Chapter 16

ΘΣ

The train reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade just as Donna finished her story about her friend/nemesis Nerys and the dog that lives down the block from them, though how the dancing monkey fit into it Rose had no idea. She was curled up against the Doctor's shoulder, the laughter bringing tears to her eyes and an ache to her gut. The door opened and Martha appeared, looking round at them. "We'll be arriving soon, so you guys might want to get your stuff together—" she caught sight of the Doctor and Rose's clasped hands, and the rest of the sentence died in her throat. There was a sudden, awkward silence, and then she let out a heavy breath. "Well, it's about time, you git."

Ginny started laughing, and Donna leaned back with a relieved grin.

"Oi!" The Doctor was pouting, but Rose elbowed him in the side, dislodging Captain Jack from his lap.

"She's got a point, Doctor."

Martha smirked. "Of course I do. Seriously, though, you'll be wanting to get your stuff together."

There was the normal rush of changing into uniforms and collecting luggage, and by the time the train had arrived they were all ready to disembark. Genevieve and Rebecca stepped out of their compartment and their eyes narrowed when they noticed the Doctor and Rose standing together, hands loosely knotted and shoulders bumping.

Genevieve scowled at them. "Well. I suppose it was too much to hope for that you'd have learned your lesson."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "What, that I should spend my time with people that I actually care about? Think I'm good on that one, actually." The brunette let out an irritated huff of breath, and Rose rolled her eyes. "Look, if it bothers you so much—actually, no. We won't leave, because this is none of your business."

Rebecca glared at her. "Stupid cow."

The Doctor's hand tightened on Rose's, but she snorted. "I missed you, too."

The doors creaked open, and they all made their way out. Rose frowned. When the Hogwarts Express had arrived in September, there were two professors and two Aurors at the station. Now four professors were lined up to meet the students, and five Aurors stepped out of the front car.

She exchanged a worried glance with the Doctor and tugged him closer, her voice low. "D'you think it has to do with what happened in November?"

Ginny frowned at them. "Wait, what happened in November?"

The Doctor looked closely at her, but after a moment he nodded decisively. "I'll tell you in a bit, yeah?"

They found a larger carriage and squished in, Rose beside the Doctor and Hermione between Ginny and Donna. He cleared his throat as the Thestral jerked forward. "Last November, Rose and I snuck out of the school group in Hogsmeade. I'd been working on a spell, and I wanted—needed—to test it, and I couldn't do that in town. Instead, I had to do it in the Shrieking Shack." Hermione paled and pulled Crookshanks to her, and the Doctor let out a soft breath. "It was a variation on a memory spell, but unlike a Pensieve, it looks at the memory of a location instead of an individual. We wanted to find out what happened that night—"

"You could've asked me." Hermione's jaw was set.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but more happened than you know." He looked at Rose and raised an eyebrow questioningly. She bit her lip and looked at the others before shaking her head a little, and he squeezed her hand as he turned to the others. "We weren't the only people there, though. A Death Eater had been watching us, and she wanted to hurt Rose. If the Auror hadn't shown up when he did…" he trailed off, and the others' faces turned slightly green.

Hermione held Crookshanks even more tightly. "What did the Death Eater say? Was she… was she after me?"

Rose shook her head. "I don't think so. She kept talkin' about how they were lookin' for Voldemort's heir." Her eyes widened as a thought struck her. "Doctor, d'you think she meant Koschei? Maybe they were lookin' to recruit him."

Ginny pursed her lips. "I doubt it. I would wager my left arm that he's already one of them. A kid like that, with brains, blood, and no conscience to speak of? He's probably been a Death Eater since he was in the cradle."

The Doctor looked out the window at that, his jaw tight.

They rolled up to the front of the castle, and Rose blinked as she realized that the ride had been remarkably smooth. They piled out of the carriage, and she looked around. Apparently the time had finally come for the superficial repairs over break—the cobblestone road that led up to Hogwarts was smoothly paved once again, and the pock-marked walls and ash-darkened windows had been repaired and cleaned until they gleamed. Donna took in a deep breath, sighing with happiness. "Now that's more like it."

Ginny grinned at her. "Oh, I've missed this."

They walked up the steps to the Entrance Hall, and the Doctor gave Rose a quick hug as he left to head to the Slytherins' table. Donna giggled, and Rose gave up and let herself grin. It lasted until she caught Koschei's eye. He was standing in the doorway, his gaze locked on hers as the other students passed around him.

She raised her chin as she passed him. "I'm not afraid of you."

"You'll learn, Tyler."

"Well, I hope so. We are in a school, after all. Now, I'm feelin' a bit peckish, so if you don't mind?" She followed her roommates to the Gryffindors' table, ignoring his glare scorching her back and the irritated looks of her classmates.

