Chapter eight – Under pressure

Hugo was so pale Lily thought he was going to pass out. Albus, who had approached just in time, grabbed Rose's arm when her knees failed her and she almost fell.

"Come on," Lily said bracingly, getting up and grabbing Hugo's shoulder. "Let's go outside. Al, a little help?"

Albus got Rose, Lily got Hugo, and the four of them left the silent Great Hall. Everyone was staring.

Once outside, Albus and Lily sat Rose and Hugo on a step from the first staircase they could find. Both Rose and Hugo were trembling and unable to say anything. Lily herself was shaking. She and Albus exchanged worried looks.

"Do you have the rest of the news?" asked Albus, panting.

Lily, who had forgotten she was still holding the newspaper, got it and read it.

As informed on previous edition of The Daily Prophet, minister Potts is serious with his ambition of protecting our kind from Muggles and their threats against us, privileged people with magical blood. He, too, is worried about Muggle-borns, who are likely to offer much more danger than Muggles themselves. According to previous research, initiated before by Pius Thicknesse, it's only possible to a witch or wizard be born with magical abilities if there's at least one person in the family with referred powers. Minister Potts concluded that Muggle-borns have obtained their magic stealing it from a witch or wizard. Therefore, the minister has stated another new law. Witches and wizards who were born in a family deprived of magical blood in their veins, or that can't prove otherwise, must go the Ministry of Magic for questioning. Only then the executers will come to a decision. Those who don't appear for the referred hearing, will be sent directly to Azkaban.
The Ministry of Magic will contact all the Muggle-borns above the age of eleven, sending to them details about their hearings by owl-post. Those who are interested on informing us about potentially dangerous Muggle-borns who can't wait for a letter from the Ministry, must contact The Daily Prophet immediately. It's our safety that is under risk.

Lily could barely contain her anger at the end of the reading. "This is outrageous," she whispered, trying to fold the newspaper, but her hands were shaking severely.

Albus got the paper from my hands and put it in his pocket. "Aunt Hermione will be one of the first Muggle-borns to be questioned," he said in his sister's ear, so Hugo and Rose wouldn't hear. "She works at the Ministry."

That perspective was really scary.

"I say we go to Kingsley's office," Lily suggested. "He's not at the staff table. Maybe he knows about it already."

People were starting to get out of the Great Hall. Everyone who passed by looked curiously at the four of them, whispering and trying to know what was going on.

Lily and Albus grabbed their cousins and led them to the headmaster's office. Before Lily could even think about how they were going to get in if they didn't know the password, the staircase moved and Kingsley went outside.

"I was already expecting you," he said. "Come in."

Kingsley hadn't redecorated Prof. Towler's office. It was exactly how Lily remembered. She had gone there just last year, with Roxy and Hugo, when they pulled a prank on a bully who had called Hera Frobisher a Mudblood. It was an irony that she was there because of a Muggle-born again.

The new headmaster sat down behind his desk and, with a wand wave, four more chairs appeared before them. Albus and Lily sat Rose and Hugo and then sat down themselves.

"I am aware about the Muggle-born Questioning," said Kingsley calmly. "I'm afraid I'm evacuating all Muggle-borns and children of Muggle-borns from the school tonight." He glanced at Rose and Hugo. "I already contacted the Ministry, and they, too willingly, allowed me to make as many Port Keys as I wanted to send the kids to their families.

He opened the first drawer of his desk and got two glasses of potion, which I recognized as Calming Draughts, giving them to Rose and Hugo, still petrified.

"You don't need to worry," said Kingsley to Lily and Albus. "I'll send them home as soon as they finish the glasses of potion."

But the Potters were far from calm.
"Sir," Lily said, "what will happen to the Muggle-borns in that questioning?"

"I have absolutely no idea, child," said Kingsley thoughtfully. "But I don't think they will be sent to Azkaban, unless if they don't appear for the hearing."
"Are the children of Muggle-borns in danger?" Lily asked.

"Not immediate danger," said Kingsley, "but I suppose they can become targets if their parents don't appear for the hearing. Same goes to parents if they don't send their children for questioning, I believe."

Lily felt so angry. It was simply ridiculous. She imagined eleven-year-olds sitting on a chair being questioned about how they had managed to steal someone's power.

