Chapter Eighteen: Into the Fire
**Does anyone know what really happened?**
**I think a few have their suspicions, but Faustas managed to keep the people who knew the whole thing to an absolute minimum.**
**Why do you think he did that?**
**You know him better than I, Lucy. Perhaps he feared that if anyone in the Guilds knew you two found a way back to each other that they would pull you out of Hogwarts and put you somewhere they could keep an eye on you. You have to admit, disaster has struck the last two times you got together.**
**We weren't responsible for the first.**
**Then there's the fear that you might inspire others to attempt that crazy stunt. And I'm betting if anyone else tried what you did we'd have two graves rather than a fried Master and a broken Advanced Intermediate. I don't know how that bond of yours became established, but it probably saved his life, and yours.**
**Mine was never in danger.**
**Oh? You're standing right now because you were able to take care of yourself afterward. If anything had happened to Diego I'm betting you would have thrown yourself into the Void after him believing you could still find a way back out. Am I wrong?**
**That would have been suicide.**
**You've never been known to keep a clear head when the people you love are in danger, sweetheart. Or was that not you who managed to find a way home, one that was not supposed to exist, last year when Espiritu was attacked?**
**The world may never know. Now, we've danced around this long enough Aislan, how is he?**
During the pause Lucy was quite positive she could hear her own heartbeat.
**He's not conscious, he was for a moment, but he was delirious. He kept calling after you, I'm not sure he's even aware that he is not in the void anymore. But don't worry, Lucy, it was a very good sign that he was out, even if it was only for a moment, it will help his body start to realize where it is. We won't let anything happen to him.**
Lucy swallowed hard. Losing her family had left her empty and cold, but the thought of losing Diego again had left her paralyzed in the long, silent hours before dawn, until she finally got word from the Healing Temple/Training School in Nepal that he was going to be all right. Aislan and Marie, Lucy and Diego's Medicinal friends from Chadwicks, had been moved there from the Sahara just three days before.
**And Marie?**
**Has committed to a surgical focus.**
**Really?** Lucy was surprised, since surgical focus medicinals took longer than almost all other medicinals to complete training, and had to do the most work. In Chadwicks, the two had been known for avoiding work at all costs, and had never paid for it because their natural near-genius intelligence enabled them to sail through exams. It was obvious that their experience in the Congo epidemic had changed their priorities.
**What about you Aislan?**
**Oh, I don't know yet. I might go in for a trauma specialist or pediatrics, but I have some time yet. We have to complete the medicinal trials before we specialize.**
**Any idea when that will be?**
**A year, two at the most, unless they speed us up for some reason.**
**So you'll be split up?**
**We'll have to be. She's going to have to be in Kiyoto for a year at least, and the little gods only know where I'll turn up. Don't relish the idea though.**
**I understand.** She understood all too well.
**Listen, he's going to be FINE! You just concentrate on not getting drawn and quartered or turned into a toad or whatever it is that the Eastern Circle does to people who don't get their forms signed.**
**Thanks for the encouragement.**
**Do they still use the stocks?**
**Goodbye Aislan!**
**Don't lose your head!**
Lucy smiled as the image faded from the thin circle of foil stretched over the round wire frame. As soon as Aislan dropped the connection the foil blackened and crumbled. It was a sort of "this message will self-destruct" for the Western Circle. Lucy was still not allowed to use a mirror.
She chuckled to herself as she swept up the ashes and dropped them in the fire. She tried to keep a light heart as she selected clothes to place in the small trunk Lavender had loaned her for the trip. She refused to let Ron's comment that Lavender better resign herself to never seeing the trunk again weigh upon her mind. The truth was, she was nervous, terribly nervous, and there was no one to talk to about it.
She fingered the small quartz stone on the bracelet Faustas had brought her, sighed, and tried to push worry to the back of her mind. She turned around, saw Seamus in the doorway, and jumped a foot in the air. Her reflexes kicked in and she hung there for a few breaths before slowly sinking to the ground.
"If you had wanted to scare me you could have just pulled a gun."
"Sorry," he said as he eased himself from the doorframe, "I thought you would have known I was there."
Lucy's eyebrow shot up. She had been alone in the room, the girls were all at dinner, she had expected the Tower to be empty when she made the call.
And she hadn't locked the door.
And the look in Seamus' eyes began to make sense.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to realize you haven't spoke two words of truth together all term."
"Seamus-"
"You told me that you had been cut off. That you had been blocked from all communication, that you were getting no news and were passing none on to the Circle. You said you had been discharged from the Guild until summer. You PROMISED me that you would tell me before you ever tried another stunt like you pulled last spring. And now... have you told me anything that hasn't been a lie?"
"It's complicated, Seamus."
"You lied to everyone, and you lied to me. I trusted you. I put myself in your hands last year after you-"
"After I what?"."
"I didn't have this problem until you lost control Lucy."
That hurt, mostly because it was true. But Lucy wasn't interested in hearing it.
"If you wanted to start laying blame Seamus it's a little late to start. I have done everything I could to make it up to you-"
"So that's what this has been? You're way of getting rid of the guilt? How am I supposed to know who you are anymore?"
"I am the same person I always have been and I have done exactly what I was supposed to do. But this is who I am, and this is what I have to do now."
"You expect me to just accept that?"
Lucy paused, took a deep breath, and looked him straight in the eye.
"I don't expect you to do anything you are not willing to do."
"And you're just going to keep on deceiving everyone?"
"I will do what I am entrusted to, and whatever it takes to make sure what happened to me never happens again."
"You don't care who you hurt?"
"I'm trying to keep thousands of others from getting hurt. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone."
"What about us, we're your friends Lucy."
"A friend would understand that I have responsibilities."
"A friend would trust enough to confide."
"Not when they're not my secrets to give."
"I wasn't talking about your Guild secrets," he spat, "I meant you. You're never around, you skulk about the castle, you have bruises on your arms that never seem to fade and bags under your eyes that don't go away either. And you haven't said a word. I can FEEL it when you're upset, or scared, or worried and how do you think it makes me feel when you don't tell me?"
"How do you think it makes me feel that I can't tell you? I wish I could, but I can't. I can't change for you, I can't make you a part of this, and you have to accept that."
"I can't have a friend I know is lying to me."
They hadn't moved. Seamus remained in the doorway, Lucy by the window. The entire distance across the room was still too confining.
"Well," she began slowly, "I wouldn't want you to do anything that was against your ethics."
"Fine then."
"Fine."
Seamus had only taken one step back when the door closed swiftly behind him. Lucy hadn't moved from her spot
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"Try to stay out of trouble."
"And not to talk back."
"And be polite to your host."
"And whatever you do..."
"Don't lose your temper."
They were lecturing her, scolding her, all but threatening her. And they were five years younger. Lucy tried to keep a straight face as she nodded and promised Parker and Marguerite that she would be on her best behavior. It was clear the pair of first years thought she was going to insult the first authority figure she saw on principle.
"And if you do get into trouble, go to the French Embassy, my parents will help you if they can."
She gave them both a quick hug. "I am going to be just fine. You enjoy your holiday and I will see you when I get back."
"Miss Montero!"
Lucy growled and turned around to see McGonagall tapping her foot impatiently near the main door, the rest of the in-violation Gryffindor internationals with her.
She stuck her tongue out at Parker and Marguerite, grabbed her trunk, and hurried to catch up.
"I hope I do not need to remind you what I expect of you all while you are away from this school," the Deputy Headmistress began as they walked to Hogsmeade, regular students were taking the carriages, but McGonagall claimed she wanted to keep an eye on everyone. Lucy thought it was a punishment. Then the Head of Gryffindor House, regardless of the need for it, repeated what she had told them several times before anyway.
