Auden loved being on the Quidditch team. It was as simple as that. She loved being able to spend extra time with Fred, George and Harry, and she loved that she was becoming closer to the other team members. It was exactly what she had wanted. She actually didn't mind the crazy practice schedules or the sometimes crazy weather conditions, but on the other hand, when it was combined with homework and classes, it equaled a very busy schedule. Auden practiced and studied as hard as she could in her attempts to keep her grades up and stay on the team.
As if that wasn't enough, there were more attacks in mid-November. Three more to be exact. Colin Creevey was the first. Then, a week or two later, it was Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick, found in the same spot and clearly attacked at the same time. These attacks did nothing to help Auden's stress level. They worsened it, as was expected.
In late November, Harry, Ron and Hermione decided to brew Polyjuice Potion to turn into Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode. This way, they could interrogate Malfoy about the Chamber of Secrets. They would execute the plan over the Christmas holidays since Malfoy was apparently staying at school. Auden opted out of taking the potion, insisting that it would be too much trouble to find another Slytherin and get rid of them for the day. Besides, she felt as if she had enough to worry about without having to deal with that as well.
It turned out that the plan didn't go as well as expected. Harry and Ron tore into the common room on the night they carried it out and both started talking to Auden at once. They had gotten next to no information from Malfoy-he claimed to have no idea who was opening the Chamber-but Hermione's potion had turned her into a cat. She had thought she had picked up Millicent Bulstrode's hair, but instead, she got Millicent Bulstrode's cat hair. It was lucky that Madame Pomfrey didn't ask her too many questions.
The only person who might have been under as much pressure as Auden by the end of the year, if not more, was Harry. Besides the whole Polyjuice Potion plan, he was taking all the same classes as her, was on the Quidditch team, and in addition, he was being accused of being the heir of Slytherin because of the fact that the whole school had discovered he was a Parselmouth. He could talk to snakes. This was something Harry himself hadn't even known he could do until that year.
One evening, while working on her History of Magic homework, Fred came and joined Auden on the couch in front of the fireplace.
"Hey, how's it going?" he asked. "I haven't gotten the chance to talk to you in a while and see how you've been holding up."
Auden frantically shook her head. "Not well."
"Why?" Fred asked, sounding concerned.
Auden flopped backwards into the couch cushions and rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes. They felt dried out and tired. She needed sleep and she had been staring at her textbooks for way too long, but she had to finish her homework. It was due tomorrow first thing in the morning. "There's so much to deal with," she said. "I feel like I shouldn't complain because second year work is nothing compared to OWL or NEWT year. It's probably nothing even compared to what you and George are doing, but there's homework and classes and Quidditch and the attacks. It's just so much." Tears began to fill her eyes and she tried her best to hide them from Fred, but he noticed. She wished he hadn't. She felt embarrassed. She hated to cry, especially in front of people and definitely in front of Fred.
"Come here," Fred said, taking her into a hug. "What else is wrong?"
"The attacks," she said, sniffling as her crying slowed. "And Dumbledore's been chased out of the school now and everything. It's going to get worse." She sniffled again as she looked up at him. "I'm sorry for being such a baby, by the way."
"Auden," Fred said slowly, "you are in no way being a baby. You have every reason to break down right now. I completely understand. Everyone's under pressure their first year on the team. They have to learn how to juggle everything. And as bad luck would have it, the attacks have been happening all year, and you're right...they may just get worse now that Dumbledore's gone. It's hard for everyone this year. And you hardly ever cry so I won't hold this time against you." He smiled down at her.
Auden wiped her eyes, half smiled and then sighed as her smile faded. "Why is this happening? It's all because they're Muggle born."
"I know, it's pathetic," Fred answered. He put his arm around her shoulders.
"I'm scared, Fred."
"You have nothing to worry about," he said. "The monster won't come after you."
"That's not the point, Fred. Hermione's a Muggleborn. I'm scared for her. I'm scared they'll close Hogwarts. I'm just scared."
Fred took a deep breath. "Me too."
"Yeah?" Auden blinked up at him in surprise. It was kind of odd hearing Fred admit that he was scared. He usualy didn't, even if he was. He and George were used to doing that in order to comfort either Auden or Ginny.
Fred nodded. "Look, you should get some rest. You look exhausted and you're stressed. A good night's sleep will make you feel better."
"I haven't finished my essay," Auden told him, looking down at it.
"What's it on?" Fred pulled the essay towards him. "Oh, the goblin wars…I can finish it. Go to bed, rest, clear your head. I'll give you this tomorrow morning."
"Are you sure?" Auden asked.
Fred nodded. "Positive."
