The day after Scorpius, Rosie, and Al are attacked, Lily sneaks into the Hufflepuff common room. They’ve decided that’s the safest place for all of them to meet: the Ravenclaw common room has a risk of being overheard by Albus, Scorpius, Rose, or any of their friends, the Slytherin common room is out of the reckoning because Lily doesn’t trust most of her housemates, and the Gryffindor common room results in them being found out by Jamie, or Freddie. The Hufflepuffs are always nice to her and the others, even though they’re in a different house, and she knows they’ll never be caught or get in trouble for sneaking into a common room they don’t technically belong to. Besides, it’s near the kitchens, which is an added advantage.

She knocks on the barrel outside to the rhythm of ‘Helga Hufflepuff’, practically buzzing with impatience. By the time she makes it inside, the others are all there. Hugo’s there, of course, sitting with Lysander on the sofa. Lorcan’s sitting at their feet, lounging on a floor cushion.

“Where have you been?” Lorcan asks, making room for her on the floor cushion he’s sitting on.

“Hospital Wing,” Lily answers. She sits down next to Lorcan, leaning back against Hugo’s legs.

“How are they?” Lysander asks.

“Al and Rosie have been discharged,” Lily says, and Hugo flinches. “But Scorp’s still there. I think he’ll be there for a while, to be honest.”

“I still can’t believe someone would do that,” Hugo says, his eyes wide. “I mean, they all could’ve gotten hurt.”

“They did get hurt,” Lysander says. “It’s just lucky it wasn’t worse.”

Lorcan looks at Lily. “Do you think you know who did it?” he asks.

Lily hesitates for a moment.

“You do, don’t you? You heard something!” Hugo says. “Tell us!”

Lysander doesn’t say anything, but he does lean in a bit curiously.

“You know how some of the older Slytherins have started being really annoying?” Lily says.

Lysander and Hugo nod immediately. She’s filled them in on everything that happened: when a group of Slytherin sixth and seventh years had cornered her in the common room when she was alone and Lorcan was out at Gobstones Club, had sneered how can you be here after your scum father did what he did to us.

“I think it’s maybe some of them,” Lily says.

“Anna and the rest of her gang?” Lorcan says.

Lily wrinkles her nose at the mention of Anna. Anna Selwyn, the seventh-year head of the gang and the worst of them all. Lily’s only known her a few weeks, but she doesn’t like her one bit. Especially since she was the one who said the world would be a better place without Potters like you and your dad. “Yeah. Her. I just have to find a way to prove that it was her that did it.”

Lorcan raises his eyebrows at her. “How in the world are you going to do that?”

Lily just shrugs. Truth be told, she hasn’t figured that out yet, but she detests not having an answer to anything. “Maybe there’ll be some proof of what she did in her dormitory or something,” she says. As she says it, though, her eyes widen: it could work. It could definitely work. Surely, there’ll be something in her dormitory. Something that could prove Lily’s theory.

“Yeah?” Hugo says. “How will you get into her dorm? If she’s as bad as you say–”

“She is!” Lily protests hotly.

“Then she’ll probably be on the lookout for someone sneaking into her dorm, won’t she?” Hugo continues calmly. “How will you get in?”

Lily thinks about her brother and his Cloak, and a slow smile spreads onto her face. “I’ll think of something,” she says confidently.

*

Jamie’s only half-paying attention in Defence today. It’s been a week since Al and Rosie and Scorpius were attacked, and he still hasn’t figured out who did it. He hates the idea that whoever did it is roaming the school, completely unfazed by everything.

“We’re going to be practicing Boggarts today,” Harry says, making Jamie look up. “I was surprised, actually, that you haven’t covered them so far, so it’s good we’re getting them out of the way before moving to more advanced things–”

“Like Patronuses?” Danielle asks eagerly.

“Like Patronuses, yes,” Harry says. “Maybe some of you know what your Boggarts will be already–”

Jamie’s very grateful that his dad doesn’t look at him. He hasn’t told anyone except Freddie his Boggart is. He doesn’t like to think about it, and about what happened on the train, what happened with the Boggart before Al and the others were attacked. He knows what it’ll lead to, if he talks about it: everyone, even Leah and Danielle, will want to know more about it. And he can’t think about it. Even now, all he has to do is close his eyes and he’s back there, on the train.

“It’s a basic incantation,” his dad is saying, once he manages to pull himself together. “Very simple. What’s difficult — much like a Patronus — is the thought behind it. You need to look the Boggart in the eye as it becomes the thing you fear the most, and you need to be able to laugh at it. Everyone repeat after me: Riddikulus.” He waves his wand and Summons a cupboard from the back of the classroom, as the class dutifully repeats the incantation after him. It’s rattling eerily, and Jamie hates it already. He knows what’s lurking in there, and he’s starting to think that he hates Boggarts even more than Dementors.

