Rachel tried to take a steadying breath. Platform 9 and ¾ was as loud and busy and crowded as it usually was, but knowing that hadn't really prepared her for apparating into the midst of it.
"Are you alright?" Severus asked, his wand already in his hand and his gaze sharp as he looked around them.
She felt like she was being squeezed and like her throat had been lit on fire.
"Rachel?" he asked, his gaze fixing on her.
"Fine," she managed to get out. She pressed her fingers against her throat, reminding herself that she could still breathe even if it hurt.
"We can go back to Hogwarts, you don't have to do this," he said, reaching for her.
She took a step back. "No, I want to. Please. I'll be okay when I'm on the train."
"You have your portkey and your phoenix pendant?" he asked.
"Right here," she said, touching the chains.
"And there will be aurors on the train with you," he said.
"I know." They had already gone through all of this before they'd left Hogwarts.
"Rachel!"
She turned and found Ginny hurrying up to her, with Ron and Mrs. Weasley following. Ginny had her Quidditch captain badge pinned to her shirt already.
"Good to see you, Severus, and you Rachel. How are you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Fine, thank you." Rachel thought she would be a lot better once she was safely inside the train compartment with her friends.
"How are you, Molly?" Severus asked.
"Well enough. It's strange not bringing the whole lot of them to the train," Mrs. Weasley said, looking at her kids with a wistful expression. "Time goes too fast."
"Yes, it does," Severus agreed. "Rachel, let's get you on the train, I assume you will be in a compartment with Miss Weasley?"
"Yes, we have one we use every year," she said.
"I see Auror Tonks waiting for you, let's go over to her," Severus said.
Rachel frowned as she realized what he intended. She hadn't realized that she'd been assigned a guard.
"Bye mom, I'll write," Ginny said, giving her mom a hug.
"You'd better. Be good, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, smoothing Ginny's hair. "You too, Ron, come here."
Ron reluctantly allowed his mom to hug him, his face flushing.
Rachel followed Severus over to where Tonks was waiting by one of the train cars, Ginny and Ron behind her, pulling their trunks.
"There you are. I'll see her inside the wards myself," Tonks said to Severus before turning to Rachel. "Wotcher, Rachel?"
"Hi Tonks," Rachel said. At least if she had to have an auror escort it was someone who was cool.
"You know how to reach me if you need to," Severus said, setting his hand on Rachel's shoulder. "Stay with Auror Tonks."
"I will," she promised. It was a little embarrassing, but she wasn't about to argue.
"Let's go, where do you want to sit?" Tonks asked.
"We usually have a compartment with our friends in the second carriage to the back," Rachel said.
"Let's head that way then," Tonks said, boarding the train.
"I'll see you soon," Severus said.
"You will." She realized that Severus was having even more anxiety about this than she was, if that was possible. "I'll be fine."
Severus nodded and stepped back.
Rachel climbed onto the train, Ginny following her.
"Gin, I'm going to go find Dean and Seamus," Ron said.
"Okay, bye," Ginny said.
They began walking down the aisle of the train as students popped in and out of compartments and called to each other. Rachel took another slow breath. Everything was fine. Everything was just like normal.
"Rachel!"
She came to a stop and peered into the compartment she'd just passed. "Hi Scarlett, did you have a good summer?"
"Pretty good. When are we doing tryouts?" Scarlett asked.
"Probably next Sunday, why?"
"Just eager to get started. We are going to dominate the pitch this year," Scarlett said. Summer had definitely not dulled her enthusiasm.
"We'll have a team meeting soon," Rachel promised before moving on. She didn't know how to tell them that she couldn't fly like she used to. She wasn't even sure what to do about it. She needed some time on the pitch without Severus hovering so that she could get up to speed and see how she did.
They made it another few compartments down before they were stopped again.
"Rachel, how are you?" Cho asked. She had cut her hair up to her chin, which was a new style for her. As long as Rachel had known her, Cho had worn her hair long.
"I'm fine, how was your summer?" Rachel asked.
"Not bad, missed Quidditch of course. Let me know about you know what," she said.
Rachel nodded, understanding she meant about the DA. "We'll let people know once we know."
"Okay, see you around," Cho said.
They made it all the way into the next train car before they were stopped again, this time by Hannah and Anthony
"Rachel, everything alright?" Anthony asked.
"Just fine, how about you?"
Anthony shrugged. "At least we're finally going back to Hogwarts."
"Summer isn't short enough," Hannah agreed. "You're alright now?"
"I'm fine. I'll see you both around," Rachel said, continuing on. She wanted to hide and at least for the first few days of school it was going to be like this.
"Little miss popular," Tonks commented with a smile. "Who would have guessed the tiny shy Slytherin I saw in your first year would become friends with the entire school?"
"It's definitely not the entire school," Rachel said, feeling herself blush.
"You were at Hogwarts at the same time as Rachel?" Ginny asked.
"It was my seventh year when Rachel was a first year," Tonks said. "I don't think we ever crossed paths outside of the Great Hall, but everyone knew about Rachel, of course."
"What were they saying about me?" Rachel asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"Just that you were so shy that you wouldn't talk," Tonks said, looking back at them. "No one believed that squib nonsense in the paper. In Hufflepuff, we all felt pretty bad for you when we learned that Snape adopted you. He's kinda terrifying in the classroom."
"Severus is kind to me, he always has been," she insisted.
"Good, but I'm sure you know he has a reputation as a teacher. We were imagining him assigning you detentions cleaning cauldrons and cutting up toads. Our prefects wanted to rescue you, but no one could decide how to do that, and Professor Sprout assured us that you were fine."
"Severus has never assigned me detention, outside of my first year, and that was before he adopted me," she said, feeling the need to defend Severus.
"Sirius says you have Severus wrapped around your little finger," Tonks said with a wink.
"I definitely don't," Rachel said, but Ginny was giggling by now.
She nearly sighed with relief when they reached their compartment and found most of the others already inside. She turned and helped Ginny boost her trunk up to the racks above the seats.
"You're getting around better, Rachel," Theo said.
"Much better now," she said, though she desperately wanted to be sitting down. "Everyone, this is Auror Tonks. Tonks, this is Theo Nott, Millie Bulstrode, and Luna Lovegood."
"Are the aurors guarding you all year?" Millie asked, moving Midnight's carrier so Rachel could take a seat.
"No, just while we're out of the wards," Rachel said, gratefully sitting down. Her knees were shaking a little.
"I'll be just out here if you need me," Tonks said.
"You can come sit with us, you don't have to stand there the whole train ride. There's room," Rachel said, thinking that would be less awkward than having her guard the door.
