Chapter Ten: Magdalene's Mission

"Okay Lucy, show us the diary." Lute leaned forward looking at Lucy's bag curiously. The train had just left the station and three of the four friends were in the compartment, Aubrey had taken off to go find the trolley and get some food.

Ollie was sitting next Lucy and it kind of hurt her head when he exclaimed, "It's done! What's it say?"

"When Aubrey gets back with food I'll start reading, and I've got something to show you all too." Lucy leaned back in her seat and let her friends sweat it out for a few more minutes.

Aubrey arrived shortly after as Ollie and Lute continued their wild guessing game of what the diary was actually about. Ollie was saying it was a boring day to day recording of his teaching, Lute said it was some kind of account. They had finally settled on the bet of three galleons, when Aubrey walked in, arms full of food and sugary things that he bagan to pass around. Lucy took three chocolate frogs hoping she would find something new for her collection. Preferably one that was not a relative.

"If anyone finds a Snow Witch card, let me know." Lucy said as she put the frogs aside for later and took the spyglass out of her bag, pulling it out from under Grimalkin who had curled up on top of it for a nap.

"Who's the Snow Witch?" Aubrey asked as he took a bite out of a pumpkin pasty.

"My grandfather mentioned her. He said she was a powerful witch who tried to bring about an eternal winter. Her own daughter killed her to stop her from succeeding."

Lute swallowed her chocolate before speaking, "That is powerful, weather magic is really difficult, even to people with a lot of magical power and skill. To try and hold it for a long period of time would need an amplifier of some sort. Mum did a paper a while back about it." Lute caught sight of the spyglass first. "It that it?"

Lucy nodded, "I know it doesn't look like much, but it's really unusual." She held it to her eye, and in a sudden burst of confidence said, "Show me Gregory Sullivan." The gold dust swirled and exploded in a flash of light, leaving behind only a purple mist that covered everything. There was no image. "What? Show me where Gregory Sullivan is." The image shifted slightly before more purple mist covered everything that Lucy was supposed to see. "No… it worked before." She put it down for a moment before trying again. "Show me Hogwarts School." The purple mist disappeared and showed a beautiful castle. "Okay, have a look at this." Lucy passed it around and listened to her friends' sound of awe and amazement.

Aubrey whispered, "Astounding… I can see the whole school." Ollie and Lute had similar reactions and Lucy soon placed it back into her bag.

"Ready to find out what Sullivan was writing about?" Lucy asked as she held the diary aloft.

"Start reading Luce," Ollie said as he leaned back in his seat, "I've been waiting for this."

I'm not sure why I decided to start keeping a journal. If I have nothing but doom and gloom to report it does not seem fair to mark these pages with my misery and that of others in this situation. Perhaps I should start in a simpler place? That may be best.

Two days ago I received an owl from the Ministry of Magic, with papers for me to fill out. One was a questionnaire about my background; the other was a date of appearance to come to court the following day. It was all too strange. That evening, I answered the questionnaire and prepared myself to go to the Ministry the following morning.

I arrived to be stripped of my wand and sent to this dungeon where I was interrogated by a toad of a woman with a real passion for pink and cats. Dementors around me, I had never felt more helpless. All of my hope was gone. She was talking and belittling me but I barely remember what was said. I remember telling her and the other officials up there that I had never stole magic, I earned my place in this world with skill and high school grades.

She called me a thief and a liar, told me I had stolen my wand from a pureblood wizard.

I said, "He must not have been very powerful to begin with if a mere muggle child had managed to steal an adult wizard's power away."

She ordered the dementor's to take me away after that. They left me in a small dark chamber with two other people. One was a little girl who looked about twelve years old. She was crying quite hard as a teenage girl wrapped her arms around her. None of us wanted to voice where we knew we were going. Azkaban.

The compartment grew silent as Lucy's voice stopped after the mention of the prison. "He went to Azkaban…" She mumbled, "For his blood…" She began to wonder how Gramps had wound up in Azkaban, what had he done to go to such a place. "That is so disgusting…" Her dad and Gramps had managed a civil conversation about the controversial changes made to Azkaban prison after the war a couple of years ago. Gramps was glad the dementor's were gone, her dad agreed. It was one of the few things they both agreed on.

