Book 4: Astoria Greengrass and the Curse of Quennell Park
Song rec: "Mother" by Lissie (Danzig cover)

Two weeks of O.W.L.s were no way to enjoy the summer before the move abroad. Rhiannon had studied during the school year, but the tragic death of Headmaster Dumbledore had stunted her motivation to stay mentally fresh for delayed exams. Glances at books the night before each exam would have to work, because there was too much else happening at Quennell Park. Astoria's relatives were all over the mansion, getting their affairs in order and shipping out possessions at the last minute to whereabouts unknown. Some of them still pried Mr Adam Greengrass about where they were going. He was a Secret Keeper, the only one who knew about their final destination. He had personally taken several small groups of the extended family to the "Apparition point" so that they might go into exile sooner, but nobody could contact them once they left, and thus the Secret remained. Mr Greengrass gave absolutely no more information than he had originally, spitting something about "how the Potters died" at his most pestering relatives. Any risk of being tracked by Death Eaters defeated the purpose of such an evacuation. They would first go to a checkpoint that was easy enough to Apparate to. From there, they would go to a second point that would allow them to travel to their new residence. That was all Rhiannon knew. She was with the part of the family that was staying round longer for O.W.L.s and belongings.

On the Monday of the Charms O.W.L., Rhiannon and Astoria put on their comfiest robes and stacked their hair high atop their heads and out of the way. Neither of them knew what to expect, since all the older students they knew had taken their O.W.L.s the normal way at school. Mr Greengrass, who once worked at the Ministry, had dressed up even nicer than he usually did for the occasion and met the girls by one of the fireplaces. He raised his eyebrows at their attire but did not pursue criticism. He put a firm hand on Astoria's shoulder and asked her how she felt. Rhiannon knew he was really asking how she felt about the O.W.L.s. Astoria knew, too, and since she was speaking again, she answered.

"I am prepared for Charms, Father."

"Both of you ladies have the badges they sent ready? We need them to get in," Mr Greengrass said, and Rhiannon pinned a silver nametag on her chest that said Rhiannon N. Clarke: O.W.L. Examinee.

They teleported through the Floo Network and landed in a huge fireplace. Rhiannon noticed more fireplaces across from them that must have served as exits. It was very dark inside the Ministry building, and to an extent, it reminded Rhiannon of the Slytherin common room. The accents, however, were gold rather than silver, and all of the lights cast on the gold statues shone down to the overly-polished floor. It made it look wet, and Rhiannon kept feeling like she was bound to slip and fall. Astoria, who was used to the place, became more alert as they passed an especially ugly fountain; she reached into her pocket and threw several Sickles into the water without a second thought. Sickles to her were nothing.

They had to stop by security, where a queue of students and their relatives were already waiting. Rhiannon scanned the many faces, hoping to see Hestia, but she wasn't there yet. She saw Ginny Weasley at the very front of the queue with her dad, and just a few places ahead of them stood Alexa Crover, their classmate. Rhiannon was going to say hello to them, but Ginny was in conversation, and Alexa looked too nervous.

"Good morning, Eric," Mr Greengrass said to the security wizard. "My youngest is taking her Ordinary Wizarding Levels today. I am also escorting her friend."

Eric, whose gruff voice and tone of indifference had been carrying well down the queue, instantly became cordial and enthusiastic in the presence of Mr Greengrass. He scanned them quickly with a Dark detector.

"There are several in front of you going for exactly the same thing. Mr Greengrass, I'm sure you know where the testing room is in the Department of Magical Education?"

"I do recall where it is. Thank you, Eric. My Astoria had tested into Hogwarts here with one year's advancement. Not to mention two years' advancement in Astronomy. We're very proud of her," Mr Greengrass said, still holding his daughter's shoulder.

"I'm sure you are. Well, best of luck to you, Miss Greengrass," said Eric sycophantically. "Will you produce your wand for a moment? Thank you."

Eric placed Astoria's wand into a golden scale, which made a little noise and printed a piece of parchment.

"Twelve and a quarter inches, dragon heartstring. Five years of use?" Eric read from the parchment.

"Yes," Astoria said, and Eric stuck the parchment on a receipt holder, and then held out his hand for Rhiannon's wand.

Rhiannon instantly noticed the different tones coming from the instrument behind Eric's desk. It was also taking longer than Astoria's wand. Rhiannon grew nervous that she would somehow be banned from taking her exams due to her off-brand wand. At least she wasn't using Professor Crouch's anymore. They'd probably all spend the week in gaol.

"Eleven inches, Acromantula web core?" Eric asked, making a face at the parchment.

"Yeah," Rhiannon piped.

"Five years of use… Er, forked on the end once? Core replaced?"

"Yes."

"Here you go," he said, handing back her wand at last. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Rhiannon said, and she followed Astoria and Mr Greengrass to the lifts, searching to see if her own reflection would appear in the glittering ceiling.

She bumped into more than one person that way and decided to watch where she was going after that. Filing into the lift with the Greengrasses and a handful of strangers, Rhiannon noticed that they were going down rather than up. Level seven was announced through a magical intercom, or perhaps just a witch's voice. Nobody in the lift was stopping at the Department of Magical Games and Sports, so the lift continued its descent. Level Six was announced as the Department of Magical Transport, though Mr Greengrass stepped out there onto another heavily polished floor. Rhiannon followed, her eyes tricking her, taking care not to slip between the gates of the lift. It seemed like the magic imbued in their identification tags led the witch's voice to ring through the hallways.