When they finally, breathless, reached the station, they were led to the very back of the train. A man in crisp designer suit robes was standing at the door of the last car.
"Bound for the Ministry?"
"Yes," McGonagall replied, "These are the students from Gryffindor House. They are to be staying with the LeFey family."
The man glanced at the parchment in his hand and nodded, "Very good, if you would tell me their names as they step forward and present their forms. I need an ID conformation."
Warren rolled his eyes as Wesley stepped forward with the bright red papers they had been sent earlier in the week. The Ministry wizard signed them, as did McGonagall, and Wesley was permitted to board the train.
When Lucy entered the car she saw that it was larger than the normal cars, although it appeared the same size from the outside. Also, there were no separate compartments. Couches lined both sides and the back, which had no door to connect to the rest of the train, and the middle of the car was filled with couches and armchairs. All of them various shades of purple.
The Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins were already there. Apparently the Ministry wasn't going to risk losing anyone by giving them the chance to slip away into a compartment on the Express.
The Gryffindors headed for the couches along the back wall and the arm chairs near them. All the trunks went into a large rack on the ceiling.
"Well," Lucy grumbled as she draped her feet over the side of an armchair, "I guess this means the candy cart won't be coming by."
"How do you like the accommodations?" Audrey Su came over, giving her sister Karen a squeeze on the shoulder and sitting on the arm of the sofa next to Warren.
"Feels like a plush, purple prison," Nicholas looked at the velvet cushions of the sofa with disgust.
"The bars on the windows are a nice touch," Svetlana added.
At that moment the door to the car was shut with a bang. All heads turned to see the Ministry Officials, three of them, and Professor Snape, who would be accompanying them as far as London.
To her left Lucy heard the Ravenclaw Mikhail Fedorov mutter to Aysha. "It's going to be a long trip."
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When they arrived at Kings Cross, the door to Lucy's car did not open. She and several others, including Alessandra, Sasha, Lorenzo, and the twins Kentaro and Koji Tsujimoto kneeled on the couches under the windows, watching sadly as the rest of their friends found their families and walked away into London. It was only when the rest of the Express was empty and the platform clear that they began to prepare the paperwork to de-board.
After Snape had confirmed their ID's and given them a slightly scarier version of McGonagall's speech, involving dungeon detentions until they were very old, the students were led away from the train. Lucy looked back after heaving her trunk on the cart, and Snape was gone.
When they approached the barriers several more Ministry wizards approached them, and they all stopped. The man from the train stepped to the front of the group and surveyed them severely down the length of a long, straight nose that Lucy thought resembled a beak.
"You will go through one at a time, but accompanied by a Ministry official. They will pass you off to an official on the opposite side, and they will guide you to a pre-designated gathering place. You will wait there until the rest of the group is assembled."
Leigh and Gisella rolled their eyes. The Ministry official either didn't see or didn't care, and took Saori through first.
By the time Lucy went through more than half the group was gone. The Ministry official took her by the arm, a little to tightly for her tastes, and walked her through to the Kings Cross main platform, where she was handed off to another Ministry Official, a woman with black hair pulled back in a severe bun. The new woman took her by the arm, just as tightly, and walked her at a fast clip through the station, down some stairs, and through a dark corridor. She unlocked a heavy wooden door and after signing another form admitted Lucy and her paperwork into a large room where the other students were assembled.
It was another fifteen minutes before they were all together. The man from the train appeared again.
"Please arrange yourselves into Houses. You will be taken to your lodgings tonight and the proceedings will begin in the morning. You are not required to wear robes, but this is a formal inquiry, so dress appropriately. My name is Smethyls. That's S. M. E. T. H. Y. L. S. Don't forget the 'Y'. If you have any questions I am your liaison with the Ministry. Now, remember that you are being taken into the homes of distinguished Hogwarts alumni, I hope I do not need to remind you of what is expected of your behavior."
He proceeded to do just that. Mr. Smethyls, like all adults, it seemed, had a distinct lack of confidence in their ability to act like anything besides a pack of wild dogs.
He was just finishing the part on table manners when the door opened and another man in Ministry attire led in a handsome man in his late thirties, a neat, graceful woman in her sixties, and a tall severe man with very blond hair accompanied by a house elf. Lucy had no idea who the first two were, but she recognized Lucius Malfoy instantly.
"Ah, right on time. These are your hosts. Mr. Jeremy Bones will be hosting the Hufflepuff students, Mrs. Lucinda Merriweather will be hosting the Ravenclaws. Mr. Lucius Malfoy will be hosting the Slytherins in his London residence, and..."
For the first time since they had met Mr. Smethyls he lost his icy composure.
"Where is Georgiana? Georgiana LeFey? She's hosting the Gryffindors."
"I'm afraid she can't, Smethyls," Mr. Bones replied. "I got an owl from the LeFey household not twenty minutes ago. She regrets to inform you that she will be unable to lodge to students."
"But-but,I-" the poor man stuttered, "why on earth not?"
"Dragonpox, as I understand it."
"She's far too old to have dragonpox."
"Not Georgiana, Smethyls, her children. Daniel and Elliot."
"Is it serious?"
"No, the doctors assured Georgiana and Dan that the boys would be out of bed in a week or so, just as soon as they were no longer flammable. But they have their hands full. Not to mention the questionable nature of international vaccines..."
"Yes, yes, you're right, of course. But where to put them?"
"Well, there aren't that many Hufflepuffs staying with us, Angie and I thought we had room for about four more. And Lucinda said she could take three so..."
Before she realized what was happening, Warren, Karen, and William made a dive for Mrs. Lucinda Merriweather, and Nicholas, Svetlana, Alessandra, and Wesley took a step towards Mr. Bones. And before she could plead to simply be allowed to sleep on the floor of the Ministry...
"Lucius, do you think you have room for one more?"
Her heart fell into her shoes. Lucius Malfoy gave her a look she thought ought to be reserved for spoilt food, but, nevertheless...
"Oh, I think we can manage."
"Well, it's all settled then," Smethyls gave Lucy a push towards the Slytherins. She barely had time to catch the apologetic look in Warren's eyes before Mr. Malfoy had spun on his heel and was leading them out of the room, followed by a Ministry official.
There were two cars waiting outside King's Cross where Mr. Malfoy led them. They were split between the two, and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief that she managed to get into the car that did NOT carry Draco's father. In the back of her mind she wondered if Draco had decided to go home for the holidays as well.
The Malfoy's "city residence" looked something like a hotel. It was very large, and very pretty, and you were not supposed to touch anything. It was late and Lucuis bid them goodnight as the house elves and one Ministry Official followed them up to their rooms on the third floor.
"Gentlemen," the house elf, Tribbles, Lucy remembered, indicated the second room on the left and the Ministry Official nodded for the boys to go in. The girls were put into the third room on the left.
Sasha, Mai, Lesley, Saori, Katya, and Lucy looked around the room.
It had obviously not been designed to sleep six. But Lucy was, nonetheless, impressed by the incredibly large windows on the opposite wall. There was a fireplace on the far left wall, and the bathroom on the far right. In addition to the large four poster bed there were three small cots, as well as a sofa and armchair near the fire.
"I guess no one told them I was coming."
Mai shrugged, "It's no matter. That bed can easily fit two, more if we need to, and there's the couch."
Tired, hungry, and not willing to put up much of a fight over anything at the moment, the girls quickly came to the decision that Lesley and Sasha, being the smallest, would take the big bed, Mai, Saori and Katya would take the cots, and Lucy, being the shortest of the rest, would take the sofa.
She didn't mind, it wasn't terribly lumpy, and it was the closest spot to the fire. She was just about to suggest they get changed when a knock came at the door.
Lesley answered it to reveal a Ministry Official and a House Elf holding a long narrow box.
