The Only Front
At Rockwood Castle they had just enjoyed dinner and were still sitting together at the table in the knights' hall, talking quietly. Roy was the only one who didn't take part in the conversations. He was daydreaming, dreaming against his fear for Arabella, dreaming of his future life with her. He was determined not to let his panic take control of him, and even at night he did without the dream-inhibiting potions he had initially asked the elves for. Since he daydreamed every free minute, nightmares no longer haunted him.
He would free her from Azkaban, then they would get the last year at Hogwarts over with. Roy did not doubt that he would be able to feed his family; surely, he would find a way to turn his inventions into money.
They would have children. The girls should look as much like their mother as possible and have the same cute dimples as Arabella when they laugh. Boys – oh dear, they might inherit his pigheadedness. He would have to be tolerant, but it wouldn't be that difficult for him. They all – girls as well as boys – would have to have a strong backbone and character. Like Albus. Like Rose. Like Scorpius and Bernie.
Bernie? he thought when he didn't see him sitting with the others. Where is he? He looked around.
Bernie sat apart from the others and stared gloomily into the flame of the candle on the table in front of him. His eyes gleamed wetly.
"Bernie?" asked Roy hesitantly as he sat down with him. "What's the matter? Are you sad?"
Bernie nodded.
"Because of your dad?"
Bernie shook his head. "No," he sighed. "I am just thinking that I will have to go back to the Muggle world. And that I then no longer belong to you."
"Bernie, you will always be one of us, always a Slytherin and always an Incorruptible, even if you have to go back ... But that's not sure at all!"
"Oh Roy, we both know I have no chance of ever passing my O.W.L. exams."
"Not in Charms and Transformation, but in all the other subjects."
"That's not true, as soon as we have to enchant our ingredients ourselves, I am also stuck in Potions. And the subjects I'm good at are no use to me if I can't do magic. There's no point in kidding myself, Roy. You were right and so was the Sorting Hat: I don't belong to your world. – But on one point," he cut Roy off before he could say anything, "you were wrong: You said I wouldn't be happy at Hogwarts, and that's not true. I've never been as happy anywhere as I am at Hogwarts! I don't wanna leave!"
Bernie blinked away his tears a few times and then continued:
"But I know I'll have to, just like the many squibs who leave the wizarding world because they have no future, even if they come from here."
"Bernie, you are highly talented ..."
"But not for magic! And therefore, I've to live in a world that needs my talents."
"You really think we don't need you?", Roy indignantly said. "When Slytherin was completely isolated, you vouched for us! Probably you were the one who thwarted Hermione's plan to turn the houses against each other. If you've already forgotten that – we haven't! You've already done more for the wizarding world than many a Minister for Magic!"
Now Bernie smiled a little.
"Thank you. But I'm not talking about character, I'm talking about talent! You see it now with our Azkaban action: With a lot of effort you still found a task for me, and yes, if everything goes wrong I can drink the irretrievable Magic Booster and rush to your aid, but to be really useful I would have to be able to do magic without being doped – and don't argue with me! I'm not made of sugar; I don't need friendly lies!"
Roy was silent because what Bernie said was true.
They couldn't talk any further, because from the courtyard they now heard the deafening roar of motorbikes, thrown back and amplified a thousand times by the castle walls. Everyone rushed to the windows and saw six engines touch down with a slight bounce on the pavement of the castle courtyard. One last howl, then the engines were switched off.
"That must be Macnair and his Death Eaters! My goodness, what a bunch of thugs!" Rose exclaimed in disgust when she saw the six brawny, swashbuckling figures who now climbed off their machines with Macnair and were welcomed by Blubber with a deep bow.
"Rose," Roy replied. "We're not planning a tea party, we're planning a raid on Azkaban, and they seem to be just the right guys for that."
Rose wrinkled her nose.
