Amelia Bones raced up the stairs to her office, tripping over the narrow steps and catching herself on the handrail. Stumbling over the last few steps, she staggered into her office, shutting the door firmly and invoking the locking charms. Not that they would be of any use, given what she knew. There were some very talented witches and wizards out there that could overload her protections in a matter of minutes and most of them had dubious loyalties at best.
Rummaging through her desk drawer, she pulled out a tarnished silver chain from which a teardrop of what appeared to be obsidian was suspended. Wrapping the chain around her hand, she sliced the thumb on her spare hand open and smeared the pendant with her blood. As it changed from black to dark-red she whispered a spell, breathing over the pendant. This done, she pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and hurriedly wrote a short passage. Casting a drying spell on the ink, she wrapped the necklace with the parchment, tying it together with a piece of string. She then tied it to the leg of the Ministry owl that took up residence in her office (it wasn't supposed to, as there were centralised places for owls, but this owl had just arrived one day and never left).
"To Susan, Susan Bones," she told it firmly. "She's a sixth-year Hufflepuff, long red hair, wears it in a plait. You can't miss her. Deliver it to her and stay at Hogwarts. Don't come back." The owl tilted it's head on one side, reinforcing Amelia's opinion that, experts' opinions to the contrary, owls could understand human speech. At the moment, the owl seemed to want to know why it wasn't to return. "Look, you have to go! They'll be here soon, and I need you gone before that. Susan needs this!" If the owl had possessed the appropriate body structure, it would have shrugged dismissively. Instead, it spread it's wings and took flight, aiming for the window. Amelia watched it go, worrying at her bottom lip as it crossed the Ministry wards and entered neutral air space. She had done all she could.
"I'm sorry to involve you in this, Susan," she spoke aloud. She knew that Susan would never hear it, but it made her feel better, so she continued. "But I can offer you some protection." She raised her wand and moved it in the pattern that she had prayed she would never have to use. "Schutzdacts Susan Evelyn Bones." She could feel goosebumps on her skin as the spell took effect, slipping through her magical barriers and ingraining itself into her blood.
She was seated behind her desk, calmly working through the work for that morning when the protections were breached. Raising her head, she stared levelly at the individuals who blocked her view. She noted the glazed eyes of victims of the Imperius curse and mentally sighed. She couldn't even leave a clue to the identity of her kidnappers.
"You know something that the Dark Lord needs, Madam Bones," the one on the left croaked. She nodded. "Will you come quietly?" Amelia kept herself relaxed as she brought her wand into position under the desk. She might lose, but she'd be damned if she didn't take someone down with her. It was unfortunate that she would have to hex her own employees, but it was all for the greater good.
"Reducto," she offered in way of response, blowing the man on the left into the wall. He crumpled to the ground, stunned. The other one, seemingly controlled by a more adept Dark Wizard, was already part-way through a curse. Amelia ducked as it flew toward her, and it shattered the mug resting on the table. She found herself thinking that it was a great pity that the mug was broken, as Edgar's eldest had made it. It was this moment of introspection that cost her. The wizard fired a Stupefy at her, and she didn't move quickly enough. She was caught in the corona of the spell and was knocked unconscious immediately. The wizard kicked her thoughtfully, nodding in satisfaction when she didn't protest. He then walked over to where his colleague was lying, pulling out a wand a placing it in his hand. He watched dispassionately as the man disappeared. He had failed to subdue the woman, and he would be dealt with accordingly.
Pulling out a pocket watch that seemed to be missing a cover, he knelt down and grabbed Amelia's lax hand. Holding it toward the watch, the two disappeared, leaving the wreckage of her office behind.
***
"Expecto Patronum," Justin pronounced firmly, his eyes screwed shut. Every time he had had his eyes open, his patronus had not appeared, so maybe he was jinxing it by looking. Although, judging by the giggles, he not only had failed to conjure the patronus, but looked pretty stupid too. He opened his eyes to the mirthful expressions of his housemates. "Oh thank you ever so much," he commented sarcastically. "You know I'll never get this charm if you keep doing that."