"Can we help you?' Katya eyed the man suspiciously.
"I've come to collect your wands."
"What?"
"It is standard policy, and especially as you are guests in the home of distinguished alumni, some of which will be entertaining important guests during your stay, we want to assure that no mishaps occur. Now, please place your wands in the box. They will be kept safe for you and returned when you make your journey home."
They had no choice. Each brought her wand forward and bent down to place it in the House Elf's box.
"Thank you for your cooperation." With a smile that looked more like a sneer, the Ministry Official turned on his heel and left, the elf following behind.
It wasn't difficult to determine when the boys had to yield up their wands. Dimitri's cursing, which was both creative and vehement, could be heard remarkably clearly through the wall.
A little too clearly. Mai approached the fireplace and looked up the flu.
"What are you doing?"
"We can hear them so well, I thought maybe the chimneys were connected or something."
She ran her hand along the marble mantel, and lazily along the wall, knocking paintings askew and tapestries crooked. She picked up her fingers and examined the tips.
"I do have to hand it to the Malfoy's, not a speck of dust."
"What is that?" Sasha hopped out of an armchair and ran over to the wall near the mantel.
"What's what?"
"There's a handle there, help me move this painting." Lucy, Katya, Saori and Lesley hurried over to help.
There, were the painting had hung, they could clearly make out the outline of a panel of wood that ran from the floor to 5 ½ feet above it, and was two feet wide. The painting had covered the top of it, and without that horizontal break it had looked just like any other piece of paneling. The handle Sasha had seen was three inches high and an inch wide, smooth metal, and the painting had been far enough out from the wall that it was not affected by it.
Lucy grabbed on it and pulled. It didn't budge. She tried again, and the door moved slightly. One more heave had the girls looking into a narrow cabinet two feet by 5 ½ extending for three feet, and ending in a wall.
"Wood," Lucy said, stepping in and examining the space.
"What?"
"Wood, this was a cabinet for storing wood, it was considered unsightly for it to be out in a scuttle near the fire. This must have been a muggle house before the Malfoy's owned it."
"What do you say that?"
"Think about it," Saori added, "No self-respecting wizard would build a room to house logs for fire when a magical one is just as easy to create."
"I saw one just like it when we went to visit Salem, the House of the Seven Gables had one, only, that one had a secret-"
Forgetting the secret passage, which led to a room for hiding runaway slaves, Lucy examined the crack in the far wall. She pushed, then again, and the door popped open, with Lucy falling half out of the cabinet and into the boys room.
She looked up to see an astonished Misha staring down at her.
"Lovely evening, isn't it?"
It took a little explaining to sort out how Lucy had managed to come flying out through a tapestry and into their room (and for a few of the boys to hastily grab robes to toss over their boxer shorts) but once everything was cleared up the boys were thrilled with the discovery.
"I bet they don't even know its here. This is great, now they can't keep us separated, we'll know exactly what is going on."
"It also gives us another exit," Sasha pointed out.
"What would we need it for though?"
Sasha shrugged, and soon after the girls trooped back through the wall into their own room to go to bed. Mai made the suggestion of putting the sofa in front of the hidden door, just in case the boys got any funny ideas. Lucy didn't know if it was necessary, but the Slytherin women seemed to know their own well enough, so she agreed and helped push the back of the sofa against the wall before she snuggled down and fell asleep.
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It was entirely too early when a loud pounding on their door woke the girls the next morning. Lesley growled and pulled the covers back over her head. Lucy snuggled back into the couch.
THUD.
"Ow," Lesley glared across the bed as she got up, rubbing her bottom. Apparently if Sasha wasn't able to go back to sleep, no one was going back to sleep. After ejecting Lesley the two of them threw pillows at the rest of the party until everyone was on their feet. Lucy was tempted to send the cushion hurled in her direction directly back at the offender, but decided it was best to tone down her abnormalities, no matter how much the girls knew. She did not intend to be hit, however, and a small push had the pillow veering off course and landing harmlessly three feet away.
It was going to be a long day.
Katya gave them an inspection before going down to breakfast. Once everyone's tie was straight, socks were untwisted and shoes were clean they set out. Lucy felt a bit uncomfortable, she normally wore her Espiritu uniform under her robes, and her regular Hogwarts attire was so unused it felt a bit stiff.
But then again, that would probably make her fit right in.
The Ministry official knocked on their door, entered, and motioned for them all to precede him into the hall. They collected the boys in the same manner and almost marched their way to breakfast.
"They aren't going to let us go anywhere unguarded for the entire trip," Dimitri gravely realized.
"Then I guess we should be glad the bathroom is connected to the bedroom, shouldn't we?" Vlad's joke didn't lift anyone's spirits, and breakfast was a rather quiet, grumpy affair.
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"Where are the other houses?" Lucy elbowed Koji (or was it Kentaro?) They had traveled by flu powder from a grand fireplace in a large and lavish parlor on the second floor of the Malfoy home to "Ministry Immigration" and Lucy had rather uncomfortably fallen out from a fireplace at the end of a bustling hallway. No sooner had she landed than one of three Ministry Officials that were apparently standing by for arrivals took her by the arm with a degree of pressure she was becoming accustomed to, and whisked her down the hallway, through a corridor to the right, opened a door about a mile down THAT corridor and all but shoved her into the arms of the official waiting there to receive her.
"Name?"
"Lucy Montero," she grumbled, hauling the stack of papers out of her satchel to be signed and returned. After business was finished she was motioned in just in time as another official arrived dragging Costanzo by the arm appeared at the door.
So now she sat, as they had been instructed to by the guard, in a hard wooden chair, swinging her legs and waiting anxiously for the arrival of Warren, who usually managed to calm her down about most anything.
Whatever twin she had elbowed just shrugged, and Lucy slouched, folding her arms. "Immigration bites."
It was a full thirty minutes before the door opened and Lucy saw the guard process Karen's papers. Karen wasn't paying much attention, but rather was peeking over and around the imposing figure in front of her until she saw Lucy, grinned, and mouthed, "Are you ok?"
Lucy nodded and waved from across the room, and saw Karen's sigh of relief before she turned around, apparently communicating her discovery to someone behind her.
The Ravenclaw guests, as Lucy would later learn, had come by car rather than by flu, so the whole lot showed up at once and pretty soon Warren was striding across the room and giving a bewildered Lucy a hug.
"We were worried," he replied at her puzzled look.
"What did you think they were going to do, eat me?"
"Actually, William had money on a ritualistic blood letting..." When it became apparent that Lucy was not going to let him win, the older boy shrugged and sank into the seat that Koji/Kentaro had vacated to talk to the newcomers.
"What can I say? We felt nervous and guilty."
"Well you should, you left me out there like a sacrificial lamb."
"So, what is it like?"
"What's what like?"
"Hell, I mean, the Malfoy home."
"City residence," Lucy corrected, "the place couldn't be further from a home. And its, well, exactly what you would expect. And now I have a question for you."
"What?"
"Do they lock you in at night?"
"They post a guard, Mrs. Merriweather's doors don't have locks. I think they might have sealed them magically, I didn't check. They lock you in?"
Lucy nodded. "Did they take your wands?"
"Yeah, yeah they did. You should have heard Mikhail letting the Ministry guy have it for that. That wand comes back so much as breathed on wrong and they are going to be in a world of trouble. Apparently he's made all sorts of personal modifications on it, it's absolutely irreplaceable."
Lucy shrugged, "Ravenclaws."
"That's what I thought. They're fine mates though, lousy at poker, so it works out well for us."
"And the Merriweather place?"
"Smells like cat-" They were interrupted by the arrival of the Hufflepuff guests. After they had all been processed, apparently the guard's duty was finished, and he exited, locking the door as he left.
"Deja vu," Lukas muttered.
