Archive of Our Own

Work Text

In Cycle 70, they followed the light of creation into the Plane of Magic.The Starblaster touched down on an empty field, near a lake and a tumbledown castle. As the ship settled into its landing, a lot of things happened at once.Lup felt herself shrinking-- clothes suddenly too large, hair much longer than she'd had it. From her newly acquired, shorter vantage point, she watched as the castle began to ripple, as an illusion peeled off of it. Around them, as though springing from the ground, rose huge, checkered bleachers. And, directly in front of Lup, she could see a bunch of birds flying towards them from the castle.Magnus, in a voice much higher than Lup was used to hearing, shouted, "What the fuck?"Looking around, Lup thought it was a pretty good question. She wasn't the only one who had shrunk-- the entire crew, gathered on the deck, had gone miniature.It took Barry, though, to draw the conclusion. "We... we haven't shrunk. We've de-aged.""Pan dammit," said Merle, still short and fat, but looking very odd indeed without his flowered beard.
"You should be celebrating, old man!" shot back Magnus.

"One thing at a time," interrupted Davenport, pointing at the sky. "We need to deal with those... birds?"

Lup
thought they might be owls, winging their way towards the Starblaster, each with a package clutched tight in its claws.Regardless of what type of bird they were, they were a potential threat. Anything that could compromise the safety of their crew was. Lup readied her wand.But try as she might, she could not produce a fireball. Not even a candle flame.Taako
glanced over at her, concern evident on his too-young face. "Lulu-"She grabbed his wand, tried again, and cursed when still nothing happened. "You'd think the fucking Plane of Magic would let magic even work-"Magnus, shoulder to shoulder with Lup, slashed at the nearest bird with his axe-- at least, he tried to. Smaller and less muscular at this younger age (Lup thought he looked about ten), he could barely lift the axe, much less use it.

But the birds, arriving unimpeded, did not peck them to death. The letters they carried-- one dropped into each set of hands-- did not explode. Mission seemingly complete, the seven birds returned to the castle.Lucretia read aloud the mailing address on hers. "Ms. L. Director, Portside Starblaster Deck, Quidditch Field, Hogwarts.""Do we open them?" asked Barry.It wasn't really a question-- Lup had already torn hers (addressed to a Ms. C. Youknow-Fromtivi) open."Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," read Taako, sounding supremely disgusted. "Who names a school Hogwarts? Do they understand nothing about branding? Image? Who would even go there?""A suprisingly large number of students," said a voice from the ground, outside the Starblaster. "And if you would be willing to join us inside Hogwarts for a bit, I'm sure we could answer many more of your questions."Lup
and Taako exchanged a glance.Davenport strode to the edge of the deck, straightening his too-big collar. "Who are you?""I could ask you the same question," said the voice, sounding faintly amused. "My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts.""Are we doing this?" asked Lucretia nervously-- little Lucretia, with Bantu knots and glasses too big for her face."I think we have to," replied Davenport under his breath. "There's only three of them, but they've all got wands.""Plus our magic isn't working," added Lup."They might know what happened to us," added Barry. "Why we de-aged."Davenport nodded once, sharply, and opened the gangplank."Hands in sight at all times," whispered Magnus, ever the safety officer. "No threatening moves."Lup kept her hands in sight by flipping him of as they filed off the Starblaster and onto the field.

Three human adults, each with a wand at the ready and adorned in wizardly robes, stood in front of them. Dumbledore-- for only one of them could possibly live up to the name-- had a magnificent beard and sparkling purple robes.Merle grumbled, "unfair," and Lup was pretty sure it was about
the beard. She kicked him in the ankle.Qualms from the other two adults with Dumbledore (over their age, over their ship, over Lup and Taako's ears)-- and an overly cautious Barry-- were soon silenced, and the ten of them made their cautious way across the Quidditch field, to Hogwarts.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

They wound their way through the twisting, undeniably magical, corridors of Hogwarts. Candles floated. Paintings gossiped. Lup could've sworn she saw a ghost fade through a wall.

It was no wonder, really, that she couldn't stop asking questions. Davenport had already claimed Dumbledore-- and Lucretia, thankfully, had engaged the greasy man who introduced himself as Professor Snape-- leaving the women open to answer Lup.

They fell into step, exchanged names. (Hers was Professor McGonagall)

"So, this is a school for magic, right?"

"Correct."

"And you send these letters--" Lup waved hers in the air-- "to everyone?"

"Only to the magical children of Europe," said McGonagall briskly as they turned a corner.

"Isn't everyone capable of magic? I mean, it's the Plane of Magic."

"The what?"

"I, ah-- let's let Davenport explain that one at the office."

"To answer your question, though, no-- not everyone is capable of magic. Non-magical people are called muggles."

"Weird," said Lup, nearly tripping as they ascended a staircase in her too-big shoe-- which reminded her of her other question. "Oh, hey, how old are kids when they come here?"

"Eleven."

Lup looked down at her hands. She'd worn the same scars, the same ripped nail, for the past 70 years. But now they were soft, untested, uncalloused.

"Eleven," she repeated. About 50 in elf years.

McGonagall nodded. "I must ask. Why are you all wearing red? And why is it... much too large?"

"Fashion," said Lup, winking up at her. "Jk. Uniform, but I try to do a bit of both. And it used to fit. Before this fucking plane, it was the best tailored outfit I'd ever had."

"Did this plane affect the clothing?"

"Pfft. Nah. It changed us. I don't know what it did, but one moment I'm, y'know, me, and the next I'm a kid again."

"So you're saying you're not eleven."

"Right in one."

"How old are you?"

"142, or 212. Your pick."

McGonagall
looked flabbergasted, but had no time to reply, as they had halted.

In the front of the group, Dumbledore tapped his wand against a statue of a griffin. The statue leapt aside-- Magnus gasping dramatically-- and the Headmaster led them up a narrow, spiral staircase.

Dumbledore's office was every bit as whimsical as the man himself. Lup could appreciate his style-- spindly silver instruments, leather-bound books, mysterious puffs of smoke. The flaming bird was a nice touch, too.

They settled into chairs conjured by McGonagall, and Davenport began to explain. "My name is Captain Davenport-"

"Cap'nport," whispered Magnus,

"-and this is the crew of the Starblaster. 71 years ago, the light of creation fell onto our plane of existence. 70 years ago, the Hunger- a large, all-consuming plane- arrived, attempting to consume this light. We narrowly escaped in the Starblaster. We have since followed the light of creation between planes. Once in a plane, we had one year to find and recover it before the Hunger arrives. If we don't find it, the plane is consumed."

"I'm to assume we are one of these planes?" asked McGonagall.

"Yes."

"Have you been... aging for the past 70 years? Lup informed me that she is over 100."

"No," replied Lucretia, pushing her glasses up. "Each year our age resets. Oddly enough, though, entering this plane reset our ages to eleven in human years."

"Human years?" asked Snape with a bit of a sneer.

"Oh, yes," said Lucretia. "It's a simple conversion."

"Are you not... human?"

"No, I am," she smiled. "But only me, Magnus, and Barry are. Taako and Lup are elves--" Taako winked overdramatically, and Lup raised her eyebrows-- "Merle is a dwarf--" Merle sneezed-- "and Davenport is a gnome."

"That... would explain the ears," said McGonagall faintly.

"And the height," added Snape, glancing at Davenport.

"Hey, fu--" began Merle, but was cut off by Dumbledore.

"To summarize. You de-aged upon entering our plane. You need to track down the light of creation once it enters our plane. Anything else?"

"Our magic doesn't work," offered Lup. "Probably just the interference of the Plane of Magic."

"A sound hypothesis," agreed the Headmaster. "Chalupa, was it?"

"Lup."

"Of course. So, again-- you must collect this light. You also ought to learn magic-- you're all clearly proficient." He gestured to their letters. "I see the best solution as the seven of you enrolling in Hogwarts this September."

Lup
and Taako made eye contact. In that moment, they asked each other a lot of things that they'd been
asking for the past 212 years.

'Do we trust this?'

No.

'Is it safe?'

Probably not.

'Will we make it anyway?'

Of-fucking-course.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It took some wrangling on the part of Davenport-- and the reluctant promise that once school started in a week, they would agree to be split up into houses-- but they ended the night in a modified dorm with seven beds.

It was late, too, the kind of late that made Merle nice and Magnus weepy. They'd been given nightclothes from the lost and found, and the promise that they could figure out what to do with the Starblaster in the morning.

"I wish I'd transitioned sooner," moaned Magnus, lying eagle-spread on the floor. "This fucking sucks."

"It's okay, man," said Merle. "Taako can magic you up."

"Could," sniffed Taako. "Fucking could. If my magic worked at all, you can bet your asses I wouldn't be wearing a fucking striped pajama shirt, and this pillow would be marginally softer than a rock, and Magnus wouldn't be fucking crying on the floor."

He launched the pillow at Magnus, who let it hit his stomach.

"We need to track the light," said Davenport, staring intently out one of the windows. "We can't miss it's fall. Barry, anything from that side?"

Barry, at the opposite window, said, "No."

He'd had a fucking mullet when he was eleven. Lup loved him so, so much, but she fully intended to tease him mercilessly when they were less tired.

"We can't just sit here and go to school without the light," said Lucretia.

"Fuck if we've got a chance at getting it without magic," snapped Lup. Yelling made her feel a little better, but the look on Lucretia's face ruined it. "Sorry, babe. I just..."

"Yeah."

"I don't fucking want long hair," said Magnus. "I don't! I want it short and I want my sideburns back and-"

Taako threw Lup's pillow at him.

Lup kicked Taako, but then remembered something. "Babe, do you have your cosmetics bag on hand?"

Taako
kicked his robe-- which he'd dropped on the foot of his bed-- in her direction. She scooped it up off the floor, dug through the pockets (she didn't want to know why Taako had a full spice rack in his robe, or how he even fit it in there) until she found a gold sequined bag. It took Lup a few minutes of digging through lipsticks and eyeshadow palettes to produce a pair of scissors.

"Don't let her cut your hair at 3 in the morning," warned Taako. "You'll either end up bald or with a Mohawk."

Lup flipped him off, but they were both smiling as Magnus sat up, scooted over to Lup's bed.

She couldn't restore his sideburns, ("Maybe we should change your last name," suggested Merle. "Unburntsides.") but Lup thought she did a pretty good job regardless. Magnus offered to cut hers back to her usual length in return.

Lup
thanked him for the offer, and asked Lucretia to do it. She would trust Magnus with her life, but not near her head with a pair of scissors.

Eventually, Davenport cajoled them all into bed. They'd take turns in pairs as the watchmen, one per window, looking for the light as it fell.

Lup
could've sworn that she'd just barely closed her eyes before Davenport shook her awake. She stumbled to the window, stared sleepily over the glassy lake, the star-emblazoned sky.

"It's a pretty view," said Lucretia quietly.

Lup
started-- she'd forgotten that someone else would be awake.

"Yeah," she agreed. "It's so... vast."

"It makes me feel small. The idea that no matter how many planes we visit, I'll never reach all the stars."

"Do you want to reach them all?"

"Look at them, Lup." Lucretia motioned out her window. "A million possibilities. A million chances. How could I not?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Lup said, "I don't want to reach all the stars. I want to love millions from afar. But I want to love one close-- to find a home, and hold onto it, and never let go."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

None of them had seen the light fall that night. Reluctantly, Davenport told them to keep their eyes open, but for the time being, to just settle into Hogwarts. (Barry looked a little too excited at the prospect of another year of school.)

They changed into Hogwarts uniform and their too-big red robes (Lup was thankful that she could just go for a jacket, as the robe would be much too long) as Davenport gave them some reminders.

"Learn everything you can. Any knowledge gained here could help us stop the Hunger. Don't pick fights-- Magnus, Lup, that means you. Respect authority-"

"Within reason," interrupted Magnus.

"-and let's try to not make any enemies the first day here."

"Sounds good, boss," said Merle, winking at him.

After breakfast that morning, they unloaded the Starblaster. Lup would've killed for a levitation spell as they dragged their baggage up to their dorm. Her only consolation was that she wasn't Taako, who had somehow acquired about double the (fairly large amount of) possessions the rest of them had collected over the past 70 years.

But now they had to figure out what to do with Fisher. Magnus was all for keeping them in his dorm, but was quickly shot down by McGonagall, who pointed out that other students would ask too many questions. Hogwarts was a school full of teenagers-- anything out of the ordinary would be summarily (and often illegally) investigated by wannabe detectives.

Eventually-- thankfully-- Snape offered a place in his office for the voidfish. He explained that as potions master, anything odd and watery would seem normal. His threatening aura, Lup was sure, would do wonders for the guard work as well.

It still took the assurance that Magnus would be able to visit Fisher, and that they would be well fed, before they agreed.

The only issue left was that of a giant silver spaceship in the middle of the Quidditch field-- a sport Lup learned was the most popular one at Hogwarts. (It was also played on flying broomsticks. She couldn't wait to try it out.)

