On Saturday morning Rachel, Millie, and Hermione went to Diagon Alley with a specific task in mind. Rachel had considered going to a breeder in order to get her cat - several people had told her they knew people who bred half kneazles - but Rachel had decided that she wanted to get a cat that needed a home that might otherwise not have a home.

Her friends had informed her that magical animal shelters weren't really a thing and that when people couldn't keep a pet they gave it to a friend or a magical creature reserve. Hermione had reminded Rachel that Crookshanks had a hard time finding a home and that maybe they'd find another cat like that at the Magical Menagerie.

Diagon Alley was fairly busy and Rachel was glad she was wearing her disguise cloak. Given the number of kids and teenagers carrying multiple bags and following their parents around, Rachel suspected that the school supply list had been sent in August after Professor Dumbledore had to find several new teachers. It was weird not to have to buy new textbooks or to be about to prepare herself for exams. There was a large part of her that was glad she wasn't returning to Hogwarts - a lot of difficult things had happened there - but she missed the routine a little bit.

The Magical Menagerie was thankfully quiet and cool and Rachel took a brief glance around and wished that she could give all of these animals a good home. She hoped someone would come for them soon, but what she really wanted was a cat of her own. She went to the front counter and the shopkeeper approached.

"What can I do for you today?"

"I was wondering if you had a cat that needed a home, one that might be having a hard time finding a good home?" Rachel asked.

"Well, I have one that I'm having a bit of a hard time placing. Half kneazle, she's smart. A little too smart if you ask me. Would you like to see if she'll take to you?" he asked.

"Yes, please," Rachel said.

The man disappeared into a back room and came back with a large, long haired calico cat in his arms. "This is Feverfew," he said, setting her on the counter.

"She's gorgeous, I'm surprised you can't place her," Hermione said.

"She's picky. Puts up a fight when I try to sell her. I had a Hogwarts bound girl last week who wanted her, but Feverfew scratched up the side of my face getting away. They weren't so keen to buy her after that."

Rachel kept her distance but bent down to peer into Feverfew's green eyes. "How does she do with other cats?"

"Just fine, actually. Generally prefers other cats to people."

"Hello," she said, wondering if she should hold her hand out so the cat could sniff it. "Would you be interested in coming home with me?"

Feverfew watched her intently for a moment, growled softly and used her paw to wipe over her ear.

"You want the hood off?" Rachel guessed, wondering if the cat could tell she was in disguise. She used her wand to end the sticking charm and then pulled her hood down. The man behind the counter gasped, but Rachel ignored him. "Better?"

Feverfew stood and stretched and sniffed in Rachel's direction.

Rachel obligingly held out her hand. "You can probably smell Midnight and Crookshanks on me, they're Hermione and Millie's cats. You'd share a home with us, three of our friends, two owls, a toad, and two House Elves. Everyone is well behaved."

Millie snorted at that. "Most of us are well behaved."

"Well, she's not growling at you or swiping at you, that's a good sign. Try touching her."

"May I?" Rachel asked, keeping her hand where it was.

Feverfew stood and bumped Rachel's hand with her head, which Rachel took as an invitation to gently scratch behind her ears as both Midnight and Crookshanks enjoyed that.

"Would you like to come home with me?" Rachel asked after a few minutes.

Feverfew gave a meow that sounded like a high pitched chirp and continued to press her head against Rachel's hand.

"Well, I think you have yourself a cat, Wizengamot Member Snow. Free of charge, of course," the shopkeeper said.

Rachel looked at him and shook her head. "I insist on paying for her."

"No, really, you are doing me a favor. She's been with me for two years now and I can't count how many times I've been scratched up by her. How about this, you can have Feverfew for free and you can buy a carrier and whatever supplies you need from me?"

"If you're sure," she finally agreed, not wanting to fight, but not wanting to accept favors just because of who she was.

"Sure am. Let's see a carrier, what else do you need? Do you already have cat supplies?"

"I have a litter box and I know how to conjure litter. She already has food," Rachel said.

"You'll want a cat scratcher otherwise she'll have a go at your furniture; Feverfew likes to keep her claws sharp. If she tries, tell her you know she's smart enough to know where she's allowed to scratch. I'd give her her own bed, if I was you, so she has some personal space. A comb, since she has long fur. She's already had all the potions she needs for this year, but you'll want to update that next summer. And a carrier, I wouldn't bring her out just in your arms."

Rachel hadn't been aware that cats needed specific potions. "Do you have a book on kneazle care that lists the sorts of potions and other care that they need?"

"Sure do, but kneazles are fairly self sufficient. She'll let you know what she needs for the most part. A few toys wouldn't go amiss, just so she has something to play with. Some kneazles will play fetch, as long as you don't call it fetch. Beneath their dignity, you know," the shopkeeper explained.

Feverfew meowed, as if to tell them that fetch was indeed beneath her dignity.

"The book then, along with the things you mentioned," Rachel said.

"I'll let you try to get her into a carrier first, and we'll see if it works," the shopkeeper said, bringing out a wicker carrier that was similar to Hermione and Millie's cat carriers.

"It won't be for long. We'll walk through Diagon Alley and then I'll apparate us home and you can get right out," Rachel assured her.

Feverfew gave the carrier a considering look, looked back at Rachel, and then carefully stepped inside and sat down.

"Thanks, it will be quick," Rachel promised as she shut the door and secured the tie.

"Amazing," the shopkeeper said. "I'll just get your things."

Rachel put her hood back up and secured it while the shopkeeper bustled around. The last thing she wanted to do was forget and go into Diagon Alley as herself.

She paid for her items, shrank the shopping bags and put them in her pockets, and then picked up Feverfew's carrier. "Thank you very much."

"No, Wizengamot member Snow, thank you. For everything."

Rachel hoped the disguise cloak covered her blush as she nodded at him and retreated.

"You know, I don't blame you at all for using the disguise cloak," Hermione said once they were back in Diagon Alley. "People act ridiculous around you."

"They really do," Millie said. "I know we spent a lot of time making you unapproachable at Hogwarts, but I had hoped that adults would behave better."

"So far that hasn't really been the case. I can't believe I've actually signed autographs for people," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Someone in the halls of the Wizengamot chambers actually asked for my autograph yesterday. Booker glared at them and after they were gone said how inappropriate that was and that he'd make sure that everyone knew not to do that."

"I'm glad Booker is helping you," Hermione said.

"Me too. I hadn't realized how much work there was involved with being a Wizengamot member, but he always has new proposals and things for me to look at. He said that's mostly just because of who I am and that most new Wizengamot members aren't inundated like this."

"Maybe after people get used to you they'll leave you alone. It mostly worked that way at Hogwarts," Millie said.

"Hopefully, though I'm not holding my breath," Rachel said.

"Well, you are still very much a public figure as a Wizengamot member and as a Quidditch player. Neither of those are exactly private positions," Hermione pointed out.

That was true, and if Rachel could do the jobs without being a public figure, she would. As it was it was just the major downside of the positions she had. They reached the apparition point. "Alright, meet you in the sitting room. Quick apparition then we're done," she told Feverfew.

Feverfew meowed in reply.

A moment later they were in the sitting room and Theo, Draco, and Neville were all there.

"I take it you had luck?" Theo asked, looking at the carrier.

"I did. This is Feverfew. I'll let you meet her once she's had a chance to adjust to everything," Rachel said.

"She likes to be spoken to like a human," Hermione told them.

"I'll keep that in mind," Neville said, though Draco was rolling his eyes.

"Can we join you while you let her out?" Millie asked.

"Yes, I'm just going to let her out in my room for now and let her smell everything," Rachel said, leading the way to the stairs, with Millie and Hermione following.

In her bedroom, Rachel set the carrier on the bed and opened it. Feverfew stepped out a moment later and looked around, her nose working as she sniffed her new environment. "I'll have you meet everyone later, just take your time," Rachel told her as she unpacked her shopping.

Feverfew's litter box was in the corner. Thankfully Millie had already taught her the spells for cleaning the litter box and for conjuring new litter. She had a bowl of water down already and she figured she'd feed Feverfew in her room for a while unless Feverfew asked for food in the kitchen.

Her new book about kneazle care went on her desk to read these next few nights. Feverfew's bed went on the top part of the desk by the windowsill so that Feverfew could nap in the sun and look out the window. She tossed the stuffed toy mice and the catnip-filled ball on the bed for now. The cat scratcher went into the opposite corner from the litter box.

