~Wren~

The platform wasn't as busy as it would have been in September, of course, but the dozens of people around were more than enough of an audience for Lily and James's purposes.

James had driven us all here his dad's car, packed full of the last few things he was moving into Fred's apartment. Lily had slammed all the doors and stomped off ahead of us, managing to look like she was just barely holding it together in front of the no-majs. When James and I followed her onto the platform, James pushing the cart with both of our trunks on it, she was making an obvious effort to push through the crowd and get away from him.

"Lily, I'm not putting your bloody trunk on the train for you," James called after her.

Lily turned back to us and yelled something obscene that made all conversation around us die down. She stomped back, pulled her trunk off the cart, then stuck her tongue out at him. "I wouldn't want to leave my trunk with a traitor like you, anyway!"

James glanced around uncomfortably. "Don't make a scene, Lily." His tone was low, but clearly heard in the quiet around us. "We're in public."

"So what?" Lily gestured at the crowd. "They know as well as I do what a two-faced coward you are!" She turned her glare on me. "Both of you are... are sellouts! Only worried about protecting yourselves! Forget the rest of the world, right? Forget our father! Forget everything he stood for! You're just looking out for yourself."

"Shut up!" James glared at her for a moment, hand hovering over his wand. I hadn't been paying attention to them when they'd planned this out in the car, but I hadn't remembered a duel as part of the discussion. That seemed a little extreme. Luckily, his hand dropped. "Walk away, Lily. Before you actually make me angry."

"Don't drag me home with you, if you don't want to be angry. Don't be such a weak-willed idiot, if you don't want to be angry!"

He shook his head. "Go away. And don't worry, I'll find somewhere else for you to go this summer."

"Good!" She made a rude gesture at him, then turned and marched down the platform.

James's hand was shaking as I laced my fingers with his. He watched Lily storm off as the people around us slowly turned back to what they'd been talking about (or, more likely, started quietly gossiping about the Potter family's issues). I led him to a more secluded area of the platform, then leaned in closer to whisper, "You did good."

"Thanks." He smiled tiredly. "Lily's enjoying herself, at least."

"I really don't think she enjoyed that, either."

"Yeah..." He rolled his eyes, something switching in his expression. "Idiot kids, hmm?"

"Exactly." I wasn't sure who had come up behind us, but best to play along. I glanced over my shoulder, trying not to be tense, but the tall girl behind me made all thought of that vanish instantly.

Poppy smiled hesitantly. "Hey, Wren... I... I really wasn't sure if I should believe the papers until now..."

Instead of replying, I darted forward to give her a hug, which she returned so fiercely that she nearly lifted me off my feet. "They told me everything," she whispered. "I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind..."

"Of course I don't. I would have wanted you to know."

When she finally pulled back, Poppy's expression was troubled. She eyed James uncertainly, though I didn't think it was a very suspicious look. "I do have a lot of questions for you," she said quietly, "about... this." She gestured between James and me.

"I... Yeah..." I glanced back at James; somehow, Poppy (or, more aptly, Nico) hadn't come up when we'd talked about keeping our cover.

James was watching me, but shot something like a smile at Poppy after I met his eyes. "I'm sure Wren can answer them all, when you're alone."

Poppy nodded sagely. "I'm sure she can." Her face grew a little more drawn, and she lowered her voice. "I don't suppose you've heard anything about Albus and Colette at the Ministry, have you?"

James pursed his lips for a moment. He threw a glance around before he shook his head. "Nothing. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." She blinked a few times. "I'm sure you're equally torn up about it."

Though most of our friends likely would have said that with more than a hint of sarcasm, Poppy sounded genuine. James took a moment before nodding slightly. Then he shook his head, as if clearing the emotion out of the air. "Well, I think we should get your trunk on the train."

"Right." I hesitated as he pulled my trunk off the cart, then turned back to Poppy to ask if she'd come here by herself, if she was doing all right, if Jack and the other children had gotten out that night.

Poppy was squinting at something across the platform, though. I turned to follow her gaze just as she said, "Did Ciara escape, too?"

"Yeah, she did." I meant to ask why Poppy would be wondering that, but saw my answer before I had to. There, about fifteen yards away, the Malfoys and Fred Weasley were standing on the platform. And standing with them was Ciara.

"What on earth is she doing here?" I asked, my mouth dropping open.

"Is she not supposed to be?" Poppy asked.

"No!" I glanced around quickly, but no one was near enough to hear. "She's supposed to be in hiding."

