Chapter Four
The woods outside the Malfoy manor were dark, still, lifeless. Nothing moved. Nothing, at least within a mile of that desolate stronghold of the Dark Shadow, except for one, small girl, maybe 16 years old, lying face down on the forest floor, hiding. Waiting. Listening.
Watching.
The front door of the mansion blasted open, creaking on its hinges, a note the hiding girl made in her mind, and a man with long, white hair stepped through the gaping doorway. A woman followed, tears streaming down her face, as she tried to stop him by clinging to the sleeve of his robe.
"Lucius!" The woman's voice was clogged with shed and unshed tears. "It's bad enough you are one of His, but dragging your innocent son in…."
"Narissa, that is enough!" Lucius Malfoy turned on his wife, his voice a thunderous roar. "Be silent woman! This is not your decision! It is the Dark Lord's! Draco WILL become a Death Eater, tonight, and you can do nothing to stop him. Or Him, for that matter! Now go back inside and prepare a feast of celebration for tonight! GO!"
The sobbing woman fled inside, slamming the door behind her.
The man in front of the house sighed and passed a weary hand in front of his face. In a barely audible mutter, Lucius said, "And now off to his lordship to watch my son be condemned to the same fate I have been." The girl in the forest tensed at these words, and whispered something in turn. A small bur rose from the bush beside her and went hurtling, too fast for the human eye to see, to latch itself on to the man's cloak sleeve.
All this while, Malfoy just stood there, as if waiting for a blow to fall, bracing himself for whatever unpleasantries that awaited him, then Apparated away.
The girl stayed frozen in the brush for a few moments more, then slowly stood. She stared at the pace the Senior Malfoy had been standing on the driveway, then strangely began to speak, her voice soft and solemn.
"Sis—What's up? The senior Malfoy's on the move. His son's to be initiated tonight. Do not let him leave the castle, at all costs. I repeat, do not let Draco leave the castle. I set a tracking Bur on Malfoy, and I'm taking the Earth Paths to the meeting and initiation.
"Hurry. I don't know how long I can hold against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Or Him."
At these words, the girl faltered, and the forest-green orb of energy into which she had been speaking pulsated. Her face turned slightly pale, but she continued her narrative resolutely.
"So hurry. Anyway, tell Mom I say hi. I'll send another message before I get to the meeting. I love you both. Talk to you later Twin-Dessa, Della. Identification code, 19382834048294828. 2:38 p.m., on Tuesday."
Adella Thompson sighed, and then gave a dismissing wave of her hand. The orb of earth zoomed off into the night, the girl watching it till it was gone from sight.
Adella's eyebrows knit themselves together in concentration and the ground around her began to move in a jelly-like consistency. Her body began to shimmer and turn transparent as she slipped feet first into the forest floor. Soon there was nothing left above the leave covered ground other than a soft green glow where she had sunk into the ground.
The ground streaked off into the forest and was soon lost to sight.
~*~*~*~
Professor Binns was a real bore, Adessa Thompson thought as she tried in vain to pay attention to the ghost droning on about the Dragons' Law of Ownership of 567 a.d.. What a boring teacher, what a boring topic, what a boring day… She glanced out the window at the clouded and dreary sky. A sigh from the famous Harry Potter sitting beside her she echoed with a yawn. She wrote on a little slip of paper, "I've never been this bored in my life. Sign if you agree" and slipped it into his lap. His eyes focused on the little thing, then he grinned and signed his name quickly. He passed it next to Ron, who was on his other side, and he signed his name as well. The next person it went to was Hermione, which was a mistake. She saw the scrap of paper, and snarled. She ripped it to shreds, then settled back into her frantic note taking.
Harry and Dessa just smiled knowingly at each other, then turned back to their aimless daydreaming.
"And on the twenty-seventh of June, in 567 a.d., the first law of dragon ownership was instituted…" Professor Binns droned on, "The second law involving dragon ownership was placed in 568, on January second, at precisely 6 minutes past one in the afternoon, and twelve seconds. This law banned the ownership of dragons, though from that second to now, there have been amendments added and some have broken this law. Even some on our very grounds right now…." A knowing, yet guilty look passed between the Trio, and Harry mouthed "Hagrid" for Adessa's benefit. Forgetting that little tangin, Professor Binns continued, "Some of these amendments added to the Second Law Concerning the Species Draconia, or dragon, involved hunting, breeding…."
Adessa attention wandered again, and soon she was staring into a distant, dusty corner of the room. Harry's eyes stared out past Dessa's head, and outside into the gloom. He was just about to close his eyes to take a little nap, when a glowing green…something floated in front of the window. His eyes widened and he nudged the drowsing girl beside him.
