A/N: I'm baaaaack! Until tomorrow, that is; then I'm going away for another week. ^_^ I've already written chapter six, and I'll type and post that when I get back. In the meantime, enjoy this. An allusion to 'Macbeth' and one of my favorite lines from 'Obsessions' are in here. Ten points to you if you can find both!
~~~
Chapter Five: In which Minerva breaks up with her boyfriend
- February 8, 1945 -
~~~
Once Madam Tyburski was certain Minerva's internal injuries were under control, she was released from the hospital wing. She received a standing ovation from her fellow Gryffindors upon entering her house's common room. All of them had been anxious to celebrate the victory over Ravenclaw, but it felt wrong to do so without the team captain present. As a result, she was showered with all of their pent-up excitement, and didn't get two steps from the portrait hole before Kyle Thresher and Martin Blumethal grabbed her and lifted her onto their shoulders. The cheers that followed her entrance were deafening.
One person, however, was not in the mood for celebrating - Minerva. "Put me down," she said sternly to Martin and Kyle. "This is not dignified."
They complied. Kyle asked her what was wrong, but she ignored him and took off at a brisk pace toward the stairs to the girls' dormitory. The common room was silent. No one spoke until she was gone, and then, everyone began talking at once.
"What was that about?"
"Is she all right?"
"I told you not to do that, Martin; her ribs are probably still hurting."
"Did we not win after all?"
"What's her problem?"
"Did Dumbledore get sacked?"
"Shut up, Lyle."
"Maybe she's just tired."
"Maybe she's just being Minerva."
"All right, that is ENOUGH!" That voice belonged to Arabella, and the common room fell silent at once. Arabella looked around, then continued. "I will speak to her," she said quietly. "If she gives me permission to disclose whatever information I receive from her, then I will by all means let you know what is on her mind. If not, then I suggest you all refrain from bringing this incident up ever again. Thank you."
Without another word, she turned around and went up the stairs.
~~~
Arabella found Minerva sitting on her bed, reading what looked to be a book on advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. If she noticed her best friend come in, she was ignoring her. Arabella watched Minerva for almost a full minute, then said, "What, not learning enough in Professor Evil's class, so you have to do extra studying on your own time?"
Her comment would have made Minerva smile had she not been in such a bad mood. "No," she said, and closed the book. "I may not like Nay, but after Professor Dumbledore, she's the best teacher in the school, and I've learned a lot from her." She sighed, glanced down at the book, and continued. "I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I'm seriously considering becoming an Auror."
"An Auror?" Arabella repeated. She walked over to Minerva's bed and sat down next to her. "That's great! Have you talked to Alastor? You know, he's been thinking about that a lot, too, and so have Tom and Paul and-"
She stopped talking; Minerva's face had twisted into a grimace at the mention of Paul. Arabella had a strong feeling that he was the reason she was acting like this. "All right, what did he do?"
Minerva folded her arms across her chest, waited a few seconds, then said bitterly, "He called it luck."
"The Quidditch game?" Arabella guessed.
Minerva nodded, and angry tears stung the corners of her dark blue eyes. "He said the win was just luck, that Ravenclaw wasn't on top of their game, and that they're not a good team anyway-"
"That's ridiculous!" Arabella cried. "What ground does he have to stand on for that one? Ravenclaw would have beaten them if Ryan hadn't finally knocked that Bludger in the right direction at the right time! THAT was luck!"
"That's what Alastor said," said Minerva. "But Paul just laughed." She brushed at her eyes. Then, in a voice so soft it could barely be heard, she said, "I'm going to break up with him."
"What?" Arabella said, not quite sure she had heard correctly.
"I'm going to break up with him," Minerva said, a little louder. "He's an arrogant, lustful, self-centered bastard, and I won't deal with his bullshit anymore."
"What about Tom and Alastor?" Arabella asked. "You know how close they are to Paul - well, Tom more than Alastor. Are you going to renounce your friendship with them, too?"
"Of course not," Minerva said. "If they're really my friends - and I suspect they are - they'll still remain so after I break up with Paul."
"Well, what about Paul himself? Wouldn't it be awkward if you're still in the same group of friends? I don't think you can get the others to turn against him, too."
"I never said I was turning against Paul."
