Embers | S. Black

7.

Severus walked Amara back to her bedchambers after the discussion of the Chamber of Secrets between the professors. They walked silently, both thinking of the meaning of the recent event. Had it been just a prank? Had the chamber really been opened? She looked at the man next to her, deep in thought and worry spread all across his face. She wasn't angry at him for throwing Harry under the bus, it had been an excuse to get him off the Quidditch field, he didn't actually believe the three students were lying, "You know, you should really try to be nicer to your students. They kind of hate you as it is," She said, playfully, not really wanting to worry about the blood on the wall anymore.

"And miss the chance to secure a Slytherin win?" He looked at her from the corner of his eye, trying to read her face. They had just made up and he didn't want her to be mad again.

"With Mcgonagall and I both there, you never stood a chance," She said, but no matter how hard she tried, her thoughts were still on the chamber. She stopped to wonder out loud, "Sev, do you think it's real? I mean, the chamber. I always just thought it was a myth, but what does this mean?"

He looked back at her, understanding her worry, "I don't know. I think it just means we keep a close eye on the students and hope there's nothing to worry about."

The next few days were hectic. Everyone, including the professors, talked about the events of Halloween night. A watchful eye was kept on the students, but nothing else seemed to occur to raise alarm, and by the end of the week things seemed to return to some normalcy as everyone, instead, talked about the upcoming Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Amara sat in her classroom after class grading papers, when her attention was pulled away by swift movements by the door. Looking up she saw Hermione walking up to her desk, behind her two sets of robes hiding behind the entrance of the room.

"Hi, Professor-um-I was wondering if you could sign this permission form?" she stammered quickly, which made Amara look at her curiously, and Hermione continued over explaining, "It's for a potions book, but it's in the restricted section, which means I have to get a professor to sign for it. I would ask Professor Snape, but he's a bit scary, and-um-the subject is just really interesting."

Amara took the form from the frizzy haired girl and looked it over, then gave the girl a small smirk, "Hermione, if you want to break the rules, you're going to have to try harder than that," She said, as Hermione's face went pale. "Your first mistake was coming to me to sign this form. Your second was bringing the two knuckleheads hiding behind the door," At the mention of them, Harry and Ron trudged their way into the classroom.

"I-" , "We just-", "You're just so nice and-" the three stammered at once, without a real excuse in mind.

Amara chuckled at the inexperience of the three, "What do you guys really want from the restricted section?" she asked, as she looked between their wide eyed faces. "It's obviously a potions book, you wouldn't lie about that in case I asked you more questions about it. A love potion? Liquid Luck maybe? Everyone could use a bit of that," When none of them even dared look up at her she continued, "Look, I'm not going to sign the form, but I will give you a hint: look across the hall."

All three looked up at her suddenly, shocked that they weren't in trouble, more than that, she had helped them. Amara simply winked at their astonished faces, and then looked back down to the assignments she was working on. When they left in a hurry, Amara looked up again, not being able to focus on the task. It was fitting that she would be the ethics professor and had just helped three students break the rules. Part of her chastised herself and the other part thought about her own adventures as a student. Surely, she couldn't deny the same to her students - that would be hypocritical. Plus she highly doubted they were up to big trouble, and that was how she justified it.