Once they entered the Great Hall Hermione pulled out an empty vial from one of the pockets in her cloak. She quickly took the memory of what just happened from her mind and put it in the vial and stoppered it. How the owls knew she would never know, but the parliament entered the hall of their own accord landing in front of their owners.

"How convenient," the curly haired witch murmured as Elara fluffed her feathers standing in front of her.

Luna had plopped next to the witch and leaned heavily into her before entwining their arms together.

"I know you know what happened, would you like me to write an article for the Quibbler?"

Hermione thought about it and nodded.

"I think it would be good to have the story spread out, yes. Luna, I'll meet you in the room later to view the memories. I'm sending this one off to another reporter. It'll be covered in at least two papers," Hermione said as she pulled out a small piece of parchment.

'You have permission to write whatever you want with this. The vial will be removed with a simple Finite Incantum.

- H'

The hazel eyed witch then stuck the vial onto the parchment with a sticking charm before rolling it up and attaching it to Elara's leg.

"Be swift," she said to the owl who affectionally nibbled on her fingers before taking flight.

Seconds after Elara had taken flight most of the staff entered the hall.

"Good afternoon students," McGonagall started, "Lunch will be served early and all afternoon classes will be canceled. An incident involving the High Inquisitor has occurred forcing her to be removed from Hogwarts for the safety of all residents. The aurors were called and have taken her into custody. We will let you know more as we find out. Please enjoy your lunch and use your afternoon wisely," she finished with a firm tone.

It was clear the Deputy witch was angry and no one wanted to cross her path. The students who were there were quickly spreading the incident around to their friends, the gossip spreading like a wild fire. Some of the Slytherins that were there made sure they went into detail and were able to read in between the lines of the statement. It was clearly her way of telling the students to take the afternoon to write home while the staff figured out how to proceed.

Albus followed the aurors to his office, opening it quickly, trying to appear as helpful as possible. Severus had followed both to make sure the pink cow was removed and that Albus didn't do anything to interfere with that.

"I hope that Madame Umbridge makes a speedy recovery and you will keep me updated," Albus said with his grandfatherly tone.

"Headmaster, I am fully aware that your hands are tied with Madame Umbridge assuming the position of High Inquisitor. You couldn't have reported her if you wanted to," Amelia said with a slight undertone of admonishment.

"Be that as it may, I am concerned for her wellbeing. You understand," Albus said with a sad smile.

It was all an act and Amelia was experienced enough to able to see through it. Umbridge was a shrew and shouldn't have been anywhere near children especially with her penchant for blackmail and intimidation. No one had come forth with active accounts to press charges and knew she would get away with merely a slap on the wrist. Her victims didn't know that with enough of them it would be seen as an issue, but she couldn't press people or open a case unless someone went to her. It didn't matter how much hearsay and gossip there was in the Ministry, most of them knowing it as a Ministry secret. She was also well known for being the Minister's bulldog. If it weren't for the fact that the Minister's position was electoral based she was sure that's where the witch's ambition would take her. Second best position was the Undersecretary, having unlimited access to the Minister as well as their ear.

"Of course, Headmaster," Amelia said to end the conversation as soon as possible.

Albus Dumbledore was a political animal and just as slimy as one. He might as well have been an electric eel, able to squirm his way through political litigation and able to shock and overcome others who even thought to oppose him. He knew how to play the game better than most of the Wizengamot with his experience that was afforded to him through time. While other members had been raised and taught from the crib, he was able to out maneuver most of the body when he wanted with simple experience. Others were firm competitors and were able to stand against him through bribes, alliances, and pure shrewdness.

Amelia detested political animals. Most of them thought they were above the law and it chafed her in ways that raised her blood pressure. In some instances she had to calm herself from seeing red. With his history and people nearly worshipping him Albus Dumbledore was one of the worst offenders.

"If you'll excuse us, we have head to the office," she nodded her head and turned her back on him, watching her aurors leave, two of them holding Umbridge between them to get her through the floo. The redhead quickly followed them.

