Muggle Studies

The Golden Quartet

Making amends. In a way.

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They all looked worried as they came in (they had been called for an emergency meeting on new year's Eve, after all, and she had not given Harry any details over the phone).

As Severus and Nay got up to greet them, there was a slight pause; it took her a second to realise that they were taking in Professor Snape looking dashing in his black suit. It was almost as if she could hear them pondering whether or not to comment on it.

The clothes. He felt so exposed all of a sudden.

She looked at Severus and noticed that, behind his inscrutable facade, he was tensing up self-consciously, as if he were naked. She rubbed his side with the hand she had on his waist and he jerked his head slightly to look at her. She smiled at him reassuringly. He nodded slightly.

She was so comforting. It was just clothes. He breathed. Just clothes. He was in a muggle place, wearing muggle clothes. Everything was fine.

All of that took place in milliseconds.

Then they were saying hello and hugging and kissing (well, Nay and the kids were; Severus was just nodding and shaking hands - which was huge considering he didn't usually allow people to touch him at all).

Again the absence of hatred struck him. The vacuum, the void there. He almost missed it - he felt as naked without it as without his usual attire. Doubly exposed.

"I'm sorry for all this", Nay said.

"What is it, Nay?" Hermione asked.

"I think we should all sit down." They did.

Severus cast a muffliato and Nay took a deep breath, figuring out where to start.

----------

There was a long silence after she finished speaking.

"So you think someone from the Ministry is behind the attack on Hogwarts? And that it wasn't an isolated event?" Harry asked, at last.

"Yes." Nay answered. "We believe there's an agenda of using terror to push for the acceptance and continuance of authoritarian stances by the government."

"With the end of the war and the demise of the Dark Lord, there isn't much of an argument to support the current political organization. Many people stand to lose a lot of power." Severus said.

"Are you really sure?" Asked Hermione. "I mean, it does make sense, there's been talk about a political reform. Carlota Pinkstone used to be considered eccentric and now many speak of her as a visionary..."

"Carlota Pinkstone?" Asked Harry.

"Yeah, the activist. You know, the nutter who keeps shouting out for the annulment of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. She thinks wizarding and muggle societies should mix." Ron answered.

"She does have a point, actually." Hermione said - Nay nodded; she thought so too.

Ron looked at them, astonished. Nayme guessed there would be a heated discussion in the Burrow about that later.

"We have no evidence at this moment," Severus chimed in, "But for the fact that Dolohov and his friends seemed confident that they were going to evade capture - which rules out the suicide attack theory - and the briefcase that's gone missing, both from the Hall and from Dolohov's memory."

"Are you really sure there was a briefcase?" Ron blurted out, then recoiled when Severus looked at him.

The only way it could possibly not be there was if I were completely insane. Is that what you are getting at, Mr. Weasley? He thought.