Fae was never good at staying still. Ever. She was good at wandering and adventuring and touring, but even that loses its charm in the middle of war. Hanging out at Loch Ness and celebrating Romilly's birthday was fun for a week, but they all agreed that while they had three weeks left before they could move forward with the plan, they could still spend that time wisely.

So they hopped across the pond once more and followed Regulus to Durmstrang. Unlike Hogwarts, Durmstrang still operated through the summer, usually giving exclusive advanced and focused courses to select students. Regulus had taken a healing course there just a few years ago and thus, knew where the school was located. He also knew the current Headmaster, Melanie Bludvist, still firmly believed in the school's mandate of teaching the Dark Arts properly. She also believed in denouncing criminal usage of the Dark Arts and just hated Dark Lords in general, what with the connection this school had to Grindelwald.

It was a huge gamble, letting anybody but them know that Regulus was alive. However, Regulus had been sure that Bludvist wouldn't rat them out and their gamble paid off. She hid them within the school and gave them access to all their resources, so long as they worked mostly at night and avoided the students during the day. That meant they had an entirely new, ancient library on Dark Arts and access to dueling classrooms. They went to work.

Regulus and Romilly dove into their research on Horcruxes once more, looking for a sure-fire way to destroy them. Regulus also spent ample time practicing medicine again, knowing he'd be there for the final battle and determined to be a frontline healer. That left Romilly to join Fae for her intensive dueling practice. Aside from Rome, most of Fae's encounters had really been trapping or ambushing her targets, and only a few at a time. The final battle likely would be a full-scale, free-for-all duel and she would need to be ready. Her reflexes had to be in peak condition, her magic control perfect, her precision and accuracy as close to perfect as she could get. At least she had no problem killing on-sight. Not anymore.

So Fae worked out her frustrations at night in the dueling arenas and in the woods, building up her strength and keeping her mind focused and clear. Probably one of the hardest, and smartest, things she did was tell Peter not to contact her unless it was an emergency. If someone like Sirius or Remus got captured. Or killed. The notebook stayed blank and Fae had faith in them that they were holding out.

Time ticked down and soon, they were five days out from Hogwarts. They'd have to start going back soon and while Romilly and Regulus, with Bludvist's help, had come up with numerous potions, curses, and methods of causing severe damage to an object, the whole extremely-dark-curse thing had kind of made it hard to nail something. Bludvist had become particularly interested and invested in trying to figure out how to destroy a Horcrux.

The best they came up with near the end was, hilariously, Fiendfyre. It had the highest destructive power and worked against almost every cursed object they threw it out. The only problem was, for all of Fae's practicing, it was notoriously difficult to control and extremely dangerous. Liable to break free and rampage endlessly, if you weren't hideously careful. Not to mention the drain it had on the caster's magic stores.

It was plan B, Fae decided. Unless they could find a way to control it or channel it better. The amount of energy and control they would need to destroy five Horcruxes in one go was too tricky as they were now. Regulus frowned at that, argued that there had to be some kind of spell or Black antique that could help, like the conduit. As they had no access to the House of Black and likely wouldn't until after the war, Fae decided she had no choice, but to bring back her previous plan.

So she told them about how she'd been researching Horcruxes and the one thing the books all seemed to agree on, other than it being a ridiculously fucked up dark piece of magic, was that the Horcruxes were first created by Herpo the Foul. He had created a Horcrux, probably a few similar objects too before he got it right. And he was dead. So at some point his Horcrux, or Horcruxes, must've been destroyed. Now, Herpo the Foul was also famously known for one more thing.

"Basilisk Venom, of course!" Romilly said, slapping her hand against her forehead.

Fae beamed at her. "Right on the money, Romilly. Herpo the Foul also created the first Basilisk. It's a bit of a stretch, but I think his Horcruxes were destroyed by his Basilisk."

"It's not! It makes perfect sense," the blonde said excitedly.

Regulus frowned at them. "How? What makes Basilisk Venom so special?"

"What makes- you ignorant slut!" Romilly screeched at him, sending Fae into fits of laughter. "Basilisk Venom is one of the most powerful, deadly, and corrosive venoms in the world. The only antidote is Phoenix Tears. Phoenix Tears! Do you know how rare those are?"

"Probably about as rare as a Basilisk," Regulus said dryly. "Where are we going to find one of those?"

"Aha. About that," Fae said sheepishly.

Seriously, thank Merlin for Herpo the Foul. Fae had no clue how she was going to get Regulus and Romilly to believe her about the Basilisk Venom being necessary otherwise. Now came the trickier part - telling them she knew where to find some venom. She had to lie a little bit because they'd be really, really confused if they knew she knew about Horcruxes before Regulus figured it out and she had no explanation for that. Thankfully, they seemed to believe her story about researching Voldemort way back when in preparation for the war.

