Shout out to Charms and emanreus for the great reviews! Indeed it is contrived, emanreus, and that's because Hermione wasn't telling the whole truth (my characters have this issue with honesty often. Another casualty of writing from Lily's perspective.) That merges with the Christmas argument (hint, Ginny was right) in this chapter as Lily steps into the mentor-apprentice cycle. This is a story that's heavily about alliances in a world stuck in the gray, convoluted morality between good and evil, and Lily's a part of that. As for Logan – I hinted at who his mother was way back in the closing chapters of Book 1 (an established character from the original series), but I've left it at that since. Before I go in on his parents, I need to articulate the defining moment of his past – something that will begin to be revealed next chapter, along with some of the story behind Lily's friend group. His last name's Howe, for what it's worth. I haven't really brought that up more than a couple times, since Lily refers to most people (Maribor and Stennis notwithstanding) by their first names. Same with Natalie's surname Hightower, for instance.

Now we begin the finale of Book 2 as Lily pledges allegiance, Stennis squares off with Hermione and the Headmaster, and we return to a strange land with tourists in tow…

Next Friday at seven.

Lily hadn't been quick enough to hide the letter's contents from her friends' probing eyes, but she was doing all in her power to keep them away from following her to meet up with Hermione.

"No, don't!" Lily exclaimed that evening after supper in the common room as Natalie expressed interest in coming along to see what Stennis would do. "Nat, it's not just for fun – it's something serious. I don't even know what's going to happen. I'm going alone."

Her friend looked disappointed. "But it's an adventure! I won't say anything. You won't even see me. I'll hide in the bushes and watch or something. Come on, Wayne thinks it sounds intriguing too. It's something different than doing our Potions homework."

"Nat, please just stay here," Lily pleaded. She felt like she was fighting a losing battle against that spark in her friend's eyes. "I told you, I don't know what's going to happen. My aunt just wanted me to show up and I told her yes. Maybe all I do is watch some people talk and occasionally mumble things. Dammit, the Headmaster's going to be there. It's not going to be crazy and fun. You don't even know the Ministry man!"

"No, but if he starts shooting curses at you all – "

She sighed out of exasperation. "That's not going to happen. Please just don't try to follow me."

Natalie folded her arms and looked cross. Lily knew her friend wanted to get involved – she'd gotten a taste of what evils lurked out there during the Hogsmeade attack, she had just as much of a thirst for information and secrets as Lily did – if not more, given her occasional veering into conspiracy theorizing – and she had more than a good enough reason to get to the bottom of Sion and Genseric's moves, what with the blotchy scars still lining her neck and shoulders from their first year. She didn't know all the things Lily did, though, hadn't spoken with Stennis throughout the year, didn't have the insight into the Ministry that came from having so many family members working for the institution, and above all, she wouldn't violate Hermione's trust. It's not an adventure, Nat. It's an obligation.

Besides, knowing Stennis as she did, all this would probably amount to a lot of hot air, some big words, and maybe a few angry faces and a threat or two from the Headmaster.

"Is your aunt coming here to get you, then?" Natalie asked, still looking sulky. "At least meeting her would be cool."

"No. I'm meeting her in the Entrance – " Lily stopped mid-sentence. Oh, you. "Nat!"

She threw up her hands. "I didn't say anything!"

"Don't follow me!"

"I didn't say anything!"

Five minutes before seven, Lily tried to slip unnoticed out of the Ravenclaw common room. She got to the door right as Trent Thorpe was walking in, however, and he immediately said loud enough for everyone nearby to hear, "Hey, you're good at Astronomy, right Lily? Do you know that thing Vos gave us to do – "

"Later!" protested Lily, sliding past him. She took one last look behind her. Natalie eyed her, her homework suspiciously gathered up into one neat pile. From the other side of the room, Wayne and Logan watched as well.

Dammit, why can't I ever get my mail in private?!

Abandoning any attempt to control what she couldn't, Lily hurried down the steps of Ravenclaw Tower. Out on the Grand Staircase students hustled up and down back to their common rooms, stragglers loitering from the end of supper or in the library heading towards Gryffindor Tower or down towards the kitchens and the dungeons for the evening. Lily had taken nothing but her wand with her. She slid past a trio of gossiping Gryffindor girls on the fifth-floor stairs, hopped a trick step on her way to the fourth floor, ignored a portrait of a stick-thin merman chiding her for "Heading down for seconds, you glutton," and bumped into two more people she didn't want to run into tonight on the third floor.

