Of course he could ask her whatever he liked. Kyrie had Freddy right where he wanted her- a bug pinned in place. They strolled back into the stone comfort of Hogwarts castle, sheltered from the howling wind.
"Well, you know how I had my Auror internship over the summer?" He peeked across at his friend, her eyes were wide with recognition, hanging on his every word. She was salivating for him, desperate for connection. Like this, the lie was effortless. He could have told her that he was the great Merlin himself, and Freddy would have believed him. "You can't tell your family- but they've offered me a role. My Captain, Captain Thorne, she works in the Forensics team. She's had me working on creating a spell that will reanimate a victim for a short time- long enough for us to record their testimony, or at least extract memories."
He smiled, eyes shining with excitement. He dropped her arm, "I just need a line of rune from this particular book. They don't have it here, it's not even in the Restricted Section. All politics, you know." He waved his hand dismissively.
"It's such a shame- the only copy is in the Library," Kyrie sighed, dusting snow off his uniform, feigning nonchalance. He looked up at her, "Do you happen to know anyone with a pass? I thought, your family is so well-connected, surely you'd know someone who could let me borrow just one book."
.
Freddy knew all about Kyrie's internship - Micah had been annoyed the whole summer over her classmate being on his team. Had come home scoffing and pissed as a wet cat over his Captain's nonchalance about bringing a teenager into their work. Freddy thought it was wonderful that Kyrie could work alongside the Ministry's Finest. She'd long since given up hope that her family would let her get any kind of work internship for curse-breaking before she left Hogwarts, tales of her delicate condition running rampant around recruiters before she was even allowed to think of asking around.
Freddy gripped Kyrie's forearm with joy for her friend, grinning brightly at him. "That's so exciting! You deserve a place with them! I didn't think you'd go a Forensics route, but you'll be awesome in whatever role that Captain thinks you'll do well in."
Micah hated his Captain, but her Uncle only said they had 'warring personalities' and that it was good for Micah to feel challenged. So Freddy could only see the good in this work.
Freddy nearly stumbled at the request of the Library. The LibCon pass wasn't a secret, but Freddy didn't go around bragging she had a card. She wasn't sure anyone even knew she had it on her regularly, and it wasn't just something Q got her for special occasions. Besides, it was for guest use only - hell, if Freddy tried to use the card when Q hadn't put her down in the register for a visit, it wouldn't even work! Worse, the door might blow up, and Q could get in trouble for Freddy trying to get in without permission.
"None of the Rylands or Shacklebolts are affiliated with the Library," Freddy replied stiffly, "the Rylands work mainly in law and public forums at the Ministry; the Shacklebolts obviously work with law enforcement. LibCon has no use for any of them. I'm sure we have a few cadet branches or other families we're related to - Zabini, Bones, Binns - who may have a pass, but none are in close enough relation to ask." Not without it being a strange request either, and one that would be scrutinized to hell and back by everyone with the surname Ryland or Shacklebolt running around.
She took a deep breath, "Why don't you ask Q? I'm sure she'd be happy to get you a guest pass like mine?" Freddy nearly bit her lip - oh, she shouldn't have said that - "I-I mean -- Q likes to help our friends; I'm sure if this book really is something she can help you out with unless it is super dangerous or fragile or like illegal. But your Captain wouldn't make it illegal or that hard to get to, would she? I mean, we're still students. It's not like we have full access to the world of magic beyond Hogwarts," Freddy did, by virtue of blood and a LibCon guest pass, but still, the Aurors wouldn't assign something that was only found in the Library. It would be impossible for even a seasoned Auror to get, let alone Kyrie.
Freddy shifted uncomfortably on her feet.
Timidly, she posed another question: " Isn't that necromancy, Ky?" Freddy whispered, "Are you sure that's something the Captain can even assign you? That's like high-grade stuff that the Department of Mysteries does." Maybe their friends dabbled in all sorts of odd magics, but they chose to do that, not have an adult assign it to them as a job interview. Freddy wasn't being told to create curses - she did it for fun, for theory, because she was good at curses.












