Another Code, and Friends

The second week of January passed slowly.

While Pucey Villa was a beautiful mansion and there were plenty of books to read, and a stillroom to brew potions without Snape breathing down her neck (Alexander was a much better teacher, and far nicer, Alicia quickly learned), and grounds to fly over, Alicia still found herself a little bored after a few days.

She re-read all of her Healer notes from her first four terms while Adrian stretched out on the library sofa for hours, reading the diaries that his brother and sister-in-law had given him.

"I didn't realize you were interested in Curse Breaking," Alicia finally said, the third afternoon. She had reached the end of her notes by that point and had taken to looking at the bookshelves in hopes of finding something on healing spells, but most of the books seemed to be about Charms, Herbology, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not that those books weren't interesting or useful, and she certainly pulled a few down, but she really wanted to be back in the classroom, finishing her final term in the Healer program.

"I'm not," he said distantly, turning a page, his brow furrowed in concentration. "But Att told me something back when I first joined the Order, when I went to France to get out of England for a while. The curses that ancient and medieval wizards put on tombs as protection measures can possibly be reworked as Defensive spells. He and Bridget wanted me to have their diaries, and Bill Weasley's, so I could see which ones could be retooled."

"There's a lot of theory involved in that," Alicia said, her eyebrows lifting. Not for a second that she doubted her boyfriend could take a protective curse and twist it into a defensive curse, but it was more than she wanted to think about at that moment.

A smile tugged at the corner of his very kissable mouth. "That's why I enjoy it. But I haven't had much time to read their diaries and really work on it. So that's what I'm doing now."

It wasn't all reading, brewing, writing letters to her friends, and flying for fun, though. During that first week, Marcus Flint, Cassius Warrington, and Graham Montague showed back up at the gates. They couldn't find the house because of the Fidelius Charm, but Alania, Alicia, and Adrian walked out to the gates to hear what they were talking about. It was much the same as the first time those men had shown up — they felt like the Pucey family had deliberately enacted a Fidelius Charm and that Adrian was hiding from them, which made the Puceys blood traitors in their eyes.

It did not need to be said that Adrian's Slytherin classmates would report those conjectures to the Dark Lord. While it made Alicia very worried, Alania just smiled grimly and seemed to take satisfaction in the fact that she had thwarted Flint, Montague, and Warrington with her charms work.

On January 17th, however, something particularly odd happened.

Kenneth and Karen were supposed to join them that afternoon and evening for dinner, and Alicia was looking forward to that. She missed seeing everyone who lived around Diagon Alley. Despite the pain of losing her parents, it felt wrong not to be able to Apparate to Fred and George's place for an evening of drinks, or to Lee's flat to see how Potterwatch was going, or to Kenneth and Karen's flat to chat for a while. She especially hated being cut off from Angelina. Alicia hoped Kenneth would catch them up on the news. She had written letters to Doreen, Angelina, Oliver, and Fred, George, and Lee just for want of something to do the last two days.

But that morning, an owl arrived for Alicia during breakfast.

Cressy came in with the owl on her head, and when Alania turned and smiled to take the thick packet, the little elf just went right by her Mistress and stopped at Alicia.

"The packet is for Miss Alicia, it is," the elf said cheerfully. "The elves don't sense anything wrong with it, Miss. But please be careful! We lives in dangerous times."

Alicia staredin surprise as the handsome hawk owl fluttered to the table with the packet. It was quite thick, and she couldn't imagine what it was.

"Who's it from?" Adrian asked warily.

Alicia glanced at the black envelope with silver writing, while the hawk owl nibbled at her croissant. "It doesn't say," she said in surprise, flipping the packet over. "Do you want to look at it, first? You're better at Defense than I am."

Adrian stood and reached across the table to take the packet from her. While he tapped it several times with his wand to make sure it was safe, Alicia stroked the hawk owl, who sat quietly beside her, yellow eyes beady and curious. It vaguely reminded Alicia of how Courtney could cut her eyes at people. Bloody hell, was she feeling so cut off from the world that she even missed chatting with a Slytherin girl she hadn't fully trusted? Merlin help her. Was this how Adrian had felt the previous fall, when he'd returned from France, and couldn't venture beyond Pucey Villa or socialize with anyone?

"Too bad I don't know your name," she murmured to the owl. "You're quite beautiful."

