As summer drew ever closer, Aurora only found room for one thing in her mind: exams. Quidditch was destined to disappoint her now, and so she threw herself into working towards a success she felt she could control. Yet a few short weeks before the exam diet started, she and her classmates were called in for individual meetings about their careers.
The issue of career planning overtook almost every fifth-year in the Slytherin common room. But Aurora found, surrounded by her friends and their discussions of the pamphlets on the table, that she had no ideas to offer. A multitude of careers appealed to her; Unspeakable, archivist, Auror, Healer, anything, really. But it all seemed somewhat meaningless. She knew the map of her career. It only followed one path, and she had to make sure she did not stray. She had never before felt that was so restrictive, but with all her friends discussing the possibilities their futures held, she felt, for the first time, like she was powerless over her own fate.
Her careers meeting with Snape was over quickly. He approved her choices and she said her ambition was political, but she wanted to keep studying, and then she left, feeling adrift. Millicent was waiting outside, anxiety written on her face. Aurora gave her a strained smile and said, "He's in a good mood. Good luck."
Millie smiled back, but the words she had seemed about to say died on her lips.
Aurora spoke with her father on the mirror that night for the first time in a while, dancing around the issue she felt stuck inside of her chest, instead insulting Snape and lamenting her team's Quidditch loss. Her father was to leave for a mission in two days' time, but he promised he'd be able to speak once her O.W.L.s were over. Aurora could only hope they went well; she didn't know if she would be able to bring herself to admit defeat to him.
The first round of exams didn't go so bad. At least, Aurora didn't feel like she was going to have to admit defeat in receiving anything lower than an E. Herbology could go either way, she felt, and she had worked slower than ever before in an effort to stop anything going wrong or being handled too roughly. Ever since the ill-fated Hufflepuff match, she had felt that restless itch of magic beneath the surface of her skin, and it seemed to drive all plants and animals away from her. The practical was still somewhat disastrous, but she felt she had made up for it with the written paper, and hoped that would be enough to scrape her through.
She absolutely sailed through her Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L., begrudgingly admitting to herself later that she couldn't have done nearly as well had she not been part of the DA, even if only for a few months. On Friday morning, she had her Ancient Runes translation paper, in which they were given an excerpt of an epic poem — this one, if she did her work right, about the defeat of the Romans in the Pentlands — and in their afternoon paper, had to analyse its meaning in both Futhark and English, and write on the issues of translation. It was by far Aurora's hardest exam; even Arithmancy the following Thursday did not compare.
On Thursday evening, Aurora felt quite relaxed. She only had the Astronomy practical and the History paper to go, both of which she felt assured of receiving Os in.
But the Astronomy exam was not destined to go as well as she had hoped. Aurora went through it quickly, confident in her abilities to identify stars and constellations, but making sure every mark on her star chart was made with the utmost precision. The Astronomy Tower was near-silent, but for the creaking of telescopes and rustling of quills and parchment, until, an hour or so in, their dark quiet was broken by the sound of the castle doors opening down below and the sight of the grounds being flooded with yellow light.
Aurora grimaced, annoyed by the effect the new lighting had. She repositioned her telescope, double-checking the position of Venus, and as she went to redraw the shape of the constellation Orion, she heard a roar from far down in the grounds, and jumped. Her quill tip skittered across the parchment and she held back a curse, hastily trying to vanish the ink and correct it. Once she had done so, she peeked over the top of her telescope, seeing about half a dozen figures surrounding Professor Hagrid's cabin. That could not be good.
"Twenty minutes to go, boys and girls," said Professor Tofty, and Aurora returned to the constellation Böotes, smiling to herself as she labelled Arcturus with a little flourish.
There was a loud bang down in the grounds and Aurora jumped again, this time thankfully not vandalising her chart in the process. Professor Hagrid had just appeared out of his doorway, and the others gathered around his house seemed to be trying to Stun him.
"No!" Hermione Granger cried out, face white.
"My dear girl," scolded Professor Tofty, their invigilator for the evening, "this is an examination!"
But no one seemed very much bothered about that now. Aurora hastily finished off her last constellation, glad she had been quick at the beginning, all the while trying to see what was going on in the grounds. She had just finished when Parvati Patil squealed, "Look!" and she turned, peering round the side of her telescope, to see Professor McGonagall rushing out into the grounds, cloak snapping behind her.
"Now, really!" Tofty protested. "Only sixteen minutes left, you know!"
"How dare you?" McGonagall was shouting down in the grounds. "How dare you? Leave him alone, alone I say! On what grounds are you attacking him, he has done nothing, nothing to warrant such—"
Her fellow classmates let out screams as no less than four Stunners were sent soaring right towards McGonagall's chest, knocking her backwards. She landed hard on the ground, motionless, and Aurora's chest seized.
"Galloping gargoyles!" cried Professor Tofty, presumably having decided silent exams were no longer a priority. "Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behaviour!"
"Cowards!" bellowed Hagrid's voice. A few lights inside the castle flickered back on, students and staff eager to see what was going on. "Ruddy cowards! Have some of that, and that—"
He swiped at his attackers, knocking two of them over in one blow. Then he swung his dog Fang up onto his back, and backed away. Umbridge shrieked for her remaining assistant to go after him, but he was backing away, clearly not wanting to meet the same fate as his colleagues. Hagrid turned, and ran off into the Forest, Fang with him.
