Prologue III: A New Headmaster

On January 18th, a brown burrowing owl flew into an open window at the Denys Wilkinson Building (the physics building at Oxford). With its characteristic frown, the owl disdain stuck out its leg to the man seated at the office desk. The man, of extraordinary height with peppered hair, took the letter attached to the owl's leg and saw the Hogwarts crest. Momentarily stunned by the sight of the crest, he got a nice peck on the finger awakening him from his stupor. 

"Ah," Dr. Gage exclaimed, as he hastily put his finger to his mouth to prevent the blood from being drawn. 

With slight hesitation, Dr. Gage opened the letter.

Dear Mr. Gregory Gage,

You have been summoned by the Board of Governors to be interviewed for the vacancy of Hogwarts Headmaster.

We expect to see you at the Board of Governors headquarters at 9:00 am on January 25th.

Ensure that you send a detailed course curriculum that states the changes we should expect to see within the first year of your tenure no later than January 23rd. 

We expect your owl stating that you accept the role no later than January 20th.

Cordially,

Lucius Malfoy

Head of the Board of Governors

There was an additional letter attached that had a crest that showed a white 'M' surrounded by two black dragons with a green and black field. It read,

Dear Lord Gage of the noble house of Gage,

I am attaching this letter to remind you that should you fail to accept your role as headmaster, you can expect your twin son and daughter, Justin Gage and Brenda Gage, to be expelled from Hogwarts due to your wife, Jessica Gage nee Selwyn, being convicted of forbidden magic research.

Furthermore, I expect to see Vice Headmaster Minerva McGonagall replaced by Professor Severus Snape as Vice Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Yours,

Lucius Malfoy

Lord of the ancient and most noble house of Malfoy and member of the Sacred 28

"So, blackmail is it, Lucius?" Dr. Gage muttered with a wry chuckle. "Luckily my research finished before Yule. Very well." With a swift motion Gregory took out a ball-point pen from the mug on his desk and drafted a reply.

Dear Hogwarts Board of Governors,

I am willing to accept the role as Headmaster of Hogwarts. 

I will have my curriculum sent to you shortly.

Sincerely,

Gregory Gage

Doctor of Physics, Vice Dean of Oxford

He quickly sealed the letter, gave the annoying owl a piece of granola that was on his desk, and sent it away.

He leaned back in his seat and thought, Oh Lucius, what a mistake you have made by attempting to blackmail me. I would have accepted the role anyway, as I do not want to see my children's education become worse than it already is. But now, he thought mischievously, I am going to milk you and the Board of Governors for all they are worth.

Soon the morning of the 25th arrived, and Dr. Gage, now headmaster prospect strolled towards the room where his interview with the board of governors was to be held.

Before entering, however, he was stopped by an irate Lucius Malfoy. 

"Lord Gage," he said with some venom, "your proposal has completely derailed my plans and is entirely unacceptable."

"I don't comprehend what you mean, Lucius," Gregory replied softly. "In exchange for me making Snape Vice Headmaster, I would expect some aid in pushing my proposal forward. Furthermore, we wouldn't want the wizarding world to know that our dear Head of the Board threatens its headmaster into compliance."

"You dare!" Lucius spat. "I will make sure your--"

"You will do no such thing Lucius," Gregory calmly interrupted. "My family is more than willing to move abroad, after all I moved most my family's assets to France and the muggle world during the war, as you should know, since you have been eating up the market space I abandoned. One shouldn't forget the help they got from others. Furthermore, Hogwarts is the worst wizarding school in the world, while Beauxbatons is ranked fourth, so you would be doing me a favor if you expelled my children."

Lucius' face briefly turned red from anger, then his occlumency took over and he quickly schooled his features. "Very well, I shall back your proposal, but I will not allow you to change the Potions professor," he said.

"Oh, so you would rather Professor Snape remained as Potions professor rather than become Vice Headmaster without a class to teach." Gregory replied slightly surprised, as what Lucius requested was very much not Slytherin-like.

"Yes, Severus told me he would rather leave the school than give up his position as potions professor and head of house." Lucius replied coolly

"Shall we enter?" Gregory asked.

"Let's," Lucius snarled.

As they entered, Gregory saw some familiar faces, his old school rival Henry Rowle, the poisonous beauty Josephine Shafiq, and the dogmatic follower of Dumbledore Wilbur Chandler to name a few. Additionally, there were Cassius Parkinson, Clay Wright, Christopher Clay, Emily Carter, Li Chen, Annabelle Nott, Elphias Doge, and Joseph Bulstrode.

The surprising lack of purebloods on the board was largely due to Albus Dumbledore's attempts to ensure that the board was entirely behind him, which would allow whatever machinations he did at the school to be largely ignored. He had largely succeeded in the endeavor, until the first IWSI, where Hogwarts placed a disappointing fourth causing a minor upheaval within the board and the addition of Joseph Bulstrode and Cassius Parkinson, bolstering the number of pureblooded families on the board.

The interview for the job was anything but smooth, while most of the board was fine with Gregory becoming the new headmaster, the proposals he made to change the atmosphere of the school and how things were taught there were ambitious, expensive, and radical. This caused many of the board, specifically the neutral faction, to begin to question whether or not he was the right person for headmaster. 

"Lord Gage, these proposals are ridiculous and unacceptable." Henry Rowle spat.