"Heading back to Hogwarts in a few days?" Fiona asked as they went down the steps into the water.
"Yes, on Friday," Rachel said, not bothering to say that she and Professor Snape had already moved back into the castle on Sunday.
"It's your OWL year, right?"
"I've already got study guides and my study group has made a review chart," Rachel said with a nod.
"You're one of those, huh? Well, I suppose you couldn't be anything else with Professor Snape as your father. He used to scare the hell out of me. I was actually relieved when I only got an Acceptable on my Potions OWL and had an excuse not to take a NEWT in Potions." Fiona smiled. "Anyway, my advice is try not to stress over it too much. The exams are not as hard as you think they are. If you've been doing well on your end of year exams you have nothing to worry about."
Rachel hoped that was true, but she didn't think anything could stop her from worrying about exams. "Thanks."
"Alright, why don't we start with the breaststroke, down the length of the pool and back, I'll be right by your side," Fiona said.
"Okay." Rachel would have preferred if Fiona let her use the Bubblehead charm, but she said it was important to learn how to breathe properly while swimming. She turned back to check that Severus was sitting near the pool watching and then dropped down in the water and began swimming.
Truthfully, she was still not a great swimmer even after eight weeks of lessons, but she was much better than she had been in February in the lake. She could keep herself mostly on top of the water and get to a destination, even though she wasn't good at going in a straight line. She made it to the end of the pool, trying not to think about how deep it was there, held onto the side for a moment while she turned around, and then began swimming back. True to her word, Fiona stayed by her side.
Finally she reached a point where she could stand again and put her feet down.
"Good. Shall we try the backstroke again?" Fiona asked.
"I'm not very good at it," Rachel said. The backstroke did give her much more trouble than the breaststroke. She often wound up sinking a bit and then was unable to get herself back up if she couldn't touch the bottom of the pool.
"That's why we practice. Let's start by floating on your back."
Floating was also not one of her strong points. She could do it now without the assistance of the Flotation charm, but it made her feel very vulnerable and exposed. Rachel crouched down and then leaned back, spreading out her arms to help her stay on the water after she kicked her legs up.
"Good, I'm just going to adjust your direction so you're not going to bump into the people doing laps in the lanes," Fiona said.
A moment later she felt Fiona's hands on her arm, gently steering her back into place.
"Alright, it's just like we practiced before. Legs kicking, arms cycling up and over your shoulders while using your hands to propel you. I'll be beside you," Fiona directed.
Rachel began to swim, going a fair amount slower than she had on the breaststroke. "Am I near the wall?"
"Not yet, keep going," Fiona said from somewhere to her left.
She kicked harder, trying to keep herself from sinking, and continued swimming in what she thought was a very unnatural way.
"There go you, turn around now and let's go back," Fiona called.
Rachel let herself drop down into the water and then splashed over to grab onto the wall for a moment. "Backstroke again?"
"Yep, the only way to get better is to practice it. You're doing okay. Use the wall to kick off, that will get you some momentum."
Forcing herself to let go of the wall, Rachel pushed backwards and began swimming back toward the shallow end of the pool.
After about forty five minutes of practicing they climbed back out of the pool and Rachel gratefully sat down. Swimming was much harder work than flying.
"Good work. I'd say that you are a successful beginning swimmer," Fiona said, pausing to squeeze the water out of her hair.
"Thanks," Rachel said, accepting the towel that Severus handed her.
"Now, you're doing okay in the pool, but I want you to be cautious if you go out into the ocean. The waves can wash over you or knock you down pretty quickly and the sea floor can have an abrupt drop off that you likely won't be able to see," Fiona said once Rachel was back on her feet.
"Believe me, I have no intention of swimming in the ocean," Rachel said. She really had no intention of swimming again whatsoever.
"We'll keep that in mind," Severus said. "I trust she has progressed to the point where she will not drown if she finds herself stranded in a body of water."
"Anyone can drown, Professor Snape, even practiced swimmers. But yes, Rachel should be able to get herself safely back to land if the need should arise."
Severus inclined his head. "Thank you, Miss Appleby."
"Yes, thank you for teaching me," Rachel added.
Fiona smiled. "My pleasure. It was nice to meet you, Rachel. And it's always good to see you, Professor Snape."
"Likewise. Rachel, do you want to change here or wait until we're back in the castle?"
"Here, since we have to walk from the gates," Rachel said. "I'll wait to shower though."
"That's fine," Severus said. "I'll wait outside the changing rooms."
Rachel took the small bag with clothes that she'd packed earlier that morning and hurried into a stall in the changing rooms to dry off the best she could and put on a t-shirt and skirt. She untied her hair and used the towel on it, but then left it loose since she wanted to wash it when she got back to Severus' quarters anyway. She had left her watch and her bracelet on her bed, but she had her portkey necklace on and her wand was safely in her skirt pocket. Finally, after she shoved her still damp feet into a pair of socks, and then her shoes, she was ready. She used the Drying charm on her swim clothes and her towel and shoved them all back into her bag.
"Ready to return to the castle?" Severus asked.
"Yes," she said. They walked back into the lobby, and out of the anti-apparation wards that covered the pools and the changing rooms, and then took Severus' arm. A moment later they were in front of the gates. It was a warm day and Rachel thought she might go out flying before she showered, though she'd need to tie her hair back again if she didn't want it to become a massive tangled mess.
"Do you feel you can swim adequately?" Severus asked as they made their way toward the castle.
"I mean, I'm not great at it, but I'm much better than I was. I don't think I'll drown, if that's what you're worried about."
"That's my primary concern, though I also want you to feel comfortable enough swimming that you don't doubt your skills should you need them," he said.
"I don't think I'll forget how to swim now that I know how." And she really could not see how she could get into another situation that would require her to be able to swim. The only body of water she was anywhere near on a regular basis was the Great Lake and she couldn't come up with a scenario that wound up with her being stranded in it again.
"Alright, if you feel competent, we'll leave it at that," Severus said.
Rachel looked down at Hagrid's house as they turned down the path that led to the school. "Is Hagrid not going to be teaching this term?"
"Grubbly-Plank will be taking the Care of Magical Creatures classes for now. I don't know when Hagrid will return."
"Or if?" Rachel asked tentatively.
Severus came to a stop and looked at her. "I would be very surprised if Hagrid did not return. I can promise you that Hagrid is exceptionally difficult to injure or kill, most curses won't even pierce his skin due to his giant blood. Hagrid is on a mission. He'll return when it's complete, and that's all I can say about it. The best thing to do is to not draw attention to Hagrid's absence. If the other students ask you where he is, tell them the truth, you don't know and neither do I."
Rachel nodded. "You really think he's safe, wherever he is?"
"I do. Hagrid is a resourceful man," Severus said.
They started walking again and Severus opened the doors that led into the entrance hall. He came to a stop and Rachel peered around him to find a woman standing in the entrance hall with a few bags and a trunk at her feet.
"Professor Snape, is it not? It is so good to meet you finally," the woman said with the tone of a young girl.
"Professor Umbridge," Severus said, inclining his head.
Rachel stared. Professor Umbridge was short, though not quite as short as Rachel, with her brown hair done up with a swooping curl at the front. She was wearing a fluffy pink cardigan over some darker pink robes and had a pink bow clipped in her hair.
"And this- this must be Rachel Snow. The Girl Who Lived. Come on out, dear, and say hello," Professor Umbridge said.
Reminding herself to be perfectly polite, Rachel stepped out from behind Severus. "It's very nice to meet you, Professor Umbridge."
"Yes, indeed. I believe you and I must have a chat soon," Professor Umbridge said with an almost hungry expression.
Rachel intended to delay that chat for as long as humanly possible.
"If you'll excuse us, Professor Umbridge, Miss Snow and I have some things to attend to," Severus said.
"Of course. I was just getting settled myself. Tell me, how does a professor summon a House Elf to assist them?"
"Merely call their name and they will attend to you. Pipsy," Severus called.
A House Elf dressed in a Hogwarts tea towel appeared. "Yes, Professor Snape?"
"Please assist Professor Umbridge with bringing her bags and trunk to her rooms," Severus said.
"Yes, sirs," the House Elf said.
Rachel glanced behind her as she and Severus walked away. Professor Umbridge was loading down the House Elf with all of her belongings.
Severus waited until they were in his quarters to speak. "I want you to be very careful of her, especially while there are no other students in the castle and the professors are occupied. Try to not let her get you alone. Do not eat or drink anything she gives you."
"Do you think she'll try to poison me?" Rachel asked, a little bit surprised at the notion.
"Likely not, but there are a variety of potions with various deleterious effects that she could attempt to use to make you more pliable," he said, shaking his head.
"Okay. Can I go flying on the pitch? She'll probably be busy getting settled in her rooms."
"That's fine, we'll eat dinner in our quarters tonight at six," Severus said. "I'll be in my private lab if you need me."
"Thanks." Rachel dropped her things off in her room and changed into a pair of trousers. She quickly tied her hair back, grabbed her broom and practice Snitch, and made it her new mission to avoid Professor Umbridge until she actually had a class with her.
"Can you find the fire seeds please," Severus said from inside the student potions cupboard.
Rachel stepped out into the classroom and began looking through the boxes that had been delivered that morning. It took a lot of potions ingredients to stock seven years of classes, and this was only the ingredients that weren't in their potions kits.
"And the snake fangs, if you would," Severus called.
"Do they kill a lot of snakes just to get their fangs?" she asked, feeling like she already knew the answer.
"They have apothecary farms that breed and kill animals for potions' ingredients, yes, but in general they don't take just a single item from the animal, they use as much as possible. Snakes, for example, also have uses for their hearts, tongues, and skins as well as their fangs, and they sell the meat as a delicacy," he explained.
Rachel still didn't exactly like it, but at least it wasn't just for one thing. Finally she found the packet of fire seeds, which looked like small brown pellets. They were used in several antidotes to poisons. "Here's the fire seeds, I'll keep looking for the snake fangs," she said, delivering the packet to Severus.
"Thank you." He accepted the packet from Rachel and continued his examination of the cupboard. He had to check that all of the ingredients that were already there were in good condition for the coming school year.
It didn't take her too long to find the jar of snake fangs. Rachel knew that these fangs could be taken from any non-venomous snake, as the teeth for venomous snakes were different. She'd learned from her book about snakes that venomous snakes had grooved or hollow teeth to allow for poison to be injected from the venom glands at the back of their heads. She'd also learned that venomous was the right word for most snakes, not poisonous, with two exceptions.
"Snake fangs," she said, going back into the cupboard to hand him the jar.
Severus accepted it and placed it on the shelf. "There's something we should talk about before the school year begins."
Rachel frowned, fully expecting him to say that she had to stay with her friends the whole school year so that she wouldn't be attacked. Needing an escort had gotten old quickly.
"I need to talk to you about Draco, and your...friendship with him."
"Okay," she said when it was clear he was waiting for her response.
"I'm aware that you have formed a sort of friendship with him from your time together on the Quidditch team. I don't expect that Draco will be allowed to continue that friendship with you. And I would like for you to be on your guard around him." Severus was looking intently at Rachel.
"Because of his parents?" she asked, wondering why this warning was coming now and why about Draco specifically. A bunch of students had Death Eaters for parents and he wasn't warning her about them.
