Chapter 14 : Aftermaths

So that was the very first battle of the Siblings. Well, I say "battle", but it was more like an ambush, wasn't it? It was almost a clean success, but Parkinson's foolishness reminded us all that a single mistake in battle could prove fatal.

When we arrived in our dorm, helping Miranda walk as she was almost falling asleep in our arms, Ashley jumped on us.

- What the hell happened? It took you so long! Oh Merlin, is Miranda hurt?

- I'm fine, she whispered with a smile. Just drained. I need my bed. Help me, would you?

So she did, and Kaidan and I waited for her to come back, sharing nothing but a satisfied smile. One minute later, Williams joined us, and sat next to Kaidan, an arm around his shoulder. She assaulted us with questions.

- What happened to her? Is she going to be alright? And the others? What about Malfoy, he hasn't come back! None of them did!

- Calm down, Ash, easy! laughed Kaidan. It's alright. The Squad is sleeping inside Mr Hagdrid's house, knocked out of their lives. Miranda needs to rest because she wiped their memories, after we kicked their ass.

- Woah, you really attacked them? How did you do it?

We told her everything, how Jacob looked so stylish with his flying knee in Goyle's face, the Cruciatus Curse on Tali, Malfoy's Snake, and all the rest.

- What about you? asked Kaidan then. You look and sound better!

- Yes, I was really getting worse when I was with Mordin and Joker. The kid took me to the infirmary. Mrs Pomfrey said I ate something that did not agree with me, I'm pretty sure it was the pork. Anyway, she gave me a potion, I threw up non-stop for ten minutes, and now I am much better. The only problem is that I can't sleep. Too much energy. Also I was waiting for you, I could not just go to bed. By the way, you didn't tell, what about Potter. Did you guys find them?

I shrugged. No bloody idea. But the newspapers of the next day would bring the answer.


He is back. That's pretty much what the Prophet said. Some mess went down at the Ministry, and even though Potter and his army were not mentioned, I was absolutely sure that this was because of him. I don't know how they did it, but that had to be why we were not able to find them: they had been off to the ministry. The articles said that multiple wizards witnessed You-Know-Who fighting against our Headmaster, including Minister Fudge himself. Force was to admit that Potter was right from the beginning, and that war was already upon us.

They talked about it in the hallways.

They talked about it in the Great hall during lunch.

They talked about it in our Common Room, although the content was significantly different… When fear spread through the castle like a winter wind, excitement took over the young and naive minds of many Slytherins, who believed it would soon be their time to shine…

How could you not have the reputation of a Dark Wizards incubator with that level of stupidity? How could any decent person not feel ashamed of being sorted in here? Back in my first year, I thought this was about being smart, being focused and dedicated to reaching your goals, cunning and success. I was proud of it. Now it felt like it was just about being dumb and evil…

Kaidan almost rose from his seat at some point to punch a seventh year in the mouth, but I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

- Don't do that, brother. If war is indeed coming, we're behind enemy lines. We need to stay discreet, and lay low.

Speaking about discretion, or the lack of it, I guess we can mention Malfoy and the Squad.

They came back in the morning and showed up in the Common Room at the worst time possible: just before breakfast. Everyone saw them, walking across for the absolute "walk of shame", looking dirty, tired, smelling of booze and Firewhisky (which we had intentionally spilled on few of their clothes). Even better, we discovered that Draco was missing a front tooth! Garrus had probably knocked it off with his devastating blow.

To our great pleasure, Mrs Pomfrey argued that she was out of potions and that he would have to wait for a couple of days before she could re-grow his tooth (or so we heard). Seeing him keeping his mouth shut, or hiding behind his hand while eating, was a delight, even if it indeed lasted only two day.

Pansy Parkinson was often grabbing her right elbow with her left hand. She should not remember anything about the broken bone, but she might have a small scar left anyway, I was not sure. At least she didn't look in pain. In any case, none of them came to bother us. Either our little trick worked wonders, or they were really good actors planning their revenge. But most of them were too stupid or impatient to plan something like that, so I was not really worried. Malfoy was the only one that I needed to keep an eye on.

Now, Umbridge. The infamous pink bitch. Of course, now we know the truth, about her encounter with the centaurs, and that Albus Dumbledore saved her for whatever reason, even if we will probably never know how. And even if History would prove that it was the dumbest idea ever.

But back then, we had no idea what happened. She just appeared in the hospital wing two days after the incident. She had been stripped from all of her "titles", as our Headmaster was reinstated, and the newspapers even talked of investigations for the abuses some students suffered under her reign of terror. We might not have seen it ourselves, but the story of how Peeves chased her out of the castle, hitting her toad face with McGonagall's walking cane is one of the highlights of the year for sure. As soon as the word of her demise spread out, chants were praised, young couples didn't wait a single minute to start kissing in the hallways, and a quick and drastic diminution of the Weasley's candies symptoms was noticed by Mrs Pomfrey. But I can't really say that the good mood was back either because, well… No matter how young and stupid we were, it was not enough to forget the return of the worst Dark Lord of our time.

Concerning Harry Potter, it was another matter. Angry, depressed, one second on the verge of explosion and the next one without a single spark of energy in his eyes, he was almost unrecognizable. The same could be said about this friends, but for different reasons. I had seen war veterans before. Tough guys with training coming back after months, or years of battles and traumas, either seeking the help of my father or just coming over to meet an old friend. It was easy to see that those kids went through their baptism of fire.