Tonks looked up and down the train corridor as she considered it. "I suppose I'm guarding you more closely if I'm in there." She joined them, taking the empty seat next to Rachel. "And doesn't this feel weird. I feel like I'm going to be sent back to detention."
"Did you get a lot of detentions at Hogwarts?" Luna asked.
"Oh, yes. I'm a bit of a trouble maker," Tonks laughed and then turned her hair from magenta to pink. "Used to get in trouble for doing that in class all the time."
"You're a metamorphmagus?" Theo asked.
"Sure am." She promptly turned her nose into a pig snout, oinked at them, and then turned it back.
"What does it feel like?" Millie asked.
"Does it feel like Polyjuice?" Rachel asked, hoping it didn't. That had been kind of painful.
"Most of it doesn't feel like much unless I'm making big changes. Making myself taller is a little painful, same with making myself smaller. Generally, unless I'm undercover, I only do cosmetic changes," Tonks explained.
"What is it like being an auror?" Luna asked.
"Harder than I expected. It's a lot of work, some of it is pretty intense. We see some things that I didn't really think about too closely when I first signed up for the auror training program. I thought it was going to be action and chasing people and dueling. And there's a little bit of that, but it's more taking statements from people about how they've been hurt and looking at evidence and trying to track people down," Tonks explained.
Rachel realized that what Tonks wasn't saying was that she probably saw dead bodies or people who'd been hurt or all other sorts of terrible things. Being an auror definitely wasn't like it was described in the Horath Bogtrotter books.
"That does sound hard," Theo said after a moment.
"It's worth it though. Is it a career any of you are considering?" Tonks asked.
Everyone shook their heads. "We're more academics, I think," Millie said.
"Have Hermione and Neville already been by?" Rachel asked, realizing that Crookshanks' carrier was at Luna's feet and Trevor's cage was next to Theo.
"They have, they had to go up to the prefect carriage, but they said they'd drop by while they're on patrol," Theo said. "You said you've met the new Defense teacher, what's she like?"
"She seems alright. She says class will be a combination of theory and spell casting, so better than Umbridge at least. She didn't seem to have any sort of problem with me, she didn't even seem to recognize my name," Rachel said. She was still glad about that.
"Can't have a problem with you if she doesn't know who you are," Millie said with an approving nod.
"The textbook seemed alright," Ginny said.
Rachel nodded and they all looked out the window as the train lurched as it left the station.
"Here we go, another year," Luna said.
Rachel closed her eyes, took a breath, and hoped the year was as quiet as possible.
Rachel covered her yawn as Severus gave his welcome speech, though it was less welcome and more 'behave yourselves or else'. She had already taken a surreptitious look around the common room. The Carrow twins were seventh years this year and she had already noticed them looking at her. She had also noticed them looking at Draco.
Simon and Maxwell, also seventh years now, stood near Hestia and Flora and Rachel decided that she was keeping an eye on them this year as well. While she doubted they were junior Death Eaters, she was wary of anyone who had joined the Inquisitorial Squad in earnest. Tristram and Tracey stood apart, both of them wearing their prefects badges and they were closely watching the students as well.
Goyle's absence was noticeable among the sixth years. Crabbe stood by himself, as did Draco, and Theo was standing with Blaise. Rachel was glad she wasn't in the boys dormitory, it seemed like things would be tense there. She hadn't had any opportunity to do much more than say hi to Pansy and Daphne, but she intended to speak with them once they were in their dorm room and make sure Pansy's summer had gone okay and that her parents weren't pressuring her.
Michael Pike stood apart from some of the other fifth years. Scarlett was standing with Stephen and Harper, and Rachel reminded herself to check with them to see how Harper was doing and if they would be comfortable with him on the team. Harper would make a good addition, they wouldn't have to train him in the basics and if she could get him to be a little less aggressive, his play style would fit well with Draco and Martin's.
She spotted Astoria among the fourth years. She was sitting down and looking a little pale and worn. Rachel absolutely understood how she felt. It had been a long day. Martin was standing with Timothy, who would hopefully be their Keeper this year. Miles had been right, Timothy had grown over the summer. Hopefully he would keep it up, a Keeper needed a long reach.
Rachel realized that the only major problem with the team was her. They needed a good Seeker. Right now, if she tried to go on a chase for the Snitch against another player, she was going to wind up falling off her broom. The first game would probably be near the end of October. She was still taking the modified Nerve Tonic, but she wasn't expecting any additional improvements from it at this point, unless it was to get a little more steady as she walked.
She would go flying tomorrow, she decided. And if she couldn't keep up in the air, she'd let reserve Seekers tryout, that way she could train someone and have a replacement if she couldn't play in the first game.
"Rachel? You in there?" Millie asked.
"What?" she asked, looking around at where people were now milling around the common room. Apparently Severus had finished with his speech.
"You look ready for bed," Millie said.
"I am ready for bed," Rachel agreed. This had been the busiest day she'd had since, well, since everything had happened. Since she'd taken her OWLs, that was a better way to think of it.
"Goodnight Theo, we'll see you tomorrow for breakfast," Millie said.
"Goodnight," Theo said, giving both of them a piercing look before he turned back to his conversation with Blaise.
"Wonder what that's about," Millie said as they made their way to the dorm.
"Probably figuring out how they're going to manage in the dorm this year. They're still sharing with Crabbe." Rachel decided she needed to speak with Draco. And she needed to speak with the study group about Draco. Those could both wait until tomorrow.
"Glad it's not us," Millie said, opening the door to the sixth year girls dorm. "Dorm sweet dorm. Hold on Midnight, I'll let you out."
Midnight meowed plaintively from inside her carrier.
"Poor dear," Rachel said, going with Millie and kneeling down next to Midnight's carrier. "That's a long ride, isn't it."
Midnight meowed again before stepping out of the carrier and shaking her fur. Then she went for Rachel and started rubbing herself against her hands and legs.
Rachel laughed and petted the cat with both of her hands. "There you go."
"I swear, my cat likes you better than she likes me," Millie said as she got to her feet.
"I'm sure that's not true, we just haven't seen each other in a few months," Rachel said as she scratched behind Midnight's ears.
"Whatever you say. Are you going to get a cat once you finish at Hogwarts?" Millie asked, moving to her wardrobe as she began to unpack.
"Once I'm not living with Severus." She wasn't sure how soon that day would come, or if it ever would. They were going to want her to be behind some serious wards, and probably to not be on her own in case her home was attacked. She wasn't sure she wanted to live at Grimmauld Place, but she could see staying there every once in a while.
"Why doesn't he like pets?"
