After the meeting ended, Professor McGonagall was the last to leave. She paused at the door and looked back at Dumbledore, who was sitting at the desk. Outside the window, the sky was shifting from pale blue to deep blue, and the last trace of orange had vanished below the horizon. Only a wall lamp remained lit in the office, casting Dumbledore's profile into a sharply defined contrast of light and shadow.
He did not move. He merely sat there, looking toward the southeast, where Lockhart had vanished. That direction was now completely dark, and nothing could be seen.
On the seventh day after Lockhart's departure, Hogwarts received its first formal reply.
The letter came from a retired Swiss Auror named Albrecht von Wald. Sixty-three years old, he had served as a tactical adviser to the Auror Strike Team during Europe's Dark Magic crackdown twenty years earlier. After retiring, he had chosen to live in seclusion in a small cabin in the Alps, spending his days keeping bees and writing his memoirs.
Professor Flitwick read the letter aloud at the staff meeting. Its wording was polite and its tone regretful, ending with: "Due to personal health reasons, I am unable to accept Hogwarts' invitation to join the faculty. I ask for your understanding." The paper was fine parchment, the ink dark blue, and the signature bore a personal seal—a circle with an eagle in flight at its center.
Flitwick turned the parchment over and checked the back, confirming there was no postscript. Then he looked up at Dumbledore.
"This is the third rejection letter." Professor McGonagall's voice was quiet, but every word seemed carefully weighed. "The first was from Mr. Delacroix in France, who said he was beginning work on an important book about werewolf behavior and could not leave