Chapter 31 – Vedmaks

Lizzie spent their week of term finals with her nose buried in the Marauders Map looking for Malfoy and Snape after overhearing their conversation following Slughorn's Christmas party.

"He disappears, I don't get it," Lizzie muttered to herself. Ron and Seamus were sitting with her at the larger table in the common room, books and parchment covered most every inch of the surface. Ron looked up from his sluggish studying and eyeballed her suspiciously. She noticed he was insufferably nosy when Lavender wasn't around, inevitably realizing how much he was missing out on with her conjoined at his hip.

"Who?" He asked, but Lizzie didn't hear him while she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. She felt a crumbled up piece of paper hit her forehead and looked up indignantly.

"What?" She asked.

"Who disappears?" He asked again.

Lizzie looked over at Seamus reading and covered the side of her face to mouth 'Malfoy.' Ron frowned back slightly annoyed.

Lizzie was growing increasingly annoyed at everyone's insistence that Malfoy wasn't a threat. She unfolded and scribbled on the piece of parchment he threw and passed it to Ron.

'Slughorn's Xmas party he left with Snape. I followed. They discussed Katie being cursed. Obvious he did it. Snape insisted on helping him with something, but Draco said he was chosen... Snape said he made an unbreakable vow to help him... think it's something to do with me or Dumbledore,'

Ron read through it quickly and frowned in contemplation. "You can't break an unbreakable vow," he whispered.

Lizzie gave him a reproachful look. "No shit," she mouthed. Ron looked back down and his eyes seemed to get lost in an extremely calculating expression.

"You staying here for the holiday?" He asked. Lizzie shrugged because she truthfully didn't know. Lavender came back several minutes later and stole him away before they could catch up any further.

McGonagall summoned Lizzie for a meeting just before the holiday. When Lizzie rounded the doorway into her office, she looked up at Remus standing next to McGongall's desk and excitedly charged toward him past the stretch of desks in a brisk run. He scooped her up in a warm hug.

"You're alive," she laughed and sighed with relief when he hugged her tight around the shoulders. McGonagall looked at them fondly with a heartwarming expression.

"Lizzie honey, it's about the holidays," Minerva said as Lizzie sat down in front of her desk.

"Am I staying here?" Lizzie asked.

"No, we're not having anyone stay here. They're going to assume you are though. That's on purpose. Molly and Arthur want you to stay with them. The Burrow is heavily protected," she assured.

"I don't want to put anyone in danger," Lizzie said apprehensively.

"Not anymore than they are already," Remus assured. "I will be staying with them as well... at least while I can."

"Ok, well great, it'll be nice to spend the holiday there actually," she said, realizing she could finally catch up with Ron and the boys.

"You've seen Tonks? Right? She's been worried," Lizzie asked.

"Yes, I've seen her," Remus said with a telling smile. Lizzie forced down a devilish grin in response, already knowing how he felt about her.

"Keep your cloak on the train, we'll be apparating from Kings Cross to a safe house off the grid and then taking the floo network to Arthur's," Remus explained. Another adventure, sort of, she thought with a slight rush.

"Did Tonks tell you -" Lizzie started to ask excitedly.

"That you got yourself ambushed on the train here?" He finished with his eyebrows raised. Lizzie muttered a profanity, she wanted to tell him about the animagi.

"Just go study. I'm admittedly a little too glad to see you to chew you out right now," he laughed. Lizzie smirked back.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then," she said to Remus. "Thanks for the accommodations, Professor, Happy Christmas if I don't see you," she said with a weak smile toward McGonagall.

"Happy Christmas, honey," Minerva said back, and Lizzie left to cram for her last term final before the holiday.

The entire school boarded the train back to London, and there were a great deal of apprehensive faces in the mix of expressions Lizzie caught as she boarded.

She packed a rucks sack full of the articles, her journal, books she 'borrowed' from the restricted section of the library, the Prince's book, and notes she'd taken after meetings with Dumbledore.

Hermione found a clipping from Potions Club in the 1947 with an Eileen Prince noted at the bottom amongst members. Both her and Lizzie thought perhaps this was the famous Half-Blood Prince. Then she found a family line reference to the Prince family indicating they were pure bloods, and thought they might not have hit the nail on the head after all. Lizzie did have a feeling it was a male student based on the lack of care in the handwriting.

Lizzie was laying on the seat with her head in Seamus's lap, showing Seamus affection seemed to make Lavender not feel as threatened if she was in Ron's company. Hermione resented Lavender for obvious reasons, but Lizzie was growing to feel the similarly because she wanted her best friend back. Lavender sat across from them cuddled up next Ron, and Lizzie was trying really hard not to focus in on their conflicting thoughts. 'Bloody Hell stop snogging me' Ron's thoughts screamed, and 'I love him so much' ran through hers like a girlish squeal.

Lizzie put her book down and looked straight up at Seamus with her head in his lap. He leaned forward to kiss her and lingered awhile. "Let's go check in on Ginny and Hermione, yeah?" She whispered close his face and subtly cocked her head over to Ron to indicate she was tired of hearing Lavender giggle. Seamus choked on a laugh but nodded in agreement.

