Nothing happens in 6th year unless you're Harry Potter, so I changed that. Enjoy ♥

And I'm sorry that updates are slow — they will continue to be. I'm very distracted by college 😭

It was nearly midnight. Drew and Wilby were on their way back from stealing potions ingredients, and they made a stop at the kitchens for pastries before returning.

The stone hallway held silence until they heard the senior Slytherin prefects clomping down the stairs behind them. They were the chill ones, so Drew stopped to greet them.

Sebastian lowered his sunglasses. "Where are you going, bruv?"

"Back to bed," Drew smiled innocently. "We just got croissants."

He made finger guns. "Nice."

Valeria had a habit of dramatically flicking her shimmery silver scarf behind her every time it slipped forward, which was often. She flipped it now. "Wowww, again? Come along then. You should be studying for exams instead of wandering, Drew. The almighty Brian decreed that students shouldn't be out —"

Drew was confused. "Wait, who's Brian?"

Valeria smirked. "Prof Dumbledore. It's one of his middle names. I call him that and I'm sure he loooves it." She raised her eyebrows, "Sooo what will it take for me to not tell on you to my pal Brian?"

Drew presented a paper bag from her sleeve. "Wilby and I got you two a Welsh cake."

"My oh my," Valeria said, lips curving up into a grin. "Bribing me, are we? Thanks, you two." She split the cake with Sebastian and used her scarf to dust sugar off herself.

"One day," Drew declared, "when you're really successful, you'll remember me and be grateful. Maybe give me some money."

Sebastian snarfed down the dessert. "Thank Merlin that this 16-year-old girl who doesn't know me thinks I will be successful." He winked, "And right you are."

He tripped on a loose stone and barely caught himself. "Brian's biscuits! I really can't see in these sunglasses."

"Take them off then!" Valeria laughed. "There's no sun in the dungeons, weirdo."

"Alright alright."

Drew noticed the brand as he tucked it into his collar. "Did you hear that last year, the head of Gucci was killed by a hitman hired by his wife?"

Sebastian's eyes, which Drew was seeing for the first time, widened as his jaw dropped. "WHAT? Tell me more!"

Wilby cut in. "Guys, the door is open."

They had neared the common room, and the door was indeed wide open. Beyond it was dead silence. Okay, that was... weird. The sounds of talking should be echoing off all the walls.

Valeria frowned and marched ahead. "This was the number one rule —"

She had just cleared the doorway when purple light blasted her into the wall. Ash exploded from where she was hit, and she collapsed with her face twisted with fear.

"Get back!" Sebastian ordered, shoving Wilby behind him. "Go and warn the Hufflepuffs!"

A tall hooded man stepped out, dressed in black robes and a silver skull mask. A Death Eater? Here? She froze and felt Wilby tense. Neither of them had ever seen one in real life before. At least, not one that was trying to kill them.

Sebastian reached for his wand, but the man moved faster. A massive vacuum of air propelled them forward. Drew lost her balance as the oxygen was sucked out of her lungs, and all four of them tumbled into the common room.

"What took you prefects so long?" the man barked, and his voice made her head hurt.

"Val!" Sebastian gasped, ignoring him as he crawled to her. Valeria was coughing out dust, hands clutched to her chest. She was struggling for air harder than any of them.

Drew caught her breath as she looked around, trying to take everything in as the dark spots disappeared. Pansy and the fifth-year prefects were knocked out by the entrance. A dozen or so students must have still been studying, and now they were shaking by the windows. The others were presumably in the dorms along with Blaise and Cyndee.

Wait... She blinked hard. The dorms weren't there. They had been sealed up.

Lungs aching, Drew lifted her eyes and saw the Death Eater step over Malfalda and march out the entrance.

It was about to slam shut when Sebastian thrust his wand forward and launched half a dozen textbooks between the opening, jamming the door open.

"He's locking us in," he gasped. "Help me."

"Engorgio!" Drew shouted. Other students joined in, and the books tripled in size, shoving the door open further.

"I'll go negotiate," Sebastian said. His voice trembled as hard as his fingers on his wand. Drew didn't think this was a good idea, but there was no time to discuss it.

The students watched as he planted himself at the door and looked a Death Eater in the eye. "I w-won't ask what you're doing, but Valeria Samaila over there is a pureblood. Can you please please let me take her to the Hospital Wing? That's all I will do, I promise. You can have my wand. Please."

"Samaila," the man murmured. His voice was gravelly and hoarse, like he hadn't said a word since waking from death. "I recognize that name."

"Right," Sebastian nodded quickly. "Um, surely you wouldn't like to hurt an innocent pureblood, right? That's against... your cause."