"It's what they did to muggleborns during the war Lucy," Aubrey said quietly, eyes wide and terror evident on his face, his already pale complexion turning the color of parchment. Lucy continued to read.

We were there for hours, just waiting. Watching for some sign of what was going to happen to us. Four more people joined us as we waited. All of them elderly, the only woman among them appeared to be nearly seventy, took a look at me and the two girls and began to converse with the old men, passing a glance at the three of us on occasion.

That evening, we were rounded up and led to a large fireplace where we were sent with three officials to supervise a group of seven. We all came out of the fireplace in a small shed on a large piece of land with a large tower in the distance. They chained us together and loaded us into a cart that moved forward on its own.

"Mudblood filth, I say we just give them to the dementors and save the room." One man said from the front. The twelve year old whimpered, he whipped around and shouted, "Silence Mudblood."The other two men laughed.

There was a bright light shot from the bushes and hit the man in front of the cart. The other two drew their wands and another bright light shot from the nearby trees. The old people stood and hustled us out of the cart and we all tried to run away, but we were stopped by a figure that seemed to be drowning in a to large trench coat and a too large badly abuse cap. The girls grabbed my arms in terror and some quick wand work from the trench coated fellow freed us from our chain gang. The teenage girl screamed as one of the prisoner transporters ran for us but the old people attacked them as trench coat grabbed the girls and disappeared with a loud crack leaving me and the elderly lot alone.

One of the old men told me to make a run for it, I'm not proud of the fact I took his advice without hesitation and ran for the bushes and trees along the path. I do not know how long I was running but I know it was not very long. My face was covered in cuts from the small branches that had hit me in my flight. Until a particularly large one crossed paths with my nose. I'm not sure how that happened, but it was enough to knock me to the ground. Before I could jump up to continue my flight for freedom, salvation appeared before me.

My savior was the small figure in a too large trench coat from before and badly abused cap. I could not tell if it was a man or a woman, (I still can't tell, I'm leaning towards an unusually short effeminate man). He asked me in a rather sarcastic tone if I needed help before grabbing my arm and apparating me to some place in the middle of the woods. I wound up falling on my arse when my feet hit the ground.

"You're coming?" He asked as he started walking towards a small cabin. I jumped up and followed.

Lucy stopped reading and the children were released from the spell of the words of a man who recorded his war experience with a degree of elegance.

"That's the first entry?" Aubrey asked as he pulled his knees to his chest. "Wow…"

Lute nodded, "I wonder why he never gave names to any of the people who helped him?"

Ollie tossed a balled up wrapper from one hand to the other. "It may have been to protect them in case the diary was found. I mean, can't put innocent people at risk right?"

"Yeah, but who was the man who helped him?" Lute wondered aloud, "Seems very mysterious… Read on Lucy."

Lucy shook her head and passed it to Ollie, who gave it to Aubrey. "He's a better reader then me." Ollie said as his face turned pink.

"I can't read this; it's in some weird language." Aubrey said drily as he gave it back to Lucy.

Lucy hung her head for a moment before starting again.

There are five people here who seem to be directing the operations and the day to day management of this area. Three go out somewhere off the grounds daily, the man in the trench coat and an old man who seems to be going through some form of withdrawal. Like my mum did when I was a teenager. She used to knock the hell out of me when she got like that, but this poor bastard can hardly walk in a straight line, and is swearing rather profusely. Keeps muttering to himself to, it's pretty horrible stuff. He and the man in the trench coat will go for a walk when he's more stable and less shaky. That's fine, when he is stable around here he tends to bark orders and ask about whiskey. The third man goes off on a home-charmed broomstick, probably scouting and reinforcing wards.

In the evenings, all of us will go inside, talk and listen to the wireless. Besides the people in charge, there is about ten of us so we're never short on conversation, but the fear from those conversations is ever present. The others the girls and I were with, I was told, bought us time to escape at the first opportunity, and got captured for their efforts, I thank them every day and consider them the reason I am in this place called Haven, it's a fitting name.

I won this journal in a card game with a man named Cole when I got here. This evening I wound up talking to one of the blokes in charge, the one who reinforces the wards. He's a quiet, shifty fellow. Brown hair, tall, the women think he's handsome with his broody demeanor. Maybe nice blokes like me do finish last?

