A.N. * grrrr….* durn ff.net. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed!!!!!! Keep up the good work and I really love to read them!!!!!!!!!! THANX A BUNCH!!!!!!!
Malena
Draco Malfoy sighed as he pushed open the door to his house. It was deserted, and there was a note on the counter from his wife, saying that she had gone out. Draco tossed his cloak on the couch and collapsed into a giant leather chair that sat in front of the fireplace. He closed his eyes and reminisced on the day's events. The day had started off bad. He had been late for work, and spilled coffee on his robes. During lunch he rushed back to his house and changed. He had been yelled at by his boss, and to make matters worse he had gotten a letter from his daughter. The failure. The one who wasn't good at anything. The one who was so similar to him. The one who wasn't missing… And to make matters worse, Potter had shown up and proposed that they become friends. Well, not exactly friends, but to act generally nice around each other.
Draco sighed and opened his eyes again. One of the House-Elves had lit a fire, and on top of the mantelpiece there were a series of pictures, all in gold frames. There was a picture of Draco and his wife, Pansy Parkinson. They had broken up in Draco's seventh year, because the girl from the Order of the Phoenix, named Celeste, was just too tempting. They had gone out for a year or so, until Celeste had gotten bored with Draco and left him. About 12 months later when Draco had returned from work he found Celeste in the house with a baby in her hands. She thrust the baby into his arms and said that it was his. Then she left. Celeste never exactly was the motherly type. Draco hadn't seen her since she had left the baby.
It had been hard for Draco to care for the baby by himself. He had no preparation in caring for a child. He named the boy Vacilly, after a cousin, and got help whenever he could. The only real reason he had gotten back together with Pansy and married her was so she could help with Vacilly. Then, two months ago, Vacilly had disappeared suddenly. He had never come home from his job…
Draco jumped as the door opened and Pansy came in.
"Hello," Draco said. "How're you?"
"Fine," Pansy said. "You look tired, dear. Rough day?"
"Yeah, a bit of one."
"Why don't you go lie down," Pansy said.
"All right," Draco replied.
He walked up to their bedroom. There were flowery blankets on their bed, and Draco wrinkled his nose. He despised flowery things, and Pansy knew it. He sighed, pulled the blankets off and collapsed onto the bed.
~*~
"Squeak! Squeak!" Eve opened up her eyes, and found her hedgehog staring at her. Eve jumped and picked her hedgehog up, putting him on her bedside table. Eve looked at her watch and saw that it was five o'clock. She inwardly moaned and rolled over. The hedgehog started squeaking again, and Eve couldn't fall asleep. She finally picked the hedgehog up, got dressed, and went downstairs.
The Common Room was deserted except for a few people who had fallen asleep while doing their homework. Eve was sure that Professor McGonnagal would take points away for the drool that had escaped from their lips and had settled on their parchment.
Eve Summoned her own homework and worked on it for a bit, until the Common Room started filling up and she got irritated of all the glares she was getting from her fellow classmates. She went back up to the dorm and waited for Jess so they could go to breakfast. Jess had finally abandoned her old group, and was now sitting with Eve at the nearly empty part of the table.
Reese, Josh, and Erin had stopped by the table for a small chat. Josh had decided to try out for Quidditch, and the tryouts were that weekend. Erin was having trouble with Professor Snape, for he constantly picked on her during class. Eve and Jess told them about the detention that they had served.
At ten minutes before their first class Jess and Eve got up to leave. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Paul and Jerry, the two boys who had earned the title "pimp", get up from the other end of the table. Eve and Jess were walking past them Paul reached out.
What the-
Eve jumped and turned around. Paul was standing there with a "You know I got what you need" look on his face.
Did you just touch my ass? Eve asked. A smile crept onto Jerry's face. I just asked you a question.
"Why? Did you like it?" Paul asked. By this time the whole school was watching. The teachers were staring in disbelief of what Paul had done, but none of them had made any real moves to stop it.
