A few days later Helena woke up late and slid out of bed and went over to the window to see if the Daily Prophet had been left on her windowsill. It hadn't so Helena guessed that as she hadn't been awake to pay the owl, it had flown back with the paper. She turned from the window but stopped when she heard the familiar cry of an owl. She squinted out the window and saw an owl flying towards her. It wasn't the usual owl who delivered the Prophet though; it was a bigger barn owl and it was carrying a large envelope. It landed on the windowsill and Helena took the envelope from the owl's beak. She sat down on her bed as the owl took off. She ripped open the envelope and pulled out a piece of parchment, headed with the title Ordinary Wizarding Level Results followed by all Outstandings. Helena grinned and ran downstairs with the letter to show her parents.
But as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she realised that something was wrong. The carpet in the hallway was flecked with blood and the glass door into the kitchen was shattered. The letter dropped from her hand as she slowly walked towards the kitchen. The broken glass jabbed at her bare feet as she passed through the doorframe. There was more blood streaked across the walls in the kitchen and a puddle of soggy cereal dripped off the countertop. Helena walked towards the dining room. As she stepped through the archway, she could see her parents' bodies hanging from the light above the table. Wind was blowing through the open doors into the sunroom and the backyard and it made the bodies swing back and forth.
Helena walked past the bodies and through the sunroom out into the yard. She stepped out onto the lawn and looked up where a colossal skull made of green smoke blazed in the sky. A great serpent slithered from its mouth and dived at Helena. She fell backwards and tried to wriggle away as the snake opened its mouth and started screeching at her. She put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, she saw that it wasn't a giant serpent making the noise, but an owl perched on her windowsill trying to wake her up. It had dropped a large envelope onto the floor from its beak and, once it had seen that Helena was awake, flew away, still hooting. It took her a few moments to process that it was just a dream then she rolled out of bed and picked up the envelope off the ground. She sat back down on her bed to open the envelope and slid out the piece of parchment from inside. It read:
ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS
Pass Grades: Outstanding (O) Fail Grades: Poor(P)
Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)
Acceptable (A) Troll (T)
HELENA MAY WILLIAMS HAS ACHIEVED:
Arithmancy: E
Astronomy: O
Care of Magical Creatures: E
Charms: O
Defence Against the Dark Arts: O
Divination: A
Herbology: O
History of Magic: O
Potions: O
Transfiguration: O
She completely forgot about the nightmare and grinned. She had to read the grades about three times before she believed them then she leaped off her bed and bounced downstairs and into the kitchen where her parents were eating breakfast.
"I got my O.W.L. results," she announced and thrust the parchment in front of her mother's nose. She took it from her and placed it on the countertop so she and Tom could both read it. She drummed her fingers on the counter excitedly while they read it and realised that she had forgotten to cover up her Dark Mark. Luckily her parents were too busy reading to notice and she quickly hid her arm behind her back.
"Congratulations!" said Gwen. "I'm really proud of you. Does this mean that you'll be able to take all of the subjects that you want?"
Helena nodded. "I'm not continuing Divination, History of Magic or Care of Magical Creatures this year," she told them. "I'm hoping to take Alchemy, but it will only run if enough students want to take it."
"Are you sure that you should be dropping so many subjects?" asked Gwen. "You did so well in History."
"I won't be able to do well in my N.E.W.T.'s if I overstretch myself, Mum," said Helena. "If I can't take Alchemy, then I'll take Care of Magical Creatures."
"And that's a good subject to take?" asked Gwen.
"They're all good subjects, Mum," said Helena, rolling her eyes. She reached out for the parchment with her right arm then went back upstairs to examine her results again before putting on a cardigan and heading downstairs for breakfast.
The end of summer couldn't come sooner for Helena; the stories in the Daily Prophet about strange disappearances, odd accidents and deaths made her nervous and she ached for that feeling of safety she felt inside the castle's walls. She only wished that she wouldn't have to leave her parents with no protection. But the sooner she got to Hogwarts, the sooner she could complete Voldemort's task and then she and her parents would be safe. At least, that's what she was telling herself for now. If she had to think about what would happen after, then she thought she might break.
As well as reading about the terrible incidents in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds in the Daily Prophet, Helena had received a pamphlet from the Ministry of Magic.
