1 Chapter Six: Strange Things Are Happening To Me
"…And then, just as Jackson said it, Professor Snape came around the corner! I thought he was going to pass out!"
"Well I hope Snape got a good long listen, that man…. oh sorry, and then?"
"Oh, well Kelsey started crying and we had to take her to the girls toilet to calm her down and convince her that she wasn't going to be expelled."
"Yeah, and in the meantime the rest of us had to go into class and brave the Look."
"Oh Parker, trust me, I know what that feels like."
"He calls me Chester. Not even McGonagall is that mean."
Parker punctuated his frustration by tossing a rock into the air and watching it fall to the ground several stories below. They were sitting on the Hufflepuff roof, in the middle of the doorway leading to the outer roof, their legs stretched out on the sun-warmed slates. Technically, they weren't on the roof, which Parker and Marguerite weren't allowed to do until after the winter holidays, and Lucy was enjoying the fresh air as well as catching up with the ever-entertaining lives of the first years.
"Any news from home Parker?" Lucy watched the boy cautiously to see how he was handling the situation. But he seemed unaffected, thankfully.
"Mum is keeping me updated as much as she can. She's sending as many jumpers as she can knit, convinced that the standard Ministry issue won't keep her babies warm. Lil says it's embarrassing. Arthur seems really glad to be there, even though he's younger than Lillian by three years, he still felt strange being at home and having his sister at the front lines. He's actually worried now that he might get pulled home."
"Why? Are they bringing people back? What about Azkaban?"
Parker grimaced, "I don't think I was supposed to say anything about that. Well, since I've already blurted it… Lil heard around her unit that they are concerned that Azkaban finally showing its hand was a decoy, a way to divert the Ministry's attention from its own borders to the world outside. They think now that maybe while all their efforts were concentrated somewhere else was when the other side made their move to… I don't know really, infiltrate?"
Marguerite shook her head. "They couldn't have. The Minister stepped up security here, that's why I had to carry those stupid papers. Anyone from abroad coming couldn't have so much as a blemish on their record."
Parker shrugged. "It beats me. But someone in the Ministry realized that this whole campaign was beginning to smell like the proverbial red herring, so now there is talk of sending a portion of the forces back."
"And the island?"
"That's the strange part. Lil and Arthur both heard that while the Ministry as a whole has no plans of abandoning it, that some very influential people are dead set against continuing the effort."
"Who?"
"They didn't say."
Lucy had an idea though. The younger students were too new to realize, but the older ones knew exactly how important a man Albus Dumbledore was in politics. And if there was someone who was brave enough to stand against the wind and ask for the impossible and unreasonable, it was probably him. And he probably had good reason.
There was silence for a while as they stared out into the late afternoon sun. Then Lucy remembered something she had been meaning to ask about.
"Marguerite, do you know Belle Bedford?"
"The Gryffindor?"
"Mmmhmm."
"A little, we've got Transfiguration at the same time. Not really a social class, you know McGonagall. She's pretty good though, catches on faster than most."
"Has she seemed upset lately?"
"Yeah, for a while I mostly just remember her looking sad. Kind of lonely. But for the past week or so, she's perked up, got sort of a little honor guard around her in the halls, I've seen them on their way down to the dungeons, why?"
"Oh, she was having a hard time, I gave our prefect some advice on dealing with her, I was wondering if it worked."
Apparently it had.
"Well," Lucy said as she dusted herself off, "I better get back to MY potions assignment or all have to brave the Look myself."
"I'd better go too, there's a quiz in History of Magic tomorrow and I always get my goblins mixed up."
Parker sighed and got to his feet, "Well, since you're all being virtuous, I think I'll go down too, and see if anyone fancies a game of Exploding Snap."
The girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes, boys, honestly, and went downstairs. As Lucy was coming around a bend in the staircase, she noticed something on the wall that she hadn't before. Leaving a puzzled Marguerite, she turned away from the fireplace exit and headed towards a pair of bright yellow candles that burned on either side of a broomstick mounted against the wall. Behind the broomstick a yellow Quidditch robe was hung reverently, neatly pressed and with no traces of dust upon it. She scanned the wall for an explanation and found one in the small brass plaque attached to the middle of the broom handle.
"Remember Cedric Diggory."
"Cedric's monument," a voice from behind her, a little thick with emotion, explained. "We decided against a portrait. It would have to be painted from memory, and the idea of Cedric smiling at people and moving around…it was just too soon to think about. Maybe someday, in a hall, but not in here."
Lucy nodded and investigated the candles as Lynx stood patiently beside her.
"And the candles…."
"Enchanted, never go out, never burn down."
Kind of like the flame at Espiritu, Lucy thought.
"Did you know him?"
"Me? Not too well, I was just a third year. But he was pretty nice to me, and I was a real pain. It was more of a kind of shock that hit me when it happened, hit everyone really."
"Who designed it?"
"The Quidditch team, and Cho Chang, she had the idea, since no one really wanted a picture. I think it was pretty cathartic for her."
Lucy nodded.
"So, um, how are you doing, any problems today?"
"Nope," he grinned, "No unauthorized flying objects for a whole week, even when I took a bludger in the stomach yesterday during practice."
"Good for you."
"Now, I'd better go, I've got an essay for McGonagall due tomorrow and I have another foot left. I'll see you at the match Saturday, right?"
Lucy grinned. "You bet."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Lucy spent most of Friday night writing an epic letter to Diego, having realized that whatever they were making him do in the desert was leaving him with barely enough energy to spit, let alone work a mirror spell. She'd been writing it in small doses in the free time she really didn't have, and as she dated the next entry she was surprised to realize it was only October. So much had happened… she finally sealed it off with her mastery ring, the smooth surface leaving no physical design, but an unmistakable magical signature. Then she grabbed her bottle of Rosa's Cure All Muscle Relieving Ointment and trotted downstairs to loan it to Seamus, who's shoulder was still smarting from an accident in practice Wednesday; she had promised to rub some of it on the joint before bed.
The entire team was under orders from the co-captains to get to sleep early, so Seamus, Harry, Ron, and the rest were in bed by ten, leaving Lucy sitting on the sofa, her hands smelling strongly of spices and mint, trying to rub off the excess ointment. Lavender was curled up in a chair, dangling a small crystal on a chain in the moonlight. Lavender really was exceptional in Divination, Parvati was very good as well, although it seemed her real talent was reading people, not tea, whereas when Lucy compared Lavender to some of the mediums she had met before, the fascination with Professor Trelawny's awful room made sense. Hermione was absorbed in a positively ancient book that looked to be falling apart, and judging from the way she was trying to hide the cover, was probably from the restricted section. Parvati was nowhere in sight, and that meant she was probably out with her latest boyfriend and would be sneaking back in in a couple of hours.
