Chapter 1- Secrets in the Shadows
It was the beginning of what should have been a sticky and humid July evening. It was the time of year when crickets were beginning to come out of their burrows in the ground and the night air was filled with buzzing and chirping noises.
It was, however, not warm or humid at all. It was cool and damp. A chill breeze from the north seemed to linger across the deserted valley at the entrance of Great Hangleton. Thick blankets of fog and mist lingered above the cool ground, and a mysterious feeling of uneasiness filled the air. A dark figure stepped out from behind the shadows of an overgrown bush and started down the empty path, their long dark cloak billowing in their wake. It was a man, and by the way he was stooping slightly, he did not want to be seen.
The town's inhabitants had long left the area, as well as those from Little Hangleton. A dark force now lived in the heart of these small villages, in their very core. Passing a rundown play park the cloaked figure sped up, as though anxious to get where they were going, or afraid of the deathly silence. The breeze became a slight gust of wind; the swings in the park swayed ominously and a sign on the fence creaked back and forth. Behind the man (now jogging slightly) the sound of footsteps and hushed voices came from an alleyway next to an old dressmaker's shop. The man stepped back and hid within the shadows of an out-of-order telephone booth.
"Did master say when the filth would come along and meet us?" said a woman with hair, long, shining hair, and as she held up her illuminated wand her strong jaw and heavily lidded eyes came into focus.
"Filth is he now? I heard you were giving him private defense lessons last year," inquired a wheezy, strained man's voice.
"Yeah well, I never got the recognition I deserved from the Dark Lord after remaining his loyal servant. And the disaster at the Ministry was Lucius's fault. Well, did he say when he'd come?"
"No, not specifically, he just said some time after dusk," the man replied. "I'm sure he'll come soon, he must wish to make up for his lack of trust and confidence on the Dark Lord. He was not very pleased when Severus told him that Draco was having second thoughts about following through with the plan."
"Well, of course now we know that dear old Snape will get the recognition he wanted, filthy half-blood. If he wasn't so keen on butting into everyone else's business he might do his own duties better!"exclaimed the woman so loudly that her last words echoed in the deserted street. Yet, it was not loud enough to cover the sound of the cloaked man stumbling into a small pothole on his way behind the new strangers.
"Keep your voice down Bellatrix I think someone may be watching. Come on lets move on we want to get to the old Gaunt shack before out guest does." "Fine Avery lets go. I still don't know why the Dark Lord is still using that hovel as a meeting place, its disgusting..."
Bellatrix and Avery made their way silently down the rest of the cobbled street until the reached the small dirt path that lead to Little Hangleton. The cloaked man followed them in the shadows of enormous hedges that lined the path, now watching out for potholes of any kind. The path began to rise steeply up towards the top of a large hill. The effort of trudging up this slope silently and next to overgrown hedges was immensely strenuous on the cloaked man. As he began to pant and was sure his prey would hear him, Bellatrix and Avery moved off the path onto similar, yet even more treacherous one.
This path was not as wide and the hedges were now joined by low-hanging trees and thorny shrubs. The path itself was muddy and there were crevices and holes in the earth filled with icy, mucky water. This new sight did not look very welcoming to either Bellatrix or Avery, and certainly not the cloaked man in their wake.
"Tell me why, why we could not have just apparated into the damn house instead of trudging through this muck?"asked Bellatrix who sounded thoroughly disgusted.
"I don't know,"replied Avery. "Perhaps the Dark Lord found it amusing that we would have to travel like muggles just so we can end up in an ancient, smelly shack."
Bellatrix snorted and kept walking. After fifteen minutes of stumbling and even falling (in Avery's case) through the muddy and chilling path a dark house loomed in front of the travelers. The house was almost completely blocked from view by towering overhung trees and numerous assortments of overgrown bushes and shrubbery. Bellatrix and Avery approached the house silently, the cloaked man still following in the shadows. Avery cautiously approached the door on which a very ancient, dead snake hung. As Bellatrix lifted her hand towards the doorknob, the door creaked open on its own accord.
Inside a fire was lit in a grate where in a moldy armchair sat Draco Malfoy. On the floor next to him was Wormtail huddled next to the fire surrounded by what looked like the remains of a small two-person meal. Bellatrix scowled at the sight of Wormtail, covered in at least 10 years worth of dust.
"Nice to join us Aunt Bella, and Avery too!" said Malfoy in a mock surprised voice clearly full of sarcasm.
"Yes, yes we can see your thoroughly glad to have traveled through this scum too," said Avery sitting down on a pile of dusty spellbooks that must have been at least 200 years old. "Anyway, we have been sent to join you at this...post until further notice from the Dark Lord."
"I have already been told his information by Wormtail here who arrived just over an hour before yourselves." replied Malfoy in a rather bored tone."This...house (Malfoy glanced around the room with a revolted sneer) is of great importance to our master. Somewhere in a deep chamber below lies some force in which the Dark Lord has sent us here to guard... I am not exactly sure what this force is but I know it is crucial to the Dark Lord's victory over the whole wizarding world," Malfoy went on quickly before Bellatrix even opened her mouth to ask.
"And the Dark Lord has told you this. Even though you did not complete the task he prepared for you? Even though you backed away like a coward and let Snape finish off Dumbledore?" accused Bellatrix.
"It is not my fault that Severus Snape has always had the belief that he has the authority to intrude on other people's business," Malfoy replied scowling as though he had a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Well at least there's one thing we all agree on," said Bellatrix under her breath. "So, now that we have that all settled lets have a drink," exclaimed Avery whipping out his wand. He then conjured a bottle of Ogden's Firewhiskey and four glasses out of thin air and placed them on a small, rickety card table in the middle of the room.
While the four drank, outside the cloaked figure of not a man, but a teenager took off down the path. Running full out through the mud, slipping a flesh colored string into his pocket, brushing the untidy black hair off of his forehead, Harry Potter broke through the hedges and out onto the larger path leading into Little Hangleton. Then slowing down he turned on the spot and vanished into the cold night air.