Part 10
"This is the book we have been using to help us figure out everything we know." Hermione said as she picked up the metal book and gave it to the headmaster.
"Extraordinary." Dumbledore whispered flipping the metal pages until he came to the pictures. "Have you figured out who any of the four are?" Dumbledore asked the group. Harry and Hermione moved to stand behind him to show him.
"These three here we have no idea who they are, but this girl her name is Liz or as Professor Snape said Elizabeth." Harry said pointing to the metal cutout before Hermione flipped the page.
"And this boy here his name is Max and from what we can tell this girl next to him is Tess." Hermione said.
"I believe you know these two on this page, Draco and Mandy." Harry said flipping the page again.
"Ah yes and I know the two girls below as well they too attended Hogwarts. This girl here on the left is Brimlad Haskin and this girl on the right is Estra Snape; Professor Snape's sister." The headmaster said chuckling at Snape's horrified expression. Snape quickly grabbed the book and paled at their images.
"This is not good." Snape groaned an ill look coming over him.
"Now calm down Severus we will…" Remus Lupin was cut off by a furious Snape who had gone from silent to foaming at the mouth in seconds.
"Oh no Lupin you don't remember my sister. She can be the most vial person when she wants to and that is without the other two. Brimlad and Mandy were and still are her friends; Brimlad and Estra follow Mandy around like little dogs much like you and Black followed Potter. Except the three of them are far more insane." Snape snarled his chest heaving.
Sirius snickered off to the side, "You aren't scared of little girl are you?"
"Yes!" Snape yelled as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Anyone in their right mind would be terrified of my sister she had a knack for blowing things up. The scary part is she never used a wand when she did so. All she had to do was aim her hand and it was destroyed. She even went as far as to blow up my bed when I was still at home…" Snape grumbled.
"So you had to sleep on the floor big deal." Sirius grumbled.
"I was still in it!" Snape yelled.
The others tried to look away so he would not see their grins. "In any of your visions Harry have you seen these four?" Dumbledore asked pointing to Max and the three next to him on the page.
"No I only saw the two of them and from what I saw Max and Tess knew the others pretty well. I saw Max climbing into Liz's window so I think it is safe to say they know each other and live near one another." Harry said.
Dumbledore sighed folding his hands in front of him, "It is as I feared the Royal Four are in contact with the destroyers." His statement sent the room into a flurry of chaos. "Calm down everyone of we are going to get anything done we have to come up with a course of action." He said finally getting the room to settle down again.
"Now I have come up with something that might work, but I know it would be asking a lot of you. I suggest we all go to Roswell, from there we can watch them and try and outmaneuver them."
"Keep your enemies close." Bill Weasley whispered and Dumbledore nodded.
"Precisely."
"I agree we should assess the situation first hand before we do anything." Snape said.
"Those of us who can and want to then will go to Roswell." Dumbledore said.
"Molly the kids and I will go." Arthur Weasley spoke up and his wife nodded.
"You know the rest of us are in as well Albus, and I think you should look into having the rest of the kids join us. They might be useful in getting information." Sirius said winking at a beaming Harry.
"We will have to talk to their families." Dumbledore said the apprehension apparent on his drawn face.
"I can make the contacts." McGonagall said.
"Alright then tell their parents and guardians they can come if they wish, but warn them about the danger. Everyone we will be leaving for Roswell the day school gets out. Some of us can magically travel there others will have to use muggle transport so as not to rouse suspicion." Dumbledore said.
"I will travel with the ones who have to use muggle transportation." Tonks said from the fireplace.
"As will my sons and I." Arthur said and his four older boys nodded.
"Very well," Dumbledore sighed, "Meet here in my office on the last day of exams when the others students head to the trains" The others slowly started to trickle out of the office.
"Albus I will look into our housing accommodations." Fudge said as he shook the headmaster's hand. "I might not be able to join you but I might have enough pull to make things easier for you in the States."
When only a few were left in the room Dumbledore turned to Harry a twinkle back in his eyes, "Anything else we might need to know Harry?"
Harry moved forward and flipped the page of the book to the one where the faces in the book were coupled. "As you can see Draco is next to Liz and…hey that's odd Hermione do you see what I see?" Harry asked hearing her sharp intake of breath.
"What is it?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well you see this man standing next to Mandy he was not there next to her before and neither were the men next to Brimlad and Estra." Hermione said pointing a shaky finger at the pictures.
"Who was next to them before?" The headmaster asked.
"We had no idea who the men were next to Brimlad and Estra but next to Mandy was…" Hermione trailed off uncomfortably.
