/

Chapter nine

The revelation

/

Just why in the hell did I come here? Draco cursed in his thoughts as he covered his father's back by deflecting curses. I should have made some excuse – migraine, cold, depression, whatever! But of course, I didn't dare to say no!

At the last moment, he dodged two threateningly red beams and threw both those annoying wizards against the wall with his own.

On top of that, it's hard to see from under that stupid mask! Screw it!

His father had decided it was about time to put his son's knowledge to practical use, and naturally, the Dark Lord agreed. He also consented with borrowing of a Death Eater mask, even though Draco had no right to it yet.

The Death Eaters were making their way lower and lower into the underground floors of the Ministry, but their progress had slowed down significantly a moment ago. The sounds of a furious battle echoed through the corridors. The Order of the Phoenix had somehow broken through the barriers they had used to secure the hearths upon their arrival, and the number of its members matched theirs. Currently, they were fighting somewhere above them. The followers of the Dark Lord would send messages to each other as to what it looked like up or down there, so they were well informed.

Lord Voldemort was nowhere to be seen, but Draco suspected that he was somewhere, watching everything closely. The Malfoys, Angela's mother, fathers of Crabbe and Goyle, the Parkinsons and a few others were now dealing with the Aurors, who had been guarding the Ministry overnight.

Draco´s task was to make sure his father or mother would not be attacked from behind. Since there were more Death Eaters than Aurors so far, it was not much of a problem.

He and his parents were just making their way through the Aurors Headquarters, when they heard a suspicious noise near the elevator.

At first, they had trouble getting further underground since there was only one heavily secured elevator, which could take just a few of them, but then they realized that all it took was for three Death Eaters to use a simple demolition incantation, make a hole in the partition between floor and jump down.

Somewhere from above, there was a loud bang and a flash of light. Several more Death Eaters jumped down through the hole in the ceiling.

Mary Rosier turned to Lucius. "Looks like they did not keep the fourth floor under our control. That ten-time cursed Order is already in the third. They're doing something with the elevator."

As proof of her words, another bang sounded from the mentioned direction.

"Keep an eye on our opening!" Lucius retorted as he furiously hurled curses at the young Auror. "Once someone sticks their head in there, make them regret it!"

Mary nodded and returned to the Parkinsons.

More Death Eaters moved around, as they retreated to the second floor and some managed to get even further down to the first floor. Almost none of the employees of the Ministry remained on their feet. The floor above them was cleared. So, the only problem was the Order. And quite a big one, as it soon became clear.

A fierce battle was raging near the opening in the ceiling and the elevator. Despite the best efforts of the Death Eaters, several members of the Order managed to came through, down among them. The third floor was still engulfed in battle.

For several endless minutes, the fight seemed even. Then, it shortly prevailed in favour of Death Eaters when they managed to eliminate the infiltrating wizards. But then, the elevator broke free under another blow, descended unexpectedly quickly to the second floor, and as many members of the Order as it could fit inside poured out.

The elevator shot up again and the Order of the Phoenix began pushing the Death Eaters toward another opening, this time to the one that led to the first floor. Further on were the stairs to the basement, where the Department of Mysteries was also located.

Several Death Eaters already retreated below. Among the first was Severus Snape, as Draco noted with a smirk. That slimy bastard was only lucky that only Death Eaters could recognize him under his mask. He knew that Snape was pretending to cooperate with Dumbledore, but if they recognized him here, the Order of the Phoenix probably would not thank him.

The followers of the Dark Lord continued to fight back doggedly and Draco was targeted by the Weasley twins.

You made the wrong choice here, Draco thought, easily deflecting their curses.

Two remaining conscious ministry Aurors were striving to cut off Mary Rosier from the others, with great help from Mad-Eye Moody.

The elevator descended to the first floor, where the withdrawn Death Eaters engaged in combat with other members of the Order.

So far, the battle has been developing uncertainly. The scales kept tipping from one side to the other. Perhaps, it would have turned out in favour of Death Eaters if only the reinforcements of Hit Wizards had not suddenly appeared on the second floor, having been chased out of their beds, led by Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour and Albus Dumbledore. After a while, things started to look bleak for the servants of the Dark Lord.

Draco finally got rid of one Weasley who slumped limply to the ground against the wall, but his brother fought all the more fiercely. Surprisingly, their chubby mother joined him as well.

