Hello! Sorry I haven't posted until the evening. Computer troubles... But luckily, CeCe is here to be awesome and make everything better :)
Hogwarts, February of 2025
Back at school, CeCe was once again sipping coffee with Professor Scripps, updating her on her progress.
She had just explained how she planned on incorporating Gerard's language and terms into the middle of a particular paragraph, and Scripps was looking happy and relaxed.
CeCe fidgeted with her quill while Scripps poured herself a third cup of coffee. "So," she said, "I was doing a little more research on the secrecy of the community, and I, um. I think I found the answer."
Scripps looked up, spilling a bit of creamer as she set it down. "Really? What did you find?"
"Well, I think—I think they used a Secret Keeper."
"Oh." Scripps mopped up the spill, sounding disappointed. "Miss Malfoy, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Secret Keepers are reserved for locations, not information."
"Well, they are traditionally reserved for location. But they can be used for information." CeCe looked at the parchment on the table and mumbled, "It just doesn't work as well."
"Exactly. That's just the sort of nonsense that distracts people from the real issue—the Ministry of Magic hid this information, preventing the Wizarding world from gaining valuable insight into the true depths of the consequences of prejudice."
"But—"
"Miss Malfoy! I have been very patient with your interest in this—I even have a respect for the thorough way you are approaching this project. But if you want to explore more harebrained ideas, you will kindly do so on your own time and outside of your academic work. Go and meet Aaron McCoy for all I care and get his signature on that piece of garbage he called Volume II. But don't talk about it here. We have work to do."
CeCe nearly shot out of her chair. "Volume II? You mean there's another book about the community?"
Scripps waved her away impatiently. "Yes, but it is a complete mess. Even I couldn't admit it as a reasonable source. Half of the documents were blacked out, and the other half didn't make any sense. It was nonsense."
CeCe sighed. "But Professor, if the second volume is rubbish, how can we admit the first one as sound? That just doesn't—I mean, that just isn't logical. What about source standards?"
Scripps looked at her with a curious expression. "Well—it just—it just makes sense. Just because, well. What I mean is—just—" Scripps shook her head—"just because the second is so incomplete to be useless doesn't mean the first is incorrect." Scripps nodded determinedly, and CeCe watched her expression clear, as though a fog had come over her mind and then been shaken off.
"Do you happen to have a copy of it? The second volume?"
Scripps glared at CeCe.
"For after-school research, of course. You know, don't worry about it," CeCe said hastily. "I have better things to think about."
Scripps nodded approvingly.
CeCe put her bag on her shoulder. "I better get going, then. I've got a lot to work on. Thanks for the comments. I feel really good about the direction the paper is headed."
Scripps nodded. "Just remember to stay on topic."
CeCe nodded and let herself out of Scripps office room and walked straight to the library.
Madam Pince was going through returned books, her ancient hands running over an extremely ratty copy of Quidditch Through the Ages while she wrinkled her nose in disgust at how poorly students had treated it.
"Excuse me?" CeCe asked timidly, doing her best to put her bag down silently.
Madam Pince looked up at her with narrowed eyes, the crow's feet around her eyes looking more pronounced as she squinted at her.
"Can you look up a book for me? I don't think it is on the shelves."
Pince carefully set down the Quidditch book and took up her quill. "Title?" she asked.
"Secrets of the Ministry Magic: Volume II. It was produced by Lovegood Publishing, and probably has something by Aaron McCoy in it."
Madam Pince scribbled all of this down on her ledger. "Class?" she asked.
"Sorry, what?" CeCe asked.
"What class is this for?"
"Oh, it's um, extracurricular."
Madam Pince looked up at her, her wrinkles exaggerated by a frown.
"You know, just a bit of light reading." CeCe did her best to look both innocent and scholarly.
"Hmm," was all Madam Pince said, and she finished filling out the blanks on the paper in front of her. "It should be here in two months."
"Two months! But—"
Madam Pince looked at her with disapproval.
"Yes, of course. That will be fine. Thank you."
CeCe left the library and headed for her common room where she would try and fail to work on her essay as she thought about what would be in the second volume and how in the world the Ministry had convinced somebody to be a Secret Keeper for all that information.
