They ran as fast as they could. By the time on Granger's watch, they had just under ten minutes to make it across the castle and into the Hospital Wing. Most importantly, they could not allow themselves to be caught, and at one point, they had to duck into an alcove and throw the Invisibility Cloak over themselves, for Fudge and Snape were speaking.

"...and the Kiss will be performed immediately?" Snape was asking as he passed, footsteps echoing on the corridor's stone floor. Aurora clenched her jaw.

"Well... Ideally, but Dumbledore may make trouble... I don't like this story Miss Black has spun—" she tried to mask her irritation for Potter and Granger's sakes "—but it may cause us difficulties, even if there isn't any evidence. Bartemius Crouch has been asked to make his way here, as if he doesn't have enough on his plate... This whole thing has been dreadfully embarrassing, especially for him. I'm certainly looking forward to have it over and done with but..." His voice trailed away almost nervously. "Well, I am sure all will be dealt with. Clearly, Black remains the guilty party, nothing real to suggest otherwise... I can't wait to inform the Prophet, so long as everything is sorted..."

Their voices trailed away as they passed down the hall. Aurora held in expletives as Potter took the cloak back and they started running at full speed again, until at last they reached the Hospital Wing and caught the end of Dumbledore's words "...three turns should do it. Good luck."

He back out of the room, closed the door, and took out his wand. Aurora wasn't quite sure what to do, but Potter stepped out immediately, followed by Granger, to run to him. Aurora sighed and hastened after them.

"Well?"

"We did it," Potter said breathlessly. "Sirius is gone on Buckbeak, and Black — Aurora Black, that is — she got Pettigrew. He's in there now, in his human form, or he should be anyway, she did the... Thing."

"Animalis novis," Aurora drawled, then straightened as she looked at Dumbledore. There was a contemplative glimmer in his eye. "Will you cover for us? It may need some explaining."

"Naturally." Dumbledore inclined his head and said quietly, "Well done. I think—" he pressed his ear to the door, listening "—yes, I believe you have gone now too. Get inside, and I'll lock you in."

The three of them slipped back inside and Aurora hurried to her own bed. It was over. This ridiculous, dreadful night was over and her father would be free. There would be a long road ahead of her, she knew that. A trial, no doubt, thorough questioning — but he was innocent, and the Black family could have the best lawyers galleons could buy. They would wrangle a confession out of Pettigrew, and she, Lupin, Potter, Granger and Weasley all could testify to the story they had heard. It would be complicated. She would have to explain her actions, working with her father, but they would find a way. The pursuit of justice surely counted for something — she would make it count.

"Did I hear the Headmaster leaving?" Madam Pomfrey snapped suddenly, bustling out of her office. "Am I allowed to tend to my patients at last?"

She thrust a piece of chocolate into Aurora's hand and she ate it quietly, listening out until she heard the cry from above of, "WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME!" and she had to conceal her smirk in her sleeve.

"What was that?" Madam Pomfrey asked, sounding quite alarmed, but the voices were fading, swelling again. She could hear a pathetic cry that could only come from Pettigrew.

"I haven't the faintest idea," Aurora said, frowning and making her voice as innocent as possible. "I do hope everything's alright."

"Call the aurors!" Fudge's voice was shouting. "Amelia Bones! Barty Crouch! And where the ruddy hell..."

The voice died down again. Aurora raised her eyebrows when the nurse stared around at them all.

"Sounds like quite the commotion."

"THIS IS NONSENSE!" Snape's voice bellowed, echoing through the castle. "THIS HAS BLACK'S HANDIWORK ALL OVER IT!"

He was close, Aurora realised. They were coming towards the hospital wing — presumably they had left someone with Pettigrew, she hoped the Ministry couldn't quite be that incompetent. She hastily ate the rest of the chocolate she had been given, just in time for the doors of the Hospital Wing to be slammed open and Snape to storm in.

"Black!" he barked. "What have you done?"

