Time Will Tell

by LinZE

Following on from Time Beyond Meaning, Time For Thought and Time and Again though probably able to stand-alone. Minerva and the other Professors face another challenge to the smooth running of Hogwarts – only time will tell if they will prevail. MM with F

TIME WILL TELL

Disclaimer: Sorry if I have ever suggested otherwise – but nothing and no-one you recognise belong to me.

Summary: Following on from Time Beyond Meaning, Time For Thought and Time and Again though probably able to stand-alone. Minerva and the other Professors face another challenge to the smooth running of Hogwarts – only time will tell if they will prevail. MM with FF, PP, PS, RH and OC.

----

For the first time in what seemed to be an age, Minerva was not cold. In fact; she was so far from cold as to not only be warm, but hot. Perhaps, even too hot ,she considered as she tossed beneath her blankets. Whatever it was that they were doing was working, she thought blearily, before succumbing to sleep at last.

For the last four days, the entire interior of the Castle from the dungeons up to the tallest tower had been cold beyond living memory. On Tuesday, she had returned from a committee meeting at the Ministry to discover that, even upon closing the great oak doors behind her there was no relief to the biting cold of the Scottish February out side.

"Excuses me, Madame Headmistress Ma'am." A small voice called from her side. "Professor Filtwick Sir, is asking you to be joining him at the Core, Ma'am, as soon as you is returning."

Wrapping her travelling cloak around her, she had set off at a clipped pace towards the centre of the school. Her mind was racing even faster than she was travelling though as she contemplated what could have resulted in the temperature drop. If Filius was at the coalface of the School's magical Core then it would seem likely that it was a problem with the enchantments that had been set by the Founders and those that followed to make the draughty castle more habitable.

"Ah, I'm glad you're back." Filius greeted her, not panicking by any stretch, but obviously stressed.

"What's happened?" she asked, reaching out through her own connection to the Core.

"It looks like the temperature has been dropping steadily since this afternoon. It wasn't until dinner in the Hall tonight that we realised that it wasn't normal."

"There's something wrong with the…" she pulled back shuddering. "I can't even sense where the problem is." She said, looking towards the charms expert.

"As far as I can tell," he began, "both the containment and the warming aspects of the Castle's protections have failed."

"These charms are connected directly to those that maintain the perimeter and the wards?" she asked, as an inconvenience turned into something much more concerning.

"It's hard to say Minerva," he replied, shifting from foot to foot. "I was involved in all the repair work last summer, and I still don't have a clear understanding of the way that all the centuries of charms interact."

"Do you think we should call in the Magical Restoration Experts then?"

"I don't think we have much option – I'm not sure where they're working and when they'll be able to get here but…"

"I shall ask them to come and at least assess the situation as soon as possible. In the mean time, we had better deal with the 'symptoms' so to speak."

"I think that's probably all we can do."

"I knew that it was going too well." She said with a soft smile, as she gestured for Filius to go ahead.

"Life is made of challenges," the shorter man countered.

"That's certainly true here. Have you actually checked the temperature in here?" She asked as they came back out into the larger space of the stairwell where the cold seemed to be even more intense.

"It's sitting just over a degree in the entrance hall," Filius informed her. "and Ravenclaw isn't fairing much better. I suggested to all the students that they wear layers and stay in their common rooms until they hear otherwise. We've also been sending up warm drinks all evening."

"Good. I'm sorry this all kicked off while I was away." Minerva apologised briskly.

"Not at all. Purely chance. How was the Committee?" Filius asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Shockingly encouraging. It really does surprise me that groups of people who actually share a common interest can often make progress despite bureaucracy." she smiled, "Now," with a flick of her wandless hand, she summoned a small group of house elves. "Would you be kind enough to ask Professors Slughorn, Hagrid and Sprout, oh and Madame Pomfrey as well, to join me in my study as soon as they're able." There was a round of enthusiastic nods before they all popped away.

"If we can keep the dormitories and the class rooms warm, I think we'll be doing well." Filius postulated as they climbed the stairs.

"We can have the students fed in their common rooms for the time being." She thought aloud. "The ceiling in the Great Hall's just too high to make it easy to keep warm."

"I can insure that the older students are up to speed with their warming charms but we do have to be very careful. They are horribly draining, especially if maintained over any period of time."

"Explaining why items of clothing with charms weaved into the strands are so popular. Yes, a good point." She added absently, as she pondered on the price of such garments and how easy it would be to acquire several hundred on short notice.

When they finally reached their destination, Minerva's first action was to light a roaring fire in the grate.

"Do make yourself comfortable, and send for tea, Filius. I'll be back in just a moment." She said, excusing herself.

Once in her chambers, Minerva hastily removed her cloak and opening her wardrobe, quickly calculated what she could use to layer up most effectively. She had always felt the cold, Poppy quite regularly blamed it on her lack of body fat, but whatever the cause, Minerva traditionally wore at least three layers beneath her robes. She already had a high-necked shirt on beneath her dress, and wore a cashmere cardigan beneath her winter teaching robe.

Quickly removing her robe and the cardigan she added a lambs wool jumper over her dress and then pulled back on her fine cardigan. By the time she had managed this, her fingers were so cold she struggled to do up her buttons. She reached for her robe that she had earlier lain on the bed, but changed her mind and fished a heavier long woollen cardigan out and pulled it on over the top.

Adding another full underskirt was as much as she could do on her lower half, but by the time she pulled her robe back, she felt as though she had at least distanced herself a little from the chill night air. As she moved once more towards the door, she collected a long, broad shawl from a hook behind the door and wrapped the accursed thing around her neck.

"At the moment," Pomona was saying, "They're treating it as an adventure but I'm not sure how long that will last."

"We have to be practical," Horace continued, "And think about at what point we decide we must send the students home."

"Let's not jump the gun, Horace." She said lightly, joining the small group of equally wrapped up staff by the fire. "I think we ought to wait until we have heard the verdict from the experts before we contemplate such drastic measures. After all, it's not long until exam time now, and many of the students have already lost valuable time in the last year or so."

Not long after she finished, Poppy arrived, cheeks rosy from the cold with Hagrid not far behind.

"This couldn't happen in summer when the temperature outside is above freezing?" she asked as she squeezed onto the sofa. She then proceeded to give everyone's clothing good once over. Minerva idly conjured a larger than average chair for Hagrid, before clasping her hands firmly, hoping that that would disguise her shivering.

"Have we had any casualties of the cold yet?" she asked, hoping to distract the other witch.

"Not yet, and hopefully we shouldn't see too many as long as we can keep the students themselves warm. I've sent round extra blankets and charm-able bed warmers, but we're going to need more."

