The day before the opening day of the new pre-school found Severus and his staff in the cafeteria of the new wing. There was a large pot of coffee, a larger pot of tea and a plate of pastries.

"Welcome to all of you," he started the meeting. "I'm sure you are all wondering exactly what we are doing and I've got to tell you that I am too. We are going to be teaching in a brand new way, one that has not been tried in the magical world before, and it is going to be a challenge to each and every one of us. It won't always be easy, we are going to have to forget a lot of what we have learned, but I believe that the results will be spectacular."

"As you are all aware by this point, we are going to be seeing a new type of student and we are going to have to adjust our teaching accordingly. We will not have very many structured classes, mainly reading and arithmetic, and even those won't be structured in the way we have been used to. These students are going to need to work at their own pace, and I believe that you are going to find it will be a faster pace than you are used to seeing. Are there any questions so far?"

Constance Green raised her hand and receiving a smile and nod from Snape she asked, "How will it be structured then?"

Severus smiled, "It won't be structured at all. As I said, we will teach all of the children reading and arithmetic but other than that they will know what they wish to study and our job will be to simply guide and help them. Some of them, such as Harry, will already know how to read; some will know math and those students will probably not show very much interest in the classes. If so, we will give them a test and if they pass it the classes won't be required. There will of course be rules. You will find that most of our students don't care for rules. But if they are explained in a forthright and honest manner I believe that the majority of the children will abide by them. These new students value honesty very highly and will not tolerate dishonesty, whether in others or themselves. And now I am going to turn the floor over to Dr. Brown."

Stephanie stood and addressed the teachers, "As of this morning we have ten children enrolled in our new pre-school. They are much younger than the other Hogwarts students and will require closer supervision. You will probably find though that these children are more self sufficient than most children their ages are."

"We do have two seven-year-old twins coming to us that will definitely require supervision. Fred and George Weasley would normally have stayed in the primary school that they have been attending, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley want to send them to us. I believe these two young men are Indigos, but they have not done well in the muggle school. They have been labelled disruptive and troublesome. It has been suggested that they may be ADHD. I have talked to the authorities at the school, to their parents, and to the boys themselves. These boys are definitely middle children; they have three older siblings and two younger. When they started experiencing outbursts of accidental magic they found that it brought attention their way. When they started using the accidental magic to play pranks on their teachers, classmates, and family members it brought them even more attention. Fred and George are extremely bright boys and the poor muggle teachers didn't know what had hit them. You are going to have to be on your toes around them."

"The youngest Weasley boy, Ron, will be attending our school too. The Weasley family has not had very much money until recently and Ron has had a hard time realizing that money is not the most important thing in life. He is a good kid, and once he realizes that being poor does not make him inferior he will be fine. There is also a younger child, a daughter, but she will not be attending until next year."

"I'm sure you have all met my daughter Jaelle and the Headmaster's son, Harry Potter. Jaelle is a quiet child and so is Harry. Harry however is another one we need to observe carefully. He is extremely intelligent and very advanced for his age. He has been reading advanced textbooks from his father's library since he was a year old. Reading them, comprehending them, and performing the spells he reads about. Harry performs transfiguration, levitation, and has already become an animagus. All of this has been done on his own after reading books about the subjects. He also performs wandless magic."

"Hermione Granger is a muggle born witch who is also extremely intelligent. I really do not believe that she will do well in this kind of learning environment, I am afraid that she needs the more structured classroom. We shall have to see."

"Neville Longbottom will also be coming tomorrow. He is the son of Alice and Frank Longbottom, who are incurably insane because of the torture they endured at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange.  Neville has very little self-confidence and very low self-esteem. He is a bright child, but he doesn't believe that he is. Neville is very interested in Herbology and given the proper encouragement will probably show skill in potions."

