It was just after noon on Monday when Rachel made her way into the Great Hall for lunch. She'd been out using the pitch and thinking about whether or not they were recruiting a reserve Chaser this year so they were leaving a fully trained team behind. Rachel thought that they should, but she wasn't sure how much interest there would be for someone to train with them without getting to play a game this year.
She came to a stop a few feet in front of the staff table. There was a familiar and unexpected face among her professors. "Gemma?"
Gemma smiled. "Rachel. I was wondering when you'd pop up."
"You're our new Defense professor?" she asked.
"That's right," Professor Dumbledore said. "And a little further down the table you'll find Professor Miriam Hatch, who is taking the Muggle Studies position."
Rachel smiled and waved at the new Muggle Studies professor. "Hello. Welcome." She then turned her attention back to Gemma. "I think you'll be a great teacher."
"I hope so. I'm a little nervous," Gemma admitted.
"Rachel, come have lunch. You can catch up with Gemma after we eat," Severus called.
She reluctantly rounded the table and took a seat next to Severus. As she began to serve herself from the casserole dish, she was both glad Gemma was here and was very worried. While she wasn't entirely sure the curse on the Defense position was responsible for what happened to their last three professors, it did set a very bad precedent.
Half listening to the chatter among the professors, she ate her lunch. She'd been planning to go into the library after lunch, but that could wait until she'd had a chance to speak with Gemma.
"If you need advice, just drop by my office. I'd be happy to help with whatever questions you have. I know what it's like to unexpectedly fill a teaching position, especially when there are students who remember you as a student," Severus was saying when Rachel pushed her mostly empty plate away.
"Thank you, I'll be sure to drop by," Gemma said, pushing her multitude of thin braids back over her shoulder. "I'll take any advice you're willing to give."
"All of us on the staff are a resource to you," Severus assured her.
Rachel looked hopefully at Gemma.
Gemma smiled. "Want to go catch up? I hear it's been a pretty eventful three years."
"You could say that," Rachel said, though she was far more interested in hearing what Gemma had been up to than rehashing the past few years of her own life. "I'll be around the castle," she told Severus.
"That's fine, just be in our quarters for dinner," Severus said.
She left the Great Hall with Gemma. "How does it feel to be back at Hogwarts?"
"Not fully certain just yet. Those battlements sure are something. I'm fighting off the feeling that I'm still a student. Eating at the staff table is definitely a big change, though you seem pretty used to it," Gemma said.
Rachel shrugged. "I only eat there when there aren't other students in the castle, and generally only for lunch. Severus and I usually take breakfast and dinner in his quarters. The battlements appeared last year, right before school started. You can go out to them on the second and fourth floor, there's a nice view."
"I'll have to check it out. I can't believe I have my own office. I've wanted to be a teacher for a long time, but I was picturing myself teaching young children either one on one or in small groups, and then tutoring older kids over the summer months. Now I'm going to have classes of twenty students. It's a little daunting," Gemma said as they rounded the staircase on the second floor.
"It is," Rachel said, remembering how nervous she felt when she was teaching a lesson in the DA. "I think you'll do really well at it. Your contract is only for a year, isn't it?"
"That's right. I'm very aware of the curse. I'm hoping it will be like with Professor Lupin where I can just finish the year and it will be alright," Gemma said, looking briefly worried.
"You've heard what happened to our last three Defense teachers?"
"Um, I know Nash was killed in the attack last year. And that you were involved too. Are you alright?" Gemma peered down at Rachel.
"I'm alright. It was scary, but it wasn't all that bad, all things considered. Apart from Professor Nash and Flora dying, of course," Rachel said, not wanting to sound heartless.
Gemma shook her head. "Compared to some of the other things you've been through, I could see why that wouldn't really register for you. I am sorry, Rachel. I always worried about you when I was a prefect. I knew things weren't right with you, but I really had no idea what you'd been through."
Rachel shrugged again, knowing that Gemma was talking about the article. "It was what it was. I'm alright now. I've been with Severus for six years, have been seeing a Mind Healer for nearly that long, and for the most part I'm okay." That was…at least half true.
Gemma opened her office door. "Even so. I'm glad you're doing alright now. Sorry about the mess, I just arrived this morning and I haven't really unpacked yet."
"Not a problem. Could be much worse. You should have seen this place when Umbridge had it. Everything was pink and covered in doilies," Rachel said, moving to the chair that was in front of Gemma's desk. There were a few boxes sitting around, but otherwise it just looked like an unused office.
Gemma moved her chair out from behind the desk so she could sit near Rachel. "Speaking of Umbridge, I read about what happened there too."
"Some days I can't move without it being an article in the Daily Prophet. Thankfully that's mostly been better this past year. The war is much more interesting than I am." She'd been mentioned in the articles regarding the attack in the first floor corridor, but at least the articles weren't about her.
"I'm glad they're leaving you alone. So that's Nash and Umbridge. You said three Defense professors?" Gemma asked.
"Yes. Professor Podmore was killed at the start of last summer. He was only our Defense teacher for seven weeks, but the Dark Lord didn't want him to have the Defense position. And then Professor Burbage was killed by the Dark Lord this summer, she was also a muggleborn. I think you need to be really careful, Gemma."
"I had Professor Burbage for five years. She was very kind. The newspaper just said she was missing, presumed dead. How do you know that You-Know-Who killed her?" Gemma now looked worried.
"I have sources of information I can't reveal," Rachel said, not really wanting to get into her visions with Gemma.
Gemma studied Rachel for a long moment. "Professor Snape isn't involving you in the war, is he? You're still too young."
"The war has kind of involved itself with me. I have to be able to defend myself," she said, still not wanting to give a more in depth explanation.
