Unraveling Secrets

February 1997

In early February, Towler contacted Adrian to tell him two things: first, that he was on a wait list at one of the apothecaries in Diagon Alley to obtain some Ashwinder eggs; and second, that Bill Weasley had successfully managed to get a list of codes from Gerald Harper's office. Kenneth and Bill had waited a couple of weeks just to make sure Harper didn't realize they had the list, but he seemed oblivious, and Kenneth used Legilimency on him several times without his knowledge to make sure. Harper was too interested in his connections to Death Eaters to notice Kenneth's light probing or the fact that Bill had rifled through his office, though.

The real problem was finding a place where Adrian could meet Towler to get a copy of the codes and review them without anyone discovering them. If they met at Towler's flat, they ran the risk of Karen walking in and finding out about Adrian's involvement. Meeting at one of their random coded locations was also unrealistic, because it was still cold out and they couldn't pour over the codes together in a chilly alley or a grove of trees or on a riverbank somewhere.

In the end, Adrian had to ask his parents for help, though the idea of Towler visiting him at his family home made him cringe. He could only imagine what Towler would say about his financial status after seeing Pucey Villa.

Of course, his mother was delighted. "Does this mean you've made a friend?" she teased, and Adrian glared at her.

"I wouldn't call him that," he said shortly. "He's a member of the Order and I'm helping him by trying to decipher codes. That's all. Besides, he was a Gryffindor. You know Slytherins and Gryffindors generally don't get along well. We're only working together because Dumbledore is making us."

"That's not always true," his mother said more reasonably. "Albus and Horace are great friends."

Except Adrian didn't want to hear things like that. It was one thing to be crazy about Alicia, but it felt like something entirely different to be friends with Kenneth Towler. Should there be a difference, though? The thought nagged him, and he didn't like it.

She broke his thoughts by asking, "Should we plan dinner?"

"No, that won't be necessary. He's coming around eight and he's just dropping off the information. We'll sit in the library a bit and review it, and then he can leave. We just need a safe place to look it over, that's all. His girlfriend can't know I'm helping him, so I can't meet him at his flat."

His mother complained. "You're no fun. I'll at least have Cheffy send up some tea and snacks. I will not be a bad hostess, Adrian."

It was pointless to argue with her. So all he said was, "Fine. He'll send his Patronus in when he gets here. Try not to be too startled when the damn thing appears. It's the largest one you'll ever see."

Alania's eyebrow arched. "My. That sounds intriguing."

A few hours later, when that giant elephant appeared in the parlor, she burst out laughing and clapped her hands once. "Oh! It is unique, isn't it? You're right, I've never seen one so large! I'll go and let him in the gates."

Adrian went with her; he didn't need Towler meeting his mother alone.

Towler was dressed nicely in khakis and a button-down with a heavy cloak on, and when Alania allowed him entry, he looked a bit nervous as he stepped through the gates.

"Bonjour, mon cheri," Alania said amiably, beaming at him. "I'm so glad you could visit us this evening! I know it's a bit late for dinner —" She shot her son an annoyed look.

"Oh, no, it's fine," Towler insisted, blushing and inclining his head politely. "I've already eaten."

"All the same, I have arranged for a late evening tea, and our cook has made some wonderful things, savory and sweet, in case the two of you get hungry. Come! Come inside, it's quite chilly out."

She looped her arm in Towler's to lead him up the drive to the front doors, and Adrian could feel the heat creeping up his neck as he followed them inside.

"Adrian told me that you're a Gryffindor. Is that correct?" Alania asked, turning to close the front doors behind them.

Salsby cracked into existence to take Towler's cloak, and Towler looked only slightly startled to hand it to the elf.

"Yes. We were in the same year," he said.

"Kenneth was Head Boy," Adrian muttered.

"Oh!" His mother smiled. "That is an honor. It means Albus saw very special qualities in you."

