$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Snape trod his way back to Maria's house after pushing a frightened nineteen-year old girl onto the Knight Bus and telling her where to go. As Calypso had stumbled down the aisle, Snape had a few quiet words to Ernie, the bus driver, and slipped him a Galleon.
He would have only given the doddery old driver a Sickle, but Galleons were all that Snape had in his pocket, damn it. At least Ernie would make especially sure that Calypso would get off at 114 Hogsmeade Road. And since Snape had slipped him a Galleon, Ernie may see that Calypso went safely down into his cellar.
Snape smiled to himself. The 'don't touch the wine in my cellar' line had worked well. Snape was sure that Calypso would follow his words and go into the cellar straight away, with the promise that there were numerous wines to help 'pass the time'.
Snape knew modern teenagers.
Only, there were no wines in Snape's cellar. Well, not the cellar that would appear when Calypso told the front door 'all dogs should be shot on site.'
The spell was a variation on a very simple one, but Snape secretly prided himself on it.
When the password 'all dogs should be shot on site' were said to the door, it activated the illusion spell that changed the whole layout of his house.
The real cellar, filled with vintage wines, port and sherry, would be concealed. A fake entrance to a cellar, beginning in his broom closet off the front entrance, and marked 'CELLAR' would appear, and to all appearances, it was a genuine cellar.
The stairwell to the 'cellar' actually was a wonderful little spell. The person entering the stairwell would walk down that stairwell to eternity. The stairwell did not end, and the person walked nowhere. They would walk down the same step over and over, and thanks to a forgetfulness charm built into the steps, time was not relevant.
Also, the door behind the poor person on the steps would shut and seal with a spell only Snape could break.
Snape had designed it for Sirius Black, just in case he ever came to the door. Just in case.
He would tell Black to get some wine from to cellar – he knew Black liked good quality alcohol – and hey presto, Snape had the Wizarding Watch's Most Dangerous Criminal locked up in his closet. Brilliant.
Sure, it was highly illegal to keep a person prisoner without their knowledge. Or to keep a person prisoner at all! But Snape had felt he was working for the greater good. The means justify the end, he thought to himself as he had put the finishing touches on the spell.
Only now Snape knew he would never use it to catch Black. In the end, he had to reluctantly accept Black as a Phoenix, after he had seen Peter Pettigrew alive and kicking. Such a pity to spin such a fine spiderweb, and then to let it hang dormant.
But now…
Calypso would be safest there.
From everyone.
Still limping along in the shadows of Diagon Alley, Snape knew he was nearing Maria's flat when he could smell smoke on the wind.
He rounded a turn in the street and had a look at the battle scene that was clearing as the smoke blew away.
Shell-shocked wizards and witches were slowly coming out of their scorched houses to stand, dazed, trying to assess damage. Some houses, still with glimmering protection spells up, were unharmed. Most were damaged slightly.
The worst hit were Maria's flat and the top story of the Leaky Cauldron.
The latter was missing its whole roof on one side. Snape could see a chest of drawers in pieces on the cobblestones in front of him, along with the timber, iron and tiles littering the road, all burnt to near ash by powerful spells.
Maria's house was a write-off.
It must have been a Bombspell, that huge explosion just after Fleur was captured. It had torn apart Maria's small flat. Not even the floor was left. Only this gaping void in a line of happy houses along the street.
Snape scowled and walked around a chimney that was in his path. Out of the smoke came a broad wizard dressed in black robes, marked with bright yellow letters, HW – a hit wizard.
"'Scuse me sir, this is a disaster area, I'd ask you to step back please." The Hit Wizard said in a monotone.
Snape ignored him, and kept walking.
"Oi! You! Stop, in the name of the Ministry!" the Hit Wizard called out, annoyed, as Snape came closer.
Snape slowly turned around and gave the wizard a murderous glare. The wizard held it for a few moments, and then looked to the left, and let Snape brush past him.
He found Maria sitting in the middle of the street, hopelessly crying.
Oh God, here we go. Women crying, Snape thought uneasily.
"Stop crying, Maria." He said frostily. "I though you were a professional."
Maria turned large, wet Latin eyes on him that glinted anger.
"Shut the hell up." She snapped as tears ran down her cheeks. "You didn't just have your house destroyed."
"Why cry over that horrible little hovel?" Snape challenged her, looking up at the remains of her flat.
Snape couldn't understand women when they were upset, and was oblivious to the fact at that moment in time he was closer to having his throat torn out than ever before in his life.
"You'll get bucketloads of insurance money. Enough to rebuild the apartment into something tasteful." He continued.
"It's not just the house." Maria snapped back. "Fleur and Calypso…" wet tears dribbled down her cheeks again.
