(Re-beta'ed by Dances With Vampires)
Chapter 8: Reality Strikes
The morning sun peaked over the horizon as Janice sat alone in the retreat of an empty interrogation room. She had spent most of the night and morning briefing the detectives who would take over the case regarding Eliza. Much to her objection, they were also taking over her brother's murder case. On paper it was to investigate any possible link, but she knew better.
They found no trace of an address where they could contact Troy or Maddie, and their mother simply stated she had heard nothing from any of them since calling to ask where this supposed cousin Claire was. But that wasn't the worst of it, oh no - she showed them a letter she received from Maddie's school, confirming her transfer to a school in Australia, which had supposedly been authorised by Troy and Eliza. Evidence was building up, and despite Janice's confidence that Eliza was innocent, it was out of her hands. In a matter of hours, Eliza was made a prime suspect in her brother's murder and her now-declared missing brother and sister. A media release was scheduled for the morning news in an attempt to find them. Whilst probably wouldn't publicly call her a suspect, by lunch everyone in the industry knew that she was.
Janice was finally left in peace. She tried to figure out how everything fell apart so quickly. Seeds of doubt were already beginning to sow in her mind, despite her conviction. There was so much against her. . . "God, Eliza, what have you done?"
Suddenly things that had seemed so trivial were now signs of conspiracy. Her reluctance for a protective detail, her disappearing acts, mysterious illnesses. . .
"No," Janice said aloud, trying to force the thoughts out of her head. She was there when Eliza saw the body. No one could fake that. . .could they?
Eliza's commitment to her work flipped from being a sentiment of pride and praise to being shrouded in suspicion; was there more to the brilliant young coroner? No normal person would ever spend as much time with the dead as she would. Had her childhood trauma affected her more than physically? She didn't need to be in the briefing room to know those were the exact comments and questions being asked.
"What have you done. . .?"
-.-.-
Maddie sat on her bed in her pyjamas, her eyes adjusting as the sun crept over the horizon and through her window, and she made notes in her journal. The prospect of exploring a whole place dedicated to magical shopping. . .fantastic. And apparently it was in London, so it wouldn't be too hard to slip away for a few minutes and track down a pay phone. Despite all the excitement she missed her friends.
Yes, if she called early enough she could arrange to meet them somewhere in London. That would be so much better than telling them everything on the phone. She smiled and bounced a little, then flopped back and smiled at the ceiling. Today was going to be great.
Sirius stretched and yawned as he made his way to where an owl impatiently tapped on a window, the Daily Prophet curled in its talons. He smiled as he yawned - in a few hours, Harry would be here. He accepted the paper and paid, then went back to his bed. Once comfortable, he unrolled it to the front page, expecting the usual political rubbish and warnings about mad children on the loose, wreaking havoc over the holiday period. This morning's headline was very different.
"Oh. . .shit."
-.-.-
Eliza snapped bolt upright, gasping. The nightmare had been. . . .
As she tried to focus her attention, she realised that there was a horrific possibility the dream had in fact been real. The bed was certainly not her own, nor was the room. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the morning light, and she forced herself to take in her surroundings as she searched for her glasses, finding them neatly placed on the bedside table. The lines of the room became sharper as she made sure she was alone. There were three doors - one dead ahead, and the other two along the left wall.
The room was (by her standards) huge, and would have no doubt easily held a good portion of her house. The bed was a four-poster, and probably the largest bed she had ever seen, with purple and gold satin sheets. As she glanced down, she yanked the covers around her, horrified to discover someone had changed her into a long silk camisole. She immediately felt a chill in the room, despite the smouldering fireplace.
There was no sound other than the slow, occasional pops of the fire, and she chewed her lip, debating her next move. Slowly and carefully, she slid her feet out of the covers and onto a surprisingly springy rug which seemed strangely out of place in the classically-styled room. When a few moments passed and nothing stirred, she slowly rose.
The moment she put weight on her legs, they gave way, sending her crashing to the floor. She tried to stand, but they refused to hold her weight. Confused, she irritably pulled herself back into the bed. Meticulously, she wiggled her toes, tested her joints, and bent her knees without pain. She examined the muscles in her legs, trying to find a medical clue for her sudden lameness, but found none.
