Rose made idle chatter with Dominique on their way back to the Gryffindor common room, but her cousin was just as distracted as she was. Neither witch bothered to finish their conversation once they climbed through the portrait hole. Albus and James were playing a game of wizard's chess by one of the windows, and Lysander was peering at the chess board from over his open book.

"You look-" began Albus.

"We all need to talk," she whispered, "now. Lysander, can you pretend to be Lorcan and get into the Ravenclaw common room? He needs to hear this."

Lysander's face pinched in worry, but he nodded.

"James," continued Rose, "I need to bring Scorpius, and I need you to just ignore the fact that you hate him for a while."

"I-"

"James, please."

James looked between her and Albus as if waiting for someone to say that this was all a big joke. When he saw that no one was smiling, he groaned.

"Oh, alright," he said, "but I'm the first one to say I told you so when he turns out to be an evil git."

"Where are we meeting?" asked Lysander, marking his page.

Rose chewed her lip. The library would be closing soon, and there was always the chance of them being overheard. They couldn't all be in any of their common rooms, and if someone caught them wandering the corridors, they could land themselves in detention.

"Do you remember the room we discovered last year?" she said. "The one we got to from the third floor with Dmitri."

The others nodded.

"Let's meet there."

Lysander headed for the Ravenclaw Tower, while Albus and James went down to wait by the trapdoor. Rose went farther down the main stairs than all of the others, only pausing once she reached the doors by the Great Hall.

She knew that the Slytherin common room was in the dungeons. Scorpius himself had confirmed that during their Christmas break. However, Rose didn't have any other information about the common room's location, nor did she have a way of contacting Scorpius without getting inside.

Like an answer to a prayer, the main doors of the school creaked open. A very nervous Tobias Krimp slipped through the small opening, then closed the door quietly behind him. He made it halfway across the hall before spotting Rose standing by the stairs.

"Oh!" he cried, one hand going to his chest. "Merlin, Rose, you sure know how to creep up on a bloke."

"Sorry," she said.

"I wanted to check in with Marco again," explained Tobias, "but he wasn't at his usual spot by the forest. I guess I got down a little later than I had hoped, but I ran into Professor Hagrid on my way there and he wanted to know everything about how the training had been going. I didn't want to tell him that the dragons might have to leave, he'd probably feel guilty about the attack. Kept saying that it wasn't a big deal and everyone needed to mind their own business."

Rose smiled; she could imagine Hagrid saying those things clearly.

"Are you headed back to your common room?" she asked, trying to sond casual.

"It's that or detention," he replied with a chuckle. "Shouldn't have been out so late. Why are you sneaking around, anyway?"

"Not sneaking," she clarified, "I just needed to ask Scorpius about our Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment. We were supposed to meet in the library, but he never showed up."

Tobias rolled his eyes. "That sounds like him," he said, an unpleasant tinge suddenly coloring his voice. "C'mon, I'll see if he's in the common room."

Her heard thumping erratically, Rose followed Tobias down to the dungeons. Their footsteps echoed around the stone tunnel, and Rose thought to herself that they must have purposefully made it cooler down here than anywhere else in the castle just to add to the effect.

"Turn around," said Tobias with a grin. After a moment's hesitation, Rose did so, mentally calculating how long it would take her to reach her wand if he tried anything fishy. Instead, she heard a murmured phrase, followed by the sound of stones sliding together. Glancing over her shoulder curiously, she saw that an opening had appeared in one of the walls, and Tobias had disappeared through it.

A moment later, the stones melded together to form a seamless wall once more. Rose waited, trying to force herself to be patient, but she was still in full-blown panic mode about Louis and the Riders, especially Maria. She felt a small twinge of guilt for not telling Tobias, but she didn't want to risk word spreading through the school before she had come up with some sort of plan.

Rose knew that this would be it for the Riders. There would be no end-of-term exhibition. There would be a full inquiry from the Ministry. There would be the chance of them losing their dragons- but Rose wasn't sure if the Ministry would still try to seize them since it wasn't a student who had been injured but one of their own. Perhaps they would just let them return to Italy.

