Sanity checked by Anorra who has started her own fic if you want to check it out.

Indian checked by Raddaya, so that I don't make any egregious mistakes with their culture or philosophy.

Chapter 20

Minerva storms out of the school towards Hagrid's hut where one of the students told her that people were trying to arrest Hagrid. As she spots a green bowler hat, her temper frays to the edge of breaking.

"What, in all that is holy, are you doing with our groundskeeper?"

Minister Fudge takes off his bowler hat and worries it in his hands, "Professor, you reported that some petrifications occurred, and we've come to arrest the culprit."

"Are you a blithering nincompoop? How would Hagrid have petrified anyone?"

One of the Auror's speaks up timidly, "According to his arrest record, he was the cause of the last outbreak of petrifications that culminated with the death of one of the students."

Minerva looks up at Hagrid, "Hagrid, is this true?"

Hagrid shakes his head violently, "No professor, Aragog wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Hagrid. Who or what is Aragog?" Hagrid shuffles his feet as he looks down with it, and mumbles something, "Well? Out with it. Don't just mumble."

Softly Hagrid rumbles, "'e's an Acromantula."

Rounding on the Auror's she lets loose with both barrels, "Did any of you do any investigation, or did you just try to arrest a needed member of staff without even informing the acting headmaster of the school? Also, I requested help from the DMCC not the Auror's, do you really think you can handle whatever it is that's petrifying students? Finally, minister! where the bloody hell is the headmaster?"

Minister Fudge steps back with the vehemence that Minerva delivers her questions, "Um, we were notified that he has been detained by the ICW pending the completion of their investigation."

"And how long is that going to take Minister?"

"I don't know, Crouch told me as he's the head of International Cooperation."

Minverva steps forward, and Fudge steps backwards, "Don't you think it might be an idea to find out? After all, he is the Chief Warlock as well as the Headmaster." Fudge nods his head franticly as Minerva rounds on the two Aurors, "And you. What are you waiting for, an invitation to question Hagrid about his Acromantula? Or are you going to actually get me some staff that are trained to deal with magical creatures? And in Morrigan's name, don't try any funny stuff, as I've had it up to hear with everything going on. Do you have any idea how much extra work you've made me with this little stunt?"

Morgana steps out of the mist beside them, "You called?"

The two Aurors whip their wands out and shakily point them at Morgana as Minerva spins around, "Morgana, where did you come from?"

Morgana cocks her head to one side slightly, "You called on my name."

"No I didn't, I've been trying to avoid using your name, as I don't want to end up like Pomona."

Fudge steps back a few more times, and glances around, "Au…Aurors, arrest that woman."

One of the Aurors looks between Minerva and Morgana, and swallows hard, "Um, which one and why sir?"

"The one that just arrived Dawlish, the Ottomans want to question her."

Morgana raises an eyebrow and casually asks Minerva, "Is he usually this quick on the uptake?"

At the same time Dawlish mutters almost inaudibly, "Why couldn't you ask us to arrest the less scary one."

Caught off guard by the casual tone, Minerva shakes her head and replies reflexively, "Um, according to rumours, only when there's been a hefty donation."

Dawlish looks between the Minister and Morgana, "Are you really The Morrigan? The same Morrigan that kicked the arse of Madam Bone's new teacher?"

Morgana's eyebrows rise, "You heard about that?"

Dawlish nods and quickly adds, "Only that you did, none of the details." Turning back to the Minister he shakes his head, "Sorry Minister, she hasn't broken the law in the UK, so we can't arrest her."

Minerva rubs her temples and sighs, "Can you all just go back to the Ministry and send out the department I requested? Or do I need to ask Professor Danann here to find Madam Bones?"

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Pomona crawls into her bed after finally getting away from Morgana. She's so tired that she doesn't even notice when she grabs her hairbrush off the table and uses it to successfully cast a switching spell to get into her night clothes. Putting the extra effort involved down to her exertions with Morgana.

Just as her eyes are starting to close, Morgana steps out of the mist, "Well done, you've now got deliberate travel, entering and exiting, and concealing your magical presence down." Leaning over to her clothes that are now hanging over a chair, she pulls Pomona's wand from her belt holster, "I'll be taking this, as you've now mastered the skills of a 6 year old. I'll see you next week, when we'll start you on illusion and glamours. That should give you time to get used to not being able to use this." Morgana tosses the wand up and down a couple of times before she leaves.

As she does, Pomona wants to object, she really does, but she's just so tired.

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Kali smiles a toothy grin at Padma as she makes her way through the full dance for the first time. Albeit clumsily and lacking power.

"Well done, now you need to do it without hiding any of your magic."

Padma startles and looks guiltily at Kali, "Kali, I'm…"

Kali waves her off, "You are not shutting yourself off from the song anymore. That's all that matters."

"I can't shut off the song anymore, no matter how much I try."

Kali nods approvingly, "This is good. Now you learn to listen to the other song."

