Hello, hello!
I am actually quite tired today, so if this is short, forgive me. Next chapter will be longer.
Onwards! Chapter 35.
***
Minerva paced in her office, waiting for the not-so-pleasant floo call. She knew she shouldn't be complaining- it could have been much worse without the information Harry and Hermione had come to her with. It was odd that she didn't see the youngest Weasley boy with them. Ron had refused to go home to the coddling of his mother and any sibling there to recuperate just so he could be 'of use' as he had put it. Hermione had numbly informed her Weasley had gone to the infirmary for his daily treatment.
Though Minerva was not Head of Gryffindor any longer, she couldn't stop acting as one, seeing that Granger was also not faring well and Potter was distant, focused only when it was about fighting against Isis and Osiris.
"You three will stay put in this castle for now," Minerva had ordered them after about an hour or two of debriefing and ruminations. "We need to locate the Key, and I trust you three to be part of this search- and put all that castle knowledge you acquired over your school days roaming to good use while aiding Professor Galanos… and only then."
Hermione had blushed a little at that, Harry had simply nodded, then gone on to ask quite impetuously:
"And what will you do about the Death Eaters and everyone else of Isis' homing in?"
"That will be taken care of in such a manner that allows our adversary the least possible force, at least in Britain, Mr. Potter. Now; you have been assigned a specific task that is far more important than the one others outside of Hogwarts can do. I trust that all of you have matured enough to act as you should and not jeopardize situations just because you are impatient."
The last few words were uttered by severity that the Headmistress rarely employed, and Harry seemed to flinch while Hermione's shoulders hunched. Minerva tried to ease it with:
"I do promise you that you will be sufficiently and timely informed of the developments. You are adults now, all three of you already twenty or so; I am looking forward to treating you as such. Please help me in not giving me cause to revert to adolescent treatment."
"Yes, Headmistress," Hermione said, but Harry's eyes flashed.
"Timely briefing, Headmistress?" he pressed, painfully trying not to come across as too audacious or threatening with his unsaid words. Minerva straightened up, frowning in disapproval.
"Of course timely, Mr. Potter. Headmasters do learn from the mistakes of their predecessors, you know. Now- you are adults, but you are also students. Go to your classes."
The conversation rolled around in her mind now as she was waiting, and she was pulled out of her thoughts only by a small sigh by Albus in his portrait, telling Minerva in warning:
"Here she comes!"
Indeed, Isa Dawlish burst through the floo in a slight puff of fireplace ash, and went on to burst into shouting without so much as saying good day:
"This entire situation is unacceptable, Headmistress! The gall to have me keep the lid on crimes that could have cost student lives and did cost the lives of two of your staff, not to mention those of your professors injured! I could have you indicted on far less than that! And not only that, while you were incapacitated, I was forced to deal with your deputy who talked a whole big deal without telling me anything! Where is that Galanos fellow now, to try and talk all of you out of trouble?"
Minerva had conjured a cup of tea, watching the minister of magic's tirade with a raised eyebrow. The moment Dawlish stopped to breathe, she offered the cup.
"Tea, Minister?"
"Tea? Tea?" Dawlish looked on the verge of suffering a conniption. Minerva nodded.
"I expect some tea will soothe you enough to listen to what I have to tell you- and be able to handle the information lying herein," she added, patting a bound file on her desk softly with her free hand. "I guarantee it will compensate you for all your concerns."
"Have the tea, Isa," encouraged Dumbledore from his portrait. "It's of the finest Darjeeling- it makes me wish I could sample it."
Eyeing the bound file, Isa clenched her teeth and accepted the cup, sitting down on the armchair's edge. Minerva sat behind her office and leaned forward.
"Your cooperation ensured that we now know not only who is responsible for Rita Skeeter's death, but also the raid into Hogwarts-"
"Raid? I was told it was a magic accident!" Dawlish cried out. Minerva sighed.
"Yes, yes, you were told that along with everyone else, to prevent a panic. Now that I not only have a clear picture of the enemy to public safety and peace, but also some viable avenues as to how to deal with them, it was my first priority to inform you, Minister, so that you can take action in a decisive, most efficient manner."
The hint that as Minister she could be looking at a great success that would solidify her in her position and shut the mouths of some of her enemies at least for some time was not lost on Isa. After all, she had been Slytherin herself and McGonagall's hinting was not too subtle. She sniffed and sipped her tea- it truly was good Darjeeling.
"Show me, then, Headmistress," she said. "But this time it had better come with solid evidence and a good lever against those criminals."
McGonagall forced herself not to grin but rather smile primly as she knit her hands on her desk.
"I assure you, Minister, that it very much does," she said and begun.