After a couple flyovers of the Hogwarts grounds in the Starblaster-- and a tense moment with a tree that liked to hit flying things-- they found a clearing in the Forbidden Forest. Some clever wand work from Dumbledore soon ensured that the seven of them (plus him) would be the only ones able to see it.

They spent much of the day orienting themselves in the castle, climbing ever-changing staircases, talking to ghosts, finding classrooms.

They were leaving the library when a nasally voice spoke from above them.

"Ickle firsties, hmm? You're very early!"

Floating in the air above them was a specter. Dressed gaudy, they reminded Lup of a technicolor clown ghost wannabe.

"Who're you?" asked Magnus.

"The name's Peeves," replied the ghost, popping their collar. "Hogwarts' resident Poltergeist, Fashion Advisor, and Troublemaker Extraordinaire."

Taako raised an eyebrow, popped a hip, and ignored Lup's warning glare. "Bet?"

Peeves' smile became a whole lot more malicious. "You're looking far too comfortable there, firstie!"

And they pulled a water balloon out of thin air. It hit Taako directly in the face, leaving his immaculate braid dripping, the front of his robes soaked, and a scary look in his eye.

Taako
pulled out his wand. "You messed with the wrong wizard, my man--"

Whatever spell he had been trying to cast didn't work, sending Peeves into peals of laughter.

"Fuck off," snapped Magnus.

The poltergeist stuck out his tongue and lobbed another balloon at Davenport, who stepped aside just in time.

"It's almost 6," said Lucretia, checking her watch. "Let's just go to dinner."

They hiked up their robes and sprinted for the dining hall. By the time they arrived Magnus was soaked-- he had been unsuccessfully trying to catch a balloon. The rest of them were drier, but they all sported various amounts of water.

The handful of Hogwarts staff already seated looked up at them in alarm as they thundered in, slamming the door behind them to keep Peeves out. Lup felt more like a little kid than ever.

"What... happened?" asked McGonagall, half-standing.

"Peeves," replied Taako, wringing out his braid.

"W-we should-should've known, e-eh?" stuttered a purple-turbaned professor.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Professor McGonagall pulled them aside after dinner.

"Term begins next Sunday evening," she said without further ado. "And if you are to attend Hogwarts without raising any further suspicion, there are a couple of issues we need to address.

"Firstly, only Professor Snape, Headmaster Dumbledore, and myself are aware of your true identities. As far as the other professors and staff are concerned, the seven of you are perfectly normal exchange students from America who arrived early to get used to the time zone. The three of us will do what we can to aid you in the recovery of this light. However, you will need to blend in among the student body.

"And speaking of blending in-- Lup, Taako, we need to hide your ears."

Lup
flinched, automatically reached up to cover her ears. It had been over a century since they'd been whipped as punishment, but survival instincts are hard to overcome.

She flinched at the hand on her back, too-- but it was Barry. Barry, supporting her. Barry, keeping her grounded.

Lup slowly put her hands down. "How're you gonna do that?"

"I am the transfiguration professor at Hogwarts. I will simply transfigure them now, and restore them once you leave."

Taako
visibly started. "Transfiguration. That's like transmutation, yeah?"

"Transfiguration is the magical change of one object to another--"

Taako
punched the air. "Fuck yeah! Fuck yeah!"

"Language!"

"Sorry, Prodessor, it's just-- fuck yeah! Can you teach me how you do it?"

"Please," prompted Lucretia in a whisper.

"Please?" repeated Taako.

McGonagall sighed. "Let me cast the spell first."

She raised her wand. Lup closed her eyes. And slowly but surely, she could feel her ears shrinking, bubbling, collapsing in on themselves.

She didn't like the feeling at all.

Lup didn't realize she was crying until the transfiguration was over. Taako was still hounding McGonagall about magic-- "Please teach me, I've been learning for centuries, I'm a quick student, please"-- and then Barry was there, wiping away her tears.

"Hey," he said quietly. "Hey. It's okay."

"I know," Lup hiccuped. "I know I shouldn't be crying and that it's only for one year but it feels wrong and--"

Barry let her cry for a while, as Taako trailed eagerly after McGonagal and Magnus got into a heated argument about corgis with one of the paintings.

"You okay, babe?" he asked when she finished sniffling.

Lup
reached up and touched her too-small, too-round ears, and nodded.

She could do this.

She could act like a kid again, and blend in, and have stupid small ears. She could relearn evocation and be happy in the castle and kick ass.

"Fuck yeah," Lup said. "It's me. Lup. Youknow-Fromtivi?"

Barry chuckled quietly. "I know."

The moment was ruined by Merle, who shouted, "Stop making goo-goo eyes at each other and c'mon! Lucretia saw greenhouses, and I am going to find the weed!"

Lucretia's face palm hid a smile, and Davenport grinned, and Magnus let out a huge bark of laughter. And, for one brief, shining moment, all was well.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Over the next few days, Lup and the crew of the Starblaster settled in to Hogwarts. It began to feel normal, to sleep in a castle rather than a spaceship. To join Lucretia and Barry in the library every morning, devouring books. To eat meals that, while edible, were decidedly not up to Lup's standards. (Eventually, she decided, she and Taako would need to have a chat with the chefs. About spices. And adding any flavor at all.)

They learned more about Hogwarts, too. Four houses, sorted by characteristics via magical means. It reminded Lup eerily of the year of the Judges, but as long as they went one at a time-- well. If one of them died, the others could still escape.

Lup
learned of a Great War that tore apart the wizarding world just one generation ago. She learned about Voldemort, and purebloods, and dark magic. She learned enough to suggest they present themselves as halfbloods or muggleborn, lest they attract unwanted attention from the purebloods who don't know their surname.

And Lup learned were they were to purchase school supplies for the upcoming term.

They retrieved plenty of GP from the Starblaster. McGonagall taught them how to use Floo Powder. Lup loved how flashy it was-- quick, too. But the queasy looks on everyone else's faces (with the exception of Davenport, who looked thrilled) made her think it might be better with limited usage.

And then they were there-- stumbling out of a fireplace and under a brick archway. In front of them a sign proudly proclaimed, "Diagon Alley".

"Diagonally," whispered Lucretia.

Lup
had spent her entire life immersed in magic, and she'd still never seen anything close to Diagon Alley. Wizards were everywhere-- levitating packages, conversing under hugely brimmed hats. Eating ice cream that didn't seem to melt in the hot summer sun. Carrying boxes labeled "Beetle Eyes" and "Jelly Slugs".

"Well, fuck me running," said Magnus conversationally.

A kind wizard in magenta robes directed them to Gringotts to exchange their money. To Lup's delight, the conversion ratio was highly in their favor. It almost made up for their medieval refusal to use the base 10 system.

Goblins ran the bank-- but not the kind Lup was used to. These were cleaner. Smarter. Ruthless. (And much, much scarier, especially without her magic.)

Soon enough, they stood in the middle of the crowded street, supply lists clutched tight.

"We don't want to overwhelm any of the shops," said Davenport, "so we're going to split into groups. Merle and I, Magnus and Lucretia, and Barry, Taako, and Lup."

"Ready, break!" shouted Magnus, earning them a few questioning stares from nearby adults. Lup resisted the urge to flip them off. Taako did not.

They went to the bookstore first, and bought schoolbooks and bags ("Customizable to your Hogwarts house!" promised the salesperson.) Barry emerged with approximately double the required amount of books-- but then again, so did Lup.

To her delight and confusion, the towering stack of books fit neatly into her bookbag.

They picked up potions supplies next. And if Barry bought more dead mice than he actually needed, so what? Lup was a lich, but she sure wasn't a snitch.

Buying robes was another matter altogether. Lup just wanted some that were comfy, and would look good with fiery accents. But Taako wanted colorful, and fashionable, regardless of the black-robe dress code. And Barry?Barry wanted denim.

The lady got Lup's done, no problem. The two of them managed to talk Barry into normal robes, figuring that he could always wear his bluejeans underneath.

But Taako refused to budge. The more irritated the saleswoman got, and the more upset Lup became, only served to make him more stubborn. It took over an hour, but they finally convinced him to get both-- "boring, conforming robes", as he called them, and "fucking tasteful" robes as well.

Stopping by a normal clothing store was a unanimous decision. Their clothes hadn't shrunk with them, and Lup was tired of wearing other people's socks.

They emerged with pockets significantly lighter, and heavy bags in their hands. There were only two things left on the list-- a pet, if they wanted, and a wand.

(McGonagall had clarified that, no, none of their current wands would work.)

Barry purchased a tawny owl, but Lup was holding out for a Phoenix like Dumbledore's, and Taako "couldn't stand the mess".

It was with full arms that the three of them crammed themselves into Ollivander's.

Ollivander himself was more than a little creepy, especially considering the first thing he said to them was "It's been a long time since I saw non-humans attending Hogwarts."

Lup
touched her ears, wondering how he'd seen through their disguise. She wondered if he meant that two of them were elves, or that two of them were liches. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"I'd like a wand, please," said Barry politely.

After being thoroughly measured by a floating tape measure, and testing a handful of wands, Barry purchased a sycamore wand with unicorn hair core.

Taako
took longer. The wands piled up until he got his-- ebony, with dragon heartstring.

If Lup thought Taako took forever, finding her wand took an eternity. Finally, finally, she got it-- a wand of ash, with a phoenix feather core.

"A wand of fire," murmured Ollivander. "Not lightly swayed, with a hard-won allegiance. And yet it has chosen you. I expect I will see great things from you, Ms. Youknow-Fromtivi. Great things."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The crew of the Starblaster loitered in the entrance hall with McGonagall, waiting for the other first years. Like it or not, September 1st had arrived. Davenport was giving last-minute instructions.

"It doesn't matter what houses we're put in, just make friends, and keep your head down. Every night after dinner, we'll meet in the library to run some more numbers, discuss the day, et cetera. Don't pick fights--"

Lucretia touched his arm gently. "We know. Everything is going to be fine."

For all of Lucretia's reassurance, Lup still felt nervous. About her calculations to track the light, which had yet to yield any results. About what house she would be in. About what house Taako would be in. About how obviously worried her family was.

(Cap'nport was rambling. Barry wasn't rambling. Magnus was silent, Taako was fidgeting, Merle wasn't talking about weed or sex. Lucretia stood still, too still.)

"Group hug," Lup heard herself say.

And for a moment, everything seemed right-- surrounded by a family she chose. It felt more like home than any building ever had.

Three knocks resounded from the door. The hug split. Lup squeezed Taako and Barry's hands, and let go.

The door opened to revel a torrent of students. As they filtered in, chattering excitedly, Lup felt a distinct sense of otherness. Of being out of place. She wondered how the fuck she was going to blend in with these children, these kids, who'd never fought for their lives. Never truly loved. Never truly lived.

McGonagall
lined them up, and ushered the new first years into the Great Hall. Had Lup not eaten there for the past week, she probably would've been among the voices of awe.

Lup
tap tap tapped her fingers against her palm-- a nervous habit-- as McGonagall brought out the Sorting Hat and it sang about the four houses, with lyrics Lup didn't listen to and a highly forgettable tune. She'd done her reading. She knew the houses. He knew what was about to happen.

Taako
knew, too, but still whispered, "Fuck if I'm putting anything that filthy on my head."

Lup
smiled, and she loved him for it.

Time slid like water as the sorting commenced. Lup only caught snippets-- applause. McGonagall holding up the hat. A blonde pigtailed girl. A boy grinning as he sat down in Ravenclaw.

And then-- "Bluejeans, Barry!"The hat barely touched Barry's (fucking terrible) mullet (that he hadn't let her cut) before shouting "HUFFLEPUFF!"

More applause, more sortings.

"Burnsides, Magnus!"

Magnus winked at Lup as the hat dropped over his eyes. Only seconds passed before it yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

He grinned, high-going Barry on his way to the roaring table of red and gold.

"Davenport, Leo!" was called soon after. ("Wait, his first name's Leo?" asked Merle incredulously. "I've known him for 71 years and his name's Leo?!")

The hat took a very long time before sending him to "RAVENCLAW!"

"Director, Lucretia!" was next. It wasn't long before she joined Davenport at the Ravenclaw table, a relieved smile on her face.

"Someone's got to go to Slytherin," said Taako, in a tone that was meant to be brave. "They're missing out on our greatness."

"And who's it gonna be, Merle?"

"Fuck off," said Merle cheerfully as "Highchurch, Merle!" was called, and joined Barry in Hufflepuff. Lup shot finger guns at them.

There was a big to-do over some kid called Potter, but Lup couldn't bring herself to care. She'd always hated waiting-- for a date, for a performance, for a battle. She just wanted to be in it and doing it. But the anticipation?

The fucking worst.

There were only three students left to be sorted before McGonagall finally called "Youknow-Fromtivi, Lup!"

There was scattered laughter as Lup stalked forward. (She pressed her shoulders further back. Steps firm, eyes boring straight ahead. They didn't get to laugh. They had no right.)

But then she was there, and the hat dropped over her eyes, and a small voice spoke.

"Hmm," it said. "Tricky, tricky. Fiercely loyal. Plenty of courage. Brilliant mind. But where to put you?"