"Yes. Draco will be expected to join the Death Eaters. That shouldn't take place until he's left Hogwarts, but he will be taking orders from his parents and perhaps the Dark Lord himself. You are relatively well protected at Hogwarts, but there stands the possibility that they will have instructions to act against you," he continued.
"Why are you warning me about Draco and not about Pansy, or Goyle, or Crabbe?"
"I don't expect Crabbe or Goyle to be tasked with anything. Their fathers aren't particularly well placed within the Death Eaters and while they might receive general instructions they wouldn't be given any job with particular importance, and both you and I qualify as being highly important to the Dark Lord. Pansy's parents joined the Death Eaters to further their own wealth and political status. They were hoping to gain a seat on a Wizengamot, and actually did for a short time before they were voted out again after the end of the war. I don't expect they are actually teaching Pansy dark curses and they will likely excuse her as being unsuitable for service to the Dark Lord. I'm afraid there is very little I can do for Draco at this point. Lucius is too powerful to oppose and he has been grooming his son to take his place in the Death Eaters since Draco was a small child."
Rachel frowned as she thought about this. Draco was...difficult sometimes. And there was no denying that he had a lot of pure-blood prejudices. But to just write him off as a Death Eater seemed callous. "What if Draco doesn't want to become a Death Eater?"
"Draco has very little choice in the matter. It would mean turning his back on his entire family name and fortune. And I have not seen anything to suggest that Draco disagrees with Death Eater ideals," Severus said. "I know it's difficult, but he is going to end up on the opposite side of this war. I'm very much hoping that the war will be over by the time either of you are old enough to be involved in any way, but nothing is certain."
"You really think Draco wants to become a Death Eater?" she asked, not able to imagine him going around torturing and killing people.
"He does not think of it the way you and I do. To him it's a point of pride that his parents are Death Eaters. In his mind, they are powerful. They're pursuing a pure-blood agenda that will benefit him and his future children. And his father expects it of him. Lucius is a very difficult man to say no to, even more so for Draco," Severus explained.
Rachel didn't think Draco had seemed prideful when he'd asked if Rachel had seen his father at the graveyard in June. "Would Professor Dumbledore offer him help if he asked?"
"I think he would, especially if he came to him before he did any tasks for the Dark Lord," he paused and then set his hand down on Rachel's shoulder. "I know that you want Draco to turn his back on the Death Eaters, you're friends with him. But you need to accept that it's not likely to happen. And in the meantime, be careful around him. Check anything he gives you for curses or poisons, or bring it to me if you think it's still suspicious. Try to stay with your friends in the corridors."
There it was. "I think I can handle myself in the corridors. You've taught me a lot of good spells and I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is coming up behind me."
"You are not invulnerable to an ambush. As unlikely as I think it is to happen, we lose nothing by being cautious," he said.
"I'll try to stay with them, but they don't need to come down to Quidditch practice with me, and I can make my way to your quarters on Sundays without their help," Rachel said, figuring she'd be with her friends the rest of the time anyway.
Severus nodded and removed his hand. "That's fine for the time being, though we'll have to readjust our plans as the situation changes. Can you find the Syrup of Hellebore for me?"
"Okay," Rachel said, leaving the cupboard, but not feeling particularly resolved in their conversation. She thought he was being a little bit overprotective. And she still didn't like the idea that Draco had no choice but to become a Death Eater.
"You took out the carpet," Rachel said upon finding Sirius in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place.
"Well, some of it. Remus decided that if we were taking out the carpet we should take all of it out and do some pest extermination charms again before we bring any new carpet or furniture in. Which is not a terrible idea, but it is a massive pain in the ass," Sirius said. "Want to help me strip wallpaper today?"
"Sure." It wasn't like she had anything better to do. Severus had dropped her off before heading to a last staff meeting before the school year began. This would be her last chance to see Sirius and Remus for a while. "What room are we working in?"
"We've made it to the second floor with the wallpaper. I have half a mind to take my mother's portrait from Kreacher's room and show her just what we've done with the place if her shrieking wouldn't shatter our eardrums. I'm sure both my parents are just rolling in their graves as they watch what we're doing to the house." Sirius had a particularly satisfied smirk as he seemed to think about this.
"Do you think people who are dead can really see us?" she asked, not sure if he just meant in an imaginary way.
Sirius looked at her, his expression becoming more thoughtful. "I don't know. I don't think anyone does know. All I know is people's souls go somewhere after we die, and when we die, we can join them. One day, when you are old and grey, you will see your parents again. I'm sure they're looking forward to seeing all of us, but I also know that what they want is for us to live full lives while we're here."
Rachel nodded. She did like the idea of seeing her parents again, but she also knew that no parent would want their child to die young. "I kind of spoke with them, two months ago."
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.
Rachel looked away, she had only told Severus about this, though she was sure Professor Dumbledore had seen it when he'd viewed her memory. "In the graveyard. They came out of the Dark Lord's wand, with two other people that he'd killed. They weren't quite like ghosts and they didn't stay very long. But they told me that they loved me and then they helped me get away."
Sirius was very quiet for what seemed like a long time. "I've never heard of anything like that before. James and Lily, they helped you?"
"They told me that the Triwizard Cup was still a portkey, and then when the connection broke all the ghosts flew at the Dark Lord to keep him from casting spells at me," Rachel recounted. She hadn't talked about this since the end of the school year, not since she'd told Torey about it, but this part she felt okay talking about. At least to Sirius. It was personal and she didn't want everyone to know.
"I won't pretend to understand it, but I'm glad that you got to see them even if it was only for a brief moment. They believed they were going to survive the war, they wouldn't have had you if they hadn't, but-" Sirius cut off, shaking his head. His expression had gone blank, his gaze far away.
Rachel waited, not sure what to say. It was obvious to her that he still grieved for her parents. Maybe he'd never really had a chance to grieve while he was in Azkaban. Not in a natural way at least.
"Sirius!"
Sirius jolted slightly and then walked out of the kitchen. "What?"
"I've nearly finished with the carpet on the first floor, why don't you bring Rachel up to the second when she gets here?" Remus called from somewhere upstairs.
"Alright!" Sirius called back before turning to Rachel. "We've been summoned. If tearing down everything my parents left behind wasn't so cathartic I would resent being dragged into remodeling."
"Do you know what you're going to put in when the old stuff is out?" she asked, deciding to leave most of that statement alone.
"Hardwood floors, except tile in the bathrooms. We'll put down some area rugs in the sitting rooms and the drawing room. Moony wants to put up wallpaper, but I think slapping up some paint will be easier." He led the way upstairs. "Don't get me started on furniture. Most of this is going, it was foul before my parents ever got their hands on it. We'll leave the shelves and cabinets that are built in alone, at least for now. Neither of us have any practice or skill at carpentry."
They wound up in the drawing room on the second floor. "What is a drawing room supposed to be for anyway?" Rachel asked as she looked around. Most of it had been cleared out, except a sofa, two armchairs, a low table, and a large piano.
"No bloody idea," Sirius said. "You already know the Peeling charm?"
"No," she said, drawing her wand.
Sirius pointed his wand at the top of the wall. "Excorio," he said, drawing his wand down in a straight line. The green floral wallpaper sagged where it had been released from the wall. "You can use it on wallpaper and vegetables, but don't use it on a human or an animal unless you want a bloody result. And if you want a bloody result there are much better spells to use, trust me."
Rachel grimaced. She could easily imagine what a Peeling charm might do to human skin. "Good to know. Excorio," she tried, getting a similar result.
"Good. When it starts coming down you can just grab on and pull sheets of it away. Just toss them in a pile on the floor and I'll vanish them later. We can probably get the wallpaper in this room down and wash the walls before lunch. We'll leave Remus on carpet duty, that smells much worse."
The work went quickly, though Rachel discovered she had to do more charms than Sirius did in order to get the wallpaper to sag low enough that she could grab onto it and pull. The wall behind the wallpaper was a grimy beige, and she thought that even with it being grimy it was better than the dirty wallpaper. The whole room was much brighter than the last time she'd been in here, helped by the fact that there were no longer curtains of any kind and the windows had been washed. She paused at the end of the room and peered down into the street below.
"Do you even have neighbors?" she asked, not seeing anyone and the square in front of the row houses looked vacant and rather seedy.
"We have muggle neighbors, but we've never met of course. You'll see them out there from time to time, but most of them are away this time of day at work," he said, followed by a loud tearing sound as he pulled down more wallpaper.
That made sense. She supposed only students got the summer off. "How are we going to get the wallpaper from above the windows?"
"Just send the Peeling charm at it, it will come down."
Rachel went back to work and finally got a long piece of it and dragged it from her side of the room over to where Sirius was working. "Is wallpaper supposed to come down like this?"
"No, it's just old and the glue is worn out," Sirius tossed more wallpaper in the pile and then turned and looked around the room. "You know the Scouring charm?"
"That one I know." Rachel started back over by the door and was mildly surprised to discover that the paint beneath the wallpaper was actually white and not beige.
"You're back on the train on Friday?" Sirius asked.
"Yes. If you think you can get up to Hogsmeade, I'll write you with our Hogsmeade weekend dates once I find them out," she offered, kind of hoping that he would say yes.
"I'd like that, Remus too. It was good having you around this summer. I'm a little surprised Snape agreed to let you come here," he said, his back toward Rachel.
Rachel turned from the wall she was washing. "He's not a bad person. He does a lot of nice things for me, even when he doesn't want to. He took me to a Quidditch match."
Sirius turned around, his wand hanging limply at his side. "He cares for you, that much is plain to see. And I'm glad of that, and that he gave you a home when I couldn't. But you'll always have a place with me. All you have to do is let me know."
"Thanks, I appreciate that." She paused, feeling like she needed to defend Severus, but not quite sure what to say. "Severus is important to me."
"And you sound very much like Lily, it's a little eerie. She was his staunchest defender through most of our time at Hogwarts." Sirius was staring past her now.
"What happened?" Rachel asked. She knew that Severus had reconciled with her parents when he joined the Order, but she didn't know what had happened in the first place, unless it was because Severus joined the Death Eaters.
"That one is not my story. Ask Snape if you want to know," Sirius said, his eyes focusing on Rachel. "There are things about him you should know, you're old enough, but you should ask him."
"Things about him being a Death Eater?" She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know about that.
"Yes, but again, ask him, not me," Sirius said.
"Are you both ready for lunch?" Remus asked from the doorway.
"Sure. What do you want, Rachel?" Sirius asked.
Rachel shrugged. "I'm fine with whatever."
"Pick something. You liked the Indian, right?" Sirius asked, dropping a hand on her shoulder and ushering her out of the room.
"Indian is fine, or fish and chips maybe," she said. She hadn't had that all summer.
"There's a fish and chip shop nearby, we can do that," Remus said. "We'll just pop over."
"I need to wash up. I can't go anyway," Rachel reminded them, heading toward the bathroom.
"Sure you can, it's three streets over," Sirius said.
"No, she can't. She's not allowed out in muggle London," Remus said.
"One time won't hurt, no one knows that we're here," Sirius countered.
Rachel glanced back to see them looking at each other, Sirius' eyebrows raised and Remus' arms folded.
