On Monday morning after breakfast Rachel went downstairs to collect her photographs, which should now be dry. She'd taken two rolls of film last year and had spent the last three days brewing the developing solution, developing the film, and then transferring the film onto the photo paper. It was sort of soothing work, requiring focus while also being repetitive.
She tested the nearest photo that she'd pinned up on a line and found that it was dry. She took all the photos down and was surprised how thick the stack was when she was done. She'd have to brew more developing solution if she wanted to make some copies for her friends, but first she needed to see how the pictures came out.
Rachel went upstairs and stood by the kitchen window, pausing to gently scratch the side of Gladys' head.
Then she started going through the stack of photos. A lot of them were of her friends. She had photos from each of their birthday parties, both group shots and individual shots of each of them blowing out candles. Rachel resolved to bring her camera to Neville's this year if she was invited to the Longbottom's house again for her and Neville's birthdays. Maybe it would be good to give Neville's Gran some photos of him too, so she could see how he was at Hogwarts.
This year she'd gotten a group shot of them at the end of the year in the library. She set that one aside, both as a reminder to make copies of it for all of her friends and so she could take it upstairs and compare it to the group shot she'd taken at the end of their second year.
She also had a group shot of the table at the Christmas feast and if she looked closely she could see Professor Dumbledore merrily waving in the background. Severus was sitting next to him, looking a little bit grim.
There were photos of Midnight and Crookshanks and a photo of Trevor as well. Rachel put those aside so that she could make copies of them for Millie, Hermione, and Neville.
She'd asked Millie and Theo to take photos at the Slytherin vs Gryffindor game and those had come out quite well. There was one of her and Ginny flying together, both of them reaching for the Snitch. There was one of the Slytherin Chasers performing a pass. And there was one of the Weasley twins, one of them in the process of hitting a Bludger across the pitch. Rachel set the ones of her and Ginny and the Weasley twins aside so that she could make copies and give them to Mrs. Weasley when she saw her at Ginny's birthday party.
She spent some time looking at the photo she had taken of the Slytherin common room. She could see Gemma near the fireplace, Marcus and Imogen sitting with Adrian, and a few other students that she recognized but didn't know well. She wondered if her photos were ever going to be in an album that someone showed to their children. Hopefully not under the same circumstances as the album she'd received from Hagrid.
There were a number of photographs of different places around Hogwarts, most of them odd bits of architecture she'd noticed, some of them with people and some without. She'd noticed that she'd started looking at things a little differently after using her camera. Every now and then she'd notice the way something looked and think that it would be a nice picture.
She also set aside the group shot of all of them going to Hogsmeade, snow falling around them and all of them so bundled up in cloaks, hats, and scarves it was almost hard to tell who was who.
Collecting the two piles of photos, Rachel went upstairs and added to her shopping list for Diagon Alley, which now included robes, uniforms, textbooks, potions kit refill, parchment, quills, sweets, film, and photo paper. That would be a busy trip. She added 'photo album?' to the list as well, wondering if the shop where she'd gotten the camera might sell them, or maybe Flourish and Blotts.
Rachel found where she'd left her photos from last year in the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled them out, going through them until she found the group shot at the end of the year. Comparing the photos side by side it was easy to see how much they'd all grown. It wasn't just their height either - something about their faces had changed a little bit as well.
She pulled out the photo album that had her parents' pictures and flipped through until she found ones of them as students. They were older in all of them, maybe fifth year and sixth year. She wondered who among their friend group had a camera. She could see the same sort of differences between them as she looked at photos of them as they got older. They got a little taller, James' shoulders grew broader, Lily's face lost some of the roundness in her cheeks.
It was hard to imagine her parents at the same age as she was now. She'd heard more about them from Professor Lupin over the last school year, but it was different to try and picture them. She just didn't know the sort of everyday things that made up their lives. Did her mom drink pumpkin juice or orange juice at breakfast? Did her dad study in the common room or the library?
She'd kind of gone off the idea of diaries after Ginny's experience with the cursed diary, but she kind of wished one of her parents had kept one. She supposed they hadn't expected to die and leave a child behind who might want such a thing.
It was also hard to imagine any of her friends growing up and getting married and having children. She supposed it was likely they would one day, but it seemed so far off. Rachel didn't think she'd ever want to get married. It was just too weird. But then, from what Sirius and Professor Lupin had said, it sounded like James hadn't thought he'd have children, but then he changed his mind.
She supposed anything was possible.
"My parents lived here?" Rachel asked once they'd apparated to Godric's Hollow.
"Yes, and Albus' family as well, when he was young. It's also the birthplace of Godric Gryffindor," Severus said.
Rachel slowly looked around. Cottages lined the road and a small number of people were out and about. A little further on there was a small town square, with several shops, a pub, and a church with a graveyard next to it. In the middle of the square was a war memorial. "My parents' house is here somewhere?"
"Further down that lane. We may go see it if you wish, but I want to warn you that it's in the same condition as it was on the night of their deaths - no repairs have been made," Severus said.
"Maybe not this time," Rachel said. She wasn't even sure how she felt about seeing her parents' grave. Severus had offered to take her, now that there was no longer a threat from Sirius Black, and she had said yes.