Towler flushed. "I doubt that. I don't think I did a bang-up job, to be honest. Umbridge took control of the prefect meetings around November of our seventh year, and she refused to let me do much. I was pretty useless after that."

Alania'sface clouded. "You were notuseless. I'm sure you did the best you could, with her in charge. Dieu, but she is an absolutely horrid woman. Completely power-hungry. I cannot stand her. Her Ministry career has been decidedly progressive, simply for having the right connections, rather than because she's actually good at her job. But, enough. I won't bore you with my opinions of that odious witch. Let me show you to the library so you two brilliant minds can get to work."

Once they were alone in the library, Adrian exhaled in relief. "Sorry," he muttered, gesturing into the room towards a table set in front of the fire. "Mum was a bit excited when I told her you were coming over. I don't have any close friends."

"That's kind of fucked, Pucey. Not having any friends."

Adrian rolled his eyes. He did not tell Towler that he sounded like Alicia. "Well, you wouldn't want to be friends with Warrington, Montague, Bletchley, Flint, and the rest of them either, now would you?"

Towler gave him a small smile. "That's true. I would not. Still, I liked your mum, especially her going off on Umbridge. That made me feel a little better, honestly."

"She's a bit eccentric." Adrian flushed again. "Before she married, she was a model."

Towler's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

Adrian nodded and waited for Towler to sit down, before joining him and using his wand topour tea. "Back in the 1960's. She modeled in Paris and Milan mostly, but sometimes Monte Carlo and Rome. That's how she and my father met, even though they had both gone to Hogwarts and were both in Slytherin."

"Your mum doesn't make me think of a Slytherin girl," Towler admitted.

Tersely, Adrian said, "Not all Slytherins are like Courtney Vanhausen or Pansy Parkinson."

"I know that. That's not what I meant. Her personality is different. She's cheerful. I never saw Vanhausen act cheerful. She always seemed…" Towler seemed to be searching for a word, but Adrian knew what he meant.

"Reserved?"

Towler nodded. "A lot of Slytherins are."

"We have to be." Adrian shrugged. "It helps us hide our emotions from each other. Emotions can be used against us."

"I guess that's true. Well," Towler said, pulling a piece of parchment from his pocket. "Here's a copy of the code sheet from Harper's office, provided it's actually correct. My concern is that it's a fake; that maybe he thought Bill or I would go through his office to find it. I don't know."

"Well, we won't know until we look it over, and we have to start somewhere," Adrian said, taking it from him. As he glanced down the list of fake organizations and codes, he added quietly, "I can't help but wonder why the goblins haven't noticed the codes and confronted Harper, except that I assume they feel he must have some sway over Death Eaters and they don't want to be seen acting against the Dark Lord in any way right now."

Darkly, Towler replied, "The goblins don't care about anything except whether commerce is running smoothly and if they're getting their due share. They're likely willfully ignoring how Harper is keying existing accounts in the system. For a starting point, I snuck out a duplicate of the Selwyn account."

He pulled out another piece of parchment and handed it to Adrian. It was clear that a large amount of galleons had gone somewhere the past month, but the code listed was not for any known wizarding organization. Adrian already knew that, but now he could hopefully start matching the codes.

After a few seconds, he found the right one. The code was for an erroneousorganization labeled Sevenbranches LLC, and according to Harper's sheet, it corresponded to an account labeled PIEcIIF.

Towler frowned. "Even with the code though, I can't figure out which account it's referencing. There is no account or vault anywhere in the bank labeled PIEcIIF. It doesn't make sense. Bill and I know it must be a cipher, but Bill didn't have time to try and decode it himself because he's too busy with his job and the Order. He didn't find any cipher codes when he hunted through Harper's office, either."

Adrian smiled with grim satisfaction. "That's because Harper's a moron. He didn't want to keep two cheat sheets in his office in case someone found the first list of codes. He's probably using a simple Rotation Cipher. It's the easiest cipher to use, so he won't have to think too hard. If he's anything like his idiot son, he's not terribly bright. He's pretty fucking mediocre, if I'm being honest."