"You're hardly going to get the charm to work if your eyes're shut," Hannah pointed out. "And a happy memory, Justin. Surely you've got one, you're an only child! You were probably spoiled throughout your entire childhood!" Justin wisely kept quiet the thought he had about how all the spoilt kids were in Slytherin, as Hannah might throw something at him, quite possibly herself, and maul him with her fingernails. He still had the scars from Hannah's stress-out over the OWLs.
"Expecto Patronum," Susan interjected. There was silence. Then -
"That's so cool!" Ernie pronounced, staring at the silvery dog that prowled around her feet momentarily before disappearing. Susan looked quite pleased with herself, as well she might. She was the first of all of them to get the charm to work after all. "Alright, who's next? J's been - and failed, Susan's done it, Hannah..." Hannah glanced up from her Herbology homework and shook her head, gesturing at the half-finished essay on her lap. "Will attempt it last," Ernie temporised. "Expecto Patronum!" A white whisp of smoke shot out of his wand and Ernie made a face. Justin looked on in envy. He couldn't even get that. "It should have worked," Ernie mused. "I could see it partially work, but then it stopped."
"You're concentrating too much on being able to see it, and not enough on actually doing it," Susan offered. "So your attention's being divided, and the spell doesn't work. What?" she asked at everyone's incredulous expressions. "I like charms, they sort of flow from your wand."
"My turn," Zacharias commented. "Expecto Patronum." He looked disheartened by the result. The others fought back giggles.
"I'm sure that size doesn't matter," Susan offered finally. "Even if it's a ten centimetre rat. With only half an ear." The patronus-rat looked vaguely affronted at the suggestion that it was not magnificent as it disappeared. Zacharias scowled at it.
"I think I'd prefer being captured by Dementors," he said darkly. "There is no way I'm showing anyone else that thing." The others exchanged knowing glances. "What?" he demanded.
"You say that now," Ernie pointed out. "But when you're staring down a dementor, I doubt you'd give a damn as to what your patronus is, as you'll be more concerned with actually casting the bloody thing, like everyone else."
"He was exaggerating," Hannah reminded Ernie. "As always. Expecto Patronum." She too only got a whisp of smoke. "That's so not fair. How come Susan and Zach can do it, and I can't?"
"Because I can't do disarming spells?" Zacharias offered. The others winced at the memory. While it had turned out that the Weasley twins had interfered with Zacharias during the DA sessions, the fact remained that he still couldn't do them. Hannah had begged him to stop after he had summoned her homework, Susan's textbooks and their chests were making manful efforts to lift off of the ground and leap into his hands as well. Justin, the target of the spell, remained unscathed, a fact he was quite grateful for. At the time, Ernie had suggested that Zacharias simply tackle the wizard or witch in question and beat them up with his wand, as he would probably achieve the same effect. Zacharias obliged, tackling Ernie to the floor and hitting him with his wand. Ernie had squawked in protest and Justin, taking this opportunity to move out of the way, had dived out the door and was halfway down the stairs before the other two realised that he had gone. It was so worth it, seeing them race down the stairs, convinced that their time was up.
"Well, there is that," Hannah conceded. "Have you gotten any better at them, by the way?" The boys shook their heads in unison. To their sorrow, Zacharias would persist in practicing the Disarming spell at the most inopportune moments, like when they had just cleaned the room. Professor Sprout was remarkably unsympathetic to their plight, frequently deducting points for the state of their room, despite their protests that it wasn't their fault.
"They won't let me do them anymore," Zacharias complained, pouting. "All I did was do it to Justin while he was doing his Herbology homework." Ernie and Justin exchanged glances. From what they remembered, that rather innocent comment didn't quite encompass the total destruction caused. It had taken weeks to repair the desk, and Justin was still picking out splinters to this day. Although, they did see the bright side of it all. The desk that Zacharias had destroyed had somehow become animate during the years it had spent in Hogwarts, and had a bad habit of gnawing on their hands when they were asleep. Needless to say, they were quietly relieved when they woke up the day after it had been destroyed and found all of their fingers intact.
