"know that it's delicate"
"Students, I regret to inform you that Hogwarts will be closing." McGonagall's voice echoed across the Great Hall, "there has been another death. Millicent Bulstrode was found dead earlier tonight. Hogwarts cannot remain open, not when your lives are at risk-"
"Blood hell," Theo winced, "how has this happened?"
Astoria barely knew Millicent, but still, she felt her heart pang at the announcement - all the stakes had been real. Only a few short hours ago, she had been happy, she had been locked up in a world of her own, one where none of this even existed. And suddenly, she had been brought back to reality with the one thing she couldn't escape - death.
"Hogwarts will close, for your safety. We cannot lose another student," she gulped, holding back a tear. "Tomorrow afternoon, the Hogwarts Express will arrive in Hogsmeade. Your parents have all been made aware, and they are expecting your return. Unfortunately, the year has come to a rather premature end." She sighed, "please return to your common rooms with your Prefects, and do not leave the castle. Classes shall be cancelled tomorrow to allow you to pack."
Blaise spoke up, scratching his chin, "this makes no sense."
"We have to stop this now; I am not missing another year!" Exclaimed Daphne, "not another one." She shook her head.
"We should talk to McGonagall, do you think Slughorn had a chance to talk to Aron McCubbin?" The thoughts were buzzing around Astoria's head faster than she could process them. She shook her head, "we need to fix this - and tonight."
"Astoria's right," Draco nodded in agreement, "if this doesn't all end tonight, we are going to end up with a repeat of last year."
"I'm not having that."
"I can't do it again," Daphne looked out at all of the young students leaving the Great Hall, "they don't deserve this either..."
"How the fuck are we meant to do this? We haven't figured anything out in months!"
Theo shook his head, "right, what do we know?" He pulled out some parchment from his pocket, "let's list."
"Theodore Nott," grinned Pansy, "organised for once, I never thought I would see the day."
"Not the time Pansy," he cut her off sharply. "So we know that we've seen Emelda Zabini, Perseus Parkinson and Adrian Greengrass on the map, for now, we can assume it's just them."
Everyone nodded, it was a start.
"And then, they're likely travelling through the castle under an invisibility cloak. They have to have been the ones who released the Lethifold that killed Professor Belby-"
Blaise cut him off, "I can bet Millicent was killed by one too."
"Makes sense," he nodded, "I bet Professor Slughorn would know." Theo raised his arms, beckoning over Professor Slughorn to the now almost empty table. "Professor!" He called out, "we need to talk to you."
"As do I," Slughorn nodded at the group of Slytherins, "I have news regarding Mr McCubbins. Please," he smiled at them, "follow me to my office."
In silence, the students followed him, Astoria hesitating once she saw the sofa she had been sat on, only a few days ago, when she had seized. She gulped, "I'll- I'll stand," she stood herself behind the sofa, leaning her body weight against it.
"Well, I have managed to speak with Aron McCubbins, I used a phial of freshly brewed Veritaserum- very lucky to have made a new batch only a few weeks ago, it tends to work much better when it's fresh-"
Draco cleared his throat, "Professor-"
"Ah! Silly me!" He exclaimed, shaking his head, "so yes, I managed to speak to Mr McCubbins under the influence of Veritaserum, and he kept mentioning a voice in his head, raspy and female..."
"My mother," nodded Blaise.
"Yes, I think so, but not inside of his head. Once I managed to corner him, he seemed no longer under her influence, I believe that she used the Imperius Curse on him, that would be why she was seen on the map."
"So that explains one thing."
"Yes - but what else?"
"Well, Miss Parkinson," Slughorn began, "he also kept on mentioning the smell of fudge, it was rather peculiar, does that mean anything to you?"
Daphne groaned, "we used to always buy our father fudge from Honeydukes... remember Astoria?" She prodded her sister, "he always requested the strangest of flavours."
"Professor," Draco spoke up, "did McGonagall close the one-eyed witch passage to Hogsmeade?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"The passage, did she close it?" He pressed his professor, "or does it still lead into Hogsmeade?"
"I do not believe that any of the passages have been closed, perhaps my eyes deceived me, but I believe I saw Mrs Flume on the map the other day, just in that passage..."
"Fuck," he replied, "oh fuck."
"Mr Malfoy!" Slughorn rose his voice, shaking his head aggressively. "Mind your language."
"They're in Hogsmeade," the puzzle began to piece together in his mind, "it's not on the map, it leads directly into the castle-"
"No one would recognise them if they stayed in Honeydukes either..."
"-maybe Mrs Flume is under an Imperius Curse, keeping them safe."
"Hmm," Slughorns voice waivered, "no students have been able to attend Hogsmeade this year, it would make a lot of sense."
"But then," Pansy cut in impatiently, "what about the Lethifold?"
"No idea," Draco shook his head, "it doesn't matter. If we find our parents, we can find what is under their control."
"Kill the king and the army falls," thought Astoria aloud.
Daphne nodded along, "we need to go to the passage Professor."
"Oh no students, you've done enough." Slughorn shook his head at them, they were only children, he couldn't put them through anything else.
"Respectfully," Astoria added, "they're our parents."
Draco nodded, "we figured this out, we get to find them."
"It's only fair!"
"Perhaps," Slughorn paused, "with my supervision, and Headmistress McGonagall's, you could come..."
"There is no perhaps about its professor," Pansy shook her head at him, "we are coming along whether you like it or not."
"I shall speak with Minerva," he furrowed his brow, "but it shall not be easy to convince her." Slughorn brandished his wand, "bring yourselves and your wands to the third floor in ten minutes. If she cannot be convinced, I suppose you shall be coming anyway..."
Everyone nodded around the room.
"Agreed." Pansy said to him, clutching her wand, "we are coming anyway."
"That is what I assumed." He gulped at the thought of them fighting again, it had pained him to witness the Battle of Hogwarts just the previous summer, but he knew he couldn't stop them. "Do be safe, and please," he pleaded with them, "do not enter the passage without me."
"Okay Professor," said Daphne, "we won't."
Once he was gone, Astoria was the first to speak, "now what? Can we really fight them?" She shook her head, it seemed impossible for her to hurt her own family, despite what her father had done.
"I-I I'm not sure," Draco stammered, he wasn't sure if he could take down his own father. As much as he resented the man, as much as he had ruined his life, he was still his father.
"We have to." Daphne stepped in, taking her sisters hand in her own. "It doesn't matter who they are, what they're doing is just as bad as You-Know-Who!"
"Fucking blood supremacy sucks!" Blaise exclaimed with a sigh, "why did it have to be us? Why Slytherin? Why our parents?"
"Bet Potter asked himself that a lot too! You know-"
Pansy cut him off, "at least he had a stupid prophecy about him. We just got roped into this because we have shit parents."
"At least we know that they're shit," Theo sighed, "we have some self-awareness now..."
"Only took us an entire war."
"Some of us," Daphne looked at her sister, "figured it out a bit sooner than others. I should have listened to you Astoria, all those years ago, I'm so sorry." Maybe some of it was her fault, maybe she was somehow responsible for the scars on her sister's fragile body.
"Don't be sorry!" Astoria took her sisters hand, "none of us have anything to apologise for. What's done is done. What matters now is the future."
"Speaking of, we have a future to save," Theo said nonchalantly, "you know, or something."