"The Department of Magical Education, incorporating the Wizarding Examinations Authority, the Hogwarts Board of Governors Office, and the Academic Disciplinary Office, is located to the left at the end of the hallway."

"Yes, yes, we know…" Mr Greengrass muttered to himself. The disembodied voice was not the sort that could answer back.

Rhiannon took note of everyone passing by her. A young wizard in a tall hat had just exited the door to her right, looking high off his mind. Rhiannon looked at the door behind him, which had a gold metal placard that read Floo Network Authority. An older wizard with an eerily similar expression on his face passed by her shortly after. He had come down the hall from what Rhiannon guessed had been the main office for transportation.

"Hey, er, Astoria?"

"I know," Astoria said, not turning her head toward Rhiannon but toward the wizards passing them.

"Father? I need to tell you something," Astoria said.

"What ever is wrong, darling?" he asked, stopping right in the middle of the hall, leading several other passers-by to reroute.

Astoria said something in French, but Rhiannon heard Imperius, and knew that her hunch had been right. Astoria was getting very good at Legilimency; if someone was Imperiused, she could probably sense it with more than the usual suspicion. However, it was only moments after Astoria had said it that an argument broke out between her father and her. It was not Rhiannon's usual idea of an argument, since their voices were both quiet, but the speed of their speech increased from what Rhiannon already considered to be fast French. Like most arguments the Greengrasses had, Astoria lost. No further action was taken, and the obviously Imperiused wizards disappeared into the lift.

"Mr Greengrass, I think she's right," Rhiannon spoke up. "I'm actually the one who noticed the signs."

"Is that so?" Mr Greengrass said impatiently, checking his watch. "Well, your Charms O.W.L. is in twenty minutes, and any sort of report we would file would rather prevent you from taking that. That report alone would be two hours in this place. I can mention this to security after you are done with testing, if that's what you want. I don't know what makes you two so certain…"

"I was Imperiused before, and it just seemed—" Rhiannon said, since Astoria would sooner tell her father that she had kissed Draco Malfoy than had practised Legilimency.

"You were Imperiused? When? At Hogwarts? How did I not know about this? Who did that to you?" Mr Greengrass erupted, nearly elbowing an employee carrying an armful of broken broom handles.

"It was before I even met you, sir," Rhiannon said, hoping to calm him, but his thick eyebrows were still making all sorts of angry shapes.

"…Later," Mr Greengrass said firmly, looking at his watch again. "We'll discuss all of this later. Focus on your exams, girls."

They passed through the main door of the Department of Magical Education and were immediately bunched into a thin, horizontal room with a glass window and bad lighting. Several other fifth years were waiting there with their parents, but Rhiannon noticed Abigail Pugh, the seventh-year prefect from her House, waiting in the queue alone to take her N.E.W.T.s. Katie Bell of Gryffindor stood by one of her friends, and Rhiannon was glad that her last year of school had all worked out for her in spite of her being cursed. It had been Mrs Ciel-Greengrass who helped Katie catch up on schoolwork, so she recognised Mr Greengrass, too. Katie caught sight of him from the other end of the cramped room and said good morning. He bowed forward.

Even as people in front of them walked through a door at the end of the tubular room, still more people came in behind them. Rhiannon wished everyone would hurry up so they could leave this poorly-designed room. The witch behind the glass had faded, charmed red hair and a chewed quill. She had stacks of papers all round her desk, but none of them interfered with the floral blue name card that said Beatrix Edgecombe. When the Greengrasses stepped forward, the witch suddenly threw her germy quill sideways down to the floor and pulled another one out of the drawer like nobody would notice.

"A-Adam! What a surprise!" she said, and even if her voice wasn't squeaky, it certainly sounded that way through the glass.

"Good morning, Trixie. My daughter and her friend have the Charms O.W.L. today."

"Well, what do you know? O.W.L.s already! Step forward, honey, let me get a look at you. Oh, yes, you still do look like your father… such a beautiful young lady," said Trixie, putting her fresh quill into her hair. She had done this absentmindedly and started looking for something to write with. She took yet another quill out of her drawer, and her long, fake eyelashes fluttered down at the parchment. She seemed very happy for the early hour it was. Mr Greengrass looked impatient.

"Will they need to provide identification?" he asked.

"Oh no, not once you're in. This is your little Ravenclaw, isn't it? I remember her testing into Hogwarts," Trixie said, nodding to Astoria and putting a hand on her cheek.

Astoria had started to giggle furiously. The effort Astoria was taking to control herself made Rhiannon think there was something much funnier going on than being mistaken for a Ravenclaw.

"Both of my girls are Slytherins," said Mr Greengrass politely, but it was obvious he was trying to get to business. "We'll need to sign in…?"

"Oh, yes, have them sign this," Trixie said, and a piece of parchment dissolved into nothingness on her end of the window, materialising on their side along with a quill that had fortunately not been chewed. "Both Slytherins, then, hm? I bet that's from your wife. Of course, they don't Sort where she comes from, do they?"

"No, they do not," said Mr Greengrass shortly. "Yes, dear, sign there," he said to Rhiannon.

"Can you imagine, Adam? Not being Sorted? If we hadn't been Sorted in Ravenclaw, we'd have to deal with all those other Houses… Oh, you find that funny don't you, honey?" Trixie addressed Astoria, who was utterly scarlet from holding in laughter now.

"Oh, yes," Astoria said offhandedly as the sign-in sheet magically returned behind the glass. "Being with Gryffindors, yes, who could imagine…"

Trixie gave Astoria a puzzled look and batted her blue eyelids.

