Chapter Nine

They're All Up to Something

"River…I'm not sure you're ready for defensive magic," Remus said cautiously.

"Why not? I'm basically a second year now!" I protested, taking my feet off the desk and leaning towards him.

He shifted so he could look into my eyes at my level. "That's my point. Sure, it's remarkable that you've mastered so much in three weeks, but you're still not at the level for defensive magic."

I pouted. "But I've done far more dangerous stuff without magic! Why should this be any different?"

"Because—"

"I'm leaving in a couple days, Remus! I don't have time!" I yelled, placing my head in my hands. "And I have no idea what the hell's going to happen…just that I need to be able to perform some magic to help keep me alive."

"Then why are you going? Why is Dumbledore sending you on a mission that he knows you won't be able to handle?"

"I can handle it," I snapped, peeking through my hands to glare at his face, which showed plenty of anger.

"What if you can't? No, just shut-up and think for a moment, Eridani. What if you can't handle it this time? What if you freeze up, make a wrong move, take the wrong step? What happens then?"

Sliding my eyes away from him, I muttered, "Nothing for you to be concerned over…"

"To hell with that!" he yelled. "How am I not supposed to be concerned? To think that you've been doing this for years without any of us knowing! I have lots of worrying to catch up on, and I'm slighty bothered about Dumbledore's judgment and sanity over his latest decision! Sending you in, with no defenses, all alone—"

"I won't be alone! Not this time! He thought of everything! Whether you see it or not, Dumbledore cares for my safety, and he's not stupid with matters that may concern my life! He didn't want me to go! He didn't even tell me about it!" I yelled back, my temper flaring. Merlin, I loved Remus to death, but he didn't always see the big picture, but rather focused on the small details. And sometimes…sometimes it just annoyed the hell out of me, like it did now.

"Then how did you hear of it?" he asked, quieter this time.

"I overheard him talking to Mad-Eye about it, and I told him I was going, too."

Remus was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Mad-Eye Moody's going with you?"

"No. He'll be waiting for us, with backup in case something goes wrong, or to come clean up if everything goes as planned. He's too easy to recognize, which is why we can't send him in."

"There's Polyjuice—"

"Nope," I shook my head, "that doesn't work. That's the first thing they check for upon letting new arrivals in. We tried that once, on one of their first missions, and only one of the four members came back."

"You're not making me feel any better." I sighed, grabbing his hand. It was a good thing I wasn't going to tell him what I'd be doing, because if he didn't like the situation now, he really wasn't going to like the details of it.

"Just…don't worry, okay? I mean, don't over think it. I'm a professional, not some silly little girl."

"I know you aren't. It's just…" he trailed off, not looking at me.

I smiled, and tugged him closer to me, putting my lips against his ear. "Wanna know a secret, Moony?"

He laughed, and I knew he smiled slightly. "One that I don't know?"

"One that even you don't know."

"What would that be?"

"I'll kill you, or anyone else, who tries to pull something stupid tomorrow."

He pulled back and looked at me, a smile in his eyes. "Stupid? What does tomorrow have to do with pulling anything stupid?"

I didn't even blink. "I mean it."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Look…just because it's Sirius' birthday—"

"I'm not fooled for a minute, Moony. I'm not an idiot. Last year was when everyone did something huge and ridiculous to embarrass him. This year…it's my turn, and I put my foot down."

"Trust me…we know better."

"You know…I was thinking we need something for tomorrow," Brecc said, glancing up from his notebook.

"Why? What's special about tomorrow?" I asked, flipping through sheets of music while Khriste danced around with headphones in her ears, Adrian tapped different beats on the floor, and the others talked quietly amongst themselves.

Khriste rolled her eyes, pulling the headphones down off her ears. "Your birthday, silly. We need to have a special show for you. But not just music and dancing…we need games and whatnot, too."

I groaned. "No! Absolutely not! I don't want—"

"You know we're going to do it anyways," Adrian said in a distracted voice. I looked around the room and saw our fellow members or trainees nodding or muttering in agreement.

I clenched my fists and counted to ten, keeping my temper in check. "Guys…seriously…"

"We want to, Brochevska. It's our way of thanking you, the only way we know how," Brecc said.

"Fine! But I'm not helping with any of this!" I snapped.

"BUT…" Adrian said, holding up a finger, "you're technically going to have to pay attention, because you've got to practice songs and routines to be ready for tomorrow, even if it should be your day off, it's not."

"Whatever. You guys have full control over this one…although if you make it get out of hand…" I trailed off, letting them use their imaginations of what would happen.

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Brecc said airily. "So, that being said, we want you and Fitzherbert to do a duet."

I almost choked on air. "Excuse, you just said what?"

"We want you and—" Khriste started to repeat.

"I know what he said! You're smoking something though! All of you!" I exclaimed as everyone looked at me with different hopeful and disappointed expressions. It was the youngest girl of our group, who was giving me tear-filled puppy-dog eyes that pushed me over the edge.

"Alright. I'll do it," I sighed, drooping my head.

"K then! Go get him," Khriste said, clapping her hands.

"Go…get…him?" I said in disbelief. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Noo…" Adrian said, drawing the word out. "Why would we?"

"It's just…well, haven't you guys noticed we don't exactly get along?"

