Dumbledore sat there silently for a moment and Marty noticed a twinkle in his eyes. "You have a plan don't you Albus?" Marty asked with a slight grin.
"Indeed I do, my dear." Dumbledore said and went silent again.
"Well out with it old man!" Snape sneered.
Chapter 13
Marty jumped a bit at Snape's tone of voice but she was also anxious to here Dumbledore's plan. Finally after a long moment of silence when Dumbledore didn't speak she spoke up with a slight annoyance in her voice "Well."
"It's simple my dear, you are Minerva's niece from the states who came here to visit her for a period of time and your friends curious to see where you went to school accompanied you." Dumbledore said sitting back in his chair feeling quiet pleased with himself.
Marty and Snape both had the same thought 'That was it, the old man has finally lost his mind.' But after Marty thought about itfor a few moments she finally concluded that it would be the best explanation she could ever come up with.
"Alright, I can see that would work." She replied.
Dumbledore smiled and got up from his chair "Since that is all settled, shall we go to dinner."
They all moved to get up except Hannibal and he seemed to not be paying any attention to what was going on. Marty walked over to him and lightly touched his shoulder "Hannibal, its time to go to dinner." Hannibal acted like he didn't hear her and this puzzled Marty cause he was always aware of his surroundings. She tried again this time placing her hand on his shoulder "Hannibal.." but before she could get the rest of the words out of her mouth she felt strange sensation come over her as Hannibal turned and looked her straight in the eyes. His eyes were vacant and seemed like he was in a trance,Marty froze as she found herself going into a trance as well.
Marty shivered as a cold sinister voice echoed in her mind " You are a weak minded fool Martintha, Give up while you still have breath left in your body. " Marty responded her voice steady in conviction" I will never give up, I WILL kill you." The creature laughed evilly "Never my Dear Martintha, I'm too powerful for you and your little friends. See how easily I possed This one." "It will be just as easy to defeat you!"
At that point Snape and Murdock turned around to see what was keeping Marty when they saw her standing there her hand on Hannibal's shoulder and seemed to be a in a trance. She soon started to shake trying to come out of the trance but wasn't succeeding, Snape immediately went to her and held her from behind. He whispered "Fight it Martintha!"
Marty heard his voice echo in her mind and began fighting harder to break the hold the creature had on her. Soon the trance was broken and Marty's chest was so tight that was she was gasping for air "What the fuck!"
At those words Hannibal came out of his trance like state wondering what had happened. The last thing he remembered was Professor McGonagall leaving the room and then feeling something strange creeping inside of him. He looked over at Marty who was still being held by Snape was shaking and her eyes were wide with fright. "What the hell happen?"
Marty couldn't speak,her eyes suddenly rolled back into her head and she collapsed in Snape's arms he held on to her so she wouldn't hurt herself. Before the others could protest,very gently he twisted her body so that he could pick her up with ease and turning to Dumbledore, replied "I'm taking her to my quarters, Albus we will be in the Great Hall shortly."
"Indeed." Dumbledore said with concern in his voice " Take your time, floo to your quarters so you won't attract attention Severus." Snape nodded and carried Marty over to the fireplace and he set her down for a moment but held on to her with his arm to grab a handful of floo powder with the other and upon stating where he wanted to go they disappeared in flash of green fire.
Marty opened her eyes a while later, she was laying on Snape's bed and was confused as to how she got there. "You are awake." said a familiar voice to her right,Marty turned her head slightly to her right to see Snape walking into the room holding a small vial. She tired to sit up but the sharp pain in her head made her lay back down. "Here take this, it will make you feel better." Snape replied walking over to the bed.
Snape helped her sit up so she could drink from the vial, she made a face as the bitter tasting liquid went down her throat. "Ugh this stuff is horrible." "Yes, but it works." Snape replied with a bit of smugness. In an instant the sharp pain was gone. "Thank you Severus." Marty replied as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Snape just nodded as he sat down beside her.
"Now can you enlighten me on what happen back there?" Snape asked.
Marty explained about what had happen and what the voice said to her and Snape listen without interrupting her. "Then the next thing I knew I wake up here." Marty said then sighed "What is this connection I have with thiscreature anyways?"
"The damn thing has been invading my dreams as well." She said not realizing she had let that bit of information slip out. Snape looked at her with a shocked look on his face "Its been in your dreams!"
Marty would have tried to back track but it was no use "Yes, since I arrived in London the rest have been memories of the past."
"Tell me the dreams Martintha." He stated leaving no room for argument in his voice.
Marty re-accounted the bizzare dream she had the night before she came to Hogwarts. It was still fresh in her mind even though it had happened a few days before. When she finished Snape stared at her for a moment then replied "This creature does seem to have some sort of strong hold on you so strong in fact that it has lured you back here obviously to face it."
Marty remained silent as if she was in deep thought then said "I wonder how long this creature is going to continue to play it's games with me, its got to end."
"I can not tell you that but I know one thing I'm going to have to teach you again to not only control your powers but your mind as well."
"How?" She asked curiously.
"Occlumency my dear." Snape replied with a smirk getting up off the bed. "But we shall do that later for now let us go to dinner." He took Marty by the hand and brought her to her feet leading her out the room.
As the weeks flew by Marty was re-taught occlumency , she had forgotten that she had already knew it. Snape thought as much but didn't say anything. She was progressing very well and was too the point where she could block him out certain thoughts and throw him different senarios. She was also managing to control her powers as well.
Hannibal still wouldn't speak to her even though she tried and the others tried to convince him to talk to her but to no avail. Marty became increasingly frustrated and after a while just dropped it for now.
