Sold-Chapter 16-Instructions

By Marmalade Fever

A.N.: No more updates for two weeks, kids. I'll be out of state.

Narcissa Malfoy craned her head as she stared out of her window. She could have sworn she had just seen something white flying past… She rubbed her eyes and a moment later she saw the thing again. Or was it a second thing? Maybe she was in a worse condition than she had originally thought. Or maybe it had just been a bird. A dove, perhaps. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. Nonetheless, she went to her medicine cabinet and took a couple of little pink pills before she took her nap. Her hands were shaking.

Lucius Malfoy heard a rustle of wind above his head as he made his way toward his home after his visit to Draco's. Stupid birds. No respect for private property at all! He would really have to install an intruder net to fry the next thing that tried to land on his begonias. Another rustle went by and he had half a mind to shoot at it with his wand, but why waste the energy? Why not waste the energy, though? He whipped himself around and aimed at a white thing soaring through the air. It fell to the ground in a charred heap. Why, it was nothing but a scrap of paper! He poked at it with his cane, but only one word was legible, and that one word made his heart flutter: Albus.

Evander had had an eventful morning so far. He had picked the lock on Lily's door and together they had spied on his father and grandfather as they sat together in the parlor. But now the dreadful old man had gone and he and Lily were now sitting together in his room, playing with an old deck of exploding snap Lily had found in her room. It was so old, in fact, that the exploding bit it performed barely managed to singe his knuckles.

"Ev, what's that?" Lily asked, out of the blue.

"What?" Evander asked, his heart soaring every time she used his nickname.

"Outside the window," she said, pointing. Sure enough, beating against the glass was a crumpled piece of parchment. "Go open it!" she instructed, sitting up straighter. Evander got up and slid the window open and the parchment soared right into his hand. He smoothed it out and took a look.

"Merlin! You know what this is?" he asked, quickly lowering his voice.

"What?" Lily asked, stepping over for a better look.

"It's a letter from Dumbledore, addressed to us!" he said, waving it about and doing a little jig.

"Dumbledore? Our Dumbledore?" Lily cried, jumping up and down a little as well.

"Listen to this!" Evander said, as he began to read.

Dear Miss Lily Potter and Mr. Evander Malfoy,

If you are reading this, excellent! As you may know, the anomaly that occurred at 9:15 AM on Tuesday the twenty-second of September sent you to a different dimension by means of a trans-dimensional summoning charm. We are not aware of the differences between the dimensions, but we have figured out a way to get you back. (Evander and Lily cheered.) Please go to the location you arrived at on the aforementioned morning. We will retrieve you at 7:27 AM on Friday the second of October. You must be within fifteen feet of the your arrival point. If, for any reason, this does not work for you, DO NOT GO. Below are instructions on how to send us a reply letter. If we do not receive a letter from you, we will go ahead with the plan for October second.

To send a reply letter: (And I do hope you still have your wands.)

Write as much information as possible so that we can help you on the back of this sheet of parchment. It has been pre-charmed to return to us if you do the following:

Tap all four corners of the parchment with your wand, beginning with the upper left and going counter-clockwise. Say your full name(s) clearly. Say your birth date(s). Lastly, say the name of your favorite sweet.

We hope to have you back as soon as possible!

Sincerely,

Professor Albus Dumbledore

"I think we're going to have to send a reply letter," Evander said, flatly, as he finished reading.

"Why?" Lily asked, rereading the letter.

"I don't think they realize that we were sent to different locations. We don't know if we can go to either one or if we're supposed to go to Voldemort's Lair or what."

"Right," Lily agreed, nodding her head. "You think of everything, Ev. I just figured we'd go back to the woods. It's certainly much safer there than at your grandparents' house."

"The problem now is that we need a wand. What do you reckon my 'dad' will do if I ask for his help?"

"Dunno. Your mum would be happy to help, though she certainly doesn't have a wand. Say, I wonder if she'd like to go with us?" Lily said, looking thoughtful.

"You might have something there," Evander said, nodding. "Wait a minute though, tomorrow is Friday!" He jumped up. "We need to get a reply to them right away. If that spell is sent to Voldemort's, they might get a few Death Eater's back instead of us."

"Okay, let's split up. I'll look for a wand, and you keep your dad busy. All right?" Lily asked, as she went toward the door.

"All right."

Hermione sat alone in her dungeon cell. The muffliato spell had finally worn off and she could hear again. She had just been contemplating turning into a swallow and having a nice little fly around the cell when who should come barging in but Malfoy.

"Granger!" he bellowed. "Do you know what your son just did?"

"So now he's my son, is he?" Hermione asked, looking amused.

"Never mind that! He just set all of my house-elves free! That's what!"

Hermione burst out laughing. She couldn't help herself. It was the funniest thing she had ever heard of. She had to grip her sides because they were aching. "So," she gasped, "why are you telling me?"

"Because—" but he didn't tell her why. Instead he tilted his head. "You're wearing your new robes?"

Hermione nodded. "Is there a problem with that?"

"N-no," he said, his cheeks tinged with pink.

"Malfoy, your house-elves, remember? I guess this proves he's your son once and for all. The house-elves accepted him as their master."

"And your son, too. What was that thing… spew?" His eyes tore painfully away from her toward a blank wall.

"S.P.E.W.," she said, simply. They stared at one another in silence. Down the hall, voices echoed.

"Mum!"

"Mrs., Miss, Hermione!" another voice echoed. The two children tore into the room, stopping dead at the sight of Malfoy.

"HOW ON EARTH DID YOU GET OUT, AGAIN?" he roared. "AND WHERE'D YOU GET THAT WAND?"

Lily held the wand in defiance, aiming it at Malfoy's heart. "Never you mind, Mr. Malfoy. Accio wand!" His wand zoomed into her hand from his breast pocket. Malfoy's jaw dropped, as did Hermione's. "Now, into the cell with you and let Ev's mum out."

"No!" Malfoy stormed.

"Leave him alone, Lily," Evander said. "He's all right." He turned to his parents. "We've just had a letter from Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore?" Hermione mouthed, shocked.

"Here mum, read it." Lily unlocked the door to the cell and Evander handed her the paper.

"What does it say?" Malfoy roared, still being help at wand-point by Harry Potter's daughter.

"We need to send a reply!" Hermione said, running her hands through her hair. "A trans-dimensional summoning charm!"

"We want you to go with us," Evander said, taking Hermione's hand in his own.

"Trans-dimensional…" Malfoy repeated. "I'm going too!" he roared.

The three other occupants of the dungeon turned to him. "It's your call, Evander," Hermione said. Lily nodded.

"All right, Dad, all right."

A.N.: Ladies and gentleman, a longer chapter! As I said at the beginning, no more updates for two weeks. Then school starts on the 29th and who knows what my writing schedule will be like, especially since I'm going to be taking a writing class. Ahh! I'm in college! Toodles, all!