As I post this today, I am being plagued by the dreaded summer cold. I'm not sure as to why, but for some reason the summer cold seems a lot worse than a winter one, and I think they last longer! At any rate, this chapter is on time, please forgive me if the next is a little late.
Again, as always, I own nothing. I am just playing in someone else's sandbox!
READ! ENJOY! REVIEW! As it is the only form of payment any of the writers here expect!
Chapter 53
Minerva dabbed the towel over her face to dry it after one of the longest mornings of her life. It had started the moment the wards had alerted her that there was someone at the front gates of Hogwarts. She had expected a number of angry people to arrive over the course of the day wishing to revisit the events of the second task in minute detail.
What she hadn't expected however, was that a group of over twenty people would be standing at the gateway first thing on this Monday morning, the majority glaring at the group of professors walking down the path toward them.
From the very first moment the gates had opened it had been an absolute whirlwind of charged emotions and screaming voices. Not the least of which had come from two pairs of parents, the Delacours and the Parkinsons.
The Delacours' and Parkinsons' anger she understood at the most basic of levels; their underage children had been placed in mortal danger by one of her staff during Saturday's task. Albus had tried his best to diffuse the situation involving them, as well as the representatives of both, their own and the French ministries.
As a girl she had heard terrifying stories about the avian transformation of an enraged Veela. The idea of a half woman half bird like creature hurling elemental fire magic, with wings wide spread had somehow captivated her mind like no other story had managed. Now she had seen it with her own two eyes!
Albus had immediately tried to calm the two angry parents that had charged in ahead of the others, however when he began speaking he had some how made the mistake of focusing upon Mrs. Delacour and she had flown into a rage! Her face had elongated, a beak emerging from her beautiful features as wings sprouted from her back made of iridescent silver feathers covered her skin. Fireballs had appeared in her hands in the blink of an eye and she reared back and began hurling one after another at the aged wizard, all the while screaming at him to stay out of her mind!
Albus, thankfully for him, had lived up to the reputation he had earned years earlier during the war with Grindelwald. He spun away from the initial attack, his wand suddenly appearing in his hand and instantly conjuring large blocks of granite to float in the air blocking each new blast of fire.
For his part, Mr. Delacour was trying his best to gather his wife's attention and calm her, and if nothing else to keep her from doing the man serious harm, while Madam Bones tried to keep the situation from getting further out of hand by shielding the others.
Minerva shook her head as she looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. She looked tired but not nearly as tired as she felt. 'What had possessed the man to do that?' she thought to herself. She chuckled slightly. 'That was a foolish question, Albus thinks he is infallible! Even with all we have been through this year! To think it was wise to use Legilimancy like that! It makes me wonder how often he has done it before!'
After Mrs. Delacour had calmed and reverted to her normal form, she had begun yelling at the elder man in earnest. "How dare you invade my mind?" she screamed, as she surged forward against the arms of her husband, fingers curled into claws. "My daughter has been attacked, and then left for dead in the depths of your lake, and when we come to find out how this happened you decide to try and invade my mind?"
At that point Amelia, who had been tied up with the others, had made her way over to the yelling woman. "Albus," she grumbled, "I have warned you about trying that! The last time Headmaster Chinthliss and I were nice enough to write it off as your concern for your students, considering two of them had chosen to leave Hogwarts to attend a different school with a man you knew nothing about! But it now seems that that was a mistake! Consider yourself detained! You will be accompanying me back to the DMLE after we have sorted through this mess, do you understand? We'll just find out how often you have chosen to do something like this!" She then turned to Mrs. Delacour. "I will of course need your statement as well; I assume you wish to press charges."
The angry woman nodded sharply. "Of course I wish to press charges! He has no business doing such a thing! Who knows what he has learned from others that do not have my training!" She turned back toward Dumbledore. "I will also be filing grievance through the ICW, the French Ministry, and the Veela Council! How dare you attack anyone in such a way!"
Minerva wished she had a camera at that moment; the look of confusion on the man's face was something to behold. It also cemented her decision on a course of action concerning his future as well as that of the man that 'held his utmost confidence'.
Minerva made sure her hair was straight before turning away from the mirror and making her way downstairs, still thinking about the day. The investigation into the part that Severus had played in the events went rather quickly, and just thinking about it still left a bad taste in her mouth.
