The Fall of The Phoenix

by IfIOnlyWereAWeasley

Books 1-3. In the course of a single night, Phoenix Potter goes from leading as normal a life as the daughter of Harry and Ginny Potter can have to being a central figure in the brewing war. With gods, prophecies, and a whole new type of magic at play, Phoenix must learn to navigate exactly the sort of world that her parents have always fought to protect her from.

32. He Knows

Chapter Thirty-One: He Knows

---

Though I had notoriously approached the idea of going off to Hogwarts with fierce excitement, there had been a few shadowy moments of doubt after my eldest brothers had gone off to school. The two boys tried to make time for their younger siblings and their parents when they came home on breaks, but there was a layer of inside jokes and shared events that none of the rest of us had been present for that left James, Lily, Albus, and I feeling a bit left out.

One early spring afternoon, when the two boys were supposed to have been playing Quidditch with me but had instead gone with mum to replace one of Teddy's cloaks (which had been mysteriously destroyed during the school year), my father found me pouting near the broomshed in the backyard.

"Hey, little bird," He whispered as he dropped into the grass beside me.

Uncle Ron always patted the ground dramatically before sitting down outside, claiming he was looking for slugs or spiders. The very idea that there could be such creatures nearby made Molly and Dom squeal, but dad and Aunt Hermione always rolled their eyes and gave each other a look that made it clear that Uncle Ron was telling a joke that none of the rest of us understood.

Hogwarts secrets.

Dad's brow furrowed when I didn't respond, simply ripping up another handful of dead grass and throwing it to the side. It was still too cold to be sitting outside, for my hands were bright red and I could see each huffy breath that I exhaled, but I refused to acknowledge it in the slightest.

Bumping my shoulder gently with his own, my father said, "Mad at Teddy and Levi for flaking on you?"

I gritted my teeth at the reminder, but said nothing. If I spoke, I would cry, and that was as good as admitting defeat.

Defeat in what, I hadn't the foggiest, but I could no more will away the feeling than explain it.

"Look, I know that your brothers have been a bit…busy, lately, and that hasn't been easy for you. Some day, you'll go to Hogwarts and you'll understand how things change when you meet new people, get new freedoms, and spend most of your time away from home. That being said, I know that Teddy and Levi hurt your feelings today. I hope that you understand that, no matter how busy they may seem now, they will always be your brothers. You kids are going to grow up, move out, and start families of your own. That doesn't mean that we'll stop being a family. The boys will figure out how to balance everything soon, okay? In the meantime, I'm sorry that you're the one getting your feelings hurt," He said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

A hair reluctantly, I let him pull me into his side. "I just wish that they had time for me. Don't they hurt your feelings when they ignore you and mommy?"

"I don't think that they're ignoring us, baby. They're just figuring out how to balance friends and family. Your Uncle Ron told me that he felt as though all of his brothers went to school and became too cool for him, but now he talks to most of his brothers at least once a week. It may take time for your brothers to find balance, but they'll always be there when you need them. Not to mention, I promise that you'll go to school soon and find friends of your own that you'll want to spend all of your time with too, okay?"

Though a slight haze of tears, I turned to look at my father. "And you won't hate me when I do?"

He cupped my face in his hands and looked into my eyes, so earnest that I would have believed anything that my father told me. "There is not a thing on this Earth that you could do that would make me hate you. There may be times when I'm upset with you or disappointed in your choices, but I will never hate you. When you meet the people that you want to spend the rest of your life with, I will celebrate that you have found that. I've known since I was 11 years old that I wanted to see your Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron as often as possible for as long as they were willing to let me stick around. You kids all deserve to find those people. And I will never, no matter what happens, hate any of you kids. I'm your father, and I will love you until the very end."

"Until the very end?" I repeated, confused by his choice in wording.

He smiled, the sort of smile that scrunched up his eyes almost enough that I couldn't see the tears that had formed in them. "That was something that my own father said to me, at a time when I needed him the very most. I asked if he would stay with me, and he said that he would. Until the very end."

"I will love you until the very end, too," I said, wrapping my arms around my father at last and burrowing into his side.

He chuckled, squeezing me until I gave in and laughed with him. "That's what families do, little bird. That's what our family does. You will always have us. For anything that you need."

When my brothers came home later that day, they stood together in the doorway of my bedroom, jostling each other and bickering until I came to stand before them. They gave me almost identical eager grins, demanding that I close my eyes and hold out my hands. The custom Quidditch gloves that they handed me were, they explained, a gift that they had ordered for me after seeing them advertised in a magazine some months ago. As my birthday was not for ages and Christmas was really no closer, they had decided to simply give them to me. It had been sheer coincidence that they were finished while the boys were home to go and pick them up, but they had begged mum to take them to do so as soon as they got the letter.

"Do you like them?" Ted had asked, eyes shining as he watched my reaction carefully.

It did not feel like defeat when I burst into tears, flinging my arms around my eldest brothers and thanking them profusely. They managed to get even James, despite his crippling fear of heights, to come and play a short scrimmage with us, and suggested that we have a siblings' night once we were done. Dad had given me a wink when we all stood from the dinner table, pretending not to notice as Ted surreptitiously slipped into the pantry to gather snacks before we all bolted up the stairs.

---

The soft bouncing of each echoing step that Freddy took was making my head spin slightly, the grey walls a blur as I closed my eyes and let my chin rest against his shoulder. He had taken one look at me sprawled out on a sofa in the Common Room-after Jay had banned me from our morning run-and decided that he would be carrying me down to breakfast. In a very out-of-character response, I had not protested, as I was rather exhausted after a very chaotic night.

After remaining long past the scheduled time at Quidditch practice repeatedly attempting a very complicated drill until Jack nearly fell off of his broom due to his weariness, I had barely had time to shower before I had to sprint to the second floor to do my rounds. Ben and I had been assigned the earlier shift, but we wound up staying for more than half of the late shift as well, as our replacements couldn't be bothered to show up on time. When I had finally stumbled back to the Common Room, wanting nothing more than to collapse into my bed, I found a sheepish James waiting with his Charms essay and a hopeful expression. It had taken nearly two hours to help him get his essay straightened out, though he had admittedly clearly put a lot of effort into his initial attempt (which was the only reason that I didn't tell him to figure it out on his own so that I could go to bed), at which point the night was mostly over.

Now, I found that the three hours of sleep that I had managed to get seemed to have done nothing for me. It had been a long time since I was so tired that I was physically nauseous, but this was clearly one of those days.

"Nix, please take a sick day," Freddy pleaded. His hands squeezed my ankles gently, the concern in his tone clear. "I'll take your notes, and you know none of the professors will be upset. We start break next week; it's not like we're doing anything important."

I shook my head before shoving my face into the side of his neck as my nausea doubled at the motion. "No, I don't want to miss today. I have a feeling that something important will be happening."

Freddy sighed, the sound thick with defeat. "I hate it when you get those feelings…"

He took me down to the kitchens, letting me off his back and grabbing me when I staggered a bit. I then dozed by the fire while he sweet-talked the elves into making me a huge cup of coffee. The smell furthered my nausea, but I drank it so quickly that I was left feeling jittery.

"Toast?" Freddy asked, giving me a knowing look. I accepted, nibbling at the crust until my stomach settled down some. Afterwards, I sat and responded to Dom and Vic's most recent letters while Fred chatted with the elves and Circe lay purring by the fire.

Dom was still in America with Mick. They had gone to Disney World, in Florida, and the pictures she had included made it clear how happy they were. I had charmed the photos to stick to the wall behind my bed, along with most of my other family pictures. She had also given me yet another charm, which detailed a little fairy whose wings fluttered on occasion. I adored it.

Vic's letter was in Italian and French, as all of her letters had been during the year. I was getting better at reading Italian. She sent corrections for each of my letters back every time she wrote to me, and I seemed to be getting better at writing in Italian as well. Over the break, she promised to help me with pronunciation. She spent a bit of the letter telling me about her job at Mungo's, especially about the maternity ward, which was her favorite. She also told me about the new room that she had finished decorating in the house that she shared with my brother. The pictures that she included were lovely.

