She yanked the rope on the hammock tight, glancing over at Ginny and Neville who were with the underclassmen who were moving into the Room of Requirement. Remington was helping tie up more hammocks for them in the cavities in the walls. The sheer amount of hammocks in the walls was getting ridiculous. There were nearly enough people staying in the Room of Requirement to make a House of their own. She was getting nervous about what this could mean if she graduated that summer and the war never came to a close before the next year started. Sure, Ginny would be there. Hopefully. Others might step up, but Remington was the main link between the Death Eaters and those who prayed for Harry's return. She'd drug Draco into it, and he'd be gone the next year as well.
Maybe she'd find the Dark Lord and put an end to this herself, she thought purely out of irritation. She was fully aware she could never face You-Know-Who and live. She could challenge Death Eaters and she could probably ice some of them, but she was nowhere near strong enough for the Dark Lord. Especially not when she was so horrendous at Occlumency that she couldn't even keep Draco out of her head.
She pulled the last hammock taut and strode over to where Neville was, stepping up beside him. "That should do it." She said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Thanks Rems." Neville told her.
Ginny nodded at her and grabbed a trunk that one of the kids had brought with and began to haul it over to the new row of hammocks.
"You're the one who's marrying Malfoy." One of the underclassmen said somewhat meekly.
Remington looked down at the one who spoke, unsurprisingly a Gryffindor. She was pretty sure the boy was a fourth year. That's when she realized that the rest of them were either staring at her, or trying to avoid doing so. She had that effect on a lot of students after she received the scar. Before, most people recognized her as Malfoy's girl, but now she could never be mistaken. She was feared. Rumors had surfaced that she originally got the scar from the Dark Lord himself, who was trying to put the Mark on her. Others said that Malfoy was the one who did it. There were all sorts of wild and implausible stories about her. And nobody seemed to know for sure what side she was on.
"What gave it away?" She said, looking down at the kid, whose eyes remained locked on the left side of her face. "Hasn't anyone told you it's rude to stare?" She said teasingly, but suddenly Neville's eyes were the only ones on her.
"Come on, Rem." He said, nudging her arm with an elbow. "Play nice."
The corner of her lips curled into a smile, "I'm going to head to the dungeons for patrol. I'll see you later," She said, a hand brushing his arm as she stepped past him and headed for the door.
"Behave, Rem." He called after her warningly, but there was a friendly warmth to his tone. She just tossed a hand over her shoulder in acknowledgement.
Her feet carried her down the seven flights of stairs swiftly. The wall hiding the Slytherin common room slid open from her when she stated the latest password. Inside, there were quite a few students milling about, sitting before the fire, seated at tables doing homework or playing Wizard's Chess. She zeroed in on the first seventh year she saw.
Theodore Nott was at a table beside a window that opened out into the lake. He seemed to be writing some assignment or another.
"Hey Theo," Rem said as she approached, leaning her elbows on the table across from him.
He glanced up, but continued writing. "Hi Remington," He returned. "On patrol duty tonight?"
She nodded, her eyes flicking across the room. Hardly anybody spared her a second glance in the Slytherin Dungeons anymore. "Unfortunately." She said.
"Malfoy's up the stairs," He said, looking up at her again for a second.
She smiled slightly, "Thanks Theo."
"As good of friends as we are, Alvers," He said with a small smirk, "I know you didn't come to chat with me."
She shrugged, "Fair point. See you 'round," He nodded, refocusing on his essay.
She headed across the common room and up the stairs to the boy's dormitories, knocking on the door when she reached the seventh years' room. She heard some voices on the other side, but couldn't make out what was being said before the door opened.
Draco stood in the doorway, looking down at her. "Alvers," He greeted.
She pursed her lips slightly, then spoke, "Would you come walk with me?" She asked softly.
He just looked at her for a moment. They both knew that meant she had something she wanted to talk about. "Give me minute." He said finally, pushing the door open more so that she could step inside. A couple of the beds had curtains pulled shut, and Blaise was leaning against the end of his bed, shaking his head at her as she walked in a couple steps.
Draco grabbed his suitcoat off his bed, pulling in on over his button-up as he walked back over to her.
"I knew it was you, Alvers." Blaise remarked. "You're the only one who ever knocks."
