A/N: This part was hard to begin but once I found the right lines it almost wrote itself! I am pretty happy with what it ended up being, though it has nothing to do with my original idea of what was going to happen.

As always, thanks for your reviews ^_^ I am sure they are the reason that I am advancing with the story so fast. It had been some time since one of my ffics had had such a nice and warm response. Thank you. I hope you enjoy reading this part as much as I've enjoyed writing it.


UMBRIDGE CAT TRAP

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chapter 4

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Severus had just finished his second class of the afternoon when some whispers made him raise his head from the papers he was grading.

"No, you talk to him," Pomona Sprout was saying to Madame Hooch as they walked into the potions classroom.

"Why me? You do it!" the other women responded. They looked like two first-year students afraid to talk in his presence and it amused him that he was still able to inspire that fear even among adults.

"May I help you, professors?" Severus asked to his visitors, although he had a hunch of what they could be doing in the dungeons, since for the entire day there had only been one matter of discussion among the inhabitants of the castle.

"We..." they both muttered nervously and looked at each other.

"We wondered if," Sprout took the lead, "you could tell us..."

"Minerva is missing," Hooch decided to interrupt and go directly to the point, "she's gone. Nobody has seen her since yesterday and she's not in her quarters," she explained.

"And you have come to me because..." he'd been right about the reason of their visit, but now he needed to know what they exactly wanted from him.

"Is she in some kind of... *mission*?" Sprout asked whispering the last word like if she was afraid they were being listened, "you know, for Dumbledore, for the Order..." her eyes stayed wide opened and staring at him, begging for his answer to be what her ears wanted to hear.

"If she was," Severus used his plain and monotonous tone of voice, but it didn't sound cold at all, "I don't think I would have any knowledge of it."

"I told you coming here would be useless, Pom," Rolanda Hooch barked while giving her back to Snape and making her way out of the classroom.

"Excuse her, Severus, she's just worried," Sprout apologized before following her friend's steps.

The potion's master watched the two professors cross the narrow corridor between the student's tables and benches while battling with himself. Those two women had come to him hoping he'd put some light into their worry and instead of that, he was just kicking them away. It wasn't that he was a bad person, he just didn't want to get involved. He had to stay in Hogwarts for Potter because that is what Dumbledore had asked him to do. If Minerva was in trouble it wasn't his problem, neither his responsibility, to find her. He couldn't risk everything only because the Deputy had had another catfight with the Headmistress, could him? Anyway, it wasn't like if spending some time without Minerva around was such a bad picture; not having her would mean no heat arguments, no witty jokes and sarcasm... but also no interesting discussions about teaching or deep conversations about magic. Maybe he would partly miss Minerva; after all, she was the only of his colleagues that seem to understand him, the only professor that respected his desire of being left alone many times; which could result ironic because she was, indeed, someone he didn't mind to have around; and now, she wasn't, and maybe she wouldn't anymore because he was too proud to help.

Severus left go a sight. If he himself was so fond of McGonagall to get slightly concerned about her whereabouts, her real friends had to be dying of worry.

"Umbridge," he said loudly enough so Hooch and Sprout would hear him before crossing the door, and he waited for them to stop and turn around before continue, "Minerva and Dolores had a disagreement yesterday, during one of the career advice meetings that apparently ended up with the Headmistress furiously leaving McGonagall's office," he explained.

"What are you implying?" Pomona asked not willing to jump into conclusions.

"Well... as far as I know, that's the last time she was seen in the school."

"So Umbridge fired her," Hooch said, "is that what you are saying? Because we've been into Min's quarters and all her things are still there."

"And she would have said goodby, right?" Sprout sounded like a little girl about to break down into tears.

"I don't think Minerva was fired," Severus replied, "I don't even think she has left the castle yet," he said, "and if you want to find her, I would start by the Headmistress quarters."

"You seem to have put a lot of thought into this," Hooch pointed out, "would you come with us?"

