Still not quite dry, Albus and Scorpius huddled behind Zelda as the three joined a throng of students being ushered into the great hall.
"What do you think it was?" whispered Albus as they inched forward.
"No idea," said Scorpius. As he was taller than either Al or Zelda, he took it upon himself to crane his neck over the crowd and try to see what was going on.
"I think I can see McGonagall," he said, leaning forward on his toes.
"What does her face look like?" asked Zelda, so short her own face kept nearly getting smothered by the robes of taller students.
"I can't tell, said Scorpius as he squinted into the distance. "Like it usually does, I guess."
"What does her face look like?" said Al, sarcastically. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, Potter," she began, "If it looks pissed, that means someone is getting detention. If it looks worried that means we all probably have some new curfew or something."
"Hmph." Al scowled as he realized she was right. "Makes sense, yeah," he said, trying to brush it off.
When every student has finally been squished into the great hall, McGonagall started speaking.
"Students of Hogwarts," she said, her face looking stern. Now, Al, Scorpius and Zelda were all examining it to see if there would be a curfew change in their future. It wasn't quite clear. "There has been an incident on the third floor," McGonagall's face looked both pissed and worried, thought Al as she spoke, "that has set off a rather ancient security spell. Its effects can be quite dangerous and the magic is so old that we are not yet prepared with proper antidotes and anti-hexes. Until further research is done, the entirety of the third floor is off limits to all students, who risk expulsion if they decide to bend the rules."
McGonagall fanned a sharp glare across the hall as she spoke. Albus' mind was racing at the word "incident"-what did it mean? He craned his neck to see the reactions from other students. Most seemed just as miffed as he was, though one face seemed a bit sour, angry even.
It took a moment for Al to realize the face belonged to his very own brother. James seemed to be clutching something in his pocket very tight as he scowled at the ground. Al stared at him for a few moments before he caught James' eye. When he did, his brother quickly smoothed his features and smiled weakly before quickly turning to whisper something to his friends.
Did James have something to do with the incident?
"-in the library until further notice." While he was staring at James, Al had missed the last part of McGonagall's announcement.
"What did she say?" he whispered to Scorpius.
"Charms class is in the library now," said Scorpius out of the corner of his mouth.
"What were you looking at?" asked Zelda, jabbing him in the ribs with an elbow surprisingly sharp for being so tiny.
"Nothing," said Al, avoiding her eyes.
"Liar. I know you were looking at something," Zelda said with a pout.
"Shhh," said Scorpius. "I at least have to be able to hear if you want me to tell you what she said later."
Al looked over at James again, trying not to move his head to arouse Zelda's suspicion. What was his brother up to?
xxxxxxxxxx
"Anything of note?"
Snape's question hung unanswered in the air of the Potter's kitchen.
Ginny's face had gone pale, striking a stark contrast to lips that had been tinged purple with wine and freckles that now stood out like punctuation marks across her nose. She looked blankly at the letter for what felt like minutes to Snape. His eyes rested on the familiar golden-yellow Hogwarts parchment and the thick red wax seal that Ginny had anxiously broken.
She gulped before talking. "There's been a security breach." Her tone was even, but Snape could tell she was trying to hold back emotion.
Ginny let out an exasperated sigh, and the letter slipped out of her fingers in front of Severus on the table. She then stretched out of her chair and walked to the sink. Then back to the table. Then, back to the sink. Then to a cabinet. Pacing all around the kitchen as he tried to read the letter.
"What a day," she said, under her breath.
Snape read the swooping calligraphy on the parchment at least three times. It was infuriatingly vague. There had been an ancient security spell set off on the third floor, with no injuries and only slight damage to the building, but very few specific details were given. McGonagall was always good at the public relations end of school administration - as vague as possible as not to make the parents too nervous. Albus had been terrible at it. He was lucky he had such a good reputation in the community.
Snape tried to focus his mind. An ancient security spell on the third floor. He knew of most of the spells protecting the third floor, as he had worked on the Sorcerer's Stone hiding place hiding place years ago, when Harry was a new student. It was an odd place for a security breach, as it lay in the heart of the castle.
What could have set off a protection there?
As Snape tried to consider the question, he was distracted by Ginny's pacing.
"Ginerva," he said, gingerly placing the letter back on the table."You will eventually knock yourself out if you insist on flying about the room like a deranged owl."
Ginny cleared her throat at the sound of him using her full name for the second time that evening and stopped midway between the sink and the table.
"I know," she said defensively. Quickly, her tone became less aggressive and more hopeless. "I just...what am I supposed to do? I feel like everyone I love is in danger, yet I'm so far away from them. I feel just useless."
Ginny crumpled into the chair across from Snape, head in her hands, fingers nervously threaded through her bright red hair. He was a bit taken aback-he was not used to people having emotional breakdowns in front of him. Not anymore.
The sight of her brought him back to his childhood, watching his mother's face curl in anguish at the sound of a lock in the door. Her silent sobs nearly every night. Even with all the advanced magic he had managed to teach himself by the time he got to Hogwarts, he had never found a way to make the tears vanish.
Throughout his adult life, Snape had avoided such displays of emotion. It must have been a subconscious effort, as he hadn't realized it until this moment. Like most things that had happened to him since he had woken up, the moment didn't seem to be quite real. How could Harry Potter's wife be sitting just a few feet away from him, expressing such vulnerability, reminding him of his mother, reminding him of-of Lily.
He forced that thought out of his mind, as it conjured strange images from his dreams. Ginny was certainly not Lily and even most certainly not Eileen. She was, however, a kind and fair witch who he felt genuine respect for.
"You are not useless," Snape said, averting his eyes to the messy bun of hair pointed in his direction and grasping for a book on the table to focus his attention on. "Hogwarts is a fortress that has seen worse than this and Potter is well practised in sneaking around where he shouldn't be. You have the most difficult task."
"What is that?" asked Ginny, who lifted her head to find Snape taking a sip of wine.
"Taking care of Potter's mess," said her old potions master with a glance in her direction, "I should know."