“W-Well…” Dumbledore eventually mutters. “I didn’t think it’d be… well, that easy. You’re right about the purpose that door and Fluffy serve; them, and the warning, were intended to keep students out.” He heaves a sigh. “All the rest I envisioned as hurdles for Voldemort’s servant to pass before getting stuck in Severus’ trap. Your chess set makes an excellent catch point midway, Minerva. But if a first-year could do it…” He shakes his head. “Then it almost certainly won’t do much more than inconvenience a clever and experienced wizard like him.” He looks up. “Knowledge and intent, you say?” He raises one hand up to rub his bearded chin. “Mm, there might be something in that. I wonder where we could work it in.”
“With the core of the wards right here,” Lyra inserts, gesturing towards the ceiling, “you could hide the stone in something with a sufficiently strong magical signature of its own, to reveal on condition. I could help with that.” She glances upwards. “In the meantime, I could have our guards turn back everyone, not just students.”
He shakes his head. “Voldemort would slip past them,” he states.
Professor McGonagall closes her eyes, resisting the urge to facepalm.
The Equestrians seem more than a little offended.
“With all due respect,” Lyra begins, her tone carrying none at all, “he won’t. We’re the Royal Equestrian Secret Service, Dumbledore. No one gets past us. And we train on that regularly, don’t we?”
Almost every student in the room- save only Lyra and Lucy- nods emphatically.
“So much that there is exactly one person on the entire planet that can sneak past our guard,” Lyra states. “And that’s me. And when I do that, I can’t take anyone else along- even another of us- because that’s too hard, they get spotted. When we came in here, I did practically nothing to keep us from being noticed, and we weren’t. If those junky detector spells can spot Voldemort, we’ll have a hundred Agents tailing him by the time he first sights ‘Fluffy’. And I do mean literally- that’s happened before.”
“It has?” a green-haired girl asks her.
“Chrysalis.”
“Ahh. Wait, wasn’t that the shapeshifter?”
“Yep. That’s why we didn’t pounce on her right away- one doesn’t just pounce on Princess Cadence- and stuck to tailing her until we were sure.”
“Right.”
Dumbledore leans back against the wall. “This is going to be a long night.”
He’d been right, Dumbledore solemnly decides, looking out his office window at the rising sun. It had been a long night. And the Equestrian’s unfailing energy in tackling not only the enchantments he and the other teachers had set a month prior to protect the Stone, but the construction of new enchantments and the guarding of the Stone in the meantime… Well, it’s wearing on him.
He’s been up all night at this point, mostly working with Lyra to design a suitable spell.
Perhaps the most annoying part about that was that it had felt very much like she had been mentoring him. And, had someone actually described it as that, he couldn’t have argued- because that was what was really happening! He has no clue where she got her skill, but it had been clear she’d been trying to bring out and shape his skill instead of stomping all over it with her own. Just like any good mentor.
The kind of thing he wishes his instructors would do more often. He knows they have plenty of time in the day for it- at least, before the Equestrians showed up. This morning starts a hectic week of near-constant classes for each instructor, for nearly the entire day, all week- and it’s only the first of many.
He already misses the quiet castle. Even the Weasley twins had never managed to strain him and his staff before the term even started! Then the discovery that their teleportation, the stuff they’d told Professor McGonagall is incompatible with non-Equestrian magic, can penetrate Hogwarts’ wards without issue…
It’s been a very long day. Lyra had been able to inform him that, even amongst the equestrians, teleportation is a mark of the elite- so basically, every Agent knows it, and a smattering of others do too. It’s come in handy for rotating the guards she’d posted without drawing attention. It also helps that the Agents also happened to know a simple warding scheme to block it- and had placed that over the entire sequence of chambers, up to and including the corridor Fluffy is in. They hadn’t placed it over the whole school; when he’d asked Lyra why, she’d explained that it would make it obvious to every Equestrian that they were hiding something, and curiosity about the third floor corridor would skyrocket more than it already has.
At which point he’d given in.
