"Bloody hell, Rowena, you did what? What were you thinking? Wait - don't answer that because you bloody well weren't. Into the forest. Alone. Middle of the night. On a hunch you hadn't even thought through? Dumbledore's Beard, I thought you were smart." Rhys was pacing back and forth in the Common Room, not even bothering to look at Rowena as he ranted. Most of the rest of the Gryffindors were down at breakfast, and Rowena had just finished explaining what had happened to her the night before - and how she had to meet with Professor Finney and Headmaster Malfoy to discuss her punishment.

Rowena sighed. "Will you at least let me explain myself?"

"What's left to explain? Was there some piece of evidence you had but haven't told me about yet? Why the hell did you leave me out anyway, when I know so much-" For the first time that Rowena could remember, Rhys cut his own speech off mid-sentence.

"Know so much about what?"

"Nothing. I mean, you know, the War of the Wand is the only piece of history I can tolerate studying. You might have thought of running your plan by me first. Anyone who knows anything about the Death Stick would know better than to leave it lying dormant in the Forest at our bloody school. Genevieve was right - we should research first, plan our steps." Rowena didn't like the way he referred to the three of them as a team, but she was past the point of correcting him. If they wanted to get themselves in the kind of trouble she found last night, that was on their heads.

"Dumbledore, you sound like me. When did we switch places?" With that, Rowena successfully changed the topic away from her own pending punishment, and their conversation was back into its routine, and far more tolerable, banter.

They headed down to breakfast after that, their fight over for the time being. Breakfast was nearly over, and when they sat at their usual places, an owl was already waiting there, pacing back and forth. When it saw her, it stuck its leg out, giving her a look of annoyance. Rowena detached the note, thanked the bird, and sent it on its way.

10:00. Headmaster Malfoy's office. Athena. was the entirety of the note, but even without a signature, Rowena recognized Professor Finney's handwriting.

"Well?" said Rhys, reading over her shoulder. "How bad do you think it's going to be?"

"No idea, but I'm not thrilled to find out."

Rowena couldn't decide if the morning was passing too quickly or too slowly for her liking as she sat through Transfiguration. When the class ended, Rowena couldn't decide if it had gone by too quickly or not quickly enough. She had yet to visit Headmaster Malfoy's office and had to ask Rhys, who was far more prone to misbehavior, for directions. Despite normally walking quickly and with purpose, she trudged along toward her destination, trying her best to savor what could possibly be her last moments in the school. She was torn between putting the meeting off and getting it over with, but all the same, she arrived at nearly spot on 10:00.

She looked at the gargoyle standing guard over the tower Rhys had told her to go to. Not finding much of an entryway, she remembered the note she had received and said, "Er- Athena?" The gargoyle nodded politely and moved aside to reveal a spiral staircase. The circular office she entered was simple and uncluttered. A large desk sat opposite the entryway; a pile of parchment and a quill were its only occupants. Two bookshelves were placed beside a window, each filled with titles listed in alphabetical order by author on one, and by subject on the other. Rowena couldn't help but smile at the simplicity and organization there; it was a feat she could never accomplish, but it nonetheless made her respect her Headmaster all the more.

The only part of the room that stood in contrast to the neat style of Headmaster Malfoy was the walls. Every spare inch was covered in portraits of Hogwarts professors over the years, so cramped in space that there were even pictures hanging inches from the floor. The Headmaster was already seated at his desk, with Professor Finney in a stiff wooden chair across from him, but the only noise in the room came from the portraits of old Headmasters and Headmistresses along the wall, and they all seemed to be shouting at her.

"The Forbidden Forest?!"

"The middle of the night?"

"Attacked by Centaurs!"

"Started a fire!"

One of the more stately portraits silenced the others and turned to the present Headmaster. "Expel her, Headmaster. I haven't heard such a blatant disregard for the rules, or such defacement of school property, since that Zabini boy broke into poor Dumbledore's grave. There is no hope for her."

"Thank you, Headmasters and Headmistresses, that is quite enough. I'm sure you all have places to be now," Headmaster Malfoy said, and at his request the portraits started walking through them, muttering the whole way as they went out to visit their friends among the Hogwarts hallways. "Miss Potter, please sit down," he said, addressing Rowena for the first time. "It seems we have a lot to talk about. Professor Finney has informed me of the events of last night, as well as the circumstances that led to the fire. Sending up red sparks was, in most circumstances, the right thing to do, and it was only the special conditions of the Forest at the time that caused the fire to start.

