~Wren~

We had to stop by Professor Haverna's office before dinner to fill her in on our conversation with Rinduli. And when I say "stop by," I mean "get lectured and yelled at for the better part of half an hour." She only let off when I was literally on the verge of tears, and even then she kept interrupting herself to ask Nico and Ciara what on earth they'd been thinking, and if they'd realized how lucky they got.

Between all that, she did decide to probe into it a little further, speak with Rinduli herself. Not outright, of course. Kimmel had decided she was too busy to get to performance reviews for all the staff this term, and as deputy headmistress that had fallen to Haverna. As annoying as I'm sure that was, it did give her a very good excuse to have a very long conversation with Rinduli. After some begging from Ciara and Nico, she agreed to tell us what happened afterwards.

Our next step had to be telling Poppy. Nico tried to slip off, claiming that since he couldn't go see her, he was off the hook. Ciara nearly hexed him for that. The only option was to get Poppy up to the room of requirement and admit what had happened together.

"She's supposed to be on bedrest for another day," I whispered to Ciara as we slipped through the Hufflepuff common room. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I'm not convinced that Madam Cantha's truly a healer." Ciara shot me a reassuring smile over her shoulder. Well, the best she could do. I think we were both dreading this. "Besides, Poppy seemed a lot better today."

"Better enough to furious." I slowed to a stop at the entrance to the girls' dorm corridor, a lump growing in my throat. "Do you think... I mean, she wouldn't..."

Ciara turned to frown at me, concern in her eyes now. "Wren, you're doing that again."

I tensed up. "Doing what?"

"Assuming your friends will just drop you at a moment's notice." She sighed, then walked back to take my hand. "Of course she's going to be furious, but she won't stay that way forever. She'll forgive us. Probably you before me, honestly. And hopefully Nico not at all..."

In spite of myself, I laughed. "She'll forgive him, too."

"Exactly." Ciara squeezed my hand as the corner of her mouth turned up. "So you have nothing to be afraid of, not in the long run." She glanced down at her watch, then started tugging me down the hall. "Come on. We've still got to think of some excuse to get her upstairs."

Poppy perked up when we walked in, a bright smile on her face. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten I was here," she joked. "Where have you been all afternoon?"

Ciara glanced at me, but I didn't know what to say. She ended up biting her lip and turning back to Poppy. "We were with Nico. In fact, we were coming to see how you were feeling, if you might be up for joining us?"

Instantly, Poppy's smile vanished. "What happened?"

"Why are you assuming something happened?" Ciara chuckled, and I hoped Poppy didn't pick up on how nervous it sounded. "Perhaps we've just missed you."

Poppy's brow furrowed as she glanced between the two of us. Clearly, she could tell something was up, but the pieces didn't seem to be clicking. After a moment, she gave a wary nod. "I'm fine, really. Just tired."

She truly was tired. Ciara and I had to take turns helping her up the stairs, and by the time we got to the room of requirement, she seemed completely worn out. As soon as we walked in, Nico jumped up from where he'd been sitting, an alarmed look on her face. "Is she still sick?"

"I'm fine," Poppy insisted. She sank down on a pile of pillows that had appeared on the ground, then cast a frown at all three of us. "What's going on?"

I sat down as Nico and Ciara glanced at each other, seeming to have some sort of silent battle about who would tell her. That wasn't going to work out well. I sighed and looked down. "I'm really sorry."

"Hold on, don't start like that." Nico sat down a few feet away, already frowning at me. "Start with 'everything turned out fine in the end,' at least."

Poppy's eyes grew wide in alarm. "What did you do?"

"It wasn't Wren's fault," Ciara said quickly. "We pressured her into it."

"And it was my idea in the first place," Nico added, looking down. "Since you were sick, it seemed like a good time..."

Poppy's eyes darted between them before she glanced at me. "What happened?"

Though I wanted to look away, I forced myself to meet her eyes. "We talked to Rinduli."

She sat back a bit, alarm replaced by wariness. "What do you mean, 'talked to Rinduli'?"

"We just wanted Wren to ask her a question," Ciara explained. "It... it kind of spiraled from there."