Valeria heaved again. The deep brown skin around her collar was now grey and cracked, like she was literally disintegrating before their eyes.

The Death Eater was actually considering it. Until he reached out to pluck the sunglasses off Sebastian's collar. He broke them in half over his knee. "You're a Mudblood."

Sebastian turned pale. "No no! That's just — I found it — sometimes Muggles make cool things —"

The man kicked the books inside, clearing the door. "Do you know what I did to the Mudblood in my class?"

Sebastian stepped back. "Sorry, I —"

The Death Eater whirled his wand and a strange constriction appeared around Sebastian's neck in the shape of a hand. He fell hard to his knees, so quickly that he dropped his wand to find balance.

The Death Eater made a pulling motion and the marks got deeper as the prefect pitched forward, and oh no he's probably going to die.

"I see that Slytherin is still letting in Mudbloods," the man snapped. "And one of them became a prefect, no less."

He flung the door all the way open and strolled back inside. "This is the Strangular Curse. If I unwillingly break concentration, your precious prefect's neck will snap. Don't be a hero, and no harm done. My task was only to keep you from interfering and hurting yourselves, but we've heard rumours about some Student Alliance formed by a Mudblood here. Who was it?"

Well then. It didn't matter that he had no name, because a good number of students glanced her way.

But Sebastian let out a particularly hacking cough, so the Death Eater didn't notice.

"Is the foulbreed in the dormitory?" he snapped. "Ah... no response? I suppose you're Slytherins after all... thinking for yourselves. Good. As a courtesy, I will leave those in the dorms alone. But all I want now is a name... if I get none, your precious prefect will be snuffed out quite soon."

Sebastian clawed at his neck, but there was nothing to grab. All he could do was wheeze desperately as his face reddened.

Drew tried to shrink into a ball. Too many students kept glancing over. And across the room, she saw Araceli staring at her. Drew was bloody screwed.

The Death Eater would probably kill her if she stood up. But he had to realize that this was stupid... How could he be sure that anyone here knew? And Sebastian was probably just a half-blood anyway.

The silence in the room only spurred the man on. He yanked a passed-out Sebastian along as he marched to Valeria, who was surrounded by people trying to help her. He shoved them aside and pointed at her.

"Someone come forward," he growled. "And I'll do the countercurse."

That was it. Drew stood up before Wilby could grab her. "I may or may not be that Muggle-born. Now fix her."

The man's lip curled, and he released Sebastian and obliging muttered something in Valeria's direction.

Valeria coughed again and then sat up, tears in her eyes. She touched her collar and dust crumbled off, "It-it feels the same!"

"Well, I just stopped the curse. It was only active a couple minutes, so stay still and you'll survive just fine. Eating sugar will help."

She started to cry harder, in the midst of a breakdown. Sebastian was still out of it. All the prefects were helpless, and that chilled Drew to the soul as the Death Eater loomed over her like a dementor.

"Wait!" someone cried.

By the entrance, Pansy had gained consciousness, and now she pushed herself onto wobbling elbows. "It's not her. She's only lying to save Valeria. No one in Slytherin is a Muggle-born! That prefect is a half-blood. I swear it!"

The man stared at her consideringly. "Do I know you?"

She gasped. "I'm Pansy Parkinson!"

He laughed. "Should've known. You're as ugly and pug-faced as your parents."

Pansy's eyes filled with tears. "Leave us alone. We won't bother you."

"Now, see," he stepped even closer to Drew, tapping his wand against his palm, "I don't believe a word you said. Despite Salazar's wishes, there have always been Muggle-borns in this House. They just have to be rooted out..."

But as everyone stood frozen, Drew realized that the Death Eater had long lost his biggest leverage. Sebastian was free and Valeria wasn't dying. He tapped his wand on his masked chin and she knew she had to take the chance.

"Stupefy!" she yelled. The spell burst against his Shield Charm, both spells igniting the room with blinding green light.

Everyone took the cue, blasting all the spells they knew at him.

"You little scoundrels!" he raged, lunging towards Drew.

Then Drew did something that was pure intuition. She held her wand like a dagger, stabbing it into the Shield as he got close. "STUPEFY!"

The Shield shattered, and the Slytherins hurled spells with a new intensity.

What's more, a frosty wind swept the air and someone pounded on the girl's dormitory wall. Ice spread across the stone and mortar like white vines. A shining stone with a skull on it became visible — the Death Eater's charm. And then it shattered and an explosion broke through the bricks.

Isabell burst out, an army of students behind her.

The Death Eater knew when to give up. He turned to retreat, but Isabell threw a potion that melted his robes into the carpet and he screamed in pain.

