PSA: ALL CHARACTERS ARE ORDER OF THE PHEONIX ALIGNED BUT NOT OFFICIALLY RECRUITED MEMBERS
________________________________________

This was not how she had ever imagined herself returning to Hogwarts. Then again, she was sure this was a sentiment that every graduate and every parent felt profoundly as they gathered outside the gates. While she felt it was a bit too...barbaric to just go blasting down the gates like this, Kurumi Rasting (nee Hollingberry) was not about to say anything about that. She too...wanted to get inside the grounds as quickly as possible and find her daughter.

Adorned in dragonhide, her dragonologist attire, her violet eyes scanned the crowd looking for her father. There was something deeply profound about marching together like this and not simply because she had spent the majority of this past year holding him in contempt for the legislation he was passing. In a sad and heartbreaking sort of way, Kurumi could understand and even relate why her father would feel he could align with people like the Neo Alliance. She still did not know under what circumstances he had been pressured to do what he had done, but she still maintained faith that her father would never EVER do anything to purposefully bring harm to his people. Even if that was exactly what he had done...and she was not sure that her son would ever forgive him for it. Or the rest of the wizarding world, for that matter...

Maybe...someday...once they left here with Rebecca, once all the children (and the future of the wizarding world by extension) were safe and sound...

Eyes sweeping the crowds again, her heart elated at seeing former peers and classmates. Each with a unique memory attached to them that effortlessly was recalled to memory as her eyes passed over them. Swiftly and with precision to her movements, Kurumi moved towards Vivi and Ella (who she had just seen not all that long ago at the reserve) and Alec ... when she passed by Missa. Her heart dropped a bit and she knew...how much Eiji would have wanted to be here. She did not know how well international travel was at the moment, but she did know her brother would likely stun him before allowing him to even try.

"Missa," she spoke affectionately but with a sturdiness to her tone, her eyes flicking towards the other gentleman with her and offering him a small smile as well. "Stay alert out there...and as the headmaster of my time at Hogwarts would always say, constant vigilance. It's...an honor to know I'm fighting alongside such a remarkable young woman." It was more than a request. Giving her son's girlfriend a loving squeeze on the shoulder, she finished her short and hurried strides over to the group of familiar faces and stopped beside Vivi. "Wish I could say I brought cookies," she greeted, her eyes watering a bit at seeing everyone come together like this. It was a poor time for lighthearted humor, surely, but it has slipped out. "When we find our children...and end this tyranny...I'll bake a huge batch for us."

Wiping her eyes, because tears would just cloud her vision and she still had the triplets home with Lewis to think about as well, she looked around again and saw...was that Oakey? It was hard to tell without a smart set of antlers attached.

____________________________

Victor García Massey had been tracking the papers and following the graffiti's of the mark of the Deathly Hallows from Diagon Alley to elsewhere in Europe and beyond. The wall in his office like some sort of board and mind map one would expect to see in Magical Law Enforcement. His investigation skills were lacking, but the parallels were glaring and when the Minister's broadcast had played over their home radio...he had not been the least bit surprised. Surprised only in that the day had come, and he had already prepared Minerva what what this would mean. He would not exactly call what had gone down between them a fight, though he was also not oblivious to the emotional strain his need had caused, but he had much to make up for once he (hopefully) came out the other side of this war. At least he knew she was safe with her father on the farm with her siblings. At least he had that to hold on to as he weaved his way through the crowd with his wand in hand.

"Oliver!" he called, picking up the pace and moving beside his friend and co-worker. He was a bit surprised to see the other man here, though he supposed this may be a mutual reaction. Neither of them gave off a particularly fighter sort of aesthetic. There was no need to discuss why either of them were here, so instead he simply wrapped his friend up in a brief but very sturdy hug. "Let's bring them home. All of them."

All the Stemp House children who were somewhere inside this castle. His family.

____________________________

Airey Flamsteed only seemed to return to Hogwarts when times were rough, the last time he had been among the ancient stone castle being when a portal into another dimension had manifested itself and a horrifying monster wrecked havoc and terrorized students due to an exponential growth in poltergeist energy that then resulted in an inverted response to the magical properties embedded in Hogwarts. It was an on-going research project in Mysteries. It felt good to be able to recall this information, these memories, so freely.

It had only been hours since he had been released from the Imperius Curse placed upon him, he did not want to dwell on just how long he had been under that influence and that mirror prison before THAT, but the elixir that Jane had given him as a trial was working wonders and surely the only reason he was both vertical and physically capable of being here.

...the rest he would...figure out. Once he had his sons and daughter in his arms. Once the Flamsteed Family Constellation (though technically an asterism and even then one could not technically rearrange the stars) was reassembled. He had never known fondness in the way he had discovered since becoming a father. He needed his children back. He trusted that June was keeping an eye on them...doing whatever she could to keep them safe. She always had been reliable like that. He may even feel so inclined as to hug her if they won this. Hug everyone, for that matter. His suit could handle it.

And as he scanned the crowd and noticed entirely too many of his former pupils...he did not feel the same sort of awkwardness he always did when they came to work at the Ministry. There was...a humbling sort of sentiment too it. How curious.

Making his way around, Airey spotted LeoBALD and the nostalgia embraced him unnecessarily. "Just like old times," he chuckled dryly as he came to a stop beside his former colleague.

____________________________
Hearing his grandson's voice had been more rejuvenating than any potion or charm anyone could have cast upon him. Wand in hand and with his people, Minister Charles Hollingberry strut forward with narrowed eyes and an intense focused energy that lengthened his strides. Guilt wore heavily on his shoulders, the weight of the reality he had lead his people to. All this...even his call to march on Hogwarts and fight just...it wasn't him. The Minister was holding out on a small, fleeting hope. A hope that he could find sweet delicate Alphonsine's brother and have a conversation. Prejudices tended to disappear when people got to know one another and Charles could not even begin to fathom what these Rosier twins must have gone through to come to the point that they were now. But he still believe that, innately, Alphosine was not evil. She was not some monster and no that was not any lingering effects of enchantments speaking for him. That was his own fool of a heart who believed in the goodness of people. He saw the earnestly and pain in her voice while she pleaded in his office. That was not the voice nor the face of some soulless monster, it was a cry for help from a terrified little girl.

And in Rosier, somewhere, Charles was certain there was a terrified little boy.

Though this softness did not hinder his determination nor his resolve. It did, however, intensify the guilt.

Breathing in the scent of lavender essence he had spritzed his collar with earlier, a reminder for what he was fighting for, Charles took note of who was present and found himself both relieved and alarmed to see Kaiser here already. Relieved in that he had clearly been discharged from Mungo's and therefore okay after the squirmish in his office. Alarmed in that...he did not wish any harm to come to the young man knowing what was waiting for him back home. He did not want harm to come to any of his people, for that matter. Though so much damage had already been done...

He could see his daughter reunited with friends from her Hogwarts days off in the distance as well, though he dared not move too close or else find himself distracted. He had one aim he must focus on: finding Lucien Rosier.