"They'll have lunch between the written and practical, but before then…" Trixie said, and the third quill made certain contact with her mouth. "I've been telling the parents to wait in the lobby of the examinations office. If there aren't enough seats for you, Adam, we do have a little lobby outside of my office…"

"Thank you," said Mr Greengrass, walking down the hall and shaking his head.

Rhiannon felt Astoria's soft hand on her arm and leaned sideways to hear her. It was great to see Astoria in such a mood after weeks of those frightening silences.

"That was the girl before Maman," Astoria whispered. "A social climber. I was trying to see exactly how Father broke up with her. I needed my wand for something detailed like that, though. Oh, it was going to be good. I know it was."

The next hallway had four doors, all labelled with gold signs. Two stood out to Rhiannon: the Board of Governors Office was highly decorated with a dragon scale pattern, and the door for the Academic Discipline Office had looming gargoyles. Rhiannon followed the Greengrasses through the doors to the Wizarding Examinations Authority, where the room was thankfully as wide as it was long, and there was plenty of room to sit for students and family alike.

Montel Davis was sitting with his father not far from them. Rhiannon always liked talking to Montel, but she thought it might get awkward since Mr Davis had been their producer when her band was together. Due to the threat of Death Eaters, Pariah had started an indefinite hiatus as soon as they became genuinely popular. Part of that decision came from Professor Snape's urging toward Rhiannon to lie low. It was surreal to her now that he was one of the people being searched for in connection with the murder of Albus Dumbledore. Rhiannon added him to the list of Death Eaters who had paradoxically taken interest in her safety. They must not have read the fine print about killing Muggle-borns, huh?

There was a continuous message playing in this waiting room just below the threshold of irritation. Astoria had been paying attention to it, so Rhiannon didn't prioritise it at first. Then she realised she wasn't going to get very far in life by waiting for Astoria to tell her what was happening, and listened to the repeating message:-

…will be permitted to enter the screening room in two minutes and thirty-two seconds. Students will be inspected for any cheating devices. No personal items are permitted in the Wizarding Examination Authority test room. Quills will be provided. Students will surrender their wands after identification for the duration of the written examination. Students requiring accommodations will submit their forms once in the screening room. Students will be permitted to enter the screening room in two minutes and one second…

Rhiannon looked as far across the room in both directions for signs of her girlfriend and Flora. Maybe they were late. Maybe their aunt and uncle had forbidden them from the O.W.L.s. Maybe they were in trouble at home, being attacked by the people who were supposed to love and protect them.

Mr Greengrass did not wish Rhiannon and Astoria good luck when it was time to go in for screening but rather looked from one girl to the other and said, "You can do this."

Rhiannon knew Hestia and Flora had to be there somewhere…

"O.W.L. STUDENTS TO THE LEFT! N.E.W.T. STUDENTS TO THE RIGHT! FIFTH-YEARS LEFT! SEVENTH-YEARS RIGHT!" shouted an elderly witch as the test-takers filed into a large and extremely bright room.

"We didn't have to do any of this for the O.W.L.s," Rhiannon heard a recent graduate say. "Although I heard a rumour that we'll get our results by the end of each week this way."

"Great," said another graduate standing nearby, "I can get disowned even quicker for failing, then."

Rhiannon squinted on account of the bright light, which was definitely coming from more places than only the ceiling. A policeman from her old neighbourhood might have just shined a torch in her face. She and Astoria shuffled to the left, into a very inefficient group of other shufflers. It took a while for the O.W.L. kids to separate from the N.E.W.T. kids and form what might have been a queue, bunched into itself in several places. Thankfully, Astoria offered to go ahead of Rhiannon. They watched the long stream of students step up onto a platform and get scanned by a similar instrument Rhiannon encountered at the main security desk. Rhiannon soon accepted her fate of standing here for a long time. Every single time somebody had brought in their own quill, a snack, or scratch parchment, it had to be confiscated. It was not a quiet ordeal, either, since the detector being used by the elderly witch and her cohort gave off a loud shout every time there was an unpermitted item. Rhiannon turned her pockets inside out, letting a sweets wrapper fall to the floor, and Vanished it quietly. She had a 2p in there somehow, and a chocolate frog card of Paracelsus. Those were probably highly illegal items in the eyes of the Wizarding Examination Authority, who had just confiscated someone's hair pin, so Rhiannon Vanished them, too.

"Name?" asked the testing official when Astoria stepped up on the platform and flipped her pockets inside-out.

"A-S-T-O-R-I-A Greengrass."

"Wand?"

The wizard labelled Astoria's wand with a conjured tag. Astoria's head dropped as she saw that they were throwing all the wands down a sort of laundry chute, which burped occasionally and was anything but reassuring. The wizard waved the shiny gold detector over Astoria, and it did not make its usual shout.

Rhiannon stepped forward on the platform, emptied her pockets, stated her name, and surrendered her wand. She was subjected to the same detector, and when it shouted, Rhiannon had no clue what could have caused it. The problem was that security personnel tend not to like clueless looks on people who set alarms off.

"Pockets empty?"

"Yeah," said Rhiannon, groping herself all over.

She heard sighs from the people behind her as she tried to figure out what had set off the alarm. One of those people was Diane Carter, who wasted no time in saying, "Muggle-borns. The only way they can pass these tests is to cheat."

"Can you remove your outer robe, then?" the wizard said gruffly, and Rhiannon complied.

She shook it out. A single piece of Frosted Honey Frogs cereal had been stuck to her robe and fell to the floor. When the wizard scanned her again, no alarms went off. Amazing how a budding Legilimens could get into the testing room undetected, but a piece of cereal held up the queue!