The owl merely looked at her for a moment, before dipping her beak in Alicia's glass of water.

Adrian finally handed the packet back over. "It seems fine," he said, though his tone indicated he was still doubtful.

"Only one way to find out what it is, I guess," Alicia said more bravely than she felt. Before Adrian could protest, she tapped the envelope to open it.

To her further surprise, there were a number of parchment sheets inside, but they were all in Ancient Runes except for the first page, which was in English. The handwriting wasn't familiar to Alicia, and all it said was, I thought you would find these interesting for your theoretical work.

It was signed O.D.

Alicia didn't know anyone with those initials.

"Well, that's odd," she muttered.

Adrian had come around to her side of the dining room table. "What the heck? Is it from Att, maybe?"

"I don't know why Atticus would send me anything. I thought at first maybe it was from Katie, but she didn't take Ancient Runes —"

"Atticus could have charmed her letters into Ancient Runes to try and avoid detection," Adrian suggested, picking up a sheet and scanning it. "But this isn't his owl or his handwriting."

"And it's signed O.D. I don't know anyone with those initials. The only person with an O name that I know is Oliver, but that doesn't match, and Oliver wouldn't be this indirect, regardless. Maybe it was misaddressed?"

"Not bloody likely."

For a few seconds, he and Alicia were both silent as they glanced at thefirst couple of parchments, and they noticed the problem at the exact same time.

"This is gibberish!" Adrian sputtered. "The words don't even form sentences! It doesn't make any sense at all!"

"I just realized that too," Alicia said, baffled. "There must be a code somewhere in it."

"Try using a reveal spell," he suggested.

Alicia tapped the parchment with her wand. Nothing happened.

Adrian twitched in annoyance. "Maybe one of the lesser known reveal spells, then?"

From the end of the table, Alania suddenly snickered into her hand, and they both looked up.

"What's so funny?" Adrian asked tersely.

Alania's eyes sparkled. "The two of you. Were you like this in school, too? Trying to decipher things when you were studying alone together? It's so adorable!"

They both flushed, and Adrian slapped the parchment he was holding back down with the others. "Towler will be here this afternoon," he said shortly, meeting Alicia's eyes and ignoring his mother. "We can enlist his help too, since he also took Runes."

When Kenneth and Karen arrived, Adrian and Alicia dragged them to the library while explaining what had happened. Kenneth was just as wary of the packet as Adrian had been that morning.

"You have no idea who it's from?"

"None," Alicia said. "But I have a feeling there's a coded message in the parchments somewhere."

As Kenneth sat down at the main table in the library to start looking through the weird parchments, he said, "Oh, speaking of letters and codes… I have four letters for you. One from Angelina, one from Oliver, one from Lee, and your grandmother sent you one through the Weasleys. And the twins wanted me to tell you to fish your old D.A. coin out too, if you still have it."

Alicia looked up in surprise as she took the letters from Kenneth. "My old D.A. coin?"

Kenneth nodded, and she saw the flash of old hurt in his eyes; it still bothered him that he'd never been invited to join, even though he knew why. "The twins said the students at Hogwarts are using those old coins to pass along messages and coordinate resistance efforts. Fred and George are secretly going to use their old ones to keep up with Ginny, and occasionally send encouraging messages every now and then. They can't do it often, because it would interfere with the students' resistance, but they figured every once in a while might keep the students' spirits up. I wouldn't be surprised if the students have made copies of the coins using a Protean Charm for new members, too."

"That was how Hermione created them in the first place," Alicia said, nodding. "I'll find mine. I can copy mine using that charm, and make copies for you, Karen, and Adrian, if you'd like."

She noticed Kenneth really liked that idea, but he kept his expression pretty neutral despite that. "Thanks. I would appreciate it. The twins think if there's a battle at Hogwarts at any point, the information will likely come through those old coins."

"They're probably right. But, for now," Adrian said, "we have something more important to figure out. These weird, fake Ancient Runes and who the hell sent them to Alicia. Especially considering her parents were just killed."

While Karen and Alania sat at the back of the room, talking fashion (because Karen's dream was to become a seamstress, and Alania was very excited about that), Alicia, Kenneth, and Adrian sat in front of the blazing fire at the main table for almost twenty minutes, trying to find the code.