Between the three of us, we managed to get across what had happened in an only-slightly confusing way. Throughout, Poppy's expression grew stonier and stonier, and I found myself looking down at the pillows more as we went.

Once we'd finished (with the fact that Haverna was handling it all now), there was a long minute of silence as Poppy seemed to process all of that. I was tapping my fingers across the pillow next to me compulsively. When I pulled my hand into my lap to stop, I ended up just twisting my sleeve around nervously.

Finally, Poppy let out a breath. "What on earth made you think this was a good idea?"

"It was only a—"

"It wasn't only a question!" She'd actually snapped back at Ciara, who seemed surprised. I winced without meaning to. "You had to know it wouldn't be just a question."

"We weren't expecting her to notice Ciara or me," Nico explained. "There was no way we could have—"

"You absolutely could have known, if you'd thought about this at all!" Poppy's frown had turned into a glare now, and I had to fight the urge to shrink away. "You had Wren ask the most suspicious question she could have asked with you in the room! What did you expect to happen?"

Nico's jaw twitched. "Honestly, I just didn't think she'd be as quick a draw as me if something went wrong."

Her mouth dropped open. "Are you completely mad?"

"Listen, it all turned out fine in the end, so is it really that big a deal?" Ciara bit her lip. "Actually, I'd say it turned out really good."

"You had no clue that would happen," Poppy pointed out. "You didn't even suspect anything like that! This was the only possible good outcome, and it wasn't even a possibility!" She shook her head like she was getting too angry for her words to come out right. "This is the dumbest, most idiotic, stupidest plan I've ever heard of! How could you even think about doing something like this?"

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "You're right. We weren't thinking about what could go wrong."

"Clearly!" She gestured at all three of us. "Are you mad? Were you even thinking at all?"

"Poppy..." Nico had closed his eyes. "I promise you, we're all aware of what a stupid idea this was. Haverna made sure of that. But we can't do anything about it now, okay? It's over, and everything turned out fine, so can't we let it go?"

To my surprise, Poppy seemed to deflate. As she took a shaky breath, I realized there were tears pooling in her eyes. "I... I'm sorry. I just... you could have all been arrested, or killed—" Her voice cracked, and she took a second to breathe before continuing. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you three, after everyone else... and you didn't even think about what could have happened..."

Without thinking, I scooted closer to Poppy and put my arms around her. To my relief, she leaned into my embrace instead of pushing me away. I stroked her hair, unsure what to say.

Ciara sighed. "I'm sorry, Poppy. If something had happened..." She shook her head. "That would have been cruel. I get that."

"It was stupid, and it wasn't fair to you." Nico was tracing the pattern on a pillow beside him instead of looking up, as if he couldn't bear to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry. Really."

Poppy sniffled and sat up, taking a deep breath as she did. "I... I mean, it's over now. I'm so glad you're okay..."

"Do you want to hear more about Rinduli, or should we find something else to talk about?" Ciara asked gently.

"Tell me everything." Poppy glanced around at the three of us. "What do you think of her? How was she acting?"

"Oh, she's an absolute prick still." Nico rolled his eyes. "Should've known that wouldn't change."

"Wren was the only one she didn't seem to hate. Maybe she won't be as bad after Haverna's talked to her, though?"

"She's just a disagreeable person in general," Nico argued. "It's not—"

"I don't think you're a good judge of disagreeableness," Ciara snapped. "You're worse than—"

"Please stop. You're hurting my head." Poppy winced. "Maybe I don't want to hear about any of this right now."

"They'll stop arguing," I assured her, casting a disapproving frown at Ciara and Nico. "There isn't that much left to tell, though."

"She thinks Nico and I are insufferable, and she can talk forever." Ciara shrugged. "I suppose we already knew that."

"Having Petrov sit in on her classes must have been his idea," Nico said musingly. "Maybe he's suspicious?"

"Of what? She's better at hiding her loyalties than you are," Ciara said.

"It might be different with the staff when they're not with students," Poppy suggested. "Or maybe he's just suspicious in general."

Nico shook his head. "He's barely spoken a word to me beyond what he had to."