"As soon as I've heard from the Magical Restoration people I'll contact the Governors about breaking out the emergency fund. If it's going to be like this for more than a day – then we'll just have to deal with the budgets later."

There wasn't really much of an emergency fund left after last summer, but that wasn't a problem for this evening.

"Right, well what measure have we taken to try and keep the dormitories warm?"

"We thought it was better not to try anything to drastic until we knew a little more." Pomona volunteered. "But the elves have set fires in all of the Common room and dormitory grates."

Minerva nodded, knowing that there was no substitute for a solid fuel fire – you could use magic to light it, but magic alone wouldn't create nearly so much heat.

"But even with all the fireplaces blazing, it's still barely above freezing." She continued.

"There's no practical way for us to maintain warming charms that large, not without additional magical support." Filius proffered.

"Couldn't we use the Castle's own power?" Slughorn suggested.

"Not given the state of the Core. Whatever we do, it needs to be completely independent of the existing charm work."

"Indeed," Minerva agreed thoughtfully. "What we really need is to stop the draughts and keep all the heat we can generate in. How about a bubble shield? It wouldn't need to be very strong…"

"That should certainly help," Filius piped up.

"And we can always get the students to bunk up, move their beds, the more of them in a small space and the easier it'll be to keep them warm. "

"Do we know what the temperature's likely to drop down to tonight?" she asked nobody in particular.

"Below freezin'" Hagrid chipped in. "And it's not lookin' to get above it all week."

After another half an hour of discussing other arrangements that would have to be made, they all went their own ways. Afters the others had left, Hagrid hung back.

"We'll be needin' more wood." He began. "I can take care o' that for you Headmistress but…"

"That would be most helpful Hagrid," Minerva intercepted seeing where this was going. "If you'd would ensure that there's enough fuel and talk with the House elves to make sure that they have everything they need, I shall take care of the Tower."

"Thank you, Headmistress Ma'am." He replied beaming.

"Hagrid." She chided him lightly, they had discussed a long time ago that she wasn't going to allow him to idolise her the way he, and many others had Albus.

"Sorry, Minerva." He corrected himself, bashfully.

"Well come on then, " she gestured him towards the door. "Let's get going."

As it turned out, 'taking care' of the Tower was easier said than done. The majority of Gryffindor appeared to have decided that the best way to warm up was to throw a party. Once she had managed to confiscate the more dangerous of the Weasley products and ensure everyone was calming down, she had sent them up into the dormitories to organise the bunking up of two years to a room, the eighth years who had been in a separate room annexed the common room moved into the 7th year dormitory and so on, she closed her eyes, and began to concentrate on her magical senses. She stopped a moment later, abruptly realising that, with her connection to the Core on becoming Headmistress, she was going to have to work consciously at not using the Castle's own magic.

Having centred herself again, she did manage to conjure a shield around the bottom half of the tower. She encouraged the students to bed down, ensured that they all had enough blankets, Transfiguring extras, in case they were needed through the night she left a pile in each dorm and left strict instructions that none of them were to leave their rooms until the following morning.

Returning to her office, she erected a similar shield to that she had just sealed the tower with, in the hopes that it would prevent the drafts currently running wild through her rooms. With a flick of her wand, Minerva drew her desk closer to the fireplace and rearranged the furniture to make the most of the warmth.

Settling herself behind her desk, Minerva wrote briefly to Arthur Weasley and to the Magical Restoration experts they had used previously, apprising them of the situation and letting them know that she would be in touch first thing in the morning. There was marking due back the next morning so after sending her missives, she settled to that, but when, a little after eleven, she received notice that the other staff were all settling down for the night, she decided that it was time to retire.

Years living in the castle had taught her to change quickly, and she put the talent to good use this evening as she donned several layers of flannel sleepwear, socks and an Arran jumper before sliding beneath the duvet. It was a long time before the cocoon of space into which she was curled warmed enough that she could think of anything else other than how cold she was. It was longer still before she slept, and as she lay there, her mind ran in circles trying to think of ways in which they could help fend of the cold should this problem not be immediately solvable.

---

When she woke, it took her a moment to remember why she was dressed like a Michelin man. At some stage during the night she had woken enough to realise that her head and ears were frozen and had transfigured something near at hand into a hat. At least, that was what she supposed she had done as she was currently wearing the monstrosity. While it was a disgrace to her art, it had however, helped keep her warm, or at least fight off hypothermia. With that thought, came a concern for her students.

Throwing herself out of bed, she hurried into the bathroom and under the, thankfully, hot water. It was almost as painful for the first few minutes, but after a while her skin acclimatised and then she was half convinced she'd not be able to drag herself back out again. She did though, as soon as she washed her hair, and naturally dried and dressed herself as quickly as possibly.

Starting from the skin she managed to get even more layers on than the day before, but by the time she had banished the moisture from her hair, it was obvious that her hands were going to be a problem. She paused for a moment, contemplating simply dealing with it, but finally, she turned to her top drawer. Opening it, she removed a pair of elbow length leather gloves in the deepest green. They had been the first gift she had ever received from Severus, and were so soft that she been astounded at the quality.

'You shouldn't have.' She had said quietly at breakfast.

'I have no idea what you mean.'

'Severus…'

'Well it's true. If you are referring to the gloves, I think you'll find it is entirely appropriate to mark the occasion of a friend's birthday.'

'I…' she had tried.

'And before you say another word – they are for wearing. After all I wish to minimise the likelihood of those icicles you call fingers coming anywhere near me.'

As ever, he had brushed off a tender moment and returned to the scathing comments he was so much more comfortable with. Unbuttoning her cuffs she pulled the gloves on, stretching her fingers within the skin tight fit. The momentary melancholy that overwhelmed her was pushed to the side by a sheer force of practicality rather than anything else, but that was the way of the world.

She called in past her classroom, sealing it off in much the same way she had done both the Tower and her bedroom, before setting and lighting a fire in the large hearth at the back of the classroom. Having insured that it was safe to leave it, Minerva continued on her way towards Gryffindor.

It was barely half past six yet, so she was fairly certain that the students would still be in bed, but that was what she was hoping for. What she wasn't expecting was to see Hagrid kneeling before the grate in the common room and tending the fire.

"Mornin', Headmistress." He greeted her uncharacteristically quietly. "Thought I'd get an early start."

"Great minds…" she countered, gracing him with a small smile and revelling in the fact that it was significantly warmer in here than it had been in the corridors.

"Would you mind checkin' the girls dormitories? I know Professor Flitwick changed the charms on the stairs but it jus' don't seem righ'."

She smiled at his over conscientious attitude, but understood it quite well.

"Of course." She replied, levitating a pile of logs from the basket by the fireplace.

