"Rose!"

"Morning, detective!"

"What's happening?" Rose was bombarded with voices as she walked into the secret passageway accompanied by Scorpius. Her cousins and a few of their most trusted friends stood against the walls and chattered excitedly.

"Hey, Red," she turned to see Hugo pushing through the crowd towards her. The nickname 'Red' had come from her dad, who started calling her 'Rosie-Red', and toddler Hugo fashioned it into a word easily pronounced by three-year-olds.

"Hey, Hugo," she ruffled his hair as he reached her, which was slightly more brown than hers but ten times more unruly. "I don't remember seeing you at our first meeting," Rose recalled the scene in the hospital wing. Hugo scuffed his shoes.

"I was actually in detention," he said bashfully. Rose tried to be stern, but couldn't quite manage it. After all, they were about to fight for their lives.

"Okay, listen up everyone!" She called out, and the corridor went silent. "Now, as you probably know, our own Potions Master, Professor Sicarius is part of a conspiracy." A few people nodded. "Well, Scorpius and I overheard him talking to one of his informants at the Ministry, and we found out what he's up to." Rose quickly summarised what they'd found out, and the group stood, shell shocked, as they comprehended the enormity of what was happening.

"So we're going to fight them," Al said solemnly.

"Well, if we could alert the teachers - " Rose started, but people started shaking their heads.

"They've been evacuated into the common rooms," Roxy explained. "Fred tried getting in to the Gryffindor room, but the Fat Lady's not in her portrait, and he couldn't get in. I'd assume that Sicarius told them that something dangerous was happening, and then trapped them inside," she finished grimly.

The DA was quiet for a moment, mulling over the situation. Then Louis spoke up.

"So, Rose," he turned to his cousin. "What are the tactics?" His sister, Dominique, rolled her eyes at him.

"It's not a quidditch game, Lou," she poked him.

"No, but maybe it can be," Rose said slowly.

"What - no," Al frowned, but Rose waved a hand at him.

"We'd be breaking about a hundred school rules, but if we do it, we might just have a chance," she bit her lip. "After all, we've got half a team here anyway!" She tried for a smile, which was echoed around the room.

"What are you saying?" Scorpius asked her suspiciously, and Rose looked up at him.

"Well, look at it. We're all pretty good fliers," Except me, she stopped herself from adding - she'd sort that out somehow. "And none of the wizards will have brooms, that'll give us an advantage," she started speeding up.

"And we all know I'm Gryffindor's unofficial strategist for a reason." She finished, and James clapped his hands together.

"I think it's a great idea," he had a mischievous light in his eyes that Rose usually dreaded, but welcomed now it was directed at someone else. "Ladies, gentlemen - to your brooms. It's about time we played quidditch."

Rose thundered down the seventh-floor corridor, broom in one hand, wand in the other. Scorpius had insisted on coming with her, but the rest of the DA was headed downstairs to distract the reinforcements that Sicarius had called for. If Rose remembered correctly, Sir Cadogan's portrait was just down the end of this passageway - no need to climb onto her broom, and anyway, she'd prefer not to.

Shortly enough she stopped in front of the painting she was looking for. Cautiously, she stepped forward and addressed its occupant.

"Sir Cadogan?" The knight jumped to attention, his sword bashing into the side of his helmet.

"How may I assist thee, fair lady? Are you on a quest?" Rose bit back a grin at his demeanour.

"I am on a quest, actually," she replied. "I'm looking for something that was hidden a long time ago." Sir Cadogan was trying to pull his pony further into the foreground, but the horse was stubbornly munching grass and refused to move.

"Is it a treasure? A great quest always has hidden treasure!" He gave one last tug on the bridle of his mount and gave up.

"It is a treasure of sorts - it's very important and valuable," Rose grinned at his attempts to move the pony. "It's something that would be dangerous in the wrong hands, and I believe that it was given to you for protection." She saw no point in blundering around any longer.

"I know that Nobby Leach put the Goblin Rights bill in your painting, and I need to get it before anyone else does. There's another group of people coming that would destroy you if they knew about it," she explained. The knight nearly tripped over his own sword.

"I - I know of no such thing!" He said indignantly, and she sighed.

"Sir, I know that you've got it. You can trust me - I'm a Gryffindor, and Hermione Granger's daughter. I'm trying to save you!" She hoped that her mum's name would convince the wizard - she had after all helped defeat the greatest dark wizard of all time. Sir Cadogan got up and brushed himself off. After studying her for some time, he took a deep breath and said,

"Very well."

He walked back to his pony and pulled a wooden box out of the ground.

"It's in here," he told Rose. "If you can get it out, it's yours, but I've never known a wizard or witch who was able to take objects out of paintings," he trailed off.

"Well you might just meet one now," she said, and set to work on a new spell.

Twenty minutes, a few frustrated moments and four tries later, Rose finally had the bill. Hands trembling, she unrolled to scroll and skimmed through the papers. Just as she thought - it authorised goblins as legal wand carriers. However, there was one thing preventing it from being made law. It needed the signature of a Magical Law Enforcement employee.

"Mum," Rose muttered.

"What?" Scorpius started - she wasn't sure if he'd been deeply engrossed in the bill or daydreaming.

"I think we need to visit - "

"By Merlin!" Scorpius cut her off. He grabbed his broom and leapt on, motioning for Rose to follow. As they sped around the corner, she looked back to see a hoarse of wizards in Ministry of Magic robes sprinting down the hallway after them.