Vega sighed as he slowly walked out of the Hospital Wing, waving over his shoulder to the two mediwitches standing across the room. It had been a really long night... or at least, it had felt like one. He had slept, but it had been a short, deep sleep. He felt refreshed, but he didn't feel well, which Madam Pomfrey claimed would last until his magic supply replenished itself. It was still early in the day, but he felt it would take awhile to get down to the Great Hall. He was in no hurry. He had stopped the boggarts, the school was safe, so he was jolly well going to take his time for once.

The twins, he assumed, were likely still asleep. While he had been the one to actually take down the swarm of boggarts, he imagined their nerves were pretty shot by the end of it, too. Reaching the stairs, he grimaced. This would be fun. Grabbing the handrail for dear life and praying that they didn't start turning and moving all over the place, Vega slowly descended to the ground floor, where he let out a long sigh of relief.

There was a pain in the back of his head that hadn't gone away. The feeling in his stomach had left almost entirely, but this headache had unfortunately persisted through the potions. He stopped to collect himself, as he felt a bit winded after going down so many stairs. As he was leaning over forward, hands on his knees, he heard someone call out to him. When he looked up, it was to find Lapis Eskander standing at the entrance to one of the nearby hallways.

"Eskander. Mornin'." Vega said, standing back up and offering a weak grin to the Ravenclaw.

Walking over, Lapis gave Vega a once-over. "How'd your little adventure go?"

"How's it look like I went? I probably look about as good as I feel. But we won. Huge nest of the stupid things down there. I didn't even know boggarts laid eggs..." Vega explained, shaking his head. "Drained a ton of magic dealing with them. Hyde and Vivi are probably gonna sleep through breakfast. As usual, I was the only one who ended up needing a stay with Madam Pomfrey."

"A nest?" Repeated Lapis, brow creased. "Where was it?"

"Way under the school. Like... way, way under. I don't even know where the heck we ended up, but we had to've walked for like two hours at least. We were all sore and miserable, and I was unconscious at the end, of course..."

"Of course." Lapis said, rolling his eyes. Motioning for Vega to follow, he headed for the Great Hall. "All I knew about it was that Professor Flitwick entered the common room for awhile and told the students who were still up to keep anyone from leaving... he just stopped back in, actually, but I was the only one awake. Said it was safe to leave now - that the boggart problem had been taken care of."

Vega followed behind Lapis, chuckling slightly. "Yeah, that's one way to put it. It's weird being this hungry, yet not wanting to eat at all. You look terrible, by the way."

"Thanks." Lapis said, shooting Vega an annoyed look over his shoulder. "The team's still mad at me for stepping down, my parents are still missing, and you went off on a suicide mission last night. Do you have any idea how hard it was not to tell someone? From the looks of it, I should've done it. You look pretty rough today, too."

"Still no word, huh? It hasn't been a very good year for either of us, has it?"

"Not in the least."

Vega walked over to his usual spot at the end of Slytherin's table, sitting down at it and groaning. He leaned forward against it, letting his head loll forward. Lapis sat opposite him, as no one else was in the room yet. Finally, Vega asked, "So what're you gonna do once the summer holiday rolls around?"

"Dunno. My uncle Adel's written me, saying he would be fine looking after me, if it came to it. He's a good guy, but..." Lapis trailed off.

"But he's not your mum and dad. Yeah..." Vega finished. "Hopefully they'll turn up alright. Next year, I want both of us to do a bit better than we did this year. Definitely not going to be flying any time soon now. But next year, I want to be back up in the air with you."

Scoffing slightly, Lapis replied, "I'd love for my next year here to go better than this one. I guess, if there's an upside, I haven't had to spend a portion of my time in a hospital bed this year."

"Yeah, think I've broken some kinda record for this." Vega groused. He looked over when he heard the large double doors being opened, the majority of the staff entering and chatting amongst themselves.

McGonagall was at the front, and she broke away from the group to walk over to see Vega. "How are you feeling today?"

"Terrible." Vega admitted. "They told me you guys sealed that long hall off?"