She chewed her lip and again tried to stand, this time keeping a hand on the post to steady her, but her arms weren't strong enough and she once again fell to the floor. Defeated, she climbed back into bed and made certain she was completely covered. In an unfamiliar place with no way to escape, she felt more vulnerable than she cared to admit. And so she sat, and waited.
-.-.-
As Maddie stepped out of the shower, she heard a phenomenal commotion going on outside which seemed to go beyond the usual morning breakfast scramble of the Weasley family. It also seemed a little early for the scramble, but she shrugged it off - they were collecting Harry today, which was some major operation because of his celebrity status in their world. She felt a pang of excitement - first she found out about the Magical world already she would be meeting someone famous. She hadn't met so much as a 'Muggle' radio host. Yes, this was a very good start.
She dressed quickly and came down. There seemed to be more than one unhappy person having a heated discussion in the kitchen. Not wanting to intrude, she took her time in the hallway.
"What the bloody hell is this?" Troy demanded, staring at the cover of the Daily Prophet. "Why are we on the front page?"
"Troy, calm down, this was bound to happen sooner or later-"
"And none of you thought to mention that detail? You said we were incidentals who just slipped through the cracks, you said nothing about-!"
"Purebloods are a dying breed, you are missing people in our world who have been found over a decade later and your family is very old-" Sirius tried to explain.
"And what exactly is going to stop that lunatic killing Eliza now the whole magical community's looking for her? How did they even find out she was missing?"
"Not just the Magical community." Hermione slid the London Times into everyone's sight. "Mum and Dad sent me this this morning," she said uneasily.
"Oh this is just fantastic…" Troy muttered bitterly.
"Who's going to kill Eliza?" Maddie stepped forward. No one had noticed her come in. "What do you mean, she's missing?"
The room fell deadly quiet. Troy turned to face his sister.
"How long has she been missing?" Maddie's eyes fixed on Troy. Her voice was thick with fury.
"A few days, Maddie, I didn't want to scare you-" Troy started, looking defeated.
"I am not a child!" she snapped at him. "I deserve to know if my sister is in danger or not!" Ron moved to comfort her, but she pulled away. "And I suppose you all knew too? Why haven't you rescued her? You can appear and disappear, you can turn into animals-"
"Another wizard has her," Ron replied. "We've done everything we can."
"You didn't tell me," she said before turning and running back to her room. Ron looked at his feet and Troy went to follow, but Hermione stopped him.
"Let me," she moved past, and gently touched Ron's shoulder in reassurance as she went after Maddie.
-.-.-
"Open this door." Hermione ordered.
"Fuck off – you're just as guilty as the rest of them-" The door flew open with enough force that the handle put a hole in the wall, startling Maddie. Hermione was livid with anger.
"You seem to have forgotten that the moment you found out you were a witch, you didn't bother waiting to listen to the fine print! Instead, you started spilling out questions! So right now, it's your own fault you didn't get informed! This isn't Mary Poppins, being a witch isn't a cakewalk! Every single person in this house has lost someone in this war, and they've still bent over backward to try and help your family, so don't you dare accuse us of conspiracy! You can't even begin to imagine what your sister has been through in order to try and keep you safe, you have no idea what all of us went through when she went missing, and rather than going out and trying to help them sort through her Muggle possessions which for the most part, they can't tell a toaster from a cassette player, to find a clue as to what happened to her, I was copping a black eye from you because Ron wanted to charm you and I didn't!" Hermione took a deep breath and paced on the spot to steady herself, but she wasn't finished yelling. "Do you honestly think you'd be in this position if you were all safe? Merlin, use your head - your sister has been investigating murders all over the country, did it not occur to you that there was someone committing them? One of your brothers has already died because of that. You may not see it, but Tonks is hardly holding herself together right now - and your brother! He's been torturing himself, and you have the audacity to make him feel guilty for not worrying you! And all Ron did was try and make you feel better, and you looked at him like he wasn't worthy to clean the muck off your boots! All any of us have tried to do is make the transition as easy as possible, but you're behaving like a child and you clearly don't have what it takes to survive this, so you might as well not bother trying and stop wasting our time."