"There's no doubt that you're a target. I heard about…about you being abducted as well."
Rachel nodded. "The Dark Lord wants to kill me and I need to prevent myself from being taken again. My friends and I are getting extra Defense lessons so that we're more prepared. And there's something I want to ask you about, but you don't have to answer right away."
"Sure, what is it?" Gemma asked.
"My friends and I run a Defense study club, but we need a staff sponsor. It's one evening a week, for one hour, and all you have to do is be in the room with us. We can show you our curriculum if you want to see it in advance. But you don't have to decide right now, I know it's your first day and you just got a whole ton of responsibilities placed on you."
"I don't see why I can't do that. I'm sure you're all taking the appropriate precautions," she said.
"We've had our club for two years now and no one has ever been hurt at it," she said quickly.
"Then I think it should be fine, just let me know when and where," Gemma said.
"I'll tell you as soon as we've got a day of the week picked out. You already know about my last three years, what have you been doing?" Rachel asked.
"A Defense Mastery. The plan was to do two masteries, one in Defense and one in Charms, but I needed to work for a while after my Defense mastery to get the money for my Charms mastery. I've been doing evening tutoring, but the bills add up. I was originally planning to tutor younger kids for a few years and then do my Charms mastery on the side, but Professor Dumbledore contacted me and asked if I'd take the Defense position for this year. Since the money would cover my Charms mastery outright, and I get free room and board here, I decided to take the position and hope for the best. Plus, having a year teaching at Hogwarts will be good for my teaching credentials," Gemma explained.
"What's doing a mastery like?" Rachel asked.
"Pretty intense. I generally spent the whole week with my mistress and we spent some of that time learning and in research, and some of that time in training or in seeking dark creatures. My mistress was contracted with the Ministry, so we went out when there were reports of a dark creature that needed to be caught or dealt with. I also did a year of training with the MLE patrol. Are you considering a mastery?"
"Potions Mastery, maybe," Rachel said, not wanting to go into all of the problems presented by that either.
"I'm sure Professor Snape approves of that," she said.
"He seems to, but he also told me that I should do what I want to do, and not what he wants me to do. He was also pretty supportive of the idea of me joining the British Quidditch League, but that isn't practical while there's a war."
"I can see why that would be. You're team captain now?"
"That's right. I've got a really good team. We've won the cup for the last two years, and we would have if they'd done the Quidditch cup three years ago," Rachel said, thinking proudly of her team.
"That's great, I'm looking forward to seeing you play again. Are you looking forward to this year?" Gemma asked.
"Some parts more than others. I'm a little nervous," she admitted.
"Given everything, that's completely understandable," Gemma said, nodding. "Hopefully we'll have a relatively quiet year at Hogwarts."
Rachel was beginning to believe there was no such thing as a quiet year at Hogwarts.
Her heart was beating faster than normal. Otherwise, so far, she was alright.
They'd been at Hogwarts for several days now and she'd been putting this off. She wanted to do it before everyone was back, because she didn't want people watching her. It should be easy. Far worse things had happened in her life than the attack on the first floor corridor.
Her hands were sweating and she wiped them on her jumper. She was doing this. And if she felt some panic or had an anxiety attack, she could deal with that. It took a moment, but she managed to get herself walking down the corridor that led to the back corridor on the first floor. There were classrooms and offices in this corridor, but none in the back corridor, it was just an alternative path to the third floor.
The architecture in Hogwarts made no sense whatsoever, but she supposed that in itself made sense with the way the castle had changed over the years. They couldn't expect the castle to rearrange itself with convenient pathways, how would a castle know what was convenient? Then again, how did the castle know anything?
She paused at the corner that led into the back corridor. The corridor looked about the same as it ever did. There were suits of armor and various other objects displayed. Rachel figured they'd already checked all the items here to make sure they weren't dangerous. She took a few steps into the corridor, remembering how they'd walked down it without even considering that danger might be around the corner. Or, more accurately, inside a cabinet. The vanishing cabinet was gone.
Rachel wondered how her friends were dealing with the attack. Millie had seemed pretty shaken when it had happened. Theo and Draco had both appeared to weather it alright, but they'd both been injured during the attack. They hadn't talked about it this summer. She thought maybe they didn't know what to say about it, just like she didn't either.
She went further down the corridor, searching for evidence of where the ceiling had collapsed. She didn't even know what had happened to cause that, or if it had been on purpose. It probably hadn't been on purpose since it put her on the opposite side of the cave-in as the vanishing cabinet. On the other hand, maybe they'd done it to try to prevent Professor Dumbledore from reaching them.
After finding the spot where she'd fallen into a suit of armor, she looked to the left and noted the place where she'd seen Draco lying unconscious. She hadn't known if he was dead at the time. She remembered Professor Dumbledore surging forward, the Death Eaters falling to his wand. She'd seen Hestia fall, still alive. Flora must have been on the other side of the cave-in. She wondered who killed her. Had they meant to kill her? Had they known she was a student, or had they just seen a Death Eater?
A dozen steps forward she found where the ceiling had collapsed. There was a faint line in the stones of the ceiling, something that someone would only see if they knew it was there. Millie and Theo had been on the other side. Theo had been knocked unconscious while Millie had tried to defend herself. Professor Dumbledore wouldn't go beyond the collapsed ceiling while Rachel had been there. She hated that. She hated that Millie and Theo might have died just because Professor Dumbledore didn't want to risk her. Just because of the stupid prophecy.
That prophecy had ruined her life. Every bad thing in her life had come because of that prophecy. She would have grown up safe with her parents. Maybe, if the Dark Lord couldn't have been defeated, they would have left Britain. Maybe she would have wound up going to Ilvermorny or Beauxbatons.