"You just called him an arrogant, lustful, self-centered bastard."
"I know."
Arabella sighed. "You confuse me."
"Well, what would you advise?" Minerva asked. "Staying with him after all he's done? I know what he wants, and he's not going to get it from me. I can't believe it took me so long to see him for what he really is."
Arabella sighed again and nodded. "You're right, as usual," she said. "So, when are you going to do it?"
"First thing in the morning."
~~~
- February 9, 1945 -
~~~
Paul Garret couldn't believe his ears. "You're what?"
"You heard me," Minerva said. "I'm not going to put up with you anymore. It's over. Sorry, Paul."
One of the students in the crowd that had gathered around them outside the entrance to the Great Hall started snickering. "Shut up!" Paul snapped at him. His attention then went back to Minerva. "I don't believe this. You can't break up with me."
She nodded. "Oh, yes, I can, and I am. How many times do I have to tell you? We're finished, and that's that. Good-bye." She turned around and started to walk away.
Paul was seething with anger. Never before in his life had he been publicly humiliated like this. She was not going to get away with this. He leapt forward and seized her by the wrist. "One week," he hissed. "One week, and you'll come crawling back!"
"Get over yourself," Minerva replied, jerking her hand away. "I have."
"You think you're so strong, Minerva, but I know you better than that," Paul said. "Beneath that tough exterior, you're made of glass, and you're going to break."
She shook her head. "No, I'm not."
"You need me. You're nothing without me."
"I became everything I am without your help. I've never needed you to get ahead. That's not why I went out with you, and I can only hope that's not why you went out with me."
He narrowed his eyes. "You're going to regret this. When you come to your senses, I won't come back."
She let out a fake gasp of excitement. "Really? You promise?"
Paul did not have a lot of self-control as it was, and now, it was completely gone. He lifted his hand and struck Minerva across the face as hard as he could. The crowd gasped as she stumbled backwards, and gasped again when she recovered her balance and planted a surprisingly good left hook on his mouth in retaliation. It would have gotten uglier had a furious voice not stopped them then.
"Garrett! McGonagall!"
Students in the crowd pulled Paul and Minerva away from each other as Indira Nay stormed up to them. Indira was never in a good mood, but even a bad day looked good compared to this. Her face was flushed, her entire body was shaking, and it appeared that it was taking a lot of effort to keep her clenched fists at her sides. Her dark green eyes were more piercing than usual, and Minerva thought she saw tears of rage forming in their corners. None present had ever seen her so close to losing her composure.
Indira gave Paul her full attention. He had his hand pressed to his lip to stop the flow of blood. "One hundred points from Slytherin," Indira said in a soft, trembling voice. "You will be serving detention every night for the remainder of the year. You are hereby removed from Slytherin's Quidditch team and stripped of prefect status."
Paul glared at her, then gestured toward Minerva and said, "What about her?"
"Oh, right," Indira said, as though she had forgotten about the other person involved in the fight. She glanced at Minerva. "Twenty points to Gryffindor." Her attention went back to Paul. "I am going to do everything in my power to get you expelled. Get out of my sight."
Paul seemed to be debating whether he should kill Minerva or Indira first. He gave both of them equally angry looks, then stomped away, muttering something about getting revenge somehow.
Once Paul was gone, Indira turned to Minerva. Minerva was expecting an equally harsh punishment, but it did not come. In a surprisingly gentle voice, Indira asked, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Minerva said. She wasn't hurt; just a little shaken up. Paul wasn't as strong as he looked, and her face no longer hurt from when he had struck her.
She hadn't been seeing things; those were tears, and they fell down Indira's cheeks when she closed her eyes. "Good," she said. "Excuse me." She walked away at a rapid pace, wiping at her eyes as she went.
Arabella forced her way through the shocked crowd over to Minerva. "What just happened?" she asked.
Minerva shook her head. "I don't know."
Alastor joined them next, followed closely by Tom and Kelsie Appanitis. "Who was that and what did she do with Professor Nay?" Alastor asked. "I've never seen her act like that!"
Tom was more angry than surprised. "She can't do that!" he said. "He shouldn't have hit you, Min, but she overdid it."
"Stripped of prefect status," Kelsi said, and shuddered. "Probably even expelled!"