Issued on Behalf of the Ministry of Magic
PROTECTING YOUR HOME AND FAMILY
AGAINST DARK FORCES
The wizarding community is currently under threat from an organisation calling itself the Death Eaters. Observing the following simple security guidelines will help protect you, your family and your home from attack.
1.You are advised not to leave the house alone.
2.Particular care should be taken during the hours of darkness. Wherever possible, arrange to complete journeys before night has fallen.
3.Review the security arrangements around your house, making sure that all family members are aware of emergency measures such as Shield and Disillusionment Charms and, in the case of under-age family members, Side-Along Apparition.
4.Agree security questions with close friends and family so as to detect Death Eaters masquerading as others by use of Polyjuice Potion (see page 2).
5.Should you feel that a family member, colleague, friend or neighbour is acting in a strange manner, contact the Magical Law Enforcement Squad at once. They may have been put under the Imperius Curse (see page 4).
6.Should the Dark Mark appear over any dwelling place or other building, DO NOT ENTER, but contact the Auror Office immediately.
7.Unconfirmed sightings suggest that the Death Eaters may now be using Inferi (see page 10). Any sighting of an Inferius, or encounter with same, should be reported to the Ministry IMMEDIATELY.
For a Muggle-born under-age witch, she did not find it particularly helpful. Since she had decided to keep the Death Eaters a secret from her parents, she had no excuses as to why they could not leave the house alone or at night. Even if they went out together, without Helena they had no way of defending themselves against an attack from a Death Eater. The part about the Inferi only made Helena feel worse, although at least the pamphlet taught her how to stop them. She hadn't come across them before in her reading but she now knew that they were animated dead bodies that were forced to do a dark wizard's bidding. The only way to stop them was with fire, which was a fairly simple spell that they had already been taught at Hogwarts.
On the penultimate day of August Helena reluctantly got up early to pack her trunk. Her mother had washed all of her Muggle clothes the day before and they were neatly stacked on her window seat. She lay out her clothes for the following day on her bed and packed the rest on top of her schoolbooks and her robes which she had stored in her trunk at the beginning of the summer holidays. It was quite full by the time she had finished packing; as usual she would have trouble squashing in her new books and supplies that she would be getting in the next day in Diagon Alley.
She changed out of her pyjamas so that she could pack them then went downstairs to get some breakfast. Her father was already in the kitchen, making pancakes.
"Morning, sweetheart," said Tom as Helena sat down at the counter. He set a plate of pancakes and a bottle of maple syrup down in front of her and started making coffee. Gwen came in and sat beside her.
"I think we should get your books and things this afternoon," she said. "That way if it's busy or we forget anything, we can go back tomorrow."
"Actually, I was going to meet my friends this afternoon," said Helena, "and we were going to get our things together." From what she had read in the Daily Prophet about Ollivander's and all of the other disappearances, her parents would definitely find out about You-Know-Who if she took them into Diagon Alley. "So I'll just meet up with them today, and then we can spend the day together tomorrow."
"I guess that's fine," said Gwen.
"Cool," said Helena and she took her plate into the lounge to watch TV.
A couple of hours later they finally got on the road, headed for London. Helena and Tom managed to convince Gwen to stop for McDonalds at Reading, then when they reached London about three hours later they dropped her off to meet her friends.
Helena opened the car door and quickly jumped out and ran across the road to what looked like a bookshop to her parents but to her was the Leaky Cauldron. She pushed open one of the large creaky doors and went inside.
It was uncharacteristically empty for late August; Tom the barman looked up hopefully when Helena entered and greeted her enthusiastically.
"I'm just passing through," she said apologetically and headed out the back where the bins where kept. She pulled out her wand and tapped the brick wall in the right spot to reveal the archway into Diagon Alley. Immediately she could see that she was right not to bring her parents along.
Diagon Alley had changed. There was no longer the usual hustle and bustle of witches and wizards dressed in brightly coloured robes manoeuvring the cobbled street to examine the colourful, glittering window displays of spellbooks, potion ingredients and cauldrons. Instead the windows had been covered up with large Ministry of Magic posters. Some were blown-up versions of the security advice on the Ministry pamphlets that had been sent out over the summer and others were huge moving black-and-white photographs of Death Eaters known to be on the loose. Her heart jumped into her throat when she saw Bellatrix Lestrange sneering at her from the front of the nearest apothecary.
