~Wren~

Despite the fact that final exams were only month away, school was the last thing on anyone's mind. The buzz of energy throughout the student body rose so high that the professors seemed to give up on teaching at some point in the week. In herbology, Milligan literally just threw his hands up and said we'd pick up the curriculum on Monday. Though he was the only one going that far, even Haverna had decided our charms class on Thursday would be a "review day," and paid no attention when not a single person even opened their notes.

Ciara was so busy making plans with Brigitte that we hardly saw her. Of course, I would've been more than welcome to join, but I was trying to not think about the execution at all. It wasn't like I needed to do anything to prepare for it. Ciara would fill me in on anything I needed to know, anyway.

In all likelihood, James and I would be stuck in some cordoned-off section with the rest of Russey's inner circle until the fighting started. After that, it would be just like every other battle I'd ever been in: overwhelming, dangerous, and terrifying. My instincts would kick in, most likely—I wasn't afraid for myself. But James and I would be fighting side-by-side for the first time, and the closest he'd ever been to a battle was the New Year's Eve party my parents crashed, which hadn't really been that much of a battle at all. I don't think James had even made it inside before the fighting stopped. He seemed confident enough when he was talking with Ciara and Brigitte and Eris, but I couldn't help but wonder how much of that confidence was due to only having his imagination to go off of.

He hadn't been at the Ministry fifth year. He hadn't been there for the DA raid. He'd been knocked out when my parents had kidnapped him years ago, unconscious while Astra, Colette, and Scorpius did all the fighting. Only Astra and Albus had fought Sulcan and his basilisk. Even when my father had ambushed the Triwizard Tournament, it was clear after the fact that none of them had been shooting to kill, only to cause chaos.

James had never really been in combat beyond dueling other students at school. What if he froze? What if he was too confident and forgot to be careful? What if someone managed to sneak up behind him? What if his shield charm didn't hold out quite long enough? What if he did something reckless?

What if I couldn't protect him?

I wished I could talk to him about it all, but to do that I would've had to explain it to Brigitte when I asked to use her telephone contraption. That seemed like a perfect way to get her to draft me into the practice and training sessions they'd been running all week, which was the complete opposite of what I wanted. And since Ciara was so involved in all of that, I couldn't be entirely sure she wouldn't do the exact same thing, and unintentionally guilt trip me while doing it.

So I kept my thoughts to myself for the better part of the week. No one seemed too concerned that I was withdrawn—everyone was acting a little off in one way or another. Ciara was investing all her free time in the Friends, Nico had taken to carrying at least one of the snakes around at all times again, and even Poppy was anxious enough to fiddle with the strap of her bag at every opportunity. On top of that, Adalyn had been sitting with Nico during meals lately. Because of this development, Brigitte wanted to start tracking Nico, too, but I guess Ciara managed to convince her not to worry about it until after the execution.

I guess what I'm saying is that if anything, my being withdrawn was the most normal thing happening.

Now it was Friday. Two days until the world as we knew it was irrevocably changed, for good or for bad. Half of our class didn't even bother to show up for Herbology, which Millligan pretended not to notice as he passed out very normal-looking daises and asked us to repot them, but only if we wanted something peaceful to do.

Almost immediately, Trevor spun around on his stool and leaned onto the table Poppy and I were seated at. He cast an uncertain glance at Poppy, but as she was staring out the window, clearly lost in anxious thought, he said, "Brigitte's really convinced you're some sort of soldier, you know?"

I looked down at the pot of daisies in front of me. White and yellow were pretty peaceful colors, weren't they? Milligan had chosen well. "I don't know why she'd think that."

"She thinks your family trained you like... like some kind of assassin."

"They didn't." I glanced up at him for a moment before reaching for an empty pot. "Why's she saying that?"

"I told her it was bullshit." Trevor shrugged. "She wasn't here first year, you know? You weren't like... some ninja, running around dueling people. You... well..."

As he trailed off, I pursed my lips. "What? I was a coward? Cursing people when their back was turned?"

He blinked in surprise. "I was going to say you were under the imperius curse, actually."

"Oh." I sighed, fiddling with the petals on one of the flowers instead of moving to repot it. "I... right. I'm sorry."

"No, you're okay. We're all high strung this week, it feels like." He rolled his eyes. "You should see Arthur Longbottom and his friends. You'd think they're preparing for Armageddon."

"I mean... it's good to be prepared. If fighting breaks out..."

"Yeah, yeah, battle and blood and all of that." Trevor sat back against his own table. "I was just wondering if you really knew more dueling magic than the rest of us. Your parents never taught you anything?"

Slowly, I shook my head. "Nothing you want to learn. It was all really dark magic."

"Come on, is it that bad?"

"Is the cruciatus curse that bad?"

