Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply.
A/N: Some of the ideas proposed by Minerva at the staff meeting are ideas that have already appeared in Maybe I'm Amazed, A Rainbow in the Dark, and Lily's Defender.
Chapter 10
"Shit!" Severus muttered then said to Poppy, "Tell them I'll be up as soon as I put the potion I'm working on in stasis."
Poppy nodded and Severus cut off the floo, got up, and hurried into his potion lab. He gathered up his potion journal with the notes for the antidote to the Blood Boil Curse he was working on.
"What are you doing, Sev?"
Severus was looking through his cabinet of ingredients and grabbing any jars he thought could be mistaken for dark ingredients and putting those and his journal in a box which he shoved under his work table and disillusioned it. "I'm sure they're going to insist on searching down here so I'm just taking precautions."
He lifted a cauldron filled it halfway with water and spread fresh ingredients out beside it along with his best chopping knives and stirrers. He took Lily's hand and they walked upstairs to the hospital wing.
"If they do insist on searching my quarters; Potter and Black will stay out of my lab entirely!"
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
When they got to the hospital wing, Severus saw Albus was asleep. Fortunately, one of the Aurors was Kingsley Shacklebolt, but the other was John Dawlish. The solicitor was apparently Albus'. They went into Poppy's office where she cast a Silencing Charm so if anybody got loud which was a foregone conclusion with Potter and Black present; they wouldn't wake up Albus.
"I'm not sure why we've been called in," Kingsley began in his usual calm tone. "I understand from Madam Pomfrey that Albus is suffering from a disease of the brain often affecting elderly people, Muggle and Magical alike."
"I am Aloysius Kendleworth, Albus' solicitor and I am here to protect his interests. Do not think for a moment you can herd him into some institution so you can get your hands on his fortune," he warned.
"I have no interest in Professor Dumbledore's fortune," Severus retorted. "I am quite wealthy due to my own potion and spell inventions."
"Nobody is attempting to herd, as you say, Albus into an institution either!" Poppy snapped. "When was the last time you saw Albus?"
"A year ago when I went over the financials of his estate for two hours," Kendleworth stated. "I noticed nothing amiss with him then."
"He was fine until he made the mistake of hiring this snake and he started sneaking Albus potions that makes him seem like he was going nutters!" James interrupted.
Poppy rolled her eyes. "Albus is not mentally ill; his condition is quite physical, Professor Potter. If you only see him once a year Mr. Kendleworth, you probably would not notice any changes. We who see him everyday did."
Kendleworth got up. "I am very sorry to hear about Albus as he was a great wizard in his day. I will continue to look after his estate, but I am satisfied there is no deliberate mischief involved with his current medical condition. Madam Pomfrey if you would be so kind as to keep me posted; I will be on my way."
Poppy nodded.
"Well I believe Sirius, King," Dawlish announced. "He's always had good instincts as an Auror. I think we ought to search Snape's lab."
'Yeah, he had such good instincts that he's now been declared medically unfit to be an Auror,' Severus thought. "Do you have a warrant?" He demanded.
"We don't," Kingsley admitted. "But if you allow us to take a look and then we can be on our way."
"You may, Auror Shacklebolt, but those three …" he said pointing at Potter, Black, and Dawlish. "Stay out of my lab. Frankly, I don't trust any of them not to deliberately contaminate the potion I'm currently working on."
"Agreed," Kingsley replied and held up his hand when Dawlish began to protest. "We're here without a warrant, John and Professor Snape is being civil enough to allow me to do a quick search of his lab."
Severus and Kingsley walked down to the dungeons followed by Lily, James, Sirius and Dawlish. Severus put his hand on the portrait and it opened and they all went in. Severus followed by Kingsley went towards his lab, but then stopped and looked inquiringly at Lily, but she shook her head, pulled out her wand and said, "Go ahead, Sev. I'll make sure these three stay here even if I have to cast a Sticking Charm on the bottom of their shoes to keep them here."
Severus opened his lab door and pointed at the area where he kept all his ingredients in cabinets and unlocked the doors so Kingsley could look inside them.
Kingsley did a thorough search. He already knew it was a ridiculous waste of the Auror Department's time, but just to keep Black off their backs, Scrimgeour had ordered him to conduct a search.
