The Unknown of the Order (Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

The Party

"Yeah, she's just abandoned the mission she was so obsessed with a few weeks ago she didn't mind swearing your life on it," said Sarah, scoffing.

"I realized there's nothing more I can do for my brother," said Elena. Sarah held the wand higher to her face, but let her speak. "My time with the Death Eaters should have taught me that using force to get people to do what you want isn't fruitful. After trying everything from reasonable arguments to the imperius curse, I knew I had to let him go. He knows that I love him and that I'll be there if he realizes he's on the wrong side. I can only hope that he will in time."

"So you just left him?" asked Sarah. 

"I placed a sleeping charm on him and disapparated. Barnaby tells me he's joined the Death Eaters once more. I couldn't go back to Romania; I want to remain as close to Aiden as possible. But, I also want to do my part to end this war before he's claimed by it. With no one else to help me, I turned to Barnaby."

Sarah rounded on him. "What happened to your occlumency?"

Barnaby gave her an apologetic look. "You know I'm lousy at it. She's been prying in my brain ever since Halloween. But, so have you."

Sarah looked away. It felt foolish to admit, even to herself, but she couldn't help but feel betrayed. She'd thought her little chats with Barnaby were a secret between the two of them, and it made her slightly sick to know that he'd been doing the same thing with Elena the entire time.

"Remember that night?" Barnaby asked, stepping imploringly toward Sarah. "Elena knew about the taboo from her brother. She also knew that you weren't afraid to say the Dark Lord's name, so she tried to warn me, just in case. Why would she do that if she wasn't on our side?"

Sarah remained silent, furious that she had no solid answer. 

"She's been here for a month or more," Barnaby continued. Did he really expect that to make Sarah feel better? "And she's never done anything evil or sneaky. I know she's done some bad things, but so have I, and you still trust me, right?"

Slowly, Sarah nodded. 

"Well, then trust me on this. Please?"

Sarah looked between the two of them, from Barnaby's puppy eyes to Elena's steely gaze. She sighed, then lowered her wand. 

"Fine," she said. "I'm sorry, Elena."

Elena nodded. 

"But Merula's gonna lose her mind when she finds out."

"We'll worry about that later," said Barnaby. He seemed immensely relieved that things had gone as well as they had. He rubbed his hands together. "Now, who wants to see some thestrals?"

******************

Barnaby gave them the tour, following paths only he and Hagrid could see, and pausing to show them everything from thestrals that had been trained to wear saddles to the Welsh Green that had been taught to breathe fire at images of figures in Death Eater robes. 

Sarah was impressed. She was also glad to learn that Elena wasn't a natural when it came to creatures. The two witches didn't converse at all, only deigning to give each other petty smiles when Elena was hit by a branch Sarah hadn't warned her about, or when Barnaby stopped to help Elena back to her feet. Barnaby continued to show them different sections of the forest, oblivious to the tension between them.

 Elena did her best to keep up with the others, but she stopped short with a terrified gasp upon seeing a family of werewolves playing in front of their den. 

"Are they not dangerous?" she squealed. She stumbled back several paces as Barnaby picked up a young cub and handed it to Sarah to cuddle. "What if it bites you?"