The Last Crouch

by fireroastedjules

Corinna Crouch harbored secrets about her family her entire life. Her worst nightmare was them coming out of the woodwork. Now she must deal with the fall out and it includes more than she ever bargained for. With her life completely turned upside down, she has to adjust to her new normal. Follows book series with deviations from canon. Includes major OC and some minor OCs.

31. Part 04 - Chapter 09

Part IV: Revolution

Chapter IX: In Which Corinna Becomes a Smuggler

It was the middle of her free period when she finally surfaced. "Thank you," she told the portrait before leaving the Room of Requirement. Maisie would be in the middle of class right now, but as they had until later that evening, she could wait to tell. Instead, she went to the Common Room where she saw Neville working on his Bubble-Head Charm for Charms.

"Flitwick said I need to practice, Corinna," said Neville dryly when she sat down next to him on the couch.

"And I'll let you get back to that as soon as you hear me out," said Corinna quickly after putting the silencing charm around them. "I found a way out of the castle."

"I thought they sealed up all the secret exits," said Neville.

She shook her head. "There was one that we never considered before. The Room of Requirement."

Neville's eyes widened. "Are you sure?" He seemed to forget that he was supposed to be angry at Corinna.

"I was just at the Hogs Head Inn, which is why I missed class," she explained. "That girl I rescued when I was supposed to be lookout for you lot? Yeah, I'm going to get her out of the castle tonight."

"Were you able to contact her family?" asked Neville.

"I have someone helping me," said Corinna, leaving it at that. "I'm also telling you this because it was a huge circular room. It might be perfect for Ginny and Luna to teach the younger students Defense, and we can use it to help make plans or hide out if need be. All we have to do is tell the Room that we need to get out. I assume it's going to be the same every time as it was a girl in a portrait who guided me to the Hogs Head Inn and the owner seemed to know who she is."

"And Snape shouldn't think of something like that if he suspects anything," said Neville. "Maybe we should check it out during lunch."

"You lot go ahead," said Corinna as she looked at the time. She always thought of Uncle Ted whenever she looked at her watch and she always felt a twinge of sadness whenever she did. "I want to let Maisie know as soon as possible so she can get ready."

Corinna managed to intercept Maisie on her way into the Great Hall. Her friends seemed reluctant to let her go off alone, but after Maisie reassured them that it was Corinna who rescued her, she gladly followed Corinna to the alcove by the marble stairs. She told Maisie that she found a way out of the castle and that they were meeting someone to take her to her family.

Maisie was, of course, overjoyed, but Corinna did her best to hold the girl's attention. "I will come get you from your Common Room at a half hour before midnight. I will talk to Ernie so we can arrange something. Until then," she said forcefully, "act normal. Keep going to class. Don't tell anyone else what's going on. We cannot let Snape or the Carrows or anyone else, really, be suspicious as to what we are going to be doing tonight. Alright?"

"Yes, yes," said Maisie and she hugged Corinna. "You're the best!"

Corinna felt a twinge of pride, but it was still masked by guilt. "Only pack your schoolbag with what you need," said Corinna. "Just your clothes and toiletries and anything that is very, very important to you."

"Okay," said Maisie and ran off when Corinna gave her the nudge. She looked as how all the first years should look: happy and full of wonder. She remembered being just like that, but it was always squashed by her then-father who would not put up with such nonsense. She wondered, not for the first time, if she had been raised by Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted if she had kept that childhood wonder for longer.

Crushing down the feelings of self-loathing, she had to focus on the job at hand. Ernie was already surrounded by friends by the time she had made it to Transfigurations, so she just went to the table she still shared with Malfoy. It seemed that they were stuck being partners for the rest of the year. They managed to keep the discussions civil and they never brought up any topics that were touchy for either of them.

After class, she cornered Ernie before he could walk off with his friends. She quickly gave him the rundown as to what was happening tonight, and he promised to find a way to get everyone out of the Common Room before then. She rushed her thanks as he ran to catch up with his friends.

Dinner was interesting for Corinna. It seemed that Ginny and Neville have forgiven Corinna for causing them detention. They admitted that it really wasn't that bad. "He mostly just had us hang out with his giant half-brother," explained Ginny. "He can almost count up to ten, which is quite a feat for a giant."

She also kept glancing over at the staff table. Snape was absent, as he had been more often than not. It is hard to tell if it was due to the sword incident, but both Carrows are always present and always eager to catch students misbehaving. Now that it had gotten around as to the preferred method of discipline the Carrows liked to use, the students have mostly tuned it down. But that just meant that the Carrows got creative with what they see as rule breaking.