"Forest fires can be natural, and actually aid in the long-term process of growth- like the burning of a phoenix; it is likely that a fire would have started there soon anyway, especially with the warm, dry weather we've been having. Due to that, the only effect your starting the fire seems to have had is that you escaped with your life, something which would be unfathomable without nature's intervention. Your contribution to the forest fire will not be punished.

"Therefore, the only thing I have to punish you for is being outside your Common Room in the middle of the night, and I think one night a week for the rest of the term re-shelving library books is sufficient punishment for that. You will start tonight at 7:00, and return each Tuesday at the same time."

Rowena stared, open-mouthed, at the Headmaster. His sharp, pointed features and stern expression had given her the impression that he was not one to go easy on his pupils for misbehaving. In the six years she had been at Hogwarts, his hair had lost what was left of its strawberry blond color, now entirely silver with age, and it had only added to his strict countenance. To be let off with a punishment she might even enjoy seemed too good to be true, and it took her a good amount of effort to stammer out a "Thank you."

Headmaster Malfoy smiled kindly at her and answered the bewildered expression on her face. "I find that many students with an otherwise clean record have reasons for their first disobedience, and deserve a bit of grace. Naturally, the extent of punishment increases with the number of times it is committed, so consider this a warning. You are free to go, Miss Potter, Professor Finney. Thank you both for your time."

As they walked out together, Rowena couldn't help but interrogate her professor. "Is what he said true, about the forest needing to regenerate sometimes?"

"Yes, it is. It had been a few hundred years since the last time, and in another twenty or so, I'm sure we'll see it thriving even more than it was. Dying and rebirth is common in nature; sometimes it's only through destruction that we can move closer to our potential. Nature understands that better than humanity, I think. But isn't that usually the case?"

"I suppose so. Thanks again, and I'll see you in class tomorrow," she replied as they separated.

That evening, Rowena reported to the library at 6:55, ready to do the work her detention required. The librarian, Franklin Dewey, was a dusty old man, bespectacled and plump. He stood taller than Rowena, the few times he stood up, but he spent most of his time slouching behind his desk, a stack of books piled so high that usually one could only see his magnified eyes. Behind his back, students called him Owley rather than Dewey, but he had a respect for books and history that led Rowena in turn to respect him.

"Good evening, Rowena," he said, looking up from his pile of books. "You'll be here for two hours tonight; the stacks of books you need to re-file are over by the work desks."

She looked over to where he was haphazardly gesturing and saw the large stack of books. It seemed he'd been waiting for a detention so he wouldn't have to take care of it himself, but Rowena wasn't bothered by it. Spending her free time in the library was nothing unusual for her, and she found the monotonous work left her free to think through how she might find the Elder Wand.

Her thinking was significantly aided about a quarter of the way through the pile, when every book she had to put back was related to the War of the Wand in some way. She silently thanked whatever professor had assigned the topic (could it have been Professor Binns? She couldn't remember the year or term they studied it) and began flipping through the books before putting them away, skimming for information about the end of the war and Leila Weasley's part in it.

It was no surprise when Rowena found herself leaning against a bookshelf, absorbed in one of the books. It was entitled The Disappearance of the Elder Wand and contained theory after theory as to what could have happened to it. Most of them seemed to be folklore or conspiracy theories, but they interested her nonetheless. When she got to the end of the book with no new discoveries, she re-shelved it and picked up the next - an unauthorized biography on Leila Weasley's life. The author was listed as Pinocchio Fibmaker, who didn't seem to have any credentials or special connection to the woman's life. So after a few moments, that book was filed away as well.

This continued for some time, leaving her more absorbed in some books than others, but soon she found Mr. Dewey standing behind her. "I see you're working hard, Rowena. Perhaps you might work a little faster under supervision." With that he took to following her about the library, chiding her with a gentle cough any time she so much as opened a book. Being followed around a cramped library by a tall, stout man was making her claustrophobic, which only doubled the truth that she would work faster under his supervision. Within half an hour she was finished, and vowed to return to the library in her free time if she had the chance.

