E Pluribus Unum

A/N - We put Lucy to sleep yesterday and the other cats are working hard at comforting me. I miss her horribly, she was the sweetest creature imaginable. I suspect a conspiracy amongst the cats, my lap hasn\'t been empty all day, though perhaps, they miss her too.

Ghaeth - Thank you so much.

Droxy - Hagrid will be playing a greater part in EPU.

Jeanette - I hope this chapter gives you some sympathy for poor Pince.

Chapter 21 – Smoke and Mirrors

Minuet finished breakfast the way her entire House did, staring at Snape. Every meal was the same -- Snape was their weathervane and how he reacted told them which way the political winds were blowing for their House. The Slytherins were the outcast House, the House of loners and aristocrats, schemers and ladder climbers; they were therefore also the most vulnerable. The teachers, with the notable exception of Professor Leblanc, were harder on them than on the other Houses. The Slytherin reputation made the teachers more likely to believe in a Slytherin’s guilt than in their innocence. It was a point of pride among the Snakes not to get in trouble with the teachers and they bent all their cunning to it.

The morning Snape Watch told them how hard it would be for them to achieve their goals that day. Todayofesofessor Snape looked tight-lipped and angry. They all knew there had been a teacher’s meeting last night, probably about the breakouts from Azkaban.

Minuet had a core bitterness about those breakouts. If her father hadn’t been abandoned by the Dark Lord to rot in Azkaban, he might never have thought to deal with the Aurors and might now be alive. Of course, the very fact that Voldemort had known of the deal so quickly spoke either to the Dementors being more communicative than anyone thought or, far more likely, to a traitor within the Ministry. If Minuet ever figured out who had betrayed her father, she would be very tempted to try out some of the special moves Professor Leblanc was teaching her.

Snape’s expression did not bode well for their classes. On the one hand, while McGonagall might purse her lips at the Slytherin students, she was never unfair. Neither was Hagrid, honestly. As inept as he was as a teacher – something that she would never say to Harry – he always treated all the students with the same bumbling sweetness. Binns showed no favoritism but then he showed no emotions at all so it didn’t count, really. Hooch barked at everyone but she had been Slytherin herself once and therefore could be considered an ally, if only marginally.

Vector, though -- she always found a way to make everything they did seem wrong. Trelawney, Fauna said, picked on the Snakes as well, predicting horrible deaths and betrayals far more frequently than she did for any other students. Flitwick tried to be fair but he was so emotional that his mind was transparent to the students. His innate distrust of them made the Snakes feel resentful of his cheer and affection for the other Houses. Madam Pince treated the Slytherins like they were the scum of the earth, but the feeling was mutual and she taught no classes. Sprout and Pomfrey were far less sympathetic to Slytherin ills and needs than the other Houses’ and the Snakes knew they would get no extra help from them.

Argus Filch, on the other hand, loved Slytherin House. He apparently thought he would have been sorted into Slytherin had he ever attended Hogwarts. He was a joke to most of the House but they were all canny enough never to let on to him. Sinistra was truly neutral, unaware of anything beyond her chosen field and completely apolitical. Minuet found her class relaxing and peaceful, not least because she loved the sub.
.

Professor Leblanc looked supernally calm this morning, if rather pale. She ate her breakfast with a calm detachment that reminded Minuet strongly of the Elvish Minstrel; there was a similar stillness in her this morning. The other teachers kept looking at her as though she were somehow changed and Minuet wondered what had happened at the meeting. Whatever it was, it had upset the applecart because Uncle Severus looked furious. That never boded well for the House. She exchanged a look with Draco when Professor Snape speared a sausage with particular viciousness. It was going to be a bad day.


She couldn’t have been more correct. It started in Arithmancy, which they had first with Ravenclaw. Professor Vector corrected every tiny mistake and was so angry that she couldn’t penalize Minuet for errors in her work that she took points off her for giving fellow Slytherin Kelsey Lightwood an encouraging nod when she faltered with an equation on the board. Minuet suppressed her ire and took the reprimand; there was no reason to lose her House more points as she could see that fairness wasn’t the issue.

She had Charms after that and Flitwick was even more flighty than usual. He was valiantly trying not to let his distress affect his teaching but he very nearly snapped at Fauna in class and he had been quite careful of her since her illness. Fauna was near tears by the end of it, unable to do even the simplest charm.

Lunch was hellish -- all the school seemed aware now that something was wrong. Uncle Severus was eating with a grim determination and Professor Leblanc looked as white as paper and seemed on the verge of collapse despite her ramrod straight back.

The other teachers seemed equally stressed and the tension twanged along all of their nerves.

Double potions with Gryffindor after lunch was almost a relief in comparison. Professor Snape was his usual snarky self. The Lion Cubs, so arrogant and cocksure outside the Potions’ classroom, were their usual cowed and terrified selves. It would have been perfectly normal except for the tension in Professor Snape’s voice. After having spent a summer watching Uncle Severus in unguarded moments, she could see quite clearly that there was something wrong.

She waited until the other students had filed out and then approached his desk. He was seated behind it, his black silk-fine hair shielding his face, his hands clenched around his quill, marking papers.

“Professor?” She ventured, low-voiced and tentative.

“Miss Ravagienne.” He acknowledged her presence and looked up at her with the mask-like expression he had been wearing all day still in place.

“Is everything all right?” She cocked her head at him in unconscious imitation of Professor Leblanc and he gave her a rueful smile.

“There are very few things going on at the moment that I would label as being all right.” He retorted, the half-smile taking the sting from his words.

“Professor Leblanc looked a bit tired today.” She tried to come to the question she wanted to ask from another direction. She had seen him over the summer, when he thought the Defense teacher wasn’t coming back. Minuet remembered the melancholy that had surrounded him and then when she had seen him at the Welcome Feast, he had been re-energized, relaxed and dare she say it, happy. Now something was threatening that happiness and Minuet wanted to know what it was.

“The staff meeting went late.” There was a finality to his tone that brooked no further enquiry. Minuet sighed and nodded, leaving him to his marking and headed to her dorm to drop off her books before dinner.

She was looking forward to next weekend when she could spend the evening in Hogsmeade with Tina and her mother. They had moved into the cottage yesterday and Tina was enthusiastic and happy. Rufus, their house elf, brought with them from their old home, had been furiously arranging furniture and Mother had spoken of the new home with affection and contentment.

A noise broke into her concentration, it sounded like screams and she followed the sounds on instinct, running up the dungeon steps, her books still clutched tight against her. There was a cluster of students staring in horror at a strange tableau. In the hallway in front of the Library stood Hermione Granger, hands clutched to her mouth, eyes glued on something out of Minuet’s line of sight. She stepped forward for a better look, only to be grabbed and pulled away. Indignant she looked up, only to see an ashen-faced Harry, his hand clenched around her arm.

“What happened?” She whispered, his face telling her that whatever it was it was dreadful indeed.

“Madam Pince has hung herself in the Library.” He croaked out and she stared at him in disbelief. “She’s dead.” He added and dragged her away from the crowd. Minuet didn’t fight him or protest, she was far too shocked and horrified and deeply grateful that Harry had kept her from seeing the old woman’s body.

“But why?” There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but they all came down to that essential cry.

“Because They got to her, like They did to Fauna. I can smell Them all over this.” Harry’s voice was quietly certain and Minuet wondered what he had been seeing in his dreams lately. What horrors were creeping into his mind while he slept?

He got her into an alcove away from prying eyes and they wrapped their arms around each other and held on tight, each in a terror for the other.