—————A—————

The Room of Requirement was quickly becoming a haven most hadn't expected to find. It had started with the original DA group, when Ginny sent out a message through the quills to get them to show up and sign the new contract. Since the quills were too nice to throw away, everyone in the castle had shown up.

At first, non-Gryffindors eyed Aurora with suspicion and wariness. But all it took was her healing their wounds and offering potions she'd take a sip of first to earn their trust. It was desperate times and the students needed some relief. Leo had also learned a few healing spells as well, though his wandwork and magical core weren't quite ready for the spells his sister cast.

When Slytherins started to find their way to them, albeit in much smaller numbers, established trust was required.

"We need something," Aurora huffed. "Something that lets everyone know what they need to know without us saying it."

"You mean... let them in on the truth. About your dad?" Ginny asked.

"Considering what you need to do? Yes, we need to. Gin...."

"No, I get it. You don't need to explain it," Ginny replied.

Neville tapped his quill against his knee as he sat sideways in his chair. He looked at the three girls and Theo, all sitting around a table at the front of the room, then behind him at the others. They were whispering, despite the constant reassurance that the room was safe.

Utterly safe. Carrow-proof. No one loyal to them or the Dark Lord were allowed to enter. Those were the stipulations requested when they'd asked for the door to appear. As long as someone was in the room, it would continue to abide by those stipulations. And the best part was, the room didn't care if a person was a student or not.

The black dog that everyone had seen wandering the grounds in the last month lay in front of the fire, head on his paws, sound asleep. He was the keeper of the room as far as anyone was concerned, and while it had never really been part of Sirius' plan, he'd gladly taken it on. Better than Hagrid constantly trying to coax him to his hut with various unknown meats.

"Wh—" Neville started, frowning. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

"Starting to look like a fish, Longbottom," Theo taunted. "Just say what you're thinking and be done with it. I promise, no one will think less of you. It's impossible."

"Theo," Ginny chided.

"That wasn't very nice," Luna said in her normal dreamy tone. "Neville is one of the bravest and fiercest among us. He'll be considered a hero when all this is over."

Theo snorted. "I'm sure you think that, Lovegood. And maybe you're right. But right now, he's being a dunce."

"I think we need something that shows how we're all being punished. Rory's so certain he's sending people where he does on purpose."

"He is," she said firmly. "He's certainly not authorizing the injuries we're seeing."

Neville frowned. When Theo looked at him in boredom, waving his hand as if he were asking Neville to continue, Neville rose jerkily, moving to the wall and closing his eyes as he placed his hands on the stone. Slowly, a tapestry began to unravel from the ceiling. The room, which had been abuzz with voices, was suddenly very quiet.

As the tapestry unraveled, it became apparent that it was a chart. The four house colors showed up at random. Aurora noticed that the listings were infractions, punishments, and who'd assigned them.

Gryffindor - speaking out of turn - detention with Hagrid - Headmaster

Hufflepuff - refusal to participate - Cruciatus - Carrow

Gryffindor - refusal to participate - Cruciatus - Carrow

Gryffindor - failure to turn in homework - detention with Hagrid - Headmaster

Slytherin - failure to participate - whip - Carrow

Ravenclaw - speaking out of turn - detention with McGonagall - McGonagall

Gryffindor - out after curfew - detention with Hagrid - Headmaster

Hufflepuff - failure to follow instruction - detention with Nikola - Nikola/Headmaster

"Bloody hell, you all have a difficult time with authority," Blaise commented, glancing at the Gryffindor trio from the corner of the room. There was a nervous titter in the room.

"Not so much with authority as torture," Ginny explained. "Not to mention the need for a midnight snack."

"It's what the house-elves are for," Blaise pointed out. "You just have to ask."

"Not all of us had house-elves growing up to remind us of that simple solution," Ginny replied.

"Fair enough." Blaise nodded, eyeing the chart. "How does this work?" he asked as another listing appeared.

A Hufflepuff had clearly just been caught near the kitchens, but the punishment was changing sporadically. Lashes or detention, Carrow or Headmaster. The room waited with bated breath. For a long moment, the Carrow punishment remained with the Headmaster as the assigner. And then, it shifted: off with a warning .