"That's fine, whatever you're comfortable with. I'll also warn you that the war memorial is not what it seems either," Severus said.
Rachel stared at the stone obelisk and then turned back to look at Severus. "What do you mean?"
"When we draw closer it will turn into a statue of your parents. Muggles can see only the war memorial, however its appearance changes to witches and wizards," Severus explained.
"Can we go see it?" Rachel asked.
"Of course, it's on our way to the graveyard, I just didn't want it to catch you by surprise," Severus said.
Rachel nodded. It was odd. She'd never imagined there would be a statue of her parents. She knew abstractly that she was famous and her parents too. That's why Rita Skeeter kept writing articles about her in the paper, and why at the start of every school year the first years stared at her. But she didn't feel famous. She was just Rachel.
"Just let me know when you're ready to go see it. There's no rush," Severus said.
Rachel glanced back at Severus. He was acting like this was something to be afraid of. She wasn't afraid, but she didn't know exactly what she felt either. "I'm ready."
They walked down the lane and into the town square. There were a few more people out and about here, gathering around the entrances to the shops. Rachel kept her gaze focused on the war memorial, wanting to see when it changed. It happened when they were about ten paces away.
Two stone people stood together. A man with glasses and messy hair. A woman with a gentle smile on her face and her long hair tucked behind her shoulders. The woman was holding a baby.
Rachel took a few steps closer and stared. The statues were well carved, she could recognize the shape of her parents' faces from the photos in the album. Rachel recognized her own face in her mom's. She supposed she must have gotten her messy hair from her dad, even though hers was more of a reddish brown rather than black like his. "Do you know who carved this?"
"I don't. It was placed shortly before the first year anniversary of their deaths," Severus said.
"Do you think they would have wanted a statue of themselves here?" Rachel asked.
It took Severus a moment to answer. "I don't think they ever had an aspiration for there to be a statue of themselves, but I don't think they'd object to the memorial. They would have been glad that the war had ended. Even though there was a great deal of rebuilding to do, it was a relief to everyone that the killings had mostly stopped. People were able to continue on with their lives. I don't know how to explain it exactly, it might just be something that you have to experience, though I hope you never do."
"If the Dark Lord comes back there will be another war," Rachel said, looking up at Severus.
Severus pulled out his wand and cast the silver bubble of a privacy ward around them. "Yes. We're doing everything we can to prevent the Dark Lord's return," Severus said, meeting Rachel's gaze.
"The Philosopher's Stone is still safe?" she asked.
"Albus is guarding it. I don't expect the Dark Lord will try to take it again," Severus said.
"Could he lure the Dark Lord somewhere with it, and try to capture his spirit, or whatever it is?" Rachel asked.
"As of yet we do not have a way to contain whatever form the Dark Lord is in. Albus has been researching it ever since we saw it leave Quirrell, but the situation is unprecedented. We have no idea what will work and no way to test any method we do come up with," he explained.
"And so he's just out there somewhere and no one knows where he is or what he's doing?" Rachel asked.
"We do not know where he is, which is one of the reasons that I continue to speak with my contacts in the Death Eaters. We think it is most likely the Dark Lord will go to one of them once he has found another body to possess," Severus said.
"Can he possess just anyone?" Rachel asked, horrified at the idea.
"No, the body he possesses would have to be amenable to him in some way. Quirrell must have agreed to allow the Dark Lord to possess him," Severus answered.
"Why?" Rachel asked.
"I can only guess at the answer. A desire for power or knowledge, perhaps," Severus said.
Rachel looked back at the statue. Her parents had died standing against the Dark Lord. Quirrell had accepted him willingly and yet met the same fate. "Would a Death Eater be willing to allow the Dark Lord to possess them?"
"The more fanatical Death Eaters would welcome the opportunity. Most of the rest would do so willingly," Severus said. "However, it is a short term solution for the Dark Lord at best. Quirrell had to drink unicorn blood in order to stay alive while he was possessed, and yet even with that he would not have survived much longer."
"I don't like that the Dark Lord could be just anyone. What if he possessed Draco's father? Or Theo's?" she asked.
"I wish I knew what to tell you. Whatever happens, we will do our best to deal with it and prepare as well as we can for any eventuality," Severus said.
In other words, Severus didn't know either. "Well. If he could possess one of the Death Eaters, wouldn't he have done it by now?" Rachel asked.
"I think that if he could be taking action right now, he would. That we haven't heard about him accomplishing anything in over two years suggests he's either very far away or he's incapable of taking action at this time," Severus said.
"That's good. I hope so," Rachel said. She peered around the statue to look at the small church and the attached graveyard. "That's where my parents' grave is?"
"Yes, would you still like to visit?" Severus asked.
"Yes," Rachel said. She hadn't meant to get into a whole conversation about the Dark Lord returning, but she supposed it made sense that it was on her mind considering where they were. She took one last look at the statue and then led the way to the gate that opened to the cemetery. "Can we just go in?"
"We can," Severus said, opening the gate and stepping through.
Rachel followed him through the graveyard, noticing that it was a mixture of older and newer headstones, with a few statues of angels of various sizes. It only took a few minutes of walking before Severus came to a stop in front of a headstone.
