Hi everyone! I figured since I finished the next chapter I should post it now because of how long it's been. Again, I hope you like it, thanks for reading, and please review! -Kelly

CHAPTER 6

ATTACK ON THE UNION

"I'll get McGonagall," Hugo announced, and raced out of the commons as Lucy turned around to aim her wand at the fireplace and Will helped Bella to her feet. Rose joined her, though not sure what they were protecting against, and glanced back at Scorpius in alarm.

"What's going on?" Rose asked.

"The Union got attacked," Lucy said gravely. "We grabbed as much stuff as we could, but it wasn't much." Rose now noticed all three of them were wearing backpacks stuffed full, and Bella was holding several rolls of parchment to her chest. "We didn't get the volunteer list," she added.

"Do you think they have it?" Scorpius asked. The question was loaded, Rose knew; if they did, it had become a hit list. Bella just shook her head helplessly.

"We don't know," she said. "I hope not, we saw the building catch fire so maybe it got burned."

"The building caught fire? What are you going to do?" Rose asked, aghast.

"We don't know, but we'd like to survive before we ask that question," Bella said.

"McGonagall needs to close the fireplace right now," Will said. "We were being followed; Tom from the Leaky Cauldron let us use his fireplace to come here but we think they might have seen."

"Hugo will be almost there by now," Rose said. "Let's hope McGonagall hears him at the door."

"Do you think he's too shy to knock it down if he has to?" Scorpius asked Rose quietly.

"Hugo?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "No." She turned back to Lucy and asked, "Do you want to stay at Hogwarts, with the Project?"

"No, we wouldn't impose that on you lot," Lucy said. "We just need to hide here tonight."

They stayed there with their wands trained at the fire, the air too tense to speak, until Hugo burst in, out of breath, and panted, "Floo network's closed." Everyone in the room relaxed, and Lucy dropped down into the armchair behind her. "What happened?" he asked.

"We saw the fighting with the Order and the Followers, so we came running out to help," Lucy said. "After a while, they told us they had it handled and to go before someone recognizes us. I guess someone did, though, because almost as soon as we got back inside there were Followers running down the street towards us. We put a charm on the door to hold them off, packed as much as we could and jumped out the back windows. I can't believe we made it to the Leaky Cauldron, they were firing Killing Curses past us."

"I thought you were supposed to have protection," Scorpius said, frowning.

"They got pulled into the battle earlier on," Bella said.

"McGonagall wants to see you," Hugo said from the doorway, having finally caught his breath.

"I figured," Lucy said, almost laughing, and they all started down the hallway for the headmistress's office. Neville was waiting for them when they arrived, with a cloak pulled over his pajamas.

"Are you all right?" he asked them. "Any injuries?"

"No, we're fine, Neville, thanks," Lucy said.

"Good," he said. "Some tonight aren't so lucky." He turned to the gargoyle and Lucy looked at Rose and Hugo, her face suddenly somber.

"I don't know if anyone's told you…"

"We know about our mum," Rose said quietly, and Lucy just nodded.

"I'm sorry." Rose didn't know why everyone kept apologizing; they didn't curse her mother, after all. It was getting irritating. McGonagall was waiting at her desk, with an owl flying out the window behind her as they entered.

"It's good to see you are all right," she told the Union leaders. "I've sent word to Harry Potter that you've arrived safely." Rose felt a knot in her stomach when she heard that; she knew McGonagall would normally have sent word to her mother's office before Uncle Harry about these things. "You may stay here as long as you need to."

"Thank you, Professor, but we'll go in the morning," Lucy said.

"Where?" Rose asked.

"James said we could go to his flat if we ever needed to…"

"I'm afraid Mr. Potter really can't do that, Miss Weasley; as a high-profile target the Order of the Phoenix isn't comfortable with you staying anywhere without significant security. Besides, James is an Auror, and as a Ministry employee in that capacity…"

"If he harbors us it'll look like an official endorsement," Lucy finished. "Am I close?"

"I'm afraid so. And with a potential vote on the London Resolutions looming, as well as foreign aid hanging in the balance…"

"Right, I understand. Where, then?" Lucy asked. "I mean… we don't really have anywhere else to go, Bella's family is in hiding and Will's Muggleborn."

