Sanctuary

Chapter 80

Friday, 13th April 1973

As the campaign period comes to an end, support for the current Minister for Magic, Eugenia Jenkins, is dwindling. Lord Voldemort looks set to make a sweeping victory across the country. The final rally of his campaign will be held in Diagon Alley on Tuesday 17th April, beginning at 11 am. Arrive early if you want a good spot, as organisers say they anticipate quite a crowd.

Poppy closed the paper with disgust and pulled out her wand to vanish it. While the newspaper disappeared, the sense of foreboding she'd felt reading the article lingered. If that man became Minister for Magic, nothing good would come of it. She huffed out an annoyed breath and checked her watch. Bugger, she was going to be late for the assembly if she didn't get a move on. Grabbing her wand off the desk, she downed the last of her tea and hurried out of the room.

Utilising a couple of shortcuts through secret passageways, she managed to make it to the Great Hall in time and slipped in through the faculty entrance to avoid the groups of second-year students lingering by the doors as they waited to be let in. She was the last to arrive, and she shot Minerva an apologetic look as she took her seat. The Transfiguration professor might be her friend, but she was a stickler for punctuality and got quite annoyed when her timetable was delayed because of someone else's tardiness.

Minerva only nodded in response before striding over to the double doors to allow the students to file in and take seats on the benches facing the stage. The House tables had been removed for the event, considering the small size of the audience, and replaced with three long benches stretching the width of the Hall. It never ceased to amuse her that, despite the removal of anything to segregate Houses, the students still automatically split themselves that way, and this year was no different. The second-year Slytherins all sat at one end of the three benches with the Hufflepuffs beside them. The Ravenclaws took up the next third, and the second-year Gryffindors filled in the space at the other end. But Poppy's eyes lingered on eight of the Gryffindors in particular.

When the four boys had arrived in the Hospital Wing covered in fur that turned out to be impervious to any form of magical removal and then refused to say how it had happened, she hadn't thought much of it. Mysterious magical ailments were something she dealt with on a daily basis, and students were often reluctant to tell her what had caused their problems for fear of reprisal. A little over a week later, Filius had brought the four girls in and asked her to check them over after a precipitation charm had been cast on them. They, too, had refused to name a culprit, but she hadn't linked the two events initially.

It wasn't until the day after Mister Black had awoken from his coma when the four boys had again arrived at the Hospital Wing—this time with a mysterious, but colourful, skin condition—that she'd begun to think something might be happening between the two groups of children. She still wasn't certain, however, but she'd heard about the girls being banned from the library for "loud and unseemly behaviour" the previous week, and the boys had arrived on her ward once again on Monday with some rather amusing alterations having been made to their appearances, so she was fairly sure.

The question was, did the suspected competition between the two groups present sufficient risk to themselves or others for her to waive patient-mediwitch confidentially and report it? So far, none of the magic had been dangerous, just embarrassing or designed to get them into trouble, so she thought not. But then again, it did seem to be escalating rather rapidly. How long might it take for them to go too far? One more incident, she'd decided, and she would have a word with them herself. And that decision had nothing to do with the fact that, by her count, the boys were one attack behind.

She might have a soft spot for them. Just a small one.

Little Remus had been so tiny when he'd arrived at Hogwarts, and his eyes had been so haunted by his suffering, but she'd had the joy of watching him blossom over the past two years, and much of his improvement could be credited to his friends. The three boys had accepted him so completely, not changing their behaviour towards him at all when they found out he was a werewolf, and it warmed her heart every time she heard them call him 'Moony' with their voices full of affection. But having a soft spot for them didn't mean she was waiting because she wanted them to win. She just wanted to be sure before she accused anyone of anything.