"Yes, well, we like the furniture," Ernie commented dismissively. "Except for that bloody table. That had to go." Justin nodded solemnly. He had almost lost a thumb to it last year. "And we should probably get back, you know? Snape's a sadist, he really is." The recent Potions homework of memorising the ingredients of six potions was hitting them hard, but none more than Ernie, who was determined to emulate his sister in topping Potions. The others had told him that this task was impossible, given that Draco Malfoy practically performed sexual favours in order for the position, but Ernie was determined to do it. Unfortunately for the other two boys, they had to put up with Ernie muttering plants and other assorted ingredients at odd times, generally when they were trying to do their own homework for their respective classes. Justin had received some very strange looks when he handed in his Care of Magical Creatures report with the phrase 'distill the essence of witch-hazel until it is clear green.' Then again, that might be due to Hagrid's inability to read books that didn't have copious amounts of glossy pictures.
"Fine, fine, abandon us here," Hannah commented. "See if we care." She grinned as she glanced up from her textbook (she had resumed studying when the boys had begun to bicker), and laughed at their expressions. "It's called sarcasm, boys."
"We know that," Justin retorted. "We share a dorm with Ernie. If we didn't have a passing familiarity with sarcasm before we came to Hogwarts, we do now." Picking himself off the floor - he had never had the courage to sit on the beds after the first meeting, a qualm that neither Ernie or Zacharias seemed to share, he brushed himself off, dragged his bookbag off the floor, wondered what on earth he had in there to make it so heavy and was halfway out the door before the other two had realised what was going on.
"Oi, wait up you stupid bastard!" Zacharias called. Justin winced as his voice echoed throughout the corridor, causing many of the doors to open and curious heads to stick out. He could see the Head Girl, Enid Henderson, glare disapprovingly at him and he tried to redirect her attention toward Ernie and Zacharias, but she wasn't having any of it. She shook her head in disapproval and disappeared.
"Now, look what you've done," Justin hissed to Zacharias as he drew level. "We've got the head girl on our case now." Zacharias shrugged nonchalantly. Justin hit him. Zacharias hit him back. Justin hit Zacharias back. This was looking to be a remarkably silly game, so Ernie calmly reminded them that they had a minute to get out of the wing before they were forcibly removed. As intended, this inspired them to move very quickly out of the section, with Ernie walking self-importantly behind them.
***
It was obvious that the first Quidditch match of the year was looming, because not only was Zacharias rarely in the room when Justin woke up, but he spent most of his day wandering aimlessly into furniture and looking at it in bewilderment. After almost breaking his neck going down a flight of stairs, the others decided that it would be wise to drug him into unconsciousness and then tell Ryan Summerby where to stick his before-dawn Quidditch practices. Unfortunately, as many plans go, it didn't work out all that well.
"You lot want me to do what?" Summerby demanded when they cornered him in the common room. "I can't stop the practices! We've got a game to win in two weeks, and I'll be damned if we lose to Gryffindor this time!" Justin wasn't particularly impressed by his annoyance, and judging by the expressions of the others, neither were they.
"This may have escaped your attention, but Gryffindor has Harry Potter. The only way you're going to beat them is to off him," Ernie explained kindly. "While he's a bit of a tool, he's a damned good Seeker. The others may be really bad, but when you've got a hundred and fifty points already guaranteed, you can afford to be nonchalant about it all. We can't. We're going to get our arses kicked if you don't play smart, and right now working them into the ground isn't smart." Summerby looked as if he was going to protest this, when a series of loud thumps were heard from the staircase. As one, they all turned around and sighed in exasperation, except for Summerby, who was staring, eyes wide in shock, at the sight that confronted him.
"Ernie, I told you to give him more," Susan commented finally, staring at the sprawled Zacharias. "Now we're going to have to haul him back up the stairs."
"How?" Ernie asked. Susan looked at him curiously, which was to be expected. Justin thought it was a relatively simple task, dragging someone who was a good foot taller than him up the stairs. "How did he manage to get to the stairs anyway?" The others shrugged. Zacharias had been doing weird stuff like that for ages, it wasn't as if this was anything new. "Don't tell me, another potion that doesn't work properly on him. How many is this now?"
"About six different types," Hannah supplied. "Don't know how many different potions it is though." Summerby, who had been opening and closing his mouth soundlessly thoughout the entire discussion, finally regained the power of speech.
"You drug your housemate?" he asked incredulously.
"Regularly," Ernie replied. Summerby looked outraged, possibly because of all of the school rules that such an action would break. "Hey, you only see him at practice. We see him everyday. Trust me, you'd be drugging him too, if only to save our sanity when he goes into one of his diatribes."