Duncan and Tracey blocked the entrance. Mafalda launched a chair at him. There was some more chaos as they all threw everything they got for the hell of it.

When the dust cleared, and the Death Eater was unconscious and trapped, buried under furniture and jinxes.

Wilby stepped forward and used the Levitation Charm to remove the mask. Drew got a good look at him. Mid-40s. Longish brown hair. Blocky features on pale skin surrounded by thick square eyebrows and stubble. Didn't look evil enough to be a Death Eater.

Everyone murmured to each other. "Who is that?" Drew asked, hoping someone knew. Wilby looked almost rabid at the prospect.

"It's Uncle Lee," Nott said slowly. "Brayan Lee. His son was at Hogwarts maybe six years ago."

Drew side-eyed him balefully. "Funny how you know."

Nott looked rueful. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I like those prefects. We all do."

Drew turned back to Wilby and saw that he was now leaning over the Death Eater, touching his robes.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Taking blood for the map," he said upon returning, matter-of-fact. "It will be useful to know where a Death Eater is, right?"

He had a point. At that moment, Cyndee and Blaise joined them, looking slightly dishevelled.

"We heard what you did," Cyndee said, admiration in her eyes. "It was really brave. And it worked."

"Thanks," Drew said, though she still thought maybe she was a little insane to do that.

"Did the man say anything of interest?" Blaise asked. "We could only hear bits and pieces."

"He tried to lock us in so we wouldn't interfere," Drew remembered. "Interfere with what?"

Cyndee shook her head. "I have a very bad feeling."

"Let's go find out," Wilby said, pocketing his vial of blood. "We should alert the teacher.s."

"Yeah, they might not know yet," Drew said. "Blaise, take Cyndee and find Snape. He's the closest."

They split up and Drew powered herself up the stairs, Wilby beside her. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"Great Hall. I hear explosions. And... I think a werewolf?" A howling roar sounded from above, and yeah, it was definitely a werewolf. "I want to see what's going on."

"Wait up wait up!" Pansy came to meet them, brows furrowed with worry. "I'm coming with you. I must find Draco."

"Um, why?"

She pouted. "He's unaccounted for!"

Drew rolled her eyes. "You know what? I'll help. I have a few words to share with him. And, er, thanks for defending me. Or for trying to, at least."

"I'm a prefect, aren't I?" Pansy said, squaring her shoulders. "It's time I acted like it."

You're still in love with an ass, she thought, but stayed silent.

On the ground floor, they found Crabbe and Goyle snickering by the stairwell. "As if we'd want to go with 'im," Crabbe laughed.

"Let him face the Dark Lord's wrath on his own," Goyle grinned.

Pansy jabbed her wand at his chest. "Draco was here?! Where did he go?"

Goyle snorted, unfazed. "Oh, he'll run by any minute if he isn't dead. He went up to the tower half an hour ago."

"Which tower?" she demanded. "Tell me now!"

It didn't matter, because Malfoy came sprinting down the Grand Stairway, sweat shining all over his pale face. What on earth had he been doing?

Pansy blocked his way. "Draco —"

"Move, Pansy!" he bellowed.

"What did you get yourself into?" she cried. "You let Death Eaters into Hogwarts! One of them threatened me! He's horrible!"

Malfoy's eyes bulged. "I thought you were on my side!"

"This is different. You-Know-Who wants genocide! You've got to turn yourself in, Draco. You can't go on like this!"

"Pansy," he warned, grinding his teeth, "let me go."

She grabbed his sleeve. "Draco, I want to help you!"

"It's too late!" he yelled. He roughly wrestled his sleeve out of her grip and yanked it up to reveal — lo and behold — a stark black tattoo of a skull and snake. "I couldn't kill him. I've already screwed up, and if the Ministry catches me it'll make everything worse. Begging for the Dark Lord's mercy is the only chance my family and I have."

A tear fell past Pansy's face. "Draco..."

"I'm sorry," he said in a choked voice. "You're better than I am."

He raised his head and met Drew's eyes, and she saw guilt for the first time. Then he flung open the doors and ran into the night. Pansy started after him, but Drew hauled her back. "Do you want to die? That's what will happen if you follow him to Voldemort."

Pansy broke down in tears, hugging her so tight that Drew couldn't push away, and so awkwardly patted her head. Wilby would usually comfort someone crying this bad, but his eyes were fiercely narrowed.

"How could you love someone like that?" he asked Pansy.

"SHUT UP!" she shrieked, much louder than she needed to. "He didn't know! He doesn't understand what's happening!"

Wilby didn't hold back the bitter chill in his tone. "He's been bullying me and my friends for six years straight. Every day he's called Drew a Mudblood. He threatened her and was happy when a monster began trying to kill Muggle-borns. And now he's a Death Eater. It's nothing but natural character progression."

