Another chapter, another adventure. This is a pretty exciting chapter so I hope that you all enjoy it. Thank you for all the great reviews for the last installment - I'm loving all the feedback! If you find the time, please check out the new poll on my profile :)
Enjoy!
Chapter 53 – Mistaking the Mysteries
Umbridge bustled while she left, holding both my twin and Hermione at wand point while she ushered them from the room. It seemed that she no longer cared for subtleties when it came to her blatant abuse of her own students – she didn't care who knew she was in control now: not now that she was so close to finding Dumbledore's weakness.
Having already confiscated everyone's wands, Umbridge had placed them on the desk before she left. I felt naked now, having switched Harry's wand with my own – even someone as dumb as a toad would have realized that she had six captives and five wands. Now I was forced to watch my wand sit mockingly on her desk with the others – and even though my wand and I did not regularly get on, it felt wrong not to have it with me. A wand without it's handler was nothing at all; even if the witch in question, such as myself, was hardly anything at all when she was wielding it.
"What should we do with them, now?" Crabbe asked mere seconds after Umbridge had gone. "Can we tie 'em up for dinner?"
"We can't just leave them to go down to dinner, you dolt," Malfoy hissed, shaking his head at Crabbe irritably. "We're detaining them."
"But now I'm bored," Bulstrode whined, rubbing her back absentmindedly against the wall she was leaning on. She was no longer holding Hermione and had taken to crossing her arms and pouting. "Who knows how long they'll be gone?"
"Who knows if they're coming back?" Parkinson added with a sneer. "Once they find that weapon, there will be no need to detain these ponces. Draco, let's just leave."
"And take them where, the dungeons?" Malfoy scoffed in sync with my eye roll. "Whoever gave you license to think, make sure they take it away from you."
"Well I'm not just going to stay here!" Parkinson bit out, stomping her foot childishly. "Let's you and I leave and let Potter take care of her brother's little friends."
"I'm not staying and dealing with them alone," I argued, my eyes narrowed on her. "Just because you want to stick your tongue into Malfoy's mouth doesn't give you the right to flap it around, calling the shots."
"I have more right than you do!" She argued, looking over toward Malfoy with a frown. "Right, Draco?"
"We're not leaving, Pansy," he grumbled, leaning back against the desk for a moment before he pointed lazily toward the office door. "So help, or get out. But I won't cover for you."
"Fine," she hissed, letting go of Ginny and shoving her, quite roughly, into my arms. I gave her shoulders a light squeeze and was pleased when she didn't try to kick my shins, as she had been ruthlessly trying to do to Parkinson. "Come on, Millicent, we're leaving."
Bulstrode – always the blind and loyal follower – nearly propelled herself from the wall and to Parkinson's side. "Where are we going, Pansy?"
"Anywhere we want," her eyes narrowed on Malfoy and then back to me. "I can see these two need to talk. Again."
"It's not like he can talk to you," I spit back. "It'd be like talking to a rock."
"Better a rock than mud," Parkinson hissed with a smirk. "We all know your mother passed that trait on."
"Your concern for her is flattering," Malfoy snapped at them, giving them a harsh snarl and standing from the desk so that he could look more intimidating. "Now leave if you won't be any help."
"I will!" The pug cried indignantly before she turned up her nose and slammed the door behind her. I rolled my eyes – that prat was such a...a pug. Still, she had given me the exact distraction I needed, and while everyone watched her little temper tantrum and took the time to scoff at her childishness, I was free to back up the three necessary steps to get to the desk where Umbridge had placed our confiscated wands. While Warrington took the mickey out on Malfoy for dating Parkinson in the first place, I picked up a wand – which I could only hope was Ginny's – and shoved it into her pocket, just as I had done for my brother.
"Can we leave too, Draco?" Goyle asked, looking over to Malfoy nervously. Both Ginny and I stopped moving at once, just in case we were found out but luckily Malfoy still seemed annoyed by Warrington's earlier comments and Goyle's general presence. "Dinner's already started..."
"Can you stop thinking for your stomachs for just a moment?" Malfoy snapped again, taking an angry step forward. "We have work to do."
I quickly squeezed Ginny's shoulder, trying to tell her silently not to move. When she didn't run away after I had taken my hands away from her, I quickly took hold of the remaining wands on Umbridge's desk and shoved them up the sleeve of my robe. Taking as inconspicuous a look I could, the desk – now devoid of wands was noticeably bare. To buy myself a few more seconds, I moved one of the pictures over to block where they were seen before.
"But I'm hungry!" Goyle was still complaining.
"And I'm annoyed," I hissed, moving forward slightly so that I could draw attention away from the desk. I moved Ginny a little closer to Malfoy so that he could grab hold of her if he wanted. It would make the whole thing less noticeable if I played along with the Slytherins...at first. "And will you lighten up on Longbottom? You heard what Snape said."
"He's trying to get away!" Crabbe moaned while I grabbed his arm and yanked it lightly away from Neville's neck. As I did this I pushed my other hand, equipped with all the wands up my sleeve, toward his pocket. "He moves every time I do."
I rolled my eyes, trying to give myself a reason not to move from Neville until I had given him his wand. "If you two were any slower, you'd be moving backward."
Finally, I felt a wand drop into his pocket – and then a second.
I could have cursed out loud if it wouldn't have gotten me caught – someone was goign to be missing out on a wand and it sure as hell wouldn't be me by the time these Gryffindors thought of some offensive plan.
"I'm not slow," Crabbe mumbled lowly. I raised an eyebrow.
"You're certainly not quick," I told him seriously, then paused to rethink that statement. "Well, not unless you're on your way to dinner."
Ron let out a snort, I couldn't tell if it was a laugh or some form of disgust – maybe I was playing my part well and had him fooled, too. Everyone knew that Ron was the hardest to convince of innocence, particularly with me being in Slytherin. It had taken him a long time to forgive me for my placement in First Year – I wouldn't be surprised if he was now starting to blame me for him having been caught today.
Still, that noise was something I could use to my advantage – as I had for Ginny being thrown to me and Neville being choked. Pretending to be annoyed by the sound Ron made, I walked over to him – he was held tightly by Goyle – and gave him a dark stare before grabbing him from Goyle myself. The fat gargoyle put up a fight at first, but eventually gave in when my glare turned from Ron to him.
Goyle, now displaced, looked around anxiously before shifting over to stand closer to Malfoy again. He genuinely did not understand what to do with himself when he wasn't being told how to do it – I would have felt bad were it not so pathetic. I would have to be a little nicer to him later on though, his idiocy was the exact thing I needed to slip another wand from my sleeve and shove it into one of Ron's hands which had been tied behind his back.
"We were said to detain them, not to save them," Warrington shot to me darkly. For a moment I froze, nervous that he had seen my little movements and passing of the wands – but it seemed he was referring to the fact I wasn't being as rough with the Gryffindors, which he demonstrated by giving Loony Lovegood a nice shove to the side before he caught her again. Neville roared through his gag.
"Potter," Malfoy began, waiting for everyone's eyes to focus on him. He particularly seemed to wait patiently for my glare and gave a slight shake to Ginny to show me he had a hold on her. "Aren't you going to try to save the day?"
"What?" I raised an eyebrow. "Why would I do that?"
"Isn't that what you regularly do: save your brother from trouble?" He sneered, gesturing toward Ginny with disgust. "You're running a bit behind."
"I don't think I am," I told him, narrowing my eyes and walking toward him. I ignored as Goyle scrambled back to take a hold of Ron. "And I don't quite like your tone, Malfoy."
"Of course you don't," he replied with a long drawl. "But you'll still do it anyway."
"I haven't put my effort into saving Harry," I told him seriously, my eyes flickering around the room to each of the captives being held by Slytherins. "I put my effort into giving the Gryffindors their wands."
"You wh-"
A chorus of spells and jinxes lit up the office around us like a display of fireworks. I ducked instinctively, hoping that it would be enough to avoid the onslaught of violence – I could hear spells flying past my ears and feel them fluttering my hair. It seemed like the Slytherins were trying to put up a fight – but not a very good one in comparison to the Gryffindors. After the shouts had died down I looked up to see that Ginny had her wand pointed straight into Malfoy's face. He had been knocked to the ground at some point and his wand was knocked feet away from him – he looked shocked, or perhaps as if he were just falling out of being stunned.
