I Knew You Were Trouble

As if my limbs were moving of their own accord I found my hand reaching for my wand.

With it trembling uncontrollably, I pointed it at Anthony.

Just as I was about to yell out the first hex that came into my mind, my focus landed on something all the way down the other end of the corridor behind them.

It was a face. No, it was two faces.

As if they were a mirror image of me, Regulus's two burly friends were gathered nearly out of sight behind the corner opposite me, on the other side of Anthony and Mary.

Just like me, one of them had his wand raised in the air, pointed directly at Ant.

At first I thought he was trying to help Mary too. But then I saw the satisfaction on their faces as she continued to squirm frailly.

They weren't helping. They were making Ant do it.

Changing the trajectory of my wand, I instead pointed it at the blond haired boy still focused unwaveringly on Ant and Mary.

"Depulso!"

The spell shot from my wand like an invisible fist. Catching the blond boy in his gut, he was sent hurtling backwards, his legs and arms in front of him as if he had been folded like a deck chair. His wand flew up in an arc, rebounding against the wall.

The effect on Ant was immediate. As if someone had clicked their fingers, his hands sprang away from Mary's small neck leaving her to collapse to the floor.

I looked back at Regulus's friends, half expecting to see them regrouping, but they were nowhere to be seen.

My mind swam. The hours Ant had been losing, his attack on me, the unknown blood on his fists. It had been them all this time.

I couldn't believe even they would go this far. Imperio was an Unforgiveable curse. Why would they risk going to Azkaban just to use a Hufflepuff rugby player as a puppet to attack students?

"I'm so sorry," Ant had got to his knees next to Mary, muttering it again and again. She held onto him weakly as he cradled her in his muscular arms. It was a jarring contrast to what I had seen not 5 minutes before.

Checking again to make sure the Slytherins were definitely gone and Mary was no longer in danger, I stepped backwards and went back the way I had come.

I didn't know what to do. Neither Ant nor Mary had seen what I had seen or knew who was responsible.

I thought back to what Mary had said just before the attack; threatening him with going to McGonagall if he didn't get help.

'I know what you've done.'

Just what had he done?

Or more accurately, what had Regulus and his friends done, and to who?

Students had started to flood the corridors as they made their way to dinner now, brushing past me and chatting amongst themselves.

They had no idea what had just happened. None of them were safe and they had no idea.

It was only then that the clouds cleared in my mind and it became crystal clear what I needed to do.

.o.

Ignoring the rest of the students all going in the opposite direction towards the dinner hall, I doubled back towards Professor McGonagall's office.

There wasn't time to think about eating anymore. I had to warn her before they were allowed to hurt anyone else.

As I walked blindly, I couldn't help but feel a rush of sympathy towards Anthony, despite the horrible things they'd made him do.

What must it be like to wake up somewhere and not know how you got there or what you'd done? They had been using him like he was an object.

But when I got to McGonagall's office door I almost couldn't believe my eyes.

"Hey!" I shouted at the figure waiting outside.

Regulus Black turned to look at me like a rabbit down the barrel of a gun. Without waiting for me to reach him, he started to run in the opposite direction.

Making a split second decision, I ran after him.

It was only after squeezing my way through the now crowded hallway that I really realised what I was doing.

Seeing Ant nearly strangle the life out of Mary had made me feel like forcing Regulus to tell me why they'd been using him was the right thing to do.

But what exactly was I going to do if I caught him? Duel? I wasn't a hero in some fantasy story.

Besides, he was probably being used as a decoy to give his friends time to do Merlin knew what to some other innocent student, and I was falling right into their trap.

I stopped running. I needed to go back to McGonagall and tell her what I'd seen so she could deal with it before anyone else got hurt.

Turning around, I started to make my way back through the groups of students around me, but I was barely given chance to move.

"You're too late, Morland."

Trying not to show my physical recoil at having him suddenly behind me, I looked slowly back at Regulus, but his expression took me by surprise.

Even though it looked like he was trying to smirk, it didn't quite work, almost as if he was doing his best to look more composed than he actually felt.

"Whatever you were doing didn't work," I replied, trying my best to copy his faked nonchalance, "Mary's fine, and McGonagall's about to find out what you and your two friends have been doing to Anthony. No wonder Sirius warned me to stay away from you...using an Unforgiveable curse on someone like that. It's disgusting."

Regulus's upper lip curled.

"When you cosied up to my brother I knew you must be a fool, but it turns out you're even more of one than I thought."

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging what he'd said, I turned away from him again, starting back towards McGonagall's office.

"She's not there!"

The strange tone of his voice was the only thing that made me look back at him a second time.

"I wasn't lying when I said you were too late," he stated, his smirk completely gone now. "We both are."

There was something about the way he said it that made a feeling of unease settle inside me.