"There, just let me know if you want something moved," Rachel said.

Feverfew meowed again and sat down as she looked around the room.

"She's very pretty," Millie said as she sat on the edge of Rachel's bed.

"She's a gorgeous cat, look at her coloring," Hermione agreed.

Rachel nodded. Feverfew had a white base coat with blotches of orange and black. She had white paws, with her front left paw having an orange dot on it. Her nose was black along with the right side of her face, while her left side was orange and white. Her tail was multicolored and Feverfew kept it tucked around her paws as she sat.

"I wonder if all half kneazles are a little bit bigger than common house cats," Hermione said. "Crookshanks is big for a persian, and Midnight is a fairly good size as well. Do people keep full breed kneazles as well?"

"Not unless they're breeding them. Kneazles are very smart and can be quite aggressive. Most people don't want the hassle," Millie said. "And kneazles themselves are a fair bit bigger than regular cats, so it's not a surprise their half breed children are bigger."

Rachel watched Feverfew for a moment and decided she might as well try what she wanted to do. She pulled her legs up on the bed so that she was sitting facing Feverfew. "If this goes wrong, will one of you try to pick me up?"

"You're going to show her your animagus form?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I figure it's best she knows up front. I think she'll understand that it's still me," Rachel said, then refocusing on Feverfew. "I can change into a cat. I'm going to show you now. You can sniff me to see that it's still me."

Feverfew was watching her intently and Rachel was pretty sure she'd understood what she'd just been told.

A moment later Rachel was a cat and she was taken aback a bit by just how big Feverfew was from this perspective. Feverfew was sniffing at her and Rachel sniffed back. Feverfew smelled a little dusty and Rachel wondered if she would consent to being brushed. She figured she'd give it a few days first. Midnight had never been a particular fan of Millie grooming her.

Feverfew stood and came closer and Rachel stood, getting ready to dart away if she needed to. Feverfew leaned down and continued to sniff before she started licking Rachel right between the ears. It felt strangely good. After a few minutes, Rachel leaned in and gave into the impulse to groom Feverfew back. Surprisingly her fur didn't really taste like anything, but it was kind of comforting to sit and bathe another cat.

After a while Feverfew walked away and laid down and Rachel changed back to her human form.

"I can't believe you licked your cat," Millie said with a laugh.

"It felt very natural," Rachel said with a shrug, though she still felt a little damp. "Don't you have impulses in your animal forms? Things you wouldn't ordinarily feel like you'd want to do?"

"I want to gallop and climb," Hermione said. "At some point it would be fun to go somewhere no one else was around and play with our forms outside."

"I'd like that too," Millie said. "The main urges I get while I'm a capybara are to get in some water and to eat melons. I change back and I'm still craving melons."

"I bet we could get you some melons at a market. Maybe not the exact same melons as where your form is native to, but we should be able to find something. And you could sit in the bathtub in your form," Hermione suggested.

"I might try that. It just seems like it would feel very nice," Millie said with a look of longing.

"Then you should do it," Rachel said. "I bet we could find somewhere out of the way where no one would notice us changing forms. I also have the urge to climb a tree."

"We'd have to make sure you had a way down if you did that," Hermione said.

"I've got claws, I don't think it should be too much of a problem," Rachel said.

Feverfew meowed and everyone looked at her.

"You've got claws too, but you probably shouldn't climb anywhere," Rachel told her.

"Muggles have furniture that works as a surface for cats to climb on, maybe we should get one for the cats, it could be their Christmas present," Hermione suggested.

"Furniture specifically for cats to climb on?" Millie asked. "Like what?"

"Usually just boxes and poles and it's all covered in carpet. We'll find some and I'll show you," Hermione said.

"What do you think? Do you want something to climb on?" Rachel asked Feverfew.

Feverfew meowed again.

"I think that's a yes," Rachel said as they all laughed.

Severus let himself into Black's house on Saturday morning with a sense of trepidation. He had not visited since Rachel's birthday party and wasn't entirely sure of his welcome. If the situation was reversed, he would not want Black randomly showing up at his house.

He stopped by the kitchen first and found Lupin sitting with a cup of tea.

"Severus, good to see you. We weren't expecting you today, were we?" Lupin asked.

Severus felt his eyebrows climb as he suspected Lupin was not pleased to see him no matter his words. "I'm afraid my visit was unannounced. I wish to speak with Malcolm before he returns to school. Is he available?"

"I'm sure he is. If you send your Patronus to him, he should surface. Easier than searching the house," Lupin said. "How has your summer been?"

He carefully controlled his expression at the idea of making small talk with Lupin. "Mostly quiet, thankfully."

Lupin nodded. "Things are getting quieter here. It's strange not having the kids around. We've almost finished helping everyone from the attic back into their homes. Next is bringing back the people who fled, those who are willing to come, at least."

"Have many been declining the option to return?" He wouldn't be surprised at all if some of the muggleborns simply refused to return to Britain, especially those with children.

"About a third so far, but we're still tracking people down. Some of them have moved on from where we originally placed them. I suspect we'll spend another year helping people return and that should be the end of it."

It was a relief that there was an end in sight. Two more months of Death Eater trials. Perhaps another six to eight months of Death Eater attacks, if things went the same as they did after the first war. Then perhaps the persistent feeling that he and Rachel were not safe would finally begin to ebb.

"Things are going well with Rachel?" Lupin asked.

"Well enough. She seems intent on joining the aurors," Severus said, having resigned himself to that.

Lupin shook his head slightly. "Ron and Draco I can see doing that, they're both a little more impulsive, but Rachel was a surprise. When I had her in class I never imagined she'd wish to join the aurors. She's grown a great deal these past five years, but she's still fairly shy. Did Amelia actually let her join?"

"I'm afraid so. I'm not sure what Bones and Robards were thinking."

"Well, Rachel had to have shown that she was more than proficient at the skills they want for them to even consider her. I know she's put a great deal of work into learning Defense."

"She has," Severus agreed, though he also knew that there wasn't skill enough when it came to fighting Death Eaters. Some of it was sheer dumb luck, and he did not feel that Rachel was generally someone who had an over abundance of luck. He decided he'd had enough chatting for today and pulled his wand. "To Malcolm Baddock. I am here at Mr. Black's house and would like to speak with you. Would you please join me in the kitchen?"

"Malcolm's been doing well. He's still a little shy, but he comes out to see us more often than he used to. He's a good kid," Lupin said, filling the silence.

"I'm glad he's been adjusting. Are you and Black intending to stay in this house now that it's not needed for Headquarters?" he asked, figuring he might as well discover where Malcolm was going to wind up.

"For the time being. I think eventually we'll remove the Fidelius charm, but perhaps not until Malcolm is of age and is finished at Hogwarts. We know there are still threats to him, just like there are to Rachel and Draco. I'm glad you convinced Rachel that she still needed to be under the Fidelius."

"She's the one who requested it from me, though I would not have allowed her to move out without being under the Fidelius, for a number of reasons."

"Even so," Lupin said. "I'm glad she has safe places where she can be. She's told me and Sirius about some of her encounters in public, people asking her for autographs and thanking her and shaking her hand."

Severus had heard those stories as well. "Hopefully some of that will stop with time." He wasn't counting on it, but he could hope.

Malcolm appeared in the kitchen doorway and Severus was glad to see that he had grown and that he looked healthy and well fed. "Sir?" Malcolm asked.

"No need to call me sir, I'm not your professor any longer," Severus said. "May we speak privately?"

Malcolm looked to Lupin and Lupin nodded. "The sitting room should be empty right now," Lupin said.

"I'll allow you to lead the way," Severus told Malcolm.

Malcolm did so, and Severus followed him down the hall to the sitting room. They sat in the armchairs and Malcolm looked more than a little nervous. "Do you have everything you need to return to Hogwarts?" Severus started with.

"Sirius took me shopping last weekend, we already got our book lists. I needed new robes, because I've grown so much these past six months," Malcolm said.

"Good," Severus said, glad to see that Malcolm was approaching a more normal height and figure for his age. "Things have been alright here with Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin?"

"Yes. Sirius is…" Malcolm trailed off. "He's different, but he's alright. I kind of think Remus is the responsible one between them."

Thank Merlin there was at least one semi-responsible adult in the household then. "This year your Head of House at Hogwarts will be Professor Farley. She was one of my prefects several years ago. She's very responsible and attentive to the students. If you're having a problem, I'd like you to tell her and she will help."

