A/N: Enjoy!
A sharp knock roused Minerva from her correspondence around half past three.
"Enter," she called, rubbing her sternum absently. After a moment, the familiar blue robes of her Deputy rounded the oak doors with a swish and Minerva met his serious expression in a level gaze.
"I see you have received yours as well," she began, noticing the letter poking out from his inner robes. Filius sniffed humorlessly before charming the chair before her desk to lower itself slightly so that he could sink into it. He shook his head as it rose so that they could speak at eye level.
"I am unsure as to whether I should be reassured or suspicious that the summons came so quickly," he said, meeting her gaze evenly. Minerva nodded thoughtfully as she reached for her tea.
"After speaking with Kingsley, I am taking it in stride. Everything until this point has been handled with extreme efficiency and tact. Akingbade does not have an entire school to run alongside his duties as Supreme Mugwump and has therefore devoted more time and energy into harnessing the talents of his subordinates."
She sipped her tea and waited. Filius nodded to himself, a few efficient wand flicks providing him with his own steaming teacup.
"If I may, Professor Flitwick," Albus' portrait spoke up quietly, directing a questioning glance toward Minerva. Suppressing a flash of irritation, she nodded her acquiescence and he continued.
"Minerva's assessment is correct. Regretfully, my first duty was always to Hogwarts and the pressing concerns of Voldemort. As a result I never bothered to 'harness the talents of my subordinates,' as she so eloquently put it. To be honest, I detested my visits to the island and preferred to operate from a distance. Babajide is a born diplomat and astute warlock. We would do well to trust in him."
Filius nodded in agreement and gave the portrait a small incline of his head.
"Thank you for your words, Albus. I fear perhaps I have grown jaded in my first impressions," he said sadly.
"It is only natural, Filius. We have seen much in our time," Minerva replied, moving her hand to pluck the second letter from her desk. She gazed at it for a moment before passing across the desk to her colleague. "And… while it appears that while the initial investigation remains in good hands, we would also do well to remain on guard."
Filius waved away his teacup to hold the letter in both hands. Minerva waited, watching her friend's facial expressions run the gamut from curiosity to confusion to complete bewilderment as he absorbed the letter's contents. She shared a subtle look with Albus over Filius' head and he gazed at her with thinly veiled reproach. This is not the time, old friend.
"Minerva… Wha-... But?" Filius' stuttering served only to underline the gravity of the letter's request and Minerva smiled sadly as the flustered wizard passed the letter back and collected his thoughts.
After a moment he huffed quietly and pinned her with a steely look.
"Forgive me. But, am I to understand that the ICW has requested a Quorum of the Transfiguration Society? Surely the last time any quorum assembled it was in regard to Grindelwald!"
"Fifty-six years ago, Filius. The circumstances are grave indeed," she replied. Her own first reaction had been equally bewildered, however she had a few more pieces of the puzzle to rely upon. Let us see what Filius discerns...
"May it be inferred that you are to sit upon the Quorum itself?" The typically cheerful Charms professor was pinning her with a look that communicated his seriousness in asking. It was not the first question she anticipated, but a fair one.
While the majority of Hogwarts professors held Masteries within their own disciplines, discussions regarding the inner workings of each respective society were few and far between. Minerva knew that Filius would not ask unless he deemed it necessary knowledge for the good of the school.
Still, she took a moment to sip her tea before responding, weighing the potential outcomes.
"It may. Doubtless, there will be a flurry of owls later this evening as the specifics are unveiled. My own first impression deems that the island will play host to both meetings," she said. It was more information than necessary, but it would save her time later.
"Both?!" Filius could not contain his incredulity. It was an impression formed upon conjecture but her intuition pulsed strongly. The times are more dangerous than perhaps even we realize.
"Have the news outlets released any information yet?" she asked, hoping to redirect their conversation. Filius ruffled his robes slightly before settling.
"None. The staff and I have been keeping a close watch on both Wizarding and Muggle networks alike, I assure you."
Minerva lifted an eyebrow in surprise at that and took a moment to take a steading sip of tea.
"It seems your assessment of Akingbade serves well, Albus," Minerva remarked smoothly, letting her gaze drift upward. The light blue gaze did not twinkle as he raised his own eyebrow at her. Minerva sighed inwardly. Even as a portrait, Albus could be difficult.
"Was Kingsley able to indicate anything about the nature of the violations?" Filius asked after a moment.
There it was. Sighing, Minerva stood and took out her wand and murmured several spells that would ensure their conversation remained confidential. Filius watched her with a somewhat surprised eye.
"Yes," she paused and fixed her friend with an apologetic look, "Though I understand my insistence may appear to indicate my lack of confidence, please understand the seriousness of my request in that I must ask you - all of you," she let her gaze rake across the now-rapt portraits lining the walls, "To remain steadfast in your commitment to the safety of this school and its students. What I am about to share is highly restricted information… should it fall into the wrong hands... it could easily tips the scales against us."