There was a stunned silence around the class, lingering for a good minute before Tofty said, "Um, five minutes left, everybody."
Aurora did a quick but distracted check of her chart, and when Tofty dismissed them, was one of the first to pack her telescope away. She caught up to Potter, heart pounding, and asked him quickly, "Can you give me the mirror, please?"
She had never been so relieved to find out he kept such a secret and precious item on his person at all times. She didn't even scold him for it as he handed it over with a bewildered look, and started to ask, "What did you think of that?"
"Quite terrible," she said, slipping the mirror into her bag. "And cowardly beyond belief."
"I quite agree," said Ernie MacMillan, squeezing in beside them. "She clearly wanted to avoid another scene like Trelawney, don't you think, Aurora?"
"Obviously," she snapped, as Leah and Pansy fell in behind her. "I hope McGonagall's alright though — four Stunners to the chest could easily kill someone."
"McGonagall's made of strong stuff," Ernie said pompously. "Don't you worry, Aurora, she'll be right as rain, soon enough."
"I didn't say I thought she was weak, did I?"
"Come on," Leah said, throwing her brother an annoyed look, and taking Aurora by the arm. "Let's get to the dungeon, I'm exhausted, and we've got to get a good sleep before History tomorrow."
But none of them did get a good sleep at all. Theo bid them goodnight at the doors to the girls' dormitory, but Pansy and Leah joined Aurora and Gwen in their room, discussing with indignation what they had just seen and didn't leave until gone two. Aurora had intended to call her father on the mirror in her bag, but by the time her friends left was too tired to do anything. Besides, she remembered just as Pansy and Leah left, he was away on some mission for the Order, or so Harry had told her earlier in the week. She shouldn't bother him unless it was urgent.
The thought did not help her rest. Aurora's sleep was constantly disturbed, by dreams and memories of the lights in the grounds and a prickling urgent anxiety beneath her skin.
They at least didn't have any exams the next morning. History wasn't until two in the afternoon, so Aurora allowed herself a lazy lie in, roused around half past ten to force herself into a round of unsuccessful last minute cramming with Pansy and Theo. It was with a sense of great relief that she made it to the Great Hall for lunch, Pansy having hung back to check her notes on the giant wars. Theo took great delight in teasing Aurora for her confusion over goblin generals Garduck and Groblac, but by the time two o'clock came around and they were hanging outside the Great Hall, both of their nerves were worked back up.
"What if they bring up the Revolt of 1309?" Theo asked, pacing in front of Aurora and Gwen and Leah, as she flipped through her textbook and the other two whispered their essay plans to one another. "I haven't read hardly anything about the Revolt of 1309!"
"Make something up about taxation and the difficulties of educating the entire English populace in a country they're supposed to be at war with. And of course no one likes the Muggle kings, that one's always a winner."
"And Matthew Hopkins? How do I explain him — do we have to explain him? I don't know enough about the Muggle context to explain the Essex trials, not at all — why doesn't Binns tell us anything?"
"They don't want the truth or the Muggle context, just go with they hated witches, hated women, and loved getting money for burning people. Fuck all the rest of it."
"How are you so calm?"
"Because you're not, and somebody has to be," she said, while trying to take in every single word written in that textbook. "You're going to be fine, Theo, but if you wear a hole in that floor from pacing so much you might just tire yourself out too much to write, so."
"Alright," he said, wringing his hands and falling back against the wall next to her. "Alright. It'll be fine, won't it? All fine."
"Absolutely fine," Aurora told him with a laugh, "and once this is done, we can all celebrate — I'm just dying to go down to the lake with everybody and finally enjoy the sun."
"I suppose that's true." Theo let out a sigh and came to her side, leaning against her slightly with a nervous smile. "Alright." He checked the time on his watch and started tapping his foot. "Ten minutes. Ten minutes and then two hours and then we're done."
"Sweet, sweet freedom," Gwen sighed from Aurora's other side. "And sweet, sweet, partying."
They were called into the hall just a moment later, and Aurora separated from her friends so she could sit at the front beside Millicent. She sat there with an anxiety deeper than just the exam, running all the way through her body, a restless, reckless itch inside of her.
Her writing for the next two hours was frantic, racing through all the questions and trying to answer as much as she could in the time. Any dates she forgot — which was far more than she cared to admit — she simply neglected to mention, running on to the next thing and cramming her writing in anywhere that she could. She had just ten minutes to spare once she had answered every question, to go back and add details, conferences that she should have specified, names that would show her thorough knowledge. She was just deliberating over whether the Lichtenstein Conference was held in 1516 or 1517, when her peaceful silence was broken by the sound of a scream near the back of the hall, and an almighty crash.
She whipped around, seeing Potter fall on the ground, yelling incomprehensibly. Her heart pounded, and it was all she could do to stay in her seat instead of running over and demanding to know what was wrong. He was clutching his scar, face pale, the way he always did when the Dark Lord had gotten in his head. But this one, this one was bad.
Professor Tofty escorted Harry out of the exam room quickly, despite his protestations. "Everybody, calm down," Professor Marchbanks, the other invigilator, said, as whispers broke out across the hall. "You still have ten minutes left of your examination, and you must remain silent."