Snape wheeled away, walking to a knot of people partly obscured by smoke. One he recognized as Dumbledore. As he got closer, he could recognize McGonagall, Amos Diggory, Bill Weasely and…dammit! Black, in dogform. Of course, he couldn't be spotted in Diagon Alley by the general public.
Dumbledore turned, his half-moon glasses glinted in the moonlight as Snape marched up to him.
"Severus." Dumbeldore said blandly as a way of greeting. "What's up with those antics before?"
McGonagall and Diggory both eyed Snape, interested.
Snape gave the others an odd look.
"Let's step inside, shall we?" Snape said pleasantly, gesturing to a shop with smashed windows. Snape grinned inwardly. Oh, to see Black's face when he hears this….
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Name."
"Benedict Hunter."
"Age."
"Twenty."
"Address."
"Wop-wops Villa, P.O Box 420, The Rectory, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand."
Richard Masterton leant back on his chair and looked at the suspect sitting across the desk from him. Sitting on Richard's lap was a photo, stapled to a three-foot report on Ben's life.
The photo matched – a young, handsome Maori youth with deep black hair and eyes, and a wicked grin. Just some question, then, and he'd finally pass.
"So, do you live on your own?"
"Nah. I flat with eight other people."
Tick.
"Name them."
"Ian Gates. Renee Tsai. Gary Studholme. Malcolm Knox. Melody Grey. Aria Grey. Jared Carrington. And Ashleigh Hunter, my little sister."
Tick.
"What's your grandmother's name? And how is she?"
"Old Kuia? Dead." Ben replied flatly. "Died about eight years back, I think. Home invasion. Someone shot her. Her name was Piata Mahana, a damm good witch. Her husband was Wiremu Mahana. He died in WWII."
Tick.
"Where do you work?"
"Ministry Of Magic, Law Enforcement Section. I'm an apprentice Auror."
Tick.
"What are you doing in England?"
"Devil's Island fell, right? Apparently, since He-who-must-not-be-named's base is up here, we're here to find and track down our fellow countrymen. Any more questions?"
Tick.
Ben's good humor was quickly disintegrating. Tired, hungry and jet-lagged, he desperately wanted to go home to bed.
"No, that's fine. All matches up with what I have here. Thanks, Mr. Hunter. Your co-operation is vastly appreciated." Richard stacked up the parchments on his desk, and showed Ben to the door.
In the Police Headquarters hallway, a rather groggy Kevin sat on a chair.
"Oh, there you are!" Ben's tutor said tiredly.
"Good to see ya, Kev." Ben mumbled, and fell in step behind Kevin.
"Sheez, I can't leave you alone for a hour and you blow up a whole street! What the hell am I going to do with you, boy?" Kevin grumbled.
"It wasn't me! And I didn't have a choice if I wante-" Ben's indignant reply was cut off.
"Nah, just fooling with ya mate." Kevin chuckled sleepily, and turned to look Ben in the eye. "Good job. Wouldn't have expected anything less of ya."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Snape led Dumbledore, McGonagall, Diggory, Bill and Snuffles into the back room of the shop, where they all waited in anticipation for Snape to explain what was going on. Severus watched Sirius change into his scruffy human form and stood there with a smirk on his face that he knew would irritate Black.
Sure enough, it did.
"What do you look so happy about?" Sirius growled.
Snape just smirked more.
McGonagall cut into the charged air that was being formed between the two old adversaries.
"Spit it out, Snape. What on earth is going on?"
"Well…" he started slowly.
When he had finished even Dumbledore had his jaw on the ground, a sight never seen before.
Bill choked a little, and then uncertainly questioned what he had just heard.
"You are saying that Calypso…"
"…is a Death Eater." Snape finished.
"And your proof is?" Sirius asked dangerously.
"As I just told you, the only people who could go through that barrier were members of the Australasian Death Eater tribe!" Snape barked back. "I saw Calypso swing through that barrier! With my own eyes!"
Sirius started to say something, but was cut off by Snape.
"Also, apart from getting through the barrier which would have fried anyone else, she managed to appear, unscathed, after the battle! Now, I ask you, how did she manage to do that?
Suddenly McGonagall, who had been wrapped up in her own thoughts, spoke.
"She wasn't a Seer." Minerva said slowly. "She didn't see the future, she simply knew what was planned.
The attack on Peachgrove Village.
Breaking that curse on Mungdungus.
The Death Eaters on the roof just before.
Those codes.
She knew about those because she was in on it all!"
Sirius shook his head.
"No. Calypso can't be a Death Eater. She just can't." he said firmly.
"Why?" Snape challenged him.
"Sirius, you may be wrong." Dumbledore said softly. "You can't know a person you only met less than a week ago isn't a Death Eater."