"May I ask…" Malcolm trailed off again.

"Why I left Hogwarts?" Severus checked.

Malcolm nodded.

"I was primarily there due to my duties with the war. Now that the war is over, I am not needed at Hogwarts." It had at least a grain of truth in it, though he might have stayed another year or two at Hogwarts if it hadn't been for the situation with Albus. "Professor Farley is a capable Head of House. I also know your new Potions professor, and they are capable as well. There is, however, something else I'd like to speak with you about."

"What's that?" Malcolm asked, his brow creasing with worry.

"A number of students who did not attend Hogwarts last year will be returning. Some of them may pose a threat to you, I'm not sure what the situation in the Slytherin common room will be. You can always seek help from the prefects and the professors, but I also want you to remain cautious and to try not to be alone in the halls." Severus had lunch with Minerva just a week ago and she had filled him in on all of the relevant information about the upcoming term at Hogwarts while probing gently at why Severus had left. Severus had simply told her that it was time and that he would prefer to take apprentices instead of continuing to teach eleven year olds not to stick their fingers in their cauldrons.

"Children of Death Eaters," Malcolm said.

"Of Death Eaters and of other people who supported the Dark Lord. Some of them will undoubtedly be upset or angry at the way events unfolded. They may be seeking revenge on whoever they can reach." Severus hoped he was being alarmist about nothing, but he didn't want Malcolm to return to Hogwarts without being aware that there could be a problem.

"That's why the Death Eaters are still attacking, even though the Dark Lord is gone?"

"Yes, they're angry. They no longer have overarching goals, they're just attacking those who are convenient targets for them."

"When will they stop? Will they stop?" Malcolm asked, his eyes now wide.

"Some of them will stop when they are made to stop by the MLE. The aurors are putting together a team to track down the remaining Death Eaters. Some of the Death Eaters will see that they are accomplishing nothing other than increasing the likelihood that they'll be arrested and they will stop on their own. The remaining known Death Eaters are in hiding or have fled. I don't expect the attacks to last even another year. And you are safe here, as Mr. Black's house will remain under the Fidelius for the time being," Severus explained.

Malcolm nodded. "You really think they'll catch more of them?"

"I'm certain they'll catch some of them. How many remains to be seen. I do not expect that the Death Eaters will come to Hogwarts again. There is no reason for them to do so. Do you have additional concerns about returning to Hogwarts?"

"They're still having the DA, aren't they?"

"I believe Miss Weasley and Miss Lovegood are still planning on operating the DA, yes. You're planning to continue with them?"

"Yes. I've made some friends there. And I really like what we're being taught."

"Good," Severus said, grateful for anyone who was teaching appropriate defensive skills to students. "Anything else?"

"I have to decide my NEWT classes soon. I'm not sure what to pick," Malcolm said.

"Charms and Transfiguration are usually good choices as they will continue to improve your wandwork. Defense is also a good option now that we have a permanent professor. The rest will likely depend on your career goals. What would you like to do when you finish at Hogwarts?"

Malcolm bowed his head. "I never really expected to do anything. I'll take my father's seat in the Wizengamot when the time comes, but that's not for another three years. Arithmancy, definitely, but otherwise I'm not sure."

"Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin are both accomplished artifcators, if you wish for tutorials from them while you are here. Otherwise there are many opportunities for work in Arithmancy in spell crafting," Severus suggested, as much as it pained him to admit that Black and Lupin were good at anything.

"They've been showing me a bit."

"Then that may be something to consider for your future. Do you have any questions for me?" Severus asked.

"I don't think so. It feels weird to be going back to Hogwarts. I know Professor Babbling won't be there anymore, or Professor Sinistra, or you. So that's going to be strange."

"It will be a change, but I'm sure you will weather it. It's alright to feel loss or grief for those who have passed."

"I'm not sure how I feel about it other than wishing they weren't dead," Malcolm said.

"That's alright too," Severus assured him, feeling a twinge in his chest. Too many had died and he had put off processing a lot of the deaths while he took care of Rachel and made sure she was settled. It felt uncomfortable to be reminded that Bathsheda and Aurora had died only two months ago. It felt simultaneously like a very long time ago and maybe no more than a week ago. "You can write to me if you wish to. I assume you are learning the Patronus charm from the DA as well?"

"I am, but all I've got is the mist right now. I've been working on it."

"Good, continue to work on it, it's a useful spell. Once you have a corporeal Patronus, you can message me if you need to." Severus stood. "I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you," Malcolm said. "What are you going to do now?"

"Brew and invent, mostly. I'll likely start taking apprentices in a few years." He was willing to wait for a bit before he began teaching again.

"That's what you want to do?"

"Yes, most definitely."

"Then I wish you luck too," Malcolm said, looking up at Severus.

"Thank you," Severus said. He excused himself and left Headquarters, exhaling when he returned to his own home. He still felt a great deal of responsibility for some of his students. Somehow he didn't expect that to pass with time.

The sitting room was quiet except for the last of the movie playing on the television. Millie, Theo, and Ginny were on one of the sofas, with Midnight draped across the back of the sofa. Hermione, Neville, and Draco were on the other sofa, with Crookshanks curled up on Hermione's lap. Luna and Rachel were on cushions on the floor in front of Hermione and Draco. They had bowls of popcorn and boxes of muggles sweets, which Hermione said would make the experience more authentic.

Feverfew was sitting intently next to Rachel, her gaze focused on the television screen. Rachel suspected she was actually watching the movie. She'd tried to leave Feverfew in her bedroom, wanting to give her more time to adjust to the house, but she'd darted out when Rachel had come down for dinner. Rachel had let her and watched as the cats all examined each other and apparently decided they were fine with the newcomer. When Rachel had taken a seat on the cushion, Feverfew had strode over and sat down next to her, looking over the room with a curious but reserved look. Rachel was beginning to think that she'd gotten herself a very strong willed cat that might be more than half kneazle.

The end credits began to play and Hermione turned off the tape they'd rented and the sounds from the vcr indicated it was being rewound. "Well, what do you think? That was the first in the Star Wars trilogy, so there's more to come."

"Muggles can't actually do that, right?" Neville asked.

"No, pretty much none of it, it's all fiction," Hermione said, without asking what specifically Neville was asking about.

"Why was the man breathing like that?" Ginny asked.

"Darth Vader is in a special suit because he was badly hurt and it's keeping him alive and breathing for him. Muggles actually do have machines that will breathe for people while they heal, but they don't work like that," Hermione explained.

"And they just used cameras? But some of that stuff muggles can't do. Those places don't exist, do they?" Theo asked.

"Cameras and microphones and for some things, they made little models and filmed them really close, for others they built sets, like a set for a play, and filmed on that. None of it really exists."

"So for the aliens, they dressed people up in costumes and makeup and they have special masks so they look like aliens," Rachel added, which is about as much as she knew about it.

"What's the point?" Draco finally asked.

Hermione shrugged. "It's just for fun. It's like reading a fiction book or seeing a play. It's just there to tell us a story. It will make more sense when you've seen the other two movies. My dad says there's a new Star Wars movie coming out next year, we should go see it in the cinema when it comes out."

"I'd like to do that," Luna said. "What other movies are there?"

"Tons and tons," Rachel said. "More than any person could watch in a lifetime even if all they did was watch movies."

"There's lots of different ones. When we're done with Star Wars, maybe we'll try something a little closer to home. Do you have any suggestions, Rachel?" Hermione asked.

Rachel shook her head. "The only movies I've really seen are kids movies."

"Kids movies might not be a bad idea, Star Wars may have been a bit much for the first time," Hermione said.

"You don't need to dumb it down for us, we've got it," Draco said.

"For the most part, at least," Ginny said. She sighed. "I can't believe we're going back to Hogwarts on Tuesday. This summer went so fast."

Rachel wasn't sure about that. The last month in particular felt like she'd been everywhere doing things.

"It will be alright. You've still got your two way books and we'll write to you all the time and tell you what we're learning in our Masteries. And I'm sure Rachel, Neville, and Draco will fill you in all about the Wizengamot," Hermione said.

"There's nothing to fill you in on, it's either boring or awful," Draco said.

Rachel couldn't help but agree. The meetings were kind of boring and the trials were pretty awful. She'd be glad when the trials were done.

"You can tell them about the aurors and the spells you're learning there then," Hermione said, undeterred.

"We'll miss all of you. You're coming to Hogsmeade, right? They should be letting us back into Hogsmeade now that the war is over, I think," Luna asked.

