#mina pendleton

Mina and Eloise stood up from their places by the statue and they all approached the barricade as a group with their wands pointed forwards.

“Hey, stop right there!” Kaari called out loudly to the figure that got closer and closer.

The tension in the room relaxed as out from the shadows stepped a man with dark skin and rich purple robes. It was Kingsley Shacklebolt. Everyone’s wands dropped to their sides, except Devon who remained in place, her wand shaking slightly.

“If it’s really you, tell me your favorite type of bread,” Devon sent into Kingsley’s mind silently.

“Cinnamon raisin, of course,” she heard him reply back into her own mind.

“So, did we win?” Kaari inquired.

“Yes. Harry Potter has defeated Voldemort once and for all,” Kingsley’s deep voice filled the empty silence.

What followed was shouts of joy and exclamations of relief. Devon stood staring forward in shock before her knees finally gave out and she collapsed to the floor. All the adrenaline in her system crashed and the weight of the entire war came crumbing down upon her shoulders, like Atlas holding up the sky. Everyone was safe. Nobody else was going to die under her command.

“Dev! Oh Merlin, are you ok?” Henry immediately rushed to her side and scooped her up.

“Yea, I’m fine. I just need to rest for a second,” she signed.

Kingsley had climbed over the barricade and now crouched down next to them, his hand outstretched towards Devon who shook it gladly.

“Thanks for holding down the fort, Marlowe. I’ll take it from here,” he smiled gently.

“There’s one more thing I need to do, if you would allow me? In fact, I could really use your help, Kingsley,” Devon signed and pushed herself to her feet, Henry supporting her from one side.

...

With Kingsley’s help, the Phoenix Resistance wrote and printed one last newspaper together. This one, however, had no enchantments placed upon it to obscure the words.

Witches and wizards all around England watched as papers appeared with a flash from their floo networks and fell gently from the sky, a dark winged shadow accompanying it. The gold fiery Phoenix symbol blazed at the top of the paper, now visible to all.

Headlined right at the top with large letters said “Harry Potter Defeats The Dark Lord!”

The paper also went into great detail debunking the false muggleborn propaganda that was spread during the war. It included some damning evidence against many Death Eaters, calling them out by name. The puppet government was also revealed to the public. Pius Thicknesse had been under the imperius curse and Voldemort was the true leader during the war.

With that, the Phoenix flew one last time. However, this time it didn’t fly under the cover of night and it wasn’t exchanged by the hushed whispers of people in taverns. It also wouldn’t erupt into fire and burn away. This time it was persistent and loud.

At the bottom of the paper, where usually there was a blank space, now was filled with words.

“By Devon Marlowe”

The author of the Phoenix Paper was finally revealed.

As for what was to follow in the next few months after, Devon Marlowe would work under Kingsley as one of the head lawyers for the Death Eater Trials. The information she presented from the notebook she kept during the war was instrumental in the arrests and trials that followed.

The Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley, London - May 6th, 1998, 5:04 PM

The next few days passed in a blur for most of them. Kaari was more drunk than he was sober as he had a celebratory drink with anyone he came across. Devon on the other hand had buried herself in her work.

Tonight, however, Henry had managed to tear her away for a moment. The two of them held hands as they entered the Leaky Cauldron. Heads turned and hushed voices whispered as they made their way to a small table in the corner that already had many figures crowded around it.

“Hey, is that her? The former leader of the Phoenix Resistance?”

“No way.”

“Look at her scars. Of course it’s her.”

“Then those people at the table.. are they-“

“There she is! The woman of the hour!” Kaari loudly exclaimed, raising his tankard high in the air. Clearly he had started drinking early.

“C’mon, grab a seat!”

“What seat? You guys couldn’t find a larger table?” Henry laughed, pulling up a few more chairs from a nearby empty table.

It looked like they were the last ones to arrive. Along with Kaari Arcano, the table was surrounded by Mina Pendleton, Ellie Hopper, and even Eloise Yaxley. It was a shame that Ava Campbell and Artemis Hexley weren’t here, but Devon knew they were here in spirit.