The portraits murmured their assent and Minerva was touched when Filius took out his wand and cast an unnecessary Oath of Secrecy. Even Severus had deemed it a worthy enough event to witness. She felt his dark gaze boring into her from the far right, his figure eerily still as he waited.
Satisfied that her audience was engaged, Minerva nodded at Filius and they both resumed their seats.
"In the note I relayed you this morning, Kingsley indicated to me that there were three simultaneous violations of the International Statute of Secrecy. As of the early hour we did not know the nature of the violations, only that they occurred on two continents with uncanny precision of timing," she began. Filius was nodding. This had all been relayed in her short note.
"About an hour into our meeting the Minister received word that the final tally was not three, but five violations. All within an hour of each other." There were startled gasps from overhead and Filius visibly gulped.
"Where?" he croaked. Lifting a hand, Minerva slowly ticked them off on long fingers.
"Whomever is responsible chose prominent landmarks across the globe. The first occurred at the stroke of midnight last night at the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Three spires fell from the southern façade with the twelfth bell toll. Preliminary reports from the Aurors indicate involvement from at least twenty different wands."
"To disrupt the wards alone…" Filius breathed. Minerva felt a wry twist of pride as her colleague quickly latched onto the heart of the event's significance. It was a great blow to both their disciplines. It had taken the Minister's underlings nearly two cups of tea to see the level of skill and planning required to disturb the great structure.
"Indeed. Fortunately, as the hour was late, there were but a few casualties. However the timing has incited riots throughout Barcelona as many took it as a dire omen - there are theories speculating the end of the world, the coming of a messiah, and the ever-present political schemes between Spain and France. We've sent out some of our best Obliviators, but Kingsley predicts the Spanish parliament will be working overtime for weeks."
"Did you say the southern façade?" Filius appeared to be miles away, the inner cogs of his mind working furiously. Minerva frowned slightly.
"Yes, why?"
The shorter wizard shifted slightly in his seat, drawing in a deep breath and shooting her a thoughtful glance.
"Perhaps nothing. However, I have always held a great fascination for Master Gaudí's work and the Sagrada Familia itself has been a long-held interest of mine," Filius sat back, steepling his fingers as his brow furrowed in concentration. "Simply put, Master Gaudí intended there to be three prominent façades upon the finished basilica - each revealing images from Biblical canon. To the east he created the Nativity… which to Muggles relays the story of the birth of -"
Minerva held up a hand to stall his explanations.
"My father was a Muggle minister, Filius. I know the what the Nativity is," she said gently. It was not unheard of her to speak of her personal life, but from Filius' raised eyebrows, Minerva knew she had caught him off-guard. He was not the first to assume she was Pureblood.
"Ah. Right, forgive me, Headmistress. Ahem… well, yes. Where was I? The eastern façade was to be dedicated to the Nativity. To the west, the Passion. The south has not begun construction… but it was intended to be dedicated to the Glory… which metaphorically encompasses the road to -"
"Death," she whispered. Their eyes met and Minerva felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Of course, I could be reading into the significance too early," Filius bobbed his head and sipped his tea, averting his eyes for the moment.
"It is never too early to consider the ramifications of a well-organized threat," Severus' portrait cut in silkily. The unearthly chill Minerva had experienced earlier swept across her skin with ghostly fingertips. Next to him, Albus was nodding.
"Indeed. As with most events in our world, coincidence is simply the convergence of differing forces," he said. The other portraits looked grim but remained silent.
"What about the others?" Filius asked. Mimicking his earlier posture, Minerva sat forward and steepled her fingertips, resting her chin on her hands lightly as she continued.
"The second event occurred in St. Petersburg. At half past midnight, the domes of St. Basil's Cathedral erupted in unearthly black flames according to witnesses. When security measures were finally able to stop the fires, the domes were wreathed in iron causing several to collapse inward. The westernmost sanctuary was entirely destroyed."
Above, Minerva saw Severus' portrait shift in recognition at her words, but he made no move to interrupt her and so she continued.
"The third occurred simultaneously in Río de Janiero. The statue of Christ the Redeemer supposedly transformed into a demon-like creature before cracking. The right arm of the statue was severed and has gone missing. Local authorities have attempted to quell the wave of panic, but similar to Barcelona, there are many who believe it heralds the end of the world."
"So it appears the perpetrators centered their attacks around European timezones first. Seven in the evening hardly seems like a threatening time to wreak havoc," Filius mused, quickly accounting for the time differences.
Minerva nodded in agreement, pleased that her Deputy's intellect so readily followed her own.
