Harry groaned as he rubbed his scar with a grimace.

"What's wrong?" Tracey asked worriedly as she walked down the hall for their ancient runes class.

"I don't know…" Harry admitted wearily. "But it's a bad sign."

"Maybe you should talk to your dad about it tonight," Tracey argued.

"Ye…" Harry began before trailing off last long a bit gobsmacked. Tracey blinked and looked ahead and also gapped slightly. "Mum?" Harry whispered in awe.

"Thank you for the information professor." Lucius Malfoy barked into the ancient runes classroom before strutting out. "After you, Miss. Vance."

"Of course Mr. Malfoy." Emmeline nodded.

"Mum?" Harry repeated, a little louder and now tinged with slight horror. The pair turned to him, Emmeline with a light smile and Malfoy with a disdainful sneer which he quickly schooled in cool indifference.

"Hello, Mr Potter." He spoke up as casually as he could. "Such a… pleasure… to see you again."

"Mum…" Harry repeated, stepping forward with a hostile expression. He leaned into her space and began to whisper hoarsely. "What are you doing with Malfoy?! He's trying to kill Dad, remember!" Emmeline for her part just smiled at him softly before giving him a quick hug.

"Never you mind dear, just get to class."

"But-" Harry began nervously.

"I'll see you later," Emmeline said as she followed a slowly retreating Lucius who had watched the entire display with a slight sneer of disgust.

"But!" Harry cried after her filled with confusion and worry.

"Goodbye, darling!"

"Mum!" Harry called after her. But it was an exercise in futility because she'd already turned around the corner following the blond aristocrat. Harry made to follow when Tracey pulled him back.

"Hey," she began sternly. "Your mum knows what she's doing."

"But it's Malfoy!" Harry whined.

"Yes," Tracey agreed. "But it's not like he can get away with anything here now, right? More than that she's with him willingly and does not seem to be under any nefarious spells-"

"Bloody hell I didn't even think of that! It must be imperious!" Harry argued as he went to chase them again.

"I said she's NOT under control!" Tracey reiterated with a slight roll of her eyes. Harry made a weary noise regardless. "She's a Slytherin Harry. Rest assured, she has a plan."

"But-" Harry began before Tracey put a finger over his lips.

"She has a plan. And evidently, that plan does not Involve you charging off to be her guardian angel or whatever. Now! We still have a few minutes! As I always say: stylishly early." Tracey finished with a slight eyebrow wiggle before guiding the still-weary Gryffindor back to their ancient runes class.

Emmeline was inspecting the third-floor Keystone, surrounded by an interquite network of bands of runes all swirling around her like a planetary orbit model, while Lucius looked around rather boredly when Delores swooped on them.

"VANCE!" she bellowed, looking leery. "WHAT ARE," she jumped a mile and quickly fixed her slightly missed hair. "Lucius! What are you doing here?" Lucius eyes the woman with a bland expression.

"The board was informed that one of the first-years ended up in the hospital with unusual curse damage. We were all rather alarmed by this. The school's runic keystones should have protected the students from anything that severe. I took the liberty of hiring a runic master and coming for an inspection. Just to be sure everything is in order.

"This one is all clear," Emmeline clinically informed him before she closed the Keystone again, collapsing the many rings back down to one overlapping band and sweeping it back into the Keystone with a few swipes of her hand.

"Onto the next floor then," Lucius commented before he attempted to leave. Delores had yet to move, however, which made the man tisk and lift his cane, motioning for her to move over. Emmeline followed behind the man by a step, completely ignoring Umbridge.

"L-Lucius!" Delores suddenly piped up after that moment of stunned panic.

"What?" Lucius snapped at her in irritation. The woman took a moment to collect herself.

"You may not be aware, but this woman has been banned from Hogwarts grounds!" Delores insisted.

"On whose authority?" Lucius demanded with a raised brow. "Albus didn't raise any concerns when I mentioned her."

"Mine of course. As you know Cornelius put me in charge-" Delores reminded him.

"Cornelius assigned you to monitor Dumbledore and to report to the board about your concerns, Delores. You have no authority." Lucius drawled threateningly with narrowed eyes. Delores paled slightly before going a bit red in the face with as much embarrassment as anger.

"Now see here Lucius! I was appointed by Cornelius himself! You have no right to speak to me like-"

"I may speak to you any way I wish!" Lucius barked coldly. "You are here only because of the corporation of the board! As head, I can rescind that corporation whenever I see fit!" Lucius snapped. The pink woman was shaking now, in a warring aspect of fear and bravado.

"I will be telling Cornelius about this!" Lucius raised an eyebrow.

"Will you? Well… good luck with that." He drawled. Emmeline was barely containing her smirk as Delores seemed to grow momentarily flummoxed. She couldn't believe how daft this woman was that she couldn't understand the obvious implications of what Lucius was saying. "Come along Vance," Lucius piped up. "Seventh floor."

"What about four through six?" Emmeline demanded, making sure to put some genuine confusion and worry into her voice.

"Delores just earned herself an office inspection." Lucius declared.

"What?!" Delores shrieked in horror and rage once again blocking their path. "You have no right!"

"I am head of the board of governors Delores. As of September 1st, you became my employee. Which means that I have every right. Now, step out of my way or you will be removed from the grounds… Permanently." Lucius sneered down at her in a way only centuries of breeding could perfect. Delores paled a fraction before she cleared her throat.