"I don't know, I've never asked." Rachel wasn't planning on asking, in case it was something terrible from his childhood. She didn't want to bring up bad memories for him. Giving Midnight one last pet, she got to her feet and went to her own trunk to unpack. "Where's Pansy's stuff?"
Millie turned to look. "I don't know. I mean, she's here. We both talked with her at the table."
"Maybe Severus wanted to check it, in case her parents sent something dangerous back with her," Rachel said, deciding that was probably the case.
"I guess. That's kind of a scary thought," Millie said, pausing with her robes in her hands. "Do you think they would? Without telling her?"
"I don't know what they'd do. I didn't expect Draco's father to try and kill him, and yet here we are." Rachel grabbed her stack of textbooks and placed them at the bottom of her wardrobe.
"Is he okay?" Millie asked.
Rachel turned and looked at Millie. "He's physically okay. I don't know about the rest of him."
Millie nodded, her lips pressed together.
The door opened and Daphne and Pansy entered, Pansy carrying her trunk with a scowl on her face.
"Everything okay?" Millie asked.
"They put a listening charm on the watch they gave me for my birthday," Pansy said, tossing the offending silver watch onto her bed. "Professor Snape just took it off for me. At least I wasn't wearing it today."
Rachel set down the socks she was carrying on the edge of her bed. "Are you alright? Were they pressuring you this summer?"
Pansy unshrank her trunk at the end of her bed and sighed heavily. "Not really, just more of the same. I'm supposed to spy on you again this year. And they made me break up with Draco. And my mother-"
They all watched uncomfortably as Pansy sat down and started crying.
Daphne went to Pansy's side and hugged her.
"I think my mother is scared for me, after what happened to Draco, but she's scared for herself too. I tried to talk to her and tell her that Professor Snape would help us, but she slapped me. She actually slapped me. She said I could never say such things again, or she'd take my wand and leave me silenced all summer."
Rachel looked at Millie and saw her own worried expression reflected back at her. "Have you told Professor Snape that?" she asked, hoping that Severus would help if he knew.
"No," Pansy said, sniffling and wiping at her face. "There's nothing he can do."
"He could help make it so you don't have to go home," Rachel said, trying to be gentle.
"I want to go home. I love my family," Pansy said stubbornly as she stood.
"It's okay for you to love your family, no matter what, but it's not okay for them to hurt you," Millie said.
"You could come stay with me, I can get my mother to invite you for the Christmas holiday," Daphne offered.
Pansy shook her head. "Everything's fine. It won't happen again. I'll send the letters and everything will be fine." She paused and then turned to Rachel. "Assuming you're okay with the letters."
"We can write the letters. There won't be much for you to say, but I'm sure Severus will help." As much as she didn't like the idea of the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters knowing what she was doing, she didn't think they'd get much from reading that she was studying and attending classes.
"Thank you," Pansy said, turning her back and beginning to unpack.
"Daphne, how was your summer?" Millie asked.
"Oh, you know, time with the family, the usual. We went to my grandmother's for a while. I think the coast is good for Astoria," Daphne said, moving to unpack her own trunk. "How was your summer?"
"Quiet. Hid in my room for the most part," Millie said. "At least I had Midnight for company."
Rachel turned back to her own unpacking, not particularly wanting to talk about her own summer. It seemed the more things changed, the more things stayed the same.
Severus approached the Slytherin table with a stack of schedules in his hands. At a first glance it seemed that everyone had come back intact from their summer holiday, though he wanted a closer look at a few he was more concerned about.
"Mr. Bassenthwaite," he began, handing Tristram's schedule to him.
"Thank you, sir," Tristram said, meeting his eyes and nodding.
Severus still intended to have a talk with each of his prefects who had been involved in the Inquisitorial Squad, but that could wait until later in the week.
"Miss Flora Carrow," he said, using her first name to distinguish her from her sister.
Flora stood and reached for her schedule, her gaze steely. "Thank you, sir."
Hestia accepted her schedule with the same cool look as her twin. "Thank you, sir," she echoed.
Severus nodded. He would be keeping a close watch on both of them.
Simon and Maxwell received their schedules with equally flat affect, but Tracey at least smiled at him.
He provided Agnes and Bridget with their schedules - he wasn't concerned about either of them, they seemed to have good heads on their shoulders - and moved onto his sixth years.
"Miss Bulstrode," he said, coming to a stop behind where Millie, Rachel, and Theo were sitting.
"Thank you, sir," Millie said as she eagerly accepted her schedule.
"Mr. Crabbe." Yet another one he would be watching.
Crabbe nodded but took his schedule and set it aside without looking at it.
Severus continued to hand out schedules and got a close look at Draco, who looked fairly somber but politely accepted his schedule. Theo looked composed, as usual. Pansy was in less of a fit of temper than she had been yesterday evening when she learned her parents had put a listening charm on her watch.
"Miss Snow," he said, frowning briefly at her schedule. He still wanted her in fewer classes, but he would let her see the workload for herself before pushing her.
"Thank you, sir," she said, smiling at him and then looking over her schedule.
"Mr. Zabini," he said, looking at Blaise.
Blaise stood and reached for his schedule. "Thank you, sir." He seemed to have weathered his summer at home alright, at least visibly.
He went through the fifth years, pausing to get a good look at Michael Pike. The boy had grown over the summer and it was time for Severus to start considering him a threat. He would continue his efforts to sway him, but there was only so much he could do for someone who was unwilling.
He nodded to each of his new prefects, Amy Frome and Fergus Cowley, and was pleased that both of them were proudly wearing their prefect badges.
Among his fourth years he took a moment to look at Astoria. She looked like she had been ill recently, which wasn't a surprise given her condition. He resolved to speak with her and Poppy and to speak with her parents to see what additional care she might need as she got older.
The sight of his third years drew him up short. This was what he had been concerned about. Malcolm Baddock's face was thinner and he sat rigidly with a fixed expression on his face. He was taking him to Poppy at the first opportunity, though he knew Bertrand Baddock was too intelligent to send his son to school with marks or unhealed wounds. At the very least they could get him back on a Nutrient Restoration potion and Severus could once again try to make inroads in getting Malcolm to confide in him.
The rest of his third years and his second years all seemed in good condition, many of them with slightly tanned faces from spending some of their summer holiday outdoors.
"Mr. Duffield," he asked, looking at the unfamiliar first year faces. He had nine of them this year. At least none of them were children of Death Eaters, as far as he was aware.
A boy with blue eyes and pitch black hair worn down to his shoulders turned and raised his hand.
"Your class schedule," Severus said, pushing the piece of parchment into his hands.
"Do classes start already?" he asked.
