~Astra~

"Oh shit," I whispered in spite of myself. Mr. Longbottom shot me a glance that was both reproving and concerned, but didn't comment, thankfully.

At the sound of my voice, Artemis froze. Honestly, I was frozen, too, it felt like. As one of the guards reached up to pull her blindfold off, I felt a strange urge to run out the door, hide, not meet that girl's eyes. But it was like I was rooted in place, unable to even close my eyes or look away.

When her blindfold fell away, Artemis blinked a few times. I suppose her eyes were adjusting to the very dim light in here. Within seconds, though, they'd locked on me. I stared back, trying to think of some snappy comment to make her feel even worse about all of this.

But then her eyes flicked over to Mr. Longbottom, and I saw a flash of recognition cross her face. Recognition quickly followed by terror.

Terror? Really? Of Mr. Longbottom? I blinked, wondering if I'd imagined that, but when I focused back on Artemis she'd shrunk back against the aurors. Despite the fact that Mr. Longbottom wasn't even holding his wand, and was studying her with thoughtful, very nonthreatening concern, she had a very similar expression to the one I remembered seeing on Albus's face last June, when we'd been dragged in to see Stillens.

"Astra, I take it you know her?" was all Mr. Longbottom said after several moments of uncomfortable silence.

"I... yeah. I mean, not really. I know who she is. She's the girl who was tracking me all over Wales, for Stillens. Her name's Artemis Wu." Several other things I knew about her were floating around in my head, but I decided that was enough for now. Mr. Longbottom would probably want a better explanation of what I'd already said later, anyway. Artemis had already grown pale at the sound of her name, and now her eyes were darting between me and Mr. Longbottom. I realized that I didn't really want to be cruel, for some reason.

Mr. Longbottom nodded slowly, then glanced back at Artemis. "And how did you find us, exactly?"

Artemis's expression hardened, and instead of answering, she looked down.

"Were you tracking me?" I asked softly. No answer.

Mr. Longbottom pursed his lips. I wondered briefly if this had ever happened before, if anyone had ever found this safehouse? How had she done it? Even if she'd been doing some tracking spell on me, I was only outside the wall for a minute or two when I got here, and I hadn't been outside the bounds of the fidelius charm since. Maybe that had been enough to give her a general idea of where to go, but I had to imagine that took a lot of skill.

"Well," Mr. Longbottom said with a sigh. He regarded Artemis for a moment, who was now staring at the far wall with her mouth set in a firm line. "Do you know how the fidelius charm works?"

Her eyes darting to him for a moment was the only indication that she had even heard him.

"I'll take that as a yes." Mr. Longbottom smiled apologetically. "I'm afraid you won't be able to share anything I'm about to tell you, even if you manage to escape. You've managed to stumble upon the Haverna Estate, which also happens to be a DA safehouse. And, even if you're here as a prisoner right now, I want you to realize that you're just as safe here as everyone else. No one is going to hurt you."

Her eyes narrowed, as if she didn't believe him, and Mr. Longbottom sighed sadly. "Is there anything you'd like to say, Artemis?"

She shook her head. Mr. Longbottom pursed his lips, then nodded. "Take her to one of the holding cells."

One of the aurors reached up to tie Artemis's blindfold back in place, while another stepped to the side and pulled open a trapdoor I'd never noticed before. I raised an eyebrow as the group descended the stairs within.

"Are the holding cells underground?" I asked as the last auror reached up to pull the trapdoor shut over her head.

"What?" Mr. Longbottom blinked, shaking his head as if he were clearing his thoughts. "No, of course not. They're by the house."

"Where does the trapdoor go, then?"

"Tunnels." He smiled at me. "How do you think we manage to keep so many people's DA connections secret? We have to have more private ways of moving around the camp than walking down the main road."

I'd never thought about that, but I'd also never noticed any trapdoors anywhere. I tilted my head curiously as Mr. Longbottom moved towards the door. "Do they connect to every building?"

