Hello everyone. I've been in a bit of a writing kick lately. To be honest, it was difficult to make it through these last few chapters to get to the interesting stuff. I know it's a little dry, just try and stick with me. This is the last chapter before we get to POA. Please, please, please, any feedback you can give me will help me greatly, that's the whole point of this. I want it all, the good, the bad and the ugly. So lay it on me guys, do you like the direction is going, is there anything about Elizabeth that really irritates you? I know how it feels to try to identify with a character that just has one thing about them that really irritates me. Just let me know. As always, I own nothing.
As Christmas grew closer, people started to get more and more antsy about the monster under the school, whatever it was that was petrifying students. I was concerned, more for Harry's sake. He wasn't taking well to being public enemy number one. I did my best to cheer him up and accompany him whenever everyone else strayed away but the people who did the most good were the Weasley twins. Most people thought the twins were walking, talking jokes but I knew they were more than that. They put up a front but I saw the way they were deadly serious about Quidditch, their family and their friends. It made me respect them a little bit more. They're far more pleasant than Ron to say the least, and leaps and bounds better than Percy the Snob. As for Ginny, the sweet, fun loving little girl I met at the beginning of the year seemed like a shell of herself. Now she was always anxious and sensitive. She seemed emotionally unstable.
Draco got a letter a week before the holidays began stating that his parents were going on a business trip over the break and therefore we had to stay at the castle. Draco put on a brave front but I knew he was upset. The Chamber of Secrets frightened him, as it rightly should. And with fewer students to munch on, the monster might not be as choosy with his meals as he was before. Purebloods like Draco, and especially half-bloods like Harry and me were at greater risk than before. Not to mention, I think Hermione is the last muggle born to be left over the holidays. I almost debated telling her she should go home for Christmas, for her own safety, but I knew she wouldn't take that well. And Ron would call me a Purist toad. Still, it sat heavily in my gut, the thought of something happening to her when I could have done something about it.
I spent Christmas with Draco, as I did every year. There weren't too many Slytherin's left behind to complain about my presence in the dungeons, bar Crabbe and Goyle. But their gripes were made intelligible by their inability to communicate an actual thought so it didn't make too much difference to me. In the morning we opened presents then we went out to the pitch to ride our brooms like we usually did. This Christmas I was surprised to get such a thoughtful gift like a usually did from Theo, because we hadn't talked much most of the year and Draco told me had a girlfriend, some third year Ravenclaw, occupying his time. So it caught me by surprise when he sent me a post card from the country he was visiting that holiday, Romania, and a diamond bracelet (real of course, I mean it's Theo we're talking about) enchanted with a protection charm. And then, also to my surprise, I received my usual anonymous gift. This time it wasn't a priceless heirloom, instead it was a beautiful hand stitched gown that looked fit for royalty.
I was astounded every year by the thoughtfulness of my handful of friends and family. They weren't large in quantity but they were in quality. Christmas at the castle was actually almost preferable to being home. We had free reign to do as we pleased, stay out as long as we liked. It was heaven. Following Christmas supper, I watched from across the room as Hermione and her band of misfits squirreled out of the Great Hall to do Merlin only knew what. Mischief of course.
"Do you feel like playing a game of chess down in the dungeon?" I asked Draco.
Relishing the challenge, and the almost assured victory (he was a slightly better player than I), my cousin agreed easily and we made our way down to the dungeons.
"Shall we place a wager on this game?" Draco drawled as we set up the board. I smiled.
"If I win, you have to sit at the Gryffindor table for the rest of the holidays." I told him. Draco balked for a moment and then his usual sneer occupied his face once again.
"Fine. If I win…" He thought about it for a moment. "You have to carry my books for the rest of the year."
"The entire year?! We don't have all the same classes!"
"Well then I guess you're going to be late to some of your classes." He said smugly.
I glared at him before relenting. "Fine, deal." And so the game began.
"Did I show you what Father sent me this morning?" Draco asked as I pondered over my next move. He wore an evil smirk on his face and so I knew he was trying to distract me.
"No, nor do I care." I told him vaguely, trying to concentrate on the pieces in front of me. I couldn't determine the intention of his last move and it was driving me bonkers.
"How about you, Crabbe, Goyle, shall I read it to you? Lord knows you're too daft to read yourselves." Draco drawled. I shot him an irritated look. To be honest, I hadn't even heard Crabbe and Goyle come in, they must have floated in on the coattails of the fifth year Slytherin that had walked by them a few minutes prior. I knew Draco was only being rude because he wanted to read the letter out loud to distract me.
