This chapter was kind of intimidating for me to write; it sets up alot of important events to come. It is rather long, but I'm sure you'll like it if you've liked the rest of the story thus far. As always I appreciate the reviews.
This chapter took a bit longer to update and resulted in me having to tweak chapter 5 a bit as well because of time lines, but it's finally finished.
Odd things had been happening in the village over the last year; and it had all started with an old man called Clore. He was a hermit, rarely leaving his house and never speaking to anyone when he did. He lived in a run down little house surrounded by brush and overgrown weeds, on the edge of a small country town. He wasn't a favorite of the villagers, but he never bothered them, so they didn't mind. Clore had been the topic of rumors since he had moved in, quite some years back now. The lady who ran the market had never once seen him buy food, nor did anyone else in town see him buy anything. Once in a while the man might leave his house and go for a walk, though only a few people had ever even seen him do even that much.
It was almost one year ago that Clore had been a renewed topic of gossip by the odd occurrences happening around him. The old man started receiving strange visitors at all hours of the day and night. They were always dressed in black cloaks, and no one had ever once seen any of their faces. In fact, the only way to tell that different people were visiting was that they all had different builds, or else came in groups.
If his sudden popularity wasn't enough, the brush in his yard had acquired a very strange fog that never seemed to lift. The fog would spread out into the street and engulf the village from time to time. They all avoided the fog if at all possible; it brought a cold chill that drained them all of any joy or cheer. The old story that Clore was a witchdoctor became popular once more. It was said that he harbored a strange array of shadow creatures in a shed that he regularly fed stray people who wandered onto his property without an invitation. The elders in the village told each other how he was working to strike fear into the village, and that none of them were safe.
Needless to say the younger adults in the town thought their elders had too much time on their hands. Everyone knows that witches and wizards don't exist. Most people maintained this idea, however odd the occurrences at the old man's house got. When the blonde woman and a boy who looked like her son moved in several days back, they swore that it was relatives who were going to take care of him in his old age; and their thoughts never wavered when they were joined by a blond man only yesterday. The strangest thing about these visitors, was that they had shown their faces when they arrived, walking through the village as if they visited the old man all the time.
People found reasonable explanations for everything that went on there; well, almost everything. There seemed to be only one possible explanation for the strange flashes of light that came from his house; Old Man Clore was a wizard. These flashes would illuminate the whole town; like an odd multi-colored lightning storm. The more frequent the flashes became, the more inclined people were to stay in the house.
Now, after a year of strange happenings, the townspeople were terrified to leave unless they had to. It seemed the elders may not have been so crazy after all. They had said that it was nearly twenty years ago when the same kinds of things were happening, and it was then that villagers who left their houses at night went crazy or else disappeared entirely.
That was why at sunset one evening when a tall girl wearing green robes appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the street, bearing an unconscious red-head, no one seemed to take any notice. And those that did were too scared to try to help or call for aid. So they just watched as the girl walked along the road dragging her burden right up to the old man's door.
Calida knew very little about this man, Clore. She knew that he was one of the first Death Eaters, and one of the only (if not the only) one to still be alive and have escaped Azkaban after all these years. She knew the Malfoys were staying here, and she could leave Ginny with them.
She walked through the deserted street and waded through the fog up to the front door. She dropped Ginny on the ground and knocked. There were hurried footsteps and the sound of several people swearing. The door opened a fraction of an inch and a wand tip was pointed out of the crack at Calida.
"Who is it?" came the low, raspy voice from the occupant.
"Calida, faithful servant of the Dark Lord," she replied with a strong confident voice. The door slowly creaked open, leaving a gap several inches wide.
"Show me your mark," he used a very commanding tone, and she heard annoyed whispers from inside the house. She pulled up the sleeve on her robe and held her arm so the light would fall on the Dark Mark. A gnarled old hand holding a wand reached out and touched the mark. She knew he was verifying that it was real, and not the result of a Polyjuice Potion.