Her chance, however, didn't come at all that week. Apparation tests were scheduled for Friday, and Wednesday and Thursday were extra practice days for anyone who needed it. Rowena, for one, definitely needed it. In addition, her Ancient Runes professor, Professor Austen, had assigned them three feet of translated text from the English of the 1600s. The work was that of Shakespeare - no one was sure whether he was magical or Muggle - and it was particularly difficult to translate since the original had been written in meter. Half the time, the jokes she translated from Much Ado About Nothing made sense to her, but half the time she wasn't sure at all what was so funny about Beatrice's insults. While she enjoyed the work, it was tedious and occupied all of her free time.

By the time Friday's Apparation tests came, Rowena was no closer to finding the Elder Wand than she had been nearly a week beforehand when her mother first appeared to her. The sixth years and younger seventh years stood crowded in The Three Broomsticks; they were taken outside one by one and asked to Apparate down the street. Rowena was trying to keep out of the way, in a corner with just Rhys, but Genevieve Scamander walked across the room to join them. "Hi Ro, Rhys. Did you two find out any more about the Elder Wand?"

"Will you be quiet, Gen? I really don't want people knowing about that."

"Why not? It's not like searching for it is against school rules or anything. Well, unless you break school rules anyway, I guess. But no matter now. You still haven't answered the question. Have you found out anything else?"

"No. I've been a bit busy this week, with Ancient Runes homework and the extra practices for Apparating. I'm scared I'm not going to pass; it seems the only bit of practical magic I don't have a knack for."

"It's no matter, really. You'll get it I'm sure. Anyway, I'm not taking Ancient Runes, so I had some free time this week, and spent a lot of it in the library looking up information on the War of the Wand. Someone went and put all my books away though. It made it difficult to find them again."

"Wait - it was you who pulled all those books out? Dewey had me putting them away for my detention Tuesday evening. I looked through a few of them but didn't find anything interesting. What did you find out?"

Genevieve paused to think for a moment. "Well, I found record of a Leila Weasley living in Godric's Hollow the year after she would have graduated Hogwarts."

"Seriously? I'm from there! I wonder if my family has any connections to her. That's awesome, Gen. Thanks."

"No problem. But next time you might want to do the research before the fieldwork - it could save you a few detentions." She smiled at her as her name was called to complete her test. "I'll talk to you two after, okay?"

As she walked away, Rowena turned to Rhys. "You know, maybe she's not so bad."

"Who ever said she was?"

"I don't know. She's just not you I guess," she replied, then looked away. "I wonder what we can learn from Godric's Hollow."

"Yeah, me too," Rhys said, but in a way that made Rowena question whether he had even been listening.

Professor Smith, the Herbology teacher, was Rowena's supervisor during her Apparation test. The woman was strict and wanted things done a certain way, but was also encouraging with her students. In all, Rowena was glad to have her; it was more like having a mentor than an evaluator. "Remember the three D's, Rowena. I'll be looking for you down the street."

She concentrated as hard as she could on her destination, two blocks down from the Three Broomsticks. Bits of doubt tried to creep her way in, and she pushed them aside. Doubt is not one of the three D's, Ro. Just do what you know you're capable of. With that, she turned on the spot.

Her insides felt like they were squished together in a piece of miniscule space; she was paralyzed; she couldn't breathe. And then it was over, and she was looking back at the place where she had stood a moment ago. Something felt funny the moment she landed, but within a split second, the fingernail she had nearly left behind placed itself squarely back onto her thumb and Professor Smith smiled at her. "Congratulations. You passed your test."

Rowena could have danced all the way back to the Common Room. Rhys joined her a few minutes later, a grin on his face that likely rivaled the one on her own. They caught each other's eye and, as if on cue, they moved toward each other to hug. Rowena could count on one hand the number of times they had hugged over the years, but it seemed to be an important enough occasion to merit one. Rhys was a good four inches shorter than her, but it didn't matter; something about the hug felt right, or at least fitting to the occasion. When they pulled apart and the moment for celebration seemed to have passed, Rowena said, "Okay, Rhys, I have a crazy idea."

"You've had a lot of crazy ideas this past week. But at least you're telling me first for once. What is it this time?"