Once everyone got settled, Kaari ordered a round for everyone. They spent the next little while in idle conversation. Each of them took turns talking about their day and what they had gotten up to in the last few days. Devon found herself laughing often, something she rarely did the last ten months. They were finally free from the darkness.

A bittersweet sadness sat in Devon’s chest as she couldn’t help but compare this to one of the first drinks she had in the Lone Star. Back then, it was just her, Henry, and Kaari. Their family had certainly grown since then. However, they had also lost family.

Immediately after they had sent out the last Phoenix Paper, the five of them left after their coup on the Ministry to deal with their fallen friends.

Mirai Wilson was cremated, matching their other fallen companion who was already ash. It was easy enough for Kaari to sneak into the back garden of the Wilson Manor, as he had done it once before. There, he watched as her ashes were picked up by the spring breeze and scattered through the grass and flowers. As long as Lenwin and Kiri stayed there, they would be close to her. Even if they didn’t know it. Lenwin would discover a piece of parchment jammed into the kitchen window, telling him of her passing in the line of duty. Her life was given so that many others would live.

Eleanor and Eme’s ashes were somewhat mixed and intertwined as they laid upon the Ministry floor. The Resistance combined them and after some discussion, they decided to take a trip to Pendle Hill together. Four hundred and two years after they were born, the twins finally returned home to rest.

The Resistance stood side by side and watched as the ashes blew up into the slowly darkening sky as the sun set over Pendle Hill. After a while, they all said their goodbyes and parted ways. Not forever, of course. They would always be friends.

It was now only a few short days later and they had reunited once again to have one last drink for the ones that they had lost. It was then that Devon stood up.

“To Mirai and Eleanor,” she signed before hoisting her tankard up high.

“To the Resistance,” Kaari added after translating for Devon.

The others stood up and joined her in her toast, their glasses lifting high into the air. They were surprised when their voices were joined with many others, echoing out around the entire tavern, their glasses raised in solemn recognition.

Rosmerta hadn’t been able to stay at the surprise party for long, concerned that her absence from the Three Broomsticks might raise suspicions among the Death Eaters, Tonks and Remus had left early to return to their new baby, and Mr and Mrs Weasley had taken Ginny and her somewhat peculiar friend back to Bill’s Aunt Muriel’s as soon as Fred had pulled a bottle of tequila from the lining of his jacket.

Now, it was just Artemis, Kingsley, Bill, Fleur, and the twins, and though the guests were small in number, Bill and Fleur’s cottage was nonetheless filled with noise and sound, the twins noisily dealing out a pack of cards and pouring out shot glasses full of clear liquid under Fleur’s sceptical eye whilst Bill and Kingsley chatted by the gramophone, still playing the records Kingsley had brought over from Artemis’ old house.

Bill left the scene after there was a knock at the door, and returned into the living room with more guests.

“I heard there was a party,” said a voice with a now all-too-familiar Norwegian accent, and Bill stepped aside to reveal the grinning face of Kaari Arcano. “I hope you don’t mind my bringing friends.”

“Not at all, Arcano,” George Weasley called out, not even looking up from the playing cards. “We’re just about to really get this party started.”

Kaari led his friends into the room, a collection of witches and wizards who Artemis recognised from her time in Skalafell: they were the Phoenix Resistance. There was Devon, the leader of the resistance, and her partner Henry, a curse-breaker who Artemis had worked with in Egypt five years previously. Then there was Eleanor, the petite blonde woman Artemis had helped to rescue from Azkaban back in December; Mirai, the Healer Artemis had met for the first time in Norway; and a blonde girl Artemis had known from school - Mina, Kaari introduced her as - but had until now not realised was a part of the resistance at all. Bringing up the rear was Ellie Hopper, who smiled shyly at Artemis before hugging her.

“How is-”

“He’s okay,” Ellie whispered. “Thank you for asking.”

