The door to Seraphina's mansion opened, revealing a watery-eyed Wormtail nervously peering out at us. He shook slightly, avoiding my gaze as he said, "M-M'lord will only accept y-your entry today, m'lady."

I glanced at Draco and Lucius, who stood beside me in slight bewilderment. Lucius had picked us up from King's Cross with the express desire that they could both help me get settled in at Seraphina's. However, it seemed dad was already eager to put a dent into all plans other than those leading up to the Azkaban breakout, and I knew the first thing had to be that he wanted me to give him a clear image into where the prophecy was located.

And I had wanted at least a proper hug from Draco before he went home, I thought with an exasperated sigh. Wormtail still waited inside the door, eyeing me expectantly. But if I do anything of the sort, it'll be something for him to snitch to dad about. Annoying bastard.

Lucius inclined his head, "Very well. Come, then, Draco. We'll be back later."

"Okay," I nodded, briskly pushing the door in before Draco's outstretched arm could touch me. Wormtail fell over with a shriek, scrambling to his feet to close the door behind me.

"Wh-what was that for?" he squealed in dismay.

I glared pointedly at him, causing him to shrink back. "Need you ask?" I replied heatedly, setting my trunk and cat cage down on the floor. As I opened Bodoujn's cage — said cat sprinting out with a relieved meow — I said, "Make yourself useful and bring these to my room."

"Wh-which room?"

"I don't know," I said with a careless wave as I began to walk away. Seraphina had told me before I got on the train that dad preferred spending his time in the most spacious room in her home — the ballroom. It somewhat acted as his throne room, and it was the first set of doors across from the entrance to the mansion. "Find me a good one. If I don't like it, I'll cut off your other hand."

I heard his whimper across the main area as I made my way to the double doors, pushing them open with a resounding ker chuk!

Lo and behold, dad sat in a large golden chair at the far end of the large ballroom. The floors were still marble like the rest of the mansion, and the pillars were lined all across the edges of the room. Dad's pale skin nearly seemed to be a part of the marble as I made my way toward him, his red eyes watching me come nearer just glowed.

"How was the train?" he asked once I was standing just a few feet away from him.

I held back the need to snort, but I couldn't help the smirk that came through as I failed to hold back a grin. "It was nice.… I have to say, though, I'm impressed you would start off with small talk. I know you must want to get the location of the prophecy as soon as possible."

His smile became so wide, I saw his teeth — a surprisingly shiny, pearly white. "You know me so well," he replied, shifting over slightly in his throne-like seat to pat the empty space next to him. "Sit down, Melody."

I swallowed a knot that was forming in my throat, building up extra walls around certain aspects of my thoughts as I walked closer. I attempted a joking tone, "What, no standing allowed?"

His chuckle echoed around the room. "No," he replied when I sat down next to him, "it's merely going to be a while."

I held back a flinch of surprise as he placed the palms of his hands against my cheeks, letting his topmost fingers rest against my skull — cold to the touch. I stared up into his face, automatically closing my eyes as he leaned forward to press his forehead against mine.

We stood side by side in the Department of Mysteries, staring at the first door we had entered. I glanced around interestedly, as we obviously weren't there physically — the edges of my vision were partially blurry, almost like a dark mist.

"I —" I started to speak, but no sound came out of my mouth. I attempted it a few more times before turning to dad, only to find that he wasn't even paying attention to me.

Dad glanced slowly around him, carefully assessing our surroundings before opening the door into the other room and following that same routine. Then on to the Hall of Prophecies where he walked through, me following closely behind him, until aisle ninety seven where he gestured for me to lead the way.

Once I pointed out the location after the short distance in, he walked the path on his own a few more times before nodding in satisfaction.

I opened my eyes as dad pulled his hands away. He stared blankly into space, seemingly still in thought on what he could do about the prophecy, before smiling broadly and looking down on me. "Perfect. Everything is falling into place."

"What exactly?" I asked curiously.

"Harry Potter…" he said slowly, pausing for an annoying moment of dramatization… "is able to see through my eyes. It's similar to you, however I have never sensed you inside my head…. I sensed him so clearly while we were in the Hall of Prophecies.

"It stands to reason that if he can see through my eyes, then I can give him a full envisionment of where our prophecy is. With his curious mindset, he'll easily fall for the trap and go searching for it. All that is needed then is to wait, and ambush him."

