AN: This chapter is a bit shorter than the other ones. I'm going to be going on vacation tomorrow, so I just wanted to get this update out before they may become rare. Thanks so much for all the positive feedback I've been getting lately!


Chapter 4

Of Detention and Crews


"You arrived in the nick of time," Kai said jokingly as Torin lent him a hand. His legs were wobbly, a likely side effect of the Cruciatus curse's pain. The fact that he was not tortured into utter insanity soothed him, as well as the stabilizing hand of Cinder's in his. It was truly very good luck Torin had come when he had; otherwise both he and Cinder would have been worn from the Unforgivable curse.

Torin rolled his eyes. The head auror was an old friend and consultant of Kai's father, the minister. They had worked together in close quarters for as long as Kai could remember. Torin had unofficially dubbed as Kai's caretaker back when Kai's mother was still alive. Torin was one of the people Kai felt he could confide in with confidence. He was the only auror Kai would've felt absolutely safe with. Gratefulness flooded through him, though he disguised it with a playful attitude.

The auror's eyes floated between Kai and Cinder, briefly flickering down to their still intertwined hands with a raise of his eyebrows. "Care to introduce to me to your friend, Kai?" he said. If Kai hadn't known him so well, he wouldn't have caught the undertone of amusement beneath his curiousity.

"This is, uh, Cinder Linh," Kai said, refusing to acknowledge the way his ears were growing hot. He hardly felt like this was appropriate for the situation, but anything to distract him from the memory of pain at the forefront of his brain. "She's also a student. Sixth year." Cinder shifted, and then he remembered her leg in his hazy state. Though it took focus, he leaned onto a crate behind to them.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir, did you happen to see a cane up there, by any chance?" Cinder spoke up, her voice thick with emotion – pain, probably, and relief.

"Or our wands?" Kai added hopefully.

His heart dropped as Torin shook his head sadly. Torin motioned for them to follow him outside of the storage room they were in. Moving up the stairs was a feat for both Kai and Cinder. His legs regained strength with every step, though, and he lent most of this to Cinder, who obviously needed it more.

Hogsmeade was still and silent. The black-cloaked Lunars were nowhere in sight. Aurors were milling about, offering help and support to all of the students and citizens who had been victims in the attack. Kai's eyes were unfortunately drawn to a pile of bodies lying in the corner. Bile climbed up his already sore throat, along with a newfound hatred for Lunars. Before he witnessed this cruelty, he had disliked them, but now there was a loathing there.

He needed to find Selene Blackburn. Desperately.

Torin led them inside one of the restaurants, where all of the tables had been pushed to the side to create a safe house for the injured and/or rescued. Inside there were mostly Hogwarts students, being assisted by Dr. Erland and other professors. There was a heap of retrieved wands on a table, Torin told them. They moved over to look through as the head auror went back outside to assist to the rest of the victims. Both Kai and Cinder had found their wands on in this pile, but a quick scope of the room proved to them that Cinder's cane was still no where to be found.

A voice interrupted them. "Cinder!" said a boy barreling towards them, recognizable only because they were in the same year. It was Thorne. Kai's eyes narrowed – Thorne had never been one of his favorite people, for two reasons: being Slytherin and being the most annoyingly reckless person he'd ever had the misfortune of meeting. And there was now another reason – Thorne's cheeky grin, paired with his undeniable attractiveness, all aimed at Cinder, who was the object of Kai's current affections.

"Oh! Thorne," Cinder replied, sounding surprised. "I'm glad to see you're okay." How could they possibly know each other?

Thorne's gaze shifted over to Kai, and his unnerving grin seemed to turn into a smirk. "Wow. You really weren't kidding when you said you had a date with Kai Prince." Cinder blushed, glancing over at Kai. "Well done – I really wouldn't have pegged you as the type of girl with enough charm to snag the Head Boy…"

Rolling her eyes, Cinder said, "Um, Kai, this is my friend, Thorne. We snuck out of the castle together." It made a little more sense to Kai then – Thorne was unsurprisingly cunning and intelligent. He was a Slytherin, after all. And that would be Thorne and Cinder's one link – their house.