A moment later, Macnair entered the hall, followed by his illustrious friends. Rose was indignant to see that Albus, James, Scorpius and Bernie were looking, not without fascination, at the coarse fellows, who had long since changed their motorbike jackets back into black leather Death Eater cloaks.
"It was easier than I thought, the Muggle police was very helpful," Macnair laughed and introduced everyone present. As if by a silent agreement, there was no handshake, only Lestrange, like Macnair before him, was greeted by the Black Snakes with a pat on the back.
No sooner had the rockers occupied the free end of the table than the food, which the elves had conjured in no time, was placed before them. Without taking any further notice of the people present, the Black Snakes gorged themselves with an appetite that outshined even Roy's notorious gluttony.
Victoire and Rose sat down with Roy.
"Tell me, Roy," Rose whispered. "Do you actually feel comfortable in ... this company?" She pointed at the Black Snakes with some disgust.
Roy laughed softly.
"I feel more comfortable in yours, if that comforts you, but as I told you ..."
"Yeah, I know, no tea party and all, but ..." She hesitated a little.
"What?"
"Well," Victoire now intervened, seeing that her cousin didn't dare. "You always refused your Slytherins being called 'Death Eaters' – but no sooner are we working with you than we're sitting as guests of an old Death Eater family in a Death Eater's lair with old Death Eaters Macnair and Lestrange, who are bringing their Death Eater friends to free other Death Eaters from Azkaban ..."
"And now you're wondering whether the Daily Prophet might have been right and I'm just a very cleverly disguised Death Eater?" asked Roy with raised eyebrows.
"No, not exactly ..." Victoire turned pink.
"But something like that."
Roy swallowed his anger. Rose and Victoire were Gryffindors, after all, and he gave them credit for having quite little prejudice, considering that. Could they be completely free of it? That would be asking for too much. Moreover, he quietly admitted, the question was quite understandable from her point of view.
"Just a reminder," he said. "The Malfoys are on board because Scorpius is friends with Albus, Macnair and Lestrange because they are Ares' and Julian's father and grandfather, the Black Snakes because they are friends of Macnair ..."
"I'm not lamebrained, I'm well aware of that," Victoire interjected. "Nevertheless, your unbiasedness in dealing with such people irritates me. I mean, you're Muggle-born, if they had their way you wouldn't be allowed to live in the wizarding world at all."
"If they had their way, or at least if they could pursue their former goals, I would lose the home I have found in the wizarding world because they wouldn't tolerate me," Roy agreed under Victoire's approving nod.
"But since it's not their way, but the Minister's," Roy continued, "I am to lose it by the wizarding world dissolving in the Muggle world like a piece of sugar in a cup of tea. For me, the result is the same. Except that one is a real danger and the other isn't."
"Is it really the same?" asked Victoire doubtfully. "Twenty years ago, those Death Eaters would have tried you for stealing magic and probably executed you."
"And today Hermione is threatening to execute me. I strongly believe that one should fight against the dictatorship actually in power at a given moment, not one that was overthrown twenty years ago and whose few scattered supporters have to hide from the Aurors."
Victoire sighed. "It's really hard to argue with you. That's all logical and correct, but you can't work with people who want the opposite of what you want."
"Do they really want the opposite?" asked Roy, adding in explanation when Rose and Victoire stared at him in confusion: "I mean, in terms of the crucial questions – namely, whether your Uncle Harry should live and the wizarding world should continue to exist – don't they actually want exactly what we do? I'd rather like to do without them, too, but do you seriously expect me to have a problem with them doing something right today just because they did something wrong twenty years ago? There is only one front, Victoire, and your aunt has drawn it because only she has the power to. On the one hand those who destroy the wizarding world, on the other those who want to preserve it. Both of you, your uncle Harry, your entire family have made their choice, and that choice implies all by itself that the old Death Eaters are on the same side of the front as you and me. You needn't love them for that – just as I don't."
Now the two girls smiled conciliatorily.
"I believe you," said Victoire, "and it comforts me."