Spoilers: Order of the Phoenix
Thank you to my beta, Nakhash Mekashefah!
Ron Weasley wondered, not for the first time, why he had accepted the position of Minister for Magic. And also, why he had decided to help Hermione and Snape by protecting their secret with his silence. And also, while he was at it, why he had chosen to become Harry's friend their first year at Hogwarts. Ron knew perfectly well that thinking like this wasn't the right way to solve his current problems, but he didn't care. He felt somehow – even though he held no grudges – that he had been the one less doted upon by his parents and family. His mother had already a handful with Fred and George and Ginny's birth – the first girl in the Weasley family for quite a few generations – had guaranteed that Ron would be overlooked for the benefit of his little sister.
His friendship with Harry had brought him a kind of recognition, though few people understood it. When the famous Harry Potter could have chosen anyone for friends, he had chosen Ron and Hermione. For many people, Ron was just the sidekick, which he had felt to be, as well, for quite a long time, until, with a bit of Hermione's prodding, he had understood he was just as important and that he didn't need Harry to exist. After that revelation, his career had taken flight and now, he was Minister for Magic, which Harry was definitely not.
Right now, he was tired, and the look he was giving his Time-Turner was, at the very least, baleful. He rubbed his eyes with a sigh and stood up, crossing his office toward the fireplace. As every evening since Percy's meddling, Ron was going back to Hogwarts, where he would meet with Harry and Minerva. She had promised Percy she would give him, on the following day, a complete list of Hermione's contacts for the following day and they were to decide whose names to put on the list as well as what strategy to adopt afterwards.
When he stepped out of the fireplace, he thought for a brief moment that, being so tired, he had made a mistake in the day or maybe the hour, for he was met by two huge, guileless blue eyes. Then Minerva lightly touched his arm and he snapped out of his trance-like fascination.
"Am I arriving at a wrong moment?" he inquired.
"Not at all, Mr Weasley. May I present to you Lawrence Higgs and Isadora Nott?"
Ron then noticed the presence of the young wizard sitting next to Isadora and a second later, noticed something else.
"Slytherin students, Professor McGonagall? Did I miss something?"
"We will wait for Mr Potter's arrival before I explain anything," replied Minerva crisply. "No need to repeat the same thing twice."
Somehow, Ron was quite irked to feel like a first year again when facing Minerva. He had faced Death Eaters and Dark wizards without any fear but a mere glance from his former professor could make him look at his shoes with a suspicious dedication! It was really irritating.
He was saved from these unnerving thoughts by the noise of Harry coming through the fireplace, a soot smudge on his nose. Before he could even open his mouth, Minerva had introduced him to Isadora and Lawrence. Harry was visibly disconcerted by the obvious lack of admiration from Isadora; he was more used to the witches' undue adulation wherever he went.
"Dare we trust Slytherins with this information?" he asked quizzically.
"These two students are most probably the reason why Percy Weasley didn't go around Hogwarts tearing everything down in hope of finding Miss Granger's hiding place."
She succinctly explained what happened during Percy's last visit, taking no heed of Harry's comments about Slytherins.
"Since they guessed so much, I decided it was wiser to unite our efforts. We cannot afford even one step out of line."
"Very well," said Harry grudgingly. "Do you have the list?"
"I have the list of Miss Granger's academic contacts as complete as I could muster. I almost wish I could take off some names, but it is well-known Miss Granger studied with them, and Mr Weasley would know we were trying to double-cross him."
"And Percy is just stubborn enough to find the clues leading to my fall so he can pretend to the post of Minister," added Ron with a grin. "Now, Harry has the list of Hermione's friends. It took me quite a while to stop acting like a jealous fool each time she spoke with a bloke. Harry had no such qualms, so he knows better than I who was on her friends list."
While listening to Ron, Minerva was duplicating her list and giving it to everybody. Lawrence and Isadora bent their heads over the list and scanned it quickly. Ron was doing the same, frowning at the same time.
"Who do you think is likely to hold your brother's attention?" asked Minerva.
"Those living near a laboratory or a library," replied Harry before Ron could. "For that matter, I think we could dispense with the friends list. I don't think Percy ever realised that Hermione is a girl."
Minerva was surprised at the disdain in his voice, since he had been as blind as Percy until the Yule Ball and with fewer excuses.
"Why did you mark Arsenius Jigger as improbable?" intervened Ron. "He's Hermione's old Potions master; it would be quite natural for her to go back to him after Snape's demise, since she has no laboratory of her own."
"This remark, Mr Weasley, is for our benefit and not your brother's. It's not written on the list I'm now making for Percy Weasley. I noted Arsenius Jigger as being an improbable choice for Severus to go to as they had some… personality conflicts, shall we say."
Lawrence and Isadora looked at each other.
