Chapter 3: Regrets

They followed the guy for quite some time. Luckily for them, they weren't too suspicious. There were other people walking around, after all. They followed a ways back, struggling to roll their carts over the uneven pavement.

"Maybe we should have left these on the train," Dipper wheezed.

"Maybe we should have stayed on the train," Mabel muttered, still feeling a bit irked over the whole thing.

Dipper ignored the elder twin and focused on getting his cart around a pothole, "Good thing he isn't running. Otherwise we'd lose him for sure."

"We're gonna' miss our tra-ain," Mabel sang. She took off her headband and started whapping his shoulder, "We're gonna' miss our train, and then it's gonna' rain, and it won't be good for our—"

"Ugh! Give me that!" he grabbed her headband and stuffed it into his pocket. "It'll be fine. Besides, we can just hop on the next one."

"Is there a next one?"

"I don't know. There's always a 'next one' for busses and subways, so probably."

As they walked farther and farther down, the road began to get shadier. A dark-looking wizard in a huge cloak glared at them. Dipper shrunk away while Mabel waved happily. The man they were following stopped at an alleyway, looked both ways, and disappeared down it. Dipper frowned and dragged his cart over to the side of the road, "We should probably hide these somewhere. What do you think?" when there was no answer, he turned around frantically, "Mabel? Mabel!?"

"BOOM!" she sprang out of a nearby trash can, tattered blankets in hand, "One step ahead of you as always, bro-bro."

Dipper rolled his eyes in annoyance but took the blankets anyway, "Don't do that."

Mabel and Dipper found a place behind some trash cans to hide their carts. As Dipper laid the blankets over, Mabel put her pig, Waddles, next to Dipper's owl, "Okay, you two. No fighting while we're gone. Waddles, you're the older one so I expect you to take care of Flappy. Be quiet while we're gone and—"

"Oh no. We are not naming my owl 'Flappy'," Dipper interrupted.

"Why not?" she whined, "It's perfect!"

"No, it's not."

"Yes it is! Here, look," she set the two animals side by side, "Waddles is named Waddles because he waddles. And Flappy is named Flappy because… you know… he flaps."

"Then why not name him Flaps?"

"Because Flappy is cuter."

"Mabel—"

"Shush!" she put her fingers to her lips, "We need to hurry, remember? We have to catch a bad guy and a train!"

Dipper slapped his forehead, "You're right! We'd be lucky if we didn't lose him by now. C'mon Mabel!" He hastily threw on the rest of the sheets and grabbed Mabel's arm.

"Okay you two. Just be quieeaaahhh!" Mabel's speech was but off when Dipper hastily dragged her to her feet and ran, "Dipper!"

"Sorry!"

They ran to the alley way they saw the guy disappear to. To their surprise, it was a dead end.

"Ah pooh," Mabel swung a fist down half-heartedly, "Those darned dead-ends. Looks like we'll have to—"

"No wait, look! There's a window open up there! He must've climbed up!" Dipper rushed over while Mabel simply sighed and followed. "How do you think he got up there?"

"I don't know," Mabel shrugged, "I mean, it'd be hard to do in a cloak, I'd think. But the view… oh man."

Dipper ignored his sister's comment and looked around, "There must be some sort of secret compartment… or something."

"Or maybe he flew up!"

"He couldn't have flown up, Mabel."

"But he's a wizard!"

"You'll need a broom for that! Didn't you read the school books at all?"

"Nope!"

Dipper sighed and started to fiddle with his hat, "We could climb up by the window sills."

"Or… we could use my…"

"If you're going to say wands, I'm going to stop you right there. It's illegal for us to—"

"GRAPPLING HOOK!" Mabel she screamed as she pulled it out dramatically.

Dipper only blinked. He had forgotten all about his sister's handy tool, "You go everywhere with that, don't you?"

"Even school," she nodded.