"With Taako," Lup thought, as hard as she could.

"Your brother, eh? The two of you are similar, yes-- but not identical. Don't try to deny it, now. It's all here in your head."

"I don't give a fuck," Lup replied angrily. "Put me with him or I swear I'll light you the fuck up as soon as I can do magic again."

The hat chuckled.

"With a response like that, I know exactly where to put you."

"With Taako, you fucking hat--"

"One more thing," it interrupted. "You're looking for the light. But for the first time in your strangely long life, I would suggest patience."

"What--" thought Lup, but her reply was cut short as the hat shouted--

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Magnus held Lup's hand as Taako was sorted. Let her squeeze as hard as she could, didn't flinch, didn't pull away.

(Lup hoped against all odds that any brave part of Taako could show, could bring him to Gryffindor too-- but she knew her brother.)

"It'll be okay," whispered Magnus. "He's plenty smart. He'll end up with Cap'nport and Luc, bug the shit out of them."

Lup
appreciated the effort. She really did. But she wasn't at all surprised when the Sorting Hat shouted--"SLYTHERIN!"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Lup couldn't find the energy to chat with the three other girls in her dorm that night. Even without her input, they carried the conversation well enough for her to peg them--

Hermione Granger. Muggleborn. Something to prove.

Parvati Patil. Pureblood. Wishing she were somewhere else.

Lavender Brown. Halfblood. More excited than she had any right to be.

And Lup. "Halfblood." Very, very lonely.

The last time Lup slept without Taako was when she moved inot
Barry's room in Cycle 51. The last time she slept without him across the hallway was when he died on the second to last day of Cycle 69. (Lup was pretty sure there'd been a bet about dying on that particular cycle, because Taako, Merle, and Magnus all died that day.)

The last time she spent a night without Barry was when a dark sorceror killed his lich form in cycle 58. Lup spent 23 days not sleeping before dying herself, leaving her in a lich form that thankfully didn't need to rest.

(She didn't think going lich this soon in the cycle would be helpful, even if it did let her not need to sleep. Plus, it'd be pretty traumatic for the other kids in her dorm.)

Maybe it was Hogwarts' magic itself. Maybe it was Barry's owl, showing up at midnight with a love note. Maybe it was Parvati, who was also awake at 1 am. Parvati, also separated from her twin. Parvati, just as alone as Lup. Maybe it was all or none of those things. But somehow, miraculously, Lup slept.

Hermione woke the dorm the next morning at 6:30. Lup was eager to get magic back in her arsenal, desperate to see her family-- but not enough to get up at 6:30. In-the-fucking-morning.

Eventually she peeled herself out of bed and got dressed. The biggest plus to Gryffindor so far was that their colors were fiery. Definitely Lup's thing.

Lup sat by Magnus at breakfast. He kept up a conversation, loud and boisterous so she didn't have to be.

She saw Taako walk in, sit at the Slytherin table. He was rocking the silver and green of his house, and looked like he'd actually (mostly) followed dress code.

Lup watched the Slytherin first years while she ate her eggs, trying to get a sense of their power dynamics.

Some blonde kid held court with about half of them. Taako had attracted the other half-- something in his "fuck-you" demeanor must have appealed to them. Or, at the very least, they were more afraid of him than the other kid.

Despite his posse, every time Taako met Lup's eye, he looked exhausted. He looked like he wished the year would just hurry up and end.

Lup
would've switched him spots in a heartbeat if it meant he didn't have to be alone anymore.

She had Charms with the Ravenclaws, which meant Cap'nport and Lucretia. Flitwick made a big deal about the Potter kid, who Magnus was apparently already friends with.

(Of course he was.)

Taking a class again, though, was fucking terrible.

Lup
had never liked being told what to do. And as far as authority figures went, Flitwick was pretty chill. But Lup still found herself clenching her wand too tight. Blotting her ink. Tapping her fingers.

But if Lup didn't like authority, Davenport fucking
hated
it. She could practically feel him sizzling from across the room.

Sitting next to her, Magnus whispered, "5 GP if he shouts at a teacher by next Monday."

"10 GP says he does it by Friday," Lup replied out of the corner of her mouth.

Lup
couldn't wait to have a class with Slytherin, because Slytherin meant Taako, and Taako meant less alone. She got her wish that afternoon-- Transfiguration with McGonagall.

Unfortunately, the other Gryffindors and Slytherins seemed to have some dumb rivalry going, which meant Lup couldn't sit by Taako.

The blonde kid seemed pretty unpleasant in person, with what was practically a soccer mom haircut and a sneer that spoke of wealth. "Malfoy, Draco," was his name, and Lup decided she didn't like him.

She decided she hated him after class.

They had a free period, which meant all the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins were just milling about in the hallway.

Lup
was making her way through the crowd to Taako when she heard Malfoy's
(fucking pretentious) voice.

"You know," he smirked at Taako. "I thought they only let purebloods into Slytherin. Real wizards."

Taako
was taller than him, (was he wearing heels?) and his smile was infinitely more dangerous as he said, "Must be a pretty big mistake you ended up in Slytherin, then."

Sensing a fight, the space cleared around them. Lup elbowed between a tall redhead and Parvati to get closer.

(He was. Wearing heels. So fucking extra.)

"Slytherin was built on tradition," Malfoy shot back, eyeing Taako's impeccable makeup, perfect braid. "No room for fags like you."

McGonagall
walked out of her classroom just in time to see Lup fucking deck him.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Lup, Magnus, and Malfoy all had detention and had lost house points before McGonagall let them go to dinner.

"So, bad news," Lup said, sitting nonchalantly next to Barry at the Hufflepuff table. "Maggie and I won't be at the meeting tonight."

"Why not?" He looked extremely concerned, and way cuter than anyone with a mullet had a right to.

She shrugged, stole one of his potato chunks. "I punched out some asshole."

"They probably deserved it, but babe--""He called Taako the f-word."

Barry's face grew hard. "Who?"

Lup
pointed out Malfoy.

"You think some delayed gratification revenge is alright?"

Lup
half-grinned, kissed him on the cheek. (Merle looked up from his casserole long enough to say, "Yuck.") "Please tell me it involves those dead mice?"

Lup
really, really loved Barry's mischievous smile.

Detention was only copying lines, thankfully, and Malfoy had to do it too. (Lup hoped he had to write "I will not be a bigoted ass" a hundred fucking thousand times.)

Even so, copying out "I will not engage in physical violence" got old soon. And when the three of them finally finished, McGonagall held Lup and Magnus back.

"I can understand punching people for slurs," she said. "But I'm trying to help you find this... light, and I will be unable to do that if you insist on assaulting every student who walks these halls."

McGonagall
had mastered the art of looking supremely disappointed. Magnus looked chastised. Lup pretended to look chastised.

As they left, though, Lup muttered, "He fucking deserved it."

"Language!" said McGonagall.

To Lup's surprise, the rest of the crew was still in the library.

Taako saw them first.

He jumped up, ran over to them. And grabbed both Lup and Magnus in a hug.

Lup
was too shocked to respond for a second-- Taako had never been a touchy-geeky person-- before she hugged him back.

"Missed you, babe," she said.

"Okay, that's enough sentimental shit," he replied, although he didn't let go of them for a few more moments.

"I did say to not get any fights," Davenport said when they joined the table. "I should probably amend that to-- 'Don't get caught getting in fights'.

Magnus shrugged. "Sometimes you gotta rush in, y'know?"

Lup
did know. She liked to think of herself as a fairly cautious person, but when the safety of her family was on the line? It wasn't even a question.

They all finished their homework, but try as they might, Lup and Barrh couldn't get any further in their light-tracking calculations.

Which reminded Lup--"Hey, the Sorting Hat said something weird to me," she said. "About the light. That we should try... patience?"

"And it didn't say anything else?" asked Lucretia, closing one of her journals.

"Nope," she replied, popping the p.

"To be fair, it's a hat," said Magnus. "What does it know?"

"What does it know about the light of creation?" asked Barry. "And how?"

Taako
yawned. Seeing it, Davenport checked the time, and said, "We'll meet here again tomorrow after dinner--"

"Please, please, please can we go outside?" begged Magnus. "I haven't been out in so long--"

"We could go by the lake," Merle suggested. "There's some. Ah. Very nice plants there."

Davenport pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. After dinner, by the lake. If anyone has free time, please do some research on the Sorting Hat."

Lup
pulled Taako out of the library before anyone else could leave.

"Babe, are you sure you're okay?"

He shrugged, checked to make sure they were alone in the hallway.

"I mean, it's nothing new. It's just... he doesn't have the fucking right. Nobody does!"

"I know," Lup said softly.

He'd started tearing up a little, flawless eyeliner smudging. "He doesn't have the fucking right to say that."

"If it makes you feel any better," Lup said carefully, "I think Barry is planning revenge. Something to do with dead mice."

Taako
laughed a little, wiping under his eyes. "Ruining my fucking mascara."

"It still looks great."

"I do like Slytherin," he said, as though he knew what question Lup wanted to ask but didn't know how. "I mean, it's mostly purebloods, with a handful of bigots. But almost everyone there... is so damn passionate. People care. And yeah, so you have to be on your guard and on top of your game at all times, but... it's somewhere I fit. It's something I'm good at."

"Pretty thorough analysis," Lup replied. "So far the best thing about Gryffindor is that I look fucking resplendent in red and gold."

Taako
laughed.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Lup had really been looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was the closest thing to an evocation class, and damn, she couldn't wait to get some fire magic back.

As it turned out, it was a bit of a joke. The professor stuttered, and smelled like garlic, and could barely produce a candle flame when Lup asked.

So really, the class was only good for one thing, and that was entertainment.

Gryffindor had DADA with Ravenclaw.

And that meant sitting in the back, watching Davenport argue with Quirrel, and Lucretia argue with Hermione.

The class went something like this:

Quirrel: "W-who can g-give me ah, ah, an example of, ah, ah, a d-dark creature?"

Hermione: "Non-human magic-wielding creatures are categorized as dark and light--"

Lucretia, who had travelled with four non-human magic-wielding creatures for almost a century: "That's a little racist, don't you think?"

Hermione: "...no? They're categorized as--"

Lucretia: "So you're implying that every non-human creature is simply dark or light, evil or good? No agency whatsoever?"

Quirrel: "F-for the sake of, of, the c-class, p-p-please--"

Davenport, somewhat vindictively, and more than a little non-human: "No, let her finish. She's got a point."

Hermione: "Anyway--"

And so on.

It was an interesting hour and a half, certainly. And it had a very interesting resolution.

Quirrel: "C-class, p-please-- j-just listen to the t-textbook d-definition--"

Davenport: "So you refuse to let us learn?"

Quirrel and Hermione, in haunting unison: "What?"

Davenport: "You refuse to allow discussion? Logic? Lucretia's made better points than either of you have."

Quirrel: "P-please. Young m-man, I am t-the teacher--"

Davenport: "And if you think I'm allowing myself in I be taught by a teacher who's too egotistical to admit they might be wrong, then you, sir, are sorely mistaken!

In the back of the classroom, Magnus handed Lup 10 GP.

Lup
loved Magnus, loved all her family, but there was something ridiculously comforting about being with Barry. Being with him felt like putting down a heavy bag. Like catching your breath. Like laughing into the wind.

And that made Herbology one of Lup's favorite classes, even if she didn't care for the subject. Even if she had to ignore Merle sex-talking every plant.

No, Herbology had Barry.

And Barry made everything more bearable.

("Barry-able," he'd said when Lup first mentioned this. She hadn't talked to him for the rest of the day.)

But Potions? Potions was with the Slytherins.

Which, on the plus side, meant she got to see Taako. Taako, wearing more makeup and higher heels than usual. Taako, who glanced over at Lup long enough to flash a smile, but didn't say anything.

Which meant something was wrong.

Lup was just standing up to talk to him when the door banged open, and Professor Snape barged in.

He glared at Lup as Magnus tugged her back into her chair.

And then he spent a lot more time than Lup thought necessary monologuing. And then he decided to pick on that same fucking Potter kid.

(Sure, Lup had read the story. But honestly? The kid was 11, and pretty clearly overwhelmed. Give him some space.)

But of-fucking-course, Magnus rushed in.

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh?" said Snape.

Magnus stood.

("Sit down," Lup hissed, but he didn't listen.)

"I thought you were the teacher," Magnus accused. "Aren't you planning on teaching us this? Instead of expecting us to memorize it?"

Snape sneered. "I am, if you would kindly refrain from interrupting me."

"Magnus, he's guarding Fisher," Lup hissed, tugging on his sleeve. Magnus sat, but didn't look happy about it.

"I can't stand bullies," he muttered to his shoes.

To Lup's delight, Snape insisted that they pair up with someone of the other house. (Gryffindor groaned in unison.)

But, Lup got paired with Taako. They worked in silence for a while, putting together the potion, dicing and juicing and adding improvements here and there. Lup barely noticed as she added more oil or less beetle eyes. Practically muscle memory.