"Do you think you can figure it out?" Towler sounded impressed.

"Believe me. If your brain wasn't fried from doing a boring-arse menial desk job all day, you'd figure it out, too. This first coded account should be particularly easy to figure out because it has three of the same letters. That will help me break it really fast, actually." Adrian grabbed a spare piece of parchment and a quill, and began making notes, counting up and down the alphabet and writing out various letter codes.

After a few minutes, something occurred to him and he snorted with laughter. "Oh, that's hilarious. I think heput a slight twist on it. Maybe I should give him a bit more credit," he said disparagingly, rolling his eyes.

Towler looked at him curiously, and Adrian elaborated."He's not using the English alphabet for the cipher. I think he's using the Latin alphabet,which only has twenty-three letters, excluding J, U, and W. My guess is, probably because a lot of purebloods have Latin names, or some shite. He thinks he's being clever, the arse. So… if that's the case…" Adrian scratched the tip of the quill against his chin in thought. "That makes this a Caesar Cipher. Hang on. Let me make a new list of possibilities."

Towler waited patiently and quietly sipped tea while Adrian worked. After fifteen minutes or so, he had a list of possible decoded letters to start working with, and he duplicated the list.

"So now," Adrian said, "the key is figuring out which is the right one. The fake organization called Sevenbranches LLC matches toPIEcIIF, which should correspond to one of the sets of letters I just wrote out using the new letters are probably an abbreviation for an actual wizarding organization." He handed a copy of the list to Towler.

They scanned over the information together, and after another few moments, it suddenly jumped out at Adrian. In fact, he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it when he'd written it down the first time. His mouth dropped open and he got up quickly and went around to Towler.

"This one," he sputtered, pointing.

Towler frowned at the letters, and then suddenly he realized what it was, too.

"Oh,shite!"

They looked at each other and then the letters in horror.

According to Adrian's work, PIEcIIF matched to the possibility SMHfMMI.

St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

"Fuck," Towler spat. "They're dumping money into St. Mungo's? But why?"

Adrian's fingers were cold. "Because if a battle broke out, they'd need Healers, wouldn't they? My guess is, they're buying them off in advance."

Towler's face paled under his glasses. "Bloody hell."

Adrian exhaled slowly. Bloody hell indeed.

"I'll leave you with several more accounts," Towler said hoarsely. "See if you can figure out some of the other codes. Once we have a bit more, we can take it to Dumbledore."

Adrian nodded. "I'll contact you in a few days."

What have you been up to today?

Adrian glanced up at the ocelot that had materialized on the table in the library. It was about eleven at night; the usual time he and Alicia exchanged Patronuses to make sure no one else overheard theirbrief, mundane conversations. He couldn't help but smile a little; the evening had both been exhilarating and shite all at the same time in finding out that the Selwyn family was dumping thousands into St. Mungo's, likely on Voldemort's orders.

He raised his wand and cast a Patronus in return. Been in the library all day, actually. How are you?

He went back to looking over the accounts Towler had dangerously snuck out of Gringotts, making more notes. The cipher wasn't hard now that he knew how many letters to count down on the alphabet, and he had discovered that there was a disturbing amount of money not only going to St. Mungo's, but also to other organizations. Some he couldn't make out; they could be private corporations held by Death Eaters, or businesses that Adrian just wasn't familiar with, but he did realize at least two other patterns that did not surprise him. There was a lot of money funneling into both the Daily Prophet, the Wireless Network,and the Ministry of Magic, particularly from a couple of families that weren't necessarily related to the Death Eaters directly, but had strong blood purity ties.

The ocelot reappeared. You, in a library? Shocking. My classes were brutal today. I'm knackered.

He couldn't help smiling like a dolt as he cast another Patronus to her. Maybe you should get some sleep.

