Love and Glory

by GinnyWeasleyRocks

Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Hogwarts, where we lay our scene. Weasley and Malfoy are destined to come together. But for Rose and Scorpius, it isn't exactly love at first sight - or second, or third, or... you get the picture. It's going to take a lot longer for these crazy kids to get together. But trust me, it's worth the wait. Rated M for violence & dark themes

28. The Cage

A.N: Well, friends, we've reached the beginning of the end. I apologise for the delay and hope you enjoy these last four installments as much as I've enjoyed writing this fan fiction. Thank you for all of your support and reviews, they mean the world to me.

Disclaimer: As always, copyright to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.

---

Chapter 28: The Cage

My father, the least happy

man I have known. His face

retained the pallor

of those who work underground:

the lost years in Brooklyn

listening to a subway

shudder the earth.

- John Montague, "The Cage"

---

There is a certain hour of the morning, the hour just before the world begins to stir, that hour when the veil between day and night is at its thinnest: when, for the briefest of times, opposites are wedded; light and dark, silence and sound.

Such an hour of opposites found Daphne Greengrass walking fast down the main street of Hogsmeade.

Soon, the post office doors would open and a barrage of owls would flutter out into the lightening sky, bearing the morning post; a groggy-eyed Madam Rosmerta would step out into the chill air to sweep the front step of the Three Broomsticks; Ambrosius Flume's wizened head would appear in the window of Honeydukes', his forehead wrinkled with care as he conjured new displays of Fizzing Whizzbees or Chocolate Frogs.

Soon, but not yet. Daphne Greengrass swung left at Gladrags, where the windows were still dark, and came level with a stone wall. Holding out her wand, she counted under her breath. The air around her rippled, lifted her off her feet.

A moment later, she was on the other side of the wall, the curved rooftops above her giving a tunnel-like effect to the cobbled alleyway through which she hurried. Some way ahead of her, a cat yowled. Her fingers tightened around her wand, and then there came the skittering of paws, and an emaciated tabby streaked past her.

Daphne let out her breath, angry to find that she had been holding it in the first place. Pursing her mouth and straightening her shoulders, she quickened her stride, and the darkness around her thinned a moment later as she came out onto the cottage lane.

The cat yowled again, this time further away, and then Daphne heard it: the creaking of the gate to one of the cottages as it opened, followed by footsteps. He was coming to greet her.

They did not speak, but clasped hands briefly. His were cold, but hers were colder.

"Did you get the venom?" she said, her voice barely a swell on the flat sea of silence around them.

Theodore Nott nodded, once.

"Is she ready?"

He nodded again, then inclined his head towards the cottage door. "She is waiting."

"Let's not keep her a moment longer."

There was only one room within the cottage, and it was so thick with fumes that Daphne gagged as they entered, holding up the sleeve of her robe to her mouth. Theodore glanced at her, then at the woman standing by the fireplace.

She was tall, and luminously pale. Wisps of fair hair clung to her head, where it was clear she had once had a lustrous mane. Her eyes were set deep into her face, twin slits of murky green, almost obscured by the sagging folds of skin above them.

Beside her, hanging over the fireplace, was a cauldron filled with a foul and oily substance that roiled and simmered. Daphne peered at it, then unconsciously edged closer to the wizard by her side, though she knew that it could do no harm - at least, not to her.

The apothecary gestured to them, and the two stepped forward, holding out their wands. She reached out, dragging her fingers along the tips, then jerked backwards as if she had been shocked. Alarmed, Daphne looked to Theodore, but he kept his eyes fixed on the apothecary as she righted herself, holding her hands over the potion in the cauldron, which rose to the very top as they watched, spilling over the sides.

"The last ingredient," Theodore said softly, so that only Daphne could hear. "Our magic. Is she not brilliant?"

"When you consider that she has no magic herself," Daphne murmured back, "I suppose it is impressive enough, yes."

Theodore said nothing to this, but she saw his eyes glimmer with faint amusement at her grudging praise.

The Squib apothecary took a couple of vials from one of the shelves above the mantelpiece, and filled them with the black substance. She looked inquiringly to Theodore and Daphne, but the former shook his head.

"It's best that you take both for the moment, Daphne. My days in the school are numbered."

She looked at him, the faintest of shivers running down her spine once more as the apothecary handed her the vials. They were cool to the touch, though the glass of the vials was steamed up from the inside. "Because of my husband?"

Theodore nodded. "Hobspawn's no fool. He knows that Zabini was the one who sent that anonymous note, with a view to discrediting me. But all the same, he can't be seen to do nothing about it; not when so many parents will be calling for my removal."

Daphne's mouth twisted bitterly. "So where will you go?"

"To the Ministry, for questioning." At her look, Theodore spread his hands. "What else would you have me do, Daphne? Go on the run like your sister?"

"Not exactly what I had in mind. But I would have you talk some sense into my brother-in-law."

Theodore smiled blandly. "You know as well as I do that Draco Malfoy is thoroughly in Zabini's pocket. His own wife and son haven't been able to get through to him. Why would you expect me to?"

"I don't, not really. But you know... desperate times, Theodore." Daphne looked at the vials in her hands, then stowed them away in the pockets of her robe. "If Draco is part of the Truthseekers' plan with Hogwarts - "

"There is little doubt about that."

" - then Scorpius might get mixed up in the business, too."

"Your nephew can take care of himself, Daphne."

"I'm not so sure about that. This secret society he's involved in - "

"Nothing more than a group of idle students," Theodore interrupted calmly, "whose sole official acts have been spying on me in my office, and attempting - unsuccessfully - to steal the Basilisk venom required for the Memory Potion."

"That is what worries me. They don't know what they are doing." Daphne held his gaze, until the apothecary cleared her throat behind them.

"Of course," Theodore Nott said, moving smoothly to the woman's side and pressing some coins into her palm. "Our sincere thanks for keeping this quiet, Anthea."

"She has an interesting story," he said to Daphne ten minutes later, after they had exited the cottage and gone some way down the lane together, in the greying light of the approaching dawn.

A flurry of wings, and Daphne looked up to see the post office owls crossing the sky above them. "I would love to hear it - but now I'd better go. The villagers will be up soon."

"Quite right," Nott replied, with a hint of regret. "Some other time, then."

---

Blaise Zabini lounged in the dining room of the Malfoys' house in Charing Cross, his feet propped up on the surface of the long table, crossed at the ankle.

"You know that yours is the most important task."

"That sounds oddly familiar." Draco shifted in his spot by the mantelpiece. "But you may be overstating it a little in this case, Blaise."

"I have been known to do that." Blaise Zabini gave a little shrug. "Fine, so let's settle it at important. Your task is important."

"A fact that hasn't escaped me."

"I'm glad. Because you should be honoured that Carlotta has selected you to perform it." Blaise Zabini leaned forward in his chair, pointing his index finger. "She has seen the great wizard in you, Malfoy."

Schooling his features into a composed expression, Draco leaned his arm on the mantelpiece and picked up the Floo Powder container, idly turning it over in his hand.

"Your success at Gringotts showed Carlotta that you were invaluable to the plan," Zabini continued.

"So much trouble, for such a small artefact," Draco mused, recalling the crimson orb that he had retrieved from the high-security vault that day. How strange it had seemed to him then.

Blaise smiled. "Ah, but the Remembrall is the key to everything. You, on the other hand..." He frowned, attempting to continue the metaphor, "... are the hinge. Well, one of the hinges."

"A distinguished position, then," Draco said dryly.

"Pinkstone would grant you no less." Blaise did not lose his smile as he watched Draco. "When the time comes, you cannot allow for any distractions. You understand that, yes?"

"I do."

"Good." Unfolding himself from the armchair, Blaise Zabini put down his goblet. "Then let's go through the plan one more time."

---

It had been a late Easter that year, and summer was not long in following. Soon, its heralds had reached as far north as Hogwarts. They received a mixed reception, for while the students could not but marvel at the verdant glory of the grounds, at the trees positively bursting with life where they had been barren only a week before, at the sunbeams that tripped across musty classrooms and turned even dust motes into things of beauty, with these wondrous tokens came the grim faces of professors as they handed back essays, the ominous scraping of chalk on the blackboards as exam topics went up, and the increased agitation of Madam Pince as each evening brought more students to crowd her library.

A visit to Hogsmeade had never been more welcome. Students spilled forth from their imprisonment for a day, piling into carriages or striking out on foot for the nearby village, revelling in the glittering lake around them, the bright sky, the balmy air.

"Being honest, I didn't think we'd get another visit this year," Jeremy Sharpwood remarked as he and Scorpius made their way down the main street of the village.

Scorpius, hands in his pockets, turned his face up to the sky and grinned. "It's a nice surprise."

"You're in a good mood."

"Is that so odd?"

"Yes, for a number of reasons. The future of this school is uncertain, the Truthseekers seem to be getting closer every day to whatever grand plan they have..." Lowering his voice as Scorpius gave him a look, Jem continued, "Our meetings, under James Potter's excellent direction, have achieved next to nothing. We have failed to acquire not only the final ingredient of whatever potion Zabini is attempting to make but also..."

"Thank you, Sharpwood, for summing up recent events so succinctly."

His friend gave a shrug. "It's what I do best."

"But you left out a few things."

"Like what?"

Scorpius just smiled. They turned in to the entrance of Honeydukes, passing a display of Chocolate Frogs beyond which stood Lily Potter and Rose Weasley. The latter glanced up and blushed. Scorpius's smile broadened; he couldn't help but be a little charmed by her bashfulness at seeing him.

"Merlin, what could it be?" Jem mused as they stepped out of the shop a few minutes later with their purchases. "What other important recent event could I be leaving out in my summary?"

"Shut up and eat your Jelly Slugs."

"I'm afraid I've lost my appetite," his friend declared. "Rose Weasley tends to have that effect on me. Rather opposite to her effect on you, I might point out..."

"You know nothing, Sharpwood." Scorpius cuffed him lightly on the shoulder.

"I know nothing, but I suspect much. I notice things. Speaking of..." Jem paused, and something in his tone changed. "What's the Alderton girl doing out of the castle?"

"What? Where?"

"There!" Jem pointed up the street, past the crowds of students, where Scorpius could just make out a retreating figure.

"Come on." Scorpius crumpled up the bag of sweets and sped up his pace. "Let's see what she's up to."

---

The two red-headed witches stood before the window of the post office and gazed dumbly in at the morning's newspapers.

Lily was the first to speak. "Poor Lucy."

"Thank Merlin she wasn't at breakfast today when the news broke." Rose tutted, running her fingers through her hair. In reality, she was glad of the distraction, still ruffled from glimpsing Scorpius Malfoy in Honeydukes'. She had blushed. Merlin, what age was she? She hoped Lily hadn't noticed.

But the way he had smiled at her - and that knowing look in his eyes -

Her brother's voice cut across her thoughts as he stopped behind them, two fellow fourth-years by his side. "You lot heard?"

"Of course." Lily snorted in derision. "It was all over the Great Hall this morning."

Hugo stepped up beside Rose, squinting at the paper in the window. "It's not a great picture of him, is it?"

