A/N: There seems to be a problem with the email alerts. Apparently, you have to go to your account settings and reconfirm that you want to get them, but even then it doesn't seem to be working as reliably as before. If you expierence the same problem, make sure you didn't miss chapter 78 from last week. ;)
79. Up in Arms
Minerva had always loved her small bedroom with its stone floor and little window because it had welcomed her home to Hogwarts when she had needed it most in her life. Albus had never been able to convince her to take his old rooms when he had moved into the headmaster's residence. She had told him that she felt perfectly comfortable where she was. Until now.
When Albus had been forced to leave the school three years ago, Minerva had felt similarly and yet this was different. Last time he had only been suspended, not allowed to set foot inside the castle but otherwise free to do as he pleased. Now there was a warrant out for his arrest. He had vividly demonstrated that the Ministry could neither harm nor apprehend him even if they sent the entire Auror Office after him. But there was an indignity to him being called a fugitive that irked Minerva.
Also, it made things complicated. She had spent all night tossing and turning, wondering if she could risk to send him a Patronus without knowing where he was or how far away or if it was safe. He hadn't reached out either, though it would have been easy enough to send Fawkes. Then again, what was his message even supposed to say? He wouldn't dare to put any real information in it and aside from Albus not being here with her, nothing had changed between them. It felt silly to admit that she just wanted to hear his voice. It hadn't even been 24 hours yet.
Mostly, Minerva was annoyed that she hadn't asked more questions when she'd still had the chance to do so. She had refused to entertain the possibility that Albus could be ousted from Hogwarts, secretly knowing all along that it couldn't be ruled out. Now she was cut off from him. But perhaps she already knew enough. She knew he would use all of this time he had suddenly been given to work on the same goal he had been working on for longer than most people realised. The question of how to defeat He Who Must Not Be Named for good. He would be busy with his researching, speculating and planning, finally free from prying eyes because no one knew his current whereabouts. Without Minerva there to remind him, he didn't even have to bother with such trivial matters as eating, sleeping and catching his breath. Which wasn't worrisome at all.
So Minerva was already awake when Umbridge summoned her to the headmaster's office in the early morning. As a general rule Minerva ignored being summoned by people with whom she couldn't even have a normal conversation without wanting to strangle them. But last night had proved that not knowing what that woman was up to could have disastrous consequences.
Once Minerva had made her way upstairs, she was surprised to find Umbridge standing in front of the stone gargoyle, looking extremely peeved.
"It won't open!" she shrieked. "I keep telling it that the password is still Fizzing Whizzbee for now, but nothing happens!"
Minerva looked from Umbridge to the stone gargoyle and let out a snort of derisive laughter. She hadn't expected to feel good about anything today, but this... this was glorious.
"Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" Umbridge hissed, eyes bulging and face reddening. "You probably think that you'll be headmistress now. Well…" She cackled viciously, pulled a scroll of parchment out of her pocket and shoved it in Minerva's face. "Take a good, long look at this then. We want it to really sink in that Dumbledore's time at this school is over!"
Grudgingly Minerva took a step back because that was the only way for her to read the bloody piece of parchment in Umbridge's hand. It was another educational decree (what else?) and it proclaimed that Umbridge would replace Albus as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Congratulations, Dolores," Minerva said with all the sincerity of a pathological liar and the warmth of a sub-zero winter night. Then she turned to leave.
"Wait!" Umbridge cried. "You have to tell it!"
"Tell what to whom?" Minerva asked, not the least bit interested to hear the answer.
"Tell this gargoyle that I'm its headmistress now!" Umbridge explained impatiently. "Dumbledore must have put a spell on it and since the two of you were always thick as thieves, I bet this stupid thing will listen to you."
"That's ridiculous. There is no spell on this office. It's available to every rightful headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts castle." Minerva took care not to get too close to the gargoyle as she said this. Just in case Umbridge was right and it would recognise her. Minerva would not allow that woman to use her to gain entrance, not just to Albus' study but his residence, too, his inner sanctum – and hers as well. She wasn't at all sure that there were no traces of her living there with him half of the time, though she hadn't spent as much time there this school year as she usually did.
