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Fay returns with Dumbledore's body, of course.
Not right away. She prepares her story, her Occlumantic shields first. She makes sure the wounds on Dumbledore line up with what she's claiming. She empties her wand's history of the spell that killed him, and fills up with spells that match what she's claimed.
They tracked, cornered, and fought Voldemort's second body. Dumbledore was gravely injured and they couldn't Apparate out. Fay hid with him, rushing to heal him, but their enemy caught up. Fay escaped with her life. Dumbledore, already weakened, did not.
She returns to Hogwarts.
Things get - surreal, after. They're already surreal. They get rushed.
It's not yet the end of the semester. Final exams are still weeks away.
Dumbledore is dead, and it doesn't take long for people to hear about this.
Fay plants her feet. Weathers the storm like a great boulder, expression steady, shoulders strong, voice firm. They must leave the school open over the summer, for whoever feels unsafe in their homes. They must consider bringing others in.
Minerva McGonagall is Headmistress now. She trusts Fay. She agrees.
(Fay is leader of the Order now. She turns Dumbledore's spider web of influence into a machine of war.)
The Death Eaters are emboldened. The defenders are faltering. Transition of power is never perfect, especially like this.
(Everyone trusts Fay. That helps.)
She makes time for her girls, as much as she can, but her mind feels like it's trapped elsewhere, pulled into a whirlwind - every time she sees Ellie a primal fear creeps under her skin -
After, as the storm reaches a brief calm, settles into a temporary eye - later, she sits Ellie down.
She is very, very firm that this meeting must be just her and Ellie.