"We'll be there," Theo promised. "I don't see why Professor Dumbledore wouldn't allow Hogsmeade weekends again. The remaining Death Eaters would be crazy to attack Hogsmeade right now and I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will ask for MLE presence for the time being."

Rachel wasn't looking forward to returning to Hogsmeade, but she'd do it if it meant seeing Ginny and Luna.

"I can't believe our Masteries are starting so soon," Hermione said, looking torn between excitement and nerves.

"I'm ready for mine to start," Theo said. "I'm looking forward to it."

"I am too, for the most part," Millie said. "I'm hoping it will go well. But it's still better than having seven classes."

Ginny moaned. "I can't wait. I wish I could have taken my NEWTs two months ago."

"You're going to do great on your NEWTs, you are super prepared," Hermione reminded her. "You've got the study guides we gave you?"

"Yes, already packed. And the study plan. And the DA curriculum," Ginny said and then covered a yawn.

Rachel checked her watch and discovered it was past eleven. "I think it might be bedtime."

"Maybe for me too," Millie said, standing up and watching as Midnight jumped down from the back of the sofa. Midnight went over to Feverfew and they both sniffed each other for a moment. "They seem to get along alright."

"They do," Rachel said, relieved that was the case. "Do you two have everything you need for tonight?" she asked Ginny and Luna.

"We do," Luna said.

"We'll be fine," Ginny agreed.

"Goodnight," Rachel said, and the group chorused goodnight at each other as several of them made to leave the sitting room.

Feverfew walked alongside Rachel and they wound up back in Rachel's bedroom.

"Do you want the door open or shut?" Rachel asked Feverfew. She'd been sleeping with it cracked open so that Midnight and Crookshanks could come and go as they pleased.

Feverfew looked up at her, waiting.

"Closed?"

Feverfew continued to stare.

"Open?"

Feverfew meowed and jumped up on the bed.

"Open then," Rachel said, getting the idea. She'd often gotten the impression from Midnight that she understood most of what they said, but with Feverfew it was even more direct. "At least you won't have any trouble telling me what you want," Rachel said as she began to get ready for bed.

Ten minutes later she was laying on top of her blankets as it was a little warm, even with her window cracked open. Feverfew walked over and laid down next to Rachel, her back resting against Rachel's chest.

"Okay, goodnight to you," Rachel said, petting Feverfew's side.

Feverfew gave a short chirpy meow and laid her head down.

Rachel could work with that.

On Monday morning Rachel flooed to the auror offices with Draco. She wasn't fully sure what to expect, but she knew at least they wouldn't be facing Death Eaters today.

They gathered in the main area of the aurors offices as instructed, Ron making his way over to them. "What do you think?" Ron asked.

"Training, probably. More of the same of what we were doing with Kingsley and Tonks, but probably at a higher intensity," Draco said.

A moment later Miles joined them as well. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see you three made the cut. Not as many people here as I was expecting, but we're a bit early."

Rachel glanced around at the people who were gathering. There were maybe ten people, though she saw another two heading in their direction. All of them were taller than her, which shouldn't be a surprise as everyone Rachel had met as an adult was taller than her. Glancing over them, she thought most of them were in their early to mid-twenties, though it was hard to tell for a few of them.

Tonks, Kingsley, and three other aurors approached, looking over the group but not calling anyone to order just yet.

Rachel checked her watch and saw that they still had five minutes. She took a moment to consider if she was really ready for this. After seeing some of the people trying out, she thought her skills were at least close to the same level as everyone else. And she'd probably faced more Death Eaters than anyone here but the aurors and the MLE patrol. Not that she'd actually won those fights against the Death Eaters, but at least she knew exactly what she was up against. And the Dark Lord was gone. She thought that was the main thing to keep in mind. No one would be trying to capture her to deliver her to the Dark Lord anymore, they just wanted to kill her outright. That was a lot easier to deal with.

A few more people showed up and Rachel did another count and saw that they numbered sixteen. That meant about a third of the people from tryouts hadn't made it, which was interesting. She had kind of expected them to take anyone who was willing to sign up to fight Death Eaters.

"Alright," Kingsley said and what little chatter there was stopped. "You're here because you showed that you have the preliminary skills to do what it takes to become an auror. Today we're dividing into teams. Each team will have eight new members and two aurors assigned to the team. My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt, and I'll be running the teams. Your direct report is to the aurors on your team, and then to me. You'll be working as partners, which is how aurors traditionally work. Our goal is to respond to Death Eater attacks and to capture the remaining Death Eaters who are still at large. We'll introduce you to who we're looking for a little later today. To my right you see Auror Tonks and Auror Johansen. They'll be leading team alpha. To my left are Auror Williamson and Auror Jenkins, they'll be leading team beta. Let's start by breaking you into teams and then I'm assigning partners."

Rachel listened while they were broken into teams. She was glad to hear she was on the same team as Draco, Ron, and Miles. Accompanying them were Willis, Roberts, Taylor, and Collins. Draco and Ron were assigned to be partners together, which would be interesting. They had gotten along fairly well during the DA and during their training from Kingsley and Tonks, but they still weren't exactly close friends. Miles was assigned to the girl with short brown hair whose last name was Collins. Rachel was assigned to Tonks, which she thought wasn't so bad and was probably a security measure as she would be a rather direct target for the Death Eaters. Jasmine Taylor was assigned to Auror Johansen. Willis and Roberts were paired together.

After this they were led into what looked like a classroom and given mounds of paperwork to read and sign, including their contracts, auror policies, and other guidelines that they needed to know. Rachel was glad she'd taken to carrying around a charmed quill with her.

Then Kingsley set up a projector and they began learning about the Death Eaters who were still at large. Rachel watched the pictures and imagined coming face to face with Barty Crouch Junior or Bellatrix Lestrange. The question of could she really do this surfaced again. Thanks to her training, she was past the stage of freezing in combat. But that was really only the start. She supposed she needed to remind herself that she wasn't doing this alone and that she would have all of these people at her back and she'd get to know them in time. And she'd have Tonks by her side, and Draco and Ron and Miles would be there too and she already trusted them.

They were dismissed for the day around lunch time after being given three sets of dark blue MLE robes. Rachel knew she was going to have a challenge to tailor them to her size once she got home. They were clearly made for the taller men.

"Not too bad," Miles said as they gathered on their way to the floo. "What do you think?"

"A bit weird to see my aunt as the MLE's most wanted," Draco said.

"Your aunt?" Ron asked.

"Bellatrix is my mother's older sister," Draco explained, looking a bit grim.

"Awkward," Miles said. "Are you going to be able to fight her if we come across her?"

"Definitely," Draco said. "That's not a problem."

Rachel wondered if it should be a problem, but it probably wasn't her place to ask. Draco's feelings about his family were undoubtedly complicated.

They said goodbye to Ron and Miles and then flooed back home to find it nearly empty. Everyone but Millie had started their Masteries today and Millie started next Monday.

"How was it?" she asked. She was sitting on one of the sofas and had all three cats around her.

"Very much like school, if school was aimed at being told who we're hunting and under what circumstances we're allowed to kill people," Draco said.

"Kind of the opposite of Umbridge's lessons," Rachel said, though the idea that she might have to kill people was a little daunting. Kingsley had emphasized that they were aiming to capture, not kill, but there may be circumstances in which killing was necessary.

"Anything that's opposite of Umbridge has to be good," Millie said. "Want lunch?"

Feverfew meowed.

"Not you, you don't get lunch," Rachel told her.

Feverfew meowed again and both Millie and Rachel laughed.

"Would one of you mind helping me with these robes later today? I'm going to drown in them and I can't see where to hem them if I'm bending down."

"I can do that. Draco, you want help too?" Millie asked as she stood.

"Sure," Draco said. "It's never easy to tailor something you're wearing at the time and it saves us a trip to a shop."

"How were things here?" Rachel asked as they went into the kitchen.

"Fine. Very quiet. Weirdly quiet. I'll be glad when I start my Mastery, it's weird being here all by myself. I almost went and sat with Kreacher and Dobby for some company."

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind that," Rachel said.

Kreacher and Dobby appeared as if their names had summoned them.

"What does Miss want for lunch?" Kreacher asked.

"Just sandwiches or something is fine, we can make them," Rachel said.

"No, Miss. No, Miss. Miss sits," Kreacher said, using his hand to motion a chair out from the dining table for Rachel.

