"Last item for the day," Shacklebolt said, regaining their attention. It was a mid-June Friday and everyone was eager to be done for the week. "I know you've been expecting this for some time, but as of next Monday we are officially disbanding the teams."
"What happens to us?" Angela asked as she raised her hand.
"Everyone here has an open invitation to either join the Auror Training Program or the MLE Patrol. We'll be meeting with you one on one so we can discuss which option is best for you. This past year will count as your first year in the Auror Training Program, so you would have two more years of the program before you officially join the aurors," Shacklebolt explained. "Meetings will take place next week with Madam Bones and Head Auror Robards. You'll receive a notice about what time to be there."
Rachel glanced around the classroom, wondering what everyone else was planning to do. She knew Miles and Angela had specifically joined the team from the MLE Patrol with hopes of being allowed to join the aurors.
"You're dismissed for the day. Good work everyone," Shacklebolt said as he left the podium.
"What is everyone going to do?" Emelia asked as the team turned to each other.
"I'm joining the training program," Ron said.
"Me too," Miles said with a nod.
"I'm considering the MLE Patrol," Jasmine said. "I'm not sure the aurors are the right fit for me."
"You can always try the training program and transfer to the patrol later if you don't like it," Miles pointed out. "It's much harder to do it the other way."
"I suppose," Jasmine said, looking thoughtful.
"What about you?" Miles asked Ralph.
"Training program," Ralph said. "That's why I joined the team in the first place."
"Draco?" Emelia asked.
Draco hesitated, looking over all of them with a conflicted expression. "I'm joining the training program. I'm not sure I'll stay, but I'll at least try it."
Rachel was mildly surprised to hear him say that. After all of his indecision she'd almost expected him to resign.
"Rachel?" Miles asked.
"Neither. I'm going to do a Potions Mastery," she said.
"You must be one of those people who actually liked Potions in school," Ralph said.
"Rachel and I were both on the winning team of the Potions Championship when we were sixth years. She's a very talented brewer. She invented two modified potions just before our seventh year," Draco said.
Rachel flushed. "I just think Potions is an interesting subject. There's a lot that can be done with it and there are still a ton of things that need to be researched."
"Better you than me," Emelia said.
"I didn't even make it into NEWT Potions," Miles said with a rueful grin. "We should go out as a team to celebrate. Does tomorrow evening work for everyone?"
They agreed that it did, and even though Rachel was nervous about it, she agreed as well. She supposed the best time to prove that she could go safely out in public was when she was surrounded by aurors.
People began to disperse and Rachel left with Tonks and Draco in the direction of the Wizengamot chambers.
"I heard you're planning on staying?" Tonks asked Draco.
"Yes. I'd rather do the training program than a mastery. Besides, I like the team and I like actually doing something," Draco said.
"Some of being an auror is grunt work, you know. Guard this place or this person, walk with the Minister somewhere, go investigate a noise on a call from a panicked Wizengamot member in the middle of the night."
Draco shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure how that's going to play out when I'm a Wizengamot member."
"I'm not sure either. Madam Bones is the only other person in the MLE on the Wizengamot and she was not doing field work by the time she ran for a seat on the Wizengamot. I know they debated long and hard before they let you and Rachel join the team at all," Tonks said.
"Did they?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, you both scare the hell out of them," Tonks said, shaking her head. "The Minister and Madam Bones will both be glad when you're safely tucked away in your mastery."
"I think it will work out," Draco said. "And through the time you've spent with Rachel, I've come to view guard duty a little differently. Before all of this, I would have said it was boring and beneath me. But I can see that you're doing something very important."
"I'm not sure how much I need a guard inside the Ministry now," Rachel said. "Not that I mind your company, of course. But do we actually think I'm going to be attacked inside the Wizengamot chambers?"
"Madam Bones said give it a month or two to see if anything shakes loose. I think we've proven that a few of the clerks are hostile to you, so let's make sure they're done before we relax," Tonks said.
Rachel nodded. The clerk who had been passing information to Rowle had been charged with Death Eater Activities and sentenced to ten years in Azkaban. It would be nice to know if any of the other clerks were willing to pass information about her before she let down her guard. At this point, she wasn't sure she was capable of letting down her guard.
"You're staying for a few hours?" Draco asked.
"Yeah, I've got something I'm working on. I'll see you at home for dinner," Rachel said as they reached their offices.
"Alright. I'm having tea this afternoon with Dolph Jenkins, so we'll see how that goes," Draco said. "See you later."
"See you," Rachel said, opening her office and finding Booker waiting for her with a pile of parchment. "Busy day?"
"Seems that way. I'm ready to begin when you are," Booker said as Tonks took a seat.
"I'm ready," Rachel said as she went to her desk, her mind switching from the MLE to the Wizengamot.
"I've never been to this part of London before. It's very posh," Rachel said as they stepped out of the alleyway they'd apparated into.
"Me neither. It's nicer than I expected. A lot of traffic though," Theo said as he looked around. They were going to the Waterstones at Piccadilly at Hermione's recommendation. Rachel had been meaning to go to a muggle bookshop for a long time now and Theo had agreed that they could try dating in the muggle world.