One day while Snape was teaching Marty decided to explore the castle to see what had changed over the years. She wandered up to the fourth floor and was struck by a funny feeling in her head but it soon left her before she could grasp it.
At that moment she was walking by a painting not paying particular attention to it when suddenly a black hand emerged from it grabbing Marty by her cloak pulling her into the painting. It happen so fast Marty didn't have time to react and everything went black.
She came to moments later groaning and finding herself chained to a dungeon wall. A slight breeze blew over her body making her flesh goose-pimple and she looked down to find her clothes were missing. She was trying to figure a way out of this mess when her fears increased as she saw a shadowy creature emerge from the corner of the painting. It was dressed in a dark colored robe the hood concealing it's face it didn't say a word but drew its wand from its robe and pointed it at Marty.
Marty's eyes were wide with fright andshe managed to find her voice and screamed. At that moment Murdock was trying to find Marty and he heard her screaming. "Marty!" Murdock exclaimed and took off running down the hallway towards the screaming. He came upon the painting and at first didn't see her until she screamed "MURDOCK HELP ME!"
Murdock looked over to the right side of the painting and saw Marty nude and chained to the wall with the creature and its wand pointed straight at her. Without a second thought Murdock drew his wand and stated "Accio Marty!"
With that Marty felt as if a hook had grabbed onto her naval and pulled her out of the painting. She found herself on her hands and knees shaking with fright. Her clothes had reappeared but were tattered and torn. She managed to pick herself up off the floor and looked back at the painting it had turned completely black. "What the hell?" Marty questioned but then her face turned pale as she saw the creature emerged forward in the painting raising his hand and began writing 20 years has passed since I was imprisioned... Now you Shall Pay...Now All of Hogwarts Will Pay with blood...my first victim will be... Marty backed up against the wall as she screamed as the last words were formed dripping with blood SNAPE
Marty was so shaken that she took off running to get away from that painting. She didn't hear Murdock calling after her to slow down until he managed to catch up with her when she reached the end of a corridor.
She sat down on the floor and leaned up against the wall feeling the coolness of the stones against her back. Murdock sat down beside her putting his arm around her smoothing her hair with his hand.
"Shh... Everything will be alright Baby." Murdock said in soothing voice.
Marty managed to control her breathing, she then replied "Thank you."
"Anytime Baby, I know you would have done the same for me." He replied with a small smile removing his arm from her.
"I didn't know you were a wizard Murdock." She said looking at him after a few minutes of silence.
Murdock smiled "Yes, my dear I am a wizard." then replied with a glint of amusement "Who else do you think Sebastian would trust to care for you all those years?" Marty's eyes widened in surprise "How do you know Sebastian?"
Murdock chuckled at her reaction "Baby, I have known Sebastian for years. Long before you met him, we are after all both Veterans of War."
Marty shook her head for a moment " You mean to tell me that you met Sebastian while you were Vietnam?"
"Yes, I met him then, he was quiet a spry little guy back then, come to think of it he still is. And I might add very cunning." Murdock replied then continued when he saw the questioning looking on Marty's face.
"I first met him a few days before the guys did their mission on the dmz. He was a Captain same as me and he knew that I was a wizard and couldn't seem to understand why I committed myself to that war." Marty listened intently hanging on every word he said she thought it was fascinating. "Anyways we became fast friends after that keeping each others secrets about what we truly were and kept in touch long after. Then one day while I was in my room at the VA I had a visitor show up, he was a bit taller but I knew that it was Sebastian."
Murdock paused for a minute until Marty said "Go on."
"Anyways He said he needed my help in hiding someone, it seems that a certain young woman had gotten herself into a bit of trouble, he didn't go into detail. He said that she had asked him to perform a certain charm on her in case things went wrong and asked me if I would protect her until the time came for her to return and finish what she had started." Marty had the decency to blush at that statement.
"At first I was hesitant until he mentioned the fact that he knew I was still working with The A-team and figured that four guys watching you would be perfect. I had asked him how he figured I was going to convince the guys to help and he said he already had that plan in motion at that point the phone rang and it was Hannibal saying that we had just been hired to go to London, England to help some rich old man get his wife and daughter back from these kidnappers. After I got off the phone I agreed with Sebastian that I would look after you and would make sure the guys would as well. And the rest as they say is history." Murdock said finishing with a flourish.
Marty sat there for a few minutes letting what he had said sink in and then she smiled and said "Wow, that sneaky little gnome."
She then pondered "I guess that is why Sebastian wouldn't trust just anybody to protect me. Although I'm still trying to work out what my destiny is but I have a feeling that it will come to me when I least expect it."
"Itsn't that the way it usually happens." Murdock said with a grin.
Marty ignored that comment and got up off the floor stated "We need to go find Severus and tell him what's going on. I need to warn him, I don't know if he will believe me or not but we got to try."
Murdock got up as well looked at his watch with a mischeivous grin said, "Yes, we should but he is still teaching his last class for the day why don't we wait until after its over to spring this on him alright."
Marty agreed but she was still feeling a bit uneasy about all of this. 'Soon, this all going to hit the fan and man when it does its not going to be pretty.' She thought as her and Murdock walked down the hall in the direction towards the dungeons.
(Author's Note: Okay I know I'm being evil by leaving this as a cliff hanger. I do hope I explained to certain readers who asked how Sebastain and Murdock know each other. Again I am sorry it took me so long to post this. I'm still searching for a really good beta so please excuse my bad sentence structure and grammer. I'm really trying. As always Please R&R. Thank you!)