Disclaimer: As always I own nothing and my Beta is my better half. My apologies for the shorter than usual chapter, I haven't been well so writing hasn't been coming quite as easily.
Amelia Bones was doing her best to hide her expression, but a smirk still tugged at the corners of her lips as she stepped out of the heavily guarded interrogation room. It had surprised her how much information the Rat had given her once he was pumped full of veritaserum.
"I take it went well?" The dry voice of Scrimgeour cut through her thinking as he fell into step beside her.
Her smirk grew, "You could say that." Was her conspiratorial response, "Would you mind asking Lucius Malfoy to come in for a little chat?" The man walking beside he laughed, the pair had been trying to get something (anything) on the slippery man for years now. Discovering that he was the one who the Rat used to report to and that the man had known after Voldemort's demise that Pettigrew had been the secret keeper, even if he had (contrary to what Pettigrew believed) been under the Imperius he still should have come forward about that little piece of information.
He found himself smirking at her, "I'll take Mad-eye with me. I'm sure that he won't see anything that we didn't expect." Amelia laughed, glad that they were on the same page about taking trustworthy people. Especially given how the man always seemed to know when they were coming as proven when Arthur had done raids on Malfoy Manor in the past.
Hermione's heart felt heavy as she followed her Head of House, her lips turned down as she tried to work out if Professor McGonagall knew about her and Pansy's fight or if heavens forbid that her grades were slipping. She assumed that it had to be serious as her head of House wanted to see her alone, a spike of fear went through her at the wonder if maybe something had happened to her parents. As such when her Professor told her to take a seat, she sank down with shaky legs unable to stop the slight tremble of worry in her limbs.
"The time-turner please." Her tone was soft, betraying how stern her expression was and Hermione's hands shook as she reached up to gently touch the chain around her neck. Feeling as though she'd failed her favourite professor who had put so much faith in her.
"Why!" She found herself snapping.
McGonagall's expression hardened, "Myself and my colleagues have noticed a decrease in your grades and a noticeable drop in the quality of your written work."
Hermione scowled, "it's just with the accident and…"
She was abruptly cut off, "Miss Granger!" Rarely had she seen McGonagall this angry, "I'm ashamed and disgusted that you would use another student's horrific and life changing event to excuse your own actions. You should know that just after the accident your grades remained the same, it is only in recent weeks that your grades have plummeted." The tone was curt and furious. "It's too much strain on you, personally I think you should drop Muggle Studies." Hermione opened her mouth to protest but her Professor continued, "You can still take the exam, however as a muggleborn any job which requires that grade will look down on you for taking the subject especially if you have an O."
"But Professor! Why?!" She protested, seething internally as the older witch shook her head.
"It's an easy subject for you to achieve that grade, many employers will look at it as you trying to bolster your grades above others by cheating. Now. Time Turner. Please." McGonagall's tone was getting shorter, "It isn't about the lesson times. You're losing too much relaxation time. We have all noticed that you are getting short tempered and more prone to outbursts."
The bushy haired girl hung her head, thinking about the fight she'd had with her friends. Yet she still didn't want to lose the device, "It's everyone wanting to hold me back. Pansy can't deal with the fact that I'm smarter than her." The Professor looked shocked by her outburst, "It's because I'm a mudblood. You can't handle me being better than them."
"30 points from Gryffindor." Was the abrupt response, Hermione went to protest, but the furious Professor continued, "Don't think I won't take more from my own house. You will be serving detention for the rest of the week." Hermione went to argue, even as the seething witch continued, "I will be speaking to Madam Pince about your library time."
Hermione gasped, her own temper rising as her Professor held out her hand. "I refuse." She snapped head held high.
"Very well." Was the response, the Time Turner flew into Minerva's hand, "I'll increase your detention time to a month and I will review if you are allowed to borrow books next year, you may leave!" Hermione stormed out of the room, unable to believe just how unfairly she had been treated.
Pansy had tensed up when one of the Gryffindor prefects told her that Professor McGonagall wanted her to go to her office. Her pureblood mask was firmly in place especially as she hadn't missed the glares at dinner from Hermione, adding to the fact that Ron had softly told her that he'd seen her leaving Professor McGonagall's office. The red-headed boy had joined them at the Slytherin table, a brash 'I take it we're sitting here now? Oi budge over will you Zabini.' Which had gotten him a bemused look from the others even as the Italian slid along to make room for him. Pansy suspected that there was more to Ronald Weasley than met the eye, especially as he silently fell into step with her. The brunette let her mask slip long enough to give him a gentle smile taking comfort in her friend being with her, especially with him making the huge sacrifice of leaving his food half eaten.
