Chapter 37: Hiding

…

"Nothing is more necessary or stronger in us than rebellion."

—George Bataille, The Unfinished System of Knowledge

…

He should have gone sooner. Staying in the Room of Requirement with the rest of Dumbledore's Army was a fantastic combination of camping with your best friends and owning your own library. Multicolored hammocks were strung from the ceiling and from a balcony that ran around the dark wood-paneled and windowless walls, which were covered in bright tapestry hangings displaying the crests of three of Hogwart's four Houses. There were bulging bookcases and a large, wooden-cased wireless in the corner. It contained two bathrooms, a boy's and a girl's and as long as one person always stayed in the Room, no one could get at them.

The most extraordinary part of the Room was the passageway Neville had discovered into the Hog's Head bar, one owned by Dumbledore's brother—a huge surprise to Rigel, who had stupidly not considered the possibility that the extraordinary man had had relatives—and Abberforth supplied them with food which they could then multiply and feed the entire Room of people with.

Rigel, who had never become close to many of Harry's friends besides Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna, soon found himself becoming familiar with Seamus Finnegan, Michael Corner, Lavender Brown, the Patil twins, Terry Boot, Ernie Macmillian, and Anthony Goldstein. After a discussion with Neville and Seamus, Rigel brought Abraxas and Scott in as well; Brax had packed Rigel's tiny magical box with the contents of all three of their trunks, which supplied the room with a number of games, chess boards, and new clothes which could be enlarged, multiplied, and distributed.

It was odd that right before he knew the pot of the wizarding world was about to reaching boiling point, that he was having pretty much the time of his life. He could regulate his own studies and he loved meeting new people—the seventh-year boys and girls were all interested in him and quite friendly. The only thing missing for him was Holly. And for Brax, it was Marlena.

"I wish they didn't have such a problem with trusting a Slytherin," he sighed as he and Rigel lay next to each other on their hammocks, reading. As he was talking, one of the Patil twins came out of the bathroom after a shower with her hair wet and her clothes sticking to her and both boys ogled her surreptitiously.

"Well, you don't know her that terribly well yet, and you can't blame them for not trusting Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy help the Carrows use the Cruciatus on people who've earned detentions—and they love it."

"Exactly! Lena wants to get Cathy away from those people. And Lena said Slytherins have a bad rep because their House puts emphasis on blood magic, and so most of the people in there go in with the ideas that it makes you better because that's how they were raised, and it's only encouraged. The House also puts an emphasis on cunning and sort of being out for only yourself, so a lot of people aren't terribly friendly."

"You're makin' a good case against yourself, mate."

"No, I'm not—what I mean is, some of them aren't evil, just selfish sometimes. Marlena can be mean if she needs to be, too. It's how she's survived growing up. But she has a good heart, she cares, and most of the people in her House disgust her."

"I don't think she's not a good person, Brax. I just think trust is something that's earned in time. Give it until after the war's over to start tellin' her D.A. secrets."

"I won't tell her anything, I'm just saying I think we shouldn't discriminate against Slytherins just because they're Slytherins."

"I agree."

"So do you really think the war's going to end soon? I feel like it could take years more."

"Merlin, I hope not."

"I mean, Potter's off who-knows-where and You-Know-Who's not even publically in the open."

"But his Death Eaters and his policies are. People can put two and two together."

"What if the school's like this again next year?"

"No one would come. It won't be. It can't be. We can't allow it."

Brax looked unconvinced. "What if no one can do anything about it? You-Know-Who's getting stronger every day."

"For all we know, Harry might be too."

"I don't think we should put all our trust in Harry. He's only a guy a year older than us. You said that yourself."

"I know. And he might turn out to be just a guy a year older than us. But all of us can fight and will fight, and we'll have a chance, especially when normal people start realizing what's going on, getting off their asses, and joining us."

"Gotta admit I'm worried."

"Me too, mate."

Brax picked up a biscuit from the plate on the stool between their hammocks and nibbled at it. Rigel looked back at his book but even though he was looking at the text, his mind wasn't on it. He was wondering about Harry, and he was wondering if his mother and the rest of his family was alright.

…

"Sorry I missed dinner, Grace," Lenna said, coming down the basement stairs of Cal and Grace's home. Behind her, Walter ran past towards the kitchen with a toy broomstick between his legs, pretending he was flying and making "rooooom, zvrrrooom!" noises. "My friend Rebecca asked me to help her put protective spells and charms up on her and her parents' houses earlier and she's Muggle-born, so I just didn't want to delay…" The basement was dark but for red light. Grace was currently using it to develop photographs in the magical solution that would charm them to move.

"It's alright. Walter's been a complete hassle tonight, anyway, so it hasn't been exactly pleasant here."

"He's getting big."

"Merlin, I know. He's eight already. I'm sort of not okay with that."

Lenna smiled. She knew the feeling, the frightening beginnings of the loss of control. The worry about whether or not you shaped your child into a good person.

"And it's Connie's first year and I miss her and worry about her," Grace sounded tired. "Walter misses her too, that's why he's been so crazy this year. He's upset a being the one left behind, and not having Connie has probably made me too overbearing…"

"Grace, hush," Lenna comforted gently, and put an arm around her. "You're the best mother I know, and I know things are hard, but you're going to sail through them with the wisdom and loveliness you are never without. You're fine."

