Chapter Fourteen

Minerva

When Jennifer arrived at the top to see a large tabby cat sitting there waiting, she was not surprised. Nor were the four students, although they did not seem particularly thrilled to see her, greeting her with a moan, wince, groan, and grimace respectively as Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Harry floated up into the bathroom, followed by Severus, who then immediately turned and sealed the pipe which they had just come out of.

"We seem to have found some wayward students, Professor McGonagall," Jennifer said clearing her throat. She was attempting to use a spell to try and clean the crusting slime off her robes, but for some reason the spell could only get the top layer off.

The cat suddenly looked as if it were going to stand on its hind legs, and taking a step forward grew in size and shape until an instant later the six were looking at a very unhappy Minerva McGonagall.

"Aren't we getting a little old for this sort of thing?" Minerva said, frowning at them disapprovingly. "After that pathetic exhibition game we had where two of the key players on the Gryffindor team mysteriously did not show, I came to find out from the rest of your housemates that no one remembered seeing you get up this morning, apparently having already left…or is it that you never made it to bed at all?"

"We hadn't, Professor. We had expected to be back long before now, but we ran into a bit of trouble," Harry answered.

"It's all my fault, Professor McGonagall, I'm the one who insisted we go down there," Hermione said. "See, we hadn't really explored down there, and we thought perhaps there might be some important information."

"They were looking for clues to the Forbidden Tomb," Jennifer put in.

"They were what?"

"Despite several attempts by both of us to discourage them," Severus added.

"Harry and Ron were caught in paradox wards, some of the most complex work I've ever seen. Hermione tried to work it out on her own but they finally gave up and got me. They haven't eaten or slept in hours," Jennifer said.

"Can I at least go to the bathroom?" Ron asked meekly. Minerva sighed.

"Very well. To your dormitories straight away and for the rest of the day, and nothing like this had better not happen again or this will go straight to Dumbledore. I expect you four will have two detentions, and Gryffindor is now down two hundred points for your obvious lack of respect for the rules. I will make sure all of your housemates know exactly who to thank for it as well." Minerva said, sending them towards the door.

"Sounds like Slytherin actually has a chance this year for the cup, eh?" Jennifer asked Severus, leaning on him.

"It's early yet," Severus commented with a frown. "I've seen them come out of worse holes." Minerva turned back to look at them as the students left, trying to keep a straight face at their appearance.

"Might I ask just what, exactly, happened to the two of you down there?"

"Uh, well, we got into a hole ourselves a bit ago, but Severus was able to help us rise above it," said Jennifer. Behind her, Severus' lip twitched.

"Just as well he went to back you up without you asking, isn't it?" Minerva smiled slightly. "By the way, why didn't you at least inform me what was going on when you discovered what had happened, Jennifer?"

"You were with a guest," Jennifer explained quickly. "I didn't want to talk about school business around a guest."

"Well, the next time anything like this happens, which involves such student activities within this school, you have my permission to interrupt and pull me aside. In fact, I insist," Minerva said, gazing at the other professor steadily, the same subtle smile on her face.

"Of course, Minerva. I'll keep you informed," Jennifer agreed, blushing slightly.

"Good, that's all that I ask. Oh, by the way, Dumbledore will probably be back this evening and I expect he'll want to see you both about all of this. I'll let him know you'll meet him after dinner. Now, don't you both look at me like that! It's not my fault you spent your day off mucking about underneath the castle. Try to enjoy the rest of your afternoon," Minerva added, leaving the room.

"Can you believe that?" Jennifer said in annoyance, glancing at her watch. "That leaves us, what, an hour and a half before dinner. It'll take me that long just to get the rest of this slime off."

"Well, let's just skip the Great Hall and eat in my office then," Severus suggested. Jennifer quickly agreed as they went out the door, pausing a moment as they came out to see Mr. Filch leaning against the wall outside, waiting to reopen the bathroom. He sniggered and smiled toothily as they came out, looking them up and down.

"Well aren't ya both a pretty sight. What did ya do, fall in?"