Waving around that scroll of parchment as though she was trying to referee a Quidditch match, Umbridge exclaimed, "I am the new Head! I have it right here!"
"What you have is a stolen title on a piece of paper," Minerva replied contemptuously. "You'll soon find, Dolores, that the respect of this castle and everyone in it cannot be decreed. That requires some actual service to this school and sometimes even sacrifice."
"If you're so concerned with this school's best interests, it's your duty to help with this transition – and you can start by taking a step forward and saying that silly password!" Umbridge snarled at her. She clearly meant that to be threatening.
It did make Minerva feel uncomfortable, but only because having her personal space invaded by such a sorry excuse for a human being made her sick to her stomach. She didn't need anyone to remind her what her duty was. She had sacrificed the better part of her soul last night when she had let Albus go. When she had honoured her promise to him, to Hogwarts and to the little girl inside of her who had fallen irrevocably in love with this school. She had sworn to protect it as long as there was anything left to protect. But the day she lifted a finger to help Dolores Umbridge would be the day hell froze over.
"I can assure you, Dolores, me doing what's best for this school is the only reason you and I are still standing here having this pointless conversation."
Umbridge looked as though she was about to swell to twice her size. "You think you're untouchable because Dumbledore escaped last night, don't you? Well, I can assure you, Minerva, that he'll be in custody soon enough and that you'll be next if you don't reconsider where your loyalties lie. In fact, if you know where he is, this is your last chance to come clean and tell us!"
Thinking that she couldn't possibly be serious, Minerva didn't respond at first. When Umbridge actually waited for an answer, she said drily, "I'll pass. Thank you."
"Protecting him makes you complicit in his crimes! The minister is prepared to overlook your willingness to help Dumbledore last night because you were still working for him then. But you're working for me now and if you refuse to fall in line, I will have to take action." That prospect seemed to excite Umbridge more than the possibility of Minerva divulging information about Dumbledore. Probably because they both knew that was never going to happen.
A duel with Dolores right here in the corridor would have certainly made Minerva's day. Unlike last time when she had lost Albus in the midst of the Chamber of Secrets disaster and she had mostly felt cold and numb inside, she wasn't empty now. Albus' disappearance had left a lot of room for scorn and fury in her heart where he had used to inspire warmth and kindness. But she hadn't spent so many years loving Albus Dumbledore without also learning a few things.
"You do what you think you must, Dolores," Minerva said in her best imitation of Albus' calm and superior way of ending conversations on his terms. "I don't know where the headmaster is and since I'm not headmistress either, as you just pointed out, I can't help you with getting into that office. Unless there was anything else you wanted, I'm sure we both have more useful things to do on this... memorable day."
Enraged that she was being dismissed rather than the other way around, Umbridge blew out a frustrated breath. "Fine. If you refuse to be of any other use to me, I'll let you get back to teaching." She waved Minerva away and turned back towards the gargoyle, planning to try again. On second thought she seemed to decide that she was too angry to be humiliated further and stormed off.
As Minerva began to leave in the other direction, she walked right past the gargoyle that had been a silent witness to all of this. "Don't you dare open up for anyone but him," she muttered under her breath.
She could have sworn the gargoyle winked at her in response.
There was only one topic of conversation at breakfast. The students kept murmuring and whispering to each other, swapping rumours and exchanging theories about what had happened in the headmaster's office. All the commotion didn't die down even after classes had already started.
"Unless any of you want to come up here and explain Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration to your classmates, I suggest you keep your mouths shut now and start listening," Minerva snapped when the Gryffindor second-years wouldn't settle down even after she had given them more time to do so than usual.
One of the girls in the front row raised a shaky hand. "Please, Professor, we were just wondering... Professor Dumbledore will be coming back, won't he?" Her lip was quivering and her eyes were glistening with unshed tears as she asked this.