February 2007
It was a mild winter, and February found Astoria and Draco sitting outside at the patio table playing chess. Scorp was asleep, and Astoria was finally feeling well enough to stay outside for a while. Unlike her pregnancy with Scorp, she spent hours laying down in a futile hope of keeping down her breakfast or lunch. She'd actually lost weight in her first two months of pregnancy.
But she had been able to keep down three meals the day before, and so she was happily beating Draco at chess and enjoying how the winter air nipped at her ears and nose as she sat wrapped in a blanket.
Anna was watching the twins in addition to Morgan, baby Gerry, Thomas and baby Annie. Thomas and Annie had both just started to sit up and watch as the older children played around them. Her door was open, and Astoria could hear her sing and play her flute for the children, making them laugh.
Ricard was in the yard, too, following around his daughter, Tessa, as she crawled around the yard in her bundled-up clothes. Peter kept talking to him, and Astoria could tell he was getting annoyed.
No doubt Peter was trying to commiserate with Ricard about the trials of having a pregnant wife—Marie was several months along with their fourth, and Vera and Ricard were recently expecting again, too.
But unlike Peter, whose idea of helping seemed to focus on a lot of shouting and slapping, Ricard was giving Vera the room to herself so she could take a nap in peace.
"Check." Astoria said as Peter griped just in earshot about Marie's morning sickness.
As if he actually had to deal with it at all. The moment Marie felt too ill to sit at the table or watch all three of her children, Peter usually reverted to shouting, shoving, or punching, as if that would magically give Marie more energy. When Marie could eventually escape Peter's tantrums, she usually ran to Anna's or Astoria's door, and the two of them would take the twins and perhaps Annie, too.
But for now, at least, Peter was pestering Ricard, and Marie was sleeping.
Draco took out her bishop with a rook. "Check mate."
The rook moved forward and shattered Astoria's king. Emil, the guard who was patrolling the yard and passing the table, smirked at her unpleasantly.
She ignored him and sighed. "I let you win that," she told Draco. "Didn't want to hurt your pride."
The chess pieces were already putting themselves back together and moving to their starting positions.
"Sure. Want to play again?"
"No. Scorp should be getting up soon. Go ahead and get in the box," she told the chess pieces.
They grumbled as they climbed off the chess board into the mahogany wood box the set had come in.
Across the yard, she heard Ricard saying, "Tessa! Tessa, stop!"
Tessa had gotten away from Ricard while he had been distracted by Peter, and she was now almost under the trees by the far wall.
Astoria remembered how the wall had thrown George back, and stood up. "Draco! Can you—"
But Ricard caught Tessa just as she reached out a tiny hand to touch the wall, scooping her up and scolding her in German.
Emil was over there before Astoria could settle back in her chair, wand out and ordering Ricard in French to get to his knees.
Only Ricard didn't speak much French, and Emil didn't speak much German.
"Draco, could you—"
But Draco was already walking calmly over to the two of them, asking Emil if he could use a translator (Ricard understood English at least).
"Tell him to put down the girl," Emil said, and Draco translated quickly before turning to Emil.
"What is the punishment for going under the trees?" he asked calmly. "I am aware that it is forbidden, but I'm sure Gerard would have some opinions on this."
"Gerard should be worrying about more than Yard punishments," Emil told Draco. "And why hasn't he put the girl down?"
Ricard was still holding Tessa, stroking her dark curls and speaking quietly to her.
"You'll upset the girl by taking her way from him now," Draco countered. "Perhaps waiting would be better. Astoria could get Vera?" Draco said.
Emil shifted on his feet. The adults were one thing, but there were still very strict instructions not to harm the children, and both he and Draco knew it.
"Astoria, would you get Vera?" Draco asked, turning to her.
Astoria, who had come to stand nervously next to him, twisting her hands, nodded and walked towards Vera's door.
"Oh, I forgot," Draco said. "We can't open the doors without a guard."
Astoria faltered in her steps and stood uncertainly between Vera's door and where Emil, Draco, and RIcard were grouped, just out from under the trees.
"Then forget it. The child should learn where she is allowed anyway. Tell him to put her down."
"You understand that she's not even a year," Draco said. "I don't think she's capable of understanding where she can and can't go."
Emil had lost patience, though, and lunged at Ricard, ripping Tessa out of his arms. He tucked the squirming and screaming child under his left arm, and he raised his wand arm, the Crutiatus on his lips.
"Let me hold the girl," Draco said, his voice cracking a little. "You'll scare her, for Merlin's sake, let me hold her!"
