Chapter Nineteen: Break on Through (to the Other Side)
It must be said that after all of the tension and anticipation, the actual judgment and sentencing portion of the London trip was rather anti- climatic. As per usual, the students were marched under the ever-watchful eyes of Ministry personnel through the halls of Immigration and into a large, empty room. Assembled alphabetical order in rows they stood nervously until a silver-haired wizard with the emblem of judge emblazoned on his robes walked in and stood before them.
He looked them up and down and without preamble, "Adiodicare!" With a flick of his wand scrolls appeared in the hand of each student.
"If you open the scroll in your hand you will find the judgment of the Ministry."
Lucy looked down at the red paper in her hand, and in unison with those around her, quickly broke the seal and unrolled it. One the paper lay her fate, "In violation."
From the faces of those around her, it looked like most everyone else was receiving similar news.
"The decisions," the Judge continued, "in these cases were identical, so all of you will remain for the sentencing."
Lucy cast her eyes down her line to the right, Warren Lane looked tense, the lines around his eyes were taught. He felt her stare and turned, shrugging his shoulders. No one seemed very happy, but no one seemed very surprised either. Until they got some sort of protective legislation passed, there wasn't much they could do to fight it.
The Judge was talking again. "I want to impress upon you the severity of your actions. Ours is no longer a safe world, and dangers from every corner of the earth threaten to destroy our way of life. The Immigration legislation, whether you agree with it or not, has been put in place to protect the witches and wizards who reside in this country, and that includes yourselves. Now, while you have all been found unquestionably in violation, the panel believes, or perhaps hopes," he gave them a severe gaze, "that what was done was not meant to flagrantly flaunt the laws, but rather occurred because of a lack of understanding of the new system. This...idea, has been taken into consideration during the sentencing process. As a result the panel has agreed to grant the request of your headmaster, who spoke glowingly on your behalf's," at this the Judge gave a faint grunt, as if he didn't seem to think that mattered very much, "that he be allowed to oversee sentence design, rather than the Ministry."
Murmurs rippled through the lines; surely Dumbledore was better than the Ministry chaps.
The Judge cleared his throat for silence.
"Each of you is sentenced to 200 hours of community service, to be fulfilled at Hogwarts under the supervision of your headmaster and heads of house. Now, any seventh year that fails to complete the 200 hours before graduation must make arrangements to complete the remaining hours with the Ministry. No student will be granted an Apperator's license until the hours are completed. Underclassmen who fail to complete the hours before the end of term may finish them next year. All hours are expected to be served within the time frame of one year, or further penalties will be awarded."
There was a pause, Lucy couldn't tell if the judge was finished or not.
"I would like to add on a personal note," apparently he was not finished, "that all of you should consider yourselves extremely lucky. Your sentence is incredibly light and I wish to make it quite clear that any further violations will not be handled in such an accommodating manner. A second violation will not be taken as a misunderstanding but as a threat to the Ministry, and violators will be subject to wand usage restrictions and the like." The Judge paused a moment and smiled, "I hope you will all understand when I say that I hope to never see your faces in here again."
Having said what he needed to say, the Judge left without further comment. As the door swung shut behind him Smethyls entered and stood before them.
"Your wands will be returned to you when you return to school, rest assured they are quite safe and un-tampered with," he shot a glance at Mikhail who glared right back.
They were sent home after that, and given the afternoon to rest and give the Ministry a chance to get their never-ending mountain of paperwork ready and triplicated before they departed by portkey that evening.
The Slytherins, Lucy, and their Ministry guards were all treated to lunch by Mr. Malfoy, who wasn't present but sent them his wishes for good luck on their final exams. Whatever was on the plate was supposedly a delicacy of some kind, but Lucy only managed about half of it before gag reflex overcame politeness. Nor was she the only one. While the boys devoured there plates and the leftovers of others, of the girls only Saori and Mai could stomach all of it. The adult guards were much more appreciative, and even ate the squishy black unidentifiable dots which Lucy swore were still hopping.
There was to be no socializing after the meal, the violators were marched back to their rooms and locked in for what promised to be a boring afternoon. Packing didn't take very long since none of them had brought much, and pretty soon they were sitting around staring at the ceiling. One by one, they fell asleep. Lucy thought foggily that it was rather odd, being sleepy so early in the day, but the idea didn't stop her from collapsing on the sofa next to Sasha and dropping into oblivion.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&&&&
It was the smell that woke her.
She was groggy and not really awake, but that smell, she knew it meant trouble, this had happened before, where was that smell from? She rolled turning her head away from the back of the couch out into the open air and the smell hit her again. Then she remembered, half in a dream, she'd been six, it was summer and Rosa had made Antolin some beautiful new curtains for Lucy's room. She'd spent all day on the reservation with Diego and Tony and they had shown her a gory horror movie. She'd acted brave until she got home, and then had privately asked the professor for a night light. He'd forgotten it, so Lucy had found a candle and lit it herself to keep by her bed. In the night, the new muslin curtains had caught fire, and Lucy had awakened to this the smell... the smell of smoke.
She sat straight up, fighting off the groggy feeling that would not go away. As soon as her head came up she was coughing. Smoke was billowing out of the fireplace and had filled the room. She continued to cough, sliding to the floor as the spasms rocked her body. Her coughing woke Sasha.
