Phoenix Intuition

Chapter Ten

Hermione and Snape arrived at the meeting room exactly on time, brought by Harry, who then perched on Hermione's shoulder. Neither thought that the governors would be as intimidated by his presence as they had been before, but they felt it couldn't hurt.

They were greeted by twelve older wizards sitting at their usual spots at the table... and a standing, grinning Dolores Umbridge. Hermione fought back nausea. She thinks she's won this time, thought Hermione. We'll see.

"Gentlemen," she said in greeting as she took her seat, ignoring Umbridge.

"Professor Snape was not invited to this meeting," pointed out Tobler. "But I believe there is another section of the Ministry that is most interested in hearing from him."

"He is here at my request," said Hermione, "just as I assume Undersecretary Umbridge is here at yours. I'm very busy, gentlemen, so I would appreciate it if we could get down to business quickly."

"Your workload is about to be greatly reduced," said Tobler solemnly. "We have unanimously decided to relieve you as Hogwarts headmistress. Undersecretary Umbridge will take over for you, effective immediately."

Snape said it so Hermione wouldn't have to. "That is unacceptable."

A few governors gaped at Snape's insolence. "That is our decision, and you must respect it," retorted an irritated Tobler.

"You may or may not know," said Hermione, "that Undersecretary Umbridge created a great deal of ill will at Hogwarts during her previous time there. I read to you a statement signed by all current Hogwarts professors, saying, "We strongly feel that Dolores Umbridge is highly inappropriate to be at Hogwarts in any capacity. She--"

"Professor Granger, we are not here to--"

"--six years ago behaved in a petty, abusive, and tyrannical fashion, to such an extent that all professors considered resigning at some point. We simply could not continue to function as professors if she were to be returned to Hogwarts, and we would make this clear to the public, and students' parents, in the strongest possible terms."

"They can be replaced," said Umbridge cheerfully.

"Very quickly, no doubt," agreed Snape, "since as a professor, you did nothing but have the students read during classes. It should not be difficult for you to find a dozen others who would do the same."

"That is the kind of 'education' she would bring to Hogwarts," added Hermione.

"I was operating under the instructions of then-Minister Fudge, who has since been assassinated by... persons unknown," said Umbridge smugly, looking directly at Snape.

"You would be well-advised to beware of 'persons unknown,'" retorted Snape. Her eyes widened slightly at the none-too-subtle threat.

Hermione spoke again. "Our point, gentlemen, is that Undersecretary Umbridge simply cannot function effectively as a Hogwarts instructor or headmistress. However--"

"I'm in, Granger, and there's nothing you can do about it," said Umbridge contemptuously.

Hermione glared at Umbridge. "You'd be surprised at what I can do. You will never set foot on Hogwarts soil again, I promise you that." Turning to the governors, she added, "And you, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You are supposed to be the overseers of Hogwarts' safety and smooth operation, and you try to install the one person who caused more dissension at Hogwarts than any in a century. You're responding only to political pressure, not what's best for Hogwarts.

"However, I am willing to try to reach a compromise. You have no logical reason to want me out of the position--"

"Hogwarts' centuries-old magical protection was destroyed under your supervision!" exclaimed a governor.

Snape eyed him carefully, then responded. "The Ministry has already been informed of the details of what happened. There was nothing she or any headmaster could have done to stop what happened. You are using this as a pretext for a politically motivated decision."

"A headmistress is responsible for what happens at Hogwarts, whether she could have prevented it or not," responded Tobler coldly. "Headmaster Dumbledore said that many times."

"Yes, and that is why I am willing to try to reach a compromise," agreed Hermione. "I will step aside voluntarily if you name any of the other current professors to be the headmaster."

"That is unacceptable," retorted Tobler. "We are the governors, and it is our decision."

"And may I ask," said Snape, turning a penetrating eye on Tobler, "what you were promised by Undersecretary Trent in exchange for this appointment?"

Tobler reddened. "I will not answer such insolent questions!"

"Because you know I am a Legilimens, and would detect your lie in response," shot back Snape. "If you tell me that you are not doing this on behalf of Undersecretary Trent, or in exchange for some favor from him, we will cease our resistance. Please, go ahead," he added with sarcasm.

There was silence; Tobler tried to keep a straight face, but his expression betrayed his feelings. "As I thought," spat Snape. "We will..." He paused, and looked down the table at the other man who had spoken. "What is your name?"

"Wilbert Trafain," responded the man defensively.

"Yes, a good friend of Undersecretary Trent, I believe," said Snape. "But you are not a Hogwarts governor."

"Of course he is," responded Tobler.

"When was he appointed?"

"This morning, in the wake of Governor Wyatt's assassination last Friday."

Snape grinned. "By whom was he appointed?"

Tobler's face fell, as he saw where Snape was going. "By the appropriate authority."

"Do not lie to a Legilimens," said Snape disdainfully. "You mean, he was appointed by Undersecretary Trent, who does not have the authority to do so. All eleven undersecretaries must agree for Ministerial power to be used, and I am certain that Undersecretary Weasley would not agree to such a thing."

"Even if you are correct," replied Tobler, trying to recover, "The vote to remove Professor Granger was still unanimous, and is valid."

Snape rolled his eyes. "Again, a lie. It is not valid. You cannot make decisions without the unanimous agreement of all twelve governors, and you do not have that. You can make no decisions until you have your twelfth member, legitimately appointed."

"How dare you take advantage of Governor Wyatt's death in such a despicable way," hissed Umbridge, feigning outrage. "You may well have been his killer, for all we know, trying to prevent my installation."

Snape grinned again. "You are welcome to try to prove it."

"Believe me, I will," she shouted.

"I think not." Turning to Hermione, he said, "Headmistress, it is clear we are wasting our time--"

Harry suddenly took off from his perch on Hermione's shoulder, flying in the air above her and Snape. "There's been an attack on Hogwarts," Hermione informed Snape anxiously. They grabbed Harry's tail and were gone.

In the hallway outside, under an Invisibility Cloak, Drake and Hugo followed the governors until they could catch one alone. Drake took his memories of the meeting and performed a Memory Charm.

* * * * *

Harry deposited Hermione and Snape in the Great Hall. Sprout was trying to calm everyone down; Hermione could smell smoke, and she saw burn marks on the walls of the Hall. A few people were on the ground near the walls, but she couldn't see who they were. "What happened?" she asked Helen, who ran to her and Snape upon seeing them; Helen had been one of those Hermione chose to keep watch at mealtimes. A few Aurors were behind her.