It had been true that the young man who escorted the eldest Delacour to the ball was in the infirmary ill, but his choice for a replacement had been irresponsible at best. Even a fully human child of the same age would have been in serious danger under those conditions, even before they could have been returned by the mer-people, according to both Poppy and the healer the Delacour's had obtained. Severus however, stood by his decision. Stating again that his choices had been limited, especially within the short time he had at his disposal, ignoring the fact that, given the circumstances, it would have been best to approach Madam Maxime for another option.
Albus had sat through his questioning with his normal aplomb, appearing to be nothing but calm at any time, weaving a tale of his needing to be elsewhere in the days prior to the task due to one of his many roles outside the school, and a law that had been passed that had some 'unintended' adverse effects requiring quite a bit of his time. He had chosen Severus to carry out his duties due to his own exhaustion afterward, and the other heads of the schools needing to see to their guests; and while Severus still had his 'utmost confidence', Albus admitted his choice of substitute tournament hostage had been most unfortunate.
However, his testimony had fallen on deaf ears, as all involved had questions about why he thought the youngest Delacour had been a suitable replacement at all. Again they pointed out he should he have contacted Madam Maxime, and discussed the issue with her! These were her students after all!
In the end it had come down to a discussion between the representative from the ICW's education department and herself, not that it had been much of a discussion. Severus would be dismissed immediately, being responsible for endangerment of a visiting student, and the ICW would supply a new potions professor till the end of term. By the time dinner arrived he and his things would no longer be in the castle, any further action against him would lay in the hands of the Amelia, the Delacour's and, eventually, the courts.
That had been the first shoe to drop in what turned out to be a very long day. The next had been entirely her decision, as she removed all remaining authority within the castle's grounds, excluding those to do directly with the tournament as those were the preview of the ministry, from the man she had once thought of as not only a hero, but mentor and friend, Albus Dumbledore.
His face had contorted almost as if in pain as she did so, citing failure after failure during not only this year but for the last few years! She went on at that point, stating that his unauthorized use of Legilimancy, on anyone outside a court authorized procedure, could not be tolerated! If he was found to be innocent by the DMLE, then he may be reinstated, to teach only, but given the circumstances she doubted that would be the case. Otherwise he was to consider himself retired.
He had been crushed by that announcement, and even more so as he was led away by a pair of Aurors, to be taken back to the Ministry building that housed the DMLE.
The Parkinsons became the next order of business, when they approached her with a stack of papers. She had startled when she began to read them, they were withdrawing their daughter from Hogwarts!
'That had been a surprise, to say the least!' she thought, making her way toward her desk and settling in behind a mound of paperwork. Hogwarts had had seen the Parkinsons attending for generations!
What Minerva had read in the paperwork had made her blood boil! "Severus!" she had grumbled under her breath, when she saw the list of grievances! Evidently since her falling out with young Malfoy, Pansy had been under siege by the members of her own house! While she had taken precautions, the young woman had lived in a constant state of fear, homework had been destroyed, things stolen, threats made, the only thing that was missing was actual violence!
She had taken the time at that point, to speak with them in private, after asking their daughter to join them. Wanting a clearer picture of what had been happening within the Slytherin house, she had asked several questions, the answers to which boiled down to one thing. Malfoy ran the dungeons like his own personal kingdom. Between his family's money and contacts, and his godfather's blessing (something she had been unaware of, the fact that Severus Snape was the boy's godparent), he wielded immense amounts of power. Power that he not only used within the walls of Slytherin, but also extended into the other houses as well!
This revelation had led her to make a decision she was certain would cause shockwaves throughout the school and beyond. She had closed the Slytherin common room, suspended all of the Slytherin prefects pending full investigation, placed bed checks in place at random intervals by several of the castle ghosts as well as the other heads of house after curfew and was even considering the closing of Slytherin house altogether! Unless she could find a trustworthy person to take over as head of house and keep this sort of things from happening! However, a person like that was hard to come by, and only one person she knew of might be capable of such a feat! Till she heard from them, her final decision would need to wait.
Unfortunately, even the changes she was planning to implement had not swayed the Parkinsons, and as of the noon meal their daughter's things had been transferred to her new headmaster along with her transcripts. She was now a student of Stanfield Primary.
Hermione stirred her warm milk as she tried to read the chapter on titration for her chemistry class the next day. The creaking of the stairs brought her attention to the elegant redheaded woman making her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. The woman smiled at the girl sitting at the kitchen table. "I see you could not sleep either," she said making her way over to the refrigerator, pulling out a pitcher of cold water and pouring herself a glass.