"SO THAT'S WHY YOU LEARNED TO DUEL BLIND!"

"You got me," Fae said, grinning and winking. "I started training as soon as Myrtle confirmed it for me. The timing of her death lined up too easily with Tom's time at Hogwarts and the Chamber of Secrets being opened. When she told me how she died, it was 1+1 is 2."

Regulus and Romilly stared at her with twin astonished looks and Fae chuckled.

"Of course, back then all I wanted was just to see if it was legit. I found the sink with the snake mark and everything, but I couldn't get in no matter what I tried," she elaborated, rolling her eyes as she remembered all her painful, failed attempts to get in.

"That's because you probably had to speak parseltongue, you idiot!" Regulus yelled. "What were you thinking, trying to go see a Basilisk! What if you'd let it loose on the school!"

"Well, that seemed like a problem for Dumbledore," she said easily. "The fact that it was there at all was kind of a Dumbledore-problem, you know? And at least I tried over breaks when nobody was there? Or I meant to, anyways."

"Still! That thing could kill you with a single look!" Ah, Regulus, so adorably fussy.

"Hence, learning to get around blind," she pointed out.

He looked skyward and sighed deeply before continuing his lecture. "It could still bite you and kill you! That venom alone would kill you in seconds!"

"Which is what makes it perfect for destroying Horcruxes, I would think," Fae said, grinning smugly at his exasperated face.

"Well, if the venom is all you need, then there's no reason to go through all the trouble of somehow getting into the Chamber of Secrets and fighting that poor creature. Although, we really should relocate him to a safe place," Romilly said, words trailing off in a cute, thoughtful ramble.

"Come again?"

"My grandfather in America has some," she answered. "I'm sure he'd let us have it if I asked."

"Are you fucking- What? Who just has Basilisk Venom laying around?" Regulus gasped.

Fae blinked. No way. It couldn't be. Could it? "Excellent question. Romilly. Who exactly is your grandfather?" she asked slowly, practically on the edge of her seat to hear the answer.

"Didn't you know? Grandpa Newt wrote Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He's a world-renowned magizoologist. Practically created the field."

Silence.

"YOUR GRANDFATHER IS NEWTON ARTEMIS FIDO FUCKING SCAMANDER?!" Fae screamed, voice echoing for miles.

Romilly shrugged. "Yeah. My mother is his eldest daughter. He still travels a lot so it might take us a bit to track him down, but he usually stays close to New York this time of year. Grandma hates when he misses their anniversary."

She was going completely out of her mind. Holy fucking hell. "NEWT SCAMANDER. AND TINA. PORPENTINA GOLDSTEIN. SCAMANDER."

Regulus seemed just as shocked, if for a slightly different reason. "Woah, woah, woah. Porpentina Scamander is your grandma? Do you know what she's done? How amazing she is? She-"

Romilly cut him off tiredly. "Was one of the strongest American politicians of her time and changed no less than 16 laws about muggle-wizard interaction, wrote another 8, and currently still serves as advisor to the President of MACUSA, I know," she drawled. "I take it you guys are fans?"

"You have no idea," Fae said.

"Holy fuck. So… We're going to America then?"

Romilly shrugged again. "Yeah, sure, if that's what we need," she said.

"Grandma will be able to call him home for us for sure and as it so happens, Gramps is actually a fan of yours Fae." At that, she paused and gave Fae a sheepish, apologetic look.

"I hope you're not mad, but I kind of told him about you? I didn't give him your name or anything, I just told him that I had a werewolf friend who had shattered basically everything previously known about werewolves and actually confirmed a significant amount of his research as well. He'll be thrilled to meet you," she explained quickly.

"Holy fuck. Newt Scamander knows who I am?" Fae squeaked.

"You could say that. And, you know, he also has experience in taking down Dark Lords so I imagine he'll be happy to let us have some venom for our cause. Hmm. And he'll probably want to know about the Basilisk at Hogwarts. Oooh, maybe he'll let me help him relocate him!" Romilly said, thoughts wandering off again.

Regulus cleared his throat. "Right then. Hogwarts, and then America. I guess the Acosta's are taking their prolonged honeymoon overseas."

Fae was thrilled, singing and skipping and waltzing Romilly around as they packed up and departed. Fuck, it'd be hard to leave Europe during the war. But. AMERICA. And NEWT SCAMANDER. For a second, she'd be in her old home country and she'd meet one of her favorite characters of all time. That and she didn't have to fight a Basilisk. Score!

