HSWW History of Magic Task 4: Write about someone who is bullied/picked on/singled out.
Character Competition: Practice Round, McGonagall, Genre: Hurt\Comfort
The Golden Snitch Forum, White Day Competition
School and house: Hogwarts, Hufflepuff
Prompts used: white, "Who ate all my chocolates?", mask, roses
Giftee: Viviantha
She lay in the bed and tried desperately to piece together the events of last night. Nobody from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement waited at Minerva McGonagall's sickbed to question her or make a statement, and this suited her perfectly fine. Minerva stared at the white ceiling and borrowed some paperback from a matron who claimed the Professor appeared bored out of her mind.
People read her face easily. Elphinstone Urquart had warned her of this time and time again, but she hadn't possessed the sense to actually listen to the old man. He used to mirror her expressions back to her unashamedly because he'd feared no consequences. Thinking about his crinkly-eyed smile and the cigar scent made her laugh. And this hurt.
The Healers asked her not to talk. She couldn't do this for a few days, so it proved an easy task. A matron bustled over when she groaned and worked with quick hands to relieve the slightest pains or discomforts. Minerva had no next of kin. When Elphinstone died in 1985, she did not bother updating her paperwork because Madam Promfrey kept her running in fine shape; she hadn't been to the hospital in years.
The Healer asked what hurt.
"Everything."
Minerva gasped as her chest constricted; she compared this to someone squeezing her heart, but Minerva couldn't put this into words. Probably reading it in her patient's face, the matron, Ruth Wood, helped her back into the bed and checked a clipboard as she ran through an examination. Minerva knew this answer proved almost as helpful as silence. She didn't care.
"Someone asked to see you," said Ruth brightly, draping her stethoscope back around her neck and notating the clipboard with a quill. She spoke very quickly, Minerva noticed, yet Ruth had been kind enough to let her move around like an agèd woman, so Minerva had no complaints. Not that she could voice them.
Minerva frowned, imagining her brother demanding to see her. It was not Malcolm. She recognized the woman's build, although it had been many years since they'd seen each other, and this was probably the last woman she wanted to see at the moment.
Amelia Bones stood there, dressed in casual clothing and tapping her foot. She touched her short cropped hair and checked her watch. Minerva waved at Ruth, hoping she got the message, and Ruth shuffled off with her clipboards.
"I am not here to coherence you in any way." Amelia pulled up a chair and held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. Minerva scoffed. On second thought, she'd let the government sweep this under the rug, thank you very much, without them jumping to the department head to shut this down. "Minerva, please. I am here to represent you."
"Why?" Minerva, immediately suspicious, shot an accusation at her. She knit her eyebrows together.
"Because there's a difference between right and wrong." Swearing she had no intentions of shutting this down, Amelia recited a line Elphinstone Urquart had shared with his students. She sipped her coffee and rolled her eyes, sounding angry with herself. "And I seem to have forgotten this lately. And if this had happened fifteen years ago, Mr. Urquart would've had Delores Umbridge out on her ass in a heartbeat. I'm trying to do the right thing. You're family."
"I'm not." Minerva accepted a coffee with thanks.
"You never leave family. I'm a Bones. Edward's daughter. Come on." Amelia crossed her legs. relaxing when Minerva flashed a hint of a smile. Amelia lived by the law and a lot of sayings she'd picked up along the way from lawyers, judges, and witches and wizards of the Wizengamot. She sniffed. "I don't particularly like that woman. She came running to my secretary. Catherine said a few choice words because she's mine, and when Delores threatened to go over her head, Catherine answered her with one of these."
Amelia demonstrated a hand gesture. Minerva laughed even though every muscle in her body hurt. Amelia got up, apologizing profusely as she chuckled, too, and the years of whatever passed between them faded away. She fluffed Minerva's pillows and got up to relieve some ailment. She opened a bottle, tipped pain pills into her hand, skimmed the dosage and handed these over.
"I miss you," said Amelia, sitting back down. Minerva swallowed the pills with difficulty, but she squeezed Amelia's hand reassuringly. The pills, unlike the Muggle medicine that took at least a quarter of an hour to take effect, kicked in less than a minute. "Delores says you attacked her while students were taking their Astronomy exam in the dead of night."
"No. That's a lie. That's …" Persistant crippled her.
Struggling to breathe, Minerva signaled for Ruth, who happened to glance over. Amelia, worried, fretted like a worried wife. Minerva, who had been in her position not too long ago, recalled this behavior.
Ruth muttered something about cardiac massage and touched Minerva to get the blood flowing again. Minerva panicked, for her mind went immediately to heart attack, and Ruth moved her fingers, sure and steady, in a calming circular as she shushed both of the other women. Witches and wizards couldn't die from heart attacks, but these things happened. Four Stunners hit her squarely in the chest.
