—————A—————

"Breathe, Rory, breathe," Draco tried to sooth her, rubbing her back, trying to coax her up at the same time. But she just couldn't stop, not now that the floodgates were open. Apparating made her lose her concentration on her Occlumency. She was a mess.

"It's all right, you're safe," Harry said from somewhere nearby, his hand on her back, too.

"She's gonna pass out if we don't do something," Ron said, genuine worry in his voice.

"What do you think we're trying to do, here, Weasel?" Draco snapped back.

"Nothing that's doing any good," Ron retorted.

"Guys, please, not now," Harry sighed, exasperated.

"He started it," Draco and Ron said in unison, and suddenly, the sobs changed to laughter. Then laughter became hysterics.

Wasn't this exactly how everyone said it would go? Harry as the peacekeeper between his best friend and his boyfriend, who were from rival families?

"Oh, Merlin, she's lost it," Ron said. "Splinched her brain."

"Can't Splinch your brain," Draco replied. "And if you could, your whole head would be gone, so it wouldn't matter."

Aurora continued to laugh, and through the blur of her tears, she saw Harry smirk.

"Has it been that bad?" he asked.

"You have no bloody idea," Aurora replied, rubbing her eyes roughly.

"How's Gin?" Ron asked with a nervous lilt, and Aurora turned to him.

"Surviving," she said, knowing as an older sibling herself that sugar coating or lying would do him no good. "She's getting ready to take over."

"Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Hell," she said, gesturing to her cheek. "It's a war, even there. The Carrows, the Death Eater professors, are utterly horrid. They get their jollies from torturing students who oppose them. And the more who rebel, the more who put their foot down and say no, the worse it is. Dad's trying, sending people to Hagrid or Mum or Aunt Min, but they're sneaky. If they think they can get away with it, they'll punish the students however they see fit. I had to leave. I was going to blow Dad's cover if I didn't," she sniffed, then cleared her throat. "The twins took off."

"I know," Ron said with a proud grin. "They've been hosting Potterwatch with Lee."

"Potterwatch?" Aurora said, frowning.

"Yeah, a wireless show to keep the faith, now that the Ministry's always reporting all the wrong stuff. Took it up when they went on the run, I wager. No way they'd do it if the shop was still going." Ron frowned. "How'd ya know if you didn't know about Potterwatch?"

"Fred wrote me," she replied as Draco got up, heading to the fire. "George wrote Gin."

"Sirius?" Harry asked as Draco returned to them with a cup of tea.

He handed it to her, and she sipped the hot liquid before replying. "He was the guardian of the Room of Requirement when I left. He was hanging around the grounds, but I think he got fed up with Hagrid trying to adopt him."

"The guardian of what?" Draco asked.

The three boys frowned at one another as Aurora took another sip. "The Room of Requirement. Neville's got it all set up so no one who supports the Carrows can enter, or anyone who supports the Dark Lord. It's a safe haven for all the houses, away from those who support the new order. You need to sign a waiver to stay, of course. A jinx like Gin had for the DA, but... it was Theo Nott's idea."

Draco smiled. "Knew there wasn't any way he was a real Death Eater."

"Unless it's a setup," Ron countered.

"You heard Aurora, it's been set up by Neville," Harry said, giving Ron a warning look.

She glanced between them. "What's been going on here?"

The three of them exchanged a loaded look, Harry appearing all the world like it was the last thing he wanted to relive.

"It's been...."

"Dreadful," Draco said.

"Bollocks," Ron added.

"Not the best," Harry agreed. "We started off trying to head south, away from Hogwarts."

"Which was fine until they realized we weren't in school," Draco sighed, rubbing his nose. "We tried to stay at a Muggle motel."

"Didn't work out so well," Ron said. "Couple of purebloods who never had to live without magic."

"You've been seventeen for eight months," Aurora snorted. "As the oldest , mind. Not like you could use magic outside school."

"You would think that they'd be used to it," Harry agreed with a smirk. "But Ron had Molly to cook his meals, and Draco just had to ask the house-elves."

"And why couldn't you use magic there?" she asked, taking another sip of her tea.

"We were trying to blend in," Draco confessed. "Only it turned out we weren't the only wizards there."

