Black Blood

Roidumal Rising In Power, a New Wizarding War?

Almost a tribute to You Know Who, Roidumal is using his current position as Minister for Magic to call all muggleborns in for questioning…

Patrick rolled his eyes and folded the newspaper again, watching in satisfaction as he creased the picture of the evil wizard. “King of Evil… He sounds like a pubescent kid.”

He looked up when he heard a tapping on his window, standing up when he saw a tawny owl with a letter attached to its foot, looking disgruntled. Patrick sighed and opened the window, watching as the animal hopped in and began to peck lightly at his knuckle.

“Hey, Hemingway.” He said quietly, taking the letter and stroking the bird on the head. “No reply today. Go on. Go home.” He ordered. The owl, however, stayed petulantly in place, even turning up its head at him. “Pete told you to stay for a reply, huh?”

Patrick unrolled the strip of parchment and read the single line of messy scrawl.

Patrick is this your way of saying you want to break up? Please talk to me :(

Patrick’s heart broke for his boyfriend, it really did, but he couldn’t talk to him. Because he knew that Pete would find a way to get the truth out of him, and if he did he would insist on going with him. And he couldn’t endanger the other boy. He wouldn’t let himself.

Patrick sighed once again and carefully placed the letter on top of the large pile on his desk, all from the same boy. Being a muggleborn in this time was difficult, and although Pete insisted he understood, he couldn’t. As a pureblood from a well respected family in the wizarding community, he didn’t have anything to fear. He could safely return to Hogwarts. Unlike Patrick.

Patrick eyed his backpack forlornly, saddened that he wouldn’t be able to take his trunk with him one final time. He knew this, not because he’d been told, but because something similar had happened, twenty six years ago. The muggleborns had been rounded up, taken for questioning, and then arrested. Or killed. And Patrick wasn’t going to let that happen to him. But he knew that the only way that was going to happen was if he didn’t return to Hogwarts. And although the castle was his second home, it was no longer safe for him.

“Hemingway, you need to go.” He ordered the bird, letting it hop onto one of his fingers and all but throwing it out of the house, hoping that none of his neighbours saw. Just as he hoped that none of his neighbours had seen him ushering his mother out of the house with her suitcase, proclaiming that her name was Francis Smith and she was a historian on her way to South America. Because Patrick wasn’t going to risk endangering anyone but himself. It was a big enough risk taking Ryan, Jack and Vic with him, but they were his friends, and helping them to hide was in their best interest, if not his. Patrick just wanted to look out for the others.

____

Sep. First

“You guys ready?” Patrick asked, shifting his backpack further onto his shoulder. Ryan looked at him and nodded, while Vic and Jack simply looked at him, sadness evident in their eyes. “We need to get going n-“

“Patrick!” A voice yelled from behind him. Patrick heard footsteps running behind him and arms wrapped around his waist, Pete’s chin resting on his shoulder.

“Pete.” Patrick said stiffly.

“Where’re your trunks?” He asked suddenly, pulling away slightly and pecking Patrick on the cheek.

“We… Pete, don’t freak out but we aren’t going back…”

“What?! You can’t, Patrick, where will you go?”

“Pete, you know what’s been happening to muggleborns. Going to Hogwarts will be like murder.”

“So I’ll come with you.” Pete announced.

“Pete-“

“Where are we going first?”

“Pete, no!”

“Do the others know?” Pete asked quietly, ignoring Patrick. He looked expectantly between the other three, waiting for an answer.

“What do you mean?” Vic responded finally.

“Have you told the rest of the guys? Does Kellin know? Do Alex and Brendon know?”

“Do we know what?” Brendon appeared behind Pete, with Alex behind him, both of them lugging their trunks behind them. “I got prefect, guys! Not that you’d know,” he added ruefully, glancing at Ryan. “Because you wouldn’t reply to any of my letters.”

“Nor would Trick, actually.” Pete input. “Is… Is this why?” He muttered into the shorter boy’s ear.

“Yes.” Patrick nodded. “You can’t come with us, Pete. It’s too dangerous-“

“Come where?” Alex frowned, looking at Jack for an answer.

“Where are you going without me, Vic?” Kellin appeared behind his own boyfriend and slipped his arms around his waist.

“Why are you all here so early?” Patrick demanded. It was nine o’clock. There was no reason for them to be there.

“We wanted to find out why you were ignoring us.” Kellin answered softly.

“And now we know why.” Pete said with a soft sigh.

“I don’t know! What’s going on?” Alex pouted.

“You guys know what’s been going on... We’re on the brink of another Wizarding War.” Patrick began to answer. They were meant to already be in the forest of Dean at this point. Without the other four boys. “With all the muggle slaughter and taking muggleborns in for questioning… If we go back we’ll be expelled, and probably imprisoned or tortured. It’s not safe anymore.”

“So… You aren’t coming back to Hogwarts?” Brendon clarified. Patrick nodded, resigned.

“I don’t want to back without you.” Kellin said stubbornly, taking Vic’s hand in his own.

“Well I can’t come back, Kells.” Vic responded. “We’ll be fine. We just need to, you know, go.”

“I don’t want to either. I wanna come with you guys.” Brendon added.

“Brendon, no-“

“I don’t see how you guys are in any position to tell us we can’t come. I mean, it’ll probably safer with four purebloods with you.” Pete argued. “I can teach you my family tree-“

“No!” Patrick exclaimed. “You four go to Platform 9 ¾ now and we’re leaving. We’ll be fine, don’t you guys worry-“

“Of course we’re going to worry, Patrick. If you get caught… You’re as good as dead. I don’t want to go back to Hogwarts fearing for your life every day.”

“They aren’t going to relent on this.” Jack said. Alex nodded and stepped forward so he and Jack were shoulder to shoulder.

“That’s right.” Alex nodded again.

Pete looked at Patrick pleadingly, and Patrick knew that, although he was sure it wasn’t going to lead to them being any safer, quite the opposite actually, he couldn’t say no to Pete. And the boys were stubborn, and would probably go looking for them as soon as they left anyway.

“…Fine.”

“Really?” Pete looked up, confused, having expected it to take a lot more work to wear Patrick down.

“Just… Come on, before I change my mind.” Pete grinned and waved his wand at his trunk, immediately making it small enough to fit into his pocket and slipping it in. The three other purebloods did the same, Kellin performing it for Brendon when the fifth year’s spell didn’t quite work the first time.

“Alright I… All of you… Hold hands.” Patrick ordered. Nobody questioned him, but all did as he said, looking slightly confused. Patrick took in a deep breath and grabbed onto Pete’s hand, thinking to himself ‘The Forest of Dean.’

____

“W- where are we?” Alex asked, stumbling to the snow covered ground and looking at Patrick expectantly.

“The Forest of Dean.” He responded quickly, pulling out his wand. “Pete, come and help me set up protection.”

Pete nodded and joined him, pulling his own wand out of his boot and muttering, “Protego totalum.”

“Do you guys need some help?” Kellin stood up, looking at the two of them and reaching into his jacket pocket.

“Salvio- No!” Patrick yelled. “None of you can do magic! You still have the Trace on you. We’ll be found if you do anything. If you need anything come to me or Pete, do you understand?” The rest of the group nodded meekly, staring at Patrick as he looked down at them. “Only if you need to, for self defence, are you allowed to draw your wand. Otherwise it stays in your pockets.”

“I’m done with the defensive spells, Patrick.” Pete appeared behind his boyfriend, squeezing his shoulder tightly.

“Okay… um.” Patrick shrugged his backpack off and reached into it, rummaging around. It sounded a lot bigger than a simple backpack, and the others’ eyes widened as he ended up with his entire arm in the bag, the fabric reaching his armpit as he began to pull something out.

That something turned out to be a tent.

“Patrick…” Brendon started. “How did you get a tent in your bag?”

“Undetectable extension charm.” Patrick grunted, giving one final tug to get to large tent out. “I’ve got everything we need in here. Food, any spare clothes, books-“

“Why do we need books?” Jack asked.

“We’re missing school! We need to keep up.” Patrick rolled his eyes and stood up, waving his wand so the tent began to set itself up.

“So… Are we safe?” Vic asked quietly, looking around the group.

“I dunno, Vic.” Patrick said. “Eventually they’re gonna start looking for people who didn’t turn up for questioning. But for now I reckon we’re alright. As long as we change location every three days as we agreed…”

“Come on.” Alex said with a small smile. “I wanna check out the tent.”

The eight boys walked the few steps to the opening of the tent, Alex pushing back the material and taking the first step in.

“Dude…” He breathed, looking around. It was less a tent and more a house, with separate rooms, a large living room, a kitchen, a door that looked as though it could lead to a bathroom and ladders leading to a second floor.

“How is this a tent?” Vic breathed.

“How’d you manage to get it?” Pete asked instead. He, Patrick, Joe and Andy had gone to the Qudditch World Cup in Uruguay with Gabe’s family back in the summer before their fifth year, and had stayed in that exact tent.

“Mr. Saporta said he didn’t need it anymore, because he wanted to get a bigger one. I could tell some stuff was going on with You Know Who, and decided to take it just in case.”

“I never thought you would be frightened to say his name, Patrick.” Ryan said with a frown.

“It’s probably Taboo.” Patrick shrugged. “I’d rather not risk it.” The rest of the guys nodded and made their way to different areas of the tent, Vic and Kellin wandering upstairs to pick their bedroom, Alex and Jack rummaging in the cupboards of the kitchen to see if there was any leftover food while Brendon and Ryan sat at the dining table, talking in hushed tones.

“Are you alright, Patrick?” Pete asked the younger boy, looking concernedly at him.

“I’m fine, Pete. I just… I’m scared, you know? Not just for me, or even the other muggleborns. But… You especially. If your parents find out-“

“Don’t worry about them, Trick. I don’t care if they disown me. They already hate me for being friends with you. It doesn’t bother me. I just want to make sure you’re safe.” Pete insisted earnestly.

“Thanks, Pete.” Patrick mumbled, pecking Pete swiftly on the cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Patrick.”

Patrick nodded and stepped further into the tent. “You guys hungry?”
____

Pete shifted uncomfortably in his sleep. Well, he was trying to sleep. He always found it hard to get to sleep full stop, but being in a new place made it even harder. As well as the fact that he was lying in a sleeping bag, and he was frightened that his boyfriend and the rest of his friends were going to be murdered at any moment. He wanted to stay up with Patrick for the night watch, but the other boy had practically forced him into his sleeping bag, promising that he would be fine. Pete didn’t really believe him, but listened, because an angry Patrick was not a nice thing to be around.

He could hear the soft snores of all his friends, each couple sleeping in one of the four bedrooms of the tent. Pete looked over at the empty space beside him that Patrick should have filled and sighed. He wasn’t going to get to sleep, so he might as well go and keep the other boy company.

Pete slipped out of his sleeping bag and pulled on his boots, already in his jacket as the Forest of Dean was cold, especially at night. Pete climbed down the rickety looking but extremely sturdy ladder, thudding to the carpeted floor of the bottom floor and walking to the mouth of the tent. Patrick was sitting on the cold, wet ground with his wand in his hand, raised in preparation for an attack, but looking tired. He already had dark bags forming on the pale skin under his eyes, and his head would occasionally loll forward before he snapped it back up, mumbling under his breath.

“I could watch for the rest of the night, you know.” Pete offered gently from behind him.

Patrick leapt up and yelled, “Bomborda!” At Pete, but his wand was aimed at a tree in the distance, which promptly fell to the ground, the sound muffled by the thick snow. “Pete.” He sighed, settling down on the ground again and rubbing his eyes wearily.

“Patrick, you’re tired.” Pete whispered into the blonde’s cheek. The other boy nodded but made no move to go back into the tent. “Go get some sleep, I’ll watch tonight.”

“I’m fine, Pete.” Patrick argued, fighting back a yawn. “I can do tonight, and you can watch tomorrow.”

“Or you could just listen to me.” Pete rolled his eyes and pulled Patrick close to him, resting the other boy against his chest while discreetly pulling out his own wand. “You’re gonna be fine, Patrick…”

“’M scared though…” Patrick mumbled, nestling further into Pete’s chest and allowing himself to close his eyes.

“Don’t worry, Patrick. Just let yourself sleep..” Pete muttered quietly, rocking Patrick slightly until he fell asleep, keeping watch for the rest of the night.

____

A few hours later the sun had risen and Vic had woken up to join Pete and Patrick outside. “Did you see anything weird?”

Pete shook his head in response. “Everything was normal.” Vic nodded and took a seat in the snow next to him.

“I see Patrick fell as- is that an owl?” Vic said suddenly, pointing ahead. And sure enough, a large barn owl was standing in the snow a few feet away from them, looking confused (if owls can look confused) but pecking at the ground anyway.

“It looks like Gabe’s owl.” Pete decided, staring at the wide, amber eyes flecked with black and deciding that it could only be his friend’s bird.

“Then that’s probably a letter for you.” Vic pointed out. Pete nodded and watched the owl for a moment longer before shifting so Patrick was resting against Vic’s shoulder, then standing up and brushing snow off his bottom. “You aren’t going to get it, are you?” Vic continued, sounding fearful.

“It’s a letter for me.” Pete shrugged. “The owl knows I’m here. I doubt it’s a spy for R- You Know Who.” Pete corrected himself, stepping forward and cautiously approaching the bird, his wand gripped tightly in his right hand.

The owl hopped towards him, sticking out its leg once he got close enough. Pete quickly untied the scroll of parchment before petting the bird. He was reminded of Hemingway and, briefly, he missed the bird, but was glad that he’d decided to let Andrew take him that year. Otherwise he would have followed him. “Go on, Guillermo,” he said quietly. He’d always made fun of Gabe for naming his pet after his own boyfriend, even though Hemingway’s middle name was Patrick. Many thought it odd that his bird even had a middle name. “I don’t have any pellets for you, I’m sorry. Go hunting. Tell Gabe I’m okay, will you? Tell him we’re all fine.”

