Melody Riddle and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 45: Inanities

"Eugh...must you always go above and beyond to help people?" she crossed her arms with a small pout. "I almost forgot how annoying that can be."

Jessamyn and Ash, with a pointed look at each other, broke into a round of chuckles that caused the other two women to roll their eyes and for Ben to shake his head. The two of them looped their arms through both of Seraphina's and led the entire group's way out the office, wishing us a good night as they went.

I stared after them curiously, even as the door magically closed behind them.

"You seem confused," Severus pointed out.

"Oh, really? What gave that away?" I asked sarcastically, still keeping my eyes trained on the doorway. "How the hell did the topic change so suddenly from serious to silly?"

"You ask that as though you don't do the same exact thing."

I turned to see him eyeing me humorously. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"If you say so."

"I do," I said, refraining from sticking my tongue out at him. "Who was Jessamyn talking about, anyway?"

"You ask as though you'd know the name if I said it."

"Oh my God," I groaned, "that's not the point of the question!"

He raised an eyebrow challengingly at me.

Should've known he'd decide to be difficult about it. "If not the name, then what about who the guy was to her? A mentor? A parent? ... Her brother?"

"If only we'd be so lucky.." Severus muttered, the tone of his reminding me of his interactions with Sirius. "No, her brother is still very much alive. McPhee was... talking about her best friend."

I felt my heart freeze over almost immediately. "Her... her best friend?"

The pain from that incident was just unimaginable to me, for her to have gone through such a thing... it truly was a tragedy. I couldn't even think about how I'd feel if Becky got killed. It was why I wanted to be sure she and Draco could protect themselves. Even if Becky wasn't going to follow me for missions anymore, there was still danger everywhere with my dad coming back to the level of power he once held.

Severus' voice broke me out of my whirlpool of thoughts. "Don't overthink it. The situation was complicated, and McPhee was nowhere near as capable in a duel as you are. Though, she'd certainly thought very highly of her abilities at the time."

"But I've never had to worry about protecting someone besides myself," I said, gritting my teeth to keep the tears from escaping my eyes.

Jessamyn lost her best friend and changed dramatically from someone everyone followed to... one of Seraphina's lackeys. She was her friend too, of course, but it was such a fall from grace and it came from mourning.

"Severus... what am I going to do if dad finds out I let Becky free? What can I hope to do if he decides to kill her?" Just saying 'kill her' damaged my attempt to be stoic, and my eyes became floodgates in a matter of seconds. Why... why do things have to be so complicated?

I blinked once, a few streams of tears racing each other down my cheeks as Severus seemed to suddenly appear by me, his arms wrapped comfortingly around me. My own arms held on around his midsection, face buried in his chest for the sense of security I now automatically felt from being in his embrace.

"And — and what am I going to do about Lissy and Trixy, too? They want to force their way into my group, but — but I can't just let them throw their childhoods away like that!"