"No, it's not." Rose tilted her head, regarding anew the photograph of Percy Weasley hurrying across the Atrium of the Ministry, holding a hand up before his haggard face to block the camera flash. Above him, the headline read: Weasley Steps Down. "But then, what do you expect?"

"It says he's resigned because he wanted to devote more time to his family, but everyone knows the Azkaban Act forced him to it," Hugo observed, while behind him, his two friends wore identical expressions of boredom.

"Not just the Azkaban Act, but the way he handled the protest and the media attention afterwards." Rose sighed. "And, of course, the Truthseekers."

"I think he tried his best," Lily said loyally.

"Hershia Potts might end up getting it. She was the closest candidate to Weasley in the last election."

"Didn't Potts support the Azkaban Act too?" Hugo pointed out. Behind him, his friends shifted on their feet. "The people would never go for it."

"It's not the people that ultimately decide on the Minister of Magic, though," Rose said. "It's the Wizengamot." One of Hugo's friends actually yawned at that.

"But the people have some influence," Hugo argued.

"I'm going to visit Lucy later," Lily declared. Both Weasley siblings ignored her. "See how she's doing."

"The will of the people only goes so far - " Rose started when a voice hailed her, and her words flew out of her head. Approaching the post office were Scorpius and Jem, their faces sombre. The former beckoned to her.

"I'd better go," Rose said, distractedly. Lily and Hugo exchanged significant glances. She hurried to join the two Slytherins. "What is it?"

Scorpius's hand closed on her elbow to steer her a little way out of earshot, and her heart thumped in unreasonable excitement. Unreasonable, since they had a chaperon, in the form of Sharpwood.

"We saw Penny Alderton out the back of Dervish and Banges," Scorpius told her quietly, "And she wasn't alone."

"Looks like brother dearest is in town again," Sharpwood supplied.

Rose looked from one Slytherin to the other, her eyes wide. "Geoffrey Alderton? You saw him? We have to tell James!"

"That was our plan," Scorpius said, "and we were hoping you could tell us where to find him."

"I'm afraid when it comes to locating my cousin, your guess is as good as mine."

---

"All clear," James Potter said as he emerged from the darkness into the cellar of the Hog's Head. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of damp that greeted him.

"And we know it's definitely one-way?" Albus said from where he stood, by the shelf of Memory Potions that the old owner of the inn had kept there. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looked inquiringly at Nina Meyer, who was on his other side, near the staircase.

"Penny told me that the passage was only ever used by the house-elves, to test out if it went all the way to Hogsmeade. Once they reported to Bole and Ottelby that they couldn't get back to the castle except by Apparating, the Truthseekers gave up on it as a way into Hogwarts."

His face thoughtful, James rummaged in his pockets and produced a black horn-like object. He threw it towards the entrance to the passage through which he had just emerged. Released, it scuttled off into the darkness, and James craned his neck, listening hard. Then he shook his head.

"Are you going to tell us what that was, Potter?" Nina Meyer said dryly.

"A Decoy Detonator. It's supposed to make a bang wherever it stops, produce black smoke." James gestured towards the entrance. "Do you hear anything? See anything?"

"No," Nina admitted after a moment. "Though the black smoke would be difficult enough to spot, don't you think?"

"Very clever, Meyer."

"I think it's safe to assume that whatever magic is left in that passage disabled the Detonator," Albus said. "Meaning that if we went in now, we might sustain some damage."

"More than some." Nina put her hands on her hips. "Weren't you listening to me at all? Penny said it was a one-way passage."

"Yeah, Penny said." Albus raised his eyebrows at Nina, who rolled her eyes.

"Hang about." James dug his golden coin out of his pocket, wincing as it burned his fingers. A moment later, he looked up at them. "Rose just sent me a message. She's with Sharpwood and Malfoy, wants to meet now."

"Must be important," Albus said. "The coin's only meant for emergencies." A moment later, decisively, "We're coming with you."

"I just can't shake you off, can I?"

---

The Three Broomsticks was especially noisy that afternoon, the air muggy with the warmth of many bodies crammed close. The little group by the table in the corner did not attract any attention, though if anyone had looked closely, they would have noticed that the six students wore the most serious expressions of any group in house, and the goblets of Butterbeer on the table before them stood untouched.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened." James directed his words to Nina. "You told us you left Penny back in the castle this morning."

"I thought she was there! She was sleeping when I left. I can't be babysitting her all the time."

"How about we stop pointing fingers," Jeremy Sharpwood said wearily, "and just focus on the facts. We know that Geoffrey Alderton is back in town, that Penny must have had an important reason to leave the castle and meet him, which means..."

"Something's going to happen with the Truthseekers, very soon," Rose finished.

"At least we haven't told Penny anything important," Albus reasoned. "Anything she could relate back to the Truthseekers."

"We couldn't even if we wanted to." Scorpius traced a hand down the handle of his goblet. "The Tongue-Tying curse."

"She knows about the entrance, though." James rubbed his eyes, then glanced at Albus and Nina. "In the Room of Hidden Things. She was the one who helped us find it."

"Which counts in her favour, if anything!" Nina straightened in her seat, looking earnestly around the group. "Look, I know she's done a lot of bad things, but she's also helped us a lot. If not for her, we wouldn't have found the entrance, or the passage to the Hog's Head, or the cave in the boathouse where Rose and Scorpius went the other day."

"Yeah, and we all know how well that turned out," James said, and both Rose and Scorpius looked down at the table, chastened.

"Besides," Albus jumped in, "wasn't it convenient that Penny happened to know where the passageway was in the Room of Hidden Things, just in the same way that she happened to find and copy that map that showed us the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in the boathouse?"

"Penny didn't know Zabini had just left that map for her to take! She thought she was helping." Breathing in deeply, Nina ploughed on, "I know this meeting with her brother looks suspicious, but let's not jump to conclusions just yet."

There was a silence; or, perhaps better put, no one said anything, but their ears were still filled with the shouts and laughter of their lively neighbours in the inn, the sound only muffled slightly by the protection spell around them. At last, James moistened his lips and then spoke, each word careful.

"I think it's time that I pointed something out."

The group waited. James's brown eyes rested on each of them in turn as he continued, in the same measured tone, "I think we all know how dangerous it could be - at this stage - to get distracted." With emphasis, as his gaze settled on Nina, "To let our feelings cloud our judgement."

Rose, still staring down at the surface of the table, felt the blood rush to her face. She sneaked a look at Scorpius, who sat to her left, his leg brushing hers slightly under the table. The corner of his mouth lifted upwards under her gaze. That smile again.

"What the hell are you implying, Potter?" Nina demanded, and Rose's attention snapped right back to her friend.

James spread his hands in a placating gesture. "You helped Penny out. You obviously sympathise with her. I get that. But even if you two have formed some kind of bond - "

"That's ridiculous," Nina snorted.

" - you have to look at the facts, like Sharpwood said. Loath as I am to agree with a Slytherin." James raised his eyebrows.

"I hate to be the one to point out that Penny could be anywhere right now," Albus interjected.

"She isn't," James assured his brother. "I checked the map as soon as we got here. She's back in her dormitory in the castle, probably thinking she's pulled off the perfect crime."

"You don't know what she's thinking," Nina said unexpectedly.

James looked at her. "You're right, Meyer, I don't. But I do know that Al has a point. While we've been sitting here talking, we haven't actually come to a decision, and Geoffrey Alderton could be making his escape from Hogsmeade as we speak."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Rose asked her cousin.

"Simple. We report Penny to the Aurors. We let Hobspawn send her to a nice holding cell in the Ministry, and in the meantime - " James reached back around the seat for his cloak. "We look for her brother."

With a scrape of her chair, Nina Meyer was on her feet. "I won't let you do that, Potter. I won't let you report her. Not until you have more proof."

"What more proof do you need?" James stared up at her, his eyes blazing with a sudden anger. "If Penny Alderton is plotting something, we're all in danger. She was responsible for Al's attack; have you forgotten that? Or do you even care? Why should you care, when his attackers were your own friends?"

"Former friends, Potter." With the acceleration of James's temper, Nina's seemed to have diminished. "An important distinction." She looked around at them all again, as if in appeal. But no one met her gaze. At last, she drew in a deep breath. "I suppose I can't stop you. If this meeting has made one thing clear to me..." she rummaged in her pockets, producing some change, "... it's that this little group is a dictatorship, not a democracy." The change landed with a clatter on the table, beside her goblet of Butterbeer. "And I want no more part in it."

No one seemed to know what to say after the door of the Three Broomsticks had swung to behind Nina. James, whose face had paled, picked up a coin from the pile of change she had left on the table: the gold coin that each of them had acquired when the Secretkeepers had been formed. Knitting his brows, he gazed at it for a solid minute, and then, seeming to collect himself,

"Sharpwood, you'd better go after her. No doubt she's going to warn Penny. Try to talk some sense into her."

Obediently, Sharpwood pushed off his chair, but he did not look at James, his lips clamped tightly together as he loped away from their table.

"Al and I will stay here and look for any signs of where Geoffrey Alderton might have gone." James glanced at his brother, and when this was met with a look of approbation, he continued, "Rose, you and Malfoy should head back to the castle. We'll join you there soon, and then we'll all go to Hobspawn. Together."

Rose and Scorpius got to their feet and began to gather up their things. As they were about to leave the table, James held up a hand to stop them. He was chewing on his lip thoughtfully, and looked up at them with a strange expression in his eyes; it seemed to be almost pleading.

"I hope you don't feel the same as Meyer - about this being a - a dictatorship, or whatever." He scratched his head. "I want you to know that you can always speak up - that your opinion is valued, and listened to."

A pause, and then Rose said quietly, "We know, James." Scorpius was silent.

The evening was setting in fast, and Rose and Scorpius were clearly not the only students who had decided to make a return to the castle; as they reached the station house at the edge of the village, a few carriages were already rattling down the forest road ahead of them.

With a questioning glance at Rose, Scorpius bent his steps to the nearest stationary carriage. She followed, her eyes irresistibly drawn to the Thestral harnessed to it. The skeletal creature stood still and tranquil, seemingly unaware that it was bringing back a flood of painful memories within her. But then, as she approached the step into the carriage, it turned its head towards her, and she felt strangely comforted.

"Everything all right?" Scorpius, from within the carriage, held his hand out to her, and Rose realised that she had halted on the step.

"Fine," she said, ignoring his hand and climbing inside.

With a shudder, the carriage began to roll away. Rose shifted on the moth-eaten cushions, drew one out from beneath her and pushed it aside, then turned to look out the window at the passing mountains, all the time conscious of Scorpius's gaze.

"Well, that was intense," she said at last.

"It certainly was."

"I didn't realise Nina felt so strongly about Penny."

"Me neither."

"Do you think Jeremy managed to catch up with her?"

"I don't know."

"I hope he did." Rose tapped her fingers on her thigh. "I hate to think of her alone right now, when she's upset like that."

"Rose." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Scorpius shift forward on his seat, and her heart began thumping again, and she swallowed. "I didn't get a chance to speak to you after the other night..."

"Nothing's changed, Scorpius," she interjected quickly.

"Nothing's changed?" He gave an incredulous laugh. "We kissed, Rose. I would say that changes quite a bit."

