Hello everyone! How're you all doing? Still just as interesting as before? (I hope so)
Special thanks to VidereLux for looking over the chapter before I posted it as usual and for listening to my rants about how it isn't good enough.
Thanks also to everyone who reviewed! It really encourages me to write more, and usually slightly different (like Rabastan last time). So here's to Senyuu, lizyeh2000, HTMLfreak, Teddy0407, Cae-Leigh Anne and Nik1804! You guys are the best.
PS. Sorry for double-replying to your reviews from last time! I couldn't find my PMs and was worried I hadn't answered anyone. *Smacks hand against head*
Last, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my boyfriend, who just yesterday was worried that I had abandoned ATOTS in favour of one-shots. Rest assured, that will never be the case!
Emma blinked, rubbing her eyes, but her surroundings were still black. She panicked for half a second; sitting up so quickly her sight was obstructed by a cloud of dots. Blinking several more times, she realised that she wasn't blind, just lying in a dark room.
'Where am I?' she asked aloud, her last memory being of the raid at Little Hangleton.
The others! she thought immediately.
She ripped off the blanket someone had wrapped her in and got out of bed, moving forwards only to walk into a different bed post.
She hissed in pain, rubbing her shin.
'Emma?' Lucinda asked blearily, her sheet of blonde hair a pinprick of light in the darkness.
Emma realised that she was back in her Hogwarts dorm and had walked into Alecto's bed.
'How did I get here?' Emma asked. 'What time is it?'
'It's about midnight, Ems,' Lucinda's disembodied voice replied. 'Go back to sleep, I'll tell you about it in Charms tomorrow.'
'But we don't have Charms on Mondays,' Emma replied, frowning into the dark.
No response was forthcoming. Lucinda had fallen back to sleep. Emma got back into bed and tried to do the same, but found that she couldn't without answers. Throwing off the covers, she crept back towards the door, navigating a little better now that she knew where she was.
On her way to the boy's dorms, she noticed that there were several figures in front of the fire. Her curiosity taking hold of her, she walked back towards the sofas.
Rabastan, Regulus, Barty, Severus and Wilkes were deep in whispered conversation. As she grew closer, an incessant insect-like buzz sounded in her ears.
'Mind if I join?' she asked, instantly recognising Severus's creation.
The five boys looked around, half getting up and half drawing their wands. They relaxed upon seeing who it was, and Severus made a swishing motion with his wand. The white noise relented.
'Sorry, Ems,' Rabastan said sheepishly. 'We didn't know when you would wake up.'
'That's all right,' Emma replied, although she really wished someone would have just used Rennervate on her when she fainted. 'How did we get back from the field? When do we brief the Dark Lord? I assume that's what this meeting is about, though I don't know why Wilkes and Severus are here. Don't you have a different assignment? Namely, getting into Dumbledore's good graces?'
'Someone better bring her up to speed,' Severus said, rolling his eyes.
Emma raised an eyebrow, placing her hands on her hips.
'Well, Ems,' Rabastan started, when no one else rose to speak. 'You got caught pretty badly by a Bombarda Maxima and fainted. Reg managed to get to the Portkey and I guess you were pretty out of it when we Rennervated you, because you were the one to call the others using the Dark Mark again.
'Long story short, the Dark Lord was pissed that we used the Mark twice in one simple raid, but it's okay because we found out more info on the Aurors. Now he wants to know how the Aurors knew all of this in the first place. He put a Healing spell on you that meant that you wouldn't wake for at least twenty four hours, so he gave us until Tuesday to give him an answer.'
Emma digested all of this as quickly as he spoke. Glancing down, she realised that she was still in her Death Eater robes, though someone had the foresight to remove her Mask before putting her in her dorm. She made a grab for her pockets and was relieved to find her wand safely tucked away.
It must be Monday evening, she thought. She hated this feeling of being out of the loop, caught flat-footed with a twenty-four hour time gap in which anything could have happened.
'So the Dark Lord really didn't punish anyone?' Emma asked incredulously. The last time a raid went this badly; there had been hell to pay.
'Well, Rabastan managed to kill two Aurors, so he was pretty satisfied with that outcome,' Barty piped up.
'Satisfied enough to make Rabastan head of operations at Hogwarts,' Regulus added with a meaningful look.
Emma ignored her blood boiling in her veins. She shouldn't be angry about having been demoted. It meant that less attention was on her. But everyone knew that the Dark Lord didn't appreciate failure, no matter what he said. She was weaker now, and everyone knew it. Still, she couldn't begrudge Rabastan his victory. Aurors were his territory, and he performed admirably. Any further thought would be saved for later.
Instead, she simply nodded and recast the Muffliato spell, coming over to sit with the group. Next to her, Wilkes glanced nervously at her still black Dark Mark, exposed in all of its glory.
'Where are we up to, then?' she asked.
'Well, the first person to ask how this happened would be you,' Severus Snape said, his mouth curled up into a smirk. 'Just why would you find it a good idea to belt out your plan to the whole of Slytherin?'
