"Where are you planning to take me today?" Rachel asked, glancing up as she went through the sixth room. Given how much attention the Department seemed to pay to her, Rachel suspected the Department was at least interested in her, and maybe even liked her.

She wasn't sure how much of that was actually true, it just felt that way. Sometimes it was hard to separate what she was feeling from reality when she had another presence in her mind. She'd had that trouble with the Dark Lord too. In hindsight, Rachel felt that most of the things that she had felt from the Dark Lord had been real, even though they hadn't had evidence of them until later, and some they still didn't have evidence for.

It was harder to be sure about the Department though. Since the Department wasn't human, she needed to be careful to not assume that it had the same sort of thoughts and feelings as a human would. For all she knew, the Department could see them as nothing more than fleas that happened to be traversing her passages. She didn't think that was the case though. She felt the Department's presence and interest in her ebb and flow as she navigated the Department, and that feeling was always more intense when she was exploring rooms she hadn't seen before.

Maybe it was some kind of a test to see what she'd do, although that was also a very human assumption. The problem with being human was that she didn't know how to not think like a human. Weren't any thoughts that she had inherently human because she was a human thinking those thoughts? Or maybe she was just overcomplicating matters. She did that sometimes.

Currently she was traveling through another storage room, this one with aisles of cubbies, with a variety of odds and ends in each cubby and with a small parchment note on each one. There were skulls of various varieties, which was a little concerning, but Rachel was going to assume for now that they had all been harvested posthumously and that they hadn't killed anything just to get its skull. Was bone magic something that was done? Would that be necromancy? It wasn't something Rachel wanted to do personally, but it was an interesting idea. It stood to reason that since blood was made in the bone marrow, then magical blood must come from magical bone marrow.

Rachel continued down the aisle, her thoughts lost in the possibility for bones to be used in potions and cores for wands when she found herself at another door. "I would actually like to get something done today. I don't know if you realize, but I'm working in the Wizengamot as well as the Department of Mysteries, so I don't get as much research time as I'd like," she told the Department, waiting for a moment so that the Department had the opportunity to rearrange the door connections if she chose to do so.

The next room was not the Morsius Pensieve - perhaps unsurprisingly - and Rachel noticed the temperature drop a few degrees as she went inside. It was a large stone room and it only seemed to contain one thing. Rachel thought that this was the oldest place in the Department that she'd seen so far.

She took a few steps in and paused. Were those voices she was hearing?

"Hello? It's Rachel. I'm lost." She didn't add 'again', because from what she'd been told, people who had been in the Department for at least a few years were more than used to new Unspeakables getting lost in the Department for hours on end.

She took another look around. The room was dimly lit, but she thought she was the only person in it. But she could definitely hear voices, even if she couldn't make out what they were saying. Rachel took a moment, straining her ears to try and tell if she was hearing the voices in her mind or with her ears. It was strange that it was a difficult thing to check, but she'd had enough people in her head growing up that she usually knew the difference.

After standing for at least a few minutes, she decided she really couldn't tell if she was hearing voices or 'hearing' voices. Since there was only one thing in the room, she decided to investigate it to see if that shed any light on the problem. She'd rather not be hearing voices if she could help it.

The room itself was a large stone rectangle, and around the edges in tiers were stone benches. It reminded her a little bit of the courtroom that was a level below the Department of Mysteries, except that one was in a circle. In the center of the room, at the bottom, there was a stone dais that was about a meter tall. In the center of the dais, there was a stone arch. "Hello?" Rachel asked again, feeling something wash over her as she grew closer. The voices were getting louder, but they were still indistinct.

She shivered and wrapped her arms around her middle. Following the steps down put her in the center of the room and she could now see that in the stone arch was some sort of tattered black curtain that was moving in some unfelt and unseen wind. "Can you hear me?" she tried.

It seemed like she could almost make out what they were saying. She managed to hoist herself up onto the dais, her left shoulder twinging as she pulled herself up, and crept closer to the arch on her hands and knees. It almost looked like the arch shouldn't even be standing, the stone was so old and cracked. She suspected it was probably the oldest thing she'd ever seen and that the Department of Mysteries itself might have been built around it.

"Is it you? Are you the Department?" she asked.

Listening, she decided maybe not. There was more than one voice in there, though she still couldn't tell if she was hearing with her mind or her ears, but she thought the voices sounded familiar.

She wanted to touch it, but she also had enough control to recognize that was a magically guided impulse and that the archway wanted her to touch it, therefore it would be a bad idea to touch it. Magical items that wanted to be touched and had enough power to try and compel people to touch them were usually cursed in some way.

Sitting down on the dais, Rachel watched the curtain move. She wanted to go check in her mind and see if the voices were clearer in there, but she was also wary about leaving her body vulnerable. It was usually best to do that sort of introspective mind magic in a secured location. After a little while, when the curtain did nothing but continue to waft gently and the voices stayed at about the same rate and pitch, she decided a quick peek in her mind wouldn't hurt.

Rachel took another look around before closing her eyes. When she opened them she was inside the main room of her cathedral. Interestingly enough, she couldn't hear the voices at all here. Spotting her manifestation sitting in one of the pews, Rachel went over and sat down next to her. "I'm kind of in a weird place and I'm hearing things. Has anything weird happened here?"

The girl looked at her and shook her head.

Rachel had spent three years coaxing her manifestation out of the cupboard and then had reformed the cupboard into an actual bedroom for her manifestation - one that looked like the bedroom that Severus had given to her, which hadn't been a conscious design on Rachel's part, she'd just been looking for somewhere safe for her manifestation to go. Her manifestation still didn't speak, but she'd nod or shake her head and Rachel had learned the alphabet and a few dozen words and phrases in British Sign Language to communicate with her.

"Okay. Let me know if something is wrong. I'm going to take a look outside the shield and see if everything looks okay there. Oh. Can you feel the Department when she's in here?" she asked, figuring she might as well check.

Her manifestation spelled out 'department' with her fingers and looked confused.