The fire was warm in the kitchens, which explained why I drifted off without realizing that it was happening. Freddy let me sleep until the last possible minute, though the gesture backfired spectacularly when I tripped while sprinting still half-asleep to class. It wouldn't have been a huge deal, except I happened to do so while climbing a flight of stairs, causing me to go crashing to the floor below while Freddy looked on in sheer horror.

Professor Bernet pursed her lips as we slipped into class just moments away from being tardy, but said nothing as we sat in our seats. Circe slunk into the classroom unnoticed, and I quickly slid her under the edge of my robe before that could change.

I felt the bracelet on my wrist burn as I pulled out a quill and a journal for notes.

Rx: Your lip is bleeding.

As soon as she was sure that I had seen the message, she sent the next one through, forced to break it into pieces because of the minimal space on the band of the bracelet.

Rx: What happened?

I started to reach for the bracelet to respond, but the soft look of concern in Roxy's eyes caught my attention. Trying not to grin as an idea occurred to me, I carefully created a tiny gap in my mental wards, hoping that I could do so without it catching her attention.

"I fell down the stairs. I'm okay. Practice went late yesterday, as did my rounds, and then James wanted help with a paper," I thought, watching her face to see if it worked as I patched the hole in my defenses back up.

Roxy jumped, her lips parting as she gave me a wide-eyed look of shock. After a moment, she ducked her head to look at her bracelet.

Rx: No one's ever done that before.

Rx: That was really cool.

Rx: Thank you.

Rx: Don't overwork yourself.

When I glanced back at her, her eyes were slightly shimmery. I realized that everyone who had ever found out about her talent, myself included, had probably locked their heads up even more tightly in response.

Pulling the gap back open, I thought, "I won't. I'll go to the Hospital Wing later if I really start to feel bad, but I think I'm just tired. Love you."

I could see the smile on her face as we both turned our heads to our notes, Professor Bernet's gaze locked on the two of us as though she knew that we were doing something that we shouldn't be, but couldn't figure out what. Part of me was pleased to have gotten our note-passing past the professor, who had been friends with Roxy's dad and Uncle Fred in school and undoubtedly knew all sorts of tricks.

---

"I still think you should have skipped," Lana informed me primly, one clear green eye and one cinnamon colored squinted as she looked down her nose at me in clear disapproval.

"I'm fine, Lana. I'll eat a big lunch and be sure to go to bed early tonight," I told her. She sighed, pulling her bag higher on her shoulder.

"No, I agree with Lana," Roxy spoke, dodging around a group of first years. We were headed to lunch, but we had to swing by the library first so that Lana could return a book. It was about to be late, and Madame Pince's hexes for overdue books were legendary.

"Of course you do," I sighed. The two were well-meaning, but their fussing was growing tedious. "Look I just get the feeling that I need to suffer through today, okay? It's important."

Rox pursed her lips, clutching Circe, whom she had insisted on carrying around all morning, closer to her chest. "Like…a feeling?"

I nodded, a bit grim. "Yeah, one of those feelings."

Lana, having practically been a part of the family for the last five years, as well as my roommate for that time, had a basic understanding of what it meant when I got a strong feeling about something. She looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Well in that case, let's hurry up and get through with the library so that you can get some food. Also, I think we should swing by the Hospital Wing and get you a pepper up potion. You really are looking under the weather today, and not just because you're tired."

I groaned as she pulled up her sleeve and pressed the inside of her wrist to my forehead. "Lana Phyllis I am fine!"

She ignored me, pulling her hand back to frown at Roxy. "Well, she doesn't feel super warm, but she looks properly awful, doesn't she?"

Roxy's brows were furrowed as she nodded. "She really does. She's super pale, yeah?"

She reached forward, smoothing down my hair with her free hand. Lana moved to fix my cloak at the same time, lifting my bag so that she could adjust my sleeves.

"Get off me!" I squealed, batting at their hands and backing away. They giggled as I tripped over my own feet, nearly falling over.

"Sorry, Phoenix. You really do look ill though."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, I'll go for a pepper up as soon as I'm done eating."

They both looked satisfied, and I chose not to mention that I was only agreeing because I really needed to talk to Madame Scamander.

Roxy gently set Circe down before looping her arms through ours, humming merrily as she tugged us on our way. As we walked, I found myself wondering why Lana was hanging out with Roxy and I rather than Luce. It wasn't that I minded her presence-I didn't-but it was curious. The two had been attached at the hip since we had started Hogwarts, so the sight of one without the other was a surprising rarity.

I waited until we were almost to the Great Hall to ask. "Hey Lana, where's Lucy?"

Lana's cheeks flushed a deep crimson as she dropped her gaze to her Oxfords, watching her feet as we walked. "She's mad at me right now, actually. We got into a fight because she was saying some nasty stuff about you two. I told her off and now she refuses to talk to me until I apologize for it."

Roxy and I exchanged stunned glances before pulling the girl into a hug. I was quick to thank her. "Lana, you are so sweet for that. Thank you; we genuinely appreciate you sticking up for us. I don't know what's going on with Lucy right now, but I know that she's got some issues with us. It's really nice of you to stand up for us. I know that Lucy is your best friend and I can't imagine what you're going through, but you're welcome to hang out with us whenever you want-even when you're not having a fight with Lucy."

"Thank you," She whispered, giving us both a soft smile.

"No, thank you," Roxy countered, wrapping an arm around the other girl's shoulders as we walked.

Roxy and I chose not to ask Lana what Lucy was saying about us, not only because it didn't particularly matter, but because we didn't want to make Lana feel like she was betraying Lucy's trust. She had stood up for us, but we weren't going to make her a bigger part of this than we had to, because it wasn't at all fair to her.

We entered the hall and I immediately noticed Lucy giving the three of us a dark look. I ignored her easily, moving to sit between Jay and Freddy. Roxy and Lana sat in the seat beside James, who was deep in conversation with Lily and Coleen.

"How are you feeling?" Jay asked me, carefully loading a plate for me as he spoke. He had nearly had a stroke over my busted lip earlier, and I privately found it amusing that he had immediately been ready to dismember an attacker that didn't exist at the sight. I took my plate from him with a grateful smile, watching as he lifted Circe into his lap and mumbled hello to her.

"A bit better," I said in response to his question, as he gently reached down to pet my kneazle, whispering something into her ear with a soft expression. As I picked at my food, I let my head rest against the side of Jay's arm.

An odd prickling sensation caused me to turn my head slightly. I found myself staring into Max Holland's clear blue eyes. Though I expected him to look away once he had been caught staring, he continued to steadily meet my gaze, something eerie lurking behind his eyes as he did so. A part of me suspected that lifting my head off Jay's would make his expression slightly less mutinous, but I was too tired to care.

"Hey!" Al broke the staring contest that I was having as he ran up to our section of the table and flung himself down beside Lana, who hurriedly moved her plate out of the way of his flailing limbs with a faint smile. "Have you heard? McGonagall hasn't been in any of her classes today! She had one of the other teachers give a lesson for the 7th years, but she cancelled the rest."

"Do you think she's alright?" I asked, then threw in a second question before he was even able to answer the first. "Have you heard anything on why she's not around?"

Al shook his head, eyes locked on mine. Though Minnie and I had spent the past year in almost constant contact, she was Albus's godmother. It was almost a relief to have someone just as concerned for her as I was, though our reasoning for being so worried was likely different.

"Do you think she's sick?" My little brother asked, the slight tremor in his voice making me realize that I must look more upset than I had meant to show.

"Maybe she has some Headmistress duties that she forgot about," Roxy suggested, clearly trying to soothe Al, though she was looking over my face carefully as she spoke.

I nodded, ignoring the way that Lily, Jay, and Freddy were now intently staring at me. "I'm sure that's it. If I hear anything, though, Al, I'll be sure to message you. Okay?"

The boy's shoulders dropped with obvious relief as I shook my bracelet at him, the concern instantly melting off of his features as he took my assurance to heart without thinking twice about it. Sometimes the never-wavering faith that my younger siblings had in me made guilt so fierce that I nearly choked on it rise up within me. Once he had calmed down, Lana began to load a plate for my youngest brother, grinning when he offered up a joke about having made himself ravenous with his mad dash to the Great Hall.

After a few additional bites of my food, I decided that I couldn't wait any longer to know what was going on. Shoving my things in my bag as subtly as possible, I was hoping to make my escape before anyone could try to insist that they came along. As much as I loved my family, everyone was going to have questions that I didn't have the answer to right now.