"All right, come on in," he growled. "And don't touch any thing." The door opened and Clore finally came fully into view. Calida found herself looking at someone that could have been Mad-Eye Moody's brother. There were a few differences; Clore had no magical eye and still possessed two real, working legs, and he had his entire nose. The rest of his face was covered in rough scars as was his wand hand. His left was horribly maimed, but had healed into a deformed lump quite some time ago.
"Thank you." She replied. "Are the Malfoys here? I was hoping for their assistance with something, and yours as well," she said gesturing to the limp Ginny Weasley on the ground beside her. Clore raised his eyebrow and waved for someone to come over to the door.
A second later Lucius Malfoy was standing there. He nodded a greeting at Calida and turned to Clore. "What's all this about?" he asked sharply. Clore just nudged Ginny with his foot and said nothing. Lucius looked down at the girl and shot an inquisitive look at Calida.
"Well, I was doing something for the Dark Lord when I ran into Potter, Granger, Weasley, and his little sister here. I tried to get Potter, but all I managed to do was knock his friends out and take her," she gestured at Ginny. "I figure, if we can find somewhere to hide her until the time is right, then the Dark Lord can play off Potter's love of being hero again. I figured that you would know where I could keep her, or at least someone who could," she added.
There was a brief silence and a moment in which Lucius and Clore exchanged looks with each other. Clore nodded and Lucius stooped to pick up the little red haired girl. He walked back in the house and Clore jerked his head indicating that Calida should follow.
The room seemed very dusty considering the number of people now staying there. There were books along the walls and a potion simmering on a counter in a small kitchen that was just visible through the door off the living room, a strange green mist seemed to hang around the cauldron. She stepped inside and smiled warmly at Narcissa, who had waved, as the door snapped shut behind her. The furniture in the room looked moderately comfortable, but rather old and worn.
Clore flicked his wand and a door opened in the wall behind the sofa. Lucius Malfoy walked down the steps beyond it, still carrying Ginny. Calida followed right behind him, and Clore brought up the rear.
The walls on either side of the stair case were lit with torches. They were cold stone with a slimy look to them. The air was filled with a damp moldy scent that made Calida cringe. The foot of the stairs opened into what was unmistakably a dungeon.
It was the same dank stone that made up the walls of the stair case, and there was an eerie blue-ish glow lighting the room. She looked around to find the source of the light, which seemed to be emanating from the stone itself, and her eyes fell on several sets of shackles hanging from the walls.
Lucius dumped Ginny onto the floor in front of one of the sets, which twitched anxiously. Clore swished his wand through the air, muttering and incantation that was indistinguishable to Calida, and the chains jumped up and bound themselves around the girl's wrists and ankles. After checking that the bonds were tight, Lucius revived her.
Ginny's eyes flickered and her head jerked up. She looked around wildly for a moment before her eyes landed on the three people standing in front of her. She glared at them each in turn before glancing back at Lucius.
"What do you want with me, Malfoy," She snarled. Lucius just smiled with a mild expression, a malevolent glint in his eyes.
"Now, now Miss Weasley, you should show respect for your elders," he said slickly. She just spit at him and maintained a defiant silence. Lucius shook his head smiling.
"I guess we will just have to teach you a little lesson then, won't we? Crucio!" Ginny screamed and jerked against the chains holding her in place. Calida winced slightly, memories of the last time she was under the Cruciatus Curse still fresh in her mind. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see a tall boy with pale gray eyes and blond hair. She smiled at him and he smiled back; stepping forward to stand next to her.
"So, I see you caught Potter's little girlfriend," he said. She nodded watching Ginny slump to the ground as Lucius raised the curse.
"That should be good for now. I'll be back to give you a little reminder later." Lucius turned and walked back up the stairs, followed by Clore.
Draco swaggered forward and stood right in front of Ginny; Calida went and stood next to him. "Well, well, well," he said in his usual drawling voice, "If it isn't the littlest blood traitor."
"Shut it, Malfoy," she snapped. Draco took a half a step forward and backhanded her across the face. Little droplets of blood slid down her reddened cheek where his nails had hit.