Al and Scorpius were in the midst of an argument. "You could just ignore her," Al said, looking bored. "If Rose is bugging you that much – "

"Well if I say anything it just fuels her ego," Scorpius countered, looking hot under the collar. "She's bugging all of us in the fifth year in my house. It's not our fault she thinks she's the greatest thing that ever happened to Britain."

"Then you all take it up with her in our next Defense class."

"I just said, she won't listen to us, and neither does Professor Corner. Bet she listens to you, though. You're the levelheaded person in your family clan. I'd talk with Hugo, but apparently he and his sister aren't on great terms these days, and I saw your sister nearly rip Rose's head off in Quidditch, so I doubt she's much help either. Hormones and girls and shite."

"I barely even talk to you in class, let alone outside of it, and sorry to say, Scorpius, but you…really don't have the greatest reputation in my house. Rose's going to laugh off the notion of –" Al paused when he saw Lily. "Well, this is awkward."

"Busy," said Lily, pushing by them. She didn't know what Scorpius wanted with Al – she didn't even know they talked – but she didn't have time to hear it out now.

Scorpius laughed as she passed by. "Exploring and getting detention again, Lily?"

"I'm busy!"

She shot past them and dashed down the second and first floor stairs, reaching the ground floor and ignoring a few looks her way from the last stragglers heading away from the Great Hall. Someone had left one of the great oaken castle doors ajar. Lily loitered beside them, unsure of what to do while she waited. A milky crescent moon hung overhead in the navy blue night sky rapidly fading to black. It was a bright evening – the stars twinkled like the distant suns they were, and the galaxy soared overhead in a great, brilliant white streak. Faint shadows crossed the ground, and the black outlines of birds soared through the unseasonably warm spring air.

Lily almost didn't notice the woman in black heading up to the door from the grounds, her footsteps so quiet she couldn't hear them.

It was Hermione. She'd taken care not to be noticed – she wore a hooded black tunic with the hood pulled over her head and just above her eyes, concealing her face in the dark. She looked like a phantom, not the opinionated public figure Lily knew but someone here on a mission and with a goal clearly in mind. Her wand poked out of her left sleeve, easily in reach.

Hermione pulled down her hood. "Lily? Are you all set?"

Lily was taken aback by her aunt's stealth appearance. "What's the…why all the secrecy? What's going to happen?"

Hermione ushered her out the door and onto the dark grounds, away from any prying eyes. She looked around and said, "Look, I didn't actually ask you here because I needed you to say anything tonight to me or your Headmaster or Declan Stennis. You've been giving me good information all year and I want to let you see it through. Your Headmaster and I think Stennis is hiding something, from us, from even the Ministry, that he's not exactly here to keep records on Hogwarts after all, not after what I found out about that German friend you referred me to. Now, if you don't want to see what happens – you don't have to get involved. But I think you want to know about what's going on, and I won't keep you from that. You're old enough to make your own decisions, you've been a big help, and I won't hold you back."

"No, I want to come!" Lily said immediately.

A little part of her brain held her back. A conversation from some time ago rose in her brain – she heard Ginny accusing Hermione of molding her kids, and of going behind her and Harry's back, like she wanted someone to learn and follow in her footsteps as she campaigned against the Ministry's recent changes. Here was Hermione now, basically admitting to that exact thing to Lily's face – and Lily was eager to dive deeper into the rabbit hole.

This was about trust at the heart of it, Lily thought. Harry and Ginny wanted to protect her and keep her safe. She saw their expressions when she was hurt in Quidditch. She knew how she was always the baby of the family. Then along came Hermione, opening up and trusting in her to hold her own in a situation far more serious than the day-to-day life of a fourteen year-old third-year at Hogwarts. Maribor seemed to trust Hermione. Alanis Fell begrudgingly gave her credit even if she disagreed with her methods, and even Professor Vos didn't have a bad word to say about her. How could Lily say no, especially when she knew she needed as much knowledge and experience as she could in the face of the evils lurking in the darkness?