Hermione nodded. "I thought I'd go over tomorrow's lab again, since I'm up…"
Lady Ako sat next to her. "Chemistry? Not one of my grandson's favorites, he disliked memorizing the periodic chart at the beginning of the year. I believe it soured him somewhat toward the subject."
Hermione chuckled. "I can see that happening to a lot of people. Thankfully that type of thing comes easy to me, so that wasn't an issue."
Lady Ako took a sip of her water. "You are lucky to have such a skill, it will serve you well in the future if you keep using it."
Hermione smiled at the woman, and after a moment she asked, "C-can I ask you something? About Harry?"
A small smile pulled at the corners of the woman's mouth. "If you wish, but I may not answer if it is something I feel is too personal or about his magical training."
The girl shook her head. "N-no I don't think it is something like that, and he told us why he doesn't train with us during some of our magical classes…"
Lady Ako's brow rose. "What explanation did my grandson give? If you do not mind my asking?" she asked cutting off Hermione's question.
Hermione shrugged. "He said it was handled differently, because his is more of an apprenticeship… though he did need to attend class pertaining to government, the laws... things that he would be tested on that didn't directly deal with the type of magic he uses."
Lady Ako thought about it for a moment; that did cover the mortal side of things while not going into the other reason his magic education was being handled the way it was. She nodded. "That covers it about as well as can be expected…What is your question my dear?"
Her face reddened. "Harry said something at breakfast… Fleur made a joke about her sister's intentions… wanting to date Harry…" She paused looking for a better way to ask the question, a less embarrassing way. Realizing there was no easy way she just blurted it out. "He said he wasn't available. Does Harry have a girlfriend? H-he hasn't said any thing…" Her voice trailed off.
Lady Ako chuckled. "Harry? Have a girlfriend? No,Not to my knowledge…" She watched as the girl's shoulders dropped in relief, tension that her body had been unintentionally holding slipping away into the night. She placed her hand on top of the younger girl's. "Hermione, I do not think that my grandson meant that he had a girlfriend."
Hermione's eyes lifted to hers, relief at those words evident. "Harry is a special young man. His early life was very hard. When my daughter and Tannim took him in, I believe they became the standard that he holds a couple to."
Confusion spread over the younger girl's face and Lady Ako continued her explanation. "They are very close, closer than most couples you will ever meet. Apart they are very good people, but together… together they are extraordinary, they are a perfect complement… a team. They work together, play together, and rarely are they out of each other's sphere of influence. I believe that is what Harry wishes for, not only that type of connection, but being able to have the time to spend with that person as well. He feels that with his schedule, between school, racing, magical training, his music and at the moment, this tournament, he has insufficient time to dedicate to such a relationship. Something like a girlfriend requires time, a lot more than he feels he has available to give."
Understanding bloomed across the young girls face, as Lady Ako went on. "And shortly another demand on his scedule will be here, one that I know he is excited about, the birth of a little brother or sister." Hermione nodded, she hadn't thought about that. "He will be hard pressed over the summer, between wanting to be with his family, the baby and his other pursuits."
"I-I guess I never thought about it like that." She sagged slightly. "He always seems like he's got everything under control, he's always prepared for anything."
This time the chuckle from Lady Ako was louder. "That my dear is a gift that he has come by through years of dealing with a most unique life. My daughter and I are both planners by nature. As for Tannim and Chinthliss, one thing can be said about either of them, that they are absolutely cool when the pressure is on. Throw in his racing and the influence of the elves with their vast patience and different outlook on life… He has taken each of those things to heart, and mixed it with his own will to become an extraordinary young man, one I am honored to say is not only a most treasured student, but my grandson."
She patted the young girl's hand. "I understand that you are anxious to grow up, but you need not be in a hurry. Be his friend, if those feelings grow into more, then you are blessed, if they do not, you will never find a truer friend."
She finished her glass of water and stood, replacing the pitcher and placing the glass in the sink. As she walked out the door, leaving the bushy headed girl to think about what she had learned, she offered one final thought. "I hope all of the others eventually understand the same thing, such good friends are something to be treasured."
Pansy sat bolt upright as her ears were assaulted by unfamiliar music. Fumbling she reached for the alarm clock she had been loaned the night before by Luna (who said she could use it as long as she needed since she and her sister were sharing a room and only need the one). She groaned when she saw the time, she didn't think she had ever been up this early!
While she got dressed, she wondered what her parents had been thinking when they did this? Why couldn't they have sent her to Beauxbatons? She spoke French! And they didn't get up at such a ridiculous hour! Though the clothes that she and her mother had gone out to buy with one of the women here, Sara she thought her name was, were much more comfortable than she expected and definitely warmer than her old robes.