"A man Apparated in," she reported, "into the middle of the Hall. He had a sort of... I don't know, a kind of tray in each hand, with four Fireballs in it. He shot them all off at once, they went in every direction. It happened really fast. But we were really lucky. Eight of us were keeping watch, and we were kind of spaced apart. Each of us intercepted the Fireball closest to us and flung it at the nearest wall. None of them landed where they were supposed to."

"Was anyone hurt?" asked Hermione.

"A few students got singed," answered an Auror, "and a couple of us happened to Apparate in near the walls. Most of the students managed to swat them away high, and they exploded against the walls."

"Hermione! Over here!" She turned and saw Ron, in his Auror robes, gesture her over. As she got close she saw the Healer, responding quickly, treating Neville for burns to the side of his head.

"Neville!" she cried, taking his free hand.

"I'm all right, it's not as bad as it looks," he assured her. "Just got a bit of a surprise when I Apparated in, is all."

Hermione looked at the Healer, who nodded. "Some bleeding and burns, but nothing that can't be fixed quickly. He probably won't have to spend the night at St. Mungo's."

"Damn right I won't," Neville shot back. "Give me a break, I should be out of there in two hours and back on duty."

"They'll be the judge of that," said Hermione firmly. "I don't want you giving them a hard time, or I'll hear about it."

"I'm not making any promises."

Hermione leaned close to him. "I have to do headmistress stuff, but I'll be checking in on you." She kissed him on his uninjured cheek, and went to check on the rest of the damage and confer with Kingsley, who had already arrived.

"I suppose there's nothing we can do to stop this," she said.

He shook his head. "Nothing more than what you did, which definitely saved some lives."

"I'm sure it'll be duly noted in the Prophet," she said sarcastically.

"I'll mention it if they ask me. Were you at the Ministry when this happened?"

She nodded. "Resisting Umbridge. Professor Snape got us off on a technicality, but come Friday, we're..."

He gave her a small, sympathetic grin. "I believe the technical term is 'screwed.'"

She smiled a little. "I don't like to use words like that. But yes, we're screwed."

He tilted his head and gave a tiny shrug. "You never know what will happen."

"I don't have much hope. But thanks for the encouragement, and for arriving so fast. I assume you have four Aurors on fast Apparation-detection response for Hogwarts?"

"It's as much as we can spare. But fortunately, it seems as though you have some capable people here."

"Well, their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was Harry Potter," she said humorously. "They should be good."

He nodded. "I didn't want him to be a teacher way back when; I'm sure you remember that we wanted him as an Auror. But we've been getting much better applicants from here since he's been the teacher. That Dumbledore, always seemed to know what he was doing."

"I wish he were here," said Hermione wistfully.

He gave her shoulder a quick pat. "You're doing great. Just don't let the bastards get you down."

"Which bastards would those be?" she asked, deadpan.

"Any of them," he said emphatically.

* * * * *

An hour later, Kingsley requested an emergency meeting of the undersecretaries. Fifteen minutes later, all were present except Umbridge. Trent told Kingsley to go ahead and start; she could be filled in later. Kingsley assumed that it was partly because he knew that she would vote as he did, whatever the situation.

"I'm here to request authority that only the Minister can give," said Kingsley. "The Aurors would like it made a criminal offense to Apparate into Hogwarts, until further notice. As word has spread, three parents of students have already Apparated to the school grounds, which keeps us distracted. If an attack occurred soon after that, lives could be lost. I'd like to see this in the Prophet tomorrow, so people will know. Time is of the essence."

The other undersecretaries let Trent speak first. "Well, that certainly sounds reasonable," offered Trent. "Would you give us a moment to discuss this, Mr. Shacklebolt?" Kingsley nodded and left.

"Arthur? You're the contrary one these days. What do you think?"

"My vote's the most predictable of this group, Roger, you know that. Of course I'll support it. I assume this is something we can all agree on?"

"I'm not sure," responded Trent. "I'm still concerned about Hogwarts' leadership. So I'll tell you what, I'll support this if you'll support the installation of Wilbert Trafain as the twelfth Hogwarts governor."

Now I know why he wanted Kingsley to leave the room, thought Arthur disgustedly. Allowing his annoyance to show clearly, he said, "The fact that I don't have political ambition, Roger, doesn't mean that I'm stupid. You know I don't make quid pro quo deals. But, how about this: you support this now without any further argument, and I won't go to the Prophet and tell them that you tried to hold Hogwarts' security hostage to your political agenda."

Trent chuckled and shrugged. "Page five, at best. 'Political Infighting At Ministry.' People will be so shocked. If they even read it."

"Suit yourself. You'll support it, though. You don't want to be blamed for the next Hogwarts death that could have been prevented."

"I'm pretty sure that blame will be Granger's, not mine," retorted Trent. "After how she and Snape talked to the governors, she'll be persona non grata at the Ministry. I don't see why I should help her. But that gives me an idea. I'll--and I'm serious about this--do it if and only if Snape testifies about where he was on Sunday morning."

Arthur tried to keep his temper down. "You're jeopardizing lives."

Trent gave him a steely glare. "I'm making a point. I'm going to be Minister in four days. I'm serving notice that I'm not to be messed with. Hogwarts doesn't matter anyway; on Friday Granger is gone, and Hogwarts will be in lockstep with the Ministry."

"With you, you mean," clarified Arthur.

"Same thing. The Minister has quite a lot of power, and I intend to use it. I'm not going to sit idly by and let Granger and Snape defy me just because I won't be Minister for another four days. So, you go to the Prophet and say what you want. In fact, I'll be supporting it as well."

Arthur rolled his eyes, knowing what was coming. "I, however, have some concerns about it," said Undersecretary Peter Sampson, as if on cue.

"I do, too," added another. Arthur sighed; they would do Trent the favor of blocking it on his behalf, while he would be able to say publicly that he supported it.

"If you think this is going to fool anybody--" Arthur started, but was interrupted by an aide of Trent's. "Excuse me for interrupting, but... we were just looking for Undersecretary Umbridge, and we found her. She's dead."

Arthur saw that the startled glances were as much in fear for their own safety as in concern for Umbridge. "From what?" asked Trent sharply.

