Incendio

"Mum!" Samantha called in from outside her home. "Dad! Let us in!"

Her mother opened the door and called out, "What's the name of the family owl we had when you were a child?"

"Hazel!" Samantha responded.

"Get inside. Immediately." Her mother insisted waving them both in.

She and Lee explained what happened as they drank a bit of tea to calm their nerves. Samantha was still shaking as she explained she saw Jack.

"You are sure it was Jack?" Her mum asked.

Samantha nodded. "Trust me, I didn't want to believe it either."

Her father nodded, "It's what we feared."

Her parents asked Lee to stay the night, seeing as it may not be safe to travel immediately. He stayed on the sofa, not that anyone really found themselves with restful sleep.

Samantha's dreams were plagued with fireballs and scars that crept up her neck and onto her face. She awoke with a start the next morning to the sounds of tapping on her window.

It was Whisp with two letters in her beak, one of which seemed to be her Hogwarts letter.

Dear Ms Fyre,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for your Seventh Year Of Education. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Attendance at Hogwarts is now mandatory for all students.

All Students will be screened for Blood Status.

Term begins on September 1st, 1997.

"Mum!" Samantha called before running through the house in her pajamas.

Her mother was sitting at the dining room table with Lee, both sharing a cup of coffee. Her mother looked at the letter in shock.

"Mandatory!" Her mother read the word aloud. "So they're taking away the choice?"

"And they are doing blood status screenings." Samantha continued as Samantha's mum passed the letter to Lee. "They could ask questions, about dad and you."

Her mother nodded. "If you don't go, they will come for us. If you do go, they will also come for us."

Samantha began shaking, Lee took Samantha's hand.

Her mother looked up to Lee, "How safe is this place you two plan to go to?"

"Very." Lee insisted. "Do you know Kingsley Shacklebolt?"

"He's the best Auror in the Ministry." Her mother replied. "He protects the Muggle Prime Minister."

"He's a member of the Order and he personally has helped me place every manor of enchantment on the place. He is hoping to help with the show." Lee admitted.

"Wait, Kingsley Shacklebolt?" Samantha asked with her mouth gaping, "How'd you get him to help?"

"The twins know him pretty well. When I met him, I confided in him and he really liked the idea." Lee explained. "Myself, the twins and Kingsley are the only ones who know the location. We've chosen not to tell our families or anyone else in the Order. Electra even asked not to know and she's helped fund this whole thing."

Her mother looked deep in thought, her eyes shifted to the paper then back to Samantha and Lee. "How soon could she come stay with you?"

"Immediately if needed." Lee breathed out.

"Samantha, how much are you packed?"

"Nearly everything I have is gone already." Samantha admitted, "Lee has been moving me out for several weeks now."

Samantha's mum side eyed Lee briefly, "Whatever else you need packed still, go ahead and do it, today. Then, I want you to send letters to everyone you are in correspondence with, Ginny, Xenophilius, Colin, that Longbottom boy, and everyone you can possibly think of."

Lee's eyes darted towards Samantha.

"I want you to to tell them, that your parents are sending you to America and not to contact you." Samantha's mum continued. "We already drained our Gringotts account, so take whatever you have earned and we will give you a portion to get through a few months, including some muggle money. You are leaving tonight, Lee will take you once night falls. Your father and I will leave tomorrow morning. Lock your wand away for the next two weeks if you must, you can not use any magic at all. You must not go outside. Do not send any letters. Once you get that radio station going, I expect you to signal me that you are alive. Am I understood?"

Samantha nodded, her throat was tightening. "Understood."

"You had better be safe." Her father, who it turned out, had been standing in the doorway insisted. In his hands he held two wrapped boxes. "I figured since we will miss her seventeenth."

Her mother smiled and nodded approvingly.

The boxes were placed in front of her. A small box and a larger one.

"The small one is from me, the big one is from your father." Her mother said softly.

Inside the small box was a golden pocket watch with sparkling hands. "It was mine, when I turned seventeen. It's tradition on your seventeenth to receive a watch."

Samantha kissed her mother's cheek before opening the next box. Inside was an old silver type writer. She hugged her father tightly.

That night was the hardest parting of Samantha's young life. Her parents held her tightly, kissing her forehead and telling each other deep farewells.

She and Lee left to a town in East Essex near the seaside. The waves were calm and lovely to hear. It was dark around the abandoned factory. It looked dilapidated and a side of the building was missing. Lee walked up to a side door. "Doesn't look like much I know, but wait till you see inside." He whispered a password to the large padlock. "It will only open for the password, and only a password given by a resident."

