The familiar feeling of metaphorically drowning in the unknown was flooding Aubrey once more as she left Umbridge's office, unsure of what the woman wanted now. It had all made sense before but now it was becoming too much for her as she walked back to the Hufflepuff dorms. The idea of returning to the Hufflepuff dorms with Saskia in it was near unbearable but fate was on her side: lurking in a nook, sitting top to toe was Angela and Lexy. 

"Aubrey, hi!" Angela jumped, her face just as troubled, "We thought you were someone else but ... maybe you're who we need to talk to. An unromantic ... look, Lexy thinks it's a bad idea but I think me and Kenny need to take a - "

"Ang, shh," Lexy said suddenly.

"Don't worry, Lex, we're friends again," Angela replied although Aubrey hardly heard either of them; in fact she had hardly noticed their presence at all, so wrapped in the worrying pit that was her life. Sometimes adventure wasn't all it was cracked up to be, "Besides, I helped her with her Umbridge problem, she can help - "

"Something's not right..." Lexy replied, darting forward, clamping her hands onto Aubrey's shoulders making her jump, "BOO!"

Aubrey looked up with a start, almost letting screaming had she not recognised her just in time, "Lexy, hon ... please don't do that - "

"Sorry, sorry ... what's wrong? You look worse than me when I asked Roger out," Lexy replied, "What happened?"

"It's Umbridge, she ..." Aubrey suddenly paused, shaking her head, "Nothing, hon, don't worry about me, I... I've got it under control. I just ... just have so much to do for tomorrow if I go at all but ... I don't want you guys to get into danger for me. Don't worry about it, I ... should go talk to Fred - "

Angela and Lexy couldn't help but exchange a look. This noble/controlling gesture was somewhat tiring for them, "Aubs, can you just tell us what's going on? Since the, um ..." Lexy paused, unsure of whether to reveal it all to Angela quite yet, "Quidditch game, I'm so out of the loop but we want to help, let us be part of this with you."

"No, you'd get hurt - "

"Last year you were kidnapped by a Deatheater who is now on the loose again, according to my Mum ... Lexy told me," Angela added, "Centralising all the power really fucked things up for you but when I helped, it worked quite well."

"Hey! I managed to free myself thank you very much!" Aubrey retorted sassily before shaking her head, "This is just ... I don't even know but - "

"You're not going to tell us what's wrong and I'm ... not in the mood to convince you," Angela's bold words were enough to make Aubrey go speechless, her dark eyes wide as her lips parted a little in shock, "Just ... tell us what we can do to help. I know I'm usually not the best second but if you really have that much on your plate for tomorrow, give us a little non-dangerous task to do so you don't end up frightening a bunch of first years with your panic parades around the school."

"It really was terrifying," Lexy added, "You ... mumble to yourself."

"I do?"

Angela smiled, exhaling a short puff of amusement, "You don't hear it?"

"No," Aubrey admitted, taking a deep breath before taking up her friend's offer, "Ang, could you um ... write a letter to my Dad for me, tell him I'm ... um, seeing Umbridge tomorrow and need to know how he used to get rid of her just in case ... things go wrong. And Lexy, make sure Saskia knows that I'm having a long surprise meeting with Umbridge, she's bound to go then. And I ..." She slowly moved her arm forward as if aiming for an imaginary target. Her head slowly rose to look at the point as she took a step forward, "... I need to talk to the twins. Ang, what's the password?"

"Arborvitae... and sure," Angela replied.

"Do I have to?" Lexy moaned before sighing, "Sure thing. I hope your conversation with the twins calms you down because we meant what we said about the frightening thing. You look great but your eyes hold death in them."

She laughed softly, running her hands through her wild curls in an attempt to make them a little less scary for any approaching little students, "... cheers. Well, I'd best get going but ... thanks."

"Give George my love," Lexy called after her friend as they returned to their nook.

"And don't give Kenny mine."

For a moment, Aubrey didn't respond before suddenly coming to a halt, turning around, "Why not? Is everything okay?"

Silence hung in the air as Angela considered telling her stressed friend everything before brushing past it with a flippant hand gesture, "Forget about it. Enjoy the twins."

Aubrey left promptly afterwards leaving the two girls alone once more. After she was well out of earshot, Lexy smiled weakly, "You can tell her afterwards. Even if she doesn't know what to say about your plans to break it off with Kenny, she'll at least care that you're sad."

"I don't know if I will," Angela sighed, "You know how she gets, all flustered and distracted, wouldn't want to make it worse especially as we're still not ... how we used to be and I doubt we'll ever get there again. Besides, it won't end tonight, you know that as well as I do. I ... I do love her to bits but when she goes all obsessive badger on us, she's not the best friend. Her mind begins - "

"One track," Lexy finished, "I know. I wouldn't mind so much if it was the three of us exploring and spying but ... they don't want us involved. Sure, Aubs will let us help - "

"Even then I feel like a tool in a bigger scheme," Angela cut in, "A useful tool but a tool nonetheless."

Lexy sighed dramatically, fully sinking down the wall, "I guess we're not part of this adventure, we're not the main characters of whatever story this is and ... it's something we have to accept, I guess."

"Especially when even our bloody boyfriends are having more fun than us," Angela replied, "I know Kenny's sneaking off to that Defence club Umbridge doesn't give a shit about anymore and George is ... well, Fred's brother - "

"Well, fuck them - " 

"I did," Angela replied, "Well Kenny anyway."