"We think of it as training," Justin offered. "So when Voldemort captures him for indulging his Gryffindor tendencies, otherwise known as being bloody stupid, veritaserum doesn't work on him. Unfortunately, we can't find any veritaserum to test this with, but it's only a matter of time until Ernie works it out." He grinned at the mental image of them asking Zacharias all of those questions that he would never answer in his right mind, and actually getting answers.
"You drugged my Chaser?" Summerby continued, his voice spiraling. Justin flinched. This wasn't going to be pretty.
"'m n't y's," Zacharias commented thickly. Justin kicked him thoughtfully and he shut up. Summerby was almost apoplectic at that.
"Until the season's over, I own you, Smith," he retorted. "So, shut up." The other sixth years scowled at that. The only people who were allowed to do that were them.
"That's not very nice," Hannah scolded. "He hasn't had eight hours of sleep in a week because of you. He stabbed himself by accident yesterday in Potions, and it took him positively ages to realise it. Professor Snape almost had a fit when he found out." Justin shot Hannah an incredulous look. He wouldn't have described Professor's rant about jocks overworking themselves as almost having a fit, as he thought that Snape had crossed that line when he had hauled Zacharias upright and shaken him. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were outraged at this and slightly disturbed at Zacharias' lack of reaction. It was understandable that they drugged him, or so Justin reasoned. That was just unnerving.
"That would explain why Snape was gunning for me during Potions this morning," Summerby conceded. "Something about overworking the junior members on the team. I tried telling him that Smith's hardly a junior member, but he was having none of it." He looked down thoughtfully. "I'm going to assume that at least one of you can use the mobilicorpus spell, 'cause I've got Charms in five, and Flitwick's going over what we need to know for the NEWTS." He turned on his heel and walked briskly out of the common room. Justin could hear Susan mutter something that bore a startling resemblence to 'I should have thought of that!'
"Mobilicorpus," Ernie incanted, and Zacharias levitated limply to hovering just above where his feet would normally be. Justin shuddered and turned away. For some reason, he could never see anyone under this spell and not shudder, probably because of a negligent teenaged babysitter when he was younger. His parents swore up and down that he had had screaming nightmares about zombies until his eighth birthday, and Justin believed them. Judging from the periodic thumps and muttered swearing, Ernie was making his way up the stairs and tripping over objects on the way up. Susan and Hannah looked intrigued at this, because their stairs were completely clear of any objects. They turned questioning looks at Justin, who just shrugged. They had to maintain some mystique.
***
The long-awaited Quidditch match finally arrived, and Justin decided not to go. It was a foregone conclusion that Harry Potter was going to catch the Snitch, and he really couldn't be bothered hanging around and waiting for the inevitable Gryffindor win. Also, he had five feet of parchment to write about Emeric the Evil's campaign across Eastern Europe. He'd tried arguing that it wasn't fair to have to write an assignment that was longer than he was tall, but either Professor Binns was completely incapable of taking a joke, or he didn't pay enough attention to reality. Justin suspected the latter. So, he was frantically trying to fill the last foot of parchment with his unfortunately small and neat handwriting when the house returned.
The other four sixth years threw themselves onto the chairs closest to Justin, and he was strangely excited to note that Susan was closest to him. Unfortunately, Zacharias was on her other side, and Justin thought he was too close to Susan. His fists clenched involuntarily, and he consciously relaxed them. Surely Susan would have better taste than Zacharias? He was the walking example that the Hat could have problems deciding to sort people into either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. He glanced up mildly at Ernie's martyred sigh.
"It's two o'clock, we obviously lost and Zach has a black eye and is slightly sunburnt. Good match?" he asked diffidently. Ernie made a face, Hannah sighed, Susan started to replait her hair and Zacharias opened his mouth. Justin prepared for the tirade.
"It was dreadful, Madam Hooch hates us and I want to die," Zacharias began dramatically. Justin breathed a sigh of relief. Normally they were longer than that.