"Your jockeys can read just fine." I rolled my eyes at him.
Draco pretended not to hear me and read aloud,
"INQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car.
Mr. Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the enchanted car crashed earlier this year, called today for Mr. Weasley's resignation. "Weasley has brought the Ministry into disrepute," Mr. Malfoy told our reporter. "He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately."
Mr. Weasley was unavailable for comment, although his wife told reporters to clear off or she'd set the family ghoul on them.
"Well?" Draco asked when he was through, aiming the question at all of us. "Don't you think it's funny?"
"Ha, ha," said Goyle bleakly.
"Arthur Weasley loves Muggles so much he should snap his wand in half and go and join them," said Draco scornfully. "You'd never know the Weasleys were pure-bloods, the way they behave."
"You shouldn't say those kinds of things, Draco. The Weasleys are more pureblood than I am."
"At least you look and act like a pureblood. The Weasleys are no good, poor, dirty slobs."
Crabbe's face was contorted with fury. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. I'd never seen Crabbe wear so much as an ounce of emotion on his face. Nor had he ever cared for the Weasleys.
"What's up with you, Crabbe?" snapped Draco.
"Stomachache," Crabbe grunted. I peered at him a moment. The Polyjuice potion! He must be Ron or Harry. I almost laughed then.
"Well, go up to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick from me," said Draco, snickering. He was being especially nasty today. "You know, I'm surprised the Daily Prophet hasn't reported all these attacks yet," he went on thoughtfully. "I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. He'll be sacked if it doesn't stop soon. Father's always said old Dumbledore's the worst thing that's ever happened to this place. He loves Muggle-borns. A decent headmaster would never've let slime like that Creevey in."
Draco started taking pictures with an imaginary camera and did a cruel but accurate impression of Colin: "'Potter, can I have your picture, Potter? Can I have your autograph? Can I lick your shoes, please, Potter?"'
He dropped his hands and looked at what I thought may be Harry and Ron.
"What's the matter with you two?"
Far too late, Harry and Ron forced themselves to laugh, but Draco seemed satisfied.
"Saint Potter, the Mudbloods' friend," said Draco slowly. "He's another one with no proper wizard feeling, or he wouldn't go around with that jumped up Granger Mudblood. And people think he's Slytherin's heir! I wish I knew who it is," said Draco petulantly. "I could help them."
"You don't mean that, Draco." I scolded and moved my chess piece finally.
Crabbe looked even more clueless than usual. And Goyle said, "You must have some idea who's behind it all…"
"You know I haven't, Goyle, how many times do I have to tell you?" snapped Draco. "And Father won't tell me anything about the last time the Chamber was opened either. Of course, it was fifty years ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it, and he says that it was all kept quiet and it'll look suspicious if I know too much about it. But I know one thing — last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them's killed this time… I hope it's Granger," he said with relish.
Shooting Crabbe a warning look, Goyle said, "D'you know if the person who opened the Chamber last time was caught?"
"Oh, yeah… whoever it was was expelled," said Draco. "They're probably still in Azkaban."
"Azkaban?" said Goyle, puzzled. I assumed this must be Harry. If he didn't know who my father was, he probably didn't know what Azkaban was. I felt a twang of guilt in my chest. The feeling I used to carry all the time when I first met Harry but not only surfaced every now and then.
"Azkaban — the wizard prison, Goyle," said Draco, looking at him in disbelief "Honestly, if you were any slower, you'd be going backward."
He shifted restlessly in his chair and said, "Father says to keep my head down and let the Heir of Slytherin get on with it. He says the school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up in it. Of course, he's got a lot on his plate at the moment. You know the Ministry of Magic raided our manor last week?"
Goyle's dull face somewhat molded into a look of concern, and then he glanced at me and frowned, mirroring my own expression. I hadn't known this.
"Yeah…" said Draco. "Luckily, they didn't find much. Father's got some very valuable Dark Arts stuff. But luckily, we've got our own secret chamber under the drawing-room floor —"
"Ho!" I said loudly, then faked a sneeze. As much as I loved and respected Harry, they didn't need to be told all of our family's secrets. Also, Crabbe's hair was starting to turn red and a scar was starting to appear on Goyle's forehead. "I made my move, Draco. It's time to make yours. Crabbe you look like you're about to throw up. Goyle, you should take him to the hospital wing." When they continued to stare at me I added, "Now."