She didn't like the idea of never meeting Severus or her friends. She cared about them deeply. But she still wanted her parents.
Severus had given the prophecy to the Dark Lord. That didn't sit comfortably with her and she tried not to think about it. The only thing that helped was that Severus had no idea what he was doing when he did it. He didn't know what the prophecy meant, he hadn't heard all of it, and there was no way he could have anticipated what had come from it. Like it or not, he'd been a Death Eater and he'd done the things a Death Eater was expected to do.
She worried about Severus. She didn't want to seem self important, but she anticipated that her death was going to be hard for him. It was important that he didn't see it happen. She knew what it was like to have images of awful things in her mind replaying over and over, and she didn't want that to happen to him. She could see how badly Percy's death was hurting the Weasley family. She hoped that Severus would accept support and help after her death.
After standing in the first floor corridor for a while, she decided that she wasn't going to panic if she had to walk through it again. It hadn't been as bad as she'd been expecting - not nearly as bad as returning to Hogsmeade last year. And now she never had to go to Hogsmeade again. She felt a little guilty about that, because she knew her classmates would like to go, but she liked that she didn't either have to come up with excuses not to go or go walk through Hogsmeade like nothing had happened.
Rachel went back down the dungeons, deciding she'd check her two-way book and then maybe gather her study guides and go sit in the study group's room by the fireplace and read for a while.
She found the Potions classroom door open and wandered in. "Severus?"
"In here. Could you find the vials of powdered moonstone for me? They should be in a box," Severus called from inside the storeroom.
"Sure," she said. There were boxes of ingredients spread out over the workstations and Rachel began looking through them. "Severus, did they finish going through all the magical items and things?"
Severus came out of the storeroom, holding a bundle of fluxweed. "They did. Everywhere has been searched, unused rooms have been sealed off, and the magical items have been checked."
"Did they find anything?" she asked, opening another box to find alihotsy and banana leaves.
"We found a few items that had spells we couldn't identify. Those have been isolated with wards and stored in a secure location that is inaccessible to students. The wards on the castle have been adjusted to increase their sensitivity. We have House Elves monitoring the mail, they will check every item that is sent in, and anything suspicious will be sent to Albus to check. And we have two aurors with us, they'll arrive on Monday," he listed, seeming to try to reassure her.
"Secret passageways sealed?" she checked.
"All the ones that we know about."
Rachel decided she should look over the Marauder's Map again and see if she could identify any secret passages that they might not know about. "Here, powdered moonstone," she said, picking up a box that was filled with vials. "Want me to stay and help you put things away?"
"If you'd like, that would be helpful. I need the goosegrass next," he said, moving away to the storeroom.
"On it," she said. She didn't mind spending the afternoon helping.
"May we come through?" Hermione's voice called.
"Yes, please do," Severus called back.
Rachel stood up and backed away from the fireplace in Severus' office.
Hermione stepped through first, followed by Draco, Theo, and Neville. Millie, Ginny, Ron, and Luna were all taking the Hogwarts Express.
"I've got them all," Severus called into the fireplace.
"Good, have a good fun term, don't over study," Sirius called back.
"Mr. Black is correct." The corner of Severus' mouth twitched at saying that. "I know that your NEWTs are both important and stressful, but you should avoid studying too much or putting too much pressure on yourselves. You are consistently at the top of your class and I don't believe you have anything to worry about."
"Yes, sir. We've moderated our study plan so that we're taking regular breaks," Theo said.
Rachel hoped that was true. Her term was already filled with things to do.
"Thank you for letting us use your floo, sir. We'll get out of your way in case you're expecting other students. Do you know where Professor McGonagall might be so that Neville and I can get access to our common room and dorms?" Hermione asked. She was already dressed in her school uniform and robes.
"She should be in her office receiving other students who needed to travel by floo," Severus said.
"Thank you," Hermione said again, turning to leave.
"Rachel, be in the Great Hall for lunch," he said.
"I will," she said, leaving his office with her friends. She pulled the door shut behind her.
"I think we're going to go get unpacked in our dorms. Do you want to meet in our study room in about an hour?" Hermione asked.
"Works for me," Theo said.
"Just so you know I'm not joining you for all of your crazy study schedule," Draco said.
"That's fine. You have a copy of the review schedule and you can join us for homework sessions if you want to. You know where we are," Rachel assured him.
"We'll see you in about an hour then," Neville said.
"Guess what," Rachel said as she started in the direction of the Slytherin common room with Theo and Draco.
"I'm almost afraid to ask. With the sort of revelations you usually give us…" Draco trailed off with a slightly disturbed look.
Rachel sighed. "It's nothing bad. Gemma is our Defense professor this year."
"Oh no," Theo said.
"I think she'll be a good teacher. She was good at teaching us when she was a prefect," she said, frowning at Theo.
Theo shook his head. "Not that, I'm sure she'll be a fine teacher. But the curse on the Defense position has been sort of reactive these past few years. I don't want Gemma to get hurt."
"She says she's very aware and she only took a one year contract," she explained.
"So did Professor Nash and look what happened to her," Draco said.
Rachel swallowed. "Do you really think that was the curse though? Or for Professor Podmore? Couldn't it just be that the Death Eaters wanted them dead?"
"I don't know, but I don't see any sense in provoking the proverbial bear," Theo said. "Maybe Gemma should do end of year exams early and leave two weeks before the term ends."
"That's not a terrible idea," Draco said. "Gemma was a reasonable prefect for the most part. I don't want her to die."
She didn't want Gemma to die either, but she wasn't sure she'd be any safer outside Hogwarts than she was within. "Hi Curbin."
"Hello Miss Rachel. Students here already?" Curbin asked as he peered at them from his frame.
"They're flooing in students who might be Death Eater targets," Draco said, not looking enthused.
