janus ~ hermione granger

lxxi

"can they go away?" maddy groaned, referring to the group of cloaked men outside, gazing at number eleven and thirteen in grimmauld place.

"what are they doing to you?"

"nothing. i just think we deserve a little privacy."

"they can't even see the building we're in," phoebe deadpanned, looking up from the map she had finished drawing moments ago.

"what's happened?" ron brought the attention of the girls to harry, who had just strode into the kitchen, tossing a daily prophet at them.

"sev is headmaster at hogwarts now?"

"no!" ron and hermione yelled.

the bushy haired witch was quick to snatch the newspaper and read the article.

'"severus snape, long-standing potions master at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, was today appointed headmaster in the most important of several staffing changes at the ancient school. following the resignation of previous muggle studies teacher, alecto carrow will take over the post while her brother, amycus, fills the position of defense against the dark arts teacher.

'"'i welcome the opportunity to uphold our finest wizarding traditions and values-'" like committing murder and cutting off people's ears, i suppose! snape, headmaster! snape in dumbledore's study—merlin's pants!" she shrieked, causing the others to jump except for maddy, who was trying to calm her down. "i'll be back in a minute!" she got up, still shouting as she left the room.

phoebe stopped maddy from chasing after hermione, and instead followed.

"merlin's pants?" ron repeated, "she must be upset."

"brilliant job, sherlock," maddy sarcastically clapped, and ron ignored her, picking up and reading the newspaper.

"the other teachers won't stand for this. mcgonagall and flitwick and sprout all know the truth, they know how dumbledore died. they won't accept snape as headmaster. and who are these carrows?"

"death-eaters," the oldest answered before harry could. "they were there with us the night dumbledore died."

"there are pictures of them inside. it's all friends together, and, i cant see that the other teachers have got any choice but to stay. if the ministry and voldemort are behind snape, it'll be a choice between staying and teaching, or a nice few years in azkaban—and that's if they're lucky. i reckon they'll stay to try and protect the students."

madison wanted to tell them what side her godfather was truly on so bad, but she knew she couldn't.

not just because snape trusted her, but because of the unbreakable vow. much to his dismay, maddy placed it.

her thoughts were interrupted by kreacher, who came bustling to the table with a large tureen in his hands, and ladled out soup into pristine bowls, whistling between his teeth as he did so.

"thanks, kreacher. well, at least we know exactly where snape is, now," harry flipped over the piece of parchment.

maddy smiled at the house elf as he handed her a chocolate—sirius had ordered him to do that everyday for some reason.

"there are still a load of death-eaters watching the house, more than usual. it's like they're hoping we'll march out carrying our school trunks and head off for the hogwarts express."

"i've been thinking about that all day. it left nearly six hours ago. weird, not being on it, isn't it?"

"they nearly saw me coming back in, just now. i landed badly on the top step and the cloak slipped."

"i do that every time."

"amateurs," maddy muttered under her breath, her smiling widening as hermione walked back in, phoebe not so far behind.

"and what in the name of merlin's most baggy y-fronts was that about?"

"i remembered this," she held into a large, framed picture and phoebe tossed her small, beaded bag at her.

"phineas nigellus," they spoke in unison.

"sorry?"

"isn't his portrait hung up in the headmaster's office?" maddy cocked an eyebrow, causing hermione to smile.

"yeah," she quickly shook her head, her grim disappearing as she explained to ron. "snape could send him to look inside the house for him."

"but let him try now, all phineas nigellus will be able to see is the inside of hermione's handbag."

"good thinking!"

"thank you," phoebe slightly blushed, so maddy, being the sister she was, nudged her.

"so, harry, what else happened today?" hermione changed the topic, silently scolding her girlfriend.

"nothing. watched the ministry entrance for seven hours. no sign of her. saw your dad, though, ron. he looks fine."

"arthur always told us that most ministry people use the floo network to get to work—ron, stop moving your head like a bobble head—that's why we haven't seen umbitch, she'd never walk, she'd think she's too important."

whack.

"and what about that funny old witch and that little wizard in navy robes?"

"so now it's okay to judge people?"

whack.

"oh, yeah, the bloke from magical maintenance."

"how do you know he works for magical maintenance?" phoebe titled her head, curiously looking at ron.

"dad said everyone from magical maintenance wears navy blue robes."

"but you never told us that!" hermione raised her voice, dropping her spoon and reaching out to her and phoebe's notes. "there's nothing in here about navy blue robes, nothing!"

"darling-"

"well, does it really matter?"

"ron, it all matters! if we're going to get into the ministry and not give ourselves away when they're bound to be on the lookout for intruders, every little detail matters! we've been over and over this, i mean, what's the point of all these reconnaissance trips if you aren't even bothering to tell us-"

"blimey, hermione, i forgot one little thing-"

"you do realize, don't you, that there's probably no more dangerous place in the whole world for us to be   right now than the ministry of-"

"i think we should do it tomorrow," harry spoke up.

"i'm sorry-"

"-what?"

"tomorrow? you aren't serious-"

"no, he's harry."

whack.

"not now!"

"i don't think we're going to be much better prepared  than we are now even if we skulk around the ministry entrance for another month. the longer we put it off, the further away that locket could be. there's already a good chance umbridge has chucked it away; the thing doesn't open."

"isn't it technically ours?" maddy gestured between herself and her twin.

"maybe she found a way of opening and she's now possessed."

"yeah, i didn't say anything," maddy held up an awkward thumbs up, causing the others to softly chuckle.

word count- 1071
date written- november 24, 2020
i'm splitting the chapters into smaller ones cus i wanna get to a hundred chapters total :)