Samantha nodded carrying Whisp's cage and Artie on her shoulder.

The door opened and inside it was totally different. The first floor had once been a factory, but it didn't look like one anymore. It had an open floor plan with a kitchen and a living area with several sofas in the corner.

"The whole place is enchanted to ward off muggles, no one can Apparate in here, no one from outside can see us or hear us." He began listing every type of protection placed on the building.

Samantha put Whisp and Artie down momentarily and walked around as he spoke. In another corner near the door was the radio equipment and record players. In a separate corner was a small brown desk. Samantha walked over to the desk.

"I figured this corner could be your office." Lee mentioned, placing the only box she had left on the ground. "You can put your typewriter there."

"Yeah, that sounds good." She nodded.

"Your room is upstairs, all the rooms are. I've got your stuff up there already." He led her to a metal staircase and a catwalk that led to what must have formerly been offices. "Mine is at the end. I figured you'd like your space, and to be closer to the bathroom so the first room is yours."

It was just a simple square room. There was a small twin bed along the wall and a shelf along the other wall.

"Hopefully this is alright." Lee said with his arms crossed in the doorway.

She placed Artie above her on a shelf where she cooed in joy and placed Whisp's cage beside her bed.

"After you turn seventeen and start leaving to recover stories, I'll take care of Artie while you are gone." Lee promised leaning in the doorway. "And Whisp too."

She smiled looking back at him. "You better."

"The twins are moving in, in a few weeks. They're shutting Wizard Wheezes down for now. They are going to do mail order only, but they aren't running it out of here. They aren't living here full time, just on and off." Lee said calmly watching her. "The bathroom is at the bottom of the staircase."

Samantha nodded.

"And finally," He reached into his pocket, "I have a lock for you. For overnight, not that I or the twins would try anything. I figured with you being the only girl, you would feel safer if you had a lock only you can open."

Samantha nodded thankfully and took the lock. "Thanks Lee." She trusted him, but she did admit she felt safer.

"Did you want to unpack? You can get some sleep or whatever you need. I know it's late and everything." Lee was prattling on.

Samantha shrugged, it had been a rough two days. She felt ready to fall apart and cry. "I think I'll just stay here."

Lee nodded before leaving the room. Samantha decided one small breakdown was alright. She allowed herself to weep. She wept for her brother, she wept for her parents and she wept for the world. The window by her bed was slightly cracked open. She fell asleep weeping to the sounds of the ocean.

Around two am Samantha awoke rejuvenated. She was done crying. She couldn't leave for seventeen days, but they could perfect the radio show and she could perfect her stealth tactics. She spent much of the wee hours unpacking her things. Whatever she didn't put in her room, she decided would go into her office. Around eight am after a little more sleep, Samantha dressed and emerged.

The sounds of a radio playing music echoed through the factory.

"Good morning beautiful." Lee exclaimed from the kitchen, he had an apron on and seemed to be frying sausages in a pan. "I've got breakfast. I'm rather rubbish at cooking, but I can make breakfast alright."

"Smells good." Samantha smiled, "I'm rubbish at cooking too, so hopefully we survive this."

Lee laughed putting the sausage onto a plate with eggs. He handed her the plate after she sat down.

"Maybe we will take turns cooking." Lee suggested.

"Good idea. Let's slowly poison each other." Samantha joked before eating her breakfast. "I do think it's a good idea if we start mapping out things for this show. When do you want to be on the air officially?"

"Next week, we won't have you in the field yet, but I'm sure Kingsley can bring news, he is supposed to visit next week." Lee continued, "He's also going to begin to spread the password and station. It'll have to be word of mouth."

"We can change the password every week." Samantha concurred. "Give the new one at the end of the show."

"We've also got to name it." Lee realized, "We can't keep calling it the RP."

"Agreed, especially since our letters could have been intercepted."

They spent much of their breakfast discussing the show's layouts. By the time they finished he showed her his equipment.

It was a decent set up. Samantha wasn't sure what a non decent set up looked like, but it looked pretty technical.

"This radio will make it seem like we are constantly changing locations. It bounces off muggle towers to jam frequencies." Lee said proudly. "Electra found it second hand, so I named it after her."

Samantha laughed. "You named the radio?"

"Of course." Lee shrugged.

