THE TRAPPINGS OF OFFICE

Disclaimer: Any body, thing or place you recognise does not belong to me but to J K Rowling and I make nothing from my use out of them except a strange satisfaction.

Summary: Set after Takeover and Sacrificed to the Sword and based at Hogwarts during Book 7. The staff continue to do their best to protect their students and each other while Severus manipulates people, perceptions and situations all around them. MM, SS, PP, PS & FF

PART 1.

Poppy watched as the Deputy Head pushed the majority of her dinner absently around her plate totally engrossed in the papers she was marking and apparently entirely unaware of the rest of the halls inhabitants and her friend's observations. The mediwitch didn't comment on the other woman's lack of appetite however, or even that she was barely eating enough to sustain a small bird. Instead she content herself with watching, knowing that to say anything would only rile her friend and likely bring the further attentions of the Headmaster.

Ever since the night when she had confronted Minerva in her own rooms, Snape had seemed to be watching his Deputy, and in turn everyone who interacted with her, even more closely. It was almost the end of term now however, and while that was, as always, a relief there were a series of additional concerns that came into play with the start of the holidays.

Every time the students left the grounds they were exposed to a new onslaught of dangers to which Poppy, or any other member of staff, had very little hope of protecting them from. For once though, it wasn't a students welfare over the break that concerned her most. Without the need for her to teach classes, there was no real incentive, at least that she could see, for Snape continuing to stay his hand with Minerva.

Poppy had no real knowledge of what it was that he was doing to her behind the closed doors of his office but what she did have was the evidence of her own eyes and what her well honed intuition was telling her. Since October, Pomona, Filius and herself had done the best they could to prevent Minerva having to be alone with the Headmaster. Despite their best efforts however, he often called her up to his office late in the evening with the most flimsy of excuses and it made her more than a little uncomfortable.

On more than one occasion Poppy had tried to get Minerva to confide in her regarding what it was that happened during those hours and the more she heard a terse 'Nothing.' the less she was inclined to believe it. There were never any physical signs of violence, but there was a change in the way in which her friend carried herself the following mornings that the Gryffindor simply couldn't cover. Even more telling than that however, was the change in Minerva's overall demeanour.

It was not that the other woman had suddenly become entirely submissive, far from it. The Head of Gryffindor still stepped in to protect her students but there seemed to be a new and mostly unspoken language between the Headmaster and his Deputy. Snape seemed to be able to get Minerva to back down with a single look sometimes and every time Poppy witnessed this level of control it chilled her to the bone.

Dwelling on thoughts like this had a habit of drawing Poppy into the darker side of her own mind, but in this instance the heavy scrape of the Head's chair being pushed back from the table, drew her back to reality before that could happen.

"Ensure you aren't too late in bringing those tables of predicted grades to my office this evening," Snape drawled, looking down towards Minerva, "there's something else I would like to discuss afterwards." He turned to go, but catching Poppy's eye he paused. "Your presence will also be required outside the castle tomorrow night, Professor McGonagall." Only when Minerva protested did he turn back to look at her. "I am aware that the students are leaving tomorrow and I assure you that the Hogwarts Express will still run to time without you overseeing it from the station. Our presence has been required at an informal Ministry party and I'm sure you wouldn't want to anger our host?" He left an ominous silence, as though challenging her to contradict him. "There will be a suitable garment waiting for you when your classes finish at lunchtime tomorrow." And with that, he swept from the room.

There was the typical moment of still before the student body seemed to breath a collective sigh of relief. Poppy watched as they began to talk anew, seeming to feel freed despite the fact the Carrows were still in the room. Looking to her left again, she saw Minerva gathering her papers up and pushing back her seat. Their eyes met as she began to walk along the table to the exit, and she opened her mouth to say something but the other woman got their first.

"Don't Poppy, please, just… don't." It wasn't the words that cut Poppy as much as the tone and the look of exhausted resignation in her friends features. By the time that she pulled herself together, the Transfiguration Mistress had moved on, leaving the mediwitch feeling a barrage of emotions.

The last thing that Poppy had ever wanted was to cause Minerva more stress, to make her feel that she couldn't rely upon her to help, or even just to speak to – no matter what the situation. But in the course of trying to help her friend she seemed to have managed only to alienate her. Still tied up in her self-contemplation, she was a little startled when Pomona appeared in front of her.

"I was wondering if you would like me to drop by later… join you for a cup of hot chocolate?" the other woman asked with a smile. Poppy was on the cusp of snapping at the other woman when suddenly she was struck by the genuine compassion of the offer.

"I would like that very much," she said, feeling some of the tension that had been building, ease off. "I'll let Filius know and he can bring he biscuits." She added, smiling.

It was after twelve when Poppy saw her guests out of the hospital wing, feeling much more like herself than she had earlier in the evening. They had talked but more than that they had laughed, and it was with a pang she realised that it was the kind of comfort that this brought which she felt Minerva was missing out on. She was isolating herself from them, for whatever reason, and the mediwitch was certain that it wasn't helping her.

With a sigh, she once again pushed these thoughts to the side as after all, as Filius had said earlier, they would be of no use to man nor beast if they allowed themselves to be drawn into morbid depression. The Head of Ravenclaw had promised them that he would put a trigger on Minerva's chamber doors so that he knew when she returned. There was little else they could do in the mean time, but there had been a collective concern at Snape's proclamation that he would be taking her out of the castle and into what they could only assume would be dubious company.

On her way back to her rooms, she stopped to make one last round of her charges and paused at the foot of their beds just watching them sleep. The 2nd year Gryffindor and 4th year Hufflepuff were both tucked up tightly, and both would be well enough to go home the next day but neither had come to her with any one of what before this year would have been classifiable as normal ailments. Making sure that the two beds monitoring charms were connected to her alert bracelet she withdrew quietly and left them to their dreams.

