Chapter 8
Scorpia, Hermione, and Aquarius shifted nervously under the steely gaze of Professor McGonagall. Scorpia had managed to get her two friends out of bed and ready just in time for them to get comfortably seated on a couch that Snape had transfigured for the girls before the head of Gryffindor had entered the room. Snape had gestured at the empty seat to his side, across from the girls, for her to occupy.
That had been five minutes ago. The entire time after taking a seat McGonagall had been staring intently at the three girls, as if trying to decipher what the situation was from appearances alone, though in all fairness the appearance of the situation was fairly unexpected in the first place.
Finally, McGonagall broke the silence, "I assume I was not summoned by Severus merely to stare at my students, so would one of you like to illuminate me as to the purpose of this little get together?”
Scorpia tried to look her, current, head of house in the eyes, but found her body refusing to obey as her eyes seemed to focus on literally everything else in the room. "I..that is...I um...I need a re-sort...please."
Hermione and Aquarius held Scorpia's hands and gave them a supportive squeeze, which McGonagall acknowledged with nothing more than a raised eyebrow as she took a sip of her tea that had come from...somewhere.
Magic was weirdly domestic sometimes.
The transfiguration professor closed her eyes as she set the teacup into its saucer with a small clinking sound, and when she opened them she looked more troubled than any of the girls thought she could look.
"Is this about mister Weasley's...ah...behavior from last night?”
Scorpia winced, but shook her head, "No-I mean yes but not entirely it's...it's complicated?"
The eyebrow went back up, "I think you'll find I can handle 'complicated' mister Potter, explain please."
Her friends gripping her hands was the only thing that kept her from flinching at the masculine address, but she still had to suppress a shudder as the feeling of being referred to like that dripped down her spine like cold sludge.
"Right...well, I mean what he did is the um...reason I don't feel safe anymore but...I never really...felt comfortable in Gryffindor? I'm sorry it's just, I don't know. It doesn't fit, and the hat didn't even really want me there in the first place, and the boys-" She shudders, "-have always made me feel...alien, I guess. Like I don't belong. Hermione's really the only one in the house that I feel completely safe with and...yeah.”
McGonagall hummed and tapped her fingers on her knee for a moment, "And, would this lack of...acceptance? Welcome? Would any of that have to do with your new closeness to mister Malfoy?"
Scorpia felt ice prickle across her skin at the implication behind McGonagall's words and her anger flared, but Snape spoke up before she could say anything, "Kindly stop attempting to insult the children asking you for help Minerva. I am, and have been, aware of their association with each other. Regardless of that, do you truly believe that I would give Potter any aid in this if it wasn't truly necessary?"
McGonagall looked like she was going to say something, and then sighed, "You're right of course, I apologize to both of you boys, that was uncalled for. I do still have a question or two that I need answered before I give my go ahead however. First...mister Potter, I will have to ask for an explanation as to the presence of the girl's uniform mister Weasley found in your things. Despite the absolute monstrosity of his actions, I cannot ignore this."
Scorpia froze, she felt like she was staring down her doom. For whatever reason the idea that the Professor would ask about the uniform hadn't crossed her mind, and she was not in a good enough mental state to come up with a believable lie, not between everything that had happened last night, the stress of asking for the actual resort, and the constant misgendering! She saw the others start to move, but it was blurry, wavy, almost like the others were all underwater. She couldn't feel Aquarius or Hermione on either side, she couldn't feel anything except the mounting panic and the swelling of her lungs as she hyperventilated. What was she supposed to say, how would McGonagall react? Can she tell the truth, is it safe? Should she lie, could she lie right now? Oh gods she was going to be kicked out, they were going to snap her wand, they were going to sendherbacktotheDursley'sbecauseshe'safreakandshedeserveseverthingand-
Scorpia felt something flood her mouth and instinctively swallowed, a numbness seeming to fill her as the liquid that was being poured in her mouth traveled through her throat, and suddenly she snapped back to the present. Snape was holding a now empty bottle of calming drought to her lips, grudging concern and frustration warring in his eyes as he looked her over, silently asking both if she was ok, and (if Scorpia was reading him right) for permission to be blunt with the other Professor. As her friends pressed in on either side and wrapped her in a hug she considered just how much trust he must have in the older woman if he would be willing to ask that question, and after a moment nodded to him, confirming she was ok and giving him the necessary permission. She felt Aquarius nod too, which made her feel slightly better even through the numbness of the draught as it meant she'd understood the potions professor correctly.
Snape whirled on the older woman, who was watching the exchange with wide eyes, "Have you lost all sense of tact Minerva? Or did I react any better when you and Slughorn confronted me about my situation?"
McGonagall gasped, "Wait, you mean?"
Snape, "Yes! Yes. She's a girl, and by some great cosmic joke I seem to be in the middle of the whole mess. And since she seemed to give me permission as well, I will also inform you that Miss Malfoy is much the same.”