He chuckled. "Oh, definitely not. Just the house, and the holding cells, and a few other buildings where people might have more need to be discreet. It comes in handy when you've got a prisoner, though. Wouldn't do to show her all of the camp."

"How many prisoners do we have?" I asked as we walked back out of the guardhouse.

"She's the first. We're not really in the habit of taking prisoners. Tend to let our aurors handle that in a more legal way." He pursed his lips. "That works better when people aren't snooping around our backdoor, though."

"Do you... do you think she found us because I'm here?"

Mr. Longbottom shook his head immediately. "The fidelius charm would keep her from tracking you here, as long as you're inside the walls. If anything, we should have been more cautious in the transition... Perhaps I should have apparated out to meet you myself, and we could have come straight inside..." He shook his head. "I suppose it doesn't matter now. We'll find out if she's been in contact with anyone else soon enough, I'm sure. It's nothing to worry about."

"I'm not worried," I lied. "Just interested." That wasn't a lie. "Can I... I mean, once you've interrogated her, do you think I'd be able to talk to her? She's been chasing me for months, after all. And Wren told me some interesting things about her."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Did she? I'd love to hear those interesting things eventually. Later today, if you have the time. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt for you to talk to her, either. If she turns out to be hard to crack, you might even help."

She did turn out to be hard to crack. Over the next few days Mr. Longbottom kept me updated on the situation, even though there were no new developments. Artemis was refusing to speak at all (and Mr. Longbottom did confirm once or twice that I had heard her speak before, just so we knew she was capable of it). She wouldn't answer questions, hardly even reacted to the sound of her own name. After about a week of getting nowhere with her, Mr. Longbottom told me I might as well try.

The holding cells were in one of the many temporary structures that I'd never had a reason to go in before. According to Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Potter had insisted that they were a good idea, even though until now they'd never been used. They made good places to store magical equipment, apparently, because that's what I managed to catch a glimpse of through the window in the door that we passed as Mr. Longbottom led me to Artemis's cell. Honestly, with the word cell I'd expected something like the dungeons at Stillens' manor, or at least the dark interrogation room Wren had been held in before her trial three years ago. But other than the pile of boxes cluttering the hallway (likely displaced by Artemis's arrival), the building seemed really nice. There were skylights above the hallway that we were walking down, and no bars anywhere, just a glass window in the door we stopped in front of.

Mr. Longbottom knocked on the door, but there was no reply. "She hasn't been answering," he explained, reaching for the handle, "but I still don't like to barge in unexpectedly. Trying to respect her privacy as much as I can."

"Is there anything in particular you want me to ask her?"

He shook his head. "I doubt she knows much that we don't. We'll get there eventually. For now, just try to get her comfortable. I hate to think she's afraid of us."

I nodded as he opened the door, not pointing out that that seemed like an impossible task. I wasn't sure I was the most suited for that, anyway, considering she'd spent so long trying to hunt me down. I wasn't sure I was going to be comfortable. But from the way Wren had talked about her, she didn't seem like the ruthless assassin James and I had been afraid she was. She was our age, and in over her head, and didn't even know it. Maybe I could garner up some pity for that, and that would translate into something more warm and fuzzy eventually.

"Good morning, Artemis," Mr. Longbottom was saying, his broad smile seeping into his tone. He stepped to the side to give me room to walk through the door. "I brought a visitor today."

Artemis didn't seem to have reacted to Mr. Longbottom's appearance. She was sitting in what appeared to be a decently comfy armchair in the corner. Her eyes briefly flicked over to me, but then she looked back at the wall.

I took a moment to glance around the room. There was a bed against one wall that honestly looked more comfortable than the cot I had in my room. A door in the far wall likely led to a bathroom. There was even a bookshelf with a few books on it. All in all, far from the most horrible cell I'd ever seen.

"I thought some company other than me might be nice," Mr. Longbottom continued. "Someone closer to your own age?"

"Hey, Artemis," I said, my voice softer than I'd meant it to be. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I, um, I hope you've been comfortable?"

No response. Mr. Longbottom pursed his lips, then glanced back at me. "Good luck. Just knock when you're ready to leave." I nodded, and he stepped around me to walk back out the door, closing it with a metallic thud.