He glanced back at his parchments. He'd need to make a note for Towler to check some specific accounts. His mother said Courtney Vanhausen's father was the current chairman for the St. Mungo's Board of Directors — Towler would need surreptitiously to pull that account and see if any money had been dropped directly into Cecil Vanhausen's vault from any of the families that had been giving generously to St. Mungo's. If they were trying to pay him off, that would be useful information, and Adrian could relay it to his mother.

As he was scribbling that down, the ocelot reappeared. I couldgo to sleep, but there are other activities for stress relief, you know. I'm just saying…

Adrian laughed once, grinned, and rubbed his hand over his mouth at the implication. Merlin, that girl. She was making it awfully hard not to Apparate to Diagon Alley and find her. He'd need a wank before the night was out, damn it. He cast another Patronus.

Good night, Alicia. Sleep well.

He was collecting the parchments together when the ocelot appeared again. You know, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Thank you again for last year. I still use that beautiful quill.

His body sagged slightly. She was pulling out all the stops tonight, wasn't she? He cast a final Patronus. I'm glad. And no, I haven't forgotten last year. I'll be thinking about it all day tomorrow, I assure you. But seriously. Get some sleep, Alicia. I know you've been working really hard lately.

He was almost to his room when the ocelot appeared at his ankles.

Good night,Adrian. Talk to you tomorrow.

Friday — February 28, 1997

Alania dressed with particular care for the February meeting of the St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries Board. A few days earlier, Adrian had given her and Alexander some disturbing information: their son was certain that several Death Eater families were pouring large donations into the hospital. While they didn't know the exact reason, Adrian and Kenneth both believed it was to buy support in case Death Eaters were injured fighting, and Albus Dumbledore had agreed with them.

Worse, they had found information in Cecil Vanhausen's account that two families — the Selwyns and the Bulstrodes — were transferring money directly to him. It was certainly enough to be a fairly decent bribe. Which was disconcerting, but not terribly shocking. That was how their society worked, after all. She would have to be very careful in anything she said, because she couldn't put Kenneth Towler in danger. He seemed like a nice young man, and her son didn't have any real friends now that he was out of school. Not, of course, that she ever thought Adrian's Slytherin classmates had been true friends. At least Kenneth wasn't a Death Eater, and his father was a well-known, powerful Ministry liaison, high enough up in the ranks to pull actual weight. Kenneth seemed like a straight-laced sort of Gryffindor, but then, her own son wasn't a typical Slytherin, either. She hoped they would become better friends over time.

Alania wore sage-colored robes with an emerald necklace, as well as the emerald bracelets her husband had given her twenty-five years earlier when Atticus had been born, and the unusual ruby-and-emerald ring he had given her upon Adrian's birth. She put her hair up in a fashionable chignon with tendrils hanging down and decorative hair pins. Then she made sure that she arrived neither early nor late, and she strode into the room with her back straight and her chin high, just as if she were walking down a runway in Paris.

A couple of elderly witches and wizards spoke to her as she sat down. The board was composed of a number of different families, all wealthy, but there was at least representation for all the Hogwarts' houses around the table. That was beneficial, but she wondered how much longer it would remain that way.

The meeting was routine, yet she paid careful attention to the finances, her eyes scanning the numbers to try and make correlations to what she already knew. As she suspected, the recent donation figure for January was not listed correctly. According to the information Adrian had decoded, it should be higher. That meant someone was fudging the numbers on purpose. Her lips pursed tightly. Unfortunately, there was no way for her to mention this, because it would require her to divulge how she knew the Selwyn, Bulstrode, Avery, Nott, and Parkinson families had dropped a ton of gold into the St. Mungo's coffers; a sum that clearly wasn't listed properly in the paperwork.

Well, she would take the information to Albus, regardless. That would be the first step.

"Mrs. Pucey? Is something wrong?"