Dessa looked out the window and she sat smiled happily. She seemed to be listening to something. Soon her smile faltered. Her eyes widened in shock. Her face paled, and her hands, now grasping her history textbook, shook slightly. Her lips formed a curse, then muttered, "I have to make sure I didn't miss hear anything…the wards protecting this place are pretty strong….have to be sure…"
She ripped another piece of paper from the page she was supposedly taking notes, and hurriedly scrawled something there. She passed this to Harry, who took it from her trembling hands. It read, "I need to go outside to check something, then go to my mother. Please help me." Harry mouthed the word what, and Adessa grabbed the paper from him, scribbling something else. "That is none of your business. Please."
Harry shook his head, and scrawled in his turn on the scrap of paper. What it said Adessa seemed to accept, and she nodded wearily before sinking her head down on her hands. The words he had written played into Harry's mind.
"Wait until the end of class." Whatever it is, it can wait the 3 minutes we have left in class, he thought.
~*~*~*~
Three minutes ticked by slowly, seeming to Harry like they were three hours, not minutes, for he was just as curious to see why Adessa was so frantic, as she was anxious. The minutes must have seemed akin to thirty hours to Adessa, because she kept fidgeting.
Finally, the bell rang, and Adessa leapt out of her seat, leaving her books forgotten on the desk, and raced from the room. Harry followed in suit. The pair sped to the Entrance Hall, Harry just a step behind the daughter of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and they soon reached the closed doors. Harry began to slow down to open them for Adessa, but she plowed right along. Just as she came within ten feet of the massive doors, she flung and hand out as if slapping the air, and the doors crashed open, as if blown by a sudden wind emanating from….Harry had no idea. Harry turned to the girl, about to ask if she had felt the wind, and was shocked when he spotted the little green light he had seen was sitting in her hands.
A thing of green light, sitting in the American girl's hands….This couldn't be natural… Even by Harry's standards.
Harry slowly walked up to Adessa, and moved in front of her to look her in the face, and saw with shock that her eyes were wide with terrible understanding. She seemed to be trying to slow her breathing, as if to calm down. Harry had just gathered enough courage to say something, when she released the ball of green light, and he was blown back back by another unknown wind.
Harry was blown back five feet by the sudden blast of wind that came from Adessa as she turned on him, her eyes glowing that strange green of that orb that had caused her so much distress. Her eyes were full of anger, and she turned that loose upon him. For a split instant, Harry felt a wind surrounding him, tearing him to pieces, ripping into his skin, cutting him to shreds….
Then he moved his hand in a feeble blocking wave and yelled "Stop!" and the wind stopped. Completely. Harry looked up in surprise, and found Adessa sitting on her rump, several feet away. To his surprise, there were tears glistening in her eyes as she turned away.
"I'm so s-sorry…" She whispered, barely audible to Harry, though he strained to catch her every word. "I'm sorry…it's affected b-b-by my emotions…I had a picture of Him getting her again in my mind when you touched me…I need to go speak with my mom!!" And with that, she stood shakily and began to jog wearily towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and her mother's office. Harry shook himself out of his shock, and put her arm over her shoulder to help her.
"It's okay…But only if you tell me what happened. What that was. Only then will I forgive you." There was a teasing and malicious glint in Harry's eyes as a bit of pleading formed in hers.
"I can't tell you….Maybe later." She sighed, but remained stubborn throughout the rest of the walk to the DADA room. She was leaning on Harry's arm, something HE was very happy about, but earned him some strange looks and chucks from other people the two passed. Draco Malfoy could plainly be heard "whispering" to Crabbe and Goyle, "Look at Potty! He's decided he wants to go after the teachers daughter…." but his voice went unheard by Harry and Adessa, for they were just
Harry and Adessa reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts room and was about to knock, when the door, swung open untouched. Upon seeing Professor Thompson sitting behind her desk at the far end of the classroom, it came to him.
"Wind…" Harry whispered to himself, but Adessa caught his revelation and gave him a sharp look.
"You are far too perceptive, Mr. Potter. I'd keep that close to your chest, for a while at least." And with that, the professor's daughter took her arm off Harry's shoulder and marched resolutely to her mother's desk. Whispers were exchanged. Harry walked in the opposite direction, and was about to exit the classroom when a sharp voice said, "Mr. Potter. Stay!" Harry felt like he was a dog being told a command.
~*~*~*~
"Mom! Get it through your head! Della is in danger!" Adessa's voice was barely at a whisper as she flung her hands around in anger, just out of earshot of Harry as he watched them with curiosity. Her mother just looked calmly at her, without saying a word. After several more minutes of this, Adessa slowed her thrashing, and stood slowly. "And you are just going to leave her there, to be tortured. Your own daughter!" Adessa's voice cracked and rose to a shout as her flailing began again.