"It doesn't." Rose looked back at him at last, folded her hands in her lap. There was something in his eyes as he listened to her, a gentle patience - oh, why did he have to make this so difficult? "It doesn't, because I haven't changed my mind, Scorpius. You and I together - it wouldn't work. It can't happen."

"Then why did you kiss me back?" His tone was still gentle, teasing. Even playful. "If you hadn't changed your mind, surely you wouldn't have allowed me to take advantage of you like that?"

"You don't understand. If you'd kissed me that night in the common room when you told me how you felt, I would have kissed you back then too. That... has nothing to do with it."

Scorpius was still smiling. "If I'd only known that at the time..."

"The other night," Rose interrupted, "we were tired, and emotional, and worked-up, and you had just told me about your uncle - " His smile faded, " - and it was only to be expected that something like that would happen, but what I'm saying is that it can't mean anything, or lead to anything, because..."

"Because why, exactly? I'd love to hear your excellent reasons again." The carriage jolted over a bump in the road, and once it had righted itself, Scorpius took his hand from the support behind him and began to count off on his fingers. "Let's see, there was our families, then there was something about being bad for each other..."

"I was serious then and I'm serious now." Rose stared at him. "If you think I'm just making up excuses..."

"Rose, I don't care about our families." He gazed right back at her. "It doesn't matter if they can't stand each other, or if they have their history - that's not ours, Rose. That's got nothing to do with us. And as for being bad for each other - "

"It's not just that," Rose interrupted, sitting forward as the carriage gave another jolt. She glanced out the window hopefully, but they had not even passed the castle gate yet. "You - you heard James earlier, about distractions and how we can't afford them right now."

"We can't afford distractions," Scorpius repeated, with a snort of derision. "That's rich, coming from the wizard who's been shagging Cassie Miller behind broomsheds for the past month." At her look of surprise, "Yeah, I notice things, Rose. I'm not completely blind, which you'd have to be to miss that."

"But that's different."

"Different how?"

"James doesn't feel about Cassie the way..." Rose fumbled with her words. "The way..."

"The way I feel about you?" Scorpius finished. "Probably not. But running around with a bird still counts as a distraction, doesn't it? Your cousin's a hypocrite, Rose."

Her eyes flashed up to him, and she opened her mouth to argue -

"You know I'm right."

"You can't talk about my family that way," she said hotly.

"Oh, come on, Rose. Don't do that." Scorpius cast his eyes upwards, to the roof of the carriage. "You know as well as I do that James was in the wrong back there. And the Rose I know wouldn't have gone along with something like that - the Rose I know would have defended Nina."

"I didn't see you coming to her rescue, either."

"Well, I've always been a coward," Scorpius said matter-of-factly. "But I didn't think you were, too."

Seething, Rose cast another glance out the window. They were rolling up the drive now, the castle looming over them. She started to gather up her cloak. "I've learnt to choose my battles. That doesn't make me a coward."

"Is that what you tell yourself?" Scorpius was sitting back in his seat now, his back to the cushions, his face impossibly calm as he watched her.

"Stop acting like you know so much about me," she shot back. "You don't know anything. Before this year, you didn't know me at all."

"But now I know enough." The carriage came to a stop, and Rose moved for the door, but Scorpius, still seated, held out an arm to block her. His eyes gazed up into her face, cold grey. "I know you're too scared to give a good thing a chance."

"Let me pass," she said through gritted teeth.

"Coward," he said again, but he lifted his arm, and Rose flew out of the carriage, slamming the door behind her.

---

Lily Potter raised her fist and tentatively knocked on the dormitory door. "Lucy?"

No answer came from within. Exhaling, she glanced down the length of the empty staircase, the sounds of conversation drifting up from the common room to meet her. Someone had a wireless on, but she could not make out the W.W.N reporter's words. Not that she needed to. She knew exactly what he was talking about: the same thing that all of wizarding Britain was talking about today.

"Lucy?" she said again, with another knock on the seventh-year girl's door. "Your friend said you were in here."

A pause. Then, at last, a muffled voice declared, "I'm not coming out."

"Well, can I come in?" Lily said hopefully. A minute passed, and then, taking Lucy's silence as a yes, she pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The Head Girl was sitting at her desk, her chin propped up on her elbows. Lily, who had expecting to find her in tears, was surprised to see that her cousin was dry-eyed, if a little paler than usual.

"I'm not coming out," the older girl barked again, and Lily, nodding, took hold of the nearest bedstead and lowered herself on the quilt without invitation.

"You didn't go to Hogsmeade today."

"No."

"You're Head Girl," Lily pointed out. "You're not going to stay inside forever, are you?"

Her cousin's lip curled. "I can't face them."

"Who?"

"Anyone."

Lily tilted her head. "Why not? You haven't done anything wrong."

Lucy Weasley's gaze slid past her, and she drew in a deep breath through her nose. "I've spent the last month," she began, biting out each word, "ever since that damned protest, defending Dad to everyone. Telling people that he was thinking of the future of our country, and saying that in time they'd see - " her voice caught, but this seemed only to make her angrier, and she went on, " - they'd see just how right he was about the Dementors."

Lily frowned. "But, Lucy, you can't really think..."

"All he had to do was stand his ground," her cousin interrupted, her eyes meeting Lily's. "He took a risk, and all he had to do was follow through with it. I stood by him, and then he just went and..." She swallowed, blustering a little more before finishing, "... gave up."

There was a silence. Lily swung her legs a little as she sat on the bed, trying to think of something to say. Lucy's eyes were still on her, her gaze intense, and after a few uncomfortable minutes had passed, she reiterated, "I can't face them." Her voice was quieter, more resigned now. "Jonah and James and Rose and the rest of them... Not after everything I've said about Dad. Not when there's absolutely nothing I can say now to defend what he's done."

"Your dad's been under so much pressure this past month, Lucy," Lily pointed out, stilling her legs and planting her feet on the floor of the dormitory. "Maybe he had no other option."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I do," Lily said, a little defensive. "Of all people, Lucy..."

Her cousin shook her head. "Your dad was a hero. He's never been hated the way mine is now."

"I don't know if that's true." Lily thought of the stories her father had told her about school, when a lot of people had thought for a time that he was the Heir of Slytherin, or that he had put his name in the Goblet of Fire deliberately, or that he had made up the story about Voldemort being alive... She pursed her lips, and was still searching for the right words when Lucy spoke again, her voice hard as stones.

"I'm so ashamed of him."

In the quiet that ensued from this pronouncement, the sound of running footsteps on the staircase outside reached their ears, and now it was Lucy's turn to frown. Someone was shouting; in fact, several people were shouting.

Swiftly, the Head Girl rose to her feet and crossed to the door, opening it and calling, "What in Merlin's name is going on out there?" More running footsteps, muffled shouting in response.

Lily smiled to see her cousin's resolution to stay inside so soon forgotten. But her smile faded as she saw the expression on Lucy's face.

"I think you'd better get back to your dormitory as soon as you can, Lily."

---

Hogsmeade was on fire.

James and Albus cowered in the alley beside Gladrags, peering over the wall at the tongues of flame leaping out of the windows of the Three Broomsticks. Flame that took fantastical shapes: dragons, phoenixes, Thestrals... The whole village was lit with its lurid glow. A steady stream of people were making for the carriages by the station house, while behind them, figures in black and white robes smashed windows. In the lurid glow, the half-moon symbols emblazoned on their robes were visible.

"Truthseekers," Albus muttered. "And they have Fiendfyre. James, we need to get out of here."

"We haven't found Geoffrey Alderton yet," his brother countered, but he seemed dazed, the flames reflected in his pupils.

The heat of the fire scorched their faces even where they crouched, and Albus was on the point of dragging his brother forcibly away when a fierce winged horse with glowing red eyes issued forth from Dervish and Banges and flew straight for them -

"Protego!" A shield rippled around them, and the horse was deflected onto the building behind them, exploding into flame. Both brothers resurfaced from behind the wall, where they had ducked, hands over their heads. James looked at Albus and Albus looked at James, and then they both turned to their left, where a wizard stood who had not been there moments before.

"Looking for me?" Geoffrey Alderton asked.

---

Nina Meyer pushed the dungeon door open and marched through the Slytherin common room, ignoring the many stares she attracted. She turned the handle of the dormitory door, found it to be unlocked, and stepped in.

"I trusted you! I stood up for you!"

Penny scrambled up from one of the cupboards, where she had been leafing through a leather bound book. "I can explain, Nina, I swear..."

"Can you?" Nina strode over, pulled the book out of her hands. It was Orchid's scrapbook, the one she and Rose had found some weeks ago, that had been filled with newspaper clippings of Carlotta Pinkstone. "Because this doesn't look suspicious at all."

"I shouldn't have been prying, I know - I just wanted to find out what I could about Orchid."

"That's not what I meant." Nina tossed the book aside in disgust, crossed to the window and stared out at the green of the lake. "I mean your little visit to your brother in Hogsmeade today. Malfoy and Sharpwood saw you."

Penny's face blanched. She pressed forward as if about to touch Nina's arm in appeal, then appeared to change her mind. "That was... Nina, that was not what you think."

"Oh, then what was it? You and your brother plotting to bring down the school again? Just like old times? He's a criminal, Penny."

"No." Penny bit her lip, then came to a decision. "No, Nina, he's not."

---

Lucy Weasley's first instinct when she heard about Hogmeade had been to return to her dormitory and throw the covers over her head. However, as Head Girl, she rarely followed her first instinct, but the rules, and so she made straight for Hobspawn's office.

Jonah Robbins, the Head Boy, was waiting by the gargoyle for her. "This is bad," he said as she reached him.

"Clearly. Codswallop." The gargoyle moved to let them pass, and Lucy strode inside, Jonah on her heels. "They say the whole village is in flames."

"No, I meant the business with your father."

Lucy turned to glare at the Head Boy as they ascended the steps together. "Not funny, Robbins."

"Oh, you knew I was going to bring it up."

"We have more important things to worry about right now."

"More important than the Minister of Magic resigning? It's big news, Lucy. This thing in the village... someone probably just left a candle alight."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Lucy rapped on the door of the Headmaster's office.

"Come in," called Hobspawn. He was putting on his cloak, and regarded them with some relief as they entered. The portraits on the wall were holding their own conversation in troubled murmurs. "Robbins, Weasley. I'm glad to catch you both. You know what to do?"

Lucy looked uncertainly at Jonah, then back at the Headmaster. "Enforce early curfew?"

"That's right. The main trouble may be in the village, but let's not take any chances." Hobspawn flicked his wand, and there was a sound of crashing glass as a broomstick hurtled in through the office window, landing in his hand. "I'm going there now, to see what I can do to help. A few of the Aurors will stay with you, to help you round up students."

"That won't be necessary, sir." Jonah moved so quickly that before Lucy could so much as blink, his arm was tight around her neck and his wand pressed in at her temple.

Hobspawn froze where he stood, his hand still on his broomstick. "Now, Jonah..."

"Send out all of your Aurors," Jonah said calmly. Lucy could not breathe. "We want them gone from the castle. Give the order. Now."

"You're working for the Truthseekers," the Headmaster said quietly. "You're a recruit."

"I said now." Jonah's arm tightened. Lucy's vision swam before her, her eyes drifting closed as her lungs screamed...

