Wild child

Mrs. Conwell's coming-of-age gift to Smith was a watch, and even though there was nothing magical about it, Fanny couldn't help remembering that it seemed to be a custom in the wizarding world.The gift that Sirius prepared for Smith—quite Sirius—was wine, and there was quite a lot of it. Fanny thought it might be better not to ask him where he got it.It didn't take much to convince Smith to drink them, he downed a beer in one gulp, smiled a little shyly, and said "people I met at the concert...we had a pretty crazy party afterwards", and more What surprised Fanny was that Mrs. Conwell didn't seem surprised, but just gave her son a deep look.

"Do you smoke meth or something?" she asked.

"No!" said Smith quickly. "Joy smoked a little. I don't think that's very good."

"Okay." Fanny raised her eyebrows, "I'm quite curious about that."

"If you ask me, I would say that it is a very unique experience, but compared to the consequences, I suggest you not try it." Mrs. Conwell said calmly, taking a sip of her drink.She had orange juice in her glass, and she hadn't had a drink since her teenage depression. "I have my special period."

The latter sentence was explained to Sirius. He nodded impressively and glanced at Fanny: "Did you realize that you lived with a group of crazy artists before?"

"Well," Fanny shrugged, "how about we eat the cake first? I wonder if any of us will remember it after half an hour."

So things logically turned into a cake fight, so intense that Fanny woke up the next day to see a few pieces of fruit glued to the ceiling by a large blob of cream.The fight ended with Smith sleight of hand holding a dog in the head with a cake plate, and the image of Sirius back to normal will probably never leave Fanny's mind.All the furniture in the living and dining rooms, including the printer, was not spared from the devastation, and even the piano keys were covered in cream, as an elated Smith played Flying the Bumblebee against a hail of bullets.Then they worked together to drink and splash more than half of the gift from Sirius, and then spent the rest of the night in a mess.

When Fanny awoke, the first rays of morning light had just entered the living room.She curled up by the French window in the living room, and when she stretched her body, she only felt her waist and body creaking, her mouth was sour and bitter, and her face was still covered with marks from curtain tassels.The whole place was appalling even by her standards, with Smith looking as if he had plunged into a pile of cushions on the couch, while Sirius lay sprawled at the other end, with one arm and one leg each. Hanging outside, there is so much cream on the hair that only the original hair color can be vaguely discerned.Mrs. Conwell fell asleep on the dining table for some reason, her hair falling into a puddle of half-dried wine stains.

Sirius opened his eyes the first time she swung her wand, stepped carefully around Smith and stood up; Fanny didn't feel a headache, she didn't drink enough to cause a hangover.There were not many clean places for everyone from head to toe, no matter how good the cleaning effect of the spell was, it would not be as good as taking a bath, so Sirius let Fanny go first after a simple cleaning.Mrs. Conwell was up by the time Fanny came out of the bathroom, preparing breakfast wearily, and she joined Sirius, who was still trying to save the house from last night's madness.

But at least one of them was genuinely drunk when they went berserk, and Smith didn't wake up until nearly noon, looking miserable.

"Why, the guy who knows how to play didn't teach you this part?" Fanny couldn't help teasing while making him tea.

"You monsters. I'm serious." Smith said loudly.

In hindsight, this happy birthday night seemed to be some kind of omen, and bad news came one after another from the next day.

First, Mr. Weasley confirmed that Bathilda Basak had died at home. It was difficult to determine the time of death because the body had been treated with a spell, but it had been at least three months, and the fatal injury was undoubtedly caused by black magic.So either Fanny was greeted by an imposter when she visited, or Bathilda had been killed shortly after she left.The idea that the old man might have died at the hands of the gang she saw made Fanny uncomfortable.

Then came the news of the deaths of Ted Tonks and Dirk Cresswell. Judging from the scene, apart from a goblin who also died, they should have two companions—one of whom was probably Fanny Muggle-born classmate Dean Thomas.Dirk and Ted had fought fiercely, and those who knew them believed that they were trying to give others a chance to escape, but they didn't know how much comfort this statement would bring to the family of the deceased.Tonks almost collapsed. After they were urgently transferred to other places, Fanny had to rush to brew some anti-abortion medicine. When Sirius sent the medicine back, he told her that Tonks was still in an unstable situation, and Lupine almost died. Standing by her side every step of the way.When talking about his cousin, he just mentioned "it's still the same", but Fanny can almost see Andromeda's tight lip line and straight back from this.