"Thank you." Her sister-in-law's smile was grateful.

Lenna returned the smile and leaned over to look at some of the photos that were already hanging to dry. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a photo of her, Rigel, and Severus Snape at Christmas dinner. Grace noticed her staring at it and said tentatively, "I developed all of the photos of that Christmas, but if you'd like I'll just throw it—"

"Grace," Lenna said softly, interrupting her. "Tell me something. Does it look like he's faking it here with us? Does it look like he isn't genuinely happy with us? Like he's only pretending to care?"

Grace knew the helpful thing to say was "yes," but, after gazing at the unfamiliar man's face for a couple seconds, she simply went with the truth.

"No, it doesn't."

Lenna nodded. "Exactly. It's beyond my understanding."

The two women shook their heads quietly in the acceptance of mysteries that seemed to have no solving, and Lenna went back upstairs. She caught Walter as he came racing around the corner and his toy broom fell as she pulled him up into her arms.

"Oof!" she complained, grinning. "You're getting too bloody big to carry, aren't you, bud?"

"Yes," he said quite firmly, but still wrapped his arms around her neck. "Hello, Aunt Lenna."

"How're you, Walterpants? You mother tells me you've been wreaking havoc on the house."

He frowned as she sat down on the couch with him on her lap.

"I'm just playing."

"I know. How's Dinah?"

"She's good. She found a funny new sleeping place today. And she and I play this game where she chases me around and then I turn and chase her and then she turns and chases me around again. Except that today, I was thinking about how scary the game would be if Dinah were bigger and how big her little claws and teeth would be—and then as she was chasing me she turned as big as a tiger and just stood like that in the hallway—big as a tiger!"

Lenna had a hand to her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter.

"Her eyes were so big! Then she stared investigating herself and the room and looked really happy before mummy came in and screamed and turned her back and told me I couldn't play that game anymore."

"I imagine she did."

"I told her that Dinah was nice as a big cat and wouldn't hurt me or her furniture or anything, but she still turned her small again."

Lenna shook her head in amusement. "Do you still invite your friends from school over?"

"Yes," he replied, "but I have to pretend not to know about magic with them and all they want to do sometimes is watch the TV and I think that the TV's boring."

Lenna chuckled.

"Is Rigel okay?" Walter asked her. "I heard dad tell mum yesterday that he's not taking classes anymore and he's hiding."

"Yes, he's hiding in a secret place in his school and we won't hear from him much anymore because they can't get or send owls from where he is. But I still have a way to contact him if I need to." She rubbed the face of her wrist watch, under which lay a thin scrying stone.

"Really?" Walt's eyes lit up. "Can I talk to him?"

"No, honey, it's only for emergencies."

"But it is an emergency! I want to tell him about what happened to Dinah!"

She laughed. "You can tell him when you see him again. I'm sure he'll get quite a laugh. Now." She stood up. "I need to eat some dinner."

"Why did you miss dinner?" He picked up his toy broom again as they went into the kitchen.

"I had to help a friend."

"Aunt Lenna?"

"Mhm?"

"I saw this newspaper, it was mum's, and it said that London was becoming a 'war zone'. They said it was dangerous and that Rigel's school was controlled by evil people. It said the dark wizard was powerful and he's causing the war and the danger. Is Rigel going to be okay? Are people going to stop the wizard?"

"Where did you find this paper, Walt?" Lenna asked him gently, looking at his large, worried brown eyes. Only Connie had received her mother's blue eyes; Erin and Walt had eyes like their dad—and their aunt. Grace wouldn't have left a paper like that out for Walter to see.

Walter played with his fingers, visibly guilty. "It was on mum's desk in her room."

"You know you shouldn't go looking through your mum's things like that, Walt."

"I know, but I hear them talking all the time but when I come in they stop and don't answer my questions and I know things are happening."

Lenna sat down at the table and motioned for Walter to come up close. She held one of his hands and was reminded of Rigel at that age. It was nice how Rigel had grown into a friend and companion, but she still missed how he had been like when he was small, too.

"I think you should know some answers, Walter," she told him. "London is very dangerous right now. The dark wizard is strong, and has a lot of people willing to do what he says. He has people in Rigel's school and that's why Rigel isn't taking classes. Your mum and dad and a lot of other good people and I are working hard to fight the dark wizard and the people who do what he says, but it's a difficult job and it's scary and dangerous. You mum and dad don't want to worry you when there's nothing you can do and that's why they don't talk about it with you."

"When you and dad go into the garage—you're practicing fighting, aren't you?"

"Yes. It's called dueling."

"I want to watch."

"You most certainly will not."

"But Aunt Lenna—"

"Walter," she said sternly, "listen to me. I gave you answers so you know what's happening, but you are still going to do as me and your mum and dad tell you when it comes to this stuff—always—because we know more than you. Do you promise to do as we say?"

Walter sighed, but he was grateful to his aunt for at least being honest with him.

"Yes," he promised.

"Okay. You want some pudding?"

"Yes!"