Cass,

I think your handwriting's gotten worse than mine…only joking!

I miss you too, so much so that I kind of can't sleep at night. My jumpers all smell like leather and vanilla still, so you really are always with me. I don't even mind when Lee tells me I smell like a girl; I just tell him I smell like my girl, and he wouldn't know because he still can't charm any of ladies in our year to save his life. I'm glad you've made friends, though – I bet it makes the whole 'being stuck in dodgy Grimmauld Place' thing a bit easier. I'm happy for you, darling, I really am.

We've started testing products on first-years, but we have to do it behind Hermione and Ron's backs – as our friend and brother, they'd probably allow it, but as prefects, not so much. Oh, speaking of prefects, I've got rotten news: someone thought it was a good idea to make your brother a prefect. He's been making Harry's life especially hellish and we've only been here two weeks. I'll be sure to give him extra hell from you going forward.

Speaking of hellish behavior, the new Defense professor is a right…well, a right witch. I can't say too much about her, because I've got no idea if they're watching the post AND Moody already warned us about what to put in letters these days, but it's not looking good. She doesn't believe You-Know-Who's returned and she's set her sights on making Harry's life worse than it already is. Ron and Hermione keep trying to get him to talk about what she makes him do in detention, but since he won't say a word, it's probably bad.

All that aside, the first Hogsmeade weekend is October 5. If you can make it and Moody allows it, I'd love for you to come. Write back with your answer as quickly as you can.

I love you, Cassiopeia, and don't you ever forget it.

Freddie

"Ah, is that the boyfriend?!" Clotilde asked me, peering over my shoulder and snatching the letter from my hand. I jumped as I felt her fingers grab the parchment quickly.

"Yes, it's the boyfriend!" I exclaimed, shaking my head and snatching the letter back. "I might go see him in October, but I'm not certain yet. They let students go into the little village, Hogsmeade, once a month, so I might be able to take a day and spend it there with him."

"Hmm," she murmured, taking a sip of her wine once again. For the last two weeks, Clotilde (who insisted I call her Clo all the time), Francis, and I had taken to meeting at the Leaky Cauldron for drinks on Friday evenings. I'd always leave word with Sirius and Remus where I was going and a member of the Order – usually Emmeline or Hestia – would sit in the corner of the pub, chatting with Tom and making sure I didn't get into too much trouble. Since Clo and Francis didn't know where I was living or that I was involved with the Order, we had to keep the guard thing under wraps.

"You said your cousin's joining us tonight, yeah?" Francis asked from behind me, breezing past and sliding into the rickety chair beside me. Seeing them gave me that fiery feeling in my stomach again – even though we'd all been seeing quite a bit of one another over the last few weeks, Francis's extreme beauty would always throw me for a loop, it seemed.

"Possibly," I said casually, scanning the letter again. "I've just learned that my weasel of a brother's been made prefect at Hogwarts. The last thing that kid needs is to be in a position of power. If he's anything like my father, he's going to terrorize that entire school by Christmas."

"Yes, well, like father like son, I suppose," Francis muttered, waving to the bartender as he passed them their firewhiskey. "You haven't seen them at all lately, have you?"

I shook my head. I hadn't seen my father since the Quidditch World Cup final and I hadn't seen my mother since the day I left home. Now that I was working in Diagon Alley, I wondered if I'd see her out in the shops one of these days.

"Frans, you probably have a higher chance of meeting my parents than I do," I countered, sipping my Daisyroot Draught. "My father's ideal day is shopping for expensive Dark Arts heirlooms at Borgin's. He had to get rid of a bunch of them after the first war- "

"Ah, the raids and subsequent purge of all Dark Arts paraphernalia from the homes of You-Know-Who's inner circle," they mused. "Bet your family had a lot of shit taken."

"Bet yours did too!" I countered with a laugh. Francis gave me a playful punch on the arm in retaliation, to which Clo rolled her eyes. Out of the corner of my eye, I said a head of pink hair bobbing up and down toward our table in the back of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hello, you!" I said happily, standing up to give Tonks a hug, which she returned. "Tonks, I'd like you to meet Clotilde LaCross- "

"It's Clo, nice to meet you," she said, extending her hand to Tonks.

