CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

One Last Letter


"Now, shall we begin?" Minerva addressed the staff gathered at the table in the faculty lounge during lunchtime Friday afternoon. Severus sat next to his wife and a few seats down from the Blacks, preparing for the staff meeting which would address how they would handle the school now that so many of the older students were gone.

"Cuthbert! Pay attention!" Minerva admonished, turning to Professor Binns who was floating low in his seat and looked to be asleep.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see his wife hide a smile with her hand, always amused at how stern Minerva could be. He cracked a half smile of his own at her reaction and then turned to see that of the ghost. The wispy old man shook his head and woke up in an almost comical fashion, clearing his throat and turning to the headmistress, "I apologize, Minerva."

Severus frowned. If he did not know any better he would say that the ghost situation was getting worse. If tiredness was giving way to mock sleep, then perhaps especially so. But his and Dinah's research, along with Mae's, had not uncovered anything very useful as of yet, and he did not know how much time they had left to get to the bottom of this.

Minerva seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she relaxed her sternness and frowned instead in thought, "I realize that you and the other ghosts are suffering from a mysterious affliction, Cuthbert, but if it is going to affect your behavior in staff meetings and in classes then it might be best for us to find you a temporary replacement or assistant."

"I would rather not," he decided.

"But it may be necessary," she countered, making him give a resigned sigh, "We will vote on it at the end of the meeting. Now, on a different but related subject, as you all know in normal years I would go to Durmstrang with the group of students that departed this morning. However, as we have received a number of threatening or suggestive letters this year, I deemed it necessary to remain at Hogwarts and sent Pomona to Durmstrang in my place along with Eugene Wilkins to teach Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Due to the fact that those two subjects at Durmstrang teach the Dark Arts themselves and we cannot have our students participating in courses that encourage learning such things."

Severus nodded, feeling a mixture of agitation and satisfaction, but mostly agitation, at the headmistress's choice of sending his enemy Eugene. On the one hand, he was glad to be rid of the infernal Potions assistant for the better part of a year. On the other hand, the idea of Eugene teaching the abroad students Defense Against the Dark Arts made him cringe. Yes, when Eugene had assisted him in the subject during his youthening he had been purposefully trying to sabotage Severus's course to buy Gellert Grindelwald more time, but all Severus knew of his behavior when teaching the course was incompetence. He would have to send numerous owls to check up on the course and verify that it was being taught correctly, and he was not looking forward to it.

"Dinah," Minerva turned to address his wife next, "You have arranged to send Pomona your Muggle Studies lesson plans so that she is able to administer them effectively to the students at Durmstrang?"

"Mm. Of course. We have that all sorted out," Dinah agreed, nodding. They, of course, did not teach Muggle Studies at a place like Durmstrang, and so the students who had elected to take the course this year as well as all seventh years, for whom it was required, would need to be taught using a combination of Pomona's limited experience in the subject and Dinah's long-distance lessons. It would have been more ideal to have Grubbly-Plank teach the subject at Durmstrang, but she needed to stay to cover Pomona's Herbology classes and because she had the best experience in taking care of the children when neither he, Dinah, nor the two Black parents were available. It was not often, but she did have to have the children for a small number of hours each week. In fact, she had them right now, he thought, glancing at the corner of the lounge where Wilhelmina was entertaining them with the help of the house elves as the parents participated in the staff meeting. She was close enough to hear and participate in the meeting but would be able to devote attention to the children as well. As she was only a substitute, it was better to have her watch the children so he, Dinah, and the Blacks could devote their full attention to the staff meeting. They had considered having Mae watch the children, but all five of them would probably be too much for someone who was not a parent. Wilhelmina had a grown son as well as grandchildren, and so she had the experience necessary to handle them all at once.

"Good," Minerva was saying, "And you are prepared to take on your role as temporary 'acting' Head of Hufflepuff for Hogwarts students in the interim?"

"Very ready and quite honored, actually," Dinah smiled, "I'm especially looking forward to offering my guidance to the Quidditch team once it's put together and getting to be Sev's rival," she teased, turning her grin now to him, "You just wait until we beat Slytherin."

He could not prevent his snort of derision, "We'll just see about that," he told her smug form. It was not that he doubted his wife's ability to encourage the team, but Hufflepuff was simply not known to perform well in Quidditch, thankfully. His wife would learn that soon enough, so there was no need for him to explain it to her. She was still too happy about having been gifted this appointment to think logically. Besides, Dinah herself was no fierce competitor as a Hufflepuff. She was all about fairness and 'having fun'. That sort of mindset would never lead to a win.