ΘΣ

"Prefects, if you would escort the students back to their dorm?" Hermione looked over and caught Rose's eye. She'd come into dinner late, looking troubled, and had been quiet all through the welcoming feast. Rose exchanged a look with Ginny and stepped back as the other students walked back up to the tower, and a humorless smile tilted the corner of Hermione's mouth. She leaned closer to the younger girl. "You might want to get the Doctor. He's a part of this, too."

"Sure." Rose leaned over to look at the Slytherins' table, catching the Doctor's eye. She jerked her head at him, ignoring the disapproving looks of his classmates, and he made his way over through the rapidly dwindling crowd. She slipped her hand into his, and Hermione nodded at them.

"Right, could you come with me?"

The Doctor gave Rose a nervous look, but she shrugged up at him. It was Hermione—nothing too bad could happen. The Head Girl led them around the corner and up the stairs, walking quickly. She didn't speak until they reached a pillar with a misshapen gargoyle at the top, when she said, "Mutuam habeatis caritatem." The gargoyle nodded unsteadily at them, nearly falling off his perch, and the pillar slid aside to reveal a spiraling staircase set into the wall. Hermione cleared her throat. "I know this wasn't what you were expecting, but it's for the best." Her lips twisted and she tugged her sleeves down, gesturing at the staircase with a jerky movement. "After you."

The Doctor's hand tightened on Rose's and he stepped forward, leading them onto the staircase. Hermione followed, and soon they were standing in front of the Headmistress' door. She knocked, her fist rapping sharply against the heavy oak.

A voice drifted out from inside. "Come in."

They entered the room nervously, Rose nibbling on her lower lip. Headmistress McGonagall was seated by the fireplace, and she gestured for them to join her. Celeste Hopkins, the young Auror that the Doctor and Rose had overheard several months ago, was leaning against the fireplace mantle, the firelight flickering off her mahogany skin.

"Do sit down, please." The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other and sat on the small loveseat, and Hermione slipped into the short, cushy armchair by its side. McGonagall was watching them closely, her green eyes piercing. "Miss Granger tells me you've encountered a Death Eater not far from the school grounds."

Rose shot her a look, and she shrugged helplessly. "I had to tell her."

The Doctor swallowed. "In Hogsmeade, actually, ma'am."

Celeste leaned forward, her thick dreadlocks brushing against her shoulders. "Where, exactly?"

Rose spoke up. "In the Shrieking Shack."

"But that's… how did you get in there? We had some of our top Aurors create wards around that place. No one should've been able to break through, much less a pair of students."

The Doctor wrinkled his nose, his glasses shifting up with the movement. "Those wards were from your top Aurors? Really?"

McGonagall sighed. "Mr. Mott here makes a habit of getting into places he really shouldn't." At his nervous look, she raised an amused eyebrow. "You've made a bit of a name for yourself among the teachers, you know."

He coughed into his hand. "Most people tend not to notice."

"Most people aren't the Headmistress. Regardless of your nocturnal activities, though, we must know what happened in the Shrieking Shack. We've fought too hard and lost too much for this peace to be jeopardized."

The Doctor's eyebrows drew together and Rose leaned into him, lowering her voice. "Doctor, if there's anybody that should know—"

He sighed. "You're right." His gaze lifted from Rose to meet McGonagall's, and he ran a hand through his hair. "I wasn't here during the Battle of Hogwarts. Dad kept almost all of the danger from Donna and I, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to thank him enough for that. But I heard about what happened to Professor Snape, and something didn't click. He'd always taught us to be prepared, and when I found out later that he'd been a double agent for almost twenty years, it bothered me even more. So I started work on a spell. I'd been reading up on memory spells lately, and Pensieves in particular, and the theory of it was fascinating. So, I decided to create a spell. Instead of entering the memory of a person, my goal was to reveal the memories of a place—in this case, it was the Shrieking Shack. When the November Hogsmeade trip came around and the spell was ready, Rose and I cast it." He paused and grinned. "And it worked. We saw everything that had happened in that room over the past year, including what happened the night of the final battle."

Something had caught Rose's eye as the Doctor was talking and she looked up to see Dumbledore's portrait watching them keenly. As the Doctor paused, she spoke to it. "Including somethin' we never thought we'd see again. You knew about it, though, didn't you?"

He chuckled, the sound oddly flat. "Well observed, Miss Tyler. Yes, I knew about it. I arranged it, in point of fact. Mrs. Hopkins, you might want to step away from the fireplace."

"What—" Celeste cut herself off, stumbling away from the wide fireplace as the flames roared high and green.

ΘΣ

Mutuam habeatis caritatem: (Maintain among you) Mutual Love (or Charity). Okay, this is where I get geeky: this is the motto of County Donagal, the traditional family seat of clan McGonagall in Ireland.