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"And the reason that you did not take the Hogwart's Express for your return to school at the beginning of this term?"
"I already told you, I came back early, and did not feel comfortable staying by myself in London. So I took the regular train into Hogsmeade and stayed at the Inn."
"With the Lane boys?"
Lucy raised her eyebrows and tried not to laugh. "No, not with the Lane boys, although I did see them, where I come from it would be considered somewhat inappropriate for a girl of my age to be living unsupervised with teenage boys, no matter what sort of gentlemen they appear to be."
"And you gave no thought to the fact that what you were doing violated the immigration controls put in place by the Ministry?"
"We were led to believe that all that was set up to protect students at the school, that's what you told us the restrictions and papers were there for."
"What of it?"
"Well, if we checked out with your guidelines and were let in at the beginning of the year, why on earth would they want to keep us out half way through? We're the same now as we were then. None of us suspected we would be forced through all the rigmarole until we left at the end of spring term."
From the look on her interviewer's faces, they didn't believe one word. But as Warren had reminded her, it didn't matter what they felt. Their stories had been meticulously planned and coordinated, and enough people saying the same thing would have to override any "gut feelings" they might have about whether whatever they were saying was actually the truth.
Lucy didn't mind. She'd become quite good at lying.
"And just how did you expect the Ministry to react to all of this, Miss Montero?"
"I didn't expect them to do anything at all, I'm not a criminal."
"You broke the law."
"I had no voice in the passing of that law, no vote, nor did anyone remotely concerned with my best interests. And as you people are so concerned about, I am a citizen of a different country. I complied with all regulations pertaining to the immigration of American muggles into muggle Britain, I figured that should be enough."
"It would have been had you stayed in muggle Britain, but you didn't."
"Do British students have to pass a screening to move from muggle controlled areas into wizard controlled areas?"
"Of course not."
"Then I shouldn't have to either."
There was no response, and Lucy inwardly sighed with relief. She had raised all the issues and asked all the questions that Audrey Su had assigned her, with the intent of making the Ministry question their own policy, but she had no desire to attract more attention than necessary.
When they had finished, she was escorted back to the detainment room, and there was nothing more to be done. Sentencing would be the next day, if they were found in-violation.
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It was night by the time they returned to the Malfoy household. But rather than the quiet that one would expect, the living room Lucy fell out into was bustling with people.
The Slytherin visitors stared. They were surrounded by people, drinking, eating tiny sandwiches, most with house elves at their elbows to run and get more food when called.
It appeared that Mr. Malfoy was having a party. He spied them immediately.
"Welcome back, my what a long day they gave you! You are hungry no doubt, the buffet is through those doors in the dining room, help yourselves. Don't mind the crowd I'm having a few friends over, colleagues, no doubt they know your parents," his gaze fell to Lucy, "Well, most of them at any rate."
Lucy stared right back, nonplussed.
"I'd invite you to stay, but I believe our Ministry friends would feel more comfortable with you in a more, contained, environment. One of the house elves will help you bring the food up to your rooms, goodnight."
With a cool smile their host slipped out into the hall. Lucy craned her neck to see where he went, and was rewarded with the sight of a door at the end of the hall swinging shut with a click. However, it was the door she found most interesting. She managed to slip their guard in the bustle to eat and quickly made her way to the door Mr. Malfoy had just entered. Above it was a seal, a very peculiar seal that Lucy was sure she had seen sometime before. She noted that this room was situated approximately under her own, and decided to look into the ventilation system before going to bed. But that seal still nagged at her, she had seen it before.
They were hurried through the buffet line and up to their rooms before "any trouble" could be cause. The door was closed with a decisive click as the locks, physical and magical, fell into place.
There wasn't much conversation before bed that night, dinner was a quiet affair punctuated by few uplifting comments.
"So, what do you think it will be, hot oil or the rack?"
"Do they still behead people?"
"Where are they keeping prisoners now that Azkaban's full?"
They went to bed early. Lucy rotated with Mai, taking her cot at the far end of the room. Lights were out, Sasha was snoring, but she couldn't manage to fall asleep. Something was nagging at her. And it was coming from the floor.
It was voices, several of them, and none of them happy.
Propping herself up on one elbow, a quick glance around the room showed that no one else had heard a thing. Mindful of the creaky cot she silently slid out from under the covers and onto the floor on the side closest to the wall.
She found the source of the voices, a vent with an elaborately designed wrought iron cover partially hidden by the cot. An ear to the floor told her the voices were coming from the room below, the room she had seen Mr. Malfoy enter.
"And you're sure no one suspects?"
"If they do then they're doing a fine job of looking everywhere but in the right place. For all they know the entire lot has just disappeared."
"And we can be certain of their...fidelity?"
"We ARE in a much better position to provide them with what they want, now aren't we?"
"Answer the question, Crabbe, don't try to make your self sound more intelligent then you are, it doesn't suit."
"They're ours, no question."
"And the smokescreen? Lucius, certainly you've been in the best position to observe it in action?"
"Hardly, but seeing as there are students being questioned and in fact, being held in this very building, I see no reason to think anything other than that the Ministry is completely convinced as to the source of the disturbances."
"Very good, now-"
"Now, I have a question of mine own, if it won't take too much time. At the last moment I was saddled with an additional charge, something about one of the LeFey brats having a cold. Since this is my home and I like to be well informed about everyone in it, perhaps one of your men working under Edward Farnsworth could enlighten us with whatever they know about a dark haired Gryffindor girl, in the sixth year, I believe?"
Lucy gulped, well, at least now she would know what they knew.
"Lucy Montero, isn't it? Yes, sixteen, second year at school, American, caused a bit of a stir last year as I understand but this year it seems no one pays much attention. Apparently the girl learned how to fit in."
"A bit of a stir?"
"From what I understand she managed to be placed in the fifth year class but knew next to nothing of wand usage, if you believe that. Seems Dumbledore must have been doing a favor for an old friend, only explanation really. She also managed to get into a few fights, or at least, she was remanded for discipline matters frequently and had several trips to the headmaster himself, the reasons were kept private. There was also some fantastical rumor about her being accompanied by a large savage bird...."
"Sounds like a complete barbarian, and this year?"
"Keeps to herself. She has been seen among Mr. Harry Potter's entourage, although that's not unusual for a year-mate in the same house, but most often we found her wandering the castle by herself, seems to know the place quite well for having spent only a year in it, my men had trouble keeping up at times; but since she never did anything interesting, they didn't investigate it further."
"So she isn't the one who has been causing the set-backs?"
"Definitely not. It would be very unlikely given her, shall we say, lack of sophistication with advanced spells that she could be interfering in the groundwork. It would require someone with much more remarkable abilities."
"How long until you eliminate the problem?"
"Hard to say, especially since whatever has been acting against us is coming from within the school. Since Dumbledore pulled the last of Edward's men out, we've been working almost blindly. You know Severus can only give so much."
"No excuses, Simon. And find out what school Miss Lucy transferred in from. It could be that our two American pests are connected somehow. Now, speak of the Gryffindor, what about the other project?"
"We need more data, I've said it before. There's no way to crack any of what we have without some kind of key."
"Easier said than done! Neither you or Lucius has ever been out collecting, those people are unnatural, they....make your head itch."
"For a society that is basically defenseless, I fail to understand what has been the cause of all the setbacks."
"We've-"
"I don't want to hear it, not from you or anyone. I hope none of us forget that we are not serving a Master who is accustomed to failure. He's waited a long time, but I don't think any of us want to test the limit of that patience. Now, if you will follow me, we can take a look at what we HAVE managed to sort out from all those hieroglyphics and other nonsense. This way."
Lucy heard the sound of scuffling feet and the closing of a door. She flopped back onto her cot, although something told her sleep was not an option.