"Don't you dare speak to me like that you little slut. You're going to be here for a long time, and I'll make sure you pay for that." Draco looked at Calida and smirked, "I'm going to have a lot of fun teaching her respect."
Calida laughed. "Sounds like she's going to be learning a lot of respect while she's here." Calida looked at the girl and said, "As long as I'm here, I might as well." She pulled her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at the girl, placing her under the Cruciatus Curse once more. When she raised her wand, she twitched her fingers and it was gone.
"Bitch," Ginny panted, still trying to catch her breath. Calida shook her head and looked at Draco.
"Doesn't look like she's going to learn her lesson very fast does it? You'll have to say hello to her for me once in a while. Come on," she jerked her head towards the stairs and indicated that he should follow.
The door shut and locked when they reached the living room again. Clore, it seemed had made tea for everyone. So, Calida sat down next to Narcissa and took a cup of tea. Draco sat opposite her.
"It's good to see you looking so much better," she said to him.
"Yeah," he gave an involuntary shudder, "I've been doing relatively simple stuff lately. Well, you've seen the dungeon; they bring people here to torture them and try to get information. I'm helping out with that now. Clore here has been making a few potions to keep my health up." He nodded politely at Clore.
"Finding torture a better line of work than murder, are you?" she asked teasingly.
It was obvious he was, seeing as how he was not only alive, but actually rather healthy looking. He nodded at her.
"That's understandable," she said, "It takes a lot more will to kill them than just hurt them. Finding it hard at all?"
"Depends on the person," he said. "Sometimes they bring in people I know, or did know, that's a little hard. I have to coax myself into doing it then. Honestly though, the death threat tends to make you forget. I mean, as long as you don't do anything for too long, they just come out of it with a bad memory. It makes it easier in those situations, knowing that that someone is gaining a bad memory and me and my family get to live."
He looked sadly down at the floor. She had the distinct impression that while he may not enjoy what he was doing, this was a far more reasonable option to him than death. And, judging by the look on her face, Narcissa agreed.
"I can see that," she said. She was watching Lucius and Clore talking in the kitchen, they appeared to be discussing the potion, but they kept pointing out what Calida assumed to be a window.
"Every once in a while though," she looked back at Draco, who's voice was once again filled with the arrogance the Malfoys were famous for, "they bring in someone like Weasley. I have fun with those."
He smirked in the direction of the door to the dungeon.
"What have you been up to? Your family drops by once in a while, they say they never see you anymore, you're always off doing something secret."
Calida smiled innocently. "Is that what they're telling you?" Draco raised an eyebrow. She tossed her hair off her shoulders and laughed mercilessly.
"Honestly Draco, if I can't tell my own family what makes you think that I would tell you?"
Draco just shrugged like he didn't really care. It gave her great satisfaction to know that everyone was so interested in what she was up to. The truth was though, that she didn't really even understand her job, just that it was secret, and important.
She set down her tea cup and stood up.
"Speaking of what I've been up to, I have to go meet with the Dark Lord. I said I would report as soon as I could, and I believe I have now waited pas that time. It was good to see you Draco, Narcissa," she smiled and walked over toward the door.
Clore and Lucius, it seemed, had either finished their discussion, or noticed that she was leaving, as both were walking over toward her.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Clore. Lucius, I hope to see you and your family again soon." Clore nodded and unlocked the door.
"We hope to see you soon as well, Calida", drawled Lucius, in a voice very much like his son's.
"And Calida," he said as she turned to open the door, "Good luck."
He gave her an almost fatherly smile, which she returned and opened the door. The Malfoys had always been good to her, and she did enjoy their company. She genuinely hoped that they would all survive long enough for her to visit again.
Calida stood in a dark hallway watching the light flickering from under the door. She reached into her pocket and felt the cool silver of the mirror; yes, it was still there. She sighed and started to pace the hallway. If anything was more intimidating than actually speaking to the Dark Lord, it was waiting to speak to him. She had no idea who he was talking to now, nor how long he would be.