"Tomorrow, we hold classes on the weekdays," Severus said, recognizing this was probably a pureblood who had been taught by tutors rather than in a classroom. He continued down the list, matching names to face.
"Miss Padgett?" he asked.
"Me!" A girl with long brown hair bounced up. "Are first years allowed to try out for the Quidditch team?"
Severus suppressed a sigh. "First years are allowed to try out, but spots are typically given to older players with more experience. Here is your schedule," he said, handing her the piece of parchment. "Miss Rowland?"
A larger girl with reddish blonde hair raised her hand and ducked her head. "Thank you, sir," she said, though it was barely audible.
Severus nodded to her. "Miss Thatcham? Are you Imogen's younger sister?"
"Yes, sir," a young girl with her hair cut short said.
"She was a credit to our House, I trust you will be too," he said, handing her his schedule.
"Thank you, sir," she said, giving him a brief smile.
Out of schedules, Severus took one last glance over the table and reminded himself that he now had time to work with them. They were all safe for now and he had until the Christmas holiday before any of them would be sent home again. He left for his office, intent on writing a note to be sent to Malcolm Baddock. He wanted to see the boy before dinner so they could start healing whatever needed to be healed.
Rachel quickly looked over her new course schedule.
Sixth Year Slytherin Time Table - Rachel Snow
1st period: 8:45 - 10:15
2nd period: 10:30 - 12:00
Lunch
3rd period: 1:00 - 2:30
4th period: 2:45 - 4:15
Arithmancy: Monday and Wednesday, 1st period - 7th floor, classroom 7A
Study of Ancient Runes: Monday and Wednesday, 2nd period - 6th floor, classroom 6A
Herbology: Tuesday and Thursday 1st period - Greenhouse
Charms: Tuesday and Thursday, 2nd period (with Gryffindors) - 2nd floor, classroom 2B
Potions: Tuesday and Friday, 3rd and 4th period - 1st level dungeons classroom
Defense: Monday and Thursday 3rd period - 3rd floor, classroom 3C
Transfiguration: Friday, 1st and 2nd period - 1st floor, classroom 1B
It was busy, but not terrible. And there was no more midnight class for Astronomy, so she didn't have to worry about being up late before she brewed potions the next day.
"Same as mine?" Theo asked as he leaned over.
"Should be," she said, glancing at his.
"Do you think I made the right decision to drop Ancient Runes?" Millie asked as she frowned down at her schedule.
"Yes," Draco answered for them. "What?" he asked when they all looked at him. "Seven classes is too many and Ancient Runes is mostly memorization. When are you going to use it in your life?"
"Aren't you taking Ancient Runes?" Rachel asked him.
"Yes," he answered, not seeming to see the contradiction in his words.
Millie turned and looked at them with a pleading expression.
"Millie, it's okay if you didn't want to take seven classes. It's a lot, no one is denying that. Take the classes you want to take. We don't have to spend every second with each other," Theo said.
Rachel nodded. "It's alright."
Millie looked back at her schedule. "I don't think I'll actually do anything with the class in the future. And I need Arithmancy."
"Then take Arithmancy and drop Ancient Runes, it's fine," Theo said.
"Us girls all have Arithmancy together then," Daphne said from where she was sitting next to Pansy. "That's nice, we can study together."
"Did anyone keep Care of Magical Creatures?" Rachel asked, thinking that she already knew the answer.
Everyone shook their heads.
"We should go see Hagrid," Rachel said. She felt a little guilty about that, but there was no way she could have fit the class into her schedule.
"We should, he should know we'll still have tea with him on Sundays," Millie agreed.
"I assume everyone kept Charms?" Pansy asked.
That got nods from all of the sixth years. Charms was a relatively easy class, there was no reason not to take a NEWT in it.
"I presume the three of you got into Potions?" Draco asked.
"Was there any doubt?" Theo asked, giving Draco a look that Rachel could only describe as mildly aggressive.
"Given the way that you study, probably not," Draco said, though it was clear he meant they studied rather than had talent.
Rachel sighed and twisted around, hoping that she'd see the rest of their study group ready to go. Unfortunately she didn't see any of them.
"No breakfast, Rachel?" Millie asked.
"No, I'll eat something at lunch," she said absently. She looked back down at her schedule and tried to figure out why she was having the urge to flee. Everything was fine. What was wrong with her?
She looked further down the table and saw that Severus was still handing out schedules to the lower years. At least he'd been distracted enough not to notice her plate was empty.
Exhaling, Rachel looked at her empty plate and tried to remind herself that it was a good thing she was at Hogwarts. She wanted to be here. She wanted to take her classes. This was exactly the way things should be. The situation was fine, but she was the one all out of sorts.
She wanted to go home.
She idly listened to the chatter of her yearmates and glanced along the table again. Crabbe was eating by himself a little ways away from them. She thought he looked lonely. A little further up the table were the seventh years. Hestia and Flora looked their usual haughty selves and Rachel quickly looked away before they caught her looking at them. Her goal with them needed to be avoiding them entirely.
She was safe here. She just had to keep telling herself that. She had the phoenix pendant and message bracelet. The wards would keep anyone from taking her. She was surrounded by her friends. Severus and the other professors were only a Patronus message away. She knew all of this but she still had a sharp feeling crawling over her skin.
It would get better with time. It was like she'd told Severus, she just needed time to adjust.
"I think the others are ready for us," Millie said.
Rachel looked again and sure enough Hermione, Neville, and Ginny were gathering near the doors. She stood and looked for Luna, but Luna seemed to have spotted them first and was making her way to the doors from the Ravenclaw table.
They made it all the way to the doors before they ran into Susan and Hannah.
"Are we doing, um, you know what this year?" Susan asked, while Hannah was steadfastly looking away.
"We're still working on it, we need a staff sponsor, but it's not a secret any more, so we can just call it the DA," Hermione said.
Neville bumped into Rachel as he took a step back and Rachel noticed that he was slightly flushed with embarrassment.
"Oh, okay. Well, let us know, we're interested," Susan said, putting a hand on Hannah's shoulder and guiding her away while leaning in to speak with her.
"You're going to have to talk to her at some point," Theo told Neville.
"I know. I just…I don't know what to say to her that isn't going to make this worse," Neville said. "I don't think she wants to talk to me."
"Which probably means she's not any happier about this than you are, that's a good thing," Hermione said. "That's what you want, isn't it?"
Theo sighed. "It's not just about what they want. It's about taking a stand against what their families want. I've heard of kids being disowned for less than breaking a marriage contract."
"Are you concerned that's going to happen, Neville?" Hermione asked.
