A/N: Sorry this is so late! I've been really busy!

Thanks to AgiVega, Marielle, AmericanPie221, IchiroSuzukiLuva, and DeerinHeadLights for reviewing! You're all awesome.



Voldemort's Worst Scandal

Chapter Five

Timeframe Revealed

In the dim light coming from Malachi's wand, Ron could tell that whatever had happened to them had effected Draco in the same way that it had effected Ginny and Hermione. Despite the fact that they were in the middle of a horrible storm that was promising to get worse, in the middle of the night, in a strange place (wherever in God's name it was), with Ron's sister and his best friend unconscious in a strange cabin not far off, being attended by a rather attractive maiden, with Ron's other best friend missing, and now they had run into Ron's worst enemy-well, in spite of all that, Ron smirked at the sight of Draco in the mud, unconscious, having the same effects as a girl.

Malachi sighed. "Looks like this boy is a friend as well?" he asked Ron.

Snorting loudly, Ron cried, "No! This idiot is our worst enemy, almost, besides You-Know-Who, anyway-"

"Who is You-Know-Who?" inquired Malachi.

Ron turned fully around and faced Malachi, disbelieving. "Who is You-Know- Who? Who is You-Know-Who? Don't EVEN tell me that you have no idea who he is. You know, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Malachi shook his head. Narrowing his eyes and lowering his tone, Ron asked, "The Dark Lord?" Malachi still had no idea. Ron closed his eyes and whispered, "Lord...Lord...Lord V...Voldemort?"

"Who is Lord Voldemort? That name is unfamiliar to me," Malachi told Ron loudly.

"Shh! Don't say that so loudly! Say He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, all right?" Ron said quickly, wincing s a drop of rain caught him in the eye. The wind whipped his lately neglected red hair around and he had to quickly grab his cloak and wind it around himself so that it wouldn't rip away from his neck.

"Well, we'd better get this.this-" started Malachi.

"Draco Malfoy," Ron put in helpfully.

"That's his NAME?" cried Malachi loudly.

"Yup."

With a smirk, Malachi said, "Well, we'd better get this Draco Malfoy to the cottage. But you'll have to help me carry him, because I can't do it alone."

"I will not help carry that thing." Ron said, looking down on Draco with contempt. "But I do have an idea." He got out his wand and conjured what he thought would be a modern-day stretcher. But the way it turned out, it was made of long wooden rods latched together at the ends by a cord woven through them all. Blinking in a confused way, Ron pointed his wand at Draco and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" In exactly the way that Hermione had taught him all those years ago. It didn't work. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He shouted again, impatiently, stamping his foot on the ground as Draco just lie there.

"Let me try," Malachi offered. "This spell is unfamiliar to me, but I think I may be able to get it." He held out his wand in the whirling wind, and muttered, "Nox," to extinguish the light he had previously made appear so he could do the spell. They were unexpectedly thrown into darkness.

"Lumos," Ron said quickly, and he got his own wand to light the area so that Malachi could try.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Malachi cried. Draco lifted off of the ground and Malachi guided him onto the floating stretcher.

"Figures," Ron said, "of course the amateur can do it, but of course, not me, never me!"

Malachi smirked; then he lit his wand again so that they had double the amount of light and he pushed the stretcher through the air while Ron went ahead, still calling out for Harry. They reached the cottage with no major difficulties besides being cold, tired, and soaked through.

When they got into the cottage, Allegra buzzed around them like an angry hornet, first taking Draco and putting him on a blanket bed next to Hermione's on the floor, then by getting Malachi and Ron some new clothes to wear, complete with Warming Charms for all of them. Then she brought a rather serious matter to their attention.

"Malachi," Allegra said to him, beckoning him over to where she kneeled on the floor by Ginny's bedside, "Look at this. Isn't it beautiful?" She held up the necklace that was hung around Ginny's neck. Malachi took it from her hands and pulled it closer to him until it was gently tugging from Ginny's throat.

"Remarkable," he exclaimed. "Where do you get this kind of jewelry? It must have cost a fortune!"

Ron knelt down for a closer look. "Ginny doesn't own anything like that," he said, tugging at the new cloak Allegra had given him. Malachi saw a glint of something around Ron's neck.

Curious, Malachi asked, "What's that?"

"What's what?" Ron replied with a look of chagrin on his face.

"Around your neck."

Allegra stood up and went over to Ron. She picked up the chain hanging from Ron's neck and held it cupped in her hands. "You all have such wealth," she whispered in awe, "How did you ever acquire it?"

"I...dunno," Ron said, "I've never seen it before in my life." He placed his hands under Allegra's cupped hands so that they were cupped together. They both stood staring, while Malachi stood also to see what it was.

For what Allegra and Ron held in their hands was a most beautiful necklace made of copper, engraved with a hawk that had a blue topaz gem set into its wing. It was finely detailed, and finally Allegra made the connection.

