Second to Go- *Eight*
A/N- sorry, i just don't particularly like Cornelius Fudge, so i uh... disposed of him. :)
"He killed Fudge?" Harry didn't quite believe his ears, "Fudge, the minister who's constantly surrounded by his pack of aurors?"
"It seems that way." Lupin frowned. "I wonder who they've got in as a temporary replacement."
"Maybe Professor DuCruet will know.." Hermione looked up where Dumbledore and Edea were talking in hushed tones.
"I doubt it." Sirius shook his head, "If its one thing i vividly remember about Edea when she first joined the ministry was her intense dislike of Fudge, and anything to do with rules. She wouldn't know, and i doubt she'd really care."
"Why didn't she like Fudge?" Ron asked
"I quote.. 'Superior attitude that belongs in the Victorian Era..'." Sirius mimicked her voice.
"She'll probably get a call out to London for this whole thing, On surveillance or reconnaisance." Lupin swirled his juice round in his goblet. "What she refers to as Lurking."
"I'd like to be an auror." Hermione said thoughtfully, "It seems like my kind of thing."
"You lose a lot of sleep. Studying mostly." Sirius gestured with his goblet, "She'd come home, you see- me, her and Remus shared a cottage, anyway she'd come home and collapse on the floor, and when she came round, she'd inevitably get stuck in a book on dark magic."
"Sounds right up your street." Ron told Hermione.
"And when she wasn't home she'd be in a different country, researching." Remus added. "Good souvenirs though."
"She's got a stash of magic carpets somewhere." Sirius agreed, grinning.
"I thought they were illegal?" Harry asked, intrigued.
"Oh they are." Lupin smiled, "I doubt it being illegal would stop her. It's Sirius' influence."
"That's right." Sirius moaned "Blame me."
"My pleasure." Remus friendly punched his old friend's arm. "Just ask,"
***
Sirius sat on Edea's desk in her little office that had belonged to Moody, Lupin and Lockhart before her. She was busy stuffing a whole range of weapons into a little black bag.
"You're leaving?" Sirius asked, pointing out the obvious.
"I'm going out to Lurk." She grinned. "I've got a lead."
"Oh?"
"Did you see how sick Malfoy looked when Dumbledore told the school about Fudge?"
"No, i thought he always looked pale and deathly, family trait." Sirius picked up her quill.
"His father had something to do with it." Edea said firmly. "And where there are Death Eaters..."
"There will be Wormtail." Sirius caught on. "Ed, i'd really like to come with you, you know, just catch the bugger."
"You'd kill him, and get sent to Azkaban for real." Edea shook her head, "This is a job for an Auror."
Sirius looked slightly hurt, "I could do it."
"Honestly, with dementors?" Edea zipped up her bag, "I don't want to lose another Marauder, especially not this one."
"Really, Eddie, i never knew you were so sentimental."
"Don't. Call. Me. Eddie." Edea groaned.
"Don't go and die, will you?" Sirius grabbed her before she walked out of the door. "Don't do something stupid."
"I'm not GOING to die, if i catch Voldemort, he can't kill me, you know that. Just.. stay here, look after Harry." Edea walked out of the door, leaving Sirius staring after her.
***
"I wonder if they'll get Bagman on as Minister." Ron wondered as he read the Quidditch section on the daily prophet.
"An ex-death eater?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so. You know they wanted Dumbledore for the job."
"But he didn't want to leave this school." Hermione pointed out. "They'll probably get Moody or someone."
"I hope so, he seems pretty up to date with all the dark arts."
"Talking of dark arts, did you see what Profesor DuCruet had tattooed on her arm yesterday?" Hermione snapped her book shut. "I was reading up on it."
"And?" Ron asked, totally uninterested.
"i think she's delving into the dark magic."
"Well Sirius said it was part of the job..." Harry shrugged it off.
"No, but casting magic on yourself?" Hermione showed Harry a page in her book. "Look see, thats' what was tattooed on her arm, its like... like a semi immortality thing."
"A whatty?" Ron looked up.
"She had really tiny writing tattooed onto her wrist. I read up on magic tattoos, and found an exact match. It's arabic dark magic." Hermione had caught their attention.
"What does it do?"
"Well its pretty vague, i mean it said the important wizards wore them in ancient times, it gave them sort of a semi-god status. But it got into mis-use and thats what the war of the immortals was about." Hermione whispered. "That's why she's survived so long as an auror without looking like Moody, can't you see? She's using the dark arts for herself."