"Oh." Poppy's eyes grew wide. "Oh. I see."

"I'll be right back," I said to James, then grabbed Poppy's hand and plunged into the crowd that stood between us and the Malfoys. Within seconds, I'd come up behind Ciara and tapped her arm. "What are you doing?"

Ciara started and turned around quickly. For a moment, she blinked at Poppy and me, eyes darting between us. "Oh, hi. Hi!"

Poppy hugged her before I could demand an answer again. I frowned as Ciara met my eyes over her shoulder, and she winced and pulled back. "Merlin, I was hoping to see you before you saw me. I don't even get a hello?"

"Maybe you'll get one after you explain what you're doing in public," I whispered, eyes narrowed. "Are you out of your mind?"

"No." Ciara rolled her eyes. "We can talk about it in a few minutes, Wren. When we're on the train."

"You're getting on the train?"

"Do you have a problem with that?" Fred had come up behind her, and now crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at me. He took a protective step towards her, as if Ciara could possibly need his protection.

I frowned up at him. "You knew about this all this time, didn't you? And lied to me about it?"

"I asked him not to tell you, because I knew you'd be pissed," Ciara said. She leaned closer, grabbing my arm as she did. "Regardless of what you think, you need to shut up about it until we're somewhere more private."

I opened my mouth to reply, but closed it again. She was right; anyone could overhear us, and me being adamant that she needed to be in hiding did not match the persona I was portraying at all. I took a breath, then nodded, looking down. "Sorry. You're right."

Her arm slithered around my waist. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too," I admitted, returning her half-hug and laying my head against her shoulder. "You really thought it would be a good idea to surprise me like this on the platform?"

"I thought you'd yell at me if we weren't in public. Now you have time to get used to the idea before you can do that." She smiled brightly at me, as if this was all some big joke and she wasn't being more reckless and dangerous than I'd ever seen her be.

"I'm glad you're back," Poppy announced, purposefully loud enough for anyone around us to hear. "I've missed you both so much, and prefect meetings have sucked without you, and I don't think I could stand this term alone."

I didn't point out that she, unlike us, had plenty of other friends besides the ones who were noticeably absent. I knew that wasn't what she meant. Besides, I was grateful to have her here, and taking my word for it that whatever explanation I could offer would be enough to satisfy her, even if she didn't have it yet.

The train whistled, and I realized James had come up behind us, and the next few minutes were a flurry of hugs and goodbyes and I love yous. James promised to write, as long as I promised to come say hi every time I had to go talk to Russey. Maybe he'd even make it up for our next Hogsmeade outing. Then Poppy and Ciara and I were rushing to get on the train and find an empty compartment where we could cast muffliato and be alone.

"Before you even start," Ciara said, casting an uncertain glance in my direction as she sat down beside me, "I would think that you, of all people, would understand why I didn't want to go into hiding."

I couldn't deny that, of course, and Ciara knew it. I pursed my lips anyway. "I'm not sure these are comparable situations."

"Maybe not. But Haverna thinks this will be safe enough, and I would think her judgment would be enough for you."

That was new information, and might have put me at ease a little. Maybe Ciara should have led with that. "You talked to her?"

"In person. She helped convince my parents, actually." Ciara hesitated, biting her lip and tapping her fingers across her leg, then added, "Besides, if Jasper's been keeping Stillens satisfied lately, then they don't really have a reason to track me down again right now. I really don't think I'm a priority, especially if I'm at Hogwarts. It's still one of the safest places in Britain."

"Even with Rinduli, and Cantha, and Petrov?" Poppy's brow had furrowed in a worried frown.

"I mean, it'll blow their cover if they kidnap me, don't you think?" She shrugged. "Haverna thinks it'll be okay. I thought we trusted her judgment."

"We do..." I sighed, pushing down the many reservations I still had. I was being overprotective. "Sorry. I'm not upset to see you, or to get to go back to school with you. Just worried."

She nodded seriously. "You know more about your uncle than anyone. Do you really think he'll bother trying to kidnap me again, from Hogwarts?"

Would he? Not unless he thought Nico needed more persuasion to stay in line, which... I had no idea how Nico was doing, or if he'd been caught. If he hadn't, if Stillens didn't suspect anything, then he probably wouldn't bother with Ciara.

And, I suppose, if he had been caught, even suspected of just wiping my memory and nothing else, Stillens would be taking more drastic measures than hurting Ciara, anyway.