Aurora stared at her paper, but after a moment of whirring thoughts, she turned it back to the front page and set her quill down. Something serious must have happened, she felt, for Potter to have reacted like that. It was like how Weasley had described the night of his father's attack, Potter's yelling and frantic movement.
The moment the invigilators dismissed them, Aurora was out of her seat and hurrying out of the hall, retrieving the Marauder's Map from her bag and searching for Potter, who was pacing in a nearby corridor. Probably waiting for Ronald and Hermione. For a moment, she debated leaving and letting them deal with it. It wasn't for her to look after him, or check in on him, and he doubted if he would appreciate her concern anyway.
But she had to make sure she knew what was going on. Then, she could figure out how she could deal with it. That was the excuse she gave herself as she hurried in the opposite direction to the rest of the students, down towards Potter, taking ahold of his arm and recoiling at the stricken expression in his eyes.
"Aurora," he said, breathless.
"What's wrong, Potter? What happened, was it one of your dreams again? Has someone been attacked?"
He met her gaze and swallowed tightly, reluctant. He was pale and shaken and she knew before he spoke, what he should say, and she felt the cold sliver of ice run right through her, breaking her heart in two. "Who? Dora? Remus? My dad?"
His voice was a frantic whisper as he said, "Sirius," and Aurora felt her life start to fall apart. She couldn't lose him, was the only thought running through her head. Not again, not another person that she loved.
"You have to tell someone! Who have you told, have you done—"
"I can't tell anyone! There's no one to tell!"
He was right, she realised with disturbing clarity. No Dumbledore or McGonagall or Hagrid, and she didn't know for certain if any of the other professors were in the Order or could be trusted at all.
"We need to call him."
"Call—"
"The mirror," Harry snapped, and it fell into place in her head. Of course. Her mind was spiralling and she couldn't even think as she dug about in her satchel. The mirror wasn't there.
Her heart picked up. "It's in my dorm," she said, even though panic was starting to numb her, even though she was sure she had put it in her bag. "I must have left it — in case someone checked our bags before the exam — I'll go get it, come on—"
"I need to tell Ron and Hermione—" he started, but Aurora had already turned the other way and was sprinting towards the dungeons. "Aurora, I can't come in your common room—"
"That's never stopped you before!"
"I think I'm pretty noticeable!"
"Put your Invisibility Cloak on!"
"I haven't got it, it's in my dorm, and I need to tell—"
"Go, then," she said, turning back and lowering her voice, lest anybody hear her. "Meet me at the top of the grand stairs, as soon as you can. Go!"
She turned away again and hurried away, along the corridors and down the stairs to the dungeons, where everybody was already streaming back into the common room. She tried to keep her expression neutral, then calm, then excited, as if she were just relieved to be finished with her exams and not terrified that her father might be dying. Potter hadn't even given her details — she should have checked, should have asked everything, but her mind was spiralling and her heart racing and she failed to come up with any coherent thought as she hurried to her dormitory, wrenching open her locked drawer where the mirror had to be, before realising, head spinning with confusion, that it wasn't in her drawer at all, but on top of it.
She must have put it there by mistake, too distracted by worrying about her exam. And there was no time to waste wondering why she had done that; she snatched the mirror up as soon as she saw it and called out, "Sirius Black!"
There was no response. Her gut churned. He had to pick up, he always picked up. He was always there, he always had it with him, even on missions. This was important — shouldn't fathers know, somehow, instinctively, even miles away, when something was important and something was wrong?
"Sirius Black," she said again, unable to keep panic out of her voice. "Dad? Dad!"
There was still no response. A sort of preemptive grief lurched through her, cold and sickly. A nauseous daze came over her, like the world was falling away from her, slipping out of her grasp.
Something had happened, that was certain. She wished she had gotten more information from Potter, but it seemed certain that her father was in danger, and something was not right.
But she had to be rational, or try to, even as her thoughts spiralled closer and closer to death. She couldn't lose him, too; she didn't think she could beat it if she lost another member of her family. She had only just got him back, and was still trying to bridge the gap those years apart had forged between them.
She had to find Potter.
But, someone else might know something, might know more. Hurriedly placing her mirror in her pocket, she turned and called, "Kreacher! Tippy! Timmy!"
With three loud cracks, her house elves appeared before her. "Mistress!" Tippy cried, smiling for just a second before she saw the look in Aurora's face, and the smile vanished. "Mistress?"
"Where is my father?"
Tippy blinked. "Master Sirius left, Mistress, many days ago, on a mission for the Order."
"And he hasn't returned at all?"
"No, Mistress," Kreacher croaked. "Not at all."
"Not to any of the houses?"
"No."
"And you don't — you don't happen to know where he's gone?"
"No, Mistress."
"Right. Okay." She took in a deep breath. "What about Dora — Tonks?" She glanced to Kreacher. "Can you get a message to her? Tell her my dad may have been compromised? Kreacher, who's at Headquarters?" It was still daytime, even though the Ministry would be clearing soon — it was the summer solstice, after all. Dora would be there, and they could not risk alerting anyone at the Ministry.
"Nobody, Mistress," Kreacher said, "nobody but Kreacher."
