"Are you done manhandling me?" Regulus said with disdain.

"What did you just say?" Kelsey couldn't believe what she had just heard. She was the victim here.

Regulus dusted the sleeves of his robes as if it had dirt on it. At eye level, Kelsey saw his Prefect badge shine in the dim light of the cupboard.

All that just to follow Snape and the rat. Regulus didn't know what it was about that Pettigrew boy, but something seemed off. The seventh years were avoiding him too and wouldn't reveal anything to him either. So much for House loyalty. Following them had been going swell until she had shown up.

According to letters from Kreacher, something was going on outside Hogwarts which included a few seventh-years. There was an uprising happening on both sides. But it was so subtle that no one made any move. No one at home had divulged much to Regulus.

And Regulus hated being left out.

"What was that?" she tried to kick him comically but he dodged.

"You're mental," he looked at her as if she was beneath him. He straightened his robes. He didn't know what had made him help her. All he knew was that she had been a few seconds away from being permanently wiped off the face of this earth. That and he wasn't in the particular mood to be roped into being an accomplice to that as he had no doubt that Mulciber, Snape and Pettigrew would have been caught.

"You should be thanking me," he muttered.

Kelsey observed the boy in front of her.

What was he doing following them?

He went to open the door.

"Wait!" she held onto his robe and he shrugged her off.

"Don't touch me!" he frowned.

"You touched me first!" she glowered at him.

"Whatever, I'm off." He opened the door. "This never happened," he looked at her one last time with disdain before leaving.

Kelsey stood staring at the space in front of her in dismay.

ϟ

She came back to the common room a little shaken and confused, with the plate of food enchanted to float behind her, only to find her friends now sprawled by the fireplace with the four boys. She subtly hid the cloak behind herself and made her way to Potter, dropping the cloak next to him without alerting the girls.

"Whatever happened to a girls' night?" Kelsey asked sitting on the arm of the sofa next to Sirius. She conjured the tray onto the coffee table and everyone dove in.

"You see, we heard about that," began Potter with his mouth full.

"And decided that we wanted to see one of the muggle sleepovers ourselves," grinned Sirius lecherously.

"Was hopin' for more pillow fights to tell you the truth," mumbled Pettigrew under his breath. Kelsey took in the rat's appearance without being obvious about it. She was sure she had heard the sound of him being punched but his face looked fine.

What was that about a Phoenix?

Were the boys into some underground magical creature racket?

Why was Pettigrew suddenly in cahoots with Slytherins?

Her head spun with questions as she watched Peter covertly hand Potter a large piece of parchment. The whole thing made her sick but she still needed answers.

"They stood at the bottom of the stairs yelling for us until we caved," Astrid explained. Kelsey noted how she was tucked right by the fireplace next to Remus with a book between the two.

With ease, the group broke into conversations about their post-Hogwarts plans. Lily was busy preparing to apprentice at an Apothecary she had helped at last summer but she remained vague about the rest. Similarly so, it appeared as if the boys might go the Auror route. Kelsey did her best to keep an eye out for funny slip-ups especially when Pettigrew informed them squeakily of joining under his father at the Ministry.

There was the unspoken knowledge between them that there was still a war brewing outside the walls of their school.

"Never took you for a Ministry bloke," Kelsey joked, nudging Sirius when he said that he would look into it as well.

"Being an Auror sounds fine enough," Sirius shrugged. "My uncle left me his London flat and some inheritance. Saving up for some stuff," he added, cryptic. Kelsey saw Potter pin him with a glare.

"What stu-" Sirius interrupted Kelsey, sensing that she was about to start asking some unwanted questions.

"Jones sent in her application today," Sirius thumped her on the back.

"Come to think of it, you never told me about you wanted to do Remy.." she raised her eyebrows.

Remus sent a quick look to his mates and cleared his throat. "I can't work at the ministry," he said, implying the underlying furry situation.

"I think you could look into rights and management of magical creatures don't you think? What about wizard academia?" Remus paled thinking that Kelsey was about to make a direct connection to his condition. "You know like underground black markets," Kelsey looked around the room. She was met with silence.

"No one here interested in magical creatures?" she prodded, looking directly at the mousy boy.

"I heard from this distant cousin of Newt Scamander that Phoenixes are all the rage," she said uninterestedly while picking her nails. "But whatevs," she shrugged in the end.

Remus choked on his chocolate and Astrid had to thump him on the back to help him dislodge it.

"Sorry did I say something?" she looked at them more directly this time, silently provoking them. Even Lily looked rather shifty, suddenly avoiding her gaze.

"Padfoot!" Potter smacked him up the head.

"I didn't say a word, I swear!"

"Look just." Sirius grabbed Kelsey and pulled her to the side as Lily placated the other three girls who were completely lost at the sudden turn in the conversation. Kelsey looked at Astrid worried. "..you shouldn't go saying that word out in the castle."

"Aha! So you are running an underground phoenix scheme!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Sirius was extremely confused. He sent a shrug to Potter. "No- just, it's best you forget about it. Or anything related to it."

"But why?" she whined.

"It's not for you to know," he insisted without budging.

"But I just saw Pet-"

"Just leave it!" Sirius barked, suddenly worked up. Kelsey shut up. "I don't know why you have it out for him. But this really doesn't concern you yet."

"Yet?" she called out as he turned and walked back up to his dorms. "What do you mean yet?!" she demanded, now looking at the other three boys who stood up and excused themselves too.

With a groan, Kelsey slumped on the couch and crossed her arms.

"What was that about?" Mary asked.

Kelsey was about to speak when Lily cut in "-nothing. Just nothing," the redhead quipped.

Of all of Kelsey's flaws, she wasn't easy to let go of things.

ϟ