"To the Hospital Wing?" Lana asked, effectively ruining my plan to escape unnoticed as she began to rise as well. I stared at her plate full of food with a cocked eyebrow until she lowered herself back into her chair.

"Lana, you're sweet, but go ahead and finish your food. I'll take Lily with me and see you all in class!" I said cheerfully, tapping my sister on the shoulder three times as I swung my leg over the bench.

Jay and Freddy were both giving me identical looks of surprise, but my choice in companion had been carefully calculated. Something was going on-between my exhaustion and nausea, the terrible feeling that had been lurking in my gut all day, and now Minnie's disappearance, that much was certain. If I was about to receive bad news, I wanted to be able to simply wallow in my misery for a minute. Jay was still hell-bent on optimism over the entire situation, and Freddy knew that he was still in the dark about some of it-namely the part that explained just how deeply involved in everything I would have to be.

Lily, on the other hand, would simply accept that I was upset and provide whatever comfort she could provide. I loved Jay, but he would immediately begin trying to think of a solution, which wasn't always what I needed right away.

Circe leapt out of Jay's lap as I got up, wrapping herself around my ankles as I gave my boyfriend's shoulder a gentle squeeze. Lily quickly shoved her last bite of her sandwich in her mouth, giving Coleen a one-armed hug as she jumped out of her seat and ran down the length of the table.

I met her by the doors, holding my hand out for her to take as she darted up to my side. Standing so close to her, I could feel the faint tremble that apparently lay beneath her bubbly demeanor. It made something in my gut twist so violently that I was sure I would lose my lunch. After a few hard swallows, I managed, "Come on, Sparky."

Lily, Circe, and I walked from the Great Hall in silence, which we didn't break until we were alone in the corridors.

"So what's the deal? McGonagall cancelled our class today, and I heard she did that with all of her other classes as well-without any warning or explanation. That's not like her at all, because she would always tell her students where she was at, but if she absolutely couldn't give them information she would at least owl you to let you know that she was okay. She knows that this is all way too important and dangerous to be disappearing without telling you. Has she owled you?" Lily spoke rapidly, hardly pausing for breath as she did so. She had clearly been waiting to have this conversation.

"I don't know anything more than you do. In fact, I didn't even know she wasn't having classes today until Al told me at lunch," I responded worriedly, glancing about to make sure that there was still no one around before using my hip to steer Lily sideways across the corridor and into a secret passageway, just to be safe.

She frowned, her grip tightening on my hand, and hardly paused to give the passageway a look of awe before continuing her line of questioning. "So you're thinking Luna knows?"

"She's as good a guess as any. Even if Minnie's just gone on official business, Luna can at least tell me that she's okay."

Lily looked relieved, dropping her head down onto my shoulder as we walked. All of my siblings were taller than me now, which made me a tiny bit sad for no reason at all. Circe got a running jump and leapt onto my other shoulder, using my cloak to aid her in getting there. I tried to ignore the feeling of her claws punching holes in the black fabric.

"Are you sick again?" Lily asked me after a minute of silence.

I shook my head, ruffling her hair as I did so. "I'm just really tired. I do feel a little ill, but I'm pretty sure that it's because of that."

"Are you sleeping?"

"Normally, yes, but last night I just wound up with a lot on my plate all at once."

"Just make sure you get some rest. I don't like this, Phoe," Lily whispered.

She pulled away as we neared the Hospital Wing, which proved to be a good thing when I tripped and went sailing into a door frame.

"Ow!" I gasped, cradling my arm in my hand. Lily squatted down beside me, her eyes wide. "Gods. Circe, come here sweetheart. Are you okay?"

My kneazle, who had been thrown off of my shoulder when I tripped, crawled into my lap and began to purr.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked, her voice shaking with alarm as she examined my elbow.

"I'm fine, I just…I tripped this morning, too. I don't understand it. I'm not normally clumsy," I mumbled, turning my elbow and pulling up my sleeve so that I could see the deep bruise that was already spreading over my skin.

"Is that what happened to your lip?" She asked, her eyes growing impossibly wider.

I nodded. "Let's just…let's go see Luna. I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it."

Lily bobbed her head once, a funny, jerking motion that wasn't quite a nod. As she reached for Circe, pulling her into her arms, I ducked my head a bit to look at her face. There were tears pooling in her eyes.

"Lils-"

She shook her head, wiping at her eyes. "No, sorry. I just…"

I reached out, taking her hand in mine. "I know it's a lot, Lily. I'm sorry that you're a part of it."

Perhaps I had miscalculated in my choice of companion. At Freddy's urging, I had been trying to include her in our research more frequently, attempting to rely on every bit of help that I had. In my haste to avoid taking one of the boys today, however, I had forgotten why I was so insistent on keeping Lily out of things as much as possible.

My baby sister didn't deserve to have her childhood stolen from her the way that mine had been taken from me.

The sight that greeted us when we entered the Hospital Wing was not the one that I had been anticipating. As I watched the tall man spin around towards us, the anxious feeling that had been lurking in the pit of my stomach all day gave way to something rolling and unpleasant. Something was wrong.

"Neville?" My godfather looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him. "What are you doing here? Where's L-Madame Scamander?"

"She had something to take care of today. What's going on? Are you two okay?" Neville asked, crossing the room to press the back of his hand to my forehead. "You're burning up, Phoe."

"I am?" I asked, honestly startled by the news. "I haven't been feeling well today; I actually came for a pepper up potion."

Neville nodded, summoning one for me at once and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Here, do you need me to pour your dose?"

"No, that's okay, I can do it."

The man pressed a kiss to the top of my head as I tried to coax my trembling hands into tugging the cork from the bottle. He gave me an amused look when I finally gave up, turning the top of the vial towards him with a pleading expression, and used his free hand to pull the stopper free with ease. While I administered the correct dosage, Neville asked Lily about how she and Alice were enjoying helping out in the wing, inviting the both of them to come by after their classes to help him run things for the day. The potion burned as I swallowed it, but I hardly noticed as I turned over the day's events in my mind.

After we left the wing, I tugged my little sister behind a tapestry. Though it pretty much ruined the privacy offered by the hidden passage, I left the entrance slightly open so that there was enough light for me to see her face.

"Something is going on, Lils. I know it'll be hard, but I need you to be normal today, okay? Can you do that for me?" I asked her softly, hating myself for having to make the request. When she nodded, I pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you. Just until I figure out what's going on. Then I'll make sure you're in the loop."

"Promise?" She asked, her eyes vulnerable as she stared at me.

I held my pinky out for her to take, locking them tight. "I promise. Don't make plans for Wednesday evening, okay? I'm going to steal you for the night. We're going to have a sister night in the Room of Requirement and talk about our friends, Jay, Ali, and anything else that you want. A gossip night, I think Roxy would probably call it."

Her shoulders sagged at my words, her eyes welling with tears as she threw herself into my arms. I might have a lot on my plate, but I did my best to pay attention to what happened in my siblings' lives, and I owed Lily a bit of quality time. If nothing else, it could serve as thanks for what she went through because of me.

"I'm going to walk you to class, okay? I need you to be normal, don't forget. I'll figure this out; just worry about your schoolwork."

"Hey, Phoenix?" She said as we began to weave our way through the crowded corridors.

"Yeah?"

"You may want to charm away the steam from the potion. It's still coming out of your ears."

"Oh!"

I quickly cast a spell to get rid of the steam, embarrassed to have been so distracted that I hadn't even noticed it. A few first years had been looking at me strangely, but I had just put it down to my last name.

I let go of Lily's hand as we neared her class, and we both put on our best press faces as her classmates came into view. To my great relief, Lorcan crossed the distance between us as soon as he lay eyes on my sister, which immediately caused some of the tension to leave her body.

"Hey, Flower," Lorcan greeted Lily, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and tugging her into his side. "Hello, Phoenix."

"Hey, you," I responded, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder, though my attention was on Alice, who was leaned up against the wall beside the classroom door and giving Lorcan a contemplative look.

"Hi, Lore," Lily said, letting her head rest against Lorcan's chest, her eyes also trained on Alice. The boy tipped his head down slightly and whispered something in her ear that made a smile spread across my sister's cheeks. "Promise?"