Maddie stared, shocked. Her bottom lip began to quiver, before she exploded into tears.
It was enough to calm Hermione down, and she took a deep breath and walked over to the bed, taking a seat next to her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you found out like this. . .I'm sorry I yelled at you." She put an arm around her. "It's not your fault the timing was terrible. . ."
"I - I was j-j-just so hap-ppy-" Maddie sobbed. "F-for th-he first time in m-m-my life, ev-verything was good. . .you know?" She sniffed. "Why didn't anyone t-tell me?"
"Because…" Hermione sighed. "None of us get to be children any more. I guess part of it was selfish, none of us have had anything to be happy about since Harry came back telling us all Voldemort was back. And having you so… so excited and everything, it was like when we all first went to Hogwarts, and didn't have to wonder if the people we cared about would be coming home or not. Everyone deserves to be excited and happy about going to Hogwarts. We just didn't want to ruin it for you. Would have been so happy about it all if we told you upfront that you would probably never see most of your old friends again? That you can't tell other people about you? That you won't be learning how to be a witch, but how to survive this war? You don't know how much you will regret saying that you are no longer a child, because the truth is you aren't, and being a child now will get you killed. The one thing your sister begged us to do was not getting you two involved in magic, but it's clear now that's the only way either of you will have a chance of surviving."
Maddie wiped her nose on her sleeve and looked up to see Ron standing uneasily by the door. Maddie got up and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry, I am so sorry-"
Ron hugged her back, a little awkwardly. "Its okay… I don't think there's any good way to get that sort of news, but that was definitely one of the worst." He turned to Hermione. "The others are about to go get Harry. Mum's with Troy."
Hermione nodded. "What about the article?"
Ron shrugged. "We don't know how Rita found out… Mad Eye recons it was one of the Death Eaters, so he's taking most of 'em with him in case it's an attempt to distract from moving Harry…"
Maddie pulled away. "I want to know everything. I want to know about what happened to my sister, I want to know about this war, I want to know all of it." She declared, her resolve firm. She was going to do whatever it took to make things work, and anything she could to get her sister back.
-.-.-
Eliza's stomach began to rumble. From what she could tell by the outside light, it was late morning.
Every so often she tried to get to her feet. She even tried crawling to the door, with little success. It was torture, and she couldn't help but feel grateful at the small mercy that she had no need to go to the bathroom.
She was uncomfortable being somewhere unfamiliar, and knowing that thing could be in the same building, but the room itself was hardly terrifying. She let out a bored sigh.
She heard a faint click, and her eyes snapped to the door. The handle was slowly turning, and the fear was back in full force. She backed against the farthest wall, wishing it would engulf her.
The door slowly opened. Eliza could only stare dumbfounded.
It was a little girl, backing into the room seemingly to keep a watch out that no one had followed her. She couldn't be older than five. Her head was a mountain of curls that spilled down her back like a golden waterfall. She wore a little black and white dress which came just past her knees, white-laced socks around her ankles, and polished Mary Janes on her feet.
She carefully closed the door, still keeping a keen eye on the hallway until it snapped shut. She finally turned around. She stared wide-eyed at Eliza before snatching the door open and racing out of the room.
Eliza stared at the spot where the girl had been, thoroughly confused. But the door was open; she had expected it to be locked from the outside, and this was promising. Clearly at least one person didn't know she was there, wherever she was. She might be able to escape after all.
-.-.-
Troy sat with Maddie in the lounge as Hermione, Ron, and Sirius explained things to her. He couldn't help but admire how well she was taking it - he expected more tantrums and protests. But whatever Hermione had said changed something in her. She was silent, listening. He could almost hear her mind processing the information.
"And Death Eaters' children go to Hogwarts, as well?" Maddie asked.