"He won't be expelled," said Tom. "Dippet's an idiot, but he knows enough not to take Nay seriously. She's crazy and he knows it."
"Hang on a minute," said Minerva. "Dippet's not an idiot. He's brilliant. Or have you already forgotten everything we learned in his class?" She, Tom, Arabella, and Alastor had Dippet for Astronomy their first year; he became headmaster the year after that.
"He's a brilliant astronomer," said Tom, "but as a headmaster, he's helpless. Remember those attacks two years ago? He couldn't stop those. I had to do it."
"Not before someone died," Minerva replied.
"Well, more people would have died if I hadn't caught that stupid oaf Hagrid," Tom snapped. "He should never have been at Hogwarts, anyway."
Alastor took it upon himself to step in before things got ugly. "We should really get to class," he said, placing himself between Tom and Minerva. "Min, Ari, we'll see you in Herbology."
Minerva and Arabella said good-bye to the others and began the walk to Charms.
~~~
After Charms, the seventh-year Gryffindors had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Hufflepuff. As walked toward the classroom, Minerva wondered if Indira had recovered from the incident that morning. She still couldn't believe her teacher had acted that way. It was not unlike Indira to give outrageously harsh punishments, but Paul had received enough for three people. On top of that, all Indira did to her was give points to Gryffindor. What was the reasoning behind that? And why did she have such a problem with it, anyway? Minerva knew the incident would have made any teacher unhappy, but she couldn't think of anyone who would strip someone of prefect status and threaten expulsion - and a student of her own house, too. Minerva figured it must have struck a nerve with Indira, but she didn't think anyone knew why, and if they did, they wouldn't tell.
They were in for another surprise when they entered the classroom. Sitting behind the desk was not Indira Nay, but Armando Dippet. Questions started immediately, but Dippet called for silence and waited until everyone had arrived to start answering them. "Professor Nay is not feeling well, so I will be teaching her class today," he explained. "Please take out your books and read pages one hundred eighty-four to one hundred eighty-nine. We will discuss the material once everyone has finished."
Minerva opened her book and glanced at the pages. That was the introduction on the section about the rising and falling of dark wizards throughout history. She'd read it a few weeks as research for a project she was doing in History of Magic about dark wizards during the Renaissance period. She strongly desired to speak with Dippet, and now would probably be her only chance for quite some time. After debating it for a few moments, she gave in to her emotions and walked up to the front desk.
Dippet did not look surprised to see her. "I thought you might want to talk," he said. "Out in the hall, please."
Minerva followed him out into the hall, then asked, "Is Paul going to be expelled?"
"I don't know," Dippet said. "This is a very serious incident, and expulsion will be taken into consideration. The ultimate decision is mine, but it is necessary to hear all the sides of the case."
"I don't think he should be expelled," Minerva said. She had been thinking about that all during Charms. Expulsion was not only removal from school; it was exile from the entire wizarding world, and as bad as Paul was, she didn't think he deserved that. "Anyway, part of it's my fault. I hit him back, and I was also sort of, well... provoking him. Besides, I think Professor Nay punished him enough."
"You may think that, but she doesn't. She is pushing for expulsion and assault charges."
"But he hit me, not her."
"Yes, I know; I explained to her that filing charges was your call, but I don't know if you would be able to make much of a case, as you did hit him, too..."
"I don't understand, sir," Minerva said. "I did more damage to Paul than he did to me, and she gave points to Gryffindor. It was like I did something good."
"It was not wrong for you to defend yourself-"
"But it was wrong for me to humiliate him in public and expect him not to lose control," Minerva interrupted. "Professor Nay should have taken points for my stupidity."
"So you believe Mr. Garrett should be allowed to remain in school?"
"Yes."
Dippet nodded. "Very well."
A question was forming in the back of Minerva's mind, and she couldn't fight back her desire to ask it. "Uh, sir?" she said. "You said Professor Nay isn't feeling well. Forgive me if I'm asking too much, but why is that?"
Dippet hesitated before answering, trying to figure out a way to tell the truth without revealling it. "I ran into her as she was leaving the scene, and she told me what happened," he said. "She did not seem in a fight state to teach, so I persuaded her to let me take her place for today while she recovered." Ordered was more like it; the last thing Indira wanted was for anyone to think something had made her lose control. "There are few things in this world that can make Professor Nay crack, and physical abuse is one of them."