"And this is- "

"Francis?!" Tonks asked incredulously, catching me by surprise. "Francis Gray?!"

"Dora Tonks? Is that you?" Francis asked, their eyes wide with surprise. "Merlin, get over here, you!"

Tonks and Francis both squealed with delight and embraced. Clo and I exchanged incredibly confused looks at they did so. When my cousin and new friend finished their embrace, they both turned to face us and our unanswered questions.

"Tonks and I were friends at Hogwarts," Francis explained. "You finished seventh year in '91, right?"

"That I did!" Tonks responded. "You finished in '93, didn't you? You ever get to Bathilda's or not?"

Francis shook their head sadly.

"No, I'm actually working on the other side of town," they murmured, jerking their head toward the door. "Let's just say my family had a very different idea of what sorts of artifacts they thought I should work with. Need I go on?"

Tonks wrinkled her nose, her hair turning jet black at the idea of her old friend working anywhere near the Dark Arts.

"No, you don't," Tonks said tartly. "I hope you get out of there soon, Frans. You're too good for them, all of them."

"Yes, well, I'd rather not talk about it," they said, sitting back down. "You want a drink?"

"Firewhiskey and ginger beer for me," she said, throwing me a wink. "Learned that one from the best."

"She means me," I said, raising my goblet to my cousin.

"Anyway, anyway," Clo interrupted, trying to bring the conversation back to Tonks and Francis's previous relationship, "were you two friends in school? How did you meet one another?"

"Tonks was the only other person like me at Hogwarts, at least at that time," Francis said, nudging Tonks's elbow. "She really taught me how to…embrace my own sort of…oh, what's the word… fluidity, so to speak."

"I remember how self-conscious you were when I met you, Frans," Tonks mused. "Imagine my surprise when I heard stories about you strutting through the halls with a three-piece suit, sans dress shirt, under your robes on your last day of Hogwarts!"

"I looked fantastic that day, and it was my first time actually wearing a suit!" Francis countered, pushing their long, wavy mane of red-gold hair out of their eyes. "I couldn't help but strut about, let everyone know how hot I thought I was. Say what you want, that vest looked amazing on me. Still does, to be honest."

"It's because you are hot, Frans," I blurted out. Francis cocked their eyebrow and my cheeks burned. There I go with the comments again.

"Be that as it may, it was a real 'middle finger' to everyone in my year," they mused again, resting their chin under their fist. "The Gray family's always been shrouded in this weird rumor that we sold our souls in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. It all started when that bloody Oscar Wilde wrote 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and someone, probably a jealous wizard, found out that there was, in fact, a Dorian Gray in my family. It's been a century of staving off looks and rumors ever since."

"Francis, Dorian Gray was only a fiction," Clo countered. "Did anybody tell this wizard that he's not a real person?"

"There was a real Dorian Gray in my family, though. My great-grandfather, Polonius Gray. Middle name was Dorian, but because Polonius is almost as horrid a name as Nymphadora, he only ever went by Dorian,"Francis clarified, nudging an eye-rolling Tonks. "He was also alive around the same time Wilde wrote the damn book, so it all sort of fit."

Clo, Tonks, and I all exchanged looks. Most people we knew didn't have lives that were practically folklore, but then again, Francis wasn't most people.

"Francis, that does not answer the question," Clo asked, arching an eyebrow and batting her eyes. "How does your family maintain its youth and beauty?"

Francis laughed, shrugging their slim shoulders.

"We're just a family of really beautiful bastards," they exclaimed, toasting the rest of us with their firewhiskey. "Ugly on the inside but drop dead gorgeous on the outside. Besides, even if we had sold our souls, it just means we'd figured out the secret to eternal youth and we aren't sharing it with any of you!"

We all burst out laughing at that, Francis's face alight in the warm glow of the pub. These last three weeks with Clo and Francis made me actually feel like a normal eighteen-year-old; no impending war, no missing my boyfriend, no overbearing adults trying to keep me inside. Just three young people having fun and enjoying each other's company. I liked the feeling of normalcy, which was the surest sign that it wouldn't last forever.

After another hour and another round of drinks, Tonks shook my arm, bringing me out of my conversation with Clo.

"Remember what we've got to do tonight?" she asked under her breath.