"No snacks allowed, fatty," Diane Carter giggled for Imogen Stretton's amusement.

Rhiannon didn't have time to care. She and Astoria followed the queue into the main testing room. Hestia and Flora were bound to show up in there. They must have been way ahead of her. Maybe they had to come to the Ministry alone, or with their dad.

A few students tried to take seats just to disperse from the crowd, but one of the test proctors shouted, "NO, NOT THERE! ALPHABETICAL ORDER!" as if anybody could figure that out in a multi-House situation. She started traipsing along the aisles, reading off names from the long piece of parchment faster than most people could organise themselves at the correct seat. Finally, Rhiannon saw Hestia.

Hestia, but not her twin sister, was in pyjamas. That was drawing the eye of many, but particularly the test proctor, who kept verging on saying something in spite of being busy. Hestia's light brown hair was tied back, falling between her sloping shoulders and standing out against the pyjama pattern of galloping unicorns. She might have just crawled out of bed in the dormitory. She had a sweet, sleepy look on her face so characteristic of times when she wished to be cuddled. Rhiannon drank in her natural beauty as they made eye contact at last. Hestia smiled and ran from her seat to embrace Rhiannon. They exchanged basic words of good luck. Rhiannon desperately wanted something clever or funny to say to her.

Hestia's beauty had one rival: her attractive character. It always showed on her face, at least to Rhiannon, and set her apart from her identical twin. Hestia was not jaded by the world even in the face of adversity. Her mischievous streak was associated with hilarious pranking rather than using the outer fringe of the Dark arts. Where Flora was prone to snide remarks and long, boring bouts of quietude, Hestia was wholesomely expressive. She gave her affections freely to Rhiannon and sought the fun in life. That was why their group tended to pair off between classes, even in the early days of their friendship. Rhiannon and Hestia's coupling meant that Astoria and Flora would be knee-deep in their serious discussions. Rhiannon and Astoria's quality time meant that the twins would walk side by side and whisper entire conversations to each other. But now, even as Rhiannon had to separate from her girlfriend to take her Charms O.W.L., she deeply needed all three of her friends at once. Rhiannon couldn't believe she'd agreed to leave Hestia and Flora for an unspecified period of time during the war. A family that had fostered her out of pity was soon going to uproot her from her homeland.

Rhiannon began her O.W.L. with a racing, heavy heart. She had prepared well for this test, even if she could not prepare for losing contact with the girl she loved and the friend she cherished. Rhiannon did experience her usual lapses of concentration from time to time, and thoughts about losing Hestia were not the only culprit. She wondered if Astoria was able to glean any information from other students with Legilimency. It felt wrong to assume Astoria would be a dishonest test-taker, but Rhiannon could never be sure of the girl's command of wandless Legilimency. Sometimes it felt like she knew all sorts of things. Other times, she was clueless. Maybe Rhiannon was so focused on Astoria's academic integrity because of her disgust about what happened with Draco Malfoy. She wasn't being fair to Astoria. Then again, not very much about Astoria was fair.

Being in the same place where Astoria had tested into Rhiannon's year reminded Rhiannon of the privileges of being raised in Wizarding society. Rhiannon hadn't even had a chance of testing into anything. Looking at some of the harder questions on her Charms O.W.L., she knew that even if she was raised in Wizarding culture, she wouldn't have tested a year ahead, but somebody like Hermione Granger would have easily tested one or two years ahead for all of her classes if given the chance! Nor could Muggle-borns like Rhiannon and Hermione ever hope to use magic outside of school without the threat of expulsion. As Rhiannon had seen by staying at Quennell Park, though, some basic magic could be disguised under the cover of adult magic at the same location. Simple charms went by unpunished for a pureblood like Astoria. And she rarely understood her privilege, thinking nothing special about her day-to-day life. Rhiannon wasn't angry, but she was disappointed.

Rhiannon quickly checked the answers she had scribbled in, and then it was time for her first essay prompt: A witch has moved into a house with several charms still in effect on the property that are not useful to her: a) a Caterwauling Charm is over the front door, but she prefers it to be on the back shed; b) an Amplifying Charm is over the doorbell that makes it too loud; c) a light fixture she does not want is Hovering in the kitchen. Explain, in detail, the charms and/or countercharms she would use to correct these issues. Also, write in the incantations for the original spells mentioned above should she desire to use these features again.

Rhiannon gripped her quill. Multifaceted questions like this always exacerbated her nerves and made it harder to concentrate. She hated test-taking as it was, but she needed extra time to break questions like this down. The English composition book Snape had given her had been useful not only to improve her writing skills but also to get her used to answering stupid questions like this coherently. She scowled at her newfound writing skill. Why had Snape become a Death Eater in the first place if he was going to go out of his way to be helpful to her? Had he been embarrassed of her performance all along? Did he become a Death Eater when he had been young and stupid, and did he regret it in the slightest now? Rhiannon cringed at the thought of how many of her "young and stupid" classmates would join up with Voldemort. It didn't excuse it. And she still had four more essays to do.

The two-hour written examination left Rhiannon feeling sweaty and defeated. Rhiannon, Astoria, and the twins quickly bunched together. The first thing Rhiannon asked Hestia when they were excused for lunch was if Amycus or Alecto had accompanied her to the test.

"No, they're so busy lately, you see," Hestia said unhappily.

"They've never been fond of being out in public," Flora bitterly added.

It was hectic trying to get out of the department and away from all the people who slowed the traffic by stopping to talk to their parents. Rhiannon noticed that the N.E.W.T. students had not been excused for lunch like they had.

