Where Your Loyalties Lie - {Severus Snape x Reader}

-98-

Now I'm standing where I never really thought ever be standing in; waiting in line to get into men's underground bathroom. There are surprisingly many people in here. Each of them going in a stall, flushing them in, then next one comes in. Urgh, it stinks in here. Can already smell the awful smell all the way here, even I'm in five men away from the stall. Who ever even thought it'll be great idea to travel down to the Ministry by flushing yourself from a toilet?! Must be someone who doesn't own a sense of smell... Little bit nervously watching over my shoulder here and there, since I left Neville to deal his own traveling to the women's bathroom. But I'm sure he'll be alright. At least it'll be a lot cleaner than in here...

A man in a suit behind bumps into me as a sign 'move it', so as my an instinctive reaction I'm just about to apologize to the man that I wasn't paying enough attention, but as soon as I glance over the shoulder to look at him, the look on that man's face falls - like a Muggle seeing a ghost. "F-forgive me, Mr. Carrow..! Had no idea it was you!". Oh? It's really hard to keep in mind I'm one of the cruelest man in Wizarding World. The man really is in panic even he tries so hard to stay calm. Had to hold my tongue not to say something like:'Oh, that's alright. Don't worry about it.', so I just glare at them and went into the stall. Phew! Then, my focus goes on to the toilet in front of me. Can't even begin to describe how nasty it all looks. Urgh... While holding my breath - so I wouldn't vomit, I step onto the toilet, put the legs in and look at the lever. The lever itself hasn't avoided being ruined from filth. Oh, Merlin's sake... Desperately, I pull some sleeve over my hand and hold onto it, then flush myself in.

Right away, a soft whoosh can be heard and greenish light quickly flashes as I appear thru one of the many gilded fireplaces. Having no time to just stand still and wonder, I step into the very long and splendid hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor. Here we are then. Needed to take a quiet, long inhale and exhale thru my nose. All of this does bring some memories back when I was a child and needed to visit here for whatever reason time to time. Sometimes it was because of my father when he worked here. Later on it was because of the custody battle between my aunt and my parents before they were actually pleaded guilty and send to Azkaban. To think they still tried to keep me even they were under the investigation of torturing and using Unforgivable Curse on me. Quickly, I shook my head. Don't really wanna be thinking too much of those times right now.

Every few seconds there are either a witch or wizard emerging from one of the fireplaces and then starts heading wherever they needs to be. Everyone here are dressed up in fancy suits and carrying some shiny bags with them. My head keeps turning, trying to spot Neville as Alecto in over all of these people. Where are you, Neville? Soon, I see how guards grabs a man out of the blue and starts leading him away. "W-what?! What did I do?" the man looks confused, but the guards won't say anything. They just keep on walking with him. Oh, they really have people here to pull aside anyone who looks suspicious - even just a little bit. Just then, someone grabs me by the arm and my heart jumps up in my throat, thinking it's one of the guards. Shit!! Automatically, my head snaps right behind me to see who it is, ready to bubble something out. But it's Neville as Alecto. Huge relieve washes over me and my shoulders goes down:"Nev-Alecto. Hahh... You found me.".

He looks way more nervous than before. "There are guards everywhere." he whispers while keeping an eye on what's ahead of us. My gaze goes to the guards as well. They really are watching intensively after everyone. "Just... Follow my lead and we'll be fine." I whisper back and start walking. By every step we take, my heart starts raising. Calm down, (Y/N). Act normal. Don't look anyone right in the eyes. Just keep walking, like you belong here. While walking side by side with Neville, I can feel how he presses himself more against me as we're getting closer the guards. We both are basically holding our breaths when we finally get to really close to them. And... Nothing. None of them even looked at us twice when we walked pass them. Phew..!! Can feel my heart and shoulders relax again.