I paused, then groaned as soon as I remembered. Tonks and I had been assigned guard duty for the evening, meaning that we had to spend the night at the Ministry of Magic, hidden under Moody's Invisibility Cloak, to guard the Hall of Prophecy. The plan was simple: we'd Apparate under the Cloak, sit outside the hall until morning, then head back by sunrise. The four of us were all having such a good time, and I didn't really want to go, but I had a duty to the Order. We both did.

"As much as I'd love to stay and chat, Cass and I have to leave you two here," Tonks announced casually, standing up from the booth as I followed. Francis and Clo gave us pleading looks.
"Come on, one more drink?" Francis asked.

"Where are you two going, anyway?" Clo asked between sips of wine.

Tonks and I exchanged looks. We hadn't thought up a clever excuse for why we were leaving, since 'we're sneaking into the Ministry of Magic to guard a prophecy that holds the key to Harry Potter's role in the impending war' simply would not do.

"Family dinner, at my mum and dad's," Tonks said hurriedly with a shrug. "It's their anniversary."

"Ah, how romantic!" Clo gasped. "I don't know them, but give them our best?"

"Yeah, tell Andy and Ted I say hey," Francis said with a grin.

"We will," I drawled, linking my arm with Tonks's. "See you two later!"

"Alright, remind me how we're supposed to do this again?" I asked Tonks as we weaved our way through the lobby of an abandoned office building.

"You'll throw the cloak on, flush yourself in," she began. "I'll have a disguise of my own on. Once we're in, I'll guide you down to the lift, we'll ride to level nine, and we'll camp out until the morning."

I nodded quickly. This was my first time on guard duty, and my first time visiting the Ministry. Despite the fact that I'd be with Tonks, who was already widely regarded as one of the best young Aurors of the decade, I was still anxious something would go awry, and we'd end up like Sturgis, locked in Azkaban for the foreseeable future.

We reached the door to the bathroom and pushed it open to find a row of stalls illuminated by the dim, dingy bulbs. I exchanged looks with Tonks. I knew what we had to do, but I didn't want to do it.

"Any words of wisdom for…well, for this bit?" I winced. Tonks stifled a giggle.

"Best to step in, hold your breath, and get it over with," she replied. "I'll meet you down there. Bear in mind, I will look a bit different, but I'll do my best to let you know who I am."

I nodded slowly, my stomach turning two times over now. I walked forward and locked myself in the nearest stall. I wrapped the Invisibility Cloak around my shoulders, braced myself, and tried to shut off my senses as I stepped into the toilet, the cold water flooding my shoes and ankles. In a swift motion, almost without even thinking, I reached around my back, pulled a lever, and was sucked into the pipes at breakneck speed.

While my eyes were glued shut, I could sense that everything around me was dark for about ten seconds, before I came flying back into the light in a flash of green flames. From underneath the cloak, I saw my first glimpses of the Ministry of Magic; bright lights, black subway tiles, and an enormous fountain with a witch, wizard, house elf, centaur, and goblin stood, jets of water flowing around them effortlessly.

Even though there were few people walking around us – custodial staff and employees on late-night shifts – I tried my best to find Tonks from under cover of the cloak. I knew she'd be disguised, but we hadn't settled on a signal moments before we traveled down here. That probably would've been wise, I thought to myself.

Suddenly, I felt a broad, muscular shoulder collide with mine. I jerked my head up to see who I'd encountered, and a tall, blond-haired Ministry security guard had fallen into step beside me. They gave a sidelong glance toward the cloak, their eyes still trained forward.

"It's me," Tonks whispered. "Pretty convincing, eh?"

"Little too convincing," I muttered. Tonks smirked, striding forward at a brisk pace. I tried to keep up with her, following in her footsteps as she nodded at each witch and wizard passing by. All we had to do was make it to the elevator without anyone talking to us. I kept on shuffling behind Tonks, my gangly legs trying to keep up with the security guard's long, muscular ones.

After a few minutes of walking from one end of the atrium to the other, we reached the gilded elevator, pulled the lattice door back and stepped inside. Tonks exhaled as the door shut, taking us to level nine.

"That was easy, yeah?" she whispered. I nodded, even though she couldn't see me.