Hermione nodded, her expression stoic, but there was a glow of pride in her eyes. "Promise me one thing, then. Keep everything that happens from here on until we're done tonight secret. No telling. Got it?"

Lily gulped. She hoped like hell that Natalie wasn't following her down here. "Got it. Secret."

"Good, because your Headmaster's probably going to break a few laws," Hermione said, looking deeply into Lily's eyes and squeezing her shoulder. "He's going to meet us down by the gates. Come on."

Lily thought she saw something move by the castle doors, but she said nothing. Shouldn't somebody close those?

Too late now.

Hermione walked slowly and quietly down the castle walk, staying in the dark so that she was almost invisible to Lily. Down near the entrance to the school, a man walked up towards Hogwarts – not the muscular figure of Maribor, but the portly, pudgy Stennis. Hermione motioned for Lily to stick behind her, but she didn't manage to approach before another man intercepted Stennis on the walk.

Lily heard the Headmaster's gravelly growl before she could make out his face. "You're a persistent man," Maribor said, standing in the middle of the walk like a barricade. He wasn't dressed in his usual Headmaster robes but in a thick, fitted vest and trousers, both made out of green, shiny leather – dragon skin. It was like he expected a fight. "All these accounting visits and you haven't figured out how to shave a Galleon from my castle yet? Maybe eliminate the student body?"

"Ah, John! I was not aware you were coming to escort me in from the gates now – is that your latest security initiative?" Stennis asked, his typically pompous tone inflected with a dose of confrontation. "I see no Auror on duty by the gate."

"I had Dean Thomas patrol the forest edge tonight. If you're implying that I should have had him keep an eye out for you, perhaps you have something right for once."

Hermione shuffled in the dark. Lily heard her pull out her wand and saw her aim it out at the grounds before whispering, "Muffliato."

Stennis didn't hear her. He sized up Maribor and scoffed, "Nothing of the sort; it seems merely a lapse – "

Hermione motioned for Lily to stay down as she broke from the shadows to sidle up to Maribor. "The only lapse is in the Ministry's trust in you. A dozen visits and the only recommendation around Hogwarts's future came after the Hogsmeade attack, telling me that you haven't been doing your job very well – or you've been doing a different one this whole time. What are you up to here, Stennis?"

The Ministry official stepped back, taken by surprise at Hermione's sudden arrival, but he recovered quickly. "Mrs. Weasley. I see John is allowing anyone on campus now, even dissidents. Another security lapse. I'm here to chronicle such things. No more. The Ministry's trying to protect students, not put them in the line of fire like happened two years ago and then again at Hogsmeade. If anyone is doing their job here, it is me."

Some dark shade moved in Lily's peripheral vision. She glanced back towards the castle and spotted something shuffle far up the walk on the hill overlooking the gates, too far for Stennis, Hermione, or Maribor to see unless they paid close attention, but Lily guessed people were watching. Shite.

She started to stand up and call out a warning, but Maribor's hand twitched, as if he intended to go for his wand. "Hardly," Hermione told Stennis. "Interrogating students? That has nothing to do with saving money. It sounds like you're trying to do a lot more interfering at Hogwarts, and I was here the last time the Ministry did that, when Dolores Umbridge ran roughshod over the school with Cornelius Fudge's blessing. I'm a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I'm not asking anything of you. I'm telling you to tell me the truth of what you're doing."

Stennis puffed out his chest. "Is that a threat, Weasley?"

"A promise," Maribor growled. "She's law enforcement, and this is my castle. Our authority supersedes yours."

"I am not required to tell you anything more than status updates. I will tell you no more. Both of you are committing a crime threatening me. You lay your hands on me and you will both be on the street by tomorrow morning," Stennis warned.

Maribor snorted: "I don't need to lay my hands on you. I've jeopardized my school's security this whole year to let you in on the Ministry's whims. I won't do so anymore."

"Then take your school. I'm reporting back – "

"You'll report nothing, parasite. If you won't say, I'll take it from you. Hermione might be above that, but I am not. Legilimens!"

Maribor flashed his wand before Stennis could grab his in time. Rather than reach into the man's mind, however, the Headmaster's spell produced a flash of light as Stennis's pendant glowed bright yellow, the decorative sun flaring under the moon high above. Maribor stepped back, clearly not expecting that, when Stennis's pendant constricted around the Ministry man's neck. He gasped, choking, reaching out towards Maribor and Hermione as he slumped to the ground, yanking at the chain that wouldn't let go.