"Going somewhere?" Ron asked a little desperately.

"Got to get some stuff from Ginny," Lizzie said evasively, and they left to a compartment further down the train where Ginny sat with Dean and Hermione sifted through a round of articles her mother had purchased from an Albanian News archive.

"Liz! Good, here," Hermione said, patting the seat next to her and handing her a small stack of papers.

"Also got this back from Viktor," she said, handing her a letter.

Lizzie read through the letter first and bagged the newspapers for later. She sat in Seamus's arm with her head on his shoulder and scanned through anxiously.

Hermione,

Always glad to hear from you. Wish you would come stay in Bulgaria, you are always welcome.

Lizzie smirked at Hermione after reading his invitation and Hermione rolled her eyes in response. "He does have a nice place, you should take him up on it," Lizzie said, swallowing back a smile, her eyes amused by slightly inappropriate thoughts.

"Shut it, Lizzie," she muttered.

"You stayed with Krum?" Seamus asked.

"Sh, vow of silence," Lizzie hushed while she continued to read.

...

I explained Vedmas to Lizzie when we saw hers here in the forest, and I did mention Vedmaks but don't recall giving an explanation.

Nobody I know knows much about Vedmaks because they are considered rare. Vedmas occur when a witch commits a deliberate murder. Vedmaks are not the male equivalent of a Vedma though. Vedmaks result when a warlock kills a witch. They embody the figure of the witch they killed, not themselves. It is thought that there is an intersection of the severed soul of the warlock and that of the slain witch. Some believe it is the aggrieved witch seeking revenge, and some believe it is the soul of warlock taking that form to manipulate him further. The Vedmak requires payment from the warlock, either their own life sacrificed for it to then inhabit, or another murder of equal value to the witch that was killed. If the payment does not satisfy the Vedmak, it will continue to stalk the warlock until it does. They are nearly impossible to kill.

I hope this explanation helps. Unfortunately, I do not have books on the topic, otherwise I would send.

Give Lizzie my best and please take care. I hear she is being spotted for the leagues and would be happy to put in a word if she needs it. I hope you both are doing well.

Yours truly,
Viktor

"That's interesting," Lizzie said quietly. Hermione looked strained in thought, but they didn't want to talk in depth about it in present company.

The train came to a sudden halt, but they'd only been on route for an hour, no more than two. Everyone looked around anxiously as the train lurched and they heard aggressive footsteps coming down the narrow corridor, compartment doors flew open.

Lizzie frantically grabbed for her bag and pulled over the cloak, less than a moment later their compartment door opened.

"We have instructions to take Azalea Potter with us for safer passage to London, is she on board?" a man who appeared to be an auror asked.

The group in their compartment froze in suspicion.

"Why didn't you inquire at the platform?" Ginny asked. The man's eyes grew mean for a moment and they all caught the feeling that they were not in friendly company.

"Is she here?" He asked sternly.

"No, she stayed at the castle," Seamus said. The man eyeballed him suspiciously. More compartment doors were opened and the he returned moments later. "She did not stay at the castle, others recalled seeing her board," he berated.

"Maybe they were mistaken," Hermione said. The man looked down at Seamus, noticing a strand of red hair on his shoulder that stood out obviously on his black jumper. He looked intently at Seamus's face but was suddenly shot down the corridor. All the compartment doors on the train then shut and latched closed. Lizzie felt Hermione grab for where she thought her arm would be and squeeze anxiously.

There was commotion along the train and after several harsh lurches, the sound of several fired spells, screams, and cries predominantly from the younger students, everything went remarkably silent.

The others had their wands drawn and ready, having realized the train was compromised. Footsteps ran forward down the hall and unlocked the doors in a hurry.

"Lizzie!" She heard someone yell and backed herself into a corner by the window under the cloak. Remus and Tonks entered the cabin.

"Where is she?" Remus asked in a slight panic. Nobody said anything.

"Lizzie, I know you have the cloak, they're gone, are you alright?" He was breathless.

Lizzie whispered in Hermione's ear, "ask him what color the crayon was."

"What color was the crayon?" Hermione asked, confused.

Remus gave a weak smile. "Red," he said with an exasperated light laugh.

"The snowy owl flies at midnight," Lizzie said out loud and positioned herself at twelve o'clock. They looked around for where her voice came from.

"Lightning strikes at twelve o'clock," she said, hoping they would catch on.

"The lizard is by the window," she said, cracking herself a laugh. Remus reached forward bemused and pulled off the cloak.

"They're gone?" Lizzie asked, looking suddenly flushed and shaken.

Remus nodded. "They're going to patrol, just in case. We're going to apparate out of here, alright?" He asked. Lizzie nodded and packed up her bag. She gave the others a hug goodbye and Seamus a quick kiss.

"Happy Christmas," she said, handing him a small pouch she'd bought for him. "Don't write, can't... might get intercepted - I'll miss you," she said. He looked extremely flushed and unnerved, like the reality of being with her had finally set it. She squeezed his hand apologetically and apparated with Remus with a loud crack.