Chapter 7 – A Night in a Graveyard

"What did she say she wanted to talk to us about again?" Sakura asked Maxu as they wandered side-by-side in the direction of the dining hall around dinnertime. The young man was removing a few stains from his clothes because he had just finished preparing the meal they were making their way to.

"Something about tonight, I don't remember." He replied somewhat snappily. His brilliant plan for revenge against EM didn't seem so infallible any longer, just because he'd been thinking about it all day after his conversation with Edgar earlier. The ghost of the butler had basically told him to stop being a brat and get over it, but Maxu was determined and wouldn't be discouraged by an old fart like him.

After taking their seats and waiting for quite some time, Nyx and EM finally joined the younger members of the group at the long, black marble table. EM was wearing the usual, but they noticed immediately that their master looked as if she were prepared for a formal dinner. She wore elegant black gloves to accent her long, flowing burgundy robes and black velvet cloak, which she politely removed before she seated herself. After she did so, they all noticed an unusual necklace hanging from her neck; an oval-shaped ruby set in gold hanging from a golden chain wrapped three times around her neck to be at the proper length. When she lifted her hand to brush an annoying strand of hair out of her eyes, they saw that she was wearing a ring as well. It looked very old, but still very beautiful; it was silver with a rather large 6-pointed-star-shaped diamond in it's center, accented by an emerald leaf on each side and a light inscription around the band, which none could read because it seemed a bit worn down. This was extremely odd because Nyx was almost notorious for disliking jewelry, except for on special occasions.

"Before we start our meal, I'll get straight to the point of my announcement." She said in a very business-like manner. Somehow, her voice sounded anxious. "I'm going to be leaving tonight at 8 o'clock – that's right, half an hour – to take care of some…business. I will be going alone, so none of you need worry about adjusting your schedules. This is one of those meetings that won't be very comfortable for anyone but me, so I'll save you all the trouble."

"Where's this meeting at? And who're you meeting with?" Maxu asked, innocently curious.

"It doesn't matter right now. When you need to know, I'll tell you." she replied a bit snappily.

"Well, we should at least know where you'll be in case we need to contact y- " EM began, standing beside her since the food hadn't arrived yet, before his master cut him off quickly.

"You won't. As I said, it's no concern of yours at this time, so don't let it trouble you."

Her underlings exchanged curious, worried glances. What on earth could she be up to that she would refuse to tell them about? They all silently decided not to press the matter since it seemed to irritate her when they did, and instead concentrated on the delicious food being brought in.

30 minutes later, Nyx bid her minions good-bye and warned them that she might not be back until the next morning, winning her more weird looks from the others. Even EM wasn't sure what was going on. She hadn't mentioned any meetings until dinner when she told everyone else, which was quite strange since he was typically the first to know about such things. And why did she refuse to tell them where she would be? The three were left in mystery as they watched her disappear to who knows where. Each left to take care of their own business without discussing their master's odd behavior. Everything was peaceful for the next three hours and 55 minutes.

At 11:55, almost exactly on the tick, EM heard the loud crack that came with apparating. He wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but he found he couldn't sleep with her being gone under the circumstances. The others were, apparently, not as worried about her, so he was the only one to make his way towards the Apparating Platform after he heard the noise. He was still suspicious of Nyx's plans, and was mildly surprised that she was back so early. He ultimately decided that he wouldn't press the matter that night unless she was the one to bring it up. But when he glanced out a window near the steps leading down to the platform, he felt a surge of white-hot hatred reach the surface of his being; Nyx was nowhere to be seen, and instead Alex Lazarra was striding up the steps.

In a moment EM's wand was out and pointed straight at Alex, who was nearing the top of the steps. He supposed Alex hadn't seen him yet, so he quickly ducked down beneath the window, wand now poised to curse him as soon as he walked inside. And just as he hoped, this plan worked perfectly; the moment he saw him, EM cast the Levicorpus spell on the Death Eater, who clearly hadn't been expecting to be hoisted up by the ankle so suddenly. He soon realized who cursed him when EM walked over and stood in front of him, glaring at him menacingly.

"You've got some nerve coming here after what happened this morning." He said icily.

Alex sighed somewhat pathetically. "Look, I didn't come here to cause trouble. I didn't even bring my wand! Trust me!"

