A/N: Thanks for the reviews people. And thanks Fred! I knew you wouldn't forget to review. I really appreciate the reviews that you're giving me, and I'm happy you're enjoying it. That whole giving you a sneek peak into the next chapter seems to work well, so I'll probably do that again at the end of this chapter. Well, that's all for now, let me know how you like the story; read and review! Thanks!
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Things were different between Journey and her siblings for the next month and a half. Or more likely to be, Journey was different. Crystal suddenly got a liking for Journey and was constantly talking to her about dark magic and what the former Lord Voldemort did (it only took Journey a short time for the wizard to be referred 'Lord Voldemort' in her mind and words). Once the rest of the Slytherin house noticed Crystal talking to the loner Weasley, they too became interested in her. James followed in Journey's footsteps, and, unbeknown to everyone, the two friends practiced dark magic in the Forbidden Forest in the evenings.
It was the Eve of Halloween, and Emily, Charlie and Lexi were sitting in the Gryffindor common room.
"You've noticed, right?" Emily asked as she absent minded wrote out an essay on how to make a pin turn into a tooth pick.
"I have," Lexi was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Charlie, showing him how to levitate a feather high into the air, "She's been really distant lately. I saw her in the corridor the other day, and said hello. She glanced at me and then quickly went back to her whispers with that… boy."
The feather which Charlie had managed to levitate to well past five feet suddenly burst into flames; the charred pieces falling to the ground.
"I didn't know about any boy!" he cried out, causing some seventh years to give him glared looks from across the room, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Charlie shhh!" Emily hushed, "I didn't tell you because…"
"You knew?" Charlie huffed in a quieter voice, but just as harsh.
"Yes I knew," Emily nodded, "I've seen her talking to him a few times; James I think his name is. But I didn't tell you because I knew you'd over react, or tell Mum and Dad."
"And why shouldn't I?" Charlie said, anger pulsing through him as he watched Lexi mend the feather back, "Our sister," he glanced at Lexi, "Your little cousin, is associating with a Slytherin."
Lexi laughed, "What do you expect there Charlie? She's kind of in their house. She is a Slytherin."
"Don't say that!" Charlie snapped, "She's not supposed to be one."
"You remember what Mum and Dad said," Emily spoke, looking up in a book as to which words to use for the spell, "They said that Dumbledore said that there was a purpose to Journey being in there. And that there was people keeping an extra eye on her."
"They can't be doing that great of a job," Lexi noted as she watched Charlie bring the feather almost up to the ceiling, "I heard Mary; one of the sixth year girls, say that they saw Journey and that James kid walking around the grounds at past curfew."
Instead of catching on fire, this time there was just a loud 'poof' sound, and the feather disappeared.
Charlie glared at his cousin, "Remind me not to bring you to my exam there Lex-the-Hex."
Lexi managed a small smile as she dug another feather out of her bag.
"Well," Emily shrugged as she finished off her essay and rolled up her parchment, "It's simple what we have to do."
"What?" both Lexi and Charlie asked at the same time.
"Follow them," she stood up, "Then we can see exactly what they're doing and where they're going."
"No way," Charlie spoke bluntly, "I don't know what they were doing out there, but I am not going to get caught out of grounds this late at night," he looked at his watch, the hand pointing to just past eleven at night.
"Fine," Emily shrugged, "You stay here," she smirked, "Practice levitating your feather." she looked at Lexi, "You'll go with me; right?"
She nodded, "Yeah, ok."
"Wait, wait, wait," Charlie stood up too, and looked around at the now empty room; for the seventh year students had escaped to their dormitories, "I suppose… I suppose that we could look around a little bit."
"Brilliant!" Lexi smiled widely, "Now we just have to figure out--"
"How to get out?" Emily finished, "No problem," she pulled a small box from her bag, and in return pulled a small purple pill from the box and handed it to Charlie, "Here, take this."
"Wha- why?" Charlie took it in his hand, "What is it?"
"I got it from one of Uncle George and Uncle Fred's shop," Emily quickly explained in a quiet voice, "It will make loads of blood come out of your nose. Take it, then start yelling, and we'll rush out of the portrait hole, explaining that we're taking you to the hospital wing."
"Are you mad?" Charlie's eyes popped open, "For one, that will never work, and for two, I don't want to die!"
"Charlie shut up!" Emily groaned as he spoke rather loudly, "You won't die. All you have to do is take this," she held up a small yellow pill, "and it stops. And it will work."
Charlie pondered this.
"Oh don't be such a git, and take it," Lexi rolled her eyes.
"Fine," Charlie popped the pill in his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.
At first nothing happened, but then, quite suddenly, a fast flow of oozing red blood gushed from his nose. Charlie started to scream; not because he'd been told to, but out of the shock. It didn't take much convincing for the fat lady to quickly open up the doors for them. Still putting on a rather loud screaming act, Charlie finally managed to calm down once they got down to the bottom of the stairs.
"The pill!" he hissed, his eyes wide, "Give me the other pill!"
Giggling, Emily gave him it, and immediately the blood stopped.
"Great," Charlie looked down at his blood soaked shirt, "What the ruddy hell do I do about that?"