It listed her parents' names, the dates of their births, the date of their deaths, and there was a quotation below. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," Rachel read out loud. "What does that mean?"
"It's from the bible. It means that Christ will destroy all enemies, the last of which being death, when sin has come to an end. It's the promise of eternal life, an afterlife, so to speak," Severus explained. "Albus was the one who arranged for their headstone."
She knelt down in the wild grass and gently ran her fingers along the engraving of her parents' names. "I don't know what I'm supposed to feel," she said.
"However you feel is alright. I think everyone feels differently when they visit the graves of loved ones," Severus said.
"I don't know. I thought I would feel something different. Like I would be connected to them here, somehow," Rachel said. She wasn't sure what she felt, but her throat was hurting. She wanted to know her parents, and as much as Severus or Sirius could tell her about them, it wasn't the same as knowing them.
"Graves are just graves. They are places we can use to memorialize, but they're not the primary way we remember people. Lily and James live in the memories of the people who loved them, and in a way, they live within you too. I see pieces of them in you, especially as you grow. We carry them with us," Severus said.
"Was James a bully?" Rachel asked. It had been weighing on her ever since Professor Lupin had told her about it.
Severus exhaled and then knelt down next to Rachel. "Yes, for a time he was. He and I were bitter rivals for most of our time at Hogwarts. However, we both grew up. Although I was never friends with James, we respected each other for our work in the Order."
"Why didn't you tell me, when you told me about him?" Rachel asked, turning to look at Severus.
"Because I didn't want you to think of your father that way, and it's a topic I don't particularly care to discuss. That was a difficult time in my life," Severus said.
"Sorry," Rachel said quickly. She hadn't meant to hurt Severus.
"It's alright, you deserve to know the truth. No one is perfect. James was a bully, but he was many other things besides that. Everything I have told you about him was true - he was steadfastly loyal to his friends, he was intelligent, he was a talented flyer, and he was the top of our class in Transfiguration. He loved you and Lily dearly, which I think is the most important part to remember," Severus said.
Rachel nodded. It was amazing that Severus could say those things to her, even when his time being spent bullied by her dad was so painful to him that he couldn't talk about it. "Thank you. You're the best way I have to remember them."
"I will try to find more ways to tell you about them," Severus said.
She looked back at the headstone. "Can we leave flowers, before we go?"
"Yes, of course. Would you like to try the charm or would you like me to do it?" Severus asked as he got back to his feet.
"I'd like to try," Rachel said, getting up and dusting a few stray blades of grass from her trousers.
"The incantation is Orchideous and you move your wand in a single spiral loop and then bring it down," Severus said, making the wand motion.
Rachel steadied her wand. "Orchideous," she said, ending the wand movement with her wand pointing at the base of the headstone. A bouquet of pink and red flowers appeared.
"Well done," Severus said.
"Can we go home?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, take my arm and we'll go," Severus said, offering her his arm.
Rachel took hold and closed her eyes. She was ready to be done for the day.
Severus looked up from his copy of Brewers Monthly when he heard Rachel's steps on the staircase.
She came into the sitting room and sat down on the couch, her fingers fiddling restlessly with the bottom hem of her skirt. "Sirius' trial is on Friday," she said after a moment of watching him.
"It is," Severus said, anticipating what Rachel was about to ask him.
"Can we go?" Rachel asked after a moment.
"No," Severus said. "For a number of reasons."
"Because of the Death Eaters?" Rachel guessed.
"There will certainly be Death Eaters in attendance. This is a full Wizengamot trial. While you would certainly be allowed a seat to attend, given that your parents were victims of his alleged betrayal, neither Albus nor I think it would be wise for you to attend. The press will also be in attendance and they would ask you for a statement about the trial. I don't want to put you in that position. I also do not want you to hear the rather gory details that a Death Eater trial involves," Severus explained.
Rachel frowned. "Why would there be gory details? Sirius isn't actually a Death Eater, he didn't do anything."
"They will need to recount the crimes he was initially charged with, including bringing the Dark Lord to your parents, and the deaths of the twelve muggles that Pettigrew killed," he said. "These trials are not pleasant things to witness. Black will be bound in chains while the Wizengamot hears evidence against him."
"You don't think they'll send him back to Azkaban, do you?" Rachel asked.
"No, I don't think it's likely they will. Pettigrew's capture was publicly announced. I think given the circumstances they'll have little recourse but to release Black," Severus said. He still hadn't decided how he felt about that. "He would not want you to witness this."
"Can I see him after he's released?" she asked.
Severus sighed to himself. He supposed there wasn't any way of keeping Rachel from him. "He will need time to recover first. However, I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you wrote him a letter once he's released."
Rachel bobbed her head up and down. "I can do that. Professor Lupin said that he'd help take care of Sirius."
Lovely. Just what he needed Rachel exposed to on a regular basis, Black and the werewolf.
"What if they do send him back to Azkaban?" Rachel asked, clearly worried.
"I suspect Albus would then make an appeal on his behalf. Given that both Black and Pettigrew will have given testimony by Veritaserum, I honestly do not think it is likely he will be sent back to Azkaban," Severus repeated. "Try not to worry about it, there is nothing we can do to influence the outcome."
