The Rest of the Slytherins
The characters and basic plot belong to JK Rowling.
ooo
II
Milly
I had to leave Checkmate behind. There was no way I could Apparate to Dublin with seven children and a cat. As it is, one of the little girls was struggling to hold her doll, so I had to tie it my robes, promising not to lose it.
What a nightmare. We suddenly find ourselves in a dark street. We could be anywhere and I begin to worry that I might have got it wrong. I was never very good at this. What if I' d landed us in Paris or Amsterdam? I'm not up to speaking foreign languages.
A man walks over to us.
"Identify yourselves."
In English, thank God.
"Millicent Bulstrode."
"Your last Divination result?"
"I don't take Divination."
He nods, satisfied, whoever he is. Not one of the children's parents, because no one has run over to him.
"Malcolm," he says.
A little boy cringes.
"Your dad?" I ask.
He nods miserably. Maybe we shouldn't have evacuated him. Maybe he was better off... oh, who am I fooling? Everybody knows half the kids in Slytherin are abused. Three quarters of the pure-bloods, I'd say.
Then a woman appears and hugs Malcolm. Perhaps he's a half-blood.
"Come on." She shepherds the children into a Muggle car.
"My doll," says little Lucy.
I hand it over.
"She's okay and so are you. You're safe."
I hope they are.
"Are you going back?" the woman asks me.
"Yeah."
"What's happening over there?"
"We're evacuating. They're going to fight."
"Are you going to fight?"
"I s'pose."
" On... on which side?"
I shrug.
"I' m a Slytherin."
"You'd better go home."
"I can't leave my cat," I say, and I Apparate back.
I'm in the right place. Checkmate is looking at me as if to say, "What kept you?"
The place is full of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, prefects barking orders, kids all over the place. I'm glad ours are out of the way.
"Ready?" calls Blaise from the top of the stairs. The others are with him.
"Ready for what?" asks Professor Slughorn.
"We're off to se the Dark Lord," I say, taking Tracey's arm.
Nobody gets it. I didn't expect them to. For one thing, it isn't funny. For another, they aren't supposed to watch Muggle films, even old ones.
"You... You... " stammers Slughorn.
"Coming with us?" says Blaise.
"The... Dark Lord? Now listen... This isn't a game. You are much too young."
"Potter isn't too young."
"Or Longbottom. Or Macmillan."
"I know, I know... Well, actually, they are too young, much too young... But you are my students. I can't let you..."
"You'll find you can," says Blaise. He is frightening, sometimes. "We belong to the Dark Lord," he adds.
"The old hag threw us out," says Pansy. "If she doesn't want us, the Dark Lord will."
Slughorn takes a deep breath.
"I am going back to Hogwarts. Anyone coming with me? Blaise?"
"They won't have us."
"They'll use us as hostages."
"They won't."
"G'bye, Professor !" calls Blaise, skipping down the stairs.
We're off to see the Dark Lord, Checkmate running between our legs like Toto. We walk out of the stinking pub into the darkness.
It's not that dark, actually. The whole castle is lit up and flashes of wand light are moving here and there.
"The old fool is going to get himself killed at Hogwarts," says Blaise.
I feel Tracey shudder and gulp.
"They are going to die, at Hogwarts?"
Blaise shrugs.
"No one's making them stay."
"Has.." Tracey gulps again. "Has anyone ever met the Dark Lord?"
After a silence, Theo coughs apologetically.
"Well actually... When I was at the Malfoys'..."
"What's he like?"
Another silence.
"You'll see."
Tracey is having serious second thoughts, I can just tell, but she walks on, her jaw set, because she's had third thoughts too. Such as : we half-bloods must be more Slytherin than Salazar. Or something like that.
"Where are we going?" I ask, conversationally, just to show that we half-bloods aren't going to cause problems, that whatever they decide is just fine with us.
"There's someone over there," says Blaise.
A group of hooded men. Theo nearly runs to them.
"Have you seen my father?"
"Father?" says one of them. "Hey, you're Nott's son, aren't you?"
"Where is Father?"
"Somewhere around. What are you kids doing here?"
"Looking for my father," says Theo.
"We're Slytherins joining the Dark Lord," says Blaise superbly.
"Joining?"
He gives us a sharp look - for as much as I can see behind his mask.
"Come on, then."
They all follow eagerly, the pure-bloods, so we have to pretend to be just as eager. Well, Tracey would quite eager if she wasn't shaking with fear.