"I don't think so." I shrugged, my worry for Nico suddenly clouding everything else. "I think you'll be all right, I guess."

As Ciara cast me a relieved smile, Poppy leaned forward. She took a second to glance back and forth between us, as if waiting for anything else to be added, then said, "All right, since that's out of the way, what's going on?"

Where did I start with that? I wasn't even sure what Poppy knew, what Albus had told her, what he'd thought about the things that happened between him and James. "I... well, we're not traitors."

"I guessed that much." Poppy pursed her lips. In her conflicted expression I could see confusion and hurt battling her trust in me. Considering I hadn't even seen her since she'd learned the truth, so I'd been lying to her for our entire friendship, that trust felt really unwarranted. I was grateful for it anyway.

"You heard that James ran off to France?"

"And said he wanted nothing to do with the DA? Yes." Poppy frowned. "He told Albus it was useless, and he'd had enough. But he also said that what you would think of that didn't matter, because you weren't there. And now you are. And I really can't imagine that you're okay with turning on the DA like he has."

She knows I was a spy, that's why she's guessed this, I had to remind myself. Most people hadn't questioned me on my loyalty to the DA, because they hadn't assumed I had any more than the rest of my friends, but of course Poppy knew I'd been a spy. It wasn't a big deal, we could tell her the truth, but it rattled me a little that she could have guessed that without even talking to us.

"We're not affiliated with the DA, so that much is true." I shrugged one of my shoulders. "It's not like I'd be much use to them anymore, anyway. Can't really go spying on my uncle. But he's not bitter or angry, and neither am I. I... I understand why they couldn't rescue me, and so does James. The real reason is that there are plenty of people who are nearly as wary of the DA as they are of Stillens, and we want to help organize them to fight back, too."

Poppy's eyes widened. "Is that what James is doing at the Ministry?"

"That, and trying to get in good with Russey."

Ciara tilted her head. "How on earth did you pull that off?"

I let out a nervous laugh. "It might have involved a little bit of blackmail..."

Her mouth dropped open. "Merlin, Wren, are you serious? And you're trying to get on to me about danger?"

"How on earth did you blackmail the prime minister?"

"I met him for the first time at the manor last year," I explained. "He told me that he could tell I had agendas of my own, but so did he, and he gave me a cell phone to use to call him if I ever had information that might be relevant to him. I think he's only loyal to Stillens as far as it gives him more power."

Poppy and Ciara had exchanged a shocked, possibly irritated glance. "You gambled all of this on the chance that he might not be totally loyal to Stillens?" Ciara asked.

"Well, it was a little more complicated than that..." I winced. "It worked, though."

"Okay..." Poppy shook her head. "Okay, so James went to all this trouble to get a job at the Ministry, and he's trying to stand up to Stillens somehow through that. Fine. Why did he lie to... to all of us about it?"

I found myself twisting the sleeve of my sweater, feeling bad even though I wasn't the one who had made any of James's decisions. "He said that he didn't think Albus would have been able to play the part convincingly enough..."

"So he lied to him?" Poppy's expression grew darker. "He broke his heart, Wren. Absolutely destroyed him."

I ducked my head, sure that was true. I couldn't imagine the pain Albus must have been going through. "I know. I think... I think he had planned to tell him the truth, after he got into the Ministry?"

"Wouldn't that have been nice." The dull tone of her voice made me look up, but Poppy was blinking rapidly, eyes on the floor. The silence seemed heavy as I searched for something comforting to say, but she shook her head before I could. "Sorry. I could tell James was upset, too. I just can't—"

A quiet knock at the door made us all freeze. My head whipped around, countless illogical scenarios running through my head at once. Maybe the charm hadn't worked, and someone had been eavesdropping. Maybe Russey had figured out that James and I were tricking him and sent some aurors to arrest me. Maybe Stillens had decided Ciara was worth the trouble, and she was about to be kidnapped again.

None of that happened. Instead, the door slid quietly open to reveal Nico Jasper.

I couldn't react; I was too shocked. He was okay? He was here? And he was just casually popping by our compartment?

Poppy had gasped, jumping to her feet immediately. "Did you find anything?"

"A lot." A quick nod in her direction, but no explanation of what they were talking about. He glanced around the compartment, but did a double-take when he saw Ciara, who was glancing back and forth between him and Poppy in shock. "I'm sorry, what in the name of Merlin are you doing here?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Shouldn't you be in hiding?"