She rearranged the mirror in her pocket and slid down the wall beside the door. Looking around into the darkness, she thought she saw a pair of gleaming yellow eyes staring at her, but she blinked and they were gone. She shook her head and decided she had imagined it, but all the same, she still had the feeling she was being watched.
About twenty minutes later, Calida was still sitting in the hall. She was almost asleep, having had a long and tiresome day by her standards. Being fresh out of school she wasn't used to apparating several times a day, or actually using spells in order to duel with people for that matter. So she had closed her eyes and was just drifting off when she heard a door open.
She looked up and saw a large blond leaving. He bowed his head and walked swiftly down the hallway and out of sight. Calida blinked; the dim light of the fire seemed blinding after being in the dark hall for so long. When she could finally see straight, she looked up into a pair of eyes she was sure were there. She scrambled to get on her knees and bowed.
"My Lord, sorry, my Lord, I didn't see you," she stammered, she had almost entirely forgot why she was there.
"Come in, Calida," his voice sent a shiver down her spine.
She knew he was angry, but at least she also knew he wasn't angry with her. She stood and walked into the small room taking a seat in an armchair, as she had done on the one other occasion she had been in this room.
"What is it you wished to discuss with me so soon, and so privately?" His eyes were narrowed; this made her nervous.
Calida put her hand into her pocket and withdrew the mirror. The metal, stones, and glass all shone brightly in the light of the fire. Rather than saying anything, she simply held out the mirror for him to take. A gleam of triumph flashed in his eyes. She could tell that he had been thinking of the mirror a lot since her last discussion with him. She was curious to know its importance, but she already had a decent guess.
"You have done well, Calida. The Dark Lord is pleased, very pleased." He looked into her eyes, and she knew he could tell she was curious about the mirror and what would come of it. "Is there something else you wish to discuss with me, Calida?"
She hesitated for a moment then told him how she had come across a section in a book that was on Horcruxes, and then how she later overheard Harry discussing them with his friends.
She hadn't thought of this until she had gone to get the mirror from her house. It was sitting on the book in which she had found the little section, and she vividly recalled the conversation that she had overheard. It certainly explained a lot. Her parents had always told her that the Dark Lord thought death to be a weakness. She could have kicked herself for taking so long to make the connection.
There was just one thing that was confusing her about it all. The book had given her the impression that the soul could only be split once, and the way Harry and his friends talked, she got the distinct impression that they believed the Dark Lord had done it several times.
Calida suddenly realized that he was paying very close attention to her thoughts. She blushed and muttered an apology under her breath. The look he gave her told her quite plainly that she had answered her own question, and he was not happy that she had.
She swallowed, waiting to be punished for knowing too much and thinking that she seemed to get into a lot of trouble with him just for knowing things. To her surprise, he laughed. His laughing wasn't a pleasant sound really, it was high and cold and chilled her to the bone, but it was encouraging to know he didn't just feel intense rage at the moment.
"You do tend to know too much about me for you own good. I cannot deny that I am upset that you now possess that knowledge. You have done well, Calida, but be warned; should you speak to anyone of this, I will know, and both you and those you tell will suffer my displeasure. Is there anything else you wish to tell me before you leave?"
"Yes, my Lord. And I believe that it is something you will be glad to hear," she said in a very timid voice.
She didn't like meeting with him alone at all, and found herself envying those who could serve him from afar. She knew most Death Eaters would kill to be in her position, but she felt this was a lot of responsibility that she hadn't yet proved herself worthy of.
"And what news is that?" there was a hint of amusement in his voice, but Calida didn't have the vaguest idea of what he found amusing.
"Harry Potter has a girlfriend, or so rumor had it at the end of last school year. This morning when I was at Godric's Hollow, I encountered him and his two best friends there, as well as his girlfriend. I attempted to take him; unfortunately I failed that, yet again. I did however, managed to kidnap his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. She is at Clore's house, chained in his dungeon. I didn't want to try to bring her here, but I thought that Lucius and Draco might be able to look after her," she finished.