By far the quirkiest person here in my opinion is the young woman walking around and working in wedding robes. She's loud, opinionated, and really, really beautiful. She is not wearing a ring, with seems to indicate she is not married, and complains to the trench coat man about her parents often. Says she is never going back and left behind a short letter that was apparently a big fu…

"I don't think I should say that." Lucy said quickly as she covered her mouth with her hand, moving past the rather vulgar term that had her friends chuckling as her face turned pink. Her dad would not like it if he ever found out about her saying that particular term. Lucy skipped over her professor's vulgar language and continued to read.

…To her parents. It sounds like a good story; I'd like to hear it someday.

The last person in some position of leadership here is a man with a penchant for love poetry about his young bride. I guess with the war and all he decided to get married before everything went to hell in a hand basket. The two girls who I came here with me think that it's really romantic. I think he's muggleborn who eloped before he had to go on the run but if I hear one more thing about his wife's "Eyes like glimmering emeralds." I'll turn his black and blue.

There was laughter from the compartment as Lucy finished this section.

"Wow, I had no idea Professor Sullivan had such a mean streak. I wonder where he is?" Ollie said as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "There might be clues in the back of the journal, why aren't we skipping ahead?"

Lute sighed, "Ollie, there may be clues all over this diary. Friends, enemies, and things he may have known that would have made him a target."

"The people in charge, it sounds like a resistance group." Aubrey said quietly, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I think I've read something like this in the library when I got to school. I'd have to find the book again but this sounds really familiar. I'll find it, don't worry."

"If these people are named in a book, then we can have an idea about who Sullivan was running around with." Lucy said as she closed the diary for a rest. "Send them an owl or something."

A soft knock on the compartment door caught their attention. "Come on in." Lute answered and Magdalene Moffett stepped inside. She seemed to look worse somehow, the bags and shadows under her red eyes were deeper and her cheeks were hollowed looking. Lucy leaned back against the seat in shock. It had been a few weeks without seeing Magdalene and seeing her like this after time apart made Lucy realize that Magdalene was under a lot of stress.

Magdalene smiled and closed the door behind her. "How were your holidays?"

Lucy felt the excitement of having someone older who was not a relative pay attention to her again. Lucy admired Magdalene, if she ever needed help Lucy would go to the ends of the earth for her. Lucy pulled out the spyglass, "Excellent. You will not believe what this thing does. Show me Diagon Alley."

Lucy passes it to Magdalene who gasped as she peered through it with wonder, "My goodness. This is so useful…" She pulled it away from her face and gave it to Lucy who put it back in her bag. "Would you consider helping me out with something this evening?"

The children exchanged looks of excitement. Lute answered for all of them, "Sure!"

Magdalene smiled, "Great, meet me on the fifth floor in the mirror room at ten. And Lucy, bring that spyglass with you."

Oo0Oo0

As Lucy walked towards the carriages with Ollie beside her, making sure she did not walk into anything or anyone, she continued to read the diary. It was all pretty much the same thing, his thoughts and daily recordings of the activities within the cabin. They were gathering in numbers each day, but little effort was being made to move them all. Sullivan called it strange.

Aubrey and Lute were held up at the train to talk over homework with some of their year mates, Ollie and Lucy moved on ahead to claim a carriage. Ollie moved her around a group of first year girls standing by a large snow drift next to one of the carriages conversing loudly about a rather vocal know-it-all. Lucy pulled her nose out of the diary and slipped it into her bag accidently hitting Grimalkin's nose as she did so. Ignoring Grimalkin's snarl of discontent, Lucy pulled Ollie aside to listen closely to the Ravenclaw first years' conversation.

"Nice to know she's finally in her place." One girl said with noise of agreement from the other three. "I haven't heard Rose Weasley say a word in class for almost a month. Now she can quit making the rest of us look bad."

This was what was bothering Rose, her dormmates were jealous and taking it out on her. Lucy tightened her grip on her wand, and gave Ollie her bag. "Go claim a carriage, I'll be right there."

"Lucy, don't-" Ollie started before Lucy interrupted him.