He was also starting to have minor problems with them due to Nymphadora Tonks, who was also casting spells on him here and there, but Bellatrix Lestrange appeared from somewhere with a mad laughing and disposed him of both Weasley mother and Tonks.

Angela's mother found herself in the worse situation. The Aurors managed to surround her, but she would not give up. Then Draco´s former professor Lupin suddenly attacked her from the side as well. Mary did not see the curse and it flicked her to one of the office cubicles where the Aurors usually worked. She still held her wand tightly in her hand, but the Death Eater mask fell from her face.

Moody and the other two Aurors stared at her in utter shock. Only Remus Lupin was not surprised, which in turn surprised Draco who noticed that by chance. His mother was taking care of the other Weasley, so he had some time to watch the whole scene.

"Mary Rosier!" shouted Rufus Scrimgeour, who appeared just behind Moody, vividly recalling the sad articles about her tragic death.

Taking advantage of their surprise to see a long-dead woman appear before their eyes, Mary jumped up on her feet. Hurling Moody out of the way, spraining the ankle of his good leg as he fell to the floor, she pushed her way through the others and joined Bellatrix in a flash.

Death Eaters from the first floor began to return through the opening to the second floor. The Order pushed them to it.

Draco realized that things were getting worse. They were surrounded.

/

In one second, three things ran through Angela's mind.

How the fuck did they find me?

There´s probably no anti-vampire shield around this house!

And I'm not alone here...

Angela jumped out of the chair to her feet, and before anyone could ask what was going on, she blurted out: "Everyone back inside! Now!" and she was already pulling Hermione up.

Harry did not ask anything. One look at Angela´s frightened face was enough for him. He stood up as well and pulled Ginny to her feet. Ron started moving readily as well, he grabbed Hermione's hand and they started to run toward the house. Behind them raced Ginny, spurred on by Harry, and the last trotting behind them was Angela, who kept looking back.

"Faster!" she screamed and they sped off like there was a dragon behind their asses.

The vampires were fast, faster than they were and they were only a few meters away. The scariest fact on it was that they did not even make a sound. They just stared at them with those glowing eyes…

Hermione and Ron were already inside, so was Ginny, and Harry turned to Angela in the doorway, who had stopped suddenly, staring at the impending danger, as if she got frozen up. Now, he also saw the terrifying shadows with red eyes.

"Angela!"

He took two steps, reached out, yanked her by the elbow and literally dragged her into the house. They stumbled into it backwards, lost their balance, and as they fell, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were also dragged down. They all collapsed at the threshold and stared in horror at the tall figures rushing to the open door.

Ginny screamed just as the first vampire stopped a mere feet away from the threshold with an enraged snarl.

"Don't worry," Angela whispered, still staring at the angry figures. "They can't come in unless someone invites them."

The vampires stood still, staring at them.

Hermione was breathing rapidly and clutching Ron's hand tightly. They were all lying on top of each other, but they had a good view outside. About six tall figures stood silently in the beautifully enlightened garden. Their eyes no longer shone so dangerously, but they were still watching them.

Dark figures gathered in the garden where Harry´s birthday party had took place half an hour ago, and only one remained standing motionless in front of the open door. His cruel features smoothed out, his fangs disappeared, and they saw the pale face of a handsome young man with dark eyes.

Angela slowly stood up and made sure her wand was still in her jeans pocket with a subtle touch. The others watched her in amazement as she calmly walked up to the threshold, and barely twenty inches from the vampire's pale face, she looked up into his eyes. Harry saw her hand grip the protruding end of her wand tightly.

"What do you want from me?" she asked coldly, fiercely suppressing the trembling in her knees.

The vampire's dark eyes were staring into her soul, and for a moment, it seemed that he would not answer, but then he answered in a deep voice extremely quietly: "You know that, daughter of Elessandra. Your death."

"Well, first of all, I'm not Elessandra's daughter, but her great-great-great-granddaughter…"

"We don't see any difference," the vampire cut her off icily.

Angela gritted her teeth. She could have expected that.

"And secondly, I didn't do any of the things she did to you, so why do you want to kill me?"