"She's not a bad witch." Harry said a little too loud. "Are you SURE its that tattoo?"
"Positive." Hermione stated, nodding her head.
"What're you so positive about?" An interested Sirius leaned over the arm of the chair.
"Hi Sirius." Harry and Ron said together.
"Uhm, nothing." Hermione tried to hide the book, but Sirius had plucked it out of her hands, he paled a bit when he saw what they were reading.
"Oh," He muttered, "You're pretty observant."
"So, Professor DuCruet does use dark arts?" Hermione asked Sirius.
"I wouldnt say it like that." Siruis sat down in a chair he'd conjured. "It keeps her safe."
"She's a god?" Ron said, not really understanding what Hermione was talking about.
"Noooo." Sirius waved away the comment. "Perfectly human, believe me, i should know."
"Uhm, great, thanks for that wonderful visual." Harry pulled a face at Sirius.
"Listen," Sirius said quietly. "She was reading up on what Voldemort was trying to achieve by attempting to become immortal, and ran across this tattoo purely by chance." He smiled. "She came home so cheerful that day. "It needs two wizards to cast it upon the vessel, and it can only be tried once. So me and Remus agreed, it worked pretty well. It just keeps her safe."
"Nothing else? No megalomaniacal tendencies as a side effect?" Ron asked.
"No no." Sirius laughed. "Look, its a good thing, and it makes her reflexes so much quicker, she can duck an Avada Kedavra with only seconds notice, its amazing to watch. And it keeps her a lot less stressed knowing they dont have so much of a chance of killing her."
"Why don't other people... my family.." Harry asked almost silently.
"Harry." Sirius looked sad, "After the immortal war, the curse was cursed. Only one person per generation may wear it. If it was different, of course your parents would have had it."
"Wasn't there a way to remove the curse on the curse?" Hermione looked in her book.
"No." Sirius shook his head. "but i'm glad she got it when she did, do you know what happened to her only days before Halloween that year?"
"No." Harry said truthfully, "She never said."
"It's not really my place to tell you, anyway. She got cornered, four death eaters and Voldemort himself."
"She was alone?"
"No, she had another Auror with her, he got killed immediately, she couldnt stop it. They tried to kill her too, but she reflected the curse with a metal trash can lid. it rebounded on one of the death eaters, and so they closed in. Placing an anti-apparition hex over her head."
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at Sirius with interest.
"She made a dash for it, they'd taken her wand. Pushed them out of the way and dodging curses, then that wretched snake of Voldemort's caught her ankle. She fell and was pummeled with as many curses as possible from Voldemort, they severely weakened her, but none got through. Anyway, by this time a whole team of aurors were onto it, and Voldemort had disappeared. Honestly, they thought she was dead, face down in the mud. It took a few weeks in hospital to bring her round. And when she woke up, i was in Azkaban, Remus in hiding, Peter supposedly dead by my hand and your parents gone. Not a nice welcome. Of course she thought i had done it, like everyone else."
Harry shuddered. "how did you convince her?"
"I didn't" Sirius replied "She went to Remus and was there last year when i came round to get him as Snuffles, she hexed me the moment i came through the door, until we'd managed to tell her the whole story." he snorted, "Or as much as she stayed to listen to, she disappeared pretty quickly after, i think i put her on edge a bit."
***
Edea slinked close to the ground, near a cave entrance where voices were coming out from. A cold high voice was laughing, and congratulating someone on the murder of Fudge.
"hello Riddle." Edea muttered to herself. She barely ever called him Voldemort to his face. She loaded her crossbow, it was a new kind of weapon to use for her, but it killed dementors, and from the cold atmosphere there were quite a few of these in the vicinity. Eight arrows loaded, it was highly unlikely there would be more than eight dementors in there. Putting down her crossbow, she unhooked a small knife and made a shallow cut across her tattoo, the words written on her wrist suddenly glowed bright white before disappearing.
Slipping her wand down the side of her boot, she tiptoed across to the cave entrance.
She whipped round the side and aimed her crossbow, nothing. There was nothing there. Thinking something was up, Edea ventured into the dark cave.
"I'm so glad you came." Came the cold high voice. Edea screamed in shock as the cave mouth closed.
"You wont be needing that." Voldemort pointed at her crossbow which combusted. "I find them highly overrated."
"Oh.... great." Edea looked past Voldemort and saw Lucius Malfoy pointing his wand directly at her. "Theres a good word for this... help."
TBC... thank you to everybody, i love getting reviews and writing more.. i have an exam in a few days but do i revise.. nuh uh!
