Chapter 6
Leading Questions
“Do you care about banking at all?” Lisa asked, holding up a green pamphlet for Mandy and Morag to see.
“No,” they replied in unison.
Lisa tossed the paper off to the side and reached for another one without even looking at the title first. “Cart rental in Diagon Alley?”
“No.”
Lisa tossed yet another pamphlet aside, but this time, she didn’t reach for another one. What difference would it make? The three girls had already gone through at least a dozen career possibilities, and none of them interest any of the girls in the least. Every fifth-year in the Great Hall was currently facing the same dilemma; students were groaning over the more dreadful careers and the prefects were trying to keep order while debating their own futures as well.
The pamphlets having anything to do with working for the Ministry were notably ignored by all the Ravenclaws. This, however, did not make things any easier, as Ministry positions made up most of the career choices before them.
“Funny how they seem to be pushing it on us,” Lisa remarked.
Morag smirked. “It might not be that way if they knew how many ‘undesirables’ they have sitting here.”
“I think they would have done it no matter who was sitting here,” Mandy said. “It’s passive-aggressive propaganda. Tow the party line, or you’ll grow up to be penniless and living under the railroad tracks.”
Lisa groaned and let one more pamphlet drop back down to the surface of the table. All the three of them had been thinking as of lately had been The Fourth Estate; how they were going to print their next issue, what where their next stories going to be, how in Merlin’s name was the layout going to work, and thousand more immediate more material things. Material things especially more recently.
Mandy’s brother printed their paper for free and out of love for his little sister and the concept of a free press. Getting their actual supplies for the paper, however, was beginning to take more and more creativity. Mandy’s brother somehow managed to get free paper from somewhere, but the staff writers all needed pens, parchment, film, potions, and typewriter tape. It was all beginning to add up, and their own personal pocket money was not going to pay for it forever. At the rate they were going, the three girls were going to have to take up jobs just to continue to pay for it all.
Suddenly, Padma appeared at the side of their table, another arm load of career literature in her arms.
“Have any of you found anything?” the prefect asked them.
“No!” the three girls all replied in perfect unison.
Padma sighed, exhausted and tired, running on nothing but coffee and Chocolate Frogs since Easter. She most certainly hadn’t been sleeping.
“Well, Professor Flitwick gave me some more materials,” she told them, dropping still more pamphlets in front of the Ravenclaws. “Maybe you’ll have better luck with these.”
“Doubtful,” Morag replied, taking a hold of the first pamphlet in the stack: Goblin-Wizard Relations and You.
The prefect nodded slowly, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face. “I never imagined this would be so difficult,” she confessed, taking up a few of the pamphlets for herself. “I can’t seem to find anything I can imagine doing for the rest of my life.”
Padma groaned out of pure exhaustion and just walked away. She didn’t appear to be a hundred percent focus on the task at hand either.
“When are you meeting with Professor Flitwick?” Mandy asked Lisa, distracting attention away from her and Morag’s own pitiful-seeming futures.
“Tomorrow afternoon,” Lisa told them. “I get to miss History of Magic, at least.”
“Lucky you!” Morag exclaimed, not even attempting to hide her clear distain for the subject.
“But just think,” Mandy brought up. “Next year, we won’t have to go to History of Magic at all!”
House of wit aside, no one enjoyed the horrifically dull class. Lisa almost wondered if Professor Binnes made the class that way intentionally so he would never have to deal with the sixth and seventh-years. What it was that a ghost needed free time for, though, was a question no one knew the answer to.
Letting out a deep sigh first, Lisa reached out to grab the next pamphlet in the stack. “Mermish Real Estate Negotiations?”
“No.”