"Indeed we did. We undid the magic to remove the illusion of a wall and replaced it with a real one. We also checked for more hidden passages within those corridors, and came up with nothing. We did come to the conclusion that the room you found the boggarts' nest in was deep below the remains of the Forbidden Forest, however." McGonagall explained. "There was a room that had a hole leading all the way to the surface."

"We saw that one. Full of mosquitoes..." Vega said, pulling a face as he remembered.

"Quite. We also saw to it that that entrance was sealed off, as well. Nothing will be breaching the lowest dungeons of the school again." McGonagall stated. Turning her head, she offered a smile to Lapis, reaching into her robes and pulling out a letter. "I'm glad you're here, actually. I wanted to deliver this in person. I was planning to pull you out to the Entrance Hall if you showed up while breakfast was happening..."

Lapis frowned, taking the letter from McGonagall. It was in an unmarked envelope. He opened it up and pulled out the letter inside, eyes quickly scanning what it said. Whatever it was seemed to have quite the impact, as his eyes got wide and tears began to well up. Rereading the letter, he then turned to look up at McGonagall, asking, "Where?"

"They were in Albania, if you'll believe that. The Ministry's had people searching for them since they disappeared. They were a bit shaken, but seemed alright otherwise. Apparently, whatever they were doing for the Ministry got away from them and caused a bit of trouble, but they wouldn't say much more than that to me."

"They? You mean they found Eskander's parents?" Vega asked, looking from the Ravenclaw to the headmistress.

"Indeed they have, Potter. It seems today was set to be a day of celebration for one reason or another." McGonagall said, a faint smile on her lips. "Though try not to get excited. There's still the matter of detention to discuss..."

Vega groaned, letting his head fall forward, thumping against the table. "Oh come on! I saved the school and messed myself up in the process! Isn't that bad enough?"

"I'm afraid not, Potter. You've also lost quite a few points for your House... but, as you've said, you did indeed take care of the boggart problem for us. So the loss is negated by the gain. It isn't quite enough to put Slytherin in the lead, but it's very close." Said McGonagall. "But your detention will be discussed later, once you're feeling a bit better. For now, try to enjoy the day. Both of you."

With this, the headmistress excused herself and went to join the rest of the staff at the front of the room. Vega watched her leave, then looked back at Lapis, who was furiously wiping at his eyes as he read the letter once more. "Kinda wish there was some kind of lottery to put a bet in. We're doing pretty well for ourselves today, huh?"

Lapis laughed, though there was a hitched breath in there somewhere. "Seems like." He said, folding the letter and tucking it away. As he resumed wiping the tears from his eyes, he stood from his spot across from Vega. "I'm going to go write to them. And tell Samantha and Valerie that they're alive."

"Are they talking to you now?" Asked Vega.

"They'd better be after this..." Lapis said, smirking slightly. "I'll be back before breakfast's up!"

Vega waved as Lapis turned and rushed from the room, smiling as the doors closed behind him. Crossing his arms on the table, he lowered his head and closed his eyes. 'Hey, Cygnus?'

'Hm?'

'Totally going down to the Pit after breakfast and having the house elves make us a cake.'

Snorting, Cygnus replied, 'Sounds good to me. I dunno about Hyde, but I'm sure Vivi'd be on board with that plan.'

'Hope people start getting here soon. Don't really like the thought that the staff informed people in the common rooms to stay put, but I guess it makes sense. McGonagall's probably gonna make an announcement once everyone's here. Things'll spread from there, rumor mill being what it is.' Vega thought.

'Maybe we'll get a little respect out of it, too.'

'I don't want any attention.'

'Yes you do, you just don't want to admit it.' Cygnus said. 'Besides, it's good attention, not bad attention. We took out a whole nest of boggarts on our own! Gotta get some kinda praise for that, right?'

'If you say so. Gonna rest my eyes until I hear noise, if that's alright. Still feeling pretty off.'

'I'd say we earned some downtime. Good of McGonagall to let us get back to full strength before sending us off to polish trophies or whatever, though. Think she's going a bit easy on us.'

'So do I. Not complaining, though!'