Mabel grabbed her brother's hand and shot up, successfully latching the hook on the ledge. She pulled the trigger again and together they were pulled up. Once they climbed into the window, Mabel rewound her hook while Dipper took a look around.

"It's dark in here."

Mabel sneezed, "And dusty."

It seemed to be an old, run down… thing. They were in what looked like to be a hallway, but it was hard to tell in the dim lighting. Dipper suddenly wished he had a flashlight.

"A-are you sure we're in the right place, Dipper?" his sister whispered.

Dipper would usually tease her for the tremble in her voice, but he too felt a cold pit of fear in his stomach. There was something not right about this place. It made him uneasy.

He almost suggested going back when he heard voices down the hallway. He bit his lip and crept towards the door, motioning for his sister to follow.

Once they reached the door at the end of the hall they could hear the voices more clearly. The door was already eased open a crack (lucky for them) so all they had to do was crack it open a bit more.

"—failed me one too many times, Lucius. I try to be forgiving, but you are making it very hard to do so."

"I know, My Lord. But it's just that—"

"I grow tired of your excuses, Lucius. I've given you two tasks to complete, and you tragically failed both. And the causes of your failure was not because of Aurors, of Dumbledore, or even the Ministry, but because of mere children…"

"I know, My Lord. But I hardly think that—"

"Hardly think? Do you not think that it is fair to give your legacy the chance to redeem your family's honor? You failed me twice, perhaps your son would do better."

Dipper and Mabel exchanged glances. They had a feeling they weren't supposed to be here. So what did they do? They opened the door a little bit more and peeped inside. What they saw was a large, cushioned chair that obstructed most of their view. They couldn't see much of the person inside the chair, other than the pale, ghastly hand that perched on the armrest. Facing the person was very worried-looking couple (well, Mabel assumed they were a couple. The way that lady kept squeezing that guy's shoulders suggested so) and the man they followed here, still clutching his package. Up close, they could see his features better. He was short, balding, sickly, and… oh yeah. He had a hand made of metal. 'What was that all about?' Dipper wondered, 'Is this Star Wars or something?'

"With all due respect—"

"What I am wondering about is why do you keep arguing with me? My patience grows thin. We have already sent the boy with his mission. We had started on the project and gave him instructions on what to do. There is nothing else to discuss."

Dipper motioned for Mabel to back away from the doorway with him. He had a feeling that the conversation was going to come to an abrupt end soon.

"My Lord," the blonde man continued to argue, "We do not ask for much. All we want is for someone to assist Draco with his duties. After all, it is a very big project for such a young boy and we would not want him to fall behind on his studies. It would give pure-bloods a bad—"

As they moved back, dust started to fill the air again. Mabel sneezed.

The pale man held up his hand, "Wait."

The twins froze.

"Someone is here."

Dipper and Mabel exchanged glances as they heard footsteps from behind the door. A lot of thoughts ran through their mind during that point, but the main one was 'Run.'

The siblings bolted just as the door swung open. "Hey! You!"

Bright lights shot by them. Dipper wasn't quite sure what they were, but he had a good idea. There was a bright flash followed by a cry of surprise beside him. The dark form of his sister stopped suddenly and fell flat on her face. "Mabel!"

Another flash and Dipper was on the floor too. After a few seconds, he felt himself be lifted by someone with a surprisingly cold hand. The younger twin felt a form being carried next to him and knew it was his sister. He wanted to check if she was alright, but for the life of him he just could not move. It was like his entire body had decided to become a rag doll. No matter how much he tried Dipper could do nothing but swing helplessly from the older man's arms.

They were dropped on what felt like a rug and he heard someone mutter something. All the sudden he could move again. The first thing he did was check on his sister, "Mabel? Mabel? Are you okay?"

Mabel groaned and rubbed her face, "Yeah… but whoever did that to us is a total poop-head."

"Such language. You should really respect your elders, little one," a dark voice chastised.

The twins raised their heads in sync and saw for the first time the pale man in the armchair (and were seriously weirded out).