"Shouldn't you be crawling back under the rock you slithered out of this morning?"

Nico winced, but didn't snap back. "Ciara, I'm—"

"Don't start!" She stood up, marching over to glare at him. "Don't you dare try to apologize. I'm not going to hear it. An apology can't fix anything."

He opened his mouth, then closed it, seeming to think better of what he'd been about to say. Though he shot a quick glance at me, I just looked down. I didn't know what to do.

"I know it can't," he said quietly, after the silence had nearly grown awkward. "It's a meaningless gesture. I get it. But I'm still really sorry about what happened to you. I'd like to do whatever I can to make it right."

"Shut up!" She glared at him again, fists clenched as if she were going to hit him, but ended up whirling around and stomping back to her seat. There, she threw herself down with a huff and stared out the window as if she could melt the glass by frowning hard enough.

As much as I wanted to let out a sigh of relief, tell Nico how glad I was to see that he was okay, that didn't seem super appropriate for the moment. Instead, I just shot an unsure glance in Ciara's direction, but she didn't see it.

Nico stood still in the middle of the compartment, as if he wasn't sure what to do, either. Finally, he turned to me, an eyebrow raised. "I thought you'd be in hiding by now, too, Wren."

I wasn't sure if he was kidding. "You... you did? Really?"

He seemed completely serious. "What are you doing here?"

"Russey offered me his protection." I tilted my head, wondering if he'd heard any news at all over the holiday. "One of the perks of dating the head of public information services."

"You're..." Nico blinked at me, uncomprehending. "I'm sorry, you're doing what, now?"

"James, she means James," Poppy clarified quickly. She rolled her eyes at me, then patted the seat beside her. "Sit down, I'm sure Wren will be happy to explain it all."

After a quick prayer that James wouldn't mind, I gave the most abbreviated version of events that I could. Poppy filled in some gaps I hadn't realized would be there, like the fact that James was Lily and Albus's legal guardian, and he'd put a lot of effort into convincing them that he'd abandoned both the DA and their family after Mr. Potter had died.

Ciara didn't stir from glaring out the window once the whole time, and since I still wasn't sure what to do about that, I didn't acknowledge it. Poppy and Nico didn't, either.

"All right," I said once Nico seemed to at least be satisfied that I wasn't going to be killed as soon as we'd stepped off the train. "What happened to you? After we left?"

I'd been hoping he'd roll his eyes at me and say nothing, as if I were stupid to be worried at all. Instead, Nico's eyes darted away from mine, and his expression grew a little more closed off. "He doesn't suspect me of anything, other than maybe bad taste in friends."

"Did you get in trouble?"

"Not much."

"What does that mean?" My voice was barely a whisper, as if I didn't really want to know the answer.

"Just for letting you get away." He shrugged, evading my eyes again. "And then for not telling him that you'd asked me to obliviate you in the first place. He thinks you did it to yourself."

Poppy seemed completely unfazed by that, but Ciara turned a little to frown at me. "You obliviated yourself?"

"No. I obliviated her." Nico crossed his arms and leaned back against the seat. "Did a bloody good job, too. Held up to Stillens, at least."

"Did you undo it?" Ciara asked, a warning tone in her voice.

"Of course." His biting tone made her glare sharply at him, and he winced. "She asked me to obliviate her. I would have undone it as soon as I could, if I hadn't had the chance to then."

"It probably saved our lives," I said softly. "James and I only got away because it distracted Stillens so much."

Ciara glared at me, then turned back to the window. I supposed I couldn't blame her for not wanting to participate in this conversation. Even though I knew she was really just angry at Nico, it still stung a little.

"Anyway..." I shook my head slightly, trying to get my thoughts back on track as I turned to Nico. "How... how did he not see that you're betraying him? When I broke?"

"I don't think he was looking for that, so I don't think he noticed."

I nodded slowly. That's what I'd been hoping for, I guess. That Nico being a traitor hadn't even crossed his mind, so he'd had no reason to look for it. It's not like he'd spent very long digging into the depths of my mind. He'd noticed the holes too quickly.

"How bad was it?" I asked. He said he'd gotten in trouble, and I couldn't imagine that Stillens would have been in the mood to be merciful after James and I had gotten away.

He shrugged a little too lightly. "You've had worse."

"What?" Poppy asked.

"I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

You've had worse meant absolutely nothing. That meant that nearly anything was in the realm of possibility for what Stillens had done to punish him, save maybe the dementors. As much as I wanted to press him about that, he was frowning at the floor, clearly uncomfortable. I could always ask him later, alone. "Well, then, I'm glad you're all right."