There was a sudden uproar, confusion and hope laced with disbelief and excitement.

Aurora took a deep breath, trying to keep her weak Occlumency walls up to make sure she didn't smile too brightly.

"Merlin's beard," Neville breathed, frowning at the tapestry.

"How did you do that?" Blaise asked again.

"Hogwarts is sentient," Aurora reminded him. "Hogwarts knows what's happening within its walls. It's how an appointed headmaster or headmistress, like Umbridge, can be denied the title. It's how the stairs will move just so if a student desperately needs to get somewhere. It listens."

"I asked for an anonymous way to show what's been happening to everyone and who caused it," Neville said as another name appeared. "Didn't realize there's been over a hundred in a month."

"Nearly all of them were sent to Hagrid or Nikola," Theo noted. "And the Headmaster sent most of them."

"Anyone else notice how Professor McGonagall and Professor Nikola are able to assign detentions?" Justin asked as he pointed to the board.

"I think the Sorting Hat very nearly sorted you into Ravenclaw, Justin," Luna said as she tilted her head. "In fact, I think if it weren't for family tradition, you would have been. But your loyalty swayed it."

Justin frowned at her. "Actually, yes. That's about how it happened."

"Thank you, Neville," Aurora said, and he turned his attention toward her. "Doing this, it shows—"

"I didn't do it for him," he said firmly, "or you. I did it so that prat doesn't think I'm a dunce. It was a bit hard to put into words what I was thinking. Besides...I think about half those Gryffindor listings are me."

"Are they? Impressive," she said, bumping him with her hip.

"Well, sort of," he said. "Gran would be proud, though."

"I think she might be. Takes bravery to forget one's homework," Aurora teased, earning a ribbing from Neville before he lifted his arm and dropped it around her shoulders. She leaned her head on his shoulder and relaxed, pleased that their rift was closing.

"Are you really leaving next month?" he asked after some time.

Aurora blinked, lifting her head, registering that while she didn't feel it through her cardigan and blouse, he'd been caressing her arm. She turned to him, finding his face much closer than she expected, and her heart stuttered. She removed her gaze from his lips and forced it up to his eyes. "Yes."

"Why? They don't need you. They can do what they need to, they have everything they need between them. We need you here."

"How am I helpful here?" she asked, glancing around.

"You know how to heal everyone."

"So does Leo, and Ginny's learning, she'll be able to pick up where I leave off."

"You're a peacemaker. We wouldn't be here, all of us together, if it weren't for you."

"Actually, Theo looked for you."

"What about me?" He finally got to the point. "What if I need you?"

"You don't need me," she said, putting her hand over his heart. "You think you do. But you don't need me, not at all. Harry and Ron don't think logically, and doing what they're doing out there, they need logical. They're going to need a Healer. They're going to need help." An idea struck her. "Come with us!"

"What?"

"You're already of age, it's all I'm waiting for: for the Trace to come off. Yours is already gone, so come with us."

Neville looked elated for a moment before it steeled into resolve. "No. Because if we go, Rory, we're leaving everyone here defenseless. Who else is going to keep standing up to the Carrows and Snape?"

"My dad is the one assigning those benign punishments, remember?"

Neville put his hands on her shoulders. "I know, I know—"

"He wants me out there with them."

That took Neville aback.

"Nev, can you come here a minute?" Ginny asked.

As he walked over to sit next to Ginny, Luna skipped over to Aurora. She looped her arm through hers, and gently began to lead her away from the table.

"Ginny doesn't feel comfortable leading this little faction," Luna explained. "I'm not sure why, really, considering she's supposed to be you soon."

Aurora stopped, turning to look at her friend.

"Oh, was that a secret?"

"How do you know?" Aurora whispered.

Luna shrugged. "I just do. Like I've known a lot of things about you. Like how you and Nev—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Aurora pleaded. "Not here, where he can hear you."

Luna frowned. "Why don't you want him to know?"