"The castle is clear. All Aurors out to the village." Godfrey Hobspawn spoke into his wand, resignedly, flicked it once, and a silver shape darted out through the newly-broken window. Then he looked back at the Head Boy. "Let her go, Jonah."

The Head Boy obliged, and Lucy dropped to her knees, gasping, her hands at her throat. Quick as a flash, Hobspawn trained his wand on Jonah, who reluctantly relinquished his own, but then the door creaked open behind them once more.

"Turning a wand on one of your own students, Hobspawn?" Blaise Zabini said, circling around Lucy and Jonah to face the Headmaster. "What a headline that would make in the Prophet."

"How did you get in here, Zabini?" Hobspawn growled.

Blaise Zabini smiled complacently. "We have many friends, as you can see. Your Head Boy is only one example. Speaking of..." He gestured to Robbins. "Don't you have Head Boy duties to fulfill? Go on, warn the students. Get them out of our way. We're a merciful bunch when it comes down to it, really." As Lucy automatically made to follow Jonah out of the office, Zabini held up a hand. "Oh, no, Weasley, I think he can do just as well without you." Gesturing to Hobspawn, "I'll be taking that broomstick, now, if you please."

When Hobspawn did not move, Zabini shrugged. "Suit yourself." And with another wave of his hand, he summoned a gust of air. The papers began to whirl off Hobspawn's desk, but the Headmaster cast a shield around himself and Lucy, drawing her closer to him.

"Take it," he said quickly, pushing the handle of the broomstick into her hands. She stared at him, the shield shuddering around them as Zabini struck at it with another gust of air. Hobspawn's face contorted with the effort of holding it. "Take it, girl, and catch up with my Aurors. Tell them I was forced to send that message."

"But sir - " The shield trembled again and the colour drained from Hobspawn's voice.

"Go. Now."

Lucy Weasley did not think as she took the broomstick from the Headmaster and shot out of the broken window, Zabini's shout of rage following her as she hurtled into the growing night. What use was there in thinking, when nothing in the school rules had even remotely prepared her for this?

---

Rose's journey to Hobspawn's office was proving more difficult than she expected. For one thing, everywhere she turned, prefects were attempting to herd unruly students back to their dormitories, blocking up the entire corridor, and for another, there was Peeves. He swooped and dived amidst the confusion, tossing Dungbombs wherever it pleased him to do so. And though Rose was spared this degradation, she was not spared the poltergeist's taunts as he bobbed along beside her.

"Weaselbee's always got a frown! Weaselbee burnt the village down!"

"I did not burn Hogsmeade down," Rose retorted, "so would you please keep your terrible rhyming..."

"Weaselbee's always got a scowl! Weaselbee's on the prowl!" Peeves shouted just as they rounded a corner by the prefects' offices, and Rose, catching sight of Jonah Robbins standing outside the door, turned rapidly on her heel. But he had already spotted her.

"Weasley! Where do you think you're going?"

"I need to speak with Hobspawn," she said, turning back to face him.

"He's gone to Hogsmeade to deal with the fire."

"Then I'll wait in his office."

"No, you won't. Right now, we need all the help we can get gathering students up, and that includes you, Weasley..." Jonah took her arm, started to steer her back down the corridor, but Rose shook him off. He turned to look at her in disbelief.

"Are you a prefect or aren't you?"

"I am," Rose said with emphasis, "And I will help, once I've spoken to Hobspawn."

"No one's going to Hobspawn. No one's going anywhere, except back to their dormitories."

"Merlin's sake, Robbins, this is important..."

"So is helping your fellow students!" The Head Boy stared at her. "The rules apply to you too, you know, Weasley!"

"Lucy would let me go," she said, aware as she spoke the words that she sounded like a sulky child. But there was a flicker of something on the Head Boy's face at the mention of her cousin's name - and Rose reached out to grasp his arm. "What's happened? Is she all right?"

"That depends on your definition of 'all right'." The door of the prefects' offices swung open, and out stepped a smirking Torrance Bole. A cold stone of dread dropped in Rose's stomach. "I believe your cousin's been detained in the Headmaster's office. But don't worry, I'm sure Zabini is taking good care of her."

"What is he talking about? How did he get into the castle?" Rose wheeled on Jonah, whose face was inscrutable as he watched her. "Robbins, what's going on?"

"Oh, she didn't know," said Torrance, delighted. "Probably doesn't know about Hobspawn, either."

"What about Hobspawn?"

"One thing that has always annoyed me about Weasley," Torrance remarked to Jonah, "is that she asks so many questions. I used to have Potions with her, you know, and my mates and I would keep a record of how many times her hand went up. Only when we were very bored, of course."

"The prefects had a similar game," Jonah replied, with a little smile.

"Merlin's sake, what the hell is - "

Rose's words were cut off as a heavy blow to her head sent her spinning. When she righted herself, someone was holding her arms in an iron grip, and her wand was gone. "I always said you didn't have enough patience, Torrance," came the voice of Orchid Ottelby from close to her ear. "Poor Weasley, just trying to get a few answers. Can you really blame her?"

"Well, yes, I can and I do," Torrance retorted. "But that's neither here nor there." Looking to Robbins, "My girlfriend's right. She usually is. My thanks for delivering Weasley to us. If you want to carry on doing what you're doing..."

"Yes, by all means," Orchid supplied, with a shooing motion of her hand, and the Head Boy nodded, hurrying away. For a moment, the three stood in the corridor, Orchid holding Rose's arms and Torrance before them, her wand in his hand.

"Is this how you cornered Albus, too?" Rose demanded after a moment. "Do you always work as a team?"

"I think I prefer you silent." Torrance pointed her own wand at her, then threw a glance at Orchid. "Do you object, love?"

"Object? I recommend it. But we'd better get going."

---

"So you expect us to believe that you've been working for Hobspawn this whole time?" James Potter demanded. "After everything that you've done?"

"Why else would I be helping you right now?" Geoffrey Alderton threw back over his shoulder before stepping over the threshold of Honeydukes.

"Plenty of reasons," Albus muttered darkly, but he and his brother, after exchanging glances, followed after the wizard.

Being higher up on main street, Honeydukes was one of the few buildings on main street that was still untouched by Fiendfyre. Inside, however, the shop was a mess, boxes and bags strewn everywhere, glass displays of Fizzing Whizzbees turned over and smashed into smithereens on the floor.

"Where's Mr. Flume?" Albus said, recalling the aged proprietor with some concern.

"Escaped to the station house by now, along with most of the villagers." Geoffrey Alderton stepped gingerly over the smashed glass and raised his wand, murmuring some incantation. With a significant look at Albus, James patted the pocket in his robes where he kept the Marauder's Map folded up, and his brother nodded as though he had understood. Casually, as though they were simply curious to get a better look at the damage, they edged closer to the counter.

All of a sudden, the shop was flooded with silver light, and a prowling leopard landed before Geoffrey. The boys twisted to look at it. Opening its mouth, it spoke in Professor Hobspawn's voice.

"The castle is clear. All Aurors out to the village."

"That can't be right," Alderton mused as the Patronus vanished. James and Albus took another step towards the counter. "He must intend some Aurors to stay and protect the castle. Unless..."

James and Albus reached the other side of the counter, and came to a dead halt. The cellar door was open, and at the bottom of the steps, the boxes had been cleared away to reveal the entrance to the passageway: a gaping mouth of blackness.

Their jaws dropped, and Geoffrey Alderton joined their side, surveying the entrance with equanimity. "Gentlemen," he uttered, "It appears we have a traitor in our midst."

---

Rose opened her mouth and tried to scream as Orchid and Torrance tugged her along the corridor, but nothing emerged except air. Their Silencing charm had locked her throat, and Orchid had a firm grip on her - but she had something that they didn't know about. She had her own magic. Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed it to come forth: to give her the strength to break free from Orchid and Torrance. Come on.

Nothing. No tingling in her skin, no warmth within her. Maybe when Scorpius had gotten her to bleed it out the other day in the underground harbour, she had lost it for good.

"I can practically hear you thinking, Weasley," Torrance complained, "and it's annoying me." They turned off into a side corridor, pushing through the false back of a closet and coming out on a tiny balcony, below which was a ladder. He shoved her forward. "Climb down."

Rose tried to turn her head, see where they were in relation to the grounds, but his wand pressed into her temple again and he descended the ladder behind her, Orchid bringing up the rear. At the bottom of the ladder, Torrance gave her a shove, and she toppled forward, through a half-open window and into a narrow hall, lined with suits of armour and criss-crossed with sunbeams.

"Not there yet," Orchid said as Rose struggled to her feet, and they dragged her on, down a tightly wound spiral staircase that made her head spin once more, through a tapestry, until at last they came out into a familiar corridor. Rose saw the statue of Gunhilda of Gorsemoor before them. The third floor.

And then she understood.

The statue began to shudder. Rose struggled harder than ever, feeling something begin to boil within her while Torrance laughed throatily. Then, there was a flash of light, and both he and Orchid were thrown off their feet. Rose stood, curling and uncurling her hand, the light still sparking at her fingertips. She looked up as the statue moved back to reveal a witch in purple robes, who stepped forward, tossed her grey-streaked hair back over her shoulder, and smiled at the scene before her.

"So, Rose Weasley," Carlotta Pinkstone drawled. "I see you have finally become interesting."

---

"This... is a lot to take in," Nina said, seated on her dormitory bed. Across from her, Penny was wringing her hands where she stood.

"I know. But we have so little time, and I have to go find him now, you understand, right? I have to make sure Geoff's safe."

Slowly, Nina nodded. "I'm coming with you."

"But - "

"No arguments. You should be lucky I'm letting you go at all. That I'm taking your word for it about your brother."

"Yes, I know, and thank you for that, but..."

"Let's go." Nina rose to her feet, pulled on her cloak and led the way out of the dormitory.

There was a strange hush in the common room as they passed through, and Nina halted, looking around at her fellow students. "What's happened?"

A third-year from a group huddled by the fire spoke up. "They're burning down Hogsmeade."

"Who's burning down Hogsmeade?" Nina demanded, but then Penny made an impatient noise, and she sighed, producing her prefect badge and waving it for all to see. "Right, I'm going to see if I can find one of the professors, and if you don't want to be deducted points, I suggest the rest of you wait right here."

There was a reluctant murmur of assent, but then one first-year started up and made a mad dash for the door. Nina rushed after, catching up with him in the corridor of the dungeons.

"Oi, stop there! You're Scorpius's cousin, aren't you?"

Tobias Greengrass turned around and met her gaze, sulkily. Behind, Penny emerged from the entrance. "I'm not staying in the common room."

"Yes, you are. You are because I said so."

"No I'm not." Tobias lifted his chin in defiance. "I'm going to see my father."

"Your - your father?" Flummoxed, Nina stared at him. Seizing his opportunity in her unguarded moment, the first-year turned tail and fled.

"He can't mean - do you think he means Zabini's here?" She turned to see her companion's reaction, but Penny was gone too.

---

Scorpius gazed across the lake, at the plumes of smoke rising above the trees of the Forest. A few minutes ago, he had seen many brooms issuing forth from the towers far above, and on them Aurors, streaks of black against the grey twilight. It had looked like the whole Hogwarts detachment. And now... now he could see that several Muggle boats had materialised on the disturbed water of the lake, lights glowing like the eyes of insects in the semidarkness. He couldn't make out the figures within them, but felt a prickle on the back of his neck.

