Seven Years 25.
There was little Merula was willing to do in the weeks that led up to the holidays apart from her regular schoolwork and the few defensive spells Tiffany had pulled her aside one afternoon to practice. Most important had been Protego, a spell that had cast a thin magical barrier around Merula whenever she cast it, one that blocked incoming spells from hitting her. It was a useful spell, particularly when it came to defending herself from ambushes like the one the fake Weasley had pulled on her.
Expelliarmus was also a spell that Merula found useful, and she even allowed herself to smile when she sent Tiffany's wand flying on the first day, though the resident wet blanket Deborah scoffed and told her that she had to know the spell by heart to be proficient with it.
And, of course, another Mudblood first year had fallen victim to the Heir of Slytherin. Right before the holidays too. It made the train trip back to London miserably quiet, even with Merula sitting in the middle of her three roommates, all four of them sitting together without saying a word, not until Jenny Myers arrived regardless.
There was a quick, firm rap on the door, and Merula looked up at the sound, managing a little smile as Jenny opened and stepped through the door, then shut it behind her, her wand flickering around the compartment as a charm Merula wasn't familiar with was cast.
"Silencing Charm," Tiffany said from next to A.J., her hands drumming nervously on her lap. "Gets us some privacy."
"Merula," Jenny cut in, ignoring the other girls in the compartment. "This is just for your roommates, not you, so do you mind stepping out for a moment?"
"Is this about the potion?" A.J. turned from her position looking absentmindedly at the window back to Jenny. "Merula already knows about that."
Jenny paused for a moment before she turned back to Merula. "What potion are we talking about, then?"
"The Polyjuice potion being brewed in Moaning Myrtle's lavatory." Merula replied, seeing no other alternative that would need a non-Slytherin to intervene. "Probably by a Gryffindor, because one of them signed the book to make the stuff out."
"And how did you know that?" Jenny sounded curious, but her eyes were already on the obvious suspect, A.J.
"I have the book jinxed," A.J. confirmed. "It lets me know who is reading that stuff. Standard operating procedure."
"Clever," Jenny said with a nod. "And that brings me to the question I want answered. Why did you send me to deal with the Gryffindor? And don't say it was out of the goodness of your heart, because I know you and your friends have all but declared war on the Gryffindors."
Merula exchanged a glance with A.J., but it was Deborah who spoke. "If I remember correctly, A.J. and Merula sabotaged the potion while it was brewing."
Merula nodded at that. "We added some stuff during the brewing process. Made sure the potion was useless."
Merula noticed Jenny had frowned at the answer, but she merely turned to A.J. for confirmation.
"It's true," A.J. said, backing up Merula's words. "Merula added extra water into the potion and I added vodka."
"You tried to poison a second year?" Jenny spluttered.
"We were trying to get the Gryffindors in trouble," Merula tried to defend her friend, although she suspected that it was a waste of effort, given A.J.'s infamy around Hogwarts. "We would wait for a few extra weeks and tip the prefects in on the potion."
"Waste their time," A.J. added. "But then…"
"Then what?" Jenny asked. "Why did you get me involved when you could get your own prefects to nail the Gryffindors and wipe their points out? We all know that was your plan."
"I did something stupid." A.J. shot back, a spark of anger in her voice. "There, are you happy? Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"What?" Jenny pressed. "What did you do?"
"I painted a threat on the wall," A.J. growled. "Said it was from the Heir of Slytherin."
Jenny took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing. "You're not the Heir, right?"
"She was with us all night the first attack against that Gryffindor kid happened," Deborah cut in. "Hell, it was Merula who told us that there was an attack. Both of them are clear."
Jenny's head turned, and Merula swallowed and looked away under her gaze, uncomfortable looking directly into her eyes. "I was with two Ravenclaw girls when we heard someone scream."
"What were their names again?" Tiffany asked.
It was a certain Marietta Edgecombe who caught our letter." A.J. said, pausing for a moment before shaking her head. "But the broom was for Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker."
Jenny paused, then she nodded. "If it was anyone else to say they did something that stupid, I wouldn't believe them, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. At least until I speak to the two of them."
"Merula's broom should still be with them," A.J. added. "Nimbus 2001. You can't miss it, not with her name on it."
Jenny let out a deep breath, but she nodded again, though she gave Merula a strange look before turning away. "Fine. I'll have more questions later, but you three better help me fix this mess when the time comes."
"That won't happen until someone nails the Heir." A.J. said. "But when that time comes, we'll be right next to you."
Merula let out a small breath when Jenny nodded one last time and stepped out of the carriage, leaving the four of them in an awkward silence again.
"How long until the party?" Merula asked finally, breaking the silence after what seemed like the longest two minutes of her life.
