Chapter 20: A Rough Welcome

Back at Hogwarts, students who had gone home for the holidays were surprised to find Professor Longbottom waiting for them in the Gryffindor common room when they returned. He may have been the head of Gryffindor House, but Uncle Neville didn't make a habit of popping into the common room often, and he looked particularly grave now. He waited for all the students off the train to trickle in before he began speaking.

"Welcome back," he began tersely. Students shifted uneasily. "As head of Gryffindor house, it is my duty to inform you that over the holidays, there were three . . . attacks on students who had chosen to remain at Hogwarts. All of the students – " here, Professor Longbottom had to almost shout over the noise that had bubbled up, "Will be fine. All three appear to have been the victims of overly strong Obliviation Charms, and have suffered severe memory loss. They will remain in the Hospital Wing for the time being. All of your parents, as well as the school governors, are being informed of these events.

"We do not know who or what is attacking students. We do know that these most recent incidents are likely linked to another attack on a pair of Gryffindor students before the holidays. I'm sure you all know that I'm referring to Fred Weasley and Kimberly Ashfield." Here, everyone's heads swiveled to Fred and Kimberly, who had both gone ashen.

"This will mean some increased security measures in the castle until the culprit is found," Uncle Neville continued gravely. "Students below their fifth year will be chaperoned between all classes, meals, and activities by prefects. Any student wishing to use the library must check-in with Miss Clearwater, and must be accompanied back to their dormitories by a prefect. All students must be in their common rooms after dinner. Anyone found in violation of these new rules will receive a fifty-point deduction from their House."

Uncle Neville breathed deeply. "I want Gryffindor to win the House Cup as much as any of you. We are well in contention. If any of you," he looked around pointedly at James and Louis in particular, "Costs us fifty points for a stupid reason, expect to serve a detention with me personally. In Greenhouse Six." The room went deadly silent. Everyone knew the most dangerous plants were in Greenhouse Six.

"Please, professor," came a voice from behind Rose, a tiny first-year she thought was named Cliodna Finnegan, "Who was attacked?"

"Two Ravenclaw fourth-years and a Slytherin first-year," Professor Longbottom said heavily.

"Thank goodness it wasn't anyone from Gryffindor," Annabelle whispered to Rose and Willow.

"There weren't that many here, though – Wilkes was the one of the only ones who stayed behind," Willow pointed out.

No one else had any questions; after Uncle Neville had gone, the students milled about the common room uneasily, peppering two other Gryffindors who had stayed behind over the holidays with questions they couldn't answer (Melisenda, unsurprisingly, was nowhere to be found, despite the new rules). No, they didn't know exactly who'd been attacked or even when. No, they didn't know where they'd been found, or by whom. They'd heard that the first year Slytherin couldn't even remember his own name anymore, though there was still hope he'd recover, in part because he was so young.

Rampant speculation about who could be behind the attacks abounded. A hysterical third-year named Courtney thought it might be vampires stalking the halls, feeding on unsuspecting students and the Obliviating them so that they wouldn't remember. "What," scoffed Adeline Cadamus, "Like they're living in the walls or something? How would a vampire get into Hogwarts?"

On the other hand, Katie MacEwan suggested with pale lips, maybe this had something to do with the Death Eaters. And the Book of the Mark. After all, what with the timing of those articles, and (this part went unsaid) the unsettling appearance of Scorpius's grandfather at Hogwarts not once but twice . . .

"Never mind who's doing it," Al whispered to Rose, and later to Scorpius. He couldn't really mean that, she knew, but she was sure he'd noticed how Scorpius twitched just a little whenever he overheard another hushed conversations about the Death Eaters. "I mean, obviously it's important . . . But what I wonder is why the spell's getting stronger. Azalea lost only a few hours, Fred and Kimberly lost the whole day, and now these three are in the Hospital Wing. It must be getting more serious."

"Is it the spell getting stronger?" Rose mused, "Or is whoever is casting it getting sloppier?"

"Or more desperate," Scorpius added quietly.

. . .

The mood at Hogwarts could not have been more different from the pre-holiday euphoria. It had been one thing when it was just a couple of isolated incidents – many of the students probably hadn't even known about the memory wipes. Rose was sure only she, Al, and Scorpius (well, all right, and Callister) knew about all three – for now they were well and truly convinced that Azalea's bout of confusion and memory loss was related to Fred and Kimberly's.

Three more attacks in the span of only two weeks. At that pace, practically every student in the school could be Obliviated before the year was out – or at least, that's how students were treating it. Though they were forbidden from traveling alone anyways, younger students in particular had taken this to the extreme, clumping so tightly together in the corridors that there was a rash of small injuries caused by first years tripping over each other. Annika Chan, a second-year Ravenclaw, was offering to perform Protection Hexes on her fellow students until one of the Ravenclaw prefects pointed out kindly that Protection Hexes, notoriously fickle spells, were more likely to cause the target to develop scaly patches on their skin than to actually offer any helpful barrier to a Memory Charm. Zeke Smith was telling anyone who would listen that his father had sent him a pair bewitched gloves that would protect him from any harm while he wore them. Rose and Al were privately sure this was entirely made up, but Zeke insisted on wearing the gloves everywhere.

