It was some trepidation that Theobald approached the Headmistress’ office. It was not that he was frightened of Analiza in any way. He had dealt with far worse than her in his time. He was afraid though of what kind of person she would prove and what it might mean for his students.

 The manner in which she had contemptuously treated Knox at the end of the last term had not endeared her to the Professor of Defence. During that particular display she had shown herself to be vulgar as well as spiteful towards her enemies. It had been the behaviour of a petulant child rather than that in keeping with the austerity of her office and hardly an example to set to impressionable youths.

 Her expulsion of Miss Foley for nothing other than her curse though was a new low.  For what reason did she see fit to ruin a young lady’s life? He hoped against hope that she had only acted this way because of fear or ignorance. A coward’s terror could be quailed and an ignoramus enlightened. His concern though was that she done what she had done to poor Olivia out of prejudice or pure vindictiveness or both. If either was the case he would never forgive her; if he detected anything of the latter at all it would truly mark a watershed between them. It would mean that she was a threat to all of the other students in Hogwarts and that he would have to start working towards her dismissal, however long it might take.  

 Theobald paused for a second to ensure that he had absolute control of his emotions. It would not do to be impolite or to seem angry. Neither would do in any case. More importantly neither would help Miss Foley. Praying that his fears were groundless Theobald knocked on the door.  

There was a tiny portion in Analiza's heart that felt sympathy for the previous headmasters. Not just for Greyfriar, but all those before him. Parents were quite difficult to handle when they stuck their power hungry fingers into the schools cookie jar, demanding that their opinions be heard and put into play. Had she been so bossy and nosy? She didn't think so, but then Ana wasn't the type of woman who admitted that her reasons for taking the job was in part because she was an overbearing mother. And now she was dealing with dozens of overbearing mothers who were either questioning or supporting her with equal intensity.

These parents cries came in the form of owls, some of which were howlers, that arrived on her desk for her inspection. She was glad to see that there were several parents who agreed and appreciated her choices, and all good pureblood stock like the Dolohovs and the Viridian-Drakes. The angry letters she only skimmed and the howlers she left in a heavily soundproofed box to scream themselves out. She wasn't going to change her mind, no matter how much they pushed and pleaded.

They called her prejudiced and simple minded, as well as many nastier names, but she let them fall to the wayside. Did they not understand that losing one potentially problematic student was far better then losing dozens to frightened parents? That the rights of a single person did not outweigh the safety of hundreds? It wasn't as though she slandered the girl or made it so that she couldn't live a normal life. If Ollie Foley's name was released to the public, it was because of her 'friends' not Ana. Her supporters were doing her far more damage then Analiza had. She had even set up for the girl to have tutors! What more did they want?

Apparently they wanted something else because she kept having angry parents and professors and students coming from all angles to accuse and condemn her like furious, self-righteous cockroaches. In fact, one such professor was on his way to her office, surely there to lecture her on her crimes. She had an inkling that Mainwaring was a Greyfriar groupie, and regretted not replacing the entire staff with professors she could trust. But it was too late to regret her choices, as it would look bad to fire the lot of them now. Now if she could get them to commit some crime...

A knock sounded at the door and pulled her from her treasonous thoughts, indicating that he had arrived. Straightening up, she ran her fingers through her hair and straightened her blouse before waving the door open with a sharp flick of her wand. "Come in.." She called, reading over another letter so she did not have to meet his eyes.

 Theobald entered the room, noting that the Headmistress lacked the good graces to look at him as he did so.  Such unnecessary rudeness further diminished her standing in his eyes but he had to put that aside for now. Keeping his calm he began,

 “Good afternoon, Headmistress. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. Firstly as I did not get the opportunity to speak with you in private at the end of last term may I offer you my congratulations on your appointment. I hope that you find your post as rewarding as your predecessor did.

 I know that you are a busy woman so I will get straight to the point. As the Housemaster of Hufflepuff I would ask you to reconsider your decision against permitting Miss Olivia Foley to attend Hogwarts.  This year is a very important time for any girl, both in her education and in her social development, and isolating her from her classmates due to her curse cannot but help harm her, no matter how compassionately it is done.

