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Chapter 29: What Professor Trelawney Saw
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Adrienne let the gates clink shut behind her and stopped to look around the grounds. Up ahead of her lay the castle, standing tall against the gray afternoon sky. Adrienne shivered suddenly, an intense feeling of foreboding running down her spine. She looked down at her watch.
"Classes are still in session," she muttered and then started up the lawn, dragging her feet and humming the funeral march, feeling suddenly quite uncharacteristically pessimistic.
As she neared the castle, she half expected the doors to fly open and Professor Bell to stomp from the building, positively infuriated. This didn't happen. Now Adrienne stood before the large doors and leaned to her left, attempting to stare through the mullioned window. She thought she saw someone shuffle by, but she wasn't sure.
"Do I just walk in and announce 'Guess what, I've been expelled!'" she whispered, "or do I sneak in and pretend nothing's happened?"
Adrienne looked around, wondering if she should even go back at all no, that wouldn't get her anywhere. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open, sticking her head through the crack as sneakily as she could, preparing herself to pull it back out if someone was waiting for her. No one was there. Adrienne sighed and pushed the door all the way open and trudged through. The bright, marble floored entrance hall gleamed even with the sun's weak rays penetrating the clouds, and Adrienne wondered, a small smirk playing on her face, which unlucky student had been forced to wash the floors as a punishment.
She walked as silently across the entrance hall as she could, trying to keep her shoes from clicking, although this was impossible to fully achieve. She levitated her trunk ahead of her, thanking the fact that levitation was something she had mastered, because her trunk was too heavy for her to carry long distances.
The classrooms were full and, as Adrienne walked through the empty corridors, taking the all too familiar route that would lead to the dormitories, her eyes flitted through the door windows, trying to make out what years were being instructed.
She had almost reached the stairwell that lead to the dormitories when her presence was finally noticed. One of the Potions laboratories stood between her and the stairwell. Adrienne crept by the classroom without looking in and had almost reached the stairwell when she had the sudden urge to see what Professor Glenn was doing. She doubled back, her Hogwarts robes billowing behind her. Adrienne ducked down beneath the classroom door window, placed her fingertips on the window frame, and slowly raised her head, inching it up.
"Now, taking the powdered root of Asphodel." Professor Glenn was standing behind a bubbling cauldron, holding a stone bowl and mortar in his hand. His eyes roved around the classroom, making sure everyone was paying attention to this essential part. His eyes stooped at the door, widening in surprise. A head was rising in the window, a shifty expression adorning the face. And suddenly, as the bright green eyes met his, he realized who it was.
"Adrienne?"
Professor Glenn dropped the bowl in surprise, not realizing it had fallen into the cauldron.
"Uh oh," Adrienne murmured, dropping her head below the window. "Note to self, do not pursue a career as a spy."
Adrienne heard footsteps. Then the door flew open and Adrienne, crouched on the ground, her trunk floating awkwardly behind her, found herself staring into the bottom of Professor Glenn's robe. She slowly raised her head and then straightened up, smiling awkwardly.
"Oh hi, Professor, fancy meeting you here," she stuttered, her face completely expressionless in her surprise.
Professor Glenn raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, fancy meeting you here," he said, taken aback.
"Yes, well, just taking a visit, a visityes," she muttered, nodding her head.
Professor Glenn raised his other eyebrow.
"Umm, Professor?" a slightly panicky voice called from behind him, and he turned.
"Miss Lessie?"
A brunette girl behind him was staring, her horrified eyes fixed before her.
"What did you say about adding powdered root of Asphodel to a potion?" Her voice was somewhat muffled, as if it were caught in her throat.
"You shouldn't add it to a boiling potion. It must cool first," he started.
"And adding it to a boiling potion"
"It blows things up," Adrienne answered a little too quickly, before becoming very interested in her shoes.
There was a sudden burst of movement and scrape of chairs as the entire class jumped to a standing position.
"What's this all about?" Professor Glenn asked quickly as a mad rush was made for the door.
Erica Lessie grabbed the sleeves of both Glenn's and Adrienne's robes and yanked them through the door, slamming it shut behind them.
"What is going on?" Joe demanded in a clipped tone, glaring at his students.
Then, a loud popping noise and the bang of a cauldron hitting something hard could be heard. Professor Glenn whipped around and looked through the miraculously intact window. The entire room was black, several chairs and desks lying in strips of wood on the floor.
"I didn't blow up your lab this time, Professor. This was all your doing," Adrienne said hastily, reaching up and smoothing down the hair that she had into two lopsided pigtails.
Professor Glenn slowly turned around, wearing an expression as if he suddenly had a terrible headache. His entire class was staring at him, clearly shaken, several girls sniffling.
"Well, perhaps this was a sign that class was to be released early today" he started, trying very hard to control his temper. So, class dismissed."
Adrienne turned and tried to blend in as much as possible while wearing black robes amid the sea of green and levitating her trunk ahead of her.
"Not you!" Joe grabbed the collar of her robes and pulled her back. "Why are you here, Adri. Do they know you're here?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
Adrienne turned around and snapped her fingers, letting her trunk fall to the ground with a thump.
"Oh they know I'm here all right," she drawled, but the faint click of heels in the distance distracted her.
"What happened? They said there was an explosion. Joe, are you all right?"
Adrienne turned to see Mia striding toward them, her royal blue robes flying behind her, her face screwn up into a worried expression. Her eyes were fixated on Joe as if she were afraid he might fall over dead, but it didn't take her long to notice Adrienne standing there. Mia stopped in her tracks, her jaw falling open suddenly, and then raised a hand to her mouth.
"Adrienne?" and then, "Adrienne!" Mia broke into a run, racing toward her to scoop her into a hug. "Oh sweetheart, what are you doing here? Are you all right?" she asked hastily, pulling back and grabbing Adrienne's face in her hands as if inspecting her for injuries.
Joe stepped forward, scowling slightly. "What happened to, 'Oh, Joe, are you all right?'" he said in monotone, pursing his lips.
"Oh, Joe, are you all right?" Mia repeated quickly, looking up at him and dropping her hands to rush toward her husband.
"What happened?" she exclaimed, looking past Joe into the burnt classroom, and then she slowly turned to look at Adrienne. "Adrienne, you weren't playing with matches again, were you?"
Playing with Muggle incendiary tools are the least of her problems."