"You're going into cardiac arrest, but it's all right." She said this like it was the next reasoned step in a process, and Minerva need not worry over what came ahead in the road. Calm and collected, Ruth shouted for a Healer, her mind moving fast as she laid Minerva down on the flat surface after clearing the pillows. She blocked Amelia. "Madam Bones, I'm going to ask you to leave. Please."
"I do not agree," said Amelia, her face pale.
"No!" Minerva wheezed, taking Amelia's hand.
Amelia said she was family, and they didn't want this fight. Minerva closed her eyes, praying for death as a pressure like paving stones lay on her chest. She found Ruth's scattered reassurance painful, too.
Ruth snapped on a facial mask, completely lost in the moment. Minerva saw her lips move as a Ruth counted off angry and continued with her compressions. Finally, after a minute or two where Minerva swore she ticked off every second, Ruth pounded her chest and performed some gesture with her wand.
"Rennervate." Ruth waited, switching back to compressions and setting her wand on the bedside table a# Minerva breathed easily again. They shared a shaky, nervous laugh. A Healer barked at her about protocol and procedure. Ruth swore, not backing down as she snapped, "Where the hell were you? I got her back."
Ruth, fuming, stormed off. The Healer said nothing and went to go check other patients. Amelia, her arms crossed, paced to and fro, holding her tongue the ward quieted down. She's fierce."
Minerva nodded. She made a mental note to ask if her matron was kin to Oliver Wood. Ruth fought her her spot, and she'd pushed herself to amazing limits to treat her. When she returned, Ruth placed a vase full of yellow roses in a vase on the bedside table next to two boxes of sample chocolates.
Minerva thanked her. Amelia, laughing again, picked up the first box of Honeydukes samplers and revealed it was empty except for a lonely sweet drizzled in white chocolate.
Minerva turned to Ruth, mildly interested. "Who ate all my chocolates?"
"Oliver. My son." Ruth shrugged, answering Minerva's question. Minerva smiled softly, picturing Wood huddled or tucked away in some cupboard or stopping by for a quick hello. She opened the box and placed a hurriedly scrawled note in Minerva's hand. "He says hello."
"Payback for a detention for unfounded accusations about Muggle dueling with Flint. Missed practice, thanks to you. Get well soon." Minerva paraphrased the note and set it aside on the paperback. "If he wanted to really make a statement, he ought to have taken the others. What is wrong with him?"
Ruth shrugged. "He's on reserves, you know."
"Puddlemere United. I heard." Minerva had received an owl with the news two summers ago. Albus Dumbledore wished him luck. "And the roses? These are expensive."
Amelia raised her hand. The flowers watered themselves with an Aguamenti Charm. Ruth left again. Minerva liked her. Had Oliver Wood's mother seen the case as Minerva got rushed into St. Mungo's in the early morning hours?
Minerva frowned at Amelia, taken aback by the kindness. Amelia wasn't cruel to people, but they had grown apart after Elphinstone and lived their separate lives. They got lost in their research and their tasks. After Elphinstone's funeral, they drifted apart and retreated back into their corners of the world.
Amelia cleared her throat as the silence passed between them. "You'll never guess who asked to take your case."
Minerva, nodding off slowly after she took a sleeping solution, stopped reading her Knut novel. A set off crochet needles lay back her side. She'd picked these up, going back and forth between tasks.
"Tiberius Ogden." Amelia smiled at her shocked expression. Tiberius Ogden sat upon the bench since the dawn of time and hadn't practiced law since Minerva left the Ministry in the fifties.
Minerva dogeared a page of the novel. "Mr. Ogden can't do such a thing."
"He can't do that," repeated Amelia, confirming Minerva's suspicions, nothing more than an educated guess. Amelia jabbed her chest, admitting she hadn't represented a client in a long time. "I can. I am the law. Whenever you feel up to it, I want you to give me a statement. May I ask you some questions?"
Minerva waited patiently, sitting up straighter.
"Did any of them give you the slightest warning? Or Hagrid?"
"Well, I do not know about Hagrid." Minerva frowned, sticking to the facts and leaving out the drama. Courtrooms and lawyers preferred yes or no answers.
"He's all right," said Amelia quickly.
Minerva wanted to ask how she knew this, but her clouded brain retained a little. "I remember asking them why they were there. And I … I told them to leave him alone. And then it was like a hot poker went up my spine. I think I passed out."
"You did. John carried you back towards the castle. You got sick over his shoes." Amelia, furious, paced up and down the aisles. Many of the patients slept or got lost in their own worlds. Minerva apologized, not really sure why she said this, but Amelia waved it away. Her booming voice carried, When Amelia attempted to do anything like a library whisper, she failed miserably and couldn't help it. "When John Dawlish - John Dawlish - clains you're in the wrong, people listen! Of course, when a half-giant takes you out…"
"Hagrid has nothing to do with this," Minerva cut in, hastily throwing herself on the chopping block. If the Ministry of Magic needed another target other than Albus Dumbledore, and Merlin knew where he hid at the moment, she did what her father called taking the bullet.