Lexi rolled her eyes, pointed her wand at Charlie's shirt and muttered, 'Revario' and the blood stain disappeared.
"Alright," Lexi whispered, "Now we just have to find Journey and James… if they're out tonight."
"This would be much easier," Emily noted, "If we had Harry's invisibility cloak."
"Emily!" Charlie barked.
"What?" Emily's hands came to her hips, "Just because he's dead, doesn't mean we can't talk about him."
Wordlessly the three continued on. It wasn't too hard as they snuck around the dark hallways, Charlie and Lexi's wands lit (as Emily hadn't yet learned how) as the odd picture mumbled about how late it was. They had been going for some time when Emily stopped in her tracks, swinging her bag in front of her on the floor.
"Charlie, can you keep a secret?" she asked tentatively, "And you too Lexi."
"Yeah," both said at the same time.
Emily took a deep breath and pulled out a folded up piece of parchment, "Uncle George came up to me when we were at their shop back before school started," she began to explain, "He took me to the back of the store and told me that I was going to have a very interesting year. I thought he just meant because it was my first year; but apparently not. He told me that this parchment would come in handy. That one of you would know what to do with it, and that everything was going to be ok. He told me it was the Marauders Map, and not to show anyone it except you, Charlie and you, Lexi," she paused a moment, tears forming in her eyes, "He made sure to mention, too, not to show it to Journey. To never let her see it ever."
Charlie looked a little confused, and very angry, "How the hell could he do that do you! Uncle George is a twin himself, he should--"
"Shut-up!" Lexi hissed, "For one, your going to get people's attention. For two, I know what this is, and I know why he doesn't want Journey to see it."
"What is it?" Emily asked eagerly, standing up and handing the paper to Lexi.
Lexi pointed her wand at the paper, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
With great awe, all three watched the map form on the paper.
"How did you know?" Charlie asked.
Lexi grinned, "Dad told me about it. He said that Uncle Fred and Uncle George used to use it all the time, and showed him it quite a bit. It shows where everyone in the school is. Now we can figure out where Journey and James are easily."
It didn't take them long to see the small dots with 'Journey' and with 'James' outside the Great Hall. They rushed down there, and were started, that, by the time they got there another dot had come. One with the name 'Crystal' on it.
"What is she doing here?" Lexi whispered as they reached one of the entrance ways into the Great Hall.
"I don't know," Charlie shook his head.
They watched.
"It's almost midnight," Crystal spoke, "Then it will be Halloween. You two do realize what that means, don't you?"
"Yes, yes," Journey was looking around nervously, "We've been practicing. Almost every night."
Crystal turned her attention to James, "It's all up to you. Only you can do it best. And there's only two more chances after tonight, but he wants it done tonight."
"I-I know," James muttered, "But I don't think it's a good idea. I mean… what it means and all. What if we get caught?"
"You're with me tonight," Crystal stood tall, "And a Black never gets caught."
"You've told us a million times," Journey said impatiently, "'The great Crystal Black never gets caught', but this doesn't tell us what it really has to do with us."
Crystal then stared at, not Journey, but James, who took a step backwards, "Never mind Journey. James knows. Don't you James?"
Wordlessly James nodded, and Journey shot him an odd look. Crystal then walked over to the doors and said an inaudible spell, and the doors popped open. Quickly the three slid out, but before Lexi, Emily or Charlie knew what was happening, it was closed again.
"They're locked," Charlie said in a quiet, awed whisper, knowing so without even going over.
Emily wore a very confused and shocked look, but when she looked over at Lexi, her face very pale, she was startled to see a scared look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Emily asked.
It took a moment for Lexi to collect herself, "You heard-- heard what she said, right?"
"Yeah," Charlie nodded, "That, err-- there was something that the James kid had to do because it was Halloween, and he was scared to get caught. And only he could do it, and--"
"No," Lexi interrupted, "What she said her name was."
"Crystal Black," Charlie shrugged, "So?"
"So!" Lexi's eyes were wide, "Haven't you ever heard of the Black family?"
"Yeah," Emily nodded, "There was Sirius Black; Harry's Godfather, and Regalus Black-- that guy who went and took the locket. But what's that have to do with Crystal. This is like ten years later almost, there's no way she could be connected to any of them; they're both dead."
"So?" Lexi spoke like everything was obvious, "That doesn't mean that her mother is dead. Either one; Sirius or Regalus could have had a child with someone, and all of the Black family are evil, dark wizards!"
"That's not true," Charlie shook his head, "Sirius Black was nice! He wanted to protect Harry until he was killed."
Lexi thought about this a moment, "True. But you don't know for sure if that's what he was trying to do…"
"Knock it off!" Emily suddenly roared, "Don't say that about him. What the bloody hell has Uncle Bill been telling you anyways?"
"Nothing," Lexi shook her head, "I'm just saying nothing is certain, and that Crystal girl is not a good person. I can tell."
"I'm glad you can tell," Charlie stated, still staring at the door, "But that sure doesn't do us any good now, because whatever they've been planning to do, they're doing it tonight, and there's no way for us to stop them."