She rushed past the poster and instead surveyed the shabby-looking stalls that had popped up along the street. She walked past a stall under a striped, stained awning outside of Flourish and Blotts. It had a cardboard sign pinned to its front that read Amulets: Effective Against Werewolves, Dementors and Inferi. The seedy little wizard that was running the stall rattled armfuls of silver chains at her as she rushed by.
She followed the main street down to the end to Gringotts. The security had been tightened since last year and the doors were guarded by two wizards armed with Probity Probes. Once inside, she saw that the lines of wizards waiting to get into their vaults stretched out of the Main Hall and into the Entrance Hall. Luckily for Helena, she only needed to exchange her Muggle money for wizard money and was able to squash through the doors and join the shorter queue for exchanging.
It took about an hour for Helena to get her Galleons, Sickles and Knuts and by then she was running late to meet her friends. She pushed through the crowds in Gringotts then rushed through the streets to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour where she was to meet them. As she got closer to the ice cream parlour she saw that it was boarded up. She looked around for her friends and eventually she saw Mason standing alone and went over to him.
"Hey!" she greeted him.
He looked relieved to see her and wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug.
"Where are the others?" she asked, her voice muffled by his chest. They pulled apart and Mason answered,
"They've already done their shopping," said Mason. "Are you here alone?" he asked.
"I'm here with you," she said.
"It isn't safe anymore," he told her, "especially for you. Where are your parents?"
"They're in London," she said. "I couldn't bring them here. I don't want them to know about the Death Eaters and… You-Know-Who."
"You haven't told them?" asked Mason, surprised.
"You said it yourself," said Helena. "I'm in more danger than other wizards and witches. I don't want them to worry. C'mon."
She led the way to Madam Malkin's to get new robes.
"Wait," said Helena, grabbing Mason and pulling him around the corner. Malfoy was going into the robe store with his mother.
"Let's go to the apothecary first," said Helena and changed direction without waiting for a reply. After they got their potion ingredients they headed back to Madam Malkin's and finally to Flourish and Blotts to get their books.
"There's just one more place I need to go," said Mason, "then we can grab something to eat." He led the way up the street.
"I saw a good place down the road," said Helena, "in the – whoa."
They had come to a store called 'Weasley's Wizarding Weasles.' One of the windows was dazzlingly full of an assortment of goods that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced and shrieked. The other window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple like those of the ministry, but emblazoned with flashing yellow letters:
Why Are You Worrying About You-Know-Who?
You SHOULD Be Worrying About
U-N0-POO –
The Constipation Sensation That's Gripping the Nation!
Helena's mouth fell open.
"Wow." She looked at Mason. "At least I'm safer than them," she said with a tentative smile. They pushed their way through the crowds inside and over to the nearest display. It was a display of quills that came in three different varieties: Self-Inking, Spell-Checking and Smart-Answer.
"These are impressive," said Helena to Mason. "I wonder how long they last though." She picked up one of each so she could examine the magic behind them when she got back to Hogwarts.
"Oh, look at that!" She pulled Mason through the crowd over to the display by the counter. The sign read Patented Daydream Charms.
"Look at this," she exclaimed. "This is incredible magic."
"Why thank you," came a voice from behind her. She turned around to see one of the Weasley twins dressed in bright magenta robes that clashed terribly with his orange hair.
"How does it work?" she asked. Fred, or George, grinned and tapped his nose with his finger then walked away. Helena looked through the boxes and picked one out.
"Hang on, are you going to use that in a class?" asked Mason with exaggerated shock. "You? Not pay attention in class?"
"Shut up," said Helena and went a bit red. "I'm gonna study it," she admitted and Mason laughed.
They had a look around the rest of the floor, with Helena having to explain the stand of Muggle magic tricks in the corner to Mason. Helena paid for her quills, the daydream charm, and some Instant Darkness Powder and Mason got a Skiving Snackbox.
"So where did you want to eat?" he asked when they got out of Weasley's Wizarding Weasles and back into the gloomy alley.
"Oh, down from the Leaky Cauldron, in the Muggle world," said Helena.