I nodded in understanding. Everything was being pieced together, and dad seemed so proud of himself for thinking it up. Only thing I was worrying about was what Dumbledore's plan of action would be for keeping Harry from falling for that trap… and if dad would know immediately that I had slipped that information to his biggest enemy.

Before I could think of anything to ask, the double doors slammed open — revealing someone wearing a set of leather robes, their hood over their head and a gold skull mask over their face. In their left hand rested a sharp scythe as tall as they were that tapped against the ground as they walked toward us. The blade had dried patches of blood on it, leaving me to stare uncertainly between it and the person holding it.

"Why are you here?" dad sneered irritably.

The figure paused, glancing around them curiously, before facing us and taking off the mask. A man with dark skin was revealed, squinting at us with a surprised look on his face as he opened his mouth. "I'm looking for the Mistress. Is she even home?"

I refrained from widening my eyes as I realized his voice wasn't British — it was distinctly American.

"Seraphina should be in her study," dad replied, his tone short.

The man nodded almost dumfoundedly, and gave a small wave as he turned around, "Thanks, mate."

How I wish I could snort with laughter without looking… unprofessional, for lack of a better word, I thought, watching him walk away. Oh, there's blood dripping off his cloak. And there was — red droplets fell to the floor in a straight trail as he exited the ballroom with less bravado than he'd entered it in.

"Seraphina's followers have no sense of courtesy for my being here," dad said, resting his face in his open hand with a sigh. "That one in particular has a habit of not knocking."

"Hmm.." I mumbled thoughtfully, staring intently at the trail of blood he left behind. I deemed it probably stupid to ask dad anything in general about her followers, especially that one. But I did want to know… "Are any of her followers helping in the breakout?"

"Yes," he answered, dropping his hand down to his lap. "Between the three of us, it is safest that we each take three of our followers. There are enough on board for us to split up and break out as many of my most loyal Death Eaters as possible before the night is over."

"Three?" I said in surprise. I roughly rubbed my arm as I stared into dad's ruby red eyes, "I… I only got two ready to join in. Would that work?"

He shook his head, a sadistic grin on his face, "No, but not to worry. In that case, I have someone on hand that can go with you."

"Oh…?" I replied, feeling oddly wary about his offer. "May I ask who?"

"For the moment, that is not important — all you need to know is that our groups need the strength in numbers when infiltrating Azkaban. There are guards there other than the Dementors, so we need enough of us to take on any opposition. The Dementors already know to expect us."

"And when exactly are they expecting us? When are we doing it?" I asked curiously.

"The night before you return to school."

The thought only made me feel more nervous about the matter of the Ministry finding out students were behind it. A thought I kept to myself as I gave dad a smile and a vigorous nod.

As soon as dad dismissed me a short minute later — God, why does it feel like I'm still in school? — I closed the ballroom doors behind me, glanced around to be sure no one was watching, and sprinted in the direction the blood spots went. What sort of jobs does Seraphina send her people on? Whose blood is on him?

I had barely made it up the stairs before I paused when I heard Seraphina's clipped voice. "What is wrong with you?"

The man's voice from before retorted, "Mistress, I don't —"

"Ash, you've traipsed blood all over my mansion. Is it really so hard to remember to clean yourself off before coming in? It would save a lot of time rather than to follow the trail and clean it up section by section! How many times do I have to remind you of this?"

Once I continued and made it to the top, I saw Seraphina glaring at the man — Ash, was it? — with her hands balled into fists on her waist and nostrils flaring.

"Look, I'll clean it up on the way out!" Ash retorted, pulling his hood down to reveal a head of curly brown hair. "I only came to explain to you who Parelli snitched on before I go track them down!"

"You will do no such thing!" she snapped. "You're staying here until after the holidays! And, in the meantime, that gives you the free reign to clean this mess up before then!"

"Wha — Mistress, why?"

She repeatedly jabbed her pointer finger at him as she ranted, causing him to back up with every poke through the air, "I told you you were assisting in the Azkaban breakout, did I not? You said it wouldn't be a problem, did you not? How is it that you forget everything I ask of you unless it's an assassination? Seriously, how does your wife live with it? You remember what someone squealed to you before you killed them, but yet I can't even get you to clean up after yourself!"