"Miss Rachel sits, Dobby will cook."

"Kreacher will cook for Miss."

Rachel restrained a sigh. "How about you work together to do what you want to do?" she suggested, feeling a bit as though she was supervising young children.

Kreacher and Dobby looked at each other with distaste.

"As Miss wishes," Kreacher finally said.

"Miss Rachel asks and Dobby will do."

Rachel sat and Millie sat next to her with an amused smile.

"What's it like to have the adoration of two House Elves?" Draco asked as he sat.

"It's fine," Rachel said, not wanting to say anything while Kreacher and Dobby could hear her. "We can work with this." And over time she would help the House Elves become a little less adoring and a little more independent about doing what they wanted to do. It could be a project.

On Wednesday afternoon Rachel dropped by Grimmauld Place after she finished with the aurors. They'd done two hours of discussion in a classroom and then two hours of mock battles in the training room that had the fake village. She had been again relieved to see that she was about on the same level as the other people on the team, the full aurors excepted.

She found Sirius and Remus in the kitchen just finishing with lunch. "Do you want me to knock or something so that you know that I'm here?"

"No, come by whenever. We're used to the foot traffic. How's the aurors?" Sirius asked.

"Oddly like school but without the homework assignments," she said, getting laughs from both of them.

"That would sure be a homework assignment. Bag two Death Eaters by our next class period and then share what spells you used. Bet you didn't give that as an assignment to your NEWT students, Moony."

"I think some of them might have preferred that assignment to the essays I set," Remus said in good humor.

Rachel smiled because she knew of several people who would rather engage in a fight than write another essay, especially in their NEWT years when it seemed like everything was essays.

"Draco getting on alright then?" Sirius asked.

"I think so. I don't think any of us are enjoying the trials, but as far as the auror stuff goes it's fine." They'd had two more trials yesterday and Rachel had left the Ministry feeling completely drained. She'd gone home, laid down in bed, and let Feverfew sit on her chest while holding onto her stuffed bunny until it was time for dinner.

"The trials are rough, but there is an end in sight, I promise," Sirius said.

"There is. They only have captured so many Death Eaters. I believe Sirius said they're looking to wrap up the trials in early November?" Remus asked as he finished clearing the table.

"That's what I've heard." November seemed both impossibly far away and way too close. "That's sort of why I'm here, actually."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked, coming to a stop and looking at her.

Rachel reminded herself that she was doing this for a reason and that Sirius didn't deserve to hear this for the first time in the middle of the Wizengamot. "Alfred Selwyn's trial is coming up and it sort of involves me. I thought you might want to know before we get to that point."

Sirius nodded slightly. "Are you ready to talk about it?"

"Trying to be. I need to be by the time the trial is here."

"You still have a little time if you're not ready to talk about it to us yet," Remus offered.

"I think now is about as ready as I'm going to be." Supposedly the more times she did this, the easier it was going to be, but she hadn't reached that point yet.

"Let's go in the sitting room. We only have a handful of people left upstairs and we dropped Malcolm off at Kings Cross this morning, so we should have privacy," Sirius said.

"Malcolm was alright to go back to Hogwarts?" she asked, wishing that she'd made time to see him before he'd had to go back.

"As ready as anyone ever is. He seemed to be doing alright. He's relaxed a little bit over the summer, which is good for him," Sirius said as they walked to the sitting room.

"I think he'll be alright. Hogwarts should be quieter now that the war is over," Remus said.

And now that Rachel wasn't attracting Death Eaters there. She hoped that everyone had an uneventful year at Hogwarts. She took a seat in one of the armchairs and Sirius and Remus sat down across from her on a sofa.

"Is there something in particular you want us to know about this?" Remus prompted when she didn't speak.

Rachel exhaled. "I'm not really sure how much of this is going to come up in the trial. I'm planning to speak, but I don't know what I'm going to say yet. I showed Madam Bones and Head Auror Robards my memory, so I'm not sure what they're going to say either."

"Might not hurt to ask them before the trial, see who is leading the testimony and what they're planning to say," Sirius suggested.

She nodded. It would be good to know that before she went into the courtroom. "I feel like you already know the basics. I was kept in a cell in the Malfoy's cellar for about a day and a half. When Lucius Malfoy came to get me, he brought me to their ballroom. The Dark Lord was there and maybe fifty Death Eaters. I wasn't given a chance to talk or do anything, really. I was going to try and bargain with the Dark Lord. I wanted to offer to him to get the prophecy so that he would have to take me to the Ministry."

"That was a good plan," Remus said. "I think he would have taken the bait."

"That would have been good, there would have been people in the Ministry who would have helped you," Sirius agreed with a nod.

"He didn't give me a chance to offer though. He didn't even ask me any questions. I would have told him pretty much anything, after the torture started," she admitted, feeling they should know this about her.

"Most people would. People like to think they can withstand torture, but most people can't and most of them don't have any idea what it's like to be held under the Cruciatus Curse," Sirius said.

"That's why torture is not seen as a reliable way to get information. People will say pretty much anything to make it stop. Doesn't matter if it's true or not," Remus said.

"I'm not even sure why the Dark Lord needs to torture people for information. He was a powerful legilimens, he could just take what he wanted from people's minds. But he didn't try to do that to me either."

"You-Know-Who just liked torture. If he just wanted information, he'd use legilimency and then imprison or kill the person. He likely believed you didn't have any information that was useful to him. You were only fifteen at the time," Sirius said.

"That's what Severus says. He says that the Dark Lord doesn't give anyone information unless they absolutely need it, so he didn't expect for Professor Dumbledore to have told me anything."

"That stands to reason with what we know about You-Know-Who," Remus agreed.

Rachel pressed her lips together as she searched for what else they needed to know. "I guess what is important to know for the trial is that Alfred Selwyn used the Cruciatus Curse on me. Along with most of the rest of the Death Eaters. The curse specialist I saw said that if they'd done it any other way, I would have had brain damage. Apparently multiple short bursts of the Cruciatus Curse doesn't work in the same way as a single long casting of it."

"It takes some time to build up as it goes through your system. It makes sense that your brain was mostly unaffected. Are you still having after effects?" Remus asked.

"Tremors, which will pretty much be forever. I can't play Chaser because I need both hands for my broom. My stamina has mostly returned, but that took the better part of two years to accomplish. There are a few spells I can't cast because of the tremors. And nightmares, of course." She thought that was pretty much a given.

Sirius nodded and brushed his hair away from his face. "What about your wounds?"

"Fully healed. I still have scars, but they don't hurt. I can put pressure on them and if I twist my torso I really only feel a small tug on them." Which was a relief. As much as she hadn't liked the curse specialist, she was grateful that he had given her the potions she needed in order to have healed as much as she had.

"Was it Selwyn who cast the Flaming Whip curse?" Sirius asked.

"No. That was Ignatius Nott."

They both looked at her for a long moment. "Does Theo know that?" Remus asked gently.

"He does. I told him because I was worried it might be revealed in the trial and I didn't want him learning that from the newspaper." And thankfully Theo hadn't been treating her any differently after learning that.

"That was a good idea. I'm certain Theo would have rather heard that from you. And I'm glad you're telling us this now. We both appreciate that," Sirius said.

"We do," Remus said. "We know it's not easy and that you've had a rough couple of years. I hope that things begin to settle down for you a little now."

Rachel hoped that too.

"Joining the aurors may not have been a step in the direction of a peaceful life though," Sirius said, still looking a little grim.

"It's temporary. I'm only doing it until the Death Eater threat is taken care of. I would rather bring the fight to them than wait for them to come for me."

"Just be careful, please. Being an auror is hardly a safe occupation at the best of times," Remus said.

"I will be. And Tonks is my partner on the team, so I think I'm in good shape there," she said.

Sirius' shoulders relaxed. "That's alright then. Tonks will take good care of you."

"Well, hopefully I'll be contributing to the team and not just being a liability," she said, hoping that everyone wouldn't think that she was being taken care of. She definitely did not need a babysitter.

"They wouldn't have assigned you to the team if they thought you were a liability. You have the skills for this," Remus said.

"You do, they wouldn't have taken you otherwise. What's up for the rest of your day? Are you staying for a while?" Sirius asked.

Rachel checked her watch. "Unfortunately not. I have a Quidditch practice to get to."

"How is that going? Wowing them with your skills?" Sirius asked, managing a smile.