"That's where I would go if I were Professor Snape," declared Lawrence. "Just because it would be the last place where those knowing me would expect to find me."
Minerva had a tight smile.
"Indeed, if Severus managed to find in himself the will to overlook their disagreements, he would have gone there. But, even if he did, I doubt very much that Arsenius would agree to talk to him; most likely he would have threatened him with hexes as soon as he showed up on his threshold."
Ron nodded as if he knew all of the past history of Severus concerning Arsenius Jigger and pocketed the list.
"Harry, go visit the first half of it to see if Snape is there and warn him about Percy. I'll take care of the second half."
Harry didn't retort that the first half of the list contained only names of people who would be useless to Severus and that there was little chance he would find his former Potions master there. Maybe that was entirely the point of Ron's repartition.
"Miss Nott, Mr Higgs, I'm open to all suggestions you would make," added Ron before leaving.
The meeting was over, and the two Slytherins discreetly left the office of the Head of Gryffindor who was preparing herself for Percy's visit. They were strangely silent even though they were now sure nobody had spotted them coming out of Minerva's office.
"They're not approaching the problem correctly," Lawrence suddenly said, after having cast a quick spell to ensure nobody was listening to them. "Not only should they warn him but they should try to delay Mr Pompous."
Isadora nodded and frowned for quite a moment before directing her luminous smile to Lawrence.
"Any ideas?" he prompted, now quite used to her expressions.
"Yes, if you're right."
Lawrence looked at her, puzzled, waiting for her to explain further. She smiled again.
"Let's hope he's still as fascinated by me as you said he was."
He couldn't see how Percy could resist her smile or bear the intensity of her eyes when fully focused on him.
Percy strode the corridors of Hogwarts with only one goal – or so he tried to convince himself: to get the list of Hermione's contacts from Minerva and then find the clues leading to Ron's downfall for his dissimulation of the young witch's whereabouts. In some ways, he felt a bit guilty, for he would never have cared for Hermione's fate had he not been so intent on bringing Ron down. In normal times, after cooling down, he would have turned to something else, his nature of bending to authority overtaking his ill feelings, but now he had another incentive in the form of huge blue eyes. No matter how hard he had scolded himself, the young Slytherin's eyes and smile haunted him, having made him yearn for his return to Hogwarts, a yearning that had nothing to do with the list of Hermione's contacts.
Minerva handed him the parchment with an air of disapproval he was used to, though he had never been the recipient of it in his earlier years at Hogwarts. Maybe it was his desire to make this disapprobation vanish that prompted him to blurt, "Who is this Slytherin witch with huge blue eyes?"
It would have been hard to tell which one of them was the most surprised: Percy for having voiced such a thought or Minerva for realising that Isadora's plan of beguiling Percy had worked so well. For though there were several Slytherins who matched the description, she had no doubts he was talking about Isadora. She was hardly forgettable despite her predilection for discretion.
"That would be Miss Isadora Nott," she replied carefully.
"Thank you," said Percy, trying to recover his dignity. "She was most helpful, last I was here," he added in an attempt to explain his sudden question.
He knew he had already overstayed his welcome, so he curtly took his leave but didn't head outside. Instead, he went straight for the dungeons, where Slytherin students could be the most easily found. In a dark corner, Lawrence smiled. It would be even simpler than originally planned.
Percy was now in a part of Hogwarts quite unknown to him, empty of students but with walls covered with paintings looking curiously at him. He asked one of them for the way to the dungeons, which he should have remembered, but he was afraid he had taken a wrong turn somewhere or else Hogwarts was playing tricks on him. The painting confirmed that he was indeed going toward the dungeons, provided he took the right turns at the right moment. So, at the next embranchment, Percy turned left, as the painting had told him to do. He came face to face with Isadora and tried to stop before hitting her. Only he didn't manage it.
Suddenly the floor beneath his feet became slippery and he was unable to stop his momentum, resulting in him crashing into Isadora and both of them falling on the floor in an undignified heap and a distinct thud. Hidden nearby behind a huge and ugly statue, Lawrence pocketed his wand with a satisfied smile and retreated discreetly, with the utmost trust in Isadora's acting skills.
Though quite happy to have succeeded in finding Isadora, Percy was more than acutely aware that he was crushing her against the hard stones of the floor and he started to get up as quickly as he could. But Isadora, who at first hadn't said anything apart from a small cry of pain when hitting the floor while looking at him with her mouth open in disbelief, all of a sudden began to struggle, trying to push him away, all the while hindering him in his process to stand up. Under other circumstances, Percy would have sworn that she was doing her best to keep him on the ground. He couldn't find any hold without her sweeping it away in her wild thrashing about.
