𝐒𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄 || Severus Snape x OC ||

27. FIRE BURN & CAULDRON BUBBLE

*.·:·.☽ ✧ ☾.·:·.*

His cloak moved gently against the caress of the soft winds up in the astronomy tower. Minerva beside him, his glance fixed upon the pine trees and dark green of the Forest.

"I believe Dolores interrogated her for that reason," Minerva spoke, turning to the stoic man next to her. Throughout the time she had been explaining to him what had happened, Severus listened carefully. But not a word came out of his thin lips as Minerva unfolded her thoughts on what had happened, even if the young witch had not spoken much about the time she'd spent with Umbridge.

His dark pools took in the scenery lying beneath. The swaying of the leaves, the few students that walked around the grounds and the thestrals that were taking flight from the heart of the Forest and up in the grey, clouded sky.

"Do you trust her, Severus? Not to speak about the Order?" Minerva prompted, her voice betraying the underlying worry she harboured for the newest member of the Order.

He breathed in slowly, drawing in the air as the inky figure of a young woman appeared walking with hasty steps from the Forest towards the castle. His eyes followed her until her figure disappeared into the castle.

"No..." his voice came out rough, with a darkness that made Minerva's heart sink as his onyx eyes turned to her next to him. "But I trust her anger".

*.·:·.☽ ✧ ☾.·:·.*

Alice threw back the hood of her cloak as she entered the castle's walls again, flexing her fingers and forcing her skin to get used to the pain of the still open wound. She pushed her way through a bunch of Slytherins who had gathered to watch Mr. Filch and her pagan eyes glimmered at the sight of the new rules that were nailed on the wall.

"Freak!" a voice echoed towards her, but she didn't turn to look. Instead, she rushed down the corridors. The serpent in her heart hissed and coiled around the tender, beating flesh. Its fangs slid out, longing to pierce through reason and restraint. How could this be that the headmaster and stuff were so weak against that woman? How could it be that she was allowed to use such kind of means to get the answers she wished to hear?

She turned towards another corridor. A vast ray of portraits gazed down at her. She used to be fascinated by them, but now, at this point, all she felt was disdain. A castle full of witnesses yet none was capable of taking a stand.

What if Umbridge was to summon Luna next? Or a younger student? A weaker student? What if...

And Draco's cursed tongue!

She shook her head as if to throw the thought off her shoulder as a steed would throw a rider off its back, tired of the spurs bleeding her sides.

There must be another way.

An idea grasped the reins of her bewildered mind and she halted amidst the corridor.

Harry!

If one was there to take a stand and influence the students, make them roar against that bloody frog, then it was Harry. Her dark eyes glimmered in the half-lit corridor; her brows furrowed.

A plan. She had no power over the ministry, but Merlin be her witness, she had a plan. Her lips pulled back and for the first time, her gentle face was lit up not by the light of the candles, nor by a luminous wand. But by the baring of her teeth in a smile that matched that of the eerie serpent threatening her heart.

She turned around, this time running towards the Gryffindor tower. Up another staircase, left near Dumbledore's office, through the students, and down the corridor.