"What's-" The little girl was only able to manage one word before the smoke hit her throat and she was no better than Lucy. Not one to panic, she slid to the floor, covering her mouth and looking at Lucy with big frightened eyes.
By now the fuzziness had faded and Lucy could think clearer. She had no idea what was going on, but they needed to get out. By now the noise they were making had awoken Lesley and Katya on the cots, who tried to shout but ended up hacking along with the rest of them. Lucy and Sasha crawled toward the sound and met them in the middle of the room.
"Keep your heads near the floor and breath," Katya managed.
"Where's Mai and Saori?" Sasha croaked.
Lucy cast a glance up at the bed, where the two had been playing cards when she dozed off. There were still two forms there.
"They're still asleep!" She wheezed, shocked that they hadn't been awoken by the smoke irritating their lungs.
"We'll get Saori, you get Mai," Lucy and Sasha nodded as Lesley and Katya crawled toward one side of the bed, and she and Sasha took the other.
"Hold your breath," Sasha advised, before they stood up into the more smoke- filled air.
No doubt about it, Mai and Saori were still asleep. They shook and pulled, and finally dragged them off the bed. The impact of landing on the floor brought them back to consciousness.
"What-" Coughing seized Mai as she sat up. Lucy pushed her head back down to the floor. She looked under the bed across to where Saori was coming to.
"We have to get out of here!"
Katya nodded. Lesley crawled to the door and banged, again, and again.
She shook her head.
"It's locked! I don't think anyone's out there!"
Saori got herself under control. "The passage to the boys room."
Sasha shook her head, "It's right next to the fireplace, that's where the smoke is coming from, the windows?"
Lucy shook her head, "We're on the -cough- third floor." She didn't add that this wasn't such a problem for her. She didn't think floating the lot of them down in broad daylight in the middle of London would be a good idea.
"And they're locked," Katya pointed to the very thick, very secure glass. Knowing wizards, there was probably an anti-shatter charm on them as well.
Lesley shrugged, "The passage then, its-cough- the only way out."
Grim determination settled over the girls as they helped each other cross the room to the wall next to the fireplace. The smoke was practically unbearable in that part of the room so they had to act quickly. They ripped the painting off the wall and fiddled for a few precious moments with the latch before the door sprang open and Sasha slipped through to open the door on the other side.
Her prediction had been right, the passage was filled with smoke, and once the girl entered, they couldn't see her. It wasn't until her arm reached back through and beckoned that they knew it was clear.
Of course, there was no way to crawl through the narrow confines of the secret room, so each of them took a gulp of whatever good air was left on the floor before standing and hurrying through to the other side. Lucy went fourth, and Mai brought up the rear.
The boys, incredibly, were all asleep. There was no smoke billowing from their fireplace, but the passage had leaked enough into the room that the girls still had to crawl to stay in the good air.
Lucy reached Dimitri first, and when shaking didn't work resorted to slapping him in the face until he struggled back to consciousness.
"Chto ty delayesh?"
"Saving your life you ungrateful burro*cough* now get down here!"
She didn't know whether it was the shock of opening his eyes in a smoke filled room or the fact that Lucy had understood Russian, but in the next moment Dimitri was on the floor and crawling toward Vladimir.
It didn't take them long to realize that they were trapped. The doors were locked and solid wood, and the windows as well.
"Now *cough * what?" They were huddled near the windows. The door of the passage was shut, but smoke was still leaking in quickly.
Kentaro hopped down from where he had been standing on a chair, peering out the window.
"If we could get out the windows, there's a water spout on this side we might be able to use to climb down, at least to the second floor, we could get back in there."
"No," Lucy shook her head. "That's Mr. Malfoy's study."
"So, this isn't the time to be polite."
"Have you stopped to think about who might have done this? It's HIS house! No, I don't know about the rest of you, but if we get out the window, I'm getting out of this house."
"And going where? We're in the middle of London, Diagon Ally is nowhere near here."
"Well none of that is going to matter if we don't get out, is it?" Costanzo interjected.
"We could smash them?"
"Unbreakable charm?"
Koji and Kentaro picked up a heavy wooden chair and threw it against the glass. It fell to the floor with a crash, snapping one of the legs. The glass remained intact.
"Well that answers that question."
Vlad smiled, "Hang on, I'll be right back."
Before they could stop him he crawled back into the smoke and emerged a moment later, a wand in his hand.
"What...where? Katya just stared.
Vlad shrugged, "I've had two wands since I was 12. They never asked for both of them, now did they?"
"Why don't you just open the door?"
"Already tried, whatever they used, its a lot more than just Alohamora. I couldn't make a dent in it last night. But the windows, those I bet I can unlock."
Within ten minutes, the windows were open, and smoke was pouring out of the room.
"We could stay now," Koji pointed out, "I mean, now we have ventilation."
"There could actually be a fire somewhere, we don't know what's making the smoke, I think we have more than enough reason to flee." Saori was already sticking her head out, gulping fresh air while studying their escape route.
"Not that bad really. With the big windowsills we hardly need the pipe. If we can get to that little balcony on the second floor and hang and drop into the bushes, we should be ok."
Despite the dubious stares, they had no choice.