"Something needs to be done about them," said Neville as the male Carrow just gave a fourth year Ravenclaw detention for his robes being wrinkled. Now that he was no longer a prefect, he seemed to be even more reckless. He has put up more graffiti whenever he could manage it.

"We will do something," said Corinna as she turned back to her friends.

"We also need to tell the students about the defense lessons," said Luna. "I can talk to the Ravenclaws if you want to talk to the Gryffindors. It's probably best not to talk about it outside of the Common Rooms."

"It is," Ginny agreed. "But who can we get for Hufflepuff?"

"Ernie," said Corinna without hesitation. "He's been helping me with Maisie. He'd be willing to talk with the younger students if we ask him."

"I'm glad we have a plan then," said Ginny. "But when should the first lesson be? We don't have any quidditch practices to work around, so we can do it pretty much any night."

"We can figure that out while we put together lesson plans," said Luna. "Although, we'll probably just end up copying Harry's."

"Expelliarmus would be the perfect spell to teach the students," said Ginny.

Ginny and Luna went to the library after dinner to start on lesson plans. Neville and Corinna went to the Common Rooms and started talking to the younger students about learning how to defend themselves against the Death Eaters. "If you're interested," said Corinna as she pulled out a piece of paper, "go ahead and write your name down."

"It's not jinxed, is it?" asked Neville once they had the signatures of all the first and second years in Gryffindor. They also managed to get a few third and fourth years, but many of them were hanging out elsewhere in the castle.

"As brilliant as that was, I don't think we have to worry about someone spilling," said Corinna as she handed the piece of parchment over to Neville so he could give it to Ginny when she got back from the library. "First off, there are no Educational Decrees banning this study club. Also, people are genuinely scared of the Carrows and other Slytherins who are working closely with them. They want the means to be able to stop them to get away. Besides, I don't foresee this war ending any time soon. It's not just within Hogwarts that people need to be cautious in."

"And you also don't know how to do it," added Neville with a smirk.

"And I also don't know how to do it," Corinna conceded. "But neither do you."

She glanced at the time. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet. "I better get to patrolling." It wasn't her night to do it, but who was going to question the only competent Head of the Prefects? "Make sure Ginny gets that list so they can also start planning when the lessons will take place."

"Okay," said Neville. "I need to start my own plans, anyway."

"Do I want to know?" asked Corinna.

"Probably not."

She left the Common Room before she could break down and ask.

The corridors were mostly quiet. She only had a few groups to yell at to get back to the Common Rooms, and she had no remorse for breaking up a snogging couple. However, as she roamed the halls, she noticed McGonagall talking lowly with Sprout as they slowly walked the corridors. What was even odder than that was that she swore she saw a curled-up copy of the Quibbler in McGonagall's fist. Why would someone so practical, so no-nonsense be reading something like the Quibbler? It mostly reported on sighting of made up creatures like the crumpled-horned snorkack or the bumbling babodook or whatever it may be. The only time they had ever reported anything resembling the truth was when Rita Skeeter interviewed Harry.

After the hours seem to drag on where it felt like she walked the castle more times than she could count, she finally looked down at her watch and saw that it was just passed eleven o'clock. Not knowing who she might run into, she went straight to the basement. She saw the painting with the bowl of fruit and thought of tickling the pear just to see how Winky was, but all the times she attempted that always seemed to end in disaster. So, instead, she hung out in a hidden alcove opposite the entryway into the Hufflepuff Common Room until it was nearly half-eleven.

Corinna tapped the same barrel as Maisie did all those nights ago and in the same pattern. The portrait transformed into a ladder and she carefully climbed it up until she was in the most yellow room she had ever seen. The chairs and couches were made of yellow fabric, broken up by patchwork afghans casually draped over the backs of the couches. Plants seemed to dominate the room as black vases held cut up flowers, and pots of various shapes and colors held many of the non-dangerous plants that the greenhouses also held but were not as learned about as the ones that could strangle someone to death. It was empty save for Ernie and Maisie sitting by the fire, both of whom had bubbles over their heads.

Ernie looked over when he saw Corinna and made the bubbles vanish. "Sorry," he said. "The only way I could think of to empty out of the common room was to place dungbombs. Must have cleared out since you seem to be breathing just fine."

"All I can smell are plants," reassured Corinna. She looked over at Maisie, who was already on her feet and had her arms looped through her backpack. "Ready to go?"