"Now, really," Fudge said, with an anxious glance at Aurora, "the girl's been locked up in here the whole time!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO, BLACK?"

"Professor Snape!" Pomfrey snapped. "Control yourself!"

"Be reasonable, Snape, I am sure—"

"Potter!" he whirled on him now. "DID YOU HELP HER? DID YOU?"

"What exactly is the meaning of this?" Aurora enquired, turning her gaze upon the Minister. "Is everything quite alright?"

"Your father..." Fudge said, breath ragged, "has disappeared. And in his place is a man who very much appears to be Peter Pettigrew, even rid of any and all enchantments... Who is babbling about mercy, and secret keepers, and werewolves haunting the school grounds!"

"Ah," she said, "who found him? I must give my gratitude — surely you must too. I dread to think what would have happened if my father had been given the kiss in such a gross miscarriage of justice."

"YOU SEE, MINISTER!" Snape bellowed. "SHE DID IT, BLACK DID IT, THIS IS A TRICK!"

"I've been here the whole time, Professor." She frowned, trying to put on a display of polite confusion. "I'm afraid I don't know quite what you are trying to accuse me of."

Then Dumbledore strode into the ward, the very opposite of Snape — he looked like he was rather enjoying himself, though Aurora didn't know how he could be so casual. "Severus, I am afraid I must insist you stop shouting at Miss Black. There is a simple explanation for all of this."

Snape, seething, whirled around. "Professor Dumbledore, this girl—"

"Has not left the Hospital Wing. As for her father, a ghost sent me word that Peter Pettigrew had appeared in Professor Flitwick's office. At once, I ordered for Mister Black to be removed from the castle, lest a Dementor fall upon him before justice can be adequately carried out, or Peter Pettigrew attempt to attack him."

"But—" Fudge gaped at him "—Dumbledore, you can't do that! Where's he gone?"

"Hogsmeade, I expect. I shall have word sent to him. Rest assured, Minister, justice will be done on both our parts."

"But they—" Snape glared at Aurora. "I know she's been up to something, I can tell."

She raised her eyebrows boredom. "Is my father safe, Headmaster?"

His eyes twinkled. "Quite, Aurora. There is no need for further alarm. Severus, would you assist Mister MacNair in the West Tower? I believe we are to have some new arrivals soon."

White faced in anger, Snape sent Aurora and Potter final, scathing looks, and then whirled around and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.

Fudge wiped his brow. "Well," he said, "this has been... Quite the turn of events, I must say. Pettigrew was clearly... Disturbed. Started ranting, he seemed quite convinced we were going to adminsister him the Kiss but — well, it certainly felt like a confession of guilt. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement will have to conduct a full investigation and trial, dead people don't just — turn up! Without reason! And I must contact the Daily Prophet. I can't believe..." He shook his head. "Barty Crouch will be most aggrieved, I daresay. And as for how it looks for me... This all ought to be handled... With the utmost care. If that hippogriff's escape gets out too, I may be a laughing stock — but Barty..."

Aurora sat up straight and met his eyes. "You will see to it that I am kept updated on all developments, won't you, Minister?"

He shot her a feeble look. "Certainly, Miss — Lady — Black. Certainly."

"And the Dementors?" Dumbledore said. "They will be removed from the school grounds?"

"Yes," Fudge fumbled. "Of course. At once. To think that they attempted the Kiss on — on an innocent boy and girl. Completely out of control... I'll have them packed off to Azkaban right away..."

Looking most satisfied, Dumbledore led the way out of the Hospital Wing. As the doors closed, Aurora sank back against her bed and stared at the ceiling, feeling more light-hearted than she had all year. She hadn't told her father about her patronus yet. It would be the first thing she told him, she vowed to herself, once they saw one another again.

As the night wore on, she could hear people passing the wing. A stern Amelia Bones, an agitated Barty Crouch with what sounded like a house elf, a grunting Alastor Moody. But they slipped away, as she finally fell into sleep, able to rest easy for the first time in a long time.

-*

"Wotcher, munchkin."