"I really can't go," Rachel said. There was no way Severus would let her come back again if she did go out in muggle London without him. And, while she thought she would be fine, the idea did make her a little nervous.
"I'll go then," Sirius said, his footsteps heavy as he went down the stairs.
Rachel shook her head and went into the bathroom to wash up.
"You look a little ruffled dear, have you considered a hair potion to deal with those curls?" the mirror asked.
Embarrassed, Rachel washed her hands and then ran them through her hair. She didn't look that bad, did she? She had been leaving her hair loose more often, though not when she was flying or right after she washed it. It was a little messier while it was loose, but she thought it looked okay.
Deciding it was as good as it was going to get, Rachel left the bathroom and went down the stairs. She turned on the landing of the first floor and walked to the end of the hall and knocked on Kreacher's door. She crouched down so she wouldn't be looming over him.
A few moments later the door opened and Kreacher peered out. "Miss? What does Miss want?"
"I wanted to see how you were doing, Kreacher. Are they treating you alright?"
The door opened further and Kreacher stared at Rachel. "They bring more filth into the house. More blood traitors, more half breeds."
Rachel nodded. Even though she obviously didn't agree with him, she could understand why it would be upsetting him to have people he was warned about in the house. "Are they doing anything mean to you? Are they hurting you?"
"No. Kreacher stays hidden. I watches," Kreacher said, crouching down but still peering up at Rachel.
"They're still giving you food every day?" she asked. She didn't like that Kreacher felt he had to stay hidden, but she wasn't sure what to do about that. She couldn't make Sirius and Remus like him.
"Yes, the wolf sets it out, twice a day. Why are you here?"
"I just want to make sure you're okay. Or, as okay as possible given the situation. Do you want to leave, Kreacher?" Rachel wondered if he really wouldn't be better off at Hogwarts.
"No. I stay here, for my mistress and my master," Kreacher said.
"Okay. I won't be around very much for, well a long time really. I have to go back to school. But if you need something, you can send me a letter and I'll try to help, okay?" Rachel wasn't sure exactly if Kreacher could send a letter, but it was better than nothing.
"Miss shouldn't bother with Kreacher. I was here for a long time and nobody bothered with Kreacher."
"I don't think anyone could have. Sirius was in prison, I'm not sure if anyone else knew you were here. Not that that's a real excuse, someone should have helped you." Rachel wasn't sure which sounded worse - ten years trapped alone in this house or ten years with the Dursleys. At least she'd been able to go to school.
"Let Kreacher be, Miss," Kreacher said, standing back up again. "I have my mistress and my master."
"Alright. But please let someone know if you need something, and if they don't help you, find a way to tell me and I'll do something." Someone had to and it seemed like no one else cared about what happened to Kreacher.
Kreacher wobbled back and forth, as if shaking his whole body instead of just his head, and then shut the door.
Figuring that was the best she could do until she thought of something better, Rachel went downstairs and into the kitchen and found that they had guests.
"Rachel, you've met Auror Shacklebolt. And this is Auror Tonks. She's Sirius' first cousin once removed," Remus said, nodding to both of them.
"Wotcher, Rachel?" Tonks said. She was a fairly petite young woman, with short, bright pink hair.
"Hello," Rachel said, a little bit uncertain. She got the feeling she wasn't supposed to know who exactly was in the Order.
"How are you doing, Miss Snow?" Shacklebolt asked.
"Very well, sir. Thank you," Rachel said. Well enough at least.
"Well, we can't stay for lunch, but you'll pass on this to Dumbledore?" Shacklebolt asked, returning his attention to Remus.
"As soon as we can. He's in staff meetings at Hogwarts today, but we should see him before the school year starts," Remus said.
"That should be fine. We'll see you-" Shacklebolt cut off with a glance at Rachel. "The next time we see you."
"Of course. Stay safe," Remus said.
Shacklebolt threw some floo powder into the fireplace. "Ministry, level two." A moment later both he and Tonks were gone.
"Is everything okay?" Rachel asked.
"Everything is fine. They were just passing along some news that should go to Albus. That's one of the reasons Sirius and I are staying here, people can reach us much more easily and safely than they can reach Albus," Remus said, taking a seat at the table. "Come sit, Sirius shouldn't be too long."
Rachel sat down. "Have you heard about our new Defense professor?"
"I have. We're taking steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again. In the meantime, just keep your head down," he said.
She felt it would be impolite to ask him about the curse on the Defense position when he'd been teaching it only just over a year ago. "Is she really going to be as bad as people think?"
"We'll have to see how it goes, but I think we can say without a doubt that she'll be trying to make changes at Hogwarts, none of them for the good. How are you feeling about going into your fifth year?"
"Glad to be going back to school and seeing my friends. A little nervous about my OWLs. Were they really hard when you took them?" She'd been trying not to think too closely about the exams she would be taking at the end of the school year, but she couldn't avoid it once they started studying for them.
"They're difficult, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. You're an excellent student. Just continue to prepare yourself as you have been and you'll be fine." Remus nodded. "I think the professors put a little too much emphasis on the OWLs and NEWTs. Yes, they're important and your scores can affect your future, but they are just exams."
Rachel wasn't sure that made her feel any better.
"Do you know what NEWT classes you want to take?" he asked.
"Pretty much everything but History and Astronomy, assuming I have the scores for it."
Remus smiled. "You'll have to narrow it down a little further than that, but you still have plenty of time to make a decision."
"I come bearing food," Sirius joked loudly as he came into the kitchen, causing Rachel to jump. "Fish and chips, as ordered."
"Thank you," Rachel said, accepting the newspaper rolled bundle of fish and chips that he placed in front of her.
"We were glad to have you here this summer," Remus said once they'd all settled in with their food.
"I was really glad I got to spend so much time here. And I want to see you both on Hogsmeade weekends if it's possible," Rachel said.
"Like I said, we can arrange that. And you've still got your mirror, yes?" Sirius asked.
"I do," she said with a nod.
"Anytime you need me, just let me know." Sirius shook his head. "I know Hogwarts isn't always the safest place, but it's important. I had a lot of good times at Hogwarts."
"I do too, I like the time that I get to spend with my friends." Rachel realized that Sirius was trying to say that he was going to miss her when she wasn't around. "I'll miss seeing you both, but we'll keep in touch."
"Damn right we will. I expect letters," Sirius said, waggling his eyebrows.
Now that her food was cooler, Rachel began to eat. It was nice that she had gotten to spend so much time with Sirius and Remus this summer, even if it had been because they were setting up for a war.
Somehow the chaos of platform nine and three quarters got more daunting every year. Rachel clutched the strap of her bag and reminded herself that she would feel better once they were safely tucked into their compartment on the train.
This was one of those times when being short was a real disadvantage. She peered at the crowd of bodies and wondered if her friends had already made it onto the train.
"I see Mrs. Zabini with Theo and Blaise, would you like to join them?" Severus asked.
"Yes, we can find everyone else from there," Rachel said, looking in the direction Severus was looking but all she saw was a mass of bodies.
She stuck close to Severus, though it seemed people were inclined to make a path for him, and they were soon in front of Mrs. Zabini, Blaise, and Theo.
"Severus, lovely to see you as always," Mrs. Zabini said from beneath her rather large hat. "And you also, Rachel."
"You as well, Celeste. I trust the remainder of your summer went well?" Severus asked.
"We had a mostly restful summer. The house will be too quiet with the boys gone," she said, smiling fondly in Blaise and Theo's direction.
"Mom," Blaise said, looking away.
"I'll miss you both," Mrs. Zabini said, moving in to hug Blaise, who squirmed and tried to pull away, and then Theo, who looked uncomfortable but stayed still.
"I see Anthony and Terry, we're going to go get a compartment together," Blaise said, grabbing onto his trunk.
"I expect you to write weekly. I'll see you at Christmas," Mrs. Zabini said, her gaze focused on Blaise.
"I will, bye mom." Blaise hurried away to where two of the Ravenclaw boys were waiting for him.
"Theo, I expect you and Rachel will want to get a compartment together before they fill up. I want you to write too, tell me all of the good Hogwarts gossip," Mrs. Zabini said as she turned to Theo.
"Thank you, Mrs. Zabini, I will," Theo said.
"You've got things from here?" Severus asked Rachel.
"Yeah, we're fine," Rachel said.
"I'll see you at the Welcoming Feast then. Send your Patronus to me immediately if something doesn't seem right," he said.
"I will," she said, though she did not expect Death Eaters to attack the Hogwarts Express - their own children were on there.
"Let's try for our usual compartment," Theo suggested, grabbing his trunk.
"Okay," Rachel said. She followed him aboard the train and they made their way down the narrow corridor, past compartments that were already filling with students.
"Rachel!"
Rachel turned back. "Oh, hi Adrian. Did you have a good summer?"
"What? Yeah, it was fine. Did you get it?" Adrian asked, pushing his hair out of his eyes.
"Get what?"
"Quidditch captain!" Adrian sounded exasperated.
"Oh, yes. I did. Is that okay with you?" Rachel could understand if Adrian had wanted the position, it was his last year after all.
"Of course it is, I voted for you last year after all. Are you keeping the same players? Rumor has it that Angelina is making all the Gryffindors try out for their spots," he said, brushing his hair aside again. He had clearly come back to Hogwarts without getting a haircut.
"No, everyone still has their spots. It's going to be hard enough finding a decent Beater and Chaser as it is," Rachel said, wondering if Ginny knew about the Gryffindor situation already.
Adrian smiled. "Good. We are going to kill them this year. The other teams are going to quake in fear at the sight of us! I'll see you later, I'm going to find Tracey."
"Bye," she said, shaking her head. Adrian could be a bit much sometimes.
"Go Slytherin," Theo said sarcastically.
Rachel smiled. "Let's keep looking for the others."
They continued their way down the corridor, pausing to let people go by them or pop in and out of the compartments, and eventually they made it to the second to last compartment.
"Hi Ginny, hi Luna," Rachel said, hanging back while Theo wrestled his trunk into the overhead rack.
"Hello," Luna said, smiling at them. "We thought if we stayed here the rest of you would find us."
"Probably for the best, it's nuts out there," Theo said as he took a seat.
Rachel sat down next to him. "Ginny, is it true that Angelina is making the entire Gryffindor team try out again?"
"Yes, it was the only way to get rid of Cormac without singling him out. I think Angelina should have just thrown him off the team, none of the rest of our positions are going to change," Ginny said, shaking her head.
"Any idea who is trying out for Keeper?" Rachel could absolutely understand wanting to be rid of Cormac, he had made a poor showing in most of the Gryffindor games last year.
"I know Ron is going to, I'm not sure who else. Who are you looking at for Chaser and Beater?" she asked.
"No idea. I haven't seen anyone in my House fly except for the Quidditch team. I think we're just going to have to hold open tryouts and see who shows up." She was trying not to think about that too closely.
"Why are we going all the way back here?" came a voice from the corridor
"Because this is where my friends are," Millie said as she appeared. "Hi everyone. This is my sister, Isobelle. Isobelle, this is Rachel, Theo, Ginny, and Luna."
"Hi Isobelle," Rachel said as she got to her feet. "Let me help you with your trunks."
