MYM(L)12

Scare Tactics

Harry pushed open the curtains to Sirius' bed, smiling slightly at the sight of his godfather sprawled across his mattress, mouth open. He nudged Sirius' shoulder, and all that happened was Sirius rolled over.

"Come on, mate, wake up." Harry whispered-talked.

There was a rustling from across the room, and someone lit their wand. "Harry? What are you doing?"

Remus had woken and was staring at Harry in confusion. Harry raised his finger to his lips and gestured for Remus to join him by Sirius' bed. Remus slowly crept across the room, throwing Harry a weird look.

"What are you doing?" He repeated.

"I can't wake Sirius up. Can you help me?"

"Why do you need to wake Sirius up? He is notoriously cranky, woken up in the middle of the night. What do you need?" Remus glanced down at the sleeping boy, and noxed his wand. He squinted over at Harry, his eyes adjusting to the darkness, and he realized what Harry was wearing. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not entirely sure. None of us are, that's why we need Sirius." Harry smiled sheepishly. "She didn't want you guys to know."

"Us? She? Who are you..." He glanced back at Sirius as his mind connected the pieces. "Ah. Lily, right?"

"I never thought I was obvious about my secrets, and yet here we are." Harry sighed, and nudged Sirius again. "Can you wake him up?"

Remus looked at him for a moment, then turned and shoved Sirius bodily off his bed. He hit the floor with a dull thud, and the other two boys didn't even stir. Remus had hit Sirius with a silencing charm as soon as he hit the floor, so his shocked yells weren't heard. Sirius looked up at the two boys standing over his bed and frowned. Harry nodded out of the room, and turned to leave, expecting them to follow.

He smiled when he heard two sets of footsteps on the stairs behind him.

Harry emerged into the Common Room, and Lily let out a breath. "Finally, what took you so-" She broke off when both boys came into view. "Why is Remus here?"

"I couldn't wake up Sirius." Harry said, by way of explanation. He wandered over to Hermione and Ron who were seated by the fire, leaving the explanations to Lily.

"Evans? What are you doing?" Sirius asked blearily. Remus had evidently taken the charm off him.

Lily wrung her hands together and looked over at the Trio, all three of which gestured for her to go on. She bit her lip and sighed, turning back to Remus and Sirius.

"Well, I need to ask you a small favor..."

"This is utterly ridiculous."

"It's for Lily, Padfoot."

"Yes, and when has she ever actually spoken to us in a non insulting way, let alone ask us for something?"

"She talks to me all the time."

"Okay, Mr. Prefect, we know you get to hang out with Evans all the time. James is constantly complaining when you go on patrols."

"You're just jealous."

"Why would I be jealous of Evans? It's me you're coming back to every night, not her."

They stared at each other for a moment, smiling slightly. Then, an owl hooted and they jumped.

"Right. So, what are we meant to be writing?" Sirius asked.

"I'm not sure. Lily wants us to ask, well wants you to ask Narcissa if she knows where the future husband of her sister is."

"You can just say Lestrange, Moony, I know who we're talking about it."

"Yes." Remus rolled his eyes. "I still don't know how we're meant to get this information from her. Like she would actually tell you anything. When even was the last time you two talked?"

"Christmas, last year. I said 'Happy Christmas' and she sneered at me and said goodbye. Haven't spoken to her since, the spoilt little brat." Sirius muttered bitterly.

Remus looked at Sirius, who was staring down at the parchment with a crease between his eyebrows. He hadn't talked about what happened this summer since they got to school, and Remus knew it must be weighing on him somehow. He just didn't know how to broach the topic.

"Why does it have to be Cissy anyway? Andy probably knows, why can't I ask her? She is more likely to tell us than dear old Narcissa." Sirius grumbled. Remus stared at him until he looked up. "What?"

"We're changing the letter."

Lily looked down at the letter in her hands for the thirtieth time since it was handed to her. She had memorized the whole thing, but still felt better being able to look at it. "I can't believe your cousin just gave you the coordinates."

"Well, to be fair, she does know none of us can Apparate so, to her, this information is essentially useless to us." Remus answered. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"And you haven't met Andromeda. She's all about rebellion and fighting for a cause."

"Thank you, Sirius. This means a lot to me." Lily looked up at him and smiled. Green eyes met grey, and Sirius shrugged and looked away.

"I'm sorry about your parents, Evans."

"Not as sorry as Lestrange is going to be." Lily muttered.

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, and they nodded and climbed out of the portrait hole.

"Wait. You're going? Now?" Remus asked.