"I suppose so," she said, looking no less worried.
"There's something else I've been meaning to talk to you about," Severus said, deciding that he might as well get this out of the way while they were discussing serious matters.
"What's wrong?" Rachel asked immediately, her eyes going wide behind her glasses.
"Nothing new is wrong," he said, realizing that he had inadvertently caused her some panic. "I just wanted to talk to you about Draco and Pansy."
"Oh. What about them?"
"I know that you are friends in passing with both of them, but I want you to be more cautious about what you say around them," Severus said. "That goes for any of the students who have Death Eater relatives."
Rachel looked puzzled. "Why?"
"Because Narcissa and Ambrosia indicated to me that both Draco and Pansy are reporting back to them about you," he explained.
"What sort of things are they reporting about me?" she asked.
"As far as I can tell it's just everyday types of things, which is fine. There's nothing we can do about that, though at some point we may need to feed them misinformation. But for now, consider that anything you say to them might be reported back to a Death Eater," Severus said.
Rachel shook her head. "Draco and I talk about Quidditch and that's pretty much it. Sometimes we pair together in Potions and then we talk about the potion we're brewing. Pansy is a little different. She mostly talks with Daphne in the dorm room, but they talk to me and Millie too. But Pansy knows I have nightmares. Do you think she told her parents that?"
"It's possible, though Ambrosia didn't mention anything about it. I don't see a problem with them knowing minor details about your life. They obviously know that you are studious and that you're a good Quidditch player, but they were seeking more information about you from me, which suggests they aren't getting many details. It would be good if it stayed that way," he explained.
"What did you have to tell them about me?" Rachel asked.
"Nothing that they didn't already know. I told them that you were a good student and that you were obedient," Severus said.
Rachel gave him a small smile. "Most of the time."
"Most of the time," Severus agreed, though he'd never seen her be willfully disobedient.
"Do you think this is going to be more of a problem as we get older?" she asked.
"It's possible. Right now things are more at a standstill as both sides gather information. If that changes, then we may need to make some changes in response," he said.
"If the Dark Lord comes back," Rachel said.
"That, or if one of the Death Eaters decides to try to fill that power void himself," Severus agreed. "I don't see that happening in the near future. Right now the Death Eaters are comfortable, if not entirely satisfied."
"There will always be Death Eaters, won't there?" she asked.
"If not Death Eaters in name, then Death Eaters in function. There will always be people who seek power who are willing to hurt people to get it, or worse, people who want to hurt others regardless of whether or not it gets them power," Severus said. "Fortunately it's relatively rare that sort of greed for power and pain is coupled with someone with extraordinary magical ability, such as the Dark Lord or Grindelwald."
"It's a good thing Professor Dumbledore isn't like that, he would be unstoppable," Rachel said.
"The world would quake with fear," Severus agreed.
Rachel woke early on Friday, July 22nd. She knew Sirius' trial didn't start until noon, but she couldn't stop worrying about it. She still wished she could have gone, but Severus was right that she didn't want to be questioned by the press. It was bad enough with them writing about her, it would be worse if she had to talk to them.
She laid in bed for a while, holding her stuffed bunny under the covers and watching her window as it gradually grew lighter outside. She supposed that Sirius was probably still in his cell at the Ministry. Hopefully he was still asleep, but Rachel suspected he was awake. Maybe he was curled up as Padfoot.
The more Rachel thought about it, the more she wanted to try to become an animagus. If Professor McGonagall was helping her, that would certainly reduce the chances of something going horribly wrong with the transformation. And she was willing to wait until after her OWLs before she did the more practical parts of the process. She hadn't discussed it with the group yet, but she hoped that Theo would be willing to wait too.
When she heard Severus go down the stairs she got out of bed and collected her things to take a shower. After showering she went downstairs and found Severus in the kitchen. He was reading the Daily Prophet while drinking a cup of tea. She could see that Sirius' picture was on the front page, though she couldn't quite make out the headline with the corner of the newspaper hanging down.
"Good morning," Severus said.
"Good morning," Rachel replied. She fixed herself a bowl of cereal and poured a glass of milk before sitting down at the kitchen table. "Can I ask you a question?"
Severus set down his newspaper. "Of course."
"How do trials work?" she asked.
"I'm not well versed in muggle law, but in the wizarding world, trials are held before the Wizengamot - either a fifth of the Wizengamot for ordinary matters, or the full Wizengamot for certain crimes that are judged to be more serious. The defendant is brought into the courtroom, after being given the opportunity to give testimony under Veritaserum. The charges are read, as is the transcript of any testimonies involved in the case, including testimonies of Ministry officials who worked on the case. Victims, or someone speaking for a victim if the victim is not able to do so themselves, are allowed to make a statement, and then the defendant is allowed to speak for themselves. After all of this, the Wizengamot votes and needs a two thirds majority to find them guilty. If the defendant is found guilty, they are then sentenced according to what the law proscribes," Severus explained.
Rachel thought about this and compared it to what little she knew about muggle law from what she'd seen on tv or had learned about in primary school. "There are no lawyers or solicitors?"