Ron nodded. "They're all in Slytherin, so just stay away from them," he advised. "You can hang around with us, or in the Common Room. . .everyone says Hogwarts is safe, but like we said, there hasn't been a year without some sort of incident. And Malfoy's on the school board, so he could drop in at any time."
Troy leaned forward. "The Professor neglected to mention these incidents. That school is starting to sound more and more like a death trap."
"I know it doesn't sound good when you put it in that light," Sirius agreed, "but if any of those things had happened elsewhere, I doubt that most of us would still be alive. You'll only be a secret passage away from the school - not that you'll be using it, but should an emergency arise it is there. I still stand by Hogwarts being the safest place in the world right now."
"You just told me a student was killed last year!"
"That was off-campus."
Troy was about to reply about semantics when a ruckus at the doorstep alerted them to Harry's arrival.
Molly raced to open the door. "What's happened?" she shrieked, as Tonks helped Remus across the threshold. The rest of the Order members arrived looking little better, but Harry was with them all the same.
"Dementor attack," Tonks answered, leading Remus into the kitchen. "When we arrived, they were swarming the house."
"Harry was about to collapse, but he kept them back long enough." Remus smiled with pride at the dark-haired boy they could only assume was Harry. "I think it's fair to say the article was indeed to distract us. . .if Moody hadn't insisted we go ahead as planned, there would have been a very grim headline tomorrow."
Troy and Maddie stood in the background as friends and family reunited, both of them wishing that Eliza had come through the door too.
"You must be Troy and Maddie," Harry greeted, noticing them and holding out a hand. He looked positively exhausted, but smiled all the same. "They told me you were here on the way over." He informed.
Sirius kept Harry protectively close, looking happier than the pair had ever seen him. Everyone was rounded up and given chocolate; they couldn't understand why, but they didn't complain when they were offered a piece.
"Professor Snape will be here shortly, and then we should be ready to go," Molly informed, bustling around with the tray of chocolate. "Kids, make sure you have your book lists ready."
"I'm coming too," Sirius said. "I don't care if you have to put that infernal lead on me, I'm not letting Harry out of my sight."
"I'm sure he'll be quite safe now, I don't think they will attack Diagon Alley-"
"Not letting him out of my sight, Moony," Sirius repeated darkly.
There was a knock at the door, and Sirius's lip curled into a very dog like snarl.
"That will be him now with the potion," Molly announced, leaving the room.
"What potion?" Harry asked, glancing at Remus.
"Polyjuice," Severus replied in his cold voice as he entered. "I'm certain you remember that one, Potter."
"Nice job on the heads-up about the Dementors," Sirius said sarcastically. "Lucky Harry knew how to handle them."
"I can assure you, Black, I was not informed. You two, up," he ordered Troy and Maddie, who didn't dare disobey.
Molly handed him two glasses, into which he proceeded to pour the foul-looking potion before adding what looked like hair. He handed one glass to each. They stared at the potion, which was still bubbling like toxic waste.
Maddie made the mistake of taking a sniff. "Oh, God, what is this?" She held the glass at arm's length, her other hand covering her mouth and nose.
"Consider it your first Potions lesson," Severus replied.
"What does it do?" Troy asked, doing the same. Unlike his sister, he hadn't failed to notice that the adults had somewhat surrounded them.
"It will disguise you," said Tonks. "Don't worry, there is absolutely no risk of you being recognised this way."
"I'm sure makeup would work just as well," Maddie replied, looking thoroughly disgusted.
"We can stand here and talk about it, or you can drink it. Either way, neither of you are leaving until you have drunk it. All of it," Severus added, looking very intently at Maddie.
Maddie looked pleadingly at Troy, who was lost in what to do.
"There isn't any other way?" he asked, and Severus shook his head. "We'll do it together," he promised her reassuringly. "I bet it doesn't taste as bad as it looks."
"Wouldn't bet on it - Ow! 'Mione, no sense lying to them. . ." Ron muttered somewhere in the crowd.
Maddie fought back tears. "Oh, God, this is gross," she whimpered, bringing the glass closer as though it were a gun she had been handed to shoot herself with. "I don't think I can do this. . ."
