Chrys' exhaustion finally hit her when they arrived at the platform. She sleepily held Mattheo's hand, vaguely aware of Severus' placed on her back for support.
"You can sleep when you get to your compartment, Mattheo will talk to the others," Severus said softly, helping the small witch onto the train.
She hummed and tiredly hugged the Potion Master's waist, "M'kay, see you at home." she murmured, "Love you."
Severus' expression softened as he returned the gesture and kissed her head, "I love you too, Chrys. Sleep well. Make sure she gets sufficient rest." he added to Mattheo. The boy nodded and carefully guided Chrys into the train.
Severus stepped back and watched for a moment before a silvery phoenix flew around him. He recognized it as Dumbledore's Patronus but noticed it didn't radiate the familiar warmth and comfort that was associated with the charm. He suspected it wasn't a real Patronus, but an imitation to keep up with Dumbledore's heroic and genial persona. Once the phoenix felt acknowledged, it paused in front of the Potions master.
"Severus, my dear boy, I would like it if you would come to my office for a quick meeting before you leave for the holidays." The old coot's voice emitted from the silver spectre, only proving to sour Severus' mood.
He sighed, "Very well. Tell him I'll be there momentarily."
The phoenix made a trill, a mocking imitation of the legendary bird's soothing song, before flying away. Severus heaved another sigh before leaving the platform.
Meanwhile, Mattheo was sliding open the door to a cabin. Inside was Bill, Charlie, Nymphadora, Ophelia, Alex, Kai, Marcus, and Abraxus. All of them turned sharply, looking anxious. Charlie stood swiftly and picked up the sleepy witch as Abraxus piped up anxiously, "Is she ok?"
"She's fine." Mattheo sighed, closing the door and locking it as Ophelia cast a Muffilato. "She's just tired, her panic attack took a lot of energy."
"That's to be expected." Bill mused, conjuring a plush beanbag chair that Charlie carefully placed Chrys onto. Nymphadora covered her with a conjured blanket before Mortifer and Noxus joined their mistress, cuddling her protectively.
"Do you know what happened to cause it?" Charlie asked softly, he kept casting worried glances toward the sleeping ginger.
Mattheo ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "This doesn't leave the compartment. The less aware we seem, the safer Chrys and Hadrian are." his tone was sharp, crimson eyes flashing seriously at the other occupants of the compartment.
"I won't breathe a word, Chrys has become a little sister to me." Ophelia stated, Nymphadora nodded, a rare expression of seriousness on her face, "Ditto, anyone that plans to hurt Chrys is in for a world of hurt."
The boys agreed with them. Mattheo relaxed at their words and began relaying what had happened. Though he kept out the information of the Founders and Chrys and Hadrian's status as Horcruxes. He made it seem like Lady Hogwarts was protecting one of her heirs by showing her Dumbledore's plots.
By the time Mattheo had finished speaking, Bill and Charlie were trembling with rage. How could their mother even think about drugging a child? Even going as far as to plan when Percy should rape her! The sooner they could get away from that foul woman the better, and if their father didn't shape up, they'd take Fred and George with them. As far as they were concerned, the other three were just as much a lost cause as their mother.
Nymphadora and the others were just as furious, her hair was a blazing red and she kept muttering curses under her breath as she paced through the expanded compartment. Ophelia, Alex, Kai and Marcus, were discussing curses while Abraxus was fidgeting, no doubt itching to tell his parents so they could set up preventative precautions.