"Something like that," Jennifer answered, and quickly headed towards her room, leaving Severus there to glare at him.

Minerva entered Albus Dumbledore's Study, looking somewhat tired.

"Ah, there you are, Minerva. I got your note. It sounds as if you've been having an exciting day," Dumbledore smiled sympathetically. "Why don't you sit down and relax a bit."

"Thank you, Albus, although I doubt it'll last for too long. Jennifer and Severus shall be coming up soon and I'm sure they will have a tale to tell."

"Of that much I am certain. How are the other four?"

"Fed and resting," Minerva sighed, shaking her head. She had an extra long talk with Hermione about the whole affair afterwards as well, concerning prefect responsibility. She hated giving those talks, and that, more than all the running around she had to do today (avoiding catastrophes, stopping fights, and worrying over teachers chasing students down pipes,) had tired her out the most. "I have to admit, Dumbledore, that there are times when I am almost glad that Harry, Hermione, and Ron are graduating this year."

"Ah, yes, I too," Dumbledore smiled. "Of course, they still have a lot to learn, but I will very much welcome the day when I can look at them just as friends and not students."

"Yes, but you will always be Professor Dumbledore to them," Minerva said with a smile.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Dumbledore said, looking thoughtful.

There was a soft knock at the door. Dumbledore made a gesture with his hands to open them, and Jennifer and Severus walked in. As Jennifer turned to seek out a particular chair, Severus kept walking straight up to the desk with an unhappy look on his face.

"Why didn't you tell me about Anna?" Severus asked accusingly in a tone that Minerva had not heard Severus use with Dumbledore before.

"You didn't ask," Dumbledore said simply.

"Do not give me that. I had a right to know she was brought here."

"Severus, I assure you, I did not go out of my way to keep it from you. Jennifer herself helped escort her here with the rest of the students." Dumbledore said calmly.

"You didn't go out of your way to tell me who she was though, either. You only told me she was your goddaughter," Jennifer pointed out.

"She has been in and out of the school quite a bit since she arrived, and she spent a great deal of time in the library. I thought it would have been a lot easier on you both if this had come out on its own. I didn't think a forced meeting would have been good for Anna." Dumbledore explained.

"She was in the library a lot. She was even at the Sorting ceremony the first evening, come to think of it," Jennifer agreed.

"Exactly whose side are you on, anyway?" Severus said irritably towards Jennifer. Jennifer looked at him then Dumbledore then back at Severus again.

"I'm on Anna's side," she said at last, "and that's whose side we should all be on."

"I think she has a very good point," Minerva put in, nodding knowingly at Jennifer. The younger professor hardly wished to try and chose between the two on this issue.

"Yes, you are quite right, Jennifer," Dumbledore agreed. "What is important now is that Anna has the support and the guidance that she needs to gain control of her talents, and without undue pressure," he added, glancing back at Severus. "She has things she can learn from each of us, as well as a thing or two she could probably teach us in return," he said, smiling at Jennifer. "I'm sure as long as we give her the space she needs to rediscover herself, she'll adjust to her unique position without too much grievance. Now that that is settled, perhaps you would like to sit down?"

Severus frowned a moment as if he were going to say something else before sighing softly and sitting beside Jennifer, who gazed at her fiancé understandingly. Minerva couldn't help but to smile at the girl's show of support. Poor Jennifer, no one quite saw the world in the way she did, Minerva knew, and it wasn't just because of her Truth Seeking talent. Even after two years of teaching, nearly getting killed countless times and being engaged to someone like Severus, nothing seemed to have diminished her naivety. Of course, she had definitely matured in other ways; she seemed to have a lot more self-confidence now than she used to have. And in the classroom, Minerva knew she had developed a firm but undeniably loving hand that seemed to bring out the best in most of the students.

"I hear you had to rescue some students from certain doom today, but I haven't heard much detail as yet other than you ended up following them into the Chamber of Secrets," Dumbledore smiled at them. "Who would like to enlighten me?" Severus looked expectantly over at Jennifer.

