ROSIER

12

Dumbledore
...

Gwen blinked at Professor Dumbledore's sight. He sat at his desk like he was expecting them. The man was dressed in his usual colourful robes, a strong violet this time with a matching hat that had a bobble at the end of it. His office was chaotically decorated with magical objects, portraits of past headmasters, books, and wooden furniture, all put together with the very distinctive Gryffindor red. Normally, Gwen would've felt overwhelmed at the sight of such chaos. The room was just simply too small to hold this many possessions. But in this moment, she was simply relieved to feel its warmth around her.

Gwen moved under Red's strong grip as she spoke up formally. "We found these delinquents breaking into a closed ministry space here in Hogsmeade." The woman announced with an expression that could not lead one to assume she was doing anything but proper and licit work. "I assume they belong to you, Albus?"

"They are indeed students of this school," Dumbledore stated with a neutral expression. He didn't seem surprised to see them at all. "And I would appreciate it if you would let go of them. They are children, not prisoners."

The Aurors let go rather unwillingly. Gwen felt pain pulsating under her skin from where Red's fingers had pressed themselves against, biting her teeth together to hide it. Remus rubbed his arms, glaring at the moustached Auror with burning hatred.

"I hope you understand how serious this is," Red spoke up again, a clear disliking directed toward the man. "The protocol would've forced me to take them all the way to the ministry for trespassing. It's a crime. Especially since the room they were found in happened to belong to a wanted dark wizard."

"I would not dare to question the seriousness of this situation, but I am sure as someone who has been fifteen before, you can imagine the amount of thrill and youthful recklessness an investigation of this kind would cause. I am certain they have learned their lesson and will not disrupt any ministry investigations again."

Red pressed her teeth together. A task that caused her jaw to stick forward in a rather unnatural way. "Of course, I just wanted to remind you of how important your job is, especially in times like these. After all, there are dark wizards roaming our world and I'm afraid the Board of Governors would not appreciate knowing of two students," Her eyes targeted Gwen as if to remind him of her in particular. "Out and about in places of potential danger."

"Well, with two representants of the Ministry, I'm sure they were in safe hands, Miss Redford." Dumbledore smiled at her. The conversation ended, and soon enough, Gwen and Remus were alone with the headmaster. Gwen finally rubbed the spot on her arm, while Remus didn't waste a second to approach the man when he came back up the stairs.

"We didn't break into that room, Professor." The boy quickly announced. It was a pledge of innocence that was only true if focused purely on the trespassing they were caught in. "Those two Aurors are corrupted. You can't trust them. They are bad people."

Gwen observed the headmaster. His expression showed the mastery of a mask only recognizable from behind her own. It was the face of someone who had to learn to hide his thoughts from others. An aftermath of knowing more than it is advisable for a quiet life. The blonde couldn't tell if he believed the claims Remus threw into the room until he began to smile. "Would you like some tea?"

Dumbledore swung his wand smoothly through the air. She could hear the sound of clinking porcelain and see a little tea pod that did the rest of the work in a short time. He offered them to sit down in a small seating area, with two armchairs and a couch all covered in red velvet. Gwen and Remus both sat on the couch, and as she pushed a red pillow to the side, she couldn't help but believe that this was how the Gryffindor common room looked like.