“Easy,” Freddie says easily. “Should we form a line, Uncle Professor?”

Harry’s eyes twinkle as he looks at Freddie. “Yes. Form a line, please. James, since you’ve done your Boggart with me already, you can sit it out if you don’t want to do it again.”

“How did you get to do it before us?” Danielle demands, as the class gets up and starts shuffling away from their desks.

Jamie forces a casual shrug. “Pays to know the teacher,” he says, smirking at her.

Danielle rolls her eyes.

“You asked him if you could do it alone, didn’t you?” Leah, who’s always been far too astute, says.

“Maybe,” Jamie says, but he knows that Leah knows exactly why he did what he did. He’s never had to explain things like that to her. It’s maybe why he likes her as much as he does.

“Lucky,” Danielle says. “I have no idea what mine will even be.”

“I think my biggest fear is a Bludger bashing my face during a Quidditch game,” Leah muses. “But how would a Boggart transform into that?”

“Why are you even scared of that? You don’t even play Quidditch,” Jamie points out.

“You don’t know what it’s like when Leah and I sit and watch you lot play,” Freddie says. “Especially with the way Dani swings that Beater bat around. Anyone’d be scared of injury.”

“Oi,” Danielle says.

“Hurry up, you lot,” Jamie’s dad calls out to them, and Jamie retreats to the edge of the classroom, content to watch the others.

While he watches the others start to confront the Boggart — Dylan Corner, who’s at the front of the line, has his Boggart take the form of some sort of giant snake that has his father looking almost amused — he thinks about the past week. Whenever he’s seen Al, he’s looked upset and paler than usual, and Jamie knows that he’s been spending most of his time in the Hospital Wing with Scorpius, who’s just about starting to recover. Even his parents have been looking stressed out: every time he’s seen his mum and dad, in Defence classes, mealtimes, or flying practice, they’ve been looking worried. It doesn’t help that he has no idea who did it. He and Freddie have a pact: they’ve been practicing extra hard in Defence, and if they figure out who did it, they’re going to go confront them. They can’t risk someone hurting any of their family again — Scorpius included.

“James,” his father says, after Dylan’s managed to turn his snake into a jack-in-the-box (of all things, Jamie thinks, that’s maybe the stupidest thing to turn your Boggart into). “Come here a second. Dylan, great job! Allison, give it a go. Whenever you’re ready,” he adds encouragingly.

Jamie goes up to his dad. “What’s up, Dad?” he asks.

“Do me a favour, would you? Take that folder up to McGonagall’s office. I completely forgot,” his dad says. “And it’s a bit urgent.”

Jamie nods slowly, and grabs the folder, which is suspiciously blank (Jamie’s learned the hard way that his father knows how to make all his most exciting Auror and case-related folders appear blank unless the right person taps them with their wand).

When he leaves the room, annoyingly blank folder in hand, he’s surprised to see Lily lurking there, leaning against the wall with her eyes bright the way they are whenever she’s hiding something.

“What’re you up to, Lils?” he says suspiciously.

“Waiting for you,” Lily says, and gives him an angelic smile that Jamie thinks would maybe only work on their dad (and only if he’d had some Firewhiskey first to soften him up, to be honest).

“Class doesn’t end for an hour,” Jamie says.

“Never hurts to be early,” Lily says.

Jamie raises his eyebrows at her. “You’ve never been early a day in your life. We almost missed the damn Hogwarts Express because of you. What’s up? Spit it out, go on.”

Lily sighs, and then says, “Fine. I need to borrow your Cloak.”

Jamie frowns. “Why?”

Lily seems to decide something. “I think someone in Slytherin is behind the attack, and I need the Cloak to see if I’m right about her.”

Jamie only needs to think about it for a second. “A worthy cause,” he agrees and digs his Cloak out from an inner pocket of his robes — he’s taken to carrying it around, just in case. “But you’ve got to get it back to me soon, okay?”

Lily nods, all smiles, and bounds away down the corridor. Jamie frowns in concentration as he starts walking up to McGonagall’s office. Whatever’s going on, he thinks, he hopes that Lily finds a way to get a clue about what’s at the bottom of it.

*

“Do you trust me?” Albus mutters to Scorpius, at the Potter’s Army welcome party. Scorpius has only been discharged for less than a day, so Albus has been refusing to leave his side. He can’t risk it, he reasons.

