TIMES OF TRIAL
Chapter 13
Disclaimer: None of the characters, places, objects etc. that you recognise belong to me. They are mot likely the property of one JK Rowling.Summery: This story is and will probably always be centred on Minerva McGonagall and the other professors at Hogwarts. It is set in Harry's fifth year and the dream-team will likely appear however. The rating may be subject to change but all reviews are welcome.
Authors Notes: Thanks to again M for beta-ing and to Q for her stellar reviewing grin. Thanks to everyone else who dropped me a note and if you didn't…. shame on you!!!! lol Would really appreciate your predictions again so let me know what you think
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Minerva McGonagall was certain that she had never been more exhausted than she felt at this moment in time. The last few months had been hell on earth in some respects and she was beginning to feel her age catching up with her fast. It had been three days since Severus left to go away to his conference, and though it had been Albus's suggestion, they had both taken the enforced lull in their experimentation gratefully. She had planned on trying to catch up with some lost sleep and generally pamper herself just a little during his absence, but thus far her plans had been somewhat skewed by everything. Having no class first thing this morning, she had had every intention of sleeping through breakfast and having a luxurious bath before facing the rest of the world. It seemed, however, that the fates had other ideas, as she had been woken at 6.30 in order to mediate a dispute that had erupted in the third year girls dormitory. She risked a glance at the clock and was relieved to see that there were only ten minutes left till the end of classes for the day. She stood and began to walk around the room monitoring how much longer the first year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw class would require in order to finish copying the notes she had put on the blackboard earlier. Just as she reached the back of the room, she felt the world tilt slightly under her feet. She blinked slowly a few times and her mind and the world around her seemed to come back into focus. Closing them again she took a deep breath and allowed herself a moment of stillness before heading purposefully back to her desk. At first she had put the days lingering headache down to tension or lack of sleep, but the episodes of slight disorientation had been getting worse. She supposed that it could well be an after effect of one of the many slightly bizarre treatments she'd undergone in the last three months, or on the other hand it could well just be a sign that she really did need to slow down a little. Either way, she thought as she again had to focus on looking at the lesson plan that was sitting directly in front of her, she suspected it might be a good idea to speak to Poppy after dinner. After shaking her head clear once again, she managed to get through handing out homework assignments and had them packing up just as the bell rang. Picking up the previous class' essays, she followed the first-years out and towards the main staircase. The buzz of the school at this time of day never failed to give her a little boost and she revelled in all the youthful chatter that surrounded her. When she was halfway down the stairs, she felt the jolt of it disconnecting with one landing only to begin its slow shuddering rotation to another. She felt like rolling her eyes. Though in the past the castle seemed to reserve its major configurational changes for when there was no one around, it had become a little unpredictable since the incident with the Death Eaters before Christmas, with the stairs moving more often and more than once during the 'rush hour' that was well underway at the moment. Hearing that some of the students she had followed from her classroom were beginning to panic at this latest turn of events, she eased her way forward till she stood on the lowest step.
"Miss Johnson there is no need to overreact like that. And Mr. Harpey please refrain from elbowing your classmates." They settled down quickly once their formidable professor was in their midst though. Turning around she tried to gauge how long it was going to be before they could continue on their journey, then looked down to see what the levels below were doing. She spotted Fillius Flitwick on the flight below her and on the lower level the students seemed to be dealing with things perfectly well on their own. As she looked down at the edge of the marble step though, the disorientation that had become a familiar sensation today returned, followed by something far more alarming as something tugging at the edge of her conscience. She tried to fight it; her alarm rising rapidly. Try as she might she couldn't seem to do anything to get the attention of those around her. Couldn't seem to get the words to form or even get her body to cooperate enough to turn towards her students. But then it was to late…
She was falling, as if in slow motion, and though she couldn't quite seem to grasp hold of what was going on, of why she was plummeting feet first towards the ground, her self-preservation instincts kicked in. She transformed into her feline form without really thinking about it and automatically her position shifted in the air so that she was going to land on all fours. Detachedly, she acknowledged that there was someone screaming but was quite certain it wasn't her. There was more than one voice, young voices, students. Thankfully, it was her concern for her pupils that held her attention as the time warping bubble seemed to pop, throwing slow motion into fast forward. She was aware of the impact to some extent, but a wave of white-hot pain engulfed her and everything turned black before she could make sense of any of the disjointed signals her body was sending.
When she became aware of her surroundings again, she had the oddest sensation that she was facing the wrong direction. She knew somewhere in her muddied mind that she had fallen, landed even, on her face, yet now she was gazing at the ceiling. The pain was still there, radiating from her arms and legs so that she knew she had landed and yet now she could see a ceiling above her. Her first, somewhat sluggish thought, was that someone had turned her over but the view was still wrong – she couldn't tell why but she felt as if it were too low, too close to her. But still there was something wrong. She didn't feel…connected with what she was seeing, sensing even. Perhaps she was still suffering from concussion, but she had had several fairly severe cases of that in the past and never felt quite like this; yet the feeling was eerily familiar. However, she had never fallen three flights onto the schools entrance hall floor before. The image that this slightly bizarre thought conjured seemed to re-boot her memory of what happened before she fell. Again though, something wasn't quite right. She knew that she had been on the bottom of a flight of stairs but yet she could see herself standing in the room she was in now and then she had taken a step forward. Because they had told him to, told her to, and then she had been falling… She closed her eyes but the world around her stayed constant and it was only then she realised that she had never really had them open in the first place. Only then that she really became aware that there was another presence there. Trying to organize her thoughts, she tentatively tried to feel the other person out. It didn't take long for her to realise that it was Severus. After all, it wasn't as if there was a long list of people she had shared this kind of perpetually intimate mental bond with. She was frustrated though; she wanted to communicate with him, ask him questions and perhaps even receive an answer. But then there was a change in perspective, he had moved it seemed, so that he could watch the door that was opening once again. Minerva could feel the carefully constructed barriers going up and decided that this was something worth noting. The figure which entered was eerily familiar and it only took her a moment to identify the blonde as a Malfoy. He was not alone however, and the increased apprehension that she could feel in Severus was enough for her to be able to identify the Dark Lord. Her thoughts were moving more freely now, she felt less sluggish but yet she still couldn't comprehend what it was that was going on. Had their spy been discovered? Why would a Master treat a loyal servant like this? The questions ran continually through her head. She couldn't hear what it was they were saying to each other or to Severus, and the images were not clear enough that she could recognise the movements of their mouths. All of a sudden though there was the familiar pain, the fire burning up and down every fibre of her body. She tried to stay calm knowing that this was the best she could do for him, but then there was something else. Something forcing its way in towards them. She felt Severus throw everything he could into resisting but he was failing. There was an alien urge to walk forward and it was that that seemed to make the connection in her mind. Imperious. She tried to help him, added her own defences carefully camouflaged behind his. This time it seemed that this did the trick. After what seemed like an eternity they were gone. The two of them were left alone. When the door swung shut the wave of relief she felt from the potions master was almost corporeal.