A/N- sorry, i just don't particularly like Cornelius Fudge, so i uh... disposed of him. :)
"He killed Fudge?" Harry didn't quite believe his ears, "Fudge, the minister who's constantly surrounded by his pack of aurors?"
"It seems that way." Lupin frowned. "I wonder who they've got in as a temporary replacement."
"Maybe Professor DuCruet will know.." Hermione looked up where Dumbledore and Edea were talking in hushed tones.
"I doubt it." Sirius shook his head, "If its one thing i vividly remember about Edea when she first joined the ministry was her intense dislike of Fudge, and anything to do with rules. She wouldn't know, and i doubt she'd really care."
"Why didn't she like Fudge?" Ron asked
"I quote.. 'Superior attitude that belongs in the Victorian Era..'." Sirius mimicked her voice.
"She'll probably get a call out to London for this whole thing, On surveillance or reconnaisance." Lupin swirled his juice round in his goblet. "What she refers to as Lurking."
"I'd like to be an auror." Hermione said thoughtfully, "It seems like my kind of thing."
"You lose a lot of sleep. Studying mostly." Sirius gestured with his goblet, "She'd come home, you see- me, her and Remus shared a cottage, anyway she'd come home and collapse on the floor, and when she came round, she'd inevitably get stuck in a book on dark magic."
"Sounds right up your street." Ron told Hermione.
"And when she wasn't home she'd be in a different country, researching." Remus added. "Good souvenirs though."
"She's got a stash of magic carpets somewhere." Sirius agreed, grinning.
"I thought they were illegal?" Harry asked, intrigued.
"Oh they are." Lupin smiled, "I doubt it being illegal would stop her. It's Sirius' influence."
"That's right." Sirius moaned "Blame me."
"My pleasure." Remus friendly punched his old friend's arm. "Just ask,"
***
Sirius sat on Edea's desk in her little office that had belonged to Moody, Lupin and Lockhart before her. She was busy stuffing a whole range of weapons into a little black bag.
"You're leaving?" Sirius asked, pointing out the obvious.
"I'm going out to Lurk." She grinned. "I've got a lead."
"Oh?"
"Did you see how sick Malfoy looked when Dumbledore told the school about Fudge?"
"No, i thought he always looked pale and deathly, family trait." Sirius picked up her quill.
"His father had something to do with it." Edea said firmly. "And where there are Death Eaters..."
"There will be Wormtail." Sirius caught on. "Ed, i'd really like to come with you, you know, just catch the bugger."
"You'd kill him, and get sent to Azkaban for real." Edea shook her head, "This is a job for an Auror."
Sirius looked slightly hurt, "I could do it."
"Honestly, with dementors?" Edea zipped up her bag, "I don't want to lose another Marauder, especially not this one."
"Really, Eddie, i never knew you were so sentimental."
"Don't. Call. Me. Eddie." Edea groaned.
"Don't go and die, will you?" Sirius grabbed her before she walked out of the door. "Don't do something stupid."
"I'm not GOING to die, if i catch Voldemort, he can't kill me, you know that. Just.. stay here, look after Harry." Edea walked out of the door, leaving Sirius staring after her.
***
"I wonder if they'll get Bagman on as Minister." Ron wondered as he read the Quidditch section on the daily prophet.
"An ex-death eater?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so. You know they wanted Dumbledore for the job."
"But he didn't want to leave this school." Hermione pointed out. "They'll probably get Moody or someone."
"I hope so, he seems pretty up to date with all the dark arts."
"Talking of dark arts, did you see what Profesor DuCruet had tattooed on her arm yesterday?" Hermione snapped her book shut. "I was reading up on it."
"And?" Ron asked, totally uninterested.
"i think she's delving into the dark magic."
"Well Sirius said it was part of the job..." Harry shrugged it off.
"No, but casting magic on yourself?" Hermione showed Harry a page in her book. "Look see, thats' what was tattooed on her arm, its like... like a semi immortality thing."
"A whatty?" Ron looked up.
"She had really tiny writing tattooed onto her wrist. I read up on magic tattoos, and found an exact match. It's arabic dark magic." Hermione had caught their attention.
"What does it do?"
"Well its pretty vague, i mean it said the important wizards wore them in ancient times, it gave them sort of a semi-god status. But it got into mis-use and thats what the war of the immortals was about." Hermione whispered. "That's why she's survived so long as an auror without looking like Moody, can't you see? She's using the dark arts for herself."