"A family with Muggle-borns," Harry said.

"Youngest had some accidental magic," Ron said. "Worst is, they knew what it was, and that it shouldn't happen."

"They mentioned Uncle Severus," Draco added.

"We were in the motel lobby. Smallest one was throwing a fit. He wanted crisps," Harry said, shaking his head.

Aurora felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Please tell me there wasn't a blonde girl."

Harry met her eyes with surprise.

"Please tell me they got out," she said, looking at Draco, who solemnly shook his head.

"We tried to stop the Snatchers," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "But—"

"Malfoy went for self-preservation." Ron glared.

"I went for protecting Harry!" Draco retorted. "Sorta need him to fulfill a prophecy, and what's more, we have a job to do!"

"They were kids!" Ron shouted back.

"I'm aware, Weasel! And one of those kids was Leo's friend. Think I like having that on my conscience?"

"We don't know what happened to them," Harry growled. "The dad pulled out a gun before Draco Apparated us away."

"To his mum's place, of all places." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Like the first place you'd have thought of would have been somewhere other than the Burrow?" Draco retorted.

"Narcissa let us stay for a time, but then... well...."

"Bloody France, Aurora!" Ron grumbled. "French everywhere! Not like Harry or me knew translations spells."

"Vous pauvre bouffon," Aurora retorted, and Draco snickered at the shock on Ron's face.

"Seriously?"

"My mother was supposed to be a French witch's daughter." Aurora shrugged. "She had Leo and me learn."

"So, we left France. Wasn't really the best place for us to be, anyway." Harry shrugged.

"They're actually trying their best to stay out of it," Draco added. "Hearing us talk had them glaring and palming their wands."

"So, you lot decided to go camping in the middle of .... Where?" Aurora asked, draining her cup.

Draco took it from her. "Same place Aunt H. used to take us when we were kids."

"The Forest of Dean," she said. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"We've been trying to figure some things out," Harry said. "For instance, we know where the locket is."

"Why didn't you lead with that?" Aurora asked.

"Because... not like we really know how to get it short of storming the Ministry."

"And that's suicide," Draco proclaimed from just inside the tent.

"I'd have to agree," Aurora sighed.

"Where's your Gryffindor bravery?" Ron asked.

"Sitting comfortable with my common sense," Aurora said. "What was your big plan? Polyjuice?"

Harry blushed; Ron shifted from one foot to another.

"Yes, their big idea was Polyjuice," Draco said as he returned. "Steal hairs from some Ministry worker, knock 'em out, pose as them."

"Oh yes, that sounds brilliant," Aurora said sarcastically as she got up, glancing over at Ron and down at Harry. "And suppose said Ministry worker was, say, being investigated for something? Or tasked to do something you couldn't stomach? You could ruin their lives for the sake of an hour."

"The Ministry is mostly Death Eaters," Harry tried to reason.

"Mostly, but not all," Aurora reminded. She then sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Look, I'm with Draco on this. But I can't think right now, I'm knackered. Just... just... where's the locket? You say you need to storm the Ministry to get it, but where is it? Department of Mysteries?"

Harry grimaced. "Around Umbridge's neck."

—————S—————

It was bizarre, seeing Aurora at the Gryffindor table, knowing full well it was not Aurora. Longbottom kept eyeing her warily, clearly unsure how to approach this new version of his former flame. Lovegood carried on a conversation with Ginevra the same way she always did, with their backs to one another. But he could hear her calling her Rory, so she was following the ruse as much as she could.

He felt Hermione's magic wash over him, and he barely glanced at her.

"This isn't right," she said in the fake accent. "This isn't right when it's not our daughter."

"That may be," he replied without looking at her. "But until the holidays, this is the best option for keeping both girls as safe as possible."

After a pause, he risked a better look at his wife, her disguise doing little to hide her heartbreak.

"How was she?"

"Brave," he replied. "Keeping herself together for our sake as much as her own."

"I should have been there," Hermione said. And he subtly shook his head.

"It was risky enough with me being there. Hagrid was watching, we're lucky he was the only one."

"I know," she relented.

Her magic faded and the noise of the Great Hall came over him a bit louder than before. He glanced over the student body, trying to figure out how many were missing, how much of the day's breakfast was being sent to the Room of Requirement.