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**Does anyone know what really happened?**
**I think a few have their suspicions, but Faustas managed to keep the people who knew the whole thing to an absolute minimum.**
**Why do you think he did that?**
**You know him better than I, Lucy. Perhaps he feared that if anyone in the Guilds knew you two found a way back to each other that they would pull you out of Hogwarts and put you somewhere they could keep an eye on you. You have to admit, disaster has struck the last two times you got together.**
**We weren't responsible for the first.**
**Then there's the fear that you might inspire others to attempt that crazy stunt. And I'm betting if anyone else tried what you did we'd have two graves rather than a fried Master and a broken Advanced Intermediate. I don't know how that bond of yours became established, but it probably saved his life, and yours.**
**Mine was never in danger.**
**Oh? You're standing right now because you were able to take care of yourself afterward. If anything had happened to Diego I'm betting you would have thrown yourself into the Void after him believing you could still find a way back out. Am I wrong?**
**That would have been suicide.**
**You've never been known to keep a clear head when the people you love are in danger, sweetheart. Or was that not you who managed to find a way home, one that was not supposed to exist, last year when Espiritu was attacked?**
**The world may never know. Now, we've danced around this long enough Aislan, how is he?**
During the pause Lucy was quite positive she could hear her own heartbeat.
**He's not conscious, he was for a moment, but he was delirious. He kept calling after you, I'm not sure he's even aware that he is not in the void anymore. But don't worry, Lucy, it was a very good sign that he was out, even if it was only for a moment, it will help his body start to realize where it is. We won't let anything happen to him.**
Lucy swallowed hard. Losing her family had left her empty and cold, but the thought of losing Diego again had left her paralyzed in the long, silent hours before dawn, until she finally got word from the Healing Temple/Training School in Nepal that he was going to be all right. Aislan and Marie, Lucy and Diego's Medicinal friends from Chadwicks, had been moved there from the Sahara just three days before.
**And Marie?**
**Has committed to a surgical focus.**
**Really?** Lucy was surprised, since surgical focus medicinals took longer than almost all other medicinals to complete training, and had to do the most work. In Chadwicks, the two had been known for avoiding work at all costs, and had never paid for it because their natural near-genius intelligence enabled them to sail through exams. It was obvious that their experience in the Congo epidemic had changed their priorities.
**What about you Aislan?**
**Oh, I don't know yet. I might go in for a trauma specialist or pediatrics, but I have some time yet. We have to complete the medicinal trials before we specialize.**
**Any idea when that will be?**
**A year, two at the most, unless they speed us up for some reason.**
**So you'll be split up?**
**We'll have to be. She's going to have to be in Kiyoto for a year at least, and the little gods only know where I'll turn up. Don't relish the idea though.**
**I understand.** She understood all too well.
**Listen, he's going to be FINE! You just concentrate on not getting drawn and quartered or turned into a toad or whatever it is that the Eastern Circle does to people who don't get their forms signed.**
**Thanks for the encouragement.**
**Do they still use the stocks?**
**Goodbye Aislan!**
**Don't lose your head!**
Lucy smiled as the image faded from the thin circle of foil stretched over the round wire frame. As soon as Aislan dropped the connection the foil blackened and crumbled. It was a sort of "this message will self-destruct" for the Western Circle. Lucy was still not allowed to use a mirror.
She chuckled to herself as she swept up the ashes and dropped them in the fire. She tried to keep a light heart as she selected clothes to place in the small trunk Lavender had loaned her for the trip. She refused to let Ron's comment that Lavender better resign herself to never seeing the trunk again weigh upon her mind. The truth was, she was nervous, terribly nervous, and there was no one to talk to about it.
She fingered the small quartz stone on the bracelet Faustas had brought her, sighed, and tried to push worry to the back of her mind. She turned around, saw Seamus in the doorway, and jumped a foot in the air. Her reflexes kicked in and she hung there for a few breaths before slowly sinking to the ground.
"If you had wanted to scare me you could have just pulled a gun."
"Sorry," he said as he eased himself from the doorframe, "I thought you would have known I was there."
Lucy's eyebrow shot up. She had been alone in the room, the girls were all at dinner, she had expected the Tower to be empty when she made the call.
And she hadn't locked the door.
And the look in Seamus' eyes began to make sense.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to realize you haven't spoke two words of truth together all term."
"Seamus-"
"You told me that you had been cut off. That you had been blocked from all communication, that you were getting no news and were passing none on to the Circle. You said you had been discharged from the Guild until summer. You PROMISED me that you would tell me before you ever tried another stunt like you pulled last spring. And now... have you told me anything that hasn't been a lie?"
"It's complicated, Seamus."
"You lied to everyone, and you lied to me. I trusted you. I put myself in your hands last year after you-"
"After I what?"."
"I didn't have this problem until you lost control Lucy."
That hurt, mostly because it was true. But Lucy wasn't interested in hearing it.
"If you wanted to start laying blame Seamus it's a little late to start. I have done everything I could to make it up to you-"
"So that's what this has been? You're way of getting rid of the guilt? How am I supposed to know who you are anymore?"
"I am the same person I always have been and I have done exactly what I was supposed to do. But this is who I am, and this is what I have to do now."
"You expect me to just accept that?"
Lucy paused, took a deep breath, and looked him straight in the eye.
"I don't expect you to do anything you are not willing to do."
"And you're just going to keep on deceiving everyone?"
"I will do what I am entrusted to, and whatever it takes to make sure what happened to me never happens again."
"You don't care who you hurt?"
"I'm trying to keep thousands of others from getting hurt. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone."
"What about us, we're your friends Lucy."
"A friend would understand that I have responsibilities."
"A friend would trust enough to confide."
"Not when they're not my secrets to give."
"I wasn't talking about your Guild secrets," he spat, "I meant you. You're never around, you skulk about the castle, you have bruises on your arms that never seem to fade and bags under your eyes that don't go away either. And you haven't said a word. I can FEEL it when you're upset, or scared, or worried and how do you think it makes me feel when you don't tell me?"
"How do you think it makes me feel that I can't tell you? I wish I could, but I can't. I can't change for you, I can't make you a part of this, and you have to accept that."
"I can't have a friend I know is lying to me."
They hadn't moved. Seamus remained in the doorway, Lucy by the window. The entire distance across the room was still too confining.
"Well," she began slowly, "I wouldn't want you to do anything that was against your ethics."
"Fine then."
"Fine."
Seamus had only taken one step back when the door closed swiftly behind him. Lucy hadn't moved from her spot
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"Try to stay out of trouble."
"And not to talk back."
"And be polite to your host."
"And whatever you do..."
"Don't lose your temper."
They were lecturing her, scolding her, all but threatening her. And they were five years younger. Lucy tried to keep a straight face as she nodded and promised Parker and Marguerite that she would be on her best behavior. It was clear the pair of first years thought she was going to insult the first authority figure she saw on principle.
"And if you do get into trouble, go to the French Embassy, my parents will help you if they can."
She gave them both a quick hug. "I am going to be just fine. You enjoy your holiday and I will see you when I get back."
"Miss Montero!"
Lucy growled and turned around to see McGonagall tapping her foot impatiently near the main door, the rest of the in-violation Gryffindor internationals with her.
She stuck her tongue out at Parker and Marguerite, grabbed her trunk, and hurried to catch up.
"I hope I do not need to remind you what I expect of you all while you are away from this school," the Deputy Headmistress began as they walked to Hogsmeade, regular students were taking the carriages, but McGonagall claimed she wanted to keep an eye on everyone. Lucy thought it was a punishment. Then the Head of Gryffindor House, regardless of the need for it, repeated what she had told them several times before anyway.