"I mean..." Poppy winced, shooting him an apologetic glance. "You've proven your 'loyalty' to Stillens a little more drastically than she has, haven't you?"

For a moment, Nico just blinked at her, his face growing paler. He ended up nodding slightly and looking down. "Right. That's fair."

"You mean by killing Professor Potter?" Ciara guessed. She shot a disdainful look at him. "You'd think that would've been enough, wouldn't you?"

I opened my mouth to steer the conversation in a different direction before Ciara stormed out, as she was apt to do after Nico apologized for her being kidnapped. Before I could, though, Nico had turned to her with narrowed eyes. "He can seein my head, Ciara. Of course Stillens knew."

She blinked at him in surprise for a moment, like she couldn't quite believe he'd snapped back instead of apologizing. Honestly, I felt the same way. Before Poppy or I could change the subject, though, Ciara had recovered enough to respond, "Oh, I suppose you're not sorry anymore?"

"Of course I'm sorry!" Nico rolled his eyes. "Once you've apologized four dozen times, it starts to go without saying. But I can't bloody well go back and change what happened, okay? I don't know what you want me to do if agreeing with you is going to make you angry. No one's forcing you to be around me, you know. I can't help it if your only friends want to talk to me every once in a while."

Poppy glanced unsurely at me, but I wasn't sure how to defuse this situation any more than she was. Ciara was staring at him as if she couldn't even form her thoughts into words, which didn't seem like a good sign. I hadn't seen her get angry enough to be speechless before.

Nico raised an eyebrow at her. "Well? What do you want from me, exactly?"

She blinked, brow furrowing. "I... I don't know," she finally said, casting a glance around the circle. "It's like... I don't know. I'm still angry."

I heard a sigh, and glanced over to see Nico deflating a bit. I don't know what he'd been expecting to happen; I certainly hadn't expected this much uncertainty. Gently, I reached out and patted her knee. "Who are you angry with?"

Ciara's eyes were a little misty when they met mine, and she took a moment to answer. When she did speak, it was in a whisper. "I'm not sure."

Was it a good idea to press her on that, or just good her space and see if she elaborated? I couldn't tell—most of the time Ciara was perfectly reasonable, but something about her anger here wasn't at all. Considering she'd been more than willing to work with him both in getting me to agree to their plan and carrying it out, I wasn't convinced that she really was only mad at him. Deep down, she had to know as well as the rest of us that her kidnapping wasn't Nico's fault, and the very doubts that had prompted Stillens to hold something over his head were what had led him to this point, actively fighting against Stillens.

My thoughts were interrupted by Ciara clearing her throat. "I, um... I suppose it's just easier to angry at you," she said quietly. "Stillens seems too big for it to stick."

Nico nodded slowly, seeming surprised. "Can I do anything? To... make it a little better, somehow?"

She shrugged and looked down. "How should I know?" A deep sigh, then she shook her head. "I don't really want to talk about this anymore."