"A very hypocritical question," the vampire said flatly. "Last winter you killed several of our…"

This time Angela interrupted him: "They attacked first," she retorted, no longer able to hide the nervousness in her voice.

The vampire was silent. Harry stared intently at Angela's back. He understood what this was about. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were still watching it all blankly and clearly scared.

"This conversation has no meaning. You're going to die anyway," the vampire finally stated, turning away from her.

"That remains to be seen!" Angela snapped, yanking her wand out of her pocket and pulling it out the door, shouting: "Lumos Re!"

A bright, violent light shot out from her wand and bathed the departing vampire and the others in the garden. The only one who was probably expecting the attack was the handsome vampire she was talking to and he swiftly moved out of the way to the shadows of trees.

The trio and Ginny had to close their eyes behind Angela. They could not see what was happening outside, but they could hear the pained roar of the vampires being burned by the light.

Angela was breathing rapidly, but stubbornly kept the light on. She managed to eliminate two vampires to dust, the rest escaped with heavy burns. She finally let the light go out and turned to Harry and the others with a tired expression on her face. She did not notice that one of the bloodsuckers had emerged from somewhere and was only now fleeing toward the forest.

"Merlin´s beard!" breathed out Ron.

"Angela," Hermione began quite shocked. "That was the sunlight charm!"

She got a weak nod as a response from the witch.

"But we´re not supposed to learn that until the end of the seventh year!"

Angela shrugged: "I must what I can against them…"

Harry was already helping Ginny up, while Ron was lifting Hermione off the ground.

"These were… They were…" Ginny pointed shakily at the empty garden.

"Vampires," Hermione said quietly. "And it looks like they have some unresolved issues with Angela," she glanced at the brunette, who was wondering what to do now with her shoulders slumped.

She glanced over them all until she stopped at Harry. She sighed.

"I'll try to explain later, but for now… Hermione, do you know the anti-vampire shield?"

"Yes. It's usually used around houses and you have to know witchcraft signs and ancient runes and also…"

Angela cut her off gently: "Can you help me create one around the whole garden? I could try it myself, but it would take a long time and I could make a mistake…"

"Well, of course," Hermione nodded, actually excited she had a reason to practice. "Right now?"

"Yes, they might come back. I don't want to endanger anyone who walks into the garden by showing up here a few times. Harry, Ron, Ginny, I would like to ask you to keep an eye on us. They probably won't be back tonight, but just in case…"

"Of course we'll help you, Angela," Harry answered for everyone, but he still turned questioningly at Ginny, who was looking strange. After a while, however, she nodded.

"Good. Hermione, I'll do the witchcraft part, put the runes around it. From west to east. You and Ron will follow me and Harry. Ginny should always be among us, lighting up the free space."

They all nodded their understanding.

"Okay, let´s do it then. Take care. I don't want anything to happen to you..."

Pale Angela turned away from them, heading cautiously outside with tense Harry in tow.

/

About three dozen Death Eaters were forced into a single group by the constant pressure. However, they still fought back fiercely, and both the Order of the Phoenix and the Aurors suffered significant injuries.

Suddenly, directly in the open space between the Death Eaters and the members of the Order, Lord Voldemort himself appeared with an ominous laughter. Around him, those Death Eaters, who had been wounded or captured on the higher floors, fell to the ground.

Almost all the Aurors or members of the Order stopped fighting and watched the tall figure in horror. The Death Eaters heeded their Lord's instruction and also stopped casting curses. However, their wands remained ready.

"Good evening," Albus Dumbledore said calmly.

"Good? Really good, Dumbledore?" Voldemort responded venomously.

The Dark Lord swept his gaze over the assembled rescue squad, who were already looking quite exhausted, and chuckled again. A chill ran down the spine of most of those present.

"Well, I think we've all had enough fun," he decided coldly. "Albeit with uninvited guests, but still."

Three or even four curses flew toward his figure in black cloak, which he gracefully deflected and they hit their originators. After that, almost everyone attacked him at once and the Death Eaters, but a greenish shield immediately formed around them, absorbing all the curses. Dumbledore could not suppress the expression of surprise on his face, as did the Minister of Magic.

The Dark Lord snapped his fingers and several Death Eaters picked up their colleagues from the ground. Voldemort then pointed his wand at the ceiling with complete composure, his magic penetrating through the shield, hitting the ceiling and flooding it with a bright light that faded after a moment. He motioned to his followers and they apparated away at once.

