"Hi Stella. Did you have a good weekend?" Rachel asked early on Monday morning. She'd received a letter asking her to come speak to Madam Bones today and Rachel had wanted to get it out of the way before she went out shopping with Severus this afternoon.

"Not bad. Had a date, so that was good. Believe me, the MLE and the Wizengamot do not leave much time for dating," Stella said. "If you see someone you want, you should scoop them up while you have the chance."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem for me," Rachel said. She had no intention of dating. Maybe not ever.

"You're probably going to have to beat suitors away with a stick," Stella said, raising her eyebrows. "You're still pretty young, but that won't stop some people. Just be careful at the balls and socials. Some people are a little forward about where they'll put their hands."

Rachel didn't think she was particularly planning to come to any of the balls and socials either, not if she had a say in it. "Thanks for the warning."

"You're here for Madam Bones?"

"If she has time. If not, I can come back later," Rachel said. The letter hadn't included a specific time, so Rachel had just shown up.

"Let me check, I'll be back," Stella said as she stood.

Rachel glanced around what she could see of the MLE from Stella's desk. It was quiet with only a handful of people there, either sitting at their desks or conferring quietly. She wondered if it was supposed to be like that or if it was because so many in the MLE had been killed six weeks ago. She noticed a board with pictures and names and wandered closer. It was a list of Death Eaters. Actually, there were several lists of Death Eaters.

She recognized Bellatrix Lestrange's picture. Hers was next to Barty Crouch Junior's picture. Next to that was Augustus Rookwood. Rachel made a note to tell Severus that he was still free and was apparently toward the top of the list of people that the aurors were looking for. She continued looking down the list. Peter Pettigrew was still wanted. Amycus Carrow was still alive. Walden Macnair was still alive. Thorfinn Rowle and his son Thomas were both alive and wanted. Cameron Mulciber was still alive, he'd been one of the people who had escaped Azkaban two and a half years ago. There were a little over thirty names and pictures for those who were being hunted.

Then she began looking down the list of the confirmed dead. Matthew Pike was dead. That was Michael's father. She wondered what had happened to Michael and if he had another parent who was taking care of him. Cordelia Gifford's father was dead as well. Alice Jugson and her father Abraham. Jacob Turner and his father Matthew. Gregory Goyle and his father Marxius. Francis Crabbe, but not his son Vincent. Maxwell Acker. Pritchard Gibbon. Caspar Dormer. All dead. The list went on and on. Rachel wondered if Severus knew how many of his students were dead.

"Rachel?"

She turned. "I knew some of these people. Quite a few were in my House with me."

Stella nodded. "I knew some of them as well, some of them worked for the Ministry and the MLE. I know even more who died because of the Death Eaters, and I'm sure you do too."

Rachel nodded, but she still felt like she had been hit by a sack of bricks. There were so many people who were just gone. Some of them in the war, but a lot of them on that Sunday. It almost felt like people were trying to pretend it hadn't happened. The war was over, everyone was supposed to go back to their lives. Rachel had been trying to do that, but maybe that was wrong. Or maybe that was the only thing to do.

"You ready for Madam Bones?" Stella asked, not without compassion.

"Yeah. Thank you," Rachel said.

"Go on in, she's waiting for you," Stella said, watching Rachel for a moment before returning to her desk.

Rachel collected herself and went down the hallway to Madam Bones' office. She knocked and then entered when she was told she could.

Madam Bones looked up from her work. "Rachel, thank you for coming. I wanted to follow-up with you on a few things. Come take a seat."

"Thank you," Rachel said, sitting in one of the chairs on the opposite side of Madam Bones' desk.

"I spoke with the Minister and with Head Auror Robards and it was decided that given the current climate of the Wizengamot it would be to our advantage if you and Mr. Malfoy spoke during Selwyn's trial. I would like you and Mr. Malfoy to speak with a victim's advocate so that you can coordinate what you would like to say," Madam Bones said. "The final decision is of course up to you and Mr. Malfoy. No one is requiring you to provide testimony."

"But it will help?" Rachel checked.

"I think it will and so does the Minister, and he generally has a good pulse on the Wizengamot. He believes that a personal plea will show strength of conviction. He also believes that this would be a good faith showing on Mr. Malfoy's part to illustrate his anti-Death Eater convictions."

"I can't speak for Draco. I'm not sure what he'll want to do," Rachel said.

"I understand that. I will speak with Mr. Malfoy, though you may wish to speak with him about this as well. It's my understanding that you are close school friends with him and Mr. Longbottom."

"We are. We're going to be living together."

Madam Bones' eyebrows rose. "You and Mr. Malfoy?"

"No. I mean, yes, but not like that. A group of my school friends and I are going to be living together, including Draco and Neville," Rachel said quickly.

"Your father approves of this?" Madam Bones asked.

"Yes, of course. We're just friends. I really don't understand why people are surprised."

"In many circles, particularly in some of the more traditional pureblood circles, it's not a done thing for a young woman and a young man to live together before they are married. I take it that's not a concern in the muggle world?"

"Um. Depends on the person, I suppose, but I wouldn't say it's a problem for most people," Rachel said. She'd heard Aunt Petunia say that people were living in sin when a man and a woman lived together before they were married, but those were always people in relationships. She didn't know what she would say about just friends living together.

"Well, as long as your father is comfortable with it, though I would recommend against you announcing your living situation as you will undoubtedly see an rather unflattering article about yourself in the Daily Prophet if it became known," Madam Bones warned.

"I'm pretty sure the Daily Prophet is never going to flatter me. You'd think I'd get a couple of months break for killing the Dark Lord, but they were still printing all that stuff about me," Rachel said, mildly irritated about the whole situation with the Daily Prophet, but mostly resigned to it.

"The Daily Prophet never flatters anyone unless they are getting something out of the situation. Unfortunately you are an easy target," Madam Bones said, looking both weary and sympathetic. "In any case, I will have the victim's advocate send you a request for a meeting, presuming you are willing to meet with them."

"Can I meet with them without knowing for sure what I'm going to do?" she checked.

"Yes, absolutely. Discuss the situation with the advocate and see if you can find a workable solution. If not, then you won't testify."

"I'll meet with them then," Rachel said. She figured that was the least she could do.

"I'll arrange it," Madam Bones said, making a note on a piece of parchment. "Are you feeling ready for the upcoming trials?"

"I'm not really sure how to be ready," Rachel admitted.

"The task of voting is deceptively simple. If you believe that they are guilty of the crimes they are being charged with, then raise your hand to vote them guilty. That is the simple part. Much more difficult is listening to the descriptions of their crimes and weighing their lives in your hands. Most of these trials will carry the sentence of life in Azkaban and it's not an easy thing to condemn a person to such a place. Keep in mind that you do not set the sentence. For every crime there is a correlating sentence. Your task is not to determine if they deserve that sentence, but to determine if they are guilty of the crime," Madam Bones explained.

Rachel wondered if she should tell Madam Bones about her plans for Azkaban, but decided to wait until she had the research from Booker first. She didn't want to look stupid in front of Madam Bones. "I feel like I saw a lot of things during the war. I'm not sure that hearing about them in the courtroom will be worse," Rachel said.

"Not necessarily worse, but still difficult. Some of these people committed barbaric acts of torture. It is not easy for anyone to listen to the descriptions."

She thought about that and considered how well she was going to do with listening to people describe torture. A year ago it would have undoubtedly sent her into an anxiety attack. Now, she wasn't sure at all. She supposed she'd find out soon enough. "The trials start on the twenty fifth?"

"That's right. We're looking at two trials a day for the time being, meeting two days a week. We're trying not to overwhelm the new Wizengamot as we don't want anyone abandoning their seat," Madam Bones said.

Rachel nodded and decided she needed to warn Draco and Neville too. She wasn't sure either of them were going to do much better with graphic descriptions of torture than she was. "Thank you for the warning."

"Of course. Was there anything you needed assistance with, Rachel?"

"Not right now, but later, if that's alright." Sooner or later she was going to have to bring her Azkaban plans to Madam Bones.

