Author's Note:
'This is a contest entry for the Dracolov challenge! If you would like to enter you must e-mail Dracolov, her e-mail is in her profile. The last day to enter is 12/1/04. Please R & R (read and review) and thank you for reading my story.
Disclaimer:
I don't own any of the orginial Harry Potter character because I am not that creative...but I wish i was...I only own the plot and my characters.
chapter 9: Darkness Falls
"Tara, I presume." Draco leaned against the door jam giving her his best come hither stare.
"Yes." she replied friendly but nervous which was in stark contrast to the extremely tight black dress draped upon her body that screamed "come and get me". Draco immediately focused on the fact that she was fidgeting uncontrollably and seemed unsure of herself which was the exact opposite of his original impression of her. "May I come in?"
"Please do." he answered formally while stepping to the side and was startled as another figure appeared out of the shadows like a mirror image except for the outfit.
"Impostor!!! She's not Tara, I am."
"I most certainly am not, she is the fake." the first Tara shot back.
Draco swung his head back and forth between the two women trying to determine the real from the fake without much success. The only thought that was sticking out was the demeanor of the Tara in the black dress. Both women saw the distress in his eyes and took the opportunity to plead their own cases.
"If she's who she says she is, how would she know to be here? Jacq sent to escort you to the party like you requested. She's not even dressed for one, now is she?" reasoned Tara number one.
"I'm not here to go to a party. I'm here to help you with the Priory." the other smirked. This triggered a sense of recognition in Draco prompting him to draw his wand upon the girl in the black dress.
"Both of you come inside and we'll work this out." he directed and both girls reluctantly walked into the room. As they stepped into the threshold, each felt something binding them and dreaining all power and desire from them. The two girls collasped into their chairs with a zombie like glare falling over their faces.
Hermione and Sapphire came out of their hiding places to join Draco in front of the almost identical pair before him.
"This is interesting." Hermione mused. "How are we suppose to figure out who is real and who is fake?"
"Unless they are both impostors?" Sapphire proposed.
"No, one of them is real. My be is on the one in the green cloak. The one in the black dress is far too edgy to be the real Tara. But rather than guess, let's play a little game." Draco grinned at the prospect of using a spell that his father had taught him for something other than evil.
"And what is the game?" Hermione questioned skeptically wonder ing what he was up to.
"Just a little revealing spell that's enhanced by a little dark magic."
"We can't do dark magic!!" Sapphire yelped.
"You aren't. I am to make them reveal their secrets." Draco corrected her.
The three bickered back and forth for the next few minutes before Draco stopped the discussion and announced his final words on the matter. He walked over to the two women, raised his arms and began to chant...
"I call upon the dark spirits of my ancestors,
to bridge the gaps of time and space,
make all the secrets of the deceptive one's
known to all others in this place."
A wind began to swirl in the room with strobe like lights flashing all around them. Hermione and Sapphire looked fearfully at one another hoping that the spell didn't backfire. The next thirty seconds felt like an eternity and they all began to question if it had even worked but then it happened......
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"I've always wondered why everyone admired you so, I mean you couldn't eventell when they were using you as pawn." Sapphire laughed at Hermione.
"We always wondered why Arthur would want such a squib, as yourself, for a secretary." Hermione shot back without thinking.
Draco stood back feeling something willing up in his own throat but trying to hold it back with all his might. The impulse was growing stronger with each breath he took so he tried to relieve the pressure by simply whispering his deepest secret.
"I'm not really Tara, I was just trying to do a favor for a friend." the girl in the black dress confessed.
"Harry's going to die and it will be all my fault." the real Tara began to sob and that caught the attention of the others snapping them out of their mindless bickering.
"What????" they shouted in unison.
"Take the spell off Malfoy before I..." Hermione fought the urge with everything she had. "Now, I want this spell off now before I tell you what I think of your secret."
"My secret?" he huffed.
"You thought you whispered it but you didn't. You heard it too, didn't you Sapphire?"
"Yep." Sapphire sang out.