Lucy, for reasons she didn't discuss with the Slytherins, was very good at climbing and balancing on little ledges, and she and Misha took up positions on either side of the windowsill on the second floor, helping people down from the third floor window to the small balcony/window box outside Mr. Malfoy's study. The drapes were pulled, so Lucy couldn't see what was going on inside. The twins volunteered to go first, and then tried to help "catch" the others as they dropped to the ground.
For such an intricate plan, they were all on the ground outside in under twenty minutes.
"Well," Lesley looked around, "Now what?"
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &
"My feet hurt."
"We've been walking forever."
"We're almost there."
"Do any of you know why they call it a circus? There's no tent?"
"I think its Latin for circle."
"Oh, well, then that makes sense."
"Which way?"
"Um, that way, we're headed for 101-104 Piccadilly, so we head toward Park Lane."
"That map is not upside down again, is it?"
"No."
"Just checking."
They had enough emergency cash and moderately pretty things to pawn to get a taxi that dropped Costanzo, Lucy, Koji, Kentaro, Mai, and Saori at Piccadilly Circus, while taking the Russians on to the Kensington Palace area. None of them had realized just how long the road was, and by the time they reached the first destination, were all wishing they had kept the cab.
"Ok, and after your done just call for the Knight Bus, I think they take credit at Gringotts," Saori reminded her before they parted.
"I'll be fine, I'll meet you back at the Ministry."
Then it was just her and Costanzo, who wasn't very talkative. When they reached Grosvenor Square one went left, and the other right, with nothing much to say to each other, it had been a long walk.
Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as she approached the gate and saw the flag that fluttered from the roof. She looked over her shoulder out into the square and took in the statue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Then she turned, smiled for the first time in what seemed like a month, flashed her passport, and decided that she had never been so happy to see a Marine in her life.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
When Lucy and Costanzo finally boarded the Knight Bus, they were happy to see that the rest of the Slytherins were already there. Lucy especially felt that returning to the Ministry together would be much less frightening than trickling back in and being singled out one by one.
It was about 9:30 when the cheerful driver dumped them out at the door to the Leaky Cauldron. Vladimir guided them into Diagon Ally, and to the Flu station. Misha was the brave soul to volunteer to return to Immigration first.
Apparantly the Ministry didn't keep normal hours, because the hallway they emerged in was just as busy as it had been when they arrived this morning. She quickly stepped aside to avoid being knocked over by Dimitri, and once the entire group was through, they realized that they had absolutely no idea where to go next. It was the first time since they arrived that they had been in the Ministry halls without the ever-present talons of a Ministry official on their upper arms. Lucy felt the ache anyway and furiously rubbed it away.
"I guess we should ask someone," Mai suggested.
Misha took responsibility, striding up with head position and cool stare marking him distinctly as a Slytherin. He approached the first desk he saw, looked down at the curly haired witch with polka dot spectacles, and almost sneered.
"Pardon me, the portkey to Hogwarts, where is it?"
The little woman looked up, surprised.
"Beg your pardon?"
Lucy had previously thought only Snape could give such a condescending smile.
"There is a portkey to Hogwarts this evening, I would like to know where it is being kept."
The witch looked up blankly. Misha raised his eyebrows. Saori quickly stepped up next to him and cooly and innocently asked, "Is there a problem?"
Misha looked at the curly haired witch.
"One moment please," the woman quickly got up and scurried over to the next desk, speaking quickly with a plump, matronly witch. She then scurried back.
"Portkey's with Mr. Smethyls, sir. You'll find him in his office at this hour, down the hall, last door on the left."
"Thank you," Misha granted the woman a half smile before returning to the group, inclining his head down the hall, and leading them away. They had no choice but to follow.
Misha didn't knock. He opened the door and led the group swiftly into a small room almost entirely occupied by a desk. They barely all fit inside.
A very startled Smethyls looked up.
"What..." He wore the same lost expression Lucy had seen on his face when Mrs. Le Fey failed to show up at the train station.
"Good evening Mr. Smethyls, we'd like to go home."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&
It took no little sorting out before that could happen, but Misha was resolute, using his height at every advantage to intimidate poor Smethyls. He had become quite protective of the little group, especially once everyone became aware on the busride that the room most acutely affected by the smoke was the room the girls were staying in. Lucy recognized the aversion and disgust to picking on girls that most rational, educated men develop after completing puberty; and while she felt she should be insulted at the insinuation that females could not take care of themselves, she was happy to see it nonetheless. It was nice not to have to do all the work sometimes.
Mr. Smethyls informed them that the Ministry had been aware of their disappearance, and that even now there were wizards searching the neighborhoods around the Malfoy residence for any sign of where they had gone. He then called in his secretary to inform the necessary people that the children had been found. The tall, severe looking woman dissapperated with a soft pop and in less than three minutes, another * pop * sounded in the hall. There was a knock at the door, which Sasha answered after a nod from Smethyls.
Snape entered the room, a long cloak thrown over his everyday robes, and an unreadable expression on his face.
"Professor Snape," Smethyls rose and crossed the room somewhat awkwardly, wading through bodies to reach the unmerciful stare of the Slytherin head of house. He gestured around the room at the sea of heads, "your students have, er, been found," he finished lamely.
"So I see. " His gaze fell upon Lucy, and held. "That is not one of my students."