Seeming to understand, they both jumped to their feet then they sprinted the length of the Slytherin common room, hurled themselves at the stone wall, and dashed up the passage.
Turning to Draco, I said, "I can't believe you didn't tell me our house was raided."
"Elizabeth-" Draco protested.
"Save it. I forfeit. I'll carry your books for the rest of the year." I told him and then spun out of the dungeon. I hurried to catch up with dumb and dumber before they disappeared.
I found them fully changed back to themselves, stumbling over their robes up the stairs. "Seriously," I called out. "That was your genius plan to find the Heir?"
"That's rich coming from you." Ron spun around. "I knew you were just like them, just putting on a front."
"What are you talking about?"
"You just sat there while Malfoy said all those nasty things about my family. You agree with him don't you?!" He spat at me. "You think you're better than me but you're not."
"Is that really what you think of me?" I asked calmly after he stopped panting.
"Yeah, yeah it is. I think you're a spoiled, rich, pureblood wannabe brat who cares only about herself. You should have been a Slytherin because you're certainly not a Gryffindor. Come on, Harry." Ron dragged Harry by the arm, the latter looking dumbstruck and unsure what to do. With a sympathetic glance back at me, he followed Ron to whatever hidey hole they've taken shelter in lately.
I spent the rest of the rest of the holidays, and most of the rest of the semester, avoiding all of them. I took to spending time with Neville. It had taken a little while to get over the awkwardness of our summer experience together but once Neville told me his parents were doing fine and that they even asked about me from time to time, I relaxed a little bit and we fell back into the comfortable friendship we had before. We spent most of the time studying for exams and practicing Quidditch. I had Neville keep time for me as I raced around the Quidditch pitch. He was a good sport, chasing the ball after I threw it and attempting to help with some of my plays.
After a busy day of Quidditch, preparing for the match that would decide the house cup, and then a late night studying, I fell asleep in the common room one night, near the end of the year. I was suddenly woken up by something. It took me a moment to focus and be able to see in the dark then I saw, what appeared to be Ginny, walking through the port hole.
"Ginny?" I asked and followed her. She didn't seem to hear me, just walking mindlessly down the corridors like a zombie. Was this what was making her tired all the time, sleep walking?
I thought back to what little I knew about sleep walkers. They say not to wake them up, that it could startle them and be unsafe. I think we're supposed to just make sure they don't walk into any unsafe situation and wait for them to wake up on their own.
I followed Ginny through the corridors all the way up to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. What an odd place to take a nighttime stroll to. Looking around to make sure we won't be followed, I followed Ginny into the bathroom, where I found her crouched by the sink whispering. Creeping closer, I was about to speak to her when I realized what she was doing. She was speaking Parseltongue! Since when are Ginny AND Harry Parseltongues? Before I could really react to the new information, the sink Ginny was kneeling in front of slid open.
Staring in shock, I watched as Ginny jumped through the hole in the sink without hesitation. What in the… It took me a few moments of trying to control my breathing to make a decision. I knew I should go in after her but… I just didn't understand. Was this the Chamber of Secrets? Was Ginny responsible for opening it? There's no way. After a few more breaths to calm myself, I knew what I had to do.
"Ew, ew, ew, ew." I complained, lowering myself into the chamber. With one final prayer I let go and slid down an elaborate, slimy, nasty slide of some sort before landing on the bottom. At the bottom there were bones, rocks and a massive snake skin. I stared at the snake skin in horror. I knew what the monster was. It was starting to make sense. A massive snake that petrified people and crawled through the castle at night.
Basilisk.
I tried thinking on what I had learned about Basilisks. It wasn't a monster we were supposed to cover until third or fourth year. But I knew what they were, I just had to remember…
The eyes! Looking into the eyes of a basilisk meant certain death. I thanked Severus at that moment because it was him who taught me about them. Well, not basilisks specifically, but we were going over different potions for antivenom and he had explained that one of the strongest venoms known to wizard kind was the Basilisk venom and that there was only one antivenom. Phoenix tears.
I needed to stop stalling. I knew what I was up against, somewhat. It was time to find Ginny and figure out how she was involved in all this. I got the feeling she was in danger. I really should have gone for a teacher.