"Too late for what?" I demanded. "What have you done?"

"It wasn't my fault," he said, avoiding my question. "I tried to stop them. They wouldn't listen."

"Who? Your friends? Why did they use Anthony to attack Mary like that?"

Regulus looked confused by my barrage of questions.

"I don't know anything about this Mary girl," he replied.

"But you do know they've been using Ant to do their dirty work?" I urged.

When he refused to answer me, I pushed him further.

"I've seen you with those two boys. Whispering together outside the hall...acting guilty when you realised I'd seen you. Are you seriously trying to tell me you're not involved in any of this?"

His face darkened.

"Haven't you listened to a word I've said?" he replied angrily. "I've been trying to stop them. Why do you think I was outside of McGonagall's office? I was going to tell her everything."

"Then why didn't you?"

"She wasn't there," he replied simply, his expression irritatingly unapologetic.

"Mary said she knew what Ant had done," I said. "What did she mean? Has he hurt someone?"

"She must have found out what they did to him, I suppose," he replied in his cryptic, matter-of-fact way.

"To Anthony?" I asked, confused.

A frown line formed on his forehead.

"To the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor," he corrected impatiently.

"Professor Saunderson?"

Military?

"No," he replied, visibly tiring of my questioning now. "The other one. Now if that's all, I really must be going..."

He started to walk away.

"You mean Professor Mison...?" I called after him. "But I saw him a couple days ago. He was leaving Hogwarts because he'd got a new job. He told me so himself."

Regulus looked at me with mild interest, flicking his eyebrow.

"I don't know who it was you think you saw," he said "but it wasn't him. They forced the Hufflepuff to get him out of the way weeks ago."

I felt a sensation of cold water being poured down my back at the idea I'd been alone with someone impersonating the Professor.

But I still didn't understand. None of what he was saying made sense.

Why would Regulus's friends Imperio Anthony to get rid of Professor Mison? And what did 'get him out of the way' mean exactly?

The feeling of unease began to multiple until I felt like it would smother me.

"You were the one who threatened Mison in the first place," I said accusingly. "Right before he went missing. If it wasn't him I spoke to the other day, then you were probably the last person to talk to him. You told him to do what your parents wanted 'if he knew what was good for him'."

I had replayed their conversation so many times in my head it was like it was rehearsed.

A look of surprise flitted across his face.

"How do you know about that-?"

"I saw you," I replied, gratified by the way the practised look of bored disdain had vanished from his face.

"I was warning him to go along with it for his own safety," he hissed, losing control for the first time. "All that idiot had to do was hand out a few anti-Muggle sheets and dress them up as homework and he would've been fine. My parents would've been happy, and the students would have been prepared for when the time was right to-"

He stopped talking and looked around us again as if he was worried he would be overheard.

"When the time was right for what?" I asked.

He glared at me, falling back into silence again.

"Mary nearly died, Regulus," I reminded him, feeling as though we were running out of time, but not exactly sure what for. "And they've kidnapped a Professor. Are you really going to carry on protecting them after all that?"

I knew my desperation was starting to show, but strangely Regulus seemed to have calmed again.

He stared at me with his stone-grey eyes, so similar to Sirius's that it was unnerving.

They gave him a worrying familiarity, because as much as I wanted to trust those eyes, in reality I had no idea what he was really capable of.

When he spoke again his voice was measured.

"My parents, and a lot of the other pure-blood families, believe passing the message of Pureblood superiority on to witches and wizards while they're young will make them more loyal to the cause." He paused before adding, "They're trying to build a following."

Too stunned to move, I only realised at the last second that he had started to walk back towards me.

"Even you must have heard the rumours of the Dark Lord by now," he said, only stopping when he was right in front of me. "Well it's not just a rumour."

Unlike Sirius, Regulus stood at my eyeline, and he was able to stare directly into my face as he spoke.

"He's real, and he's coming," he said in a way that sounded more like a threat than a statement. "And when he does, he's going to demand unfaltering devotion."

His gaze wandered from my eyes, following my hairline, over my chin and jaw, as if he was making his scrutiny of me as obvious as possible.

"My parents and other families have promised it to him in return for a place in his highest circle," he continued in a softer voice. "Securing more followers is just another part of the plan. The new Defence Professor is one of them."

Military was one of them. I had to hold back my brief, misplaced feeling of triumph. I had known something was up with him, but even I couldn't have guessed it was anything like this.

That was the reason for the Tournament, I realised. He wasn't preparing us for exams, he was preparing us for some kind of war. We were being brainwashed into being soldiers for the Pureblood cause without even knowing it.

"Why are you telling me all of this now?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"Because it doesn't matter anymore. I tried to stop their plan and I failed. And you'll fail too. So, you see, I don't care what and if you know. It's not as if anyone would believe you anyway."