Finally Lup said, "What's wrong, Taako?"

"Nothing," he said sharply. And then, seeing her face, more softly. "Nothing I can't handle, Lulu. Malfoy's just being shitty, and... I get along better with the older Slytherins."

"They can't all be dicks."

"Oh yeah? And how many little Gryffs have you palled up to besides Maggie?"

He had a point, and Lup knew it. She didn't even know all of their names.

"A challenge, then," she said after another long stretch of silence. "I make a friend. You make a friend. Kapow."

"Fuuuuuck," Taako sighed. "Ugh. Fine."

When Snape swept by, Lup was absolutely certain he was going to fuck up their rapport.

And, he did.

But not the way she was expecting him to.

He paused by their cauldron, glaring down at the silvery sheen.

"Somethin' wrong, my man?" asked Taako nonchalantly.

Snape took one more look at the potion. "Both of you. See me after class."

"Shit," they whispered in unison.

Snape waited for all the other students to file out before looking at Lup and Taako.

"So," he said slowly. "So."

"So what?" asked Lup.

"Your potion. What if you do to it?"

Lup and Taako exchanged a glance.

"Followed the instructions?" said Taako nervously.

"Fixed them a little," Lup added under her breath.

"So. Just Ms. Youknow-Fromtivi changed the potion?"

They weren't lying. Taako had been too busy not talking to Lup to make any adjustments.

Lup
nodded.

"Mr. Youknow-Fromtivi, you may leave."

Taako
squeezed her hand nervously before walking out.

Fifteen minute later, Lup had told Snape (a little) about her cooking background, explained what she changed in the potion, and sat in awkward silence for five minutes.

"You'll take advanced Potions," he finally said. "Focused on making the recipe, not just following it."

Lup
was shocked, to put it mildly. Snape was an asshole. But there he was, offering her a class. A new fount of knowledge. A mentor.

She could deal with some gray areas.

Lup
accepted.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

All the Gryffindor first years could talk about was Quidditch. Quidditch this, Quidditch that. Stories of daring escapades on brooms, brilliant saves.

And yeah, it was a little annoying, but soon enough Lup found herself swept up in the Quidditch fervor. Ridiculously excited to hop on a broom, soar away.

Hooch lined up the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years next to two rows of rather rickety looking broomsticks. As though someone had used them to sweep the floor rather than to fly.

After a few minutes of instructions, a chorus of "Up"s rose from the Quidditch pitch. Lup's broom floated indecisively in the air before moving slowly up to her hand. Looking around, she found that Taako was already holding his, expression a mix of superior and excited.

Next to her, though, Magnus was having a harder time.

"Up," he coaxed, as though he were talking to a beloved pet. "Up."

"More forceful, Burnsides!" barked Hooch.

Magnus jumped, shouted "Up!" in panic, and nearly got hit
in the face by his broom.

When the entire group finally had their brooms in hand, Hooch taught them how to mount. It felt more secure than Lup had expected it to. The wood under her fingers was slowly warming in the sun, and Lup suddenly understood why all of Gryffindor raved about flying.

She hadn't even left the ground yet, but could already feel a strange sense of euphoria at the prospect. Just her and the broom and the open sky. A strange little taste of freedom.

"On my whistle," said Hooch. "Three. Two--"

One of the Gryffindor boys (what was his name, Nicholas?) had gone too early. And it was very clear he didn't have the hang of this whole flying thing. His broom bobbed and weaved-- and slammed into the castle wall, sending the boy plummeting.

"Neville!" shouted Magnus.

Hooch bustled Neville into the castle and to the hospital wing. While she was gone, Potter and Malfoy ha a spat that turned aerial. Potter-- Harry-- caught Neville's remembrall, and subsequently got dragged into the castle by McGonagall.

As they walked, Lup held up her hands in a catching gesture. He tossed her the remembrall.

She tucked it in her robe pocket. She'd make sure it got back to him.

Despite Neville's hurt wrist, the rest of the class went smoothly. It took Lup probably half an hour to feel balanced, and another half hour to feel confident.

But then-- then.

She was soaring.

Sun on her back, robes streaming, eyes watering.

This was wonderful, this was brilliant, this was a breath of air.

Lup
was exhilarated and windswept by the end of the lesson.

She was starving, too-- ready for dinner and the chance to see her crew and go to bed. But she still had Neville's remembrall, and she felt bad pawning its' return off on Magnus.

Some older Ravenclaws pointed her to the hospital wing. Neville was sitting on one of the beds, with a carefully bandaged wrist.

"Hey," she said, plopping down in the end of his bed.

"Oh. Hey," he replied, as though he were a bit surprised she'd come to see him.

"Brought you this." Lup handed him the remembrall.

Neville took it in his good hand. "I-- thanks. It's... Lup, right?"

"Yup. And you're Neville?"

He nodded.

"I will admit," she said, mostly to fill the silence, "I haven't been the best about getting to know everybody. What do you like to do?"

"I, uh. I like Herbology."

Neville sort of reminded Lup of Barry, but younger and more insecure, and with a distinct lack of blue jeans.

"That's cool," Lup replied. "So is it all just... keeping plants alive? Or..."

"Oh, no, there's lots more," said Neville, bordering on exited. "They're used in medicines and..."

Lup
let Neville go off about Herbology. Once he got going, he was actually a pretty decent conversationalist.

Their rapport was broken by a panicked Slytherin third year.

"Lup?" they shouted, hurrying into the hospital wing.

"Yeah?" she asked, standing up.

They shoved a roll of parchment into her hand. "Here. From Snape. I've been looking all over."

"Sorry," Lup said, unrolling it.

"Yeah. It's fine," they said, leaving the hospital wing.

The missive read:

"Ms. Youknow-Fromtivi. Report to my office promptly at 6:15 for advanced Potions. Professor Snape."

"Shit," Lup breathed, glancing at the clock. 6:13.

"What's wrong?" asked Neville as she leapt to her feet, grabbed her bag.

"Snape," she called over her shoulder as she ran out of the hospital wing. The Potions classroom was all the way across the castle. "Can't be late!"

Lup
ran.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Lup
arrived at Snape's office with disheveled hair, out of breath, and approximately four minutes late.

She knocked. The door swung open. In front of her stood a very angry Snape.

"Did you not see the request to arrive promptly, Youknow-Fromtivi?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get it until--"

"Enough." He stepped to the side. "In."

Snape's office was eerie. His shelves were lined with bottles of mysterious fluids, jars of ingredients she didn't really want to identify. They only bright point was Fisher.

They lit up, spun around in their tank as she entered. Lup hadn't spent a lot of time around them, but they seemed fine. A row of tiny wooden ducks lined the rim of their tank.

The silence made Lup look up. Snape had sat behind his desk, and was pointedly glaring at her. Lup sat. "Sorry--"

"Please, spare me your apologies."

She nodded.

"Ms. Youknow-Fromtivi. Do you know why you are here?"

Well. Certainly not the question Lup had been expecting.

"To learn to make potions?"

Snape sighed.

"But why you? Why not your brother, or any other dunderheaded Gryffindor?"

"Because..." Lup hesitated. "Because I changed the instructions."

"Anyone can change instructions."

"Because when I changed them, they got better?"

"Beginner's luck."They were silent for a while. Lup chipped at her nail polish.

"Ms. Youknow-Fromtivi," he finally said, slightly louder. "Why are you here?"

"Because you told me to come!" Lup shouted. "Because I've already fucked up obeying orders enough and I'm fucking trying, okay?!"

"So you're here for other people," he said, arching an eyebrow. "You truly are a Gryffindor."

Lup
shrugged, still tense. Angry.

Mostly angry that she didn't

know.
Didn't know why Snape cared enough to teach her. Why they'd de-aged. Why she couldn't track the pan-damned light. Why her normal magic didn't work.

"Listen to me, Ms. Youknow-Fromtivi," Snape said. "I am trying to teach you something you will not learn in Gryffindor. Why are you here?"

"I don't know," Lup bit out.

Snape stood, an unreadable expression on his face. "Come back when you do."

Lup
slammed into an upper year Ravenclaw turning the corner to the library. The other girl didn't say anything, just rolled her eyes and stepped around Lup.

There were more students in the hall outside the library than normal. But Lup was half an hour late to the team meeting, and didn't have time to ask them what they were doing. She hoped her crew was still in there.

She
shoved her way through the slowly dispersing throng to the door.

It was locked.

"Shit," she said, kicking the door. One of the Gryffindor prefects-- the annoying one, what's his name-- oh yeah, Percy-- Percy scowled down at Lup. "No swearing."

Lup
scowled right back. "Why's it locked?"

"The library just closed for the night. Earlier than normal, which is a significant bother for those of us studying for OWLs."

"Did you see a group of first years? Taako, Magnus--"

"No." And he shouldered his bag, hurried over to chastise a Hufflepuff third year for doing magic in the hall.

Lup
flipped off his back, scanned the crowd for members of her crew. No luck.

Someone put a hand on her shoulder.

Lup
spun, pulling out her wand.

Behind her stood an upper-year Slytherin. She thought his name was... Marcus. Marcus Flint?

"Sorry, said Marcus (?), raising his hands in mock surrender. "Just wanted to say sorry your prefect's such a prick."

Lup
didn't smile. "Thanks."

"You're Taako's sister, right? Lup?"

She nodded, instantly worried. Instantly wary.

"Funny you're not in Slytherin too."

"Funny."

Marcus looked her over. It felt like an examination. Lup didn't move, didn't react, just kept glaring.

"Well," he finally said, almost seeming... pleased? "If you ever need a break from the Gryfindors, you know where to find us."

He gave her a little salute, and melted back into the crowd, leaving Lup much more confused than before.

But she had more pressing matters on her mind than why Marcus singled her out. She needed to find her crew.

They weren't in any of the halls surrounding the library, and they weren't in the dining hall. It was almost 9 before Lup gave up her search and headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

She had barely stepped through the portrait hike before she was grabbed up in a bear hug.

Magnus.

"Where were you?" he finally asked, setting her down.

Lup
pushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. "Looking for you guys!"

"Well, we've been looking for you! They made me stay here--" he looked distinctly annoyed that he hadn't been allowed to rush in-- "in case you came back."

The whole common room was looking at them. Lup did dramatic jazz hands at the horde of students.

"Uh. Let's sit down," suggested Magnus.

The chairs were full, so Lup and Magnus plopped down on the floor behind a couch, leaning up against it.

"So where've you been?" asked Magnus in a voice that was probably meant to be quiet. "You weren't at dinner, and we couldn't find you after. Everyone's been worried."

"I was visiting Neville in the hospital wing. And then I had a meeting with Snape."

"Oh." He said, crossing his legs. "Taako was sure you'd've told him if you were going anywhere."

Oh, shit.

Taako.

Barry.

"Gotta send a letter," she said, sprinting up to her room. Barry's owl sat on her trunk, looking annoyed.

She scribbled, "I'm fine, sorry to worry you," on a piece of parchment. Hermione, the only other one in the dorm, looked at her curiously.

"Take this to Taako and Barry," she told the owl-- fuck, she didn't even know it's name. She'd have to ask Barry. "Oh, and Davenport too."

The owl hooted at her, soared out the window.

Lup
hurried out before Hermione could ask any questions.

By the time Lup made it back downstairs, Magnus had been drawn into a game of Exploding Snap. She popped down next to him just in time to see it blow up in his face.

"Fantasy brand infringement," she grinned, elbowing him.

Magnus slid over, almost gratefully. "Please take my spot, oh fire master."

Lup
raised an eyebrow. Reached for the cards.

Her card tower was almost as tall as she was (they'd kept borrowing decks from the increasing involved common room) before it exploded, singeing the whole front of her robes and blowing her hair back.

The common room was silent for just a moment before bursting into applause.

It was raucous enough that Lup didn't notice the owl until it had perched on her shoulder.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

A couple seconds later, another owl landed on Magnus's shoulder. Lup tore off her letter, almost ripping it in half.

It read:

"Your presence is requested at the Headmaster's office immediately. The password is toffee."

Lup
and Magnus made eye contact as the owls swooped out.

"If you'll excuse me," he shouted, "I have to shit."

And he ducked out of the portrait hole, Lup hot on his heels.

They raced through the empty castle halls, skidding to a halt by the griffin that guarded Dumbledore's office.

"Toffee," panted Lup, hands on her knees.

"Cardio," Magnus said with a grin as they hurried up the stairs.

There was a strange assortment of people gathered in the office. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape. Madam Pince, the librarian.

Lucretia, sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, looking very small indeed. The rest of their crew, standing against the wall.

"Well," said Dumbledore pleasantly. "Now that everyone is here, we can begin."

"Begin what?" asked Merle through a huge yawn.

Pince
pointed an accusatory finger at Lucretia. "She destroyed my library!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Then why does it--"

"Enough," said Dumbledore. "Lucretia. Your side of the story, please?"

"I found a spell," she began, looking warily at Pince. "That would... help us locate an object. And it would make the object beep until it was found."

"That doesn't explain why my library is beeping!"