Aurora's eyes flew open when someone dropped into the chair beside her. She turned sharply, almost falling off the too-small bed, and couldn't restrain the grin on her face.

"Dora!" It was morning now; she sat up straight, elated. "What are you doing here?"

"Aurors have been called up to help deal with the Pettigrew-Black case. Moody said I could join."

"The Aurors... Moody..." She stared at her, and then, it clicked. "Your exams! Have you passed?"

Dora beamed. "I did! I wanted to tell you under better circumstances, obviously, I was going to give you a fright when you got off the train, me and Dad had it all planned out — but Jesus, Aurora! You have a lot to tell us!"

"I know." Aurora winced, and then yawned, tickled by the warm sunlight draping in through the window. "What time is it?"

"Eight o'clock." Dora pulled a face. "I had to get up early and everything."

"You should probably get used to that," Aurora pointed out. "Seeing as you're an Auror and everything. It's almost as if you're an actual adult."

Dora groaned. "You sound like Mum. Speaking of, she's been going absolutely daft this morning once I told her what I'd been called in for, and Dumbledore wrote her saying you managed to land yourself in the Hospital Wing again! I'm not supposed to be questioning you properly, obviously, and anyway I wouldn't be allowed to do it here, and I can't tell you much, so as to not compromise the investigation or anything — but are you alright?"

"I—" Aurora wasn't quite sure what to say. "It's been a long night."

Letting out a low chuckle, Dora put an arm carefully around Aurora's shoulders, hugging her. "I'll bet it has, kiddo."

She took in a breath, closing her eyes for a moment to think. "What stage is the investigation at? I know you probably can't say much — but have they found my father, wherever he is? Is Pettigrew still in the castle, is that why you're all here?"

"Dumbledore says Sirius Black will be here this afternoon." Dora frowned. "Everyone's a bit... Surprised."

Aurora chuckled. "I think Fudge was more than simply surprised last night, Dora."

"Well, yeah." She shook her head. "No one knows what to think. Barty Crouch is furious, like, and he definitely isn't happy being called up here. Doesn't seem to want to want to be away from home, apparently he keeps asking to be dismissed, Moody thinks he's trying to save his own skin, he's right suspicious of him. He's embarrassed if you ask me — he was in charge of law enforcement after the war, obviously, and now he's in International Co-Operation, he's been communicating with all the European Ministries, so to have to tell them they had the wrong man all along, it's... Not a great look, and he's the one who sent him down to Azkaban in the first place, after all. Doubt he feels any real remorse about it, but his career could be down the drain and with everything coming up..." She broke off, coughing, then said, "And Alastor Moody's furious, he thinks he's been duped too, he was a top Auror in the war, helped bring him in in the first place — but everyone believed the same, and now he's doubly paranoid that anyone he thought dead might be alive, and therefore looking to kill him. Plus, he insisted on having MacNair sent back to the Ministry because he doesn't trust him, and Amelia Bones is here to be the voice of reason, but things are... Tetchy." She frowned. "Shacklebolt's questioning Pettigrew just now. We'll need statements from you, and these three." Aurora nodded — Weasley and Potter were still out, but Granger was sitting up, pretending to read a book. Aurora shot her a tight smile — they would have to get their stories straight soon, before being interrogated, to make sure there were no slip ups. "And we'll have to speak to your Defense professor, that Lupin." She grinned. "He seems alright."

Aurora looked at her flatly. "Is he unwell? He er, didn't have a good night last night. I don't think."

Dora gave her a knowing smile. "He's a bit peaky, but otherwise unharmed. Shacklebolt won't hold his condition against him."

"Good." Aurora nodded. "There will be a trial soon, I expect?"

"Probably." Dora sighed. "Fudge is going to be a nightmare — nothing we can't handle, though. People will be up in arms once today's Prophet starts going round. I don't know when it'll be, mind, but he'll probably want it over and done with as soon as he can manage. But since everything that's going on... I mean, they'll want it to be thorough. It could take a while. But you'll be kept updated, I promise."