The hole reappeared in the wall, and a disgruntled Scorpius strode through it.

"So Tobias Krimp just pulled me out of bed," he said crossly, then froze, examining her face. "Rose?"

"You need to come with me," she said, her voice tight. "We're meeting the others."

"Where?" he asked, falling into step beside her as they walked away from the shifting stones.

"Last year, my cousins and I discovered a room," she explained. "We had heard our parents mention it from their time here, but we didn't know it still existed. It's where we used to go with Dmitri when things were complicated or scary." She let herself think about their final meeting there only for a moment before continuing. "It's useful because we're not all in the same house, and we can't exactly barge into the library at this hour."

When they reached the third floor corridor, Scorpius paused to examine some of the items littering the floor.

"Are these runes?" he asked, kneeling to examine the toppled pillar.

"I think so, "said Rose, "but I haven't had the time to examine them. C'mon, we need to keep moving."

James was waiting alone in front of the open trapdoor.

"The others went down already," he said curtly. "Let's go."

"There are cushions below," Rose told Scorpius as James hopped down through the hole. "The fall's not too bad."

"Then let's go," said Scorpius with a grin. He leapt into the hole, holding his nose as if he was plunging into water.

Rolling her eyes, Rose waited for the telltale thud and Scorpius' call of "All clear!" to jump. Squeezing her eyes shut, she curled her knees to her chest so she landed on her rear.

"Good of you to finally join us," said James tersely. "Let's go."

"You still haven't told me what all of this is about," said Scorpius as Rose muttered, "Lumos,"

"When everyone's together," she said. "I'm only explaining this once."

Scorpius surveyed the rooms they passed through silently, occasionally nodding and running a hand across the walls. Rose wondered what he knew of the history of the rooms, and decided that now, in front of James, was not the time to ask.

Lorcan, Lysander, and Albus were waiting in the final room. Rose had fallen into the habit of calling it the Generation Room in her head, but was too embarrassed to say the words aloud. It seemed to be a place passed down from her parents' generation to theirs, and it continued to serve them well.

Lysander paced while Albus sat against a pillar. Lorcan was flat on his stomach, sketching on the ground as he had been the previous year. He looked up as Rose, Scorpius, and James entered.

"Sibyl wants to see us tomorrow," he said. "Don't forget your pack."

"We may not have time for that," said Rose tersely.

"So what's wrong?" asked Albus.

There was no easy way to do this. "Louis is the reason the dragons have been acting up," said Rose quietly. "He's been feeding them hegolith, and it's been making them do all those crazy things."

"Hegolith?" said Lysander, shocked. "He's been taking it recreationally, sure, but why give it to the dragons?"

"I don't know. Maybe-"

"The findings are inconclusive. No one knows how hegolith affects magical creatures."

"Well, apparently we do now," said Rose. "The Riders said that they had found footprints around where the dragons were tethered. They moved them, but their odd behavior continued. When I took Dominique to Enchanting Enhancements-"

"Where?" asked James as Scorpius said, "Why?"

"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, basically a bunch of girls selling potion ingredients and things like that. Scorpius, Dominique knew that her brother had been abusing hegolith and wanted to know where he was getting it from."

"Huh," said James, amazed. "So he's just been buying it right here in the castle?"

"Louis is a good person," objected Albus. "He would never do something to hurt people."

"Never," agreed James seriously.

"Besides that," said Scorpius, "there's no motive here. Good or bad person, put that aside. There's no reason for him to do it."

"But all of the proof points to him," said Rose softly. "Look, I didn't want to believe it either, but look at how he's been acting all year."

After a pause, James said, "Fine, so he's been a bit... off. But he wasn't allowed to be on the team and that was a huge part of his life."

They all sat in silence for a moment, the only sound being the charcoal stick scratching across the floor. Finally, Lorcan spoke.

"I love Louis," he said frankly, "but we have to at least consider the possibility that he's involved in this."

"Then we talk to the Riders," said James hopefully. "They can- I don't know, I'm sure they have wards or something, they can help figure it out."