"Headmaster," Minerva's cold brogue greeted him, and he inclined his head in his usual acknowledgment. Once she had her tea and toast, awaiting her usual eggs, she asked, "How are you today?"

"Utterly miserable," he replied, keeping his face passive, thankful for the Carrows' absence. "And yourself?"

"Could be better, thank you. Professor Nikola, how are you?"

"Wretched," Hermione replied in the thick accent that put emphasis on the word.

"Quite," Minerva replied, sipping her tea.

Severus glanced down the table, noting that Filius and Sinistra were having a very animated conversation, Rolanda and Septima a whispered one, and Severus took advantage of their preoccupation.

He cast Muffliato this time, startling Hermione. "Min, I would like you to send a message to the Order."

"The Order?" she asked, taken aback, momentarily forgetting herself. "And what should I tell them?"

"To visit Honeydukes, Friday night. Sometime near midnight, I think. They keep the most secret items in the backroom."

"And what about anyone who wants to spoil this little venture?"

"Leave them to me."

—————A—————

"How's our plan suicide, but yours isn't?" Ron asked, pacing.

"Because ours doesn't lead Undesirable Number One straight into the Ministry with nothing more than Polyjuice for protection," Aurora retorted from where she was sitting on the log, scribbling in a notebook her father had left her in his bag of provisions.

"Nah, just following Umbridge home, where we're gonna break in and swoop in and steal from her," Ron countered.

"It's not following her home," Aurora scoffed. "It's going there and waiting for her. No following required."

"She's bound to have wards," Ron countered.

"Yes, quite likely," she said, glancing at her watch again. She'd sent the request to her father an hour ago, but as she had no idea where his link to the Protean Charm was, he might not see the message for a bit.

"So, how are we getting past those, hmm?" Ron crossed his arms and peered down at her.

She glanced up at him. "We break them," she said with a shrug.

"We break them?" His voice ticked up a notch, and she glared at him, shooting a scowl between him and the tent. He glanced at it, becoming a bit pale, before finally sitting down on the log across from her. "Don't know how you can acknowledge they're in there... together."

"Probably because while I know what they're doing, I don't particularly care. Why does it bother you so much?"

"Because it's Malfoy!" Ron said, gesturing to the tent. "Because he was a prat for so long. He's still a prat!"

" You're a prat," Aurora pointed out. "Don't think I don't know how you treated Mum before she disappeared. Or forgot how you treat me. Blimey, you still don't always play nice."

"Neither do you," he countered.

"Because you start it, you numpty. Your sister is my best friend, and your... I'm friends with your brothers as well. I like your family just fine, I have no prejudice against them, nor they me. All except you," she sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Look, Sirius and Dad didn't always get on well, but now they're mates. Yes, it took Mum bridging the gap for it to happen, as well as Professor Lupin, but they put the stupid house rivalry in the past."

"Not just about the houses," Ron sighed. "Malfoys have always treated the Weasleys terribly."

"So be the better wizard. Start a new way of thinking. Uncle Lu may not ever see you as anything but an inferior, but it's just him. Just him, and maybe Aunt Cissy, but after that, it's Draco. And right now, it's looking like your best mate is very much not going to let him go. So deal with it, put the old animosity aside and just... be."

Ron stared at her thoughtfully. Eventually, he nodded, looking at the ground between his feet. "Mione would've said the same, I'm sure."

"Well, she did raise me," Aurora quipped, making Ron smirk.

Her watch vibrated then, startling her. She glanced at the face and saw the address of the witch in question appear. She beamed, then quickly turned to a blank page at the back of the book and jotted down the address before it faded. She smiled at Ron.

"He had it?"

"Hogwarts has the information of all the staff that worked there. Even if she relocated, it would have updated automatically, it's linked with the Ministry."

"Bloody hell, so ... so we can go there and... what, exactly?"

"Well, I imagine we'll go in, Stun her, swap the lockets... what happened to the one Harry got? The fake?"

"Gave it to Kreacher. Belonged to Sirius' brother, after all. Poor thing was so grateful, he ended up packing double the food we asked him to."

"Oh, how sweet. Stupid, but sweet," Aurora said.