As soon as the floo turned green and moved Amelia from his office Dumbledore frowned and turned to Severus.

"Severus, I hope you won't mind me looking at your memory of the incident. While I was able to hear the testimonies to the aurors I wasn't on the scene," he said firmly.

"It was nearly word for word, but you are more than welcome to, Albus," Severus affirmed.

"Thank you, m'boy," Albus said as he opened the cabinet that held his pensive.

"Will you be joining me?" the elder wizard asked.

"I suppose," Severus said with a long-suffering sigh.

Internally he was hoping he'd see something he didn't catch before.

"Amelia, what is the meaning of this!?" Cornelius blustered, making his way into her office.

Closing her eyes and counting to ten Amelia turned to look at the Minister, "What are you referring to, Minister?" she asked calmly.

"Madame Umbridge's arrest! Surely there's been some mistake!"

"We received a patronus from Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall calling for aurors and flooed as fast as possible. When we arrived Madame Umbridge was yelling and threatening everyone in the vicinity, students and staff alike. We asked her to surrender herself and instead she threatened to kill us with her bare hands," the head auror stated blankly not letting emotion enter her voice.

Cornelius was unsure how to proceed for a moment, stunned that his underling would threaten to kill aurors. It wasn't a case of 'mistake' if the witch was threatening aurors with death…

"Why did Professor McGonagall send a patronus instead of calling through floo?" he tried again.

"She was coming to do just that as Madame Umbridge shot an unknown spell at her back. We have her wand as evidence and will be reviewing it shortly. Thankfully Professor Snape was able to shield the Deputy Headmistress," she reported.

"I see," he stalled, "I would like to be there when you do."

"If you'd like, Minister," Amelia replied.

It turned out that Umbridge had fired an entrail expelling curse at the Deputy Headmistress. Cornelius was both stunned and furious. Dolores was his in with Hogwarts and she went and blew it! There was no mistaking anything about the dark curse. It was deliberate and he only had Severus Snape to thank for shielding the witch against the dark curse. It would have been a disaster. McGonagall was a well-respected and well-liked witch, a certified Mistress in her field, and a professor at their most prestigious school. If she had been hit it would have scared the children, scarred them for life, possibly killed the witch if medical attention didn't reach her fast enough, it was a disaster all around!

"I want Dolores removed from her position as High Inquisitor and replaced as soon as possible. I also want her before the Wizengamot at your earliest convenience," Fudge bit out, his stomach still rolling.

"Who will you replace her with?" Amelia asked.

She was furious but was doing her best to separate her work and personal life. Her niece was there!

Fudge stopped to think. Dolores was his most fanatical supporter, but clearly was the wrong choice. He thought about who else worked at the Ministry who supported him who heartily and almost came up blank. Then her remembered one wizard who stood out in his mind.

"Juno Ogden," he enunciated clearly, as though it were a deliberate choice.

"Isn't he Tiberius Ogden's nephew?" she asked.

"Yes, and he's been a rotating clerk for much too long. He's been in every department and is knowledgeable in defense. I believe he failed his auror exams?" Fudge tested.

Juno wasn't as detested as Dolores, but he was also a secretive man. He kept his head down and supported Cornelius with every choice he made. If it weren't for Dolores having more connections and advice, not to mention being outspoken in a way that wasn't considered hostile, he might have been made a personal clerk. However, the wizard claimed he was fine as long as he got a change of pace every so often.

He was also aware that Juno tried to influence his uncle into voting for his favor. Yes… Juno might be a good replacement.

Despite all that Amelia was trying to remember why Juno had failed his Auror examination. She was only with the department for a year at the time, but remembered there was some sort of hushed fuss over him. The fact that he was still allowed to work for the Ministry though put her suspicions to rest.

"And Dolores's lesson plans?" the DMLE's tone was dripping in sarcasm which made Cornelius cringe.

