Word spread through the castle quickly, in rushed whispers and exaggerated stories of their skill and bravado. Soon, everyone knew of Harry Potter's secret group that was being carried on right under Umbridge's nose, and how they almost got away with it had someone not turned them in. How they were rounded up by the Inquisitorial Squad and used their new DADA training to send half of them to the hospital wing before spending the rest of the night being held hostage by the remaining Slytherins. How Audra Stanton, niece of Bellatrix Lestrange, was caught shuttling the DA to safety and paid the price for it that very night, dearly. And of course, how Dumbledore managed to get away when he was surrounded by three aurors and the minister of magic himself.
It was quite a story, and Audra was enjoying the newfound leniency that the teachers seemed to be showing her. Umbridge, on the other hand, hated that the DA members were being held up as heroes, which might be why she had decided to give them an extra long detention as their punishment. The first of many, Audra assumes.
Audra had been waiting for them all night. She had intended to catch up on most of her homework, but then she started thinking of them all instead, writing lines with that stupid quill for the first time and being stared down by Umbridge, and found she couldn't even focus on her regular potions course. So she went down to the greenhouses and helped Professor Sprout strain murtlap leaves until they had enough to the stuff to last the students for the rest of the month, and headed back down to where the stairways intersect with three great jars of the stuff, one for each of the houses to take back to the dorms. It had been hours of her pacing back and forth, straining her ears to listen for any possible sign of danger.
She could hear them before she caught sight of them- the slow shuffling of feet, the muttered curses, the whimpers of pain and muffled crying. It was a sorry bunch that approached her, the younger ones sniffling and blinking back tears, the oldest cradling their arms to their chests and grimacing in pain, and some of them just staring around with a shellshocked expression on their face, like they couldn't understand how they got here. She spotted Hermione somewhere in the middle with Ron's arm around her, his head bent close like he was comforting her. Hermione probably felt almost as responsible for this as Harry did, seeing as it had been all her idea to start with.
Not really, Audra thought, catching sight of Ginny holding onto the hand of a Hufflepuff third year. I'm the one who put it in her head. I'm the one who couldn't save them.
Fred and George found her first, followed by Clary. Clary had never been good at hiding her pain, and tear tracks stained her cheeks. She didn't even try to brush them away.
"Well, that was bloody awful." Fred said, and he seemed to exhausted and too angry to even make a joke about it. He just leaned against the banister instead and tried to hide the pain on his face, already looking towards George. She could see the questions fleeting from one twin to the other (are you alright, of course not, how bad does it hurt, mine's still bleeding, don't let Audra know how bad it stings) and she has to turn away from it.
"I'm sorry." She moves up a step so they're the same height and leans in to kiss them, not caring that Lee and George will make fun or that Clary will get that look on her face like she thinks it's bad form to kiss in public. "The stinging goes away soon."
"Oh, so it's alright that we got our hand shredded because it won't hurt soon? I know you just got tortured by a psychopath, but don't worry guys, because after a whole night of literally cutting into your own skin, the pain goes away." Zachariah Smith's voice was loud among all the whispers, carried up to the high ceiling and magnified against all the stone. It sounded angry and bitter and not at all like the collected prefect Audra had begun to expect. In fact, he sounded slightly hysterical. "What are you doing here, anyways?"
Audra just stares at him, him and the dislike that's etched into every single line on his face. She's not certain that he's ever gotten a detention before, let alone go through anything close to a detention with Umbridge. It's enough to make anyone lose it, but somehow the thought of him being anything less than in total control made Audra so surprised she could barely formulate a response. "Excuse me?"
"You weren't in the DA. You weren't just having your hand ripped open. The only reason you're hear at all is because your boyfriend's completely obsessed with you, so I'd like to know, why are you, a Slytherin, part of the Inquisitorial Squad, here waiting for us?" Everyone was listening now, watching Zachariah with the sad expression of one watching a train wreck but having no way to stop it. They were holding their breath, even Audra, hoping that he might get this out of his system and come back to his senses. Over his shoulder, Audra could see Ron being held back by Hermione, looking like there would be nothing that could make him feel as good as punching Smith in the face would. "We don't have any place for Slytherins here."
"Too far, mate." Seamus, who had only exchanged a handful of words to her before last night's fiasco, started forward. "Off you're rocker you are, come on, take a breath."