They took a moment, just taking in the bustle of the crowds. It was starting to become strange to Rachel to not see people in robes. It hadn't become strange yet not to wear them, but she thought that given another couple years in the magical world she might start to feel that way. Theo seemed uncomfortable in just trousers and a shirt, but he bore it better than Draco did when they went out into the muggle world.
Their plan today was to peruse the bookshop and then eat a light lunch out. It was a relief to go somewhere that no one recognized her and where she did not have to wear a disguise. In the muggle world no one gave her a second glance.
"Ready?" he asked, reaching for her hand.
She took his hand. "Ready."
They joined the pedestrian traffic and went more slowly on the inside of the pavement. Despite her experience in the muggle world, this was just as new to her as it was to Theo. "How do you feel about traveling?" she asked.
"I've never done it," Theo admitted. "My father did not like to leave home and he would not have let me and my mother go without him."
"Going with Severus to see the prisons was my first time traveling too," she said, pausing as they looked in the window of a shop.
"Do they actually sell all of this?" Theo asked.
Rachel looked at the strange display of items. She couldn't figure out what the shop was supposed to be selling. She couldn't even figure out what some of the things were supposed to be. "No idea."
"Huh," Theo said. They continued walking. "What did you think of traveling? Is it something you want to do again?"
"Parts of it were good. I think if I went again I'd want to avoid going as a representative of the Ministry. I'm also not fond of hotels, but we found that you can get a flat or a small cottage for a night, and that wasn't so bad."
"I'm not sure you can avoid traveling as a representative of the Ministry. You're a member of the Wizengamot and you're famous besides that," he said.
"More famous than I realized. I had kind of hoped that it was just restricted to Britain," she said. "Public places weren't as bad, but it seemed like everyone in the government buildings we went to knew who I was."
"They were probably briefed to expect you. You going to visit them was a big deal, as it would be for any Wizengamot member who went," Theo insisted.
"You're telling me they drag every Wizengmot member who leaves the country into a formal dinner with their governmental leader?" she asked, her doubt obvious.
"Maybe not that far, but they certainly would have someone in their government make arrangements with them to make sure their needs were seen to and possibly had some sort of formal dinner with their foreign affairs department."
"If you say so." They arrived at the bookshop and Rachel tilted her head back and smiled. It was nice to do something frivolous. She still wanted to get a library card, but she would try to find a way that didn't involve enchanting any muggles.
There were several displays inside the front door and the floor was done in polished tiles and the shelves were in dark wood. It was the nicest bookshop she'd ever seen. There were stairs leading to the upper levels and she saw doors for lifts further in. Hermione had said there were six floors of books, which was a little overwhelming.
Theo looked about as stunned as she felt. "Where do we even start?" he asked.
"Well, do you want fiction or nonfiction?" she asked, spying a floor directory on a stand.
"Fiction, I think. I'm not quite sure what I'd do with muggle nonfiction," he said after a quick glance around to make sure no one was listening to them.
"Maybe we should look at the nonfiction just so you can see what there is," she suggested, though she also wanted to go into the fiction section for some new books.
Theo nodded. "I suppose so. From what Hermione has said, there are a lot of fields of study that we don't even touch upon."
"We could start with fiction on the first floor and then climb up to nonfiction?" she suggested. She wasn't any more keen to ride the muggle lifts than she was the lifts at the Ministry.
"Sounds good to me." They climbed the staircase to the first floor and began wandering through bookshelves without picking a specific section. "This whole floor is fiction?" he asked, slowly turning around.
"That's what the directory said," she said, though she was also amazed by just how many books there were.
"I don't think there's this much fiction published in all of magical Britain."
Rachel had noticed that the fiction sections of Flourish and Blotts and Tomes and Scrolls had been comparatively smaller than she might expect to find in the muggle world. "I suppose magical people have other things to do than write fiction."
"I suppose so. It's hard sometimes to remember how many muggles there are," Theo said. "There's all of the ones on the television, then all of the ones who have written these books."
"And most muggles don't have anything to do with making television or writing books. Most just have ordinary jobs in shops or offices or they go to school," Rachel said, eyeing someone who passed near where they were standing.
Theo looked thoughtful. "I feel like magical people are caught between fear of what muggles can do with their sheer masses and contempt because muggles can't do the things we can do. It's easy to see how the people who espouse pureblood propaganda can believe that muggles are simultaneously dangerous to us, and how they're less than us."
"Less than us, just because they can't do magic? But look at all of the things they can do. Things that we can't do," Rachel asked.
"Less than us, because to magical people, part of them is missing. It's why you never hear about squibs. People are ashamed. They hide them away or abandon them in the muggle world," he said.
"Do they?" Rachel asked, discovering that she could still be horrified by what the magical world did.
Theo nodded. "When children start reaching school age without having done magic, they either say that they are very ill and shut them away in the house, or they say that they died and abandon them to the muggles, usually after having someone wipe their memories. It's illegal, but it does happen."
"How common are squibs?" she asked, wondering how she could just be hearing about this now. She supposed it was like Theo had said, people didn't talk about it, just like they didn't talk about child abuse or rape or all the other horrible things that happened to people.
