Disclaimer: You know the drill. I own nothing. I fear lawyers.

Chapter 4

Come Together

"You know, I thought some birds had flown in here, but imagine my surprise when I found a rat," said the cold voice as a wand was shoved deeper against Harry's throat.

"W-Who are you?" He managed to gasp.

"Who I am doesn't matter. The real question is who are you and what are you doing in my house?"

"I'm not tell-wait, this is your house? Zacharias?" Harry said, confused.

The voice laughed. "You think I'm that moron? Ha! That has to be the best one I've heard all month. No, I am not Zacharias. Take another guess, because you have two more left before I turn your head into a squash."

"Only Zacharias and Gregory Smith live here. How can this be your house?" Harry said still gasping for air.

The cold voice laughed again. "And I assumed your little group with the other Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew was somewhat mediocre. Whoever did your research must have the brains of a pixie because only an idiot would check the public Ministry records."

The gears in Harry's brain were spinning out of control at the information this person was giving him. He didn't know what this person knew about him, Hermione, and Ron, but all he wanted to do was get out as fast as possible. He tried to elbow whatever was behind him, but he hit air.

"I suppose you think you're funny right? I'll stop you right now by saying that you have absolutely no chance whatsoever of escaping from me," the voice said grabbing Harry's forehead and pulling it back. "Wait a minute..." it said, now curious. Harry felt one finger delicately land on his scar and follow its outline.

Please don't feel anything, please don't feel anything, he thought to himself.

There was a long pause before it said, "Well now, I knew someone was spying on the house, but I never imagined it would be someone as famous as Harry Potter. Tell me Mr. Potter, are you simply admiring that cup, or are you here to steal it from me?"

Harry looked at Hufflepuff's cup in front of him, still shining in the moonlight. "What's it to you?" he said, hoping he sounded unafraid.

"Nothing really. I hate this family right to the core, so believe me when I say that I would gladly help you in anything you have planned against them. I just want to know what you intend to do with this cup. Since you risked a lot to get to it, it obviously must be very important to you and your little helpers who are waiting for you down there and because you're Harry Potter, it must have something to do with saving the day. So Potter, how exactly does this artifact fit into the grand scheme of things?"

Harry was stunned into silence. How did this person know about what he, Ron and Hermione were doing? He was only a week into finding the Horcruxes and someone was already asking about them. Hopefully they all won't be like this, he thought.

"So, are you going to tell me Potter or am I going to be in the dark all night?" said the voice with more than a note of impatience.

Harry weighed his options. It was either tell this complete stranger everything, or get caught and taken straight to The Ministry. "I'll tell you everything," he said slowly, "if you tell me everything."

A long pause followed his demand as if the voice were weighing its options. Then it said, "Smart move Potter. All right, here's my life story. My name is Mandy Smith. I'm related to the dumb asses that live here and they've made my life a living hell since I can remember, but you probably know all about my mother. For my real stats though, I'm 19, I weigh 54 kilos, and I hate being called Amanda."

There was a pause that seemed to last hours in the time it took for Harry to process the fact that Zacharias had a sister. Putting his hands in his head, he realized that she had released her grip on his head and he could barely feel the tip of her wand on his throat. "B-But according to the Ministry-"

"-I don't exist? After she died, my father erased all traces of me from his life except for the real thing. So if you looked at any records or newspapers, you would have found absolutely no trace of me, and that's not changing anytime soon. I know for a fact that my father pays a large sum of money to someone who runs the archives to keep me hidden."

Harry was still trying to wrap his mind around it. A sister. A sister that's not supposed to be alive for that matter.

As if to read his mind, Mandy continued, "Believe it Potter. Most pureblood families have some serious skeletons hiding in their closets that only highly paid off Ministry employees know. My father for some reason loved my mum to bits but hated my guts. I'll never know why, but once she was out of the way, he pretended I simply didn't exist. The only thing he ever did to acknowledge my presence was send me to Hogwarts. School didn't really hold my interest, and I was waiting for some signal, anything, that would let me get out of school."

Harry tried turning his head to see her, but his neck was so stiff that it didn't move very far.

"You delivered it actually. After the third Triwizard Task when you claimed that Voldemort was back, I left and tried to figure out anything that would lead to his downfall. That was my sixth year, but it feels like a lifetime ago. Since then I've been doing various odd jobs. I've just been lurking around here for the past month, and now here we are. That was my story, now let me hear yours."

Harry hesitated for a moment. Did he really want to reveal his only weapon that could destroy Voldemort to a complete stranger? On the other hand, she said Voldemort's name. Plus he knew he could trust her. He didn't know what it was, but somehow he just knew.

"I can't tell you everything...," he said tentatively.

"Completely understandable. Just give me the short version," she said her voice with less of an edge.

"Basically, I know something that could completely destroy Voldemort. That cup," he said pointing at Hufflepuff's cup "is cursed. There are also more of these cursed things out there. If we destroy them, then we're closer to getting rid of him."

