Chapter 20
Harry Potter had been scarce all week, caught up in a whirlwind of meetings and correspondence. He had taken on the daunting task of reassembling the Order of the Phoenix, pulling old friends and unlikely allies into the fold to face the ominous threat looming over them. Grimmauld Place bustled with activity, voices echoing through its dimly lit halls, and Hermione Granger found herself momentarily sequestered in a quiet room with Alina.
Hermione leaned against the worn table, her expression caught between nostalgia and urgency. “The Order of the Phoenix,” she began, “is a secret organization. It was originally formed during the first war against Voldemort by Dumbledore himself. We fought to protect people—both magical and Muggle—and to resist him at every turn.”
Alina sat on the edge of her chair, her eyes wide. “So... like a secret society?”
“More or less,” Hermione said, offering a small smile. “It’s dangerous work, though. The kind that requires trust, resilience, and a fair bit of bravery.”
Alina nodded thoughtfully, her hands resting in her lap. Over the last hour, more and more people had arrived, the once-quiet house now filled with voices and movement.
The room’s door creaked open briefly as Neville Longbottom stepped inside, his warm smile immediately putting Alina at ease. He extended a hand. “Neville Longbottom. It’s nice to meet you, Alina.”
Her grip was hesitant but firm. “You too.”
They fell into an easy conversation about herbology, with Neville’s enthusiasm bubbling over as he explained rare plants and their uses. Alina surprised herself by genuinely enjoying the topic, asking questions that made Neville brighten even further.
Meanwhile, Theodore Nott lingered at the far end of the room next to Pansy, keeping his distance. Alina noticed him but avoided saying anything, the tension between them almost palpable. Draco, seated not far from his mother, exchanged glances with Alina and gave a slight shrug, clearly aware of Theo’s avoidance.
Across the room, Narcissa had somehow managed to win over the skeptical Molly Weasley, who nodded along as Narcissa spoke in her usual regal but measured tone. Draco couldn’t help but notice the transformation. His mother’s ability to navigate even the trickiest social situations was as sharp as ever.
Ron sat near the hearth, glancing at the door every so often. His wife, Daphne, was due to give birth at any moment and hadn’t joined him. George, however, sat alone in a corner, his sharp eyes taking in every detail of the room without a word.
The hum of conversation dropped suddenly when Aberforth Dumbledore entered the room, his weathered face as gruff as ever. Every eye turned to him when Ali stood abruptly, crossing the room with an eagerness that startled everyone.
“Aberforth!” she exclaimed, her voice breaking the stunned silence.
Aberforth’s bushy brows shot up, and he grumbled, “Not so loud, girl.” But he didn’t pull away as Alina threw her arms around him. Instead, he patted her back gruffly, his tone softening. “Thought I told you to stay out of this nonsense."
"Well I did. For a little while, anyway.”
The room erupted into murmurs, the familiarity between Alina and Aberforth leaving most of them baffled.
“You two know each other?” Theo finally asked, voicing what everyone was thinking.
Alina stepped back, her cheeks flushed. “Aberforth helped me... back then. When I ran from Hogwarts I ended up in this little village. He found me and helped me get away from there.”
Aberforth cleared his throat, his sharp blue eyes sweeping over the room. “She was in trouble. Didn’t sit right with me, leaving her there. That place had gone rotten.”
Alina glanced at Aberforth, who gave a subtle nod.
Neville made a realization. “Ali is the girl you told me about! When you set up the tunnels, you said you knew how to get the younger lot out because you'd already done it! ”
Aberforth grunted. “Wasn’t about to let them destroy what little good was left. And this one,” he said, nodding toward Alina, “was smart enough to run.”
The low murmur of conversation silenced instantly when Harry stepped into the center. His green eyes swept the room, lingering momentarily on the familiar faces of old comrades and the new recruits alike. The weight of leadership was visible in the set of his jaw, and he took a deep breath before speaking.
“Thank you all for being here,” Harry began, his voice steady but grim. “We’re facing a threat unlike anything we’ve dealt with before. It’s not just about targeting Muggle-borns or half-bloods—they’re going after children, and they’re doing it before they even have a chance to step foot in Hogwarts.”
The room erupted into gasps and murmurs, but Harry raised a hand to quiet them.
Draco leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, but his expression was anything but aloof. “I recognized one of them,” he interjected, his voice cutting through the growing whispers.
All eyes turned to him.
“During our... stay,” Draco said carefully, glancing briefly at Hermione, “He used Legilimency on me, one of the men. It's Dolohov. I’d know that mind anywhere.”
A ripple of unease passed through the room. Dolohov was a name that still carried the stench of Voldemort’s regime, a dark mark that lingered in everyone’s memories.
Harry nodded. “That confirms it, then. We’re dealing with either remnants or a resurgence of the Death Eaters—ones who’ve gone underground or hidden their allegiances well enough to evade prosecution after the war. But this isn’t just about revenge or ideology anymore. Oblviously someone new is calling the shots, we can't say for certain yet that it's Dolohov.”
Hermione stepped forward, her brow furrowed in concentration. “They’ve weaponized a bacteria,” she said, her voice heavy with disgust. “We call it Black Cat Flu, but it’s far worse than a simple illness. It’s engineered to target the magic within children before it fully manifests. For Muggle-borns, this means they don’t even get a chance to survive—there’s no magical intervention to save them.”
Gasps filled the room, and Narcissa Malfoy’s sharp intake of breath was audible even from the back.
“For wizarding children,” Hermione continued, her tone hardening, “the symptoms mimic a flu, but they eventually recover because of the magical intervention they receive at St. Mungo's. However, this is just the beginning. It’s a bioweapon, and it’s targeting the very foundation of our magical community.”