Minerva chuckled, "Well, I am sure you will both enjoy the challenge but let us leave the rivalries behind us for now. We have now covered all we must worry about for what goes on at Durmstrang for the time being, except of course that students there will lose and gain house points as well, which will be reflected in the hourglasses here at Hogwarts. Now, I am more concerned with the well-being of our own school. As it is, with the majority of our sixth and seventh years gone and around half of the fifth years, our student population has decreased by nearly thirty percent. That said, some changes in how we manage things will have to be made, and we must also take into consideration the aforementioned letters that have been received. Yes, Filius?"

"Could you summarize the letters again for us, please?" the short-statured head of Ravenclaw squeaked.

"Yes, I was about to. As of now I have received one letter and the Snapes three. The Blacks have received one as well, correct?" she turned to Lucy and Sirius.

"Yes, just the one," Lucy nodded.

"Very good, thank you. Now, we have reason to believe that all of these letters were sent by the same individual or group of individuals, although they have come in varying writing styles and at least one with a 'gift'," Minerva said, going on to describe the letters in detail to the faculty and staff with help from Severus, Dinah, and the Blacks. "Now," she concluded, "As Hogwarts is now biased towards younger students and even small children," she nodded over at Wilhelmina and the offspring, " it is more imperative than ever that we take these threats seriously. We must not allow this person to infiltrate Hogwarts!" she decided, slapping her palm onto the table for good measure and making both Dinah and Lucy smile this time.

"If I may," Horace interjected, "Do you think it wise that we post Auror guards around the outskirts of the castle as we did six years back?"

"I would prefer not," Severus declared before Minerva could answer.

The headmistress turned her stern expression now to him, "I assume your personal prejudices are not coming into that statement, Severus?"

"No, they are not," he said through gritted teeth, angry at the suggestion, "If you must bring Potter, bring Potter. However, I do not believe it is necessary. If I thought it was, I would not hesitate to protect my own children. But if we post Aurors here I believe these ambitious people may only treat it as more of a challenge and up their efforts. After all, their goal may very well be to start another Wizarding war, whether they are truly capable of it or not."

"Point well taken," she murmured, her gaze at least reflecting some apology, though it did not really satisfy Severus, "In which case, what shall we do? We already have shields up, so I believe we should be impenetrable. But either way, we must be diligent. Especially during times such as Hogsmeade weekends, when the students are off the grounds."

Severus heaved a sigh and leaned back in his seat, reaching to place a hand over Dinah's as they listened to each asinine suggestion in turn. It was frustrating to hear suggestions of extra chaperones, placing Aurors at Hogsmeade, sending letters to the students' parents, when he knew the only real course of action would be to truly get to the bottom of what this person was doing and stop him. But they were still frustratingly far away from that point.

"Yes, Argus?" Minerva asked then the caretaker raised his free hand, Mrs. Norris cradled in his opposite arm as per normal. Severus glanced over at his wife, who had pursed her lips. For her, Filch was as much an enemy as Eugene was to Severus. Perhaps even more so.

"I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet," the irritating squib said to Minerva with an air of self-importance, "Clearly the letters indicate that the main target of these individuals is the Snapes, correct? Wouldn't sending them off Hogwarts solve the problem? At least for the time being?"

"You-" Dinah began, leaning forward in her seat with a vicious expression.

"Now, now," Severus cut her off, putting a hand on hers again, although the caretaker's words had his blood boiling as well. She backed off at his touch but did not cease snarling at Filch.

"That won't solve anything, just move the problem to a new location," Lucy interjected.

"That is correct, Lucy," Minerva approved, "And our job is to protect the Snapes and their small children, Argus. Sending them off Hogwarts would only make them more vulnerable. In addition, we must not fight amongst ourselves!" she admonished, "Argus, Dinah, you two simply must attempt to get along better. You are colleagues whether you like it or not."

"Hmph. Parselmouth," Filch snorted, folding his arms around his cat and looking away.

"Bastard," Dinah bit out under her breath so only Severus could hear, sitting back in her seat and folding her own arms, and Severus almost smiled. His wife certainly had an attractive fire when the situation suited her.

Minerva heaved a sigh, "Well, many measures have been presented. Let us now put them to a vote before moving on to new subjects."

She did just that, and it was decided that no Aurors, but extra chaperones, would accompany the third year and up students on all Hogsmeade trips. It was also decided, and Severus did not know if he approved of this or not, that if the situation escalated much further the students' parents would be sent letters informing them of the potential danger. The problem was that if that happened the press might get ahold of the information, and Severus truly did not want Rita Skeeter becoming involved in his family's life again. The way Dinah had not voted in favor of the measure either suggested to him that she felt the same way.