With nothing else to do, Lucy went back to her room and began to rummage about in her trunks. That was where she stumbled upon her old notebook, where she had been making notes and conjectures about the work she was doing in Don Asriel's workroom the previous term. As she read back over her theories and ideas, she felt a guilty stab in the heart. She hadn't worked on this at all this term. Here she was, one of two people in the world that believed that the impossible could happen, and the only one with the time and resources to find out how to do it, and she had forgotten all about it. What kind of love and loyalty to her school was that?
She sighed and sat crossed legged on her bed, determined to catch herself up and return to the workroom tomorrow, sometime between the quidditch match and the BA meeting. She fell asleep in her clothes and woke up when Parvati knocked over a stack of books off her trunk. As Lucy helped her into bed she could smell the homemade wine on her breath, and realized just why Snape kept such a paranoid eye on his distillation equipment.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&
It was drizzling when Gryffindor awoke, and the rain was steady all through breakfast. Harry kept glancing up from where he was seated at the end of the table with the rest of the team, towards the enchanted ceiling, dark and grey, but not storming, yet. Ron was eating, which was a good sign, but he seemed to be arguing with Ginny, who wasn't really touching her food or giving Ron a satisfactory answer. Seamus looked and emotionally felt normal to Lucy from where she sat farther down with Hermione and the girls.
**Feeling ready to crack open the skulls of unsuspecting chasers?**
**You really give me no credit, do you?**
**Well, you did pick THE most violent position. What do you think that reveals about you're inner self?**
**That my inner self likes to kick a little ass.**
**Now why don't they put that on Valentines….**
**Ha ha, I'd be more worried about Ron pulling a rabid-big-brother- protective-maneuver up there if I were you.**
**Do try and make him behave himself. It will embarrass Ginny.**
**Yeah, and probably embarrass Dumbledore to have to write to a student's parents that he died playing Quidditch. But lets keep things in perspective here.**
**I'm not worried. Ten to one Ginny knocks Ron off his broom before he can do any real damage.**
**He's pretty protective…**
**I remain firm in my resolve.**
**Put your money where your mouth is Montero.**
**You know I don't have any.** This wasn't a call for pity, Seamus knew her lack of money didn't bother her.
**Oh yeah, sorry. Well then, lets see, loser has to buy the next round of butterbeer in Hogsmeade, think you can cover that?**
**Any day, but, like I said, I won't have to.**
**Those be fighting words…**
**Too bad you have to go then, isn't it?**
Seamus looked up to see the rest of the team getting up and heading back to the tower to change and go out to warm up. He turned back to see Lucy grinning and gesturing for him to run along after them.
**Good luck.**
**Thanks.**
**And go easy on the Indian chaser!**
His mind was already focused on the game and Lucy got no response.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The wind had picked up as Lucy, Hermione, Neville, and the rest of the school made their way out to the pitch. The house pennants and field flags snapped smartly in the breeze, and Lucy shuddered to think what kinds of updrafts were being created high above the field. The rain was the same as at breakfast, no more, no less, which was probably a good thing.
They took seats near the rail; from this vantage Lucy could see the team amassing in the Gryffindor team 'dugout', high above the field. She'd seen Rasheph warming up on the ground before, and saw a glimpse of his dark head whispering to Aysha, a chaser from South Africa, before she was distracted by the announcements.
With Lee gone, everyone had simply supposed that the next announcer would have to be from one of the other houses, and Lucy still wasn't sure how McGonagall had swung getting another Gryffindor in the spot again. However, no one objected to her choice of Aluicious Javenson, a third year with long white-blond hair known to everyone in the tower and most of the castle as 'Al.' Even Professor McGonagall was inclined to use that name for him in class, although Snape dearly loved to hiss "Aluicious, please demonstrate, if you can," during his lessons.
Al had been on the team last year, a new member, as an alternate keeper. For his age he was incredibly good and got more game time than most first year alternates. However, last year's team would go down in Gryffindor's record books as the most injury plagued group ever, and Al didn't escape what Dean had stared to call, 'the curse.' Generally bludgers didn't go after the keeper, most beaters from the opposing team focused on gaining possession of the quaffle, and then protecting their chasers. However, Al was good, really good, and because of that, he became a target. He'd had the bones of his left hand broken twice by November. And although Madam Pomfrey could heal them easily, there are some things the body just isn't designed to take. He had to relearn his muscle memory every time, and when his hand was hit by two bludgers consecutively in a playoff match last spring, the damage was permanent. He could still write and fly, but his grip on the broom and his control would never recover.
Thanks be to the little gods for small favors, Al was not planning on playing professionally in the future. Both his parents were doctors and he intended to practice as well. It was, however, hard for him to let the game go, especially since his father, mother, grandmother and great uncle were all keepers for their respective houses when they were in school. McGonagall knew this, knew Al was a bright student as well as a top quid player, which was rare enough, and had a keen grasp of the principles of the game. She invited him to fill in Lee's old position, which Al jumped at, while the head of Gryffindor house desperately hoped for a little more decorum in this steady young man whom half the third years and below were madly in love with.
She was pulled back to the event at hand as Al began to announce the Gryffindor team and she stood to cheer with her house as they flew out onto the field. Harry wore the same tense, unreadable expression he always had during a match, Ron was all concentration and business, Seamus was flying close to him, having a last minute discussion, but he managed to toss a wink her way as he flew by. She fought the urge to crack a joke at that moment, he made her promise not to "talk" to him during the match, it was distracting. Ginny was grinning as she circled the pitch for the first time as a part of the team, and managed a nervous wave at Hermione before falling into position.
As Ravenclaw team took their places Lucy saw Harry watch Cho, although it was difficult to understand what he was thinking. Rasheph made a sharp turn near her end of the stands, waggling his eyebrows at her before heading back in. Lucy rolled her eyes and tried to appear unimpressed instead of laughing out loud.