"I trust her." Sirius replied, meeting Dumbledore's ice-blue gaze and holding it firmly.
"That's what I said about Peter Pettigrew." Dumbledore replied quietly.
Sirius was silent as it all sank in.
It fitted all so perfectly.
"Oh God…." Sirius said as he tried to comprehend the situation.
She'd fooled them all for so long.
There was a loud noise from outside, ruining Snape's moment of triumph.
"Magical Catastrophes squad is here." Bill reported.
Dumbledore looked tiredly at the broomsticks landing. "Snape, where is Calypso now?"
"Safe." He replied. "Don't worry about her. Just deal with this at the moment and we'll see to her later."
Giving Sirius a look of triumph, he strolled out of the shop, humming.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Calypso was dreaming.
Not a DREAM dream, just a dream. A plain old memory dream. Not a future dream.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There was a bang, and the serenity of the house was shattered.
Ben and Ian came thundering through the door, laughing and kicking off shoes into untidy piles.
Melody looked up from the piano keys, frowning.
"Well well, the males of the house have returned." Calypso muttered from her position, reclining on the couch, engrossed in Virgil's Aenead.
"Hey hey hey! Whazzup?" Ben dumped his bag onto the coffee collapsing onto the couch, and on top of Calypso's legs.
"OI!" she protested, scowling at Ben from over the top of her battered paperback, reached over and belted him across the top of the head soundly.
Melody sighed. "You know, this house is so peaceful until you two arrive."
Jared poked his orange-topped head out of the kitchen. "I second that." he agreed.
Ian grinned, and disappeared into the kitchen to rustle some food off Jared, who was cooking tea. There were soon yells from the room and Ian came out of the kitchen, bearing a large slab of chocolate as a trophy. "What time does Aria get home?" he asked, his mouth full.
"Ria? She's not. Staying the night at a friends." Calypso said absently, returning to her book.
"Guess," Ben asked excitedly, "what happened today." He grinned evilly at Ian, who grinned back.
Melody sighed again. "Lemme guess…you two apparated into the Ministry, went to your offices and spent your time goofing off when your bosses weren't looking.
Ian, you drew a lots of cartoons on the office stationary, and Ben, you blew things up." Melody gave a brilliant smile. "How did I do?"
"On any other day, you would have been right." Ian said, leaning forward in his seat, brown eyes sparkling from under blonde hair. "But today…"
"You actually did work?" Calypso said in mock horror. "Dear Lord save us!"
Ben scowled, grabbed the nearest magazine and thwacked Calypso across the top of the head, at the same time snatching the book out of her hand.
Ignoring Calypso's threats of imminent doom, he snapped the book shut and threw it over his shoulder to go skidding into the hall.
Calypso looked ready to rumble, but Ben excitedly hushed everyone.
"LISTEN everyone! Really, listen to this!" he bellowed. "Jared, come here for a moment! I've got a great idea to run past you all. Just wait a sec, I'll get the others."
Ben bounced up from his seat on Calypso's legs and raced down the corridor, returning with three other people – Renee, Gary and Ashleigh. Renee was rather disgruntled at being disturbed from her lab.
Ben looked around the room in anticipation.
Calypso, looking suspicious, sat next to him, while on the piano stool was Melody, identical to Calypso but with chocolate brown hair, ivory skin and large, sightless grey-flecked brown eyes.
Jared had short orange hair, and a passion for Quiddich jerseys. He sat on the corner of the table, proudly supporting the Canterbury Critters and kept a watchful hazel eye on the pots on the stove.
Renee, a stunning Chinese girl, blinked from deep, black eyes, and gave Ben an suspicious look. Renee had known Ben for a long time, and was wary of whenever he started planning something.
Gary, ever sensible, stoically nestled into an armchair and grabbed the remote for the TV. If any debates began, TV always settled them. Ben would drop any argument for Playstation, and Ian for comedy shows.
Ashleigh Hunter, Ben's younger sister, was impatient. "I'm in the middle of an letter. Make it short, can you?" She tossed her long, deep black hair behind her shoulders and rubbed her brown-toned skin where it was sunburnt.
"Well," Ben began, "when I walked into the office this morning, there was no-one there, as usual, and me and Ian though we'd just obtain a few more quills off his boss' desk…"
"As you do!" added Ian. "And as we were just walking over to Mr. Mortein's desk, what did I happen to see but a Weta crawling over the floor. I thought it was a cockroach, so I went to smush it into the floor with my shoe, when…."
Ian grinned and looked around at the expectant faces.
"When…?" Jared encouraged him.
"When I found myself standing on my boss."
"What?" Ashleigh said, confused.
