I acknowledge that i own none of the characters or ideas (except those of my own creation and even they tend to get away from me!) and i give full credit to the true master-mind J. K. Rowling!

Without further ado i give you...
Chapter Eight: Know Thy Enemy

Ismene paced angrily up and down the small antique room, it's quaintness was suffocating rather than attractive. In her hand she held a scrunched up photograph of a young man with platinum blond hair and icy blue eyes. 'How dare you?' she hissed her voice quivering with rage. 'What did I ever do to you?' she demanded, throwing the balled up picture across the room so it bounced off the wall. 'I'll beat you in the end, I'll do it!' Let your anger be your strength, let you hatred be your ally and your weapon.

…

'Harry, I know they'll find whoever did this,' Hermione placated, her voice trembling with emotion; a torrent of sickening anxiety and fear. 'The whole Order is out there looking for her, it's not like last time.' The news had just arrived and Hermione could still remember the first time it'd happened.

Harry was bent over the wooden table, hands clenching fiercely at the sides, breathing hard. Ron lent against the adjacent counter, his expression one of disbelief and a harsh shade of defeat. Hermione had abandoned his side to walk towards Harry's tense figure, her arm outstretched warily; both to console and keep him at arms-length. She fell short of reaching his shoulder when he suddenly looked up, green eyes searching, and spoke. 'But how? How Hermione?' He demanded impatiently, 'how could this have happened? Again.'

Hermione opened her mouth and closed it again, Ron looked up at her expectantly but she avoided his gaze. 'I don't know,' she admitted, feeling desolation spike through her as Ron's head fell forward once again.

'How could Draco let this happen?' Harry demanded after several moments of silence, lifting himself up to walk around the table in an agitated motion. 'He swore he'd have all the angles covered.'

'You don't think, maybe…,' Ron spoke for the first time, trailing off in a conflicted nature.

'What?' Harry questioned, his eyes emboldening Ron to go on.

'I know it's a little farfetched, but what if Draco has something to do with this?' He paused for a moment and then continued onwards hurriedly, noting the way Hermione was glaring at him. 'Look at the facts, Ginny's disappeared twice now, and both times she was on her own with Draco, see how easy it would have been for him?'

'That's not funny, Ron,' Hermione snapped, straightening up irately, 'You know Draco's on our side, he's proven his loyalty enough times. We can't afford to distrust each other, not now. '

Ron did not back down under Hermione's harsh censure, pushing forward, 'How do we actually know he's on our side? What proof has he ever really given us that he's not a double agent. That's twice I've trusted him with my sister and twice he's failed us.'

Harry interjected quickly, noting the violent look that had passed over Hermione's expression, 'You weren't there, Ron. On that day, when Ginny went missing, you didn't see the look in his eyes, no one can fake that. Besides, Hermione's right; it was Dumbledore who initiated Draco, we owe him our trust.'

'And anyway, she wasn't alone with him this time,' Hermione added suddenly, as if it were an afterthought that had just struck her.

Harry's head snapped up, 'What?'

Hermione went on tiredly but not without interest, 'Lupin told me, when Draco reported her missing, he also informed the Order of a new mission companion, Arrow Wood.'

'Do we have anything on this Arrow?' Harry asked, taking on a manner of keen attention.

'Actually we have quite a bit,' Hermione answered, 'he's an ex-auror, turned death-eater after some confrontation with his father, possible coercion, anyway he became a known assassin, and from what I hear a very good one at that. Then he disappeared off the radar for a while, no reports of any activities until three years ago, he was allegedly involved in the attempted freeing of a prisoner of the Circle.'

Ron let out a low whistle, 'I bet Voldemort didn't like that.'

'Well no, but somehow he managed to get away with his life, possibly because it was around the time his father secured the pact with the giants for the death-eaters.'

'Hold up,' Harry interrupted, his face contorting in concentration, 'he was involved in a prison break three years ago from the Circle, you say?'

'Attempted prison break,' Hermione corrected, her eyes searching his face for a clue as to where he was leading this, 'why?'

'Well, that'd be around the time Ginny was taken by them, he may have been involved.'

'Of course!' Ron exclaimed, eyes glinting, 'and Ginny wouldn't remember him so it's the perfect opportunity for him to get in cosy with her and Draco before springing a trap on them both.'

Harry's eyebrows shot up as he contemplated this new idea, but Hermione was sceptical. 'Draco and Ginny aren't stupid Ron, they'd figure if something was up. Besides I'm sure Draco wouldn't continue partnering with this Arrow if there was any chance he was playing two roles at once.'

'What are you saying, Hermione?' Harry asked, looking up so that he met her gaze.

She paused momentarily before saying, 'I think, he's on our side. For now.'

