Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and settings from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J. K. Rowling. I do not claim any ownership over them or the world of Harry Potter and will not receive any money or other financial profit for presenting the work on this site. The story I tell here as well as certain original characters are my own invention, and are not purported or believed to be part of J.K. Rowling's story canon.

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Chapter 28

"They did what?" Sage asked in shock, after nearly choking on her morning tea.

"Some would-be rebels wrote 'Dumbledore's Army, Still Recruiting' all over the castle walls," Snape repeated in a voice so unbothered, it put Sage off.

"Do we have any suspects?"

Snape was behaving rather odd this morning. His tone had always been of the condescending type, but today he seemed conspicuously.. guarded? He didn't answer her question only after giving the Carrows a somewhat suspicious look.

"It could have been anyone. They didn't exactly leave any judicial evidence," he explained blatantly.

Somehow this didn't make sense to her. She knew he had kept Neville, Ginny and Luna on his radar for quite some time now, so why would he not jump to conclusions in this case? It was obvious, even to her, that the three of them must have been behind this.

"Except for some good old-fashioned graffiti," Sage remarked, not entirely able to hide her merriment.

"It seems as if you were amused by this, Miss Selwyn," Snape noted in response, his suspicious eyes now resting on her.

It took everything Sage had in her to not fidget under his gaze. Even back when she had attended Hogwarts as a student, her potions teacher had always had something unnerving about him.

"I'd be lying to say I'm not," she admitted, trying to layer her words in feigned confidence, "It's a childish prank, completely harmless and definitely not any kind of threat. All I can do is get a good laugh out of it."

She struggled to sound convinced of her very own words. She knew there was much more behind this lark, than it might have seemed to people from the dark side. For the students of Hogwarts who suffered under the new regime, it was a sign of hope. By showing resistance, even with seemingly trivial things like this, they gave other people reason to believe in a better world. A world after this war.

"Let's hope you are not just being naive," Snape finally said.

"Don't overestimate those little tricksters, Severus. That bit of paint on the walls won't change anything. If that's the best they can do, we have nothing to fear," Amycus Carrow suddenly tossed in, obviously having eavesdropped on their entire conversation.

Snape didn't even bother to dignify this interjection with any kind of response.

"I'm glad you are this confident, Professor. Hogwarts can surely benefit from such assertive leadership," Sage answered instead, buttering him up to change the topic.

Amycus Carrow immediately beamed with pride, whereas Sage fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Thank you, Miss Selwyn. I'm sure together we will accomplish great things for this school," he announced, a wide grin spread across his face.

Sage forced a nod, as anything else was just too much for her to bear.

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Author's note: I have to admit, I'm not entirely on board with the 'Snape has always been the good guy after all' narrative, but I'm still convinced that he was at least somewhat in favour of the DA being reestablished and showing some resistance. So I wanted to show in this chapter that he tried to keep the silver trio out of crossfire as much as he could without putting his own head on the line.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter (despite it being rather short) and leave me some of your thoughts. Wishing you all the best!! :-)