"Gran will be upset, no doubt about it, but I'm the only heir. She's kind of stuck with me. Hannah has an older brother and an older sister, so that isn't a problem for her family," Neville said. "Are we going to our room on the third floor or all the way up?"
"I think we can use the third floor room again," Theo said.
"It seems like it's safe enough," Ginny agreed.
Rachel nodded after a moment. Their room on the third floor wasn't exactly hidden, but it wouldn't make sense for anyone to attack them within the school, especially not when they were all together.
"Let's plan on that for now then, it is a lot closer to the library than the seventh floor," Hermione said, leading the way. "We should talk about who is taking which subject in our books."
"I'd like Herbology," Neville said quickly.
"Potions for me," Rachel said, grabbing onto the railing as soon as they reached the main staircase.
"Transfiguration," Theo said.
"Charms here," Millie said, moving beside Rachel. "You've got the stairs alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine now, I just tire out easily," Rachel said, a little embarrassed that Millie had noticed.
"Let us know if you need to take a break," Luna said.
"Yes, just say something. I'd like Arithmancy and I'll take an additional subject as well," Hermione said.
"I'll take an extra one too," Theo said. "Do you want Defense or Ancient Runes?"
"I'd prefer Ancient Runes," Hermione said.
"I'll take Defense then," Theo agreed.
"I wish we were sixth years too. I want to drop History," Ginny complained.
"I don't think I'll continue with History either. I don't mind the class, but there are more interesting classes I could take instead," Luna said, shaking her long hair out of her face.
"I believe that History is important, but not the way that it's taught at Hogwarts. We're better off doing reading on our own and asking other professors for suggestions about what we need to know about. Having said that, some of the books are apparently unaccountably biased," Hermione said, glancing back at them.
The corner of Theo's mouth quirked up. "All books are biased. The truth is either somewhere in between, or everyone has agreed not to mention it."
"I would say that it's not like that in the muggle world, but I know that there are biases in reporting there too. It's just that there are more sources in the muggle world, so it's a little harder to get everyone to agree not to talk about something," Hermione said as they started up the last set of stairs to the third floor.
Rachel tightened her grip on the railing. She was definitely not used to going up several flights of stairs at an ordinary walking pace any more. She needed to adjust quickly, classes started tomorrow. "Ginny, do you want to go flying this afternoon? I need to see how I do on a broomstick."
Millie looked at her. "I thought you've been practicing these past few weeks?"
"I have, but not flying against someone. I need to figure out if I need to recruit a reserve Seeker in case I'm not ready for the first game at the end of October," she said.
"Sure, we can fly. You're stable enough that you're not going to fall, right?" Ginny asked.
"I'm not going to fall," Rachel promised. She was almost sure of that. "I just need to practice without giving Severus a heart attack."
"I'm coming up with you," Theo said. "That way you've got two people in the air nearby, and then the others can be on the ground with their wands out, just in case."
"I'm really okay, but you can come flying with us if you want." She definitely didn't need to be babied. She was relieved when they made it to the third floor. Walking on a flat surface was easier than climbing stairs.
They took their usual seats in their study room and Rachel braced herself and looked around at them. "There are a few things I need to discuss with you."
Everyone looked at her expectantly.
"The first is Professor McGonagall won't mentor us in doing the animagus process until our seventh year, once we've mastered animate conjurations and are of age. She wants us to keep practicing the meditations in the meantime," she started.
"I can't say I'm surprised," Hermione said.
"Me neither. I'm willing to wait if it means she'll mentor us," Theo said with a nod.
"I'd rather have someone mentor us than try to do it on our own," Neville agreed.
"We can wait," Millie said.
Ginny moaned. "Why aren't I older? That's a full two years for me."
Luna patted Ginny's shoulder. "That just means we'll have their experience to learn from before we do it. We know from the rest of our classes that it makes things easier."
"Does anyone have any idea what sort of animal they'll be?" Millie asked.
"Some people's animagus form is the same as their corporeal Patronus, but I really hope I'm not a doe. That's not very useful," Rachel said.
"I can't say that I want to be an otter either. While it would be fun to swim as one, I wouldn't have many opportunities to use it," Hermione mused.
"Could you imagine me as a giant horse?" Ginny blurted out and they all laughed.
"While being a shark would be interesting, like Hermione, I wouldn't have much opportunity to use it," Theo said.
"I wouldn't mind being a hedgehog, actually," Neville said with a small smile. "I didn't like my Patronus form at first, but now I think it's a good fit."
"I also wouldn't mind having my Patronus form. I think a hare suits me," Luna said.
"Well, a zebra wouldn't be all that useful, but I can think of worse things to be. What if you wound up as a spider or a slug?" Millie shuddered theatrically.
"Spider wouldn't be too bad, it would be useful for hiding. It's be pretty embarrassing if your form was a slug though, you're supposed to have a connection to your animagus form. I'm not even sure what a slug would represent," Theo said.
"In some cultures slugs are thought to bring good luck, or at least protection from bad luck," Luna said.
"I'd still rather not be a slug," Millie said.
"I can't say that I'd like to be one either," Hermione said. "There was more than one thing we needed to discuss, Rachel?"
"Two more things." She paused and reminded herself that it was okay and half of the group already knew anyway. "Some of you already know this, but now that we know the Dark Lord knows, I can safely tell the rest of you. I've been receiving visions from the Dark Lord. Occasionally, while I'm asleep, I have a vision of what the Dark Lord is doing at that time." She looked around, trying to get a feel for how people were reacting.
Hermione looked shocked. Neville looked like she'd just told him very bad news. Luna mostly seemed curious. And everyone else had already known.
"Can we ask questions?" Hermione asked finally.
"Yes, that's fine." She had expected they'd have questions.
"Are you alright?" Neville asked, before Hermione could speak.
"Yes. They're painful right after they happen, and they're usually unpleasant to watch, but I'm pretty used to them by now," she said.
"How long have they been happening that you're used to them?" Hermione asked.
"Since the start of our fourth year, though I didn't realize what was happening until later in our fourth year. I'm sorry I couldn't tell all of you at the time. We were reasonably sure the Dark Lord didn't realize he was sending the visions, and we didn't want him to find out. It's not that I didn't trust any of you, it's just that we had to keep it a secret," she said, feeling a swarm of guilt in her stomach. She really should have done this last year.
"You don't have to apologize," Luna said. "Too often private things in your life are exposed for everyone to know. You should be able to choose who knows these things."
"Thanks," Rachel said, feeling herself flush. "I'd still rather people in general didn't know."
"We won't tell anyone," Hermione promised. "What changed, so that you knew You-Know-Who knew about the visions?"