Minerva was about to ask him how he knew that, but before she could, he said, "Well, they should be done with that reading by now. Shall we go back inside?"
He wasn't asking, he was telling, and she complied. They went back inside, and she took her seat next to Arabella in the second row. Dippet walked up to the front of the classroom. "Is everyone finished?" he asked.
A chorus of yeses echoed through the room.
Dippet nodded in approval. "Good," he said. "Now, for discussion. Dark wizards - and witches - have always been a threat, and probably always will be. There is generally a period of peace between uprisings, lasting as long as five hundred years or as short as ten or twenty. Does anyone know which dark wizard had the longest reign of terror?"
Minerva's hand went into the air, and Dippet called on her. "Majken Locke, who terrorized Europe for almost seventy years before being defeated by Merlin."
"Correct," Dippet said. "Does anyone know a way dark wizards come to power? Mr. Nambu?"
Michael Nambu from Hufflepuff lowered his hand and answered the question. "They come off as a bringer of peace and order, revealling their true intentions only to those closest to them. They use their good-natured exterior to get themselves into a high place and/or get followers, and usually, by the time someone realizes what they really are, it's too late."
"That's one way," said Dippet. "There are others, but that is the most common, and it is often difficult to see who is the innocent flower and who is the serpent beneath."
If Minerva hadn't known he was making an allusion to 'Macbeth', she would have wondered if he was implying something about the students in Slytherin house. Perhaps it was both.
"It can take years before it is revealed how evil someone is," Dippet continued. "For instance, about a hundred years ago, a Chinese wizard named Xiang Sae-Yin killed over a thousand people, both wizard and Muggle, before anyone realized who he was. And I bet you anything that thirty years ago, no one would have believed one of the most powerful dark wizards in history had just been elected Minister of Magic."
A murmer ran through the class. Clearly, most of them did not know that. He didn't expect them to; it was a sensitive subject among the wizarding world, and as a result, he suspected most of their parents did not tell them about that wizard's rise to power. They hadn't had much exposure to it at Hogwarts, either. History of Magic didn't deal with more recent things, and he knew Indira wasn't going to tell them. "Does anyone know who that wizard is?" he asked. It was a rhetorical question; they all knew who he was, but not many knew he had once been Minister of Magic.
The only hand in the air was Minerva's, and Dippet called on her. "Erich Rainier, alias Grindelwald," she said, lowering her hand. "He served as Minister of Magic from 1915 to 1923. Two years later, the new Minister, Anton Rahmini, revealed Grindelwald for who he really was. Rahmini and his family were slaughtered hours later."
"Right again," said Dippet. "Erich Rainier is the perfect example of how a dark wizard can rise to power. The world has known about his evil nature for twenty years, but there's no telling how long he has been gathering followers. His web of influence runs deeper than most people know."
Minerva raised her hand. She had another question for Dippet, regarding the Rahmini family. She had stumbled upon the Daily Prophet article about their murder and had become curious about them ever since. When Dippet called on her, she lowered her hand and said, "Professor Dippet, is it true they never found the body of Anton Rahmini's youngest daughter?"
He paused for a moment, then answered the question. "Anton and Celeste Rahmini had seven children. All nine of them were cut into pieces and scattered throughout their home. Madeline Rahmini was never identified, but that doesn't mean anything. Only four of them were ever positively identified. It is entirely possible that a piece of Madeline's body was thought to be part of someone else."
Minerva wanted to ask him more questions, but before she could, Dippet began talking about a dark wizard named Alden Kaluza, who was in power in the late eighteenth century and nearly succeeded in taking over South America. She decided she would find the headmaster later and see if he would discuss Grindelwald further with her. She thought it would be a good idea to research Grindelwald as much as possible - it was always an advantage to know about one's enemy - and she was surprised at how much Dippet seemed to know, especially about the Rahmini family. The Rhaminis were a very powerful family, both in ability and position, and seeing such prominent figures savagely murdered at hands of Grindelwald was one of the reasons he was such a sensitive subject.