On Troy's count, they both drank as much of the potion as they could. Whilst Moody examined the remains, Maddie made a dash to the sink - but Severus beat her to it and put a hand over her mouth.
"Swallow," he ordered, Maddie trying desperately not to. "The sooner you swallow, the sooner that this is all over with."
Maddie finally gave in, looking incredibly green. Snape released her as she coughed, trying to get the taste out of her mouth.
"What the hell is in that stuff?" Troy coughed.
"Best you don't know," Tonks replied. She watched the pair shrink, years being taken away from them.
Maddie, despite still feeling nauseated, burst into giggles at the sight of her 'older' brother. He'd gone from a tall, dark, and handsome man to a rather geeky-looking kid with shaggy light brown hair and a nose covered in freckles.
"What have you done to me?" he squeaked, staring at his reflection as Tonks handed him a mirror. He swam in clothes that a minute before fit him perfectly.
Maddie brought herself to look. Her dark hair was replaced with matching light brown locks and freckles, and she too had the face of an eleven or twelve-year-old. "Oh my," she commented, poking her face.
"You will now be known as Emily and David Smith," Tonks announced.
"If that will be all," Severus said, before leaving as silently as he came.
"Give me my body back!" Troy demanded. "I survived high school, I don't need to relive that again! I was promised I wouldn't have to go to Hogwarts!"
"Relax," Moody waved him off. "It'll wear off in an hour. Now the two of you, should anyone ask, are enrolled at Hogwarts, and Hermione is your cousin. Tonks won't be far away, though you most likely won't recognize her - and should you, don't make contact with her. Am I clear?"
"And clothes?" Troy asked irritably, holding out his arm in a sleeve where the tips of his fingers barely reached the elbow.
"Ah, yes." Moody waved his wand, and their clothes changed, shrinking to fit and becoming somewhat more age-appropriate. "Come along now, we're on a tight schedule." He ushered them out to Hermione and the Weasley children.
"This is too weird," Troy muttered, having to look up to make eye contact with any of them, so used to looking down. "So how do we get there?"
"We're cheating this year - as we have some significant time constraints," Molly echoed Mad-Eye, "you'll be traveling by Portkey." She opened a box. Inside was an old toy fire truck. All the wheels were missing, and so were a few windows.
"I don't even want to ask."
"Relax. All you need to do is touch it. On the count of three-" All the children arranged themselves so they could reach, holding hands. "And remember, don't let go. One. . .two. . .three!"
"Wait, what?"
But it was too late.
"Have you people not heard of cars?" Troy demanded, pulling himself to his feet. "Where the bloody hell are we?"
"Ohh. . ." Maddie groaned. "I really don't feel well. . .Shops!" Her eyes lit up. She grabbed Troy's arm and half-dragged him there.
Hermione followed them into Flourish and Blotts, and Troy went with her to the proprietor whilst Maddie excitedly scoured the shelves.
"Miss Granger!" the proprietor said happily. "I was beginning to wonder if something had happened to you. You're normally here the moment you get your list."
Hermione smiled. "It's been a busy summer," she replied, handing him the lists, including Troy's and Maddie's.
He eyed the lists, and raised a brow at her. "These are hardly a standard First Year's collection."
Hermione continued to smile, though it was somewhat less genuine. "They're my cousins, I just wanted to make sure they're prepared. . .I'm sure you've heard the rumours. . ."
He took another look at the lists, willing to buy Hermione's rather terrible lie. "I'll shrink them for you, it's the only way you'll carry them all. Welcome to the wizarding world," he said to Troy. "It will no doubt take some adjusting."
"Yes, sir," Troy replied, not daring to say anything else. "Maddie – I mean Emma… Emily…" He dashed off to find his sister and escape the awkwardness.
Hermione winced. So much for her lie.
"You take good care of those two," the proprietor whispered, handing her the charmed bags of shrunk books.
"Thank you." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, and hurried to round her 'cousins' up. "You're about the same size as me, so I'll pick you up a uniform whilst you two get your wands," she whispered to Maddie.