"A reasonable precaution. I will keep my eye on the common room this year, but I suggest you all use as much caution as possible. I'm sure I don't have to remind you what the atmosphere within the House was like at the end of last term," Curbin said.
"You don't have to remind us. Has Slytherin House always been like this?" Rachel asked.
"Slytherin House has always had a certain number of students who were attracted to the dark arts, I won't deny it. And there has always been a certain emphasis on the purity of blood within the House as well. But before the war with Grindelwald, there was not such a divide as it is now. People did not use to make their attitudes towards muggles and muggleborns such an important part of identity, whereas now people, and politics, is heavily divided upon that line," Curbin explained.
"Did they just not use to care about muggleborns?" Draco asked, looking incredulous.
"Three hundred years ago, in my day and further back, muggleborns were viewed as long lost children coming home to our community for most people. There used to be fewer muggleborns than there are now and many muggleborns were given magical guardians to guide them. During my time, muggles were very frightened by witchcraft, and we often had to take magical children away from their families to protect them. Slowly, muggles stopped believing in magic and magical children stopped being persecuted, so it was safe enough for their parents to learn the truth and in many cases the muggleborn children could remain with their own families. These children grew up and began to bring new ideas into the magical world, some of them very successfully, but the idea of becoming more like muggles frightened people. Muggleborns began being associated as being tainted and dirty, where the slur mudblood comes from, and as Grindelwald began to gain power, he wanted people to believe in his ideal version of society, one where magical people were on top and the muggles were subjugated. Muggleborns would be identified as young as possible and adopted into magical families so that they weren't tainted. Squib children would be killed so they couldn't breed with muggles. Anyone who would not stand with Grindelwald would be killed," Curbin explained.
"What happened then?" Rachel asked. They'd never reached the global wizarding war in her history class and she'd never found the time to read a book on it. She supposed she should.
"War, war like the magical world hadn't seen in centuries."
"And then the Dark Lord, thirty years later," Theo said.
"Yes," Curbin agreed. "If he had not been stopped here in Britain, he would have moved his campaign to the continent, there's no doubt. Whether or not they could have stopped him there, who knows."
Rachel nodded to herself. She would stop the Dark Lord before things got anywhere near that point.
"Carry on with your day. Keep a close eye out," Curbin instructed.
"We will," Theo said.
They walked the ten steps further down the corridor. "Ex nihilo nihil fit," Rachel said.
"Professor Snape is being really direct with his passwords," Theo said.
"Nothing comes from nothing," Draco translated after a moment.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked.
"It means work is required to succeed," Theo said, the corner of his mouth lifting up.
"That is direct, except I'm not sure how many people in our House know latin," she said. "I'm going to go get my bag, I'm not going to unpack until tonight. I'll meet you back in the common room?"
"Sure. And more people than you think. Most purebloods whose families are at least moderately well off would have gotten their children a latin tutor," Theo said.
"Five years of latin and history lessons. Just what every child wants," Draco said, heading in the direction of the boys dorms.
Rachel shrugged. She thought latin lessons might have been more useful for her life as it was now than some of the lessons she'd gotten in her muggle primary school. She went to her own dorm, which now said 'Seventh year girls' on the front, and stopped at her bed. She'd left her bag here earlier in the day, and her trunk was sitting at the bottom of her bed. After a few minutes of trying to decide what she would need, she packed her two-way book, her Defense NEWT guide, and her Walkman in case they went outside.
In the common room she sat down on the sofa near the fireplace and tried not to think about the fact that in ten hours this room was going to be half full of people who were hostile towards her and her friends.
The truth was that if Hestia, Flora, and their friends had been really serious about hurting them last year, they probably would have succeeded. Rachel knew that the Dark Lord wanted her and Draco alive. It was probably reasonable to assume that Theo's father would prefer him to be captured alive as well. She hoped that same attitude would be prevalent this year, where they would try to scare them, but not really be trying to kill them.
She didn't want to spend another year feeling like she was being hunted. It was going to be bad enough just having people around her and near her without them actually trying to hurt her. There wasn't anything for it though. They would just have to deal with it as best they could.
Theo came out and sat down on the sofa across from her. "You look worried."
"I think we have pretty good reason to be worried," she said, knowing it would be pointless to deny it.
"Well. According to Professor Snape, the Death Eaters can't get in. And with our training, I think we're a match for the other students. We'll be incredibly cautious. By now we are good at being cautious."
She managed not to point out that all of their caution had not stopped them from being attacked last year.
"Do you really think Professor Snape would let you come back if he thought we couldn't handle this?" Theo tried.
"He didn't want me to come back."
"But he didn't stop you. If he truly thought you were in life threatening danger here, he would either be keeping you in his quarters or he would have left you at Headquarters. Since you're here, and you're staying in your dorm, right?"
"Definitely."
"Then I would say he probably thinks we'll be alright. Though I don't know why you would give up the opportunity to stay in a single room. I would like Hogwarts much better if we had single bedrooms instead of sharing a dorm. Even a double room would be better," Theo said.
"I don't mind sharing a dorm. I just feel bad when I wake everyone up." Hopefully that would happen less this year. "And it's only one more year of sharing a dorm."
"That's a relief." Theo settled in. "Draco might be a while, he wanted to hang up his robes."
"That's fine. I'm sure Hermione is unpacking anyway. It's hard to believe we're seventh years now. Sometimes I think I would barely recognize myself as a first year, but sometimes it feels like everything has just passed in a blur," she said.
"It does seem like a long time ago." Theo looked thoughtful. "A lot has changed in six years, but much of it for the better."
Rachel raised her eyebrows. She wasn't entirely sure she'd agree with that. "The war?"