Then, Minerva had another idea - Dumbledore. She'd always been closer to Dumbledore than any other faculty member, and besides, they were meeting that night for another Animagus lesson. She could bring up the subject then. If he knew anything, he was sure to tell her.
~~~
Chapter Five: In which Minerva breaks up with her boyfriend
- February 8, 1945 -
~~~
Once Madam Tyburski was certain Minerva's internal injuries were under control, she was released from the hospital wing. She received a standing ovation from her fellow Gryffindors upon entering her house's common room. All of them had been anxious to celebrate the victory over Ravenclaw, but it felt wrong to do so without the team captain present. As a result, she was showered with all of their pent-up excitement, and didn't get two steps from the portrait hole before Kyle Thresher and Martin Blumethal grabbed her and lifted her onto their shoulders. The cheers that followed her entrance were deafening.
One person, however, was not in the mood for celebrating - Minerva. "Put me down," she said sternly to Martin and Kyle. "This is not dignified."
They complied. Kyle asked her what was wrong, but she ignored him and took off at a brisk pace toward the stairs to the girls' dormitory. The common room was silent. No one spoke until she was gone, and then, everyone began talking at once.
"What was that about?"
"Is she all right?"
"I told you not to do that, Martin; her ribs are probably still hurting."
"Did we not win after all?"
"What's her problem?"
"Did Dumbledore get sacked?"
"Shut up, Lyle."
"Maybe she's just tired."
"Maybe she's just being Minerva."
"All right, that is ENOUGH!" That voice belonged to Arabella, and the common room fell silent at once. Arabella looked around, then continued. "I will speak to her," she said quietly. "If she gives me permission to disclose whatever information I receive from her, then I will by all means let you know what is on her mind. If not, then I suggest you all refrain from bringing this incident up ever again. Thank you."
Without another word, she turned around and went up the stairs.
~~~
Arabella found Minerva sitting on her bed, reading what looked to be a book on advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. If she noticed her best friend come in, she was ignoring her. Arabella watched Minerva for almost a full minute, then said, "What, not learning enough in Professor Evil's class, so you have to do extra studying on your own time?"
Her comment would have made Minerva smile had she not been in such a bad mood. "No," she said, and closed the book. "I may not like Nay, but after Professor Dumbledore, she's the best teacher in the school, and I've learned a lot from her." She sighed, glanced down at the book, and continued. "I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I'm seriously considering becoming an Auror."
"An Auror?" Arabella repeated. She walked over to Minerva's bed and sat down next to her. "That's great! Have you talked to Alastor? You know, he's been thinking about that a lot, too, and so have Tom and Paul and-"
She stopped talking; Minerva's face had twisted into a grimace at the mention of Paul. Arabella had a strong feeling that he was the reason she was acting like this. "All right, what did he do?"
Minerva folded her arms across her chest, waited a few seconds, then said bitterly, "He called it luck."
"The Quidditch game?" Arabella guessed.
Minerva nodded, and angry tears stung the corners of her dark blue eyes. "He said the win was just luck, that Ravenclaw wasn't on top of their game, and that they're not a good team anyway-"
"That's ridiculous!" Arabella cried. "What ground does he have to stand on for that one? Ravenclaw would have beaten them if Ryan hadn't finally knocked that Bludger in the right direction at the right time! THAT was luck!"
"That's what Alastor said," said Minerva. "But Paul just laughed." She brushed at her eyes. Then, in a voice so soft it could barely be heard, she said, "I'm going to break up with him."
"What?" Arabella said, not quite sure she had heard correctly.
"I'm going to break up with him," Minerva said, a little louder. "He's an arrogant, lustful, self-centered bastard, and I won't deal with his bullshit anymore."
"What about Tom and Alastor?" Arabella asked. "You know how close they are to Paul - well, Tom more than Alastor. Are you going to renounce your friendship with them, too?"
"Of course not," Minerva said. "If they're really my friends - and I suspect they are - they'll still remain so after I break up with Paul."
"Well, what about Paul himself? Wouldn't it be awkward if you're still in the same group of friends? I don't think you can get the others to turn against him, too."
"I never said I was turning against Paul."
"You just called him an arrogant, lustful, self-centered bastard."
"I know."
Arabella sighed. "You confuse me."
