In a way, Minerva McGonagall found frequent staff meetings to be a waste of time. Naturally, she never voiced this opinion to any of her colleagues, let alone the Headmaster, but she had to admit that, in the long run, they were tiring and did not seem to serve any actual purpose. Dumbledore himself never attended the weekly ones, and many of the staff did not bother turning up either, not on a regular basis at least. Worst of all was Clara Specula, the Divination teacher, who never attended staff meetings at all, save the crucial ones at the beginning of the year and when the exams were discussed.
Minerva could not say with honesty that she liked Clara. She did not seem to show the appropriate attitude towards her profession, but, of course, Dumbledore must have had his reasons for hiring her. And Minerva trusted Albus Dumbledore. More than anyone else, in fact.
All the more surprising was that today most of the staff, including Professor Specula, seemed to be present, all seated neatly along the lengthy staff room table, looking at her in a surprisingly attentive, even expectant way. Admittedly, Minerva thought, it was not hard to imagine why they would be interested to hear what she had to say on the topic of reforms. Something each of them was bound to have received intelligence of by now. The Ministry had asked the Daily Prophet to publish a short article on the matter, and, of course, Mandy Sprout had known it for months, so - Minerva smiled a little woodenly - she would have gone and told everyone she met. Because that was what Mandy was like. Always first to spread rumours - and confusion.
'Ye've heard the news,' Minerva therefore began without any unnecessary hold-up, aware that half the staff were probably better informed on the matter than she was. 'I suppose that is why you're all here.'
A lot of assenting murmur was the answer.
'Well, ye'll be glad tae hear that the changes willnae affect the number of teaching jobs Hogwarts offers,' said Minerva. 'There have bin changes to the general timetable, of course, but they only concern the Music lessons. Ye ken, I presume, that Professor Cantus had to leave at the end of last year, due tae some subliminal difficulties with the Minister for Magic. Unfortunately, the Ministry disnae seem willing tae provide the financial resources for a successor, meaning that we will nae have Music lessons at Hogwarts for a while... possibly for a long while. But this isnae new tae any of you. Now, the other changes are mostly about money, as a matter of fact. Again, something that might change during the next few years. The fight isnae over yet. Most reforms will come tae pass at the beginning of next year, but some will already have tae be applied when the students are doing their exams at the end of this year.'
'Aren't you going to tell us what exactly the Ministry wishes to change?' said Stochastica Vector, the current Head of Slytherin impatiently. 'I, for my part, have no idea what those 'changes' might be.'
Minerva gave her a look of mild, sarcastic surprise. 'You mean tae say Mandy hasnae given you a full list yet?'
Several people laughed and Professor Sprout shook her fist at Minerva, who graced her with a rare smile.
'Well,' she said. 'ye'll receive a written statement on the matter as soon as possible. Aye, Stochastica, by one of our dear Ministers. I will see to that. I think it is a disgrace that they are trying tae keep us in the dark, anyway. Stop grinning, Mandy. This is serious.'
Professor Vector nodded, looking satisfied. 'But would you mind... giving us some details nevertheless?'
'Aye, naturally,' said Minerva quickly, searching her tartan handbag for the list of changes she and Albus had not been able to reject during the many meetings they had held with the members of the Ministry.
'Our funds have bin cut,' she said eventually, 'meaning that we will have tae save where we can - mostly, I seem tae think, on Potions ingredients -'
'That is ridiculous,' threw Hestia Jones in. 'I can do hardly any of the advanced concoctions even now.'
'- telescopes -'
'No way,' snarled Professor Sinistra.
'- tea leaves -'
'Excuse me?'
'- Transfiguration equipment -'
No one protested this time.
'- and possibly study trips for Care of Magical Creatures and in the language department.'
'We are still suffering from the last overhaul,' protested Professor Bablefish. 'Why keep cutting down the language department when the greenhouses are clearly full of useless weeds?'
'Excuse me!?' cried Mandy Sprout, jumping up and clenching her tiny fists in rage. 'How dare you insult my plants, Babblefish?'
'Soothe yerselves,' said Minerva impatiently. 'I said there will be a reduction on Potion ingredients, Conn. That affects the greenhouses as well. Mandy, no one is insulting your plants. Settle doon.'
When the room had gone quiet Minerva spoke again.
'There will furthermore be changes concerning the school rules. There have bin many changes in Muggle schools over the past years. The Ministry holds the opinion that we should keep up, so -'
'We are using quills and parchment,' said the tiny witch who taught Muggle Studies and whose name Minerva kept forgetting. 'What need is there to change our timetable if we cannot even keep up with fountain pens and paper?'
