A/N: This is a sequel to the story Schism and part 2 in the series it belongs to. I don't believe it's 100% imperative to read before this, although some things might be missed.

Prologue

"Let's begin, shall we?" Kingsley Shacklebolt said.

The last day of Order briefings had arrived. Harry sat in the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place on one side of the table with Ron and Hermione. They'd been to enough of these now that all had seemed to claim their own seats. The more senior Order members rotated through the others. Today's attendees centred Hogwarts. Dumbledore sat across from Harry, then to his right McGonagall, and then Snape.

Kingsley stood at the head of the table in front of the once-again-empty cork board. He had a pile of papers on the table. Kingsley picked up the top one. Harry got a glimpse of a face before it was pinned to the board.

"Theodore Nott," Kingsley needlessly introduced him. "Son of known Death Eater, Wesley Nott. Current residence is London, as was his birthplace. Lives alone with his father since his mother passed away in 1993."

Kingsley picked up the next and pinned it up: "Vincent Crabbe, son of known Death Eater, Hugo Crabbe. Current residence Manchester, birthplace London."

The next: "Gregory Goyle, son of known Death Eater, Everett Goyle. Current residence also Manchester, birthplace also London."

Kingsley took the next portrait. Harry's heart rate picked up a little when a bored Malfoy looked back from the board. He had more than expected to see him up there. Malfoy was the first one that came to Harry's mind when Kingsley told them they would be discussing relevant children of Death Eaters today.

"Draco Malfoy," Kingsley said. "Son of known Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy. Current residence is in Wiltshire county, birthplace also at Malfoy Manor."

Only one page remained on the table. So far, Kingsley had put up four of the five Slytherin boys in Harry's year. That likely left just Blaise Zabini to be part of this discussion.

Kingsley hesitated after picking it up. His gaze travelled the room, lingering on Hermione before he put it up beside Malfoy. Harry's eyebrows rose, for it wasn't at all who he expected to see. And yet—just because she was there, Harry's surprise quickly evaporated.

"Dagmar Ramstad," Kingsley introduced her. "Daughter of suspected Death Eater, Erik Ramstad. Current residence is in Berkshire county, birthplace unknown."

The room fell quiet as its occupants studied the five portraits. Harry looked around to try and see what the other side of the table thought. Dumbledore did well at hiding his mind. McGonagall's lips were in a tight line and Snape's brow low.

Out the corner of Harry's eye, Hermione's hand slowly rose. "Er—sorry. Dagmar said she was born in Bergen, Norway."

"That's what she told the French Ministry of Magic too," Kingsley replied, "which is something I will get to shortly enough. I don't mean to draw attention to that fact, we just can't confirm it at the moment. I consulted with Olaf Kyrre Memorial in Bergen and they have no record of Dagmar being born there. The Norwegian Ministry itself has no record of any such home birth, although those are only voluntarily submitted. Admittedly there isn't much effort going into sorting it out. Ms. Ramstad and her family have had an eventful summer, which you will probably come to agree is much more interesting."

Harry shared a quick, knowing glance with Ron. They hadn't really ever known what to think about Hermione's friendship with Ramstad. She was a Slytherin, but if that fact ever came up Hermione would defend her on it. The two of them had been acquainted right from the beginning of their education. Dumbledore had also encouraged them as a school not to be divided when Voldemort returned at the end of their fourth year, which Hermione took to heart.

Kingsley pointed at Crabbe and Goyle. "It started here. While doing some undercover work, one of my Aurors ran into their fathers drunk in a pub. They didn't notice him and happened to be discussing a meeting they'd attended at Ramstad Manor. The Ministry dispatched a crew to poke around the Ramstads and see why they would be meeting with Death Eaters but they never returned.

"A follow-up crew seemed to surprise Erik and his wife Hildegard when they arrived. We questioned the two of them at the Ministry about the whereabouts of the first crew, but they said they never received them. They offered us the opportunity to perform an in-depth raid of their manor as a means to clear the matter up on their end and would cancel their vacation in order to stick around. We ended up finding no signs that our team had been there. The Minister offered an apology."

"So what's weird about that?" Ron asked while Harry tried on his own to see how the pieces fell together.

"Nothing spare one little detail," Kingsley indicated the picture of Malfoy. "While the Ramstads were unable to stay in their own home, they were hosted by the Malfoys. The friendship between their families can't be ignored. The Ministry as an entity may not yet see the evidence of Lucius Malfoy being a Death Eater, so that detail went unnoticed by them. Since we know otherwise. . .we're able to see it.

"Dagmar here made some trouble abroad for herself after the raid was completed and her family went ahead on their original planned trip to France. Long story short, she used an obscure and dangerous curse on a Muggle. When questioned by my equal in Paris about it, Elodie Marigot, Elodie wasn't able to find enough evidence of actual wrong-doing to hold Dagmar. It seemed to be in self-defence, as all other signs indicated and the Muggle himself corroborated, but on top of the raid and staying at Malfoy Manor in the meantime, the consequences are becoming too many to remain as such."