"I'm in the Department of Mysteries, and while I'm not sure she's sentient, she has a presence, and I can feel it pressing against my mind while I'm in here. It changes, sometimes there is more pressure, sometimes there is less. Can you feel the pressure?"

'Yes. Her,' her manifestation signed. 'Here now.'

Rachel slowly reached her hands out, trying to feel, which was silly because she was in her own mind and didn't need to use gestures here to access her magic.

Her manifestation pointed up and tilted her head back, so Rachel did the same.

"Huh," Rachel said, because she was definitely sensing something up there, even if it wasn't through sight - though really, nothing she was doing right now was sight, it was just her mind interpreting things so that she could understand them. "Mind magic is confusing sometimes," she said, lowering her hands. Now that she was attuned to the presence, she didn't need to reach out to feel it.

Her manifestation shrugged, not looking particularly sympathetic.

"Is she bothering you?" Rachel asked, not sure what she could do about it if she was. If her occlumency wasn't keeping the Department out, she wasn't sure what would.

'No,' her manifestation signed, and then spelled out 'company'.

"She's keeping you company?" she asked, feeling a little guilty as her manifestation nodded. "I'll try to visit more. I'm sorry."

Another shrug and then her manifestation tilted her head back again to watch the presence that seemed to be the Department.

Rachel drummed her fingers on her thigh and decided to follow through with her original plan to check outside of her shields to see if she heard the voices there and then go back to her body before someone found her like this. "I'll come say hello on the weekend. In the meantime, just scream if something is wrong and I'll come take a look," she said.

Her manifestation nodded, but seemed occupied, so Rachel left and went out the doors of her cathedral into the misty area that represented her mind beyond her shields. There were no voices here and everything looked as it usually did, so Rachel opened her eyes back in her body and felt a wash of dizziness as the voices picked up again.

She figured that meant she was hearing the voices with her ears rather than her mind. The voices were really insistent now. She lowered herself onto the dais, still feeling chilled, but she needed a moment before she picked herself up and moved.

The voices rose and fell and after a while Rachel decided that they weren't in conversation with each other, it was more like they were all in a room speaking. She thought they were speaking to her, but there was really no way to know that.

"Ah, thank Merlin!"

Rachel shrieked and flung her hands in front of her as she instinctively formed a full shield around herself.

"Easy. Just me. I suppose I should be glad your instinct is to cast defensively instead of offensively. Never sneak up on someone who can cast wandless magic," Patrick said as he approached the dais.

"No kidding," Rachel said, her heart hammering as she lowered her hands. "Why are you here?"

"It's nearly two o'clock and Liesel said you hadn't made it back out of the Department and I thought I'd better come check. I'm thankful you didn't go through the Veil. That happens sometimes," Patrick said.

Rachel turned and gawked at the curtain in the archway. "That's the Veil I was warned about? It's not a veil, it's an arch!"

"Ah, the Veil is from what it was originally referred to. Velum linem. The veil between worlds. Eventually we just used Veil as shorthand. I imagine you felt yourself rather drawn to it. The voices are loud? Distinct?"

"I can't make out what they're saying, but they're very present. How could I have been in here for four hours without realizing it?" Rachel asked, checking her watch. It said one forty two.

"You were entranced. The Veil wanted you. The voices want you to join them. You are drawn to it because of your connection with death. If anyone would have a connection to death, it would be you," Patrick said.

"Because I've killed people?" she asked.

"No, no. Many people have killed someone. And while killing someone or knowing someone who has died increases your connection with death, you have actually died, or so it is said."

"I did," Rachel said, scooting herself over to the edge of the dais and climbing down. If the Veil wanted her to go through it, then she did not want to go through it. "It wasn't bad," she clarified, because Patrick was looking at her.

"I don't suppose you care to share your death experience for the Department Archive?" he asked.

"Not really," she said. That was private, for a number of reasons.

"Most people don't," he said, not looking surprised. "In any case, if you come across this room again, please walk away as quickly as possible. It will continue to try to draw you here, and we do not want a momentary lapse to wind up with you going through the Veil. Shall we?" he asked, gesturing toward the door.

Rachel nodded. "Why are there benches, like people are watching it?"

"Ah, it used to be used for executions," Patrick said, sounding oddly jolly at the idea of executions.

"How long ago?" she checked, feeling that she had to ask.

"Centuries and centuries. Magical Britain has not executed a criminal in over three hundred years, unless you count the Dementor's Kiss, in which case it has been around sixty years."

Rachel did count the Dementor's Kiss and found herself wondering if that law was still on the books and when it could be used. She'd get Booker to look into that, because she wasn't going to stand around while magical Britain used the death penalty on anyone.

"There we go," Patrick said as they signed out of the Department, three rooms later. "Alright then?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Rachel said. She was chilled and a little unsettled, but she was fine.


"Ah, Rachel. Or should I say, Unspeakable Snow?" Miranda Davies asked with a teasing smile.

Rachel smiled back as Ethan chuckled. "It's not as exciting as it sounds," she said, accepting Miranda's embrace.

"Or that's what they tell you to say, so we don't know what's really going on down there," Ethan said, patting Rachel's forearm when Miranda released her. "Does this mean you're ending your association with the Guild?"

"Oh, no, not at all," Rachel said. "You don't need to worry about that, I'm still planning to publish and to attend Guild functions."

They took seats around the dining table and Rachel was grateful that Ethan and Miranda tended toward more simple fare. Oftentimes when she wound up at another Wizengamot member's house they wanted everything as fancy as possible to try and impress her. Rachel wanted to tell them that they needn't try to impress her, she'd grown up eating scraps in the kitchen, but she had long ago learned to just let people do what they were going to do.

"So, what is it like down there? I hear they have labs," Miranda asked once everyone had food in front of them.

"They do have labs, both for potions and for spell crafting," Rachel said, figuring that was obvious enough that she could safely tell them that. "There's quite a number of potioneers and spell crafters there, more than I expected."