He came out of the lab with Severus following him. "I didn't find anything illegal. Black, you and Potter need to find some other form of entertainment than siccing Aurors on people you don't like." He motioned to Dawson. "Come on. Let's get back to headquarters. I've got paperwork to finish before I can go home."
"You two can get the hell out of my quarters and if I see you two dunderheads lurking anywhere around here again, I'll hex first and ask questions later!"
"That goes double for me!" Lily snapped.
James and Sirius left, but not without grumbling and casting evil looks at Severus. He flopped down on the couch with a splutter of indignation. "Would somebody please tell me why I was insane enough to take this job?"
Lily sat down beside him. "This was their last bow so to speak. They're not going to be able to pull this crap with Minerva and the Aurors aren't going to come running next time they want to cause any trouble."
"True," Severus admitted and then smiled mischievously. "I think we should celebrate our release from the prison of Dumbledore, Potter, and Black."
"What kind of celebration?" Lily asked archly.
Severus took her hand and replied. "Come along and I'll show you."
An hour later, Severus threw back the blanket to get up. "I'd better get back to trying to invent that potion Poppy asked me about for Dumbledore."
"Sev," Lily said, pulling him back down. "There's plenty of time for that and Dumbledore's not going anywhere so …"
"True," Severus agreed, pulling the bedcovers back over he and Lily.
"It was dinner time before they emerged from their bedroom and decided to go upstairs to the Great Hall. As they walked in, Severus could see immediately that his snakes were happier and appeared more relaxed as they sat at the Slytherin table, chatting and laughing while waiting for the food to appear.
Minerva sat in the middle of the head table, but sat in her usual chair. She'd had the elves remove Dumbledore's 'throne'. James and Sirius sat down towards the other end near Hagrid both looking disgruntled.
Severus and Lily sat down at the end of the Slytherin table across from Luc and Cissa. Luc leaned across the table and said, "I heard Potter and Black called the Aurors and Dumbledore's solicitor on you."
"Yes, fortunately one of the Aurors was Kingsley Shacklebolt and he was reasonable. He asked permission to search my laboratory even though they didn't have a warrant and I allowed him. He didn't find anything incriminating and left. I did get the distinct impression if Potter and Black do call them again, they won't come. Dumbledore's solicitor admitted he only saw him once a year for a couple of hours and wouldn't have noticed any changes in him."
"They are complete idiots!" Cissa snapped.
"With Minerva in charge now; I'm sure things will be a lot better," Lily said.
"One would hope so," Lucius added.
The staff meeting on Monday afternoon at 4:00 was quite different from any previous staff meeting. "Good afternoon, everyone," Minerva said. "First I'd like to thank everyone for their patience while I'm adjusting to being headmistress. Secondly, I'd like your input on some changes I'm thinking of making." She had discussed them with Filius and already gotten his opinion.
"What kind of changes?" James asked in a grumpy tone.
"Except for the Welcoming Feast and the Leaving Feast, the student will no longer be confined to their house tables. They may sit anywhere they want. Also I want to have the month of May as an open house month. Each house will have a week when they would be open for the other houses to visit, tour, and ask questions. This will help dispel the various rumors that have been floating around about each house for centuries."
"You have to make sure you confiscate all the Slytherin wands or else they'll be hexing anybody in their range," Sirius complained.
"When my snakes are visiting other houses, their wands will remain in Slytherin House," Severus snapped.
"The same rule will go for all the houses and the students will be told that and reminded to be polite and courteous to their hosts while they're visiting," Minerva added.
"I think that sound fair," Pomona spoke up. "And I for one am looking forward to it."
"Me too," Remus replied nodding. "I think it will do a lot of good for the Gryffindors to see that the other houses are no different."
"Filius and I were talking and he pitched the idea of bringing the Founder's portraits to the Great Hall one evening and the students will be able to ask them questions."
"I thought it would be a good idea as a lot of the trouble between the houses was started by false rumors being spread about and then after enough time, it became fact," Filius explained.
"Why bother?" James asked. "Everybody knows that Slytherin got the boot from the other Founders because he hated the Muggleborn students and didn't want anybody but his precious dark purebloods admitted to Hogwarts."
Severus ignored Potter's pomposity; he pondered for a moment and then said, "My grandfather's library at his manor is quite large and dates back to the 15th century and he may have books about Salazar Slytherin printed from scrolls that were written in his time or shortly after and if so I can make copies and give them to Irma for the library."
"An excellent idea," Aurora said. "I would like to read them myself."