“Course,” Scorpius says around a mouthful of cake. He’s been so happy since he got discharged, except for the periods where he’s overcome by exhaustion and has to sit down. Albus has been by his side through it. “Always trust you, Al,” Scorpius continues, once he swallows his cake. “What is it?”

“Follow me,” Albus says. He takes Scorpius’s elbow, and gently steers him to the edge of the room, where he’s spotted his sister talking to his parents.

“Ooh. Are we spying?” Scorpius asks.

“A little bit, yeah,” Albus says.

Scorpius grins and digs around in his pocket before he produces two Extendable Ears. “Here. Freddie sent me a basket of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes in the Hospital Wing, I thought these would be handy to keep.”

“They’re right here, Scorp, I don’t think we’ll need those,” Albus says, but he can’t hold back the fond smile as he looks at Scorpius.

“It never hurts to be prepared, does it?” Scorpius reasons.

“No, you’re right,” Albus agrees. Something about Scorpius always makes it impossible for him to be impatient about anything, makes him soft in a way that he can’t quite quantify or say. “I wish I had my brother’s Cloak,” he grumbles under his breath.

“I’ve always wanted one of my own,” Scorpius says, and then frowns. They’re standing close to each other, with Al’s back to his parents and Lily, so Scorpius is the only one who can see them. “Oh, no. They’re leaving the room.”

“Dad’s got an office, right next to this room. Probably going there,” Albus says.

He and Scorpius exchange a glance; Albus knows, without saying anything, that Scorpius is on the same page as him. Slowly, they both start walking towards the door, and Scorpius says, “Is this what it’s like, having siblings? Spying on each other all the time?”

“Remind me to tell you sometime about the time Lily stole my journal when she was six,” Albus mutters, accepting the Extendable Ear Scorpius hands to him.

He hears his mum’s voice through the Extendable Ear, clear as if she’s standing right next to him. “Lily, you’re sure you know who attacked them?”

Albus looks at Scorpius, his heart racing. They’re talking about him and Scorpius and Rose. They have to be.

“I think so,” Lily says in a small voice.

“How do you know?” that’s his dad, voice clear and not sounding scared at all. Albus doesn’t know how he does it. He doesn’t think he’d ever want to be an Auror.

“I think it’s Anna Selwyn,” Lily says confidently. “I don’t want to say how I know.”

“What makes you think that?” Albus’s dad says.

“I went to her dormitory,” Lily says. “And I saw a letter, on her bedside table. That she’d gotten from her parents.”

“She is such a sneak,” Albus whispers to Scorpius. He doesn’t know if he admires it or not.

“The letter said, I heard Malfoy’s boy got hurt. Good. They said it was good that Scorpius got hurt!” Lily says, indignant. “It was like they were proud of her for doing it, isn’t that disgusting?”

Albus looks at Scorpius, who looks pale.

“You don’t know if that means that–” his dad says, but Albus has heard enough. He tugs out the strings from the doorway, and leans over, taking Scorpius’s hand.

“I know Anna,” Scorpius whispers. “Her parents, I mean. They came over to tea with my mum a few years ago. You think they’re happy that I’m hurt?”

“I think…” Albus hesitates. “I don’t know, Scorp. Do you want to sit down?” Because Scorpius is starting to look pale again. He doesn’t object when Albus leads him to a nearby chair.

“You two don’t look very festive,” Jamie says, walking up to them with Freddie in tow.

“Yeah, it’s meant to be a party, you know,” Freddie says.

Albus looks around for a moment and says, “We overheard Lily talking to Mum and Dad.”

“Always got something to say, does our Lils,” Jamie says. “What did she say?”

“She thinks she knows who did it,” Scorpius says, very quietly.

“Who does she think it is?” Freddie asks, frowning.

“Anna Selwyn,” Albus whispers.

Jamie looks at Freddie. “Wasn’t she a Prefect?”

“Almost was Head Girl,” Freddie says.

“Which means she’d know her way around,” Jamie says slowly.  

“Yeah. And she’d have access to the Prefects’ patrolling schedule. She would know when the fourth-floor corridor would be empty,” Freddie says.

“Do you think we should…” Jamie trails off.

Freddie nods. “Doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“Definitely doesn’t,” Jamie says, and then looks at Albus and Scorpius. “You both should stay here and enjoy the party. We need to leave. If Dad asks, we left to go–”

“Study,” Freddie puts in. “We left to go study.”

“Wait,” Albus says. “Where are you going?”

Jamie ruffles Albus’s hair, and then grins at them. “We’re going to go confront Selwyn and her friends, of course,” he says. “Wish us luck.”