"It's okay, Linh," said Thorne, snickering, "we've met."

Before Kai could reply – this was lucky, because he was for once having trouble with finding something sarcastic to say – one of the shaken looking professors began to speak at the front of the room. He said they were going to go back to Hogwarts momentarily, cutting this trip short. Much to Kai's dismay, the Headmaster apparently wanted to discontinue all future Hogsmeade trips until further notice.

The professor, who was also Head of Gryffindor, made her way over to him. "Mr. Prince – can I trust you to lead the students back to the castle along with the Head Girl?" she asked. There was no time for Kai to answer, as the professor's unimpressed gaze drifted over to Cinder and Thorne standing next to him. "Miss Linh, Mr. Thorne," she drawled, eyebrows slowly rising, "I'm rather sure, Thorne, that you were suspended from Hogsmeade trips 2 years ago for a record of theft…"

Thorne cringed slightly, but his grin stayed intact. "Yes, Professor, that is true."

She cocked on perfectly arched brow at him. "Detention, Thorne. You should know better." Her stare only turned on Cinder once Thorne had shrugged lightly, seemingly okay with the punishment. "And, you, Miss Linh…I don't quite remember you coming into Hogsmeade this morning," she said in a much gentler tone – but still stern nonetheless.

The wince on Cinder's face seemed to be answer enough. The professor checked down on the list she had, apparently of all the students they should be accounted for that day. When she obviously didn't find Cinder's name, she looked up with disappointment. "Detention, Linh. It's upsetting I have to give out so many on such a day."

Kai found this to be the perfect time interrupt. "You know, Professor, you don't actually have to give out detentions…"

The professor gave him a cold look. "Prince, if I were you, I would be getting to my Head duties before I received detention myself," she said, before stalking off, robes swishing loudly behind her.


Their detention was administered abnormally quickly – Cinder found herself sitting with Thorne and two other students only five hours after they left Hogsmeade that afternoon. In fact, everything at Hogwarts was being done with abnormal speed. The Hospital Wing was crammed with injured children, and Erland had taken in a band of professors to order around. Most people were sent out within an hour, all their wounds magically corrected, with an instruction to "rest." Cinder herself had been there to get a new cane – there had been none, and in the end she just transfigured one – and the voices of her fellow classmates followed her, each of them wanting to know about her run in with Levana. How they already knew about it was a wonder.

Cinder had met up with Thorne in the Common Room that evening, two hours before dinner was set to begin. He, too, asked about the encounter, but of course she revealed nothing. This was mostly because she was too tired to even remember the meeting, and it was an emotionally draining time as is. Their walk to the classroom was mostly silent; on occasion Thorne causally stated some observation he made. It would be a vain attempt to shut him up, Cinder knew.

The school caretaker unfortunately decided to stick them in the dungeons that day. Thorne said it wasn't as bad as it sounded – there was no doubt in her mind that he had been through his share of detentions in the past – but Cinder had little desire to scrub cauldrons for two hours without the help of magic. Especially when her wrist had begun to throb an hour ago and showed no sign of stopping.

She sighed. The other two students were carrying their own conversation across the classroom. From their shared intense expression, she could tell it was serious and somewhat intimate. Though, they both seemed to have slowed their cauldron cleaning, and she wished they would do their share. Enough glances back to their argument had Thorne staring as well.

"Hey!" Thorne shouted, pausing his work. "I can see you're both having quite the time right now, but it'd be great if you'd do some work," he said bluntly. The girl apparently had no shame, if her responding glare at Thorne was anything to go by. Her companion, on the other hand, seemed to be surprised, as if maybe he'd forgotten there were other people there.

"Oh, please, Thorne. I doubt you're getting anything done either." She rolled her eyes, flipping red curls out of her face. "Wolf and I are actually having an important conversation."

Thorne laughed at this. "About what, Benoit? How great it is to be 'in love?'" he mocked, his snickers never-ending. The girl – Benoit – scoffed and returned to Wolf. Cinder could recognize the last name – she must have been the Gryffindor Scarlet Benoit, who was known throughout the school as being a bit mad. And "Wolf" had to be Ze'ev Kelsey of Hufflepuff, who was primarily known for being about the buffest person at Hogwarts, and for being Scarlet Benoit's completely whipped boyfriend. Both of them were in their seventh year.