A new voice had entered the conversation, one that made Adrienne's blood run cold. She didn't need to turn around to know who it was. She could tell by the sound and rhythm of the approaching footsteps and the sound of the voice. Adrienne winced as if someone had brandished a whip at her, and then, taking a deep breath, turned.
Professor Bell was now marching down the corridor, her graying hair tied into a knot at the very top of her head, her large spectacles hanging from a chain around her neck, her burgundy robes flowing ominously behind her.
"Explain, Adrienne," she clipped, upon reaching the group.
"What's she talking about?" Mia whispered to Joe, leaning closer to him. He shrugged.
"Oh hi, Professor Bell, what a splendid day, don't you think? I mean, discounting the unfortunate Root of Asphodel incident, but, nevertheless, you must agree that the weather is completely tolerable, and the mere fact that we are all in outstanding health goes to show"
"You are positively correct," Professor Bell began, crossing her arms before her. "I was having a most splendid day, and was just recently sitting at my desk, minding my own business, contemplating my very splendid day, when an owl flew through my window, knocking over my very favorite vase – you know the one, Adrienne, the one from Italy - "
Adrienne nodded.
"And what do you suppose was in this letter that I received on my formerly splendid day?" Professor Bell asked, her face extremely tight.
"You've won that Encyclopedia of Ancient Russian Wizard Artifacts that you've so wanted?" Adrienne suggested, smiling hopefully.
"No, try again."
"You received a letter saying that the Ministry has been underpaying you for the past thirty years, and you're receiving a 50% pay increase in compensation?" Adrienne suggested, taking a step backward.
Professor Bell shook her head. "No, wrong again. I'll give you a hint. It was from a certain Headmaster at a certain school where a certain somebody did not seem to be having a splendid day. "
"Nope, no idea what you're talking about. But, if you'll excuse me, Professor Bell, I really need to go visit that dormitory of mine. Knew you wouldn't mind."
Adrienne turned around and smiled merrily at Mia and Joe, who were both wearing an expression mixed between curiosity and skepticism.
"No, you won't be visiting your dormitory quite yet, Adrienne."
Adrienne stopped, rolled her eyes, and turned.
"What is going on?" Mia asked, stepping forward, looking from Adrienne, whose eyes were desperately searching for the nearest exit, to Professor Bell, who looked as if she could chew nails.
"Ask your little friend here," Professor Bell snapped darkly.
Mia cast an anxious glance at Joe and then walked forward to look at Adrienne.
"Adri, what's she talking about?" she asked slowly.
"It just keeps getting worse and worse" Adrienne moaned softly, her head beginning to ache.
Voldemort had left her alone since the forest, but she already knew she wouldn't be able to tell them anything. She didn't even want to start this again. It was hard enough trying to explain to Dumbledore when she couldn't even say the facts, but now to Bell, Glenn, and Hartel, whom she had always told everything. She shook her head and let her eyes fall shut, completely giving up.
"Bite me," she said, her eyes snapping open, and then she turned, not bothering to grab her trunk, and ran the few feet to the stairwell, disappearing within it before anyone could stop her.
"Well, that doesn't happen everyday," Joe said, his eyes lingering where Adrienne had just stood. "So, what she do? I'm assuming she finally blew up old Snape's lab for me? Come on, Julia, this is Adrienne we're talking aboutshe'd never do anything to make you this mad well, at least not on purpose."
Professor Bell raised a graying eyebrow. "Oh really? Well, since she's the closest thing you have to a daughter, Joe, you can punish her. How you see fit to deal with her expulsion from Hogwarts is fine with me."
"Expulsion?" Mia asked slowly, her purple eyes widening.
"Expulsion!" Joe laughed. "For blowing up Snape's lab! Ridiculous!"
"Read the letter, and I hope you hadn't planned on having a splendid day. Joe, Mia, I'm going back to my office to piece together my vase, and toast the owl give the house elves some new meat to work with tonight."
Mia looked down at the letter, the Hogwarts seal on the back, which she was now holding. She handed it to Joe and then slowly looked up. "Expulsion?" she questioned.
Joe pursed his lips in deep thought, momentarily forgetting what Julia had said about Adrienne. "Owl for dinner OWL? Now I object!" he exclaimed.
The back corner was the only clean part of the large room. The bed had a dark blue cover and, unlike its counterparts, had no clipped pictures of young men or boyfriends adorning it. The corner was relatively plain. The small wardrobe on the other side of the bed was open, and it seemed that there were several books lying on one of the shelves, a pile of sweaters on another shelf, and several dress robes hanging. Adrienne walked toward her little corner, stepping over the small, almost faded line she had drawn around her territory their first year, forbidding anyone to cross the line. It seemed that in her absence this rule had long been forgotten.
As she neared her bed, her eyes flitted over the made covers, which she had never done, and would never do in her life: She didn't believe in doing chores unless forced to. She walked around it and stood before her wardrobe. She raised an eyebrow and then reached forward, grabbing the pile of unknown sweaters and tossing them into the middle of the room. Next, she reached for the textbooks, which soon joined the growing pile. Once she had emptied her wardrobe, she walked across the room to Kalista's nighttable and retrieved a piece of parchment, which upon she scribbled: "Put your stuff away ~ ALM." This parchment then was placed atop the pile in the middle of the room.
Adrienne walked back to her bed and sat down upon it, smiling at her handy work.
"Dum de dum dum," she sang softly, leaning back onto the small pillow at the head of the bed.
She quickly sat back up and looked around the room as if she had just realized where she was.
"I'm dreaming," she said finally, pursing her lips in confusion.
She took a deep breath, sighed and lay back down, pursing her lips more. Adrienne lay there in silence, in a partial state of shock, not at all yet at terms with her new situation in life.
Joe didn't say anything; he continued to stare into space, imagining how horrible owl must taste and deciding that perhaps he'd have to fast that night.
"Joe?"
Joe narrowed one eye, and then made a horrified face. "I'm not eating Owl," he finally said in a quiet and deliberate voice.
"I've married a moron!" Mia exclaimed, hitting him across the shoulder with the Hogwarts letter.
Joe turned and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "What are you on about?" he asked.
"Joseph Alexander Glenn." Mia was pale now, all the blood having drained from her face, her eyes flashing. She raised the letter at him, and this time he flinched.
