Chapter 4
Over the next few days, the Slytherins stayed vigilant as they waited for the perfect moment to strike. It was just after class one evening when Skye found her siblings and cousins and told them her idea. "Severus has been to see father. He's getting weaker. We do this tonight, or he dies." Over dinner, the Slytherins talked about what they were going to do, making sure that only Ron and his friends could overhear them. As soon as dinner was over with, the first years ran to their dorms to prepare for the task. Hermione, Draco and Skye left the common room and put the cloak over them. Once they reached the corridor housing Fluffy, they took off the cloak and charmed the harp to play a tune, sending the animal to sleep. Checking the map, they noticed that Ron and his buddies were just entering the corridor, prompting the Slytherins to drop down on to the Devil's Snare. "Relax, it will let you pass through it." They did as Hermione said and dropped on to the floor below. Up above, they heard Ron shouting and Lavender laughing. They ran to the next challenge, which was the winged keys, and Draco caught the key in seconds. They entered the next room and closed the door just as they heard the Gryffindors open the door on the other side.
Looking around, Draco smirked. "This should be relatively simple. Okay, Skye, you go and take the place of that bishop, and Hermione, you can go next to her instead of that castle. I'm going to take the place of the knight." Soon, they only had a few moves left. "Okay, this is where it gets complicated. I have to be sacrificed." Skye shook her head, but Hermione nodded. "It's the only way. We'll go on. Promise us you'll be safe." Draco nodded. "Promise." He fell to the ground as he was knocked out by an opposing piece. Skye checkmated the white king, and the door opened. Hermione threw the cloak over Draco, before running through the door behind Skye. They passed the troll which ignored them, as Alassia had put it there, charmed to ignore Slytherins. Passing through to the next room, they eyed up the Potions bottles and saw the riddle. "Why did I not ask Severus which bottle contained what?" Skye groaned, whilst Hermione looked carefully at the riddle.
"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind." Skye laughed. "The stone is next." Hermione nodded. "Two of us will help you, whichever you would find. One among us seven will let you move ahead, another one will transport the drinker back instead. Two among our number hold only nettle wine, three of us are killers waiting hidden in line. Choose unless you wish to stay here forever more, to help you in your choice, we give you these clue four." Skye groaned, but Hermione elbowed her as she read the first clue. "First, however slyly the poison tries to hide, you will always find some on nettle wine's left side." The two girls shared a look. "There's poison next to each bottle of wine." Five minutes later, they had deciphered the clues and were discussing what to do. "I'll drink the Potion to go forwards and get the stone. You drink the one to go back, get Draco to the dorms and inform mum and Severus." And with the discussion over, the two girls went their separate ways, just as the Gryffindors entered the Potions room. "Oh god, I'm useless at Potions." Neville exclaimed. "I happen to be outstanding at Potions." Lavender told him, reading the clues.
Skye entered the room and saw the mirror in the corner. Looking into it, she saw herself handing it over to her father. Just as she was getting used to the room, Lavender appeared, making Skye smirk. "Well, I'm not sure this was part of the plan, but never the less, it helps." Lavender giggled. "Stupid Gryffindor boys. Ron had to sacrifice himself and play the hero instead of facing you, and Neville was so scared in the Potions room, I had to make him go back." Skye nodded. "Draco sacrificed himself so Hermione went back. Guess it's just you and me. We play for the same side, if anyone asks, you didn't get here in time. Want to help me?" The two girls smashed the mirror to pieces and the stone dropped to the floor. Skye grabbed it and turned to the girl. "I will make sure father knows it was you that helped. Now I have to obliviate you, or they will know." Lavender smirked. "You don't need to obliviate me, just the boys. I'll do it." The Gryffindor girl ran back towards the trapdoor, before levitating herself up to the corridor and running away.
Up in Gryffindor tower, she managed to obliviate Ron and Neville, before modifying their memories so that they didn't even know about the stone. Skye on the other hand, was running towards the dungeons. She suddenly spotted McGonagall coming her way, so she ducked into an alcove just in time. She soon found herself outside her brother's office. Entering without knocking, she was surprised to find her cousins, siblings, mother, and aunt and uncle already there. She frowned at the group. "Skye, oh my goodness, are you safe? Where are the Gryffindors?" Skye bowed her head. "Lavender has gone back to Gryffindor tower to obliviate the boys. Guess who got the stone?" She raised her head, a smile spread across her face as she pulled the blood red stone out of her pocket. Alassia grabbed it, holding it up to the light. "It's legitimate. I'll take it to your father. Don't panic, you have an airtight alibi. Poppy is going to say that Draco was in the hospital wing all night vomiting, and has allowed Severus to modify her memories so that if they check, that is what they will see. Hermione has an alibi from Fillius, who also had his memories modified so they will see him helping her with homework." Skye sighed with relief. "The others all have alibis. Skye, your alibi is actually the same as Draco's. You were in the hospital wing with a stomach upset all night. In fact, we will send you there now and you should sleep there, in case Albus decides to take a look."