"That's not surprising, as far as potioneers go. We're always aware of who we lose to the Unspeakables," Ethan said. "They take some of the brightest minds of each generation and lock them up down there."

"We're hardly being locked up," she said, feeling that should be self-evident. People saw her all the time.

Ethan waved his hand dismissively. "I mean they join the Unspeakables and no one ever hears a hint of their research again. Who knows what earth shattering revelations they have made down there."

Rachel didn't think she'd seen anything particularly earth shattering thus far, aside from perhaps the Department herself. "I intend to still publish and I made that clear to Department Head Sumner when I joined the Unspeakables. He didn't seem to think it would be a problem."

"Still with the sleeping potions?" Miranda asked.

"Yes. I will find the solution." She would, even if she spent another twenty years on sleeping potions. She was willing to do that in order to get the problem solved.

"If anyone had the drive to do it, it would be you," Ethan said. "How is Severus these days? I hear his apprentice is keeping him busy."

"I think she is," Rachel said, getting laughs from Ethan and Miranda. "But Severus is doing well. He seems very happy with his projects. I believe he's about to publish a major work."

"I had heard that; I'm looking forward to seeing it. In October's issue of Modern Potions?" Miranda asked.

"He told me late autumn last time I asked, so probably October or November," Rachel said. That was coming up fast. Sometimes she couldn't believe how quickly time passed.

"Has he shared the subject?" Ethan asked.

"I don't think I'm allowed to say. I think he wants everyone to see the paper without any preconceived notions," she said, taking a moment to focus on her soup.

"That does sound like Severus. He always likes to keep his projects close until he's ready. I'd be surprised if he's published half of what he's invented. I do hope he's keeping research journals," Miranda said.

It was common practice for inventors and researchers to keep notebooks that detailed their progress on various projects. It was also common practice for those journals to be published among the Guild when notable inventors died. At the start of her mastery, Emlyn had told Rachel to keep two sets of journals - one set that she wouldn't mind the public seeing, and one set with research she didn't want anyone to see. That set was to be bequeathed upon her death to someone she trusted to destroy them rather than to publish them.

Thus far Rachel didn't keep too much in the journal that she had set aside to be destroyed, it was mostly her theorizing about how else the mind altering ingredients in sleeping potions could be used maliciously with slight alterations, mostly because she'd accidentally stumbled on a potion while trying to create Dreamless Sleep that would wipe the memories for someone awake for a full eight hours. The current Forgetfulness Potion only erased up to two hours and it had a distinctive flavor. The potion she invented was clear and mildly flavored, and would be very easy to drop into someone's drink. Rachel had shown that recipe to Severus and they'd decided together that while it possibly had good uses, such as for intensive medical procedures, it was better off not in common circulation because of how easily it could be misused and how easy it was to brew. She didn't even plan to share that one with the Unspeakables, just in case.

"I'm sure he's keeping journals," Rachel said, though she suspected that Severus' journals to destroy were used much more often than her own were, and she anticipated that she would be the one to receive them upon Severus' death, though hopefully that wouldn't be for another eighty or ninety years yet.

"I'm sure he is, his research is always very thoroughly documented," Ethan agreed. "Now, as to why you're really here."

"You had a chance to read my proposal?" she checked. It had only been a week since she'd sent it to him and Janice.

"I have." Ethan paused for a moment. "It's a very ambitious proposal, Rachel."

Rachel restrained the urge to say that it wasn't ambitious, it was damn common sense and humanity. "I think it can pass," she said. "I wouldn't be pursuing this if I didn't think I could get the necessary votes."

Ethan tapped his forefinger on the table, his sandwich forgotten. "What does your faction say to this?"

"They're supportive as long as we have the votes to pass it. I won't ask anyone to vote for this if I don't have the votes. I won't even bring it to the chambers if I don't have the votes," she said, knowing that was where the heart of the matter was, not the subject of House Elves' rights. Sometimes politics was simply infuriating.

"Even your elected seats?"

"Yes. They know that I'll support them during the elections." She had already been making promises, as much as she hated to do that. But they were her faction, and that meant she took care of them. "How is the Guilds faction?"

Ethan shook his head. "Janice and I are reassessing things. We didn't like being caught by surprise like that with Fallon's proposal."

Rachel nodded. She wouldn't have been happy in their shoes either. "Fallon was bribing people."

"We know. He was trying it with your people too?" Miranda asked.

"Yes. And apparently he was trying to get dirt on me," she said, feeling she could share that with Ethan and Miranda without worrying that it would go further than this room.

Ethan laughed. "What dirt does he possibly think he can get on you?"

"Apparently he thinks I'm bribing my faction," she said, though she wondered if that had really been what Fallon had been searching for.

"He clearly doesn't know you at all," Miranda said.

"Why in Merlin's name would he think that?" Ethan asked. "I've never heard that rumor. Everything I hear is that you are forthright and stubborn as hell when you want to be. Everyone knows that if you don't think it's right to vote for something, you won't, and you'll make sure your faction knows that too."

Rachel flushed. She supposed that 'stubborn as hell' wasn't an inaccurate assessment of her character flaws. Severus and Monty had both called her stubborn on a number of occasions. It was just embarrassing to hear that the wider Wizengamot felt that way.

"It's not a bad thing," Miranda said, patting Rachel's hand. "You know what you stand for, and in the ever-changing eddies of the Wizengamot, that's necessary if you want to get something done."

"I do know what I stand for," Rachel agreed. "Which is why this proposal is important to me. It's why all my proposals are important to me. When I see people being hurt, I want to do something about it."

Ethan and Miranda exchanged a long look. "I'm not sure that you are likely to get anyone to accept House Elves as people," Ethan said.

"As beings then," Rachel said, feeling the distinction was a moot point. "Can we at least agree on the point that slave labor of beings is wrong?"

"I would have to say yes, but the House Elves don't consider themselves as being slaves," Miranda said.

