Chapter 1
Cathy tucked her wand behind her ear, but so the glowing tip was still pointing towards the dusty old bookcase, from which she was trying to coax a stubborn book named "Hexes and Curses for defense against the Dark and Dangerous". Sometimes it greatly annoyed her how magical books could gain a personality of their own the longer they were left up in this musty attic. Just as she'd pulled it out a few inches it shot furiously back into it's slot between "Gilmour's Magical Defence Theory" and "The Art of the Seer". It shifted arrogantly, mocking her, sometimes she hated that she still had another year until she could use magic outside of school.
'One last try' she promised herself for what seemed like the millionth time that evening.
She hooked her finger-tips round the edges of the binding, trying to get a good grip on it, then gave it one last tug. Seemingly taking it by surprise, as it slid out easily the first few inches, until shew had it halfway out and it started tugging backwards. Letting out a small cry of shock, Cathy stumbled back, landing on her bum, when several large spiders shot out from behind the book, which dropped on the floor. The spiders scattered back under the bookcase, but the book just sat, stone still on the floor. Her wand had fallen on the floor when she tripped, illuminating a faded photo that must of fallen out of one of the many photo album's. The three children stood in the focus of the camera looked familiar and caught her attention. As she reached out and picked it up, a white mouse shot out of nowhere, up her outstretched arm and settled in the crook of her neck, he was trembling slightly.
"Artemis?" she asked the small creature "What is it what's-"
A crash shut her up. Hardly even breathing, Cathy tucked the photo into the breast pocket of her checkered shirt and picked up her wand carefully off the floor, then standing up. She didn't move, she just listened, she shared her father's policy of never using magic unnecessarily, and never diving wand-first into a duel. There were further crashes downstairs, she recognized it as the sound of someone knocking over one of the many towers of books that littered this house Then the distinctive rattle of the stiff door at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the attic reached her ears. Instinctively she crept back into a dark corner, pointed her wand at the floor that was thick with dust, thought the spell 'Obliviate' and the scuffs and giveaways that someone had been here recently, disappeared.
Whoever was downstairs got impatient with the door used 'Bombarda!' to open it, with an almighty crash the door was blown open, sending shock waves up through the house, rattling the book cases. What she could now distinguish as one person clattered up the first flight of stairs that led to her bedroom, that door opened easily enough, their search through there was short, bringing Cathy to one conclusion, they weren't looking for something, but someone. As they clattered further up the stairs, Cathy held her wand tightly in her hand, stepping further back into the darkest corner of the room. She clenched and unclenched her fingers round her wand, swallowing the lump in her throat. Then exchanged an understanding look with Artemis, her father had warned her that Death Eaters could be hunting them down and he'd run through exactly what she was to do if they were. As the thundering footsteps stopped outside the door, Artemis went rigid on her shoulder, Cathy held her breath and pressed her back against the wall.
The door clicked open, they entered the room. They seemed to be more co-ordinated and obviously not as dim-witted as whoever was downstairs, he'd lit the end of his wand and wasn't so much as grazing the towers of books. He made his way to the end of the room, searching each bookcase individually. Cathy pushed herself further back into her corner as the glowing tip of his wand reached her shadowy corner. Suddenly he spun to face her. He raised his wand to her face, the tip inches from her cheek. Cathy didn't flinch, she'd dueled too often with her brothers to fear a duel with this man, instead she raised her wand, the tip at his throat. He grinned at her madly, his lips beginning to form an unforgivable curse, when his head was jerked back, when he looked back at Cathy, his eyes were dazed. He just stood there, staring blankly ahead of him. Cathy let go of the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, then slipped round him, making her way through the towers of books to the other side of the room, where he'd already searched. Once she'd found a new hiding spot, she pointed her wand at him and thought though the second half of the incantation and he snapped out of his daze, glanced briefly into her previous hiding spot then left the room, having deciding there was no one hiding up here.
Treading lightly, Cathy made her way down the stairs, desperately trying to split her concentration from her footing to the voices downstairs, making sure there was no one in the hall. This house was old, and the stairs creaked, one wrong step could give her away.
"... No matter." said a weak, strained voice, weak, yet it still sent a shiver down your spine "We do not need the girl, she has many brothers, even her father should be better versed in the old ways"
"M-My Lord?" stuttered a terrified voice "Th-there are other method's-"
"No! Other method's are experimental and could result in my death, is that what you want Wormtail? Do you want me to die? Have you grown tired of nursing me? And should wish that I use unstable methods of magic?"
"N-n-no, my Lord!"
"Very well then" he mocked
"My Lord," interjected the other voice, the dull droning one "Shall I bring him to you?"
"Yes, bring him to me... by whatever means necessary... but I want him alive. In the meantime we shall return to the Riddle place"
"My Lord."
There were simultaneous cracks of people disaperating, then complete silence. Then, even more cautiously, Cathy got up from her hiding spot behind the towers of books in the hall. 'Lumos' she thought, not daring to speak out-loud. Her wand illuminated the hallway, there was no one. She'd heard the voices in the back room, now aware that Artemis had jumped down from her shoulder and shifted into the form of a large tabby cat, Cathy made her way into the room, avoiding the towers of books. Her ears twitching at the slightest sound, seeking out anyone who shouldn't be there. Artemis stayed at Cathy's heels, wanting to be by her mistress at a moments notice.
There was another 'crack', the sound of someone aperating, in the hall. Alarmed, Cathy swung round to face them, not watching her footing and knocking into a tower of books behind her. The top few slipped of their stack.