When they finally, breathless, reached the station, they were led to the very back of the train. A man in crisp designer suit robes was standing at the door of the last car.
"Bound for the Ministry?"
"Yes," McGonagall replied, "These are the students from Gryffindor House. They are to be staying with the LeFey family."
The man glanced at the parchment in his hand and nodded, "Very good, if you would tell me their names as they step forward and present their forms. I need an ID conformation."
Warren rolled his eyes as Wesley stepped forward with the bright red papers they had been sent earlier in the week. The Ministry wizard signed them, as did McGonagall, and Wesley was permitted to board the train.
When Lucy entered the car she saw that it was larger than the normal cars, although it appeared the same size from the outside. Also, there were no separate compartments. Couches lined both sides and the back, which had no door to connect to the rest of the train, and the middle of the car was filled with couches and armchairs. All of them various shades of purple.
The Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins were already there. Apparently the Ministry wasn't going to risk losing anyone by giving them the chance to slip away into a compartment on the Express.
The Gryffindors headed for the couches along the back wall and the arm chairs near them. All the trunks went into a large rack on the ceiling.
"Well," Lucy grumbled as she draped her feet over the side of an armchair, "I guess this means the candy cart won't be coming by."
"How do you like the accommodations?" Audrey Su came over, giving her sister Karen a squeeze on the shoulder and sitting on the arm of the sofa next to Warren.
"Feels like a plush, purple prison," Nicholas looked at the velvet cushions of the sofa with disgust.
"The bars on the windows are a nice touch," Svetlana added.
At that moment the door to the car was shut with a bang. All heads turned to see the Ministry Officials, three of them, and Professor Snape, who would be accompanying them as far as London.
To her left Lucy heard the Ravenclaw Mikhail Fedorov mutter to Aysha. "It's going to be a long trip."
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When they arrived at Kings Cross, the door to Lucy's car did not open. She and several others, including Alessandra, Sasha, Lorenzo, and the twins Kentaro and Koji Tsujimoto kneeled on the couches under the windows, watching sadly as the rest of their friends found their families and walked away into London. It was only when the rest of the Express was empty and the platform clear that they began to prepare the paperwork to de-board.
After Snape had confirmed their ID's and given them a slightly scarier version of McGonagall's speech, involving dungeon detentions until they were very old, the students were led away from the train. Lucy looked back after heaving her trunk on the cart, and Snape was gone.
When they approached the barriers several more Ministry wizards approached them, and they all stopped. The man from the train stepped to the front of the group and surveyed them severely down the length of a long, straight nose that Lucy thought resembled a beak.
"You will go through one at a time, but accompanied by a Ministry official. They will pass you off to an official on the opposite side, and they will guide you to a pre-designated gathering place. You will wait there until the rest of the group is assembled."
Leigh and Gisella rolled their eyes. The Ministry official either didn't see or didn't care, and took Saori through first.
By the time Lucy went through more than half the group was gone. The Ministry official took her by the arm, a little to tightly for her tastes, and walked her through to the Kings Cross main platform, where she was handed off to another Ministry Official, a woman with black hair pulled back in a severe bun. The new woman took her by the arm, just as tightly, and walked her at a fast clip through the station, down some stairs, and through a dark corridor. She unlocked a heavy wooden door and after signing another form admitted Lucy and her paperwork into a large room where the other students were assembled.
It was another fifteen minutes before they were all together. The man from the train appeared again.
"Please arrange yourselves into Houses. You will be taken to your lodgings tonight and the proceedings will begin in the morning. You are not required to wear robes, but this is a formal inquiry, so dress appropriately. My name is Smethyls. That's S. M. E. T. H. Y. L. S. Don't forget the 'Y'. If you have any questions I am your liaison with the Ministry. Now, remember that you are being taken into the homes of distinguished Hogwarts alumni, I hope I do not need to remind you of what is expected of your behavior."
He proceeded to do just that. Mr. Smethyls, like all adults, it seemed, had a distinct lack of confidence in their ability to act like anything besides a pack of wild dogs.
He was just finishing the part on table manners when the door opened and another man in Ministry attire led in a handsome man in his late thirties, a neat, graceful woman in her sixties, and a tall severe man with very blond hair accompanied by a house elf. Lucy had no idea who the first two were, but she recognized Lucius Malfoy instantly.
"Ah, right on time. These are your hosts. Mr. Jeremy Bones will be hosting the Hufflepuff students, Mrs. Lucinda Merriweather will be hosting the Ravenclaws. Mr. Lucius Malfoy will be hosting the Slytherins in his London residence, and..."
For the first time since they had met Mr. Smethyls he lost his icy composure.
"Where is Georgiana? Georgiana LeFey? She's hosting the Gryffindors."
"I'm afraid she can't, Smethyls," Mr. Bones replied. "I got an owl from the LeFey household not twenty minutes ago. She regrets to inform you that she will be unable to lodge to students."
"But-but,I-" the poor man stuttered, "why on earth not?"
"Dragonpox, as I understand it."
"She's far too old to have dragonpox."
"Not Georgiana, Smethyls, her children. Daniel and Elliot."
"Is it serious?"
"No, the doctors assured Georgiana and Dan that the boys would be out of bed in a week or so, just as soon as they were no longer flammable. But they have their hands full. Not to mention the questionable nature of international vaccines..."
"Yes, yes, you're right, of course. But where to put them?"
"Well, there aren't that many Hufflepuffs staying with us, Angie and I thought we had room for about four more. And Lucinda said she could take three so..."
Before she realized what was happening, Warren, Karen, and William made a dive for Mrs. Lucinda Merriweather, and Nicholas, Svetlana, Alessandra, and Wesley took a step towards Mr. Bones. And before she could plead to simply be allowed to sleep on the floor of the Ministry...
"Lucius, do you think you have room for one more?"
Her heart fell into her shoes. Lucius Malfoy gave her a look she thought ought to be reserved for spoilt food, but, nevertheless...
"Oh, I think we can manage."
"Well, it's all settled then," Smethyls gave Lucy a push towards the Slytherins. She barely had time to catch the apologetic look in Warren's eyes before Mr. Malfoy had spun on his heel and was leading them out of the room, followed by a Ministry official.
There were two cars waiting outside King's Cross where Mr. Malfoy led them. They were split between the two, and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief that she managed to get into the car that did NOT carry Draco's father. In the back of her mind she wondered if Draco had decided to go home for the holidays as well.
The Malfoy's "city residence" looked something like a hotel. It was very large, and very pretty, and you were not supposed to touch anything. It was late and Lucuis bid them goodnight as the house elves and one Ministry Official followed them up to their rooms on the third floor.
"Gentlemen," the house elf, Tribbles, Lucy remembered, indicated the second room on the left and the Ministry Official nodded for the boys to go in. The girls were put into the third room on the left.
Sasha, Mai, Lesley, Saori, Katya, and Lucy looked around the room.
It had obviously not been designed to sleep six. But Lucy was, nonetheless, impressed by the incredibly large windows on the opposite wall. There was a fireplace on the far left wall, and the bathroom on the far right. In addition to the large four poster bed there were three small cots, as well as a sofa and armchair near the fire.
"I guess no one told them I was coming."
Mai shrugged, "It's no matter. That bed can easily fit two, more if we need to, and there's the couch."
Tired, hungry, and not willing to put up much of a fight over anything at the moment, the girls quickly came to the decision that Lesley and Sasha, being the smallest, would take the big bed, Mai, Saori and Katya would take the cots, and Lucy, being the shortest of the rest, would take the sofa.
She didn't mind, it wasn't terribly lumpy, and it was the closest spot to the fire. She was just about to suggest they get changed when a knock came at the door.
Lesley answered it to reveal a Ministry Official and a House Elf holding a long narrow box.
"Can we help you?' Katya eyed the man suspiciously.