While the fires had burned within their confines quite happily all night, they had begun to dampen down and so she set to rebuilding and coaxing them back into full fettle.

It was after seven by the time she finished in the final dormitory, and by then the students were stirring.

"Excuse me, Miss Weasley." She whispered, as she squeezed between the beds that had been crammed into the room overnight.

"Good morning." The red head mumbled, "It's not as cold as I was expecting."

"Enjoy it." She replied. "I'm afraid I can't promise the same conditions elsewhere. You'll all need to dress warmly today, layers will be your best bet. If anyone's struggling, you must let one of us know."

"Of course, Professor." The young woman said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Well in that case, I shall see you later. Don't linger in the cold." She warned as she left.

Breakfast had appeared by the time Minerva reached the bottom of the stairs, pots of porridge, and carafes of tea and warm milk lining a long table by the wall. She was also heartened to see a note pinned very clearly to the wall encouraging the students to dress warmly, to wear their outdoor gear between classrooms, and that if anyone was concerned or required additional clothing to contact their Housemaster. It was quite obvious that the writing was not Hagrid's, but none the less the sentiment, and the signature were.

Upon returning to her study, she checked the time, and much to her chagrin, realised that though it was still early, she was going to have to start making fire-calls anyway. After the decimation of the castle during the Battle, they had had to bring in the Experts to help restore the damage done to the structural and defensive charms around the school and so on being forwarded to a fireplace the French countryside, it was a familiar face that greeted her.

"I'm sorry to call so early," she apologised.

"Not at all, Headmistress. I got your owl and was expecting to hear from you. I take it things are no better?" Malcolm Pendle asked.

"Well, they're certainly not warmer." She replied.

"Oh dear. Have there been any further signs of deterioration?" he asked, looking pensive.

"As far as I can tell, none of the other wards or protections have been affected. We've taken measures to try and deal with the situation but it's not a maintainable position."

"I don't doubt it, you look frozen even with your head in the fireplace. We're currently on location but I'll bring a couple of the guys round as soon as we can, say lunchtime?"

"Thank you for your help, Malcolm. I really do appreciate it."

"Not at all, I have to admit that I do love working with your wards; they're unlike anything I've ever come across anywhere else." He added cheekily.

Floo-ing the Burrow had, for many years, been a dangerous undertaking, especially when the Twins had still been at home, one was never entirely sure what you might come in contact with. It was Molly who answered the call this morning however, and while they were waiting for Arthur to come down stairs asked her how they were coping.

"A little cold wont do them too much damage." Molly said quite blithely. "But are you keeping yourself warm?"

"Molly." Came a warning shot from Arthur, as he appeared behind his wife, kissing her on the cheek gently sent her out of the way.

"Sorry about that – I think she's suffering a little from empty-nest syndrome."

"Not at all," she waved him off. "I am sorry, to have to disturb you."

"Don't be ridiculous Minerva, how are things?"

"Honestly?" she asked. "Cold. However, we seem to be managing to keep pockets of warmth relatively successfully. I've just spoken to Malcolm," she continued, cutting to the quick. "he's promised that they'll be here today but they are working on the Continent so I'm not sure when they'll be able to complete any works necessary."

"Well we'll have to address that when we know more. I'll stop by this evening and catch up on the news though?"

"Of course. If anything happens in the meantime I'll be sure to let you know."

"In which case, I'll see you this evening." Arthur said, and having bid him farewell, Minerva withdrew from the flames.

She had never found kneeling in front of the fire to be a terribly dignified way of communicating, but needs must. Now though, she found herself having to de-glove one hand in order to remove a sooty mark on her cheek.

That done, she steeled herself to cross the frozen no-mans-land of the corridors, and head back to her classroom to prepare for the start of classes. Years of teaching experience, meant that from early on, ideas on how to make the days lessons relevant to the their current situation had been bubbling away at the back of her mind. During the course of the morning, she taught the Forth Years to transfigure a handkerchief into a wool wrap, that they could wear on top of their other layers, her Second Years to turn their School mittens into much more practical gloves and the seventh years had practiced their intricate work on creating a rather impressive stack of blankets, each of which had a specified stitch and colour pattern.

By the time the students were wrapped back up and making the dash back to their Common rooms for lunch, Minerva was sure that her classroom was almost warm. She wasn't positive, as she herself certainly wasn't, but her students seem to have become more comfortable if still wearing several More layers than normal. She was just re-folding some of the blankets when one of the house elves appeared to inform her that Malcolm and his assistants had arrived in Entrance hall.

"Thank you very much, Tinkle." She said standing and reaching for her cloak. "Would you please see that these blankets go to the hospital wing and inform Madame Pomfrey that they should be dispersed for use as she deems fit."

"Of course, Headmistress." The serious little elf said, before touching the stack and disappearing with a pop.

It took her a few minutes to reach the Entrance Hall and she did arrive, she was glad to see that their three visitors had been greeted and provided with hot drinks while they waited.

"You certainly weren't exaggerating about the temperature were you?" Malcolm greeted her warmly. He was a generally effusive man, ruddy faced with close cut hair and beard that he claimed avoided the unnecessary accidents that could be caused by more free-flowing locks.

"Unfortunately not, why don't you follow me; it ought to be a little more comfortable closer to the Core."

She led them through the corridors, and upon reaching the well-hidden and warded door, gestured for the younger man to enter first.

Minerva watched the three of them as they began some basic probing and was so engrossed in their work that she almost jumped when Filius entered the room.

"I have no classes this afternoon so I'd love to stay," Filius said lightly, "if you don't mind gentlemen?" The light in his eyes was so obvious, his boyish enthusiasm so blatant that she had to smile.

"Of course not, Professor Flitwick, " Malcolm agreed with a jovial pat on the smaller man's shoulder. "We wouldn't dream of depriving you so horribly."

"Well, I shall leave you boys to your charms. I should be finished with classes at four – I'll be in my office after that if you'd come an see me before you go?" she suggested.

"Of course." Malcolm agreed, and with that she turned and left.

The afternoon went in much the same fashion as the morning had, though at one stage Minerva had been quite tempted to strangle some of the first years with their own scarves as their high spirits ran riot. When she dismissed them, it was with strict instructions that they were to return directly to their Common rooms and as they left, all wrapped up for the trek, Minerva followed them out. The little heat that she had managed to ecru during the hours since her last trip outside her classroom seemed to vanish astonishingly quickly as she climbed the stairs two at a time and hoped that the fire in her rooms hadn't burnt out.

Thankfully it had not, and although she could immediately feel the difference in the temperature, she was loathed to remove her cloak. She did though, and settled for distracting herself with some of the vast quantities of work that seemed to have accumulated since the previous night. When the door opened, without the cursory knock, she knew who it was instantly.

