The kettle shrieked and the mirror snorted when Augusta walked into her kitchen. The elderly witch ran a finger through her hair to tame it, hoping to soothe the mirror's temper before it got started. "It's only six in the morning."

"But if you would only wear curlers to bed at night-"

"I haven't worn curlers for years, thank you very much." Augusta sat heavily at her table and waved her wand at the stove; the kettle immediately turned off and poured its contents into a cup. The cup floated to the table to join Augusta, who added a cube of sugar and stirred the tea with her wand.

She had yet to take a sip when an owl soared through her window and dropped a tightly furled sheaf of parchment in front of her. "Who could possibly be writing so early?" The owl gave no answer but left as suddenly as it had arrived.

Pushing her tea aside, Augusta unwrapped the roll of parchment and clacked her tongue in disgust. "The Daily Prophet? I cancelled my subscription months…"

Her eyes had caught the headline just before she threw the newspaper into the fire: "He Who Must Not Be Named Returns." She quickly unfolded the rest of the paper and read the article as fast as her old eyes allowed…seen at the Ministry…Death Eaters captured…the Boy Who Lived and five friends involved in take down… It seemed the country had finally realized as true what she had believed for over a year. A little late for Augusta's taste, maybe, but good all the same.

But Harry Potter and his friends at the Ministry? How would six students get from Hogwarts to London, and why would they do it? Augusta set down the paper and cupped her chin, musing. She would bet a good deal of money that the two Weasleys and the Granger girl who had been in Frank and Alice's ward would have joined Potter, but that left two more students. Certainly, her Neville would never have joined Potter in anything dangerous. He was too nervous, too weak to live up to his parents' streak of adventure.

A loud banging on her back door interrupted her thoughts. "Augusta? Are you awake in there?"

"Just a moment!" she cried, standing and wrapping her dressing gown tighter around her night clothes. She walked slowly to the door, wondering for the second time that morning who would want to speak with her so early. A peek through the eyepiece showed Alastor Moody, of all people, waiting impatiently on her back patio. "Alastor! Come in."

"Sorry to interrupt your breakfast," he growled, stumping inside and throwing himself on a kitchen chair. "I wanted to be the one to tell you the news…though it appears the Prophet may have beaten me to it." His magical eye drifted to the paper.

"If you mean what happened at the Ministry last night, yes, I'm afraid the Daily Prophet did inform me already. Would you like a cup of tea? I have plenty," she said, gesturing at the stove.

"Not right now. Busy day ahead, you know. Had to get special permission from Dumbledore to come over at all." Moody stretched out his false leg and groaned. "I've just come from St. Mungo's, visiting Ted Tonks' daughter. She was one of three of the Order who lost to Bellatrix Lestrange last night."

"Bellatrix Lestrange was there?" whispered Augusta. She picked up the paper and scoured it for the captured Death Eaters. But all of them were men…Malfoy, Jugson, Dolohov, Rookwood… "Why didn't you get her, Alastor? Why is that evil excuse for a woman still free?!"

"I had my hands full with Dolohov, his stint in Azkaban did nothing to temper his cursing ability. Knocked me out for a bit, and when I came to Sirius was dueling Bellatrix and Tonks was lying in a heap, so I went to make sure she was alright." Moody's worn face suddenly looked older than ever. "I should have gone to help Sirius instead, but how could I have known?"

"Known what?"

"Didn't they print that in the Prophet? Nah, probably too much bad news for one edition. Sirius Black died fighting Bellatrix-" Augusta gasped at this "-and Kingsley got glanced by a nasty curse, but he'll be alright. Lestrange got away after that."

"That's terrible," she whispered. "Were there any other deaths?"

"No. Like I said, Tonks is in the hospital for a while, and I think a couple of Potter's friends will be kept in the hospital wing at Hogwarts for a while, and I think Poppy's planning to release the other three later today, but other than that…"

"Alastor, do you know who the kids were? And why they were there at all?" Augusta put her hands around her cup of tea, hoping to get any extra warmth from it. "The Prophet didn't say a word about the other students."

Moody raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Didn't they? Ah, well, that doesn't much surprise me. Well, the two in the hospital are Arthur Weasley's youngest son and Potter's friend Granger. Weasley was hit with a bad Confundus and got attacked by some brains in the Department of Mysteries, and from what I understand Granger Silenced a Death Eater just before he used Sectumsempra on her, so it didn't do as much damage as it could have but still managed to hurt her pretty badly."

"And the others?"

"Well, the Weasley daughter had a broken ankle, nothing too severe, and another girl, think she might be Xenophilius Lovegood's daughter from the looks of her, got knocked out, but she's fine now. And, of course, you know who the last one is." Moody smiled suddenly, his gash of a mouth widening grotesquely.

"I beg your pardon, but I haven't a clue," Augusta replied, though a strange feeling began to rise in her stomach.

"Did no one write you last night? I thought for sure Poppy would have, though maybe she was too busy with Weasley and Granger…"

"You don't mean to say that Neville-"

"Yeah, I guess that's exactly what I mean. Neville was the only kid who was able to fight the whole time, aside from Potter." Moody's smile slid from his face. "You really didn't know?"

"But Neville would never be able to do that!" she blurted out, knocking her tea over as she stood up. "He hasn't got the guts his parents had, nor the brains or skills-"

"Get on up to Hogwarts, then, and see for yourself. I really need to get a move on, but before I do…Augusta, when I got down to the Department of Mysteries last night, I saw something remarkable. Two men, one on the ground and one above him, trying to protect him…I thought for a moment that I saw Frank Longbottom and James Potter. It happened again, just after Sirius' death; for a split second, I thought Remus was speaking with James and Frank, not Harry and Neville."

"Neville looks nothing like his father, he has his mother's features-"

"And his father's expressions, and stance, and build. You need to take a look at your grandson and see him for what he really is. I suggest you do that when you get to Hogwarts." Moody shook his mane of hair out of his eyes and stood. "I really need to go, there are a lot of people who need filled in about last night."

With that, he stumped back out of the house and slammed the door. Augusta stared at the oak paneling until her mirror spoke once more. "You can't go out looking like that, Dearie."