Chapter 32 - Meeting

Scene: End of the Term Professors Meeting

<No POV>

All the professors were sitting in the Headmaster's office. The room was modified to accommodate all the teachers across a long table. Even the ghost Binns can be seen floating above the professors heads.

Dumbledore "Another year has come to an end. Did anything beyond ordinary happen this year that you would like to report ? If there is nothing to report, let's talk about the new students that joined this year. Any in particular worth mentioning?"

Minerva "It was a quiet year. The only drama was what happened to the DADA professor which we are used to by now. Coming to the new students, it is not a particularly strong batch. None of the Gryffindors have done anything praiseworthy. Even the muggleborns are not performing well in their studies."

Flitwick "I agree with Minerva's analysis. Even in Ravenclaw only Ms. Spiers, Mr. Broad and Mr. Falken show some level of promise. Others are only slowly improving and it would take them some more time to be able to increase their performance to an adequate level."

Sprout "No good addition to the Hufflepuff house among the few we got."

Dumbledore nodded and then turned towards Severus.

Severus "Only two Slytherins are better than the other dunderheads. Ms. Greengrass and Mr. Nott. They should be the best of this batch in terms of magical ability. Others are just wasting my time."

Dumbledore "Is that all? What about Mr. Falken? From his performance in the muggle world, I thought he would perform well here too."

Flitwick "Yes he is a genius. He is above every one of his year mates in the theory part of the subject but unfortunately he lacks the required magical reserves to perform the spells quickly and correctly. He is suffering from the same problem that a lot of genius muggle borns have faced before him. They all had the knowledge but not enough magic to do spells. I am hopeful that his stay at Hogwarts would correct the problem."

Minerva "Yes Mr. Falken is an intelligent boy. He was the fastest muggle raised wizards to fit into our world. He quickly picked up all the Etiquettes and has earned the respect of many purebloods due to this. The only problem other than the magic reserves that brings down his marks is that he is too lazy. He always writes short ȧssignments. Never follows my instructions about the number of words needed for the ȧssignment."

Flitwick "Yes. He hates writing long ȧssignments. But the content is very good and informative. I have never seen such well written and precise ȧssignments in my life. It is too bad that I have to mark him low due to the lack of required number of words. I asked him about it and he said that writing long ȧssignments cuts the time he has to read an extra book and he does not care much about ȧssignment marks. He really likes reading as he has a book in his hands all the time."

Sprout "He does not have much interest in Herbology from what I observed. I can see his lack of interest when he handles the different plants at the greenhouse."

Dumbledore "Since he is only lacking magical ability how is he in potions Severus?"

Severus "He is above average. His potion making ability is good. Knows not to play in the lab and concentrate on his work unlike the other idiots that I have to teach."

The other professors smiled after hearing that since it was the first time they had heard him praise a student. They knew that a small praise by Severus meant the student was very good at Potions.

Dumbledore "Is there anything else that anyone has to say at this meeting? If not, then I am bringing the meeting to a close."

Dumbledore "So what else can you tell me about Mr. Falken after observing him for a year."

McGonagall "He is not a very social person just like most Ravenclaws. He is satisfied with his two friends he made this year. The two friends of his have improved a lot over the course of this year and I think it is due to the coaching of Mr. Falken. They have more magical ability than him so it is obvious that they performed better in the exams."

Snape "Slytherin did not try to bully him at all. Nott tried to get him caught after curfew at the start of the year. But it backfired on him and it allowed Falken to gain some blackmail material on Nott. This made Nott avoid Falken throughout the year and this in turn caused the bullies to avoid Falken. If this was planned by Falken then it was a Slytherin move."

Dumbledore "Where does he stand politically?"

Snape "He is not favouring any side. I think he does not have any love for the dark or the light. He is most likely to join the Neutral side like his parents."

McGonagall "He just hangs out with his two friends and does not bother becoming close with others. He is trying to distance himself from both the muggle borns and the pureblood heirs. I think due to his upbringing in the muggle world he does not have any ill will for the muggle borns but avoids them so as to not be grouped in with the light side by the dark side heirs."

Dumbledore "Then everything is fine for now. Stop paying too much attention to him from now on. If he notices our surveillance on him, it may force him to hate us and join the dark side and we don't want that. Treat him like you treat all other students. Do is until you have any suspecion of him going dark. We have to worry about him only of he joins the dark side."

Then McGonagall left and Snape left leaving only Dumbledore behind in his office.

<End>