"Yes," Lucius agreed. "You should also make copies to add to the Slytherin House library."
"I'll floo my grandfather tonight," Severus decided.
Gilderoy smiled brightly and said, "I'll bring copies of my books that I've written about my adventures as a fighter of dark creatures and donate them to library too."
"Thank you, Gilderoy," Minerva said. "That is very generous of you." Her tone indicated that she wasn't all that thrilled with the idea. Maybe she could ask Irma to put them in the Restricted Section or else keep them in her office.
"It's my pleasure Headmistress," Gilderoy replied.
"When were you thinking of doing this with the Founder' Portraits Minerva?" Lily asked.
"Right now I'm thinking about doing it some night the last week of the school year. The OWLs, NEWTs, and final exams will be over with by that time so nobody will be missing study time. I am also working on plans to have a parent's weekend each year, but that will not be until next year because it will include inviting all the parents and guardians – magical and Muggle and there are many details to work out."
Minerva turned the discussion to other areas and once again went over the proctoring schedule for OWLs and NEWTs. "Lucius and Severus, would you mind staying after the meeting. I have something I'd like to discuss with both of you."
"Certainly Minerva," Lucius replied nodding. Severus nodded too. He noticed Potter and Black smirking at each other, assuming that he and Lucius were in trouble.
When the meeting was over, Severus and Lucius remained behind. Minerva poured more tea and summoned the plate of biscuits. "Severus, how is the potion coming for Albus?"
"I'm working on it, but once it's ready, it will need to go through testing at St. Mungo's first before it can be given to Albus," Severus responded.
"Poppy is managing to keep him calm and restrict his visits. She won't allow either Professor Potter or Professor Black to visit him because they just get him all riled up."
"Poppy knows best," Severus said. "And I believe that keeping him calm is beneficial in his condition."
Minerva turned to Lucius. "I was recently notified by Shadowblade, who is the account manager of the Hogwarts Scholarship Fund, that it is deplorably low. I have my suspicions that Albus might have been dipping into it for his fight against You-Know-Who. I know that you've more than tripled the Malfoy fortune since your father's death and I would like it if you could do the same for this fund. I will give you a letter for Shadowblade that confirms that you have my approval to work with him to increase it. I will be very grateful if you can do that."
"Certainly Minerva. I have always worked well with the Goblins. I can promise you that we will have it back to full vigor within a year."
"Excellent," Minerva replied. "Severus, please keep me updated on that potion."
"I will," Severus promised.
They left Minerva's office and split up each to go to their own offices to correct and grade assignments. He nodded at his snakes as he came through the entrance and nodded at Slytherin's portrait. He went into his office and from there into his quarters. Lily was sitting behind his desk correcting homework. She looked up as he came in and asked, "What did Minerva want to talk to you and Lucius about?"
Severus sat down on the edge of his desk. "Well she wanted to talk to me about the potion for Dumbledore's paranoia, but I told her once I got it done, it would need to go to St. Mungo's to be tested before it could be administered to Dumbledore and that could take a while. Lucius she asked to work with the Goblins to increase the Hogwarts Scholarship Fund. Apparently she got a letter from Gringotts warning her that its amount had dropped significantly and she suspects Dumbledore's been dipping into it for his fight against You-Know-Who."
"That wouldn't surprise me a bit as obsessed as he is about that stupid prediction Trelawney made."
Severus snorted. "She couldn't predict her way out of a paper bag!"
Lily nodded. "Minerva always said Divination was an imprecise subject and she had no patience with it."
It was nearly dinner time and Lily wanted to have dinner in their quarters, but Severus wanted to go up to the Great Hall. He smirked. "I take it you didn't notice the smirks on Potter's and Black's faces when Minerva asked Lucius and me to stay after the meeting. I'm willing to bet my last Galleon that they were sure Minerva was going to can us. I'd like to show them I'm still around and more than ready to kick their arses."
"I hadn't noticed," Lily admitted. "I avoid looking at either of them unless they speak directly to me." She smiled and held out her hand. "Yes, let's go upstairs and smash their fondest dreams."
"Your wish is my command My Lady," Severus replied bowing, taking her hand, and kissing it.
They went upstairs to the Great Hall and stopped outside it. Severus peered in and saw that Potter and Black were in their usual places next to Hagrid. They were laughing and joshing with the half-Giant, but Severus noticed Hagrid was frowning. "Shall we go in and burst their bubble?"
