Chapter 16 - The Hogwarts Contract - II

She looked embarrassed on being caught and said, "You are a smart one aren't you. Give the contract back I will give you another one which will please you."

I smiled and said, "I read a lot professor. Also the contract looked odd and had a lot of blank spaces between paragraphs. Since this is the magical world I think you hid some lines using magic too. It could have said I am giving away everything I have to you for free. If it like that then I would call you and the Headmaster evil and greedy professor. I hope it was not."

I saw a trace of anger in her eyes when I called the Headmaster evil. She quickly calmed herself and denied my allegations. She then gave me a new one which did not have any hidden lines but the fees were now equal to muggle born ones. What I did not like was the headmaster would be made my magical guardian with full control over my dealings.

I had read of a new law that was passed in the Wizengamont recently by families who were alarmed when they found out what happened to the orphans due to the actions of their Magical guardians. They did not want their children to have the same fate. So they passed a law which made it possible for the kids of Noble families to make their Magical Guardians only have limited power over them. The magical guardians can act on their own only during life threatening emergencies otherwise both the child and guardians can discuss things like contracts but the final decision will be in the hands of the child. They will still have access over the vaults but the family vaults had its own protections so the families did not mind it.

I will not sign this contract without the contract following the above law.

I told her, "By looking at the people in Diagon Alley I don't think they still would be able to pay this tuition fees for their children. It is still high. But my main problem is the guardian thing. I do not know the headmaster and I have not even heard anything about him and after what I have experienced, I will not be foolish enough to give him control over me. So I will look visit a law firm tomorrow and see my options before I make a decision. Maybe I could hire tutors as I think that may be cheaper."

I knew that I would not be her favourite student after this but they left me no choice. I knew I was safe due to my status and they would not be able to do any harm to me without bringing attention to themselves so they will not take any drastic actions.

She tried arguing but I did not give her an inch. She started telling me all about Dumbledore which bored me a lot. About that I said, "So you are saying that a person who has 3 full time jobs which should not be allowed as it means he will not be able to concentrate on one thing, is also the Magical Guardian of all the muggle born and orphan students. Are you people insane? He is also more than 100 years old. I don't know how he is able to manage everything as all the jobs he has is not even related. International politics, domestic politics, headmaster of a school and a guardian of hundreds of children. It is not possible for a single person to handle all this even if he is called the next coming of Merlin. I would be mad to make him my Guardian."

She was mad after hearing me say all this but she knew what I was talking about since the work of headmaster was mainly done by her. She finally sighed and replaced the contract with another one which she wrote up in front of me. She then said, "Ok. This is the contract that should have been given to you. You still have to have a magical guardian but a law was passed recently which made it possible for you to make him have only limited decision making ability over you. This is your final option. You can have a lawyer look at it but you have no other choice. If you do not agree to sign it then your magic will be bound and your memories about magic removed. Make your decision."

I looked at the new contract. It was as she said. In the contract it was written that Headmaster would be my Guardian but would have to follow the law passed recently. The law was specified in the contract. The fees were now equal to the Pure blood fees. I went through the contract thoroughly and did not find anything else that would cause me any harm. I also activated my mage sight to check.

I smiled at her and said, "This contract looks satisfactory and I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Since I don't know which law firm to trust, I will have to trust you and believe that this is the best offer I can get. So I do not think I need waste my time to see a lawyer. I will sign it."

I signed the contract and it glowed for an instant specifying the contact was made. She took the contract from my hands without any smile. She then gave me the ticket for the Hogwarts express and left without giving me any directions or any other instructions. She told me she would see me next in school and said that she hoped I was not part of her house. She was not happy with me and maybe not giving directions and giving me the much needed instructions about the magical world was some kind of a petty revenge by her but I did not care as I knew everything that I should know about the magical world from the books I have read from my library.