"Good afternoon Poppy." She said, without looking up from the parchments in front of her.

"Good afternoon." The other witch replied. "Sorry for the abrupt entry but it's absolutely Baltic out there today and I wasn't about to stand outside waiting."

"Poppy, you didn't knock when it was Albus's office, you didn't knock on my old office door why should here and today be any different?" she asked, finally looking up.

The mediwitch ignored her question, her thick skin used to Minerva's fiery temper and she felt a momentary chagrin despite the lack of malice in the original comment.

"How are the students?" she asked, laying down her quill and gesturing for Poppy to take a seat by the fire.

"Fine, for the most part, " she declared, "I haven't seen any more of the students than normal but we are going to have to keep an eye on the situation."

"You'll keep me informed of course?" Minerva asked, knowing that depending on what she heard later that afternoon, the issues of student welfare could become more problematic. Standing, she moved around the desk and headed towards one of the bookshelves. "Much as I'm loathed to admit it, although Horace was more than a little premature yesterday, I am going to have to think about the practicalities of keeping the students here."

"I believe that the British government have legislated that no-one should work below 16°C."

"However, " Minerva continued, leafing through a hefty tome, "The Wizarding Statute is not quite so clear cut." She moved back towards the fire, noticing that it was colder outside of its direct line.

"I think we have to be pragmatic." Poppy started thoughtfully, "If we can keep the habited areas of the castle over 5°C and ensure that everyone has enough clothing and enough bedding."

"Hmm…" Minerva mumbled, skimming through lines of minute text trying to dredge the back of her memory for where exactly it was she had read up about the regulations on habitable dwellings. She was only half listening to the other woman as she flipped through more pages. Slipping her left hand beneath the right shoulder of her robe, she made an ineffectual attempt to relieve some of the tension through the layers of fabric.

"… soup." Was all that Minerva really heard of the other woman's next comment.

"Sorry?" she said, looking up and straight at Poppy.

"I said, I was going to ask for some soup to be sent up for you." The other woman repeated, with a calculating look in her eyes.

"Why on earth would you do that? It's only an hour or so until dinner, and the elves will be busy with preparations."

"It may have escaped your notice Minerva, but there are usually two other meals before dinner."

"I had lunch." She countered immediately.

"Six cups of tea and half a packet of ginger newts over the course of a day doesn't add up to one meal Minerva, never mind two."

"How did you…?" she started "On second thoughts – I don't think I want to know how you know that."

"I asked the kitchens if you'd requested anything today."

"In that case you have no way of telling – I might have eaten in any one of the Common rooms."

"Did you?" the other woman asked, her tone indicating quite plainly that she knew the answer already.

"I…" Minerva began, but gave up before she'd really begun. Poppy's expression softened.

"That settles it then. I don't want to terrorise you, " she continued, "But it's particularly important to make sure you're eating properly when you're not warm enough."

Before she really knew what had happened, there was suddenly a tray filled with Scotch broth, warm crusty bread and apple and cinnamon crumble sitting in front of her. She was still eating when there was a knock on the door and she looked poignantly at Poppy while she swallowed before biding her visitors enter. Filius appeared around the door, Malcolm a few paces behind.

"Good evening," she greeted them, gesturing for them to join them in front of the fire as she pushed the tray away. Once she had requested hot drinks from one of the elves, she folded her hands in her lap and looked across at them.

"How did your investigations go?" She watched as the two men looked at each other and then back to her.

"Well it's a bit of a mess I'm afraid." Malcolm said with a sigh, wrapping his hand around his mug of coffee. "And to be honest – given what happened last summer we shouldn't really be surprised."

"The layers of enchantments on the Castle are unlike anything else in the international Magical world and they're finely balanced, interdependent and above all else old." Filius added.

"Are they stable?" she asked, "Are the other charms likely to fail as well?"

"The situation seems to be relatively stable for the time being but I can't tell you how long that'll continue for. We need to act to try and rationalise all the magic that's currently running rampant through the Core. The longer that continues, the more likely things are to get significantly worse and to become irreparable." Malcolm expanded.

"So you think you can repair the charms that have failed?" she asked.

"It should certainly be possible." Malcolm declared, rubbing his short beard thoughtfully.

"How long?" It was a simple question, but the answer to it would make a world of difference to Minerva.

"It'll take at least a couple of days." He answered in his reassuringly honest fashion. "But hopefully not much longer than that. We'll get started with the 'untangling', for lack of a better word, first thing tomorrow. I've sent the lads to help secure the work we're doing in Italy so that I can have as many hands as possible here."

"Thank you." She said sincerely, "I really do appreciate your postponing your other work."

"Well it's no contest really – there's no-one living in the building over there. And like I said before, I like working for you and your fascinating castle!" he added lightly. "Now if you don't mind, I shall excuse myself and see you bright and early tomorrow."

"Right," Minerva began once Malcolm had left the office. " Well then Filius, can I ask you to liaise with Malcolm and keep me informed as to how things are proceeding?"

"Of course," he agreed, nodding fervently.

"If you are both agreed, then I think we have to continue on the assumption that we are going to be able to maintain the current areas of warm temperatures for the next few days." Seeing that they were both nodding at this, she stood and returned to her desk. "Well in that case, I shall inform Arthur that we intend to stay open when he arrives."

Minerva was more than relieved that Arthur also agreed with her call, although he did warn a note of caution regarding public relations and particularly parents.

"I'm sure Poppy's right when she said that the only thing the cold is really doing is helping kill off any of the lingering traces of the start of term bugs, but as I'm sure you know, some of the parents are a little more precious about their children than is strictly necessary."

"Point taken." Minerva conceded.

Once Arthur had returned home to his wife, she had set out to write the parents, stating the facts and seeking to reassure them as well as she was able. Once again though, it was the temperature that urged her to bed, when despite the best efforts of the blaze roaring in the grate and the additional shawl around her shoulders, she was still shivering too much to be able to write legibly.

The following day, the good humour of the students seemed to be a distant memory. There were spats about whose rooms were coldest and who had had the least sleep and on one occasion Minerva had actually stepped in and won that argument resoundingly. All of her classes were less productive than she would have hoped, despite the fact that she managed to raise the temperature in the room to a positively balmy 16°C.

On Thursday morning however, when she met with Filius ad Malcolm before the start of the school day there was mixed news. They were making good progress it seemed, and there was a very good chance they were going to be able to repair the existing charm work rather than have to completely strip it back and start again. This was a huge relief to Minerva as she was able to discard her lists of all the practicalities having to do that level of charm work on a structure as large as the entire castle would have required, the number of qualified mages alone, necessary to complete that kind of work was enough to have made her swallow.