That caught Minerva off guard enough for her own voice to come out a lot gentler than she had intended, "Of course he's coming back. Some of you may not know this, but Professor Dumbledore used to teach Transfiguration. In fact, he was the one who taught me. So while he's taking some time away from this school, I know he would want you to study hard so that when he returns – which he will, you have my word on that – you can explain to him the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law."
It never really occurred to Minerva that she had just shot Educational Decree Number Twenty-six to hell with that answer. All she cared about was that she had managed to calm down the students enough to teach them something useful.
The calm didn't last long. In the middle of lunch the walls of the Great Hall suddenly began to shake. A loud BOOM echoed through the corridors, followed by a series of smaller explosions and an endless stream of whistling, wheezing and popping noises that reminded Minerva of fireworks. But surely no one would set those off indoors...
Filius had let out a surprised squeal and was about to hop off his chair. Minerva reached for his arm and stopped him. "What are you doing? Can't you hear what's going on?" Filius asked.
"What I hear is that it's time now," Minerva told him.
"Huh?" Filius offered cleverly, not remembering his own words from a few weeks ago.
"Not time to walk out in protest," she refreshed his memory, "but time to bring the protest to her."
His eyes widened when he understood. "Do you have something to do with this?"
Umbridge hadn't been at lunch, so Minerva could talk freely. "No, but I think I know who does. If I'm right, they are from Gryffindor house, and I've never been prouder."
Pomona had been halfway out of her chair as well but had paused to listen to their conversation. "Is this what it looks like when Minerva McGonagall leads a mutiny? I like it!" She rubbed her hands with glee. "What exactly do we do?"
"May I remind you," cut in Severus' flat voice, "that doing something that could get you dismissed wouldn't benefit anyone in this school? Certainly not those students who need all the help they can get?" That last part was directed exclusively at Minerva. He was talking about Potter, trying to remind her of Albus' instructions for them.
"You're only talking like that because our new 'headmistress' is from your house and happens to favour everyone in it," Pomona protested before Minerva could respond. "You don't get to be the voice of reason."
"I don't see anyone else here who was level-headed enough not to make a sworn enemy out of that stupid woman."
Minerva rolled her eyes at Severus for sounding as if he wanted a pat on the back for being such a good spy. Although she had to admit that being around Umbridge and You-Know-Who almost at the same time without trying to kill either one was an impressive display of self-control. "You misunderstood me," she explained. "I'm not saying that we should do anything. On the contrary. I think you should sit back down and we should all enjoy this wonderful, relaxing, perfectly uneventful lunch."
Just as Minerva had finished saying that, the screaming started. The screaming that came from Umbridge and Filch as they tried and apparently – and unsurprisingly – failed to get the fireworks under control. The fireworks were now chasing them rather than the other way around.
Pomona and Filius exchanged grins, finally getting the idea, and returned to their seats. Severus hadn't bothered to move in the first place.
The walls of the hall shook after another especially big explosion. "How sure about this are we?" Filius mused. "What if they turn the whole school to ashes?"
"This castle was built out of stone. It'll be fine," Minerva said and returned to her steak and kidney pie. "Sometimes the only way to get out a particularly nasty stain is to burn it all away."
The Easter holidays were the proverbial calm before the storm. With their magical fireworks on Umbridge's first day as headmistress, the Weasley twins had lit the fuse to a powder keg that only truly ignited once school started again.
First, it was time for the career advice meetings with all fifth-years. Minerva's mood was at an all-time low. She had spent the entire holidays marking homework assignments and preparing her end-of-year exams. She hadn't finished them this early in years, but there had been nothing else for her to do. The Ministry thought that she was one of the people Albus might reach out to, which meant that she was being watched. Even her Animagus form was useless and she couldn't work for the Order. Needless to say, Albus didn't actually reach out at all. He was protecting her and Hogwarts by steering well clear. Never mind that Fawkes would have been impossible to track.
