They were together when he received the summons from the Ministry, to be registered as a Muggle-Born. When they had finished reading the letter, they gave it an identical look of disdain and disgust.

"I suppose that settles it, then," Malavai Quinn said with a sigh. "I'll have to go into hiding after all. I was hoping this could be avoided."

"We just have no luck, apparently," Advena muttered, resting her head on her boyfriend's shoulder. "You'll have to hide out Merlin-knows-where, and I'll have to continue my education without you. However shall I manage so much work on my own?"

He frowned down at her. "You could try to be a little more serious about this. I would very much appreciate it."

"You're already serious enough for the both of us. If I'm not blasé about this, how are you going to keep your sanity?"

He sighed, gently shoving her head off his shoulder so he could get up and grab a slip of parchment. "Fortunately, I've been planning for this since June. Most of my preparations are made, there are only a few things I may need your help with…" His voice faded as he left the room midsentence.

Advena sighed and rose to join him. All joking aside, she'd need to help him with his preparation somehow. And she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible before he'd have to leave.

Standing on Platform 9 ¾ again, about to board the train alone, she was painfully reminded of the changes the world had been going through in recent months. The platform, normally alive with good cheer and well-wishes, was silent and cold. A fair amount of the student body appeared to be missing, and those that were there barely spoke a word to anyone but their families.

Advena herself didn't speak to anyone as she boarded; her father had stopped bringing her to the station when she was in fourth year, claiming that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She didn't care. She'd never gotten on well with her father. And besides that, she'd started dating Quinn in third year; he'd been the one to bring her to the station every year thereafter.

Quinn…

The door to her compartment opened suddenly. She drew her sleeve across her eyes quickly to wipe away any tears that had welled up, but it was only Vette, and she already knew the circumstances. The younger girl didn't say anything as Advena sighed and looked out the window, only took the seat across from Advena as she waved her hand in its general direction.

"You really miss Malcontent, don't you?" Vette asked rhetorically. Advena wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the nickname. She settled for another sigh, fogging up the glass in front of her.

"Is it that obvious?"

"It's weird to see you without him. I thought you two were the unfortunate victims of a Permanent Sticking Charm or something."

"Not quite. I wish, sometimes." Advena looked away from the window – there was nothing to see anyway, since the train hadn't left the station yet – and went for her bag, rummaging around for the Exploding Snap cards she had packed. "Let's move the subject away from my vanished love, shall we? I see you finally dyed your hair blue like you wanted to…"

Apparently the world hadn't ended just yet, since there was an Opening Feast and a Sorting Ceremony waiting for them at Hogwarts that night. She watched vaguely as the usual group of eleven-year-olds followed Professor McGonagall up the middle aisle – and then focused more as a number of older students also followed, standing behind the first-years like a sort of honour guard.

"Must be the kids who were home-schooled before," Advena heard in the mass of confused whispers that followed their appearance. "Attendance at Hogwarts is mandatory now."

She ignored the chatter in favour of listening to the Sorting. After each of the older students' names, McGonagall announced their Year. Only two Seventh-years were Sorted: Vortena, Koth in Hufflepuff, and Zakuul, Arcann in Slytherin.

She didn't much like the look of this Arcann boy. The angry look on his face and the sneer he gave most of the rest of the table spelled trouble. She did her best to ignore him throughout the Feast, avoiding his once-every-two-minutes glances.

After the Feast was over, she got up to leave with the rest of the student and tried to get lost in the crowd; unfortunately, Arcann followed her. In the middle of the Entrance Hall, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him.

"I've seen you before," he announced without preamble. "Your father is Azarath Tarmikos, isn't he?"

Advena didn't reply, choosing instead to give him a dirty look and try to pull her arm away. His grip was like iron, though, and he did not release her.

"Is there something wrong here? You guys are holding everyone else up, and I for one just want to get to bed," came a voice from the Great Hall doors. Both Advena and Arcann turned to see Koth Vortena gently pushing his way through the crowd of students towards them, his eyes very pointedly on Advena's arm where Arcann's hand was crushing it.

Arcann scowled and released Advena. "I'm not done with you yet," he muttered, disappearing in the direction of the Slytherin dungeons.

Koth watched him go from beside her. "What was that all about?" he wondered, then shook his head. "Doesn't matter. You alright?"