"They don't know yet," said the aide. "Not the Killing Curse, not any organ failure. They think right now it's poison, but they still have to test her. I'll find out what I can." The young man retreated.

The silence in the room stretched to a full minute. Finally, Trent spoke. "If it turns out to be poison... the Potions Master who not long ago as much as threatened her life looks very good for this. The Wizengamot might even convict him on circumstantial evidence. I have no doubt that he did it."

"People have been dying left and right for a week now," pointed out Arthur.

"A perfect setting in which to kill an enemy and make it look like someone else did it," countered Trent. "He threatened her specifically, Tobler said. I'm sure he'll show us the memory in a Pensieve if we ask him to. Mark my words, Snape will be in custody by Friday."

"And you don't care that more than anyone except Harry, he brought down Voldemort."

"Once a Dark wizard, always a Dark wizard. They don't change their spots."

Arthur shook his head. This was very soon going to be a government he wanted no part of. He wanted to resign, but he knew he should stay, if only to keep Trent honest and maybe help curb the worst abuses the man might be tempted to commit.

After another silence, Trent looked at Arthur. "Well, Arthur, your obstruction has paid off. No Minister to appoint another Undersecretary, and we can do nothing without eleven votes. The government is paralyzed until Friday. Happy?"

"This wasn't what I had in mind," said Arthur evenly. "But better paralyzed than corrupt."

Trent's eyes narrowed. "That's an awfully heavy word to be throwing around."

Arthur was unmoved. "This from a man who was ready to sacrifice lives to his political agenda. I'm comfortable with the word."

"'Corrupt' means 'illegal.' I'd like you to point to one illegal thing I did."

"You tried to slide Wilbert Trafain past Hermione and hope no one noticed; that's illegal, appointing someone without proper authority. But I'll compromise. Perhaps you'd prefer the term 'morally bankrupt.' There's no law against that."

Trent actually smiled. "To a lot of people, that's the definition of politics. You make me laugh sometimes, Arthur. You couldn't be less appropriate for this job."

"At last," nodded Arthur, "we agree on something."

* * * * *

Fortunately, Luna had Apparation privileges for Harry's home; he wasn't around as a human, and Ginny didn't have the magical ability to alter any of Harry's magical protections for their home. She walked out of the Apparation area; Ginny was in the living room, waiting for her.

Ginny was going to give Luna a quick hug in greeting, but Luna took Ginny in her arms and held her tightly, her sympathy for what Ginny had recently endured coming back to her. Ginny smiled and returned the hug; Luna was always unconventional. "It's all right," Ginny assured her. "I'm okay."

"I know," said Luna as they separated. "I just had a flashback."

"It was awful," acknowledged Ginny. "But it's over now. James is safe, thank God."

"Thank God?" repeated Luna.

"It's a Muggle expression," explained Ginny. "I picked it up from Harry. He won't say 'thank Merlin,' he thinks it sounds stupid for some reason."

"Well, he is more powerful than Merlin was," said Luna reasonably. "Maybe someday wizards will say, 'Thank Harry.'"

Ginny burst out laughing. "I'd love to see his reaction to that," she said as her laughter died down. "I hope you'll say that again sometime when he's around, as a human."

"I'll try," agreed Luna. "How are you doing, if I can ask? With him not around?"

"He's around sometimes as a phoenix, of course. It's not the same, but it's better than nothing. He's been around less since Hogwarts came under attack, but I know why, and I'm not bothered. He and the others are really busy these days. I am too, just doing something different; making sure James is safe. This house is safe, and James is not leaving it until Harry comes back as a human. Speaking of James..."

James toddled over, and Luna picked him up, holding him slightly away from her. "Remember me?"

"Oona!"

Luna smiled, and held James to her. "That's right," she said. She thought of how close he had come to dying, a death she could have prevented but didn't. "I'm so glad you're all right."

Ginny noticed the tears just behind Luna's eyes. "I guess it was kind of emotional for the rest of you who were there, too," she suggested.

Luna nodded. "I might have also been thinking about my father. You almost lost James, and I almost lost him. In the dragon attack," she added, to Ginny's surprised expression. "He was in the group that was almost killed at the end."

"Ah, that Susan saved."

Luna hated to perpetuate a lie of her own making, but she had little choice. "That's right. I was terrified. And I was terrified for you, when this happened."

"So was I, as everyone in the wizarding parts of England knows by now, since they saw the whole thing on those Looking Glasses. I assume that's why the Prophet wanted you to do this article?"

Luna nodded. "Everyone saw James bring up the shield, but people aren't sure how it was done. I mean, it was mentioned briefly in the article the next day, but it's such a stunning development, it deserves its own article. I was just surprised they asked me to do it, since I'm so new. I guess all their other reporters are busy doing other things."

Ginny, at least, knew why. "No, it's because of me. I don't have the ability to authorize anyone new for the fireplace or Apparation, not that I would anyway. And I refuse to leave here. So, whoever they sent to interview me had to be someone already authorized to Apparate here."

"Ah, now I understand," said Luna. Instead of putting James down on the floor, she sat on the floor with him. "So, James, show me what you can do."

James cheerfully started changing colors on blocks and other toys. "He's been going nuts changing everything's color," said an amused Ginny. "Fortunately it's harmless, and it doesn't last long. I got him some crayons and coloring books. Color is a big world for him now. He's actually getting creative with the colors he turns things. Right now he likes orange and gold, because those are Harry's phoenix colors."

"Does he miss Harry?"

"Well, of course, he's bonded to Harry now, so he can feel his presence. But even before that, if Harry was around as a phoenix, that was all right for James. Oddly--at least, I think it's odd--he doesn't really make a distinction between phoenix-daddy and human-daddy. Wish I could do that."

"When I was over for dinner, you said that you were working on some things, like Summoning things. Can he Summon yet?"

"Summa!" shouted James, but he didn't Summon anything.

"Don't encourage him," joked Ginny. "Once he can do that, he'll be Summoning anything that isn't nailed down. It'll be a full-time job keeping up with him." She paused, then added thoughtfully, "A full-time job that I'm suddenly more than happy to do." She paused again. "Now that this has happened, I don't think I'm even going to miss professional Quidditch. Almost losing him reminded me of how precious he is. I think I just took it for granted before. Now I wonder how I did."

Luna thought she could imagine how it could happen. "How are you getting along without Dobby?"