Aurora shook her head. "I don't know. I want him to figure it out for himself. And I don't want him trying to fight harder for me to stay."

"He will, though. Until you finally leave, he will," Luna said, resuming their stroll. "I also know you've been wanting to ask me something but don't know how. You don't have to worry, you know. You can ask me anything, I'll never think you're using me. I know there are some things you and Ginny don't tell us because you can't. If Daddy wasn't so against it, I would have asked to join the Order as well. I suppose in a way I am, being here and all."

Aurora smiled, and as she had done with Neville earlier, she leaned her head on Luna's shoulder. "In a way, yes." She then straightened to look at Luna. "I need to know if there's anything that's considered Rowena Ravenclaw's heirloom. Something really important, like a book or a piece of jewelry."

"There's the lost diadem of Ravenclaw," Luna said with a smile. "You should have known that, Rory. You grew up in Hogwarts. Didn't your mother read Hogwarts: A History all the time?"

Aurora nearly smacked herself in the face. "Bloody hell, how could I have been so stupid?" she asked herself. She gave Luna a hug. "I'll be back!" she called while running out the room, ignoring Neville and Ginny's questions.

—————H—————

Hermione frowned down at her stomach. Nauseated again, only this time she figured out that, while the intolerable circumstances were a big part of why she was feeling sick, it was also the rich foods served in the Great Hall.

"Would it be suspicious if Helga suddenly stopped eating in the Great Hall?" she asked her husband as he sat behind the headmaster's desk, writing out another half dozen detention reports.

"I don't think anyone would notice, dear one," he replied absently. "But you do need to eat, now more than ever."

"I wasn't about to stop," Hermione countered. "When I don't feel like I need to run to the loo at any moment, I'm certain I could out-eat Ronald Weasley."

"Good to hear that your appetite is as it should be," he said as he dipped his quill in the ink pot. "How do you plan to continue teaching? The Glamour won't disguise your... condition."

"I haven't gotten that far, yet," she replied with a sigh. "On one hand, everyone already believes you're having an affair with Mistress Nikola. Alecto is not what one would call quiet, and greatly lacks the Slytherin quality of subtlety."

"Yes. However, I think the Dark Lord would find it suspicious that I wasn't more careful with a woman who is nothing more than my mistress," he said, making a vicious scrawl across one of the reports.

"May I make a suggestion?" Dumbledore said behind Severus, and Severus' face darkened as he scowled.

Only half turning to the portrait, Severus sneered, "Suggest we end the pregnancy and I will burn you."

"No, not that. I believe I've made enough meddlesome decisions when it comes to your family life. No, I was going to suggest that Mr. Black take over as Helga," Dumbledore replied.

"It won't work." Hermione shook her head. "He's keeping the Room of Requirement safe."

"And why don't you replace him?" Dumbledore asked. "Not as a dog, of course. I understand that's not a particularly smart idea when one is pregnant."

"Hermione is meant to be dead," Severus countered. "Which is why she's here as the bastard daughter of my former master. She—" He stopped suddenly, lifting his hand. "We'll put this conversation on hold."

Hermione frowned, and before she had a chance to ask why, the door banged open, startling her, terrifying her as she was undisguised.

Aurora was in the doorway, huffing, catching her breath as she shut the door. "Ravenclaw's diadem," she said, out of breath.

"Aurora, did you run here?" Hermione asked, getting up and catching her daughter as she slid down the closed door.

"Yeah. Because we've been stupid! Think about it, what do we know about the Horcruxes?" she asked.

"Excuse me, Miss Snape. The what?" Dumbledore's portrait asked, a touch of disbelief in his tone.

"Horcruxes," Aurora said without looking at the former headmaster. She straightened her uniform as she stood, then moved on shaky legs to sit on the corner of her father's desk, much to his irritation. "Harry said the locket was Slytherin's, yes? And we all figured out the Dark Lord probably wanted something from each founder. Well, why didn't we think about the lost diadem?"

"Because, Rory, it's in the name: lost," Severus countered.