"So, she's been expelled," he said nonchalantly, taking a step back to put some space between him and the waving letter. And then, suddenly, his face darkened, his innocent expression dropped, as understanding finally dawned on him. "Adrienne Lily Miles I mean Potter no Adrienne get down here right now!"
Adrienne sat up straight in her bed; she could have sworn she had heard her name. She listened again, but heard nothing. She shrugged her shoulders and lay back down, staring around the dormitory as if it had just appeared from nowhere. Just as she shut her eyes she heard the stomping of feet through the large common room outside the dormitory.
"Ouch," she moaned, rolling over onto her stomach and pulling the pillow atop her head. "Professor Glenn's angry," she muttered into her covers.
Behind her, Adrienne heard the door open. She didn't move.
"Knock, knock, knock," came a dull voice behind her and then the sound of two sets of feet.
"All right, missy," Joe said as he crossed the room in a quick stride, Mia following behind him, still holding the letter before her as if brandishing it as a whip. Adrienne squeezed her eyes shut and pushed her head into her bed, hoping desperately that they'd just disappear. "You want to explain this?"
"Not really," Adrienne murmured into the bedspread.
Joe smiled sarcastically. "Not really, eh. Get your face out from under the pillow and start talking."
"I'm partial to this position; how 'bout I just stay here?" Adrienne replied, pulling the pillow down upon her head with more force.
"No, that wasn't one of the options."
"Never was good at these options things always hated multiple choice exams. I think one answer is good, but then you've got your heart set on another I always get the short end of the stick," came Adrienne's muffled voice.
"Get up!"
Joe reached down and with one swift motion pulled the pillow from her grasp.
"Really now, I was quite comfortable," Adrienne whined, rolling over and staring up at her two professors. Mia was still waving the letter.
"Ah, is this the welcome home party, because really, I expected more. Was streamers and balloons and maybe a few fairies too much to ask? Some party."
Adrienne cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow to match Mia's; she was seriously contemplating informing Mia that if she kept her face like that, it might freeze, but then thought better of it.
"Are you possessed or do you just feel like acting like a lunatic today?" Mia had finally stopped waving the letter and had flung it down at her, now positioning it right between Adrienne's eyes as one would position a gun.
"Am I possessed?" Adrienne chuckled slightly. "That depends on your definition of possessed. And can we put down the letter, those corners could poke out one of my eyes, and then I'd be 'Adrienne, the eye-less wonder.'"
"Oh, no, even if you lost an eye, no one would know you as 'Adrienne the eye-less wonder,' you'll be 'Adrienne, the girl who's grounded for life,'" Mia hissed, refusing to move the letter.
"Oh, I'm afraid now! My professors are threatening to ground me. Do me a favor, forget the grounding, forget the lecture. I got in a fight. I, basically subconsciously, beat up a moron. And now I'm away from the stuck-up snobs who have a complex with believing all transfers to be wildly imaginative liars. Wait, they're not really snobs just untrusting mongrels. So, now that we've established that, assign me some floors to scrub and we can get on with our lives," Adrienne said as she sat up, turning her attention to a broken nail.
Mia cast a quick glance at Joe and then slowly lowered the letter.
"So, you really did beat the snot out of some Hogwarts kid?" Joe asked slowly, a slight smirk playing on his face, the thought that she had been expelled quickly leaving his mind, being replaced with more interesting questions about how well she did.
Adrienne looked up. "I didn't beat the snot out of him, but I did make him bleed pretty good," she said nonchalantly.
"Don't look like you took any good hits," Joe replied, reaching down and tilting her head upwards to get a good look at her face as Mia dropped her jaw in protest.
"She's been expelled and you're leading up to a congratulation on her ability to fight?" Mia exclaimed, now turning the letter on him, hitting him on the shoulder again.
"Stop with the letter already!" Joe exclaimed, taking a step back and raising his arm to block any successive blows.
"You're supposed to be the disciplinarian!" Mia continued, "not the encourager of violence!"
"And what are you, the model of example to which Adrienne should follow? Look at you, you're attacking me with a letter for Merlin's sake!" Joe shot back.
Adrienne smiled and tried not to laugh, her eyes flitting to the open window a few feet away. She smiled again, 'It's so easy to distract them all I have to do is act like an idiot, and they start the blame on each other too easy.'
"I am a perfectly good example for her!" Mia cried. "Its you that causes her to do all these crazy things."
"Me? ME? Pardon me, dear, but I was never at Hogwarts shouting my encouragement for her to throw punches at unsuspecting morons."
Adrienne slowly slid off the back of her bed, her green eyes fixated on Joe and Mia, who were now gesticulating and arguing in strained voices. Joe's face was slowly becoming redder and redder, while Mia periodically stomped her foot, making Adrienne want to scream, "Olé" and throw a red blanket.
Adrienne had now reached the window, her eyes leaving her professors to move toward the broom rack hanging on the wall. She quickly grabbed Saundra McKale's old Shooting Star from its hanger and then turned back to the window.
"Seems like I'm intruding, I'll just step on out," she called over her shoulder.
"Joe, I hope you" Mia turned, dropping her arms to her side, "Adri-" But Adrienne had already jumped from the window, pulled herself onto the boom, and flown straight up and out of sight.
"Wow, taking to become an escape artist? Marvelous! Well rounded girl!" Joe said in an approving tone.
"This is all your fault!"
Once Adrienne had left Hogwarts, Harry prepared himself for the onslaught of questions about Dumbledore calling her 'Miss Potter,' but they never came. Not one person questioned him on this, and when he finally drew up the courage to ask Fred and George if they knew why such information had been overlooked, he had been surprised to find out that the entire school thought it to be some kind of joke.
"Come on, Harry, there's no way that girl could be related to you! Just because you look alike means nothing! I mean, look at Fred and I," George started, but then he abruptly stopped.
"He gets confused easily can't get it past his thick skull that we look alike because we're twins," George groaned. "Honestly, Fred, what rock did you crawl out from under?"
Fred chose to ignore George. "All I'm saying, Champ, is that it must have been a slip of the tongue come on, you're not telling me you're actually related to her, are you? I mean, you're not even alike. And plus, you're Harry Potter - there's some kind of rule about being a dashing young hero you have to be the only one left of your clan. This sister business, it just ruins the whole image." Fred reached out and patted Harry's shoulder encouragingly. "Don't worry about it we all think of you as our local orphaned knight in shining armor!"