The owl looked at Pete with annoyance before ruffling its feathers and flying away again. Pete rolled his eyes at the arrogant bird and went back to sit with Vic, who was looking at the letter with curious eyes.

“What does it say?” The sixteen year old asked.

Pete unrolled the parchment and began to read it out..

“’ Dear Peter,

You never told me you were taking a trip! You should have said, I’d have asked to come too. Not that Hogwarts isn’t simply AMAZING. We’re learning loads, as usual, and our DADA teacher is teaching us more about those spells my uncle told us about. They’re getting rid of all the muggleborns, cleaning out Hogwarts as it were. And that tree stump’s gone, so I’m assuming they vanished it. It’s about as fun here as that camp we went to in third year though, so you can see what you’re missing.

Bilvy and I miss you loads,

Gabe

P.S. You should listen to the radio. There’s some interesting tunes playing nowadays.
P.P.S. Seriously, whenever the sad songs come on, think of that stump. ’”

“What?” Vic looked at him, confused.

“We should get inside.” Pete said instead. “Patrick’s lips are blue.” Pete shook the younger boy until he awoke, not entirely coherent, but conscious enough to walk back into the tent.

“What’re you guys doing?” Kellin yawned and stepped forward to hug his boyfriends while the other four boys sat on the squishy sofas, looking at Pete with bleary eyes.

“So I just got a letter from Gabe,” Pete began, waving the parchment at the rest of them. “And I think he’s trying to give me some sort of hint as to what’s going on at Hogwarts.”

He read out the letter again, looking back up again to see a sea of confused faces.

“Which stump?” Alex asked finally.

“I think he’s talking about me.” Patrick piped.. “Because my last name’s Stump, and he thinks that they got rid of me…”

“And the thing about the DADA teachers… They’re being taught how to use Unforgivables.” Pete added.

“How do you know?” Jack asked, looking frightened.

“Because Gabe’s uncle’s in prison for torturing muggles… Using the Cruciatus curse.” Pete answered. “The thing about camp means that Hogwarts is really horrible now, because that camp sucked. But the radio…”

“Why would he be telling you to listen to music?” Brendon frowned, scratching the back of his neck.

“I don’t think he really meant music.” Vic mumbled. “Maybe there are some reports and stuff…”

“That makes sense.” Patrick agreed, reaching for his backpack and digging around in it, then tugging out a wireless and fiddling with the knobs to get the main news station. The connection was bad, and there was a lot of interference, but they could make out what was being said.

“… Purebloods still missing. Brendon Urie, Kellin Bostwick, Alexander Gaskarth and, perhaps most importantly, Peter Wentz. The four boys failed to turn up on the first of September for the start of the academic year, and are now being searched for by Aurors around the country…”

“Crap.” Alex breathed, leaning back in his seat.

“Of course they’d look for you. I don’t know how I didn’t think of that!” Patrick exclaimed, setting his head in his hands. “They’re gonna find us…”

“Patrick, calm down.” Ryan said. “We’ll be fine. We aren’t gonna get caught. If we keep moving, and keep putting up the protection, they aren’t gonna find us because we’ll be careful, okay?”

Patrick nodded stiffly and twisted his wand in his hands, looking at the carved wood and running a finger over a deep scratch near the top which was due to Pete attempting to prove he could juggle back in their fifth year.

“Come on, guys. Cheer up. We survived the night. We’re doing well.” Alex said cheerily, causing even Patrick to relent and offer him a smile.

____

Three days later saw the group preparing themselves to Apparate to their next location: Epping Forest, in Essex. They decided to leave early in the morning, at six AM, to be exact, because Patrick was sure that people would be in the forest later, and if they saw eight boys disappear into thin air they would completely be risking the secrecy of wizardry from the muggle world.

So the rest of the boys had helped him to pack away all their belongings into his backpack, and Vic, Kellin and Jack were attached to Patrick, while Alex, Brendon and Ryan held onto Pete.

“Okay, Pete. Are you ready?” Patrick asked the older boy, waiting for confirmation. Pete nodded, reminding himself destination, determination and deliberation before he felt himself turn on the spot and got the familiar sensation of being pulled through an incredibly tight tube.

The four of them settled on the ground, this time with no snow, but dry leaves littering the forest floor. Alex still fell to the floor, while Ryan maintained the feeling of nausea but it was an all round smoother landing than the first time they’d done it.

However, Pete couldn’t find Patrick, or any of the others. He fought off the urge to yell Patrick’s name and pulled Alex up, then tugging on Ryan’s arm as well to get the other boys to move with him.

“Come on, we need to find the others.” Pete ordered, starting walking in a random direction in hope that Patrick wasn’t too far away.

“What was that?” Brendon asked suddenly, clinging to Ryan’s arm and looking around nervously.

“What?” Pete spun around sharply to see what Brendon was looking at. “There’s nothing there Brendon-“

“It’s a bear!” He squealed loudly, jumping up and scurrying in the opposite direction.

Pete raised his wand, prepared to stun the animal if he had to, but lowered it again once he saw what Brendon had been so frightened of. “It’s a deer, Brendon.” He rolled his eyes and began to carry on walking, when he saw a shimmer of something. It was an almost blinding white colour, but when he looked back in the direction it had come from, it had gone.

“Did you see that?” He turned to ask his friends, who all shook their heads and looked at him in confusion.

“Was too distracted by Brendon’s deer.” Alex laughed at the younger boy.

But Pete ignored him when he saw the flash again, taking off running after it.

“Pete!” A voice called from behind him, but Pete kept on running, determined to see what it was.

A giant panda. Pete stared at the animal for a moment, before remembering two things. One: that the animal was shining a silvery white, and two: that Patrick’s Patronus was a panda.

“Guys, I think I can find the others!” Pete called, hearing his friends run up behind him.

“Is that a Patronus?” Ryan asked eagerly, staring at the animal in awe. Pete nodded and walked up to the panda. It raised its head in acknowledgement before starting off in the direction it had come from, leading Pete in the complete opposite direction that Pete was heading in.

The group followed the panda blindly, being led through a large thicket of trees before coming upon a clearing, where the panda completely disappeared, revealing Patrick standing alone, in the empty forest.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.. “I should have been more clear about direction.” He said.

Pete shook his head and smiled. “It’s fine. We found you now. I guess you’ve already set up the protection?”

Patrick nodded and took Pete’s hand, gesturing for the others to follow them through the protection and into the tent, where the others had already started to set up for their stay.

“I think we’ve run out of food.” Jack said, through a mouthful of chocolate.

“How?” Patrick demanded. “I packed enough for months!”

“Enough for months by your standards.” Jack corrected. “Alex and I may have snuck into your bag a few times.”

“In the past three days?” Patrick’s face began to take a reddish tinge, a clear signal that he was getting angry. He clenched and unclenched his fist before nodding and turning away from the younger boy, counting backwards under his breath.

Pete stepped forward to take the bag out of Jack’s hands, looking through the few supplies they had left. “We still have enough for a couple of days.” He decided. “As long as nobody steals anymore.” He looked pointedly at Jack, who had the decency to look ashamed of himself. “Don’t worry, Trick. You brought muggle money right?”

Patrick nodded. “I managed to get about five hundred pounds in there.”

“So we can to one of those muggle shops to buy some food in two days, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” Patrick nodded, wringing his hand together before looking up at Pete and almost smiling. “Thanks, Pete.”

“No problem, Trick.”
____

“Get some bread as well.” Patrick ordered, and Pete pulled a loaf from the shelf and put it into the basket he was holding. Patrick had suggested they didn’t stock up, seeing as they didn’t have a fridge and so couldn’t preserve it. Instead, they were buying enough for a week, and would go back to the shops the next time they ran out of food to buy more.

“Is the basket full?” Patrick asked, not bothering to turn around and check.

“Yeah, some stuff’s kind of falling out.” Pete replied, catching a bag of apples and holding it in his hands.

“Alright, come on.” Patrick led him to a till, where a girl with a tight ponytail and large hooped earrings was sitting, her tan clearly fake by the way it looked against her pale neck.

She looked between the two of them curiously but didn’t say anything about their messy hair and dirt covered clothes, probably used to seeing weirdos. Patrick assumed that he had seen her fair few amount of kids cheating on D of E by sneaking into the shops to ask for directions. As she scanned their items, Patrick looked at the magazines, at the cover spreads of pop groups and actors, with headlines proclaiming ‘One Direction to Perform Comeback Show?’ and ‘Kate Winslet Preparing for Sixth Divorce?’ It was strange how life could go on so easily for people who didn’t know what was going on right beneath their noses. Ignorance is bliss, he thought to himself, looking up when Pete tapped him on the shoulder.

“I’m not sure how to pay for this…” He mumbled, shoving the notes into Patrick’s hand as the teller watched them, looking more and more confused.

“Sorry.” Patrick offered her a fake smile. “My friend is… Foreign.” He began to count out the notes, reading the green numbers proclaiming ‘£32.75’.

“He doesn’t sound foreign.” She said, looking disbelieving now.

“Well, he is.” Patrick handed her four ten pound notes, and she handed him his bags before starting to count out their change.

“Patrick…” Pete called him again, this time looking fearfully out of the shop window. Patrick followed his gaze and saw three men, all in dark robes with their hands in their pockets, looking out of place among the scantily clad girls and boys with snapbacks.

“Oh shit.” Patrick breathed, pulling on Pete’s hand to lead him out of the small Tesco Express they had just been in.

“But your change!” He heard the girl shout from behind him. Patrick ignored her and pulled Pete behind the shop, both of them breathing heavily and looking fearful.

“Okay, okay…” Patrick mumbled, looking up to see Pete’s dark, brown eyes staring down at him, looking as frightened as Patrick felt.

“We could… We could… You know, transfigure some of our features. Change them so we look different.” Pete suggested quickly.

“Yeah, alright just… Hold still for a minute.” Patrick drew out his wand and began to play with Pete’s features, flattening his nose, making his skin a shade paler and changing his hair from dark brown to a lighter, mousier colour. It would be enough so that the Snatchers didn’t recognise them, and that was all they needed. He could then feel Pete doing the same to him, his skin tingling as Pete changed what he looked like.

“Done?” Patrick asked a moment later, as Pete slipped his wand into his boot and took a tight grip of Patrick’s hand.

“Mm hm. I think I preferred you before, though.” He smirked and pressed a swift kiss to Patrick’s cheek.

“None of that until we’re safe.” Patrick scolded, stepping back around the building to see that the Snatchers were still there, strolling purposefully down the street. The same street Pete and Patrick had taken to get to the shop.

Patrick strode forward, keeping his head down and crossing the road so they could avoid any contact with the men that worked for the King of Evil. They stepped around the men, as soon as they were far away enough, Patrick gripped onto Pete’s forearm and disapparated, landing them in the same clearing their camp was.

Patrick and Pete stepped through the protection they had set up, rushing into the tent again.

“We need to go. Now.” Patrick announced.

“Patrick?” Alex looked up at him, mouth hanging open slightly.

“Yeah, it’s me. We saw some Snatchers, we need to go.”

The other six boys nodded and stood up, hurrying out of the tent so Patrick could quickly take it down and shove it into his backpack, preparing for them to Apparate to their next destination, which was prepared for two days later.

“You guys ready?” Patrick asked hurriedly, tightly gripping onto random hands and immediately taking them to their next destination.

____

That night, Pete sat with Patrick again, outside their tent as they kept watch for Snatchers again. Patrick sighed and gripped his wand tightly in his hand, making small wisps of smoke and watching as they dissipated into the air again.

“Are you alright, Patrick?” Pete turned to look at the younger boy, who ran a hand through his hair and nodded. “No you aren’t.”

“I…” And then Patrick began to do something he swore he wouldn’t. Patrick cried. He felt his tears leaking out of his eyes and rolling down his cheeks, and he didn’t even bother to wipe them away. Because Pete knew him, and could always tell when Patrick was upset, regardless of how well he tried to hide it. So he just let himself cry, and when Pete wrapped his arms around him, he just leaned back and let the older boy stroke his hair and press kisses to his temple. “It’s just… I feel as though everything’s resting on me, and I know that if we get caught it will all be my fault…”

“No it won’t, Patrick. And I know there’s a lot of pressure on you, and I’m sorry. But I promise that I’ll, that we’ll all help you more, okay?” Pete comforted the younger boy.

“I’m being silly, aren’t I?” Patrick laughed wetly.

“No.” Pete shook his head forcefully. “I get that you’re scared. You have the right to be. If you get caught…”

“Yeah.” Was all Patrick said in response, holding his wand up and muttering, “Lumos.” So they could see into the forest.

The trees were illuminated by the white light emitted from Patrick’s light, but it didn’t reveal anything that they didn’t already know was there.

“Guys!” Jack called from inside the tent.

“What is it, Jack?” Pete said back. “We can’t leave, you know. We need to keep watch.”

A few moments later Jack had climbed out of the tent and was sitting next to Pete, the radio in his hand.

“Remember how, back in the Second Wizarding War, they had that radio show, Potter Watch?” Jack looked at them eagerly, his brown eyes shining in the moonlight.

“Yeah…” Patrick nodded, unsure of where Jack was going.

“There’s another one! I don’t know what it’s called, but I was messing with the radio and this came up…”

He held the wireless out and, sure enough, voices were pouring through the speakers, offering advice and messages of support to the listeners.

“… Of course, many muggleborns are still missing from Hogwarts, such as one Patrick Stump…”

“That’s Gabe!” Pete exclaimed.

