We Will Shine {Book 6 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 2 - Happy Birthday

~ Wren ~

It wasn't until July 14th that the penny I'd been carrying with me everywhere, staring at it and fiddling with it and keeping it under my pillow at night, glowed red hot.

I have no idea why Stillens decided to use pennies as his means of communication, or why all of them were strangely golden. I did know that when it became hot, it had a message. It was a technique he'd actually borrowed from James's aunt Hermione, that she'd used in the original DA. My family had perfected it. The penny looked perfectly normal (except for the gold color), but where a regular one would say "In God we trust," it said nothing. Nothing that is, until my uncle (or mom or dad, it depended) wanted to send a message. I already had a feeling I knew what this one would be: a summons.

Unfortunately, I couldn't exactly check. We were halfway through dinner at the time. I had actually been in the middle of asking Lily a question, trying to find some sort of normalcy, when suddenly it was like a burning coal had materialized in my pocket. I froze.

"Wren?" James frowned at me from across the table. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." I blinked, casually dropping my arm into my lap, just in case the coin was glowing through the fabric. "I just..." I shook my head, smiling. "I completely forgot what I was going to say, I'm sorry."

Everyone seemed to accept that (though James seemed a little suspicious), except for Mr. Potter. He raised an eyebrow, questioningly, and I gave an almost imperceptible nod as Albus started on about something Astra had said in one of her letters.

For the rest of the meal, I stayed quiet. That wasn't unusual. I'd been on the verge of panicking for almost a month now, and everyone had been tiptoeing around me. I recognized what they were doing, though they tried to hide it. I was too worried about everything else to care that much, though I didn't know whether to appreciate their thoughtfulness or be frustrated by it.

The truth was, I'd been struggling a lot more than I knew how to let on. And part of me wanted to hide it, but part of me longed to let it all rush out. The excruciating stress. Debilitating  fear. Alarming numbness. An irrational feeling of being completely cut off from the people around me. And, worst of all, an inability to articulate any of this to anyone. Not Albus, not James. Not even writing it out for Astra.

There was an entire, silent month between the attack on the Ministry and this day, July 14th. A month where I slowly slipped out of reach of my friends, without knowing how to stop. I could tell James and Albus noticed, but I guess they were trying to give me space. To cope? To fall back to the depths of depression? I had no idea, but I was a little wary of approaching them about it, since they'd apparently decided to ignore it all.

I didn't know if the coin in my pocket made it all better or worse. Maybe both. Facing my uncle was almost better than waiting, knowing nothing. At least I wouldn't be in the dark anymore. The light might end up being a lot worse, unfortunately.

Six hours later, I stood in Mr. and Mrs. Potter's bedroom as they both quietly fussed over me, all three of us trying to act more brave than we were feeling. My hands were shaking so much that Mrs. Potter had to fix the clasp of my cloak for me. "It's going to be all right, I swear," she said softly, gently brushing my hair behind my ear. "Whatever happens, we won't leave you there."

Mr. Potter pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to me. As I reached to take it, I realized it was a small compact mirror, like the one Teddy Lupin had. Mr. Potter placed it in my hand and closed my fingers around it, and I slowly looked up at him. "Keep this in your pocket; I'll be able to hear everything that's happening. If anything starts going wrong, I'll be there in seconds. I won't be alone, either."