Chapter 3
The whole hall went silent at Marcus's words and waited to see what was going on. Skye tore open the letter and scanned down the page. The Slytherins held their breath as Skye frowned. She showed her cousin, and then her siblings. Suddenly, her eyes turned red and she screamed. "NO! They can't do that to her! Not Bella! The Aurors are going to regret the day they attacked aunt Bellatrix!" All of a sudden, Ron stood up from the Gryffindor table. "I know who led that raid. I'm proud of Lily and James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin for catching Bellatrix! She's the one that attacked Neville's parents!" Skye turned towards Ron, casting a wandless and non-verbal silencing charm at him. Neville got up and ran out of the hall, and the Gryffindors started screaming and protesting. Alassia stood up when she realised that Skye was holding her breath to stop herself screaming, and Severus ran to her when she nearly passed out. The two adults grabbed Skye and her siblings, as well as Mia, leaving the hall and going to the dungeons. Skye sat on a chair in her mother's private quarters and the tears fell down her face. "They're torturing her, mum!" Alassia sighed quietly. "I know they are, honey. But don't worry, Lucius and Narcissa have been working through the night to find her and your father has been planning how he's going to overthrow the Ministry next year." Skye immediately sat up. "Next year?" Severus nodded. "There's also another problem. Whilst Weasley's sister may be coming to Slytherin next year, Lily and James Potter had twins, Luke and Lexi, the year after you were born. They're going to be in Hogwarts next year, and they'll definitely be in Gryffindor."
The next few weeks flew by in a whirlwind and soon it was Christmas break. The Malfoy/Riddle family were at Riddle Manor, enjoying a family Christmas. Everyone was excited to see how Draco was feeling. The family had held their annual ball for their Death Eater friends and families, and the three Riddle's were unsurprised to see Lily Moon and Amy Runcorn sat in the corner with Luna Lovegood, discussing a big plan that they had. All the children were ushered into a different room as the night got later, as they would be sleeping at the manor. Skye and her friends helped to set up the sleeping bags on the floor, making sure that each person had everything that they needed for the night. Suddenly, another girl appeared in the room that she was surprised to see. "Lavender? You're best friends with Weasley, what the heck?" Lavender smiled shyly. "My dad's a Death Eater. I'm friends with Weasley for information. A girl like me would do anything for gossip." Skye giggled and showed Lavender to her sleeping bag, asking if there was anything she needed. Soon, the children fell asleep, leaving the adults to party or plan without having to worry.
Christmas day was a lavish affair a few days later. Draco, Harry, Mia, Hermione, Skye, Pansy, Daphne, Blaise and Theo were sat in a circle on the living room floor, each with a pile of presents in front of them. Tom and Alassia were sharing a sofa on one side of the group, whilst Lucius and Narcissa shared the sofa on the other side of the group. Severus was curled up in an armchair by the fire. "Skye, you start." Skye took the first present and read the label. "This one is from mum and dad." Tearing off the paper, she gasped. "Emerald and diamond earrings, with a matching necklace, bracelet and ring! I love it!" Picking up the next one, she noticed the black wrapping paper and smirked at her brother, who just smiled. "A new notebook! This better not be an inside joke telling me to take more notes in Potions!" Severus snorted. "Damn, you got me! No, Skye, this is for personal use only, and is not to be seen on your person around school. You may use it in the common room, but it cannot be seen by other students." Ten minutes later, Skye had received a new broom from Lucius and Narcissa, a coat from Hermione, a set of pyjamas from Mia, a Dark Arks book from Draco, a pair of heels from Harry, books from Blaise, sweets from Theo, muggle magazines from Daphne and makeup from Pansy. The other children got various things they had wanted, and some surprises, but overall they got enough sweets to last until Easter.
Soon, New Year was fast approaching, and the family had a huge party, which all their friends were invited to. As the clock struck twelve, fireworks started to go off in the garden. Everyone was enjoying themselves, but there was someone missing from the party. Mia was upstairs, on her balcony overlooking the gardens. She jumped as someone appeared next to her, but was relieved when she realised that it was just Narcissa. "Everything okay, sweetheart?" Mia shook her head sadly, as she slumped down into the chair that she had dragged outside. "Not really, mum. Whilst everyone is celebrating down there, the light side are also celebrating across the country, but they have two reasons to be happy. One, it's New Year's, and two, they have aunt Bella bound and most likely gagged down in the cellar of someone's house. She could be seriously hurt." Narcissa sighed; she had been anticipating this from her daughter for a while. "My sister, even though she is probably bound and gagged, will not be hurt. They don't use curses like we do. And anyway, they won't have realised that she can cast non-verbal and wandless spells. She is safe enough." Skye nodded. "I guess. Well, I won't keep you from partying. I'm going to stay up here for now." Narcissa gave her a worried glance, but said nothing as she left the room to re-join the party.