"I've come to collect your wands."
"What?"
"It is standard policy, and especially as you are guests in the home of distinguished alumni, some of which will be entertaining important guests during your stay, we want to assure that no mishaps occur. Now, please place your wands in the box. They will be kept safe for you and returned when you make your journey home."
They had no choice. Each brought her wand forward and bent down to place it in the House Elf's box.
"Thank you for your cooperation." With a smile that looked more like a sneer, the Ministry Official turned on his heel and left, the elf following behind.
It wasn't difficult to determine when the boys had to yield up their wands. Dimitri's cursing, which was both creative and vehement, could be heard remarkably clearly through the wall.
A little too clearly. Mai approached the fireplace and looked up the flu.
"What are you doing?"
"We can hear them so well, I thought maybe the chimneys were connected or something."
She ran her hand along the marble mantel, and lazily along the wall, knocking paintings askew and tapestries crooked. She picked up her fingers and examined the tips.
"I do have to hand it to the Malfoy's, not a speck of dust."
"What is that?" Sasha hopped out of an armchair and ran over to the wall near the mantel.
"What's what?"
"There's a handle there, help me move this painting." Lucy, Katya, Saori and Lesley hurried over to help.
There, were the painting had hung, they could clearly make out the outline of a panel of wood that ran from the floor to 5 ½ feet above it, and was two feet wide. The painting had covered the top of it, and without that horizontal break it had looked just like any other piece of paneling. The handle Sasha had seen was three inches high and an inch wide, smooth metal, and the painting had been far enough out from the wall that it was not affected by it.
Lucy grabbed on it and pulled. It didn't budge. She tried again, and the door moved slightly. One more heave had the girls looking into a narrow cabinet two feet by 5 ½ extending for three feet, and ending in a wall.
"Wood," Lucy said, stepping in and examining the space.
"What?"
"Wood, this was a cabinet for storing wood, it was considered unsightly for it to be out in a scuttle near the fire. This must have been a muggle house before the Malfoy's owned it."
"What do you say that?"
"Think about it," Saori added, "No self-respecting wizard would build a room to house logs for fire when a magical one is just as easy to create."
"I saw one just like it when we went to visit Salem, the House of the Seven Gables had one, only, that one had a secret-"
Forgetting the secret passage, which led to a room for hiding runaway slaves, Lucy examined the crack in the far wall. She pushed, then again, and the door popped open, with Lucy falling half out of the cabinet and into the boys room.
She looked up to see an astonished Misha staring down at her.
"Lovely evening, isn't it?"
It took a little explaining to sort out how Lucy had managed to come flying out through a tapestry and into their room (and for a few of the boys to hastily grab robes to toss over their boxer shorts) but once everything was cleared up the boys were thrilled with the discovery.
"I bet they don't even know its here. This is great, now they can't keep us separated, we'll know exactly what is going on."
"It also gives us another exit," Sasha pointed out.
"What would we need it for though?"
Sasha shrugged, and soon after the girls trooped back through the wall into their own room to go to bed. Mai made the suggestion of putting the sofa in front of the hidden door, just in case the boys got any funny ideas. Lucy didn't know if it was necessary, but the Slytherin women seemed to know their own well enough, so she agreed and helped push the back of the sofa against the wall before she snuggled down and fell asleep.
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It was entirely too early when a loud pounding on their door woke the girls the next morning. Lesley growled and pulled the covers back over her head. Lucy snuggled back into the couch.
THUD.
"Ow," Lesley glared across the bed as she got up, rubbing her bottom. Apparently if Sasha wasn't able to go back to sleep, no one was going back to sleep. After ejecting Lesley the two of them threw pillows at the rest of the party until everyone was on their feet. Lucy was tempted to send the cushion hurled in her direction directly back at the offender, but decided it was best to tone down her abnormalities, no matter how much the girls knew. She did not intend to be hit, however, and a small push had the pillow veering off course and landing harmlessly three feet away.
It was going to be a long day.
Katya gave them an inspection before going down to breakfast. Once everyone's tie was straight, socks were untwisted and shoes were clean they set out. Lucy felt a bit uncomfortable, she normally wore her Espiritu uniform under her robes, and her regular Hogwarts attire was so unused it felt a bit stiff.
But then again, that would probably make her fit right in.
The Ministry official knocked on their door, entered, and motioned for them all to precede him into the hall. They collected the boys in the same manner and almost marched their way to breakfast.
"They aren't going to let us go anywhere unguarded for the entire trip," Dimitri gravely realized.
"Then I guess we should be glad the bathroom is connected to the bedroom, shouldn't we?" Vlad's joke didn't lift anyone's spirits, and breakfast was a rather quiet, grumpy affair.
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"Where are the other houses?" Lucy elbowed Koji (or was it Kentaro?) They had traveled by flu powder from a grand fireplace in a large and lavish parlor on the second floor of the Malfoy home to "Ministry Immigration" and Lucy had rather uncomfortably fallen out from a fireplace at the end of a bustling hallway. No sooner had she landed than one of three Ministry Officials that were apparently standing by for arrivals took her by the arm with a degree of pressure she was becoming accustomed to, and whisked her down the hallway, through a corridor to the right, opened a door about a mile down THAT corridor and all but shoved her into the arms of the official waiting there to receive her.
"Name?"
"Lucy Montero," she grumbled, hauling the stack of papers out of her satchel to be signed and returned. After business was finished she was motioned in just in time as another official arrived dragging Costanzo by the arm appeared at the door.
So now she sat, as they had been instructed to by the guard, in a hard wooden chair, swinging her legs and waiting anxiously for the arrival of Warren, who usually managed to calm her down about most anything.
Whatever twin she had elbowed just shrugged, and Lucy slouched, folding her arms. "Immigration bites."
It was a full thirty minutes before the door opened and Lucy saw the guard process Karen's papers. Karen wasn't paying much attention, but rather was peeking over and around the imposing figure in front of her until she saw Lucy, grinned, and mouthed, "Are you ok?"
Lucy nodded and waved from across the room, and saw Karen's sigh of relief before she turned around, apparently communicating her discovery to someone behind her.
The Ravenclaw guests, as Lucy would later learn, had come by car rather than by flu, so the whole lot showed up at once and pretty soon Warren was striding across the room and giving a bewildered Lucy a hug.
"We were worried," he replied at her puzzled look.
"What did you think they were going to do, eat me?"
"Actually, William had money on a ritualistic blood letting..." When it became apparent that Lucy was not going to let him win, the older boy shrugged and sank into the seat that Koji/Kentaro had vacated to talk to the newcomers.
"What can I say? We felt nervous and guilty."
"Well you should, you left me out there like a sacrificial lamb."
"So, what is it like?"
"What's what like?"
"Hell, I mean, the Malfoy home."
"City residence," Lucy corrected, "the place couldn't be further from a home. And its, well, exactly what you would expect. And now I have a question for you."
"What?"
"Do they lock you in at night?"
"They post a guard, Mrs. Merriweather's doors don't have locks. I think they might have sealed them magically, I didn't check. They lock you in?"
Lucy nodded. "Did they take your wands?"
"Yeah, yeah they did. You should have heard Mikhail letting the Ministry guy have it for that. That wand comes back so much as breathed on wrong and they are going to be in a world of trouble. Apparently he's made all sorts of personal modifications on it, it's absolutely irreplaceable."
Lucy shrugged, "Ravenclaws."
"That's what I thought. They're fine mates though, lousy at poker, so it works out well for us."
"And the Merriweather place?"
"Smells like cat-" They were interrupted by the arrival of the Hufflepuff guests. After they had all been processed, apparently the guard's duty was finished, and he exited, locking the door as he left.
"Deja vu," Lukas muttered.