'But these changes are negligible,' Minerva continued in a slightly more pronounced way, 'I shall refrain from giving you all those tedious details just now. Ye may, if ye wish, take insight, of course.'
There was a forceful knock on the door. Some heads turned in surprise. Minerva could not recall a single time when a student had dared to knock at the staff room door during a staff meeting before, but she went and opened nevertheless.
'Excuse me, Professor McGonagall,' said a pale-faced second-year in an intimidated voice, 'but I think you better come. There is a fight down in the Entrance Hall. People've gone mad. They look like they're going to kill each other.'
Minerva raised her eyebrows. 'Comin',' she said quickly, turned and nodded at her colleagues. 'That would be all,' she said. 'Same time next week, please.'
Professor McGonagall's office was dimly lit. Remus stepped into the room only when his housemates, the Slytherins and the Deputy Headmistress had already entered it and remained standing close to the door, which shut with a snap when McGonagall waved at it.
'So,' she said, positioning herself at her desk and staring at them over the edge of her square spectacles. 'I do hope you have a very good explanation for this. Fighting in the Entrance Hall? A whole bunch of first-years along with Prefects from both houses? And a seventh-year? Are ye nae ashamed of yerselves? Miss Black, I expected better -'
'They were insulting our family,' said the dark-haired Slytherin girl stiffly. 'That cannot go unpunished.'
'I should think,' replied Professor McGonagall just as stiffly, 'that the only thing that cannae go unpunished is fighting in the corridors - or Entrance Hall, for that matter. I shall write to your parents about it, make no mistake. We cannae allow such insolent rulebreaking at Hogwarts. Have ye nae thought of the consequences? And I shall have tae think about releasing ye two from your Prefect duties.' She nodded at Lucius Malfoy and Ermengarde Fraiser, both of whom had huge black marks on their faces - reminders of the spells which they had shot at each other before Professor McGonagall had entered the scene.
Ermengarde let out a gasp of disbelief and even Malfoy, very unlike Remus had ever seen him, turned slightly pale.
'Please, Professor McGonagall,' said Remus weakly, making a reluctant step forward, 'Ermengarde was only trying to protect me from Malfoy. She -'
'Filthy little mud - face,' hissed Malfoy with a glance at Professor McGonagall. 'He is lying, of course.'
'I am not! You tried to hex me!'
'That's true, Professor,' said James quickly, putting a hand on Remus's shoulder in an effort to back him up. 'That was, in fact, the only reason we got involved at all.'
'I was trying to stop you bullying young Severus here,' said Malfoy with a dignified look on his face. 'You took him two against one. I could not just watch that.'
'It would have bin your duty tae put an end tae this fightin',' said Professor McGonagall sharply, 'nae to get involved.'
'I told you that was my original intention,' said Lucius Malfoy in an extremely slippery voice, 'but for some reason Fraser here found it necessary to attack me with a Stinging Hex.'
'Liar,' hissed Ermengarde. 'It was you who attacked first. Only because you are too cowardish to take on -'
'I think,' said Professor McGonagall sharply, 'I have heard enough. And I dinnae think I care who started this, since it is clear how it ended. Is there anyone here who would like to deny that they have bin involved in this fight?'
No one spoke.
'Well then,' continued Professor McGonagall. 'As I said - I shall write to your parents and put you all in detention. Aye, ye as well, Miss Black. I am aware that this might seem unusual for a sixth former, but I shall nae allow ye to get involved in this kind of fighting. You are setting a very bad example for our first-years.'
***
It was very strange to hear all the Howlers shouting over the breakfast table the next morning. Remus had heard about them, of course, but never seen one in real life. He wondered what good it was supposed to do to embarrass your child in front of the whole Great Hall, but he tactfully refrained from mentioning this to his friends just for the moment, as James had received one, too.
Still, it was astonishing how many who had been involved in the fight went away unharmed. Hardly any of the Slytherin purebloods, as far as Remus could judge, had received any letter at all, and if, it had been normal ones that did not shout over the breakfast table for everyone to hear.
All of them had, of course, received a short note from Professor McGonagall, saying that they would be serving detention in groups of five while she was giving a handful of sixth-years Advanced Transfiguration lessons - on Monday afternoon as far as Remus and James were concerned. That wasn't too bad, Remus considered. It was very probable that they would be doing lines if Professor McGonagall did not feel the need to grant them extra time with someone to look after them.
