When she awoke, her head was no longer on Michael's lap, but rather propped on what seemed to be his jacket rolled up. She buried her nose in the aged suede and took a deep breath. It smelled completely Michael-ish, and somehow that gave her an unpleasant jolt, reminding her of something which she'd nearly forgotten, but she was still too comfortable and sleepy to think much on why that jacket and his smell together bothered her. She blinked a few times, watching dust drift in with the morning light through the window. She could hear voices nearby--it sounded like Michael and Hermione were already awake, and somehow through it all she could smell something really nice...
That's what got her up finally. She sat up and tried to pop the stiffness out of her joints. She could see everyone gathered around in a circle eating what looked like fresh baked bread. Emma was there talking to Michael and Hermione, who looked somewhat amused about something. Daphne got to her feet a little unsteadily and walked over to the table where a few slices of still warm bread remained. Seamus leaned against the table, picking his own slice apart as he ate it.
"I guess we'll be saying good-bye, then, Greenhouse," he said, and somehow the nickname seemed affectionate.
"What do you mean?" she asked, feeling groggy. She took a bite of the warm, buttery bread and could barely conceal a sigh of contentment.
"Terry told me Corner isn't going after Harry and the others, and I reckoned you'd stick with him so."
"Yeah, I am," Daphne said, though she wasn't quite sure where they were going yet. Sure, to the Ministry, but after that...? "...You're going?"
"Sure an' you're still dreamin'. Wake yourself up a bit. Here." He poured a glass of juice for her from a pitcher next to the bread and slid it across the table. After eying it for a moment, she picked it up.
"You're being awfully nice today." Considering, Daphne added silently, that she'd just knocked him out with a brick a couple days ago. As for that... "How's your head?"
To this, Seamus smiled. "Reckon it still hurts a bit. Any'ow, I just figure it doesn't feel right to hang onto all that from school. Not with this goin' on like it is. I was thinkin' about it 'fore I fell asleep last night. All that hexin' we used to do on each other. It was kinda good practice, says I. Fun, too. Made me smile."
Daphne replied with an uneasy smile of her own, but he was right. It hadn't been very fun at the time, but now that she was thinking about it... Of course, it didn't exactly seem right to be thinking about that. It made everything seem so final, like she was ending a chapter in her life. It hit her then... If Finnigan was going after Voldemort, she might never see him again. Oddly enough, she was surprised by how much the thought of that hurt. "You remember that one time you turned me green?"
He laughed outright. "Oh, aye. And you responded with... I really don't think anyone but Aislin and Madam Pomfrey knew about the fur."
Daphne chuckled. "You know, if we weren't busy hexing each other all the time, we could have been friends."
He smirked. "Well, I don't know too much about that. At least we could have been civil." He set his breakfast on the table, and held out his hand to her. "You and Michael take care, all right? Keep him from doin' anything stupid. Sure an' we know he will."
Daphne took it for a moment before letting go. "You go getting yourself hurt, and I'll hex you. Swear to Merlin I will."
Seamus was about to respond, but it was about then that Michael interrupted... So the Irish Gryffindor just shrugged and went about his breakfast.
"Daphne, you have to hear some of these stories. it's... It's this whole culture they've never even discussed in the history texts. They actually have fun on the full moon."
Somehow, despite the fact that he'd just broken into a Moment, Daphne couldn't fault him for it. His face seemed to have lost about three years, and he was grinning from ear to ear in a way she hadn't seen for... Well, that was sad, because she couldn't even recall the last time she'd seen him anything more than drawn and pale. She found it somewhat contagious, feeling the muscles in her own cheeks start to ache in disuse as she smiled.
"Maybe when all this is over, you can come back and document it, aye?" she replied softly, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Hermione shortly after made her way over. "So, I hear from Terry you aren't going after the others."
Word certainly did seem to get around fast, Daphne thought. She nodded. "We're going to go to the Ministry first and see what news they have. Then we'll go from there."
"That's a good idea," Hermione said, nodding thoughtfully. "But I think I have an idea of where to find Harry and the others, so I guess this is where we'll be parting ways. Terry, Seamus, and I will be escorting the children to the hospital, so... good luck to you both."
"Wait, Granger, there's one thing we should warn you about," Michael interjected, glancing meaningfully at Daphne.
She looked between Michael and Hermione, and Seamus, who was now looking over Hermione's shoulder at her. For the second time, she explained the fact that she thought it was a trap, and that she thinks the message left with Seamus by the Death Eaters suggested that You-Know-Who was ready to use the Imperius curse on them all.