A week after the start of school, the Order of the Phoenix learned that Luna had not returned to school through the note left by Ginny in the shop of the Hogsmeade Twins. Before that, due to the sudden strengthening of the castle blockade, the Order of the Phoenix had been unable to make any contact with the school.Since then, "The Quibbler" has not published a new issue. Soon after, Xenophilius Lovegood was also arrested in Azkaban. Skeeter sent news that Lovegood's house was completely bombed. There is a piece of ruins, and there is a sense of gloating between the lines.

Despite the concern for the safety of the missing students, the Order of the Phoenix really doesn't have much power left to help.The Death Eaters carried out several raids within two months. They were not as scattered and random as before, but they were highly planned and identified their weaknesses. Obviously, they had been planning for a long time.Most of the main strongholds were attacked, and those that were not attacked were also closely monitored, and the manpower suddenly became very tense.During this process, the members of the society inevitably suffered casualties, and the mainstream media—unsurprisingly—hadn’t mentioned any of these, and the Porter Observatory had to suspend its broadcasts under the constant patrol. The Si family was also transferred elsewhere.

Since it was published in January, EYE has become the only media that is still reporting the truth. Not long before the Christmas holiday, EYE has been on the Hogwarts list of "immediate expulsion if the owner is found". Obviously, a relatively neutral position can Very limited help.The editorial department also suffered a lot from the previous actions of the Death Eaters. In addition to the common contact point with the Order of the Phoenix, more than half of the contact points were under surveillance to varying degrees, and two reporters lost contact.Sirius warned Fanny that the current situation meant that the other party could spare enough strength to deal with EYE-and her, and Fanny wished she could say that this did not disturb her.

After staying at home for less than a week, the two of them began to run back and forth in several areas without touching the ground, confirming the status of each contact point, notifying the critical situation to transfer immediately according to the information obtained, and adjusting the contact method.And, of course, reassuring.This job was almost entirely undertaken by Sirius, and it looked like he had some effect after his reliable and steady face after makeup.Fanny is often silent, and she can't explain why she can't cheer up anyway, but comforting people is not her strong point even at her best.

"It just feels a little...unknown." Fanny responded to Sirius' dissatisfaction in this way, "Death Eaters may rush into their house in the next second, and it is probably due to my negligence. How can I know this? Tell them everything's okay?"

"You think you're the only one who knows this? Sometimes people just need you to say those words, and we..." Sirius stopped, which is not surprising in itself, it may be the sequelae of prison life, he said There are often interruptions in the middle, as if you suddenly forgot how to say it.But usually he would continue or change the topic as if nothing had happened, this time the pause was a bit long, so Fanny pulled her attention back from being distracted and looked at him.

Sirius suddenly rubbed his face with his palm a few times, as if washing his face without water. "Damn it, it's his job. I'm actually James."

The more normal answer is "People will only live more and more like themselves", but Fanny thought about it and replied: "It's a pity that no one can live like Dumbledore."

"I think you've learned his overly self-critical attitude." Sirius sighed maturely, and he acted surprisingly like a teenager when he did it. "Now that you've got EYE up and running, that's part of your responsibility. Oh great, I'm teaching people responsibility."

"I'm not sure if this is a mistake." Fanny looked at the vase in the corner of the room. Recently, in order to reduce the possibility of being touched, their itinerary was arranged by the two of them in turn.Due to Sirius' preference of settling in a big city, the standard of living has risen sharply for a while. "From the very beginning, I didn't expect to involve so many people. I just wanted to write some articles to tell the truth. It's just my own business. But now 5 people have entered Azkaban because of this incident, and more than a dozen Individuals had to flee their homes, and if I made one more mistake—which I knew was bound to happen—more would face a dire fate. I was not at all fit for a position that involved so many people, even if Someone really had to start EYE or something like that, and that shouldn't be me."

"Don't be silly. You've already done it, and as far as we know, no one else is doing it, which means you're the 'chosen one'." Sirius was a little anxious, "You said you did it yourself Make a mistake and fix it, and we do. Even with all the letters from readers saying we've given them hope, can I trouble you to cheer up?"

"Hope is their own, what we bring is only the facts." Fanny said in a monotonous tone.

No matter what Sirius said, Fanny didn't speak anymore.But in the next period of time, Fanny did try to be positive, and seemed to want to forget her mistakes.And when she didn't need to try to cheer people up, such as when she and Sirius were engaged in those secret plans to confront the Death Eaters, she really seemed to find herself, calm and cheerful.