"Fine. Thanks for the rescue." Advena turned to leave as well, eager to put this experience behind her – and avoid the stares she was still getting from the students who had witnessed the altercation – but was stopped by Koth's hand gently touching her shoulder.

"Wait a sec! I, uh…" He looked somewhat sheepish. "I'm not really sure where to go. Could you maybe show me the way?"

Advena looked at him for a moment, considering. This new boy was a curiosity, and what better opportunity would she have to learn about him? And beyond that, she felt a small stirring of attraction starting for this boy, and she wanted to indulge.

"Why not," she said, and took his hand. It was big, warm and solid under hers, and though he seemed a little surprised at the gesture, his fingers automatically wrapped around her hand – they fit nicely into hers. She smiled. "The Hufflepuff dorms are right near the kitchens. This way."

"How does an American end up at Hogwarts anyway?" she asked as they made their way towards the Hufflepuff dorms. They were taking a rather roundabout route to get there, but she'd never tell him that.

"My mom's got a sister over here. And she always wanted to live in England anyway. Didn't have the money to move before this summer, though."

"A pureblood without money? Scandalous."

Koth shrugged. "Blood status doesn't matter as much in the States as it does over here, apparently. Your government seems really obsessed with Wizard blood. Why is that, anyway?"

"It's a newer development," she explained. "I don't suppose you know anything about the Dark Lord?"

"I don't really keep up with the news."

Advena fixed him with a sharp look. "You should start. Even if the Daily Prophet's little more than a rag, it's something. Not knowing what's going on could be the death of you."

To his credit, Koth didn't even flinch. "You might have a point. I'll see if I can get my hands on the Daily Prophet, then. Got a bit of cash, so I should be alright."

"If you need financial help, the school has an account meant to aid students with academic needs. Generally, that extends to newspaper subscriptions, or it did with the old Headmaster at any rate."

"I'll keep it in mind."

They were silent for a moment, until Koth asked, "So, do you know Arcann at all?"

"I might have seen him before, yes. I don't know him very well."

Koth made a face. "I know him a little better. He's a nasty piece of work. You might want to avoid him as much as possible. His family's pretty rich, and powerful magically, and he and his sister are just awful people in general."

"I'll keep it in mind."

Finally, they reached the painting that hid the entrance to the Hufflepuff dorms. "It's behind that painting," Advena told Koth, pointing out the right one. "I don't know the password, but there should be a prefect coming along soon, they'll know. Just down the hall, there's a large still life of a fruit bowl, it leads to the kitchens. Tickle the pear to open it. The house-elves that work in the kitchen are always happy to have visitors, and they'll feed you any time if you're feeling peckish."

"Got it. Thanks for the help." He squeezed her fingers, then let go of her hand. "But, uh… I have a pretty bad sense of direction. I might need help getting around again." He grinned at her.

She shook her head, a smile spreading itself across her face against her will. "What do I look like, you navigator? Learn your own way around." She turned back down the hall towards the Slytherin dorms.

"I'll see you here tomorrow, then!" Koth called after her. She couldn't help but laugh.

As it turned out, Koth and Advena were taking most of the same classes, so they spent a great deal of their time together over the next several months. This had a double benefit: Advena had someone to study with (and to make sure she actually did her assignments, since without a push she would only do the ones she considered relevant to her interests), and Arcann kept away from her while Koth was nearby.

"Do you know why it is that he avoids you?" she asked Koth one day while they were in the library working on a paper for History of Magic. The man in question had just come down the aisle they were sitting in and changed direction when he saw Koth sitting with Advena.

Koth shrugged. "No idea. Works for me, though."

They wrote in silence for a while, then Koth slid a note over to her silently.

Have you ever heard of something called Dumbledore's Army?

They were something of an independent study group for Defense Against the Dark Arts in my fifth year, she wrote back. I thought they'd disbanded.

She'd heard the rumors, of course, the whispers of rebellion amongst the students against the tyrannical reign of the Carrows. She'd seen some of the graffiti herself. She'd never done anything about it, though. Even though the walls said "still recruiting", there was no indication of how exactly one went about being recruited.

Is there somewhere we can talk without anyone hearing us?

Advena led them down to a secret passage in the dungeons. It didn't lead anywhere particularly useful, which was good because it meant few knew about it and no one would be using it. She and Quinn had spent some lovely afternoons in here in the past, she remembered fondly.