"Well, I'd figured it was a trap, but good thinking with the Imperius Curse." Hermione seemed to ponder this, while Seamus idly rubbed the back of his head where Daphne had hit him.
"That means your friends might be waiting there to attack you," Michael added. Hermione nodded... Thankfully, Daphne knew, Hermione knew how to solve problems like that. Daphne could figure them out just fine... After all, she was a Slytherin. They weren't all masters of the dark arts, but more often than not, you'd find one that thought that way.
"I don't know how we're going to get past that, if it's the case. I really do wish that the Hogwarts Library was still..." Hermione paused again. "Actually, the shield was down... Mackenzie told me that the Death Eaters disapparated. I might be able to apparate in, if there's anything left."
Seamus shook his head behind them. "Always turning to the books."
"Hey. If there's something there that can help us... Keep in mind we'll have access to the restricted section now."
He threw up his hands in defeat. "If that's what you want to do. I don't think we should be wastin' a lot of time, though, if what Greenhouse's sayin' is true."
"Greengrass," Michael commented absently.
"I'm just going to be looking for a stronger shield charm. It might help. The fact is, it doesn't matter how many times you fight off the Imperius Curse. If you're caught by surprise..." Hermione looked at Seamus, "Or tortured..."
"We should first find out what we can from the Ministry," Michael mused, rubbing his chin. It didn't take much thought to put two and two together... A Ravenclaw was a Ravenclaw for life, after all, so she wasn't surprised by his next comment. "There'll be a lot of texts to go through. I'll help if you want," he added, glancing at Daphne.
"Me too," Mackenzie piped up, suddenly appearing at Seamus's shoulder with Terry. "It may be all I can do, but that's something, isn't it?"
"But first, we need to find out what we can about the others," Daphne put in. After all, what good would it do any of them to run around trying to find ways to block the Imperius Curse if Potter's little party was already dead? Not to mention that she really wanted to know what Snape was up to, and why Dumbledore and many of the other professors had seemingly abandoned them.
"So, we'll stick together a little longer then?" Terry asked, looking from each face.
Daphne nodded. So did Michael... It seemed like a good plan. Perhaps it was better this way anyway. The others stayed out of danger a bit longer, in any case.
"We'll meet you at the Ministry, then," Daphne said, looking around at the other five. Their injuries seemed to be healing well now, which was a comfort. The lacerations on Hermione's face weren't open anymore, and the bruising around Mackenzie's jaw was almost invisible now. "We should get out of these peoples' way, in any case. Oh, before I forget... When we apparate to Hogwarts, it's probably best if we meet up on the grounds. No one checked the rest of the castle... Who knows if it's even still standing?"
Hermione nodded. "As sad as that is, it's true. All I remember is what I saw in the Great Hall. As much as I wish I could forget that. It's awful that we should even be able to apparate there in the first place."
"It's convenient," said Michael. "And if convenience is what it takes..."
Daphne looked over at the others, who were already starting to group together by Emma, who was still telling her stories. It didn't seem like the younger ones were really bothered by it at all... Or perhaps they were. They just knew they'd be leaving soon enough so that facing a town full of werewolves wouldn't be a problem. It was nice to see their guide smiling, too... She hadn't the night before. Then again, when seventeen strangers show up on your doorstep, you would tend to be a bit stressed. Her son, too, was there, still clutching the teddy bear from the night before. He was doing his very best to hide within the folds of his adoptive mother's robe, while still sneaking looks to the others in the room. It was so normal, it was almost hard to believe that these people were cursed.
She found herself drawn out of her musing by Mackenzie, who was elbowing her a bit. "Daphne? Is that all right?"
"What?"
"Terry and I are going to go with you and Michael. Seamus and Hermione are going to take the younger students to the hospital. Is that okay?"
"Oh." Daphne offered. "That's fine. We'll meet you outside the Ministry then?" she asked, looking to Hermione.
The Gryffindor witch nodded, and grabbed Seamus' arm to lead him over to others. She said something to Emma, who took a book out of the bag she had sitting next to her on the table. That was the portkey. Not some dusty old tome, but something that had been well cared-for. Muggles didn't need to leave it alone, after all.
"Shall we, then?" Terry asked.
The first group to go was Hermione, Seamus, and the few students who were worst injured. Seamus was carrying the boy Terry had been toting around. The rest could stand easily enough on their own two feet, but none looked particularly well, and Daphne couldn't help but feel relieved that they'd be in the capable hands of the St. Mungo's mediwitches soon enough. Long moments went by before Seamus and Hermione returned just to take the next group.