“He left you a message. He wasn’t just talking about the news. There’s like, a password to listen to the show, and it was in the letter. It was ‘Stump’ this time around.” Jack added, before turning back to the wireless.

“… We can only hope that they stay safe until we can get rid of this wannabe Dark Lord…” William’s voice joined in, making Patrick grin. “As well as the four purebloods who may or may not be gallivanting around the world with a small group of muggleborns…”

“… But that’s all we have time for, I’m afraid, because Goyle’s calling us all into the Great Hall for another one of his ‘inspirational talks’ about how it’s in our best interest to join the new realm of Death Eaters.”

“… We don’t know when we’ll next be back, but we will be. Stay strong, and we’ll talk to you all soon. Next episode’s password will be Fountains.”

“Vic.” Patrick said softly as the radio faded to static.

Jack nodded happily. “They’re breaking all the rules doing this at all, let alone in school.” Jack smiled.

“You should go to bed, Jack.” Patrick said finally. Jack’s smile faded slightly but he stood up and nodded.

“People are fighting for us, Patrick. They still care.” He said softly, waving to the older boy and stepping back into the tent.

____

“We should brush up on our defensive spells.” Pete announced a couple of days later, once they’d set up the protective charms for their newest campsite.

Patrick looked up from the History textbook he was reading, impressed. “That’s actually a really good idea, Pete.”

“Don’t look so surprised.” Pete snorted, but he said it in good humour. “I mean, obviously the others can’t, but if we work on it we could definitely be of more use.”

“Okay.” Patrick set down his book, marking his page and pulling out his wand. Pete looked tired, the bags darker than usual under his eyes, and he already looked thinner than he ever had. As did the others, but Patrick just noticed it with Pete more. Probably because he knew every inch of Pete like he did his own body, and worried about it more.

“So,” Pete started. “Do you wanna just-“

“Expelliarmus!” Patrick yelled instead, smirking as Pete looked shocked for a second.

“Protego!” Pete shouted as soon as he got over his shock, Patrick’s spell bouncing off his shield charm and almost hitting the caster. Patrick dodged and raised his wand, rather than shouting, simply thinking, “Stupefy!” And watching his red jet of light narrowly miss his boyfriend.

Pete retaliated with another silent spell, but as Patrick ducked under the blue beam he knew that Pete had chosen one of his favourites: Petrificus totalus.

“What are you two doing?” Brendon poked his head out of the tent to look at his two friends, seemingly attacking each other.

“Practicing.” Pete responded shortly, sending spell after spell at Patrick, who managed to block each attack expertly.

“Um… Okay.” Brendon shrugged. “Just don’t kill each other.” He advised helpfully, retreating back into the tent and out of harm’s way.

“Don’t worry,” Patrick mumbled. “We’ll leave that to You Know Who.”

*Time Lapse- A Couple of Months*

The next morning the group sat around the kitchen table, plates of toast in front of them.

“Why does he even call himself that?” Kellin asked, looking around the group for an explanation. He took a bite of toast and smiled as Vic wiped marmalade off his bottom lip, then licking it off his own finger.

“You Know Who?” Brendon elucidated, feeding Ryan his unwanted crusts.

Kellin nodded in agreement. “Yeah. What does it mean? I know the old You Know Who was called ‘Flight of Death’ so…”

“It means King of Evil. In French.” Patrick replied promptly. He had done a lot of research on Lord Voldemort himself, and knew that the newest Dark Lord would do his best to mimic him. What he didn’t know was whether it was also an anagram of his name.

“Really?” Alex looked up from his book. Patrick knew that he wasn’t reading just so he wasn’t behind in his schoolwork, but so that he could brush up on his defensive spells. Which wasn’t exactly a waste of time.

“Yeah.” Patrick nodded.

“It sounds it.” Kellin mused. “Roidumal...”

“Kellin, no!” Pete yelled, standing up and glaring lividly at the younger boy. Patrick heard a sharp crack outside the tent, and footsteps approaching.

“We need to get out of here-“

“Well, well, well.” A lower, sinister voice joined in. “What do we have here?”
____

Vic slipped his hand into Kellin’s, squeezing the clammy hand tightly.

“I’m sorry.” Kellin murmured, squeezing back.

“Don’t worry. It isn’t your fault.” Vic lied. Of course, it was Kellin’s fault, but there was no point in playing the blame game now, as the man, with matted dark brown hair, wearing eyeliner to rival even Pete’s, was dragging Brendon out of the tent.

“All of you, wands where I can see them.” Another gruff voice joined in, belonging to a menacing looking man with dark skin, standing at over six feet with small, dark eyes.

The members of the small group of teenagers reached into their pockets, drawing out their wands and holding them above their heads.

“Walk out, slowly, and hand me your wands.” The man continued. Vic looked up at Patrick, who shook his head sadly and stood up, following Pete with his head down and giving the scary looking man his wand.

Vic bit his lip and made his way out of the tent and into the cold forest, feeling his wand being wrenched out of his hand and then pulled roughly behind his back. He felt a rope being tied around his wrists as he was shoved next to Pete, yet another person holding him, but this time with a wand held to his neck.

“Look at that.” The eyelinered guy smirked, stepping forward and stroking Brendon’s cheek with one, stubby finger. “Eight little wizards prancing around in the forest. You all look pretty young. Meant to be in school, are you? Yes… Eight truants. We should get a large pay for you lot.”

“Where are we going, boss?” The man holding Vic piped, his voice low and gravelly.

“The Bulstrode Estate. They’re dealing with all the ones we find. If any of them are mudbloods we’ll get even more.”

The man’s grip on him tightened, and then Vic felt the uncomfortable feeling of disapparating, spinning on the spot and then landing clumsily on the ground outside a huge house that looked more like a mansion, complete with iron wrought gates.

The eyelinered guy stepped forward, his black boots landing heavily on the ground as he reached for a small button, pressing it with one of his stubby fingers and waiting for a response. Vic twisted in the man’s grip, but he squeezed his chest tightly, almost completely constricting his breathing, but not quite enough to stop him from wheezing in oxygen.

“What do you want now, Daniels?” A female voice drawled.

“We’ve got eight truants. Found ‘em up in the forest. Caught ‘em saying the King’s name.”

The woman gave a soft gasp and suddenly the gates swung open, and the men shouted in glee as they began to drag the teenagers down the drive and through the open doors of the house, stepping through hallways of dark marble and mahogany tables.

“Bring them to me.” The same voice demanded, gesturing for the men to drag them into the large living room. There were another three people in the room, two women and a man, all shrouded in black. The shutters were closed, and the room was illuminated by candles around the room.

The boys were all shoved into the room, and the first woman, pale with dark hair tied behind her head, with sharp cheekbones and almond shaped brown eyes. Classically beautiful, but cruel looking.

“Look at this. Eight little boys skipping school.” She smirked, stepping forward and standing next to Pete. “Is this… Peter!” She exclaimed, raising his chin and looking at the boy’s dark eyes. “Won’t mummy and daddy be so glad that aunty Pansy found you, hmm?”

“Let us go.” Pete snapped, pulling away from the woman’s touch.

Pansy simply rolled her eyes and stepped around the group, this time in front of Kellin. “And little Kellin Bostwick… Such a pretty name for a pretty boy.”

Kellin glared up at her, wrapping a hand around Vic’s and squeezing.

“You’re that Urie boy, aren’t you?” She asked Brendon, sneering down at him. The fifteen year old nodded, looking frightened and not meeting her eye.

“So this must be Alexander. How good I’ve found you all.” She smiled, stepping around so she was in front of Patrick, frowning at him. “But you… what’s your blood status?”

“H- half blood.” Patrick stammered, looking defiantly at her.

“Don’t lie to me.” She sang. “I have ways of getting you to tell the truth, but you won’t like them…”

Patrick audibly swallowed and muttered, “Muggleborn.”

“Filth in my house!” The second woman shrieked, glaring at Patrick.

“Quiet, Milicent!” Pansy yelled. “You didn’t show up for questioning, did you… Stumpy?”

Patrick didn’t respond, simply looked down again and shifted from foot to foot.

“And the rest of you must all be mudbloods…” Her smile remained in place as she walked around the circle of teenagers. “Four purebloods and four mudbloods… Four purebloods… Mudbloods…” She trailed off and looked over at Milicent a large woman with the build of a man, whose expression showed fear now. “Get out.” Pansy said quietly, looking at the Snatchers that had taken the teenagers there.

“But what about our pay-“

“Get out!” She screamed, raising her wand threateningly. “Now!”

The men nodded quickly and rushed out of the room, proclaiming that they would be asking for their pay later.

“Cut free this one.” She pointed to Patrick, and the one man in the room ran forward and cut him away. Pansy reached out a hand and gripped Patrick by his hair, yanking him forward and pulling him away. Patrick yelled out in pain, and stumbled in the direction that Pansy was pulling him.

“Leave him alone! Pansy, please!” Pete begged, struggling against his tight bonds in an attempt to save the other boy.

“Oh shut up, Wentz.” She snapped. “You’re lucky I don’t call your parents here now, their punishment would be worse than mine. Now lock those ones in the cellar,” she directed to the man, “and make sure they don’t get out. I’m going to have a little bit of fun with this one.” She smirked and stepped away from Patrick just as the rest of the boys were shoved down another flight of stairs, the sound of a slap reverberating off the walls.

“Patrick!” Pete yelled as they were locked into a dark room, lit up only by the bulb hanging above the stairs. The guy locked the cell door, the bars keeping them prisoner underneath the large house. It smelt damp in the cell, with water leaking from the ceiling onto the cold, hard stone floor. The echoes of the boys’ heavy breaths loud against the cave like walls. The room was windowless, and so was dark, although they had been captured early in the morning. For the first time in four months, Vic was truly frightened for his life.

“What do we do now?” Ryan asked, voice laced with fear.

Just as Vic was about to reply with, “I have no freaking idea, Ryan.” He got cut off with a sharp scream from Patrick, literally tearing at Vic’s heart strings. Which was made even worse as Pete shouted Patrick’s name desperately, pulling further away from the group in another attempt to break free.

“Pete, stop struggling.” Alex grunted.

From above them, Pansy’s voice screamed, “Tell me how you heard it! Tell me how you know!”

“I don’t know anything!” Patrick yelled back. “I don’t know-“ He was cut off by a shout of “Crucio!” And then his own scream, even louder than previously.

“How can you expect me not to struggle?” Pete demanded, sounding close to tears. “How would you feel if that was your boyfriend?”

“Did you break into the ministry?” Pansy continued to scream.

“We need to stop arguing and think of a way to get out of here.” Jack interrupted.

“Kellin,” Vic said, an idea springing to mind. “Do you think you could fit through those bars?”

“What… Oh, yeah!” Kellin nodded and then Vic felt the other boy becoming smaller and furrier, falling out of his bonds and then easily running through the bars. Kellin was a skinny boy, and so was a skinny cat, as well as the fact that cats were pretty good at slipping through small places.

“See if you can bring us any wands.” Pete whispered, looking pained as Patrick screamed yet again. The black cat nodded and leapt up the stairs.

“What power do you have?” Pansy screamed at Patrick. “What power could four filthy mudbloods have that the King does not?”

Pete wriggled in the ropes, sobbing quietly now.

“Pete, don’t worry.” Vic attempted to comfort the older boy. “We’ll get out soon. We’ll get him out.”

And sure enough, moments later Kellin the cat came trotting back down the stairs, three wands in its mouth. The cat spat the wands out onto the floor, still outside the cellar, and then changed back into Kellin, who put the first wand into his pocket and muttered, “Abscissus.” Pointing to the ropes binding them so they fell apart.

Kellin then handed Pete one of the wands, and Alex took the other, turning the unfamiliar weapon in his hands and frowning.

“I could only fit three in my mouth.” Kellin said apologetically, raising his own wand and pointing it to the lock. “Alohamora.” The gate swung open immediately.

“How did that spell work on this gate?” Vic asked, stepping out of the room behind Pete, who all but ran up the stairs, his wand clutched tightly in front of him.

“Only works from the outside.” Kellin almost smiled and took Vic’s hand in his own. “Come on. Let’s go kick some Death Eater butt.”

They all ran upstairs, Pete standing just behind a large bookcase so they remained hidden from the owners of the house, but he was peering around the wood, all eight of them listening intently as Pansy continued to torture their friend.

“Well,” she panted. “If one of them’s dead they won’t be able to do anything.”

“Over my dead body.” Pete growled, running into the large room once again, immediately crying, “Expelliarmus!” Pansy’s wand flew out of her hand and she screamed in fury, holding up Patrick’s dead weight as the blonde boy lay, unconscious against her.

Pete threw Vic the wand, who immediately ran up to the short man who had locked them up and wrestled the wands he was holding out of his hands, then stunning the man for good measure.

He turned to see Alex duelling Milicent, holding his own against the much older witch, but looking as though he was struggling. Just as she sent a killing curse in his direction, Kellin pushed the other boy, then shooting a stunning charm in her direction, which hit the large woman straight in the chest. Kellin took her wand from her hand as well, leaving the seven boys against Pansy, who stood with Patrick still in her arms.

“Peter… You can’t want to save this filthy mudblood…” She said softly.

Pete glared at the woman and held his wand up, aiming for her. “Shut up.”

“You could be so much more. Just get rid of the mud-“

“Crucio.” Pete said quietly, but his voice was hard and determined. Pansy’s eyes widened in shock and she ended up dropping Patrick, who Pete rushed forward to catch and drag back with him.

“Peter.” She shook her head at him, looking almost amused. “You need to mean it. You need to want to hurt-“

“Crucio.” Pete repeated, his voice surer this time. And the laughter left her eyes and was replaced with pain as she completely fell to the floor, writhing and screeching in pain.

