Professor Potter

Chapter 9

Chapter 9 

Harry sat at the kitchen table finishing off the remnants of his third helping of breakfast. It was the Saturday morning after his return from Beauxbaton. It promised to be a busy day. The Tome Study Group, as it had come to be known, was scheduled to arrive around ten o'clock to further discuss the way forward in researching Merlin's book. He was also expecting a visit from Bill and Charlie, as well as Mr. Oglethorpe of QUABBLE and Mr. Pinewood of the Nimbus broomstick company. They were scheduled to arrive around two o'clock to discuss the rapidly developing plans for the public Quidditch pitches. When Bill had talked to him the day before about meeting, he indicated that there was tremendous interest in the project. 

Professor McGonagall was going to join the Tome group but indicated she wanted some time with Harry to discuss the proposal he had given her the prior morning. So much for the quiet life of an English country gentleman he thought. Ginny and James were gone for the day, having been gathered up by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for a jaunt out to Shell Cottage to visit with Fleur and Victoire. The increasingly pregnant Fleur was restricting her travel these days and Harry was pretty sure that Ginny would be carrying back a demand for Harry to come out and visit. He thought he'd pop out tomorrow as he wanted to talk about what was going on with Gabrielle and her plans for the future. 

He had had a bit of a lie-in as the trip to Beauxbaton had been rather tiring so he didn't have much time from the end of breakfast until the study group arrived. It must have been a coordinated trip from Hogwarts. Harry was sitting in the living room waiting when he heard the front door being opened and Kreacher offering welcomes. The entire group was led in by Professor McGonagall. 

"Good morning, Professor Potter," she began with a twinkle in her eye. "Thank you for hosting us this morning." 

"It's my pleasure, ma'am," Harry replied evenly, wondering what the Headmistress was on about. 

The rest of the group trooped in, offering Harry greetings. Just as the academics were getting comfortable hurried footsteps could be heard coming down the hall way. A head of bushy brown hair peered around the edge of the entrance. 

"Sorry I'm a bit late, everyone," Hermione said. 

"No need, Mrs. Weasley, we've all only just arrived," offered the Headmistress from her comfortable chair. "Please join us. It's wonderful to see you." 

The other instructors offered similar greetings and Hermione took a seat near Professors Vector and Babbling. Harry took his customary seat near the hearth, a low fire burning to ward off the winter morning chill. 

"Well, where to begin?" Professor McGonagall started. "Harry, during your absence we had a few conversations about the project. Do you know if Charlie Weasley has had any success with the binding?" 

"Yes, ma'am. He was here during the week looking into it and he had a talk with the bookbinders at Willikins and Burbarry's, the publishers. He'll be here this afternoon on another matter but he said he should be able to take it apart and we can start parting out the appropriate sections. Ginny has been busy too and has arranged for some desks and tables to be delivered next week to put in the basement so we should be ready to start work very shortly." 

"Excellent," she replied. 

"Harry, if I may?" Professor Vector asked. 

"Certainly, ma'am." 

"Professor Babbling and I would like to take a look at the first section of the Tome and copy out some of the symbols and pictograms before we leave. We think we can do some research to try and identify their origins that way." 

"Of course, you can use the library for as long as you need," Harry replied. 

"There is one other thing," Professor Babbling began. "There is a young wizard at Hogwarts, a seventh year. He's an absolute genius where runes and arithmancy are concerned. We'd like to involve him in the project if there are no objections."