"You're really offering to do my homework when you're barely motivated to do your own?"
Fred laughed. "I am. It's a shock, I know."
"I feel special." Auden smiled up at him. Fred always knew just how to do that. He always wanted the best for her and always looked out for her no matter what. She loved that about him.
"You are special, Aud," Fred grinned.
Auden smiled back and gave Fred a quick hug. "Thank you, really. You're the best."
"I know," Fred smirked.
By the time the following weekend came around, Auden was feeling a lot better. There was a Quidditch match the next day that she felt prepared for, no attacks had happened in a while and her teachers were easing up on the homework they were giving out. Besides all that, the Mandrakes were almost ready to be used to cure the petrified students. Maybe things would end up being okay after all.
Auden woke up to bright sun streaming through the dormitory window. She looked at the bed next to her where Hermione slept but it was empty. Auden assumed Hermione had just gone down to breakfast early before the match. She dressed, grabbed her broom, and met Harry in the common room so they could walk down together. They were both in one of the best moods they'd been in for a while. There hadn't been an attack in months and Auden was actually hopeful that they had stopped for good.
They met the rest of the team in the changing rooms and Wood gave them a last minute pep talk before leading them outside, where they were stopped by Professor McGonagall. Ron was with her, looking confused.
"Today's match has been canceled," McGonagall said sadly.
"You can't cancel Quidditch," Wood said, appalled, as Auden shared a confused look with Harry. Wood did somewhat have a point. A Quidditch match hadn't been canceled for a very long time. They usually weren't even canceled for bad weather.
"I just did," McGonagall answered. "I need all of you to head back to the changing rooms and then head back to the common room. Everyone except Miss Parker and Mr. Potter. You both might want to come with me."
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Just follow me," McGonagall answered, turning and briskly heading for the castle.
Auden caught Fred's eye. He was standing a few feet away, looking bewildered and concerned. Auden made an I don't know what's happening face and jogged after Harry, Ron, and McGonagall. Despite all that was happening, she honestly had no idea what could have happened. Something inside of her felt that it could have been an attack. That was the only thing serious enough to cancel Quidditch for. But why would McGonagall want to show her, Harry and Ron something? What could it be and what did the attacks have to do with them? A lot of people thought Harry was behind them, but McGonagall knew he wasn't. Besides, in that scenario, Ron and Auden wouldn't be needed at all.
They finally reached the hospital wing, where a feeling of dread filled Auden's stomach that only increased when she saw the petrified figure lying on the nearest bed.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled.
"She was found next to Miss Clearwater and she had this mirror in her hand. Do any of you know why?" McGonagall asked, holding up the mirror.
They all shook their heads slowly as they gazed at the next bed containing Penelope Clearwater.
Professor McGonagall left Auden, Harry and Ron to sit with Hermione alone. Auden sighed as she sat down in a chair. She hadn't even been able to realize what had happened on the way there, even though she could now see how easy it would've been to piece together that Hermione had been petrified. This day had just gone from decent to terrible in a matter of minutes.
"What are we going to do?" she asked finally, breaking the silence. "The attacks are happening more frequently and it doesn't look like whoever it is plans on stopping anytime soon. If they aren't caught, Hogwarts will close."
Harry and Ron shrugged and shook their heads, totally bemused. "I have no idea what to do," Harry said. Auden felt an irrational bolt of anger flash through her. She desperately wanted answers, and quickly, but she knew it wasn't Harry's fault. None of them knew what to do. Not even the teachers. And Dumbledore had been kicked out of school. If Auden thought anyone could help them, it was Dumbledore and he was gone. And now Hermione was essentially gone as well. The girl with all the answers wasn't able to help them solve their biggest problem because she had been made part of it.
"We need Hermione," Auden sighed. "She always knew what to do."
"I wonder why she was in the library in the first place," Ron said. "She ran off at breakfast this morning and said she was going there, but wouldn't say why. I had thought we were going to watch the match together, and then she never showed up. And then McGonagall found me and told me to come with her."
"I wonder if she knew anything or had gotten an idea," Auden said. "Hermione, I mean. But we'll never know. At least not until the Mandrakes are ready and who knows how many people could be attacked by then."
"Exactly," Harry said with a sigh. He reached out and gently touched Hermione's hand as Auden tucked her feet under her and chewed her bottom lip anxiously.
There had to be a way to stop these attacks. There just had to be.
