The light flickered. Midnight had come and passed, yet Minerva still sat hunched over the table of the Headmistress office. Her office. Reading and rereading the new student list. Something was off, someone was missing, but by god she could not put her finger on exactly who. She had even created a list of all the children she knew where of school age and checking one by one. Minerva pinched here nose. Maybe its just the size of the list, she exhaled. The list was short, unusually short. Minerva furrowed her brow as she counted the names, this was the lowest it had been in her tenure at Hogwarts. The war had weighted heavily on the trust of the wizarding community, Hogwarts had a reputation to rebuild, but by Morgana, it was going to be rebuild.
The candle flickered again, McGonnagal shook her head, onward to happier thoughts. She tapped the student list twice, conjuring up a stack of Hogwarts acceptance letters. Whispering a small incantation followed my another tap, she magically lifted the stack to have it sort out the muggle born students, the staff had to visit.
Without separating the Pile dropped unceremoniously. Minerva frowned, tapping the stack again. Had she mispronounced something?
The Pile hovered for a few seconds but then once again dropped.
A dark thought ran cold down her back, "No this cant be" she mumbled to herself.
Picking the list back up Minerva manually looked through the children names:
…
…
…
Amelia Preston
Augustus Reed
Oliver Richmond
Emily Wood
Rosalie York
"This cant be"
Disbelief written on her face. Not a single surname she did not know.
A theory dawned on Minerva, a theory she dispelled instantly.
'Severus wouldn't let that happen'
Nevertheless she made her way to the side door of the Hedmisstresses office, to the door she had only once before opened. Inside there sat a large open tome, so large it would not fit on her office table. Next to it sat a quill. The Tome was open to an almost empty page with only three names scribbled in the top corner. Minerva turned the page back and stood rigid.
The page was filled to the brim in columns of student names with a birth date and date of notation. But what caused her reaction were the masses of angrily scribbled out names, a fifth at least. Minerva went through the crossed out names, in the beginning there were names she knew people, students, she had seen die during battle, and many of those she had not seen return last year, but as she continued to newer names her heart grew heavy and she found herself whispering her denial.
"Severus wouldn't have let this happen"
She stopped on the last scribbled out name, Tobias O'Connor, turned three last month, notated in this book the day before the battle of Hogwarts.
"Severus wouldn't let this happen"
Minervas stomach churned, as she shakily slipped to the floor grabbing and releasing the sleeves of her robe, because she knew, Severus had let it happen.