He nodded, looking pleased to have made her smile.

With a little whoop, Lysander sprinted up, wrapping his arms around me and nearly bowling me over completely as he gave me a fierce hug.

"Hi!" He chirped happily, his smile wide as he beamed down at me. "Man, I never see you! Come have lunch with us one of these days, okay?"

I gave him a smile, hoping that it matched his energy. "Sounds like a plan. You lot have a nice class, okay?"

I signed a quick hello to Alice, ruffled Hugo's hair affectionately, and gave his boyfriend, Mike Fess, a quick one-armed hug. Greetings given, I made my way down the crowded halls towards my own class before I wound up late.

I knew that it was asking a lot of Lily to keep this whole thing to herself, especially since I knew that she wasn't coming to me to talk about it because she didn't want to give me more to worry about. I had tried to change her perspective on that, but she could be just as hard-headed as I was sometimes. Jay had indicated that he had been able to get her to talk about it a few times, but she mostly held her cards close to her chest.

"Nix!" A voice yelled.

A genuine smile grew on my face as my very overdramatic best friend came tearing down the corridor towards me. I could hear people laughing as Circe dove out of my bag just moments before Freddy picked me up, twirling me around dramatically. "I thought you had left us forever! You were gone for ages!"

I giggled before playing along. "I'm so sorry! I was called away by evil forces unknown."

He sniffed dramatically. "Well I-"

"-had the pleasure of my company, and aren't you lucky for it?" Jay filled in, grinning when I leapt out of Freddy's arms to give him a hug.

"Hmm, that is lucky," I agreed, resting my chin against his chest so that I could gaze up at him.

"Did you get your pepper up?" Freddy asked, coming to stand beside Jay. I watched as he turned a glare on someone walking past who was giving the two boys a suspicious look. As though to make a point, Freddy stepped closer, standing on the tips of his toes so that he could set his chin on Jay's shoulder.

"I did," I responded, watching the way that Jay tried to conceal a grin as a few second years pointed at the three of us. The two boys enjoyed winding onlookers up entirely too much.

"Going to tell us what's going on, Marigold?" Jay asked, keeping his voice soft in the crowded hallway.

"I honestly don't know yet," I whispered back. "Luna wasn't in the wing."

Both boys' brows furrowed, but they were spared answering by Roxy, who shoved her brother away before gripping Jay's shoulder and turning him around.

"Sorry, but you're so going to be late, Jay. Like, seriously, you may want to run," She warned, wrapping an arm around my shoulders whilst giving Jay a slightly amused look.

Jay cast a tempus charm, swearing profusely at the time it showed. He bent down to quickly press a kiss to my forehead before sprinting off in the other direction.

Slughorn, who had just opened the door to the classroom, merely chuckled at the scene before waving us inside.

---

Everything came to a head at dinner.

Despite my exhaustion, my plan was to go straight to the Headmistress's office after I ate and remain there until I had answers.

I had gone back to the Hospital Wing earlier, under the guise of getting a bruise paste for the various injuries that I had acquired throughout the day. I went during what was supposed to have been our Herbology class, which I knew meant that Neville was still in the wing, but I had been hoping that he would give me some hint as to whether or not Luna and Minnie were okay. Instead, he had focused entirely on my sudden clumsiness and the marks it resulted in, completely ignoring me when I tried to talk about anything different.

The candles in the room seemed to be bobbing about more than usual, though it could have just as easily been a side effect of my weariness. Jay slid his hand into mine, squeezing it tightly as he reached for a plate of mashed potatoes. Across the table, Freddy was listening as James began to launch into a story about his encounter with Madame Pince earlier in the day. How the story ended, I'll never know, for at that moment the doors to the Great Hall burst open and a sudden hush fell over the room.

McGonagall stood in the doorway, looking pale and as tired as I felt. Circe looked from her to me with a soft meow, and I rubbed her ears comfortingly as I examined the older woman. Her hair was as pristine as ever, but her eyes were darkly shadowed and her hand had a bruise on it as she waved it through the air.

"I do apologize for interrupting your meal. I just wanted to let everyone know that Madame Scamander and myself are quite well, and we apologize for our abrupt absence today. We had some official business to attend to, but it is well taken care of and we will return to our typical duties as of tomorrow. Now, with that being said, I encourage you all to continue your meal," She said primly. She walked about slowly and patiently as the buzz of voices filled the hall once again.

I was unsurprised when her weaving path through the hall left her standing before me.

"Hello, Headmistress."

"Hello, Miss Potter. I was wondering if I could borrow you for the evening?"

I began packing up my things, so relieved to finally be receiving answers. The foreboding feeling in my stomach had only grown more pressing as the day grew later. It was now so strong that I likely wouldn't have been able to eat my meal even if we hadn't been interrupted.

"Hey," Jay said very softly, catching my wrist in his hand as I moved to swing my bag over my shoulder, "Please make sure you get something to eat later. You hardly touched your lunch, and you haven't been feeling well."

"I will," I promised, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before tugging my bag up my arm.

I maintained a very neutral expression as we moved towards the exit of the Great Hall, trying not to trip over my kneazle as she wound between my feet. People were staring, clearly curious as to why I was being personally escorted out of the hall by the Headmistress. We made it halfway up the Gryffindor table, the eyes of what must have been most of the school on us, when a loud bang diverted most of the attention away.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Jack holding up soot-covered hands in a gesture of surrender as Don and Ben aimed the stream of water coming from their wands at the smoking mess on the boy's plate.

"Sorry!" He called, not sounding apologetic in the slightest. "Not what I meant to happen."

Minnie and I picked up the pace before people could recall that they had been staring at us before Jack's distraction, though perhaps the Headmistress should have turned around and dealt with whatever minor explosion Jack had just caused. It was clear that we had more pressing issues to handle.

As soon as the doors swung shut, I rounded on the grey-haired woman.

"Where have you been? Do you have any idea how worried I've been all day? You couldn't have owled or anything?" I berated her, hands waving through the air aimlessly as though to accentuate my emotions. "You can't just leave me in the dark like that, Minnie!"

"I will tell you everything later this evening, but for now I need you to keep very quiet and collected, do you understand?" She said urgently, dragging me through several very obscure corridors as we spoke. I could tell we were headed for her office, but she was taking the most roundabout way possible.

I fell silent, instantly hushed by her demeanor. The terrible feeling in my gut was reaching a crux that I had rarely felt before. The Headmistress waited until I nodded to indicate that I understood before she resumed speaking.

"Good. Now, you need to listen to me, because we're expected back at my office very soon. You need to remember that whatever happens, Luna and I are going to be right there with you. Remember that. Okay?"

I looked at her, trying to fight the chill that was threatening to creep up my spine. "You're making me nervous. What's going on, Minnie?"

"Minister Hastings is sitting in my office right now, and he's waiting for you to come in there and talk to him," She hissed, her worry and fear for me clear by her tone.

My ears were ringing, the halls closing in on me all at once. McGonagall was speaking to me, but I didn't understand a word that she was saying. Circe was puffed up to double her normal size and I was certain she was hissing, but I couldn't hear it over the noise in my ears.

I tried to suck it up. We had bigger things to worry about, after all. Still, the only thing I could think about were the warnings given to me by the gods.

Don't start the war early. Stay alive until it's time for you to die.

Make sure that no one figures out your role in the war.

If I failed at these things, if I got myself killed too soon, Jay would have to die in my place.

I was shaking.

"-enix? Phoenix, are you listening to me?"

Violently, I shook my head, like a dog shaking water out of his ears. The breath that I sucked in made my head swim, and I wondered if I had been holding my breath or simply breathing that shallowly.

"Yes. Yes, I'm sorry. I'm listening, I am," I stuttered, raking my hands through my hair. When it got caught in my updo, I wrenched the entire mess down furiously, letting the braids, curls, and tangles fall around my head without a second thought.