-.-.-
"I want an owl."
"You're not getting one."
"But Ron and Harry have one-"
"You don't need a pet."
"But everyone else has one!"
"It's a wild animal that carries diseases and does not belong in a cage."
"But-"
"Owls eat mice. Do you really want a bag of dead mice in your back pocket?"
"But Ron-"
"You two!" Hermione hissed.
The eleven-year-olds arguing in the middle of Eeylop's Owl Emporium pulled their eyes away from the owls to see the sales assistant looking somewhat perplexed.
"I'd like that one, please," Maddie said cheerfully, pointing at a handsome barn owl.
"You're not getting one," Troy hissed through gritted teeth.
"You're not my older brother right now," she whispered back, smiling broadly at the sales assistant.
"As twins, I could have easily been born first. You're not getting one and that's final."
-.-.-
Everyone regrouped at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, Maddie holding a large cage with a sleeping barn owl inside, and Troy looking less than impressed.
"I can't believe you made me do that," Hermione had whispered sharply after signing the authorisation. "You guilted me into it!"
"I can't believe you let her," Troy grumbled. "Who's the adult here?"
"Right now, not you!" Maddie smiled, making coochie noises at the owl and cooing over how cute he was. "Besides, I need something to cheer me up, and you yelled at me this morning. Isn't that right, Artemis?" She happily took her sundae when it was brought out.
"Don't slouch, David," Molly ordered Troy, who was still seething at Maddie. "Or you won't get any ice cream."
"Yeah, David." It was hard to believe Maddie could smile any more as she tucked into her lunch.
"This spell isn't permanent. Remember that," Troy replied irritably, then played the child and obeyed, sitting up straight.
Harry and Remus walked over to them, Harry holding Sirius's lead.
"Why do you have an owl?" Troy asked Remus suspiciously, who carried another cage.
"Padfoot insisted," Remus answered cheerily, placing the cage in front of him. It was nearly twice the size of Maddie's. "His choice. . .seemed to think you were an Eagle Owl person."
Troy buried his head in his arms, whimpering. "Nooo. . ." He looked up at the owl. "I want to be an adult again. . ."
"Don't be like that," Harry said. "Besides, you need one for post."
"Fine, I'll take a budgie, not something that can fly away with me. Isn't this hour nearly up?"
-.-.-
Eliza slowly slid her foot along the hardwood floor, gripping the bedpost to steady herself. So long as she held herself upright with her arms, she could move a little, but her legs still couldn't hold her full weight. Seriously regretting not having more upper body strength, she reached out to one of the chairs arranged around the fire. She took a deep breath, stretching her arm as far as she could. . .just a little bit further. . .
The hand holding the bedpost lost its grip and sent her crashing to the floor. She suppressed a cry as she jarred her elbow, sending pain all throughout her arm, and only allowed herself a sharp hiss through clenched teeth.
She panted slightly and reached for a leg of the chair to pull it closer. It was stuck. She continued to tug, but it seemed bolted in place. She gave a small frustrated cry.
"Come on, Eliza, you can do this," she muttered, giving the chair another tug. "Fuck." She sat against the bed and tried to come up with a new plan.
Footsteps jerked her back to reality. She quickly climbed onto the bed, and retreated to safety under the blankets.
"I've had enough of your stories," a voice said slowly, with carefully suppressed impatience. "Now it's time for you to practice-"
"But I saw her! I wheely did!"
"You do this every single time! I'm sick of it, now come on! See, there's no one. . ." A boy around Maddie's age pushed the door open, and stared at Eliza in shock.
"Seeee?" the little girl said excitedly, holding onto the shirt of who Eliza could only assume to be her brother. The shirt bore a sports banner for the 'Falmouth Falcons'; she had never heard of them.
The boy folded his arms and leaned against the doorway, a stance that seemed all too familiar. . .the same arrogant look, the same blonde hair. . .
"Oh, God, please no. . ." She held her head in her hands - she didn't need to wonder where she was anymore.