"Right. Trust you." The black-clad man said, his voice dripping with venom. "I suppose I ought to go slam my head in a door a few times while I'm at it. Honestly." He flicked his wand and said, "Accio Alex Lazarra's wand." Nothing happened.

The upside-down Death Eater started chuckling. "I suppose you're going to go start working on your head with that door, then?"

"Quiet or I'll slit your throat." EM growled. He mentally admitted that he'd been telling the truth, but he also decided Alex didn't need to hear that from him.

"But aren't you curious about why I'm here?" the reddish-brown eyed man asked. He sounded hurt as if EM had refused to try the cookies he baked just for him.

EM stared at him for a long while, at least pretending that he was searching the other's mind to throw him off. "…go on."

"I'm here to tell you where your precious Lord Psycho's off to, if you're so inclined to find out."

"I am. Keep talking."

"She's currently waiting in a graveyard next to an old manor in Little Hangleton. She's been hanging around there for the past several hours."

EM stared at him skeptically.

Alex sighed heavily. "Fine. I'll show you." The Death Eater waved his arm in a wide circle in the air next to him and mumbled a spell easily recognized by EM. Within moments, a fuzzy image was visible, floating in the air where Alex had waved his arm. It showed the very graveyard that he had spoken of before, with the ancient manor a short distance away. EM immediately saw a dark figure pacing back and forth between two headstones, almost irritably. The figure stopped to check its watch before obviously cursing loudly, even though he couldn't hear anything.

"What did I tell you?" Alex said simply. "Now that you've seen it, you should have no problem apparating there with all due speed, I hope. You'll want to get to her as soon as possible."

"Why do you 'hope' I'll be able to get to her as soon as possible?" EM asked, worry clouding his blue eyes.

"Because as soon as she walked into that graveyard, she walked straight into a trap."

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Nyx paced back and forth restlessly. She knew that when she left at 8 she would have a very long wait ahead of her, but she also knew that she would need it. She recalled being told that she was to arrive early, though exactly how early wasn't specified. Besides, she needed time to think as well. She glanced at the old pocket watch again, seemingly for the thousandth time. Only a few minutes left before it started.

Nyx sat down on a low, rectangular gravestone and looked up at the stone manor dismally. She watched a certain second-story window for any sign of life, hoping a light would go on and she could get this over with. The night was calm and quiet, and nothing could be heard except an occasional whisper of wind moving through the trees. Standing up and restarting her pacing she rehearsed her lines in her head carefully. She would have only one shot at doing this right, and if she screwed it up…She quickly pushed the thought from her mind and told herself it was a worst-case scenario and very unlikely to happen. There was no reason for her to think that anything would go wrong that night. She was especially glad that she had avoided telling her underlings where she would be that night; the last thing she needed was for them to find out what she was doing before the time was right. They'd find out eventually, but she needed to make them wait for quite a while longer.

Nyx glanced at the watch again. Two minutes…

A soft pop could be heard a good distance away, and EM and the magically bound-and-gagged Alex appeared between the trees. Guiding him with his wand, EM floated Alex around behind him as he made his way towards the graveyard as quickly as possible. He hoped he wasn't going to be too late to tell his master what was going on. Soon, he found himself at the edge of the cemetery, and had to duck behind a large bush quickly when his master looked in his direction. He de-immobilized Alex after sitting him against a nearby tree and told him if he tried anything stupid he'd let Osiris finish what he tried to do back in April. Alex took the hint and stayed quite still.

EM crept back over to the bush and peered through a space in the branches at his master, who had returned to her pacing back and forth between graves. She looked at the watch again, this time reacting excitedly as it was only a few seconds to. She glanced up at the second-floor window again and, to her delight, saw a soft light appear. She saw a dark shape move in front of the light and look out the window towards the graveyard. The dark, hooded figure seemed to be looking for something in her general area; she guessed they were looking to see if she was there, and when they confirmed that she indeed was, the person gestured for someone to come and take a look for themselves. Another figure moved in front of the light, distinctly different form the first. The original shape had moved somewhat spasmodically and was rather short. The second person was very tall with deliberate, controlled motions. The taller figure gave the other an order, sending them scurrying away out of the light. The man – or at least Nyx supposed it was – remained at the window for several more seconds, watching her, unmoving, before walking out of sight.

