“Kherington!” Pieter smiled, pulling me into a light embrace once I’d thrown my trunks onto the floor of my bedroom. “Cielle’s just arrived, as well. This noble son of Durmstrang, however, has been here for weeks, and the manor hasn’t been the same without his sisters.”

“That ‘noble son of Durmstrang’ has been complaining about your absence for longer than he’s been here,” a dry voice observed. I glanced at the doorway, and Alexsandre’s light eyes prompted a quick smile. “We have much to discuss,” he reminded me, gesturing to Pieter and I.

We followed him into the library, my favorite place in the summer home. The floor-to-ceiling shelves were filled with rich literature, and the books were accessible by sliding ladders, which most of my family climbed with dignity, but which Cielle could often be found childishly abusing. A brief deluge of memories regarding this fact reminded me that I still hadn’t seen my twin sister.

As if in response to my silent call, an airy voice danced over the many shelves. She was singing a French song in an unnecessarily suggestive tone, and I couldn’t help but grin as she skipped into view. I indulgently grabbed her hand and spun her around a few times before nudging her towards one of the leather armchairs in the center of the expansive room. She sat, instead, at my feet, and I absentmindedly twirled a strand of her dark hair between my fingers.

My eldest brother stood to begin speaking, but a warm voice cut him off. “Not now, Lexie; my children are all together again, and I haven’t had time to say hello.” Christofer and Elinor Squires appeared from behind the shelves, and I waved at my parents, a little confused. Though we respected and loved them deeply, our parents conversed with my siblings and me very rarely.

Our mother seemed to catch the collective inquisitive spirit, and she sighed. “What, I can’t even say hello? Come on, then. We can eat before we talk, can’t we?”

“Yes, please, I’m starving,” Pieter said, standing and stretching.

“It’s rather important, though…” Christofer said, watching Pieter slide back into his seat and nod thoughtfully.

“Not more important than catching up with my children. I don’t see them very often.” Her tone was that of playful chastisement, but her eyes were pleading.

She shared a meaningful look with Alexsandre and he nodded, saying, “It can wait, Dad. We’ve got all the time in the world, and Telky is nearly finished with supper.”

“And her cooking is much better than the last house elf’s,” Cielle grinned.

As we stood to retire to the dining room, Alexsandre caught my arm. I understood that he wanted me to hang back, and we watched the rest of the family’s retreating backs. Once my sister’s endless chatter faded to silence, I turned to stare at him patiently, waiting for him to speak.

“Kherington, since we’re the oldest…”

“But Cielle is – ”

“ – not the most mature person in the family. I know you’re twins, but you must understand. Listen, I just wanted to know that I can rely on you to do whatever it takes to protect our family, if things go bad.”

“If things go bad…?” I searched his face, trying to gain some clue as to what he could be talking about. “What, has Cielle blown our cover again? Did Pieter get into trouble? What is it?”

Alexsandre brushed my questions away with a wave of his hand and rested it on my shoulder. “It’s nothing like that. We’ll discuss it at dinner. I just want to make sure that you’re willing to sacrifice whatever you have to.”

However innocent they were, his words cut into me deeply. “I already have – don’t you remember?”

He dropped his hand instantly and his gaze dropped, too. “I’m sorry, Kher. I didn’t mean – ”

“I know.”

With nothing further to say, I wrapped my arm around his waist. Understanding that he was forgiven, he threw his arm over my shoulder and we moved to join our family, leaving the silent library behind us.

*

“Well, alright,” Elinor began, once we had all finished eating Telky’s best mashed potatoes. “I suppose we should get to it, then. Things at the Ministry are looking bad. I know we’ve dealt with things like this before, but recently, certain implicating research has come to light…”

“Implicating, how?” I asked in a sharp tone.

Cielle interrupted our mother’s response. “You don’t mean –”

“Yes,” Christofer spoke for the first time. “Certain pro-Unforgivables at the Ministry have been aggressively researching the Dark Arts.”

“Why?” Cielle asked, her eyebrows disappearing behind her hair, disbelief saturating her tone.

“They hope to find a time in the past when Unforgivable Curses were allowed to be used freely. They think it will help their case,” Alexsandre explained.

“This shouldn’t be a problem,” I insisted. “Like you said, Mum, things like this have happened to us before.”

“She’s right,” Pieter said, glancing around uneasily. “Why should this time be different?”

“Because,” Elinor explained, “Madge Scrimgeour is notoriously determined to trace Dark magic to the roots.”

There was an extended silence as the enormity of the statement sunk in.

“Impossible,” I whispered.

“We haven’t been careless,” Cielle insisted. “There’s no conceivable way to trace it to the roots. It’s always been accepted that Dark magic has simply existed forever.”

“But it hasn’t,” Alexsandre reminded her gently. “We, of all people, should know that.”