"Yes, you see there-"
"She can explain herself later. If the Ministry is quite finished with them I think it is time that the children be leaving."
Lucy hated Snape, and would until the day she died, but at that point she could not have agreed more.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The portkey turned out to be a button on Smethyls' shirtsleeve. That meant the return process involved quite a bit of hand shaking. And, of course, form signing, initialing, and filing, in triplicate.
It was late by the time they found themselves just outside the Hogwarts gates. Snape led them silently inside. Lucy was half asleep, and had been leaning more than her fair share on Katya during the walk back to the castle. When they reached the main staircase, however, they had to part ways. The Slytherins to the left and down to the dungeons, and Lucy up the stairs to the right, to the Tower.
Vlad nudged her. "Lucy, time to go."
It dawned on her at that moment that this was the first time since Warren had spoken to her that she was aware of the fact that the people around her were Slytherins. It was sad, really, that a school was this divided that whole sects of the population could be so isolated.
She smiled sleepily, "See you at breakfast."
Misha pretended to help her wrestle her bag off the cart that had been sent from the Malfoy household. As he handed it to her he whispered, "Tell Warren, we need a meeting as soon as possible, yes?"
She nodded discretely.
"Professor McGonagall has been informed of your whereabouts, you are expected to report to her first thing in the morning. And you are to return DIRECTLY to your common room, understood?"
"Yes Professor Snape."
With a gruff "Hmph," the potions master led his students down the hall, and with a final wave from a sleepy Lesley, Lucy was alone on the stairs. She thought about stopping off at Asriel's workroom, or the BA room, but decided against it, right now, all she wanted to do was sleep.
She knew THAT wasn't coming when she could hear the voices before getting past the Fat Lady. Normally the common room walls were practically soundproof. She sighed and made her way through the portrait hole and into a common room crowded with people, and luggage. It appeared that the recently returned International misfits hadn't even made it back to their rooms before being accosted and questioned. There were little knots of people everywhere, and the Lanes were holding miniature court by the fireplace, in deep conversation, and terribly serious.
That is, until Warren looked up and saw her.
"Lucy!" He shoved past Karen and vaulted a couch before picking her up in a bone-crushing hug.
When he finally put her down she cast a bewildered look at the expression of relief on his face. It was there, profound relief. She looked over at William and Wesley, Karen, Nicholas and Svetlana, and saw the same thing.
"What is going on?"
Warren just hugged her again and led her to the sofa, which she sank into with a contented sigh. William put a late edition of the Daily Prophet in her hand.
"We picked this up in London just before we left," he said quietly.
It was opened to the third page, "Hogwarts Students Missing in London."
"The search continues into the night tonight for thirteen Hogwarts students between the ages of 11 and 17, who were reported missing this afternoon from a private residence in London. Their names have not yet been released, and details are sketchy at best, but this reporter has learned that the students were being boarded by members of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's Alumni Board, who arranged for their stay in the home of Lucius Malfoy while they were in London under the guard of the Ministry of Magic for violations of the recently imposed immigration legislation and international residency laws. Transportation was to be arranged for a return to Hogwarts this evening, until word came at six o'clock from Mr. Malfoy that the students staying in his home had disappeared. There are also rumors of a fire in the Malfoy household, however Mr. Malfoy denies any such hazard. "The students were perfectly safe and well provided for in my care." Mr. Malfoy denies the claim that billows of smoke were seen in the early afternoon coming from his house, although he concedes that some, little smoke might have been the result of an incompetent house elf cleaning the chimney at that time. There is no word at this time how or why the students left the guarded Malfoy household, or where they may have been headed. Several other students were also in London on similar charges, arrangements were made for board in the Le Fey, Bones, and Merriweather households. Those students are expected to return to Hogwarts this evening."
Lucy handed the paper back to William. Wesley looked at her intently.
"Lucy, are you all right?"
"I'm fine, we're fine, all of us. Misha wants a meeting as soon as possible, though. I think something important just happened."
William nodded. Svetlana picked up her bag.
"You should get some sleep."
"You talked me into it," she smiled and rolled her eyes at the look on Warren's face. "I'm OK, really, you can feel guilty about forcing me to look at Lucius Malfoy while I ate breakfast, but you are NOT responsible for me just because you didn't feel like sacrificing yourself to the Slytherins."
That got her a smile.
"And, I know this is going to sound weird, but I'm kind of glad I was there. They're not evil, they're not even all that malicious. A bit bitter, justifiably, but they have a hell of a sense of humor. I LIKED hanging around them."
Warren raised an eyebrow. Lucy shrugged.
"Well, you know, once they convinced me that they only sacrificed first years."
****Endnotes: I don't normally do endnotes, but since I'm in Texas at the moment and there was a fair bit of London geography, I felt the need to add a little something. The reason the Russians split off is because the Russian Embassy is located at 5 Kensington Palace Gardens, which, from the maps I had, was far away from the other three embassies. The Japanese Embassy actually IS at 101-104 Piccadilly and the American and Italian Embassies are across Grosvenor square from each other, or so the maps tell me. I have never been to London except for a brief layover in Heathrow and a trip when I was two, so no, none of this has been verified by experience. Oh, and Dimitri's bit of Russian means (theoretically) "What are you doing?".
