Big Reveal

Ron sat in the prefect car with Sally-Anne on the way back to the station. Despite his confidence that something was in the castle, he'd found himself unhindered in questioning it while inside after returning. Perhaps he'd imagined it, or perhaps they were all suffering from some sort of PTSD.

Regardless, he had other concerns on his mind. Namely, Hermione. The day after the Ministry had talked to them, the Daily Prophet reported that the "elusive criminal" Hermione Granger had been "heroically" apprehended by Dolores Umbridge and a group of Aurors and taken to Azkaban. There was no mention of Luna in the article, so Ron assumed that she'd escaped. Neither had answered any of his questions, so he was forced to assume that it wasn't his problem anymore.

Still, the pieces fit together too perfectly to be a coincidence. He'd recovered his letter before returning home, in case someone discovered it and got themselves into trouble. It all sounded mad, but it made so much sense. If Umbridge was working as a puppet to whatever was living in Hogwarts, it seemed logical that she'd bring Hermione there, but then he'd thought about it more. It made more sense for Umbridge not to bring Hermione to Hogwarts. First, it meant Umbridge would have a bargaining chip. Second, she couldn't simply make Hermione disappear, not with the Ministry asking questions about her. In Ron's mind, that meant Umbridge would need to take control of the Ministry before Hermione vanished from Azkaban. Otherwise, she'd always have a superior looking over her shoulder.

He looked at Sally-Anne. She sat peacefully next to him, gazing out the window. He wondered what was on her mind. Was she worried about Hermione too?

"How are your hands?" he whispered, careful not to let anyone overhear.

She looked at him and smiled.

"Still sore, still… it's hard not to think about it, but I've been tending to them."

He smiled back at her, not sure what else he could say. Then something else crossed his mind.

"What if… maybe it would help us both if we didn't use any of the stuff Rose gave us. Even if she didn't have anything to do with it, it might be making it worse."

Sally-Anne frowned at him, looking for all the world like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I… I'm not sure that would help. Not that I don't think it's a good idea, I'm just afraid it… well…"

"It was just an idea," Ron said, turning away so she didn't see him blushing.

"You were only trying to help," she said. "Please, don't be upset. I'm happy you're trying. I'll… I'll talk to my parents about it. I haven't really said anything about it to them… I'm sure they'll know what to do."

He turned back to her, feeling so small next to her. He tried looking her in the eye, but he could feel his face burning when he did.

"Maybe it's time we let them go," Sally-Anne said. She looked past him, then tugged off her glove.

Her hands were raw and blistered. He hated seeing them that way, much like he'd hated seeing the same thing done to Ginny. This felt different. Even though Rose hadn't done this to her… or if it wasn't Rose that had killed Draco, the thing in Hogwarts… someone had made her do this to herself. Like they'd taken away her ability to fight back.

"Sally-Anne—"

"It's okay," she said. "Honestly, it was worse. I… It will heal. But for now…"

She took her ring and slid it off her finger.

Ron looked down at his finger, and did the same to his ring. He'd need to eat and sleep normally again, but he and Sally-Anne would be the same. If Sally-Anne could do it, so could he.

They both put their rings in their bags, then Sally-Anne slipped her glove back on. Then Ron looked at his wrist, and took off the bracelet too.

"This will be strange for a while," she said, sliding her ribbon out of her hair. "But at least we're all together."

They smiled at one another, and Ron fought back the urge to lean in and kiss her. She wouldn't want him to; she was among his best friends, but she wasn't in a good place yet. Besides, once she was, she'd go for someone strong like Viktor, or… whatever good qualities Draco had had. She wasn't interested in him.

Sally-Anne smiled when the train screeched to a halt in the station. Part of her wished she could spend a little more time with Ron, but she reminded herself she'd have plenty of time. Perhaps not when she had her dress or ribbon, but she wouldn't lose her friends over this.

They both stood up and left the train. Mrs. Weasley was waiting and rushed to greet them.

"There's nothing to worry about," Sally-Anne said while being crushed. "Honestly."

"I worry anyway," Mrs. Weasley said, releasing her. "Where are Ginny and Harry?"

They spotted them fighting through the crowd to get closer, then Mrs. Weasley started pushing people aside to get to them.

"I'll see you later," Sally-Anne said. "We should get together over the holiday."

"Yeah," Ron said quickly. "I… I'd like that."

"Me too," Sally-Anne said, feeling herself start to blush.

When she glanced back at Harry and Ginny, she half expected them to be holding hands. She'd noticed that they were spending more time together, but more importantly, Ginny was wearing her hair back. She caught Harry's eye and smiled at him. He smiled back, then waved goodbye to Mrs. Weasley and Ginny to go find Sirius.