"Oh." He paused. "Fair point, I guess." Another moment passed, and it was like I watched the confidence seep out of him like water from a squeezed sponge. "It's just... well, I don't know. A battle... I mean, it sounds exciting, but I know it isn't, not really. And none of us know what we're doing."

I looked down, trying to figure out how to make him feel better without lying, how to agree without throwing him into despair. "I... honestly, I don't know, either."

"What?"

"You'll never really be prepared," I whispered. "No matter how many times you've fought people... it doesn't get easier. The only thing you can do is make sure you're not alone. Look out for each other, and trust they're looking out for you, too."

When I finally met his eyes again, Trevor had a resigned look on his face. "Yeah, that's what you said at the meeting. There aren't any other tricks to it?"

I shook my head. "Your goal is try not to let you or your friends die. The rest of it kind of just happens around you."

"Right." Trevor frowned. "I guess it's normal that we're scared, then?"

"I'd be concerned if you weren't, to be honest."

"Well... you might want to talk to Brigitte, then..." Trevor chuckled. "I don't think she's ever been this excited in her life. Might want to give her some more realistic expectations?"

I smiled a little and nodded, though on the inside I wanted to bang my head on the table. Of course she wasn't taking this as seriously as she should have. The last thing I wanted to do was spend an hour explaining to Brigitte why a battle was a bad thing. Maybe Ciara would be willing to do it...?

Trevor's gaze had drifted away from me, and I realized he was frowning at Poppy. "Hey, are you all right?"

Poppy started, turning to blink at us with wide eyes. "I... yeah, I'm fine..."

"You've just been staring at nothing for like five minutes, is all..."

"It's nothing," she said quickly, flashing a smile that seemed to satisfy Trevor but looked kind of forced to me. "Just... you know, there's a lot going on right now..." She shrugged. "Nothing to worry about."

"Okay." Trevor was already glancing over his shoulder at where Reya and Jackson were whispering a few tables up from us. "I think I'm going to see if they need any help. With... with the daisies..."

"Have fun," I said as he started off, pursing my lips to keep from smiling. Trevor was lucky Poppy already knew about the Friends, because that had been pretty suspicious.

"What was he talking about?" Poppy asked, turning to me. "I wasn't really paying attention."

"Just asking what a battle's like." I tilted my head a little. "What's wrong?"

She laughed nervously. "Beyond everything, you mean?"

I frowned at her for a moment, and she ended up looking away. "I'm just... scared. That's all."

"About something in particular?"

Poppy glanced at me for a moment before pulling her pot of daisies closer to her. For a moment, I thought she wasn't going to answer me, but she slowly shook her head. "Do you know much about World War II?"

I blinked at her, trying to figure out how she'd gotten there. "I... um, I think so?"

She sighed and looked down. "Before the war ended, when it became clear that the Allies were going to win, the Nazis tried to destroy evidence of all the deaths in the Holocaust. And... sometimes that included simply killing the people who had survived." She pursed her lips, clearly trying to put her thoughts into words. "Obviously, I know Stillens hasn't done anything on the scale of the Holocaust. But... I mean... even if we win, who's to say he won't try the same thing?"

"I don't think he'll be able to destroy that much," I said slowly. Clearly, I was missing her point—I couldn't imagine why she'd be this worked up about evidence. "He documents everything too well, and he's not the only one who has records..."

Poppy was shaking her head, so I trailed off, giving her a chance to explain. "I'm not so worried about that," she said quietly. "More the... what if... what if they decide to kill their prisoners instead of let them be rescued?"

A chill went down my spine at her words. They might kill Colette? That hadn't occurred to me, though now that she said it, it made perfect sense. But... no, that couldn't happen. It was too horrible...

"I'm so worried about them," Poppy whispered. There were tears pooling her eyes. "If there's anyone Welling would kill simply out of spite, don't you think it'd be Albus and Colette?"

At that, I froze. Of course Poppy didn't know Colette had disappeared from the detention centers altogether. She didn't know Albus was perfectly safe, less than three miles from where we were sitting. And she couldn't know, not without me breaking a promise to Albus about something it wasn't even my right to say. But she was on the verge of tears, clearly so worried about both of them...

"I can't... I mean..." She dropped her head into her hands. "This sounds so selfish, I know, but... if we win, but they don't make it out... it'll still feel like losing."

"That's not selfish," I whispered. "Not at all."

She didn't look up. The way her shoulders were shaking pointed to the fact that she'd started crying in earnest. "I don't... I mean, I can't... how am I supposed to... to deal with that?"

