Hi guys! Thanks so much for reading, hope you like this chapter (I don't own Harry Potter blah blah blah), thanks again! -Kelly

CHAPTER 14

THE LAST SECRET MEETING

When Rose woke up the next morning, she went downstairs and shared a glance with Al that clearly showed he had seen Ajax's correspondence last night too. As the three of them expected, nothing happened on New Year's Eve, and McGonagall attributed this to her decision to place every remaining student in the Great Hall for the night and the remaining teachers patrolling the castle all night. Otherwise, the next few months at Hogwarts were relatively undisturbed, with the Modernist meetings remaining secret due to much convincing of Lucy on Ava's part, and Rose and Scorpius adding to their workload by researching any pureblood families that currently had a member attending Hogwarts. Rose allowed Scorpius to research his own family, worried her researching them would come across as accusatory, but as Scorpius provided more than enough information that could only be described as sickening, even James didn't suspect him of editing. They unearthed horrible things, such as Sarah Nott's ancestor composing the Sacred Twenty-Eight list and Brutus Malfoy's lobby in the Ministry for segregation in education, to name a few. Though the Sacred Twenty-Eight did give them a basis for their own list, it disgusted Rose to find her family was on it, along with Potter. She thought that this must be what Scorpius felt practically constantly, and she felt even more sympathy for him afterwards. Towards the middle of March, however, they made a big mistake in showing their findings to Lucy at the next meeting.

"This is awful!" she exclaimed. "How are they not all in prison?"

"Because almost none of it is provable," Scorpius said with an edge of bitterness. "There's a reason my family still has a manor and loads of assets: these people have a ridiculous amount of connections. It's nearly impossible to convict them of anything."

"All this proves is that we need to go public," Lucy declared.

"Lucy…" Ava said in a warning tone.

"What? If all these people have children at Hogwarts people are in serious danger! Including you," she added quietly. "I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"Lucy, if you make this a public thing, you'll be next," Ava said.

"It doesn't matter, we need to do this."

"Someone please tell her she's crazy," Ava sighed.

"I don't think so, Ava," Stephanie admitted. "I mean, we could do a lot of good—"

"Like what?" Ava exclaimed, clearly getting very frustrated."Like educating these kids who've grown up in awful toxic environments," Lucy reminded her.

"I'm not sure that's accurate," Aidan said, "I mean, look at Scorpius—"

"He's an exception."

"He's right here," Scorpius muttered, but the debate continued as if he hadn't spoken.

"The point is that there are a lot of people here who need us," Lucy said. "And all of you signed the manifesto. You agreed to this."

"I support it," Aidan spoke up. "I mean, I'm already a target, at least I'll do some good."

"You at least need the approval of all four officers," Ava said. Everyone turned to Rose. Her eyes widened; she had almost forgot she was an officer. She wanted a minute to think; she knew deep down that she probably should agree, but at the same time, Ajax had already mentioned her to the voice in the fireplace. She didn't want to get hurt doing something she didn't have to; but she knew that she should do this. Scorpius looked at her from across the table, concerned. She remembered his reaction to them mentioning her name and wavered for a second. She was scared, of course, but she had agreed to this; and she couldn't imagine how awful she would feel if something happened to Emma, or any Muggleborn, because she had let them sit back and do nothing. She took a deep breath.

"I think we should," she said, and Lucy smiled. Ava shook her head.

"This is a horrible idea," she said. Lucy looked at her pointedly and they got up and walked to the corner of the room, lowering their voices, but Rose could still hear them.

"Ava, I thought you were on board with this group," Lucy said, sounding irritated and a little disappointed.

Ava looked at her and sighed. "I am, I'm just… I'm worried."

"I know you are, but I'll be fine."

"You don't know that."

Lucy hesitated. "Well… no, I don't, but…I can't let them get away with this, and… I'm worried about you too, probably even more. You know that's why I have to do this."

"I know," Ava said, "I just… I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"I know," Lucy sighed. She glanced back at the table and then back at Ava, took a deep breath, shrugged a little, and kissed her. Rose looked around nervously at the table's reactions. James seemed a little amused, and the rest of the table were openly staring, glancing around at each other as if to make sure that everyone else was as surprised as they were.

Lucy looked back at the table and grinned. "Aidan, I'll talk to you in the common room about taking this to McGonagall; Rose, I'll find you tomorrow morning. Library, probably, right?" Rose rolled her eyes at the jab and nodded. The meeting seemed to be unofficially adjourned, as everyone walked back to the castle, not many talking, all thinking about what was to come.

Rose was in fact in the library the next morning, a clear, calm Saturday, her heart pounding as she thought about what she had agreed to. She didn't know if she could put herself in danger like this—but wouldn't it help more people than it hurt?

Lucy sat down at the table across from her and grinned at her cousin. "Hey, Rose. So we were thinking that Stephanie and I could approach McGonagall but then you and Aidan come in later. We could bring your research if you want, I think it'd be good—"

"Are you sure, Lucy?" Rose asked warily. "I don't think it's a good idea to start off with accusing people."