Parents had sent many angry letters complaining about the book Dolores had chosen for the Defense textbook. He also got angry letters about their children's assignments being to read the book in class and then rewrite the chapters for their homework. He had given her carte blanche and ended up regretting it even though he told her she had his support.

"Were her ideas. Thankfully we're not too deep into the school year where it'll make a huge difference…" he started trailing off.

"And the books?" Amelia asked curiously, trying to keep the distain out of her tone.

"Will… be paid by the ministry," he bit out.

It pained him, but it was his fault he sent her there, so it would fall to him. He didn't want the brats inciting panic about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but Dolores was igniting panic of a different kind! A kind that led to the Ministry at that!

"I think it would be best to call in a previous professor to have him look over the plans…," Amelia started before her tone drifted, her mind working quickly to push some important information to the front.

"Barty Crouch," she said staring off into space.

"Excuse me," Fudge inquired.

"Barty Crouch Jr. Although he was impersonating Mad-Eye, he still taught. Students passed their OWLs and NEWTs with flying colors. Since he was impersonating Mad-Eye he was rough, but they all understood the lessons. I don't know who made them, but perhaps you can ask him to look over the lessons. He taught the whole year without any serious incidents," she explained.

Fudge smiled, internally he was dancing. That was perfect! The lesson plans and books would be readily available if he kept everything neat. All they'd have to do is give them to Juno and have Barty go over them briefly with him!

Just being allowed to enter the Auror Academy meant that he passed his OWLs and NEWTs in a way that would pass any scrutiny!

"If you'll excuse me, Amelia, I have an owl to send," Fudge left with a bounce in his step.

Albus frowned, exiting the pensieve. They had done everything they could to deescalate the situation. The fact that Dolores clearly cast something dark at his Deputy did call for the actions that were made on the fly. While he would have preferred to do so himself, he decided it was best considering why the Ministry was trying to interfere with Hogwarts and his hands were tied.

That Dolores was out of the castle, being the demeaning and controlling power hungry witch she was, would have to be celebrated as a victory. He wanted as few eyes looking at the castle as possible...

Harry and Hermione were actually a bit pleased. While it was still Halloween they allowed themselves a little bit of hope that the Umbridge incident was all that would occur this year. Of course Hermione was still skeptical, she kept it to herself. Halloween was often the precursor of the clouds that would hang over Hogwarts for most of the year. She wasn't entirely happy her logic reminded her of the glaring fact…

Severus was almost happy after leaving the Headmaster's office. The loyalty potions that were being slipped to what he was sure were Order members as well as anyone with close connections to said Order angered him greatly. While Albus wouldn't be able to pull strings, he still had a lot of political clout that wouldn't make it worth the effort. This incident however was one thing Albus wasn't able to meddle with. He knew in the pits of his stomach that the wizened wizard would have done his best to sweep the incident under the rug. The fact that the aurors were called and apprehended the witch that was causing a blanket of stressed misery was wonderful.

The fact that it happened under his crooked nose and couldn't do anything about it, like a normal person, was fantastic. Albus Dumbledore wasn't the Almighty Merlin, who was also just a human. Hogwarts was not a castle with students and staff at his disposal for his own private machinations. The Ministry sticking their nose into Hogwarts' business ruffled everyone's feathers, but it was a reminder that it was not separate from the rest of the world, as much as it often felt like it.

He was less than amused at the toad's hallucinations. A bat. She saw him as a bat. Minerva was a monstrous cat. And Albus? Albus was a fucking goat, which he thought was fitting. As for his apprentice and her brother being golden, he hoped that was merely her delusions and not her seeing their bond…

Hooch, Minerva, Severus, and Hermione sat in the potions master's parlor on the floor. The furniture had been pushed back against the walls, Severus loathed to shrink them, and they were calmly surrounding a candle.

Hermione was fascinated. She had asked if Harry would be allowed to come and it was painfully awkward. It was decided though that since it was his mother he would be allowed after their original business. So while Minerva and Severus made faces Harry was told he could be in the room under his invisibility cloak. It was agreed that Harry wouldn't be allowed to hear what was being said until Hermione waved him over.