"Fine, say no more." Draco dropped his shoulders in defeat, so with a wave of his wand a short swirl of wind and everyone felt the pressure fade away.
"Who are you?" Hermione directed back to the stranger in the black dress.
The woman looked at a clock on the wall and realized that the jig was up. "Just a few more minutes and you'll know but it's already too late."
"What do you mean?" Draco finally found his voice again with the sneaking suspicion that he knew who she was.
"We should have left by now and seeing how we haven't, they will be coming for you soon." she gloated.
"Parisa." Draco uttered.
"The one and only. Father is going to very displeased with her little secret." she went on before he raised his wand again and pointed it directly at her heart.
"If they are coming then perhaps I should leave them a gift." he threatened.
"Draco, no....I've got a better plan." Hermione stepped in front of him causing him to lower his wand momentarily.
"Really? Do tell."
"Sapphire, untie Tara. Draco we need to get out of here but I suggest that we take her with us and see how much she really knows, by any means necessary. Wouldn't you agree?" she winked at him and he knew precisely what she getting at.
"Yes," he repeated. "Any means necessary."
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"Now Mr. Potter, Harry, what has Tara told you about her job?" the foreigner asked of him.
"I'm not telling you anything." Harry put on a brave face but was kicking himself for not waiting for help from the Ministry or at least telling someone where he was going.
"Are you hoping that we'll get angry and kill you?" the man speculated.
"No. I am waiting for you to make a mistake." Harry smirked at the man defiantly.
"The Great Harry Potter has found his voice again. The brave and fearless has come out but only to expose his greatest stupidity. Your need to be the hero without considering the consequences. What a waste of such potential." the stranger scoffed.
"If my fate is sealed, then what is the harm of telling me who you are exactly."
"Good question but I really thought that Tara would have told you. Seems that she didn't really trust you as much as I thought. Or maybe she was just playing you for the fool that you've shown yourself to be. Who I am, is not the real question that you are seeking or at least it shouldn't be. Ah, but the real brains of your operation was always that awful mudblood wasn't it?"
"So you are a pureblood then? No doubt a former follower of Voldemort." Harry questioned.
"Wrong again Harry. I never was a follower of the lunatic."
"And why not?"
"Well, first of all, he had dirty blood as well. Second, I follow a much greater and wiser power. There was no need to align ourselves with such filth." the stranger mused.
"What power is that?"
"Not what, Harry, but who."
"Alright, who then?" Harry corrected himself.
"That is something that you will learn soon but for now, we will have some fun."
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After calming Tara and binding Parisa for transport, Hermione and the others left the hotel by apparting to Sapphire's flat to find out from Tara and Parisa what was going on. The conversation that ensued left Draco and Hermione feeling like they were back at Hogwarts fighting the battle that would never end. The names may have changed but the battle is the same.
"How much did you really know about these people before you became involved with them, Draco?" Hermione questioned.
"At the time, all I needed. They were purist and wanted to get things back the way they were supposed to be." he started to explain.
"Do you know who is really controlling the Priory?" she snapped at him.
"No, there's not just one person. There's the head and three substitutes." he replied fearful of her reaction.
"Do you know who any of them are?"
"I think that Parisa may have that answer as I believe that her father is one of them." he offered her with a knowing smirk.
"I'm not sure she's going to offering much information but the Veritas serum will help with that." she smiled back at him.
"We're here." Sapphire interrupted them thankfully.
Once they got settled, the group sat in a circle and began to discuss where to begin. Tara seemed anxious to start but the rest wondered if it would be better to deal with Parisa first. Looking quite nervous, Parisa sat quietly considering her possible options for escape before they could extract the necessary information that would put a couple hundred years of planning at risk.
"We have to help Harry first. I don't know how long they will keep him before they tire of him and kill him. She's a moot point in the big picture." Tara practically shouted at them.