It didn't take much for Minerva to fly off the handle when Umbridge told her that she would sit in on Potter's career advice appointment. "This is supposed to be a private meeting between a student and his Head of House so they can feel comfortable enough to express themselves!"
Umbridge gave her an evil smile. "You should have thought about that before both you and Potter proved yourselves to be highly untrustworthy. You didn't honestly think I would let the two of you use this opportunity to keep conspiring against the Ministry and plot Dumbledore's return, did you?"
Minerva didn't respond. There was no way for this not to end badly.
She did the best she could because Potter deserved and needed some actual career advice. But Umbridge wouldn't stop interfering and before she knew it, Minerva vowed that she would help Potter become an Auror or die trying (a tad overdramatic perhaps) while Umbridge accused her of wanting to be Albus' secretary once he was Minister for Magic (so wrong on so many levels). At that point Minerva told Potter to get out of her office. The boy was smart enough to grab his bag and make a run for it.
Having screamed herself hoarse in the following shouting match with Umbridge, Minerva had no voice left when the afternoon took an even more dramatic turn. The Weasley twins turned an entire corridor on the fifth floor into a swamp, got caught by Filch and rather than wait to be punished, they decided to leave the school altogether. A pang of guilt lanced through Minerva as she watched them fly away. She had no idea how to explain this to Molly. Nevertheless, she was smiling through her feelings of shock and dismay. She would never approve of the twins' choice not to finish their education, but under these special circumstances she could at least understand it and she wished them well. Despite all the trouble they had caused her over the years, she had to applaud their courage and she would actually miss them.
As it turned out, Fred and George Weasley had made sure that they wouldn't be forgotten any time soon. Their open rebellion had inspired the rest of the student body to follow in their footsteps. It was no longer safe to walk the corridors. There were frequent Dungbombs and Stink Pellets attacks, fights with members of Umbridge's new Inquisitorial Squad and on top of it all students started to faint, vomit or spout blood without warning or medical explanation. The only apparent cause for this mysterious illness was Umbridge herself. It was quite disgusting and also highly entertaining.
Weirdly enough, Umbridge did not look particularly happy. She had called for a meeting in the staffroom on Friday. "I need someone to remove that awful swamp! It makes the students think they can do whatever they please and Argus can't keep punting them across forever. You!" She pointed at Filius. Her short, podgy fingers still looked a little red from having been attacked by a Niffler. Minerva had been unaware that those gentle creatures were even capable of attacking anyone. It was good to know that Umbridge brought that out in everyone. "I'm sure you can vanish the swamp without difficulty."
"Actually, Vanishing Spells are not as easy as they seem and they're not my department," Filius told her.
"You then!" Umbridge turned towards Minerva. Behind her back Filius mouthed 'Sorry.' "You vanish it."
"Have you ever vanished anything bigger than a common garden snail?" Minerva asked in return. "The difficulty of the Vanishment correlates to the complexity and size of the object you want to..."
"I didn't ask for one of your tedious lessons, Minerva," Umbridge interrupted her impatiently.
Minerva's eyes narrowed. "I'm not the least bit interested in teaching you, Dolores. I'm just trying to explain to you that no matter how annoying a certain large obstacle is, it is not necessarily easy to remove."
"I don't care how you do it. Just figure it out!"
"Believe me, I'm trying," Minerva muttered.
There was a laugh from someone who had understood her true meaning, but the culprit didn't reveal themselves when Umbridge whirled around. "Speaking of removing annoyances," she continued warily. "This deranged poltergeist – Peeves, is it? – how do we get rid of him?"
"Yes!" yelled Argus, jumping up from his chair in the corner.
Umbridge shot him an annoyed look. "I know you want him gone, Argus. I wasn't asking for volunteers. I was asking how."
"I would have found a way by now if Dumbledore had let me, but he always refused to give me permission," the caretaker defended himself.