Me, I just follow. So does Checkmate, his tail in the air and his eyes gleaming in the shadows.
But when it's clear we're heading towards the Shrieking Shack, Checkmate runs off without a warning.
"Checkmate ! Stupid cat !"
"Not so stupid," mutters Tracey. "He must have seen a rat or something," she adds brightly.
We all know there's nothing in the Shrieking Shack. Professor Snape told us it was the werewolf Lupin's hiding place and something tells me he's in the castle now. Besides, it isn't full moon.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
It's just an old dusty, crumbling ruin.
Why is a masked Death Eater taking us there?
"Any of you have the Mark?" asks the man as we get to the gate.
"Not yet," says Blaise.
I can feel his excitement. Merlin, if they take the Mark, we'll have to do it too. I know Tracey is having second thoughts again.
The man lifts his left arm and the gate opens. We walk across what I know is an overgrown garden, though something makes me think of carnivorous plants and Devil Snare. Checkmate is definitely not stupid.
The man stops.
"Get prepared. You are going to meet the Dark Lord."
Who? I mean, how do we get prepared?
It reminds me of the night of the Sorting, when McGonagall told us to smarten ourselves up and left us in that room with the ghosts. Everybody was tugging at their hair and clothes, except me. There's no way I could ever look smart. The Hat had to take me as I was and it put me in Slytherin, which shows you can do very well just by being yourself, thank you very much. So much for smartening up.
So much for getting prepared too. He gives no instructions and no time to follow any. Tracey just has time to glance at me and put on her best Slytherin face and the man rises his arm again.
Blaise stands with his head high. So does Daphne.
It seems that wasn't the thing to do. As soon as we get inside, the man bows deeply. Everybody tries to do the same. I nearly fall flat on my face in my eagerness to look nice and humble. No one makes fun of me, which shows how serious things are.
"Leave us, Travers."
That high voice again. This time it isn't coming out of the walls. It is just here, this man's voice.
Very cautiously, without moving my head, I lift my eyes.
The Dark Lord doesn't look human. White and bald, his face is like a snake's, his eyes are like the red lights Muggles have on electric appliances to show when they're working.
You'll see, Theo said.
I see.
Next to him, floating in the air, is a huge snake is a sort of transparent bowl.
Tracey might faint. I squeeze her hand.
"Please, my Lord," says Blaise. "We are Slytherin students."
He sounds like a little kid. I don't think I have ever heard him sound like a little kid, not even in first year.
"So I see. The seventh years?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Yes, yes. I recognise young Nott. But where is the Malfoy boy?"
Theo gulps. His voice comes out in a dry whisper.
"We lost him... on the way... my Lord."
"Slippery things, these Malfoys... Of course, young Crabbe and Goyle stayed with him. Not much brains, those two. Tell me, could Draco Malfoy have switched sides?"
"Oh no, my Lord," croaks Theo.
I wish I could get him a glass of water.
"How do you know? Perhaps he befriended Harry Potter."
"He wouldn't, my Lord," squeaks Pansy.
"I hope so, for his sake."
The words come out in a hiss. People who say Professor Snape hisses have never heard the Dark Lord.
"But you, youngsters, have made the right choice. You are an honour to your families. And you," he turns to ME, "your blood is mixed , but your heart is pure."
"Th-thank you, m-my Lord," I stammer.
"Your family will get protection if you make the right choices," he tells Tracey.
She squeezes my hand so hard I can feel her nails sinking in. It's painful, but, in a way, reassuring. She opens her mouth, but no sound comes out.
"You are to join the battle," he says.
"Now !" he barks and we all jump and run out of the Shack, forgetting to bow and forgetting there might be an enchantment on the door.
They must have lifted the enchantments. As we reach the path to Hogsmeade, a high-pitched laugh gives me goose-pimples.
Tracey staggers and leans on to me. The other girls are supporting each other. Blaise is arrogantly standing upright, his nose in the air, and Theo looks preoccupied, as usual.
We have nearly reached Hogsmeade when a wailing sound breaks out and a series of explosion echo in the darkness.
"They're fighting," whispers Daphne.
"Merlin-Merlin-Merlin-Merlin," moans Pansy.
"Come on, then," says Blaise.
We leave Hogsmeade behind, getting closer and closer to the noises and the lights.
The Dark Lord sent us to fight.
"Father !" calls Theo at a group of cloaked figures who are firing curses at the castle.