"Well, actually, most of the time we weren't in the Chamber at all. We were in the hidden room behind it that was constructed by four of the founders' former apprentices just after Slytherin was murdered," Jennifer explained. Minerva couldn't contain a look of surprise at the remark, finding herself staring at Jennifer with wonder. Apparently, there was a lot more to this than she had originally thought. Severus seemed mildly surprised as well.

"Oh, really? How are you so certain about who it was that built it?" Dumbledore asked intrigued.

"Well, when I got down there, Ron and Harry had gotten caught in some geometric paradox wards…the entire room seemed to be especially designed for them. On the opposite side was a pedestal with an ornate box on it. Fortunately, Severus showed up and noticed that there was a second set of lines from the reflection off the ceiling, so he was able to find a way for me to get safely over…"

"It's a good thing that he followed you then," Dumbledore's eyes twinkling. Minerva looked at Dumbledore with amusement, and Severus smirked slightly. Jennifer blushed. "So you were able to get the box open, I assume?"

"Yes, but it wasn't exactly what we had expected. The students had thought, as did we when we got down there, that perhaps one of his apprentices might have actually been down there after he died and left a clue on how to find the Tomb for the next descendant to look for it. But it was actually the opposite; the ones who left the box there were hoping to protect the school if an heir of Slytherin ever returned. At the same time, they set the room up as a trap, so that if the heir did find the room first, he'd be trapped in the paradox, and if he did actually manage to get someone else down there with him, they wouldn't be able to get the box open. There were certain conditions that had to be met to open it, the least of which was the right blood. Fortunately for all of us down there, I had it because Janus Craw, it seems, was more loyal to the school itself and the Ravenclaw apprentice than to Slytherin." Jennifer paused thoughtfully.

"There was some sort of a pact, between four apprentices of differing houses…they didn't use their names, only called each other by a Quidditch position, and I think they must have been teachers at the school. Strange, I'd never really thought the Keeper title had to do anything with the Quidditch reference. I just thought it meant Keeper of the Dark Magic, which is what was passed down through my family through the eldest boy, and then to me. Someone said during the memory that each family paid a price for helping to protect the school. I suppose my family paid by having this dark legacy passed down. Why, I'm not quite sure. From what I understand, the Craws went for several hundred years without having anything to do with the school in any way as far as I can tell."

"What do you know of the other three?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, the Gryffindor apprentice and the Hufflepuff apprentice really didn't say that much. The Gryffindor they called the Seeker, and he was a grey-haired man, thoughtful, and from his face shared loyalty to both Godric, who it appears was still alive at that time, and the Beater, who was the Ravenclaw apprentice. The woman, the one in the Hufflepuff robes was a Chaser, and seemed to have a keen loyalty to the school and a great concern about the world in general. The Beater…" Jennifer's voice failed suddenly, her face looking troubled about something. "He was a Ravenclaw apprentice, but so much more than that. The other three respected him deeply. What a waste, what a terrible waste," Jennifer said, muttering to herself and shaking her head. Minerva knew her well enough to know they were unlikely to get much more out of her. Something she saw had touched her somehow, had struck some sort of chord that Jennifer wasn't ready to deal with yet. Instead of continuing, Jennifer took out her Puzzlebox, a special container with hidden knobs and hinges used by some to protect magic items from accidental use. She then took out a dark red stained bottle, large enough to take up most of her hand.

"The Beater made this from Salazar's blood, although I'm not certain what sort of potion it is," Jennifer explained, handing the bottle over to Severus, who viewed it with amazement and suspicion. "And this was from the Chaser, an encrypted scroll, although the runes seem to indicate its geared for transfiguration." Jennifer handed the rolled scroll to Minerva.

Minerva felt peculiar taking the scroll, a strange chill that didn't seem to want to leave her. She glanced at it thoughtfully, knowing it would take some time to figure out all of the old writings, wondering about the odd sense of déjà vu she was getting. She used things all the time that were probably even older than this that came from the school's beginning, but somehow this was different… personal, almost. Minerva glanced up to see Jennifer than take out an ornately framed mirror no more than two hands long, handing it over to Dumbledore, who took it reverently.

