someone was denied access to that basket. 

"I guess the question comes down to what's important about going to Hogwarts.  What are they, ultimately, missing?  There's the social aspect, of course.  Kids their age shouldn't be isolated.  Especially Olivia - the more she's isolated, the more harder it'll be for her to reintegrate with her peers later."  The same, of course, could be said for those isolated for disciplinary reasons.  But, the corrective measures would pass; unless a cure was found, Olivia's status as a lycan-affected witch would not. 

"They also need to be able to get decent jobs and, ideally, equal access to the same jobs as anyone coming out of Hogwarts.  They need to be able to use magic safely and defend themselves.  Can those goals be obtained without Hogwarts?"

Knox found himself just staring at Tulojow Nagde, as if he'd never seen her before.  True enough, he'd known her for many years, but her status as an outsider had never before been more apparent.  What in the world was she on about?  The kids needed some help, he agreed.  But he hadn't come calling to initiate some violent overthrow of the British Wizarding way of life. 

He put his glass down firmly as she took up her pipe.  He didn't like where all this was headed.  "I don't recall that Hogwarts is primarily about job preparation.   And wizards and witches have been teaching their children magic long before and long after any Statutes of Secrecy," he said gruffly.  "This is Britain.  Our systems don't stand in the way of anyone but those who can't take a step to the left or the right."

He got up from his chair and made a great show of stretching out his back.  If he sounded defensive of Hogwarts, he certainly was.  "Hogwarts and the Ministry don't stop anyone from doing anything," he said.  "Witches and wizards get in each others' way.   If there's a problem, we don't solve it by dismantling or revolutionizing - we solve it with teamwork.   I hope you don't mean to start a crusade, Tulojow: you're not going to find much support on that from me."

Tulojow watched Knox with unconcealed curiosity and a little confusion as the man pushed himself hastily to his feet.  She wasn't sure, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she missed something in the process of the conversation.  She wasn't aware she'd made any recommendations to start any crusades.  It was rare Tulojow was shy about changing the status quo but it was also rare that Tulojow beat around the bush when she recommended such changes. 

But, Tulojow hadn't come to any decisions.  She'd been merely trying to identify what the real challenge was.  One couldn't identify the solution if they hadn't labeled the real problem.  And, despite his sudden shift to defensiveness, Knox seemed to believe there was a problem.  Wasn't that why he was here expressing some concern about Devlin and the others?

"Then why worry?"  Tulojow asked, deciding for now playing devil's advocate was the best approach to take.  "If not attending Hogwarts won't hold them back and the system or societal expectations based on that system won't put them at a disadvantage, what's your cause for concern?" 

She peered up at Knox, considering him for a moment before adding:  "and, for the record, I wasn't suggesting any sort of crusade.  I was merely asking questions."

With a swipe of his hand, Knox gave the wooden chair he'd vacated a stern whollop, and it clattered loudly over the floor to rest, petulantly, by the door.  He turned away from Tulojow to pace for a few steps, clearly aggitated.  Despite the help from the strange Healer witch Delilah Foley, the werewolf's curse continued to cause him tempestuous bouts, and they seemed to come out of nowhere and on occasions that he wouldn't normally get so angry.  It was crazy-making at the least, and embarrassing at the worst.  It was all he could do to keep from bellowing at work sometimes, and he had absolutely no success with checking his rage with Devlin who seemed to prod at him constantly. 

He'd come to Tulo for some peace.  But her steady level-headedness had set him off.  Her bloody questions and their way of exposing things.  His own limitations and insecurities.   He growled, even though he just meant to sigh.  He glanced over his shoulder to where the old witch was.

"You implied," he said, knowing it was an inadequate justification. 

"Hogwarts isn't the problem," he said slowly, picking up the chair.  "And it isn't the solution."

"I think I should go."  He set the chair back at the table, all four legs back on the floor.