"I'm giving you permission, but I need to know how we can do it first." Umbridge cast an expectant look around the room.
For the longest time no one said anything. Eventually, Pomona suggested innocently, "You could allow Dumbledore to come back and ask him."
It earned her a furious glare from Umbridge. "It's pathetic how many of you still think that Dumbledore is the answer to everything. I hate to burst your bubble, but he probably only pretended to know. That man told almost as many lies as Potter."
"Your inability to understand kindness does not make it a lie," Minerva said coldly.
Umbridge's blazing eyes found her again. "You think kindness is an appropriate reaction to having a bag of tarantulas dropped on your breakfast?"
That incident really had been a little horrifying but also outrageously hilarious. Peeves was truly spinning out of control worse than ever. It was a perfect, unmitigated disaster for their new headmistress. Minerva couldn't hide her smirk well enough and so Umbridge didn't even wait for her to answer.
"I can see that you all need some extra motivation. This weekend no one is allowed to leave the castle or to take any personal time. I want you all working on how to dislodge poltergeists from ancient castles. It's becoming clear to me that it's not only the students who need to learn that disobedience must and will be duly punished."
As soon as Umbridge had left the room, a chorus of 'Is she serious?', 'Can she even do that?' and 'How about we throw her into that swamp?' broke out among Minerva's colleagues. She didn't comment and leaned back in her chair. She didn't care about having free time, she would only use it to miss Albus anyway, but she did care about Umbridge not getting what she wanted.
Later that day Minerva knocked on Severus' office door. He answered it in his usual charming and welcoming manner. "What do you want?"
"Perhaps I'm here to check if you're doing what we've been told to do," Minerva replied wryly. She spotted a steaming mug and an open book next to a low burning candle on his desk. "Unless that's a book about poltergeists, it doesn't look like it."
"Not doing what she wants us to do was the general idea, was it not?" Severus countered evenly.
"And you only agreed to it with the caveat that we would be careful not to get sacked in the meantime," Minerva reminded him.
Severus scoffed. "She's never going to sack me."
"Good for you then," Minerva snorted and decided to skip the banter and reveal her actual reason for being here. "I need your help to find the Bloody Baron."
"Why would I know where he is?" Severus sounded disinterested, but he looked genuinely surprised that Minerva actually seemed to be working on this. The Bloody Baron was the only one who might have an answer to Umbridge's Peeves problem. They all knew that.
"Sir Nicholas told me that the Bloody Baron has been spending most of his time down here in the dungeons lately, so I figured that the two of you must have crossed paths during one of your late-night prowls."
Severus neither confirmed nor denied this. He wordlessly closed the door to his office behind him and set off down the corridor. Minerva followed him into the gathering darkness of the dungeons. Unfazed, Severus didn't light his wand to help him see and so Minerva didn't either. She promptly stumbled over a stone that protruded from the uneven floor. Pride really does go before the fall, she thought, grimacing at the throbbing in her toe.
"How are the Occlumency lessons progressing?" she asked to distract herself.
There was no answer and no sound punctuated the icy silence between them other than their footsteps as they descended deeper into the dungeons. "Didn't you hear me? I asked..."
"Your voice is echoing off the walls. Of course I heard you," Severus snarled.
"Well, then I would like to hear your answer."
"Have you ever found that hassling someone who is not deaf and thus clearly ignoring you makes them want to ignore you any less?" The aggression and anger in Severus' tone caught Minerva by surprise. It was completely unwarranted. Most likely, Severus wasn't actually mad at her. She was just lucky enough to have made herself an easy target.
"I asked you a legitimate question," she pointed out as calmly as she could manage. "Professor Dumbledore..."
Severus cut her off again. "Dumbledore gave this task to me. Not to you. So it's none of your business."
Minerva's patience, not terribly great to begin with, was close to running out. "Potter is my student. That makes him my business. I'm trying to keep him safe and all I want to know is if you're doing your part to help. One lesson a week surely isn't too much to ask!"