"Very uncommon. Less than one in a thousand births, or so it's said," he said.
"But the true numbers are probably higher if people are actually hiding or abandoning their squib children," Rachel said.
"Probably." He looked around again. "I suppose to you and to Hermione it has to look different. That you see yourselves as having something extra rather than as not having something."
"I don't know about extra," Rachel said as they slowly continued down the aisle. "I feel like I am as I'm supposed to be. But I would have told you the same thing as a child when I didn't know about magic. But I see muggles being as they're supposed to be too. They're not missing something. They're just who they are."
Their conversation lapsed as they passed another browsing couple.
Rachel began looking more closely now that they were in the fantasy section. There were more books than she'd expected, many with stereotypical wizards on the front covers, or men with swords, or people riding dragons. After seeing a dragon up close and personal she couldn't imagine trying to ride one. "Look, there's more to The Lord of the Rings. Why didn't Hermione tell me?"
"I don't know," Theo said.
Rachel picked up a paperback copy of The Silmarillion and turned it over to read the back cover. "Well, I know what I'll be reading next week. Do you see anything you're interested in?"
"I think I prefer things set in the muggle world, rather than their pretend magic. The magic never works like it's supposed to," Theo said.
"It would be pretty concerning if it did," Rachel pointed out as they left the fantasy section. "Looks like they've got crime, horror, or romance that we haven't been to yet."
"Definitely not romance. Why are there books about crime?"
"Solving crime," Rachel explained. "So from the perspective of the detective, trying to solve a murder mystery. Or sometimes from the point of view of the killer."
"Might be interesting," Theo said.
After some looking, Theo wound up with a book called The Client by John Grisham, that seemed to be recommended by the shop.
From there they went up a level and began wandering among the nonfiction.
"Are you doing alright, overall?" Theo asked as they walked.
"For the most part. I'll be glad to present my proposal at the end of the month. Waiting is hard," she said.
"It is," he agreed.
"How about you? Are you alright?" she asked.
Theo nodded. "Better than I used to be. I think I just needed some time. And I like this too."
"Shopping?"
"Us spending time together. And doing something outside of our home. It's good to get out."
"It is," Rachel agreed. "And I'm glad to spend time with you too."
Theo smiled. "Good, I don't think this would work if we didn't want to spend time together."
This wasn't quite how Rachel expected dating to be, but it wasn't bad either.
"They're expecting you. I think I can see that you've made your decision already," Stella said, nodding to the folded MLE robes draped over Rachel's arm.
"I have. This was never going to be a permanent thing for me. I just wanted to finish my duty to the war," Rachel said, feeling slightly regretful that she was leaving the MLE, but also knowing it was the right choice for her.
"We'll miss you. Drop by from time to time," Stella said with a smile.
"I'm sure you'll see plenty of me," she said. Assuming her proposal made it to committee, she suspected she'd be seeing a lot of Madam Bones.
Rachel went down the hall to Madam Bones' office and found the door open.
"Come in, close the door behind you," Madam Bones called from her table where she was sitting with Head Auror Robards.
Rachel did so and sat down, setting her robes on the table while being careful to avoid Madam Bones' stacks of parchment.
"I take it you're tendering your resignation?" Robards asked.
"I'm afraid so. While I've enjoyed my time on the team and I feel like I've learned a lot, I don't think being an auror is the right career path for me," Rachel said, trying to be diplomatic.
"It's not for everyone, and honestly, I think you'll make Rufus very relieved by doing this. I'm a little relieved myself. It's a bit nerve wracking sending Wizengamot members out to fight Death Eaters," Madam Bones said with a knowing smile.
"I think Draco is planning on joining the training program," she told them, wondering if that applied to Draco as well, or if it was just because she was the Girl-Who-Lived.
"Yes, we've already spoken with him. We'll make it work, somehow, and he's in less danger than you are in," Robards said. "If you'd like, we can put you on the list of former MLE employees that we can recall in an emergency. You have enough training to qualify for that."
"Yes, please do. If there's an emergency, I want to help," Rachel said.
"Hopefully we will not need it. The recall list has only been used twice in the past forty years, both times at the beginning of a war," Madam Bones said. "However, we will be keeping a close watch for future Death Eater activity. We're aware of the possibility that at some point they may try to begin again with a new leader."
"We have Rookwood and Crouch Junior on watch lists around the world. We think if it's likely to be anyone, it's them," Robards said with a nod.
"They seem like the most likely candidates of those who are remaining," Rachel agreed. "They have to be out of the country by now, don't they?"
"At this point we're assuming they are. The attacks where someone brings down the wards have stopped, so if that was Rookwood, something caused him to stop," Robards said.
"How likely do you think it is that there will be another war?" she asked.
Madam Bones and Robards looked at each other for a moment. "I think that's difficult to say when we weren't anticipating this war. We've done our best to learn from the mistakes of the past. We've ensured that Death Eaters didn't get out of sentences through bribes or politics. We maintained a state of readiness past the end of the war. And we'll be watching. I'm working on a proposal for the Wizengamot for the Ministry to form a task force to assess potential threats to the nation, including from pureblood supremacists," Madam Bones said, her expression grim. "I'm hoping that after all of our losses that people will see the need."