 I know first-hand more than anyone of the threat that rogue werewolves can pose and perfectly understand the fear that parents would have on learning of her condition if they believed her to be such but Miss Foley is not one of these. She has an exemplary record of abiding by Ministry rules regarding her condition and is mature enough to understand the responsibility she bears as a result of it. She never once missed a dose of her wolfsbane potion while at Hogwarts and I have no doubt that she will continue to behave in so conscientiously a fashion in the future. My own niece has just been sorted into Hufflepuff and would be living in the same dormitory as Olivia should you allow her to return. That I am here petitioning you on her behalf despite this is the greatest testament that I can make of my faith in her. 
 
 I appreciate that not everything is infallible. Her potion could fail for some reason, perhaps due to an ingredient that was out of date or even through some act of malice, but even in that very unlikely event Miss Foley would not prove a risk to others provided she continued to be locked in a secure room every full moon, as she has been, in keeping with the law.
 
 Miss Foley’s condition was kept hidden during Professor’s Greyfriar’s tenure so he never had to deal with outside pressure regarding her. If you were to permit her to return you would, I know, have to ease the fears of parents regarding werewolves. That could be done though. Though I do not wish to brag in any way and in no way wish to disparage my worthy successor at the Werewolf Capture Unit, whom I trained, I remain the most experienced wizard in Britain at confronting werewolves and am known as such. You could re-assure anyone who needed it that the former Head of the Werewolf Capture Unit will oversee Miss Foley during her times of transformation.

 With my oversight I could offer you an absolute guarantee that Olivia would pose no risk to the other students. I have subdued countless rogue werewolves in my time. The main problems lie in identifying who and where they are, not in subduing them when they are. A known werewolf locked in a room would not pose me the slightest problem in the highly unlikely event that her potion failed.”

Analiza knew the moment the man walked in and stood tall, his brow furrowed in an attempt to remain collected, that she was in for a drawn out lecture. Stodgy old soldiers like Mainwaring always were verbose and articulate, overtly so more often then not, and he did not disappoint. His lecture was long, filled with promises of Miss Foley's character and his ability to contain her, and Analiza just sighed as he finished. Pulling her golden eyes away from him, she rubbed the bridge of her nose. When would people realize that rules were rules for reasons.

"Professor Mainwaring, first of all, you and the entirety of the staff and students need to realize that this is not and will never be about Miss Foley's character, temperament or past conduct in the school. I am sure she is an exemplary person and she seemed quite sweet when I met her. HOWEVER..." Her eyes locked back on his as she stood, preparing her own little speech on the matter "... She as a person is not the issue. She as a potential threat to the school and student body at large is..."

"Suppose I do allow her to return, do you realize the implications this would cause? First of all, there is the parents. Parents who not only were horrified to learn that there was a werewolf in the same castle with their children but also parents who feel slighted and insulted because Mr. Greyfriar purposely hid this fact from them. Lying about the safety of a persons child is about the most treacherous crime you can commit to a parent and as an educator. I know because when I discovered this lie, I was one of those parents."

"I will not lie to the parents about what their children are exposed to and I can promise you that the previous lies this administration told have done irreparable damage to the trust the community at large has in this school. It will not be a simple 'don't worry we can keep them safe' situation. We will lose dozens of students, quite a chunk of funding considering some of the most outraged parents are the ones keeping us in food and supplies, and it will take quite a while before trust is able to be regained. I am assuming at your age that you recall the second war and the Battle of Hogwarts. The school wasn't able to protect the children then and it took years before Hogwarts got back to full capacity. We are still recovering from it and I will not put the lives of our students and the trust of their families in jeopardy again."

Pausing, she took her seat again and leaned back in her chair. "Now for the second reason why allowing Miss Foley to return will not work. Do you realize the ramifications of allowing one creature to seek solace in the school? YOU may just want Miss Foley back, but do you think that that will end this? Not at all. Once you allow one, you must allow all. Werewolves, Vampires, Goblins, Hags, centaurs, giants... you name it."

"Creature rights activists will fight tooth and nail until every creature is allowed admittance. Now, from an education standpoint, there is a lot to be learned from these creatures, but from a safety standpoint it would be impossible to assure the safety of the students. Where will the line be drawn? Who is to decide what creatures can be allowed in and what can't? It is a slippery slope and one that I am extremely hesitant to take..."