Daphne sat on one of the cots near Emma and Matthew. Michael was leaning on the wall by Terry, not saying much at the moment, but looking to be in a much better mood than before. Mackenzie came and sat beside her.
"So, I take it you're going after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named then?" queried Emma.
"How did you--? Well, not all of us are," Max replied.
"I understand not wanting to be involved," Emma replied, eyeing Daphne. "Not everyone can save the day, after all."
Daphne raised an eyebrow, not sure if that was directed at her or not.
"Still, there are plenty of things to do that don't involve being in the midst of fighting. You just have to find what they are..." Her eyes trailed back to Mackenzie. "Even if it seems scary... When you know what you have to do, well, just do it." She smiled down at Matthew as she said the last bit, gently running her fingers through his hair. "As long as you're protecting the one you care about... You're not living uselessly."
Daphne smiled at the boy, who seemed a lot less shy now that there weren't so many people crammed into one room. Despite the fact that the room was quite large, it did seem to hold noise within it quite well. Now that all the younger students were gone, it seemed a lot quieter. "Well, we still plan to do what we can," she said, looking at Max. She still didn't know what the other girl was planning on doing after they parted ways at the library.
"We're supposed to meet them there," Michael was saying to no one in particular, thus suggesting that they get to apparating already. Daphne couldn't say she was exactly sorry to be leaving, as, despite the fact that these people were quite nice... Or, at least, Emma was... They were still werewolves.
"Thank you, Emma," Daphne said, getting to her feet. It was about all that was necessary to say. There was no reason to go down a list, because their host had practically done everything she could for them.
The woman smiled. "Well, I'll admit, it was my job to keep watch on you. Make sure you didn't get about the city."
Daphne didn't exactly like the idea that they'd been prisoners, but it hadn't been a bad stay, so she couldn't complain. The others offered their thanks, too, in their own ways. Terry just kinda sat quietly next to Matthew, while Max went on and on about how great everything was. Michael actually promised a revisit to which Emma was pleasantly surprised. She said he was welcome back any time... only he should make sure to check the moon calendar.
Apparating was simple. In fact, it was Daphne's favorite form of wizarding transportation because it didn't involve getting yourself dusty in a floo, and it didn't involve any discomfort or pain. They decided they'd meet in the alley outside the Ministry's phone booth entrance, and that's exactly what they did. One by one, they disapparated from the werewolf village with a faint crack, and within seconds, they were there.
How could Muggles stand to live any other way?
"Now, we wait for Seamus and Hermione," Terry said, looking up and down the dusty alley. The sun was just starting to shine over the buildings in the distance.
Michael nodded and crouched down, leaning against the building and rubbing his eyes. Daphne considered squatting down beside him, but she felt too nervous to rest right now, though it seemed the others were fine with the present quiet. Somehow, she just had an unpleasant feeling, and well... These days it paid to listen to those feelings, at least in her opinion. Then again, it could just be the general paranoia of the times. She couldn't tell, so she kept it to herself, crossing her arms and pacing to the fore of the alley.
Of course, the Ministry was located in the most random of places, but even if there were a tonne of Muggles living around, the place seemed oddly quiet. She rubbed her arms and paced back to the others. Seamus and Hermione really just couldn't arrive soon enough.
"What's up, Daph?" Michael asked, his voice sounding a little hoarse. It seemed as though he hadn't slept very well, because despite his earlier jubilation, the dark lines under his eyes were more than visible now. Mackenzie was leaning against him, and she seemed to have drifted off for the moment. Terry, too, looked dead on his feet. If they could all just spend a night in a real bed...
There were popping sounds behind her, and she covered her mouth to muffle the shriek.
Had it just been the sound of someone apparating, Daphne would have expected that. However, that was hardly the sound she heard. They weren't 'faint', for one thing, and they carried with them a more mundane quality. Physical, as if magic had nothing to do with it. She noticed the others were staring, too, but not so much in fear. Just surprise. Of course, she had to see what they were looking at.
Three creatures. Two were adult thestrals, ridden by Hermione and Seamus. The third was a thestral foal, which was dancing around its mother's feet now. All three of them were bandaged quite heavily, and Daphne looked at Hermione for an explanation.
"We found out a few things," Hermione said, jumping off the back of the thestral. "First, right after the time of the attack, two wizards came in with these animals. They left them outside the hospital, and St. Mungo's took them into a spare room they had in the basement. The wizards left. Didn't even check out."