"They are owned by people. They aren't paid for their work. They aren't allowed to leave if they want to. No one is stopping them from being hurt or killed. They are beings treated as property. Slaves," Rachel insisted. "My proposal is not saying that House Elves can't work or that they should be removed from the families that they care for. It's saying that House Elves should be given the opportunity for self-reliance if they want it, and that they should be protected from harm."

"I'm not sure any House Elves are going to take you up on that opportunity," Ethan said. "Have you ever tried to pay a House Elf?"

"I have. There are three House Elves in my home. I pay all of them. One of my House Elves is willing to take the money directly. The other two have money in accounts they can access whenever they'd like to. I know that this will not be a cultural change overnight, but House Elves cannot have the opportunity to grow and to change unless we give them that opportunity. Did you know that House Elves in France and in Germany are paid?"

"You did mention it in your proposal," Ethan said.

Rachel nodded. "This is just like with the prison system. The longer we persist in treating people poorly, the more of an embarrassment we are on an international stage."

"That argument will work with Rufus and Amelia, but I have other concerns," Ethan said.

"Such as?" she asked, feeling ready to tackle any problem that arose, for this proposal at least.

"You're aware that some House Elves are owned by companies and by the Guilds?" he checked.

"I am. And the same principles apply. They get paid, just like if they were employees, they're free to leave if they want to, and they are treated well and registered with the new department in the Ministry. Anyone who can afford to buy a House Elf in the first place can afford to pay one."

"You understand why that's not going to be popular with the Guilds though, particularly the Merchant's Guild?"

"I do. But when has treating people right at an expense ever been popular?" she pointed out.

"Fair," Ethan said, glancing at Miranda again. "Right now I can't tell you how the Guilds faction will vote on this. Janice and I need to set the faction in order before we can make any promises. You know Fallon and Turner are going to campaign against this?"

"I'm aware. I know I can get at least three of the independents, and I think I can get the Ministry faction if I can promise Rufus and Amelia this will pass," she said, hating to put pressure on Ethan, but needing to do it.

"You can talk with Janice, but give us some time. We won't have an answer for a while yet. Just so you know, I agree with you in principle, but things are often more complicated than that," he continued.

"I know. And I appreciate that you're willing to consider it at all," she said, recognizing she had gotten all she was going to get.

Ethan nodded. "Good. Now, tell me about your potions."

Rachel smiled. "Well, I'm doing something interesting with essence of hyssop and calendula," she began, willing to tell them about that experiment and to see what they thought of her results.


It had been a long enough day that Rachel was simply curled up on the sofa, her feet tucked beneath her while Ring-A-Ding was at her side and Feverfew was sitting on the top of the sofa behind her head. Theo was next to her, his head bowed down over the latest issue of the journal the Spell Crafting Guild put out once a month.

"Rachel. Theo. Can you come over to the Manor? It's somewhat urgent," came Draco's voice from his ball python patronus as it slithered up to them.

Rachel and Theo moved as one as they got to their feet, Theo reflexively checking his wand while Rachel made an odd circling motion with her wrists as she prepared herself to cast offensively. If she stopped to think about it, she knew perfectly well that Malfoy Manor was not under attack and that Draco would be calling his fellow aurors and not her if he had that sort of problem, but she also knew what Draco sounded like when he was under pressure and the instinct to prepare herself to fight and defend the people she cared about had not lessened over time.

The Mind Healer she'd seen to do trauma work had told her that she had made a bad decision by joining and training with the aurors because she had linked the anxiety from her PTSD to the need to fight and those were very difficult instincts to undo. Her Mind Healer had also told her that her decision to train and join with the aurors had made perfect sense from a psychological standpoint because her PTSD and anxiety had been driving her to take control of being under attack for years. The way Rachel saw it, it meant that she'd done what she'd needed to do, but it had also taken her years of work to retrain herself to cast defensively instead of offensively.

"You want to go first?" Theo asked, when they both had their shoes on and were at the fireplace.

"Yes," she said. She knew he didn't like it, but they both knew she was both the faster and more powerful caster. "Malfoy Manor."

A handful of floo powder and a short trip later she was stepping out into Draco's home. Astoria was there, looking stressed.

"Is everything alright?" Rachel asked, going to her side. "Is anyone hurt?"

"No, no one is hurt. We just needed everyone here," Astoria said as Theo stepped through the fireplace. "Draco is sending his Patronus to everyone and we'll be gathering in the sitting room momentarily."

Rachel hesitated, but felt she needed to ask. "Is it Cygnus?"

Astoria looked pained for a brief moment before shaking her head. "No, Cygnus is fine. Nothing like that. There's just something everyone needs to know and we felt we needed for everyone to hear it tonight."

"Okay," she said, though she wasn't at all sure what the problem was. If no one was hurt and Cygnus hadn't started showing signs of the blood curse that Astoria carried, then she didn't know what to expect.

"Rachel! Theo!"

"What are you doing out of bed?" Astoria asked, her hands going to her hips as Scorpius ran up to them.

"I heard them," Scorpius said, first hugging Theo and then hugging Rachel.

"You did not hear them from your bed, which is where you should be right now," Astoria said.

"Yes, I did," Scorpius insisted as the floo activated again and this time Hermione stepped out.

"I'll take him while you get everyone settled," Rachel said, bending down and lifting Scorpius.

He immediately wrapped his legs and arms around her, his arms going around her neck. "Story!"

"A quick story," Rachel said, balancing Scorpius the best she could as she headed toward the stairs. While being a Quidditch player meant she was fairly slender in her body and with some muscles in her thighs and arms from the act of holding herself through the motions of flying, she was not particularly strong in terms of picking things up and carrying them. "It's not going to be too long before I can't carry you up these stairs," she told him.

"Then Theo will carry me," Scorpius said, seeming unbothered.

"That's probably true." She carried him back into his bedroom and plopped him down on his bed. "Let's listen for a moment. Can you hear them talking in the entrance hall?"

They sat, Scorpius screwing up his face as they listened. "No."

"Then how did you hear me?" she asked.

"I just did."

Rachel raised her eyebrows at him, but he seemed undeterred.

"Story," he said, moving to his pillows.

