The night before the end of term Minerva sat at the staff table watching
all the children file back in to finish their meals after watching Peeves
chase after Professor Umbridge with her walking stick and a sock full of
chalk. The children laughed as they saw Peeves float in over their heads
and hand back Minerva's walking stick.
"Thankyou very much Peeves." She smiled as she lay the walking stick against the table.
"Pleasure doing business with you Professor." He chuckled and blew her a kiss.
"I suppose this won't stop you from writing obscenities on the board in my classroom." She raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"Of course it won't." Peeves winked. "But I won't destroy any of the professors classrooms until everyone's back from break." He floated off down the hall leaving Minerva alone waiting for the faculty to return to their seats. Albus sat to her left and smiled reassuringly to her. They hadn't had a chance to talk to each together since she got back from the hospital. Madame Hooch sat down to Minerva's right and started up a conversation.
"How are you feeling Minerva?" She asked as she levitated the potato salad towards her.
"Oh, much better thankyou Harriett. I have to go back to the Healers next week so they can look at my leg."
"Is that old Quidditch injury still playing up on you?"
"You still remember that!" Minerva looked at her surprised.
"Of course Nerve, that would have to have been the worst fall in the history of Hogwarts Quidditch." Harriett smiled. "You were so high up, I for one thought you were a goner."
"Gee thanks Etty." Minerva muttered sarcastically. "It's nice to know my friends were already planning my funeral."
"I wasn't." Professor Trelawney quickly put in before going back to her discussion with Professor Flitwick.
"Thanks Sib." Minerva laughed. "Well, if Professor Lewis had have pulled Malachi Sinistra out for his behavior earlier on in the game it wouldn't have happened."
"Even though Lewis was siding with the Slytherin team. I'm sure if you hadn't have been knocked off your broom, William would have." This didn't seem to effect Harriett in anyway, but Minerva had never heard anything about someone else on the Gryffindor Quidditch team being a target.
"What? Why would William have been knocked off his broom instead of me?" Harriett stared at her dumbfounded.
"You didn't know?" Minerva shook her head. "I think everyone just thought you knew. A couple of us overheard Malachi and his gang talking about you going out with William, and Malachi was really angry."
"Why would he be angry?" Minerva interrupted.
"He thought he was in love with you." Sibyll turned and joined in the conversation, seeing as Flitwick was talking to someone else. "His exact words were," She cleared her throat and in a perfect Irish accent imitated Malachi. "If I can't have Minerva then there's definitely no way that William Potter is going to get her."
"Really? Malachi Sinistra loved me." Minerva blushed a little and managed a cheeky schoolgirl grin.
"Come off it Nerve. Every boy in the school loved you." Sibyll laughed.
"Little miss perfect they thought you were. One of the first girls to play Quidditch."
"I wouldn't say that Etty. I know for a fact that a certain Jonathan Pettigrew had a thing for you, and you were always the love of Oscar Lupin's life." Harriett was shocked. "You remember the fight they had Sibyll?"
"Oh yes, ghastly. A week before the Yule Ball and Jonathan just wouldn't accept that you were going with Oscar. So they had a good old fashioned duel." Sibyll sighed. "So romantic."
"I bet it doesn't beat when Cecil Black asked you to the Yule Ball in our last year." Both Minerva and Harriett giggled like schoolgirls.
"You promised you wouldn't bring that up again." Sibyll whined.
"He took you to Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor even though he hated Ice Cream." Harriett smiled as Sibyll's cheeks turned a bright shade of red.
"And when someone gave you a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans he cut them all in half and tested them so you wouldn't have to eat those sickening things." Minerva couldn't stop her self from laughing. "And he went green because all up he'd eaten three sardine flavored, half an ear wax and seven vomits." Both women were in fits of laughter, which seemed to have caught the attention of many people in the hall. Sibyll stood from her place at the table.
"And he did it all because you two put him up to it." Minerva and Harriett went deadly quiet.
"It was only a bit of fun Sib. Remember you and I did it to Oscar too." Minerva said, trying to calm Sibyll down so that the whole hall wouldn't end up watching the fiasco.
"So it was you two that told him I was allergic to roses and Kalame perfume." Harriett exclaimed as she sat in bewilderment. "Well it figures."
"You spoiled everything Minerva. He was starting to think I was too complicated. Then you had to go and tell him I couldn't go to the holiday feast at Hogsmeade with him, because I had to stay with my muggle grandfather while I cleared my head of all the bad energy I'd picked up in the last few days!" Tears were pouring down Sibyll's cheeks as she screamed at Minerva. Only a few students still hadn't taken any notice of the scene occurring at the front of the hall. The rest sat eagerly waiting to see where it would lead. Sibyll walked, quite fast, around the staff table and down the center of the hall towards the doors.