"Just go, I'll be there in a minute." Lucy watched Ollie walk down the carriage line leaving Lucy alone. Sullivan's story would have to wait. It was time to write her own story and interfere with another.

Lucy could hear her feet crunching in the snow and the slight stinging sensation of snow in her top of her boots rubbing against her legs. The discomfort was easily ignored. She stood behind the girl who had been saying the worst things about Rose. The girl was shorter than Lucy and this seemed to give Lucy a distinct advantage in the intimidation department. Lucy looked down her long nose at the girl until she finally noticed there was someone behind her and turned around.

"What do you want?" The girl had a snooty voice that made Lucy want to plug her ears.

"I'm here to tell you to leave my cousin alone." Lucy did not feel like being sly, nor did she think cunning words and smart arse remarks that would get through this brat's head. The icicles in the nearby trees shook as Lucy spoke.

"Why?"

Lucy bent down so she was eyelevel with the girl, a carefully controlled anger in her eyes. The girl stepped back, Lucy knew she was winning. "Because if you don't, detention will be the least of your worries after I tell Headmistress McGonagall. If I find out you are giving my darling cousin any problems, I'll make sure you never have a peaceful moment in this school again. Rose has a lot of cousins who think the world of her. One word to any one of them and your life will be very miserable."

"You don't scare me."

Snow swirled around them as Lucy took a step forward, ice froze at her feet. She felt distant and detached from what was happening at that moment. The other girls had stepped back by one of the trees; Lucy looked up at the branches feeling as though she should give these girls a good scare, just so she would be a memory when they thought about torturing her cousin again. Her desire was there, here will was sufficient, her power was subtle. Lucy exhaled and relaxed as the icicles resumed their unusual movement and the large amounts of snow in the trees seemed to sway without the aid of a breeze. It was a brief moment before the snow fell and covered the girls under the tree completely. They screamed as the snow covered them. The girl Lucy was standing next to whipped around to find her friend buried and looked back at Lucy with a kind of fear. Lucy felt the corner of her mouth turn up in a smile. "Oh, I think I do scare you."

Lucy turned away, leaving the scared girls behind and made her way to the carriages, confident that Rose would no longer be bothered.

Ollie was waiting by one of the carriages; he had not climbed in yet and seemed to be waiting for Lucy. The creature attached to the carriage looked as Lucy and stretched its wings excitedly stomping its foot in the snow causing small puffs to fly upwards. It stretched its neck out for attention from Lucy who happily obliged by patting it on the nose.

Ollie gave her a strange look as he returned Lucy's bag. "You're okay right?" He reached for the door and held it open for her as she climbed inside. He followed her in and the carriage lurched forward.

Lucy smiled widely, "Never better."

Oo0Oo0

"Do you have that device of yours Lucy?" Magdalene asked as the four young students and Grimalkin stepped into the secret room behind the mirror.

Lucy smiled widely and took the Spyglass out of her pocket and held it in front of her eye. "Show me the fifth floor of Hogwarts School."

"Um, Lucy?" Ollie tapped her shoulder as Lucy's sight was filled with the castle, suddenly it zoomed closer and Lucy found herself looking on the inside of the castle. It was like she was standing there as a couple of prefects walked by on their rounds and walked right through her. It was so detailed and real she could see the zits on the boy's nose. Lucy smiled and took her eye away from the glass and was greeted by an astounding sight.

An exact replica of the fifth floor was floating in front of them, seeming to drip in gold dust before becoming fully colored, everything was amazingly detailed. The image then turned to complete a complete colored image.

"Wow! I had no idea it could do that." Lucy said as she moved the spyglass and the image moved where she pointed it. Lucy gave a manic chuckle, "I could get to like this." She looked at Magdalene, "So, are you all set?"

Magdalene grinned, "I've got it all planned, we'll be splitting into teams. Lucy, Lute and I will go first and make sure the way is clear for Flitch and Mrs. Norris." She tossed a pouch back and forth from one hand to another with some degree of confidence. "Aubrey and Ollie will watch our backs and provide distractions if necessary. The items in here should suffice in helping us get to the Astronomy tower." Magdalene tossed the bag to Ollie who caught it with ease. "A few fireworks, some exploding marbles, and a few more surprises. Lead on Lucy."

