Only one more chapter after this.
"Master, the girl has not reported in ages. Perhaps she has deserted…"
"Yes Wormtail, I thought that too. That is why I have already sent a select few of my Death Eaters to Hogwarts."
"Master, could…c…could I possibly?"
"What could you do? You have become useless to me other than making me meals. You have lost the few magical skills that you did possess at one point in your miserable life." Wormtail opened his mouth to object. "Ah yes Wormtail, you are ready to defend yourself. Well you're starting to bother me. You may go." Voldemort waved his wand carelessly. Wormtail disappeared.
Roxie awoke quickly. The sky was dark, it must be the middle of the night. But she knew that something was bad. That had been no normal dream. It was real. That had happened. There were Death Eaters at Hogwarts. "Hermione. Hermione! Hermione!!" Roxie said getting more anxious every minute. She shook her roommate. She threw her school robes on.
"What is it Roxie?"
"Death Eaters. Voldemort."
"Where are the Death Eaters?"
"Here! The Death Eaters are here!"
"What?!?!" Hermione sat up in bed. "How do you know?"
"I had a dream."
'Oh, it was just a dream." Hermione began to go back to sleep.
"No!" Roxie pulled the covers off of her. "It was not just a dream. It was real!"
"Ok." Hermione was pulling her school robes over her pajamas.
"Look!" Roxie pointed out the window and they saw a faint light shining through the branches of the forest. "Let's go!" Roxie pulled on Hermione's hand and the two started to head down to the common room.
"Ok well at least let me get Harry and Ron," Hermione reasoned. Roxie nodded her head.
"But make it fast!" She started shifting from foot to foot anxiously. Moments later Hermione emerged with a concerned Harry and a rumpled looking Ron. "Come on!" She grabbed Harry's hand and the four of them raced out of the common room. Roxie feared that they would run into a teacher and be slowed down, but they were in luck. The halls were deserted and they reached the grounds without opposition.
"Where…" Harry started.
"In here," said Roxie urgently. They pushed there way through branches and brambles. Thorns tore at their robes. Branches snagged in their hair. Then they heard it.
"Master said that we should bring the girl to him. He said that we should kill anyone who stands in our way." The four instinctively reached in their robes and pulled out their wands. Then they peered through the branches in front of them. Bellatrix stood in front of two hooded Death Eaters. She was recognizable by her heavily lidded eyes. She also seemed to be the leader of the group. Suddenly another figure appeared in a whirl of wind. "Ah yes Wormtail," Bellatrix spoke as a pudgy man unfolded himself and stood up. "Master told me that you would be joining us. Feeling the need to prove yourself?" Bellatrix jeered. Wormtail mumbled something that the four of them could not hear. Bellatrix continued her speech, but Wormtail was not paying attention to her. He wasn't even looking in her direction.
Then he did something that made Roxie's heart stop. He pointed at the trees. The trees behind which the four of them stood. Bellatrix waved her wand and Roxie felt herself being pulled forward, into the clearing. The others were right beside her.
"I figured you would come," Bellatrix spoke. "And you, Potter. You like to play the hero. And Potter's favorite side kicks." The four Death Eaters moved forward, pulling out their wands and aiming them at the kids. "Kill those two," Bellatrix instructed and she pointed at Ron and Hermione. "But don't kill the others. Master made it clear that we were to bring the girl to him and we all know that the Potter boy is his to kill." Roxie and Harry instinctively stepped in front of Ron and Hermione.
"If you want to kill them, you'll have to kill us," Roxie said. Bellatrix laughed.
"Master did tell me that you thought yourself more capable than you are. Now step aside. This is nothing worth getting killed over."
"Getting killed over? You wouldn't kill me. You just said it yourself. You're supposed to bring me to the Dark Lord. I don't think he would be too pleased if you killed me before you did that."
"But he didn't say anything about not stunning you, just to get you out of the way." Bellatrix raised her wand, but Roxie was quicker. As Bellatrix shouted "Stupefy" Roxie countered with "Protego!" The stunning spell shot back at Bellatrix. The Death Eaters scattered. Wormtail looked nervously at them and the two hooded Death Eaters pulled their hoods on tighter.
Once they had recomposed themselves all four of them raised their wands again. They all shouted spells, but Roxie was not the only one to counter them. Three other voices joined hers. Bellatrix moved forwards and began to shoot spell after spell at Roxie. Wormtail began fighting with Ron. And each hooded Death Eater started fighting either Harry or Hermione.
