Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own. Harry. Potter.
Lily, Scorpius, and Rose sat across from Professor Clearwater, who was looking rather stern and McGonagall-esque. She brushed a strand of her hair back and placed her hands flat on the table. "I want the whole story of how you ended up in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, about five seconds from your death when we showed up. Probably breaking about fifty school rules along the way," she muttered.
Both Lily and Scorpius looked at Rose, who scooted her chair slightly forward. "We decided after Sara Creevey fell that this wasn't an accident, so we started poking around for clues. I looked up broom curses, and found all of them are way above N.E.W.T. level, so we assumed it was an adult. We didn't find out a whole lot until after Roxanne showed up in the hospital wing- that's when Lily and Scorpius said they would sneak out after hours and look in all the teachers' offices."
"That night," Lily said, "Scorpius and I sneaked out and started…well, trespassing into teachers' offices and looking for things. Then in Teddy Lupin's drawer we found these three suspicious papers- I'll show you them." She had to get in there quickly- the Marauder's Map and Invisibility Cloak were still in the desk drawer, two items which would definitely be confiscated if their existence was known. "He found us, then, and brought us to the Forbidden Forest, explaining everything. He wanted to get revenge since his parents had died in the Battle Of Hogwarts. Then we stalled him by making elaborate last-words we're-about-to-die speeches. Then all the teachers showed up."
"I had been nervous," Rose said. "Them sneaking around after curfew with a wannabe killer on the loose was dangerous, so I told Aunt Luna- she's not really my aunt, Professor, but a close family friend- and she and I hid out in her cottage and waited for any sign of trouble. We both expected, if there was trouble, that it would happen outside, because sound reverberates a lot inside, and the portraits would all put up a fuss. We saw three figures heading into the forest. I followed at an extreme distance while Aunt Luna went and got the other teachers. Then I came back to the edge and showed everyone the way to the clearing."
"What all three of you did was extremely dangerous," Professor Clearwater said. "You broke numerous school rules- being out after curfew, snooping around a teacher's office, looking in the Restricted Section, Miss Weasley."
Rose looked slightly embarrassed. "How did you know about that?"
"Books on curses are not exactly going to be in the regular section of the library, are they? Anyway, you all should be in heaps of trouble for what you did, except for the fact that you discovered something that us adults could not figure out. Of course, we would never have thought to snoop in each other's offices, especially based on no proof whatsoever, but you did discover the person who was behind these attacks." She seemed to be conflicted between yelling at them for breaking rules, and congratulating them for solving the mystery.
"So what happens?" Lily, always impatient, said after a minute or so of absolute quiet. Rose elbowed her, no doubt worried that Lily's lack of sense would get them in even more trouble.
Professor Clearwater, however, did not seem to care about that. "You all have two months' detention," she said firmly, "with your Heads of Houses. Frankly, I'd love to separate the three of you, but I have a feeling that wouldn't exactly work out too well. However, since you did do a great thing for the school and its inhabitants, I would like to award all three of you with Special Awards for Services to the School."
"No way!" Lily jumped out of her seat. "Is it a big ceremony? In front of all the students and teachers? Should we wear dress robes? Do-"
"Sit down, Miss Potter. It will be a ceremony, yes, but I would advise you to calm down beforehand, as the heads of all three of you will likely inflate with all the praise you will get from your fellow students afterwards. I will present you three with the awards at dinner tomorrow, so please be presentable. Oh yes, and as for House points…I feel that the detentions are punishment enough for the rule-breaking, so I would like to award each of you with fifty points to your house. So…that would be one hundred points for Slytherin, and fifty for Ravenclaw."
Lily, who got points deducted more often than added, bounced a little in her seat. "Is that it, then?"
"Yes, Miss Potter, that is it." Professor Clearwater looked tired. "All three of you, go straight back to your dorms and rest for the remainder of the night, if there is any night left, and no detours. I will be seeing you tomorrow."
Scorpius and Rose hurried out the door, but Lily hung back. "Is Teddy going to Azkaban?" She looked smaller, it seemed, and certainly less happy than the Lily who had bounced up and down in her chair just a minute or two before. "And is Roxanne going to be okay?"
"Mr. Lupin will certainly be going to Azkaban," the Headmistress replied, "as he tried to kill two students, used the Cruciatus Curse on another, and was going to kill two more. Miss Weasley should be alright. I don't believe she was under the curse long enough to suffer permanent damage, although she will presumably remain in the Hospital Wing for observation."
"Can I go see her?"
"Tomorrow. For now, you definitely need your rest."
Lily wasn't tired, even though it was a ridiculous time in the morning, and she had just been through a lot. It was these things that she had just been through that were keeping her up as she trudged back to the Slytherin common room, then to her dormitory, collapsing back into bed. Teddy Lupin, secretly holding a grudge because his parents had died when so many had survived. It hadn't been expected. She knew he mourned them, yes, and that he often felt left out at Weasley family gatherings since he wasn't blood-related, but she hadn't known he was bitter and resentful about it.
He had been a fixture in her pre-Hogwarts life. He was the main babysitter of Lily, Albus, and James, since he was constantly at their house anyway. It had always seemed like he enjoyed Lily the most- Albus was too quiet, James too loud and, often, tactless. She couldn't connect in her head that Teddy to the one she had seen tonight, who was ready to kill her. How was that even possible? She had loved him as her third older brother, the person to go to when she wanted to talk, because James would never want to and Albus, being only two years older, wasn't much of a comfort.
She wondered how her parents would take the news. Harry was Teddy's godfather, and had become like a real father to him, taking him on as a son before he had children of his own. Ginny had mothered him in the same way. They had seen him as their child, in many ways, and although he didn't officially live there, he spent almost half the time there and half the time at his grandmother Andromeda's.
Lily inhaled sharply at the thought of Andromeda. She had nobody, really. The war had taken her sister, her husband, her daughter, and her son-in-law from her, leaving only Teddy as comfort. Teddy hadn't lived there for a few years, having moved into his own flat the same time she went to Hogwarts for first year, but he would still often pop by. Now Teddy, too, was being taken from Andromeda, and although, unlike the others, he was still alive, having a family member in Azkaban was almost as bad as having that family member dead.
Lily sighed and turned over, eventually drifting into the peaceful blackness of sleep.
A/N: Kind of a short chapter, but then, we are nearing the end. Thank you to everyone who's kept reading my first (but certainly not last) delve into the crazy, wonderful realm of fan fiction, and thank you to those people who have given me lovely reviews.