About half an hour ago, he finished designing the spell that would hide the stone- with Lyra’s tutelage. Neither he, McGonagall, nor any of the Agents had been able to think of any more generic protection schemes to lock it behind, so only someone who both knows it’s there and only wants to have it, not to use it, will be able to get it. He’s spent that half hour since Lyra left brainstorming magical artefacts he could use to hide the Stone- and he thinks he’s got just the one. It’ll take some finagling to get it into Hogwarts, but not something he can’t do. The Mirror of Erised ought to be perfect for the task.
He takes a deep breath. Hopefully, the Equestrians haven’t reached the end of their wit- and will be able to educate each other on the parts the teachers haven’t been able to cover just yet.
Speaking of which… He fingers the “radio” device Lyra had given him, now clipped to his robes the same way theirs are. She’d said something about different frequencies, but he hadn’t understood it- beyond that he wouldn’t be distracted by their banter, but that he could reach them with it, and vice versa, on demand. When he’d mentioned the electricity problem, Lyra had promptly labeled it the ‘electromagnetic interference’ in the area and waved it away by mentioning some kind of relay spell attached to the radios- giving them effectively infinite range.
But he’s going on a tangent again, and returns to contemplating the Equestrians, fingering the radio again. If they’re up to the task, they could set up some kind of extended teaching program. His teachers work with the smart Equestrians of each house, teach them the material- if Lyra and Moondancer are anything to go by, they’ll pick it up instantly- then those Equestrians go on to teach the rest. It would be… an unconventional approach, but it would work, and his teachers wouldn’t have to run themselves ragged just teaching classes, nevermind their other duties. He’d hate to bind up the Agents on that kind of duty, though- hopefully, they’re not the only smart Equestrians around.
He tilts his head. Speaking of the Agents, with the solidarity, coordination, and integrity that they’ve already shown him through that action with the Stone… Perhaps he could employ them in an enforcement role, outside of their classes- grant them point-powers, educate them (briefly) on the proper use of such… That’d take a lot of the disciplinary load off his teachers as well. They’d still have a massive administrative load, but at least they’d be down to a level that a mortal witch or wizard could conceivably manage. He checks the clock; one hour to breakfast, when the schedules will be distributed.
Decision made, he summons all four heads of house through the wards for a meeting- and depresses the button. “Uh, Lyra?”
The answer is immediate, and only in the one ear the ‘earpiece’ is in. “Yes, Professor Dumbledore?”
“Cou- er…” He depresses the button again. “Could you stop by my office again? There’s something I’d like to discuss before breakfast.”
“Roger.” The girl promptly appears in front of his desk, her hand dropping from one of the two radios clipped to the front of her robes. “You called?”
He lets out a chuckle. “If you’ll wait a minute, I think my heads of house should be part of this one,” he states.
She grins, and nods. “No problem.”
He looks towards the door. “Come in.”
It opens to admit Professor McGonagall, who raises her eyebrows upon spotting Lyra, but otherwise proceeds to her seat as per usual.
It takes a total of about a minute for all four heads of house to gather and take their seats. Professors Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout all looked inquisitively at Lyra upon entering, but didn’t voice anything.
“Alright,” Professor Dumbledore states. “Now that we’re all here, we can get started.”
“Excuse me,” Professor Snape begins. “But why is Miss Heartstrings here?”
Dumbledore blinks. “Exactly what I was about to explain. It would appear that ‘Miss Heartstrings Here’ is part of a pretty significant network of very skilled individuals.” He looks at the girl. “Correct?”
She nods. “Is this going where I think it’s going?”
He blinks. “Uh, possibly.”
“Alright. Should I call in the rest of our planning crew, or no?”
Another blink. Yep, she’d anticipated it. “Probably, yes.”
She lifts her radio, and moments later, three more girls appear. He recognizes Moondancer instantly; the second, he remembers seeing in the room with the stone, though he has to refer to the nametag for her name, Bonbon. The third is completely new, a shy-looking pink-haired girl whose nametag says ‘Fluttershy’.
All three take their seats. “So, what’ve we got?” Moondancer asks.
“I was thinking,” Dumbledore begins. “Would it be an issue if you were to identify the best amongst the Equestrians to attend our classes, and have them go on to teach the rest of their houses?”
“Called it,” Bonbon states.
“That would be perfectly fine for us,” Fluttershy states calmly, with a delicate voice.