The reality was however that it was going to be at least the following morning before they were ready to re-initialise the charms and begin the re-warming process. Filius, it seemed however, had been thinking on the problem of student moral while she had spent almost the entirety of the previous evening dealing with correspondence with some of the more concerned and overprotective parents.

"It seems to me," he began, stirring another spoonful of honey into his porridge, "that it wouldn't be at all hard to create a sort of ice-rink and allow the students to burn off some steam that way."

"Inside the castle?"

"Why not? The Great Hall is below freezing all ready. All it would need is a couple of good aquis charms and a glisante."

"We could transfigure the students' own shoes into skates without too much difficulty. Even you ought to be able to manage that one." She chided him gently and treating him to a slight smile, as she thought through the idea.

"I've run it past Pomona and Hagrid and they were both enthusiastic." Filius added.

"Well, why not then? I shall ask the two of them to take charge of the preparations and inform the students."

The announcement did do a great deal to improve student moral, and only when Minerva threatened her third years with non-attendance did they settle enough to get any work done. The air of excitement spilled through the corridors, as after dinner the students poured out and towards the great hall. For the first time in days, the castle regained some of its vitality.

When the doors opened to reveal the vast frozen expanse of the Hall, the level of noise emanating from the student body doubled. She had taught some of the older students the necessary transfiguration that afternoon and between them and the staff that were present, it wasn't long before those that wanted to, took to the ice. Pomona had outdone herself in decorating the edge of the ice-rink, like the edge of a pond, and those students who weren't skating, stood huddled in small groups around the fence, watching and laughing.

"Hot chocolate, Headmistress?" Hagrid offered as he came up beside her with a tray of mugs.

"Thank you." She said absently, taking a cup and cradling it in her leather clad hands.

It wasn't long before there was an impromptu game of some sort started up at the far end of the rink and she was in the process of trying to establish what exactly seemed to the rules Xiomara skated up to the fence next to her.

"Why aren't you skating?" she asked abruptly.

Minerva didn't say anything but raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, come on!" the other woman needled. "It'll help you stay warm…"

"Only until I fall over, it's been years since I was on the ice."

"I seem to recall you thrashing a certain Head of Slytherin in a skating contest not too long ago."

She had to admit that she hadn't thought about that particular incident in some time. It had been a particularly wet and cold winter and the standing water on the Quidditch pitch had frozen solid. There had been some comment made about Severus' grace on the ice being the only thing less startling than his talent in the air that had, in turn, resulted in some form of challenge. They had both started out a little like newborn deer on bandy legs but it hadn't been too long until they had found their feet.

"Not today, I think." She said softly. Xiomara gave her a considered nod before the other woman pushed off back into the flow of the traffic.

Minerva excused herself not long afterwards, retreating to her office and yet another pile of correspondence. There were several reasons why she sincerely hoped that they managed to solve the problem tomorrow; she was concerned for her student' welfare and she also wanted to be able to ensure the parents and Governors that there was nothing to be concerned about.

But what it was she really hoped would change was the fact that she was so constantly cold and tired. Even when she was in rooms she knew that were, if not hot at least warm, she couldn't shake the bone deep chill and she supposed that as well as the fact her sleep seemed more disturbed than was usual that week were combining to make her so tired.

Shaking off the momentary self-pity, she set to work and when she had done as much as she could and her own words were dancing in front of her eyes she deemed enough was enough. Unlike the previous nights, Minerva found that as soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep, her dreams filled with ice-skating hedgehogs that looked as though they had been pincushions at one stage.

Minerva was back at her desk again, a bowl of porridge half eaten beside her, when the fire leapt and changed colour. A moment later, Arthur's head appeared in the flames and he greeted her with a smile.

"One of these days," he began. "I shall catch you on the back foot, Minerva."

"More often than you think," She replied, "But what can I do for you this morning?"

"I was wandering if you had seen today's Prophet?"

"Not yet," Minerva replied, setting her quill aside.

"Well you've made the front page." Obviously seeing her frown Arthur continued, "They've taken a positive slant for once, there's a rather charming picture of you watching the students skate around the Great Hall and the headline's about Hogwarts standing strong through adversity."

"Well I suppose we ought to be grateful for that at least." She said aloud. "It might allay some of the concerns I've been hearing."

"You've been having problems with the parents?" the Governor enquired.

"Not problems exactly, just a little reassurance required – you haven't heard anything?" she asked.

"Nothing official. How are things progressing? Fillius thought that they might be able to try and reactivate the charms this morning."

"We're still hoping that'll be the case." She informed him. "If all goes to plan we should be back to normal by tonight,"

"I'm sure that'll be a relief. I had better be off, but do let me know how things go." He said firmly.

"Of course, have a good day." She wished him, before he vanished from the grate.

Only a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door that opened to reveal Filius, Malcolm and several of the Magical Restoration Experts.

"Good morning Gentlemen," she greeted the group as they piled in and shut the door behind them. "Can I offer you breakfast?" she asked, wrapping her hands around her mug of tea.

"No thank you, Headmistress, I think we've all had our fill." Malcolm said, glancing around his men.

"We just wanted to run over the plan of action." Filius piped up.

"I've been redoing some calculations and… I still think that we're ready to go ahead but it might be worth considering moving the students into a centralised area of the Castle."

"You're concerned about their safety?" she asked bluntly.

"Only a little, we can never really be entirely sure how enchantments this complex will react to an element being changed. Like I said, it's a solely precautionary measure and probably unnecessary but…"

"But far better to be safe than sorry." Minerva supplied. "Well I suppose the best option will be the Great Hall?"

"That's what I was thinking of." Filius agreed. "We've cleared the floor after last night, but it's still well below zero in there this morning though."

Her mind was working ten to the dozen, running and re-running through the options that had been turning through her head through over the last few days.

"If you'll inform the other Heads and the rest of the professors, that classes this morning will be cancelled and that absolutely everyone is required to report to the Great Hall instead. I'll deal with the temperature problem." She said, as something began to formulate in the back of her mind.

"Minerva…" Filius began tentatively but she held up a hand to forestall him.

"Trust me." She said simply, before standing and smoothing her skirts.

"Now, I shall see you at nine o'clock, Filius, and I trust you have everything you need?" she asked turning to the Restoration Experts.

"We're set." Malcolm said jumping up out from his seat.

"Let's get cracking then." she said ushering all of her guests out in front of her.

A long time ago, back in what seemed to her to be a different life while she was gaining her Masters, Minerva had studied a branch of her specialty known as Molecular Transfiguration. Gant's laws of Transfiguration state that nothing can be made from nothing, that one has to have something to transfigure in order to transfigure it.