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"And the reason that you did not take the Hogwart's Express for your return to school at the beginning of this term?"
"I already told you, I came back early, and did not feel comfortable staying by myself in London. So I took the regular train into Hogsmeade and stayed at the Inn."
"With the Lane boys?"
Lucy raised her eyebrows and tried not to laugh. "No, not with the Lane boys, although I did see them, where I come from it would be considered somewhat inappropriate for a girl of my age to be living unsupervised with teenage boys, no matter what sort of gentlemen they appear to be."
"And you gave no thought to the fact that what you were doing violated the immigration controls put in place by the Ministry?"
"We were led to believe that all that was set up to protect students at the school, that's what you told us the restrictions and papers were there for."
"What of it?"
"Well, if we checked out with your guidelines and were let in at the beginning of the year, why on earth would they want to keep us out half way through? We're the same now as we were then. None of us suspected we would be forced through all the rigmarole until we left at the end of spring term."
From the look on her interviewer's faces, they didn't believe one word. But as Warren had reminded her, it didn't matter what they felt. Their stories had been meticulously planned and coordinated, and enough people saying the same thing would have to override any "gut feelings" they might have about whether whatever they were saying was actually the truth.
Lucy didn't mind. She'd become quite good at lying.
"And just how did you expect the Ministry to react to all of this, Miss Montero?"
"I didn't expect them to do anything at all, I'm not a criminal."
"You broke the law."
"I had no voice in the passing of that law, no vote, nor did anyone remotely concerned with my best interests. And as you people are so concerned about, I am a citizen of a different country. I complied with all regulations pertaining to the immigration of American muggles into muggle Britain, I figured that should be enough."
"It would have been had you stayed in muggle Britain, but you didn't."
"Do British students have to pass a screening to move from muggle controlled areas into wizard controlled areas?"
"Of course not."
"Then I shouldn't have to either."
There was no response, and Lucy inwardly sighed with relief. She had raised all the issues and asked all the questions that Audrey Su had assigned her, with the intent of making the Ministry question their own policy, but she had no desire to attract more attention than necessary.
When they had finished, she was escorted back to the detainment room, and there was nothing more to be done. Sentencing would be the next day, if they were found in-violation.
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It was night by the time they returned to the Malfoy household. But rather than the quiet that one would expect, the living room Lucy fell out into was bustling with people.
The Slytherin visitors stared. They were surrounded by people, drinking, eating tiny sandwiches, most with house elves at their elbows to run and get more food when called.
It appeared that Mr. Malfoy was having a party. He spied them immediately.
"Welcome back, my what a long day they gave you! You are hungry no doubt, the buffet is through those doors in the dining room, help yourselves. Don't mind the crowd I'm having a few friends over, colleagues, no doubt they know your parents," his gaze fell to Lucy, "Well, most of them at any rate."
Lucy stared right back, nonplussed.
"I'd invite you to stay, but I believe our Ministry friends would feel more comfortable with you in a more, contained, environment. One of the house elves will help you bring the food up to your rooms, goodnight."
With a cool smile their host slipped out into the hall. Lucy craned her neck to see where he went, and was rewarded with the sight of a door at the end of the hall swinging shut with a click. However, it was the door she found most interesting. She managed to slip their guard in the bustle to eat and quickly made her way to the door Mr. Malfoy had just entered. Above it was a seal, a very peculiar seal that Lucy was sure she had seen sometime before. She noted that this room was situated approximately under her own, and decided to look into the ventilation system before going to bed. But that seal still nagged at her, she had seen it before.
They were hurried through the buffet line and up to their rooms before "any trouble" could be cause. The door was closed with a decisive click as the locks, physical and magical, fell into place.
There wasn't much conversation before bed that night, dinner was a quiet affair punctuated by few uplifting comments.
"So, what do you think it will be, hot oil or the rack?"
"Do they still behead people?"
"Where are they keeping prisoners now that Azkaban's full?"
They went to bed early. Lucy rotated with Mai, taking her cot at the far end of the room. Lights were out, Sasha was snoring, but she couldn't manage to fall asleep. Something was nagging at her. And it was coming from the floor.
It was voices, several of them, and none of them happy.
Propping herself up on one elbow, a quick glance around the room showed that no one else had heard a thing. Mindful of the creaky cot she silently slid out from under the covers and onto the floor on the side closest to the wall.
She found the source of the voices, a vent with an elaborately designed wrought iron cover partially hidden by the cot. An ear to the floor told her the voices were coming from the room below, the room she had seen Mr. Malfoy enter.
"And you're sure no one suspects?"
"If they do then they're doing a fine job of looking everywhere but in the right place. For all they know the entire lot has just disappeared."
"And we can be certain of their...fidelity?"
"We ARE in a much better position to provide them with what they want, now aren't we?"
"Answer the question, Crabbe, don't try to make your self sound more intelligent then you are, it doesn't suit."
"They're ours, no question."
"And the smokescreen? Lucius, certainly you've been in the best position to observe it in action?"
"Hardly, but seeing as there are students being questioned and in fact, being held in this very building, I see no reason to think anything other than that the Ministry is completely convinced as to the source of the disturbances."
"Very good, now-"
"Now, I have a question of mine own, if it won't take too much time. At the last moment I was saddled with an additional charge, something about one of the LeFey brats having a cold. Since this is my home and I like to be well informed about everyone in it, perhaps one of your men working under Edward Farnsworth could enlighten us with whatever they know about a dark haired Gryffindor girl, in the sixth year, I believe?"
Lucy gulped, well, at least now she would know what they knew.
"Lucy Montero, isn't it? Yes, sixteen, second year at school, American, caused a bit of a stir last year as I understand but this year it seems no one pays much attention. Apparently the girl learned how to fit in."
"A bit of a stir?"
"From what I understand she managed to be placed in the fifth year class but knew next to nothing of wand usage, if you believe that. Seems Dumbledore must have been doing a favor for an old friend, only explanation really. She also managed to get into a few fights, or at least, she was remanded for discipline matters frequently and had several trips to the headmaster himself, the reasons were kept private. There was also some fantastical rumor about her being accompanied by a large savage bird...."
"Sounds like a complete barbarian, and this year?"
"Keeps to herself. She has been seen among Mr. Harry Potter's entourage, although that's not unusual for a year-mate in the same house, but most often we found her wandering the castle by herself, seems to know the place quite well for having spent only a year in it, my men had trouble keeping up at times; but since she never did anything interesting, they didn't investigate it further."
"So she isn't the one who has been causing the set-backs?"
"Definitely not. It would be very unlikely given her, shall we say, lack of sophistication with advanced spells that she could be interfering in the groundwork. It would require someone with much more remarkable abilities."
"How long until you eliminate the problem?"
"Hard to say, especially since whatever has been acting against us is coming from within the school. Since Dumbledore pulled the last of Edward's men out, we've been working almost blindly. You know Severus can only give so much."
"No excuses, Simon. And find out what school Miss Lucy transferred in from. It could be that our two American pests are connected somehow. Now, speak of the Gryffindor, what about the other project?"
"We need more data, I've said it before. There's no way to crack any of what we have without some kind of key."
"Easier said than done! Neither you or Lucius has ever been out collecting, those people are unnatural, they....make your head itch."
"For a society that is basically defenseless, I fail to understand what has been the cause of all the setbacks."
"We've-"
"I don't want to hear it, not from you or anyone. I hope none of us forget that we are not serving a Master who is accustomed to failure. He's waited a long time, but I don't think any of us want to test the limit of that patience. Now, if you will follow me, we can take a look at what we HAVE managed to sort out from all those hieroglyphics and other nonsense. This way."
Lucy heard the sound of scuffling feet and the closing of a door. She flopped back onto her cot, although something told her sleep was not an option.
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