Severus' eyes flashed in the dark. "You have no idea what you're talking about or what I've been doing for that entitled, ungrateful, arrogant, brainless piece of..."
"Excuse me." A cold and unnaturally quiet voice interrupted them. "Why are you disturbing the only peaceful part of this castle?"
They had found the Bloody Baron. Or rather he had found them and he didn't look pleased. It didn't brighten his already sinister appearance.
"We were looking for you," Minerva told him. It seemed wise not to beat around the bush. "I need you to make yourself scarce."
The fury on Severus' face was replaced by a glint of understanding. The Bloody Baron glowered at her and even his translucent shimmer seemed to darken. "I beg your pardon?"
"Umbridge and Filch will come looking for you and they will ask for your help with Peeves. But he's doing an invaluable service to this school and I want him to continue doing it," Minerva explained. "I mean no disrespect, but I need you out of the way."
"From what I've heard, he's taking the school apart piece by piece."
Minerva answered with a smile and a nod. "Exactly."
The Bloody Baron cocked his head in doubt. "I can only accept orders from the Head of Hogwarts Castle. There seems to be some confusion as to who that is at the moment..."
Severus huffed. "Don't be daft. Dumbledore will be back and until that time, she's it. If you care about being loyal to this school, you'll listen to her." He jerked his head roughly in Minerva's direction.
There was a short pause before the Bloody Baron hinted at a bow and then disappeared into thin air right in front of their eyes.
Slowly Minerva turned to face Severus in the dark. "Sometimes I think I will never understand you, Severus. It's obvious that you shouldn't be here and that you don't want to be either, and yet here you are and every now and then I catch you doing the right thing."
"Yes, it boggles the mind," he muttered and began to make his way back to his office.
They had almost reached it when Umbridge came down the stairs towards them. "What have you two been doing down here?" she asked suspiciously.
"What you told us to do," Minerva replied, thinking that it was best to tell as much of the truth as possible. Especially since she was bad at lying. "We were looking for the Bloody Baron."
"Ah, that ghost that supposedly can control this blasted poltergeist? Argus mentioned him." Umbridge paused, not sure what to make of Minerva's cooperation. "Did you find him?"
"Sadly, he seems to have disappeared." Minerva phrased her answer carefully and focused on her contempt for Umbridge to hide her duplicity.
Still, the woman's suspicion skyrocketed. "Why should I believe that you actually wanted to find him and looked properly?"
"Because I was there and if I don't want to do something right, I don't bother doing it at all," Severus chose to join the conversation.
Umbridge sized him up, weighing his words. "You have been more helpful than your colleagues, although that... potion you gave me before Easter didn't work," she said reproachfully.
Severus snarled. "I'm a Potions master, not God, though that is an honest mistake to make. I can only brew potions than will uncover the truth, not change that truth into what you would like it to be – as disappointing as that might be for you to hear. But in my experience, life is generally disappointing, so I suggest you get used to it." He waited to see if Umbridge had anything to respond to this. She only gaped at him. Severus opened the door to his office and disappeared inside with a satisfied smirk on his face.
Minerva didn't give their High Inquisitor time to recover from Severus' verbal scolding and squared up to her. "Did I hear that right? You asked him for Veritaserum? You didn't use it on anyone in this school, did you? Because that would be highly illegal. Not even the minister could have signed off on that!"
A fleeting expression of alarm crossed Umbridge's face, but she quickly covered it up with indignation. "What I do or don't do doesn't concern you, Minerva. For someone with your supposed intelligence you really have a hard time understanding that this is no longer your school. Until you do, why don't you do us all a favour and keep your mouth shut!"
Following those instructions, Minerva gave her a passive-aggressive smile and left without another word. When she came across Peeves, who was trying to loosen one of Hogwarts' very old, very large and very valuable chandeliers, she also barely had to open her mouth to murmur, "It unscrews the other way."
Peeves did a double take, then grinned and saluted her. Minerva kept walking, ignoring the mighty crash behind her.