That couldn't be. There was always supposed to be at least one person in Grimmauld Place from the Order, to keep the wards strong. Alarm bells began to ring loudly in her ears. Part of her wanted to tell the house elves to go and find her father and bring him back safe, but if he had been captured, there was no telling how that might escalate the situation. She didn't even know where he was — if she had been thinking straight, she should have asked Harry for more information, but she had panicked, and she hated herself for that.
And her elves were not cannon fodder, either — she could not send them in to a situation she knew nothing about, and let them die for it. Against Dark wizards who saw house elves as dirt on their boots, they would stand little chance.
"Do you know where Tonks is?"
"I believe she is at her works," Tippy told her, "at the Ministry."
So she could not get a message to her, and risk interception. "Okay. Don't — don't get a message to her, not yet, until you know she isn't there. What about Remus Lupin? Molly Weasley?"
"Mister Lupin is with Master Sirius," Timmy told her. "Mrs Molly Weasley, we do not know."
At the Burrow. But what could she do, to help? What would she do — she hated Aurora's father, and Aurora too, it felt. Perhaps she could do something, if she thought Harry was concerned. "Find her," she told Timmy, "tell her that we believe my father may have been captured on his current mission. Quickly! Tell her Harry Potter saw it!"
That would convince her of the severity, or at least give her enough parallels to her husband that she might be compelled to act, and go above her dislike for Aurora's father. Timmy disappeared with a loud crack, and Aurora told the two remaining elves, "If you think you may know anything that might help me and my father right now, please, tell me."
Tippy shook her head miserably. Kreacher held Aurora's gaze, and said nothing, with a long and slow shake of the head. "You're absolutely certain?"
"Mistress, Master Sirius said before he left he wished to speak to you when your exams were over! Perhaps he is trying to come to you!"
Unlikely, she felt, but it was sweet of Tippy to try and be optimistic. "Could you check, for me, if my father left a mirror at Arbrus Hill, just like this one?" She held it out for Tippy to examine, and she shook her head.
"I am sure Master Sirius took it with him, as he always does, but I will check!" Tippy Disapparated with a loud crack, and then it was just Aurora and Kreacher face to face.
Kreacher lowered his head. "Mistress Aurora must not act rashly," he told her, voice stiff. "Mistress Aurora's father is perfectly safe."
"How can you be sure?"
"Mistress has been speaking with Harry Potter, but Harry Potter's words are not to be trusted." He raised his head to meet her gaze.
"I trust him," she said, an unexpected defensiveness rising inside of her. "And I dearly hope my father is safe, but if not, then I must do something!"
"He is not worth jeopardising the future of the House of Black!"
"He is my father!" Aurora's words came out sharp, and Kreacher recoiled as though slapped. "I am sorry—"
"Kreacher did not mean to misspeak, Mistress. Kreacher is sorry, he did not mean to cause offense…"
"There is no mirror like that in the house," Tippy said, reappearing. "I am very sorry, Mistress."
He had lost it some other way. "Leave," she said quickly, "go, find Dumbledore if you can, tell him my father is compromised, and Potter has seen him in danger from the Dark Lord! Go!"
They disappeared and alone, in the silence, Aurora's mind grew louder and the screams within fiercer. Frantically, Aurora took the mirror from her pocket again, and called, "Sirius Black!"
This time, all she could hear was screaming.
She waved the mirror shut with bile in her throat, and before she knew what she was doing, she was running around her room, hauling drawers open. She took her spare snake necklace from the drawer, along with Castella's ring and grimoire, and the key which held Lyra's image. Her gaze trailed over the papers she had duplicated from Umbridge's office, the report she had compiled on them. Then she locked the drawer, turned, and ran to the door, spilling out in the corridor just in time to almost slam into Gwen and Leah. "Hey," Leah called after her, "what's the rush?"
"I can't!"
She slammed the door and hurried onward, shaking off Leah as she tried to grab ahold of her, even though she had to slow her pace. Act cool, unpanicked. Don't let anyone know there's anything wrong. Don't cause a scene.
"Aurora," Gwen said at her side, "what's wrong? Is this about what happened to Potter?"
She swallowed tight and hard around the lump of cold terror in her throat. But if she couldn't tell them, she couldn't tell anyone. "I think my father's been captured by the Dark Lord."
Leah swore under her breath. "Shit."
"Yes. Yes, it is."
"How — never mind, what are you going to do?"
"No idea," she said, picking up the pace as they reached the door to the common room, "I can't tell you in here, there are too many people. I need to find Harry."
And she couldn't let them come with her, even though she wanted to. Gwen was a target already, just as they'd said. And if she got anyone else involved, they would be a liability. She couldn't control everybody, just like she couldn't control whatever any given member of the Order could do with the information that her father was in danger. She couldn't trust anyone to save him except herself, and maybe Dora — but she didn't dare put her cousin in danger.
She kept a tight grip on both of their hands as she made her way through the dungeons, catching Theodore's eye with a panicked look which she hoped he understood, and hurried out into the cool corridors, towards a hidden shortcut upstairs, and she let go and started running, even with them just behind her.
