Sweet Misery
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
"My Lord," a Deatheater said stepping into Voldemort's study.
"What is it O'Reilly?" Voldemort said, standing over a table.
"Me and the other Deatheaters were wondering when we are going to go after that Evans girl," she said. Voldemort looked over his shoulder at her. O'Reilly's courage seemed to falter. "It, it's just that, Pettigrew has brought us plenty of information, My Lord. We, we know her friends, family, what classes she takes, her enemies, everything My Lord."
"We're not going after her," Voldemort said.
"Wh-what? But I thought--"
"What you think is not important. Not to me at least."
"My Lord, will she not be the source of you destruction if you let her meet up with that 'stag'?"
"She will never meet that stag. She'll be dead long before then."
"What are your plans, My Lord?"
"She will die, but not by our hands." Voldemort walked over to O'Reilly. "Bring me Malfoy, Zambini, Parkinson, and Evett. I must discuss my plans with them."
"Yes My Lord." O'Reilly bowed and stepped out of the sitting room.
"Oh, and O'Reilly?" Voldemort said, calling her back.
"Yes My Lord?" said O'Reilly stepping back into the room.
"Crucio." O'Reilly screamed and fell to the ground, twitching in pain. "Don't ever question my way of doing things." He took the curse off her and she slowly got up. O'Reilly made her way down the corridor, balancing herself against the wall. Voldemort scowled and slammed the door to his study. He walked back over to the table and began looking over the pieces of parchment on it again. It wasn't long before Malfoy, Zambini, Parkinson, and Evett arrived at the study. They cautiously knocked on the door, fearing his foul mood would cause him to take his anger out on them.
"Come in!" Voldemort snapped. The four Deatheaters entered and waited for Voldemort to tell them why they were called for. It was nearly a minute before he spoke. "I have a job for you four."
"What ever it is, My Lord," said Malfoy, "we'll do it."
"Good," he replied. "We are going to get rid of that Evans girl who will destroy me and my empire if she ever meets that stag."
"When would you like us to kill her, My Lord?" Parkinson asked.
"Silence!" Voldemort shouted. "You won't be killing her. She will die, but not by a Deatheater's hand! Well, not directly that is. Pettigrew has been kind enough as to provide us with pictures of all of Evans' friends. Now, we are going to slowly push Evans over the edge. We are starting," Voldemort paused to pick up a picture from the table, "with her."
"Why her, My Lord?" Zambini asked, looking at the picture.
"Crucio! Do not question my plans, fool!" Voldemort shouted.
"My Lord," Malfoy said, ignoring Zambini's cries, "when would you like us to kill her?"
Voldemort released the curse from Zambini. "When she is alone, I don't want any witnesses."
"Of course My Lord," the four Deatheaters said.
"But lord, why send four?" Evett asked. "Surely one can take care of her."
"I don't want her to escape! One Deatheater hasn't seemed to work in the past, so I figure if I send a group, you won't let her escape. Now, go. I don't want any of you back here until she is dead, you hear me? If she escapes, then you'll all pay with your lives. I know you all have families, and it would leave them heartbroken to find out that you were dead, now wouldn't it?" The Deatheaters nodded. "Now, go and watch Hogsmeade. You won't be able to get her at that filthy school. Pettigrew will keep you posted on when you might have a possible chance."
"Yes, My Lord," they said bowing. The four of them apparated to the Inn in Hogsmeade. Voldemort set the picture of the girl back down on the table.
"It's so hard being a dark lord…" Voldemort said, rubbing his forehead.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
"It's so great to be back at Hogwarts," said Lauren, stretching out across a couch in the Gryffindor common room.
"You miss the wonderful atmosphere or something?" Lily asked.
"Nah," Lauren replied. "I missed being able to do magic."
"It makes pranks so much easier," Sirius said.
"Speaking of which," Remus said, "was that what you three were planning over the summer?"
Sirius, James, and Peter were silent for a moment. "Yes," replied James.
"You're lying," said Gwynn. "What were you really up to?"
"Nothing," Sirius said.
"Okay, you don't have to tell us," shrugged Gwynn. She yawned. "I think I'll head up to bed. 'Night guys." She kissed Remus on the cheek. "'Night Remus."
"'Night Gwynn," he said returning the kiss. Gwynn walked over to the stairs to the dormitories. She looked back as she approached the separate staircases to the boys and girls dorms. At the last moment, Gwynn ran up the stairs to the guys' dorms.
"Sh-she's g-going t-to our d-d-dorm!" Peter shouted. Sirius, James, and Peter all jumped up and ran after her. Lily, Lauren, and Remus quickly followed. When Sirius, James, and Peter reached the door to the Fourth year dorms, they found it locked. James whipped out his wand and pointed it at the lock.
"Alohomora!" he said. The lock clicked and he tried to open the door, but something was blocking it.
"Gwynn, open the door right now!" Sirius shouted. He heard something hitting the door from the inside. "GWYNN!"
"Hey Sirius," a voice said from inside.
"Brian? Open the door!" Sirius said.
"No can do, Gwynn says she'll hex me," replied Brian.
"Brian come on!" James said pounding on the door. Lauren, Lily, and Remus looked on in amusement. Sirius kicked the door. James stepped back a few steps and took a running start at the door, doing nothing but causing serious pain to his shoulder. James rubbed his shoulder, but took another run at it. Yet again, nothing.