To Minerva's great – but lovely – surprise, Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup in the last week of May. Nobody had thought it possible anymore. Ironically, that gave Ron Weasley the confidence to play his best game as Keeper ever. Their trio of chasers, led by Miss Johnson, had always been superb, their replacement beaters for the missing Weasley twins were not bad enough to ruin anything and Ginny Weasley caught the Snitch again.
Minerva's joy was subdued and short-lived, but she was glad Gryffindor house had a reason to celebrate. The students deserved to enjoy themselves before the upcoming exams.
Under the circumstances Minerva wasn't sure how they had made it to June at all. It was the first time she didn't greet the examiners when they arrived. Albus had used to dine with them to welcome them to Hogwarts and to discuss the exam schedule in the midst of some pleasant conversation, but none of that was happening this year. Most of the examiners only had brief conversations with Umbridge before they returned to their guest accommodations in the village. Either they didn't like the woman – imagine that – or they were scared of being attacked by Peeves.
Knowing full well that the exam results would be viewed as a reflection of her new regime, Umbridge warned everyone that any attempts at cheating would be punished most severely. Minerva didn't condone cheating either and she told her students that ruining their futures by doing poorly on their exams simply to make Umbridge look bad was, sadly, not worth it.
Whenever she had the time and opportunity, Minerva watched Potter's practical OWL exams from afar, especially in Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts. She had stuck her neck out when she had vouched for his capability to become an Auror, and she wanted to know what she was in for. To her satisfaction, she needn't have worried. Then again, the crux was always going to be Potions. Thank goodness Severus had nothing to do with Potter's OWL or they could have kissed their hopes for a passing grade goodbye before he had even started the exam. Severus' recent outburst when Minerva had asked him about Potter had been more than a little disturbing.
There wasn't any real trouble until the second week of exams. After the dismissal of Sybill Trelawney Umbridge had been off the warpath for a while, or rather, she had been distracted by Peeves, the Weasley twins and all the students who had followed in their wake. But lately she seemed to have remembered that there was a second member of staff on probation. One who professed that he had no idea how the Nifflers kept getting into Umbridge's office. Minerva believed him, the High Inquisitor did not.
On Wednesday night Minerva was just about to get ready for bed. It was only by chance that she looked out of her office window and saw not just Umbridge but a whole group of Ministry officials head for Hagrid's cabin in the dark. She immediately got a bad feeling about what was to come. The last time Umbridge had called for backup, things in the castle had definitely taken a turn for the worse. No matter what her intentions were tonight, they clearly weren't good. No one knocked on doors in the middle of the night with an army of Ministry wizards behind them simply to have a nice chat. This was an ambush and Minerva would not allow it. Sitting back and letting Umbridge reap what she sowed had been fine as long as there had been no innocent victims.
Hagrid was innocent and he was not going to be Umbridge's next victim.
By the time Minerva reached the front doors and hurried across the lawn, the situation was already outrageously out of control. Whether the Ministry wizards were trying to arrest Hagrid or simply to remove him from the premises by using force was unclear, but their behaviour was despicable and unacceptable. Shaking with fury, Minerva curled her hands into fists so she wouldn't reach for her own wand. She wanted to. God, she wanted to so badly. But she knew if she so much as touched it, she would do something to Dolores Umbridge that could land her in Azkaban. Truth be told, it might be worth it. But she had promised Albus...
"Leave him alone! Alone, I say!" she yelled. "On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing to warrant such –"
Minerva had a split second to realise that doing the honourable thing and not reaching for her wand to blow Umbridge to kingdom come had been the wrong choice.
She saw a flash of red light in the darkness, multiple flashes in fact, before an excruciating pain exploded in her chest.
And then there was nothing.
A/N: I don't like this last scene much because to me Minerva doesn't look very competent in it. I tried to explain it the best way I could, but sadly, I couldn't save Minerva from getting those Stunners to the chest. Blame Rowling please, not me.