"No," Severus was clear and concise, "I won't risk getting caught and dismissed only to take Minerva out of her own mess," he said, "but I do intend to meet the Headmistress after dinner time to discuss the potions part of this year's OWLs and NEWTs. I guess that should take me about... half an hour - So I won't have time to help you." His expression was stern and his look empty, but the two women understood every word he said and those he didn't.

"Thank you, Severus," Pomona said with a large smile on her face, "I'll let you know as soon as we find her!"


It had been a few hours since Umbridge had left her private quarters again, and Minerva was still lying on the same spot the Headmistress had left her. A few inches from the bed leg, curled up on the cold stone floor.

She hadn't even bothered to chain her again; which upsetted Minerva the most, because she didn't know if she'd been left free because Dolores knew she was in too much pain to move, or because she didn't expect her to attempt to escape after having been punished.

Suddenly she heard noises coming from the office. Someone was opening the door, Umbridge was back.

Minerva knew this was her opportunity, her chance to escape... if only she could stand up and hide, make her think she was gone.

After a little struggle, she got control of her front paws, and carefully helped herself to stand on her four. Every move felt like little needles piercing her sore muscles and the pain of the cruciatus curse invaded her mind blocking her thoughts.

She felt a soft cold waft of air brushing her furry skin; the door was finally opened. She tried to stay focused on her mission, and slowly went under the bed, knowing it wasn't the best place to hide, but not feeling strong enough to run or jump.

"There's nobody here," she heard a familiar voice whisper.

"What were you expecting? To find Minerva sitting on the desk, waiting for us?" that was Rolanda's voice!


"Well, no, but..." Pomona replied feeling silly as she walked around the office, suddenly tripping over something and falling on her knees.

"What are you doing?!" Hooch yelled at her while examining the inside of a wardrobe.

"I tripped... What's this?" Sprout was holding on her hands the pet chain Umbridge had used on Minerva, "look, the toad has a pet somewhere."

"I bet its a bitch like her," Rolanda mocked closing the wardrobe and walking towards Pomona, "although a filthy rat would suit her more," she smirked at her own joke and looked at her friend, "there's nothing here, Pom, I'm afraid Severus was wrong."

"No, she has to be," the herbology teacher insisted throwing the chain to the ground and walking towards the bedroom's door, "we haven't looked over here yet."

"Pom, you have to admit that this whole thing about Umbridge kidnapping Minerva sounds too weird, even for that damn woman," Hooch sat on the bed and kept talking while Sprout looked into the closet and the bathroom, "I bet Snape was only trying to get rid of us, maybe he sent us here so Umbridge finds us and fires the two of us like she's done with Minerva... We should get going before that happens, you know. As bad as this job is right now, is the only one we have and-"

"Sht!" Pomona made her shut up as she came back from Umbridge's private bathroom, "did you hear that?" she whispered.

"Here what?!" her friend exclaimed.

"Sht, I said!" this time Sprout gagged the flying teacher with her own hand so they could listened to what seemed a cat meowing.

"It's just a damn cat!" Hooch shouted after getting rid of her friend's hand, "I bet it's the toad's cat, it will tell her that we were here and we'll be out before breakfast," but Pomona wasn't paying any attention to her, she had gone into her knees and was now looking under the bed.

"Oh, my god! Minerva!" she exclaimed.

"What? She was keeping her under the bed?!" Hooch couldn't believe it and bended down to check with her own eyes, but all she could see was a tabby cat in the dark that Pomona grabbed carefully with both her hands, "That's a cat." Rolanda pointed out as a matter-of-factly, in case her friend hadn't noticed that.

"It's not any cat," Pomona replied, "it's Minerva's animagus, can't you see?" she raised it so Hooch could have a better look at its face and then she saw those square marks around her eyes, and noticed that humanly look on them.

"Oh my god, Minerva!" she realized, "Do you have any idea of how worried we were while you were playing around fetching mouses around the school? Come on, transfigure back and let's get out of here before we get caught."

"Ro, I don't think she can..." Pomona muttered.

"What do you mean she can't?"

"I mean that the pet chain I tripped over before - I think it was meant for Minerva..." she looked at her friend with concerned eyes and showed Rolanda the pet collar around the cat's neck.

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TO BE CONTINUED...