"But--" she glared at the librarian (Lucretia had perfected her angry look after decades around Merle)-- "it didn't locate the object. I think it just located anywhere the words were printed."

"Shit," Lup breathed, imagining just how many times the words light, of, and creation were used in all the books in the library.

"Why didn't it work?" Barry muttered to himself.

"It appears Ms. Director simply miscast the spell," said McGonagall. "We should be thankful the spell has a short range, and only affected the library. No harm done but a charms accident."

"I didn't miscast--"

"But my library--"

"Thank you, Madam Pince, Lucretia," said Dumbledore. "A simple, harmless misunderstanding."

"--the books are beeping--"

"--and the only punishment fitting--"

"Beeping!"

"--Is for her to help you fix it."

Pince
gasped. Lucretia shrugged. Dumbledore smiled knowingly.

"You made me get out of bed for this?" exclaimed Merle.

It was very late indeed by the time Lup arrived in her dorm. Once Dumbledore let them leave, Davenport had pulled aside their crew for a rundown.

Lucretia had indeed been trying to track down the light of creation. Barry seemed highly interested in why the spell hadn't worked.

Lup
also
had to explain why she hadn't made it to the meeting.

"Stop making it a fucking habit, goofus," said Taako. "I'm too young to die of heart palpitations because my sister can't be on time or at least tell me if she's gonna ditch."

But finally, Lup made it back to the dorm. The only light was provided by Hermione-- wand tip lit up, reading from a huge book.
She looked up as Lup entered.

"Where were you?"

"Headmasters office," Lup said lightly, untying her shoes.

"Lavender said Magnus left too."

Pan-fucking-damnit. The last thing Lup needed was a curious eleven year old.

"Yep."

"And there were owls."

"Yeah. You are... very observant."Hermione shrugged, and Lup was pretty sure she was blushing. It was hard to tell with her dark skin and the minimal light.

"Why were you at Dumbledore's office, though?"

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

"One of my friends made a bit of a mess and they asked me to help them. Um. Clean it up?"Hermione nodded slowly, turned off her light. The room plunged into darkness.

"You have a lot of friends," she said quietly.

"I-- yeah." Not what Lup was expecting. "I'm pretty lucky."

Silence, for a bit. And then-- "I wish I had any."

Lup
didn't quite know how to reply. Thankfully, Hermione kept talking.

"You're all transfer students, right? That's why you weren't on the Hogwarts Express?"

Lup
fake-yawned. "Uh, yeah. I'm pretty tired. Night!"

"Oh. Okay. Night."

Autumn arrived without Lup noticing. One morning, a chill wind blew as they crossed the grounds to Herbology, and Merle and Neville argued good-naturedly about venomous tentacula. The next, golden leaves papered the Quidditch pitch. Pumpkins taller than she was appeared in the Great Hall.

Lup
had settled into a routine. Class, dinner, homework. Team meeting, where they'd found nothing informative on the sorting hat and it's counsel of "patience". Where every calculation to track the light failed.

But it was a routine nonetheless-- which meant the entire school was ready for a change of pace. And everybody was buzzing about the Halloween Feast.

As far as Lup could tell, it was almost a sacred tradition. Even the Weasley twins didn't dare prank the dinner.

It seemed the perfect night. Lup had mostly given up on the barriers of tables, and was sitting by Barry. A lot of it was that Barry was there, and the rest was that the Hufflepuff table got bowls of salt and vinegar chips. (Gryffindor only got dill pickle.)

Barry was waxing on about magical theory, and Merle was almost shouting in excitement about some new Herbology project, and every so often Magnus would chuck at marshmallow at her.

Really, Lup should've known it was too good to last.

Quirrel, panicking.

A troll in the dungeon.

Chaos.

Lup, grabbing tight to Barry, and not letting go.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The hall was full of panicking students. All Lup could do was focus on clinging to Barry with one arm, Lucretia with the other. Across the room, far out of reach, she caught a glimpse of Taako's bedazzled hat. Being swept along in the tide of Slytherins.

Lup
knew she wouldn't be be able to get to him. So she focused on holding on tight as they were pulled along by the crowd.

The almost-stampeding mass of students pushed the three of them into the Hufflepuff common room. People were still piling in behind them, so Barry pulled Lup and Lucretia over to the relative safety of a cluster of couches.

She
looked around the Hufflepuff common room. It didn't have windows, but was otherwise remarkably cozy.

What really stuck out to her, though, was the sheer diversity of students who had gone there for refuge. A place they knew they'd be accepted.

A pair of Slytherin girls, sitting on a bench. A young Gryffindor boy, bookbag clutched tightly. A pair of boys-- Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff respectively-- holding hands.

"It's pretty inclusive," said Barry, following her gaze.

Lup
gasped, put a hand to her chest. "And you still haven't invited me? Babe, I'm wounded!"

Barry looked offended for a split second before Lucretia started laughing. Her laugh was infectious, and soon enough they were giggling along.

The humor quickly faded, though, as the reality of the situation struck. There was a troll in the castle-- not a huge deal, but Lup could see it being deadly for a group of unprepared students.

And the troll was in the dungeons.

The dungeons, where the Slytherin common room was.

The dungeons, where Taako was.

"We gotta go," she said frantically, leaping to her feet.

"Where?" asked Lucretia.

"Troll. Dungeon. Taako."

"Oh, shit," said Barry.

The three turned in unison and sprinted toward the exit.

They were stopped just before the door by one of the Hufflepuff prefects.

"Hey, no," she said, blocking their way. "There's a troll. Everyone stays in here."

"But my brother--"

"Will be fine."

"He's in Slytherin! They're in the dungeons!"

The girls face transformed completely, outstretched arms falling limply to her sides. "Fuck, no--"

They darted around her and out the door.

The halls of Hogwarts were eerily silent. No prefects prowled, no ghosts roamed.

"To the dungeons?" asked Lucretia.

Lup
nodded resolutely. Pulled out her wand.

There was no sign of the troll as the three of them darted downstairs. They passed the empty potions room, Snape's office.

"Fisher--" worried Lucretia, but Lup pulled her forward.

"Taako first," panted Barry. Suddenly, from further down the corridor, came the distinctive sound of footsteps.

After 70 years of fighting together, they didn't need to communicate.

Lup
stepped front, brandishing her wand. She knew without checking that Barry and Lucretia would be guarding her sides.

They turned the corner, Lup preparing to blast the spell but--

It wasn't the troll at all.

Rather, it was two professors. Sprout, and one woman Lup didn't know. They'd both had their wands levied, and they both looked very relieved that the troll hadn't appeared.

The one Lup didn't know spoke first. "What are you doing here?" She looked over their house badges, ties. "None of you are in Slytherin. Why aren't you in your houses?"

Lucretia said, "We're sorry, Professor--"

"Sinistra."

"We're looking for my brother," Lup said, almost defiantly. "He's in Slytherin."

"Still, you shouldn't be here."

"We had to make sure he was okay. Slytherin's in the dungeons, just like the troll."

Sinistra and Sprout exchanged a glance. Finally, Sprout spoke.

"All the Slytherin first years are accounted for, Ms. Youknow-Fromtivi. He's fine."

Lup
let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"But the troll's still out there," said Sinistra briskly. "We need to get you out of the hallways. Slytherin's closet, c'mon. Let's go."

"Sleepover?" asked Barry.

"Fuck yeah," said Lup.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Unlike the relative chaos of the Hufflepuff common room, Slytherin was calm, collected. As though brushing so close to mortal danger were a mere inconvenience.

But as Lup scanned the crowded room, looking for Taako, she noticed... inconsistencies. Cracks in their armor.

The way none of them really talked. How two girls sat over a chess game, neither moving the pieces. How their heads swiveled to the doorway way as one, as though they'd been waiting for something (like a troll, Lup thought) to barge in.

"Barry, Lup, and Lucretia will be spending the night," said Sprout. "Too dangerous to move them back to their houses. Hogwarts'll make a room."

And just like that, the professors were gone.

The horde of Slytherins kept looking at them for a few long seconds, before returning to their activities. A low murmur of conversation began. One of the girls at the chessboard moved her pawn.

"I guess we sit down," said Lucretia.

Thankfully, they were spared the awkwardness of where-do-I-sit by none other than Marcus Flint.

"Hey, Lup," he said easily, walking over to them.

"Hey, Marcus."

He motioned to a cluster of chairs, about half of which were full. "Care to join us?"

"Sure."

They settled down in the large leather seats. Lup could see why Taako liked it. Could also see why it would've smothered her.

"So," said Marcus, casually slinging his legs over the arm of his chair. "What brings the three of you to our corner of the castle? Not out troll hunting, were you?"

"Lup's the only Gryffindor here," said Lucretia, mock offense coloring her words.

Marcus seemed to find it funny, even though it didn't answer his question. He laughed a little. "True, true. Who are the two of you?"

Lucretia held his gaze. "Lucretia Director. Pleasure."

"Barry-- uh, Barry Bluejeans."

"You Pureblood?" he asked lazily.

"I don't see how that matters," replied Lucretia shortly.

Marcus grinned again. "Congratulations-- the three of you are officially more astute than half the Slytherin house."

"I'll, uh, take that as a compliment," said Barry.

"I hate to interrupt," interrupted Lup,
"but, Marcus, do you know where Taako might be? We came down here to check on him, make sure he was okay."

He eyed them. "Y'know, it's funny how you're more concerned with Slytherin's safety's than the... general public." Lup got the feeling he had been about to use a different word.

"The bias is silly," she agreed.

"Absolutely." He popped a knuckle absentmindedly. "But keep your eyes open. It's everywhere you look."

Lup
knew a thing or two about bias. She nodded in understanding, and Marcus smiled. It was the first one he'd offered her that felt... real.

"First-year dorms are over there," Marcus said, pointing. "Guest room should be, too."

Lup
thanked Marcus, left Barry and Lucretia to keep talking to him. Stood up, marched across the common room.

Towards her brother.

The Gryffindor dorms were basically one huge room, housing four or five people.

The Slytherin dorms were anything but.

Lup
pushed open the door (which was handily labelled "First Year Dorms"), and found a completely different scene than the stark, professional common room.

Lup
stood in a circular foyer. Ten doors, plus the door she'd entered through, led off of it. Nine of them were decorated. The undecorated one simply bore a plaque that read "Guest Room".

But the other doors-- one was papered in moving photos of the ocean. Another had a namecard wreathed with pearls and still-blooming roses. All bore the owners name-- Blaise Zabini was the sea lover, Pansy Parkinson the traditionalist. Malfoy's door hung with Slytherin banners and Quidditch posters. Vincent Crabbe's had a star map and carefully pressed candy wrappers.

All the doors were lovingly detailed, intricate.

But Taako's door was a sight to behold.

In the very center of it was a mongoose mask (courtesy of extra paper-mache in the city of Fungsten, and a whole lot of boredom). It was surrounded by a dizzying spiral array of, well-- everything. Gemstones, real and fake. Swathes of fabric. Carved wooden ducks. The odd spatula or spice rub. Costume jewelry, feathers, flame decals.

It was vibrant. It was eye-catching. It was chaotic. And it was very clearly Taako.

Lup
grinned, raised her hand to knock. Before she could touch the door, though, it swung open.

"What the fu--" Taako began, but was cut off as Lup swept him into a hug.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"What're you doing here?" Taako asked when Lup released him.

"Can't I come visit my favorite brother without judgement?"

"No."

"What about my least favorite brother?"

"I'm your only brother, Lulu."

They laughed, and Taako swung his door all the way open.

Entering his room was like walking into a kaleidoscope.

"It's fucking tasteful," said Taako smugly, flopping backwards into what Lup thought might be a brightly woven beanbag, but might also be a pile of dirty laundry.

"This is so unfair," grinned Lup, sitting in a hammock-swing-thing that was floating in midair.

She winced, pulled out a huge book entitled "Transfiguration: Beyond NEWTs" from the bottom of the hammock and threw it at him.

He stuck out his tongue. "Really, Lulu, what's going on? What're you doing here?"

"I came to check on you, dingus. There's a troll out and about, y'know."

"And the world's favorite protection fighter let you do this alone?" Taako asked in disbelief.

Lup
stuck out her tongue. "I brought Barold and Luce."

"Rad. Bring 'em in, we'll make a regular shebang out of it."

"You know Hogwarts made us a guest room--"

"Guest room, schmest room. Go get your nerdy friends."

Soon enough, the four of them were gathered in Taako's room-- Taako on the beanbag, Lup and Barry in the floating hammock, and Lucretia lying on the bed, hands pressed up under her chin.

Taako
dug a crate out from under a stack of parchment, sunglasses, and a handful of rhinestones.

"Viola," he said triumphantly, turning it upside down on the floor.

A cascade of junk food poured out.

"Fuck yeah, Fantasy Almond Joy," said Lucretia, sliding off the bed and grabbing a handful.

Lup
hopped out of the hammock, sorted through the snacks. Tossed crackers and Fantasy Easy Cheese to Barry (how he could like that shit, she didn't know), and grabbed a jumbo bag of sour gummy worms for herself.

