lunch is over and the teachers leave their seats at the table with an adequate amount of friendly chatter, finding their usual rooms without hassle and already inviting eachother around for a cup of tea.
quirinus quirrel hands his trunk to a house elf that comes and leads him to his room in the teacher quarters.
"well, then." albus says, looking over at you. "straight to buisness?"
"that would be wise." minerva scoffs. "did you see the way she reacted to him?"
"but, it's quirrel. he's never been particularly dangerous-" severus mutters, and looks down at you with much more trust than you would ever have expected from someone like severus snape.
"something's changed." he bites his lip. "he's on the other side."
"maybe it had to do with that encounter he had with a vampire a couple of months ago? he's developed a stutter too-" minerva gasps. "maybe he's a vampire!"
"maybe." albus considers it.
severus shakes his head. "no. he's just a death eater."
"how can you be sure, sever-" minerva says.
"i told him." you finally speak up.
"i didn't hear you-" she frowns.
you lift your finger and tap the side of your head and her lips part as she understands.
"oh." minerva says softly.
"come on." albus says. "to my office. we need to figure out how to go on with this."
"what-" minerva splutters. "you can't leave a death eater here-"
"we should call the aurors-" severus mumbles. "but we need evidence-"
"oh, there's more than enough evidence on him." you scoff, smiling.
"so let's go," minerva says, taking one of your hands. "show us, y/n. we'll get him arrested."
"no. we should get up to my office." albus says. "we really-"
"don't be stupid, albus." severus snaps. "if we leave now, he'll be a danger to all the staff here-"
"he really won't-" you say.
"if that's the case then-" albus tries again.
"no!" minerva tugs your hand a bit more. "we need to get him out of here. a death eater! in my school!"
"it's my school, minerva." albus sighs, sounding tired. "and please if you will all just listen-"
"albus-"
"no, he's right." you say, pulling your hand out of minerva's grip.
she stares at you.
"he's right." you repeat, looking down at the silver rings on your hands.
"you need to think of the bigger picture. quirrel spends an entire year here, and because of him there are a few milestone events that occur to harry-"
"psh." severus scoffs and turns in the other direction.
"which need to happen." you continue, glaring at him. "to train him, to help him be the best wizard he can be."
you look down.
he's only eleven.
"there's no way- can't we just sack quirrel-" minerva asks.
"no." you say. "there would be too many ripple effects. this is the way things should be."
minerva's foot taps rapidly on the hardwood floor and her breaths are shaky.
"hey," you say quietly, grabbing one of her hands. "just because we leave him here, doesn't mean we can't monitor him closely. at least now, you know he's no good."
you put a hand on your chest. "and i- i can keep them all safe. everyone. i know what quirrel plans on doing and we can make sure that no one gets hurt in the process-"
"albus," you turn to him. "we should get up to your office."
"okay." he says.
severus steps forward but you hold out a hand.
"not you two."
minerva and severus frown at you.
"no." you repeat. "it's not- it doesn't seem wise to let this many people meddle with how things should turn out."
"she's right." albus says. he grins down at you.
"you're very clever, y/n."
"or so everyone tells me." you tease.
"i- if you think, i'm letting her-" severus starts but albus cuts him off.
"you are not to decide that." he says softly. "you are not her father."
"he-" you laugh to yourself quietly. "he kind of is now-"
"you know what i mean-" albus taps your head with the tip of the elder wand. "only y/n can decide how involved she wants to be-"
"100 percent- involvement." you reassure them all.
"are- are you sure?" severus asks.
you nod. "mhm. and i don't want you two involved either."
severus doesn't reply and minerva's been staring at you with her mouth open for quite some time now.
"alright then. come, y/n." albus holds out a hand.
"can we not apparate?" you ask. "i'd prefer to walk to be fair."
"fine by me." he agrees and the pair of you walk in the other direction.
as you hurriedly leave the great hall, you can hear minerva and severus talking about how albus may or may not be rubbing off on you.
crackpot, you hear them say. nutter, they hiss.
"why don't you want to apparate?" albus asks you.
"it didn't used to effect me, when i was still on ketamine." you respond, rubbing a hand over your scarred arm. "but now that i've gotten used to not being dizzy all the time- apparition feels a lot worse than it used to."
"understandable." he says, looking out on to the courtyard. "you're not the right age anyways, you're body won't be used to it for a while."
"i wanted to walk through the castle too." you add, smiling. "it's the same castle i read about, that i thought was fiction."
"here you are walking through it." albus laughs. "whatever this is, it isn't fiction."
"no." you say softly. "no it's not."
you pull out your wand. "did you want to see my wand, albus?"
"oh yes!" he cries, excitedly pulling it from your hands.
he studies it. "cypress wood?"
"mhm."
"interesting." he runs a finger along it. "it's very long too."
"yours is longer." you say but instantly regret it.
albus snorts and you're surprised he even understands why you're cringing.
"i'm never talking about wand length again."
"oh don't." he chuckles.
he hands you back your wand and wraps an arm around your shoulder, leading you down a corridor.
at the end of the corridor, there seems to be a large bronze statue of some sort of magical creature. it looked- alive almost.
albus turns to you. "watch closely. you'll need to remember this if you want to slip in and out of my office throughout the year."
you nod.
you squint your eyes before they go wide at the sight before you.