Even Louis and James were more somber about the threat than they might have been – Rose thought Fred's being attacked might have had something to do with it. They, of course, wouldn't openly say that they were worried about their second-year Gryffindor relatives, but they did make a point of checking that Rose and Al were back in the common room each night after dinner. Either they were genuinely concerned, or they were worried that some Big Adventure was brewing and assumed both of them would be in the thick of it.

Gits.

Molly and Lucy, on the other hand, had generously and without prompting offered to escort their smaller cousins around if ever they happened to be in need. Mostly Lucy was the one who wound up taking them around, though; Molly's Head Girl responsibilities had multiplied in the wake of the attacks.

And then, unexpectedly, Wendy Wilkes sought Rose out that very same week, looming suddenly at her elbow right as she was about to walk into the library. Rose had a moment of very strong déjà vu. Wendy grabbed Rose's arm and told Elis Morgan, the fifth-year Hufflepuff prefect who had been nice enough to walk Rose through the corridors, to sod off. Morgan backed away nervously, saying "As long as she checks in with Miss Clearwater, all right?" Wendy just growled at him, and prefect though he was, Elis paled and left them alone.

Wendy turned her attention to Rose, who refused to quail in the face of intimidation. After all, she'd been alone with Wendy often enough to know that she wasn't about to be Obliviated. Punched, perhaps. But not Oblivated at least. "This is what happens," Wendy snarled loudly. She seemed to realize that they might be overheard, and lowered her voice. "This is what I was warning you about."

"What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" Rose scowled, wrenching her arm away. "Let go of me, you – "

"The students! Those students, the ones who got Obliviated . . . don't you see, Weasley? This is what happens when no one is watching her."

"You're saying it was Melisenda who Obliviated those students?" Rose asked dubiously.

"No, it wasn't her, it was . . . " Wendy swore loudly. "I can't talk about it."

"Can't, or won't?"

"Can't," Wendy said in an anguished tone. "I swore a – a – damn it all!" she swore.

The Sickle dropped for Rose – at last. "You swore an Unbreakable Vow?" she said incredulously.

Wendy nodded, looking almost relieved.

"But you're underage!" Rose said quickly. "That's illegal." Surely Wendy would know that. Every child in the Weasley and Potter families did – mostly because of the time Uncle Percy had caught Dom trying to get Louis to swear an Unbreakable Vow to stop putting flying seahorses in her bedsheets, and had very nearly tried to bring them both up to the Improper Use of Magic office at the Ministry for discipline. None of this had gone over well with Uncle Bill or Aunt Fleur.

Wendy gesticulated widely. "D'you think that matters to them?"

"Who is them?" Rose very nearly shouted.

"I can't say!" Wendy yelled right back.

They faced off in the silence of the carpeted corridor, breathing heavily. Rose thought Wendy looked like she was about to punch her, but in that moment, she thought she might return the favor.

"Wendy," Rose said at last, "I really, really don't know what you want me to do. You've told me this has something to do with your family, and Melisenda staying for holidays. You can't say anything else about what's going on. You've say you've sworn an Unbreakable Vow. You've said that I'm supposed to be watching her, but I've never caught her going anywhere – except during one Quidditch game, with some bloke I'd never seen –"

Wendy made a strangled noise, her eyes widening.

Rose barreled on. "And now you say she has something to do with the memory wipes, but she's not doing them herself . . . what is it that you want from me?"

"Shite, Weasley, I want you to use your brain," Wendy hissed. "You're supposed to be the smart one, that's why I came to you."

"Use my brain and do what?" Rose asked belligerently.

"AND STOP HER!" Wendy yelled. "I want you to stop her, because Merlin knows she won't listen to me!"

"Is there a problem here?" Rose jumped about a foot in the air. They'd been arguing so loudly, Professor Callister had come upon them without either of them noticing. Wendy, strangely, looked somehow relieved.

"Sorry, Professor," Rose said quickly, hoping beyond hope that he was not about to take fifty points from Gryffindor when she was just outside the door, "I was just headed to the – "

"Yes, Miss Weasley," Callister said quietly, with a strange look at Wendy, "Perhaps it's best for you to head to the library. I'm sure you are aware that students are not supposed to be wandering the halls. How fortunate for you that I needed to speak with Miss Wilkes anyways." He gave Rose a cold stare, dismissing her.

A wave of relief flooded through Rose as she made her way into the library – with a healthy dose of confusion. She could have sworn she heard Callister invite Wendy for a cup of tea in his office as he led her away, but that could not possibly be right. Callister wasn't nice to anyone, and Wendy was the kind of student who got detention, not invitations to tea.