Emotion crossed Ginny's face. "We miss him, of course. I told James that Dobby had to go, he went to a good place. Which is true. He's probably dealing with it better, the whole experience, because of being bonded with Harry, and having that influence that you get from a phoenix. I don't think that a day's going to go by for a long time when I don't think about what Dobby did. It's the noblest thing anyone can do. I was glad Hermione had that memorial at Hogwarts for him, it was a good reminder. Dobby was a better person than a lot of humans.

"As for his helping around the house, Mum's really stepped in there, which I appreciate. She's doing all the shopping, which makes me kind of paranoid; I worry that anything she touches could be a Portkey. I make her promise not to grab anything, just to Summon things, or do a Reveal spell that would show a Portkey. So far, I haven't let her go shopping unless Harry can escort her, on her shoulder. I still worry, but someone has to get the food and things like that. I'm also having Mum teach me more household spells. We'll get by."

Luna asked more questions about James' upbringing and magical abilities, and soon had enough information for her article. Ginny asked Luna to stay for dinner, which Luna did. She could always stop time later for as long as it took to write the article.

Dinner turned out to be a rather larger affair than Ginny had thought. Since James' abduction, all Weasley family meals had been eaten at Harry's home, since Ginny wouldn't go to the Burrow despite the fact that it too was under the influence of Harry's spells. Usually it was Arthur, Molly, Ginny, James, and Ron and Pansy if they weren't too busy. That night it was them, Luna, Hermione, and to Ginny's surprise, Snape. Hermione had suggested to Snape that he join them so they could talk freely to Arthur about the Hogwarts situation vis-à-vis the Ministry. Pansy helped Molly in the kitchen, despite Ginny's offers to do so.

Snape and Hermione arrived at the same time, taking Flora from Hogwarts. "Hermione," Ginny greeted her. "Professor Snape."

He gave her a slight nod, noting that she wasn't going to address him in familiar terms in front of others. All except Molly and Pansy sat in the living room; James was napping in his bedroom. "Well, it was an extremely eventful day at the office," remarked Arthur. "Professor, I heard you made a few new friends among the governors."

Hermione chuckled. "It was quite a performance. He treated them like Potions students who hadn't studied, then tried to cheat on a test. Of course, they deserved it. He saved us, at least for a few days. I was happy to take what I could get. I hated the idea of Umbridge being in charge at all, never mind with the magic down. Of course, whoever he appoints now will probably be just as bad."

"I assume you know, Professor, that he intends to arrest you for Umbridge's murder as soon as he's Minister," said Arthur.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "In that case, I only wish I had actually done it."

"Professor!" shouted Molly from the kitchen, in a reprimanding tone. "That's nothing to make jokes about!"

Arthur, Ron, and Ginny chuckled. With a sardonic glance towards the kitchen, Snape continued. "I made threatening comments to her in the governors' meeting to give her pause, to unnerve her. Now, in retrospect, it appears to have been... imprudent. But making threats is not a crime, and I have excellent alibis for the early afternoon. Trent will attempt to ignore that, but I doubt very strongly that the Wizengamot would convict me with such an absence of evidence. I suspect the killer was our adversary, who procured a memory of the meeting and decided to place a further wedge between Hogwarts and the Ministry. Rest assured, I am not in the least worried about Trent's plans for me."

"And if they do convict you, Harry can always break you out," pointed out Ron with a straight face.

Snape gave Ron an annoyed, 'very funny' glance. "I am, however, concerned for the future of Hogwarts. It appears that on Friday Professor Granger and I will be gone, and the school controlled by Trent."

Hermione shook her head, distressed. "I hate that this happened on my watch. I should have stepped aside at the beginning, handed it over to Professor Sprout. They wouldn't have done this to her."

"Yes, they would," countered Snape. "The elimination of Hogwarts' magical protection would have been their pretext. It would have been something along the lines of, 'such a nice woman, but not up to the challenge of ensuring the safety of the school.' Your youth is part of their pretext, but as you pointed out to them, you have far more experience in dangerous situations than most. They would not have dared do this to Professor Potter, but as we have seen, his political clout is only somewhat transferable to you. There is nothing you have done that you should have done differently, and no reason for self-recrimination."

She nodded her appreciation, but couldn't help but remember Hedrick and Helen's request to check their classmates. She was sure her having done so would have prevented the loss of Hogwarts' magic, and prevented a death.

"I wish there were something I could do, but of course there isn't," said Arthur.

"So, Amelia Bones won't take him on?" asked Ron. "You said she doesn't like him. And after what Susan did, her name would be important; the Aurors would support her--"

"Aurors can't get involved in politics, Ron, you know that."

"I mean, in a subtle way," countered Ron. "The Aurors are all talking about how bad things are going to be with Trent, how Kingsley is going to have to spend half his time fighting off Trent's interference. We all wish Amelia would run. We could let it be known that we support her."

"She's still grieving for Susan, she'd want no part of that," said Arthur. "I don't blame her. Trent has a lot of popular support, and he'd be an ugly campaigner. I've seen firsthand the depths to which he'll stoop. It would be a very uphill battle for her. She just isn't in any condition to take it on."

Ron nodded. "Well, there are other things we could do," he muttered darkly.

"I strongly suggest, Mr. Weasley," said Snape sternly, "that you not say such things outside the presence of Aurors. I doubt Mr. Shacklebolt would appreciate it."

Ron was taken aback. "I trust everyone here."

"That is not the point; it is more a matter of principle," countered Snape.

Luna spoke. "I promise not to repeat this, of course, but I assume Ron is talking about the Aurors killing Trent?"

"An appealing option on the surface, I admit," responded Snape, who then glanced in the direction of the kitchen, as if wondering whether he'd been heard; most of the others smiled. "But, yes, such a thing has happened before. It is a reason for the Aurors' independent power base. The Aurors protect the Minister, which means they could easily kill him and make it appear to be natural causes, or an accident. Because of this, an understanding has evolved in which the Aurors take orders from the Minister and do not involve themselves in politics, but he does not interfere in their internal affairs. This has been the case for over a hundred years."

"Trent told Kingsley that he may not respect that agreement," said Ron. "There's been some internal discussion about what to do about it."

