A/N: Lady Demonessa has informed me of a rather glaring error in this chapter. She's right; sometimes I forget which story I'm working on. I'm glad that my reviewers are keeping an eye on things like this. Thanks.

Escape

Isabella looked at the small cell in which she was housed with a scowl. Fortunately for her, the Ministry was still trying to adjust to the changes that Malfoy had made when he became Minister, so trials were sporadic at best. Since her charges weren't as severe as others, she was put on the back burner. She was gratified that the DMLE was unaware of her activities, and she was smart enough to mask her involvement in the muggles' house explosion and the deaths of the Longbottoms.

A soft 'hem-hem' at the cell door had her raising her head and staring at the grotesque pink monstrosity on the other side of the wards. Wonderful, Isabella thought acerbically, another Ministry toady, come to laugh at my predicament. The fact that the woman looked remarkably toad-like had Carthwright fighting to hold in her laughter at her unintended pun. "My name is Delores Umbridge," the woman said softly, "and I'm here to help you cleanse the wizarding world."

"How so?" Isabella asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I'm going to help you get out of here, and then I'm going to help you destroy Malfoy," the pink woman snarled.

"Why should you care? You weren't on the side of the Dark Lord, and you still have your cushy job and life."

"That's not true," Umbridge hissed venomously. "Malfoy replaced me as soon as he became Minister, and relegated me to the ladies loo as an attendant. I am no one's attendant. Besides, I see how much the mudbloods have poisoned our world, and I'm positive that they've stolen their magic from the purebloods. The fact that Malfoy can't see this just makes him more dangerous to our world."

"If you were one of the Dark Lord's disciples, why were you never seen at the meetings?"

"I believe in his goals for our world; in his efforts to rid the wizarding world of all muggle taint. I put my efforts toward his exalted purpose behind the scenes here in the Ministry. Now that I no longer have Cornelius to bend to my will, I cannot influence anything here anymore. So I wish to join you in eradicating all the mudbloods and halfbloods, and what better place to start than Harry Potter and the school."

A Ministry elf popped into Amelia Bones' office later that day. "I is being begging your pardon mistress, but I is being telling you that mistress Carthwright is being gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" she barked, making the elf tremble. Smiling an apology, she tried again. "What do you mean, gone?" she asked in a softer tone.

"I is being to the cell to being giving her dinner, and she is no longer being in the cell."

"Fuck," Bones hissed, waving the elf away. It popped out with alacrity, leaving her in her office to mull over the unpleasant news. She went to Minister Malfoy's office, to tell the man of the woman's escape. Once inside, she said, "Isabella Carthwright has escaped her confinement."

"How?" Lucius asked incredulously.

"I'm not sure," the department head replied with a shrug and a grimace. "The Ministry elf set to give her meals said that she wasn't in her holding cell. I can only assume, since she had nothing on her but her clothing, that there is someone within the Ministry who let her escape."

"We cleared out all of Voldemort's sympathizers in the first weeks," Lucius told the woman angrily. "I was certain we got all of them." Before Amelia could reply, another elf popped in.

"I is being sorry to being interrupting, but mistress Umbridge is not being in the loo like she is being supposed to. There is also being some artifacts being missing from the evidence room."

"Shit," Lucius hissed angrily. "I forgot about Umbridge's prejudice. I was just happy to get that fat old harpy away from me. I knew she had a dislike for non-purebloods, but I didn't think she would take it this far. The woman's a coward, for Merlin's sake."

"She also has a serious bone to pick with you, Minister," Bones said into the silence. "She was infuriated when you replaced her with Lady Parkinson. I'm sure that she saw Isabella's vendetta against you and yours as the perfect opportunity to enact her vengeance upon you."

"Be that as it may, mistress Carthwright was only in for attempting to storm Hogwarts and threatening the children. We'll put guards around the school, and change the wards so that any mail sent to our kids will be intercepted and checked before it's given to them." He turned to the elf, who had not left because it wasn't dismissed. "What artifacts are missing?" he asked it.