Seamus jumped to the ground, too. "And these are Hogwarts animals, sure enough. Tame, they are. So I'm thinkin' they came from the forest." He patted his thestral on the shoulder, and it, in turn, looked at him for food or something. It seemed a bit underfed. "Anyway, they don't care for animals there, so Hermione said we should take 'em because we knew a couple people that do. And we can take 'em back to the castle while you all go check in with the Ministry. Sure an' we told you we'd see you here, though, so here we are. Thought we'd stop by with 'em and tell you to hurry up a bit."
Daphne approached the nearest one and touched its nose. It was actually fairly soft for such a draconic-looking creature. It nudged her hand... She could feel it and see it, and it was just so real. She'd never wanted to have to see one, even though she had. It was complicated. "Is there anyone that can't see them?" she asked.
"Muggles can't," Seamus muttered.
"So you're not going to come with us?" Michael asked, not going near the creatures, though he didn't look outwardly afraid.
"No, we'll head to Hogwarts and meet you there. I'm sure you four can handle it," Hermione replied with the ghost of a smirk. Daphne was amused to see that Michael didn't appear so.
"See you there," Seamus said, turning his thestral and taking to flight. Hermione gave them a nod and did the same.
Daphne sighed as the animals—-at once so beautiful and terrible-—took to the air, their sinewy wings throwing some fliers on the sidewalk into the air. She watched them until the ebony specks disappeared, and then she realized that Michael and Terry were having a rather intense conversation, though Max also seemed to be watching the thestrals' departure with a look of rapture on her face.
"The little one was so cute," she breathed.
"Two wizards brought them in… Who would do that?" Michael was asking his friend, the lines forming between his brows looked sharp.
"Dunno, mate," Terry replied with a shrug. "Doesn't seem like Death Eaters would do that, though, does it?"
"Do you think it was the professors then? Or maybe some students who ran off before we woke up?"
Once again Terry shrugged. All four jumped again and turned as a trashcan fell to its side behind the two boys. A cat peeked out at them and then scampered off down the alley. Michael and Terry sighed in relief.
"Whoever it was, we won't know anything until we go inside," Daphne said, breaking the silence. "Let's go."
It was a good thing that the streets were nearly deserted. If Hermione and Seamus flying around on invisible creatures wasn't enough, Terry and Daphne were in robes rather than Muggle clothing. When one was a Pure-blood, well, Muggle clothing wasn't something that was usually purchased. Still, they made their way unheeded to the Ministry building.
The conversation continued as they stood in the lobby. There was a large fountain there that seemed to have been repaired at one point or another. Some of the stone was newer and much less weathered.
"Well, they were probably injured if they went to St. Mungo's," Max suggested. "And probably unable to apparate for some reason if they took thestrals."
"Or they didn't know that they were able to apparate from Hogwarts," Terry added. "Which meant they were either students or professors. Death Eaters would have just apparated out. Unless it was another message of some kind."
Daphne shook her head, though. "No, they wouldn't have expected anyone to go to St. Mungo's. It's too out of the way. If there were Death Eaters leaving messages, they would have been more obvious." She'd figured everything out rather well, anyway. Well, she and Hermione had, and the Gryffindor probably would have eventually figured it out on her own had Daphne not been there. She had to grudgingly respect the other witch. "I think the professors would have realized the shield was down. I'm guessing it was probably students."
"Maybe," Michael said. "We really don't know, do we? Hopefully we'll get some answers at least. I'm tired of--"
"--Not knowing," Daphne finished along with him. She started forward toward the witch at the front desk, but it looked as if they'd already been noticed, because there were a couple people heading toward them. The man in front reached them first, taking one of Daphne's hands in his... It wasn't a welcome gesture, but she didn't pull away. He seemed to be quite glad to see them.
"You're from Hogwarts, aren't you?" he asked. "Why don't you all come with me?"
Had any of them been there with Harry two years ago, they would have realized this was not the normal protocol for Ministry business. Normally they'd have to have their wands examined and taken away, given badges, etc., etc., but it seemed that the times had caused the Ministry to be a bit more lenient, at least in their case. They followed the rather large man past various offices, ducking as notes and owls sped around overhead.
"We're glad to see you. We got word from the St. Mungo's staff that Hogwarts survivors had appeared a few hours ago in their waiting room. It's good to see that not all of you required medical attention. By the way, I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt."
"Mackenzie Spinks," Max immediately volunteered. She paused, and no one else spoke up, so she continued. "And this is Daphne Greengrass, Terry Boot, and Michael Corner."