There was a short pause as she glared at him before he gave a shrug, "Would you prefer I forget the last words of my victims?"

"Gah!" she screeched in frustration. "Why do I even bother?" She turned to walk down the stairs, pausing as she realized I was standing there. "Oh, Melody. I didn't see you there."

"Is everything okay?" I asked slowly, carefully avoiding the drops of blood on the floor as I walked up next to her.

Seraphina sighed, rubbing her forehead with two fingers. "It's fine, just having a rough day. I don't suppose you've met my best assassin? Although, technically, that's a bit of a stretch right about now."

"Oh my God," Ash groaned. "I'm sorry, Mistress, okay? I'll stay for the breakout since you need me, but I'm going out as soon as that's done…. Penny was hoping I'd be home for Christmas, anyway, so it works out."

"Will you at least clean up this blood before you run home to your wife?" she gestured wildly to the blood still dropping by his feet.

Ash gave a bright grin, "So long as you let me take a shower here. Can't trail the blood home, you know."

"Why not?" she replied stiffly. "You certainly have no problem trailing it here."

"I know, but.. don't I always make up for it?" he asked innocently, holding his free hand palm up by his head. His other hand twisted the scythe around between his fingertips, the blade spinning close to his face a few times as he did so.

Seraphina crossed her arms with a pout, "Somewhat."

"Right," he said, dropping his arm to his side a moment before holding his hand out to me. "Ash Z. Nice to meet you."

I stared at his hand first, it seems to be free of blood, but who knows for sure? Then I looked up at him, "What does the Z stand for?"

"Uhh…" he withdrew his hand, his tone uncertain. "Nothing, it's my last name."

"Just Z?" I asked dubiously.

"Yeah!" he nodded enthusiastically, twirling his scythe around a bit with an extra large grin. "Don't question it too much."

I snorted, sensing some hidden threat behind his grin that had risen as I asked about his last name. As if me questioning it was equivalent to me making fun of it. But seriously though. Z? "And I'm Melody Riddle. Daughter of the Darkest Lord of all times, who you know happens to be sitting downstairs. Don't test me."

His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly, "Oh, sh — really?" He quickly composed himself, placing his free hand to his chin in thought as he set the handle of the scythe on the floor. "Then again, maybe I should've guessed that when I saw you sitting with him."

I turned to Seraphina with my eyebrows furrowed, "Is he your only assassin?"

She nodded, "He's the only one willing to do the dirty work. Everyone is proficient at something when it comes to what I need, and he's the cold-blooded killer." Seraphina gave a half-hearted shrug, "It's so hard to find good help, you know."

Ash scowled, "I'm better help to you than you give me credit for."

She waved her hand dismissively.

"Does your wife know that this is what you do for a living?" I asked him curiously, only to be met with a look of offense.

"Of course she doe —"

"No, she doesn't!" Seraphina snapped, glaring pointedly at him. "Why are you lying to the girl? It doesn't work on someone of her caliber."

"I'm not lying!" he yelled, his cheeks turning red as he defended himself. "I have never lied to my wife! Every time she asks what I did, I tell her exactly who I killed and why!"

"Ash, you fail to mention," Seraphina said slowly, walking up to him. "That you've always been such a jokester… She thinks you're making up a funny story to tell her every time you come home!"

"Shh…" he hissed, glancing up and down the hallway we were on before whispering, "if you say it too loud, and she hears, it might make me lose that privilege with her."

She smacked his arm with a scoff, "Exactly what I mean. Your wife doesn't visit me, you idiot! There's no way for her to know —"

"— and I got to take a shower, Mistress, before I end up standing here all day!" Ash swiftly turned around, waving at us over his shoulder. "We'll see each other later.. Daughter of the Dark Lord."

Seraphina stomped her foot against the ground and crossed her arms over her chest with a "Hmph!"

I stared between his retreating form, her icy glare in his direction, and the blood still sitting on the floor with only one thought at the forefront of my mind. "He's not going to clean this up before he leaves, is he?"


I found out a few days later from Seraphina that her main followers, including Ash and Jessamyn, were all not only her first ones but they also went to school with her. Ash's wife, Penny, was one of the ones who she deemed far too deep on Dumbledore's side to even think of joining her Nightmares — and Seraphina also made her extremely uncomfortable during their school years.