The premise that Molecular Transfiguration worked on was that as long as there were atoms or molecules of some sort present – whether nitrogen in the atmosphere or more complex molecules in the form of a liquid or solid, then those molecules could, with a certain degree of skill be altered into pretty much anything you wanted.

This branch of Transfiguration had been when she studied, and still very much was undergoing a huge amount of research and its applications in the wider world, from medicine to international aid, were massive. It was however a complex art requiring levels of skill, concentration and sheer magic that made it a limited field.

On this occasion, Minerva was not proposing to create anything however, or even really transfigure anything, what she was hoping to do was to use the skills she had developed in her study of the art, and still used regularly, to manipulate the molecules in the air of the Hall in a slightly different fashion.

When performing any Transfiguration it was a proven fact that the temperature of the Transfigured object would be slightly higher than that of the original substance, as heat was, in essence, created by the motion of the atoms and molecules. If she could speed up the movement of these atoms and molecules, starting and controlling their bouncing off of each other, it should result in an increase in temperature.

That was the theory in any case, she thought as she opened the heavy doors and stepped inside the eerily still room. Intellectually, it made sense. Or at least it had done in the dark hours of the night when it had first dawned on her. Here, with the bright sunlight pouring in through the tall windows, she stood in the centre of the empty room and felt the complete insanity of the idea was smothering her. Even Albus wouldn't have attempted this, but that was primarily because he had a much greater talent for flash, over the top Transfigurations than the sub-molecular she was contemplating.

Taking a deep breath, she turned slowly, shielding the room as she had done the Gryffindor tower and focussed once more on suppressing her connection to Hogwarts magics. She could hear the distant approach of students as she opened her arms, palms upwards and closed her eyes, visualised the air now trapped in the space around her.

She started slowly, using her own magical energy to gently nudge some of the atoms into motion. It took several attempts before she managed to reach the level at which the wave travelled to the edge of her pre-defined boundary and reverberated back, creating a self-perpetuating motion. So deeply entrenched in the atomic level of the Hall, she didn't have any concept of how warm the room around her actually was until she pulled herself back to a more normal frame of perception.

As Minerva opened her eyes, refocusing on the room around her she was hit, almost simultaneously, by a wave of warm air and another of sheer exhaustion. Her knees gave way, but she was stopped shortly by a sturdy arm behind her.

"Headmistress?" Hagrid asked concernedly, as he set her back on her feet.

She looked up at him, momentarily disorientated by his presence until the sounds of many other voices broke through. She looked past him to see Pomona and Horace closing the doors on the students gathered outside, before returning her gaze to the half giant who still stood close by.

"Fine." She said, having finally found her voice. "I'm fine, thank you."

"Well that was quite, quite impressive." Slughorn called across the distance as all three moved towards them.

Minerva shifted away from Hagrid, determined to show that she was capable of doing so under her own steam.

"That, was bloody stupid." Pomona said, more bluntly than was usual for her, as she came up next to her and gave her a look worthy of Poppy.

"How warm is it?" she asked, trying to change the direction of the conversation.

"21°C" Filius stated calmly. "Perfect room temperature."

"Good. Well, let's get them inside shall we?" she suggested, looking towards the door. "Horace, would you be kind enough to summon the tables and benches?" she asked, trying not to draw any attention to the fact she really didn't think she could do it herself.

She was not particularly successful however, as there seemed to be a momentary whispered conversation between the Heads of Ravenclaw and Huflepuff before the Charms Master gestured for Hagrid to follow him towards the doors. Blinking, Minerva attempted to halt the sensation that the room was dipping and swelling beneath her feet, and gave the other woman what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"I…" she began.

"Don't." Pomona cut her off. "Just don't."

"But…"

"But nothing. Come on, let's find you a seat before you fall down." She continued, her tone softening slightly as she took Minerva by the elbow and directed her to a corner where Horace appeared to have conjured a set of folding screens, and partitioned off a private area.

"Just a moment!" The Head of Slytherin declared, as he put the finishing touches to a newly conjured, plush sofa. "There – that's better." he announced, stepping back to take a better look.

"It might be an idea if you lay down and at least pretend to be sleeping by the time Poppy arrives with her charges." Pomona said, all but pushing Minerva down onto the setae.

"Charges?" Minerva asked, when the comment had finally sunk in.

"There was a small collision on the ice last night." Horace said with a dismissive air.

"Nothing to concern yourself with." Pomona cut in, giving the Potions Master a pointed glare. "Now just you shush."

Before Minerva could even formulate a coherent objection, she found herself lying down, her head propped up with a series of pillows and a lightweight cover draped across her. Whether it was the fact that the Hufflepuff's suggestion for avoiding the wrath of the mediwitch had been sound, or just that the world seemed a little more stable now that she was horizontal, Minerva wouldn't have liked to admit, but whatever the reason, once she was down, she stayed there.

Even when her eyes drifted shut, she was distantly aware of conversations going on nearby; the arrival of the students and of Poppy asking with a rather suspicious tone, how they had managed to get the temperature so comfortable so quickly. It all had a rather surreal feeling to it however, and shortly after that, she fell into a proper sleep as she woke some time later with an unpleasant jolt, her connection to the Castle positively screaming.

She was sat upright, feet back on the floor and gasping for breath before he even knew what was going on. People were talking to her but her brain wasn't working quickly enough to follow. Moments later, the foundations of the castle gave an almighty shudder. The movement ceased as quickly as it had started, but the noise level in the room rose exponentially and it was this that spurred the Headmistress to action.

"I need to go…" she began looking around to see who was there. Horace was the only one of the Professors who remained and she offered him a small smile, before standing. "… there must have been a problem with re-setting. If there's any indication that the students are in danger, evacuate."

"Really…" Horace began, but she didn't let him get any further.

"I'm going to have to trust your judgement." She said before turning and striding away with much more composure than she felt.

Once she had rounded the partition back into the main body of the Great Hall, she took in the scene as she continued to move. Pomona, Hagrid and the other Professors were all trying to calm the students and she caught Pomona's eye and gave her a terse nod. Filius' absence meant that he was probably already with the Experts – that had been the plan. As soon as she was out of the door, out of the sight of the students, she ran something telling her that there was something seriously wrong.

She met the Charms Master roughly halfway; he had also been hurrying but looked a little surprised to have almost literally run into her. Once it was clear that neither of them were going to fall over, Filius seemed to be studying her.

"Malcolm has tried and so have I," he began, "but the wards just wont accept our manipulations."

"It's going to have to the Head?"

"We think so, but are you…?" he asked.