Rufus Scrimgeour forgot to close his mouth in astonishment. The protective wall shrunk so much that it only surrounded Lord Voldemort.

"I will definitely see you again, my dear uninvited guests. Goodbye for now!" he gave them a nasty smile and disappeared.

Everyone stared motionless at the spot where he had been standing a moment ago. A stifling silence fell on the second floor, broken only by the groans of some of the wounded. However, before anyone could say anything, the Dark Lord reappeared.

"I almost forgot. I wanted to leave you a souvenir to remember my visit. After all, if I do it myself…"

Voldemort raised his wand and, to everyone's horror, a green light shot out from it, heading toward the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix.

/

Angela, who looked extremely tired, sat across from the trio and Ginny, who were staring at her as if she had dropped among them from another world. Except for Harry of course. He has already met vampires and remembered them more than he would have liked to.

The protective, anti-vampire shield around the house was done and a moment ago Angela gave them a brief account of how she once helped a herd of unicorns against vampires in the Forbidden Forest and how they wanted revenge on her ever since. She added a lot of nonsense around it, just so she would not have to talk about her dreams.

Hermione did not seem like she completely trusted her, but Angela did not care. It was enough that Harry and Daria knew about her ability. Well, Draco knew about her dreams as well, but she had never told him about the trip to the Forbidden Forest.

"They must have something of yours," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"What?" Angela wondered, not understanding what she was talking about.

"Those vampires. They must have something that belongs to you; otherwise they would never be able to track you down so easily."

"I guess so," she nodded slowly. "But where could they have gotten it?"

"Have you lost anything lately?"

She shook her head: "I´m not aware of anything."

"Hmm, strange," Hermione hummed.

Ginny was literally stabbing Angela with her eyes. Harry registered it but decided rather not to comment it, not to raise anything more unpleasant that evening.

"But how comes Fidelius Charm doesn't apply to them?" Harry wondered. "They should not be able to see this house at all."

As usually, Hermione was the one answering the question.

"Very few of our spells actually apply to vampires. Fidelius protection doesn't bother them much, since they´ve got another level of perception. You should remember at least that from our lessons with Professor Shiernov," she eyed Harry and then gaping Ron reproachfully.

"She was always spitting out too much information at once," her red-haired boyfriend murmured.

Hermione sighed: "Actually, I've also read a lot about them in the Vampirology book… Charms rarely work on these night creatures. Most of our curses can momentarily stun them, but are unable to harm them fatally. Among the several spells and charms that work as a defence against vamps are – Anti-Vampire Shield, Sunlight Charm Lumos Re, purely witchcraft protection LueMenor and two of Unforgivable Curses – Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra.

They can move during the day, when they must, but the direct sun light is heavily harming them and in long-term effect, it can burn them to death. As for Muggle inventions and means, they are sensitive to anything made of silver and they cannot enter a house until its occupant invites them in."

Hermione fell silent. Everyone was looking at her as if she had just gone mad.

"What is it?" she protested bristling.

"How can you have such a good memory, Hermione?" Harry explained their surprised looks.

The clever witch blushed slightly and Ron proudly pulled her closer to him. Suddenly, Ginny spoke up.

"So, if you weren't here, they would have never attacked us, would they?" her voice was as sharp as a knife.

Angela turned to her, her expression serious. "Yes, you're right, Ginevra. I'm so sorry that I inadvertently involved you in this.''

"You're sorry, huh?" snapped the redhead girl. "That will really help us now!"

"Ginny, stop it!" Harry stood up for Angela. "Every time one of us was in trouble, we helped each other!"

"But she's not one of us, Harry!" Ginny countered with sudden rage. "How can you be on her side? How can you even trust her!"

She stood up abruptly and flew out of the salon like a tornado. Angela hid her face behind her hands, leaning her forehead on them.

"Ginny!" Ron called after her.

"Just leave her," Angela stopped him. "I might even understand her," she said, looking at Harry.

He just raised his eyebrows incomprehensibly.

Hermione got up and dragged Ron behind her: "We´ll check if anyone from the Order is back. Come on, Ron!"

"Well, I'm going, aren't I?" replied the young Weasley, and the door closed behind them in no time.