Suddenly, a dark cloud of dust and smoke burst in front of Nyx and a dark-cloaked figure stepped out from its midst. The hood failed to hide the woman's drawn, skull-like face, and nothing could've hidden her sharp, slightly crazed voice when she spoke.

"State your name." She commanded.

"Lord Psychosis Dragotia." Nyx replied calmly, leaning on a large headstone.

"And what is your business here, Lord Psychosis Dragotia?"

After taking a deep breath, Nyx recited in a steady voice, "To repair that which was broken one and fifty years past."

EM was still crouched behind the shrub, watching his master and the hooded person carefully. He knew they were talking but he couldn't hear a word they were saying, to his great frustration. He knew this was the closest he could move for now; he had been too late to get to her before midnight, and he only hoped he wouldn't live to regret it. He was violently yanked out of his thoughts when he saw the hooded figure whip out a wand and point it straight at Nyx's face.

As he faintly saw the person's mouth move as if they were reciting an incantation, he heard an oddly familiar voice whisper in his ear, "This is the part where you play hero and save her…"

As if it were a reflex, EM immediately stood up and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" as he pointed his wand at the dark figure in front of his master.

The woman screeched in shock when the spell hit her wand and sent it flying. Her and Nyx's heads whipped around to the source of the spell to see EM standing in plain sight, defiantly holding his wand level with the woman's head. With a shriek of rage, the woman dove after her wand and screamed, "Now!"

Without warning, nine more clouds of smoke exploded in a half-circle between Nyx and EM, producing nine more angry Death Eaters.

Oh shit. The master and servant thought simultaneously.

The Death Eaters immediately turned on EM and fired a variety of hexes, all which he blocked easily with a shield charm as he ran between headstones towards his master. If he could get to her, they could disapparate in an instant.

Meanwhile, Nyx was absolutely dumbfounded. How the hell did he get here?

Her thoughts were broken when a huge hooded figure began charging at her, sparks flying from his wand, yelling, "You traitor!" She sidestepped the curse he fired and flicked her hand at him carelessly. His legs immediately started wobbling uncontrollably, and the large man fell to the ground. Two others saw this and raised their wands in unison, firing two killing curses at her. Nyx jumped onto a tombstone like a cat to avoid them before pointing a hand at each one and raising them up. The two men followed her hands, floating in midair, then flying apart and knocking over a few other Death Eaters before flying back towards each other and colliding. Nyx let them drop to the ground in a heap, smirking only slightly.

EM dashed out of the way of an exploding headstone and found that he now had a clear path to Nyx, who was boredly deflecting a barrage of hexes from a particularly irate Death Eater. He got to his feet and started walking towards her quickly, glancing in all directions as he did in case he missed anyone. He'd already taken down five of them, and Nyx had dealt with three and was working on the fourth, but he knew there were ten of them there. When he looked back towards his master, now trading punches with the furious little man, he saw Death Eater #10, the woman Nyx originally spoke with, standing so that she had a clear shot to both EM and his master. The crazed look on her face made him nervous, so he quickened his steps towards Nyx. She had just physically thrown the man she'd been scuffling with into a bush and kicked him for good measure, and she didn't seem to know about the woman a ways behind her, who was now glancing back and forth between the two as if to decide which she wanted to kill first.

As she raised her wand to point at Nyx's back, EM cast a powerful shield charm around her. When the woman screamed "Crucio!" with delight, the curse bounced off the shield and hit EM square in the chest. He was knocked to the ground as he screamed in agony, making Nyx realize what just happened. She dispelled the shield and turned in time to see the insane woman turn her wand fully on her friend and screamed the curse again, a wild happiness distorting her gaunt face. EM howled in pain as he lay on the ground, thrashing horribly.

Making up her mind in an instant, Nyx pointed a slender hand at the woman and said barely louder than a whisper, "Crucio."

The Death Eater started shrieking and convulsing violently. She fell to the ground, screaming in pain, and Nyx showed no sign of wanting to stop any time soon. The woman started crying and begging her to stop amidst her howls of agony, but the other ignored her. EM got to his feet with difficulty. His whole body felt either sore or numb – he wasn't exactly sure which – as he leaned against a grave for support. He watched his master torture the Death Eater for a few seconds before he gathered the strength to all but limp over to her.

"Lord Psycho…" he said quietly. She stopped the curse and turned to look at him, coldly enraged. He waited for her to speak, but she seemed too angry to do so. Before he could open his mouth, she turned to look at the window on the second floor; the light had gone out.