I didn't press her, not then. We went back to speculating about Petrov and Rinduli and Cantha, and Ciara only seemed minorly subdued. Later that night, after all my roommates had fallen asleep, I asked her if she really was still angry with Nico. She took so long to answer that I thought she'd fallen asleep, but ended up saying no, she didn't think so. She didn't want to be his friend, but he wasn't the one who needed to face consequences. Stillens was.

~~~~

Over the next few days, we found out that Isla Foster had decided that she wanted to stay at Hogwarts and learn how to lie to her fake aunt and uncle. Poppy was the one who let me know; Haverna had decided that it was probably best for Isla to associate with us as little as possible, especially me. Nico wasn't sure if any of the staff had been tasked with keeping an eye on Isla and Ryder (he certainly hadn't), but it wasn't worth taking chances. Eviana was more than capable of keeping us up to date on how she was doing.

Lily and I got to use the mirror Mrs. Potter had given me to catch up with her once, but she was often too busy to talk. I know that was disappointing for Lily, who hadn't seen her mom since August. I think she also wanted to ask if there'd been some miraculous breakthrough and there was news on how Albus was doing. I was almost glad Mrs. Potter wasn't available very often, because Lily had been so crushed afterwards that she'd spent twenty minutes crying into my arms over him. It was horrible seeing her in that kind of pain, especially when I was feeling nearly the same thing.

There had been two more broadcasts at school. One was blasted through the halls somehow (they finally found the radio hiding inside a mop bucket in one of the dungeon broom closets). Astra was still talking about the detention centers and how horrible they were, based on eyewitness accounts from "recently escaped prisoners." I couldn't decide whether it was more likely that the DA made that up to cover the fact that they'd gotten people inside, or if someone had actually escaped. Either way, she called out James' recent PSA that most people sent to the detention centers only stayed there for a day or two. Apparently, James was the scum of the earth for suggesting otherwise. Lacy whirled around to see my reaction to that during class, but at least she only seemed mildly disappointed when I shrugged it off.

The second broadcast happened in the middle of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin quidditch match, which was far more disruptive than either of the other two had been. Poppy and I were sitting with Lacy, Rose, and Iris at the time, who got caught in either agitated or excited whispering as soon as it started. This one, like several others that we'd heard about happening across the country, was about Mordecai Ridley's trial, and specifically the part I'd played in it (apparently, she'd already thoroughly dragged Cecilee Hardins through the mud for it). Astra claimed that he was completely innocent and I'd lied in front of the Wizengamot. While she admitted that I'd "shown the ability to be manipulated and used in the past," so there could be "more things at play" than simply lying for the sake of it, the point of the broadcast was that the trial was a sham and people should be protesting it.

After Kimmel had finally gotten it shut down and threatened to turn the perpetrators over to the authorities, I'd halfway expected Lacy to confront me about what Astra had said, but she didn't. All that happened was Iris asking if hearing Astra say all that had shaken me, because I looked pale. Poppy ended up pulling me off toward the castle before the match ended.

It was very odd, honestly. It felt like half the school was disgusted with me, pulling faces or veering away when they passed me in the hall. It couldn't really have been that many, of course. I knew most of the school didn't have any connections to the DA or reasons to believe Astra without proof, but at least half (if not more) of the N.E.W.T.-level students were solidly in agreement with her, and most of them weren't being as kind about it was my roommates.

The odd part was that I'd also had people coming up to me and expressing how frustrated they were by all this slander when I was clearly just trying to support the Ministry, which was trying to get rid of Stillens. Most of them were people I'd never really spoken to before—students from our year that I never saw outside of class, like Thyme Lowell and Trevor Haspin, or younger students who seemed like they had to get up their courage to come give me their support, like several of the fifth year prefects. I didn't know how to respond to any of them. They were all misinformed, obviously, and it was so hard to just smile and thank them instead of telling them the truth about what James and I were doing.