"No time like the present." Harry smiled as he let Lily climb out before him. He looked over at the two boys. "Don't worry. We won't let her get hurt."

"And what about yourselves?"

Harry smirked and started climbing out. "We have our ways."

The two Marauders looked at each other as Harry slipped out. "I still think there is something weird about them." Remus said.

"I have never agreed with you more, Moony."

The four Fifth Years stepped out of the Shrieking Shack, and Harry looked at Lily. She sighed, irritated. She glared at him and Harry held his hands up in surrender, before holding one out to her.

"Hold on tightly, okay?" She nodded, and he glanced at the coordinates once more before handing the letter to Ron and Hermione.

"Don't hold you breath." Harry said, and before Lily really had time to register what he said, he had spun on one foot.

The two of them were pulled into a crushing blackness, and Lily didn't pay any heed to Harry's advice and tried to hold her breath, only to have to forced violently from her lungs. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out.

And then it was over, and they were standing between a giant hedge and a forest of thick trees.

A loud crack was heard beside them and Ron and Hermione appeared, looking slightly wind swept. "You sure this is the place?" Ron asked in a low tone, walking over to Harry. Him and Hermione converged on either side of Harry like a protective force. The way they did it though, seemed unintentional. None of them remarked on it, and there were no signals exchanged. The three of them just seemed to know what the others were doing and what they needed to do.

It made Lily wonder. She'd have to talk to Remus when she got back. He had lived with them for a while, he would know about strange behavior, right?

Harry was advancing on the hedge, while Ron and Hermione turned and scanned the forest. His eyes roved over the dark leaves, looking for something. Lily walked up next to him and tried to see what he was looking for, when she noticed a tall wooden gate, overgrown with ivy.

"There." She said, pointing. Harry followed her finger, and gave her an appreciative smile. Lily started to walk towards it, when he grabbed her arm.

"Not yet."

He crouched and picked up a small stone, and cast a featherweight charm on it.

Harry then proceeded to fling it at the gate, hard.

Before it got there, it hit some sort of force field, making the gate flash gold and the rock to blasted into thousands of tiny pieces.

Lily, blinking the afterimage of the golden gate out of her eyes, turned back to Harry. He was crouched again, picking up another rock.

"What was the point of that?" She whispered harshly.

He nodded towards the gate in a 'you'll see' sort of way. She sighed and looked back at the gate as the rock flew threw the air.

It collided directly with the wood, and fell silently to the ground.

Lily looked at it, eyebrows raised. Harry huffed out a breath and smiled. "Thought so." He looked back at Lily. "The wards react to magic. They're low level, so as long as we don't actually use magic breaking in, we should be fine."

"How do you know all this?" Lily asked, curious.

"There was a time a little while back when we had a lot of time on our hands, with not much else to do but read. So we furthered our magical education." Hermione piped in from behind them, making Lily jump.

"So you read books on warding?"

Ron shook his head. "Not so much actually warding things, because I still struggle with that. It was more how certain wards react to different things and how to identify them."

"Ah." Lily said, staring at the three siblings in a new light. They were a lot smarter than they lead her to believe at first. Well, Harry and Ron. Lily was under the impression it would be very hard for Hermione to hide just how brilliant she really was.

Harry walked up to the gate and tried to peer through a crack in the wood, to little success. "I guess we just take our chances opening it." He reached for the handle, but leapt back when it started to turn on its own. The four of them hurried around to the hedge, pressing themselves against it out of sight of the gate. A dull thud resounded, and sharp intake of breath signaled that they were no longer alone.

Lily looked at Hermione, green eyes wide with fear. Hermione looked back with an expression of what Lily perceived to be determination. She rested her hand on the other girls shaking shoulder, and gave it a reassuring squeeze, drawing her wand with her other hand. Hermione slowly leaned forward, her bushy hair blending in with the hedge in the darkness. She looked toward the gate, and a confused huff escaped her lips. She looked back at Lily and motioned for her to stay, before sliding closer to the gate, wand held in front of her. Hermione's eyes rested on a form huddled just outside the gate, their body shaking. As she got closer she could hear the shuddering sobs coming from the person.

Hermione shifted her foot, and accidentally sent a rock skidding across the ground, making the person jerk their head up at the sound. She stood completely still, pressed against the hedge, as they looked around. She could see now that it was a young girl, no older than she was. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, her blonde hair hanging limp about her shoulders.

Hermione stepped forward, and the girls eyes latched onto her immediately.

"Oh, please! Please you must help me! There are these-these people, they kid-kidnapped me." The girl stuttered out, fresh tears streaming down her face. "They kept po-pointing these things at me, and th-then everything was just p-pain. Please, you have to help me, I don't know where I am, please!"