"Whenever you'd like. Are you feeling secure? Have there been threats made to you?" Madam Bones checked.

"No threats that I'm aware of. I'm going to try going into Diagon Alley today, but I'll be going in disguise, so I think it will be alright."

"Unfortunately that's probably wise. Do you need assistance with arranging for someone to ward your new home?"

"No, I don't think so. I think Severus and Bill are helping us with that," Rachel said.

"Please let us know if you become aware of a threat, no matter how small," Madam Bones said.

"I will, thank you. Was there anything else you needed me for?"

"That was all. I hope you have a good day. Good luck on your tryouts on Wednesday. I know Robards and Shacklebolt are planning on putting everyone through their paces," she said, the corners of her mouth rising slightly.

"I'll take that to be fair warning," Rachel said, though she really had no idea what to expect from tryouts. "Thank you again."

Madam Bones nodded and her and Rachel let herself out of the office.

"Everything good?" Stella asked.

"More or less," Rachel said. She felt a little funny. She was going to go home and sit quietly for a little bit before she faced Diagon Alley.

"Sometimes that's all you can ask for," Stella said knowingly.

Rachel nodded. She thought that was true.


"Are you ready?" Severus asked.

Rachel pulled up the hood of her light summer cloak. "What do you think?"

Severus surveyed her. "It will take some getting used to. It should fool people at a casual glance. Unfortunately I am somewhat recognizable and people may intuit who you are simply by my presence."

"It's not like people are looking for me, right?" she checked. "They won't be expecting us to be there."

"I think it will be safe enough. I can't imagine that the Death Eaters have enough people to watch Diagon Alley."

Rachel wasn't just worried about the Death Eaters. She didn't want people approaching her and trying to talk about her killing the Dark Lord. Actually, she was far more worried about people trying to talk with her and shaking her hand and the 'it's an honor to meet you' stuff than she was about a Death Eater attack.

"We do not have to go if you do not wish to go," Severus said when she didn't answer.

"I do want to go. I just don't want to talk to people. And I don't have a key to the Snow family vault, is that a problem?" Rachel asked.

"That's not a problem. The goblins will have you sign a document in blood so they can verify that you're now the owner of the vault and they will issue you a key."

Rachel wondered how that worked exactly. She'd had to sign a document in blood at the Ministry as well, but she doubted it was for DNA purposes. Probably a blood magic thing, which was interesting because Severus had always told her that blood magic was a taboo topic and deeply associated with the dark arts.

"I'd offer you an extra layer of disguise, but I can't when we intend to go into Gringotts," he said.

"It's fine. It will be fine," Rachel said. Hopefully everyone would be paying attention to their own business and wouldn't be looking at her.

"Shall we apparate to the entrance of Diagon Alley?"

"Yes, I'll meet you there." Rachel focused and then apparated herself near the entrance that came out by The Leaky Cauldron. She knew there was another entrance further down the alley, but she'd never been through it.

Severus appeared next to her and they started down the alley.

It was a stark contrast to when they'd seen the alley six months ago. There were people out doing their shopping and they seemed relaxed and willing to stop to chat with other people. There were still some empty storefronts, but not nearly as many as they'd seen before. Rachel was relieved to see that Olivanders was back in business and the Quidditch shop had reopened. She saw a number of what looked like families shopping before sending their children to Hogwarts.

All in all, it felt very strange. She thought about the list of the dead that she'd seen earlier that day and wondered if she was supposed to tell Severus. If their positions were reversed, she wasn't sure she'd want to know. She pressed her lips together as they walked. Life didn't stop just because something bad had happened or someone had died. She knew that well enough. But it still felt like something was missing.

She supposed she could ask Severus if he wanted to know, but she thought he would say yes if she did. She didn't want to hurt Severus and she thought that the news that a number of his former students had died in battle fighting for the Death Eaters would hurt him.

As they walked through the alley she was relieved that no one gave them a second glance. As she'd hoped, everyone was too busy with their own tasks to pay attention to strangers. When they reached the doors of Gringotts she pulled her hood down and stepped inside. There were maybe twenty people in the lobby, but all of them seemed occupied.

"What do we do?" she asked Severus quietly.

"We go to one of the tellers. Let them know you'd like to access your family vault and that you don't have the key," he instructed.

Rachel walked down the aisle between the tellers, the goblins looming over them at their narrow desks. She spotted an unoccupied goblin and approached. "My name is Rachel Snow. I'd like to access the Snow family vault, but I don't have the key," she said, pitching her voice quietly.

"You will need to sign an identity statement before you are issued a key to a family vault, Wizengamot Member Snow," the goblin said.

"Okay," she told him, not sure if she was supposed to say something more.

After a moment he produced a piece of parchment and a blood quill. Rachel read the parchment, but it didn't seem to say anything too concerning, just that she was identifying herself as the head of her family and would have unrestricted access to the family vault. "Is this alright?" she checked with Severus.

Severus looked it over. "That's fine."

Rachel signed the parchment at the indicated spot, ignoring the sting of the blood quill. She passed it back to the goblin.

"Wait here, I will get you a key and a goblin to accompany you to your vault," the goblin said before getting off his stool and disappearing through a door behind him.

"What would happen if someone who wasn't the right owner of the vault signed that?" Rachel asked.

"The goblins will check in the back to make sure you are the correct person before they issue your key. If you were not, they would summon the MLE and you would be charged with attempted theft from a Gringotts vault."

"How would they tell just from my signature and blood?" Rachel asked.

"Genealogy and blood magic. They will have documents indicating the name of who should be the owner of the vault and they have tests that they can do with your blood that will indicate you carry the family's magic. I do not know how that works as blood magic is not a specialty of mine," Severus said, keeping his own voice quiet.

Rachel nodded, understanding that they shouldn't be discussing blood magic openly. It seemed to her that what was considered dark arts was partially based on convenience. Most blood magic was considered dark magic, except for certain types of healing and for identification purposes. If blood magic itself was dark arts, they shouldn't allow any of it.

Two goblins returned. The one they'd been speaking with passed her a silver key with an S imprinted in it. "This is the key to your family vault. Would you like the contents of your individual vault transferred to your family vault?"

"Not at this time," Rachel said, since she wasn't sure what the right answer was.

"Very well. Grobbal will accompany you to your vault. Given the security level on your family vault, a goblin is necessary to open it," the goblin told her.

"Thank you," Rachel said.

"This way," Grobbal said.

They followed Grobbal to the entrance to where the carts and the vaults were kept and boarded a cart. As they went down the track, Rachel clinging tightly to the edge of the cart, she decided that the goblins did this on purpose to make people uncomfortable. There was no other reason for the carts to go this fast or for there to be so many unexpected turns. She would also really prefer if there were seat belts.

Finally they arrived at a landing that had just one vault. Rachel staggered slightly as she stepped out of the cart.

"Key, please," Grobbal said.

Rachel handed the key over and watched with interest as the goblin inserted the key into a slot and then ran his hands over the large circular door. A moment later the door disappeared.

"Ring the bell when you wish to return," Grobbal told them, returning the key to Rachel.

"Thank you," Rachel said and watched as Grobbal took off in the cart. She slid the key into her pocket and stepped inside the vault. It was large, though not as large as Bellatrix's vault had been, and fortunately it seemed to be much better organized.

"Are you looking for something specific?" Severus asked as he looked around.

"Not really, just seeing what is here. Portraits would be good. Or journals or diaries, if any of my ancestors kept one," Rachel said. She'd like to know more about her family.

"I suspect most of the portraits of your ancestors will be in the Wizengamot gallery, but we can look," Severus said.

They began to wander and Rachel wondered what it was that caused people to keep old furniture. She saw many wooden pieces, from chests to wardrobes, bookshelves with glass doors, tables and chairs, and some things she didn't have a name for. She supposed it had been important to someone in her family. "I don't suppose there is a log or anything, saying who put what in here?" she asked.

"The goblins will have a log that you can look at if you wish to," Severus said. "They should also have a copy of the Snow family genealogy going back to when this vault was first opened if you are interested."