"Oh no!" Emily suddenly squealed out, "Guys, get back!"
Lexi, Charlie and Emily had barely stepped back into the shadows when suddenly Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall rushed out, and ran through the door outside (which quickly opened up for them).
"What's going on?" Emily whispered, as they stared while Dumbledore then walked into the entrance hall, though not exiting through the now wide open doors.
"I suggest," Dumbledore spoke into the silent entrance all with a small bit of amusement in his voice, "That any young students who may be around here quickly head back to their common rooms before they are undoubtedly discovered."
Much quicker than they had moved on the way there, the three ran back up to the Gryffindor common room before they could see what was going to happen.
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By the next day, everyone had heard that something happened the night before. They all knew that both professors were sent out to fetch the students, and that even Dumbledore had gotten up to see what happened. But most important of all, Crystal was no longer in Hogwarts, and neither Journey nor James seemed to have received any punishment. Peeves seemed to take great pleasure in telling everyone this, and so by lunch time, even the students in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff knew.
"I have to talk to her," Emily spoke determinedly at the lunch table, "I have to know what was going on; what Crystal was talking about."
Before Charlie; who was sitting beside her, could answer, Pigwidegon flew in and dropped a letter in front of him.
"A little late for post," Lexi frowned moving over to Charlie and Emily.
"It's from Mum and Dad," Charlie read through the short note, "They said they're going to be here this evening, and not to talk to Journey at all," he looked up outraged, "What the ruddy hell is going on?"
"It's Halloween," Emily spoke hopefully, "Maybe they're just doing something for Halloween."
"Oh get a brain," Charlie shot out, "They said not to talk to Journey. Something is going on."
"We can find out tonight," Emily said as she stared at Journey; who was laughing with some of the other Slytherins, "When Mum and Dad come in. We can ask them."
"Ha," Charlie huffed as he poked at a beef sandwich, "I'd like to see you try. Last time they were here, they didn't even fancy saying hello to us."
"That's it," Emily got up and marched out of the Great Hall suddenly.
"Hey!" Charlie called out, though didn't get up, "Emily!"
"Just leave her," Lexi shook her head, "She's confused right now, and just wants her sister back the way she was."
Charlie sighed and leaned his head back, "You know, I was only one when Mum had Emily and Journey… but if I knew they way the way they were going to be, I would have told them to put them back."
Lexi burst out laughing, knowing full out that she knew much more about the female anatomy than Charlie did.
It was around five o'clock; just in the middle of dinner that night when Ron and Hermione got there. They'd been summoned by Dumbledore immediately the previous night, and had been told that it was urgent.
"Maybe one of them is hurt," Ron said, surprisingly, hopefully.
"Don't be daft Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes, "You know what this is about just as much as I do. It's about Journey."
Ron paused a moment at they got to the entrance of the room to the one professor whose face did not grace the Halloween festivities down bellow in the Great Hall; Snape.
"Why the bloody hell would they send us to," Ron grimaced, "Him."
"Don't start this again," Hermione rolled her eyes, "Professor Snape is not evil. He did not kill nor try to kill Dumbledore and he didn't take the Horcruxes for himself."
Wordlessly Ron agreed and they knocked on the door.
"Come in," the cool voice called from behind the door.
Slowly Hermione pushed it open, and walked in. There sat Professor Snape behind his desk, seeming highly amused at the sight of Hermione and Ron.
"Hi, err-" Hermione hesitated, "Professor Snape."
"Severus, please Miss. Granger. Forgive me," Snape smirked, "I believe it is Mrs. Weasley now."
"You know it is," Hermione frowned unimpressed, "You've taught Charlie now for two years."
"Indeed I have," Snape leaned back in his chair while Ron and Hermione sat down in front, "A very powerful wizard I would say, but he lacks any sort of direction. But--" he quickly went on as Hermione's mouth shot open to retort, "I do not believe it is him that you wish to be discussing this evening.
"No it's not," Ron spoke up, "It's our daughter Journey."
"Dumbledore told us to speak with you," Hermione said.
"Yes, of course," Snape sat up more, but before any words could come out of his mouth Peeves came rushing in through the wall, "Peeves!" Snape turned harshly, "Get--"
"Troll!" Peeves laughed, "The children are running, screaming. 'There's a troll in the school! There's a troll in the school!' Hee hee hee hee!" he swept Hermione and Ron, "Oh my how the memories replay," he promptly left through the walls, screaming out in a sing song voice, "Troll! Troll! Go outside and make your hole!"
Hermione and Ron's eyes were wide, as Snape jumped to his feet and ran out the door.
"Oh no," Ron's voice whispered out as they, too, ran out the dungeon door into the loud talking and cries that echoed the hallways.
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A/N: So... enjoy it? I hope you did. And I'd like to take this time to make a special thank you to Fred; she's been there in my good times and in my bad... really bad. lol! You're my favorite brother out of all of them! lol! Love ya bro! So yes... about that sneek peak into the next chapter? Ok...
"Help!" Emily cried out, the troll moving closer.
But Journey didn't. She only watched with a smile on her face as the troll moved closer and closer to her sister.
Wanna see that? Just review!