I Own Nothing!
"I believe I shall go next Potter." Harry glared at the portrait.
"Fine. Make it quick…please." Harry spat out the polite term. Ron leaned over to Hermione, grinning.
"I guess six years of torment is hard to forget even in light of Snape saving his life." She giggled slightly, and elbowed him to shut him up.
"I'll do as I please boy. My question concerns your fifth year and the introduction of that hideous woman." The teens stiffened.
"Dolores." Someone hissed maliciously. Heads turned around to see Minerva in her seat, gripping the sides and looking ready to murder. They all inched away.
"Yes Minerva, Dolores. I'm curious to know what forms of discipline she put in place. I had heard whispers from my Slytherins but nothing conclusive with which I could contact Albus." Harry opened his mouth to reply. "Don't lie to me Potter, or leave anything out. I shall know."
"I can't leave anything out, there's a spell to make sure I can't lie!" Harry snapped.
"Now boys, I think that we should put aside our diff-"
"Shut up Albus! Did I say you could speak?" Minerva again looked enraged, and she turned to the three and barked "Ronald or Hermione, pick which one of you reveals all. Apparently Mister Potter still cannot control himself!" Someone coughed something that suspiciously sounded like 'hypocrite!' but Minerva was unable to locate them. Fuming, she sat down again and watched as Ron was bullied by Hermione into answering the question.
"well…er….the thing you've got to understand is I-we thought that Umbridge was too powerful to complain about so-no one said anything. And we would've told you-but she kept coming out with those decrees and-"
"Ronnie, could you please hurry up and tell us what she did?" Molly asked anxiously. She was getting more worried by the second.
"Right! Yes! What she did." He coughed. Then he looked at Hermione and Harry, then the rest of the children. They simply shrugged. "Well there were the detentions…And the time we were caught in her office…and of course she used veristserum on the students. I think that's it really." He subconsciously hid his hand behind his back, as did every other chid in the room.
"You seem to have become even denser Weasley. Spit it out. What did she do in the detentions?"
Ron looked trapped.
"And WHAT did he do when she caught you in her office? Why didn't I ever hear about this?... ALBUS?" The portrait was twiddling his thumbs and whistling at the ceiling. He refused to make eye contact, and no one was ready for the moment Minerva McGonagall leaped out of her chair. Except Severus Snape.
"MINERVA MCGONAGALL!" He roared, causing her to halt in her tracks. "I think we should sit down and listen to Weasley's babbling for hopefully not much longer. We need to know what Dolores did."
As Minerva returned to her seat she heard the whispering voice again. "Down kitty!" The growl that ensued was terrifying, and as Ron started to speak again his voice was much smaller.
"In detentions, we had to write lines. In her office she almost tortured Harry, until Hermione lied to her. You were in hospital Professor." Ron sat down, his hand still behind his back. However someone had noticed the nervous gestures.
"Mr Weasley, please give me your hand." Ron handed him his right. "No. Your other hand, the one you and the other children are currently hiding behind your back." There was silence, as each adult's eyes slid to the nearest child. Then there was chaos where every one of the kids tried to make a run for it. They dived for the doors simultaneously, some almost making it before being hit with stunners, or charms to levitate them back. George was quite adamant that they had every right to leave. "I am no longer a child, I am of age! Let me go! DAD!" Some of the smarter ones, like Hermione cast a quick glamour charm over them, but were still spotted. Eventually everyone was caught and rounded in to the centre of the circle of adults.
"This is so demeaning." One of them hissed. The adults paid no heed.
"Please remove the glamour charm Miss Granger." Said McGonagall in a strained voice.
"George, I want it off, now!" Arthur bellowed. "I want to see what she did!"
"Let us be civilised, we are after all wizards." Albus piped up. He was sent an abundance of glares for his troubles.
"Finite incantatem." Pomona cast on the teens. The sound of gasps filled the air as their hidden hands were examined.
"I will not perform silly tricks…"
"I must not tell lies…"
"I will not participate in illegal after school activities…"
The scars varied in their redness, and some were deeper than others, but all of them looked like they were the product of month of detentions. The eerie silence was becoming all too common in the room.
"What. Is. This. For?" Pomona gnashed out. "Is…THIS what SHE did to you? To the others?"
The teens were now shrinking by the second, having never seen their elders quite this angry. In the next moment an enormous bang was heard, the room was filled with smoke, and a burning smell reached their nostrils. The hurried voice of their most celebrated headmaster leaked through the fumes.
"Now I just wish to announce that I had NO idea what Dolores was doing and if I had, I would've-"
"Get out of my portrait Albus! She'll aim here next!" Came the ex-potions mater's irritated tone.
"Don't worry Severus; the room shall keep creating portraits until we no longer need them. Now I-MOVE!"
Another large bang filled the air, and Harry scrambled to his feet as the smoke cleared, before diving back down as another bang filled the air.
"YOU" Bang. "POMPOUS" Bang. "OLD" Bang. "FOOL!" BANG!
"Now Minerva please calm down, you're frightening the children. If we could talk civilly…"
"That is it! I'm moving your portrait!"
"Minerva, now be reasonable!"
"To a sweet shop!"
"Minerva no! I can't eat sweets! Think for a second I really had nothing whatsoever to do with this! It is not my fault. You can't!"
"Oh yes I can. And you will sit there and think about what you've done. Everything that you have done. When you are ready to apologise- then you can come back and tell me everything! And I mean everything!"
"But I-"
"Stop Albus, you can't reason with her now…Minerva, are we really going to have to listen to his ramblings for the next hour or so?"