The calendar flips to February, and the temperatures aren't showing signs of warming up, and the bad news isn't abating at all—unless you're only reading the Daily Prophet.

News of the attack continued to come from various contact points, and there were already countless attacks against Muggles.Many wizards spontaneously organized to protect various Muggle-inhabited areas and important roads and bridges. It is said that at least three teams are conducting such operations in an organized manner, and Kingsley is the leader.Fanny and Sirius also tried to protect the passing Muggle community as much as possible.Potter's Lookout was still unable to broadcast, so the twins were eager to form a fourth team, but they were obviously repressed by Mrs. Weasley, and had to limit their activities to the small town at the foot of Burrow Mountain.

If there were still mobs in the Society, the Death Eaters would be very happy with the repercussions of their actions.Soon there will be more people evacuated abroad than there are fighting - of course it is much more difficult to evacuate abroad now than it was three months ago, and there are some people who have made arrangements and want to come back to fight, but this Compared with the speed of the loss of combat power, it is not enough.

Considering the workload brought by EYE and Mrs. Conwell's identity, her tasks have been close to none in the past two months, but recently she has to start leaving home from time to time.Smith was still required to stay at home as a secret keeper. Fanny felt that his mood began to become unstable again in the correspondence, the replies became shorter and shorter, and his tone became decadent and impatient, and it seemed difficult for him to have any more Be patient to read letters from readers.Worries about his family, separation from his lover, long-term seclusion and continuous workload, these things have continuously consumed him during the past six months.

There was nothing Fanny could do about it, it seemed harder for her to admit to Smith than it was for anyone else, and it clearly didn't help the status quo.Truth be told, she would rather be out there facing enemies and suspicious strangers than going home.But Mrs. Conwell sends letters from other owls, expressing her urgency to return and persuade Smith.This kind of communication meant increased risks for both parties, and Fanny had no choice but to agree to end her journey at this stage ahead of schedule.

On the way back, she improvised to go to the Fields first, and she hadn't contacted them for a while after discovering the warning that her identity had been exposed. Only Mrs. Conwell sent a message to Lucy telling her that she would be dead for a while. Unable to look after the herbs, Mrs. Conwell brought back a "Merry Christmas" message.It would not be difficult to find out the relationship between Fanny and the Fields, she thought it would be safer for them to stay away from them.

In each of the previous visits, Fanny was more inclined to think that she just wanted to chat with Sandy than to discuss the cultivation of chamaejasma with Lucy or the promotion of EYE with Mr. Field.After the brief depression of seeing off her youngest son, Sandy has returned to her usual carefree personality.It is always easy to get along with her. Sandy is always willing to share all kinds of jokes she made when she first arrived in the UK, and Fanny also loves to hear her stories about foreign countries when she was young.

Thinking about it, Fanny said, "It would be perfect if Mr. Field wasn't at home when this time passed."

"how?"

"If he wasn't in Sandy, I wouldn't have any scruples. Maybe he would share the love affairs of the year. The first time I heard it, my jaw was about to drop out. I didn't expect Uncle Sam to look like that. He used to There are really some stories." Fanny laughed, "No, how can you tell Sandy with confidence when you are listening to her. Why don't you go outside?"

"I thought we came this time because you wanted to introduce your relatives to me." Sirius also smiled, "Leave me outside? Then you'd better be prepared to never come out."

On the way, the two of them seemed to have been influenced by Sandy, and the atmosphere was rare and relaxed.Fanny stopped walking a few hundred meters away, with a puzzled expression on her face.

"what happened?"

"Strange, I didn't feel the induction spell."

"At this distance?"

"Uncle Sam's idea." Fanny looked around as she walked, "You won't believe how cautious he is, if the protection spell is real, his house must look like it's covered with seventeen or eight turtle shells. He knows wizards as soon as they approach him, which is why my visits never surprise them."

Sirius checked a magic remnant, "It doesn't look like a forced intrusion, the spell was lifted for some reason."

"Could it be that they have already evacuated? But then there is no need to remove the protective spell, and you have to come back later."

"hope so."

"hope……?"

Something in Sirius' tone startled Fanny, she looked up at him, then turned her gaze back to where he was looking.

A huge black sign hangs directly above the white house not far away, spitting out the skull of a snake.

Standing in the cold wind of early spring, Fanny only felt soaked by the coldness from the inside out.

