Order of the Hidden Dragon

Albus Apparated back into the Base Camp the next morning, not knowing what he would find. But it felt like it had before the raid. Though there was a slight undertone of tension that hadn't been there before. Or maybe it hadn't been as visible earlier. Albus feared that this would drive an even larger wedge between the two factions in this group. McLaggen had some new arguments to use now. He just hoped that what Hermione had said as an apology would be enough to prevent them from wanting to retaliate. That would only make things worse.

He knocked on the door for Sophia's area. There was no reaction. He knocked again and called her name. Still nothing. Either she wasn't there, or she didn't want to talk to him. He remembered what she had said about not barging in, and she had seemed surprised the last time he had entered without telling her, so he went over to Mary Piers' area instead. She wasn't there either. Finally, he saw Fred walking in the periphery with Greg like they usually did. He started jogging to catch up.

"Ah, there you are, son. Glad to see that they released you as well." Fred said.

"Yes. Scorpius told me what you did. Thank you."

"No need to thank me. It was the two young women that did most of the work. I was just the messenger."

"Yes, I wanted to thank them too, but they aren't here. Do you know when they will be back?"

"No, I haven't seen them today. We've all been a bit disorganised after what happened with the raid. Cormac tried to make us all agree with his view because of it, and he seems frustrated that most of us don't listen any more than we did before."

"Yes, about that. Do you have any ideas for how to find the group that is misusing our name? I've been racking my brain, and I am nowhere. The Ministry has issued warrants for most of the presumed members, but most of them haven't been seen for days."

"If they have eyes in the Ministry, or just a contact in this group, they know what has happened, and that the Ministry is looking for them. They have probably gone underground."

"Yes, that is my guess as well. But someone must know. And they have to get supplies one way or another."

"Well, I wish you luck with that, lad. None of us seem to know anything about it, or they would have said so to save themselves."

Albus privately disagreed with that but didn't bother arguing the point. He didn't want to be the cause of further splits in this group. He found he enjoyed spending time with most of them. He hadn't realised how nice it would be to interact with other people outside of his immediate family. And they didn't treat him like some celebrity. This group was a refreshing change from how people usually treated him. Either with hostility or with awe. It wasn't quite like that at work, but his colleagues were often older than him. He wasn't really close with any of them outside of work.

Then he saw Sophia and Mary appearing close to the former's area, hands full of shopping bags. He ran over to intercept them, before they might go out again.

"Let me help with those," he said, as he saved a few boxes from toppling over.

"Thank you," Sophia said with a smile, until she realised who it was. Then her smile went away, replaced with an expression Albus didn't recognise.

"Albus! What are you doing here?"

"I came here to talk to you. To say thank you. I understood it so that you're the one who managed to find evidence of what actually happened. Thank you, both of you."

"You're welcome," Mary said. Sophia seemed to be speechless. "I just want to know for sure what happened that day. And who it was that actually killed him."

"We all do. Identifying the mystery person has become a top priority. Apparently, Hermione even sent the footage to some Muggle computer experts, to see if they can find any identifying features. They have already been able to give a basic description of height etc that can be judged from the image alone."

"That's good." Mary said. There was a moment of awkward silence as all three of them tried to find something else to say. They were interrupted by a flash of fire and a note of parchment that dropped into Albus' hands. He knew what that was, but he was surprised to see it.

"What is that?" Mary asked.

"An emergency message. They need every available Auror back at the Ministry immediately. I have never actually received one of these before."

"What is it for?"

"My guess, we've either found the Knocker, or the location of the other group stealing our name. Either way, I have to go. I'll see you later then?"

Before either of the women could answer, he had placed the boxes he had rescued on the table and Disapparated. Mary rounded on Sophia at once.

"What was that about? Why did you freeze like that?"

"I don't know. I didn't expect him to be here, he caught me off guard."

"You're never caught off guard. What is it with him that gets your wands twisted?"

"I don't know. He's the only person who's been able to surprise me for quite some time."

"Are you sure you don't like him?"

"Yes. It doesn't matter anyway. He got what he wanted and he's back with his family. I doubt we will see much of him now."

"He came back today. He could only have been released last night."

"And he came to say thank you. Either way, if he does keep coming back, it's because he still wants me to help them find the Knocker. You saw how surprised he was when I refused."

Mary didn't know what to say to that. If Sophia refused to talk about her feelings for Albus, no one could force her.