Theo fidgeted beside Hermione as they waited on Professor Snape. The twins sat huddled together, Ophelia leaning into Hermione, with James on Alex's other side. A subdued Draco sat with Scorpius clutching him, Cassius watching them all with a blank mask beside them.

Severus startled slightly when he realised there was an extra person. "Do you have no intention of preserving the timeline?" he hissed.

Theo shrugged, "At this point, I'm not sure we can make it worse. I thought we'd need his help for what we're considering."

"And just what are you considering, Mr Nott?"

"We want to prove they were Death Eaters."

Snape froze. "You want to what?"

"We want to prove they were Death Eaters, and if we could also prove that my Father murdered my mother that would be a bonus. I'll be honest, I'd be up for just murdering them both but Hermione seems to have some moral objections."

Snape snorted as Hermione turned and glared at him. "Then mustn't we all be grateful that Miss Granger, at least, appears to have some sense of self-preservation? Do you have any idea what murder does to your soul, idiot boy!"

Theo shrugged, "I'm going to go with something far less damaging than having to live with your children calling you their sperm donor, dragging the witch you love through the papers and watching her live in poverty while single-handedly raising the aforementioned children just to keep your psychotic father from murdering them and that's before we begin to consider a lifetime bound to Pansy fucking Parkinson."

Snape gaped at him momentarily before sighing, "Christ, I must be going insane. Fine. Outline your plans."

Draco laughed slightly hysterically, "I believed we just did. We have no idea how to actually go about proving it and we were hoping you might have some advice."

Severus took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly lest he hex one of them. "Wonderful. We'll come back to your utter lack of plan shortly. In the meantime, perhaps we should begin with some sort of outline of the timeline." Hermione and Theo shared a look, it was less promising than they'd hoped for. The twins and Scorpius were similarly tense, all of them realising that Snape really was their only hope and he had hardly been encouraging.

"Now," his voice interrupted their musings, "Do you have any idea when the rise in anti-muggleborn sentiment began?"

"Um….with Lucius specifically?" Alex began haltingly, "It was when Mum consistently bested Draco in school. We don't know for sure, but Uncle Harry thinks that he began collecting support once it became apparent that Mum was going to continue to beat him. In our time, the rhetoric is that Muggleborns steal magic and that Mum was responsible for more than one squib, that's why she was so powerful. He used that to impose greater restrictions on them, he was pretty close to getting to the stage of removing all muggleborns from work and gifting them to the DOM so they could run tests to show how they stole their magic. There's been some resistance up to this point but given that people are getting desperate because they're struggling to live, it's been easy to hold up muggleborns who are stealing, begging or dropping out of the wizarding world entirely as proof of their unsuitability."

"I see. How many years has he been Minister?"

"Um….He became Minister eight years ago? I think? He was lobbying the Wizengamot for years before, I assume it's already happening now, actually." Ophelia mused.

"I can check what policies he's trying to pass." Severus sighed.

Ophelia looked at him shrewdly, "The fact it's already started worries you." she stated baldly.

Severus blinked back at her for a moment, wondering how honest to be. "Yes." he stated finally, "We have no way of knowing how much support he already has and instead of cutting it off before it begins we'll essentially be scrambling to regain the ground he's already won. It's….concerning."

"Fucking wonderful," Alex muttered, pretending not to notice Hermione's glare. "And Mum and…Mr Nott?" The boy looked at Theo apologetically as if no longer sure how to address him. Theo winced, muttering "Just Theo will be fine."

Alex hummed, "Right well….what about their plan?"

Severus sighed again, "Honestly? It's a long shot. They will have covered their tracks and they will have ensured the compliance of most of the Wizengamot. I do not wish to discourage you entirely but I do think you need another plan as a backup in case this one fails." He paused seeing Theo open his mouth. "No Mr Nott, that plan cannot include murder!"

Theo deflated but Hermione suddenly bolted upright, startling them all. "Sirius!" she exclaimed.

Snape froze, "What, Miss Granger?"

"We need Sirius. He's bored, he should technically hold his Wizengamot seat, he could potentially be prepared to if we're honest with him. I know you don't like him, Sir and I understand you have a really good reason for it but he could get us information that no one else can. And if anyone would be up for some digging in order to put Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban it'd be him and Remus."

"For fucks sake," Severus muttered, unable to find a flaw in her logic beyond that he fucking hated the mutt and introducing more people into this mess was dangerous, not only for them but for the timeline that he was now convinced was irrevocably fucked, which he supposed he should have anticipated the moment he agreed to help them. "Fine. Contact the mutt. He'll need to take an unbreakable vow to ensure he doesn't tell anyone who doesn't already know."

Hermione nodded, "Can I borrow parchment, Sir?"

Sighing, he handed over parchment and ink. "Be very careful what you write, Miss Granger."

Hermione arched a brow, silently asking if he thought she was stupid, but in the interests of self-preservation nodded without actually voicing it. She scribbled something quickly before folding the parchment in half. "Take Sage," Severus indicated to the giant bird snoozing in the corner. "Be careful, he bites."

Hermione looked warily at the owl before handing the note to Theo. He huffed out a laugh but took it from her and approached Sage carefully, the owl swivelling his head to watch him.

"Come on pretty boy," he crooned, "Just a little letter."

The bird seemed to glare before he extended his leg, allowing Theo to attach the note. "Take this to Sirius Black."

The bird nodded once and flew off.

"I don't think I've ever seen him accept mail without biting," Severus muttered, stunned.

"I don't imagine you give him many compliments, Sir," Theo replied with a cheeky grin.

Severus rolled his eyes. "I have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore shortly and we've gotten severely off track. I expect you all back after dinner to actually discuss the timeline."

They all nodded, moving to leave. "And for the love of Salazar, no one else can know!" he shouted at their retreating backs.