Mr Greengrass wanted to ask Astoria about every aspect of the exam she had just taken. Rhiannon and the twins shuffled unsurely, not wanting to leave her, but not wanting to be rushed for lunch, either. In a few moments, Astoria convinced her father to join them on the walk for lunch, since it was obvious he wouldn't excuse her without a thorough knowledge of every answer she had put on the test. They snaked through the narrow hallway of rooms and into the other narrow hallway of the general department. Once in the main passage of the sixth floor, Rhiannon remembered seeing the Imperiused wizards. Mr Greengrass was deep in conversation with his daughter, so she directed the concern to Hestia and Flora.

"I guarantee there are plenty of Imperiused people running about by now," said Flora with a shrug.

"But… we were gonna report it… with Mr Greengrass…" said Rhiannon.

"Oh, by all means, go ahead," Flora said with a sarcastic nod. "And because of the way things work round here, the report is bound to go through somebody who is either in on it or Imperiused themselves, and nothing will get done."

"I'd like to Imperius the test scorers," Hestia said, and Rhiannon was surprised by her lack of care.

The twins knew something she didn't, and that frightened her to the point that she couldn't even ask. She did not know how much danger lurked in the building where all she was trying to do was take her tests. The most she could do, or at least the most it felt like she could do, was stay near Mr Greengrass in a sea of unsolved problems. The cafeteria was located on the main level of the Ministry, well out of the way of the bustling fireplaces and lifts. The room had impractical grandeur considering that everyone queued up for a long self-serve buffet. The same overly polished floor would easily disguise the hazard of spilt drinks. Rhiannon wasn't feeling very adventurous and picked a chicken sandwich and a salad. Mr Greengrass's plate had every colour of the rainbow, and his expression went well with it, since it seemed Astoria had done a good job on the written part of Charms. The twins joined them at a long table.

A cherry tomato avoided Rhiannon's fork for several tries. She had just realised that she was about a twenty-minute cab ride away from where she used to live. That meant she was not far from her friend P.R., who had opened his music shop at eleven that morning. She wondered if he really missed her, or if she had been a pity case to him, too — someone he had to babysit for free so the beatings wouldn't be so frequent. She longed to see P.R. either way, even if what he meant to her was not what she meant to him. She felt that way about several people who had been kind to her. She picked up the tomato with her fingers and plopped it in her mouth, thinking about what her mother Jessica might be doing. She thought about how many people were talking to their mothers this very moment about their O.W.L.s, receiving words of encouragement, praise, or concern. Hestia and Flora had never had a mother, either. Rhiannon wondered if they got jealous sometimes, too, or if they had somehow grown out of that. Did anybody ever really grow out of that, though?

After returning to the testing centre, everybody had to be inspected again, and the queue was more disorganised than before. Mr Greengrass got Rhiannon's attention before she had a chance to follow Astoria in to be screened.

"How do you think you performed on the written examination?" he asked.

"Er…"

Rhiannon wasn't sure if he cared about her exams because she had lived in his house for so long, or if he was being a curious Ravenclaw. She told him she did good, then said, "er, did well."

These people were exhausting.

"Excellent," said Mr Greengrass, patting her on the shoulder. "I'll be frank, Rhiannon, I was worried for your written exam as much as I am still worried for Astoria's practical one. So this is very good news. Keep it up, yes? You girls have such different strengths. I think that's what makes you such dear friends."

"Oh, er, I'll do my best," Rhiannon said nervously.

Rhiannon still wondered if Astoria might try to use Legilimency during the test. She hated herself for thinking that. They weren't just "dear friends;" they were going to get old and crabby together and Apparate to each other's doorsteps to complain about which muscle they pulled the other day. Why couldn't she get the idea of Astoria cheating out of her head?

There wasn't any food on her robes the next time she was screened for the test, but plenty of messy eaters set off the alarm with lingering crumbs. Curtis Evercreech's eyeglasses, which had been approved the first time, had to be examined at length because he had accidentally smudged them in a "suspicious" fashion. The screening room was newly equipped with conjured chairs, where the students waited until their names were called alphabetically. Hestia, Flora, and a Hufflepuff named Poppy Caxton were all sadly stuck completing some of their practical O.W.L.s with Diane Carter in close proximity. Rhiannon didn't know the people she was taking her practical exams with very well. Brian Cinderford and Rachael Codnor were Gryffindors from her Potions class, but she never talked to them. She didn't remember Luke Cholderton of Hufflepuff at all; her Sorting had been so long ago. Hestia was almost done demonstrating a basic Sticking Charm when Rhiannon walked in to find a station. She looked for Flora but realised that students had to exit the test room through a different passageway than they had come in to prevent discussions about the test.

Rhiannon had to perform a great variety of useful charms, but some others could have passed for magic tricks at a Muggle kid's birthday party. She imagined Professor Flitwick tap dancing with the same vigour as the teacup on her desk as she was able to perform every spell asked of her. Luke Cholderton looked like he had got all the spells, too. Rhiannon congratulated him, whoever the heck he was. She followed the designated exit hallway back to the lobby where Mr Greengrass was reading the summer issue of Artful Arithmancy. He put his gold-chained reading glasses in his chest pocket and stood to greet Rhiannon, who in all honesty was merely looking for Hestia.

"How do you feel about it, Rhiannon?"

"I cast all the spells well enough, I think."

"Excellent! I knew you could do it," he nodded.

"…Oh, thanks. Yeah, it really wasn't so bad."