After a few minutes, a bell rang, then the disembodied voice of a woman filled the small space:

"Level Nine: Department of Mysteries."

Tonks and I stepped out of the elevator and walked straight forward down the middle hallway, one of seven on this level. The walls were black, the same black tiles from upstairs, the door at the end of the hallway seemed like it was a million miles away, even though we were standing in front of it in a matter of seconds. Tonks looked around nonchalantly, then sidestepped toward me, slipping underneath the cloak and reverting back to her usual self, pink hair and all.

"So, now we wait?" I whispered as I cast Muffliato down the hall, ensuring that anyone who came down here couldn't hear Tonks and I speaking.

"Seems that way," she whispered back, leaning against the wall, hand resting inside her cloak on her wand. "If you want to sit, you can. I can never sit down when I'm guarding. I get too jumpy."

"You, jumpy? Impossible," I snickered, sliding down the cold tile and crossing my legs on the floor next to Tonks.

As we sat in front of the door, concealed from prying eyes or any visitors to the Department of Mysteries (good, bad, or, ugly), I couldn't remember the last time Tonks and I had actually spent time together, just the two of us. There was the Death Eater attack back in July, and then Order meetings, and then just the two of us sitting in my room and chatting on weekends, but I couldn't remember the last time it was just the two of us, the way it used to be. Even though we were technically on a mission, I was glad we could at least be together.

"So, you like your job?" Tonks asked, trying to make conversation as we stood (or, in my case, sat) guard. "Your friends seem cool. I love Frans, they're the best, but Clo seems sweet, too."

"Yeah, yeah, they're great," I whispered with a quick nod. "To be honest, outside of you, I don't have too many friends around now that I'm not in school. Fred's at Hogwarts, along with George and Lee, and Belle's in Romania, and Jermaine's here, but I haven't heard from him in ages. I miss my old friends, but it's nice to have new ones, I suppose."

Tonks nodded approvingly.

"Couldn't agree more, cousin. I kind of wish I'd made more time to try and make friends when I'd finished school, but Auror training made that kind of difficult. I'd have to say Moody was the closest thing I had to a friend during that time, before I met you. Still is, to be honest with you."

I snorted and stifled another giggle as I attempted to imagine Tonks gabbing with Moody the way she always did with me. I did see where she was coming from – Tonks was one of the last Aurors taken on for training and Moody himself trained her. It seemed totally realistic that he, as her mentor, was the closest thing she had to a friend before we met.

"I get it, though," Tonks continued, nudging me with her knee. "I'm sure you're missing your friends in more ways than you're letting on."

I paused. I was able to get through most days without remembering that Cedric had been gone three months. I thought of Cho, who'd returned to Hogwarts just a few weeks ago, and how she was doing with everything. I thought of Gethin and Annamaria, who knew Cedric the best, outside of Daniel and me.

Daniel.

I wondered how he was doing. I remembered when we parted at Platform 9 ¾, when I promised I would write to him and then never did. I felt guilty, but I felt uncomfortable sending letters to and from headquarters to someone who wasn't in the Order, and even more since Moody gave us a whole speech about constant vigilance in letter writing ('when in doubt, don't put it in a letter'). Besides, this wasn't the first time I broke a promise to Daniel that I would write. This time, he probably wasn't surprised by my silence.

"Yeah, you know, some days are better than others," I muttered, pushing my hair out of my eyes. "I'll be going about my business, putting my jacket on, and the letter that his parents gave me will slip out of the pockets. Then I'll remember, and then my day turns to shit. I dunno, it was really great to have the house full and Fred around this summer. Was a nice distraction."

Tonks smiled sympathetically. In moments like this, I could tell she didn't really know what to say, but she did know that just listening and existing with me was more than enough.

"I'm sure it's hard. I know he's only been gone a few months, and your life's been thrown into complete disarray since you left Hogwarts," she said. "But you're adjusting. You're loving your job, you've got new friends, you've got a boyfriend who adores you, and you're…well, you're in a secret society with me, committed to taking down You-Know-Who when the time comes. Even if it means standing outside a door in an empty part of the Ministry for eight hours."