On that topic, after Brigitte had cornered me at the last prefect meeting I'd owled James that I had a "friend" who was interested in his "club," and he could meet her at the next Hogsmeaade visit. I was wary about putting a lot of hope in Brigitte to be reasonable and trustworthy, but if she turned out to be someone to recruit, there was a chance we could find like-minded people at Hogwarts to join the Friends. I wasn't very excited on the idea of helping lead a chapter here by myself, or even with Ciara, but... well, if James thought it was a good idea, I'd go along with it.

Coincidentally, Poppy claimed she still needed to rest from being sick and would skip this visit, leaving Ciara and me to go by ourselves. We'd talked about whether she should come, be part of this potential group, but she'd ended up deciding it would be too suspicious. She, Al, and Colette had been pretty outspoken about their support of the DA, after all. Anyway, she was still dating Albus, well known to have a very passionate hatred of James. She didn't want Brigitte getting suspicious and poking around where she didn't belong.

So it was just Ciara and I making our way to the Hog's Head. James had vaguely mentioned bringing a friend, and I still hadn't figured out who it was. Eris was unfortunately the most likely answer, since she was his co-founder. I wasn't sure how Ciara would react to seeing her again in such a different context.

"Do you think she'll even show up?"

I blinked at Ciara for a moment before I realized she was talking about Brigitte, not reading my mind and asking about Eris. "She seemed like she would. I mean, she's odd, but she takes dark wizards seriously."

"True." Ciara sighed. "She's just a little annoying, you know? But I guess that's not the same thing as unreliable."

Without really thinking about it, I nodded. My mind had floated back to a worry I'd had for a few days, that was rapidly becoming more solid. James was going to be really upset when he heard about Rinduli. When I told him about it, that is, which had to be today. If things had gone poorly... if I turned out to be a "traitor to the Ministry," James would be implicated in that. It hadn't even occurred to me until afterwards that this could have hurt him as well.

"How angry do you think he'll be?" I asked softly.

I saw Ciara glance at me out of the corner of my eye. "Who?"

"James."

"Oh." She sighed, and I got the feeling she'd already known who I was talking about. "Nico and I can explain, all right? We forced you into it."

"No, I'm capable of saying no. I just didn't."

"Still, I'm sure he'll—"

"You're not telling him about it." I started twisting my sweater sleeve. "I just... how long do you think it'll take for him to forgive me?"

"I'd be surprised if he doesn't forgive you within five minutes." Ciara put her hand on my arm. "He doesn't hold grudges against you, you know. It'll be fine."

Instead of answering, I just looked down. Would it be fine? Or would this end up being really bad? Surely me not telling him about Zaria last year was worse. It had to be. He wouldn't want to break up with me over this.

Right?

"If you change your mind, I'm sure Nico will be here already, sulking around." Ciara patted my shoulder as we walked up to the pub. "Are you ready?"

She meant for this meeting with Brigitte, but I really needed to be ready for all of it. I closed my eyes. He'll forgive you. It'll be okay. "Ready enough."

The first person I saw was James, standing up from a table at the back of the pub. Without meaning to, the tenseness in my shoulders relaxed at the sight of his wide smile.

Though I'd braced myself for the sight of Eris, that wasn't who leaped out of a booth behind James. Laramie Cowles pushed past him to grab Ciara's hand and shake it vigorously and proclaim what a huge fan she was and how she couldn't be anything else when Fred never shut up about her. I just leaned into James' arm around me. It wasn't like I wasn't worried anymore—I was still feeling sick with anxiety. But somehow I also felt much safer? I don't know how to describe it.

At the muffliato-protected table, James outlined he and Eris's plans for after this meeting. If it somehow went well and Brigitte was cooperative, they wanted me to do exactly what I'd feared: help coordinate a force at Hogwarts. Of course, that was provided Brigitte was content to do it our way and focus on things like documenting and observing and preparing for what's to come. Apparently, the Friends at the Ministry were starting to pick up on something big coming, though no one had any idea what.

The aurors-in-training had been doing far more advanced exercises than they were supposed to be doing, and Eris had been seeing more and more meetings scheduled between the more suspicious high-ranking Ministry officials. In the Office of Misinformation, Kassian was pretty sure he'd stumbled across some completely fabricated "evidence of treason" against the old Minister, Hestia Carrow. Orlo had had to obvliate entire days sixteen different Ministry officials "for testing purposes," though he had been strictly told not to try to dig deeper than the full day. They had new friends in other departments, too, including a girl in the Department of Mysteries who had overheard a top spellmaker complaining that he'd been asked to make a "fourth Unforgivable Curse" and a few friends in the Department of Magical Transportation whose departments had started theorizing (but only theorizing!) ways covertly bring thousands of wizards to locations around the UK.