She growled furiously and whipped around to face her underling. "If you move from this spot, I will tear your goddamned face off." she snarled at him. He nodded helplessly and wondered why she was so upset with him. Nyx turned again and stomped off towards the manor. Upon reaching the front door, she swung it open with much more force than was necessary and dashed in. She ran up the curving staircase as if she knew exactly where she was going, and she did, and burst in on the room that had been illuminated earlier.

It was dark and she didn't see anyone immediately. Walking around carefully, listening for a faint sound, she thought she heard someone hyperventilating near an old wardrobe. She looked all around the thing before deciding that there was someone hiding inside it. Throwing the doors open she grabbed the small man inside and yanked him out roughly. He gave a little yelp as she lifted him almost a foot off the ground and held him there, glaring at him with a dangerous glint in here eyes. He had a mousy appearance to him, with a sharp nose and little, watery eyes, and as Nyx soon heard, a squeaky voice.

"Don't you hurt me!" he said in a very unthreatening tone. "He'll get you for it! And he'll get you for all you just did out there!"

"Oh, really?" Nyx asked tauntingly. "Then why doesn't he get it over with right now? Or did he run away already?"

The short man's face contorted with anger. "Do not insult the great Dark Lord!"

"I'll be as rude as I damn well like." She said, settling the matter very quickly. "Now where is he?"

"Not here, obviously." He replied before Nyx started choking him. "A-all right! He dis-disapparated a second before you g-got here! I d-don't know where he is!"

Nyx said nothing, and instead let the pathetic little man drop to the floor. She lit a nearby candle with a snap of her fingers and carried it around the room with her, making sure the Death Eater wasn't lying. She was anything but afraid of Voldemort, but she didn't want to get caught off-guard. The man scrambled to his feet and reached inside his pocket for his wand, staying near the wardrobe. She paused to glance out the window. Most of the Death Eaters were still down, but a few seemed to have disapparated. EM was still standing where she left him, probably because she scared him shitless.

Nyx put the candle back on the table and turned to face the other man, now pointing his wand straight at her face. Before she could utter a word, he asked snappily, "Who are you anyway?"

Nyx sighed tiredly. "These days I am known as Lord Psychosis Dragotia. But I was once known as…" – she took a deep breath – "…Nyx."

"I suppose you won't want me to tell the Dark Lord, hmm?" he asked, a mischievous little grin on his face.

"Idiot." She snapped condescendingly. "If I didn't want you to tell him I wouldn't have said anything. Actually, if you don't tell him, I'll probably hunt you down and feed you to my dragons."

The man stared at her fearfully. After a pause he said quietly, "I have orders not to harm anyone by either of those names, but I'd rather like to. So, go on and get out of here before I disobey my master."

Nyx laughed as she walked to the door. "I can assure you, nothing you could do would hurt me terribly. But, I'll humor you and act inferior because you're pointing a wand at my head. Besides, I'd hate to waste any more of your time. I'm sure you have lots of important business to attend to, Mr. Left-Behind." Briefly turning to look at the fuming little man, she saluted him and said, "Adieu."

She strode out the door, laughing to herself, and went back to the graveyard. A few more Death Eaters had apparently gotten up and left, including that lunatic of a woman that attacked EM. He was still standing there looking confused and a bit alarmed. Nyx was still very angry with him, so it was no surprise when she snapped at him.

"We're going home." She said irritably. EM just nodded obediently and followed her when she disapparated to the citadel. The moment he appeared on the platform, Nyx smacked him in the back of the head.

"What do you call that?" she bellowed. "I explicitly said that I was going alone! Why did you follow me? And how in hell did you know where I was?"

"Alex Lazarra showed up here about five minutes to and said you were going to be ambushed at midnight, so I thought I should go…well, help you." he said quickly. "And I thought that crazy woman was going to curse you, so I cursed her first."

Nyx looked like she was ready to kill him, but quickly calmed herself just enough to resist the urge, and spat, "For the record, she was not going to curse me. She was giving me a sort of test to make sure I was the right person. If I answered the questions in a certain way everything would be fine. But you had to butt in and ruin it, and now everything's a train wreck! I promised on my right arm that I would show up alone, and they agreed to it and said that if I went behind their backs and brought anyone they'd kill me and whoever else was there! As you can see, they assumed that you showed up under my orders, and all hell broke lose! And it's all because you believed that dirty traitor! They probably sent him over here to tell you all that just to make sure everything would go wrong and to make me look like a complete idiot!"