Harry inclined his head, acknowledging the logic of her argument. 'Fine but I'm going back to help them,' he added resolutely.

Hermione jumped up from the seat she had only just fallen back into a moment before, surprise and disbelief blazing across her careworn features. 'No! Harry, you can't!'

Harry continued as if she had not interrupted, 'You and Ron are perfectly equipped to carry on with the mission, besides there are only a few more ends to tie up.'

Hermione stepped forward to interject again but Ron got there first, his tone slightly calmer and more diplomatic, 'Woah, mate just hang on a sec. If anyone has a right to be going back it's me, she's my sister.'

'I know, but I'm not going to just sit around this time,' Harry responded in a tired sort of manner, shrugging his shoulders. 'If you want to leave too, then I won't stop you.'

'No-one's going anywhere!' Hermione said cutting off, Ron's response.

'Look mate, I know how you feel,' Ron put forward when Harry continued packing, ignoring the wild, desperate note in Hermione's voice. 'I'm scared for her too, but running off into the night isn't going to help anyone. Believe me, I know.' Harry felt short at Ron's words, running an exasperated hand through his hair before turning back to look both his companions in the eye.

'I know you do, but this is something I have to do,' he said quietly, 'I'm sorry.' He addressed the last part to Hermione who on hearing this collapsed back into the chair, burying her head in her hands. 'Look after her,' he added to Ron, who merely shook his head and let out a long sigh.

'It's not right,' he murmured after a moment of cold silence.

'Maybe,' Harry said, pausing to turn back at the entrance of the tent, 'but so would be doing nothing.'

She was lying to him. He could tell from the way she turned her hand in an incongruent gesture, the way her breathing came just a second out of time with her voice but most of all he could tell from the way her voice slipped and slid like honey; her charm set off warning bells. She wasn't particularly talented at deception, but he would have been sorry if she was.

Draco leant in closer to the girl, his voice razor sharp, 'You just tell him, Blackbird is here.' The girl's eyes widened, anxiously darting between the icy blue eyes of her interrogator and his dark, cloaked companion.

'I don't know what you mean,' she stammered, unconsciously turning her head to check over her shoulder. It was only then that he noticed the branding mark just behind her ear, a number burnt into the flesh by a twist of magic and cruelty.

Draco lowered his voice, softening his gaze and beseeching her with a gentle smile, 'Just tell your master, it'll be worth his while,' he murmured, pressing a galleon into the small of her palm. She froze at the sight of the coin, before her gaze flickered back up to his and with a nervous inclination of her head she turned and scampered down the dank corridor.

'She's a flighty one,' Arrow remarked from behind the shadow of his hood, 'do you think she'll get him, or make a run for it?'

'She'll get him,' Draco replied with quiet confidence, 'I made sure of it.'

'I noticed,' Arrow commented mildly, referencing Draco's subtle use of the imperious curse as she'd met his gaze. 'Just wanted to know if you'd own to it.'

Draco let a small smile slip by the corner of his mouth, as he gazed around the dingy shop that lay just beyond the reaches of the notorious market they'd navigated their way through an hour ago. 'Imperious curse, Black Dragon Market,' he added with a rueful smile, 'comes within the territory.'

The two fell silent as a pitter-patter of feet became apparent; a moment later the small girl emerged still looking slightly dazed. 'He will see you, sir, please come this way.' She gestured after her and both Draco and Arrow, swept behind the counter to follow her nervous trail. When they came to the end of the corridor the girl motioned for them to go through a dark veil of curtain with trembling fingers. On the other side lay a rather surprising scene, though neither Draco nor Arrow showed any such inclination, there sat a slightly balding man, with a large protruding belly and a number of golden teeth that glinted as he stretched his mouth into a wide smile.

'Well, well, well,' he said with a cheerfully booming voice, 'you're not the Blackbird I know.' He set down the copy of the Daily Prophet he'd been reading, on a small table by a large fireplace. He gestured for Draco and Arrow to enter the room, and motioned for the girl to leave. 'Can I tempt you?' he asked once she'd left, getting slowly to his feet, and picking up a large sherry decanter.

'No,' Draco replied but with a look from Arrow he continued reluctantly, 'thank you for the offer but we're here on urgent business which cannot be delayed.'

'Hence why you chose to impersonate one of my clients,' the man added with a raised eyebrow, 'which I believe, even under today's sordid affair of a ministry, could have you penalised.' Arrow smirked slightly at the man's reference to the Ministry of Magic.

'Please, by all means, have us arrested if it would make you more comfortable,' Draco replied unconcernedly, as he paced comfortably throughout the room. 'Of course, I'm sure the ministry would also be glad to hear about your prophets in the slave industry.'

The man let out a loud, booming laugh, sitting back down in his armchair to appraise his two companions, before speaking, 'You've got nerve, boy, I like that,' he said finally, 'the name's Artemis Finch. But if you're hoping to arrest me, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you.'

