The Potion Princess

Decisions

"Did you hear the news?"  Emmeline asks later, when the large group of them is scattered throughout the back of the library.  She sounds almost deliriously happy, enough for Lee to look a little wary.  "Boys and girls have to stay five feet from each other at all times.  Horrible, isn't it Clary?"

Clary grins at her, then moves in for a kiss, which Audra knows is mostly for the benefit of her and Fred.  Her and Fred, who have had to deal with walking on opposite sides of the hallway, because Umbridge seems to have made this rule just for them and tends to enforce it.  "Completely terrible."  Clary grins at those nearest to her, all of which are rolling their eyes at her display, and sinks back against Emmeline.

Audra is just about to say  screw it, this is stupid and snog Fred senseless when a little Slytherin appears in front of her. "Audra?"  The little girl holds out an envelope, which has her name written across it in familiar slanted cursive.  "Letter from Dumbledore."

Audra takes it, thanking her, aware of all the eyes on her.  They all have questioning looks on their faces, each of them for a very different reason. 

Fred talks first.  "What's he want?"

Audra looks back down at the paper, too used to Dumbledore's vague ways of sharing information to be surprised that it doesn't hold details.  My office, 8 o'clock.  "I have no idea."

Audra balances on top of a cabinet that she had pushed beside Fawkes, knowing she looks unprofessional but not able to bring herself to care.  Dumbledore had just smiled indulgently while she was doing it, and even though Snape took a moment to give her a scathing glare, neither of them stopped her, which was just as good as permission.  Now, Snape was pacing the room with his head bowed and Dumbledore was giving her that piercing, know-all stare over the tops of his glasses, like they were both waiting for her to explode. 

Maybe she might.

Hearing the Dark Lord is going to pull you into his ranks full time (bye-bye spy work, so bye-bye blood traitor best friends,  and more importantly, bye-bye Fred) and that the head of the Order wants you to agree for can have that affect.

"You want me,"  Audra says the words slowly, like taking her time might change the facts.  Like she was just waiting for Dumbledore to interrupt her and tell her that no, of course not, that's not what he meant.  "To become a full time death eater?  Not even to filter information?  Just to watch and wait  and stand by while innocent people get killed, let horrible things happen even though I can stop them, until the time is right? "  Dumbledore moves to interrupt her, but Audra is on a roll now and lets her voice climb loud enough to cover his words.  "Without giving me a single reason as to why I should do so."

"You'll know when the time has come for you to leave."  Dumbledore holds one wrinkled hand out, placating.  "This is a temporary position."

"Temporary?  Temporary as in for the summer?  Or until the war is over?  You don't know how long this will take, don't try and pull that with me.  I'm not as trusting as Harry."  She slides off the cabinet, ignoring the way that Fawkes calls after her to come back.  "No.  I'm not doing it.  Find another person to throw to the wolves, because I'm not doing it."

"You're not a lamb led to slaughter."  Snape said, exasperated.  "I thought you knew what you signed up for."

Audra turned to him and glared, a bit offended that he was choosing to argue against her.  "things have changed."

"You mean the Weasley brat has decided he loves you after all."  There was definite venom in Snape's voice now, and something that sounds a bit bitter.   She wonders if this reminds him of him and Lilly, how it should have turned out, and pushes the thought away.  Audra has no time for things she can't help, or any room for other people's pain.  "We don't get to choose to serve the cause only when it suits us.  It's time for you to stop being a child and do what you promised us you could."