"This seems to be corroborated by the last two events. The fourth and fifth happened within minutes of each other just before one in the morning, our time. Unfortunately, it meant that the fourth occurred mid-afternoon local time and the fifth in early morning. Both were... high-casualty events," she finished grimly.
There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed the gravity of those words.
"Where?" Filius asked quietly. Minerva tipped her head slightly.
"The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is currently under expedited repair as is the Sydney Opera House in Australia," she replied. Filius was nodding to himself, eyes narrowed.
"The question then becomes how many perpetrators are there," he said. Minerva remained silent, interested to hear her colleague's read of the situation. Privately, she held her own opinions as well as those of Kingsley and the Minister's inner circle, but she knew Filius might see something they had not.
"Twenty wands at the Sagrada Familia, you said?" Minerva nodded. Filius frowned and magicked a piece of parchment and quill, quickly scribbling a few runes. Despite never pursuing a Mastery, Minerva suspected that Filius could have easily held a third-level classification in Arithmancy.
He continued to speak as he worked, his thin light script quickly filling the top portion of the page.
"The wards would have been strong about all of these structures, though I daresay the first and the second-to-last would have been the most challenging. An old friend of mine once related a bit of structural secrecy regarding the spellwork at St. Basil's. To the best of my understanding, the cathedral was protected by general warding around the central city rather than separate spellwork on the structure itself. My friend always thought it was a rather egregious oversight."
"It seems your friend may have been right," Minerva said quietly. She waited patiently, one hand absently rubbing her sternum. I am too old for this...
"Terrible, terrible…" Filius murmured, scribbling a few more equations. After a moment he sat and passed the parchment across the desk. Scanning it quickly, Minerva quickly discerned the necessary information.
"You do believe they are all related," she said neutrally, keeping her features impassive. Let him arrive to his own conclusions. Flitwick bobbed his head and the portraits above murmured amongst themselves.
"As we noted, the timing is indeed most suspect. However my greater concern is what was happening elsewhere in the world while these events were occurring." Minerva's heart stilled.
"What could be more horrifying than five violations in under an hour?" The indignant voice from above came from Phineas Nigellus.
"Whatever they were meant to distract us from." Again, Severus' elegant voice settled upon the room like ice.
"I am in agreement with Severus," Filius said, quill in full tilt against a new sheet of parchment. "Perhaps we would do well to draw Septima into this conversation. Her Mastery would be of great use."
At that Minerva stood abruptly, startling Filius. She waved a hand overhead to quiet the portraits whose murmurings were beginning to build.
"No. For the moment nothing from this discussion leaves the room. We will assemble the staff after dinner to brief them on what will shortly be released to the public tomorrow. I refuse to engage in any more conjecture until after the assembly of the ICW."
"Surely we will not be the only ones to arrive to this conclusion, Minerva," Filius began, gesturing toward his parchment.
"I don't doubt it. But I will not endanger any of our staff and students by plunging us headfirst into an unknown situation heedless of its ramifications. What is happening here is larger than all of us. I ask that you trust me on this, Filius. We shall withhold our involvement until after the emergency conference. I won't have anyone at Hogwarts creating a target of themselves for naught," she said, steel winding its way into her voice.
Filius gazed at her for a long moment, grey eyes traveling over the planes of her face. Please see reason, my old friend.
"As you wish, Headmistress. However, I should like to continue my assessment on my own if that would meet with your approval," Filius stood gracefully, wordlessly charming his chair to deposit him gently to the thick persian rug.
After a moment, Minerva nodded her assent.
"Be cautious, my good friend. The conference will be our opportunity to discern where this imbalance of power lies. Until then, I prefer to keep our hand hidden."
Minerva accompanied the shorter wizard as he made his way to the door. His gaze was turned inward and she could not discern the expression on his face. Filius' hands were clasped behind his back and he seemed deep in thought. Above, she noticed several of the portraits had disappeared including Albus and Severus. They would have to meet in private later.
Waving her hand, the carved oak doors swung open quietly.
"One last, if I may?" Filius inquired, turning to look up at her.
"Please." Minerva mimicked his posture, straightening her shoulders against the fatigue attempting to fold in upon her.
"What do you believe the likelihood is of needing to reinstate the Order?" Filius' formal posture told her that he was asking as her Deputy and not as a friend. The quiet question seemed to hang heavy in the room.
Minerva grew still, a deep sense of foreboding resting in the pit of her stomach as she felt the weight of those steely grey eyes. Her allegiance to the Order had been a complicated facet of their relationship during the Second War, causing them both a great deal of stress for a variety of reasons.
She was unsure of her friend's true feelings on the matter… whether he had resented her involvement or perhaps desired to join the Order alongside Pomona. They had never discussed it.
Minerva opened her mouth but the honest answer felt stuck in the back of her throat. The need may be great, my friend.
"That is for tomorrow to tell," she replied softly.