Her time at Hogwarts was strange to be sure. Then again, it wasn't much stranger than mine. But that was a set of stories for another time.

For the duration of the holidays Draco visited as often as he was able, hanging with me both in my room and outside in the snow. He mostly wanted to show off that his mental barriers were exquisitely strong — and that they were. Where I normally could read his emotions like a book, and his mind was an open field, it was all replaced with a glass wall reflecting my search right back at me.

"It's perfect," I remarked as we stood outside in the back building a snowman. It was so much easier with magic — something we were not restricted from doing since there were always adults nearby, and the mansion was nowhere near Muggle civilization — to start the wand off with a particle of snow, and then roll it against a patch of snow until it grew to a satisfactory size.

Our snowman was three various sized snowballs with six black buttons rising up the bottom two, two extra buttons for eyes, multiple raisins forming the mouth, and then a smoothly formed ice shard for the nose.

"What's perfect? My Occlumency or our snowman?" Draco asked cheekily.

"Hmm… both," I replied with a smile. "He's just missing one main component."

"What's that?"

Another voice cut in before I could respond. "Oy!"

We turned toward the back door of the mansion, waiting uncertainly as Ash walked over to us, waving his right hand with a large grin. He still held the scythe in his left hand, tapping it against the ground like a cane.

Once he reached us, I monotonously asked, "What do you want?"

Ash raised a surprised eyebrow at me, "Is that how you generally treat your elders?"

"When I'm their superior," I replied with a joking smile.

"Har har. Anyways, I thought I might be generous enough to make you guys some hot cocoa… if you'd like." Despite his carefree attitude, his words seemed to taper off shyly with the sweet offer as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Draco and I glanced shortly at each other before shrugging, "Sure."

"But," I continued, turning back to scrutinize the snowman a little more. "He needs something more before I go inside."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ash's lips twist up into a smirk. I looked over my shoulder at him to find his gaze resting on a fat black squirrel not far away, frantically scuttling around in the snow as if it had lost its cache of nuts. Once it was close enough, the man surprised me as he whipped the tip of his scythe in its direction and cast a bluish white beam right at it.

Next thing I knew, I was watching as the squirrel expanded and reformed into a wide, black top hat. It spun in a circle on its brim from the surprise of the squirrel it had originally been, landing to a rest in the patch of snow littered with mini paw-prints.

With another wave of the scythe, the top hat flew into his hand and he twirled it around with his hand inside the hat. Then he held it out to me, "How about this?"

I returned a sly grin as I took it, "Actually that's great, thanks," and placed it gently on the snowman's head with a satisfied sigh. "Now he's complete."

Draco smiled thoughtfully at my expression before looking at Ash. "You know, McGonagall has never taught us that before."

Ash puffed his chest up proudly as he began walking back inside the mansion, us following closely behind. "Yeah, well, I'm very good at Transfiguration. There's a book with all sorts of options for what you can transfigure different animals into, as well as how to return them to normal."

"Sounds fascinating," I said interestedly. "Would you mind if I borrow it?"

"Not at all."

"Have any other books I could read?"

Draco wrapped an arm around my neck with a scoff, "Can't you save reading until after the holidays, Mel?"

"Anytime's a good time to read," I replied, faking wide innocent eyes at him. "You should know that by now."

Ash answered before Draco could retort. "Nope."

"'Nope' what?" I asked.

"Don't have any other books. I'm not a big reader, I just love Transfiguration enough for my wife to have bought me that. I read it because she got it for me."

What is so wrong with reading? I mean, come on!

He opened the back door and ushered us into the warmth, closing the door behind him before walking to the kitchen.

"Speaking of your wife," I tilted my head curiously, "I'm kind of hoping you'll tell me that she didn't take your last name in the marriage."

In the kitchen, Ash gave me a short miffed look as he started working on the hot cocoa — filling a pot with water before loudly banging it onto the glossy black stove, and leaning back against a counter so he could face us. Draco and I sat at the rectangular mahogany dining table in the kitchen, scooting the matching chairs next to each other as he eyed me.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no she didn't," he replied with a shrug. "She kept Haywood. But that's just because, when it comes to any profession, it's customary to call people by their last name. She felt it would be forever before she got used to Z."