Half an hour later they were tied 20-20, and every goal and been well fought for. Lucy though she could spy Harry, a tiny spot high above the field, circling near another spot which she assumed was Cho. Back closer to earth she saw a flash of red go by, Ginny, with the quaffle. They were on their feet, Ginny had been passing, but hadn't made a run all game. As she lowered her broom to dodge a pack of Ravenclaw chasers she emerged virtually free of any serious threat all the way to the goal posts. That was when a bludger whistled over her right shoulder, startling the new player, causing her to veer off to the left and drop the quaffle, where it was picked up by a Ravenclaw. Lucy scanned the field, where were the beaters? Why weren't they on Ginny? She saw Seamus knocking the other bludger towards Aysha, the Ravenclaw chaser, but she didn't see Ron until she heard Hermione moan, "Oh no…don't be an idiot, don't be an idiot, please Ron don't be an idiot…"
She looked and saw Ron speeding towards the Ravenclaw beater that had sent the bludger at Ginny.
"Lucy," Hermione pleaded, "Can't you distract him?"
"What?"
"Do something before he gets himself thrown off the team, that was a legal play, he can't pick a fight over it!"
Lucy nodded and without another moment lost grounded and centered herself, pulled on the biggest energy source she could find, the web of energies that ran under Hogwarts, fought off a bought of nausea, and used the energy to alter the wind pattern, sending a huge gust towards Ron, knocking him far off his intended path and forcing him to fight with his broom. Seamus looked over at what was going on, and when he looked past Ron to Lucy, he saw her trying to get his attention.
**What's wrong?**
**You better do something before Ron gets himself tossed, that's what, he's still seeing red and I can't keep him occupied the whole time if we want to win.**
She saw but didn't hear Seamus swear and begin shouting at Ron, who had gained control of his broom once again. As they charged toward Ethan to deflect the bludgers being aimed at the pale, dark haired boy, Lucy saw Seamus tap Ron on his arm with his club, and from the look in his eyes it appeared that Ron understood. Which was good since the time they had taken had enabled Ravenclaw to score.
It was a close match all the way, and Lucy was glad Hermione had taught Harry the spell to deflect rain off his glasses, because it became worse and worse as the game went on. It had been 90 minutes when a red streak shot down from the sky, Harry, with a yellow one close behind. It looked like he was after the snitch. The stands were on their feet as he pulled closer to earth, and then suddenly pulled out of the dive, made a dangerously sharp turn back the way he'd been and with a burst of speed shot forward twenty meters and stopped. He had the snitch. It really was a nice bit of strategy, he knew he was better in the dive than Cho, she was a more aggressive tailer, so knowing she'd follow, he'd made the dive, seeing the Snitch, and knowing she wouldn't recover fast enough to tail him to it and be a threat. If Cho had been a better diver, or had seen the snitch first, it would have been a damn fool move.
Gryffindors, in typical fashion, were ignoring the rain and storming the field. Lucy followed along in the wake, pushing her way to the front to witness Ginny being picked up by a boy she did not know, causing the youngest Weasly to blush furiously. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in one happy circle, as usual. Lucy scanned the crowed for Seamus and saw him over to the right analyzing the game with Dean.
"You had some nice goals Dean."
"Thanks Lucy, I'm just glad we got through the whole game without anyone getting injured."
"Certainly was a miracle," Seamus said casually, giving Lucy a Look. She shook her head and grinned.
"You look like a couple of drowned rats. Take a shower and get into some dry clothes before you do get sick and risk Harry killing you."
"What? You don't want to get wet, oh no! Look what I did!" What Seamus had just done was engulf Lucy in an enormous bear hug, soaking her cloak and most of the shirt underneath.
Lucy punched him and kicked until he let go, and she moved away in time to see lightening streak the sky.
"That's my cue to head for cover, us desert types really don't do well with this much rain. I'll see you in the common room, it'll be wild I'm sure."
"Hell, I'm counting on it!" Dean grinned and pulled Seamus off towards Ethan and some of the other team members. Lucy trotted off towards the castle. She was tempted to go talk to Rasheph, but she's seen the players last year after a loss, and she didn't think right now was a good time to talk about his need for an extra tutorial this week; although his shielding really needed to happen faster.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&
The month of October didn't exactly exist for Lucy, it came and it went. In between the now almost thrice weekly gatherings of the B.A., keeping Seamus in check, catching up on her reading and experimenting in Don Asriel's workroom, keeping and eye on the firsties, and completing the rest of her normal school work, Lucy didn't have much time to come up for air. Letters from Diego were usually brief and complaint filled, he really did despise camels; Lucy thought it was because one had spit on his head when he was younger and he had never really forgiven the species as a whole.
But the members of the B.A. began to form a nice little dysfunctional family. No one else was ever let in on the existence of the organization, and if the headmaster had any inkling of what was going on deep in the castle, he never showed his hand. Lucy's work was beginning to get easier after the second month, she had found notebooks in Asriel's trunks on training gifts, and without explaining where she had gotten them, had put them on a shelf in the B.A. room. Now members could teach themselves. Bet had suggested and everyone else had agreed that they all keep notebooks about their training. Mostly they just documented their observations, comparisons to Hogwarts magic that they found made learning a little easier. Bet seemed convinced there would be more like them popping up in the future, and having some instruction around from a Hogwarts perspective would help them along. They kept those in the room as well, Lucy didn't think it was worth the risk of someone finding them to take them back to their rooms.
What was also helping to lighten the load was that the newcomers were growing by leaps and bounds at helping each other. So sessions gradually evolved from two students working on breathing exercises while Lucy trained the third to two simultaneous work sessions. This also meant that if at some point Lucy couldn't make a meeting, she was confidant progress would be made in her absence. Because every now and then she really did just need some time to herself. She reminded herself daily, in addition to Diego's not so gentle reminders, that she had done this to herself; she didn't regret it, but she was also sacrificing time she should have been spending working on her masters thesis due in January. These things took months to prepare, and she was surprised to find she had let her focus down; it wasn't like her.
Which was how she found herself reverting to more and more free time being spent in the workroom. She had decided over the summer to combine her continued research with her thesis project to save time; the topic might be highly controversial for the council, especially as a first thesis, but it was the only way to make her life work at the moment. She wiped her ink stained fingers on the sleeve of her robe and stared in irritation at the sloppy quality of notes she was taking on a particularly involved set of experiments Asriel had been conducting to determine if a stable gate threshold could be established in a portable object; like crossing a permanent gate with a portkey. It appeared that the Adept himself had been confused about it, so Lucy had to work through his mistakes as well as fixing her own. She couldn't test this until she was absolutely sure she had it right.