I hesitated. Even if I'd told her about Albus, I still wouldn't have known how to comfort her. Stillens had no qualms with killing, of course, and it wasn't a stretch to think that he'd rather murder my friend than let her come back to us. To be honest, I think he would've done the same with me if he'd known I was going to escape in December. So the only comforting things I could think of were complete lies. Poppy was too smart to believe any of that.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. Gently, I patted her shoulder. "I wish I could make it better."

She sat up a little, wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be putting this on you. There's nothing we can do about it..."

"Poppy..." I shook my head. "If this is worrying you, I want you to tell me about it. I can't be here for you if I don't know what you're going through, can I?"

"Right." Poppy smiled sadly at me. "It's just... I know nothing's happened, but I'm still so scared..."

It was a valid fear, which I knew made it a thousand times worse. But it was also completely inaccurate, at least in Albus's case. And I couldn't tell her that, all because Albus was too scared. If he could see her right now, wouldn't he drop this immediately? Couldn't I tell her?

But it wasn't my place. I was well aware of what meddling in someone else's relationship could entail, even when one person clearly seems to be wrong. I couldn't do that to Albus, even if it might give Poppy some relief right now. Maybe I could convince him next week, tell him how distraught she was. Whether we won or lost, he couldn't keep hiding from her.

But none of that gave me anything to say right now. I pursed my lips, trying to think of anything Poppy might have missed in her reasoning. "Um... I mean, the DA has people undercover in the detention centers, you know. Maybe they'll be able to protect them."

Poppy glanced over at me, eyes searching my face as if to see if I actually believed that. Well, it certainly would've been true if either of them were still in a detention center, so this wasn't quite a lie. After a moment, she nodded a bit. "I didn't think about that."

I flashed her a small smile. "Listen, if this execution ends up being as big as we think it will, Stillens might even pull most of the staff from the centers to be at the battle. Welling might not be able to do anything very quickly. Or... honestly, he might even come to the execution himself."

"Why would he do that?"

"He..." I hesitated. "He takes a lot of pleasure in causing other people pain. A battle seems like the kind of place he'd thrive in."

"Oh. Right." Poppy looked down. "I suppose that's good."

"It's all right to be scared for them." I reached over to take her hand. "You don't have to pretend it's okay."

For a moment, she just stared at her hand in mine, like she was searching for words. Finally, she took a shaky breath. "Thank you."

"Of course." I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, it'd all turn out fine and we'd make it through. But we both knew that wasn't guaranteed. It wasn't like I was feeling any differently, anyway.

Somehow, things only got worse as the day went on. A little after dinner, Professor Edwards came up to the common room looking for Elcie and Ciara. Kimmel had asked to see them, and though Professor Edwards always seemed nervous, today it might have been a little more than normal. Our fears were confirmed when they came back over an hour later. Apparently, their house had been attacked and their parents had had to flee to their Aunt Daphne's. No one had been hurt, but I could tell they were both really shaken. Elcie didn't leave Ciara's side for the rest of the night.

The next day didn't get better. There was another broadcast after breakfast, the fifth one this week. Astra told us all that the execution was a crime against humanity, and anyone with any decency had a duty to fight back tomorrow. I don't know where Lacy put the radio, but Kimmel and Filch didn't find it at all before the thirty-five minute broadcast stopped.

It all started to get weird around lunch. And by weird, I mean very, very bad.

The first clue that something was off came when Rinduli stopped by where Ciara, Poppy, and I were sitting at the Hufflepuff table. I cast a wary glance at the staff table—wouldn't Cantha think this was odd? Wouldn't Haverna be upset?—but neither of them were there yet. When I looked back up at Rinduli, she was smiling at me, and I had no idea what was hiding behind it.

"I was hoping you could stop by my office after lunch," she said as she handed me a stack of parchments that I recognized as an essay I'd turned in the week before. "I'd like to discuss your essay and some changes you might need to make."

Though I opened my mouth, I was too confused to even know what to ask her at first. She raised an eyebrow, pushing the papers closer to my hand, and I reached up to take them. "Oh. Um... what... I mean, is everything okay?"

Her smile didn't falter. "Just a few small issues. I think my notes on the last page will be particularly enlightening."

"Right." I blinked, but she'd already headed off toward the staff table.

"What did she write?" Ciara asked softly, leaning closer to me to look over my shoulder. I flipped to the back.

Something's VERY wrong. Come as soon as you can. Bring Nico and anyone else who's in the DA.

I blinked, trying to wrap my head around that. Something was wrong? She needed to talk to everyone here in the DA? Why couldn't she just go to Haverna?

Poppy pulled the paper out of my hand and put it face down on the table. "Let's not panic, okay?"

"Yeah, just breathe, Wren." Ciara's hand was on my arm, and I realized my breathing had grown shallower. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't... what does that even mean?"

"Exactly what it says, I'd assume," Ciara said, frowning at the paper. "Maybe Cantha's started suspecting her, and she wants your help throwing her off the trail."