"Excellent. I'm sure she can be of some use. Tell me, did Clore object to having this particular house guest?" he asked her, now sounding more amused and thrilled than ever.
"No, he didn't. Both Lucius and Draco were anxious to see what information they could get from her."
"I expected as much. Thank you, Calida. You may go."
She stood and bowed, kissing his robes, then turned to leave. As she walked out the door she glanced back at him. He gave her a brief smile that froze her insides as much as it comforted her. She walked back down the hall, down the stairs, and out the door.
She was standing in the warm summer air, bathed in moonlight. She was caught up with enjoying the calm of the night, so it took her several minutes to realize that she wasn't alone. Someone was sniffing her. She turned and found herself face to face with Fenrir Greyback. She smiled at him.
"Hello, Fenrir," she said. Then, before he could respond with his usual comments about how she smells like a child or how fun it is to be a werewolf, she turned and disapparated.
Calida awoke the next morning to a high pitched screaming. She was sitting up with her wand out before she realized that her sister, Tellus, was standing next to her bed clutching a letter from Hogwarts.
"I take it you were accepted," she said when Tellus finally calmed down enough that she could speak without yelling. Tellus nodded feverishly.
"Will you take me to Diagon Alley to get my school stuff? Please? Please, please, please, please-"
"I will if I'm not busy," Calida cut in. Tellus started screaming and jumping into the air. Calida put her hands up to her ears as her little sister ran toward the door.
"Oh and by the way, you have company," she said, and then her joyful screams were drowned out by the size of the house and the distance between them.
Calida drug herself out of bed, feeling that she would have much rather slept for several more hours, than get up to take her overenthusiastic little sister to buy things. She got dressed and went upstairs to the breakfast room. There were more people there than usual she noticed. Her mother and father were both there, as was her little sister who was still clutching her letter, her brother was absent; no surprises there. What caught her eye was that Tuccia and Rian were both there.
"Lida!" was all she heard before she was engulfed in a hug from Tuccia. "Oh, how are you, we haven't seen you in forever it seems like. Hector said you've been really busy, so we decided that we would come and see you and-"
"Tuccia, I'm fine. Yes, I have been busy, but I was going to come see you as soon as I got the chance. And speaking of Hector, where is he?" she asked looking around to make sure he wasn't hiding.
"He ran off with your brother last night. They were both visiting and they just got up and left all the sudden," Rian supplied. Calida thought she saw her mother give a knowing smile.
"I'm so glad to see you two. I guess you've heard that Tellus got her letter today?" she winked at her little sister who blushed furiously and dived into her scrambled eggs.
Rian raised and eyebrow at her, "Heard? What do you mean heard? I haven't been able to hear anything since she started screaming."
Everyone laughed and Tuccia elbowed him in the side.
"Now that's not nice, she's excited. And with good reason to. She's watched both her siblings get through school and she hasn't even been able to perform magic legally yet. She finally gets to go to school and start learning."
Tuccia looked rather irritated at Rian. Calida smiled remembering how Rian had reacted when he got his letter; he was, if anything, worse than Tellus. He was in such a hurry to tell his family and friends, that he had unintentionally apparated and ended up splinching himself. She saw him blush and he mumbled something; she knew he was remembering that too.
Tellus on the other hand, was determinedly not looking at anyone, but gazing intently at her empty breakfast plate. Her parents had never enforced the underage magic rule, and as a result, Tellus was quite accomplished at most the first and second year materials, as well as several of the most basic Dark Arts. She wasn't really excited about going to learn all the first year material; she was excited about having the whole Hogwarts library at her disposure to learn from. On top of that, her parents always taught their children to apparate after their first year at Hogwarts. That was why Tellus was excited.
They all ate their breakfast contently. Once they finished, Calida and her friends went into the living room to talk. They had a good time catching up on all the events in their lives. This was hard for Calida as she wasn't planning to tell them about becoming a Death Eater. Her friends and their parents were neutral on the subject. They approved of the ideas and methods, but didn't particularly care to support the Dark Lord. She had settled on explaining that her parents traveled in the summer and didn't trust the house elves to baby-sit, so she had taken that responsibility.