"I'm not a knight in shining armor and if you must know, Adrienne - " But Ron had chosen that moment to pull him away for a half-hearted game of chess, in which Ron spent the entire time commenting on the dumb moves Adrienne would be making if she were playing instead of Harry.
It was now the last weekend of April, and Harry stared blankly at his potions textbook, thinking back to that night "our local orphaned knight in shining armor," he muttered, "pathetic." But he had never set Fred or George straight.
"All right, one more time. The Goblin rebellion of 1876 took place at - "
"Ok, that's it, no more Goblin rebellions," Ron whispered, his eyes narrowed. He reached across the table and snatched the scroll from Hermione's hand.
"Ron! Stop, we need to study!" Hermione chastised, reaching for her scroll.
Ron held it up to his face and slowly began to unroll it. His eyes widened once he reached the end. "Hermione, this entire scroll is only on the Goblin rebellion of 1876!"
Hermione nodded, raising a challenging eyebrow. "Of course it is, Ron. That was an essential rebellion that led to the establishment - "
"This has to be seven feet of parchment, at least! Seven feet for a rebellion that only lasted two hours! Ok, it's official, you're mad!"
Harry cast an amused glance between his best friends. Hermione had placed her hands on the table before her and had stood up, leaning toward Ron.
"Actually, it was only 1 hour and 36 minutes long, then the Ministry broke it up," Harry replied abruptly, turning his attention back to his notes.
Both Ron and Hermione turned to stare at him, surprised expressions plastered upon both of their faces.
"You remembered that from class, Harry? I'm impressed," Hermione breathed, beaming, feeling as if her studious skills had finally rubbed off on *someone*.
"No, learned it from a song," Harry replied, looking up again.
Ron laughed. "A song? Right."
"Really, words set to some American anthem. Adrienne always sung it during Quidditch practice." Harry's face suddenly fell.
"Oh, I wonder how she's doing," Ron said, falling back into his chair.
Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed her scroll from where Ron had dropped it onto the table. "Well, we've written her several letters, and she's never written back. I think Christmas unhinged her a little," she commented, sitting back down.
"She was unhinged from the beginning!"
"Can it, Parvati!" Harry called to the girl sitting at the table behind him.
"Maybe she's hallucinating, and that's why she thought she was a Perfect," Ron said in a quiet voice, not wanting the conversation to carry.
Harry and Hermione pulled their chairs closer to the table so they could hear better.
"I guess that's always a possibility; however, I find it highly unlikely," answered Hermione, beginning to unroll her scroll again.
"I don't understand her," Harry sighed, looking back down at his potions textbook.
"Who does?" Ron replied, crossing his arms.
"There's something seriously wrong with the girl," Hermione muttered as she began to read over the Goblin rebellion scroll.
"Excuse me, Miss Granger?"
Harry looked up to see who was speaking. Madam Pince was standing next to the table, her black robes covered in a thin layer of dust from pulling all the books down from the shelves. She was holding a piece of parchment in her hand.
"Oh, yes?" Hermione turned in her chair to look at the librarian.
"It seems that one of your friends checked out a book quite some time ago, and she hasn't turned her book back in. Could you remind her?"
Madam Pince had a nasal and clipped voice that reminded Harry greatly of Professor Binns.
"Who is it?" Hermione asked.
"A Miss Adrienne Miles," Madam Pince responded, squinting her eyes at the name on the parchment.
Hermione cast a glance at Harry and then returned her gaze to Madam Pince, smiling slightly.
"She was expelled over a month ago," Hermione said slowly, trying not to laugh at Madam Pince's less than current knowledge of the student body. She didn't think Pince even socialized much with the teachers, thus would probably not have heard the news of Adrienne's expulsion, but still, Hermione thought everyone would have known by now.
"Expelled? This is the third time a student has been expelled and kept their library books! And she had quite an old one too, our only copy."
"What book did she have out?" Harry interrupted, suddenly quite interested to see what Adrienne had been reading.
Madam Pince turned her attention back to the parchment. "Complete Control: The Imperious Curse," she grunted, reaching up and itching the side of her nose. "Why would she be interested in that – what, she think someone's controlling her?"
"Adrienne isn't the type to go reading books just for fun. She didn't even read our assigned books unless it was absolutely necessary or if the didn't have a Wizard's Notes version," Ron said thoughtfully.
"Do you have any other books similar to it?" Hermione asked thoughtfully, suddenly very curious.
"One just came in. I'll get it for you."
Harry watched Madam Pince walk away, swinging the parchment dejectedly, obviously quite miffed about losing a book. Once she had disappeared, he turned his attention back to Hermione.
"What are you thinking?" he asked, reading her thoughtful expression.
Hermione shook her head. "Nothing really, just wondering why she'd be interested in such a book."
"Well, Adrienne sure had been acting weird," Ron suggested, "but she didn't act like Crouch did when he was under the Imperious Curse. Remember, he was really dazed, almost as if he had just woken up and had never gotten past that stage."
"Here it is." Madam Pince was back, carrying a large black leather bound book. "Tracing the Roots of the Imperious Curse and mind you, it's brand new, so don't be spilling any pumpkin juice on it or feeding it to any of Hagrid's little friends."
Hermione took the book from her and placed it on the table. Ron dropped his jaw.
"That's a pretty big book," he moaned, lowering his head to the table, "has to be at least 3000 pages at least."
"The roots of the Imperious Curse?" Harry muttered, staring at the title. "That almost makes it sound as if the Imperious Curse wasn't the first controlling curse."
Hermione nodded. "Yeah, it does."
"So?" Ron moaned, "who cares!"
"Well, obviously Adrienne did," Hermione replied, opening the book.
"Miles, hold up!"
Adrienne doubled back to the charms corridor, searching for who had called for her. Erica Lessie was running up the corridor, holding her bag, half-open, in her hand. She hadn't asked to be called Potter, and when Professors Glenn and Hartel asked her if that's what she was going by now, she had muttered something indeterminable. She had decided on her long walk up to the castle that she'd stick with Miles that way when she ended up being moved from a pawn in Voldemort's game of death to a queen, Harry's memory wouldn't have to suffer by everyone knowing that it was his own sister who had let him die.
"What's all the running for?" Adrienne asked as Erica skidded to halt next to her, her brown ponytail bobbing unceremoniously behind her.