"Why would she need anyone beyond us for that?" I asked. "Isn't that something she'd go to Haverna about first?"

Ciara and Poppy exchanged a glance. "I mean..." Poppy shrugged. "If it was really urgent, I'm sure Haverna would've talked to us herself. It can't be that bad."

"Maybe Haverna's caught a cold and she's stuck in the hospital wing," Ciara suggested with a laugh.

"Or she's trying to not draw too much attention to us or herself right now. It could be any number of things, Wren. No need to panic."

Even so, I found my appetite almost entirely gone. I spent the rest of lunch staring at the back of the page, trying in vain to think of what could have possibly gotten Rinduli so worked up.

Near the end of lunch, I left Poppy and Ciara to catch Nico and made my way over to where Lacy was sitting with the rest of the Gryffindor seventh years. Though Luke and Eric shot me nasty looks, I ignored them, focused only on Lacy. She raised an eyebrow at me as I stopped next to her and forced a smile. "Hey! Did you still want to talk about that transfiguration essay?"

Lacy blinked. "What?"

"You asked about it last night..." I turned a bit so that the rest of them couldn't see my expression, allowing me to give her an intense stare. "You said it was important."

"Oh." Lacy hesitated before nodding. "Right, I remember now. Um... yeah, let's do that."

"You couldn't just ask Rose?" Eric said. He rolled his eyes as I turned around to look at him. "You're really associating with her?"

"Shove off." Lacy stood up and glared at him. "I'm sorry I wanted to spend time with my friend." With a huff, she took my arm and pulled me away from the table. It wasn't until we'd left the Great Hall that she leaned over and whispered, "What's going on?"

"DA business, I guess." I pursed my lips. "I'm sure we'll all understand soon."

Lacy balked when we got to the defense against the dark arts classroom, but ended up following me up to Rinduli's office when I assured her it wasn't a trap. When we opened the door to see Nico already there, though, she nearly turned around and walked back out.

"Wait, no!" I moved to block the door, shaking my head quickly. "He's on our side. I promise."

Lacy stared at me for a moment before glaring at Nico. "He is, is he? I suppose Rinduli is too, then? Certainly not a trap."

"I wouldn't do that to you!" I steered her over to a chair that she didn't sit down in, but at least she only glared at the two of them instead of bolting for the door again.

"You can't be serious," Nico said before I could explain any more. "Lacy MacMillan?"

"Shut your bloody mouth!" she snapped. "What's going on here?"

Rinduli was watching the three of us with something like horror on her face. "You didn't tell her anything?"

"You didn't tell me anything. What was I supposed to say?" I glanced around the room. "Where's Haverna?"

"That's... that's the problem..." Rinduli was frowning at Lacy now. "You know, that makes so much sense. You're the one putting all those radios up?"

Lacy turned to glare at me. "Wren! Explanation, please!"

I winced. "You're going to have to trust me, okay? They're both... well, they're both part of the DA."

"Do you hear yourself? This is Nico Jasper! He... didn't he..."

"No," I said quickly, casting an anxious glance at Professor Rinduli. Right now didn't really seem like the best time to re-explain Magnus Caldwell. "He didn't. That was to cover for something else."

"What does that mean?"

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. When I frowned, Nico swore under his breath. "That damn fidelius charm."

Lacy's gaze bounced between the two of us for a second, but then she dropped down into the chair behind her, crossing her arms. "No way he's on our side. Impossible. What's really going on?"

Rinduli groaned and let her head drop into her hands. "You're all so annoying, you know that?"

"Ouch," Nico deadpanned, before grabbing one of the many cardboard boxes on Rinduli's desk and pulling it towards him. "Let's just call someone and have them tell her. Which one of these goes to Mr. Longbottom?"

I jumped as Rinduli loudly swore. "That's not going to work. That's the problem." She pulled the box back, which I now noticed was full of mirrors, the ones that I was pretty sure were normally in Haverna's desk drawer. "Listen. Something's gone down with the DA, I guess. Haverna had to disappear."

"What did you do to her?" Lacy demanded.

Nico's eyes had gone wide. "You don't mean... was there some sort of breach at headquarters?"

"That's impossible," I said, my voice sounding hollow.

"What did Haverna tell you?" Nico said, frowning at Rinduli as if he were the professor and she were the student. "Surely she didn't just shove all these boxes in your hands and take off?"

"Well... almost..." Rinduli put a hand up to her temple, staring forlornly at all the boxes. "She showed up at my door about an hour ago, told me we had to get everything out of her office as soon as possible. She'd been compromised, somehow. Or... no, she said her safehouse had been compromised? I don't under—"

Now Nico swore. "She must've meant the safehouse that's at her home. Headquarters."