"I don't know about that, but I think it's going alright. Right now we're just doing training, but I think we have a mock game between the team and the reserve team coming up. We'll see if me beating Glynnis to the Snitch was just a fluke."

"I'll bet it wasn't," Remus said.

"Absolutely. You'll be on the national team before you know it," Sirius said, smiling in earnest now.

"I think I'm just sticking to the league. I don't want to play on the national team, those games are violent," she said, remembering how bloody the World Cup had been.

"They are, a bit. I'm sure Severus must be relieved you don't have aspirations for the national team," Remus said, now looking a little amused.

"I don't think Severus will be relieved until I finish with the aurors and am safely tucked away in a potions lab."

"That's probably true," Sirius said. "You kids all coming over for dinner sometime soon?"

"I'll check with everyone and see what I can arrange. Probably a Saturday now that everyone has started their masteries," Rachel said as she stood.

"That's fine with us, just let us know," Remus said. "We do appreciate you coming by. We still want to be a part of your life."

"I want that too. And I'll try to be by more often, this last month has just been insane," Rachel said. Now that she had things sorted out, she thought her schedule would be a bit more predictable.

"Come here then," Sirius said as he stood.

Rachel went over and gave him a hug.

"Let us know if there's something we can help with," he said when he released her.

"I will. I love you both," she said, feeling herself flush.

"We love you too, Rachel," Remus said, smiling fondly at her.

"We do. Now go kick some ass," Sirius said.

"Will do," Rachel said. "I'll let you know about dinner."

They escorted her to the front door and Rachel apparated back home to get her broomstick. That hadn't gone badly. In fact, she thought it had gone pretty well. If only everyone reacted like that.

Kreacher and Dobby served breakfast similar to how it was served at Hogwarts, with platters of food in the center of the table that they could each take from rather than trying to cook a separate meal for each of them. They'd wound up with two subscriptions to the Daily Prophet to give all of them a chance to see the paper before they began their days and Rachel did a quick check of the front page as she sat down.

Three were dead in a Death Eater attack in Birmingham. The aurors hadn't arrived until someone had gone looking for a colleague yesterday morning and found the family dead. The family killed was a half-blood, a muggleborn, and their ten year old daughter. The article indicated they did not know why this family was targeted specifically.

Rachel frowned down at the paper. How were they supposed to capture the Death Eaters if they didn't know where they would be? Maybe the Death Eaters were avoiding higher targets because they knew the aurors would come once the wards were disrupted?

"What today?" Draco asked as he came into the kitchen, already in his MLE robes.

"Death Eater attack, three dead," Rachel said, passing him the front page and then turning to the sports section to see if there were any Quidditch updates. The League cup would be coming to a close soon. Rachel was mildly interested in seeing the final game, but she wasn't at all interested in going out in a crowd, even in a disguise. There was an article on broom racing and Rachel wondered how people got into that. It sounded kind of fun.

Hermione and Theo came downstairs next, both dressed for attending their masteries. Hermione picked up the second paper and began serving herself while she skimmed the front page.

"Good morning. Bad news in the paper?" Theo asked as he sat down.

"Death Eater attack, three dead," Draco said, setting aside the paper. "Kingsley said that our teams aren't going to be on call for another month while we finish procedure and tactics training."

"Even if we were on call, how could we have stopped that? No one knew they were dead until the next morning," Rachel pointed out.

"I think it's just like the war in that some of these attacks you won't be able to stop. You can't show up if people aren't asking for help," Theo said, picking up the paper that Draco had put down.

"Which begs the question, why didn't they ask for help?" Hermione said, putting down the newspaper to look at them. "As far as we know casting the Dark Mark over their houses doesn't interrupt the floo. Why didn't they floo the MLE when they felt their wards being attacked?"

The table was quiet as they considered this. Rachel couldn't see any good reason that they shouldn't have rushed to the floo as soon as they felt their wards under attack and realized they couldn't apparate out. "Maybe the Death Eaters took down their wards without them noticing? In the night, while they were asleep?" she suggested, remembering how no one had known her relatives were under attack, even with the wards.

"That's not an easy thing to do. If it were, wards would be mostly useless," Theo said.

"But we know they've done it before," she pointed out. "Professor Dumbledore had wards on my aunt and uncle's home, and he wasn't alerted when the Dark Lord showed up."

"The Dark Lord is gone now. If he wasn't the one doing it, that means there is a Death Eater out there that can, and that's a major problem," Draco said.

"It is, but I'm not sure what we do about it," Hermione said, frowning down at the paper.

Millie and Neville showed up and took their places. Somehow they'd all come to an unspoken agreement about where everyone sat at the table.

"What now?" Millie asked as she looked at them.

"Death Eater attack, three dead, we think one of the Death Eaters might be able to dismantle wards," Theo summarized.

"But they can't do anything here, because of the Fidelius charm, right?" Neville checked, his eyes wide.

"I think we're fine under the Fidelius charm. Severus and Sirius' houses were under the Fidelius charm and they were fine throughout the war. I think we're about as safe as we can get, under the circumstances," Rachel said.

"There's no way Professor Snape would have let all of us live here if he didn't believe it was safe," Theo agreed.

"Why don't more people use the Fidelius charm?" Hermione asked. "It seems like an enormous advantage."

"It is, but there are a lot of drawbacks to it. The biggest three are that it's difficult to cast, not many people know how to cast it, and you have to trust someone implicitly who isn't being guarded by the secret. You can't just hire someone to cast the Fidelius charm for you, the secret keeper has to be strong enough to cast it and taught how to cast it," Theo explained.

"Is it one of those things like the Patronus where more people could do it if they really put the effort into it?" Rachel asked.

"I think the Patronus isn't necessarily a good example of that. There are lots of spells that really do take a certain amount of magical strength to cast. More people could probably do it if they were taught it, but there's a baseline of ability and strength required," Neville said, getting nods from Theo and Draco.

"There are certain guidemarks of how powerful someone is based on what they can cast, but it's not really an exact measurement. Being able to cast powerful spells is part of it or being able to channel a good amount of magic. Being adept in several areas of magic rather limiting yourself to a single focus. Having certain magical skills, such as the animagus transformation, being a metamorphmagus, mind magic, and Rachel's Parseltongue is a less common example. And the two big ones following that are skill with wandless magic and elemental magic," Draco explained.

Theo was nodding along. "All of us fall into the middle to upper range of magical ability and strength. Part of that is just where we naturally are, and part of it is because we pushed ourselves to gain some of those skills early on."

"I'd like to learn some wandless magic," Rachel said. "Did we ever find a book for that?"

"I have one. It's a bit harder than it seems. I haven't had much luck with it yet, but I haven't put forth a concerted effort on it either," Hermione said. "That can be our next project. If we put aside thirty minutes in the evening to practice, we should have a couple of spells within the next year."

"It wouldn't be a bad thing to have, just for a few simple things," Neville said.

"It's probably worth doing," Theo said with a nod, looking slightly resigned.

"I'll pass around the book then and make some notes in our two-way book so that Ginny and Luna can follow along," Hermione said.

Rachel checked the time and realized she needed to eat breakfast if she was actually going to eat before they needed to be at the MLE. She quickly served herself some porridge and set to eating as she went over all the things she needed to do. She had MLE practice this morning, and then therapy with Torey in the afternoon. Tomorrow she had more Death Eater trials and she'd made arrangements to speak with Professor Dumbledore afterward in his office. Then she had Quidditch practice if she could make it on time, which hopefully the trials wouldn't run that long into the afternoon. Then she had Saturday and Sunday off, which mostly meant she had time to work on other projects that she couldn't get to during the week.

She wasn't sure why Severus had been so fussed about her schedule - compared to her last four years at Hogwarts, this was downright leisurely.

After breakfast she went upstairs to get her MLE robes on and patted down her pockets to make sure she had everything she needed. She was wearing trousers under her robes because trying to fight in a dress or skirt was ridiculous. She supposed that's why the MLE favored open robes while the Wizengamot and other formal robes she'd seen were closed.

Feverfew meowed and Rachel went to her bed and gently petted her. "I'm sorry I'm gone so much. I'll be back this afternoon and we can spend some time together. Millie will still be here today, so she's available if you need someone."

Feverfew began to purr and Rachel took an extra minute to scratch her between her ears and around the ruff of her neck.

Back downstairs she found her friends flooing out to their masteries and waited with Draco. "Ministry, aurors offices," he said after throwing in the floo powder.

Auror Jenkins was manning the floo today and he nodded to them as they passed through.