"What about all our stuff?" asked Mason, gesturing to their spellbooks and potion supplies that would like quite out of place in the Muggle world.
"Don't worry about it," Helena reassured him. "People will just think we're cosplayers." Mason looked completely blank. "Don't worry," she repeated and they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron and out into the Muggle world. They walked a little ways down the street and Helena stopped outside of an ice cream parlour.
"Seeing as Florean's was closed…" she said, smiling hopefully.
"Go on then," said Mason, "you sweet tooth." They went inside and ordered their sundaes. At the counter Helena pulled out her purse.
"Can I borrow some Muggle money?" Mason asked her. The girl who was serving them looked slightly amused and exchanged a look with her friend. Helena handed over the money and they left the store.
"C'mon, we'll go eat by the river," said Helena, already licking the ice cream off her spoon. They walked slowly, held down by all their shopping. Once they reached the riverside, they sat down and finally sunk into their sundaes.
Mason was pretending to sneak a sweet from his Skiving Snackbox into Helena's ice cream when she suddenly stood up and walked over to the railing.
"What is it?" asked Mason, following her. She was looking down the river.
"Look," said Helena. "That's the Millennium Bridge, or at least it used to be. Did you hear about it?" she asked him.
He nodded.
"The Death Eaters killed Muggles just because Fudge wouldn't resign as Minister for Magic," said Helena. She put her hands on the railing and her fists tightened. "What if they win?"
Mason reached out and put his hand on hers.
"They won't," he told her, shaking his head.
"How do you know?" she asked him.
He didn't reply; he took her hand and led her back over to the table to finish their ice creams.
It was getting close to dinnertime so they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron where Helena's parents came to pick her up.
"I'll see you at Hogwarts," said Helena.
"See you," said Mason, and hugged her. "Be safe," he whispered.
"You too," said Helena then she ran over to her car and jumped in.
"Who was that boy?" asked Gwen immediately. Helena tried not to smile as she piled her stuff up on the backseat.
"Just a friend," said Helena. "His name is Mason."
"Is he in your house at school?" asked Tom.
"No, he's in Ravenclaw," said Helena. "But we have some classes together."
"And did you get all your shopping done?" asked Gwen. "Did you get your new robes?"
"Yes-"
"And did you exchange all of your money into wizard money?"
"Yes-"
"And did you check that you got all of your books?"
"Yes, Mum! I have everything!"
"Right, well double-check when we get back to the hotel," said Gwen, ignoring Helena's tone. "What are we having for dinner?" she asked.
"Pizza?" suggested Tom.
"We already had takeaways for lunch," said Gwen.
"But we don't have pizza at Hogwarts, Mum," Helena protested. She and her father both pulled their puppy dog faces at her.
Gwen laughed. "Fine," she said. "Stop looking at me like that!" Helena got out her phone to find the nearest pizza place to their hotel then once they had their pizzas they headed back to their hotel to eat.
The next morning they gathered around the dining table in their hotel room to decide what they would spend the day doing. Every time they came to London before Helena went off the Hogwarts for another year they would visit a different attraction. Before her first year at Hogwarts they visited Buckingham Palace and last year they went to the Natural History Museum.
It was usually two against one and this time it was Gwen and Helena against Tom – they were going to the National Gallery. They spent the day then went out for dinner before returning, tired, to the hotel. Helena spent around an hour trying to fit everything into her trunk only to have her mother come in and fit everything in in a manner of minutes. Then she collapsed onto her bed to get a good sleep before catching the Hogwarts Express the next day.
She lay in bed smiling for a while before she realised that somehow she had managed to forget all about her task from Voldemort. Her smile faded and was replaced with a nervous knot in her stomach. She rolled over and stared at the Dark Mark on her arm. Tomorrow she was going to have to do something about it. As much as she wished she would be telling one of her professors about it, she wasn't going to. She couldn't risk putting her parents in danger after Voldemort had warned her that he would kill them. Besides, she was in Slytherin house – no one would believe her that Voldemort had tattooed her with his mark against her will.
So she was just going to do what he told her to. She wasn't going to tell anyone and she wasn't going to care what Malfoy was doing. Unless he was up to something really bad, in which case she told herself that she would come clean. But otherwise all that mattered to her was that she kept herself and her parents alive.