'Before we get any further,' Barty intervened, 'shouldn't Emma cover her mark up? Anyone could walk in here, and if the torn and bloody robes don't give her away, then the mark of the Dark Lord sure as hell will.'
'Good point,' Emma replied, quickly disrobing and pulling down her shirt sleeves to cover the Dark Mark. 'Regulus, if you would?'
'Tergeo,' Regulus flicked his wand, and most of the dirt came off from Emma's clothes.
'They're still ripped, but they'll have to do,' Emma said, swivelling to look at her right shoulder, where her top was currently in tatters. 'I'll say that Rabastan brought me into the Forbidden Forest for some fresh air.'
'Hey!' Rabastan protested, but Emma ignored him.
Although Rabastan had official authority, habit made Emma take charge.
'As for your questions, Severus, I had my reasons,' she said, inventing wildly. She had the sketch of a risky plan in mind, and hoped that she was a good enough judge of character to pull it off. 'One, I wanted to spread the knowledge of our power within our own House. How can we expect the Wizarding World to fall into line, if we keep all we do secret? Let the younger years gossip, I gave them no time or date. In fact,' she said, turning to Barty. 'I'm surprised you haven't told them yet. After all, it was your idea.'
Barty frowned, but didn't contradict her, preferring to keep his options open.
'I was waiting until you were awake,' he said cautiously, eyes probing her own.
'Well,' Emma said, turning to face Severus. 'It was Barty's idea to inform Benjy Fenwick of the date of the raid. We've suspected for a while that he was part of Dumbledore's Order, and this was the perfect time to test the theory.
'I told Rabastan and Regulus to expect trouble, but no one informed you two, as the plan would work better the fewer people knew. This way, only I, Barty, Regulus, Rabastan or Fenwick could have informed the Aurors. Who do you think it was?'
Rabastan let out an almost palpable sigh of relief. The group turned to him and he merely shrugged. 'Wouldn't you have been curious as to why Emma was expecting Aurors, too?'
Wilkes and Snape seemed to buy the excuse. Regulus gave a slight shake of his head, but made no comment. Emma decided to press on before Barty could say anything.
'I'll write a letter to Narcissa tomorrow. We correspond regularly, so no one will be suspicious, and Lucius will probably have informed her of tonight…last night's events. As for the Dark Lord, I am sure that he will see that uncovering a potential Order source, as well as their working method, is worth much more than the lives of a few pathetic Muggles.' She paused, before carefully adding offhandedly. 'Besides, there are plenty more villages in the region.'
The next day, Barty caught Emma as she was going up for breakfast. Stifling a yawn - despite having lost twenty-four hours and then some, she felt exhausted - she acquiesced, motioning Lucinda to go on without her.
'What the hell was last night?' Barty asked. 'Or did I suddenly lose part of my memory?'
'I fucked up, Barty, plain and simple,' Emma said. 'I wasn't careful enough in the locations we used, and we paid the price for it. I was demoted, and we'll be more careful in the future, but that wouldn't have been enough for the Dark Lord.
'Now, look, before you say that I'm throwing you under the bus,' she raised her voice over Barty's protests. 'I won't tell that to Narcissa in my message if you don't want me to. But think about it. Who is the Dark Lord going to reward for finding out the Order's method of communication? For finding out that they don't have a direct line to the Aurors? For having access to an Order member, who we can feed information if we want to? If you play this right, you can have a proper excuse for getting closer to Fenwick, and he'll be too valuable of an asset to kill off. It's your choice.'
Barty closed his mouth into a tight line, his eyes wide beneath straw blond hair. Finally, he gave a short nod, determination etched into his face.
'Do it,' he said. 'If he has a shot after Hogwarts, this is it.'
'That was an extremely risky move you pulled,' Regulus said that evening at the Quidditch pitch.
They were sitting in the stairwell of one of the Ravenclaw stands, where not even the Hufflepuff team practicing would think to look for spies. They had brought mugs of hot chocolate and a blanket to share between themselves, although a few Heating Charms would have worked just as well.
Emma realised that although they had planned to meet this way once a week about Regulus's plan for the Horcruxes, it was rather romantic in its own way. The musky smell of Quidditch permeated the air, and though they couldn't see the stars, a slight breeze made its way through the wood and cloth of the structure to play with their hair.
She took a sip of hot chocolate and laid her head on his shoulder. The day had been exhausting. She had only one wish - to go back to bed and stay there for the next ten hours - but the letter to Lucinda had to be drafted, Rabastan had to be congratulated, and of course, she had grilled the others on the exact details of Sunday evening.
'Still, I'm glad that you did,' he said quietly, placing a kiss on the top of her head.
His mere presence seemed to emanate comfort, and Emma felt like she was in a cocoon that had nothing to do with their measly blanket. It isn't even fluffy, she thought randomly.
'You scared me back then,' he added after a minute.
Something in his voice made Emma turn around. His silver grey eyes that reminded her of the moon were creased with a cross between worry and love. On an impulse, she leaned forwards, pressing her lips to his in a gentle kiss that turned long and lingering.
When it ended, she rested her forehead against his, the contact making her feel that they were somehow connected on a deeper level.