He tried to reason with her but soon discovered that even his mother would have some difficulties competing with her for vocal power; Isadora's shrieks had, at the very least, to be heard until Sybill Trelawney's tower if not until Hogsmeade. He then endeavoured to block her long enough for him to stand up, pinning her arms to the ground and attempting to find a spot on the floor that wasn't occupied by her legs. He was so occupied – and so intent in concentrating on blocking out her screeches – that he didn't notice the painting behind him looking at him with the most scandalised air. It was in this compromising position that Minerva McGonagall found him.
Later, Percy would wonder what had happened to his cool sense of logic. Minerva was only rarely seen in the dungeons and even with Severus's disappearance, she still had nothing to do down there. That she was the one to find him was an unlikely occurrence, yet it had occurred. As soon as her stern voice asked dryly what was the meaning of this appalling situation, Percy froze. Isadora pushed him away in a final heave, making him roll on the side, and scrambled away, wrapping her arms around her.
"Miss Nott, are you all right?" asked Minerva.
"I… I–"
Minerva had never seen the usually composed Slytherin so terrified. She was shivering madly and snuggled gratefully against Lawrence's chest when the young wizard stepped up to take her in his arms.
"I will tell you, Professor!" said the portrait behind Percy, indignant. "He attacked her on the spot! As soon as he saw her, he didn't even say a word but immediately pushed her on the ground! Oh, you should have seen how intent he was! No doubt he came here only to perpetrate this dark purpose; I was told by my friend Everard, who's one of the portraits in the corridor leading to here, that he asked for the way to the dungeons!"
"No!" protested Percy quite feebly. "I swear it isn't so! I wasn't trying anything with Miss Nott. I was surprised by her sudden appearance in front of me, but then I couldn't… I sort of slipped and crashed into her."
"You sort of slipped?" repeated Minerva, raising her eyebrows incredulously.
"I wanted to stand up!" continued Percy desperately. "But she was struggling so madly that I couldn't!"
"Why didn't you simply roll away?"
"I–I didn't think of it," admitted Percy, rapidly turning scarlet with shame.
"So you slipped, happened to fall forward right on Miss Nott and not backward and didn't think of rolling away?"
Percy didn't answer; he was conscious that any word he added only accused him more. Truly he could not understand anything of what had happened.
"Why didn't she use her wand?" he asked, hoping to find maybe a slight help there.
"Miss Nott?"
"She had forgotten it in the common room," replied Lawrence, tightening his hold on Isadora's shoulders. "I suppose she was coming back to recover it. It's not safe to walk the corridors without one's wand."
"Miss Nott, I swear–" began Percy, stepping toward her.
"Leave her alone! You scared her to death!" exclaimed Lawrence violently, pushing Isadora behind him as to protect her and brandishing his wand under Percy's nose.
"Mr Weasley, please come with me," said Minerva sternly. "I have to report your conduct to the Ministry. Miss Nott, Mr Higgs, wait for me in Dumbledore's office. The password is Mackled Malaclaw."
There was no surprise shown at the password. Since Albus had left for quite a while now, there was no reason for Minerva to keep his sweets-oriented passwords. At least now, for anyone knowing their lessons of Care of Magical Creatures, it would be maybe easier to guess the password.
When Minerva entered Albus's office, Lawrence and Isadora were sitting on the armchairs looking as if nothing at all had happened. Her suspicions quickly turned into convictions.
"Did you plan all this?" she asked.
"Oh no, Professor!" replied Isadora straight-faced.
Silence. Minerva simply kept her gaze fixated on them.
"We didn't plan he would be so cooperative," offered Lawrence.
"Miss Nott, Mr Higgs, if you truly wish to help Severus, during his absence, it would be best if you refer matters to me as you would do to him. If our efforts were uncoordinated, it would be to our detriment, if not his. Now, I ask again, did you plan all this?"
"Let's say we helped the circumstances," replied Lawrence, not troubled otherwise. "Weasley was indeed looking for Isadora; it was obvious to me that he was taken with her. We just had to direct his steps to the correct place – rarely used corridors, frequented only by Slytherins as shortcuts. By the way, I think you should award some points to Eric Rackharrow; he did a tremendous job on Transfiguring a pile of books into a wall to block Weasley's way."
"And the slipping thing?"
"Oh well, maybe I did cast a little spell. Isadora did not. She only managed to keep him on the ground the time it took for you to arrive, with a discreet variant of the Sonorus charm cast on her voice."
"And the point of all this is…?"
"To delay him as long as we could, giving you the advantage."
Minerva looked at the two Slytherins, as calm as if they were discussing a new haircut in their common room, met the luminous smile of Isadora and the smug grin of Lawrence and sighed inwardly, praying for Severus to come back quickly so he could control them again. Understanding Slytherins was sometimes as hard as understanding Albus's shrewd plans.