She nodded, mollified. In the lapse of silence, Granger took the moment to say from across the ward, "Sorry, miss, but are you an — an Auror, like Fudge mentioned?"

Dora turned quickly. "Me?" Aurora bit her lip in an attempt to keep from laughing — she doubted anyone had ever referred to Dora as 'miss' before. "Yeah. Only in a semi-official capacity right now, mind. Just qualified."

"Right." Granger's eyes flickered between her and Aurora. "How — how do you know Aurora?"

Dora looked surprised by the question. "You're Granger, aren't you?" She nodded. "Yeah, thought so." Her eyes went sharply to Potter and then back again. "Aurora's my little cousin."

"Little?" Aurora said indignantly, to Dora's amused smirk.

"Thought I should pop by or my mum'd lose it. Are you alright? Nothing I need to get the nurse about? Pomfrey doesn't like me much, not after I got a miniature snitch rammed in my ear in fourth year and she had to get it out."

Granger stared. "How on earth did you do that?"

Dora shrugged. "Dunno, really. These things just happen to me." Suppressing a smile, Aurora bit her lip. "Almost failed stealth, I'm wicked clumsy."

An uneasy laugh left Granger. "Right. Well, I think we're all alright, but do you know what's happened to Siri—Mister Black?"

"All I know is he's bloody lucky things turned out the way they did." Aurora ignored Granger's proud gaze. "Dumbledore's in touch." She ruffled the back of Aurora's hair. "I need to get to the rest of the Aurors. I'll write to Mum, make sure she knows you're alright, and you should too, as soon as you can." She seemed to hold back for a second, before going in to squeeze Aurora in a tight hug again. "You scared the shit out of us."

She gave a forced chuckle. "Sorry. But it all turned out alright, didn't it?"

Dora was frowning as she pulled away and stood up. "Suppose so. Still — Mum is going to go ballistic when you get home at the end of term." Aurora made a face, but secretly, she felt it was sort of nice to know that Andromeda was worried — not that she wanted her to be. "But we're also just glad you're safe. Everything else we can figure out. It's all going to be alright now." She ruffled her hair again. "I might see you later if you're still in here, or when you go up for questioning." Then, Dora nodded to Granger. "Lovely to meet you, too."

She almost tripped over the end of Potter's bed on the way out. Aurora stifled a laugh. Granger was looking at her curiously, as though she were trying to puzzle something out, but she was distracted by a low voice saying, "They're going to question us, then?"

Aurora turned sharply to Potter, who was getting groggily to a sitting position. "Were you eavesdropping?"

"Well, I couldn't very well not," he said shortly. "I thought you just wouldn't want to be interrupted." Aurora held back her scowl. Today was not a day for the two of them to be enemies.

"We will have to discuss our story," she said primly, as Granger sat up too, "preferably with Professor Dumbledore, too, I don't know exactly what he had told the Minister about Sirius and Pettigrew. Presumably, we are not going to mention using Granger's Time Turner, but Pettigrew may have something to say about us capturing him — of course, we were under the Invisibility Cloak and he was petrified, and really, it's a rather unbelievable tale, who knows how well he recalls it? Dora speaks highly of Kingsley Shacklebolt, so I imagine he will be fair, as will Amelia Bones. More rational than Professor Snape, at any rate." Her lip curled; Potter seemed to notice, raising his eyebrows in interest at the reaction. "I believe when regarding the Shack, we should all give the truth. I know you may get in trouble for explaining why you were in the grounds in the first place, but you may be forgiven in the context."

"And what about you?" Potter asked, surprising her. "I mean, you were helping him way before—"

"I imagine we'd leave that part out," Granger said. "I mean, Aurora's bound to get in trouble."

"I'm certain there is a clause somewhere about the pursuit of justice," Aurora said, but she could not rely on that, not right now. "We must speak to Professor Dumbledore, I don't like the man but he appears to be on our side for the moment."

