Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| One Hundred Fifteen |*|

Aquila flew back to Hogwarts and was met with the questioning of Headmaster Snape. She attempted to give him vague answers to all of his questions, but he wasn't having it this time. "Whitman, if you don't tell me exactly where you were and what you were doing, you'll feel a pain more unimaginable than death itself," Snape told her through gritted teeth.

Aquila took in a deep, calm breath. "Like I said before: a letter arrived, addressed to the so called, 'Dumbledore's Army'. This letter included the names of all the known Death Eaters to warn the members of them and their children. I was so startled by its contents that I flew out to find whoever sent it, but the owl that delivered it brought me to an empty, deserted home in the middle of nowhere."

"Where is this letter now?" he asked.

"I burnt it to ashes and tossed the ashes in the Black Lake," she told him. "I realize now that I should've shown you first... it was impulsive, and I am prepared to face the consequences."

"And there will be consequences," Snape assured her harshly. "As for right now, return to your patrol."

"I was only trying to help," Aquila said before leaving the room. "Next time I'll consult you before leaving on an impulse."

"I will not forgive you if you pull a stunt like this again," he said. "So I suggest you start acting like an adult instead of that incompetent, green-haired child you used to be."

"I will," Aquila promised.

|*|*|*|

During her evening sweep of the castle while the students were eating dinner in the Great Hall, the eagle flew into a window in the Gryffindor Tower that some second year left open. She found the room belonging to Neville Longbottom, the student whom Hermione suggested meeting with first. "If anyone will be running the DA, it's him," the intuitive Gryffindor told Aquila.

The eagle perched herself on one of the beds and waiting for dinner to finish up. She had the letters from Ron between her talons, and she remained still until she heard voices entering the outer corridor. Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom, along with another round faced boy Aquila didn't recognize, stepped into the room and froze at the sight of the Dark Eagle.

"That's the bird!" Seamus exclaimed, pointing to it and violently shaking Neville. "The one from The Prophet! The-"

"Dark Eagle," Neville finished. "And would you keep your voice down, Seamus?"

"We're dead," Seamus continued. "Bloody dead. Well, get on with it, then! Stab out my eyes and hang my corpse from the bloody ceiling!"

"What's that in its claws?" the third boy asked, taking a step foreword. "Looks like a letter."

Aquila nodded and dropped the letters on the bed. She then flew away and perched on the windowsill, watching them from afar.

Seamus picked up the letters and read them over. "It's a bunch of nonsense," he said. "One minute it's talking about opening a garden supply store, and the next it's asking what my favorite flavor of every flavor bean is. It doesn't make any bloody sense."

"They're addressed to Ginny," the unnamed boy noticed. "Maybe she'll know what it means."

"These letters were delivered to us, Patrick," Neville said. "The eagle must think we can handle this information."

I forgot how stupid Gryffindors actually are, Aquila thought before flying into the corner of the room. She had planned for this. Morphing into her human form, she kept her back turned to the boys and her hood hanging below her eyes. She used her wand to modify her voice, and she turned around and spoke the names of the Death Eater spies.

"Abby Greenwall, Ethan Drake, and Cassiopeia Carrow," she said, purposefully leaving herself out of the list.

"What about them?" Neville asked.

"They're here," she said. "They're trying to gain access to the DA."

"How do they know about the DA?" Neville asked. "Who told them?"

"Unimportant," she replied.

"Who are you?" Seamus asked.

"Unimportant," she repeated.

"Well, hello, Unimportant. I'm Patrick Franklin."

"Don't tell it your name!" Seamus exclaimed.

"Keep your voice low, Seamus Finnigan," Aquila told him.

"If you know our names," Neville said, "shouldn't we know yours?"

"My name doesn't matter," she told him. "All that matters is keeping everyone safe. They are dangerous."

"So are you," Seamus said. "I've read the articles. You always show up whenever the Death Eaters are on the way. You're working with them."

"My allegiance is to this school and the students in it. I could've gone to anyone, but I came to you. Neville, inform the others of the spies, and I will report back to you in three days time with any further information. If you breathe a word of my helping you to anyone outside of this room, I will not hesitate to kill you. Do not take my words lightly."

And with those words, Aquila was off again through the window and out of sight.

|*|*|*|

Aquila was not expecting that Patrick kid to stand up on the top of the Gryffindor table the next morning during breakfast and deliver a speech that was sure to get him killed.

"Students of Hogwarts!" he shouted, holding a goblet in his right hand as a microphone. "Looks can be deceiving. I was dating this girl last summer-not gonna say who-and she was so pretty and sweet. She stayed over my house one night, and in the morning, she tried to eat me-literally. The girl grew fangs."

At this point, the Carrows were walking towards him, and he began talking more rapidly and moving his hands a lot.

"My girlfriend was a vampire," he continued. "But I couldn't tell until it was too late. She bit my finger off. Look!" He waved his left hand around, and Aquila noticed it only had four fingers. "It hurts really bad, and I don't want anyone else to get hurt by someone in a disguise. So, it's important that I tell you that Bethany and Robert, two Gryffindors, are not in fact Gryffindors at all. They are spies for You-Know-Who! Abby Greenwall and Ethan Drake!"

The hall erupted into gasps from every table, and Alecto Carrow pointed her wand at Patrick sinisterly.

"Don't trust them!" he yelled. "They are spi-"

A blast from Alecto's wand sent Patrick falling to the floor. The Hall fell ghostly silent as the professor let that boy feel all of her wrath, and Aquila couldn't help but feel guilty that she was the one responsible for the outcome.