They exchanged Disillusionment Charms and watched around Field's house for a while, stopping behind a bush directly opposite the house.The protective spell at this distance has been forcibly broken, and the room is quiet. It seems that whatever happened is now over.

"I'll go in and have a look, and if I hear a fight or if I don't come out within 10 minutes, I'll leave immediately and find someone else."

Fanny frowned and looked at Sirius, without nodding or shaking her head.

"Do you hear me clearly? Now is not the time to be a hero." Sirius growled.

"Not at any time. I should be the one to go. You know the consequences of being caught."

"I won't let them capture me alive." Sirius said coldly, "This is not a situation for novices to deal with. Shut up and stay here."

An unaware elderly couple walks their dog on the path in front of them, chatting leisurely as they walk.When they were at a safe distance, Sirius sprinted around the bushes.Obviously the window had a good view, so he didn't hide in vain. He trotted along a straight line and quickly approached the house. He stopped at the half-open hallway of the front door and entered sideways.

Fanny pressed the rough watch and started counting.She was almost ready to wait 10 minutes to evacuate, but Sirius came out in less than 5 minutes.He directly lifted the Illusion Curse, with a deadpan face and clenched teeth, heralding the worst.

"There is no danger. The time of the incident probably occurred in the early hours of this morning." Before Fanny could ask, he said coldly and briefly, "The three of them are all dead."

Ever since she saw the Dark Mark, Fanny was ready to hear the news, but when she heard it, she felt that she didn't know what to prepare for.It took her a while to say the solution to the Disillusionment Curse, meeting Sirius' eyes,

"I suggest you don't go in, the scene...is very ugly." Sirius' lips tightened.

Fanny shook her head, and walked towards the house she was already familiar with.As soon as she entered the yard, Fanny paused: the garden had become a piece of scorched earth, and the herbs that she, Lucy, and Sandy had cultivated together were destroyed, and those scorched branches stretched out to the sky, as if they were making desperate pleas.She bent down to touch the rough ground where only black particles remained, the burning temperature had dissipated, and as Sirius said, it had been a long time since the incident happened.

The death of a family of three is definitely far beyond the standard of "reportable", and she has something to do.Fanny took out her camera and pressed the shutter.

Walking to the half-open front door, Fanny immediately understood the reason for Sirius' pause: Sandy was lying by the door with all fours sprawled, his upper body covered by a white cloth that Sirius had obviously covered.She lifted the white cloth and saw that Sandy's expression was surprised and dull, and his black eyes, which would never look bright again, were half-opened and half-closed, and there was nothing in them.

She used to think that the habit of never asking too much when answering the door would do Sandy bad.

Fanny pressed the shutter.

The living room was in a mess, the table was overturned and chairs were overturned, spattered with blood.Mr. Field collapsed in front of the French windows facing the balcony, half-sat and half-lyed against the residual corner of the sofa, his face was covered with a piece of white cloth that Sirius had just added.Fanny squatted beside him for a minute, but failed to make up her mind to uncover it. Instead, she pulled up the sleeve of his right hand, and saw an extremely irregular bloody cut.Then she followed the trail of blood spatters to a hand, the wand hanging loosely in the pale palm.

Judging from the bloodstains all over the room, after losing his wand hand, he still insisted on throwing everything he could reach at the enemy - sofa cushions, teacups... until that moment.

Fanny walked around the living room several times, snapping the shutter on every trace without touching anything as much as possible.

It's not hard to guess the obsession that supported Mr. Field's fight until the last moment. Lucy fell by the balcony, also covered with a white cloth. Fanny almost felt grateful for Sirius' subconscious thoughtfulness.The back door was open, obviously the Death Eaters were fully prepared and she didn't have time to Apparate.

Lucy's long black hair, which was always neatly rolled up, was messed up, and a small section of her hair was exposed outside the white cloth. Fanny pressed the shutter on it.

Finally she walked out of the house, turned around under Sirius' surprised gaze, took a picture of the hideous sign hanging overhead, and put the camera back in her pocket.

Fanny then plunged into a nearby bush, vomiting violently.Sirius then sent the message with the Patronus, and when she finally straightened up with a pale face dripping with cold sweat, the other members of the Order of the Phoenix had already arrived.Fanny disapparated away without listening to a word the others said, and Sirius barely had time to grab her arm.

The author has something to say:

A big wave of blood is brewing ahead... When I returned to school, I left the U disk of the saved text at home. It was a disaster _(:зゝ∠)_The first few chapters of the rework were gone.