"On the last day of our OWLs, when I went to take a nap, I had a vision of Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. I went to Severus and he found that Sirius was still at Headquarters, so we knew that the Dark Lord could send false visions, and that he's aware I'm receiving the visions in the first place," she explained.
"Could he have been sending the other visions on purpose as well?" Theo asked.
"We don't think so. Some of it is stuff that he has no reason for me to want to see. I saw him blow up part of Azkaban. I saw him attack Ginny's dad, which allowed us to send him help. I saw…I saw him kill Karkaroff, and Professor Podmore." She looked down. She still didn't like thinking about that.
"Oh, Rachel," Hermione said, sounding pained. "Couldn't he be using these visions to torture you mentally? He has to know you don't want to see these things."
"Maybe, but apart from casting spells like the Cruciatus Curse and the Killing Curse, there doesn't seem to be a common theme in the visions. As far as we can tell, he doesn't seem to have control over sending them."
"And the occlumency didn't help?" Millie asked.
"No, Professor Dumbledore looked at the connection and it is beneath my shields. We also tried wards and those didn't help. He's looking into it still, but I'm not particularly hopeful that he'll find something to stop it at this point." It had been a year and a half since Professor Dumbledore had found out. If he couldn't solve it in that time, she didn't think he could at all.
"Occlumency is the art of protecting one's mind from legilimency attacks, correct?" Hermione asked.
"That's right," Rachel said, not at all surprised that Hermione remembered that from a single casual conversation they'd had last year while Rachel was taking lessons from Severus.
"So whatever he's doing, it's not legilimency," she reasoned.
"Not that we can tell," Rachel agreed.
"I feel like I should say that I've known since Christmas. I sort of badgered her into telling me when I realized she knew something about my dad being attacked," Ginny admitted.
"I knew too, because I saw her having the visions in our dorm room," Millie said quickly.
"And I knew. Mostly because I think Rachel needed someone to talk to over Christmas break while we were alone," Theo added.
"It's okay," Neville said.
Hermione nodded. "While I don't like the idea of keeping secrets, I know sometimes they're necessary, and that Rachel told us as soon as was reasonable and she felt comfortable doing so. Is there anything we can do to help, Rachel?"
"I don't think so. If Professor Dumbledore and Severus can't find a way to stop it, then I don't think there is a way. So far they've only happened while I've been asleep, but if I seem unconscious and start screaming, send a Patronus to Severus and Madam Pomfrey, both of them know what to do," she said.
"I wish there was more we could do, but we'll definitely do whatever we can and will summon help if something seems wrong," Millie said, nodding.
"We will," Hermione agreed. "You said there was one more thing?"
Rachel nodded. She had decided against telling them the prophecy right now. That could wait until she was better prepared. And she didn't want to shock them the way she'd shocked Torey by dumping all of it on them at once. "It's about Draco. He lost most of his friends when he saved me. He's a target of the Death Eaters, and probably of their children as well. And he's on his own. Would anyone object to him joining some of our study sessions? Maybe just Potions at first, to see how it goes?"
Everyone looked around at each other as they seemed to think about it.
"Draco's not my favorite person, but he nearly died rescuing Rachel. I'm willing to put up with him," Theo said.
"I'm willing to put up with him as long as he isn't disparaging Hermione or my family," Ginny said, her mouth twisting.
"I will talk with him first and make it clear that's not okay. He can believe whatever he believes, but when he's around us he has to be civil," Rachel said quickly.
"I think we have an opportunity. Draco has willingly stepped away from the Death Eaters, which is huge. Maybe we can change his mind about what he believes about muggles and muggleborns," Hermione said, looking thoughtful. "And if we can do it with him, there's no reason we can't do it with other people."
"Not everyone is going to be open to that. But Theo is right. He helped Rachel and I feel like we owe him a debt. We should protect him in the halls if he needs it, and if he wants to join our group sometimes and can hold his tongue, then I'm okay with that," Millie said.
"We can watch out for him. And we'll see how it goes with the group," Neville said.
"Luna?" Rachel asked.
"He seemed to manage in the DA alright, after a while, and he helped us with the Inquisitorial Squad. He is a bit strange though, the Muahorns have plenty to say about him. But I'd like to see more of him to make my own judgment," she said.
"Alright, I'll talk with him and see what he says," Rachel said. "One last thing. Can we go see Hagrid today? I'm feeling terribly guilty that none of us signed up for his NEWT class."
"We should go see him and explain that it wasn't his class that was the problem, it was our schedules," Hermione agreed. "Did everyone who took pictures over the summer bring them with them?"
"I have mine in my dorm, but we can look at them this afternoon," Luna said.
"Mine are in my dorm too," Rachel said. "Remember how I took a picture of the thestrals?"
Everyone nodded.
"They don't show up in the picture at all, not even for me and Severus." She had been puzzled by the pictures she'd developed of the Forbidden Forest until she realized what they were supposed to be.
"That's bizarre," Millie said. "I wonder why."
"Could it be that the camera hasn't seen death?" Luna asked.
"Can non-sentient objects even understand death? I wouldn't think so," Hermione said.
"That would be an interesting experiment, taking out two portraits, one who had seen death and one who hadn't, and seeing if either of them could see the thestrals," Theo suggested.
"It would be, I'm not sure we're allowed to take the portraits out of the castle though, and I don't think the thestrals will want to come in here," Millie said.
"We could always ask if we could. It would be educational," Hermione said, sounding more and more like she wanted to do it. "I doubt anyone has ever done it before."
Rachel felt the corner of her mouth move up in a bit of a smile. Even though she wasn't ready to be back at school, she was glad to be around her friends again.
"Are you alright?" Ginny called.
"Fine," Rachel called back, even though she was wobbling and gripping onto her broomstick as hard as she could. She began to move forward, leaning in and propelling herself across the pitch. She was staying relatively low. If she fell - which she wouldn't - she'd rather not do more than break a few bones.
Theo was on her other side on one of the school brooms. The rest of her friends had stayed on the pitch.
She focused, trying to keep her broom steady as she sped up, but her broom was still misinterpreting her wobbling to mean that she was trying to turn. It took all of her effort just to go in a straight line. She leaned to turn as the reached the end of the pitch and her broom nearly dumped her off entirely. "God damn it," she said as she straightened, leaning closer to the broom to try and give herself more balance.
"Rachel," Theo called.
"I'm fine," she said, speeding up again as they came around the curve.
"You don't look fine," he called back.