Hobspawn's office. That was where James and Albus and... the others (he would not think about Rose right now) would be headed. That was where he needed to be, too.

The entrance hall was empty, and as he passed the door to the Great Hall, he saw that the truth symbol had reappeared over it, the black ink pulsating and glowing.

Scorpius took every shortcut he knew to the Headmaster's Tower, wheeling around corners, jumping on moving staircases, sprinting down corridors past gaping students and pushing through tapestries. All the while, he could feel his heart hammering a frantic tattoo on his chest.

At last, he arrived at the door to the tower, and saw that it had been forced open, the gargoyle knocked out of place. After a moment's hesitation, he ascended the staircase beyond. Not a sound could be heard through the office door, which stood slightly ajar.

Scorpius pushed it gingerly with his hand; it swung to, and he was greeted with the sight of Blaise Zabini seated at the Headmaster's desk as though he had been there all of his life. Behind him, all but one of the windowpanes had been broken.

"Where's Hobspawn?" Scorpius asked.

"Fancied a bit of fresh air." Zabini did not look up from the desk. "Pity he didn't have his broomstick with him."

Scorpius rushed across the office to the broken window. Zabini made no attempt to stop him as he leaned out, feeling the cold wind batter his face - but it was too dark to see if anyone lay on the grounds, far below.

"What did you do with him?" Scorpius whirled around. His uncle had risen from the desk, folding a piece of parchment neatly and vanishing it.

"I just told you."

"You're lying."

"Am I?" Blaise tilted his head. "Why don't you go down and see for yourself?"

Scorpius started for the door, but it slammed in his face with a sudden gust of air.

"Oh. Sorry. You can't."

He tried the handle a few times, then twisted back to Zabini. "Stop your games."

"This is no game, Scorpius. I assure you, I take this very seriously."

"I just want to make sure my friends are safe."

"Your friends. Of course. Well, there's a simple solution to that." Smiling at Scorpius, Blaise Zabini drew out a gold coin from his pocket. "Why don't I send them all a little message, telling them to meet us here?"

"Where did you get that." Scorpius's voice was a monotone as his uncle began to toss the coin idly.

"The Dumbledore's Army used this type of coin as well, didn't they? And your father, too. I remember he showed me how it worked..." Scratching his head as though he were trying to remember, Zabini caught the coin with his other hand and traced the edge of it. "You change the numbers to letters to show the venue. Am I right?" At Scorpius's stricken expression. "Oh, you don't want your friends to join us? What a pity. I suppose I'd better give this back to its owner, then."

He clicked his fingers, and the door to the left of the window opened, admitting Jeremy Sharpwood.

---

James and Albus stepped out beside the statue of the one-eyed witch to find Nina Meyer waiting for them.

"You took long enough," she barked, and then paled as she saw their companion.

Geoffrey Alderton met her gaze levelly, and Nina opened her mouth, then closed it again. Looking anxious, Albus interjected, "It's not what you think, Nina. That is - he's been helping us."

"I know," she said quietly, her eyes not leaving Alderton's. "Penny said you've been working with Hobspawn. She also said - she was going to try to find you."

"Where is she?"

"She ran off." Nina looked down. "So I figured I'd try to find you lot."

"Just how many people know about this passageway?" James demanded. "I used to think it was just me. But now it's Alderton, and Penny, and now you..."

"Scorpius showed me."

"And how did he know?"

"Rose showed him."

"Hate to interrupt," Alderton said, "But the Truthseekers can't be far away, since they used this passage, and I for one would prefer not to be caught by them right now."

"Of course." James rounded on him. "What's going to happen to you when they find out?"

"Something unpleasant, no doubt. Come on." Gesturing impatiently, Geoffrey Alderton began to head down the corridor.

Nina, Albus and James followed behind, exchanging glances. "Do we trust him?" the Slytherin girl said in an undertone.

"Not even remotely," James replied just as quietly. "But he's been helpful so far - let's just keep our eyes open."

"Have you seen Rose?" Albus asked Nina as they walked.

"I hoped she'd be with you."

"I haven't seen her since the meeting in the Three Broomsticks. James?"

His brother shook his head, just as they drew up to the entrance to the library. Alderton turned to them. "I'll leave you here. I need to find my sister."

"How do we know you're not leading us into a trap?" James glanced suspiciously into the dark window of the library door, and Geoffrey Alderton sighed.

"I'm not in Carlotta's inner circle, so I don't have all the details. But what I do know is that the Truthseekers are planning some kind of spell. If you read up on it in there, you might find out something useful. And to prove that I'm not going to lead the Truthseekers straight to you..." Shrugging off his Truthseeker's cloak and unfastening the clasp, he handed it to James. "Take this. Her followers are obliged to wear these; without it, I can't leave the castle. Call it leverage."

"Good luck finding Penny," Nina called faintly as the Auror hurried away into the gathering gloom. She turned to Albus and James. "Now do we trust him?"

"Inconclusive," was Albus's pronouncement as he straightened his glasses, and James said nothing at all.

---

"Jem," Scorpius said as his friend advanced towards them from the inner door of Hobspawn's office. "Jem, what's going on?"

His friend's face was like that of a stranger's. But as he lifted his eyes to meet Scorpius's properly, he saw with dismay that they were clear. Unclouded. No Imperius, then. Zabini handed Jem back the gold coin, and he tucked it into his pocket.

"I'll leave you to catch him up," he said to Jem as he made for the office door, brushing Scorpius aside. "Remember your orders."

At Jem's nod, Zabini exited the room. Scorpius made another surge for the door, but this time, his wand flew out of his hand.

"You're not going anywhere."

Turning back to his friend, who now clutched two wands, Scorpius drew breath. "I'm hoping there's a very good explanation for all of this."

Silence.

"Jem?"

"It'll be easier if we don't talk," Jem said, turning away, towards the broken window.

"What will be easier, exactly?"

Silence again.

"Why did Zabini have your coin?"

Silence.

"Did he take it from you?"

Silence.

"Is he threatening your family? I know what he can be like, Jem, believe me, but working with him is just as dangerous..."

Silence.

"Are you working with him? Jem?"

"I know who my friends are, Scorpius," his friend bit out at last, swivelling around.

"Your friends?" Scorpius was starting to see it now. "You mean Orchid and Torrance."

Silence.

"They pulled you in."

"I wanted to help."

Something within Scorpius was crumpling, deflating, as though he were one of those cheap Muggle balloons he had seen with his mother in Hyde Park. "Today in the village. You were the one who pointed out Penny."

"James Potter was so eager to believe she was plotting something."

"And after we left the Three Broomsticks... you went to Orchid and Torrance?"

"They were close at hand."

"Did you go to them after every Secretkeeper meeting?"

"I met Torrance when I could."

"But..." Scorpius kept probing, as though the right answer would give him the understanding he needed. "The Tongue-Tying hex. You were the one who suggested we all take it."

"We found a loophole." Jem shrugged his skinny shoulders. "Torrance viewed my memories of the meetings every time we met." He began to pace the length of Hobspawn's desk, hands behind his back, still clutching the wands. Scorpius watched him quietly: his friend, his best friend in the whole world.

"Why?" he said at last, but Jem just kept pacing.

"I've already told you. I wanted to help."

"Because of Rose?"

"I wanted to do something real, for once."

"Because of me?"

Jem swung back around at last and looked at Scorpius. "Do you remember that day back in August? When we all met in the Leaky Cauldron?"

"You, me, Orchid, Torrance, Carlos and Nina. I remember."

"That was the last time we were all properly together - before everything changed."

"I miss it, too, you know, Jem," Scorpius said quietly, but his friend went on,

"Do you remember what I said to you, after we'd walked back towards your house together?"

Scorpius thought for a moment. "You said that this year was going to be different. Bit of an understatement."

"I remember thinking back then that was what I wanted. Thinking life was boring. But this year..." Jem chewed on his words. "It hasn't just been different. It's been hell."

"I know, Jem..."

"No, you don't," his friend said sharply. "You don't know, Scorpius, because you've been part of it."

"I don't - "

"I was attacked. My identity was stolen. The Weasley boy should have been expelled for that. In a fair world, he would have been. But he wasn't."

Scorpius rubbed a hand along his jaw. "But - "

"You used to see that," Jem bulled over him. "You used to see that unfairness, Scorpius. You were the one who pointed it out to me. And then I started seeing it and believing in it and you... stopped."

"It's not as bad as I used to think," Scorpius said hoarsely. "You have to understand, Jem; I used to think the whole world was against me - I used to mope around, brood... Merlin, I must have been a nightmare to be around."

"You weren't." His friend's voice caught. "You were my friend."

"I still am."

"You can't be my friend and theirs."

"Who?"

"The Gryffindors. The Potter-Weasleys. Any of them."

"I thought you were getting on with them. At the meetings. Not Rose, I know, but I thought in time..." Scorpius blew out a breath.

Behind his glasses, Jem's eyes were glittering with tears. Angrily, he pulled them off as he walked and wiped the lenses. "I hate them. I'll always hate them. You taught me to."

"I didn't - " Scorpius faltered. "That was before..."

"Before you fell for her."

Scorpius did not respond. Jem stopped walking, put his glasses back on. "This is why I said it would be easier if we didn't talk."

"And I still don't understand. What will be easier? Why does Zabini want you to keep me here?" Scorpius stared his friend down. "Why can't I leave?"

"You're a distraction," Jem murmured.

"A distraction?"

"You could ruin everything."

"Ruin everything?"

"Is there an echo in here?"

"Jem. What could I ruin? Who could I distract?" And then Scorpius froze. "No."

"What are you..."

"It's my father. My father's in the castle, isn't he?"

---

Penny Alderton hurried down the suspended walkway, her eyes fixed on the retreating figure of Tobias Greengrass. Glancing upward, she saw the yellow light of her wand reflected in the glass ceiling, and covered it over with her sleeve as she kept moving.

Hearing footsteps behind her, she extinguished her wandlight completely and pressed up against the wall, making herself as small as possible. A wizard swept past her whom she recognised a moment later as Theodore Nott, the former Potions master. Peering around him, she could see the figure of Tobias just disappearing out of the walkway up ahead, and cursed to herself.

At the end of the walkway was a small, elevated courtyard, and beyond it rose the North Tower, connected to the courtyard by another small walkway. As Penny emerged into the courtyard, she found it to be completely deserted, the only sound the strange whoosh of wind sweeping over the damp stone. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flicker of movement.

Penny twisted around, looking up at the windows of the tower, but they were dark and still. All the same, it made her feel rather too exposed. Hurrying across the courtyard and ducking beneath the cover of the second walkway, she breathed a sigh of relief in the darkness, tucking the wand back into her pocket and making for the door - only to come face to face with Professor Nott.

"Have you seen him?" Nott demanded. "Have you seen Blaise Zabini?"

Penny shook her head, trembling at the wild look in Nott's eyes. "I'm looking for him, too."

"You're lying." Nott grabbed her arm, so hard that it hurt. "You know where he is."

"His son," Penny heard herself saying, as Nott's grip on her arm squeezed even tighter. "His son, Tobias, is somewhere nearby. He can lead you to him."