Alania realized she had been frowning at the report. Damn. She looked up and gave Cecil Vanhausen a disarming smile while also blocking her mind. Her son and husband were not the only ones good at Occlumency. "Not at all, chairman," she said calmly. "Thank you for your diligence in preparing the reports for us, as always. I was just reviewing the numbers."

He looked as though he wanted to inquire further, but Straun MacMillan spoke up and asked a specific question for clarification on some expenditures. Alania exhaled silently.

When that issue had been addressed, Vanhausen looked back at her again. "Forgive me, Mrs. Pucey. You looked as though you wanted to say something before Mr. MacMillan did."

"Only what he asked, actually," she replied, smiling again. "Thank you for explaining the expenditurereport in more detail."

The rest of the meeting passed smoothly. When it finally ended, Alania waved her wand and vanished the reports so she could view them later at home. But as the others filed out, Cecil appeared at her elbow.

"Thank you for always attending the board meetings, Mrs. Pucey," he said. "You are one of the few board members to dedicate your time so freely. It is appreciated."

"Of course. You know I enjoy being involved."

"May I offer my congratulations, as well?"

Though he was smiling, that smile did not reach his eyes.

Cecil continued, but Alania could hear the underlying taunt in his words despite their seemingly pleasant tone. "On your eldest son's engagement, I mean. To Miss Bridget MacMillan."

She just did catch his sneer and knew what it meant; he was implying that the MacMillan family were considered blood traitors amongst some of the elite.

"Yes," Alania replied coolly, her smile akin to a viper. "Her family are respected, powerful members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and in terms of wealth, the match is even."

Cecil colored slightly at the reminder that he was not as wealthy as the MacMillans or the Puceys, nor a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight (or even a slightly-removed related member, as Alania herself was, since her mother had been a Blishwick by birth). He inclined his head and coughed. "Yes, indeed. Well, my best to the happy couple."

She did not respond, but merely left with her head held high. It wasn't until she was downstairs in the lobby of the St. Mungo's Administration Building that she ran into Straun. He had waited on her, as she expected he would.

"What did Vanhausen want?" he asked quietly.

They stepped outside into the courtyard where they could Apparate away. Alania smiled sarcastically at him.

"To make a snide, low-class comment. I put him in his place, I hope."

Straun's eyes glittered. "About my niece, I assume?"

"You assume correctly. But it was also about my son, too." When his jaw rippled and his eyes flashed, she said quietly, "Don't go back and hex Vanhausen; you know he'd remove you from the board, and we can't afford to lose you from it right now. Trust me."

"It's a matter of honor, Lon. For both Bridget and Atticus."

"It is, but patience is also a virtue of Hufflepuff," she reminded him. "And of Slytherin. Let us be patient, mon ami." Then, at a more normal tone, in case anyone was nearby, she added pleasantly, "It was good to see you today. Please tell your wife I said hello?"

"I will. Please tell your husband the same."

"The only way I can think to counteract it," Alania muttered that evening after dinner,when she, Alexander, and Adrian had retired to the family parlor to discuss the issue in depth, "is to donate moremoney than the others. And even that might not work. Vanhausenmade a comment about Atticus's engagement, today."

Adrian's eyes darkened. "What kind of comment?"

She shrugged and conjured a glass of very dry red wine. "Just a snide tone of voice to remind me that he felt the MacMillans were blood traitors, though he didn't come out and actually say that. I told him they were a respected, powerful member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight and reminded hisarse that the MacMillans and Puceys were both far wealthier than the Vanhausens."

Alania saw the way Adrian stiffened.

"That book is a piece of rubbish, Mum," he said tersely.

"I know it is," she replied, giving him a piercing look. "But youknow some people still cling to it. It's a simple matter of playing the game right, Adrian. However, Straun wasn't happy about it either. He was ready to go back inside and hex Vanhausen, and while I can't blame him, I also can't afford Vanhausen to remove Straun from the board right now."