No one hears him.
We stand and watch. It is like Guy Fawkes Day, when I was little and Mum laughed because I was afraid of the noise.
She was right to laugh. It was ridiculous to be afraid, then.
We're not fighting, but I'm not going to be the one to point it out. There's a limit to being more Slytherin than Salazar and this is it.
In the red and green flashes we can make out gargoyles tumbling off the roof.
At one point, several hexes meet in an ear-splitting boom that shakes the whole castle.
"Draco !" cries Pansy, tears in her voice.
A few hooded and masked Death Eaters are coming our way.
"What are you dunderheads doing here?" spits one of them.
I've never been so happy to hear that voice.
"Professor Snape !"
"Draco's in the castle !"
"Have you seen my father?"
"Your father is safe, Theodore," says Professor Snape, less angrily. "But you must keep safe too. What are you doing here anyway?"
"The Dark Lord told us to fight."
We can't see Professor Snape's face, but we can see his arms drop to his sides.
"Have you seen Vincent?"
"And Gregory?" The two other men ask.
"They're in there with Draco !" squeals Pansy hysterically.
"Bloody idiots."
We are interrupted by an allmighty roar somewhere on the left, followed by shouts.
"Over here ! The giants have made a breech !"
Giants.
"Come on, then !" says one of the Death Eaters.
"Keep with me," commands Professor Snape.
We wouldn't dream of doing otherwise.
When we reach the point where the wall and the magical protection around the castle have been damaged, Professor Snape stops.
"Wait here," he says and he joins the stampede onto the school grounds.
We gather under a tree and sit and wait.
ooo
We have sat long enough to begin to feel cold when Pansy screams,
"There !"
Monstrous spiders are spilling out of the Forest, crawling menacingly towards the opening in the wall.
The next minute, we are running faster than we've ever run in our life. I have grabbed Tracey and Pansy and I am dragging them with all my might. We run until Daphne's legs give out and she crashes to the ground. We all drop next to her.
"Bloody hell !" groans Blaise.
Now he's sounding like Weasley.
Daphne can't tell him not to talk like a Muggle. She has lost her voice.
We lie there in shock, trying to catch our breath and our wits.
Then Tracey says "Thank you", in a pitiful voice.
"Pleasure," I mutter.
Pansy's arms and knees are all scratched because she tripped on the way.
Suddenly Blaise jumps up and we do the same. A hooded figure is drawing close.
"What happened?"
It's Madam Malfoy.
"Amocrem- ...Acrotem- ... spiders !" splutters Pansy.
Madam Malfoy shudders visibly.
"Professor Snape tolds us to wait down there."
"But we couldn't with the bl- ... the Acromantula."
"No. Stay here. Have you... Have you seen Draco?"
"He's in the castle," sobs Pansy.
Another figure is staggering towards us.
"Lucius !" says Madam Malfoy.
"Narcissa... Pansy, Theodore, have you seen Draco?"
"Nooo !" sobs Pansy.
"My father?" says Theo.
But Mr Malfoy isn't listening.
"I am going to the Dark Lord. I'll do anything... "
"Don't" whispers Madam Malfoy.
"It's our last chance. It's all I can do. It's all my fault... "
"Lucius !"
He is limping rapidly towards the Shrieking Shack, a bit like Moody used to do.
"Shit," says Blaise.
"Blaise !" says Daphne weakly.
"Sorry."
"Is Professor Snape going to find us here?" asks Tracey.
"He'll find you," says Madam Malfoy distractedly.
ooo
Mr Malfoy comes back some twenty minutes later, limping more slowly.
"So?" breathes Madam Malfoy.
"The Dark Lord wants Severus."
"And Draco?"
"Nothing..."
Mr Malfoy stumbles down the hill, defeated.
This time we wait longer, quietly listening to the distant booms and screams and Pansy's sobs.
ooo
At last, Mr Malfoy staggers back up the hill with Professor Snape.
"Professor!"
"We couldn't stay down there. There were Acromantula."
"I know. Theodore, your father is at the Hog's Head."
For the first time in ages, Theo's face lights up.
"Thanks, sir."
He rushes off.
"Why aren't you going with him?"
"But the Dark Lord..."
"Just keep out of the way, then," says Professor Snape, walking away towards the Shrieking Shack
"I have to find Draco," sighs Mr Malfoy, walking off in the opposite direction.
Both disappear in the night.