Summary: I know you've missed those two cunning ladies :) I did :) Enjoy! No warnings this time.
The Hogwarts Infirmary was quiet. Madam Pomfrey was second to none in casting the Silence Charm, which she managed with the same ease with which she fed snotty students with indigestion potion. No one knew the secret that the Mediwitch had been keeping for so many years: the Infirmary was not just a hospital, it was a battlefield, a chessboard, a plan of military action, and simply: a quiet haven filled with a pleasant smell of black tea and the taste of homemade cakes.
The Mediwitch curled her lips in displeasure and raised a large white cup adorned with pink peonies to her lips: tea always helped her to gather her thoughts.
"Minerva, my dear, don't you think that we have gone too far?"
Poppy didn't need to have the skills of espionage to find out what kind of trouble happened to Hermione, and where Severus disappeared for three days. The established grapevine system at Hogwarts worked perfectly well.
Minerva ceremoniously stirred the sugar, trying not to clink the spoon against the walls of the delicate china, and looked inquiringly at her friend:
"I see no cause for concern, Poppy. The girl would be all right, and Severus would act as soon as he stopped nourishing his own despair. This is Severus, you know, he tends to exaggerate everything."
Poppy clasped her fingers together, barely resisting her fist from banging on the table.
"Minerva, this is too much. Our plan to rescue Severus went down the drain."
"Is it so? Severus still has a chance to get to know his wife better, Hermione has fallen in love with him, we just have to wait a little longer and we will prevent her death."
Poppy sighed, straightened her cap, and stared at her friend: when almost a year ago she slipped the Time-Turner to Severus' desperate hands, she firmly believed that Minerva's strategy would work. Minerva and Poppy were allies and faithful friends and they could not just let Snape go back in time on his own. So they contacted the descendants of Flammel and acquired a couple of terribly forbidden Turners for themselves to go after Snape into the past. Women have long ago agreed that they would not allow anyone to interfere in history without their knowledge, and this time was no exception. Didn't dear Albus try several times to return to his own youth and save his deceased sister? Wasn't Poppy herself trying to save her husband from the Dragonpox? However, many hours of conversations with Minerva and an understanding of the present convinced the mediwitch that the past, no matter how tempting it might be, couldn't be corrected. With rare exceptions. Like saving Hermione.
Both women loved their sullen and brooding boy, who had become an angry and depressed man, too much to allow him to wallow in self-pity. Mother and stepmother, however, had an amazing similarity when it came to Severus and his well-being.
"Minerva, Hermione had a miscarriage!"
"Hush, Poppy, don't scream, or you'll get wrinkles. What wizard will woo you when we go to Nice to celebrate our victory?"
Poppy exhaled angrily.
"You are spending too much time with the portrait of Albus, dear, you even began to reason the same way as he did!"
"No, it's not about Albus, Poppy, it's about the intrigues that someone plots against Severus and Hermione without our knowledge," Minerva snapped.
"Do you think, it is a matter of intrigue? Both Severus and Hermione had suffered enough in the war to lose their ability to reproduce."
Minerva smiled venomously. Poppy frowned, disliking her friend's Slytherin grin.
"Madame Witch, you perfectly understand yourself what nonsense you are talking about. With Hermione's magical arsenal and Severus' abilities as a Potions Master, I don't even consider their inability to conceive. Here is something else: the Muggleborns have angered some Dark wizards, perhaps former Death Eaters, and they will not stop until they change the new order of things in their favor."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm not just the Chief Witch of the Wizengamot for nothing, Poppy, I closely follow the rumors and gossip that rush around the Ministry, just like those colorful memos that lazy workers like to throw around."
"And what did you find out?"
"In high society, decadent moods are hovering: many nobles are ready to tear our Minister to pieces if such an opportunity arises, and all because of his Marriage Law. A pureblood society is too clinging to its own foundations to allow Muggleborns to spoil their pure blood, forgive the pun, and besides, the Death Eaters who managed to marry unfortunate girls are too battered by the war to conceive an heir, as the Ministry requires them to."
"Don't tell me I have to feel sorry for the Death Eaters," Poppy snorted.
"Not at all. I ask you to think, who could not like this decree of the Ministry?"
"Anyone, Minerva!" Poppy exclaimed waving her hands: "The Wizengamot, who really does not like when ministers interfere with their laws. Muggleborns who were stripped of their voting rights. The Death Eaters themselves. I'm sure many of them would have preferred Azkaban, but instead, they were forced to be exemplary husbands. Parents of Muggleborns whose daughters were sent as sheep to the slaughter. Enemies of Severus. Hermione's colleagues who are very unhappy that some upstart is trying to dictate to Kingsley how to run the country."
"So you answered your question, Poppy, they have too many enemies for us to calmly stay on the sidelines."
"But how can we help them?"
"We can do nothing, but I am the Chief Witch of the Wizengamot, I have my leverage. Severus will visit you these days to ask for advice and to complain about his cruel fate. And Sirius Black had a reason to create an Alliance of Pureblood Wizards. We need allies."
"So," Poppy frowned, realizing what Minerva had said, "do you think Hermione's miscarriage is not just an accident involving a curse or past trauma?"
"I'm sure. As well as the fact that Severus would not let any scoundrel near his wife. He's been a spy for almost twenty years for a reason, he can sense enemies miles away."
Poppy rubbed her sweaty palms, poured tea into cups with trembling hands, and rested her chin on her palm.
"So our enemies are some wizards that we know?"
"Not necessary. But they are definitely people from the Ministry, who managed to get into the credibility of Hermione enough to replace her vitamin potions with poisons or mix some kind of infection into them."
"We need to tell Severus about this!" The mediwitch proclaimed.
Minerva arched an eyebrow in derision.
"Ah, really? And how do you think our dear boy will react to your statement that we dragged after him into the past in order to continue to control his fate?"
"We couldn't leave him without our support! We raised him, after all, Minerva!"
"Hush, Poppy. I have been suffering from a terrible migraine since the morning. As I said, having spent many years side by side with Albus and dear Headmaster Black, I understand something about cunning intrigue and Slytherin tactics. We have Sirius, we have the Malfoys, and we have Harry Potter. Hermione's life is at stake, and our allies will not allow the famous witch from the legendary Golden Trio to fall victim to ill-wishers."
"Sometimes I just hate your Gryffindor sentimentality coupled with Slytherin cunning," Poppy shook her head.
"I love you too, my dear friend," Minerva smiled venomously in response.