"No-one has ever died from sunburn," he replied dryly. "Normally they die because their annoyed dorm-mate pushes them off the roof. Cut the histrionics and tell me what happened." Zacharias looked vaguely startled at this uncharacteristic display of temper. Ernie had opened his mouth - possibly in preparation of telling Justin off, when Susan glanced at the books that were resting on the desk and elbowed him sharply in the ribs. Ernie turned an outraged expression on her and she mouthed 'History of Magic'. Ernie nodded in understanding. Justin's dislike for History of Magic was rather well known. He would comment on a regular basis that he saw no real point for a class where the professor had probably lived through all of the exciting stuff for the express purpose of making it boring. Hannah glanced at the books and visibly started to panic. Ernie, seeing this, passed her one of the books, studiously ignoring Justin's glare. Hannah accepted it, flashed both Ernie and Justin a quick apologetic grin and opened the book to a seemingly random page.
"The girl Weasley, she's a decent chaser," Susan began. "That's her elbow in Zach's face, so's you know. Her brother was almost incoherent after Zach elbowed her in the ribs in return. We tried explaining to him after the match that they were both going for the Quaffle and that he should be thrilled that Zach was treating his sister as just another opponent, but he was intent on finding Zach and beating him senseless."
"So you ran away?" Justin asked. The others nodded, Zacharias quite reluctantly. "Good move. He's got about three hundred brothers, he would have wiped the floor with Zach. No, no, don't give me that outraged look, Zach," Justin continued, as Zacharias had a quite outraged expression on his face. "You have, sorry, I mean had, a sister. That's it. You can probably count the number of fights you've had that were serious on one hand."
"Summerby never had a chance," Ernie chimed in. "Potter had the Snitch caught within half an hour. It was damned freaky, let me tell you. He just shot up into the air and caught it, completely without looking. Admittedly, he was busy checking out our keeper, but you get that." Justin grinned. Everyone checked out Melissa Atkins at least once. Right up until her girlfriend found out about it and beat you into a pulp. Millicent Bullstrode was one scary girl, although Melissa seemed to like her. It was only a matter of time though until Potter was found in a disused corridor, babbling about the Mack truck that had run him over. Justin hoped he'd use the usual 'I tripped going down a flight of stairs' excuse, he had a galleon resting on the possibility of Millicent's next victim using that excuse. He wasn't all that concerned about Potter, after all, if he was stupid enough to risk it, his problem.
"Their new chasers were all right," Zacharias added morosely. "I'm going to have to watch them next year." Justin shot him a questioning look, frowning slightly. "Oh, didn't I mention. I'm the captain-trainee for the year. Joy." Zacharias made a face. "You want to be Seeker next year?" he asked hopefully. "'Cause if you do, we can start training you now, and then we're set for next year." Justin shook his head ferverntly. He could barely tolerate watching Quidditch, he didn't want to play it. Zacharias' opinions about how interesting it was to play aside (and Justin suspected that he was lying his arse off just to find a Seeker), Justin couldn't really see the point of dodging lead balls and players intent on decapitating you just so you could catch a small metal ball.
A tiny boy tapped Susan hesitantly on the shoulder and she whipped her head around, her partially-loose hair flying everywhere. Zacharias winced as part of it whipped his face and Justin found himself mesmerised by it. Right up until he was kicked sharply by Hannah. She shook her head in amusement at his startled expression and mouthed 'Ask her out.' Justin shook his head. Hannah's amused expression intensified to the point that she almost looked demonic. She tapped Ernie on the shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Ernie shot Justin a speculative expression. This wasn't going to be good. It never was when both prefects were in on something.
"What's that?" Zacharias asked curiously at the letter in Susan's hand. When she didn't answer, he reached up a hand and snatched it out of her hands. Susan glared down at him and took the letter out of his hands, rapping him sharply on the nose as she did so. Zacharias winced.
"That's my mail," she scolded. "Naughty dog." Zacharias rubbed his nose gingerly and glared at her.
"With that nose, he's more like a bird than a dog," Ernie offered and received a pillow to the face for his efforts. Susan laughed and opened the envelope. A pendant fell out into her hand. Justin watched in apprehensive dread as her face paled dramatically. Ernie whipped his head around and stared wide-eyed at the pendant, going slightly green. Hannah had her hands over her mouth and Zacharias yanked the pendant away from Susan. He stared in dismay as her eyes rolled up and she collapsed into his lap.
"Zach, put it down!" Ernie commanded sharply. It fell from Zacharias' nerveless fingers onto the ground with a loud clatter and he stared down at Susan.