Minnie watched the action with a steady gaze, and I was grateful to find that her eyes showed no pity. "It's okay to be afraid, dear. I'm scared too. Luna's the same. This man, he created those terrible creatures. He plans on creating war. He's supposed to be the one to guide us from dark times and into the light, but instead he's done the opposite. He is evil, and that's frightening, but we need to pretend not to be afraid. Minister Hastings cannot know that we were the ones his Falx marked. He must suspect, if he's here to speak with all three of us, but we cannot let him become certain. Luna is fairly certain that the Falx can't remember faces. They only need to be able to sense who they marked when they need them, or when they're nearby. Think of it as a homing beacon. So he should not know who, specifically, is under his command. We must throw him off of his suspicions about you."

I nodded, once again running my hands through my hair before pulling them free and shaking them out. "Okay. I can pretend to be clueless about what's going on."

She offered me a slight smile, stepping forward and spinning me around so that my back was to her. Her hands were quick as she pulled my hair into a simple braid "Just put on your very best…what do you lot call it…"

"Press face?" I offered.

"Exactly."

I tried to be collected as we hurried towards the Headmistresses office, making sure not to lilt onto the tips of my toes the way that I was prone to doing when nervous.

I didn't bother with my cursory glare at the gargoyle that protected her office, though I was fairly certain it was giving me an evil look as I abruptly tripped, nearly flying head first into the stone. Only Minnie's hand, which gripped the back of my cloak tightly, kept me from doing so.

I glanced at her, but her eyes were locked forward on the stone creature in front of us. Her pursed lips gave her away, though.

"You too?" I asked. She gave a sharp nod, then opened her mouth to give the password.

"Until the very end," Minnie spoke.

I bit my lip at the words, trying to replicate the poise that the woman beside me radiated, or the commanding figure that Taylor Wren had cut some weeks ago in the Hogsmeade. Simply donning my usual press face did not seem enough. I needed to be someone that Minister Hastings knew would not cow to him. Perhaps I should have cowed to the man, for I was not entirely sure what role I was meant to play going into the meeting, but I could not, for my own peace of mind, walk in ready to do so.

Drawing in a deep breath, I forced myself to find courage and squared my shoulders, tipping my chin upwards. At the last moment, McGonagall grabbed Circe and placed her beneath her cloak, and I had a feeling that my kneazle had just been magically silenced.

The door was opened already, the flickering light of the fire that roared in the grate interrupted by the figure that stood before the flames. I found myself stepping into his shadow as I entered the room, goosebumps rising on my skin as I did so.

He turned slowly, his face mostly obscured by the light behind him. All that I could see was a brilliant set of teeth locked in what I presumed to be an attempt at a friendly grin. It felt threatening, and it was an effort to give him a sweet smile in response.

"Hello, Miss Potter!" Minister Hastings boomed, the words twice as loud as I felt necessary. I realized that I had never heard him speak in person before, for the pronounced rasp of his voice took me aback. He crossed the room in a few strides, clasping my hand in his before I could register what was happening. As his cold, dry skin slid across mine, the necklace that hung around my neck began to feel warm. It took a good deal of effort to keep the magic that swirled just beneath my skin from making itself known as he pumped my hand several times, his pale grey eyes boring into mine insistently as he did so. I knew without needing to check that he was attempting to breach the wards in my head, but I was also fairly certain that the charms that Dom had been sending me all year were actively working to help me counter the unwanted intrusion.

"Hello, Minister," I responded in a smooth, pleasant voice that did not at all match the way that I was truly feeling.

The man chuckled, the sound startling, reminding me of the time that Lily and I witnessed a rockslide while we were hiking near the mountain behind our home. One second we had been listening to the birds sing and the wind drift through the trees, the next we had nearly jumped out of our skin as a great crackling, rumbling sound echoed through the woods around us. His laughter was a lot like that rockslide-there was no warning for it; his eyes did not hint at amusement, nor did his smile waver from the cold curve that it was set into. He simply moved from silence into humorless laughter, and then fell quiet once more.

"Now, Phoenix-may I call you Phoenix?" The look on his face suggested that he was not really asking for my permission, but I gave it anyway, my nod causing the man's grin to broaden. "Excellent! Now, Phoenix, I've come here today for a good number of reasons, but one of those is to talk to you. You see, it's come to my attention that you're a very special young lady."

I gave him a slightly awkward, strained smile, unable to formulate a response. I could only hope that my reaction seemed bashful, rather than scared.

"As Minister of Magic, it is my job to keep up with what is going on in our world. As any sensible person should, I take what is printed by the press with a grain of salt, but that doesn't mean that I don't pay attention to it. Information is, after all, always an asset, no matter what form it comes in. As such, I've had my eye on you for quite some time. You have quite an impressive resume, you know. Quidditch, rumored to be going for extra lessons, skipping a year in Charms, incredible marks, and now you're a Prefect! Not to mention, some of the pranks that are rumored to have been crafted by your hand are an impressive display of magic. Yes, Phoenix, I'd say that you're precisely what I'm looking for."

My chest was tight, no air entering or leaving my lungs as I stared at him.

Aunt Hermione had once taken us to an aquarium. I had been terrified the entire time, as I wasn't sure that I trusted anything to keep me safe from the galleons of water that surrounded us as we strolled through the building. Still, nothing had frightened me so badly as the shark exhibit. Though I knew, logically, that sharks were creatures that typically only attacked humans when frightened or curious, the striking black eyes of the fearsome creatures had terrified me as we watched them swim round and round their tank. There had been something absent about the look that they gave me, as though they could see straight through me. Even as I thought it, I knew that there was nothing true about my feelings on the creatures, but I couldn't shake the feeling.

As Minister Hastings' flat grey eyes gazed back at me, I felt the same mixture of fear and unease settle over me. There was something predatory in his gaze, as though he were just waiting for a drop of my blood to spill onto the ground beneath us before he struck.

"I'm creating an internship program at the Ministry, you see," Hastings finally continued speaking, the smugness that glittered in his eyes suggesting that the pause had been intentional, meant to allow him to see how I reacted to the knowledge that he knew all about me and had a profound interest in me. I had a feeling that this entire speech had been carefully crafted as a test-one that I had just failed.

"What, may I ask, does this have to do with Phoenix?" Minnie cut in, her voice sharp.

The side of Hastings' mouth twitched slightly, the only hint of his displeasure at her interrupting as he turned to give her a small smile. "Well, in order to impress upon our world what an excellent opportunity we're creating for our youth, we're planning on hand-picking our interns. For my own intern, I have picked you, Phoenix."

I could do nothing but blink back at him stupidly. He knew. I knew that he did.

"I do apologize, Minerva, for not calling upon you sooner and conferring with you about this. Once we voted in favor of the idea, so many members of the Ministry were eager that there really was no point in discussing whether we would be going through with it or not. In fact, the program is so popular an idea that I suspect we'll be seeing it in the papers later this week," Hastings continued, his tone pleasant and steeped in faux contrition.

"So I don't have a say, then?" The Headmistress asked, her voice betraying her deep outrage with the situation.

He did a decent job of looking startled. "Oh no! Of course you have a say in such matters, I just wanted to inform you that whatever decision you make will have to be a public one, as the world will know about this whole idea shortly. That being said, I would never make such a decision without giving you the option to nix the idea."

I tried not to react at the emphasis he put on my nickname. Nausea rose in my gut as the precious name crossed his lips, as did the urge to punch the Minister soundly in his perfect nose. Neither option seemed like a particularly good idea, so I did nothing at all.

Minnie's lips were pursed so thinly that they were virtually nonexistent. "Of course not. The program itself is a sound idea, but, unfortunately, Miss Potter will not be permitted to participate in it right now."

Hastings gave her a look that bordered on rage, stepping closer as he said, in a dangerously soft tone, "And why not...might I ask?"

"Minister, I don't know if you're aware or not, but Phoenix's interests for a future career lie solely in professional Quidditch. Were that to fall through, though Merlin knows that's highly unlikely with the way that the girl plays, her next choice would be to coach Quidditch. And were that option to fall through as well, Phoenix would then pursue a career in healing. I can assure you that she has no interest in a job at the Ministry. An internship with you would hold no value for her later on in life. In fact, if anything it would lack value, as she is currently studying to take her OWLs. Another distraction from her tests is the last thing that she needs, considering the rather impressive amount of things that Phoenix is already involved with, which you have already listed off yourself."

The Minister had turned his body completely to look at the Headmistress, the half of his face that I could see obscured in shadows once again. Still, there was a tenseness to his jaw that clued me in to how angry Minnie was making the man. I found myself abruptly frightened for the woman.