Arriving at the hospital wing, madam Pomfrey led the two students towards beds in the corner, closing the curtain around the two beds. "Remember, when Albus comes to check on you, pretend to be sick." Draco and Skye settled down to talk about the stone, deciding that Voldemort would be extremely pleased with them. The next morning, the whole school was alive after the revelation that the stone had gone missing and that Voldemort had it. Everyone could feel the magic of the castle and they could feel Dumbledore's anger everywhere they went. He interrogated everyone, meaning classes had been cancelled for the day. It was just after midday when he arrived at the hospital wing to interrogate Skye. He was extremely angry, and most of it seemed directed at the girl. Having gotten nothing out of Voldemort's wife and other children, he had turned to the last person close to him. Poppy made him wait whilst she checked on her students. "Albus alert." She whispered as Draco pretended to fall asleep, whilst Skye curled up in a ball, groaning and clutching her stomach.
"Albus, you must calm down before you can even step foot in this hospital wing. I have other patients who are sleeping." Dumbledore managed to calm his anger after a few minutes, entering the wing and walking over to where the Slytherins were lay. He sat down next to Skye's bed and frowned. "Miss Riddle, I'm not sure whether you have been made aware, but your father is in possession of the Philosopher's Stone and nobody seems to know how." Skye groaned louder, before answering the man. Draco had to try not to laugh, which was increasingly difficult. "I had no idea the stone was even in the castle, professor. As for how my father came into possession of it, perhaps you need to tighten security in the castle. Of course, it doesn't help that I overheard Hagrid talking to some students about him telling someone he met in the pub how to get past Fluffy. As you can see, it wasn't us. We have been here since yesterday dinner time, having caught a stomach bug." Albus sighed in frustration and left the wing to go and plan how he would tighten security. Later that day, Skye and Draco met up with the other Slytherins to tell them the true story, and soon, everything went back to normal.
A few weeks later and it was the Easter holidays. The train journey home felt like it was forever, but soon they arrived at the station and were greeted by the Malfoy's. All the way back to the manor, Skye, Hermione and Harry were worried, so the moment they got back, they were relieved to find their father waiting for them. "Hi, kids, how was school?" Skye laughed. "Boring!" Tom just shook his head as he laughed. "There's another surprise in the dining room." Everyone went into the dining room and out of the shadows stepped Bellatrix Lestrange. "Bella!" The five children squealed, running to her. "I guess I'm no longer the favourite, then." Alassia said as she tumbled out of the fireplace, Severus right behind her. "Sorry, but Bella's been gone for so long." Dinner that night was a lively affair, in which the family discussed everything that had been going on. There was finally a mention of the Death Eater meeting later that evening, in which the children would be able to attend. They were all told to wear something that would make them stand out, and so the children ran off to their rooms to find an appropriate outfit for the evening.
Draco opened his wardrobe and searched through the clothes inside. He picked out a green silk shirt with smart black trousers and a silver robe. Mia, being Draco's twin, had decided to make her outfit match her brother's, so she picked out a long silver gown with green jewellery to go with it. Harry and Hermione did the opposite to their cousins; Harry opting for a silver silk shirt with black trousers and a green robe, whilst Hermione opted for a long green gown with silver jewellery. Skye sat on her bed and looked at her wardrobe. She found a long black dress that Severus had bought her, and then chose to wear her emerald jewellery her parents had bought her. With the outfits chosen, the five children headed into their bathrooms to take a shower. Half an hour later, Skye called for her personal elf to help her with her hair and makeup. She had opted for a classic bun with an emerald bow to sit above it. In the other rooms, her siblings and cousins were also having their hair and makeup done.