Poppy nodded seriously. He eyes grew wide after a moment. "What did you find? Anything about Albus and Colette?"

Nico sighed, expression growing darker. "Yeah, I did. They're in a detention center, like you thought. It's run by Ferdinand Welling."

I gasped in spite of myself. That was so much worse. My mind was suddenly filled with the memories of that day in fifth year, being in the headmasters' office, watching as Welling burned Albus, and James. Seeing Colette terrified for the first time.

And it was surely so much worse, now.

"Stillens actually keeps meticulous records of everything," Nico continued, staring at the floor. "I used that spell Colette had, to copy a lot of it. You've got to do some interpretation, but it's pretty clear once you know what you're looking at."

"What did it say about Colette and Albus?" I asked softly.

"Not a lot. Charges are pending, apparently. A couple of notes about spells they think she created..." Nico let his head fall into his hands. "I'm sorry, Wren. I really didn't think that would be important, so I didn't erase it. I know it's my fault."

For a moment, I just blinked at him. He couldn't be serious. "How on earth would you have known that?"

"I don't know..." Nico shrugged. "I could have asked what you thought, or thought ahead a little bit to what Stillens might do with that information. But I just didn't."

"There's nothing you can do about it now," Poppy said, frowning. "It's not your fault, really. It's Stillens' fault. And like I said, that isn't something anyone would have expected him to care about."

Had they already had this conversation? I frowned as Nico sighed, rolling his eyes as if he'd already heard her say that. Before I could ask, he kept talking. "Sure. Fine. Either way, it felt worth acknowledging." He tapped his wand against his hand for a moment, then said, "I also found the list of everyone who's at that particular detention center."

"I'm sure Professor Haverna will appreciate that." Poppy nodded.

"Yeah. You three might, as well." He shot a glance at Ciara, who was still staring out the window. "Scorpius is alive."

Ciara started so hard that she almost fell off the seat. I couldn't blame her, my mouth had fallen open and the only thing I could manage to do was blink at Nico. "He... what?" Poppy spluttered.

"He's been at the detention center since August," Nico explained quietly. "Apparently, they're just holding him there."

"What else did you find about him?" Ciara demanded.

"There wasn't much to find. I think that's a good thing, though." Nico shrugged. "Most of the other prisoners had different kinds of interrogations or discipline strategies next to their name. He didn't have anything."

Ciara considered that. I could see the gears turning in her head, worries playing across her face. She ended up frowning at Nico again. "He wouldn't be there if it wasn't for you."

"I'm aware of that." Nico narrowed his eyes. "But maybe with the information I found, the DA might be able to help him."

She didn't respond, just rolled her eyes and turned to once again glare out the window. I sighed, resolving to absolutely try to talk to her later. I might not be able to get her to forgive Nico, but at least maybe I could convince her to not be quite so... impossible about it all.

"Maybe they could rescue Albus and Colette, too," Poppy was saying. "I'm sure it'll be really useful."

"Here's hoping."

"What did you find about the children?"

Nico glanced at Poppy, a hint of a smile floating across his face. "There was so much."

Poppy grinned. "Really?"

"He's got a file on every single one of them, both here and from America." Nico held his wand up and waved it. A ghostly blue, translucent file appeared in midair. The picture was upside down to me, but it looked like a young Asian boy, maybe eleven or twelve.

"I hardly had time to copy them all," Nico explained. "I haven't looked at any of them, except Cassie's and Ryder's."

Poppy's eyes had grown wider than I'd known they could. She was flipping through the ghostly file, scanning the pages. "He's got everything in here... forged birth certificate, school documents, notes on Ryder's fake family... I think the whole brainwashing process might be detailed in here!"

"I know. I think there's a list of the things that got erased, in case it ever started to wear off."

"Could that help you if you were restoring his memories?"

"I might be able to kind of... reverse engineer it?" He pursed his lips. "Colette had a lot of ideas about it all. There's a chance I could figure it out on my own..."

I was still staring at the file in shock. "How did... I mean, where were these? How could you possibly have copied them all?"

Nico shrugged. "Easy. I had Robert spend a week watching Stillens' moves. He sleeps during the morning, you know. Never at night. Then, once I'd figured out his routine, I just timed when I snuck into his office really well. Only had to obliviate two of the muggles."