She was about to leave it be at this, but she felt the need to clarify one thing "... And as for your experience capturing werewolves, I am sure you were excellent at your job. But you are much older now and have not wrangled them for years, you are not up to what you used to be. And that in mind, I can not be confident that you alone will be able to contain Miss Foley if she were to escape. Contain her without hurting her I mean. And unless you wish to explain how we would get the funds to hire on bodyguards to assist you when our funds will be directly cut due to allowing her back in the first place, then I am afraid the answer is no. No, I will not change my mind."

With that, she leaned forward and picked up her quill, preparing to write a letter to the school governors about her decision. "Unless you have something else to add that will, though unlikely, convince me, I believe my position on the matter is clear."

 Theobald remained externally passive  as he listened to the Headmistress' justifications with  rising ire.  He had heard all those arguments before save perhaps that he lacked the ability to handle a werewolf. That was so clearly preposterous it could only have been designed to get a rise from him. A squib with a key to a door could  contain a compliant werewolf. Still he was determined not to give her the satisfaction of letting her get underneath his skin.

 Her case really just boiled down to prejudice, however she framed it. The skill at which she had constructed it though removed the possibilities of the preferable alternatives. She was not stupid which meant that she knew that Miss Foley was no threat. She also did not seem the kind to easily frighten which removed the excuse of unreasoning terror.   

 Her one point of minor merit was that Knox had not informed anyone of Olivia's condition. There was some truth that people would be annoyed  but  if honesty was the problem then an open policy of allowing werewolves but not declaring their identity was the answer. Bigotry and ignorance could not be overcome by giving in to them, only by confronting them.  He certainly didn't buy a sense of outrage against concealed facts as her main motivation nor was that nonsense of allowing non-humans into Hogwarts. Werewolves were still human, the other beings were not. Only vampires had once been human but beings with an eternity in which to study  and a permanent and dangerous thirst for blood were not remotely comparable to beings with a normal human existence barring pregnancy and the full moon. 

 No it all came down again to prejudice, that of Miss Snark. The rules she had set were hers and they were defined by her intolerance, not by reason nor fear. Given that though there was nothing he could gain here.

 He rose, his expression calm if touched with regret,

  "I fear Headmistress that you have and I see that you will not be persuaded otherwise. In answer  to your supposition, you are correct. I do remember the  Second Wizarding War. I fought in it.  I also remember that one of the reasons that our society fell to Voldemort was that he could draw upon the support of those we had so marginalised that they could have no hope of a productive place in our society. I pray that your decision, however nobly made, does not help lead to such an underclass arising again.

 Good night Headmistress."
 
 As Theobald left the room he felt immeasurably older. His fears had been born out. Poor Olivia would suffer immeasurably due to one woman's spite. Moreover this decision would have wider consequences. Bigots across Britain would be bolstered by Analiza's decision. If Hogwart's could ban werewolves why couldn't they?  Werewolves would draw the correct conclusions too. Why register with the Ministry if you are only going to face persecution? There would be more rogues and therefore more attacks. Such would feed prejudice and the vicious cycle he had spent so much of his life trying to break would start again.

 He bitterly regretted not applying for the top job after Knox had stepped down. At the time the reasons had seemed clear. Part of him had hoped that Knox would return, another that given the recent attacks on Defence against the Dark Arts that his subject would be scrapped if he left his post. Those justifications seemed paltry and inadequate now. That decision could not be undone though. Now he had to address how to deal with the consequences. That meant coming up with a way to remove Analiza Snark.

As Mainwaring rose and bid her good night, Analiza turned back to her paperwork. Shuffling them curtly into a neat pile, she managed "Goodnight Professor." as he left the room. The irritation in her voice was barely concealed. How dare he act like she was trying to start a war. She was, in all extents and purposes, trying to stop war. She was a hero... a saint even, dammit, and she wanted to be treated that way! She was only trying to protect the children and they were treating her like a tyrant. This could not go on. She wouldn't allow it.

As the door shut behind him, Analiza retrieved a small leather bound book from her desk drawer and opened it to an empty page. At the top she wrote "Allies", "Enemies" and "Undecided". Below she begin to list the names of the various professors. Mainwaring was the first to be scrawled under 'enemies', followed by Nagde's, a woman who had been an annoying thorn in Analiza's side since day one.

Allies Lumpkin Woolfolk Grimlish (?)

