Chapter 36: Under Siege

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"The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other."

-Mario Puzo

…

By midwinter, the seventh-year Gryffindor boy's dormitory was empty.

Harry and Ron had never been at school, Dean was in hiding, and Neville and Seamus had disappeared into the Room of Requirement. Rigel was no longer attending his Dart Arts classes and was now, outside of his legitimate classes and his dorm, almost always wearing a camouflage charm that he had taught himself. It made life a little trippy, but allowed him to lead the most normal castle life possible.

By the first hint of spring, things were beyond ugly. The heartening graffiti that Dumbledore's Army used to put on the Hogwarts walls at night had stopped because of such an ugly crack down by the Carrows. Before he disappeared into the Room of Requirement, Neville Longbottom, the seemingly unofficial leader of the rebellion in Harry's absence had walked around the school with a hideous collection of torture marks and Seamus and Michael Corner took their share of abuse for the rebellions they got caught in as well. Slytherins and the Carrows tortured trouble-makers—of which there was more every day—in the dungeons. Almost all of Gryffindor and some of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were boycotting the Carrows' classes and under a sort of siege.

Students had complained in distress in owls to their parents, who had complained to the Ministry, who did nothing, of course. Things kept getting worse. Few were allowed to leave the castle or come in; all entrances and exits were heavily guarded and cursed. Rigel's mother had lost her job two months ago and hadn't even considered going out and getting a new one under the circumstances. She was currently simply hiding.

It was an enormous simmering pot that was just short of boiling over.

The boiling point happened to come earlier for Rigel than some due to his girlfriend.

Ceridwen had run into the Ravenclaw Tower common room, led there by a very pale Abraxas who she'd spotted canoodling with Marlena Holmes in a second floor nook. She had begged him for his help and the two had run straight to the common room in hopes of finding Rigel.

"Rigel! Holly and I were going to meet for dinner and I can't find her anywhere. What if—?"

The common room had hushed and so it was particularly noisy when Rigel scrambled away from his homework at "can't find" and tore to his dorm room. Ceridwen ran to follow. When she came in he was fiddling with a golden coin.

"What are you doing?"

"Shh!"

Hermione had taught the Army how to charm different messages into their connected golden coins. The messages appeared on every other coin; it also got hot so the person who had it could feel there was a new message.

He quivered with passionate emotions, namely fear, after putting in the message Holly where are you. His coin grew hot in his hand and he set it on the bed, gazing at it, begging her to send a message in reply.

"Rigel…?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. "If she doesn't respond to this, I'm—I'm going to get a big group together to scour the place for her and we'll tear down the Headmaster's office if we have to. If he's fucking done something to her, by fucking Merlin, I'll—"

A new message appeared.

Hiding McGonagall's office.

Rigel's explosive breath of relief sounded like a sob.

"She's okay—" he cried to Ceridwen as he tore out of the dormitory and the common room. He could barely catch his breath as he hurtled himself into McGonagall's classroom and ran up to her adjoining office. The door was locked.

"Professor—" he managed to wheeze, "it's Rigel Albeney—"

"Quiet yourself," the stern woman replied, opening the door. Rigel slipped breathlessly past her and had eyes only for the delicate blonde girl in a chair at the end of the small room with her knees tucked up to her chin. He gathered her forcefully up into his arms and sat in the chair she had been occupying, with her held very tightly in his lap.

"Bloody hell, you scared the piss out of me!" he exclaimed. "What happened?!"

"If you don't keep your fool voice down, Mr. Albeney—" McGonagall hissed.

"What happened?" he breathed to Holly again.

"I had enough of Alecto Carrow's Muggle Studies class today," she said.

"Did she hurt you?"

"No. I said what I wanted, shielded myself, and got out. She's an oaf at spells. I probably could have cursed her. I wanted to, but that would have made things difficult for everyone."

"We'll hide you in the Room of Requirement—"

She shook her head. "No, you don't have to do that."