A knock on the door, or more like pounding, resonated through the office. "Who in Merlin's name…" McGonagall murmured as Neville opened the door. Lucy's father, Rose's uncle Percy, came rushing in, looking positively beside himself. He saw Lucy and grasped her shoulders enthusiastically, sighing in relief. "Thank Merlin. George called me, he saw your building on fire, and he told me this was the emergency location—are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Dad, what does it matter to you?" Lucy said shortly, though her eyes were wide with surprise. Percy stepped away from her a little, looking taken aback.

"Of course it matters to me, you're my daughter."

"You don't well act like it," Lucy muttered.

"I… I'm sorry, Lucy, I … I want to help, how can I help?" Rose looked more closely at her uncle then and saw that he was clearly not having a good year. She hadn't seen him for some time, since fifth year, she realized. He looked more tired than usual, and his normal fastidious grooming had fallen behind somewhat. His hair was also quickly going grey, and he looked at a loss of how to talk to his younger daughter, now staring at him with a mixture of confusion and distrust.

"They need somewhere to stay, Percival," McGonagall said pointedly.

"Oh, er… well, you'll be in the middle of London at our house, that won't be ideal if you're hiding… what about the Paris house?"

Lucy's eyes did brighten a little at that. "Really?"

"Sure, sure, I'm not using it, and it's definitely safe, there hasn't been an attack in France in any of the Wars. There's plenty of room," he added, looking at Bella and Will uncertainly. "Er, who are you?"

"Bella Pinkstone and Will Thomas," Bella said, seeming like she was trying to suppress a smile. "I've, er, heard a lot about you, Mr. Weasley—er, Minister Weasley."

"I can get you keys tomorrow morning," Percy said. "Is that… okay?"

"Yeah, I suppose," Lucy said, looking confused, and he moved as if he was going to hug her but thought better of it.

"Er, I'm glad you're all right," he said. "You should be able to continue your work, too, I believe the Modernist students have a Paris office too?" he said, though sounding uncertain, and looked at Rose questioningly.

"Er, I'm not sure, but I can give you Alderic Volant's contact information," she told Lucy. "He runs their group at Beauxbatons, he'd know."

"Thank you, Rose," Percy said. "I'll send an elf there tomorrow—or not," he said when Lucy, Bella and Will's faces all fell at the suggestion. "Er… all right, then, I'll go. I'll see you in the morning to drop off the keys… yes." With that, Percy turned around and walked back towards the door of the office.

"Percival, if you truly want to help, the Order of the Phoenix is always recruiting," McGonagall called after him. He turned around in the doorway and after hesitation, shook his head.

"I'm not getting involved this time, Minerva, I'm sorry. I'll protect my daughter; that's all. Good night, and thank you." With that, he was gone.

"If you'd like to stay in the Room of Requirement tonight, you're welcome to, or the Prefect commons," McGonagall told them. Lucy looked at Rose hesitantly.

"Aren't Ava's parents in the Room?" Rose nodded. "Prefect commons, then. Thank you, Professor."

"We'll speak in the morning," McGonagall said. "The rest of you may go as well."

"Good night, Professor," Rose said, and followed Lucy and the other Union leaders out of the office.

"Are you going to call her?" Bella asked Lucy as they descended the steps.

"Ava?" she asked, her face twisting as if she'd tasted something unpleasant. "No, why?"

"Why?" Bella asked incredulously. "Well—she's probably hearing rumors about us, not to mention she speaks French and has been looking for a way to leave the country anyway—"

"Hold on, you want her to come with us?" Lucy exclaimed. "That's insane. She doesn't want to see me."

"That's not true and you know it," Bella insisted.

"Fine, I don't want to see her," Lucy said.

"And there it is," Bella said. "Honestly, Lucy, you're just running away from her when you should be—"

"Should be what? Acting all angsty and star-crossed like them?" she asked, glancing at Rose and Scorpius. "Sorry, you two."

Rose rolled her eyes and Bella sighed. "That's not what I meant…"

"She's safer without me," Lucy said firmly. They had reached the Prefect commons. "I expect we'll see you tomorrow," she said to the three of them. Rose nodded. "All right, then, good night."

"Good night, Lucy," Rose said, not wanting to get her into another argument about love; it seemed like Bella could handle that herself. The Union leaders entered the commons and Rose, Scorpius and Hugo returned to Gryffindor, all three thoroughly exhausted.

Rose woke the next morning to Min shaking her. Despite it being Saturday, the sun was worryingly low in the east and Rose checked her watch on the dresser: 7:00. "Min, what the actual hell?"