"What would the task force do?" Rachel asked. She was interested in preventing another war, but she wasn't sure how that could be accomplished.
"It would be an interdepartmental task force that would monitor things like what laws were being passed and who they affect, powerful witches and wizards in Britain, and groups that were forming with political purposes. They would sound the alarm at various warning signs that there may be another dark lord or a group like the Death Eaters, or if the Ministry was actively persecuting minorities," Madam Bones explained.
Rachel didn't know how likely that proposal was to pass, at least not in that form. The Wizengamot wouldn't like the idea of being monitored, and surely they'd just disband the task force if things were heading in that direction. Still, it was better than nothing. "I'd like to read the proposal first, but I think it's likely that you'll have my vote," she told her.
"Of course, I'll get a draft to your clerk once I have one," Madam Bones said. "Are you ready to present your proposal on the twenty sixth?"
"I think so. It's a little anxiety provoking, speaking in front of everyone," Rachel admitted.
"You've already done the difficult part. All that remains is reminding people why they should vote for it," Robards said. "You've spoken to the Wizengamot under worse circumstances."
That was true, but somehow it didn't make it any easier.
"I think you'll do fine. Just so you have a heads up, we'll be voting to repeal the anti Death Eater measures on that day as well. Now that we have the situation under control, it's time the MLE returned to its usual procedures," Madam Bones said.
Rachel nodded. "I think that's a good idea. If Rookwood or Crouch Junior are caught, we'd still be able to do something about them, wouldn't we?"
"We're keeping in a provision for questioning known Death Eaters with Veritaserum without their consent, provided they are on the list we give to the Wizengamot. I think that should satisfy everyone," Madam Bones said.
"I can't see more than a handful of people in this Wizengamot having a problem with that. One thing about the war being so fresh in everyone's memories is that we can get proposals like this to pass much more easily," Robards said.
While in general Rachel felt that people should have the right to decline giving testimony by Veritaserum, she thought it was more important that they captured the Death Eaters and had the evidence to prosecute them. She thought a list of known Death Eaters was a good compromise. "One last question. How long do you want Auror Tonks with me in the Ministry?"
"Let's give it another month or two. I'd like to see how people react to the vote on your proposal and see if we get any more threats before we reduce your security," Madam Bones said.
"We know you can take care of yourself, but right now it makes sense to have an extra set of eyes. The last attempt on your life was only a month ago," Robards agreed.
"I understand," Rachel said. "I don't mind having Tonks with me, I just want her to be able to do what she needs to do as well."
"Don't worry about that. Tonks is where she needs to be," Robards said.
"Alright. Anything else?" Rachel asked.
"If I can ask, where are you winding up?" Robards asked.
"Potions Mastery. I'm apprenticing with Mistress Emlyn Clough." Rachel's next stop was writing her a letter to arrange a visit so they could discuss her mastery.
"You know the Unspeakbles want you?" he asked.
"I've heard. I'm not ruling it out, but I want to wait a while first while I have other things to do," she said.
"Very sensible. The Unspeakables will wait for you, but expect for them to not be subtle about their attempts to recruit you," Madam Bones said, smiling again.
"Thanks for the warning," she said as she stood.
"Best of luck to you," Robards said.
"Thank you. To you as well," she said to Robards. "I'm sure I will see you around," she said to Madam Bones.
"You certainly will," Madam Bones said.
Rachel left, feeling a little sad that she had left the aurors, but also resolved in what she was doing.
"All set?" Tonks asked, joining Rachel at the entrance to the hall.
"Yep. I think I'm going to be in my office for a while, if you need to do things here," Rachel offered.
"I can bring my work with me," Tonks said.
Rachel nodded and prepared herself to move onto new projects.
They apparated as a group to Hosgmeade on the nineteenth. Rachel had been tempted to say she didn't want to go, but she did want to celebrate with Ginny and Luna since they had just finished their NEWT exams and this would be their last week at Hogwarts. She just had to remind herself that this was the last time she had to go to Hogsmeade, then she could avoid it entirely.
She hung towards the back of the group, working to master her emotions. She couldn't stop herself from looking at the spot where she'd been abducted by Honeydukes. Had it really been three whole years?
In some ways, she knew she had grown since then. She had recovered, despite her persistent tremors and her scars. She had faced telling people she loved about what she'd experienced. She had faced one of the Death Eaters in court and seen him sentenced to prison in part for what he'd done to her. That night didn't visit her nightmares as often any longer. She supposed that was healing.
She thought she would always carry that experience with her, but she didn't have to think about it every day anymore. The Dark Lord and the Death Eaters weren't as far gone from her mind just yet. It had been four years now since the Dark Lord had returned. It was almost one year to the day from when she'd killed him, not all that far from here. She would always carry that with her, and killing Bellatrix as well, and she wasn't ready to let go of that yet either.
"Alright?" Theo asked quietly, dropping back to walk at her side.
"Just thinking that we've been through a lot here in Hogsmeade," she said. "Not just in Hogsmeade, of course, but being here is a little like being back at Hogwarts."
