Tom was finally ready to summon a new teacher.
Something this significant obviously called for notifying everyone in the learning space. Andros and Ariana were the first to come running, followed by Grindelwald, who'd been in the middle of chatting with Dumbledore over Whatsapp.
The moment he heard a new colleague was coming, he abandoned the conversation entirely, tossing off a quick "off to take a bath" before sending his consciousness straight into the learning space.
Last to arrive was Ravenclaw, who hadn't shown her face in quite some time.
When she finally did appear, though, everyone froze at the state she was in.
"Sister Rowena, what happened to you?"
Ravenclaw normally dressed impeccably, her style effortless and versatile, every movement carrying a kind of magnetic elegance befitting a striking, mature woman.
But now... her sky-blue robes bore several scorch marks, with thick smears of grease in places, and her once-smooth hair had gone wild, tangled into something closer to a crow's nest. She looked, honestly, like a beautiful woman who'd lost her mind.
"What happened?" Ravenclaw echoed the question back, distant. The other three stared at her with open curiosity, waiting for an explanation.
Nobody noticed a certain guilty-looking boy quietly taking two steps back.
But in a space this small, with only the five of them present, how could Ravenclaw possibly miss it?
She stormed over at once, seizing Tom firmly by the ear. "Little troublemaker. Where do you think you're sneaking off to?"
"Ro, Rowena, calm down." Tom laughed sheepishly. "I never pushed you to do any of this. You're the one who takes everything too seriously and worked yourself into this state."
"You didn't push me? Then what do you call dumping fifty or sixty questions on me every single day?"
Ravenclaw's voice trembled with genuine grievance. If the other three Founders could see her now, they'd hardly believe their eyes.
The wise witch who normally smiled through everything while staying utterly unreadable, the one even a schemer like Slytherin preferred not to provoke, reduced to this?
The others watched with equal fascination, and thankfully Ravenclaw didn't keep them waiting, launching into a full account of everything she'd been through lately.
Soul experiments on the Horcruxes. Research and development into breaking blood curses. Updates to the communication runes.
These three projects currently sat at the top of Tom's research priorities, and he'd assigned a Mind Avatar to each one specifically. Every day, after absorbing the memories each avatar had gathered, his Boundless Thoughts talent let him produce an endless stream of insights and half-formed ideas.
He'd then write down every open question that came out of it. Some he solved himself through Transcendent Mode, but even then, he'd forward a copy to Ravenclaw anyway, eager to hear her take on it.
A day or two of that would have been manageable. But dozens, sometimes over a hundred questions a day, many of them deep, foundational questions about the nature of the soul and of magic itself, would drive even Ravenclaw half mad.
The reason she'd stayed out of sight all this time, growing steadily more short-tempered, could be laid ninety-nine percent at Tom's feet. The remaining one percent belonged to the space itself, for ever having dragged her in to begin with.
Once Ravenclaw finished recounting her ordeal, Grindelwald, Andros, and Ariana all turned to stare, wide-eyed, at the boy standing there with his usual bashful smile, and the same thought crossed all three minds at once.
What a piece of work.
Sure, nobody grew tired inside the space, and everyone could stay sharp and full of energy at will, but that didn't mean you worked someone half to death regardless!
Andros found himself suddenly grateful he wasn't nearly as brilliant as Ravenclaw, or he'd have been first in line to be worked into the ground himself.
"Well... time waits for no one." Facing down the room's collective glare, Tom scrambled for an excuse. "Rowena, you know how badly I want to keep improving. There was really no ill intent behind it."
He hurried to change the subject. "Besides, I'm already working on it, aren't I? A new teacher's about to join us, which should take plenty of that burden off your shoulders."
At the mention of a new teacher, the anger on Ravenclaw's face eased somewhat. She released Tom's ear and even gave it a gentle, apologetic rub afterward.
"Well then, quit stalling and get on with it."
She'd been endlessly curious about the summoning ritual for a while now, eager to finally watch a full ceremony unfold as an outside observer. Every attempt she'd made so far to analyze it firsthand had turned up nothing useful.
Tom pulled a face. This woman's mood really could turn on a dime.
Glancing at the system interface, he noted Ravenclaw's approval rating sat at forty-nine. Tom strongly suspected the woman had some kind of masochistic streak; how else had her approval climbed several points after all the grief he'd put her through lately?
"Wait." Andros cut in just as Tom prepared to begin.
"What is it?"
"Old Gellert, what's your read?" Andros tilted his chin toward Grindelwald. "I'm betting it's a man this time."
"I wanted to bet on a man too."
"No good." Andros shook his head hard enough to rattle. "I called it first. You can't steal my bet."
Grindelwald shrugged. "Then there's nothing left to wager on."
Tom's expression flattened. He was starting to catch on. "You're betting on my new colleague now?"
"Isn't it boring otherwise?" Andros smiled, all innocence. "Just a bit of harmless fun. The stakes are only a favor, one piece of casual magic."
Ariana huffed, offended. "Why do you both keep guessing a man? Do you look down on women that much?"
Ravenclaw, rather than taking offense, offered a thoughtful reply instead. "If it were up to me, I'd guess the new teacher is a witch too."
"Why's that?" Ariana asked, puzzled.