She broke off, as Madam Pomfrey had just opened her office door and started bustling about, tending to Weasley first. "I'll have food sent up for you all, and then you had best get changed. Professor Dumbledore tells me you are to be interviewed, which is ludicrous. Interrogating children in my ward..." She roused Weasley, who blinked around and did something of a double take when he saw Aurora across the room. He coughed.

"Uh, morning, you lot," he said, and shot Potter an indignant, questioning look. Potter shook his head behind Pomfrey's back, and when breakfast was brought along with hot chocolate, they were quiet.

-*

Dumbledore appeared at half past nine, once they had all changed into their robes behind hospital curtains, which Aurora didn't think was nearly private enough. Madam Pomfrey was sent away, and the four of them gathered on chairs in front of the Headmaster, as nervous as each other.

Aurora laced her fingers together when he asked, "Might you tell me the tale from the beginning, Aurora?"

She had a feeling from the look in his eye that he already had a relatively clear idea. "Tell me where my father is first."

He smiled. "Sirius is now cleaned up, well-fed, and in my office, perfectly safe. He will be interrogated this afternoon, once he has been able to clear his head. Buckbeak the hippogriff is being cared for in the back room of the Hog's Head Inn — the barman there rather likes animals." His eyes twinkled. "Your father tells me you have been assisting him in trying to achieve justice, since last term." She swallowed, but nodded, holding his gaze.

"I think you will agree my actions were justified."

"As myself, certainly. As Head of the Wizengamot..." She swallowed, feeling cold in the pit of her stomach. "I can say you will not be judged too harshly. You have, after all, brought about justice. As your Headmaster, I may be able to sit in on your interview."

Aurora nodded. "Do you have any time stated for the interview? Only I won't talk in any official capacity until I have a lawyer present, nor will my father. I believe Atlas Runbarrow has experience with my family."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "I shall arrange for an owl to be brought, so you may summon him. And I shall inform Mr Shacklebolt and Miss Bones. Of course, I would also be accepted as a lawyer, should it come to it—"

"No, thank you," Aurora said in a clipped voice. No matter what Dumbledore was doing, his place on the Wizengamot did not qualify him to defend her family. Nor was she certain that she trusted him. If he cared, why had he never sought fit to ensure that someone who had been sentenced to life in Azkaban was actually guilty? He certainly had the power and influence to do so, had he wished.

She could see the flicker of disappointment in his eyes, but he was gracious as he nodded his head. "As you wish. Now, the four of you, if you don't mind... What do I need to know?"

It took the better part of that morning for them to iron out their tale. Dumbledore's assurances didn't do much to set Aurora at ease regarding her position, but he had come up with a coherent explanation as to how Peter Pettigrew had wound up in Professor Flitwick's office — that he had clearly been caught up when Sirius was being brought there, as a rat would be easy to miss, and been caught while trying to make a break for it in his human form — which would hopefully counter and undermine anything Pettigrew himself came up with about students running around in two places at once. There was only a small gap of time between when the Dementors had been shown away and when Pettigrew had been caught by Aurora, Potter and Granger. Regardless, Dumbledore had said, the way in which justice was brought about would not be the focus of any interrogation, more concerned with the confession they had heard earlier that night. Aurora was still worried by this, but had to take things one at a time. She hoped that she could talk the Ministry into considering her father's innocence more of a priority than the method through which it had been discovered — she felt certain that the public and the press would be more preoccupied with that story, too.

Her lawyer, Atlas Runbarrow, was a tall, dark-haired wizard as organised as they came. Aurora recognised him, from meetings in years gone by with Arcturus and then Lucretia, and with him at her side Aurora was confident through her interview, taking his cue on when to speak, on how to address Kingsley Shacklebolt and Amelia Bones. They had seemed slightly dubious about some of the details but considering that Potter, Granger and Weasley all had given the same story, and that Pettigrew had apparently confessed everything in a fit of terror to Mad-Eye Moody earlier, she felt their case was rather secure.

