B.Q Book Four: The Black Queen's War

Chapter 18: Wicked Proficiency

"I didn't expect to find you up here."

Dora shrugged and waved the newcomer closer, and Jen leaned against the wall of the North Tower next to her. "Back when I was in school," she said once she was back in a comfortable slump, "I liked coming up here whenever I wanted to be by myself and think. Not a lot of privacy to do that in the Hufflepuff dorms. Drama with friends, drama with boys, drama from being caught in the buff with boys by Professor Sprout… again; anything and everything that was gnawing away at me." She looked up at the sky, and as they normally did her eyes located Orion. From there it was simple to find her old friends Perseus and Cetus. For the last couple of years she had also sought out two other constellations in particular: Canis Major, within it the brightest star in the sky, Sirius; and Andromeda, currently only partly visible.

It was amazing sometimes what a better relationship with her family she had developed ever since her baby cousin came into their lives.

"Explains how good the warming charm is, I suppose. I would have thought it too household-y for you to be capable of."

"Hush, you."

Jen snickered before nudging her with a shoulder. "So what kind of drama did you come out here to think about tonight?"

"What do you think? The war."

Her cousin fell silent, and after a moment she reached over to pull the younger girl into a hug. Partly comfort, partly solidarity, and partly to remind herself that her family was still all here. It was more than could be said for most, including several of her fellow Aurors. The Death Eaters had been clever about that. Since they had control of the Ministry building and therefore the Floo Network Authority and all the records inside that office, they were able to track down the addresses of all active DMLE employees and even those who were inactive but still listed. Most people had been quick enough to warn their immediate loved ones and get them to safety, but several had not thought about the more distant cousins or siblings or grandparents who were listed among their emergency contacts until it was too late. Those disappearances and almost certain deaths had been quiet, no Dark Mark floating above the house nor strange cloaked wizards appearing in front of the house before bringing it down on top of its occupants. Few people knew about those killings.

Worse, fewer and fewer cared.

Dora was not as close to her aunt Narcissa as Jen was, nor was she as trusting considering the older witch's continued prejudice towards her dad, so she understood why Sirius had said that the Order did not trust Narcissa's predictions about what would happen now that Voldemort had taken over the country. Unfortunately for everyone standing against him, she was right. Things were settling down, and with the immediate and obvious danger now past, the average witches on the street did not want to start things up again. If they opposed the new regime, they and their families would die. If they supported it, or at least did not stand against it? Everything would be fine.

"I expected things to be bad, but are they worse even than that?" Jen asked with a frown.

"It's pretty bad," she confirmed. "We're limited in who and where we can attack, for one. A bunch of the Death Eaters are running the show at the Ministry, but we can't attack them there because not only will we need it afterwards, there are always too many innocent people around too. We've hit a couple of Voldemort's training camps, but those are pretty much all we know about. The Dark creatures he has with him are easier targets from a public acceptance perspective, but finding them has been almost impossible."