"Sir, they don't actually believe that Muggle-borns are able to steal magic from someone else, do they?" asked Albus.

Kingsley sighed. "That theory was already proved wrong," he said. "Twenty-five years ago they came up with the same excuse to start haunting Muggle-borns. But we can't just confront the entire Ministry directly."
"But surely there are some Ministry people who don't agree with this!" Lily said desperately.

"Well, there are," Kingsley said, "but it's not enough, child. It's just not enough."

Lily could see Kingsley was trying not to show his anger about all that. She wanted to ask him why Potts had taken his post, because Kingsley surely wouldn't let this happen if he was still minister.

"Now, you two go directly to your common room," said Kingsley. "Don't talk to anyone except your family about this. Mr and Miss Weasley will be sent home in a minute. Then I'll call the other children. Go."

They couldn't disobey. With one last look to their cousins, Albus and Lily went to Gryffindor Tower. They didn't speak. There was nothing they wanted to talk about.

When they arrived at the portrait of The Fat Lady, she immediately asked, "What happened to the Weasleys? Everyone is talking about it. The Gryffindors are so anxious in there."

"Great," Lily said. They were going to face an interrogation as soon as they stepped into the common room.

"Iunctus amicitia," said Albus firmly to The Fat Lady.

"All right, if you don't want to tell me," she said, upset. "I suppose I'm not important enough to know about anything." And then she let them enter.

As expected, they suddenly were surrounded by their fellow Gryffindors, who surely were just waiting for them to know what happened.

"Look, we don't want to talk about this, okay?" said Albus to them. "And even if we did, we can't. Prof. Shacklebolt said that we had to keep our mouths shut."

The crowd gradually diffused, muttering angrily to each other.

Albus put his hand over his sister's shoulder. "I talk to Fred and Molly. You talk to Roxy and Lucy."

"Deal," Lily said and went up to the dormitory.

Roxy was waiting for her.

"Oh, thank Merlin," she said when Lily sat down beside her. "Emmeline, Helena and Hera didn't come back to the dormitory yet."

"And they won't," Lily said. "They must be going home by now."

"Home?" Roxy was incredulous. "What happened?"

I gave her the newspaper, and then told her that Rose and Hugo were going home and what Kingsley had told her and Albus at his office.

"Emme's father is one of those who 'can't prove otherwise', isn't he?" asked Roxy. "Helena's parents are both Muggle-borns. And Hera… she's a Muggle-born herself. Hugo and Rose, oh man, they must be a pile of nerves." She shook her head. "21st century and there are still people who discriminate non-pure-bloods."

Lily couldn't stop thinking about how disgusting it was, having to be under questioning just because your family wasn't magical. "Does it matter if a person is Muggle-born, half-blood, pure-blood, or even completely Muggle? No, it doesn't. Your blood doesn't make who you are. Your choices do. Your qualities, your flaws even, your abilities, your character do. We are all people, aren't we?"

Roxy put a hand on Lily's shoulder. "I hate this so much. I hope everyone's all right."

Lily and Roxy knew they had homework to do, but they also knew they wouldn't be able to concentrate. It wasn't easy to sleep either. Lily barely closed her eyes all night and, when she did, she kept imagining Hugo's and Rose's worried faces.

When Lily woke up the next morning, she was a mess. She and Roxy joined the rest of our family at the Great Hall, all of them worried and with shadows under their eyes. No one sat with their houses that day.

The school seemed to be emptier than usual. With all the Muggle-borns and children of Muggle-borns at home, it made everything less crowded and less noisy, which was really odd. They were so used to the quantity of people that it felt really uncomfortable. The atmosphere wasn't helping either. People were getting their copies of the Daily Prophet, and they all were talking about the Muggle-born Questioning.

Among the other hundred owls, Lily spotted Levi, and a moment after he was landing before her. Lily got the letter tied to the owl's leg, her hands shaking, and she recognized Hugo's handwriting.

She read it aloud to the rest of the family. "Hi, guys. It was all very sudden, so I thought you deserved news. Rose and I are okay, Mum and Dad as well. Mum isn't working now, and she has to stay at home. Rose and I can't leave the house either, because Mum and Dad are afraid of what the Ministry people might do to us to get Mum. Her hearing was set to Friday morning. You see, the executers say people from Hogwarts are the ultimate primacy, so the hearings that will take place this week are only for us. We won't be going back to Hogwarts until then. As far as I know, no Muggle-born has suffered anything yet, which is good. Hope you guys are fine. I might see you all next Saturday afternoon, when everyone is coming back. Hugo."