"Those initials are really odd," Kenneth muttered at least twice. "I don't know anyone with those initials."

"Us, either," Alicia responded the first time.

But then, aftertwenty minutes, Alicia suddenly found the code buried in the gibberish. She was so startled that she enthusiastically cried out, "I found it! I found it!" She grabbed her wand even as Adrian and Kenneth looked up from their pages, and she snatched back the sheets they had been pouring over, stacked all of the parchments together, and before Adrian could tell her to wait, she eagerly tapped the lot of them.

"Medicinae Theoria Revelare!"

Instantly, the parchments sparkled slightly and the Ancient Runes shifted, becoming English text in an entirely different handwriting — a neat, narrow, girlish cursive. Alicia grabbed the first sheet and felt a thrill of excitement. "It's this term's notes from the Healer program!" she squealed.

At that, Alania and Karen stopped talking and Alania was on her feet faster than anyone.

"Who in the world would send you those?" she stammered. "I haven't asked for them for you because I knew Cecil would catch wind of it if I made inquiries! Not that I didn't try to think of a way around it, mind. I don't even know if I can stay on the board at this point, though!"

Alicia bit her lip as she scanned the notes. They were meticulously detailed from the first two weeks of class. "The only person I really know in the program is Courtney. I wasn't friends with the older students. Back when we started, Courtney made it clear she was in the program for herself alone, but I thought we'd become friendlier this past term, and —"

Kenneth interrupted. "I can't see her taking the time to duplicate her notes and send you all of these. And O.D. isn't Courtney Vanhausen's initials," he pointed out, frowning at the obvious.

"There was no one in the program with us who had those initials. Maybe the message is a code, too?" She tapped the first page.

Alicia hadn't really expected anything to happen, but to her further surprise, the single sentence transformed. Even the handwriting changed again. It was the same tight, girlish cursive.

Bollocks, that's what it is. Hang in there, Spinnet. ~ C.V.

She gasped and nearly screamed. "It isfrom Courtney!"

"But why the hell would she send you copies of all of her notes?" Kenneth demanded. "If the program is as competitive as it is, that doesn't even make sense! It doesn't even sound like something Vanhausen would do without an ulteriormotive!"

But Alicia was smiling happily for the first time in days. Her hands were practically shaking.She could keep studying. Courtney was making sure she didn't fall behind.

Hurriedly, she explained, "Just hear me out, okay? Courtney hated Umbridge, the same as we did. I know that sounds weird, but it's actually true."

Karen interrupted and reiterated, "She does hate Umbridge. I remember back in seventh-year, she told me that one day. She asked me not to say anything because her classmates wouldn't have understood. Nearly all of the other Slytherins liked Umbridge. But Courtney couldn't stand her."

Alicia nodded and said, "Exactly! She couldn't let anyone know she hated Umbridge back then, because she would have been targeted! Well, we know her father is trying to cozy up with Death Eaters, so I'm sure she's heard about my parents getting killed, and if she heard the story from the other side, she might know that Umbridge sent Bletchley and Warrington to kill them. I'm sure she also knows it's why I haven't returned to the program this term. And she's helping me. I can't believe it! She's helping me!I can keep studying!"

"That's a pretty loose connection if it's just because she hated Umbridge," Kenneth said flatly. "It's a lot ofifs, Alicia."

Alania frowned, too. "And if all of that is true, that's very dangerous for her. If her father finds out she's helping you…"

"Mum is right," Adrian said darkly. "The owl already went back, but if she sends you anything else, we need to write her and tell her not to put herself at risk."

"We'll have to code it," Alicia said. "I don't want her father figuring out that she and I are communicating."

Kenneth pushed his glasses up slightly. "I know spells to code things the way shedid these. Now that I know the code she used, I can reverse it."

"Godric, I'm so happy," Alicia murmured, flipping through the pages. "I can keep studying!"

Adrian, Alania, and Kenneth exchanged glances that plainly said none of them really trusted Courtney or thought this was a good idea, but Karen leaned on Alicia's shoulder to look down at the notes.

"You can all say what you want about Courtney," the Hufflepuff said, a small smile tugging her mouth. "But she's a good sort. She's like Adrian; she can't let anyone know she's on our side, right? Because her father wants to be a Death Eater. I've always trusted her."