It took me a while of sprinting to catch up to Ginny at her zombie-like pace. I managed to barely slip through the door she was going through and snuck in after her. On the other side of the door was a large atrium. It had a small pool of water that looked like leakage from one of the pipes running around it. The entire area gave an ominous feel.
As I was looking around, Ginny turned towards me. Her eyes were hazy and her posture was stiff. I ran to her, grabbing her by her shoulders and looking into her eyes.
"Ginny, listen to me, can you hear me? I need you to come back, it's not safe here." I pleaded with her desperately. I pulled put my wand and she snatched it out of my hand and pointed hers at me. "Ginny? What are you doing? What's going on?"
"The Heir of Slytherin will rise once again." She said.
"I don't understand." I took a step back from her but she followed.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"You know who I am, Ginny. It's Elizabeth." I was near hysterics at this point. I was so foolish. What had possessed me to follow her into a gaping hole in the ground.
"What's your surname, Elizabeth?"
"Black." I managed, trying my best to maintain some semblance of strength when really all I wanted to do was run away and cry.
"Elizabeth Black. Noble house, the Black house. You would do well to join me in my effort."
"What effort is that? Who are you?"
The laugh Ginny gave was creepy and unnatural, one that clearly didn't belong to her. "I am Tom Riddle. You may know me as Lord Voldemort."
I stumbled back, tripping and falling on my butt onto the damp ground.
"I've been using poor, sweet little Ginny to continue what I had been trying to do during my life, that is rid the Wizarding world of the impure and undeserving. She's been the perfect help," He said almost fondly. "It's too bad she's going to die."
"No!" I yelled and jumped to my feet but Ginny, Lord Voldemort, was quick to brandish their wand and shot a stunning jinx at me. I flew back but after a second, was able to recover and reached for my wand. I shot a disarming jinx at Ginny but she deflected it easily.
"It's truly a shame," She crouched over me with a menacing look at me. "You could have done great things at my side, like your family before me. You leave me with no other choice." Then she whispered something is parseltongue. I quickly shut my eyes and shuffled to the side, wand held before me. I did my best to listen to what was happening. Lord Voldemort was cackling with Ginny's voice, enjoying this game, water was dropping from the ceiling, and then… slithering. I gulped.
The slithering grew louder and louder until I heard a massive plunk! The basilisk seemed to have dropped into the chamber. I opened my eyes just a fraction, keeping them pointed at the water at me feet to watch for the monster's shape. When I could see its scales in the corner of the puddle, I turned quickly and brandished my wand. "Confrigo!" I shouted and the Basilisk reared back but it wasn't enough to take it out. In fact, it only made it angry I could hear it charge at me. I ran quickly in the other direction. "Expulso!" I yelled over my shoulder, aiming my wand wildly, trying not to get Ginny caught in the crossfire. The massive snake reared at me again. I continued this pattern of ducking, diving, sprinting, and sending curse after curse at the Basilisk but nothing was working. Caught up in the frustration and adrenaline of the moment, I realized a second too late, I had been staring in the puddle in front of me too long.
I felt all my muscles contract and I fell to the ground, stiff as a board. I'd failed. Ginny was counting on me and I had failed her. I couldn't see how anyone could know where we'd be gone. We'd be stuck down here forever, Ginny dead and myself in a state of comatose until one day I'd be dead too.
I don't know what happened, I couldn't hear, see or feel anything. The state I was stuck in, held in my consciousness with no concept of time or anything else but my own stream of consciousness was maddening. I could feel myself start to lose my mind. When I could feel myself slipping I tried to maintain my sanity by thinking of all the people I loved, picturing their faces in my mind. I thought of Draco, and my aunt and uncle, Severus, Harry, Theo, Neville, Hermione, even the Weasleys, every single one of them. My mind strayed to my mother, trying to remember what she looked like in the one photo I had of her. I tried to imagine which features of mine came from her. I tried not to think of Ginny. I failed, over and over.
Coming to was like waking from a terrible nightmare. I wasn't sure whether it was real or if I had gone really and truly insane. I was lying in the hospital wing, Draco and Theo on either side of me. Draco was fast asleep but Theo was staring into the abyss. I tried to sit up but got a little lightheaded so I laid back down. Theo turned to me and his face broke into a grin.
"Are you real?" I rasped. Theo didn't answer, only threw himself onto me in a dramatic display of affection, waking Draco up and making me slightly uncomfortable and yet oddly content at the same time.
"Yes, I'm real. Thank Merlin you're okay."