For a moment, I just stood there, just inside the door, unsure what to do. Would it be weird to go sit on the bed? It wasn't like there were other options. Maybe I should stay standing? Could she tell I was uncomfortable? I didn't really want that. I took a breath, then crossed the room, stopping at the foot of the bed. "May I?"

Again, she didn't answer. I sank down onto the bed anyway (much comfier than mine). "How've they been treating you?"

Though she glanced over at me, it was with more of a bored expression than anything. She still didn't say anything. "Right," I continued. "Well, I mean, this looks pretty nice. I don't even get my own room, you know." My laugh sounded awkward to my ears, but she just kept watching me. This was not going how I'd planned.

I sighed. "Okay, screw it. I don't really care if you've been comfortable, honestly. I just want to know why you've been chasing me for so long. I mean, I guess I already know. Wren told me that Stillens recruited you, just to track me down. Which... I mean, you've got to be pretty skilled, I guess, if you caught his eye, but that's really a little messed up, don't you think? Hunting me down like an animal?"

She didn't comment, and wasn't even looking at me anymore, so I just shrugged. "I guess if you think I'm... what, some kind of criminal? Is that what he told you? I guess it would make sense." I paused to shake my head. "Wren told me a few things about you, you know. Maybe she told you, too."

Now she did glance at me with a little more interest, but it was heavily tinged with annoyance. I at least recognized that look. But she still hadn't said anything, so I forged on. "Wren told me that you've been kidnapped, and obliviated, and brainwashed. So you can't really help siding with Stillens. You're as much a victim as the rest of us."

Artemis narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything to refute to confirm that. I pursed my lips. She wouldn't believe it, of course. If it was that easy to convince her, the brainwashing wouldn't have worked. "We can help you, you know. Maybe someone here could restore your memories, and find out what happened to your real family."

She was glaring at me now. She didn't move, though. I resisted the urge to feel for my wand. "I'm just trying to help you, Artemis. Stillens never cared about you, but we do." It wasn't really stretching the truth if I was pretty sure that Mr. Longbottom, at least, cared about keeping her safe, right? I didn't have to be included in we. "You're safe here. Stillens can't reach you."

"You're not going to get me to betray them like this."

I almost jumped; I honestly hadn't expected her to say anything to me at all. When I glanced back at her, Artemis was frowning at me. "I'm not trying to. Just being friendly."

Her eyes narrowed. "Do you think I don't know how this works, Astra Lestrange?"

"I'm serious!" I stared at her for a moment, at a loss. How did she think this worked? The way she was glancing at the door every once in a while, not quite able to conceal her fear, told me that she was talking about a little more than just me warming her up so she was more likely to rat out Stillens. It was almost like she was afraid we might move on to stronger interrogation methods. Like we might hurt her.

"No one's going to hurt you here, you know."

She raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "You can't trick me. I've heard the rumors."

Now I was genuinely lost. "What rumors?"

"People being kidnapped by the DA, tortured, killed." She glanced at me, gaze hard enough that I almost looked away, even though none of that was true. "I have no idea why you've kept me alive this long, except that you want information."

"That's all made up. Propaganda that Stillens has been feeding you. He's the one who's torturing and killing people."

"You're lying."

Well, she was tougher to crack than I'd been expecting. I guess that made sense, though; Wren had said she'd been kidnapped and brainwashed as a child, just like the missing children here. Of course she would've been brought up believing whatever Stillens said was true. It would probably take a lot more than me just telling her the DA were the good guys to make her actually believe it. It would take a contradiction of what she'd been told all her life. Clearly, the lack of torture here wasn't enough. She just thought we were trying to trick her, so of course she had no reason to believe me when I said we'd never torture anyone.

But maybe she'd seen the opposite. Maybe she'd seen some of the horrors of working for Stillens, and had never realized how horrible that was.

"I'm not lying." I shook my head. "But if you think the DA's so bad because we're apparently torturing and killing people, how are you okay with Stillens doing it?"