"Yes, let's do," Lily answered.
They walked casually into the hall with Severus stopping to greet his snakes as they moved towards the end of the table. He didn't even bother looking up at the two stooges as they sat down. Lily giggled and whispered, "They almost dropped their goblets when we came in. I'd love to flip them off, but since it's strictly a rude Muggle hand gesture, it wouldn't have the same meaning to them."
"They're egos are bigger than Jupiter so it wouldn't make a dent in them anyway," Severus muttered.
Luc and Cissa came into the hall and sat down in their usual places opposite Severus and Lily. Luc looked over at Potter and Black. "Damnation! They didn't drop over dead when they saw Minerva hadn't terminated us!" Lucius exclaimed.
"We can always hope they drink too much, decide to have a one-on-one Quidditch match and crash their brooms into each other head on," Severus said.
Minerva rose and tapped her knife against her goblet to get the students' attention. "Good evening, everyone. As the new headmistress I've decided that except for the Welcoming Feast and the Leaving Feast, you will no longer be required to sit at your house tables starting at breakfast tomorrow. In addition you may study in other houses common rooms as long as you're back in your own house before curfew and you are of course expected to obey the rules placed by the other heads for their houses while in their houses."
There was a lot of chattering after Minerva sat down again. Severus noticed his snakes seemed pleased and Severus wondered if he'd need to make an additional list of rules for visitors and post them. He decided he would wait and see how the visits went before he issued any new rules.
After they finished with dinner, Severus and Lily returned to their quarters and Severus flooed his grandfather.
"Severus, Lily," Tiberius said, getting up from his desk in his study. His study contained the only working floo in the household and it was strictly for floo-calling. "How are you and Lily?"
"Hi Grandpa," Severus said. "We're fine. How are you and Grandma?"
"We are fine too. I believe your grandmother is in her sewing room, but I can have one of the elves alert her if you wish to talk to her."
"No, that's fine. Don't disturb her," Severus replied. "Does your library have any books on Salazar Slytherin that were written in his time?"
"I believe so," Tiberius responded. "I will need to check however. May I floo you back after I do some research?"
"Of course," Severus replied.
They talked a bit what was going on at Hogwarts and Severus told his grandfather about Dumbledore's illness. "Madam Pomfrey asked me to invent a potion that could relieve some of his more noticeable symptoms and I told her I'd try."
"You may want to search the Herbology section in the library," Tiberius said. "I believe there are a few books on herbs that are useful for brain conditions."
"I'll do that," Severus said nodding. "Minerva's already made some changes such as relaxing the strict house rules that Dumbledore had in place."
"Minerva being headmistress will be much better as I believe the quality of education at Hogwarts has declined since Albus was appointed and Hogwarts reputation has suffered as a result."
"Mum says the same thing and I noticed at the Sorting this year that we had fewer children entering Hogwarts now than when Lily and I were students. I believe Minerva has plans to re-establish some of the courses Albus dropped."
Tiberius snorted. "That old fool dropped any course that he personally didn't like or saw no value to."
"I've heard Salem Academy in the America is way ahead of Hogwarts in education quality."
"Hopefully Minerva will give the curriculum the kick it needs to catch up to what the other schools offer. After all, it would be a shame if British children had to go somewhere else to get a decent education."
Severus and his grandfather chatted for a few minutes more and then said goodbye. Severus got up and sat down beside Lily on the couch, rubbing his knees and stretching his long legs. "I do wish our world would join the 20th century and get telephones. It would certainly be much more comfortable."
"I agree Sev," Lily said.
"Do you want to help me with the potion for Dumbledore?"
"I can do that as I've just finished correcting the last of my first year's essays," she replied getting up.
They adjourned to Severus' private lab and Severus explained the research he had done on various herbs and their properties in regard to effect on paranoia. "Turmeric appears to be the most effective and I've listed the others in their order of effectiveness," Severus explained.
"So, Turmeric should be the main ingredient of the potion with varying amounts of the other herbs?" Lily asked.
"To start out with at least," Severus replied. "Whenever grandfather floos me about those books on Salazar Slytherin, I'm going to do some research in the Herbology section of the library too."
"I'll go with you since we haven't seen your grandparents in awhile," Lily decided.