Rhiannon quickly returned Mr Greengrass's smile and located Hestia. Despite all the examiner's precautions, she and Flora were talking to Mr Davis about what they had been tested on and what Montel was likely to face in the coming minutes. Then they sat with Rhiannon in a corner and looked indifferently at the magazine titles Mr Greengrass had been so interested in.

"We have to be back by three o'clock," Flora said to Rhiannon with uncomfortable fixity.

It was 2:45. So much for getting to talk. Rhiannon offered to at least walk them back to the fireplaces on the main level, but Hestia refused, citing the threat of Imperiused workers. She squeezed Rhiannon's hand, but neither hugged nor kissed her. It was Rhiannon's first taste of really losing her. She would see her for a total of nine more days, and then the promises they had made would need to stretch a great distance. Rhiannon sat alone in the waiting room for several minutes, contemplating what it would be like when they reunited with each other, however long that might be. It would obviously require that neither of them die, but there was much more to it than that.

Astoria, for all of her ignorant excuses for Malfoy, had had no reason to believe that he had become an actual, full-blown Death Eater. It made Rhiannon realise that the very same thing could happen to Hestia. Voldemort could be starting people young so that he would have a tight hold of their pureblood genes by the time they got married. Rhiannon shivered as her thoughts spiralled out of control, painting images of Hestia being forced to marry some ugly male Death Eater. It could be ages before this war ended. There was no guarantee Voldemort would lose. Rhiannon might never come back. How long would it take Hestia to break their promise of sticking it out? Worse yet, Rhiannon wondered how long it would take to give up on the idea of reuniting with Hestia. Perhaps there would be some way to get Hestia, Flora, and their dad out of Britain. She was half-tempted to ask Mr Greengrass about any options, but she knew any attempt to rescue the twins would put the Greengrasses in even more danger.

When Astoria finished her Charms O.W.L., Mr Greengrass spent plenty of time asking her what she had been unable to cast. Astoria was trying to convince her dad that the only spells she missed were the ones with incantations she forgot, but he looked sceptical. Rhiannon and Astoria shared a couple of looks to the side. Astoria was getting red and huffy, so Rhiannon quietly said, "I believe you," and it made a world of difference.

Unlike what Hestia and Flora had anticipated with the Ministry's mismanagement, Adam Greengrass knew exactly how to navigate the place and find the right person to talk to. Everything about his appearance and behaviour suggested that he was special, and that if he wanted to talk to the Head of the Aurors, he could walk right into the office and knock on his door. Rhiannon tried to mimic Astoria's expression of purpose instead of looking like the curious visitor she was. Mostly, she thought of how far underground she was, and it was not easy to remember the details of the Imperiused wizards she had seen so early that morning. The grizzled Gawain Robards, the Auror boss, turned his attention to Astoria, since Mr Greengrass had not noticed the Imperius Curse victims, and Rhiannon hardly had enough descriptions after a long day of the Charms O.W.L.

Rhiannon was alarmed that Astoria had gleaned the wizards' names off their badges, which was a huge help. However, nobody — Robards included — knew who could have cast the curse.

"You almost learn to expect these issues nowadays," the Auror grimaced. "I know even Rufus says…"

Robards coughed, like he had said too much about the fragility of the Ministry. He had a grave but highly informal manner. Unlike how Rhiannon had pictured the Head of the Aurors to be, Robards was open to conversation.

"What I can't understand is why it's Magical Transportation people," he said to Astoria. "Could mean there's an agent in the department and it was convenient. Or it could be You-Know-Who trying to get an edge on the Floo Network. Still, if I was trying to infiltrate some place, I'd probably start somewhere higher up than Broom Control, eh?"

Astoria nodded, wide-eyed. Robards suddenly remembered he was talking to a teenager. He coughed again, recognising how offended Mr Greengrass was that he had not been included in the primary chat.

"I'll get right on this, Mr Greengrass."

"Thank you, Mr Robards. That's much better than the 'looking into it' that usually happens round here."

"B'lieve me, I know."

"Mr Robards," Astoria said as the Auror started writing a report, "I want this to be completely anonymous."

Mr Greengrass blinked. He wished he had thought to ask that first. He wished that he had done most of the talking.

"You got it," said Robards. "Anonymous is the only way we can get people to give us tips these days."

It was a long way back up to the Floo Network Rhiannon was now afraid to use. They all arrived at Quennell Park without issue that time, but if the network was hijacked, Rhiannon could only imagine where it might take them. As the usual Greengrass greetings were taking place in the drawing room, Rhiannon could not look anywhere besides the window. Having not been able to take her Foe-Shard to the Ministry only made her more aware of how compulsively she groped for it in her pockets.

"Rhiannon? Might I have a word in the study?" Mr Greengrass asked her quietly after reassuring his wife as best he could about Astoria's Charms scores.

Rhiannon could not think of any sensible reason why they had to have their Professor-Crouch-Imperius-Curse discussion in the study rather than right where they were, but she played along anyway. She managed to cut her explanation down to twenty minutes this time, which was a new record for anything to do with Crouch Jr. It didn't look like Adam Greengrass would have believed the long version anyway. Rhiannon was hoping to spend at least another ten minutes talking to Astoria about it. Looking for a specific person in Quennell Park, though, was equivalent to finding the sneaky mice in her old flat. During her lengthy search for Astoria, Rhiannon did her best not to alert any of the myriad family members who were now staying in the manor, or else there would be general uproar that the Death Eaters had got her.

"Oh. You can't find her, either," said Daphne, suddenly popping her head out of her room.

Daphne had three blouses floating behind her; she was picking out what she would change into for dinner. It was a way of life for her. And here Rhiannon had been so amused lately by seeing the Greengrasses live on what they considered the "necessities" during the move.