Something sort of started clicking in Samantha's brain and she wasn't sure how she'd feel about it. "Electra is pretty awesome, the person and the radio."

"Yeah, they both are." Lee said looking slightly wistful.

Samantha considered asking if he and Electra were together, or had been together, but she also decided that could seem tactful. She didn't want to seem jealous, because she wasn't. She personally wanted Lee to have moved on, because she didn't want romance to come between them again.

"She thought your work was really good. I showed her every Hogwarts Gazette that came in the mail." Lee insisted, "She said if the world wasn't flipping upside down she'd have replaced me with you."

Samantha laughed but felt bittersweet, "That would have been fun. I'm not much of a radio personality though."

"True, you are much too pretty for radio." Lee shrugged, "Besides, Electra was worried that the Network was being infiltrated. That's why she didn't join us, she was worried they'd look for her if a highly recognized voice was suddenly involved."

Samantha nodded, "She's safe though right?"

"I think so. She can take care of herself." Lee said, again looking wistful. "She's sharp as a tack."

This time Samantha couldn't resist, "So are you two-"

She didn't even have to finish before he started stopping her,

"Oh no, that would have breeched our professional relationship." Lee said, protesting further, "I would never have, not that she isn't beautiful or anything."

"I was going to ask if you two were in contact, but good to know that too." Samantha lied, she was going to ask if they were together. She had her answer though in the way he scratched the back of his head. She breathed a sigh of relief, he'd at least moved on a little.

"Oh." His face went red, "Well not really, she might send the occasional encoded message, but she's not planning to put us in danger."

The next few days continued in a cycle. They'd both wake, meet for breakfast spend several hours discussing the show. Around afternoon Lee would work on his equipment. Samantha would study maps and read books pertaining to to stealth and hiding spells. She knew unlike school she couldn't practice them yet. During the evening to curb boredom Lee tried to teach Samantha chess. At the end of the day they would mark a calendar, waiting for her seventeenth.

They played the radio constantly, listening for what the Ministry was telling people and wondering how much of it was true. Muggleborns were being called in for questioning on how they had stolen magic. Harry Potter was being blamed for Dumbledore's death and nearly every member of the Order had been interrogated ruthlessly.

They only had ten days left of waiting for her birthday when they were visited by Kingsley Shacklebolt. He was a stately man, like he'd seemed in his pictures and he carried himself with an air of duty. He smiled as he shook Samantha's hand but looked her over with clear confusion.

"You must be Miss Fyre. Pleased to meet you." Kingsley said as he let go of her hand.

He turned to Lee, "You didn't tell me she was a child."

"She's not, well she won't be soon." Lee put his hands in his pockets and avoided Kingsley's eyes.

"What does that mean exactly?" Kingsley asked giving Lee a disgruntled face.

"I'm seventeen in ten days." Samantha meagerly mentioned.

"He told me you were an experienced journalist." Kingsley continued turning back to her.

Lee crossed his arms, "She is. She's had pieces in the Daily Prophet, The Quibbler and she's ran the Hogwarts Gazette since she was fourteen."

"The Hogwarts Gazette is a school paper." Kingsley reminded. "We cannot endanger this whole operation on a child who's experience comes from writing a school paper."

"Potter's my age." Samantha shrugged, "Well about a month older than I, but we are basing all of our futures on him. We're waiting and watching for anything Potter might do. I've been in class with him since I was eleven and yet we aren't having this conversation with him, are we?"

"Potter has seen battle. He's proven his worth." Kingsley continued.

Samantha didn't think, just pulled her hair away from her back. She turned around and showed him the scars on her back. She pulled up her hand and showed him the words still etched across her hand, I Will Not Rebel. He stood silently as she spoke again, "And I may not be Potter, I haven't fought You-Know-Who or done some of the crazy stuff he has, but I have proven my worth in everything I've ever set out to do. Give me the benefit of proving it here."

Kingsley's face grew into a giant smile. "Mr. Jordan did say you were well spoken. Good to have you on board."

Lee began chuckling, "I told you she was pretty amazing."

Samantha realized it may have been a bit of a test and began laughing.

"Mr. Jordan told me of your age, but I needed a bit of proof for myself. I hope I have not made a bad impression Miss Fyre." Kingsley took her hands into his.

"Not at all sir, I'm used to Lee's pranks. Please call me Samantha." Samantha continued laughing.

"Now please show me what you two have been working on Samantha." He asked and the two began giving him the tour.