"We also have Sean Smith, a muggle born whose parents are aware of and accept the magical community, Cora Wright and Draco Malfoy. It is very possible that Draco may be a problem for a while. His mother tried to keep him away from the dark things that went on in their home but his father did not always permit it. He has seen much more than any child should ever see and it has left some scars. I believe though that with enough encouragement Draco could turn out to be one of our more outstanding students."

Stephanie sat back down and Severus stood to bring the meeting to a close. As he was getting ready to release the teachers to go about their business Dumbledore appeared in the doorway.

"Good morning everyone, I hope you are all as excited about tomorrow as I am. We are going to see some incredible things from our new students and I cannot wait to see them. But I came down to tell you that our new Minister of Magic is giving an important speech this evening at the Ministry of Magic Building and I would very much like to see all of you there. I believe that he is going to have some surprises for us."

After Dumbledore left the teachers stood to leave. Severus stopped Stephanie as she was on her way out the door. "Would you like to accompany me to the speech this evening?" he asked. "Jaelle can stay with Harry, Daisy and Dobby are excellent babysitters."

Stephanie agreed to the plan and returned to her office. Several people remarked later about the silly grin that was plastered on Headmaster Snape's face for the rest of the day.

Arriving at the Ministry building that evening they found the room filled to capacity. Severus, seeing Dumbledore seated in the first row with the other members of the Wizengamot, waved and received a wink in return. As they took their seats Arthur Weasley walked out upon the stage and stood behind the podium.

"Good evening everyone, thank you for taking time to come down here tonight. I will try not to take too much of your time, but there are several important things that I need to speak to you about this evening. I have spent the past few weeks meeting with several people and with Merlin, the Council (no one knew what this Council was of course), and the Wizengamot. It is time for our world to change. We have become stagnant and if we do not make some changes our world is going to get smaller and smaller until it is gone."

"It is time for all of the members of our world to receive the same rights that we have reserved for ourselves. Being a wizard or a witch does not mean that one is superior to the other magical creatures that inhabit our world. The giants, the centaurs, the vampires, the goblins, and the werewolves are not inferior just because they are different. Difference is not a bad thing, nor should it be used to keep any person, magical or otherwise subservient to us. These members of our world should be able to hold jobs, to vote in our elections, and to live where they wish, just as we do."

He paused and studied the faces in front of him before continuing. 

"A man's worth should not be based upon his looks or his family name. A man's worth should be based upon the kind of person, or goblin, or werewolf, or vampire, or giant, or centaur he is. These races have just as many intelligent, talented, kind, good members as our does. Why should we hold ourselves above them and despise them as inferior to ourselves? Why should they be hated because they are different? Why should a man who was bitten by a werewolf as a child be forbidden to be the guardian of his best friend's orphaned son? Why should a vampire not be allowed to work for the Ministry?"

There were a few murmurs of agreement from the crowd.

"Our world is coming out of one of the darkest eras in its history and this dark era was brought about by hate and ignorance and bigotry. The other magical races do not trust us, and who can blame them? This has got to change and we are the ones who have to bring about this change. Never again should fear rule our world. All of the citizens of the magical community will be treated equally from this moment on. No one will be denied their rights because we are afraid that given equal rights they will rise in the world and become as good as we are. They are already as good as we are and each and every one should have and will have the right to go to school, and to work, and to live where ever and how ever they wish."

Arthur took a deep breath.

"Because of hatred and fear we have hidden our world from the muggle world. This is not the dark ages; we need no longer fear the witch-hunts. We are so concerned about the blood lines, well let me tell you, I am a pure blood, but that does not make me one iota better than the muggle that I see when I go to London, or the half-blood, or the muggle-born that works down the hall from me."

There was another brief pause.

"It is time for us to start emerging from the shadows. We can learn much from the muggle world and we have much to teach them. I am asking all of you tonight to support your Ministry of Magic as we work to make our world a better place for everyone."

With this Arthur Weasley turned around and walked off of the stage. For a moment the atrium was completely silent and then Albus Dumbledore stood and started clapping. Soon everyone was on their feet clapping and cheering for Arthur Weasley, the new Minister of Magic.