"The circlet disappeared after..."

She nods. "It seems to have grabbed hold of the house elf who was taking it away, and we lost track of it... We never saw a circlet on the headmistress but it could've been hidden."

Frown. "The diary you destroyed also acted a lot like - it could've caused a fork - "

Deeper frown. "...I need to contact some people."

Nod.

She sighs. "You both did really well. I'm - terrified for you in retrospect, I don't like that I didn't know you were in danger - but. You got yourself out, you thought on your feet. You paid attention to what you needed to. You - did get lucky," shaky breath, "But you took advantage of that." She presses the heel of her hand to her forehead.

"...I want to - take you both away. Somewhere safe. Wrap you up where - nothing like this can touch you." Deep breath. "I don't know that there's - anywhere this wouldn't follow us, at least not until we kill him."

"We have to fight."

She nods, firmly.

"Take the war to him."

"Yes."

"And rescue Bellatrix." Anathema curls in on herself. "We can't do that if we run."

"Of course."

"We're going to have to get a lot better. I could barely touch him."

"All of us," she says. "I've held him off - I've never beat him."

"If we stick together, though - if we're clever, we can probably get my mom without confronting him directly, and she's powerful - we don't have to fight him head on, not right away, we have to isolate him. Dig out his base."

She smiles. It's not a pleasant expression. "Yes. War is another matter than dueling. We don't have to fight fair."

"Even so, we'll have to be careful."

Serious nod. "We don't want to lose anything more than we have, or make more enemies than we need to. Getting Bellatrix out will be tricky, and runs the highest chance of alienating potential allies... We'll also need to find allies carefully - more people can be trusted to oppose Voldemort than to support us."

"Can we do- separate groups of allies?"

She nods. "We'd have to compartmentalize some - but, yes, that's fairly normal. Different people would be better specialized for different tasks regardless."

"Most of my existing local allies are also Dumbledore's, though, and - while I'm fairly sure he'd look the other way on Bellatrix, he won't prioritize any individual's safety for reasons other than strategic."

"So we can't trust him all the way with any of us."

Nod. "But he's not an enemy, and he understands his allies have other priorities... And I don't think we'd be endangered if he knew, in that..." Frown. "My experience has been that he wouldn't use that as blackmail against us, he'd take it into account as a strategic concern, and knowing our priorities makes him more likely to fulfill those when it's convenient - and with Bellatrix specifically, turning her is immensely useful for purely strategic reasons. Dumbledore's flipped enemy agents before - I objected to him putting Snape in charge of children, but not to him shielding Snape from Ministry retribution and continuing to retain him in his service." She rubs at her forehead. "While I doubt Bellatrix would enjoy owing Dumbledore a favor - getting her to fuck off to another continent would be a win all on its own, even if she doesn't stick around to help us, and I can convince Dumbledore not to push for more. Dumbledore's also our best bet to keep the Ministry off Bellatrix's back. The only question would be - risk versus effort versus reward, and I think I can bring that down on it being rewarding to help us."

"But - he won't let the world burn to save our lives."

Nod.

"We should look for other allies, too. Ones who aren't that entrenched with power we don't have. Like - some of the other students whose parents broke away from Death Eaters. I bet Serpens' mom's going to be in trouble from Voldemort. Or all the muggle-borns. Or - or Elodie, Voldemort threatened her, she's not one of his, and she's not one of Dumbledore's, but she's strong..."

"That's a good idea."

Nod. "Networks are often built on personal relationships - your friends are a good place to start. And they'll bring friends of their own."

It's really, really late, and Anathema falls asleep on the couch soon enough - and doesn't want to go back to the dorm even if shaken awake.

Still, in the morning - she wants to go find Elodie, if their friend hasn't already left Hogwarts.

Not yet, though she is preparing to.