"I don't want to sit with your friends, Millie," Isobelle said, folding her arms.
"Too bad, mom said you had to sit with me on the train. Now stop whining and give me your trunk," Millie said, her irritation obvious.
It didn't take long before both their trunks were in the racks, Midnight in her carrier settled between their feet, and Millie sat down next to Rachel and Isobelle took a seat next to Luna while she sulked.
"Isobelle, are you looking forward to your first year at Hogwarts?" Ginny asked.
"I'm looking forward to being able to do magic, but not anything else," Isobelle declared.
"You'll be fine," Millie said, turning to Rachel and rolling her eyes.
"Hermione," Theo said and they all turned to the corridor.
"Hi everyone. I wish we could stay, but we have to go up to the prefect's carriage and then patrol, but we'll try to stop in later. Would you mind if we left Crookshanks and Trevor with you?" Hermione asked.
"That's fine," Rachel said, leaning forward to take Crookshanks' carrier and then passing it to Theo.
Millie took Trevor's carrier from Neville. "Now you get to boss all of us around."
"I still can't believe Professor McGonagall made me prefect," Neville said, blushing slightly.
"Well why not? You're a good student, Neville, and you're a good example to other students. Of course she made you prefect," Hermione said.
"She's right, don't listen to your Gran and your great uncle," Theo said with a nod.
Neville nodded. "We'll see you in a little while then."
Millie got up and pulled the compartment door closed behind them.
"Why didn't Rachel and Theo get selected as prefects?" Luna asked as she peered at them. "You have the next highest grades in your year after Hermione."
"Professor Snape wanted people who were in our common room more often," Rachel said, still not wanting to tell them that Severus had offered her the position.
"While it would have been nice to have been made prefect, I think in practice I'd rather not have the responsibilities. It's a big time commitment," Theo said. "And I don't think I'd be particularly good at teaching the first and second years."
"Better than Draco. Can you imagine him teaching?" Millie asked.
"I think he'll do alright, he does well enough teaching Quidditch maneuvers," Rachel said.
"Millie says you've been on the Quidditch team since you were a second year and now you're team captain," Isobelle said, looking at Rachel.
"That's right," she said.
"I'm going to try out for the Quidditch team too," Isobelle said.
"You can't, first years aren't allowed on teams. And you haven't ever played Quidditch before," Millie said quickly.
"But I fly really good. I bet I can learn Quidditch," Isobelle said.
"What position do you want to play?" Ginny asked.
Isobelle smiled. "Beater!"
"You're tiny," Theo said with a smile. "You'd be better off as a Seeker."
"Scarlett's not much bigger than me and she's a pretty good Beater. If you grow a bit in the next few years and get some arm strength and some hand-eye coordination, I don't see why you couldn't be a Beater," Rachel said.
"Because my mom would kill her, and then kill me for letting her," Millie said, covering her face with her hands.
The train lurched as it started and they all turned to the window to watch as they pulled out of Kings Cross Station.
"Another year," Luna said.
"Another year, another crazy Defense teacher from the sounds of it," Theo said.
"She's weird, but she's not too scary," Rachel said. She'd only seen Professor Umbridge at lunch time over the past four days, but hadn't spoken with her again.
"What about the Defense book? Have you read it? It's bullshit," Theo said.
"Theo, my sister is eleven, you can't say that in front of her," Millie said, glancing at Isobelle.
Isobelle looked none the worse for wear and actually seemed interested in their conversation.
"Sorry. But it's true, have you looked at it?" Theo said, shaking his head. "There's no Defense in it."
"I'd noticed that too. I was hoping that the practical lessons wouldn't be book based," Rachel said.
"I'm not sure anyone who assigned that book intends on teaching us practical lessons," Luna said with a frown.
"It's a pretty bad book. But if we have to self-study for Defense again, we can do it. It's not like we didn't do it our second year," Millie said.
"But this is our OWL year." Theo sighed heavily.
"Let's see how the lessons go and take it from there. I'm sure Professor Snape would be willing to teach me whatever we need for our OWLs and I can teach all of you," Rachel said, reaching into her bag for parchment and her quill. "Here, let's make a list for the food trolley. I've got sandwiches for us too."
"So do I," Ginny said.
"How long does it take to get to Hogwarts?" Isobelle asked.
"It's in Scotland, what do you think?" Millie asked, accepting the parchment and quill from Rachel.
"We'll get there at dinner time," Ginny clarified.
"If it takes so long, why doesn't everyone just apparate there?" Isobelle asked. "Or floo if they can't apparate."
"Mostly it's tradition, the Hogwarts Express has been running since the 1830s. And most muggleborn students don't have another way to get there," Theo explained.
"Tradition is silly. And if the muggleborns can't go by floo or appararation, they should just ride brooms," Isobelle said with a nod.
Rachel couldn't help but smile. "Muggles don't ride brooms, they have cars and trains."
"Well they should," Isobelle said.
Millie groaned and shoved the parchment at her. "Here, write down a cauldron cake or a chocolate frog or something and then pass the list to Luna."
Rachel bumped Millie's shoulder and smiled at her. If Isobelle was the worst thing they had to contend with this year they were going to have a good year.
Severus looked over the students as they entered the Great Hall. It was like any other Welcoming Feast. In a way, that was a good thing. He could remember his last years at Hogwarts as the war began to grow more and more violent. People had been scared. There had been students who had left, most of them muggleborn. Sometimes it had been because their families had fled Britain. Sometimes it was because the Death Eaters had killed them. Often no one knew for sure which had happened.
There wouldn't be a long lead up to the war this time. He couldn't fathom that the Dark Lord wouldn't press his advantage. They knew for certain he was recruiting. There were unexplained disappearances. The war was coming and it was coming quickly. Severus shook his head. One way or another, the Ministry would be forced to pull its head out of the sand soon enough.
Speaking of the Ministry, Severus glanced to where Umbridge was seated between Filius and Charity. She was wearing what seemed to be her usual pink cardigan over her robes and she had a fixed smile on her face as she looked over the incoming students. Their last staff meeting had been painful. She'd interrupted Albus at every possible moment and challenged everyone else to the point where no one had wanted to speak. It was going to be a long year. At the very least it would only be one year. The curse would see to that.
Severus began looking over his students. Acker and Turner were sitting together and were watching their fellow students with a critical eye. He resolved to keep a close eye on both of them - they were both seventeen and while he felt it was entirely likely they weren't Death Eaters yet, he thought both of them would join when they left Hogwarts. The Carrow twins were sitting nearby, both with their usual impassive expressions. He found Draco sitting between Crabbe and Goyle, though Draco was involved in a conversation with Pansy. From their body language it appeared their relationship had continued over the summer. He could only hope they would take their prefect duties seriously and not use it as a chance to get out of the common room for other activities.
He felt his shoulders relax a little when he saw Rachel coming up to the table with Millie and Theo. It was a relief to have her secured in the castle wards. They sat down next to Daphne.
Further down the table Michael Pike was sitting with Harper Young. They both seemed unmoved by the general atmosphere of chaos and were leaning in to speak with each other. Severus resolved to keep an eye on Pike as well. Nearby sat Astoria Greengrass, looking pale but otherwise well enough. Severus had Poppy send him regular updates on her condition, though she'd been fairly stable during her time at Hogwarts. And there was Malcolm Baddock with the other second years. He had drawn into himself and was not conversing with anyone. Severus would need to arrange a meeting with him soon and try again to see what he could do about the situation. As he looked over his students, grouping them by year, he couldn't see that anyone was missing or obviously injured or ill. That would have to do for now.
Minerva led the new first years out and set the Sorting Hat down on the stool.
Severus listened to the song, his frown deepening as the Hat went on. If the magic in Hogwarts sensed the coming war it was a poor tiding indeed. He glanced at Albus and found his expression thoughtful and he lifted his hands to applaud as the Hat finished.
The Sorting began and a surprise came quickly as Isobelle Bulstrode went to Ravenclaw after sitting with the Hat for nearly four minutes. Severus had rather expected to have both the Bulstrode sisters in his House after his experiences with Millie, but siblings could be variable. The next surprise came shortly after when Cordelia Gifford sat on the stool, her long brown hair reaching down her back. This was Winston Gifford's daughter. Winston had been one of the Death Eaters in the graveyard last summer.
"Ravenclaw!" the Hat called, also taking an unusually long amount of time.
Severus would warn Filius later.
The Sorting continued and Severus wound up with ten new first year students. It was a little on the small side, given the number of students they had this year, but that was alright. After the Sorting came the feast. Severus had a pork chop and mashed sweet potatoes, listening to Minerva's quiet comments to Albus about the Sorting Hat's song as he ate. She was concerned. She was right to be. Severus continued to sip his wine rather than have dessert and soon after the food had all disappeared and the plates were clean once again. Albus stood and began his beginning of term announcements, only to be interrupted by Umbridge.
He could only assume his expression reflected the shocked and disdainful expressions he saw on the other professors' faces as Umbridge began to address the students - that is, address them as if they were a decade younger than they currently were. Severus met Minerva's eyes and was slightly impressed by the powerful expression of distaste on her face before she schooled her expression.
Severus listened, though he needn't have bothered. It was all the same rhetoric he'd come to expect from the Ministry and their deep seated pure-blood ideals. They wanted control and there was really nothing more that needed to be said about it. If Albus hadn't bowed before the Dark Lord, he certainly wouldn't bow to Umbridge and the rest of Fudge's toadies. Their mission was clear enough - protect Hogwarts, protect the students.
Albus began clapping when Umbridge finished and Severus reluctantly raised and clapped his hands just once, mostly because he could feel his students watching him to see his reaction, and he knew that the older ones at least would know exactly what he meant by that. Show respect when they had to, but be prepared to do whatever was necessary behind closed doors.
After the announcements finished, Severus stood and prepared to go give his own speech to his House. Tonight's work was not yet done.
Rachel watched as Severus finished his 'welcome to Slytherin, behave yourselves or else' speech. He was immediately set upon by sixth years hoping for schedule changes.
"I can't believe Isobelle is in Ravenclaw. How the hell did that happen?" Millie had said that multiple times since the Sorting but no one had answers for her.
"About that, come here for a moment," Theo said, motioning them to the side of the room. "Rachel, you wrote that you know how to cast the privacy ward now?"
Rachel glanced around. "Are you sure that would be less conspicuous than just telling us quietly?"
Theo looked around the common room. "Maybe. I'm still not sure how well this is going to go. I'm not sure what Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle's instructions are for how to deal with me, but if they catch me passing names of Death Eaters, well, that will probably make the situation worse."
She cast the privacy ward without further prompting. "Should we go to Professor Snape? Ask if he can do anything about your rooming situation?"
"No. I don't want to start anything. I really don't think they're going to try to do anything to me in our dorm room anyway, there's no plausible deniability there," Theo said, glancing over his shoulder again.
"So you're going to wait until they hurt you?" Millie asked, folding her arms.
Theo shook his head. "I'm not giving them the opportunity, I'm going to cast Alert charms and the basic ward around my bed every night. It will look paranoid, but they'll understand why. And there's no way they're catching me in the halls if I'm with you. I'll be fine. But Millie, Cordelia Gifford was Sorted into the same House as your sister. They'll be sharing a dorm room."