"There is being blood quills, some cursed rings, and a cursed necklace being missing from the room."

"How do you know what my agenda is?" Isabella asked Delores as soon as they arrived at her manor. "I was arrested for trying to see my son; nothing more."

"I know that you're the wife of convicted Death Eater Teodred Nott. I also know that you were a very devout disciple of Lord Voldemort. I know that you would have raised your stepson to believe in the same ideals that you and your husband believed.

"I understand your fury at both Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. They were the Dark Lord's favored foot soldiers, and their betrayal of all of those ideals must burn bitterly. You, being a devoted follower of the Dark Lord, would do anything to see our world purged of the poison it now contains. To see the purebloods rise to their rightful places as rulers of the magical world.

"I hold to these same ideals, and I would have done exactly what you did to bring down the betrayers of Lord Voldemort. It was a brilliant move to separate that disgusting little halfblood from his support base by killing the mudblood and her parents, as well as killing the Longbottoms, ensuring that the jumped-up little mudblood's spawn would be isolated and alone, making him easy pickings for you."

"The Dark Lord is pleased with me for killing those worthless people," Carthwright enthused happily. "I started with the mudblood and her family first; I couldn't sit idly by and wait for instruction. Still, I was a little frightened that he would be displeased with me for taking matters into my own hands.

"Instead, he told me he was happy I did that, and he also told me to kill the Longbottoms. I wait for every instruction from him, knowing I am continuing an exalted purpose in wiping out the mudbloods and halfbloods."

"I think we should torture the mudbloods before we kill them," Delores said gleefully. "We need to find out how they're stealing the magic from purebloods, and somehow reverse it, so that only those worthy of magic will have it."

"Hey, Dad," Hadrian said as he stepped into his father's private quarters. Draco and Theo were hot on his heels, worried for their friend and brother.

"Hadrian? Why do you look so pale?" Severus asked worriedly as he approached the trio. He wrapped a comforting arm around his son's shoulders and guided him to the sofa in front of the fireplace.

"We need to do something about the basilisk in the walls," the raven said as he sat with a sigh. "She's becoming increasingly impatient and maddened. I hear her hissing kill, eat, kill, kill over and over again, and, quite frankly, she's been giving me nightmares. I'm scared she's going to find some way into the castle proper and actually kill someone."

"Have Ron get in touch with his brother Charles, who works in Romania on the dragon preserves there. Perhaps he has an idea about what we may do with her."

Hey Charlie,

How're things with you? School is going great. I'm friends with Hadrian Snape, who used to be Harry Potter, and life here is so much better than I expected it to be. We have some troubles with Dumbledore, but that's a story for another time.

I need a huge favor. We have a basilisk in the school. Before you get all panicky, we're okay for now. She's in the pipes in the walls, and she's been getting more and more insane, according to Harrison, who can hear and understand her. We need somewhere safe for her, so that she can roam and hunt to her heart's delight without endangering anyone. We're afraid she'll get into the school and start killing the students.

Do you know anywhere we can send her? We'll be happy to help you contain her if you find someplace. We don't want to kill her; she's very rare, and needs to be protected.

Thanks a bunch.

Your brother,

Ron

Hi Ron,

First of all, I'm glad that school is working out well for you. It sounds like you have a great support system there. Hang on to it; once it's gone, it's gone.

Now, there's an endangered magical creature sanctuary in Germany that would be more than happy to have a basilisk in their collection. The serpent will be in an enclosed, protected pen, where she will be able to hunt to her heart's content without endangering anyone else.

They'll be sending along experts to contain her for transport. They'll be there during the Yule holidays, so as not to disrupt your regular routines. I've been elected to join them, to help in wrangling the snake, so I don't want any of you around until we're finished.

Maybe we can visit for a while when I'm there. I'd like to meet your friends.

Love you, little bro.

Charlie