Two Sides to Every Ministry
Shadows played like ghosts against a flickering flame as a boy waited for just the right moment to creep into the Restricted Section of the library. He held his breath as Madame Pince swept past the cupboard that he hid behind, and after a minute, he carefully crawled under the rope that set off the Restricted Section from the rest of the library. As he crept past the shelves of books, he could hear some of the more violent volumes rattle from behind their chains. Snickering quietly to himself, he stood up and peered at the books, scanning for one that he would take. A particularly vicious one rattled from behind the rusty chains, growling and snapping at its neighboring books. Grinning in a devilish manner, the boy pulled out his wand and muttered, "Petrificus totalus", causing the book to go rigid and cease moving altogether. After tucking his wand away, he reached forward and grasped the book, then let out a groan as his hand came in contact with a layer of slime. Irritably wiping his hand on his pants, he covered his palms with his cloak and took the book off the shelf, meanwhile crouching back down and creeping along the shelves, hugging the slimy old book to his chest. Suddenly, as he was about to slip under the rope, he heard a creak from the hinges of the library door. He looked up and froze, not daring to breath for fear of being found. Quickly tucking the book into his robes, he scurried back to the shelves and slowly opened the cabinet beneath and crawled in, sliding the door shut behind him. His fingers dug into the fleshy cover of the book as he struggled to breathe as quietly as possible. He pressed against the back of the cabinet and stopped breathing altogether when he heard footsteps approaching. The footsteps stopped directly in front of the cabinet, and it was not long before the door slowly slid open and a lantern shined directly in his eyes. Squinting at the glaring beam, the boy clutched the book in dread of having been found. The person holding the lantern backed up and uttered a quiet, "Come out." And he did exactly that. Upon coming out of the cabinet, he saw that the person was Finch's new assistant. "What are you doing up at this hour?" she asked quietly, putting the lantern down on the table.
The boy stared at her, remaining stubbornly silent. An inaudible sigh of irritation came from the woman and after a moment, she asked, "What house are you in?"
Realizing that he had nothing to fear, the boy answered defiantly with a cocky frown on his face, "I don't have to answer anything, you're just a janitor, a squib. You can't do anything to me."
The tall woman bent down, leant very close to the boy's face, and took off her sunglasses. What the boy saw made him bite his tongue and stifle a scream. "I suggest that you tell me what you were up to lest you want to get yourself in further trouble."
"I – I – it was just a dare!" the boy stuttered out, dropping the book on the floor.
After looking carefully into the boy's eyes, Airlia stood up and put her sunglasses back on, saying in the process, "Well then, I suggest you run back to your dormitory and inform your friends that a game of truth or dare should be left for the weekends."
"You – you're not going to punish me?" he stammered, shocked beyond his wits.
She smirked and replied, "I have all year to punish you; I would rather not ruin the fun so quickly."
Seeing that he would not be reprimanded for his actions, the boy uttered while trying to hide the sly smile that played on his lips, "Would you like me to unbind the book from its freezing spell?"
The woman cocked her head and peered at him, then after a moment of consideration, replied yes.
With that, the boy uttered the counter-curse and scurried off, eager to go back and tell his friends of the ordeal.
The tall hooded figure watched the boy scamper off and smiled quietly to herself, thinking that perhaps the job would become amusing after all. She turned to pick up the book from the floor and leapt back as it lunged for her, missing snapping her hand off by an inch. The book's covers looked like the jaws of a crocodile and from its spine sprung a pair of clawed scaled feet that scurried towards Airlia. Its front cover was coated with slime, partially covering the title that read, Marshy Bog Monsters From Within The Lagoon. The book lunged at Airlia and sunk its teeth into her lower arm, growling and snorting as she struggled to pry its jaws open. Upon forcing its mouth apart momentarily, she flung it across the room, only to provoke its ferocity further and send it charging towards her. Deftly leaping over the rope that set off the Restricted Section, she ran out of the library with the reptilian volume bounding after her. As she reached the stairs, it snapped its hideous teeth onto her leg and dug its teeth into her calf. Groaning, she pried its jaws open and flung it away from her, limping down the stairs as hastily as she could. As she descended to the first floor, the retched bane dived for her head, and instead, caught her cloak and tore it off, snarling as it shredded the material to pieces.