She stared at me. "He doesn't do that."

"Does he not? Have you not heard of detention centers? There's a lot of stories about what goes on there."

"DA rumors. Besides, they're run by Parliament, not Stillens."

I restrained myself from telling her that was essentially the same thing at this point. She wasn't going to believe any of it about. the detention centers, anyway. But, if she'd been around Wren at all, maybe she'd seen some of Stillens' cruelty first hand. "What about Wren, then? You've met her, right?"

She nodded slowly, seeming confused and wary at the same time. "Wren is a traitor. It's different. And Stillens has nothing to do with the fact that her parents abuse her."

I wasn't sure if Isaac and Katreena would be as horrible as they were now without Stillens' influence, but I didn't press that. "You never saw Stillens do anything horrible to her?"

"I know he had people interrogating her. So what?"

"People? Do you know who Zaria Hempsey is?"

She shook her head, looking confused, and I rolled my eyes. "Never mind. She's the one who was in charge of Wren's interrogations. Which, you should know, were literally just torture."

"How would you know?"

I couldn't very well tell her I dreamed about it without explaining that I was a seer, and that didn't seem like the wisest thing to share. "I... Wren told me."

"Wren Predetal is delusional, and manipulative. You realize she's a pathological liar, don't you?"

My mouth dropped open in indignation. "Is that what they told you? That's ridiculous."

"You're the one sounding ridiculous," Artemis replied calmly.

I narrowed my eyes, but took a moment to calm down. I wasn't going to let her have the upper hand just because she was calm. She was the prisoner here, after all. "I know for a fact that Stillens has a room full of dementors in his basement. And he's locked her in there overnight. More than once. Did you know that?"

To my surprise, Artemis faltered. She looked down, pursing her lips, then slowly nodded. "He has a good reason, I'm sure."

"Do you know what a dementor is? It'd have to be a bloody good reason to lock a teenage girl in there overnight, don't you think?"

"I don't have to understand why he makes every decision," she said quietly. "I just have to trust that there's a reason."

"Have you met Wren? Did she really strike you as the kind of horrible, twisted person who deserved to be thrown into a room with half a dozen dementors?"

"No," Artemis said, looking down. "She seemed very kind. And misguided. I feel bad for her, really. But her seeming kind doesn't mean there wasn't a good reason."

"What possible reason?"

It took a long time for her to answer. Long enough that I began to think that she was done with the conversation, and had gone back to her trick of not talking at all. She only stared across the room, a frown on her face. Just as I was getting ready to roll my eyes and leave, though, she shook her head the tiniest bit. "I don't know."

I blinked. "Well... good. Because there isn't one."

She didn't respond to that, just stared at me with this intense expression like she was trying to see into my head. I shifted uncomfortably and averted my eyes. Wren hadn't said anything about her being a legilimens, but I suppose weirder things had happened. If she could have actually seen in my mind, though, I didn't see how she could keep arguing with me about this.

Artemis broke the silence. "You don't seem so horrible, really. My mom told me you'd been deceived, and probably weren't so bad. I guess she was right."

I barely restrained myself from snapping back to that, something about how that was rich coming from a woman who'd likely been lying to Artemis her entire life. That was only going to make her more antagonistic, and Mr. Longbottom had sent me in here to help calm her down. Instead, I took a deep breath. "Wow. Thanks."

She pursed her lips. "I wasn't trying to insult you. I'm sorry."

"It's all right," I said, nodding jerkily and hoping she couldn't see through the lie. "I guess you're not as horrible as I thought you were when you were trying to kill me."

"I wasn't trying to kill you."

"Could've fooled me." I almost laughed, but she was watching me seriously. Well, I suppose she hadn't been trying to kill me, so she wasn't wrong. I tilted my head. "It doesn't matter. I guess I'm just wondering what you think Stillens would have done with me if you'd managed to catch me."

"I don't know." She shrugged, looking away. "That's not my business."