"How long have you been looking for her?" Rhiannon asked.

"I gave up. I assumed she went to her room. Since you're up and down the hall, though…" Daphne sighed.

"Maybe we could both look for her."

"Well…" Daphne said distantly.

Rhiannon pursed her lips. Astoria was probably fine. So they waited and waited, and finally they heard girly heels clicking on the main stair. Astoria brushed her robe off when they saw her. She had grass stains all over her elbows that would require a spell. She was pulling several leaves out of her hair.

"What on earth were you doing out there, Astoria?" Daphne questioned.

"What, I can't go outside in the summer and enjoy the estate whilst we're still here?"

Rhiannon, who preferred not to interfere with their sisterly spats, sided with Daphne for the first time in her life.

"It's not that. It's just you didn't tell anybody. And the house is so big. You know, with all the Death Eaters in the news… Oh, look at what a mess you are!"

Astoria shook her head, loosening a few more leaves from her hair. She must have taken a tumble in the woods.

"All the Death Eaters, yes, you're right!" she snapped. "I do have to finish that Arithmancy O.W.L. before I am ritually sacrificed to the Lestranges, or else Father would be very troubled!"

Rhiannon and Daphne shared a concerned look. Hyperbole was getting too close to the truth lately to be used in conversation like that. When Thursday's D.A.D.A. O.W.L. came, and none of the girls in Rhiannon's group could cast the Patronus Charm for bonus credit, it dug the nail deeper. The twins' Runespoors were absent, Astoria's peacock's failure to arrive broke her heart, and even Rhiannon's beloved wolf wouldn't show.

Both Rhiannon and Astoria had to wait until Mr Greengrass was finished scrutinising their first O.W.L. reports on Saturday morning before they even got to see how they scored. It made Rhiannon feel oddly included in the family in the way she did not want to be. After growling about Astoria's Herbology score, Mr Greengrass finally handed over the reports, which they compared on the sunny front terrace.

Rhiannon Nicole Clarke has achieved:

Charms - O

Defence Against the Dark Arts - O

Herbology - A

Transfiguration - A

Astoria Nesrine Greengrass has achieved:

Ancient Runes - A

Charms - E

Defence Against the Dark Arts - O

Herbology - D

Transfiguration - E

"I can continue Transfiguration! Oh, thank God!" Astoria yelped, wrinkling her parchment in her grasp.

"Yeah, you worked really hard on that," Rhiannon congratulated, at last seeing the proof that Astoria hadn't cheated with Legilimency all over her grateful face.

"Look at you with two Outstanding scores! Excellent work, Rhi," Astoria said.

They relaxed on the remaining outdoor furniture. After several minutes of internalising the test scores that decided their fates, they casually started to describe the soft, white clouds. It stopped being quite so casual when they disagreed about whether one particular cloud was a horntail or a dinosaur. It was fun to bicker about it, especially considering that Astoria could only name dinosaurs improperly: stegodactyl and tyrannodon were her choice descriptors. Rhiannon won the debate; it was definitely a horntail.

"I hope the twins received the scores they wanted," Astoria sighed.

"Flora's gonna go into detail about how the entire educational system cheated her from birth if she got anything less than O's," Rhiannon said.

She imagined Hestia biting her tongue, listening to her sister's rants. But she tried not to think about Hestia very much at home. They had five more days of seeing each other. As in five more lunch hours, since they were only near each other to take the damn tests. Mr Greengrass was right not to let anyone know where they were relocating. Rhiannon wouldn't have had it in her to keep it from Hestia, even though the girl lived with two Death Eaters.

Later that evening, it occurred to Rhiannon that she should have been using this time to study. Astoria was still looking at the sparse, fluffy clouds, probably waiting for that exciting but inevitable moment she would spot the faint light of the stars. Rhiannon didn't really want to get out of her seat, either. What did she have next week that was so important anyway? Magical Creatures? She didn't need to study.

The night sky changed all the time, Rhiannon knew, but she felt the big picture always looked the same. As Astoria beheld her sky, Rhiannon scanned the grounds for any interesting critters. The shadows crept across the gardens beautifully, almost uniformly, but when the intense darkness stopped making sense given the sunset, Rhiannon sat up. Something wilted the garden, which had gone unmanaged during the stress on the family. She raised her wand and tried to mouth a warning to Astoria. To her shock, Astoria was already watching the garden decay. Her eyes glimmered. She stood and smiled.

No! Is she under the Imperius Curse? Who's out there?

"He's come to say goodbye to me after all," Astoria whispered.

"What?"

"Quennell, our ghost. I've been looking for him since school ended."

"Where is he, then?" Rhiannon asked, also whispering.

Unlike the concerned Mrs Ciel-Greengrass, Rhiannon had never seen this "Quennell" at Quennell Park. Yet other ghosts she knew could not smother the atmosphere in this way. Unwilling to appear, Quennell must have been closer still. Though the air was crisp and sweet, Rhiannon's lungs were underwater as the pressure of his presence grew unbearable. Only a few seconds felt like time had cut deep into the night, and finally, Rhiannon broke the surface for air. The thing had left.

"He'll be the only one left here," Astoria said sadly, clutching the sides of her robes.

"I mean," Rhiannon said breathlessly, "it is Quennell Park."

"I don't want to leave," Astoria mourned.

Rhiannon nodded unwillingly. At face value, she agreed, but Astoria wasn't talking about losing her friends, her school, or the security in her life. She was talking about the phantom, the place — the wood surrounding them and the yawning magic in it.