Then she stopped abruptly at the stop of the stairs, turning around swiftly. Snape. She was so stupid, forgetting about him, her mind completely erasing the possibility that he was on her side, someone that could be trusted. She had to alert the Order, and stop Harry acting rashly, or going in to try and do something foolish, when they didn't even know where her father was, and Snape was her only choice. Even though he, even more than Molly Weasley, would have cause to let her father die. But he was the only one she herself could get to right now, providing the way for her to feel at least somewhat in control of a situation that already felt like it was spiralling.
Aurora stepped back down the stairs, a second before Theodore appeared in front of her, Leah and Gwen and Robin all clustered behind him, panting.
"How do you run so bloody fast—"
"What's going on, Aurora?" Theo held her gaze intently, taking a hold of her shoulders. "Aurora, it's going to be okay, I promise. Just tell us what's happening. We can help."
"I have to talk to Snape," she said in a shocked breath, "I have to — Dumbledore and McGonagall are gone and my father — and he's the only one—"
"Snape?" Theo asked, and her heart stopped. Her stomach lurched. She shouldn't have said that. She had blown his cover. Even if it was only her friends, it was dangerous to say.
"I… I don't know…"
"You can't trust Snape." His eyes were wide and imploring, horrified, as it all clicked into place and he realised what she meant, painfully easily. "You might think you can but you — you can't. If this is... You know. You can't trust him, Aurora. He's not on your side."
"I don't know what to do." Her words came out in spot of her breathlessness. She did not know how. "I don't know — he's just so — I can't do this, I can't, I need more time, I need to think, but I have to find Potter — he barely told me anything, I need to know, I need to plan — and he's rash and it's terrifying and I need to be the common sense but I don't have any of my own right now… I can't let anyone else — anyone else will fuck this up, I have — I can't put this on anyone else, I don't — I can't lose him, I can't—"
"You're not going to," Leah told her. "Look, whatever's going on, we can help. I can write to my father, he can look into it."
"That's not going to help!" she snapped. "He's gone, you're not meant to know, I — I don't know, Potter didn't say—"
"What's Harry Potter got to do with this?"
"Don't be stupid, Oliphant."
"I'm asking 'cause I don't know what the fuck's going on!"
"I don't have the time to explain and I barely know either and I need to find Potter and he's not going to take kindly to any of you being here with me."
"Tough shit," Robin said, stepping up to stand beside Theo. "We're not leaving you in this state."
"I am not in a state!"
"Let's just go," Theo said fiercely, taking her hand. "The longer we're here, the more time we're wasting and if your dad's in danger, we can't waste time, right? So don't tell us to leave, because we're not going to, and if we have anything to do with it, neither you nor your dad are going to be hurt, alright?"
"It's not that simple — I can't put you in danger, you all have other people to worry about—"
"Piss off with that," Gwen said, brushing past her. "Stop being stubborn and come with us."
And they all went past her, Theo tugging her to join them as they raced up the stairs, to the first floor. "Where are you meeting—"
"Top of the grand staircase," she said, eyes stinging with tears and head ringing with the question of who to trust, if anybody, and what on earth she could possibly do. Who did she trust to save her father, to be competent? Only Dora, and herself, really. She didn't know how to put his fate in anybody else's hands, not even Harry Potter's. But it seemed she might have to. "He's with the other two, or he will be, I don't know…"
There was no one there, but Aurora was sure she heard whispering, and an affronted scoff from someone that could only be Ron Weasley. "They don't like that you're here," she said blandly, "but they're being stupid if they think I can't tell."
A moment later, Potter appeared out of thin air, glaring. "What are they all doing here?"
"They all are my friends, and you've spoken to all of them perfectly civilly in the past. That's not what's important right now."
"Have you got the mirror?"
"Where did you see him? Because wherever it is, we need to get someone there, now."
Potter's face paled. "The mirror? You didn't speak to him?"
"Silence. Then... Then there was just screaming."
"No."
"The elves confirmed he's not at home, no one's in Grim — home. And I'm scared the wards — I don't know what to do."
"He's at the Ministry," Potter said, turning around and hurrying up the stairs. Aurora followed him swiftly.
"Are you sure?" He shouldn't be there. He couldn't be there. But Dora was there, and Kingsley, and Arthur. If they could get a message there undetected — unless the Ministry had been infiltrated. Unless Potter's fears about Umbridge being a Death Eater earlier that year had basis, unless Lucius Malfoy had used his influence yet again. The Ministry had been in denial and that had suited the Dark Lord and his assembly allies. What if that was by design, too?
Frustrated, terrified tears burned in her eyes as she followed Potter upstairs. She didn't understand — nothing added up. How could the Dark Lord be in the Ministry, how could her father, how could no one know? But it made perfect sense for someone in the Ministry or Assembly to be in on this. Not one of them could be trusted.
"He's in the Department of Mysteries. He's being tortured — I know this place, I've been seeing it all year. Voldemort's got him and he's…" He turned slightly, gaze drifting towards Theo, and Aurora glared at him. "He's torturing him. He's going to kill him. We have to go—"
"But he — he can't be there. Why would the Dark Lord — he can't just — but you…" The prophecy was the only thing being guarded in the Department of Mysteries. And why would they capture her father to take him there, when he was unlikely to be there already? Unless Potter was mistaken, in which case they had nothing to go on.
Or, it was a trap. Her father was bait.
"Was it really the Dark Lord there? Are you sure?"
"Yes! That's how I saw it!"