There were dozens of things I could have told her from just my own experiences about how horrible and terrifying Stillens was. Kidnapping me at 14 and trying to intimidate me into joining him. Using the cruciatus curse on me when I said no. Killing my headmaster right in front of me. Having Nico Jasper use the imperius curse to mess with my head for almost a year. Torturing my friends in front of me. Forcing me to torture them, then to kill Mr. Potter.

But Artemis seemed so set on rationalizing away every concern I could possibly bring up. She'd have to come up with these things on her own if we wanted to get anywhere with her. I pursed my lips, wishing Wren were here. She would've known what to say to get Artemis to start thinking about all this on her own. "You don't know, or you don't want to know?"

She glanced at me, eyes narrowed. "Is there a difference?"

Was there? I really didn't know. I managed not to cringe, and just shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know. Is there?"

Unfortunately, Artemis just seemed vaguely frustrated by that answer, not thrown into a deep moral crisis. She shook her head after a moment. "Whatever. Are you done?"

I wasn't sure that I'd done what Mr. Longbottom had asked, made her comfortable. At least she didn't seem afraid of me, even if I couldn't say much for the rest of the DA. But Artemis was clearly ready for this conversation to be over, and I wasn't sure that I had much more to say, either. I shrugged and stood up. "Yeah. I'm done." I glanced at the door, then back at her, wondering if I needed to bother with being polite and figure out how to say goodbye and have a nice week when she clearly would not be having a nice anything for the foreseeable future. I settled on nodding stiffly at her. "I'm sure I'll be back soon."

She took a deep breath instead of answering, as if the thought of that was already something to dread. I barely restrained myself from rolling my eyes, then walked over to the door.

Mr. Longbottom seemed to think it was enormous progress that she'd talked to me at all, even if she'd been wildly unhelpful and resistant. Apparently, one of the DA's spies had recently found files on all the victims of kidnapping in America and Britain, and once we got copies of them, he'd let me look over hers with him and we could see if there was anything in there we could use. Honestly, depending on how in-depth this file went, I thought letting her look through it might work better than anything else.

The weeks were drifting by. It was nearing February by now. Mr. Jordan and I had gotten into a comfortable rhythm with the radio broadcasts over the past few weeks. According to Faith, the Ministry and the Prophet hadn't acknowledged the broadcasts yet, but we'd stuck to fairly out of the way locations to leave our radios so far, like small-town pubs and shops. The biggest we'd gotten was out a shop window in Hogsmeade. Plans were in the works for larger-scale broadcasts in Diagon Alley and even Hogwarts, though, and Mr. Jordan was confident that this would really start making a difference soon.

Other than preparing for and doing the broadcasts, I was kind of left to my own devices. I spent a lot of time playing with the children, because they were always excited to see me. The oldest kids were five or six, and being taught how to read and write and do some basic arithmetic. One of their favorite things was dragging me over to the bookshelf in their playroom and making me read to them. Honestly, it was kind of cool, because it was a bunch of wizarding picturebooks I'd never heard of.

One thing I desperately wanted to do was interrogate Marcus Dillam about how exactly he'd ended up here. I popped by the Quibbler a lot, trying to catch a time when he was there and Faith wasn't, because despite the fact that I'd told her the entire story of Marcus and I making up, she still had a personal grudge against him, which I suppose I couldn't blame her for. I didn't want to alarm her by asking Marcus to come talk with me right in front of her. Even though I knew I wanted nothing to do with Marcus romantically ever again, it was hard to explain a desire to talk to you ex in private without people making assumptions.

It took a couple weeks for me to luck out. I walked in one afternoon, supposedly to ask if there were any updates on the Scamander situation. After wading through the mess of the front room, I burst into the back. "Mrs. Potter?"

"Oh, sorry, she's not here." Marcus's voice. He stepped out from behind the printer, ink smudged across his face. "Is it something... I mean, maybe I could help?"

I glanced around the room, but it was empty. "Oh. No, it's okay. It wasn't that important." I hesitated, suddenly blanking on what to say even though I was pretty sure I'd thought it through five or six times. "I, um... what are you doing?"