In the days following Hermione's attack, Auden found herself spending a lot of time with the twins, and sometimes even just Fred. Harry and Ron were preoccupied with Hermione and were visiting her every single day. Auden had visited her a few times as well and had thought of little else besides her attack-and all of them in general, really-but she didn't feel the need to visit as much as Harry and Ron did. It only made her sad and anxious and there was also little point. She couldn't talk to Hermione and Hermione wouldn't even get better or show any improvement until the Mandrakes were ready, which they weren't.
One night, a few weeks after Hermione's attack, Auden was on the common room couch, staring at her homework, but not really seeing it. Fred was beside her, attempting to do some of his own homework. Finally, he glanced at Auden and sighed.
"Come with me," he said.
"Where?" Auden asked, standing up and following him out of the portrait hole.
"To the kitchens," he answered. "You're not concentrating on your homework and neither am I."
"You never are," she said quietly, a small smile on her lips.
"True," Fred grinned, "but I think we both needed to get out for a bit."
They made their way down to the kitchens in a comfortable silence. When they got there, they seated themselves at a table while the house elves hurried to bring them food.
"Do you think Hogwarts will have to close?" Auden asked, tracing the worn lines in the wooden table.
"I hope not," Fred sighed. "I'd like to think the teachers won't let that happen, but I'm not sure there's much they can do. No one knows where the Chamber of Secrets is or what the monster is. And by not knowing that, we don't know how to destroy it."
Auden kept quiet as the house elves brought over the food and set it on the table between her and Fred. "What if someone dies?" she asked. "What if Hogwarts does close? Where do we go?"
Fred shrugged as he looked down. "I don't know. We'd go to another magical school I suppose. I don't know how they'd distribute us all, but we'd probably have to separate. We can't send the whole Hogwarts population to one school."
Auden noticed he hadn't answered her question about someone dying and it only made her more anxious. She knew Fred didn't have all the answers and he was just as scared as she was, but she needed answers. She needed everything to be okay again. She also didn't like the thought of being split up from the rest of the Hogwarts students in the event that the school did close. How could she manage to start at a new school all alone without any of the Weasleys or even possibly her brother?
She and Fred spent some more time in the kitchens before making their way back upstairs to the common room, which was oddly crowded. More so than usual and Auden immediately knew something was wrong. She saw her brother sitting on the dormitory steps, looking ashen. As soon as he saw her, he jumped up and ran to her, grabbing her in a hug. "Where have you been?" he asked.
"In the kitchens, why?" Auden asked. "What's going on?"
"Everyone was sent back to their common rooms," Ben explained.
"Has there been another attack?" Fred asked in alarm as Auden's stomach clenched. Who would it be this time?
"Worse," said a hoarse voice from behind them. Auden whirled around to see George standing just behind Fred's shoulder. He was ghostly pale and his hair was sticking up in a million directions. He had obviously been running his hands through it nervously.
"George, what's wrong?" Fred asked, also noticing his brother's appearance.
"It's Ginny. She's been taken into the Chamber of Secrets."
"What?" Auden and Fred gasped. Auden turned to her brother. "Is it true?" When he nodded solemnly, she threw her arms around him again and buried her head into his chest. It just didn't make sense. Why Ginny? She was a pureblood. Auden could never have predicted this in a million years. She had tried to prepare herself for Hermione's possible attack, but even that hadn't lessoned the blow when it actually happened. And this she hadn't been prepared for at all.
"McGonagall sent everyone back to their common rooms, like Ben said," George continued. "There was another note left on the wall."
"Saying what?" Fred whispered. He had also gone totally pale."
"'Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever," George recited.
Auden whimpered as chills went up her spine. "Do Ron and Harry know?" she asked as Fred's face turned even whiter, which she hadn't thought was possble.
"I don't know. No one's seen them," George said.
"They went to visit Hermione in the hospital wing, didn't they?" Auden asked, pulling away from her brother as a weird sense of determination filled her, nearly replacing her fear. "We have to go tell them. We have to figure out how to save Ginny."
"Are you mental?" Fred asked. "Even if we actually knew where the Chamber of Secrets is, we don't know how to get in."
"That's why we have to figure it out! We have to go." She turned and started for the portrait hole, but Fred grabbed her around the waist.
"No, stop for a minute, Aud."
"Let me go," she cried, struggling against him.
"Auden, listen," Fred said, gritting his teeth as Auden continued to fight him. "We can't go down into the Chamber. Like I said, we don't know where it is or how to get in, and we're not supposed to leave the common room."
"Fred, Ginny is your sister!" Auden said, giving up fighting Fred and angrily turning to face him. "How can you not want to go save her? How can you be so calm about this? Of all the opportunities you have to obey the rules, you're choosing now?"
"Auden," Ben said sternly. "You need to stop this. There's nothing we can do."