Mabel grimaced. The man looked like a sickly snake. 'I mean, the slitted eyes and nose are enough to gross anyone out, but the black robes too? It's overkill. If he wanted to look evil, at least go for yellow,' she thought. Dipper frowned, 'Jeez. That guy looks like he hasn't eaten in weeks. His skin is practically clinging to his bones. And what's up with his nose? There's like, nothing. And he's bald too. Maybe he should try to grow it out?' Dipper then tried to imagine the man with hair, and quickly shook the image out of his mind, 'Nope. Get those out of your head, Dipper. Out, of. Your. HEAD.'

When neither of the twins answered, the man frowned, "My patience is already on edge, so let us skip formalities. What are you doing here? And so far from the station, too?"

Dipper glared and stood in front of his sister defensively, "Look man. We didn't mean any trouble. We were trying to find Platform 9 and ¾, you see, and—"

"While searching, you magically somehow managed to wind up here?"

Mabel nodded, "Exactly! See, you get it, right?"

The man blinked. What was this child doing? Did she even know who she was talking to? "Do you realize where you are?"

"…Next to the Platform, hopefully?" Dipper asked, trying to stick with his lie.

"No," he chuckled in an almost caring manner. "You are trespassing. On the Dark Lord's grounds, no less." He pulled out a wand, "And you know what we do with trespassers?"

He raised his wand, and Dipper spread his arms protectively over his sister, prepared to take whatever was coming. Before the spell could come though, there was an interruption.

"Wait, My Lord!"

The twins and the supposed 'Dark Lord' turned and saw the woman standing there, appearing a bit flustered. Her husband sat behind her, his face as taut and emotionless as a tightrope.

"What?" he asked angrily, "What did you just say to me?"

"I s-s-said…" whatever force made her take a stand for them seemed to have disappeared. But nonetheless, she took a breath, gave the siblings a sympathetic look, and continued, "I said, w-wait. I believe they could be useful to us."

"How so?" the pale man asked angrily.

"They could… they could…" she searched around helplessly, "assist Draco with his project!" The woman winced at her own words while her husband hid his face behind his hands.

Dipper and Mabel looked back and forth between the three, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Suddenly, the pale man laughed, "Hahahaha! That is the most foolish thing I heard in over a decade!" he leaned back and wiped non-existent tears from under his eyes, "How do you know that they won't betray us? Children have very loose tongues."

It was then the blonde man who came to their aid, "We will keep one of them here. As blackmail. They look like siblings, do they not?"

"They do…" he nodded. "But it is still ridiculous."

Dipper narrowed his eyes. He had no idea what they were talking about or who this Draco person is, but he didn't like it. Especially the blackmail part. "Look man. We'll just leave, okay? We swear not to say one word about… any of this."

"Yeah!" Mabel nodded, "We're uber good at keeping secrets! I once hid a boy band in our room for a day, and didn't tell anybody! Even Dipper!"

"You what?"

"As reassuring your claims sound, I am afraid we cannot trust you," the 'Dark Lord' said tiredly, "Now sit still for a moment. I don't want to hit the rug."

"No way!" Dipper yelled. He reached back and fumbled for his wand, "I'll… I'll fight you!"

"Dipper, what are you doing?" his sister hissed, "You don't know any spells!"

"Hey! I've read books!" Dipper answered defensively.

"You are not worth my time."

"Th-then… then you don't have to fight! Just let my sister go, okay? Do whatever you want to me, just leave Mabel alone!"

Mabel narrowed her eyes and turned on her brother, "No way! I'm not leaving you with snake face over there! Take me instead! My bro-bro is too much of a nerd to be captured anyway."

The pale man stared at them in slight bafflement. Snake face? Nobody had talked to him like that in a long time. "You do not know who I am?"

"I know you're going to get your butt kicked in about three seconds if you don't let us go!" Mabel shouted.

