In the Shadow of Seventh year

Chapter 22: A Bitter Break

"Is there any way to find out where your mother is Ominis? Or maybe where your parents are Poppy?" Sebastian asked from his spot leaning against the wall in the Room of Requirement. His arms and ankles were crossed and there was a pensive look on his face.
   You, Natty, Poppy, Ominis and Sebastian were either sitting or standing in a semi-circle. It was the evening after the attack and the other three of your friend group had already gone home for the break. 
   Curfew had been pushed to the late hour of eleven, since there was no school now. After you all had dinner, you decided to gather in the Room to talk things through now that Poppy and Ominis were back and had been able to rest the whole day. 

Ominis shook his head, leaning back in the armchair he was sitting on. "My mother said she cut me off and those weren't empty words. I received a last letter of my father this morning where he formally disowned me and -thank Merlin- called off the engagement between me and Lucinda Carrow." 
   Poppy's relieved smile didn't go unnoticed by you. 
"So no, I have no more ties to them. Though I'm sure even if I did, my mother would make sure no one knew where she was or what she's planning. Especially since she's making deals with poachers. It's very much frowned upon in most of the elite Pureblood families."

"I've been trying to track my parents for months now." Poppy added. "Ominis helped me where he could, but we were unsuccessful. I'm willing to bet my savings that Mrs. Gaunt helped them erase their tracks and stay out of any side hustles." 
   Sebastian sighed. "This sucks." 
'Tell me about it.' You thought, sitting back on an armchair similar to the one Ominis occupied. At this point you had no confidence that you could stop the Golden Grounds, Mrs. Gaunt or MacMillan before they would get to the Repository. And even then, you wouldn't be strong enough to prevent them from taking it. 

"We should make sure we are prepared next time." Natty spoke up from the couch she was sharing with Poppy. "All of us have a talent for something, like making potions or using non-verbal spells. We should use our free time to train ourselves and each other to improve even more."
   You leaned forward, putting your elbows on your knees and resting your chin on your folded hands. "We were prepared now and it didn't help us in the slightest."

They all turned to you. 
   "We thought we were prepared, but we hadn't expected that many poachers." Natty argued. "And even then, we were completely caught off guard." 
   "They knew that." You pointed out. "They knew we would be caught off guard because none of us could've predicted that they would take Poppy's gran. Just like none of us knew it was all to test me. To test how much power I had gained." 
   The tension in the room was building. Natty was frowning at me and I could see Sebastian looking at me intently from the corner of my eye. 

"I guarantee they'll make sure to catch us off guard again next time." Your voice had risen in volume, but you didn't care. "And who knows when that'll be." You stood up from your seat and started pacing. 
   "Maybe we'll be lucky and it takes weeks, maybe even months, but maybe they'll do something to draw us out again in a couple of days, maybe even tomorrow!" Your hands were gesturing wildly and fear crawled up your spine when thinking of those possibilities. 
   "For all we know MacMillan is finally ready to get to the Repository and once he gets his hands on that, there will be no stopping him! Hogwarts will be destroyed and we will be buried under the rubble along with every other student and Professor. Merlin knows we aren't strong eno- " SLAP!

Your face turned from the force of the slap and your cheek stung. 
   Slowly turning back, your eyes widened as you looked down at Poppy standing in front of you with her hand still raised. Her expression angry.
   "Stop that!" She said. Her voice was low, but it had a dark tone that made you freeze. Behind her, Natty looked surprised and Ominis a little shocked. You couldn't see Sebastian's reaction, but it probably was something similar.