“Guys, come on.” Pete yelled, the group congregating around him, linking hands as they had done so many times before.

“Where are we going?” Alex asked quickly.

“Um-“

“Number seventeen, Harris Street in London.” Kellin hissed.

“What?”

“Just go!”

Pete nodded and closed his eyes, squeezing Patrick close to him and disapparating with a loud crack.

They landed in a back garden, every member of the group falling to the floor with a thud because of distraction Pete was experiencing, less focussed on apparating properly and more intent on making sure his boyfriend was alive.

Vic brushed himself off and followed Kellin as he went to knock on the French doors, hands shaking slightly as Pete stumbled up, a bloody Patrick clasped close to his body.

The doors were pushed open, and Kailey stepped out, staring at her brother with her mouth open for a moment.

“Kellin? You’re okay- what’s going on? What happened?” She gasped, catching sight of Patrick.

“Please help him.” Pete begged thickly.

She stared at Patrick’s limp body for a moment longer before nodding. “Come in, quickly. Bring him upstairs.”
____

“Kellin, you need to tell me what’s going on here.” Kailey sighed, sitting down on one of the plush sofas in the living room, her brother sitting down in front of her.

Kellin nodded and sank into the sofa cushions, closing his eyes at the feeling of the soft, stuffed cushions under his body. He was almost unused to this feeling at this point, the feeling of comfort.

Kailey was staring at him with her eyes narrowed. She had spent the past couple of hours patching Patrick up, leaving the room looking sombre but insisting that he would wake up after a night or two. Pete was still sitting in the spare room, Patrick’s limp hand squeezed tightly in both of his.

The others were all sitting in the kitchen, enjoying the feeling of actually being in a house again, and not having to worry for just a night.

“We’re… Hiding.” Kellin admitted finally.

“From what? You’re a pureblood, Kellin.” Kailey frowned in confusion at him.

“But Vic isn’t.” Kellin said quietly.

“You’re risking your life, hiding for no reason, for your boyfriend.” Kailey said stiffly. “Kellin, that’s so irresponsible-“

“Don’t.” Kellin interrupted. “Don’t lecture me when you would do the same. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t do exactly the same thing for John.”

Kailey wringed her hands together in her lap, avoiding eye contact with her younger brother.

“Wouldn’t you?” Kellin pressed. Kailey simply sighed and nodded in a resigned manner.

“They’re all looking for you. Not only for the purebloods now, but the muggleborns. I don’t know why, but You Know Who seems really intent on finding you all.” She said instead.

“Yeah, I know.” Kellin shrugged. “What I don’t know is what’s really been going on lately. What’s happening in the wizarding world, sis?”

Kailey smiled at the nickname, but it slipped off almost immediately when she thought about the state of the world Kellin had all but disappeared from. “Kingsley… They put him in Azkaban. They found him and… He’s old. He couldn’t…”

“They found him?” Kellin repeated, disbelieving. The old minister of Magic (the rightful Minister of Magic) had been forced into hiding as well as the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, who had all tried their best to reform and fight. But it seemed that the other side were better prepared, and were good at fighting off opposition.

“It’s bad. McGonagall isn't even headmistress anymore. She was seen as ‘unfit’ and got replaced with Goyle."

"So everything sucks now." Kellin sighed.

"That's about right." She nodded, looking out of the window and sighing.

"Guys!" Ryan's voice called from the kitchen.

"What is it, Ry?" Kellin leapt up, one of the stolen wands in his hand.

"It's back on!" Vic's voice joined in.

Kellin and Kailey rushed into the kitchen as well, sitting down as the radio played, less static than it had been in the tent, but not exactly clear.

"... Planning on doing something a little bit different today." Gabe started.

"After the news, of course." William cut in, sounding tired but enthusiastic.

"Of course. So, as we mentioned last episode, our good friends are still missing, but now the King is looking for them himself--"

"What?" Brendon breathed.

"Sh!" Alex waved a hand at him, leaning closer to the box.

"Obviously, we know that the lot of them will be able to hold their own-"

"Although they're idiots." William said ruefully.

"That is true." Gabe said, and Kellin couldn't help but laugh. Gabe Saporta, making light of all situations. "But they're good wizards. And they'll be in our thoughts."

"We have a few guests, though." William said cheerfully.

"Today we just want to talk about how much of a dick that guy is." A new voice added.

"Tony!" Vic cried happily. Kellin reached over and gripped his hand tightly, grinning as the older boy squeezed back.

"So, introducing Turtle, a good friend of ours, with sources from the 'outside'." Gabe said.

"All I know is that the Ministry is a mess. Nobody knows what they can and can't do, what they're doing full stop. All muggleborn workers have been replaced by Death Eaters all of whom post propaganda and nothing but. Not enough information is getting out to the people. Instead, they're being convinced to join their muggle slaughter teams."

"Up for a muggle slaughter tournament, lads?" Gabe joked. "Ten points for each muggle you hit."

"I know." The other two boys laughed along with him.

"Also coming to talk to us is... Red? That's such a crap name J- Red." William said.

"Shut up. It's fine."

"I thought you could call yourself the Siren, but you said it made you sound like a slut." Gabe input helpfully.

"It does. Now shut up, Cobra." Kellin placed the voice, and it belonged to his best friend. Jesse.

"So apparently, and I'm not sure, I haven't seen it, but that statue the old You Know Who had? Yeah, he's got a bigger one done, but this one's using... Real bodies?"

"You're a liar!" William exclaimed.

"He isn't lying." Tony said. "Got a picture."

"Oh that is disgusting!" Gabe said sadly. "I want to put his body there."

"Easy there, tiger." William hushed.

"I'm a cobra, bitch."

"Could all students report to the Great Hall immediately." A low voice called over an intercom.

"Looks like we have to get going." William sighed. "In case you haven't picked it up, we are in the School of Doom."

"Nice quip." Gabe said.

"We'll be back soon to offer you more inspirational talks and news."

"And to our missing friends," Jesse added. "Good luck to you all, and stay safe until we get rid of this mother-"

The radio faded to static and they were left in a comfortable silence.

"They're being so brave." Jack said quietly. "They could get in so much trouble if they get found out."

"How are they even doing it?" Ryan posed. "Where could they be doing it?"

Kellin shrugged in response. "Kailey, how is this place protected?" He turned to look at his older sister, who frowned and shook her head.

"Well, it isn't. John and I don't really have anything to worry about..."

"Maybe we should." Jack suggested. "In case the Ministry come back to question you."

Kailey nodded resignedly. "When John gets back." She said quietly, looking distant.

"Thank you, Kailey." Brendon said earnestly. The others muttered their agreements, and the older witch simply nodded and smiled.

"I'm going to check on Patrick. And Pete." She added the other boy, who hadn't emerged from Patrick's room in their entire time there.

"What did they mean?" Brendon hissed as soon as the kitchen door swung shut. "'The King is looking for them himself'? Why does he want us?" Brendon asked, voice growing higher and higher as his eyes darted frantically around the room.

"I don't know, Brendon." Alex shrugged, but he also looked frightened. "I have no idea."
____

Pete sat in a stiff chair next to the single bed in one of the spare rooms, watching Patrick's slack face with drooping eyes. He hadn't been able to sleep in three days, not knowing whether his boyfriend was okay.

He reached a hand forward and gripped Patrick's pale one, a small sigh escaping his lips.
And then, an audible gasp, because Patrick squeezed Pete's fingers back. A light touch, barely there, but Pete felt it. He definitely felt it.

"Patrick?" Pete breathed hopefully.

"Hey, Pete." Patrick said back, his eyelids fluttering open, blue green eyes revealed once again.

"Oh my God, Patrick!" Pete yelled, throwing his arms around Patrick's side and nestling into the younger boy's neck. "I'm so glad you're awake, I thought you were... Oh, God. Patrick I was so scared..."

"Pete, I'm fine." Patrick laughed quietly, sounding tired but very awake. "Why does my arm sting so much?" He added, glancing down at his left wrist, covered by his shirt sleeve.

Pete pulled away, looking sadly at Patrick's arm. When he has first seen it, he felt like throwing up. He'd done all he could to try and get rid of it, but to no avail. It was there permanently.

Patrick reached down and began to pull his sleeve up, looking curious.

"Patrick, maybe you shouldn't-" Pete stopped short as Patrick's pale wrist was revealed, the red scars still prominent, reading the word 'MUDBLOOD' clearly.

"Oh." Patrick uttered softly. He ran his fingers over the scars, wincing as he pressed down, muttering the word under his breath.

"Patrick, you aren't... She's an evil psycho bitch. You're blood isn't dirty at all. You're purer than she'll ever be." Pete insisted forcefully.

Patrick nodded carefully, but didn't look up. "Where are we?" He asked instead, fiddling with unfamiliar sheets in an unfamiliar bed.

"Oh yeah! Kellin's sister, Kailey's house." Pete replied.

Patrick nodded. "I actually want to talk to the guys-"

"Patrick, you're up!" The brown haired woman walked into the room, clutching vials in her hands and watching the adult, but still teenage boy lying in bed. "I just need you to drink these for me..." She began to unstopper each bottle and hand them to Patrick, who grimaced but took each of them in turn, swallowing the different coloured liquids quickly.

"Um... Thanks." Patrick said once he finished, setting the bottles on the bedside table.

"It's fine. I think it's terrible what's happening." She offered Patrick a sad smile and began to gather the bottles.

"Er, Kailey? Sorry, do know the date?" Patrick added.

"Oh yes. It's January seventeenth." Kailey responded, then leaving the room.

"January seventeenth?" Alex said from the doorway, entering the room, followed by the other five teenagers. "Wow, we've been on the run for ages."

"I'm glad you're alright, Patrick." Vic added with a soft smile, Kellin then stepping forward and slipping an arm around his waist.

"Wait!" Jack yelped. "We missed your birthday, Alex." He pouted and went to hug his own boyfriend. Alex smiled and shrugged.

"It's alright."

"Alex, it was your birthday last month." Patrick said slowly. Alex nodded and raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, but it's okay we didn't celebrate. More important things-"

"You're seventeen." Patrick continued, a small smile playing on his lips.

Alex frowned. "Yeah... I guess so."

"Don't you get it?! We have another wizard now! You don't have the Trace on you anymore!" Patrick said excitedly.

"Of course." Pete agreed, squeezing Patrick's hand again. "Hey, what did you want to talk to us about?" Pete asked suddenly.

"Oh yeah! Guys, I think I've figured out how to defeat You Know Who." Patrick announced.

"What?" Ryan snapped his head up, just as Vic demanded, "How?"

"Back when we were in the Bulstrode estate, Pansy kept on asking me how I heard it, and whether we'd broken into the Ministry. And then she asked what power we could have over You Know Who. And that got me thinking." He stopped and looked around the room cryptically.

"Yeah?" Pete pushed gently.

"Remember, back in the Second Wizarding War, there was the prophecy about Harry Potter and You Know Who number one? Well, I think the same thing applies here. She got really frightened when she saw there were four purebloods and four muggleborns. There must be something about us in that prophecy. About us beating him." He finished.

"But... What can we do? How can eight teenagers do anything?" Brendon asked.

"We need to hear that prophecy." Pete said.

"But how?" Kellin asked. "We can't exactly just waltz into the Department of Mysteries."

"No, but Unspeakables can." Patrick smiled. "And Pete's mum is an Unspeakable."

"Yeah, but I doubt my mum is just gonna let me and seven of my friends into the Department." Pete pointed out.

"All we need is Polyjuice Potion." Patrick shrugged.

"That takes a month to brew, Patrick." Alex said softly.

"I know that." Patrick rolled his eyes. "I also know that Kailey is an apothecary. None of those potions were branded. She makes it, and probably has some stored."

"She works in an apothecary in Diagon Alley." Kellin piped. "They could have some there."

"So we stun eight of them, take their potion and go into the Department. Nobody else will notice, because they get in at like, five AM, right?" He directed at Pete. The older boy nodded in agreement.

"We listen to the prophecy and then..."

"Do we go find him? You Know Who, I mean." Jack asked.

Patrick made eye contact with him and bit his lip. Pete took that as a yes.

"We'll be fine. We'll be ready, and we'll get that arsehole." Pete nodded forcefully.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Patrick said, rubbing the back of Pete's hand with the pad of his thumb. "Let's actually get the stuff we need together first."

"But we will beat him." Vic said, eyes shining.

"With this power that four purebloods and four muggleborns have that You Know Who doesn't." Brendon said with a smile, taking Ryan's hand in his own. Pete nodded and looked around the room. Brendon and Ryan's entwined hands, Jack with an arm slung around Alex's neck, Kellin's arm around Vic's waist and Patrick's hand resting on his own. He knew that they were strong enough. They had to be.
____

A week later saw the boys standing in London, outside the entrance to the Ministry of Magic. Kailey (and John, her husband) had provided the group not only with the protection they needed, at great risk to their own safety, but also the supplies they had needed once they decided to set off again, with a slapdash plan and a lot of misplaced courage.

Jack stood under Brendon’s invisibility cloak, shivering in the cold morning at four AM. Brendon and Patrick stood either side of him, the older boy with his wand out, ready to stun the first Unspeakable to arrive.

He could hear the others’ heavy breathing next to him; all of them were as nervous as he was. But they knew that it was something they had to do. If it was up to them to stop You Know Who, then they were going to stop him.

Crack!

Jack jumped slightly, quickly being shushed by Patrick, who aimed him wand at the man who had just apparated into the road, already swiftly making his way to the red phone box to enter the Ministry.
“Stupefy.” Patrick whispered, a red jet of light shooting from his wand and hitting the man square on the back. The man fell to the ground, his own wand clattering to the cold pavement, and Patrick began to make his way forward to drag him out of the way before another Unspeakable appeared.