I stared at him, wondering if he'd lost his mind. Sneaking into Stillens' office? How had he not been caught? Robert? And what did he mean, he'd had to obliviate two of the muggles? "Wait, who's Robert?"

"One of the snakes." Nico gestured to the door. "I left him in the hall, to watch for anyone who might try to come in here."

Ciara groaned. "You still have those bloody snakes?"

"Your snake is named Robert?" Poppy asked, stifling a laugh.

"Oh, you think his name's funny, Poppy? Real kind."

"You named your pet snake Robert?" I asked, trying not to laugh myself. "Really?"

"No, I didn't name him! That's what he told me his name was!"

Poppy actually did laugh at that. "The snake named himself Robert?"

"I mean, that's just what it is in English. In parseltongue it's different." He hissed something that I assumed was the snake's name. "I don't know why his name is Robert. It just is."

"Okay, okay, I suppose that's not the point," I said, smiling as Nico rolled his eyes. Ciara might have muttered something derogatory about the snakes, but no one acknowledged it. "Um... back to the children, who's Ryder?"

"One of the kids who's ended up at Hogwarts."

"One of the..." I blinked, not sure I was understanding. "What?"

"Ryder Portland and Isla Foster are two of the missing children," Poppy explained patiently. "And they both turned up as first years at Hogwarts last term. Isla's a Gryffindor, and Ryder's a Slytherin."

That was... not at all what I'd expected to hear. I mean, I guess it made sense. It sounded like Stillens had kidnapped children and then sent them off to live with his supporters in America. Artemis had gone to Ilvermorny. I just hadn't expected that to happen so quickly here. "Oh. Wow, okay."

"We've been trying to befriend them," Poppy continued, "But we think they got warned away from Albus and Colette, and all of our other friends who have tried to talk to them for us. Nico had some luck with Ryder at the end of the term, though."

"A little." Nico rolled his eyes. "I'm afraid he's shaping up to be a lot like me."

"And Albus and Eviana had some first year girls who were making friends with Isla." Poppy shrugged. "There's a chance you might be able to talk to her, too. You're a Gryffindor prefect, after all."

I highly doubted that Isla would talk to me, if she'd been warned off of Albus and Colette. There was a zero percent chance that I hadn't been absolutely slandered to all of Stillens' followers, especially after James and I had publicly supported Russey. As if I wasn't already his crazy niece. The odds that Isla at least thought the same things about me that Artemis had were very high.

"So Nico is the only person who's talking to this boy?" Ciara asked. I hadn't realized she'd been listening, but when I glanced at her she was watching Nico with disdain. "Seems like a bad idea."

Poppy shrugged. "I mean, you're welcome to befriend him, too. We just didn't know any other Slytherins who would have been able to do it."

"He might not talk to you," Nico warned. "He's really standoffish."

"Shut up. I don't need your help." Nico put his hands up in mock surrender and rolled his eyes.

The rest of the ride was spent jumping between tense exchanges with Ciara and Nico, and Poppy catching us up on what had been going on at Hogwarts this year. She told us that Brigitte Myers had been planning on helping them talk to Ryder, but had tried to turn it into a bargain to get information about Adalyn Lostry. Was there anything to know about her? Nico claimed there wasn't, yet, as far as he knew, but it was only a matter of time before Cantha convinced Stillens to let Adalyn do something. Poppy added that Adalyn had been volunteering in the hospital wing, which only spelled bad news.

Otherwise, the term had been pretty normal, it sounded like. Colette had taught Nico occlumency, and they'd spent a lot of time speculating about the missing children and what brainwashing might entail. Poppy had been named interim headgirl in Ciara's absence, though she was more than happy to step down now that she wasn't needed anymore. The Slytherin Quidditch team had lost to Hufflepuff by a huge margin without Ciara, and had worse odds than they'd had in decades in the quidditch cup.

Eventually, Nico slipped off. As the door slid closed, I turned to Ciara. "I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"I don't want to talk about him," she said coldly, finally turning away from the window. She met my eyes. At least she didn't seem angry, but I still felt like wilting.

I cast a glance at Poppy, who nodded quickly. "Totally fine. We're almost to school, anyway. Probably need to change."

When we reached Hogsmeade, Ciara went off in search of Rose. I don't know if she told her the truth or not, but when I glanced over at them, they were hugging each other tightly and Rose seemed to be crying. Poppy and I didn't mention that, or anything else, as we waited for her in one of the carriages.