"I don't blame her," I mumbled softly, recalling the strangeness of getting used to being called Riddle — and not just because I wasn't being called Melody, but because my last name used to be Gray when mom and I were in America with Jim…. Oh, mom

Ash and Draco's combined voices interrupted my train of thought, "What?"

"Nothing…" I replied with the same tone, leaning forward so my elbows rested atop the table. "So… when did you move here from America?"

He blinked rapidly at me before chuckling, "Ah, so you caught that I'm not English?"

"It's not hard to," Draco replied for me.

He scratched the back of his neck with a small laugh, "And here I thought I'd adapted an English accent."

I raised a dubious brow, "If this has been you with an English accent, then I'm curious to hear how your true voice really is."

"Har har," he replied sarcastically. "Not like that, I just thought I'd made a natural accent change without having to try… but whatever. In any case, my parents moved us here the summer before I started at Hogwarts. My mom's job transferred her, and we've been over here ever since."

"Really?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows. "I… um… had the same thing happen — not the job transfer, but moving here before starting Hogwarts." If Dumbledore taking you away from home, and keeping you at the school like a prisoner until your mom had a home ready to take you to counts.

Ash nodded, "I know. I remember seeing you talk to Dumbledore during feast one time, and then Fred and George Weasley giving you a tour."

If possible, my eyebrows furrowed further, "You were still in school then?"

"Well, yeah!" he said with a laugh. "It was our last year there! How old do you really think Seraphina and I are?"

"Well…" I rested my cheek in my hand as Draco patted my back. "I wasn't thinking of either of you as particularly old, just… not so young, either, I guess."

Ash shrugged again before suddenly stiffening as he stared at the kitchen's open entrance, leaving Draco and I to slowly turn and see dad standing there.

He glanced around with obvious disdain until he met my eye, using a finger to beckon me to follow him as he wordlessly walked away. I swallowed a knot in my throat before following, ignoring Draco's attempt to brush his hand soothingly against mine as I hurried out.

Once in the wide hallway, dad turned to me with serious eyes and spoke in Parseltongue.

"I have more business to attend to away from the mansion, so I am leaving now. But I will return before the breakout. Do you think you can keep everything running while I am gone?"

"Of course I can," I said with an excited nod. "What do you need from me?"

"Keep note on who comes in and out of here — we don't want anyone to sneak in that isn't a Death Eater or one of Seraphina's. If anyone does, they need to be taken care of."

"Of course," I replied with a nod.

"Also…" he pointed in the direction of the ballroom. "Keep everyone out of there. Especially Seraphina."

Oh, yeah, that should totally go well with the mistress of the house. Not. I tilted my head curiously as I looked at him. "Well sure, but.. why Seraphina? What don't you want her to see?"

He paused, as though uncertain he wanted to tell me anything about what he was keeping in the ballroom. So he opted to avoid that question altogether. "I must warn you that she is a very dangerous witch that can't be trusted. She may be my ally, but she makes her lust for more power no secret. You need to watch yourself anytime you're alone with her… she may strike when you're not paying attention."

I nodded as a response. Oh, you have no idea the amount of power and individuality she's striving for. It was difficult enough getting her to secretly ally herself with me.

Dad rested a chilled hand on my shoulder, the temperature somehow reaching me through my thick winter robes. "I trust you to heed my warning and my rules," he let go and began to walk away. "Nagini is staying in there, and I'd like you to keep her safe. Give her some company every now and then as well."

"Okay," I said, giving a small wave as he strode away, "good luck…" Is Nagini really in there so I can accompany her and keep her safe, or is she there to make sure I keep everyone else out?… I'm more than sure that it's to keep tabs on me.

I was surprised by a hand tapping my shoulder, whirling around in a panic to see an infuriated Seraphina.

With a hand to my chest, I released a heavy breath, "You scared me… what's wrong?"

She pointed in the direction dad had just left, "Did that bastard just say I was drinking toilet water?!"

I froze in place, eyeing her in confusion and bewilderment. "Uhhhh… nooo…? Why would you think that?"

"I heard…" she started, clearing her throat a moment before somehow continuing her words in… Parseltongue? "She drankin too lot hoot era, which at fur it. The rest of it seemed to blur together stupidly, but that's just my opinion."