Rachel nodded. That might be something to see. Her own attempt at tracing her genealogy had been haphazard at best.

There was a pile of coins that Rachel would guess was more than she had in her own vault, though she had no idea how much was in there. She felt like she'd barely made a dent in her own vault, though she hadn't taken money from it since just before her fourth year. She still had some of the money from the Triwizard Tournament left over. She expected she'd have more expenses once she was living away from Severus, but she also received a salary from the Harpies and from the Wizengamot.

She looked through a bookshelf, and while some of the books were handwritten, none of them seemed to be diaries or journals. There were also some paintings, but they were of a variety of things and none of the portraits moved or spoke.

"Do you know if my parents' cottage is still there in Godric's Hollow?" Rachel asked.

"Unfortunately it was lost in the fire two Christmases ago," Severus said.

She had rather expected as much. She wasn't sure she would have gone even if it was still standing. Seeing the place where her parents had died might have been too much. She had to be okay with it, because it was what was. Besides, she'd seen her parents, she's spoken with them, and she had Monty. And Severus. And Sirius and Remus and all of her friends. She had all of these people in her life and she needed to stop thinking about what she couldn't have.

"Is it possible that I miss them?" she asked as she looked around. She didn't feel any sort of connection to her parents here, and that was a little disappointing.

"Yes, of course. It's alright if you do. I know you made a difficult decision to come back-"

"It wasn't that difficult. I wanted to be here. I just wish I could have spent more time with them," she said, not wanting Severus to think that she regretted her decision. "I'm glad you're there for me, and I know I'm not always the easiest person to live with-"

"You're fine. I have no complaints about living with you," he told her quickly. "I am here for you. But it's okay to want Lily and James as well. I miss them too." He stepped closer and put his hand on her back and Rachel stepped into the hug.

She rested her head on his chest and decided against telling Severus about the list of the dead she'd seen. They'd both lost enough people as it was.

"I don't really want to be in here," she said. She hadn't seen anything that really spoke of her parents and she felt she didn't really know anything new about her ancestors other than the fact that at least some of them were pack rats who felt the need to store antique furniture that no one would ever use.

"That's fine, we can leave," Severus said. "I'm sorry you did not find what you were looking for."

"It's okay," she said as they walked back toward the entrance. "Now I know what's in here so I don't really need to come back."

"Did you still want to visit the bookshop?" he asked.

"Yes, if that's alright with you?"

"It is. Anywhere else you'd like to go?"

Rachel shook her head. She wanted to get a few new books and then be done for the day. "That's it."


She showed up to Sirius' house early on Tuesday. The group had planned to get together to talk about moving out and what they needed to do, but Rachel had something she needed to do first. She went up to the first floor rather than dropping by the kitchen and glanced around. It was fairly quiet, though it was also early. She'd learned this summer that Sirius was not a morning person.

At the end of the hall she crouched down and knocked on Kreacher's door.

A moment later the door opened and Kreacher peered at her. "Kreacher heard Miss arrive. Miss is sad."

Rachel frowned. "I'm not sure I feel particularly sad," she told him. "Why do you think I'm sad?"

"Kreacher can tell. Kreacher listens to Miss."

Given that Rachel hadn't said anything at all, she had no idea what Kreacher was talking about, unless her footsteps exuded sadness somehow. Deciding to leave that alone, Rachel refocused on Kreacher. "I was wondering if I could speak with you privately. Is there some place we can do that?"

"Miss can come in here. Kreacher will make it private so that not even the wolf can hear," Kreacher said, backing up.

Rachel stood and entered Kreacher's room. The room was tidy, and while the bed was made, Rachel saw that there was a pillow and a blanket on the floor in the corner. There were random objects placed on various surfaces that obviously had meaning to Kreacher. She saw photographs in the frames that Rachel had given him for Christmas one year. She recognized Bellatrix. There was a woman was obviously Sirius' mother. And there was a young man in the other frame, his dark hair tied back and his chin tilted. He couldn't have been any older than Rachel was. "This is Regulus?" she asked.

"Yes, that is Master Regulus, Kreacher's Master," Kreacher said.

"Why wasn't Regulus' father your Master?" Rachel asked.

"Master Regulus needed Kreacher more than Master Orion did. Master Regulus was suffering."

There were lots of ways to potentially interpret a statement like that, but Rachel decided to leave it alone. It was obvious that Kreacher cared a great deal about Regulus and that his death was still a painful topic. Rachel sat down on the floor and watched as Kreacher raised his hands and moved them in an arc.

"No one will hear Miss and Kreacher now," he said before crouching down next to Rachel. "Miss needs help with something secret?"

"No secret, just private," she told him. "I don't want you to feel any pressure or anything and I didn't want to have this conversation in front of people."

"Miss has a problem?" Kreacher asked, still looking worried.

"Not a problem. I just wanted to ask if you wanted to do something. However you want to answer is alright. I don't want you to make a decision based on what you think I want or what you think Sirius wants, I want you to make a decision based on what you want," she said, wondering if Kreacher even could do such a thing. He'd spent so much of his life taking orders and doing what he believed other people wanted and that was a hard thing to break away from. Rachel knew that first hand because she still struggled with doing things that Severus or her friends didn't want her to do.

"What does Miss want?"

"As you've probably heard, I'm planning to move into a house with Millie, Theo, Draco, Hermione, and Neville. If you'd like to, you can come with us. Sirius has told me that if that's what you want, you can join us. You wouldn't have to clean or cook or do anything you don't want to, you could just stay with us."

"Leave?" Kreacher asked, tugging on his ears.

"Only if you want to. I know this is your home and that you've been here a long time. If you want to stay here, you can. This is about what you want, Kreacher."

Kreacher looked around the room, his eyes almost bulging. "Master would not give Kreacher clothes. He said he would not."

"No, he's not giving you clothes. You wouldn't be free unless you wanted to be," she assured him.

"Kreacher is the Black family Elf."

"That's okay. If you want to stay here with Sirius, you can. I just wanted to give you the option."

Kreacher turned back and moved his head up and down as he seemed to examine Rachel. "Miss is Master's goddaughter. Miss is part of Master's family."

"Not by blood, but I think of us as family," Rachel said.

"Kreacher would be Miss' Elf?"

"If you wanted to be." Rachel hoped she knew what she was getting herself into. Maybe she should have looked for books about House Elves when she was at Flourish and Blotts yesterday.

"Kreacher could bring Mistress' portrait?" Kreacher asked, looking at the large frame that dominated the back of the bedroom.

"If you kept her in your room and kept her from screaming at people, yes," she said, thinking that Sirius would be just as glad to have his mother's portrait out of the house anyway.

"Kreacher will keep her from screaming, Mistress does not scream when she speaks to Kreacher," he promised.

"That's fine then and you can bring any of your things that you have here if you want to." Rachel was sure they could make the room set aside for the House Elves as big as it needed to be to house the two Elves they were planning on having. "We'll likely have another House Elf there too, is that okay?"

"Another Elf?" Kreacher asked.

"Probably one of Draco's Elves. I'm not sure which one."

"Kreacher has not seen another Elf in many years. Kreacher has not left the house for fifteen years."

Rachel felt a pain in her chest as she thought of being locked up for that long. "You don't have to stay in the house, Kreacher. You can go do things that you want to do. Did Sirius say you have to stay in the house?" If he had, then Rachel was going to have to talk with him.

"During the war, Kreacher stayed in the house. It wasn't safe to let Kreacher out of the house."

Rachel nodded. She could understand that. After all, Kreacher knew a lot of things that could endanger a lot of people if he were to be captured and tortured and they knew the Dark Lord wasn't above using House Elves. "But now that the war is over it's safe again. You can go out if you want to. Did Sirius say that you had to stay in now that the war was over?"

"Master Sirius has not said. Kreacher has not asked."

"Do you want to go out? Do you want to see other Elves? You don't have to if you don't want to." Rachel remembered how daunted and overwhelmed she'd first been at Hogwarts. And Kreacher had been locked away for far longer than she had been.

