Hagrid appeared in the hut doorway before they'd taken ten steps out of the tree line, and he covered the distance between them at the speed of a large man who has been worried for two hours and is very glad to have something to show for it.
"Kevin! I've been going out of my mind — there was fire, and I heard Norbert, and then those dark marks in the sky—"
"We're fine," Kevin said. "All three of us, and Norbert."
He produced Norbert from his sleeve — she'd been shrunk down for the walk through the trees — and handed her to Hagrid, who received her with the checking hands of a man examining something precious for damage. Norbert submitted to the inspection with the patience of a dragon who has recently done something impressive and feels magnanimous.
"She did well," Draco said.
Hagrid looked at Draco. Then at Norbert. The full shape of the evening was assembling in his face.
"How many?" he said.
"Eleven or twelve. We left two for the Aurors."
"..."
Hagrid said nothing. He held Norbert against his chest and looked at Kevin with the expression of someone trying to decide whether to be relieved or horrified, and opting for both simultaneously.
Then Dumbledore appeared.
He stepped out of the shadow of the hut with the particular quality of presence that Kevin had come to associate with the headmaster having known about something for longer than he was going to admit.
"Kevin," he said. "You're safe." He looked from Kevin to Draco to Dore, taking in the state of all three of them and the evidence of the evening written across their clothes and expressions.
"Took Norbert out," Kevin said. "Wandered past the boundary. Death Eaters were waiting."
"How many."
"Twelve or so. Two are bound in the forest — Aurors should be able to collect them. The rest are no longer a concern."
Dumbledore processed this for a moment with the expression of a man filing it alongside a great many other things he hadn't expected Kevin to say this week.
His gaze moved to Dore.
Kevin noticed Dore's response — a subtle stiffening, a breath drawn and held, a slight elevation in the veins visible at his temple. The kind of physiological reaction that happens when a very disciplined person encounters something they can't quite control.
He'd felt something similar from Dore twice now. Always when Dumbledore appeared.
Kevin filed it. He'd ask Dumbledore about it directly, later.
"The bracelets," Kevin said, because the other conversation wasn't done. "Dore told me some things about them. About my parents." He held Dumbledore's gaze. "Did you know?"
Dumbledore was quiet for a moment.
"I suspected," he said. "I didn't know how to raise it."
"You could have tried."
"Yes." No deflection, no additional explanation. Just the acknowledgement, plain.
Kevin looked at him. Then nodded once.
"I want access to the texts on soul anchoring," he said. "Everything the Hogwarts library holds that you haven't made available yet."
"I'll arrange it."
Hermione arrived at a half-run from the direction of the castle, having apparently tracked the bracelet's signal to this exact point on the grounds. She stopped when she saw Kevin, let out a breath, and came the rest of the way at normal speed.
She looked at his face when she reached him. Took in what she saw there.
"Are you all right?" she asked — not about the Death Eaters. About the other thing. The bracelet thing. She'd felt the shift in him.
"I need to find something out," he said.
She moved closer. Her hand found his.
"Then we'll find it out," she said.
Well now, paid members are sitting pretty — thirty, fifty, a hundred chapters ahead of you, y'all. I do declare that's a mighty fine advantage, hon. Don't let them get too far ahead now