The Dungeons

A Macallan. Double. ( Neat. )

Ah, Rolf, I find it hard to believe that your new colleagues and supervisors are quite so ill-prepared as they first appear. Dolores may be difficult to get on with, but she's far from the ignoramus you make her out to be. Tread carefully, lad, and remember the lessons you learned when securing that quintaped egg.

The egg has, as you presumed, hatched three days past. Don't worry yourself over whether to bring it to Hogwarts; my facilities here are quite adequate, and it will only be needing midnight feedings for another week or so. Besides, you know as well as I that it won't make the trip.

Your Grandmum sends her love, and suggests that you might speak to the previous Head of Ravenclaw regarding the proper handling of the students. One would assume that whoever had the post must have done decently well at it.

Take care of yourself, lad, and make an effort to restrain that streak of Gryffindor rashness. There's a reason you sorted Ravenclaw, after all.

Grandfather Newt

Hello Luna,

Congratulations on your marriage, first of all. I'm sorry I wasn't in town for the wedding, but from what I hear it was quite an event.

I'm writing to ask some advice, as I appear to have found myself teaching and in charge of Ravenclaw. Forgive me if this is inappropriate, since I don't know the exact circumstances of your departure from the position, but from what I gather you were well respected by the students. How did you handle complaints? Personally, I thought the issue was legitimate, but when I brought it up with the Headmistress she didn't agree. It's all resolved now, but I'd like to have a better idea of how to handle future issues.

Sincerely,

Rolf Scamander

Headmistress, I need you to do me a favor. The elves seem to have moved my lesson plans, or maybe I lost 'em going back and forth to the Ministry last week. My interim department head just isn't settling in like he ought to be, and I really don't know what the problem is with the lad. Makes me glad I didn't give 'em the full position, y'know?

Anyway, I can't find the plans, and I know I gave you a copy. Would you mind sending 'em back my way? Can't very well teach without lesson plans, even if flying's the most simple thing in the world!

Ludo Bagman

Rolf,

Thank you. I count myself very lucky.

It's lovely to hear from you even if the circumstances under which you've originally owled are not ideal. It might be inappropriate for some, but I don't see a problem with this at all. We attended Hogwarts together, after all, and studied together on occasion, if I recall correctly, and never once did you hide my shoes. I count that as a mark of a friend, you know. Which I think falls above any "proper protocol".

I suppose it depends on what the complaint is about. In my two years teaching there, the first lesson that I learned was that students will always find something to complain about, sometimes justified and sometimes not, and sometimes it's impossible to tell the difference. I'm assuming, from their nature, that the Ravenclaws were displeased with an assignment of some sort. Also, by their nature, I would guess that some have cut corners or found alternative methods of finishing the assignment and I would double check their work. They are testing their boundaries. My suggestion for you would be to find ways to work around the Headmistress without confronting her straight on. If my memories of fourth year are correct, trying to defend your standpoint with her directly will not actually get you anywhere.

I do hope that I've helped.

Luna Lovegood

P.S. I've kept my name, no hyphen or anything. Easier all around that way, I think.

*the rattle of china and silverware*

That will do, Clyde. Take this to Master Bagman with my compliments, and a reminder to have a care in the future. Leave me, I do not wished to be disturbed before dinner.

Luna,

Thank you; I didn't think you would find me owling to be inappropriate, but some people do and I didn't know, maybe you'd changed since school. I'm glad you still consider me a friend, even if I have fallen out of touch.

You're right, they were complaining about an assignment. It seemed reasonable to me; I mean, I wouldn't want to spend four days copying the rule book, especially if I'd already gotten through it by the second day. I didn't check for copying charms or anything though. On further thought, it does seem a bit suspicious to hand write two hundred pages in a mere sixteen hours. That must have been what the Headmistress thought when I suggested that the upper form students who had finished the book could go to the library instead.

How did you go about checking to ensure that the students hadn't cut corners? Is there a charm of some sort? That was never my strength, as you probably remember.

Thank you very much, and it's good to hear from you again. From now on I'll make an effort to keep up with my former classmates!

Rolf Scamander

Rolf,

There are many good reasons to have fallen out of touch, I've done so as well, so I don't think that I am one who can talk.

Two hundred pages hand copied in two days? It was Eustace Bailey who started the claims of being done followed by Lewis and then the rest trickled in, wasn't it? Lewis, by the way, is the laziest Ravenclaw you'll ever meet; even a casual flipping through of the pages will probably reveal completely blank pages or a copied comic book or drawings or even a story if not a perfect replica of Bailey's handwriting since he's yet to learn how to tweak the Charm to use his handwriting. A revealing charm geared to specifically find the use of a copy charm is a good thing to have on tip of your tongue with something like that. My suggestion, if you find something that has been copied, especially with an assignment of this magnitude, is to have them start from scratch. You'll garner their respect that way. Maybe not at first, but eventually. You don't want them to think that they can get one over on you.

It's not that I don't understand the reasons that they disliked the assignment, it's rather despicable, actually, but I think that reminding the Ravenclaws of what they can learn from such an assignment would be helpful for them all. Thoroughness and determination and a lot of other valuable lessons can be found in such. As well as turning a horrid situation to one's advantage. It never does hurt to know what the rules are or the best ways around them while still staying within the proscribed boundaries.

I do hope that I haven't gone on too much. I do have a tendency to ramble on once in a while.

It's very good to hear from you and I do hope that you'll keep in touch. And please do come to me if you want my opinion on anything else.

Luna

Luna,

Merlin, it's like you were there! If you're going to ramble on subjects this relevant, you're welcome to ramble at me whenever you want.

Well. All right, so I've been had once. I know what to look for now. Given that classes are starting tomorrow, do you think it's worth going back to catch them for this assignment, or should I just come down hard the next time around? It seems I'd look more the fool, handing out punishments after the fact.

Lewis and Baily, right. Anyone else I need to watch out for?

Rolf

Fine with me but I'm just getting my...

Shit!

Sorry, Severus. Not this time. I'm going to be late.