Crack! Crack!

Another two sharp cracks followed, and then footsteps began to make their way towards the phone box.

“Morning, Stanford.” A female voice greeted pleasantly. Patrick froze and raised and finger to his lips, aiming his wand at the man walking alongside her.

“Morning, Abercrombie.” A low, gravelly voice responded shortly.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do on the-“

“Henry?” The man interrupted, beginning to make his way towards the unconscious body on the ground. “H-“

“Stupefy.” Patrick said again, getting the second man in the chest. He too crumpled to the ground, next to his work colleague.

“What’s going on?” The woman began to shrill, fumbling in her pocket for her wand. “Is there someone invisible here? Show yourself-“

“Patrick cut her off with yet another well placed Stunning spell, rolling his eyes and then throwing off the invisibility cloak, leaving it to shroud Brendon and Jack. He quickly levitated the two bodies into the small, currently empty warehouse that they had discovered, leaving the other seven boys to wait for the next Unspeakables to come.

“Come on, let’s go get the Polyjuice Potion.” Brendon muttered, taking Jack’s upper arm and steering him to the warehouse, where they quickly stepped into the room and flung the cloak off their bodies, watching as Patrick started pouring the thick potion into small glasses.

“Here.” He said slightly breathlessly, shoving two of the glasses into their hands and keeping a third for himself. Although they had lost both their tent and Patrick’s backpack, Kailey had provided them with more than enough supplies, which Patrick had kept in yet another backpack, which was currently shrunk down to a size small enough to fit in his sock.

“The others should get here in a moment…” Patrick muttered, and sure enough, moments later saw Pete and Alex with their wands held aloft, two of the Unspeakables hitting their heads on the doorframe as they were levitated in.

Patrick made quick work of handing out the remaining glasses of Polyjuice Potion, then going to stand next to one of the men they had stunned.

“Okay. Choose a person, take a couple of strands of hair and put it into the potion. Wait for it to change colour and then drink the whole thing.” Patrick instructed, taking a few hairs from atop the stout man’s head and dropping them into his potion, which promptly turned a lurid yellow.
The blonde boy grimaced but threw his head back and downed the potion, then motioning for the rest of the group to do the same as his face began to morph.

Jack tentatively reached forward to take a few of the ginger hairs from the man lying in front of him, dropping them in one by one and watching as his potion changed from brown to royal blue. He sipped carefully at the potion, his lip curling in disgust as he drank the foul tasting liquid.

Jack could feel his features changing, feel himself growing shorter as the rest of his friends also changed. It didn’t exactly hurt, but more felt uncomfortable as his nose lessened considerably in size.
“Alright.” Patrick said after another few minutes. “These should last us about an hour, so we don’t have long. Take their wands, throw on their robes and let’s go.”

Jack nodded and began to strip the middle aged man lying on the floor, frowning at his flabby stomach and deciding not to completely undress, but to simply put the Unspeakable robes on top.
He fingered the wand that was in the robe pocket, feeling the unfamiliar wood and wishing he hadn’t lost his own wand at the Bulstrode Estate.

“The five of you that are still underage; remember you can’t do magic. Just have it in case they want to do any random searches or anything. Remember: in and out as soon as possible. Don’t talk to anyone unless you have to; keep your head down at all times. All we want is to hear this prophecy.” Patrick said, and there was a faint murmuring of agreement from the rest of the group.
“Okay.” The once blonde breathed out loudly. “Let’s get going.”
____

Although he felt out of place, Jack managed to fake belonging as they walked through the long hallway that led to the Hall of Prophecies. Pete, having been allowed to visit the Ministry with his mother and ‘accidently’ getting lost and wandering through the Department, almost knew his entire way around the place, and had swiftly led the group to the place where they needed to be. Jack’s legs felt strange, the tall boy being unused to the feeling of being so close to the ground, but he strode with almost a sense of purpose, probably because he knew what he was meant to be doing, for once, rather than just winging it with the guys.

Their feet squeaked against the polished marble floors, making Jack jump slightly whenever it happened, until they reached the dark, wooden door.

“Are we going to get away with all eight of us going in at the same time?” A fearful voice asked. It was one of the only two women they had stunned, and Jack wasn’t sure, but he thought it was Ryan.

“They go around in groups of seven,” Pete started. “Because that’s the most magically powerful number, so…”

“But there are eight of us here.” Another male voice said, in a tone that only Patrick could muster.
“I know that.” Pete rolled his eyes, pushing open the door and letting out a small gasp as the cold air from the room rushed out.

“Come on. Everyone in now. Quickly.” Patrick ushered the small group of boys in and closed the door behind him, the loud slam ringing in Jack’s ear for a few seconds.

He looked up around the dark room, illuminated only by the small, glass orbs that were the prophecies, all of them on their own golden stands. The prophecies shone eerily, a greyish light from the swirls of smoke encased in glass as they all sat in neat rows, thousand in every stand.

“How do we find it?” A voice breathed, slight echoes repeating the words, growing fainter and fainter each time.

“I suppose we just start walking and hope for the best?” Jack suggested, beginning to take tentative steps forward across the shiny, black marble floor, making the room both colder and darker.
The other seven boys quickly followed suit, two bodies walking next to him as the others trailed closely behind.

“Do you guys hear that?” Somebody said suddenly, causing the others to stop in their tracks and turn around, watching as a tall, dark man with greying hair stopped, one hand cupped over his ear.
“Hear what?” Another asked.

“Wait…” Jack mumbled, craning to listen even more intently. “I think I hear it too.” And, yes, there it was, a sharp but quiet ringing, so faint it was almost impossible to hear unless they were completely silent.

“I think it’s coming from this way.” A female voice called excitedly, taking off down one of the rows.
“Slow down!” Jack called, starting to run behind them, the ringing growing continuously louder as they continued down the row.

“There.” Someone said from behind him, pointing down to second row of prophecies, where one in particular (close to the end) seemed to shine even brighter than the others.

“Someone take a look at it.” Another person suggested. The woman who had first run towards the prophecy knelt down on her knees and reached for the label attached to the golden stand where the prophecy sat.

“Careful not to touch it.”

“Yeah, I know.” The woman rolled her eyes and flipped the clearly very new label over so she could start reading. “’King of Evil… Jack Barakat, Alexander Gaskarth, Victor Fuentes, Kellin Bostwick and Brendon Urie (?) Two more muggleborns and one more pureblood’. It’s got our names on it!” She said excitedly.

“Someone pick it up and listen then!” Another voice joined in, sounding frustrated.

“But…” The woman paused, seemingly nervous. “I’m not sure-“

“Oh, I’ll do it.” Jack rolled his eyes and bent down, reading the label once more to make sure that he was picking up the right one before taking in a sharp breath ad grasping the small orb in his left hand.

‘The ones with the power to vanquish the King of Evil are nearing their destiny. Four of them pure of blood, but all of them pure of heart. With power the King knows not, all must unite in order to defeat. And with this power, the impossible may be achieved.’

Jack didn’t realise that he had closed his eyes until he reopened them, looking at the curious faces surrounding him.

“Well?” Someone demanded. “What did it say?”

Jack blinked once more and cleared his throat slightly. “Um- it was like ‘the ones who can vanquish the King of Evil are approaching their destiny. Four purebloods, but all of them pure of heart. And they have power the King doesn’t, and they need to unite to defeat. With that power, the impossible will be achieved.” He attempted to repeat the prophecy, still in shock. It hadn’t seemed quite as real, he hadn’t quite believed that there was a prophecy about him, and that he could be one of the people to defeat the darkest wizard in twenty six years. But here was the proof. It couldn’t be anyone else but them.

“Give me that.” A voice drew Jack out of his reverie, a dark hand reaching out for the prophecy, but Jack clutched to his chest protectively.

“Who are you?” He asked instead.

The man audibly sighed. “It’s me, Patrick.”

“I can’t give it to you.” Jack shook his head. “Your name wasn’t on the label.”

“But it obviously includes me-“

“Guys, shh.” Another person said.

“Wha-“

“Be quiet.” They hissed again. Everyone quickly shut up, also listening for whatever the person was worried about.

Footsteps.

“Put the prophecy in your pocket.” The person closest to him hissed. Jack quickly shoved it into the deep pockets of his stolen robes, then putting a hand on his (also stolen) wand.

“Stanford?” A woman stepped forward, her wand emitting a bright white light as she stopped into the same row as the boys, frowning at the man closest to the front.

“Y-yes, Wentz?” The man stammered. Pete’s mum.

“Aren’t you meant to be up in time? And I thought that Robinson was supposed to be in love?” The woman frowned and looked around at the group. When she received no answer, she ploughed on. “But I suppose if you come up with me, Stanford, the rest of you can stay…”

“Patrick,” Pete (how did Jack know it was Pete though? Why did he sound so much like Pete?) hissed. “You’re hair.”

Jack looked up slightly and saw that, in fact, the grey hair atop the dark skinned man was starting to become lighter and longer.

“… Robinson?” She asked, sounding unsure of herself. “What’s going on- Pete?” She asked suddenly, mouth hanging open as she stared at the man who should not have emo hair like her son. “Pete?!” She repeated, her voice shriller than before. “Peter, what are you doing here?”

Pete raised his own wand, carefully aiming it at his own mother. “I’m sorry, mum,” he began, not sounding particularly apologetic at all. “But… Obliviate.” He said calmly, watching as his mother fell to the floor, a dazed look crossing her features. “Let’s go.” He said, starting to run out of the row and back down the hall they had entered through to get back out of the Hall of Prophecies. Jack ran quickly, his legs growing back to their original length, watching as most his friends tripped over their overlong robes whilst his own fluttered around his mid-calf.

Pete reached the door and wrenched it open, running through and pushing Patrick ahead of him before ushering the rest of the group out.

“How do we get out?” Alex asked frantically, his hair remaining black, but the rest of his features having faded back to his original ones.

“Quickly, all of you give me your hands.” Patrick ordered. Jack nodded quickly and reached forward to grab onto somebody, anybody, when a stunning charm flew just over his head, causing him to duck and curse under his breath.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” A voice yelled. A low, male voice, sounding angry and affronted. Yet another stunning charm flew over their heads, the others quickly falling to the floor alongside him, breathing heavily as shower of spells poured over them, barely missing the boys.

“Stupefy!” A loud cry met Jack’s ears, followed by and even louder shout of, “Protego!” From right next to him.

Jack closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them the group of Aurors, dressed in black robes with their wands held in their hands, had advanced, steadily closing in on the group of boys.

“Take me hand, quickly!” Patrick yelled.

“But where are we-“

“I thought you couldn’t Apparate in and out of the Ministry anymore-“

“What are we doing-“

“Now!” Patrick screamed. Jack grabbed onto the nearest hand he could find and squeezed the fingers tightly, almost feeling comforted as they squeezed back, and felt the sensation that he was now used to of being pulled through a tube, tight and uncomfortable, but leading him to safety.

____

As soon as they landed, a high, wailing sound met Alex’s ears. He stumbled forward along the cobbled streets he was sure he recognised but couldn’t place in the darkness. He could hear the other boys bustling around him, low murmurs to make sure that they were all alright.

“Boys.” A voice hissed, light from a building shining onto the dark street as a door was opened. Alex looked up to see a woman standing in her doorway, gesturing for the group to go into the building. “In here. Quickly.”

Without thinking, Alex began to make his way into the building, stepping into the warm room gratefully.

The rest of the group followed suit, stepping in behind him as she hurriedly closed the door. Only then, did Alex properly look around the room. He saw a desk with a large book sitting on it, a few small tables surrounded by matching chairs.

The Leaky Cauldron.

“Are you boys okay?” The woman asked worriedly, swiftly looking over all of them. Her curly blonde hair was pulled back in a messy bun, her round face kind but wearing a worried expression.
“Yeah, thank you.” Patrick replied quietly.

“You boys have gotten yourselves into a lot of trouble.” She sighed, but then smiled almost affectionately at them. “I suppose you’re hungry?” She continued. Alex nodded eagerly, his own stomach starting to churn when he thought about how long they had gone without a decent meal. Even the food that Kailey had provided them with hadn’t been enough to keep his full.

“I’ll get you some-“ The woman was cut off by a sharp knocking on the door. She visibly paled, her hand flying to her pocket, where she drew her wand from you. “I’m going to need you all to go into this office. Quickly, now.” She began to usher them into a small room, almost completely hidden by a tapestry of something Alex couldn’t really make out. “Oh God, I need one of you to stay out, but I need to transfigure your features-“

“I can do it.” Alex interrupted her quickly, heart racing slightly as the knocking got louder and more frequent, joined by a male voice demanding the door be opened. Alex immediately began to alter his features, making his hair shorter and lighter, his nose longer, his eyes a murky green rather than their usual brown.

“Thank you so much.” The woman said, pulling the tapestry back to hide the rest of the boys and smoothing out her dress. She rolled her eyes and unlocked the door once again, offering a fake smile to the man at the door.

He stepped forward, muddy boots staining the clean carpet, and glared at Alex.

“What’s going on here?” He asked.

“What does it look like?” The woman snapped in response.

“You know the rules.” He hurled back. “No one out past eleven-“

“I’m sorry for running my business.” She interrupted. “Somebody comes knocking on my door, cold and tired, and I’m not allowed to let him in? Am I not allowed to make any money anymore? I know that you Death Eaters don’t need to, but some of us need to make an honest living-“

“You better watch your mouth, Longbottom.” The man snarled. He took one last, long look at Alex before stepping towards the door again. “Don’t let this happen again.” And with that, he swept out of the building, slamming the door behind him.

“The rest of you can come out now.” She sighed and slipped her wand back into her pocket, smiling at the tentative looking boys.

