"You know, that might be rather a good idea," the headmaster said quietly, accepting the vial.
The two men sat in silence for several minutes. Snape because he was still a bit too intimidated to speak, and Albus because he was planning how to handle the situation.
Finally, at long last, McGonagall arrived, alone. "Where is she?" both wizards cried.
"Dolores Umbridge has vanished," Minerva informed the men calmly, much to their shock.
"What! How could she have escaped?" Snape demanded.
"She obviously decided it was safer to disappear rather than face the Headmaster's wrath, not to mention Aurors, inquiries, and Azkaban." She regarded the men's angry and frustrated faces, then said matter-of-factly, "Let's have some tea."
"I shall still have to make a full report to the Ministry," Dumbledore frowned, although he automatically summoned a tea set. "I hope Poppy thought to take pictures of Harry's injuries."
"There are always Pensieved memories," McGonagall pointed out. "And the instrument itself," she added, laying the evil quill down on the Headmaster's desk as she took a cup of tea and passed another to Snape.
Dumbledore's face was like thunder. "That unspeakable object!" he swore, his tone making the words into an epithet.
"What is more, Umbridge's own words make it clear that Fudge colluded in the Blood Quill's use. She was specifically sent here to discredit Harry, lest he pose any threat to Fudge's authority."
"Hmmmm." Albus' brow creased. "I shall have to take steps to point out the error of his ways to Cornelius."
Snape rolled his eyes. How like Albus to try to rehabilitate the man. Snape had no such goals. He was now determined to get rid of Fudge once and for all. He had been willing to tolerate an incompetent Minister, even one who listened to the likes of Lucius Malfoy, but now Fudge had gone too far. By deliberately targeting Harry, he had just signed his own death warrant. Or at least ensured that he would need to be removed from office, Snape didn't really care which.
While Dumbledore was lost in thought about how to deal with Fudge, Snape leaned over to McGonagall. "How did that idiot get away? I thought you had her under control?"
McGonagall shrugged. "She was a slippery little thing."
Snape gave her a sharp look. The deputy headmistress was alarmingly blas├й about having let Umbridge slip through her fingers. He would have expected her to be livid at the Pink Toad's escape from justice.
Abruptly Minerva let out a loud belch. "Oh my, excuse me!" she exclaimed, patting her chest. Then she locked eyes with Severus who was just lifting his teacup to his lips. "It must have been something I ate," she said, very deliberately.
Snape promptly spit his mouthful of tea all over Fawkes, who screeched in protest and huffily vanished in a burst of flame.
Snape stared at Minerva, who gazed placidly back. Surely she hadn't meantтАж!
His mind worked busily, considering Minerva's absolute devotion to her students, her well-hidden Slytherin tendencies, and her uncharacteristic lack of concern over Umbridge's potential for future harm.
Snape gulped as he realized that one seriously enraged Transfiguration expert who is also a cat animagus plus one minimally powerful toadlike witch who has done the enraging equaledтАж one partially digested threat to Hogwarts' children.
"I тАУ er тАУ have a potion for indigestion," he offered, trying not to sound as terrified as he felt. Suddenly Albus was no longer the scariest person in the room.
"That would be very kind," she said, giving him an approving smile.
Snape decided then and there that enlisting Minerva's support might well have been one of his smartest moves. That and never mortally offending the carnivorous animagus.
TBCтАж
*Chapter 48*: Chapter 48
The next morning, the Headmaster announced that Professor Umbridge had left Hogwarts, prompting the student body to direct looks of awe at Hermione. Her "Splat the Toad!" campaign had spread like wildfire through the school, and now тАУ presto! тАУ the toad was gone. Students shivered at the thought of what else she might do, if sufficiently provoked, but at the same time it was a little comforting to know that they had someone on their side who could even dispose of faculty members.
Even after details of the Blood Quill incident came out, the students still retained their conviction that Hermione's "STT!" movement had been the inciting factor behind Umbridge's disappearance. After all, most didn't know what a Blood Quill was, and no one but Snape had seen Dumbledore's fury тАУ let alone McGonagall's тАУ but everyone knew how unfairly Umbridge had treated Hermione and the other Muggleborns.
Harry was a little surprised to see that Hermione was getting more credit for Umbridge's removal than he was, but since he genuinely preferred not to attract people's notice, he didn't mind at all. Jones and Percy were too relieved at not being punished for attacking a faculty member to want to remind anyone of their role in the incident, so a puzzled Hermione accepted the congratulations of the other students.
Fudge, although initially alarmed by Umbridge's disappearance and quick to blame Hogwarts staff for it, rapidly changed his tune when confronted with the Blood Quill and pensieved memories of Umbridge's claims. He hastily denied sending her to Hogwarts with those instructions and claimed that she was obviously unbalanced. Having thoroughly disavowed his erstwhile chief assistant, he had fled the school, muttering that he would have the Aurors look into the disappearance. No one expected him to press the matter too strongly, as it would hardly do him any good if the missing witch were found. Dumbledore had been rather angered by Fudge's desire to sweep the matter under the rug, but McGonagall calmed him by pointing out that while it seemed they would never know where the witch had gone, she doubted Umbridge would ever be seen in Britain again. Dumbledore had sighed and agreed, while Snape had done his best not to shiver at the cool ruthlessness of the head of Gryffindor. And he'd thought he could be vengeful!
With Umbridge gone and his relations with the other students once again untroubled, Harry settled happily into the new term. Dumbledore had resumed teaching DADA classes again, having resignedly abandoned the quest to obtain a replacement instructor for the rest of the year, and Harry had high hopes that all the mysterious goings on would come to a halt now that Umbridge was gone.
Things were going well тАУ the other kids were generally treating him as the undistinguished firstie that he longed to be, his professors seemed pleased with his work, his da allowed him and his friends to help with potion ingredients a few times a week, Quidditch was still fun, even though the winter weather meant that their practices were mostly indoor, off-broom strategy sessionsтАж Yes, all told, Harry felt that this was what a first year at Hogwarts should be: no trolls or Dark Lords or Blood Quills.
Unlike Harry, Snape did not relax. It had been several weeks since Umbridge had left, but unlike Harry, Snape was unconvinced that the mysterious enemy's attacks had ceased. There was of course the possibility that the Pink Toad Bitch Witch Now In Hell had been responsible, but he couldn't shake the conviction that that kind of covert campaign would not have appealed to Umbitch, who had had the subtlety of a brick.
Sure enough, it was barely two weeks after Umbridge's "mysterious disappearance" that Snape's continuing vigilance was rewarded. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon, and a bored Harry had descended upon the dungeons, complaining that everyone else was busy and he had nothing to do.