They left Angela and Harry alone. They looked at each other for a moment, but then quickly averted their gazes away. Angela rubbed her stinging eyes, which had dark circles under them. She suppressed the urge to yawn.

This has been a really long day, she thought.

"You should get some sleep," said Harry, who could see well how tired she was.

"Yeah, I guess I should go..."

"I didn´t mean it like that. Just lie down here on the sofa," he suggested. "If you want to wait for the Order members to return," he quickly added when he caught her look.

"Well, I don´t know…"

"This is your house too, Angela," he reminded her relentlessly.

"I… All right."

Angela made herself move to the sofa under the window and rested her head on the small pillow.

"I don't know if I fall asleep here, but wake me up when they come back," she asked quietly.

"Sure," Harry nodded.

Angela's eyes were already tightly shut, but she could feel Harry watching her.

"Angela? Are you going to tell me why you have that Malfoy ring on your hand?" he asked after a moment.

Angela did not answer, breathing calmly. Harry sighed and thought she must have fallen asleep by now. He stood up and approached her. He watched her calm face for a long time. He then noticed a ring with a heart on her left hand and smiled sadly.

He pulled one of the armchairs closer, made himself comfortable in it so that he could see Angela´s face and let himself be carried away by the pleasant feeling of her closeness.

/

"I am pleased with you," Voldemort said and the figures gathered around him let out an almost audible sigh of relief.

"The only thing that has left me slightly disappointed is your revelation, Mary," he turned to the gloomy woman. She hunched under his gaze. "But what's done is done."

Mary Rosier understood that he did not mean to punish her and was immensely relieved.

"You may go," Voldemort released them graciously.

The Death Eaters bowed and began to disperse.

In one of many corridors that led out of the castle, Severus Snape caught up with Mary and grabbed her elbow.

"What is it?" she barked grumpily.

He pulled her up close to the wall, so they would not get in the way of the others leaving.

"Why didn't you bring your daughter to help, Mary?"

Angela's mother tore off his grip: "It's still too early for that. She's not even of age," she replied grumpily.

"Oh yes, sure, I forgot," reacted Snape with a cold smile.

Draco shot them a curious look as he passed by, but they did not notice.

"Leave me alone, Severus," Mary hissed, with her face close to his.

"You know I'll never leave you alone, Mary," he replied very quietly. "You should behave a little nicer to me."

Mary glared into his dark eyes for a moment, clenching her fists helplessly.

"Good night," she gritted between her teeth, walking away before she could hear his reply.

/

"This is really over the top! Mary Rosier lives and she is a Death Eater!"

"And you, Dumbledore! Didn't you say by chance that the day after tomorrow, actually tomorrow, some Rosier is supposed to join the Order of the Phoenix?''

There was a quiet nod of approval.

"You can't be serious! What you saw, wasn't that enough?" the unknown voice continued to shout.

"You want to reveal the main seat of the Order to the daughter of a follower of You-Know-Who? You must be out of your mind, Dumbledore!" said another indignant voice.

"Stop this, please! Professor Dumbledore knows what…" Remus Lupin tried to cut them off.

"Don't get involved in this! You're on his side every time!" snapped the first male voice.

"I trust Miss Rosier completely," said Dumbledore coldly.

"Yeah, you keep saying the same thing over and over about that slimy Snape. Can you explain to me where he was today? Why didn't he help us against the Death Eaters?"

Angela began to perceived individual words as she was slowly waking up from her heavy slumber.

"Doing that, he would have given himself away," Dumbledore replied calmly, as if he were explaining it to a small child.

"You mean that he fought between them against us!?" shouted a voice, which Angela identified belonging to Mad-Eye Moody.

The indignation of the old Auror was supported by the Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour, to whom Dumbledore revealed the address of the headquarters after a long conversation. The attack on the Ministry was good for something after all. The two wizards finally agreed on cooperation against the Dark Lord.

Angela sat down languidly. She could hear every word of the excited conversation through the ajar door. Otherwise, she was alone in the salon.

"You have no proof of that, Alastor. Please, calm down," Dumbledore tried to calm him a bit tiredly.

Angela got up and left the room. On the way, she still did not understand the exact meaning of their words.

