Riley made her way through the snow towards hogwarts. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to head back straight away but their was something in her gut that told her McGonagall needed to speak urgently. She was making her way towards the spiral staircase when she ran into Max.
"Riles." He said nodding stiffly at her. That was weird.
"Max, are you okay?" she asked
"What? oh, oh yeah I am fine um oh yeah right-" he moved closer to her "The password changed, it's "Harry" now."
"Oh, thanks. Do you-" she started.
"I'm sorry Riley, I have to go. I'll see you later yeah?" He gave her a small smile and walked away.
Riley made her way towards the spiral staircase, confused. Something about the interaction with Max had unsettled her. Usually you couldn't get Max to shut up and leave you alone. She put it out of her mind for the moment, she needed to talk to the Headmisstress.
"Harry!" The staircase started to move, when she got to the office door she heard hushed voices.
"Do you really think this wise?" It was her father, the way he said "wise" sent chills down her spine, the hushed tone he used made it almost sound snake like, with more of a sneer. Riley had been right to trust her gut, something was wrong. She knocked but did not wait to enter.
"Riley!" McGonagall jumped out of her chair towards the girl. "You are back sooner than I imagined." McGonagall gave Severus a look that Riley read as "keep your mouth shut".
"I got Arlin's message and decided to come back immediately." Riley looked between the two. "What is going on?" She asked more sternly than she anticipated.
Riley watched as Minerva tried to figure out in her head what to say. She looked to her father who rolled his eyes. "Young Mr Lupin asked something of your Headmisstress, which she foolishly went along with."
McGonagall cut in. "It is not foolish! She needs to know, we need to face this head on and move forward." Riley was beyond confused.
"And if it doesn't go as planned?" Severus asked.
"You can't honestly think she wou-"
"People can surprise you Minerva, sometimes not for the best." Severus cut in.
Minerva sighed. She looked at Riley. How could anyone see anything but good in the girl.
She walked over and whispered to one of the paintings. Riley watched the man in the painting walk away.
"Very well. You might want to take a seat." Minerva suggested. "Our guest will arrive shortly."