There was no denying that the attack itself came as a bit of a shock. The door burst open, letting in a flood of masked assailants; the chaos of curses and curses immediately filling the no-man's-land that erupted between the attackers and their target. Minerva, her ears ringing from the initial blast, scrambled to her feet at an instant; her wand drawn to protect herself as much as her fellow colleagues. She was hardly a frontier woman, unused to entering the fray, though nonetheless her overall competence extended far beyond what her station gave her credit for. Which was to stay that she was more than capable of holding her own against an opponent, never mind that dueling and combat was far from what was her primary forte. Talk about getting thrown out of her equilibrium, indeed, though needless to say Minerva was not one to loose her calm in the midst of any situation.

Lethal or not.

Though the confusion that followed granted her little time to react; and aside a shielding charm or two - as well as an attempt to cover - she hardly contributed with much along the lines of retaliation. Call it the temporary result of the schock, if you will, though ultimately Minerva was not of the common opinion that the best defense available was to fling about random curses in the general direction of the enemy. Suffice it to say that she would hardly - not even in the heat of combat - reduce herself to that level of carelessness. There was others in the pub; the epitome of innocent bystanders, and though she had no love for the clientele of the Hog's Head she would rather see as few unwanted casualties as humanly possible. They could, after all, as well as be hurt by one of their curses as by those of the opposition. It was best that someone thought to minimize the collateral damage, so to speak, and especially so in what turned out to be a full-scale duel to the death in a public establishment.

Hence why her reluctant participation in the tumultuous dueling hardly stretched beyond a collective sort of defense. She deflected curses where able, dodged wayward spells and flying pieces of furniture, simultaneously looking out for her fellow colleagues more so than she did herself.. All the while she maintained a consistent scrutiny of their enemy, the single purpose thereof being to analyze and assess the situation properly.

As well as for the purpose of singling out a target. To spot a weakness in the front of the ruthless assault; an opportunity to contribute to the ongoing counter-offence by focusing her efforts on where it would hurt - or rather help - the most. An opportunity that eventually presented itself, as the battered Slughorn's attacker separated from his primary bulk of allies by rolling flank-wise for cover. Immediately stepping into the role of the former, she headed for Horace's defense by bringing her aim to the intended assailant - who was hardly more than a masked silhouette, though suitably visible from her angle of sight - and lashing out at him with her first curse of choice; "Silencio!,"

Rob a target of their voice and their combat ability would be suitably impaired, or at the very least until they managed to counter or adapt. Though admittedly her goal was not to muffle the latter as much as it was to incapacitate, hence why she followed up on her attack with a decisive "Stupefy,"

"Sleep; I don't need sleep, I hide my life behind me,
Dream; I keep on dreaming, My conscience lays beside me,"