"It's no problem."

And: off.

Hug.

"Okay?"

Hug.

"Okay."

"That wasn't so bad."

"Not at all." Lean.

"So movie night's probably still on."

Heh. "Probably, yeah." Kiss.

Kiss!

Best Ellie.

Getting everyone settled requires minimal shuffling, even when it turns out the Tonks don't have their own tent. The Tonks take the revelation of Anathema's identity well, and Auror Tonks ruffles her hair, expresses delight, and offers to teach her more curses.

It's a bit of a crowded house in the days it takes to get everyone's homes under the Fidelius - and after some discussion they decide not to put the Tonks' house under the Fidelius, so it can be kept as a meeting place with people outside their family. The Tonks will live with Andromeda's sisters until the threat passes - which will be easier once Fay and all the children are off to Hogwarts.

Which comes soon. Dumbledore arranges quickly for enough staff to be in residence to open the castle, gets the go ahead from Minister Bones, and then any students who want to return early can - the train isn't running yet, but muggleborns can contact Hogwarts via owl or head to Kings Cross to get a professor to floo them over to Hogsmeade Station. Fay's one of the professors helping reopen, though it's up to the girls if they want to return to the castle early themselves - they're hopefully safe under the Fidelius, after all, and staying at home makes it easier for them to attend the quick series of emergency Order of the Phoenix meetings.

(Voldemort doesn't waste time in stepping up attacks. His test assault on Malfoy Manor happens while the Malfoy girls are at Fay's home, before the Fidelius is up - it's repelled violently by Narcissa's incredibly nasty wards and by the house elves. The Daily Prophet reports attacks, successful or not, nearly daily - there's a rapidly escalating aura of fear, though the Aurors are responding more quickly now to Death Eater attacks, and there's hope that they'll be able to dissuade this pattern from continuing. Narcissa wards Andromeda's house, even though it'll mostly be empty, and volunteers along with Fay at an Order meeting to help ward other places.)

Ellie's in favor of staying home, if they can be helpful.

Anathema is too.

Alright.

Fay will be by - and at the Order meetings - as often as she can. 

Hogwarts will have to wait a little while longer.

Yeah. 

(Anathema writes all their friends - everyone in their network - to strongly encourage them to go to Hogwarts early. Muggleborn kids were targeted the most, last war.)

(She talks to the Order, too, about warding the homes of the muggleborns' families - gets that pushed through, though it'll take time to get to everyone - and then starts a small campaign to talk Minister Bones and Headmaster Dumbledore into allowing pre-Hogwarts muggleborns into the castle, too, into protecting their families, since last war the Death Eaters successfully discovered several pre-Hogwarts kids and killed them.)

(Her longer term plan, she confides to Ellie, is to get them to agree to take muggles into Hogwarts, too, if the war escalates enough. They'll need to adjust the wards, so it's a harder sell, but - whatever they can get.)

Ellie contributes her support to Anathema's campaigns, and goes over her encounters with the returned Voldemort with the Order. Tactical breakdowns, favored spells, physical attributes...

It's helpful - everything, and Bellatrix and Fay lend their own expertise and influence.

(The time they're required to actually go to Hogwarts is fast approaching, though.)

They'll just have to try to get everything useful down they can.

Not that they won't be able to attend Order meetings ever, but it's harder to get out of the castle and probably not as worth the trouble.

Fay can bring them with her a lot, but as a whole their attendance will be hampered, yes.

Suppose they'd best get packing, then.

Yes, though Fay will be returning to help - and she and several other professors are joining the students on the train in, to provide security.

Oh. Good. That does make her feel better.

She squeezes Ellie's shoulder.

That makes sense... And Ellie and Anathema are welcome to sit with her, if they'd like, though she won't be offended if they'd rather sit with friends.

They usually try to get a compartment by themselves, so.

Room for one more, then?