They left Durmstrang for Romania and Fae finally got to fly on the back of a dragon. Reggie, or Reginald as Regulus insisted on calling him because it sounded more refined, took them all back over to Scotland, dropping them in the Forbidden Forest. It was a bit tricky - things looked so different from above and Fae really didn't want to land anywhere near the Acromantulas. Luckily, they landed near the Thestral fields and from there, it was a short trek to the Shrieking Shack.

At the Shrieking Shack, they pulled out their old uniforms and quickly changed, only for Fae to laugh her ass off as Regulus struggled to get into his robes. They stretched tightly across his shoulders like a rubberband about to snap and the bottom hem of his robes were showing so much ankle, he'd be called the slut of the village in colonial times. Fae laughed and pointed while Romilly took pity on him and pointed her wand at him to enlarge the robes. Except, to Regulus' dismay, she enlarged them far too big and suddenly Regulus was drowning in fabric and showing a whole lot more than his ankles.

"Oops."

"You did that on purpose!"

Fae whooped and wolf whistled while Regulus scrambled for his wand to fix the robes while trying to keep them from slipping even further down. How cute, trying to preserve his modesty. Romilly didn't even bother, they'd been living together for the past few months and both she and Fae were used to just stripping off their clothes whenever in their hotel rooms. Regulus had gotten plenty of eyefuls and had always politely, panickedly turned away and yelled at them to have some decency.

At least he'd gotten used to sleeping in the same bed as them again while they wore the bare minimum in the summer heat. For a while, he'd insisted on the hotel couch or conjuring a bed, but they just dragged him in with them anyways. Wolves and panthers, they argued, liked to cuddle. It was a pack thing. Fae simply felt better with them close.

Finally, he got his robes to a proper size, with a funnily large amount of finnicking. It was no surprise, it had been two years and Regulus was taller than ever. Plus he'd gained some decent muscle and put healthy weight back on in the past months. Romilly was a tad too tall for her robes too, but passable. And frustratingly, they both made Hogwarts robes look so high fashion. Damn long legs and regal facial features and pretty hair.

They walked into Hogwarts through the secret passage, melding into all the students easily in disguise with their glamour jewelry and robes, looking for ghosts to speak to. There were probably at least a hundred ghosts at Hogwarts, so they narrowed it down to about four of the oldest known ghosts each for starters. Except Peeves because he'd rat them out. They drew straws for Binns - he'd been here since time began, they were convinced, and must've seen something if there was anything to see. They just had to catch him out of class and be prepared to listen for hours. And hours.

Fae called dibs on the Bloody Baron, Juniper the Just who haunted the Gryffindor Common Room, Edward Clogg on the Quidditch Pitch, and Bryony Shelton in the library.

Romilly, who drew the short straw, had Binns and the Fat Friar. They figured that was fair and would take about the same amount of time.

That left Regulus with Sir Nick, The Black Knight, Nestus Perriwinkle in the kitchen, and the Grey Lady.

It was actually really exciting to be back at Hogwarts. She hadn't forgotten how beautiful and grand it was, but with everything going on, she'd forgotten to miss it. It felt good being back. Good, strange, and thrilling because she wasn't supposed to be there.

Fae kept to her duties fairly obediently, but also figured there was no shame in wasting some time just enjoying herself. The Diadem was all she needed and since Regulus had the Grey Lady and would easily charm her with his sweet, awkward self, Fae could technically just do whatever she wanted til it was time to go to the Room of Requirement. Since she felt a little guilty about giving her friends extra, unnecessary work, Fae decided to play along at least a bit.

The Bloody Baron was down in the dungeons, thankfully out of the Slytherin Common Room and they chatted for a bit, but he was probably the least talkative of all the ghosts so he took off not long after she'd found him. Feeling mischievous, Fae broke into Slytherin anyways, turned all the books on the shelves backwards, tipped all the paintings slightly sideways, and left the furniture floating halfway to the ceiling. For old times sake.

For old times sake, she also went to the Gryffindor Common Room. She chatted briefly with Mr. Juniper, but mostly just wandered around and lounged on the carpet in front of the fire. Sirius had always liked to stretch out here while he did his homework or talked with James. Peter usually sat in that chair and Remus always liked the couch. He'd be curled up with a book there for hours, like that one Valentine's Day they'd hung out here after stalking her brother and Lily on their date. Fae ran her fingers over the top of the couch, fingered the material of her favorite blanket that she always used here.

Next was Edward Clogg. He liked to haunt the quidditch pitch and offer flying lessons. Fae had always turned him down, but he'd always been nice about it and enjoyed the few quidditch training sessions she'd gotten to run. Fae walked a slow lap around the pitch, remembering the millions of times she'd run this with Remus, Peter, and James. The memories superimposed over each other and echoing.

