Shake it, Bake it, Brew it

It's Nice to Share

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"But they're so cute!" Trocar squealed dodging the werewolf getting an eye roll from Harry. This will take a while ...

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Hermione looked at what was going on in a bit of a daze, "How can this be happening? It has to be a lie." She said, not wanting to accept that a teacher was being arrested right in front of them.

"Why is that?" Ginny asked, who volunteered to help with passing out the rest of the potions along with her brothers, Percy, Fred and George, and Neville, which is why she was there in the infirmary.

Poppy knew she could use some help passing out potions, but she knew Harry couldn't stay with his eyes bothering him so she asked for a few volunteers to help speed things up. It turned out to be a good idea, since many girls needed calming potions after the love potion was removed. What happened to them while they were under the potion is for the aurors to investigate upon their return with Poppy, who went with them to make sure Lockhart didn't try anything. For now, the five volunteers were just keeping everyone calm until Poppy returned and, apparently, answer stupid complaints.

"He was a professor ... he wouldn't do this." Hermione said, not ready to consider the possibility that not all authority figures were as amazing as they were portrayed. She even still believed in Dumbledore, despite what the newspaper revealing information that completely contradicted.

"How can you say that after what he did?!" One of the other girls yelled furiously.

Percy tried to comfort the girl by gently holding her shoulder as he looked at Hermione, "Believe what you want, but tell me Ms. Granger, how do you feel now compared to how you felt in the summer and then to how you felt after meeting Lockhart when school started?" Percy asked, trying to get the young witch to use the brain she's so proud of, which seemed to work or, at least, made the witch stay silent for awhile.

Poppy returned soon after that, "Professor McGonagall is allowing the aurors to come back for some statements. I will be with each of those who want to speak. We will stay in this room and under a silencing spell. There will also be no classes tomorrow so you all can rest and we can figure things out." Poppy said as she went through the room checking each girl with a simple scanning spell to give to the aurors upon their return. "Thank you all for helping. The aurors will return soon so you can go if you want. I'm not sure if they'll let you stay or not anyway." She said to her volunteers.

"Since I am in charge of my housemates as a Head boy, I'd like to stay and help if can in place of Professor McGonagall, but shouldn't the other Heads of Houses be here too?" Percy asked as he gestured for his siblings and Neville to leave, which they did do, but rather hesitantly. They clearly wanted to stay and help, but, thanks to having a father in the ministry, they knew the aurors probably wouldn't want to have a bunch of students lingering during an open investigation even if it was for moral support.

The healer smiled on the outside hiding the fact that she was nervous, "I'd prefer fewer people involved so rumors don't spread and, besides, there needs to be others watching all the other students. So for now, it's just you and me acting as guardians to these ladies." She explained reasonably, but while they were sound arguments they weren't her main concern. The main issue was whether or not the other professors were under potions as well. Severus no doubt had to make a batch of the potion that removes the loyalty potion when he made Minerva's, but Dumbledore's obvious scheming made getting the potion to Minerva urgent. Now she had to get Severus deliver the rest of the potions to the professors.

Hermione ignored the results of her scan, completely sure that there was nothing of interest, and wondered where the headmaster was. She was sure Dumbledore would return and fix this. So sure, in fact, that she didn't stop and wonder why Minerva was in charge if Dumbledore was going to return even though the aurors said 'Headmistress' when they came to get statements and memories from every victim. Sadly, she won't start to get that until lunch, when she sees that the headmaster was gone, which was only possible because she finished with the aurors first and refused to see a mind healer.

Minerva stood at the podium in the Great Hall and looked at the students who were waiting for their lunch, "You all may have noticed that some of your fellow students are missing as well as a few staff members. For most issues, it's a matter of security that I don't speak of it, but I can say that due to certain issues I will be taking the headmaster's place," Minerva paused to let the rush of whispers settle down before she started again, "and I will be making arrangements to find a new DADA professor. Classes will be canceled tomorrow while a new teacher is found, and you'll see aurors and Gringotts goblins searching around certain places in the school for a few days. Be polite and do not get in their way. Now, please relax and enjoy your meal." The Transfiguration professor said and sat down to her own meal. She mentioned the meeting set for after curfew to the others, but didn't chat as much as she normally would. It felt strange being the only one there that may have a clear mind what with Severus still brewing or helping Cache in someway and Poppy helping the girls recovering from the love potions.

"Bloody hell ... maybe the Headmaster is guilty of something ..." Someone said and a slew of whispers and rumors swirled around the room as the curious students.

Hermione scowled at the chatter and her frustration rose until she got finally decided to corner the Headmistress right after the meal ended. When she found the Headmistress she was talking some goblins, "So you can handle that too? Yes, please. I would feel better knowing all the staff is thinking clearly and those spells are gone."

The goblin nodded sharply, "We'll start the process here too now that the ministry is nearly cleared and our search has started-"

"Professor McGonagall, when will the Headmaster return?" Hermione asked rudely interrupting the goblin.