Lily panicked. She jumped up from her crouching spot in the shadows, pulling her wand as Hermione pulled hers. "Diffindo!" cried Hermione, aiming at the pendant. The spell did nothing but make the sun glow brighter.

From its flares came darkness. Lily made out a smoky black cloud hissing out of the pendant, rising above Stennis's writhing body and forming together in the light of the moon and stars. Thin and wiry with beady, glowing yellow eyes embedded somewhere in the shadowy, half-human, half-amoeba form, it was the phantasm as Lily had seen it in Hogwarts's halls. She rushed out with her wand as Maribor aimed to fire a spell at it.

He didn't get the chance. The specter threw an arm – appendage, whatever the shadow had – at the three of them as she ran forward. For a brief moment Lily saw a flash of gray and a green, glowing ring with black ribbons running towards a singularity, and then a blast of white light enveloped her. Her head buzzed and her ears rang, and she doubled over, clutching her temples and trying to get the pain to stop. When she looked up, she gasped.

Shades of Hogwarts past moved all around her, a thousand, ten thousand ghostly images of wizards and witches through history retracing their every action. A green-black sky boiled overhead, and back behind her, Hogwarts castle throbbed, its walls vibrating, subtle at this distance, but Lily knew chaos would reign inside the corridors. A skull with a snake for a tongue constantly formed, disappeared, and re-formed in the billowing clouds overhead, and the sound of wailing, laughing, shrieking, talking, and every other utterance known to man pounded her ears, the sound of viewing all of Hogwarts's history as time unraveled.

Then there was the smell…that familiar smell, that awful smell…

Lily saw Maribor and Hermione getting to their feet, their eyes clenched shut as they tried to make sense of the world around them. Stennis's still body lay on the ground, twitching, going still, and twitching again in endless repetition.

Only one other thing felt real about this world, the Hogwarts out of time that Lily had seen back in the winter. A scaled, gray-white demon with four arms and a head ringed with yellow eyes floated in the air between her and the castle. It wasn't the phantasm that had run from her before attacking the last time, but more confident, bolder, looming large as if daring her to attack it.

"What is this?" Hermione groaned, gritting her teeth and pointing her wand at the phantasm. "What is that?"

Maribor glanced at Stennis's flailing form. It's not Stennis, then," he breathed. "Someone has used him. Mistake bringing Ms. Potter along, Hermione. Lily, you stay behind – "

He didn't finish. The phantasm leered at Lily, raising one of its grotesque, multi-jointed arms and pointing straight at her. She'd taken it more as a beast than a thinking creature the last time she'd run into it, guided by instinct alone, but now it seemed smarter, more capable, and most chillingly, able to speak.

When it spoke, its voice was black, baritone, taunting from every direction and within Lily's mind all at once. "You," it boomed, "you return. So be it. You surprised me the last time, but I am ready now. This is my castle, not yours. Come live in my world and lose yourself in your mind."

Lily grimaced. The voice was more than just a pounding bass drum thrumming in her mind – every word felt like a jackhammer inside her head.

The others must have heard. Hermione shot Lily a confused look. Maribor swung his wand at the phantasm, shooting a flash of red light, but the creature veered away and flew off towards the chaos Hogwarts, leaving the three of them to follow or stay behind out here as the ground convulsed and the sky bubbled. Beyond the gates behind Lily loomed a wide, green-gray expanse of nothingness, a void unbound not only in time but also seemingly in space. The phantasm – and whoever controlled it, who Lily had a good guess about – clearly only had Hogwarts in mind. She didn't want to imagine leaving the confines of the grounds of this place.

Hermione and Maribor were handling the sudden shift well – if either were afraid, neither showed it. "What did it mean?" Hermione said, turning on Lily. "That thing was talking to you!"

Lily swallowed hard. "We have to go after it," she whimpered. Ignite its remains, Bacchus had said. That will open a portal back. She had no reason to trust the enigmatic man she'd seen only twice, but she had no other recourse. "I've seen it before."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but Maribor cut her off. "That's the beast Jurre mentioned last term? He told me of your story, and now I even believe it," he said, eying Lily. He put the pieces together without her saying a word. "Someone used Stennis as a ferry then. And this…well hell, I don't know what this place is. Fine. Lily, it called you out. If you have a history with that monster, you lead.