"Wait!" I shouted quickly, scrambling to my feet and throwing myself onto Ginny's arm, knocking off her aim. She looked over at me with a frown, her eyes flashing back to Malfoy angrily. "There's been enough, don't you think? We have to hurry before we lose track of Harry and Hermione."
"They're headed into the Forbidden Forest now," Lovegood said dreamily while she gazed out the window. I would have to take her word for it, because I was too nervous about the look in Ginny's eyes to move away from her wand pointed at Malfoy's throat.
"He'll follow us," Ginny growled, readjusting her aim onto Malfoy again.
"No, he won't," I told her confidently, offering him a hand without even looking at him. Malfoy hesitated before he took it and by the time he was standing, I felt confident enough to tear my eyes from Ginny and watch him look at the others with wary eyes. "He won't tell a soul."
"Right," Ron barked out a bitter laugh, taking a step forward. "He'll send the rest of the Squad after us as soon as we're out of sight!"
"You wouldn't do that," I said quietly, my eyes flickering back to Malfoy's steely silver one's meaningfully. "Would you?"
"I can't keep you safe forever Potter," he hissed to me. He was keeping his voice quiet as well and leaning forward slightly as if that would stop the other's from hearing us. I think we both knew it wouldn't, but after keeping our strange relationship a secret for so long, it felt unnatural to speak of our camaraderie so openly. "If you leave with them, there's no doubt you'll be caught by Umbridge."
"That's a risk I'm willing to take," I told him, taking a deep breath. "But are you?"
He looked at me for a long moment, not saying anything. I don't think he knew what to say – I was backing him into a corner that I knew he didn't like, but at the same time I wasn't in the place to give him the options he normally expected from me. Still, I watched his fists clench and unclench, his jaw tense, his eyes flicker around the room as he assessed just what the consequences of his actions may be...
Finally, Malfoy gave a curt nod before his eyes flickered away from all of us. "Warrington's coming to. You'd better leave now."
"Say you got stunned," I informed him, taking a moment to grab his wand from the floor and offering it to him. "Deny everything else."
He looked down at his wand for a moment, before he grabbed my hand and gave it a light squeeze. I took a deep breath, oddly reassured by this small and subtle comfort before he pulled the hand he had a grip on and bent down – crashing his lips to mine.
If it wasn't enough to hear the gasps behind me, I could feel the energy spike in the room. It wasn't just confusion or anger either, but also a smugness that radiated from Malfoy as he pulled away – his silver eyes taunting.
"Well," he said with his infamous and most devious smirk. "I guess we can't deny everything, can we?"
I glared at him, only able to imagine the looks from the others before I turned and ran for the door to the office – I was glad when I heard the other's follow me, even if I dreaded whoever would dare to speak.
"What was that?" Ron yelled as we ran down the hall. I should have assumed that he would be the first to find his bearings. "Drea, what the bloody hell was that?"
"I'll explain that when you explain what's going on," I informed him as we skidded over the flagstone. At the end of the hall, I saw a strange and comforting sight – Circe was sitting, watching us all. Her tail was flipping in the air, she was nearly vibrating with energy. She must ahve known something was wrong and had come to investigate and now her bright eyes watched as we drew closer. It was comforting to know she'd follow me into whatever was about to happen.
"No!" Ron, of course, ruined that moment. "You kissed Malfoy – you can't just avoid this subject!"
"Run faster, Ron," I growled at him, moving a little more quickly and keeping my eyes on Circe who had stood to anticipate running with us. Just as we were about to turn the corner toward the staircases, a voice rang loud and clear through the corridors.
"POTTER'S WITH THE GRYFFINDORS! SHE'S WITH THE GRYFFINDORS! GET THEM!"
"Run faster, Ron," I repeated, my eyes widening at the sound of Warrington's voice. No one hesitated or made another comment about what had happened back in Umbridge's office before we surged down the stairs and out into the courtyard. The way toward Hagrid's cabin had never felt so long – even while we were running I felt like it was taking hours to get across the grounds and to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Circe wove through my legs as I slowed, meowing at me until I picked her up and hugged her.
"How are we going to find them now?" I asked hopelessly. My eyes flickered to Luna, who had watched them disappear into the trees but she seemed to have no answers for us now. Circe wriggled in my arms, letting out a mewl before squeezing out of my grip and landing on the ground again.
"What's wrong?" I asked Circe curiously, watching as she calmly blinked at me and turned to walk straight into the trees. I watched her for a long moment, trying to understand what was happening – could Circe really understand what we were looking for? Or did she just happen to know that there would be rats to hunt there?
"Follow the Kneazle," Luna said with a airy certainty. As if it was as easy as that, the oddball walked into the thicket to follow Circe and left us to gape after her.
I looked at the others with a confounded glance. "Is this normal for her?"
"Completely," Ginny sighed.
"And she's usually right," Neville said with a nod. None of us had to speak what we knew: this was the closest we could come to having some sort of answer. As crazy as it seemed: we would have to follow my kneazle and Loony Lovegood into the thick of the Forbidden Forest and hope not to be killed on the way.
I hate adventures.
We walked for a long time, climbing over roots and rushing when we heard sounds that were quite obviously not human. I was starting to get more and more nervous thanks to those sounds and the fact that we were following a kneazle and the least sane person in the group – this was one of those times where I should have stopped and recalculated things, but just as I was thinking of voicing this, we began to hear snapping twigs.
I held out my hand nervously, making everyone stop and snapped my fingers to gain Circe's attention. She began pointing, like a hunting dog would do, toward where the twigs were snapping however far in front of us. When I was sure that it wasn't any of us and it was still some distance away, I drew out my wand and pointed it into the woods in front of us. Ron and Ginny went forward first.
"And he might kill them all," a familiar voice gasped. It was a relief to hear the voice, even if I was still on high alert. The female voice was certainly not nasal enough to be Umbridge, which left me to know that it was Hermione; and she sounded like she was panting.
"I'm not that fussed, to be honest," my brother's voice sounded. It was sarcastic and bitter, but it didn't give any indication whether or not Umbridge was with them. Still, I wasn't about to race forward and find out the hard way that I was wrong. "Well, smart plan. Really smart plan. Where do we go from here?"
"We need to get back up to the castle," Hermione informed faintly. I nodded to Ginny, lowering my wand with a sigh of relief.
"They're alone," I breathed, glad that they had somehow lost Umbridge in the maze of wilderness around us. If she was still lost somewhere, it meant that she could find them at any moment – so we would have to hurry to get out of range.
"By the time we've done that, Sirius'll probably be dead!" Harry yelled, there was a loud thunk that sounded close to the sound of him attacking a tree before we started walking in their direction. I picked up Circe as I passed her, kissing her on the head and promising her treats whenever we had time to get them.
"Well, I can't do anything without my wand," Hermione said hopelessly. "Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?"
"Yeah, we were just wondering that," Ron voiced when we could finally see them.
Both of them looked around at us, their expressions slack-jawed and shocked. Both of them stumbled forward a bit, but stopped as if they were afraid we were some sort of illusion. Still, it was good to see them both dirtied, but unscathed.
"So," Ron continued, grinning at the looks on their faces. "Had any ideas?"
"How did you get away?"
"Couple of Stunners, a Disarming charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx – but your sister," he began. "She was the most surprising. She-"
"I have my own questions," I interrupted, quick to try and make Ron forget about what he had seen Umbridge's office. "Such as: what the bloody hell is happening? I just gave up my front because you started ranting about Sirius in the middle of Umbridge's wrath!"
"Voldemort has Sirius," Harry told me, his voice confident and terrified. "He's in the Department of Mysteries – he's supposed to get one of the orbs. I saw it during the exam."
"You saw it?" I repeated with narrowed eyes. "And did you clear your mind this morning?"
"You disappeared, Audrey," He hissed, his hand moving up to rub against the scar on his forehead. "So no, I didn't. But it's a good thing, isn't it? Now we know where Sirius is, we can go save him!"