Rose's stomach lurched. In focusing on Louis, she had left out a huge chunk of the story.

"The Riders are gone," she said, her voice breaking. "Maria was hurt. Badly. She's at St. Mungo's, and they all went with her."

There was a palpable shift of the energy in the room. When James spoke, there was a touch of anger in his voice.

"Then we go find Louis and demand an explanation," he said.

"And cause a scene?" said Albus. "If we're going to confront him, we have to get him alone. Do you know how much trouble he could get in? He could get expelled, if not worse."

Lysander looked at the others, and Rose didn't care for the expression he wore.

"You realize that if Maria dies, there may not be anything we can do to save Louis, right?" he said, softly. "It'll be the Wizengamot if he's lucky, an international war if he's not."

"I know that's," said Rose, her head already pounding, "so it's important that we get this settled quickly, and as quietly as possible."

"We can get him alone on his way to breakfast," suggested Scorpius. "Bring him here and stage an intervention."

"That works for me," said Lorcan. "And Rose, we can have this all sorted before our lesson with Sibyl. No need for her to know what we're up to."

Rose had to resist the urge to laugh at Lorcan's priorities.

"We'll have hours to spare," said Rose reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'll bring my Seer's bag with me, just in case."

"I can't believe were going to do this," groaned Albus. "He's our cousin, Rose."

"He could have killed me," said Rose sharply, "or Deasia, or Hagrid, or still Maria. I think he deserves a little intervention."

"If the plan is set, then we should get going," said Scorpius. "None of us need to get detention right now."

James kept to the back of the group as they emerged from the Generation Room, using the Marauder's Map to help dodge any professors or prefects out for a stroll. Scorpius agreed to not turn around and peek at what James was using, as James was unaware that Rose and Albus had already filled their friend in on what he had nicked from home.

Rose tossed and turned throughout the night, her stomach knotting up every time she thought about what would happen the next day. She only got through it by remembering how supportive the Riders had been and how wonderful it was to fly with Contessa. She wasn't going to let anyone take their lives' work away from them, not even her own cousin.

When she was certain that the sun was high enough in the sky and that further sleep was out of the question, Rose took up a watch post in the common room. A few minutes later, a bleary-eyed Albus joined her. Neither of them spoke. Neither of them needed to.

An hour later, students began filtered down either staircase, chatting sleepily and making their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Lysander and James remained in the common room, waving on the others from their dormitory and saying they would catch up soon.

As the rush of students began to thin, Rose thought that she actually might be sick. She closed her eyes and fought to calm her stomach. She felt a hand cover hers and opened her eyes to see Albus had moved into the chair next to hers and was smiling warmly, if nervously.

Rose thought that it was just her impatience causing her to agonize over every passing minute, but then Lysander said, "That should be everyone. Where is he?"

"I'll go check," said James, grunting as he stood. "Maybe he overslept."

But a moment after James had disappeared up the stairs, Rose heard the clamor of a single pair of shoes rushing back down the stairs.

"He's not there," gasped James.

"What?"

"No one's in the room," said James.

"Did we miss him?" asked Albus.

"We've been here all morning," said Rose, her voice squeaking.

"Maybe he wasn't here when we got in last night," said Lysander slowly. "Maybe he wasn't here the whole time."

Albus moaned and covered his face. "Now what?" he said, voice muffled.

"We can check the Great Hall," suggested Lysander. "If he's not there now, he'll definitely show up for lunch."

"Louis can't go without more than one meal," agreed James, frowning. "Wait, does that mean we have to go to class if he's not there?"

"Yes," said Lysander slowly, "why?"

"No reason," said James, his ears turning red, "I just may not have done the assignment for Binns, that's all."

"Now's not the time," snapped Rose.

As she feared, Louis was not in the Great Hall. She met Scorpius' seeking gaze from across the Hall and watched his eyes widen as she shook her head. Lorcan, less worried about what other people might think, was waiting at the Gryffindor table when they all sat.

"He'll turn up," said Lorcan reassuringly. He looked at the bench next to Rose, on which she had set her school bag, and frowned. "Rose, where's your Seer's kit? We have a lesson, remember."