"We have," Theo said. "It's not my favorite place either. Do you want to be here today?"
"Not here specifically, but yes. I want to celebrate with Ginny and Luna." Rachel felt resolved about that at least. "After this, we don't have to come back."
"That's true. It will be nice to have Ginny and Luna with us again. I've missed having them around."
"I have too," she said. It would be good to have everyone back together.
Rachel looked around at the little shops, seeing students gathering and calling out to each other. Everyone seemed to be full of end of term cheer now that exams were over. She hadn't noticed it happening, but she felt older, maybe even wiser. Or maybe she'd just seen and experienced more things now. The world outside of Hogwarts wasn't as scary as she'd expected it to be, even if it sometimes frustrated her beyond measure.
They entered The Three Broomsticks and Rachel waved to where she saw most of the Slytherin Quidditch team gathered.
"We won the Quidditch Cup!" Scarlett called to her.
"Congratulations," Rachel called back, feeling proud of the team. She was glad the team had continued winning without her and Draco leading them.
Ginny was rolling her eyes as she approached. "It was this close," she said, holding her fingers close together. "Came down to a thirty point difference. You trained your replacement too well."
Rachel smiled. "Not too well or she would have won the game she played against you."
"Let's get a room," Hermione said. "How were your NEWTs?"
Ginny stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes. "I don't want to even think about my NEWTs. As far as I'm concerned, they don't exist until we get our scores."
Madam Rosmerta waved them to the private room and they started in that direction.
"We did well," Luna said, sounding certain. "This year everyone taking the Defense NEWT had a corporeal Patronus."
"That's amazing. How many of them were in the DA?" Neville asked.
"Seven, out of the thirteen people taking the class," Ginny said. "Professor Farley has been pushing the Patronus for all of us."
"Just think, before long, every Hogwarts student is going to have a Patronus," Millie said.
"Sounds like a nightmare for the professors," Draco said.
"They already put rules in place. We're not allowed to send Patronus messages when classes are in session or after curfew," Luna said.
"Sounds reasonable," Theo said. "One day they're going to have to enforce that rule with parents."
"Oh no, can you imagine your parents sending you Patronus messages while you're at school? That's terrible," Millie said, mostly teasing.
Neville nodded. "I can't see that as a good thing."
Rachel thought that wasn't ideal either, but she felt that the benefits of being able to send a Patronus in an emergency outweighed any of the drawbacks. "I'm teaching my team. They're at the point where all of them have the non-corporeal form now."
"I can see why they would have wanted that. Is everything alright with the Harpies?" Ginny asked.
"They were surprisingly understanding about having a Death Eater attack at a game. Apparently they were sort of expecting something like this to happen," Rachel said. "I should be playing again in July."
"We definitely want to come see you play," Luna said.
"We want to come see you play again, a full game this time," Millie said.
"I'd like that," Rachel said. She felt fairly confident they'd actually be able to play a full game this time.
"As long as it's not against the Falcons again," Draco said, the corner of his mouth quirking up to show that he was joking.
"Not the Falcons; I wouldn't malign your favorite team," Rachel promised.
Madam Rosmerta came in with butterbeers and menus, sending them around to everyone.
Rachel settled in, smiling as she looked around at all of her friends. "How are you feeling about leaving Hogwarts?"
"Like it's about time," Ginny said, nodding vigorously.
"I'm ready," Luna said. "And the DA is in good hands."
"We're glad to hear that, and we're even more glad that you're going to be with us again," Theo said.
"We really are. Have you thought about when you want to move in?" Hermione asked.
"I need a few weeks at home with my father first," Luna said. "He knows what I'm planning, but I need to make sure he's taken care of."
"My parents don't know what I'm planning yet, and I might have to move out the same way my siblings did," Ginny said.
"How's that?" Neville asked.
"By packing without my mom knowing what I'm doing, promising that I'll be home for Sunday dinners, and then running for it," Ginny said with a laugh.
"Well, hopefully it won't come to that. We can come promise your parents that we'll watch out for you," Hermione said.
"Are they going to have a problem with you living in the same house as men?" Draco asked.
"Guess we'll find out. None of my brothers have tried to move in with women yet, so who knows," Ginny said.
"Would having Severus assure them it's alright help?" Rachel offered.
Ginny shook her head. "Let's just take it as it comes. I need to be done with planning and studying and thinking for the next four weeks."
"Yes, a break would be nice," Luna agreed.
"We can do that," Neville said. "We've thought of a lot of fun things to do this summer. We want to go to the beach again, and the cinema, and possibly a play."
Rachel smiled. It seemed like it was going to be a good summer, even better because she was with the people she cared about.
Feverfew meowed as Sirius' dog Patronus ambled into Rachel's bedroom. "Rachel. I was wondering if we could talk about something. Can you come by Grimmauld Place?"
Curious, and slightly worried as Sirius had never summoned her in such a manner before, Rachel set aside her book and put on her shoes. "I'll be back in a little bit," she told Feverfew.
She went downstairs and found Hermione still up, her books and notes spread around her. Crookshanks was sleeping on the back of the sofa. "How is it going?" Rachel asked.
