A/N: AU story. Harry and the trio do not exist. Voldemort is at large, how long will Hogwarts stay open, when he starts to attack the school. I suck at summaries, please read it anyways. Rated T because of violence and character death. This is an RPG that I'm a part of that I've turned into a story, so most of the plot was helped thought up by others. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Yah, I don't own, Harry Potter (even though he isnt' in here). I don't own anything from the books, those belong to JK. I'm not making money off of it. You, know the usual.
Chapter 1
The note
Outside, beyond the still lake, the sun was beginning to set. A large stone castle was overlooking a large forest to the east and the countryside around it, with a small village down below. It was a peaceful, quiet night, the crisp air of autumn starting to settle down after a long summer.
Inside the castle there were hundreds of students leaving the Great Hall, heading to their respected common rooms, ready to start a new year of school. A buzz of excitement was in the air, as newly appointed prefects led the nervous first years to their rooms. The new students were already starting to make friends with their classmates, chatting nervously, while looking around wide eyed.
"Follow me please, Gryffindors." A pretty little brunette called out from the front of the line, a blond hair boy standing next to her. "My name's Kristina Stepp and this is Carson Beckett. We're here to help you whenever you need it. The Gryffindor tower is on the 7th floor, I'll let you know the password when we get there."
"Or maybe I will," Carson added.
Kristina smiled, and turned up the winding staircase to the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Why hello there! Is this the new batch?" The Fat Lady asked joyfully.
"Why, yes they are." Kristina replied.
"Pumpkin juice."
"Carson, I wanted to say it." Kristina said in a hurt voice.
The Fat Lady swung open and the students clambered in, having a first look at their new common room. A fire was burning brightly in the grand fireplace, a group of 6th years in the seats around it were chatting. A group of students sat playing exploding snap, by one of the staircases.
"Ok, boys you get the staircase to the left, the ones by the students playing exploding snap. And girls, you get the other one. First rooms are yours!"
Kristina watched as the first years scampered off, then she wandered over to the fireplace, where her friends were sitting.
"Hey guys," she said, sitting down. "I love the first years, they're always so sweet. Oh look! Our coffee machine that Kelly conjured last year is still here."
"Oh, yeah, very sweet; the first day that is. You wait, they won't stay sweet for very long." The girl in the armchair laughed.
"Would you like a coffee Debbie? Katya?" Kristina asked her friends.
Katya shook her head as she lay down on the couch. Debbie sat up straighter in the armchair, laughing.
"No thanks, I'm happy with Butterbeer," she said, summoning one down from her room.
"Hey, watch it!" A young man coming down the stairs called out, as the Butterbeer flew past his head.
"Sorry!" Debbie called out as she grabbed her drink. She looked over at him and let out a giggle, he had forgotten his shirt again. Not that this guy was bad looking, he had sandy brown hair, and stunning blue eyes, not to mention his nice abs from all his Quidditch training.
"Any more Butterbeer for me?" He asked her. "Um – why are you giggling? Damn it, not again!"
"Hey Billy," Kristina grinned, sitting down on the couch.
"Hello Kristina." He replied, summoning his shirt and pulling it on. He grabbed his drink before it hit him in the head. "Okay, you did that on purpose that time, didn't you?"
"Of course she did, Billy, it's what Debbie does best." A girl said, approaching the group, swinging her blond hair over her shoulders in the process.
"Great, just what we need, a Slytherin in our common room!" Debbie groaned. "How did you get our password anyways, Sarah?"
"Calm down, sis, Katya gave it to me. I just wanted use of you coffee machine anyways. For some reason they just don't want one in our common room." The others laughed at the sisters fighting, it was almost always entertaining.
The common room slowly emptied as the fire died, until they were the only ones left. The last night free of classes and homework was coming to a close. Kelly, the new Head Girl, came downstairs.
"You guys should really go –" she began and then caught sight of Sarah. "What are you – where did you – no wait, I don't want to know, just go back to your own common room. The rest of you should go to bed." She left the room shaking her head as Sarah called out after her.
"Fine, Kelly. Oh and congrats on making Head Girl."
The first week of school had passed by very quickly for the students of Hogwarts. Adjusting to the new class schedule was different this year, as the sixth years now had free classes and were trying to make the best of them before they received too much work. Friday morning came and the Gryffindors were sitting in the great hall eating breakfast and talking about classes.
"I'm so happy, I have a double free every Friday!" Debbie said excitedly.