Pansy slapped him across the face. "You're misunderstanding him!"

"Pansy!" Drew said sharply.

Wilby yanked Pansy away from her. "Stop touching her and stop crying. I've had it — I've had it with you and your — your last-possible-minute redemption arc."

Pansy let out one last sob and ran back downstairs. Drew moved towards Wilby, but he punched the banister so hard that she heard his hand break.

Shapes ran by — teachers, Order members — Drew was too distracted to acknowledge it. She had never seen Wilby so heated. The Dark Mark on Malfoy's arm had cracked something within him.

"Apparently we can't trust anyone," he snarled. "Hogwarts lets in Death Eaters willy nilly. Karkaroff, Barty Crouch, Malfoy, and now Snape!"

"Huh?" Drew stopped. "What do you mean, Snape?"

Wilby pointed out the great doors with his good hand, looking ready to explode.

A tall black figure that was obviously Snape was running with Malfoy.

Another Death Eater leapt out of another distant tower, something clutched in his hands. Two more followed and they too fled. Harry Potter ran past too, chased by the Carrow siblings. Snape did nothing to stop them.

"I've had it," he said. "Malfoy made your life miserable, Drew. A Death Eater gave my mum the worst experience of her life AND NO ONE HELPED HER."

"Come on," she soothed, "let's just go back down and wait this out."

He pulled away. "And Dumbledore goes around accepting the children of known Death Eaters. Children who are proud of them. And Snape was a TEACHER. Lucius Malfoy was ON THIS SCHOOL'S BOARD OF GOVERNORS. KARKAROFF WAS THE HEADMASTER OF AN ENTIRE SCHOOL THAT TAUGHT DARK MAGIC AND BANNED MUGGLE-BORNS."

"Wilby." She touched his back, trying to guide him away. "I know that. Trust me, I know."

"Death Eaters run the entire world, Drew, and no one cares."

She tried not to process his words, or she was going to have a breakdown too. He was right that it didn't make sense. How could people like Eliza and Malfoy be allowed to blatantly hate her? It wasn't normal. And yet it was everyday.

"Unlike Pansy," Wilby spat, "it didn't take me being knocked out and called pug-faced to know you didn't deserve cruelty."

He breathed hard for a couple more seconds, swayed a bit, and then punched the banister again with the same broken hand. Blood slid down his arm, down the stairs, and he fainted.

* ° * ° *

Dumbledore's funeral was the last place Drew wanted to see the sun. Every student sat quietly in the Great Hall in their dress robes, waiting for their Head of House to lead them away.

For the Slytherins, it was Slughorn. And she didn't miss the dirty looks from the other Houses. Snape was a Death Eater. So was Malfoy. No wonder everyone hated them.

Outside, Drew and her friends sat together in the back row. Wilby's hand had been healed, but he kept rubbing it as if it wasn't.

Their late Headmaster rested peacefully on the table. She couldn't believe he was gone. He had seemed immortal to her.

The name "Brian" came to mind, and she located Sebastian in the sea of faces. He was staring blankly at the ground, no sunglasses on despite the glaring sun. Valeria had to be taken to St. Mungo's to reverse her injuries. Drew wondered how she felt about Dumbledore's death.

Drew thought back to her first year, when Dumbledore had patiently listened to her blither about Eliza. He had given a kid advice after what was probably the most immature fight he had ever seen. Something that should have been beneath him. He was never too busy to help her.

And yet Wilby was right. The headmaster hadn't been perfect. He was probably way too forgiving of people's mistakes.

But regardless of what you thought of the guy, he would surely leave a hole in the heart of Hogwarts. To be honest, he already had.

Blinding white flames erupted where Dumbledore lay, covering his body. White smoke spiralled into the air, forming the shape of a phoenix for a brief moment.

The flames died, and a marble tomb encased his body.

"Will they close Hogwarts?" Drew asked her friends.

"I sincerely doubt it," Blaise said. "They never do, really. Hogwarts is the most secure place out there, save Gringotts. And Muggle-borns need a safe place to stay."

"Then I'm coming back next year." There, it was said. She wasn't going to hide. Hogwarts needed defending, and defend it she will.

Cyndee nodded resolutely. "Me too."

Blaise shrugged and said, "If you lot will be here, then I might as well."

Wilby had been quiet the entire funeral. In fact, he hadn't said much at all since the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. Drew had told the other two about his outburst, and the three of them were tense as they waited for his answer.

Wilby shrugged, completely uninterested. "It depends on what I find on the blood map, but yes, most likely."

"I still cannot believe we're doing that," Blaise said. "But whatever makes you happy, mate."