"Definitely not the war. I just mean…It's been really nice having close friends and not having to go home to my father."
"That is good. And I'm grateful to never have to see my relatives again. And I'm glad I'm friends with all of you. I'm glad for Severus. And I'm glad that you're safe from your father." That was all true. She was grateful for the good things in her life. It was just sometimes hard to really feel that gratitude when she was preparing to die.
"And, with the war, being inside these wards, we're probably in the safest place in Britain. Even with the other students," he pointed out.
Rachel nodded. Theo was right. She needed to keep the good things in mind. Maybe that would help her feel less like she was about to be attacked.
Severus settled himself at the staff table and looked out over the Great Hall. There were currently almost twenty students sitting at the House tables. All of them had relatives either on the Wizengamot or highly placed in the Ministry and had been deemed high risk targets for Death Eaters and had flooed to Hogwarts earlier that day. The only students currently sitting at the Slytherin table were Rachel, Draco, and Theo.
It concerned him slightly that Betrand Baddock had declined to send Malcolm by floo. Severus had sent the letter two weeks ago, letting him know it was an option, but had never received a response. His pendants which were connected to the message jewelry of Rachel and her study group, Draco, Pansy, and Malcolm hadn't activated all summer. For the time being he had been operating on the idea that no news was good news, but now he was eager to have them safely within the wards.
While he wished that Rachel had accepted auror protection this year, he was willing to wait a week or two while they judged where the situation stood. It was possible that the tensions would have died down since the end of term, or that the Dark Lord had made it clear he wanted Rachel and Draco captured alive. It was also possible that things would be worse and the students would return to school with instructions from their parents to wage a campaign of terror against Rachel and her friends. There was no way to know at this point.
Gemma settled on the seat next to Severus, leaving the seat on his other side open for Minerva. "It still feels weird sitting up here," she said. She was in dark green robes that were so dark they were almost black. Severus approved.
"You'll get used to it. You'll need to enforce with the students who know you that they should call you Professor Farley. It will feel awkward at first. Has Rachel approached you about her Defense club?" he asked.
"Yes, I agreed to sponsor it, though I don't quite know what I'm getting myself into. Rachel has grown so much. I can't imagine her as I knew her when she was younger leading a club. She seems much more confident now," Gemma said, looking out at the students.
"From what I understand, Rachel and her friends run the club on their own, so you won't be expected to do much other than to be there during their meetings and assist if there's an accident. And yes, Rachel has grown these past few years." Severus still wouldn't call Rachel confident, but she wasn't nearly as shy as she'd been when she was younger either. She seemed to have a large number of friends now across Houses. Rachel had told him that her Defense club would all draw wands for each other - he hoped that meant they would come to Rachel's defense if there was a situation in the halls or the common room.
"She says she wants to do a Potions Mastery. I saw the article last year saying she was on the winning team of the Potions Championship. You must be proud of her."
"I am. Very." As much as he worried about Rachel, and occasionally wondered about the decisions she made, he was proud of her. She was already making advances in the field of Potions, she was dedicated and hardworking, and she had a strong sense of morality. He didn't think any of that was his doing, but he hoped he'd had some influence on her.
The students began to trickle in, the familiar sea of dark robes beginning to spread. He anticipated that this was going to be a difficult year, but the last several years had been difficult, each in their own way. At least Umbridge was long gone and he didn't have to worry about this Defense professor bothering Rachel. The castle was as secure as it could possibly be. They'd made every preparation they could think of and they had two aurors at the school.
Severus combed over his students as they arrived, looking for illness, injury, or other problems. His seventh years were sitting in a huddle, though Crabbe was nowhere to be seen. He frowned as he looked down his table and then looked at the other tables. Either a fair portion of Slytherins were at the back of the group coming in from the Hogwarts Express, or something was wrong.
The flow of students entering the Great Hall finished and Severus quickly did a rough count of his table. He had thirty four students, which meant well over a third of his House was missing. A quick look told him that Malcolm was missing, as was Vincent Crabbe, Michael Pike, Selina Moore, and Bowen Duffield, to name only a few. As far as he could see, the only student with Death Eater relatives who had returned was Pansy. The remaining missing students were from families who traditionally supported blood purity.
He looked over the other tables and did a rough count, trying to see who else was missing. As he anticipated, Cordelia Gifford was not at the Ravenclaw table. Ravenclaw was missing about ten students. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were also missing a handful of students, some from families supporting blood purity and the Dark Lord, some muggleborns whose families had fled. All in all, they were missing just over fifty students, about a sixth of the school.
Severus glanced at Dumbledore and saw that he wore a troubled expression. None of them had been anticipating this.
The number of first year students that Minerva brought out was smaller than usual as well, a little less than thirty rather than the low and mid forties that they were used to expecting. Severus supposed that most of the muggleborns had fled or decided not to come. Other families would have fled by now or decided that Hogwarts was not safe for their children.
The room was deathly quiet as they listened to the Sorting Hat's song, this time a dire warning about the divide in their society and how all Houses and blood statuses must join together to if any were to be saved. The applause was brief and unenthusiastic.
Severus received six first years this year, bringing his House to a total of forty students. Last year he had sixty six Slytherin students. It was obviously at the Dark Lord's direction that those of pureblood whose families had aligned with him hadn't returned to Hogwarts. There stood the possibility that the Dark Lord wanted to create a rival school, one that only accepted purebloods. Or he could wish to further the indoctrination of the children before he took Hogwarts for himself. Severus thought that was more likely.
Gemma looked at Severus. "How many people are we missing?" she asked quietly.
"About a third of Slytherin House. Nearly fifty students from the entire school," he said.
"The only withdrawal notices I received were from a handful of students whose families had decided to leave Britain. Did you have any notice of this?" Minerva asked, her expression dismayed as she looked over the gathered students.