"Hey!" Kristina said glancing up. "I've got a double free today too."
"Hey, Debbie." Billy called out, sitting down, his bag of books dropping loudly on the ground behind him. "I think we should get the Quidditch team back together and start practices. Do you still want to be seeker?"
Debbie just nodded her mouth full of food.
"Well I think we should go to Hogsmeade, since Kris, Debbie and I all have the same double free." Sarah said.
"Yeah, that sounds great. I've got the same thing, anyone else want to go?" Billy replied.
"Sure, let's go. Meet at the witch."
The three girls picked up their books and headed to class, leaving Billy sitting there alone. As they climbed the marble staircase they saw a blond haired boy walking past them, whispering deviously.
Debbie pushed open the trapdoor in the cellar of Honeydukes and carefully stepped out, quickly followed by Sarah, Kristina, Kelly, Katya and Billy.
"So where to first?" Kristina asked her friends.
"How about the Three Broomsticks, for some Butterbeer?" Kelly suggested, swinging her auburn hair over her shoulder.
"Sounds goo – oof." Sarah tried to say, when she was knocked over as a golden retriever shoved past her. The dog turned around, smiling with a twinkle in his bright blue eyes.
"Billy, that wasn't nice! You shouldn't really use your animagus form to tease people." Debbie said laughing. "But, I guess it was only Sarah."
The group of students settled down around the table in the pub, talking and laughing as if they hadn't been apart over the summer.
"Do you guys remember last winter?" Debbie asked her friends.
"You mean when I was kidnapped?" Kelly asked.
"Yah, oh so dangerous when it turned out to be your boyfriend with a romantic weekend away." Sarah replied, sticking her tongue out at the Head girl.
"It's better than it being because of You-Know-Who like we thought it was." Kristina pointed out.
"Last year sure was an exciting year." Debbie sighed.
"Well, I sure won't mind some quiet. I've got N.E.W.Ts to study for this year." Kelly said.
The students sat around for a while longer, before heading back to Honeydukes to stock up on some sweet and climbing back through the tunnel.
As they climbed through the one-eyed witch, out of the tunnel, Billy noticed a small piece of parchment on the ground.
"Hey, listen to what's written on this." Billy called out.
"Whoever reads this note,
Would do well not to dote.
Hogwarts time is ending
So this warning I am sending
Leave while you're still able,
Before I turn the table.
Slytherin's day draws nigh,
All the rest will die."
"What a strange poem, it sounds very serious; maybe we should give it to McGonagall." Kelly frowned.
"It sounds like a Slytherin prank, but I vote turning it into her." Billy said. "If it is a prank, we could get them into a lot of trouble; this isn't something to joke about."
"Yes, but McGonagall will probably say that it's a harmless prank and not to worry." Sarah retorted stubbornly, not wanting to get her house-mates into trouble.
"Okay, you guys won't get into trouble for being late to class, since you're prefects. So you guys take the note to McGonagall and Katya and I will head off to class." Debbie said, pulling on Katya's arm
The two girls took off down the corridor, while Billy headed off in the other direction, leaving the three girls to argue over the note.
"If we hand it in, we'll have to say that we were in the tunnel. Which we aren't supposed to be in." Sarah said, exasperatedly.
"We could just say that we found it by the statue, or something." Kristina suggested.
"Look, we heard Draco whispering about something earlier." Sarah said. "Why don't we just ignore it for now, and I'll snoop around the dungeons and see if anything's going on. Will that work?"
"Fine, but if you don't hear anything soon, we have to tell McGonagall!"
Upon reaching their decision the three girls split up and headed towards the respected class.
A large golden retriever bounded down the corridor, barking after a scrawny, dust colored cat. Three girls, standing at the end of the corridor, were laughing as Filch, the caretaker, tried to chase the dog away.
"Billy shouldn't have done that." Sarah whispered quietly to Kristina, when she saw Dumbledore standing in the doorway.
It was now evening and Billy had insisted on going down to the kitchen to talk with Dobby about the note.
"So why would Dobby listen to you?" Kelly asked Billy, as he changed back into his human form.
"Because I was raised by Dumbledore and his brother, so I've known Dobby since I was a kid. Well, since the Malloy's fired the elf and I found him wandering around."
"Oh, that's so sad." Kristina said.
"Yah, but I brought him to Dumbledore and got him a job here at Hogwarts. He used to come and visit me on breaks."
"Aw, that's so sweet." Sarah cooed.