Eve glared at the boy, before a smile spread slowly on her face. She silkily walked up to Paul, molding one of her hands around the back of Paul's head. She put her face about an inch away from him, staring him in the eye and batting her lashes. As she moved her face slightly closer, acting as if she was going to kiss him, she brought her knee up hard. The look on Paul's face was priceless, a look of intense pain and awe of what Eve had just done. He collapsed to his knees.
Does that answer your question? Eve said, a sugary sweet look on her face. Then she turned on her heel and walked away from the boy on the ground. Several of the other students had either looked on in horror or burst out laughing.
"Oh my god," Jess said, putting her hand over her mouth. "We're so sorry-"
I'm not! Eve said as she walked out of the Great Hall. Jess ran after her.
When they were out of hearing distance of the Great Hall, Jess burst into fits of giggles.
"That was so funny!" Jess laughed. "Oh, and if you didn't hear, McGonnagal took 30 points away from Slytherin."
I don't care, it was worth it! Eve said. No man touches me unless I want him to.
Jess snorted. "Things don't exactly work that way around here."
Well, they do for me.
~*~
ATTACK AT PRIVET DRIVE! WOMAN STILL MISSING!
That was the headline on the Daily Mail, a Muggle newspaper. Sirius skimmed through the article, glancing for key clues, but there were none. They didn't even give the woman's name. Sirius sighed and put his head in his hands.
"Black!" Barked a voice. "What are you doing!" Sirius cracked a smile and looked up, for he recognized the voice.
"How you doing Harry?" Sirius asked, watching as his godson walked through the door.
Harry grinned back and said in mock anger, "Why aren't you working!"
"Ha, ha, ha," Sirius said, leaning back in his chair and rubbing one of his eyes. "I've been investigating a death of a woman, and I think I found a lead on who it is."
Sirius threw the newspaper over to Harry. Harry opened it and his eyes got wide.
"Privet drive!" He gasped.
"Yeah… so?" Sirius asked. "Got a friend there?"
"That's where my aunt and uncle live. Well, they did the last time I checked… of course, that was about 21 years ago. They might have moved."
"Perhaps you should come to the morgue and see if you can identify the body. Of course… she's pretty mangled. You might not be able to recognize her."
Harry slowly nodded. They both disappeared with a ping.
"You will be partnering up for this potion," Hissed Professor Snape as he glared around the room. "I will be partnering you."
There were groans from all around the room, and Eve rolled her eyes in dislike. Whenever Snape chose their partners she always ended up with Bridget or Bridget's annoying boyfriend.
Snape started pairing them off. Jess got paired with a Hufflepuff girl named Yolanda. Thankfully, Bridget got paired with her boyfriend, so Eve wouldn't have to sit with neither of them.
"Ah yes," Snape said as he walked over to Eve. "Our little juvenile delinquent. Potter, you will be partnering…hmm…. Holtstein."
Eve turned to where Snape was pointing. Holtstein was a Hufflepuff boy, with bleached blond hair and dull brown eyes. He looked bored as he drummed his fingers lazily on the countertop.
"Holtstein!" Barked Snape. "You're partnering Potter." Holtstein jumped slightly and looked around the room at Eve. He sighed, got all of his stuff together and moved over to where Eve was sitting.
"Hey," he said quietly as he stood next to Eve. Eve gave a short wave and turned back to her ingredients.
"Not exactly the talkative type, are you?" He said. Eve arched an eyebrow.
Look, I know you don't want to be here. Neither do I. You don't have to make small talk to try and make the time go faster, Eve said, dumping some crushed beetles into the cauldron.
"Whoa! I never said any of that!" He said, raising his arms defensively. "What makes you think that?"
Well, every other person I worked with thought that, Eve said, shrugging. I guess you're just different.
"I guess you're right," he said, smiling. Eve turned back to the cauldron, and continued cutting up roots.
"I saw what you did during breakfast."
Yeah, I think everyone did.
"Personally, I was thinking about touching your butt. I kinda changed my mind after that," he joked.
Eve snorted. Very funny.
He gave a short laugh. "I'm Breck."
Eve.
Breck extended his hand, but Eve just stared.
"What's the matter? Never hear of a handshake before?" Eve reached over and pulled a bit of salamander liver off of his glove.