"We're not accusing people, Scorpius is on that list…and so are we. But the point is that it'll get our purpose across."

"We can do that without posting a public watch list, Lucy," Rose said. She knew that this, out of all their plans, had to be the worst. Lucy hesitated and nodded.

"All right, then, we'll just bring the manifesto. Let's go, then."

"Wait, what?" Rose asked, suddenly feeling a new wave of nerves coming over her. "I didn't say right now—"

"Well, why wait? Come on, we can catch her after breakfast if we hurry." Rose sighed and picked up her bag, following her cousin out of the library. Aidan and Stephanie were standing outside of the library and they walked down to the Great Hall together. Rose spotted McGonagall first; she was standing up from the staff table while talking to Professor Flitwick, and Rose pointed her out to Lucy. Before she could say a word, Lucy was running up to her. Rose turned to Aidan.

"Do you have the research?" she asked him. He nodded and pulled it out of his bag. "We're not using it," she explained and she rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into her bag before Lucy and McGonagall reached them.

"I don't know why we have to speak in my office, Miss Weasley," McGonagall was saying as they approached the other three. When she saw them, McGonagall looked intrigued. "Well, all right," she conceded, and led the way through the west hallway down to the gargoyle guarding the entrance to her office. When they arrived, Lucy nodded to Aidan and Rose and they stayed as Lucy, Stephanie, and McGonagall stepped through the doors.

"Are you all right?" Aidan asked. Rose looked down at her hands, which she had just realized were shaking.

"I'm fine," she said, though she wasn't sure how convincing she sounded. Aidan just nodded. The small corridor was silent before he said, "You know the research?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not sure I like the idea," he said uncomfortably.

Rose tried not to look offended but she could tell she did anyway. "Why not?"

"Aren't we supposed to not be judging character based on family background? Isn't that our whole point?"

Rose hated that he was right. "I guess so. But we aren't really, we're just saying it's more likely that purebloods are attacking Muggleborns than others—"

"I guess, but doesn't that mean Lucy is just as likely to attack me as Ajax? I don't know, Rose," Aidan said. There was another silence, before Stephanie opened the door.

"Come on," she whispered, and they entered the office, facing a grave-looking McGonagall and Lucy, who looked the same way she did whenever she got overly invested in a speech or something of the kind. Rose and Aidan sat down in two empty chairs close to the desk, and Stephanie sat in the third. McGonagall looked at all of them and sighed.

"I do believe in what you are saying," McGonagall began, "but I don't think that it is wise for the four of you to put yourselves in danger—the risks that could result from this could be far worse than any of us imagine."

"We know that, Professor," Aidan said, his voice wavering a little, "but it could also have some very positive effects on the student body, including the education we'd provide and—"

"You most of all should understand the danger of doing this," McGonagall said.

"I know, Professor," Aidan said, "but—"

"Aidan," Stephanie said quietly. He stopped and Stephanie spoke again. "Professor, we feel that the Modernists would be the perfect response to the sentiment growing in the school, and could prevent drastic events from occurring again."

McGonagall looked at Stephanie and said, "Miss Macmillan, I hardly think that this has grown to comparable proportions as—"

"Daniel Logan got attacked," Rose said, and immediately regretted doing so when McGonagall turned to her, effectively forcing her to continue. "I… I don't know what you're talking about, with 'drastic events' and all that, but that seems pretty serious to me."

McGonagall nodded slowly. "And what would this group entail?"

Lucy smiled and began discussing her strategies for the group and Stephanie turned to Rose. "You really don't know?"

"Know what?" Rose asked, feeling herself grow red. She hated when she didn't know something, she really couldn't stand being the last one to know.

"About the Chamber of Secrets," Stephanie said. Rose shrugged her shoulders.

"I know that it was about Muggleborns," she said. "I know it had something to do with my mum and dad?"

Stephanie looked surprised. "I thought they would have told you—ask a professor. Or your Aunt Ginny, actually."

Lucy and McGonagall finished their discussion and Rose's attention turned back to the headmistress.

"I will allow you to start this group," McGonagall said, "with conditions." Lucy's grin faded a little as McGonagall continued. "You'll need to find a faculty advisor and if anyone involved receives any threats, you must report directly to me. Understood?" All four nodded, and she sighed. "I hope this works as planned. You may go."

As soon as they were outside of the office, Lucy was practically bouncing. "We'll have our first meeting tomorrow. I have flyers here," she said, fishing through her bag and producing several purple slips of paper, handing some to each of them. "Rose, put one on the memo board in Gryffindor, I've got Ravenclaw covered… get Scorpius to put one in Slytherin, and I'll find someone from Hufflepuff. Then just start posting them around the school."

"Who's our faculty advisor?" Rose asked as Lucy started to run away.

"Uh, could you ask Hagrid? Thanks, Rose!" she shouted behind her as the Ravenclaws disappeared down the hallway. Rose sighed and started running.