Kenneth snorted. "Well, I still don't know that I believe she's actually on our side —"

Karen laughed. "Of course you don't! You've never liked her! But Slytherin and Gryffindor prefects couldn't exactly chat freely while on patrol, now could they? It wasn't as if she could openly be friends with you. What would you have done if she'd started chatting with you on patrol as if you were her best friend, Kenneth?"

Alicia snorted with laughter. "He probably would have thought she was taking the mickey, or about to hex him."

"Exactly," Karen said.

Before Kenneth could retort, Adrian said quietly, "Pickford has a point, Towler. Maybe Courtney really was afraid other Slytherins would come down on her if they saw her being friendly with you or Alicia at Hogwarts, or if they knew she didn't agree with Umbridge's way of doing things. You weren't exactly popular in Slytherin. She didn't even confide in me back then, because she didn't know who she could trust, and if she was seen as friendly towards you, she would have caught hell. All of Slytherin thought Umbridge was the best thing that happened to the school, so if Alicia is right… if Courtney did hate Umbridge, there was no way she could have admitted it back then."

Kenneth's expression turned mulish. "Well, I still think it's weird, and I'm not willing to trust her yet. Even if she's sending Alicia her notes."

The next Saturday, another packet came for Alicia. It was slightly thinner, because it was only one week's worth of notes, and it had been coded exactly the same way: a bunch of random Ancient Runes, and a single piece of parchment with the same line:Thought you would find these interesting for your theoretical work. ~ O.D.

Alicia tapped that line, and the text shimmered and changed. I don't know how long I can keep this up,Spinnet, but I'll try to keep sending them. ~ C.V.

She scribbled out a return note.

Thank you. You've no idea how happy I am. What is your owl's name? She's so pretty. Please be careful. I don't want you to get in trouble.

After coding it per Kenneth's instructions, Alicia sent her note back with the beautiful hawk owl.

To her surprise, the owl returned to her two days later, while they were having tea with Kenneth and Karen in the library.

The return note was brief — it rambled on about theory, as if Alicia was a professor corresponding with another professor. But when she reversed the spell, the real message shimmered on the black pages in silver ink.

You're killing me with the sappiness, Spinnet. My owl's name is Acantha.And I am being careful. Also, to whoever killed Bletchley, you have my thanks. Got me out of my third date with the son of a bitch. Dear old Dad was actually serious about him. Thank Merlin his older brothers are already married.

At that, everyone tensed.

"Shite," Adrian muttered. "For real?"

"Well!" Alania said, as if this settled the matter of what Adrian had done. "There you go, mon fils, there was a good outcome to that."

Adrian frowned at her and snapped, "He had parents, you know. Like I told you before; how do you think they would feel if they knew I killed their son? They'd want my head!"

"That's why they will never find out," Alania said dangerously.

"Mrs. Alania is right," Karen replied, her eyes meeting Adrian's. "None of us will ever say anything about it,you know. Miles made his choice: he chose to become a Death Eater. And Courtney has made her choice, too. She's not a Death Eater."

"Her father certainly wants to be one," Kenneth muttered.

"That doesn't make her one, Kenneth!" Karen glared at him, finally losing some of her patience.

"Karen is right," Alicia said,cutting her eyes at him. "Just because someone's father is a Death Eater doesn't make that persona Death Eater. Look at Gilbert. His grandfather clearly has blood purity views, but Gilbert doesn't!"

"I just don't trust her, that's all," Kenneth said shortly, crossing his arms as he always did when he was being particularly stubborn. "And you didn't like her school, either!"

Alicia said waspishly, "Well, sometimes, people change."

Adrian rubbed the back of his neck. "Part of me wants to trust her. But I don't know. I remember what she was like in school. Popular, always surrounded by girls who wanted to be like her…"

"She was a toff," Kenneth threw in, rolling his eyes. "She was a typical Slytherin, honestly."

"I thought," Karen said testily, "that we agreed not long ago that some Slytherins put on an act to hide their real personalities from other Slytherins. Adrian certainly did. It's very likely Courtney did, too. In fact, I'm sure of it, based on what I know of her from being her partner for two bloody years in Transfiguration!"