Soon enough, students began to filter into the Great Hall. Vega kept his head down, listening. He would know when the twins arrived, as he was sure Viola would yell his name and attempt to pounce him out of his seat or something. Considering how poor he felt, he was having a pretty good day. They'd managed to put down a platoon of boggarts, Eskander's parents had been found, and the remainder of the school year would be far better off. At least, he hoped it would.

He was still aching all over, though. Draining his magic reserves had left him feeling cold and sore. It didn't help that he was still sore from walking so much. He wasn't sure if the distance they had traveled could be measured in miles, but he was sure they'd gone a few, at least. Despite really not wanting to think about his crazy trip under the castle, it was the only thing he could focus on for some reason. He let out a quiet yawn, wincing a little. He was going to eat breakfast, then he was going down to the Pit for a nap. Classes be damned, he'd earned half a day off, at least.

He felt something brush against his cheek and he opened his eyes, finding Viola moving away from him, a tired smile on her face. Sitting down next to him, with Hydrus sitting across from them both, she looked over and asked, "Sleepy?"

"And sore." Vega said. "What about you two?"

"About the same." Hydrus replied. "I'm surprised they let you out so soon. How long have you been down here?"

"Awhile." Vega answered, sitting up straight so he could stretch. Biting back a string of swears as his back popped, he continued, "Met Eskander on my way down. They've found his parents, I guess. McGonagall gave him a letter and was apparently talking to someone at the Ministry about it. So he went off to see the girls about it."

"Us being exhausted aside, seems like it's a pretty good start to the day, huh?" Viola said.

"Seems that way. McGonagall didn't mention announcing anything, but you know she will. She said she'd wait 'til I was feeling better before I got a detention for this, too." Vega said.

"She's giving you a detention for saving the school? Well that's a bit mean, isn't it?" Viola said, making a face.

"I dunno. All things considered, we did put ourselves at risk." Vega said, shrugging.

"Glad you've finally come around to realizing how dumb it was." Hydrus said. "But yes, it was kind of her to wait. Did she mention anything about us?"

"Nope. Seems I'm getting the lion's share. That's fine. I'm the one who talked you guys into coming, anyway." Vega said. "You two get any sleep?"

"Not a whole lot. We talked down in the common room for awhile, then went off to rest our eyes for awhile." Hydrus explained.

"I'm gonna be napping in the Pit after we eat. Also, was thinking of seeing if the house elves could whip us up a victory cake. You guys in?" Vega asked.

"Well that's a stupid question, isn't it?" Viola said, smirking. "I think we deserve a little victory party, personally."

"Yeah, one just involving ourselves. I don't want McGonagall to put us on a pedestal for this." Vega said, glancing at the staff table. "I hope she knows that. Maybe I should've said something..."

"Too late now. If you went up there to say something, everyone would know. As it is, the other Slytherins seem to have a pretty good grasp on what's going on." Hydrus stated. "A few asked us where we were last night. No harm in telling them, I figured, so we were honest. We did ask that they leave you be if you happened to be here, though."

"Appreciate it." Vega said.

"Lapis at ten o'clock." Viola said suddenly, nodding toward the doors.

Vega and Hydrus looked over to see Lapis, Samantha, and Valerie entering, arguing back and forth. But when they sat down at the Ravenclaw table, the girls made no move to sit further away from Lapis. The arguing, however, seemed to continue. At one point, Lapis looked up, caught their eyes, and shrugged.

"Well, seems like something happened." Vega said, raising an eyebrow.

"One thing at a time. Can't expect everything to fix itself right away, I guess." Hydrus said. "Looks like McGonagall's preparing to talk."

"She mentions us, I'm bolting for the Pit." Vega muttered, looking at the headmistress warily.

But McGonagall never mentioned any names. She did, however, give a very vague rundown of what had happened overnight. Instead of mentioning the Slytherins, she stated that the staff had come across a false wall that had eventually lead into a part of Hogwarts that had long since been abandoned. In that place, a large number of boggarts had been spawning. They had also found a hole leading to the surface, which came up in the still-regrowing Forbidden Forest. McGonagall stated that the boggarts and their eggs had been destroyed, and that the hole from the surface had been plugged up. In addition, they had sealed off and warded the passage behind the false wall so that nothing could get through it again. And, after taking a deep breath, she smiled faintly and stated that the rest of the students' time at school should be a bit more like it should have been all along.