"I'm sorry Sibyll I didn't realise." Minerva was cut short as Sibyll spun on her heel and glared back up at the deputy headmistress.
"There's a lot of things you don't realise Minerva." Everyone was watching them, whispering, wondering what was wrong. "You didn't realise the Black family hate muggles. You didn't realise that you were pulling away the first man I ever loved. And you didn't even think to realise that Harriett and I would have gladly helped you out if you had have told us William was beating you!" The whole room fell silent. The pure shock of what Sibyll had just said was enough to scare the wits out of anyone. Minerva stood at the staff table staring down at Sibyll. Her full body weight on the table instead of her walking stick and tears welling up in her eyes. Sibyll had continued to walk towards the doors but Minerva pulled out her wand and pointed straight at her back.
"STUPE." Sibyll spun around, wand in hand,
"EXPELLIARMUS!" She shouted and Minerva sharply fell backwards into her chair letting her wand slide across the floor behind the teachers. "You think my ability's that bad that I wouldn't see you about to do that?" Minerva sat up properly and gave Sibyll one of her annoyed glares. "I thought maybe you were a bit dumb to leave your son forty years ago, but now." Sibyll let the words hang there.
"Accio wand." Minerva whispered as she stood up slowly with the aid of her stick. "You know I had no choice, Sibyll. William would have hunted me down if I took James with me." Everyone was listening as Minerva spoke. " He would have told the ministry that I was trying to kill him or something along those lines. And for someone with your ability you should have known that. He had enough evidence to make it seem as though I had killed my own daughter." She spat out. "Serpensortia." A long snake flew down the aisle and landed a meter away from Sibyll's feet. Everyone knew that she had a strong fear of snakes, she even had to will herself into the great hall when Slytherin's banners where up.
"Merlin's beard." Sibyll shrieked as she slowly moved backwards. She tripped over as she passed Ron, Harry and Hermoine and landed on her back. The snake moved closer and closer to her and she cried out as it hissed at her.
"I can't let this go on." Harry muttered as he flung his legs over the seat and stood between the snake and it's prey. Sibyll scampered behind Harry and stayed there.
"Don't let it get me, please it's going to kill me!" She muttered. The whole school was reminded of when she lost her job and she was seen wandering around the school drunk and muttering wildly just like she was now.
"Hiisssseash Haaaleeeeaashhhh." Harry hissed and the snake slowly moved towards Harry, stopping at his feet. "Hiiiiashhhhh Haaaallleessshhh" Harry took out his wand waved it over the snake and it vanished. Sibyll was back on her feet in no time.
"Thankyou Harry." She smiled and then turned to Minerva. "Maybe that's a sign Min. You should think about what you've down and what you need to do." She sneered.
"If it's all the same to you SIB, I'll do what I want without your stupid signs." In an instant they had both raised their wands but Harry stood between them. "Sit down Harry."
"No, I won't let this go on any longer." Harry crossed his arms.
"For once Harry, do what you are asked to and sit back down." Minerva glared at him. Harry didn't move. Harriett and Albus both tried their best to calm Minerva down but Sibyll didn't help the situation.
"Face it Minerva, you're losing it now, now that the whole school knows your story. You're all."
"That's enough Trelawney!" someone yelled. Harry turned around and was shocked by what he saw. Draco Malfoy stood at the Slytherin table with his wand out. But that wasn't the only thing that shocked Harry. "Harry's right this shouldn't continue." Not only had Draco agreed but also he used Harry's first name.
"Both of you stay out of this." Both teachers yelled at them. Draco levitated himself over to where Harry stood and smiled slightly at him.
"You'll have to go through us if you want this to continue." Sibyll had moved back away from the two boys and had her wand ready to strike, which was a big mistake. The two boys were only feet away from the staff table and Minerva had decided she could easily hit Sibyll with a spell without hurting the boys. Harriett leapt to her feet.
"Minerva, leave it be now." She pleaded but to no avail.
"No, that wench isn't going to get away so easily." At this Sibyll and Minerva both raised their wands.
Everything seemed to move so slowly. Harry and Draco both looked from one professor to the other. They wouldn't do something that could harm them surely. But there was a change in both women. It was visible in their eyes. Something else had been released with their tears. They were full of pain and anger. There was aloud 'crack' from both wands and a loud shout as Harriett jumped up onto the table and dived down, knocking the boys over. A scream arose from Minerva and Sibyll as Harriett intercepted both their spells and fell to the ground.