She was still speaking, her spine ramrod straight as she stared right back at Hastings. "Also, I will not be allowing my younger students to be a part of your system. If you require Hogwarts students for your program, my NEWT students may sign up to participate, and then they may be admitted after their teachers and their Head of House have discussed whether or not they believe that the student will be able to successfully juggle NEWTs and what is essentially a job. If you would still like Phoenix to intern for you by the time she is a seventh year and if she is interested, at that time you may see about it. Thank you very much for visiting to update me on the suggested security measures for my school today, and for offering to allow my healer to attend the new healing training that you have funded. We will let you know if our decisions on both of those offers change, and we would thank you to please let us know next time you decide to visit us at work. Please feel free to use my floo to return to your office."

My attention was called, not to the look on the man's face, but rather at the magic swirling around his fingertips. Unlike my magic, it was such a dark shade of grey that it was nearly black and visibly thick, like a cloud of ash. I wondered if he intended to smother us with it.

Instead of acting on his obvious rage, the Minister slowly drew himself to his full, rather impressive height. "In that case, I suppose we have no further business, Minerva. Madame Scamander, please contact me should you choose to change your mind."

When he turned, his pale eyes boring into my face, I felt a chill work its way down my spine. I felt suddenly like a deer faced with an immense predator, eyes going a bit wide as I simply stared, affixed in place by the force of my inexplicable terror. "As for you, Phoenix, I thank you for an enlightening conversation. Though we shall not be working together this year, I feel as though we shall be seeing each other again soon. If you ever wish to write me about anything, I think that you'll find me an excellent ally."

When he patted me lightly on the cheek, I realized that the cold was not his skin, but rather the magic that swirled beneath it. It was a struggle not to flinch away from the gentle touch.

"Good day," He said simply. The green light was blinding as he stepped into the floo.

It was as though a string had been cut. The sudden lack of the pull that I hadn't even realized I was fighting all day caused me to fall backwards, the wind knocked painfully from my lungs as my back smacked against the floor. On the other side of the room, Luna and Minnie were doing the exact same thing.

The hairs rose on my arms as I realized the chilling truth.

I hadn't abruptly become a klutz. All day long, I had been tripping and stumbling in the same direction, fighting against an unseen force that was pulling me towards…

Him.

It was only once the pressure was gone that I realized it was there at all. My hand shook as I ran it through my hair, exchanging a horrified look with Luna. Minnie stood, gently setting Circe aside as she moved to calm the very angry portraits that lined her walls down.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" An elderly man with a round nose roared, the frame of his portrait quivering as he shouted.

Another lady was shaking her finger as she spoke, pointing at McGonagall accusingly. "I have never seen such behavior from a Minister! Something is afoot here, and I intend to figure out what!"

Amidst the yelling, I found my eyes meeting a clear blue gaze. The man that I had always blamed for so much of the pain that my father had gone through was giving me a look of deep sympathy, something familial and soft in his gaze. With a small nod in my direction, he lifted one hand and covered his eyes. When he removed his hand, he nodded at me again. I copied the motion unthinkingly.

The flash of light was brilliant enough that I was still blinking away traces of it after I removed my hand.

"Enough," Dumbledore spoke amidst the loud protests of his fellow portraits. "We are here to assist the Headmistress, not to make demands of her. Minerva, we are here to help you. If there is anything that we can do, please put your faith in us and utilize us as the resource that we are intended to be."

McGonagall sighed, lifting her hands up as she spoke. "On your honor, on your duty, and on your loyalty to this school, each of you must swear to keep secret any information that comes to pass between us tonight."

To my amazement, at her words each painting began to glow, one after another. Some of the paintings glowed Ravenclaw blue, some Gryffindor scarlet, some Slytherin green, some Hufflepuff yellow, and a few a pristine white. As soon as each painting was illuminated, the room was obscured in a series of flashes and brilliant bursts of light. When it was over, I felt a strange tingling feeling on my left hip. I lifted the edge of my shirt to reveal another marking.

"I do apologize," Minnie sighed, watching me keenly. "There was little I could do. Truly powerful, ancient magic has a tendency to leave marks, and you've been touched by magic as old as the school itself."

I shrugged, letting my shirt fall back into place. The tattoo was petite, just a simple white mark that looked like a scar unless you looked closely enough to see that it was actually in the shape of a tiny key.

"It's okay," I whispered, wrapping my arms around my legs and setting my chin on my knees as I waited for her to explain everything to the paintings.

Minnie nodded, giving me a once-over before she spoke again. "Now, our tattoos do nothing to affect us, but theirs force them to remain silent about this unless there comes a time when what we tell them tonight must be told to someone else in order to save Hogwarts."

At her words, I stood to examine the portrait of Dumbledore. He smiled at me, pointing down to the corner of his picture frame. I looked closely until I made out a very faint keyhole shaped out of the wood's grain. Had I not known that I was looking for something, I never would have noticed it at all. At Snape's almost put-upon nod of invitation, I moved down the line of paintings, seeing that some only had the one keyhole, while others had many more.

As I moved along, McGonagall began to recount our tale, beginning, not with the Falx, but by reminding them of everything that Minister Hastings had done with the imprisoned Death Eaters. After that she slowly made her way to the night of the attack, telling her story but allowing Luna and I to tell our own. Nearly every portrait seemed horrified at the descriptions of the torture we had endured, and even the oldest and grumpiest seemed much more tolerant of me by the time I finished speaking. Next she told them about the research we had done last year, during our hours in the Hospital Wing. Then came the story of the first attack. When it came time to tell them about Magus, Luna and I took over, though I was reluctant to share much about the gods. The tale of what happened in Diagon Alley brought more gasps of shock and sympathetic looks in my direction. After my rather short recounting of our trip and the story of the attack on Freddy, the two women explained what happened when the gods visited them.

The former Headmasters and Headmistresses fell silent once our story was finished, seeming to think over their next plan of action. Finally they began to take turns asking McGonagall, Scamander, and me questions.

They questioned us on nearly every detail possible for what felt like hours. When they finally asked everything they could think of, they began to mutter amongst themselves. I looked at Minnie, exhausted, in hopes that she would let me leave. My heart sank when she motioned for me to join her and Luna by the fire instead.

"I know that you're ready to go to bed," McGonagall said as I drew close, "But I think that we should try to discuss today's events before we forget any of the details. I promise we'll make it quick."

I nodded, understanding the necessity of what she was asking.

"Here," She said, waving her wand at an armchair by the fire. It quickly transformed the already comfortable looking chair into a seat so plush and squishy, I was afraid that just looking at it would put me to sleep. She then did the same with two other chairs, before indicating that we should sit down. Circe jumped into my lap as soon as I was seated.

"Scoop," Luna called. A little house elf appeared, bowing low before her. "Could you bring up some soup, sandwiches, and tea?"

Scoop nodded, disappearing with a crack. We were silent as we waited for him to return. It wasn't until he did, carrying a plate full of grilled cheese and tomato soup that smelled fantastic, that I realized just how hungry I was.

"Oh yes, I did forget that I pulled you away from dinner," McGonagall said apologetically.

"That's alright, I hadn't even realized that I was hungry until just now," I responded, dipping my sandwich into the soup before taking a bite. With posture that would have made my godmother shake her head at me disappointedly, I tucked my feet up beside me and curled back in the chair, savoring the food as I struggled to remain conscious.

"Good," Minnie said, reaching for a cup of tea as she spoke. "Now, I'll tell of my day first, if you don't mind."

Once we both indicated that we were fine with her suggestion, Minnie began to speak.

"I had only just begun to get my things together for my first class when my floo alarm went off. Very few people have access to my floo without having an appointment, so I didn't think much of it. As soon as I stood, however, I found myself tripping over nothing. I wound up on my hands and knees just as Hastings emerged from the grate."

I winced at the mental image, already having felt cowed by the man enough today.