"Yes," she said excitedly and went to grab Corinna's hand. "Bye, Ernie!"

"See yah, Maisie," he said with a smile. "Be safe, alright?"

"'Course," said Maisie. She immediately went back for the ladder, but Corinna held her back.

"One second," she said. "There are still teachers walking around, so I need to use the disillusionment charm on you. You are only truly invisible if you are standing still. If you hear anything or see anything, immediately stop moving until I tell you it is safe. Do you understand?"

Maisie nodded. Corinna muttered the incantation and tapped the top of Maisie's head. As if a bucket of water was dumped on her, she went invisible. "Whoa," she said, and Corinna could see the blur of her moving her arms and legs. "This is so weird!"

"It is," Corinna agreed. "Let's get going. We don't have much time."

They made it down through the Entrance Hall and up a few flights of stairs before running into anyone. Maisie immediately stopped moving as she was told and Corinna pretended to look in the nearby classrooms as the fifth year Slytherin Prefect just walked down the corridor, looking absolutely bored. Once he had turned the corner, she found Maisie again and they made a beeline for the seventh floor.

After getting the Room of Requirement open, she was relieved to see the portrait of the young girl again. She removed the disillusionment charm from Maisie now that there was no chance of them getting spotted. "You were amazing," said Corinna. "Now, stick close to me while in the passageway. It is very dark and you can't use magic since we will be going off school grounds." She grabbed Maisie's hand again as they approached the portrait of the young girl. "I still can't thank you enough," she said. All the girl did was nod and the portrait swung open.

A few minutes later, they arrived back at the Hogs Head Inn. It looked exactly the same as it had that morning, but it was lit by lamplight now that it was dark outside. As the portrait swung closed, Aberforth walked in from the main pub area. "He's at the bar," he said. "No one else is in the pub, so you won't be disturbed."

There were many, many aspects of her plan that could have gone wrong, but the one thing she was most nervous about was this moment. "Actually, can Maisie hang out back here for a mo'? I'd like to talk to him first."

"Fine by me," said Aberforth. "Do you want some hot chocolate, kid? I was about to make myself some tea."

Maisie hesitated a moment, but at Corinna's silent encouragement, she went and joined Aberforth by the stove.

Corinna drew in a steadying breath and walked out into the mostly abandoned bar. Sure enough, there he was, sitting at bar nursing a drink from a dingy glass. He looked the same as he had at the wedding, worry etching his scarred face. He glanced over when he noticed Corinna and he froze mid-sip.

"I'm going to be honest," said Remus as he set his glass back down. "The last thing I ever expected was to get a Patronus from you."

"Unfortunately, you were the only option I had," said Corinna as she didn't move any closer to the man who broke her cousin's heart. "I'm assuming you were able to find her family."

"They were staying with some of her mother's Muggle relatives, which will only work for so long," said Remus as he turned to face Corinna. "They wanted to stay in the country until Maisie could join them over Christmas. But, with how things are going out there…" He let the statement hang as both understood that they needed to get out of the country, and soon, before the snatchers get them.

"Then we're lucky I found a way out of the castle that Snape doesn't know about," said Corinna.

Remus hesitated a moment as he turned his attention back to his drink, but he merely ran his forefinger over the rim. "How are things going in there? We have McGonagall's reports, but even she doesn't hear and see everything."

"It's a fucking nightmare," said Corinna bluntly. "They use the Cruciatus Curse on students all willy-nilly. I personally haven't been in detention yet, but I heard that they use students as target practice. The older students have been mostly able to defend themselves, but it's the younger students we're worried about."

"So you're restarting the DA," said Remus. "You weren't very subtle about it."

"I blame Neville for that one, although I did write my fair share in the beginning."

"And trying to steal the sword was completely stupid."

"It was a good plan if I hadn't bunged it up," Corinna defended. "And I really don't want to hear what is and what isn't stupid from someone who abandoned his wife and kid."

She had planned on not opening that can of worms, but it was out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"I won't criticize what you're doing if you don't criticize what I'm doing."

"It's more like what you aren't doing, but fine." She sighed in annoyance. "This is about Maisie and getting her to her family."

"On that note," said Remus as he finally looked back up at Corinna. "Do you plan on doing this more?"

"Depends on how bad things get up there," said Corinna. "Maisie isn't the only one who is caught in the crossfire."

"They aren't giving you too much trouble, are they?"

"Not comparatively, no. Well, besides the Carrows insistence on calling me a Lestrange."