"That doesn't surprise me at all, that he wouldn't respect the agreement," said Arthur. "Trent is, I suppose, what politics can breed. He's not evil, or even necessarily a bad person fundamentally. But he doesn't care about being a good undersecretary or Minister, just about power. He's the type that'll push hard in every direction, and keep pushing until he encounters resistance he can't get past. There's no such thing as a gentlemen's agreement with someone like him. So, it doesn't surprise me that he would push Kingsley hard, even before he becomes Minister."

"I just thought that all that stuff he was saying about giving the Aurors better direction was political, that he didn't really mean it," said Luna. "By the way, do you think there's any possibility that he's connected to our enemy? He had benefited from what's happened, especially what happened to Minister Bright."

"There is no way to know," said Snape, "but some things then do not make sense, such as Umbridge's assassination. He would not remove a key supporter simply to discredit me or Professor Granger. I would say that he has been an unwitting beneficiary. To the extent that our enemy has a motive, it would seem to be to create the greatest possible terror, chaos, and anxiety in government institutions, Hogwarts, and the population. Trent is simply the kind of person who benefits from such a situation."

Molly called everyone in for dinner, and they talked more while they ate, mostly catching up those who didn't know, such as Ginny, on the latest developments with Hogwarts, the Aurors, and the Ministry. After dinner, Luna excused herself, saying she had to go home to write the article about James. She knew that while she could stop time to write it at her leisure, it would look very suspicious to the others if she stayed until minutes from the Prophet's deadline and yet submitted the article on time.

They reconvened in the living room to discuss the near future. "What hurts about this worst is the loss of Hogwarts," lamented Hermione. "The Aurors can take care of themselves, but Hogwarts is about to become a division of the Ministry, and nobody will care enough to do anything about it."

"Unfortunately, some will welcome it," said Arthur. "Some people have always said that Hogwarts should be more responsive to the citizens, and making it part of the Ministry--they say, I don't agree--would have that effect. Having seen politics up close, I know what it would do, but most people don't. It probably won't be like Umbridge having students read instead of teaching them, but in some ways it will be like Umbridge writ large. Teachers will become the equivalent of politicians, their political acumen and connections more important than their teaching skill."

"In Muggle schools, they have tenure," pointed out Hermione. "They can't fire teachers for anything but the most extreme misbehavior. Why don't we have that at Hogwarts?"

"It has never been necessary," suggested Snape.

"That reminds me, why has this never happened before?" asked Ron. "Hasn't the Ministry ever tried to take over Hogwarts before?"

Snape exchanged a glance with Hermione. He would take the question; he was better at lying than she was. "There have been times when the Ministry's influence was much stronger than it has been recently. We have been living in a period of strong independence for Hogwarts, mainly due to Professor Dumbledore's influence. Such things ebb and flow, but I do not believe such a direct takeover has ever been accomplished."

Ron was about to comment further when Harry suddenly appeared; he flew around a little, and perched on Snape's shoulder. Ginny and a few others laughed as Snape glanced up, annoyed. "You are ten seconds from being swatted away, Professor," warned Snape. Harry immediately took flight again, this time landing on Ginny's shoulder. She reached up and pet him.

"Looks like he found the right place," joked Molly.

"Wait a second, he's sending something," said Pansy; Hermione nodded that she was receiving impressions as well. The others saw identical expressions of stunned surprise appear on the faces of the two phoenix companions.

"What is it?" asked Molly, the others appearing very curious as well.

"It's his phoenix intuition," said Hermione. She turned to Arthur, sadness on her face. "I'm sorry, Arthur. I know you're not going to like this..."

* * * * *

The next morning, Hedrick and Helen finished eating early. Before the Hogwarts attack, they had been eating alone because the other eight wanted nothing to do with them. Now, it was because they were the only two remaining Slytherin seventh years at Hogwarts. One was dead, and the other seven, at St. Mungo's.

They had received blanket permission from Hermione to walk out the Hogwarts gate and Apparate to St. Mungo's to visit, provided their Head Boy and Girl responsibilities had been taken care of. Ten students were on breakfast watch in the Great Hall; it was an even more desired post after the quick reactions of the eight had saved many lives the day before. Hedrick and Helen were scheduled for the dinner watch.

They had no classes until ten o'clock, so there was no hurry. They Apparated to the St. Mungo's lobby, then took the elevator to where their friends were being kept. They walked in and saw a Healer checking one; they had been hoping for Pansy, but they knew she couldn't specifically request to care for patients based on her personal connection to them. They knew this Healer, having seen her the morning before.

She looked up and saw them. "Hedrick, Helen. No change, I'm afraid."

They nodded, having expected nothing different. "Still no way to tell if anything will happen?" asked Hedrick.

"I'm sorry, no," said the Healer, and walked off to check on other patients.

Helen took his hand. "It could be a while. I think it's like what happened to Professor Potter and his friends when they saved him from that Killing Curse in Hogsmeade six years ago. They'll come back when they come back."

"Damn artifact," he muttered. "I just can't believe that one of the ten of us is dead. It just seems... wrong. We were supposed to be friends for life, all of us."

"I know. It's really hard," she agreed. "Just think of how they'll feel when they wake up. Professor Snape said the pyramids weren't actually controlling them, but really influencing them. They kind of couldn't help what they did, but they'll feel bad anyway. They'll feel responsible for Derek's death. We have to tell them that they're not."

A few minutes later, the door to the ward opened, and Colin and Dennis Creevey came in. They exchanged greetings and what little news there was. Colin had to go to the Ministry, but Dennis stayed for a while.

Colin walked into the Muggle Liaison office at eight-thirty. Dudley asked about Andrea; Colin said there was no change. They sat at their computers and got to work. Luna joined them at nine o'clock; they complimented her on her article about James.

At just after half past nine, Dudley gasped. "Jesus Christ," he whispered.

"What?" asked Colin and Luna simultaneously.

"Go and get Arthur, now," said Dudley urgently.

"He's in a meeting with the undersecretaries--"

"Go in and pull him out of it!"

Luna had stood and walked around behind Dudley's desk, and saw what he was looking at. "Oh, no..."

Convinced of the urgency, Colin leaped up, but had to know what it was first. He joined Luna behind Dudley, and saw a picture with a caption. "Find Of The Century, Or Digital Trickery? You Decide!" Below it was a picture, taken from the air, of Hogwarts castle.

On his way out, Colin almost ran over a colleague who was entering the office.

* * * * *

Drake had not given Joe the artifact that prevented magic from being detected for yesterday's attack with the Fireballs; it hadn't been necessary, and he had wanted to test the Aurors' reaction time. Today, it was necessary.