"It's going to be tomorrow evening," A.J. replied, frowning. "I let Jenny know of your… personal request some time back, and I suppose we're going shopping in the morning, if you're interested in that."
Merula nodded at the suggestion. It was mostly so she could avoid Narcissa and Draco, but the idea of shopping with friends appealed to Merula. It was, after all, a new experience that she never had before.
"We'll be in London soon," A.J. said after a moment, her eyes turned back to the scenery outside. "We'll be at King's Cross in maybe half an hour."
Merula turned to the window in time to see the last of the English countryside disappear into the background, the snowy white fields replaced by increasingly larger buildings as they returned to Muggle civilization.
The rest of the trip was spent mostly in silence. The Trolley Witch came in and attempted to make some last minute sales, but there were no takers in their carriage.
But as was the case with Merula's previous Christmas, there was no shortage of students rushing to leave the train, and Deborah simply gestured for her to remain seated until the first wave of sugar-addled idiots cleared the way.
It took time to be patient and observe, but when Merula exited the train after what seemed like an hour, the advice had paid off, at least somewhat, given that Platform 9¾ wasn't swarming with tall students and parents by the time Merula got off.
"We'll help you find Mr. Malfoy," Tiffany whispered to Merula as she climbed off the train. "We all know what he looks like, after all."
"From last year?" Merula asked, suddenly remembering that it had been Lucius who had pulled her out of Hogwarts at the last minute.
"Few years back he came to Hogwarts with your brother," A.J. explained. "He wanted Ismelda to take care of him, which, of course, meant I did my best impression of a babysitter while she spent all the money he gave her on Pumpkin Fizz."
Merula cocked her head to the side, unsure of how true the story was, but given the amused looks on both Deborah and Tiffany, she suspected there was some truth behind A.J.'s words.
"As much as you won't admit it, you'd make a great mom A-," Tiffany chuckled, halfheartedly dodging a notebook that A.J. had tossed at her. "You read him a story book right in Slytherin-"
"I'll feed you to the Horntail if you ever mention that again." A.J. shot back, though her face was now flushed Weasley red. "More looking for Mr. Malfoy, less talking about his idiot son."
Merula tried to look for Lucius too, but she saw nothing through the crowd of adults and older students that lined the station platform. Part of her even wanted to get back onto the train to get a better look, but a look behind her told her that was impossible, especially with even more students climbing out with every passing second.
"Any luck?" Merula asked Tiffany, the tallest of her roommates, feeling that A.J. and Deborah probably had as much luck as she did.
"Nope," Tiffany replied cheerfully. "Hey A.J., I see Clarice."
"Oh that's nice," A.J. replied, her voice annoyed. "Do we want her to get in on the search too?"
"We probably should," Tiffany said. "Come on Merula, we don't want to be searching for you too."
Merula grumbled at that, but she rushed after the disappearing forms of her roommates, deeper into the crowd and the massive piles of luggage.
It wasn't a long trip for sure, given that Merula could have crossed Platform 9¾ in less than fifteen seconds, but the trip seemed to take several minutes of irritation and claustrophobia, and more than one set of voices shouting, but in the end, all that mattered was that Merula stood next to her friends and Clarice, dressed in a way that made Merula wonder just how much money she must have had access to.
"A.J.," Clarice said with a smile, shrugging her shoulders and handing her coat over to Merula's roommate, adjusting the scarf around her neck as she spoke. "I've taken the liberty of retrieving your coat for you, by the way."
"Coat?" Tiffany asked, falling into silence a moment later as A.J. put on the coat Clarice gave her. "Is… is that what I think it is?"
"A Blackthorn trench," A.J. said, her head tilted to the side. "It belonged to my grandmother, and she gave it to me in her will."
"Is it a Violet?" Tiffany asked. "Looks too boring to be an Irene."
"An Alice actually," A.J. said, a small smile spreading on her face, stroking the coat gently. "Gran even worked for Blackthorn for a few years, and I think this was her farewell present. One of the old originals, as she liked to say."
Merula blinked as she looked up at her roommates, not understanding what was happening.
"The Blackthorn Company is a pretty expensive coat maker," Deborah sighed, rubbing her eyes when Merula looked up at her. "That thing alone is worth four hundred Galleons, even if it's several decades old."
"Probably closer to a thousand," Clarice interjected, finished with her scarf. "Depends on if you sell to the right people."
"A thousand?" Tiffany sounded equal parts shocked and excited. "Why?"
"Some people like the old classics," Charice sighed. "Think of it as a rare sort of Firewhiskey that's no longer in production for whatever reason. Collectors will pay a fortune for whatever's left on the market."
"Hey C," A.J. cut in. "Did you happen to see Mr. Malfoy today? You know, Merula's dad."