"Setting the type for tomorrow's copy." He shrugged. "Xenophilius won't let us invest in a more modern printer, unfortunately. Says it'll 'attract wrackspurts,' or something."

I wasn't sure what a wrackspurt was, or why an automatic printer would attract them, but I let that slide. "Oh, okay. So you're busy?"

He blinked, and it was like I watched his thoughts reset, as if he'd really not been able to tell that what are you doing was a bit of a leading question. "I... I mean, I don't have to be..." He gave me a slightly wary look. "Why?"

"I want to know how you got here, is all." I shrugged. "If you want to talk about it, that is. If being around me makes you feel too uncomfortable—"

"No, it's not that." He winced. "Sorry. But no, you don't make me uncomfortable. I just want to... I don't know, respect your boundaries, whatever they are."

I nodded, wondering briefly if I even knew what my boundaries were. A problem for another time. "Sure. Thanks. I'm fine, though. And I'd really like to know how you ended up with the DA." I glanced around the cluttered room. Who knew when Faith would be back? I didn't really want to deal with the just because he's my ex doesn't mean I can't have a conversation with him talk today. "Want to take a walk?"

Ten minutes later, we were strolling down one of the side roads as Marcus explained to me the whole story of how he'd wound up with the DA. Apparently, he'd been reconsidering most of his life for months before he'd even apologized to me, realizing that he'd been been a spoiled arse (his words, not mine) but wanted to be better. Of course, I knew all that. What had happened in the past eight months was the mystery I was trying to get to the bottom of.

Marcus had graduated and had no idea what to do with himself, he said. His dad had offered him a job at the Prophet if he'd move in with him instead of his mum, and Marcus had told him to screw off. So he'd went home to his mum in some town in Wales and done almost nothing for six months, trying to figure out how to be a better person, not the kind of person that his dad would ever think would work for him. And he'd gotten exactly nowhere with that, because Stillens' influence was everywhere and it was nearly impossible to escape it and just live a normal life.

Until one evening, he'd walked into a pub and been accosted by some drunk men yelling about Stillens. And he'd looked up, met eyes with the witch across the aisle, and recognized me under layers of badly applied makeup and a cheap wig. And without thinking about it, he'd made a scene so James and I could get out.

"I'm grateful you were there," I said. "I don't know what James and I would have done if you hadn't been."

Marcus shook his head. "What were you two thinking, being there?"

"We were trying to get more information about Stillens," I said, pleased at how well the lie came off. I'd been getting used to making things up about my time with James, and it was starting to get easier. "Making a plan to break in."

"Did you find anything there?"

"No, but it was a long shot, anyway." I shrugged. "Back to your story. What does that night in the pub have to do with anything?"

"Oh. Well, I got beat up so badly they had to take me to a healer across town. I was there for two weeks."

My eyes widened in spite of myself. "Really? I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Worth it." He waved my concern away. "That was the first night in months that I felt something other than completely wretched. Doing something good, protecting you two... I knew it was the right thing to do. And I realized I wanted to keep doing things like that."

"And... that led you to the DA how, exactly?"

"When I was finally sent home, I spent several days trying to figure out how I could do something right again. That had been just a chance occurrence, you know; I couldn't expect you and James Potter to keep popping up in pubs. And every time I thought about it, my mind kept coming back to the DA."

"Why? I thought you didn't trust us."

"I didn't," he admitted. "But I realized after that thing in the pub that not trusting the DA was one of the many things that I'd picked up from my dad. And anything I'd gotten from him deserved a more critical look, of course. So... I might have subscribed to the Quibbler, without my mum knowing. And for the first time I was trying to be unbiased as I read it, and, honestly, Astra, it's horrifying stuff if you haven't been paying attention. After that, it took a few weeks but I finally got the courage up to owl Professor Longbottom and beg him to let me join. I told him I had experience with the newspaper industry, but I'd do literally anything they needed if he would just let me help fight." He shrugged. "And... well, that's that. He got in contact with me a few days later, and I guess I passed whatever tests I needed to. And now I'm here."