Hermione made to move towards the girl, but a sharp hiss of "'Mione, no." to her right made her pause. The girl looked towards the sound, and Harry stepped into the light, his wand clutched tightly in front of him. The girl let out a hysterical sob, and scrambled backwards away from him. Harry made his way over to Hermione, keeping his distance from the girl.

"Hermione, you can't fall for this." He whispered gently to his best friend. "There must've been sensors on the wards that warned when someone was close, or tested the ward with magic. We can't trust her."

"But Harry-"

"Hermione, these are Death Eaters we're dealing with. They're not below using tactics such as this to lure people in. They must know that whoever would try to break in would be roped in by someone needing help." His eyes implored her to understand. "It's killing me to not help this girl, you must know that. But we can't take the chance. Not now. Not yet."

She looked at him like she'd never seen him before. "Has the world suddenly flipped backwards? Aren't I usually the one saying things like that to you? When did I become the reckless one?"

Harry smiled and grabbed her hand, pulling her back into the shadows. "We all have to get there eventually. You're just a late bloomer." Hermione elbowed him in the side, and turned back to the girl.

Her expression had changed once they left her line of sight. Her eyes were narrowed and her back stiff. Her hands were curled into fists on the ground, and she looked poised to jump at anyone who approached her. The girl stared in the direction Harry and Hermione had gone in, but she didn't move to follow them. They watched her a moment longer and the girl let out a frustrated growl. She stood abruptly, and marched over to the gate, lifting her arm and phasing right through it just as her skin started to bubble and morph.

Hermione caught a glimpse of wild black hair before the gate was solid again, and looked at Harry in shock.

He smiled stiffly at her. "I'd recognize her voice anywhere, no matter how much Polyjuice Potion she takes."

Hermione looked at the ground. "You'd think the same could be said for me."

Ron came over and put a hand on her shoulder, conscious of Lily just a few feet away. "Are you okay?"

"Never better." She smiled and turned to Lily. "You still ready for this?"

A familiar look of determination crosses Lily's face as she nods. Hermione looks at Harry and smirks when she sees that same look directed at the other girl.

"Then lets get to this. We can't go through the gate anymore."

"No." Harry agreed. "We'll have to scout around the perimeter and see if we can find any weaknesses we can exploit."

A mischievous smile lit Ron's face, eerily reminiscent of his brothers. "I think I might know how we can get in."

A hour and a half later, the four of them were standing behind the Lestrange Manor, sweaty and covered in dirt.

Ron shrugged at the three glares tossed his way. "At least we're inside?"

"How did you think of tunneling under the wards, anyways?" Harry asked.

Ron started to say something, but Hermione spoke over him. "It was a muggle movie he watched, how else?"

"Can we get back on track, please?" Lily asked, her voice laced with nervousness.

The four teenagers surveyed the area they were in with extreme difficulty, since everything was cloaked in darkness and none dared light their wand. They could see the vague shape of trees, back lit by dim lights from the mansion.

"Do we really have to go in there?" Hermione asked. "That does not seem like a good idea."

"'Mione, honestly, did you think we came all this way to, what, take a picture?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows at her. "It's much too dark for that."

"Good thing you three aren't a train, you'd have derailed a hundred times over by now." Lily whispered, irate. "We're going in. I'm going to show those assholes what happens when you kill innocent people." She started toward the short line of trees, ignoring Harry's vague noise of protest. Her wand was being griped so tightly, she had half a mind to think it would splinter. She felt more than heard when the other three joined her, all of them crouching and peering through low branches.

They could just make out a few people sitting in the drawing room, candles burning low like they had been there for a while. One was bulky and broad, and the other was slimmer with longer hair that caught the light.

Harry was about to creep closer to Lily and explain his plan, when movement from inside caught his eye.

Someone new had entered the room.

While she looked different from when they knew her, there was no way any of the Trio could forget the face of Bellatrix Lestrange.

Hello hello hello here we are again :) I got the reminder to post this on my phone and I was like...has it been two weeks omg. But it has and we are here. I hope you enjoyed this chapterrr, things sorta start to heat up from here from what I remember...AND theres only 8 chapters (roughly) left until the end of book one! How exciting.

Guest Reviews:

Guest: Heya pal. Your review made me laugh because you were absolutely correct and I love it. Thanks for the review and see ya in two weeks!

Anddd thats all folks. Stay tuned for two weeks from now, what we've been waiting for will actually finally happen! Wooo! At least I think.