"Kreacher does not know." Kreacher finally said, crouching on the floor next to Rachel.

"That's okay. It's alright not to know, it's a big question. And this isn't a decision you have to make right now or any time soon. I think we're going to be living there for a while, so whenever you'd like to come join us, you can."

"Master Sirius will let Kreacher be Miss' Elf?" Kreacher asked.

"He said he would. We could ask him together, if you want," Rachel offered. "Think about it for a while, you don't have to decide now. Come up with any questions that you have or things that you want. We can talk again soon," she added when he didn't reply.

Kreacher bobbed his head. "Kreacher will think."

"Do you have any questions for me right now?"

"No, Miss. Miss is not well," he said looking up at her.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, mildly alarmed. Could House Elves tell if a person was getting sick or something?

"Miss carries a great weight. Miss does too much. Miss needs someone to take care of her. Kreacher will take care of Miss."

"I think I'm doing alright," she said, wondering just what it was that Kreacher was seeing. "I don't know why you think I'm not well."

"It is a House Elf's job to know."

Rachel decided to leave it alone for now. She knew she wasn't doing perfectly. She was still having a hard time sleeping. And it was true that she was doing a lot of things. But she thought considering everything that had happened and was currently happening in her life, she was doing about as well as anyone would be. "Think about questions you have or things you want. Let me know when you're ready to talk about it and you can make a decision about what you want to do."

"Kreacher will be Miss' Elf if Master Sirius says he can," Kreacher said.

"If that's what you're sure you want, but think about what you want before agreeing to move in with us," Rachel said, getting to her feet.

"Kreacher knows, Miss. But Kreacher will think."

"Thank you," she said. She let herself out of Kreacher's room and willed herself not to sigh. She thought she needed to find a book on House Elf customs and culture to make sure she was doing this right and she suspected that she wouldn't find one in either of the libraries in Sirius' house. She supposed she could write to Flourish and Blotts and see what they had on the subject.

"Rachel?"

Rachel turned. "Hi Draco."

"You're here early, we're not supposed to be meeting for another hour," Draco said.

"I know, I wanted to talk to Kreacher first. How exactly are we planning on picking a House Elf from the Malfoy Manor?" she asked while the subject was on her mind.

"I have one in mind," Draco said, then rolled his eyes. "He'll be perfect for you and Hermione."

"What does that mean?" Rachel asked, feeling her nose scrunch up.

"He's kind of crazy and he wants to be free and he's obsessed with stories about you," Draco said.

"Well if he wants to be free, shouldn't you set him free?" she asked, feeling that was the very obvious solution.

"And then what? Let him starve?" Draco asked. "No one is going to hire a House Elf that they have to pay for. Nobody except maybe you and Hermione. I'll set him free if you can get him to agree to some sort of contract with you. Pay him like a Galleon a week for his services or something."

"A Galleon a week? That's just slavery with a pittance," Rachel said, folding her arms. "What would be the wages if a human had the job?"

"Far more than that, but Dobby's not a human, he's a House Elf. Besides, you won't get him to take human wages. Offer him ten Galleons a week and then negotiate him up to five. Besides, what is he going to spend it on?"

"Whatever he wants. It's his money," Rachel said. Whatever she wound up paying Dobby, she'd put aside for Kreacher as well. "Wait. Dobby?"

"Yeah, we have six House Elves, but we don't really let Dobby interact with guests," Draco said.

Rachel bit her lip. "I've met Dobby. He came to me while I was…while I was in Malfoy Manor."

"Oh." Draco looked at her briefly before looking away. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that."

"About Dobby?" she asked, not expecting that he wanted to talk to her about her time at Malfoy Manor.

"No." He looked around. "Let's not have this conversation here."

"Okay. I kind of needed to talk to you about that anyway," Rachel said, figuring she should before Madam Bones did.

Draco looked at her again, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not sure we're having the same conversation."

"We'll figure it out. Where do you want to talk?" she asked.

"My room is fine, if we can get there without Sirius seeing us," Draco said, leading the way.

"Why would Sirius seeing us be a problem?"

He turned back and gave her another look. "It's my bedroom."

"Okay," she said, though she really didn't see the problem. She'd been in Draco's bedroom before and she and Draco weren't dating. They were just talking to each other.

They went to Draco's room and Draco closed the door behind himself after another look in the hall.

"Where is everyone today?" Rachel asked, sitting down on Draco's armchair.

"Sirius and Remus have been helping the muggleborns and muggles to move out. Hermione's at home with her parents. Theo's in the library, like he usually is. Malcolm's creeping around somewhere, like he usually is. I saw Neville for breakfast, but I don't know where he went after that." Draco sat on the edge of his bed and fidgeted for a moment before looking at Rachel.

"So, what exactly are we talking about?" Rachel asked, though she knew what she needed to talk with him about.

"Well, Dobby, to start with. If you don't want him, we can take a different Elf. I don't want him to remind you all the time," Draco said.

"We can have Dobby, it will be alright." Rachel thought she could make that work, and if Dobby wanted to be free, she wanted to help him.

"If you're sure. Maybe meet him first and you can decide from there. Dobby is a bit much."

Rachel remembered Dobby being a bit excitable, but she hoped with some time and care he would settle down some.

"There's something I wanted to ask you. But I'm not sure I even should. It's asking a lot," Draco said, his gaze now fixed past Rachel.

"You can ask, it's okay," Rachel said, though she had no idea what he would consider asking a lot. "We'll try to work something out."

"I need to go to Malfoy Manor and get a few things. Files my father had for the Wizengamot, a few other things like that. I don't want to go alone, but I don't want anyone else to see me there. I haven't been back in the Manor since…"

"Since that night?" Rachel asked, knowing the answer.

Draco nodded.

Rachel pressed her lips together as she thought about it. She wasn't sure how she would handle going back into Malfoy Manor. Her body was telling her it was a bad idea. She wondered if Draco felt the same way. "The House Elves can't bring you what you need?" she asked.

"They can't get into my father's safe in his office, he had it warded specifically so that it requires the bloodline of a Malfoy."

"I suppose we could apparate out if we get there and freak out," she said finally.

"You shouldn't apparate while you're deeply upset, it increases the likelihood that you'll be splinched. If you freak out, I will side-along apparate you," he promised.

"And if we're both freaking out?" she asked, because she rather suspected the reason Draco was asking her was because he was worried about that happening too and he didn't want anyone else to see him like that.

"Then I tell one of the House Elves to get us out of there. They can apparate us."

"When were you thinking of going?" she asked, not quite believing that she was actually agreeing to this. She thought that this was going to be one of those things she didn't tell Severus or Torey that she was doing because neither of them would approve.

"The weekend maybe. I need the files before the trials. I need to know what my father knew about some of these people."

"Okay. I'll come with you. I can't guarantee that I can actually stay once I'm there, but I'll try."

Draco nodded. "I'm not sure I can stay either. We'll talk with Dobby while we're there and see if we can make an arrangement with him. If not, we can pick one of the other Elves to come with us. Is Kreacher living with us?"

"I offered and told him to think about it, so we'll see," she said. She wanted to give Kreacher time to really consider all of his options.

"If he doesn't, we can just take two Elves from the Manor, no problem. Now, you said you wanted to talk to me about Malfoy Manor?" he asked, his brow furrowing briefly.

Rachel exhaled. "I spoke with Madam Bones again. She would like us to speak at Selwyn's trial. She wants us to see the victim's advocate-"

"I'm not a victim," Draco said firmly. "Selwyn didn't do anything to me."

"I know. I'm not saying he did. But the victim's advocate is supposed to help us figure out what to say. They're supposed to know what will be convincing for us to say," she explained. "Madam Bones wants to talk to you about it, to see if you're willing to do it."

"I received a letter from her this morning, glad to know that's what it's about." Draco said, looking a little relieved.

Rachel sat for a moment. "Would you even consider speaking at the trial?" she asked tentatively.

"I don't know. I suppose it depends on what they want me to say. Are you going to?"