My eyes were wide as I stared back at her… the struggle not to laugh was so difficult, I don't even know how I held it in. The amount of trouble she had gone through to understand what dad was telling me, and it was all just so wrong.

Somehow Ash was the one to save me from having to respond.

"Goddamnit Mistress," he said, walking over to us from the kitchen with an embarrassed hand covering his face and Draco lingering behind in the doorway. "We've practiced a million times, how can you still struggle with wording and grammar? He said that you're a dangerous witch that can't be trusted, and that his daughter should watch her back. It is not that complicated!"

He… knows Parseltongue…?

Seraphina spun accusingly toward him, "You make it complicated! Ugh, you're fired from being my Parseltongue tutor!"

He's been teaching it to her…?

Ash's shoulders slackened as he stared back at her, a bored look on his face, "You've never officially paid me to teach you."

"My God, and what have I said about correcting me?" she demanded. After a moment of glaring furiously at him, she took a deep breath and smiled, "You know my usual favorite punishment. You'll be paired up with her for the breakout."

Who's 'her', I thought curiously, watching with piqued interest as Ash's hand immediately rested against his stomach and his face turned into one of terror.

"Oh God, Mistress, please don't do that! I haven't recovered from the last time she poisoned me!"

Poisoned…?

Seraphina crossed her arms in a pout as she walked away, "Oh well. As usual, you've gotten on my last nerves."

Ash followed closely behind her, demanding a redo as both their voices somehow seemed to rise higher the further they walked away.

I finally let out a relieved chuckle, both at their confusing disagreement and at Seraphina's struggle with Parseltongue, before turning to Draco. His face was surprisingly blank as he stared back at me, and it caused me to pause uncertainly. Why isn't he showing his emotions…? Dad's gone…. "Are you —"

"I'm fine," he replied quickly, pushing forward a tight smile. He gestured into the kitchen, "He made your hot cocoa. It's sitting on the table. Might want to get to it before it cools down." He moved away from the doorframe, walking past me down the hall.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

He glanced over at me, still walking as he replied, "It's about time I went home. I'll see you later, Mel."

I watched him go, disappearing out the front door, before I turned my attention into the kitchen to stare at the table where two full mugs of steaming hot cocoa sat side by side.


To say that Seraphina was displeased about dad's order to stay out of the ballroom was an understatement. Thankfully, she cared enough about my skin not to test the set boundary, but it did lead to her asking me to see if I could go inside and snoop.

So I did.

Nagini had been asleep in the throne-like chair until the creak of the door sounded, lifting her head to see me walking in. "Did your father not ask you to keep people out?"

I grinned, a facade of innocence in my study of the room. "Technically, I was told to keep others out — especially Seraphina. He didn't mention anything about me staying out, and I thought you might like some company."

Her tongue snaked out to taste the air before retracting back into her mouth. "I sense your curiosity more than a sense of companionship."

Damn, she's good, I thought, deciding perhaps to follow along a slight direction of truth. "You've hit a bulls-eye," I replied nonchalantly, "I am curious to see what is so important as to be kept secret…. Are you going to tell on me?"

A series of hissing led me to believe that she must be laughing as her head shook wildly. "I won't if you walk away now."

I sighed over-dramatically, slowly walking back to the doorway, "Fine, I will leave…. But, you can't even give me a hint?"

The silence was long as she watched me go, my eyes still watching her over my shoulder as I slowed my already slow walk.

"Visit me another time, and maybe I'll consider it," she finally said.

I couldn't stop the grin from escaping me as I turned to give a quick mock bow, "It will be my pleasure!"

From there spending about an hour with her each day was actually surprisingly nice — something unexpected when considering she was the only living being dad kept super close to him. It turned out not to be quite as hard as I'd originally thought to wait patiently for her to tell me what dad had hidden.

I learned quite a few amazing things about her:

For starters, she was a Maledictus — a human blood curse passed down from mother to daughter, meaning that she was once human. It afflicted only women, the ability being to naturally transform into a beast until eventually the transformations become hard to control until they into a beast forevermore. She was doomed to be a snake until she died.

For another, it was because of this curse that forevermore didn't just mean until she died… it meant she was practically immortal. It wasn't to say that she couldn't be killed, it wasbecause she would never die of old age. To be a beast forever would mean that she'd be alone for life, and she never wanted that for herself.