"Which story?" she asked, getting up and going to his bookshelves.

"The Hopping Pot."

She found a rather ragged version of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and returned to his bed. "Are you sure? That one is a little scary." While she was relieved he didn't want to hear the story of the Girl-Who-Lived tonight, she also didn't want to give him nightmares.

"It's not scary. Do you know what's really scary?" he asked, sitting up.

"What's really scary?" she asked.

"Death Eaters," he said solemnly.

"Yes, they are," she said, moving closer so that she could hug him. "Well, there's no Death Eaters in this book. Are you sure you want this one tonight?"

"Yes." Scorpius cuddled close, his head against her chest.

Rachel held the book so that he could see the pictures, though they were different illustrations than in the copy of the book that she had, and read the story to him. Scorpius wiggled against her every time she made the sound of the hopping pot following the wizard. "The end," she finished, probably ten minutes later.

"Rachel?"

"Yes?"

"Why is everyone here tonight? They weren't here for dinner," he asked.

"I don't know. Your dad wanted to see us. You know how me and your dad and uncle Neville all work together on the Wizengamot and it's really boring?" she checked.

"Daddy says it's so boring and they make you sit there for hours," Scorpius said, pausing to yawn.

"Yep, just like that. So it's probably something boring from work we all need to know about so we can deal with it tomorrow."

"Okay," he said, leaning more of his weight against her.

"Can you try to sleep now?" she asked, knowing that by now they were all waiting for her.

"I suppose. When are you and Theo going to come over?" he asked as she helped move him back under the blankets.

"Let me talk with your mom and dad and we'll try to figure something out. Goodnight. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight." Scorpius yawned again and then rolled over.

Rachel put the book back on his bookshelf and slipped out of his room and back downstairs, where she found everyone gathered in the sitting room, though she was slightly surprised to see Ron there, and both Ron and Draco were still in their MLE robes.

"He's down?" Astoria checked.

"Looked ready to fall asleep," Rachel said as she sat next to Theo on one of the small sofas.

"Thank you," Draco said, nodding to her and then looking around the room. "I'm sorry that we called you here so late, but we wanted to tell you before it's in the newspaper tomorrow. The aurors were called out this morning to Bristol. The Dark Mark was found above Justin Finch-Fletchley's home. The bodies of Justin, his wife Emily, and their two children were found inside."

"Justin," Hannah said, sagging against Neville. Neville immediately wrapped his arms around her.

The room was otherwise quiet for a long moment as everyone absorbed this information.

Rachel looked dumbly to Theo and found him looking back at her. It had been more than ten years since the Dark Mark had last been seen in Britain.

"Have we ever found any evidence that suggests that anyone other than Death Eaters knows how to cast that spell?" Hermione asked, sounding shaken.

"It's known in the Unspeakables and a few people in the MLE know it too. There was an effort to reconstruct the spell, make it so that it could be used without the Dark Mark part, but our briefing told us they'd had no luck with that," Ron said.

"Either way, it's a fairly narrow list of suspects, isn't it?" Natalie asked.

"It is. But we know there are Death Eaters we don't know about, and as far as we know, there's nothing stopping them from teaching that spell to anyone they recruit," Draco said.

"Why now though? Why Justin?" Ginny asked.

"Justin is…was muggleborn," Neville said. "That's typically enough motive for the Death Eaters."

"Right now we're assuming blood purity was the motive. Justin and Emily were both muggleborns," Ron said. "As for why right now, we don't have anything that suggests why now yet."

"Wards?" Rachel asked.

"Wards were down when we arrived. It was clear from the state of the house that Justin and Emily fought back, so we're not sure if they became aware when the wards were forced down or if the wards were taken down stealthily," Draco said, meeting Rachel's eyes.

Rachel nodded. If the wards were taken down stealthily, that narrowed their suspect pool considerably. It also might mean that whoever had been doing so in the months after the war had ended was back. They'd guessed that was Augustus Rookwood, and that he had fled Britain, but they had no real evidence to support either of those assumptions, and she couldn't think of a reason he'd come back to Britain ten years later to start his attacks all over again.

"What is the MLE suggesting that people do?" Luna asked, her hand wrapped tightly around Rolf's.

"Not to panic. To make sure their wards are up to date. And to be on their guard for anything suspicious," Ron said.

"We didn't want any of you to learn about this through the newspaper. I know many of the other aurors are at their homes right giving their families the same warning. Everyone in this room is a target, either by the role we played in the war or by our associations. Upgrade your wards. If you're out somewhere and something feels wrong to you, leave," Draco said, looking around the room with an intense expression.

"We will. Are Natalie and I putting our neighbors in danger by staying in our flat?" Millie asked.

Draco glanced at Ron and then both of them shook their heads. "If anything, I think you're probably safer there. If the same holds true as with the attacks at the end of the war, they won't want the difficulty that comes with attacking when your neighbors are close at hand. They're going to look for people who are isolated and who can't call for help," Draco said.

Rachel glanced at Theo again. They had purposefully purchased a house on a fair bit of land and away from people because they hadn't wanted neighbors close to them. "I need to tell Severus. Someone should tell Sirius and Remus."

"Tonks, Shacklebolt, and Diggory are making contact with the Order, they're all targets too," Ron said. "Everyone will be warned."

Even so, Rachel was going to Severus' house as soon as she left here. She'd send her Patronus first so she didn't scare him to death.

The unfortunate thing was Rachel knew exactly how this worked. They needed more evidence to figure out who was attacking people and why. The only way they'd get that evidence was through more attacks, and likely, more people dying. How they responded would change drastically depending on whether or not this was a single Death Eater acting alone or if they had made an attempt to reform the Death Eaters.

"Thank you for telling us first," Theo said.

Draco nodded and moved so that he had an arm around Astoria's shoulders. "Tell your families if you need to. Everyone will know first thing tomorrow anyway. You'll hear from me and Ron if we discover anything that will help you to keep yourselves safe. If you're in doubt, floo the MLE and have the on-call team come through. Don't go looking yourself."