"She's not a bad witch." Harry said a little too loud. "Are you SURE its that tattoo?"
"Positive." Hermione stated, nodding her head.
"What're you so positive about?" An interested Sirius leaned over the arm of the chair.
"Hi Sirius." Harry and Ron said together.
"Uhm, nothing." Hermione tried to hide the book, but Sirius had plucked it out of her hands, he paled a bit when he saw what they were reading.
"Oh," He muttered, "You're pretty observant."
"So, Professor DuCruet does use dark arts?" Hermione asked Sirius.
"I wouldnt say it like that." Siruis sat down in a chair he'd conjured. "It keeps her safe."
"She's a god?" Ron said, not really understanding what Hermione was talking about.
"Noooo." Sirius waved away the comment. "Perfectly human, believe me, i should know."
"Uhm, great, thanks for that wonderful visual." Harry pulled a face at Sirius.
"Listen," Sirius said quietly. "She was reading up on what Voldemort was trying to achieve by attempting to become immortal, and ran across this tattoo purely by chance." He smiled. "She came home so cheerful that day. "It needs two wizards to cast it upon the vessel, and it can only be tried once. So me and Remus agreed, it worked pretty well. It just keeps her safe."
"Nothing else? No megalomaniacal tendencies as a side effect?" Ron asked.
"No no." Sirius laughed. "Look, its a good thing, and it makes her reflexes so much quicker, she can duck an Avada Kedavra with only seconds notice, its amazing to watch. And it keeps her a lot less stressed knowing they dont have so much of a chance of killing her."
"Why don't other people... my family.." Harry asked almost silently.
"Harry." Sirius looked sad, "After the immortal war, the curse was cursed. Only one person per generation may wear it. If it was different, of course your parents would have had it."
"Wasn't there a way to remove the curse on the curse?" Hermione looked in her book.
"No." Sirius shook his head. "but i'm glad she got it when she did, do you know what happened to her only days before Halloween that year?"
"No." Harry said truthfully, "She never said."
"It's not really my place to tell you, anyway. She got cornered, four death eaters and Voldemort himself."
"She was alone?"
"No, she had another Auror with her, he got killed immediately, she couldnt stop it. They tried to kill her too, but she reflected the curse with a metal trash can lid. it rebounded on one of the death eaters, and so they closed in. Placing an anti-apparition hex over her head."
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at Sirius with interest.
"She made a dash for it, they'd taken her wand. Pushed them out of the way and dodging curses, then that wretched snake of Voldemort's caught her ankle. She fell and was pummeled with as many curses as possible from Voldemort, they severely weakened her, but none got through. Anyway, by this time a whole team of aurors were onto it, and Voldemort had disappeared. Honestly, they thought she was dead, face down in the mud. It took a few weeks in hospital to bring her round. And when she woke up, i was in Azkaban, Remus in hiding, Peter supposedly dead by my hand and your parents gone. Not a nice welcome. Of course she thought i had done it, like everyone else."
Harry shuddered. "how did you convince her?"
"I didn't" Sirius replied "She went to Remus and was there last year when i came round to get him as Snuffles, she hexed me the moment i came through the door, until we'd managed to tell her the whole story." he snorted, "Or as much as she stayed to listen to, she disappeared pretty quickly after, i think i put her on edge a bit."
***
Edea slinked close to the ground, near a cave entrance where voices were coming out from. A cold high voice was laughing, and congratulating someone on the murder of Fudge.
"hello Riddle." Edea muttered to herself. She barely ever called him Voldemort to his face. She loaded her crossbow, it was a new kind of weapon to use for her, but it killed dementors, and from the cold atmosphere there were quite a few of these in the vicinity. Eight arrows loaded, it was highly unlikely there would be more than eight dementors in there. Putting down her crossbow, she unhooked a small knife and made a shallow cut across her tattoo, the words written on her wrist suddenly glowed bright white before disappearing.
Slipping her wand down the side of her boot, she tiptoed across to the cave entrance.
She whipped round the side and aimed her crossbow, nothing. There was nothing there. Thinking something was up, Edea ventured into the dark cave.
"I'm so glad you came." Came the cold high voice. Edea screamed in shock as the cave mouth closed.
"You wont be needing that." Voldemort pointed at her crossbow which combusted. "I find them highly overrated."
"Oh.... great." Edea looked past Voldemort and saw Lucius Malfoy pointing his wand directly at her. "Theres a good word for this... help."
TBC... thank you to everybody, i love getting reviews and writing more.. i have an exam in a few days but do i revise.. nuh uh!