Three weeks had already passed since the holidays had started. Three agonizingly long weeks and Severus still thought about Lysanna almost constantly. He had thought about sending her a letter, but what use would it have? She probably had too much to do anyway and besides, he wanted to forget about her and not start writing letters. It had been nothing more than a silly idea, a desire he was tempted to pursue. But no, he had to learn to control this desire, there simply was no other way. He was not allowed to weaken and give in.
The time spent in his parents' house hadn't had the desired effect so far, but at least he had some peace and quiet here and could stare at his books undisturbed. He actually wanted to read, but he usually couldn't get past a few lines because he was immediately caught up in thoughts of Lysanna. He missed her, missed her smile, her taunts, all of it. He wanted to have her with him, to look at her, to touch her, to love her. Yet again! It happened to him again and again that he gave himself up to this longing, that he thought of her enchanting blue eyes, of her scent, of how beautifully golden her hair shimmered in the light of the candles, of her elegant movements, that sparkle in her eyes. .
Severus! Discipline! He admonished himself.
He had expected it to be difficult, but he was still far from achieving any success at all. Severus sincerely hoped that he would be able to regain complete control of his thoughts by the start of the new school year.
-
Lysanna was faced with the shambles of her life. At least it felt that way. She had lost everything that had been important to her. First and foremost, her work in the ministry and the man whose heart she had broken. Not a day went by without her thinking about him. She wondered how he was spending his holidays at Hogwarts. Entirely without any students he could ambush. The thought brought a smile to her face, but it immediately died when she realised that these thoughts weren't going to get her anywhere. Lysanna had nothing. It had been raining almost continuously for three days now and Lysanna's mood simply adapted to the weather. She spent most of her time alone in her apartment. She had tried to get in touch with her former colleagues, but for some reason none of them wanted to speak to her. Some even accused her of being responsible for everything. Lysanna knew only too well who was actually to blame for all of this. Even though no one had said anything like that to her, there was only one person capable of such a thing. Lucius Malfoy. She hated this man. Just everything about him and his family.
Tomorrow Lysanna had one last difficult task ahead of her. She had to return to the Ministry one last time. It was just a formality, it was just a matter of handing out the discharge papers. Throughout July, Lysanna had cut her overtime, so she was still officially employed at the Ministry, but tomorrow that would change. As of August 1st, Lysanna was officially unemployed. Not a pleasant thought. Albus's offer had been on her mind since the conversation with Theodore, but how ridiculous it would be if she simply showed up at Hogwarts again after the holidays. More importantly, how would Severus react? Even though it was her only option at the moment, Lysanna still hesitated. She would have loved to just talk about it with anyone. Her parents were travelling again, somewhere in the south of Asia, and Lysanna had little support to expect from them at the moment. Her aunt Minerva would probably tell Albus about everything straight away and that would put Lysanna under pressure.
There was only one person Lysanna would have wanted to talk to about something like this, but unfortunately that person was also the reason why she hesitated in the first place. A seemingly hopeless situation.
-
When Lysanna set off for London the next morning, she expected the worst.
Terry greeted her with a sympathetic smile as she entered the ministry through the visitors' entrance. An absolute impudence, but her badge and all rights had already been taken away. Lysanna had no other choice.
"You're too early, dear. Your appointment doesn't start for another four minutes," stated the Minister's fundamentally unsympathetic right hand. Umbridge, dressed from head to toe in a terrible pink as always, smiled reproachfully at her as Lysanna entered the anteroom.
Umbridge didn't really want to rebel over being four minutes too early, right?! Lysanna hoped, at least for Umbridge's own sake, that she wouldn't try, because if there was one thing Lysanna couldn't use today, it was any pointless argument.
"Hrmmh! You're too early! Your appointment doesn't start for another four minutes," Umbridge repeated now with a little more emphasis, but still with the same disgusting grin on her face. So she actually wanted to open a keg about four minutes. Incredible. Lysanna knew that it would unfortunately be of little use if she let her anger out again, so she tried to remain as calm as possible.
"Three minutes, Dolores, and I can wait," Lysanna stated with an unmistakably sarcastic tone. Surely Umbridge wouldn't understand that and Lysanna would remain right, because after a careful look at her watch, in which Umbridge must have realised that Lysanna was actually right, the woman in pink simply went back to her work. Not without letting out another indignant squeak though. Now that was easy, Lysanna thought to herself.
