Escape ↣ Harmione

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter 47 - New Recruits

Suddenly the stakes they were playing for had become higher. They had been high before, the fate of the outcome of any confrontation with Tom, the safety of the generations of students currently behind the walls of Hogwarts, her reputation, her relationship with the Order.

Now, now they were impossibly high. Minerva was, within the next few minutes going to turn her back on the Order, turn away from those people she had worked, fought and suffered with. She was going to turn away from Albus and directly undermine him. She knew there were people who wouldn't forgive her. Even if the outcome was the halting of the needless, senseless deaths, and the defeat of Tom in the cleanest way possible. All they would see was that she had walked away from their shining hero. Anyone who did that, who didn't stand for what he stood for, simply couldn't be working for the light, otherwise, how could they turn from him?

They had talked it over, over and over, Severus urging her not to do it, that he would go. She had to, though, Severus could have done it, but they both knew his role as a spy, as a marked Death Eater would colour anything he tried to do. The suspicion he was held in, the distrust, it was wrong and stupid but understandable. They needed to act, and they needed not to have to answer a thousand pointless questions designed to prove loyalty and engender a feeling of being mistrusted. Severus wouldn't stand to be used again, he wouldn't admit it, but she knew, could feel it in her bones, it had to be her.

She checked the time. She still had a few minutes left, she could turn back, walk away. She raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Come in," the voice behind it called. She took a last breath turned the knob, and stepped into the room.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was many things, but stupid was not one of them. Minerva saw his face flicker as fast as an eye blink through surprise, confusion, and curiosity before settling back into a mask of polite interest. He knew she was coming, she'd asked him for the meeting, they both had busy jobs after all, and it was the polite thing to do. When planning an insurgency, it seemed that being polite about asking people to join was the best way forward.

"Minerva," he greeted her, offering her a chair. She sat, back straight, hands folded primly in her lap. The persona of unflappable Deputy Head wrapped around her like a suit of armour.

"Kingsley, thank you for seeing me," she returned.

He gestured to the tea tray set up on the corner of his desk, steam gently curling from the pot. She inclined her head. He poured, and she left the cup on the desk unsure that her hands wouldn't betray her nerves and set her cup rattling in its saucer.

He looked at her, and she thought he might have noticed. "How can I help Minerva? I can't say I could think of a single reason why you wanted this meeting."

The fleeting smile that crossed her face was wry, she took a deep breath in as subtly as she could, then concentrated on picking up her cup without letting it rattle, making it look natural. Severus must have nerves of steel to do this.

"Is your office a safe place to talk?" she asked, sipping from the cup, her tone smooth and cool, unwavering.

Kingsley eyed her briefly before flicking his wand at the door then twirling it once. She felt the magic whisper past her, and her shoulders relaxed the smallest fraction.

"We can't be overheard or recorded," he replied.

"Then I will only ask for your oath of confidence, and that you tell no one by any means of communication of our conversation."

His face was surprised, and she could see in his eyes a growing suspicion. "Minerva, I assure you-"

She cut him off. "Your oath Kingsley or I will walk out that door."