That night, I pretended to be asleep. I kept my chest rising and falling steadily. I took Scorpius' words to heart, that he didn't read people's minds for fun. Because mine was racing at the moment, and my unfiltered thoughts wouldn't have been good for him to hear. Although, my thoughts are my business. It didn't have to matter to him what I thought.
My mind kept going back to mum, and that she is in danger at present. Was she involved in this rebellion? Did dad know of this? Was he the one who recommended that mum be put in house arrest? He wouldn't do that. But when one was miles away from home, sleeping on a thin, hard mattress in some bunker in the middle of nowhere, one tended to overthink.
I wondered what Hugo thought of the situation. I wondered if Hugo even knew about it.
"The operation will be disguised as a part of the drill, regular training," Connor said earlier that evening. The three of us were seated together during dinner.
"Only, the drill could be on anything, there's no chance of us preparing."
"How will they know which trainees to take out?" I said. Scorpius leaned even closer.
"Rumor has it, they also have people who collect information for them. Maybe he or she knows how to do Legilimency as well."
"Take care tomorrow," I whispered to them before I could stop myself. "I mean, it'll be an inconvenience if you died or something."
Connor grinned and assured me of his toughness. Scorpius, however, said nothing. A Fort Hyrde officer passed our table, so talk reverted to more mundane things. The boys were probably used to abruptly switching the conversation-they were suddenly talking about the latest headline of the Prophet. I tried to keep up with what they were saying, tried to blend in. I couldn't shake the feeling, though, that someone was watching us.
One of my year mates stirred in their bed, bringing me back to the present. I was facing the wall, and couldn't see anyone.
"Hey, Scorpius?"
"Yeah?"
I turned to face his bed. "Want to go out?"
His bedcovers rustled gently, and I started to get up as well. We tiptoed through the quarters and slipped out through the rear. Save for a few lamplights, everything was dark. Lights out did mean lights out. We looked around for a place to stay, somewhere we wouldn't get caught by those on night patrol. They were nasty. Because they're stuck with the most dragging job on the camp, they made it hard on us if we get caught.
A few minutes later, we settled ourselves on the roof. I was sitting with my arms around my knees, and Scorpius was lying down. We said nothing for a while-we just sat there. I hadn't realized how long it has been since I did this, just gaze at the sky, and I had forgotten how nice it felt.
The last time I saw the night sky like this, Hugo and I were at Godric's Hollow, a few days before my farewell party. My brother rarely spoke to me, even back when we were both at school. That day was no exception. We awkwardly slogged through some small talk before he sort of bid me luck on my training. And then we walked home in silence. If I hadn't been his sister I wouldn't know he was genuine.
I guess we hadn't gotten to know each other, Hugo and I.
"I'll go broke offering money for your thoughts," Scorpius said. I glanced at him; he was smiling, but still staring at the stars.
"Let me join your group," I said. "I mean, I'm not completely useless."
"You're not useless at all," he said. It was a quick whisper, but I felt giddy at his words.
"Thanks," I said, one eyebrow raised. "Glad to know I'm not entirely dead weight."
We were silent for a bit. Strangely, though, I was not panicking about filling the air with words. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world, to be quiet, sitting beside Scorpius Malfoy, face upturned to the stars. I sighed happily, and he smirked, but it had no scorn. If anything, it sounded a little amused.
"Seriously, though."
"If this is just because of your mother, I can't let you do that."
"Why not? She is my mother. You'd do the same for yours."
"Rose, this isn't some extra-curricular group you can leave on a whim. You need to be committed, because the group will take up your time, your resources..."
I flushed at his words. Is that how he saw me, as a quitter? "I won't quit this," I said firmly. He sat up, and I waited for him to contradict what I said.
Instead, he startled me by pulling me close to him and wrapping his arms around me. I couldn't breathe at first, but he wouldn't let go, and I settled. I drank in his scent and closed my eyes. I almost regretted it when we broke apart after a while.
"Think about it first, Rose. Please," he said. I had a million retorts but I bit them all back.
The morning brought nothing, as usual. We got up and dressed and filed out, and he was several people in front of me so I couldn't see his face. I thought of nudging him with a small spell, but decided against it. My wand might get confiscated. Besides, there were other things to be worried about.
We were made to line up near the lake. Professor Shacklebolt was already there, scowling at us. A couple feet behind him were what looked like portable loos. "On the double, soldiers," he said. He looked no different than he did a day ago, which is jarring to me. This whole day is actually disorienting. My mother can't get out of our home, not even for her Muggle snacks, and here I am walking outdoors in the morning. I want to fly home or Apparate, or something, and just curl up with her.
"Good morning, sir," the group said. I caught up just in time to say 'sir,' but Shacklebolt seemed to have noticed. He stared at me pointedly before beginning.