"You did not answer my question," he growled. The children had thus far been entertaining, to say the least—they were surprisingly brave (or stupid) for their age—but they were getting boring real fast.

Dipper waved his sister off, silently begging her to let him handle this, "Well… we don't exactly know who you are… but, umm… well, should we?"

Before he could answer, the metal-hand guy in the corner stepped forward for the first time, "How dare you speak to the Dark Lord in such a manner! Feigning ignorance. The nerve! This is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! The Dark One! You-Know-Who! The—"

"Wormtail," the 'Dark One' held up a hand, "Do shut up."

Wormtail blushed and stepped back, "Yes, Master."

You-Know-Who turned to the children, curious to see their reactions to his titles, and was once again baffled. There was no fear. No dawning realization. No recognition. Just pure and utter confusion.

"You-Know-Who?" asked the boy, "How the heck are we supposed to know who you are if ya' can't be named?"

Lucius, seeing his master's bafflement, decided to try and shed some light on the subject, "Forgive me for intruding, Master. But I do believe they may be muggle born."

There was a beat of silence. And then laughter. Insane, maniacal laughter.

"Mudbloods?" he laughed, "Are you suggesting that… hahaMudbloods wiggled their way into my domain?"

Lucius shifted uncomfortably, afraid that he said something wrong. "It's just a guess, Master."

"Oh… rest assured, you said nothing wrong… hehe… but in fact, this would be excellent!"

"Excellent, Master?"

"Indeed," he nodded. Ropes shot out of his wand and wrapped around the boy.

"What the—!"

"Hey! Let him go, you sicko!" the girl shouted.

"In fact," the Dark One continued, "It may solve both of our problems."

"Problems?" asked the woman.

"Yes, problems. Weren't you just saying earlier how you wanted assistance for your dear boy Draco?"

She shifted uncomfortably, "Yes…"

"Well you have it," the ropes shot up, pulling Dipper to the roof and tangling him up in the rafters, "This girl will help him."

"Hey man! Let me down!"

"What the heck is going on here!?" Mabel cried, "Help who with what?"

"You will be assisting Draco in assassinating the Headmaster."

"Assassin—wait what? I don't want to kill anybody!"

The boy struggled from above, "Yeah! Leave her out of this! I'll kill someone! I'll kill anyone! She's only thirteen!"

"So are you, dumb-dumb!"

"Yeah, but I'm more mature!"

"Are not!"

"Are to!"

Mabel shook her head, "Doesn't matter! I'm the older twin anyway! And taller!"

"Only by—"

"SILENCE!" You-Know-Who cried, "You insolent children! I am at my wit's end, and I have no patience for your idiotic bickering! Thus far you have been entertaining, but I will not be afraid to dish out punishments. Do not force my hand." The children then wisely shut up. He sighed and rubbed his temples, "Finally. Wormtail, bring Nagini. I need to lower my stress levels."

"Y-yes, Master."

"You, girl, what is your name?" he asked.

"M-M-Mabel, sir."

"Go stand in that corner until we finish the rest of our meeting. And do not move, unless you want to end up like your brother up there." She quickly nodded and shuffled over. His sudden outburst had startled her. She wanted to protest, but one look from her brother quickly changed her mind (even in the dim lighting, she could recognize his annoying, brotherly glare).

"So, Lucius. As we were saying before you selfishly turned the topic toward your son, how are we faring with the Ministry?"

"W-well, we are faring as well as we are able, considering that—"

Mabel then stopped paying attention. She fingered her grappling hook from under her school robes. Maybe she could shoot to the roof and rescue Dipper? And then on the way down she could do a double back flip, throw a smoke bomb, punch snake-dude, knee blonde-man in the nuts and use Dipper as a human lasso… whip… thing.

Mabel grinned and nodded. Sounded like a great plan. Just before she put it in action though, she began to notice some holes in her brilliant plan. She didn't have a smoke bomb. And she didn't know how to do a double back flip.