Her father was waiting for her in a room just off from Professor Dumbledore's main office when she wrapped up her interview. Clean-shaven, with a decent meal in him, he smiled brighter than she had ever seen him as he pulled her into a tight hug.

"Aurora," he whispered, "I've no idea how you pulled that off but — thank you."

"You're my father," she said in a clipped voice. "I wasn't just going to give up and let Pettigrew get away with it."

"I know," he said, arms tightening around her. "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart."

Aurora couldn't help but smile as she hugged him back, before stepping away. "Did you see what chased the Dementors away?"

"I saw a Patronus," her father started slowly, frowning. A small smile played on his face. "Two, actually, I wasn't sure."

"That was me. And Potter. His was the stag, mine the fox."

He grinned. "A fox. Well, I suppose it isn't too different to a dog." Aurora laughed. "But that's amazing, Aurora. I didn't get my Patronus until sixth year — it's really powerful magic."

"Yeah, well." She shrugged, eyeing the family ring which sat on her left hand, twinkling up at her innocently. "I had a pretty powerful feeling. And I knew — I knew I could do it, and that I had to."

It was strange to see the brightness shimmering in her father's eyes. "You really are brilliant, Aurora," he told her. "And I am so, so proud of you. I know you're apprehensive, about everything this means, and that's alright. But they're talking about putting me on house arrest, rather than in a Ministry cell, until the trial. I suppose they figure twelve years in Azkaban's bad enough, and they'd be right."

His eyes turned serious. "You could live with me for then, once we've found somewhere for me to be. I'm proud of the girl you've grown up to be, even if I wish beyond anything that I could have been the one to raise you. But now, I want to be there to watch you continue to grow, in any way that you want me to be there."

She smiled, though not without nervousness, which crept through her. "So do I," she said quietly, "and — thank you, for saying that. I don't know what I want yet. But I definitely want to see you. I've been thinking, and if the Ministry do want to keep you on house arrest until the trial, we have plenty of space. The countryside might be nice," she said, before she could stop herself, "so either the Carrick Estate or Arbrus Hill."

"Anglesey and... Norwich?"

Aurora nodded. "I know Great-Uncle Cygnus lived at Carrick, so I had thought perhaps I would keep that house aside, if Draco ever wanted to live there when he's older, since his mother would have grown up there. But Arbrus Hill might suit you. When I last visited, the garden was quite overgrown, but it was in better shape inside than some of the other places. It hasn't been lived in for two years, but it's hardly falling apart."

Her father frowned, as though thinking over this. "I didn't mind Aunt Cassiopeia too much, I suppose," he said, "and I remember Arbrus Hill. It's — it's generous, Aurora. Thank you."

"Don't be silly." She rolled her eyes, but then smiled back up at him. "I'll visit you once the holidays start. Promise. And I'll write, and obviously we'll have the trial to worry about but — well, it still beats sneaking about the forest and the Shrieking Shack, doesn't it?"

Her father laughed, a real smile. "Most definitely."

There was a small knock at the door and Kingsley Shacklebolt's smooth voice said, "Mister Black, I've someone from St. Mungo's for you. To assess the damanage... From the Dementors." If Aurora was not incorrect, thee was a tinge of guilt in his voice, and a slight unpleasantness at the word 'dementors'.

Her father grinned. "I'll just be a minute. I knew Kingsley in school, you know," he said to Aurora, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He's a good man. Done alright for himself, too." He looked at the door almost wistfully, as though trying to remember a time when he had been at Hogwarts, and all had been well.

"Last night," Aurora said quietly, "Professor Lupin mentioned someone called Hestia? To Pettigrew?"

Her father nodded grimly. "Hestia Jones. She was one of your mother's best friends at school. After Marlene..." His voice strained. "She wasn't in the Order, but she was one who always made an effort to visit me, to help. She was training as Healer by the end of the war, but I don't know what became of her. I expect Remus will tell me soon enough." He smiled, though it was a decidedly half-hearted sort of look.