Astoria ran back to the group as Emil tossed the sobbing Tessa to Draco. Tessa was leaning hard towards Ricard, arms outstretched to him as she fought against Draco's grip. Ricard had started to stand and reached for her, but Emil tapped his wand on Ricard's shoulder, and Ricard yelped and sunk to the ground.
Tessa screamed louder, and Astoria reached for her.
"Draco, hand her to me. Hi Tessa, it's all right. Everything is going to be all right!" she took the girl and hugged her tightly, holding the girl's head so that she couldn't see Emil and Ricard. Astoria heard several yard doors open as she ran to her room, Tessa screaming the whole time. As she opened her door, she heard Ricard let out a scream that could only be caused by the Cruciatus, and what she thought was Gerard and Jasper shouting.
Tessa had just quieted down when Draco came into the room, Vera rushing past him to grab Tessa from Astoria.
Draco walked her back to her room, then came back and sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face.
"What happened? Is Ricard all right?" Astoria asked she sat on the bed next to him.
"He'll be fine," Draco said, sighing. "Emil didn't keep him under the curse that long."
"I thought I heard Gerard. Did he come out?"
"Yeah, he was trying to get Emil to stop."
"And was Jasper there, too?"
"Yeah. Apparently Jasper thinks he has jurisdiction when it comes to punishments."
"Oh no."
Draco sighed again. "George and Angelina showed up, too. The idiot tried to interfere. Angelina had to trip him."
Astoria laughed a little. "I wish I could've seen that."
Draco smiled in spite of himself.
"But everyone is okay? Nothing—nothing else happened?"
"No, everyone is fine."
She put her head on his shoulder. "Maybe we should suggest a fence between trees to keep the kids out. It's a hazard, having the wall there. It could have really hurt Tessa."
Draco nodded. "I'm not used to all the kids running around. It's a lot harder when they're mobile."
Astoria nodded. "Maybe you can bring it up again on when you see Gerard."
Draco nodded noncommittally.
"What?"
"It's just—nothing. It's nothing. We'll talk about it later."
Astoria knew he was worried about who was listening, so she merely nodded.
The next afternoon, Astoria and Draco went for a walk around the Yard as Scorpius napped. When they were a safe distance from Emil, who was patrolling the Yard again, Draco held Astoria's hand tightly as he told her, "I don't think Gerard is going to be an ally of ours much longer."
"What do you mean? He's been so helpful."
"Oh, he wants to be helpful. It just depends on if Jasper will let him."
"Oh."
Draco squeezed her hand. "We might need to try harder to get Jasper to like us."
Astoria laughed. "I don't really see that happening. I don't think he likes anyone."
"I'm serious, Astoria."
She sighed. "I know. I wish we could just go home."
Draco nodded, and the two of them stayed quiet as Emil walked past them, eying them suspiciously.
March 2007
Everyone kept a close watch on their children after that, and when Gerard appeared in the yard the following Thursday, Draco brought up their concern.
"It's a bit of a hazard, having the wall without any protection around it," he said as they walked together, just out of the shade of the trees. "I think it could be good if we had something to keep the little ones safe from it, but I can't think of what."
Gerard was looking thinner and more tired, and didn't offer a suggestion like Draco expected.
"Perhaps a small fence—just enough to keep the kids out, you know."
"Whatever you think," Gerard said, but Draco saw that he was watching the guards walking along the top of the wall.
Draco was still thinking about Gerard when they got their apartment ready for poker night, George and Angelina coming over first, and Anna and Martin shortly behind them.
Scorp was fussing and wouldn't go to sleep right away, so by the time Draco had him tucked in next to Morgan and Fred, everyone was seated around the table in the living room, and the nail file was white. They had already started talking about escaping.
"Once again, Martin, we'd need magic to get through the door," Anna was saying, sounding frustrated. "And I don't think I could run like we'd need to—not now." She put her hands on her stomach protectively. She and Martin had just found out that they were expecting again.
"Well—" George began.
"I'm not willing to risk losing anyone else, George. Not yet. Let's wait to go on the offensive," Astoria said. Draco noticed her putting her hands protectively around her slightly round stomach.
Everyone was silent as he sat down.
"Well, we have to do something," George was saying. "And it's not just the thing with Ricard. What about Marie? You can't tell me you haven't noticed that Marie has been looking pretty low lately. And do you remember how Peter lost it when Marie tried to come to the last poker game?"