"Well, tomorrow's a Hogsmeade day. And we just got our Apparating licenses. We're adults. So... no one would notice if we Apparated to, say, Godric's Hollow, as long as we were back by the end of the day. Anyone who was looking for us would just assume we were somewhere else. I could visit Papa, fill him in on what's been happening, and see if maybe he knows anything about Leila Weasley. Maybe there are clues in town about her legacy. And, well, I'm not dumb enough to make the same mistake again and go alone. I need you to come with me. Please?"

"I don't see the harm in it, I guess. It would be nice to see your father, and I've always liked Godric's Hollow. I had family there, you know. My grandfather lived there until he married my grandmother, but they visit every year and sometimes I go with them. So yes, count me in."

"You never told me you had family there! Even when you visited over the summer."

"I guess it never came up; like I said, they moved away long before I was born. To me, it was just a place they liked to go on holiday. Anyway, do you have a plan?"

"I imagine we should just go down to Hogsmeade with Jacie or Genevieve, then separate from them and find an alley to Apparate in. We'll just have to make sure to be back by dinner."

"Sounds good to me."

They spent their evening playing chess (Rowena won every game), then retired to bed, reiterating their plans to leave for Hogsmeade after breakfast.

Godric's Hollow, she'd heard, used to be a tiny village where Muggles and wizards co-existed well into the 21st century. However, the attraction of being near Harry Potter's memorial was too strong, and Godric's Hollow became a busy town that soon housed only wizards. There were many strange instances in the 2400s of long-time Muggle residents suddenly realizing that their deepest ambition had always been to live somewhere else. Ironically, as the wizarding population exploded in the area, the Town Square moved across town from where it had originally been, and in the midst of a period of relative ignorance about the ancient hero, his home and the monument that had been in the center of the square were destroyed in order to expand the already-ancient graveyard, now located on the outskirts of town.

At least, that's how the legend went. Rowena thought it was a terrible story - who would destroy that sort of monument? - and they probably just told it to attract tourists. There were a few other villages in the area that claimed to be Harry's birthplace, but their stories were far less elaborate, and often self-contradictory. But if anyone would take her up on it, she would bet 10 Galleons that the whole section of the church graveyard devoted to Harry Potter and his descendents was fake.

Apparating out of Hogsmeade was surprisingly easy. Rowena noted that this was one of the times when having very few friends came in useful. They focused their attention on an alleyway in the new downtown of Godric's Hollow, about a ten-minute walk from Rowena's place. Arriving with no difficulty beyond the usual suffocation of Apparation, the two walked in near silence to her house, a good-sized manor in a nice neighborhood. When they arrived, Rowena hesitated for a moment on her doorstep, then knocked. No one answered. She knocked a second and third time, and still no one came. Grateful she had decided to bring the key, she let herself in and beckoned Rhys to follow her.

They began looking around inside, and Rowena's eyes landed on the calendar in the kitchen. As she studied it, she exclaimed, "Oh! Of course. I should have thought."

"Ro, what are you talking about?"

"Papa is away on business. He's always gone this time of year; I hadn't paid attention to the date. But he won't mind that we came. I guess we can just look around or something, while we're here. Maybe there's something Mum kept from her search for the Elder Wand."

They split up, both familiar with the house, Rhys taking the more public locations, and Rowena going back to her parents' bedroom. Naturally, as a child she hadn't spent much time there, and she found it fascinating to look at how her father lived. Everything in the room was nice, but a little bit out of date, as if her mother picked them out for their wedding and her father had never bothered to redecorate. An elaborate shelving system was built into one of the walls, and it was here that Rowena started her search. The system was a blend of open shelves, drawers, and cabinets, and she began to open them one at a time, not in any particular order, but just as they called to her. One of the larger cupboards was the first thing she went to open, but it was locked. Not expecting it to work, she said, "Alohomora." The door swung open on its hinge.

Inside, vial after vial contained bits of a silvery liquid or gas, some filled to the brim, others only skimmed along the bottom. Nearly all of them were labeled with dates. Memories, she thought, though she couldn't figure out why she knew this. She closed the cabinet and opened the one next to it, not surprised, but relieved all the same, to find a Pensieve.

If there was any place her mother might have stored information about her search for the Elder Wand, memories seemed a likely bet. What other memories would be worth keeping? Rowena pulled a few out of the cabinet at random and began to set up the Pensieve. Picking up the nearest vial, she poured it into the basin and looked in.