Sleepers: Muggleborns who didn't except their Hogwarts letters.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
VVVVV
Potter looked confused. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. He cocked his head to the right, straightened it, put his hands on his hips, scratched at the side of head, and then finally found words.
"I'm confused," he said.
"Aren't you Death Eaters?" Granger asked.
"Yes, we are," Lucius replied.
"Then what the hell?" Potter exclaimed pointing down to the unconscious McNair. "What's with the Benedict Arnold?"
"Wow," Granger said, sounding sarcastically surprised. "Where did you pull that reference from?"
"I remember some of the lessons from primary school," Potter told her and then looked at Lucius with an expectant expression. But Granger interrupted again.
"Can we please have this conversation to-go?" she asked. "The Ministry of Magic will probably send someone to investigate all the under-aged Magic in the area and I really don't want to be expelled."
"Sure," Potter replied and the two of them immediately began walking away from the crash site and into the dense woods sitting just beside the motorway. Lucius and Greyback followed with some reluctance. They walked a quarter of a kilometer in silence before Potter suddenly stopped.
"I'm not going any further until I get answers," he said. "And not Dumbledore-like answers that aren't really answers but real answers. So give me answers."
"The situation is...complicated, Potter," Lucius said. Potter rolled his eyes.
"That's not a real answer," he snapped. "I want a reaaaal answer." Granger rolled her own eyes at the extended vowel but didn't say anything. She seemed content to sit and watch. The two Death Eaters heard noises from where the crash had occurred. It sounded like a constant wailing and it made Lucius nervous to think that Muggle authorities were so close. But he still had his wand in his hand and that was all the comfort he would likely receive in this chaos.
"He's gone insane," Greyback finally said. Lucius knew exactly what the werewolf was talking about but Potter continued looking confused.
"Who?" the boy asked. "And if you say me I swear I'll punch you in your face."
"The Dark Lord," Lucius responded quickly before the boy could go off on a long winded tangent that would ultimately get them nowhere.
"Well, duh," Potter replied, a sour look on his face. "I could have told you that numbskull."
"Potter," Greyback snapped and both young Gryffindors seemed to snap to attention at the sudden and deep harshness in his voice. "The Dark Lord ordered me to kill half of my pack. He ordered Lucius to hand over his son. We both can only avoid those kinds of orders for so long. We need your help."
The blatant honesty and confession seemed to stun Potter into silence. Lucius made a note of that. Potter couldn't be thrown off by lies and manipulation but a heartfelt confession from an old enemy floored him.
"Why would he order you to kill your own pack members?" Granger asked hesitantly. She didn't bother asking why the Dark Lord would want Draco. That answer was fairly obvious, even to Potter.
"I have Muggles in my pack," Greyback replied. "The moon may not care for such discriminations but the Dark Lord does. This has gone too far."
"I agree," Potter said, finally finding his tongue. "Lord What's-his-name has lived for too long!" He suddenly straitened his back and pointed in a seemingly random direction. "To Willow Point!" He took a total of five steps before Granger called out.
"It's the other way Harry," she said. He turned on the spot and marched back the way he'd come.
"I knew that," he said.
"No you didn't," Granger told him with an amused smirk planted firmly on her face.
VVVVV
The half day's walk allowed them to talk for the first time since the whole escapade began.
Lucius told Potter and Granger of what was happening at Malfoy Manor. He told them of the curses, of the demands, of the Muggles who had been discretely kidnapped, tortured, and killed. Finally, he told them of the Dark Lord's sudden request to Mark Draco by the end of the year and how the gentle suggestion had quickly turned into an undeniable order. To deny was to die, as the Death Eaters had begun to say.
Then Greyback told them of the order to kill all Muggle and Muggleborn werewolves immediately. The werewolf had managed to postpone the order, even to ignore it for the most part, until a particularly vindictive enemy had thrown the Werewolf Underground under the bus as it were. The alpha was now trying to find a way to save not only his own life but those of his people as well. And the entire werewolf culture hung in the balance with that fight.