Neville, seated near the fireplace, frowned deeply. “But how are they finding these children before they even go to Hogwarts? The magical scroll should be protecting them, right?”
“That’s part of the problem,” Harry said, his voice tight with frustration. “The scroll at Hogwarts, which records the birth of every magical child, isn’t functioning as it should. For some reason, Muggle-born children aren’t showing up on the list anymore.”
“That’s why our next step is to meet with Headmistress McGonagall,” Hermione added. “We need to figure out what’s wrong with the scroll and why it’s failing to do its job. If we can fix it, we’ll have a better chance of finding these children and protecting them.”
Draco’s jaw tightened. “And if we can’t fix it?”
Hermione hesitated but met his gaze. “Then we’ll have to find another way. We can’t let them keep doing this.”
The silence in the room was heavy, the weight of the information settling on everyone like a thick fog.
Harry cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to him. “This is where the Order comes in. We’ll divide our efforts. Some of us will focus on investigating the bioweapon—finding out where it’s being made, who’s involved, and how to stop it. Others will work on protecting the children we know are at risk."
Draco glanced across the room, his eyes landing on Hermione. She gave him a small nod, a silent agreement forming between them. This was no longer just about survival. It was about stopping a new war before it could begin.
The meeting ended, and the sitting room grew quiet once again. The heavy air from their earlier discussion seemed to lift, but there was still a lingering tension. Draco, Hermione, Alina, Theo, George, and Harry had gathered around a large wooden table, the tension of the previous conversation softening, though not completely gone. Harry leaned over a parchment, his quill scratching out notes, while Ginny breezed into the room with a tray of drinks.
“Thought this might lighten the mood a bit,” she said, setting the tray down in the center of the table with a teasing grin.
“Bless you, Ginevra,” Theo said with a wink, grabbing a glass of what appeared to be a strong drink.
“Always good to have someone who knows what we need,” George added, his eyes glinting in appreciation as he picked up his own drink.
Ginny’s eyes flicked toward Draco and Alina. “You know, I can’t get over how much you two look alike,” she said, a sly smile tugging at her lips.
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Draco asked with a confused look.
“You can’t honestly tell me you don’t see the resemblance,” Hermione deadpanned, her voice laced with dry humor. Everyone paused, exchanging glances as they looked back and forth between Alina and Draco, seemingly agreeing.
“Well,” Alina began, tipping her head back to finish the rest of her drink in one gulp, “I am an orphan.”
Ginny chuckled. “James called Draco your sister the other day. It was hilarious.”
Harry scrunched his face at that. “Sister?”
The group laughed, the sound warm and relaxed, but Theo, ever the one to seize an opportunity, added his own twist to the joke.
“Alina means ‘light,’ right? It’s not exactly a constellation, but close enough.” Theo said, his voice dripping with playful sarcasm.
Ginny giggled, nudging Theo with her elbow. "Okay, they are absolutely never beating the sibling allegations now."
But as the words hung in the air, the atmosphere shifted. The room seemed to grow heavier. Harry’s smile faltered, and Hermione’s face went pale. Draco’s eyes narrowed, a subtle but noticeable change in his expression. A sense of unease settled over the group, and Alina glanced around, sensing the sudden tension. The soft clink of glasses being set down was the only sound that broke the stillness.
Theo blinked, clearly puzzled by the lack of laughter. “What? It’s just a joke, right?”
"Can't we catch a break here?" Draco muttered, rubbing his face in frustration.
"I'll admit, I definitely should have realized that…" Hermione trailed off as Harry stood and sighed. "Ill go get Blaise."
“What am I missing here?” George asked, clearly confused.
“I’m wondering the same thing,” Theo muttered, still trying to piece things together, but the change in the room was undeniable. Harry’s departure was followed by the sound of the Floo from the other room.
“Okay, so I’m not the only one who thinks those three are being incredibly shifty,” Alina said, reaching for Harry’s untouched drink, trying to fill the awkward silence as Draco stood and started pacing.
"Just give us a moment, Blaise has to explain." Hermione said cautiously.
When Harry returned, he wasn’t alone. Blaise entered with him, followed by Astoria, and surprisingly, Pansy.
Astoria looked around the room before addressing Harry. “Yes, this will do. Ginevra and George can stay.”
“Alright, will someone tell us what the bloody hell is going on?” George’s frustration was palpable.
Blaise and Astoria began to fill the room in on what had been kept secret for so long: the prophecy and how they suspected Alina might be tied to it. When they revealed that Alina’s name translated to "light," the realization hit everyone like a thunderclap. It was blaringly obvious now.
Theo was practically vibrating with anger, his emotions spilling out uncontrollably. The intensity of his anger was almost too much for Alina to bear, and she found herself standing and moving to the far side of the room, next to Draco. With him occluding he almost acted as a sort of shield. It was easier to think with him nearby, quieter.
“I can’t believe you kept this from me,” Theo’s voice cracked as he directed his anger at Blaise and Astoria. “How could you not trust me?”
Astoria’s voice was measured, though tinged with frustration. “It wasn’t a decision we took lightly, and it most certainly wasn’t because we don’t trust you, Theo. Don’t be asinine.”
“If people would stop hiding things from me, maybe we could actually get shit done around here!” Theo snapped. “I literally brought her here. I found her in the Muggle world, brought her to Potter, and here she is, involved in the wizarding world now. I brought her here.” He slammed his hand on the table, making the room jump. His voice softened as he continued, quieter but no less furious. “Anyone care to guess what my name translates to? Hm?” He looked directly at Draco. “What did my mother call me as a child?”
Draco shook his head in disbelief, his voice barely above a whisper. “Her gift.”
“Wow, ten points to Slytherin. My name means ‘the gift.’” He said using air quotes, the sarcasm thick in his voice. “And now we’ve gone and doomed everything to hell.”