Being a mediwitch, especially in a situation like the one at the school where she could be, and was, called on at any hour of the day and night, was greatly facilitated by a talent for grabbing sleep when you could and waking quickly. Poppy was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow and awake again as soon as she heard Filius' voice.

It took her only a moment to realise that the Ravenclaw was calling her from the fire and her adrenaline was pumping rapidly round her system before he could say anything but his first words were intended to calm her.

"It's alright," he began "everyone's fine."

"What time is it?" she asked as her heart-rate slowed.

"A little after five."

"Ugh."

"Indeed." Filius responded.

"Minerva?" she asked as rational thought caught up with her.

"She's just knocked on my door to ask if I would mind terribly giving her a hand collating the last of the marking statistics. I haven't had a look yet but I'm not surprised she's struggling; she's dead on her feet and judging by the tic underneath her eye her head must be pounding."

"Well I can certainly help with that. Apart from that, is she…" she asked, not continuing as she wasn't sure she really wanted to know.

"She's in one piece." He sighed. "I had better get back, I was just coming through to pull on some clothes."

"Of course, I'll send something with one of the House Elves. Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you."

"Thank you Poppy. I'll see you at breakfast."

Breakfast was served from seven, and in the intervening hours Poppy accomplished a huge amount, including discharging her two patients. When she arrived in the Great Hall however, there were very few faces at the Staff Table. Helping herself to muesli, she took a moment to watch the goings on at the House tables. Those students who had arrived already seemed to be making the most of the absence of the Carrows and the prospect of the end of term, as there was a general hubbub of excitement rising from the group.

This atmosphere changed when Snape swept through the door, his minions on his heels and she watched as his gaze swept the table and suddenly Poppy was concerned as to why Filius and Minerva hadn't arrived yet and what it was the Headmaster was going to have to say about this. As if on cue, Filius appeared through the main door and a couple of moments later, the Gryffindor appeared at the side entrance. She didn't say anything, but when Minerva caught her eye the other woman she offered her a small smile. It wasn't much, but it reassured Poppy none the less.

"Apologies Headmaster," offered Minerva as she pulled out her own seat. "I do have the re-worked grade listings for you though."

Snape sneered but didn't say anything, and Minerva simply placed the file on the table. Filius sat next to her, when he joined them and the undercurrent to their conversation was certainly that he would fill her in later.

"Headmaster?" Pomona asked from the other side of the table. "May ask what the plans for this evening are now that Minerva is to be unavailable?"

"I am assuming that Professor Flitwick is still intending to travel with the students?" Snape asked, looking at the shorter man with an arched eyebrow.

"If that's what you would like, Headmaster." Filius replied, dipping his head in acquiescence. Snape snorted but simply turned back towards the Head of Hufflepuff.

"In which case, the Professors Carrow and Professor Flitwick will be accompanying the students on the Express and the rest of you will remain here to oversee the remaining end of term tasks."

Poppy wasn't sure what to make of this, sending both the Carrows seemed an odd decision but she understood so little of what had happened at the school over the last few months made sense that she had realised she couldn't spend all off her time second guessing what it was that was going through Severus Snape's mind.

The hospital wing was quiet throughout the day, and Poppy took advantage of this by taking inventory of her stockroom and creating lists of everything she would need to replace over the holidays. She was so caught up in her tasks, the day slipped past until suddenly it was almost time for the students to leave and she realised that at some point in the afternoon it had started snowing heavily.

Pulling on a cloak, Poppy hurried down the stairs to the entrance Hall where the entire student body appeared to be milling around waiting to be called out to the carriages. Filius was just completing a register it seemed and turned to open the main door and leading the group of students outside into the cold. She could see Pomona in deep discussion with some of the younger Ravenclaws, but from her vantage point she could also see a group of third year Gryffindors and Slytherins beginning to face off against one and other. The mediwitch was just about to step in when a familiar voice called out from above.

"Stop that at once!"

The students all turned to look at the Deputy Headmistress, familiar enough with that tone of voice to know that they had better do exactly as instructed. What greeted them however, was not in any way an image that anyone would normally associated with the formidable Professor McGonagall.

Standing at the head of the staircase, with the Headmaster looking if anything, mildly amused, Minerva McGonagall posed a striking figure. She was wearing a full-length black dress, off the shoulder and so cinched at the waist that even with Minerva's increasingly slight figure the mediwitch knew that there must have been a corseting charm worked into the garment. Seemingly unaware, or at least ignoring, the attention she was garnering, she swept up her full skirts just enough to descend the stairs at her usual clipped pace.

"5 points apiece, from Slytherin and Gryfindor." She declared, "and I would like a foot long essay from each of you on the necessity of inter-house co-operation, to be handed in to me on the first day of next term."

"Well said Professor," Snape added as he joined her at the foot of the stairs, drawing up to stand just behind her left shoulder in an almost possessive fashion. "however, we are expected at the Ministry."

Poppy watched as the other woman's entire demeanour changed the moment he spoke; she tensed and then after a moment, her shoulders fell. Snape swept her through the crowd, pausing momentarily at the door to summon his own cloak and a broad fur stole before they disappeared into the night. Filius, standing by the door, caught her eye and in the space of a moment they communicated everything that needed to be said.

A/N: I know, it's been forever. Just to let you know that I have finished this installment (which has another 3 parts) so should be updating regularly for now. Hope this finds you all well and you feel like leaving me reviews.

Thanks for reading

xLx