She kept going, keeping her attention on her broom instead of on her friends. She could do this. She had to be able to do this. Speeding up seemed to help a little, the broom wasn't trying to turn as much. She carefully brought it up, intending to do some vertical maneuvers, but she was having a hard time holding herself in position. It was like she'd lost whatever muscle coordination and strength that she'd had before, well, everything.
"I don't think we should go higher," Ginny called, keeping pace on Rachel's left side.
"Around the pitch again," Rachel called back.
They flew, Rachel noticing that the longer they went, the worse her shaking got. Finally she landed and checked her watch. Forty minutes. Her limbs were shaking and she sat down in the grass with a sigh. "I can't play on the team. I can't play a game like this," she said, mostly to herself.
"Right now you can't, but you still have time to practice and get better," Ginny said, kneeling down next to her.
"This is better than it was before, when you first started trying to fly again, isn't it?" Theo asked.
She nodded.
"And that was what, three weeks ago?" he prompted as the rest of their friends joined them.
She nodded again. "I just miss flying. It used to be easy and now it's like I can barely hold onto the broom."
"You've probably lost muscle mass while you've been recovering," Hermione said. "You do look thinner. I'm sure you can rebuild your muscles and your stamina with some practice."
"And in the meantime you get a reserve Seeker, so that way your team is covered," Ginny said.
"I suppose." It was frustrating to have this taken from her. She knew she shouldn't be complaining. She could do the more important things, when a month ago she couldn't even walk or stand on her own. It just didn't feel fair.
"When you're ready, do we want to go see if Hagrid is home?" Neville asked.
Rachel nodded and began to push herself to her feet before immediately losing balance and winding up on her butt again. "I think I need a minute to stop shaking."
"Take as long as you need," Millie said, sitting down next to her.
"It is a nice day to be out," Luna said, stretching out on the grass. "There are a few clouds, but not too many, and the weather is still warm from summer."
Rachel actually thought it was a bit nippy, but she knew that she wasn't feeling temperature accurately at all these days. She had layered a t-shirt underneath her jumper.
"It is nice. I like my home, but it's nice to be out of the city," Hermione said, tipping her head back to look at the sky. "I think when I'm grown and settled I want a house in the countryside."
"I thought I might try the city, at least for a while. It seems like there's a lot of things to see," Ginny said.
"I don't think I'm ready to be on my own yet," Millie said.
Rachel felt that way too. It would be strange to live on her own.
"I'll wind up with Longbottom Manor when Gran passes on, but I want at least a few years outside it first."
"I'm going to travel. I'm not sure I'll have a permanent home anywhere, at least for a long while," Luna said. "That cloud looks like a Crumple-Horned Snorkack."
They all craned their heads up to look.
"We looked for them in Sweden this summer, but I'm not entirely sure they exist. My father believes they do," Luna continued. "I didn't see any, at least."
"Did he?" Ginny asked after a moment.
"He saw tracks of one, but didn't see the Snorkack itself. We pursued it for over a week," Luna said.
"You saw the tracks too?" Hermione asked.
"There was definitely something traveling through the dirt and the crushed grass. I don't know what it was. I could feel the imprints when I touched them though, so I'm pretty sure that much was real. I took a picture of the tracks for The Quibbler, and drew what my father believes the Snorkack looks like. I said he could publish the picture as long as it was noted I wasn't drawing from a real specimen."
"That seems reasonable," Theo said.
It did, and it didn't sound like Luna's hallucinations had grown worse at least, which was a relief. As for Mr. Lovegood, Rachel supposed that was up to Luna as far as what she wanted to tell him. That would have to be a difficult conversation for both of them and there was no sense in rushing it.
Rachel carefully pushed herself to her feet again, bringing her broom with her. While she was a little shaky, it was better than it had been a few minutes ago. "I'm going to put this in the locker room and then we can check on Hagrid."
"I have to put mine back too, I'm heading to the Gryffindor locker rooms," Ginny said.
"I'll walk with Rachel, I've got to put this in the broomshed," Theo said. "We'll meet all of you on the other side of the pitch.
They began walking at a relatively slow pace, Theo walking more slowly to accommodate her, she was sure.
"We haven't really had a chance to talk. How are you doing?" he asked.
"Not bad. Still a little bit shaky, but I'm hoping that will get better over time," Rachel said.
"It seems reasonable that it would. Most people take a while to recover after a long convalescence. How are you doing otherwise?"
"Alright. It will take a few days to get used to being back at Hogwarts, but otherwise I'm fine." It wasn't quite lying. She was mostly alright. She just felt weird and unsettled. She would get used to it.
Theo fell quiet for a long moment. "You know that we all care about you, don't you?"
"Of course. You've all more than demonstrated that to me. I care about all of you too," she said, though she was getting a bad feeling about this conversation.
"Then you know that it's okay for you to just be you around us. You don't have to be alright. It's just like I keep telling Hermione, you don't have to be perfect."
"I really am okay." Why couldn't anyone believe that?
"Okay. But if you're not okay, you can tell us, and we'll do whatever we can to help," he said.
"Thanks." She hoped he left it at that. Besides, there wasn't anything she needed help with. Or at least, there wasn't anything anyone could help with.
She ducked inside the Slytherin girls' locker room and set her broom in its usual spot before joining Theo again. "Have you seen the castle?" she asked when they came around the edge of the pitch after dropping by the broomshed.
"Yeah, a bit yesterday, and then today. It's pretty concerning," he said as they both looked up at the battlements.
"It is. How do you think Hogwarts knows?"
"No idea. There's nothing else in the world like Hogwarts. Nothing I've ever heard of at least," he said.
They looked for a moment and then rejoined their friends and began walking toward Hagrid's house. They found him outside in the front garden of his house, a hoe in hand.
"Fang, no," Rachel said, holding her hands out in front of her as the giant dog bounded toward them. She knew she would be knocked over if he jumped up on her.
"I've got him," Ginny said, darting forward and grabbing onto Fang's collar with both hands. She managed to slow down the Great Dane, even though she was nearly pulled off her feet in the process.
"Easy, Fang," Hagrid called, putting down his hoe. "Sit."
Fang sat, his tongue lolling out as he panted and looked up at them eagerly.
"Good dog," Rachel told him, reaching forward to pet him and getting her hands licked instead.
"How was your summer, Hagrid?" Hermione asked.
"Busy, as usual," he said. "I suspect you lot were busy too."
"Not really," Millie said, sounding regretful.
"Ready for classes to start again?" he asked as he joined them, dusting off his hands.
"More or less," Neville said, glancing at Hagrid and then looking away.
Rachel braced herself. "Hagrid, we're sorry we're not in your NEWT class. Most of us are taking seven classes and they won't let us take more."