Alexander, however, was concerned about something far weightier. "Alania. I'm not dropping several million galleons to buy out St. Mungo's."

"I wouldn't want you to. Like I said… it might not even work, even if we did."

"Besides," Adrian reminded them. "The Death Eaters are also buying out Vanhausen personally, according to the paper trails. There's no way to give him additional money from the Order's side without him finding out that someone at Gringotts is sniffing through accounts, and I can't get Towler in trouble."

"No," Alania agreed. "I wouldn't want to get Kenneth in trouble. He's a good lad, and I liked him."

"Bill Weasley would be in trouble, too. He's the one who pawed through Harper's office to find the bloody codes."

Alexander paced across the parlor to the French doors that led to the terrace. "Was there anything else in the reports that jumped out at you, dear?"

There was one other thing, but Alania wasn't sure if she was ready to bring it up or not. It wasn't directly related to the fact that Death Eaters were trying to buy the hospital, either. It was more personal, and in some ways, far more interesting. When she didn't speak for a moment, her husband turned and looked at her curiously.

"Just one thing, but I need to think on it more," she clarified. He knew what she was talking about; they'd discussed this before. Back in October, actually.

"Something else the Death Eaters are doing?" Adrian asked sarcastically, waving his wand to pour himself a glass of Campbell's Finest.

"No, actually." Alania couldn't help but smile slightly as she sipped her wine. "As I said. I need to think on it some more. It was a name that jumped out at me in one of the reports. I'm sure I've heard it before, but I can't remember where. It will come to me."

"Well," her son said, after throwing the whisky back and returning to the previous discussion. "Finding all this information doesn't do us much good if we can't use it."

"Sometimes," his father said seriously, "it's a matter of being patient and waiting for the right opportunity, son. That's all we can do right now."

"True," Alania agreed.

And that was when, out of bloody wellnowhere, a Patronus appeared in the parlor in front of Adrian. And it wasn't Kenneth's elephant.

It was an ocelot.

Alania had never seen an ocelot Patronus before. How utterly unusual! It was beautiful, though. What an interesting one, she thought. And so intriguing.

The little animal landed neatly on a plush chair beside her son, its tail curling around its side, and it opened its mouth. Did you have a good day, Adrian?

As it vanished in curls and wisps of silver, the only things Alania could process were that it had spoken with a girl's voice— a very pretty girl's voice, actually — and that her son was the most fascinating shade of magenta she had ever seen.

"Was that an ocelot Patronus?" she asked curiously.

He didn't move; he was absolutely frozen.

Oh, but she wasgoing to have fun with this, she thought devilishly.

"How intriguing! I've never seen an ocelot Patronus before. Do you know, itreminds me of Sal," she reminisced fondly. "Salvador Dalí. He used to have one as a pet back in the 1960's. It was such an adorable little thing, went with him everywhere! I think Guillermo Valencia gave it to Sal because Sal loved exotic animals. I'll never forget," she laughed gaily at the memory, "we were at a gallery in Paris one afternoon and Babou suddenly went after these priceless seventeenth-century lithographs! The dealer was livid! Of course, Sal, being who he was, arrogantly told the man that the lithographs would only increase in value because of Babou's masterful artistry inscratching them and because of Babou's connection to Sal, but of course the dealer didn't believe him. Sal had to give him some of his own lithographs to just placate him! He was ever so miffed, he thought he and Babou had done the dealer a favor!"

Adrian hadn't moved throughout this tale, but she could tell his jaw was locked. And he was still bright pink. Goodness, but the whole thing was so bloody diverting!

Both a bit teasing and a bit serious, she added, "It was a very pretty voice, Adrian. Who is she?"

"Just a friend," Adrian answered tightly.

"It's so very interesting to me that you suddenly have two friends in your life when, just two months ago, you didn't have any. What is her name?"

He didn't answer.