After about thirty minutes passed of Benoit and Kelsey's mutterings along with Cinder and Thorne's occasional playful arguments about one thing or another, conversation between the two pairs sparked again. They probably could have gone the entire detention without speaking, but sounds of kissing behind Cinder and Thorne made them pause. Benoit and Kelsey had been an aggressive make out session. The sight made Cinder cringe.

"Gross," Thorne groaned, voicing Cinder's thoughts exactly. "Get a room."

Thankfully, they pulled away, for Benoit to roll her eyes again. "This is a room. You don't have to look."

"We have to hear it, though," Cinder said, a bit irritated. Her wrist still ached incessantly, but she couldn't leave to get any sort of painkillers. And she was exhausted, not to mention starving. She'd definitely have to go to the kitchens later, skipping dinner in the Great Hall, just so she could get a little more sleep.

Though she didn't at all regret speaking, Benoit's peeved look was enough to silence her. The other girl removed herself from Kelsey's embrace, if only to focus more of her energies on glaring. She almost opened her mouth to say something before Thorne did.

"So what was so important that you two were talking about? You never answered before." Benoit raised an eyebrow, as if silently asking him why he even cared. He only shrugged in response.

Finally beginning to clean one of the grimy cauldrons in front of her, Benoit sighed. "We were just talking about Lunars. It was terrible today."

Kelsey nodded. "If there was some way to defeat Levana…"

Had Thorne not burst into a bout of barking, harsh laughter, he might have gone on. Thorne's snickering drowned out anything else Kelsey had to say. Cinder felt her eyes widen as she processed the information they had just given her – had they seriously been trying to find a way to defeat Levana? It was impossible – she would know, after the day she had. Even the Lunars alone were undefeatable and skilled with magic. There was no mistaking the raw power they had. The only way Levana would be conquered was if they found a way to logically overpower her, without ever even engaging her.

"That's hilarious," exclaimed Thorne, his laughter not dying down in the slightest. "If you two think you can take down Levana, you've got another thing coming." His giggles sprouted again. "But, by all means, try."

Benoit frowned at him. "There is a way – and we've already figured it out." This only seemed to make Thorne cackle even louder, however, and she huffed. "Do you want to know or not?" Cinder motioned for the girl to continue, none-too-gently hitting Thorne in the stomach to quell his laughter. It was successful and, by Benoit and Kelsey's returning chuckles, they were all rather grateful.

According to Kelsey, their plan had to do with the Blackburn family. Levana was the last living heir, which gave her access to centuries worth of wealth and items, as well as the rumored Dark Arts book that could give her powerful and deathly curses to release on the population – including a spell that could make people abide to her every wish. If there were another heir, however, Levana would lose any control that she had. Thus brought them to bring up the case of the missing Selene Blackburn, who had been pronounced dead, yes, but there was no body. After of year of Selene's disappearance, they had decided she had been kidnapped and killed, leaving Levana heir.

If they found Selene, they could defeat Levana. Thorne didn't dare laugh.

"All we know about Selene Blackburn right now is that she should be sixteen years old and magical," Scarlet said, after a moment of intense silence between them, "to find her we're going to need all the help we can get."

There was no hesitation before Thorne gave his consent, "I'm in. We could become the most famous wizards and witches ever, you know, for saving the world. I'm definitely in." Scarlet rolled her eyes at him, but smiled at his answering grin. "What about you, Cinder?" Thorne asked, after a moment passed without her saying anything.

Cinder bit her lip thoughtfully. There was still a great chance Selene Blackburn was dead. She might have actually been kidnapped and viciously murdered at three years old. Or maybe even Levana herself had killed her niece. The probabilities were so low, yet she couldn't help but hope. With Kai's screams resonating in her ears, she wanted nothing more than to see Levana put down. As faith bubbled inside of her, she shot a grin to her three companions.

"I'm in."