"I don't know. I feel like I should. If they think it will help people vote him guilty, then I really should. I just don't know if I can. What if I get up there and I just can't say anything?"

"You haven't had trouble speaking in a long time," he pointed out.

"I know. I just. I haven't spoken much about this to anyone. I'm not sure what to say about it."

"That's what the victim's advocate is for then, isn't it? You said they'll help you know what to say."

Rachel nodded. "I guess the next step is to meet with the victim's advocate and see what they say. Will you do that much?"

"Yes."

"Thank you," she said.

"I want Selwyn in Azkaban too. I want them all in Azkaban," Draco said. "If my parents hadn't died, I'd want them in there too. Pansy doesn't seem to get that."

"How is Pansy?" she asked tentatively.

Draco shook his head.

She pressed her lips together again. She didn't know what to do about Pansy. She had the list of Mind Healers that Torey had given her, but she was worried that even suggesting it to Pansy would be hurtful right now. Rachel was also pretty sure that Pansy didn't want to speak with her at the moment.

He checked his watch. "The others should be here soon. Do we want to go downstairs?"

"Sure," she said, recognizing that he was done with this conversation.

"Let's go get Theo out of the library. I was thinking maybe we need to make another room in the house and put in a combination study and library, so we have some place quiet to work that isn't our bedrooms," Draco said as he stood.

Rachel stood as well. "That would be nice. I wonder if Sirius knows how we can make built-in bookshelves."

"Remus might be the one to ask for that," Draco said. "He was responsible for the attic library."

They went into the second floor library and found Theo bent over a book and some notes.

"It's time already?" he asked, checking his own watch.

"Just about," Rachel said.

Theo gathered up his stuff and put away the book he'd been studying. "Did you hear from your realtor?"

"Yes, we get the keys on Friday," Draco said.

"That was fast," Rachel said. "We need to arrange for warding before we can move in though."

"We can check to see if Bill is available on Saturday. Would Professor Snape be willing to do the Fidelius charm then?" Theo asked as they left the library.

"I'll ask him," Rachel said. "I know he can help Bill with some of the other wards as well."

"I'd like to watch them do the wards. Just to see how it's done," Theo said.

"Me too," Draco said.

Rachel nodded. She was interested in that as well, even though she only knew the very basics of ward casting.

They went downstairs and found Neville, Millie, and Hermione at the kitchen table.

"I've taken the liberty of making some lists," Hermione said.

"Of course you have," Draco said.

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"What sort of lists?" Theo asked as he took a seat.

"Mostly things we need to do before we can move in. Furniture is a big one. Smaller household items. Expanding some of the rooms and adding rooms. Wards. I'm sure I'm forgetting something," Hermione said, pushing her scrolls into the middle of the table.

"I know a place where we can find furniture," Rachel said, remembering how Severus had taken her shopping just before they moved into Fallow Farm.

"I'm assuming we all need new furniture?" Millie asked.

"I think so. I don't really want to take anything from Longbottom Manor," Neville said.

"I don't want to take anything from my father's house either," Theo said.

"And we don't want the furniture from Malfoy Manor," Draco said firmly.

"I've already asked Sirius and Remus and they said they'll help with the expansion and addition of rooms. Bill said he could help with wards. Rachel, you said Professor Snape would be willing to do the Fidelius charm?" Hermione asked.

Rachel nodded. "I can ask him if he's available Saturday. I think the Fidelius and the wards might be some of the first things we want to do."

"We get the keys Saturday?" Hermione asked.

"Friday," Draco said. "When do we want to do furniture shopping?"

"I'm free until September," Millie said.

"Same here," Theo said.

"Me as well. I think it's Rachel, Draco, and Neville's schedules we need to work around," Hermione said.

"I can't do Wednesday or Friday, but I can do Thursday or Saturday or Sunday," Rachel said after she thought about her schedule.

"I can't do Wednesday either, but I'm mostly open other than that," Draco said.

"I'm free until the twenty fifth," Neville said.

"Thursday then?" Theo asked. "We'll need to be at the house on Saturday for the wards."

"Thursday works," Hermione said, making a note. "We should do muggle shops as well as magical ones."

"What are we going to find in muggle shops?" Draco asked.

"Well, a television, to start with. We should get a vcr too, but dvd players are a bit expensive still. A microwave would be nice."

"Cooking charms are usually quicker than the microwave," Rachel pointed out, though she thought it might be nice to watch something on the television every now and then.

"Have you tried to cook a bag of popcorn with your wand?" Hermione asked.

Rachel shook her head. "Messy?"

"Quite. Thank goodness for cleaning spells. I would have been wiping butter off the ceiling with a rag if I couldn't point my wand at it."

"I think you two are going to have to help us with the muggle shops," Millie said.

Rachel had visions of them as a big group going into a muggle shop with most of them gawking at everyday appliances and not knowing how to use muggle money. It would be an adventure at least. Besides, at least in muggle shops no one would know who she was.

"What else do we need?" Neville asked.

"We'll need to go shopping for food, but I think that will be as we move in," Hermione said.

"The House Elves can do that," Draco said. "They'll know better what they need to cook with anyway."

"Do we have House Elves already?" Millie asked.

"Kreacher is thinking about it. Draco and I are going to talk to one of his Elves that wants to be free and offer them a salary," Rachel said.

Hermione brightened. "How many of your Elves want to be free? Have you asked them?"

"Just that one, he's a bit crazy," Draco said.

"But you'll ask the others?" Hermione pressed.

"Asking them will send them into fits of hysterics, trust me," Draco said.

"At least let them know it's an option," she said. "Maybe they just need some time to get used to the idea. What about Kreacher? Can we free him?"

"Kreacher doesn't want to be free, he's scared of the idea. I'll be putting aside money for him at the same rate as we pay Dobby, that way he has it if he wants or needs it," Rachel said.

"Well, maybe he'll see how happy this Elf is being free and that will help," Hermione said, undeterred.

Rachel rather suspected that wasn't going to be the case at all, but they'd just have to see what happened.

"Let's go over the furniture list so we can make some basic decisions about what we want in the communal areas," Hermione said, pulling out another sheet of parchment. "Since we can make the room larger, I don't think we have to worry too much about dimensions."

They all bent together and began suggesting things that they needed. Despite the craziness of all of it, Rachel was looking forward to living with her friends.


"Nervous?" Rachel asked as she and Draco left the Wizengamot chambers on Wednesday after lunch.

"Not really. I've fought Death Eaters. Nothing they can do to us can be worse than what we've already lived through," Draco said.

Rachel hadn't been worried about something bad happening, she'd been worried about doing well on the tryouts. "What do you think they're going to ask us to do? I don't think it will be like our NEWT."

"Well, I don't think they're going to make us take a written exam if that's what you mean," he said. "Dueling, maybe."

She had still really never dueled anyone. Severus - and everyone else who had ever trained her - had said that dueling was a sport and its practices had no place in actual defense. "Do you think they'll have us fight them, like we did with Tonks and Kingsley?"

"Maybe. Could do, though honestly I don't know that either of us would best Tonks or Kingsley in a one on one fight."

Rachel didn't think they would either. Tonks and Kingsley both had a lot more training and practice than she and Draco did. She and Draco were above average for people who were just finishing at Hogwarts, but they were still a long way away from a full auror.

They went inside the MLE and down the hall to where the aurors' area was. There were two groups of people there - about ten aurors in their deep blue MLE robes and people who were trying out in a variety of robes. Rachel spotted Ron and made her way over to him. "Hey."

"Hey," he said, glancing down at her. "What do you think?"

Rachel looked around. There were maybe twenty five people trying out. She wasn't even sure how many people the aurors were looking for. All of them were older, but she suddenly saw a familiar face. "Miles?"

Miles turned and his eyes widened with surprise. "Rachel? Draco? What are you doing here?"

"We're trying out for the auror team, obviously," Draco said. "It's been ages. How are you?"

Miles grimaced. "Rough. I joined the MLE Patrol out of Hogwarts, and well, I'm sure you've heard by now what happened."