"Yes?" The headmaster asked trying to coax the answer out of the two students.
"Professor Snape." Harry said.
"Yes what is it?" He barked making Hermione jump.
"No professor I meant you were the one next to Mandy." Harry whispered.
****Roswell****
Liz was sitting on her lawn chair up on her balcony wrapped in a light blanket, her journal propped in her lap.
Dear Journal,
Sorry I haven't written for awhile so much has been happening I haven't had time. I feel like I am going to explode with all of this pent up excitement and information rumbling around inside of me just waiting to burst out.
I have been having these weird dreams lately and they are beginning to frighten me. When the others and I preformed the power summoning spell in the dream plane I sensed the presence of someone else; someone who should not have been there. In the desert background I saw another figure somehow I knew who he was, I knew that the boy was Harry Potter.
Then there are the dreams I keep having where I am with child, or as Kyle would say knocked up. The odd thing is they don't scare me as much as they should, in an odd way they comfort me. It is like I know Draco loves me and that everything will be okay in those dreams. No these dreams don't scare me the ones that do are the ones where the cave in the desert is blasted and all of us standing at the entrance of the cave go flying and I end up face down in the sand, motionless.
Why did the rock face explode like that? What were we all doing up there in the first place? None of this makes sense. I told this all to Alex and he could not come up with anything either. I can sense trouble coming, but I have no idea what it is and that is what scares me.
Liz closed her journal and stared up at the stars wrapping the blanket tighter around her small form. It's hard to believe sometimes that there are other life forms out there even though there was proof living down the street from her.
"Liz honey, are you out there?" Her mother asked. Liz looked through her window and saw her mother looking around her room confused.
"Yeah mom what's up?" Liz asked putting away her journal when her mom's back was turned. When she hid her journal she crawled back through her window and into her room.
"There you are. Listen your father and I are just about to go over where everyone is going to sleep. The others should be over in a few minutes. Do you want to help? I know how you like to keep things organized." Nancy laughed as she sat on her daughter's bed.
"Sure, that would be fun." Liz said leading her mom out of her room. The room was silent until a preteen walked out of Liz's bathroom cringing at the state of the girly bedroom.
"So Lizzie, who's coming?" Nicholas asked the deserted room as he moved to sit in Liz's desk chair sniffing in disdain a bottle of perfume. He saw a letter on her desk and carelessly picked it up and read it.
"Is this guy for real? Well at least it's not Zan the idiot king." He spat putting letter down before he went to the door Liz and her mother had just exited.
"I do have to admit Zan has not lost his taste in women. What is it about him that makes every girl flock to him?" Nicholas spat bitterly.
"Might as well go have some fun seeing as how the four of them will be busy for awhile," Nicholas said as he quietly crept out her window and down her fire escape knowing the little witch would be none the wiser to his ever being there.
"There is nothing to do in this town." He grumbled before a sly smirk came over him, "I could always go and spy on little Ava." He hummed before the twelve year old looking boy switched directions and headed to the Valenti home. Max Evans slowly moved out from behind the dumpster a look of terror on his face. He had planned to climb up Liz's ladder to surprise her but just as he got there he saw a kid climbing down.
"Did I just see a kid come from Liz's balcony?" He asked himself as he looked down the street thinking over what he saw. "That's it I have to talk to Michael." Max said running out of the ally and towards his jeep parked at the UFO center.
****Hogwarts****
"What?" Professor Snape asked a sickened look coming over him again.
"You were next to this Mandy girl, but now this other guy is there." Harry said.
"That man looks familiar Albus." McGonagall said.
Dumbledore nodded fingering the metal page slightly, "You are right he does look familiar."
"Hold on a moment," Her voice croaked as her eyes lit up slightly, "Albus add a few inches to his hair and take a few pounds of muscle off him and add baby fat to his face and slim his build down a bit and I'd say he is very familiar." She said as the others tried to picture what she described.
Dumbledore chuckled slightly in his seat and nodded his head in agreement. "Minerva I think you have it." Snape sniffed beside them his displeasure apparent.
"Well who is he?" Snape asked.
"Severus he is someone you know." Snape gave the old man a fierce glare not in the mood for his games. "I believe you know him as Balthazar."
When Snape heard Dumbledore utter that one name Snape's face went from annoyed to infuriated. "Balthazar as in Balthazar Quilliam the best friend of Latimer Hawksworth the one who tortured me worse than…" Snape's eyes flashed to Harry a dark look of utter contempt present in their dark depths. His face turned an ashen gray as he felt into a chair. Harry and Hermione could tell that whoever this man was he was no friend of Snape's, it seemed as if this was the one person who Snape hated most in the world and that was saying something.
