Haunted

By Be Boring

Chapter 5: Repercussions

Necia followed Snape silently through the chilly darkness of the dungeons, ignoring the self-satisfied smirks that Draco continued so shoot at her through his heavy nosebleed. Even if she ended up getting a detention, it was worth it just to see the blood on Malfoy's face. Snape finally reached his office door and ushered them both inside. Once he was seated behind his desk, he pushed a box of tissues in Malfoy's direction and sat back with his fingers entwined together. "Mr. Malfoy, tell me what happened."

Necia had to hold herself back from crying out about how unfair that was as Malfoy grinned widely at her from behind his hand, hiding it from Snape. "Well, sir, when Professor Hagrid brought us back to the front so he could check on his dog, I noticed Necia sneaking back to look at the Flequorns. I went after her to stop her, but she became defensive when I told her how dangerous it was. I finally grabbed her arm to stop her from going near them, and that's when she hit me. She must have put too much force into it and overbalanced, because the next time I looked she was on the ground too."

'How ridiculous,' she thought angrily. If she really had been sneaking back to see the Flequorns, he certainly wouldn't have tried to stop her. Spotting the indignation on her face, Snape nodded in her direction. "Your turn. Explain," he prompted in clipped tones.

"It's true that after Professor Hagrid took us to the front of his hut, I went back to the Flequorns, but that's only because I was following Draco and his two friends. Crabbe and Goyle ran back once Draco got too close to them, but he was hypnotized by the Flequorn's gaze and I had to run forward to knock him out of the way before it attacked him. That's why we were on the ground. Then Draco decided to become, er, inappropriate," at this point she shot him a dark glare, "and that's when I hit him."

Snape looked from one to the other, apparently enjoying the glares exchanged between them, then finally stated, "Ms. Holt, you will receive a detention for disregarding direct instructions from your professor, as well as ten points from Gryffindor for your unnecessary violence directed at Mr. Malfoy. Mr. Malfoy, you shall also receive a detention, as you were also disobeying orders from your professor." Before either of them could protest, he said, "I've decided to take neither of your stories into account, instead I'm going to work off what all three of us know to be fact. Both of you directly disobeyed Professor Hagrid, and you hit him." Now Snape's eyes were only on Necia. "Just be grateful I didn't decide to be more harsh."

'Grateful?' Necia thought spitefully. At least Malfoy was going to have a detention too, even though it surprised her. Her guess was that Snape didn't want it to appear to the other teachers that he was favoring his own house, even though everyone knew it already. As long as they didn't have to serve their detentions together, she would be able to handle anything Snape tried to throw in her direction.

As both Draco and Necia tried to slip out the door before Snape could add anything else to their punishment, he raised a hand to stop them both. "Mr. Malfoy, please wait outside the door, we have another topic to discuss. Ms. Holt, stay here for a moment." Necia sighed as she longingly watched Draco step out into the hall and immediately disobey Snape's directions by hurrying off in the direction of the Great Hall, where lunch was certainly being served right now. She turned back to face Snape as he continued. "Perhaps you are unaware of the rules at Hogwarts, but I would have thought that violence would obviously be out of the question. I'll have to inform Professor Dumbledore of your behavior, and I'm sure that I need not warn you that any more incidents like today, and you will be expelled before you can raise your fist again." Necia slowly backed towards the door, getting the sense that he was about to finish. "Anything you'd like to say?" 'Do you have to be so fucking sarcastic?'

She smiled sweetly and set one foot in the corridor. "Just that I wish I had hit him harder." Before he could give her any further punishment, she set off down the hall at a brisk walk, turning the corner before he could step out of his office. She breathed a deep sigh of relief as she made her way to the Great Hall, thankful that she didn't get lost along the way. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were already seated at the Gryffindor table, so she quickly headed over to them and slid between Harry and Hermione.

Ron leaned forward from across the table eagerly. "Did you break his nose? Wait, important things first. Did you get in much trouble? And did you break his nose?"

Necia laughed and nodded. "I'm pretty sure I broke his nose, but I don't think I'm in too much trouble. Ten points were taken from Gryffindor and I'll have to serve a detention, but I think it was worth it."

Harry looked stunned. "Only ten points? If I had pulled something like that, Snape would have let Filch hang me by my ankles for a few days!" At her confused expression, he explained, "Filch is the school caretaker, and everybody hates him. He wishes Dumbledore would let him bring back the old methods of torturing students as punishment. Then there's his cat, Mrs. Norris. I think they can communicate, because if she spots anyone getting into trouble, Filch finds them and punishes them about two seconds later."

"You know," Hermione commented, "you did get off really easy. Snape takes ten points away just for someone sneezing too loudly in his class, and you punched one of his favorite students. I'm Head Girl, and he took a few points from Gryffindor earlier when he felt I was being too strict with a group of fourth year Slytherins who were hexing people in the hall. I wonder what made him go so easy on you?"