Kelly tickled a pear in the portrait of a fruit bowl and the door to the kitchens opened up. She stood frozen in the doorway for a moment, staring straight ahead. Sarah placed a hand on her shoulder, gently nudging her forwards. Peering inside, the others could see a house-elf, tucked away in a corner, gagged and tied to a chair. The other elves were ignoring him and going about their business as usual.
Kristina rushed over to the house-elf and quickly ungagged him. "Dobby, what's wrong? Who did this to you?"
"Dobby, Dobby said something that offended the other House-elves." Dobby said, staring wide-eyed at the students. "Dobby spoke up against his old masters! Bad Dobby, bad Dobby!"
The house-elf started to rock back and forwards in his chair, and Billy was glad that the elf was still restrained.
"What did you say?" Kristina asked in a gentle tone.
"Master Draco has come up with a plan! Dobby can't say – Dobby, bad Dobby!" His eyes went wider as he struggled to free himself.
"The Malfoys aren't your masters anymore, Dobby; please tell us what the plan is."
"Dobby heard about fireplaces, Miss Katrina, and Master Billy. Dobby heard that they – that they –" Dobby began to furiously pound his head against the wall behind him.
"Dobby, there has to be hundreds of fireplaces in Hogwarts." Kelly said pulling Dobby's chair away from the wall. "Can't you tell us a bit more? Please?"
Dobby shook his head while rocking the chair furiously.
"Fireplaces? What does he mean? Does this have something to do with floo powder?" Kristina muttered.
"There are wards on the castle that prevents people from apparating and disapparating inside school grounds, and they can't use the floo powder to get in." Billy reminded them. "Dumbledore has giving this place a lot of protection. There must be something more to it; did we miss something on the note?"
"Well, he's probably planning an attack on the students, well except for the Slytherins." Kelly explained.
"Or, according to the note at least." Sarah added.
"Most likely," Kelly continued on, as if she hadn't been interrupted, "he is taking down the defenses on one of the fireplaces. Which one though?
"The Slytherin common room! Of course!" Kelly exclaimed, before anyone could say anything. "They aren't in any danger, so they won't care. And no one else can get in."
"We could use a polyjuice potion to sneak in, I suppose. But it tastes icky." Kristina suggested.
"NO! We can't!" Sarah yelled. "One, its illegal. Two, I agree that it tastes icky. Three, there has to be a better – wait! I'm a Slytherin. I'll find out what's going on, just give me some time.
"Err – do you guys think this would be a bad time to ask for coffee?" Sarah finished, glancing hopefully at the house-elves.
"How come no one thought of coffee earlier?" Kristina asked, turning to on of the elves. "Could we have some coffee, please? Anytime is coffee time." She added cheerfully.
"Wait! I know." Billy said, rushing back to Dobby. "Do you think you could sneak around a bit for us? Tell us what Draco is up to?"
"Dobby could do that, Master Billy, if Dobby gets paying." Dobby said eagerly.
"Okay, I'll give you a galleon a week if you meet me on Friday nights at ten in the Gryffindor Common Room."
Dobby nodded his head in agreement and Billy headed back to the others, and explained his plan to them as they left the kitchen.
"I've asked Dobby to do this because I don't want any of my friends getting into trouble. No, Sarah." Billy said, holding up a hand to silence her. "If you get into trouble while snooping in the Slytherin common room, none of us can get in to help you. So I really would rather play it safe."
Sarah just nodded glumly as they all climbed through the portrait of the Gryffindor common room.
"So did you tell McGonagall about the note?" Debbie asked her sister, setting her book down on the end table.
"Um, no. We decided to just let this play out." Sarah answered.
"You did what?! This could be really serious! Why would –"
"Debbie, relax." Billy said, cutting her off. "I've got it all under control."
Debbie shot him a disbelieve look, but dropped the subject anyways, as she returned to reading her potion book.
"Oh, right. We've got that potions test next week, don't we?" Kristina said, changing the subject.
"Yup, on Felix Felicius. It's bound to be tough." Sarah said.
"Well, I don't." Kelly said happily. "Oh, and Sarah, you really should be in your own common room."
Sarah stuck out her tongue at Kelly and sat definitely on the couch. "You just say that because you're head girl and you have to say it."
Kelly just shrugged and walked upstairs.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review! I love getting those. A huge thank you to Billy, Debbie, Jocelyne, Jordan, Katya, Kelly, Kristina, Sarah and anyone else who helped to make this RPG