"W-what I meant Lucius was… well is this all really necessary? One student in the hospital. And a muggle-born one at that! Hardly seems warranted." Emmeline's hands had gone white with how hard she was clenching her fists. It was all she could do not to throttle the woman where she stood.

"The magical exhaustion is what gives me pause Delores. According to the girl's medical charts, she is not a weak wizard. Yet she was dangerously close to a complete magical drain." Lucius drawled "If she had been a weaker wizard she would be dead." At this, Umbridge went completely slack-jawed.

"I - I had no idea the situation was quite so dire…" she murmured though from what Emmeline could see the woman's sudden shift of demeanour was more fear for her own life than Lucy's.

Just another reason she was looking forward to seeing the woman hang.

"The offices then," Lucius repeated, startling Delores again. Emmeline nodded and moved towards them ignoring Delores renewed worries and protests.

When Lucius opened the door he visibly winced.

"Sweet Merlin Delores, how old are you?" Lucius demanded with a grimace. The woman let out an affronted guffaw.

"Mr. Malfoy! It is incredibly rude to ask a woman their age! Surely you know this!" She cried in disgust.

"My apologies," Lucius drawled. "I've simply never seen any woman over the age of five with decor like this."

"What's wrong with the decor?" Delores asked in confusion.

"You painted the stones bloody flashing pink!" Lucius snarled. Emmeline tisked suddenly and took one of the plates off the wall.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Delores roared before ripping the plate out of her hands.

"It was blocking the Keystone," Emmeline explained before she splayed her hand against the stone. The surface lit up like a Christmas tree with tiny glowing symbols. Emmeline then pulled her hand away, like she was picking up a delicate bundle of threads and pulled the runic strands out of the stone. The strands formed bands which circled her like a gyroscope, spinning around and rotating in a dizzying flurry. As she ran her hands along them certain runes would jump out. Or a stand would glow a different colour. But as she worked, inspecting each thread she tisked. "There's a lot of interference with the stability runes."

"What could be causing that?"

"An overabundance of magic in the area."

"We are in a magical school, miss. Vance," Delores drawled condescendingly "there is magic everywhere."

"Not necessarily." Emmeline countered. "Most of the classrooms have keystones at the cardinal corners to keep the magic contained to stop that kind of interference. But the common areas don't. Hence the ban on magic in the halls."

"Revelum spellum." Lucius drawled as he swished his wand. Instantly the room was aglow with all the spells Umbridge had cast over it. There were several on the fireplace and several on the window. A few of the plates had dozens. The door was practically neon with all the magic layered on top of it.

"Good lord," Emmeline muttered in slight horror. "No wonder there's all this interference!"

"Perhaps I was a tad excessive…" Umbridge muttered. "I just felt that-"

"Why do you have monitoring spells connected to the floor network?" Lucius demanded suddenly.

"To keep an eye on Dumbledore." Umbridge declared smoothly.

"So you set up a spell on his fireplace."

"Well, what if he used someone else's?!" Delores demanded. Lucius narrowed his eyes.

"What are all these?" He demanded, moving to the windows. He taped a pane with his wand and balked as it showed an interior view of Professor Sprout's office where she was currently doing some kind of independent project with a couple of ravenclaws.

"I needed to be able to keep an eye on several of the faculty. They were undermining the ministry's efforts to improve things." Lucius narrowed his eyes before he turned to the door. As he stared at it he grew angrier and angrier.

"Delores… if I didn't know any better, I'd say there was something you were trying to hide."

"W-whyever do you say that?" Delores demanded worriedly.

"The vast majority of these spells are to negate other monitoring charms." Lucius pointed out.

"W-well-" Delores began nervously.

"And yet… the spells on the cat plates are all recordings of some kind." Emmeline froze and turned to the cat plates.

There were dozens of them. But only about 6 or seven on the wall were glowing. The moment Lucius had mentioned it Delores gripped the one in her hands a little tighter. It too was glowing faintly blue with magic. Emmeline immediately closed the circle as quickly as she could and stepped forward.

"Give me that plate." She demanded. Delores started.

"Never."

"What did you record Delores?" Lucius demanded.

"It's none of your business," Delores argued.

"Hand it over." Emmeline insisted.

"No."

"Delores," Lucius drawled softly and slowly in a way most dangerous sounding which gave the woman a moment of pause. "Hand it over now."

No one moved.

Then Delores reached out to hand it to Lucius.

But then she dropped it at the last moment. There was a moment when Emmeline's heart plummeted. She couldn't let this woman get away with whatever it was she'd done.

Lucius then startled her with the speed of his wand. She was momentarily reminded that he was an expert duelist and that his threats against her family were not hot air. If he were able, he could have killed Emmeline the moment he saw her. As he levitated the plate up from the floor he gave a now-shaking Delores a scathing look.

"That was not very intelligent." He declared to her. "Come Delores. I think the rest of the faculty should know of your activities. Then we shall see what is on this plate." Then he paused. "Actually… Vance," he began casually. "Bring them all." Emmeline nodded quickly. "Then come meet us at the headmaster's office."

"Yes sir," Emmeline said with a nod. The man snorted a bit before turning to Delores.

"March." He declared coldly. The woman gulped and then did as instructed, marching towards the headmaster's office with Lucius behind.