"I saw both of them, as a matter of fact," Clarice replied, her eyes wandering over to Merula as she spoke, a frown developing over her face. "Oh hello there Merula, I didn't see you there."
Merula gave the older witch a little wave as she looked around the station, still not seeing her adoptive father and Narcissa. "So where are they? I'd like to get out of the cold."
Clarice winced and rubbed a hand through her brown hair. "They're at St. Mungos. Your father… he's been badly burned."
"What?" The word came out as a whisper, and Merula stared up at Clarice, almost expecting her to burst into laughter in some form of weird joke. "You- you're not serious, are you?"
"We shouldn't talk in the open like this." Clarice said, shaking her head as she pulled a slip of paper from her leather jacket. "You recognize Narcissa's handwriting, don't you?"
Merula trembled as she pulled the folded rectangle of paper open, and indeed she could read Narcissa's handwriting, though it was clearly written in a hurry.
Merula, you will stay with Miss Murk until your father has recovered.
Narcissa.
There was no argument to be had with the instructions she had been given, doubly so that Lucius was in intensive care.
"Do you know what happened?" A.J. asked as Clarice gestured for them to follow to a more deserted part of the platform, away from ears that could be listening.
"I heard some things," Clarice confirmed. "But only a little. St. Mungos was asking around the apothecaries for a specialty anti-burn potion that a lot of us private apothecaries keep on hand. I helped them apply it. A nasty burn to his back, from what I can tell. Couldn't tell you where he got it though."
"Where did Merula's mom learn of you?" Tiffany asked. "I mean, she's just sending her kid over to a stranger-"
"She's not my mom," Merula snapped, anger rising within her as she remembered Narcissa's drunken rambling the previous summer. "She never will be. The only parent I have is Lucius."
There was silence around her for a long minute after Merula spoke, and she was suddenly worried that her friends might have reacted badly, but it was Clarice who cleared her throat, breaking the silence.
"We should go." Deborah said, her tone forced. "We should get ready for the party tomorrow."
"I don't think Merula should be going to a party," Clarice cut in.
"Merula wanted to learn of this guy named Magnus," A.J. explained. "Joseph said he was her grandfather, if my memory is right."
"Great-grandfather," Merula corrected her friend. "He said he was Norway's Head Auror during the war against Grindelwald."
"Impressive," Clarice nodded. "And I assume the party is with the Myers family?"
Merula nodded back. "They're historians, aren't they?"
"Legal historians, yes." Clarice confirmed. "I don't recall that much about the First War, apart from the fact that both sides did some pretty disturbing things in the process."
There was nothing Merula could say to that, but a gust of wintry air made her wish she was indoors.
"There's a Floo Network connection nearby," Clarice said, pulling her checkered scarf off and handing it to Merula, clearly noticing her shivering, much to her embarassment. "Come on, let's get out of the cold before we talk any more."
Merula heard her friends murmur their agreement as she tried to put on the long scarf, folding the soft cloth around her neck and catching the hint of nutmeg and vanilla from the scarf, a smell combination she rather liked.
The room Clarice led Merula and her friends to was a small side room, one nearly deserted except for a single bored looking guard behind a desk, one Clarice gave a friendly wave to as she passed.
"Old friend from Hogwarts," Clarice explained when Merula looked up at her. "He's a Ministry employee these days. Good man."
"Are you sure you can still use the Ministry fireplace here?" A.J. asked. "You're not working for them anymore."
"Nobody else uses them anyways," Clarice scoffed, tossing a scoop of Floo Powder into a small fireplace in the back room of the office. "Merula, you're first. We're heading to the Five Locks Club."
Merula nodded at the instructions, and she hopped into the green fire, finding herself speeding along the Network as soon as the words left her mouth. It was a fast trip, and Merula found herself tumbling out of the Floo Network mere seconds later, finding herself in a large, warm room, and looking very awkwardly at a couple making out in the seats, one of whom Merula even recognized as Barnaby Lee.
A second later, the fireplace behind her roared again, and Merula heard a gasp of shock before a long, slender hand covered her eyes.
"For the love of Firewhiskey!" Clarice shouted from somewhere to Merula's right. "Get a room!"
Merula was curious what was going to happen, but a set of hands blocked out her ears before she could hear the retort from Barnaby and the girl he was with, and she was subsequently nudged into a corner, one where she couldn't see anything apart from the floor and the wallpaper.
"Are they gone?" Merula called out, half expecting a fourth hand to cover her mouth too, but to her relief, the first three hands merely retreated, and Merula turned around to see Clarice with her head against the wall, as if she was trying to do her best Dobby impression.