"Not in criminal matters. In civil matters, people can hire someone to speak for them," Severus said. "It's much more straightforward than with the muggles. Veritaserum allows the court to get to the truth of the matter quite simply. Anyone who refuses to provide testimony via Veritaserum is presumed to be lying or hiding something."
"Is there no way to get around Veritaserum?" Rachel asked.
"High level occlumency provides some resistance to Veritaserum, mostly in the ability to not answer questions. I've never known anyone to be able to lie while under the effects of properly brewed Veritaserum. There's also an antidote to Veritaserum, but obviously while being questioned by the Ministry you would not be able to administer it yourself," Severus explained. "The best way to resist Veritaserum is to not get dosed with it in the first place. If someone offers you a beverage in an out of the ordinary situation, it's best either not to drink it, or pretend to drink it without ingesting any of it."
Rachel nodded. She didn't see why anyone would want to use Veritaserum on her, she didn't know much of anything anyone would ask about, but it was good to keep that in mind. "Will we have to wait until tomorrow to find out what the outcome of the trial is?"
"Likely there will be a special edition of the Evening Prophet, there usually is when a high profile case is heard at the Ministry," he said.
So she just had to wait until around dinnertime. That wasn't too bad.
"What are you planning to do today?" Severus asked.
"Some homework. I'll probably fly for a bit too," she said.
"Good, it's good to keep yourself occupied," Severus said.
Rachel began eating her now soggy cereal and settled in for worrying for the rest of the day.
She spent the rest of the morning writing her essay for Transfiguration. She'd already completed her essays for Charms, Arithmancy, and History of Magic, and her translations for Ancient Runes. Next up was her Potions essay, which she wanted to ask Severus for recommendations on what books she should look at for information about antidotes. She'd saved that one for last because she wanted to put some extra research into it and she'd promised to write down what she found out for the rest of the study group to use.
Before going down to lunch she checked her two-way book, but nobody had written anything since last night. She had a turkey sandwich for lunch and then went out into the backyard to fly.
Most days she worked with her practice Snitch. There wasn't much point in doing Chaser drills with a Quaffle when she had no one to pass to and no goal hoops to aim at. Today she just flew around, slowly accelerating and decelerating while flying in loops around the yard. It did feel good to be in the air, but it didn't keep her mind off Sirius.
After a while she landed and went back upstairs to her bedroom. After looking around for something to do she began sorting out all the pieces of parchment she'd shoved into her desk from where they'd gathered in her trunk.
Essays and homework assignments that she could potentially use when revising for her OWLs went into one pile for her to keep, notes and other assorted parchments went into another pile for her to get rid of. She couldn't believe she went through this much parchment in just a year, and all of the notes she was keeping were already in her two-way book from last year.
"Rachel," Severus' voice called from downstairs.
Rachel looked up from her piles of parchment. She was almost finished, but she abandoned them in favor of hurrying down the stairs.
"He was released," Severus said, standing up to hand her a copy of the Evening Prophet.
Rachel looked at the front page and smiled in relief as she saw the headline. 'Sirius Black's name cleared, released from Ministry custody.'
"They really let him out," she said, looking at the picture of Sirius standing in front of a golden statue, looking frail but with a big smile on his face.
"According to the article, he was cleared on the offenses he was originally charged for, and released with time served for the offenses of escaping from Azkaban, not registering as an animagus, and kidnapping," Severus said.
"They charged him for kidnapping me?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, that was unavoidable given that the Ministry was involved with arranging things so that Sirius would return you," Severus said.
Rachel thought that was weird but decided she didn't care. Sirius was free! "I'm going to go write him a letter. Thanks for telling me!"
"You're welcome," Severus said as Rachel hurried back up the stairs.
Rachel collected her quill, a clean sheet of parchment, and her two-way book. Before she started her letter she opened her two-way book to where their conversation had left off yesterday and wrote 'Sirius was released!'.
Then she settled down to think about what she wanted to tell Sirius. It was going to be a long letter.
"There's a letter for you on the table," Severus said as Rachel came into the kitchen for breakfast.
Curious, Rachel went directly to the table instead of getting breakfast first. The letter had the Hogwarts seal on it and she realized that it was her grades. She stared at it as she thought about her exams, trying to decide how well she had done.
"Would it be easier for you if I simply tell you your grades at the end of the term so you don't have to wait for the letter?" Severus asked.
Rachel looked at Severus and thought about it. "I don't know. I mean, you'd have told me if I'd done poorly, wouldn't you?"
"If any of the professors were concerned about your work they would have talked to me about it long before it was time for you to take your exams, and I would have discussed it with you so that you could get whatever help you needed," Severus said. "Your grades do not have to be perfect."
"You're a professor," Rachel pointed out.
"I am, but that's hardly the point. I can assure you that my own grades were not perfect when I attended Hogwarts. Rachel, truly, I will not be upset with you over your grades, no matter what they are," he said.
Rachel sat down across from Severus. "What if I got a failing grade?"
"Like I said, your professors would talk to me, and to you, before it got to that point," Severus said. "I know how much you study and how hard you work. I don't understand why you are so worried about your grades. Can you tell me?"