"But if they've taken Mison to make room for Saunderson, then where is he?" I persevered regardless. "It's not like they can just let him go if he knows who they are and what they're doing."

"Letting him go would risk everything," he confirmed.

I stopped to think about what he had just said.

"No," I murmured, not wanting to believe it.

"Yes."

They were going to kill him.

"Then help me stop them!" I cried, unable to believe he'd just been standing there talking to me when he knew what was going to happen, but he didn't move.

"My brother went against our parents' wishes and now there's a scorch mark where his face used to hang on our wall," he said. "Do you realise what would happen to me if they found out I interfered in the plan they'd spent months arranging? Even doing what I've already done is too much. They wouldn't protect me. They'd let him take me."

There was real fear behind the mask of insolence on his face.

I could only imagine who he meant by 'him'. Regulus was barely 15, but he was in no doubt his life would be in danger just for wanting to stop them killing an innocent man.

"Sirius has the luxury of bravery because he knows he has his little Gryffindor friends to fall back on," he said, sneering at thought of it. "I'm not going to put myself at risk any more than I already have. I'm finished. And if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your nose out of it and your mouth shut."

"I'm not scared of your friends, Regulus," I replied, trying my best to actually mean it.

"You should be," he replied seriously. "You have no idea what they're capable of."

I thought back to Mary's bulging eyes and purple face, seconds away from being strangled to death. I would probably never forget the noise she had made in those last few seconds. It was inhuman. And Regulus's friends had been responsible.

"If you're not going to help, then just tell me where they've taken him," I said.

He looked at me with disdain.

"Why, what are you going to do...rescue him?"

"Well I'm not going to do nothing," I shot back, angry that he was mocking me for something he was too scared to even try.

"They're going to dispose of him at 8pm tonight, Morland," he replied boredly, "Unless you can fly you're wasting your time."

Based on the fact all the students around us had disappeared to the great hall for dinner now, I knew that likely only gave me just over 15 minutes time.

"Tell me where he is," I repeated.

He raised a careless shoulder.

"Fine. But you're issuing yourself with a death sentence."

.o.

I blundered my way down the corridor, racing as fast as I could to the place Regulus had described. Tapestries, suits of armour and dimly lit lanterns flew by me in a blur of light and faded colours.

I felt helpless. Dumbledore wasn't at Hogwarts, McGonagall wasn't in her office. If I tried to cross the castle to find someone else, like Professor Flitwick or Slughorn, by the time I had explained what was going on and convinced them I was telling the truth, it would be too late. Mison would be dead.

At least Regulus had agreed to find Ant and Mary and make sure she got to the Hospital Wing. It was the least he could do.

With everyone at dinner now, the rest of the school felt empty and unwelcoming, as if it could sense what was happening.

I repeated Regulus's instructions over and over in my head to make sure I didn't lose them to my panic. The room Mison was being held in was on the seventh floor.

The one thing I couldn't understand was why I'd never noticed it before, because it was on the same level as my common room.

I put a hand to my chest; it had started to burn from the exhaustion of running at high speed for so long.

Had the castle always been this big? It felt like I was never going to get there. I had already wasted five of the fifteen minutes just trying to get to him.

When I saw the route that led to the Gryffindor common room coming up in front of me I knew I had to be close, Regulus had said it was just a few turns away from there.

Running blindly around the corner like a rat in a maze, my flight was stopped short when the life-size portrait of the Fat Lady chose that moment to swing open and release one of the common room's occupants.

Given no time to even think about slowing down, I ran straight into the person leaving. Going at the speed I had been going I felt the force of my body hit them hard. Though they were taller and broader than me, they were knocked at least two steps sideways from the impact.

"S-sorry," I managed to mutter, my speech coming out hurried and incoherent as I stumbled to steady myself. With no time to hang around, I went to immediately rush away again without so much as glancing at them.

"Not so fast."

I felt a hand around my wrist as the person I had run into grabbed me before I could go anywhere.

I pulled away, trying to yank free of their grasp, hearing the phantom tick tocking of the clock counting down to Mison's murder, but they wouldn't let go, pulling me further back towards them.

When I was finally forced to raise my head and look in the eyes of my captor, I felt a swarm of emotions rush over me.

"Sirius," I breathed.

"What's going on?" he asked, still holding my wrist tightly in one of his hands, his narrowed eyes on mine.

I could only imagine what I must've looked like to him, my face probably pale and panicked, sprinting down the corridor towards him, practically knocking him off his feet.

Even in my extreme turmoil it felt strange to have him talking to me again after spending the last few days pretending I didn't exist.

I gave up trying to fight against him, relieved to finally see the face of someone I could trust, regardless of anything that had happened between us.

"It's Professor Mison," I stammered out, "They're going to kill him."