"Nobody needed to see that," Clarice muttered as she looked over to Merula. "Especially not you."
"Do I have to stay here for the night?" Merula asked finally, unsure if the walls were soundproof and not interested in finding out the answer firsthand. "I'd rather not if… well, if the walls aren't soundproof."
"Nope," A.J. said, her eyes turning over to Deborah. "Tiffany has already…"
"It was years ago!" Tiffany shrieked, her face as red as the flames behind her.
"And the walls haven't changed much," Deborah continued, ignoring the shrieks of protest from an increasingly flushed Tiffany. "Thus, it is illogical for any of us to try to stay the night here."
"I came here to get a drink, nothing more." Clarice said, shaking her head. "That and I'm trying to meet with a contact or two for business."
"Who?" A.J. asked, confusion evident on her face. "Suppliers?"
"Joseph Trent, actually." Clarice said, the look in her eyes making Merula feel increasingly uncomfortable. "I need to verify something about your father."
"Father?" Merula asked, confused as to why Clarice was asking her about anything. "But he's in the hospital. What does Joseph Trent have to do with anything?"
"True," Clarice nodded. "He is in the hospital, but whatever it was that put him there in the first place is still out there, and if I want to treat him properly, I'm going to need to know what he was doing when he was injured."
Merula bit her lip. "And what do you think it is?"
"It would depend on where your father was," Clarice replied, tapping the table absentmindedly. "Tell me, do you know where your father would be at a time like this?"
Merula didn't know and she shook her head in response to the question. She knew that Lucius performed vital government business, but he was rather secretive with just exactly what he did for the government, even if he did promise to teach her and Draco once they got older.
"C," A.J. spoke up. "What do you think it is? Off the top of your head, I mean."
Clarice paused for a moment as she looked over to Merula. "Can you confirm that your father doesn't have any business outside Wizarding Britain?"
Merula blinked at the question. Why would Lucius ever need to leave Britain? Apart from the occasional trip to Paris and the few times she had attended the Quidditch World Cup, the Malfoys never left Britain.
"He shouldn't," Merula admitted at long last. "The last trip outside Britain was over the summer, for supper in Paris."
Clarice nodded. "There's hardly anything in Paris that could cause that sort of burn anyhow. And the fact he was sent to St. Mungos tells me he was still in England when he was set on fire."
"What in England could cause a burn that would send father to the hospital?" Merula asked out loud. "He wouldn't be brewing a potion, would he?"
"Possible," Clarice replied. "But given his wealth and connections, the chances of him brewing a dangerous potion personally is rather low, which leaves only a single realistic option."
"Which is?"
"Gringotts," Clarice replied. "The deepest vaults there have a great number of curses guarding them, and I suspect your father fell afoul of one of those."
Merula swallowed, suddenly remembering the two vaults she had access to according to the Ministry documents. Could Lucius have been injured by something within those vaults? The thought brought a shiver down her spine.
"I-" Merula started, pausing when she noticed the flames behind Clarice turn green. "Father did tell me that there are two vaults in Gringotts I can draw money from."
Clarice opened her mouth to reply, but the roar of the flames silenced her as Joseph Trent stepped from the fireplace, a little smile on his face.
"Hey C," Joseph smiled, waving at each of Merula's friends around the room before finishing with Merula herself. "What's that smell?"
"Barnaby and Ismelda," A.J. muttered, and Merula watched Joseph freeze, a look of horror on his face as his arm froze in place above his head. "Yeah…"
"If you're trying to protect Merula," Deborah said, shaking her head. "Don't bother, because we couldn't block her eyes in time."
"We tried," Tiffany added as Merula felt her own face turn red. "Believe us, we did."
"Should I…" Joseph asked, pulling his wand out.
"No," Clarice snapped, raising a hand. "You're good with that spell, but I'm not letting you play with Merula's memories."
Merula swallowed at the mention of her name and memories, but A.J. had gotten to Joseph before anything could happen, and his wand was pulled out of his hands and set safely on the table.
"Merula?" Clarice asked suddenly, breaking the silence once more. "Could I ask you what were the names of the two vaults that you have access to?"
"They're the Snyde and Selwyn vaults, right?" Merula looked over to Joseph for confirmation, and she hesitated when his head tilted for a second, his eyes on her.
"From what I recall from your files," Joseph said after a long pause. "Those are two vaults you have access to, as heir of those houses and all, but…"
"But what?" Merula broke the silence, not understanding where Joseph was going with his words.
"There are three vaults you have access to in Gringotts," Joseph said, his face lined with confusion and his pace slow. "Not two. Surely you got all three notices, right?"
Rule of three whee. Have another chapter that's like three weeks delayed because school work.
Next chapter: Dobby escapes certain doom.