"Yes, but that's the thing! We know from Hogwarts: A History that Rowena's daughter stole it when she ran away from her mother. So where did she run to?"

Severus tapped his fingers on the chair, pursing his lips. He then turned to the portraits behind him. "Summon the Bloody Baron to me, please," he said, then looked back to his daughter as all of them but Dumbledore obeyed him. "How is everyone in the room?"

Aurora smiled smugly. "Finding hope."

"Are they?" he asked but didn't get an answer as the Bloody Baron floated respectfully at the door.

"Headmaster," he said, his voice echoing.

"You are meant to answer any and all of my questions, are you not?" Severus asked, tapping his finger against his lip.

The Baron straightened. "When you were made Head of Slytherin, it was my duty to report to you what I knew and answer what you asked. It is more so now that you are headmaster."

"You were sent to fetch young Helena Ravenclaw when she fled, were you not?"

"I was," he said, and Hermione could tell the poor ghost would have blushed with shame had he not been dead.

"I know the details, merely verifying. Where did you find her?"

"Albania, Headmaster," the Baron replied. "I used a locator spell to find her. When I found her, she was kneeling by a tree, and I startled her. We argued, and then—"

"Baron, I won't make you recall the details. I simply needed to know where you found her. Do remember where in Albania? Somewhere we might begin to look for something that Helena hid there?"

The Baron closed his eyes and focused. "It was near the sea, very close to Greece. I was... I vaguely recall wondering if the Ministry of the region would come for me. I believe there was a small village nearby where she was lodged."

"Thank you, Baron. Have you anything to report on the Slytherins?"

The Baron shook his head. "Nothing new, Headmaster. It is as it was. Less and less are appearing in the common room, and those that are tend to be... twisted of mind."

Severus nodded, the Baron nodded back and left.

Severus then looked at his daughter. "I think you and the boys will know where to search first."

"Maybe, but they might already have a Horcrux they're searching for. I realize there's still a month, but—"

"Miss Snape, how do you, any of you, even know about the Horcrux?"

Severus, his back still turned to his predecessor, gave a grin of wicked anticipation. "Aurora, please return to where you came from."

"Yes, Dad," she said, hopping off the desk. She then glanced at Hermione and smiled. "Good to see you, Mum."

She chuckled. "Yes, cheeky one. Remember to finish your potions homework, too. You may be helping the revolution, but education still comes first."

With a sarcastic salute, Aurora left.

When the door shut, Severus stood, slowly circling his desk, tapping his finger thoughtfully against his lip. "You never intended to tell us about them, did you?" he started, looking at the portrait. "It was all part of your little game. Tell the children about the Horcruxes, or at least Potter. You thought he'd tell Ronald Weasley, maybe Draco, and they would go with him. But let's not tell the grown-ups. It's not an adventure if everyone works together, is it? It's not 'hero building' if he has help, right? Only, you see, we figured it out. We talked when Potter started sensing the Dark Lord. Remember that, Albus? How you brushed it and him off? You didn't know he came to me, did you?"

Albus Dumbledore's portrait was stunned silent, eyebrows high and mouth agape.

"Oh, did you mention the part where we figured out he expected Harry to die, Severus?" Hermione asked.

"No, dear one, I did not. Thank you for reminding me. That was your intention, wasn't it, Albus? To raise the boy like a pig for slaughter? That's why you didn't want him in the wizarding world. He'd form bonds with people, and those bonds would lead us all to try to find a way around that little caveat. "

"There is no other way to destroy the Horcrux living within Harry. He must die by Tom's hand at the right moment."

"Oh, must he? At the right moment? And when would that be? When the others are all destroyed? Tell us, Albus, did you know what they were?"

Dumbledore's mouth moved but nothing came out. Eventually, the portrait deflated with a scowl. "I did not," he conceded. "I believed that they were objects that once belonged to the founders of Hogwarts, and I believed that he hid them in places that meant something to him. Harry and I retrieved the locket on my last day alive."

"Actually, you retrieved a fake," Hermione said. "Regulus Black defected and managed to steal the real locket."

"Defected? If only I'd known." Dumbledore shook his head.