"Well, what would you advise?" Minerva asked. "Staying with him after all he's done? I know what he wants, and he's not going to get it from me. I can't believe it took me so long to see him for what he really is."
Arabella sighed again and nodded. "You're right, as usual," she said. "So, when are you going to do it?"
"First thing in the morning."
~~~
- February 9, 1945 -
~~~
Paul Garret couldn't believe his ears. "You're what?"
"You heard me," Minerva said. "I'm not going to put up with you anymore. It's over. Sorry, Paul."
One of the students in the crowd that had gathered around them outside the entrance to the Great Hall started snickering. "Shut up!" Paul snapped at him. His attention then went back to Minerva. "I don't believe this. You can't break up with me."
She nodded. "Oh, yes, I can, and I am. How many times do I have to tell you? We're finished, and that's that. Good-bye." She turned around and started to walk away.
Paul was seething with anger. Never before in his life had he been publicly humiliated like this. She was not going to get away with this. He leapt forward and seized her by the wrist. "One week," he hissed. "One week, and you'll come crawling back!"
"Get over yourself," Minerva replied, jerking her hand away. "I have."
"You think you're so strong, Minerva, but I know you better than that," Paul said. "Beneath that tough exterior, you're made of glass, and you're going to break."
She shook her head. "No, I'm not."
"You need me. You're nothing without me."
"I became everything I am without your help. I've never needed you to get ahead. That's not why I went out with you, and I can only hope that's not why you went out with me."
He narrowed his eyes. "You're going to regret this. When you come to your senses, I won't come back."
She let out a fake gasp of excitement. "Really? You promise?"
Paul did not have a lot of self-control as it was, and now, it was completely gone. He lifted his hand and struck Minerva across the face as hard as he could. The crowd gasped as she stumbled backwards, and gasped again when she recovered her balance and planted a surprisingly good left hook on his mouth in retaliation. It would have gotten uglier had a furious voice not stopped them then.
"Garrett! McGonagall!"
Students in the crowd pulled Paul and Minerva away from each other as Indira Nay stormed up to them. Indira was never in a good mood, but even a bad day looked good compared to this. Her face was flushed, her entire body was shaking, and it appeared that it was taking a lot of effort to keep her clenched fists at her sides. Her dark green eyes were more piercing than usual, and Minerva thought she saw tears of rage forming in their corners. None present had ever seen her so close to losing her composure.
Indira gave Paul her full attention. He had his hand pressed to his lip to stop the flow of blood. "One hundred points from Slytherin," Indira said in a soft, trembling voice. "You will be serving detention every night for the remainder of the year. You are hereby removed from Slytherin's Quidditch team and stripped of prefect status."
Paul glared at her, then gestured toward Minerva and said, "What about her?"
"Oh, right," Indira said, as though she had forgotten about the other person involved in the fight. She glanced at Minerva. "Twenty points to Gryffindor." Her attention went back to Paul. "I am going to do everything in my power to get you expelled. Get out of my sight."
Paul seemed to be debating whether he should kill Minerva or Indira first. He gave both of them equally angry looks, then stomped away, muttering something about getting revenge somehow.
Once Paul was gone, Indira turned to Minerva. Minerva was expecting an equally harsh punishment, but it did not come. In a surprisingly gentle voice, Indira asked, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Minerva said. She wasn't hurt; just a little shaken up. Paul wasn't as strong as he looked, and her face no longer hurt from when he had struck her.
She hadn't been seeing things; those were tears, and they fell down Indira's cheeks when she closed her eyes. "Good," she said. "Excuse me." She walked away at a rapid pace, wiping at her eyes as she went.
Arabella forced her way through the shocked crowd over to Minerva. "What just happened?" she asked.
Minerva shook her head. "I don't know."
Alastor joined them next, followed closely by Tom and Kelsie Appanitis. "Who was that and what did she do with Professor Nay?" Alastor asked. "I've never seen her act like that!"
Tom was more angry than surprised. "She can't do that!" he said. "He shouldn't have hit you, Min, but she overdid it."
"Stripped of prefect status," Kelsi said, and shuddered. "Probably even expelled!"
"He won't be expelled," said Tom. "Dippet's an idiot, but he knows enough not to take Nay seriously. She's crazy and he knows it."