"But he'd be there — my dad isn't meant to be guarding — Potter, stop. This might be a trap."
Hermione had a triumphant look on her face which Aurora didn't like. Harry didn't seem to like it either, rounding on Aurora with a glare. "I don't care! I can't let him die! He's been captured, he's not got his mirror, no one knows where he is except me!"
"I…" Aurora floundered helplessly. He wasn't wrong. But she didn't know what to do, how to get there. She felt stranded, alone, even with all these people standing behind her. She felt certain in her gut that she was the only person who could possibly do this right, who could save her father. Potter would ruin any plans she made like he always did.
Perhaps Voldemort was trying to bait Harry, to kill him. But if giving in to the trap meant saving her father, she would take his life over Harry's. It was a simple calculation — but she knew her father would hate it. If Voldemort was looking for the prophecy in the Ministry, that meant he had trouble finding it. He must need Harry to lead him to it. Maybe Voldemort would get the prophecy, perhaps he would learn his fate, but Aurora did not believe in fate enough to believe that that would win him the war. Not if, as she suspected, Dumbledore understood that fate, too.
"You — you don't happen to know where Dumbledore went, so you?"
"Of course not," Potter snapped.
"It's a fair question!"
"Oh, stop bickering," Gwen said, shoving in between them. "Listen, I don't know what the hells going on, because Aurora never explains anything, but clearly you need to go find out where your dad is!"
"He's at the Ministry!"
"I know, but—"
"How are we going to get there?"
"I don't know—"
"Harry." Hermione wrung her hands together. "Aurora's right, this could be a trap. You have to find out if he's actually missing, if something's wrong and tell…" Her gaze strayed to the friends gathered around Aurora, and she bit her tongue.
This was why friendship was dangerous. This was why she could not give her all to them, because things had to be hidden. "We have to go find him!"
"What if you're wrong, Harry?" Hermione pleaded. "This is a dream— you don't know what you saw—"
"I'm not a nutter!"
"I never said you were! But you might not be right, Voldemort could be using your connection against you! Think, Harry!"
"Hermione, I have to save him!"
"What if it is a trap, like Aurora said? if he doesn't need saving?"
"What if he does?" Aurora asked softly. "It could be a trap. But he could also be dying there. On his own." Her stomach twisted at the thought, every fear digging into her like knives.
When she met Potter's gaze, she knew for the first time, with certainty, that the two of them were in perfect agreement.
"We can't do this out here," Theo said, stepping in. "Umbridge could come by any moment, you'll be overheard. Listen, her fireplace is the only one not being monitored or locked to the Floo Network right now, isn't it? If you can get in there, there'll be a direct line to the Ministry."
"And how do you propose we do that, Nott?" Weasley asked in a sneering voice.
"Don't talk to him like that, Weasley," Aurora snapped instantly, glaring at him.
"You think a Nott is on your side—"
"I think Theo is my friend and you should back off before I hex you."
"We have to get to Umbridge's office," Harry said, surprising Aurora. "He's right, if we can — talk to the people that we need to…"
This was where the others had to leave, if they were getting in contact with the Order. As much as she trusted them, she knew the Order would never trust her if she blew anybody's cover, and the three Gryffindors would never allow outsiders to see the inside of the Headquarters.
She turned to her friends, stomach churning. "You guys have to go back to the common room," she said, voice heavy. "Pretend everything's normal. If anyone asks where I am, I'm stressed that I failed everything and I need to be alone for a while."
"We're not leaving you," Leah said, aghast. "If your dad's in danger—"
"If my dad's in danger, that's on me to save him, maybe Potter, no one else. I won't drag you all into a fight that isn't yours."
"Except it is," Gwen said fiercely, glaring at her. "You think we don't know what's going on, that he's been taken by You-Know-Who, you think we don't want to fight?"
"I won't ask you to—"
"You're pretty obviously not asking." Gwen raised her eyebrows, unimpressed, stepping forward to look Aurora in the eye. "I've seen you run off on your own so many times now because you think no one else wants to fight on your side, you think you have to do everything on your own and you don't trust anybody else to stand at your side, but we're all here, and we have been here, and I am not letting you run into danger and get hurt and wind up in the Hospital Wing again! And besides that, why shouldn't I fight You-Know-Who? He'd want me dead for just existing, I may as well try and defend my friend, too."
"It'll just put you in more danger!"
"I don't care! You're my friend, and you'd do it for me. Slytherins stick with our own, remember, that's the first thing we learn." Gwen held her gaze furiously. "I'm not letting you go without me. That's final."
"I can't…"
"You can," Theo said, stepping to Gwen's side with an imploring look in his eye. "Just let us help."
A cloying feeling came into her throat, a lump of gratitude alongside the unexpected realisation that they were, in fact, there for her, and that though she might have had her trust broken before, there were people she could still put her faith in.
"I think we should leave as soon as possible," she told Potter, turning back to him.
"But how?" Granger asked. "We've nothing to get there with. Except — the Floo?"
Potter nodded grimly. "We'll need to get Umbridge out of her office."
"Fred and George," Ronald said quickly. "They've been waiting to do a proper fireworks show, and end of exams, they'll jump at the chance to create some sort of a distraction."
"Do you know where they are?"
"Gryffindor Tower, we saw them as we left."