"And her parents are Death Eaters?" Millie asked.
"Her father is. Winston Gifford and he is a nasty piece of work from what my father has said," Theo said.
Rachel frowned. "What can we do about it?"
"Right now, nothing. But warn Isobelle, Millie. Tell her to watch her back around Cordelia, just in case." Theo looked around again. "I've gotta go now. I told Blaise I would be with him when we go into the dorm room so it's sort of an us against them kind of thing."
"Good luck. And tell us if something is wrong," Millie said.
"I will," Theo said.
Rachel ended the privacy ward and they watched as Theo walked over to Blaise and they both disappeared into the hallway that housed the boys' dorms.
"How am I supposed to protect my sister if I'm not even in the same House as her?" Millie asked, sounding genuinely worried. "The only time I'm even going to see her is in the Great Hall."
"I think she'll be alright. Just because Cordelia's father is a Death Eater doesn't mean she will be. She could be like Theo for all we know. And we've shared a room with Pansy for four years and both of her parents are Death Eaters," Rachel pointed out.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Are you sure it's safe to be in the same dorm room as her this year? Has Professor Snape talked to you about it?" Millie looked around the room and her gaze stopped at a group of couches.
Rachel looked and saw that Pansy was talking with Draco. "Professor Snape wasn't too worried about Pansy. It was Draco he warned me about."
"Are you worried about either of them?" Millie pressed.
"Not really. I feel like we know them. We're friends with them. Not close friends, but still." Rachel had a hard time imagining either Pansy or Draco attacking her.
"The only one of us who is friends with Draco is you," Millie said, turning back to Rachel. "Let's be careful at least until we know where they're at."
Rachel nodded. It was hard to go wrong with being careful. "Let's go unpack. At least tomorrow is Saturday."
Millie seemed to cheer up. "Two full days of just hanging out before classes start. It should be a weekend every time we go back to Hogwarts."
"The professors probably hate it. Nearly three hundred kids and the only ones with homework to do are the ones who left their summer homework to the last minute," Rachel said, leading the way to their dorm. "Have you seen Hermione's revision schedule for us?"
"Not yet. Is it terrible?"
"It's pretty bad. We're going to have to convince her to give us homework time, but I think I'll let Theo handle that. Let's let Midnight out of her carrier." Rachel opened the door to their dorm and was glad to see that it looked the same as usual.
"She's probably happy to see you," Millie said, kneeling down next to her bed and opening the front of the carrier. "Go say hi to Rachel."
Rachel knelt down and held still until Midnight trotted over and sniffed her fingers and then rubbed her face against her hand. "I've missed you. I can't even write to you over the summer."
Midnight meowed loudly and both Rachel and Millie laughed.
"Still no progress on getting him to let you have a cat?" Millie asked as she began to unpack her trunk.
Rachel petted Midnight a few more times before she stood as well. "No, but I learned that he definitely does not want a snake. I got a book on snakes and he told me that I couldn't bring any snakes into the house. Not that I would."
"Well a wild snake is different from a pet snake. Would you want a snake?"
"Not really. They eat live food. I don't think I could do that," Rachel said, unpacking her bag before starting on her trunk.
The door opened and Pansy and Daphne came into the dorm.
"Hi, did you both have good summers?" Rachel asked.
"Well enough. We went on holiday to Venice for a month. How about you?" Daphne asked.
"Pretty good. Just stayed here. Brewed potions and flew. Professor Snape took me to see a Holyhead Harpies game," Rachel said.
"The most exciting thing that happened to me this summer was going shopping with Rachel and Hermione," Millie said.
Rachel bent down to take her books out of her trunk but noticed that Pansy was sitting quietly on her own bed, watching her. "Did you have a good summer, Pansy? Congratulations on getting prefect, by the way."
"You don't mind?" Pansy asked. "I was sure it was going to be you."
"I don't mind at all. I'm not in the common room often enough to be a good prefect," Rachel said. "Besides, if Professor Snape gave it to me, it would be…" she trailed off, knowing there was a word for it but not sure what it was.
"Nepotism," Daphne supplied. "It wouldn't have been. You get the best grades out of all of us."
"Prefects should be more than just getting good grades though," Rachel said. She picked up her stack of books and put them in her wardrobe, but when she came back to her trunk, Pansy was still watching her. "Is something wrong, Pansy?"
Pansy looked ready to cry. "I don't know what to do."
"What's wrong?" Daphne asked, coming to Pansy's bed and sitting down next to her.
Rachel glanced at Millie, who was watching them with a worried expression before she looked back at Rachel.
"My parents. Before I came back to Hogwarts, my parents sat down with me, and they told me to do something. But I don't want to do it. But I have to, because if I don't, my parents will be in danger," Pansy said, her voice uneven.
Rachel felt chilled. The Dark Lord had given Pansy instructions through her parents.
"What do they want you to do?" Daphne asked, gently taking Pansy's hand.
"I'm supposed to spy on Rachel. I'm supposed to find out everything I can about her, what she eats, where she shops, what she reads, what spells she knows, where she goes, everything. I'm supposed to become close friends with her and get her to confide secrets to me. And then I'm supposed to write a letter to my parents every week telling them what I've found out," Pansy said, turning to look at Rachel again. "I don't want to, but I don't know what else to do. If they don't have information for him, I don't know what he'll do to them."
Rachel sat down on her bed as she tried to take in this information. She couldn't imagine why the Dark Lord would want to know those things about her.
"It's because of...what they are, isn't it?" Daphne asked.
"Yes, because of him," Pansy said quietly.
"What if I told you things to tell your parents? Things that are mostly true, but maybe not the whole truth?" Rachel asked.
"We should ask Professor Snape for help," Millie said.
Rachel nodded. "He would know how to do this. He was a spy."
"Do you really think he would help with this? Won't he just tell me not to send the letters?" Pansy asked.
"I don't think he will. He'll want to help." Rachel was pretty sure Severus' solution wouldn't be to not send the letters.
"And you want to help?" Pansy asked, sounding uncertain.
"Of course I do. We're friends," Rachel said. It was also much better to be in control of what information Pansy was sending to the Dark Lord. "Let's go talk with Professor Snape in his office in about thirty minutes when he's finished in the common room. That way we can figure out the best way to do this."
Pansy's face crumpled and she wiped at her eyes. "I didn't know if you would still want to be friends with me after this summer."
"I do. We're not our parents. We can make our own choices." Rachel wished she could say that to Draco as well.
"It will be alright," Daphne said as she wrapped her arm around Pansy's shoulders.
Rachel glanced at Millie again and Millie shrugged. Hopefully Severus would know how best to help.
Severus set down his cup of tea at the knock on his office door and reflexively checked the clock on the mantle. He'd only been back in his quarters for ten minutes. He had expected it would be at least ten or eleven at night before he wound up being summoned to deal with a first year's homesickness or fears. He went back out through the wall into his office and then opened the door. He felt his eyebrows raise at finding Rachel and the other fifth year girls waiting for him.
"May I assist you with something?" he asked.
"Can we speak with you in your office really quick. It's important or we wouldn't have come tonight," Rachel said.
Severus nodded and stood back, opening his door further. The girls all hurried inside, all of them clearly worried about something.
Rachel looked to Pansy, but Pansy just shook her head. Rachel turned back to Severus. "Pansy's parents have asked her to spy on me. She's supposed to send weekly letters, telling them everything she can find out about me. If she doesn't send them, her parents might get hurt," Rachel explained.
He stopped himself from sighing, but only just. Clearly the Dark Lord was seeking information about Rachel from every possible avenue available.
"I can tell Pansy things to tell her parents, but we thought it would be better if you helped us, because you know how to do this sort of thing," Rachel continued.
"I will assist you. Why don't the three of you return to your dormitory and I will speak with Miss Parkinson," Severus said. He could check on Rachel when he returned Pansy to the dorms. "We will be along shortly."
"Okay. Thank you," Rachel said, leading Millie and Daphne back out of the office.
"Take a seat," Severus said, sitting down at the table and nodding to the other chair.
Pansy sat down. "You'll really help me send letters?"
"I will, if that's what you wish to do, but you also have other options." He kept his voice neutral. This was a decision that Pansy had to make, he couldn't push her or persuade her.
"Like what?" she asked.
"If you want sanctuary from the war, Professor Dumbledore and I will provide it. You don't have to do anything for the Dark Lord," Severus said, holding Pansy's gaze.
Pansy looked down and shook her head. "I can't. I can't lose my family. My mom. She's really struggling with all of this. She's scared. I can't leave her alone."
"We can offer sanctuary to your mother too, if she wishes it." Severus knew that Albus would welcome another reluctant former Death Eater to the fold and while Ambrosia was hardly clean of sin, she wasn't one inclined to torture either.
She shook her head again. "I can't. At least not yet. I'll try to talk to my mom over Christmas and see if that's what she wants."
"You're right, it's not wise to put things like that in a letter," he said. "Do you want to become a Death Eater? Do you want to serve the Dark Lord?"
"No," Pansy said quietly, but she looked back at him. "It's not that I don't agree with some of the things he says, because some of it makes sense. But I don't think he's going about it the right way. And...and I'm scared. My mom isn't always well, and I've heard her talk about some of the things that happened during the last war. I can't do that."
"Good," he said, unsurprised that she still held to pure-blood ideals, but glad that she didn't want to become a Death Eater. "It's good that you know yourself well enough to know that. There may come a point where you are faced with joining the Dark Lord or fleeing. I want you to know that Hogwarts is open to you. You can come to me, and we will protect you. Even if it's summer or the holidays, or after you've finished at Hogwarts."
"Do you offer that to everyone?" Pansy asked, her expression uncertain.
"Only to those who want it," Severus said.
Pansy looked away again and nodded. "If I don't write the letters, I think the Dark Lord is going to torture my parents. My mom is scared."
"I'm afraid that is likely," he said, though he wished he could spare her the truth. "I will assist you in writing the letters. Did they ask for any specific information or just general information?"
"They said things like where she goes, what she eats, where she shops, what she does, spells she's learned, who her friends are, all of it. I'm supposed to become close friends with her and find out secrets that she's keeping," Pansy explained.
Severus frowned. There were a number of possible avenues for attack that could be assisted by that information. "To start with, we're going to say that I warned Rachel about you and the other children of Death Eaters. That way your parents understand that your information gathering will be hampered and that it will take a lot of time to get what information they want. We'll provide general information to start with, like what Rachel ate at a given meal, and keeping track of what spells you learn in class. For other things, things that are less evident, we will adjust what you tell them so that it is neither a lie nor the full truth."
"How will I know what to write?" she asked.
"I will assist you. You'll come by my office for thirty minutes each week under the guise of reporting information to me as a prefect. We'll decide on the contents and write the letter then. I'd also like you to show the letter to Rachel before you send it, so she's aware of what is being said about her so she doesn't publicly contradict it. You needn't show either of us the full letter, just the parts about her." Severus paused and tried to think if he was missing anything. "You discussed this in your dorm room?"
"Yes."
"I will need to check the items in your trunk for an Eavesdropping charm, just in case. I will also teach you the charm. You'll need to do it on anything you bring back into the castle after you've been home," he said.