"Wait," Ginny interrupted, looking around the forest nervously. "Where's Umbridge?"
"She got carried away by a herd of centaurs," Harry waved off lightly.
"She what?" I asked, I couldn't even imagine what emotion coated my features. "Are you joking?"
"There's no reason to joke about it," Harry said simply. "I tried to stun her once we were in the forest, but she was able to disarm me right around the time our 'friends' came to the rescue."
"So she was carried away by centaurs?" I asked again, giving him a skeptical look.
"Yes, I don't know where they took her."
"Probably to be raped or tortured," I told him honestly, sighing and feeling much more at ease now that I knew we wouldn't have to worry about Umbridge or centaurs during our traipse through the woods. "I only wished I'd seen her taken away. Did she scream?"
"Don't Audrey," Hermione frowned, looking nearly teary-eyed. "It was horrid."
"She was horrid," I corrected. "Call me heartless for wanting to see her punished for it."
"Fine," she scolded. "You're heartless."
"Not as heartless as wizard-hating centaurs can apparently be," I told her sarcastically and bitingly. She winced away from me. "Why'd they leave you behind, anyway? They hate all witches and wizards."
"Yeah, but they hate giants more," Harry nearly scoffed. "Such as Grawp."
"What's a Grawp?" I asked pointedly, looking around the forest with a sneer. "Is a Grawp something we should hate, too?"
"Who is Grawp?" Luna corrected interestedly, as if she were taking a walk along the Black Lake, rather than being in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.
"Hagrid's little brother," Ron explained in an off-hand way. "Anyway, never mind that now – Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who really got Sirius, or-"
"Yes," Harry nodded, looking at me as meaningfully as he could. "I checked and everything, Audrey. But I'm sure that Sirius is still alive."
"Wait, wait, wait," I said immediately, putting Circe down so that I could raise my hands to stop him before he continued any farther. "How are you so sure?"
"Kreature was very clear about how happy he was to be alone," Harry explained bitterly.
"Harry, that could mean anything!" I argued, my eyes narrowing.
"He's there, alright?" Harry's voice raised irritably. "And if you don't believe me, then go back to the castle and do something useful, like keeping the Slytherins off our trail."
"Oh, she already has that covered," Ron said, his voice somewhat hysteric again. "By snogging Malfoy."
"You what?" Harry's voice bounced off the trees as if they were made of rubber and suddenly, it seemed that Sirius' disappearance was not an issue at all. "Audrey, you didn't!"
"I did," I said stubbornly, crossing my arms across my chest. "I find it's the best way to keep him quiet."
His eyes widened and he stuttered multiple times before he was finally able to form a coherent thought. "You-you mean you've done it before?"
"We have bigger problems than who I decide to snog, Harry!" I interrupted, placing my hand over his face to stop his blathering. "You just said our Godfather is in the Ministry of Magic with the man out to kill us. I'd say that's a tad more urgent."
"Yeah, he's captured by sods like Malfoy's dad, I'm sure," Harry hissed, shoving my wrist away from his face and glowering at me. "Drea, what were you thinking?"
"It worked, didn't it?" I asked, Circe meowed warningly at him. "Do you see anyone following us?"
"We're getting off topic!" Hermione blurted, taking a step forward. "Yes, Audrey kissed Malfoy. We can decide what to do with that information after we save Sirius."
"Please tell me you are more curious about all this," I said to Hermione, looking at her pleadingly. "You know that Voldemort can get in his head – this could be a farce. Snape told me not to do anything and-"
"Of course Snape would tell you that," Harry hissed. "He's working with Voldemort!"
"As a spy!" I snapped back immediately, it was synced by Circe hissing and pawing at Harry threateningly. "And he told me that so that we wouldn't do anything stupid. Stupid, you know, such as breaking into the Department of Mysteries when we have no proof!"
"Kreature said-"
"Kreature hates us!" I yelled back.
"-that Sirius is gone-"
"He never said he was kidnapped!"
"-and since I saw him with Voldemort-"
"You honestly think that Voldemort would give Sirius the time of day?" I asked brusquely, cutting him off. "If Voldemort really wanted Sirius, then he would have gotten his henchmen to do it. And Voldemort is trying to keep a low profile – he wouldn't go to break into the Ministry of Magic and give you time to tell someone about it unless it was a fake!"
"Audrey," he told me, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Drea, please. I need you to trust me. This wasn't Voldemort digging into my head – this happened. He has Sirius. I saw it...I have to save him."
I had never seen my brother more sure of anything in his entire life. He had never looked more sure about Snape being on the dark side, or Malfoy being the heir of Slytherin, about Sirius having killed our parents, or about Karkaroff being Voldemort's henchman...
For once, my brother was certain. And it was not necessarily something that made me believe him, but it was something that made me want to believe him. If something was happening with Sirius, I didn't want to just sit here and let it happen – I wanted to save him too.
"Then I'm coming with you," I told him with a note of finality. "I'm not leaving you alone without any voice of reason."
"Fine," he nodded. I think he was just glad that I wasn't going to drag him back to the castle by his ear.
"I still don't see how we're going to get there to help him," I sighed, slapping my arms against my hips. Harry looked at me hopelessly. "See? Clearly you need a voice of reason."
"Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" Lovegood asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I turned my eyes to her, trying to show how stupid it sounded – but she didn't seem to catch on. In fact, she looked on to us all as if we were about to agree with her.
"Okay, first of all 'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that. And second of all, Ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so-"
"I can steal some of the Slytherins' Nimbus 2001s." I told my brother, even though I couldn't stop my nose from wrinkling at the idea of flying anywhere at all.
"I've got a broom, too," Ginny added enthusiastically.
"Yeah, but you're not coming," Ron pointed out sternly. Naturally, Ginny was quick to argue.
"Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!"
"You're too-"
"I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosophers Stone," she countered, looking at each of us frostily. "And it's because of us that we were here to give Hermione's wand back."
"Yeah, but-"
"We were all in the DA together," Neville said quietly. I ignored correcting him for my own part. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real – or was that all just a game or something?"
"No, of course not-"
"Fighting Voldemort is more than something real," I informed Neville with a clenched jaw. "It's something dangerous."
"Exactly," Neville jumped at the end of the sentence so I couldn't counter with anything else. "Then we should come too. We want to help."
"That's right," Luna smiled.
Harry's eyes skittered to mine nervously. I could see his hesitation – I wouldn't want Neville No-Aim or Loony Lovegood coming to a battle where the Dark Bored Voldemort might be waiting either. They wouldn't be my first choice and they certainly wouldn't make me feel comforted or defended.
This is what we Slytherins would call 'pulling a Gryffindork' – this term could of course be interchanged with 'Huffleklutz' or 'Ravendumb'. We may have been young when we came up with the stupid term, but it suddenly seemed quite appropriate...
"It doesn't matter, anyway," Harry gritted out. "We still don't know how to get there..."
"I thought we'd settled that," Luna sighed exaggeratedly. "We're flying."
"Look," Ron barely contained his anger. "You might be able to fly without a broomstick, but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we want. We'd all die, and if we die we have no chance of seeing Sirius again anyway, so-"
"There are more ways of flying than with broomsticks," Luna countered thoughtfully, she didn't seem insulted or angered at all.
"I s'pose we're going to ride on the back of a Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?" Ron asked sarcastically. Normally I would have joined in his banter, but now my mind was whirring – flags having raised at his sarcastic remarks.
"Seeing him again after we die," I repeated slowly, my eyes raking the forest around us carefully. "Wait!"
"What is it, Audrey?" I put my hand out, taking a few steps closer to the darkness of the trees that swallowed us.
"I've got it," I turned away from the group and cleared my throat loudly. After a moment of reminiscing, I tried duplicating the horrid shriek that Hagrid used to yell into these woods. The one he had done for class and when he told me that these animals were my responsibility when he was gone: well, he was gone now. So I guess I could take care of them and take them for granted all at the same time.
I tried the shriek three different times in three different ways – I couldn't replicate exactly what Hagrid had done, but I was hoping that it was close enough to reverberate over the trees in the same way and at least make the creatures curious.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked loudly, his hands over his ears.