"I'm one of the only people who comes here and doesn't live here." She said. Of course she'd knock.
"Pansy never knocked." Blaise muttered.
"Still doesn't," Draco said irritably. "When she's here for Nott." He brushed past Rem, and she quickly followed him down the stairs and across the common room, towards the entrance. When they were finally away from prying ears and out in the corridors of the dungeons, he spoke up again. "What's this about?"
"Five more students." She said quietly, "We just made accommodations for five more students in the Room of Requirement."
Even though she didn't say what she was feeling, he knew she was disappointed and frustrated. ""You're doing as much as you can-"
"Which isn't enough-" She began in irritation.
"Things aren't that simple, Remington." He cut across her sharply. "You can't just work harder and make everything okay. Hogwarts isn't safe and there's nothing you can do to change that fact." He added lowly. The last thing he needed was for the Carrows to overhear. "All you can do is try to clean up the messes. Nobody's died here yet, so I'd say you're doing pretty damn good job-"
"Nobody's died?" She repeated, "That's your definition of a good job?" She prompted.
"With the way things are, yes." He replied tersely.
"Bloody hell." Rem snapped, balling up her parchment and throwing it into the green flames without hesitation. Blaise looked up from where he was writing his own essay in the chair across from hers. "I can't believe I just started writing my essay on herbal potions ingredients and included fire seed." She said in irritation. "Even I should know better."
Blaise rolled his eyes. "You were only a paragraph in, Alvers."
She pulled another roll of parchment from her bag. "Yeah, another paragraph I have to write before this weekend." She remarked. It was the few days before the Easter holiday, and she was desperately trying to finish all of her homework before she left in hopes that she might get to visit the Malfoys, or Draco could visit her. It wasn't likely, considering how bad things had gotten even from over the Christmas holidays.
"You'll have a week at home to write all the essays your heart desires," Blaise added.
She just pursed her lips as she rewrote the heading on her parchment. They were both quiet for a while again.
"Remington." Blaise spoke up finally. She looked up at him. "Will you spend some of the Easter holiday with me?"
She stared at him for a moment. "Do you want me to spend some of Easter holiday with you, or does Draco want me to spend some of Easter holiday with you?" She asked evenly.
Blaise's gaze didn't leave hers. "Malfoy me be concerned, but I'm asking you."
She nodded, looking into the green flames in the fireplace near them. "Maybe a couple days, Blaise." She said, "Why does Draco not want me at my mother's?"
Blaise made a face at his essay, basically expressing that he didn't know. "I think things are getting worse at the Manor," He said, "And his aunt knows more than he'd like about you."
She chewed on the inside of her lip. Of course Draco would be concerned about her going home. It's not as if nobody knew where she lived. If things were worse at home even than what they were over the previous year and summer, she could only imagine what it was like now. And at even the slightest provocation, she could become a target. She didn't want to think about what could potentially cause that.
The Slytherin common room was bustling about them. Everyone was either packing, studying, or otherwise preparing for the week off. Not having enough confidence in her Potions ability to write her essay on her own, she'd asked to work on it with Blaise and have him look it over for her when she finished, and she'd check his for spelling and grammar.
"Is your common room not as fun, Rem?" Tracey asked, plopping onto the couch beside her.
"The people aren't always," She replied, looking at the girl.
"I'm flattered." Tracey said, "I just wanted you to know that Daphne and I are getting tea in Diagon Alley on the Thursday of break, if you'd like to come.
Rem's eyebrows arched and she smiled, "I feel pretty popular right now."
"Don't get used to it, Alvers." Blaise remarked.
Tracey threw a throw pillow at him, "Don't be bitter, Blaise," She said, "Rem's one of us now." She looked at Remington, "She's our friend."
Rem grinned at the other girl. The certainly never intended to grow so close to the Slytherins. Not any of them. And here she was, sitting in their common room, doing homework with one, being invited to spend time with them outside of Hogwarts, and getting married to one if this damned war ever ended. "I'd love to, Tracey," Rem replied. Tracey returned a beaming smile and got up, to go back over to where Daphne was seated. She looked over at Blaise, who was watching her almost dubiously. "And I'll spend the rest of break after that with you?" She inquired.