"I was gonna go get some lunch, you want to come?" Erica asked, reaching down to push her textbooks back into her bag and zip it shut. Adrienne sighed slightly, not very hungry.
"Sure," she replied. "What's for lunch anyway?"
"Fish sticks," Erica answered as the two made their way toward the noisy cafeteria.
"Fish sticks?" Adrienne groaned, rolling her eyes and wrinkling her nose. "The house elves being lazy again, are they? My gosh, they're horrible! The past two days we've had fish sticks."
"Yeah, wouldn't you think that Professor Bell would have told them to serve something else?" Erica muttered as they pushed their way into the crowed cafeteria. From the looks of the other students, no one was thrilled with having a third lunch of fish sticks.
"Yeah, well, you know the house elves maybe they ran out of other food?" Adrienne backstepped.
Whatever Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall had thought would be Adrienne's punishment was definitely not what she ended up with. Mia and Joe had completely exhausted themselves from arguing, which as it happened, continued for almost an hour after Adrienne fled the room. Professor Bell had failed to toast the owl and instead had felt taken by it and decided to buy it from Dumbledore. Now in the corner of her office, Trouble the Owl slept. Adrienne had picked the name, deciding he should be called Trouble because if he had never delivered the letter, Adrienne would have never been in trouble at Salem.
So, on account that Joe and Mia, after fighting for two hours ended up locked in their room, claiming they needed to discuss their child-rearing differences, and on account of Professor Bell's infatuation with her new owl, Adrienne had come off with the best punishment she had ever dreamed possible: help the kitchen elves.
As pleased as she had been with her assignment, the house elves hadn't. She had walked into the kitchen, still sporting her black Hogwarts school robes, smiling broadly, and announced to all the present elves that she was there to help them. Screams promptly rang through the cavernous kitchen, and they all went scurrying for cover. The chief elf, upon realizing that no one had stayed to face Adrienne, slowly emerged from under a nearby counter, shaking madly. He walked hesitantly toward Adrienne, who was twirling her wand nonchalantly, deciding whether she should "help" the elves make her brownies or cake. The chief elf, upon reaching her, held out his spatula and calmly said, "Take the slick-and-put, but harm us none, oh great witch of disaster."
Adrienne's original punishment had been to help the elves for a week, making both breakfast and dinner. However, on the third night of her punishment, a minor explosion had rocked the kitchen, and Adrienne was run out of the room by the stew-splattered elves, each bearing a butcher knife, yelling to the professors, who had congregated in the cafeteria to see what all the ruckus was about, that if Adrienne entered their kitchen once more, they all would quit.
Adrienne tried to explain to Professor Bell that all she had done was turn up the temperature on the boiler 400 degrees, thinking that if it cooked in 3 hours at 200 degrees, it would cook in 1 hour at 600 degrees. This had been the last straw for Professor Bell. She had turned her shoulder when Adrienne had shipped off ¾ of the schools' monthly food rations to an African charity agency. Professor Bell had turned her shoulder when Adrienne had tried to shine the silver with Hydrochloric Acid, taken from Professor Glenn's lab, thinking that the acid would just eat off the grime. But house elves running amok with butcher knives that was too much, and Adrienne's punishment was dropped.
So, Adrienne had spent her last month or so at Salem spending time with her friend Erica Lessie, a beater for the Salem Quidditch team. Unlike at Hogwarts, Salem only had one team, which played the other two Wizarding schools on the East Coast. Adrienne had felt miraculously like herself, feeling completely normal save for the occasional male voice that would pierce through her mind at odd moments of the day. As much as Professors Glenn and Hartel questioned her about why she got in the fight, about why she never spoke about her friends at Hogwarts, especially Harry, Adrienne couldn't say anything about the subjects. All she could do was sit there and try and change the topic at hand.
It seemed that Voldemort had thought it best to let her live her life as normally as possible, save for the discussion of the Golden Serpent, about Perfects, or being cursed. Adrienne had even returned to dueling, spending her evenings with Professor Hartel, preparing for the upcoming International Championships. And although her life was almost exactly how it had been before she went to Hogwarts, she absolutely couldn't stand it. She missed Ron tremendously and often wondered if he was thinking about her. She missed Hermione chastising her about her lack of studious effort. And she missed talking to Harry. She had kept all their letters, but couldn't bring herself to write back to them. What would she say Hey guess what? I'm You-Know-Who's new best friend! Isn't that great... anyone have any suggestions? Love ya all ~ Adrienne. No, so she never wrote them back.
"Adrienne, you want any fish sticks?"
Erica and Adrienne were now standing in the food line, waiting for the house elves to dish their plates. This was another thing about Hogwarts she missed: She never had to wait in line for food there; it always appeared at their house tables.
Adrienne sent a disgusted glance at the fish sticks lying in the pan before her and then smiled sweetly at the house elf holding the spoon.
"Nah, I think I'll fast," Adrienne said hurriedly as the house elf barred his teeth at her. "Maybe eat an apple."
She walked around Erica and proceeded down the line, trying to ignore the death stares sent at her from the various elves.
The Cafeteria was crowded with green robed teenagers, and the disorganization of the multitudes of circular tables spread throughout the room was a little disconcerting to Adrienne. She quickly pushed her way to an empty table in the corner and set down her glass of milk and her apple, looking behind her to see if Erica was coming. She was still in line, trying to convince an elf to give her an extra piece of cake. Adrienne's eyes flitted back and forth among the students close to her, realizing that people were looking at her, some even pointing, whispering. Adrienne rolled her eyes and sat down.
"You're still the hot topic of discussion," Erica said as she set her tray next to Adrienne, smiling broadly as she pointed to the two pieces of chocolate cake pilled on the side of her tray. "You should hear some of the rumors they're cooking up, pretty hilarious."
Adrienne turned to glare at Erica.
"I think my favorite is the one about you having a wild-"
"I really don't want to know," Adrienne moaned, reaching down for her apple, which didn't look nearly as appetizing as Erica's cake. Adrienne picked the apple up and fingered the stem, twirling it lazily.
"You started on that Transfiguration paper yet?" Erica asked as she took a bite of her fish stick.
Adrienne didn't look up from her apple. "No," she replied nonchalantly.
"Me either, but we should get started, it's due pretty soon," Erica said, giving up on the fish sticks and pulling over a piece of cake.