Rose hurried back to Gryffindor tower just after finishing her homework for the evening – she'd been planning to do some research into Memory Charms, but telling Al and Scorpius what Wendy Wilkes had said was more important.

. . .

"We need to find out if it's actually Wilkes Obliviating people somehow – though how she's learned the spell when she's thicker than Hagrid's treacle is beyond me – or how she's involved if not," Scorpius was saying. Rose had been back in the common room for a while now, and had filled Al and Scorpius in on her confrontation with Wendy Wilkes outside the library. Al had immediately suggested asking Fred and Kimberly if they had seen Melisenda right before they were memory-wiped, to which Rose and Scorpius had responded by just staring until he remembered what, exactly, the definition of "memory wipe" was.

"And what this has to do with what your father told you about the Book of the Mark," Al whispered, gazing around furtively. "This can't just all be a coincidence."

"That's what we thought last year," Rose reminded Al impatiently, "And look where it got us."

"This is different," Al said stubbornly. "I can feel it."

An idea was forming in Rose's mind. She poked at it, and found that she quite liked it. "We could steal Melisenda's wand and see what she's been up to," she said quietly. A log popped dramatically in the fireplace, as though punctuating her suggestion.

"Come off it, Rosie," Al said. "Steal her wand?"

"Do you think she just . . . won't notice that it's missing?" said Scorpius with a tone of incredulity. "I mean, she's a bit slow in lessons, but I think even she would –"

"Well, borrow it, more like," Rose broke in. "There's this spell my Uncle Percy used over hols . . ."

"That Priori thing?" Al broke in suddenly, giggling. Rose fought to keep a straight face and failed. Scorpius shot the both of them a strange look, but neither Rose nor Al was much inclined to explain.

"Prior Incantato," Rose said when she'd regained control of her face.

"The Reverse Spell," Scorpius said, understanding dawning on his pale features. "And if she's been casting the Obliviations, we'd be able to see – "

"From the spell. Right. Or, if she's been with the person doing them, maybe there's something else we can catch her on," Rose said with some satisfaction.

"Sure," said Al slowly, "But like Scorpius said . . . don't you think she'd notice? You know, if her wand is just missing?"

"You'd never know it because she's practically never there. But conveniently," Rose said, smirking, "I just so happen to share a dormitory with Melisenda Wilkes. It's easy enough. I'll do it while she's sleeping. She always leaves her wand on the shelf next to her bed; I've seen it a million times. I can do it without even waking her up, I bet."

"It'd better be without waking her up," Al said gravely.

"That's a pretty advanced spell, Weasley," Scorpius said. "You sure you can do it?"

"Well," said Rose, "No better time to find out than the present, right?"

Author's Note: Happy 2023 everyone!

Unbreakable Vows are, in my opinion, one of the weirdest things that exist in the HP world. The implications are just wild. If something like that existed, wouldn't it be broadly (and unwisely) used in everything from business dealings to weddings to international relations? At the very least, you'd see quite a few Unbreakable Vows being sworn in whatever criminal wizarding underworld exists - voluntarily or no. Best I can figure is, they would have to be massively regulated in order to avoid this. Hence, the laws:

- It is illegal for anyone underage to swear an Unbreakable Vow. The parent, guardian, or any adult involved can be charged and brought up before the Wizengamot

- It is illegal for Unbreakable Vows to be used to negotiate or seal contracts or agreements between business interests

- It is illegal for Unbreakable Vows to be used to negotiate or seal contracts or agreements between disparate political groups. This includes any political parties, coalitions, or governing bodies.

- It is illegal for Unbreakable Vows to be sworn during any marriage ceremony, regardless of religion or cultural tradition (this last one caused quite a bit of controversy among certain religions in particular, but ultimately they came around after swearing Unbreakable Vows to ward off adultery became a fad, followed in fairly short order by the sudden deaths of an embarrassing proportion of their practicing religious population).

Obviously, there are sill Unbreakable Vows sworn all the time, behind the scenes, between individuals. And, as we know, anyone who doesn't fulfill their end of the Unbreakable Vow just . . . drops dead. This presented a problem for the Auror department and the DMLE for a while: it was very difficult to tell the difference between someone who had been killed by Avada Kedavra, and someone who had died because of an Unbreakable Vow, especially when all you had was a four-day-old body in an abandoned flat. Eventually, the research wing at the Ministry of Magic developed a test to determine the difference. The test has a fairly high accuracy rate, but it's not 100%, and nearly every single homicide/mysterious death report carries nearly two pages of disclaimers saying just this. Forgetting this addendum results in the paperwork needing to be completed restarted and resubmitted.

This is one of the reasons Ron hates Ministry paperwork.

Thanks for reading!

- bbh