Mabel sighed and slumped. Dipper's nerdy-ness really rubbed off on her during the summer. Too bad they couldn't do twin telepathy. That would be really helpful right now. Dipper always knew what to do. He had like, a super mind. Of course, Mabel was way more super than him. Responsibilities of the Alpha Twin, you know? But when it came to nerdy book stuff, Dipper was your man.

Speaking of Dipper… Mabel looked up and saw him hanging in a rather awkward position. But instead of planning, like she thought he'd be doing, he was listening very closely to the conversation below. Mabel smiled. 'Heh. Even in a potentially life-death situation, Dipper still pays attention in class."

Dipper was really excited to go to school at Hog-whatever. He talked a lot about houses… whatever those were. Something about being sorted by a hat? Well, all she knew was that they go to different rooms. Mabel hoped she got the same one as Dipper. They are always together. What was it that snake guy said? Something about using Dipper as blackmail…? Does that mean Dipper won't be able to go to—'OH MY GOSH IS THAT A SNAKE?'

Wormtail came in with a black snake trailing behind him. It slithered confidently to the feet of You-Know-Who. He picked it up and rested the head on his lap. Mabel cooed affectionately in her mind.

'Oh my gosh she's so pretty! I wonder if he named her yet? Maybe I could name her?'

"Thank you for bringing Nagini, Wormtail."

'Aww man. He did name it. Too bad. I would have named it something way better, like Snakester or something.'

Mabel began to rock on her heals and look around the room. It was quite boring to stand in the corner like that. Her feet were falling asleep. Maybe she could sit down? But then dust would get all over her school robes. She wondered if the train left already. Mabel hoped it didn't. Dipper wouldn't be very happy if they were late to the first day of school.

Mabel stifled a yawn. The snake dude was still talking. She wondered who he was.

'Maybe he's some sort of wizard gang leader or something? But he seems a bit to high-status for that. Could be a weird-o cult thingy,' she thought. Wouldn't be the first time they stumbled into a cult, after all.

'Speaking of wondering who people are, who is this Malfoy person? And what am I supposed to do again? Kill someone, right?'

Mabel never killed before. Punched, kicked, blew up, set fire to, caused wrecks, and grappling hooked, but killing? No way. The closest thing she ever did was explode a few zombies' heads with bad karaoke music. Oh. And destroy Mabel-Land and its inhabitants. But that doesn't really count.

Another yawn. 'Man. This is boring. I wonder how Waddles and Flappy are doing? Hopefully Waddle's didn't get distracted and wander off. I put him on a leash, of course. But you can never know for sure.'

It then occurred to Mabel that everyone was staring at her. Dipper, snake-dude, the couple, Wormtail, and even Snakester. She looked around in confusion, "What?"

Snake-Dude rolled his eyes and muttered, "Flipendo."

And that was the first curse either of the twins had contact with.

Mabel felt herself fly backward into the wall, her shoulder making direct contact with the inward corner.

"MABEL!" came the expected cry of her brother.

She blearily rubbed her shoulder and looked up, only to see Snake-Dude towering above her, "Perhaps you will pay attention next time, hm?" when Mabel didn't answer his eyes hardened, "Get up."

Mabel hastily pulled herself to her feet and brushed her robes off. 'Great. Now they're dusty,' was her only thought.

Snake-Dude pulled her back to the middle of the rug and sat down in his chair. He waved his wand and Dipper was lowered down (though he was still tied up). The twins went to check on each other immediately, an action the Dark One observed with satisfaction. "We have decided to let you two live… for now."

Mabel nodded, "Living is good."

"Don't act so eager. There will have to be payment."

"What sort of payment?" Dipper asked suspiciously.

"You will assist us in our plans. Dumbledore would never think that we would allow filthy Mudbloods into our group."

Mabel shook her head in annoyance, "What exactly are we supposed to do again?"

"You will assist Draco in the assassination of Dumbledore and the rebuilding of the Vanishing Cabinet."