Ellie left to greet Kingsley, leaving Artemis with Kaari.

“It’s good to see you… alive,” Kaari smirked. “We thought that curiosity might really have killed the cat.”

“Just as well cats have nine lives,” replied Artemis. “Any word from Ava?”

“Mina is Ava’s cousin. She received a blank postcard from Bucharest a couple of weeks ago.”

Artemis nodded. At least Ava seemed to have gotten herself to safety. There was one more thing playing on her mind, however.

“Kaari,” she said, quieter than before. “You heard how I escaped, right?”

“Why do I feel like you aren’t about to thank me for the knife I gave you at Yuletide?”

“So you do know, then.”

“I do, yes,” Kaari nodded. “Good job I gave you that knife. Even better job I taught you how to use it.”

“Do you know who he was? The wizard?”

Kaari frowned. “He was a Death-Eater.”

“I know, but his name…”

“Briarwood. Cain Briarwood. Nasty piece of work. We destroyed his potions shop a few months ago. Now, what is it you English call it? A good riddance?”

Artemis swallowed.

“Yeah,” she said, though she wasn’t sure how much she agreed. A life was still a life, wasn’t it? “A good riddance.”

“Now, what’s this?” the deep, melodious voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt reverberated across the living room, and Artemis turned to see him cocking a single eyebrow at the Weasley twins, who had stopped pouring drinks and were conducting what looked like a furtive and fairly serious conversation. “I hope you two aren’t plotting anything with those cards.”

“We aren’t,” said George, his face grim. “It’s these.”

Both he and Fred held out a Galleon each. Artemis frowned, not really sure of their significance.

“We had them made when we were in Dumbledore’s Army at school. All of us had them,” Fred explained. “Whenever a new meeting was arranged, they’d burn hot and the date and time of the meeting would show on the coin.”

“They’ve just burned for the first time since we left school.”

Kingsley nodded his head, his own expression sombre. “And when are you being called to a meeting?”

“Now.”

“Turn off the gramophone. Put the radio on.”

Bill immediately did as Kingsley instructed, and fiddled with the dials of the wireless until it played a single voice, frantic and breathless:

“Lightning has struck! I repeat, lightning has struck!”

The room fell silent.

“What does that mean?” Artemis asked quietly, though her heart sank as if she already knew the answer.

“It means that Harry Potter is at Hogwarts. It means that it’s starting. The battle,” said Kingsley. He took a breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was loud and authoritative. “Fred and George, you go to your family, make sure they know, then find this army of yours and get them to wherever it is we need to go. Bill and Fleur, get the word out to our allies overseas. Ellie, you and I will alert the rest of the Order. Devon, make sure the resistance is ready. We are going to need all the help we can get.”

The silence gave way to a cacophony of sound and movement, of patronuses being cast, and plans being made, and the loud cracks of Fred and George Weasley apparating away to find the rest of the Weasleys.

As she watched the surge of action around her, Artemis felt a strange dizzy sensation settle over her, and she slipped out into the garden outside, where the air was cooler and the sound of the waves could be heard lapping against the shore. It was time to fight, to bring about an end, one way or another. At least she would get to see the sea one more time before she set off towards her uncertain future.

“Artemis?”

She looked over her shoulder and saw Kaari Arcano standing behind her, wand already in hand. He grinned.

“So, this is it, huh?” he asked, and Artemis hummed in response. “So, Devon has come up with a plan.”

“What’s that?”

“We are staging one last raid.”

Artemis wrinkled her nose. “Now?”

“Now.”

“But, the battle… You heard Kingsley, we need everyone that we’ve got!”

“Yes, but so will the other side. The Death Eaters will be at the battle, too.”

“So, you’re going to just rob their houses while they’re out?”

“Not their houses, no,” said Kaari. “We’re going to take back the Ministry of Magic.” Artemis stared at him incredulously, and he continued, “They took it over with a coup. We are going to do the same. Besides, the Ministry is full of evidence, it’s proof of the crimes the Death Eaters and their supporters have committed. If we win this fight at Hogwarts, you can bet that evidence will be destroyed. We won’t get justice.”