Nevertheless, when he stepped into the Transfiguration classroom on Monday after Herbology class, Remus felt a bit awkward and tense. This was his very first detention at Hogwarts, and he still did not know in how many ways a wizarding school differed from the Muggle primary ones he knew. For all he knew, it was still quite common these days in Muggle boarding schools to hit children with a cane when they had broken the school rules. But he had not once seen this at Hogwarts. Or heard about it, for that matter. Still - who knew? Though surely, surely Professor McGonagall would have told them beforehand if she intended to give them a thrashing in front of her Transfiguration sixth-years?
He was therefore very relieved when he was handed a piece of paper, asked to sit between James and the Slytherin prefect Lucius Malfoy on the left hand side of the classroom, and to do seven feet of 'I must not fight in the corridors', just as everyone else. James had already started, looking thoroughly unpleasant, obviously thinking he did not deserve to sit in detention with two Slytherins and his most hated enemy.
Black, on the other hand, took his time, clearly very interested in the conversation Lucius Malfoy and his cousin Bellatrix were having, muttering under their breath, as to not draw Professor McGonagall's attention towards them. Remus tried to complete his lines as quickly as possible, but he, too, could not help listening to what the two elder students were saying.
'It is a disaster they put us in detention for a fight that has been going on all year out there,' hissed Bellatrix. 'My parents told me about it. There's one row after another about it in the Ministry these days. People are accusing Millicent Bagnold of going too easy on breakings in the tradition of our ways. They say she will be responsible for the eventual destruction of our world - and the ancient bloodlines.'
'Not if I have a say in it,' growled Malfoy. 'Trust me to show the Ministry where the line between open-minded- and tastelessness is. You heard that they're calling for Crouch as Bagnold's successor? I think that is preposterous. Father says -'
'Might I ask the lady and the gentleman to my left, who should be doing lines instead of discussing current politics, tae keep the voice level doon,' said McGonagall very slowly and pronounced, in her sharpest voice. 'Malfoy! Do I have tae make ye scrub bedpans?'
'Sorry, Professor,' said the fair-haired Slytherin, giving his Transfiguration teacher an extremely slippery smile. 'Won't happen again.'
Professor McGonagall nodded and turned away.
'And anyway,' whispered Bellatrix. 'I think it ridiculous that they're writing to our parents about every single rule breaking that occurs. I mean - really, what can they do? Apart from sending howlers, of course, which is not going to happen within the ranks of the more respectable families. We know how to maintain a highly regarded reputation, after all. One doesn't blab inner-family things into the Great Hall if people are supposed to -'
'There are other ways,' said Malfoy very quietly. 'Some parents prefer to deal with their children at the end of each year. Or when they come home for Christmas. Father, on the other hand, used to come up to the school when he thought I had ill-behaved, rebuking me after dinner where no one could interfere. It is the most sensible solution, I daresay.'
'I can see you do that to your own son when you're grown,' nodded Bellatrix. 'Do you know what the other letters said? Those the first-years got?'
'My cousin got a mere reprimand,' replied Malfoy moodily. 'And she's lucky. My aunt wasn't home. She doesn't usually let these things go unpunished. She might actually have sent a howler, come to think of it. Very queer branch of the family. Your cousin obviously didn't get one at all, and - hang on, who is left?'
'Snape,' said Bellatrix, returning to her lines. 'He got one. I saw him go all pale when reading it during breakfast.'
'It said "You wait",' muttered Malfoy from the corner of his mouth, watching Professor McGonagall coming dangerously close. 'He won't have a happy Christmas. I hear his father is very strict.'
'What about his mother?' asked Bellatrix, still making an effort to look as if she was exceedingly busy with her detention.
'She's mad,' muttered Malfoy. 'Mentally deranged or something. That's why her husband returned from his Africa trip in the first place. Had to look after her and Severus. They say he was not pleased about it. He's good friends with my parents, too. Got my father out of a lot of trouble when they were at Hogwarts. That's why it's my task to look after young Severus now. In a way. That's how it is between our families.' He smiled, seemingly not sure whether to look regretful or indifferent.
Bellatrix nodded. She had noticed Professor McGonagall giving them another very severe glance and was obviously not prepared to take the risk of spending the evening in the hospital wing, doing the work of the House-Elves. Malfoy followed her gaze and nodded imperceptibly. Remus threw a quick, surprised glance at James, who had almost finished his fourth foot by now, not seeming remotely interested in anything that was happening around him. Quite an interesting insight in the way Slytherin minds worked, he found, returning to his own lines and realizing with horror that he had another six and a half feet to go.