"You must tell me," Alania insisted. "I'd like to send her a message back."

At that, he blurted, "Absolutely not!"

"Surely I get to meet her? I got to meet Kenneth."

"No, you cannot meet her!" Adrian took a deep breath and met her gaze evenly. In a calmer voice, he said, "She's just a friend, and we just exchange Patronuses at night tostay in touch. It's just random conversation, that's all. You're reading way too much into this, Mum."

She gave him a knowing smile. "Mon fils, your face is stillpink. She isn't just a friend."

"She is just a friend," he blustered. "I just wasn't expecting her Patronus at that moment, that's all."

"You just didn't want to get caught having an exchange with a girl," Alania answered, her eyebrows lifting.

"Alania…" Alexander's voice interrupted.

That was her cue to back off for a bit, but damn, it was so much fun to pester Adrian. She didn't get the chance very often, and he was so out of sorts at the moment!

"Good night, Mum," her son said, trying to maintain his composure. "I'll see you at breakfast."

He was almost to the door when she decided to play her last card.

"Oh! The name that jumped out at me in the paperwork from St. Mungo's, today? It was one of the trainee Healers in the program, who passed the first semester. In fact, she scored nearly perfect marks. She had the highest scores of all the trainees. Absolutely brilliant work. I feel like I've heard the surname before, but I can't remember where. It was Spinnet. Do you remember that name from anywhere, Alex?"

Adrian nearly ran into the doorframe as he looked back at her in horror.

Alania smiled innocently. "Alicia Spinnet, actually. I believe she was in your year, Adrian. Had you mentioned her before? I feel like you must have, because I know I've heard her name before. Oh! Do you know, I just remembered! It was back in October, when the Bell girl was cursed. You said Katie's best friend was Spinnet, didn't you? She was a prefect in your year, and the two of you were assigned a lot of patrols together. Was that it?"

Adrian merely stared at her. She could see a muscle working in his jaw, the way that adorable pink flush ran up his neck and colored his cheekbones and ears. After a couple of seconds, he managed to say, "Good night, mother…" and left before she could ask any more questions.

She waited at least ten seconds before she burst into giggles. Alexander was close to her now. His hand fell gently to her shoulder, and she looked up at him with sparkling eyes.

"I know, I shouldn't have," she gasped. "But I couldn't help it!"

"You are cruel sometimes," he said, a slight smile pulling at his mouth. "You'll have to apologize to him at breakfast. He didn't want you to find out."

"Oh!" Irritation flared behind her eyes. "You knew!Damn it, Alex, I can't believe you didn't tell me!" She lightly shoved his chest. "Who is she? Besides a former prefect and a trainee Healer?"

"I don't know much, myself. But I do know she's a half-blood, and he's fancied her since at least his seventh year. He told me back at Christmas. I'm sorry I didn't mention it sooner."

Alania's fingers grew slightly cold. A half-blood. That explained a lot.

After a long moment, she sighed heavily and grew serious. "Well. That certainly explains all his questions back at Christmas, doesn't it? About Atticus not asking permission to marry Bridget."

"He said he broke things off with her before leaving Hogwarts, but he hadn't been able to forget her. He said he was going to try harder." Alexander's mouth twitched again. "Apparently, he changed his mind."

"A half-blood…" Alania closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Merlin. And Vanhausen was making snide comments about Atticus and Bridget? Salazar help us… I don't want to forbid Adrian from being with someone he likes… but a half-blood in the middle of a war on blood purity?"

"Well. You must remember: helping Albus is a bigger crime at the moment than fancying a half-blood."

That was true enough, she thought. What she said was,"Which reminds me, how is your brewing coming along?"

"I have a batch of Restoration on right now, and I'll finish it before I go to bed. I'll start on a batch of Wound-Cleaning tomorrow. I also thought I'd make a batch of Wiggenweld and perhaps another batch of Blood-Replenishing and Calming Draught. And Adrian and I only need Ashwinder eggs to start brewing Felix Felicis."