"I didn't mean to do that," he breathed. "I didn't know." Justin ignored him as he pulled Susan off Zacharias' lap and shook her slightly. He bit his bottom lip when she didn't react.
"That was blood magic," Ernie's voice was shaking. "Someone just tried to kill Susan." Justin stopped shaking Susan and turned to look at Ernie. "We need to tell someone. Susan could have died. Why didn't the wards work?" Ernie's voice was almost childlike in it's shock. Hannah looked close to joining him in uselessness.
"We need to get her to the infirmary," Zacharias broke in. "Now." He swung Susan up into his arms, muttered something pungnant and staggered toward the door. Justin leapt to his feet, grabbed Ernie and Hannah by their arms and dragged them out of the common room.
***
"Stop hovering, boy! Out! Out and wait outside!" Madam Pomfrey snapped. Justin, who, truth be told, was hovering around her shoulder, jumped back in surprise and pleaded with her with his eyes. Her eyes narrowed and she waved an imperious hand. Justin slinked outside where the other three were waiting.
"I don't understand," Zacharias was saying plaintively. "Why would someone try to kill Susan? She's just a sixth year Hufflepuff, we aren't a threat to anyone." Ernie snorted, having evidently regained his equilibrium.
"They weren't trying to kill Susan Bones, the sixth year Hufflepuff student. They were obviously trying to kill the last magical blood relative of Amelia Bones. Honestly, Zach, don't you pay attention to politics?" Judging by Zacharias' shamed face, he didn't. Justin frowned slightly. He really wasn't all that interested in either magical or Muggle politics, but this sounded pretty serious. He fell into the closest chair, nodded to Hannah and propped his head in his hands.
"Haven't you read the Daily Prophet lately?" Ernie demanded. "Madam Bones was presiding over the trial of Lucius Malfoy and successfully pushed for him to get the Dementor's Kiss. That's why Malfoy was out of class all of last week, he was being named the master of the Malfoy name. Not that it's a particularly good name to be the heir to," the heir to the Macmillan name added. Justin snorted. It was dead funny when Ernie put on the pureblood act, mainly because they knew it was an act. Most of the time, Ernie didn't really give a damn who your parents were, he was more concerned with who you were. Most purebloods didn't measure up. It was odd the way that worked out. "They were sending Amelia a message: Convict any more of us, and we'll kill all of your family. Susan's a bargaining chip."
"Are you sure it was the Dark Arts?" Hannah asked nervously. Ernie nodded confidently.
"I recognise blood magic when I see it. It's really gross if you use witchsight," he explained. "Rest assured, someone's after Susan. We have to make sure they don't get her. She's a Hufflepuff, no-one messes with us."
"Suitably dramatic," Zacharias interjected. "Needs a bit of work on the graphic imagery." Ernie punched him on the upper arm. Zacharias returned the favour. This looked to be a very silly game. Hannah clipped Ernie with her wand and he glared at her.
"You're a prefect," she hissed. "Act like one." Ernie rubbed his arm and looked affronted. Hannah narrowed her eyes and Ernie straightened his spine. Justin made an effort to look innocent and virtuous. Zacharias seemed to make a concerted effort to disappear.
It was to this scene that Madam Pomfrey opened the door to the infirmary and hauled them inside.
"What happened before Miss Bones fainted, Master Finch-Fletchley?" she demanded. Ernie opened his mouth to speak and she silenced him with a look. "I asked Master Finch-Fletchley, not you, Master Macmillan." Ernie closed his mouth with a snap and Justin quickly relayed the tale. Madam Pomfrey looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you have the pendant with you now?" An exchange of looks, then four shaken heads. "Can I ask you to get...good heavens, boy!" Zacharias, who had raised his head slightly, quickly ducked it back down again. "What have you done to yourself?"
"Ginny Weasley's elbow," Hannah explained. "And Ernie and I'll go and get the pendant." Justin shot her a betrayed look. "Oh, and Justin." It was Zacharias' turn for the hurt look. "Oh, stop it, Zach. For all you know, you've broken your nose and haven't realised it yet."
"I doubt it," Zacharias muttered sullenly as Madam Pomfrey chased him into the infirmary proper. "I'm considering myself abandoned here, you know." The three shrugged. Trust Zacharias to make a three act play out of it.