Lyra chuckles. “That’s actually exactly what we were planning out five minutes ago.” She turns to the heads of house. “How about you? You’d be teaching no more classes per week than normal, but they’d be full of the brightest minds across all the first years- in theory, really easy to teach- so they could then go on to help instruct the rest of the first years, Equestrians and non-Equestrians alike.”
“What about assignments?” Professor Flitwick asks.
“Depends on how you want to do those with them,” Moondancer answers. “Our second-tier instructors could assign the very same assignments to every class, and send them all to you; they could also grade them themselves… If you want, they can even tailor the assignments to the particular classes they’re teaching, based on the originals you give them. Or…” She trails off.
“What if someone has trouble?”
“We send them up the line until they get to someone that can solve their problem. Every once in a while, such a problem might come all the way back up to you, but we should be able to handle just about everything.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Professor Snape declares.
“How would that work with Herbology?” Professor Sprout asks.
Minuette glances down towards the greenhouses. “It’d be a bit of tricky spellwork, but it wouldn’t take all that long- we’d be able to set up energy duplicates of the greenhouses in pocket dimensions really wherever we wanted, and deliver the same lessons.”
“An energy duplicate?”
“Yeah. Plant behaviors would be exactly the same, even if any danger value would be removed; we wouldn’t tell them that, though. Should be an exactly identical experience to if it were to take place in a real greenhouse with real plants, and deliver exactly the same lessons.”
“Sounds good.”
Flitwick nods. “Works for me.”
“What about an unforgiving subject matter like transfiguration?”
“Any warnings you impart upon our instructors, they will be certain to impart upon their students. In theory, you’ll all be able to spend much more of your class times covering contingencies that might happen with inexperienced casters, allowing us to be better prepared if something does happen. If ever an emergency arises, you can bet we’ll come straight to you.”
She nods. “Alright. We can do that.” She scowls at the table. “I’ll have to redo the first-year schedules, though.”
“We can help with that,” Moondancer states. “We’ve already got our professor teams selected- if you give us when each house’ professors for each subject should be where, we can build everyone else’s from there. And no one student is playing professor for multiple subjects, so overlapping timings won’t be an issue.”
“Excellent,” Professor McGonagall nods. “Give me ten minutes after I get back to my office, and I’ll have them ready.”
Moondancer glances at the clock. “So, we’ll have forty minutes? Yeah, that’ll be easy. Thank you.”
They’re about to start rising when Dumbledore speaks up again. “There is one more thing,” he states; everyone pauses and looks at him. “About discipline. Normally, our professors and Filch mete out detentions or point adjustments as necessary, but something tells me we won’t be able to keep up with this many students.”
“You’re interested to know if the Royal Equestrian Secret Service could help fill that gap?” Bonbon asks.
“Ah, yes.” He looks up at the professors. “If that’s okay?”
Professor McGonagall nods firmly; the other three follow suit a bit more reluctantly.
“Consider it done,” Fluttershy states, combining a firm tone with her delicate voice for a very interesting effect.
“We can stop by as a group- I’ll warn you, there’s about four hundred and fifty of us, all handpicked by me and Bonbon here- or in smaller groups for training, then?” Lyra asks.
Fluttershy and Moondancer high-five each other, drawing a grin from Lyra.
“Ah, sure,” Dumbledore states. “If you can have them come to my office in waves of fifteen or so after breakfast, it should only take a few minutes each, I think.” His eyes twinkle. “Your people have already demonstrated many of the behaviors and qualities we expect for disciplinary- or rewarding- action.”
“Alright,” Lyra answers. “We can do that. I’ll try to schedule them to avoid overwhelming you- or leaving extended idle periods, and I’ll make sure you know when the last of ‘em is done. That good?”
He nods. “Excellent. And now, ladies and gentlemen, we’d best get moving. I’d like to make breakfast on time.”
As the professors leave Dumbledore’s office- the Equestrians simply disappeared- they do it with a distinctly greater bounce in their step. Dumbledore smiles; it looks like he may have just saved the staff from overworking themselves to death this year and still falling behind.
Then he looks at the window, and scowls as a Ministry owl flutters up to land behind it. He’s been spending the last month trying to get through all the paperwork with so many new witches and wizards coming to Hogwarts from an unknown land. And now, of course, the paperwork to get the Mirror into Hogwarts.