"So why the whole expedition?" Taako asked through a handful of barbecue chips that he'd never admit he actually liked.

"Checkin' on you, babe," Lup repeated. "I already said that."

"Yeah, but I'm wondering how the three biggest nerds in this planar system didn't find a less dangerous way. Barold could've seen his owl."

Barry looked aghast. "There's no windows down here! And Jorts doesn't like flying indoors!"

Lup
spat out her mouthful of candy. "Fucking whomst?"

He blushed. "Jorts. My owl."

Lucretia looked pained. "I name things for a living, Barry. How could you do this to me?"

"To be fair," he mumbled, "his full name is Hoots McBluejorts. Jorts is just a nickname."

Taako's face had gone redder and redder as he struggled to hold in a laugh. At this, though, he doubled over, tears rolling down his checks, laughing fit to die.

"Hoots-- McBluejorts," he wheezed.

"There's so many nice owl names," Lueetia said. "Archimedes. Griffin. Ne--"

"At least it's not-- not named Jowl," snorted Lup, half-laughing but desperate to finish the sentence. "Y'know. Jeans-owl."

This set Taako off again, and Barry buried his face in his hands.

Lup hugged him to her, kissed his cheek. "Love ya, babe," she said through giggles. "Please don't ever be normal."

"I would never," Barry promised.

"Jorts," Taako repeated. "Fucking Jorts."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

They were catching Taako up on the gossip ("Merle got caught growing weed in the common room", "Davenport spent four days trying to regrow his mustache") when a knock came at the door.

Taako huffed, worked his way to his feet, and tugged it open.

On the other side stood a Slytherin boy Lup vaguely recognized from class-- dark skin, close-cropped black hair.

"Hey, Blaise," Taako said, posture relaxing a little. "What's up?"

The other boy sighed. "Malfoy Intervention."

To Lup's surprise, Taako started to laugh, and beckoned the three of them over. "This's always good entertainment."

Blaise rolled his eyes but didn't disagree as they filed out of Taako's dorm.

In the foyer, yet another door had appeared out of nowhere. This one bore the label "Intervention Room".

Inside it felt like a meeting room, if meeting rooms usually had couches and lots of pillows and windows looking out at the bottom of the lake.

The room was about half-full of first year Slytherins, all sitting on the sofas that circled the room. Lup recognized a few of them-- Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Greg Goyle.

"So what's up this time, kemosabes?" Taako asked as he dropped into a seat, pulling the green-and-silver pillow onto his lap.

Lup
flopped down, and was immediately squished as both Barry and Lucretia sat on the same couch as her.

Pansy looked over at them, sighed. "Draco's planning something stupid, again."

Taako
opened his mouth as if to argue, but was cut of by Theodore.

"We really can't afford to lose any more house points thanks to his harebrained schemes. It looks bad on the first years, not just on Slytherin."

"If he needs to be beat up, I'm game," Lup said helpfully.

To her great surprise, the room burst into laughter.

"I think he got his fill of that already," grinned Blaise. "That was pretty great, by the way."

Lup
tossed her hair, winked at him. "I try."

That broke the ice, and soon she'd been introduced to all of them. Pansy pulled a tray of chocolates from seemingly nowhere, passed it around. The conversation felt natural.

Blaise had called it a Malfoy Intervention, but for most of it, Malfoy wasn't even there. Rather, it turned into a hangout sesh with the Slytherin first years. Gossip, chocolate, sarcasm. And lots of it.

It was very, very different from the poised front the Slytherins presented to the school. Sitting there, in pajamas she'd stolen from Taako, curled up between Barry and Lucretia, listening to Theodore tell a dirty joke that made Pansy snort water out her nose-- Lup wondered what the fuck was up with the house rivalries. Sure, they certainly weren't Gryffindors. But they also weren't bad people.

(The war was long over, after all. Couldn't they just... get over it? Move on?)

As Malfoy slammed the door open, it became abruptly evident that all of them, apparently, could not.

"I can't just not do something," he said, arguing with Vincent Crabbe, who followed him in and closed the door. "They're winning."

"Who's winning what, Draco?" asked Theodore, sounding bored.

"Gryffindor," he replied. "Duh! They're winning the House Cup!"

"Fascinating," sniffed Pansy. "Does this mean nothing to any of you?" ranted Draco.

"It's only October," Pansy sensibly pointed out. "We've got time."

"Yes, but we need to get ahead now! If only they'd gotten caught at the duel--"

"Who now?" asked Lup, leaning forward.

"Potter and--" Malfoy jumped at least a foot when he registered she wasn't Taako, wasn't even in Slytherin. "What're you doing here?"

"Enjoying the company-- at least, until you walked in."

The room snickered, and Lup was pretty sure she heard Blaise mutter "mhm watcha say" under his breath.

Malfoy flushed. "You're a Gryffindor! You're not supposed to be in here!"

"Can we please get to the point of this Intervention?" asked Theodore flatly. "I've got an essay to write."

Vincent sighed. "Draco wants to sabotage Potter's potion in class tomorrow to lose Gryffindor pouts. Or steal his homework. Maybe both."

"First of all," Pansy began, "Snape's already gonna dock him points. Waste-of-time. Secondly-- petty theft, Draco? Really?"

Approximately fifteen minutes later, Malfoy had been talked out of his schemes, and had left to "Get away from you peasants."

The rest of the group slowly split up-- Pansy and Daphne to finish a Charms assignment, Greg to go to bed, Theodore to do his essay.

Blaise was passing around a bottle of butterbeer (Magnus would love it, Lup thought) when the owl came, swooping through the half-closed door.

"Jorts?" asked Barry, confused.

"He has a full name," snickered Taako. "Use it, Barold."

Barry ignored him, untied the letter, read it aloud.

"Barry-- and hopefully Lup and Lucretia-- where the fuck are you? Magnus is crying. Cap'nport's out of his mind. Apparently Maggie flew to the Ravenclaw tower to tell him Lup was missing and well... it's escalated. What the fuck, sincerely, Merle. PS-- Taako, yourr probably fine but Cap'nport says I have to ask if you're ok too."

"Uh, what?" said Blaise.

"Nothing," Lucretia said calmly. "Just a few friends wondering where we are."

Nobody had a quill on them, and Taako refused to grab one from his room, so they wrote their reply with the lipstick Lup found in her pajama pocket.

"Lup, Luce, Barold, and Taako are good out here. Slytherin dorm SLEEPOVER ;)"

"Be careful, Jorts," Barry said very intently to the owl as they finished the letter. "Watch the ceiling, and be careful around corners, and--"

Lup
grinned. She loved that nerd.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

To Lup's great surprise, nobody was actually hurt by the troll that Halloween. More suspicious, though, was how the troll got in. (And why, and who, and a million other questions.)

But life went on.

Trees lost their leaves, cold winds howled. Lup stole all of Barry's scarfs.

And about halfway through November, Davenport gave up on tracking down the light.

"It's a lost cause," he said one late night in the library. "We didn't see the light fall. We've got no idea where it is, and none of our calculations are going anywhere."

As Lucretia set down a huge book with a thump, an idea hit Lup like a wrecking ball-- or, more accurately, like one of the Hunger's tendrils. Why hadn't she thought of it before?

"The Hunger," she said.

"Yeah, it's coming," Barry sighed. "Looks like this plane is toast."

"No, the Hunger," Lup repeated frantically. "We didn't see the light. But we also didn't see the Hunger."

Davenport looked up at her, eyes bright and wary. "What're you saying?"

"The Hunger hasn't sent its spies." Now that she was past shock, Lup felt something like... euphoria. "It hasn't hit! Maybe this is it, maybe it's not following us anymore! Maybe we escaped!"

Lucretia put a hand gently on Lup's arm. "We saw the light fall to this plane. We followed it here."

"But, but--"

"The Hunger could've sent its spies to the, uh, the Prime Material plane," offered Barry.

"We should've seen it, though, right nerds?" asked Taako, examining his fingernails.

"Yeah," said Lup. "It should be visible from all the planes."

Merle yawned. "Sounds like a pretty fucked up scenario to me."

("Story of my life," muttered Taako.)

Davenport sighed, gathered their attention. "We can speculate as much as we like. From now on, though, team meetings on Sunday nights only."

Even without the constancy of team meetings, life continued. Lup did her homework. Excelled in class. Hung out with Neville. Cheered at Quidditch games, dodged Hermione's incessant questions. Thought about what Snape had asked.

(Why are you here?)

She had a lot of time to think about it.

Snape had offered her lessons. To teach her to design potions, not just copy a recipe. Doing things originally was Lup's jam.

(Why are you here?)

And, yes, why Lup? Why not Taako or Lucretia or Barry? They would all excell. So why her?

Lup
made potions in class and made them perfect, better than perfect. Snape eyed each one critically, and moved on.

(Why are you here?)

Taako, as it turned out, was learning advanced transmutation from McGonagall. Merle'd been granted permission to use the upper year greenhouses.

Lup
knew Lucretja stayed in the library late every night, talking to Pince (how they'd become friends after the beeping debacle, Lup didn't know), and working on new spells.

Davenport got instruction from the Charms teacher. Even Barry had begged Sinistra, the arithmancy professor, to let him audit her classes.

She
wasn't supposed to know-- but she did-- about Magnus's late night expeditions via broom to train in the Forbidden Forest.

But Lup?

Lup
had Taako, and Barry, and her crew.

But besides them, Lup had... nothing.

It felt like she was floating. The schoolwork was easy. Her classmates were friendly at best, tolerable at worst. Even Malfoy stayed well out of her way.

(After 70 years of frantic activity, this respite-- especially coupled with the desperate urge to do something, anything-- was overwhelming.)

"Why are you here?" Snape had asked her months ago. And now Lup couldn't stop asking it to herself.

Why am I here?

She didn't know.

Hogwarts woke in early Decenber to find a thick blanket of snow covering the ground. Christmas holiday-- much like Candlenights, she was told-- was fast approaching.

The average student was worrying about end of term testing. Lup worked about the light, and Snape's question, and why they hadn't seen the Hunger yet.

Neville was going to his gran's for Christmas, and Hermione was going to her family's cabin, and Parvati was headed to India. Lup and her crew were staying right where they were.

The last class before Christmas break was Astronomy. Lup was pretty sure most of the class, including Merle and Magnus, was sound asleep.

Finally, though, the class ended. With blearly, grateful eyes, the horde of eleven year olds filed down the stairs, eager to go to bed and begin the holiday.

Lup
grabbed Barry's arm, pulled him aside. They stood in the shadows and watched the professor go down the stairs.

"What's up, babe?" he asked sleepily.

"Sit with me for a bit?" Lup asked, perching on the battlements.

Barry followed her lead. Together, they gazed up into the sky, diamond-streaked with unknown constellations.

"I don't understand," she murmured, taking his hand.

"What?"

"Why... why we're here. Why I'm here. On this plane, at this time."

Barry shrugged. "I wish I knew. But the only reason I can think of is... fate, maybe. Maybe we were meant to be here. Maybe we need to be."

From above them, very suddenly, came a noise like a hundred orchestras playing over each other.

Lup
and Barry looked up in shock at the unmistakeable sight.

A pitch-black sky.

A million bright, white eyes, blinking slowly down at them (slower than ever before).

The cacophony of noise that just kept going.

The darkness of the sky that stayed, and stayed, and stayed, so much longer than it ever had before.

Lup
looked at Barry, back up at the sky once more before the eyes disappeared.

(They'd travelled 70 years. They knew what this meant-- just not why it was so late in the year, or so slow.)

"What the fuck," said Lup.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The door to the Ravenclaw tower was remarkably awake, especially considering it was 2:30 in the morning.

"What is something I do not know?" it asked in a lyrical voice, and Lup felt an overpowering urge to kick it. The Hunger had arrived, she'd been up for way too long, and now the door has a fucking riddle for a password.

She looked at Barry. "Could Jorts get to Cap'nport? Or could we fly up there?"

He thought about it, shook his head. "Jorts isn't back from Merle yet. And getting brooms means going all the way to Gryffindor tower."

Lup
huffed, turned back to the door.

"What is something I do not know?"

"I'm an elf?
143 years old."

No response.

"Work for the IPRE?"

Nada.

"Fly in the Starblaster."

Zilch.

"I'm going to melt you into a pile of ashes and blow you into the fucking furnace of hell if you don't open this instant."

"Unconventional, but accurate," said the door, swinging open.

Barry shrugged. "Ravenclaws."

Despite the early hour, and the fact that term ended the next day, the Ravenclaw common room wasn't empty.

(It was a gorgeous space, with towering windows and bookshelves, plenty of cozy seating, tables, and art projects in the works.)

A handful of students were scattered about-- reading, writing. One worked on a towering sculpture, aided by a stepladder and a floating tool box.

Some glanced up as Lup and Barry entered, but quickly turned back to their activities.

There was no sign of Davenport, and what they'd seen couldn't wait for morning.

Lup
marched over to one of the older students, a girl working on an intricate geometric drawing.

"Hey, d'you know where the first year dorms are?"