"There won't be a lesson unless we find Louis," Rose hissed. She was in no mood to think about playing games with Professor Trelawney. There were much more serious things going on!

She found it impossible to focus during any of her morning classes. James had opted out of his, and when Lysander glared daggers at him, he explained that he thought someone should see if Louis attended his classes or not.

"We could get him that way," James reasoned.

But when a dejected James arrived in the Great Hall for lunch, Rose knew that he had had no success.

"That was actually very boring," he said, sitting with a sigh. "At least in class I can pass notes with Lysander."

"Pass notes to Lysander," corrected Lysander. "I refuse to participate."

Lorcan was sitting with the Gryffindors again, to the apparent confusion of some first years. He looked at Rose, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again.

"This is ridiculous," said Rose. "Fine, I'll go grab my Seer's pack."

"I'll go with you," offered Lorcan. "C'mon."

When they were out of hearing distance of the group, Rose turned to Lorcan.

"What?" he said.

"You Saw something, didn't you?" demanded Rose. "You're never this pushy."

Lorcan sighed. "I don't know what I saw, alright? But I just- I need you to have this with you, alright? Please?"

"Alright," said Rose.

On closer inspection, Lorcan looked exhausted. His normal ethereal smile was nowhere to be found, and his brows were pinched together in concern.

"Thank you," added Rose. "Let's go get it."

The Fat Lady, still unable to differentiate between the Scamander twins, admitted Lorcan to the common room in his brother's guise, overlooking the tie he had removed that bore his true house colors.

"I'll check up in Louis' dorm," he offered once they had slipped through the portrait hole.

Rose went up to her dormitory and hefted her large Seer's kit onto one shoulder, leaving her regular bag behind. She didn't know if she had it in her to make it through a full afternoon of classes, even if they didn't find Louis.

Something caused her to glance out her window before leaving her room. What she saw made her gasp and clatter down the stairs, the weight of her bag nearly making her lose her balance.

"Lorcan, Marco's back!" she cried. "He's out there was Contessa now! I have to go see him."

"Louis wasn't up there," said Lorcan, "so I suppose you might as well. Can't very well have this intervention without him."

"Tell the others I'll be back soon," she called over her shoulder as she ran out of the common room.

The bag weighed her down a bit, but Rose still made it onto the grounds in good time. Contessa's large frame created a vast shadow by the edge of the forest. When Rose approached, however, she saw that it was not Marco standing by her side.

"Rose," said Herbert Chornell, "Giovanni sent for you too?"

"No," she said, "I looked out and thought that you were Marco, actually. Have you been here long?"

"Only a few minutes," admitted Herbert ruefully, adjusting his glasses, "but I reckon it's worth it. You don't think something else happened, do you?"

"I'm not sure," said Rose uneasily. She didn't want to say too much, certainly if he didn't know about Maria. "Did he send for everyone else?"

"I don't know, the note just said to come down."

Rose's attention had shifted, however. The locket had begun to heat up. She glanced around, but it was only she and Herbert by the trees.

"Herbert," she said, fighting to keep her voice even, "you should probably move farther from Contessa."

But something was wrong- that is, nothing was wrong. Contessa was perfectly content sitting on the grass, looking around lazily. Even when the heat on Rose's chest grew, the dragon remained seated. She glanced towards Rose and she saw that the dragon's eyes were bright and focused, not hazy.

Herbert backed away, eyeing Contessa warily.

"You don't think she's gonna- you know," he said.

"I don't know," admitted Rose. "I thought..."

Contessa remained on the ground, but the locket grew hotter around Rose's neck. She tugged on the chain so that it rested over her robes instead of burning into her skin.

"Pretty necklace," said Herbert.

"Thanks," said Rose, distracted. Her eyes kept flickering back to Contessa, who was now watching her with apparent interest. Even she seemed to be thinking that there must be something Rose was missing.

"Ah," said Herbert suddenly, and Rose noticed in the time it took to draw one breath that he had been holding his wand the entire time. "I almost forgot. Imperio."

Yes, she was in trouble indeed.