Lucy walked out of the mirror room first her eyes on the projection from the spyglass. No one down the next corridor. No sign of prefect patrols or anyone hanging around the back staircase. Lucy picked up the pace with Lute and Magdalene following closely. Grimalkin was riding on Lute's shoulder currently. She checked the corridor and took off down it grinning widely at the use of the spyglass and its accuracy. Bloody brilliant thing it was! But why would Gramps trust it to her care?

The figure of Argus Filch appeared in the projection. He was coming out of a classroom the corridor Ollie and Aubrey had just come out of. Mrs. Norris should not be too far away. Lucy grinded her teeth and moved for the door to an unused classroom. Opening it quietly and holding it open for her friends to rush into, Lucy went through last and closed the door silently behind them.

"Mrs. Norris should not be too far away from Filch," Lute said as she reached up to pet Grimalkin. "She'll go running for old Filch if she catches sight of us."

Magdalene smiled, "Aubrey, check the bag. I've got something in there that should solve that problem."

Doing as he was bid, Aubrey reached into the bag and reached around for a few seconds before pulling out a small bag. Aubrey held it up for everyone to see. A sweet smell reached Lucy's nose and Grimalkin jumped to Aubrey's shoulder and started began to get extremely affectionate with him and batting at the bag. "Catnip?" Aubrey said as he held the bag as far from Grimalkin as he could get it. His face lit up in a smile, "That's brilliant!"

A projection of Mrs. Norris appeared near Filch. "But how do we drug Mrs. Norris? Someone's going to have to lead them away and meet us up there later."

"I'll go," Lucy said as she reached for the catnip. She gave the spyglass to Ollie and whistled for Grimalkin who leapt onto her shoulder. "Grim and I will meet you all at the tower later."

"Careful Lucy," Ollie said as Lucy stepped out the door closing the door softly behind her.

She was alone now with only Grimalkin for company, armed only with her wand, wits and a bag of catnip. Lucy took the first steps down the corridor and listened carefully for any sounds to indicate the caretaker's location. If she could lead him down a couple of floors Lucy would be able to safely get Filch and his cat farther away from the towers and the main staircase.

Lucy strolled on after hearing no sounds of Filch's characteristic shuffle; even Grimalkin could sense the tension in the air and was being unusually well behaved and alert. Grimalkin moved ahead of Lucy and peered around the corners before walking on with Lucy following, her wand out in case she needed to cause a distraction, like hitting a suit of armor. Hmm… Where had that devil cat got to? It was a secret ambition of Lucy's to see James and Fred bested by Mrs. Norris while committing a prank. Nothing more awkward then being caught red handed by the caretaker's cat. As Lucy's thoughts drifted to her happy place of Fred and James being caught and publicly shamed for their crimes a nasally voice reached Lucy's ears.

"What is it my sweet? Are there students out of bed?"

Lucy suppressed a shiver and bit her lip, trying to conceal herself against the wall as Grimalkin fluffed himself up to twice his usual size and showed his teeth next to her. Filch was coming from the right. There was nowhere for Lucy to hide! But she could run away and cause a distraction as she did so. Separate the man from the cat. Lucy patted her leg a couple of times to get Grimalkin's attention and took off down the corridor at a dead run whispering "Flipendo!" at vases that suddenly flipped over and suits of armor that fell from their pedestals.

"Destroying the castle Peeves! I'll see you banished for this!" Filch shouted as he ran after Lucy who scooped up Grimalkin and turned into an abandoned classroom and closed the door softly behind her as she took refuge next to the door hinges and listened carefully for hurried shuffling footsteps. If she was caught out of bed like she was last year, her dad would probably come up to the school to yell at her in person, especially after causing this mess. What was she thinking? The thought of her dad yelling at her made her tremble more than the idea of Filch being on the other side of the door. "Come on out Peeves." Filch mumbled as Lucy pressed her ear against the door. "Come out, come out wherever you are."

The sounds of Filch's footsteps disappeared from Lucy's hearing and Grimalkin began to paw at Lucy's shoulder. Lucy looked under the door for either feet or shadows before opening the door and creeping back out into the corridor, stepping over an armor helmet and walking away from Filch who she could hear talking to himself and cursing Peeves farther on. She scratched Grimalkin behind the ears before setting him on the floor and moving onward.