Mandy grabbed his arms and spun him around. Harry was shocked at how much she looked like Zacharias. She had blonde hair in the longest braid Harry had ever seen and Zacharias' haughty features. Though instead of a smug expression plastered on her face, she wore an intense one while her eyes were cold silver. He glanced at her arms and saw that they were wrapped in bandages going as far up as Harry could see.

"How is destroying an old goblet going to help get rid of that slime ball?" she said indignantly. "You're going to be smashing a cup while people like my mother die every day? I've heard some pretty messed up logic but I have absolutely no idea how on earth you figure that one out!"

"It's more complicated than that," Harry said frowning. "There are other cursed things that can help get rid of him. I can't tell you the whole story, just-"

"-bits and pieces, I know," Mandy said glaring at him. Harry wasn't sure if it was the weather, but he could have sworn that the air had become colder under her icy stare.

There was a long pause again as he watched her walk across the attic to a corner to look at something. When she stood up, Harry was struck at how anemic her body looked as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. He tried to lift his arm to look at his watch, but he found that he couldn't move his arm. Harry tried wiggling, but remained frozen; she stunned him so that all he could move was his mouth.

"If you're wondering what time it is, I'll let you turn around." Mandy said from the corner, raising her wand and flicking it.

Harry's neck immediately spun so fast that it cracked and sent a spasm of pain down his back. He heard her mutter "Sorry," sarcastically. From the tiny window, he could see brightly coloured clouds behind the trees. It was long past sunrise, and Zacharias and his father would surely wake up soon.

"As you can obviously see, we're going to have to cut this little meeting short. You can explain the rest of the story on our way to finding this next 'cursed item.'" Mandy said, unfreezing Harry with another little flick of her wand. She walked over to the cup, picked up the drapes Harry had dropped, and wrapped the cup in them. Then she picked up Harry's wand and the Invisibility Cloak and tossed them at him.

"You're not coming." Harry said automatically catching them.

"Why not?" she said, opening the attic door that led back to the rest of the house.

"It's-It's nothing," he spluttered.

"Then what's the problem Potter?" Mandy said mockingly. She turned towards the door and gave her wand a complicated wave as a small pile of clothes came zooming into her hand. She also picked up a small black item from a shelf next to the attic door.

"My...um group is kind of full right now," Harry said, watching her pull out a backpack from a box and stuff her clothes into it.

Mandy swung the backpack over her shoulder, walked up to him, and said very plainly, "I'm sure you can make room."

"Either way," she said, walking over to a rusted candleholder and transfigured it into a black squashy sleeping bag. "I'm coming on your little hunt."

"And what makes you think that?" Harry snapped back.

"You wouldn't have told me what you were doing if you didn't want me come, so shut up, and follow me because I actually know what I'm doing," Mandy said, conjuring a thick rope out of thin air and tying it around the armchair of a couch.

"What are you doing now?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Getting out of here, what does it look like I'm doing? Go after me. Just jump down, and try not to make too much noise this time. When you tried to come in earlier, you made such a huge racket that I'm surprised the people in the next house didn't hear you." And with that, she grabbed the rope and went out the window.

Harry wasn't sure if she actually had jumped, but he now saw that she was using the rope to help get down, a lot like the mountain climbing shows Uncle Vernon used to watch on the television.

She was on the ground and motioning to him to come. Wondering what he had just gotten himself into, Harry grabbed the rope and his Invisibility Cloak and mimicked her. Harry thought he was doing very well on climbing down the house when he lost his grip about four feet off the ground and fell to the earth with a muffled 'thud.'

"Come on you pansy, get up!" Mandy said, walking toward the place where Ron and Hermione were hidden. Harry brushed himself off and walked behind her, only slightly offended. Sizing her up, he realized that Mandy was much shorter than he was. She didn't even reach his chin, but he had a feeling that she could be half a meter tall and still tower over him.

Hermione and Ron had come out of the trees to greet Harry, but were stunned when Mandy came in front. "Um, Harry?" Ron said. "Who is she?"

"Um...Ron, Hermione, this is, um...Mandy Smith," said Harry, his voice trailing off.

A long silence greeted these words. "Harry, you must be mistaken, because her last name can't possibly be Smith," Hermione said with a nervous laugh.

Mandy spoke. "Why is it so hard to believe? There must be millions of people in the world named Smith. You may not be informed of this, but it is quite a common name," she said smirking.

"That's impossible," said Hermione automatically. "Only Zacharias and Gregory Smith live there. Gregory Smith and Melissa Anderson had only one child, and we know Zacharias."

Mandy walked up to Hermione until their noses were almost touching and said, "You say it's impossible that I'm related to them? Newsflash: impossible isn't a fact. It's an opinion."

She walked over to where Hermione and Ron had started a small fire, unrolled her sleeping bag, crawled in, and pretended to be asleep. Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but Ron grabbed her arm and said, "We're tired. It can wait."

After they had all climbed into their sleeping bags and the cinders of the fire withered in the sunlight, Harry was still unsure whether he had made the right decision.

A/N: Sorry about the Addidas reference, but Mandy just seemed like that kind of person. Also sorry for the long update time. The next chapter may also be a while. Cookies for all reviewers.