"Mother's Best Friend"

May 1998, one month later

"Circ, wake up... get up!" Stirring from her doze, Circi drops her arm from across her eyes and looks around at Myrna and Rhiannon, who are dressed in their robes.

"What time is it?" She grumbles, sitting up on the bed and taking note of the papers scattered around her and accepting her robe from Myrna. Frowning at the panic on Myrna's face, Circi arranges her dishevelled uniform and shrugs the robe on.

"Ten, but Snape's summoned everyone." There was a racket down the corridor as the prefects barged into the dorms to wake early sleepers and empty the dorms. The three of them left their room as one of the prefects had their hand on the door handle, causing them to stumble slightly.

They joined the crowd in the common room, having to join another fifth year to create a row of four.

One of Snape's bodyguards stood by the entrance, keeping watch over the students, which Circi had soon learnt that their presence meant they were to be silent. She bent down to pull her sock up where it had sagged around her ankle and readjusted her pleated skirt around her knees as the final few students joined the back of the group. The students were then marched from the Slytherin common room, out of the dungeons and towards the Great Hall. Circi's hands were sweaty as they walked, keeping her eyes on her feet even as she took up position with the other Slytherins at the front of the room.

The benches had disappeared and the students were forced to stand at attention in four separate groups before the raised platform at the end of the room. On the platform stood the Carrows, framing Snape as he stood in front of the platform but still towering over the first years.

The Ravenclaws were filling up the back of the hall when Circi took note of the heads of houses standing among the groups of students. Professor Sprout stood across the makeshift aisle between the four groups and scanned everyone gradually. Professor McGonagall stood at the front of the room, a fair distance away from Snape, and watched as everyone piled into the room. At the back of the room stood Professor Flitwick and Professor Slughorn, who had become the head of house after Snape's promotion.

Eventually, they were all there, and the students were either watching Snape in the dim moonlight that filtered through the window or staring at their feet.

"Many of you are surely wondering why I have summoned you at this hour," Snape began slowly, his eyes trailing over the crowd. "It has come to my attention that earlier this evening, Harry Potter was sighted in Hogsmeade." The students began muttering among themselves. Circi glanced between Myrna and Rhiannon, sharing discomforted looks as they waited for the rest of his announcement. "Now," he continued, subsequently silencing the crowd, "should anyone, student or staff, attempt to aid Mr. Potter, they will be punished in a manner consistent with the severity of their transgression." McGonagall noticeably straightens her shoulders and Circi couldn't resist mimicking the action for the sake of doing something that was not gossiping with the disgruntled few around her. Leslie's concerns itched at the back of her mind. "Furthermore, any person found to have knowledge of these events, who fails to come forward, will be treated as equally guilty." No one responds to this. "Now then. If anyone here has any knowledge of Mr. Potter's movements this evening, I invite them to step forward... now."

Circi glances around her briefly, only spotting the other students doing the same thing. Then, she sees him before he's even left the crowd, Harry Potter steps out of the Gryffindor group in his house robes. Her jaw drops open as everyone gasps and stares at him. Snape raises an eyebrow at Harry, but the boy is seething. His chest rises and falls heavily.

"It seems, that despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you still have a bit of a security problem, headmaster." He catches his breath as the doors to the Great Hall open and a crowd of adults enter the room alongside a few students she vaguely remembered seeing at the Gryffindor bench. From the sheer amount of ginger hair among them, Circi could only assume the entire Weasley family was here. And, next to Ron, Hermione was among them. She was scraped and bruised but Circi was simply glad to see her alive. "And I'm afraid it's quite extensive."

She bit back a smile.

"How dare you stand where he stood?" Harry seethed, catching everyone's attention once again. "Tell them how it happened that night! Tell them how you looked him in the eye, a man who trusted you, and killed him! Tell them!"

Circi looked to Snape over the shoulder of the fourth year in front of her, grateful for her height as she saw the careful consideration on his face. She knew a coward when she saw one, and Severus Snape had not anticipated confrontation tonight.

Nonetheless, he drew his wand on Harry and the younger students stepped away slightly to clear the space. Harry draws his wand but is intercepted by Professor McGonagall, who points her wand at Snape and pushes Harry aside. The students now press themselves as far to the side of the room as they can and Circi searches her group for Leslie. He catches her eye and shakes his head before looking back at the Professors facing off in the centre of the room.

Snape hesitates before pointing his wand at McGonagall. The two seemed reluctant to fight each other, McGonagall pinching her lips and anticipating his attack but he offered none. Instead, she steps forward, fire flying from her wand only for Snape to deflect it.

With each advancement she makes, he blocks and steps back. One of his blocking spells knock McGonagall's attack behind him and the Carrows drop to the ground.

Stepping onto the platform, Snape morphs into a black cloud of smoke which writhes in the air before crashing through the window as McGonagall yells 'coward!' after him. There's a moment of silence as everyone realises they are free of his reign over Hogwarts and the students begin cheering as McGonagall lights the sconces on the walls with a flourish of her wand.

Circi makes her way over to Leslie, who is looking around completely in shock, and wraps her arms around his neck.