It was very weird, being back. Though I saw several of my old friends on the platform and in the entrance hall, no one came over to us. People waved at Poppy. Others nodded at Ciara. Most just stared at me until I met their eyes, then they quickly looked away.

Part of this felt very familiar. After all, when I'd come back in fourth year, everyone had been wary of me. People had avoided me (and Astra had threatened to hex them all). No one had trusted me. I should have expected that now, too.

At least, last time, no one had been watching with that look of confused betrayal. It occurred to me that keeping James's cover might end up being nearly as hard for me as it was for him.

The three of us sat at the Hufflepuff table, pretending not to notice the wide gaps between us and anyone nearby. Poppy was chattering along as if she really didn't notice anything different. When I quietly mentioned it, they both rolled their eyes and said it wasn't a big deal.

"I don't want to drag you both into... I don't know. Social purgatory."

Poppy frowned at me. "I'd rather be in social purgatory with you than have to go pretend that everything's fine in the world."

"Besides, it's not like I had any friends before," Ciara pointed out. "This isn't really that different than normal, for me."

"It's just..." I shook my head. "You don't get it. People don't trust me, and if you hang out with me, they're not going to trust you. It'll probably end up being more than just stares and whispers, too. If you'd rather not deal with that..."

"If you're having to deal with it, we will, too." Poppy crossed her arms and sat up straighter, as if the matter were finished. "I don't want you to have to face it alone."

"You had Albus and Astra and Colette last time you came back," Ciara added. "Now you've got us. Besides, I really don't think anyone's going to trust me much, either. I disappeared, too." She reached across the table to pat my hand. "We're going to do this together."

I smiled even as my throat seemed to get tighter. "Oh. Okay. Thank you..."

Poppy shook her head. "Nope, no thanking. It's literally just what friends are supposed to do." She met my smile with her own, and I found myself praying that this moment, with my friends, would be able to carry me through the rest of the evening when I inevitably had to leave, and go face the rest of the Gryffindors by myself.

It wasn't so bad. We hung out in the library until right before curfew. Poppy spent most of the evening telling us about Petrov and Rinduli. They'd never been able to figure out what their deal was, last term, whether they were friends or couldn't stand each other. Petrov was from somewhere in Eastern Europe, had a vendetta against werewolves, and was certifiably insane. Rinduli was a very young American, almost certainly a kidnapped child, and quite possibly even more insane (and better at hiding it). We made sure to leave the library before Petrov went around smacking tables with his cane, scaring students out.

Poppy and Ciara headed downstairs, and I headed up, my steps slowing as I approached the portrait hole. Eviana had told me the new password earlier, but I found that I wanted to be anywhere except the common room. I wasn't sure I could handle being in there, surrounded by people and utterly alone. I was afraid that being there without Albus and Colette and Astra might be too much.

But it had to be done. I took a deep breath outside the portrait hole, steeling myself. I'd faced worse than this, after all. This couldn't be as bad as talking to Stillens. Just think of it like that—hiding the truth, projecting what they needed to see, even if it felt horrible. It was going to be fine.

It might have been my imagination, but I felt like the bustle of the common room died down a little when I stepped in. There were certainly people staring at me, whispering. I saw most of the seventh years lounging on the couches by the fire. As I glanced in their direction, they all turned away. I could read the message loud and clear: not welcome.

Instead of react to that, I just headed over to the bookshelf in the corner. I'd caught up on all the work Haverna had collected from my professors to make up for last term, but it couldn't hurt to read ahead. It was a little early to go to bed, after all. No use trying to go to sleep early, and give myself more time to have nightmares.

Holed up in the corner, I could almost block out everyone else. No one was staring at me if I didn't notice them, right? I read and reread a chapter from the N.E.W.T.-level history of magic textbook until it was nearly midnight and the crowd had thinned out considerably. Except for Luke, all the seventh years had gone up to bed, and since Luke was cuddled up next to River in a window seat, I really didn't think that he would bother to stop me tonight.

There was a good chance my roommates were already asleep, I reasoned as I walked up the stairs. A good chance I wouldn't have to deal with them tonight, right?

Wrong. I walked into the dorm to find all three of them on Lacy's bed, whispering. They fell silent as soon as they noticed me. For some reason, that pushed me to verge of tears. Suddenly, I was incredibly tired. I took a deep breath, then walked over to my bed and sat down, facing away from them.

They'd started whispering again, though I couldn't make out what they were saying. I couldn't bring myself to even glance over in their direction. When I heard them shifting a few moments later, then footsteps crossing the room, I could barely manage to glance up.