The way they walked when they were together looked like a patrol formation, with Harry in its center, covering most of the angles. Their eyes were different, always looking around, evaluating things, assessing, like the next threat would jump on them at the next corner. Neville Longbottom looked far more confident and mature, Loony Lovegood not so loony anymore, Ginny Weasley always had her hand ready on her wand, and her brother was one step closer to Granger that usual.

You see, this is the difference between rookies after their first battles and battle-hardened veterans. A vet incorporate all these littles things in his behavior, it becomes a second nature, and most people would not even notice. But they were scared, they looked scared. Tired and on edge. This was new to them and they were constantly, consciously looking over their shoulders. Even Kaidan noticed

- They look weird, don't they? he asked me, looking at them eating in the Great Hall. They barely speak. Potter keeps his head down his plate. Look at the young Weasley, she keeps checking for her wand in her pocket!

- I know. It's not weird. Those are first battle aftermaths, I think. And Potter looks a bit like my dad did when he lost one of his teammate in an ambush, a couple of years ago. Even worse so, but Shepard Senior being who he is… Although all of them seems to be here, so I don't know for sure.

- Rumor has it that they thought against Death Eaters and the Dark Lord himself! said Ashley, who was not usually too incline to gossips.

- And left without any casualties? Pfff sure, and my father's a dragon, laughed Kaidan.

- I would not laugh, countered calmly Miranda. If he's to be believed, he already escaped them last year, while carrying a dead body. And personally I don't think he's lying. None of us know what really went down, even if it's seems obvious that they're somewhat connected to whatever crap happened at the Ministry. Ministry where, should I remind you, You-Know-Who was spotted by many witnesses…

That shut us up. We had faced the Inquisitorial Squad, and won easily. Our technics worked nicely, we hit hard and fast. But while we were satisfied by overpowering a bunch of untrained brats, the D.A was most likely facing the Dark Lord's minions, if not the said Dark Lord himself. That put them in another league, while we were still playing like kids in kindergarten… That angered me, as well as scared me. For months, I have been having this doubt: did I really trained my friends well to something effective, or just groomed them to be slaughtered by the first volley of curses? Our victory against Malfoy comforted me, but this realization had brought those doubts at full speed.


The last evening before leaving school, the Siblings of Metal gathered one last time in the potions room. The first thing we did was discussing Potter and his friends, but sadly, none of the Gryffindors had any more information. It seems that someone had indeed died, but no one was missing from the castle, and no name had been dropped.

Next things was to tell, once again, the tale of our first fight against the Squad. Ashley manifested her displeasure of missing that, again, while Mordin was looking at us with big eyes full of stars and Joker with a very large grin.

- We should set up bounties, he joked. One butterbeer for each broken tooth or broken bones!

Liara gently slapped the back of his head to get the stupid idea out of it.

- Tali… started Mordin with a small, shy voice. What… What did it feel like?

Under her hood, despite the heat, she had remained silent since the beginning of the evening. To think of it, I don't think I heard her speak a single word since the fight. She looked at Liara, questions in her eyes, which got answered by a gentle smile and a slow nod.

- It's hard to describe. It's like the very essence of pain, it does not sting, it does not burn, it just… hurts, you know? Your brain try to pinpoint the source to know where you're hurt but it's everywhere, it's everything. To be honest, I'm lucky it did not last longer, thanks Garrus. I barely had the time to understand what happened, and trust me, it's more than enough to wish it never happens again.

- Are you alright? asked Jacob.

Damn stupid me. I didn't even think to ask! I thought that Garrus handled it! And I didn't even care, I was sure she was okay! I would have slapped myself. I was not the only one, though, as Kaidan, and even Miranda, lowered their eyes in shame. Maybe there's indeed something wrong with us Slytherins…

- Yes I am, she said, her head high, a slight smile on her lips, sparks in her eyes in the darkness of her hood, don't worry. I would have said so, otherwise. But thanks for asking, Jacob. Thanks all of you for caring.

Then she looked at me, straight in the eyes.

- Sorry Shepard, but no.

What? What was she talking about? She resumed before I could ask.

- I don't think there is any way to resist it. At least I haven't seen, or felt, any, in the split second that it lasted.

I raised my hands in surrender, and said with a smile:

- You know me too well, Tali. I believe you.

- Not that it's going to stop him from practicing on all of us, laughed Garrus.

- Mate! protested Liara, hitting him on the shoulder. Not funny! You don't joke about that stuff!

- Alright, alright! I'm sorry!

Silence fell. We all knew what was coming up: two months far from each other. Back in a world where Voldemort was back.

- So what's next? asked Kaidan, first to break the silence.

- Well, we all keep practicing our exercises during the summer, I prepare some new lessons for you guys, and we resume in two months!

- Will we still need this whole Healing Class cover thing, and the Room of Requirements?

- I don't know, we'll figure this out. But I think it would be better, yes. The more we keep this secret, the less danger we are in. Who knows, it might come in handy one day…

The very next evening, after long hugs, tearful kisses between Tali and Garrus, a fair number of teases from everyone, we arrived at King's Cross, and went our separate ways as we were welcomed by our families.

A/N :Hi everyone ! Short chapter this time, to conclude the 5th year! But i'm already working on next chapter !