"Calling a cab," I told him simply. He looked at me with wide eyes.
"The Flying car disappeared years ago," he began slowly.
"I was thinking of them," I elaborated, pointing into the trees. Everyone looked and I watched as Harry and Neville's eyes widened upon seeing them. Lovegood, who it appeared could also see them, beamed and clapped excitedly as they came close enough that I could see the endless whites of their eyes.
"Yes!" Harry whispered, moving toward the Thestral in front. In was Tenebrus, the protector of the heard, come to inspect the sound first. Behind him I could also see another, smaller one – I couldn't quite tell who from its place in the shadows.
"Is it those mad horse things?" Ron asked nervously, his eyes flickering through the trees to try and find the cause of Lovegood's excitement. Ginny and Hermione looked just as confused. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?"
"Yeah," I said to Ron.
"How many?"
"Two," Harry answered for me, going forward carefully and petting Tenebrus' mane.
"Well, we need three," Hermione said carefully. She looked nearly as nervous as I felt over the idea of riding with them, but she also seemed determined nonetheless.
"Four, Hermione," I argued with a sneer.
"I think there are seven of us, actually," Lovegood corrected, still as dreadfully calm and thoughtful as before. I can't believe Ravenclaw would let in a nut...weren't they supposed to be smart?
"Don't be stupid, we can't all go!" Harry argued. "Look, you three, you aren't involved in this. You're not-"
And so began a wave of more protests. Eventually I held up my hands to silence them, shaking my head waiting until they all stopped to listen to someone finally take charge.
"They're coming, clearly nothing is going to stop them."
"Thank you!" Ginny sighed exasperatedly before she smirked at her brother. "See?"
"Audrey," Ron began to argue.
"Wait. Not everyone can come. Someone still needs to send a message back to the castle," I explained. Everyone looked confused, so I rolled my eyes. "Listen, I refuse to leave and go on this death-trap of a mission without making a last will and testament first."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm sending a letter to Snape," people seriously didn't understand my sarcasm outside of Slytherin house. These Gryffindors – and Loony – really didn't understand the dark art that could be associated with humour. "If we're leaving, I'm not going to make it so no one knows where we are."
"Circe can send the message!" Ginny said quickly, bending down to pet Circe. My kneazle just mewed contentedly and pushed into Ginny's hand. "Hermione, transfigure a note she can carry."
I wanted to protest – even though Ginny was a good witch, I didn't want her to be involved in something that could go so far over her head – but it was too late; Hermione was writing a note off of a piece of transfigured bark and her wand. She wrapped it around Circe's collar before looking back at me – as if I knew what to do from this point on.
"Er," I mumbled, bending down to Circe's level and taking her furry face in my hands. "Alright, sweetie. I need you to take this note to Snape. Only he can read it and don't leave until he does. Don't be seen until I come back, alright? Hide under my bed, or through the dormitories. Now that our cover's blown, someone might try to hurt you."
Circe gave me no indication she understood other than blinking her wide, wise eyes. With another mewl and a quick rub against me, she disappeared into the shadows of the trees. I watched after her for a long moment, waiting for some sort of sound – some warning that we had been followed and they had found Circe, or that Snape had come after us and we wouldn't have to go through with what we were now planning, nevertheless considering.
"More Thestrals have come," Luna said vaguely, as if the conversation had not stopped at all. "I think it's because you're covered in blood."
"Why are you covered in blood?" I asked Harry, wrinkling my nose again.
"It's Grawp's," he explained, as if that made any sense to me.
"Well, there are enough of them now." Neville said with a smile.
Ginny looked to me with a smile. "Audrey, care to make the introductions to our ferrymen?"
"All right," I sighed. "I call Tenebrus. Everyone else pick one and I'll lead the way."
I loved Sirius, I really did. But Salazar's spit, I hated flying.
"No!" I screamed as soon as my Thestral hit the pavement in London. I gave him a pat as I slid off, falling painfully on my left side as I misjudged the distance between the ground and Tenebrus' back. I hissed against the sting of the pavement while Ron helped me up. "No more!"
"Never again," Ron agreed, wiping off his hand which had touched my bleeding palm. "Never, ever again...that was the worst-"
"I am never helping you with these ridiculous missions again!" I shrieked as soon as I was standing and Harry had dismounted his own Thestral. I gave him a harsh push back toward the winged horse. "Your stupid ideas always put me in these outrageous situations that nearly give me a heart attack – if you want to get rid of me that badly why don't you j-"
"Where do we go from here, then?" Luna asked politely, though she had still interrupted me so I gave her a cool glare that she pointedly ignored. Or maybe she genuinely didn't notice it. I don't think that I'd ever know or be able to tell with that girl.
"We get into the Ministry over here," Harry said, giving his thestral a pat as he started toward the telephone booth at the corner. I ignored him to tend to Tenebrus, who had been a fair leader and flyer for the journey – even if I thought I was going to die from the speed and the nature of flying in general.
"Thank you so much," I told him quietly. "You can leave. I'm sure help will come soon and put Harry right in his place. You did so well – if I had some meat, I'd give it to you."
He did nothing but stare at me with those aimless eyes of his.
"Audrey, come on and get in!" Harry yelled from the booth. I gave Tenebrus a kiss on the snout before I followed the group to the red telephone box. They had all crowded in at this point and there was certainly no room for me, even though I was the smallest next to Lovegood. Still, I half smashed against Neville's back and half climbed on Ron's foot to make sure that I was in the booth with them.
"Whoever's nearest the reciever," Harry called to the lot of us. "Dial six-two-four-four-two!"
Ron, the tallest in the group, was the only one who stood a chance with reaching the phone and we all jumped – painfully crashing into each other even more – when a cool, female voice reverberated through the box.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Harry Potter, Audrey Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood-" Harry began quickly. I scoffed.
"Is it really a good idea to use our real names while announcing we're entering the Ministry unbeknownst to anyone?"
"Too late," Hermione muttered back. At least I could be comforted that the smart-one seemed to think it was a bad idea, too.
"-we're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first." Harry finished. I scoffed.
"And now you're being condescending. Oh, please keep the felonies coming."
"Thank you," the female voice responded. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
Half a dozen badges slid out where the coin return was usually used. Hermione took them and handed them out as quickly as she could with our awkward position. It was lucky that I was first. Still, I poked myself at least four times when trying to put it on my robes in the cramped box.
Audrey Potter, it read. Rescue Mission.
I'm keeping this badge forever. It would sit right beside my Prefect badge and my Inquisitorial Squad badge. Maybe if we made it out of this alive, I could call myself the greatest Anti-Hero of all time...
"Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wands for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
"Hell no!" I muttered, turning my head in Harry's general direction. "I'm not trusting any of this Ministry scum with-"
"Hush!" Hermione hissed warningly. I huffed irritably.
Harry yelled at the box impatiently and as if his anger were the power it needed, the floor of the booth shuttered and the pavement rose past the glass windows. The Thestrals slid from sight, plunging us into darkness as we sank down into the Ministry of Magic. After a moment, the telephone box's floor slid into position on the ground of a large expanse.
The Ministry was empty, which was not at all what I had expected. The dozens of fireplaces lining the walls were not glowing green thanks to the floo network. I had expected it to be constantly bustling with witches and wizards, even if it was late evening – but I could have heard a pin drop in all the empty space.
The cool, female voice said something to us, but I was too busy scrambling out of the phone booth to give her any mind. There was a giant fountain in the middle of the room depicting a witch, wizard, goblin, house elf, and centaur. It was made of gold and the rushing water was the only thing to break the deafening silence of the building.
Harry ushered us forward. Assuming that he knew where he was going, we all followed at a sprint. As we went past what must have been the security desk, I was shocked to see that there wasn't even a guard on duty. This rang of bad news – even on Christmas I would assume someone would be working at the Ministry of Magic and tonight was any regular Thursday. Something was clearly wrong.
Still, we ignored the eeriness of the scene and flooded into a golden grilled elevator. It seems I was right: Harry did know where he was going, which means that his dreams had been much more vivid than I had thought. He pushed a button in the elevator and we shot down so quickly that I thought I was going to smack against the ceiling of our confined space. We came to a very sudden stop, making me hit into Hermione painfully.