A beeping caused her to pull out her watch, Diego's old pocket watch actually, and notice that she was going to be late to dinner if she didn't pack up immediately. She didn't want people asking questions about where she'd been so she scrambled about, packing the books she wanted into her pack and resetting the guards on the room before dashing down the hall and back to Gryffindor Tower.
She emerged from her room just as the whole mess of them came marching out, only to find herself pulled out of the stair traffic by slightly sweaty hand. It was Neville.
"This was in the report this month, there's a note for you from Dr. Alexander, and another from Fizzit, and a longer letter sealed up from Jerome. I figured you'd want to read the progress report anyway." He was holding out a thick parchment envelope full of documents with the St. Mungo's seal at the top.
Lucy nodded and accepted the package that held the quarterly progress reports on Ann and Henry Longbottom that Neville had been receiving directly since he was in fourth year. "Is anything wrong?"
Neville shook his head. "They didn't sound worried. And so far there hasn't been any backsliding, so I think that's a good thing. You were right about Dr. Alexander, by the way, I think he understands them a lot better."
Lucy nodded and flipped through to the page she was most interested. There it was, Henry Longbottom's dosage, he was down another two spells from what he had been on at the beginning of July when she left. They had put him back on the nocturnal sedatives though, but she supposed that was because Lucy wasn't there to take responsibility for the nightmares that came without them, and it was unfair to ask an orderly to do it. He was on less pain medication though, which meant he must be less violent. She looked up to see Neville's concerned face.
"Everything looks good Neville. The total dosage is down on your dad, did you see that?"
He nodded and sighed. "I can never keep all the names of the restraining spells straight. I know the major ones, and he's still on Perkesetitus, but I was afraid they had reduced the number but given him more powerful ones or something."
Lucy shook her head. "Its good progress from as much as I know, and Dr. Alex is smart, he knows which combinations will give the least amount of side effects."
"Good, I just wanted you to check it over. They send me these things, but no one ever explains anything, I had to figure them all out for myself. Grandmother always just put them in a drawer."
Lucy smiled, Neville was certainly more than he looked. "I'll read over it later and tell you if I see anything interesting, and I'll see you at dinner." Neville nodded and hurried down the stairs as Lucy returned to her room to drop off the Longbottom package.
And in time to see Hermione locking something in her trunk.
Hermione never locked her trunk.
"Que pasa?" Lucy gave her a measured look.
Hermione matched the stare then rolled her eyes. "Nothing. Honestly Lucy, just because things are quiet around here doesn't give you a right to go looking for a problem."
"I never said anything about a problem, what problem?"
Hermione groaned and shook her head. "Just, drop it Lucy, ok?"
Lucy shrugged as Hermione swept out of the room for dinner. Something was rotten in the state of Gryffindor, but she wasn't about to trigger the anti- alohamora traps Hermione had on her trunk, so she let it be and went to eat.
The usual dinner din was interrupted by the headmaster to make an announcement about the Halloween Feast in two days, which was featuring a concert by Savage Garden Gnomes. This was met with cheers. But Lucy, as well as most of the older students had their interest peaked, not by the announcement, but by the man sitting between Dumbledore and Professor Claudius, the new Defense Against Dark Arts Professor who spoke with an outrageous German accent. The man was new, dressed in what were obviously very expensive, designer business robes, he could have been the Minister of Magic himself. Hermione looked at Lucy, who raised her eyebrows, shook her head and turned to Seamus, who did the same and looked at Harry. Before long they had silently confirmed that no one knew who the man was.
***Bet, do you know who the man next to Dumbledore is?***
She got a faint **No.** which was as far as Bet could manage.
There was nothing to be done then but puzzle over it as they ate their dessert.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"He's kind of creepy looking."
"Maybe he just needs to meet with Dumbledore, you know they still consult him."
"And don't listen to a damn word he says."
"Maybe the've seen the error of their ways."
"I doubt it."
"You think this has anything to do with this?"
It was the afternoon of the 30th of October, and the BA wasn't getting much done besides confirm that they had all seen the creepy man at dinner. Lynx was perusing the Daily Prophet, and pointed to an article at the top of the second page. "Ministry Reports Missing Documents."
Bet leaned forward, "Well, read it."
"Several departments within the Ministry of Magic have begun to report certain documents missing. The majority of documents were reported missing from files dealing with wizard immigration and naturalization, as well as a significant amount over the recent British Wizard Census. While Ministry officials are quick to report that nothing top secret has been stolen and that all defense documents are still held in safety, this breach in security is a source of major concern at this delicate point. The Ministry is interviewing workers throughout each department, but at the moment there are no known suspects."
"And you think they sent someone out here for that?"
Lynx shrugged, "Maybe they want to hide stuff at Hogwarts, its one of the safest places around, isn't it?"
Rasheph nodded. Lucy shrugged. They sat in silence until Lynx had to go to practice and Rasheph to a conditioning session.
When Lucy got back to the tower there was a small crowed gathered around the wall near the portrait hole. Lucy tried to push her way through, but there were too many people. She stood back and waited for it to clear, when she felt a touch on her shoulder, it was Seamus.
"What is that? Is there a Hogsmeade weekend or something?"
Seamus shook his head. "Lucy, you didn't, well, do anything, did you?"
"Do what?"
"Did you try and kill Snape again?"
"No, not like I wasn't tempted, but… why are you asking me that?"
By then the crowd had moved away, and Lucy moved forward to read the parchment posted on the wall.
"The Following Students are to Report to the Great Hall at Nine O'clock, tomorrow morning:
Ginger Chao
Alessandra Dicus
Shawanda Hall
Nicholas Kornakovitch
Svetlana Kornakovitch
Warren Lane
Wesley Lane
William Lane
Lucille Montero
Maria Moray
Karen Su
Chandrika Sanji"
Lucy shook her head, "What is this for?"
Seamus sat down, "I don't know. From what Parvati said when she got back from Andrew's room, there's one just like it up in Ravenclaw, with a whole bunch of their students names."
Lucy rubbed the goose bumps off her arms. "I don't like it. What is so important that they are going to pull us out if class? Why would Dumbledore allow it?"
"I don't know. Are you going to go?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Just promise me you won't do anything stupid."
"Like what?"
"Don't throw any cauldrons at people. Promise?"
Lucy grinned and gave him a hug. "I'll try to control myself."
"Will you try harder than usual?"