"Yes Severus it is him and I believe the man next to your sister is Latimer." Dumbledore said visibly bracing himself for the backlash he knew was to come.
"Why me?" Snape groaned rubbing his forehead, "As if it isn't bad enough I had to worry about Mandy now I have to worry about her connection to Balthazar, I thought all of those worries were gone when I divorced her." He grumbled.
"You were married?" Ron asked looking highly amused by this.
At hearing Ron's comment Snape propelled himself out of his chair and he was in Ron's face faster than the teen knew the batman could move. It appeared that Ron's comment was only more fuel to the fire raging inside the professor. "What is that supposed to mean Mr. Weasley hum? That I couldn't get a girl, whom I must have given a love potion in her drink? Yes for your information I was married and yes we are divorced." Snape snarled. Ron started shaking his head vigorously, "I didn't think so." Snape snapped as Professor McGonagall pulled the man away from a frightened Ron.
"Sorry professor I didn't mean anything by it." Ron squeaked.
"Calm down everyone." McGonagall snapped.
"Ms. Granger when did you first see Mandy next to Professor Snape?" Dumbledore asked.
"When we looked through the destiny book the second or third time, it was after one of Harry's visions." Hermione said flinching when Snape's glare was turned on her.
"I don't understand how or why the pictures changed now if you have been divorced for awhile or so I am assuming." Harry said.
Snape nodded reluctantly, "Three years Potter."
"So why would you be next to her still and how did the book change?" Hermione asked.
Harry smacked his head letting out a gasp of surprise, "Why didn't I see it before." He groaned. "Is it possible that this books gives glimpses of the future and the past?"
Dumbledore nodded inspecting the book, "Yes I suppose it could."
"The page we are on where we first see them together what if this is them during the present time and what if the next page this one," Harry said quickly flipping the metal page with a clang to the page where Liz was pregnant, "Is of the future. The page where professor Snape was next to Mandy was accurate; it would have changed if she started to see someone else." Harry said.
"You mean to tell me she is dating that…thing?" Snape asked looing disgusted.
"I think it is an educated guess Severus. We will have to look further into this at a later time perhaps when we get to Roswell we will find the answer." Dumbledore said, "I think that is all for tonight."
The students all got to their feet anxious to leave the intimidating office. "Harry if you have any more visions please let us know." Dumbledore said and Harry nodded.
Professor McGonagall saw the students back to their common rooms and then left to head back to the headmaster's office. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny all crawled through the portrait to find the common room still deserted. The fire was low in the hearth merely ambers by then. They each took a spot around the fireplace looking to Harry.
"Can you believe Snape was married?" Ron finally asked laughing.
"No, he is a little scary." Neville said gulping as he tried to repress a shudder.
"The weird part is that Mandy girl was a student of his at one time." Ron laughed.
"Ew." Ginny shuddered.
"He said he had divorced her three years ago, which means he was still married to her when we started here." Harry pointed out.
"Okay that gives me more information on Snape than I ever wanted to know." Ron shuddered.
"At least now we know why the Slytherins were all excited." Hermione sighed.
"Yes it does explain their odd behavior." Harry agreed. "Do you think Liz and her friends are like the Slytherins?"
Ron shrugged, "I don't know mate this is the first I have ever heard of them."
Hermione suddenly stood and paced in front of the fire biting her lip furiously, "This is not the first time I have heard of their parents though."
"What do you mean Mione?" Harry asked.
"Their parents are part of the oldest lines of wizard families. They are all related you know but what most don't know is that they were in Voldemort's inner circle right up there with the Lestranges and Malfoys."
Ron groaned, "I take that as a yes they are exactly like the other Slytherins."
"We only know what their parents are like, their children might be different." Harry whispered.
"Not bloody likely." Ron grumbled.
"Draco is exactly like his father Harry." Hermione whispered, "And Liz is with Draco, it is only safe to assume that she shares their beliefs."
"I suppose you are right." Harry sighed.
Ron suddenly grinned, "Well there is one good thing that had come out of this, we get to go visit Roswell at the end of the term, alien capital of the world."
Hermione turned to her friends an excited smile coming over her, "I always wanted to go to Roswell after I read in a book that several wizards theorized that the alien crash was actually a spell gone wrong."
"Guys hold on we are going to Roswell so we can keep an eye on Malfoy and the others. Not to go site seeing." Harry said.
"We know mate it's just when we are there we can keep an eye out and still have fun." Ron said trying to lighten his friend up.