"Department of Mysteries," the same, cool female voice from the telephone box informed us. The golden grills of the elevator opened, more loudly then they had closed, and we spilled out to see Harry turn to a plain, black door at the end of the hall. Naturally, my impulsively idiotic brother rushed for it.
"Harry, wait!" I said quickly, grabbing hold of his hand with reflexes I probably would never use again. He turned to look at me with wild, panicked eyes.
"Audrey, we don't have time-"
"Just wait, please...just..." I said again. I looked at him seriously, tugging his hand again when he looked about ready to leave. "This could be a trap. We need to think this out."
"He could be dying right now, Drea," he whispered to me, looking at me pleadingly. "Please..."
I looked back at the black door, feeling Harry's hand tightly clasp mine. This was the reason I had come, wasn't it? Because I had wanted to believe my brother so badly – because I had wanted to know that Sirius would be safe, even if it meant that we had to put ourselves in danger to ensure it. This is what I had wanted, because it was what Harry said was needed...I couldn't just turn back now.
I looked back at him and nodded, Harry gripped my hand more tightly.
"Okay, listen," Harry began, stopping just feet from the door and not releasing my hand. "Maybe...maybe a couple of people should stay here as a – as a look out, and-"
"And how are we going to let you know something's coming?" Ginny asked skeptically. "You could be miles away."
"We're coming with you, Harry," Neville nodded.
"Let's get on with it," Ron agreed. Harry still looked nervous but he opened the door anyway. It did not open on its own as I had thought it would, but somehow I was not shocked when we were lead into a circular room surrounded by unmarked, handless black doors that sat equally between one another in the black room lit by blue torches.
"No," I whispered, my brain giving a painful tug at the memories that filled it. Of course I would have expected the door to open on its own – it had done so in my vision a year ago. But now I was really here: holding Harry's hand as I had forced him to, as I remembered doing.
"Someone shut the door," Harry whispered.
"No, wait!" I gasped out, but Neville had already swung it shut behind him and suddenly the whole room shifted. The doors around us blurred and confused themselves as a harsh line of blue fire distorted everything until we were left facing a room full of black doors – but I was certain that they were no longer in the same order. I closed my eyes and everyone looked at me in shock. "I've Seen this."
"Do you mean..." Hermione began nervously. "That you have Seen it? Psychically?"
"Yeah," I sighed, letting go of Harry's hand to press my fingertips to my temples. "Behind each door is something different – I should have seen this coming, but it was so long ago and jumbled..."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked carefully.
"It was in my vision from the Third Task," I told him. He seemed to understand and appreciate the sentiment behind it and why it was so hard to remember it. If I had my visionary with me, it would be easy to read through – but now it was hard to remember just what had happened last June. There had been so many memories piling on top of each other that now it was a tumult of colour and unrecognizable confusion.
"That's a bad thing, isn't it?" Ron asked me loudly. "That you've Seen it?"
"Probably," I answered with an honest sigh. "Alright..."
I walked into the center of the room, but none of the doors opened themselves for me as I remembered they had in my vision. I wouldn't even be able to distinguish which door we had come through now – I needed to concentrate and remember what was behind each of these doors. There were some I remembered I needed to avoid – that dread was not something forgotten, even if I couldn't picture what had caused it.
There were doors here that needed to be avoided. But which ones?
"We need to open these all individually. The door we want has white orbs in it. We're also going to see some other ones that will distract us, but we have to ignore them." I told them as if I were briefing an army. "I mean it, if you want to save time, ignore them. Some of these rooms – they're just...just ignore them."
"Let's get this over with," Harry agreed.
"But how're we going to get back out?" Neville squeaked.
"We'll figure it out," I assured him.
"It doesn't matter now, anyway," Harry said forcefully. "We won't need to get out until we've found Sirius-"
"Don't go calling for him, though!" Hermione said urgently.
"We won't need to," I said quietly. "I had that vision for a reason. He's in the orb room."
"See?" Harry said immediately, turning from me to Hermione and pointing to me triumphantly. "See!"
"Where do we go, then, Harry?" Ron asked, moving his arms to indicate the dozen doors surrounding us. I frowned just at the sight of them all.
"I don't-" Harry stuttered before shaking his head. "In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room – that's this one – and then I went through another door into the room that...glitters. The orbs. We should try a few doors."
"I'll know right away when I see it," I assured them. "C'mon, then."
Harry marched right up to the door that was directly across from the door we had entered from, obviously we all followed behind him. I may know which rooms were which – vaguely – but I was not stupid enough to be the first to enter any of them. Harry pushed on the door and it seemed to give no resistance.
This room I could recognize – it was not something easily forgotten, no matter how far you dig it into the back of your mind. The long room was bigger than the first room – as I happened to know they all were. The low lamps burnt my eyes compared to the dim lighting of the rotating room behind us. Lining the room were giant glass tanks of deep green liquid, the size of a swimming pool – white objects drifted lazily through the viscous slime in the glass.
"What are those things?" Ron breathed.
"Dunno," Harry shook his head, moving to look closer. I grabbed his hand and shook my head, urging him not to go forward. I was pleased that he obeyed.
"Are they fish?"
"No, we should go." I said sternly.
"Aquavirius Maggots!" Luna smiled giddily. "Dad said the Ministry were breeding-"
"No," Hermione sounded as stern as me, but she sounded much more disturbed. "They're brains."
"Brains?" Everyone echoed, I wrinkled my nose as I stared at the white objects again – they were indeed brains, not fish. They looked larger than regular human brains and the fact they were white had thrown me off – but that was exactly what they were. And they were disgusting and...and moving.
"Yes...I wonder what they're doing with them?"
"This is not a good room," I told, looking up at the ceiling to see if any of the goo would drop onto us and make our brains join with those already floating in the tanks. I also eyed that there were more doors in this room – but I knew that if the doors really held the things I remembered, we needed to go back to the rotating room to find the orbs we were looking for. "We need to leave."
"Yes," everyone seemed to agree easily, which I was very thankful for. We backed up as a group, too afraid to completely turn our backs on the brains, until the door we had entered closed behind us.
"Wait!" Hermione said quickly, when we felt the room was beginning to shift. "Flagrate!"
She drew a fiery X in the air with her wand and it appeared on the door just as it began to shift to the left. If the X would stay there, it would be a relief not to have to double back on doors. The room continued revolving again and I closed my eyes so the dim, blue lanterns glowing and shifting on the wall wouldn't make me feel ill.
When I opened my eyes again and the room was still, and the X was still there on a door to our far right.
"Good thinking," Harry nodded. "Alright, let's try this one..."
He moved to the door directly in front of him once more, his wand at the ready, and the door opened itself for him with ease. When the room opened my body immediately reacted – my stomach turned over on itself and all the hair on my arms raised in an instinctual and terrifying kind of warning.
"Get away from that room!" I hissed as soon as it was open, but there was no stopping my curious-as-a-cat brother. He still walked forward toward the room, as did the group – and stupidly enough...I followed them.
This room was set in a deep pit, made of rock and lined by stone benches as if it had been carved out when the building was being built and never furbished. Maybe they did it to make it look as creepy as it felt. I might resign myself to that just so I could feel better.
In the middle of the stone pit was a large, raised archway carved with intricate, ancient runes and designs that made me want to run away on precedent. It looked like some ritual slaughtering arch – all that was missing was the stone slab where you would cut into your prey. Instead of that stone slab underneath the arch, there was a black, tattered veil which fluttered in the nonexistent breeze of the arch – as if it were a stage and hiding its players from us.
"Who's there?" Harry demanded, jumping down so that he was at the bottom of the pit. No voice answered him. I jumped down as the others did, moving to grab his arm and yank him back.
"Harry, get away from it," I whispered instantly. "We need to stay out of this room!"
"Why?" He asked me, looking over to the others and dropping his voice to a whisper for only the group of us to hear. "Is there someone there?"
He pointed to the veil with his wand. I shook my head, but that didn't seem to be enough proof for my brother, who continued to walk forward.