Auden glared at him. "There must be something. We can't let his happen. We can't let people continue to be attacked. We can't let Hogwarts close. We can't let someone die, and certainly not Ginny!"
"Auden, listen to me," Fred whispered, putting his hands on her shoulders and bending down to look her straight in the eyes. "I'm terrified, okay? I'm absolutely terrified."
Auden looked away as she struggled to calm down. Fred's words were only little consolation. She felt borderline hysterical, all of her anger and fear that had built up over the year finally bubbling out. And she still felt like no one understood how urgent it was to figure something out.
"Look at me," Fred whispered calmly, moving his hands to her face and rubbing his thumbs over her cheeks. "Take some deep breaths and look at me. Focus on my face."
Auden did as he said, meeting his eyes and breathing in and out and until she was calmed down significantly. She was still worried, though, and a huge knot still sat in the pit of her stomach. "So what do you suggest we do, then?" she sighed as Fred let go of her face. "Just sit here?"
"The professors seem to think," George began quietly, "that there's no hope. None of them know where the Chamber is or how to get in."
"So nobody's going to do anything?" Auden spun around and turned to face George. She was apalled. The professors had to at least attempt to do something.
"Well," George began slowly, "I didn't get the chance to say this before, but McGonagall told me that she went to the hospital wing to break the news about Ginny to Harry and Ron, but they weren't there. And they definitely aren't here."
"What are you saying?" Auden asked. "You think they went looking for the Chamber?"
George nodded. "And I think Lockhart's with them. McGonagall said the teachers sent him to go rescue Ginny since he's apparently so great, but nobody actually thought he would do it. They just wanted him out of the way. But he's not in his office according to McGonagall, so…." He trailed off and shrugged.
"Great, just great," Auden sighed. Ginny's fate was in the hands of two twelve year olds and an imbicile teacher. It was as good as having no one looking out for her. Auden walked over to the couch and sat down, resting her chin in her hands. "What do we do?"
"We can't do anything, Aud," Fred sighed. "As much as I want to…we just can't. We don't know where the Chamber is and even if we tried to figure it out, Ginny could already be—be—" He sunk down on to the couch next to Auden and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. "I can't even say it," he said.
"Then don't," Auden whispered, glancing at him.
"I usually never admit things like this," George chimed in, "but I'm scared."
"Me, too," Auden said.
"Me three," Fred added.
"Me four," Ben said, sitting down on Auden's other side as George took over the space on the floor in front of the couch.
Auden slid closer to Fred and rested her head on his shoulder. With her other hand, she pulled Ben over until he was leaning on her. She reached out and gently ran her hands over George's hair, smoothing down the crazy parts, not so much to actually fix it, but to let him know she was there and allow him to be comforted as well. Eventually, and to Auden's vague surprise, she felt herself drifting off to sleep, despite the knot in her stomach and her rapidly working brain.
The next morning, Auden opened her eyes and stared up at the common room ceiling. She sighed as she remembered the events of the night before. She felt awful about not doing anything, but Fred had been right. There was nothing they could have done. And Harry, Ron and Ginny just had to be okay. Ginny had to have been saved somehow. There had to have been a way. They couldn't be hurt. If they were, Auden was still never going to forgive herself for doing nothing and falling asleep, no matter what her brother and Fred said.
Sighing again, she looked down at George, who had fallen asleep against the couch. Ben was asleep, too, leaning sideways against her with his arms wrapped around her waist. Next, she glanced over at Fred, who she was still leaning against. She poked George's shoulder with one hand and Fred's with the other. When they didn't move, she poked them harder. "Come on, wake up," she said, before moving on to her brother.
Slowly, the twins and Ben opened their eyes. George sat up and stretched. "What time is it?"
"I don't know, but I think we should figure out what happened to Harry, Ron and Ginny, don't you?" Auden asked.
The twins nodded solemnly. "I'm almost afraid to know the answer," Fred muttered.
"Are you talking about Harry and Ron?"
Auden looked up. Katie was standing behind the couch, looking down at them. Auden hadn't even heard her come in.
"Yeah, why, do you know what happened to them?" George asked.
"They went down to the Chamber of Secrets last night. Harry ended up getting his hands on a sword and killed the monster of Slytherin. Lockhart was there too and tried to erase their memories, but it backfired and now he has no idea who he is. He was shipped out to St. Mungo's almost immediately this morning." She looked at the twins. "I heard your parents were here, too, which makes sense considering your sister very nearly...well, you know. But she's safe now."
"They're okay?" Auden asked. "Ginny's okay, too? They're all fine?"
"Yeah, they're all fine. I don't know how they managed to do it," Katie answered in confusion. "But they did and they're fine."