Snape scowled as he peered out into the hallway and saw that Draco wasn't waiting for him. He wasn't really surprised, but he wished the boy would show him a little more respect. Ever since he had left Potions, he seemed to feel that he didn't owe Snape the same level of respect as he had before. That, however, was only one of the reasons that Snape had decided to give him a detention along with Necia. He also had a deep disgust for sexual attacks of any kind, which he developed after attacking many women himself when he was a devoted Death Eater, and he had no doubt that that was what Draco was doing. He was sure that if the two of them had been completely alone, Malfoy wouldn't have stopped at just being "inappropriate." No, if the boy was anything like his father, he would have had no problem with raping her.

He still didn't know why he had only taken ten points off Gryffindor though, especially when Necia had presented him with such a wonderful opportunity to take away as many points as he wished. It wasn't just the mention of Draco's actions that had held him back; no, he felt he had taken care of that by giving him a detention as well. The only thing he could think of was that she had impressed him earlier with her knowledge of potions. Not many students even cared about it, and not only could he tell that she had an avid interest in it, but she was also so advanced that he was worried he wouldn't know what to do with her by the end of the year. He would have liked to meet her mother, just to see what kind of woman took such an interest in potions and passed it along to her daughter. He didn't remember anyone else enjoying Potions as much as he did when he was in school, even Cassandra seemed to think it was a little odd. Of course, he managed to get her involved whenever he was making a particularly difficult potion and didn't want anyone to know.

Snape shook his head angrily. Why was he thinking about her again? At least he wasn't thinking about that reunion party, that was much more depressing. Suddenly, making him jump and spin around, Dumbledore's voice came through his fire. "I wish to speak with you, Severus."

Wondering what Dumbledore could possibly want, he stepped into the fire and felt himself spinning wildly until he was suddenly staring at Dumbledore's twinkling, gadget-filled office. "What did you wish to talk about, Albus?" he asked, trying to hold back his own curiosity.

To his surprise, Dumbledore turned around with a very grave expression on his face. "I realize that you thought your time as a spy was over, it's what we all thought, but something new has come up that I think you may have to deal with."

His stomach dropped uncomfortably until he was sure it was sitting somewhere around his heels. That was the last thing he wanted to hear, especially so soon after Voldemort had been destroyed. "Is it the Death Eaters? Or did he…."

Albus raised a hand to stop him before he could even finish the question. "Yes, to your first question, but no to the second. There has been some unusual activity within the remaining Death Eaters. For one thing, it appears that Lucius Malfoy is now leading the group, but I don't think they are planning revenge for Voldemort's defeat just yet. I don't think their current activities have anything to do with Voldemort. About a month ago, they attacked a small home just south of London, where they killed a woman and left her daughter orphaned. We happen to have that daughter in our school right now."

Why did everything in his life seem to revolve around that girl lately? "Are you talking about Necia Holt?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I don't know what led Lucius to attack that particular home, because I don't ever remember the name of Holt being involved in the battle against Voldemort. Perhaps it was something personal, but nevertheless, I'm worried he will come after Necia next. I don't think he meant for her to get out of that house."

"Have you asked her? Maybe she knows what Lucius was after."

Now Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "Necia has no memory of the time her mother was killed. I'm not sure she even knows she was there when it happened. This means that she has no idea what kind of danger she's in, and right now I don't think it's a good idea to tell her. She is having a hard enough time as it is, without telling her that a Death Eater is after her. I would like to know what Lucius wants though, which, as I'm sure you've guessed, is where you come in. Do you know where he would be?"

"I'm sure Narcissa is hiding him in the Malfoy mansion somewhere, that place has many more hiding spots than you are aware of. Do you want me to start out today?"

"Do you have any classes left today?"

"No, all my classes were in the morning." Snape couldn't believe his spy work wasn't done yet. Hadn't he done enough in the last fifteen years? Living a lie took its toll on a man, and he simply wasn't sure he could do much more. He threw a handful of Floo Powder into the fireplace and stepped into the vivid green flames. "Malfoy Manor!" he announced clearly. No more than ten seconds later, he was stepping out of the Malfoys' fireplace, dusting soot off his robes. He looked up as Narcissa rushed into the room, gripping her wand tightly in her hand.

"Severus!" she exclaimed, holding a hand up against her throat as though he had severely frightened her. He knew her too well though, it was all an act.

"Is your husband here? I have something I need to speak with him about immediately."

Taking in his determined appearance, she nodded and motioned for him to follow her. As he was led through the vast hallways of Malfoy Manor, Snape noted with some pleasure that many paler, rectangular areas on the walls stood out from the rest of the hallway, easily giving away the fact that an expensive painting had once covered them. The Malfoys had been forced to get rid of a lot of things ever since Lucius lost his job at the Ministry. As Snape wondered why Narcissa had sold some paintings and not others that looked like they were worth more, his question was answered as she reached up and poked the eye of a Muggle surrounded by wizards with their wands pointed at him. 'Why wouldn't that have made the Ministry ask questions sooner?' he wondered quizzically. It was a dead giveaway.