"Then go get them," Potter said, and Weasley and Granger hurried off upstairs. His gaze hardened as he turned back to Aurora, looking round at each of her friends in turn. Instinctively, Aurora reached out behind her for assurance; Theo took one hand and Gwen the other.
"The Ministry's still in session. We can't just walk in. But they'll leave at five — it's the summer solstice. People will be celebrating."
It was, she realised, disturbed, the perfect day for ritual murder. She tried not to think about that possibility.
"I think — I think we need to get someone to find him. Dora. I trust Dora, or Kingsley — Fudge trusts Kingsley. Do you know who he was out with, on this mission?"
"It was a solo thing. He couldn't tell me what about — Dumbledore had trusted it to him, told him that only he could know, and only he could fulfil it."
The stupid bastard. She couldn't help but feel her dad would have told her, if only she'd asked, if only they'd been speaking like normal, if only she wasn't being so awful and stupid and stubborn, if only she could be a better daughter.
"They can't come," Potter said, eyeing Theodore most of all. "You know. It has to be just you and me."
"I know. The more people that are there, the more people there are to make it go wrong. But they won't leave me." She tried to hide how happy that made her.
"I mean, we can't put them in danger."
Aurora swallowed. She looked back at Gwen, who still had that defiant look in her. "I think we have to."
"I'm not doing it. I'm not letting other people put themselves in danger for me."
"Tough shit," Aurora said, "that's kind of the point of the Order. That's why my dad's bloody there, in the Ministry, because of you, so you can stand to stop trying to be noble."
He looked at her like he had just been slapped, and Aurora felt regret sting her but pressed on, mind focusing back in on the sense of dread that her father was in danger.
She squeezed Theodore's hand tightly and said, "We need a plan. That's the most important thing. Come on, let's not clog up the corridor."
She let go of Theo's hand and turned, stalking in the other direction, leaving them all to hurry to catch up with her. Robin muttered something to Gwen under his breath, Leah looked around anxiously, yet with a defiant set to her gaze, and Potter and Theo came up either side of her, both glaring at one another. Aurora took out the Marauder's Map, keeping an eye out for anyone who might overhear them. Clear, for now.
"Say we get to Umbridge's office, and to the Ministry, what next? Where is he, specifically?"
"I don't know," Potter said, shooting Theo a look. "Maybe your friend Nott can tell you."
"Stop being a prat. You must have some idea."
"I'm not saying here."
"What, because you don't like my friends? Or because you don't like me?"
"Stop being ridiculous."
"You stop being ridiculous!"
"How do we know we can trust them?"
"Because I trust them! Don't I have good judgment?"
"No! You were best mates with Malfoy for years, you're still friends with Parkinson!"
"Note how they're not here," Aurora snapped, his words puncturing her heart. "I'm not having this argument right now, Potter! My dad's in danger and the last thing he'd want is for us to fight so just tell me, just help me make this work so he doesn't fucking die!"
Those words struck him back into his right self and he turned away sharply, picking up the pace even as aimless as they were. "It was this room, I think it's in the Department of Mysteries…"
"There are a lot of rooms there," Theo said quietly, staunchly ignoring the distrustful look Potter threw his way.
"Really, well that's very helpful, Nott—"
"What did the room look like?" Aurora snapped.
"I don't know… It was big and had all these shelves, and these massive glowing orbs… But I don't know how to get to it! It's at the end of a passage and it was the only one… I think maybe I could find it…"
Definitely the prophecy. The likelihood of this being a trap grew and grew, but Aurora knew she couldn't just leave her father there. They still had to do something.
"Leah?" Theo called over his shoulder, and Leah hurried to join them, looking relieved to be away from whatever hushed, annoyed conversation Robin and Gwen were having. "You know your way around the Ministry."
"Yeah, I do — why? Do you know where—"
"It's in the Department of Mysteries," Harry said, "down a hallway."
Leah frowned. "That's going to be tricky. No one knows the combination to get to those rooms except the Unspeakables themselves — there are loads and they always move, or at least that's what my dad told me. He's only been down twice, it's well weird apparently…" She and Theo exchanged a glance. "Listen, are you sure that's where—"
"Yeah, I am," Potter bit out, turning back on himself and heading towards Gryffindor Tower. "I know what I saw, MacMillan." He took in a steadying breath. "Right, we have to go. I'm sick of waiting and arguing, I'm getting my broom and you're getting yours and we're going, we're wasting enough time."
"I thought you wanted to go to Umbridge's—"
"Yeah, well, things change, you've brought a horde of bloody Slytherins along for the trip!" He whirled around, and took her by the arm. Aurora startled, shoving him away.
"Potter, your broom is in the dungeons under lock and key because Umbridge confiscated it—"
"And you have access to the entire Slytherin fleet!"
"No, I don't, I'm not even captain!"
"Yeah, like you've no way to get in! Come on, it's the best way and even if we can get into Umbridge's—" He was cut off by the sight of Hermione and Ron thundering down the corridor towards them, with Ginny, Neville, and Luna Lovegood in tow.
"They're off," Ginny told Harry gleefully. "Greatest prank of all time, come on."
"Ginny, what're you—"
"Couldn't turn down an opportunity for subterfuge, could I? Hi, you lot! New friends, is it, Black?"