'Oh?' Draco asked, turning around from the mantelpiece where he'd been brooding over an image in a photograph.

'You see, she's not a slave, well, not anymore that is,' he explained, 'freed her five years ago, she works for me out of choice, seems to think she owes me a debt.' He watched Draco and Arrow exchange quick glances, 'I'll have to give her a tip for fooling you two at the door today. You see she's quite gifted, she knew who you were immediately, Draco Malfoy and Arrow Wood.'

'How do you know us?' Arrow demanded, his hand reflexively slipping down to his wand.

'Same way you know me,' Artemis replied casually but with one eye on Arrow's wand, 'I have contacts all over.'

'That's why we're here,' Draco interjected, motioning subtly for Arrow to back down, 'word has it that if we're looking for someone you're the person to find.'

'What is it you want from me?' Artemis asked, his shrewd gaze turning on Draco.

'The Blackbird,' Draco answered, 'he's a client of yours.'

'That's correct, but I don't see what it has to do with you, precisely,' Artemis remarked with keen attention.

'We want to talk to him,' Draco replied.

'What makes you think I know where he is?' Artemis demanded, 'I have hundreds of clients, I don't keep records, if I did I wouldn't be so profitable.'

'Except he's not just any client is he,' Draco remarked, his gaze fixed intently upon Artemis' reaction. 'He's working for the freedom fighters, isn't he?'

'What the devil is wrong with you, boy?' Artemis half yelped, eyes darting wildly around the room. Neither Draco nor Arrow seemed in the slightest bit perturbed. 'You can't just go throwing things like that around; don't you know we're at war?'

Draco sat back in his chair, studying Artemis for a moment long before continuing in an almost pensive tone, 'You see, I did wonder, you're well known for your dabbling, but the Rebel Alliance, that seemed a little out of your zone, Artemis Finch.'

'I have nothing to do with that band of misfits, and nor do any of my clients!' Artemis protested agitatedly. 'I'd like you to leave.'

'But like I said, the Blackbird's not just any old client,' Draco continued, ignoring Artemis' interjections.

'I demand you leave!' Artemis said reaching for the bell on the little table beside him, but with a flick of Arrow's wand the bell swung off the table and across to the other side of the room.

'You want to know what gave it away?' Draco asked, ignoring the now red-ish shade of Artemis' expression, Artemis opened his mouth to retort but Draco cut him off, 'the picture on your mantelpiece.' Artemis fell short of his sentence, mouth still hanging slightly open as he followed Draco's gaze up to the mantelpiece where a photograph of a handsome young man, with green eyes and honey-brown hair stood, smiling boldly out at the camera. 'You've been the Rebel Alliance's supplier for three years, giving them everything they need, weapons, food, magical artefacts, anything the Blackbird asked for, and why? Because he's your son.'

Artemis' gaze slid away from the photograph, down to his lap where his hands lay trembling ever so slightly at the fingertips. 'He was so excited,' Artemis said suddenly, his voice weary with fatigue and emotion, 'when the war came, ready to rush off with the ministry and defeat the deatheaters, all the glory of battle. But they didn't want him. He had a history of petty crimes.' He reached over to the decanter poured himself a large glass of sherry and downed it in one before he continued, his voice now a little steadier.

'I thought it was all over, was ready for him to join me in business. But then one night, out of the blue, this man turns up at the counter asking for Mordred, that's his real name, all this Blackbird nonsense is just a disguise. I thought Mordred was in some kind of trouble with the ministry, thought he might have nicked something, turns out this man was Dorian Noble; he wanted my son for the freedom fighters. Well, I put my foot down, told him there was no way, but Mordred; he was so desperate to go…'

'So you let him,' Draco added, 'how long has it been since you last saw him?'

Artemis let out a long breath before answering, 'must be about a month now, last time he was real excited said he was about to make his career if he could just track them down.'

'Who?' Arrow demanded. 'Track who down?'

'I don't know, wouldn't tell me anything, all those years I gave up for him, and he doesn't tell me a thing, I only see him about three times a year.'

'What did he ask for this time?' Draco asked intently, gently resting his hand on Artemis' shoulder.

'Why?' Artemis demanded all of a sudden, shaking off Draco's hand. 'What do you want with him?'

'We don't want to hurt him,' Draco said quickly, 'we just need to talk to him. We think he has one of our people.'

Artemis studied his face in an almost desperate manner, 'I just want my boy back.'

'We'll help you,' Draco promised, 'just tell us where to find him. Please.' He was working very hard to forget the fact that this man's son had been the one to capture Ginny.