"I kind of figured that would be it. You're all a bit more into the heavy academics," he said, looking a little disappointed.
"We are," Hermione said, sounding relieved. "I think Luna's the only one of us who is planning to go into a career involving animals, unfortunately."
"You're planning on taking my NEWT class then, aren't you?" Hagrid asked, looking at Luna.
"Definitely. I want to be a magizoologist, and I'll need a NEWT in Care of Magical Creatures for that," Luna said.
"That's good then. I've only got seventh year NEWT students right now, and my third through fifth years of course," he said.
Rachel felt even worse than before. She had hoped at least someone in their year would keep the class.
"Did people do well on the OWL exam?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, everyone passed, at least. And you lot got Outstandings, so I think that helped. Did you enjoy the class?" he asked.
"We did," Millie said. "And it was neat to see all the different creatures, even if most of them weren't creatures we'd want to keep."
"I liked seeing the unicorns and the bowtruckles and the thestrals. Oh and the hippogryphs," Rachel added quickly.
"A lot of the creatures were interesting," Theo said diplomatically.
"As long as it wasn't the class then. It was just your schedules. You're all going to go on to do great things, I know you are," Hagrid said, nodding at them.
"We're certainly going to try. Most of us have masteries already picked out, though I still need to pick," Hermione said.
Rachel hoped she got the chance to do something before she died. Somewhere, in whatever spare time she could muster, she needed to start putting together possibilities for the modified Dreamless Sleep potion again.
"You'll do great, Hermione. Whatever you put your mind to. Tea?" Hagrid asked.
"That would be nice," Ginny said.
They followed him into his house and Rachel settled in an overly large chair with a teacup and Fang's head resting on her lap. At least they were having an easy first day back.
"I'll be back in a little bit, I need to speak with Draco," Rachel told Millie and Theo. Truthfully, she was ready to go to bed, but she wanted to talk with Draco tonight.
"Do you want us to go with you?" Theo asked, glancing at where Draco was just barely visible in the alcove near the back of the common room.
"No, I think he'll take it better coming from me." She pushed herself to her feet and started across the room. She could feel that the shaking in her body had grown worse throughout the day, which she supposed meant she was exerting herself more than she was now used to.
"Draco? Can we talk?" she asked, coming to a stop at the edge of the alcove.
Draco looked up from the book he was reading. "I suppose."
Rachel moved closer, sat down on the edge of the side table and cast a privacy ward around them. She hadn't forgotten there was a portrait hidden at the back of this alcove. If she looked closely, she could see the edges of the frame.
"That sort of talk, huh?" Draco asked, closing his book front cover down.
"Sort of. I was thinking we should hold a team meeting tomorrow evening. Practices can resume on Wednesday, tryouts on Sunday. What do you think?"
"That sounds fine. Tryouts should be fairly easy. Timothy should be taking the Keeper spot, which means we just need a Chaser," he said.
"I'm thinking Harper, but I want to check with the others first and make sure he's actually being civil to people," she said. She wasn't going to have him on her team if he couldn't control his temper.
"He'd be a good pick," Draco agreed.
"And we need to try out a reserve Seeker." She looked at Draco, wanting to see his reaction before she told the rest of the team.
"Why?" he asked, his brow furrowing as he looked sharply at her.
"Because I don't fly very well right now. I'm still shaking pretty badly and my broom thinks I'm trying to turn. I can only manage to play for about forty minutes before I'm too exhausted to hold onto my broom. I think it's going to get better with time, but I'm not sure it's going to be better by the time we play our first game," she explained.
"You need a better broom," he said after a moment. "Something that isn't going to misinterpret what you're doing."
"The only thing better on the market right now is the Firebolt and that's overkill for a school team."
"Not if it lets you play," he said, nodding.
"There is no way Severus is letting me buy a Firebolt." She could only imagine his expression at the idea.
"You have other options. Besides, he might let you if you told him you'd be safer. For now we'll recruit a temporary Seeker with the understanding that you'll be playing as soon as you're able," Draco said.
Rachel wasn't even planning on asking Severus if she could buy a Firebolt. She didn't even know how much it cost, but she knew it would be insanely expensive. "I'll put the notice up today letting people know what we're looking for. There's something else I wanted to talk with you about."
"What's that?" he asked, immediately looking wary.
"I'd like to invite you to study with my study group," she said, watching his expression move from wary to sour.
"Your friends won't want me there."
"I've already spoken with them and they're open to it. They're not bad people. As long as you aren't disparaging Hermione for being muggleborn or making fun of Ginny's family, they're fine with you studying with us. We're also going to keep an eye out for you in the halls and in the common room. Are things okay in your dorm?"
"I don't need your protection. You look like a strong wind will push you over," he said, looking her up and down.
"I still know how to use my wand. And the rest of my study group is more than capable of defending both me and you. People don't bother to attack me because they know they'll get at least five wands drawn on them. We want you to have that protection too," she insisted. "It's kind of my fault you're in this situation."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "If you think that's your fault, then you are seriously messed up."
Rachel decided to ignore all of that. "What if you start by joining us for Potions homework once a week? We'd be glad to have your expertise. Then you can decide if you like it, and if you do, you could join us more often."
"Maybe. I don't want to spend all my time studying the way you do. And I'm still doing Potions study sessions for the first and second years," he said.
"We'll make sure the time we do Potions studying doesn't overlap with your prefect duties then," she assured him. "Think about it. I'll let you know what day we do our Potions homework in advance, that way you have time to think about it."
He nodded once and looked away.
"Are you doing alright, Draco? I know there's been a lot of changes," she began.
"I'm fine. I'm watching my back."
She hesitated and then nodded. She didn't like people pressing her either. "Alright. Let me know if you need something." She dismissed the privacy ward and went back to where Theo and Millie were sitting. She knelt down next to the low table, pulled a piece of parchment from her bag and began to write.
'Slytherin Quidditch Team Tryouts - 1:00 pm, Sunday 8 September. Quidditch Pitch
We are looking for a Keeper, a Chaser, and a reserve Seeker'
"Things go alright with Draco?" Theo asked as she studied her notice.
"He said he'd think about studying with us. I didn't want to pressure him," she said, deciding that's all people really needed to know for the tryouts.
"Well, he'll do what he's going to do," Millie said.
Rachel pushed herself to her feet again and waited for a moment while she got her legs and knees cooperating. "I'm going to pin this on the noticeboard and then go to bed. Goodnight."
"I'll come with you," Millie said as she stood up. "Goodnight, Theo."
"Goodnight," he told them.
Rachel sighed. It was only nine o'clock and she was completely exhausted. Hopefully that would get better over time too.