"I'm fine." She said firmly. "But we had better get moving before Horace feels the need to evacuate."

When they arrived at the Core, it was quite plain that all was not well. The twined strands of magic, the roots of all the Castles magical protections as well as the enchantments that provided for the comfort, light and general stability of the School, seemed to be pulsing angrily.

"Sorry, Minerva," Malcolm greeted her. "I wasn't sure that we'd be able to do this without you, but things have destabilised much more quickly than I was expecting."

"Don't be sorry," She told him, determined to do what needed to be done. Now that the original wave of adrenalin was fading, the overwhelming exhaustion from earlier in the morning was returning. "Let's just fix it. I'm afraid charms are not my speciality but just tell me what I need to do."

"Doesn't matter what the speciality, I think you're our only expert in this particular field." He countered lightly, gesturing for her to precede him closer to the Core. "Now, what I need for you to do is to close your eyes and focus on your connection."

She nodded, doing as he suggested.

"Now picture the Core again in your mind." He instructed quietly. "Can you see the individual strands?" He asked after a moment. She could. Instead of the pillar of light that was observable to the naked eye, she could see hundreds, maybe even thousands of individual strands.

"Yes," she answered absently as she tried to follow where all of the strands were leading at once. "It's…" she tried to explain.

"I think we may have a convert." Malcolm said with an audible nudge and wink to Filius. "Just try and focus on anything that looks out of place." He instructed and Minerva attempted to focus.

"There are some broken strands." She said. "No, two groups of strands." She corrected herself.

"That's right. What we need to do is connect these strands in the correct order. We've separated them all, untangled and colour coded them so we're just going to take it calmly. Reach out and grasp the two pink strands first…"

Minerva was so absorbed by what it was she was doing, that she lost all sense of time and when, Malcolm finally told her that they were done, she had no real sense of whether she had been working for an hour or three.

"Well done." Malcolm said seriously, gripping her elbow as she opened her eyes and found herself once more standing before a less distinct Core.

"Thank you," she replied automatically, trying her best not to move in the hopes that if she managed to stay still the room around her might co-operate and stop moving.

She could see Filius and some of the others running diagnostics and felt she ought to ask how it had gone. As though sensing her question, the Charms Master turned towards them both.

"It looks like it's been a success." He announced.

"When will we know?" she managed to ask.

"Time will tell." Malcolm said. "We may need to do a little more titivating once things have settled down again." He added distractedly, "But I'm more concerned about the Headmistress than the castle currently."

It was only then that she turned to look at him, and was more than a little put out to find him studying her closely. It was the Professor as apposed to Minerva or even the Headmistress that looked back at him, eyebrows arched in challenge.

"I have absolutely no idea why that would be." She retorted, hoping her firm tone would make up for the fact that she had yet to draw away from the supporting arm.

"Possibly, because you're white as a ghost and shaking like a leaf?" Filius suggested.

Minerva looked from one man to the other, until it became patently obvious that neither of them were going to back down. She let her head fall forwards and her shoulders slump as she realised any pretence was useless. It was almost as if someone had flipped a switch, the adrenaline was gone, and the Gryffindor wasn't at all sure what it was that was keeping her on her feet any longer.

"I'm fine." She protested none the less, it was a Gryffindor instinct as strong as any, after all.

"You weren't fine after the stunt you pulled this morning, I doubt you're fine now." He said softly but firmly.

"Please, Filius, " she protested. She didn't want a confrontation; she simply didn't have the energy never mind anything else. "Have we finished here?" she asked Malcolm.

"Things have stabilised nicely, so we should be fine now." He replied, still looking concerned. "Maybe it would be best if you got some rest? I'm not sure what happened this morning, but what you've just done here, was a sizable piece of magic." He finished glancing towards the other man. Minerva couldn't even find the energy to be frustrated that she was being so obviously handled.

"If you wouldn't mind…" she managed after a moment, struggling to string a sentence together. "…classes."

"Don't worry about that." Filius told her. "Do you think you can make it upstairs on your own?"

"Of course." She replied, trying to pull herself together. "You'll be sure to let me know if there's anything else I can do?"

"Just rest." Malcolm said with a smile.

"I'll send Poppy up." Filius said, as she brushed down her skirts and tried to still her hands.

"You don't need to do that, I'll be right as rain after a few hours sleep." She tried to sound confident as she excused herself but she wasn't at all convinced that it worked.

By the time Minerva reached her rooms, her rational side, seeming somewhat detached from the rest of her, was setting off alarm bells that all was not well. Despite the fact that the ambient air temperature had risen significantly in the last ten minutes, she found herself wishing that she had thought to pick up her cloak when she dashed from the Great Hall earlier. Her legs seemed to have ceased communicating with her brain and despite applying herself solely to the task of walking she as finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a straight line.

It was possibly just exhaustion, but if that was the case then it was having a more pronounced effect on her than she could remember it having done in recent time. She stumbled on her way up the stairs and though she obliquely acknowledged the existence of her desk and the piles of correspondence that were once more waiting for her attention upon them, but didn't even have to dismiss the concept of trying to work.

Instead, she headed straight for her bedroom, having to stop briefly and use the doorjamb for support before making it into the room. She made it to the edge of her bed, but had to sit for several moments, trying to establish whether her growing nausea was going to be controllable through sheer force of will alone. She felt shaky and feverish as she breathed deeply through her nose, determined that she was not going to be sick. It was several minutes before she gathered the courage to move and managed to tentatively remove her boots before sliding beneath the covers.

There was a vague half formed thought that she really shouldn't be getting into bed fully dressed, that she should have at least removed her robe if nothing else. Despite this however, she continued to shiver beneath the mountain of covers. Sleep, if she could just sleep, she was sure that she would feel better when she woke. She didn't know for certain when it did come but she did remember several hazy awakenings, each varying in length and lucidity. On some occasions she was so hot that she couldn't seem to breath, on others, her skin seemed to hurt with the cold. Each time however, it was all she could do to try and remedy the situation by throwing off her blankets or burrowing further beneath them before she fell back asleep, disjointed thoughts of hospital wings and students haunting her into sleep.

So convinced that she was in the Hospital Wing that when she woke on one occasion, suddenly aware that she was going to be ill, that she reached for Poppy's ever present basin before she realised that it wasn't there. Luckily for what was left of her rapidly diminishing dignity, she still managed to make it to the bathroom before she was quite violently ill.

Kneeling on the cool tiles of the floor, under the bright lights of the bathroom, Minerva simply wished a hole would open and swallow her up. She felt wholly miserable and she wished for nothing more than that she could stop heaving long enough to make herself presentable before anyone arrived and saw her in such a state.