"No, nothing," Severus said, thinking of all of the students who were now beyond his ability to help. He could only hope that they were receiving the usual tutoring for students their age rather than being taught the dark arts.
"Make a list of who is missing. I'm sure Albus will want to speak with us tonight," Minerva said.
Severus nodded, his mind already working on what he was going to say to his students this evening. He had to acknowledge the absences and why they were there. He felt slightly guilty at recognizing that this would make the school safer for Rachel and Draco. It still wouldn't be completely safe, but it would be far safer than he'd been anticipating. This also gave him space to work with the students and persuade the ones he had here away from the Dark Lord without a competing influence. Ella was looking lost without Selina at her side, and he decided he would start there. He could still save her.
He had to save as many as he could.
"On the train, Isobelle and her friends came to find me to say that Cordelia was missing, but I told her that Cordelia must have flooed ahead with the the rest of the kids who had Wizengamot family members," Millie said as they walked down to the common room with the rest of Slytherin House. What remained of Slytherin House, that was.
"There was no way for you to know," Theo said.
"Do you think she's alright?" Millie asked, looking worried.
Rachel exchanged glances with Theo. Ever since they'd realized who was missing, Rachel had been worried about what was happening to those students. Supposedly magical parents treasured their children and wouldn't hurt them, but that didn't match up to her experiences in the magical world.
Theo shook his head ever so slightly. "They're probably just receiving tutoring. I'm sure this was the Dark Lord's plan. They should be fine." He didn't sound entirely confident.
They entered the common room behind a small group of sixth years. Except now all of the years were small in Slytherin House. There were only five sixth years left. The new first years were clustered together with the fifth year prefects, Sylvia and Daryl. There were only six new students, though the number of first years all together had been smaller than usual too.
"Our team is still here," Draco said as he came up to them.
Rachel nodded. She had checked that in the Great Hall too. She wondered, just a little bit, if the pureblood aligned students hadn't wanted to try out for the Quidditch team because she was captain. Statistically they should be missing at least one member of the team.
"Any idea what You-Know-Who wants with the students?" Millie asked.
Draco's frown deepened. "Nothing good," he said before walking away.
"We should check on Pansy once we're in our dorm. She's the only one who came back, there has to be a reason why," Millie said quietly.
Rachel nodded again. Pansy was likely their best hope at any information about what had happened. If anyone would have been in a position to know, it would be her. She looked around the common room, watching as people gathered in their years. There were barely any third years left. At seven students, the seventh years were the most populous year in their House now.
Severus entered the common room and the quiet conversations fell completely silent. Everyone watched as he went to stand next to the fireplace. "To my returning Slytherins, welcome back. To our new first years, welcome. Slytherin House is your family while you are here at Hogwarts. If you need assistance, your first stop should be a Slytherin prefect, an upper year Slytherin student, or myself." He paused, his gaze moving over the students.
"Slytherins comport themselves with pride and respect. We are a unified front. Disagreements between House members are solved within the common room and with words, not wands or fists." He paused again, his eyes moving to those who had disobeyed that rule in the past. "I will not take points from my own House, but I will not hesitate to give detentions if I find you breaking the rules. Prefects and upper year students lead mandatory study sessions for first and second year students, they will inform you of the times. I will be handing out your class schedules at breakfast."
He stopped again, his expression grim. "I know many of us are missing quite unexpectedly. The staff and I will discover what happened. In the meantime, please proceed as you normally would. I will be here in the common room for the next hour if you have questions or would like to speak with me. I suggest you have an early night so that you are fresh for classes tomorrow."
The fifth year prefects began leading the first year students to their dorms and Rachel turned to Millie. "Do we want to get out here?"
Millie frowned as she looked around the common room. There were a few people mingling, but most were moving to go to their dorms. "Let's just go to our dorm. Theo, come knock if something goes wrong or if you need us."
"I'll be fine. Our dorm will be much less tense without Crabbe there," Theo said. "You know where I am if you need me."
Rachel thought they were all feeling uneasy right now. "Goodnight," she said.
"Goodnight," Theo said, meeting her eyes before moving away to where Blaise was standing by himself.
Rachel saw that the sixth and seventh year prefects were gathered around Severus, probably discussing what they were going to do about the House. She decided she'd talk to Severus later, she didn't have anything urgent to tell him anyway. She followed Millie to their dorm room.
"Come on out, Midnight," Millie said as she opened the cat carrier.
Midnight slunk out and then sat and licked herself.
"Hi Midnight, did you have a good summer?" Rachel asked.
Midnight looked back at her and then came and wrapped herself around Rachel's ankles. Rachel bent down and scratched behind Midnight's ears. "Yeah, I thought so."
"She likes the birds. She sits in my window and makes this funny little chittering sound," Millie said, smiling briefly as she looked down at her cat. "I can't believe this is happening. I mean, it might be a good thing for us?"
Rachel put Midnight up on her bed and then moved toward her trunk to unpack. "Fewer people to attack us, that's for sure." Rachel wasn't sure she should say that she was worried about what was happening to the students that were missing. She didn't want to make Millie worry more.
Millie moved to open her own trunk. "That's true. And now Theo doesn't have to share a dorm with Crabbe, which will be a relief for all three of them I think. I just…this is worrying me for some reason. It feels. It feels like the Death Eaters took their students out of Hogwarts so they could attack the school without endangering their own kids."
Rachel looked at her, her hands occupied with the robes she'd just pulled out of her trunk. "When I've spoken to Severus, he's always said the Ministry would fall before the Dark Lord came for Hogwarts. Hogwarts should be the Dark Lord's last stop with Professor Dumbledore here."