Something in Nott's face changed, and he let go of her arm, moving back into the darkness.

---

"Why am I here?" The words felt heavy and thick in Rose's mouth. They had brought her to the chamber off the Great Hall, past the professors' high table: a large, musty room with heavy drapes, numerous portraits (all of whom had vacated their frames) and an ornate fireplace. Carlotta was on her feet, igniting a small fire in the grate with her hands. She was flanked by two wizards clad in robes of black and white, while Orchid stood guard by the doorway. Torrance had disappeared somewhere. Rose sat, hands bound by invisible cords, on a hard chair by the wall.

"You have something that I want, Weasley," Carlotta Pinkstone said quietly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do. Your little display earlier showed me just how much you do know, my dear Rose. But how much more you have to learn, too. I could teach you."

Rose felt a shiver tingle her spine. Her wandless magic... damn it, where was her wandless magic now when she needed it? By the statue of the one-eyed witch, it had been as though a well had sprung up inside her - and now it was bone dry once more.

"That's a very kind offer, but I don't want to learn anything you can teach."

Orchid started forward from her post indignantly, but Carlotta shook her head, eyeing Rose amusedly from where she stood. The fire she had kindled in the grate crackled merrily, and she gazed at it. "I've always been good at fires. Since I was very small. Did you know I grew up in Cornwall?"

Rose just looked at her disbelievingly. "Are you really going to tell me your backstory?"

"Why not fill the time?" Something in her gaze hardened. "Besides, Rose Weasley, I want you to know that everything I have done this year has been for a reason."

"I know the reason," Rose said. "You're a fanatic who's trying to force her radical ideas on everyone else."

Carlotta laughed again. "Is it really so radical an idea, to give Muggles the same rights as us? To stop systematically oppressing their thoughts and memories?"

"They're better off not knowing," Rose said.

"I don't know about that." Suddenly, something in Carlotta's face was lined with sorrow. "Perhaps they are, as you put it, better off. But is it our right to take that away from them?"

"We do it for their protection."

"Their protection, or ours?" Distractedly, Carlotta curled her hand again and the flame in the grate flared up, momentarily blue. "I had a friend, you know. Back in Cornwall, when I was growing up. She was fascinated by magic. But she could never possess it. She watched me go to school, live a life from a storybook, while she was stuck with a mundane existence."

"Was she a Muggle?" Rose asked, curious despite herself. She remembered, suddenly, the picture she and Nina had seen in Orchid's scrapbook, of the two little girls, one dark, one fair. Carlotta and a friend.

"A Squib. Almost worse, I think. She had all the access to magic, but none of the ability herself. She was jealous of me. I couldn't blame her." Carlotta paused. The flame crackled, died down again. "But then she began to write about our world. Articles, short stories; anything she could get published in the Muggle newspapers. So the Ministry tracked her down in her house and removed her memories. They made her into a sheep."

"Where is she now?" Rose asked.

"Dead."

"Did the Ministry kill her?" Rose could not hide the tremor in her voice.

Carlotta laughed. "Merlin, no. Do you really have such a low opinion of your own government, Weasley? Even I know that they would not resort to murder in such cases - at least, not openly. No, she died an unremarkable death, just as she lived an unremarkable life. Quite bleak, isn't it, when you contemplate it. The life of a Muggle." She looked at Rose. "And that is what I want to change. You see that now, don't you?"

"I see," Rose said, "but your methods..."

"I wasn't always like this. For years I campaigned peacefully." Carlotta Pinkstone sighed. "Until I learned that the only language we all have in common is that of violence. Which is why I am truly sorry, Rose, for what I am about to do." Turning towards Orchid, she nodded, and the witch slipped out of the door.

"What - " Rose began, her mouth dry with dread, but her voice died out when Orchid reappeared a moment later with Torrance, dragging Hugo behind them. Smirking at Rose, Bole shoved his wand into Hugo's back, pushing him forward to face her fully.

Rose's dread turned to rage as she saw her brother's face. One eye was swollen shut, and there were purple bruises on his neck as though he had been throttled. His auburn hair swung around his face limply as he burst out, "Don't do it, Rosie. Whatever it is they want you to - don't..."

"Shut it," Torrance said, kneeing him in the back with such force that Hugo doubled over, and Rose tightened all over, straining the bonds that held her.

"Please," she whispered. "Please let him go."

"We will as soon as you agree to cooperate," Carlotta Pinkstone said calmly.

"No, Rosie, don't - "

"I said, shut your blood traitor mouth." Bole shoved Hugo forward again so that he was kneeling. Both Orchid and Carlotta were watching eagerly. Rose looked between them, then at her brother again. She kept looking at him as she said,

"Whatever you want me to do. I'll do it."

"There, now. That wasn't so hard, was it?" Carlotta swept away from the fire and lifted one hand. The ropes around Rose loosened, gave away completely, and she surged out of her chair, only to find herself in the grip of one of the wizards flanking Carlotta. Twisting around, she saw Bole pushing Hugo into the same chair she had just vacated.

"No! You said you'd let him go!"

"You've tricked me before, Rose Weasley," Carlotta reminded her, a hint of apology in her tone. "I'm afraid I couldn't take your word for it. Now, if you'll please to follow me..."

---

James, Albus and Nina stood halted in the darkened library and looked at each other. "So what exactly are we looking for?"

"Think, think, think." James stepped forward, turning in a full circle. Alderton's cloak was still slung over his arm. "The Muggles... Carlotta Pinkstone and her followers want to show them the truth about the wizarding world, starting with Hogwarts..."

"So a kind of Revealing spell?" Albus suggested. "To make a hole in the castle defences?"

"But they've already made that hole," Nina said. "Scorpius told me that's what they used the symbols for. So what's left for them do now?"

There was a brief pause as they pondered this, then James said abruptly, "The Snarling Sons."

"What about them?"

He halted in his tracks, turned back to face Nina and Albus. "Back in October. Our memories were tampered with."

"And some Muggleborn students started remembering what had happened to them..." Albus said slowly. Then he shook his head. "But that was because of Nott's memory potions. Not a spell."

"What if the same effect could be contained in a spell?" James gestured vaguely in the air. "A kind of - remembering spell?"

"Impossible," Nina said at once.

"Not impossible," Albus breathed. "Think of Remembralls! It's the same principle, isn't it?" He disappeared down an aisle of shelves, returning a moment later with a book entitled Handbook for the Perpetually Tardy Student. At the mystified expressions of the other two, "There's a chapter on Remembralls in here. It might tell us a little about how their magic works."

"I'll look up Obliviate and see if there's a possible counter-spell," Nina declared.

"Good. James, you should keep watch." Albus thrust the Map in his brother's direction and strode away towards the shelves, while Nina continued to leaf through the handbook. A few quiet minutes passed before he spoke up again, his voice slightly muffled. "You lot?"

"Found something?"

"Not exactly. But I was wondering..." Albus emerged from behind the shelves, tossing a book onto the nearest table, "... whether we should call the others to help us. Cassie, and Rory, and Jackie..."

"Send a message on your coin," Nina said at once, but James held up a hand.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. The coins may have been compromised." Raising his eyebrows at the other two, "We still don't know who showed that passage to the Truthseekers, do we? Besides - " to Nina, " - I seem to remember you saying you wanted no more part in this."

"Don't throw my words back at me, Potter. Things have changed." Nina shut the book. "Penny ran off, for one thing."

"Yeah, big surprise there."

"Sssh." That was Albus, gesturing to them impatiently. "I'm close to something."

"A breakthrough?"

"Yes - maybe - just let me read."

"All right." A pause elapsed, during which the three carried on with their reading, until - "Ah. Look at this." Albus stood, turning the book around so that they could see. It was an illustration of a large Remembrall, with various labels.

"So?" James said after a pause. "What does it mean?"

"A larger version of the pocket Remembrall can be used to improve the memory of more than one person," Albus read. "Some households make use of it, like a clock. It has to be charged over a period of time to gather enough power."

"Charged? Now that sounds familiar." James peered at the illustration. "Like what Meyer was saying about the symbols."

"So, in theory, the Truthseekers could make use of the same large Remembrall to restore the Muggles' memories. They'd need something to contain it, of course..."

"But wouldn't we have noticed a massive Remembrall charging in the school for the past few months?" Nina pointed out.

"Not if it was well hidden." Albus frowned behind his spectacles.

"We've got company," James said then, and, holding up the Map, he showed the names of Orchid Ottelby and Torrance Bole, moving up the corridor towards the library.

Albus stiffened, and Nina inched a fraction closer to him. "Lights off," she murmured. "Catch them off guard." And then, to James as their wandlights extinguished one by one, leaving them in darkness, "Now might be a good time to send a message on that coin."

"Already on it, Meyer," James replied, through gritted teeth as though he were concentrating very hard.

As James, Nina and Albus stood there in the darkness, time seemed to stretch oddly, every sound magnified tenfold, as the footsteps echoed outside the door, becoming louder and louder, so that when the library door finally crashed open, flooding the room with light, all they initially registered was relief.

"Oh, this is disappointing," came the grating voice of Orchid Ottelby. "They're actually hiding from us. They're scared of us."

Warily, Albus looked across to James, but his brother did not take the bait, remaining where he was as the shadows cast by the open doorway slid down his profile. The footsteps came closer, and then, with a crash, a bookshelf toppled to the floor. Nina grimaced, and the sound of the books rolling across the carpet filled their ears for a moment. Then another crash, and another bookshelf, nearer still.

The footsteps halted then, and this time Torrance Bole spoke. "Come out," he coaxed softly. "Come out, and we'll tell you what we've done with your cousin."

James bit down hard on his lower lip, but Albus laid a hand on his arm, shaking his head. Wait for the others, his eyes said silently into his brother's.

"She told us where you were hiding," Bole went on, his words punctuated by another crash of falling shelves. "We broke her, and we'll break you too."

"He's bluffing," Albus said under his breath. "Rose doesn't have a clue where we are; she couldn't have told them. They probably don't even have her."

"But we can't take that risk," James murmured back, and then, with an apologetic glance at his brother, he stepped out from behind the bookshelves. "I'm going to ask you very nicely, Slytherins, and I'm going to ask you only once: where is she?"

In the next instant, he ducked under a jet of green light, and then he was firing at Orchid and Torrance, crackling streams of light issuing from his wand, and Nina and Albus, exchanging glances, stepped out from their cover.

The librarian, had she been present, would have cowered to see the destruction wrought on her sanctuary over the next few minutes. Its shelves were used as targets, its books as shelter, and its desks served as high ground for the attackers, the wood splintering under the weight of their feet as they fired. James ducked and dived, nimble as a centaur, tackling every spell the Slytherins threw at him, while Nina rushed through the forest of books, occasionally firing over her shoulder but mainly doing her best not to die.

Albus, too, stayed on the defensive. He was quick to tire - unlike Torrance and Orchid, so it seemed - and at one point during the onslaught of curses, he threw his hands up over his head as books rained on him from the shelf. He looked across to James, who was taking cover behind the same shelf, and Nina on his other side. The two Slytherins had driven them in a circle, back near the entrance of the library.