"Thankyou very much Peeves." She smiled as she lay the walking stick against the table.
"Pleasure doing business with you Professor." He chuckled and blew her a kiss.
"I suppose this won't stop you from writing obscenities on the board in my classroom." She raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"Of course it won't." Peeves winked. "But I won't destroy any of the professors classrooms until everyone's back from break." He floated off down the hall leaving Minerva alone waiting for the faculty to return to their seats. Albus sat to her left and smiled reassuringly to her. They hadn't had a chance to talk to each together since she got back from the hospital. Madame Hooch sat down to Minerva's right and started up a conversation.
"How are you feeling Minerva?" She asked as she levitated the potato salad towards her.
"Oh, much better thankyou Harriett. I have to go back to the Healers next week so they can look at my leg."
"Is that old Quidditch injury still playing up on you?"
"You still remember that!" Minerva looked at her surprised.
"Of course Nerve, that would have to have been the worst fall in the history of Hogwarts Quidditch." Harriett smiled. "You were so high up, I for one thought you were a goner."
"Gee thanks Etty." Minerva muttered sarcastically. "It's nice to know my friends were already planning my funeral."
"I wasn't." Professor Trelawney quickly put in before going back to her discussion with Professor Flitwick.
"Thanks Sib." Minerva laughed. "Well, if Professor Lewis had have pulled Malachi Sinistra out for his behavior earlier on in the game it wouldn't have happened."
"Even though Lewis was siding with the Slytherin team. I'm sure if you hadn't have been knocked off your broom, William would have." This didn't seem to effect Harriett in anyway, but Minerva had never heard anything about someone else on the Gryffindor Quidditch team being a target.
"What? Why would William have been knocked off his broom instead of me?" Harriett stared at her dumbfounded.
"You didn't know?" Minerva shook her head. "I think everyone just thought you knew. A couple of us overheard Malachi and his gang talking about you going out with William, and Malachi was really angry."
"Why would he be angry?" Minerva interrupted.
"He thought he was in love with you." Sibyll turned and joined in the conversation, seeing as Flitwick was talking to someone else. "His exact words were," She cleared her throat and in a perfect Irish accent imitated Malachi. "If I can't have Minerva then there's definitely no way that William Potter is going to get her."
"Really? Malachi Sinistra loved me." Minerva blushed a little and managed a cheeky schoolgirl grin.
"Come off it Nerve. Every boy in the school loved you." Sibyll laughed.
"Little miss perfect they thought you were. One of the first girls to play Quidditch."
"I wouldn't say that Etty. I know for a fact that a certain Jonathan Pettigrew had a thing for you, and you were always the love of Oscar Lupin's life." Harriett was shocked. "You remember the fight they had Sibyll?"
"Oh yes, ghastly. A week before the Yule Ball and Jonathan just wouldn't accept that you were going with Oscar. So they had a good old fashioned duel." Sibyll sighed. "So romantic."
"I bet it doesn't beat when Cecil Black asked you to the Yule Ball in our last year." Both Minerva and Harriett giggled like schoolgirls.
"You promised you wouldn't bring that up again." Sibyll whined.
"He took you to Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor even though he hated Ice Cream." Harriett smiled as Sibyll's cheeks turned a bright shade of red.
"And when someone gave you a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans he cut them all in half and tested them so you wouldn't have to eat those sickening things." Minerva couldn't stop her self from laughing. "And he went green because all up he'd eaten three sardine flavored, half an ear wax and seven vomits." Both women were in fits of laughter, which seemed to have caught the attention of many people in the hall. Sibyll stood from her place at the table.
"And he did it all because you two put him up to it." Minerva and Harriett went deadly quiet.
"It was only a bit of fun Sib. Remember you and I did it to Oscar too." Minerva said, trying to calm Sibyll down so that the whole hall wouldn't end up watching the fiasco.
"So it was you two that told him I was allergic to roses and Kalame perfume." Harriett exclaimed as she sat in bewilderment. "Well it figures."
"You spoiled everything Minerva. He was starting to think I was too complicated. Then you had to go and tell him I couldn't go to the holiday feast at Hogsmeade with him, because I had to stay with my muggle grandfather while I cleared my head of all the bad energy I'd picked up in the last few days!" Tears were pouring down Sibyll's cheeks as she screamed at Minerva. Only a few students still hadn't taken any notice of the scene occurring at the front of the hall. The rest sat eagerly waiting to see where it would lead. Sibyll walked, quite fast, around the staff table and down the center of the hall towards the doors.