"Hang on a minute," said Minerva. "Dippet's not an idiot. He's brilliant. Or have you already forgotten everything we learned in his class?" She, Tom, Arabella, and Alastor had Dippet for Astronomy their first year; he became headmaster the year after that.
"He's a brilliant astronomer," said Tom, "but as a headmaster, he's helpless. Remember those attacks two years ago? He couldn't stop those. I had to do it."
"Not before someone died," Minerva replied.
"Well, more people would have died if I hadn't caught that stupid oaf Hagrid," Tom snapped. "He should never have been at Hogwarts, anyway."
Alastor took it upon himself to step in before things got ugly. "We should really get to class," he said, placing himself between Tom and Minerva. "Min, Ari, we'll see you in Herbology."
Minerva and Arabella said good-bye to the others and began the walk to Charms.
~~~
After Charms, the seventh-year Gryffindors had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Hufflepuff. As walked toward the classroom, Minerva wondered if Indira had recovered from the incident that morning. She still couldn't believe her teacher had acted that way. It was not unlike Indira to give outrageously harsh punishments, but Paul had received enough for three people. On top of that, all Indira did to her was give points to Gryffindor. What was the reasoning behind that? And why did she have such a problem with it, anyway? Minerva knew the incident would have made any teacher unhappy, but she couldn't think of anyone who would strip someone of prefect status and threaten expulsion - and a student of her own house, too. Minerva figured it must have struck a nerve with Indira, but she didn't think anyone knew why, and if they did, they wouldn't tell.
They were in for another surprise when they entered the classroom. Sitting behind the desk was not Indira Nay, but Armando Dippet. Questions started immediately, but Dippet called for silence and waited until everyone had arrived to start answering them. "Professor Nay is not feeling well, so I will be teaching her class today," he explained. "Please take out your books and read pages one hundred eighty-four to one hundred eighty-nine. We will discuss the material once everyone has finished."
Minerva opened her book and glanced at the pages. That was the introduction on the section about the rising and falling of dark wizards throughout history. She'd read it a few weeks as research for a project she was doing in History of Magic about dark wizards during the Renaissance period. She strongly desired to speak with Dippet, and now would probably be her only chance for quite some time. After debating it for a few moments, she gave in to her emotions and walked up to the front desk.
Dippet did not look surprised to see her. "I thought you might want to talk," he said. "Out in the hall, please."
Minerva followed him out into the hall, then asked, "Is Paul going to be expelled?"
"I don't know," Dippet said. "This is a very serious incident, and expulsion will be taken into consideration. The ultimate decision is mine, but it is necessary to hear all the sides of the case."
"I don't think he should be expelled," Minerva said. She had been thinking about that all during Charms. Expulsion was not only removal from school; it was exile from the entire wizarding world, and as bad as Paul was, she didn't think he deserved that. "Anyway, part of it's my fault. I hit him back, and I was also sort of, well... provoking him. Besides, I think Professor Nay punished him enough."
"You may think that, but she doesn't. She is pushing for expulsion and assault charges."
"But he hit me, not her."
"Yes, I know; I explained to her that filing charges was your call, but I don't know if you would be able to make much of a case, as you did hit him, too..."
"I don't understand, sir," Minerva said. "I did more damage to Paul than he did to me, and she gave points to Gryffindor. It was like I did something good."
"It was not wrong for you to defend yourself-"
"But it was wrong for me to humiliate him in public and expect him not to lose control," Minerva interrupted. "Professor Nay should have taken points for my stupidity."
"So you believe Mr. Garrett should be allowed to remain in school?"
"Yes."
Dippet nodded. "Very well."
A question was forming in the back of Minerva's mind, and she couldn't fight back her desire to ask it. "Uh, sir?" she said. "You said Professor Nay isn't feeling well. Forgive me if I'm asking too much, but why is that?"
Dippet hesitated before answering, trying to figure out a way to tell the truth without revealling it. "I ran into her as she was leaving the scene, and she told me what happened," he said. "She did not seem in a fight state to teach, so I persuaded her to let me take her place for today while she recovered." Ordered was more like it; the last thing Indira wanted was for anyone to think something had made her lose control. "There are few things in this world that can make Professor Nay crack, and physical abuse is one of them."