People were nodding and this seemed to break the bubble of silence as everyone began to move and speak to each other.

Rachel held onto Theo's hand and they moved over to Hermione. "Is where you're staying warded?" Rachel asked. If the Death Eaters were going after muggleborns, Hermione would be high on their list.

"We have an open room. You can stay with us for as long as you want to," Theo added.

"I have basic wards that I set myself, but I will see if I can contact Bill and ask if he can come out tomorrow. If he can't, I might stay with you for a few days until my flat is taken care of," Hermione said.

"Are you sure you want to be in a flat alone?" Rachel asked. She would much rather Hermione was under their wards.

"I'll be alright. It's like Draco just said, I'm probably relatively safe in a flat in London. And it's not like I publish my address or have anyone over who isn't in our group," Hermione said, moving forward to hug them. "Thank you for thinking of me though."

"Always," Rachel said, hugging Hermione tightly.

"You're welcome with us at any time, day or night," Theo said, hugging Hermione when Rachel stepped back. "You're not exactly low profile in magical Britain."

"I know. I will be very careful," Hermione promised.

Neville and Hannah joined them. "I'm assuming you made Hermione the same offer we're going to?"

"They did, and I really will be alright," Hermione said. "Hannah, I'm so sorry about Justin. I know you kept in touch with him."

"We did," Hannah said, letting out a shaky breath. "I thought this was over."

Rachel had thought that too. The spectre of unknown Death Eaters had haunted her for years, but over time she'd been able to tell herself that there was no point to the Death Eaters attacking again. It seemed as though she'd been very wrong about that, though she had no idea what point the Death Eaters were now trying to make.

"For right now, all we know is that it's someone who knows how to cast the Dark Mark. It makes sense for us to prepare, just in case, but this could easily be one person on a personal vendetta," Theo said.

"I hope that's all it is," Hermione said.

Rachel hoped that too.


"To Severus Snape. Theo and I are going to be coming over in a few minutes." Rachel watched as her Patronus trotted away and then moved to the kitchen.

"You're checking the wards?" Theo asked, following her.

"I will in just a moment. Dobby. Kreacher. Tomsi," Rachel called.

The House Elves popped into place around her.

"Yes, Miss?" Kreacher asked.

Rachel knelt down on the floor. She had never been comfortable looming above them when she spoke to them, probably because she was so used to looking up at people when she wanted to speak with them. "I have something a little scary to tell you, but I wanted you to know so that you're prepared," she began.

"Miss is not hurt?" Dobby asked, all three of the House Elves intently looking at her.

"I'm not hurt. Theo and I are fine. Today, the aurors responded to an attack on a muggleborn that we know. The Dark Mark was cast above their home and the people inside were killed."

"The Dark Mark," Tomsi said, his body shuddering. Kreacher had gone still and Dobby's eyes were even wider than usual.

"Right now we don't know who killed those people or who cast the Dark Mark. It could be just one person, acting by themselves, or it could be a group of people," she continued.

"Death Eaters," Dobby said.

"Maybe," Theo said, kneeling down next to Rachel. "Like Rachel said, we don't know yet, and we won't know until the aurors see this person or these people do something else."

"For now, we want all of you to be on your guard, especially when you leave the house. Theo and I are targets, which makes you targets too. Be prepared to escape if you need to. If you're out and something seems wrong, leave, and tell us. Don't try to investigate for yourselves," she instructed.

The House Elves bobbed their heads, looking worried. "What about Miss?" Kreacher asked. "Miss is in danger. The Death Eaters will come for Miss, just like before."

Rachel took a slow breath. "We don't know that, but we're prepared for that possibility. I will be very careful and so will Theo. We're both prepared to defend ourselves, and to defend you."

"House Elf magic is powerful, Miss. The House Elves can defend Miss and Master," Tomsi said, the other two nodding eagerly.

"We'll all defend each other," Theo said.

"Do you have any questions for now?" she asked, hoping she hadn't scared them.

"No, Miss. Kreacher will watch and listen."

"Dobby will watch and listen."

"Tomsi will also," Tomsi said, bowing to her and Theo.

"We'll be alright," she said. "These are just precautions."

Severus' doe galloped into the room. "You and Theo can come over at any time. I'm prepared to receive you."

"Theo and I are going to my father's, but we'll be back within an hour or so," Rachel told the House Elves.

"We will be here, Miss," Kreacher said.

The House Elves popped away and Rachel and Theo stood. "Just a second and then I'll be ready," she said, stretching out her hands and closing her eyes. They had keyed the wards to her because it was easier for her to interface with them than it was for Theo.

Very carefully, she felt through each layer, identifying the wards, checking where they interfaced, and feeling that no one had interfered with them. About two minutes later she opened her eyes. "They feel fine. Ready to see Severus?"

"Ready," Theo said, offering her his hand.

She took his hand and they apparated into Severus' sitting room.

Severus was waiting for them, standing with his arms folded, and his gaze immediately went to them, looking them over as if checking for injuries. "Are you both alright?" he asked, his gaze coming back to rest on Rachel.

"We are," she said. "Can we talk?"

"Of course. Do you want tea?" he checked.

"No, thank you," Theo said as Rachel shook her head.

Rachel and Theo went to the sofa, while Severus took his seat in his armchair.

"Draco and Ron called us over about an hour ago. The aurors responded to an attack today. The Dark Mark was found above the house. The occupants were killed," Rachel said, watching Severus closely.

Severus sat further back in his seat, his eyes closing for a moment. "Did they say who was killed?"

"Justin Finch-Fletchley, his wife Emily, and their two children," Theo said, squeezing Rachel's hand.

They hadn't been close with Justin and his wife, but Hannah had been. Emily had been a Hufflepuff two years younger than them, and Rachel didn't think she'd ever met her at Hogwarts, but she'd seen Justin and Emily together a half dozen times since then.

Severus ran his hand over his mouth. "Both muggleborns, if I'm not mistaken."

"You're not," Rachel said.