He grinned back at her, "Don't look so worried. I'll wait for you." Pansy just blinked at him a couple of times. She wondered if he knew that even with the decreased tension between the houses, very few Slytherin's would be happy being this far into Gryffindor territory especially alone.
"Thank you." She responded softly resisting the great urge to beg him to go in with her. When the dreaded door came into sight, she took a deep breath giving him a quick grin. With her head held high and her face set into a careful mask of neutrality as she knocked on the door.
"Enter!" was called from beyond and the increasingly nervous teen stepped inside. A chill crept down Pansy's spine as McGonagall gave her a warm smile, gesturing for her to take a seat. "Miss Parkinson, thank you for coming. Would you care for tea?" The brunette blinked in surprise as the Professor continued, "I wasn't sure if you would have already eaten, so I took the liberty of ensuring that you could still have lunch or afternoon tea at least."
Already Pansy could feel tension slipping away from herself, although she was still nervous. Then again, it was the first time that she had ever been in a Professor's office, Hagrid was more of a friend so she couldn't bring herself to count him. "Thank you Professor, I did have a light lunch," She found herself smiling, "but tea would be lovely."
The pair sat in silence for a moment as McGonagall poured the drinks, a lazy flick of her wand bringing a ceramic jar floating over. Pansy watched as the powerful, stern and respected witch dunked a biscuit in her tea. The teen couldn't stop herself smiling widely at the image. "Ginger snap?" McGonagall spoke softly offering her the jar to her, "Could you tell me what happened to Miss Potter?"
Pansy felt slightly uneasy by the sudden change in subject, her eyes widening slightly, "….however unintentionally, it's my fault." She stared into her cup as she spoke, but when McGonagall didn't speak, she found herself looking up nervously.
"Thank you for your honesty," A smiling Professor replied, "I didn't believe it was your fault."
"…I… was arguing with Hermione." The teen added, "we both said things we probably shouldn't have and…" She sipped her tea before continuing, "Hermione tried to storm out, I'd been trying to stop her to get her to listen."
"I take it you were trying to convince her to either drop muggle studies or to give her secret back?"
Pansy's eyes widened, her eye brows rising, "The twins were right, you can sense trouble a mile off." She didn't realise that she'd spoken out-loud until the Professor started to laugh, she was glad that it was the paraphrased version of what the Weasley's had told them.
"I'm sure that isn't exactly what they said," A chuckling Professor said, her eyes showing her amusement as her much more reserved student started to laugh as well.
"No Professor." Pansy shook her head, "They said you were like a niffler for mischief and trouble."
The normally stern Professor had to take a few moments to stop herself laughing, before she spoke again, "I'm assuming that Miss Potter was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Pansy nodded, "Harry does seem to specialise in that. But I know Hermione didn't mean to do it, it was an accident."
"Thank you for telling me, Miss Parkinson." She smiled warmly, "I hope you aren't blaming yourself." She raised her eyebrows at the sheepish looking teen, "After all Professor Hagrid tells us all about how friendly and kind you are, not to mention that we've all noticed a change in you this year." Pansy looked up in shock, she hadn't realised that her favourite teacher regarded her that highly.
It wasn't until Pansy was leaving that McGonagall managed to shock her again, "20 points to Slytherin." The brunette stopped in surprise, turning towards the smiling Professor. A redundant question on her lips as McGonagall continued, "For changing attitudes towards others."
Pansy found herself laughing softly as her hand rested on the door handle, "It wasn't hard Professor, I just pointed out that clearly Hagrid was the best choice." She shrugged, "Not only is he incredibly knowledgeable about his subject but as a Half-Giant he's more than capable of protecting us from any accidents even if that means wrestling a furious creature to the ground."
It was her turn to amaze her Transfiguration Professor as the older witch let out a laugh, "You all know about that?" The brunette nodded with a smile, even as the normally stern woman continued, "I'd better let you leave, I'm sure Mr Weasley is getting stiff sitting out there."
Theodore Nott Senior rubbed his head, "Are you sure?" He didn't doubt that Mucnair wouldn't come to him unless it was important, but the cock and bull story that he had been told would be very bad if it were true.