Adrienne set her apple back on the table and flicked it with a finger, knocking it over. It began to roll across the table, and Adrienne watched with mild amusement as it rolled off the edge. She slowly leaned to the side to see where her apple had rolled to. It had stopped by a pair of feet, hidden under long red robes with a gold trim. Adrienne slowly sat back up and stared up into Professor Bell's face.
"Oh, hi," Adrienne said, reaching for her glass.
"Oh, hi," Professor Bell replied staring at her in a contemplative manner.
Adrienne raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," she started. "What you want?"
Professor Bell reached down and picked up the apple, looking at it with a disgusted expression. "Miss Miles, what a waste of food," she sighed, placing it back on the table, small specks of dirt visible on its gleaming coat.
"Nah, it's still good; the dirt adds some extra flavoring," Adrienne muttered, reaching for it. She rubbed it on her robe and then took a bite. "Yum, mud, my favorite," she spluttered through her full mouth, clearly enjoying Professor Bell's disgusted reaction.
"Miss Miles" Professor Bell shook her head.
Adrienne nodded, taking another bite from her apple, carefully avoiding the bruised part. Professor Bell rolled her eyes and sighed.
"I just wanted to ask you a question. If you were ever to run into anyone from Hogwarts, you wouldn't, um, repeat your little gestures of friendship again, would you?"
Adrienne squeezed her eyes in thought.
"Nah. I'd buy them all bouquets and attest to how much I missed seeing their cheery faces every day," she said dully, taking another bite from the apple.
"Well, I recommend you learn to control your temper before the end of May, alright?"
Adrienne stopped chewing midbite and stared up at the Headmistress, who had already turned to walk away.
"How come, Professor Bell? How come?" she called after her, but Professor Bell didn't turn around to answer.
Adrienne set down her apple and turned to look at Erica.
"What's she on about?" Adrienne asked.
Erica shrugged. "Who knows. What did you do back at Hogwarts anyway?" she asked, looking up from her cake.
Adrienne raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe I chopped someone up into little pieces and fed him to a squid. Or maybe I stole one too many library books. Or maybe I streaked through the Great Hall on a dare after having one to many Butterbeers," Adrienne muttered, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe I barbecued Professor Dumbledore's bird. Who knows I tend to have a bad memory, don't I? I forgot."
Erica's jaw dropped slightly. "You forgot?" she exclaimed.
Adrienne turned back to her apple. "Yup," she lied.
"What page are you on?" Ron asked, rolling his eyes as he and Hermione began climbing the Quidditch stands. "You really didn't have to bring that thing to the game, did you?"
Hermione was panting slightly behind him, hauling Tracing the Roots of the Imperious Curse. She stopped at a landing and shifted the book in her arms, trying desperately not to drop it.
"Yes, you never know when I might have time to look through it," Hermione gasped. "Can't we just sit here?"
Ron shook his head slowly. "We're a whole one-third up the stadium; we won't be able to see squat, Hermione. We have to sit at the top, just like always."
Hermione threw her head back in protest. "Please? This thing is really heavy."
"Come on, you're the genius, use a feather-light charm," Ron suggested, tapping his foot impatiently, dearly wanting to go up and claim seats, even though they were an hour early for the Quidditch final and the only students in the stadium.
"You know I can't do that. We're not to use magic out here either, just like in the corridors," Hermione chastised, narrowing her eyes slightly, momentarily forgetting her exhaustion.
"Girls," Ron sighed, grabbing the book from her. "They can't do anything for themselves, come on."
He began trudging up the stadium, Hermione rushing to catch him.
"I sure hope Harry wins," Hermione muttered as they took their seats at the very top.
Ron dropped the book down between them with a loud thump.
"Of course we'll win, Hermione. We're playing Ravenclaw for the Cup. Cho is nothing compared to Harry," Ron collapsed into the space next to the book and stretched his legs out before him, crossing his ankles on the seat below.
Hermione turned to look at the book next to her. She had checked it out a week ago, but only days after having it Professor Wallace had made a request with Madam Pince for it, saying she wanted to look at it before she began teaching the theory behind the Imperious Curse to her seventh years. So, Hermione had reluctantly relinquished the book to her, with Professor Wallace's promise that she'd return the book in an expedient manner. Hermione, quiet expecting an expedient manner to the Defense Mistress, who had just dyed her new crew cut bright blue, to be, at the earliest, three weeks, was quite surprised to get it back two days later.
"I have so much to read," she sighed, reaching down and heaving it into her lap.
Ron shook his head.
"Really, what is reading that going to accomplish. It's not going to unexpell Adrienne. It's not going to make her start writing us. It's not going to make whatever's bothering her go away," he said dejectedly, glaring at the book with disdain.
"I just don't see why she'd be interested in the Imperious Curse," Hermione replied as she turned to page 1456. "I don't see that, I don't see why she acted so strange, I don't see why she's convinced she's a Perfect."
Ron leaned back and interlaced his fingers in his lap. "Maybe we should have listened to her, tried to get her to explain why she thought that," he suggested timidly, knowing Hermione's reaction.
Her head jerked up. "No! We shouldn't feed her imagination. She doesn't need someone playing along with her antics," Hermione snapped, although she didn't currently know if that was really the best thing to have done. Maybe Ron was right, maybe if she had tried to understand Adrienne's reasoning, then just maybe they could have helped her.
Ron stared out into the horizon, breathing heavily.
"Well, if you find anything interesting, tell me," he muttered.
"This is it, folks, the moment of reckoning between this year's two best House teams, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."
It was a perfect day for the Quidditch final. The early May sky was a bright blue and there wasn't a cloud in sight. The sound of birds chirping could be heard from all corners of the grounds, and the slight breeze provided for a comfortable temperature.
"And Gryffindor has made some changes to their line up." Lee Jordan was sitting next to Professor McGonagall, a Muggle style baseball cap pulled down low on his head to block the sun. "They've added fifth year Dean Thomas to their chaser line. We haven't seen Thomas play yet, and let's just hope that team captain, Alicia Spinnet, made an intelligent choice in picking him."
Hermione raised a hand to her forehead to shield the sun. Ron was holding the library book before him, or at least tried to for several minutes until his arms were too tired to hold the heavy book any longer.
"And without further ado, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams!"
Fourteen people clad in blue and scarlet robes walked onto the pitch, carrying their broomsticks over their shoulders. Harry brought up the end of the Gryffindor line and craned his neck behind him to search the stands for Hermione and Ron, who he found at the very top, waving to him.