Kenneth sighed and grasped her hand, linking his fingers with hers. "Tell you what, love. If, at the end of this horrible war, she turns out to be on our side, I'll apologize to her and won't say another word about it." Then he changed the subject before his girlfriend could argue. "Oh, yeah. I almost forgot, Alicia — Potterwatch is on tonight. And Lee plans to mention your parents. I don't want you to be surprised. Password is Emmaline."

Alicia tensed, but it was Adrian who answered for her.

"Thanks for letting us know. That would have been bollocks if Alicia hadn't had any warning. I might have killed Jordan myself if you hadn't told us —"

"Well," Kenneth coughed,his eyes dancing sarcastically. "I wouldn't put it past you."

Adrian glared and hit him with a silent Knock-Back Jinx, and Kenneth fell off of his chair with a yelp.

"And don't forget it." Adrian smirked.

Kenneth swore angrily, pulled himself back into his chair, and shoved Adrian for good measure.

Just hearing Lee's voice through the Wireless that evening was a balm to Alicia. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear her parents' names, but it was nice to hear Lee, Fred, and George's voices. Kenneth and Karen hung around for the broadcast, and Alania and Alexander joined them to listen, since they had never heard Potterwatch before.

Adrian kept his arm around Alicia's shoulders and she leaned into him as Lee read off the names of wizards, witches, and muggles who had been murdered or gone missing in the past month or so. To Alicia's horror, however, it wasn't her parents' names that caught her attention and made her stomach cramp.

"…we've learned," Lee said solemnly, "that Will Richardson and Dave Fraser were both murdered last weekend…"

Karen jolted and gasped, and Kenneth grabbed her around the waist quickly.

"Karen," he said, his tone sharp.

"No," she whispered, as she stared at the wireless in horror. "Will —!"

"Karen," he repeated, pulling her into him to steady her.

"Did you know him?" Alania asked in alarm.

Karen angrily brushed tears that were starting to slip down her cheeks and nodded. "Yes! H-he…"

"Will was in Karen's Hufflepuff class," Alicia explained sadly. "He was muggle-born."

"Dave Fraser was his boyfriend," Adrian said dully. "He was in our year, too. In Ravenclaw. He was half-blood. They were probably on the run together. Fuck."

Karen buried her face in her hands and leaned over her knees, her long, straight, ash-blonde hair falling all around her shoulders and arms, completely silent as Lee kept commentating. Kenneth placed a hand on her back and swallowed; he didn't seem to know what to do for her.

"I'm so sorry, Karen, dear," Alania whispered.

"They were both so sweet," Karen said, her voice muffled. "They were the nicest boys, both of them! They'd do anything for you! All of us in Hufflepuff were friends! Like the Gryffindors, we were a small class. There were only seven Hufflepuffs in our year. It was me, Chrysanthe, Jane, Danny, Cedric, Gilbert, and Will. We lost Cedric in '95, and now Will… and Jane is in Azkaban because she's muggle-born…" Suddenly, Karen burst into tears. "And I'm s-s-so worried about Ch-Chrysanthe! D-Danny is muggle-born too, and they're on the run together like Will and Dave were! She's my best friend!"

"We're all worried about her too, love," Kenneth reminded her gently.

"Chrysanthe was friends with all of us," Alicia sniffed, wiping her eyes. "Send her a Patronus, see if she responds, Karen."

"She won't, I know she won't," Karen whispered, but she raised her wand and cast one anyway.

Lee's voice was still reading off the names of the dead, and they just did catch the last family.

"…and finally, a muggle family named the Martins were killed outside of Carlow, Ireland. We believe the Death Eaters went after them because they were on an isolated farm. They were clearly tortured before they were killed. As we've previously noted, muggle torture has become a sport under the new regime, so this unfortunately isn't surprising. So… if you will, afew moments of silence for all that were lost this past month."

They all sat in sadness, waiting for Lee to break the silence…

And that was when something completely unexpected happened.

A Patronus appeared before all of them: a sparkling silver mule, glaring at them in typical, stubborn fashion. Karen sucked in a sharp breath, Alicia cried out, and Kenneth and Adrian actually stood up in shock.

The mule opened its mouth.

Do not contact me unless it's to tell me there's a battle, damn it. And when there is, let me know. I will fight. But until then, don't contact me! I love you, Karen.

The Patronus dissolved, and Kenneth fell back on the couch and ran his hands over his face, under his glasses. "Fucking hell," he breathed.

