A Feast for the New Headmistress

As the podium grew closer and closer with every step, Amelia’s terror seemed to grow larger inside her chest. It slowed her steps, pressed down on her heart, and trapped the air in her lungs so she could neither exhale or nor inhale. When she finally reached her perch, her fingers shakily touched the parchment in front of her, a single sheet upon which was written in her slanting cursive the words she had chosen to say tonight. What most people wouldn’t know was that this speech was about the hundredth one she wrote, wasting many pieces of parchment and several sleepless nights on what the youngest headmistress in the history of the school ought to say to everyone who mattered in the magical world.

The return of her presence on the stage quieted the audience faster than Amelia would have liked, because she didn’t have time to gather her thoughts before the conversation in the room died down and every pair of eyes was on her. The room had filled while she had been away getting water – and freaking out of Marcus’ presence – and now there wasn’t an empty chair in the Great Hall. Many people were standing in groups as well, all their faces turned expectantly toward her as she swallowed hard and mentally reminded herself to breathe.

Here goes nothing, Amelia thought, pulling her wand from the fold in her dress where it was concealed and raising it to her throat.

“So-o-“ Amelia attempted, her voice shaking along with her hands. She blushed deeply at her stuttering before taking a deep breath and steeling herself against the whispers she anticipated from the crowd.

“Sonorus,” she managed this time, speaking firmly through gritted teeth, determined not to let this take any longer than it had to. She didn’t want to give this speech, she still didn’t think she was the person for this position, and she certainly wasn’t ready for the amount of responsibility that was being thrown at her, but if she was going to be forced to do it, she was at least going to try to make it as painless as possible.

“Good evening,” Amelia said slowly, so slowly in fact that there were a few raised eyebrows in the front row, the aristocratic groups sharing sidelong looks at one another as if to say, This ought to be good. This terrified Amelia, because she knew they were probably right, but looking at them wasn’t helping her nerves, so she resolutely found a spot on the back wall of the Great Hall and stared at it as she continued.

“Thank you all for being here. Tonight, as you all know, is many things: a celebration, a formality, and, since they’ve asked me to speak… it is also likely to be something of a spectacle. Those among you who know me personally can attest to my lack of experience with speaking publicly, but this is just one of many roles of the Headmistress I will be adapting to with the help of those who have chosen me for this position.”

Best to put it out there publicly, Amelia had thought when writing that first introduction to her speech. It would come as no surprise to her peers that she was a poor public speaker, but for those who didn’t know her as well, it was only fair to give them warning.

“Many of you in this room have met me at one point or another, whether as peers, colleagues, or social acquaintances, but for those among you I have not had the pleasure to meet, I look forward to it.”

That’s a lie, Amelia’s subconscious pointed out, knowing full well Amelia would rather be submerged in a vat of flobberworms than be doing a perpetual meet and greet, but she pushed forward, not wanting to lose her momentum now that she had it.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you formally, and also to address some of the concerns I am certain you have concerning both my lack of prestige in the magical community and the obvious factor of my age. Although I will not insult your intelligence by claiming to be anything more than I am, I can assure you that the Hogwarts Governing Board had given this decision a great deal of thought, and their confidence in me should bolster both your spirits and mine.”

“My age does make me the youngest headmistress Hogwarts has ever had, but this does not have to be a detriment. A wise man once said the duty of youth is to challenge corruption, and I intend to create for Hogwarts a new future by carrying on the traditions that have made this institution great, and doing away with the abuses of power that have contributed to its most recent struggles.”

That was the most politically correct way Amelia had managed to address her age, which she knew was on the mind of nearly everyone in the room, while simultaneously explaining her direction for Hogwarts. Now it was time to wrap it up before she embarrassed herself; so far so good.

“But I will not be able to achieve these goals on my own,” Amelia continued, her heart racing at the thought that she was almost finished, “I will depend on my colleagues here at Hogwarts, support from the Ministry of Magic and the magical community at large, and from the students themselves. Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

Thank you all, and have a wonderful dinner.”

And with that, Amelia’s stomach rejoiced in the feeling of once again being its normal shape and size. Or as close to it as possible with a room full of people still looking at her and applauding politely. Some seemed impressed, others still hesitant, and some seemed downright bored. But whatever the reaction, she was done.

Thank God. Now let’s find something to eat before you go and faint on me, her subconscious said, realizing how empty her stomach was now that it was no longer in knots.

Jack listened and smiled to see Amelia being fairly transparent about her feelings, deciding to be genuine rather than giving the formulaic speech that newcomers often gave. Jack was certain Amelia was going to make a great Headmistress and she wanted to show her support. She pulled her wand out and kneeled among the group. She cast a patronus and waited for a moment, waiting for applause, before sending it off to alert Rollins.

Amelia walked off as she stood up, adding her hands to the applause. A few people whistled and Jack added in, glad to add to the ruckus of support for the young redhead that had probably been in pain every second of her rallying speech. Just as the applause had started to die down, fireworks exploded across the night sky, and the crowd was thrown into another frenzy of applause. People pointed at the message one firework spelled out:

Good Luck Amelia!
~G.G, H.H, R.R, S.S

Jack grinned. She and Gary had done well designing that.