"That's the only safe place! Professor, tell her—"

"Rigel," Holly said; her gentle voice shut him up better than anyone else's could have. "An owl also arrived from my mother today. My sister's friend's sibling told them about how it is here, my family heard, and they're all coming to get me."

"Snape's not letting students out, Holly. The parents that have tried have gotten threatened—"

"You don't understand," she told him patiently. "They're all coming."

"Who?"

"My family."

"So?"

"They're a formidable bunch, Ri."

"But…"

"Miss Pollux will be quitting the school shortly," McGonagall said firmly to Rigel. "Trust me, Albeney. I know her mother."

Rigel's stricken expression caused Holly to put a soft hand to his face.

"Where will you go? Austria…?" he asked.

"Maybe. But they'll probably keep me at home."

"What about—when everything happens—"

"I still have this, don't I?" she held up the coin. "I don't plan on missing it for anything. Somebody's got to have your stupid back."

Rigel laughed shakily and hugged her to him.

"I don't want you to leave," he sighed. "I want you to be safe, but I wish that could be where I am."

Her arms were around his neck and she nuzzled into him sweetly.

"I'll be back soon, Ri," she whispered. "The tension in this place is bound to explode soon. Then I'll be back and we'll fight together and help Harry win."

"Holly…"

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Come on, you two," she said gruffly. "Holly's mother is going to be here very soon, and we should meet her in the front hall so she doesn't have to blast her way through the castle."

Holly obediently untangled herself from her very unwilling boyfriend. Rigel felt the prick of welling tears, though none fell as he followed them. Professor McGonagall made all three of them almost invisible with a spell, and walked with them to the front hall of the castle. They only had about four minutes to wait. A rumble shook the floor and thumps of castle guards hitting the walls outside was unmistakable. Spells crackled. Headmaster Snape came running in a long black cloak down the marble staircase. And the great front doors blew open.

They revealed a grimacing, motley crew of rain-soaked relatives.

Rigel stared and had the sudden impulse to laugh.

There were a collection of tall men, as old as a grandfather and as young as around twenty and most of them blond, and a sizeable number of women—aunts, sisters, in-laws, daughters. One young woman was unmistakably Holly's older sister Christina. She was beautiful—and terrifying at the moment. All wands were out. And at the head of them stood a woman who looked only about five years older than Rigel's mom. Her once-blonde hair was turning white, but her flinty eyes and rather muscular figure were utterly formidable.

"Severus Snape," she called out in a threatening manner. "Where. Is. My. Daughter?"

"I don't have the pleasure of understanding who you mean, madam," Snape replied in a cold voice.

"Holly Pollux. Ravenclaw. You are going to do something for me, Snape. And you're going to do it as quickly as those long, ugly chicken legs can carry you. You're going to find my daughter, deliver her to my family and me, and then you're going to watch us depart. And God willing, a bit later down the line, you're going to die a horrific death. Do you think you can do those things for me, Snape?"

Snape's expression was murderous, but he had the sense not to argue. He could have called the Death Eaters and even the Dark Lord himself to the castle with a touch to his inner arm, but it would have been pointless to do so over one harmless student leaving.

"It does happen to be in my power to arrange a few of them," he replied mildly. "I certainly wouldn't deny a concerned mother her child."

The woman spat noisily on the floor to show what she thought of that blatant lie.

Snape continued, "I shall send someone off to find her."

"No need, Headmaster," Holly said at the same moment that McGonagall lifted the spell from her. Snape's eyes narrowed to slits as Holly strode calmly past him and to her mother.

"What was your father's Patronus?" her mother growled at her, keeping her eyes and wand on Snape.

"It's my Patronus now, too," Holly replied. "And it's an eagle."

Her mother's eyes welled with emotion and the entire party began to back out of the front hall and into the rain. They crossed the grounds in an odd, circled formation with eyes on every side and Holly walking in the center. The great doors closed on them.

Snape's hands were balled into fists. He spun around with a cutting swish of his black cloak and stalked back up the marble staircase, shoulders hunched.

"I think you best stay in the Room of Requirement from now on, Rigel," McGonagall commented quietly.

"Yes, Professor."