That was only a half truth of course. Her parents trusted the house elves just fine, and Tellus was quite responsible for her age. Though, her parents did do lots of traveling…
Finally, after several hours of chatting and laughing, Tellus walked into the room very timidly. Calida knew what she would be wanting, and found that after a visit with her friends, she thought it would be fun to take her little sister shopping. Perhaps she could find something interesting to buy for herself.
Calida bade her friends good-bye explaining that she was taking Tellus shopping. They told her to have fun and wished Tellus luck at school. Once they had both finally left Calida turned to her little sister, whose face was shining with glee. Tellus looked up to her; she wasn't sure why, but it made her feel good that her little sister thought of her as a role model.
"All right, come on. We will have to travel by Floo powder, I know you hate it, but you have to till next year at least." Tellus nodded and walked over to the fireplace.
Calida lit the fire, cast a quick glamour charm on herself, and motioned for Tellus to go first. She watched as her little sister disappeared in a flash of green, and then followed, after grabbing a bag of gold out of the drawer.
She walked down the street, her sister holding her hand and walking very close by. The street was almost deserted, save for a few Hogwarts students being rushed around by nervous looking parents. Calida could see the many Aurors in various positions around the buildings, but most of the parents didn't seem to find much comfort in this added security.
She first took Tellus to get her robes, explaining that the books would be the last thing they got, no one wanted to carry a big pile of books around for the whole day.
Getting robes took long enough, Tellus was very picky and complained about only getting to get black ones until Calida resigned and bought her some deep navy ones as well. The blue looked good on Tellus, and it did seem to make her happy. Calida had thought about getting herself some, but decided that it wasn't necessary, and she had enough sets of robes as it was.
Next they went and got her some standard potions ingredients. Calida had to warn her little sister to be quiet, she kept asking to purchase far more advanced ingredients and actually stating what she wanted to make with them. She compromised by buying some ingredients for her own supplies at home, even though she didn't really need anymore.
By this point she was feeling a bit harassed as an overexcited Tellus drug her off to buy a new pet cat. Her parents bought a new pet for their children when they started at school, and it seemed that Tellus desperately wanted a cat. They purchased what the shop keeper told them was a 'rather vicious little male kitten' though he seemed very fond of Tellus. He was mostly black with a few brown stripes on his head, tail, and paws. Once they had paid, Tellus affectionately dubbed him Shadow, upon their entrance back onto the street. After several minutes, Calida managed to convince Tellus to put Shadow in the wicker crate to carry him so he didn't get away.
They took a slight detour for Tellus to look around in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Calida avoided going in with her, afraid that Harry might have given the twins her description. She saw through the window that they looked far less jubilant than usual, and she was sure that Ginny Weasley's disappearance was in the paper. This thought made her feel slightly nervous until her sister emerged with a large bag full of random objects. Her favorite of which, seemed to be a cloak. Tellus explained that it would deflect most minor jinxes as she whipped it out and threw it around her shoulders.
Finally they entered Flourish and Blotts to buy her school books. Tellus went to ask the manager for her books while Calida wandered off to see what might interest her. She settled for two potions books that could prove useful, that she knew wouldn't be in her own library, as well as a book full of defensive spells. She may have known a lot of her own defensive magic, but she thought it always good to know what the opposition could throw at you, as well as some defensive spells that wouldn't give her away as a Dark Arts adept. They paid and left the shop laden with heavy books.
As they walked back toward the Leaky Cauldron they saw a very distraught looking Arthur Weasley chasing the protective slug peddler down the street. Calida was so busy looking back and thinking about how glad she was that Tellus had been given a wand two years ago in honor of the Dark Lord's rebirth, that she didn't even notice the peddler in front of her until she walked right into him. This was the one selling protective amulets. She had just opened her mouth to tell them no when her sister interrupted.