With all that happening, I understood why James had so quickly agreed to meet Brigitte. Keeping an eye on things at Hogwarts was probably a good idea, especially since Kimmel was such a staunch supporter of the Ministry. Brigitte's off-putting personality was something we'd have to deal with.

Of course, if Brigitte turned out to be uncooperative, the plan was to convince her we were a hopeless group of idiots so she wouldn't give us a second thought.

"Ah, speak of the devil," James muttered, nodding towards the door. I turned to see Brigitte, cloak pulled over her head as she casually strolled into the pub, casting a glance around. I had to admit, she knew how to act like she had nothing to hide. I let her notice me instead of waving her over.

Brigitte raised an eyebrow as she walked up to our table. "You didn't tell me you'd invited me to a party, Predatel." I saw her brow furrowing in confusion as her eyes glanced around the table. "What is this?"

"Have a seat," James said instead of answering. He nodded towards Ciara and Laramie. "I suppose you all know each other?"

Brigitte frowned at them for a moment. "Okay, I get Malfoy, but what's Laramie Cowles doing here? Didn't you graduate a while ago?"

"It's only been two years!" She smiled widely as if Brigitte wasn't scowling at her. "James and I are friends."

"You are?" Another skeptical eyebrow raised. "Is this a joke?"

"Not at all." James leaned forward. "I brought Laramie because I thought she could balance your unflappable bad mood, actually. Now, what do you want?"

That caught her off guard. She glanced at me for a second, then shrugged and crossed her arms. "You're the ones who invited me here."

"Why do you think we did that?"

She opened her mouth immediately, but closed it again as if she'd reconsidered. The scowl on her face faded to a frown. "You're fighting back, and I want in."

"Fighting back against what?" Laramie asked innocently.

"Stillens, obviously." Brigitte paused. "And... I guess you're fighting his influence in the Ministry, aren't you?"

"Fighting?" Laramie's eyes widened as if the very concept appalled her. "What do you mean, fighting?"

"Oh, drop it. Listen, I know you're not with the DA, so you're not running around dueling dark wizards at the Ministry. What is it, espionage?"

James leaned forward. "Listen, I'm going to be honest. I'm a little concerned that you can't do this subtly."

"Excuse me?"

"Like you said, it's not like we're walking around confronting people." He leaned back, shrugging casually before draping his arm over my shoulder. "I think you might struggle with that."

"I wouldn't."

I hadn't been expecting her to deny that so immediately. It wasn't a wild accusation; surely Brigitte had to know that. Ciara was the one who spoke up first. "You threatened to duel Adalyn Lostry in the dorm hallway a week ago."

"I can lay off." She shrugged. "That's just her, after all. No one could possibly think I have anything on her if I'm shouting about it, anyway."

"You have something on her?" James asked before I could stop him.

"I had a source close to the DA confirm that she's close to getting in with Stillens."

We all stared at her for a moment. Nico would never have told her that, and she never would have asked. Poppy had said something about her trying to pull favors with Albus in the fall... Surely he wouldn't have...

"Your brother." She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, a satisfied smirk on her face. "I'd say he's a reliable source for DA intel."

Unfortunately, James had gone as white as a sheet at the mention of his brother. I put my hand over his and frowned at Brigitte. "Have you gotten any evidence to prove that?"

"I've gotten some really incriminating recordings from my bug in the hospital wing."

I couldn't help blinking at her. In fact, everyone was. Laramie's mouth had dropped open. I shook my head slowly. "You bugged the hospital wing? How?"

"I 'sprained my wrist' trying to practice a spell to get in, then planted it behind the shield above the door when Cantha left me unsupervised for a moment."

"That's four meters high," James pointed out.

"Wingardium leviosa then a sticking charm. It's not that hard."

"How does the bug work?" Laramie asked, frowning. "It's one of those muggle ones?"

"Inspired by it. I got a small microphone and fiddled with it until it could pick up sounds from meters away. That was the tricky bit. The rest of the magic was just linking it to a quill and long roll of parchment that'll record everything that's said there." Brigitte's face had relaxed into something like a smile, but she seemed to catch herself then and frowned. "Cantha's suspicious, too, you know."

I nodded. "She is. That's... that's incredible, Brigitte."

"It would've been better if I could've gotten into her office, but she guards that place with her life. Adalyn's the only one who can get in."

James nodded slowly. "Okay. Brilliant. I don't suppose you remember how you made that?"