Just like that, the problem with the boggarts came to a close. Students began to excitedly chatter back and forth, while several Slytherins looked down the table with confusion on their faces, clearly not understanding why Vega and the Malfoys weren't mentioned. When the food arrived, Vega ate very little. He was more tired than hungry, and he was craving cake anyway. Regular food would have to wait until at least lunch or, as was more likely, dinner.

Vega's time at Hogwarts passed by at a wonderfully slow pace after that. The last few months went by without incident, save for a few instances of spells being miscast. His magic took almost three weeks to fully return though, as he was all too willing to point out, it was rather hard to tell. Despite the boost in confidence at having beaten the boggart swarm, he knew that was more due to luck and circumstance than actual skill. Still, he wasn't too hard on himself, as even he recognized that he had gotten a fair bit better at magic than he had been when he first arrived.

The situation with Lapis and his friends rose and fell with the tides, it seemed. One day they'd be talking normally, the next they wouldn't be talking to one another again. As the school year came to a close, they were bickering quietly amongst themselves during mealtimes, with Lapis making several grand arm gestures as he argued against whatever they were throwing at him. And despite the gain in points Vega and the twins had gotten for Slytherin, it hadn't been enough to get them the House Cup. They had lost, by a whopping ten points, to Gryffindor. It had both sides of the room in an uproar when the totals had been announced.

The Quidditch Cup, meanwhile, had gone to Hufflepuff, something that seemed to even confuse a good deal of the Hufflepuff students. Their captain had boasted quite a bit, but Vega heard several people talking about both himself and Lapis. The urge to fly definitely got the better of Vega sometimes, as he'd go out to the Pitch when he had some free time and just flew around lazily. Sometimes, Lapis would show up, claiming that he needed to escape his so-called friends for awhile. Both had promised to try getting back on board for the following year and, when they saw each other last at Hogsmeade Station, Lapis had called out to him, telling him not to forget.

As Vega settled in the for the long train ride home, he let out a long sigh. "This year was weird..."

"It was." Viola agreed, sitting next to him. "I'd say that I was hoping next year won't be as bad, but I don't want to jinx anything..."

Closing the door behind him as he entered, Hydrus sat across from the two. "At least it's over with. People guessed, but we never said anything to anyone but the other Slytherins, and McGonagall never said anything, either. Would've been nice if we hadn't lost to Gryffindor, though."

"Ten points..." Groaned Vega, shaking his head. "I wanna know what happened at the end there. Either we lost some at the end or they gained some."

"Not as bad as Hufflepuff winning the Quidditch Cup, though. Did you hear Harper going on and on about how her 'superior tactics' had led them to victory? Tactics nothing, it was only because you and Lapis weren't in the air for the second half of the year." Viola griped, crossing her arms. "She got lucky and that's all there is to it!"

"Yeah, that isn't happening again. I'm getting back up there next year. With Julie leaving, Hyde's gonna move up and be the Keeper properly, yeah?" Vega asked.

"Probably." Hydrus said. "Though I'm sure we'll have plenty of tryouts. I'll just have to outdo them, I suppose."

"Another year with Danielson helming the ship, though." Viola said. "Yeah, that'll be fun. He's gonna ride us even harder next year since we didn't win this time around."

"Danielson can sit on his thumbs and spin. I'm not getting up at 6 in the morning to train." Vega declared, looking surly. "Throw his broom to the giant squid if he pulls that crap again..."

"I'll help!" Viola chirped. Then, rolling her eyes, she stepped back a few paces in their conversation and went on, "Seriously, what 'tactics' was Harper using? Gryffindor's Seeker is nearsighted! Of course they won! I'm amazed Terrana kept on their team to the end. Surely someone a little more suited to the role tried out, right?"

"Who knows. Maybe he'll get contacts over the summer or something. It'd be nice if I got some competition outside of Eskander." Vega said, leaning his head against the wall of the compartment and closing his eyes. The train was moving now, and the rumble was making him sleepy already. "You guys doin' anything over the summer?"

"Doubt it." Viola said. "Our dad's still out helpin' yours, yeah?"