Once the Potions O.W.L. was over, Rhiannon and Hestia had to admit the rest of their week was a bit of a joke. The Care of Magical Creatures exam was only a practical examination, and on top of that, they didn't have to deal with Astoria and Flora that day. On Wednesday, they had their Astronomy exams, so the examination ceiling was charmed to reflect the night sky for observation. It was so much better than standing out in the cold and watching Professor Hagrid get arrested, as Astoria had recounted to them last year. That afternoon, Rhiannon took Divination alone, which was apparently of no consequence compared to Astoria's even later Arithmancy exam. Rhiannon was tempted to tell her she saw an excellent Arithmancy score in her crystal ball that day just to get her to hush up. The only decent essays Rhiannon managed to muster on her History of Magic exam were the ones about race riots. If only there was some way for the week to be finished without having to become a refugee.

As if the world had planned it, Rhiannon set off the security device whilst trying to get into her Muggle Studies O.W.L. The culprits were a few flakes of pepper left over from her breakfast, due to their barely identifiable resemblance to certain magic "brain powders." Rhiannon was already tired by the time she was admitted to the testing room, but since Wizarding kids couldn't be expected to safely use a microwave, the exam had no practical portion. Unlike her other tests, which were a mixture of hard and easy questions throughout, the idea of the Muggle Studies exam was to increase in difficulty as it went on. Only one-third of the way into the test, Professor Burbage had claimed, even Muggle-borns might not have an advantage if they hadn't taken the class. Rhiannon could see why. She had to come up with five compare-and-contrast answers about spell development and Muggle technological advancements. How could she compare the Internet to anything Wizarding? Rhiannon's home situation wasn't the kind where they could afford Internet service. The best she could come up with was a library with an Undetectable Extension Charm on it.

Rhiannon glanced quickly at Hestia. She was definitely scribbling away, but there was no guarantee she had the right answers. Flora, by contrast, was still stewing over the second set of questions. In class, Flora often knew the answer but was too afraid to speak up for fear of using the wrong terms. Rhiannon hoped the best for them on this test at first, but she wondered if the Death Eaters would use high Muggle Studies scores against people in the long run. Maybe she should have been hoping they'd both get Troll scores! They certainly had a chance to with the killer essay on the last part of the test.

Describe a day from the perspective of a Muggle, assuming this Muggle is your age and nationality. Be sure to note any advantages and disadvantages to living without magic, WITHOUT indicating that you know about magic's existence. For full credit, you must discuss your entire day and include topics of school, work, hobbies, and health.

As far as hobbies and health went, nobody was going to be saved by a bottle of Skele-Gro if they had a bungee jumping accident in the Muggle world. Rhiannon looked at the clock as if she had ever been good at pacing herself on tests. These tests shouldn't have been a matter of life or death, but she knew that was one thing the Wizarding and Muggle world had in common: stupidly hard tests for school. She wanted to do well for Professor Burbage, who had always been open-minded and kind, but then again, it wasn't like Rhiannon planned to take her career anywhere with this O.W.L. With her band broken up, though, she had to take what she could get. She had no clue what the sixth-year course admission policies were at foreign schools; most of the information Snape had given to her only clarified that O.W.L.s would indeed transfer. Rhiannon inked her quill again. She had written fluffy, structure-free essays for most of her life, but if she was using what she had learnt from Snape's nasty English workbook during her favourite O.W.L.s, she might as well use it for Muggle Studies, too. She knew the whole point of the essay was to understand and appreciate Muggle culture, but she could not help herself and put that her hobby was lobbying for gay rights. It rather spiralled out from there; she talked about witnessing racial discrimination at her job and how she could not afford auto insurance. She wrote until her time was up, and then it sunk in that she was officially no longer a Hogwarts student.

Hestia tried to act like nothing was wrong after the test, though they only had ten minutes before she had to go back to Amycus and Alecto. In the corner of the waiting room, out of the way of the students scurrying to freedom, Hestia took Rhiannon's hands.

"I remembered Professor Burbage said not to put our Muggle hobby as being a 'magician.' Everyone thinks that's clever and original for some reason," Hestia said.

"What did you put?"

"I said my hobby was recording teleshopping commercials on tape."

"What? No one would ever do that!" Rhiannon laughed.

"They wouldn't? Don't Muggles like seeing what they can buy right on television?" Hestia asked nervously.

"Er, not enough to record the adverts, no…"

"I said parasailing," Flora added from an unnecessary distance away.

"Flora, if you're going to listen to our conversation anyway, you may as well stand with us," Hestia responded.

"I didn't want to intrude," Flora said, since she was the only one of them who wasn't in denial about the situation.

Rhiannon and Hestia waved Flora towards them, but it wasn't very long before their usual post-test group huddle turned into an excruciating goodbye. Astoria had had her moment with the twins yesterday, since students not taking examinations weren't allowed to come, but to do this without her now felt wrong. It had always been the four of them. Rhiannon sorely wished there weren't any wars or lynchings driving her out. She wanted to be able to write, and visit, and come back to swoop Hestia off to a new place of their own.

"I don't think other schools have a House like ours… which, er, might be a good thing. But no matter what, you're always a Slytherin, you hear?" Hestia said emphatically.

Rhiannon liked the reassurance after everything she had been through. She liked the warmth of Hestia's arms, and how this was the only day of the O.W.L.s she hadn't worn pyjamas. She liked the extra moments they kept stealing to play with each other's hair, the homey feeling of Hestia's carefree touch. It was a privilege to kiss her before she stepped into the fireplace. They would not cry, lest they admit that everything they had built together was being torn from them.