"Well, this explains a bit," the boy said, coming in. Eliza stared at the ceiling, wishing the floor would open up and swallow her. "Draco Malfoy," he introduced himself, holding out a hand.
Eliza stared at Draco, hardly in the mood for pleasantries. "Charmed," she said flatly.
He shrugged and pulled his hand back.
The little girl climbed onto the bed and practically sat on her lap. "I'm Arnica! And I'm fowr!" she announced, thrusting four fingers into Eliza's face close enough to poke out an eye. "Why are you in bed?"
Eliza looked at the door, and saw Lucius now standing there. "Good question," she replied.
"Draco, Arnica is supposed to be practicing her music," Lucius said, entering the room. Arnica quickly climbed off the bed.
"Yes, Father. . .come on." Draco grabbed his sister's hand and led her out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Eliza swallowed nervously as Lucius turned his attention to her.
"You know, I had been thinking you were just a simpering idiot, but now I know it," he said coldly, approaching. Even with children, he was as terrifying as ever. He pulled out a newspaper and threw it on her lap. "When did you talk to Rita?" he demanded, wand in hand.
Eliza glanced at the article. "You kidnap a coroner whose brother was mutilated, of course it's going to be reported," she replied, trying to ignore her steadily rising fear.
Lucius seemed to swell. "This isn't The Daily Telegraph, Eliza," he spat. "This is the Daily Prophet, the wizarding paper. Dumbledore's not nearly fool enough to announce that you and your family are alive after all these years. When did you talk to Rita Skeeter?"
"I don't know who you are talking about," Eliza said honestly, still not daring to meet his gaze.
"Rita Skeeter - blonde-haired pushy reporter who likes the colour green, when did you talk to her?" he demanded again.
"I don't know who or what you're talking about. I haven't spoken to any reporters; it's not my job to talk to them."
"I'll ask you again, when did you talk to her?" His frustration was building.
"I don't know who you are talking about. I don't know what you are talking about. All I know is that I can't stand, and that I'm stuck in this hellhole," Eliza snapped back, tears starting to form.
"Oh, I can arrange for it to be a hellhole, rest assured. Get used to it." He snatched the paper from her and stormed out, slamming the door loudly and leaving Eliza trembling in fear.
Draco found his father pacing angrily in his study. He glanced at the paper thrown on the desk, which showed an oversized picture of the woman upstairs and three other people who seemed to be related to her.
"This isn't-?"
"She is." Lucius went to the decanter and poured himself a generous drink.
"But doesn't that mean-?"
"It does."
"And I gather-?"
"She will," Lucius replied sharply.
"Well, I suppose Arnica will be happy," Draco commented, scanning the article as his father finished the glass and poured another. "So what happens now?"
Lucius finished his second glass. "We have a few days of damage control. Whilst the Minister believes that I had nothing to do with it, there may still be an investigation. Now we have wizards looking for her too, and you can bet that Dumbledore isn't going to let up, especially when the entire world now knows that Charles Van Raveien's children are alive," he spat, throwing his empty glass into the fire. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself.
Draco continued to read the article. "So she's a witch?" he asked, interested.
Lucius snorted "By birth only - she's absolutely clueless. Arnica knows more about magic than she does." There was a thump from the room above. Draco was about to ask when his father answered. "She's probably trying to stand again," he explained, slightly satisfied, and took the Daily Prophet from Draco's hands. He took another look at the photo. "Always sticking their wands where they don't belong," he muttered irritably, handing Draco the paper back. "No one is to know about her being here. If you breathe so much as a word, I will hand you over to the Dark Lord myself."
"Never crossed my mind," Draco said honestly. "But what do we do? Ignore her?"
"Now that Arnica's discovered her, that will be quite impossible. She'll be begging to see her."
"You don't think she will be a danger to her?" Draco asked with concern. "What if she uses her to escape?"
"The only people she will try to harm are myself and the Dark Lord. She may not know much about magic, but she is no fool - she has no idea where she is, and even if she did escape she couldn't explain any of this. Our only concern is keeping the Order and the Ministry from finding out anything through us; as of this point, very few Death Eaters know she is here, and it will be kept that way." Lucius took a seat, and then added thoughtfully, "Arnica and yourself could actually be quite useful. . ."