"But surely Jacq knows that I've run off with her by now. Our time to interrogate her may be up soon. Harry's but one man when you consider the threat to the rest of the magical community. They want to ensnare the rest of the world and use it to their whims, don't you understand that?" Draco leaned in closer to her in an attempt to make a stronger impression upon her.
"But Harry's the key to their downfall." she pleaded.
"No, he was the key to the prophecy against Voldemort. Are you expecting me to believe that he's always going to be the answer to ever threat against magic?" Draco scoffed openly.
"Why do you believe that he's the key?" Hermione asked shortly after.
"They wouldn't have taken him if he wasn't." she replied as if it obvious.
"He was the easiest target to get to you." Sapphire laughed back.
"He went after you and found them instead." Draco joined in to the dismay of Hermione and Tara alike.
"But..." she began but was cutoff by the sudden and demoralizing laughter eminenting from Parisa.
"What are you laughing at?" Draco hissed at her.
"How could you betray us, Draco? Listen to there simple ways, they have no idea what they're dealing with. Death would be a gift for them."
"Not now, Parisa. You have no idea how wrong this is."
"You could have great, you know that don't you? Well that is except for your foolish vendetta. Like any of them even mattered. My father was ready to give it all to you if only you could have seen the big picture." she shook her head regrettably at the great loss of such a man.
"I was their pawn not their salvation." Draco finally spoke.
"That's true but with your blood, you could have had the world but you are too petty. Such potential wasted on that." she added with a nod in Hermione's direction.
"Excuse me?" Hermione stiffened involuntarily.
"You heard me mudblood." she shot back at her in superior fashion.
Drawing her wand and pointing it at Parisa's heart, Hermione dared her to spat her venomous slurs again only to be gripped by Draco's next words.
"Don't make it so easy, Granger."
"Back to that are we?" she turned to him with daggers in her eyes.
"Kill her and then what will we do?"
"Rejoice?"
"Hermione, vengance weakens the senses." Sapphire tried to diffuse her anger for all of their sakes but only succeeded in setting her off more.
"What is it all my fault?" she whimpered.
"Don't be so dramatic. You're irrelevant but entertaining nonetheless." Parisa mused.
"What are you playing at, Parisa? Is your father behind all of this?" Draco asked finally.
"No, he's just as irrelevant as the rest." Tara jumped in.
"What?" they all said in unison including Parisa.
"The real culprit is a figure that you all know and most trust. That's why their after me and soon it will be why Harry has to die."
"Really, so who is it?" Hermione inquired skeptically.
"First save Harry and I'll tell you." she bargained.
"Why won't you tell us?" Draco was now totally confused. Who side was she on?
"No one would believe me without proof and that proof lies in Harry, though he doesn't know it yet."
"Just tell us who."
"It's the tie that binds us all together though I never would have believed it until Harry was captured." she confessed.
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"Well, Mr. Potter, I have a special visitor for you today." the cloaked man announced jubliantly to him.
"Sod off." he replied weakly from the torture.
"Oh but I think that you'll find this very enlightening to your current situation."
"I'm sure."
"But you wanted to know why, didn't you?" the stranger drawled.
"Fine, who is it?"
"Oh, you'll see soon enough. Wouldn't want to spoil the suprise." he laughed devilishly as the anticipation of Harry's reaction was killing him.
"Can't wait." Harry replied defeatedly.
"But, I'll give you a hint." the stranger's smile widened twistedly.
"Alright."
"It's someone that you would least expect but should've known seeing as who was involved. I mean who else would have known where everyone was how to get to them?" A riddle, just perfect Harry thought.
"Malfoy?" he guessed.
"Too obvious."
"Voldemort?"
"Dead, remember?"
"A friend?" A list was formulating in his head but none of the names seemed to fit.
"So you thought." the stranger hinted.
"Dumbledore?" doubtful Harry considered but you never know.
"Nope."
"Hermione?"
"Not even close. Well, maybe a little close."
"I give up."
"Now, it's not nice to tease the poor boy, Jacq." an all to familiar voice interrupted.
"You????" Harry choked.
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"I think that I know the answer to that." Sapphire spoke up at that moment.