"I suppose this is meant to be kept secret for now then?"
Both girls in question nodded, but didn't speak, content to let Snape handle the talking for the moment.
Said potions master pinched his nose in exasperation, "Yes. The point of the matter is the girl still needs the resort, her gender is not related to that, and frankly, I'd prefer we don't read you further into that situation for quite some time, if ever. Though I doubt that we'd be able to keep any secret from you for long, meddling cat." Despite himself Snape couldn't keep a note of fondness from his voice as the stress of the moment ebbed away.
She was one of the only people in the damned castle he liked, sue him.
McGonagall raised an eyebrow but nodded, "Fine enough, I suppose however, that miss Potter-oh, apologies for earlier miss Potter, miss Malfoy, I know that the, ah, what's the term? Misgendering? Misgendering likely hurts, and you both have and will be dealing with it too much to be subjected to such in private. But I suppose her recent rising aptitude in academics is more relevant to the situation?
Scorpia finally found it in herself to speak up, "It's ok, you didn't know. But...yeah. I er...I had been kind of deliberately doing badly in my classes?"
McGonagall's glare could have melted stone, but as she flicked her eyes towards Snape and caught the barest twitch of a nod she sighed, "I'll not ask why, not unless or until you feel ready to share I suppose. I assume that mister Weasley was less than pleased at the sudden change?”
Scorpia nodded sullenly, "And he apparently got everyone in the dorm other than Neville with him..."
Minerva shook her head slightly with downcast eyes, before taking a deep breath and letting it out in a huff, "Mister Weasley and the others who participated in last night's acts have lost one hundred points each from the house, and have been given two weeks detention. I...will admit I advocated for suspension or expulsion but I was overruled. Honestly, I'm a bit relieved that you're taking this path, I myself don't feel comfortable with the idea of you being in that dorm, even less with the information I was just given. You have my backing for the resort, though, before we take care of that, I ask that my curiosity be indulged just a bit more."
Snape scoffed, "Curiosity killed the cat Minerva."
The older woman chuckled, "And yet Satisfaction brought it back Severus. Besides, I have a bat ready to pull me out of trouble, yes?"
Snape rolls his eyes but doesn't correct her as she continues, "Miss Malfoy, Miss Granger, what are your thoughts on this situation? A resort is a very rare occurrence, I expect you plan to stand by Miss Potter through this? Miss Malfoy especially, will you be willing to stand by her publicly and put aside the...game you and her had been playing at?”
Hermione was the first to speak, her voice hard with conviction, or at least as hard as an eleven-year-old girl's voice can be, "Of course! I won't let anything get between us. Especially not a different house!"
Aquarius nodded, "I'm tired of acting like we hate each other anyway, and after yesterday when she saved me from Weasley it's not like I don't have enough public reason to change tunes. My...father might be a problem though..."
Snape shook his head, "I will handle any issues on that front Miss Malfoy. I doubt your mother would tolerate him stepping too far out of line about this, not given the context of the events in your potions class."
McGonagall hums, then pulls out her wand, and Snape follows Suit. With a wave from both of them something in the air seems to flex and suddenly, with a pop, the Sorting hat appears on a stool between the girls and the adults.
The hat seemed to shake for a moment, before it folded itself up to reveal the face that the girls were familiar with from their sorting at the beginning of the year, and it spoke with a grumpy voice, "Eh? What's this? Ohhh ho ho! A resort is it?"
McGonagall huffed, "Yes Seymour, a resort."
The hat ignored her and looked at the younger girls, then seemed to smirk, "The Potter child, I knew it. Gryffindor may have been the second best for you, but it was a distant second. Well, go ahead, put me on. this is interrupting my composing time and I've barely gotten halfway through next year's song!"
Scorpia, Aquarius, and Hermione shared somewhat nervous looks, before Scorpia extracted herself from the other two and reached for the hat, though she paused just before dropping it on her head, not able to subdue her own curiosity, "Your name is Seymore?”
Seymore seemed to bounce impatiently in her hands, "Yes yes, shocking, the sentient hat has a name, now, if you please?"
Scorpia shot one last look at the others in the room, then dropped the hat and allowed her vision to be swallowed by its felt lined interior.
"Oh? Figured out your gender hm, congratulations I suppose. I don't really get the whole hullabaloo about gender, but I suppose it's a fleshy thing. Now, are you going to argue with me this time, young lady?"
Seymore's voice was echoey in that way Scorpia recognized from the beginning of the year that told her it was talking directly into her head, though she was curious if the echo was actually a result of that or just the hat being dramatic...
"Not anymore, no. I'm...not sorry for arguing before though. It got me Hermione."
"And I suppose you weren't ready for your home yet regardless, not if you were that adamantly against it, but, we both know where this is going eh? Let's just get you home down in SLYTHERIN!”
Snape's voice cut in before anyone could react as he pinched his nose, "I hate being right sometimes."