"I wrote it all down. I'm not a moron."

He nodded again, clearly processing all that. "That's... honestly, that's exactly what we're looking for."

She perked up. "For what?"

James glanced at Laramie, then leaned in. "We're part of an organization... a society, really, of like-minded Friends."

"Friends of a Better Future, technically," Laramie cut in.

James rolled his eyes. "Friends for short. Anyway... currently we only have members at the Ministry, but we'd like to expand..." Brigitte's eyes widened, and for the first time ever all the animosity in her expression had disappeared. James grinned. "We could really use your spying skills, Brigitte, here and at the Ministry."

"What would that look like, exactly?"

"We're not the DA," Ciara said immediately. "We're not having weekly meetings or training sessions or whatever."

"Right now, we're mainly focused on gathering evidence and recruitment." James raised an eyebrow. "We're very picky about members, okay? You can't go telling people about us."

Brigitte laughed darkly. "I haven't got any friends, Potter. I don't think you have to worry about that."

"Well, you've got some Friends now." Laramie bounced in her seat. "This is so exciting!"

"Wren's in charge," James said, a very serious contrast to Laramie. "Whatever she says, you do. Got it?"

"Yep." Brigitte stood up. "Is there anything else?"

James frowned for a moment, then glanced at Laramie. "See if you can get in touch with Eris and have her meet you here. She'll be better with the technical spell stuff than I am."

"Got it!" Laramie grabbed Brigitte's arm and dragged her over to the bar. A moment later, the very put-out bartender handed them a key to one of the private rooms upstairs.

When I turned back to Ciara, she looked had a disgusted look on her face. "I still can't believe it's Eris."

James rolled his eyes. "I think that every day. She made me organize my office last week, you know."

"Oh, what torture." I leaned my head against his shoulder. "Good for her, honestly."

Ciara's frown had turned thoughtful, and after a moment she sighed. "If she's going to onboard Brigitte, I guess it might help if I was there, right? So Wren and I can do this on our own here?"

James blinked in surprise. "I hadn't even thought of that. Yeah, that's probably a great idea."

"Besides, that'll give you two some time alone." She smiled at me as she stood up. "I'll be upstairs if you need me, Wren."

If James thought that was an odd way to say bye, he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he produced another key out of his pocket with a grin, and we headed upstairs.

I'd thought of a dozen different ways to start and none of them sounded good at all. As we walked into a tiny sitting room that could barely contain the moldy couch inside, I took a deep breath. James made some comment about the couch that I barely heard. All I could do was look down, try to find some words.

"What's wrong?" James asked, taking my hand as he did. I bit my lip and looked up. He looked so concerned now, but he was about to be so angry...

"I did something stupid."

I watched him try to process that, confusion flashing across his face, followed by a new kind of concern. "What do you mean?"

Now I dropped my eyes again. "Ciara and Nico suggested I ask Professor Rinduli if she knew anything about the missing children, and I did, but..." I sighed. "We weren't planning on doing anything. Nico wasn't going to try to restore her memory right there; they weren't even going to talk to her, but she realized something was off. And she figured out Nico was a spy, and that we couldn't possibly be supporting Russey, and—"

"Hold on." James's breath was coming too quickly. "She... she knows that? How are you still here?"

"That's... that's where we got really lucky..." I swallowed, squeezing my eyes closed. "She's one of them, the missing children... and she remembered it all. She somehow got through without being obliviated, and I guess she's trying to get away from Stillens? Professor Haverna's taking care of it now."

When I opened my eyes again, James was blinking at me like he had whiplash. "I'm sorry, what?"

I nodded, not sure which part he was finding unbelievable, considering all of it was. "I... I know it was a horrible thing to do, and incredibly thoughtless and stupid and we could have died or been hurt or I... I could have blown your cover, and I'm so sorry, James. I'm so sorry."

He stared at me. I forced myself to hold his gaze, to not wilt as shock slowly gave way to anger. "What the... I mean, Wren, what were you thinking? They talked you into it?"

"It's not their fault," I said, shaking my head. "I—"

"You're supposed to be the one who doesn't do stupid things!" James exploded. He stepped back, staring at me like he couldn't believe it was actually me. "What happened to being reasonable? Even I would've known that was absolutely mad!"

I nodded, looking down. "I know. You could've been implicated, I kn—"

"That's not what I care about! Hell, Wren, you could have died. She could've gotten you sent right back to Stillens! And you didn't think about that at all?"