Biting through my fear and swallowing the instinct to run and leave them all behind, I walked with him. My wand drawn, my other hand shaking as I held in front of me, I could feel the negative energy emanating from this veil in waves. Like in my OWLs the nervousness helped the energy for Magnuse flow easily. I felt like I had enough nervous energy to keep me going for decades...so long as I didn't have to fight against that negative energy, itself.
"Sirius?" Harry whispered as he moved farther to the other side of the veil. I shook my head.
"That's not Sirius, Harry."
"Stop him, Audrey!" I turned back to look at Ginny, Hermione and Luna and put my finger to my lips to hush them. I didn't want anyone knowing that I was here if they didn't have to and. I didn't want anyone to know that any of us were here. But if I was about to find someone hiding behind this stupid veil, I didn't want them to know just how many armed witches and wizards we had here – we had power in numbers right now. And this veil may give me the creeps, but I was far too logical to ignore my advantages.
I turned back to the veil.
"Stop, Audrey. Stop..." I did stop. My eyes were almost watering from how wide they were by the time Harry had moved around the veil again and shrugged his shoulders to tell me no one was there.
That had not been Harry's voice.
"Audrey," there it was again. And it was a woman's voice...but it was not any of the girls as I originally thought when I had hushed them...this woman's voice was whispered and unfamiliar – so unfamiliar and unearthly I couldn't believe I had mistaken it for one of the girls in the first place. "Audrey, listen..."
"What's going on?" I whispered, my eyes having honed in on the cause of the noise. It was coming from the veil itself – the one Harry had told me there was no one behind.
"Listen, Audrey...we're here, Audrey..."
I moved toward the veil, my arm extended. I could see my hand shaking and that all the hair was standing on end – I was so scared that I couldn't move. I needed to keep this arm out, my Magnuse arm, in case I needed it...for something...
"Audrey..."
How could Harry not have seen anyone behind that veil? Someone was there, they had to be. I could hear them, I could feel them. They were right there – it was almost as if they were standing right beside me, as if they were watching me and beckoning me to the veil.
"Audrey..."
They must have been right there, Harry had missed them – the voices. The women and men and the voices that were whispering my name over and over in a round that collapsed over itself and created a clumsy cacophony that deafened everything else in my mind...
"Audrey!"
This was a voice I recognized, and I yelped as Harry smacked my hand away from the veil and shook my shoulders, looking straight into my eyes with wide ones of his own. He shook me again when I didn't say anything.
"Audrey," he said again, his voice sounding panicked. "What are you doing?"
"The voices," I said quietly, my whole body shaking as I looked over my shoulder to the veil again. "Can't you hear them?"
They were still whispering my name, I could hear them – they were more urgent now. Beckoning me, begging me...but for what?
"No one's there, Audrey."
"I can hear them too," Loony said factually. "There are people in there."
My eyes snapped back to Harry's and the worry was as noticeable in his as if I were looking at my own eyes. Knowing that they looked they exact same, not just in look but in the fear displayed in them. It was not a good thing that only Loony Lovegood and I could hear those voices...
But they were there, I knew it. I could hear them.
And they knew my name.
"We're supposed to be here for Sirius," Hermione said carefully, sounding almost scared of whatever response she would receive.
"Yeah," both my brother and I breathed, looking back at her – I could almost hear his heart pounding – or maybe that was my heart still pounding blood in my ears. She looked at me worriedly, as if I had just told her I'd contracted some kind of disease. "Let's go."
We all moved back to the door – before it was closed all the way behind us, Hermione marked it as she had the one before and we took a moment to breathe before closing the door and bracing ourselves while the room shifted again.
"What d'you reckon the arch was?" Harry asked Hermione quietly.
"I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous." She said firmly.
"Yes it was. I knew it was, but I..." I couldn't finish whispering to them. How would I go and explain what I heard without sounding just as mental as Lovegood?
Silently, the group of us seemed to agree not to mention that room again and instead we moved to the next door in front of us – this door did not open.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.
"It's locked..." Harry growled, turning to ram his shoulder against it. It didn't budge.
"This is it, then, isn't it?" Ron asked with a smile. "Bound to be!"
"Get out of the way," Hermione shoved her way through. "Aloh-"
"Stop!" I shouted. They both stopped. "That door is not supposed to open. It's not the door."
"But-"
"It's not the door," I said just as firmly as Hermione had shoved through them. They all looked at each other for a moment before Harry's eyebrows rose and a smile etched across his face.
"Sirius' knife!" He proclaimed, reaching into his robes and brandishing it like a sword. I placed my hand on his wrist, shoving it down from the way of the door.
"Harry – it's not the door."
"You don't know," he argued. "You aren't sure!"
"I am," I told him. "Because we get into it."
"But you don't know how or when. Maybe it's because of this-" against my quite obviously better judgement, Harry shoved his knife between the wall and the door and immediately the blade of the knife had melted in his hand, showering the side of the door with molten silver that cooled to look like tear tracks over the paint.
"Right," Hermione nodded and cleared her throat. "Sorry to have doubted you."
"Sure," I said bitterly, giving the handle of Harry's melted knife a sharp look. "Try not to do that as often, yeah?"
Harry, ignoring me and now very annoyed, moved toward another door across from the one that wouldn't open. It opened easily and nearly blinded me by the sharp, blue-white light that permeated the darkness of the spinning room.
"This is it!" Harry gasped.
It would have been impossible not to recognize it immediately. The dancing light, like a silvery-white aurora borealis, was confined into spheres that littered the room in an organized chaos. The glowing in the orbs I had seen seemed to actually be made of glass and there were hundreds of thousands...possibly millions of them. Each looked like a different level of brightness, some more dim and some more bright as the danced around us. In the middle of the endless room was a giant bell jar, it seemed to be made of crystal and glittered.
"This way," at least Harry was not as distracted as I was, each of the glowing glass spheres were dancing as we ran past them. Clocks were lining each surface that the glass orbs didn't touch – the ticking seemed to be too slow, slower than my heartbeat and my feet pounding against the black, seamless floor.
"Oh, look!" At the heart of the bell jar, where a bright egg rose into the air and cracked open. Out spilled a hummingbird – it's wings moving as quickly as my heart. The hummingbird rose to the top of the jar, it's feathers dampening again and by the time it flittered back down to the bottom, it was cocooned in an egg once more.
"Don't get distracted," I snapped, tearing my own eyes away from the hummingbird's life cycle before we began moving again.
"Yes, you two dawdled enough by that old arch," Hermione agreed with a huff. Were it not so true, I would have snapped back at her, but I had time to be sarcastic later – when Sirius may or may not be around to help with it. We walked to the end of the room where there was another door – the maze in the middle of the Department of Mysteries seemed to have proven itself larger than the Ministry of Magic itself, for when we opened the door there were more glass orbs than ever.
It had a cathedral-high ceiling, too tall to see if there were support beams. The candles lining the walls were the same blue as the rotating room and this place was so cold that even it seemed to shiver around us, the orbs dancing from the movement.
"You said it was row ninety-seven," Hermione whispered, shocking all of us out of our astonishment.
"Yeah," Harry breathed back.
"We need to go right, I think," Hermione squinted to the next row. "Yes, that's fifty-four..."
I could not see the numbers she was pointing to, but I assumed that was because my sight was so poor. Harry raised his wand again, as if he just realized how close to danger we might be.
"Keep your wands ready," he reminded us all. Everyone, in sync, copied his movement.
We crept forward, moving past thousands of orbs per footstep and unable to see the end of each row until we came upon it. No matter how bright the orbs glittered, they were still too soft to light the monstrous room.
Row eighty-four...eighty-five...
We past each row and Harry and I both counted under our breath...we moved faster and faster the closer we came, our nerves overpowering my instinct to beware. If Sirius was in here, we had to get out before something horrible happened. The cold in this room was not natural and it was starting to permeate my being, and who knew when it would cloud my instincts or sense of dread. But still, my instincts were telling me to beware even though there was no sound but our shoes slapping against the ceramic.
Row ninety-one...ninety-two...
What were we about to find? Was Sirius really going to be here? What condition were we about to find him in?