"I just want to do well. It's important to me. And I want you to see that I can do well," Rachel said after a moment.
"I know you can do well, you've more than proven that to me. I don't want you to feel that you have to spend all of your time studying to appease me," Severus said.
"I don't. I play Quidditch, and I read, and during the school year I spend time with my friends doing things that aren't studying," she said. Those things were true, though she did know that their study group spent more time studying than most of the other students in their year.
"Alright, but please know that you don't have to worry about your grades for my sake," Severus said. "Why don't you open them now and get it out of the way."
Rachel bit her lower lip and carefully unsealed the letter. She skimmed the paragraph at the top and then looked over her grades. All Outstandings and third in her class. She didn't have to ask to know Hermione and Theo took the first and second spots. "Okay," she said, relieved.
"Like I said, you don't need to worry about this. You did very well," Severus said.
"Right," Rachel said, wondering if Severus knew that telling someone not to worry didn't actually cause them to stop worrying. She noticed there was another piece of parchment included and set her grades to the side. "Oh, they sent our books lists already too. I guess that means Professor Dumbledore found a new Defense professor."
"Mad-Eye Moody," Severus said.
"What?" Rachel asked.
"His name is Alastor Moody, though everyone calls him Mad-Eye because he has a special prosthetic eye that can see through solid surfaces. He's a retired auror," Severus explained.
"Oh. Do you think he'll be a good professor?" Rachel asked.
"That remains to be seen. He's not a fraud, like Lockhart, but he's very intense and paranoid, and he has a profound hatred for Death Eaters. Let me know if he gives you any trouble," he said.
"Okay," Rachel said. She supposed they could deal with anyone who wasn't as bad as Lockhart. "My list says 'dress robes or gown' in addition to the books I need."
"Those will be for the Yule Ball, we'll have to make a separate trip to get you fitted for a gown," Severus said.
Rachel tried to imagine herself in a gown and couldn't do it. The fanciest things she wore were skirts with a t-shirt or her uniform shirt. "Do you have dress robes?" she asked.
"I do, for formal occasions," Severus said.
Rachel tried to imagine Severus in dress robes and couldn't do that either. This whole ball thing was weird.
"Do you want some eggs for breakfast?" he asked.
"Sure," Rachel said, though she was eager to go upstairs and see if any of her friends were around their two-way books.
Twenty minutes later Rachel sat down on her bed with her two-way book. She found that there was a conversation already ongoing.
'Grades are here! And book lists on the same day! How did everyone do?' Hermione had written.
'All Os and fourth in class, my mom is so happy,' Millie had answered.
'One E and the rest Os, seventh in class. My Gran was pleased as well,' Neville had added.
'All Os, second in class. I'm assuming you were first, Hermione?' Theo had written.
'Yes, all Os and first. Congratulations everyone! All our studying really paid off!' Hermione answered.
'All Os and third in class,' Rachel wrote. She assumed Severus was pleased, though it had been a little hard to tell.
'Os with one E, second in class,' Luna wrote in her loopy handwriting.
'Os with one E, fourth in class. Mom was very happy. The twins got five OWLs each, which she wasn't thrilled about,' Ginny wrote.
'We all did really well! Two things Professor Snape told me. Our new Defense professor is a retired auror called Alastor Moody, but everyone calls him Mad-Eye. And the dress robes and gowns on our lists are for the Yule Ball,' Rachel wrote, glad that she had some more information to tell everyone.
'A retired auror, that sounds promising,' Hermione wrote.
'Anyone is better than Lockhart,' Theo added.
'We should try to go buy our gowns together,' Millie wrote.
'Oh, that would be fun! I've never worn a gown before,' Hermione wrote.
'Me neither, I imagine it would be soft,' Luna wrote
'I'll ask Professor Snape and we'll see if we can work out a time all of us can go,' Rachel wrote.
'I'm not sure if I can. Mom will want to try to get something for me second-hand,' Ginny added.
Rachel frowned. She didn't want Ginny to be left out and gowns couldn't be that expensive, could they? Maybe the group could all go in together to get her one as a birthday gift.
'Well, we can at least try to go to Diagon Alley together, assuming the timing works out,' Hermione answered.
'We'll figure something out,' Rachel wrote back. She got up and retrieved a few sheets of parchment from her desk and then began writing letters to her friends - everyone except Ginny and Theo. Hopefully this would work out and maybe Millie's mom would be able to tell them how much a gown would cost.
"Let me see how your Shield charm is coming along," Severus said.
"Protego," Rachel said, a brief flash of light in front of her letting them know she'd cast it correctly.
"Good, hold it for a minute," he said, walking so that he was a little further away.
Rachel focused on keeping her shield up while staring through it into the garden. She'd been practicing the Shield charm for a few months now, but this was the first time Severus had taken her outside to test it in action.
Severus held up his wand and then slashed it forward.
Rachel flinched instinctively and immediately dropped her Shield charm.
Severus lowered his wand. "I did not cast anything that would hurt you. Look on your shirt."
She looked down and found a white dot on her shirt. She rubbed at it and found that it came off easily.
"It's the spell Creta, which is used to train young students in targeting practice. It doesn't hurt, it just leaves a mark that shows you where you were hit," he explained.