"Good. They give us our graded exams the next day, so we don't have to spend time worrying about them. I think the teachers expected me to fail out," Hermione said, marking her spot with her index finger before looking up.
"They thought you were going to fail out?" Rachel repeated. She couldn't imagine Hermione failing out of anything.
"I ask a lot of questions. And some of it is anti-muggleborn prejudice too. They post our exam scores so all of the classes in the training program can see, and everyone keeps giving me looks because my scores are perfect. I'm a little worried they're going to accuse me of cheating," Hermione said, her expression tight.
Rachel stood quietly for a moment, trying to find a solution. "What are you going to do?" she asked, since that seemed to be the place to start.
Hermione shrugged. "Continue to take my exams. If they accuse me of cheating, I'll ask them how I am supposed to be cheating. Our quills have anti-cheating charms on them and we sit too far apart for copying someone else to be an option. If I have to swear to it under Veritaserum, I suppose I'll do that. I'm not leaving the program."
"I wish I knew how to help." She didn't think this was something she could use her influence to help with. In fact, that might even make things worse for Hermione.
"At some point someone is going to have to take me seriously. There is something wrong with the way we're approaching healing and medicine, and I will figure out how to solve it. But I can acknowledge that this is only my first year in the training program and I need more information before I can figure out how everything works. But how am I supposed to get that information if I don't ask questions? I've been pouring through books on healing, and on muggle medicine, and I half feel that I need to apply for a program in muggle medicine as well."
"Is that what you want to do instead of being a curse specialist?" Rachel asked.
"No. I want to be a curse specialist. There are people who need help who are not being helped. Britain needs its own curse specialist. The last one was killed in the first war, according to Professor Dumbledore, and there's been no one who has had the skills and the requisite training to fill the role since then. Which is concerning in its own way," Hermione said.
"It is," Rachel agreed. The more she learned about magical Britain, the more she saw that the Dark Lord had been right in some respects. Magical Britain was dying. They were having a hard time filling roles in the MLE - both the aurors and the MLE Patrol were drastically understaffed. Much of the rest of the Ministry had not yet recovered from the battle that had taken place a year ago. The Healers Training Program wasn't able to replace Healers fast enough. When Malcolm came of age they'd have five Wizengamot members under the age of thirty, which was unheard of. Class sizes at Hogwarts had been cut in half from where they were a hundred years ago.
Unfortunately the Dark Lord's solution had been to kill more people. Rachel wasn't sure what the answer was, but she knew if they had another war in her generation it was going to make the problem drastically worse. Preventing another war and filling the roles that their society needed to survive needed to be a top priority of the government.
Hermione shook her head. "I'll figure it out. I just need more time."
"Take all the time you need. And let us know if we can help with something," Rachel offered.
"Are you going out?" Hermione asked, glancing down at Rachel's shoes.
"Yes, to see Sirius. He sent me a Patronus."
"Is everything alright?" Hermione asked, her brow furrowing.
"I'm not sure. I'm going to go check. I'll send my Patronus if we need more help," Rachel promised, heading towards the fireplace.
"Alright, I should be up for a few more hours. I'll send you a Patronus message if I haven't seen you by the time I go to bed," Hermione said, returning to her books.
"Thank you." Their instincts after all their time at Hogwarts together were still to keep track of each other. Rachel didn't mind that at all. It was nice to know someone would figure out quickly if she went missing. "Twelve Grimmauld Place," she said after she tossed in the floo powder.
She stepped out into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place a few moments later and found Sirius sitting in the light from the fire. "Sirius? Is everything alright?"
"I've just been thinking," he said. "Not always a good thing, but sometimes necessary."
Rachel came over and sat down across from him. "Thinking about what?"
"Azkaban. The war. The Death Eaters. My family. James and Lily. Pettigrew. All of it really."
She nodded. "That's a lot."
Sirius sighed and pushed aside his empty glass. There was an empty bottle of firewhiskey nearby. "I read your proposal. Remus talked some sense into me. Said that I either needed to attend to my Wizengamot duties or I needed to resign. It's been hard. These trials have been hard. I know they've been hard for you too."
"They have been. I don't agree with what we're doing, but for right now, I think it's better than letting the Death Eaters go free. We need to have more options than just guilty or innocent. That's something I'm going to work on," she told him, fully meaning it.
"Are you?"
"Yes. Azkaban isn't the only problem with our justice system, but that was the one I could work on first. Next is figuring out appropriate and reasonable sentencing."
Sirius nodded slowly. "All this time, I've had this feeling of guilt gnawing inside of me. I told myself they deserved to go to Azkaban. They hurt you. They killed other members of the Order. They killed Hogwarts staff and students and Ministry workers. The MLE was nearly destroyed. We had to stop them from hurting anyone else, but…I'm not sure I can be complicit in sending more people to Azkaban."
"I feel the same way, but I also feel that I can do more to change the situation from the Wizengamot than I can anywhere else. I want to do some good by being on the Wizengamot. I can't encourage society to change from anywhere else. Isn't that what you want too?" she asked.