"Okay..." I tilted my head. "If you could've gone and gotten a job at the Prophet, why'd you come to a safehouse?"

He shrugged. "It's what Longbottom said was best. My mother doesn't want anything to do with any of this, I know. For her sake, it was safer if I just disappeared. Besides, I guess they needed someone to do odd jobs for the Quibbler."

"Weird. Okay." I nodded slowly. "Well, that's really interesting, I guess. I hope you're not offended that I'm shocked you're here."

He chuckled uncomfortably. "Can't say I blame you for it, really."

We'd come to a stop outside the infirmary. I hadn't really thought through conversation topics for after Marcus explained himself. What do you talk about with your ex-boyfriend who cheated on you and slandered you in the papers, then reformed and joined the same vigilante group as you? Somehow, commenting on the weather seemed a little too mundane.

As I cast about for something to say, some people walked out of the infirmary's door, and in that moment I remembered that my other roommate, Charlotte, worked there. The last thing I needed was for her to see me loitering outside with Marcus Dillam and ask Faith about it. I grabbed Marcus's arm and turned to hurry off, but was stopped by an unfamiliar voice rapidally drawing closer and calling, "Excuse me, are you Astra Lestrange?"

Marcus stopped and turned around with a polite smile on his face, forcing me to, as well. I mean, I didn't manage to polite smile—my expression was probably pained than anything, but I think I did at least try to smile. "I... uh, yes. Why?"

The people who had run us down were vaguely familiar, though I had no idea where I'd seen them before. They might have been Teddy's ago, or maybe older. There was a man with bright red hair and a beard who had an uncomfortable smile plastered on his face. The woman was the one who'd called my name, I was pretty sure. She was my height, Asian, and peering at me with enough curiosity that it took everything in me not to make a face.

"I'm Alexis Powers," the woman said, sticking a hand out for me to shake. I did, and she grasped it so firmly that I nearly winced.

"Charles," the man said, casting an almost apologetic smile at me and Marcus. "We're—"

"I've heard so much about you," Alexis said, cutting him off.

I wrenched my hand out of her grasp, suddenly done with this conversation. As my eyes narrowed, I snapped, "You and the rest of the wizarding world."

"We're friends of Teddy," Charles explained quickly. "From the auror office, and school. And we probably should've led with that." He cast a smile at Marcus. "I'm sorry, as well. We're not trying to be rude. What's your name?"

Marcus blinked at him. "I... um, I'm Marcus."

Charles nodded, then his eyes widened. "Oh. Oh! Marcus Dillam, right?"

Marcus's expression grew just a little bit harder. "Yeah. That's me."

"You were in James Potter's year at school, weren't you?" Charles shot us both an almost relieved smile. "Alex and I were headboy and girl that year. You probably wouldn't remember."

"Oh," Marcus said, nodding slowly. I got the feeling he didn't remember. "Right. Okay."

Alexis seemed way less thrilled about this detour than Charles did, and since I still didn't know what they wanted from us, I was watching her warily. She took the lull in the conversation to jump back in. "Astra, would you mind if I asked you a few quick questions?"

"About what?" I narrowed my eyes again. "I'm not describing what it's like to talk to Stillens, if that's what you want."

"What? No, of course not." She shook her head, blinking in confusion. "Not that at all."

Maybe answering this girl's questions would be the fastest way to get rid of them. I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Go for it."

She smiled, then took a breath and launched right in. "Great! Have you ever heard of a prophecy about you?"

I blinked. "Um... no. Not sure I really want one."

"Interesting." Alexis nodded, seeming fascinated and puzzled, somehow. "Would you say that you've always known you'd be in Gryffindor or do you think that was a mistake on the Sorting Hat's part?"

Now my mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?"

"Alexis!" Charles, to his credit, looked horrified. "I'm really sorry about her. You definitely don't have to answer that."

Alexis turned to blink at him. "Why not? It's a perfectly reasonable question."