Padma turns to stare at Kali, "Other song?"

Kali nods, "Yes, the song of life. Come, we need to travel to the southern jungles."

Padma nods hesitantly, "Do you need me to lead you there, as I've never been to those jungles?"

Kali shakes her head and grabs Padma's hand, smiling approvingly as Padma instinctively swipes at her with a sword, "Not at all, I have learnt your method of travel."

Before Padma can answer, Kali pulls her into the mist, and a few minutes later steps out into some farmland, "Hmm, this was jungle last time I was here."

It takes a few more trips to find a deep enough part of the Jungle for Kali. Once they do, Kali turns to Padma, "You will need to let go of your magic for this. There is no dance for this song, it is far too primal for that."

Hesitantly, Padma pulls her magic out from the mist and lets it sit there. After a few minutes, she asks, "What now?"

"Now you listen," Kali pokes Padma's forehead, "not with this," then she pokes her chest, "with this. Let go of your magic, let it dance amongst the trees on its own."

It takes nearly half an hour for the jungle to return to its normal activity levels with Padma sitting there patiently doing her best not to do anything with her magic. Then her head twitches to one side as she hears something die, followed by a chorus of howls from monkeys throwing stuff at whatever did the killing. Another twitch as the mating call of a bird is momentarily audible over the rest of the din.

Kali allows this to continue for an hour before she smiles, "Padma, it's time to go. You've done well, though you were about to lose yourself to the music without hearing the first note."

Padma jerks at Kali's voice as it pulls her attention away from something that was snuffling through the leaf litter, and would probably make a good meal, "Huh?"

"You were going to attack that Musky Rat. That is part of song, but not the start."

Padma nods, and then thinks about that statement a little more before looking stricken, "Um, Kali, don't you think I'm a little young to be learning that particular song?"

Kali laughs, "Dear child, you are 12 are you not? While your body is not yet ready to participate in the song, it is already listening and starting to sing its own tune. You will need to find this song, as it's also part of the darkness that is our nature, but it is not a harmful darkness."

"Um, o…k. Changing the subject, sometimes sitting near Harry is really uncomfortable, and he seems to be too bright."

Kali nods, "That's because she's closer to accepting her inheritance at those points. Remember that light and dark don't fit well with the ideas of good and evil that come from the Christians. Darkness is all about the primal parts of life, it can be protective, nurturing, and destructive, it is also where things are born. The light is separate from those things. It is loving, giving, selfless, and kind. It can also be destructive, cruel, and callous, when imposed on other people. The song of destruction is for those who have light but have blackened it by engaging in selfish, hedonistic, activity with no thought of their impact on others. My Sister Mother Parvati has only the slightest traces of darkness left in her, however, nobody would deny that she can be just as destructive and terrifying as my Lord Shiva when the need arises."

Padma blinks at Kali, "But I thought good and evil was more like karma."

Kali laughs, "Oh dear child, karma is neither good nor bad, it just is. The most selfless person in the world could have enough karma to drag them down in the next cycle, because they gave no thought to themselves. Some mortals try to escape the cycle by raising their karma until they are no longer weighed down, mostly those who are Hindu. Whether that works or not is something for the philosophers to discuss, not for you or I. Look around you, the world is full of life, and every living thing generates karma. However, only mortals and immortals are able to change their actions to match the karma they wish to have. And so they ascribe good and bad to the karma that they want compared to the karma they don't want.

You are not mortal, and you cannot afford to be so blinkered. Life isn't good or bad, it just is, and you can't have the good without the bad, or the light without the darkness. Much as I was born when Parvati discarded her own darkness, thus preserving the balance.

"Now, it is time for you to return to your school to learn the mortal magics. It is also time for me to find The Morrigan to work off the song so that I can dally with my husband without worrying about harming him."

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Albus carefully picks himself up after a guard stormed into his cell and backhanded him across the face. Roughly the guard reaches down and wrenches open his hand to take the key he's holding there.

"I don't know how you keep getting these keys, but if you don't stop it, Supreme Mugwump or not, we will have to take even more drastic measure than this cell."

Albus reaches for the food, "They're cursed, I can't help them keep coming to me."

"Poppycock, we took them to the local goblin bank and they said that there's nothing unusual about them."

Albus' eyes widen, "Then I must be cursed! I thought, I assumed that it was the keys, but what if it's me?"

"Whatever it is, if you are found with the keys again we have to assume you're trying to escape, and you will be restrained and fed food and water with magic. At that point we'll also check you over for magic."

Albus says weakly, "surely you can check me for magic now."

The guard interrupts him, "At the moment, you're a prisoner that has been found with keys so often you've ended up in a cell rather than your suite. If the council clears you of breaking the Statute of Secrecy, then you'll be the Supreme Mugwump again. Until then, you're a prisoner that has been sneaking keys into their cells."

With a casual wave of his wand, the guard vanishes the food and tray it came on, before leaving the cell.