Chapter 23
Minerva stretched her magic, feeling the wards ripple over her own and with gritted teeth she held her arms upright – the warding in the area was barely held together and would take far more than an hour or two to correct.
She lowered her arms, almost resignedly as every common room would need great repair prior to enabling someone to remain. She knew that Filius and Pomona's rooms were repaired, as she had helped them before they left; but she would not permit Hermione to remain in their home – nor any of the other returning professor's rooms.
Returning professors…
And Minerva banished the thought of how many positions she had to replace this upcoming term year. The last thing she needed was a reminder of how much work she still had to do.
With a subtle shake of her head, she turned and at seeing the crumpled stone and debris she let out a heavy sigh and pulled the wards to her; reappearing just north of her quarters. If she was going to conduct repairs, she was going to finish the area by her – first.
Channeling a modicum of her frustration, she raised her wand; letting her emotions come to the surface as she pulled the warding to life and with a spell on her lips and a flick and swish of her wrist – a rush of sound moved a hundred meters and the scorch marks were erased.
Another spell and flurry of wand movements caused the stone debris to lift upwards, turning cherry red as did the hallway…and piece by piece the crevices were filled in until after a half hour; the hallways was once again – whole.
Tiredly, Minerva pushed back a lock of hair and lifted her wand again; summoning the coat of arms that had once presided down the hallway. Slowly, one by one, pieces of armor in various states of disrepair fluttered into the area – and with pain staking reverence, each piece was rebuilt to its previous magnificence.
By the time shafts of twilight began littering the hall, Minerva was all but done; emerald eyes scanning the final portrait.
"At this rate, you'll have Hogwarts back to pristine condition in no time." Olgaphine Yentil's softly stated.
"One can only hope." Minerva replied as she wove the canvas back together, careful to realign the chair so it was not broken and create a problem for Olgaphine should she chose to sit. She glanced over the rim of her glasses as she finished, noticing the growing darkness and glanced to barren torches. "Thank you for your recent assistance."
"It is I who thank you, Minerva." Olgaphine moved the chair, eyeing the leg to see if it would sustain her weight.
"It'll hold," Minerva took a step away, "good evening." She reached up pulling her glasses from her face and with a final incantation brought the torches to life; light instantly spreading across the expanse as torch after torch joined the warding enabling it to know if someone was within the area.
The lights sparked as she tiredly moved to her rooms, not even noticing as the portrait gave way – her fatigue too pronounced. She eyed the cabinet where her nectar supply rested. Perhaps tomorrow, she thought too tired to even bother with the simple task as she continued to place one foot before the other until she was close enough to simply fall onto her bed and let the world go by again.
a/n: wishing everyone a wonderful day!