Which was why dad and I finding her in the forest turned out to be her big break. To find humans that could speak to her even in her beast form had made her ecstatic. She'd lost any sense of care for humanity after all she'd been through in her life, so no matter what dad's ideals she was willing to help him with anything.

It was a second chance at caring for someone again… for she'd had her heart broken before. But that was a story she was not yet ready to talk about.

"You're so brave…" I said thoughtfully, lying on my back at the foot of the chair she still lay in. "To go through all of that, and still look towards what the next day brings… I'm not sure if I'd've been able to handle it."

Nagini was more than grateful for me to have listened so intently to her. Dad listened to her too, of course, which was why she was drawn to him and his cause.. but I expressed some of my own self into her story. The differences of perspective we each had gave her a sense of humanity again to be able to discuss it, hence why I was able to get this much out of her:

"You didn't hear it from me, but… he has plans written up inside his throne here for, not only Potter's fate, but for Seraphina's too."

I closed my eyes to refrain from widening them, stretching my body out in my position on the floor as if to sleep. "What do you mean?"

"Seraphina's should be kept a surprise.. but Potter's, I assume you already know their connection."

Okay, so I had to open my eyes to look at her — and I mean, really look at her. I propped myself up on my elbows for a better vantage point, sensing the very thing I believed would be true. "So then dad could actually implant visions into his head?"

Nagini nodded, "If all goes well, the boy will see the Hall of Prophecies exactly as you and Voldemort saw it. Eventually, he'll put the pieces together and go there himself… Your father intends on keeping a close tally on the boy's thoughts until that day."

"And…" I thought aloud, hoping Nagini could answer something I didn't already know. "Does he have a back-up plan for if it doesn't get him to sneak away and find it?"

There was no hesitation. "He'll implant a vision of someone he cares about being torture in the Hall of Prophecies… Then, he'll have no choice but to come take that prophecy."


Manning the door was exhausting. People came and went often, none of whom were intruders in any way at least. Death Eaters rarely stopped by and, when they did, they generally left the moment I explained that dad wasn't there.

The first time I'd seen Jessamyn since she snuck us into the Department of Mysteries, there was another woman with her at the front door.

Her skin was creamy, her short black hair straight and silky, but her eyes were what threw me off. The right one was a deep, cobalt blue while the other — with a scar stretching from her forehead down to her cheek — was a bright scarlet.

"Oh, hello Melody," Jessamyn said with a bright smile. "How are you?"

I found myself smiling back as I ushered them inside, closing the door behind me as I replied, "I'm good. How about you?"

"Great!" Jessamyn patted a hand against the stranger's back, "I don't suppose you've met Cassandra, here?"

"I have not," I said, holding my hand out. "Melody Riddle."

"Cassandra Santacruz," she replied, grasping my hand lightly with a short shake before quickly releasing me. Her voice is melodic! "Pleased to meet you."

"Cassandra!" Seraphina appeared from behind me, launching onto the woman with a tight hug around her mid-section. "Oh, it's been far too long since your last visit! How are you, darling?"

Though Cassandra was obviously very uncomfortable with Seraphina still holding tightly onto her, a small smile escaped through her throaty chuckle. "I'm fine, Mistress."

Jessamyn glowered comically at the side of Seraphina's skull. "And what the hell am I, then? Chopped up frog brains?"

"Exactly," Seraphina replied, turning to stick her tongue out at her. "You were acting out last time in front of Voldy. You know what that could do to my reputation with him.. I should publicly punish you for the embarrassment I suffered."

She scoffed, brushing past them to stand with me, "Try me, and I'll fight you."

"Cassaaandraa!" Seraphina whined over-dramatically, gesturing wildly at Jessamyn. "Why don't you ever poison her? She's just as bad as Ash, don't you see?"

I don't think I've ever seen anyone's face change emotions faster than I saw Cassandra's the very moment Ash's name left Seraphina's mouth. Her eyes were storming through multiple thoughts, and her fists clenched into perfect circles. "No one is as bad as that scared porlock." With a swift step forward, she'd broken free from Seraphina's grasp and began walking. "Where is he? I know he's been avoiding me."

Seraphina immediately followed to direct her to where she'd last seen Ash, boasting at the top of her lungs that she knew all his best hiding spots.