"These really work do they? Well, how about we test that, I'll just stay with you, and next full moon we'll toss one around your neck and shove you out in the forest," Tellus was glaring at the peddler who hurriedly mumbled about having seen another customer and ran off. Calida sighed and shook her head.
"At least you didn't mention Fenrir," she said. Her sister just smirked and walked on down the street.
Once they were back at home, Tellus gave her a hug and thanked her for taking her shopping. Calida helped her sister unpack her things and store them in her trunk to be ready for school when the time came, then went down stairs and added her new books to the library, being followed by Shadow; whose name now seemed highly appropriate.
The next couple of weeks were relatively uneventful. Tellus, who was now constantly followed by Shadow wherever she went, had begun rummaging the library trying to sneak out books to take to Hogwarts. She wouldn't stop this until it was promised that she could read and learn anything from any of them next summer; but that didn't stop her from begging to take books. Calida finally agreed to let her take the three new books she had bought in Diagon Alley, with Tellus' promise that she wouldn't let on like she understood any of it to anyone else in the school, or show them to anyone if she could help it.
The action of the Death Eater meetings had slowed for a while. The real purpose of them seemed to be keeping everyone up to date on what was happening and how plans were unfolding. It seemed that Harry Potter and his friends would indeed be returning to Hogwarts. The security on the school had been increased tenfold and a large number of both Order members and Aurors were standing watch on the.
There were new guards to be placed at Azkaban, though they had yet to receive information on what kinds of guards they would be. It seemed that there were more people still working on gaining as much information as possible, who had not received the chance to report. At every meeting Calida marveled at the variety of sources that the Dark Lord had at his disposure, and the amount of information that they seemed to be able to collect over such short periods of time.
Finally September first came. Tellus was very excited to get to go to Hogwarts. Calida apparated to the station wearing a lovely glamour spell to disguise herself. She had wavy blonde hair and had distorted her features to make her look several years older.
Her brother apparated with Tellus' trunk, her father came alone, and Tellus side-along apparated with her mother (all of whom, save for Tellus, were under glamour as well).
People were scrambling to get onto the platform and weren't being very cautious around the muggles, who seemed to notice that the people who moved near the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 kept disappearing. Calida noticed several Aurors as well as a large number of Death Eaters on the platform. They saw Tellus onto the train and said good-bye telling her to write often, gave nods or winks to various Death Eaters (many of whom were also in glamour and hard to distinguish), and disapparated.
Tellus' first letter came almost three days later. She had been sorted into Slytherin and had enjoyed her first classes. She said she liked Professor Slughorn, and that Professor Blain seemed rather constantly annoyed with her. The family was sure that Tellus' relation to known Death Eaters was a source of disturbance for the newest instructor.
Draco came by and spent a day updating Calida on all the people who had been in and out of Clore's house, and telling her how Ginny was doing. For the most part Draco seemed to be his old self again, though every once in a while the color would drain from his face and his voice would waver when certain people or incidents were mentioned.
According to the papers, the wizarding world was truly beginning to panic now, there had been a severe lack in attacks or disappearances since Ginny, and they were afraid that something big had been planned. The truth was it was a planning period, time to regroup after recent events, and then deliver a devastating blow, but no plan was in place just yet.
Calida had been wondering for almost a week after Tellus left for school when things would start to pick up again. The papers were telling of Ministry raids on the houses of every one of their employees, but they were finding nothing. Then when she woke up and went downstairs one afternoon, she realized that they had company. She was just about to call Chaka to fix her some lunch when her mother stuck her head out of the door to the den.
"Calida dear, could you come in here for a moment?" she said. Calida nodded and entered the den, sitting down in a big chair and curling her feet underneath her. Their guests, it transpired, were the Torlops. It seemed that Owen had been given a vacation due to injury and he and Desdemona would be taking this opportunity to wreak havoc on the muggle town nearest to Hogsmead.