EM looked genuinely apologetic. "I…I'm so sorry…I just-"

"Sorry isn't going to cut it this time, Jack." She snarled, turning her back on him and stomping up the stairs. "That was my only chance to make a deal with Voldemort that would've given us a considerable advantage, and thanks to you, it just bit the big one! I hope you're fucking happy!"

"…I just wanted to protect you…"

Nyx stopped mid-step. He sounded like he'd just been slapped across the face and spit on. Something in her made her want to apologize for losing it like that…The meeting wasn't that big of a loss…But her pride wouldn't allow her to admit that she was sorry for being angry with him. It wasn't his fault for not knowing he shouldn't have come; she had been pretty vague on details, and if she had said, "I swore I would come alone," he might not have showed up, even if Alex did tell him she was in 'grave danger' or whatever it was. She admitted to herself that she was actually quite touched that he had tried to protect her like that…

"I appreciate the sentiments…" she said a bit more gently. "…but the next time I say I'm going somewhere alone, do not follow me – not even if Voldemort himself shows up and tells you he's going to kill me and make a pair of gloves from my hair or something creepy like that."

EM did not respond. Nyx found the silence extremely uncomfortable, so she slowly made her way up the remainder of the stairs and went inside. She needed some sleep. Better yet, she needed a Dreamless-Sleep draught, which she praised god for when she saw they were not out of stock.

EM remained on the platform for a little while, just standing and staring at the ground. The cold air wasn't bothering him very much. It actually helped because it started numbing him after a while, and the rest of him felt numb already.

Why do I always set her off like that? He wondered. I never do it on purpose…Why would I? He tore the headwrap off bitterly and started walking up the stone steps. It's my bloody job to protect her…being a bodyguard was part of the deal. I'm ready to die protecting her, and not just because it's in my contract…

EM decided to take a detour to his room through the kitchen to grab an orange before he turned in. He felt miserable, and oranges were his comfort food. Once in there he ran into Maxu, who was also getting a midnight snack; chocolate chip cookies. The American stared at him blankly as he trudged in the room. EM seemed to ignore him as he took his favorite fruit from the pantry and started to peel it absentmindedly.

On his way out, the black-cloaked man noticed Maxu's surprised stare, and said in a surly voice, "The hell are you staring at?" He then walked out of the room, down a hall, up the stairs, into his room, and slammed the door as hard as he possibly could. He chucked his headwrap at the floor, followed by his hooded cloak, and then flopped onto the soft, unmade deep blue sheets on his large waterbed. He popped a slice of the orange into his mouth as he reached under the frame of the bed to a secret drawer. His hand came back up holding a small black leather-bound book and a quill. He flipped through the pages until he reached a blank one opposite a page full of his own writing. EM dated it and began painstakingly recording the events of the day in his diary after he tapped his quill with his wand, filling it with ink.

The last line read: …it's not my fault I care about her.

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Maxu remained at the table for a long time, staring at his cookies bitterly. His hopes of revenge against the other man had been dashed to the ground like an unwanted toy. His plan had been to sneak into EM's room at night while his face was uncovered and take a blackmail picture for later use. But now…

Damn him…If you cover your face up all the time, that's supposed to mean you're ugly!

--- to be continued in Chapter 8 : Louis ---

Disclaimer: Own not, profit not, sue not. (With the exception of Nyx, Evil Minion, Sakura, Schlange, Edgar andMaxu.)

General Notes: The psychotic, Crucio-happy Death Eater is Bellatrix Lestrange, and the little mousey guy is Wormtail in case anyone was unsure. None of the other Death Eaters are anyone specific. And the "To repair that which was broken one and fifty years past" line will be explained much, much later, so for now just wonder about it. (Sorry, but if I told you now it would ruin everything.)

Final Words: Not much else to say.As far as the next chapter goes, I'm introducing a new character! Woo and yay! And, yes, "Louis" is his name. And, no, it's actually pronounced ze French way, as in "Louie", not "Lewis." Because "Louie" is 20x funnier to say in this situation...You'll agree when you find out more about him. -grin-

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

--- kavi-sama ---