"Oh no..." When I looked down at Lacy, she was staring at the piles of boxes with a scared, far away expression. "If something happened at headquarters, it would implicate her, wouldn't it?"

"You know where it is?" Nico asked incredulously.

"My mum's there, idiot." Lacy narrowed her eyes. "How do you know, exactly? I know you're working for Stillens. Both of you are!"

"I was working for Stillens," Nico corrected. "I'm spying on him, now. I'm more surprised that you're here, to be honest."

"You can't be serious. Didn't you kill Professor Potter?" Lacy gave an exasperated huff and turned to me. "What's really going on?"

I winced, though I wasn't sure why. "He's telling the truth. It's a long story."

"You'd better make it shorter, then." Lacy narrowed her eyes. "I have half a mind to call my dad."

"You can reach your dad?" Rinduli visibly relaxed. "I haven't been able to get hold of anyone."

I shook my head quickly. "Lacy, I'm being serious. I've watched him change, all right? Colette taught him occlumency, and Haverna was fully on board with him. I can try to call Mrs. Potter, if you want some confirmation, but it sounds like that might be hard to do right now."

Lacy didn't seem convinced. I glanced around the room helplessly. If she wasn't going to take my word for it, how was I supposed to prove it to her?

"You think Haverna would've left all of this to Rinduli if she didn't trust her?" Nico asked, motioning to the boxes surrounding us. Other than the one filled with mirrors, the rest contained stacks upon stacks of papers.

Lacy picked up the closest packet and peered at it. I leaned over to see it to. It was a report, clearly written in our professor's handwriting, detailing one of Nico's more recent visits to the manor. Lacy hesitated before rolling her eyes. "Absolute madness."

"Do you believe me now?"

"Shut up. Prat."

Nico pursed his lips, meeting my eyes for a moment. I glared at him, silently yelling at him to not antagonize her further. After a moment he shook his head. "Whatever. There're more important things right now."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do with all of this," Rinduli admitted, glancing around the room. "I don't even know what's going on."

"Well..." My stomach sank. "Did you... did you know where headquarters was before Nico just told you?"

Rinduli shook her head. In less than a second, her confused expression turned into one of horror. "There's supposed to be a fidelius charm, isn't there?"

Now Lacy and Nico were both staring at me as well, dawning realization on both of their faces. I hesitated, not wanting to think about what this meant. "If... if Nico could tell you that... something must've happened to Professor Longbottom. He's not the secretkeeper anymore."

Nico swore. "'Something'? He must've been killed, Wren. That's the only way this could've happened."

"He's..." Lacy's hands had started shaking. "No, that can't be..."

I took a shaky breath. "What else did Haverna tell you?"

"She..." Rinduli blinked. "She said I should get you. You knew all the DA members at the school, and we all need to have each other's backs now. And to wait for news." She glanced down at the box of mirrors. "I didn't think..."

"This is really bad..." Nico sank into a chair. "It must've been someone on the inside who killed him. And that would've compromised the whole compound..."

"Oh Merlin," Lacy whispered. "That means... did they catch them off guard, you think?"

"If Haverna had enough warning to leave before anyone came asking for her, I'm sure the rest of the DA managed to take care of themselves," I said with more confidence than I felt. "They probably have precautions for something like this."

"They must've scattered," Nico said slowly. "That compound is a lot bigger than what you saw, Wren. Probably half the people in DA hiding were there. I'm sure there aren't a lot of other places that could keep that many people."

I froze. Had Astra made it? Was she okay? She couldn't apparate... what if she'd been left behind in the chaos?

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" Rinduli demanded, shaking her head. "Haverna was our only link to the rest of the DA, wasn't she? I don't know how any of this works."

My hand went to my pocket, to the compact mirror that was a direct connection to Mrs. Potter. Had she made it? Did I want to risk it?

"I don't know who all these mirrors connect to," Nico was saying, rolling his eyes. "We don't know which ones even work, do we?"

"They might've been compromised," Lacy said, eyes wide. "What if we give ourselves away?"

I hesitated. Would me calling Mrs. Potter give me away? Probably. I wasn't supposed to be on good terms with her, after all. But it wouldn't be very suspicious for Lily to call her mom...

I turned to Lacy. "How quickly do you think you can find Lily Potter?"

"Lily? Is she a part of this, too?"

"Not directly. But that's what we need, isn't it?" I pulled the mirror out of my pocket. "Haverna disappeared. I think Lily might be distraught enough to try to get to her mom."

Rinduli winced. "Is it a good idea to be adding more people to this? If Haverna wanted her to know who was in the DA, wouldn't she have told her?"

I shook my head. "We can trust Lily. She's been keeping James's cover all this time. Yours is a lot easier."