As the boy wasn't sure he wanted to know what they were talking about he made no complaints.

Hermione was insanely curious about the ritual as Hooch had brough a large mirror, crystals, and stones with her.

"We're doing it this way so it's easier on Lily's spirit," Hooch explained, "There's a way for her to be here in way that's similar to a ghost, which was my original plan, but I figured it would be more emotionally painful if she was here and no one could touch her. That's including her. At least through the mirror it'll be like talking to her through floo, but we'd see her instead of her head in a fire."

They all thought about it for a moment and nodded.

"This is one of those newer muggle mirrors, with aluminum. If it were silver there would be a small chance she'd get stuck in the mirror and I'd have to do another small ritual to release her," Hooch said as she set it up in front of the fire.

With the lighting in Severus's room it wasn't needed, merely used for heat.

Hooch was careful as she was arranging her stones and crystals, not telling them what they were for, muttering the whole while. Hermione did notice a majority of them were blue and one was clearly turquoise.

When the yellow eyed witch was finished she looked into the mirror and intoned in a clear voice, "Lily Diana Potter, nee Evans" she took her spot in front of the mirror. Severus and Hermione were in the middle with Minerva at her side and Hooch at his.

It took a few seconds but sure enough Lily Potter appeared in the mirror and looked at them in surprised shock, clearly happy though.

"Hello Lily, I know it's been a while, but Sev here had a small issue and I was able to help him out in this instance," Hooch explained, "Long story short, you're in a mirror call of sorts. I wasn't sure if you reincarnated or not so I didn't have high hopes."

Lily nodded, "I don't plan on reincarnating until my son's time has come."

There was a slight breath of relief from Severus at this.

"Lils, this is –"

"Hermione," Lily said happily. The redhead smiled brightly at the brunette, "I remember you were there for Harry."

Hermione blushed, "I would do just about anything for him."

"I know. Thank you. If I ever had the chance to have a daughter, I would want her to be just like you. I'm glad you chose each other." was the response.

The brunette gave the other witch a small smile.

Severus blushed and cleared his throat, "Anyways, Lily, Mia here is my apprentice and my uh, witch."

Lily's brow was furrowed as she narrowed her eyes at her childhood friend, "Severus, you're dating my would-be daughter?"

The dark wizard coughed into his hand as his blush grew, "I may be…"

"If it makes you feel any better it sort of happened by accident," Mia threw in.

"How do you sort of date by accident?" the redhead asked.

"I can answer this one!" Hooch exclaimed, "Sev here took Mina as his apprentice without being in a previous binding relationship. I had to explain it to him, and then he did for her, unless one of them is in a previous binding relationship beforehand, or of different sexuality, it's almost inevitable for Master and Apprentice to end up together. You yourself were married when you were apprenticed with Filius."

"Is that why Filius asked me to be his apprentice after I had gotten married?"

"Yes! If it weren't for you having to go into hiding he would have been able to explain thing better for you. That includes things unrelated to charms and all to do with the wizarding world," Hooch was happy she caught on.

"When you were alive you said you wanted to meet the witch that I brought home," Sev said now avoiding her eyes.

There was a spark in Lily's eyes as she now understood the full meaning of being called, the smile returning to her face before she faux glared at Hermione.

"And what are your intentions with our Sev," she asked the young witch with an edge to her voice.

"What?" the petite witch squeaked, startled by the question.

"Are you going to leave him high and dry?" Lily pushed.

"Of course not!"

"Are you going to give him affection?"

"Yes," Hermione started to look at the dead witch strangely, "Why wouldn't I? I'm attracted to him, I'm very fond of him, and I respect him. It's too soon to say love in a romantic notion, for me at least. I'll know when I know."

Lily stared at the curly haired witch as though she were trying to see right through her before smiling, "That's just what I would expect for a woman of Sev's caliber. I approve."