"This necklace is just like Hermione's and Ginny's," she explained excitedly. She turned the necklace over so that on the back you could see an owl, a lion, a dragon, and a deer on it. "They're all related. Maybe your other friend here-"

"He's NOT my friend," said Ron stubbornly. "He's Draco Malfoy, and he's a foul Slytherin git."

"All right, the foul Slytherin git probably has a necklace like this too!" Allegra said. "Wait, pray tell, what be a 'Slytherin'?"

"You don't know what a Slytherin is?" asked Ron, shocked. "It's a house in the most famous school of witchcraft and wizardry ever!"

"So there is a school? For witchcraft and wizardry, I mean?" Malachi inquired.

"What do you mean? Of course there's a school for witchcraft and wizardry! Hogwarts, of course! And there's also Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and probably more, for all I know. When Hermione wakes up you can ask her, she's got a brain like a dictionary." Ron said.

"So the rumors are true," Malachi said softly.

Ron was confused. "What rumors?" he asked.

"Of a school, of course! Our village has been buzzing about it all week! Just imagine. A school for witchcraft and wizardry." Allegra said, letting Ron's necklace and his hands drop as she spun around the room in excitement.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is over one thousand years old! Stop joking around," said Ron in exasperation.

"No, 'tis new! Twas just built!" Malachi exclaimed.

"Malachi, I should know! I've attended Hogwarts for five years, and this is my sixth. My brothers were there before me, and my parents, and their parents, and so on and so forth! It was founded over one thousand years ago by Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin!" Ron argued.

"Godric? Godric is a founder?" Asked Allegra, stopping her crazy spinning and staring at Ron. "Godric Gryffindor is a founder of this Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

"Yes-" Ron started. Allegra began her spinning again. "I always knew he'd amount to something! He's so intelligent."

"How would you know?" asked Ron impatiently. He was starting to feel a little weird.

"We all know Godric," Allegra said, stopping once again. Her green eyes sparkled in the firelight and Ron searched them, looking for a clue as to what this was about. "I mean, our town is named after him."

"Godric Gryffindor died over a thousand years ago!" Ron persisted.

"No, he's very much alive. He is an excellent scholar and magician. He's only a few years older than me. We were the best of friends. Once, he saved the village from a dragon, that's why we named it Godric's Hollow-"

"Godric's Hollow! We're in Godric's Hollow?" shouted Ron abruptly.

"Yes! Anyway, then one day he went on a voyage and then never returned. I received a message from him once, full of strange rubbish about he and some other people-Hilda something-or-other, Rowena Owl-claw, and Salanar Slythering-and after that we never heard from him again. I was so surprised because we were such good friends." Allegra's eyes were downcast.

"Wait a second. What...what year is it?" Ron was almost afraid to hear the answer.

With a perfectly straight face, Allegra Antwerp replied, "The year of our Lord 987."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

"WORMTAIL!" a voice thundered, echoing loudly off of the stone walls of Wormtail and Voldemort's new and permanent (hopefully) hideout.

"Yes, y-y-y-yes, Master?" Wormtail asked feebly. He knew that he was in deep trouble. Only he really didn't understand why their plan had gone wrong.

"Did you complete your task?"

"Yes, Master...but I'm afraid that something went wrong..." Wormtail cowered, waiting for the force of the blow to fall on him.

"WHAT do you MEAN, something went WRONG?" the voice of Voldemort rang even louder through the room.

"Well, I put the potion into their butterbeers as you ordered, and sent a house-elf to deliver them. But I'm afraid that young Draco Malfoy got ahold of one of them and drank it. But, it was most curious, Master. Draco just.just froze. Then Potter, Granger, and the two Weasleys drank theirs, they all froze, then lifted in the air and disappeared."

"Disappeared? DISAPPEARED?" bellowed Voldemort, unable to control his anger. "How many times have we gone through this? I gave you the poison. I gave you the simple job of putting it into goblets and seeing that it went down the throats of 5 Gryffindors! It's not that difficult!"

"But, Master, you must have given me the wrong bottle-" Wormtail tried to reason with the Dark Lord, wringing his silver hand and his normal hand together.

"No. Lord Voldemort is never wrong. I believe I am correct in saying that you re-labeled all the bottles of poisons in our cupboard?"

"Yes..." Wormtail was unsure what his master was playing at.

"So it is simple," Voldemort's red eyes flashed as he stroked Nagini the snake with one long, abnormally skinny white finger, "You must have mislabeled the bottle. I merely fetched the bottle off of the shelf."

"Yes, Master, I am sorry."

"Lord Voldemort has no mercy. You have failed for the last time. I shall leave it up to you to go and inform Lucius Malfoy of what you have done with his son and only heir. And woe betides you if he hexes you. So give me the empty bottle that you used to try and poison the students, and I will determine what was inside it. Bring Lucius back here if you are still alive when he finishes with you."





A/N: Sorry again for this long delay, and I've been trying to make chapters longer so I hope this was better. Thanks for reading, and please review!