"I can't believe you'd agree with him." It was Lacy, now standing in front of me with her arms crossed. Though she wasn't much taller than me, I'd always been a little intimidated by her. Now was no exception. It was everything I could do to not shrink in on myself.

Rose and Iris were just behind her. With a deep breath, Rose added, "I mean, I get that he's your boyfriend, but I really thought that you, of all people, wouldn't support that..."

"He's working with Russey, now," Iris pointed out, as if I could possibly not know.

Lacy glared at me. "How can you be okay with that?"

I opened my mouth and closed it again. What was I supposed to say? I could hardly even remember. "Russey is giving me protection from my family."

"He works for your family," Lacy snapped.

I didn't really want to argue that. Would they even believe me? Couldn't be helped. "How do you know that?"

"Don't act like Colette didn't read the Quibbler to you every day."

"It's obvious, Wren..." Rose moved to sit next to me, giving me a pleading look. "Don't tell me you can't see it."

At least the fact that I was still fighting tears didn't seem that odd to them. I supposed I could make it work. With a shake of my head, I whispered, "I'm sorry. I just... I can't. You don't get it. I had to get away from them."

The girls exchanged a look that I pretended not to notice, then Lacy sat down on my other side. "Wren, the DA can help you. You don't have to join Russey."

"They left me for dead."

"They didn't have a choice."

I glanced over at her, and she finally didn't look angry. Instead, she was watching me with a very concerned look. Honestly, I wanted so badly to tell her the truth, but I couldn't do that. Instead, I tried to at least let her see all the emotions I was feeling. Let her interpret them how she liked. "And neither do I. I'm sorry. This isn't what I would have wanted..." I glanced at Iris, then Rose. "But it's how it ended up. There's not anything I can do about it now, not without hurting James. I'm not going to do that."

Rose seemed unsure how to respond. When she glanced behind me to Lacy, I turned back, too. She seemed very conflicted, and tilted her head a little as I met her eyes. "You really don't believe he works for Stillens, do you?"

I shook my head slightly. "I haven't seen any evidence of it. I swear, I would never join my family." Lacy cast an uncertain look at her friends, and I added, "I don't know what the DA thinks about James, but we're not traitors just because we're not joining it. I want Stillens to be defeated as much as you do."

For a moment, I thought that Lacy might argue with me. She was frowning at me, more serious than I ever usually saw her. But she ended up nodding a little. "I know you do. We're... concerned. That's all."

I looked down, suddenly scared that the truth might show up on my face. "I'm... I'm just tired of being afraid. This was a way we could have some control. And... if you hate me for it... I'm sorry."

Lacy sighed. Then, to my surprise, I felt her arm around my shoulder as she leaned closer to me. "I can disagree with you without hating you, Wren."

The next thing I knew, Rose and Iris had leaned over to hug me, too. I wasn't sure how to react, so for a moment we just sat there as I blinked quickly, trying not to cry.

"I get it," Rose said softly. "I would probably do a lot of morally iffy things if I thought I could keep Scorpius safe, you know."

"You're still our friend," Iris agreed. "Even if you're wrong."

Lacy chuckled a little as she sat up. "We don't approve of what James is doing, all right? Even you have to admit that the Ministry is a mess right now."

I nodded slowly. "That's fair."

"But I'm glad you're safe." She nodded firmly. "I'll find some proof that Russey works for Stillens, but until then I suppose we'll just have to live with it."

"I mean, we can't very well stop talking to you." Iris shrugged. "You live with us. It would be really awkward."

"And last time that happened, it was horrible," Lacy agreed, looking down. "We're not doing it again."

Rose squeezed my shoulder a little. "If you ever change your mind about the DA, though, let us know. They really would protect you, and James, if you needed it."

If we ever needed it, it would probably be too late, but I smiled anyway. I had kind of expected the same cold, unforgiving treatment that Lacy and Iris had given me in fourth year, so this was a very pleasant surprise. As Lacy gave me another hug, I finally let myself relax. Likely, they'd be the only people who would react this way, but at least I had them. Maybe I could do this. 

~~~~

I just had a very bad idea. Like... a very bad idea. 

Question of the Day: If you could have named Astra anything else, what would you name her? (Submitted by _Xx-alex-xX_!)

Answer: Well... I named her, and I still love it so I think that's the answer for me!

Vote and comment!

~Elli

Word count: 7457