The Incorruptibles

Albus put his hand on the snake's head and was greeted by the cobra: "Good afternoon, Albus". When others were present, he used to leave it to them to open the door so that they could not hear him speak Parseltongue. Today, however, he was alone, so he answered kindly:

"Good afternoon, what's your name?"

"Cassiopeia," she replied.

"Are you a real snake, just enchanted?"

"Sure I am."

"And isn't it boring living as a door figure? I imagine it's terribly dull."

"Oh, you know, we snakes are pretty lazy by nature, we really only move when we are hungry, need to defend ourselves or our brood. As a door ornament, I am neither hungry nor brooding or in danger. So my life is way better than that of a non-enchanted, normal-living cobra. I don't need to move at all. Besides, I wouldn't bear the weather on your rainy island very well."

"And if someone were to cast a spell on you to free you?"

"Only the heir of the wizard who bewitched me long ago could do that. One day, so it is prophesied, when the wizarding world is in danger to perish, this heir will need my help, and he will call my name three times, and I will hear him, wherever he may be, and come to him."

"And until then you have to live a life as a door figure?" asked Albus, horrified.

"As I told you," Cassiopeia replied somewhat indignantly, "I have no reason to complain, because I can't get bored. At worst, I can have too much stress, for example, when overly curious first-years disturb my nap with their indiscreet questions."

"Oh, excuse me, Cassiopeia. So have a good nap now."

He pushed open the door and entered the common room.

The armchairs in the common room were sparsely occupied, most of the students being outside to enjoy the sunny minister weather. Scorpius, too, was not yet there. Roy was sitting with Julian, Arabella and two other boys in comfortable armchairs around a small table. They still seemed to be discussing the events of the morning. Albus was just walking past them to look for Scorpius when he heard one of the boys say:

"Having to pass us must have been kind of a cold shower to her after her welcome by the Gryffindors. I almost had a bad conscience. I hate to say it, but" – he laughed a little sheepishly – "before she made that awful speech, she actually seemed quite likeable to me." He could only mean Hermione.

"That's exactly what she is!" said Albus loudly and spontaneously; the words just escaped him.

The older students looked up. Roy and Julian, sitting with their backs to him, peered curiously around the backrests of their armchairs.

"Oh, it's you, Al!" said Roy.

Albus blushed. "I didn't want to meddle and I didn't want to disturb you." He was about to head off when Arabella called to him in a kind manner:

"You're not disturbing us at all, just sit with us if you like."

Well, why not?

"Thank you, er ..." He knew her face, but not her name.

"Arabella," Roy introduced her, "Arabella Wolfe. And while we're at it: Orpheus Malagan", – it was the boy who had just said that he found Hermione likeable, which in turn made him likeable to Albus. He was rather short and lank for a fifteen-year-old, with tousled black hair and dark eyes. "Ares Macnair." Ares was a wiry guy with light brown hair. A certain grin always seemed to curl his lips. His face had something bold and pirate-like. "You already know Julian, and they all know you. Sit down." Albus sat down on the one armchair that was still free.

"So you think she's not as bad as her speeches?" asked Orpheus.

"She's different, at least that's how I know her."

Albus himself was confused about what he had seen, heard and, above all, felt today. Suddenly, Hermione seemed to have got two or even three faces, but nothing would make him change his mind that his Hermione was the real one.

"She's fighting with open visor," Roy commented, "I'll give her that."

"That's nothing I'm particularly impressed with," said Ares, slightly grumpy. "If you're powerful and dealing with the powerless, it's easy to raise your visor."

"Well, but even the powerful don't want to be vulnerable, that's why they usually keep the visor closed, but she took the risk today. She wouldn't have needed to engage in a debate, but that's what she did. Any Muggle politician in her position would have first hidden in a cloud of platitudes and phrases and given an endless monologue about anything and nothing, only to avoid to face their critics. But she had the courage to do."

It did Albus good to hear Roy speak of her respectfully.

"She wants to convince her audience," Julian said thoughtfully. "She is rock-solidly confident in her cause, so she believes it must be a breeze to convince everyone else, too. The more so as she virtually never meets with any opposition, let alone resistance."