"Maybe that just means You-Know-Who is planning the fall of the Ministry much sooner than we'd imagined," Millie said, looking back with an almost frightened expression.
"Maybe. Severus says there are evacuation routes out of the school. If the Death Eaters come here, we'll evacuate. The staff isn't going to let kids stay in the school while it's under attack."
"How quickly can they do that though?"
"Pretty quickly, I think. When they've called for people to go back to their dorms in emergencies, that always happens really fast. And Hogwarts wards are nothing to mess around with. We'll have time," Rachel dropped her robes on her bed and went over to hug Millie. "It will be alright. Hogwarts isn't a high priority for the Dark Lord right now. I think it's much more likely the Dark Lord told these families to keep their children home so they could be indoctrinated. They've already lost Theo and Draco, they're probably wary about any of their other kids changing their minds."
Millie hugged her back. "I hope so. I mean, I don't hope that's happening. I just…I don't want the Death Eaters to come here again. I've been having nightmares about what happened in the first floor corridor. I keep seeing the Death Eaters coming towards me with their wands drawn, and Theo is already hurt, and I can't find you."
Rachel patted Millie's back. "I know. It was scary. I think you had the worst of that of all of us because you were actually conscious through it."
"I just don't want to be helpless anymore," Millie said, sounding a little strangled.
"We won't be. That's why we're training with Tonks and Kingsley, so we'll be much better able to defend ourselves," Rachel promised. She let go of Millie and stepped back.
"I can't believe Ernie died. We didn't know him well, but I know Hannah and Susan did. I wonder how many of the other people who are missing are dead," Millie said, looking down at her trunk.
"I think Severus would have told me about any other student deaths. He told me about Ernie before I saw it in the paper." She made a mental note to ask Severus if he knew if anyone else was dead.
Millie shook her head. "I know we've been at war for two years now. I don't know why I'm still surprised by this stuff happening."
Rachel didn't have an answer for that. She couldn't even reassure Millie that it would be alright, because it certainly wouldn't be alright. Who knew how many more people would die before she found the cup horcrux. If she could find it at all. No, she couldn't think that way. She had to find it. It had to be possible. She began unpacking again, putting things in her wardrobe and slowly emptying her trunk. After a few minutes, Millie got back to work again too.
They both drew their wands at the door opening, but it was just Daphne and Pansy.
"Are you alright?" Rachel asked, her gaze fixed on Pansy.
"Not particularly," Pansy said, her lower lip quivering.
"Are you hurt?" Millie asked.
"No. No. No one hurt me. I ran away from home." With that, Pansy broke down in tears.
Daphne held her, gently stroking her hair. "Come on, let's sit down. It will be okay."
"My mother won't let me help her. I tried. I kept trying, but she wouldn't let me," Pansy said between sobs, allowing Daphne to guide her to the nearest bed.
Rachel pulled a handkerchief out of the drawer she'd just put them in and pressed it into Pansy's hands.
Pansy dabbed at her eyes. "About a week ago, my parents sat me down and told me that I couldn't return to Hogwarts."
"Did they say why?" Millie asked when Pansy paused for a long time.
"They said they didn't trust Professor Dumbledore, but it was pretty obvious that's what the Dark Lord told them to say. I told them that I would be alright, but they told me he was brainwashing students, and that's what had happened to Draco, and to Avery, and to Theo, and that it would happen to me too if I went back. They said that I would be tutored with other children that they were keeping safe. I told them that I wouldn't go back. And then I ran away the next night while they were sleeping," Pansy explained between sniffles. "I disguised myself and hid in a rooming house off Diagon Alley. And then I apparated to Kings Cross, and now I'm here."
"You weren't able to send your Patronus to me? We would have come and gotten you," Rachel said, not wanting to sound like she was blaming Pansy.
Pansy shook her head. "I was worried that they were following me and that it was a set up to lure you or Professor Snape there. I worried that they knew I would run away, that they'd set this up on purpose. I knew you would come for me, but if I was being watched by Death Eaters, I didn't want you to come for me."
"You've checked your trunk and everything for anything they could have used to follow you or listen to you?" Daphne asked.
"Yes, several times, just in case," Pansy said, focusing on where she was folding Rachel's handkerchief.
"I'm sorry that happened, but I'm very glad you're here," Rachel said, wishing there was more she could do. "Have you talked with Professor Snape?"
"I told him the basics, so that they'd know why students didn't come back. I didn't…I knew the Dark Lord was telling this to other families as well, but I didn't realize there would be so many students gone. I thought it would only have been a few," Pansy said.
It seemed the Dark Lord had more reach than they'd realized.
Midnight tried to push her way onto Pansy's lap.
"No, Midnight, she doesn't want you," Millie said, as Pansy was not all that fond of having Midnight on her.
"No, it's okay. She's not so bad," Pansy said, gently patting Midnight's back
"Did it seem to you like Slytherin House wasn't the only House short of students? It wasn't quite as noticeable with the others, but I think some of them are missing too," Daphne asked.
"Ravenclaw is missing some, they had some empty space at their table. Hard to tell with the other two," Millie said.
"I expect we'll be able to tell over the next few days as we go to class," Rachel said.
"Maybe the situation in the common room won't be so tense this year." Daphne looked at Rachel and Millie. "You'll come sit with us some of the time, won't you?"
"We will," Rachel agreed. She wasn't sure it would be often, and she didn't believe everyone who wanted to attack her was gone, but at least now they were seriously outnumbered.
"We will take breaks this year or I am going to go absolutely crazy. I can't do another year like fifth year," Millie said. "Did you all do the spell for Arithmancy?"
"I did," Pansy said, using a cleaning spell on the handkerchief and then handing it back to Rachel. "Thank you. Mine is probably something that's already been invented, but I couldn't find it anywhere."