Seamus reached out to grab him, to pull him backwards, but Zachariah just shook him off and started forward. "Oh, give it a rest people." He's spitting the words out, and Audra had to wonder if he had always distrusted her this much or if he had just truly lost his mind. "You think she wants to help us? Sure, she tried her best, but it didn't matter in the end. You see any knew scars on her hand, huh?" He reached out and grabbed at her, his fingers digging into the still tender cuts. Audra had endured worse things, but she hadn't been expecting the sudden spike of pain. It makes her jerk her hand away, letting out an undignified squeak as she did so.
Smith reaches out to her again, this time to fix whatever he had done, but Audra sank back behind the twins, willing to let them protect her. Ron appeared in front of them, glowering. "Don't touch her again," He warned, and here was a glimpse of the Ron that had stood in front of a mass murdered for his best friend and once went to battle a giant snake to save his sister. It was touching, to see this on display for her. "Touch her, and I'll break your nose."
Everyone was quiet. Even Smith. Audra, now confident that no one was going to attack her, took a step forward and ripped off the bandage covering the back of her hand, shoving it in Zach's face. The words are bright red against her pale skin, clearly readable. I must learn where my loyalties lie. "You know what I've been doing all these nights you were in your little study sessions? Risking my neck to keep you guys from getting caught. And when I got caught, I didn't give up any names." She stuffed her hand back into her pocket, suddenly too tired and worried and scared to fight with him. "I chose my side a long time ago."
They stood together for a while, all of them affirming to each other that yes, they were okay, and yes, the pain did go away, and no, they wouldn't stop believing in what Harry had told them. Then they dispersed to their individual common rooms, where the same conversations started up again. Audra went with Fred to Gryffindor tower and he had led her away from the group, both of them settling into one of the bigger arm chairs as she forced him to soak his hand in murtlap.
"I didn't expect it to hurt that much." Fred laughed, like the admission was something silly. Audra just scooted closer to him, tracing the freckles dotting his arm and trying not to look at the newly added scars. "I was expecting it to be like a million little paper cuts. Painful, but not like this."
Audra knew what he meant. The quill wasn't like a simple cut, it was a biting from the inside out, the peeling away of skin layer by layer. "It really does get better," She promised, fighting the urge to drag him away and keep him somewhere no one else could get to him. Wanting to lock up everyone she loved in a great big faraway place until the horrible war was over. "And yours should heal without even leaving a scar if you don't get in trouble again."
"Me, not get in trouble?" He gave her the first real smile of the night and bent his head to kiss her. He's casual with his affection, like it's second nature for him to gravitate closer to her whenever they were in the same room. Audra's learning, but it's still hard for her to return the favor. Then he winces, his attention brought back to his throbbing hand, and sobers. "All I could think about was how Ron and Ginny and George were in there with me and there was nothing I could do to help them."
"Sometimes you can't."
"I wish I could." He makes a fist with his injured hand once, twice, a third time, ruining any healing Audra's efforts had brought about. She clucks her tongue and sucks in an annoyed breath before placing his hand back into the murtlap, but doesn't scold him. Audra knows that the simple pleasure of pain can be comforting sometimes. "I wanted to protect them."
"I know you did." She reached up to smooth his hair. It'd gotten progressively longer throughout the year, but he still refuses to cut it. "We're going to be okay, right?"
"Of course we are." Fred stares into the fire, but his eyes light up a little. "We're all going to make it through this year just fine, and the year after that, and the year after that, until Harry finally gets tall enough to actually kill you-know-who." Audra started to ask what height had to do with it, but supposed that he was still very small, and let Fred continue. He was on a roll anyways. "And then he and Ron and Hermione and you and Luna and occasionally Clary will just move into the Burrow until it's fit to burst, and Mum can feed you comfort food until you're all forced to get bigger robes. And Ron and Hermione will marry, and George and Lee will get married, and Harry will realize he's too good for Cho and fall in love with Ginny. And you and I, we'll make it out of this mess, and then we'll ride off into the sunset, happily ever after style."
Audra stayed quiet, letting his voice wash over her. "You forgot the part where you run a very successful joke shop."
"That's happening already." He closes his eyes, apparently ready to go to sleep, and Audra moves to disentangle himself from him. She had to get going if she had any hope of getting back to the dormitories without Emmeline becoming suspicious. "We'll be fine, you and me. Just wait."
Audra really hopes he's right.