On the positive end, it was also decided that further deliberation on any other measures would hold off until he and Dinah had more information.

Now, the only obstacle was getting that information.


Mae shifted groggily in her bed. She had napped a bit of the afternoon after lunch this Saturday and hadn't yet gotten a chance to look through her squib ancestor's Tall Tales journal, which she had left on her bedside table. This wasn't exactly unusual, though. For the past week she had alternated between moments of research fervor and then collapsed from exhaustion. When she couldn't be with Begonia or Dinah, it seemed all she really had the energy to do was research or sleep, and now with Begonia gone...

Well, at least yesterday had been fun with the Snapes and Blacks at the 'winter picnic', a Snape tradition, or well a Samson one really that Dinah had brought to her husband and passed on to their children. Of course, it was a bit of an early one this year, but late October in Scotland was still quite cold. And Owen had written an adorable letter to Andrew in his and Altair's name. Mae hoped she could find out what her boyfriend's reaction was to it someday.

Well, she should really get up and read, she thought, yawning. Her fingers fumbled on her nightstand for the journal, but she came up short. Poking around some more, she could only feel the hard wood of the table. She sighed, sitting up and then frowning when she saw that somehow the book had fallen onto the floor. Had she knocked it over in her sleep? She wasn't usually that restless.

Leaning over, she reached down to grab it where it had landed upside down open to a page. Turning the book over, the first word that caught her eye was 'ghost'.

Her heart began to race with the very real fear that something was terribly wrong, but she just couldn't place it. Turning her gaze to the top of the page, she began to read:

Old man from Tribe 2. Reported eccentric and/or mad by other local tribespeople. Claims it is possible to become a ghost without dying. Related to phenomenon of stealing ghost power noted previously? If a living human can steal ghost power to the point where they can float, enter and leave areas without detection, etc... What good or harm could this cause? More information needed, although it is doubtful that the power is real.

"Oh... my..." Mae heard the trembling in her voice more than she felt it. Her feeling was more concentrated on the knots forming in her chest. "It's not possible..." she breathed; "If Ramkin is doing this and can enter or leave a place without-" she gasped as the window began to rattle, jerking her head over to look at it, before feeling a rush of relief when she saw that it was only Alexander with a letter.

Her relief did not last long, though, when it occurred to her that Alexander never rattled against the window. He was too small to create such a ruckus. Instead, he tapped on it with his beak. Mae rushed to stand and go over to open it, not able to think much about anything right now through her fear and worry. Her bird looked stressed, his feathers ruffled in an abnormal manner as he flew in and landed on the bed with the letter, panting his exhaustion.

"What happened to you?" Mae squeaked out, closing the window and sitting next to him, stroking his feathers as she took the letter, and was immediately overwhelmed by the scent of roses.

She let out another squeak, this time without words, as her trembling hands opened the letter. She knew what this was now, and she was terrified. She really should leave her room and go somewhere where there were other people, a little inner voice was telling her, but her curiosities won over.

She unfolded the letter and read:

Dear Miss Mae Yates,

You have had a surprise visitor. I must admit, that your interference has been the most unwelcome. A Muggle-born descended from a squib trying to stop us. Just imagine. Your pathetic, magicless ancestor did manage to find out some useful information, didn't he? I did not bank on another having discovered what I discovered before me. I suppose it is because he was a squib that his research was never published. Nor, apparently, did he take that 'old man' from 'Tribe 2' very seriously. How stupid of him. But it is a good thing for me, minus your interference of course. You may be more of a thorn in my side than Severus Snape, and that's saying something for a Mudblood.

That said, perhaps you would be interested to know that the windows of Ravenclaw Tower are constructed perfectly for a makeshift ghost to enter and exit from. I apologize if my rattling has bothered you. Now that you are alone in a bunk, in a school with a weakened student population, you have many reasons to fear. In fact, the state of the school as it is now is exactly why now is the perfect time for the New Dark Lord to rise. You can tell that to your friends the Snapes.

Or better yet, would you like to speak with me in person? The site of your 'winter picnic' may make an ideal meeting spot. I'll be waiting.

Yours,

Ambrose Ramkin.

Enough was enough. Shaking with fear and beckoning for Alexander to follow behind her, Mae folded up the letter and ran from the room to go and find the Snapes.

Although she would rather rush into Andrew's arms and never let go.


A/N: Hooray! Finally, the action starts! Thanks everyone for being patient... I'm trying to get better at writing more concise works but it's still a process for me. Thank you to all my reviewers, followers, and favoriters! And thanks to MRSSPICY for her recent review!