'Orogon Square, three miles north of here, underneath the bell tower there's an underground entrance, I followed him once, but it'll be heavily guarded.' Artemis said it all a hurried whisper, before turning away to pour himself another glass of sherry. Draco signalled to Arrow, it was time to leave; they both reached the black veil before Artemis spoke again. 'There was a girl, the other day, asking the same questions.'

Draco swivelled round, his expression unreadable, 'What girl? What did you tell her?'

'Nothing,' Artemis replied with a distant smile, 'she had the nerve to threaten me with a werewolf, but that's not all; she was also looking for you, had a photograph.'

'What did she look like?' Draco demanded.

'Small, fragile little thing with big dark eyes and long black hair,' Artemis replied, scrunching up his large nose as he concentrated on the memory.

'Did she leave a name?' Arrow asked, his face had turned slightly whiter and he clenched his wand in an agitated manner.

'No,' Artemis replied, 'I don't believe she did.'

'And she let you go?' Draco asked a little bemused, 'without any information, she just let you go.'

'I don't think she wanted to cause trouble,' Artemis replied with a contemplative look, 'I had the uncanny notion that she wasn't meant to be there, and knew it all too well.'

'Did you notice anything else about her? Anything distinguishing?' Arrow demanded.

'No…, although she had the most peculiar ring on her finger; a big dark jewel with two dragons engraved on either side, looked something like the crest of Trillian.'

Both Draco and Arrow turned a little paler, casting one last glance around the rambling room they hurried back down the corridor, past the girl at the counter and back out into the bustling alleyway of the market place.

'What does the name Ismene Trillian, mean to you?' Draco demanded as soon as they were out of the shop, turning his face towards Arrow's, his eyes scrutinising him in a piercing manner.

'Lots of things, none of them good,' Arrow replied. 'I'll tell you what, though from what I know, it's essential to the Circle.' When Draco made no reaction and gave no reply Arrow continued, a little ruefully, 'you'd already guessed as much.'

'The name kept cropping up, back when I was at the Order's headquarters, Ginny and I were investigating links just before you arrived,' Draco explained as they pushed their way through the straggling crowd, heading for the next turning where their portkey lay. 'We found an old jeweller's place, and a man who knew something of the ring, but apparently we weren't the first to get there, somebody had already persuaded him to sell it, a girl.'

'I know,' Arrow said heavily, 'I know the girl too.' Draco nodded but didn't press for details. 'She's related, it's all related; her, Ginny, the ring, the Circle and Voldemort.'

'Do you believe him about the underground entrance?' Draco asked, moving the conversation forward, away from haunting reminiscence.

'He has no reason to lie to us, not now,' Arrow remarked, 'but breaking in will be no easy task.'

Draco smiled, 'I know just the man for the job.' It was time to call in a favour with an old friend,

…

Dorian Noble lifted his head at the sound of feet hitting the cold, marble floor. Though he appeared old and withered his mind was as keen and shrewd as ever and he knew, before the oak doors had even swung open, who was on the other side.

'Mordred,' he murmured softly, as the light haired youth stepped into the light, 'I hope you bring me good tidings.' There was nothing threatening in the way he said it, but Mordred understood the implied meaning.

'Indeed,' Mordred replied delicately, lowering his head in a gesture of respect to the elder who sat high above him at the round table. Three other men sat with him but none of them had lifted so much as a fingernail at his arrival. 'I've apprehended priority two.' Dorian showed no outward display of surprise or pleasure, merely raising an eyebrow.

'Have you really?' he asked tonelessly. 'And how did you manage such a remarkable feat.'

'With great skill and effort, and no small amount of luck,' Mordred answered honestly. 'It was not without the help of others; had it not been for Romulus I would not have succeeded.'

'Indeed? Well then we owe him our thanks. He will be promoted, but now you must show me your spoils,' Dorian incited as he rose from his chair and approached his young apprentice. Mordred nodded, turning his back on Dorian to motion for the guards to open the doors.

Two men entered the room, dragging a small figure into the room. The prisoner's hands had been magically bound behind their back, their head bowed as the guards deposited them in the middle of the room. Dorian clapped his hands and the guards left, leaving the prisoner alone with the two men. Dorian gazed intently at the huddled figure before approaching, kneeling down to their level and using his fingers, propping up their chin so their face came into view.

'Well done, Mordred,' Dorian praised as he stared into his prisoner's eyes, 'very well done.'

'She put up a good fight,' Mordred added, brushing off his master's praise.

'I have no doubt of that,' Dorian remarked with a slight note of amusement, this was Ginevra Weasley after all and she'd just gotten her mind back.

Hullo readers! Woah, sorry for the wait! Can't promise I'll be any quicker this time either, but I hope it was worth it. Thought I'd take a little break from Ginny's POV, but she'll be back next chapter! Please leave me your thoughts, views, critiques and hopes for next time!