Pansy's eyes went wide. "You really think they'd put an Eavesdropping charm on me?"
"It's a possibility that we have to rule out, just to be safe. To keep both you and your parents safe. Even if your parents chose not to reveal what they heard, the Dark Lord can find out by using legilimency - he can take the information from their minds," he explained.
A few tears ran down her face and she wiped at them with her hands. "Why did they do this? Why did they think this was the right thing to do?" she asked, still trying to blink back tears.
"Because they sought power and the Dark Lord made it very easy to believe that he could provide them with all of the power they wanted and more." Severus knew that all too well. He'd bought the exact same lies, after all.
"They didn't get power. They're bound to a terrifying madman for the rest of their lives." Pansy now sounded angry as she finished wiping her tears.
"Hopefully not. There is still time." He wasn't entirely sure he believed this. The war would end, eventually, but who knew how much death and carnage would take place in the meantime. "Are you ready to return to your dorm?"
"Yes," Pansy said.
"Do you feel confident that Daphne will keep this information to herself?" Severus asked as he stood.
"I do. We're best friends. She won't tell anyone," she said.
"Good. Let's return to your dorm and check your belongings," he said, opening the door to his office. They walked down the hall and through the common room, getting a few glances from the upper years who hadn't retired to their dorms yet. "I'll let you enter first in case anyone is changing their clothes."
Pansy raised her eyebrows at him but opened the door to the fifth year girls dorm room, at first just far enough to look inside, and then all the way.
"Open your trunk if you would," Severus said, aware that he had the attention of all the girls.
Pansy opened her trunk and took a step back.
"The incantation is specialis revelio. Tap your wand against what you want to check. You can check multiple objects if they are contained within something, however if the charm detects something, then you have to examine them one by one," he explained. He stepped forward and tapped his wand against the trunk and a white-blue light filled the trunk.
"That means there was an Eavesdropping charm?" Pansy asked.
"Not necessarily, it just means you have something with spells placed on it. Do you have any charmed jewelry or artifacts in your trunk? Spelled quills perhaps?" he asked.
"Yes," Pansy went to her trunk and pulled out her jewelry box and two quills.
Severus checked the trunk again and there was no light this time. "Please take out which items in your jewelry box are charmed."
Pansy removed a gold necklace and a silver bracelet from the jewelry box.
"Try casting the spell on the jewelry and then on the jewelry box," he instructed.
"Specialis revelio," she said, tapping her wand against the necklace. It glowed a white-blue. The same happened for her bracelet, and there was no response from the jewelry box.
"Now that we know these are the charmed items, I can check to see what charms are placed on them. This is a more complicated spell, which I won't attempt to teach you tonight," he said. He checked the jewelry first and found basic protection and luck charms on them. The quills had self-inking charms. "I believe nothing has any malevolent charms on it, including Eavesdropping charms."
"Good," Pansy said, looking relieved.
"I will let you know when our first meeting is. Rachel, may I speak with you in the hall for a moment?" Severus asked, turning to where Rachel was sitting with Millie's cat.
"Sure," she said, getting to her feet.
In the hallway, Severus cast a privacy ward around them. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I'm just worried about Pansy," Rachel said.
"Worried in what way," he prompted. He wasn't sure he could convince the castle to make additional dorms, but he could try. In the worst case, Rachel could stay in her bedroom in their quarters.
"It's just a bad situation for her to be in. She's scared for her parents. I know she doesn't want to do this, but we have to help her," Rachel said, pausing to frown. "We are helping her, right?"
"Yes, I am helping her. I may ask some information from you from time to time as well. I'll also have Pansy show you the letters so that you know what is being said about you. We'll be supplying mostly harmless, ordinary, or misinformation. I won't have her send anything that could be used to hurt you," he promised.
Rachel nodded. "We figured you'd know the best way to do it."
"Yes, I'm very glad you came to me. Do you still feel comfortable sharing a dorm room with her?" he asked.
"Yes, of course. She's still my friend. And she told me straight away, it's not like she was trying to keep this a secret," she said quickly.
"It needs to stay a secret. I'd ask that you ask Millie as well. I'm asking that you don't tell this to the rest of your friend group." Severus didn't want their operation to be compromised by careless conversations in common rooms.
"Alright. I'll tell her. And we'll make sure Daphne knows too," Rachel said.
"Good. Do you need anything tonight?" he asked.
"No, I'm just about ready to go to bed. I'll see you on Sunday for dinner?" she asked.
"You'll see me tomorrow when I'm handing out schedules, but yes, we'll have dinner on Sunday as usual," Severus said, feeling oddly reluctant to leave her. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Rachel said, disappearing back inside her dorm.
Severus walked back out into the common room and looked around.
Cassius Warrington, his seventh year prefect, approached. "Is everything alright, sir?"
"Yes, just soothing start of the year jitters. Anything to report?" Severus asked.
"No, almost everyone is tucked away for the night. What did Professor Umbridge mean tonight when she said that some practices should be prohibited? What was she referring to?" Cassius asked.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect we'll find out. My advice to you, and to anyone else taking her Defense class, is to be polite and otherwise stay out of her way. You have NEWT revision guides?" Severus asked.
"Yes, sir. I'll pass that along," Cassius said, clearly understanding the unspoken message.
"Good. Have a goodnight, Mr. Warrington," Severus said.
"You as well, sir," Cassius said.
Severus left the common room and paused by Curbin's frame. "Please let me know if we have any wayward wanderers tonight, Curbin."
"Of course, Severus. I'll keep my eye out," Curbin said.
Severus returned to his quarters, intent on a fresh cup of tea and a few minutes to sit down. It was going to be a long year.
The Great Hall was loudly chaotic on Saturday morning. Rachel was glad to be with her friends, but part of her missed the quiet breakfasts at home. She resolved to climb up to the owlery at some point over the weekend to check on Gladys. She also wanted to visit with the House Elves at some point to check that they really were okay. They seemed okay, but she hadn't actually talked with them much and she wanted to be sure.
"Bacon. I missed bacon," Millie said as they sat down at the Slytherin table. "And eggs. I missed eggs. I missed everything really."
"Your family doesn't have bacon and eggs?" Theo asked, sitting down on Millie's other side.
Millie dropped the ladle for the scrambled eggs back into the pot with a loud clunk. "My mom wouldn't let me have them. She said I'm getting too big."
"She was starving you?" Rachel asked as quietly as she could while fighting back a flood of horror. What else had happened to her friends this summer that she didn't know about? "Millie, why didn't you say something? We would have sent you food."
Millie sighed. "She wasn't starving me. She just wouldn't let me have some things."
"Still," Theo said, shaking his head. His expression was one of carefully controlled fury. "It's not right. You're not fat, Millie, and I don't think this is something that eating different types of food or less food is going to make a difference. You're tall and broad, some people are and there's nothing wrong with that."
"I hate the way I look," Millie said. "And my mom hates it too. I'm not supposed to be like this."
"I think you're supposed to be however you grow to be. That's not something any of us can control," Rachel said, wishing she knew what to say that would help.
"Not unless you're a metamorphmagus at least," Theo said.
"What's that?" Rachel asked.
"They can change their appearance at will, just by thinking about it. It's an ability a very small number of people are born with, just like your Parseltongue, and it often runs in families but tends to skip a generation or two. They have to register with the Ministry and they often end up working for the Ministry too," Theo explained.
"Like Polyjuice potion, but they can just do it naturally?" Rachel asked.
"A little bit, but they don't have to look like anyone specific and they can change different parts individually," Theo said. "Let's eat and then go see what the rest of the group wants to do today."
Rachel served herself some eggs and a piece of toast, but she still felt rather off. It was upsetting to think that Millie had been suffering all summer and no one had known. She could understand why Millie hadn't said anything, that sort of thing was embarrassing, but they could have helped if they had known. Millie had said that she wasn't being starved, but Rachel wasn't sure if she really believed her.
"Rachel," Draco said as he sat down across from her. "Adrian said you got Quidditch captain?"
"I did. Congratulations on making prefect," she said.
Draco nodded and glanced at Theo before he turned back to Rachel. "We need to hold a team meeting and make plans. Let's do today in the common room so we can hold a practice tomorrow. I was thinking tryouts should be next Sunday at our usual practice time."
"How about tonight after dinner for a team meeting? Can you tell the others? We'll decide on tryouts then," Rachel said, trying to decide if the intense look Draco was giving her meant something or not.
"I'll let them know," Draco said, getting up again and heading further down the table.
"Don't let him boss you around. You're captain, not him," Theo said.
"I won't," Rachel said, though she'd also been intending to hold tryouts next Sunday. She poked at her eggs with her fork before giving up and trying to drink some pumpkin juice instead.
"You're not worried about flying with him?" Millie asked, her eyes searching Rachel's.
"No, actually. He wants Slytherin to win and for that he needs a Seeker. I don't think I have anything to worry about from him until after Quidditch season is over at least," Rachel said, though she really wasn't that worried about him attacking her. They were friends, at least she hoped they were still friends. "Theo, were things alright in your dorm last night?"
"It was fine. Everyone pretended like nothing had changed, though Draco is using the same wards on his bed as I am on mine," Theo said.
Rachel was glad she didn't have to deal with that. She looked down the table and saw the Carrow twins looking back at her. Rachel quickly turned her gaze to her own plate. Why did all of this have to be so complicated? It was their first day back at school and she could already feel her stomach twisting and churning.
She turned at the sound of Severus' voice and watched him as he handed out schedules, starting with the seventh years. It didn't take long for him to reach them.
"Miss Bulstrode," he said, handing Millie a piece of parchment.
"Thank you, sir," Millie said, immediately looking it over.
"Mr. Nott."
"Thank you, sir," Theo said, accepting his schedule.
"Miss Snow. Do you need a Stomach Soothing potion?" he asked with a critical look at her plate.
"No, I'm fine. I already ate," she lied, holding her hand out for her schedule.
He arched an eyebrow at her but handed over her schedule and continued down the table.
Rachel looked over her schedule and grimaced. Potions in the morning after Astronomy was not a good mix. Thank god she could drop Astronomy after this year.
Fifth Year Slytherin Time Table - Rachel Snow
1st period: 8:45 - 10:15
2nd period: 10:30 - 12:00
Lunch
3rd period: 1:00 - 2:30
4th period: 2:45 - 4:15
Care of Magical Creatures: Monday, 1st and 2nd period - Grounds, Care-Takers House
Arithmancy: Monday and Wednesday, 3rd period - 7th floor, classroom 7A
Study of Ancient Runes: Monday and Wednesday, 4th period - 6th floor, classroom 6A
Herbology: Tuesday and Thursday 1st period (with Hufflepuffs) - Greenhouse
Charms: Tuesday and Thursday, 2nd period (with Ravenclaws) - 2nd floor, classroom 2B
History of Magic: Tuesday, 3rd and 4th period (with Hufflepuffs) 4th floor, classroom 4F
Potions: Wednesday and Friday, 1st and 2nd period (with Gryffindors) - 1st level dungeons classroom
Defense: Thursday 3rd and 4th period (with Gryffindors) - 3rd floor, classroom 3C
Astronomy: Thursday at Midnight - Astronomy Tower
Transfiguration: Friday, 3rd and 4th period (with Ravenclaws) - 1st floor, classroom 1B
"You haven't eaten," Millie said when he was out of earshot.