"And that is the Seeker's mirror, which I think goes to you, if I'm not mistaken," Jennifer said, before taking out a strangely cut gem about half the size of an apple. It was clear, but not diamond, and not crystal either, Minerva mused, unblemished despite its long slumber in the box and nearly colorless in appearance. "And this was the Keeper's, although I have no idea what it's for yet. All I know is that these four items were left to protect the school. They sealed them with their own memories to make sure it got into the proper hands." Jennifer looked at Dumbledore then, still holding the gem. "Do you have any guesses on what all of these do?"

"Well, I do have some suspicions, but I expect we should all do a fair amount of research on each of these before we jump to any conclusions," Dumbledore said, carefully setting down the mirror. "And I can at least guess who the Ravenclaw apprentice was, the Beater. He was known as Professor Icarus the Mad, and both he and his family came to an ill fate indeed. He had been Ravenclaw's adopted son, I believe."

"I don't think he was mad," Jennifer said softly. "But I can see why they would have thought so."

"This still leaves us the problem of not knowing where the Tomb is," Severus pointed out. "Unless this is another one of those things Dumbledore hasn't yet told us about."

"I only know that it's not anywhere on the grounds, Severus. If I had known the location before now, rest assured I would have made sure it was destroyed before Voldemort could find it. It was not something I had really wanted to know about in the past, I admit. Still, there can be no doubt that there are many things, powerful things, protecting it, wherever it lies," said Dumbledore.

"Sir, we do need to find it now before it's too late. We can't let Voldemort get a hold of the knowledge, let alone any power that might have been left there," Jennifer said, with a look of determination on her face.

"Yes, and I'm sure if anyone can find it, you and Severus can. You have my permission to start looking for it in your spare time," Dumbledore nodded.

"That would depend on whether or not we ever have spare time," Severus said, the irritation unmistakable.

Jennifer looked at him nervously. Jennifer never would have voiced that, Minerva knew, but even Jennifer had become more and more restless over the last few days as they had worked in the office. Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, his fingers folded together, glancing over at Minerva with a questioning smile on his face. Minerva nodded slightly, and then he nodded more perceptibly, looking back towards them.

"Very well, I'm sure you've both more than made up for the fines and me having to deal with the board, although if you ever do anything to rile up the board like that again, I'll be quite tempted to let you try and talk yourselves out of it. You do have more important things to do than paperwork and chasing rats, I suppose. There are others who can do that. And the Ministry seems to be appeased at the moment, if not a bit apologetic for the incident with Sirius this weekend. Also, Corey is safely with the school and his family has adjusted very well to his place in our society. I think we are all ready to drop the matter." Dumbledore said with a smile. Jennifer brightened considerably, thanking him gratefully. "You both be careful with this new project of yours, and keep me informed of your progress. Oh, and on the progress of finding out about more about these items as well," he added.

"Yes, Professor," Jennifer said cheerfully.

"Mr. Jasper will be back again for the first game of the season in a couple of weeks to see the Gryffindor team, so don't be surprised if you see him again. I expect he was a tad disappointed at the exhibition game today," Dumbledore said, his eyes looking teasingly at Minerva. Minerva didn't think it was funny. He hadn't had to be the one sit there as Pummeler sat and told her over and over again what a pity it was they had got 'held up.'

There was a knock on the door and once again it opened, this time for Sirius Black, who was looking rather tired. He stopped short, however, seeing Jennifer and Severus there.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" he asked, smiling apologetically.

"Not at all, I think we've covered all the important points, haven't we?" Dumbledore asked, peering quizzically at Jennifer who nodded and got up. Severus got up after her, but was eyeing Sirius with a frown. Jennifer studied Severus' face, then she rolled her eyes and walked towards the door.

"Something on your mind, Severus?" Sirius said at last, not in the mood to try and figure out what had him going this time.

"You have forest patrol again tonight?" Severus asked.