Rachel nodded. "You were here that Sunday?"

"I was." Miles looked distant for a moment. "We don't really talk about that. Now what are you really doing here?"

"We're really trying out," Draco said.

Miles looked at them, his eyebrows creeping together. "That's insane. The Death Eaters want to kill you."

"And we want to kill the Death Eaters," Draco said. "Makes us about even."

"Stop the Death Eaters, we want to stop the Death Eaters," Rachel corrected with a look at Draco. She wasn't signing up to go kill people.

Draco shrugged. "You're trying to switch from the MLE Patrol to the aurors?"

"I didn't have the NEWT scores to join the Aurors Training Program straight out, but if I can get on the auror team for this, they'll approve my transfer to the training program afterwards, assuming I do well enough. Seriously though. Rachel, Professor Snape is letting you do this?"

"I'm an adult, he doesn't exactly get to say what I do and don't do," Rachel said.

Miles raised an eyebrow but he smiled. "I suppose you had to hit your rebellious teenage years eventually, even if you're a little later than most. Just promise me you'll think before you do this. This isn't like joining the Quidditch team."

"We know it's not. We've fought Death Eaters. Hell, we've been hunted by Death Eaters. We've trained with aurors. If anyone is prepared for this, it's us," Draco said.

"If you say so," Miles said, though he still looked uncertain.

"Alright, listen up," Kingsley called and the room fell silent. "We've got three tasks for you today. Timed target practice. Return to rendezvous point. And defeat the enemies. You will be scored on each task. We'll take people one at a time in the training areas. Bletchley, Miles, you're up."

"Good luck," Rachel told him.

"Piece of cake," Miles said. He followed the aurors out of the room and through a door.

Rachel turned to Draco and Ron. "They're doing this alphabetically aren't they? Ugh, I hate that my name is at the end of the alphabet."

"I'm probably going to be the last one to go," Ron said, not looking happy at the prospect.

"And we don't even have the advantage of seeing what they're doing first," Draco said, looking annoyed.

"I suppose they have to do it that way so it's fair for everyone," Rachel said, though she too would have liked to have seen what they were expected to do.

After about thirty minutes of restless waiting Draco's name was called.

"Good luck," Ron said, Rachel nodding.

"Don't need it," Draco said and left with a swirl of his robes.

"We're decently good at target practice, right?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Rachel said.

"And we've trained at 'return to the rendezvous' a lot," he continued.

"We did," she agreed.

"That just leaves defeat the enemies. If the enemies are aurors, I'm not sure how much luck we'll have with that, but I'm not sure anyone but aurors would have luck at that."

"People from the MLE Patrol might have a decent shot at it," Rachel said, having seen a handful of the blue MLE robes among those who were trying out.

"True, but if they were just recruiting from the MLE Patrol they would have done that," Ron pointed out. "We don't have to be better than them, just better than most people."

Rachel nodded, though the part of her that insisted on getting Outstandings on her scores rebelled at the idea of not receiving top marks.

Finally Rachel's name was called and she went through the same door everyone else had gone through.

"Center of the room, three minutes, Miss Snow," Kingsley called.

Rachel had a brief moment to look around and saw that in addition to the aurors who were watching, there were also the rest of the applicants who'd already done the task. She reminded herself that she'd done much more difficult things in front of an audience before and drew her wand. "What spell?" she checked.

"The Stunning Spell if you would. There's wards, so a stray spell won't hit anyone. Ready?"

She adjusted her stance. "Ready."

"Go."

The targets were dark ghostly figures in the shape of people, which she wasn't prepared for, but she immediately got to work. Sometimes when she did things that required a certain type of focus - whether it was target practice, brewing a potion, or seeking the Snitch - she fell into almost a trance. There was nothing in the world except her and her target. It was a bad habit to be in when it came to combat, and not a particularly good one for brewing potions either.

Those thoughts had fallen away. All she saw were the shadowy shapes, some moving towards her, some retreating, some moving in patterns she couldn't discern. Her Stunning Spell cut through them, the shadows disintegrating on contact. She could feel her heart beating in the back of her throat as she worked, but time itself seemed suspended.

"Time."

Rachel lowered her wand, a little surprised that it had been three minutes already. She quickly checked the faces of the aurors who were watching her. Three looked concerned, the rest looked impressed. Good enough for her.

"Come take a seat. Call in Jasmine Taylor," Kingsley said, nodding once to her.

Rachel took a seat next to Draco and exhaled. Her heart was beating quickly and she had that strange taste in her mouth that Torey had told her was adrenaline.

"Pretty good," Draco said quietly.

"Thanks." Rachel wasn't sure how good of a showing she had made. She wasn't supposed to lose her awareness like that, even if it did increase the number of targets she hit.

Four more people tried out before Ron entered the room. Rachel nodded to him and gave him a smile. Ron nodded back and drew his wand as he received his instructions.

As she watched Ron she smiled a little, remembering all of them as they'd played around in their fifth year with the DA. They'd come a long way since then and Ron was good at target practice, probably for the same reason he was a decent Keeper. It wasn't quite the same skill set, but they were related.

"Time," Kingsley called, nodding to Ron as well.

Ron came and collapsed into the chair next to Rachel.

"Nice job," she said.

"Thanks," he said.

"We'll take Mr. Bletchley in the next room," Kingsley said, and the aurors all left with Miles trailing after them.

A man got up and came around to stand in front of them. "You're really her?" You're the Girl-Who-Lived?" he asked.

Rachel blushed.

"What of it?" Draco asked.

"Can I have your autograph?" he asked, pulling a piece of parchment out of his pocket.

Rachel blushed even harder. "I don't have a quill, sorry."

"I do," he said, pushing it into her hands.

Rachel sighed and roughly signed her name - very roughly, since the quill wasn't charmed for shaking hands.

"Did you really use the Killing Curse on You-Know-Who?" someone else asked.

"Yes," Rachel said, trying not to give into the urge to cover her face.

"And you died?" came another voice.

"Leave her alone," Draco said standing and drawing his wand, Ron on his feet an instant later. "She doesn't want this, can't you see that?"

The room was very awkwardly silent for what felt like a moment that stretched into an eternity.

"Just asking," someone said.

"Well keep it to yourself," Draco said, glaring around the room.

An auror came back into the room. "Miss Collins."

A young woman with short brown hair left the room.

Draco and Ron sat back down and Rachel sighed and tried to get her face to stop burning. At this rate she was going to be hiding from the public for the rest of her life.

"You're alright?" Draco asked when his name was called.

"Fine," Rachel said.

"I've got her," Ron said, meeting Draco's gaze.

Draco nodded and left.

"At least no one at Hogwarts ever asked for your autograph. Did they?" Ron asked.

"No, thankfully." As bad as all the staring had sometimes been at Hogwarts, for the most part the other students had gotten used to her as just another student.

Finally it was Rachel's turn. She drew her wand, left the room, and followed the auror into the next room. It was much bigger than she'd been expecting and there was sort of a mock tiny village inside. On one side of the room there were tall stands so that people could look down at the village and observe people's progress.

"Rendezvous point is the train station. You have five minutes. There are aurors in the village, avoid them. They will cast the Stunning Spell or combat disrupting spells at you," the auror told her.

"What spells am I allowed to use?" Rachel asked.

"Nothing that causes injuries or is lethal."

"That's the only restriction?" she checked, a little surprised by that.

"Well, I mean, try not to cause too much damage. Fire is probably a bad idea," the auror said.

Rachel wondered if her immediate impulse was the wrong one. Kingsley had always told them it was a bad idea to use the Disillusionment charm in combat, but it seemed so obvious. "Are there traps?"

"You'll have to find out, but there's nothing that would injure you. Ready?"

"Ready," Rachel said, knowing that there were traps, but she was okay with that.

"Begin."

Rachel darted for a hiding place, quickly disillusioned herself and then used the Muffling charm and the Scent Removal charm. She decided to not go down the central street, since that was probably lined with traps, but a quick look around told her that the buildings were close enough together that she could do what she wanted. She cast a Featherfoot charm on herself and then opened a window and hauled herself up the side of a cottage.