At some point, Dora must have given Remus the rundown about that whole thing as he did not seem surprise by that. "I figured as much. They are probably testing you as, I suspect, Bellatrix told them to."

Corinna made a face. "Well, I probably failed since I don't say anything until they call me Crouch."

"I would just be very, very careful," said Remus, sounding very much like a professor just then. "If Bellatrix going after Dora tells us anything, she might be getting rid of anyone she deems undesirable from her family tree."

"Which would even include her daughter since I'm a blood traitor Gryffindor who is dating the boy supposedly destined to kill her precious Dark Lord."

"So you are still dating him."

"Technically," said Corinna with a shrug. "Is it really dating if you can't even contact the person?"

"That will remain to be seen," said Remus with a sigh. Corinna was now convinced he was not referring to her and Harry.

"As much as I want to yell at you, I won't," said Corinna. "Just…let me say this. She still loves you, even if you are the biggest git in the world. And I mean the biggest—"

"I get it," said Remus, guilt evident in his frown. "I already got the dressing down from Harry over this."

"You saw Harry?"

Remus realized what he had said much too late. "They were at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," he explained. "I went to them a few days after the Ministry fell to offer to help them. They figured something was up and I told them that Dora is pregnant. He didn't take too kindly to the fact that I left her."

"No, he wouldn't," said Corinna coolly. "Those of us with dead or shitty parents don't take very well to parents willingly abandoning their children."

"Yeah, I see that. Now." Remus ran a hand through his mousy hair. It was strange, at times, he looked older than he really was. Others, he seemed so much younger. This was one of those times where someone could look passed the scars and the wrinkles and see the man who was simply terrified of being a father. "Do you think she'll take me back?"

"After getting yelled at and maybe hexed a few times, maybe."

"I guess I deserve it."

"I just…I have to ask," said Corinna quickly. "Do you think he's still there? At Grimmauld Place?"

Remus shook his head. "I don't believe so," he said gently. "I haven't been back but, after what happened at the Ministry, I assume they have moved on."

"What happened in the Ministry?"

"I guess the Daily Prophet would not have published their blunder," said Remus. "On the second of September, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, disguised as Ministry workers by way of Polyjuice Potion, were spotted getting Muggle-borns out of the Ministry. According to Umbridge ("Ugh," Corinna said involuntarily), they stole a family heirloom. A locket that had an 'S' on it for Selwin."

She was more than elated at the news. They had found the real locket that belonged to Salazar Slytherin. That was one Horcrux down, so they only had three more to go.

"You know I have to ask," said Remus, eying Corinna suspiciously. "What are they doing? I won't try to join them, even though I don't even know where to begin looking for them. I just have to ask."

"You know I can't say," said Corinna. "It's on Harry to tell and, if he didn't say anything, then neither can I."

"I figured as much." He looked over at Corinna. "Do you have a wireless on you?"

Corinna looked confused by the question. "Yes," she said slowly. "Why?"

"Well, on Friday say around nine o'clock, you should try to be alone or with people you trust—absolutely trust. Tap it with your wand and say 'Cedric.'"

"Now I'm more confused," she said.

"Well, right now, I have a child that needs to be reunited with her family," said Remus as he stood up from the bar. "Just trust me on this. It's how you are going to be able to get the real news."

Corinna nodded at Remus and decided to trust him, but just this once. She poked her head into the back. Maisie had a whipped cream mustache as she seemed to talk Aberforth's ear off, but he sat there and let the assault happen. "Maisie," said Corinna with a small smile. "It's time to go."

"Okay," she said. "Bye, Mr. Aberforth. Thank you for the hot chocolate." She stood up from the table and bound over to Corinna. She led the smaller girl into the pub and walked her over.

"Maisie, this is Remus," said Corinna. "He's an old teacher of mine, but now he works with people who are trying to stop You-Know-Who. He was able to find your family and he's going to take you to them."

Maisie sized the man up, looking uneasy. "Will you be going with us?" she asked quickly.

"I can't," said Corinna, realizing how they were pushing one in the morning. "But you can trust Remus. He married my cousin, after all. Do you think I would allow someone bad to join my family?"

Maisie looked up at Corinna and shook her head. "No, I trust you. So, that means I should trust him, right?"

"Right," said Corinna as she glanced back at Remus. He was now smiling, almost looking proud.

"It's alright, Maisie," said Remus, holding out his hand. She hesitated a moment before taking his hand. "Your family is very excited to see you."

Maisie looked up at Corinna and gave her a meek smile. "Goodbye, Corinna. I hope I get to see you again once this is all over with."