Before heading back in, she took a detour down by Hagrid's, where they used to have their picnics. The square of dead grass wasn't there anymore and that made her feel sadder than she'd expected it too. Someone was almost always waiting for her when she came back from running in the Forbidden Forest. Sometimes all of them, bickering over who got to spend time with her and then Remus would take her hand, wink, and spirit her away while nobody noticed so they could enjoy a picnic of their own in their den.

And speaking of their den. Fae had saved Bryony and the library for last. The library was complicated. The last year she'd spent in here, and she'd spent a good chunk of her time here, had been lonely, dire, and filled with grim focus. It had helped tremendously and she had learned a lot of spells and skills that had helped her make it this far today, but it still hadn't been the best of times. Now, the three years before that? Much better. Much more beautiful memories. She took the familiar turns and aisles, finding her way to the back of the library and to her and Remus' den. Their little hideaway.

Fae climbed up easily and let out a sigh of relief she hadn't even realized she was holding when she peered in and saw the same old blankets and pillows, covered in a small layer of dust. Before she cast a cleaning charm, she smelled deeply. Nobody had been there since her. It made her happy to know that this place still remained just her's and Remus'. She could even still smell her tears and her distress from that really bad week. But she could also smell her happiness. And ever so faintly, she could smell Remus. The cleaning charm was cast and she fell forward into the pile of blankets, curling up and smiling and laughing a little. She rolled over and traced the arches, the cracks in the stone, the little phrases she'd written on the walls when she'd been too lazy to conjure a notebook. Gods, there were so many happy, perfect little memories here. No matter what, she could always get Remus to be at ease with her here.

It was with great difficulty that Fae made herself leave their den. She still had work to do. So she went to talk to Bryony, got a whole heaping bunch of nothing, and then wandered the stacks until Regulus and Romilly eventually came to find her.

"Seriously? Come on, Fae. We're not here to relive glory days," Regulus teased.

"Of course not, the glory days are ahead of us," Fae said, grinning. "And on that note, what'd we find out?"

"Nothing on my end," Romilly said, sighing and looking slightly traumatized. "Tom Riddle was a perfect student, nothing suspicious."

"Same here," Fae agreed.

Regulus smirked. "Oh, I guess I win then. Your hunch was right. I talked to the Grey Lady, also known as Helena Ravenclaw, and she told me all about how Riddle had charmed her, found her Diadem where she hid it, turned it into a Horcrux, and brought it back here."

Way to go Regulus. She knew he'd be able to get it out of her.

"Called it!" Fae said, thrusting a fist in the air. "Room of Requirement?"

"Room of Requirement."

"Whoever finds it first gets to pick dinner and movies tonight. Ready, set, go!" she declared, turning and rushing for the moving staircase.

"Wha- Fae, that's not fair! You can smell it!"

Fae raced them to the seventh floor corridor, called for the door, and burst through it as it appeared easily. The room was just as wild and fascinating as she left. A dancing jinx whizzed past her ear and she squealed, laughing delightedly as she ran into the room and began to weave herself through the aisles of junk. Romilly and Regulus were playing dirty, apparently. The three of them bobbed and weaved, ducking in and out of piles, sending cute second-year curses and hexes at each other, just reliving their youth for a moment. Fae had nearly forgotten all about the Diadem until Romilly appeared with it, standing victoriously atop the pile with it in her gloved hands.

"Idiot!" Regulus yelled, coming barreling down the aisles and using his wand to send the Diadem flying to the ground.

"Are you stupid or something? Don't you remember how cursed the other Horcruxes were?" he said, reaching her and ripping off her gloves. Regulus inspected her hands thoroughly, searching for traces of dark magic or injury. Fae's mouth dropped while she watched and Romilly only gave him a fond, exasperated look as he felt all over her bare, scarred hands.

She'd never seen Romilly let anyone touch her hands. She was okay if Fae asked first, but usually preferred to paint her nails herself or things like that. Romilly was just much more comfortable with her gloves on. And without them, she had to be the one to initiate the touch, like when she offered to brush out Fae's hair. Or Regulus', she realized. That had been happening lately too. And Fae supposed they'd been close for years and it made sense, but still.

"It's fine. I ran the diagnostic you taught me first," she told him softly.

"Still. You could've been killed," he insisted firmly.

"But I'm fine," Romilly said, poking his nose with a perfectly fine finger playfully and laughing at his cross-eyed expression. "Now quit fussing and get out your wallet. I'm thinking I want lobster tonight."

"What? No way!"

"Don't be a sore loser now," she said.

"Yeah, Regulus, Romilly won so she gets to pick. That's the deal," Fae added, ganging up on him because lobster.

