She\'s Like The Wind

"Mr. Weasley," Minerva acknowledged, barely looking up from her papers as he neared her desk.

"Aren't you… coming to the Great Hall for dinner?" He asked.

She finally looked up at him, eying him carefully through her silver rimmed square eyeglasses. He intuitively swallowed at the sight of her mesmerizing teal green eyes. One could say that Dumbledore's eyes were piercing in nature, but now he came to consider it, Ron must admit McGonagall's were in their very own way as well. "I could be asking you the same, Mr. Weasley," she replied, then quietly directed her gaze down again.

"So how are you doing?" He blubbered.

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm teaching again, aren't I?"

"That doesn't mean anything, I–" At that moment the silence got interrupted by the sound of a particular wooden leg in the corridor by the door of the room and then the door opening wide to reveal Mad-Eye Moody. Both of his eyes, both natural and magical, immediately fell upon the red haired fourth year, then trailed further over to the professor, who had averted her attention from the pages on her desk again.

"Weasley!" May-Eye snapped. "I would like to speak with Professor McGonagall. Alone."

Ron nervously fumbled with the fastening of his bag, muttering, "Uh… Yeah. Of course," while hurrying in the direction of the door, ears rapidly turning red. He politely shut the door behind him. He remained to listen at the door for a minute, then continued in the direction of the Great Hall. He never realized how ravished he actually was. Neither one of them three realized Ron's scarf still hanging over the chair he had occupied earlier. They certainly had needed the heat of a scarf and a pair of gloves when walking from the greenhouses over to Transfiguration. It had heavily snowed during the night.

Barty Crouch Jr. in the disguise of Mad-Eye Moody continued to follow the red haired pupil through the back of his head with his magical blue eye, until he had finally disappeared from sight. He then turned to the professor again. "So," he began. "You're teaching again."

"I am," Professor McGonagall replied, never noticing anything maleficent in his tone or anything else, even though he had been the one hexing her that morning weeks earlier. "I'm feeling much better than I used to," she elucidated. "Anything else?" She asked, turning to her papers again. "I would like to finish this one thing and then head to the Great Hall as well."

He nodded. "Ah well," he said, pulling his wand from his sleeve and pointing it at her. He would kill her this time. He should have done this last time already. She never would be able to tell anyone who had done it. No one would ever be able to guess either. Without her, only Dumbledore would be limiting him. However, if he could just keep on fooling Dumbledore and the others around like he already had for months, his plan would succeed, and his Master would get Harry Potter and regain the power which he had unfortunately lost that night thirteen years earlier. "Too bad. You won't."

McGonagall, however, was faster, even though her weakness, casting a Protego Charm. Barty Crouch Jr.'s teeth clenched together in fury, as he furiously continued casting hexes of all kinds. He could already see beads of perspiration forming on her forehead and smiled naughtily again. No matter her Protego Charm, she would have to give very soon either way. He was much stronger.

However, right then Ronald Weasley realized that he must have forgotten his scarlet and gold Gryffindor scarf with Transfiguration and turned around again to go get it. He would have to leave the building again for Care of Magical Creatures later on, and his scarf was useful against the cold that would surely only pick up in strength. He decided to run. He was after all ravenous and certainly didn't want to miss dinner…

Upon nearing the corridor with the room where the subject Transfiguration was taught and where Professor McGonagall's office and personal quarters were located again, Ron could already feel something odd, highly magical, come forth from the room from a distance. He would have knocked, hoping not to disturb the conversation between both professors in case Mad-Eye hadn't left yet, had it not been for that feeling…

Barty hadn't counted on Ron bursting into the room again and spun around in the direction of the door, momentarily turning from the duel with McGonagall to hex anyone who was interrupting him. However, he hadn't counted on Ron being faster either and was thrown against the wall as Ron suddenly noticed the wand of 'Mad-Eye' directed at him like that. It had been more of a reflex than anything else. He gasped upon seeing Professor McGonagall on her knees beside her desk, holding onto the table top so badly her knuckles had turned white. She weakly directed her wand at the unconscious body of Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, summoning his fallen wand and capturing it with her left hand, while swaying the right once to conjure iron chains around the perpetrator's body, then again to conjure a net even over that. Then she levitated him into the air with the very last of her energy and slumped against the desk.

Ron continued to gaze at 'Mad-Eye' in horror, then let his eyes trail further over to his Head of House. He rapidly ran over to her, sinking on his knees beside her. He quietly followed her line of vision and frowned as well upon seeing something change in the appearance of the man in the air. The hair of the man rapidly turned darker, and his body became much slimmer. The fake blue eye of Mad-Eye Moody popped from the socket, for it was now no longer needed. "Barty Crouch Jr.," McGonagall whispered in something near shock at recognizing the figure. Barty had thought that eliminating Minerva wouldn't have lasted longer than a second… She winced and reached for her ribcage.

"Are you all right?" Ron asked, ripping his gaze away from the pained Gryffindor Head of House.

"I will be," she said, then suddenly reached for Ron's hand, both to steady herself and to catch his full attention. "That," she said, nodding at the unconscious body high into the air. "is not Alastor Moody, but a Death Eater who should have been in Azkaban. "Please… get Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape."

"Snape?" Ron uttered.

McGonagall nodded, impatient. "Yes, Weasley! Snape!"

"But!" Ron uttered. "You're…" He didn't quite know what he actually was going to say, but just eyed her wide-eyed still.

"Oh, for Merlin's sodden sake!" She cursed. "GO, Weasley!"

Ron immediately jumped up and ran toward the door, leaving the door wide open as he hurried to the Great Hall to get Professor Dumbledore. McGonagall momentarily waited until the sound of Ronald Weasley's feet had died away, before slumping against her desk, letting the exhaustion overtake her.

By the time Professor McGonagall came to again in the sanctity of her personal chambers, Barty Crouch Jr. had already been given the Dementor's Kiss by a Dementor Cornelius Fudge had sent, after Dumbledore had informed him of the situation… but not after the Headmaster had gotten every bit of information from the Death Eater with the aid of Snape's Veritaserum. The real Mad-Eye Moody was saved right after. Of course, the elimination of one of Voldemort's best Death Eaters and their knowledge of his ideas gave them better chances, but it didn't mean the war was over yet.