"No, I don't mean it like that because otherwise, I would have failed on that count ... what I meant was why can't we have our own adventures? Fuck them, let's do our own thing," Lexy said suddenly, "Sure we might not have complex fathers or a creepy girl trying to nick our boyfriends or ... a deatheater that took us to a graveyard ... boy, Fred and Aubs sure have a lot on their plates. Not the point, the point is we could do stuff ... we could travel! Yeah, after Hogwarts, we don't have to work, we could go to Bolivia! Mongolia! Hungary!"

"Uzbekistan?"

"Why Uzbekistan?" Lexy raised an eyebrow to which Angela shrugged.

"Cool name."

"... fair enough," Lexy rose to her knees, "But why not? I love Aubs to bits but we don't just have to sit meekly and wait for her needing our help or shoe horn ourselves in, we can do other things."

She grinned enthusiastically, her smile only widening as Angela nodded, "An adventure does sound nice, I could do with it after two rather dull years with Kenny. We could hook up with strangers, take local advice and end up on a mountain path away from civilisation, see if we can find my dad in the mountains somewhere..."

"... yeah!"

Angela lifted an imaginary glass, "Well, I'm down! To having our own adventures, Lexy Masters!"

"To having our own adventures!"

• • •

Meanwhile whilst Lexy and Angela's adventure was just beginning, Aubrey and Fred's had the possibility of coming to a sticky end or a very good one depending on the author's mood. The one time Aubrey and the twins wanted to go to their old planning spot, the Arithmancy classroom to talk rather than the Gryffindor common room, the Fat Lady seemed to be in a good mood, letting Aubrey in without so much as a peep.

The moment the door shut, Aubrey unleashed a torrent of panic regarding the meeting she'd just had. By the end, she did feel calmer although that could have just been the fact she was literally curled up into a ball in Fred's arms which always soothed her. Fred too was feeling calm, especially because unlike the last time, he wasn't the third wheel anymore. Still, this didn't seem to matter, they had more important things to worry about than snogging in the corner whilst George sat there awkwardly.

"George, any idea what she could want? What does she think the truth is?" Aubrey buried her head into Fred's jumper, "I'm so confused..."

The other two both turned to George expectantly who raised his hands in surrender, "I don't know, okay? ... maybe the decoy was Saskia ... Merlin's beard, that's all I've got! I should have kept the last epiphany to myself, set the bar way too high."

"You're a wizard! Use a levitation charm and float above it, George, my boy!"

"Helpful, Fred," George replied, a stoic look on his face.

"I do have some helpful things to say though..." Fred turned to Aubrey, "You can't go to that meeting with Umbridge, Aubs, it sounds like she wants to murder you or put you in her basement. I don't want to stand in your way but you can't ... I don't want you to, please."

"No, I have to though - "

"NO, AUBREY, RUN FOR THE FUCKING HILLS!" George exclaimed suddenly, "What? I thought the shock factor would help..."

"I have to," Aubrey replied, pushing herself up. Even though she was sure of what she was saying, she couldn't quite meet their eyes, instead intently focusing on her clasped hands, "I don't think she wants to harm, she doesn't sound malicious just ... out of her mind. She's telling me things and I ... I think Gil brought old magic back and it killed her. And with Umbridge, I ... I think she thinks I'm similar to Gil or something which means she might spill all she knows. Anyway, I can handle it, I swear. Angela's writing to my Dad as Umbridge won't check her letters plus her owl's super fast and being at the DA - "

"Let's not pretend that helped you much," Fred said, "You've hardly been to their meetings since you started having tea with Umbridge."

"It will end here, I swear - "

"We've been saying that for this entire year," Fred sighed, "I don't want you getting hurt, Aubs. Please."

An odd sense of deja vu washed over them except this time Aubrey was surer than anything, this would be the end, "I have to now. Lexy's told Saskia I'll be gone for ages, she's bound to go to down to the Forbidden Forest and this can be your chance to follow her like you wanted!"

This was clearly meant to be temptation to Fred but he remained stubborn, folding his arms and shaking his head, "I don't care about that."

"I'm still going to meet Umbridge," Aubrey replied, equally as stubborn.

"You're not going alone. Last time we split up, Barty got you ... what if she's body swapped with him and he takes you again."

"That seems unlikely - "

"Well, it's not safe," Fred replied.

"He's right," George nodded, "We'll come with you - "

"No!"

"Yes," Fred replied, "We'll stand guard outside or something, if you need us we can be your backup. I believe you can do it, I just ... don't want you to, Aubs," She'd gone silent now, taken aback by the sudden humourless emotion, "I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you again. When Barty got you, I ... I felt sick with worry."

"Umbridge isn't Barty," Aubrey said softly, "And I'll ... be safe. If things even hint to turning nasty, I'll get out of there in a jiffy, okay? And then once I'm out we can squeeze in tailing Saskia too, together."

"Other couples shag in classrooms and we spy on occult beings in the woods," Fred sniggered.

"After Hogwarts maybe, hon."

"Thought we said that last year," Fred grinned.

"Well, you chose to date a Hufflepuff, you knew what you were getting into," She pointed out, holding his gaze as own corner of her mouth curved up into a smile.

"I fucking love you, Aubrey Jackson," From the back of the room, George gasped but Aubrey was unfazed. She already knew that he loved her although she supposed it was nice to hear it out loud.

"I love you too, Fred," She grinned, "And if we don't meet early deaths with all these risks, hopefully, that will never change."

• • •

Does that count as breaking the fourth wall? I don't think so but self awareness definitely - E x