Lucy rolled her eyes and went upstairs to start her homework.
"…And then, just as Jackson said it, Professor Snape came around the corner! I thought he was going to pass out!"
"Well I hope Snape got a good long listen, that man…. oh sorry, and then?"
"Oh, well Kelsey started crying and we had to take her to the girls toilet to calm her down and convince her that she wasn't going to be expelled."
"Yeah, and in the meantime the rest of us had to go into class and brave the Look."
"Oh Parker, trust me, I know what that feels like."
"He calls me Chester. Not even McGonagall is that mean."
Parker punctuated his frustration by tossing a rock into the air and watching it fall to the ground several stories below. They were sitting on the Hufflepuff roof, in the middle of the doorway leading to the outer roof, their legs stretched out on the sun-warmed slates. Technically, they weren't on the roof, which Parker and Marguerite weren't allowed to do until after the winter holidays, and Lucy was enjoying the fresh air as well as catching up with the ever-entertaining lives of the first years.
"Any news from home Parker?" Lucy watched the boy cautiously to see how he was handling the situation. But he seemed unaffected, thankfully.
"Mum is keeping me updated as much as she can. She's sending as many jumpers as she can knit, convinced that the standard Ministry issue won't keep her babies warm. Lil says it's embarrassing. Arthur seems really glad to be there, even though he's younger than Lillian by three years, he still felt strange being at home and having his sister at the front lines. He's actually worried now that he might get pulled home."
"Why? Are they bringing people back? What about Azkaban?"
Parker grimaced, "I don't think I was supposed to say anything about that. Well, since I've already blurted it… Lil heard around her unit that they are concerned that Azkaban finally showing its hand was a decoy, a way to divert the Ministry's attention from its own borders to the world outside. They think now that maybe while all their efforts were concentrated somewhere else was when the other side made their move to… I don't know really, infiltrate?"
Marguerite shook her head. "They couldn't have. The Minister stepped up security here, that's why I had to carry those stupid papers. Anyone from abroad coming couldn't have so much as a blemish on their record."
Parker shrugged. "It beats me. But someone in the Ministry realized that this whole campaign was beginning to smell like the proverbial red herring, so now there is talk of sending a portion of the forces back."
"And the island?"
"That's the strange part. Lil and Arthur both heard that while the Ministry as a whole has no plans of abandoning it, that some very influential people are dead set against continuing the effort."
"Who?"
"They didn't say."
Lucy had an idea though. The younger students were too new to realize, but the older ones knew exactly how important a man Albus Dumbledore was in politics. And if there was someone who was brave enough to stand against the wind and ask for the impossible and unreasonable, it was probably him. And he probably had good reason.
There was silence for a while as they stared out into the late afternoon sun. Then Lucy remembered something she had been meaning to ask about.
"Marguerite, do you know Belle Bedford?"
"The Gryffindor?"
"Mmmhmm."
"A little, we've got Transfiguration at the same time. Not really a social class, you know McGonagall. She's pretty good though, catches on faster than most."
"Has she seemed upset lately?"
"Yeah, for a while I mostly just remember her looking sad. Kind of lonely. But for the past week or so, she's perked up, got sort of a little honor guard around her in the halls, I've seen them on their way down to the dungeons, why?"
"Oh, she was having a hard time, I gave our prefect some advice on dealing with her, I was wondering if it worked."
Apparently it had.
"Well," Lucy said as she dusted herself off, "I better get back to MY potions assignment or all have to brave the Look myself."
"I'd better go too, there's a quiz in History of Magic tomorrow and I always get my goblins mixed up."
Parker sighed and got to his feet, "Well, since you're all being virtuous, I think I'll go down too, and see if anyone fancies a game of Exploding Snap."
The girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes, boys, honestly, and went downstairs. As Lucy was coming around a bend in the staircase, she noticed something on the wall that she hadn't before. Leaving a puzzled Marguerite, she turned away from the fireplace exit and headed towards a pair of bright yellow candles that burned on either side of a broomstick mounted against the wall. Behind the broomstick a yellow Quidditch robe was hung reverently, neatly pressed and with no traces of dust upon it. She scanned the wall for an explanation and found one in the small brass plaque attached to the middle of the broom handle.
"Remember Cedric Diggory."
"Cedric's monument," a voice from behind her, a little thick with emotion, explained. "We decided against a portrait. It would have to be painted from memory, and the idea of Cedric smiling at people and moving around…it was just too soon to think about. Maybe someday, in a hall, but not in here."
Lucy nodded and investigated the candles as Lynx stood patiently beside her.
"And the candles…."
"Enchanted, never go out, never burn down."
Kind of like the flame at Espiritu, Lucy thought.
"Did you know him?"
"Me? Not too well, I was just a third year. But he was pretty nice to me, and I was a real pain. It was more of a kind of shock that hit me when it happened, hit everyone really."
"Who designed it?"
"The Quidditch team, and Cho Chang, she had the idea, since no one really wanted a picture. I think it was pretty cathartic for her."
Lucy nodded.
"So, um, how are you doing, any problems today?"
"Nope," he grinned, "No unauthorized flying objects for a whole week, even when I took a bludger in the stomach yesterday during practice."
"Good for you."
"Now, I'd better go, I've got an essay for McGonagall due tomorrow and I have another foot left. I'll see you at the match Saturday, right?"
Lucy grinned. "You bet."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Lucy spent most of Friday night writing an epic letter to Diego, having realized that whatever they were making him do in the desert was leaving him with barely enough energy to spit, let alone work a mirror spell. She'd been writing it in small doses in the free time she really didn't have, and as she dated the next entry she was surprised to realize it was only October. So much had happened… she finally sealed it off with her mastery ring, the smooth surface leaving no physical design, but an unmistakable magical signature. Then she grabbed her bottle of Rosa's Cure All Muscle Relieving Ointment and trotted downstairs to loan it to Seamus, who's shoulder was still smarting from an accident in practice Wednesday; she had promised to rub some of it on the joint before bed.
The entire team was under orders from the co-captains to get to sleep early, so Seamus, Harry, Ron, and the rest were in bed by ten, leaving Lucy sitting on the sofa, her hands smelling strongly of spices and mint, trying to rub off the excess ointment. Lavender was curled up in a chair, dangling a small crystal on a chain in the moonlight. Lavender really was exceptional in Divination, Parvati was very good as well, although it seemed her real talent was reading people, not tea, whereas when Lucy compared Lavender to some of the mediums she had met before, the fascination with Professor Trelawny's awful room made sense. Hermione was absorbed in a positively ancient book that looked to be falling apart, and judging from the way she was trying to hide the cover, was probably from the restricted section. Parvati was nowhere in sight, and that meant she was probably out with her latest boyfriend and would be sneaking back in in a couple of hours.
