Previously in the Darklyverse: The Order petitioned for political asylum in Canada while Lily recovered from Sectumsempra in Zoudiams. At Vicky's request, the Order voted on whether to include the War Stories kids in the war effort—but tiebreaker Peter voted no.

xx

December 10th, 1982: Septima Vector

"I have news," Vicky says before a greeting can even come out of Minerva's mouth. She thrusts her copy of the Vancouver Veritaserum forward.

Minerva raises her eyebrows. "Good news or bad news?" she asks as she takes the paper and shakes it open.

"Depends on your definition of 'good news.' Legitimate Canadian press is reporting on your asylum petition, which is good if we can get it to eventually start to circulate around Britain and inform the rest of the country about who's really in control of our Ministry—"

"—But bad when word gets back to the Death Eaters about this article," Minerva concludes, her eyes scanning the front page. "They would have found out anyway after asylum is granted—if asylum is granted. And that wouldn't be so much the problem—asylum contracts are magically binding—but if the article mentions that Lily's being held at Zoudiams outside the protection of the Fidelius Charms—"

"Technically, she's not at Zoudiams anymore," says Vicky. "It says about halfway down that she's made a full recovery from the Sectumsempra she got hit with and that she's been transferred to a holding cell at the Canadian prison. I think she's okay there—Desaulniers isn't guarded by dementors the way Azkaban is."

"For now," Minerva says heavily. "She's okay there for now, unless or until the Death Eaters get wind of this."

Their eyes meet, and Vicky sees all her own anxiety and tension reflected in Minerva's gaze. Not for the first time, she wishes to god that Minerva never joined bloody Dumbledore and his bloody vigilante justice organization—that she were safe at Hogwarts with Vicky—that she didn't have a price on her head.

Of course, even if Minerva were still at Hogwarts, how safe would either of them be? How safe is any country whose government has been coopted by terrorists?

She and Minerva are both pureblood, a tiny voice in Vicky's head reminds her. They're safe. Even with Death Eaters running the show, if Minerva hadn't insisted on getting herself into this mess, there would be no reason for them to target her.

And then the full weight of Vicky's privilege comes crashing down around her mind. How can she stand to take comfort in the idea of herself and her loved ones being protected by their blood status? If anyone is in danger, then no one should accept the status quo. It's the whole reason Minerva got herself into this mess, and it's supposed to be why Vicky is heading up War Stories with Horace in Minerva's absence.

"How soon will they make a decision about asylum?" Vicky asks now.

"At least a week from now, maybe two."

"Okay. Okay. So we've just got to keep this under wraps for two weeks, and then we can start to circulate it."

Minerva smiles thinly. "You mean you've got to keep it under wraps—from the students, I mean. I know it wasn't easy for you the way the vote turned out—the Order saying you can't include them."

Vicky sighs. "It's fine. Two more weeks, right? I can stand keeping quiet around Helen Brown and her friends for two more weeks."

But it's not in Vicky's nature to keep secrets, and it's been bad enough concealing for all these weeks that she knows what she knows about the Order's whereabouts and activities. In some ways, it didn't surprise her to learn that Minerva had had a whole secret life in which she'd never included Vicky—because it would have been damn hard for her to keep her mouth shut about what she would have known. It has been damn hard for Vicky to keep her mouth shut about what she does know.

Still, getting the Order's youngest members to vote on whether to clue in the War Stories kids had been Vicky's idea, and her word is worth nothing if she doesn't stand by what they decided, even if Vicky was expecting them to vote in her favor. To be honest, she doesn't really understand why they didn't. It's because they felt removed from the action that they got those two girls killed in '77; wouldn't they want to stop today's generation of kids from being tempted to make the same mistakes?

Besides, Helen is onto Vicky—she can feel it in the way Helen glares at her every time their eyes meet. It gets to the point that Vicky considers leaving Horace to moderate next week's meeting without her—but doing so would probably just make Vicky look even more suspicious, and anyway, it wouldn't stop Helen from cornering her after Arithmancy or in the Great Hall or whenever they bump into each other in the corridors.

She's got a pit in her stomach when she makes her way to the Great Hall for that Tuesday's meeting. She cuts it close on purpose, and Horace and two dozen kids are already sitting at the Hufflepuff table buried in discussion when she opens the double doors leading into the hall. "Sorry," she says as casually as she can manage. "Carry on."

Deb Cygnet holds up a newspaper. For a fleeting second, Vicky is terrified that it's a copy of the Veritaserum, but, on closer look, it's just an Evening Prophet. "Bad news, professor."

Vicky gulps. Word can't have already leaked to Britain that Lily Potter—?

But the headline's got nothing to do with Lily—not directly, anyway. "The Aurors are… putting all their resources on the Order of the Phoenix?"

"They're claiming that vigilante justice is the real problem," Deb scowls. "They've pulled a one-eighty on their claims that Death Eaters are responsible for the missing purebloods, and now they're saying the vigilantes are out of control and that they've taken the missing wizards hostage without any evidence that the purebloods are Death Eaters. The Ministry is feeding the Prophet some bullshit line about how it should be 'wizards first' during wartime and how the threat to purebloods is more urgent than all the violence against Muggles and Muggle-borns."

"'Wizards first?'" Vicky echoes. "But that flies in the face of the Statute of Secrecy—and since when aren't Muggle-borns wizards, anyway?"

"Yeah," says Helen sharply. "If we didn't already know that the Ministry and the Death Eaters are working together—"

"Now, now, Helen," says Horace in a would-be casual voice, "we don't necessarily know that. Plenty of pureblood wizards prioritize their own—"

"Oh, and are you one of them?" says Helen, whipping around to face him.

"Well, now—"

"So just because we're Slytherins, we have to treat Muggle-borns like dirt? I'm allowed to mourn Meredith and her family because they were purebloods, but I'm not allowed to support the cause that got her sister targeted in the first place?"

"Hey," says Vicky. Everybody goes silent and looks to her. "I don't think anybody in this room is saying that pureblood lives are more valuable than Muggle or Muggle-born ones. Don't you agree, Professor Slughorn?"

But Helen doesn't give Horace a chance to defend himself. "And you," she barks at Vicky. "You're the worst of all. You know something. We all know you know something, and you won't give it up."

"Helen, I don't know what you're talking ab—"

"That's crap," she says, crossing her arms, "and you know it."

If Minerva were here, she'd know how to redirect this conversation into something productive—something that can help this kids find comfort and take the kind of action that won't risk getting them killed. Hell, so could Sirius Black if he were still in charge like he was when he and Minerva were filling in for Dumbledore. They both worked alongside her and managed to keep totally hidden their involvement in vigilante justice, even though Minerva was Vicky's bloody life partner. During how many years of her relationship with Minerva was Minerva involved in the Order? And here, Vicky can't even keep a bunch of school kids she sees a few days a week in lessons and meetings from getting suspicious just weeks after Minerva looped her in.

A week and a half, she tells herself firmly. She's just got to keep her trap shut for a week and a half, and then the Order will get asylum, and Vicky can tell the kids everything. Sure, there's a real possibility that they won't get asylum, but she can't allow herself to consider it. Maybe only Lily's livelihood is immediately at stake, but Vicky doesn't want to even entertain the idea that Minerva's time at Grimmauld Place isn't coming to an end.

When did the country get so messed up? When did Vicky's life get so complicated?