She looked up at them, and although Lup didn't recall her name, she was pretty sure the other girl was a prefect. Thankfully, though, she didn't get them in trouble or order them back to their own common rooms.

"Up the stairs. First level. Boys on the left, girls on the right."

"Thanks, babe," Lup said.

She and Barry booked it up the stairs, flung open the door. It slammed against the wall, and Lup winced as all five Ravenclaws stirred, half-awake.

"Uh. Sorry," Barry said. "Uh. Davenport?"

Their captain was pretty grumpy about being dragged out of bed at 3 in the morning, and Lup didn't blame him.

"Whatever the fuck is going on," he said when they made their way to the Ravenclaw common room, "better be fucking important."

Lup
and Barry immediately started talking.

"We were up on the astronomy tower--"

"--after our lesson--"

"--and so we're looking up at the sky, right?"

"And then it arrived--"

"--the Hunger, Cap'nport--"

"--we saw it!"

Davenport held up a hand to stop them. "So. Let me get this straight--"

"I thought I was the token straight," interrupted Barry with a shit-eating grin.

Davenport sighed. "You were up in the astronomy tower. And saw the Hunger arrive. In... December?"

"Yes," Lup said emphatically. "I swear on my life it was there."

He sighed again, tried and failed to hold back a yawn.

"Team meeting tomorrow morning in, uh, the Great Hall." Another yawn. "This is... weird."

"You can say that again," said Barry.

"That again," said Lup.

The castle felt significantly bigger with most of the students gone. Only one house table remained in the Great Hall, and the IPRE found a spot at the end, right next to the cinnamon rolls.

Together, Lup and Barry explained the situation to the rest of their teammates, who immediately started theorizing.

"Maybe we weakened the Hunger and slowed it down," said Magnus hopefully.

"Or time works... differently on the Plane of Magic," mused Barry.

"The Hunger moved at a slower pace, right?" confirmed Lucretia. "So maybe we're slow and the Hunger is normal speed?"

The discussion continued until Davenport chose a plan of action.

"We need to figure out if anything has changed with the velocity of this plane. Which means--"

"Space Candlenights! Space Candlenights!" chanted Magnus.

"Exactly-- a Candlenights mission to the prime material plane."

Merle sat up with a start, half a cinnamon roll stuck to his face. "Huh? Sorry, did I miss anything?"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next morning, Lup woke early and got ready for their mission-- or, as Magnus called it, Space Candlenights.

Her red robe was much too big for her 11-year old body. The jacket, at least, didn't drag on the floor, so Lup pulled it on. Rolled up the sleeves.

They'd debated doing Candlenights presents on the Starblaster, but the idea was shot down when both Merle and Magnus complained about having to haul their presents through the snow. ("Mine're big!" pleaded Magnus. "I've got short legs!" complained Merle, receiving a pointed glare from Davenport.)

So even though they were waiting for this plane's holiday, Christmas, to do presents, Lup was determined to make it a Candlenights to remember.

The sun had barely begun to peek out from behind the mountains when the IPRE gathered. It was a cold morning, and Lup was wearing her winter robes on top of her jacket, and every scarf she could find or steal. Thus far, a grand total of 27 scarfs.

The trek through the snow to the Starblaster-- though not especially difficult-- was made much harder by her shorter stature. Plus, nobody had gone into the Forbidden Forest recently, so the snow they trudged through was heavy and unbroken.

They were wet and shivering before they caught a glimpse of glimmering silver hulk through the trees. Any sense of decorum they sill possessed was lost as all 7 of them sprinted for the ship.

Lup
elbowed Taako out of her way, stuck out a foot that sent Magnus crashing into the snow. Behind her, Taako yelped, shot a spell that pitched Lup forward.
She grabbed the back of Barry's robes in an attempt to stay upright, but ended up crashing down on top of him.

Davenport raced past, Merle hot on his heels. Before they could get much further, Magnus threw a huge snowball. It slammed into Merle, who slammed into Davenport.

Soon enough they were all covered in snow, air thick with pine needles and snowballs.

Lup
struggled to her feet-- the ramp to the Starblaster was already down, and just steps away-- but then someone leapt on her back, plunging both of them back into the snow.

She was busy shoving Magnus's face into the snow when a voice spoke from the deck of the Starblaster.

"So, do I get a gold medal or anything?" grinned Lucretia, standing at the helm, wand raised.

Lup
let go of Magnus. "Luce, what--"

Lucretia made a downward motion with her wand, and a huge layer of snow buried them all. Lup laughed from under the drift.

It was lunchtime by the time the whole crew had made it aboard the Starblaster. All of the clothes they'd had onboard were much too big, but at least they were warm.

Lup
and Taako commandeered the kitchen as the others worked to get the Starblaster aloft. It felt like a different ship, launching off without frantically defending from the Hunger.

Thankfully, the stasis charms in the kitchen had held. Stew, rolls, and pie were soon in the works.

"I've missed this," said Lup, sitting on one of the counters as she dried dishes.

"Duh," grinned Taako, handing her a freshly-washed spoon. "Who wouldn't miss me?"

"Probably that one guy-- from cycle, what was it, 43? The one you spent two weeks convincing you were a figment of his imagination?"

"A brilliant prank you ruined." He flicked some bubbles at her.

"But seriously, babe," she replied after hitting him with the spoon. "Hogwarts is cool, and I love learning more. But... this? With all my family around--"

"--and food that's heard of spices--"

"--I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Taako
shrugged. "I might take a normal life."

"Normal?!"

He laughed. "More normal than being chased for decades by the embodiment of nihilism, Lulu."

"I just... don't want to forget this, Koko. I'd love a normal life, sure, but I don't ever want to let go of this family."

He stuck out his tongue. "You're spending too much time with Barold, you sap. Besides, there's no need to worry about, what, forgetting this? Sis, you are stuck with me. None of us are goin' fuckin' anywhere."

The timer beeped.

"Shit," said Lup, grabbing a hot pad patterned with ducks, and pulled out the pie.

Taako
sniffed at it in judgement. "If you ask me, it could've used some garlic."

"It's an apple pie!"

"So?!"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Their ascent out of the Plane of Magic was quiet, uninterrupted. Lup and Taako dragged out the table and chairs to the deck, and set out their feast beneath the stars.

They hadn't done a lot of interstellar traveling inside of one plane. Lup leaned against a railing and admired the view.

The planes themselves cast rainbow hues over the deck, spotlighted by distant stars. The bond engine refracted the light, sending it scattering in broken fractals on the meal, the crew. Lup looked over at them.

Her people.

Her brother.

Her love.

Her family, faces alight.

Lup
promised herself she'd never forget that moment.

As they neared the Prime Material Plane, Davenport brought the Starblaster to a standstill.

"Lup, Barry," he said, "you're with me on velocity comparisons. Lucretia, recording. Everyone else, dishes."

With minor grumbling, the crew split up to their various tasks. Lup, Barry, and Davenpoet pulled out their crate of supplies, and set about comparing the relative speeds of the Prime Material and Magic Planes.

The calculations weren't easy-- they had to account for the planes' gravity moving the Starblaster, and the ever-changing distances, and a million other factors.

But, hours later, all three of them agreed on the conclusion.

"We'd better tell everyone else," said Barry solemnly.

"The Plane of Magic is moving slower than the rest of this planar system," Davenport announced. "If our calculations are correct--"

"--and they are," interrupted Lup.

"--then one year in the Prime Material Plane is approximately equal to seven years in the Plane of Magic."

Magnus raised his hand. "So, we'll be on the Plane of Magic for seven years before the Hunger comes?"

"Yeah," confirmed Barry. "Unless we decide to go to the Prime Material Plane."

"Which we can't do," said Lup pointedly, "because the light didn't fall there. Which brings us to our other conclusion--the light just barely fell on the Plane of Magic. And we've got six and a half years left to find it. We can't give up the search."

"Seven years of school?" said Merle, flabbergasted.

"Yes," said Davenport.

"But, Cap'nport--"

"Yes!"

The only question their expedition didn't answer was why they'd all de-aged. Even so, it was a productive day, and Davenport agreed to let them stay the night in space.

Lup
was in her and Barry's room, gathering every pillow they had. And she was thinking.

They had seven years, this time around. Plenty of time to scour the whole planet for the light if needs be.

(Neville, Hermione, Marcus... Lup couldn't let this plane be consumed. Wouldn't.)

She wished her magic worked. Wished she had more tricks up her sleeve than first-year charms and the ability to fly a broomstick.

("Why are you here?")

Lup
decided that, once they landed, she'd have to track down Snape. She had an answer.

It took about an hour to gather every pillow, blanket, and cushion in the Starblaster, and build the best nest ever in the rec room. Taako was sitting swaddled in the middle, demanding sacrifices of macaroons.

He was mostly ignored as Lup and the others piled in, stealing blankets and hitting each other with pillows as they jostled for the comfiest position.

(Magnus's head ended up on Lup's leg, Barry next to her side, as she used Lucretia's stomach as a pillow.)

"We wish you a Merry Candlenights, we with you a Merry Candlenights..." sang Magnus.

Taako
kicked him. "You're not allowed to sing that, I'm gay."

It was one of Taako's least favorite songs, and they all knew it. However, it was one of few Candlenights carols, and Magnus took every opportunity to sing it.

"WE WISH YOU A MERRY CA--"

"Homophobia!" shrieked Taako, covering his ears with a pillow and then, as that apparently failed to block out the sound, trying to bury his head underneath Davenport.

"I'm bi!" shouted Magnus, and then kept singing. "AND A HAPPY--"

"Pan-delights!" Lup broke in, flinging her arms out dramatically. Taako pulled another pillow over his head. "If you're all making sexuality puns, I am out!"

"Of the closet?" asked Lucretia with a grin.

"Damn straight," said Barry.

"Aced it," she replied, high-fiving him.

Davenport pulled Taako out. "It's just part of the Candlenights season. Like the song-- "...make the Yuletide, gay..."

Merle laughed, leaning up against Davenport. "Pan-tastic."

"Double pun," said Magnus appreciatively.

Lup
flung herself across the pillow nest and slung an arm around Merle's shoulders. "Double pan!"

Taako struggled to his feet, trailing blankets. "That's it. That's it! Goodbye!"

"Good bi?" asked Magnus as Taako huffed his way out of the room.

They didn't even last a minute before bursting out into giggles. Taako reemerged, and cannonballed ("Pan-nonball!" cheered Lup) back into the nest.

It was a very, very good night.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The annual Candlenights gift exchange was different without having the crew all together. Sure, there'd been years when some of them were dead, or Merle had already done Parlay. But it had never been just Lup and Magnus and a pile of presents.

Lup
was a little disappointed that she wouldn't get to see her crew's reactions to their presents, but that was okay. They had a whole nother week of winter break to spend together.

She was the only one left in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory, so she and Magnus took over the empty common room, and tore into their presents.

A bag of scarves from Lucretia-- a color-changing one, two in pan and trans flag colors. One more with a sick fire design. (Luce knew her so well.)

A box of chocolate frogs from Merle.

A crate full of Filibuster Fireworks (fuck yeah) from Magnus.

A broomstick of her own from Davenport, who was apparently ignoring the "First years may not have brooms" rule. Lup hoped he'd remembered to get one for himself-- her present to him was made to be used on a broom.

A thick book entitled "Offensive Magicks: a Specialization in Fire" from Barry. Evocation was a concept that didn't really exist in this world. He must've looked everywhere to find the book.

(If her life were a cartoon, Lup was pretty sure she'd have little pink hearts for eyes. Damn, she loved that nerd.)

Lup
and Taako had a long-standing tradition for presents. One accessory. One useful item. One gag gift. And one I-know-you've-wanted-this-for-ages present.

A golden bracelet with a charm on it-- a vertical line, in a circle, in a triangle. Lup hooked it onto her wrist.

A wand holster.

An enchanted quill, designed to make a pun out of anything it wrote.

And a fucking radical leather jacket. Red. Tasteful. And just her size.

Lup
was putting on the jacket when something hit her back. She turned to a disgusting smell, and a Magnus lying on his back on the floor, shaking with laughter.

She pinched her nose. "What the fuck is that?!"

"Dung-dungbombs," he wheezed. "Taako sent them."

"Who's this Taako?" said someone else from behind the couch.

"-- and where can we meet them?" asked a second person. "Gotta compliment their style."

"Dungbombs to a friend in another house. A classic."

Lup
looked up. Two sets of brilliantly red hair, two identical grins. Two hand-knit sweaters bearing the letters "F" and "G".

The Weasley twins.

"My bother," she replied, waving a hand to try to dissipate the dungbomb's stench. "In Slytherin."

"Ooh," they said in unison.

"Older? Younger?" asked Fred-- well, Lup thought he was Fred. He was wearing the "F" sweater, but would she put it past them to switch sweaters? Absolutely not.

"Nah," said Magnus, sitting up. "Twins."

"I'm technically older," Lup pointed out. "68 whole minutes. And before you ask, yes, I give him shit all the time about not waiting just one more minute."

They laughed, and George flopped down on the couch. "So. Another set of twins."