Kingsley pushed open a door to an office at the end of the hall and ushered them inside. "It's soundproof in here. We can talk more freely," he said by way of explanation. The four youths entered the room and found a few sparse chairs and a desk with what seemed like a fire roaring on top of it like at a campsite. The four blinked and looked at each other uncertainly. Their guide shut the door and walked to the other side of the desk, transfiguring a chair for himself and bade them sit.
"The survivors are here," he said, and a moment later a face began to take shape out of the flame. It was Remus Lupin. This caused even more surprise between the assembled students.
"It's good to see you all alive and well," the rather ragged werewolf replied, smiling at them all with what was genuine relief. "We've had limited reports on what took place at Hogwarts, so if you could tell us what happened…"
"Then you'll tell us what exactly is going on?" Daphne interjected.
"We'll do our best," Lupin replied, looking somewhat amused. "But even we," and he said we as though we meant something other than the Ministry or the professors at Hogwarts, "don't' know everything yet."
"So, who'd like to start?" Kingsley asked, looking between them.
Daphne looked at the others. They probably all had different accounts of what was going on because they'd all been in different places with the exception of her and Michael, who had been together. Her eyes paused on Michael, who was looking at the desk and sort of avoiding looking at her... At least it seemed that way. "Fine," she said after a moment. "I was asleep in one of the dorms, and I had a dream that woke me up."
"Yeah, that was the same thing with me," Michael volunteered. Daphne waited for him to continue, but Lupin stepped in instead.
"How clear were the dreams? It doesn't really matter what their content was."
"They were..." She looked at Michael almost nervously. "Pretty clear." He nodded.
"Ah. Well that might have been the first hint that something was about to happen. It's too bad no one caught that. Then again, who would really think to report a clear dream? In any case, go on."
Confused, Daphne nevertheless went on. "We-- Michael and I, that is, were on a perimeter patrol, so we didn't see what happened to the school. But right around maybe halfway through, we were attacked. Stunned. By Professor Snape. Michael and I woke up and went back to the castle. It was destroyed by that point."
"There were a lot of students and refugees were in the Great Hall around then," Terry continued. "Seamus Finnigan and I were elsewhere, looking for stragglers. The meeting WAS in the courtyard, but someone suggested we move it into the school so everyone could hear. We heard the noise, so we went to investigate. By the time we got there, the only people that were still about were... Well, there was one Death Eater I could see. The others we could see just disapparated. He disappeared, but he was still there, I guess. Hiding. Seamus and I started looking, and apparently at one point, whomever it was got Seamus with the Imperius Curse."
"Was there anyone IN the Great Hall?" Professor Lupin asked. One by one, everyone turned to look at Max.
She looked down. "Well, I wasn't there the whole time, but I saw the start of it."
Lupin smiled at her kindly. "Tell us what happened, Mackenzie."
The Ravenclaw seemed emboldened by the fact that Remus knew her name and started to speak. "There were a lot of people in the Great Hall. It's one of the places where most of the students have been sleeping lately." She took a shuddering breath. "Suddenly, it felt like the air twisted. It… was really strange. It made me feel sort of dizzy and my ears popped. I guess that was the Apparition shield going down. The next thing we knew, there were Death Eaters standing there. Harry," she sounded a little choked up, and Michael reached out and gently squeezed her hand. "Harry and the D.A. members, they all were there and they were attacking the Death Eaters, but they were killing so the students. I don't know where the professors were. It was too chaotic. I was just paying attention to Anthony…"
She paused for a moment, wiping her eyes. "Then, then they grabbed Ron Weasley and ran out of the hall, and Harry and Ginny and some others ran after them. I was still in the hall with Anthony when they grabbed Draco, and he tried to get free, but he couldn't… Pansy was crying and trying to get to him, but they disappeared. She and Anthony ran out after where Harry had gone, and I tried to follow, but Anthony told me to hide… I guess that's when the explosion happened, and I thought the whole castle was going to come down because it was so loud. I don't know what happened because I was outside with the others, but they all disappeared right as the explosion happened, I think. I... I can't remember it so well now, and I didn't know what to do except hide because people were running around and screaming and there were still Death Eaters in the castle… I'm so sorry!"
On her other side, Terry was looking quite pointedly at a jar of quills, but his hand was on her shoulder.
Kingsley and Lupin were silent as Mackenzie's soft sobs filled the room.
"So, a trap then?" the werewolf surmised, finally breaking the silence. "You've all done very well, and there was nothing more any of you could do. So now it's our turn."