“Sorry, but did he say ‘Longbottom’?” Alex couldn’t help but ask as the rest of his friends emerged and his features faded back to normal.

“Oh, yes. Yes, he did.” She smiled. “I’m Hannah Longbottom.”

“Are you married to Professor Longbottom?” Brendon asked eagerly. She nodded and smiled once again at the thought of her husband.

“He’s always been one of my favourite teachers.” Pete put in with a small grin.

“How is he?” Kellin asked. “How’s Hogwarts?” For a moment, Hannah’s cheery smile faltered, but she quickly fixed it again.

“You boys said you were hungry, right?”
____

“So what are the eight of you doing here?” Hannah asked, clearing away their plates once they’d finished eating the sandwiches she’d prepared. Alex and Jack sat together, squished on one of the slightly overstuffed but extremely comfortable sofas. Patrick was sitting on one of the straight backed chairs, Pete standing behind him and looking pensive. Vic and Kellin were both sitting at their own table as well, watching Hannah, while Brendon and Ryan sat on the sofa next to Alex and Jack’s.
Although it seemed to most that Alex and Jack were the least romantic out of the four couples (there had been times that they’d forgotten each other’s birthdays, and ask either of them when their anniversary was and they’d simply laugh and walk away) it was clear how much they cared about each other. But, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about their relationship. If Jack got caught, they wouldn’t even have a relationship anymore.

“We think we know how to defeat You Know Who.” Patrick admitted. Hannah looked up sharply at him, her blue eyes shining slightly.

“You… You do?” She asked quietly, not quite daring to believe it. Alex himself still found it hard to believe. That he, just seventeen year old, having completely failed two of his OWLs, Alex Gaskarth was needed to defeat the most evil wizard of the twenty first century.

“It’s just… We did some stuff, and eventually we found a prophecy. And the prophecy had most of our names on it anyway, and it said that four muggleborns and four purebloods would be the ones to vanquish him. And we all fit the bill.” Patrick continued.

Hannah looked hard at him for a moment before nodding. “Are you sure the eight of you know what you’re doing?” She asked finally. “You see… You’re just so young… And you shouldn’t be risking your lives… You shouldn’t have to risk your lives…” Hannah trailed off, tears starting to leak out of her eyes and roll down her round, red cheeks.

“Are you… Are you alright?” Alex asked tentatively, pushing himself off the sofa and walking towards her, placing a hand on the woman’s shoulder carefully.

She sniffed and nodded, running a hand through her hair and laughing slightly. “I just really hate the idea of making children fight… And I don’t want to go through this again. The Second Wizarding War was awful… And the Battle of Hogwarts was truly a scarring experience, for anyone who was there. And we lost so much. I’d hate for it to happen all over again. And yet again, we’re relying on a bunch of teenagers, who shouldn’t have to be fighting. None of you should have had to hide!” She said forcefully, dabbing furiously at her eyes and standing up.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I just hate this. But if you boys are sure about this, then I’ll do all I can to help.”

“Thank you.” Patrick said sincerely. “The thing is, we just don’t really know how to, you know, go about this.”

“It’s like,” Pete began. “We know we need to find him and whatever, but we don’t know how. Do we bring him here? Or are we supposed to go looking for him?”

“I think,” Hannah answered, wringing her hands in front of her. “You need to get back to Hogwarts.”
“But Hogwarts won’t be safe for us!” Vic protested. “We went into hiding because we’re muggleborns and we’ll be killed-“

“And now You Know Who is looking for the eight of us.” Kellin input. “He knows about the prophecy too, and as soon as he knows where we are, he’ll order his Death Eaters to kill us.”

“I think,” Ryan said quietly. “That we should listen to the woman who lived through the Second Wizarding War.” He looked around the room, his dark eyes wide and knowing. “And the First, if you think about it. But you would have only been a baby.”

Hannah nodded, smiling at Ryan. “Just trust me on this. You’ll need to get into Hogsmeade first, though.”

“But if we Apparate won’t the sirens go off again?” Jack frowned.

“Well, you won’t Apparate. There are other magical modes of transport, you know.” Hannah smiled and gestured for the boys to stand up and follow her as she began to walk towards another door, behind the counter.

The eight teenagers shrugged and followed the trustworthy woman, watching as she tapped the door with her wand, muttering under her breath, until it swung open, leading to a dimly lit stairwell.
“Are we taking the Floo Network?” Alex asked, a musky smell that reminded him of Floo powder filling his nostrils as they went further down.

“No.” Hannah responded shortly. “Abe doesn’t like that anyone can get into the pub.”

“What?” Pete questioned, but he received no response. Instead, Hannah came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, where a brick wall cut them off. In front of her, sat a rusty, tin can.

“Um…” Brendon said with a frown.

“Emergency Portkey.” She announced proudly, pushing her way back through the group until she was behind them all. “Remember: don’t let go until your feet have hit the ground. Or your bodies have hit the ground. The man you meet is going to help you, okay?”

“Hannah…” Patrick started. “Thank you so much, for all your help-“

“It’s alright boys.” She laughed cheerfully. “Be careful.” And with that, she left them, closing the door behind her.

“So do we just…” Alex began.

“Everyone put a finger on the can, I guess.” Kellin said, reaching forward. “At the same time.”

Everyone else nodded, reaching a hand out, ready to touch the can.

“On three.” Patrick ordered. “One... Two… Three.”

Alex pressed his finger to the top of the can, feeling other arms pressed close to his as he did so, and then, the familiar, uncomfortable jerk in his navel.

____

“What are you doing here?” A weak, male voice asked as Alex landed on a dusty, hardwood floor. He coughed slightly and sat up, looking around to make sure that the others were there. He saw his friends all dusting themselves off too, and so looked up to see a bent, wiry old man frowning down at him, wand pointed at them.

“H- Hannah sent us.” Alex managed to choke out. The man squinted his eyes for a moment, pushing his wire framed glasses up his nose, before nodding and slipping his wand away again.

He turned away and began to shuffle forward, grabbing something that looked like a coin and tapping it. Alex watched the old man curiously. He reminded him of someone, but he wasn’t quite sure who. He had long grey hair that just about reached his elbows, as well as a beard that went way past his waist. His nose was straight, and behind his glasses were a pair of shining blue eyes.

“Dumbledore!” Alex exclaimed. His friends looked curiously at him, but he ignored them, instead watching as the old man turned back around, what looked almost like a smile twisting on his lips.
“I… You look like your brother.” Alex continued. The old man looked just like the painting he had seen so frequently when he was called to the Headmistress’ office. But of course, he couldn’t be Albus Dumbledore, and Alex knew the man had had a brother.

He snorted and nodded, looking down at the teenagers. “So… You need to get to Hogwarts, do you?”
“Yes,” Patrick began excitedly. “We’d be really grateful if-“

“Aren’t you that Wentz boy?” The man interrupted, glaring at Pete, who nodded nervously. “Sure you’re on the right side, boy?”

“Yes, sir.” Pete answered. “I’m not like my parents. I don’t dislike muggleborns at all-“
“So you’re a blood traitor?” Dumbledore interrupted again.

“Yes.” Pete said firmly. “I’m a blood traitor and I’m proud to be one.”

Dumbledore nodded, looking impressed for a moment, before turning away again and walking towards a picture of a pretty girl, with dark, straight hair in an old fashioned dress. “You know what to do.”

The girl in the painting nodded and began to walk, not through the frame as all paintings did, but backwards, towards the small house in the background.
“What on earth…” Brendon muttered.

“I’ve never seen a picture do that before.” Patrick posed. Dumbledore simply grunted again as the girl began to walk back again, a small smile in her painted lips as she stepped out of the frame and the entire picture swung forward, revealing a long corridor, lit by small torches along the walls.

“I don’t need to know what the lot of you are doing here.” Dumbledore said. “All I know is that you’re good, and you’re here to do good. And that’s good enough for me.”

Alex stood up, followed shortly by the other even boys, and peered into the corridor.

“Just go through to the end.” Dumbledore instructed, pushing Alex forward so he stumbled into the dank corridor. “Good luck.”

“Thank you, Mr. Dumbledore.” Alex said earnestly as his friends filed into the corridor as well.
The old man allowed a full smile to slip onto his face this time, nodding approvingly at Alex. “Call me Abe.”

Alex smiled back and began to walk forward, his footsteps sounding loudly in the narrow corridor.
“Where do you think this leads?” Ryan asked as they walked. Alex couldn’t see an end, but that may have simply been because it was so dark. He could feel Patrick Pete pushing their way forward slightly so that they led the group, which Alex didn’t mind.

“Well, we said we needed to get to Hogwarts. Hannah said that this guy would…” Pete shrugged.

“Who is he, anyway?” Kellin asked. “Dumbledore’s brother?”

“He owns the Hog’s Head.” Patrick input helpfully. “I read it somewhere.”

“But how does this picture work? I’m confused.” Jack said with a small pout.

Patrick shrugged and continued to lead the group, ducking as the pathway roof began to lower.
“Patrick,” Pete hissed.

“Yeah?”

“I think that might be the end.” Pete continued. And, sure enough, they came to a stop outside a door.

“So do we just… Go through it?” Vic asked tentatively, eyeing the door.

“I guess so.” Pete muttered, but he too looked nervous.

“What if we end up in Goyle’s office or something?” Brendon suggested, sounding frightened. “What if he kills us on the spot?”

“We’re gonna have to try.” Patrick said, sounding queasy.

“Well go on then.” Alex urged.

Patrick took in a deep breath and pushed forward the heavy looking, wooden door.

"Abe-"

"PATRICK!"
____

"You guys are back!"

"Where have you been?"

"Are you alright?"

"We knew you'd make it!"

"Brendon!" Brendon spun around to see Spencer quickly making his way towards him and Ryan, followed by Jon and Dallon. Spencer threw his arms around the skinny, taller teenager, mumbling into his best friend's neck.

"Where have you lot been?" Jon demanded, engulfing Ryan in a bear hug.

"I guess you guys deserve to know..." Ryan murmured, looking around the room.
Brendon pulled away from Spencer slightly to take a look around the room. He didn't recognise it: it was large, with grey, stone walls, large bookshelves filled with books, magazines and games, and sleeping bags littering the floor.

Also, Brendon realised that all of his friends were there. He could see Vic hugging Tony and Jaime, Kellin with Matty, Jesse, Justin, Gabe and Jack, Pete and Patrick with Joe, Andy, Gabe and William. Jack and Alex were with their friends Rian and Zack, all four of the boys standing in a tight circle. But also, there were people that Brendon had almost never spoken to. That girl, Jenna, who he knew Vic spoke to, a boy called Beau and a group of his friends, his own friend Greta was sitting in a circle of Gryffindor girls, and-

"Scorpius Malfoy?" Pete pulled away from his friends and frowned at the blonde boy, who was sitting in a corner with a book in his lap. He looked up, glasses perched on his nose, and grimaced slightly.

"What? I don't agree with this either!" He snorted and looked back down at his book.

"That reminds me: where are the Potters and the Weasleys?" Patrick asked. "I'd assumed they'd be here."

"They got pulled out after Christmas." Gabe answered. "They weren't being treated the best because... You know."

"We lost quite a few people, actually." William sighed, raking a hand through his long hair. "We lost Mike Duce, James Veck-Gilodi... Mikey Chapman-"

"And we lost the Ways." Gabe added.

"Hogwarts isn't really the greatest place to be at the moment."

"Which begs the question: what are the lot of you doing here?" Jesse asked.

"We... We figured something out." Patrick started.

"About what?" Gabe looked up, interest sparked once again.

"About defeating You Know Who." Pete input helpfully.

"Are you guys serious?" William breathed, looking hopeful.

"There's a prophecy-" Jack started, looking around the room.

"And it talks about how he's going to be defeated." Vic added.

"Well how?" Spencer pressed.

"It's like, four muggleborns and four purebloods-"

"So we just need to find four muggleborns and four purebloods?" Jaime asked excitedly. "But who?"

Brendon stared incredulously at the boy, who simply looked confused in return, until Scorpius rolled his eyes and snapped his book shut. "It's them, you nitwit."

"Oh." Jaime looked at the eight boys who had just arrived and nodded.

"But," Scorpius continued. "You guys need to confront him. I mean, you won't be able to defeat him in Albania from here."

"How do you know he's in Albania?" Alex asked suspiciously.

Scorpius sighed, but this time not of annoyance. "My dad may have changed, but they don't know that. He tells me stuff. I mean, I know who he is."

"Who is it?" Patrick asked almost enthusiastically.

"Um... Blaise Zabini." Scorpius said after a moment.

"Isn't that the guy whose mum got married like, seven times?" Pete asked. And then: "I'm pretty sure he was friends with my parents."

"Look, that's not the point. The point is, he's holidaying in Albania at the moment, and you guys need him here."

"But how do we do that?" Ryan asked quietly.

"Well..." Gabe smiled. "He's already looking for you lot. Because I guess he knows about the prophecy too."

"And it's..." William looked down at the watch on his skinny wrist. "Almost eight AM."

"Wait, what day is it?" Jenna looked up.

"Saturday." William grinned as murmurs began to fill the room.

"What?" Patrick demanded.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"We have an inspiring speech from Goyle coming up." William informed him.

"So?" Kellin frowned. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"If you guys were to make a cameo appearance..."

"Then Goyle summons his master and he comes here!" Pete finished happily.

"But," Brendon began. "But we don't know what we're doing. We don't know how to actually stop him. We can't just call him here and hope for the best!"

"But isn't that what we've been doing this whole time?" Ryan muttered. "Just going along with whatever?"

"Yes, but-"

"Would all students report to the Great Hall, immediately." A low voice boomed in the room. The students all sighed and began to stand up, their chatter increasing as they made their way to the door.