Lacy nodded slowly. "I... I can go get her. She'll probably be up in the common room."

"Don't tell anyone about what's going on," Rinduli said, frowning at her. "We don't have enough information."

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Lacy made a face as she stood up. "I'm just as much a part of the DA as you are, thank you. I think I understand secrecy." Before Rinduli could retort, she'd flounced out the door.

"I'm not sure Lily's the best idea," Nico said slowly. I turned to frown questioningly at him, and he shrugged. "She's not going to take me very well, I'd think."

"She doesn't really hide the fact that she hates me, either," Rinduli added. "Maybe you and Lacy should take her somewhere else."

I shook my head quickly. "I need Mrs. Potter to talk to you. If anyone can tell you which mirrors are safe to use, it's her."

"She'll be too busy for that, won't she?" asked Rinduli. "She must have a lot on her plate if Neville Longbottom's gone..."

Maybe she would be. I didn't know. But they were the ones who needed connections, and I wasn't sure Lacy was convinced of their loyalty enough to be a middleman. Mrs. Potter would at least be able to tell them someone they could talk to.

For the next few minutes, Nico and Rinduli began taking the papers and shoving them into cabinets. I probably should've helped, made sure Rinduli's office looked normal again in case anyone else happened to stop by, but I couldn't make myself move.

Professor Longbottom was gone. Just like that. There wasn't even time to mourn. And it was impossible to know how bad the damage was. Who'd made it to safety? Who hadn't? Which of the DA's secrets had been left there for my uncle to find?

Was Astra okay?

I found myself wishing I had a mirror that connected to her. Would that have been too much to ask for? I couldn't imagine what she was going through. Right after her family being attacked, too...

A knock on the door drew me out of my thoughts. Rinduli waved at Nico and I to be quiet before opening the door a crack. "Oh, good." She opened the door wider to reveal Lacy, a worried frown on her face.

"Could you not find her?" I asked. I could probably get Poppy and Ciara to check their common rooms, though they might also insist on being included in the rest of this, and I wasn't sure how Rinduli would take that.

"No," Lacy said, glancing over her shoulder. "She's just refusing to come in here until I explain. I told her I couldn't very well do that in the hallway, but she won't budge."

"Oh." I bit my lip before edging past her. "I'll get her, then. Maybe you should wait up here until I explain, though..."

Lily was sitting against the opposite wall when I opened the classroom door. She craned her neck to see past me into the room, but seemed to give up on that when she realized there was nothing to see. "If you want help breaking into Rinduli's office, it'd probably work better with the rest of my friends, you know."

"We're not breaking in." I offered her my hand up and led her to one of the desks inside. I'd learned my lesson with Lacy—don't just spring Nico and Rinduli on anyone. "There's... there's a lot going on. I'm afraid it's not very good."

Now Lily was watching me warily. "What kind of bad news? James? Mum?"

"The DA." I hesitated. Was it better to soften the blow, or just tell her the truth up front? Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury of choosing—we didn't have much time. "Professor Longbottom... he's..."

Lily's eyes grew wide. "Don't tell me he's dead, Wren. I don't think I can take that..."I pursed my lips, which seemed to be answer enough. Lily took a shaky breath and swore quietly. "That's not good."

"He was the secretkeeper for their largest safehouse. Which happens to Haverna's family estate."

She swore again, this time more explicitly. "So Haverna's gone into hiding? That's what this is?"

"It's a little more than that." I glanced up at the office door. "She left everything with another DA contact here. I know it's about to sound insane, but I need you to trust me."

Lily nodded seriously. "That goes without saying."

That drew a small smile. "She left it all with Professor Rinduli."

For a moment, she just stared at me. It was like I was watching my words process in her head, going from shock to confusion to anger to acceptance. "Oh. Wow. That's unexpected."

"She hasn't been in the DA long," I said quickly. "Less than three months. But I helped connect her with Haverna. I trust her."

"Okay." Lily frowned at her hands. "I suppose that's what's got Lacy in such a mood? She didn't like hearing that either?"

"Not at all." I glanced around the room as if there might be someone there to overhear us. "Lacy's also in the DA. Officially."

"I kind of figured," Lily said with a shrug. "Okay. So... this safehouse is busted, Haverna had to run off, and now Rinduli's in charge?"

"I wouldn't say she's in charge..." I winced. "I don't think she's thinking of it that way, at least."

"Sure, whatever." Lily's brows furrowed. "Was this the safehouse Mum was at? The big one?"

I nodded. "It's a blow to the DA, I'm sure. We haven't heard anything yet about what's happened."

"Mum's probably okay, right?" Lily's voice was small, clearly asking for reassurance. "She survived the second war with Voldemort, after all."