She gulped. She hadn't been prepared to dive is world again, certainly not with the Headmaster and Hermione in tow. Lily took a step forward just as a light flashed behind her and something heavy and grunting hit the ground.

Lily turned and groaned. I told you not to follow me!

A white light flashed and Natalie tumbled to the ground. Logan appeared right after her, and it seemed like a whole convoy had snuck behind her to watch her dealings with Stennis – Wayne too, and then, far more unexpectedly, Al and Scorpius. The hell, Nat, you told them I was doing something?! Why couldn't you leave well enough alone and listen when I said to stay in the common room?

Natalie gritted her teeth, looked around, and shrieked in terror at the chaotic version of Hogwarts. Wayne clutched his ears to drive out the sound of thousands of past visitors and attendants moving, talking, and acting all at once, and Al and Scorpius doubled over, their eyes clamped shut at the sight. Only Logan stood up, shaking his head, clenching his jaw, and exhaling sharply, as if stepping out of time was no worse than getting ready for a particularly difficult exam. Then again, the stuff he's seen with me…

Hermione had her wand out, backing away from the other kids slowly. "Albus?" she said, trying to figure out how her nephew had appeared out of thin air. "What?"

"Projections," spat Maribor, aiming his wand. "They're images that monster brought up. Nothing more."

"No, no, no, wait!" Logan pled, holding up his hands. "I'm real, we're real, swear to Merlin! What the hell is this?"

The Headmaster didn't look convinced. "There was nobody near us. Just us four. How did you get here?"

Logan took a deep breath. Behind him Scorpius struggled to his feet, trying to make sense of a place lacking in just that. Wayne held on to Natalie as she keeled over and heaved, and Al looked dazed. "Nat – our friend – she said something was going on outside, so we….we watched, and kind of followed Lily…I mean, Nat, Wayne and I are friends with Lily, her brother and the Malfoy guy just kind of tagged along after Nat said Lily was doing something…we saw some people meeting but couldn't hear anything. Then we saw some kind of ring, portal thing open up and everyone disappeared, so we ran closer to try and help, then it…it swallowed us up just now and…and…"

Al pulled himself together enough to admit, "I did it. I saw Lily disappear and…I just ran, I didn't think, and they followed…"

Hermione shot Lily a look that screamed, you told someone what you were doing? "Why did you follow me?" Lily asked, feeling miserable. This was getting worse by the moment. "I said not to!"

"We thought you were going to be in trouble!" cried Natalie. "And we're not wrong, look at this nightmare – "

Maribor looked peeved. "Fine heroics."

Scorpius stood up, getting over the shock of this place long enough to say, "Sir we thought something bad was going down, really – "

"Well you're not wrong," Maribor spat. "Alright. If you're here, make yourselves useful. I don't care how old you are. I don't run this school so you all can break down into crying messes the first time something goes wrong."

Hermione had composed herself enough by now to ask, "Lily, that creature picked you out. Is this all familiar? This place?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"You should have told someone! We could have made a plan – "

"I did! I told Professor Vos, but who else would believe me?"

Maribor cut them off. "Enough. What does that thing want and how do we get out?"

Lily shook her head. "I don't know what it wants exactly. But…there was a portal…last time…one in here, like those ones in Hogsmeade, and I stepped through and ended up – "

"That's a start," interrupted the Headmaster. "Waiting around here's not going to do us any good. Good lord, you lot, pull yourselves together. I don't think throwing you in detention for being gallant morons will do a lot of good right now. I'm better off as an ex-Auror than a Headmaster in this mess."

"You all stay together," Hermione added to Lily and the others. "You six don't split up no matter what, alright?"

Al and Scorpius exchanged glances. Natalie was barely keeping it together, with Wayne supporting her with one arm. Logan clenched his wand, looking like the determined kid Lily remembered from two years ago down in the lower dungeons. Well, now they were all in on this horrible game.

Far ahead the phantasm loomed, floating off towards its terrible phantom Hogwarts and whatever it had prepared for them inside.