Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. She felt like the quill in her hand was going to snap.
"He'll be fine." Ron told her quietly, casting a look at Harry. Unlike the two of them, who had gotten their books out to study, Harry had chosen to sit some distance away by himself, staring forlornly out the window. He seemed to be in very deep contemplation.
"He's not fine." Hermione hissed, becoming annoyed. "How could you say he is?"
"Because he's here, where he needs to be."
Hermione pursed her lips. Ron continued.
"Look. He's had a rough time. He doesn't know how to deal with it. But when the time comes…"
Harry adjusted his head to look at them. He was staring. The two quickly looked away, embarrassed.
"He's pushing us away." Hermione hissed. "And Dumbledore, and Sirius too!"
The conversation petered out after that. Despite Ron's best attempts at placating her, Hermione could not bring herself to listen to him. Eventually she got so sick and tired of him trying to comfort her, and Harry giving them that cold stare that she stood up and went to a place that she was sure that they would not follow. The Hogwarts Library.
It was rather late, but being a Fifth Year Student and a common visitor no one really took any notice of her as she took her books out of her bag and began editing her Potions essay. She hardly noticed the shadow over her until it fell across the page.
She jumped. Makima was standing right above her, smiling serenely.
"Miss Granger." She said pleasantly. Hermione hurriedly tried straightening up her things.
"Oh, Professor, I-"
"May I sit down?" Makima asked, politely. Hermione had no time to respond before Makima swiftly moved and sat on the table, not in the chair next to her, but on the side of the table itself, right next to her books. Hermione flinched, almost certain that Madame Pince would come swooping down on them immediately.
"I see that you're working hard." Makima said. Hermoine couldn't bring herself to look her in the eyes: something about her gaze was downright unsettling to her. She would even describe it as intimidating.
"I like to stay on top of things."
"I can see that." Makima said. "Your other teachers speak most highly of you."
"Oh… thank you." Hermione found herself relaxing, somewhat. She was, in the end, just another teacher. She could immediately see why Harry was so taken with her. She had a strange, undeniable charisma in spite of her reputation. She had to actively remind herself that Sirius had warned them not to trust her.
"I have been meaning to speak with you alone for quite some time." Makima said. Her eyes were intensely fixated on her face. "I wanted to ask you how Harry Potter is doing."
She gave another start, surprised. She hadn't expected the conversation to go in this way at all. "W-what?" She stammered. "You want to k-know about Harry?"
"Yes." Makima said. "I have been very worried about him ever since he was almost expelled from Hogwarts. I see myself as responsible… the incident should never have even advanced to trial, let alone considered grounds for immediate expulsion."
Hermione stared at her, a little surprised. Makima seemed to be genuinely sincere, a fact that threw her for a loop. Everything she had heard about Makima, from Sirius and the rest of the Order had painted the image of a cold, calculated woman who cared for nothing but for her own political gain. But that couldn't possibly be true. Someone like that wouldn't be concerned about someone they had never even met.
"He doesn't blame you." Hermione said, a little bit stiffly. "He's very grateful to you, actually."
"I'm glad." Makima said softly. "But I have heard it said that he is not himself, as of late."
Hermione closed her eyes. She was trying to make it obvious that she was not about to break out into tears.
"He's not." She confessed. "Professor, with everything that's happened in the past year, he's… he's changed. He's not himself. I don't know… I don't know what to think, I don't know what to do, I don't know…"
She sniffled a little bit. Makima stared down at her.
"Perhaps." Makima said. "You would like some tea in my office."
Hermione gave a small nod, and smiled at her, as she quickly moved to gather her things.
…
Albus Dumbledore stood with his arms folded, staring out the window of his office. Behind him Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape were standing, ready at attention.
"Makima has done nothing as of yet." McGonagall said. "But it's only a matter of time. She must have some sort of goal or agenda. I know it."
"I am well aware." Dumbledore said, his voice heavy.
"The Dark Lord feels the same way." Snape said, his voice toneless. "It is very possible that his return to power will be kickstarted by fears that Devils like Makima will take over if he does not."
"Yes, fears of change is how society allows fascism to take root." Dumbledore said, his voice heavy. "We are on the verge of a war… greater than the one decades ago. If we allow Voldemort to be venerated, everything we have built since his downfall will have been for nothing."
"What must we do?" Minerva asked, a little tepidly.
Dumbledore turned to face them. His normally kindly expression had become rather hard.
"We must crush Voldemort." He said. "Nothing is more important. Makima at her core is nothing but an aberration. She does not represent the problems that are prevalent in our society the way Voldemort does. We must not lose sight of our true enemy."
"You wish to continue allowing Makima to teach here?" McGonagall asked, a little reluctantly.
"Would you have preferred it if I had hired Dolores Umbridge?"
"No, of course not." Minerva said. "But you seem very unconcerned about this matter."