"What curse did she use?" Hermione asked.

"It's called the Heafonfýr Curse," Kingsley replied. "Its use died out in the sixteenth century. Madam Pince is quite certain it's mentioned in no text at Hogwarts. It's difficult to imagine where Dagmar may have picked up such a thing if not at school. Of course it could've been anywhere, but the three weeks she spent at Malfoy Manor are suspect."

"I'm sorry, I'm really confused about that," Hermione replied. "I'll openly admit that Dagmar and I are quite friendly. She's friendly with lots of respectable students. The only people at Hogwarts that she's not on good terms with are the Slytherins. How could she go from that to this? I've never seen her interact with Malfoy outside of a classroom setting. Even if their families are close like you say they are, those two aren't."

"If I may remind you, Ms. Granger," Snape spoke up across from her in his usual drawl. "The purpose of this meeting is to look forward at how things might now change since you're all of-age."

"If we're going to talk about that, then we should talk about when Harry and I ran into Malfoy in Diagon Alley," Ron said while nudging Harry with his elbow. "He didn't do or say anything to us, which isn't usually like him."

"We figured maybe he's trying to stay under a radar," Harry added.

"It's possible." Kingsley saying that made Harry feel better about bringing it up. Hermione had discounted the idea as typical paranoia when they all talked about it after it happened. "At least from my perspective, Draco and Dagmar may be the ones to watch closest for possible sleeper activity, followed next by Theodore. These two—" he pointed again at Crabbe and Goyle, "—are most likely not going to be dangerous. Their fathers are currently on the run from Voldemort, as Snape has managed to learn."

At the end of it, the day's briefing left Harry with more to think about than any other. This one affected him personally, and there were definitely things he hadn't considered until Kingsley brought them up. Ramstad hadn't really been anywhere on his mind, for one. This briefing put more weight on her as an active agent of Voldemort's than Malfoy, who Harry thought was the obvious choice.

Maybe that was the problem: Harry would see Malfoy coming from a million miles away. He'd anticipated after all that if Malfoy was going to be up to something during their seventh year, he would see a behaviour change in him. That he tried to slip out of the Quidditch shop unnoticed and didn't even pause at the prospect of tormenting Harry and Ron was the change Harry expected.

Ramstad, though. From the point of view of a sleeper agent, she'd spent the last six years lowering the guards of those around her. She was friends of friends of Harry's, although they themselves had never spoken a single word to each other outside the classroom.

Hermione still seemed to be struggling with it as she and Ron loitered in Harry's room while he packed his things.

"I just don't know," Hermione said for about the fifth time now. "I get where Kingsley is coming from, but Dagmar definitely doesn't believe in pureblood supremacy. What would she ever have to gain from serving Voldemort? Her family hasn't even lived in Britain long enough to have been around for the first war. They only moved here a year before we started at Hogwarts. Dagmar's English was terrible, and I don't think she could've faked that. She wouldn't fake that. There were more than a few times I found her crying in the toilets our first year because that cow Pansy Parkinson was teasing her about it."

"Makes you wonder why she's a Slytherin," Ron said.

"I always thought she was an example that Slytherins weren't all like Malfoy." Hermione leaned back on her hands where she sat on Harry's bed. "Ambition certainly isn't a bad trait, and she's brilliant. Sure, she's also a pureblood, but that's generally irrelevant."

Harry closed his trunk. "Guess it's just something to keep an eye on."

Dumbledore waited downstairs for Harry. His eyes crinkled with a smile as Harry followed his levitating trunk into the parlour. Ron and Hermione came in after him.

"Are you ready to go, Harry?" Dumbledore asked him.

Harry nodded and turned to the others. "Guess I'll see you in a few days."

"Train won't be the same without you," Ron jested as Hermione gave Harry a quick hug. "See you at the feast."

Dumbledore disappeared through the fireplace first. Harry went next, growing nauseous from spinning as he followed Dumbledore north to the other end of the Isles. When he stepped out of the fireplace with his trunk, he stood in Dumbledore's office. Although it was quite segregated from the rest of the castle, Harry could feel the lack of life currently in Hogwarts.

"Any questions from today?" Dumbledore asked from where he stood beside his desk.

"Not really." Harry shrugged. "Well, plenty, but mostly just about how things will play out. Kingsley answered what he could."

"I don't think any of us know quite what to expect." Dumbledore nodded. "We'll have regular meetings to keep up on developments. All we can do is wait and see."

"Yes, Professor."

"If you care to join us in the Great Hall for supper, the teachers have all arrived for term." Dumbledore's eyes crinkled again. "I could introduce you to the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was at least some relief to be felt. Snape returned to lurking in the dungeons and Slughorn was back in retirement.

"Sure," Harry said.