Ben started talking slowly, savoring every word. "Mr. Mortein, Ian's oh-so-prestigious boss, Head of the Department of Illegal Magical Activity, is an unregistered Animagus."
"So," Ian began again, "Old Mortein had a bit of explaining to do. You should have seen him sweat! 'Now boys,'" Ian mimicked his quavering voice, "
'no need to tell no-one.
Everyone's an unregistered Animagus, really.
We've all been too busy with fighting the Dark Wizards to bother about pithy little things like Animagi.
Really, it's easy, everyone does it!
No need to tell, boys.
I know of five people in this building alone that are unregistered.
Easier to move around, you know.
Great advantage in the Ministry, yes."
"And then, we couldn't believe it," Ben cut in, " he reached into his desk and pulled out a book and gave it to us, and told us we might want to give it a go ourselves, and this would be our 'little secret, hey boys?' So, we were thinking…"
"How'd you all like to become Animagi?" Ben finished off, his eyes sparkling with mischief, and pulling out from behind his back a small, leather-bound, battered book bearing the title 'Moste Dangerous Works of Wizardrie.'
There was a pause.
"I'm in." Renee said slyly.
"Me too." Jared added.
Gary gave it a few moment's though, and then nodded.
Ashleigh looked worried. "I'm too young. I'm only sixteen, I won't be good enough."
Ben shook his head. "You'll be fine. Renee can deal with the Potions side of the spell, Ian can do the charms, and Jared knows the runes pretty well."
Melody looked worried. "You sure it will be safe, Ben? I mean, they make Animagi register for a reason – it's really dangerous! C'mon, look at the title of that book!"
Ian flashed her a grin. "That's where Cal comes into it."
Calypso looked incredulously at them. "Me?"
"Future gaze, Cal. See what your little crystal shot-put has to say." Ben needled her.
Calypso mulled it over. "Okay." She said suddenly, surprising all of her flatmates. Calypso usually had to be bullied into seeing into the future.
Calypso got up and went to her room, which she shared with her two sisters. Digging her crystal ball out of her sock drawer, she returned to the lounge, which was abuzz with people discussing which animal they would want to be.
"Monkey." Said Jared.
"Elephant." Proclaimed Ben.
"Horse." Renee added.
"Albatross." Ashleigh mused.
"Dolphin."
"Cat."
"Squirrel."
"Eagle."
"Dog."
"Mouse."
"Zebra."
"Sparrow."
Calypso carefully set up her crystal ball on the coffee table and sat on the floor next to it. Leaning over so her elbows were propped up on the table, she relaxed and stared into the cloudy depths of her ball.
"Pukeko."
"Kangaroo."
"Seahorse."
"Pelican."
"Skunk."
Calypso felt the strange, familiar prickling of her skin as the cloudy insides of her crystal ball swirled into a vortex and vanished.
She saw the group of them sitting out on the back lawn beside the goldfish pond. One by one, they took a sip of a foul green brew from a small cauldron, screwed up their faces in concentration and with a muted pop, vanished. In their place sat animals. Calypso watched, fascinated, waited until all had successfully changed, and then turned her gaze away from her crystal ball.
"Ring-tailed Lemur."
"Wombat."
"Tasmanian Devil."
"Mole."
"Heffalump."
The suggested animals had become progressively stranger by the time Calypso shook her head to clear all the fuggy mist out of it.
"Well?" Melody asked her.
"Right. It's gonna work. You're all gonna transform." Calypso replied.
"Yessssssss!" Ian punched the air and Ashleigh gave an unsurpessible shriek of delight.
"And Mel and I and Malcolm and Wayne too." Calypso added.
There was silence.
"But…Wayne is on nightshift! And Malcolm isn't coming back for another week!" Ashleigh exclaimed.
"Then we wait for another week." Gary said sagely, and pressed a button on the remote. The TV blinked into life, quickly stalling any argument.
"Well, we need to wait anyway." Renee said, scanning the instruction for the Anamagi potion. "A week and a half at the very least. And I need to get some Saffron and Mermaid scales, too."
"Sweet!" Ben exclaimed, looking very pleased with himself. "So whenever Malcolm gets back and the potion is ready, we'll do it! Now, where's Crash Bandicoot III?"
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Maria sighed, and took another sip of coffee, watching the construction wizards rebuild her home. It had been two weeks and four days, and the interior decorators were almost ready to start.
Snape had been right. The Insurance company had been quite generous, and Maria was quite pleased with the pad she was getting. No more op-shop couches for her!
Only if Snape wasn't right all the time.
Calypso was a Death Eater.
When Snape had gone to get Calypso from his house, she wasn't there. She had never arrived. Somehow, she had sneaked off the Knight Bus and had vanished.