"Adessa!!!" Elane cried, rising to her feet and catching her daughter's arms in her hands. "Settle down! We are going to rescue Della, don't worry about that, but you know as well as I do that this is a trap! We need to find away around it…" Elane's head whipped around. Adessa followed her mother's gaze, and clenched her fists as she controlled her anger.
"No, mom, no way!" She exclaimed, "Harry is not trained, and relies upon that stupid piece of wood to do anything with his powers, let alone defend himself against Him!"
Harry now realized they were talking about him, and was quite unhappy with what she had said. "Hey!" he squeaked as he marched up to the professor's desk between the desks.
"That's not nice! I can take care of myself! I've defeated Voldemort once already, and I can bloody well do so again."
Both women rolled their eyes. "Not Voldemort!" Adessa cried, looking completely exasperated, "Somebody much more powerful than him!"
What blew Harry back was the fact she had said Voldemort's name. Only members of the Order of the Phoenix had ever said his name, and most were quite reluctant. "You…you said his name?" Harry choked out, quite befuddled.
"Yes, yes!" Adessa brushed this revelation off. "We Americans don't believe that a name holds power—just the physical. Well….except Della…but she is weird that way." Harry raised his eyebrows. "What?!" She asked, confused, "There are people far more powerful out there than old Voldie!" She quieted herself at a sharp glance from her mother.
"Nothing. Now who's this 'Him'?" Harry asked, and Adessa didn't look happy, while her mother sat back down. "Well? And who is this 'Della' you keep talking about? Was she captured by Voldemort? By this other Him? Tell me!"
The mother and daughter exchanged glances, then sighed simultaneously, seeming to give up. "Della is my daughter." Elane said gloomily, "Adessa's twin. Adessa and Adella, my big, grown up babies!" Dessa rolled her eyes at Harry. "Della's been spying on Voldemort, because we believe he has connections with Tyrone. The, er, baddie of America."
Harry raised his eyebrows. This was the answer he had least expected from his DADA professor. Harry opened his mouth to say as such when a light went off in Adessa's eyes.
"I have the best idea!!!" She exclaimed, completely cutting over what Harry had been about to say. She turned to her mom, ignoring him again. "Della said we have to keep that Draco Malfoy here tonight, at all costs, so…" Adessa paused dramatically, "…how about Harry watches over Draco while we go rescue my sis?! It's perfect!" Adessa was practically dancing as her mother happily nodded her consent. "This will keep Draco here, Harry safe, and leave us to clean up Della's mistake! It's perfect!" The daughter laughed.
Harry however had a shrewd, calculating look on his face. "And how," he asked slowly, "are we going to be able to keep Malfoy here, without stunning him, killing him, or physically knocking him out?!"
Adessa simply giggled, then murmured out of the side of her mouth, "A good Stupefy would do the trick….if you know what I mean!" Elane coughed, and whistled loudly, after saying, "I hear nothing! I hear nothing!"
Harry and Adessa both burst out laughing, but the practical part of Harry's mind surfaced another problem. "And how," he asked again, "Are we going to get Malfoy here? For me to Stupefy him of course." Harry could tell the Thompson's had something planned, but wasn't sure.
His suspicions were confirmed when the two women glanced at each other, and grinned an identical evil grin.
"I will be taking care of that." Adessa said joyously, but her face clouded. "So, mother dearest," she asked sarcastically, "Why hasn't old Dumbledore noticed that I used my Magic? I mean, I did use a lot."
Elane simply nodded, and said "He's at the ministry right now, trying to smooth over some….issue. I don't really know, but he is not here, and he won't sense your magic when he isn't on the premises."
"Okay," Adessa responded, while Harry just looked confused. "Don't worry about it--you will understand later." At that point, the Boy-Who-Lived just gave up.
"Now let's see if I can get the young Malfoy mofo up here." Adessa grinned evilly again at her mother's reprimand at her language, and responded in a rapper's voice, "What eva'! I do wha' I wan'!" They all laughed, then turned their attention back to the task at hand.
________________________________________________________________________
Author's note:
SORRY ALL YOU NON-EXISTENT REVIEWERS! Haha I don't have any, but I'm writing to you anyway. It's been a while since I posted, I know, but I've been bogged down in homework. Sorry about the partial/semi/maybe cliffhanger. I'll update as soon as possible. Oh, about the American idioms up there--they are stereotypic American phrases. A "mofo" is….well, a mother f***er. In slang/rap talk. And the one after that, well….that's an inside joke at my school, so most of you people might not get it.
ANYWAY!
Thank you to TeenTypist, who reviewed, and I'm STILL reading you OotP version!!! IT'S SO GOOD!!!
Over and out! Haha lol