"...Yeah. Fay's - gonna be fighting." Deep breath. "Let's go."

Back to the surface? Not via the Lake; Anathema doesn't want to risk running back into Voldemort with fewer walls protecting her.

Sounds good.

The fighting's died down a bit by the time they're up - it looks like the enemy's retreating - but Anathema throws herself into hexing some of them, helping get some of the pressure off of Hogwarts' defenders - especially focusing on giving enough breathing room around the wounded for house elves to retreat with them.

Still - it's over quickly, the last of the enemies fleeing past the wards and Apparating away.

And Fay comes to find them.

"Anathema, Ellie - are you two alright?" she asks.

"Somehow, yeah."

She hugs them. "Let's get you two inside." To Anathema: "Is the Chamber secure?"

"Yeah. Though Voldemort might've gotten away."

Nod. "You did well. We'll handle any fall out later."

And: back to the castle (after Fay helps establish watches on the perimeter).

Where's Gormlaith?

Sulking back into the Chamber - it sounds like she chased Voldemort through the Lake out past the edge of the wards, but didn't catch him.

Still alive, good.

Basilisks are fortunately hard to kill...

Anathema spends a little time petting Gormlaith and promising she can eat Voldemort next time, then back to the surface so they can be counted properly and no one thinks they've gotten lost or kidnapped.

No one's entirely sure what all happened - it sounds like things got chaotic fast - and Anathema's. Just.

Tired.

She finds a corner near Fay to sit curled up in.

Pat pat.

Snuggle.

She... Kind of just wants to hide through the backlash from this.

Yeah.

But... Ellie should maybe talk to Fay about what she saw in the graveyard.

...Anathema thinks she wants to be there for that.

So - to Fay's room, to wait for Fay to be done?

Yeah. Best to be private.

She snuggles Ellie while they wait.

Fay doesn't get back to her rooms until well after midnight. She looks exhausted, but she sits across from the girls all the same.

"The Triwizard Cup was a portkey," she begins. "When I touched it, it took me to a graveyard. Voldemort was there."

She takes in a sharp breath, then stills herself, and asks for details of what happened.

Ellie gives all the details she can, what Voldemort looked like, what he said, what the ritual circle looked like. Bellatrix and her strange behavior. The stone, which she shows.

She sighs. "This is - a lot. I don't know the stone's significance - though you should hide it. It seems... Likely to be important. And your cloak behaved oddly as well..."

"Bellatrix's behavior... Later, it'd be good if I could view those memories directly in a pensieve. But from your description it sounds like - Obliviation, or something related to that, possibly with false memories inserted."

"It's also troubling to me that Voldemort can now apparently be in two locations."

"Yeah. That's- I don't know."

"...It's possible in your first year that's what he was trying to do with that circlet."