"Yeah, well, I'll take sitting outside a door in an empty hallway with you over sitting in that house with Sirius moping, Remus trying and failing to make him feel better, and Kreacher calling me 'blood traitor' every time he sees me," I mused. "I just feel trapped sometimes, in my own head. Just like how Sirius and Remus are trapped in that damn house. Things like this are what set me free, even if only for a little while."

"Cass Malfoy, 'trapped in your own head' is exactly how I'd describe you," Tonks muttered, shaking her head as she slid down the wall and sat next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. I fished around in my robes for a flask of Invigoration Draught that I'd brewed in preparation for our shift and took a sip before handing the flask to Tonks.

We remained like that for hours, sipping potions, sharing secrets, and trying our best to remain as normal as possible, under the circumstances. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought we were back in Andy and Ted's backyard, sipping whiskey gingers under the light of the moon, the music from the radio mixing with our youthful laughter. I basked in that feeling for as long as I could, because as far as I could tell, guard duty with Tonks was the closest I'd ever get to that feeling for a long, long time.

We left the Ministry around eight the next morning. Since it was the weekend, we'd travel by the Floo network back up to the bathrooms and hand off the cloak to whoever was on duty during the day Saturday. When we raised questions about whether we needed a daytime guard, Moody not-so-gently reminded Tonks and I about our skirmish in the shops, and we promptly shut up.

When Tonks and I reappeared in the bathrooms, Tonks rapidly changing from security guard to her usual pink-haired appearance, we found Emmeline and Hestia waiting for us in what appeared to be Muggle clothes – Emmeline in a green vest and black trousers and Hestia in a burnt orange dress, her shiny black hair swept up in a ponytail.

"Alright last night?" Hestia asked as I discreetly handed her the cloak.

"Couldn't have been better, Hes," Tonks said quietly, brushing herself off and falling into step beside me. "Good luck today!"

They smiled, then disappeared into the stalls behind us, the sound of rapid flushing filling the small, dingy bathroom. As Tonks and I wandered back to Grimmauld Place, we stopped in a café for coffee and scones to bring back to Sirius and Remus. I imagined we might all have breakfast together before Tonks headed home to see her parents for the day – today was, in fact, Andy and Ted's anniversary.

When we Disapparated, I did my best not to drop the bag full of scones on the step of the house. When we crossed the dark threshold, the smell of bacon and sausage overwhelmed my senses.

"Did we have the same idea?" I called down the hallway into the kitchen, where Remus was, to my surprise, dropping slices of crispy bacon and sausages onto a platter. Next to him, Sirius sipped a cup of tea, reading the Daily Prophet with a sour expression on his face.

"Seems we did," Remus replied when he saw the bag in my hand and the paper cups of coffee in Tonks' and my hands. "Tonks, I'm assuming you're staying for breakfast?"

"She's staying," I replied, sitting down at the table and sliding the paper cups to each person. Remus placed the platter in front of Sirius, gave him a kiss on the temple, then sat down to help himself to food. Sirius dropped the paper and began to pile his plate with bacon, a scone, and a heap of clotted cream and jam. I watched as his face turned from sour to serene as he ate, a tiny sliver of happiness shining through on his face for once.

"You two have an alright night?" he asked, gesturing to Tonks and I with a knife.

"Think so," I said with a shrug. "We stayed awake the whole time, thanks to the Invigoration Draught, and nothing happened. All in all, a boring night."

"Good to hear," he said with a thin smile. I could tell that, even though I described the night as boring, he'd have killed to be out of the house and doing something useful. I couldn't fault him for being upset about that – I'd probably act the same if I ended up stuck in the Manor.

"Cass, we've been hearing your owl trying to move about in her cage," Remus said, pointing upward with his fork. "Sounds like she might want to go fly?"

I nodded, then darted up from my seat to go let poor Lyra out of her cage. I tried to make sure she got out to fly a few times a week, as she needed to hunt, but I also needed her to take a letter for me – kill two birds with one owl, as it were.

As I unlocked the cage and let her fly about the room for a few minutes, gray feathers flying across my bedspread, I scribbled out a quick letter that I tied to her foot and sent on her way.

Freddie,

I'll talk to Moody, but I think that if I'll be in broad daylight, and I can take someone with me, I'll be able to make it on the fifth. Tell me where to meet you and I'll meet you there.

I can't wait to see you, but you knew that already.

All my love,

Cass