As soon as she stepped into the candlelight in the hall, six gazes focused on her face. Dumbledore was sitting in the chair he had conjured, the Minister of Magic and Moody were standing in front of him, behind the headmaster was Lupin, who was tightly hugging sobbing Tonks around the shoulders, and not far from them stood Harry leaning against the wall. Hermione, Ron and Ginny were coming down from the top of the stairs, also attracted by the loud conversation.

Moody observed Angela with his magical eye and Rufus Scrimgeour furrowed his eyebrows suspiciously.

"And you are?!" snapped Moody.

"Angela Rosier," she replied politely, still not understanding about what this talk was.

Harry, on the other hand, scanned the wizards with a very concerned look. And he had a reason.

Both Moody's eyes widened at Angela and Scrimgeour gasped.

"That... That... can't possibly... be..." muttered the minister.

Moody limped heavily the few steps to Angela with admirable speed with that sprained ankle of his and painfully grabbed her arm. She hissed in surprise.

"So, it's you! Well, that's just terrific, really!" Moody sputtered, pulling her toward Dumbledore. "She even already knows about this house!"

"Yes," the headmaster nodded still calmly.

Angela finally recovered: "Let me go at once! How do you dare?" she pulled away from the Auror and started massaging her arm.

"So, Miss! When did your dear mother die, huh?" Moody sneered.

"What are you talking about?" she blurted out justifiably. "You´re not my uncle or anything! What right do you have for barking at me like this?"

"Please, don't avoid the topic, Miss Rosier," Rufus Scrimgeour remarked haughtily. "When did your mother die?"

"When I was one year old," Angela retorted, glancing at Dumbledore. "Everyone knows that! The papers were full of it."

"Yeah, right, the newspapers were full of it!" snapped Moody scathingly. "Then explain to me how come your mummy in a Death Eater mask injured several Aurors at the Ministry a while ago, huh?" he growled at her angrily. "Since you're allegedly on our side, why didn't you report that she's alive!?"

Angela turned awfully pale and stiffened up completely. Harry could not stay still any longer and slowly approached them from the side. Down by the stairs, Ginny and Hermione gasped and Ron just stared blankly.

"Well? How are you going to explain it to us?!" even the Minister of Magic came at her harshly.

Dumbledore, who had just enough of these theatrics, stood up. Angela just swallowed hard and could not get even a word out. Harry was already standing close behind her.

"Stop yelling at Miss Rosier, gentlemen," Dumbledore requested coldly, his voice tinged with weariness. "I knew the truth about Mary Rosier. Angela told me everything about her almost a year ago."

Both Moody and Scrimgeour stared at him even more. Hermione, Ron and Ginny as well as Lupin and teary Tonks just watched the whole scene in silence.

"What?! You knew about it and you didn't say anything?" hissed the minister.

"I promised not to reveal anything," Dumbledore reacted deadly serious. "Angela's life depended on it. And it still does."

"Ah, so!" Moody barked, but it certainly did not sound like an interjection of understanding. "So, she's actually what? A future Death Eater, right? Just like all children from those sneaky families! Are you telling me that she willingly betrayed her own mother to you?"

Angela stared intently at the ground, digging her nails into her palms. She should have expected similar reactions, but this was a bit too much...

"Please, stop slandering Angela, sir," surprisingly, Harry spoke up.

The angry wizards´ eyes almost rolled out of their sockets.

"Potter… You too? You from all people? After all, she is…"

"What, Minister?" Harry asked respectfully. But he didn't wait for an answer and continued. "I've known Angela for some time and I trust her as much as Professor Dumbledore. She's on our side."

Moody straightened up and snorted.

"And why doesn't she tell us? You keep saying she's on our side, but she herself hasn't said a word yet!" countered the minister, very slowly stopping blushing.

"Why should I tell you anything when you're not going to listen anyway?" Angela reacted quietly.

There was silence in the hall for a long moment. Moody then turned back to Dumbledore.

"One day, you'll pay for trusting the wrong people, Dumbledore, remember that!" he hissed, turned on his heel, or more precisely on the wooden prosthesis, and walked away as proudly as his ankle only allowed.

Rufus Scrimgeour looked over everyone present in the room and then also stopped at Dumbledore.

"Well, so… I'll see you tomorrow, Dumbledore. We have a lot of things to discuss."