Rachel nodded. She knew Severus wouldn't cast anything harmful at her, she'd just reacted. "Sorry."
"No, I'm sorry, I should have told you what I was casting," Severus said. "Cast your Shield charm and let's try again."
"Protego," Rachel said, holding her wand out in front of her.
Severus didn't wait this time, immediately casting the training spell at her again.
Rachel felt a small shiver of feedback through her wand as the spell hit her shield.
"This isn't going to work," Severus said as he walked back over to Rachel. "This is not how combat works."
"At least my Shield charm worked," she said.
"Yes, you did well. We'll work on you casting that for longer durations, but what I want you to be able to do now is to escape when you need to, and to cast a Shield charm when you see that someone is about to cast a spell at you. First, the Creta spell. It's very straight forward. Wand straight up and brought down to aim the tip at whoever you're targeting. Try it now on me," Severus said.
Rachel backed away a few steps so she had enough room. "Creta." A small dot of white appeared on Severus' chest, right where she'd aimed her wand.
"Good. Have you ever played hide and seek?" he asked.
"Kinda," Rachel said. The games of hide and seek she'd played with Dudley had either ended in her getting left in her hiding place as he and his friends went off to do something else, or her getting punched if she found him. She had learned quickly not to look very hard.
"This will be similar. Let's move further back into the garden. Your goal will be to reach the mailbox and get hit as few times with the Creta spell as you can. If you're going to pass through an open space, try to maintain your Shield spell, but you can drop it while you're hiding. If you need to stop, hold up your wand and use the colored sparks spell. Any questions?" Severus asked.
"It's a little different than it would be in Hogwarts," Rachel said as she looked around the yard for spaces she could hide and run to.
"I know, and perhaps when we go back before school starts we can practice there too, but for now I want you to get used to covering yourself while you escape," Severus said.
"Running away is better than using the Stunning spell or the Disarming charm?" Rachel asked.
"That depends on who you're fighting, but most practiced witches and wizards won't easily be caught by one of those, they'll use a Shield charm to deflect it. Right now, if you can't disarm or stun your opponent, the best thing you can do is get away to get help," Severus reasoned. "Or, at the very least, you can lure them to a place where you have a better advantage."
Rachel nodded. She supposed that made sense. Hopefully she wouldn't be fighting anyone though.
"Alright, I'll give you to the count of ten before I turn around," Severus said. "Are you ready?"
Rachel took another glance around the yard and identified her first hiding spot. "I'm ready."
"Go on then," Severus said, turning around so he was looking out further into the field.
Rachel took off running as she listened to Severus counting. She made it to the shrubs just before he reached nine. She could feel her heart racing as she crouched down and she reminded herself that it was just a game, just like Quidditch.
After about a minute of waiting she peeked up to see where Severus was looking. He was facing away from her as he looked near the sheds. She took off for the copse of trees that intruded into their yard, but Severus turned and aimed his wand.
"Protego!" Rachel shouted, holding her shield to her side as she ran.
Severus cast the Creta spell three times at her before she made it to the trees.
She immediately realized she was in trouble. Severus knew exactly where she was. "Protego," she said again and then took off across the yard at a run. She made it to the shrubs that surrounded Severus' garden for potion ingredients and dropped down on her hands and knees. This was impossible in an open space.
Severus appeared a moment later, his wand pointing at her.
"I surrender," Rachel said quickly.
"You did well," Severus said, reaching down to help her up.
"Not at all," Rachel said, catching her breath.
"You were only hit twice," he pointed out.
"And the mailbox is still halfway across the yard," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I shouldn't have moved. I should have waited until you were further away before I tried to go further."
"Probably, though you may not have gotten that opportunity. It's a balance. And if your enemy already knows where you are, you'd have to do exactly as you did, try to protect yourself as you ran for cover," Severus said. "One thing you should be careful of is not exposing your back when you're trying to get for cover, since you can't cast the Shield charm behind you. That's where I was able to hit you."
Rachel nodded. "If I had gone deeper into the trees, I could have emerged closer to the house."
"That would be a good strategy. Areas with a lot of cover make it harder for you to run, but also make you much harder to hit. Do you want to try again?" he asked.
"Yeah," Rachel said. It was kind of fun, now that she'd done it once.
Severus felt dread as he saw Albus' Patronus appear in his bedroom early on Friday morning.
"May I come speak with you at your home?" Albus' voice asked from the silvery phoenix.
He cast his Patronus charm. "To Albus Dumbledore. At your convenience," he said, and watched as his doe hurried away through his bedroom wall. He dressed quickly and went downstairs, his thoughts preoccupied with the possibilities of why Albus had asked to speak with him so early.
Severus put the kettle on the stove and took out two cups. Getting messages like this reminded him far too much of the war.
He'd just poured two cups of tea and added sugar in Albus' cup when he heard the knock on his front door. "Tea's waiting in the kitchen," he said by way of greeting after he opened the front door.
"Thank you, I appreciate it," Albus said. He had clearly been up all night.
They sat down in the kitchen and Severus cast a privacy ward. He didn't usually see Rachel until around eight in the morning, but it didn't hurt to take precautions. "What happened?" he asked after Albus had finished taking a sip of his tea.