It must be said that after all of the tension and anticipation, the actual judgment and sentencing portion of the London trip was rather anti- climatic. As per usual, the students were marched under the ever-watchful eyes of Ministry personnel through the halls of Immigration and into a large, empty room. Assembled alphabetical order in rows they stood nervously until a silver-haired wizard with the emblem of judge emblazoned on his robes walked in and stood before them.
He looked them up and down and without preamble, "Adiodicare!" With a flick of his wand scrolls appeared in the hand of each student.
"If you open the scroll in your hand you will find the judgment of the Ministry."
Lucy looked down at the red paper in her hand, and in unison with those around her, quickly broke the seal and unrolled it. One the paper lay her fate, "In violation."
From the faces of those around her, it looked like most everyone else was receiving similar news.
"The decisions," the Judge continued, "in these cases were identical, so all of you will remain for the sentencing."
Lucy cast her eyes down her line to the right, Warren Lane looked tense, the lines around his eyes were taught. He felt her stare and turned, shrugging his shoulders. No one seemed very happy, but no one seemed very surprised either. Until they got some sort of protective legislation passed, there wasn't much they could do to fight it.
The Judge was talking again. "I want to impress upon you the severity of your actions. Ours is no longer a safe world, and dangers from every corner of the earth threaten to destroy our way of life. The Immigration legislation, whether you agree with it or not, has been put in place to protect the witches and wizards who reside in this country, and that includes yourselves. Now, while you have all been found unquestionably in violation, the panel believes, or perhaps hopes," he gave them a severe gaze, "that what was done was not meant to flagrantly flaunt the laws, but rather occurred because of a lack of understanding of the new system. This...idea, has been taken into consideration during the sentencing process. As a result the panel has agreed to grant the request of your headmaster, who spoke glowingly on your behalf's," at this the Judge gave a faint grunt, as if he didn't seem to think that mattered very much, "that he be allowed to oversee sentence design, rather than the Ministry."
Murmurs rippled through the lines; surely Dumbledore was better than the Ministry chaps.
The Judge cleared his throat for silence.
"Each of you is sentenced to 200 hours of community service, to be fulfilled at Hogwarts under the supervision of your headmaster and heads of house. Now, any seventh year that fails to complete the 200 hours before graduation must make arrangements to complete the remaining hours with the Ministry. No student will be granted an Apperator's license until the hours are completed. Underclassmen who fail to complete the hours before the end of term may finish them next year. All hours are expected to be served within the time frame of one year, or further penalties will be awarded."
There was a pause, Lucy couldn't tell if the judge was finished or not.
"I would like to add on a personal note," apparently he was not finished, "that all of you should consider yourselves extremely lucky. Your sentence is incredibly light and I wish to make it quite clear that any further violations will not be handled in such an accommodating manner. A second violation will not be taken as a misunderstanding but as a threat to the Ministry, and violators will be subject to wand usage restrictions and the like." The Judge paused a moment and smiled, "I hope you will all understand when I say that I hope to never see your faces in here again."
Having said what he needed to say, the Judge left without further comment. As the door swung shut behind him Smethyls entered and stood before them.
"Your wands will be returned to you when you return to school, rest assured they are quite safe and un-tampered with," he shot a glance at Mikhail who glared right back.
They were sent home after that, and given the afternoon to rest and give the Ministry a chance to get their never-ending mountain of paperwork ready and triplicated before they departed by portkey that evening.
The Slytherins, Lucy, and their Ministry guards were all treated to lunch by Mr. Malfoy, who wasn't present but sent them his wishes for good luck on their final exams. Whatever was on the plate was supposedly a delicacy of some kind, but Lucy only managed about half of it before gag reflex overcame politeness. Nor was she the only one. While the boys devoured there plates and the leftovers of others, of the girls only Saori and Mai could stomach all of it. The adult guards were much more appreciative, and even ate the squishy black unidentifiable dots which Lucy swore were still hopping.
There was to be no socializing after the meal, the violators were marched back to their rooms and locked in for what promised to be a boring afternoon. Packing didn't take very long since none of them had brought much, and pretty soon they were sitting around staring at the ceiling. One by one, they fell asleep. Lucy thought foggily that it was rather odd, being sleepy so early in the day, but the idea didn't stop her from collapsing on the sofa next to Sasha and dropping into oblivion.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&&&&
It was the smell that woke her.
She was groggy and not really awake, but that smell, she knew it meant trouble, this had happened before, where was that smell from? She rolled turning her head away from the back of the couch out into the open air and the smell hit her again. Then she remembered, half in a dream, she'd been six, it was summer and Rosa had made Antolin some beautiful new curtains for Lucy's room. She'd spent all day on the reservation with Diego and Tony and they had shown her a gory horror movie. She'd acted brave until she got home, and then had privately asked the professor for a night light. He'd forgotten it, so Lucy had found a candle and lit it herself to keep by her bed. In the night, the new muslin curtains had caught fire, and Lucy had awakened to this the smell... the smell of smoke.
She sat straight up, fighting off the groggy feeling that would not go away. As soon as her head came up she was coughing. Smoke was billowing out of the fireplace and had filled the room. She continued to cough, sliding to the floor as the spasms rocked her body. Her coughing woke Sasha.
