Nova sat on Harry's bed as she contemplated what Slughorn's true memory meant. 

A few weeks ago, Harry managed to receive Slughorn's memories. It took a little bit of Liquid Luck, but it worked. Not to mention it provided Nova with great entertainment. 

Harry had become almost . . .giddy. 

He had declared he was going to see Hagrid during his large spider's (which tried killing Harry, Nova, and Ron during their second year) funeral. As Harry moved to leave, he spun back around and looked back at his laughing girlfriend. 

He skipped back to her. He gave an unsuspecting Nova a strong and quick kiss on the lips before grinning wickedly as he skipped away. This left a flushed, shocked, and stuttering Nova. 

Voldemort wanted to know if he could split his soul into seven pieces. Nova had no doubt he succeeded. . .

That's what scared her. 

Splitting one's soul into seven pieces and scattering parts of your soul so no one could find them was definitely up on Sirius's list of 'No-Nos for Nova List'. 

Nova pondered where he could've hidden the Horcruxes. She pondered if they were even possible to find. 

"I won't say 'I told you so,' " said Hermione, as they entered the room, bringing Nova from her thoughts. 

"Leave it, Hermione," said Ron angrily.

"I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person," Hermione said, evidently unable to stop herself. "And I was right, wasn't I?" 

"No, I don't think you were," said Harry stubbornly.  

"Harry," said Hermione, "how can you still stick up for that book when that spell —" 

"Will you stop harping on about the book!" snapped Harry. "The Prince only copied it out! It's not like he was advising anyone to use it! For all we know, he was making a note of something that had been used against him!" 

"I don't believe this," said Hermione. "You're actually defending —" 

"I'm not defending what I did!" said Harry quickly. "I wish I hadn't done it, and not just because I've got about a dozen detentions. You know I wouldn't've used a spell like that, not even on Malfoy, but you can't blame the Prince, he hadn't written 'try this out, it's really good' — he was just making notes for himself, wasn't he, not for anyone else. . . ." 

That's when Nova realized what they were talking about. Harry and Draco decided it would be a wonderful idea to get in a duel in the middle of the boys' bathroom. From what Nova heard, Harry used one of the Prince's spells as self-defense. Sure she wished Harry understood what the spell did before using it, but he was defending himself. 

Although . . .she did check up on her cousin. This lead to him icily telling her to leave. To which told him he was burning more bridges than he was building, rendering him unable to escape his self-isolated island. 

"Are you telling me," said Hermione, "that you're going to go back — ?" 

"And get the book? Yeah, I am," said Harry forcefully. "Listen, without the Prince I'd never have won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have —"

"— got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve," said Hermione nastily. 

"Give it a rest, Hermione!" said Ginny. 

"By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!" Nova spoke. "I'm personally glad he did something! Sure I wish he understood what the damn spell did, but he defended himself."

"Well, of course, I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed!" said Hermione, clearly stung. "But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny, Nova, look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match —" 

"Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," snapped Ginny, "you'll only embarrass yourself."

Harry and Ron stared: Hermione and Ginny, who had always got on together very well, were now sitting with their arms folded, glaring in opposite directions. That's when Nova spoke. 

"Hermione, there is a damn war on its way," Nova said harshly. 

This shock literally everyone in the room (and in heaven). Nova and Hermione never fought. 

"You cannot survive the war by sending first-year jinxes at Death Eaters," Nova said strongly as she crossed her arms. "You need to understand that being ruthless and aiming to kill, is what the new normal is going to be. If you can't handle that, go into hiding. If you can't handle fighting with the same lengths as your enemy, you might as well walk up to Voldemort with no wand.

"And if you're upset about Harry being the best in potions, that's unfortunate. If you want the recognition that you are the best, we will give that to you. You are in Slug Club, and Slughorn adores you. We all know that Harry's potion skill stems from that book." Nova said. "Yes, you are right, Harry shouldn't have used the spell. He shouldn't be using the book to cheat. But he is. It wasn't morally right to put Skeeta in a jar. It wasn't morally right to completely disfigure someone's face. We did that, and we are proud of it. It wasn't right of Ron to date Lav, knowing damn well he saw her as nothing more than a friend. But he did. He did because he got the satisfaction of being the center of attention, and yes, he has told me as such. It was wrong of me to try and bring back the dead. It was wrong of me to go after Bellatrix. But I did.

"We are human, Hermione," Nova said softly. "We make mistakes. And we will continue to make mistakes."

"Siri," Alex asked. "How did your daughter become so wise?"

"I have no clue, Al."

"Harry," Nova spoke forcefully. "You are not to go back to that book."

Harry didn't object. 

Then Nova left with the others following her. 

Nova marched down to the Common Room. Instantly, everyone's attention was drawn to Nova. With a few swift steps, she stood on top of the coffee table. 

"I need you guys to rally all the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Only who you can trust. Meet me in the Room of Requirement in twenty." Nova announced. 

"What about the Slytherins?" a small boy asked. "My brother is there-"

"I've already got my inside people working on who to trust."

Curiously, Dean, Seamus, Harry, Neville, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny followed Nova to the RoR. 

Twenty minutes later, nearly the whole school sat in the RoR. They waited for Nova to speak. Nova wished she could've done this during dinner, but she couldn't trust certain people. 

