Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me. Or perhaps I am JKR and am not satisfied with my huge amount of money and didn't like the epilogue either, and have decided to make amends on here. Not.
Summary:Everything was going according to plan. Five of the horcruxes had been destroyed, it was a mere matter of obtaining and destroying the sixth before going after Voldemort himself. They had been so close, so near to accomplishing their goal, only for everything they had known to be turned upside down.
A woman hurriedly read over the scratchily written incantation. There were books strewn all over the floor, but she didn't care for them. The fireplace flickered, casting shadows on the blank walls, but she was not disturbed by this. She was too focused on what she was doing. Now was hardly the time for her to start being scared of shadows, meagre tricks that her mind would attempt to play on her. She re-checked her facts according to the books that were closest to her - a mistake now could very well be her undoing. She surrounded herself in a magical circle that she created with brick red sand. She drew runes within the circle, now with her wand. She began to recite the incantation that she had been researching for months now. It would finally be done.
As the incantation progressed, her voice grew more powerful. It was taking a lot out of her, she could feel the raw magic blistering her lips, burning her tongue.
"Planto meus visum in a animadverto!" She cried out the last sentence almost in desperation, and a black fog seeped from her wand, engulfing her and everything around her.
Clouds passed quickly overhead. The sun rose and set again within the space of perhaps a minute. Then everything went still, and the world carried on as normal. Or at least what they considered to be normal.
XXXXXXXX
"Morning guys," said Hermione, leaning against the sink and warming her hands on a cup of coffee as her two best friends entered the kitchen.
"Honestly, Hermione, how can you be so chipper at this time of the morning? There are times when I question your humanity, you know," came Ron's reply.
"It's not that early. Besides, early bird catches er…Voldemort's last horcrux?"
"Well, that's not how the saying goes Harry, but yes, that was the general agenda for the day," replied Hermione.
The Order of the Phoenix's Headquarters were currently located at Grimmauld Place, previously Sirius' house before he had offered it to Dumbledore. It had many protection spells on it, including the Fidelus charm, so many of the Order had opted to reside there. There was Sirius himself, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Harry. The 'golden trio' had just completed their seventh and final year at Hogwarts, looking for and destroying Voldemort's horcruxes in between their heavy workload. Now they were spending nearly every minute of their free time searching for the final horcrux, or anything that could lead them to its whereabouts.
The sound of Sirius' footsteps coming down the stairwell caused all three to turn towards the door.
"Mor -" Sirius broke off, and stood there frozen momentarily.
"Sirius? What's wrong?" enquired Harry, worry etched on his features.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hex you, right here, right now," snarled Sirius, brandishing his wand.
"Hex me? Why on earth would you want to hex me for?"
"Sirius? Is there someone downstairs?" came the voice of a woman. It sounded familiar, yet the threesome could not place it.
"Yes! Come down! Bring Lucius! And get Rudolphus to alert the rest of the Order!" shouted Sirius in reply to the mystery woman.
"Lucius? Rudolphus?" whispered Ron to Harry.
Two men and a woman entered the room, wands drawn. The men were both tall and blond, whilst the woman had long black hair. The woman was smiling, as if to say that she knew something that the others didn't. She was holding her secret captive.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
"Bellatrix," breathed Hermione.
It was fair to say that she was very confused now, and by the looks of it, so were Ron and Harry. There were three death eaters in the room, yet they hadn't tried to harm them. Hermione decided to concentrate on Sirius' presence, as he was the only person providing any sort of comfort at the minute, despite his apparent amnesia.
"Any minute now, aurors will be here to arrest you three. How did you get in here? " said Sirius contemptuously, looking from Harry, to Ron to Hermione, keeping his wand trained on them.
"Um, Sirius, it's me, Harry. As in your godson. And my two best friends, Ron and Hermione, remember?"
"I see. Thing is, I don't have a godson. And you lot also look uncannily like three well known death eaters".
I know it's short, but it's the first chapter of many! Can you guess who the woman at the start of the story was? I think you probably can.