"Today is the first of your graded simulations. Everyday you will have to demonstrate your ability to adapt to a new situation, and your scores will reflect on your Tower grade. Consider this your finals for the term. This morning we have escape training."
A collective sigh rippled through the crowd. I was also relieved; I thought we'd start off with a bang, but it looks like they're letting us aboard gently.
"Underwater escape training," Shacklebolt said, flicking his wand and conjuring a pile of diving suits.
Oh, bollocks.
"You will be given gillyweed and lowered to the bottom of the lake. Your hands and feet will be bound, and you must free yourself before time runs out. Your gillyweed will not work for an hour. It has been cultivated for training purposes, and will only give you air for thirty minutes. You cannot use your wands, and you cannot Summon them. You must also bring your ropes to the surface unbroken. Anyone who breaks any of the rules will be given a demerit and latrine duty."
I raised my hand. I wanted to ask a question, but Shacklebolt nodded. "Excellent, we have our first volunteer."
I sighed and walked into one of the loos to change.
At the lake, I waited for the other "volunteers" to get ready. I tried to meet Scorpius' eye, but he seemed busy. Same for Connor. They were talking to our year mates, but their eyes were shifting, watching everything. They made me nervous. What if the lake was set to explode, or what if dragons stormed in from the sky, or some other dreadful thing?
Someone shoved something slimy in my hand. I popped the gillyweed in my mouth, chewing gingerly. As I was doing this, one of the other students started tying my hands and my feet. And then, as soon as my gills and my webbing started to appear, I was pushed into the lake.
When I was younger, my parents loved bringing us to swimming trips. During the summer, they would whisk us all off to Holkham Beach for an afternoon of kite flying, or of paddling about in the shallow part of the water. Sometimes, they'd bring us to Winterton-on-Sea, for variety. This will be the first time I'd be more than 5 feet underwarer, though.
I waited until I stopped sinking. Some students were also plunging into the water, a few feet in front of me, and I watched how they handled the situation. Some of them were already trying to untie themselves. Others were swimming near the lake floor, possibly looking for something to cut the binding. I looked around some more and spotted Bea. She was wiggling her hands around, trying to get the ropes to loosen up on their own.
I tried that with myself, and it didn't work. And then something Ricky said clicked in my head.
"...you don't look properly..."
I swam to where Bea was and tried to get it across that I wanted to try untying her hands, and that I would like her to untie mine. She agreed, shrugging as if to say, I have nothing to lose.
I swam down so that my head was in front of her hands. When I saw the knot, my heart started hammering my chest. Maybe we were on to something; I thought the knot looked like it could come off if someone tugged at it enough. I bit the part of the rope that was sticking out and pulled at it with my teeth.
The knot loosened a little. I tried it again, and again, each tug yielding a bit more of Bea's rope. I could feel my chest tightening; the gillyweed must be wearing off. After several tugs, the rope unraveled far enough to let Bea take it off herself. She untied her feet, and went behind me to remove my rope.
When we both surfaced, our year mates cheered. Apparently only three other people beat us to the surface, and they were unable to bring their ropes back in one piece.
"Congratulations, Farley and Weasley," Shacklebolt said. "You're the first to skip cleaning duty."
I thanked him, smiled and squeezed Bea's hand, and walked to where Scorpius was. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up, but he seemed troubled.
"Where's Connor?" I said. I felt my hands and feet grow colder than they already were.
"Down at the lake. Shacklebolt picked him out to join after Dawlish got sick and had to be brought to the informary," Scorpius said, lines of worry breaking his forehead. I wanted to smooth them out with my fingers, but I didn't want people thinking we were together.
"He will come out soon," I said, not feeling my own words.
More people were emerging from the water, their ropes in various states of distress. Still no Connor, though. I wanted to jump back into the lake and see how I can help him.
Almost everyone had surfaced after some time, and my stomach was all crumpled up. Scorpius did not look pleased by what was happening, either. Finally, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Connor's head bob to the surface, ropes in hand, a cheeky grin on his face.
"Gillyweed almost got me, it took nearly 30 minutes to get these off," he said to no one in particular. I wanted to embrace him right then and there, but I settled for a high five.
Scorpius frowned and turned to Connor. "You, me, a couple other first years. No second or third years were in the lake. I would rather have all of us safe, of course, but don't you think something is wrong?" he said.
"Look at the lake!" Someone yelled, and we all turned to it. There were letters forming on the surface, scarlet threads pulling themselves together. Scorpius swore under his breath.
"That wasn't me, honest," Connor whispered. "I wouldn't do something that stupid."
The letters on the lake read, 'Ministry of Dark Magic.' Beneath it was a symbol; a triple spiral.
"That would be the triskele, the symbol of the resistance," Scorpius whispered beside me, and I nodded. I tried to look confused, while the boys feigned disinterest. I hoped for all our sakes that the Ministry's spy was not around to read my mind.