"What, you guys just leave?" Alex asked. "Don't they see you?"

Gabe shrugged as he walked past. "They know we hide. They just can never get in because no one tells them what we need to do so."

"But-"

"Scorpius is fine." Gabe interrupted, seeing Alex's eyes resting on the tall, blonde boy. "We thought he was dodgy at first too, but then he took a Cruciatus for a First Year."

"They're using the Unforgivables on you?" Patrick yelped.

Gabe shrugged. "They haven't done it in a while. You guys coming?"

The group immediately looked to Patrick for confirmation. The older boy bit his lip for a moment, before nodding.

"Yeah, we are."

Gabe grinned. "Okay. Come on then. Keep your heads down for a bit."

The group followed behind the rest of the students, their heads bowed as they walked past Death Eaters, watching the students.

"Have you guys been listening to MuggleCast?" Gabe murmured as they walked.

"To what?" Brendon frowned.

"The radio show!" William exclaimed, slightly too loudly.

"Oh. Yeah!" Brendon nodded.

"It's... Guys, you're amazing." Pete muttered.

"Oh yeah, Spencer. What was that place?" Brendon asked the other boy as they made their way through the once familiar corridors.

"The room we were just in? Oh, that's the Room of Requirement." Spencer whispered back. "Mr. Potter told Albus Potter about it pretty early on in the year, and we all went to hide in it. It basically gives you whatever we need. Which was a place to hide from the Death Eaters, basically."

"Oh." Brendon nodded, hopping over a trick step.

"Have they replaced all the teachers?"

"All the muggleborns. The rest of them are secretly helping us. Like Professor Longbottom has helped us to find loopholes and stuff so no one else can get into the Room of Requirement. And-"

"Quiet, as you enter the hall." A female Death Eater glared at Spencer, who rolled his eyes and stepped into the large Hall, once full of life. Now, it appeared drab and grey, Goyle standing at the podium with two Death Eaters either side of him.

The students all formed rows in the hall (the house tables having been pushed to the sides) most looking downcast and defeated. Then there was the select few, people who has been raised by people like Pete's parents and hadn't decided to form their own opinions like Brendon's friend.

"Good evening." Goyle started, looking stonily around the room. Brendon hadn't seen him before, and he hadn't expected what he was seeing. A dopey looking man, with sagging eyes and close cropped brown hair. He was tall and thick, his large hands clasped tightly in front of him.

"Good evening, Professor Goyle." The students chorused, significantly quieter than it would have been last year. With so many muggleborns having been expelled, only 3/4 of the school remained. Brendon looked around the room and saw Professor Longbottom and Professor McGonagall talking in hushed tones and looking angry as they did.

He continued to look around, discreetly, and made eye contact with Pete, who nodded shortly at him and then looked back down. Brendon had just looked forward again when Goyle frowned and squinted at a spot behind Brendon.

"What do you want?" He snapped.

"I just thought you'd like to know that Pete Wentz in back in school." Pete's voice came from behind him. Brendon smirked and reached into his pocket, squeezing his wand.

"Wh-" Goyle was cut off by Patrick's shout of 'Stupefy', his spell hitting the Death Eater on the right. There was an shout of outrage, as well as screams from other students, and then Brendon whipped out his own wand and aimed another stunning spell at the other Death Eater. The second man also fell to the floor, and just as Goyle held is wand out to where Brendon knew Pete had been standing, a Scottish voice shouted, "Expelliarmus." And Goyle's wand flew out of his hand.

"Do not touch these boys." Professor McGonagall snapped loudly, and Professor Longbottom, as well as another couple of teachers ran out to the Entrance Hall. The sound of spells being cast met Brendon's ears, and all he could assume was that they were getting rid of the other Death Eaters.

Goyle glared lividly around the room, then ripping back his right sleeve to reveal a dark tattoo, an image of a snake prominent against something else.

"I'll summon him." He threatened, fat hand hovering over the mark. "I'll summon him right now."

"Goyle-"

"Go for it." Pete said smugly. "Go on."

There were hushed cries of, "Pete!" From various students, but he ignored them in favour of staring down Goyle. And with that, the older man pressed a forefinger to the mark, wincing slightly as the snake slithered a bit further up his arm.

"Stupefy!" Professor McGonagall cried once again, her spell only missing the man as he ducked quickly, then stumbling forward and, twisting on the spot, disappeared.

The room was then filled with the shouts of other students, many yelling to the eight boys who had been missing for half the year, others talking about the fact that their headteacher had just run away. But some, possibly the more astute of the students, asked about who exactly Goyle had just called to the castle.

"All of you!" Professor McGonagall shouted over the chatter. "Be quiet, now! Professor Grohl will escort you all to the carriages shortly. We need to get you all out as soon as possible. We'll take you to Hogsmeade. I don't want any of you left here, is that understood."

"But Professor-"

"You need us to stay-

"What if another battle happens-"

"If you're over the age of seventeen, you may stay." A male voice interrupted. Professor Longbottom stepped back into the room, his wand held tightly in his hand.
Brendon heard a few cries of,

"Yes!" Coming from some of the people who had been in the Room of Requirement, and a few groans of defeat.

"And, Professor? The carriages are ready and waiting for the students. Get them out as soon as possible." He directed at Professor Grohl, who nodded and began to escort the students out.

"I've called together the Order." Professor Longbottom walked towards McGonagall, who nodded and sighed.

"I suppose I always thought we were done." She said quietly.

"So did I." Longbottom shook his head and looked at the eight boys who had managed to cause more trouble than there had been all year in less than an hour. "I guess you came through the Hog's Head?"

Brendon nodded quickly. "But we were in the Leaky Cauldron first."

"So you met Hannah!" He said enthusiastically.

"Neville." Professor McGonagall said sharply. "Are you sure about what you're doing?" She looked between the eight of them, mismatched with a couple of fifteen year olds with them, dirty and tired, and seemingly without answers.

"We... More or less-" Patrick began.

"More or less?" She repeated incredulously. "Do you realise how dangerous this is? You could all die."

"We have an idea, Professor." Pete cut in calmly. "We just need a bit of help.

Professor McGonagall sighed slightly before nodding. "What do you boys need us to do?"

"We just need a place to hide. To discuss things for a bit. And for you to hold him off until we're ready."

"You're really sure about this?" Professor Longbottom looked at them, appearing almost proud.

"As sure as we can be." Kellin nodded, looking self assured.

"Come on, then." Professor McGonagall said, gesturing for them to move quickly. "This way."
____
"In here." McGonagall ordered, pushing the teenagers through the portrait hole of the Gryffindor common room. Ryan stumbled slightly as he went over the high step, almost having forgotten about it in his absence from Hogwarts. Although he was in Hufflepuff, he'd visited Brendon enough times that he was given regular updates on the passwords, and the Fat Lady had stopped denying him access to the common room.

"We'll try and hold him off for as long as possible." Professor Longbottom assured the boys. "The rest of the Order should be here soon. Don't worry about a thing." He offered the boys a small smile and turned around again, walking away with his wand aloft.

"Good luck, boys." Professor McGonagall said sincerely, then also turning away, swinging the portrait shut behind her.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Vic sighed, sitting down carefully on one of the armchairs near the fireplace. Kellin quickly followed suit, sitting on the arm of his boyfriend's chair and looking down at him. Ryan sunk into the nearest sofa, watching as his friends did the same.

"Shit, I'm scared." Pete said, scrubbing a hand over his face wearily.

"I mean, we don't know what we're doing. We literally just know we're meant to do something." Brendon added. Ryan nodded and looked over to his boyfriend. Just like the others, Ryan was scared. More than that, he was terrified. Never, in all his life, had he thought that he'd need to take on an evil wizard. Until five years ago he hadn't even believed that wizards existed at all. But he was sure that they had no chance of surviving this. The prophecy hadn't guaranteed them victory. They could very easily be the ones to die. 'With that power the impossible may be achieved' not 'will be achieved'. He could die tonight. They could all die tonight.

"We need to... Think this through." Patrick said, not letting his own fear show. "The prophecy said 'they will have power the King of Evil knows not'... Any ideas?"

"No." Jack said bluntly. "I mean, the oldest person here is seventeen. What the Hell do we know that a forty year old evil maniac doesn't?"

"Nothing, that's what." Kellin said bitterly. "We should have stayed in hiding."

"And let the rest of the world suffer when we know we're meant to do something about it? When we know we can get rid of this guy?" Pete shook his head at Kellin. "Some Gryffindor."

"Look, I think we're all frightened-"

"But you don't see the rest of us taking the coward's way out-"

"Stop arguing!" Ryan cut in, getting agitated. "There's no point. We're wasting time. We need to figure out what we're doing. We don't have long."

Patrick almost smiled encouragingly before turning back to face the rest of the group. "Maybe we don't know what this power is. But we do have it, that's for certain. So we just need to..."

"Hope for the best?" Vic suggested.

"Well, I'm sure there's a better way we can-" Patrick got cut off by a large, explosive sound, filling their ears although sounding far away.

"Is there another battle?" Alex whispered.

"It seems that way." Pete responded as yet another explosion went off.

"We need to do something." Brendon said, ghostly pale but looking determined.

"Going out there would be ridiculous." Vic argued. "The whole point of this stupid battle is so we have enough time to figure out what we're doing. If we just go out there, we might as well have just waited for him to come in the Great Hall."

"We still aren't anywhere near figuring out what to do!" Patrick exclaimed, sounding frustrated.

"Do you think we should just, you know, duel him?" Jack suggested.

"Are you prepared to use Unforgivables, Jack?" Ryan asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because I'm not. And that's the only way we'd be able to kill him."

"I don't know. I just don't know." Alex sighed and raked a hand through his dirty hair.

"And what's this stuff about 'achieving the impossible’?" Kellin posed. "I don't get it. What 'impossible' thing are we achieving?"

"It could be anything." Patrick responded, shaking his head. "I don't really know."

Yet another explosion went off, this time shaking the walls of the common room. Ryan jumped slightly, before reaching a hand into his trouser pocket and pulling out his wand. He could hear shouts from the people outside, cries of pain, or despair, or the screams of spells being shot in different directions.

Ryan was almost glad that he didn't have to be out there. At least, for now, he was safe.

"How long do you reckon he's gonna take to get here?" Pete asked into the empty silence of the room.

"You Know Who?" Patrick looked up at Pete, who nodded tiredly. The blonde simply shrugged and looked back down at his wand, twirling the stick in his hands glumly.

"Professor Longbottom said they'd hold him off for as long as possible, so..." Vic trailed off, tugging on a long lock of hair and biting his lip.

"Is there even any point?" Alex asked bitterly. Alex, who had always been so optimistic, even from the beginning. "I mean, we're probably gonna end up dying anyway."

"So you've just given up?" Ryan demanded angrily. "We can't come up with something in ten minutes and you decide that we're doomed? Maybe we just need to be positive. Half the time Harry Potter didn't know what he was doing, but he figured it out eventually, and he won. Just like we're going to." Ryan finished and glared around the room, crossing his arms. Alex stared at him in shock for a moment, before looking down and turning his body to face Jack's.

"Maybe it's something to do with the fact that there's four muggleborns and four purebloods." Patrick started slowly. Ryan looked back up at him, just as the other six boys did, curious and hopeful.

"What do you mean?" Kellin urged.

"Well, there must be a reason it had to be four of each right? Maybe that's got something to do with this power we have. We know he hates muggleborns, and four of them are going to be the ones to defeat him. Maybe it's like, because four purebloods are going out with four muggleborns... It might be, like, the power of acceptance." Patrick's cheeks burned red slightly as he was watched by his friends.

"That makes so much sense, Patrick." Pete grinned down at his boyfriend and nodded happily, ignoring the screams just outside the walls they were protected by.

"It... Does..." Ryan spoke slowly, deliberately. It did make sense, that much was clear. But what use that was to them... "But that doesn't explain how we defeat him. Just how..."

"Yeah, I guess." Patrick slumped slightly in defeat, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses.

"But how are we supposed to know?" Kellin asked, looking desperate. "We haven't been told anything, we haven't had any help-"

The dark haired boy was cut off by a deafening explosion that almost knocked Ryan off his seat. He threw his arms over his head in an attempt to protect himself, feeling rubble and dust settle over his head.

"So this is what is supposed to defeat me." A slick voice sounded. Ryan blinked rapidly and lifted his head, almost gasping as he saw the man in front of him.

Tall and lean, with dark skin and black eyes. The man would have been attractive, even Ryan would admit, if it weren't for the cold look and the lack of light about him. In his soul, his mind, and of course his eyes. The man laughed as Pete whipped out his wand, flicking his own once and watching as the teenager's snapped in his hand.

"This might even be easier than I expected." Roidumal smirked and raised his wand again, flicking it so that Ryan's own wand flew out of its owner's hand and snapped in the air, the crack even louder than the battle happening outside. He then raised his wand again, taking aim at different members of the group.

"You've caused me a bit of trouble... But no matter, I'll soon be rid of you." He settled on Patrick, smirking as the blonde boy paled, eyes darting around the room for some sort of weapon.

"Avada Kedavra!" He yelled, his green jet of light flying straight towards the teenager.

Ryan winced and closed his eyes, tears already threatening to leak out of them.

"Pete!" Patrick's voice screamed, and Ryan's eyes flew open again as he saw Patrick fall to the floor, a limp Pete lying at his knees.

"He just... Jumped in front of him..." Brendon swallowed loudly and watched as Patrick cradled Pete, tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Pity." Roidumal shrugged. "I would have asked Peter to join me. Looks like I'll have to get the mudblood next." Ryan stared at the man, almost as if transfixed by him, unable to do anything but watch. "I could leave the rest of you to live but... Where's the fun in that?"