Corinna smiled at Maisie. "I hope so, too," she said gently. "I'll…I'll see you on the other side."

Maisie waved one last time before following Remus out of the pub. Remus gave one last look to Corinna and gave her a slight nod. Once the door swung closed, Corinna stood there a moment, feeling satisfied in that she was able to get Maisie to safety, but a little saddened that her self-imposed mission had come to an end.

She placed a couple of galleons, which more than paid for Remus's drink and the hot chocolate and made her way out of the bar. She made it back to the empty Common Room without incident, but she was not eager to go up to her dorm just yet. She sat down by the fire, feeling a multitude of emotions she couldn't even fathom to comprehend at that moment. She was tired and restless. But mostly, she was terrified. Maisie mentioned the other side of the war, but Corinna couldn't imagine when that was going to happen. The first wizarding war went on for years, and Voldemort hadn't even managed to take over the Ministry in a way that he managed to do this time around.

She wondered if she would feel this way if she was there in the front lines with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They had managed to get one of the Horcruxes, and who knows what they have been able to accomplish in the weeks after that. A small sliver of hope that they will be able to stop this soon grew within Corinna, but her jaded side from everything that has happened to her made her realize that getting the Horcruxes was going to be the easy part. The hard part was dealing with Nagini and then ultimately Voldemort.

Then she realized, if she had gone with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, what would have happened with Maisie? Would someone else had a chance to stop Goyle and then found a way for her to get back to her family? And what about the sword? Sure, that had been a failure, but would Ginny have known to steal it from Snape's office?

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that maybe, just maybe, she hadn't meant to go with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Maybe it was a sign she didn't get anything from Dumbledore's will and that she, out of all three of them, was the one who was attacked by a Death Eater and was unable to Apparate along with them.

She realized that, as much as she would much rather be with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, wherever they were making plans to get the next Horcrux, she was meant to be here at Hogwarts.

Once the fire had burned down into embers, Corinna decided to finally call it a night and made her way up to her near-empty dormitory.

It took until lunch the next day for them to announce that there was a missing student. Corinna acted surprised along with her other Gryffindors in attendance. Snape stood at the podium, looking over at the student population as if expecting Maisie Cattermole to pop out and claim that this was all a prank.

"I implore you," he droned as everyone sat there at various points of eating their meals, "if you know anything about Cattermole's disappearance, you must come to me at once. All we want is to bring the student back to the safety of Hogwarts."

"Yeah, right," said Neville, just loud enough for those near him to hear, but Corinna elbowed him to stop talking. She glanced over at the Hufflepuff table. The group of first years that Maisie could be spotted with were talking lowly amongst themselves, but she caught Ernie's eye and he gave her a wink.

Even Corinna couldn't help but smile. While Ginny and Luna planned what to teach the younger students and what Neville was planning with those of the old DA who were interested in doing something, Corinna decided her place was in the shadows.

It was where she had always belonged, after all.

Friday night was to be the first DA lesson for the next generation, which coincided with Remus's cryptic suggestion. Between the three houses, there were a lot of students who were eager to learn to defend themselves and others. They split them off as Ginny took the older students while Luna, who had infinitely more patience than Ginny, took the younger ones. As with when Harry was teacher, they started with Expelliarmus, which went just as well as the first time around. Even Corinna found her wand flying out of her pocket, and she wasn't even near anyone else. She merely picked up her wand and let them continue with the lesson.

Corinna did not envy them in the slightest.

In an abandoned classroom, Neville was working with Seamus, Lavender, Ernie, Michael, and a few others that were still around from the old D.A. who knew their stuff and were willing to cause havoc with the Carrows. Their main goal was to, of course, defend the students, but it did not mean that they also weren't going to cause havoc. As much as she wanted to join in on the fun, both Neville and she agreed that where Corinna was needed was behind the scenes. She was going to continue to work as someone who would get kids back to their families, something she couldn't do if she was stripped of her Head Girl status as no one would question her for being out of bed past curfew. She already had a couple of students who heard about what she did for Maisie asking if they could leave, but she had to hear from Remus first. He was, of course, going to be busy with other Order matters (and, Corinna secretly hoped, patching things up with Dora), but would get message to Corinna when he would be able to help her get students out.

Instead, she made her way back to the Common Room. It was mostly empty since it seemed most people within Gryffindor were part of the DA one way or another. There were still a few milling around, either because they want to keep their head down and just get through this or they weren't told about it, so Corinna headed up to her empty dorm room and grabbed the wireless from her trunk. She sat on her bed, the only light coming from the lamp besides her four-poster, causing odd shadows to form on the empty beds around her.