"Ginny?" I asked, almost afraid to.
"Ginny's okay. She was pretty bad off, so was Potter, but they're okay."
"Harry was there?" I asked, confused.
"He's the one that came to save you guys." Draco grumbled.
"Of course he was." I fell back against my pillow, exhausted despite having just slept for who knows how long. "He probably nearly died in the process too, but gallantly rode to our rescue anyways."
"Sounds about right." Theo chuckled. "But that doesn't sound like your MO. What were you doing down their anyways?"
I scratched my arm distractedly. "I followed Ginny."
"You followed the Weasley girl down into the Chamber of Secrets? Why?" Draco demanded.
I shrugged. I couldn't find a good enough reason to give him, not good enough for him anyways, but looking back at it, I knew I was doing the only thing I could. Maybe this was what Harry felt every time he rushed into danger, he was just a little bit better at it than I was. This felt different than following Severus through the chambers to get to the Sorcerer's Stone. I felt a lot dumber this time. I was really unprepared. When faced with a real challenge, I choked. I couldn't hold my own. And that was unacceptable.
"What was it like?" Theo asked after a while. "Being petrified?"
"I don't want to talk about it." I resisted the urge to shudder. I didn't want to think about it, ever again.
I joined everyone at the feast at the end of the year. Spotting Ginny, I made a direct line to her.
"Ginny," I breathed, relief overwhelming me. It was one thing to hear she was fine but another to see it. Part of me was a little hesitant. The last time I'd seen Ginny she was trying to kill me. I knew it wasn't her but it was hard to reconcile the two images in my head.
Ginny gave a small, shy smile. "I'm glad to see you're okay. When I came to in the Chamber I thought… I thought you were dead."
"Me too." I admitted. "Did… Lord Vol- you know who…" I didn't know how to finish my sentence.
"Harry killed him." Ginny said.
"I don't understand what happened." I told her.
"Part of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was trapped in the diary. He was using me to…" Ginny cringed and I put a hand on her arm.
"It's okay, you don't have to tell me. I know enough."
"If you don't mind my asking, what were you doing down there?" Ginny asked shyly.
"I followed you, when you were in your zombie state. I thought you were sleep walking, but after I watched you open the Chamber, I knew you were in trouble. I need to work on my rescuing skills a little bit." I scratched my elbow uncomfortably.
"You came into the Chamber of Secrets for me?" Ginny asked with wide eyes. I nodded uncomfortably then the smaller girl threw her arms around my waist. Despite my failed attempt to be helpful, I think this traumatizing experience was the start of a bond between the two of us. I felt more kinship with Ginny than any of the other Weasleys thus far.
Harry joined us a little later, distraught about something. He sat down next to me at the table.
"I owe you another life debt." I told him.
"Call this even, from you saving me first year." He said humbly.
"I told you-" I began to protest but Harry shook his head.
"I was there. I know you came to get me then, just like you went to get Ginny."
"Didn't do much good, either time." I grumbled.
"If it wasn't for you, Voldemort might have killed her right away." He told me encouragingly. I didn't think he was right but it was a nice thought, not that I needed to be a hero. The only thing that mattered was that Ginny was okay and no more students were hurt. But I still felt helpless and I didn't relish the feeling.
The one good thing that came out of that night was that Gilderoy Lockhart was, thankfully, let go from his position.
When I arrived home on summer break the first thing I did was order a whole bunch of books on defensive and attack spells. I would never be as prepared as I was the last time. I spent the entire first month of the break practicing what I was learning with a determination that bordered obsession. Draco complained loudly and often. He told me I wouldn't make the Quidditch team third year because I was spending so much time holed up in my room instead of practicing on a broom. After a month, he pulled a low move.
I was buried in a pile of books in my room, as I had been the majority of the last few weeks, when someone opened my door.
"Could you knock?" I barked out. In my defense, I was just about to be a teenager. The trespasser should know better.
"Ouch, Queen Bitch. You act like you're not happy to see me." Said a smooth voice.
"Theo!" I leapt up and threw my arms around him. Theo greeted me back with a smile and a hug.
"Now that's the kind of welcome I expect from my fiancé." He teased. I blushed and elbowed him in the ribs.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"I was sent an SOS to get you out of your room."
"Who told you, Draco?" It wasn't really a question. Who else was there? Theo shrugged noncommittedly.