"What's-" The little girl was only able to manage one word before the smoke hit her throat and she was no better than Lucy. Not one to panic, she slid to the floor, covering her mouth and looking at Lucy with big frightened eyes.
By now the fuzziness had faded and Lucy could think clearer. She had no idea what was going on, but they needed to get out. By now the noise they were making had awoken Lesley and Katya on the cots, who tried to shout but ended up hacking along with the rest of them. Lucy and Sasha crawled toward the sound and met them in the middle of the room.
"Keep your heads near the floor and breath," Katya managed.
"Where's Mai and Saori?" Sasha croaked.
Lucy cast a glance up at the bed, where the two had been playing cards when she dozed off. There were still two forms there.
"They're still asleep!" She wheezed, shocked that they hadn't been awoken by the smoke irritating their lungs.
"We'll get Saori, you get Mai," Lucy and Sasha nodded as Lesley and Katya crawled toward one side of the bed, and she and Sasha took the other.
"Hold your breath," Sasha advised, before they stood up into the more smoke- filled air.
No doubt about it, Mai and Saori were still asleep. They shook and pulled, and finally dragged them off the bed. The impact of landing on the floor brought them back to consciousness.
"What-" Coughing seized Mai as she sat up. Lucy pushed her head back down to the floor. She looked under the bed across to where Saori was coming to.
"We have to get out of here!"
Katya nodded. Lesley crawled to the door and banged, again, and again.
She shook her head.
"It's locked! I don't think anyone's out there!"
Saori got herself under control. "The passage to the boys room."
Sasha shook her head, "It's right next to the fireplace, that's where the smoke is coming from, the windows?"
Lucy shook her head, "We're on the -cough- third floor." She didn't add that this wasn't such a problem for her. She didn't think floating the lot of them down in broad daylight in the middle of London would be a good idea.
"And they're locked," Katya pointed to the very thick, very secure glass. Knowing wizards, there was probably an anti-shatter charm on them as well.
Lesley shrugged, "The passage then, its-cough- the only way out."
Grim determination settled over the girls as they helped each other cross the room to the wall next to the fireplace. The smoke was practically unbearable in that part of the room so they had to act quickly. They ripped the painting off the wall and fiddled for a few precious moments with the latch before the door sprang open and Sasha slipped through to open the door on the other side.
Her prediction had been right, the passage was filled with smoke, and once the girl entered, they couldn't see her. It wasn't until her arm reached back through and beckoned that they knew it was clear.
Of course, there was no way to crawl through the narrow confines of the secret room, so each of them took a gulp of whatever good air was left on the floor before standing and hurrying through to the other side. Lucy went fourth, and Mai brought up the rear.
The boys, incredibly, were all asleep. There was no smoke billowing from their fireplace, but the passage had leaked enough into the room that the girls still had to crawl to stay in the good air.
Lucy reached Dimitri first, and when shaking didn't work resorted to slapping him in the face until he struggled back to consciousness.
"Chto ty delayesh?"
"Saving your life you ungrateful burro*cough* now get down here!"
She didn't know whether it was the shock of opening his eyes in a smoke filled room or the fact that Lucy had understood Russian, but in the next moment Dimitri was on the floor and crawling toward Vladimir.
It didn't take them long to realize that they were trapped. The doors were locked and solid wood, and the windows as well.
"Now *cough * what?" They were huddled near the windows. The door of the passage was shut, but smoke was still leaking in quickly.
Kentaro hopped down from where he had been standing on a chair, peering out the window.
"If we could get out the windows, there's a water spout on this side we might be able to use to climb down, at least to the second floor, we could get back in there."
"No," Lucy shook her head. "That's Mr. Malfoy's study."
"So, this isn't the time to be polite."
"Have you stopped to think about who might have done this? It's HIS house! No, I don't know about the rest of you, but if we get out the window, I'm getting out of this house."
"And going where? We're in the middle of London, Diagon Ally is nowhere near here."
"Well none of that is going to matter if we don't get out, is it?" Costanzo interjected.
"We could smash them?"
"Unbreakable charm?"
Koji and Kentaro picked up a heavy wooden chair and threw it against the glass. It fell to the floor with a crash, snapping one of the legs. The glass remained intact.
"Well that answers that question."
Vlad smiled, "Hang on, I'll be right back."
Before they could stop him he crawled back into the smoke and emerged a moment later, a wand in his hand.
"What...where? Katya just stared.
Vlad shrugged, "I've had two wands since I was 12. They never asked for both of them, now did they?"
"Why don't you just open the door?"
"Already tried, whatever they used, its a lot more than just Alohamora. I couldn't make a dent in it last night. But the windows, those I bet I can unlock."
Within ten minutes, the windows were open, and smoke was pouring out of the room.
"We could stay now," Koji pointed out, "I mean, now we have ventilation."
"There could actually be a fire somewhere, we don't know what's making the smoke, I think we have more than enough reason to flee." Saori was already sticking her head out, gulping fresh air while studying their escape route.
"Not that bad really. With the big windowsills we hardly need the pipe. If we can get to that little balcony on the second floor and hang and drop into the bushes, we should be ok."
Despite the dubious stares, they had no choice.