"He then dusted himself off, offered me a hand back onto my feet, and said, 'Hello Minerva. I was hoping that you would have time to go over some very important security measures. I know we never got a chance to discuss what exactly happened the night that Hogwarts was attacked, but I would love to do so now'. What else could I do but say yes? He asked me so many questions. I didn't even think it was possible for him to come up with so many questions. It was almost impossible to keep from revealing anything on accident. Once he ran out of questions, he produced a handful of blueprints from his pocket and began discussing "safety measures" that essentially give the Ministry full power to oversee and control things here at Hogwarts. When I politely declined his "help", he shrugged, rolled up the plans, and asked to see Luna."

Luna quickly jumped in to tell her part of the story. "There was something sinister in the air this morning, wouldn't you agree, Phoenix? I didn't make plans to cover the wing, for no one really expects unexpected plans to take all day. When I told him this, however, he went on to offer me an assistant straight from the Ministry itself. What a thinly veiled attempt to place eyes and ears in our school. His offer was for healing classes. I've read about the ones that he was offering me. They're rather lacking, I think. The medicine is all textbook, no room for creativity or adaptability. It's rather sad, you know. The only way to truly stunt our ability to learn is to quell curiosity altogether."

"Luna," Minnie cut in, giving the woman a look of weary, but fond, exasperation. With a small smile, she turned her gaze to me and continued the story. "After he told Luna about the program, he spent a while trying to convince her to sign up. When that proved futile, he asked her about her version of the night's events. Remarkably, he managed to come up with even more questions."

"As it is the job of a healer, he wanted to know who I saw in my wing on that night. He already knew that one of the Potters had been in the wing, so I hope you'll understand that I had little choice but to tell him which one. I rather suspect he already knew it was you, anyways. A clever way to figure out if you're being lied to is to set up a question that you already know the answer to, after all," Luna explained, her tone apologetic.

"Once he knew about your involvement that night, he demanded to see you," Minnie finished their tale with a sympathetic look. "We told him that he wasn't allowed to ask you about the attack, as it upset you."

"Thank you. I'm not sure how I would have managed trying to navigate talking about the attack without giving anything away. Also, Luna, it's okay. I'm sure that he already knew it was me in the wing. That's not exactly a well-kept secret."

"Now, why don't you tell us about your day?" Minnie suggested, pushing another sandwich towards me as she spoke.

In between bites of the grilled cheese, I gave them every detail that I could think of about my day, not glossing over anything that could be useful. I told them about how Circe had followed me around all day, feeling ill and exhausted, Al's announcement about Minnie's absence, my failed attempts to see Luna, and how I had tripped continuously throughout the day.

"Yes, I was very much lacking grace and balance today as well," McGonagall said. "I guess we now know why. I don't want to cause us any further alarm, but this does not bode well. This means that even when Minister Hastings isn't summoning his army-even when they aren't calling their marked "slaves" to them-we still feel the urge to go to him. The spell that he used to mark us must have been even more powerful than we thought."

We sat in silence for a while, letting her words sink in.

"He knows that we're marked," I whispered after a long moment. "He knows that I'm marked."

"You can't know that," Minnie protested, but there was a waver of doubt to her words that would have been obvious to me even if I were not automatically aware of her lies.

I shook my head, but didn't argue with her. There was nothing that she could say that would convince me that Hastings didn't know that I was one of the people he had under his influence.

Between the warmth of the fire, Circe's soft fur beneath my fingers, the comfort of the chair surrounding me, my full stomach, and all of the exhaustion from my long day, I was struggling to keep from falling asleep. Finally I realized that I physically could not stay awake any longer, and I struggled to my feet.

"Tired?" Luna asked sympathetically. I nodded. Softly, she said, "It's times when I least think that I want companionship that I find myself valuing it most."

"Perhaps. Will you walk me back to my Common Room, then?" I responded. She gave me a pleased smile as she nodded in response.

"Goodnight, my dear," Minnie told me as I waved goodbye, something sad lurking in her eyes.

"Night, Gran," I responded unthinkingly, the pet name seeming to revert me back to a much younger point in my life.

She froze, her eyes going wide with surprise, but I didn't take back the words. Instead, I crossed the room to give her a tight hug before I left the Headmistress's office.

Luna and I made light conversation as we travelled down the corridors. I was too tired to put too much effort into it, and Luna was never one to push. Cecilia's smiling face could not come soon enough, the long trek through the halls seeming twice as far due to my exhaustion.

As much as I adored the woman, I was beyond relieved to wish Luna a goodnight and a safe journey back to the wing before scrambling into the Common Room. However, I had only just made it to the bottom of the girls' staircase when I realized that I couldn't go to bed just yet.

It was time for me to man up, before I lost the nerve altogether.

I turned around and crept up the boys' staircase, tiptoeing down the hall until I reached the fifth year dormitory. Circe leapt down from my arms, padding silently across the room and leaping into the far bed moments before I kicked off my shoes and moved to do the same. I barely had time to cast a silencing spell before the bed's occupant let out a groan, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me into the bed. The curtains closed behind me.

"Finally going to tell me everything?" Freddy asked, his voice thick with sleep.

"Minister Hastings was here," I whispered in response.

Freddy sat straight upright, his eyes wide with alarm as he looked me over. I batted at his shoulder in response, trying to get him to calm down a bit.

"I'm fine, Freddy. He wanted me to take part in some internship."

"That's it?"

I winced. "Not exactly. I think he knows, Freddy. That I'm…that I'm one of them. One of his."

"No," My best friend said firmly, shaking his head as though he could simply erase the idea from existence by flinging it from his brain. "He can't know. That can't happen."

"I know," I responded, my earlier panic now creeping back over me as I truly thought about the situation. "He cannot know that I'm one of them."

"Right," Freddy said, the relief in his voice clear as he nodded his agreement. "You don't have to have that big of a role in this, Nix. We'll figure it out."

"No," I protested sharply, though I had no real business being irritated with him, "He can't know because of how big a role I have to have in this."

"That's ridiculous," Freddy snapped, his anger flaring at once in response to my own. "You are a sixteen year old student. Let someone else handle it."

"I can't."

"What, is the good old Potter savior complex bit kicking in?" His eyes flashed gold as he mocked me, abruptly making me realize that Freddy himself was not the sole reason for his fury. I had done a lot of research on werewolves recently, and I knew that the anger he sported now was born of his affliction.

"No," I tried to calm down a bit, but my words were still thick with biting sarcasm. "I'd say it's the good old Potter prophecy child bit."

"What?"

Taking a deep breath and wishing that I had decided to come and do this when I was in a better mood, I recited, "The child of the one who died twice, destined to uphold life in the face of the one who would defy death. She will be death's tool and life's flame, for she will be named for them both. If she completes her task she will face death, and she will have her heart weighed in Orcus."

"That's nothing," Freddy responded immediately.

For a moment I could do nothing more than blink at him in shock. The prophecy was perhaps the biggest thing in my life at the moment, and he had just dismissed it unthinkingly.

"That's a prophecy," The words felt stupid as they left my mouth, for they were almost unbearably obvious, yet still somehow necessary.

"It's nothing."

"It's a prophecy straight out of the mouth of the gods."

Freddy was clearly well past angry, his warm brown eyes now glittering the same shade of gold as the magic that swirled frustratedly around my fingers. Raking his hand through his curls, he snarled, "You're giving it too much power, Nix."

"Too much power?" I exploded, my frustration with the entire day coming to a head. "That prophecy says that I'm fated to die, Freddy!"

"That sort of thing only has power if you believe in it!" He screamed, the flush that had overtaken his face clear in the thin light of the moon outside his window. "Fate only has power if you believe it does!"

"But I do believe it does!" I yelled back. "I wish that I didn't, but I do. I've met gods, Freddy, I've fallen off of my broom and out of trees, I've been thrown into the lake, I've been threatened at wand point, I've been out while the castle was under attack…I am fated to die, Freddy, and I believe it. It's going to happen at some point, and, personally, I just hope I make it long enough to stop Hastings."

He was breathing hard, his eyes shimmering with tears as he stared at me in blatant shock. Finally, in a voice that refused to be defeated, he whispered, "Then change it. Do something differently so that you don't. There has to be something…a million somethings…change your fate!"

I laughed, the sound humorless and bitter. "That's just it though. Don't you see? I could live a thousand different lives, but if I'm fated to die before the war can end, then I'll do so. It's like watching a sad movie, Freddy. You can wish with all your heart that the ending will be different, but you can't change what's on the film."