The illustrious Professor Snape was prowling in the shadows on his way up to Dumbledore's office when he saw a tall, hobbling figure with a shock of long golden white hair dashing down the stairs with a sort of crocodile dog chasing after them. For a moment, Snape sneered as he thought it was Lucius Malfoy, until the reptilian thing jumped and bit into the person's Achilles' heel, at which a very feminine cry came from the figure clad in black. She tumbled down the stairs as her leg gave out on her, allowing the book to tear at the flesh on her leg. Quickly drawing his wand, Snape yelled "Petrificus totalus", directing the spell toward the book. The thing's jaw went slack as it let go of Airlia's leg, stood rigidly immobilized, and then not being able to retain its balance, fell flat on its back with a squelch. Breathing hoarsely, the new caretaker attempted to stand, and then fell to her knees as she realized that all the tendons in her heel had been shredded. Snape swiftly caught her by the arm, only to have a handful of blood seep onto his palm. "Come," he said urgently while supporting her weight, "We have to get you to the hospital wing." After a moment, he stopped in his tracks, nearly causing Airlia to topple over. Cursing under his breath, he muttered, "Madame Pomfrey hasn't arrived yet, the woman's still in Scotland." Half dragging the caretaker down the steps, he said in an irritable tone, "You will have to learn to refrain from breaking into mischief, Miss Mills, especially on the first day of the term. You are here to uphold the school's maintenance, not cause havoc."
However, Airlia heard none of this as she was glancing back worriedly at the place where her sunglasses lay crushed on the ground. Everything had become immensely brighter, more so than on a sunlit winter day. With every noise and movement, she saw the sound and energy waves that followed, trailing behind the source like a stream of silvery light. Closing her eyes, she stumbled dizzily down the stairs beside the Potions Master while attempting to concentrate on merely breathing. The pain from her wounds increased with each jolting step as they slowly descended to the dungeons, leaving a bloody trail behind them. Collapsing on the closest chair, Airlia rolled her eyes sluggishly around as everything around her began to slip out of focus. All around her became a white blaze as she lay in the chair feeling the blood drain rapidly from her body onto the floor. Snape hurried to gather rags and potions and came back to her side, ripping off the sleeve to her robe. He stopped for a moment, stunned at the glowing paleness of her skin. Swabbing her injuries with wound-cleaning potion, he poured a Tissue Repairment onto her heel, holding her jerking leg down as the flesh sizzled from the potion. Within moments after he had bandaged her wounds, she sat up straighter and looked around, stunned at the events that had passed. "I am starting to reconsider my competence for this job," she croaked out finally, her throat dry and hoarse from panic.
"That's a polite way to put it," Snape drawled out snidely, "Most squibs have at least some sense."
"How does everyone know that I am a squib?" she questioned lethargically, rubbing her eyes wearily.
Snape peered at her with great suspicion and said in a low voice, "Only squibs can obtain the position of caretaker, Miss Mills. Being one, I am surprised you didn't know this already. It is very common knowledge."
She nodded quietly and blinked as her eyes came back into focus. Suddenly, she flicked her eyes upward as she saw a bright stream of movement behind Snape, darting from behind the shelves to the cabinets. "Professor…" Airlia whispered in a low voice.
"What is it?" the Potions Master snapped irritably.
Leaning towards him, she dropped her voice even lower and uttered, "There's a person next to the cabinet. I think they may have an invisible cloak on."
Turning around very slowly, Snape leapt forward and caught the person by their invisible arm and ripped off what seemed to be a cloak. However, the person remained invisible to the naked eye. "A Disillusionment Charm," Snape drawled out as he narrowed his eyes. Pulling out his wand, he rapped the person hard over the head, lifting the charm. The person who appeared made Snape's eyes widen in surprise and alarm. "A Weasley…" he hissed, throwing the man against the wall.
From behind a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, the redhead shifted his eyes from Airlia to Snape nervously, and in a rash moment of defiance, turned his nose up and stammered out, "I – I'm not a Weasley, I'm a – I'm just Percy, Percy of the Ministry of Magic, thank you very much."