'I love you,' she said, the words prompted by her heart rather than her brain. 'I don't say it enough.'
'I know that you do,' Regulus replied. 'That's enough for me.'
He leaned back, lifting her necklace over her head and slipping her engagement ring back on her finger. Clasping her left hand with his right, he kissed her again, more passionately this time.
'I want us to get married,' he said when they broke apart.
'Um, isn't that what this ring is for?' Emma asked, playfully waggling her hands.
'I mean as soon as we leave Hogwarts,' Regulus clarified, his eyes rising back to meet her own in a long stare. Emma sensed that something else was bothering him, trying to prod him mentally to confess. Eventually, he looked away.
'I didn't mean to give the Dark Lord the information about the Order's Patroni,' he said in a small voice.
'There was nothing you could have done,' Emma replied soothingly. 'You're hiding so much from him already, it's no wonder he managed to break through your shields for the night. Shields that you shouldn't have even needed,' she added, her tone self-accusatory.
'You were in no position to hide anything from him, Emma,' Regulus said immediately. 'The pain was nothing compared to what we would have faced as traitors.'
Emma would have liked to argue, but in her heart of hearts she was right. Still, it felt as though Regulus's renewed marriage proposal was an act of finalising his life, getting everything in order, rather than beginning it as he should.
'I don't want us marrying for the wrong reasons,' she said, voicing her concerns.
'The world will be too dangerous when we leave Hogwarts,' Regulus answered, his voice firm. 'And I'd like the assurance that…if anything ever happened to me…you'd take care of my mum. And Kreacher. I don't want him falling into Sirius's hands. Who knows what he'd do to him.'
Emma imagined Sirius commanding the elf as he had done so in the past, barely looking at Kreacher before barking an order. She shuddered. At least Walburga made him feel like part of the family.
'All right,' she said. 'But nothing will happen. I'll make sure of it. And you'd better make sure of it too.'
'I will.'
'How're you doing, Bast?' Emma asked, sitting by her sleep-deprived friend in the Common Room.
'Not well,' Rabastan replied, throwing his quill at the paper and leaning back on two chair legs. 'I think I might have got more questions wrong than a first year.'
'Hand it over,' she said, moving into a cross legged position on her chair and holding her hand out. 'You're probably not getting enough sleep to concentrate.
Reluctantly, Rabastan passed her his mock N.E.W.T paper in Defence Against the Dark Arts. He rubbed his eyes, leaving ink stains on his forehead. Emma refrained from commenting, seeing how wan his face looked.
'I can do it all in practice,' he complained. 'I just don't understand how we're supposed to talk about it in theory. Either you can cast Expelliarmus or you can't.'
'I know what you mean,' Emma agreed, busying herself by circling spelling mistakes. 'I guess you just need to describe the spell. Sometimes it's just best to dig out your spell books and write what's on there.'
'But then I need to remember it all!' Rabastan groaned. 'What are our N.E.W.T.s good for anyway? It's not as if I'm going to get a job later in life.'
Emma glanced around the Common Room. It was empty. The seventh years had a study break and Lucinda and Regulus had decided to ask Professor Sprout if they could get some more hands-on experience in the greenhouses. The others weren't around either, having gone to the library or the study hall. Suddenly, Emma realised just how few seventh year Slytherins there were left.
'Are you all right, Bast?' she asked in a low voice, trying to convey as much into her words as possible. 'I mean it. If you need anything, I'm always here to help.'
'You could do my Divination homework,' Rabastan joked, as he always did. 'I can't believe I'm taking it at N.E.W.T. level.'
Emma rolled her eyes, but nonetheless pulled Rabastan's homework diary closer. Examine the tea-leaves of a friend every day for the next month. Describe what symbols you find there and what their meaning is. Then write a five hundred word summary on the resulting prediction.
'This is ridiculous,' she noted, pushing the offending object away from her.
'I didn't mean it seriously!' Rabastan laughed, grabbing his planner. 'Anyway, I'm fine. I guess... I guess I didn't think it would affect me this much.' Rabastan's eyes were trained on the table. 'I mean, I know I haven't exactly got much of a moral compass…or even one at all…but I can't believe it's so easy to snuff someone's life out like that.'
'I'm pretty sure that Avada Kedavra is a complex spell to execute,' Emma replied, knowing that Rabastan wasn't looking for sympathy.
'I'm not talking about that,' Rabastan brushed her words to the side. 'I don't regret that spell at all. It was him or us, and I much prefer it to be him. I'm talking about the guy who didn't get up after I pushed him away. Go a little overboard on a Bombarda spell, and you're done for. It really makes you think about how fragile life is.'
Emma was silent for a few seconds. Rabastan gathered his papers, reviewing his work.
'I mean, look at this. It's parchment and ink. It means nothing,' Rabastan tapped his schoolwork. 'It is nothing. I don't want that. I don't want to be wiped off the face of this Earth like nothing. Just… forgettable. '
'Trust me when I say this, Bast,' Emma said, getting up to lay a hand on Rabastan's shoulder. 'It would take a hell of a lot to make you forgettable.'