"No, it's bloody not!" I shook my head, almost too shocked to be properly offended. "What are you trying to imply, exactly? You think I'm not brave enough to be a Gryffindor? I'd like to see you go through half the things I have."

She put her hands up. "Sorry, fine, I see it now. That might not have been the best question. I'll ask another one. How much do you know about your father's years at Hogwarts and how he ended up in Azkaban?"

"What?" I let out a scoff, not sure if I'd actually heard her correctly. "Are you serious right now?" How dare she start talking to me about my father? Who did she think she was?

"No, she's not serious!" Charles had grabbed her arm. "Alex, maybe it's time we go?"

"Wait, no!" She pulled away from him and turned back to me, pursing her lips. "I'm sorry. Please, can you answer just one more question for me? Then I'll leave. you alone, I promise."

All I really wanted to do was punch her in her audacious little face, but I managed to just glare at her. "Fine," I snapped, hoping she knew what ridiculously thin ice she was walking on right now.

She smiled, then asked in a tone edging on cheery, "What are you going to do the next time you come face to face with Stillens? Do you think all this—the war, the suffering, the deaths—has really been worth it?"

That was it. Who was this witch to come in here and act like the whole war was my fault? What would she have me do? Before I could even process it, my arm had swung up, fist poised to strike. But before I could land anything, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I struggled against Marcus's grip for a moment. "What the hell?"

"Astra, stop," he snapped, voice quiet and tense. "Don't."

Okay, fine, maybe trying to punch a fully trained auror wasn't the best idea. I managed to stop struggling, but not glaring at Alexis Powers. "How dare you?" I said, my voice a low whisper that I hoped sounded as threatening as I felt. "How dare you act like this whole war is my fault! Like I could have done something to stop any of this! You have no idea what you're talking about."

Alexis was staring at me, seeming surprised, among other things that I couldn't place. "That's not what I—"

"Okay, Alexis, let's go." Charles had grabbed her wrist and was pulling her away now. He managed to turn back and shoot me an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry. It was nice to meet you, officially. Hope we'll be seeing you again..." And then he turned and marched off, taking Alexis with him.

For a few moments after they left, all I could do was stare after them in shock. What the hell had just happened? What kind of audacity did that girl have, asking me things like do you really think you're brave enough to be in Gryffindor? and is all this fighting and death that you've caused really worth it? What was her problem?

"That was weird," Marcus said in a small voice, after the silence had stretched on for several moments.

"Bloody hell, that's an understatement." I let out a frustrated huff. "What just happened?"

"Honestly, I have no idea?"

If those were really friends of Teddy's, I'd have to have a chat with him about his choice of friends. I shook my head, feeling a desire to punch through a wall, or at least my pillow. "I'm going to go."

"Do you... I mean, can I do anything to help?"

"No." I glared down the street, where Alexis and Charles had disappeared. "I just need to calm down. I'm fine."

"Okay... let me know..." He hesitated, then waved a little. "See you around, I guess."

I managed to nod, then jerkily walked off in the other direction as he turned to go. All I really wanted was one of my friends to talk to. I hadn't been this angry in a long time, and I didn't really know what to do with it. I tried to think back, how I'd handled this in the past, but my only memories were of ranting with James, or being consoled by Albus, or counseled by Wren, or at least listened to by Colette.

They were all gone. But now I found that I didn't know how to take care of myself on my own.

~~~~

I'm really hoping that this chapter being late doesn't spell bad tidings for my ability to stick to an update schedule, but I'm not going to lie: this semester has been rough. I'm trying my best, and writing is one of the few recreational hobbies I have so I'm trying to. hold onto it tightly, but life is very difficult and busy right now. I'm sorry if updates a little sporadic for the next month or two! 

Question of the Day: Who is your favorite character right now? Why?

Answer: Honestly? Poppy. Poor girl is going through it, and still managing to be a good friend to Wren and Ciara and Nico all at the same time, even with the wild tension that comes with that group. I've loved her since she got upgraded to supporting character in the last book, but she's really started to come into her own in this book and I love her a lot. 

Vote and comment!

~Elli

Word count: 6779