"You heard about the results of Peter Pettigrew's trial yesterday, I presume?" Albus asked.
"We saw it in the Evening Prophet, yes. Sentenced to life in Azkaban for being a Death Eater and for the murder of twelve muggles," Severus said. Rachel had seemed bothered by the news, though she wouldn't say why.
"Head Auror Shacklebolt contacted me shortly after midnight. One of the MLE guards on duty found Pettigrew's cell empty. Pettigrew was going to be transferred to Azkaban this morning," Albus explained.
Severus set down his cup with a loud clink. "Pettigrew escaped?"
"Yes. The search has already begun, the MLE and the aurors are mobilized, and it will be in the Daily Prophet this morning," Albus said.
It took a moment for Severus to process all of this, his mind continuing to come back to the fact that Pettigrew had escaped. "I assume every member of the MLE is going to be questioned using Veritaserum to determine who was responsible for Pettigrew's escape? This wasn't an accident."
"No, this was not an accident. Clearly there is a Death Eater or a Death Eater sympathizer in the MLE that we didn't know about. Questioning of the guards for the Ministry cells took place last night. All established procedures were followed, there was nothing out of the ordinary reported," Albus said.
"I'll go through my contacts, though it may take a few weeks," Severus said, already starting to make plans for who he would talk to and how he would go about it. Though Pettigrew's escape was important, it was more important to know who in the MLE was working with the Death Eaters.
"Your past with Pettigrew is probably too well known for you to show any appreciation or concern for him, I would focus more on appreciation for the task of getting him out of the Ministry cells," Albus suggested.
Severus nodded. "Am I correct in assuming that there was nothing in Pettigrew's interrogations that indicated he was interested in coming after Rachel?"
"Yes, he only mentioned her in the context of her being the Girl-Who-Lived. I think Pettigrew is likely making his way to the continent. He'll be much harder to find there," Albus said.
"He'll be hard to find anywhere, he can take the form of a rat," Severus said. Obviously Black's animagus form had helped him to travel unseen, there was no reason for Pettigrew not to do the same.
"That's true, but given his past behavior, I suspect Pettigrew's primary concern is his own life. I don't believe he'll act unless he sees the advantage in it for himself," Albus said.
That certainly sounded like Pettigrew. "I appreciate you telling me."
"I wanted to let you know, before you and Rachel saw it in the paper. I trust she is doing well?" Albus asked.
"She worries far too much about her grades and her studies, but she is doing well overall," Severus said.
"She's an excellent student, but I'm thankful that her mind is on her studies and not focused on worries about the Death Eaters or Voldemort. I can see how it would be easy for a young mind to become preoccupied with fear in her situation," Albus said.
"She's well aware of the situation with the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord, but she has a level head on her shoulders for the most part," Severus said.
Albus nodded and got to his feet. "Good, that will serve her well in the coming years. Thank you for the tea."
Severus stood as well. "Thank you for thinking to inform us of the situation first. I'll start making arrangements to see people later today once the news has broken widely."
"I appreciate that. Anything that might suggest who we're looking for will be helpful," Albus said. "I'll see you at the staff meeting in August, if we don't have cause to meet before then."
"I'll see you then," Severus said, watching as Albus apparated away.
He put the teacups in the sink and cast a dish washing charm at them before setting them aside to dry.
"Was someone here?" Rachel asked from the doorway to the kitchen.
"Yes, Albus was here just a moment ago. I didn't realize we had woken you," Severus said.
Rachel shrugged and came into the kitchen. "I was already awake. I thought I heard someone knock at the door and then voices for a moment. Why was Professor Dumbledore here so early?"
"Come take a seat and we'll talk," Severus said, wishing he'd had more time to think about this before he had to explain it to Rachel.
"Death Eaters?" Rachel asked as she sat down at the kitchen table.
"In a sense," he said, watching as she nervously bit her lower lip. "Peter Pettigrew escaped last night before he was to be transferred to Azkaban."
"Do they think he's coming after me? Are there going to be Dementors at Hogwarts again?" she asked.
"No. Albus thinks he's likely heading to the continent. We don't expect that he's a direct threat to you," Severus said, grateful that there weren't going to be Dementors at Hogwarts again considering how poorly it had gone last year.
Rachel nodded and looked relieved. "Do they know how he escaped?"
"They think there might be a Death Eater or a Death Eater sympathizer within the MLE. I'm going to make some discreet inquiries and see what I can find out. There may be a few evenings in the coming weeks where I am away for a few hours," he explained.
"Okay. They won't think it's weird that you're asking? It won't look like Professor Dumbledore told you to ask?" she asked.
"No, everyone will want to know. Many identities of the Death Eaters were kept secret, even from each other, so that if someone was caught, they couldn't compromise too many others. People have become more lax about that in the years since the end of the war, but obviously there are some who have kept their identity a secret," Severus said.
Rachel seemed to think about that for a long moment. "It must have been important then, to get Pettigrew out, for them to reveal themselves like that," she said.
Severus nodded. "It seems so." It was certainly something for him to keep in mind as they searched.