Enemies Mainwaring Nagde Gunnar (?) S.A.W.S

Undecided Reid Fleetfoot Ramsey Frasier Bombay Shepard Levartian

Tapping her quill she stared at the paper for a moment, considering her choices. Reid and Shepard were more then likely out. Reid because of the two women's histories and Shepard because of his closeness to Nagde. The other five however, could and would be convinced to join her side. She suspected it might be easy to convince the bachelors in the group, though she shuddered to think that she would sink that low. But then, all is fair in love and war no? And this was certainly going to be a war.

Staring at the paper once more, she scrawled "S.A.W.S" on the bottom and sighed "What am I to do with you...?" The small group was weak at the moment, but with Mainwaring backing it, as she was sure he was, she could be certain that it would grow quickly if she didn't nip it in the bud. If there was only a way to discredit them. To make the outside world see them as troublemakers and terrorists that wished to bring chaos to a perfectly good institution. If only...

Continued from Never Shout 'Fire!' in an Occupied Theatre

Pax could barely see, his eyes were so clouded with tears of sheer panic. His memory of the last however-many minutes was turning into a blur. He couldn't remember what he had seen of the fire in the Hospital Wing, only that he knew it was there. He had felt the heat even down the corridor, heard the crackle beneath the frantic exclamations of Figaro Sellaphix and two other students whose identities his mind hadn't taken the time to register.

He had run along the corridor, calling for help between sobbing and gasping for breath. He had told Figaro and the others he would get a teacher. He had to get a teacher. A teacher would know what to do. The tears were starting to flow more freely now that it was taking so long for him to find one; what was wrong with him that he couldn't track down a single adult? He had a vague recollection of pounding up a flight of stairs, unable to hear anything over the thudding of his heart in his ears, before finally arriving at a door he recognised with a surge of adrenaline as that of--

'Madam Snark!' Pax knocked on the door rather harder than he would have had the situation been less urgent. 'M-madam Snark,' he cried out, 'the Hospital Wing's on fire! What do we do?!' Pax was an absolute wreck by this point. His voice was hoarse from shouting and crying, his eyes were puffy, his robes disheveled from running, and the nosebleed that had caused him to go to the Hospital Wing in the first place was still in full flow, blood trickling down his mouth and chin and starting to splatter onto his robes.

Minutes went by with Ana resting back in her desk chair and idly tapping her wand on her chin. What to do, What to do. It seemed that SAWS had a great deal of supporters, especially in the school. Even though she had enough parents in high positions on her side in order to keep her safe, she feared that the pesky little group of teens would grow out of the school and into the community. She was almost certain that Miss Gertrudis was already in on it. After all, she had just made some silly Werewolf wing right before this all blew up and always was squawking about Creatures rights. Not that Ana had any issues with creatures, she didn't really. She just cared a lot more about humans rights then those of a dangerous beast that would rather bite her then befriend her. Then again, that could be said for most humans she knew as well.

It seemed to Ana that she would have to discredit SAWS somehow. Their idealism might earn them support, especially when they protested her actions peacefully, but if she could portray them as the more violent protesters, AKA terrorists, then she had a feeling that much of that support would falter. People were so fickle and cowardly. Most would only join SAWS because it made them look noble, so if things got tough, they would quickly lose their resolve. She had to make things tough.

But how was the question. She needed them to mess up in a way that she could manipulate. Before she got a chance to think about this, however, a frantic pounding sounded at her door, coupled by a frightened cry. She waved open the door and a shivering blood soaked first year stumbled in. She remembered him from the feast, but not his name. Hufflepuff, it seemed, if the bits of gold here and there on his bloodsoaked tie could give any clue. His nose was still bleeding, making his speech a bit muffled. But she got the hint quickly enough.

'the Hospital Wing's on fire! What do we do?!'

Working in the DoM had it's benefits, one of which was that Ana had dealt with plenty of emergencies such as fires, out of control illusions, backfiring spells and explosive potions. She was remarkably composed, considering the rush of adrenaline and fear that was coursing through her, and stood quickly but silently. "You will stay here and tend to that nose. Here..." She handed him a hankerchief " Put that on there and tilt your head back. Don't leave here until I get back..." she started towards the door, only to pause and add "... And don't touch anything. I don't want to have to spend my day cleaning blood..."

And with that, the door slammed shut behind her.

Continued in HERE