Lucy, for reasons she didn't discuss with the Slytherins, was very good at climbing and balancing on little ledges, and she and Misha took up positions on either side of the windowsill on the second floor, helping people down from the third floor window to the small balcony/window box outside Mr. Malfoy's study. The drapes were pulled, so Lucy couldn't see what was going on inside. The twins volunteered to go first, and then tried to help "catch" the others as they dropped to the ground.
For such an intricate plan, they were all on the ground outside in under twenty minutes.
"Well," Lesley looked around, "Now what?"
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &
"My feet hurt."
"We've been walking forever."
"We're almost there."
"Do any of you know why they call it a circus? There's no tent?"
"I think its Latin for circle."
"Oh, well, then that makes sense."
"Which way?"
"Um, that way, we're headed for 101-104 Piccadilly, so we head toward Park Lane."
"That map is not upside down again, is it?"
"No."
"Just checking."
They had enough emergency cash and moderately pretty things to pawn to get a taxi that dropped Costanzo, Lucy, Koji, Kentaro, Mai, and Saori at Piccadilly Circus, while taking the Russians on to the Kensington Palace area. None of them had realized just how long the road was, and by the time they reached the first destination, were all wishing they had kept the cab.
"Ok, and after your done just call for the Knight Bus, I think they take credit at Gringotts," Saori reminded her before they parted.
"I'll be fine, I'll meet you back at the Ministry."
Then it was just her and Costanzo, who wasn't very talkative. When they reached Grosvenor Square one went left, and the other right, with nothing much to say to each other, it had been a long walk.
Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as she approached the gate and saw the flag that fluttered from the roof. She looked over her shoulder out into the square and took in the statue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Then she turned, smiled for the first time in what seemed like a month, flashed her passport, and decided that she had never been so happy to see a Marine in her life.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
When Lucy and Costanzo finally boarded the Knight Bus, they were happy to see that the rest of the Slytherins were already there. Lucy especially felt that returning to the Ministry together would be much less frightening than trickling back in and being singled out one by one.
It was about 9:30 when the cheerful driver dumped them out at the door to the Leaky Cauldron. Vladimir guided them into Diagon Ally, and to the Flu station. Misha was the brave soul to volunteer to return to Immigration first.
Apparantly the Ministry didn't keep normal hours, because the hallway they emerged in was just as busy as it had been when they arrived this morning. She quickly stepped aside to avoid being knocked over by Dimitri, and once the entire group was through, they realized that they had absolutely no idea where to go next. It was the first time since they arrived that they had been in the Ministry halls without the ever-present talons of a Ministry official on their upper arms. Lucy felt the ache anyway and furiously rubbed it away.
"I guess we should ask someone," Mai suggested.
Misha took responsibility, striding up with head position and cool stare marking him distinctly as a Slytherin. He approached the first desk he saw, looked down at the curly haired witch with polka dot spectacles, and almost sneered.
"Pardon me, the portkey to Hogwarts, where is it?"
The little woman looked up, surprised.
"Beg your pardon?"
Lucy had previously thought only Snape could give such a condescending smile.
"There is a portkey to Hogwarts this evening, I would like to know where it is being kept."
The witch looked up blankly. Misha raised his eyebrows. Saori quickly stepped up next to him and cooly and innocently asked, "Is there a problem?"
Misha looked at the curly haired witch.
"One moment please," the woman quickly got up and scurried over to the next desk, speaking quickly with a plump, matronly witch. She then scurried back.
"Portkey's with Mr. Smethyls, sir. You'll find him in his office at this hour, down the hall, last door on the left."
"Thank you," Misha granted the woman a half smile before returning to the group, inclining his head down the hall, and leading them away. They had no choice but to follow.
Misha didn't knock. He opened the door and led the group swiftly into a small room almost entirely occupied by a desk. They barely all fit inside.
A very startled Smethyls looked up.
"What..." He wore the same lost expression Lucy had seen on his face when Mrs. Le Fey failed to show up at the train station.
"Good evening Mr. Smethyls, we'd like to go home."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&
It took no little sorting out before that could happen, but Misha was resolute, using his height at every advantage to intimidate poor Smethyls. He had become quite protective of the little group, especially once everyone became aware on the busride that the room most acutely affected by the smoke was the room the girls were staying in. Lucy recognized the aversion and disgust to picking on girls that most rational, educated men develop after completing puberty; and while she felt she should be insulted at the insinuation that females could not take care of themselves, she was happy to see it nonetheless. It was nice not to have to do all the work sometimes.
Mr. Smethyls informed them that the Ministry had been aware of their disappearance, and that even now there were wizards searching the neighborhoods around the Malfoy residence for any sign of where they had gone. He then called in his secretary to inform the necessary people that the children had been found. The tall, severe looking woman dissapperated with a soft pop and in less than three minutes, another * pop * sounded in the hall. There was a knock at the door, which Sasha answered after a nod from Smethyls.
Snape entered the room, a long cloak thrown over his everyday robes, and an unreadable expression on his face.
"Professor Snape," Smethyls rose and crossed the room somewhat awkwardly, wading through bodies to reach the unmerciful stare of the Slytherin head of house. He gestured around the room at the sea of heads, "your students have, er, been found," he finished lamely.
"So I see. " His gaze fell upon Lucy, and held. "That is not one of my students."
