Disclaimer: J.K.R. owns Harry Potter and co., not me (I wouldn't mind owning Sev though).  This story is slightly (basically bits of the plot ideas; just technical stuff) inspired by Minnionette's A Gutter Rat's Tale and Dauphin's Let History Repeat Itself.  Niamh O'Feir, Jardin, Mika Davids, Darcorn's, and anything you don't recognize belong to me.

Not Myself by Saerry Snape

Chapter 129 – Ominous Plots and the Slytherin Four Returns

Darkest night in a secluded glade.  Figures in dark robes slip back and forth across it, eyes peering into the trees about them.  In the center of the glade, a hole was being dug.  The diggers were dressed in torn, ripped, and dirty pants and shirts.  A few of them didn't have shoes.  Every single one had a shovel or pickaxe in hand and was digging furiously with it.

All of their eyes were lacking emotion.  It was as though what made them human had fled, leaving them mindless drones.  Which was almost the case but not quite.

"Dig, you worthless scum!" bellowed a robed figure standing on the edge of the hole.  They bore a whip in one hand and a slim piece of wood in the other.  "Dig or die!"

The mass of humanity below shifted without sound and dug with a new fervor.  Abruptly, the clang of metal against metal rang out over the glade and all movement stopped.  The figures patrolling the tree line stopped turned to look, their faces hidden by deep hoods.

"What is it?" called the figure on the edge of the hole, their voice distinctly male.  "Dig it up, you scum!"

The diggers shifted and began to unearth the object that had been found.  A few moments later, a large silver chest was unearthed and heaved up to the top of the hole.  The man there knelt beside it, reaching out one hand to run over the smooth lines of the chest and the symbols carved into it.  Power rippled underneath his fingertips and he smiled coldly.

"Kill them," he said to the figures that had been patrolling.  "Kill them all."

The ring of figures slowly began to close in on their unsuspecting victim as the man lifted the chest with a flick of his wand.  It bobbed after him as he walked off into the forest.

Behind him, the diggers began to scream.

And he laughed.

* * * *

Harry was attempting to get a short nap as the Hogwarts Express carried him and his friends back to Hogwarts when a surge of dark pleasure went through him.  He jumped in surprise and looked at the girl who had been sleeping against him.  Her eyes met his and he asked, "Did ye feel tha'?"

"What?" asked Niamh sleepily.

"Tha'…surge," replied Harry.  "Voldemort's pleased abou' somethin'.  Really pleased."

"I didn't feel anything," said Niamh.  "And I'm an empath.  Do you think we should be worried?"

"When Voldemort is concerned, yeh.  Always."

Niamh sighed and curled up closer against him, tucking her legs underneath her.  Harry wrapped an arm about her and leaned his head against hers, feeling a surge of warmth rise up within him.  For a second he thought he was sensing Voldemort's emotions again but they were only his own.

And Niamh did sense them.

She smiled and closed her eyes as she felt what could only be described as love emanating from her friend.  What scared her was that it was the same sort that she imagined she might have felt from Cedric had her powers revealed themselves at that point in time.

* * * *

The Sorting went by without any hitches.  Well…except for maybe one.

The Slytherin Four were having a rather heated discussion about a hex Niamh had thought up when a name that everyone in the Great Hall recognized was called out in McGonagall's clear tones.  They were already halfway through the list of first years but only this name had caught the attention of everyone.  And that was everyone.

"Moody, Mischa!"

"Moody?" hissed one of the second year Slytherin's.  "As in Mad-Eye?"

"Only Moody I know," said a third year.  "He has children?"

"No," snarled Mika under his breath, "I just happen to be blood related to him in that fashion."

Ginny blinked at him, having heard him quite well as she was sitting right beside him, and said, "Er, Mik…is that your sister?"

"That'd be her," said Mika with a sigh.

"Any reason why your last names differ?" asked Niamh as Harry turned to watch the silver-haired girl he had seen leap into Mika's arms at Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters at the end of last year.

"You know my parents are separated, right?"

"Yeah, I figured that."

"Well, Mum got custody of me, so Da got Mischa.  Every time I go to Da's, she goes to Mum's."

"But why the last name difference?"

Mika gave that dark-haired girl a hard look.

"Does the name Mischa Davids make any sense to you?  How about Mika Moody?"

"I see your point," mumbled Niamh as the Sorting Hat bellowed out, "SLYTHERIN!"

A muffled bit of applause went up from the green table as the daughter of the famous Auror joined it.  Her eyes, which were as dark as her father's normal one, flowed over the table until they landed on Mika.  Once they landed, a huge grin broke out over her face and she ran towards him, leaping up into his lap.

"I made it!" she crowd.  "Ika, I made it!"

"Ika?" said Harry with an arched eyebrow.

Mika glared at him then smiled at his little sister.

"I can see that, Cha.  Did you have to bribe the Hat?"

"Ika!"

"Sorry," said Mika, ruffling the silver hair.  "Had to ask."

Mischa gave her brother a shove then settled down into the small space between him and Ginny, pushing the two apart.  Mika gave the redhead an apologetic look over his younger sisters silver head and Ginny smiled gently in understanding.

Niamh couldn't help but grin as she felt the faintest glimmer of their feelings for each other filter through the blocks Jardin had taught her to set up.  She was careful to keep the blocks up at all times or else she might be knocked out by the emotions of those around her.  The raven had ordered her to never drop her guard unless it was absolutely necessary or when she was alone.  At least until she could control her gifts enough that she could keep other emotions out except when she wanted to listen to them.

"Whot are ye smilin' Ah?" hissed a voice into her ear suddenly, causing her to jump.

"Harry!"

"Whot?" asked the dark-haired boy.

Niamh slapped his arm lightly and replied, "Don't do that!"

"Sorry.  Somethin' on yer min'?"

"Nothing to worry about.  Why?"

Harry shrugged and replied, "Ye jus' looked li' ye were thinkin' rather har'."

"No.  Just about something Jar told me."

"Where i' Jar?  'E vanished this mornin'."

Niamh grinned and replied, "I think he found a…friend in the Owlery."

"Frien'?"  Harry looked confused for a moment before a dawning expression crossed his face.  "Oh.  Ah thin' ye migh' be righ'."  He then turned back towards his plate, half-listening to Mika and Mischa's conversation on the other side of the table.

Niamh laughed as the siblings insulted each other and earned a wry grin from Harry and Ginny.

The Slytherin Four was back.