Severus's heart fluttered at his dead friend's answer. The whole interaction took him on a barrel roll of emotions. Lily was just as emotional now as she was alive. He smiled at his longtime friend.

"We also have another to speak with you tonight," Hooch said.

"Oh?"

"Yes!" Hermione beamed.

The witch turned and motioned to her brother that he could join them.

Harry took off the cloak and walked nervously over. His mum was very emotional apparently. Granted he figured she might have assumed what Aunt Carol initially assumed. The messy haired wizard figured even without the apprenticeship Hermione and Snape would have eventually gotten together somehow.

Harry sat down next to his sister in front of the mirror.

"Hi, mum."

"Oh Harry, we didn't have much time in the graveyard, but look at you. You've grown up. I'm so glad you're not a snotty toe-rag that your father was when he was your age," Lily fawned over her son, now upset she couldn't hold him.

The young wizard furrowed his brows, "Dad was a toe-rag?" he asked incredulously.

"Your father was a bit of a bully before he grew up. An absolute toe-rag. A rich, spoiled, high on his rocker, toe-rag. It wasn't until the end of sixth year that he started to really grow up," she admitted.

Lily was of the firm belief that even though Harry should admire his father, he shouldn't grow up believing his father was without faults. They died young. He had but a few years of actually being mature. People remembered him at the end, Sev of course didn't, and most of the purebloods ignored his atrocious behavior, and no one was really willing to admit the faults of the dead. However she was dead and even if she weren't she would still tell her son the truth. Besides… "Dead men tell no lies".

Minerva made another face knowing exactly what Lily Potter was talking about. She was of the opinion that he did indeed grow up and as a teacher she watched many of the wizarding youth grow up and chose to ignore most of their younger counterparts' faults. She would remind them occasionally if she felt they were too hard on their children, but overall she let them grow up. Besides it wasn't exactly mature to tell your students that their parents were in detention just as much, if not more, than them.

"Everyone is always telling me that Dad was a great man," Harry said, "Well, everyone but Severus."

"Your father grew up to be a great man. A wonderful auror. Sev was my friend first and your father was jealous and picked on him, trying to pit us against one another. It almost worked and I was furious," his mother replied.

Severus couldn't help the small sneer at the reminder.

"Your father's friends stuck by him and agreed with most of what he had to say. To this day I'm sure Sirius antagonizes Sev hoping to prove your father was right the whole time."

Harry frowned. Sirius couldn't help but always say something bad about Severus…

"Don't worry about it, Harry. Just take what Sirius says about him with a grain of salt," his mother said after seeing his frown.

The young wizard nodded.

"Sev gave me your idea journal that you were both working on," Harry stated softly, afraid she might be angry at him having something so… personal he guessed.

He was relieved when his mother smiled brightly at him, "Oh Harry, that's great! If you need any help I'm sure Sev and Hermione will help you! I know they're not really your thing, but I think it could be fun for you. I do want you to enjoy your life beyond fighting Tom Riddle. Quidditch is good and all, but I think it would be nice if you had another hobby. Your father would probably disagree with me. I love you, Harry. I have to go now."

Harry was confused at why his mother had to go so soon.

"It's about to be midnight now, Potter," Hooch explained gently.

The young wizard's shoulders slouched as he nodded in understanding before looking over at his sister.

Hermione sent him a smile noticing how hard it was on him.

"I believe it is time to call it a night," Minerva stated.

The elderly witch turned into a cat and proceeded to look at Severus and then walk to the door. The dark wizard raised his brows at his friend before rolling his eyes. Granted he could understand as getting up from a sitting position wasn't always graceful and he was sure she would struggle despite being healthy. Already standing on her four legs was much easier.

Hermione stood and held her hand out to hoist her brother to his feet. Once he was up she wrapped her arm around his, allowing him the dignity of appearing to escort her while taking in her comforting presence.

The bonded siblings went to bed with slightly heavy thoughts but lighter hearts.