Minerva was about to ask him how he knew that, but before she could, he said, "Well, they should be done with that reading by now. Shall we go back inside?"
He wasn't asking, he was telling, and she complied. They went back inside, and she took her seat next to Arabella in the second row. Dippet walked up to the front of the classroom. "Is everyone finished?" he asked.
A chorus of yeses echoed through the room.
Dippet nodded in approval. "Good," he said. "Now, for discussion. Dark wizards - and witches - have always been a threat, and probably always will be. There is generally a period of peace between uprisings, lasting as long as five hundred years or as short as ten or twenty. Does anyone know which dark wizard had the longest reign of terror?"
Minerva's hand went into the air, and Dippet called on her. "Majken Locke, who terrorized Europe for almost seventy years before being defeated by Merlin."
"Correct," Dippet said. "Does anyone know a way dark wizards come to power? Mr. Nambu?"
Michael Nambu from Hufflepuff lowered his hand and answered the question. "They come off as a bringer of peace and order, revealling their true intentions only to those closest to them. They use their good-natured exterior to get themselves into a high place and/or get followers, and usually, by the time someone realizes what they really are, it's too late."
"That's one way," said Dippet. "There are others, but that is the most common, and it is often difficult to see who is the innocent flower and who is the serpent beneath."
If Minerva hadn't known he was making an allusion to 'Macbeth', she would have wondered if he was implying something about the students in Slytherin house. Perhaps it was both.
"It can take years before it is revealed how evil someone is," Dippet continued. "For instance, about a hundred years ago, a Chinese wizard named Xiang Sae-Yin killed over a thousand people, both wizard and Muggle, before anyone realized who he was. And I bet you anything that thirty years ago, no one would have believed one of the most powerful dark wizards in history had just been elected Minister of Magic."
A murmer ran through the class. Clearly, most of them did not know that. He didn't expect them to; it was a sensitive subject among the wizarding world, and as a result, he suspected most of their parents did not tell them about that wizard's rise to power. They hadn't had much exposure to it at Hogwarts, either. History of Magic didn't deal with more recent things, and he knew Indira wasn't going to tell them. "Does anyone know who that wizard is?" he asked. It was a rhetorical question; they all knew who he was, but not many knew he had once been Minister of Magic.
The only hand in the air was Minerva's, and Dippet called on her. "Erich Rainier, alias Grindelwald," she said, lowering her hand. "He served as Minister of Magic from 1915 to 1923. Two years later, the new Minister, Anton Rahmini, revealed Grindelwald for who he really was. Rahmini and his family were slaughtered hours later."
"Right again," said Dippet. "Erich Rainier is the perfect example of how a dark wizard can rise to power. The world has known about his evil nature for twenty years, but there's no telling how long he has been gathering followers. His web of influence runs deeper than most people know."
Minerva raised her hand. She had another question for Dippet, regarding the Rahmini family. She had stumbled upon the Daily Prophet article about their murder and had become curious about them ever since. When Dippet called on her, she lowered her hand and said, "Professor Dippet, is it true they never found the body of Anton Rahmini's youngest daughter?"
He paused for a moment, then answered the question. "Anton and Celeste Rahmini had seven children. All nine of them were cut into pieces and scattered throughout their home. Madeline Rahmini was never identified, but that doesn't mean anything. Only four of them were ever positively identified. It is entirely possible that a piece of Madeline's body was thought to be part of someone else."
Minerva wanted to ask him more questions, but before she could, Dippet began talking about a dark wizard named Alden Kaluza, who was in power in the late eighteenth century and nearly succeeded in taking over South America. She decided she would find the headmaster later and see if he would discuss Grindelwald further with her. She thought it would be a good idea to research Grindelwald as much as possible - it was always an advantage to know about one's enemy - and she was surprised at how much Dippet seemed to know, especially about the Rahmini family. The Rhaminis were a very powerful family, both in ability and position, and seeing such prominent figures savagely murdered at hands of Grindelwald was one of the reasons he was such a sensitive subject.
Then, Minerva had another idea - Dumbledore. She'd always been closer to Dumbledore than any other faculty member, and besides, they were meeting that night for another Animagus lesson. She could bring up the subject then. If he knew anything, he was sure to tell her.