Sally-Anne said bye to the Weasleys, then went to find her own parents. To her surprise, she found only her dad waiting for her.

"Where's mum?"

"She's staying in London for a few days," he said, hugging her. "Nothing to worry about."

She nodded, feeling worried despite her dad's reassurances. With Hermione being in Azkaban, something didn't sit right about her mum being away.

Figuring her dad was handling it, she followed him to the car.

"I'd… I'd like to talk about my hands now."

He smiled at her before starting the car.

"I'm happy to listen."

"I… ever since Draco died, I can't get rid of the feeling of blood on my hands. It's everywhere… it's his blood, I've still got it on me!"

The feeling came back again, but it was everywhere. Her hands, her dress, her arms. He was dying in her arms, and she couldn't stop it!

"It's alright," her dad said. "We're in the car. We're driving home."

She returned to reality, holding onto her dad's voice to guide her back. The sensation of blood on her was gone for the moment.

"Are you back?"

She nodded.

"It's alright, Princess. Lots of people go through this. What you went through isn't easy for anyone, and it's going to take time to recover. I'll see what we can do about your hands, but you've got to promise me you'll start counting how long you wash them. I know it's hard, and I know it feels good to run them under hot water, but you've got to remember what you��re doing to yourself. It scares me when you do this, and I'm sure it scares your friends too."

Sally-Anne nodded, although his words weren't helping as much as she'd been hoping they would.

"I don't blame you. You're doing the best you can, and I'm proud of you for telling me. Try to take care of yourself. For me and your mum."

When they got home, she went to her room and changed out of her dress. She put on a regular, non-magical skirt, along with the jumper the Weasleys had given her last year. It looked a little silly, but it meant a lot to her. She put her ribbon, her dress, and her pendant away in her bag. After she'd put the bag away, she looked at herself in the mirror. She was a regular woman now.

She heard the door open, and her father did something she couldn't remember him ever doing: he yelled.

"I said no!" he shouted.

Sally-Anne walked to her door and listened.

"Wilfred, we—"

"I told you, you're not involving her in this," her dad said in a lower voice.

She recognized the other voice as her Uncle Eric. Was it about her mum?

"You act like I don't care about her," Uncle Eric said. "I was there when she was born, for God's sake."

She walked out of her room and went to the front door.

"Uncle Eric? Daddy, what's going on?"

The two men looked at her, then Eric turned his attention to her dad, waiting for him to answer.

"Uncle Eric was just giving us an update on mum. It seems she's got to stay a little longer, but he's doing everything he can to help her so she can come home earlier."

Sally-Anne frowned. Even without her pendant, she could tell he was lying. Her dad was a much better liar than that. What was going on that distracted him so much that he wasn't trying?

"There's nothing to worry about," her dad said again, this time with more confidence. He turned to Eric, shooting him a subtle glare. "Right, Eric?"

Eric looked past her father to her, then back to her father.

"Right," he said, although he made no attempt to hide his lie. "Just giving you both an update."

Something wasn't sitting right with Sally-Anne. First the thing inside Hogwarts, then Hermione was imprisoned, now her mum was away and her Uncle Eric was visiting them. Eric rarely visited them, if only because if her mum wasn't working, he was working. Something was wrong.

Sally-Anne wanted answers, which Eric seemed willing to provide, but her father was adamant about him not doing just that.

I really hope I'm wrong.

Instead, she turned to the one person who could tell her where her mother was.

<Hermione, where's my mum?>

She didn't expect to get an answer out of her. If Ron was right (which there was a good chance he was, it was Ron after all), Hermione hadn't been answering them because the thing in Hogwarts wanted to find her, and she didn't want it using them to do it. But asking a question that didn't involve where Hermione was (the answer was currently Azkaban anyway) would hopefully get an answer.

Sally-Anne's heart stopped. Her throat closed up. She couldn't breath. The room spun. She reached out a hand to stabilize herself.

"Sally-Anne!"

Her father was at her side in a flash, offering a hand to support her.

"Are you—"

"Why is mum a prisoner of the Ministry of Magic?" she asked.

Her dad froze, but Eric continued to help her.

"What?" her dad asked.

"She's being held in the Ministry of Magic as a 'special interest prisoner', according to Hermione. She might be a little lost, but she always knows where everyone else is. So again: Why is Mum a prisoner of the Ministry of Magic?"

Her dad turned and glared at Eric.

"Care to explain?"

"Now you want me to."

"Not the time, Eric."

Eric looked from one to the other.