The clearing was suddenly filled with shouts and flashes of light. Roxie didn't have time to check on the others because Bellatrix was shooting spells at her so rapidly that she barely had time to defend herself.
Minutes later, Roxie heard a thud. Fearfully, she looked over and saw that Wormtail had fallen. Ron stood over him, nervously, his wand pointed at Wormtail's chest. "Protego!" Roxie shouted, not tearing her eyes away from Ron. Do it! Roxie urged. But Ron just stood there, wand shaking in his quaking hand. Wormtail looked up at him fearfully. But there was something in Wormtail's eyes. Roxie knew that he would do something soon if Ron didn't. Quickly, Roxie pointed her wand in their general direction. "Avada Kedavra!" Roxie shouted. Green light filled the clearing. Everyone looked around. Wormtail was dead. We're winning. The ratio was now three to four. As soon as everyone got over the initial shock they returned to fighting.
"Protego!" Bellatrix's latest spell shot back at her. Bellatrix ducked and Roxie took the chance to glance over at Ron who was still standing over Wormtail. Suddenly, he shook his head and moved over to fight the hooded Death Eater with Hermione. Roxie returned to fighting with Bellatrix.
"Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" Bellatrix shouted. "You can't escape me forever. The Dark Lord wants you and I will bring you to him if it is the last thing I do. Stupefy!" Roxie dodged the spell and sent her own at Bellatrix. "Give up girl! You might as well come with me. The Dark Lord will get you one way or another."
"Avada…" started the Death Eater fighting Harry.
"What did I tell you?!?" Bellatrix roared. "Avada Kedavra!" Another flash of green light and the Death Eater fell to the ground, dead. His hood slid off of his head and it revealed pale blonde hair. Lucius Malfoy was dead. Roxie seized the chance to shoot her own Avada Kedavra at Bellatrix who fell dead. There was now only one Death Eater left fighting. The others continued to fight, but they all seemed hesitant to use the Avada Kedavra. Roxie was the only one who had killed anyone.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled. The Death Eater's wand flew out of his hand and landed on the ground next to Harry.
"Get out of the way!" Roxie instructed. The adrenaline was pumping in her head. She gripped her wand so tight that her knuckles were turning white. She was ready to finish the job. The three of them stepped aside hesitantly. Roxie aimed her wand at the Death Eaters chest. She had already started forming the words when he said something that stopped her.
"Please, Roxie. You can't do this." She recognized that voice. She knew it well.
"You made a choice!" she yelled at him.
"So did you."
"But I never killed anyone! You killed innocent people."
"And by killing me you become just like me."
"You are a far way from innocent!" Roxie yelled. "The world will be a better place without you! Avada Kedavra!" The Death Eater fell to the ground. Roxie lowered her wand and looked down at him. Harry walked over to her and looked at the fallen Death Eater.
"You knew that man?" he asked. Roxie nodded. She moved over to the man and bent down. She pulled the hood off of his face. It was a face that she knew well. She laid her hand on his cheek.
"He was my father," she answered him. Tears threatened to flow. There's no point in crying over him. He was bad, evil. You killed him. Harry came over and put this arm around her shoulders.
"D..D..Did you know that…that he was a Death Eater?" Ron stammered. Roxie wiped the tears away quickly.
Should I tell him that I am a Death Eater because my father is? That my father is the one who told the Dark Lord that I would be the perfect candidate for a Death Eater. "Umm… Well….I had my suspicions. Nothing had been confirmed. I would have surely turned him in if I had known for sure. But I thought that maybe there was something that he didn't tell us." Roxie sniffled. Harry pulled her to him. He rested his chin on her head and she cried into his chest. She heard Hermione give a sniffle and the murmur of Ron trying to comfort her.
"Maybe we should get back to the school. Tell Dumbledore. He should know," Ron said. Roxie looked up and saw Hermione nod. Ron started to lead her out of the forest towards the castle.
"Ready?" Harry asked. Roxie nodded and the two of them stood up. Harry was still holding onto her. Roxie looked down once more at her father's lifeless face. His mouth was slightly open in shock. The two of them were walking out of the clearing when they heard a voice behind them. A voice that made them stopped. A voice that belonged to someone who shouldn't be there. Who surely hadn't been there before.