.27.
The last day of the school year at Hogwarts came much faster than they anticipated, all their hard work distracting them and distorting their sense of time. It had shocked many of the students from Erilea and Prytian to see their classmates of the past year packing up their dormitories to return home when they still didn't even know if the Headmistress would even allow them to return to their homelands.
After submitting their petition to the Minister of Magic just under a week before – five days ago, to be exact – they all had high hopes that they would hear back from him within a couple of days. In fact, this delay could very well be dangerous for them. Headmistress McGonagall was quickly growing far more paranoid by the day. And paranoia only fuelled her fear, suspicion and terror. As a matter of course, having not heard anything back from the Minister, they were all living in a state of constant fear. Living in fear was something that each and every one of them had thought had ended when the wars they'd lived through had ended.
It was at breakfast on the last day of the school year that Headmistress McGonagall finally made her move against them. Rising from her place at the staff table once more to make her final announcement.
"Students, this, as well all know, is the day we say goodbye to our friends, and to our school for the summer. For our graduating class, this is the day you say goodbye to your childhood forever," Headmistress McGOnagall began, causing many people to rise their eyebrows and begin muttering amongst themselves. They had all said goodbye to their innocence and childhoods already – the war had seen to that. So what was she talking about? Also, what about the threats she had made against all of the intdermensional students? Was the Headmistress honestly just about to let them return to their own worlds, to go home, just like that? Hope suddenly began to cross all their faces.
"But unfortunately, not all of you will be returning to your homes," Headmistress McGonagall continued, with a cruel expression on her face, dashing their hopes once and for all. "I am, of course, talking about the guest exchange students that come from different worlds. As they are, in part, responsible for the destruction that the war wrought on our world, on our school, they will be staying here until they have paid their debt, once and for all. I have grown tired of dealing with people who do not pay what is due."
For a second there was a ringing dead silence that filled the entirety of the Great Hall. Then, not even a heartbeat later, the Great Hall was filled with students and staff all shouting abuse and cruelty at the Headmistress. Within moments the Hall was filled ringing and echoing from the din.
Unfortunately, the noise just set the Headmistress off. "Silence! I will have SILENCE," the Headmistress screamed at the top of her voice, letting off at least twenty firecrackers simaltaneously with her wand. "Until further notice, all of the interdimensional parasites – including the freaking infant – shall be housed in one of the roomier, creepier dungeons." At this, Varian held baby Ayesha tighter to him, crying as hard as his daughter.
"You can't do that!" someone from the Ravenclaw table shouted furiously. "They're people too!" At this, many people started shouting angrily again. At the start of the school year, the opinions of many of the students and staff had mirrored that of the Headmistress. But over the course of the school year, a lot of them had had reason to change their minds. The students from Erilea and Prythian may have been immortal and many hundreds of years older than them, but they were still living, breathing people. Like them, they had magic. Like them, they just wanted to heal and recover from the wars that had ravaged and devastated their lands. They were people just like them. Yes, they lived quite differently from the way the rest of the students and staff at Hogwarts lived. But different didn't necessarily mean evil. It appeared that Headmistress McGonagall hadn't yet learned the difference between the two.
"For your information I CAN do this!" Headmistress McGOnagall screamed over the noise of the din engulfing the Great Hall. "I am the caretaker of an ancient citadel of magical learning, while under the roof of this ancient school; your safety is my responsibility. I am the Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I CAN DO WHAT I WANT! I am the BOSS! I make the decisions! I CAN DO WHATEVER I LIKE AND YOU CAN NOT STOP ME! YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO STOP ME! NEVER!"
"That's just nuts!" someone shouted out again. "No one can do whatever they want, not even the damned Minster of Magic can do whatever he likes, and you know it."
"SHUT UP!" Headmistress McGonagall shouted again, haughty. "If anything, you saying that just proves that you don't know what you're talking about. Of course I can do whatever I like. I am, after all, the Headmistress."
At this, not just one person shouted out in protest, but dozens. "You're fucking nuts!" "You're crazy!" "Even Dumbledore knew he couldn't do whatever he liked!" "Not even the Minister of Magic can do whatever he wants!" "You're insane!" "Why are you doing this to them?!" "They're people just like us, even if you don't want to admit it!"
Headmistress McGonagall was just growing more and more enraged, and it showed. "I know exactly what I'm doing," she snarled ferociously, shooting even more firecrackers from her wand. "And if the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, knew what I was doing he would most definitely agree with me."
During this confrontation, all of the interdimensional students had been strangely silent. It was gratifying, in a way, to know that so many of the students and staff were on their side, after spending so much of the year being hounded and vilified by so many of them. But it was easy to the wrath and fury on their faces, in their eyes, and their posture.
Suddenly, Headmistress McGonagall seemed to relax, and to calm down. In a way, it was even more frightening than all her screaming had been. At least when she'd been screaming, at least they'd known where they'd stood. Letting out a deep breath, Headmistress seemed more determined than ever before. "As you all seemed so determined to defy me, it appears that I only have one option left to me."
