Chapter 20

/Yay, people are coming to rescue us! ::claps::/

Or are they?

/Hey!/

This chapter is dedicated to Psycho-Violinist, the Master Of All Things Sweet And Sugary, the only one who reviewed the last two chapters.

/What do you mean are they going to save us?! Ishe-Leigh!!!/

"So what're we gonna do?" A Hufflepuff boy asked.

"Name?" Khalidah said crisply in reply, scanning a piece of parchment.

"Zach Smith. Why?"

"Yup, you're on the list." Khalidah said, ignoring him.

"Hold on," one girl, also Hufflepuff with brown hair and freckles said, "what list? Oh, Susan Bones." She added when Khalidah simply stared at her.

"The list of people 'oo were in the DA." Aine answered. "They're the only people we asked."

"You two aren't in the DA." Zach sneered. "And neither is he." He pointed to Draco.

"Draco is 'ere because 'e wants te 'elp. Not sure I can say the same about ye. And Khalidah and I are none o' yer concern. D'ye wanna 'elp or na? Because if ye don' ye should jus' say so an' ye can stop wastin' our time."

"Of course I want to help. Harry is the only reason any of us can defend ourselves!"

"Good. Then there'll be no more interruptions. Khalidah can tell ye wha' ye need te know."

"Wait a second!" Zach yelped. "What we need to know?! What're you talking about?!"

Aine raised one eyebrow. "We're goin' up against Voldemort. Wha'? Did ye think this would be as easy as getting' food out o' the 'ouse-elves? D'ye want te 'elp or na? Make up yer bloody mind! Because ye're wastin' my fuckin' time an' I don' 'ave any te spare! Goddess! 'Arry an' Ginny are gonna die if we don't do something!" Aine dashed the tears from her eyes. "So any of ye 'oo aren't willin' te 'elp, get out an' stop wastin' our time!"

Unable to control her emotions any longer, Aine fled from the room, Draco trailing after her.

"Aine, wait! Draco called.

Aine whirled around and glared at hi, heedless to the tears that were blurring her vision. "They're gonna die, Draco! An' it's all my fault!" She fell to her knees, staring at the floor. "All my fault." She whispered.

"No it's not." Draco replied, kneeling beside her. "You can't blame yourself."

"Ginny gave me 'er portkey! If it wasna fer me they could've escaped by now!"

"Ok." Draco said. "Did you ask for the portkey?"

"No..."

"Did you want to hurt Harry or Ginny? Ever?"

"No..."

"Did you take the portkey with the sole intention of making sure Ginny couldn't get home if she got into trouble?"

"No!"

"Well I don't see how it's your fault, then." Draco shrugged. "As far as I can tell, you're completely innocent of all crimes."

"...Thanks..." Aine said; a slight hiccup in her voice.

Draco smiled and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "No problem. Just don't tell anyone, I'm evil, remember? Now let's go back in there, ok? We have to keep them going, or we'll turn into the teachers running around in circles just like in your little analogy."

"Ok."

"Now, Severus, there's a small matter which we must discuss." Lord Voldemort said, stroking the hand of the red-haired beauty sitting next to him. Severus recognised her as the Vampiress Lady Cleo de Duclair.

"What's that, milord?" Severus asked, icy dread settling in the pit of his stomach.

"It has come to my attention that we have a traitor in our midst."

Severus struggled to hold his cool, disinterested expression. "Oh?" He said. "Why would you think that, milord?"

Lady de Duclair snorted, rolling her almond-shaped green eyes. "I'm gonna go hunting, 'k Tom?" She cooed.

"Yes, very well, Cleo."

The Vampiress vanished in a swirl of ice crystals, and Voldemort returned to the matter at hand. "Why do I think that, you ask? Because certain...information...has become available to the Ministry of Magic, information they shouldn't have." Voldemort smirked.

"Why are you telling me this, my lord?" Severus queried politely.

"Ah, I've been waiting for you to ask that question, Severus. You see, you're a very intelligent man. Quite...sharp. You make a perfect spy, with your ability to mask your feelings and project whatever image you feel is necessary."

"Thank you, my lord." Severus said, "such praise from you means much. But I still don't understand why I'm here."

"I know. Who do you believe could be the spy, Severus? It must be someone in the Ministry. Perhaps MacNair? What do you think?"

In any other situation Severus would have found this very amusing, but right now he was too scared. "I have no idea, my lord. Mac Nair does seem a likely candidate, but then, so does Nott, or Malfoy. I'm afraid I can't help you."

Voldemort frowned. " 'You're afraid you can't help me', Severus? What a pity. Crucio."

"Luna, have you, Annie, and Hermione come up with a way for us to get into the Riddle house?" Aine asked.

Luna shook her head, bottle-cap necklace rattling noisily. "No, but don't worry, there's a way." She said; her voice airy. "It'd help if we knew where it was."

Hermione nodded, her hair even bigger than usual due to the amount of times she run her hands though it in frustration. "I'm almost there." She promised, putting yet another muggle newspaper on a growing pile. "I just have to find the obituaries of Mr. and Mrs. Riddle and their son."

"Um…" Susan Bones began timidly, "I had a thought. Couldn't we scry for Harry and Ginny, thus finding the house?"

"No," Hermione said, rolling her eyes, "you don't learn scrying unless you do further magical education. None of us know it."

"O' course!" Aine exclaimed. " 'Ow could I be so stupid?! We can scry! Good work, Susan."

Susan blushed.

"Has no one been listening to me?" Hermione demanded. "I said we aren't advanced enough!"

"We aren't, Granger. But they are." Draco said, indicating to both Aine and Khalidah.