"Ninety-seven," Hermione whispered when we all came to a dead stop at the end of the row. Like all the others, you could not see all the way down the aisle in the dim-lighting, but I could tell that there was no one there. I looked at Harry, shaking my head.
"He's right down at the end," Harry told me, not willing to listen to the idea that I may have been right about this. "You can't see properly from here."
"Then lead the way," I said icily, my eyes narrowed.
He lead us down the aisle, his steps slower now – more nervous. We walked past the orbs that glowed with our nearness, but didn't light up where our Godfather might be. I half expected to see him there sprawled on the ground, or having him rush out of the darkness and telling us to run...
"He should be here," Harry whispered, his steps slowing near the end of the aisle. "Anywhere here...really close..."
"Harry," Hermione said quietly, her eyes looking to me nervously before shifting back to him.
"Somewhere about...here..." my brother continued hurriedly, taking another few steps forward and tossing his head this way and that to look for any sign that Sirius had been here. But he wasn't here. We had gotten to the end of the aisle and there was no one in sight.
"He might be..." Harry moved to the end of the aisle and looked on the left side toward ninety-eight before he shook his head. "Or maybe..."
But it seemed that ninety-six was empty as well.
"Harry?" Hermione tried again.
"What?"
"I...I don't think Sirius is here."
There was a moment of silence as the reality sank in – we had come here for nothing. I had ruined my months of spying, I had given myself up, I had revealed my strange-relationship with Malfoy, I had ridden on damn Thestrals, I had broken into the Ministry of Magic...
"You idiot!" I hissed, going toward my brother and pushing him backward so that he nearly toppled into the shelf of glass orbs behind him. "Congratulations, you did it again! Ruining everything that I'd worked for because you couldn't stop and think about the consequences before you needed to spring into action and be the hero that you always feel you need to be. You couldn't just wait for an adult or an Order member, oh no, you needed to go and risk everyone else's safety because you're as impulsive as a bloody aneurism!"
"Audrey," Hermione whispered, her voice sounding worried.
"Don't defend him!" I snapped at her darkly, turning over my shoulder to glare at her. "He needs to know just how selfish and short-sighted he was, leading us all down here when I said that we needed to think and calculate this before we-"
"Harry," Ron began slowly.
"Don't defend him," I repeated, my eyes not even flickering towards Ron while I turned back to my brother. "And another thing, the way you've been treating us – as if we are the stupid ones? Well clearly that is just ridiculous, isn't it, because you-"
"Harry," Ron began again.
"What, Ron?" Harry snapped, sounding just as frustrated as I did.
"Have you seen this?" Ron asked, his voice not sounding nearly as angry as ours. In fact, he sounded upset, or possibly nervous.
"What?" Harry asked again, stepping past me toward the others.
"It's-" Ron stopped, clearing his throat. "It's got your name on it."
"What?" I asked lowly, spinning around to inspect what Loony and the Gryffindors had gathered around.
"My name?" Harry asked again, looking at one of the small, glass orbs on the shelf. This one, in particular, had less bright of a light than some of the others. It seemed to be caused by the caked over dust – layers and layers of it that made it clear it had not been touched in years. It was sitting on the shelf, with a small plaque below it.
January 4th, 1980
S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D.
Dark Lord
and (?) Harry Potter
"What is it?" Ron asked, his voice awed. "What's your name doing down here?"
"Bloody hell," I hissed, pressing my palm harshly against my forehead and pushing against the irritation and headache that threatened to make it burst.
"I'm not here," Ron continued, his voice confused. "None of the rest of us are here."
"And you can't tell what that is?" I asked sarcastically, slapping Harry's hand as he went to touch the dust-covered orb.
"Harry, I don't think you should touch it," Hermione agreed.
"Why not?" my brother asked, frowning at me. "It's something to do with me, isn't it?"
"Don't, Harry," Neville said suddenly. I shook my head, looking at my brother as his eyes caught mine.
"I'll tell you what it is: it is what we're really here for," I hissed. "And if you touch that, something awful is going to happen."
"It has to do with me," Harry said again.
"Of course it has to do with you," I hissed, slapping his hand again. "Why do you think you saw Sirius in this row? Why do you think you saw Sirius right there and your name happens to be right here?"
"She's right Harry," Hermione told, placing her hand on his wrist. "Please."
"Don't," I warned him angrily, watching his hand shake off Hermione. He clenched his jaw, took a deep breath, and grasped the orb in his hand.
I expected some kind of immediate reaction – something exploding, the light becoming blinding, the earth starting to crumble around us...but nothing happened at all. It seemed Harry had the same expectations because his brow furrowed and he held it up higher, as if trying to inspect it in the dim light of the blue candles that were still too far away. When that didn't help, he brushed off the dust – making me close my eyes from the difference when I could see just how bright the glowing silvery-white orb was.
We all moved closer to inspect it before it clicked, before I realized exactly what I was seeing.
"That's a memory," I whispered, my jaw dropping. "Like in the Pensieve. Harry, you're holding a memory."
"Very good, Potter," a low, drawling voice spoke. My whole body burst into chills at the familiar sound. The lilt of my name, the condescension in the compliment. Not knowing that voice was like not knowing myself – because I had spent so much time with a voice that sounded just like this one for the entire year. "Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
I was right. It was a trap.
Whew, I love excitement! First you have Audrey helping the DA, then everyone finding out about her and Malfoy, then that strange reaction to the veil, and now they're trapped! I'm sorry for the cliff-hanger. I wanted to stop somewhere else, but the chapter would have been ridiculously long...so instead, the NEXT one will be that long, haha.
To my fantastic reviewers:
Blue Luver5000: I'm glad you liked the last chapter, hopefully this one was a good one as well. You'll find out about Sirius' fate next chapter, so stay tuned :)
LokiLova: Thank you, hopefully you liked this chapter as well!
Nicky-Maree: I'm glad you like Audrey's spit-fire nature, she is a lot of fun to write. Pansy had a little bit of a jab at Draco and Audrey earlier on in this chapter, I don't know if you caught it. They are so cute, particularly when fighting against stupid people such as Parkinson, Bulstrode, Crabbe and Goyle. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and thank you for the review!
OddPotato: Fred and Draco are both great characters, it's true. I had this great idea for a George/OC story in my head, but I don't think I have time to write it currently. If I could just publish all the stories in my head without having to take the time to actually sit and write them - I'd have thousands on here, haha. Hope you liked this chapter!
kaaayyytteee: Thank you, I'm glad that you're enjoying it. Hopefully this chapter was exciting for you and the writing as satisfying :)
Annaismyname: Thank you! Hopefully this chapter didn't disappoint :)
Ella-Starstruck: I first helped write a Harry Potter twin fanfic years ago (nearly a decade ago, actually! I feel so old.) with a friend and the character was a lot like Harry. But when I look back on it, she was not only Mary-Sue'd, but boring, lacklustre, and kind of typical...and I'm not saying that for all Harry-twins stories, but it certainly was for the one I helped write. So I worked for a really long time making her character suit both Harry (the darker parts of Harry) AND Draco - because if this is a Draco romance with his original character, Audrey wouldn't have been able to be like Harry at all. It would never work. So really, it was Draco that made her the character who she is :) Hope that answers your question well enough!
Anna122: Thanks for the review, hope you liked the chapter.
Shiningheart of ThunderClan: Yes, Draco definitely did help last chapter. He helped in this one too, even if he also decided to prance around the fact that he and Audrey were kind of a "thing", per se. You'll have to wait and see about the horcrux - it may even be in the seventh book, rather than this one. There aren't many chapters left for chapter five, so you won't have to wait too long!
wemaketheperfectteam: Ha, I'm glad you liked it! Hopefully this chapter measured up well.
xxz0eyxx: Aw, you're too nice to me. Honestly. Audrey and Draco aren't really on right now, they won't really have time before the end of the school year - but they definitely aren't off, haha. I made her have the conversation twice because she was a little bit out of sorts thanks to her headache, but looking back it was a little bit choppier than I had meant it to be, so I'm sorry. I did write a little bit about Harry's wand scratching her earlier on in the story. During the break between OOTP and HBP I'm going to elaborate on it during Audrey Potter's Prelude, as well. It's important and stuff :) Hope you liked the chapter!