"Last we heard, anyway." Hydrus confirmed. "Mother will probably try to take us somewhere, though I'm personally not getting my hopes up."

"Me either. Doesn't seem very safe at the moment." Viola said. "I've had enough 'excitement' for one year, thank you very much."

"Hear hear." Vega agreed. "Gonna spend my summer lounging around in bed as much as I can. And not to knock the house elves, but their pizza kinda sucks."

Snorting, Viola asked, "Gonna be a slob, huh?"

"I blew up a load of shapeshifting demons this year. I think I deserve a nice little peaceful vacation. A very bloated, regretting everything I eat kind of vacation." Vega said, nodding solemnly. "Gonna try knocking homework out the first week or so, too. That way I can enjoy the break right up 'til we go back."

"Wonder who they'll replace Tadygbbo with. McGonagall did say Dumbledore was only around for the rest of this year, after all." Hydrus said, looking thoughtful.

"Maybe they'll get one of our parents." Viola said. "They'd fit the bill pretty well, wouldn't they?"

"Don't think either of our mothers would like to teach multiple classes of kids, though." Vega said. "Mine would be late if she had classes in the morning. Takes forever to get going unless dad's around to make breakfast!"

"I guess that's true enough. Though I could see our mum yelling at a bunch of first years to sit down, shut up, and pay attention." Viola said, grinning. "She's mean when she's mad."

"Oh, well sure, if we're talking about them when they're mad. Mine can rampage rather well, too." Vega said. "Takes a lot to wind her up, though. Plus, she'd probably hex anyone who was acting up in class. I'd pay to see your dad teach, though. He really doesn't seem the type."

"Yeah, he's definitely not the teaching type." Viola said. "And your dad's probably sick of Hogwarts and teachers and stuff by now."

"Pretty much. He says he enjoyed his time there, but you can sorta hear in his voice that he's not being entirely truthful." Vega said. "...Ugh, it's comfortable in here and all, but why can't we like, get a plane or something to take us to London? It takes so long to get from Hogwarts to King's Cross!"

"Wizards are nothing if not set in their ways." Hydrus said.

"You know what I wanna see? Wizarding space station." Vega said, looking out the window and watching as they passed through a forest. "Hidden from plain view, but floatin' around the planet."

"How would you get to it?" Asked Viola. "Invisible space shuttle?"

"I dunno. It's the future, so why not use teleporters or something?"

"Why not just apparate?"

"Imagine Hagrid trying to apparate a mess of first years to a space station. That'd go south real fast, don't you think?" Asked Vega.

"Right... teleporters, then." Viola agreed. "And why Hagrid?"

"Well, it'd be a school or something, wouldn't it? I guess a prison works, but come on. Wizarding world's already had to deal with one floating prison."

"Hmm, I guess so..."

The topic seemed to dominate their conversation for the majority of the trip, with Viola and Vega alternating progressively stranger additions to their wizarding space station-school. From defense systems to how the students would play Quidditch, they went back and forth for hours. For his part, Hydrus merely sat back and enjoyed the show, chiming in with a snarky comment here or there just to deflate his friends a bit. By the time they finally got to King's Cross, Viola had decided to try drawing their mostly-finished idea over the summer.

As they left the train, they saw their parents waiting nearby. Viola took off running, latching onto their mother tightly, with Hydrus trailing behind and greeting their father. Vega was feeling too tired to bolster that kind of energy. When he got close enough, however, Tonks scooped him into a tight hug.

"Have a good trip?" Asked Harry.

"Something like that." Vega replied after being let go. "You guys been doin' alright?"

"As well as can be expected, given what you've put us through." Tonks said, giving her son the evil eye. "Honestly, I still can't believe you went off on your own after those boggarts. You take after Harry way too much."

"People keep saying that, yes." Vega said, grinning up at his dad, who returned the smile. "Feeling pretty sleepy, though. Was gonna take a nap on the train ride, but me and Vivi got to talking about Hogwarts in space and that kinda fell apart..."

"Hogwarts in space?" Tonks asked.

"I'll explain on the way home..." Vega said. "It was my own fault."

"Vega!"