On the day Lisa was supposed to go for her Career Consultation, Lisa watched the rest of her housemates head down to their History of Magic classroom while she made her way to the Charm’s corridor, which was quite notably empty. The door to Professor Flitwick’s office was quite possibly the smallest door in all of Hogwarts. Whenever Lisa saw it, she found herself thinking of Alice in Wonderland. She often wondered if her Charms teacher had chosen the office himself, or if it was simply given to him because none of the adult members of the staff were able to fit through the door. Even the older students had hard times making it through the door. Lisa’s own height left her eye level at least a foot above the doorframe. Kneeling down, she rapt at the door, hearing the sound of people rustling about inside, and even voices.
“Professor?” she called. “It’s Lisa Turpin; I’m here for Career Counseling
“The door is open, Miss Tupin,” she heard her Head of House yell in his slightly squeaking voice. “Just let yourself in.”
Lowly ducking her head, Lisa made her way into the office as though entering a child’s playhouse. Through this door, however, was the familiar, polished wood interior of her Head of House, which Lisa had been in several times before.
But she nearly jumped when she finally saw the unexpected presence in the corner: it was Umbridge. She flashed Lisa that poisonous smile of hers and clicked the tip of her quill against her clipboard. Professor Flitwick was nowhere in sight, and a very paranoid part of Lisa’s psyche whispered to her that it had all been a set-up. That Umbridge somehow knew about her after-class activities, and that the woman was going to pry whatever she didn’t know out of Lisa, one way or another.
Soon enough, though, she was saved from her panicked thoughts by Professor Flitwick finally appearing out from behind a curtain.
“Oh, Miss Turpin!” Professor Flitwick exclaimed in that squeaking voice of his. “I’m sorry I couldn’t let you in myself. Please, sit down.”
Lisa nodded, her racing heart rate finally beginning to slow. A wooden chair was rested in front the notably tiny desk, set there for Lisa and all the other Ravenclaws coming in for Career Counseling. The moment Lisa sat down, she was immensely uncomfortable, but she knew better than to blame the chair for such feelings.
The tiny professor took a seat at his perfectly scaled desk and folded his hands on top of the surface. “Now, I saw you and your roommate pouring over the career materials the other day, so I suppose I don’t even have to ask you if you even know which direction you would like to take.”
Lisa tried to smile at her Head of House, but even she could tell it was a labored expression. It would have been hard for anyone to smile with the school’s new face of evil staring holes in the back of their head, squatting in the corner like a great pink toad.
“Oh,” her Head of House tried to assure her. “Don’t you worry; Professor Umbridge is here to watch me. It had nothing to do with your plans after graduation.”
It was a convincing lie, and Lisa was grateful for the effort. It would have been so wonderful to believe the school’s horrid new headmistress, who, in addition to so many others already, had a vendetta against ‘halfbreeds’, was here because of Professor Flitwick, who all Ravenclaws knew had a shred of goblin blood. It was the reason he had to stand on tiptoe and crane his neck to speak to even the first-years. But all those weeks of reporting had made Lisa into a very suspicious person; or at the very least, a less naïve one.
“Let’s start by taking a look at your classes, shall we?” Professor Flitwick reached for a yellowed folder, which went well over his head the moment it was opened. “I see you take Care of Magical Creatures and have received fairly good marks.”
Lisa cringed at the thought of N.E.W.T. Care of Magical Creatures, and from the expression on Professor Flitwick’s face as he lowered the folder, she was not the first Ravenclaw to have such feelings. Maybe students in other Houses shared similar ideas of not continuing the class, so Professor Flitwick was trying to encourage his own students to carry on the class; so Professor Hagrid could have at least a few students to teach at the N.E.W.T. level.
Always count on the studious House to fill that role.
There was nothing wrong with Professor Hagrid as a person; he had a good heart. But also he tended to be a poor understanding of the possible dangers that certain creatures could pose to his students, as well as not having very good instincts for knowing when he was taking the subject a bit too far for their grade level. More or less, nothing had yet to come of it, but in his first year of teaching, Draco Malfoy had been attacked by a Hippogryff, causing a huge sensation throughout the school.
All the same, Lisa had no interest in taking the class any further, worry overriding curiosity as to what Professor Hagrid actually would consider a dangerous creature.