He and Joe had Apparated together into Hogwarts castle, and fortunately, were not seen on entry. Wanting greater freedom of movement, Drake had decided not to use the Invisibility Cloak, but to Disillusion himself and Joe instead. They could still be seen, especially when in motion, but one had to be looking carefully. They were looking for people alone, but so far hadn't found any; Drake decided he would settle for groups of two. They were handicapped by the fact that at Hogwarts, one had to assume that anyone could use the Killing Curse shield.

They turned a corner, and Drake finally saw what he was after: one person standing alone. Better yet, it was the Muggle Studies teacher, a Muggle himself. Drake crept closer.

"I do not require two students to help me check that a lavatory is empty," muttered a disgruntled Snape as he entered a men's room, two Hufflepuff sixth years behind him.

"You know the rule, Professor," John chided him from where he stood outside, checking the halls. "No one goes into a room alone until they know it's not occupied. I've seen you reminding a number of students."

"Yes, but I can look after myself far better than they can look after themselves," retorted Snape. Satisfied that the men's room was empty, Snape waved the two students away, and they headed for the door to rejoin John outside. Snape and the other two had come to accompany John from his class; Snape was discovering that great logistical planning was required to be sure that no one was alone at any time, even walking from class to class.

Chuckling to himself at Snape's annoyance, John checked the halls again. There was nothing... but something looked strange, like the air was rippling. As the two students stepped out of the men's room, John's heart raced as he saw a Killing Curse bolt suddenly head towards him from four yards away.

John knew exactly what wizards did to bring up the Killing Curse shield, and without the time to think about it, or anything, he did just that, like a reflex. The green shield went up, and the bolt was stopped. John stood there, bewildered; the students saw the shield go up and fired Stunning spells blindly. They all heard the sounds of two Disapparations as Snape raced out of the men's room. "What happened?"

"Someone shot a Killing Curse at me," said John.

Snape glanced at the students, both of whom could use the shield. "Did you put it up?" one asked the other, who shook his head.

"Clearly one of you did it," Snape pointed out. "As Professor Potter has explained, it can at times seem to come on automatically; either of you could have done it and not been aware of it. To the Hall, and quickly. They may not be truly gone, and the school must be warned. You two in front, I will watch our backs." They set off at a trot as Snape spoke into his pendant, informing Hermione of what had happened.

John thought furiously as they ran. He knew that it was him, not the students. He had been taking part in the energy of love classes for over three months; some students had developed the ability to use the spells that quickly. Of course, he was a Muggle, and took the class mainly for self-improvement reasons (thought he had thought humorously, on occasion, wouldn't it be interesting if I became able to do the spells). As he jogged he moved his arm out from under his sleeve to do a quick test. He focused on the white cuff of the sleeve, and it suddenly turned blue at his behest.

So, he thought, this confirms one of Harry's discoveries: people can do magic without wands, not only him. Of course his son did, but Harry was helping him. He did another test, and decided to stop time for everyone except him. It didn't work. Okay, he thought, so I can't do what Harry can, but I can use magic, even the energy-of-love spells, without a wand. The next step is to check my genealogy, make sure there are no wizards in my family tree. But I'm almost sure there aren't. If not, then this means...

A chill went up his spine as the realization hit him: any Muggle could become a wizard. What he had just discovered could have a profound impact on human society, on the history of the human race. He quickly decided that for the time being, he would tell no one except his wife. He had to think about this carefully. He could imagine that the knowledge could benefit humanity greatly... but he could also imagine that it could spark bloody conflicts and power struggles. Even though the energy of love could not be wielded by one who sought to use it to destroy, it could inspire great jealousy in those who found it difficult to acquire. He wondered what in the world he would do.

* * * * *

Ten minutes after Colin had hurriedly left the Muggle Liaison office, Arthur hurried in, Colin close behind. Dudley switched the browser to the page with the picture and quickly got up, allowing Arthur to sit down. Luna stood off to the side, watching.

Arthur cringed at the picture. "Bloody hell..."

Colin shook his head unhappily. "It should have occurred to us that with its magic down, Hogwarts' Muggle-repelling charms would be gone as well, and could be seen by Muggles now. This time has been so hectic..."

"Better late than never," said Arthur gamely. "Nice catch, Dudley. Now, on to what we can do, which is not a lot. I have to get to Hogwarts, talk to both Hermione and the Aurors. I'll just Apparate in, that'll bring the Aurors. There's no time to lose." He Disapparated; their office was one of the many in the Ministry from which one could Disapparate from but not Apparate to.

"I'm going to check something," said Luna quickly. "See you boys later." She too Disapparated.

Arthur appeared in the Great Hall near the teachers' table; the first thing he noticed was that there were immediately about fifteen wands pointed at him. He quickly raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Whoa, whoa."

Four Aurors Apparated in, one of which was Ron; they quickly saw the culprit by the direction in which the wands were pointed. "Dad?"

"Ron, get Kingsley now. It's an emergency."

As Ron followed his father's request, Arthur considered how to find Hermione and Snape, but fortunately, they ran into the Hall just then. "Arthur!" exclaimed a surprised Hermione. "Did you just Apparate in here? We just had an attack!"

"I didn't know that," said Arthur quickly. Kingsley Apparated in and asked, "Arthur, what's going on?"

"There's a picture of Hogwarts in one of this morning's Muggle newspapers," he said.

Hermione went pale. "Oh, my God, we should have thought of that."

"Not that it would have done any good," said Arthur. "Kingsley, what are the chances of hiding Hogwarts from further observation at this point?"

"Zero," replied Kingsley grimly.

Snape nodded his agreement. "It would take days of spellwork from expert and powerful wizards."

"Another plane's going to come here at some point if they saw the picture in the paper," said Hermione anxiously. "I've just asked Harry to--oh, no... I asked Harry to fly around and have a look. He says there's a small plane heading this way, only a few miles out. I can have Harry take me into the plane--"

"It would have to be me," said Snape, "for the Imperius Curse would have to be performed to make them turn around; since this is their objective, a Suggestion charm would not be enough. I submit, however, that it would merely postpone the inevitable. More would come, and the more we sent back, the greater numbers would come after that."

"We have to do something!" Hermione almost shouted. "The wizarding world is about to be exposed!"

"For all practical purposes, it already has been," said Snape calmly. "It is now not a question of if, but of when."

