*Tap, tap, Tap*
Voldemort sat at the head of the table in Malfoy manor tapping his wand aimlessly as he once again glanced over the pile of parchment, books and photos that sat before him. His followers sat silently around the table with their eyes cast to the floor, too scared to meet his gaze. You see Voldemort was frustrated, here he was so close to victory that he could almost taste it but there was still something he needed. Something he needed far more than he needed his revenge on Harry Potter.
The room had been silent and unmoving for what had seemed like hours. The only sound was Voldemort's incessant tapping.
Suddenly the two main doors to the room burst open with a loud bang causing several of the death eaters to jump.
"Ah, Lucius. I was beginning to think you'd failed me again." Voldemort sneered as he shot Lucius a vexed look not sure if he had come baring good news or bad.
"I apologize My Lord. It took some extensive digging but I think I found exactly what you are looking for." He beamed as he rushed across the room and handed the Dark Lord a big crème colored folder that had been tied shut tightly with a bit of twine.
"Let's have a look shall we?" Voldemort said aloud as he waved his wand causing the twine to snap apart and the papers to fly out and land in a very organized fashion.
Voldemort looked over the papers frantically until his eyes fell on a single photo that was hidden between two large sheets of parchment.
"Where did you find it?" Voldemort asked in a shocked tone.
"Amongst some of Newt Scamander's old things." Lucius replied with pride.
"I knew it… I knew that fool would not be able to just let her go without being documented." Voldemort chuckled happily.
"Do you have any idea what this means?" Voldemort exclaimed as he jumped to his feet.
He waved his wand once again and the photo that was before him floated around the length of the table so that each of his followers could see it.
The photo was of a young girl who looked no older than seventeen. She had beautiful long curly copper hair and big sea green eyes.
"Who is she?" Scabior asked seemingly quite taken with the photo.
"She goes by many names. When I knew of her, it was Elaine Milrock. But her birth name is Wilhelmina MacDuff." Voldemort informed them.
"Why does this matter My Lord?" Bellatrix asked in a jealous tone.
Voldemort shot her a warning look and then gave an evil smile, "Because she has something that I want, something I need…Something I will do anything to get."
"And what's that My Lord?" asked Yaxley
"Immortality."
*Whoo, Whoo*
The train screamed as it blew past the Leaky Cauldron causing the entire building to shake from its foundation. Upstairs in the rented rooms sat a young witch who was clutching a picture frame in her hands tightly. She sat talking to it as if the person in the photo could actually hear her.
"Oh Sirius, I don't know how I'm going to do this without you. I know Dumbledore said it was for my safety but how can he really expect me to go back to Hogwarts, to do it all over again when everything there will just remind me of you. Why couldn't you have just done what I said, then you'd be here with me." She cried out softly as she stroked the photo lovingly.
*Knock, Knock*
"Come in." The girl called as she reached over to hide the picture frame back into her small suitcase.
"Still crying over that fleabag?" Snape teased as he entered the room with a small smile on his lips.
"He did not have fleas towards the end. We had worked so hard to get rid of them." she sighed as she glanced up and gave him a warm smile.
"Take it how you will but I know for a fact he wouldn't appreciate you making such a fuss over him. He'd want you to live your life to the fullest." Snape said softly.
"If I didn't know any better I'd think you may have grown to care for him." She replied as she ran her fingers under her eyes to clean away the tears.
Snape ignored her comment and instead said, "Let's be on our way then. The sooner the better because the Dark Lord already onto you."
"Dumbledore said that would happen." She replied as she shook her head sadly.
"Have you decided on a name yet?" Snape asked as he waved his wand causing her trunk to float up from the end of the bed.
"Yes I have." She answered with an American accent as she waved her wand causing her hair to morph from long copper curls to shoulder length raven black wavy curls, "Mina Smith."
"Don't you think that's a little risky, being his nickname for you and all?" Snape asked with a concerned face as walked into the hallway and dropped the key to the room on a hook that hung just outside the door.
He then came back into the room, closed the door and wrapped one hand around the handle to her luggage while holding his other arm out to her.
"No, the only people who knew about that were people who were really close to us and they're all dead, except for You and Lupin that is." She replied as she grabbed a hold of Snape's arm.
"Lucky Me." Snape answered sarcastically as they apparated to Hogsmeade.