"Well," Roy sighed, "but when it does happen, you see the downside of that rock-solid confidence. Since she believes she has recognised what is good, she has to consider any opponent an incarnation of evil, at least if it is an opposition in principle and not just in detail. Purging and Cleansing were no spontaneous expressions, they were in her speech script."

"I don't know why these words in particular are troubling you so much." Orpheus, who had lounged a little, sat up in his armchair. "By that, she is basically just saying what we already know, which is that she regards the wizarding community as a kind of choir that should sound harmonious and therefore is to be cleansed of any dissonance."

"No, Orpheus, not of dissonance, but of the dissonants. Hermie...mione Granger-Weasley," Roy corrected himself with a glance at Albus, "comes from the Muggle world and thinks in its terms. When a Muggle politician speaks of 'purging' or 'cleansing', he does not mean the elimination of ideas, but of people. 'Ethnic cleansing' means as much as mass murder, 'party purge' means at least mass expulsion, but in some countries it was also synonymous with shooting dissenters."

"Don't you think you're overstating your pessimism a little?" For the first time Arabella gave her opinion. "She's not going to kill us, is she?

"Not as long as she has other means available," Roy replied gloomily. "When they are exhausted ... well. I guess she'll try to kick us out first."

Albus was shocked: "From Hogwarts?"

"First from Hogwarts, then from the wizarding community as a whole. And not just us, but all those who think and talk like us. You heard it: Anyone who does not go along with her policy of merging with the Muggle world is 'following in the Death Eater's footsteps', is thus a 'deadly enemy of the wizarding community' and will 'feel the full force of the law'. Even if those laws have to be written first."

"Nevertheless," Arabella objected, "you are interpreting far too much into these few words."

"I think Roy is right," Albus said shyly. Five pairs of eyes looked at him, the brows raised in surprise. Roy's friends knew that Albus would defend his aunt whenever anyone was speaking ill of her. Moreover, they were probably surprised that the youngest took part in the discussion.

"I didn't tell you earlier what she said to Mister Higrave," Albus said, turning to Roy. He was not entirely comfortable to reveal it, but Hermione had not confided it to him personally, after all, and Albus felt Roy and his friends had a right to know:

"She wanted to know everything on the record about you. And then she said she wanted to know what other Death Eaters were in Slytherin. She really said 'Death Eaters'. And then she said, and literally: This plague is to be destroyed root and branch!"

Long, horrified silence answered him.

"Phew!" Ares was the first to regain his speech. "Her speech was already a declaration of war, but this ..."

"And you're sure this is really what she said?" asked Arabella in a tone as if she hoped Albus would reply with a cheerful April's fool!

"Yes, it is. Definitely. Sorry."

"Thank you for telling us, Albus. It's hard for you, right?" asked Roy.

"Yes, it is," said Albus in a low voice.

The door to the common room opened and in came Scorpius, waving cheerfully at Albus.

"Is our chess match still to be on?" he asked.

"Of course," Albus replied and rose. "Excuse me, I promised ..."

"No problem," Roy replied on behalf of the group. "Have fun! And thank you again," he added softly.

Albus and Scorpius got a chessboard and the enchanted chessmen from a shelf and sat down at one of the low tables a little apart where they could play in peace.

"Well. What are we going to do?" Macnair asked the group when the two younger ones were absorbed in their game. He asked it so quietly that Albus certainly couldn't hear it.

"For now, we are waiting until tomorrow," Roy decided. "Then the Ministry bulletin is released, with Granger's speech printed for reference. I want to analyse it again in detail. Moreover, we will learn from the Daily Prophet what she's up to. After all, it is basically Hermie's mouthpiece. Then we can make decisions."

"Should the little one join in?" asked Julian. "After all, he knows a lot about Hermie that could be important."

Roy shook his head. "He is too young for such a council of war. And he loves his aunt. He has already had to force himself today to tell us what he heard, and I don't want to bring him into another moral conflict."

"Where do we meet? Here?" Macnair demanded.

"Too unsafe. We'll meet in our secret room. Tomorrow night at half past seven."