Harry watched with mild trepidation as Cho and Alicia shook hands. Harry shifted his weight and brought his broom off his shoulder to hold it before him. He nervously tightened his grip on the Firebolt. Sure he was a much better flyer than Cho. Sure he had the faster broom. But the fact remained, that as much as speed and agility played into the successfulness of a Seeker, luck played an important, if not equal, part. It was one thing to have the faster broom and be the closest to and the first to spot the snitch, but it was another thing to have the faster broom and be an entire field away and the last to spot the snitch that time discrepancy was his greatest fear.
Harry took to the air as Madam Hooch's whistle sounded.
"And they're off! It's Ravenclaw's Barron who's first to the quaffle. This is her final year at Hogwarts, I bet she'd sure like to take home the Cup this year, make it memorable."
Harry flew up above the game, his eyes squinting behind his glasses, searching back and forth across the pitch. Below him Katie Bell intercepted the quaffle from Barron.
"And with a strategically timed steal, the quaffle is in Gryffindor possession. Looks like Bell's been targeted, the Ravenclaw Beaters, Rawley and Boyd, are coming after her at full speed."
Harry turned to watch Boyd smash a bludger at her. Katie veered to the right, tightening her grip on the quaffle. Isabel Garland, another Ravenclaw chaser flew after Katie, leaning close to her broom. It had been rumored that Isabel Garland was the daughter of the famous Welsh broom-racer, Philip Garland, but Isabel had never admitted to this. Harry watched as she closed the distance between her and Katie, clearly flying as if she was used to always flying at break-neck speeds.
Harry shook his head suddenly, realizing he was supposed to be searching for the Snitch, and turned toward the far end of the pitch, urging his Firebolt forward and returning to his quest.
"And Garland has intercepted the quaffle. Merlin, can she fly! She's one of the fastest flyers out there and maneuvers like it were nothing. You know, she's rumored to be the illegitimate daughter of - "
"Mr. Jordan, what does that have to do with the game?" McGonagall hissed, leaning toward him, her eyes flashing.
"Yes, but that's just a rumor. We all know how nasty rumors can be. Back to the game. Garland on a straight away, but wait, she's hit in the ribs by a well-placed Weasley-style bludger attack. And the quaffle is caught by Captain Alicia Spinnet, who passes to Katie Bell. And it's Katie Bell, followed by the Ravenclaw Beaters. Rawley aims, look out Katie! And she passes to Dean Thomas, who shoots!"
Groans rang through part of the stands as the Ravenclaw keeper, Nathan McAlester caught the quaffle.
Harry crossed above the game again. He had seen the snitch once and had dove for it just as Cho had. The snitch had disappeared before either one could catch it, and they both had to pull up rather quickly from their dives to avoid colliding.
"And with fifteen minutes of play there still has been no score," Lee announced.
Harry cast a glance at Cho, who was flying several feet below him, her black hair pulled back into a high pony-tail, her head flipping back and forth searching desperately for the snitch. Harry banked to the left and turned around, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"What a boring game," Ron groaned, slouching in his seat as Alicia shot was blocked by a narrow save.
"When are these games ever edge-of-the-seat entertainment?" Hermione muttered, crossing her arms and staring at Harry's flying form. "Not much sign of the snitch yet, eh?"
"Nope, bloody disappointing, that's what it is. This is supposed to be the game of the season and nothing's happening. Lee isn't even doing anything funny, at least that would have kept us entertained for a while," Ron grumbled.
"There's not even anything for to him to really comment about anyway. All they do is shoot and the quaffle is blocked, nothing note-worthy to say," Hermione replied, raising her hand back up to block the sun.
Ron mumbled something Hermione couldn't hear and then dragged himself into a standing position, knocking the edge of the library book with his leg.
"OUCH!" he screamed, pulling his foot up into the air and holding his right toes with both hands. "Damn thing!"
"What happened, what is it? What's wrong?" Hermione asked quickly, staring at him with a surprised expression as he jumped up and down, holding his foot.
Hermione watched in horror as he on several accounts almost lost his balance as he screamed obscenities into the air.
"Sit back down, you'll fall and break your neck!" she hissed, standing up and pulling his collar.
Ron collapsed down next to her, holding his foot in pain, small tears staining the corners of his blue eyes.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked, prying his fingers away from his foot so she could get a better look at it. "The shoes still on, so why are you screaming like someone chopped your foot off?"
"That monstrosity of a book you insisted on carrying all the way up here jumped off the seat and landed on my foot," he spat, glaring suspiciously at the green-leather bound book lying open on the floor of their row.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Come now, Ron, it didn't actually jump out at you, you must have knocked it as you stood up," she said rationally, bending down to pick it up.
Ron narrowed his eyes.
"No, I didn't touch it, it just pounced," he shot back, forgetting all about the ongoing game.
Hermione straightened in her seat, hauling the book into her lap. "Yes, that's it. It saw you stand up and thought, oh look, Ron's foot is just calling out to be smashed, I think I'll answer it's plea," Hermione replied shortly, brushing the dirt off the book.
"Exactly!"
Hermione just shook her head and opened the book, looking to see if there were any bent pages from its fall.
"What's this?" she asked quietly as she flipped through the pages.
A single piece of yellowed parchment flew from the middle of the book.
"Probably a loose page," Ron replied, leaning over to stare at it.
Hermione slowly opened it, her brown eyes flitting over the parchment. Ron watched with interest as they narrowed in a confused expression and then returned to the top. Ron leaned over as she began to mouth the words, almost as if she didn't believe them.
"What is it, Hermione?" he asked, reaching for the parchment.
Hermione looked up, her face pale.
Around them, the multitudes of students stood up simultaneously as both Harry and Cho began their dives, their eyes fixed on the snitch hovering inches above the right corner of the pitch. Ron and Hermione remained sitting, completely oblivious to what was happening, too absorbed with the writing on the piece of parchment:
They cannot be separated, not even in death, for fate will draw them together. Both ancient and modern magic personified, one will begin the battle but only together can success be achieved. The one thought to be dead will be raised and marked by the symbol of strength. And only when the serpent is held ransom, will the test of wills truly begin.
Ron looked up from the parchment as cheers rang through the stadium.
"I don't get it," he replied, looking around excitedly to see what was going on. "What's happened?" he called down to Neville who was sitting several rows ahead of them and was jumping up and down, waving his wizard's hat in the air.