Even when she finally stopped throwing up however, she was trembling so badly and her head seemed so heavy that there was no real hope of her being able to stand up. Instead, she was distantly aware of slipping side ways off her knees, until her left shoulder hit the wall and it was all she could do to shift her weight so that she ended up sitting with her back against the wall.

The next thing she knew, someone was brushing a hand across her forehead, gently guiding her face back to forward. It took an unnatural effort to hold her head straight and an even greater one to focus on the face before her.

"Hey there," it said softly, "You gave me quite the fright there for a bit."

"P…" she tried, but her mouth was so dry that she couldn't seem to form the word.

"It's alright, Love," Pomona said, continuing to stroke her flyaway hair out of her face. "Poppy's on her way."

Minerva didn't even attempt to give voice to the platitudinous protests that were entirely overwhelmed by the child-like need for someone to come and make it all better.

"She was a little tied up so she sent me to make sure you were resting after what Filius said, but it seems a little worse off than we thought." Pomona continued softly, mothering her as though she were a student, sick while away from home for the first time.

Another wave of heat flushing through her body distracted her from the Hufflepuff's attempts to comfort her. She closed her eyes and allowed her head to roll and her cheek to rest against the cool stone before Pomona placed a glass to her lips.

"Just a sip." The other woman urged, tilting it just enough to allow the tepid water to dribble into her mouth.

"Thank you," she managed after that. "Too hot…"

"Well that's hardly a surprise. It seems that you and Malcolm have managed to set the heating charms to rights and you must have five layers on."

"Mmm." Was all she managed, but was more than grateful as Pomona helped her to strip off first a cardigan and then another soft wool jumper. It didn't seem to help cool her down though and the movement certainly hadn't helped the nausea that seemed to have accompanied the rise in her temperature.

She brushed Pomona aside, pulling herself back onto her knees only to begin coughing and spluttering over the bowl. Holding onto the seat for dear life, she waited for the spasms to pass but despite the fact that there was nothing left for her to throw up.

"Pomona?" she heard someone calling from a distance.

"We're in here. Easy there," she added placing a hand on Minerva's back.

"What happened?" the mediwitch asked, her no-nonsense tone, somehow reassuring.

"I'm not terribly sure. She was in here when I arrived but it does look as though she'd been in the bedroom to begin with."

"Minerva?" Poppy asked, taking the other woman's place and sitting on the floor. What could only generously be described as a groan, rather than a whimper, was noise that was the only sound she could seem to make in response.

She was suddenly aware of something cool resting across the back of her neck as she rested her forehead on her folded arms. There were voices talking quietly next to her, but she couldn't make out what it was they were saying. The world was rather fuzzy around the edges again, and Minerva wasn't sure whether it wouldn't just be better to give into the darkness.

When she woke again, she was firmly tucked beneath well-starched white sheets.

"Hello," Poppy greeted her softly from a chair by her side. "How do you feel?"

Minerva thought for a moment before answering.

"Feverish. And nauseous, really quite nauseas." she elaborated, closing her eyes in a hope that blocking out one of her senses would help reduce her discomfort.

"Well, it's nice to see that you're being honest for once." The mediwitch chided softly, repositioning the cool cloth on her forehead.

"What… When…" she asked trying to pull her thoughts together.

"You've been here since yesteray." Poppy began, "Do you remember Pomona finding you in your bathroom?"

"Vaguelly…"

"Well that's hardly too surprising given the state you were in. You've managed to pick up the stomach bug from the start of term."

"Ugh." Minerva managed, trying valiantly not to think about it but she could feel herself breaking out in a cold sweat though as her stomach roiled.

"Easy. Just breath." Poppy instructed, but when it became obvious that her patient was loosing the battle, expertly helped her into her side and produced the stainless steel bowl.

Minerva, on the other hand, was trying very hard to withdraw from the whole experience in the hopes that when she opened her eyes again she might have been imagining it all. The aches and pains of her protesting body might not have made that particularly easy, but she must have slipped back into her fevered wanderings, as she was sure it was some time later when she woke again.

Peeling her eyes open more hesitantly this time, she waited for the familiar urge to throw up but when it arrived, it seemed somewhat less urgent than it had been last time. She managed to establish quickly that she was alone in one of the anterooms off the main hospital wing but she couldn't be sure exactly how long she had been asleep for. Reaching a hand out rather feebly, she thought to summon the chart she knew would be hanging at the end of her bed.

Nothing happened, and so, rolling gently over she looked to the bedside cabinet to see if her wand had been stored there.

"It's not there." Poppy declared as she opened the door. "And don't give me that look Minerva, it's for your own good."

Minerva tried to push herself into a sitting positioning in an attempt to improve her standing.

"Oh no, you don't." Poppy said fiercely. "You are not getting out of this bed for at least another two days."

"Poppy." She protested.

"Poppy nothing, Minerva." She said quite adamantly. "I've told you before that it was a miracle you didn't catch this bug at the start of term so it shouldn't really be surprising that after yesterday's exploits, it's finally caught up with you."

"Where's my wand?" Minerva asked, knowing that she was behaving like a child by trying to redirect the conversation so blatantly.

"Out of your reach. Where it's going to stay until you're well enough to even think about starting to focus on replenishing your magical reserves. It took most of our young, fit and healthy students a week to get back on their feet and they weren't running on empty to begin with. This isn't going to go away over night Minerva, however hard you try to pretend that it is."

She wanted to protest, to contest that she was feeling much better and that she was certain that by Monday, she would be fit to take at least the senior classes but somehow she couldn't seem to summon the energy. Her limbs were beginning to feel leaden and the thoughts kept slipping for her grasp.

"Just rest," Poppy encouraged. "And we can talk more when you're feeling better."

"I am feeling better…" she said, or rather murmured as her eyes began to droop.

"Of course you are, Sweetheart. Now sleep." It seemed more of a command than a suggestion and signalled the last of her defences be given up for rest.

As it happened, the truth was somewhere between the two. It was over a week before Poppy allowed her back to teach, and even then she was unable to use even the simplest of magic. The replenishing of her reserves however didn't take nearly so long as the mediwitch had warned might be necessary. Her rapid recovery was something Minerva suspected had to do with her connection to the Castle; she had done her bit to repair the Core and in turn, it had helped her to recover her own balance. Whatever the reason behind it however, the Headmistress was more than glad to be able to put her colleagues minds at rest and to be able to claw back some time for herself.

A/N: Firstly, apologies to Selmak, who is a total star, and whom I forgot to thank last time round. Also thanks to her for taking a look at this for me, and making it legible…

Hope you enjoy this instalment and that you'll review to let me know what you think any which way.

xLx