“I guess, but what if we don’t win?”

“Then we will give them a whole other fight when they get back,” Kaari told Artemis. “So, are you coming with us? You are one of us now, after all. Do you want to fight alongside your comrades?”

He raised his eyebrows at her expectantly, but Artemis shook her head.

“No,” she said definitely, casting a look at the window of the house, through which both Kingsley’s and Bill’s patronuses could be seen. “I want to fight alongside my family.”

If Kaari was disappointed, he didn’t show it. Instead, he merely withdrew his wand and extended his hand to Artemis.

“I can understand that,” he said, as Artemis took his proffered hand and shook it. “Until we meet again, Artemis Hexley.”

“Until we meet again, Kaari Arcano.”

With that, Kaari was gone, disapparating with a loud crack. A few moments later, the shadow of something large and winged flew through the sky over Artemis’ head. She waved to it, before taking a deep breath of the sea-salted air and steeling herself.

But today she wasn’t alone; her cousin Ava Campbell was walking right behind her, a lot less openly excited than Mina, but not any less attentive to their surroundings as they walked past benches and shelves full of potted plants. Mina, who was to start her first year at Hogwarts in a few weeks’ time, was eager to show off her knowledge to Ava, who was a year older and had already completed a full year of education in Potions and Herbology.

“And look, this is a Shrivelfig, it’s used in Shrinking Solutions. And that’s Valerian, you need the sprigs for the Draught of the Living Dead and the Draught of Peace, and the roots go into a Forgetfulness Potion. And here -”

“Actually, it’s the other way round,” said Ava and gave her unusually bubbly cousin a look. “Sprigs for the Forgetfulness Potion, roots for the Draughts of Living Dead and Peace.”

A smile tugged at her lips as Mina flushed and pursed her lips. “I know that,” Mina protested, “that was a test, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Ava hummed and stopped in front of the table where they had been told to go. In front of them stood a big, earthen pot from which grew several thick, green stems. Their ends sprouted three magnificent blossoms each, with a red rim around the white, layered petals, and faded red streaks bleeding from the edge into the middle of the flowers.

“What do you think Grandmother Carolyn needs those for?” Mina whispered.

“No idea,” Ava said quietly. “I don’t know any potion that features Amaryllis.”

“There are plenty but this one here is for none of them,” a voice sounded behind them and Ava and Mina startled. They turned around to find their great-grandmother Carolyn Pendleton standing behind them. Her once blonde hair was pinned up into an immaculate updo and she was wearing a high-collared black dress. Despite her age, she stood upright with her shoulders squared and her head held high.

Mina looked disappointed at her words. “Not even for an experiment?”

“No,” Carolyn shook her head and put one of her hands on each of her great-granddaughters’ shoulders.

“Then what do you grow them for?”

“Some things aren’t meant to be efficient or used solely for their properties,” Carolyn said and almost gently took one of the red-and-white petals between her fingers. “Some things are just meant to make the world more beautiful.”

Mina made a disappointed face. “That sounds boring.”

A small smile appeared on Carolyn’s lips. “That’s what I used to think, too. Your great-grandfather taught me to think otherwise.”

Mina wanted to say something, but Ava nudged her in the ribs with her elbow; contrary to Mina, the wistful look on Carolyn’s face hadn’t been lost on her.

“Are these for Grandfather, Grandmother?” she asked quietly and Carolyn nodded.

“I was going to take them to him,” she said and ran her hand over the petals again, “but maybe I won’t.” She straightened up and brushed her hands over the black skirt of her dress. “They look breathtaking in the sunlight, don’t they? Let them be beautiful for a little longer.”

With that, she turned and left the two stunned girls behind in the conservatory. Mina looked at her cousin uncertainly. “Do you know what’s gotten into her? Grandfather is -”

“I know,” Ava sighed.

“Do you think we should ask her about it?”