Turning, Vega saw Viola bounding over to him, grinning. "Hey, we're about to head off. You guys doin' anything this weekend?"

"Not that I know of." Harry said. "I might be out with the Aurors, but Nym's gonna be home with Vega all day, yeah?"

"Probably." Tonks said. "Might need to go on a grocery run, but that's minor. You wantin' to come over?"

Nodding quickly, Viola grinned. "Just had another idea for the space station thing. Wanna deliver the drawing in person!"

"Yeah, he was telling us about this." Tonks said. "Said he's gonna explain on the ride home."

"Good luck with that." Viola said, laughing. "I barely remember everything we talked about."

"Seeya this weekend then, huh?" Vega said, smiling.

"Yup!" She stepped in, ruffled Vega's hair, then gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning and running back over to the rest of her family. As the Malfoys headed for the barrier separating their station from the Muggle one, she waved to him.

"I think she likes youuu." Tonks said in a singsong voice.

"Oh, she does not!" Blushed Vega. "She does that because she knows it bugs me."

"If you say so..." Said Tonks, her tone the same.

"Alright, stop teasing him." Harry said, poking his wife in the arm. "C'mon, let's get your stuff and head home. Thinking lasagna for dinner. That sound alright to you two?"

"He's been talking about it all day." Tonks said in a stage whisper to Vega. "Tell him it's fine, because I'm gonna strangle him if he doesn't make it."

"Lasagna's fine, dad." Vega said, rolling his eyes. "Pizza tomorrow, though."

"Told you the house elves don't get it right." Harry said, heading over to where Vega's trunk was sitting.

"Not enough grease." Vega lamented, following his father.

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Tonks took off after her boys. "One, you're both gross. Two, stop talking about food. And three, hurry it up!"

"By your will, milady!" Harry said, saluting Tonks and earning him a light swat on the arm. Laughing, he shrunk Vega's trunk down and pocketed it. "Come on, then. Off we go. Now what were you saying about Hogwarts in space?"

"Well," Vega began, "I got to thinking about Quidditch, which made me think of flying, which made me wonder how high someone's ever flown on a broom, which made me think of space..."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Author's Notes: Holy crap, book 1's done! Last three chapters all coming out pretty quick from one another since I actually sat down and made my lazy ass write them all in the span of three days or so! Like I think I mentioned in a previous chapter, I apparently started this in 2009. That's way too long and I apologize for it taking this long to get the book done. I'm making a promise now that book 2 won't take that long to complete.

Speaking of book 2, it's going to be called Poison From the Stars, and chapter 1's tentatively scheduled to go up sometime in late March. Which, by the time you all are reading this chapter, it's probably mid-March at least. I'm writing this on February 25 of 2011 (just to timestamp myself here), and I plan to put one chapter a week out, with a short break between this chapter and the start of R-2 book 2. I'll keep my profile updated and will post to Twitter when I upload chapter 1. It's already half done!

Who's scheduled to be the Defense professor? I'd give you a hint, but I can't think of any that wouldn't immediately spoil it!

As for the major arcana characters in book 1... Vega is the Magician and Lapis is the Hermit. The full deck as it were will be filled out by the time R-2's done. Not a lot of importance to this, but it will come up in chapter titles occasionally. See chapter 8 for proof! And while chapter 9 is named Justice, it isn't for a character. He'll show up at the start of book 2, and it's kind of obvious who it is, though. Hell, if you wanna take guesses as to who might 'fit' each arcana, go for it. It's just a thing I tied to certain characters.

Anyway! Thank you for reading the first book of R-2. I know a lot of people don't like original character stories. I'm one of them! When I started R-1, it was because I couldn't find a lot of Honks fics that I liked. And while I'm definitely not calling that rollercoaster ride good by any means, I could probably sit down and read through it if I tried. I typically dislike rereading my own stuff, however, which is partly why I'm so lazy about uploading and editing new chapters. So the idea for R-2 was simple: Write a 'next generation' story that I'd actually sit down and read if I wanted to. The other point was that I wasn't going to leash anything in. If it went crazy, it went crazy.

And trust me, it's going to go crazy. Chekhov's Gun is in play, kids. Try to figure out where.

I'll see you in book 2!