Harry and Draco entered the living room with their siblings, earning looks of approval from the adults. Skye walked down the stairs with an elf on each arm, helping her to walk in her heels. She got looks of awe as she entered the room, and her mother was actually crying at the sight of her. The Dark Lord made his way to an antechamber as the Death Eaters started to arrive, leaving his wife to greet them and show them to the dining room. All of the Death Eater children were there, and had been left in the living room whilst the adults discussed their plans. They knew they were going to be brought in one by one, and so they lined up by the dining room door. Ginny, Fred, George and Charlie Weasley went to the back of the line, as they knew that there were special circumstances for them. Arthur Weasley was a dark wizard, unbeknownst to his wife and other children. "Arthur, you will stay, yes?" Lucius asked. "Of course, Lucius." The two men entered the room and sat down.
Voldemort entered the dining room, prompting everyone to stand. "Oh, sit down, please. As you will know, tonight is a special meeting, for two reasons. The first reason, as I am sure you have noticed, is Bellatrix is back." Everyone started to whisper as she waved to everyone, a manic smile upon her face. "The second reason, is that tonight, we will be introducing the children to our ranks. Whilst they will not take the mark just yet, they will all be given tasks to complete, just like any of the rest of you. My dear, Alassia, please introduce the children." He transfigured a second table for them to sit at, motioning to his wife to open the door.
A few hours later, the meeting was over and the children had gone to bed. The next morning, Skye was the first person out of bed, and had decided to sit outside in her pyjamas until breakfast. She must have drifted off to sleep again after a while, because when she opened her eyes, Hermione was reading in a chair next to her whilst Mia and the boys were in the pool. The adults were on the patio, drinking coffee, watching the children having fun. It was easy to forget sometimes that they were only 11 years old. In two months, the Malfoy children would turn 12, but Skye, Harry and Hermione had to wait right until the start of August for their birthday. She was brought out of her daydream by Harry, who was shouting to her. "Skye, come join us. Hermione, come on!" The two girls shared a look. Hermione was in her swimming costume and a pair of shorts, but Skye was still not dressed. Hermione jumped in the pool after she pulled off her shorts, whilst Skye used magic to transfigure her clothes into a costume. That was how most of their week was spent.
A week later, the family went their separate ways. Severus went back to his cottage, whilst Tom, Alassia, Harry, Hermione and Skye went back to their own family home. Bellatrix wasn't thrilled with the idea, but she was also persuaded to go home to her husband Rodolphus, and his brother Rabastan, as the three adults lived together. Back at the Riddle house, the three children went straight to their bedrooms, which they hadn't been in since they started Hogwarts back in September. After six months away, nothing had changed really, except that they stunk, and they needed to air the place before they could sleep there. They used magic to change the bedding and clean up the dust and the mess, before unpacking their suitcases and sending their dirty clothes with the elves. Sorting through her wardrobe, Skye couldn't help but notice that she had a lot less clothes at her own house than she did at Malfoy Manor. A lot of the clothes she found were also very small, so she resolved the problem by using magic to make them bigger.
As the week went by, they found that they enjoyed being home, and spent as much time as possible with their parents before they left again. Their rooms were finally starting to feel like their own again, and redecorating them had definitely helped brighten them up. Their rooms at the Manor were green, with silver curtains, silver carpets and a silver chandelier, whereas at home, they had silver walls, a green carpet, green curtains and a green chandelier. By the end of the week, their parents had to fight to get them away from the house and back to the Malfoy's, which was where they would leave from to get to the station at the end of the holidays.
All too soon, it was time to go back to school, and their main focus was getting Slytherin to win the house cup. Alassia and Severus had gone up to Hogwarts the day before to prepare the timetables and lesson plans, leaving the trio to enjoy their time with their cousins. That night, none of the children slept, choosing to spend the night packing their bags and talking about the upcoming battle for the house cup. Slytherin had won four times in a row before, and they were completely relaxed as they knew they would be the winners again. "Aww, look at these two." Hermione said to Mia and Skye at around 6am, pulling out her muggle camera and snapping a picture of Harry and Draco, who were fast asleep on the floor of Hermione's room, arms wrapped around each other. At 7am, the five children decided to get washed and dressed to look presentable in front of the Malfoy adults.
Soon after breakfast at ten, the two adults took hold of the children and the group apparated on to the platform. The children took their shrunken trunks out of their pockets to be enlarged, and then said goodbye, promising to write regularly. They clambered aboard the practically empty train, almost forty five minutes early, and sat down to wait for their friends. It wouldn't be long before the Hogwarts Express would be alive with the sound of students looking for their friends, but for now, the five Slytherins were content to just sleep or play a game to pass the time.