We both knew the answer to that. I blinked quickly, trying to dispel the tears that were forming. Pulled my arms around myself tightly, trying to hide the fact that I was trembling. I couldn't think of anything to say anymore—my mind was just alarm bells ringing, red lights flashing, telling me to run or hide even though I knew I couldn't do either of those things. Didn't need to. James wasn't going to hurt me.

He finally shook his head. "You can't do things like this, Wren! I mean... I'd expect that from Astra, but you... you're supposed to be smarter than that! What's wrong with you?"

He'd started gesturing at me, and I flinched in spite of myself. Immediately James froze, then took a step back. "I'm scaring you."

"No, it's..." I glanced up at him. How was I supposed to explain it? When I get yelled at, I can't help feeling like I'm going to get hurt, like it's my mother? That was ridiculous. Irrational. I ended up shaking my head slightly. "It's not your fault."

"I shouldn't be yelling at you," he said softly. "And I'm saying things I don't mean... I'm sorry." At least the anger had gone out of his expression, replaced by concern and maybe a bit of regret. For a moment we just stood there, me hugging myself tightly and trying in vain to relax so I wasn't so visibly tense. James was watching me, hesitating, but he ended up drawing closer and pulling me into his arms.

My throat tightened as I found myself pressed against his chest. "Really, Jamie, it doesn't have anything to do with you." A sob was threatening to find its way out of me, and I took a deep breath before continuing. "It's all right."

"No," he murmured into my hair. "It's not all right. I need to learn how to be upset without lashing out at you, my love." At that, he pulled back a bit to look at my face, like he was trying to make sure I was okay. I gave him a faint smile, which he returned for only a moment.

"I... it's just..." He sighed and shook his head. "You're so reckless with your own safety, Wren. You frighten me, sometimes."

His eyes seemed to be searching mine for an answer, some explanation for that. I didn't have one. I never meant to be reckless or put myself in danger. Not without a good reason, at least. I lowered my eyes. "I'm not trying to. I just... I don't know, I guess I'm just put in those situations more often. No one else could do it, or I'm the most expendable person there, or—"

"Don't you dare say that." I started and looked back up at the change in tone. To my relief, James didn't seem angry; his brows were knit together in concern, maybe even that fear he'd mentioned.

"Wren, listen to me." He gently tilted my chin up with one hand and leaned closer so that our faces were only inches away from each other. If he hadn't been so serious, I might've thought he was about to kiss me. Instead, he studied my face for a moment before continuing. "You are never expendable. Not to me, not to anyone who cares about you." He bit his lip and shook his head. "Maybe you don't think your life is inherently valuable, but it is to me. If you have to remind yourself of that to keep yourself safe, please do. You're too precious to put yourself in danger like that, and even if you're only precious to me and not yourself, isn't that enough?"

My lip was trembling, tears about to start flowing, so I nodded as best I could. "I... I'm sorry..."

"Don't be, love. I just... I need you to know how important you are. To me, and to Mum and Lily, and all your friends." His eyes closed, and he leaned forward so that his forehead was resting on mine. "I need you to remember that."

"Okay," I whispered. "I love you."

I could hear the smile in his voice at that. "I know. I love you, too." He shifted a little, and I opened my eyes as he pulled back a few inches. "I'm sorry I got so upset. Really. I'm just glad you're safe."

"It's okay." I slipped my hand into his and smiled up at him. "Poppy made us swear not to pull anything like this every again, if that makes you feel better."

He nodded, his smile still dim. "I wish I could be here to protect you."

"Oh, Jamie..." I sighed and looked down, squeezing his hand as I did. "You know you can't do that, not really. We're in a war."

"I can try. I will try. I'm not going to let any of them hurt you again, Wren."

He was being ridiculous, of course. He'd said things like last year, before the manor raid, and he hadn't been able to do anything to stop that. But standing here, pressed up against him in this cramped and dirty sitting room, I really wanted it to be true. I leaned into him and felt his arm circling my waist, pulling me closer, and somehow I felt safe. Like for a moment, the world was much smaller, and James really could protect me from anything that was out there.

~~~~

Question of the Day: You can have ONE cliche Harry Potter OC trait. What's it going to be?

Answer: There are so many good answers but I'm going to have to go with being perfecta at magic without any practice or training because that would feed my need to constantly be better than other people.

Vote and comment!

~Elli

Word count: 6870