"Oh, poor thing," said Roxy. "He's gonna miss the Quidditch trials."

With everything that was going on, Lily had almost forgotten about the trials, but once Roxy remembered, she felt bad for Hugo. It was the first time he was going to try to be a keeper and he wasn't going to make it.

"Wait up, Levi," Lily said to Hugo's owl. "I want to write back."

She grabbed a piece of parchment. Hugo didn't tell it on the letter, but Lily knew he was really nervous about his mother's hearing. She thought it would be nice for him to read kind words.

Dear Hugo, Lily wrote, we are all very relieved you took time to write to us. We got so worried last night, and now we are more relaxed. Too bad you're going to be off for such a long time. You and Rose must be very worried about your mother, and I'd like to tell you, in name of the entire Weasley/Potter family, that our hearts are with you. And that we want to be warned if anything happens! Everything will be fine, I promise. Love from Lily.

Once Lily had had news from Hugo, the rest of the day was fine. Though she missed him, of course. The Muggle Studies class was real torture, because Prof. Glossop talked about the new Muggle-born chase, making everyone uncomfortable. Then, on Charms, Lily had to sit with Adrian McLaren, who not only couldn't execute a proper Summoning Charm, but when he did it, he made Lily fly across the room and she almost broke a rib.

"Dobbs won't be pleased when he discovers it," Roxy said when she, Lucy and Lily left the hospital wing and went to the Great Hall for lunch. "Does it hurt?"

"A bit," Lily granted. "But it's okay, I've had worse injuries before. Remember when I fractured my collar bone?"

"And when you had that really bad skull break?" Roxy laughed.

"That one was real trouble for Madam Fenwick," Lily remembered, amused.

"Not funny," said Lucy. "It could have happened something really serious with Lily. She almost died both times."

"Come on, Lu," Lily said. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

But Lucy was far away from laughing. "Yes, you are, but only because you were unbelievably lucky." She turned to Roxy. "I bet you didn't think it was funny when it happened."

"Of course not," said Roxy quickly. "But what is the point of getting hurt if you can't laugh about it later?"

"You don't seem to be willing to laugh about your injury, Roxanne."

They had arrived at the Great Hall. Lucy, who sighted her sister Molly, also from Hufflepuff, went away from us to join her.

"Blimey," said Roxy, sitting at the Gryffindor table with Lily. "She called me Roxanne. Everyone at this school is barking mad."

"People just overwhelmed, Roxy," Lily said. "With the Muggle-born chase, the exams… It isn't just her."

She wasn't saying that just to comfort Roxy. Everyone from years five and up were under so much pressure. The OWLs and the NEWTs were driving everyone crazy – though the sixth years wouldn't have to take the NEWTs until next year, they were just as involved on the studies as the seventh years.

The only good thing about all that was that Profª. Rackham was so worried about Lily and her ribs she had forgotten to ask for homework.

Transfiguration on the afternoon was okay, not many memorable events. Lucy was still cold toward them, though.

"She'll come around soon," Lily assured.

And she did… next class. It was Herbology. They had classes at Greenhouse Number Three.

It wasn't being a good day for Roxy. They were working with Fanged Geraniums that afternoon. Profª. Vimes was just saying that the students needed to be careful when the nearest plant stuck its fangs deep in Roxy's stretched arm. The cut was very ugly. No one got as worried as Lucy, though. Seeming guilty for being rude to her best friend, she offered herself to accompany Roxy to the hospital wing.

Lily had dinner with Phil Finnigan, who was very sad about Emme's father. Lily tried to console him, but she couldn't do much. Hugo's absence was making her feel bad, too.

She finished all her homework before Roxy came back to the common room. The Fanged Geranium's bite had left visible vestiges on Roxy's arm, but she didn't seem to mind. She told Lily how Lucy wasn't stressed out anymore, and the bite didn't seem to matter as much as that.

When Lily lay on her bed, finally, her last thought was that she was counting the days for Saturday.