They gathered around the auror desks, everyone looking much more official in MLE robes.

"Rachel."

She turned and found Cedric approaching. "Hi Cedric."

"It's Diggory, here, I'm afraid. The MLE is big on the last names thing. So rumor is true, you're joining the aurors. I have to admit, I didn't see that coming," Cedric said.

"I didn't either. But it seemed important and I'm only here until we've caught the Death Eaters. How are you?" she asked.

"Busy. Very busy. We've been pulling double shifts these past two months. Some of the pressure will be off after the trials, but we badly need people. Having the two on call teams will help us a lot once you're trained up," Cedric said. "I've actually got to go, but I just wanted to check on you."

"I'm fine. Hopefully I'll see you around," Rachel said.

"You will. I'll be here," Cedric said before hurrying away.

"I always wondered about you and Cedric," Draco said.

"About me and Cedric?" Rachel asked in disbelief. "What about me and Cedric?"

"He's been interested in you since our third year. He saved your life. And then you two were teaming up during the Tournament, even though you were competing with each other. He's always going up to you in the Great Hall," Draco listed.

"I barely ever saw Cedric in our third year. Cedric and I were passing information about the Tournament to each other trying to keep all of us alive. And I think he kind of pities me and feels he has to check on me," Rachel said, though she wasn't sure it was pity that Cedric felt for her. It seemed more like the kind of protectiveness that Severus and Sirius had for her. She expected it might be what it would be like to have an older brother. "Besides, he's been with Cho forever."

"And you're not interested in Cedric?" Draco asked.

"Not in the slightest. Why? Are you?" she asked, mostly to get the conversation off herself.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Cedric is not my type."

"Alright, gather up," Kingsley called.

They filed into the classroom and took seats in their teams. There was already a little friendly competition between the teams to see who could come out best during training.

"I'll assume you all saw the newspaper this morning, but in case you haven't, three were killed in Birmingham. Aurors Walch and Weir arrived on scene late yesterday morning when we received a report of their deaths. An examination found the family members dead in their bedrooms. The wards were down," Kingsley said, turning on his projector. "Today we're going to talk about wards and we're going to talk about Augustus Rookwood, who we suspect is responsible for the problem with the wards. Take notes if you need them."

Rachel settled in, hoping that the aurors had a better idea what to do about this problem than she did.

It was two o'clock in the afternoon on Friday when they finished with the last trial of the day and Rachel felt both weary and antsy as she climbed back up the stairs with Draco and Neville.

"You've got Quidditch practice next?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, but not for an hour. I need to meet with Professor Dumbledore first," Rachel said.

"You'll be home for dinner?" Draco checked.

"Should be. Probably no later than six thirty or seven." They typically spent three hours in the air and then another half an hour or so talking about plays and strategies. Mostly Rachel just found it nice to get up in the air three times a week and she was slowly getting to know her new team. Now that they'd had some time to adjust to her, they simply treated her as just another team member, which was a relief. She was hoping that would eventually happen in the aurors and the Wizengamot too, as she was still getting a lot of gawky looks.

"What do we want to do this weekend?" Neville asked. "It feels strange not studying all the time. I keep expecting homework or a quiz."

Rachel shrugged. "I'm open to almost anything. I agree with you though, it's weird not spending our weekends studying or having lessons and activities."

"Weird or good?" Draco asked.

"Both," Rachel and Neville said at the same time and then laughed.

Rachel felt something in her ease. She thought she was getting better at putting away what she heard at the trials instead of thinking about it for hours, but they still seemed to have an effect on her nightmares. She'd already begun an independent study on sleeping potions, wanting to get the brunt of the reading and research out of the way so she could use the time in her mastery to actually attempt to brew a better sleeping potion. Just like in school she had a large number of projects and responsibilities she was balancing, but the fact that she wasn't being graded on them or having a steady stream of deadlines reduced the pressure by a lot.

She was also starting to wonder if part of her anxiety had just been being trapped in Hogwarts with potential enemies for ten months out of the year. She was still experiencing anxiety, but mostly it was anxiety provoked by specific situations rather than the low grade buzz of constant anxiety that she'd been living with for years now.

"I'm just glad no one is assigning us homework," Draco said.

"Me too," Neville said. "There's a lot of work in my mastery, but at the end of the day I can come home and not have to study some more."

Rachel felt she was essentially assigning herself homework, but she was okay with that. She could move at her own pace and not worry about keeping up with a set curriculum. They reached the Wizengamot chambers after almost everyone else, as the lift was much faster than the stairs even though it was ferrying nearly sixty people back up to the chamber.

"We'll see you at home in a bit then," Neville said.

"See you there," Rachel said as they broke off to go to their own offices to change.

Rachel found Booker waiting for her in her office. She didn't think she could manage all of her Wizengamot responsibilities without him. In fact, he was doing the brunt of the work at the moment.

"Anything I should know?" he asked, following Rachel into her private office.

"That somehow Death Eaters are universally horrible people?" Rachel asked, shivering as she remembered what she'd heard that day. She pulled her Wizengamot robes over her head, hung them up, and then pulled on her slightly more casual light lavender robes over her grey dress.

"I think it's important to remember that there was a sort of symbiosis to how the Death Eaters were chosen. Some of them couldn't care less about the pureblood agenda, they simply enjoy hurting people. Others believe all the pureblood propaganda and believe that the acts they are doing furthered their cause. All of them were chosen because they were willing to do those things, You-Know-Who would not have allowed for anything less. However, the vast majority of people who supported You-Know-Who were not active Death Eaters," Booker said.

Rachel thought about Severus and his willingness to do those things. There was a part of her that understood entirely, because she understood being willing to do almost anything to find safety and people who would support her. And there was a part of her that couldn't understand at all because she thought she would absolutely die of guilt if she hurt someone purposefully.

"The trials will come to an end," Booker assured her when she didn't answer. "The task right now is to weather them while standing to your convictions."

There was no problem there. She wasn't finding it difficult in the slightest to vote these people guilty after hearing what they'd done. She was still worried about the Azkaban aspect, but she was planning on fixing that. Hopefully none of them would die in Azkaban while she was fixing it.

"I believe you have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore next on your schedule," Booker said. "And at some point in the coming week we should meet to go through the things we've received that you should look at before the next Wizengamot meeting."

"Wednesday after I'm done with the aurors?" she asked, going through her upcoming schedule.

"That would be fine, you should plan for about two to three hours," he said, making a note. "Do you need an escort to Professor Dumbledore's office?"

"No, I can get there. Anything else?" she checked, making sure she had a quill in her robe pocket in case she needed it.

"Not at this time," Booker said. "Did you wish to meet with me again after you speak with Professor Dumbledore?"

"No, it should be fine, we're discussing MLE stuff. I'll see you Tuesday," Rachel said, making her way to the doors.

"I'm available if you need me in the meantime," Booker told her.

"Thanks. Bye Monty," Rachel called.

"Take care of yourself," Monty called after her. "Give Dumbledore a kick in the robes for me."

Rachel rolled her eyes and left her office. Sometimes she felt she was the only person in her life who still managed to get along with Professor Dumbledore, though Hermione hadn't said no when Rachel had arranged for her to speak with him about her career path as a curse specialist.

She walked down the slowly curving hallway until she arrived at Professor Dumbledore's office and knocked. A moment later the door opened and she found herself face to face with Professor Dumbledore for the first time since the memorial this summer.

"Hello, sir," Rachel said, suddenly at a loss for words.

"No more 'sir'. Please, call me Albus when we're in private. Come on in, Rachel. How are you?" Professor Dumbledore said.

"I'm well enough, how are you?" Rachel asked, uncertain if she could actually call Professor Dumbledore 'Albus'. She found his office to be roughly the same as hers with different furnishing.

"Busy, but that is the usual state of affairs for me, as I hear it is for you. The aurors, Rachel?"

Rachel felt herself blush. "It felt like the right thing to do."

"Please, take a seat," he said, gesturing to a sofa and carefully maneuvering himself into a nearby chair.

Rachel found herself looking up at the portrait in Professor Dumbledore's office and had the odd realization that she recognized him. "Is that Sir Oliver Cromwell?"

"Yes, indeed. I have found him to be a useful wartime companion," Professor Dumbledore said.

"At your service, young lady. I hear you achieved quite a victory against the enemies of Britain and then immediately signed up to take the fight to them. Commendations," Sir Cromwell said, bowing slightly in her direction.