"Why do I always pay for everything?" he whined.

Fae scoffed. "You don't, your Uncle Alphard does, because if you or I pulled any money from our accounts, Death Eaters would be on us in seconds."

He sighed. "Fine, but can we watch something other than a scary movie tonight?"

Romilly smiled sweetly at him. "Haha, no. I'm feeling Friday the 13th. Fae?"

"Sounds perfect. Let's get out of here."

Of course, it couldn't just be that easy. They'd gotten to the courtyard and were practically scot-free when Fae heard, "Ms. Potter."

And that was definitely McGonagall.

"Fuck."

"Professor Dumbledore would like to see you before you go," McGonagall said as Fae turned slowly to face her.

Fae sighed deeply and then glanced at Regulus and Romilly defeatedly. "You guys go on. I can check out what he wants and see if some of those items on our list are accounted for while I'm at it. I'll meet Charlese and Kent at McClain's around 7?"

"Yeah, alright."

"Pick something good for dinner!" she yelled, knowing Regulus would whine until he got his way and Romilly picked something more reasonable.

Fae walked with McGonagall through the halls, trying terribly not to feel like a student getting caught with detention.

"So I guess you guys knew we were here the whole time?"

"No," McGonagall said, voice amused. "I think you might've been here for five minutes before we noticed."

Fae laughed. "Well thank you for letting us get what we needed, I guess."

To her surprise, the witch smiled kindly at her. "And thank you, Ms. Potter, for your efforts in the war. You've made a great deal of progress."

"And a great deal of trouble. I know," Fae said bittersweetly. "I bet you guys are getting some backlash now that it's public knowledge Tommy was a student here."

"Oh it was always public knowledge, few just knew He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as Tom Riddle. It's a small price to pay, nonetheless, for dispelling the fear he held over so many," she replied. And honestly? That made Fae feel so much better about things.

"Yeah it is kind of hard to be scared of a crackpot hypocrite with no nose and a stunning lack of loyal followers."

"Indeed," McGonagall said, laughing just slightly. "You've done well, Ms. Potter."

"Call me Fae. And if you liked that, just wait til you see the finale," she said, grinning sharply.

They arrived at the stone gargoyle and McGonagall gave the password, Coffee Toffee, to go up. She waved goodbye and ascended the stairs with a slight air of unease. Dumbledore was cool and all. Ish. Sort of not really. Either way, she wasn't really thrilled to be meeting with him and couldn't imagine what he wanted or how he might try and manipulate her. She had to stay focused.

"Fae Potter. It's good to see you," Dumbledore said, sitting at his desk.

Fae plopped recklessly into the chair before him. "Good to see you too, I guess," she said. "But if it's all the same, you probably shouldn't tell people you saw me, or my companions. We'd like to stay alive, or dead in Regulus' case, and I'm sure you'd like to keep Hogwarts a war-free-zone."

His eyes twinkled, the old, adorable fucker. "Yes, you are correct. Nobody will know of this meeting."

"And we are having this meeting because…?"

"I wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing."

"I take it you don't agree with some of my methods?" Fae asked.

"You are careless, Fae. A lot of people have died because of your actions."

Ah. There it was. Down to tacks of brass.

"I know. Trust me, I know. I've killed a lot of people who probably didn't have to die. I've involved a lot of people who didn't have to be involved and then they died. I've made the war way worse than it was, tripled the size and probably the death count," she said fiercely. Fae narrowed her eyes at him, indignant and petulant that he was trying to make her feel guilty. As if she didn't do that to herself enough.

"But I can't just quit now. There's no going back to change the past so there's no point in fixating and losing focus. I can win this war. I can prevent years more of war, stop even more deaths," she declared, convincing herself as much as she meant to convince him. "I know it's hard to believe and you probably had your own plans, but I can't wait for those. I know how to kill Tom Riddle and kill him for good."

"I know."

"And right now he- What?" she asked, tripping over herself.

"I know," he repeated, voice wise and sage and entirely too confident for her liking.

She blinked. "How do you know? What do you know?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied. And then after a solid minute of dumbstruck silence and staring, he asked, "You are not from this time, are you?"

"Well fuck," Fae said. "And here I thought I'd take that one to the grave, whether that's in a few weeks or in fifty years."

Wow. What in the- How was Dumbledore the only one that had ever guessed it? She played music from the future far too often around her family, but they had never suspected a thing. And she led Romilly and Regulus to her own ends, pulling answers out of thin air. Hell, Severus was always asking her how she knew things. And Peter. And yet, Dumbledore was the one who figured her out? Or at least, the only one to call her on it. And she'd avoided him like the plague. Go figure.

