Severus Snape was deep in thought when Riley finished explaining.
"This boy, Murik Norwood. Who is he, what do you know about him?"
"I know next to nothing about him. Only what I learned today, which is nothing more than he seems insane." Riley said.
"Yes Mr Lupin here already made those assumptions. If this boy is using unforgivable curses he either is insane or he is pure evil." Severus concluded.
"Right now I'm not worried about him, Kingsley Shacklebolt will find out what's wrong. Which is what concerns me more, I may not be able to harness most of my power but we both know that what I did was much more advance than what a witch my age could do. So do I tell the Minister or do we try and keep it from him?" Riley asked.
"It's not like it's any of his business, or anyone else's for that matter." Teddy shrugged.
"I don't think the teachers are going to let go of it. That might be a problem." Riley said back.
"Yes, a 15 year old witch completely devoiding her mind is not something they will forget about but as of right now they don't know this information, correct?" Severus asked.
"No. I'm sure Slughorn has theories though." Riley mused.
"He will be a problem, god forbid he tries to collect you." Severus sighed.
"Is there any sort of protection spell we can say helped?" Teddy asked. "When Harry's mum sacrificed herself for him, Harry was protected by love. Maybe we can spin that angle and say it's to do with you, professor." Teddy concluded.
Severus looked at Teddy bug eyed.
"But I never did such a thing." Severus looked a bit lost.
"But maybe you did, hear me out." Teddy started. "Back in the hospital wing Professor Longbottom told us of how Bellatrix Lestrange tortured his parents into insanity. Riley apologized for her mother's actions, stating the woman never would have felt sorry for them but she did. Riley then went on to state that if it wasn't for her father she herself would have ended up with the same fate at Bellatrix's hands." Teddy rambled quite fast.
"You did save me, in your own way. I got to live. Grandmother, your mother, gave everything for me. If this wasn't some lie we were trying to spin I would actually believe it were the truth and heck maybe it is. It would explain our connection." Riley said rather proudly.
Severus took their words in.
"It may very well work." He concluded.
The door behind them swung open. The Headmistress was breathing heavily and glared at the two students.
"And what exactly do you think you two are doing running off?" Minerva sounded annoyed.
Teddy and Riley stood staring, mouths agape with no explanation coming to mind.
"It is my fault Minerva, I had to make sure Riley was okay." Said Severus.
"And you all thought it would be better to curse Murik into throwing up slugs than to just ask me if you could leave to speak to your father?" McGonagall had her hands on her hips. Riley could feel the lecture coming on.
"The boy deserved it if you ask me." Severus smiled.
"Yes well I'm not asking you, Severus." Minerva glared.
"We are sorry, Professor. We should have asked I just.. after everything I just wasn't thinking clearly." Riley felt bad lying but until the Minister had come and gone she was not telling anyone else what had happened. She trusted McGonagall but Riley also knew that the woman would be more concerned than anything and would tell Kingsley out of worry more so than wanting to know how or why. Riley couldn't risk that, not right now.
McGonagall's face fell. "There is no need to apologize, I should have noticed that you were not entirely okay. I was concerned more about you physically than how it would impact you emotionally. Of course you would want to talk to your dad in this situation. I am sorry." McGonagall sounded so small. Riley felt a knife twist in her stomach. She wanted nothing more than to confide in McGonagall.
"Now that we are all thinking clearly, perhaps we could discuss what will happen now?" Severus intervened.
"I have sent word to Kingsley. I'm afraid a matter like this calls for more than just expulsion." McGonagall sighed. "You will need to give your view of what happened again to the Minister and his colleagues."
"I don't want Arlin punished." Riley stated.
"Mr Lawrence admitted to stunning you, Riley." Minerva said gently.
"You weren't there, he's not a bad person. He just got caught up in the wrong crowd. My bet is that a few of those boys are in the same boat. Teddy?" Riley asked.
"Arlin was definetly the odd one out, the others were more aggressive. I'm not sure if they would have used an unforgivable curse but they definetly joined in on the hatred, Arlin not so much." Teddy shrugged.
McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose.
"If the boy only used a stunning spell I see no reason why you shouldn't be the one to punish him, Professor McGonagall. Children duel all the time using stunning spells." Albus Dumbledore smiled from his portrait.
"You are right, of course Albus but if the other 5 didn't perform curses then shouldn't I be in charge of their punishment also? I can't be bias." McGonagall said matter of factly.
"Maybe this is a case for using veritaserum, to establish how far the other 5 would have taken things. Let Kingsley deal with Murik, you as Headmistress deal with the others. If you gave them the option I'm sure they would gladly take your punishment and if not you have your answer to what lengths they would have gone too." Severus said seriously.
"A good idea indeed Severus. I don't think anyone would argue that these circumstances call for such measures, Minerva." Albus said sincerely.
"It is still frowned upon, even as Headmistress to use such a serum." McGonagall replied.
"What if we ask the Minister? We can ask permission to use the serum and depending on what you learn you can decide who punishes who." Riley suggested.
Albus chuckled.
"Something funny, Albus?" Severus asked suspiciously.
"I never realized how similar your personalities were until Riley. She is smart, brave, stubborn, loyal and a little bit cunning." Albus smiled at Riley, his eyes twinkling. "I couldn't figure out who exactly she got that from but now I realize she got it from the both of you, you and your mother Severus and your influence, Minerva." Albus continued to chuckle.
"And what of Bellatrix?" Riley asked seriously.
"I think, if you met Teddy's grandmother you would see similar traits in yourself. You forget that Andromeda is the sister of Bellatrix, the same blood that ran through Bellatrix's veins runs through Andromeda's." He paused and then spoke slowly. "It is not our blood that defines us." Albus Dumbledore said smiling down at Riley, knowingly.