With nothing else to do, Lucy went back to her room and began to rummage about in her trunks. That was where she stumbled upon her old notebook, where she had been making notes and conjectures about the work she was doing in Don Asriel's workroom the previous term. As she read back over her theories and ideas, she felt a guilty stab in the heart. She hadn't worked on this at all this term. Here she was, one of two people in the world that believed that the impossible could happen, and the only one with the time and resources to find out how to do it, and she had forgotten all about it. What kind of love and loyalty to her school was that?
She sighed and sat crossed legged on her bed, determined to catch herself up and return to the workroom tomorrow, sometime between the quidditch match and the BA meeting. She fell asleep in her clothes and woke up when Parvati knocked over a stack of books off her trunk. As Lucy helped her into bed she could smell the homemade wine on her breath, and realized just why Snape kept such a paranoid eye on his distillation equipment.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&
It was drizzling when Gryffindor awoke, and the rain was steady all through breakfast. Harry kept glancing up from where he was seated at the end of the table with the rest of the team, towards the enchanted ceiling, dark and grey, but not storming, yet. Ron was eating, which was a good sign, but he seemed to be arguing with Ginny, who wasn't really touching her food or giving Ron a satisfactory answer. Seamus looked and emotionally felt normal to Lucy from where she sat farther down with Hermione and the girls.
**Feeling ready to crack open the skulls of unsuspecting chasers?**
**You really give me no credit, do you?**
**Well, you did pick THE most violent position. What do you think that reveals about you're inner self?**
**That my inner self likes to kick a little ass.**
**Now why don't they put that on Valentines….**
**Ha ha, I'd be more worried about Ron pulling a rabid-big-brother- protective-maneuver up there if I were you.**
**Do try and make him behave himself. It will embarrass Ginny.**
**Yeah, and probably embarrass Dumbledore to have to write to a student's parents that he died playing Quidditch. But lets keep things in perspective here.**
**I'm not worried. Ten to one Ginny knocks Ron off his broom before he can do any real damage.**
**He's pretty protective…**
**I remain firm in my resolve.**
**Put your money where your mouth is Montero.**
**You know I don't have any.** This wasn't a call for pity, Seamus knew her lack of money didn't bother her.
**Oh yeah, sorry. Well then, lets see, loser has to buy the next round of butterbeer in Hogsmeade, think you can cover that?**
**Any day, but, like I said, I won't have to.**
**Those be fighting words…**
**Too bad you have to go then, isn't it?**
Seamus looked up to see the rest of the team getting up and heading back to the tower to change and go out to warm up. He turned back to see Lucy grinning and gesturing for him to run along after them.
**Good luck.**
**Thanks.**
**And go easy on the Indian chaser!**
His mind was already focused on the game and Lucy got no response.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The wind had picked up as Lucy, Hermione, Neville, and the rest of the school made their way out to the pitch. The house pennants and field flags snapped smartly in the breeze, and Lucy shuddered to think what kinds of updrafts were being created high above the field. The rain was the same as at breakfast, no more, no less, which was probably a good thing.
They took seats near the rail; from this vantage Lucy could see the team amassing in the Gryffindor team 'dugout', high above the field. She'd seen Rasheph warming up on the ground before, and saw a glimpse of his dark head whispering to Aysha, a chaser from South Africa, before she was distracted by the announcements.
With Lee gone, everyone had simply supposed that the next announcer would have to be from one of the other houses, and Lucy still wasn't sure how McGonagall had swung getting another Gryffindor in the spot again. However, no one objected to her choice of Aluicious Javenson, a third year with long white-blond hair known to everyone in the tower and most of the castle as 'Al.' Even Professor McGonagall was inclined to use that name for him in class, although Snape dearly loved to hiss "Aluicious, please demonstrate, if you can," during his lessons.
Al had been on the team last year, a new member, as an alternate keeper. For his age he was incredibly good and got more game time than most first year alternates. However, last year's team would go down in Gryffindor's record books as the most injury plagued group ever, and Al didn't escape what Dean had stared to call, 'the curse.' Generally bludgers didn't go after the keeper, most beaters from the opposing team focused on gaining possession of the quaffle, and then protecting their chasers. However, Al was good, really good, and because of that, he became a target. He'd had the bones of his left hand broken twice by November. And although Madam Pomfrey could heal them easily, there are some things the body just isn't designed to take. He had to relearn his muscle memory every time, and when his hand was hit by two bludgers consecutively in a playoff match last spring, the damage was permanent. He could still write and fly, but his grip on the broom and his control would never recover.
Thanks be to the little gods for small favors, Al was not planning on playing professionally in the future. Both his parents were doctors and he intended to practice as well. It was, however, hard for him to let the game go, especially since his father, mother, grandmother and great uncle were all keepers for their respective houses when they were in school. McGonagall knew this, knew Al was a bright student as well as a top quid player, which was rare enough, and had a keen grasp of the principles of the game. She invited him to fill in Lee's old position, which Al jumped at, while the head of Gryffindor house desperately hoped for a little more decorum in this steady young man whom half the third years and below were madly in love with.
She was pulled back to the event at hand as Al began to announce the Gryffindor team and she stood to cheer with her house as they flew out onto the field. Harry wore the same tense, unreadable expression he always had during a match, Ron was all concentration and business, Seamus was flying close to him, having a last minute discussion, but he managed to toss a wink her way as he flew by. She fought the urge to crack a joke at that moment, he made her promise not to "talk" to him during the match, it was distracting. Ginny was grinning as she circled the pitch for the first time as a part of the team, and managed a nervous wave at Hermione before falling into position.
As Ravenclaw team took their places Lucy saw Harry watch Cho, although it was difficult to understand what he was thinking. Rasheph made a sharp turn near her end of the stands, waggling his eyebrows at her before heading back in. Lucy rolled her eyes and tried to appear unimpressed instead of laughing out loud.