"Yes. I am," Fae admitted. "Sort of. It's a little more complicated than that, but the punchline is that I was displaced in time by about a quarter of a century, among other things, and I retained some knowledge of some specific events. You'll understand why I can't get into too much detail."

"Even though you've already changed so much?" he replied.

"Aha!" she laughed hysterically. "Fuck, I've changed like everything and I really, really hope it's for the better. I know you're not supposed to do that, but I couldn't. Well. Yeah. You know," she rambled helplessly, mind a big messy scramble.

Dumbledore smiled kindly at her. "I believe I get the point."

Dammit. She had been so committed to not liking him on account of his alternate self preparing children, her nephew, for war and slaughter. But fuck. Fae looked at Dumbledore and he looked back and they kind of just marinated in the moment. And Fae decided to just let it all out. It felt fucking good to tell someone. So good. Surreal that it was Dumbledore, but meh. Beggars and choosers and all that.

"Oh Good Gods, Merlin, Morgana, and Sweet St. Jude, I've made a mess of things," she laughed, collapsing into her hands. "And I meant to, you know? But it's just. Weird. Actually going through it all. I never imagined it would be like this when I decided to end the war earlier. Don't know what I thought, actually."

"Earlier?"

Fae mulled it over and decided he'd probably come to this conclusion with or without her confirmation. "Well, it's on time I guess for the first round. I suppose, if I succeed, I'll have just prevented the second round. You know, the round in which my nephew fulfills that stupid prophecy."

"Ah, I see," he said. "So the prophecy is true then."

She scoffed. "Pft. Not anymore." Over her dead body would Harry have to go through this bullshit.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch, young lady," he reprimanded. Such a disappointed-dad voice that she flinched automatically.

"Yeah, you're right," she sighed. Then glared at him and crossed her arms.

"Hence why I can't let my mistakes and questionable actions distract me," she said pointedly, referring to his attempt at manipulation and guilt-tripping. "The finish line is coming up fast and I won't trip at the end. I can't. Acknowledging all my fuck ups and dealing with the resulting trauma, soul-crushing guilt, and debilitating depression will come later."

He gave her a strange look, crossed between amused and weirded out. "You have a great deal of stress on your shoulders, I see."

"Man, you don't even know."

"Would you like to talk about it? Have some tea? Or, as I understand it, coffee?" he offered.

She eyed him warily. "Are you going to put Veritaserum in it and make me tell you everything?"

"Do I have to, for you to tell me everything?"

She thought about it for all of five seconds. "Fuck it, no. Got any chocolate?" Goddamn old fucker was good. Wasn't like he could change anything now. The die was cast.

So they got tea and lemon sherbets for him and coffee and chocolate for Fae and she just unloaded. Talking about how she'd been planning this since she met her brother and how she'd started immediately with harnessing her abilities as a werewolf because it was the only tool she'd had at the time. And after reaching Hogwarts, she had started gathering resources and allies and started nailing down a more specific plan. How her seventh year had been all about preparation, which, of course, he'd known but had mistaken for preparing simply to join the Order. They talked a lot about the nasty things in the restricted section, which while super helpful to Fae, probably shouldn't be anywhere a student could get to them and calling it 'restricted' was practically a challenge to teenagers.

How he had a fucking Basilisk in his school and he should really do something about that. As it turned out, he knew. It was safely locked away for now and kept the vermin clear from the school. Crazy old fucker.

She confirmed his theory that the Horcruxes existed and that Voldemort had done the dumb, annoying thing by making several. Fae explained that she'd hunted all of them, that currently existed and would ever exist if she got her way, down and they were off to America to get a means of destroying them.

Fae practically glowed as she told him about her wolves and about Remus. How she'd seen the positive practicality of lycanthropy from the beginning, especially in someone like Remus who was genuinely kind and sweet and considerate. She told him everything about how they'd met so many other werewolves and packs and how she'd managed to convince many of them to help fight in the war and change how people looked at werewolves. And of course, she talked for hours about Remus and how, as she'd expected, he'd shattered every expectation she'd had for him leading the werewolves and uniting them with the Order. Her darling was an absolute angel of war, a paragon of intelligence and brilliance, the MVP. She was indescribably proud of him.

And, pot to kettle, she'd done much better at raising a werewolf army than Dumbledore's attempt had, so ha.

They bickered a little bit about whether Fae should have killed so many Death Eaters, and Greyback, outright, but Fae was steadfast in her decision that to leave them alive would just mean they could use politics and money to get out of Azkaban eventually and come after her or a loved one later. It was too risky for the more genuinely loyal followers. As for the less serious ones, she thought turning them into the very kind of person they hated most was poetic justice - you went after muggles and muggle-borns and half-bloods and squibs, now you get to be a squib. Dumbledore thought she was unnecessarily cruel and manipulative and she agreed. She was. But you had to be to win a war. He would know. And as it so happens, she was going to see Newt Scamander soon. She'd tell him he said hi.