He took aim at Patrick once again, a small smirk playing on his lips as his mouth formed the words, "Avada Kedavra."

The green jet of light, once again, flew out of his wand, aimed straight for Patrick, who seemed either not to notice, or not to care anymore. The spell reached him, and Ryan braced himself to watch another one of his best friends fall to the floor.

But it didn't happen.

Instead, the spell flew back off Patrick and hit the opposite wall, cracking a mirror and completely destroying the notice board. Patrick looked up, eyes rimmed red but displaying confusion.

Roidumal too, frowned and looked down at his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!" He yelled again, his wand aimed at Patrick again. And once more, nothing happened to the blonde boy.

But something did to Alex. Ryan's jaw fell open as Alex tumbled to the floor, creating a low thud as his body hit the carpet.

"Alex?" Jack cried, falling down, close to where Patrick was still sitting with Pete's body, and tapping Alex gently.

"Alex, please wake up." He whispered softly.

"What's going in?" Roidumal shrieked. "What are you doing? How are you doing this?" He demanded, glaring at the remaining boys.

And then Kellin dropped to the floor, his body crumpling slightly on impact.

"Is he dead too?" Roidumal cried angrily as Vic threw himself to the floor, shaking Kellin's lifeless body.

"Brendon, don't you dare..." Ryan begged, looking at his boyfriend pleadingly.

"I... I don't know what's going on..." Brendon muttered, and, just on cue, his own eyes fell closed and his knees buckled beneath him, his body falling to the floor.

"Brendon..." Ryan said quietly, tears pooling in his eyes and he fell to his knees, stroking Brendon's cheek slightly as his tears splashed onto the other boy.

"Well, then," Roidumal started, sounding peeved more than anything else. Ryan looked up, having almost forgotten that the evil man was there. "I suppose this makes my job considerably easier."

Ryan looked over to Vic, who shook his head sadly and muttered, "It's over." Before reaching out a hand to Ryan. The fifteen year old took the older boy's hand and clasped tightly, watching as Vic held out his other hand to Jack, who took it and offered his hand to Patrick.

The eldest boy smiled gratefully and took the hand, dabbing at his eyes and then glaring up at Roidumal.

"Sweet." Roidumal said with a smirk. "Avada Kedavra!" He said delightedly, aiming at Ryan, who braced himself for impact, knowing that the Killing Curse was meant to be painless, but still expecting the worst. What he didn't expect was a deafening roar, a loud scream of fury and a bright, golden light, forcing him to close his eyes as the entire room was blocked off.

Ryan kept tight hold of Vic's hand the entire time, afraid that if he let go he would end up dying. Unless he was already dead, and the others were all with him. Maybe that was it. Maybe he has died.

Ryan tentatively opened his eyes, looking around to see an almost completely destroyed common room, but otherwise appearing normal. Perhaps he had come back as a ghost.

But he was still holding Vic's hand. Ghosts couldn't do that, could they? And he wasn't translucent.

"Vic?" Ryan mumbled. The other teenager snapped his head up, looking at Ryan with shock and confusion.

"We aren't dead."

"But he is!" Jack yelped, stumbling forward to look at the body lying on the floor, underneath rubbled and broken wood. Jack pulled him out to reveal Roidumal lying, eyes closed, on the floor.

"He isn't breathing... And he doesn't have a pulse." Jack announced, looking at the other boys with wide eyes. "I think he's dead."

"Just like these guys are." Patrick said, looking down at Pete and clutching his limp hand. "Why'd you have to go and leave me?"

"Who left you, Trick?" A voice groaned out, then coughing slightly.

"Pete?!"

"Didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?" Pete laughed slightly before wincing and slowly pushing himself off the floor.

"Pete!" Patrick cried, throwing his arms around his boyfriend.

"Don't I get a hug?" Ryan spun around to see Kellin holding his arms up, gesturing for Vic to hug him, which the other boy quickly obliged to.

Ryan wandered back to where Brendon was lying, waiting for the other boy to wake up.

"B-den?" He muttered quietly.

"Yeah, Ry?" Brendon's eyes fluttered open and he grinned carefully up at his boyfriend.

"We did it. We won." Ryan looked up to see that Alex too had woken up and was hugging his boyfriend.

"That must have been the impossible thing." Patrick said. "Reanimation."

"So... We came back to life and... We defeated You Know Who?" Alex clarified.

"I think we can say his name now." Pete said, a large grin falling onto his face. "We got him. Roidumal. We got him."

____

*Two days later*

"... All down to these eight boys." Kingsley said proudly. They were up in Hogsmeade, a large crowd of people standing below the stage, still cheering for the teenagers. It was surreal, to think that they had actually managed to defeat him. They had all been so certain that they would die, or that he simply wouldn't due, that they still didn't quite believe it.

Mr and Mrs Wentz, however, weren't smiling along with the rest of the wizarding world. Quite the opposite, actually. Mrs. Wentz's lips were pursed, while her husband frowned up at his son, as though he was disappointed.

Pete scanned his eyes over the crowd and settled on his parents, grimacing at the sight of them looking so unhappy. From the beginning, they had supported Roidumal, and were simply lucky that they hadn't joined the Death Eaters. Otherwise, they would have been put into Azkaban as well as all the others.
Gabe and William waved happily to their friends up on stage. William had a large gash across the side of his face that had quickly scarred over with the help of the St. Mungo’s Healers. Pete continued to look around the crowd, the majority of the people who had helped to fight, that had worked to protect them, risking their own lives. The Potters and Weasleys had also returned, and Pete smiled when he saw Scorpius standing between Rose Weasley and Albus Potter. But ever so slightly turning his body to speak to the ginger girl.

Pete took a small step to his right, where Patrick was standing, and slipped an arm around his waist. Patrick looked up and smiled at Pete, who returned the gesture before looking back up at his parents. Not many people had noticed what the two boys were doing, and most who did simply cooed slightly before turning back to Kingsley Shacklebolt, who immediately had been appointed back into office when Roidumal was declared dead. Mr and Mrs Wentz, however, shook their heads at their son and turned away, starting to walk from their failure of a child, who had defeated the most evil wizard in almost three decades, and was now going out with a muggleborn boy.

"You okay?" Patrick whispered, watching Pete's parents disapparate swiftly.

Pete shrugged. "I really don't care." He said truthfully. Patrick smiled up at him and squeezed his shoulder tightly. But the truth was, Pete really didn’t care. He was sick of trying to meet his parents’ expectations, pretending to be something he wasn’t so he didn’t disappoint them. He was glad to be free of that.

"And now, boys," Kingsley continued. "There are three people who would like to meet you."

Pete peered around in an attempt to see who it was. He could see three silhouettes walking up the steps to the stage, two men and a woman. He could tell that the first man wore glasses, and that the second had a mass of ginger hair...

"Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Weasley." Kingsley announced proudly, as the three adults smiled at the boys.

"Perhaps you'd like to go and speak for a while."

Harry nodded and spun around again, followed by Ron and Hermione, and then Brendon led the rest of the group in the same direction.

____

"You boys are extremely brave." Harry started. They were sitting in the Hog's Head, Abeforth having been a close friend of his for years now. "I couldn't have done what you did, not a fifteen." He directed to Brendon and Ryan. "It's one thing to end up meeting someone who wants to kill you. It's another going to find them."

"We want to thank you," Hermione input. "You could have run. You could have hidden. But instead you faced it. You ended a war."

Patrick nodded and subconsciously rubbed over his wrist. His scars didn't hurt anymore, but they were never fading, he knew that for certain.

Hermione frowned down at him. "What's the matter?" She whispered as Ron began to speak to the rest of the group.

"Oh, I just..." Patrick trailed off. He was sure that he could show the woman, another muggleborn, his scars. So he pulled back his sleeve to show her the harsh word carved into his skin, tears pricking his eyes as he looked at the inflamed skin.

"Here." She said softly, pulling back her own sleeve to show similar scars, slightly fainter, but not by much. "We match." She laughed slightly and rolled her sleeve back down.

Patrick laughed as well and rolled his own sleeve down, feeling Pete take his hand under the table. Brendon had his head resting on Ryan's shoulder as he listened intently to what Harry had started saying.

Vic and Kellin were squished together in one seat, Vic half on his boyfriend's lap as Kellin fiddled with the other boy's hair.

Jack and Alex were also pressed close to each other, but both were leaning forward and staring in awe as Harry Potter spoke to them.

Patrick smiled and turned back to face Harry. For the first time in four years, he felt truly safe.

Epilogue

Pete and Patrick

Patrick looked up as the front door was pushed open, pushing away from his desk to see Pete enter the house, looking tired but satisfied.

"Honey, I'm home." Pete said cheerfully, grinning as Patrick rolled his eyes and stood up to greet him.

"Did you catch all the bad guys?" Patrick murmured, pulling Pete into a hug and pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

Pete nodded happily. "What did you do?"

"The new charm still isn't working," Patrick huffed. "And I need it done by the end of next month-"

"You'll be fine, Patrick." Pete rolled his eyes and began to make his way to the living room, dragging Patrick behind him. "You always finish them."

"Hmm." Patrick hummed and sat down next to Pete on the sofa. "And we're having a fundraiser-"

"For SPEW?" Pete asked.

"No." Patrick said stiffly. "For S. P. E. W." He rolled his eyes.

"I don't get it," Pete began. "Houselves like work. If they didn't, I'd get it, and I'd totally help with all your fundraisers and whatever-"

"Let's not start this now." Patrick said firmly. "Scorpius and Rose wrote today. They want us for dinner on Saturday."

"Reckon Rose is finally gonna tell us she's pregnant?" Pete laughed. Patrick smiled and nestled into Pete's side.

"I love you." He mumbled, feeling Pete slip an arm around his waist and pull him closer.

"I love you too."
____

Kellin and Vic

Vic pushed the, front door open and stepped into house, shaking snow from his hair and jacket.

"Kellin?" He called out. "I got that self correcting ink you need so desperately- oh. Hey." Vic looked down to see a skinny, black cat curling around his ankles.

"Kellin?" He said uncertainly. The cat simply rubbed its head on his leg, and so Vic shrugged and bent down to pick it up. "Why're you a cat, hm?" He posed, stroking the soft black fur. "Weren't you writing some important report on the next Triwizard Tournament?"

"Vic?" A voice called from upstairs, followed by footsteps. Vic frowned, looking down at the cat he was holding before taking out his wand. "You got it? Oh thank God, I need this on her desk by six- where did you get that cat?"

Kellin frowned down at the animal before looking up at Vic curiously.

"I thought it was you... It was in the house when I got here." Vic answered.

"Can we keep it? Please, Vic?" Kellin begged, looking into the cat's amber eyes.

Vic hugged the animal closer to himself and nodded. "Sure, if you want."

"Yay!" Kellin pressed a swift kiss to his lips before whipping the bag out of his hand. "Thank you for the ink! I love you!"

Vic rolled his eyes and began to make his way to the kitchen, still cradling the cat. "Yeah, I love you too."
____

Brendon and Ryan

"Knock, knock." Ryan pushed open the classroom door to reveal Brendon still sitting at his desk, a quill in his hand and a pile of essays sitting in front of him.

Brendon looked up to see Ryan and grinned, gesturing for the other man to go forward.

"How's the class going?" Ryan asked once he was close enough.

"The third years are so thorough in their research!" Brendon exclaimed happily. "I already want some of them to take NEWT... Did you know that muggles have this thing that they can carry music on? It's called an iPod-"

"I know, Bren." Ryan rolled his eyes. "I am muggleborn. I have an iPod."

"Oh yeah." Brendon flushed slightly before nodding. "How's the shop?"

"It's good. The regulars miss you though." Ryan grinned.

"I'm only a carriage ride away." Brendon said with a smile, standing up and kissing Ryan softly.

"I love you, Brendon." Ryan muttered.

"And I love you, Ryan Ross." Brendon grinned and kissed Ryan once more.
____

Alex and Jack

"Alex, you're back!" Jack yelled, leaping up to hug the man who had been in Egypt for a month.

Sometimes, Alex being a Cursebreaker really sucked.

"I missed you." Alex said truthfully, hugging Jack back.

"I spent all my time moping with Ryan in the shop because you weren't here." Jack continued. "You tanned." He pointed out.

"That happens, when you're in forty degree heat." Alex joked, but he then pressed a lingering kiss to Jack's lips.

"Yeah, whatever." Jack rolled his eyes. "We're going to Scorpius and Rose's on Saturday, so she'll finally admit she's pregnant..."

"Why does she bother trying to hide it?" Alex rolled her eyes.

Jack shrugged. "No idea."

"Mm. I love you." Alex murmured into Jack's ear.

"Yeah, I love you too, you loser."

And the eight of them, once teenagers in a world torn apart by war, finally got the lives, the simple, almost carefree, normal lives they so deserved. From being the ones that people needed to save their lives to being the one grading their papers.

Nobody bothered them anymore. There were no insults thrown at the muggleborns (anywhere, for that matter, as people had just stopped caring after yet another war caused by blood status divisions) and people had even stopped approaching them in the streets. Of course, there was the occasional shout of, "Isn't that Vic Fuentes?" but all in all, they could continue to go about their somewhat ordinary lives.

Of course, Pete still received the occasional Howler from his mother, but those were easily ignored. And Patrick's mother still insisted on sending the couple Argyll sweaters for Christmas. Ryan's parents still didn't quite understand that their son was a wizard so much as a magician, and Brendon's still didn't appreciate being asked to do card tricks. Vic's brother was still demanding a chance to use the older man's wand (and still being refused) while Kailey kept up plans for her brother's non-existent wedding. And Jack's father still wanted his son to become a doctor (be it muggle or wizard) whilst Alex's parents were sure that he'd prefer a job in the Ministry, preferably behind a desk.

But: all was well.