"What is it? Don't tell me you managed to get yourself caught up in the rebellion."

"You know me way too well already," he said. "Look. They're doing good things, and I want to help them out, but I don't know the school or anything well enough."

"So you want to get me in on it."

"Well, yeah. I figured it'd be something you wanted to do anyway, you know, with all your ambitions to become Minister for Magic or whatever."

She raised an eyebrow. "You've practically just met me. I haven't told you everything about me – not even close. What makes you think you know my ambitions well enough to know I'd want to do this?"

Koth's face fell, then hardened. "Yeah, you're right. I don't know you at all. I thought you'd care about the kids here. Apparently I was wrong."

He turned to go, but she caught his arm. "Wait. You're right, I do care. And I do want to help. I can't stand this school anymore. It's not… But they'd never let me help, Koth. No one would trust me."

"Why not?"

"I'm a Slytherin."

Now he just looked confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"The other houses don't trust Slytherins. We have a very nasty reputation, and not for nothing. Most of the members of Slytherin at the moment are Death Eaters, or their children. And even the ones that don't usually don't care about anyone but themselves, and they're complete pricks about it. They have a good reason not to trust members of my House."

"You're not like them, though. You care. You're not a Death Eater."

"My father is."

Koth didn't speak for a minute, his face gone blank. Advena stared at the ground. Why did I say that? I didn't mean to say that, it didn't matter, why did I –

Her inner monologue cut itself off when Koth reached out and lifted her chin to look at him. Was his face that close before or did he just move closer?

"Doesn't matter. You're still not like them. I'll vouch for you, and if they don't believe me, I'll find someone who will."

She smiled up at him. "Thank you."

They stayed there, frozen in that position, faces inches from each other, until Advena finally did what she'd wanted to do for the last month and pressed her lips to his.

His kiss was warm and sweet and a little messy, natural movements following what felt good. Not like Quinn's kisses, which were more precise; he always had an aim, wanted to make her feel a certain way – heated, loved, weak in the knees – and he knew just how to do it. She loved them both, though. She knew she would.

Eventually, they broke apart, and Advena leaned forward and rested her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and chuckled a little bit.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while now," Advena admitted.

"Glad you managed it," Koth said.

She turned her head up and pressed her lips to the underside of his chin. "I have to tell you something."

"Is it about your boyfriend?"

She drew back in shock, but Koth shook his head. "It's alright. I didn't think it could be serious anyway. I'd hoped, but…"

"Who told you about Quinn?" Vette wouldn't have mentioned anything… Pierce knows how I am…

He hesitated. "I… my cousin Lana told me you had a boyfriend already. She's, uh…"

"Lana Beniko?"

"Yeah."

Advena sighed. "Did she tell you that I'm polyamorous?"

At Koth's blank look, she elaborated. "I can, and usually do, love more than one person at a time. I'm in love with Quinn, and he's in love with me, and we're together, but I'm also in love with you. And Quinn and I are perfectly capable of adapting our relationship to fit another person. We've done it before."

"Right." Koth still looked confused, but he seemed willing to go along with it for the moment. "So where is Quinn anyway? And why wouldn't Lana have told me this?"

"Quinn's Muggle-born. He couldn't return this year because of the political climate." Another blank look, at which Advena sighed impatiently. "Have you not been reading the newspaper?"

"I have! I just don't know what would drive someone away from school."

"Quinn doesn't have Blood Status. He couldn't return under the new anti-Muggle-born laws."

"You guys and your bloodline shit."

"Agreed. As to your second question, Lana and I don't have the best relationship, largely because she was rather madly in love with me but refused to involve Quinn in our relationship at all, which I couldn't abide by. I reciprocated her feelings, but she's very possessive."

"So you think by telling me about Quinn but not about the poly-thing, she was trying to drive me away from you… so she could steal you away, or something?"

"I don't think she still wants me, but I did break her heart. It's not unreasonable to think she could be holding a grudge."

"Fair enough."

They were quiet for a minute. "So…"

Koth shrugged. "Can't say I get it totally. But I think I could get it. Let's give it a shot."

Those words made her so happy, she could kiss him.

So she did.

True to his word, Koth managed to get her an opportunity to talk to someone in Dumbledore's Army. Her contact, a fifth-year Gryffindor boy, was most definitely not the leader, but he said that he could get her into the group.

"What can you do for us, though? How do you think you can help?"