"I'm sure she is," I said, because I didn't want to think about the alternative. There wasn't a world where she wasn't okay. I couldn't handle that, not now. Not ever. "We need to reach her, actually. We were hoping you could try with our mirror?"

"Of course." She looked down. "I'm the safest option?"

"I don't think it'll put you in any danger," I said quickly. "Even if your mom lost the mirror, and someone else answers, you just close it quickly. I don't think it'll be a big revelation that you've had contact with your mom."

"I'm not scared," Lily said, frowning at me. "It's fine."

I smiled a little, though it felt like my stomach had started to tie itself into knots. "There's something else, too..."

Her face fell. "Someone else died?"

"No! I mean, I don't know." I shook my head. "There's one more DA member at Hogwarts. That's all."

"Oh." Lily tilted her head, frowning at me. "Why do you sound like you're about to tell me my dog died, then?"

"No, it's... I don't think you'll like who it is..." I closed my eyes tightly. "You trust me. Right?"

"I already told you I do."

"Right. It's just... well... he's probably the last person you'd expect. But I promise, I have completely faith in him. I've watched him change myself. You're totally allowed to be angry, and I won't blame you for that, but he's on our side now, no matter what he did before."

Lily looked a little freaked out when I opened my eyes again. "It sounds like you're about to tell me it's... I don't even know. Nico Jasper or something."

I bit my lip, bracing myself for an outburst. Slowly, Lily's expression changed from incredulous to disbelief. "No. No, you can't be serious."

"He's changed, Lily, I—"

Lily put her hand up, cutting me off. For a moment she sat there, staring into the distance, looking like she was about to lose it. Then she glanced back at me. "Excuse me for a moment," she said, far more calmly than I was expecting. I watched in surprise as she got up and walked over to the other side of the room. She picked up one of the pillows we used to cushion our falls when practicing dueling. Before I could wonder what she was doing, she'd buried her face in it and started screaming.

I started. For a moment, all I could do was stare at her. What was I supposed to do now? Try to calm her down? That didn't seem like a good idea. She'd thrown the pillow as hard as she could back at the stack, then picked up another one and started screaming again.

Eventually, she stopped abusing the pillows. For a moment she just stood there, staring at the far wall, before setting down the pillow she was holding and walking back over to where I was still sitting, staring at her. She met my eyes briefly before looking away. "Sorry. I didn't want to yell at you. It's not your fault."

I winced. "It's completely my fault, actually..."

"No, of course, I'm sure it is. But that's not your fault." Lily let out a frustrated sigh. "I expect you to be too good to people, I mean. It's normal for you. But... like... he killed my dad, Wren."

"I know. I don't expect you to just let that go. It's fine."

Lily frowned, a whirlwind of thoughts playing across her face. I couldn't manage to catch one on its own. After a second, she shook her head. "When did that happen, exactly? After her murdered my dad?"

"Last fall. I convinced Colette to teach him occlumency."

Lily's eyes widened. "That couldn't have gone over well."

"She's more logical than most people." I shrugged. "I just had to appeal to that."

"So... Albus knew?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes. I don't think he was very happy about it."

"I hope he had that worm groveling every chance he got." Lily made a face, though it was replaced with sorrow quickly enough. "Is Jasper the one who figured out where Colette and Al ended up?"

"Yeah." I hesitated, wondering if I should tell her that Albus had escaped. He'd wanted her to know, after all. But we didn't have time for that. "Um... do you think you can come up and help us?"

Her expression hardened. "He's got to be there?"

"I mean... I suppose I could ask him to leave..."

Lily sighed and shook her head. "No, I'll just take a pillow with me. Scream into that instead of his face."

I thought she was joking until she ran over to grab one after we'd stood up. I pursed my lips but decided not to argue. If that was what it took to keep her in a room with him, so be it. At least she wasn't threatening to hex him.

Lily stopped just before I opened the office door. "Can I punch him?"

I hesitated. "I'd rather you didn't..."

"That's not a no!" She smiled widely at me. "After you."

When we walked in, Lacy, Rinduli, and Nico were stuffing papers anywhere they could be hidden—on top of high shelves, under the rug, beneath the seat cushions. They all paused as we entered. Lily walked up to Rinduli's desk and looked her up and down. "Professor."

Rinduli blinked at her. "Lily? Why do you have a pillow?"

"To scream into." Without any further explanation, she shoved her pillow into my hands and marched across the room to where Nico had stopped stuffing papers behind the books on a shelf to watch us. She came to a stop right in front of him and crossed her arms. "You killed my dad."

Nico looked down. "I'm sorry. I know I can't ever make up for that, or fix it. But I'm so sorry."

Lily regarded him coldly for a moment. "Does it haunt you?"

