Chapter 7

“Settle down!” Alastair shouted. It was the only way to be heard over the hubbub. “Everyone! Please settle down!”

The first faculty meeting of the year—only four days before the meeting with the Board of Governors—and it was total mayhem. Everyone wanted their say about something—about everything—and positively no one wanted to wait their turn.

“We have to get these parents under control!” said old Mr. Huecloud, Hexes teacher, looking frenzied. “They’re gonna cause a riot at the meeting!”

“Calm down,” Mr. Banner said. “You’re being melodramatic. They have a right to share their minds, even if I disagree with them.”

Mr. Huecloud, in fact, did not calm down. If anything, his boisterousness grew. “Most of us disagree with them! They can’t be allowed to run wild like this!”

“Not all of us are in opposition,” Sebastian said tersely, arms crossed. “Some of us think they might have a point.”

Oh boy.

Alastair pulled out his wand and sent a noisy jet of sparks into the air. Everyone stopped in their tracks to stare at him. Clearing his throat, and putting on his most authoritative voice—the one he used when Glimmerglass students were bullying each other or running in the halls—he said, “It appears there are some things we need to discuss. Let’s start with the obvious.”

The others remained silent, and no one seemed to want to make eye contact—except Amaryllis Shadow. She stared at Alastair through her gold-framed glasses, expression unreadable.

“The parents are upset about an issue,” Alastair went on. “And since I’d rather not go into this meeting blind, would anyone clarify what issue that might be?”

Sebastian scoffed, but for all his bluster, leaned back in his chair, and remained quiet.

“Anyone?” Alastair asked.

Ms. Shadow stood, smoothing out her pencil skirt, and adjusting her blouse’s collar. “Some of them are unhappy with Ozelius’ choice of interim headmaster,” she said, voice clear as a bell in winter. “They wanted someone… more familiar with Emberstone and its ways.”

She glanced at Sebastian, who avoided her gaze.

Alastair nodded. “I understand. And thank you for the honesty. This is a lot to take in, and I’ll be the first to admit, the parents do have a point.”

Some of the faculty murmured in surprise.

“In part,” Alastair added. “I could certainly see why it would make more sense to install someone with a working history here at Emberstone. It’s a lot for someone new to learn.”

A few of the teachers agreed audibly.

“However, I am not new. Not here at Emberstone, or to this particular job. I lived here for eight years, and I have been the headmaster of Glimmerglass nearly that long as well. And I trust Ozelius—and I trust that there was a reason he offered me the position. And to you, I pledge to do my best to represent Emberstone, to listen to all of you, and to make the headmaster proud—and I do hope you’ll grant me the chance to do it.”

Sebastian’s arms were still crossed, but he appeared to be listening.

After a beat of silence, Ms. Snapdragon raised her glass of water. “Hear, hear! You’re doing a fine job already, Headmaster Meade!” She then turned to the other teachers. “This young man has some great ideas. He listened—really listened—to our Non-Magical proposal.”

To this, groans broke out.

Ms. Snapdragon continued as if she hadn’t heard them, “I know there are some sore feelings here—but we owe it to him and to Headmaster Ozelius to stand behind him. We have to present a united front.”

Mr. Banner, Mr. Kerplunk, and a few others nodded.

“I’ve got a silver lining for all of you.” Alastair paused for dramatic effect. “Should this all go badly, I’m out after a year.” He laughed and took heart hearing others join in. “So we may as well just do our best and see how it goes.”

The tension in the room began to dissipate, but Alastair couldn’t help noticing Ms. Shadow was still giving him that level, piercing glare.

He cleared his throat. “So, anyway. Let’s get down to the rest of our business for today. There’s much to discuss—”

The remainder of the meeting was surprisingly productive. After what Alastair considered a fairly well-given speech, most of the faculty seemed willing to rally behind him—even those who would have preferred Sebastian—since, as he said, he’d be gone after a year and couldn’t do too much damage. They continued to review the plans for the year without too much trouble. There were a few new classes in addition to the expanded Non-Magical program—though, thankfully, there were no new teachers aside from Alastair.

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“What’s all this about the Dueling League?” Sebastian said once they were through. He held up one of the documents each of them had been given in prep for the Board of Governors’ meeting.

Everyone groaned.

“Not a good idea,” Eloise said. “Dueling? Our kids? They’ll bloody kill each other. It’ll turn into a battle royale.”

Alastair remained quiet, taking in the facial expressions of everyone in attendance. He had trouble understanding why they would all be so against dueling. In truth, he’d never understood why they’d done away with Dueling League at Emberstone. He remembered in fourth-year, there was a brief period where he and a few of the other boys would toss spells at one another in the garden. He recalled it being harmless fun.

“Emberstone students are… highly competitive,” Ms. Snapdragon said. “I think we can all imagine the ways in which that could go wrong.”

Perhaps Alastair had never seen things from the teachers’ perspective before. He could indeed imagine the ways it could—and probably had—gone wrong nearly half a century ago when the Dueling League was disbanded. His year had been full of bright mages with no issue going a bit too far if it would have put them at the top of their class.

Perhaps it would be best not to bring the league back.

“According to our notes, it’s a relatively small group of parents who are really pushing for it,” Alastair said. “But still, we might get outvoted. We would have to prepare for such an outcome.”

Ms. Shadow rose to speak again, “Then we get outvoted and there’s not much more we can do about it, is there? At least then they know where we stand on the matter.”

She was right. If the votes went in the parents’ favor, they would have to take it in stride. He didn’t relish the thought of having to stick an overmatched first-year’s arms back on after an overpowered hex.

“Perhaps we take the time we have to make inroads to parents who might vote against us?” Alastair suggested.

Ms. Snapdragon pressed her hands firmly to the table. “I do have a hair appointment at Mrs. Tipple’s Curling Wand tomorrow morning. She and her husband might be persuaded.”