The muscle bound death eater ran a hand through his stubbly black hair as he nodded, "I know what I found out. Bones has carte-blanch for veritaserum…" He scowled, "She's sent Moody and Scrimgeour to bring Lucius in." Mucnair stopped, he knew he didn't have half the brain power of either of the other two but even he knew how bad it would be for Lucius to be questioned.
Nott scowled, toying with his wand. "Leave me. I'll ensure that Malfoy won't be an issue." A lazy flick of the wand, and the mahogany door slammed behind the younger man. Theodore rubbed the crease between his eyebrows, his oldest friend wouldn't be able to wriggle out of this one alone. Not to mention that Lucius would probably take him and the others down with him. A slow smirk grew across his lips, it wouldn't be easy to get Lucius out…Amelia Bones had never been a witch to cross. However Lucius would owe him a huge favour for this one, well worth the risk of getting caught.
Despite the howling wind and freezing hail, Harry had snuck outside with her broom, regardless of the danger she needed to think not to mention she trusted her skills enough that she didn't worry about the weather. She looked up at the sky and took off, the wind whipped through her hair as she flew higher. The small balls of pure ice buffeted against her but the stings were exhilarating as she circled over the lake, skimming the icing surface. A gust sent her reeling, her heavy winter boots breaking the lake and she yelped from the pain momentarily almost losing control of her broom.
She almost effortlessly caught an updraft, letting it carry her upwards, following the wind as she lazily drifted across the grounds. Harry pushed her hair out of her face a wide grin on her lips as she let her eyes close for a moment as she relaxed. Letting her broom take her where it wanted to as she thought…she hadn't ever had a fight with Hermione before and unlike with Ron she didn't know how to fix it. Hermione hadn't been angry with her, but she hated that the bushy haired girl had physically lashed out.
Pansy had been trying to help and while the short haired girl had been rather brash, it had been out of concern rather than cruelty. Then again, Hermione had always been rather obsessed with learning but she thought that Hermione had grown out of it. She let the broom swoop down low over the trees, kicking twigs as she went. Some best friend she was, Hermione would be feeling ganged up on but she couldn't bring even the slightest bit of altruism to reach out first. A bitter laugh left her lips at the same time as a practically strong gust of wind hit her hard, sending her broom crashing lower clipping numerous branches as she did. The stinging pain on her legs brought her out of her thoughts and she swore in a way that would have made Narcissa, Augusta or Mrs Weasley wash her mouth out with soap. A deep breath as she regained control finally swooping back away from the forest and towards the castle.
Harry had been sneaking back inside, she'd barely made her way through the doors. When a curt voice through the silence, "POTTER!" The raven haired girl froze, eyes widening guiltily as she stared up at her Head of House. "Were you flying? In this weather?"
She swallowed, looking down, "I had a fight with Hermione. I was calming down before I went to speak to her."
Minerva's expression softened, "I don't think that is wise. That girl needs to get her priorities in order." She smiled at the windswept bedraggled girl, "Unfortunately, Miss Granger is not in the best frame of mind for you to be speaking to." Harry looked up, her mouth dropping open slightly, "I would never speak ill of another student or professor, however…Miss Granger desperately needs to learn to prioritise…" She trailed off whatever she had been going to say was cut off by her professionalism regardless of how much she thought Harry deserved to know.
"What do you mean, Professor? What happened?" Harry asked, her insatiable curiosity already rising along with concern for her friend regardless of how angry she was with Hermione at that moment in time.
A loud cackle saved McGonagall from having to respond, "She means that Granger blamed you for her own stupidity."
"Peeves!" Minerva snapped furious with the poltergeist who just blew a raspberry in reply.
He lounged in the air, resting his head on translucent arms completely ignoring the Professor instead focusing completely on Harry. "Little know-it-all has an superiority complex." He started to laugh uncontrollably, "She got hers. Stupid bint said Mudblood." With that last parting shot he rocketed off cackling the whole way.
Minerva cursed under her breath, although she did now wonder how Peeves had discovered what had happened in her office. "Professor?" Harry started quietly, "What did he mean?"
"We will be better talking in my office." She couldn't see a way that she would get out of explaining to Harry. Although at least, if she told her the full story…Peeves wouldn't be able to twist it to make Miss Granger sound worse not to mention that it might stop young Miss Potter getting hurt again.