Khriste giggled. "Really? I thought that was just you two flirting!"

"What?!" I hated that my voice rose in pitch and came out as a squeak.

"Yeah, we all thought that you two were gonna hook up sooner or later," Brecc said, smirking over at me. "Well, actually sooner rather than later, but you get the picture."

I rose to my feet, opened my mouth, then shut it again. "I—I'm just going to leave now," I said, keeping my tone neutral as I left the room.

It was ridiculous, the thought of Rider and me together! I mean, that would have to involve some sort of affection or interest for each other, and the only interest I had in him was getting rid of him. And I knew it must've been the same for me for that jerk, but with different ideas of how to do it.

Was I actually going to go and find him? No, definitely not. That was the last thing on my to-do list. And to think that they wanted me to act civilly around him on my birthday? How was that even fair? I didn't like my birthdays as it was already, so why did they have to go and make it even worse? I scoffed. Ha! And they thought they were going to make it fun. It would be lucky if the night ended without murder.

"I need it!" I heard a girl say in a shriek, followed by a scuffle with a thud. I turned my head, thoughts slowly fading away as I tuned in, listening. Mad cackling followed the scuffle, and my skin prickled, recognizing it immediately. It was Bellatrix.

"Promise me," she said in a hideous purr. "Promise me that her death is mine." Taking soft steps, I walked carefully and poked my head around the corner, like what they did in those cartoons that Lily and I would watch at her house where they lined their heads on top of one another's to check if the "coast was clear". Except, you know, there was only one of me, meaning there was only one head. Damn. Because I'd always wanted to try that.

What I saw, though, took my mind right off of cartoons. Bellatrix was pressed against the wall, smiling madly at Rider, who had her pressed against the wall, frowning.

"Why do you want her dead?" he asked in a low voice. I hated to break it to him, but the way Bella was talking and carrying on, anybody within a five mile radius would know they were there, even if he was trying to be quiet.

"She's an abomination," Bella hissed evasively, but not entirely untrue, according to my family's beliefs.

"Why? Because she's so much smarter than the rest of us? Because she's got looks that can kill? Do I need to go on?"

She leaned her face closer towards his. "If you only knew some of the dirty little secrets that surround Sozo Brochevska…you wouldn't be as likely to protect the wretched little bitch."

He took a step back, a look of disgust on his face. "I'm not protecting her, Miss Black. I'm simply doing my job."

"And what's your job? Seduce her and then take her to the Dark Lord for one of the inductions?"

"Stay away from her," Rider hissed, "or you'll have to deal with me." He turned on his heel and started to walk my way. I pulled away, mind racing, and ran down the hall and made a quick turn to the left and stopped to count to three before turning back around to walk calmly down the hallway that I'd just run down. I bumped into him, like I knew I would. I wanted to see what he'd do, what exactly his plans were. With him in a place where he wouldn't be likely to have his guard up, I might be able to get something from him.

I looked up at him, glaring. "Watch where you're going, Rider, before I make it so you can't walk."

He laughed. "Nice to see you too, Brochevska. Are you looking for someone?"

I cocked my head at him. "So what if I was?"

"These hallways are empty, just so you know."

"What if I'm looking for someone who's invisible?"

"Your imaginary friend."

"So you've seen him!" I said in mock awe. "That's probably why I can't find him, because you scared him off!"

"Hey, whoa, hold it. That's not very fair. I haven't even met this friend of yours."

"And I plan to keep it that way, so go bug off."

"You bumped into me, not the other way around."

"Why are you acting like this?" I demanded, realizing I'd actually been carrying a conversation with the hated man. He's acting…different, and I didn't like it. Well, no, actually I did like it, but that's why I didn't like it.

"I told you already. We started out on the wrong foot, and now I'm trying to make it up to you."

"Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because," he said, smiling with no humor, "in the near future, I'll either be the life or death of you. Which would you prefer?"

A/N: Hey, this one came a LOT faster than the last one, huh? I'm so happy that it did…I'm not sure I'd make it through another month of trying to write just ONE chapter…esp. since I've gotta get this story finished ASAP! Jeesh, the pressure's on! Haha, anyways, hope you guys enjoyed and liked this one…there wasn't much that actually went on, but it was necessary, and a time-killer…the next chapter SHOULD be better. Is Sirius' birthday (and, in this case, Eridani/Sozo's, too) actually in late September? Well, how the hell should I know? My research came up with nothing (only a year), so I decided sooner rather than later. Hope it'll work for you! :)

My thank-you's:

midnight zoe: Thanks! Hope this didn't disappoint!

Great Ice Dragon: Haha yay! That's sorta what I was hoping (hell, I was happy when you said it was decent! :) And a version of Maximus and Pascal? Hmm…you know what? I might…well, we'll have to wait and see. But, if I do, should they be people versions or the normal animals? What d'you think? That's a pretty good idea! Thanks for both the review AND the idea! ;)

Also, to any of you who are interested, I've created a website that has images of the characters in this (and my other) FanFic(s), so go check it out and give me feedback, please! As you've already figured out, I don't bite unless provoked. Here's the web address:

www . witchynikesfanfics . weebly . com

but without the spaces in between, k? Thanks guys!

Alrighty! So all that's left is for you to tell me what you guys thought! R&R!

Nike