"We can't go on like this much longer," Albus said breathlessly as a deadly jet whistled past his ear. James nodded mutely. I know, he mouthed, and then he whirled and blocked a stream of purple light that came arcing down above them, directly over Albus's head.

"I can cover myself, James!" Albus shouted.

"Didn't look like that to me!" James retorted.

"Oh, Merlin's sake, you two," Nina hissed through her teeth, and then she flailed backwards as a vicious cut sliced across her cheek. Glaring through the newly-made gap in the shelves, she saw Orchid Ottelby's grinning face.

"You're going to regret that, Ottelby."

"Not as much as you will." Laughing, Orchid ducked under the stream of light Nina sent her way, and disappeared again. "It's probably going to scar!"

James followed after Orchid and Torrance, who appeared to be weaving their way around the desks near Madam Pince's usual post, and Albus and Nina followed close on his heels.

As they passed the table of books where they had been researching earlier, a Stunning spell came spinning towards Albus from up ahead. He dodged it narrowly, and it struck the books instead, one of them hurtling off the table and landing at his feet. The illustration of the Remembrall fell open, and Albus shouted, "It's the phoenix monument!"

"Sorry, Al, can you explain?" James called, his teeth gritted with effort as he fired at Torrance across two desks that had been pushed together.

"The Remembrall is contained inside the phoenix monument!" Albus exclaimed. And by the wide-eyed expressions of Torrance and Orchid as they turned his way, and the brief respite in their curses, he knew he was right.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Nina called.

"You're not going anywhere," Torrance said savagely.

"Oh, I beg to differ - " James began to say, but then a stray jet of black light caught him on the shoulder, and he sank to the floor beneath the desks.

"One down!" Orchid crowed, while Albus and Nina stared, slack-jawed, at their companion's motionless form. "Two against two. How do you like those odds?"

"I like them a whole lot better." Torrance wheeled around and pointed his wand at Albus and Nina, his lips spread in a wide smile.

"I think you'll find it's three against two," said a quiet voice behind him, and then Scorpius Malfoy stepped up behind Torrance and disarmed him neatly, catching his wand in his hand as the other wizard toppled to the ground, his limbs locked together.

"Scorpius, where the hell have you been?" Nina exclaimed, while Albus moved up beside her, keeping his wand trained on Orchid lest she attempt to go to Torrance's aid. But Ottelby remained stationary where she had been relentlessly mobile before, her face pale as she regarded Scorpius.

"I got your message," the grey-eyed wizard told Albus and Nina. "On the coin."

"Well, thank Merlin someone did," Albus said.

"You're not supposed to be here," Orchid said to Scorpius, without taking her eyes off him. He looked back at her, calmly.

"Oh, you mean because Sharpwood was meant to be guarding me? Well, I managed to escape."

"And where's Jem now? You Stunned him, I suppose?" Orchid shook her head. "Your own best friend, Scorpius? That's low."

"It's on him," Scorpius said shortly, but he had flinched at her words and no one missed it. Smiling a little, Orchid held up her hands.

"What about me? Are you going to hurt me, too, Scorpius?"

There was a long, tense pause, during which Scorpius gazed fixedly at Orchid Ottelby. Whatever might have followed is difficult to ascertain, but either way, he never got closer to forming the incantation on his lips when the library door burst off its hinges and in burst Cassie Miller, Rory Finnigan, Summer Birchgrove and Diana Turpin.

"We got the message," Cassie called to Albus, then her eyes landed on James where he lay and widened in horror.

"A little help here, you lot?" Nina suggested, and the four new arrivals turned their wands on Orchid Ottelby, who sighed.

"That won't be necessary. I know when I'm beaten."

"All the same," Scorpius said, his voice hard, "I don't think we'll be taking any chances." Then he nodded to Cassie, who tore her gaze from James at last, shot at Orchid and kicked her wand out of her hand, pinning her to the nearest bookshelf. Rory joined her in Stunning the witch, while across the library, Albus and Summer hurried across to tend to James, and Diana looked uncertainly at Scorpius.

"It appears, my friends," groaned James from where he lay, "that the tide has turned."

"We need to get downstairs," Nina said at once. "To the phoenix monument. Come on, you lot." At Scorpius's confused glance, she shrugged his shoulders. "Long story. Are you coming or not?"

"They have Rose," Albus said significantly, and Scorpius's head snapped around to her. The colour drained from his face. He swallowed hard, and seemed to be struggling with something before he at last said quietly,

"I can't come with you."

"You - what?" Albus stared at him. "You don't want to help Rose?"

"I - do, but..." Scorpius breathed in deeply, cast a glance around at the other Secretkeepers who stood around him: James, propped up by Summer and Albus, Cassie, her face grim as she held Orchid's wand, Nina, her eyes uncomprehending as she gazed at Scorpius. They had become friends to him over the past few weeks, or something resembling friends, in any case. But after what he said next, they would look at him in the old way again, and he couldn't do anything to stop it. He would disappoint them, just as he had disappointed Jem. Perhaps it was inevitable. "But I think my father's here. I have to go find him." Before he does something he can't take back.

He did not stay to see their reactions; could not bear to see their eyes regard him with that strange mixture of pity and fear that he had endured all of his life. So he pushed out of the library door, began to stride away.

A moment later, however, hobbling footsteps followed after him, and turning, Scorpius saw that James was limping up to him, one hand clutching his side. He had a cloak slung over his arm, and held it out to Scorpius as he approached. "Take this."

"Why?" Scorpius said warily, but James Potter's eyes gazed into his earnestly as he passed him the cloak with one hand.

"It might help you get past the Truthseekers. Good luck, Malfoy." He turned and moved away, back to the library. Scorpius frowned, and shook out the cloak. On it was emblazoned the truth symbol, rendered in intricate black and white stitching. He slipped it on, pulled up the hood, and hurried away.

It would seem that your father is beyond help. His mother had said that.

He would prove her wrong.

---

"It's quite simple," Carlotta Pinkstone said as Rose was brought to a halt in the Entrance Hall. "What I require you to do."

Rose was barely listening: for the strangest of sights greeted her. The doors that led out to the grounds both stood open, and just beyond the threshold stood a crowd of wide-eyed Muggles, clad in anoraks and hiking boots. But stranger still, a circle of witches and wizards clad in black and white robes stood around the phoenix monument, which was glowing red. The light fell over the faces of the Truthseekers, like that of a setting sun, and the effect was almost beautiful. Several of them she recognised as students from the school, such as Jonah Robbins, who still donned his Head Boy badge.

"Once the spell is cast, they will be able to pass over the threshold," Carlotta said, gesturing to the Muggles outside the door. "Right now, their false memories are still blocking them from seeing the truth."

"You won't pull it off," Rose said, sounding more sure than she felt. "Help is on the way."

"But it will already be too late." Carlotta smiled. "Your hand, please."

Rose hesitated for a fraction of a second, then, thinking of Hugo back in the room off the Great Hall, she extended her right hand. Carlotta took it, sliced across her palm, and held it up. The circle around the monument parted a little to let them through, and Pinkstone dragged Rose along, pressing her hand to the monument.

As Rose's blood soaked into the monument, her eyes began to drift closed, and Carlotta Pinkstone kept her pinned there, her hands raised high. Magic crackled forth from them, forming a steady stream of golden light that wound its way from Carlotta to across the Entrance Hall and up the marble staircase, and up, up, up... Over by the threshold, the Muggles were making their way inside, their faces alight with comprehension as they remembered... remembered -

"Rose!"

Her eyes flickered back open at the sound of her name, and she saw her friends crowding down the marble staircase - James, Albus, Nina, Cassie... she wondered if she was dreaming. Carlotta's snarl as she tossed their figures aside like they were paper made her realise that she was not.

"Keep them out of our way," she hissed to the nearest Truthseekers, and they nodded and started forward.

"Haven't you taken enough of my magic?" Rose said weakly then, but Carlotta shook her head, turning to regard the thin golden line.

"Soon, Rose dear. Soon."

---

Draco Malfoy crouched in his vantage point, his eyes fixed on the suspended walkway beneath the tower. His feet rested on the narrow sill, and behind him, the tightly wound spiral staircase fell away into nothingness.

The girl had passed through a few minutes ago - the Alderton girl. Which meant that her brother could not be far behind.

His throat dry with anticipation, Draco shifted slightly, almost slipping over the side of the sill in the process. As he regained his balance, gazing out into the rain, it occurred to him that he had been in this position before. He had procrastinated: that had been his mistake with Dumbledore. Then Snape had had to finish the job.

Sternly, he vowed to himself that he would not make the same mistake again. And as a figure came into view down below, hurrying the same way that the Alderton girl had just taken, Draco placed his left hand on the window for support, steaming up the glass, and leaned forward to get a closer look.

Yours is the most important task, Draco.

One she had assigned him to do. Carlotta Pinkstone had thought him capable of carrying out this task to its fullest. She had seen the great wizard in him: that was what Blaise had said.

He could see Geoffrey Alderton now, through the glass. The gleam of blond hair visible through his hood, the truth symbol emblazoned on his cloak, which was streaming behind him... Draco aimed his wand, steadied his hand -

His foot slipped again, involuntarily. Throwing out a hand to stop himself pitching off the sill altogether, he lost precious seconds, and when he peered through the window again, the figure was out of sight. More out of frustration than a hope of striking the target, Draco fired.

The bolt of green light from his wand streaked across the wet darkness. It illuminated the entire length of the glass construction, and the running figure within it, then struck the end of the walkway, causing it to shudder and buckle into the courtyard beyond. Draco thrilled at the power thrumming in his veins; at the feeling of the magic in the very core of his being. The thrill evaporated when he saw the figure go down with the shower of glass.

"What was that mess?" Blaise's voice crackled in his ear, through the piece they used to communicate. "You were supposed to take him out cleanly!"

Draco had no answer for Zabini. And though the wizard hissed into his ear to stay where he was, he found his feet stirring off the sill, his wand hand lifting to hover him back onto the stairs. He descended the steps mechanically, every part of him heavy, so that by the time he reached the door into the courtyard it felt as though an eternity had passed.

In the years to come, Draco Malfoy would wonder just what it was that had warned him first. What terrible dread had gripped his mind as he stepped cautiously into the courtyard, the stone beneath him shuddering unsteadily. Why, as he peered into the swirling grey dust where some of the courtyard had been damaged in the blast from the walkway, something within him wrenched so painfully that he thought, for a moment, that he was dying.

Whatever mysterious force it was directed his feet forwards into the sea of rubble behind him, and sent his wand hand flying this way and that to clear a path. He had only gone a little way when he saw a leg, and an arm, poking out from under a jagged piece of rubble. That same mysterious force wrenched the rock off the body with another flick of his wand, and then Draco fell to his knees and lifted it into his arms.

Sometimes, at work, when he had occasion to visit some particularly high-security vault, deep in the bowels of Gringotts, Draco remembered the cart travelling so fast and so steep down into the rapidly thinning air that there would come a sort of whistling in his ears, and white spots would appear on his vision, and for a moment he would forget who he was.

He heard that whistling now, and over it he could hear a staccato babbling: the same repeated word. No, not a word: a name.