"You're right Severus. Silencio." The Former headmaster was left angrily gesturing in his frame. Unfortunately this turned the attention back to the children.
"Now. What did Dolores try to do to Harry?" Pomona had come face to face with Neville, whom she knew would crack easier.
"She tried to use the crusiatus! Hermione stopped her before she could though…." Uproar went about the room.
"That-That evil, foul, TOAD!" wands were almost drawn and revenge was vowed, whilst notes were written. Poppy was trying to examine all of the children at once.
"Does she not know that dark magic can have adverse effects when used in excess…? Oh I'll have her…" She was muttering as she grabbed Neville's hand.
Filius, the only cool head in the situation, was busy muttering charms around the doors. Once finished, he amplified his voiced and bellowed. "ENOUGH!" The noise dies instantly. "Now I want everyone to calm down. No one is leaving until we are all calm. We need to think about this logically, and file a complaint to have her sent to Azkaban. I believe we have all the evidence we need here."
"Poppy will need to look each of the children over." Pomona mentioned.
"I think it best if she examines those three last then. They've probably been exposed the most." Slughorn contributed. "Despicable. Absolutely despicable." He said, shaking his head pompously. A haze still filled the room.
No one had bothered to mention that the conjured clothes were gradually disappearing, to be replaced by the normal robes. They paid little attention to it. What was strange was that certain people's clothes only changed colour, other's robes seemed to have reacted to the smoke conjured, causing a reaction with the spell placed on them. Certain members, who had been exposed too long, were now wearing warped versions of their original suits. When they finally did notice, no one mentioned this, especially as the esteemed headmistress was now wearing a bright pink playsuit, with the words 'I love my mummy!' stitched on the back. However, nothing quite compared to Harry's suit, which he had yet to notice. His was a green pair of dungarees with 'Mommy's little boy' stitched on them. However, the occupants were bound to say something at some point, and the ever tactless Madame Hooch was first to comment.
"Goodness gracious Minerva, I thought you hated your 'mummy'!" She slyly commented, with a fake look of astonishment plastered on her face.
"What the devil are you going on about Rolanda?" Horace muttered before turning around and noticing. "Oh my. Filius!" He gestured frantically for the charms Professor to head over.
"Yes Horace- Oh my." He said, and pulled out his wand again.
"What? What is it now?" The angry headmistress asked.
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Filius was just going to perform a charm to unlock the room." The older woman turned around suspiciously, before going over to speak to a frazzled Poppy. "Fix it Filius! Quick, before she notices!"
The tiny Professor was hard at work, muttering fast under his breath, and making untraceable patterns in the air. "Please go get Miss Granger; I need to ask what spell she used." Horace hurried off, and returned with Hermione quickly.
"Now Miss Granger I need you to tell me exactly which spells you used, so that I can fix this mess before it begins." Hermione wasted no time in elaborating, she told him everything, and Flitwick raised his eyebrows at the complication of the spells she used. "I'm going to need you to help me Miss Granger. We need to make this quick, so no one notices."
"Why Professor?" Hermione asked, she thought it was rather funny.
"Because an angrier Minerva McGonagall is not what we need at the moment. And that woman will attack you with her bare hands if she can. We can leave everyone else's; they'll wear off in time."
Hermione blushed, remembering when she had similarly tried to attack Ron without a wand, resulting in Harry casting a shield between them. She remembered how she'd felt then, and redoubled her efforts. The two casters had finished just in the nick of time as Rolanda had just sidled up to their target. She backed away confused and saw the two, giving them a sly wink and chuckling.
"Rolanda's always looking to tease Minerva. She drives her up the wall, a peculiar friendship that one." Flitwick commented. "Now, I believe Poppy is looking to finally sink her claws into you three, Merlin knows how you've avoided it until now." He then led the much protesting girl to the nurse, and collected Harry and Ron along the way too.
"Poppy's just finishing with Neville, and if all goes well Ron, you can go next." Ron gulped as he saw the witch force a potion down Neville's throat. As she pushed him away, she finally noticed the three of them nervously lined up.
"Aha. You three. Come along then, lie down on the bed Ronald." She beckoned a reluctant Ron forward, and told him to lie own on the bed. "Now, I suppose this is as good a time as any to also review your medical history…" She began casting a multitude of spells, all the while tutting and noting things down. As nobody was looking at her, Hermione took the chance to speak to her Professor.
"Professor McGonagall?"
"Yes Miss Granger?"
"Well, people are starting get bored, and it's only Harry and I left to examine now, and that will take a while. So I was thinking that perhaps we should move on, so that we can get this whole thing over with?" The elder woman eyed her suspiciously, before her lips quirked.
"Trying to avoid Poppy's 'care' I see. Well, as long as you do get check out I see no harm in delaying it." And she announced the start of the next question. As everyone returned to their seats, Ron huddled over with a set of ten potions.
"Blimey, look at these! She wants me take drink all of them! And there's more! They taste awful too." He complained, pulling a gruesome face as he tasted the next one. Madame Pomfrey walked pass, her beady eyes on the two remaining members of the three.
"Hermione lets avoid her shall we?" Harry pleaded. Hermione nodded her agreement and shuddered thinking of what exactly the nurse would find wrong with her.
I swear I hate hospitals, and I despise lying down on hospital beds. If ever I went to Hogwarts Madame Pomfrey would have a hell of a job keeping me there!
Next chapter: George asks about Pranks! Review if you have any ideas. Just because pranking was not mentioned, doesn't mean they didn't! Because birthdays weren't mentioned and they sure as hell had them! :)