They all nodded knowingly.
"Well then," Angelina said, "what can we do that isn't aggressive, and that doesn't need magic."
Everyone fiddled with their cards.
"We could send a message," Astoria said. "Right now, we don't think anyone has any idea where we are or that we are together. Could we do something to help with that?"
"Like what? We don't have any access to the outside."
"Well, that's not exactly true."
Every turned to look at Angelina.
"The crates," she said. "You've been packing them."
"But they inspect them," Martin said.
"Do they inspect the inside of the cauldrons?"
Martin looked from Draco to George.
George shrugged. "A little."
"What if we stuck something to the inside of a cauldron?"
Everyone was silent again.
"That…could work," Martin said.
"We'd have to be careful," Astoria added. "I bet they put spells around certain words so they would know if they left the place. We'd want to be vague."
"But they need to know it is us," Anna said. "That's the whole point."
"What if—what if it was just our signatures?" Astoria asked.
"But we don't have a way to hide anything in the cauldrons. We've no wands, no access to magic," Draco said.
"Maybe we don't need that," Astoria said. "If the note was small enough."
"What do you mean?" Draco asked.
"We don't need a sticking charm to get the notes to stick to the side a cauldron. I'm sure we can find a way to create a paste that would keep the paper from falling out during an inspection." She stood up and started rifling through the pantry behind her.
"How do we know they won't be found? That there isn't a spell to prevent our names from being associated with this place?" Angelina asked.
"Just our signatures? I can't see a spell that would prevent that. That gets really complicated. And it doesn't have to quite be our names. It has to be our signatures. My signature doesn't look a whole lot like my name," Astoria said, her head half in the pantry's upper cabinets.
"And we can't keep doing nothing," Anna added. "We've already been here for two years."
"I agree. But they've just started trusting us to work with the crates two months ago. They could be waiting for us to get greedy and try something like this." Draco said.
"I think it's pretty mild to what we should be doing," George said. "So I'm all in."
"Yeah, well we all would've been dead five times over if you had your way," Draco said.
George bristled.
"It's just names," Astoria said, still setting things from the cabinet on the pantry counter. "I think it's a risk we should take. They're playing this game long-term. We've tried playing it their way and waiting for someone to find us. I think it's time we took some gambles."
Everyone nodded.
"We're all in agreement, then?" Astoria asked, turning around and facing the group. "Then lets gets a handful of signatures to each of you, and you can start putting them in cauldrons as they're loaded up tomorrow."
She opened the sketchbook that had been sitting on the pantry counter and tore out two blank pages, folding and tearing each sheet into quarters. She signed her name at the top of each. Draco took the paper and quill from her and signed his name below hers. Martin and Anna followed, ending with George and Angelina. Each person signed solemnly.
Once they were all signed, Angelina folded the notes until they were small squares, hardly larger than a bottle cap. Astoria went to the pantry and picked up a container of syrup she had unburied from the cabinet. She put a drop of syrup on the back of each folded note and paired up the notes in twos—syrup-covered back to syrup-covered back. She handed one set each to Draco, George, and Martin, then hesitated on the last set.
"Who wants the extra?"
"I'll take it," said George.
"No."
Everyone turned and looked at Draco.
"They're already watching you. You shouldn't have any at all. Give them to me and Martin, and we'll place them while they're worried about you."
George looked like he very much wanted to argue, but Angelina spoke up. "He's right. You'll be the decoy, George. No one will bother watching the others when they're so focused on you."
George grimaced, but passed his pair of signatures to Martin. Astoria passed the final set to Draco.
"I'm hoping the notes will sort of dry out overnight. If they aren't sticky enough, a little spit should do it," Astoria told the men holding notes.
Just as Draco and Martin pocketed the notes, there was a pounding on the door.
They looked down at the nail file, and it was glowing a bright purple. No one moved.
"How long—" Martin began, but Draco stood up.
Heart pounding, Draco put his hand on the door handle. He turned it.
And Marie almost fell onto him.
"Close the door!" she said, and Draco could see tear tracks on her face and a large welt forming on her temple." Close the door, quickly, please!"
Draco stepped back, and Marie lead Solis and Baldwin inside, the two of them holding hands. Both had been crying, and Baldwin was still sniffling.