Suddenly, the shadow of a large cat appeared ahead of Lucy. She took a small amount of catnip from her bag and placed it on the floor at her feet before scooping up Grimalkin and walking silently away, as the shadow's owner came closer. Lucy and Grimalkin hid behind a large curtain and waited.

Mrs. Norris was drawn to the small pile of catnip on the floor like a moth to light and began to sniff it attentively. Lucy had to suppress a chuckle as she started to roll around on the floor and lick it daintily off her paws. When it was all gone, she staggered down the corridor occasionally flopping over to roll on the floor in delight for no particular reason before standing again to follow Filch's voice.

Lucy grinned and walked on towards the staircase with Grimalkin at her feet. As she arrived at the staircase there were voices up ahead that sounded annoyed and some obscene words coming from a very familiar source.

"Don't worry Molly, I'll protect you!" A teenage boy a couple of years older than Molly exclaimed as he stepped valiantly in front of her with his wand drawn at the source of the disturbance.

Peeves, who was now cackling with a manic glee at the sight, was shrieking "Larky and Wheezy, lovey dovey!" Peeves threw a bag of chalk at them which the boy deflected with ease.

"I do not need your protection!" Molly exclaimed as she levitated the bag of chalk and lobbed it at Peeves head, hitting him with enough force to send him back threw the portrait behind him. "Ten points." The boy turned and looked at Molly stupidly as she turned and walked on down another corridor before running after her.

Lucy waited a few more moments before moving on, enjoying the silence. Until small footsteps were heard going down the stairs. A mess of dark hair showed it was Albus. Lucy watched as her younger cousin passed by her without noticing her or removing his eyes from the floor. How strange. Lucy crept up the stairs after Albus was well away and made her way up the staircase to the astronomy tower.

It was really quiet here. Lucy allowed herself a smile, feeling successful and accomplished, also a bit rebellious. She was a couple of flights away from the astronomy staircase when a loud laugh reached her ears.

"Ickle Wheezy and her kneazy are out of bed!" Grimalkin snarled in Lucy's arms as Peeves began lobbing vases at them as he soared through the walls shouting it over and over again. Lucy was off flying up the stepped ignoring the stitches in her sides. She did not stop running until she had made it to the top of the tower where her friends were waiting. Lucy and Grimalkin were suddenly covered by her friends' hugs and gleeful laughter.

Magdalene smiled and she almost looked the way she did last year. "I wanted to thank you all for being such good help. Maybe now I can finish with the experiment I was working on."

"It was no big deal, we were glad to help." Lute said as she slipped an arm over Aubrey's shoulders. "I'll never forget those prefects stepping on those exploding marbles."

Ollie checked his watch and gave the spyglass back to Lucy. "Hey, we better get back to the tower; I don't want detention after getting away with all of that."

"Ollie's right. I'll see you all later. Lucy, don't forget the meeting tomorrow." Magdalene said as they walked down the stairs. Lucy glad for their company she had put the thought of Peeves from her mind.

They were almost to the portrait of the Fat Lady when the sound of "Students out of bed!" reached their ears. They ran the rest of the way to the tower as Peeves threw books and vases at their backs.

Oo0Oo0

"We thought you would like a look at this sir," A small blonde Auror said as her boss and his right hand arrived on the scene. "Third attack this week. I think it's a serial killer." She turned and led the two men to the house, past a couple of rookies who were puking in the bushes.

Harry looked around the room carefully. The pictures on the wall showed a happy well-adjusted family consisting of a mother, father and a girl nearly Hogwarts age. The woman led them through the kitchen and stopped in front of the closed door. She looked at them both carefully before speaking. "I'm warning you now, it's not pretty."

"Is it ever?" Ron quipped.

The blonde Auror opened the door to reveal the three bodies lying on the floor. The Cole family was all there with eyes plucked from their sockets, the usual souvenir, and skin pulled away leaving only a skeletal smile. All three members of the Cole family were faceless.

Author's Note: You went from something fun to dark and disturbing.

If you have read my previous works you will know who the people in charge of this particular resistance group are. I love those little tie ins.