Chapter Sixteen
Underneath the Underground

"Thank you ladies. Now you must apparate back to Grimmauld Place and walk to the Underground. Just get off wherever you want, and act as Muggles act. Ginny, I'm sure Ebony will be able to help you if you need it. I wonder if he's been asleep this whole time?" Dumbledore asked, looking down at Krum's motionless body. Ebony and Ginny both shrugged their shoulders, and Dumbledore sent Krum back to Grimmauld Place with a flick of his wand.

Harry was walking through the streets of Little Hangleton, a Muggle town. He couldn't find the house anywhere, so he stopped and asked a woman for directions.

"Excuse me, ma'am. I'm looking for the old Riddle House. Could you please point me in the right direction?" Harry asked politely. He was determined not to use magic until he was inside the house.

The woman looked frightened at the sound of 'Riddle House' and shook her head violently as though to shake any memories of it out of her mind. She walked away quickly and Harry was left alone in the road.

Harry looked all around him, but the house was nowhere to be seen. Only small cottages and trees were amidst the foggy little town. He was about to head off towards the east, when he felt something (or someone) tap him on the shoulder.

"Should we get off here, or at the next stop?" Ginny asked Ebony as they rode along the Underground.
"Well, let's just wait for the next one. I dunno know exactly where we are, so I think it would be best to just wait a few minutes," Ebony replied while studying the confusing map.

"I think it's upside-down, Eb," laughed Ginny, as she turned the map over on Ebony's lap.

"Thanks, Ginny, I would've held it that way the whole time!" Ebony replied.

A few minutes later, Ebony and Ginny were wandering around the place where they had been left off. Neither of them knew where they were, and they couldn't find the steps to get back on the street above.

A loud crack sounded a few feet away, and both Ginny and Ebony knew what that sound was.

"We aren't alone, I guess. It may be someone form the Order apparating here, but it could also be a Death Eater, so get your wand out!" Ebony instructed, and Ginny hastily reached inside her robes. She checked both pockets, and even in her jeans, but her wand was nowhere to be found.

"I, I don't have it, Eb! I can't find it anywhere!" Ginny whispered frantically, still searching.

Ebony watched Ginny search for her wand, and then she saw a jet of red light ahead. "I'll be right back, I just want to see what that was," Ebony whispered to Ginny who was almost in tears.

Although she wasn't prepared to use it, Ebony withdrew her wand from inside her jacket. She followed the path to where she estimated the light to have been cast, and she found a set of steps leading farther underground. 'I just hope I don't see any rats. I hate rats!' she thought to herself as she descended the grimy steps.

Harry turned around to see a woman of about sixty-five standing behind him. The woman wore a grim expression on her face, and she had long black robes on. Harry concluded that she must be a witch. He took a chocolate frog card out of his pocket and showed it to the woman, just to be sure. She nodded her head; this was the new security system. The chocolate frog cards were made so only witches, squibs, and wizards could see them.

Harry put the card back in his pocket and he introduced himself. "I'm Harry Potter. I'm looking for the old Riddle house. Do you know where it is?"

"I can take you there, if you want. My name is Ivy Bellum. I live in Great Hangleton, and I'm here to visit my cousin, but she isn't here. I guess she's in hiding like most o' the rest of them," the woman replied. Her light gray hair shined against the fog that was left after the rain earlier that day. Harry sensed no danger in this woman, and so he followed her a little ways down the road.

Ebony looked around the small passageway that she was now following. It was extremely warm and humid where she was, and Ebony peeled off her jacket and laid it over her arm. She heard a soft pattering noise on the floor, looked down and saw a fat rat scuttling by, and for a fleeting moment she wanted to turn back. She shivered but continued on.

Ebony rounded the corner, and saw a tall, thin, cloaked person. Their face was hidden in shadows, and therefore Ebony didn't know who or what it was. She edged closer to the wall, her knuckles turning white from her tight grip on her wand. Her palms and her face were sweating, and she felt as if she were about to scream for help. But she kept her mouth shut, (from talking), and took a deep breath. The person lit their wand with the Lumos spell, and held the light a bit closer to their face. Ebony saw a thin, skeletal, bone-white face with two red, cat-like eyes looking back at her, and that was the last thing she remembered…