Remus kept up the hope that one day she would just turn up and have a good explanation for everything, but two weeks had passed and they had seen neither hide nor hair of her.
Nor of Fleur.
They had to assume the worst – Calypso had returned to Voldemort, and Fleur was dead.
And since the moment when Calypso had disappeared, things had just gone crazy. All the Phoenixes were existing on Coffee and Revitalizing Potions Snape brewed constantly.
Maria took another swig of her black coffee and drained the last of the mug.
She was kicking herself for taking such a liking to Calypso. Hook, line and sinker, Maria thought to herself. Shit she was a good actor. Even the usually skeptical Remus was totally fooled.
Thank God for those extra Aurors from Australasia. Even with them, work was heavy and the Magical Community was in a state of panic and constant fear.
Fudge had bowed to pressure from the Ministry and had finally admitted that Voldemort had returned. The result of this proclamation was not as dramatic as he had expected – most people had worked it out for themselves, although Gringotts was overrun with wizards and witches frantically depositing all their worldly possessions into the Goblin's impenetrable vaults.
Fleur and Mundungus were dead so far, as well as one of the Australasian Aurors. Maria never had a chance to learn his name.
The 'imports' or 'Anzacs', as the Australasian Aurors were called, were a good bunch. Hard-working and friendly, tough as nails in a battle. Still, they weren't enough. Another fifty would go down well. Not that any more were coming. They couldn't even wrangle any help from other countries – they were all having trouble of their own. America especially. Their Death Eaters had infiltrated Neo-nazi groups, and High School shootings were spreading like wildfire. Apparently, all it took was a little suggestion, so small it hardly even amounted to coercion into the minds of a High School outcast and….shootings were so common now they hardly merited page five in the paper.
No-one but from Danny, Chief Hit Wizard, knew about Calypso apart from the people who had already met her. It was all hushed up by the Phoenixes. Neil told Maria that Angelina kept asking what she was doing, and Neil was running out of excuses.
"Just say she's working on something secret and important, Neil." Maria advised. "Angelina's smart enough to know that means, 'Don't ask me any more.' She'll get the hint."
Maria looked at the dregs of her coffee, and it suddenly reminded her of those many painstaking hours she had spent at Hogwarts looking at the bottom of mugs, interpreting the tea leaves.
She still couldn't really believe that Calypso was a Death Eater. The enemy.
Sure, the evidence was against her. But there were still a lot of things that didn't add up.
Perhaps they would never know.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Neil running towards her, dodging workers fixing the Watchmaker's shop.
Panting, he drew close.
"What's up?" Maria said quickly, putting her mug down and standing up.
"Big problem at Harry Potter's house." Neil said breathlessly.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Harry sat in the corner of Remus' squishy purple sofa and watched daytime soap operas on Sirius' television, utterly bored. His leg still ached, and he had it propped up on the coffee table.
At least he was out of Privet Drive.
The summer holidays had defiantly not been fun. Dudley, despite the diet, had lost no weight, and his voice was breaking and had been for the last few months. This created the only source of amusement for Harry the whole summer long. Harry thanked his lucky stars that his voice had cracked quickly the holidays before. He had also grown nearly another foot since the year before, and could look his Uncle Vernon in the eye.
Which Uncle Vernon did not like at all.
It seemed to Harry that Uncle Vernon had become even more temperamental than last year, if that was possible. He flew into a rage at the drop of a hat, and had become more violent, smashing windows when he couldn't get his way.
Apparently, Grunnings was not doing so well.
Harry didn't think Vernon was homicidal. Not at all. But obviously he had been told that wizards were constantly guarding his house. Maybe that was what pushed him over the edge, Harry mused. Because that morning, Uncle Vernon had pulled out his 12-inch Shotgun, stood at his front door, and fired off random shots into the garden and street, hoping to hit a wizard wearing an invisibility cloak.
Eyes bloodshot and grinning crazily, Vernon had then walked back inside his house to his terrified family who were huddling against the wall, hunted down Harry, who was ringing the Police, and dragged him outside.
Harry, now nearly as tall as Vernon, had put up a fight, but while Harry was all bones, Vernon had bulk behind his frame, and the strength of the possessed. In the fray, Harry had fallen down the staircase and broken one of his long leg bones.
By the time he threw Harry out onto the front path, armed police had ringed the house, and the barrels of multiple guns were pointed their way.
Vernon had told Harry to stand up, and Harry tried to, shaking with fear. He collapsed on the ground instead. Uncle Vernon was crazy.
"I'll blow his fucking brains out! I will, you hear!" he screamed hoarsely to the cops, foam flicking from the corner of his mouth.