"Remus is still down," Sirius said with a shrug, "as I'm sure you know."

"Don't worry, Severus, I've asked Sirius to keep an extra eye on Anna. She's perfectly safe," Dumbledore reassured him with a smile.

"Hm. Just as long as it's at a distance," Severus said in a low, warning tone.

"Never fear, brother dear, your sister happens to utterly despise me. It must run in the family," Sirius said, baiting him.

"Now, Severus, Sirius, that is quite enough," Dumbledore intervened. "I'm sure Sirius would be glad to share the evening forest patrols with you again if you're concerned, although I assure you there's no reason to be. Anna is just as capable of taking care of herself as Jennifer is."

"Yes, that's what worries me," Severus said, taking one last glance at Sirius before heading down the stairs after Jennifer. Minerva chuckled quietly to herself.

"You know, I really think he's starting to warm up to me," Sirius said jokingly, leaning on one of the chairs. "Although I seem to be doing little better getting Anna to do anything other than slam the door in my face. I have to admit, Dumbledore, I'm getting quite jealous of Jake."

"Jake, who's Jake?" Minerva wondered, looking over at Sirius curiously.

"I am," Sirius admitted. "Only she doesn't know it. She thinks I'm someone's familiar." Minerva stared at him.

"You aren't going to leave her in the dark like that, are you? She's never going to trust you again if you do," Minerva warned him.

"Well, right now I am just a serial murderer that somehow used my magic to convince the authorities I wasn't guilty. Oh, I don't know if she actually really believes that, but the visit this morning she had with Severus didn't help," he muttered.

"She won't listen to us on the matter either, and she usually listens to me," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, then smiled. "I have an idea. Wednesday, why don't you see if you can't arrange to be around, and I will ask Harry to go talk to her? Perhaps an evening at Hagrid's? I have a feeling if she sees you around Harry, things will improve to some degree."

"All right, I'll try anything at this point. I've been spending so much time in animal form lately I almost miss that huge bag of dog biscuits Severus got me for Christmas last year," Sirius grunted. Minerva chuckled softly, while Dumbledore somehow maintained a straight face.

"Minerva, remind me to talk to Severus about that one of these days," Dumbledore said.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Dumbledore," Sirius grinned mischievously. "I had it coming to me after what I sent him." Minerva was afraid to ask.

The week turned out to be cold and rainy, drumming endlessly in a slow, drenching persistence that seemed to dampen everyone's spirits. Even the usually impervious Jennifer seemed affected, her normal levity replaced with brooding. Minerva asked her to lunch in her office, breaking out the tea set Jennifer had gotten her a couple years before. As Jennifer entered and gave her a weak smile, Minerva had little doubt something was up. She seemed to get lost in the process of stirring her tea and her eyes indicated her mind was far away. It was a while before she noticed Minerva steadily watching her.

"Sorry, Minerva," she blushed, sitting up a bit. "I didn't mean to get distracted like that."

"You're not letting all the fuss in the paper get to you, are you? It isn't the first time the paper has tried to smear someone in this school, and it probably won't be the last. It's best just to ignore it," Minerva suggested.

Ever since the Muggle incident, it had been as if the Daily Prophet was literally going out of its way to find things on Professor Craw. It had been the gossip column in Monday's paper that had the most interesting reaction; Craw Photographed With Arms Around Other Man, which an anonymous student had conveniently set open upon Severus' desk. Severus had quickly excused himself for nearly fifteen minutes before he came back and decided to give them an impromptu test, explaining that since they had so much extra time to read, they must have had plenty of time to study the last chapter.

"Oh, I'm ignoring it, Minerva. Actually, I canceled my subscription after Monday's incident. I can't imagine who could have gotten that camera shot of me helping Remus to Hagrid's the other day. And the misquotes of the trial last year where I'm supposed to be a Dark witch, well, it's just plain silly. That's not what's bothering me, actually, it's about something Corey asked the other day," she admitted.

"Oh, no, what has he done this time?" Minerva asked in annoyance. "I still have one more detention lined up for him already."