"I know, I know." Amelia chose not to start a scene because a patient with a third eye turned towards them. "I'll stand for Hagrid, too. Remember I'm the one who lobbied for house-elf rights when I was Elphinstone's law student?"
Minerva coughed, clearing her throat. "I'm exhausted."
"Yeah. You rest. I'll be back sometime tonight. Let's have dinner." Amelia got heavily to her feet and pressed her lips to Minerva's forehead. Minerva asked after the children, her tongue thick. "They are fine. We'll catch up over some takeaway. The special at the Leaky Cauldron sound good?"
"Breaking the rules," said Minerva.
"You want bland veggies and day old soup from yesterday's lunch? Be my guest." Amelia kissed her again, wished her a good day and strode out of the ward. Minerva fell asleep.
Minerva met with Amelia Bones the day she finally got discharged from the hospital. She wore a travelling cloak and carried a carpetbag over she shoulder. Although she hobbled along like a crab just a couple days ago, she felt better. The walking stick wounded her spirit, and she'd insisted she didn't need it. Ruth had said all right and almost let the Transfiguration teacher fall flat on her face in the corridor.
She rapped on the office door. She hated London. She wore sleeping socks, socks with traction to make them non-skid. Minerva couldn't care less about how she appeared to the people around her because she wanted to go home. Amelia smiled warmly. Delores Umbridge, dressed in her usual pink outfit, acted as though she feared everything. The Undersecretary jerked at the slightest sound.
Minerva waited for Amelia to invite her to sit down in the handsome office. Delores made a foolish move and sat with no lawyer. Amelia asked her secretary for coffee. Minerva took hers with milk: Delores muttered incoherently, clearly not all there at the moment. Minerva thanked the secretary, Catherine, and Catherine simply opted to pretend Delores wasn't there.
Minerva liked Amelia's secretary immensely.
Catherine sat in a chair by a typewriter and tucked one foot behind the other. Amelia asked her to leave the office door open. When Amelia started speaking, Catherine pounded away rhythmically on the machine.
"I always keep an eye out for the students and my colleagues, finding it hard to concentrate when Delores coughed. She trudged on. "The Ministry of Magic has no business dealing with the professors."
Delores smiled. "As the headmistress…"
"You are no longer headmistress at that school," said Catherine. She asked Amelia for permission to keep this off the record, and Amelia nodded. Catherine held her typewriter's stance as all the women turned towards her. Delores started with her spill "With all due respect, madam, you'd do well to shut the hell up."
Delores patted her hair, affronted. "I beg your pardon?"
The typewriter dinged, signalling the end of a line, and the typewriter readjusted itself. Catherine cleared her throat and continued to take the statement. She went back to her professional composure. "You were saying, Madam Bones?"
"It is our responsibility to protect our own, and the moment we turn our back on an officer, or an Aoror, or a colleague, regardless of our personal opinion, we walk alone. You shall fall upon your own sword, Madam Umbridge, and nobody within my ranks will lift a finger to save you."
"You had no business being there," Delores shot at Minerva.
"I would've given you the same advice." Amelia held up a hand, stopping Minerva from firing back with a lengthy retort. Catherine nodded. Amelia wanted this to be part of the statement and flashed a witness statement from Professor Tofty, the ancient fellow who proctored the Astronomy exam with the fifth years. "Please come after me, Delores. I would enjoy an opportunity to drag you down to hell."
"She's blowing this out of proportion." Delores dug her grave. "I didn't … I never raised my wand against her. And the half-breed?"
"How dare you?" Minerva gripped the arms of her chair.
"I will gladly go down swinging for that man. Who attacks a professor?" Amelia drummed her fingers on the witness's testimony. She waved at Delores, no longer able to stand her. "Find a lawyer. A good one. You targeted a witch and two professors without probable cause. That's what happened on your watch."
"I shall tell Cornelius." threatened Umbridge.
"You tell him the truth. I don't give a damn about politics. I sit on the bench not because I'm my daddy's daughter. I enforce - I am the law! Fear me, madam." Amelia, shaking with anger as she rose to her feet, pointing at the door. "I bid you good day."
Madam Umbridge seethed and stormed out.
"I love my job," said Catherine, awed and determined.
Amelia's chest rose as she breathed in and out and sat back down. Minerva smiled, sipped her coffee, and found the novel Ruth gave her as a parting gift. Minerva gripped her walking stick, bearing her weight on her stronger side, but she'd performed very little with her wand arm.
"This is for Professor Dumbledore." Amelia almost stamped a letter with the government seal and decided against it, and Minerva tucked it away. She lowered her voice, her tone and features softened. She extended her hand, palm up. "Please tell him I am sincerely sorry for what we've done. If you need anything, I am here."
"Thank you," said Minerva. She got to her feet and rested a hand on Catherine's shoulder, regaining her balance before she walked out of the office.