"I actually don't know. Until Sally-Anne just confirmed it, we've only suspected that Sarah was being held in the Ministry."

"It's Umbridge, isn't it?" Sally-Anne asked. "Umbridge has got my mum."

She looked from one to the other, but neither man was giving her an answer.

"We have reason to believe so, yes," Eric said at last, much to her father's dislike. Catching her father's glare, Eric added, "I told you, she's already involved, no matter how much neither of us wants her to be."

The three of them made their way to the table, where Sally-Anne finally swatted away the helping hands of her father and uncle.

"I'm fine," she said. "Tell me what's going on with mum."

Eric looked to her father again, who was still adamant about Sally-Anne not getting the information she wanted.

"Or I can ask Hermione, who probably knows everything," Sally-Anne said. She didn't know how Hermione would know anything, apart from simply being Hermione.

"She actually does," Eric said. "We got a letter from her a week ago, right before she was arrested. It can come from us, or it can come from her."

"This is about mum's job, isn't it?" Sally-Anne asked, glaring at her father. "I thought you didn't know."

"Told you keeping her in the dark was a bad idea."

"Would you shut up?" her father snapped. He took a moment to regain his composure, then addressed Sally-Anne. "If you'd known we were both keeping a secret from you, it'd would've made it that much harder for us to keep that secret."

"And that secret is?"

"Your mum is the head of the Extraphysical Security and Intelligence Service," Eric said. "We operate as Parliament's eyes and ears in the Magical World, while helping to enforce the Statute of Secrecy in this one."

Sally-Anne took a moment to allow that to sink in. When she thought about it, that made a lot of sense. Her mum was surprisingly well connected, and had far more experience monitoring and surveying people than she should've otherwise. Her being the head of a secret information-gathering organization made perfect sense.

"I believe you. Am I to assume she's been working on finding these 'New Death Eaters'?"

"She has, but they don't exist," Eric said. "Hermione's actually the one that put it together. Umbridge has been making this whole thing up, likely as a way to grab power. We're not sure what her endgame is, but capturing your mum was a bad move. It's got Parliament in a fuss, and the Service has been working around the clock to find her. With her in Ministry custody, our options are limited. Once Parliament finds out that it was the Ministry of Magic that took her, they'll be pushing for retaliation. Your mum's supposed to be untouchable because without her, there's no Statute of Secrecy."

Sally-Anne nodded, taking in everything Eric said.

"You want me and my friends to get her out, don't you?" she asked.

"No," her father said.

"Yes," Eric said. "That's exactly what we want. A year ago, we would've asked Professor Dumbledore to do it. He knew all about us, as now does Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore was one of a few of our eyes and ears in the Ministry, along with Amelia Bones and Monrotia Ins. Both women have been sacked since. We're down to Lucius Malfoy as our only inside man, but his hands are tied as well. He can only help us so much. Considering he didn't know who they'd brought in, only that they'd brought in someone around the time Sarah had been captured, I suspect Umbridge is keeping the loop closed."

Sally-Anne nodded again. Breaking into the Ministry of Magic was a big deal, but knowing Ron, he'd have fifty ways to do it once she asked. Could they do it without everything Rose had given them? It didn't matter; Sally-Anne wouldn't resort to them. She'd only just gotten the courage to get rid of her dress and ribbon.

"You can't send her in," her dad said. "I tolerated all that crap that happened at Hogwarts because Sarah insisted they were in good hands. She always had a backup plan if something went wrong. Are you seriously telling me that you haven't got anything?"

"The Ministry has Sarah. The only way we can get inside the Ministry is with Ministry approval. They are considered a foreign power, and they've taken our diplomat hostage. Unlike other foreign powers, we can't send in troops, because only Magicals can enter the Ministry of Magic building without an escort. Bones can't do it. Ins can't do it. Malfoy's got his own reputation to worry about, and if we lose him, we're out of luck. The Order of the Phoenix doesn't trust us."

"If I tell them mum's been captured by Umbridge, they'll listen," Sally-Anne said. "I'm the reason Umbridge went down."

"Your mum and the Malfoys are the reasons she went down," Eric said. "Draco Malfoy wrote to his parents — I suspect on your request — about what Umbridge was doing. Lucius seemed to think that Umbridge was a threat to his power, and your mum was furious about what she'd gotten away with. Families at Hogwarts did find out, but without Malfoy interfering with the Ministry's attempts at damage control, they likely would've swept it under the rug as a hoax. Your mum's hand got Ins involved, and you know what happened after that."

Through all of that, one thought occurred to her. Draco had sent word to his parents like she'd asked. Not only that, but together, they'd taken down Umbridge. Parkinson was wrong again. No one had slipped Draco love potion, Sally-Anne had simply taken the time to get to know him.