"It's all his fault! Never should have taken the little freak in – look what he's brought us! And don't you weirdoes even THINK of trying to put a spell on me! I've got my finger on the trigger, and I won't hesitate, I won't!" Vernon's goldfish eyes were flicking back and forth, from one cop car to another, flashing red and blue lights drowning the bizarre scene.
Harry sat there, looking at the sky and not making a move, hardly even breathing. Even facing Lord Voldemort wasn't this terrifying.
Voldemort had been sane – if you call Lord Voldemort sane. His uncle was stark raving mad, unpredictable. At least with Voldemort you knew what was coming.
Then, suddenly, Vernon swiveled around.
"There! In the primulas!" he hissed, training both barrels of the gun onto the flowerbed. He pulled the trigger, and destroyed Aunt Petunia's pride and joy.
"Gotcha!" he roared in triumph, and as heavily armored police tackled him, handcuffed him and dragged him to a waiting paddy wagon, he threw his head back and screamed with maniacal laughter.
Harry shuddered at the memory. Professor McGonagall, who had been forced to simply watch the whole drama from across the road at Old Mrs. Figg's house, raced over with her apprentice, Charmaine, and had scooped him up before any of the cops could protest.
School started again in two weeks. He couldn't stay at Privet Drive any more – HURRAY! – but that meant he was a liability to everyone he stayed with until he returned to the safety of Hogwarts. Lupin's house was cool, but he felt guilty at the problems he caused. Sirius was still walking around the house, putting extra charms on it, and Remus was doing something else from the air.
Harry loved the kitchen, though. Unlimited access to food…..that was something he only really dreamed about. Both Fridge and Pantry had been shocked at how skinny he was, and promised to 'fatten him up', sounding overly maternal.
Suddenly, there was a soft hoot from the window. A large snowy owl gracefully landed, and turned large tawny eyes onto Harry.
"Hedwig!" he exclaimed. "Allright!"
Hedwig flew silently over to Harry and landed on his outstretched fist. Harry fumbled with the knots holding the message to the owl's leg, but eventually he got the letter off.
Dear Harry,
Heard what happened from Dad. Can't believe your Uncle finally went loopy. Everyone's all worried about you (especially Ginny nudge nudge wink wink) Mum's nearly out of her tree.
Hermione is in America at the moment so I can't get in contact with her. She's got a cellphone though, but I can't work a telophone. Look see, I spelt telophone right! Haha! I'm learning.
You can't come here, sorry Harry. Both Mum and Dad said so. Nothing personal, it's just that we don't have enough protection on our house in case he-who-should-not-be-named comes visiting. But they said I can visit you.
Dad and Bill are working like you wouldn't believe.
Hear from you soon, Harry.
Ron.
Harry started scribbling back a reply.
*****************
Dumbledore was in deep conversation with Danny Campbell, head of the Hit Wizards, when there was a sudden knock at the door. Dumbledore sat up, breaking off his sentence.
"Come in." he said pleasantly.
The door to Dumbeldore's office at Hogwarts squeaked open and Remus walked in, followed by a tall curly-haired brunette with square, black spectacles, and red high heels that were clicking on the floor.
"Dumbledore, we've found…." Remus stopped when he saw Danny sitting across from Dumbledore. "Erm…Mr. Campbell…"
"Danny." He was corrected.
"Yes, um, Danny….would you mind turning a blind eye here?" Remus asked uncertainly, throwing meaningful glances to Dumbledore.
"Just this once, Danny." Dumbeldore added, and Danny nodded, curious.
"This," Remus said, gesturing towards the woman accompanying him, "is Lauretta Lukassen, from the Department of International Affairs."
"Lauretta, this is Danny Campbell, the Chief Hit Wizard." Remus introduced.
Lauretta froze, sweating with fear, and clutched the black folder she was holding into her chest, trying to hide the large 'ALPHA 1' stamp from view. To no avail.
Danny gave a sudden start, an angry expression on his face.
"Oi! That's an Alpha 1 file! You shouldn't…" he started severely.
"A blind eye, thanks Danny?" Dumbledore asked good-naturedly, smiling at Danny, whose face slowly dawned with comprehension.
"Ms Lukkassen!" Dumbledore greeted Lauretta kindly. "The last time I saw you in here was, what, twenty years ago?"
"For cursing Mrs. Norris, yes." Lauretta said quickly, her words spilling out. "Look, I never had this file. You never saw me with it. You never saw it. Actually, as far as you know, it doesn't exist, okay? You get my drift?" She quickly scuttled over to Dumbeldore's desk and threw the folder down as if it was burning her skin.
"There's only one last spell on it that I can't break, but I need it back by midnight tonight." Lauretta flicked her eyes to the corners of the rooms. "I'd get in so much trouble if anyone found out….."
