Dean Thomas

I spent a very frustrating morning closeted with the administrators at Epping Forest, finalising the parchmentwork to officially change young Dean Thomas’ legal status to halfblood. It took some knocking together of heads, but I think we have worked out most of the kinks. I have been quite anxious to get this all resolved as quickly as possible, as I had arranged with the Headmistress of Hogwarts to have the boy join the rising second years on the camping trip which is being held next week. The transition, of course, may be quite difficult for him, but the camping trip might help him begin to make some friends under less formal circumstances, at least, before school begins. There has been some uncertainty as to whether he should be put with the other children his own age, even though he has missed his first year, or classed with the new first years. In the end, after I discussed the boy’s history with his work supervisors, it was tentatively decided to group him with his own age cohorts.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I interviewed the boy myself for a half hour. Of course, there are substantial deficits in his education—-he will need to be tutored in transfiguration, flying, astronomy, and history of magic. But he is quite bright and is willing to work very hard, according to the healers who have been supervising him in the infirmary where he has worked for the past four years. Unlike many mudbloods of his age, he is able to read and figure perfectly well, which is part of the reason he was selected to work in the infirmary in the first place. (Apparently, his mother was a schoolteacher and tutored him herself, until his magic manifested when he was eight, and he was officially classed as a mudblood and taken away from his family.) Since he has been assisting healers, he has a working knowledge that is quite as strong as that of any other first year of Herbology and Potions and even Charms (although limited to healing charms, mostly, naturally).

He will be leaving Epping Forest this weekend with one of the employees of the Department of Purity Control, who will take him to London and assist him in buying his wand. From there, I believe he will join the rest of the children leaving for the camping trip on Monday. I'll ask my boys Ron and Percy to watch out for him. I believe that he will continue on to Hogwarts with Professor Sinistra after the camping trip is over, where the professors will have the opportunity to assess him further and give him a bit of a crash course before the other students arrive. I imagine the final decision as to whether he will be grouped with the first or second years can be made then.