The professor shook his head. “Maybe not then,” he finally relented, moving on to her other classes. “Knowledge of Ancient Runes can be quite beneficial in many career paths, and as you may have noticed, there a very few who even attempt to learn the craft of reading it…”
Lisa’s attention drifted away from Professor Flitwick’s words and attempted to observe the activities of Umbridge, using her peripheral vision to peer at the squat little woman. She was most certainly paying more attention to Lisa than she was to the tiny Charms professor. Lisa felt a series of small cringes all over her body at the most miniscule motions of the headmistress. There had long been rumors circulating of the new headmistress interrogating scores of students, using coercion, Veritaserum, and dozens of other horrifying techniques. In fact, Morag had been the one to publish these rumors in the last edition of The Fourth Estate.
That poisonous smile simply taunted Lisa, and every scratch of the quill brought a twitch to her muscles and a quickening to her breath as she contemplated all the tortures Umbridge might be considering towards her; especially if the woman really did believe Lisa had any information to offer about The Fourth Estate. Eventually, the constant stress and worry became too much for the girl to take, and she decided she would deliberately provoke the woman herself, just to get it over with.
“What about journalism, Professor?” Lisa asked suddenly.
Lisa heard the very distinct sound of a quill snapping behind her, and it gave her a sick sense of satisfaction. The back wall of Professor Flitwick’s office held a very large trophy case that held all his dueling trophies from his younger years. He must have polished the glass every hour, on the hour, for it offered a very clear picture of the entire office and everyone in it. Best of all, Lisa now realized she was allowed a perfect view of Umbridge’s every reaction.
In a very unexpected turn, Lisa was now the one holding sway over all the emotions in the room.
“To be honest, I’m not really sure I have very much information to give,” Professor Flitwick confessed. “The Daily Prophet did not seem to send us very much career information this year, and given the current political climate…”
The Charms professor’s voice trailed off as his eyes briefly shifted over to Umbridge’s direction.
“…the journalism profession is not considered a very honorable one.”
Now even Professor Flitwick had join in on the effort to fluster and torment the new headmistress. Whether it was intentional or not, however, he was not revealing his intentions to Lisa.
“There are other papers out there besides the Prophet,” Lisa said, her tone gaining even more confidence still. “I have heard that The Quibbler’s last issue achieved record sales. Maybe they need new writers.”
“The Quibbler is banned on school premises!” Umbridge barked suddenly, the entire sentence popping out of her like a hiccup. “Educational Decree Twenty-seven!”
“Is it against the decree to talk about it?” Lisa asked, but directing her questions more to the reflection than the woman herself. “This is supposed to be a counseling session devoted to discussing my future, and not discussing every option can only be detrimental to me.”
Professor Flitwick nodded, agreeing with her. “Professor Umbridge, you told me you would only be here to quietly observe. I would thank you not to distract my students while you are here.”
Lisa watched as the reflection of Umbridge’s face slowly began to turn red, doing her best not to show any emtion or reaction. If she could see Umbridge, then it was certain that Umbridge could see her as well. But that did not stop Lisa from enjoying watching the toady woman’s fingers twitch, as though she were itching to write down Professor Flitwick’s latest comment, but unable to with her only quill so conveniently snapped in two.
“Who knows?” Lisa shrugged. “Maybe I’ll even start my own paper.”
In the glass, Lisa could see Umbridge’s eyebrows shoot up and her mouth twist into a crooked shocked and affronted expression, as though she could not believed the audacity of the two conversing Ravenclaws.
“How very ambitious of you,” Lisa’s teacher remarked. “It’s a good thing we didn’t lose you to Slytherin.”
“Oh, I could never imagine being in any other House than Ravenclaw, Professor. I have so many dear, close friends there.”
Professor Flitwick offered a small smile. “Well, it is always nice to hear House loyalty.”