***
Nikos never attended the meals in the Great Hall- he just didn't quite feel part of Hogwarts staff, and he wanted Bai's chair to be his for a while longer, and thus stay empty. People were not items to be immediately replaced like a faulty or expired spare part- their absence from the cosmos confined in the three dimensions was something to be respected, and their passing honoured if they were worthy. And though Nikos barely knew Professor Bai, he could tell the man was worth the observance. So when Septima met him in the teacher's lounge, he just declined her offer to go with her to breakfast, and just kept his eyes on Rasmus' notebook.
Septima sighed, then bit her lip and decided it would be bad method in the end to simply simmer in her own pot trying to figure the man out. Nikos was very friendly one day and very distant another, he could be even flirty with her and then just seem to avoid her or keep her at a distance. Professor Vector had gone a long time being single, and it would be a joke on her if she tried to stop the streak to have something that was unrequited. One Head of Slytherin had already done that, and it hadn't been at all pretty. So she approached and stood before Nikos' armchair where he was deep into Rasmus' text on blood bonds, patiently waiting.
It took Nikos a good five seconds to realize that Septima was staring down at him, and he looked up quickly, blinking owlishly at her.
"Oh! Septima."
"Yes, that is my name," Septima nodded, hands on hips. Nikos seemed to be ready to dodge a blow.
"Uh, am I in trouble?" he asked almost timidly, then added, "I promise I'm very sorry, whatever it is."
Septima sighed and looked perturbed.
"I suppose you aren't in any official trouble," she waved off an imaginary fly, "but it is generally considered rude to turn down polite invitations more than once- or is that okay in Greece?"
Nikos stared at her for a second, then his expression eased in a warm smile that nearly unhinged all of Septima's stance- nearly.
"No, it is definitely considered rude in Greece, too- especially when such lovely a lady offers," he nodded. "But I really feel it isn't time for me yet to go there, sit at that table and have students throw bread balls at me when I'm not looking."
Septima chuckled.
"The high table is charmed not to let any sort of student projectile reach us. I think it is a practice that has held for some three or four decades at least."
"Really, though," Nikos insisted, "I don't much like people watching me eat- or at least people I don't already feel at ease with. I also need to finish studying this," he tapped at the notebook, "or my godson will think I'm indirectly telling him he is unworthy."
Septima wasn't certain if Nikos was avoiding her in a rather gallant manner, but she was beginning to feel very silly and adolescent, and she didn't appreciate that. But then, Nikos simply stood and offered her the chair next to his.
"However, unless you really want to go eat at the great hall, you're more than welcome to share breakfast with me here- and maybe we can discuss some issues that my godson seems to raise with this rather intense and comprehensive book review he's done on blood bonds."
It was all Septima could do to accept with dignity- and frustration, because she still could not specify whether Nikos Galanos was at all interested in her, or he was just being his casual, open, easy-going and – Septima inwardly sighed- alluring self.
Focus on the Arithmancy. And work your way to his attentions that way.
But even thinking like some love-starved deranged Jane Austen character disgusted her.
"On second thought, Nikos, I think I must attend. With everything that has happened lately, it may not be the best message to have yet another chair left empty," she said quickly and left with brusque steps before the newest professor in Hogwarts could piece together a reply.
Nikos frowned to himself, genuinely puzzled.
"What'd I do?" he asked a portrait right next to his chair.
"I'm the worst choice to ask on love issues," the image of Oberon snorted. "Last time I tried, I got the ass' head- and don't you believe the prettified stories."
"Love issues?" Nikos arched an eyebrow. He wasn't loveable- he was nearly always overworked, disheveled and obsessed with Augury. Women back home never missed a chance to inform him of the fact. He smirked. "Nah," he grinned to himself and turned back to Rasmus' essay, noting with his own rather cramped and spidery hand on the margins.
Trust Rasmus to go straight for the risky and deadly. We need to tone down the drama in our family, Aello.
***
And that's that! Tomorrow we got the DADA lesson with Harry and co and Rasmus, then maybe some Ministry affairs and dark activity before we move on to a certain scene that will be extremely important for everyone- and everything.
Hawkswench: thank you! I hope you keep enjoying.
Zoe Bright: Nikos really does try, though he is quite inexperienced in some areas, as experienced and potent as he is in others. We get to see what happens with the allurement tomorrow (most likely) and well, Rasmus does have a Snape streak when it comes to atonement… Hermione will get her own –sorta- pep talk soon. Frideswide is a tomboy at heart, and her idea of 'pep talk' is a punch along with 'tough it out, big guy!' But she has realized that doesn't really help patients… :D
Sindie:I know a lot about lots of cultures, but certainly Greek is the one that lives and breathes in me :) That's great! I will then be posting links when applicable. The baddies appear soon, but since they are MY sort of baddies, they will cause mayhem from moment one, and thus I'm trying to cut the characters a bit of slack. Maybe. A little.