With a flick and a swish of her wand, Headmistress McGonagall silently placed each and every single one of the interdimensional students in handcuffs and chains. While Varian was just glad that his chains were loose enough that he could keep holding his baby daughter, Aelin was completely panicking. She'd spent a year shackled and chained in the mines, and being chained now brought back those memories, and brought back the memories of being chained and tortured by Maeve. It was little enough known in this world – it was apart of her life that she had never been comfortable discussing with the people she wasn't close with. But her panic and fear was bringing back the worst memories of her life and was clouding her judgement. In the surging crowd and hindered by the chains, Rowan was unable to get to her side to comfort and calm her.
Ever since before the war had ended, this had been what Rowan had always feared the most – not being able to get to Aelin in time, not being able to help her when she was most in need. He was completely out of his mind with fear, panic and terror. But before he was able to shove his way through the crowd toward Aelin, the large double doors to the Great Hall burst open, and a tall black wizard came storming through them, casually flanked by another couple of stern looking wizards. There was a sheaf of paper tucked under the black wizard's arm.
"ENOUGH!" the black wizard shouted in a commanding tone, causing everyone in the Great Hall, including Headmistress McGonagall, to shut the hell up immediately. While most of the staff and students seemed to recognise the wizard, there were just as many (mainly the students from Erilea and Prythian) who seemed rather uncertain about his identity.
"Minister Shacklebolt," Headmistress McGonagall began in a rather slimy tone, "if I may be so bold as to ask what you are doing here at Hogwarts?"
"Answering a desperate plea," the Minister said in a deep, authoritative tone. "From people who deserve to return to their homelands."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Headmistress McGonagall asked, in a confused kind of way.
The Minister of Magic walked down the length of the Great Hall, holding the sheaf of papers in his hands. "Like I said, I'm answering a desperate plea," he said when he was halfway to the staff table. "A couple of weeks ago, rumour went around Hogwarts that you intended to hold our interdimensional guests here against their will and without their consent. Needless to say, many people were extremely unhappy with you. So they wrote home, and their parents wrote to me. Not to mention the petition our guests started appealing to me directly."
"If those nusiances knew what I was planning, they wouldn't have dared bother you," Headmistress McGonagall said smirking viciously.
"Well, let's hear it then," the Minister said in a faux calm voice, tension evident in every line of his body. "Tell us what you were planning."
"These interdimensional parasites have caused such damage while they've been here," Headmistress McGonagall began immediately in a wheedling, almost a bullying tone of voice. "They've been distracting my students, and have been a generally disruptive presence. They should be made to stay here until their debt to our society has been repaid."
"Now the shouting that I heard just a few minutes ago makes sense," Minister Shacklebolt said, nodding in an understanding sort of way. "You really have gone crazy, Minerva."
"I'm not crazy!" McGonagall shrieked shrilly. "I'm not! I'm positive that any Healer at St. Mungo's would confirm it!"
"You may be the Headmistress of Hogwarts, Madam," Minister Shacklebolt said, "but even you are not above the law. What you have been planning, holding twenty-eight people, plus a brand new baby hostage, is undoubtedly against the law. I am not going to condone your actions, and I never will."
"What?" Headmistress McGonagall snapped at him. "Are you arresting me, or something?"
"Why, Madam, yes, I am," the Ministed said, looking quite surprised that McGonagall had grasped the point so quickly. "Take her," he said authoritatively to the two wizards who'd arrived with him, who had remained silent up until that point.
While the two Aurors placed Minerva McGonagall in handcuffs, Kingsley Shacklebolt waved his wand and all twenty-eight students from Erilea and Prythian found that their handcuffs and chains had instantly and silently vanished. As the cuffs and chains vanished Aelin's crying slowly ceased. After Endovier and Maeve, Aelin had feared chains more than almost anything else. Minerva McGonagall had just made her relive her worst memories. Knowing her fears, Rowan surged forward the second the chains had disappeared and wrapped his arms tightly around her. The moment Rowan's hands touched her; Aelin knew that she was safe, that the nightmare was finally – finally – over, and that she was going to go home.
Unknown to Aelin and Rowan, who were too wrapped up in each other to take notice of anything else, Manon Blackbeak and Petrah Blueblood, the two witches who had come with them to Hogwarts from Erilea, had stepped forward as soon as the chains vanished and asked the Minister of Magic if they could give Headmistress McGonagall a special parting gift.
When Minister Shacklebolt had acquiesced, Manon and Petrah had instantly lain into the shrieking woman with their iron teeth and nails, leaving great gaping holes and bleeding wounds in the Headmistress's body. By the time the assault had ended, the Headmistress had slumped to the floor, the bloodloss rendering her unconscious. The horror of the ordinary Hogwarts students who'd witnessed the attack was palpable.
Shuddering, Minister Shacklebolt turned away from Minerva McGonagall's bleeding body and asked Hermione Granger if she still wished to leave England to move to Prythian in order to be with Tamlin. Hermione instantly said she was more than prepared to leave this world behind for once and for all. On that note, Minister Shacklebolt told all of the interdimensional students to collect their luggage as quickly as possible as the portal to their own worlds would be opening the minute the Hogwarts Express left Hogsmeade station.