"The Minister of Magic wants to see you," she said. "He's in McGonagall's office. I figured it was worth waking you up." Rose was much more awake after this and dressed quickly, hurrying out of the tower and back to the headmistress's office. When she knocked, she was bade come in by McGonagall and indeed found Darius Kendall, looking very tired and dressed in a tailored deep purple old-fashioned Muggle suit, along with Lucy, Bella, Will, and the headmistress.

"Rose Weasley," he said. "It's nice to see you again."

"And you, Minister," Rose said hesitantly. "Though this is unexpected.""I've been meaning to speak with you, and I thought this would be as good as any opportunity as I was here to see your cousin." The Minister walked to McGonagall's desk, where he picked up a copy of the Prophet. "Have you seen any of the opinions voiced by readers after your last publication?"

"I don't read the reviews," Rose said, unsure of why she was making jokes, though Lucy did laugh. Kendall nearly cracked a smile, but passed the paper to her.

"It's a mix, to be sure," Kendall said. "Though everyone seems to be quite emotional. A couple quotes that I thought stood out were 'Pass this resolution now, damn all the purebloods to hell' and 'This blood traitor needs to be silenced'." Rose's stomach turned as she read through the letters. "You must understand why this essay has caused my office a great deal of stress."

"Yes," Rose said, unsure of what he meant by this.

"As much as I hate to say it, we think your essays are only politicizing what should be a neutral security measure. Not publishing any more will help the resolution's chances of passing more than publishing more ever will."

"So your solution is to take their advice and silence the blood traitor?" Lucy asked coldly, her eyes boring into the Minister's angrily.

He sighed and said, "I don't believe we have much of a choice."

"It's all right," Rose said, "I understand." It pained her, but she knew he was right. Lucy looked at her, surprised.

"Are you sure?"

"He's right. Look at this, Lucy," she said, tossing her the paper. "Even the ones on our side sound insane. It's making us look bad."

Lucy was quiet for a short while before she handed the paper back and asked, "So does this mean we can't promote the resolution?"

"You can," Kendall said hesitantly, "but not particularly radically. And try not to connect it to the broader calls for repeal."

"We haven't been," Bella said. "People just see it that way."

"Don't play into this and your ideals will survive," Kendall told them. "I can't promise anything will happen if this radicalization continues."

"Yeah, we know," Lucy said. "They burned down our headquarters last night."

"I know. I'm sorry. You're moving on to a safe location, I trust?"

"Yes," Lucy said. "Speaking of which, I have to find my father. Always a pleasure, Minister," she said, with a hint of sarcasm, and left the office abruptly.

"She's emotional right now," Bella apologized.

"That's all right," Kendall said. "I'm very sorry about this. And Rose, I'm sorry about your mother, we're all hoping for a quick recovery."

"Thank you, Minister," Rose said quietly.

The Minister shook their hands and said, "Well, I should be going, I have to make a statement in an hour about the battle last night. Good luck to all of you," he said, and Disapparated. Rose looked at McGonagall, shocked.

"How did he do that?" she asked.

"The Minister has the same privileges in this castle as I do now in terms of the enchantments," she told them. "It's become necessary so no one sees him meeting with me, what with the secrecy of the project and all. If you have no more questions, you may go."

"Thank you, Professor," Rose said, and Bella and Will echoed her as they left.

"Lucy'll be in the Entrance Hall," Bella said, and Rose nodded as they walked down the stairs. "Sorry about your essays."

"It's okay," Rose said. "I've still got the Modernists. Besides, I have NEWTs this year, it's probably a good thing in a way."

"Thank you for all you're doing," Bella said. "The project you're working on is really admirable. I know Ava's grateful."

"Thanks," Rose said. "Tell her I said hello, by the way; at this rate I doubt I'll see her soon."

"Lucy's really set on this separation thing, but I think it's really affecting her," Bella sighed. "I don't know. The war's changing people."

"I think they usually do," Rose said. They reached the Entrance Hall and found Lucy talking to her father again by the door. "I'll see you around, then, I suppose," she said.

"Thank you, Rose," Will said. Bella said the same and they went to meet Lucy. Rose watched them walk out through the castle doors before returning to Gryffindor Tower, determined to go back to sleep for as long as she could. She was exhausted; at this point, she pretty much always was. She fell back asleep thinking of her mother, and hoping the other girls couldn't hear her cry.