"I've seen mine on objects before, but never as its own spell," Daphne said.
"Mine's probably been done too, it's stupid," Millie said.
"Well, I'm not sure mine has ever been done before, I couldn't find it when I went looking, but I don't think it will be exactly what Professor Vector is looking for either. And it's really only useful for me," Rachel said as she continued to unpack.
"At the very least we should get passing grades. Everyone is keeping theirs a secret until class, right?" Daphne asked.
"That's the plan," Millie said.
Rachel was not particularly looking forward to demonstrating hers in front of the class, but she thought she'd get through it. She still didn't like speaking in front of a group of people, but she was friends with everyone in the Arithmancy class and it would be just like speaking in front of her study group, except for the part where she got graded at the end.
"Another year. Our last year," Daphne said.
"Nobody mention NEWTs please, I don't want to think about them yet," Pansy said.
"Our dorm can be a NEWT free room," Millie promised.
Rachel shook her head. Another year and things were already crazy.
Severus finished his list of missing students. Twenty two of his students hadn't returned this year, which was just about a third of his House. He barely had any third years left. There would still be a few people within his House that he'd be watching closely, but the majority of the people he had anticipated would be a threat to Rachel and Draco were gone.
The flames in his fireplace grew. "Severus, are you there?" Albus called.
"I'm here. We're meeting now?" Severus called back.
"Yes, if your House is settled for the next little bit."
"I'm coming through," Severus said so Albus would know to stand back. He pocketed his list so it wouldn't get smudged by soot and then stepped into the fireplace. A few moments later he was in Albus' office. There were four chairs in front of his desk, three of them occupied with the other Heads of Houses.
Severus took the remaining seat. "I'm missing twenty two of my students. Miss Pansy Parkinson informed me that her parents told her she could not return to Hogwarts and that the reasoning was because Albus was brainwashing pureblood students to act against their families. Those children will receive tutoring," he explained, pulling out his list and handing it to Albus.
"Is Miss Parkinson alright?" Pomona asked.
"She seemed shaken, but she indicated to me that she hadn't been hurt. She ran away so that she could attend Hogwarts." Severus intended to get the full story from her once they could speak privately.
"Poor child," Pomona said, shaking her head.
"Brave of her to leave like that," Filius added. "I am missing fourteen total. Five of which are students whose parents have withdrawn them, the remaining nine I had expected would return, all purebloods. I've noted them on my list."
"I'm missing eight. Four of which were withdrawn by their parents, four not. Those four were also purebloods," Minerva said, handing Albus her list.
"Seven," Pomona said. "Seven, not including Ernie Macmillan. Five were muggleborns, withdrawn as their families fled. The other two were purebloods that were not withdrawn."
Albus frowned down at the lists. "I had not anticipated that they would simply not return, nor had I expected Voldemort's influence had spread so far. Many of these families are not those who I would have associated with the Death Eaters."
"Is there anything we can do for these students?" Pomona asked.
"Since they have not given withdrawal notices, we will write to their parents informing them we did not receive their children today and requesting an explanation and either notice of withdrawal or a timeline for when we should expect them to return to Hogwarts," Albus said. "I do not see how we can safely get messages to the children themselves to discover if they need our assistance."
"Hopefully Malcolm Baddock still has his message jewelry and can summon me if he is in danger. As for the others, I do not anticipate the students will be allowed to receive mail unsupervised. However, we should inform the students that remain that if they receive a request for help from a friend who is not at Hogwarts, that they should tell us," Severus said.
"That seems like the mostly likely avenue for them to reach out for help," Minerva agreed. "May we have copies of the lists of missing students so we may make changes to our attendance rosters?"
"Of course," Albus said, moving his wand to quickly make four copies of each list.
"Do you anticipate that with the removal of these students that You-Know-Who's intent is to bring his Death Eaters here?" Pomona asked.
Albus brought his left hand up to stroke his beard. Severus had noticed that Albus had stopped moving his withered hand almost entirely now. He hoped it didn't pain him, as he'd done his best to ensure that the bindings on the curse were not too restrictive while still doing their job.
"Voldemort will eventually come here, but I stand by my assertion that he will want a solid base from the Ministry first. If he is able to force an early election in the Wizengamot, we will lose the Ministry some time this year. If not, we will likely lose it in August after the scheduled election. Robards and Bones are preparing to have the MLE patrol and the aurors separate from the Ministry at that time to prevent catastrophic loss of life and we will ally with them as individual fighting forces. Hopefully we will be able to recover Rufus before they execute him. At that time we will have to make a decision as to whether it is safe to open the school for another year. For this year, as long as the Wizengamot stands, Voldemort's focus will be there. In the meantime, we have evacuation routes out of the school if we need to use them. Watch your students closely for unusual or suspicious behavior. While I am confident in our wards and our security procedures, we must still be on guard."
Filius nodded. "I will keep a close eye on my students, though some of the ones I was most worried about did not return."
"Do not let the missing students draw you into a false sense of security," Severus warned. "They could have easily sent back students undercover, either to act as spies or to plant the set-up for an attack."
"That is true. I never would have suspected Robert or Sheila to be involved in anything like what happened last year, but they admitted it themselves," Filius said, looking unusually grim.
Severus understood the difficulties that came with having a prefect betray a Head of House's trust all too well.
"We will watch closely," Minerva said
Pomona nodded and looked like she was fighting between fear and determination.
"That's all I have for you tonight. Please keep me informed of situations as they develop. Good evening," Albus said.
Severus moved with the others towards the exit. He wanted to stop by Curbin's portrait before he went back to his rooms for the evening and check that no one had left and that the common room was settled. Then he needed to update his class lists and then write letters to the parents of his missing students. It promised to be a long night.