"But we don't know magic."

"That is not my concern," he answered stiffly.

Dipper tried to fold his arms, but forgot that his hands were tied behind his back. He settled for a glare instead, "What if we don't want to help you?"

"Then you will die." He said this part as if it were obvious.

"Ooorrrr….." Mabel started, "We can just leave and never come back! We'll swear not to tell anybody about anything! Me and Dip-Dop will keep our lips sealed!"

"No, no," the Dark One shook his head, "I like my idea better. And you can easily betray your promise."

"And how the heck do you know that we won't betray you at school!?" Dipper asked exasperatedly.

"And that's where you come in."

"Oh no."

Snake-Face grinned, "Oh yes. You see, from the past ten to fifteen minutes of our meeting, I could tell that your bond as siblings is close. So close in fact, that you would repeatedly try to sacrifice yourself for the well-being of your counterpart. I intend to use that bond to its full potential."

A cold pit started to form in Dipper's stomach as he began to piece it all together. Mabel however, was not as fast to catching on, "And how are you supposed to do that?"

"Keep the boy here as blackmail."

"WHAT?" Mabel cried, "I mean, I guess retrospect it should've been obvious, but still WHAT? Dipper had been excited to go to that school ever since we got that letter!"

"You're worried about my schooling of all things?" Dipper yelled.

She ran her hands through her hair, "I don't know how to react, alright?"

"Shaking in fear will be suffice," the Dark One said smugly, finally able to get the appropriate reaction from the two twins.

"There's no way we'll help you kill someone!" the younger boy cried, "That's messed up, man!"

"And gross!" Mabel agreed.

"Killing is not the only thing you will be doing," the Dark One sighed, "You will help rebuild the Vanishing Cabinet and, if possible, befriend Harry Potter."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Mabel couldn't help but let out a giggle, "Pfft. Hairy." The Dark Lord scowled in her direction and she promptly shut up (too much of Dipper's surprise. Usually that doesn't work).

"Harry has been a thorn in my side since his birth," Snake Dude continued, "I want you to spy on him."

"This is crazy!" Dipper shouted, "There's no way she's doing any of that!"

"Yeah! I'm not going to spy on someone after we become friends! That's mean!"

"I'm sure we can find a compromise." With a wave of his wand, the ropes around Dipper started to snake around him (pun totally intended).

"What the—" He was cut short when the ropes tightened around his neck. His feet left the ground and soon he was being strangled mid-air.

"DIPPER!" Mabel cried for what felt like the fifth time that day.

"Are you ready to compromise, my pet?"

Mabel visibly shivered at the nickname. She felt frozen. "I... Um…"

She saw her brother waving his head wildly, trying to signal her a 'no'. And part of her wanted to agree with him. She really didn't want to kill anyone.

But she also didn't want her brother to get hurt.

"I'm waiting for an answer."

'This is for Dipper.'

Mabel's eyes hardened as she uttered her next words, "What do I need to do?"

"Who would sacrifice everything for their dumb sibling?"

- Bill Cipher

I was super nervous posting this chapter. It's slightly bolder than the other two, thus open to more criticism. Don't worry though. I enjoy constructive criticism. But I also enjoy positive feedback, so...

And yes. I am aware of an inconsistency in this chapter. It was a minor mistake on my part, but frankly I'm too lazy to change it. I like this chapter the way it is and don't want to change such a huge amount of dialogue. Don't worry though. After chapter four, all inconsistencies and plot holes will cease. I am much more careful about keeping in line with the Harry Potter universe after chapter four. (I won't tell you about the inconsistency though. If you didn't catch it why should I tell you about my mistake?)

And if you're confused about why Voldemort is even entertaining the idea of allowing two 'filthy Mudbloods' in his ranks, I plan to incorporate his explanation in Chapter Four or Five.

Anyway, favs and follows are great but reviews are greater. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Expect another update next Wednesday! Bye!