"I'm sorry Sibyll I didn't realise." Minerva was cut short as Sibyll spun on her heel and glared back up at the deputy headmistress.
"There's a lot of things you don't realise Minerva." Everyone was watching them, whispering, wondering what was wrong. "You didn't realise the Black family hate muggles. You didn't realise that you were pulling away the first man I ever loved. And you didn't even think to realise that Harriett and I would have gladly helped you out if you had have told us William was beating you!" The whole room fell silent. The pure shock of what Sibyll had just said was enough to scare the wits out of anyone. Minerva stood at the staff table staring down at Sibyll. Her full body weight on the table instead of her walking stick and tears welling up in her eyes. Sibyll had continued to walk towards the doors but Minerva pulled out her wand and pointed straight at her back.
"STUPE." Sibyll spun around, wand in hand,
"EXPELLIARMUS!" She shouted and Minerva sharply fell backwards into her chair letting her wand slide across the floor behind the teachers. "You think my ability's that bad that I wouldn't see you about to do that?" Minerva sat up properly and gave Sibyll one of her annoyed glares. "I thought maybe you were a bit dumb to leave your son forty years ago, but now." Sibyll let the words hang there.
"Accio wand." Minerva whispered as she stood up slowly with the aid of her stick. "You know I had no choice, Sibyll. William would have hunted me down if I took James with me." Everyone was listening as Minerva spoke. " He would have told the ministry that I was trying to kill him or something along those lines. And for someone with your ability you should have known that. He had enough evidence to make it seem as though I had killed my own daughter." She spat out. "Serpensortia." A long snake flew down the aisle and landed a meter away from Sibyll's feet. Everyone knew that she had a strong fear of snakes, she even had to will herself into the great hall when Slytherin's banners where up.
"Merlin's beard." Sibyll shrieked as she slowly moved backwards. She tripped over as she passed Ron, Harry and Hermoine and landed on her back. The snake moved closer and closer to her and she cried out as it hissed at her.
"I can't let this go on." Harry muttered as he flung his legs over the seat and stood between the snake and it's prey. Sibyll scampered behind Harry and stayed there.
"Don't let it get me, please it's going to kill me!" She muttered. The whole school was reminded of when she lost her job and she was seen wandering around the school drunk and muttering wildly just like she was now.
"Hiisssseash Haaaleeeeaashhhh." Harry hissed and the snake slowly moved towards Harry, stopping at his feet. "Hiiiiashhhhh Haaaallleessshhh" Harry took out his wand waved it over the snake and it vanished. Sibyll was back on her feet in no time.
"Thankyou Harry." She smiled and then turned to Minerva. "Maybe that's a sign Min. You should think about what you've down and what you need to do." She sneered.
"If it's all the same to you SIB, I'll do what I want without your stupid signs." In an instant they had both raised their wands but Harry stood between them. "Sit down Harry."
"No, I won't let this go on any longer." Harry crossed his arms.
"For once Harry, do what you are asked to and sit back down." Minerva glared at him. Harry didn't move. Harriett and Albus both tried their best to calm Minerva down but Sibyll didn't help the situation.
"Face it Minerva, you're losing it now, now that the whole school knows your story. You're all."
"That's enough Trelawney!" someone yelled. Harry turned around and was shocked by what he saw. Draco Malfoy stood at the Slytherin table with his wand out. But that wasn't the only thing that shocked Harry. "Harry's right this shouldn't continue." Not only had Draco agreed but also he used Harry's first name.
"Both of you stay out of this." Both teachers yelled at them. Draco levitated himself over to where Harry stood and smiled slightly at him.
"You'll have to go through us if you want this to continue." Sibyll had moved back away from the two boys and had her wand ready to strike, which was a big mistake. The two boys were only feet away from the staff table and Minerva had decided she could easily hit Sibyll with a spell without hurting the boys. Harriett leapt to her feet.
"Minerva, leave it be now." She pleaded but to no avail.
"No, that wench isn't going to get away so easily." At this Sibyll and Minerva both raised their wands.
Everything seemed to move so slowly. Harry and Draco both looked from one professor to the other. They wouldn't do something that could harm them surely. But there was a change in both women. It was visible in their eyes. Something else had been released with their tears. They were full of pain and anger. There was aloud 'crack' from both wands and a loud shout as Harriett jumped up onto the table and dived down, knocking the boys over. A scream arose from Minerva and Sibyll as Harriett intercepted both their spells and fell to the ground.