Sirius ran his hand over his mouth and chin. "I took the Black family seat on the Wizengamot because Dumbledore needed me. We needed to stand against a hostile Wizengamot and every vote mattered. I don't stand with Dumbledore anymore. But I stand with you. If that's what you want."
Rachel looked at him and decided to just ask. "What do you mean?"
"I mean if you're going to lead a faction in the Wizengamot, I'll be your second. You need someone to talk people up to gain support for a proposal, I'll do it. You need someone to speak for or against a proposal, or to bring up a talking point, I'll do it. You need someone to second a nomination, I will do it. If you are serious about this, I will stay for you." He was looking into her eyes, with almost a sense of desperation.
She sat quietly. She hadn't been expecting to make a decision like this tonight. "I'm not sure how much of a faction I can have while Professor Dumbledore is leading his faction," she hedged.
"You can," Sirius said. "There are a lot of people who are not comfortable with Dumbledore. You can prove yourself to be a reasonable alternative. The proposal you're about to introduce is the first step. You have the ear of the Minister and the MLE. How did the guilds respond to your proposal?"
"They were supportive. I'm pretty sure we have the vote of the guilds."
"Good. You can do this, Rachel, if it is what you want to do. It won't happen overnight, but if you step forward to lead, people will follow."
Rachel considered that. She was torn. There was a part of her that wanted to run away from having more power and more people interested in her. That was the part that wanted to hide in the Potions community and simply brew and invent for the rest of her life. But there was a bigger part of her that saw that if she really wanted to make changes, if she wanted to stop another war from happening, then she needed that power and she needed that support within the Wizengamot.
"I want to," she finally said. "I want my own faction in the Wizengamot. I think Professor Dumbledore is going to have to die or resign before I will have a significant number of people, but we can work with him if we need to. He's supportive of this proposal, and so is Madam Bones."
"We can work with that," Sirius said. "Then I'm behind you. What do you need for this proposal to pass? Do we need to follow up with anyone who was uncertain how they were going to vote? Do you need me to speak for the proposal?"
"This is sort of a big thing to ask," she said, uncertain if she even should ask.
"You want me to talk to them about what Azkaban is like," he said.
"Not if it's too painful for you. I can tell them about when I visited Azkaban, but that's nothing like experiencing it for myself. I think they should know what they're sentencing people to, but I don't want to hurt you."
Sirius shook his head. "I can do it. This is important. Remus said that too. He said if I really wanted to do something about Azkaban, now was my chance and I was throwing it away. I'm proud of you, Rachel. I saw you stand up in front of the Wizengamot and tell everyone what Alfred Selwyn had done. If you can do that, then I can do this."
"If you're sure," she said, feeling a little bit guilty.
"I am. Focus on the death toll when you talk to them. Tell them it's not getting better. That's going to be the sticking point. They won't care about the people who are sentenced to life, but I think by now everyone is aware that we can't afford to lose more people and letting people with five year sentences die in Azkaban is a waste of life," he said, looking grim.
Rachel wanted them to care about the suffering, but if it was the loss of life that was more concerning to them, she could focus on that. She couldn't change their minds if they truly believed prisoners deserve to suffer, but she could point out that they were casually giving death sentences to people. "Thank you."
"I'm serious," he said, managing a weak smile. "I will stand by you. Can I assume that Draco and Neville are part of your faction as well?"
"I think so."
"Then we need to start meeting, make it official. We'll think about who else we can recruit and ally with. I've felt at loose ends since we got all of the muggleborns and their families settled again. I suppose it's time for something new."
"Are you planning to stay here in Grimmauld Place?" she asked. It was a big house just for Sirius and Remus.
"I think so. I feel like we've reclaimed it these past four years. It's not my parents' house anymore, it's mine. Come by for dinner on Saturday after the vote. Bring everyone. We'll celebrate."
"You sound like you think the proposal will pass," she said. She was a little uncertain of that herself, even if she was hopeful.
"I think it will. You've got Dumbledore, the guilds, and Madam Bones. That gives you a good chance that it will pass. Just focus on speaking clearly and letting them know the most important points," he said.
"I will." She could do that. "Thank you," she said again.
Sirius nodded. "I'm here for you, Rachel. Please never doubt that."
"I don't," she promised.
Severus rose at the sound of a knock on his front door. He had actually changed out of his brewing robes, which was rare these days.
"Severus," Minerva said with a smile as he opened the door.
"Minerva," he said with a nod. "Please, come in."
"It's good to see you again," she said, taking an unobtrusive glance around the room. "You seem comfortable in your home."
"I am," he said. Truthfully he hadn't realized how confining living in the dungeons without windows had been until he'd gotten used to being able to look outside for a good portion of the day. Never had he been so aware of the cycle of sunrises and sunsets.
Minerva took a seat and Severus poured her a cup of tea from the tea tray he'd set out.
"How was the remainder of the term?" he asked her once they were both settled.
"I'm grateful it's over," she said. "It was a difficult year with so many changes at the school."
"I'm certain." He knew his leaving had been one of the changes she'd had to contend with. "How are the students?"
"They have adjusted. We still have a smaller student body than is usual, fewer muggleborns, of course. Many of them didn't return."