Half an hour later they were tied 20-20, and every goal and been well fought for. Lucy though she could spy Harry, a tiny spot high above the field, circling near another spot which she assumed was Cho. Back closer to earth she saw a flash of red go by, Ginny, with the quaffle. They were on their feet, Ginny had been passing, but hadn't made a run all game. As she lowered her broom to dodge a pack of Ravenclaw chasers she emerged virtually free of any serious threat all the way to the goal posts. That was when a bludger whistled over her right shoulder, startling the new player, causing her to veer off to the left and drop the quaffle, where it was picked up by a Ravenclaw. Lucy scanned the field, where were the beaters? Why weren't they on Ginny? She saw Seamus knocking the other bludger towards Aysha, the Ravenclaw chaser, but she didn't see Ron until she heard Hermione moan, "Oh no…don't be an idiot, don't be an idiot, please Ron don't be an idiot…"
She looked and saw Ron speeding towards the Ravenclaw beater that had sent the bludger at Ginny.
"Lucy," Hermione pleaded, "Can't you distract him?"
"What?"
"Do something before he gets himself thrown off the team, that was a legal play, he can't pick a fight over it!"
Lucy nodded and without another moment lost grounded and centered herself, pulled on the biggest energy source she could find, the web of energies that ran under Hogwarts, fought off a bought of nausea, and used the energy to alter the wind pattern, sending a huge gust towards Ron, knocking him far off his intended path and forcing him to fight with his broom. Seamus looked over at what was going on, and when he looked past Ron to Lucy, he saw her trying to get his attention.
**What's wrong?**
**You better do something before Ron gets himself tossed, that's what, he's still seeing red and I can't keep him occupied the whole time if we want to win.**
She saw but didn't hear Seamus swear and begin shouting at Ron, who had gained control of his broom once again. As they charged toward Ethan to deflect the bludgers being aimed at the pale, dark haired boy, Lucy saw Seamus tap Ron on his arm with his club, and from the look in his eyes it appeared that Ron understood. Which was good since the time they had taken had enabled Ravenclaw to score.
It was a close match all the way, and Lucy was glad Hermione had taught Harry the spell to deflect rain off his glasses, because it became worse and worse as the game went on. It had been 90 minutes when a red streak shot down from the sky, Harry, with a yellow one close behind. It looked like he was after the snitch. The stands were on their feet as he pulled closer to earth, and then suddenly pulled out of the dive, made a dangerously sharp turn back the way he'd been and with a burst of speed shot forward twenty meters and stopped. He had the snitch. It really was a nice bit of strategy, he knew he was better in the dive than Cho, she was a more aggressive tailer, so knowing she'd follow, he'd made the dive, seeing the Snitch, and knowing she wouldn't recover fast enough to tail him to it and be a threat. If Cho had been a better diver, or had seen the snitch first, it would have been a damn fool move.
Gryffindors, in typical fashion, were ignoring the rain and storming the field. Lucy followed along in the wake, pushing her way to the front to witness Ginny being picked up by a boy she did not know, causing the youngest Weasly to blush furiously. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in one happy circle, as usual. Lucy scanned the crowed for Seamus and saw him over to the right analyzing the game with Dean.
"You had some nice goals Dean."
"Thanks Lucy, I'm just glad we got through the whole game without anyone getting injured."
"Certainly was a miracle," Seamus said casually, giving Lucy a Look. She shook her head and grinned.
"You look like a couple of drowned rats. Take a shower and get into some dry clothes before you do get sick and risk Harry killing you."
"What? You don't want to get wet, oh no! Look what I did!" What Seamus had just done was engulf Lucy in an enormous bear hug, soaking her cloak and most of the shirt underneath.
Lucy punched him and kicked until he let go, and she moved away in time to see lightening streak the sky.
"That's my cue to head for cover, us desert types really don't do well with this much rain. I'll see you in the common room, it'll be wild I'm sure."
"Hell, I'm counting on it!" Dean grinned and pulled Seamus off towards Ethan and some of the other team members. Lucy trotted off towards the castle. She was tempted to go talk to Rasheph, but she's seen the players last year after a loss, and she didn't think right now was a good time to talk about his need for an extra tutorial this week; although his shielding really needed to happen faster.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&
The month of October didn't exactly exist for Lucy, it came and it went. In between the now almost thrice weekly gatherings of the B.A., keeping Seamus in check, catching up on her reading and experimenting in Don Asriel's workroom, keeping and eye on the firsties, and completing the rest of her normal school work, Lucy didn't have much time to come up for air. Letters from Diego were usually brief and complaint filled, he really did despise camels; Lucy thought it was because one had spit on his head when he was younger and he had never really forgiven the species as a whole.
But the members of the B.A. began to form a nice little dysfunctional family. No one else was ever let in on the existence of the organization, and if the headmaster had any inkling of what was going on deep in the castle, he never showed his hand. Lucy's work was beginning to get easier after the second month, she had found notebooks in Asriel's trunks on training gifts, and without explaining where she had gotten them, had put them on a shelf in the B.A. room. Now members could teach themselves. Bet had suggested and everyone else had agreed that they all keep notebooks about their training. Mostly they just documented their observations, comparisons to Hogwarts magic that they found made learning a little easier. Bet seemed convinced there would be more like them popping up in the future, and having some instruction around from a Hogwarts perspective would help them along. They kept those in the room as well, Lucy didn't think it was worth the risk of someone finding them to take them back to their rooms.
What was also helping to lighten the load was that the newcomers were growing by leaps and bounds at helping each other. So sessions gradually evolved from two students working on breathing exercises while Lucy trained the third to two simultaneous work sessions. This also meant that if at some point Lucy couldn't make a meeting, she was confidant progress would be made in her absence. Because every now and then she really did just need some time to herself. She reminded herself daily, in addition to Diego's not so gentle reminders, that she had done this to herself; she didn't regret it, but she was also sacrificing time she should have been spending working on her masters thesis due in January. These things took months to prepare, and she was surprised to find she had let her focus down; it wasn't like her.
Which was how she found herself reverting to more and more free time being spent in the workroom. She had decided over the summer to combine her continued research with her thesis project to save time; the topic might be highly controversial for the council, especially as a first thesis, but it was the only way to make her life work at the moment. She wiped her ink stained fingers on the sleeve of her robe and stared in irritation at the sloppy quality of notes she was taking on a particularly involved set of experiments Asriel had been conducting to determine if a stable gate threshold could be established in a portable object; like crossing a permanent gate with a portkey. It appeared that the Adept himself had been confused about it, so Lucy had to work through his mistakes as well as fixing her own. She couldn't test this until she was absolutely sure she had it right.