She even told him a little bit about what she'd had planned for the finale. About what would happen next, if everything stayed on track. And some of her worries for what could go horribly long. Dumbledore was a good listener, and even better for advice. Eventually, the sun began to set noticeably behind him and Fae knew it was about time to go.

"So is there anything I can do to help you?"

Fae grinned wickedly, eyeing the Elder Wand. "Can I have your wand?"

"My wand?"

"I've got the cloak and the stone, you know. Might as well complete the set?" she asked hopefully.

"No."

Fae laughed. "Didn't think so. Then I'm good. But thank you, I really appreciate it," she said, meaning it despite the fact that she was still wary of somehow being manipulated by him.

"Are you sure?"

She thought about it, wavered a bit, and then sighed. He couldn't fuck up things more, at this point. He had strength and resources. She'd be dumb not to accept his help. They were on the same side, even if their methods were different. "Well if you insist. I'm hesitant to say this, but I think you'll handle it well. Please, if you would, raise hell. Make him mad. I don't care how, I'm sure Severus will have some ideas, but keep Tom on his toes and don't give him a second of rest. I need him enraged and stupid so I can get him where I needed for the grand finale. Just… I have experience doing that, clearly, so if you can, please do it in a way to ease the fallout on everybody else? They're already going through hell in London, I'm sure, and I would hate to just make it worse, but…"

He nodded, smiling. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks. Thank you, really. This was...nice. Actually, it was wonderful, being able to tell someone. A weight off my shoulders. And I trust you'll keep it a secret, about me?"

"I'll take it to my grave," he said, eyes twinkling again.

Fae laughed lightly. "Well, hopefully you've got another fifty years before then."

"You as well. Be careful, Fae."

She winked. "Look after everyone for me while I'm in America. Oh, and tell Severus I said thanks."

"Thanks? Whatever for?"

"For starting those rumors about the giants? And sending the two worst Death Eaters to deal with it and mess things up, thereby cutting off even more of Voldemort's supporters?" Seriously, score. That was her full bingo board and not having to fight giants on the big day was a massive relief.

"You think Severus did that?" he asked after a moment of consideration.

"Yeah, we made a deal before I left London last. I just figured this was his way of agreeing. You know what a weirdo he is," she joked.

"You don't know."

Fae did not like the way he said that. "Know what?"

"It wasn't Severus, Fae. It was Peter," he said, voice severe.

Fae froze and then tried to laugh it off, desperately ignoring the sudden cold feeling in her chest. "Peter? That rascal! I told him to take it easy. Merlin, that was brilliant though. He's really showing up my brothers in Maraudery these days. I'll have to get him a new camera when this is all over."

"Fae."

"What?"

"I'm afraid Riddle got suspicious after being misled with the giants and Peter's allegiances were discovered. Fae, Peter Pettigrew is dead. "

Fae put one foot in front of the other, dumbly, mind whirling in circles like a ferris wheel that had fallen off it's frame and just kept rolling all the way around the world.

She found her way to McClains and sat down heavily in a chair at the table Romilly and Regulus had been chatting at, drinking some wine idly while they waited.

"Hey, Regulus wouldn't quit whining so we got an obscene amount of pizza for din- what's wrong?"

"We need to talk. Also, we need alcohol."

"Wine?" Romilly said quietly, offering her glass.

Fae shook her head. "Something harder."

"Gin?" Regulus suggested.

"That'll do."

They gathered the appropriate liquor and the Acostas checked into the inn in Hogsmeade. Fae went to the balcony and looked out at the sunrise. Peter would've gotten an amazing shot of the streets below, would've loved taking photos of her or Romilly in this light.

"Peter's dead," Fae said. Regulus and Romilly nearly dropped the food and bottles they were holding. Almost frantically, Romilly was in her face, asking what had happened. She explained numbly and Romilly shook her head, mouth gaping and tears beginning to flow.

"No.."

Regulus apologized deeply for their loss and came to comfort them with hugs and words of comfort that he had died well. Fae wasn't up for anybody touching her right now, although Romilly latched onto him with a painful and desperate grip, sobs wracking her body. It was a strange role reversal for them, but Fae just couldn't deal with comfort right now. Couldn't accept kindness. Peter was dead and it was all her fault. She summoned the bottle of gin, broke it open on the wall of the balcony, and tipped it back.

Eventually, Regulus had corralled Fae and Romilly inside, settling them on the bed while passing pizza, gin, and blubbering back and forth.