"The main thing on my agenda is to find out more about Liz and her friends. Maybe then we can figure out what Voldemort wants with them." Harry said.
****Roswell****
"I swear Michael I saw some kid coming down Liz's ladder." Max said running his hands through his hair frustrated that his best friend didn't believe him.
"Is there any possibility that you could have just imagined things?" Michael asked.
"No! I know what I saw Michael besides I heard him say something about going to spy on Ava."
"Right and how would this kid know about Ava? I mean he would have to be an alien because Tess does not go by Ava." Michael pointed out taking a long gulp of his peach Snapple.
"You're right do you think he is one of those skins?" Max asked panic coming over him.
"A kid being some kind of evil alien?" Michael snorted, "Besides why would a skin be on Liz's balcony?" Michael asked trying to get his friend to see reason.
"I don't know!" Max yelled, "Maybe we should call Nasedo he would know what to do." Max said heading over to the phone. Michael bolted out of his seat and beat Max to it preventing his friend from picking up.
"Hold up Maxwell, Nasedo said only to call him if it was an emergency and since we don't know if there is really a reason to panic yet we shouldn't call him. It would just piss him off."
"What should we do then?" Max asked.
"First off why don't you go over to Kyle's and see if Tess is okay." Michael suggested.
Max nodded slowly his amber eyes taking on a distant glazed look. "Sure that's what I will do."
"You do that." Michael nodded as Max headed out the door. Michael waited a beat before he picked up his phone and a familiar voice answered after a few rings. "Hey Isabel, Maxwell has gone off the deep end, he is headed over to Kyle's. He thinks he saw a kid at Liz's house and the kid is apparently going to go spy on Ava or whatever the hell that means…of course I just let him leave what the hell was I supposed to do?...Well I figured if he saw no one was there he would just go home and forget about this crazy shit…Well maybe Liz moving on broke him or something what the hell do I look like Doctor Phil?...yeah yeah talk to you later." Michael grumbled before he hung up. "Women." He grumbled before he went back to watching the hockey game that Max had so rudely interrupted, even if it was taped.
Isabel across town hung up her room phone running a hand through her blonde hair, "Max is headed to your place. He seems to think some kid went to spy on you so Michael sent him over to your place to check things out." She said turning to Tess who was sitting on her bed.
"Won't he be worried when he sees I am not there?" Tess asked.
"I have no idea I am going to trust Michael on this one and hope Max will drop it, after all the last thing we need is for Max and Michael to find out about the others."
"Yeah I can just see it now, Max's eyes all welled up with tears because he found out Lizzie is not who he thought she was. Oh and Michael when he finds out Maria could have easily blasted his ass all of those times he mouthed off to her." Tess giggled slapping a hand to her mouth when a snort escaped her sending Isabel into a fit of giggles.
Isabel suddenly got a devious gleam in her golden eyes, "So Tess what is going on with you and Kyle?"
The blonde's cheeks turned cherry red as she ducked her head away from her friend, "What do you mean?"
Isabel snickered softly at the gesture, "I see the way you two look at each other when you think the other is not looking. You tow have the hots for each other and just won't admit it." Isabel said with a knowing smirk.
"This coming from the girl who is just realizing how crazy in love Alex Whitman is with her, he practically worships the ground you walk on." Tess snickered.
"I do have to admit he really does care for me. I love how I can be myself around him and I don't have to hide from him, he just wants me to be me and he will take all of me. He doesn't have expectations of how I should be he just knows intuitively what I am really like and he subtly lets me know that is the Isabel he wants, not the one that everyone can look at but never touch. Slowly I have started to learn that I really like Alex Whitman." She sighed a small smile on her face, "I used to think he was a big goof but that is just one part of him, his serious side is deep and amazing and he has this naturally protective part of him that doesn't let the people he cares about stray too far."
"I guess you could say that is how I feel about Kyle. No show is needed with Kyle I can just be me and he can just be him, just Kyle and Tess. Seeing a guy in his boxers every morning tends to take away some boundaries so there is really no subject un-approached with us." Tess snorted.
Isabel pulled a face groaning in disgust, "Kyle in his underwear not a pleasant image."
"For you maybe." Tess snickered.
The two girls heard the front door slam open followed by loud angry heavy footsteps up the carpeted stairs that Isabel was all too familiar with. Seconds later the door to her brother's room slammed shut. Isabel sighed and motioned for Tess to follow her into her brother's room, or as she called it his bat cave. Isabel gasped when she opened the door and Tess let out a squeak of surprise at the sight that met them. "Oh Max what happened?"