"I'm good at Transfiguration and Charms," she offered. "I've heard you keep in touch using the Protean charm?" At his nod, she elaborated. "Surely you need someone to enchant objects for you. And I can perform Extension Charms and such. And as a Slytherin, the Carrows won't suspect me of helping the Resistance, so I can pass items and information around."

The boy considered for a moment, then reached into his pockets and pulled out a Sickle. "Can you use the Duplication Charm, as well?"

"Yes."

"Duplicate that, then, and use the Protean so it can pass messages in numbers."

She thought back to when she studied the charms with Quinn, recalling the theory as best she could. She'd always been better at the practical application of magic, but she had to remember at least the basic background.

"Alright," she muttered. A moment later, she handed the boy back the two Sickles. He pulled out his own wand and changed the numbers on one of the coins, smiling as the other heated up and changed as well. "Alright. You're in." He gave her back one of the Sickles. "We'll use this to keep in touch and let you know if we need you to do anything. Don't lose it."

"Of course."

He pulled a sheet of parchment from his pocket as well and unfolded it. "We'll also need you to sign this."

She looked at the parchment suspiciously. It was blank, but that meant very little; she'd known how to make a paper look blank to everyone but herself since third year. "What happens to me if I sign it?"

"It'll stop you from telling anyone about any other members of the Army or about our plans."

She signed her name. "Tongue-Tying Curse?"

"To start. Let's say betrayal will be very unpleasant for you."

"I wouldn't have anyway. But it's good to know."

Quinn would be proud of the way she handled herself over the next few months, juggling schoolwork, her activities for the Army, and her budding relationship with Koth.

She wished she could tell him. She often lay awake at night, wondering where he was, if he was alright, wishing he was with her. They hadn't been apart this long since they started dating, and while she was managing alright, it was difficult. Koth's presence through most of the day eased the pain.

For a while, her jobs for the Army had been small – pass this parchment to this student, let that student know it was his turn to paint the walls, and so on. But after Christmas holidays, the Army started working more in the open, fueled by early successes and the new Potterwatch radio station giving them news that wasn't propaganda, and so Advena's workload increased.

She managed, though, with the daily food smuggling runs, taking as much food as she could fit in one of her Extension-charmed bags from the kitchens to the Room of Requirement to feed the Army members who'd been driven into hiding by the Carrows. She also started handling some of the recruitment, which meant a lot of nights with little sleep, running about the castle avoiding curfew patrols. On the bright side, her Disillusionment charms improved significantly.

Unfortunately, too many sleepless nights caught up with her eventually, and around March, she slipped up.

She dashed through the halls of the school, ducking into a secret passage on the third floor and dashing through it – she didn't know where it led, but anywhere that wasn't where the Carrows were was good enough for her. She emerged on the fifth floor, parallel to the Charms corridor. She took a moment to breathe, then she was off running again.

Lucky thing it's midnight, she thought. If I had to avoid students as well as the Carrows, I'd be dead by now.

She made it to the nearby sixth-floor staircase without incident, but when she got there, she found an unpleasant sight waiting for her.

Arcann, wand out and pointed at her, was waiting by the base of the stairs.

"I don't have time for this," she muttered, drawing her wand and flinging a Stunner in his direction. He sidestepped it smoothly, returning fire with an unknown curse that she had to dive and roll to avoid.

She came up prepared, though. She'd cast a Shield charm mid-roll, which protected her from the Stun he'd sent at her while she was down, giving her enough time to get back to her feet and fire off a Jelly-Legs Jinx. He deflected the spell into the floor, cracking the stone.

The pair dueled for what felt to Advena like an hour. In terms of power, Arcann had her beat, but she made up for it in agility and creativity – at one point, she threw out a Tickling Hex, which he ignored – and which promptly landed square in his face. He was down for a second before he could return fire.

That second cost him the battle, though: Advena used the opportunity to dodge around him and start up the stairs. He followed, firing at her back, but she shielded against them and kept moving. Her knowledge of the school came to further aid her; while she knew all the stairways in the castle and their trick steps, Arcann was less familiar with them. His foot landed squarely on the trick step and fell through, sticking there and throwing him off balance. His face planted itself directly in the stone steps above with a rather sickening crunch, presumably his nose and possibly a cheekbone breaking. Advena didn't stop to check.

