Chapter 143: Back in the Common Room

 

Edward returned to the Slytherin common room that evening after Madam Pomfrey discharged him. A clean dressing pulled beneath his shirt, and exhaustion made the familiar stairs feel steeper than usual.

Draco stood when the door opened. His tie was loose, two schoolbooks lay unopened beside him, and a tray of food had gone cold on the table.

"Where have you been?" he asked. "Someone said professors carried four students and two teachers in from the grounds. Then Warrington heard you were in the hospital wing."

Edward stopped beside the nearest chair. "I followed people after being told not to follow them. Fenrir Greyback attacked me, and he died during the fight. The scene is under official examination."

Draco's face changed at the name. "Greyback was here?"

"Beyond Hogsmeade."

"Was Sirius involved?"

"I cannot discuss witness statements while the inquiry is open. Sirius is alive and receiving treatment. So are Professor Lupin and Professor Snape."

Draco examined the scrape on Edward's neck and the torn edge of his cuff. "You look dreadful."

"Madam Pomfrey used a more technical phrase."

The weak joke did not distract him. Draco drew breath for another question, noticed Edward bracing one hand against the chair, and stopped.

"The kitchens are keeping cocoa and food warm," he said. "Eat before you sleep."

"After I sleep."

"Fine. I will tell anyone who asks that you are unavailable, not dying."

Edward thanked him and went to the dormitory. Water plants moved beyond the windows while lamplight softened the stone walls. He changed out of his hospital clothes, locked his mother's letter in the nightstand, and checked the seal on the Two-way Mirror. The Basilisk fang and the locket shell remained under joint custody, where dangerous evidence belonged.

Sleep came before he finished pulling the blanket over himself.

He woke in the afternoon to the smell of hot cocoa. Draco had placed a fresh tray on the bedside table, along with muffins and a bowl of strawberries. He sat in the chair near the foot of the bed and pretended to read a Potions essay.

"How long have you been there?" Edward asked.

"Long enough to know you snore."

"I do not."

"Then there is something else dying inside the wall."

Edward drank half the cocoa before trying to stand. His legs held, though his side protested. Draco waited until that test was over before returning to the question that mattered.

"Why was Greyback near the school?"

Edward gave only facts he was permitted to disclose. Former Death Eaters had met outside Hogsmeade. He had followed them, been discovered, and escaped with Sirius. Greyback later appeared near the Shrieking Shack and attacked again. The inquiry had not established whether the gathering served a leader, a shared plan, or nothing more than mutual fear.

"Do you know if my father was there?" Draco asked.

"I did not see him. I would tell the investigators if I had."

The answer relieved Draco without offering a false guarantee.

Edward ate while considering the Flame Serpent Alliance. The gathering in Hogsmeade did not prove Voldemort had returned, but it did show that old contacts were being tested. The alliance needed a verified warning before rumours provided a more dramatic one. It also needed to decide whether its inherited assumptions would survive the scrutiny its members now claimed to value.

"I want a full meeting," Edward said. "The supervised tower room, after dinner. Ask Warrington to reserve it and notify Professor Flitwick. My restrictions do not allow an unsupervised gathering."

Draco's eyebrows rose. "You are asking permission before announcing a crisis?"

"Recent evidence recommends the habit."

"I will notify them. You are not climbing the tower alone."

By evening, Professor Flitwick had approved the room on the condition that the door remained unlocked and a prefect stayed on the landing. Edward arrived with Draco rather than transforming to the roof. Each ordinary precaution reminded him how easily he had treated safeguards as obstacles when afraid of being too late.

Pansy came first, followed by Daphne and Astoria Greengrass. Theodore brought the revised charter and two sharpened quills. Blaise chose a chair near the door, where he could see both the stairs and the windows. Samuel Rosier arrived last and asked whether the meeting was recorded.

"Only decisions and verified warnings," Edward said. "No private family disclosures without consent."

Samuel nodded and sat.

Edward remained beside the table instead of taking the raised chair at its head. "Last night, beyond Hogsmeade, I was attacked after disobeying a boundary meant to keep me safe."

Pansy's attention moved to the dressing visible above his collar. Draco folded his arms but said nothing.

"Former Death Eaters were meeting in the village," Edward continued. "Fenrir Greyback attacked me in the forest. He later attacked near Hogwarts and died during a second confrontation. An official inquiry is examining the death, my decisions, and the actions of everyone present."

"You killed him?" Astoria asked.

"I used a broken branch when he had disarmed and pinned me. The evidence presently supports self-defense. The inquiry is not complete, so that is the limit of what I will claim."

Samuel wrote the qualification beside the date.

Theodore looked up. "How many former Death Eaters?"

"Between eleven and thirteen people were in the clearing. I identified Dolohov and Greyback. I will not name anyone else from a hood, a voice, or a family resemblance."

Draco's jaw tightened. "What did Dolohov want?"

"He spoke about the Ministry mistaking quiet for surrender. After Sirius intervened, he tried to present the attack as a misunderstanding and implied that the House of Black could join them. That may have been recruitment, delay, or an attempt to divide us."

"Did he name Voldemort?" Daphne asked.

"Not where I could hear."

Blaise leaned back without taking his eyes from Edward. "Then the fact is that frightened criminals held a meeting. The inference is that they are rebuilding something."

"Correct. There are also unconfirmed reports of activity among Voldemort's former followers outside Britain. We do not know whether the reports connect to Dolohov."

"And what are you asking us to do?" Pansy said. "We are students."

"Tonight, listen and decide whether this alliance still deserves your membership. Before that decision, you need the warning: old networks are active again. Voldemort may be attempting a return, or his former followers may be searching for direction without him. Either possibility is dangerous."

No one gasped. Fear appeared in smaller, observable ways. Astoria moved closer to Daphne. Samuel stopped writing. Blaise's hand settled near his wand, then withdrew when he noticed it. Theodore asked for the wording to be repeated exactly.

Draco stared out through the narrow opening above the battlements. "My father says the Dark Lord is gone."

"Your father may believe that, may need you to believe it, or may know something he has not shared," Edward said. "I will not decide which from here."

Pansy turned the charter over. "My mother still lowers her voice when she says his name. That does not mean she knows he is alive. It means fear survived him."

"That distinction matters," Edward said.

Daphne asked whether Hogwarts was in immediate danger. Edward answered that the staff had increased monitoring and notified the Ministry, but no evidence supported an attack on the castle. He did not describe secret passages, Peter's escape, or Sirius's location.

Samuel looked at the revised charter. "If we remain, are we preparing to follow you against these people?"

"No. My conduct in the forest is evidence against that arrangement."

That answer drew every gaze back to him.

The wind sharpened across the tower. The warning had frightened them, but it had also exposed the question beneath the alliance's first charter. They could answer danger by concentrating authority around a powerful heir, or they could build limits strong enough to survive fear.

Edward placed the amended charter on the table and let them read before he spoke again.