At nine o'clock, she tapped her wireless and said, "Cedric." Magically, the wireless tuned itself until the static cleared and a familiar voice could be heard.

"Welcome everyone to Potterwatch." Corinna recognized the voice of Lee Jordan from when he used to commentate for Quidditch matches. "We finally were able to find another safe location away from the Death Eaters. I am also pleased to tell you that we have a new contributor joining us today, along with a fan favorite. Evening, boys."

"Hi."

"Evening, River."

"River," said Corinna, guessing that was a codename for Lee to protect his identity. "Ooh, that's clever."

"But before we hear from Romulus and our new correspondent, Royal, let's take a moment to report those deaths that the Wizarding Wireless Network News and Daily Prophet don't think important enough to mention." Corinna listened to this segment with a heavy heart, but she had to admit that she was relieved to find that she did not recognize any of the names as they were mostly muggle families that were listed off, and a few Ministry workers who tried to revolt against the Muggle-born Registration Commission. Lee called for a moment of silence for those who have fallen.

"Thank you," he said, once that moment was up. "And now we turn to Royal for an update on how the new Wizarding order is affecting the Muggle world."

"Thanks, River," said a deep voice that was also familiar but harder for Corinna to place. "Muggles remain ignorant of the source of their suffering as they continue to sustain heavy casualties. However, we continue to hear truly inspirational stories of wizards and witches risking their own safety to protect Muggle friends and neighbors, often without the Muggle's knowledge. I'd like to appeal to all our listeners to emulate their example, perhaps by casting a protective charm over any Muggle dwellings in your street. Many lives could be saved if such simple measures are taken."

"And what would you say, Royal, to those listeners who reply that in these dangerous times, it should be 'Wizards first'?"

"I'd say that it's one short step from 'Wizards first' to 'Purebloods first,' and then to 'Death Eaters.' We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving."

"Excellently put, Royal, and you've got my vote for Minister of Magic if ever were get out of this mess. And now over to Romulus for a new feature we will be adding to the broadcast 'Pals of Potter.'"

"Thanks, River," said a voice she immediately recognized as Remus's. "I would first like to state that there is no doubt at all in my mind that Harry Potter is still alive. It would be widely proclaimed as widely as possible by Death Eaters if it had happened, because it would strike a deadly blow at the morale of those resisting the new regime. 'The Boy Who Lived' remains a symbol of everything for which we are fighting: the triumph of good, the power of innocence, the need to keep resisting."

Corinna's chest filled with hope when she heard Remus say that. It was all that anyone could do really. Look out for one another and never, ever give up hope.

"And what would you say to Harry if you knew he was listening, Romulus?"

"I'd tell him we're all with him in spirit. And I'd tell him to follow his instincts, which are good and nearly always right."

Hearing that, Corinna couldn't help but wonder if Harry was listening to the broadcasts. She hoped he was. He needed to hear those words as well.

"On top of a good dose of moral support to 'The Boy Who Lived,'" said Lee. "This segment will also include updates on those friends of Harry Potter who are helping the cause, either directly or indirectly."

"As many know, the Order of the Phoenix is doing what they can to stop Death Eaters. A contact within the Order—" Corinna could almost hear Remus smirking when he said that, as he was most likely the contact, "—would like to issue a statement reminding everyone that You-Know-Who's name is considered Taboo. As in his real name that I shall not say, and nor should anyone else. If anyone says his name, then Snatchers will immediately come to their location, no matter what sort of wards you put up, and either imprison you or kill you. I would not take this lightly. Do not test this out yourself. Continue to call him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or whatever it is you prefer as long as it is not…well, you know."

"I personally like Chief Death Eater," added Lee. "It humbles him in a way, doesn't it? Like he really is nothing more than just an ordinary wizard who has taken a liking to the Dark Arts and blood purity."

"It does," agreed Royal. "It reduces him down from something that is seen as all-powerful and nothing more than just a man."

"Listeners, that brings us to the end of another Potterwatch. We don't know when it will be possible to broadcast again, but you can be sure we shall be back. Keep twiddling those dials: The next password will be 'Percival.' Keep each other safe. Keep faith. Goodnight."

The wireless turned off as Corinna looked up at her four-poster, letting the words she heard float around in her head. They confirmed what she had already known or guessed, but she was glad to hear the reassurances that, at the very least, Remus believed Harry to be alive. She would just have to keep faith that no news was good news.