"Oh." Hermione blushed. "I forgot."

"The almighty Granger forgot something? I never thought I'd see the day-" Draco sneered, only stopping when Aine laid a hand on his arm.

"Don'." She said softly. "They're respectin' my wishes by na bein' rude te ye; please show them the same courtesy."

Draco sighed. "Very well." He said. "Can't let anyone say Gryffindors are bigger than Slytherins."

Aine smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank ye." She said. "Khali, ye an' I should begin."

Khalidah nodded, and began ticking the list of things they needed off on her fingers. "We need a large piece of parchment, a quill, and something of Ginny's and something of Harry's, the more personal the item the better."

"Ernie, can ye go get a piece o' parchment? 'Ermione, Ron, ye go get somethin' o' 'Arry's. Luna, can we borrow yer quill?"

Silently, Luna handed over her quill.

"What about Ginny?" Hermione asked. "Don't you need a personal item of hers?"

Aine touched the heavy gold locket-turned-portkey. "Wha' better item than the necklace 'Arry gave 'er?" She asked rhetorically.

"Nagini." Tom hissed in parseltongue, "come here."

The big green snake slithered over to her master. "Yesss?" She asked.

"Do you know who the spy is?"

Nagini shook her head. "It could be any of them, Massster. Many of them sssmell of fear and hatred. Cleo and Ssseverusss are completely free of both. Bellatrixss sssmellsss of love, but fear too. She could easssily betray you."

"Love." Tom said scornfully. "A useless emotion. But I doubt Bellatrix is the traitor. She went to Azkaban for me. It is not likely she would turn now."

"True." Nagini acknowledged. "But who, then, Massster?"

"Wormtail?"

"Hasss nothing to gain by it. And he isss too ssspinelesss. There isss no one on the Ssside of the Light who would welcome him or lisssten to anything he sssaysss. Oncsse he faked hisss death he sssigned away hisss freedom."

"You're right." Tom said. "Watch them, then. All of them."

""Of courssse, Massster."

"Thank you, Nagini."

"Asss alwaysss, Massster, I live to ssserve."

"Ok," Aine said, setting the blank parchment on the table, and placing the quill next to it. She waved her hand over the quill. "Enviro Recorduris." She said. The quill glowed slightly, changing to black stone. Aine placed it nib down on the parchment, and handed Khalidah the gold locket and a red snitch-covered sock.

Khalidah placed them next to the parchment. "Enviro Locaris." She intoned.

"Amorio Claritis." They said together.

There was a bright flash of light, and the quill began etching a map into what was now parchment-coloured stone.

"There," Aine said; a satisfied smile on her face. "This darlin' thin'," the slab of stone received a pat, "will lead us right te the Riddle 'ouse, startin' at this very room."

As she spoke, the path to the house became black stone that stood out clearly against the pale yellow-brown of the rest of the map.

"What are we waiting for, then, let's go!" Ron said.

"Na yet." Aine replied. "First I 'ave somethin' te say. If I know Voldemort, an' I do, Ginny an' 'Arry will be under the best guards 'e 'as.

"So what? We'll stun them." Ron said impatiently.

"They're na 'uman." Aine snarled, her patience dinwdling. "They're demons, known as Shadow Mancers. They canna be 'armed by normal spells. There's a special curse, though."

"Well?" Ron asked, after a few minutes of silence. "What is it?!"

"You couldn't pronounce it." Khalidah sneered.

"Khalidah." Aine warned, before taking a deep breath and yelling. "EVERYONE!"

The small group (which consisted of four Hufflepuff sixth years, Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Zachariah Smith, and Ernie McMillian; two Slytherin sixth years, Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy, Two Ravenclaws, Luna Lovegood and Andromeda Tonks, and all the Gryffindor sixth years still at the school) turned to look at her.

"Thank ye. Listen up. There are these demons called Shadow Mancers which were with Voldemort. 'E uses 'em to do the most important work. They're made up o' shadows, and can take any form they want. No matter what, they always 'ave red eyes, and they're black all over, like shadows. They canna be 'armed by normal spells, they jus' go righ' through 'em like ghosts. But there is one spell, which ye will all need te know. It's complex, and na made fer 'uman tongues. But 'ear this," Aine's silver eyes were serious, "if ye mispronounce it ye'll give the Shadow Manver complete control over ye." She waited a few seconds for that to sink in. "Now, the spell. Shricknakh. Repeat."

"Shricknakh." Everyone said obediently.

"Again."

"Shricknakh."

"Again."

"Shricknakh."

"Good. But tha's na all. Ye 'ave te want them ter freeze. Want it with yer entire bein'."

"Want it. Right." Ron said. "Can we go now?"

Aine grinned. "Aye." She said. "We can go."

Khalidah looked around at the seventeen-score roup. "Wait." She said. "Everyone, I just want to say this is a dangerous thing we're doing."

"Your point?" Blaise asked, rolling blue eyes.

"Cleo is Aine's. And any Death Eaters you can't handle…send 'em my way. I'll give 'em a run for their money." Khalidah smirked wickedly. "Be careful, all of you. I don't think anyone wants to die, so let's make sure we don't. That's it." She held out the stone map. "This is a portkey. When all you humans are touching it you'll be transported to the woods just outside the house. Meet you all there." Handing Aine the tablet, she disappeared with a whoosh! and a burst of flames.

Aine motioned for all of the students to gather around, and handed Hermione the map. She watched as they all touched it and left in a whirl of colour. Turning on her heal, she headed to the kitchens.

Psycho-Violinist: Thanks, Jamie. Here's chapter 20