Minerva realized she stood in a silent room only after she had lowered her arms. Every Sildanius student was looking at her at once - some shocked, some horrified, some with growing fury. Minerva coughed. "I mean...uh..."
"I think Minerva's right," Kat said, immediately.
"Right?" Clyve asked, his eyes boggling. "Right!? The bloody Reds just tore down a thousand years of secrecy and work overnight."
"No, they haven't," Bellatrix said, her eyes snapping into focus as she shook her head. "No, remember, back at the end of the war, my mother told me that they already released the secret treaties and revealed magic back then and no one believed them."
"They were in a bloody civil war," Clyve said. "We could shut them up."
"Yeah," Gregory added. "But they're not anymore, not with their Iron Lady stepping on everyone's bloody-"
"The Premiere isn't a tyrant!" Selene exclaimed.
This once more drew silence to the room as Minerva watched eyes land on the House Wainscove girl. She blinked as everyone looked at her, then waved at them mutely, as if to say 'hello, I am from House Wainscove.'
"Who let that lunatic in here!?" An older Sildanius man asked, stepping over and taking hold of Selene's arm, squeezing her hard.
"Oh thank you!" Selene said, smiling brightly. "I've been trying to align my lunar sensibilities more effectively, I'm glad it's work-" She yelped as the man started to shake her. Minerva stepped forward, but before she could, Gina decided to help.
"Oi! Let her go!" She stepped forward into everyone's line of sight, glaring at the older Sildanius.
"Glintfaire!?" Gregory yelped.
"Don't wear it out!" Gina growled, her hand dropping to her wand.
"Who let these other Houses in here?" The man snarled, then swung his gaze onto Minerva.
"Technically, Gregory let them in," Minerva said, cool as a cucumber. "And as for all this, is now really the time to worry about childish house grandstanding? Whether this is good or not, it's changed the whole wide world all at the same time and we should maybe be considering that and not if a Wainscove girl saw that we have dreadful gargoyles and worse carpeting." She sniffed. The man she was looking at scowled and flushed, then seemed to remember himself. He let Selene go, who brushed her robes straight.
"Thank you," she said, severely. "I have never been manhandled before!"
"How?" Gina whispered. Minerva shushed her.
"It has been quite an experience," Selene finished.
"Please leave, your own houses will have heard all of this," Minerva said, figuring if she had the initiative, she might as well stick with it. She turned to face her friends - noticing with some relief that Harry had remained quiet and in the background and looked ready to slip out without drawing a single glance. "This has been a shock for everyone - we can't all go off half cocked, eh?" She smiled. "We'll meet again later. Say, tomorrow?"
"Or after when the headmaster calls an assembly," Kat added.
Everyone nodded and the non-Sildanius students were allowed to quietly leave - but once the door had slammed shut and locked, the conversation exploded once more. Fortunately, people's ire (or panic) had stopped aiming directly at Minerva. Her outburst was forgotten for the moment as people adjusted the knob on the wireless, trying to bring up wireless stations from elsewhere in the world. When Minerva retreated to her rooms, a spell was being jerry rigged to try and extend the range to get transmissions from the Continent or even further.
When Minerva thumped down onto her bed, her arms spread, her eyes staring up at the ceiling, she found herself alone for the moment...alone with her mind whirling, whirling, whirling. It felt as if every little plan, every little worry, every little dream she had had was entirely cast end over end. Her stomach knotted as she realized...
She hadn't even
thought
of Petuna in far, far, far too long.
Minerva frowned.
"And I can't even get to her..." she whispered. "If I could just
fly my broom
."
But no.
There was a twenty four hour trip through the most hostile part of the Astral Plane to reach the mundane world. And there, miles and miles and miles away, across Scotland and England, was Petunia. Was she listening to the mundane radio? Was she in their favorite pub, missing her and wishing she was there to hear the story: That magic was
real
. That it could be harnessed by the people of the world. Minerva closed her eyes.
I already knew that,
Petunia could be saying.
Minerva showed me.
"I have to get to her!" She groaned.
"Get to who?"
Minerva jerked upwards. She half expected Kat to be standing in the door. But no. It was Bellatrix. She was regarding her with a curious frown.
"I...I had a mundane friend," Minerva said, finding herself unequal to the task of coming up with yet another lie to burden the world with. "Petunia. She must be hearing this and going utterly mad. But I can't just slip out and fly to her."
Bellatrix bit her lip, then looked back at the door she stood in. "...that's not entirely true," she admitted.
Minerva's brow furrowed.