"She's alive," Alicia said,her entire body shaking. "Oh my God, Adrian, she's alive…!" She turned and threw her arms around him in relief.

Karen started crying again. "Thank God," she sobbed. "She's not dead! Oh, Helga, I've been so worried about her for the past four months! I've been s-so worried!"

Adrian sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "I swear, I'm going to hex Hayden when I see her again!"

Adrian's comment broke the tension, and they all laughed weakly.

Kenneth joked, "She'll hex you back, Pucey."

Adrian smiled sadly at him. "And I would gladly let her, because I'd just be happy to see her again. She's a mess, that one."

It was with slightly lighter hearts that they listened to the rest of the broadcast, and when Lee and the twins signed off, Fred said, "The next password is Fabian."

Lee added, "Until then, keep faith and stay safe."

The Wireless went quiet, and Alicia turned to bury her face in Adrian's chest. Will and David were dead… her parents were dead… but Chrysanthe was miraculously still alive, and presumably, Danny was, too. She didn't know how she felt, and she knew Karen, Kenneth, and Adrian felt the same way. It was such a weird mix of emotions… grief and happiness and anxiety mixed together.

Chrysanthe Hayden was both slightly livid, and slightly relieved.

Livid, because when that egret first appeared, she thought this is finally it: a battle was about to take place and it was time to fight. It was time to actually take action, damn it, and she was more than ready.

But that wasn't the case at all.

Karen's voice had been panicked and tear-filled.

I miss you and I'm worried sick about you! Will is dead and Jane is in Azkaban! Please just let me know you're alive!

Hearing her best friend's voice after four months…Helga, that had been nice. She missed Karen more than she could say.

On the other hand, quickly modifying five memories of the muggles who had been around them had been irritating as fuck. But Karen had no idea where Chrysanthe was, or that there were muggles nearby when she sent the Patronus.

A few minutes later, she and Danny found themselves in a different area of town, having cut their busking short because of that egret Patronus and Chrysanthe's need to modify the memories of the people who had been standing around, listening to her sing and Danny play. They'd only made a few quid that evening.

"Fucking hell," she bitched, as they walked through a narrow, dim, empty tunnel that ran under a freeway nearby. "I was sure a battle was about to break out, damn it!"

"She can't help it, babe," Danny said, readjusting the guitar case strapped over his shoulder. "It's been four months. We were a close-knit group, you know. Bloody fuck, I can't believe they got Will. They probably got Dave, too. I'd bet you anything those two were together."

"They probably were. And Jane should have gotten her arse out of the country," Chrysanthe snarled through gritted teeth as she pulled her coat tightly around her. It was fucking freezing. At least they had a shitty little bedsit to return to in Liverpool; it was warmer than sleeping under cardboard on the street.

"Man, I wish to hell they'd hurry up and fight Voldemort head-on," Danny complained, rubbing his face. He was one of the very,veryfew people who could say Voldemort's name as if he didn't give a single fuck. Probably because he didn't. Chrysanthe knew it was because he had grown up in the Muggle world with no inkling of how terrifying Voldemort really was, but she didn't like it when her boyfriend said it. He went on in a dark voice, "It must be getting really bad. Do you want to try busking at Piccadilly or Trafalgar, tomorrow? I'm good with either, or we could do the Underground, that's usually good for a —"

He broke off abruptly, and Chrysanthe immediately knew why. Three people had materialized out of thin air at the end of the tunnel, and she realized almost a second too late that they had wands.

Danny grabbed her just in time and shoved her against the tunnel wall, but a stunner hit him in the process of protecting her, and he collapsed.

The wizards started laughing and walking towards them, and Chrysanthe heard one of them leer, "Well, well, what have we here? Two little runaways? Mudbloods, I expect. Thought you'd say the Dark Lord's name for a laugh?"

Behind her, she heard someone else approaching. "The name's taboo, mudbloods. And we suspect your name's on a list somewhere. Should we kill you here, or haul you to Azkaban?"

"I think we should play with 'em first," another said. "She's damn fit."

Wands were up again, and Chrysanthe reacted without thinking.

Nonverbally, she cast a shield over her and Danny, then cast a powerful Blasting Curse. Half the tunnel caved in; at the same time, she grabbed Danny's arm and Disapparated.