"This is good!" She tells him, smiling and bouncing in hopes to get him to lighten up. He only purses his lips in response and glances over at some older Slytherins who were not celebrating. The room fell quiet as a scream pierced the room.

The ceiling of the Great Hall darkens to dark thunder clouds as the crowd parts to reveal a girl clutching her ears in a corner and screaming. Another student screams on the other side of the room. Circi clutches her own ears, the screaming rattling her brain as a voice breaks through to all of them and echoes in her head despite covering her ears.

She knew Voldemort's voice. Knew enough to fear it.

"I know that many of you will want to fight. Some of you may even think to fight is wise, but this is folly. Give me Harry Potter. Do this, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have one hour."

The ceiling brightened when his voice faded and Circi withdrew her hands when Leslie nudged her. She pressed the heel of her palms against her eyes to banish the tears as Pansy, a girl she knew to have some sort of obsession over Draco, spoke up.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Someone grab him," she points at Harry as a bunch of students step in front of him defensively.

Before anyone could say anything, there was yelling in the corridor. Mr Filch ran into the room, clutching his cat against his chest. "Students out of bed!" He cried. "Students in the corridor!"

"They are supposed to be out of bed you blithering idiot!" McGonagall countered, glaring at him. He shrunk back, shadowed by the doorway, and apologised sheepishly. "As it happens, Mr. Filch, your arrival is most opportune. If you would, I would like you, please, to lead Miss Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin House from the hall." Circi's heart picked up, offended to be grouped in with the would-be death eater.

"And where would I be leading them to, Ma'am?" Filch asked, looking among the Slytherin students. If the man who hated children had favourites, they would certainly be among that group.

"The dungeons will do." McGonagall turned her back on the Slytherins to speak to Harry as Filch began to usher Circi and the rest of her house from the hall.

She couldn't help the hurt that stung her as her heart dropped into her stomach. Just like that, she didn't have potential, she wasn't a student in need of protecting or keeping an eye on, she was just another obstacle in a bigger fight. A fight she hardly had an option on whether was going to fight or not.

As Filch stood at the bottom of the staircase that led towards their common room to watch them along, barking orders at some of the younger students to scare them, Circi hung back and stepped down the nearby corridor.

As she jogged to the end and ducked around the corner, she released a short yell when she glanced around the corner just to come face to face with Leslie.

Students were beginning to scatter from the Great Hall in swarms, running to prepare for the oncoming battle. Circi was quick to discard her Slytherin robes and tie and tugged Leslie's off as well.

"Circ-" she shoved their robes into the corner of the wall and ran back towards the main staircase. "Circ! What are you doing?" Leslie ran after her after digging his wand from his robe pockets.

"I have to help!"

"No, you don't!" He caught her sleeve as she reached the second floor, waiting at the top of a moving staircase. "Literally no one is expecting you to fight. We're supposed to be back in the common room."

"The common room," she scoffed, jumping onto the platform the second the stairs make contact, "I won't cower underground while others die."

"Why? Do you have a death wish? This is a free out-"

"Les!" Circi spun around, clinging to the door handle to the astronomy tower, she blew her hair from her face in exasperation. "It's the right thing to do," her face softened and she looked away as a group of older students ran by. "If we go down there you know what they'll think of us. Of me..." He said nothing as her mind drifted elsewhere. She shook her head and redirected her attention on ascending the astronomy tower. "Besides, Mica..."

"So, you do have a death wish." Leslie called after her, stopping to watch the adults cast protection spells against the castle. "Rather than waiting for Harry Potter to win this for us- and live, I'd like to add- you'd rather risk dying?"

He looked up as she peered over the bannister at him, already a little further up the spiral staircase.

"Harry isn't fighting for us; he's not fighting for Mica either and you know she'll find a way to fight for everyone else." She waited as he joined her. "Someone has to fight for her."

"We'll die."

"You don't have to go. But I'm done with hiding behind cowards. If there's one good thing I can do for me, that's fight for who I want to be... and I want to help people." They marched through the astronomy classroom, empty of any sign of Dexter since he was busy holding down the fort. She climbed the spiral staircase to stand on the black grate before the lookout.

"You've been spending too much time around Gryffindors," Leslie huffed, he looked down between the grates at their feet and up at Circi who shrugged with a small smile.

"What can I say? They're irresistible."

Rolling his eyes at her, they stepped up against the rail of the lookout and their eyes widened at the state of the fields stretching out across the grounds. Giant spiders were exiting the Forbidden Forest, joining an army of witches and wizards dressed in black, towering giants, trolls with oversized scythes.

How exactly were they supposed to fight this?

"I didn't see Mica in the Great Hall," Leslie said, slipping his clammy hand in hers and pushing his glasses back up his sweaty nose. "What if she isn't here to fight for?" Circi squeezed back, not removing her eyes from the small white blob at the front of the crowd which was unmistakably Voldemort's pale head.

"She has to be."