Severus nodded. It was unfortunate, but he could empathize with parents who had chosen to take their children away from the magical world. He still regretted not taking Rachel from Britain when he'd had the opportunity.
"What have you found to do with your time?" Minerva asked, setting down her teacup.
"Research, inventing, and brewing for the most part. I've been renewing my contacts in the guild." It wasn't surprising to him that he preferred the research and the brewing to making connections in the guild, but it was part of the job.
"It sounds like that is what you want to be doing," she said, the words not quite a question.
"It is," he assured her. "I will eventually take apprentices, but for now I have a long term research project and a brewing contract."
Minerva smiled at him. "I am glad for you then. I know teaching wasn't your aspiration, but you were a good teacher and a good Head of House. The students knew you cared about them."
Severus wasn't sure that was true, given his reputation as a teacher, but he had tried his best to take care of the students. "I'm sure many of the students are relieved that I retired. How is my replacement?"
"Bailey seems to be a decent professor, though, like you, he's reportedly strict in the classroom."
"Good. Potions teachers need to be strict, otherwise there is mayhem," he said, pleased that seemed to be working out. "And my House?"
"In good hands with Gemma. She's a popular teacher and your students seem comfortable with her. She's had to put her foot down enough times that they respect her, but I know the Slytherins come to her if they have a problem," she said, nodding. "She's still the staff sponsor for the Defense club that the students are running, and I know that's popular as well."
"Rachel will be glad to hear that. I know she and her friends put a lot of effort into their club." He also approved that the club was still running after seeing how it had given students the necessary extra practice in Defense at a time when they'd sorely needed it.
"How is she? I've heard about this proposal of hers. And about the attack on the Harpies," Minerva asked.
"The attack on the Quidditch match did not seem to faze her. She'd been receiving death threats for nearly six months by that point and they were expecting someone to act while she was in public. The aurors and the MLE Patrol were on the scene, and I was there to protect her as well," he began.
"She's fortunate to have you looking out for her. I know it must be nerve wracking to have her flying with the League and running around with the aurors," she said, raising her eyebrows slightly.
"A little bit, but thankfully she is not running around with the aurors any longer. Now that the Death Eater threat has mostly passed, she has resigned and will begin her Potions Mastery soon. I would much rather have her spending her time with Emlyn than with the MLE."
"I'm certain," she said. "She seems to be managing with the Wizengamot alright."
"She does. I know she has her hopes set on this proposal passing. I do not know that it will, but I hope that it does." Both for Rachel's sake, and simply because it was the right thing to do.
"I hope it does. She has made her case quite clearly. I have to admit I'm surprised that she's doing interviews with Witch Weekly. I wouldn't have expected that of her."
"Me neither, but she wanted a way to speak to the public, and she doesn't trust the Daily Prophet. It helps that her friend Daphne is working at Witch Weekly, so she can communicate with someone she's comfortable with." He wasn't certain that was going to work out in the long term, and it had been odd to see a Witch Weekly magazine with Rachel posed on the cover, but he knew she had wanted more people to know about her proposal before the vote.
"I'm sure you're proud of her. I think we'll see wonderful things from Rachel. She has such drive," Minerva said.
"She does, a little too much. I would like her not to overwork herself."
"Unfortunately that is a lesson some people need to learn the hard way. It's a lesson you could stand to learn as well," she said knowingly.
"You are just as overworked as I am," he pointed out. More so now that he set his own schedule.
"That is true," she admitted. "I am grateful for the rest over the summer. I'm going to travel home for a few weeks and see my family. I haven't had time for a real visit since the war began."
"I'm certain they'll be glad to see you. When does your grand niece start at Hogwarts?"
"Not for another few years. I'm not quite ready to be Aunt Minnie at school yet," she said with a wane smile.
Severus returned the smile as he imagined a student calling her that. "There is something I'd like to ask you. Could you write a note detailing the secret of my home address?"
"I'd be happy to," she said. "May I ask who you're planning to invite into your home?"
"Theo Nott. As Rachel is now dating him, I feel like I need to get to know him better."
"I read about that too." Minerva shook her head. "Are they both alright after all of that?"
"I know neither of them were happy about the situation, but they seemed to have weathered it with their relationship intact. Rachel is relieved that something was finally done about Rita Skeeter and the Daily Prophet. Truth be told, I am as well. I wish I had done something before now."
"I'm not sure what you could have done about the situation," she said, arching an eyebrow at him in a way that suggested she knew exactly what he was thinking and she didn't approve.
"Even so. Rita Skeeter will never be published in Britain again, and it's for the best," he said.
"I completely agree. I have to admit, after Rachel and Theo being such close friends for all of their time at Hogwarts, I didn't expect them to date. Or rather, I would have expected it to happen before now."
"I think Rachel was too stressed by the war to even consider dating." He felt he could safely reveal that much.
"I know it was a heavy burden on her," Minerva agreed with a nod. "She's doing better now?"
"As far as I can tell, she is. She seems happier and more at ease."
"I'm glad to hear that. She has a bright future. As do you."
Severus found that he could actually look forward to the future now, and that it was more of a relief than he could have known.