After the Muggle uttered a yelp of pain, the painting swung open to reveal a very steep stone staircase, looking as though it plunged down without ever ending. "He's down there," Narcissa said, pointing at the darkness below.

He started to slowly make his way down the stairs, hoping that this wasn't some sort of trap. Several minutes passed by and his legs were starting to burn fiercely when he finally reached the bottom and was immediately faced with a large steel door. He didn't even hesitate, he knocked on the door and called, "Lucius, it's Severus, open the door."

He heard a soft murmur uttered from the other side, some sparks shot out the sides of the door, and it was swung open, forcing Snape to take a step backwards. Lucius was lying on his back on a rather luxurious bed, surrounded by furniture that could have taken care of all the needy in Europe. It was obvious he was meant to stay here for a long time, otherwise it wouldn't have been so lavishly decorated. Snape walked in and seated himself on a velvety sofa that automatically warmed beneath him. Lucius didn't look at him, but finally asked, "Why are you here?"

"I'm worried about your actions lately. Dumbledore knows you attacked a household just south of London and killed a woman there, leaving her daughter orphaned. What was the point, and why didn't you kill the girl?"

Lucius sat up, giving him a strange look that he couldn't read. "Don't you know who that girl is? Or her mother?"

Snape could only stare back blankly. "No, should I?"

He could tell he'd said something that surprised the other man. "The mother was a pain in my side that I knew I would have to get rid of. She's been helping Dumbledore and the Ministry even without their knowing it. For as long as we've been Death Eaters, she has been disrupting Voldemort's plans. Do you remember when we were supposed to poison Alastor Moody? She gave him the antidote when we left, just before the poison would have killed him. I don't even know how she knew we were there, and the antidote is just as difficult to make as the poison itself, which took you three months. She must have had a wonderful gift with potions."

"Her daughter does as well. She's at Hogwarts at the moment." He knew Dumbledore wouldn't be happy about that, but it wasn't like they wouldn't find out. Draco was having enough encounters with Necia that it wouldn't be long before he wrote a letter home revealing that she was at Hogwarts.

"I already knew that."

Snape decided not to even ask. He doubted Draco would have written home so quickly to complain. He decided to start getting some questions for Dumbledore answered. "Why didn't you kill the girl? With her talent, she could become just as dangerous for you as her mother."

Lucius shrugged. "Possibly, but we also could have made her join us. I put a rather powerful Memory Charm on her so that she wouldn't remember the details of her mother's death, but I may have been overexcited, because I sent her straight into some sort of daze. I doubt she remembers me at all, she may not even remember anything for weeks after that. I know she was sent to St. Mungo's when a neighbor found her wandering around her house. She probably walked past her mother's body several times and will never remember it. That's good though, because that means if I ever get my hands on her again, I'll still have a chance of getting her to help us. I realize you're one of the best potion-makers in this country, but you have other responsibilities that you can't get away from without appearing suspicious. This girl could do her mother's work, but for me instead."

"It would be difficult to convince anyone to join you, Lucius. You're a far cry from the Dark Lord, and even I don't believe you could do half the things he did. I'm here as a concerned friend right now, but unless you figure out how to make the Dark Mark burn, I won't be helping you the way I used to."

Lucius's blue-gray eyes burned angrily, but he didn't respond. They sat quietly for a while, then Snape climbed to his feet. It was definitely time to go, and he doubted that he would be welcomed back.


When Necia's first day was over, she couldn't help but be excited. With the exception of the time she had spent with Snape and Malfoy, she had enjoyed her day quite a bit and was looking forward to the school year. Sure, she wasn't firmly locked into her friendship with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but she felt that she was on her way. The only thing that could have made this day better was if her mother could be here, or at least at home. She could write a letter explaining her entire first day, filled with the ups and downs, and expect a letter back the next day with her mother's witty and comforting comments. But no, she would never get that simple comfort of her mother's wise words again.

She settled down in a seat by the fire as the other kids started filing up to bed. After several minutes, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into Harry's concerned face. "Are you okay? You look a little sad."

She forced a smile to erase the worried expression on his face. "I'm fine, I was just thinking about Mum. I'll be going up to bed in a minute."

To her surprise, he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Don't stay up as late as you did last night, or you'll never make it the rest of the week." With another squeeze to her shoulder, he turned and headed up the stairway to the boys' dormitories. Necia turned and stared back into the fire, now with a natural smile on her face. Maybe she wouldn't have to be lonely here for long.


Author's Note: I'm not someone who puts a lot of emphasis on reviews because I know I read quite a bit and if I'm in a hurry, I don't leave a review, but it's hard to spend time on a story without any feedback at all. I've already finished this story, I actually wrote it a while ago and just decided to get it off my computer, but if no one's reading at all then I don't see any point in continuing to post it. I'll just throw the whole thing onto my website and erase it from this one. I'm not asking for a huge novel of a review, just something to let me know that at least one person out there is reading this.