"Hermione was warned?" he checked.

"She was, she's going to have her wards looked at tomorrow. Tonks and Shacklebolt are contacting everyone in the Order, just in case they're targets," she said.

"What about your wards?"

"Our wards are good," she said. "I just checked them, and they're good."

"Have you given any thought to going back under the Fidelius charm?" he asked.

Rachel glanced at Theo and saw his own reluctance mirroring hers. They both used their home for a variety of business dinners and it would be a massive pain to work around the Fidelius charm. "I think for right now, we're trusting our wards and seeing what happens next," she said.

"This could easily be just one disgruntled person. We don't know how much of a threat they are," Theo added.

"Even so," Severus said.

"We'll consider it," Rachel said to mollify him, though the threat was going to have to be more severe than it currently was for her to go back under the Fidelius charm.

"We will. Right now we just want to see what will happen next. Whatever they choose to do next will tell us a lot," Theo said.

Severus nodded once. "Did they say anything about the state they found the wards in?"

"The wards were down, but Justin and Emily fought back, so they're not sure in what manner the wards were brought down," Theo said.

"Are you both alright?" he asked, though his gaze was focused on Rachel.

"I think we are. It's obviously not news that any of us wanted to hear, but it's nothing we haven't weathered before," Rachel said, though she suspected that she was going to be awake all night.

"Obviously we're both going to be very careful, as you should be. We were all high priority targets in the war and if this is a cell of Death Eaters operating, it makes sense that we would be targets," Theo said, his hand tightening around Rachel's again.

"I'm glad you're both aware of that. Do whatever you need to do to protect yourselves. You're always welcome to shelter here if need be," Severus said, his gaze still intense.

"Thank you," Rachel said, though she did not want to bring the whole menagerie of her household into Severus' home.

"I think we'll be alright. We're a lot harder to kill than the average person," Theo said, glancing at Rachel.

"That's true enough, but you can still be caught off guard. No one is invulnerable."

Rachel nodded. She knew how to be on her guard. She'd had a lot of practice at that over the years.


"Rachel?" Booker called.

"In here," she said, setting down the tax code she was reading and adjusting her glasses. She'd skipped the Department of Mysteries today, coming straight to her Wizengamot office in anticipation that everyone was going to be running around in a panic. Thus far she'd fielded Ethan, Janice, Sirius, Anyssa, and Linette, all of them reassuring each other that they were fine and that their wards were taken care of. Sirius had offered to take her and Theo in, but Rachel had assured him that her wards were as good as his, but that he should check on Malcolm. Sirius said he already had and the wards on Malcolm's home were good, but that he was willing to take in any of their group who needed shelter until their wards were taken care of.

Booker poked his head into her inner office. "Stella just dropped by my desk. Madam Bones would like to know if you have time to speak with her today."

"I have time. When would she like me?"

"Now, if you can manage it," Booker said.

Rachel stood, smoothing her robes. "I can do that. Is she in her Wizengamot office or down in the MLE?"

"MLE today. Would you like me to walk you?" Booker offered.

"I can walk myself to the MLE." She understood that everyone was on edge right now, but she did not need an escort through the Ministry. Even people who knew her well seemed to forget that she was the most dangerous person in Britain. That was the downside of only barely meeting 152 centimeters, she supposed. At least she was well known enough that people no longer assumed that she was very young when they met her.

"If you're certain. Is there anything you need for the moment?" he asked.

"Not unless you can make the tax code make sense to me," she said.

"It's going to take a better man than me to do that. Do you want me to arrange a meeting with someone in finance and see if we can get someone to explain the part you're struggling with?" he offered.

"Find me whoever's proposal this is and have them explain it to me, because I'm not voting for this until they can tell me what it's actually doing."

"Francis' proposal, I believe. But what he says it is doing and what it is actually doing may not be the same thing," Booker warned.

"Has Alwen given comments on this proposal?" she checked.

"I haven't seen any, but I can ask around. The proposal should have made it to him by now," Booker said.

"Alright. Find out what Alwen thinks. If he says it's doing what Francis says it's doing, then I'll believe him. If he says something isn't right here, then we need to stop and figure out what exactly is going on, and probably involve Rufus at that point if he isn't aware already," she decided.

"I'll talk with Alwen's clerk and see what I can find out. It may take a few days given the current climate," he said.

"When is this being voted on again?" she checked.

"It's slated for the November meeting."

Rachel's gaze wandered her office as she thought.

"That's plenty of time," Monty said from his frame. "Go speak with Amelia. The tax code will still be here when you get back."

"Alright. I will be back…when I'm back. Did Stella say what Amelia wanted?" she checked.

"No, but I assume it's about the developing situation. The clerks say she was in with the Minister for several hours this morning. Rumor is that they were deciding whether or not to call an emergency Wizengamot meeting," Booker said.

She nodded. "Let's check back in a few hours and we'll compare notes."

"We can do that," he agreed. "Anything else?"

"Not for right now." Rachel walked with him out of her office, him turning to go back to the room where the Wizengamot clerks worked, and Rachel heading for the door that connected the Wizengamot chambers with the rest of the Ministry.

Ten minutes later she entered the room where the aurors gathered. There was a familiar board up, the one showing Death Eaters that were unaccounted for, and she saw several aurors gathered around it. She spotted Cedric and Tonks, but refrained from interrupting them, and instead went to Stella's desk.

"I hear Madam Bones wants me?" she asked.

"You hear correctly," Stella said. "You can go down, there's no one else in her office right now."

"Thanks," Rachel said, turning down the hallway that led to Amelia's office and then knocking on her door when she arrived.

"Enter."

She stepped inside and found Amelia bent over a pile of files, another board in her office with pictures of known Death Eaters on it.

"Thank you for joining me, though I'm sure you already know what I'm going to say," Amelia said, setting down a piece of parchment.

"I'm on my guard and my wards are good," Rachel said, taking the chair in front of her desk.

