Chapter 145: A Covenant of Fire

Once the signatures were dry, Edward looked around the tower.

"Voldemort should be feared," he said. "Fear is information. It tells us to prepare, seek help, and stop pretending courage makes us invulnerable. What he must not receive is obedience."

Draco lifted his head. "That is not the speech you were giving a minute ago."

"It is the speech I should have given before following adult Dark wizards into a forest."

No one argued with the evidence of the dressing beneath his robe.

"Voldemort built his movement on a lie," Edward continued. "He was born Tom Riddle, the half-blood son of a Muggle father. He sold pure-blood supremacy to families whose names he found useful, then ruled them through terror. Exposing that hypocrisy matters, but it does not make him weak. He remains brilliant, violent, and willing to spend other lives without hesitation."

Theodore leaned against the parapet. "What is our role if he returns?"

"We protect people within our reach and bring evidence to adults who can act. We do not wait for Harry and Dumbledore to be wounded so we can seize power. Harry is a student, not bait. Dumbledore is an ally, not a shield."

Pansy glanced at Draco, perhaps remembering how often their house treated Harry as a symbol instead of a boy.

Edward divided their immediate work into modest tasks. Samuel and Daphne would review defensive texts and separate reliable methods from family boasting. Theodore would draft standards for recording claims and sources. Pansy and Astoria would design a way for younger students to ask for help without announcing private trouble to the entire house. Blaise would map which professors supervised evening clubs, so training could occur with adult knowledge.

They also discussed what to do if a parent demanded loyalty to returning Death Eaters. No student would be told to confront a family alone or steal private records. The first response was safety: contact a trusted professor, healer, or guardian; arrange a place to stay; and preserve only evidence the student could obtain without provoking violence. The alliance could pay for an owl, transport, or legal consultation, but it could not declare a parent guilty in secret.

Draco objected that some adults controlled every fireplace and owl in a manor. Sirius's Two-way Mirror offered one possible route, Edward said, but handing out hidden communication devices created its own danger. They would ask Dumbledore to establish a confidential school contact instead of improvising a private rescue network.

Draco frowned. "What do I do?"

"Talk to your mother."

The answer surprised him.

"Ask which safety measures at Malfoy Manor genuinely protected your family during the war and which merely made your father feel important. Do not ask about names, loyalties, or anything that could put her at risk."

Draco's expression closed for a moment, then eased. "She will know the difference."

"I think she will."

Edward opened a padded case. Inside lay seven revised silver discs, each marked with a small serpent passing through a flame. The crude nameplates distributed on the train had been recalled after the Dementor incident. These replacements resembled the emergency device Dumbledore had given him, but their enchantment was simpler and their limits were explicit.

"These are prototypes, not invincible shields," he said. "Grip one and say 'Flame Serpent Guard.' It will raise a brief fire barrier facing the direction of your wand. The flame is warm enough to repel, not pursue. Each disc works once before it must be inspected and recharged."

Pansy turned hers over. "Does it track us?"

"No. Does it conceal us?"

"No. Does it attack someone automatically?"

"No. An object should not make that decision for you."

Samuel approved. "And failure?"

"If the disc is cracked, wet with a corrosive potion, or held backward, the barrier may fail. That is why none of you will rely on it without an ordinary Shield Charm."

They moved to the warded section of the tower and tested one disc against a padded practice bolt. Daphne held it while Edward supervised from the side. The spoken phrase released a curved wall of orange light. The bolt struck, lost momentum, and fell smoking to the floor. A dark line appeared across the silver.

"Single use," Daphne confirmed.

Theodore entered the result in a shared register: bearer, spell used against it, visible damage, and the fact that the disc had been held correctly. Failed tests would remain beside successful ones.

"And too slow if the bearer has to search a pocket," Theodore said.

Pansy suggested a bracelet mount. Astoria objected that an exposed disc would catch on sleeves. Draco proposed fixing it beneath a wand holster. The discussion became practical, full of questions Edward had missed.

That was the point of showing them an unfinished design.

"What comes after the discs?" Blaise asked.

"A spell stabilizer tailored to one defensive technique," Edward said. "Not a device that gives someone magic they do not possess, and not a substitute for judgment. It would store a prepared pattern so the caster can shape a familiar spell more reliably under pressure."

"For anyone?" Astoria asked.

"For a tested bearer whose wand and magic accept it. Compatibility will matter. So will consent and the ability to remove it."

Samuel looked interested despite himself. "You will need records from several wand woods."

"I intend to ask Ollivander for theory, not take apart family wands in secret."

The wind shifted. Far below, the castle windows shone against the dark grounds.

Draco tucked his disc into its case. "My father has seats for the Quidditch World Cup this summer. You should come. If these people are reorganizing, a public gathering will need protection."

"I am still under restrictions," Edward reminded him.

"By summer?"

"If Dumbledore lifts them, Sirius agrees, and your parents know exactly whom they are inviting, I will consider it."

"That is almost a yes."

"It is three conditions and a possibility."

Draco accepted it as progress.

Before they left, Edward asked each member to repeat the withdrawal rule and one limitation of the silver disc. No oath punished a wrong answer. Anyone who could not explain a risk did not take a prototype.

Astoria chose to leave hers in Edward's case until she had practiced the Shield Charm more. Edward thanked her. Refusing an artifact she did not yet trust showed more judgment than accepting one to appear brave.

The others descended in pairs. Draco remained long enough to help Edward pack the practice bolt and damaged disc.

"You meant what you said about Granger," he said.

"Yes."

"This alliance is going to become very irritating."

"If it works, it will become larger than our comfort."

Draco rolled his eyes and took the stairs.

Edward stood alone only after the door closed. The charter rested inside his coat, heavier than the silver devices. Earlier versions of his plan had promised clean ranks, permanent authority, and a future arranged from the top. Those promises had been easy because they required other people to bear the cost.

The revised covenant offered no guaranteed throne. It asked for records, consent, restraint, and correction. It would be slower. It might fail in ordinary, embarrassing ways rather than one dramatic defeat.

Edward looked over Hogwarts and decided that difficulty was not evidence of weakness.

When he finally left the tower, he carried the prototypes back to a locked cabinet for inspection. No flame burned unattended behind him.