Stepping out into the hallway she almost bumped into Harry as he walked past, deep in conversation about something with his godfather, Sirius Black. Both of them offered a good morning and continued on down the central stair case.
She shook off her hesitation just as the other girls appeared from their rooms; they were dressed a lot like Harry had been, in some form of grey outfit she had never seen before. Hermione smiled. "Good morning Pansy, hope you don't mind me calling you that… we don't stand on many formalities here."
Pansy shook her head, while stifling a yawn. "No, it's fine… I guess. It's something I'll need to get used to… Why are you dressed like that?" she asked.
Luna answered in a much too cheerful for her liking tone, spinning around so Pansy could get a good look. "They are our exercise clothes! We join Harry and the others every weekday morning!" Somehow Pansy just knew the odd blond headed girl would be the bane of her existence! A morning person!
Hermione smiled. "Luna why don't you head on down to the portal, I'll stay with Pansy and make sure she doesn't get left behind."
"Ok!" The little blond skipped away, and down the stairs humming.
Pansy sagged against the doorway, as Hermione chuckled. "She takes a little getting used to, especially in the mornings."
Pansy wanted to groan. "Was I that obvious?" she asked. "I'm not much on mornings."
Hermione shook her head. "No, not really." She shrugged. "It tends to work that way though. She drove my mother nuts over the first Christmas she stayed with us. She is always up at about four, and the TV was new to her at the time so she had it on almost the moment she woke. My mum is a light sleeper and didn't want to say anything. It took two weeks before it became too much; she ended up begging her not to turn on anything that made noise before her first cup of coffee. Now Luna uses the time to read, or work on something quiet. She loves the fact everyone here is up not long after her."
A pregnant pause floated momentarily between them before Pansy spoke, "Your both handling my being here better than I expected…"
Hermione cut her off with a sigh, Now was as good a time as any she decided. "Tannim and Chinthinless came down to the classroom yesterday, and told us you would be joining us. He told us some things had changed because of the duel, and you weren't welcome in your old house any more…"
Pansy chuckled darkly, "That's if there is a Slytherin house any more, after what McGonagall was going to do last night."
It was Hermione's turned a confused look on her face, "Then you know why she asked for only her school to attend dinner last night?"
The dark smile on Pansy's face grew. "I think that is something that you'll need to see for yourself! So you'll just have to wait till we get back to Hogwarts."
Pansy continued to grin, as she began walking down the hallway. "So that is why we are up so early? To exercise?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Part of the reason," Hermione replied, slightly perturbed by the girl keeping what ever it was quiet. "Harry needs to keep up with his physical training, starting now keeps our schedule the same as his would be when he's at home. And since we all need to use the portal as a group, and none of us had any desire to stay every night at Hogwarts, this turned out to be the easiest way to do things. Besides you don't have to exercise, but after speaking with Margo, the Fairgrove Healer, you may want to join us. From what she says there is a correlation between physical health and our magic, the better shape we are in the better connected we are to our magic."
Pansy's eyes widened. "Truly?"
Hermione nodded again. "Yeah, but until you have had your physical you won't be allowed to join us, Margo will sit you down and go over things with you. Trust me she's good at her job, and you can trust her… She helped me a lot." She led the girl down the stairs as they continued to talk.
When they entered the portal room Pansy was handed a dark brown backpack. Shar smiled at the confused girl. "Inside you'll find the basic necessities for your classes, notebooks, pens… stuff like that. We'll go shopping for more permanent versions this weekend, so you can pick out the styles and colors you like. Till then, please do your best with these. Margo will be expecting you after breakfast, just walk down with Harry and the girls and she'll meet you down at the classroom building. Then after lunch the men from the Department of Education will be there. Nothing to worry about, they just want to see where your education stands compared to others your age. Hermione and Luna went through the same thing, and if they are any form of comparison it won't be too bad."
Pansy glanced over at the girls in question, both of whom were speaking with her new headmaster, asking about something and gesturing to something in one of their books.
The girl nodded her understanding, and then asked, "Is it true I can go home over the weekend?"
Shar returned the nod. "Of course! If that is what you and your parents want to do. The Grangers, Hermione and Luna's parents, stay here most weekends and they are welcome to do that if they wish. It's up to you." She looked over the rest of the room. "Alright it looks like everyone is here. Tannim?"
The man in question made a couple of gestures in front of a stone box, the portal flared to life, and the group began to pass through leaving a silent home behind them.