She nodded. "I'm sorry I can't help you. You know I wasn't very good at Potions."

Her husband gave her a secretive smile. "You are better at other things. And besides, I have Adrian if I need him, love. And you know he's quite good at Potions…"

Alania almost laughed. Yes, her husband knew her theory as to why Adrian was good at Potions. What she said was, "Let me know what other ingredients you need. Maybe we can get some from Paris, through Atticus, to avoid the apothecaries here."

"That might be a good idea."

As incredibly frustrated as he was that Alicia's Patronus had appeared in front of his parents, he probably should have expected it to happen at some point. It was just rotten luck that it had happened sooner rather than later, and in front of his mother, who— true to form— had latched onto the information just as he'd expected she would.

Annoyed, Adrian cast a return Patronus as soon as he got to his bedroom.

Well, that one burst in while I was with my parents, so now my mother wants to know all about you.

He groaned and fell on the bed, mentally counting up the people who now knew aboutAlicia. Towler, Atticus, Bridget, his parents…Well, atleast everyone was family except Towler, and at least Towler was bound by his promise to Dumbledore. But it still made Adrian uneasy. If any of his former classmates found out, that would put Alicia in a lot of danger.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he was rather surprised he hadn't heard from any of his former classmates lately. There had been two invitations for social events over the holidays, but Adrian had ignored them. Cassius Warrington had also written him a note back in November to check on him, since Adrian hadn't been seen in society since August, but Adrian only responded to say that he was traveling for leisure on the continent, visiting friends. Cassius's return note merely told him he was a lucky fucking bastard and to have a good time.

Still… tomorrow was the first day of March, and Adrian wondered when his lack of communication with his former classmates would be seriously noticed. It wasn't unheard of for the wealthy to travel for months at a time, but at some point, Cassius at the least would start inquiring more seriously. He'd need to think about how to handle that.

The little ocelot appeared on his bed beside him. Oh no, I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were with your family. I thought you'd be in your room or the library. What is your mother like?

He raised his wand as her Patronus vanished and he cast another one. She's a bit eccentric. And nosy. Don't worry about it. You didn't know I was with them. I told her we were friends.

Adrian sighed. Maybe he should speak to Dumbledore and ask how to handle things if Warrington or the others started trying to find him. He wanted to make sure he sent back the right replies to continue putting his classmates off for as long as he could.

The ocelot appeared again. I'm glad we're still friends. Good night, Adrian.

He smiled and raised his wand. Good night, Alicia.

Author's Notes:

1. I used an online cipher website to make sure I got Harper's cipher correct. I won't lie, I suck at ciphers. Rotation Ciphers are the easiest to use, and incidentally, a Rotation Cipher and a Caesar Cipher are actually the same thing. From my (very limited) research, I gathered that they both use the Latin and English alphabets, but that was too convoluted for the story, so I have just the Caesar Cipher using the Latin alphabet.

2. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but Straun and Alania are best friends. It comes out more later in the story, but my backstory headcanon is that they were at Hogwarts together, in the same year. He's always called her "Lon", an abbreviation of her name as I pronounce it in my head.

3. Salvador Dalí did, in fact, have a male ocelot in the 1960's that traveled with him everywhere. In my (admittedly bizarre) headcanon, Alania straddled the wizarding and muggle worlds during the 60's as a model, and was friends with him. In real life, the cat's name was Babou and the story related about him clawing the lithographs did actually happen. Guillermo Valencia was the 21st president of Colombia, and allegedly gave Babou to Salvador.

4. The scene in which Alicia's Patronus bursts in on Adrian and his parents was one of my favorites to write; it was in my head for a long time before I wrote it, and originally, it was going to happen at the breakfast table.

5. Alania's theory about why Adrian is good at Potions comes out later in the story, but it boils down to the fact that he was conceived in a stillroom. 😂