They would be needing someone to house sit for a couple of days to take care of their animals, and were hoping that Calida would take up the job. Lucius had informed them that she was very good in dealing with animals. They asked her what kinds of animals she had looked after before, and she told them. Her list included runespoors (since she did keep one as a pet), a variety of other snakes and creatures good for potions in her own house, and several that she had helped care for at Hogwarts such as hippogriffs, thestrals, knarls, nifflers, and blast-ended skrewts.
After spending several hours listening to all the various needs of the Torlops' many animals, she departed and they gave her a tour around the house, showing her where she would be sleeping and introducing her to the elves who would be serving her for the duration of her brief stay.
Her first day there was relatively uneventful. She did manage to get bit by their pet crup, however. It was easily healed, and none of the other animals showed her any aggression. The crup, it seemed, had thought she was trying to steal things from the house. She had a lovely dinner, as the house elves were trying to impress their guest, and went to sleep in a warm, cozy bed in a quaint little room on the top floor of the house.
It was on her second day staying at the house that things started to get out of hand. She read in the paper that the Ministry had raided six houses overnight and that two people had been arrested. Neither of them were names she knew, but it seemed that they had several incriminating objects in their house (which weren't listed due to their Dark nature).
It was also announced that the new guards had taken up their posts at Azkaban, though their identities were not revealed, and Auror coverage of the location had been increased. Aside from those arrested as the result of the raids, seven others had been taken in, a few of which Calida was sure were Death Eaters. All of that was just what had been reported in the Morning Edition of the Daily Prophet.
When the Evening Edition arrived, it contained a long article about a man named Raleigh Bogashoff, who Calida knew to be one of her father's friends. He was a Ministry employee (an Unspeakable, but the paper didn't mention that), who had been charged earlier that day with treason by passing information to the Dark Lord. He was sentenced to life in Azkaban, which was no surprise, but it was reported that a Memory Charm had been preformed on him after his trial, and he now had no recollection of who he was or what he had done.
She was still trying to recover from the harsh shock the Ministry's actions had caused. It made her whole situation scarier; if they were wiping memories now…. But then maybe they only did it to him because he had been an Unspeakable. There was a knock on the door. Calida shook her head and went to answer it.
The second she opened the door twenty Aurors flooded in. Each had his or her wand out. Three of them stayed and covered her explaining that this was a Ministry Raid and that the house would be searched for any evidence of Dark Activity. Should any incriminating objects be found, she would be taken to Azkaban to await trial. She was trying for the tenth time to explain to them that this wasn't her house and she didn't live here when the others came back, each carrying something incriminating.
Calida sighed and listened as they told her what the charges would be and the process she would go through. They searched her for her wand, which they of course couldn't find. This was a definite plus; she could still call it when she needed it, and she would need it. She decided that she would go with them, she would wait for her trial like a good little girl, but she had no intentions of serving whatever sentence they gave her. She may be guilty of several crimes, but this wasn't her house, and she wasn't about to risk having her memory wiped because she volunteered to sit in it.
She went with them quietly, allowing them to guide her apparation to Azkaban. Calida looked out at the building in front of her and shuddered. The cold stone and bars alone made her feel hopeless. She couldn't imagine what this place would be like if the dementors were still stationed here. She felt a chill of dread as she looked at the group now coming to escort her to her cell, suddenly realizing that she didn't want to know who or what the new guards were.
And that was chapter 6. And since Kitty adressed this in one of her reviews, I thought I would give you all the explaination of how Calida's parents, got their names. It was actually a bit of a fluke that they had origionally ended up being so close to Lucius and Narcissa (Lucian and Narissa). I had picked the meaning for each family member's name before I started writing. I then did a search of Latin names to find ones that matched the meanings, which were the five elements (wind, light, fire, water, and earth). Once I had that list compleated, Lucian and Narissa turned out to be the only names on their lists that I really cared for. I'm sorry if that caused any confusion to begin with. However those of you who have been following this story long enough will note that Calida's parents are now Triton and Helena, still Latin, and still with the same neanings.
I thank you all again for reading and would like to continue to hear any thoughts you might have. I have many events planned for chapter 7 and will get it out as soon as I possibly can (probably tomorrow or some time Thursday).