Severus frowned. "I was thinking the other night about that Death Eater that was sneaking in. Neither Luc nor I have seen him since, but we don't know if he's gotten scared off permanently or he's found another way to sneak in without us seeing him."
"Remus and I haven't spotted anything out of the ordinary either," Lily replied.
"I can't imagine if You-Know-Who sent him here specifically to recruit that he could go back to him and say he doesn't like his assignment and expect to walk off without being Crucio'd into oblivion."
"So, you and Luc are of the opinion that he's getting in another way?"
"Yes. I'm planning on talking to Minerva about having the wards strengthened over the summer and checked for gaps that would allow a marked Death Eater to get through. The wards are supposed to be set to keep anybody with the dark mark out."
"I'm sure she'll be willing to do it, Sev. Unlike Dumbledore, she's concerned about the safety of all the students."
"I'll talk with her tomorrow," he decided.
They worked on the potion for a couple of hours before going to bed.
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
Peter Pettigrew scurried quickly underneath the wards in his rat form. He now had a copy of the patrolling schedule that one of his contacts inside had given him so he knew when the best time to arrive was and after his near capture, he had decided to morph back into his animagus form before leaving, Thank goodness for the arrival of the arrogant idiots, James and Sirius! Their interference allowed him to escape last time, but the Dark Lord had Crucio'd him mightily when he'd told him he'd almost been captured.
Peter stood in front of his two contacts, a Ravenclaw named David Warner and his Gryffindor buddy, Regis Slovenhoft. "How is the recruiting going?"
"We've gotten a few people interested, but none of them are Slytherins. Snape's been working overtime to convince his house not to join the movement."
"Perhaps Snivellus has forgotten and needs to be reminded of how Slytherins really are," Pettigrew replied, putting his arms around the two want-to-be Death Eaters.
"What kind of lesson?"
"The best kind – ones that will terrify the school and convince them that Slytherin has not changed its spots. The school will turn against them and they'll welcome the Dark Lord's invitation! Ones that will make McGonagall's new attitude of equality for all the houses vanish like ice on a hot day."
Warner and Slovenhoft grinned. "Sounds like fun!"
~*~* Page Break ~*~*
Breakfast the next morning was interrupted by screaming out in the hallway and Madam Hooch burst into the Great Hall panting and out of breath. "The Pitch …" she gasped, leaning heavily on the end of the Hufflepuff table.
"What on earth?" Minerva said rising, but Severus was faster. He took a vial of calming potion out of his robe pocket and grabbed a goblet of pumpkin juice, adding the potion to it. He made his way over to her. "Here Rolanda, have a seat and drink this," he directed.
Minerva came over and stood next to Severus as did Lily, Narcissa, and Lucius. "Does she need Poppy?" Minerva asked.
Sirius shook his head and grinned at James. "Hooch probably found a weed growing on the Pitch and is ready to collapse! You remember that time we painted a Lion on it with wet ashes that would have washed away in the first rainstorm?"
"Yeah, she gave us a month worth of detention for defacing her Quidditch Pitch," James replied.
"Thinkin' this might be somethin' more damagin' than wha' you fella's done," Hagrid said. "Yeah, Rolanda gets mad as a wet cat if the Pitch gets some damagin', but she don't usually get out a control like that 'bout it."
By now most of the staff was gathered around Rolanda who had regained some of her equilibrium. "Can you tell us or better yet show us what's wrong, Rolanda?" Minerva asked as Madam Pomfrey checked her pulse.
"I can't," she replied. "Seeing it once was horrible enough!"
Poppy let go of her wrist and shook her head at Minerva indicating the Madam Hooch was in no condition for any further shock.
Minerva sighed and then leaned down to Filius and asked quietly, "Filius, will you please stay here with the students while I and the other professors go and see what happened on the Pitch?"
"Of course Minerva," Filius replied nodding.
Minerva made a quick announcement that the students were to remain inside the school until they were notified by her that it was safe to go outside again.
Hagrid came up to Minerva and said, "Bettr' let me go firs', Professer McGonagall. We don' know what's out ther."
"Thank you Hagrid," Minerva replied, allowing him to take the lead.
James and Sirius weren't about to be left out of things so they jumped up and quickly followed behind the other professors.
When they got to the Pitch, they could readily see what had sent Madam Hooch into fearful hysterics. Running the length of the Pitch was Voldemort's Dark Mark that had been burned into the grass of the pitch.
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