The Headmaster of Hogwarts nodded.

"And you," the wizard turned to Angela. "Expect that we will summon you to the Ministry for questioning."

"That's probably not necessary, Minister," Dumbledore protested.

"It is. For public´s sake, it is," retorted the minister. "Tomorrow, the news will be full of it. Good night," he said a little illogically, considering that it was half past four in the morning and he was gone.

After the minister´s departure, nobody spoke.

Dumbledore sat back tiredly and ran a hand over his forehead. Lupin led Tonks into the kitchen as she was starting to sob again. Harry figured that they probably lost someone at the Ministry. Ginny glared at Angela even more murderously than before and then disappeared at the top of the stairs. Ron and Hermione stood there not knowing what to say.

Angela slowly closed and opened her eyes, then turned to Harry, her usually calm expression broken.

"Harry, could you please tell Professor Dumbledore about those vampires and what we did around the house?"

"Sure," Harry assured her.

"I… I have to go home," she said quietly. "Goodbye, Professor," she looked down at Dumbledore who just nodded his head. "Bye," she whispered toward Harry and turned to Hermione and Ron on the stairs, but they looked away.

She sagged her shoulders even more and headed for the door. Harry looked after her worriedly, until they slammed shut.

/

In the morning, Angela slowly sipped her black coffee and stared blankly at the new Daily Prophet spread out in front of her.

Ministry of Magic attacked by You-Know-Who!

Dozens of wounded! Six victims lost their lives…

That was just the front page. One of the victims was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. She knew that from the letter Harry had already managed to send her that Tonks was crying because of her. More and more headlines followed on the next pages and there were not a bit better…

Surprising resurrection! Mary Rosier lives!

Will her daughter also become a servant of the Dark Lord?

Angela frowned. She could already hear her mother's heavy footsteps on the stairs. She must have been very tired too. She did not get much sleep herself when she finally got home. Grimly, she continued to read…

Mary Rosier, whose older sister Marion had recently passed away and whom everyone had believed was dead for sixteen years, was exposed at the Ministry of Magic yesterday during the battle at the Aurors Headquarters. The Ministry listed her among the other wanted Death Eaters.

It is more than likely that she faked her death years ago to escape justice and unverified sources suggest that she disappeared somewhere in Europe. At that time, she left her one-year-old daughter Angela in the care of her sister. The girl will soon board her last seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The question remains whether or not young Angela, currently in the custody of Narcissa Malfoy, wife of also-wanted Lucius Malfoy, knew of her mother's return. If so, she has committed a serious crime for which she can be punished, even though she is not yet of legal age. A spokesperson for the Ministry told us that Miss Rosier will be called in for questioning in the near future to try to shed some light on this unexpected raise from the dead.

This was enough for Angela, even though the article continued and she skimmed through the other page. Her mother came into the kitchen and sent a very hostile look at the newspaper. Then she went to pour herself some coffee as well.

Wizarding families in fear...

How should we defend ourselves?

Angela went on to read that Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour had settled their conflict with Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and they had joined forces against the rising evil. She also found two obituary notices with photos.

Then she raised her eyes to her mother, as she sat down at the table. "Couldn't you have been paying more attention?" she asked quietly.

Mary glared at her.

"They want to take me to the Ministry for questioning," Angela complained, pushing the Prophet away.

"You can lie, can't you?" snapped Mary.

"And what should I say to them?"

"You'll figure something out, honey," her mother smirked.

"Our Lord was probably not happy that you revealed yourself unnecessarily," Angela smiled even more sarcastically.

"Angela, don't be so cheeky," she received the typical reaction on that.

Well, you cannot do much else then scold me, can you? she thought but rather didn't say anything out loud.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of wings. A large owl flew into the kitchen through the open window and landed right in front of Angela. She saw the Ministry of Magic stamp on the envelope and realized what was in the letter without even having to open it.

Already this soon? she sighed to herself.

Thanks Merlin that owls could not speak, otherwise the bird would probably reveal at the Ministry, where she actually resided, at the second it would arrive back.

"Mother, think about where you're going to go. They'll definitely want to search the house," she addressed her mother as she untied the letter from the owl's leg.

"I count with that," Mary replied. "So, you will let me know when they get out. I'll be at Malfoys´ place."

Where else, Angela thought.