"L-let's a-all t-try i-it," stuttered Peter. "O-on th-three. O-one, t-two, th-three!" The three of them rammed the door, knocking whatever or who ever was blocking it aside, and bursting the door open. Peter and James's things were scattered around, and most of Sirius's were, but Gwynn had stopped when she found what she believed to be what she was looking for. She turned to them holding a large book.
"Animagus?" she asked. Sirius snatched to book away from her. "You three are trying to become animagi? Don't you even trust me and Remus?" Her gaze flicked over to Brian. As calm as she could, she said, "Brian would you please leave for a moment?" He nodded and walked out past the rest of the group, who went in. When the door closed, Gwynn punched Sirius's shoulder as hard as she could.
"What's wrong with you?" she shouted at him. "Don't you trust us?"
"Not a bit," replied Sirius.
"Sirius," said Remus, striding over to Gwynn and him. "When we transform, we fight the urge to do anything we may regret."
"You tried to stop yourself from biting her," snapped Sirius, "didn't you?"
"Of course I did," Remus replied. "I never meant to hurt her!" The argument continued to drag on.
"You know, I think it's time to go," muttered James to the others. They nodded and quietly left.
"Fine!" Gwynn shouted, throwing the book at Sirius, who staggered back as he caught it. "Become an animagus! Keep a close eye on you poor baby sister! Never let her do anything that you could possibly disapprove of!" She stomped out of the dorm. Remus shot a glare at Sirius and went to go comfort her.
Slowly, the students began to head up to their dorms for the night. James and Peter entered the dorm to find Sirius slumped over the animagus book.
"Still going through with it?" James asked.
"I don't care what Gwynn or Remus says, I still don't trust them," replied Sirius. "You two can back out if you want."
"N-no w-way," said Peter.
"Yeah, if I leave it all to you, you could screw up royally," added James.
"Gee, thanks James," Sirius said. "Your encouragement means so much."
"I know," replied James, waving the comment away.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
"Lauren, you look terrible," Sirius commented one day at breakfast.
Lauren looked up from her plate of scrambled eggs. "What?" she asked, not hearing what he had said.
"You look terrible," he repeated.
"Oh, I haven't been sleeping well for the past few nights," Lauren replied.
"Bad dreams?" Gwynn asked.
"More or less," she said. "The same one over and over. It makes no sense what so ever!"
"Could it be one of those premonition dreams?" Lily asked, trying to be helpful.
"Maybe, if it is, I can't decipher it," she answered.
"We'll help," James said.
Lauren opened her mouth to tell them the dream but the bell rang signaling they had ten minutes to get to their first class.
"I'll tell you later," Lauren said, as they all gathered up their things. Remus, Lily, Gwynn, and Lauren went to Arithmancy, while James, Sirius, and Peter made their way to Muggle Studies.
Lauren never did get around to telling them about her dream. They were piled up with so much homework, that they all forgot about the dream entirely.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Months passed and in no time flat, it was a week before the winter holidays. The Marauders and the girls were all staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. Lauren, who was originally planning on heading home for the holidays, received an owl from her parents telling her they were off to Egypt for a business trip, but if she still wanted to leave for the holidays she could go and stay with her grandmother. Lauren automatically changed her mind and decided to stay. She did not want to spend the holidays with her Grandmother who refused to talk about anything but how much time has changed since she was Lauren's age. It was always pure torture.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
"How much longer will we have to stay in this god awful town?" Zambini said, pacing in the hotel room.
"Until we can get rid of that girl," replied Malfoy. "Quit pacing!" Zambini stopped and took a seat in a chair. "Parkinson, have you seen any sign they may be here?"
"None," Parkinson replied. Evett walked in, just having returned from the pub.
"Another night of nothing, I suspect," Evett said, flopping down on to a bed.
"You know my kids are expecting me home for Christmas this year," said Zambini. "Missing last year's made me a 'bad father'."
"I couldn't actually care less about your ranking as a father," Malfoy snapped. "What does matter is that our lord's empire depends on our success, our lives depend on our success. Who cares if your kids hate you? I sure don't, and I believe Evett and Parkinson don't care either! Quit your whining about you kids!"
"I have no kids," said Evett. "Thanks for reminding me that I'm still single."
"Shut up," Malfoy said. He got up and left the room to go out into town.
"I'm heading back down to the pub," announced Evett, getting up from his seat on the bed.
"Hold up," said Zambini. "I'm coming too."
"Parkinson, keep watch," Evett said as he opened the door.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," replied Parkinson, leaning back in his chair by the window. It wasn't long before he fell asleep.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
A/n: Well, another chapter done. Voldie's so boring when he speaks isn't he?
::Voldie apparates in::
Voldie: What did you say?
Tori: You're boring when you talk.
Voldie: Oh am I? ::pulls out his wand:: AVARDA KADAVER-- ::one of Tori's cats rubs against Voldie's legs:: EY!!
::A frying pan materializes above Tori's head and starts to pound down on her head::
Tori: OW OW OW!
Voldie: Stupid cat! Go away!
Cat: Meow!
Announcer: Yes, thanks to Tori's cat, she has been saved from the wrath of Voldemort, and can continue to her story.
Tori: ::using all her strength to keep the frying pan from hitting her:: Next chapter will be out eventually--OW! I've got to add a few things, and check it about a--OW! Billion times. OW OW OW!! ::the frying pan disappears as Voldie disapparates.:: Oh thank god.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+