Now both of them seemed to enjoy the mind games being played while Dolores Umbridge sat passively in the corner; simmering, waiting for something, anything, she might be able to pounce on as some proof of conspiracy. Even if the woman wasn’t clever enough to take part in the game herself, she could still see that one was indeed being played at her expense.
“Let’s take a look at your other classes, shall we?” Professor Flitwick opened a folder and trailed his fingers down a sheet of columns. “Charms; excellent, as always. Transfiguration; fair, a little extra studying, though, and I don’t see why you couldn’t take it as a N.E.W.T. student. Potions, keep up your current scores and you might be one of the rare few to meet Professor Snape’s high expectations for continuing the class.”
As her Head of House listed off more of her recent grades, Lisa watched as Umbridge’s flesh tones returned to normal and she even began to appear almost calm. Something in Lisa’s psyche would not allow this.
“Don’t even tell me what my grades for Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Lisa suddenly interrupted. “I’m convinced I won’t pass that section of my O.W.L.s.”
Umbridge’s head perked up once again and her cheeks began to turn a very dark shade of pink. That was much better!
“Really, Miss Turpin?” Professor Flitwick asked, puzzled. “Nothing in your grades this year or any other year would lead me to suspect that.”
“Thank you, Professor. But sadly, it doesn’t matter what I can and can’t do in a classroom,” Lisa told him, allowing herself to smile a little bit more than she should have. “The O.W.L. exams have very high standards. After all, these tests are supposed to be a measure of my skills as a witch. And, tragic as it may seem, no one in the real world is going to care about how many books I have read or how pretty my handwriting looks on an essay.”
That last statement brought Umbridge to a more vivid state of rage that Lisa had even seen the woman. She was convinced the headmistress would soon be snapping her clipboard in half.
“Yes, I’m afraid that is so much a problem with our educational system,” Professor Flitwick agreed with her, sighing. “At the very least, Charms is a very practical class, so even if students can’t carry it on to the N.E.W.T. level, I can be assured that they will still know enough to use it in their daily lives.”
“Oh, I know exactly what you mean, Professor!” Lisa assured him, gaining more and more amusement from the reflection of the humorous reactions behind her. “Theory is all well and good for an essay topic or a discussion, but I’ve been finding it has very little use when it comes time to pull out your wand.”
“Criticizing the Ministry of Magic can have serious consequences, Miss Turpin!” Umbridge shrieked when her anger finally reached critical mass. “I think you’ll find seeking employment will be quite difficult if you continue on the path you are choosing!”
“Ministry?” Lisa looked over her shoulder, pretending to be confused. “Professor Flitwick and I were talking about school. I thought that’s what I was here for.”
Professor Flitwick offered a curt nod in agreement and huffed under his breath. “Professor Umbridge, if you cannot control your outbursts, then, headmistress or not, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“And you!” Umbridge jumped to her feet and pointed an accusing finger at the tiny man. “If you think enabling will go unpunished, you are sorely mistaken! You think I have not noticed you all undermining my authority and, by extension, the authority of the Ministry! You allow your students to run wild, doing as they please, letting them think it is acceptable to snub their noses at government authority! Don’t think I haven’t noticed! This entire session has offered nothing but more proof!”
“I would think a true headmistress would want to do everything in her power to help her students succeed!” Professor Flitwick snapped before turning his attentions back to Lisa. “Miss Turpin, since it is clear we are not going to have an uninterrupted counseling session, you are excused! Whatever it is you do decide to do with you adult life, I’m sure you will be a great success!”
Pulling herself up out of her chair, Lisa indulged herself in a prideful stride as Umbridge began another screaming fit, the actual words to which Lisa couldn’t comprehend. There was a notably light skip in her gait as she continued on through the corridors.
The Fourth Estate by OliveOil_Med
Chapter Notes: The fifth-years are all focusing on potential careers, but Lisa, Mandy, and Morag find it difficult to think any further into the future than the next edition of their paper. But at Lisa's session for career counseling, she is given much more to work about.
Thank you again to Fresca!