Satisfied with this answer for now, and uncertain what to make of the information anyway, Aurora simply nodded and looked back to the door. "I'll come and see you again later if you're still here," she promised.

"Dumbledore said Harry wants to see me too. And Remus." Aurora tried not to let her discomfort at Potter's name show but her father picked up on it anyway. "How are you two?"

"We aren't magically friends," she sighed, "if that's what you're wondering. I doubt that we will ever be—you didn't hear how we argued last night. But if you want to get to know him, that's..." She couldn't bring herself to say it was alright with her, even now. "I understand," she settled for. She didn't want to share her father with Potter, but she could tell how important it was to him that he honour his best friends' wishes, even if he really should have done all that years ago. But Azkaban was in the past and they had to start looking to the future. She hugged him again, though loathe to admit that she did like the comfort that the gesture gave her, when her father held her tightly.

Another knock at the door, and her father patted her on the shoulder, smiling. "I love you, Aurora. I'll see you soon."

They parted just as the door opened, revealing a handful of people in St. Mungos' lime green healer robes. She nodded to her father, and bade him goodbye, feeling more comforted than she had in a while that there was something better in her future, and it with that thought that Aurora, at last, returned to the Slytherin common room where she belonged.

She had only realised earlier, while she was making her way to Dumbledore's office for the interview, that it was a Hogsmeade weekend, and given the beautiful weather outside and the fact that the exams had just ended, most students were out of the castle. She had expected, therefore, to be able to slip in without much attention being paid to her. She had not anticipated Draco and Pansy to be seated on the sofas watching the door, and to sit up straight as soon as she entered.

She winced, hurrying towards them. "I know I should have told you—"

"Oh, Aurora, you absolute—" Pansy lost her words as she leapt up and ran over, smothering Aurora in a hug. "We were so worried, you said you'd be back, and then Snape — Snape tells us your father's escaped and now Peter Pettigrew's been found alive, and what on earth happened?" Aurora burrowed into her friend's shoulder, feeling for once that she had to just cling to her. She couldn't bring herself to let go. "This is what you were going to tell me, isn't it? That night after we were in at Daphne and Lucille's? When you were upset?"

Aurora nodded, as she felt Draco's hand come up to rest reassuringly on her back. "He's innocent," she whispered. "He is. I've known for — for a while. I couldn't tell you because I knew it would complicate everything and I didn't want to implicate either of you, and I'm sorry."

"Don't be stupid," Draco muttered. "You should have been able to tell us, Aurora."

Nodding, she pulled back from them. A couple of second years were looking over, Hestia and Flora Carrow included, and she was very conscious of the speed with which gossip travelled in Hogwarts — and with which it travelled out, back to parents and heads of families. "I need to go to my room," she said stiffly, taking both of their hands. "I'll explain. Is Gwen in?"

"She went to the library with Oliphant and Theodore," Pansy explained. "She wanted to be in the castle when you got back, but we said we had better speak to you first."

Aurora nodded, pulling them both along towards the girls' side of the dungeons, a journey which made Draco turn very pink and made Pansy giggle. Even Aurora suppressed a smile at his bashfulness, as she tugged them into her room and closed the door. When she sat down, Stella leapt up onto the bed immediately, curling in her lap. Aurora stroked her back gently, watching her two friends, who were in turn, scrutinising her.

"Well," Draco said eventually, taking pains to avoid touching any of the furniture on Gwen's side of the room. "What's going on?"

She told them everything. Once she started — no longer feeling like she had to dance around the truth or bend her words — she couldn't stop herself. She told them about Hogsmeade, about everything her father had told her and all the insults she had screamed back at him. She told them about her uncertainty, but how she wanted revenge, wanted to restore her family name. She told them, in a brief whisper that she was desperate to have swept in the air, about the night her mother was killed and what she really heard when the Dementors came.

Draco paled at that part, especially when she mentioned, uncertainly, the name Bellatrix Lestrange. The significance of the relation was not lost on any of them — Pansy put an arm tightly around her waist, and Draco braced a hand on her shoulder.