"Is this normal for them?" I found myself asking. "I've.. never seen Seraphina act so…."

".. so childish?" Jessamyn finished for me, chuckling lightly at my nod. "She's always been an instigator, especially between Ash and Cassandra. You might not see too much of it because, of course, she has to be professional when she's working but it's there."

My mind jumped back to the corpse bride dance she orchestrated with dad's body, and the joy she had of making him beyond angry… being the cause of disorder gave her a brief moment of release that she needed, much the same as reading a book did for me. She also enjoyed pulling a prank or two… or twenty on Umbridge — most of which the victim, herself, was lucky enough that no one was around.

I bit the inside of my cheek with a smile, "Oh, I've definitely seen that side of her… just not so widely spread, you might as well say."

Jessamyn laughed, "That's Seraphina for you… speaking of whom, I should probably make sure Ash survives. Cassandra has poisoned him more times over the years than anyone dares to count, and I'm almost certain he doesn't have any more bezoars on hand."

"Why does she hate him so much?" I asked as she started walking in the direction of the yelling still echoing across the halls — Ash's voice adding to the fray as he shrieked for help.

"He married the girl she loved!" she said, disappearing down a hallway.

I stood there, dumfounded for a minute about the insanity of Seraphina's top followers, until a knock on the door snapped me out of it.

On opening it, in stepped Barty Crouch Jr. — a straw-haired, skinny man — alive and lively. "Hello, princess. Long time, no see."

I narrowed my eyes at him wordlessly. I hated it when he called me that.

"No hug for your old mentor?" he asked with his arms spread wide.

"Not likely," I said, about to close the door before he stopped it with his foot.

"Wait, I have a new student of mine that I was bringing in to see your father," he said, pulling it back open. From out of view on the side of the building stepped Marcus….

The bastard grinned at me from outside.

I turned to look at Barty, "Do you intend to let him in, or stand there with your foot in the way."

"Well —" he started.

He's taking too long, I thought with a sigh, pushing him roughly out of the way. It's a shame he already knew what I was going to do, and the door was slammed shut in Marcus' face. "Much better," I said, turning to Barty with a relaxed smile. "It's not necessary, anyway. Dad's not here right now, but he'll be back by the time we initiate the prison breakout."

Knock knock.

"You could still at least talk to him!" Barty exclaimed.

Knock knock.

"Whatever for?"

Knock knock.

"My Lord did tell you, didn't he?"

Knock knock.

My eyebrows furrowed, a bad feeling dumping into the pit of my stomach. "Told me what?"

Knock knock.

He crossed his arms over his chest, obviously enjoying the look on my face. "Mr. Flint has been assigned to break into Azkaban on your team, princess."

Knock knock knock.

"Excuse me?" I demanded, hoping I'd heard wrong.

Barty raised an eyebrow at me challengingly, "You heard me."

At that moment, Ash bolted past us — flinging open the front door before sprinting past a surprised Marcus, whose hand was still lifted to give another set of knocks. He gave me a sheepish grin, "What'd I miss?"


Happy New Year everybody!

I apologize that it's been a while since I updated! I really wanted to post a chapter for each of my projects at midnight for me on New Year's but, again, real life got in the way — especially work.

I hope the chapter was enjoyable! I realized as I uploaded this that the reason this chapter took so long on its own is because it's a whopping 7,000 words — and my goofy self had thought just last month that I'd be able to do the prison breakout right away. But, in the end, I wanted to showcase exactly what the vacation at Seraphina's mansion would entail... and that included meeting at least some of her most important subordinates.

When first adding Seraphina to Order of the Phoenix all those years ago, it had never occurred to me to introduce characters that work for her — which, of course, begs the question of "Why not?" since we know about a lot of Voldemort's Death Eaters.

SO

Introduced in this chapter are Ash Z and Cassandra Santacruz, two characters based on real people that are at each other's throats on a daily basis even in real life, though not to the same extreme. I knew to keep up with Seraphina's level of of ability that she needed some followers to match her, hence the assassin and the poison witch are added to the mix. Another reminder for me to set down that Seraphina belongs to Forbidden Moons.

Anyways, hopefully next chapter ends the vacation with the breakout — and, to make the wait even more unbearable, I conclude with "things can't POSSIBLY get much worse than this for Melody."