"She's still not happy with you and your friends," Eric said. "In her mind, you stabbed her in the back and lost her your mum's trust, along with Lucius Malfoy's. And of course, Hermione threw a large wrench into her plans. We've been keeping Hermione under as close a watch as we can. So far, no one's been taken out of Azkaban, but it's hard to keep an eye on it at all."

"So on top of all of this," her dad said, "this could all be a trap set up by Umbridge to get to Sally-Anne and her friends."

"In addition to potentially starting a war between Magicals and Muggles, yes."

"I want to help," Sally-Anne said.

"For Sarah's safety, no one can know what she does. Part of what's kept her safe, specifically from those who simply don't like Muggles, is that no one knows who she is or the power she holds. If Voldemort had known about her back in the seventies, she would've been his highest priority target."

"Then we've got to get her out that much sooner," Sally-Anne said. "My friends should know. Hermione already does. The first question Ron will ask is why was she taken and not my dad too."

She looked at both men, waiting for one of them to speak up.

"Lucius will help me if I ask. I don't think it's only because of mum's position that he likes me."

"He won't sell her out," Eric said, "maybe to save his own skin, but he's kept her secret for years. He's not exactly on our side, but he's not against us either."

Her dad fumed silently from his place at the table. He knew Eric was right; there was little chance of the Order helping them without eventually asking if being Sally-Anne's mum was the only reason her mum was taken. That meant if she wanted to keep the circle closed, she had to enlist her friends' help, not the Order's.

"If anything happens to you," her dad said. He turned and glared at Eric. "I'm coming for you."

Eric's eyes went wide and he nodded.

"No offence, Wilfred, but your wife's still a lot scarier than you are."

Her dad narrowed his eyes at her uncle.

"Still, message received. We'll do everything in our power to ensure Sally-Anne's safety."

When Ron arrived home, he found an unexpected face waiting for him.

"If it isn't my little brother the Head Boy?" Charlie said with a grin. "And my little sister the Quidditch star."

He drew them both into a hug when they walked through the door.

"What're you doing here?" Ron asked, equally as enthusiastic as his brother.

"I got some time off, and Mum said I should come home. Percy and Bill are coming later." He leaned in conspiratorially. "We even get to meet Bill's new girlfriend."

Ron frowned. He only vaguely remembered that Bill had a girlfriend.

"What about you two?" he asked, walking with them into the kitchen. "Ron, you must have women chasing you all the time." He sighed dramatically. "As is the curse of the Weasley men."

"And yet, Bill's bringing a girl home and not you," Ron said, laughing.

Even Ginny snickered a little.

"Ha ha," Charlie said dryly.

Ron didn't know why Charlie would think he'd be popular at all. He'd only had two girlfriends; one was in Azkaban, and the other was dead. It didn't speak well to Ron's luck with women.

"What about you, Ginny?" Charlie asked. "How're things in the world of my favorite sister?"

"I'm your only sister."

"We shut out Slytherin by over 200 points," Ron said.

"You should've seen the looks on their faces," Ginny said. "Harry caught the Snitch from out of nowhere."

"Ginny kept faking them out using a Robin Zola Feint, where you don't let your eyes move. The Keeper couldn't figure out where she was going."

"Nice!"

They all gathered at the table while Ron and Ginny recounted their match to him. It felt strange; it'd always been Charlie regaling his Quidditch victories to Ron.

After they were finished, and their mum had supplied them with food, Charlie changed the subject.

"Ron, did you ever find out about that dragon that snuck into Hogwarts?"

Ron frowned, not understanding what he meant at first. Then it hit him that he was talking about the dragon that Rose had massacred their first year.

"No, not… really…"

What if it's not the only thing living in the castle?

Wheels turned in Ron's head. He vaguely heard his brother talking, but he couldn't be bothered. This was important.

When Rose had stopped the Heir of Slytherin, there'd been at least ten minutes between the time Luna had come awake and the time Rose returned to the Hospital Wing. Lockhart couldn't have taken her more than one to deal with, and that was assuming he'd monologued for 54 seconds.

Then the dragon that no one could identify. It'd looked like it was half snake, but Charlie had never heard of such a thing.

Not to mention, all the times that Rose had heard the castle talking to her. He didn't have an explanation for that either.

What if they were connected? What if the thing messing with their heads lived in the Chamber of Secrets? What if it could talk through the castle?

It all made sense the more he thought about it. Rose vanished third year, claiming she was looking for Hufflepuff's Cup. What for? Had the entity inside the castle put her up to it? Why had it asked for Hufflepuff's Cup?