She made it to the seventh-floor corridor where the Room of Requirement was hidden, but she could hear the Carrows shortly behind her. She sprinted right past the usual entrance, into the next corridor, where a door promptly opened up and Vette poked her head out.

"Come on!"

Advena didn't need a second prompting. She threw herself through the door, letting it click shut behind her. It disappeared into the wall without a trace.

"Looked like you needed some help. Good thing we got to you in time; the Carrows were right there!"

"I know," Advena panted. "I could hear them, that's why I kept running." She caught her breath and straightened to see about half of the occupants of the room staring at her. She scowled, and some of them looked away, but others kept staring.

She sighed and turned to Vette. "Is there space for another hammock?"

Vette gestured around vaguely. "The Room'll make space. It's good at that." She pointed to a new, unoccupied hammock under a silver-and-green hanging, the first of its kind. "Like that."

Advena made her way over and climbed into it. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but she quickly grew used to the slight rocking motion and fell asleep.

Now that she was a known member of the Army, Advena couldn't leave the Room of Requirement, which drove her a little crazy sometimes. She wasn't used to sitting around and letting others do her work; she was a rather firm believer in the principle of doing something right by doing it herself, which left her a little antsy about leaving others to take up her smuggling duties. Fortunately, the recruitment was covered by Koth, who she knew would do a good job at it.

The months after she was almost caught stretched out like years. Sure, it was nice not to have to do schoolwork anymore – it wasn't exactly like they could hand it in – but it had never really occurred to her just how much time was taken up by her classes every day. The free time made her stir-crazy. Fortunately, the Room was able to summon up books and things to keep her and all the other Army members occupied.

She didn't really speak to other Army members much, with the exception of Vette and a few of her year-mates. Even then, the conversations tended to be short and unproductive; Advena wasn't much for small talk, and there wasn't much to discuss, given that all their circumstances were largely the same and any news they received was heard all at the same time.

The time in the Room of Requirement was largely boring, but it was safe and away from the Carrows, so she dealt with it.

At least Koth visited every day. Even if there was no privacy, she had her boyfriend, and she didn't much care what anyone thought about her anyway.

She got to know several members of the Army better over the months – Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood among them, as the three were more open-minded than most about Slytherins, and especially those who were part of the Army. Around Easter, Advena was saddened to hear that Luna and Ginny were not returning to the school.

Around mid-May, Advena had a thought. How were any of them supposed to get home? The Room could likely give them a passage to the carriages to the train platform, but wouldn't the Carrows attack them when they showed their faces there? She mentioned as much to Neville, who told her not to worry – judging by some news he'd received, they wouldn't have to worry about it for much longer.

She wasn't sure what that meant, exactly – nothing new was on Potterwatch that she knew of, besides the usual updates on the political state and various attacks – and it wasn't comforting.

She didn't have to worry about it for long – that night, trouble found them. Harry Potter had returned to Hogwarts.

After the battle, Advena and Koth – who had survived by covering each other's backs as though they had been born to do so – remained at the school to aid in the reconstruction. Advena sent out a message to Quinn via school owl, which would hopefully reach him so he could come out of hiding and rejoin her like he was meant to.

Sure enough, he arrived at the gates a mere week later. Advena was of course there to greet him, as he had sent a reply with the same owl she'd sent to him that he was on his way home to her. She met him with a squeezing hug and a blazing kiss, pouring out all her emotions from the past year into him. He stumbled with her weight in his arms at first – and she noticed he'd grown weaker over the year; likely he hadn't been eating well – but he caught himself and returned her kiss with as much passion as he could, never mind his typical self-effacing tendencies.

When they broke apart, they found Koth leaning against the gate waiting for them, a crooked grin on his face. Advena reached for his hand and pulled him closer.

"Quinn – Malavai – love, this is Koth Vortena."

"You mentioned him, yes." He held out his hand for a handshake, but Koth used it to pull him into a half-hug, which was something of his trademark.

"Good to meet ya. Guess we're sharing Advena now, huh?"

"I suppose so," Quinn said, pulling on his usual dignity as he straightened his clothing from the hug. "I think we shall manage."

"Yeah, sure we will." Koth winked. "You're pretty good-looking yourself, so I don't think I'll mind."

"Oh just kiss already, will you."

Quinn automatically made a face for a second, then smoothed it back out. "We'll have to get to know each other better first."

"Damn."