Amelia made her way down from the stage, shaking hands with the members of the board that lined the steps down from the raised platform, getting patted on the back and reassured by many she neither recognized nor desired to talk to. But she couldn’t exactly say that, so instead she nodded politely at each person, smiling when it was customary to do so, and thanking those that offered words of support. She was basically on autopilot until she was off the stage, when a renewed vigor in the applause made Amelia turn around to see what the ruckus was about.

Across the night sky, visible through the high windows of the Great Hall, was written a message in tall, sparkling letters. Although the signatures on the bottom were familiar to Amelia and the rest of the crowd, Amelia might have been one of the only ones who knew that one was missing. She was feeling a bloom of actual courage and pride blooming in her chest, which she had not felt at all yet since receiving the news that she would be headmistress, and after a few seconds of relishing in the moment, she turned to look for Jack. That girl had far too much of a penchant for fireworks to be uninvolved in this, and no one else liked Amelia enough to do something so kind.

It took a minute, because so many people had gotten to their feet, but Amelia was able to maneuver herself just right and catch a glimpse of Jack in the crowd. The shorter redhead was grinning at her creation, looking quite proud herself. The young headmistress found herself smiling ear to ear as she excused herself from the people around her and beelined for Jack, moving as quickly as possible without being outright rude to those on the way.

“You know, I think this friendship thing might not be so bad afterall,” Amelia said upon reaching Jack, still beaming with the relatively new emotion of having someone put so much effort into supporting her in such a positive way, “If I wasn’t so opposed to invasions of personal space, I might even hug you right now,” the former Ravenclaw added with a smile.

“Thank you,” Amelia added, trying not to gush. It was weird to experience this, because she hadn’t ever had a friend who had ever done something so big for her, or at so perfect a moment, and she was at a bit of a loss for words with Jack, so much so that her body hadn’t even registered Marcus’ presence next to Jack as something it ought to be freaking out over.

Jack, for the most part, ignored the rukus around her. Everyone was impressed, and a lot of those who had looked more reproachfully at Amelia were now looking at her with wonder, trying to figure out what had earned her such a glowing (literally) message of approval. Jack took every 'wow' and 'whoa' and 'wicked' as a personal compliment, and had she not the self control, she would have yelled, "Come to Weasleys Wizard's Wheezes for your own custom fireworks!"

But that might be a BIT obvious.

Gary had thought it was stupid. She had originally told him it was for advertising, but once she had sworn him to secrecy, he had thought she was an idiot. What sort of publicity stunt did not even credit the brains behind it? She supposed Gary did not understand this... friendship thing. Though, to be fair, neither did Jack.

Amelia came up and Jack braced herself for the other redhead to tell Jack it had been risky, but the smile on her face assured Jack that Amelia did not regret the fireworks display. She used the strange f-word and Jack felt inside reel as she identified Amelia as a friend, a real friend. Amelia said she might have hugged her and Jack said, "It's okay, I don't do touching anyway." She smirked. "And I think it might not only be not bad, it might be sort of nice." Jack grinned.

Amelia thanked her and Jack glanced over at their company and said, "For what? You deserved the applause, it was a sincere speech. To our new Headmistress." Jack raised her glass.

Amelia’s smile only deepened when Jack responded to her suggestion that she might have hugged the shorter girl, realizing the benefits of their shared aversion to touchy-feely-ness. That had been a problem when Amelia had attempted to be friends with Arthur – at that had been nearly a year ago now, and a failed attempt, at that. Arthur was the type of person who reached for your hand, or hugged you when you came or went, or brushed up against you for no reason. It had been a problem.

“Nice. Agreed,” Amelia said with a nod of approval, her smile turning into a smirk. Who would have thought she would ever be having this conversation? And with Jack Dyllan of all people. Eventually the disbelief about this friendship would have to wear off, but it was still too new. Amelia hadn’t yet recovered from the complete shift in her social connectedness.

Amelia’s smile slipped a little and a blush crept into her cheeks again when Jack raised her glass to toast her, being tugged from her moment of ‘I’m a normal person, I have friends’ into the real world of ‘I’m a girl with a friend who also happens to be headmistress, which in no way makes me normal.’ But although Amelia would have preferred to pretend things were simpler, the reality of the situation now was that any chance she had at normalcy and invisibility had disappeared when she took on this position. So since Jack meant well, and there was nothing really Amelia could do to go back to her previous state of wallflowery, she grabbed a glass of champagne off the tray of a passing House Elf and raised it to meet Jack’s, her eyes flitting over to Marcus momentarily, inviting him to join them, but looking back to Jack before her blush had the chance to darken.

“To the people who will get her through the chaos that comes with that title,” Amelia added, smiling gratefully over at Jack and only self-consciously tucking her hair back behind her ear once.