"Are you in there?" Charlie asked as Ron returned to reality.

"Yeah," Ron said absently. "But I've got to go."

He ran up to his room and grabbed a few books. He grabbed anything he could find that related to the history of Hogwarts or Salazar Slytherin.

He piled the books in his room, then grabbed the first in the stack. He touched it and activated his bracelet. Then he remembered he wasn't wearing his bracelet anymore.

He wondered if it was necessary to review the books. Everything already fit, but what if he was wrong? What if his search yielded nothing?

He thought of Sally-Anne. She always smiled when he pulled something out of his head. For her, he had to keep going. For the first time in years, he opened a book and began to read.

That night, Sally-Anne explained everything to her friends. As he always did, Ron had loads of questions.

<I don't know anything else about where she works,> she said after his fifth or sixth one. <All I know is that she's been captured.>

<Right. Sorry.>

She didn't need to see him to know he was blushing.

<It's alright,> Sally-Anne said, hoping he didn't feel too bad.

<Right,> Harry said. <Why can't the Order handle this?>

<We need to keep the circle of people that know about my mum as small as possible,> Sally-Anne said. <No one can know about her apart from us.>

<We could keep it small,> Harry said. <Only involve a few people.>

<It'll be easier with only us four,> Ron said. <Although, we'll have to figure out how to shrug off our parents.>

Sally-Anne was glad they weren't arguing too much. She kept stressing how important it was that no one know about her mum.

<Sirius will let me out for the day,> Harry said. <I'd be more worried about your mum.>

<We'll tell her we're going into town. We've done it before, she won't ask.>

<What about Brain?> Ginny asked. <Can't she use Rose's apparate trick?>

<We could ask her,> Sally-Anne said, sensing Ron's frustration with Hermione.

Sally-Anne waited to see if Ron wanted to vent anymore, but he didn't say anything else.

<We're on our own,> Harry said. <Ron's right. We can't rely on Hermione, not until we really know what she's doing.>

Sally-Anne agreed with them. She wanted to count on Hermione, but there'd been a time when she'd relied on Rose the same way. She couldn't count on someone else to solve all her problems.

<It's not easy to sneak inside the Ministry,> Ron said. <It'll be easiest to impersonate workers and walk in the front door if we want to do this during the day. At night, we might be able to walk in, but I can't be sure.>

<The dead of night would be easier to sneak out,> Harry said. <What about using magic?>

Sally-Anne knew he was asking about Ginny, but didn't want to say it.

Sally-Anne smiled, wishing Ron could see it. He'd picked up Harry's hint without it being spelled out for him; if that wasn't progress, she didn't know what was.

<You can get us inside?> Harry asked.

<People being Percy and Dad,> Ginny said.

Sally-Anne didn't need to think about it. Hermione's words were burned into her memory.

<We'll plan for tomorrow night,> Ron said. <The sooner the better.>

<Do you know where to go?> Harry asked.

<Why?>

Sally-Anne was glad she'd gotten Ron's help with this. He seemed to have an answer for everything.

<There's something else we've got to think about,> Ron said. <This could all be a trap for us. Umbridge has Hermione already, although if she can use dimension door like Rose could, then she's not really being held prisoner. Still, Umbridge will be looking to get at us. Regardless of how much damage we really did, we still interfered with her plans. She can't be happy about that.>

<She won't be,> Sally-Anne said. <We disrespected her, and that's punishable by death in her mind.>

<So we'll be careful,> Harry said. <We move carefully, and we don't take any unnecessary risks. If we're lucky, we can get in and out without anyone noticing.>

<I'll talk to Mr. Malfoy and see what he can do to help that. He doesn't care for Umbridge either, and with any luck, he can reduce the staff and make it easier for us to get in.>

Sally-Anne herself wasn't sure how much help he'd be, but it couldn't hurt to ask. They needed all the help they could get for this.

<Right,> Harry said. <Is there anything else?>

<Where are we meeting?> Ron asked. <Mum wouldn't mind if you all stayed the night, even on short notice. We could spend the day here and go out at night.>

<That would work,> Harry said.

<Fine with me,> Sally-Anne added.

<Let's all get some sleep. Don't worry, Princess; your mum will be alright.>

Sally-Anne bid the others good night, then settled into her bed. She didn't know how well the plan would work, but she was sure her friends wouldn't let her down.

As she drifted off to sleep, she thought of her mum. Was she okay? Was she thinking of her too? Sally-Anne hoped she'd see her again soon.

You will. Ron and Harry will see to it.

Chương 171: Big Reveal

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Chương 171: Big Reveal

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