"Ginevra—" Aurora started but shook herself out of it, in favour of taking off after Potter towards Umbridge's office, leaving their friends to pelt after them.
"We have to be prepared," she told Harry, panting as she looked down at the map, seeing Umbridge running off, Draco and Pansy both with her. "Now, come on!"
She ran as fast as she could, ahead of all of them, and managed to open Umbridge's door to an empty room, quickly deserted in panic. "To the Floo," she panted, "who — should we go to the Ministry?"
Dora would be there, she thought, head spinning. But if her dad might be dying, could she really stand to put another member of her family in danger? Could she stand to lose both of them, if it came to it? It wasn't her call to make, she knew that. But she wasn't sure she could resist the temptation to decide for them, anyway. Gwen and Theo and Leah and Robin knew already, she couldn't talk them out of it. But if she could just shield Dora from the knowledge of what was happening...
She knelt down in a heap beside the fireplace as the others came crashing through. "Ginny and Luna are keeping watch," Harry said as he came to her side, and glanced over his shoulder. "Listen, that lot — you can't tell them about Grimmauld Place."
"I'm not stupid—"
"Aurora."
Ice fell into the pit of her stomach at the sound of Pansy's voice. She turned, slowly, to see her friend standing in the doorway, Gwen and Leah either side of her, and neither knowing quite what to do.
It was Theo who moved first, reaching for his wand with his gaze fixed on Pansy.
"Your friends aren't very good at keeping watch, Potter."
"They let me through. I said I was here for you. Seems some Gryffindors can trust Slytherins — but they're still not particularly clever." She swept her gaze around the office. "I got a terrible feeling you were up to something. Whatever it is." She swallowed tightly, looking Aurora right in the eye. "Don't do it."
"And why not?" Aurora challenged, standing up. "What do you know?"
She was terrified of the answer she might get.
"Nothing good can come from sneaking around with Harry Potter." The words were mechanical, rehearsed; they sounded like Draco's words. "Just leave, before I have to tell Umbridge you've broken into her office."
"I can't," Aurora said. "Pansy, my dad's in danger — if you know anything — we don't know how to get help right now."
The Ministry day would be winding to a close; many of the workers would have left early, to join solstice celebrations across the country, safely away from any trouble. The old families knew that. They knew their kin would be far away from any danger if it came.
"I don't know," Pansy said, but she seemed to falter at the hard look Leah was giving her. "I don't know what's going on — why would I?"
"Pansy," Leah said in a low voice, "you're a terrible liar."
Pansy's face was paling by the second. "You can't go running off after your father. Leave it, Aurora."
"You know I can't do that. What do you know?"
But Pansy did not speak. Instead, she took off her silver Inquisitorial Squad badge and flicked something on the back which made a high, shrill tone ring out through the corridor. Before anyone could move, she had caught Harry, Ron, and Hermione with Body-Binding Curses, and forced them up against the wall. Aurora reeled back, Theo standing at her side, both of them with their wands out and pointed at Pansy.
"What the hell is that?"
"Emergency signal. Your badges weren't fitted with it. Umbridge didn't think she could trust you. At least I get to redeem myself by being the one to prove my faith in you was wrong."
"Pansy, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"
In a second, Gwen had caught ahold of Pansy's hair and was dragging her into the room, slamming the door behind them. Leah locked it, and Pansy was thrust towards Umbridge's desk, pale and shaken. Robin leapt back in alarm, staring between the three of them.
"You traitor," Aurora hissed, blood boiling as she looked at Pansy. Had she known all along — had this all been some great deception, getting Aurora into the Inquisitorial Squad, only to betray her? It didn't make sense — there was no way for Pansy to predict this, and there was no motivation for it that Aurora could see. Had she just been biding her time, watching her back?
"I didn't want to have to do this," Pansy said, voice pleading, though there was a firm glint to her eye. "But I have to. You don't know what you're doing, Aurora, you have no idea what is going on around you, and everything you're going to destroy."
"And what is that, may I ask?" Aurora advanced on her, cold anger hardening around her heart. "What are you scared of, Pansy?"
Her friend did not answer. Aurora took in a cold, nervous breath. "Let Potter, Granger, and Weasley go. Pretend to Umbridge it was a false alarm. Or that you fucked up and have no idea where we went. There are eight of us and one of you. You're easily overpowered."
Her fingers itched for her wand. "I can't do that. My family — I need this, Aurora! I need Umbridge, you should understand, I know you do, you'd do the same, but please, don't—"
The door blew open behind them with an almighty crash. Umbridge stood in the doorway, the rest of the Inquisitorial Squad behind her; Ginny was being restrained by Millicent, Neville by Greg, and Luna by Cassius. Drina and the Carrow sisters were behind them, and Draco triumphant at Umbridge's side.
"Let go of Miss Parkinson, Miss MacMillan."
All Aurora's hopes fell away. Umbridge flicked her wand and Leah was pushed away from Pansy, who let out a relieved gasp.
"Miss Black," Umbridge said, with a small, smug smile, "I wondered when you would reveal your true colours." Her gaze touched upon everybody in the room, scrutinising each one of them. Aurora's stomach twisted. "Thank you for your help, Miss Parkinson. Now." Her dark eyes gleamed. "Who would like to explain this?"