"A brilliant job of hacking, Ms Lukkassen!" Danny interrupted, a broad smile on his face as he handled the folder. "We've never been able to lay our hands on Alpha 1 files. May I see you sometime later?"
Lauretta froze, terrified.
"We might have some business propositions for you." Danny continued.
Lauretta finally gave a small smile. "Sometime later, yes." She said, and, before she did anything she would regret, like snatching up the file and racing back to the ministry to put if safely back where it belonged, she wheeled around and left the office, heels clunking on the floor.
Remus, Dumbledore and Danny all looked at the black folder. The words, 'ALPHA 1' seemed to glow fiercely at them all.
Danny looked uncertainly at Dumbledore. "Take it away, Dumbledore." He offered, sliding the folder across the desk.
Dumbledore's light blue eyes gazed at the folder, and slowly he reached out a wizened old arm to grasp it. Frowning slightly, he pulled out his wand and studied the black file. Suddenly he smiled, and tapped the folder twice with his wand.
"Revellus." He commanded, and suddenly, the folder sprang open, and sheets of blank parchment inside floated out into his outstretched hands.
"What's the file about?" Danny asked Remus as Dumbledore waited for the words to form on the blank parchment.
"It's Calypso's file." He said quickly in reply as words flowed down the pages in Dumbledore's hands.
Danny and Remus waited with baited breath as Dumbledore read through the bottom of his half-moon spectacles. His expression became graver and graver with each line he read.
Finally, about ten minutes later, he looked up.
"Oh dear." He said quietly.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Angelina swirled the vegetables in the wok, turning them over and accidentally flicking some out onto the bench.
"Oh dear, what a pity." She said thearatically, and ate them.
"Angelina, don't do that!" he father said tiredly from his armchair. "It's so unhygienic."
"A good chef always sips the stew, doesn't he dad?" she shot back.
Neil sighed, beaten.
"So how was that Muggle course thing today?" he asked.
"Brilliant!" she replied energetically, large eyes glistening with passion. "I'm so sad it's over, actually, but school starts in two weeks. Finished my web page, though. It's really cool, even though I had to say I played basketball instead of Quidditch on my profile. But I could get pictures that moved!"
"Muggles are quite clever, really, aren't they?" Neil murmured in reply.
"I'm going to have to visit cyber-cafes to check my e-mail." Angelina said happily. "How's Calypso?"
Neil chest felt tight. He couldn't believe he had let his daughter spend a whole day with a Death Eater! What could have happened….
"Oh, I don't know. I don't see her, she's really busy." He said carefully.
Angelina snorted.
"Busy? Not from what I saw!" she said ruefully and swirled the wok again, letting out a hiss and cloud of steam that nearly drowned out her reply.
Neil almost missed it.
"What did you say?" he said slowly, lowering the Daily Prophet.
"I said," Angelina repeated louder, " She didn't look that busy to me."
Neil tentatively got up and walked over to the kitchen where Angelina was hard at work.
"Where," he said very carefully, "did you see Calypso?"
"Oh, on my way to Computer Class." Angelina said offhandedly.
"Angelina, look at me. Exactly where?" Neil said
Angelina looked up at her father, and saw the urgency in his eyes. Something was not right.
"Just…looking out of a window on Cumberland Street. Third story up. She was looking out, but she didn't see me. I was going to go in and see her, but then I remembered that she was supposed to be working, and I shouldn't disturb her, really, and besides, I was late to my class." Angelina looked curiously at her father. "Why?"
"Grab your broomstick." He said abruptly. "We're going." Neil started walking towards the balcony.
Angelina stood where she was, confused. "What?"
"Come on!" Neil said impatiently. "Forget about dinner! Just come on!"
Bemused, Angelina put the wok on the bench, and ran to her room to grab her Nimbus 747.
Joining her Dad on the balcony, she mounted her broom and leapt over the railings. As they were zooming off, she had time for one question.
"Where are we going?" she yelled across to her dad.
"To see Dumbledore." He replied with a hard expression as they sped off over London.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"But……." Remus was lost for words.
"He's alive and kicking, alright." Dumbledore said.
The strangest thing was happening to Remus. First the greatest joy exploded through his body.
His brother was alive.
Cain was alive.
Over twenty years ago, he went missing. They had all presumed him dead.
Alive.
And then, cold liquid anger rushed throughout his veins.
Cain was a Death Eater.
Of the highest order.
Co-leader of the Australasian Death Eater tribe.
Remus felt like he was going to be sick. The world swayed around the edges.
"Put your head between your knees, son." Danny suggested helpfully.