"Thank you," Rachel said, not wanting to get into precisely what she had and had not done with a portrait. "I didn't know you were a wizard."

"The English Civil War affected both magical people and muggles and Oliver led the fight on both fronts. We have him to thank for a great deal of what our country is today," Professor Dumbledore said. "If you don't mind, Oliver, Rachel and I would like to have a private conversation."

"Of course, secrets of the British empire must be maintained. Good day to you," Sir Cromwell said before leaving his frame.

"Uh, he knows we're not exactly an empire anymore, right?" Rachel checked.

"I believe Oliver lives in a careful state of self delusion. It's best not to rattle him," Professor Dumbledore said with an amused twinkle in his eye. "Now, I believed you wished to speak to me about something."

"A few things actually. The first is, do you want your phoenix pendant back? You're not exactly responsible for me any more," Rachel checked, having been meaning to do this for over a month now.

"No, please keep it. I would like you to have an extra avenue of assistance if you are attacked and isolated. I trust that you will know when to use it," Professor Dumbledore said.

"Thank you," Rachel said, hoping that she would not be in a situation where she needed to use it. "There is something I'd like to speak with you about."

Professor Dumbledore nodded, waiting while she gathered herself.

"It's about the upcoming trial for Alfred Selwyn. I…I'm the reason he was arrested."

"Alfred Selwyn was in Malfoy Manor that night?" he checked, already seeming to know.

"Yes. I showed my memory to Madam Bones and Head Auror Robards and they agreed to arrest him. They aren't certain if he'll be found guilty. He's been memory charmed to say he was under the Imperius Curse. I know he wasn't, because he's Marked and he showed up in the graveyard," Rachel said, wondering if she needed to tell Professor Dumbledore exactly what Selwyn had done, or if he already knew that too.

"I am not certain myself if he will be found guilty. There is a substantial advantage for a number of people to not vote against him. I think we already know for certain who will absolutely not vote against him: Macnair, Turner, Yaxley and the rest of their faction. That's ten votes. I will vote against him, as will those who follow me, Amelia, and Rufus. I presume Draco and Neville will vote with you?"

"For this they will at least." She suspected that she and Draco might wind up disagreeing on some things in the Wizengamot.

"That gives us thirty two votes. You will need the guilds if you want another nine votes to secure a conviction. That means speaking with Ethan Davies, which I can do as well, but he will be more receptive to you. Don't meet him here at the Ministry. Arrange to visit his home so that his wife is there," Professor Dumbledore suggested.

"How do I do that?" Rachel asked, feeling uncomfortable with inviting herself to someone's home.

"Have your clerk tell Ethan's clerk that you'd like to have afternoon tea with him, he'll get the message."

Rachel nodded. She could do that. "Do you really think he can convince the rest of the guilds if it means the Selwyn family will act against them?"

"The Selwyn family cannot act against the guilds united, they'd lose some of their standing and their influence and they won't be willing to trade that for the life of one family member. Alfred is important to them, but Annette has at least as much power socially. If the guilds vote together, they will not see repercussions and Ethan will understand that and he will help the others see that as well. Once he convinces Janice, the rest of the guilds will fall in line. Ethan is a good man, he will listen to you. Just be honest with him."

She was reluctant to do this, she didn't like all of these political behind the scenes arrangements, it felt underhanded to her. But getting Selwyn convicted was important enough that she would do it. "Alright. Thank you. I appreciate that you're willing to help the people who follow you to vote against Selwyn."

"They all understand how important this is. We cannot have a Death Eater sitting on the Wizengamot. We cannot continue with the same kinds of divisions that stymied us during the war," he said, bowing his head.

Rachel could agree with that at least. The Wizengamot had been utterly useless for most of the war.

"May I ask you a question, Rachel?"

"Yes, please do," she said, uncertain what Professor Dumbledore would want from her.

"What do you plan to do while you are on the Wizengamot? Are there proposals that you are considering advancing?"

"I'd like to do something about Azkaban. That's sort of the top of my list. Then House Elf rights and werewolf rights. I'm sure there are other things that will come up too."

"You've set a difficult path for yourself. What is it that you'd like to do about Azkaban?" he asked, his gaze intent on her.

"Stop it. Stop sending people there. Get the people who are in there out. Not to go free. But in another prison where they aren't being tortured and killed. I know it's going to be unpopular, but I really feel it's the right thing to do. I'm still sort of figuring out the first steps. My clerk is helping me with research," she explained.

"You'll want to do the preliminary groundwork now before you bring your proposal to the Wizengamot. And if you want this to advance anywhere you'll need Madam Bones' support. Presuming you can propose an alternative to Azkaban that has the same level of security, you will have my support as well. I have long held that exposing people to Dementors is unethical."

"I'm not entirely sure where to begin. I don't know how to find out more about prisons, there don't seem to be any books on them." Both of the bookshops she'd written to had written back to say they didn't have any non-fiction books about prisons.

"I think you will want to begin by visiting Azkaban, so that you can give a first hand account to the Wizengamot. You may want to speak with Sirius as well as I suspect he will be eager to speak for your proposal. I would also suggest traveling and visiting other prisons, so that you can learn how those prisons are run. You'll want Madam Bones' help for both of those to make arrangements, but prepare your basic arguments before you visit her with the project," Professor Dumbledore advised.

"Thank you," she said, knowing that she was going to go back to her office to make some notes as soon as she was done with this conversation. "May I ask a question that I'm not sure that you'll want to answer?" she asked, knowing the topic of Grindelwald was sensitive for him.

"I can't imagine what that might be, but yes, you may ask," he said, seeming slightly surprised.

"How is Grindelwald kept in Nurmengard when he's so powerful?"

"Ah. Grindelwald is bound there by his own wards and it is not a practical application for other prisons."

"He's imprisoned himself?" she asked, not sure she understood.

"Grindelwald drew more and more power from the earth as the war went on, he is well practiced at elemental magic, but always held an affinity for earth magic. As he built Nurmengard he drew power from there, adding more wards to secure it, and drawing more power in return. By the end of the war, Grindelwald could not travel more than ten kilometers from Nurmengard and rarely left the castle at all. After his defeat, he was relying on the power from Nurmengard to keep him alive. He would die if he left Nurmengard now."

Rachel sat and thought about Grindelwald and the Dark Lord. "People do some really extreme things to get power."

"For those who see power as the answer to every problem, they will do anything to get more of it."

"I can see power being useful, but it really just depends on what you do with it. It seems like the people who really want to gain this sort of power want to hurt people," she said as she tried to put together what she knew about people who had gained that sort of power.

"There are many different kinds of power and people should be careful about what they wish for when they wish for power. There are certain types of power we all need, such as the ability to keep ourselves safe and cared for. I think there is also nothing wrong with people exercising their magical power, as we still need great feats of ability and strength in this day and age. It's when people start seeing other people as a means to an end that we should be concerned," he said, nodding slightly.

Rachel was pretty sure Severus thought of Professor Dumbledore that way, but Rachel didn't feel that Professor Dumbledore had done anything but try to win the war with as little bloodshed as possible. And yet, there had still been a lot of bloodshed. "Is everything alright at Hogwarts?"

"We still have a fairly small student body at the moment. Some of the children who did not return last year have returned, but a number have not. Many of our muggleborn students are still abroad. It took a fair amount of effort to locate professors to replace those we lost, but I'm satisfied with our new appointments."

"Gemma is doing okay as the Defense professor?" she checked, deciding she wanted to write Gemma and see how she was doing for herself.

"Yes, Gemma is fine, though busy with her new Head of House responsibilities. The Defense position seems to have returned to normal," he said, addressing the question she was really asking.

That was a relief. Even though there was no longer a war, Rachel was convinced that students needed the ability to defend themselves. There would always be people like the Death Eaters, even if they weren't at war.

"Please let me know if there's anything I can do to support you in the Wizengamot. I anticipate you will have a great following of your own and that you're laying the first steps now. I look forward to seeing where you lead us," Professor Dumbledore said after a moment.

"Thank you," Rachel said, uncertain that she wanted to lead anyone anywhere. "And thank you for your time and advice, I know you're very busy."

"As are you. I'll leave you to your day," he said as he stood.

Rachel stood as well, wishing she knew what to say. "Good luck with everything."

"You as well, Rachel. You as well."

Rachel left, her mind scrambling to keep track of everything she'd been told. She had a few minutes to write notes and then she had to get to Quidditch practice. At least now she knew what her next steps were.