Freddy shoved his hands into his hair, tugging at his curls in a manner that had to be painful. He didn't seem to notice. "You can't just…you can't just accept it. How…?"

I reached a hand out, gently taking ahold of his arm, and tried wording it another way. "It's like the tide. When it turns it goes out slowly, but it can't be stopped."

He let out a laugh that was more than a little hysterical. His eyes were brown once again. "Are you-what are you quoting at me right now? Is that muggle literature?"

"Sorry," I mumbled, realizing that not everyone understood things in quotes and similes the way that I so often did. His breathing was growing more rapid, and I wasn't even sure that he heard the apology as he shook his head hard. "I just mean that I understand my fate and I've accepted that I can't change it. It makes it easier, you know. Just a bit."

"Fuck!" Freddy sobbed, dropping his head into my lap and dissolving into tears. "Fuck, Nix."

"Hey," I whispered, gently rubbing his back. "I'm sorry, Freddy. I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, his back heaving as he wept. "You have to stop thinking about it like that! If you accept it, then it will happen. You have to want to fight it. We can't do that for you."

Shaking my head though he couldn't see the gesture, I told him, "Freddy, I cannot choose to save my own life, particularly when I know that life will be one of servitude, over the lives of everyone else. Fate is fate."

I nearly recited the most basic of Magus's scriptures-it has always been and always will be-but I thought that he would be unappreciative of my continued urge to quote things at him.

"I don't think you understand it, Nix," He whispered, something hollow and haunted in his tone, "How bad it is. My skin rips open, my bones break and reform. The scars ache constantly. That never stops. Some days I'm so tired and in so much pain that everything spins. There are times that I get so angry…"

His voice shook at the admission, the words thick with shame. Tears were flowing thick and fast down my cheeks as I listened to him talk openly about something that he so rarely wanted to acknowledge at all.

"I'm a monster. I know that you don't believe it, but it's true. You're what gets me through it. You are my best friend. There are times that I think that no one else will know me the way that you do, that I'm someone that only exists because you know that person. It almost makes me think that I can understand my father. I'm a monster, Nix, but I like the person that I am with you. He said that his twin was like the other half of him. That's how it feels with you. Like we're a set of chopsticks. No one wants just one chopstick, Phoenix."

His voice cracked as he buried his face deep in his hands, his shoulders heaving with an awful, painful sounding sob. Try as I might to will the perfect words into my mind, the best that I could do was wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly.

"You're my best friend, too," I whispered, because it was true. I couldn't imagine going through life without Freddy. "You're also the strongest person that I know. You got dealt a bad hand, Freddy, but it's not game over. I love you so much. I'm sorry, Freddy. You deserve a better best friend than me, but the best that I can do to make up for that is to just be here for you as long as I'm able. If that's not enough, I understand, but I'm going to try. I've been researching healing salves when I'm in the wing. My thinking was that we could try to develop a salve that eases the pain, maybe by examining wolfsbane more closely and trying to combine it with the ointment that Aunt Hermione uses on her scar. Lily and Ali could help too, if you wanted. I'm not just going to leave you to a life of misery, Freddy. I promise."

He stared at me, the corners of his lips upturned even as tears continued to slip down his cheeks. "You are the kindest, most thoughtful, most selfless best friend that anyone could ask for. I really, really don't know what I would do without you."

Leaning back against the headboard, I let Freddy curl up sideways on the bed, his head resting in my lap. His face was sticky with tears, his shoulders occasionally hitching. There were a thousand things left to say, yet neither one of us made an effort to speak.

As I smoothed my hand over his shoulders, I vowed never to take away the false hope that Jay held of saving me. I wouldn't feed into it, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to convince him to accept the truth. Perhaps it was selfish of me, knowing that he would have to deal with it after my death, but I wanted to savor the life that I did have left with him.

---

Third Person Point of View (Corinth Hastings):

Minister of Magic's Office, Ministry of Magic, London

---

Corinth Hastings finished charming his secretary, giving the blushing man one more affectionate smile before stepping into his office and closing the doors with a flick of his hand. Immediately, the warmth slipped from his features, the lines of his face hardening like a marble statue as he stared out the window behind his desk in a cold fury.

For the past few weeks, he had been working on a list of everyone who his Falx had marked. The werewolves were easy, for he had targeted them from the master list itself, using his extensive knowledge of curse breaking to cut through Hermione Granger-Weasley's wards undetected in order to access the well-protected document. Those marked in the attack on Falmouth proved to be a bit more challenging, as Corinth had come up with a way to make the markings on their backs invisible to everyone save himself and his Falx, and the curse now kept them from remembering the incident altogether. Still, with another small adjustment to the curse, he had figured out how to call specific groups of people at a time, testing it when he had the werewolves attack Diagon Alley. After he confirmed that he was capable of separating those he held under his control, Corinth called all those who had been marked in Falmouth to him and recorded their names. Any other random slaves that he had acquired were called as well, as he was never one to pass up an opportunity to further his power.

The problem arose surrounding Hogwarts.

His Falx, ever eager to serve their master, warned him that someone at Hogwarts seemed to be growing in awareness each time they were called to his command. Corinth knew that he must be cautious with this, for he was aware that there were ways for his downfall to occur, and he was nothing if not careful.

After a bit of careful research, he had come to the conclusion that he had most likely marked Minerva McGonagall, Luna Scamander, and one of the Potter children. Fortunately for Corinth, he had eyes everywhere, so he quickly surmised that the Potter in question was Phoenix Potter. A lot of further research forced him to accept that one of the three girls marked must be the one who posed a threat to him, though he doubted that it was a serious threat.

His hopes had been to reign control over the three Hogwarts slaves, but it proved to be an infuriating endeavor. Every attempt that he had made had been determinedly blocked by the Headmistress. He strongly suspected that McGonagall was the one who threatened his plans, which was truly unfortunate, for she was really the only one that he couldn't eliminate easily. Scamander was clearly daft, for he wasn't sure that she had said a single word that meant anything beyond confirming that Phoenix Potter was the third girl who he had managed to mark.

There was something interesting about the Potter girl, though she had come across as timid and a bit simple when he had spoken to her. Had he not shaken her hand, he might never have noticed, but he had.

Coming in contact with her too-warm skin made the magic that swirled in his hands jump. He had forced himself to stroke her cheek before he left in order to confirm it, ignoring the voice in the back of his mind that insisted that the girl could be of no real consequence in order to investigate his gut feeling.

The boy had always insisted that the Potter girl was important, but he had put that down to the insanity that had overtaken the boy after Corinth had failed at his first attempt at raising the dead. Still, perhaps his obsession was worth further investigating, even if Corinth's assistant insisted that the girl was utterly worthless.

An angry growl escaped Corinth's throat as he pondered what to do about the girl. He had the boy on one end of the spectrum, assuring him that the girl had all but hung the bloody moon. On the other hand, his assistant loathed the girl with everything that he had, his resentment so poignant that it was rather remarkable that he had pretended to be friendly with her for as long as he had. His assistant would undoubtedly happily remind Corinth of how useless the girl was, but Corinth wanted an unbiased opinion, which he didn't know how to get.

He would just have to come up with another way to watch her. Undoubtedly, the boy would be useful in this endeavour.

Yes, this was the correct move. Corinth had been struggling to find a use for the boy since unintentionally causing irreparable damage to his mind, knowing that the boy was crucial for keeping his assistant around. The boy would be thrilled for another excuse to get close to Phoenix Potter; his obsession with the girl was clear to everyone involved in Corinth's plans.

This would also get Corinth's assistant off his back about his reluctance to allow the boy to be there for his next attempt at completing the ceremony. He would simply plan his next attempt at raising the dead for a night when the Potter girl had Prefect duty, so that the boy was otherwise occupied.

With a sharp, toothy smile spreading across his face, Corinth grabbed his finest quill and began to formulate the letter. He would have his assistant send it out, knowing that he would undoubtedly slip a note containing his own affections for the boy into the envelope before owling it. Corinth didn't mind. It only served to keep his assistant more tightly bound to his cause.

The ink that he used was not quite black, but rather an ashen color. It was, though none outside of his ranks knew this, the precise color of the magic that he had conquered from Magus.

Holland-

I have a new task for you.

---

End of Part Two

---

Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following.