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but froze; she was suddenly as still as a Muggle picture, mouth half-open. Arthur, Kingsley... Snape's eyes went wide as everyone around him suddenly stopped moving, or doing anything. Just as he was registering this, he heard a voice behind him.

"Professor Snape," said Luna. "I need to talk to you."

Snape whirled around to look at her. Her voice was calm, and her eyes showed none of her usual irreverence; she was serious, even grim. He had never seen her look anything like that before. Glancing around again at the frozen figures, Snape instantly understood what was happening.

"I assure you, Miss Lovegood, that you have my undivided attention."

A hint of amusement came back to her eyes, but only for a second. "I suppose I would have to, there's not much to pay attention to."

He nodded. "I gather that your travels to Tibet did you quite a lot of good."

She chuckled lightly, but not humorously. "I'm not quite sure that 'good' is the word I would use to describe it."

"You would prefer not to have this power."

"I've seen how Harry has suffered."

"Yes, he has," agreed Snape quietly.

She looked down unhappily. "I'm not looking forward to telling him that I could have saved his son's life, but didn't."

"He has the same burden you now do, he knows the dangers of going too far," said Snape, with a hint of compassion. "Especially since his son lived, I think he will find it within him to understand." Glancing around again, he added, "I gather, however, that you find the exposure of the wizarding world unacceptable, warranting your interference."

She nodded. "I've been following your conversation from outside the Hogwarts gate. I told myself I wouldn't use this power to go around saving people. I didn't save James, even though I would have cried for a day if he had died. But the consequences of this are just huge. Wizards have feared this for a long time. I couldn't just sit back and let it happen. I tell myself I'm not really saving anyone exactly, I'm just preserving the status quo. I'm probably fooling myself, but..."

"To say that is not for me to judge would be putting it mildly," said Snape. "I admit I am not displeased that you have chosen to act. What exactly do you plan to do?"

"I could send that plane home in a flash, make them forget they ever saw that photo, but I know that's only part of it. That picture's in the paper, a million Muggles have seen it. There's nothing I can do about that. The only reason it's not a total disaster is that Muggle image manipulation technology makes it possible to fake a picture like that. The only thing I can think of to do is to restore Hogwarts' magical defenses."

"I believe that would be quite sufficient," said Snape with humorous understatement. "If you plan to do that, though, why are you talking to me?"

"The last thing I want is for anyone to know I can do this," she said emphatically. It again struck him how important this was to her; it was usually not in her personality to say anything emphatically. "If I just do that, it'll be clear that there's someone who can do what Harry does, and I'd strongly prefer that even that wasn't known. I want whatever restores Hogwarts' magic to be... plausible. Something there could be another explanation for."

Snape was surprised. "Such as?"

She sighed. "That's what I want your help with. Your knowledge of magic is very good; I was hoping you could come up with something. Just use your imagination, think of what kind of thing could possibly cause Hogwarts' magic to resume."

"Besides a witch with nearly unlimited magical abilities?"

She almost smiled. "Yes. Besides that."

Snape thought about it. For some reason, his mind turned to that silly scenario written by last year's graduating Ravenclaws that Harry had insisted on showing him. Maybe the Ring of Hogwarts could return the school's magic, he thought sardonically.

"In a situation such as this, the simplest explanation tends to be the best," he said. "I would suggest that the defenses--or the 'outline', if you will, of the magic that created them--are still present, but simply drained of power. Imagine that Hogwarts' defenses are like a glass full of water. The glass was not destroyed; the water was simply drained from it. We will theorize that a previously unknown aspect of Hogwarts' defenses..." He trailed off.

"What is it?"

A rare smile came to Snape's face. "I have a better idea, and it will kill two birds with one stone."

* * * * *

"Did it work?" asked Kingsley.

"As they say, the proof is in the pudding," said Hermione. "Let's go outside and see for ourselves."

"I don't think wizards say that," said Arthur as they walked.

"If you are planning to observe the behavior of the plane, that is unnecessary," pointed out Snape. "You can simply try to Disapparate. I have tried, and was unsuccessful. Clearly, your restoration of Hogwarts' magic was effective."

They were joined by a Prophet reporter named Jeffrey Atkinson, who had traveled to Hogwarts on hearing that it could be the source of the unmasking of the wizarding world. "Professors, Undersecretary Weasley, Mr. Shacklebolt. Did I hear you say the restoration was successful? What happened?" He fell in step with them as they walked out of the castle entrance.

"As a student, the headmistress was well-known as an obsessive bookworm," said Snape. "She recalled an ancient tome in the restricted section of the library, one that not only never been viewed before, but simply could not be viewed. When one tried to take it off the shelf, it would not move; it would simply say, 'I will be here when you need me.' The headmistress had the inspiration that the book might be necessary somehow, and she was right. She was able to access it and, with some complex spellwork, activate its true function: to restore Hogwarts' magical defenses in an event such as this. Clearly, it has worked." And, he thought, will do much to restore her reputation with the public and the Ministry, which our enemy is trying to destroy.

Now outside, they all looked for the plane. "Fascinating," said Atkinson. "Most remarkable, the things the Hogwarts founders thought of. This book was not labeled in any way?"

"No, it was just blank on the outside," said Hermione, having no idea that the memory of what had just happened had been created and planted into her mind. "Ah, there it is!"

They saw a small plane approach Hogwarts. It flew directly overhead, and continued on its way. "I think that's more evidence," said a clearly relieved Arthur. "We can be pretty sure that if they had seen Hogwarts, they would have circled, flew as low as they could, taken film and more pictures, that kind of thing. They wouldn't have just flown right by."

"Does this mean that the wizarding world is safe once more?" asked Atkinson.

"For the moment, but it's still precarious," said Arthur. "The wizards who are disseminating information online posted a picture of Hogwarts on their own, which of course will match the picture in the Sun. Combined with the accumulation of other information, it would be very persuasive. The Sun picture is genuine, and detailed study might prove it, though I'm not sure. As it stands right now, our world is pretty much exposed for anyone who tries to look. The danger now is the tipping point, the one event that causes people to look in large numbers. If they do, I think our secrecy wouldn't last long."

"Excuse me, Undersecretary, but what does 'online' mean?"

Arthur smiled. "If you'll come to the office today, I'll explain it to you. It takes some time, and demonstration is preferable."