"I'm just not hungry right now," Rachel said, tucking her schedule into her bag.
"And you couldn't have told him that?" Theo asked.
Rachel sighed. "He would have sent me to the hospital wing to get a Stomach Soothing potion and I don't really want to deal with that right now. It's just breakfast, not eating a piece of toast isn't going to kill me. And besides, this way I'll be really hungry by lunch."
Millie looked at her for a long moment and then shrugged. "It's not like I've never lied to my parents, I'm not going to nag you about it."
"I don't exactly have ground to stand on there either," Theo said. He twisted around on the bench. "I see Hermione standing with Luna, I think they're just about ready."
Millie stood up. "I need to find Isobelle before we go anyway, give me a minute."
Rachel watched as Millie went over to the Ravenclaw table and started looking for her sister.
"I never realized that Millie had so many problems with her family," Theo said quietly. "I feel kind of bad about it, like I was so wrapped up in my own problems that I didn't see hers."
"Me too," Rachel said. "Let's go wait with Hermione and Luna?"
"Sure," Theo said, grabbing one last piece of toast before they got up.
"Good morning," Hermione said as they approached. "I assume you received your schedules as well?"
"Yep. The only day of the week we don't have classes together is Tuesdays," Rachel said.
"If we all take the same NEWT subjects, we can have all of our classes together," Hermione said, looking thoughtful.
"Let's not worry about that until the end of the year," Theo said as Neville and Ginny walked over to them.
"What aren't we worrying about?" Ginny asked.
"NEWT classes. We're now officially allowed to worry about our OWLs," Theo said, giving Hermione a smile.
"I thought we couldn't start worrying about OWLs until Monday?" Luna asked, keeping a straight expression for a long moment before the corners of her mouth twitched upward.
"Well, you two still have another year before you have to worry about your OWLs, but I imagine you'll pick up plenty from our OWL study sessions. I have copies of our study schedule for everyone with me," Hermione said.
"About that, when are we supposed to fit homework into this schedule? Did you revise it from the one you sent me?" Theo asked.
"A little bit. But we can have two one hour homework sessions, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, and then two thirty minute OWL sessions, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Then on the weekends we can have longer sessions for bigger homework assignments with breaks for OWL sessions. As long as we stick to the schedule we'll cover everything by the time OWLs arrive," Hermione said with a nod.
"It's going to be a long year," Neville said.
"Rachel, is Slytherin still holding their Quidditch practices on Wednesdays and Sundays?" Hermione asked.
"That's my plan," Rachel said, wondering why Hermione was interested in their Quidditch practices.
"Then that's when I'll plan for Neville and I to lead Gryffindor tutoring sessions. I couldn't get the other Gryffindor prefects to agree to providing regular tutoring like the Slytherins do for first and second years, but Neville and I can provide ourselves as a resource for the younger years for homework help and general problem solving," Hermione said. "And in the evenings of course, but really everyone should have their homework done before nine at night."
"Some people don't have their homework done before midnight," Ginny said with a smile.
"Well then they need to organize themselves a little better," Hermione said.
"I don't have to listen to you, you're not mom!" Isobelle was almost shouting.
"I'm trying to help you. You have to listen to me. This is important," Millie said, her hand on Isobelle's shoulder as she guided her toward the doors.
"No, I don't! I can pick my own friends, just like I picked my own House! Leave me alone, or I'll tell Professor Flitwick!" Isobelle pulled herself away from Millie and went running out of the Great Hall.
Millie threw her hands up in the air and shook her head. "I can't deal with her. If she wants to be friends with a Death Eater, then so be it. I'm not responsible for her."
"A Death Eater?" Neville asked.
"Cordelia Gifford's father is a Death Eater," Theo said. "That didn't go very well."
"You don't have to tell me that. If she gets herself in trouble, do you know who my mom is going to blame? Me." Millie folded her arms.
"Maybe give her a few days and then try again?" Ginny suggested.
"I think that's about all you can do," Rachel said.
"I guess. Let's get out of here," Millie said.
"What did your sister mean, that she picked her own House?" Luna asked as they left the Great Hall.
"I assume she meant she didn't want to be in Slytherin with me," Millie said, frowning.
"Can you really do that though? The Sorting Hat decided on Gryffindor for me really quickly," Ginny said.
"I think if you'd fit more than one House you can let it know what you'd like. The Sorting Hat considered Ravenclaw for me, and for a long time I thought I made the wrong decision, but I actually like Gryffindor now for the most part," Hermione said.
Rachel thought back to her own Sorting. The Sorting Hat had told her that she'd do well in Gryffindor or Slytherin, and she'd asked for somewhere where she'd be safe and wanted. She thought it had chosen really well in that regard. She liked her House.
"Let's start by looking over the OWL revision schedule and you can tell me if you think it needs any changes," Hermione said.
"And let's have a picnic lunch today, it's nice outside," Ginny said.
"Yes, that would be nice," Luna agreed.
"And let's go to the library," Theo added.
Rachel smiled. At least most things had returned to normal.
"Did you have a good summer?"
Rachel turned and found herself staring at Scarlett's chin instead of her face. "You grew."
"I did! My mom was complaining because she had to get me new uniforms and robes. You, uh, didn't really, did you?" Scarlett asked.
"No, not much. I keep hoping that it will happen." Rachel didn't even need Severus to make her skirts and robes longer after this summer. She was apparently doomed to look like a thirteen year old forever.
"Well. I suppose that's not a bad thing. A lot of famous Seekers are pretty small," Scarlett said. "And look, I've been working out!" She lifted up her arm to flex her bicep, pushing her shirt sleeve out of the way to show it off.
"You've got muscles now!" Adrian said, coming up to Scarlett and then squeezing her bicep.
"All the better to hit the Bludgers with," Scarlett said, looking pleased with herself.
"Do you feel like you're going to be okay to train a new Beater this year?" Rachel asked.
"Sure, Lucian taught me everything he knew. Any idea who it's going to be yet?" Scarlett asked.
"No. We're going to hold tryouts next Sunday," Rachel said.
"So, team captain, nice going," Miles said as he approached. If anything, he'd gotten taller over the summer as well.
"Thanks. Did you have a good summer?" Rachel asked.
"Good enough, glad to be back," Miles said as he dropped down onto the couch.
"We should discuss prospects," Adrian said, glancing around the room.
"Where is Draco?" Scarlett asked.
"That's a good question," Rachel said, looking around the common room but not seeing Draco anywhere. He'd been the one to suggest this meeting and now he didn't even show up?
"So I hear the Gryffindors are making everyone try out for their spots again," Scarlett said when no one responded.
"They are, but only because they want rid of Cormac. Angelina is trying to be fair," Rachel said absently, folding her arms. Draco was supposed to be here, where the hell was he?
"She should have just kicked him off the team last year. She had plenty of reasons to. I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave?" Miles said.
"Not that we minded, made our job easier," Adrian added cheerfully.
The door to the common room opened and Draco and Pansy entered, holding hands. Rachel rolled her eyes and then raised her eyebrows at Draco. Draco turned away, said something in Pansy's ear that left her blushing, and then he came across the common room to join the rest of the Quidditch team.
Miles held his hand up. "I don't want to know. Keep your love life out of the Quidditch team."
Rachel heartily agreed.
"I wouldn't kiss and tell," Draco said, sitting down in the armchair opposite of Miles.
"Not much to tell from the sounds of it," Adrian said, causing Scarlett to giggle and Draco to scowl.
"Anyway," Rachel said as forcefully as she could. "Tryouts are on Sunday at our usual practice time since we already have the pitch. I'll post a notice on the noticeboard tonight."
"Anyone heard any rumors about who might come out?" Miles asked.
"No one from the fifth years. Blaise and Theo don't play, Crabbe and Goyle would be a disaster, and none of the girls play," Draco said.
Rachel frowned. She was a fifth year girl and she played, obviously.
"No one from the seventh years either, they're too busy with their NEWTs," Adrian said.
"And I'd suggest we don't take a sixth year unless they're really good, we'll just have to replace them in two years," Draco said.
"I think Stephen Higgs will try out, he's in my year," Scarlett said.
"Terrance's little brother? If he has the same talent, he'd be a good pick. Do you know what position he plays?" Miles asked.
"He'd want the Seeker position, but he'll take Chaser. Rachel, you're going back to Seeker this year?" Scarlett asked.
"Yes, definitely," Rachel said, in a tone that she hoped meant Draco wasn't going to argue with her. "Do we know anyone else in our House that plays Quidditch at all?" This was going to be a disaster if they couldn't even find people to fill the positions.
"Harper Young, also in my year, but he's an ass," Scarlett said.
"What position?" Rachel asked reluctantly.
"He'll play anything," Scarlett said. "You aren't seriously considering him?"
"We need two positions filled. At this rate I don't know that we have much choice. Anyone else?" Rachel asked.
"I've seen a group of third years on brooms, but I don't know which ones. They weren't terrible," Miles said.
"I think people will come to the tryout, they always do. We'll get rid of most of them," Draco said, shrugging. "We can train them, it will be fine. Any ideas for what we're going to have them do at tryouts?"
Rachel had been thinking about this a lot actually. "I figured for the Chasers we'll divide them into teams, with Adrian on one team and you on the other, and have them try to score goals. For the Beaters, we'll send them up with Scarlett one at a time and see how they do with a Bludger."
"Have everyone just fly around for a bit first. You'll be able to eliminate some people right away just by how they fly," Miles said.
Rachel nodded. That was probably a good idea.
"Anything else we should know?" Scarlett asked.
"Practices start tomorrow at our usual time," Rachel said immediately.
"Aye aye, captain," Adrian said with an unrepentant grin.
"I'll see you all tomorrow," Rachel said, shaking her head and sitting down at the low table. She pulled a piece of parchment and a quill out of her bag and began to write.
'Slytherin Quidditch Team Tryouts
Sunday, 10 September at 1:00 pm - Quidditch Pitch
We are looking for a Chaser and a Beater'
She puzzled over her notice for a moment, trying to decide if there was anything else she should add.
"How was your summer?" Draco asked.
Rachel looked up, a little surprised that Draco was still there while the rest of the team had dispersed. "Good. I learned how to swim. Spent a fair bit of time brewing potions and flying. How about you?"
Draco shrugged. "Boring. I went on a short holiday with my mother to Rome. Saw a few Quidditch games. Not much else."
"Oh, I saw the Holyhead Harpies and the Balleycastle Bats. It was a good game. It made me feel better after seeing the World Cup," Rachel said.
"It made you feel better?" Draco asked, raising his left eyebrow.
"It wasn't as violent. I didn't want to pursue Quidditch professionally if it was all like it was at the World Cup," Rachel admitted.
"What does Professor Snape think about your playing Quidditch professionally?" he asked, looking amused.
"Surprisingly he said he didn't mind, as long as I did something else, like a mastery, with it," she said.
Draco frowned suddenly. "My father won't hear of me playing professionally. He thinks it's lower class and uncivilized. Somehow owning Quidditch teams and betting on Quidditch is civilized, but playing isn't?"