"Worry yourself not, Minerva." Dumbledore said. "I have the situation well in hand."
…
"You know, maybe I should be a Devil Hunter."
Harry gave him a look. "Where did this come from?"
Ron grinned at him. The two of them were sitting up in the dormitory alone. Harry had not wanted to study tonight, and Ron was quick to take advantage of the situation.
"Well." Ron said. "If I get to be around women like Makima all day…"
Ron was pleased to see that Harry smiled.
"She's really not that bad of a person, is she?"
"She's not." Ron said. 'She's great. I wonder what Dumbledore has against her?"
"She probably just doesn't blindly follow his orders." Harry said, with disgust. "How many people have we known who ignored us about Snape?"
Harry had been talking like this ever since the trial. Ron knew that Harry had felt let down by Dumbledore and the Order, and seemed to have grown rather attached to Makima in their place. Still though, he tended to agree with Hermione that Dumbledore must have had some sort of reason.
"We've been wrong about Snape before though. Honestly we've been suspecting him of being up to something since first year. People must have gotten tired of us talking about it."
"Yeah. That's true."
They sat in silence for a while.
"You really want to be a Devil Hunter, huh?"
"Yeah. I've been thinking about it. Being an auror sounds cool too, but I don't know… Devils are a bigger problem these days, you know?"
Harry fell silent.
"Sometimes." He said. "I wish I didn't have to deal with Voldemort."
He turned over on his bed, and in a matter of minutes seemed to have fallen asleep. Ron watched him, feeling a sense of concern for his friend, before turning in himself.
…
Narcissa Malfoy twisted her nose in disgust as she surveyed the room. After her husband had idiotically freed their house-elf, large sections of Malfoy Manor had fallen into disrepair. As Lucius was more interested in serving the interests of the Dark Lord and working to subvert the Ministry of Magic, the vast majority of Household tasks had fallen to her.
How had she, a daughter of the House of Black, fallen into such dire straits? Being expected to be a domestic housewife was far below her station. This was not how she envisioned her life after such a good marriage to another pure blood. When they had that elf (Whose name that Narcissa could not recall) she had not had to lift a finger while she was home.
She and Lucius knew that society was sick and diseased, that the Ministry of Magic was more concerned about protecting muggles than preserving wizard culture, but she was beginning to feel that their personal lives were just as deranged. When they had first gotten married Lucius had spoken of continuing their pure blood lineage, of preserving their pure blood line. There were even discussions of their own children getting married to keep their blood pure.
Where had all it gone wrong?
They had had only one child, Draco, and he was growing up in an environment that was becoming increasingly toxic to their worldview. That muggle lover Dumbledore had done everything in his power to brainwash Draco into hating himself and his family, and although Draco knew better than to believe his lies it still concerned her that he was exposed to such ideas in the first place. Lucius had told her not to worry… that it would do him good to understand the enemy, but it had done little to placate her feelings.
Yes… that was when it had all started going downhill. Once Draco had gone to Hogwarts. When Lucius had so carelessly opened the Chamber of Secrets in a poorly planned effort to ruin the Weasley family name (A name that, Narcissa openly said, could not sink any lower) that had led to their family being ostracized from the inner workings of the Dark Lord's circle, when they should have been the model example for the wizarding family.
She hated not being respected for what she was. She hated how, both in society and in their private lives, she was nothing.
She had had enough of cleaning. She made her way back upstairs, back to her little private chamber, and read.
She was unaware, rather thankfully, that her husband was currently engaged in sexual relations with like twelve highly voluptuous female fiends at once. All of whom had possessed the bodies of young, beautiful pure blood women who had unfortunately departed from this world too soon.
…
Hermione left Makima's office in high spirits, and when she saw Harry and Ron again she informed them of what had happened. Harry, she was pleased to see, received the news rather positively.
"She's great, isn't she?"
"She is." Hermione admitted, a little sheepishly. "We talked about all sorts of things." A lot of those subjects included Harry himself, although Hermione knew better than to tell him that. She felt a lot better confiding with another person regarding her concerns, and Makima had listened intently, and had given good advice.
"Do you still think we shouldn't trust her?"
Her face fell.
"I… don't know." She admitted. "There has to be a reason Dumbledore doesn't… and if we can't trust him, we can't trust anyone."
"Are you going to see her again?"
"I… probably, yes." Makima had already invited her to come back the following week.
"I'd like to speak to her." Harry said, his voice firm. "Could you… ask for me?"
Hermione smiled. "Of course."
Harry turned to Ron. "And maybe I could ask her about what it's like to be a Devil Hunter. Ron wants to be one, y'know?"
"Do you?" Hermione's brow furrowed. "That's an extremely dangerous career path…. About a third of hunters die in their first year!"
"Yeah, well, it pays well." Ron said evasively. "That's all I care about."