She told them how she had realised Potter had a map that could show people's locations, how she had come to see Peter Pettigrew on it, and how she had taken it with the intention of finding him, but Weasley got there first. Recounting the events in the Shrieking Shack was difficult and uncomfortable and she didn't know how to look at Draco when she spoke of Harry Potter. She left out the part about Lupin being a werewolf, of course — she told them he had gone ahead to get help, but stopped by the Dementors — for that was not her secret to tell, and then she told them about the Dementors, how she had passed out and Potter ran to help her but failed. She told them about the time turner, her stilted and furious conversations with Potter, and then how they had worked together to drive away the Dementors, find Pettigrew, and fly her father to safety.

When she was done there was a stunned silence and she said quickly, "But you mustn't tell anyone about anything past the Dementors arriving. It's... All rather illegal. Sort of."

Pansy simply stared at her.

"You're mad," Draco said, shaking his head as he reached out to hug her. "Merlin, Aurora. I had no idea."

"Of course you didn't," she said. "I didn't want anyone to have any idea. But it's... Well, it's over now. My father is going to be free, justice is going to be done and that's what matters."

She did not miss the uncertain glance that her friends passed. A short silence fell, before Draco opened his mouth, closed it again, and then took in a deep, confused sort of breath before asking, "So that Hippogriff's just roaming wild now?" The question, for all Draco's indignation, made her burst out laughing. After all the absurdity of the past twenty-four hours, her cousin had unwittingly said the one thing that could drive her into such laughter. "And you flew on him!" Draco went on. "You could have been maimed!"

"It was surprisingly tame, actually," she said, through a grin. "Is that — is that the part you're most worried about?"

"Yes!" Draco cried, and Pansy giggled now, too.

"Not the murderous rat or the Dementors?"

"Well, those are very worrying, but they're — you beat those! You cast a Patronus and got the rat found out — but I can't believe you let the hippogriff escape! How? My father will be furious when he—"

"Hears about it?" Pansy cut in, grinning. "At least it can't come back to school. But what form did your Patronus take? They're supposed to look like animals, aren't they?"

At this, she sat up proudly, wiping her eyes and said, "A fox," and for some reason Draco found this amusing because he hiccuped and then let out a most unDracolike giggle. Both Aurora and Pansy stared at him.

"Sorry," he said, "I'm just imagining Aurora ginger."

Pansy laughed too, and Aurora shook her head, leaning on her friend's shoulder. "Honestly, you two are absolutely impossible. And it was silver, thank you very much."

"A silver fox?" Pansy echoed, then giggled louder. Aurora's lips twitched.

"I'm trying to be serious!"

"We know, we know," Pansy said, but Aurora was grateful in a way she couldn't express for the way they reacted. Not with scorn for helping a blood traitor, not with bitterness for having been left out of the tale, but simply by trying to make her smile. "So, what happens now? Surely there will be an inquiry, a trial... Oh, Aurora." Her smile faded. "Everything's going to change now, isn't it?"

She nodded, glancing at Draco, who tightened his grip around her shoulders. "Not everything. But... I will have a say in what changes. My father is not taking over lordship or becoming head of the family, that is a position reserved for myself. It's difficult to say, how society will take to the news." At this, Pansy and Draco exchanged nervous looks.

"They're not going to shun you," Pansy told her firmly. "You're still a Black. Your father can be reintegrated, you won't be kicked out for your siding with him. I imagine there will be just as many people seeking to grovel and make up for the past twelve years as there will be people who dislike the disruption."

After all, Aurora thought then, none of the old Death Eaters who had avoided Azkaban would exactly come out of the woodwork to condemn her father for not having been one of them all along. They were in no position to do so, not explicitly anyway. She was yet undecided on the extent to which her father would be joining society, if he even did at all — she wouldn't have been surprised if he would have preferred to avoid the whole thing — but she knew then that she would not bend or wilt because circumstances had changed.

The Black family would endure in any form. She would ensure it was so.