"Oh. Whoops!"
Eve flung the liver at Bridget, and it hit her in the back of the head. While she was looking around for who threw the offending object, Eve shook Breck's hand.
Nice to meet you.
"You should have finished putting in your ingredients now," Snape barked. Eve and Breck looked down at the pile of ingredients that were still waiting to be added into the potion. They hurriedly dumped them into the cauldron and walked off to wash their hands.
~*~
Sirius pulled out the drawer like thing that held the body. He pulled the sheet back a bit and revealed the woman's mangled face. Harry backed away in disgust.
"Is that her?" Sirius asked, avoiding looking at the body.
"Yes," Harry said, concentrating hard on a spot on the wall. "W-what happened to her?"
"We don't know yet," Sirius said, covering the body and pushing the drawer back in. "That's not all. We found another body."
"What?" Harry said urgently. "Where?"
Sirius shrugged. "Somewhere in Asia. I wasn't called for that job. They said that the body was totally unrecognizable. The heart was ripped out…"
"Sirius, stop," Harry whispered. "I don't want to know anymore."
Sirius looked over at Harry sharply.
"Do you know if these murders are linked?" Harry said timidly.
"We believe they are… but we don't know who did it," Sirius replied, still looking at Harry seriously. "Do you know anything about who would do this?"
Harry shook his head. "No. No idea at all…"
***
"And then the demon called out, "I want your tongue…'" Said Alexis, holding the light of her wand near her face so it cast bizarre shadows everywhere.
Several of the other girls at that slumber party hugged their blankets tighter and glanced around the dark room.
"Then the demon turned to the other girl and called out, 'I want your neck!'"
Suddenly there was a scratching noise at one of the windows and all of the girls squealed and dove into their sleeping bags.
"You weirdos, it's just the tree hitting the window," Alexis said, pointing to a giant oak tree outside. There was another gust of wind and the tree's branches scratched against the window.
"A-are you sure?" Asked Courtney. Courtney was Max's daughter, and was afraid of almost everything.
"Positive," Alexis said.
"So, there's no demons?" Asked Mary, another girl at the slumber party.
"Nope."
"Good," said Ally, coming out of her sleeping bag again.
"Okay, on with the story," Alexis said, holding up her wand again.
It was almost midnight. Alexis's parents, Ron and Hermione, were already asleep downstairs. Alexis had convinced the other girls to stay awake and tell ghost stories.
"And then the-" Alexis stopped abruptly. She turned toward the window. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Asked Courtney.
"That sound."
"That's not funny Alexis," Courtney whimpered. Alexis got up and opened the window. A faint mewing sound came from outside.
"I think it's Tabs," Alexis said, talking about her kitten. "He must be outside." Alexis started to climb out the window, but she was pulled back by Mary.
"What do you think your doing!?" She gasped.
"I'm going to get my cat!" Alexis replied. She pulled out of Mary's grasp and climbed out the window. She climbed onto the tree and jumped down from the branches.
"Tabs!" She called. "Tabs! Where are you?"
The meows had stopped, and only the sound of the wind could be heard.
"Alexis! Get back up here!"
"Come back! I'm scared!"
Alexis ignored them and started to call out her cat's name again. There was a rustling in the bushes ahead.
"Tabs! Come out of those bushes," Alexis said. She started toward the bushes.
Courtney had frantically started pulling on Mary's sleeve.
"Come on! Get back up here!" Mary was yelling. "Courtney! Stop it!" Courtney continued to tug on the sleeve. "What is wron-" Mary turned and saw why Courtney was trying to get her attention. Sitting in the open doorway was Tabs, licking his paw.
"What the-" Mary gasped. She turned back to the window and called, "Alexis! Don't-"
Alexis was already moving the bushes away to look through them. Nothing was there.
"Alexis! Get back up here!" Courtney yelled. "Tabs is up here!"
"What? Okay. I'll be right up. Move away from the window so I can get through."
As Alexis started to climb the tree again, she felt a tap on her shoulder. As she turned around, she gave a scream of terror that pierced through the silence of the night.
