Severus brought himself to his full height and silently cast a cooling charm on himself and Hermione so they could collect themselves for the questioning ahead.
"Severus, what on Earth is Miss McGonagall still doing in this classroom? Her exam finished almost an hour ago!"
"Keeping tabs on the staff now?"
"Only on who is the classrooms and doing what. Now, EXPLAIN!"
Hermione hung her head while Severus glared death curses at the small woman dressed all in pink, her face quickly turning into the same horrid colour of her robes.
"Hermione is my lover."
Dolores stood there shocked for a moment. "There are rules against this."
"We know, but we have the approval of her parent, therefore that rule is none and void."
"Professor McGonagall! I'll have her job and you'll be expelled from the school!"
"Good luck," Severus drawled.
"And why would that be?"
"Because you'll have to go through me first to get to them." Severus stood taller then even he thought possible and starred at the stout woman.
She took a step forward. "YOU'LL BE PROTECTING ME NOT HER BY THE TIME I'M FINISHED WITH THE LITTLE SLUT!" She screamed at them. She pulled out her wand and sent the Crucio Curse at Hermione. Severus tried to block it, but he didn't move quick enough and it hit her hard. Hermione collapsed and started to scream. For almost two minutes the Toad stood with her wand on Hermione. Severus managed to block the curse and stun Dolores. He knelt next to Hermione and brought her into his arms. He sent his patronus first to Poppy then Minerva. He knew that he was going to get it in the neck from Minerva, but he didn't care as long as his love lived.
"What happened?" Poppy came bursting into the room.
"Umbridge held her under Crucio for roughly two minutes, I tried to stop her, but I couldn't do anything," tears started to slip down his cheeks.
"Hermione!" Minerva ran into the room quicker than ever before.
"Severus, pick her up and take her through to your bedroom and lay her on the bed and I'll treat her in there. I'll need all of the normal potions brought straight through."
Severus did as he was told and returned as quickly as he could. He handed the potions to Poppy and then stood next to Minerva who buried herself into his chest. Albus entered the room and spoke quietly to the pair stood in the corner watching Hermione and Poppy.
"I have seen to Dolores and Flitwick has her bound and waiting for the Aurors to come and take her to The Ministry. The Board of Governors are after her head for using the blood quill on students. She'll get sent to Azkaban for that, but get either life or the death penalty for using an unforgivable curse on a student."
"She should get the bloody death penalty Albus," Minerva hissed. "Look what she's done to my daughter."
Severus held Minerva tighter and rocked her gently. "She'll be okay, Minerva, she's strong. Take after her mother."
Minerva chuckled and nodded. "She's like her lover too," she whispered.
Poppy finished spelling the potions into Hermione's system and turned to Minerva and Severus, "She'll be okay given time; she needs to rest and stay off her feet as much as possible."
Severus nodded. "I'll make sure she stays on bed rest."
"She's weak and she's going to need someone 24/7 for a while."