"Yes, you see there-"
"She can explain herself later. If the Ministry is quite finished with them I think it is time that the children be leaving."
Lucy hated Snape, and would until the day she died, but at that point she could not have agreed more.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The portkey turned out to be a button on Smethyls' shirtsleeve. That meant the return process involved quite a bit of hand shaking. And, of course, form signing, initialing, and filing, in triplicate.
It was late by the time they found themselves just outside the Hogwarts gates. Snape led them silently inside. Lucy was half asleep, and had been leaning more than her fair share on Katya during the walk back to the castle. When they reached the main staircase, however, they had to part ways. The Slytherins to the left and down to the dungeons, and Lucy up the stairs to the right, to the Tower.
Vlad nudged her. "Lucy, time to go."
It dawned on her at that moment that this was the first time since Warren had spoken to her that she was aware of the fact that the people around her were Slytherins. It was sad, really, that a school was this divided that whole sects of the population could be so isolated.
She smiled sleepily, "See you at breakfast."
Misha pretended to help her wrestle her bag off the cart that had been sent from the Malfoy household. As he handed it to her he whispered, "Tell Warren, we need a meeting as soon as possible, yes?"
She nodded discretely.
"Professor McGonagall has been informed of your whereabouts, you are expected to report to her first thing in the morning. And you are to return DIRECTLY to your common room, understood?"
"Yes Professor Snape."
With a gruff "Hmph," the potions master led his students down the hall, and with a final wave from a sleepy Lesley, Lucy was alone on the stairs. She thought about stopping off at Asriel's workroom, or the BA room, but decided against it, right now, all she wanted to do was sleep.
She knew THAT wasn't coming when she could hear the voices before getting past the Fat Lady. Normally the common room walls were practically soundproof. She sighed and made her way through the portrait hole and into a common room crowded with people, and luggage. It appeared that the recently returned International misfits hadn't even made it back to their rooms before being accosted and questioned. There were little knots of people everywhere, and the Lanes were holding miniature court by the fireplace, in deep conversation, and terribly serious.
That is, until Warren looked up and saw her.
"Lucy!" He shoved past Karen and vaulted a couch before picking her up in a bone-crushing hug.
When he finally put her down she cast a bewildered look at the expression of relief on his face. It was there, profound relief. She looked over at William and Wesley, Karen, Nicholas and Svetlana, and saw the same thing.
"What is going on?"
Warren just hugged her again and led her to the sofa, which she sank into with a contented sigh. William put a late edition of the Daily Prophet in her hand.
"We picked this up in London just before we left," he said quietly.
It was opened to the third page, "Hogwarts Students Missing in London."
"The search continues into the night tonight for thirteen Hogwarts students between the ages of 11 and 17, who were reported missing this afternoon from a private residence in London. Their names have not yet been released, and details are sketchy at best, but this reporter has learned that the students were being boarded by members of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's Alumni Board, who arranged for their stay in the home of Lucius Malfoy while they were in London under the guard of the Ministry of Magic for violations of the recently imposed immigration legislation and international residency laws. Transportation was to be arranged for a return to Hogwarts this evening, until word came at six o'clock from Mr. Malfoy that the students staying in his home had disappeared. There are also rumors of a fire in the Malfoy household, however Mr. Malfoy denies any such hazard. "The students were perfectly safe and well provided for in my care." Mr. Malfoy denies the claim that billows of smoke were seen in the early afternoon coming from his house, although he concedes that some, little smoke might have been the result of an incompetent house elf cleaning the chimney at that time. There is no word at this time how or why the students left the guarded Malfoy household, or where they may have been headed. Several other students were also in London on similar charges, arrangements were made for board in the Le Fey, Bones, and Merriweather households. Those students are expected to return to Hogwarts this evening."
Lucy handed the paper back to William. Wesley looked at her intently.
"Lucy, are you all right?"
"I'm fine, we're fine, all of us. Misha wants a meeting as soon as possible, though. I think something important just happened."
William nodded. Svetlana picked up her bag.
"You should get some sleep."
"You talked me into it," she smiled and rolled her eyes at the look on Warren's face. "I'm OK, really, you can feel guilty about forcing me to look at Lucius Malfoy while I ate breakfast, but you are NOT responsible for me just because you didn't feel like sacrificing yourself to the Slytherins."
That got her a smile.
"And, I know this is going to sound weird, but I'm kind of glad I was there. They're not evil, they're not even all that malicious. A bit bitter, justifiably, but they have a hell of a sense of humor. I LIKED hanging around them."
Warren raised an eyebrow. Lucy shrugged.
"Well, you know, once they convinced me that they only sacrificed first years."
****Endnotes: I don't normally do endnotes, but since I'm in Texas at the moment and there was a fair bit of London geography, I felt the need to add a little something. The reason the Russians split off is because the Russian Embassy is located at 5 Kensington Palace Gardens, which, from the maps I had, was far away from the other three embassies. The Japanese Embassy actually IS at 101-104 Piccadilly and the American and Italian Embassies are across Grosvenor square from each other, or so the maps tell me. I have never been to London except for a brief layover in Heathrow and a trip when I was two, so no, none of this has been verified by experience. Oh, and Dimitri's bit of Russian means (theoretically) "What are you doing?".