A beeping caused her to pull out her watch, Diego's old pocket watch actually, and notice that she was going to be late to dinner if she didn't pack up immediately. She didn't want people asking questions about where she'd been so she scrambled about, packing the books she wanted into her pack and resetting the guards on the room before dashing down the hall and back to Gryffindor Tower.
She emerged from her room just as the whole mess of them came marching out, only to find herself pulled out of the stair traffic by slightly sweaty hand. It was Neville.
"This was in the report this month, there's a note for you from Dr. Alexander, and another from Fizzit, and a longer letter sealed up from Jerome. I figured you'd want to read the progress report anyway." He was holding out a thick parchment envelope full of documents with the St. Mungo's seal at the top.
Lucy nodded and accepted the package that held the quarterly progress reports on Ann and Henry Longbottom that Neville had been receiving directly since he was in fourth year. "Is anything wrong?"
Neville shook his head. "They didn't sound worried. And so far there hasn't been any backsliding, so I think that's a good thing. You were right about Dr. Alexander, by the way, I think he understands them a lot better."
Lucy nodded and flipped through to the page she was most interested. There it was, Henry Longbottom's dosage, he was down another two spells from what he had been on at the beginning of July when she left. They had put him back on the nocturnal sedatives though, but she supposed that was because Lucy wasn't there to take responsibility for the nightmares that came without them, and it was unfair to ask an orderly to do it. He was on less pain medication though, which meant he must be less violent. She looked up to see Neville's concerned face.
"Everything looks good Neville. The total dosage is down on your dad, did you see that?"
He nodded and sighed. "I can never keep all the names of the restraining spells straight. I know the major ones, and he's still on Perkesetitus, but I was afraid they had reduced the number but given him more powerful ones or something."
Lucy shook her head. "Its good progress from as much as I know, and Dr. Alex is smart, he knows which combinations will give the least amount of side effects."
"Good, I just wanted you to check it over. They send me these things, but no one ever explains anything, I had to figure them all out for myself. Grandmother always just put them in a drawer."
Lucy smiled, Neville was certainly more than he looked. "I'll read over it later and tell you if I see anything interesting, and I'll see you at dinner." Neville nodded and hurried down the stairs as Lucy returned to her room to drop off the Longbottom package.
And in time to see Hermione locking something in her trunk.
Hermione never locked her trunk.
"Que pasa?" Lucy gave her a measured look.
Hermione matched the stare then rolled her eyes. "Nothing. Honestly Lucy, just because things are quiet around here doesn't give you a right to go looking for a problem."
"I never said anything about a problem, what problem?"
Hermione groaned and shook her head. "Just, drop it Lucy, ok?"
Lucy shrugged as Hermione swept out of the room for dinner. Something was rotten in the state of Gryffindor, but she wasn't about to trigger the anti- alohamora traps Hermione had on her trunk, so she let it be and went to eat.
The usual dinner din was interrupted by the headmaster to make an announcement about the Halloween Feast in two days, which was featuring a concert by Savage Garden Gnomes. This was met with cheers. But Lucy, as well as most of the older students had their interest peaked, not by the announcement, but by the man sitting between Dumbledore and Professor Claudius, the new Defense Against Dark Arts Professor who spoke with an outrageous German accent. The man was new, dressed in what were obviously very expensive, designer business robes, he could have been the Minister of Magic himself. Hermione looked at Lucy, who raised her eyebrows, shook her head and turned to Seamus, who did the same and looked at Harry. Before long they had silently confirmed that no one knew who the man was.
***Bet, do you know who the man next to Dumbledore is?***
She got a faint **No.** which was as far as Bet could manage.
There was nothing to be done then but puzzle over it as they ate their dessert.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"He's kind of creepy looking."
"Maybe he just needs to meet with Dumbledore, you know they still consult him."
"And don't listen to a damn word he says."
"Maybe the've seen the error of their ways."
"I doubt it."
"You think this has anything to do with this?"
It was the afternoon of the 30th of October, and the BA wasn't getting much done besides confirm that they had all seen the creepy man at dinner. Lynx was perusing the Daily Prophet, and pointed to an article at the top of the second page. "Ministry Reports Missing Documents."
Bet leaned forward, "Well, read it."
"Several departments within the Ministry of Magic have begun to report certain documents missing. The majority of documents were reported missing from files dealing with wizard immigration and naturalization, as well as a significant amount over the recent British Wizard Census. While Ministry officials are quick to report that nothing top secret has been stolen and that all defense documents are still held in safety, this breach in security is a source of major concern at this delicate point. The Ministry is interviewing workers throughout each department, but at the moment there are no known suspects."
"And you think they sent someone out here for that?"
Lynx shrugged, "Maybe they want to hide stuff at Hogwarts, its one of the safest places around, isn't it?"
Rasheph nodded. Lucy shrugged. They sat in silence until Lynx had to go to practice and Rasheph to a conditioning session.
When Lucy got back to the tower there was a small crowed gathered around the wall near the portrait hole. Lucy tried to push her way through, but there were too many people. She stood back and waited for it to clear, when she felt a touch on her shoulder, it was Seamus.
"What is that? Is there a Hogsmeade weekend or something?"
Seamus shook his head. "Lucy, you didn't, well, do anything, did you?"
"Do what?"
"Did you try and kill Snape again?"
"No, not like I wasn't tempted, but… why are you asking me that?"
By then the crowd had moved away, and Lucy moved forward to read the parchment posted on the wall.
"The Following Students are to Report to the Great Hall at Nine O'clock, tomorrow morning:
Ginger Chao
Alessandra Dicus
Shawanda Hall
Nicholas Kornakovitch
Svetlana Kornakovitch
Warren Lane
Wesley Lane
William Lane
Lucille Montero
Maria Moray
Karen Su
Chandrika Sanji"
Lucy shook her head, "What is this for?"
Seamus sat down, "I don't know. From what Parvati said when she got back from Andrew's room, there's one just like it up in Ravenclaw, with a whole bunch of their students names."
Lucy rubbed the goose bumps off her arms. "I don't like it. What is so important that they are going to pull us out if class? Why would Dumbledore allow it?"
"I don't know. Are you going to go?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Just promise me you won't do anything stupid."
"Like what?"
"Don't throw any cauldrons at people. Promise?"
Lucy grinned and gave him a hug. "I'll try to control myself."
"Will you try harder than usual?"
Lucy rolled her eyes and went upstairs to start her homework.