It was becoming plainly obvious to even the most dense of Death Eaters that the Dark Lord had lost his mind. He was not the man they remembered and spending so long as nothing but a barely living, bodiless spirit had left him without even a semblance of reality. He was moody, violent, and neurotic. His followers were losing faith.
"So basically," Granger said after a full five minutes of simply thinking of what they had told them. "Now is the time when his own people start to turn against him."
"Yes," Lucius replied. "All expect the most loyal. The Lestranges, McNair, possibly the Goyles. Everyone else is either beginning to pull out or keeping their options open on the off chance that he actually succeeds in his endeavor to conquer Magical Britain. I have my doubts at this point."
"I don't think the insanity your describing is completely due to the disembodiment," Potter said. Lucius was surprised that Potter could have such a serious interpretation of the events that the two traitors had described. "I think it's more from desperation. No serious Dark Wizard or Witch wants to serve a dude that couldn't match the power of a toddler. It's embarrassing and now he's overcompensating. He could be Napoleon if he were a midget."
"Napoleon wasn't a midget Harry," Granger said. "He was just on the short side of average. And the French aren't really known for their towering height anyway."
"Nope," Potter agreed in a chipper tone. "They're known for kissing, cheese, and socialism."
"Do you two ever focus?" Greyback asked, sounding put out.
"Sometimes," the two replied at the same time.
"We're best friends," Granger said as if that were to explain everything. In a way it did. Best friends weren't always the most productive when they were together. "Besides, you know what they say about the attention span of a Gryffindor."
"You mean that it's the only thing smaller than their lifespan?" Lucius asked recalling the old joke from his own school days.
"Exactly," Potter replied. "Now imagine all of the Gryffindors in one place, at one time. I'm surprised any of us pass first year."
"Believe me," Lucius said with a rather blank tone. "So am I."
"Back to the matter at hand," Greyback snapped. "What exactly is Willow Point?"
"Ever hear of Silent Hill," Potter asked.
"No," both Death Eaters replied.
"Oh, well it's a video game. And a movie but it was game before it was a movie so technically-"
"It's a story about a girl," Granger interrupted, "that was burned alive for being a witch and then dragged her torturers into a limbo-like hell. Remember the Hunters?" Both men nodded. "Well, whenever they catch a Witch or Wizard they burn them. They believe that by burning the flesh they can cleanse the soul of the person and wash away the touch of the devil. It's a load of crap and they're completely insane but they're good enough at what they do for us to be on the lookout."
"Willow Point is a place Muggleborns, Squibs, and any other person in need can go to be safe," Potter said. "It's really just an old Inn with some anti-Muggle wards around it. Nothing that would keep out a Wizard. People without Magic can go in if they have permission."
"So that's where we're going?" Lucius asked.
"Yes," Potter replied. "There's no Magic on the place that will make you shut up about Willow Point but I do have to ask you to shut up about Willow Point. It's safer as a big secret."
"Of course," Lucius said but refrained from promising silence. Greyback said nothing. Lucius caught the calculating look from Granger.
"You're probably not going to be all that safe at Willow Point," she replied. "The place is run by Muggleborns, many of them Sleepers, and they have no interest in being around a Death Eater. And a Slytherin Death Eater at that. Stay sharp if you don't want to be stabbed in the neck or pulled aside and beaten up."
"Thanks for the warning," Lucius said blankly, suddenly regretting his actions from a few hours before.
"Potter," Greyback said after a few moments of silence. "I've been wondering about your relatives."
"What about them?" the teen asked.
"Did they really just abandon you or did you send them away?"
"A little of both I guess," Potter replied. "I don't really want to talk about them right now. They aren't that important. If you really want to know about it all, you can read my book."
"You have a book?" Lucius asked, thoroughly surprised. If Potter had written a book it would have been all over the papers. Why hadn't he heard about it?
"Yes, I do," Potter said.
"It's not very accurate," Granger cut in.
"It is too," Potter replied, annoyed. To Lucius and Greyback he said, "It's called 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. It was only published in the Muggle world as a fictional book and under a penname. It goes through the events of my first year at Hogwarts. I'm still working on the one for my second year. Oh! You're in that one!"
Lucius didn't want to be reminded of that year.