Neville flew around, his face bright red.
"We've won, we've won! 150 - 0. We've won!" Neville screamed and then turned back around to wave his hat once more.
"We've won, we've won! We've won the cup!" Ron shouted, joining in with the cheering and hat waving. "We've missed the ending, Hermione, we missed Harry catching the snitch. I can't believe it!"
Ron turned to look down at Hermione, who was still sitting, staring disbelievingly at the piece of parchment in her slightly shaking hands.
"What is it, Hermione? Come on, stand up and celebrate! Didn't you hear, we've won! Umpf!"
Hermione had reached up and pulled Ron into the seat next to her.
"What was that for?" he groaned. "That kind of stung."
"Shh," she hissed, leaning toward him. "Didn't you read this?"
Ron rolled his eyes, "Yup come on, let's get down to the pitch to congratulate Harry."
Hermione shook her head.
"Look at this," she said, pointing to the bottom right hand corner.
In sloppy handwriting was written, 'prediction made by Professor Sibyll Trelawney in 1980.'
"So?" asked Ron, beginning to feel slightly perturbed. Everyone else was filing down toward the pitch except them. "Ok, so it's some crazy false prediction of Professor Trelawney about *nothing*, come on, she's made tons of them."
"Adrienne has a triangle on her hand. They thought her to be dead," Hermione muttered, staring at the piece of parchment.
"What does a triangle and Adrienne have to do with this?" Ron snapped.
"A triangle it's the symbol of strength in many cultures," Hermione whispered.
Ron's face dropped and his mouth fell slightly.
"Oh," he paused, looking over the parchment again, "you're not thinking - "
"When the serpent is held ransom the Golden Serpent's been stolen," Hermione whispered. "Modern and ancient magic personified"
"I don't get that," Ron remarked, still not seeing what was so amazing about the words.
"Have you not paid any attention to anything we've been learning about Perfects?" Hermione snapped, staring up at him with narrowed eyes.
Ron turned his eyes upward to the sky in thought. "Um not really, no, guess I haven't. You have to admit, it's a pretty boring subject researching dead wizards who could do crazy things and ended up in the loony bin or in the dark order really wasn't my idea of a grand time."
"Ron! The Art of Perfection the ancient arts" Hermione prompted, biting her lip. "We need to speak to Adrienne."
Ron leaned back in his seat, groaning. "What, going to start in on her about lying about being a Perfect again," he said angrily.
"What happens if she wasn't lying," Hermione whispered slowly, pocketing the parchment.
"WHAT?" Ron exclaimed, sitting up bolt. "You can't change your mind now after you made her look like a fool that night."
"We need to speak to her and to Harry," Hermione said, jumping up. "Now."
"Before we all, or perhaps not all, go back to the school to celebrate."
Dumbledore's voice suddenly filled the stadium, and Hermione and Ron, standing on their tiptoes could see him standing in the middle of the Quidditch pitch, the Gryffindor House team behind him, Harry in the middle, his head flying back and forth, obviously searching for Hermione and Ron.
"I have an announcement to make and feel this would be the best time to do so. I'm sure you all remember the Christmas tragedy at the Salem Academy of Magical Studies back in America."
Everyone had stopped whooping and throwing their hats, or in the cases of the Ravenclaws and the Slytherins, stopped whining and protesting the result of the game.
"I've been in correspondence with their Headmistress, Julia Bell, and we both feel that their school could use a morale boost this term. So, what better way than to offer an Inter-School Quidditch Match!"
Heads turned throughout the stadium and the hiss of whispers sprang up everywhere.
"Before the end of May we will put together a School Quidditch team which will play against Salem's the last weekend of May at the Salem Academy. The Ministries are currently organizing the mass port-key system that will be required, and permission-slips have been sent to your parents for their authorization of your attendance. Well then, that said, I think there is a House waiting to return to their common room to commence their victory party!"
Ron turned to look at Hermione, smiling slightly. "You hear that, we're going to Salem, I guess you'll get to talk to Adrienne, won't you?" he asked slyly.
Hermione suddenly sat down in her seat, still clutching the book to her chest.
"I imagine she's not going to be very thrilled with me, will she," Hermione asked slowly.
"I imagine not, since you claimed her to be a liar," Ron replied, beginning to walk toward the stone staircase.
"Wait a minute, I never said I believed her I just need to talk to her and you thought she was lying too!" Hermione called after him, standing up and following.
"Oh, yeah," Ron said, stopping in his tracks. "Perhaps I should buy her some 'I'm-sorry' roses?"
"Master?"
Like always, Voldemort's chamber was extremely dark, and Lucius could barely see anything at all.
"Yes, Lucius," Voldemort said slowly.
There was the sound of the movement of a cloak and the torches were suddenly aflame. Lucius blinked several times as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. When he could finally see, he took several steps into the room.
"I just received an owl from Hogwarts. The students have been invited to the Salem Academy, for an inter-school Quidditch game," Lucius said quietly, drawing from within his robes an envelope with the Hogwarts crest.
"Really? I wonder why Snape never informed me of this," Voldemort said slowly, his mouth curling evilly.
He stood up and walked toward Lucius, his robe trailing on the dusty ground behind him. He snatched the envelope from Lucius' hand. His long spidery hands slowly pulled out the parchment from within and began reading.
His red eyes flamed suddenly and he looked up, smiling.
"This will work wonderfully. I think, Lucius, it's time that Adrienne show her true loyalty. Potter dies that weekend," he whispered, his red eyes widening with excitement. He turned and walked back to his chair, laughing slightly. "Oh little Adrienne, have I got a surprise for you, my child. Have I got a surprise for you, and that brother of yours."
Lucius stood in the corner of the room, shivering slightly, wondering what Voldemort was planning now.
"Lucius!"
"Yes, My Lord," he replied, a trace of apprehension appearing on his covered face.
"The Perfect insulted your family, did she not?"
Voldemort was staring at him with an odd expression, his eyes had returned to normal, or as normal as flaming-red eyes ever got.
Lucius nodded.
"Yes, My Lord."
"Then, once she is of no use to me, she'll be turned over to you, to pay her punishment for her actions."
Lucius smirked.
"Thank you, My Lord. She must be taught respect to the great wizarding families."
"Just make sure she ends up dead. I'll take care of her brother."
"As you wish, Master."