"Good. Right now we don't have enough information to start guessing at who targets will be beyond muggleborns, but when it comes to Death Eaters, you are always going to be at the top of their list," she said, looking grim. Time and stress had given her hair more strands of grey than when Rachel had been with the aurors, and Rachel privately wondered how many more emergencies Amelia could weather as the Head of the MLE.

"Any clues on why Justin and Emily?" she asked.

"Neither of them were in positions of power. Neither of them worked for the Ministry. Neither of them were registered with a Guild. We're looking into their associations now to see if we can come up with any reasons that they were targeted beyond being muggleborns," Amelia said. "It's difficult to discern a pattern with only one attack, but we're compiling as much information as possible in hopes of making connections. Did you know them personally? They were the right age to have attended Hogwarts with you."

"Justin was in my year at Hogwarts, but in a different House. I shared classes sometimes with him, but we weren't friends. I don't think I met Emily at Hogwarts at all. I have seen them maybe a half dozen times over the years since we left Hogwarts, but Justin had a closer association with Neville and Hannah, so he might be able to tell you more," Rachel said.

"I will speak with Neville then. At this point we don't know what we're looking for, so we're casting as wide of a net as possible," Amelia said as she made a note.

"Any thoughts about who can cast the Dark Mark? Draco said some Unspeakables can do it," she checked.

"We had a team from spell crafting in the Unspeakables work on deconstructing the spell about a decade ago, but without results we could use. I've already established the whereabouts for that team for yesterday and the day before, same with the people in the MLE who could have learned it through questioning Death Eaters. This is either a Death Eater or someone who learned it from a Death Eater. Speaking of the Unspeakables, how are you managing down there?"

"Pretty good," Rachel hedged. "It wasn't really like I was expecting, but I suppose that makes sense."

"As long as it's what you want to be doing. Rufus fears you're going to disappear down there, perhaps literally," Amelia said, arching her eyebrows.

"Get lost in the Department, yes, I have definitely done that. But I don't think I'm going to disappear. I know my duty. I will take care of my Wizengamot responsibilities," she promised.

"Good. Speaking of duty, there's a difficult question I want to ask you, and I want you to be honest with me," Amelia said, her expression entirely serious now.

"Alright," Rachel said, uncertain what to expect from that.

"Are you willing to be recalled to the aurors in the event we are facing an overwhelming threat?" she asked, her eyes fixed on Rachel.

Rachel understood the real question here: Was she willing to come and use her abilities to stop and possibly kill a Death Eater or a group of Death Eaters? "Yes. If you need me, I will be here," she said, because what other answer could she possibly give?

"As a last resort," Amelia said with a short nod. "I do not expect things to come to that point, but if they have a new leader, then we need to act quickly. We cannot allow them to gather support."

"I understand completely," Rachel said. In both of the last wars, part of the reason the wars had gone so badly was because the Ministry had stalled and hesitated to act. If the Death Eaters did have a new leader, then they needed to stop them as soon as possible, before people started taking sides. Britain could not weather another war, not right now, and not in the near future.

"Good," Amelia said again. "Rufus and I will keep you up to date as the situation develops. You should make preparations in case you need to go into hiding. Do you want someone to come look at your wards?"

"My wards are fine. I have very good wards," Rachel assured her.

"Alright. Be aware that we're not sure how they're bringing the wards down at this point."

"I am. Are we having an emergency Wizengamot meeting?" she checked.

"Not at this time. We don't have any more information to give the Wizengamot at this point than what was printed in the newspaper this morning. When we have something, you'll all know. Are there concerns that you need addressed?"

Rachel thought for a moment and then shook her head. "I think this covers everything until we know more."

"Let me know if you see anything odd," Amelia said. "Floo the aurors if something looks wrong to you, don't try to handle it yourself."

"I will," Rachel said, because she did not particularly want to take on a group of Death Eaters by herself, even if she had the ability to do so. "I'll keep in touch."

"Thank you," Amelia said, nodding to her again before returning to her work. "Can you send Stella to me?"

"Of course," Rachel said, letting herself out of Amelia's office. "Madam Bones would like you," she said when she reached Stella's desk.

"Some days I am more a messenger than anything else," Stella said as she stood up.

"I'm sure," Rachel said, turning to leave the MLE and to head back to her own work.

"Rachel?" Cedric called as he and Tonks approached.

"Hey Cedric. Hey Tonks. I'm sorry to hear about Justin and Emily," she said, knowing that Cedric would have known Justin and Emily through his House.

"Thanks. I wasn't called out, but I heard enough," Cedric said, looking pained for a moment.

"You're taking precautions?" Tonks asked.

"Yes. Our wards are good, no worries there," Rachel assured her, just as she'd assured everyone else today.

"Are we still on for Quidditch in two weeks? I think that should be safe enough for a private game," Cedric said.

"That's fine with me as long as it's fine with everyone," Rachel said. "I'm not worried about it. If enough changes in two weeks that we are worried about it, we'll cancel."

"All of you and your Quidditch," Tonks said. "You think you would have gotten enough of that these past eleven years."

"Just because you're not coordinated enough to stay up on a broom doesn't mean the rest of us aren't," Cedric teased.

"I can fly just fine, I'll have you know. Until someone throws a ball at me and expects me to catch it," Tonks said, rolling her eyes, but smiling.

"Besides, there's never enough Quidditch," Rachel said. She had been feeling the itch to get on her broom for some time now and she was looking forward to playing again.

"If you say so," Tonks said. "Everything alright over in the Wizengamot?"

"It's like poking a beehive with a stick," Rachel said, thinking of all the worried and hurrying Wizengamot members and clerks she'd seen this morning.

"I can only imagine," Cedric said. "We'd better let you get back to it."

"Important Wizengamot member right here, off to do important things," Tonks said, winking at Rachel.

"That's me," Rachel said, though the only thing she was going back to was the tax code and reassuring worried members of her faction.

"We'll see you around," Cedric said.

"See you," she said, figuring they actually did have things to get back to, even if she didn't. She left the MLE, heaved a sigh, and tried to think of who else she needed to check on today.