"Well, who then?" Hermione snapped at her a little harsher than she'd intended.
"I want to hear her story first." she put her off until she knew more.
"Please understand that I was on assignment in complete secrecy. Not even the Ministry knew what I was up to but after a couple weeks I began to suspect why and so I tried to seek out someone that I could trust. I never imagined that it would go this far but he started poking around and it all got out of hand." Tara said directly to Hermione ignoring the others for some unknown reason.
"Why would the IWB want to keep something so dangerous a secret from the Ministry of Magic? That doesn't make any sense since they couldn't do anything punishment wise without us." Hermione questioned.
"Because they believed that someone in the Ministry was involved or was close to someone at the Ministry. We were investigating the whether or not there was a connection and thus why I was suppose to infiltrate the operations to see who was the head but at the time we believed that the head was Mr. Malfoy." she explained.
"So it is someone at the Ministry then?" Hermione surmised.
"Yes but not just anyone. Someone to be reckoned with and I didn't catch it until too late." Tara continued.
"But how can that be? I mean the head Weasel is overseeing everything. Unless?" Draco suddenly realized just what was going on.
"You're right but wrong at the same time." Tara corrected him quickly. "Arthur's not behind this but he's protecting the one who is. That's where Hermione comes in. Her role in this was not as a pawn but as fail safe. Arthur believed that if she did stubble across the truth, she wouldn't be so quick to believe it or do anything about but I don't think figured on you two getting cozy with one another."
"So it's another of the Weasley's then?" Hermione was trying to clarify because it all just seemed to unreal to be true.
"Yes."
"Does Harry know too?" Sapphire asked before Hermione could get the words out.
"No. I was on my way to meet him when I discovered that they we're looking for me thanks to your friend, Draco." another bombshell dropped.
"Who?" his mind racing furiously to absorb the massive amount of information all at once.
"A Marcus, I believe."
"Flint?" Hermione blurted out baffled.
"Yes, he grabbed me and suggested that I take an extended holiday but not before I stopped by to Draco and tell him what happened." she finished.
"Ok, let's say that I buy all this. Who is the culprit?" Hermione asked skeptically.
Tara looked at all the other faces in the room but couldn't bring herself to say it as she knew what would happen. The only person who wasn't looking at her was Parisa and that was because she already knew the answer. It was someone that she had very personal knowledge of and was beginning to worry that this house of cards was crumbling down around.
"It's...well...." she stammered trying decide the best way to break it too them.
"Just say it for the love of Merlin!" Draco screamed at her.
"It's...." she began to mouth the name when the rest of the group caught a green bolt fly directly at her and she went limp.
"Now that's a girl who never knew when to shut up." said a voice behind them and as they turned around, Hermione came face to face with her worst nightmare.
author's notes: Thanks to all those who began reviewing at my plea but I am sadden to report that I have had my first negative review ever and I feel the need to respond to it first. Hellakat, I would like to first respond by saying that anyone who wants to criticize others works but can't try on themselves shoud really get a new hobby. If the story was that bad then I am glad that you didn't bother to continue reading. I don't mind constructive criticism so long as you let me know how I can improve....to just say that the story is pointless and has been done better doesn't help me in the least little bit.
Now on to welcome silverhazel, rose, J.N.Cahill (who's story I personally enjoy a bit too much for my own good as I'm easily distracted) and magictrouser.
Big thanks and hugs to the regulars slyswn28, Blood-Red-Pen-Tip, darktwistedpoet, That Other Girl (my awesome beta), sweetncute325 and the anonymous Mr Big Bad.
I do have one final question for Mr. Big Bad...in the last review you suggested that I work on how the characters talk to each other but I'm having a brain fart moment and don't quite understand what you mean, so could you be a little more specific so I know what I'm doing wrong. Thanks again to all who are reading and reviewing...if anyone is reading but not reviewing please review as it is the only way I can improve or have my ego stroked. Finally, a gigantic thanks to Dracolov for sponsoring the contest.