"I will, thank you," said the reporter. "Just after I finish up some interviews here. Headmistress, where is that book now? Can I see it?"

"Sorry. I'd like to show it to you, but it disappeared just after I used it. I checked, and it reappeared on the shelf I took it from. It can't be taken down again. Not until this happens again, anyway."

Atkinson nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. May I ask you a few more questions?"

"Okay, but we have to get back to the castle." They started back to the castle; she intended to look at her old Hogwarts map to make sure no one unauthorized was in the castle, but didn't want to tell a reporter about it. "We have to do a thorough search for Portkeys, traps, anything like that. The castle was vulnerable for two days, and from the most recent attack that almost killed John, we know that at least one person or group gained access despite our watching the gates and monitoring Apparation."

"Should we call off afternoon classes?" asked Snape.

"I suppose so, much as I hate to," said Hermione. "Safety has to be the first priority. I still don't want people going off by themselves until we know the castle is safe, and the students are getting really tired of that. After all that's happened, they deserve a break. Will you organize the search?"

"Of course," Snape agreed.

* * * * *

Snape's search group was himself, Hedrick, Helen, and two Slytherin sixth years. They went over the Slytherin dormitories and common room first, casting Reveal spells everywhere, particularly on anything that could be picked up. Once that was done, they checked the area near the Slytherin area; each group had been given a specific area to search.

As they were finishing, the four students suddenly froze, and Luna was standing in front of Snape. "Thank you," she said simply.

"Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best," he responded. "I assume you know perfectly well that I will tell no one of your situation."

"I know."

He gave her a searching look. "Why me? Why not Professor Granger, or one of the others? I have never exactly been kind to you."

"That was before you got your Cleansing reversed," she pointed out. Snape noticed that the previously missing sense of whimsy had returned to her eyes. "You're a different person now. But as for why, I don't know exactly. I just had a feeling that you were the best person to ask for help. I haven't been a phoenix yet, but my intuition's still pretty good."

She hesitated, then spoke again. "There's something else, something you're not going to like. Just before I talked to you, I checked your recent thoughts--also Hermione's, and a few others--for any indication that I might have changed something unintentionally by doing what I did. I discovered that it's occurred to you that this means that you can now resist whatever the Ministry might try to do to Hogwarts. That's not what I was trying to do, so I'm going to make sure that if the Ministry try to get in here, they can do it."

Snape's eyebrows rose. She may be powerful, he thought, but she is still young like Harry, and there are things they both don't understand. "If they come in and get through despite Hogwarts' defenses, I will certainly know what happened. But what about the headmistress? How will it be explained to her?"

"I hadn't thought about that," admitted Luna. "I suppose I could just cause her not to think of it."

"So you'll interfere in people's thought processes now?" asked Snape, in a chiding tone. "And what will she say when, say, Harry asks her why she did not just defy them? Will she say, 'I forgot'? How plausible will that be?"

"Then I'll think of something else," she said, slightly defensively.

Snape kept on the attack. "Let me ask you, why did you not simply re-establish the Muggle-repelling charms on Hogwarts, and leave the rest as it was?"

She became uncomfortable as she began to see his thrust, but answered anyway. "Because it couldn't have been explained. For it not to appear to be someone like me or Harry, it had to be all or nothing."

"Yes," nodded Snape. "You did more than you had to because it led to the consequence you desired for yourself. But there were other consequences as well. Life is very complex, Miss Lovegood. Even with your power, you cannot take an action with many consequences and then pick and choose, saying, 'I like this consequence but I don't like that one, so I'll get rid of it.' You must accept them all. You have done the wizarding world a great service, and I do not criticize your actions. I know you will see this as further reason not to use your power, but if you do, this is something you had better get used to."

She looked down, lost in thought. "Besides, it is hardly an unfavorable consequence," he added. "Surely you did not wish to see someone like Trent controlling Hogwarts. I know you wished your action to remain 'pure', but this was not something you intended. Whether we are greatly powerful or merely ordinary, our actions almost always have unintended consequences. It is a part of life."

She looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. "I hadn't really talked to you since Harry reversed your Cleansing," she said. "You're much... wiser than I would have thought."

A small smile came to Snape's face. "As you know, I spent many years regularly viewing Professor Dumbledore's memories. Some wisdom was bound to come through and be absorbed."

"I wish I could have known him better," she said sadly.

"Have you ever seen the book he wrote for Harry?"

"No, I haven't."

"Ask Ginny if you can borrow it," suggested Snape. "It is precious to Harry, so she may hesitate. If she does, tell her it was at my suggestion. You should read it. You need all the help you can get."

"I can't argue with that. Thank you."

He nodded in acknowledgment. She disappeared, and time started again. She thought of telling him that the castle was clear of anything dangerous, as a small thank-you for his help, but decided against it. Who knows what the consequences might be of anything I do, she thought, no matter how small.

* * * * *

Drake received quite a shock when, two hours after his first attempt in which he barely missed killing the Muggle Studies teacher--for which he blamed his own carelessness, he hadn't seen that there was someone behind the man--he attempted to Apparate into Hogwarts and couldn't. Donning an Invisibility Cloak, he took a trip to the Ministry and started scanning people until he found out, and was stunned to discover that Hogwarts had somehow recovered its magical defenses.

He walked around more, being very careful to stay out of everyone's way and to dodge the paper-airplane memos that littered the air. He saw Arthur Weasley, and was tempted to try to catch him alone, but reluctantly decided not to. Drake had to put a Memory Charm on anyone he scanned, and Granger, no doubt having discovered by then that Ron had been compromised, would be checking everyone in their circle regularly. Drake debated whether to kill Weasley as partial payback that he was denied when the house-elf saved Potter's son. He would consider the idea; there was no hurry. But that idea gave him another idea.

He returned to his hideaway, and summoned Hugo. "Can Arthur Weasley use the Killing Curse shield?"

"I don't know," replied Hugo. "If I had to guess, I would guess that he could. I'm sure Harry would have tried to teach him and Molly, and his temperament is right for it."

"What would be the best way to get under Trent's skin right now?"

Hugo winced internally before dismissing the attack of conscience. "Start picking off the undersecretaries. Not Weasley, since he'd be happy about that. Not Bones either, but any of the others."

Drake nodded. "It shouldn't be that hard; they don't have Auror protection." He would begin by ramping up Joe's power; he was still creating chaos in the American wizarding world as well.