"Regardless, I have a proposition for you. My father and I are going to America for the rest of the holidays, we've got business with some prominent figures in the American Ministry, well my father does anyways. I thought maybe me and you could go back to New York, see what it looks like without all the snow."
"Don't you know what New York looks like without snow?"
"Yes, but you don't."
I hesitated. Part of me really wanted to go, but I looked back at my stack of books. "I don't know that I should go. I've got a lot to do here."
Theo walked further into my room and picked up a book off the ground.
"What exactly is it you're doing?" He asked, reading the title.
I toed the carpet sheepishly. "I'm brushing up on my spellwork."
"Dueling spells?" He quirked an eyebrow.
"Well, after last year…"
"You've got to forget about last year, Elizabeth. Move on. It's over. You did the best you could."
"That's the point, Theo. I did the best I could and my best wasn't good enough so I need to do better."
"Elizabeth, you faced a Basilisk and lived to tell about it, that's more than most people can say."
"Well, Harry Potter-"
"I don't give a damn about Harry Potter. I give a damn about you. Now pack a bag or you're spending three weeks wearing what you've got on."
I glanced down at my grubby sweatpants and t-shirt and grimaced. I'd taken to wearing loose fitting clothing because my clothes were starting to not fit very well, mostly in the chest and hips. I feared puberty like a masked foe. It was creeping up on me and I was terrified of when it would hit me full force. I had gotten my first womanly episode shortly after arriving home and since then it feels like I'm growing on almost a daily basis. I've been getting taller and… curvier. It was embarrassing and so I'd taken to wearing loose clothing, going so far as to steal some from Draco.
But as I packed my bag, I packed normal clothing. I made sure to include a few muggle outfits as well. I didn't know how well I would fit in but I figured it was better than wearing robes down a busy muggle street. Once I was packed, I checked with Aunt Narcissa. Of course, she was okay with it. She would have been happy if Theo and I were leaving to elope, never mind I was only 12 and he 13.
"I have a surprise for you." Theo said after we'd been in America for a few weeks. We went on a grand trip, seeing New York (which was much warmer than the last time I'd visited), as well as LA, San Francisco, and San Diego. Mr. Nott was much more accommodating than I ever imagined, taking us sight seeing all throughout the grand country. Finally, we came to stop in Washington DC which was Mr. Nott's true destination. Theo and I were left mostly to our own devices.
"What's that?" I asked around a yawn, stretching my arms above my head. Theo stared at me for a moment, almost as if confused.
"Are you alright there?" I asked, sitting up and throwing a robe on over my jammies.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He said, shaking himself.
"This surprise?" I asked as I walked into the bathroom. I splashed some cold water on my face to wake myself up and pulled m hair back into a ponytail. It was starting to get really long. I used to cut it every six months but I hadn't cut it since I'd started school and now it was starting to hang low at my back.
"I've set up a meeting with someone." Theo told my reflection in the mirror. I quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Who?"
"It's a surprise. Come on get dressed or we're going to be late." He snapped his fingers jokingly. I shooed him out and did as he asked. Less than an hour later I found myself standing outside of a normal muggle residence. I shot a look at Theo but he only smiled and rang the door bell.
The person who answered was a short balding man who appeared to be in his mid to late 50's. He wore wizarding clothes and had a slight humpback.
"Theodore Nott?" The man asked. Theo nodded and the man led us in to the house. The exterior did, in no way, match the interior of the house. The interior was clearly that of a Wizard. Charmed objects zipped about the house, paintings talked and laughed together. The grandfather clock span twice as fast as any normal clock.
The old man led us through the house to the back where we arrived at what looked like a training studio of sorts.
"Elizabeth, I'd like to introduce you to Auror Stanley. The top dueling teacher in all of America." Theo introduced with a grand flourish. My jaw dropped to the floor. I spent the next two hours getting my butt handed to me but the spells I learned were invaluable, advanced spells that they don't even teach in schools. I wish I could come back and learn from him every day. But alas, our vacation was coming to an end. Theo, saint that he was, agreed to practice the spells we'd learned together and I was starting to feel much more sure of myself than I had felt at the start of summer.
When we arrived back home I ran straight to Draco's room, excited to tell him all that I had learned but when I came into my room he looked up from what was in his hands and stared at me with wide, terrified eyes.
"What is it Draco?" I asked and he handed me the parchment from his hands. Looking down I read the title, 'Sirius Black Escapes from Azkaban.'