"Don't read the book," Granger said. "It reads like a grand adventure. It's listed in the fiction section and it belongs in the fiction section."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Potter asked, sounding offended.
"It means that you make it sound as if we stumbled on the answer out of pure luck," she snapped. "You also made Hagrid sound as if he can't keep his mouth shut."
"He can't," Potter said. "He's too nice and naive. And nobody wants to read about the meticulous research and all nighters we pulled trying to pass classes and solve an unsolvable mystery. The details aren't nearly as fascinating as what I wrote."
"But it wasn't true," Granger insisted. "We spent six months doing nothing but checking alibis, researching magical artifacts with restorative powers, and doing surveillance on both Snape and Quirell."
Lucius was actually impressed by the stubbornness three Gryffindor first years could show in trying to defeat an enemy. But it did sound like a boring story to anyone who wasn't a Ravenclaw or Slytherin.
"You know what Hermione," Potter said. "Sometimes people just want to be entertained, not informed. Besides everyone who matters knows the truth and my relationship with my relatives was completely accurate."
"I still say the book's a load of crap."
"Just for that," Potter snapped, "I'm going to put you in the Hospital Wing for a few weeks with a cat face."
"Whatever!" Granger snapped and then walked further up the woodland path that they were following. She was clearly angry in that way only a woman could be. Lucius could tell that Potter was in trouble.
VVVVV
Willow Point was a rundown looking building that had once been off a main road. Clearly the town hadn't been a main point on any map for a long time. Now the road was full of potholes, the yard was overrun with weeds and rusting metal parts, and the outside of the old Victorian style Inn was crumbling and weather worn.
Lucius could feel the Magic humming around the Willow Point Inn. It wouldn't keep him out. It would not even keep out an untrained Wizard or Witch. It would only keep out those Muggle witch hunters. The ones they were running from. Lucius hated the idea that he was reduced to asking for the help of fifteen year olds and running from Muggles in a panic. This was not the life he had envisioned for himself.
"We'll be safe here?" Greyback asked.
"For the time being," Potter replied. "I still have to get you two to Papa Odie. He's the one that can keep your family and Pack safe."
"Once we get an update on the Hunters we'll leave," Granger said. "We'll only be here a day. Maybe two, tops."
Lucius simply nodded. He could handle a day or two in this place. He followed the two teens out of the woods, across the lawn, up onto the rickety porch, and into the Inn. The inside was nearly as rundown as the outside was. It was dark, dusty, and if Lucius wasn't a wizard he would have called it haunted.
"Hello?" Potter called out. The foyer echoed back the call. They waited for only a moment before another boy appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Hello Harry, Hermione," he greeted pleasantly despite the fact that his clothes and face were dirty; he looked haggard. He'd clearly been in a fight.
"Hello Dean," Granger greeted just as pleasantly. "Run into the Hunters then?"
"Yes," Dean said. Neither party had yet to move. "They caught us as we fled the neighborhood. There's something you should know before you pass the entry wards."
"What?" Potter asked.
"Headmaster Dumbledore is here," Dean said and Lucius repressed the urge to Apparate away immediately. "He beat you here by half an hour."
"What does he want?" Potter asked, sounding a little short.
"He was concerned about the sudden spikes in under-aged Magic. They popped up all over the country. Apparently, the Hunters have managed to corner several Muggleborns, most of them trained."
"And what does he expect to do about it?" Potter asked, still sounding short. "He's never interfered in the Muggleborn fight before."
"I wouldn't know," Dean replied. "He's talking to Inspector Reyna and several permanent boarders. They're waiting for the two of you."
"Us?" Granger asked.
"Yeah," Dean said. "You two better get in there. The talk is getting nasty."
"What's going on?" Greyback asked.
"They know about you," Granger said. "They're discussing what to do with you. Don't worry. You only need a few good words."
"Yeah," Potter said. "Good luck with that. Stay here. Don't move, don't talk to anyone, and try not to breathe too loud."
With that the two teens went up the stairs and disappeared. The other teen-Dean-simply looked at them for a moment and then he too disappeared down the hall.
They were alone.