Auden grinned and pulled both Fred and George into a hug as they grinned with relief.
"This is the best news I've heard all day," George said.
"That's pretty good considering your day just started," Fred answered. "But it's the best news I've heard all day as well."
"I agree," Auden said. "I wonder where they are now. The Great Hall, maybe?"
Fred nodded. "Let's go check."
When the four of them reached the Great Hall, they saw Harry and Ron sitting with Ginny at the Gryffindor table. Auden sighed with a relief. They were okay. Ginny was okay. She wasn't dead.
"Do you two care to explain what happened?" Auden asked as she approached Harry and Ron. Fred and George were hugging Ginny, but looked up as Harry and Ron began speaking.
"We wanted to come and find you, but we had to hurry," Harry explained. "We knew we didn't have much time."
"How did you figure out where the entrance to the chamber was?" Auden asked.
"Well, remember a few weeks ago when Ron and I talked to Aragog? We learned that last time, the person that died was in a bathroom, so we took a guess and thought it might have been Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and we were right. The entrance was beneath the sinks."
"And you killed the basilisk?"
"With the sword of Gryffindor!" Ron exclaimed. "I wasn't there to see it, though. I was too busy shifting fallen rocks out of the tunnel so that Harry and Ginny could get back."
"Impressive, Harry," Auden said, sitting beside him. "And I'm glad you're okay, Ginny. I was worried sick."
"I was so stupid," Ginny muttered. "I never should have written in that diary."
"What diary?" George asked.
"I found it in my cauldron at the start of the year," Ginny mumbled, "so I started writing in it whenever I felt lonely or confused, or scared. It's my first year and all...Anyway, it wrote back to me and helped me, or so I thought."
"Ginny, you know what dad always says," Fred told her. "Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't-"
"See where it keeps its brain. I know," Ginny said flatly, digging her toe into the stone floor, unable to meet her brother's eyes. "But I was desperate and Tom was so nice that I didn't think anything of it...but then he was possessing me and I tried to get rid of the diary, but then Harry found it and I had talked to Tom about him, so I had to steal it back and it was just awful!" Ginny had begun to talk faster and faster with every word and Auden was still trying to process it all.
"Who's Tom?" she asked, finally able to settle on a question.
"Tom Riddle was who the diary belonged to," Harry explained, taking over for Ginny. "Tom Riddle was Voldemort's real name."
"What?" Fred and George asked together, clearly outraged, as Ben dropped his entire goblet of pumpkin juice on the floor. Nobody even seemed to notice.
"How did you ever manage to get your hands on that thing, Ginny?" Fred asked. Auden had to smile slightly. It was one of the rare times when she had seen the twins take on the protective big brother role in a stern way. Usually they showed affection and their protectiveness by calming someone down or making a joke. They were rarely stern.
"Lucius Malfoy gave it to her," Ron jumped in. "He slipped it into her cauldron that day in Diagon Alley last summer. Remember we saw him at Flourish and Blotts?"
"Yeah, the day he and dad got into a fight," Fred nodded. "Did he know what the diary could do?"
"Not completely, I don't think," Harry answered. "Anyway, the point is that Tom Riddle lived in the diary and possessed Ginny to set the basilisk on the Muggleborns."
Ginny let out a whimper and rested her head on the table. "I feel awful."
"It's not your fault," George said, his expression softening. "And you're okay now, which is all that really matters." He and Fred finally sat down and began to eat as they all processed the new information.
"I heard the potion to cure the victims is done and everyone should be okay by dinner tonight," Ron said after a moment.
"Thank goodness," Auden said. While she had the twins, Harry, Ron and Ginny to hang out with, she missed Hermione.
What Ron said ended up being true. Hermione and all of the other victims were cured by that night and were able to attend the end of year feast.
"It's so good to have you back, Hermione," said Auden, smiling as Hermione sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"It's good to be back," Hermione replied, returning the smile.
"Yeah, now you can start helping me with my homework again," Ron mumbled, scribbling out a sentence in his Transfiguration essay.
Hermione laughed and smiled at him. "Some things never change."
Gryffindor ended up winning the House cup for the second year in a row that night, Hagrid came back from Azkaban, and Dumbledore cancelled all end of year exams. Hermione actually looked disappointed at this news.
"Are you seriously upset?" Auden asked her in confusion. "You've been petrified for a while. You've missed out on valuable study time. This is a good thing."
"I know, but all the studying I did before that has been wasted!" Hermione cried.
Auden blinked and met Fred's eyes across the table. He snorted and shook his head, causing Auden to smile. Hermione had been right. Some tings never did change.