Remus did so and took deep breaths. Feeling much better, he sat up again.
"What," he said carefully, "Does my brother have to do with Calypso?"
Dumbledore gave Remus a strange look.
"A lot. He's her father.:"
*****************************
Snape looked around the hall as other Death Eaters Apparated out. Snape intensely longed to follow suit and leave, but that was not what he was here to do.
Smoothing down his ink black robes, he set out for the door off the side of the alter where Malfoy and the Australasian Death Eaters had left.
The great hall rang eerily as Snape stepped over to the other side. Finally he put his hand on the doorknob and went to turn it.
"Snape." A single word was enough to freeze him to the spot.
He turned around to face Lord Voldemort, eyeing him curiously.
"What are you up to, Snape?" he said easily, looking at Snape as a cat does to a mouse.
Snape drew breath. "I need to talk to Malfoy, my lord. In his library is a spellbook…"
Voldemort waved a bony arm to silence Snape. "That's not what I asked." He said lazily. Suddenly his red eyes popped open.
"I said, what are you up to!" he hissed, and Snape took a step back.
Voldemort seemed to swell with rage. "Answer the question, Snape!" he screamed hoarsely, the veins on his thin neck standing out.
Terrified, Snape tried not to blink. "I need to see Malfoy, my liege. That Buildingblock Potion recipe is…." He said, his voice quavering.
Suddenly Voldemort was back to normal. He wheeled about and went to walk away, and Snape felt his heart resume beating. Then Voldemort turned his head back to face Snape.
"I'm watching you, Snape." He said merrily, and walked off.
Snape waited until he had left the hall before he started breathing again. Then he turned back to the door and opened it.
The hallway was long and dark, and Snape walked cautiously, listening for voices. Soon he heard them, from the left. He followed them until he rounded a corner and found the Australasian Death Eaters catching a Portkey, one by one, to wherever they were staying.
"…did you hear that guy McNair? Jeez, he sounded like one of the Proclaimers!" a voice rang out, and laughter broke out among the Death Eaters queued up to catch the Portkey.
Snape stopped. He recognised that voice. It was Calypso.
Someone had started singing.
"When I wake up….I'm gonna be tha maan whoo wakes up next to yooo….." Calypso started singing with a thick Scottish accent.
Everyone joined in for the chorus.
"Well I will walk five hundred miles, and I'll walk five hundred more….."
Snape wished the Australasians had heard McNair's comments on their accents being 'acidic enough to strip paint.'
Malfoy was standing by looking important, ordering people around as Snape took one, quick look around the Death Eaters.
There.
Calypso, with a broad grin on her face, reached out her hand to grab the wastepaper basket at the moment she turned around to spot Snape. There was a glimmer of recognition in her twinkling eyes before she vanished into a blur of blonde hair and black robes as the portkey sped off.
Snape kept his gaze traveling, also fleetingly noticing the two leaders of the Australasian Tribe. A man that strongly reminded him of someone, whom he couldn't quite place, but disliked from first setting his eyes on him. And also the woman, Octavia, of whom Calypso was the spitting image.
Malfoy turned around, angry at being interrupted.
"What are you doing here, Snape?" he snapped.
"I need a certain book out of your library. 10,000 Unusual Potions?" Snape said slowly as he watched Octavia and Cain catch a Portkey away out from the corner of his eye.
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "What do you need it for?"
"Buildingblock Potion for Lord Voldemort." Snape replied.
"Fine." Malfoy replied. "Come by tomorrow."
At that, Snape turned around and quickly walked away from Malfoy. The man made him feel ill. Walking down the gloomy corridor, Snape felt both pleased and angry.
Pleased that he now had proof that Calypso was a Death Eater. Willingly, too. She wasn't, as Black had argued, under Impervious curse or anything. She was singing and dancing. Finally, he had got one up on Lupin and Black.
But angry. How could she have infiltrated the Phoenixes so easily? What secrets had she been privy to, and what had she told them? Had she told anyone that Snape was a Phoenix?
Snape's thoughts troubled him all the way back to 114 Hogsmeade Road.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
"Oh I can't believe it." Danny murmured as he re-read a sheet of parchment from Calypso's folder. "How could have they possibly done this?"
Remus' mind was still boggling. "What are we going to do?" he asked Fawkes, who was sitting on his perch, looking very old and tired.
"We'll wait." Dumbledore replied. "Until Snape returns from that Death Eater rally. We'll see if what he's seen and heard matches with this. And then…"
"Yes?" Danny urged.
Dumbledore shrugged, and took off his glasses tiredly.
"Truly, I don't know."
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Okay, by now you should all know what to do next.
I actually find your comments really interesting. Especially your guesses as to what is going to happen next. So go on, guess!