Angel of the Night Watchers: I pretty much have a basic calendar scribbled out for what I want to happen and when during HBP. I'm still a bit confused over some of the smaller details, but I think I it all figured out. The first part of DH will be the hard one for me, I think. And yes, I loved the Hobbit! I'm excited to get to see it again.
Did you get an email back from the bureaucrats about how to do your taxes? I also just finished mine, which was a lot more complicated thanks to all the healthcare resources I've used lately. It took a lot longer than I was used to and frustrated me to the point of tears and three breaks equipped with ice cream.
It's exciting that your friend is having a baby boy! Have you started working on the invitations? I love doing artsy things like that - I used to be that kid in all the art classes and extracurricular activities when I was in school. If I only had that time again!
SarcasticRaven: Don't worry about not reviewing every time! I like the reviews I get when you find time. I get what it's like to have a busy life, sadly. Criminal Profiling is pretty cool, though - I agree with your career choice, haha. Hopefully you liked this chapter, particularly after all your feels from the last one :)
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx: It's true, the drama never stops when the Potter twins are around! Audrey doesn't have to make a choice between them yet, if she does. She did go to the Ministry as well! Hope you liked it :)
Colette Hyuga: You will have to wait for next chapter to find out about Sirius, but hopefully this one was a nice start to the drama that you know will soon come! Thanks for reviewing.
sexichick: Happy belated Birthday! If I had known it was coming, I would have put a note on it for you, so I'm sorry! Yes, Audrey did change the outcome with the scuffle in the office - he was kissed instead of hexed. I think it was a good trade. How did you like that interpretation of what happened? Hopefully it met your expectations! Haha, thanks for reviewing.
BOOMitsMegan: Thanks for the follow on Twitter, hopefully you liked all the cool tidbits that I release. More of those little arguments like the whole "I need to wash my brain" moment will definitely happen in the next book - Audrey won't have to hide her relationship with her brother then, so it will all calm down on that point. Hope you liked the chapter!
taramegareader: If you end up reaching all the way to this chapter, I hope you still like it!
Bitterglass: What had you confused? Hopefully this chapter cleared whatever it was up :)
: Thank you! I'm glad that you're liking Draco being jealous and Audrey as a character. I tried to make her different and I'm glad that people took to just how independent she is. Thanks for the review and I hope you liked the chapter!
Lizzy B: Draco is always a bit of a dick, but sometimes it's in a cute way - such as kissing her and showing everyone they fancied one another, haha. Hope you liked the chapter!
The King in White: Yes, over the course of the story Audrey has grown increasingly talented which can certainly manifest itself into Mary-Sue qualities. Audrey has, however, come to those new developments for very specific reasons to the story - the only problem is, you won't be able to know what those are until you get to the end of the story and they are finally explained. There is more than a correlation between the kinds of magic she can do and the kinds that she cannot, just like there is a correlation to when her wand decides to behave and when it challenges her. Keep in mind even those speshul powers have their limits and she cannot do those perfectly either, while I've tried to make it clear that Harry still is a much better wizard in the traditional and 'powerful' sense...but I'm sorry you don't like the direction I've taken. Sadly there's no way to comfort you about it without revealing very important parts from the end of the story, so I hope you enjoy the parts you can.
rosesxBubblegum: Haha, I'm glad that I was able to keep your initial hatred for the toad and build on it even more - it's fun to write someone so bad, honestly. You are about to see Padfoot in the next chapter, I know everyone is getting a little nervous for that. Hopefully you liked this chapter and thank you for reviewing.
Tweedle Dum: Thank you, I'm glad that you liked it. It is really nice being able to make the siblings come closer again, it was hard having them apart for so long. Audrey will eventually pick a side, I agree, but knowing her she'll be quite stubborn about when she does it, ha.
lifethroughanotherseyes: It's alright, I pick apart my own writing as well. But I'm almost positive I have mentioned before how the Slytherin common rooms don't have the "no boys in girls dorms" rule as the Gryffindors do. This is because they don't have stairs to slide down (it's a straight hallway) and also the Slytherins aren't as morally strict. I mostly remember because Audrey made a little joke about how corrupt she said the house was, haha. Anyway, thanks!
VanillaSnowdrops: This was a pretty exciting chapter, but the next one will be even better. Draco only seems to give possessive kisses - he's such an arrogant boy. But at the same time, how can you not love it? Anyway, hope you liked the chapter and thanks for the review.
Evil's Horcrux: Thank you, I'm glad that you like it. Finding out about the wands and her connection to animals will definitely come in time - hopefully the drama of the next few chapters will keep you occupied until then!
Ella710: You totally reminded me to upload those sneak-peaks, so thank you. I did it pretty much as soon as I read your review. Hopefully you've been liking the whole twitter-thing. I plan on more fun posts there after the next chapter.
Draco is...just...gah, he is so fun to write. He's such an ass. I have to go through my head and pull out every boy I've ever met who was that arrogant and terrible, then put in a little bit of romance so that he's still forgivable. It's a lot of fun - it's always more fun to write bad guys rather than good guys, I find, and Draco is definitely more bad than good. I can't wait to hear what you think about the kiss that just happened, it was definitely interesting and a twist. Now everyone knows - poor Drea just can't catch a break.
Parkinson is disgusting, I think my stance on that is clear, and at least Audrey decided to send a note to Snape, even if she wasn't quite sure it was an act. And don't worry, I think 'cunning little snake' is quite the compliment for her. And I think she'd take it as a compliment were she to hear it, too.
Yes, Draco grabbing her hand was pretty cute. I actually wrote it in just before I posted the chapter because I felt like it was missing something - I'm glad it was such a hit. Oh god, if you thought that moment was intimate and it made you turn to mush...you're just going to melt during HBP. Holy crap. I can see it now...
I actually once had a teacher say that I made things too difficult with my constant deviations from "he said," and "she said," with their alternatives. And I thought about it for a really long time and tried to change it, but I was like "meh, you're not really a writing teacher anyway". When I finally did get to a creative writing course, my prof said that it was a good thing and it showed that I was an actor because I wanted people to see it as I would act it - I guess that makes sense. Maybe I should write screenplays instead, haha.
I think you'll be surprised about how Draco and Audrey are about to take their relationship after the whole Department of Mysteries fiasco - but that's because of what's about to happen. I can't REALLY explain without ruining it, so I won't delve any farther. I think you'll like it. And it will be angsty-goodness.
I really warred with whether or not I would kill Audrey, believe it or not. And if I do end up doing it, she would not count within my 'kill off two' because she is not an original. And I have the best reasons to do it and not to do it...I guess it really depends on how I want the story to ultimately end. I plan for both to be powerful, I just can't decide which one is more appropriate. I'm still too emotionally involved with her to make that decision, haha.
I'm excited for Audrey's reaction to Teddy as well - I think it could be really cute in a "oh my god, keep it away from me!" kind of way. For some reason, I imagine it as the final scene in the Incredibles with Jack-Jack and Syndrome...
Anyway SOOO excited to hear what you have to say about this past chapter. Particularly with the veil and Harry kinda knowing about Draco and Audrey's clever remarks...P.S. It totally kills me to put down Luna as much as I do. I adore Luna. She's actually one of my favourite characters in the entire series...but Audrey hates nonsense like that...so I bash one of my own favourites. Sigh. The things I do for that girl!
Anyway, hope you liked the chapter even more than you liked the last one. As always, I liked your review :)
Lady Shagging Godiva: I don't know if you will make it to this chapter, but I started putting in scenes from both, depending on which one worked for my plot more. But after the first five chapters or so, I ended up sticking to the books save for a few specific scenes :)
DGfleetfox: Sadly fourteen-year-olds are that dramatic. I have two siblings that straddle that age...that kind of stuff actually happens, ha!
Thank you for all your reviews, favourites, and follows everyone. Hopefully you liked the chapter - there are only two (possibly three, depending on length) left in this segment, so I would love to hear your thoughts! Also, please note that I have a new poll out. Please check that out if you have time!
PLEASE REVIEW!
-Egypt
Follow me on twitter at EgyptsLegend