"Troublemakers, perhaps?" asked Fred.

Lup
eyed them both, weighing the situation.

Pros: being friends with the Weasley twins meant more allies. Also, more street cred.

Cons: they got in trouble. A lot. And with the search for the light renewed, Lup couldn't afford detention.

She winked at them. "That's for us to know."

Fred grinned. "Oh, I like you."

"Happy Christmas," they chorused, and bounded back up the stairs, leaving Lup confused as to what, if anything, she'd lost or gained.

She was snapped back to reality by Magnus whistling, long and low. "Barry's gonna be jealouuuuuus."

Lup threw a pillow at him.

Snape hadn't been in the castle for the holiday. So when he got back the night before term started, Lup set out to find him. She had an answer.

When he opened his office door, it was evident that he was in the middle of unpacking. Potion ingredients were in disarray. Huge piles of parchment littered the floor. The only serene thing was Fisher, spinning lazily in their tank.

"What?" asked Snape irritably.

Lup
held her ground. "I have an answer."

He stood straighter, arched an eyebrow. "Well then, Ms. Youknow-Fromtivi. Why are you here?"

She held his gaze for a moment and then said firmly, "Because I need to be."

Something akin to a smile flashed across his face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Lup's advanced potions lessons didn't actually begin until term started, but that didn't stop her from being over-the-top excited about them.

She made a list of potion effects she hoped to achieve (and, if many of them were based on spells she no longer had but sorely wanted, so what? It couldn't hurt to try).

Thus far, her list included:

-Polymorph

-Flight

-Zone of Truth (preferably targeted on one person)

And, last but not least:

-a Tracker for the light.

The summons came in the hand of Theodore Nott, along with a small smile.

Her first lesson with Snape, that evening.

This time, Lup told Davenport and Taako and Barry where she would be. They nodded, wished her luck.

Lup
put on her game face as she marched down to the dungeons, chin held high. She appreciated their wishes. She wouldn't need them.

There were two cauldrons set out in Snape's office, alongside a huge assortment of potions supplies.

"I am not here to teach you how to make potions," Snape said without preamble. "Nor am I here to teach you to design potions. Like all other magics, the art of potion design is fiddly. Unscientific.

"Magic, Ms. Youknow-Fromtivi, is all about the intent of the user.

"Tell me. Why does 'Lumos' cause a light?"

"Uh... because that's what the spell does?"

Snape sighed. "But why does that word cause a light?"

"Because..." Lup hesitated. "Is it because that's what we expect it to do?"

The ghost of a smile crossed his face. "It's all about the intent. Simply saying 'Lumos' and holding a wand are useless-- to have light, you must first want light. Need light."

"So, in potions--"

"The end result is based on intent. Combine ingredients as per your intuition, focusing on why each ingredient is added, what you want it to do.

"For example: beetle eyes. In one potion, you may focus on the sight they provide, and the potions enhances eyesight. In another potion, beetle eyes represent the blindness of the beetle, and blind whomever consumes it.

"So think about why you are here. You informed me that you, and I quote, 'need to be'. So focus on the end result that you need."

To find the light. To track it down.

"So I just... start?" asked Lup, a little overwhelmed.

"No, you foolish girl," he snapped. "Start with a liquid base. The most common types..."

In the cauldron next to hers, Snape began, for the first time Lup had seen, to teach.

Lup's
first potion, finished a week later after hours spent fiddling with it, was a colossal failure.

It didn't track the light, but did glow like it.

She bottled it up for future reference. Scrubbed out her cauldron. Started again.

As the snow melted and daffodils bloomed, Lup's potions got better and better, even as her light-tracking calculations brought no results.

But life went on, outside of her relentless search for the light.

She got detention seven separate times for wearing her leather jacket. Finally, she argued her point to Dumbledore-- "It's just a really complicate necktie, and those are allowed. See? It goes around my neck. And it's Gryffindor colors"-- and he put an end to the detentions.

Taako took every opportunity to make use of the bedazzler Lup had gotten him as a gag gift for Candlenights. His hat was even shinier than ever. The booty shorts Lup stole from him said 'THOT' on the butt. He got detention for turning in an essay written entirely with rhinestones.

Gryffindor beat Slytherin in Quidditch, and all of Lup's Slytherin friends spent the day fake-sulking.

Harry Potter got caught out of bed and lost Gryffindor 100 points in one night. Lup, who was also out of bed having a sleepover in the Ravenclaw dorms to bounce potion ideas off of Lucretia, was a mix of ironically amused and unironically annoyed. If Slytherin won the House Cup, Taako would never let her hear the end of it.

Barry stressed about end of term exams. Davenport learned a charm to turn his hair purple.

Magnus ran into centaurs in the forest. Lucretia figured out how to narrate her journals, while still doing homework with both of her hands.

Merle had a near-death experience with a venomous tentacula. Taako developed an exactly seven-day crush on Oliver Wood.

And, in mid May, Lup did it.

She stared down at her pale blue potion. Red lines formed a map on its surface, and a flashing white light marked the end goal.

(This particular potion wasn't tracking the light-- rather, it was attuned to Taako's hat. She'd have to figure out a way to get a sample of the light to attune the next batch of potion to, but that was okay. She had time.)

As Lup stated down at her potion-- Lightfinder-- the most appropriate words belongs to Lucretia.

She punched the air, spun a triumphant circle. "I did it. I fucking did it!"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Exams were fast approaching, but Lup's worry was centered on
the light. She'd made another batch of her potion, Lightfinder, and all she needed now was a sample of the light to attune it to.

The light disappeared from their possession after every cycle, so that wasn't an option. The only other thing Lup could think of that the light had influenced was their mission: specifically, the Starblaster itself.

It was a drizzly May evening when Lup, armed with Lightfinder and an empty potions vial, crept out of the castle on her broom. She stayed close to the wall, hoping the shadows would conceal her flight.

Thankfully, Lup made it to the edge of the forest unharassed. She hopped off her broom, slung it over her shoulder, cast 'Lumos'.

The light on her wand didn't make the forest any less creepy. If anything, it made it worse-- casting menacing shadows, seeming to summon ominous rustling noises.

(She had no idea how Magnus did this every week. It was spooky enough just going once.)

It felt as though she walked for ages before the comforting silhouette of the Starblaster appeared. She hurried aboard, started it up.

Lup
felt a million ones safer on her home turf. Silver deck solid beneath her feet. Bond engine casting a comforting glow over the clearing.

She paced around the deck, trying to think.

All she needed to complete Lightfinder was a sample of the light.

And the light had practically built the Starblaster.

And, most importantly, magic on this plane worked as you intended it to. So if Lup could find something that she could reasonably believe represented the light, well- Boom! They'd be home free.

She looked around. Davenport would kill her if she broke his steering wheel. She'd kill herself if she messed up their chances for escape. So, all in all-- she needed something easily removed. Something from the Starblaster. Something that represented the light.

And, lo and behold, something caught Lup's eye.
The bond engine.

Bonds, glowing white and brilliant. Bonds, desirable above all else. Bonds-- the main inspiration given by the light of creation.

Duh.

Lup
hadn't really interacted with the bond engine before, but it would be a simple enough process to pull out a bond, right?

Surprisingly enough, it was.

A few of the bonds on the edges felt... loose. As though they were fraying from the central mass. Lup caught one, pulled at it. It slid free and slipped neatly into he vial.

(Lup wouldn't realize for a very long time that she could no longer remember her aunt's name.)

She powered down the Starblaster, pocketed Lightfinder and the bond. It'd be easier to combine them in the castle.

It felt as though the forest had gotten even darker since Lup had entered.

Trees suddenly appeared looming, gnarled, with branches like grasping claws. Lup tripped over roots that her lighted wand had failed to illuminate. Rain had begun to pour-- huge, heavy sheets, dark and cold.

It was such a malicious atmosphere that Lup figured she probably should've expected the attack.

One moment, she was shoving wet hair out of her eyes, and the next, a giant fucking spider was slamming into her side.

Lup swore, fumbling for her wand. All she had of evocation was what Barry's book had taught her. She hoped it would be enough.

Lup
rolled to her knees in the soggy underbrush, and blasted the spider back.

The light her fireball cast illuminated three things.

1. One of Lup's potion vials was lying broken on the ground.

2. Her broomstick lay next to the spider's corpse.

3. A whole horde of more fucking spiders were in the process of stampeding her.

Lup
leapt to her feet.

Sprinted forwards towards them, wand ablaze.

(She refused to go lich form now, not with six years left on this cycle.)

Blasted the closest arachnid.

Grabbed her broom. Jumped on.

Dodged tree branches and hastily flung cobwebs as she raced towards the sky.

(Left the broken vial on the forest floor.)

But made it out alive.

Lup
was soaking wet, out of breath, and wondering what the fuck giant spiders were doing near a school, by the time she stumbled back into her dorm room.

She emptied her pockets nervously, almost scared to discover which vial had shattered.

The one holding the bond sat neatly in her hand. Full. Unbroken.

And Lightfinder was lost to the woods.

Shit.

Lup
stripped out of her wet clothing, put away her broom.

She had the bond.

She had the time.

She could brew more potion.

She could do this.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Lup
had forgotten how much she hated exams.

Ten hours of sitting still at a desk, staring at the back of Lucretia's head. Listening to a hundred quills scratch.

But she forced herself through, keeping up a running monotony of swears in her head. If any of the professors were reading her mind, Lup was pretty sure they'd be scandalized.

She did it, though. Answered multiple choice questions. Scribbled essays. Made a pineapple tap-dance for Flitwick. Had to admit to McGonagall that she had no idea what a snuffbox was. Ended up transfiguring a pretty rad flame-patterned box.

Brewed a tight Forgetfulness potion for Snape, and then another for herself because she had extra time.

And then finally, finally, exams were over.

Most students rushed outside, eager to see the sun again. Lup rushed to the dungeons, eager to brew another batch of Lightfinder.

It took 42 days to finish, and Lup needed to get started right away.

As it brewed, she let herself get swept up in the end-of-year fervor.

The seven birds enjoyed the arrival of summer alongside the other Hogwarts students on the lawn. Lucretia sketched the castle. Merle and Davenport tried to talk to the Giant Squid. Magnus tried to ride the Giant Squid.

(Lup elbowed Taako when that occurred. "I thought you were the one who had a thing for tentacles?")

("Fuck off, Lulu," he retorted with no real malice. "At least I don't have a thing for goth nerds.")

Lup
and Barry swam. Splashed Taako atop his surfboard, that he wasn't actually surfing on.

("You know lakes don't have waves, right Taako?" asked Lucretia.)

Lightfinder
brewed. Life went on. And, for half of a blissful week, things were good.

It was the closing feast. The final hurrah before most of the students boarded the Hogwarts Express, headed home for the summer.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville (Fuck yeah, Neville!) earned enough points to win Gryffindor the House Cup.

And then Dumbledore stood up to explain why they had earned those points. To tell the students exactly what had happened in the forbidden third floor.

A deadly set of traps.

Housing a ridiculously powerful artifact ("Philosopher's Stone" was exactly the kind of stupid name Taako would like).

And the most evil wizard currently in existence had been living on the back of Quirrel's head.

Lup
made eye contact with each member of her team. They looked grim, concerned. Confused.

However, it was clear that they were all thinking the same thing:

'What does Voldemort's return mean for this world?' and 'What does this mean for us?'

A malicious, lich-like wizard that the world was terrified of had reappeared.

Lup
didn't know what that meant for the world. Didn't know what it meant for them.

All she knew was her duty. What she needed to do.

Track the light.

Recover the light.

Save the planar system.

(Rinse and repeat.)

Summer dawned.

Davenport went to meetings with Dumbledore, who had no satisfactory answers for Voldemort's return. Just the promise that conflict was brewing, and a plea for aid on their side.

Magnus joined Hagrid on his expeditions into the forest. Explored the castle. Talked to ghosts and portraits and suits of armor and anything else that would listen.

Merle worked in his greenhouse, growing his own specimens of this world's flora. He brought Davenport a bouquet of daffodils, which would've been a sweet gesture, had they not been the honking ones. (Lucretia lager told Lup that he kept them anyway, under a silencing charm, next to his bed until they died.)

Taako
trained with McGonagall. Bedazzled everything he could get his hands on. Pierced his human ears.

Lucretia mastered her word-tracking spell. Learned to use quotations on her search terms. Chronicled their journey.

Barry learned arithmancy. Went swimming with Lup. Was so adorably dorky that she found herself falling in love with him all over again.

And Lup was just along for the ride. Brewing Lightfinder. Experimenting with new potions. Flying around the castle. Reading and learning and doing and being.

Lightfinder was completed in mid August. The IPRE crew crowded into the dungeons to watch as Lup attuned it to the light.

With more ceremony that necessary, she uncorked the vial. Tipped it over.

The long, flowing bond slid smoothly into the potion, which rippled, swirled.

And settled.

A light blue potion.

Red map lines, marking cities and mountains and continents.

And a blinking white dot-- the light-- moving slowly towards Hogwarts.