-.-.-
Despite the transformation of his body, it took another half hour for Troy's voice to return to its normal deep pitch. He kept casting Sirius and his sister dirty looks over the owl fiasco, and had more than one heated discussion about returning them, but the other wizards overruled him. So he sat alone, content for the time being to sulk in his room with his new owl. Naming it had been just as painful - everyone insisting that 'she' needed a name and giving suggestions, all of them ignoring the fact he didn't want one in the first place. In the end he settled with Titan just to shut them all up.
Hermione retreated to her own room with her books, whilst Ron and Harry played wizard chess and listened to stories of the 'Marauders'' adventures. Maddie too went to her room; under normal circumstances he would have been suspicious, but right now he was too annoyed at her.
Tonks stopped by briefly to inform him that she wanted to teach him a few spells after she finished work tomorrow. Troy lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. How had he gone from a position of respected authority to this?
Before magic, Maddie wouldn't have dared pull a stunt like that. He wondered how Eliza would cope with the same situation. Normally if she wanted to keep someone in check, she'd just start telling them about her work and about the sounds made when cracking a rib cage open. . .he allowed himself a small laugh at the memory that seemed so far away. God, he missed her. Even with the greater age difference between them, he'd always gotten along better with her than Corey. They shared a lot of the same interests, the same morbid humour, had worked in matching professions. . .
"Please be safe," he whispered, before letting sleep wash over him.
-.-.-
Janice knocked on the C.O.'s door. "Sir, I need to talk to you."
He sighed, setting aside the document he had been reading. "I've been expecting you."
Taking it as a hint, she jumped straight to the point. "You've worked with Eliza as long as any of us have, you saw how involved she was when she saw her brother's body, you have to know she couldn't have been involved-"
"Janice, it is out of our hands, it's up to Internal Affairs now. But even you have to admit, the evidence against her can't be ignored."
"It's all circumstantial!"
"That's what the lawyers say to get criminals off."
"But sir, I'm telling you this just doesn't fit. At the pub, she never ever would have taken off with a stranger, and even if she knew him she would have at least said goodbye. I don't think she left voluntarily."
"It was a bar full of police officers. One word and they would have been all over him. You're looking for something that just isn't there."
"What if he had her brother and sister hostage? She would do anything to keep them safe."
"And what about these supposed transfers to Australia? What about this cousin that doesn't exist?"
"I can't explain that, but she told me about Claire, she was telling me about childhood memories, and-"
"And the person doesn't exist, Janice, she deceived you. She deceived all of us. You have to accept this."
"You and I have worked with criminals our whole careers - we know she is innocent."
"Until we can get her side of the story, we only have the evidence to go off. And right now the evidence isn't good. If she was here to explain herself, that would be different-"
"And what if she's dead? Everyone's assuming she's run away, but why would she leave everything behind?"
"She works with law enforcement, she would know how to stage a kidnapping."
"You've already decided she's guilty!"
"I can't make the evidence change, Detective; do you really think I want to believe she's guilty? She's one of the best damned Medical Examiners I've ever worked with, and I pray to God that this is all some huge misunderstanding. But I can't change the evidence."
"And what does your gut tell you?" She looked at him pleadingly.
"That it's out of our hands. You're dismissed."
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and added me to their favourites.
-.-.-
Some people have voiced concerns over the lack of attention to Corey. It will be addressed in the next few chapters, so don't worry, I haven't forgotten him.
Before the question of Narcissa arises - I have thought about it long and hard, and come to the decision that she is staying dead as per the original story. I can't write her convincingly enough to do her character justice. I would like everyone to bear in mind that references to her will be OOC, because the original story was written before we saw more of her and discovered that she wasn't all that 'bad'. At the time I believed her to have little to no interest in her husband or kid(s), as she was never seen with them, and so I assumed that he was only in the relationship out of an arrangement and for the money.
Please let me know what you think of the chapter, and I hope you will all continue to enjoy the story.