The blinding white of the St Mungo's maternity ward, and his wife stretching out his arms to him from where she lay in bed - Draco coming reluctantly forward and kneeling at her side, passing the bundle back into her arms as gingerly as though it were made of glass - and Astoria smiling and passing a hand over the baby's face - and her voice, far away, "What shall we name him?"

Draco had replied straight away, for he had known the answer for some time - for months beforehand, he had held it in his heart, with the hope that it brought. He pronounced it now. Scorpius, as he passed a hand over his son's pale face, over his closed eyes, brushed the broken glass from his blond hair.

---

"Draco! Draco! What are you doing?"

Penny Alderton watched from the shadows of the courtyard as Blaise Zabini burst in, stopping as he saw who Draco Malfoy was cradling in his arms. "What happened? Where's Alderton?"

Malfoy did not so much as look up from the face of his son. Zabini came closer, grasping him by the shoulder. "Come on. Come now. We can help him, Draco, once this is done. Come on."

Malfoy did not move from the spot, just kept rocking his son in his arms, murmuring nonsense to him as though he were a sick child. Penny felt something catch in her throat at the sight. Zabini shook his shoulders, slapped the side of his face, to no avail. "Have you lost your mind, Draco? We need to find Alderton! We need to keep the link with Carlotta!"

Malfoy went on murmuring to his son, and Zabini, with a desperate glance up at the North Tower, rushed on. Penny followed him.

"I don't have time to deal with you, little girl." He turned his shoulder as they reached the second walkway, curved a hand carelessly to flick her away as he would a fly. Penny crashed into the glass wall but threw out her foot in the vain hope that Zabini would trip over it.

He did not. Instead he stooped and took hold of it and, without turning, twisted. Penny's raw scream ripped through her own ears as the bone of her ankle snapped. Zabini let go, and her body crumpled to the floor, chin slamming onto the stone so hard that she bit her tongue.

"Do you want me to snap your neck next?" She could only see Zabini's boots, her vision blurred by tears of pain. They shifted on the floor as he moved for her.

"No," Penny whispered, as Zabini lifted her off the floor like a ragdoll. "Please."

Blaise Zabini's dark eyes looked into hers as she sobbed in pain. "Give me one good reason."

"Your son," she rasped as his hands closed around his neck, and then, with the greatest effort she had ever made, "He's dead."

Zabini's eyes widened, and in that split second Penny lunged, roaring in pain. Her hands seized his head, and then she was saying the incantation the way her brother had taught her, and Zabini was shrinking, dwindling down into his feline form. She crashed to the floor again, screaming in agony as her ankle made contact with the stone floor, and struggled to keep a hold of the black cat as it flew at her, scratching and hissing. Each stinging swipe of his claws tore her face apart, but Penny held on as blood blotted out her vision, her hands tightening around his neck, twisting his head -

Snap.

Blaise Zabini fell backwards through the glass wall, the look of disbelief frozen in his eyes as the night carried him away.

---

Rose felt a shock course through her, and her hands twitched away from the monument as though they had been burned. Beside her, Carlotta Pinkstone was frowning, her hands still held up in the air, while the golden line issuing forth from her fingers wavered - and then disappeared.

"The link has been broken!" she heard Carlotta cry to one of her followers. "To the North Tower - now!"

The Entrance Hall was thrown into confusion as the Truthseekers seemed to awaken from their trance, moving at Carlotta's command. The Muggles had stepped within the threshold, gazing upon the scene.

"Rose! Rose!"

She turned to see that Albus was gesturing wildly at her from the bottom of the staircase, where he and the others had broken loose from the Truthseekers restraining him. Their wands were held aloft, and her cousin's mouth moving urgently, saying one word over and over again. "Move!"

Rose stared at them, and then up at the monument - and she understood what they intended.

She ran.

Behind her, the phoenix monument exploded into a million glowing red shards, scattering all over the Entrance Hall, falling on the faces of the Truthseekers, on the Muggles... Just before she had reached the staircase, a piece of granite struck Rose's back, and she fell. Her head knocked the ground, but she kept crawling forward on her hands and knees.

Arms grasped her as she reached the base of the staircase, and she saw Nina's face. Her cheek was weeping blood, but her eyes shone into Rose's as she helped her up. "We did it!"

Rose smiled weakly, but then her eyes roved over the group. Albus, James, Summer, Rory, Cassie... "Where's Scorpius?"

Nina was dumb. Rose found herself shaking her friend's shoulders in her desperation. "Where is he?" She turned to the others, but no one would meet her gaze. Beyond them, the Truthseekers ran from the exploding monument, threw up shields around themselves and the Muggles, and Carlotta Pinkstone shouted over it all, her eyes roaming the crowd. Searching for Rose.

James put a hand on her arm at last. He was pale, and barely conscious, but he whispered, "He went to find his father."

His father. Rose straightened and left the others, hurrying up the steps. They did not try to stop her, nor did she attempt to explain where she was going, for she was not sure. But inside of her, the feeling was growing and growing that something was very wrong.

Later, she never remembered the journey up through the castle. In her mind, it was as though she stepped straight from the Entrance Hall into the courtyard before the North Tower. There, she recalled the cruel, wet wind that seemed to wake her up from the drowsy state Carlotta's spell had placed her in.

Her way was blocked as she came into the second covered walkway, but she blasted a path through it, pushing out and coming to a dead halt. There Draco Malfoy knelt, pale and stunned, holding something in his arms. Something - no, someone.

A great writer once said that there is a book of Revelation in everyone's life. Rose Weasley read hers in that instant, as she felt a blow like that of a Killing Curse strike her heart, and strike it deep: as she looked upon the cold, motionless body of Scorpius Malfoy.

All of her words - her silly, stupid words, and her flimsy little reasons - what did they signify now? Rose knew that she had loved this boy for a long time; she knew that she would have laid down her life for him, and she knew that she could never, ever have stood by and watched him become happy with someone else. Someone who was not her.

You're too scared to give a good thing a chance, he had said, and of course he had been right. She had wasted so much time. Time that they could have been spending together, she had spent running instead.

Rose felt centuries old as she dropped to a crouch, putting out her hands to feel for Scorpius's pulse, though she had little hope of finding it. Her probing fingers felt nothing. The next thing she noticed was that his skin was cut up all over with pieces of glass. And then her hands found his chest, lifting up his shirt and noting for the first time his crushed ribs, his flattened torso, bruised purple from some great weight that had fallen on it.

Something inside her had started screaming, and Rose felt helpless, just as she had so many times before, helpless as something unbearably precious was stolen away from her. When her mother had been poisoned... when Andromeda had been killed... when Albus had been attacked...

Except, with Albus's attack, it had been different. An unnatural calm had settled over and allowed her to do what was necessary. To Heal him. But now, her hands could barely keep steady as she held out her wand and whispered, "Vulnera Sa-Sa-Sanentur."

Draco stayed her hand, shaking his head very slightly. "He's past Healing." And Rose knew that he spoke the truth.

A silent tableau, they knelt in the courtyard, knees on the damp stone as the wind swept clouds of dust around them. Somewhere nearby, there was a whimpering sound, like that of a dying animal, but Rose had no interest in investigating it. Above them, the rainfall had softened to something gentle and forgiving, and the first grey light of dawn was beginning to fall on the courtyard, on the castle walls and turrets and towers. Rose turned her face up to it, some part of her grateful for that small bit of tranquil beauty.

Convulsively, her shoulders began to shake, and the sobs ripped through her. Raw, ugly sounds that she had never made before filled the quiet of the courtyard, and through it all, Draco sat and held his son. Rose's hands remained on Scorpius's chest, as though she were trying to claim some small piece of him for herself. But that was unfair, as she had had no claim over him in life; so why now, in death -

Death?

The wrongness of the word pierced her consciousness. Rose looked at Scorpius's body, and then she looked at Draco, and at the grey light surrounding them, and then she realised, all at once, that it was not the dawn.

It was her.

It was leaking from her fingertips, from the tears in her eyes, from her shaking shoulders, from all over her. Rose gazed at her own hands, still planted on Scorpius's chest. And then she pulled him to her, detaching Draco's arms in the process. The father blinked, as though coming out of a trance, and Rose gently placed Scorpius's blond head on her lap. She bent over him, her eyes drifting closed as she concentrated, with every will of her body.

She had thought the well had gone dry. She had thought Carlotta had fed every last drop of her magic into that wretched spell. But as she knelt there, tears slipping out from under her eyelids, she felt it: the power vast within her, rising and swelling: warm and fiery and real. The only question was how far she could let it go. How far she could let herself go... and still remain herself.

You have finally become interesting, Rose Weasley.

What I think is that you're like me.

You're not them, Hugo.

A chip off the old block.

Images rose into her mind: of a boiling lake, of a dormitory on fire, and panic reared within her. She would destroy him completely, and maybe herself in the process. She was not special. She was not interesting. Being the daughter of heroes didn't make her one.

But maybe it wasn't about being a hero. Maybe it wasn't about being special, or interesting. Maybe it was simply about saving the boy she loved. Maybe it was about risking everything for his sake, as she knew - without a shadow of a doubt - that he would do for her if the roles were reversed.

Rose clutched Scorpius tighter; doubled over him and called out. Come back, she called. Come back. I need you. He needs you. They need you.

She squared her shoulders. I'm not afraid of you anymore.

The pain came next, and it was a thousand times worse than she had expected. It engulfed her, blazing through her chest and body, making her hot and icy all at once, sending sharp needles into her. Her ears rang; white spots appeared on her vision.

When she cracked an eye open, shivering and shuddering, the grey light was gone. In her arms, Scorpius lay, still pale and cold and motionless. Draco was a little way off, his face in his hands.

And with that, the pain within her scattered, leaving nothing but exhaustion in its place. It reached deep into her bones, this tiredness, and weak as a kitten, Rose collapsed onto the wet stone beside Scorpius.

"It didn't work," said the cold voice of his father nearby, still muffled by his hands, and she barely registered his words. "He's gone. Gone." And he kept repeating it, that same phrase, like a mantra, even as Rose's sobs quieted and as she summoned the will to lift her head and listen - listen -

- to the hoarse, thready sound of Scorpius's breathing.

---

There is a certain hour of the morning, the hour just before the world begins to stir, that hour when the veil between day and night is at its thinnest: when, for the briefest of times, opposites are wedded; light and dark, silence and sound.

Such an hour found Penny Alderton, cowering in the Aurors' grip and covering her mutilated face with her hands as she was pushed into a room with Geoffrey Alderton, Theodore Nott and Jeremy Sharpwood.

It found James and Albus and Nina and Cassie all looking on as Aurors poured into the Entrance Hall, seizing hold of Carlotta Pinkstone, of the Truthseekers... while still the red fragments of the orb glowed on the ground, and the Muggles, wide-eyed, took it all in.

It found Godfrey Hobspawn's spread-eagled form on the grass of the grounds, far below the window of his office.

It found Rose and Draco Malfoy hauling Scorpius's unconscious body to the hospital wing.

And as every inch of Rose's body cried out in exhaustion; as her knees buckled beneath her and her face met the cool floor, she felt that a great crowd had gathered about them, Aurors and Healers and professors, bustling about... and she fancied she heard the voices of her parents, close by and comforting. Whether it was a fancy or reality, it made her smile, in the moment before sleep claimed her.