"Dumbass," Fae cried, half drunk. "I told him I was lying low. Told him not to do anything suspicious. What does he do? Spreads rumors about me being with the giants."

Romilly smacked her. "He was being brave!" she argued, voice slurring because she too was half drunk.

Fae sniffled. "He was being stupid! Which I guess goes hand in hand. Gryffindor after all, fucking Sorting Hat was right."

Romilly sniffled too. "I can't believe he's dead."

"It's my fault. I should never have pushed him."

The blonde rolled over onto her and smashed their foreheads together while poking her in the face with a sharp nail. "Shut the fuck up, you literally told him not to do anything suspicious. Fae, it's not your fault."

"I should've gotten him out. I should've gotten him out as soon as I released those zines!"

Regulus sighed and helped Romilly roll off of Fae, holding her hair back momentarily when she groaned like she might throw up.

"Yeah, and he probably would've gotten himself killed doing some other daring do. You helped him find his courage Fae, and he died a hero. This is a war and all told, that's not the worst ending he could've had," he said, trying to be comforting, but just making Fae feel worse. Sort of. He wasn't wrong, he just didn't know how not wrong he was, how Peter would've gone on if she hadn't existed. She hated both endings.

Fae took a deep drink. "Nobody will ever know," she said a few minutes later.

"Know what?"

"That he was a Death Eater and that he was a traitor before I made him switch sides," Fae said. "The three of us, we will never tell anybody. Peter joined the Death Eaters to be our spy from the very beginning. And if any other Death Eater tries to talk and dishonor his memory, we'll kill them. He will be remembered as a hero."

"Agreed," Regulus said.

"Agreed," Romilly said. Then she took the bottle from Fae and held it up. "To Peter."

Fae didn't sleep that night, even with Regulus' strong, safe arms curled around both her and Romilly. She just felt so guilty. And so scared. She glanced up at Regulus' sleeping face. Sighed. Things would be okay.

In the morning, they woke up hungover and sluggish. Fae didn't bother charming her hangover away. Instead she leaned on Regulus as he helped her and Romilly wake up, get cleaned up, and get ready to go. The sweetheart was literally brushing out their hair, brushing their teeth, feeding them bacon, and doing everything possible to not upset either of them again.

"What would we do without you Regulus?" she said fondly.

"I really don't know. Really," he said dryly, obediently tying the laces on Romilly's boot when she stuck out her foot at him.

They laughed. "Thank you, Regulus," they chimed. Just like always.

Then Fae pulled a video tape out of her bag and held it out to him. "Here Regulus, can you hold this for me?"

"Yeah sure," he said, taking the tape from her. Fae grabbed his hand and tied on her moonstone and shell bracelet.

"One more thing," she said.

"What?" he asked, eyeing her curiously, but going along with her strange antics as always and inspecting the bracelet. He missed the way Romilly's eyes widened.

"Don't be mad," Fae said as she activated the portkey. With a flash and a yelp, Regulus disappeared. Then it was just Fae and Romilly. Fae sighed and started readying herself, splashing some water on her face and then reapplying Isla Reynolds' make-up. Romilly came to stand behind her in the mirror and stared at her reflection, arms crossed and an eyebrow arched high.

"Sending him to Sirius a little early, aren't we?"

"He'll get over it. More importantly, he'll be safe there."

Romilly barked a laugh. "Are you kidding? He'll be pissed that he didn't get to go to America with us."

"Yeah, well he's got a job to do so I'm sure he'll manage to get by," she replied. Which wasn't untrue. The tape would explain everything and Fae knew that Sirius would take it, well, seriously. Nothing would happen to Regulus anytime soon and it put Fae just a little at ease, even if it didn't ease her guilt one bit.

"Uh-huh," Romilly said, not believing her for an instant.

"Come on, let's go," Fae said, playfully shoulder checking Romilly on her way out of the bathroom.

"I'll be your Kent and we can be a lesbian power couple," she said, grinning and winking playfully.

The blonde sighed and then smiled back. Supportive as ever. "Alright, sounds good to me. I'll bring back Regulus a t-shirt."

"Make it one of those cliche I Heart New York ones."

"Pft, what else would we get him?"

A/N: So...that's how it ends for Peter, however you'd like to take that.

I had a lot of fun writing this conversation between Dumbledore and Fae. I don't know why, but I feel like this is how Dumbledore would've preferred it - a helping and guiding hand, rather than the leading force. I had a lot of mixed feelings about his actions and especially the way he let Harry be abused just so it would be easier to indoctrinate him for war.

Anyways, Merry Christmas! Hope everyone had a wonderful day.

And guys. NEWT SCAMANDER IS NEXT.