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

Chapter 33 - Opening Up

Second, the Quibbler had almost no information. I supposed that was fair, since they had bigger things to worry about than getting the details on muggle disappearances. But I didn't see why Mr. Potter or Mr. Macmillan wouldn't have given Faith all the details, unless they'd never gotten them. Colette suspected someone in the auror office was burying in the cases so people wouldn't look into them, which begged the question of why. What was so important about a couple dozen muggle children?

"Well, what can we do about that?" Albus asked after Colette had shared this theory, late one evening in the library record room.

"I mean, we could break into the auror office and find the case files," Colette suggested, shrugging casually as if she'd only suggested we walk down to dinner.

Poppy started laughing, but when Albus and I just sighed, she must have realized Colette wasn't joking and quickly grew serious. "That's a little bit mad, Colette."

"It's not mad, just difficult," Colette said, rolling her eyes. "We could do it, though. We've done it before."

"No, we haven't," I said. "We didn't break in anywhere. We were let in by Carrow."

"Oh, do you mean last June?" Poppy asked. We all turned to stare at her, and she shrugged. "I heard the rumors. I don't know what really happened."

"I think the rumors are mostly true," Albus said, tilting his head. "What do they say? We were incredibly stupid and reckless and got Faith Lindsey to print some insane ramblings in the Prophet before throwing ourselves into the battle at the Ministry?"

Poppy chuckled. "That's about right."

"Well, the article was true, not insane, but otherwise I think that's accurate," Colette said. "It's besides the point, though. We could totally break into the auror department. I'm sure Mr. Potter wouldn't even mind when he heard why."

"Seriously?" Poppy's eyes widened. "Didn't you see that Quibbler article? They think the prime minister works for Stillens!"

I glanced at Colette and Albus. Of course we'd all seen the article. We'd also heard it straight from Wren, and suspected it for months now. Instead of saying that, though, because that would bring up too many questions we literally couldn't answer, I said, "Yeah, that's true. I don't think we should do that, Colette."

Colette narrowed her eyes at me. "Come on, really?"

"I'll owl Teddy, okay? Maybe he can snoop around and find the case files."

"Oh, that's a better idea," Albus said, nodding. "Do that."

"Fine." Colette sighed. "When did you become the reasonable one?"

"When Wren's not here, someone has to step up to the job."

"Tell that to twelve or thirteen-year-old Astra," Albus said, rolling his eyes. "Wren is your entire impulse control."

"Yours too, idiot," Colette said, rolling her eyes.

"Better than not having any at all," Albus said, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, I think that's enough for tonight," I said, closing my notebook and standing up. "It's almost curfew, anyway, and we certainly can't let the prefects get caught out past curfew."

We didn't bother putting any magazines away. Madam Pince didn't really care, as long as we left them in the room, and no one else ever came in here. Even if they did, I didn't think what we were doing was necessarily suspicious. Just reading the Quibbler, something we were known for doing every day.