In the next moment the door to the minister's office opened and Cornelius Fudge approached Lysanna with a stern expression.
"Dolores, get Miss McGonagall's papers ready. "It won't take long." He addressed Umbridge without even greeting Lysanna.
"With pleasure, Sir!" she responded, not without grinning triumphantly at Lysanna. Lysanna felt like a felon. She had provided excellent service to the ministry for years and now this was the thanks? She certainly hadn't expected a gift basket or other niceties, but at least a proper greeting couldn't be too much to ask for, right?
"Sit down," Fudge snapped at her, taking a seat in a chair that was far too large for him. Lysanna looked at him with amusement, he looked like a little schoolboy in his father's office, but not like the Minister for Magic.
"I would say the joy is all mine, but for that they would have had to greet me first." Lysanna didn't think. She had absolutely nothing left to lose, so she just let the sarcasm flow.
"Miss McGonagall, yes of course. It's nice that you came," Fudge stammered uncertainly, much to Lysanna's surprise. Apparently he wasn't prepared for contradictions.
"You already know why I called you here. It wasn't an easy decision, but the burden of proof was just too overwhelming. I think you understand that, after all you have years of experience," Fudge continued after he had come back to his senses.
"The only thing I know so far is that I was suspended and the entire internal investigations department was replaced. I haven't received any more information so far, but I'm excited to finally find out some details, Minister." Lysanna was, to her surprise, quite relaxed. The fact that she had nothing to lose gave her security.
"Hasn't Mr. Renington spoken to you yet? It was his job to explain it to you, so... well. The Ministry has received some anonymous tips that there are some... let's say black sheep in the ranks of the Internal Investigations Division and then some checks were carried out by Mr. Renington himself, which, well, confirmed the extremely incriminating evidence," explained Fudge awkwardly. Theodor himself had carried out these checks, now that was more than interesting.
"May I know what kind of incriminating evidence is involved? I mean, as the accused, I at least have the right to know what I'm accused of, right? We want everything to be done according to the law.", Lysanna replied questioningly.
"Well, the investigation is still ongoing. I can't answer that question for the life of me, that would be... well no, I can't tell you that. Mr. Renington personally was in favour of suspending you. You were not really expected to actually come back and so... Well, it was just a logical consequence," Fudge continued, unsettled.
"Oh, yeah. Of course that makes perfect sense. I haven't been there for a year and I'm being suspended because there are anonymous tips saying that something is wrong in the department where I haven't worked for a year. I don't want to offend you, Minister, but I hope this whole thing has paid off for you." Lysanna's words were brimming with irony. Fudge was visibly uncomfortable in this conversation, nervously fidgeting with his cufflink while almost obsessively trying to avoid Lysanna's gaze.
"Miss McGonagall, I may please! Those are some serious accusations you are making here," Fudge said indignantly, but didn't seem particularly convinced by his statement.
"Minister, I wasn't making any accusations at all, just summarizing what you just explained to me. I've done impeccable work for you for years and now I'm being suspended without even receiving an explanation. Even a muggle would probably understand what happened here and they are known to be blind to all sorts of black magic," Lysanna countered, still calm.
"I have to agree with you, your work so far has been impeccable, but unfortunately none of this will change this decision. I'm very sad, you should know that.", for Fudge this already seemed to be the end of the conversation, because he had gotten up and walked past Lysanna towards the door.
"All the best, Miss McGonagall!" he said with a wave of his hand that was probably intended to tell Lysanna that it was time to go.
"Thank you, Minister. Thank you for the truly insightful conversation. Oh yes, please give Mr. Malfoy my warmest regards and congratulations," Lysanna replied, knowingly far too friendly and especially her last sentence did not fail to have its effect, because the minister's head suddenly turned red.
"Dolores, the papers!" Fudge hissed before disappearing into his office and slamming the door behind him. Apparently Lysanna had hit exactly the right nerve.
"Hrmmh!", the intrusive clearing of the throat tore her from her thoughts. She couldn't even enjoy her little triumph.
Umbridge held out the envelope that appeared to contain her discharge papers, seemingly expecting some kind of reaction from Lysanna.
"Oh, be so good as to send the documents to me with an owl, Dolores! I still have some errands to run and don't want to risk losing them along the way. Thank you very much," not waiting for a response from the woman in pink, Lysanna left the office and made her way through the entrance hall of the ministry one last time.
When she got outside, suddenly even the air of central London seemed fresh to her. Lysanna somehow felt better now. She had made a decision.