There were whispers surrounding the room. Many were curious as to what this was about. 

As Nova stood, she caught sight of a familiar tabby cat with squares around her eyes. When she caught Nova's eyes, she winked. 

"'Ello, everyone," Nova spoke in a loud and strong voice. "I have asked you guys to come today for fairly simple matters."

She paused, scanning the crowd. 

"As we know, war is on its way. You're a fool to pretend it's not," Nova stated. "Our enemy is aiming to kill, and that's the truth. There is no sugar coating it. There's a possibility I might not even be alive at the end of this."

Harry nearly lost it at the thought of it. Hermione, who had a fight with Nova minutes prior, was close to tears. Ginny, Ron, Blaise, Theo, and many others couldn't fathom a world without Nova. 

But it struck their chests knowing it was true. 

"Seeing as our enemy is aiming to kill, we need to be ready. Hexing their hair blue is about as effective as Filch banning Fred and George's products." Nova began to walk across the small platform she stood on, addressing the other half of the room. "Today you'll be leaving here with a book."

Everyone blinked. 

"This book is a book I myself wrote," Nova stated. "It's not some boring textbook."

Nova waved her hand and leather-bound books appeared in the hands of each person. 

"If you notice on the spine of the book, your initials will appear . . .and you can personalize it." Nova held up her own. It was black with the gold letters; N. L. L. B. with a lioness slinking along the spine. "These books contain spells, jinxes, hexes, and curses. Some of these are offensive, and some are defensive. You will notice with each spell, it has the incantation, wand movements, and purpose. There is room for you to write your own notes."

Many people were flipping through their books, examining each page. 

"As I said before, there is a war raging on. It might not be at its apex, but this is something you need to prepare for," Nova announced. 

"Excuse me!" Zacharias Smith's snobbish voice came. "There isn't anything in here."

"Well if you shut your trap," Ron began angrily. "You might hear something important."

"All you have to do is point the tip of your wand to the book and say 'Pheonix'," Nova said. "And the words will appear."

In heaven, Sirius Black was glowing with pride. 

***

As the next two weeks dragged on, Nova's books (AKA 'Pheonix Scrips' as people called them) were everywhere. There were colors ranging from light brown to the darkest color imaginable. 

Every time Nova heard a Slytherin speaking of the fear they felt with the wake of Voldemort (and if they were trustworthy enough), Nova would present them with a book. 

Gryffindor had won the house cup, much to their delight. 

Nova sat in Harry's dorm with Shadow curled up next to her and Rosco on her shoulder. She wrote down her notes feverishly. 

Her topic?

Voldemort's back story 

~descendant of Salazar Slytherin

~Gaunt family

~mother abused physically and mentally by father and brother; squib?

~only owned Salazar Slytherin's locket and special ring

~Merope (mother) in love with muggle boy

~Morfin shot spell at Tom Riddle (muggle boy); against law . . .Ministry got involved

~duel broke out; Morfin (3 years in prison) Marvolo, Merope's father, (6 months) . . .momentarily freed Merope

~Merope, with her magic, fled with Slyth. Locket

~gave Tom Riddle (muggle boy) love potion

~got married and pregnant (AKA baby Voldy)

~concieved under love potion; not able to feel or express love

~Merope stopped giving Riddle love potion out of guilt

~Riddle left Merope pregnant and alone

~sold locket to Borgan and Burkes

~Merope died an hour after birth

~Voldy left at an orphanage

~Voldy and 2 other kids went into a cave; the other two were never right in the mind after

~kept trophies from kids he bullied

~Parslettongue

~charming; helps get what he wants

~desperate to be different

~Slythering (almost instantly after being placed on his head)

~top student, prefect, loved by most staff

~'friends' were Death Eaters (First gen)

~nasty incidents . . .never traced

~after fifth year . . .went to Gaunt Cottage

~Morfin spoke of Tom Riddle Sr.

~killed Riddles with Morfin's wand

~modifired Morfin's mem.; made him think he killed Riddles

~Took Gaunt ring from Morfin and fled

~goes to Sluggy bout Horcruxes

~7 Horcruxes?

~opens Chamber in 6th year

~wanted to teach DADA

Nova never got to finish her notes. 

Hermione came barreling in the room with Ron and Ginny at her heels. 

"Ello," Nova grinned. "Where's Harry?"

None of them spoke. 

"Oh ya know . . ." Sirius began. "Only going on a very very safe mission with the man you hate."

"Only going to the place I was killed," Regulus said bitterly. 

"Where's Harry?"

"With Dumbledore . . ." Ginny said slowly. 

"Okay . . .?"

"On a mission . . ." Ginny said again. 

"He says he loves you and to drink this," Hermione said as she practically pours the remaining Liquid Luck down Nova's throat. 

"The fuck, 'Mione?" Nova coughed. 

"It's luck. Now hurry up," Hermione demanded. "We got places to guard."

"We already rallied members of the D.A. to guard," Ron stated. "But you're a force to be reckoned with. Besides, if we left you here, you might murder us."

"And . . .what are we doing?" Nova asked as they ran down the hallway. 

"Keeping Moldy Spawns out," Ginny announced. 

"Right! So a normal Tuesday?" Nova said sarcastically. 

"Exactly," Ron confirmed. 

"Time to fight bad guys and shit, I guess," Nova shrugged.