Disclaimer: The characters and Harry Potter things don't belong to me right now, but I head my parents talk about giving them to me for my birthday, so maybe they will tomorrow. ;-)
"You were there," Parvati looked at Padma, expression set in an angry, hard look. "It's you that my father thinks was me at that Death Eater meeting. And now I'm going to...I'm going to be at summer camp with you!"
Padma laughed. "It's the first time you've figured anything out in your life. Congratulations!"
Parvati glared at Padma. "You bitch. You fucking bitch."
That just made Padma laugh even more. "Ooh, Parvati's discovering the art of using bad words to bitch at her sister...is this the first time you've ever used them, Parvati, dear sister?"
"Just shut the fuck up," Parvati yelled at her.
A girl looked over from across the cabin. "What the hell are you two Brits talking about? I thought you were the only one in this stupid cabin with me, Padma...now this girl is here too. Honestly, and what are two Brits doing in an American summer camp?"
Padma sighed. "You know well enough. I splinched and my mum's too afraid I'll say the wrong thing so she sent me away so she could deal with the questions alone...she's rather upset over me splinching, you know, and if I were to answer the questions myself I probably would say something that would get me a huge fine...my mum doesn't want to have to pay more than she really has to." Most of it was the truth...she just left out some little details, like the fact that her mother was a death eater.
"And now your twin is here, I see...is this what happens when you live together at home?" Jessi raised an eyebrow.
"Jessi, just get your nose out of other people's business and keep it in that book of yours, would you?"
"Fine, fine," Jessi said with a slight laugh. "I only wanted to know how come you're reunited with your sister...and why she hasn't mentioned yet the fact that your mother's a Death Eater."
Suddenly Padma's pulse quickened slightly. "You -- you..." she was about to say know, but then she realized that would just be admitting as much, "...liar," she finished feebly. "You liar."
Jessi shook her head. "Don't even try that on me. I know. How could I not know when my father told me he saw you at the last meeting?"
Padma laughed. "Oh, you're on our side. Sorry, you always have to be careful though, you know."
"Of course," Jessi replied. "Always."
And all the meantime, Parvati was just swearing and praying. When Padma and Jessi's conversation finally seized, all Padma heard was her sister: "How could I be stuck in a cabin with two people that want me dead?"
Padma just laughed. "How? Only because you're the only one who doesn't want you dead...you, dear sister, are the only non-Death Eater here. I used to think that you had a companion in Jessi, but now I know you have none. There is only one non-Death Eater at this camp. And with any luck, by month's end there will be none."
And Jessi and Padma laughed at the Parvati's visage: one of horror, scared comprehension, and unhappiness.
Dear Dumbledore, (Timothy Patil quickly wrote)
Please listen to me. This is of the utmost importance. I have reason to know that Voldemort wishes to kill Andrew Morrison and his family. Parvati is plotting with him, for she knows everything about him, including his close friendship with Severus Snape and that Snape is a spy for us...Andrew was, after all, her guardian when I was in flight. You must come immediately."
Timothy
Hand shaking slightly, Timothy quickly folded the letter and put it in the envelope. He carefully marked it for Dumbledore and told Tranquility (his owl), "This needs to get to Dumbledore. Now. God speed."
And Tranquility flew off into the distance. Tranquility, in both senses, was never to return.
Andrew looked out the window, a worried expression playing itself upon his face. He couldn't believe Parvati had turned on him...she had been such a sweet child when he had taken care of her between the ages of one and eight...that was before Andrew's name had been cleared.
He needed to find the girl, to tell her what he really thought of her, to...just to see her. Surely she had become a beast or something, for in the way she was last time he had seen her, she couldn't be that monster who was trying to kill him...she couldn't be.
He began to write a letter to her but stopped when he heard the knock on the door.
"You're sure about this?" Dumbledore said. "You're not just drawing improper conclusions about Parvati?"
"Damn right I'm not!" Timothy said, finding himself hard-pressed to contain his rage. "I know it when I see my own daughter."
"You're not seeing Padma, then?" Dumbledore asked softly.
Ordinarily this would have lit a spark for Timothy, made him realize the truth, but never under these circumstances. "I can tell my Parvati from that Padma. Do you think I lived with her for seven years for nothing?"
"We can all make incorrect assumptions in fear," Dumbledore spoke, softly and wisely, not making any convictions but that Timothy could be wrong.
"Dumbledore, that's all very fine and all, but right now I need to protect my best friend, not try to pretend that my daughter isn't really trying to kill him!" Timothy almost yelled at Dumbledore.
"Yes, yes, that is the matter at hand, isn't it?" Dumbledore sighed. "Ah well then, on with the business." He knocked swiftly on the door and the two entered.
"Oh, thank God," Andrew let out a sigh of relief. "It's you. I thought...maybe..." The thought was left unfinished, but all knew what he meant to say.
"The Fidelius charm is a very hard charm, a hard one indeed," Dumbledore began. "It involves a long German charm, but that's not the difficulty. What's difficult is that the person being protected must put complete trust in his or her protector. Complete and total trust."
"I -- I would trust Timothy with my life," Andrew said.
"Good," Dumbledore said. "This charm should go very well then." And he began to rattle off the German charm after telling Andrew to hold this sentiment strong during the charm: "Ich will mit du immer sein, und mit dir ist mein Trost..."
"So what's with this whole Andrew Morrison deal?" Padma asked Parvati idly. She grinned. This could prove very...rewarding. Voldemort had no reason to want Andrew...yet. But soon, Padma suspected, he would. Jessi, too, looked on with curiosity.
"It's...it's that...why am I telling you this?" Parvati stuttered.
"Because," Jessi interjected, "If you don't I have some Veritaserum that will work just fine for this." She smiled as Parvati gulped.
"Well...because he has the thought-guarding charm for Severus Snape that keeps anyone from knowing what Snape is thinking..." Parvati sighed. She really, really didn't want to say this, but what choice did she have? What was to be gained?" An echo, as though from the past, came: "Only innocent lives...only innocent lives." But she shook it off. No lives could be gained, she told herself.
And meanwhile, Padma and Jessi were grinning at one another. "Very useful," one said. "Very useful."
There was something exhausting about the whole experience, Timothy realized, with the Fidelius charm. But no matter. He was saving a life. He sat down in his chair and smiled...
...a smile which soon vanished with the figure that loomed outside his door. And in that instant, Timothy realized it: that it was not Andrew that they were after but him. And now there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He screamed, a piercing, heart-stopping, blood-curdling scream.
A.N.: Please please please do review...for my birthday, okay? C'mon, you've read this far, you have to review. It's really not that hard...a simple, "I liked it," or, "I hated it," will suffice.