Chapter 2

Minerva McGonagall was furious. Furious and scared, not a good combination for a witch of her position and power. She sat in the corner of the room, her arms folded firmly across her chest. Her hair was tied back in a bun and her dark, serious eyes watched as her brother, Robert McGonagall, paced the room. He was frowning, looking confused. Minerva sighed and he spun around to face her.

"Just say it, Minerva!" he yelled. "You've been wanting to since you arrived!"

Minerva sighed again and stood up.

"Fine." she retorted. "The security measures at the Salem Institute are lax and, quite frankly, it was only a matter of time before something serious like this happened! Honestly, Robert, what kind of school has an access system that allows student out of the grounds at any hour of the night?"

Her brother had been right. Minerva had wanted to yell at someone for the lack of security from the moment she set for inside the Salem Institute of Magic. The Institute was housed in what looked to Muggles to be an abandoned warehouse. The students often left the school to mingle and shop in the Muggle world, leaving the school using access cards. The cards also got them back in. All they had to do was swipe them against a star pattern that had been tagged on the outside of the building and they would be admitted. Minerva thought it was a terrible system. She was not from the Salem faculty. Her work place and home was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the UK. Her brother, however, was the deputy headmaster of the Institute and he had persuaded her to arrange an exchange between the two schools. Minerva had resisted, but her staff had pushed into it. And now she was here. And someone had been killed. They now sat in the Headmistress's office, waiting for news.

"The security is supposed to tell us if someone has left the school at night." Robert explained. "That's why we're confused. We can't understand how Amber even got outside."

He sat down in the seat that his sister had just vacated, massaging his temples. Minerva's expression soften a little. She couldn't imagine what it would be like, waking up to find that one of your students had been murdered. Well, that was not quite true. She had seen many students die before her, in the various wars that she had been through. But somehow this was different; in wars you expected it. You kept up constant vigilance, bracing yourself for impact. There was no war in America. This killing had come completely out of the blue. Minerva liked to think that her experience would have helped her, but it didn't; no one was prepared for this. Her first instinct had been to run, to get herself and her students out. But then she realized that her family needed her support. That, however, wasn't going to stop her speaking out when she knew she was right.

"Like I said," Minerva continued, "it's a ridiculous system, I've always said that."

"This is America, Minerva." Robert spat. "We haven't got space to stick a bloody great castle up in the hills! We have to work with what we've got!"

"And the facilities of the school are impeccable." Minerva soothed. "I just think you could put some more enchantments on the warehouse."

"What difference does it make?" Robert sighed, rubbing his eyes. "The girl was found outside the grounds. It makes sense that she was - that she was murdered outside as well. You know teenagers. If they want to go somewhere, they will find a way, protective spells or not."

It was then that the door was pushed open and a woman walked into the firelight. Indira Inkpen, Headmistress of the Salem Institute, was a tall, blonde woman with sharp, grey eyes. She was smart and usually very easy going, but at this moment her face was white and drawn.

"What news?" Minerva demanded, her heart beat speeding up.

"The Muggle police have taken the body." Indira replied. "And don't look at me like that! There was nothing I could've done without being seen."

"Well what are we going to do now?" Minerva cried. "Is there anyway we can take the body back?"

An unapproved attack on Muggles, to retrieve a dead body?" Indira said incredulously. "There is no possible way you can make that sound good."

"Besides, our government would never sanction it." Robert added. "We're not on the best of terms and they're just waiting for an excuse to put us under observation."

"Even if it means risking secrecy laws that have been in place for centuries?" Minerva said, stunned. "That's madness, utter madness."

She turned around to her American counterpart and looked up at her desperately, almost begging.

"We can not let the Muggles keep the girl's body." Minerva whispered. "They would soon work out that something wasn't right. The injuries are not, by their standards, normal."

Indira narrowed her eyes.

"How do you know this?" she asked.

"Rolanda Hooch saw the body while it was first being examined. The site is almost directly below her window." Minerva answered. "She told me she was physically sick. "Wolf" was the one word she used to describe it."

"And how many wolves have you seen wandering around?" Indira scoffed.

"None." Minerva admitted. "Not in the town anyway. But there are some perfect candidates only a little way outside of town."

"The werewolves don't come into the city," Indira said coldly, "if that's what you mean. I won't have this, Minerva. I refuse to have anybody under my roof making prejudiced, discriminative accusations."

"Some of the greatest people I have known were werewolves or relatives of werewolves." Minerva said with dignity and pride. "I am neither discriminative nor prejudiced. I simply know how unpredictable lycanthropy can be. Considering the wounds, I think it would be in our best interests to follow up that line of inquiry, seeing as the Muggle police will not be doing so."

"I do not want to disturb the werewolves." Indira said. "I too am aware of the difficulties, even if I wish to fair towards them."

"If we had the body," Minerva said, "my healer could take a look at it. She would be able to determine whether the bites contained lycanthropy particles."

"I think we should leave it for the time being." Robert interjected. "We can watch the Muggle police go about their business and see what comes of that. It may be that this is a Muggle crime."

But all three teachers knew that could not possibly be the case.

"We will have to do something." Indira sighed. "Eventually. We have no idea what kind of magical evidence was with the body. Her access card, her wand. They can not be found."

Robert nodded in agreement and Minerva muttered something about "lax security" whilst shaking her head.

"And her parents must be informed." Indira continued. "God knows what kind of trouble that will bring us."

"Their daughter has just died." Robert whispered. "I'd be surprised if there was no trouble."

And once again they remembered that the body now lying in a Muggle morgue had once been Amber Kersely, a girl that laughed, loved and revered life. A girl that had laughed, loved and revered life.