"Oh, it wasn't anything like that," Jennifer assured her quickly, "he just asked me who Voldemort was."

"Oh," Minerva said, looking thoughtfully at Jennifer's guilty expression. "And this surprised you?"

"It never occurred to me that anyone wouldn't know," Jennifer admitted, "so I questioned the class about it and it seems most the Muggles in the first year class didn't know anything past the fact he had something to do with the train incident, and that much they learned from other students… it was horrendous. I started polling my other classes then, and the second year classes did hardly any better. By third and fourth they'd heard enough to have some idea what was going on but still, there were a lot of rumors mixed in too. I feel like I've failed them, Minerva, for never bringing it up, for not covering it. They should have known it." Minerva looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.

"Jennifer, after you discovered this, what did you do about it?" she asked.

"Hm? Oh, that's what I wanted to explain. I pushed back my agenda a few days so I could get them all up to date on current events and the history behind them so that they know what is going on." Jennifer said, slightly embarrassed. Minerva smiled slightly.

"Sounds like a very reasonable decision to me. You know, one of the things that make a good teacher is the ability to adapt to the needs of the students. That's one thing I've always noticed about you; if you feel there is something that needs covered outside the book, you've never had any reservations about covering it. Come to think of it, I can't think of a time after the first week of school last year that you stayed on your lesson plan within two weeks of it," she chuckled, looking at her steadily. "Not that we don't have some good 'by the book' teachers, mind you, but the subject you are teaching needs to be flexible. You did the right thing, Jennifer. But you shouldn't beat yourself for not seeing it earlier; even teachers are allowed to miss things. Of course, you should try not to be too obvious to the students about it," Minerva winked, "you know how they try to take advantage." Jennifer sipped her tea, setting it down again slowly.

"Minerva, do you think I'm a purist?" Jennifer asked softly.

"Jennifer, I thought you weren't listening to the papers," Minerva frowned at her. "Purists don't normally almost lose their licenses by teaching magic to a willing underage Muggle boy."

"I suppose not," Jennifer said, grinning weakly. "Surprising that the papers haven't brought that up yet."

"Oh, give them time," Minerva chuckled, shaking her head. "I'm glad at least you're taking that with a grain of salt."

"What else can I do?" Jennifer shrugged. "Honestly, I'm a bit surprised Severus is dealing with it as well as he is."

"Well, Severus has had his share of this sort of twisted reporting himself from time to time," Minerva explained with amusement.

"It makes it even more difficult to teach current events with lies spouting off in the local paper like that," Jennifer said in annoyance, then suddenly looked up with a grin. "You know, what it needs is some decent competition." Minerva looked over at Jennifer suspiciously. "What do you think, Minerva? How about a school paper? I can try to get some staff and student volunteers and we can cover in school things, as well as current events, and maybe even a Muggle section for current events there?"

"I think it's a brilliant idea, Jennifer, but do you realize how much work would be involved in that? Finding people, setting it up, getting stories, editing…" Jennifer just nodded and kept on grinning, and Minerva quickly saw there was going to be little she could say to dissuade her from doing this if Minerva said yes. "You can't possibly try to take this on by yourself. We will have Severus chomping at the bit again for sure."

"Does that mean you're going to help me?" Jennifer asked sweetly.

"Jennifer, I'm sure you know from the last few weeks how much work I have to do all ready," Minerva said sternly. "Especially with Dumbledore being called away so much."

"You still have time for your sewing," Jennifer pointed out.

"I make time for my sewing," Minerva said.

"And I make time to spend with Severus. And I help you with your sewing," Jennifer said. Minerva drummed her fingers on her desk, looking over at her.

"Very well, I'll help you get set up and supervise, but that is it. After I clear this with Dumbledore, that is," she added.

"Thanks, Minerva! This is going to be fun," Jennifer grinned at her. "And maybe a little truthful reporting around here could help everyone get a look at what's really going on." Minerva looked at her thoughtfully, pondering on what it was she had just got herself into.