Hogwarts
Marching through the halls of the school, her school now, her young impressionable charges scattered before her like leaves in the wind, much like they did whenever Severus stalked the halls.
She was now the Headmistress to them, the queen of this realm, with the power to decide their fates. How she had long dreamed of this day, of having the real power to correct the many deficiencies she saw in the school, deficiencies that had developed under the previous headmaster's stewardship.
However, a part of her still couldn't quite believe that she was now the Headmistress. She had never considered for a moment that she would get the chance to govern the school as long as Albus lived. She knew that Hogwarts was his pride and joy and that he wouldn't surrender it willingly to anyone, even her.
The sad fact was that Albus' attention had always been divided between the school and his many powerful political offices, with the day-to-day running of the school falling squarely into her lap, but yet receiving none of the benefits of effectively acting like the school's head. In fact she had effectively been doing three full time jobs, acting as the school's de facto Headmistress, the Deputy Headmistress, and her other jobs of Transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor House.
Nevertheless, she knew that she had Albus' backing as his chosen successor. It was either that or let the school fall under the control of the governors, and indirectly Lord Malfoy. Despite her eagerness to prove herself, she heard silent whispers mirroring her own private fears, of not being able to cope with her new role, of not being able to fill the Headmaster's impressive shoes.
Fortunately enough, Filius had generously provided her with the answer she needed to hear. 'Don't even try to fill Albus' shoes Minerva, they are just too big. Instead, wear heels or boots that fit you.'" Hogwarts' new deputy headmaster sagely advised.
She had to once again acknowledge why the charm's master was the head of Ravenclaw house, with such simple, but highly effective wisdom to dole out. With that in mind and fully acknowledging her stern character, she went about enforcing old rules which had been ignored these past decades and setting up new rules of student conduct. These rules covered what behaviour was acceptable at Hogwarts, like for instance banning discriminatory and inflammatory terms like 'mudblood.'
There were already a couple of students serving detention, who had decided to tested her resolve; she was going to be a firm hand and enforce strict discipline on her charges to cull such distasteful behaviour. Unfortunately, with her rise to power, quite a few of her own former charges in Gryffindor house had decided to try their luck, resulting in several fights and impromptu duels with the Slytherin students.
Naturally, as it was her own new policies she had put in place, she had to lead from the front and make an example out of these misbehaving students. Now several of her former lion cubs were serving a practical detention with Argus, and were quickly learning how to scrub floors clean with mops and buckets for the next week. Not even Severus had called her out on it, which was an odd, but rather nice change. The message was quite clear to the rest of the school, she wouldn't tolerate misbehaviour and she wouldn't play favourites.
Then again, the potion master was probably more concerned with his suddenly exposed position and didn't want her to set her sights on him. After all, it was no secret that she had been expressing disapproval with his teaching methods for years, so naturally Severus was keeping his head down and nose clean. However, right now she had a mystery to solve.
For some reason, a Lord's chambers were being used. These special rooms were created to house visiting Lords or officials who were coming to Hogwarts for an extended stay, or by a select few students taking up their ancestral Lordship during their school years, and needed private quarters so they could conduct family business with the required privacy.
Or they could be used by married students currently attending the school, but that hadn't happened in over forty years. Apprentices could also use them if they were studying for their mastery within the school under the oversight of a professor. But as far as she was aware, none of those circumstances applied to the school at the moment, so there was no reason for these rooms to be in use.
What was even more interesting was that the quarters were located in a disused part of the school, on the upper levels where students rarely ventured anymore. Arriving in the general area, she looked around for a discernible door guardian as she still wasn't quite sure where the room was located, before settling on a stern looking stone statue of a knight, its sword drawn from its scabbard, ready to attack.
"As the Headmistress of this school, I order you to stand aside and grant me access," she commanded forcefully, but nothing happened. She then heard some giggling behind her.
Spinning around, she noticed several painted girls in an unremarkable portrait watching her with amusement, giggling amongst themselves, much to her own annoyance. She raised a questioning eyebrow at their disrespectful behaviour, and the trio of girls suddenly fell quiet.
She repeated her request to the door guardian only to be completely ignored. Her frown deepened at the disrespect the door guardian was showing her, as she once again heard muted giggles from behind her.
"Is there something funny," she challenged, aggressively stepping away from the stone guardian.
"No headmistress," the trio denied in perfect harmony, giving her a series of too innocent smiles that could be found on any mischievous school girl, no matter the era. 'Maybe I should retire now,' a part of her silently voiced, causing her to give the idea serious thought. 'No, I survived the Marauders, and this is nothing in comparison.'
She was just about to start again with the stone statue, before one of the painted teenage girls asked innocently, "You know that's just a statue right? It's just boring old stone. No magic at all," this answer caused her anger to rise out of sheer embarrassment, like she was a part of some big prank.
Biting off her anger, she turned to fully face the trio. "Do you know where the door guardian is?" she enquired.
"Of course we do," they charmed together in unison, smiling at her like kids holding onto a secret.
"Where is it," she demanded firmly, addressing them like how she would address her own student charges.
"Ask nicely," one of them cooed, a smile on her painted red lips.
"I'm the headmistress of this school, you will answer me, or I'll have you put in storage for the next century and likely forgotten about for longer," she barked, asserting her authority.
"That's not very nice," the third one said sourly, her features fake, almost mocking, reminding her of the Weasley twins.
"No, it wasn't," the first agreed, totally ignoring her, despite her threat.
"But you're welcome to try," the leader cooed to her. "But you still won't find the door you seek," the second added. "Even then, you still won't know the password," the third added.
"But first," the leader voiced, preventing her from speaking further. "Meet our friend George," a bang of heavy metal striking the stone floor could be heard, the vibrations running up her aged legs, as she felt a shadow overtake her, her cat like senses screaming at her to move. She slowly looked over her shoulder.
"Oh, crap," she breathed, looking up at the massive bronze warrior, its two hands long sword resting in its hands.
"George, she's picking on us," the third one cried.
"She threatened us!" the second one cried.
"She called us ugly!" the leader shouted, as her painted sisters held her as she cried fake tears.
"I'll defend you honourable maidens," the troll sized warrior knight boomed.
Gulping at the size of the magical guardian, she realized that most of her more destructive spells would be useless with a guardian made out of bronze, a magically resistant material. "I'm too old for this." She muttered before another part of her mind answered, 'At least you know why this area of the castle isn't used anymore!'
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