Once on the roof, she carefully rushed a few paces and leapt to the next roof. She allowed herself to fall against the slant of the roof, she wasn't worried about making noise under the Muffling charm. Then she righted herself and did it again. When she reached the other end of the room she hopped down, checked the area for traps using the spells that Severus had taught her, and then climbed onto the mock train station platform and undid all of her charms.

"Four minutes, ten seconds. You may join us up here, Miss Snow," Kingsley called. "Miss Taylor is next please."

Rachel climbed up the stands and plopped down next to Draco. She was a little sore from hitting one of the roofs badly, but otherwise she was okay.

"What path did you take?" Draco asked.

"Over the roofs. You?"

"I stunned two aurors and went through the garden," Draco said.

"Were we supposed to stun the aurors?" she asked.

Miles came down and sat on Rachel's other side. "No. You climbed on the roofs?"

"Yeah, I didn't think they'd put traps up there." She'd been confident enough that they wouldn't that she hadn't even checked.

"Well, now they will," Miles said. "I went through the houses. It's interesting, less than half of the people trying out have used the Disillusionment charm."

"Why?" Rachel asked.

"Some of them preferred to fight," Draco said.

"And some people aren't all that good at the Disillusionment charm," Miles added.

The next person came in, and just as Miles said, she didn't choose to use the Disillusionment charm. She put up a fairly good fight though, making it all the way to the train platform without being stunned despite the fact that she had two aurors chasing after her.

Ron chose to use the Disillusionment charm, which left all of them watching carefully to try to see which way he'd gone. He reappeared on the train platform just before time ran out without encountering any aurors.

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley. We'll take Mr. Bletchley in the next room," Kingsley said.

"See you on the other side," Miles said as he left.

Ron climbed into the stands and took Miles' place. "Not terrible, though I cut it a little close."

"Which way did you go?" Draco asked.

"Around the edge, had to drop a few wards. You?" Ron asked.

"Through the gardens, stunned two aurors. She went over the roofs."

Ron looked at her and nodded. "Nice."

Rachel sat and pondered the next task. She didn't think the Disillusionment charm was going to help her with defeating enemies. It was too bad they weren't doing this in groups.

They wished Draco luck when it was his turn. About fifteen minutes later Rachel was called and she followed the auror into another room. This room was also larger than it should be and there was a large pit in the room with seating around it. In the pit there were various walls and boulders and what looked like ten combat dummies.

"The dummies will fire spells. You've got five minutes to take out as many of them as you can. The only spells that are off limits are large damaging spells like the Exploding charm. It will take more than a Stunning Spell to take them down."

"Got it," Rachel said, seeing the ladder. She climbed down into the pit, drew her wand, and waited.

"Begin," the auror called.

The combat dummies jerked to life and Rachel ducked and put up a Shield charm. She threw her strongest Cutting hex at the nearest dummy and was relieved that it was cut in half. There were spells that she couldn't identify coming her way, so she stayed in cover and carefully sought dummy after dummy. It had been maybe three minutes and she still had six dummies left.

She paused for a moment, trying to make a decision. She wasn't sure if this spell worked on things that weren't technically alive. If it did, she'd be done. If it didn't, she'd look pretty bad. But then, she'd look pretty bad only getting four of the dummies.

She decided to go for it and see what happened, she was running out of time. Thrusting her wand in the air, Rachel thought the incantation for The Final Defeat, which was a spell she'd learned from Hermione last year but had never cast before. Two things happened once - the first was it felt like her magic was ripped through her body and then yanked out of her wand, the second was that she collapsed to the floor and her head was ringing. She immediately decided that was a spell she was never using again unless it was a life or death situation and let her head sag to the floor.

A moment later the auror who had been giving her instructions appeared over her. "Are you hurt?"

"No." Rachel said, trying to force herself to sit back up. "Would, uh, you mind casting the Revitalization charm on me, please?"

"Sure. You know, you're the first person on record to have defeated all of the dummies in the time limit during tryouts since Mad Eye Moody, but I don't know how favorably the judges are going to see it," the auror said, pointing her wand at Rachel.

Rachel had kind of figured that and thankfully she was too tired to flinch at the wand being pointed at her. A moment later she felt strength pouring back into her limbs and she sat up. "Thank you."

"Can you get yourself out of the pit?"

"Yes," she said, though she intended to go to bed pretty much as soon as she got home. She managed to coordinate herself well enough to climb the ladder back out of the pit and sat down next to Draco and Miles.

"What the hell was that?" Miles whispered.

"The Final Defeat. I can't believe you used that," Draco said.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time. There was no way I was going to get more than six of the dummies if I didn't," Rachel said, touching her temple. Maybe a Headache Easing Draught and then bed.

"Six dummies is pretty good. I got seven. Draco got six," Miles told her. "Most people here have gotten between four and six."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes, really. You were doing fine without the theatrics of whatever the hell that spell was."

"We're almost done. Let's go eat and then you can sleep for twelve hours until you feel better. Crazy," Draco said, shaking his head.

Rachel shrugged. She had rather thought the goal was to get all of the dummies. "I might skip the food and go straight to bed."

"Not after you had the Revitalization charm used on you you're not. That energy has to come from somewhere," Draco said.

"He's right, there's no point in making yourself sick," Miles said.

She covered up a yawn. "Fine. A quick meal." Then she was taking a Modified Dreamless Sleep potion and passing out.

They watched as the next few people did the task. The young woman after Draco took down six of the dummies, but had taken a spell to her left leg and was limping. The next person only got four and kicked one of the dummies in frustration. The two after that each got five. Then it was Ron's turn.

Ron dodged and shielded and methodically took out the dummies, managing to take out six of them before time was called.

"Nice work," Draco said as Ron joined them.

Ron wiped sweat from his forehead. "Not exactly the same as it was in training, is it?"

"Not quite. We're going back to Sirius' for a meal, are you coming?" Draco asked.

"Sure," Ron said, looking pleased to be invited.

Kingsley stood, getting everyone's attention, and Rachel got a good look at the aurors who were assembled. She saw Head Auror Robards, watching the crowd with a thoughtful expression. Tonks was there, though Rachel noticed that her hair was still the plain brown as she'd seen it these past few weeks, making it harder to pick her out from the group. She recognized a few other aurors that she'd seen around, though she didn't know them well enough to connect names to faces.

"Thank you for your time today. We appreciate your interest in joining the aurors. You'll receive letters in the next week once we've reviewed the results. Some of you will be receiving invitations to join the auror team, the rest will be receiving invitations to join the MLE Patrol. Please follow Auror Lewis and he will bring you to the floo," Kingsley said.

Rachel managed to get to her feet, though she swayed a little bit.

"What happened to you?" Ron asked. "Get hit by a stunner?"

"She used The Final Defeat," Draco said.

Ron's eyes widened. "You used that knowing what it would do?"

Rachel shrugged. "It worked. I took down all of the dummies. But believe me, I'm not planning on using that spell again any time soon."

They made their way out of the room, following the auror in the direction of the floo.

"So, what do you think?" Ron asked.

"I think we all did well, comparatively speaking. We were far from the worst people trying out," Draco said.

"You all did good," Miles said. "If they don't want you on the team, it won't be because of your skills, it will be because you're so young or because they're worried you'll attract Death Eaters. Hopefully I'll see you around."

"It was good to see you, Miles. I hope you get a spot," Rachel said.

"Thanks, you too," Miles said.

A few minutes later they were back in Sirius' kitchen. Sirius, Remus, Theo, Neville, and Malcolm were gathered.

"Well, how'd it go?" Sirius asked.

"Good," Ron said. "We did good."

Rachel plopped down in a chair. "Good enough, at least."

"You think you'll get spots on the team?" Theo asked.

"Hard to say. They might be a little iffy about having us because of who we are," Draco said, sitting next to Rachel.

"At least I don't have that problem," Ron said.