Chrysanthe jumped seven times without thinking, all over the fucking country, just as a precaution.

When she reappeared, she was in an alley behind a pub in Ispwich. For a moment, she was completely silent, not even daring to breathe. Then she looked down at Danny, who was still unconscious. She cast Ennervate, and his eyes flickered open.

"What the hell just happened?" he groaned.

"Don't talk," Chrysanthe snarled in a whisper. "Stand up, Danny."

He struggled to his feet, but at least kept his mouth shut. When they were both standing, she grasped his hand and Apparated three more times, finally arriving in a run-down back alley in Liverpool, at the top of a fire escape. She opened the door to the one-room bedsit they were renting, cast Homenum Revelio, and breathed a sigh of relief once they were inside. Then she recast a multitude of protection spells over theflat as a precaution. Only when she was done did she turn to face Danny, fury welling up inside of her at last as her adrenaline lowered.

"Er, what happened?" he asked, unnerved by her expression. He took a step back and nearly fell over on the narrow bed they shared.

"You," she snarled. "I cannot believe you. At least you kept me from getting hit with a stunner, or you'd be dead right now and they'd be raping me! So I need you to stay silent while I explain what happened, do you understand? Do not talk, damn it!"

Danny's eyes were wide, but he at least did as he was told.

Chrysanthe inhaled through her nose. "Do not say You-Know-Who's name."

"What, V—?"

She hit him with a Silencing Jinx and Danny grabbed at his throat and gaped at her.

Eyes blazing, anger overwhelming her, and immensely grateful she had soundproofing barriers up, Chrysanthe shouted, "His name is taboo, Daniel Jared Youngman! That'swhy those arseholes appeared when they did! You said You-Know-Who's name, and they've placed a jinx on it so anyone who says it is immediately tracked and captured! I swear to hell, if you eversay it again, I will kill you myself, damn it!I can't believe you nearly got us captured and thrown into Azkaban! Or worse, killed! They were going to rape me, Danny! I had to cast a Blasting Curse to get us the fuck out of there!"

Chrysanthe ranted for another ten minutes, storming the tiny bedsit by pacing back and forth, her wand giving off sparks. She checked the window several times, too — that dirty, grimy little window that overlooked the main street — but she didn't see anyone unusual and she had an anti-Apparition charm over the minuscule flat, so hopefully it hadn't been compromised. By the time she had shouted herself hoarse at Danny, he looked like he wanted to sink into the floor and not talk to her for at least a week.

Reversing the Silencing Charm with his own wand, he took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible, "Okay. Okay, Chrysanthe! I promise, I won't say his name anymore! I didn't know, damn it! There was no way we could have known that!"

"We nearly died!" she shouted at him again. "And after I just told my best friend I was still alive! Will is dead, damn it! Jane is in Azkaban! They want you dead, too! They were going to —"

"I get it, I'm sorry!" he begged. "I won't say it again!"

Chrysanthe huffed and returned to the window. The street was still silent as she gazed through the slit in the curtain. "Get some sleep," she snapped. "You've been playing all day. I'll take the first watch."

"I can take the first watch —"

But when she glared furiously at him, he nodded. "Okay, okay. I'll grab a shower and sleep first."

As he disappeared into their teeny loo, Chrysanthe exhaled slowly. It had been a damned close call. She was still unnerved, still worried Death Eaters were tailing them. Could they trace magic to them? Would her protection barriers hold? Maybe she and Danny needed to find a new place. It was the middle of winter, and that wasn't the best time to find a new place, but she couldn't take any chances. It was just lucky he hadn't said Voldemort's name for the past four months because he knew she hated it. He had merely slipped tonight, but it didn't make her feel better.

Bloody hell, but she was ready for this fucking war to be over.

Author's Note: To give you an idea of how much I flesh out my original characters...

Acantha is a minor nymph in Greek mythology. The god Apollo was in love with her, but she rebuffed his advances and scratched his face in the process. In retaliation, he turned her into the Acanthus plant, which has spiny leaves. (Yup, she fought back against rape only to be turned into a plant...) The literal meaning of the name is "thorny". While it never comes out in the story, Courtney's owl was a gift from her maternal grandmother for when she became a prefect in fifth-year. Hawk owls normally live about 10 years.

~EA