"Why?" Ron asked. "Double the food, Aurora."

"Yes, but we could have used the locket to replace the one Umbridge has. Now we have to copy it, and since it's a Horcrux, it might not let us do that easily."

"You're Mione's kid, don't you have a copy of Hogwarts: A History in that bag of yours? Bound to be a picture of the locket in there you can make ahead of time," he asked, gesturing to the bag at her side.

"I've no idea. Doubt it, though," she said to the bag before looking at Ron. "Tell you the truth, I hated the bloody thing. She made us read it, of course, before we got our letters, but... well, I spent the first five years of my life there. Portraits talk. A lot. And if you ask them something, you can get an entire two-hour lecture that is far less dry than anything written in that blasted book."

"Hear from your dad yet?" Harry's voice came from by the tent, and Aurora glanced over to see his hair far messier than normal and his glasses a bit askew.

"Yes." She grinned. "We got what we need."

"Brilliant." He beamed as Draco came out of the tent, looking immaculate, buttoning the cuffs of his oxford. "Where do we go?"

"London," she replied. "A flat in Diagon Alley."

"Seriously? A flat?" Draco grimaced. "Thought she'd have a townhouse or something."

"Well, she may act like a posh pureblood, but I don't think she is. Not really," Aurora replied. "No one bloody likes her."

"Doesn't matter where she is," Harry said, straightening his glasses. "We'll go and we'll get the locket from her. Then bring it back here and figure out how to destroy it."

There was a murmur of agreement, and it seemed everyone was on the same page except Ron, who simply stared at Harry.

"What?" he asked after a moment, seeming as unnerved by Ron as Aurora was.

"Mate," Ron said, narrowing his eyes. "Is that a love bite?"

Stop looking , Aurora scolded herself mentally as her eyes drifted to the shop that was once Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, Fred's face still on the outside of the boarded-up building. She sat outside the Leaky Cauldron, her father's spell over her as she waited for Umbridge to leave for the Ministry. And she wasn't alone at the table.

Harry was blond with grey eyes, his scar faded enough by the Glamour that someone had to really look at him to see it.

"There a reason you keep looking that way?" Harry asked with a smirk.

She glared at him, then forced her eyes back down to the notebook in front of her.

"Take it Neville didn't—"

"What's Neville got to do with anything?" she asked, glancing at the Weasley shop again, then forced herself to look at the flat above Flourish and Blotts. She could see the silhouette still moving behind the curtain.

"Did he ever get that it was all an act?"

"We're talking about this out in public, why?" she asked, meeting Harry's eyes.

His smirk turned to a smile. "Your hair is red."

"Right, so? Yours is blond."

"I'm just saying that, well, you have ginger hair and you're staring at Fred and George's shop. No one's going to know who we are."

"Harry."

"I'm just... I want you to be happy. All right? I've got Draco, Ron's got Lav."

"Luna doesn't have anyone."

"Or she has everyone," Harry countered.

"And what about Gin?"

"I want her to be happy, too. Just, I don't know. You put on a brave face and all, but I could tell what happened between you and Neville really bothered you."

She rubbed her forehead, her gaze strictly on Umbridge's flat. "We're good again, I think. Not together, but friends. He asked me to stay."

"But you didn't," Harry stated.

"No. I wouldn't stay for him or anyone. I said I was going to join you, and I'd be damned if I did anything less. What you're doing," -she shook her head- "I wasn't needed at Hogwarts. And I wasn't really needed here, either. But the lesser of two evils is here, with you. This way, at least Ginny can be safe. At least this way I can't or won't ruin my father's cover."

"We needed you," Harry said in a way that brooked no argument. "It was getting very clear that Ron and Draco were always a breath away from hexing one another. I mean, I get it, Ron probably felt he was playing gooseberry, and Draco just wanted to be alone from time to time, but still. You bring balance."

"If you say so," Aurora said as the lights in the flat dimmed just after a flare of green. "That's the Floo—she's gone."

They waited a moment before getting up from the table and heading to Flourish and Blotts. Harry went inside while Aurora went around to scope out the building. There was a balcony in the back, not very large, but it looked like it led to Umbridge's flat. Closing her eyes, she pictured what she'd just seen and Apparated herself there.