CHAPTER TEN: Growing Enigma

Setting down in McGonagall's office with Ginny and Hermione, Harry looked around to see McGonagall, Moody, Bill, Charlie, and Fleur already there. McGonagall immediately turned to the newcomers. "Very well. All of us are here, assembled. Aberforth is remaining at the Hog's Head, due to protestations of meeting an untimely death, or worse, a lack of taste for business," she said with a scowl. "So there are eight of us against Ms. Lanskey. We shall need to be quick, for I heavily doubt she would have provided us with that antidote unless she had a way to get around it. Therefore, it is up to each of us to stay alert and focused. If any of us appears to be looking too happy, I am afraid to say, the rest of us will stun him or her. Is that clear?" A grim silence denoted acknowledgment.

Harry stepped forward. "If you'll excuse me professor, there is something here I think I may be needing." So saying, he stepped behind McGonagall's desk and removed Gryffindor's sword from its plaque, ready to do battle with it once more. "Let's go," he said grimly, stepping towards the door. No one objected to his taking the lead, and the rest of them followed suit.

As they walked into the Great Hall on their way to the stairs leading to the dungeons, a crack off to one side distracted them. Turning, Harry saw Lanskey sitting at the Headmistress's chair at the staff table, reclining and apparently relaxing, as if content to use the chair as some sort of throne.

"So you thought you'd sneak down and 'dispose' of me, catching me off guard, did you?" She frowned down upon them. "I do hate to accuse anyone of treachery or malicious intent, but all eight of you appear to be guilty of both."

Hermione could take no more, and she shot a wordless stunning spell at Lanskey, who cast it aside with a lazy wave of her hand. Hermione fumed silently. "What are you?" she hissed quietly.

Lanskey seemed to think hard for a little while. "That's a good question. It's been so long since someone's asked me that, I've almost forgotten. Thank you, my child. Come to me, and all the answers you seek shall be answered." She stood up and extended her arms, as if waiting to embrace Hermione.

Hermione glared, and she started to tremble. "You're not just a focal point for this hive; you are the Great Healer, aren't you?" she spat. "When Ron went to the bathroom yesterday, he relieved more than his bladder, didn't he, Ro!"

Lanskey lowered her arms. "Yes, my child. I am the Great Healer, and I wish I could stand by and let Hogwarts remain as it is, but you have all clearly shown me that to leave it unchecked would leave a festering wound on the face of the earth, and I cannot allow that. The world has been divided for far too long, and now that Unity is nigh, I will not allow anything that opposes that Unity to remain."

"Unity?" spat McGonagall. "Conquest would be a more appropriate term, I think! Expelliarmus!" A long, crimson wand sprang from within Lanskey's robes, flying into the air. Lanskey simply smiled and snapped her fingers. There was a crack, and Father Michael apparated into the Great Hall just in the right spot to catch her wand before it touched the ground.

As the priest walked over to the staff table to present the Great Healer with her wand, Fleur shouted, "Impedimentia," but Michael's armband merely pulsed with light, and Fleur was knocked off her feet. Just as Michael presented Lanskey her wand on bended knee, she put a hand to her head. "That was quite a strong Impediment Jinx, my daughter. If only you could see the error of your ways, and I invite you to explore your spirituality with me. Come to me, my child," and she again opened her arms. Fleur's expression turned from seething hate to relative calm in a matter of seconds. She started to walk towards the staff table.

"Stupefy!" came Bill's shout of fury. Turning around, her eyes glazed over with happiness, Fleur smiled as Bill's spell knocked her into the air before she fell to the ground, unconscious. "How can people apparate in here! You can't apparate to, from, or within this school!"

Lanskey nodded her head. "This is true under normal circumstances, but when one is as familiar with such enchantments as I am, they are easily edited. But enough of this! I must have words with the bearer of Godric's sword. Harry, my son, please join me in the Entrance Hall."

"Don't go, Harry!" exclaimed Ginny. Just finish her, right here and now!"

Lanskey cocked her head towards Ginny. "Ginerva, my daughter, I must ask you kindly to stay where you are, and stay quiet for a time. This is a family matter, and I do not wish to include in-laws just yet."

Harry was stunned. "Family? What the hell are you talking about!"

Lanskey smiled as she rose her wand. Without a word, Gryffindor's sword sped out of Harry's hand, and Lanskey caught the hilt with her own. Raising the sword, she twirled it a couple of times in one hand. "Still as strong as ever." Turning to Harry once more, she said, "I shall explain everything to you, Harry, and to no one else. Now, please, join me in the Entrance Hall." Snapping her fingers again, a score of priests, each with four stripes on their armbands, appeared between Harry and his friends and the staff table. "I assure you, they will take no action, work no spells, until we have finished our talk. Harry?"

Nodding his head, Harry conceded defeat. Hugging Ginny tight, he kissed her gently. "I'll be all right. And I'll be back for you soon. I promise."

Ginny looked up into his eyes and nodded silently, a lone tear streaking down her left cheek. "I know, Harry. I know."

Turning back to the Great Healer, Harry called out, "I'm coming out!" And he raised his hands to show he was unarmed as he walked through an aisle the priests were forming for him until he reached the door to the Entrance Hall, where Lanskey was waiting for him. The doors opened on their own, and the Harry Potter and Rowanda Lanskey stepped out to attend to this 'family matter.'