Mia walked over to Draco's room, knocking and entering straight away. He was sitting up in bed, reading a book. "Hey, come and join me. You look miserable." Mia smiled, but said nothing as she flopped down on to the bed face first, burying her face in the pillow. Draco placed the book down and pulled the duvet up over the top of his sister, knowing she was probably exhausted. As she rolled over, one look at her face confirmed his suspicions. Within minutes, she was fast asleep, and it was Draco's turn to stand and watch the party from the balcony. Going outside, he closed the patio door behind him, so as not to wake the girl, and shouted down to his friends. "You better not be having too much fun down there!" Everyone laughed as they looked up at the boy, who realised that he was only wearing pyjama trousers. "How's Mia?" Alassia shouted and Draco turned around, looking into the room. "Asleep. On my bed." Draco went inside and got dressed, silently slipping out of the room to join his friends. "I honestly can't think why we wanted to go to Hogwarts in the first place. There's nothing like being at home with friends and family surrounding you." Pansy giggled. "Aww, look. Draco's gone soft, who'd have thought it? Don't let Weasley see this side of you."
Soon, the start of term was approaching, and the Slytherins and their friends were on platform nine and three quarters, getting ready for the journey to Hogwarts. As they were saying goodbye, the Weasley's appeared on the platform. Ron pulled a face at the sight of the Slytherin families, making a loud comment about the injustice of sharing a train with them. Molly said nothing, settling for a scowl. Arthur smiled apologetically at the children, and Fred and George ran over to them, rambling about something that sounded like they were trying to explain something. Skye turned to Fred and placed her hands on the boy's shoulders. "Calm down, Fred. Slowly." Fred beamed when she got his name right, launching into his explanation. "Lee Jordan from Gryffindor got a tarantula at the end of last term, and he was invited over to our house for Christmas. The tarantula got loose and managed to get into Ron's room. Ron was terrified, it was hilarious." Skye burst out laughing, promising to use it as blackmail material in the near future. "We need to board the train, come on." Hermione said, and so they all loaded their bags into the luggage area, before finding an empty compartment and settling down for the journey. It wasn't long before Draco and Harry fell asleep, having had minimal sleep the night before. Blaise and Theo snorted, setting up wizards chess on the floor. Mia and Daphne sat down to read a muggle fashion magazine, as they were guilty pleasures to the two first year girls. Hermione decided to read a book about dark curses, but it was disguised as a Transfiguration textbook. That left Skye and Pansy to talk about the newest term at Hogwarts.
Upon arrival at Hogsmeade station, the students were bundled into the carriages waiting for them and were taken up to the castle. Settling down for the welcome back feast, everyone seemed in good spirits. Skye turned towards the top table and noticed that Dumbledore was staring at her. She glared back and turned to her friends, keeping her head bowed so nobody else could hear her. "We have to focus on the stone this term. Old Dumbles up there is paranoid that someone is trying to steal it, apparently, and has placed extra protection against it, so we have to act carefully. I'm so glad Severus was able to get us the invisibility cloak. And the twins are so helpful for giving us the map." Draco nodded, but the others gave her a strange look. "Dumbles?" Skye just shrugged, smirking at them. "I heard from Severus that there are 7 challenges before you reach it, and one of them is a Potions task." Hermione muttered. "The first challenge is Fluffy, obviously Hagrid's protection, and then there's Devil's Snare, courtesy of Sprout. After that, there's a chamber of winged keys, thanks to Flitwick, but the next one is the chess boards, McGonagall's bright idea." Skye murmured. "Next is the troll, but that shouldn't be a problem. Neither should the next one, Severus's Potion challenge. Which just leaves the last challenge. The Mirror of Erised." Harry groaned, earning laughs from the group.
After dinner, the Slytherins headed towards the stairs for the dungeons when they bumped into the Gryffindors. "Oh look, some slimy Slytherins. Sorry we can't stop to throw insults, we must get down to Hagrid's and thank him for telling us how to get past the protections to the Philosophers Stone." Ron said, as he walked out of the castle with Lavender and Neville behind him. The Slytherins laughed, giving Lavender a wink, before turning towards the staircase once more. "You'll never get down there on time!" Skye shouted to them, leading the way to the common room. "Draco Dormiens." She whispered, moving aside as the doorway appeared. They sat down in the corner of the room, pulling out a piece of parchment. "Okay, right. We now know that Weasel is going to try and get the stone soon, and is taking Lavender and Neville with him. Now I'm fairly certain that Lavender will be able to convince the two boys that she should go and get the stone, because she knows more spells, but she also has inside information about me." Skye wrote all of this down and turned to Draco, who was waiting for permission to share his idea. "Only three of us should go. We know that Skye wants to go, so who else?" Harry sat up. "I personally think Draco, because we need someone who can actually play chess." Skye nodded. "I personally, would not like to go. Someone needs to get help should something go wrong." Mia told the group. "Okay, so that leaves Harry or Hermione." Everyone turned to the siblings. "I'll do it." Hermione said, standing up. "Now come on, we don't know how long we have to prepare."
