Rise of the Death Eaters [3]

Chapter 57: Safe, not Sound

"They're called the Order of the Phoenix," Hermione explained softly. It was the middle of the night, following the fight in the department of mysteries. All of the students found after the fight were sent directly back to Hogwarts by a few members of this Order. They were then placed into Madam Pomphrey's exceptional care, upon whom she gave nothing but the strictest rules of what we as her patients were to do.

Nothing.

Meaning, that when Sam was trying her best to get out of the bed assigned to her, demanding to know what my father could possibly do to my brother, Pomphrey wrote Sam off as experiencing delirium and quickly knocked her out with a very strong sleeping potion.

The fumes of which could make anyone drowsy.

Everyone else took Sam's experience as understanding enough not to test Madam Pomphrey further. So in the end, everyone waited patiently for their appropriate care and did not argue when she decided that none of us were to leave the hospital wing until the following morning.

We all really didn't need to take up all her beds for the night, seeing as even my sprain wasn't worth a full night's supervision. But I was grateful for an excuse to not walk into Slytherin common room. Especially now knowing just how many children amongst my house are related to the death eaters we fought hours prior.

"And they work for Dumbledore?" I asked in a similar whisper, turning to look at Hermione. She was tucked into the bed next to me and had been out cold throughout most of the fight. But when Pomphrey attended to her, she was able to counter the curse that had depressed Hermione's breathing, making her wake up right as the rest of us were catering off to sleep.

But I couldn't sleep, and I had no wish to either. So I waited it out as Pomphrey did her last rounds before turning to Hermione who had just as many questions as I did.

"Not necessarily, though they do listen a great deal to him," Hermione explained readily. "Their headquarters had been Sirius's house for the longest time. Now that he's dead-"

"You probably shouldn't be telling me this, Hermione." I saw Hermione turn to face me out of the corner of my eye as I purposefully looked away and curled further into the lush blankets around me.

"Don't make the mistake of blaming yourself for your father's actions," Hermione warned, cutting right to the point. I refused to look at her but I managed to gulp down the growing fear anyway.

"That doesn't mean I might still be of use to my father in the future," I replied steadily. Hermione didn't respond right away which hurt more than I had realized. I had hoped she would have denied it right away. Instead she sighed.

"Perhaps, but that shouldn't cause any of us to exile you. You want to help, and that's what's important."

"Hermione, if you have seen the way my father manipulated my brother and I earlier. The way he got my brother to go after him, and me... he knows how close my siblings and I are to one another. If he's managed to use one of us to follow in him, others may follow..."

"You wouldn't join the death eaters, Ava-"

"No, of course not! But that doesn't mean I won't protect my brother if the need arises either," I confided, turning finally to look back at Hermione. She was looking at me with pity but there was nothing negative about it.

"As you should," she agreed without hesitancy.

There was a pause where the room was just filled with the sounds of deep breathing form heavy sleepers and rustling sheets. But then Hermione went on.

"You really had no idea about your father?"

I slowly shook my head, feeling stupid for admitting to that much.