"When will you know?" Remus asked.

"They said they'd send letters in a week," Rachel said, though she was not planning on joining the MLE Patrol if the aurors said she couldn't join their team.

"You have a little time then," Neville said.

"And now, we need to eat. Rachel used The Final Defeat and she needs to eat before she passes out," Draco said.

"You actually used that spell after the last time?" Theo asked, his eyebrows climbing.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Rachel said again.

"What's that?" Malcolm asked.

"Takes down everyone on the battlefield in a certain radius, but also knocks out the caster pretty hard too," Theo explained.

"More than hard. Rachel needed the aurors to use a Revitalization charm on her before she could even move," Draco said.

Kreacher appeared next to Rachel and began placing dishes of food in front of her. "Kreacher heard. Miss is ill. Miss needs to eat."

"I'm alright," Rachel said, having second thoughts about bringing Kreacher with them. She wanted to do what was best for Kreacher, but she also didn't want someone waiting on her hand and foot.

"It's important to take care of yourself," Remus said, meeting Rachel's gaze. "Get some good rest after using the Revitalization charm. When you wake up, eat again and then get some more sleep."

"I know," she said. "I will."

"What else does Miss wish for?" Kreacher asked.

Rachel surveyed the food in front of her. It was practically a feast with a wide range of dishes, from beef stew to some sort of rice and gravy dish. "This is more than plenty, thank you." She began to eat, surprised to find that she actually was hungry.

"Anything else interesting happen at the tryouts?" Sirius asked.

"Miles was there. It was good to see him," Draco said.

Theo nodded. "That is good. He still playing Quidditch?"

"He didn't say. He survived the attack on the Ministry with the MLE Patrol and now he's trying to get into the Auror Training Program," Draco said.

"I'm glad he's alright then," Theo said. "Anyone else we know?"

"No, mostly it was people who were older than us," Draco said. "Miles said they might not want us because we're so young. We're not that young, we're eighteen."

Sirius laughed. "You don't know how young you are. Eighteen is just babies in the grand scheme of things."

"You are very young, but I'm sure the aurors will take into account your experience and training as well," Remus said.

Rachel was a little torn about that. She was eighteen, which meant she was an adult, but she still didn't feel very much like an adult and she suspected that showed. Hopefully that was something that would improve with time. At the very least she would continue to get older. And then maybe they would take her seriously and not just as the girl who killed the Dark Lord.


"What happened?" Severus asked, trying to contain his alarm when Rachel apparated into the sitting room. She looked exhausted and drawn, the circles beneath her eyes more prominent than ever, and strands of her hair had escaped the plait she'd been wearing when she'd left the house this morning.

"Uh," she said, staring at him for a long moment.

"Sit down before you collapse," he said, noticing that she looked unsteady. "What happened?" he asked again.

Rachel sat down on the sofa. "Nothing bad happened. It was actually kind of my fault. And I really should go to bed."

He raised an eyebrow at her since she hadn't answered his question at all. She seemed unmoved by this and Severus found himself recalling the days when his slightest glance would send her skittering. While he was glad that she felt more confident in herself now - and more confident in him - he would have liked to have kept some of the obedience.

"Oh, I saw Miles," she said suddenly.

"How is Mr. Bletchley?" Severus asked, since that would at least get her talking.

Rachel made a face. "Hard to say. He survived the battle at the Ministry, so…"

Severus nodded his understanding. While a great deal of damage had been done to the MLE simply in terms of loss of life, what it had done to the survivors was every bit as bad. "He's trying out for the auror team as well?"

"Yeah. We didn't recognize anyone else there though, which I suppose isn't a surprise. There's lots of people we don't know."

"What happened? Were you hit with a Stunning spell?" he asked, now that he had her in dialogue.

"No." She sighed and brushed her hair off her face. "I kind of misinterpreted one of the tasks."

"In what way?"

"The first two tasks went pretty well. Maybe. I think they went pretty well. It's hard to say what they wanted. I wish they would have given us some sort of idea of what they wanted from us first. Like they gave us goals and let us decide how to accomplish them, but now I'm wondering if maybe they wanted to see something else," she rambled.

"I think it's likely that they left open ended goals because they wanted to see what you would do with it, that's part of the test," he said, since that's what made sense to him. He couldn't do that in a classroom, but when he had a single apprentice he would be able to teach that way. "What were the tasks?"

"Target practice. Go to the rendezvous point. Defeat the enemies."

"Enemies?"

"Combat dummies with…actually I have no idea how they did that. How did they do that? The combat dummies acted like they were alive. Shouldn't that be impossible?"

"No, not impossible. Complex artifacting and charms can allow objects to do certain things, such as move or attack. They were not as alive or as complex as they seemed," he answered. "Think about the way that they moved. They would have repeated certain movements, or responded to your movements in limited ways."

After a moment she nodded. "I was able to fake them out in ways I wouldn't have been able to with a person. Maybe I should have disillusioned myself for that task too."

"No, they were responding to your magic. Disillusioning yourself wouldn't have helped." Though none of this answered the question of what had happened to her and clearly something had. "You said you misinterpreted one of the tasks?"

She sighed. "There were ten dummies, so I thought they expected us to take down all ten of them in the time limit. That seems right, doesn't it?"

"You expected them to give a school task that you could accomplish perfectly," he said, knowing her perfectionism was an issue they'd run into many times before.

"I guess. Afterward Miles and Draco said that people usually only got around six of the dummies, which is probably what I would have done if I'd kept going the way that I was."

"What did you do instead?" he asked, though he was getting the sneaking suspicion that she knew what she'd done and he wasn't pleased about it in the slightest.

"Don't get mad at me. I won't do it again."

"Where did you even learn The Final Defeat? I can't imagine that's something Tonks or Shacklebolt taught you."

"See, you're mad. And I'm tired. I'm going to bed," she said.

"I am trying to keep you from killing yourself, either through foolhardy Quidditch stunts, chasing after Death Eaters, using spells that should never have been invented in the first place, or relapsing into serious illness because you do not take care of yourself," he said firmly.

Rachel drew herself straighter as she stood. "I am not relapsing. I am not. The first thing I did after the tasks was eat a full meal. Now I'm going to bed because I do know how to take care of myself. I'm not stupid, Severus, and I don't appreciate you acting like I am." She stormed up the stairs.

Severus bit back his retort that if she was actually taking care of herself she wouldn't look like death warmed over. He knew she hadn't been sleeping, and as usual she was pushing herself to do too much, and sooner or later all of this was going to catch up to her.

He had serious doubts about her moving out that were only compounded when things like this happened. If he had found Rachel frustrating as a young child she was at least equally frustrating as an adult and quite possibly a good deal more so.

The truth was that just like couldn't stop Rachel from joining the aurors, he couldn't stop her from moving out. They were past the point where he could drag her to the hospital wing or into therapy or forcibly remove one of her classes - which in retrospect he absolutely should have done. Maybe if he had she would have gotten it through her head that she could not do everything.

The best thing he could do was not burn bridges with her so that she would come to him when she needed help, but sometimes it was difficult not to respond to her. She would move out, and hopefully she would do better than he expected her to, and at the very least he knew that she would be with people who cared about her and who would see the signs that Rachel was struggling. Hopefully that would be enough.

About thirty minutes later Rachel came back downstairs in her nightgown. She sat down near the bottom steps and looked at him through the railing. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I made a mistake by using that spell. I won't do it again unless it's a life or death situation. I do take care of myself, I just wish that you could see that."

Severus held his tongue for a moment as he searched for the right response. "Thank you for apologizing. I'm glad you know that it was a mistake and I would really much prefer it if you forgot that you know that spell at all. It's not safe to use anywhere. I know you are working on eating, I do see that, but there is more than that to taking care of yourself."

Her shoulders slumped. "I'm trying. I'm going to take a sleeping potion now, so I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Alright. Goodnight," he told her.

"Goodnight," she said, wobbling slightly as she stood and went back upstairs.

Severus sighed. He would talk with her more about that spell in the morning. The rest they could try to work on.