Peter's voice carried into the room with them: "Marie! Where do you think you're going?" Draco saw the large man's shadow as he stumbled unsteadily across the Yard, yelling.
Draco closed the door. Marie sank onto the bed and started crying. The twins hovered close to her and held onto her knees, Solis reaching up to grasp the edge of the blanket in Marie's arm that was wrapped around baby Annie.
Astoria had stood up and was taking a look at Marie's face while ordering George to bring a blanket from the couch and put it around Marie's shoulders. "Draco, can you get another blanket from the dresser? Put it around the twins if you can," she ordered.
There was pounding on the door again, making Marie jump.
"It's okay," George said. "Martin and I will make sure the door stays closed." He walked to stand in front of the door, and Martin followed him. Astoria helped Marie to the couch, picking up one of the twins, while Draco got a blanket.
When he brought it over, Astoria and Anna had settled the twins on the couch, too, although they stayed huddled near their mother, so Draco draped the blanket over the two of them as best he could, tucking it around them.
Astoria rolled up Marie's sleeve, and Draco saw a bruise starting at her elbow and moving up, probably to her shoulder. He also saw the beginning of bruises forming around her neck. He stepped back to the door where George, Martin, and Angelina were standing.
Peter was still pounding on the door, and Draco could faintly hear his shouts from the other side.
"There, that should be better," Astoria was saying quietly, and Draco knew she was applying a salve on Marie's bruises. "I don't think anything is broken, but you might have a concussion. There isn't much we can do for that. You can stay here and sleep in the bed tonight with the twins. Draco and I will sleep on the floor."
Angelina yelped and shook her wrist. Anna and Astoria did the same.
Astoria, who had been closing the lid of the salve let out a frustrated sigh and set the salve down suddenly on the ground.
"Well, you weren't doing anything!" she yelled up to the ceiling. "Why don't you get Peter under control instead of bothering us about how we pick up the pieces?"
Draco waited, tense, but no one's bracelet burned them again.
At least Gerard was still listening to them.
He started clearing the table, putting away their makeshift poker chips and stacking the cards while Astoria got Marie a pillow and a pain relieving potion.
The pounding on the door stopped, and everyone waited tensely, but no other noise came through the door.
George and Martin stayed stationed in front of it anyway.
Draco had just cleared the table when the door handle turned, and Gerard opened it, still wearing the purple robes that Draco had seen him in that afternoon.
"Ah, yes, I believe we might need to end your evening a bit early, friends. Now, now, my dear Astoria, there is no need to scold me. Marie has nothing to worry about. Her room is perfectly safe, and Peter will be spending some time apart from the group."
Gerard stood in the center of the room while Anna, Martin, George, and Angelina went and got their children from the nursery, picking up their blankets and stuffed animals and filing out to their own rooms.
When it was just Astoria, Draco, and Marie, Gerard turned to Astoria. "And I wouldn't dream of criticizing your handling of the situation, my dear. Some of Jasper's new hires are too thick to understand the nuances of the situation, and that requires my direct intervention."
Draco thought this last part was said louder and more forcefully, as if Gerard wasn't talking to Astoria at all.
"Thank you, Gerard. It means a lot to hear you say that," Astoria said, and Draco hoped Gerard didn't realize how hard Astoria was trying to be polite. "But, I'm not sure Marie would do well being alone tonight. She's pretty shaken up, and I think she might do better with some company to help her stay calm. What do you think?"
"Again, my dear, you have proven your excellent judgment." Gerard said after only a moment's hesitation "If Marie wishes to stay the night tonight, you certainly have my blessing. I'll be sure she is able to."
Again, Draco thought this last part was said too loudly, and Draco saw Gerard's eyes flick up to the ceiling.
When he left, Astoria got Marie and the twins settled in the bed, putting baby Annie in a bassinet nearby.
Marie said that she would be fine sleeping on the floor, but Astoria wouldn't hear of it, and so Draco and Astoria each got a pillow and a blanket and walked to the living area on the other side of the room. Draco gave Astoria the couch and laid on the rug next to it, neither one of them sleeping for a long time as they thought about Peter and Gerard and Jasper's new hires.
What do you think of their escape plan? What about George and Angelina's nail file-and the fact that they kept it to themselves for so long? And what about Marie?
(haven't prompted you all for a question lately...and now I'm dying to hear what you think!)