They watched as a bunch of students rushed along the bridge that crossed the lake to the courtyard, and an army of stone knights marched along the main entrance bridge. She could see McGonagall in the courtyard with the other heads of house but couldn't see much else. There was no telling how much time had passed but her heart was hammering in her chest as she scanned the army of death eaters, hoping (dreading) to see her father among them. She yearned for something familiar and hoped Dexter had the initiative to contact his family.

The death eaters suddenly parried simultaneous spells at the castle. The sky lit up with blue light and smoke as the spells burned at the barrier above them. Leslie sucked in a breath as the army charged for the castle and released it when the first few vaporised upon meeting the barrier. His relief was short-lived when a larger stream of magic hit the barrier.

They looked up as the barrier burned, singed at the edges and orange like a bare flame as it crumbled. The death eaters at the courtyard bridge charged onto the premises and not long later the bridge blew up.

The two fifth years stumbled backwards as the army descended on Hogwarts.

"Okay, so we fight," Leslie said, stumbling on his feet when some of the death eaters morphed into clouds of black smoke as Snape did. As they took to the sky, Leslie panicked. "I can't duel yet!"

"You know expelliarmus!" His panic was sinking into her and they were now holding each other by the arms and yelling at each other.

"Well, yeah, but-"

He screeched as the grate clattered and a death eater stood to greet them. Circi pushed Leslie away from the spell fired at him, yelling 'stupefy!' Gasping as the wizard was thrown back and over the rail, she didn't give herself time to process anything and fell to her knees next to Leslie.

"I was joking, about the expelliarmus thing, literally anything in charms will help you." She pulled him to his feet, her heart in her throat when she glanced back at the lookout. "I have your back, I won't let anything happen to you... I promise."

Leslie looked her up and down. "You're not very good at keeping promises."

"I'm not good at lying either. Am I lying?" He searched her face, scanned her body language, before settling on an answer.

".... No."

Nodding affirmatively, she cringed as the grate clattered again, but this time three wizards were bearing down on them. Leslie scrambled for the staircase as Circi blocked their spells and ran after them.

"Incarcerous!" She yelled, tossing the spell back at them as Leslie opened the door, one of them got caught in the ropes and fell to the ground. They pulled the door shut behind them and Leslie used the locking charm to give them some time. He started down the stairs and Circi slowly descended after him, walking backwards as she heard one of them mumble the unlocking charm behind the door.

"Stupefy!" She cried, catching the first wizard and knocking him against the other.

Running after Leslie, who was crying her name at the bottom of the staircase, she saw the witch floating in the air before she saw him.

"Expelliarmus!" She pointed her wand at the witch as she raised her wand. Leslie dropped her onto the stairs and they scattered into the corridor. Immediately, they ducked to avoid a spell and Circi stupefied them before running in the opposite direction, being jostled by an endless stream of students heading towards the main staircase whereas they ran in the opposite direction.

Circi screamed, veering as a spell hit the wall next to her, and turned the corner with Leslie. He was already screaming as he was in the arms of a tall woman with greying brown hair, her arms were bare and she had no dark mark on her person.

Nonetheless, Circi raised her wand.

"Let him go!"

Leslie struggled out of her grasp, believing to have helped himself but stumbled back as the woman shoved him and Circi further down the corridor. He stumbled on a piece of broken stone and brought Circi down with him as he fell. The woman parried the spells tossed by the death eater who had chased Circi around the corner.

Another death eater apparated through black smoke further down the corridor and the woman swiftly blocked one spell and threw it at the other.

Circi collected her wand from the floor and disarmed the new death eater as the woman stupefied the first before bearing down on the second enough to make them disapparate.

Breathing heavily, the rubble shifting under him as Leslie uncurled from the foetal position he'd assumed during the fight, the two fifth years looked up at the dishevelled witch. She smiled as she heaved, and slumped onto the bench fixed to the wall.

"That was fun." As she rested her head back against the wall, claiming she was 'too old for this', Circi pushed herself to her feet and stared at the woman. Manoeuvring the hallways to see different angles, the witch watched her move and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you young lady?"

"You're Andromeda Black."

"Tonks," she corrected with a gentle smile, "and you are?"

"Circini Malfoy."

The name seemed to strike a chord with Andromeda and she looked Circi up and down, shaking her head slightly.

"Merlin's beard, are you really?"

"I'm Leslie," he grunted, stumbling to his feet, but his introduction went unnoticed.

"Yeah," Circi said shortly. "Suppose that makes you my aunt of some kind."

Andromeda's lips spread into a crooked smile as she laughed and stood, resting a gentle hand on Circi's shoulder.

"Sure, kid," she said, looking up and down your corridor, "I like to think I'm your mother's best friend before Cissy's sister. Come, they're around somewhere."

As Andromeda guided Circi back towards the main staircase, Leslie fiddled with his wand, glancing over his shoulder with a spell on the tip of his tongue.

"My mum?"

"All of them," Andromeda nodded, blocking a spell as they entered the chaos once again. With some newfound fight in her, Circi parried the spell of a death eater behind them as Leslie knocked another off the edge off the platform as the stairs moved away. Knowing that her mother was present, all of the Riers were present, Circi fought with a tight grin and followed closely behind Andromeda.