That made Nico blink at her. "Does it... um... yes?"

"All the time?"

"Yes."

"Good." Lily studied him for a moment, letting her hands drop to her sides. "I hope I do, too."

"What?"

Before I could've even made it over to stop her, she'd punched him in the face.

Nico stumbled back a bit, hand covering his eye, and Lily smiled proudly. "I've been wanting to do that since I was eleven, you know."

I'd started towards them, but stopped when I realized Nico had started laughing. "Merlin, you've got a good punch."

"Thank you. That's another thing pillows are good for." Lily looked him over, a satisfied smile on her face. "You're going to have a really bad black eye."

"I probably deserve it." Nico managed a smile back, but could only blink a second later when Lily held out her hand for him to shake.

"What? I still hate you." Lily shrugged. "But it'll be a while before I need to punch you again, I think. It's all good."

Nico glanced uncertainly at me, but I just shrugged. I hadn't expected any of this either. Lily never responded to people she hated the way I expected her to. After a moment, he shook her hand. "Right. Um... sorry."

Lily shook her head and turned back to me. "So, we need to call Mum?"

We set Lily up against a very inconspicuous wall that could've been any empty classroom in the school. She insisted I sit next to her, even if it was out of frame, because if her mom answered she'd also want to see me right away. Meanwhile, Rinduli, Lacy, and Nico continued to hide papers. I watched the piles dwindle down to nothing before Rinduli lit each of the boxes on fire one by one. After that, there was nothing to do but wait.

Rinduli told Lacy and Lily how she'd gotten involved with the DA, which seemed to awe both of them. I guess if you already knew she was telling the truth, it was a pretty good story. Then Lacy was peppering Nico with questions, some less kind than others. At some point Lily slipped her hand into mine. No one pointed out that we'd been sitting here for over two hours.

Finally, the mirror stopped reflecting Lily's face. She shushed everyone, frowning at the glass with thinly veiled anxiety. It disappeared in seconds, though, when Mrs. Potter's weary face came into view.

"Mum! You're okay!"

"Hey, Lily." Mrs. Potter smiled tiredly. I recognized the painting from Teddy and Victoire's guest bedroom in the background. "Where are you? Who else is there?"

"Um... Wren's here." She flashed the mirror at me. "And then everyone else is DA. Like, real DA."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "All of them?"

"Yes, Nico's here too." I took the mirror from Lily's hand to pan it around on everything else. "What happened? We haven't heard anything yet."

"Did Elaine get out all right?"

We all glanced at Rinduli, who had a bit of a starstruck look on her face. She blinked quickly. "I, um... yes, ma'am. She did."

"Good. It's a pleasure to meet you, Absynthe. I'm guessing you have all of her mirrors, then?"

"I think so? She might've taken a few with her."

"We'll find out which ones those are. Don't worry about that. I just needed to know the rest are safe."

As Lily turned the mirror back around, I tried to marshal my face into a more neutral expression, though I don't think it worked. "Is everyone okay?" I asked quietly

"We're still trying to get everyone accounted for," Mrs. Potter said. "A few of the safehouses haven't checked in yet, and most of them are missing a few people." She paused, then nodded quickly. "Astra is safe, though, if that's who you're asking about."

I let out a sigh of relief. Of course, Astra could handle herself, so I shouldn't have been so surprised, but I couldn't help worrying about her.

"What's going to happen tomorrow?" Lily asked quietly. "Can the DA still make it?"

"We'll try. The truth is, I don't know. We have several injured and missing, and we had to burn all of our intel. But everyone who can fight will be there." She frowned at us. "I hope you two plan on staying at school."

Lily and I exchanged a glance, and her intense stare won out over mine. I winced. "Well... I mean, I have to be there. Russey requested it."

Mrs. Potter pursed her lips, clearly not pleased. "Be careful, love. Lily, what about you?"

"I can't just let my friends go alone, Mum! What if something happens to them? I'll be so overcome by guilt that I'll probably go mad and then you'll have lost me that way. So I might as well go, right?"

"I'd prefer you didn't."

"It'll seem weird if I don't. Everyone's going. Kimmel might make me go anyway..."

Mrs. Potter frowned at us for a long moment before she sighed. "Please stay safe, girls."

"We will." Lily smiled. "Though I did tell Wren that we're going to punch her mum in the face..."

"Don't go anywhere near that woman, do you hear me?"

"Fine..." Lily sighed. "It'd be a really nice follow up to today, though..."

~~~~

Do you know much self-control it's taking to not release like six chapters at one time?

Question of the Day: Who are you with? The DA or the Friends?

Answer: You know, I have to say that I'm probably not cool enough to be a DA student, so I'd probably be in the Friends and it would probably suit me much better anyway.

Vote and comment!

~Elli

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