"I'm sorry," Rachel said. She was sure living with Lucius Malfoy wasn't easy. "Do you have any idea what you'd want to do apart from Quidditch?"
"Do? Malfoys don't 'do' anything. I'll marry and raise children to further the family line, participate in high society, place myself to guide high ranking politicians, and eventually take my father's seat in the Wizengamot. That's what I'll 'do'."
Rachel thought that sounded like a pretty terrible life, especially if it wasn't the life you wanted. "Is that what you want to do?" she asked tentatively.
"That's what I'm going to do," Draco said, getting up. "I'll see you at practice tomorrow. You're still training with the Chasers, right?"
"Yes, I am," Rachel said, watching him as he went across the room to where Pansy was sitting with Daphne. She didn't want to think that Severus was right, that there was no helping Draco. But she didn't know what to do either.
She got up and pinned her parchment on the noticeboard and then went over to where Millie and Theo were sitting.
"How's the team?" Millie asked.
"Just about the same as usual. I don't know how many people are actually going to try out for the team," Rachel said, trying to stop her brain from flitting from worry to worry.
"They will. Quidditch is popular. You'll have a team," Theo said.
"I hope so," Rachel said. She was ready for the day to be over.
"What do we want to do this morning that isn't studying?" Millie asked as they settled down in their study room after breakfast.
"Well, before we do anything, I wanted to ask how everyone is doing with the third animagus meditation," Theo said.
"I've been practicing it every day, but I'm still not certain I'm doing it right," Hermione said with a small frown.
"I feel at peace with it. It's like I'm seeing my insides reflected outward," Luna said, looking distant for a moment before she relaxed against her chair.
"I'm not sure I know what that means," Millie said. "I've been trying, but usually I fall asleep while doing it."
"Me too, to the point where sometimes I do it in order to fall asleep," Rachel admitted.
"I feel a little floaty when I do it, like I'm not quite in my body. It was a little unpleasant at first, but after a while I realized I could come back whenever I wanted, and that helped," Ginny said, looking a little uncomfortable.
"I thought I had it, but now I'm not sure," Neville said.
"Why?" Millie asked.
"I mean, maybe I'm not doing it right, if most of you are having trouble with it," Neville said, his eyes darting around to look at all of them.
"Or it just means this is something you happen to be more skilled at than most of us, just like Herbology. How does it feel when you do it?" Theo asked.
"Like Luna said, there's a sort of peace and stillness. I feel like I'm both everywhere and nowhere, all at once," Neville said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I would guess that both you and Luna have figured out how to do it then. How do you get there? What are the steps?" Hermione asked.
"I just think about who I am and the things that I've done and what I want, and then I think about how that affects the people around me. I think about all of you a lot," Neville explained.
"I do too. Some of my memories of self are in this room with all of you," Luna said, closing her eyes.
"Interesting," Theo said with a small frown. "Do we want to try to keep working on this one or do we want to work on the fourth and final meditation?"
"Let's discuss the last one, that way everyone who is ready to move onto it can and the rest of us can pick which one we're practicing. We still have at least a year before we can actually attempt the transformation, we have plenty of time to practice all of them," Hermione said with a nod.
"Okay. The final meditation is on your magic, and we might need Sirius' help again because I don't know what it means and the book seemed to think that we would. We're supposed to focus on feeling the flow of our magic and preparing to harness it. We should be able to 'hold' our magic for at least ten minutes, whatever that means," Theo explained.
"Hold our magic?" Ginny asked.
Rachel smiled. "I actually know this one, though I don't think I can do it for ten mintues. It's the same way you put more power into casting a spell."
"By being startled?" Millie asked. "The only time I have put more power into a spell was by accident, when Crabbe bumped into me in Charms.
"You don't have to be startled. It's...you know the feeling, right before you cast a spell?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, it's a very nice feeling," Luna said, though everyone else was shaking their heads.
"How about this, take out your wands. I want you to try casting the Wand-Lighting spell without saying the incantation," Rachel said, pulling out her own wand.
"Nonverbal magic?" Hermione asked, though she'd taken out her wand.
"The point being we haven't learned to cast nonverbal magic, but you know the spell and you should feel your magic flowing into your wand. It wants to go out, but it can't," Rachel explained, though she felt she wasn't doing a very good job.
Around the table everyone had expressions of concentration as they held their wands out. Neville was silently mouthing lumos and Millie had squeezed her eyes shut.
"Oh!" Ginny said, dropping her wand.
"You felt it?" Rachel asked.
"I felt something. It was like a connection between me and my wand, and after a moment it felt warm." Ginny picked her wand up again.
"Do you feel this every time you cast magic?" Theo asked.
"No. I mostly felt it in our first year, when I couldn't speak, but now I only feel it if I'm preparing to cast a spell but haven't done it yet," Rachel said.
"I feel it now too," Millie said, lowering her wand. "I think lumos is a good spell to practice with."
"I'll write to Sirius and ask about holding the magic, maybe he'll have some advice," Rachel said, putting her wand away.
"That would be good. We have something to practice for now at least," Hermione said.
"I had an idea of what we should do this morning," Millie said.
"What?" Theo asked.
Millie smiled. "I think we should play with the Room of Requirement. We never really had a chance last year. We were too busy with, well, everything," she said with a glance at Rachel.
"That's a great idea. No one will be up on the seventh floor today anyway," Ginny said.
"Well, we have been wanting to test it," Hermione said. "Did anyone have anything else they wanted to do?"
"I think it would be nice to walk down by the lake while the weather is still nice, but we can do that in the afternoon," Luna suggested.
"That would be nice," Neville agreed.
Theo stood up. "Let's go upstairs then and we can go outside after."
They made their way upstairs, encountering no one else, and gathered in the hall next to the tapestry of trolls practicing ballet.
"Where do we want to start?" Theo asked.
"Well, if we're truly testing the room, we should see what sizes it can make, whether it can both copy places and create new places, if there are limitations to what objects can be in the rooms, and, well, whatever limits we can imagine, really." Hermione looked a little flustered at all of the possibilities.
"Let's start with size because that's easiest to test. Small or big first?" Ginny asked.
"Might as well do small first and get it out of the way. Are we trying for somewhere we know exists or just whatever the room can come up with?" Theo asked.
"How are we going to know if it's somewhere that doesn't exist?" Rachel asked.
"True, we don't know where the Room of Requirement is drawing from. We'll have to see if it can do places outside of Hogwarts. If so, all of the rooms might be rooms that already exist somewhere in the world," Luna said, looking thoughtful.
"Stand back," Ginny said.
The rest of them moved back to the entrance of the hall and watched as Ginny paced back and forth three times with a determined expression. A door appeared and she opened it and started laughing.
"What is it?" Neville asked as they went down the corridor to peer inside.
"The broom cupboard in our kitchen. It was the smallest place I could think of. And look, my mom's mop and bucket, and the sponges. It looks exactly like I saw it three days ago," Ginny said.
"Wait a moment," Hermione said, frowning at the cupboard. "What if the Room of Requirement isn't drawing from places that exist, it's drawing from the person's memory of the place?"
"Only one way to find out. Let's back off so the door disappears and let me try," Theo said.
They went around the corner and waited for a moment and when they looked back, the door was gone.
Theo began pacing, but no door appeared. "Just wait a moment. Let me try something else." He started pacing again and this time a door did appear. He opened it and shook his head. "Well that answers that pretty clearly."
"What did you ask for?" Rachel asked, peering in at what looked like a foreign palace of some sorts.
"The first time I asked for the Taj Mahal, which I don't know what it looks like or anything about it, I only know it exists. The Room couldn't do anything with that. The second time I asked for an Indian palace, and this fits pretty much what I would imagine one looks like, but only based on books that I've read," Theo explained.
"So it's definitely drawing on our minds somehow," Hermione said.
"That's a little creepy," Neville said.
"I think it's nice that Hogwarts knows us so well. Maybe it's an extension of the magic placed in the Sorting Hat," Luna said.
"Let's go back to space. We've seen it small, now let's try to make it big," Theo said.
"I'll do it this time," Millie said.
They went around the corner and waited and then Millie started pacing. A door appeared and she opened it. "Perfect!"
"Wow," Ginny said as they looked in on a replica of the Great Hall.
"All the plates and silverware are here. Even the Headmaster's chair," Hermione said. "Where is this all coming from? If we went down to the Great Hall would it be missing?"
"Maybe not, at least not for the plates and silverware. Hogwarts used to have a lot more students, I bet there's plenty of it in storage," Rachel said. "I don't know about the Headmaster's chair though."
"That's the even bigger question though, isn't it? Where is the stuff in the Room of Requirement coming from?" Theo asked.
"Well, let's test that theory another day with a room that's a little bit closer than seven floors away," Hermione said.
"I want to try something," Rachel said.
About a minute later she was pacing, her eyes partially closed as she thought about the Quidditch pitch in as much detail as she could remember. The door appeared and she opened it. "Weird. Come look!"
"The Quidditch pitch!" Millie said. "But something went really wrong."
"A height limitation, maybe. It couldn't go that high so it decided to keep the most important features?" Theo suggested.
The stands were down on the circle of grass and the goal hoops were also much lower to the ground. "Look at the sky," Rachel said, looking up. The wooden rafters were painted blue and so were the edges of the walls that they could see. There was sunlight coming from somewhere.
"Oh, now I want to try something," Hermione said.
"That might be fun for playing Quidditch in winter," Ginny said as they went back down the hall. "We'd have to be a little bit more careful with our speed and altitude, but I think it would work."
"Probably wouldn't want to let Bludgers loose in there either," Neville said.
"Good point," Rachel said. It would be nice, but she was of a mind to keep the room private just with their group. She and Ginny could practice in there over the winter holiday at least.
"Well, that almost worked, but not quite," Hermione called down to them.
They looked in to find the misshapen Quidditch pitch again, the only difference was it was darker and the ceiling and walls were now painted with dark clouds.
"I was trying to make it rain, but it seems that's not possible," Hermione explained.
"But it was able to come up with something close, unlike when I tried for the Taj Mahal," Theo pointed out.
"I'd like to try," Luna said.
When they came back they found themselves looking in on the grassy pasture to the side of Hagrid's house.
"No animals, though I think it's probably a good thing that the Room can't somehow transport living creatures," Luna said.
"That is probably a good thing," Hermione agreed. "Neville, your turn."
"Okay, that gives me an idea anyway," Neville said.
They waited until the door appeared before they came back over.
"Your greenhouse," Rachel said, recognizing it instantly.
"My greenhouse, and some of the plants are right, but it's missing things. I should have a Mimosa pudica right there, I got it this summer and I was definitely thinking about it when I was pacing. And I don't think that's something Professor Sprout has in her greenhouses," Neville said.
"So not living creatures, but living plants, but only if they're on Hogwarts grounds?" Theo theorized.
"And not rain, though we could try a few other things for sources of running water," Hermione said, putting her fingers against her lips as she thought. "I have so many ideas I don't know where to start."
"Well, let's try water in various forms since we're thinking about it. I'll try the pond near the Burrow," Ginny said.
They left the corridor again and Rachel smiled. This was a fun way to spend a day without classes or homework to worry about.
