The Reveal

"That's your grandfather? I thought you said he was in the hospital!" Scorpius yelled and pulled Basil behind him.

"He was!" Basil gasped and kept her eyes on Arnold Sweets.

He was laughing maniacally and walking closer to them; his wand was raised and with one movement, Basil and Scorpius were pinned to the wall. Arnold finally stopped laughing and placed his wand in his pocket, only stepping a foot closer to the two.

"Grandpa, why? How?" Basil cried and struggled to move off the wall.

"Oh my dear Basil, so ignorant, so naïve. I'm surprised you even found your way down here." Arnold heckled and smiled like a mad man.

"But why? You were sick and you said you'd never did this." Basil pleaded as her eyes watered.

"The Ministry is an awful government; everything ran much better under Voldermort's rule-without the muggle-born issue. I wanted to eliminate all the unworthy employees and replace them with stricter enforcers-"

"You mean tyrants?" Scorpius sassed.

Sweets gave Scorpius a look and moved his wand in a line. This caused Scorpius to be whipped with some invisible force that left a bleeding line on his face. Basil screamed in horror and Scorpius hissed as the blood ran down his face.

"Hush! I want our government to get rid of soft people. We live in a structure made from marshmallows; it took a lift of the finger to bring the whole Ministry to fall down. Now for the sickness…I used an old friend of mine: Xavier Aguirre-brother of Charles Aguirre, your teacher- he was very happy when I asked him to take the Polyjuice potion to look like me while I was away." Sweets paused and stared straight at Basil.

Basil was currently sick to her stomach, her head was spinning, and she felt as if her world had just crashed around her to a sick, sick reality. It wasn't Aguirre…I feel so awful. Basil felt tears sting her eyes and struggled again to be free.

"Crying? Because you're a failure of course. Your parents didn't even notice I had changed and became so sickly; because Xavier is dying you know. You asked how, correct? Well it wasn't hard. My Animagus is an owl; it wasn't hard to follow the train here and hide in the Owlery." Sweet laughed and turned his back on the two.

"So you broke into Ministry-"

"No that was Aguirre."

"So Aguirre broke into the Ministry and gave us back our magic. He also stole back the keys that opened these passages." Basil clarified and relaxed against the wall. Her strength was weakening as all the blood was rushing in and out of her head.

"These passages were made when they were building the school. They locked them away with only three remaining keys to open these passages. Luckily, we're the ancestors of the original builders and the keys were passed down to us as gifts. Foolish people, it makes my job so much easier to wipe out all the Ministry members." Sweets cackled.

"You're going to make them surrender and offer to bring their children back to life?" Basil questioned. She struggled against the invisible force.

"Yes, finally smart are you? I've been following you for this entire year, you know? You and Anna, trying so hard to prove I'm innocent! So touching, but you're dumber than you look." These bounced off Basil without a flinch or a frown. "Anna finally figured everything out. I always had high hopes from that girl; she taught you everything about magic when you two were kids. Too bad she's dying tonight."

Basil gasped and her eyes finally let tears break over her face. Sweets laughed at his granddaughter; finding it funny that she felt so horribly over Anna probably. Scorpius was watching in horror, his face had finally stopped bleeding, and he tried to find something to say but couldn't.

"I must go find Anna now. I'll come back for you two." Sweets left to the other side of the room.

An opening appeared on the wall and Arnold left as soon as it did; this was the opposite side of where Albus was a stuck. Basil could not move from the wall, she felt as if ropes were holding her, she wiggled and moved as much as possible, but she couldn't budge.

"I'm so sorry Basil, I didn't know. If I knew what you were dong, I wouldn't have been so mean. It was Peter you know. He hates you for no reason. I actually-never mind. If we get out of here, I'll apologize to the whole Potter-Weasley family." Scorpius went on and on and struggled.

"Scorpius! You seem to talk a lot when you're scared. We just need you to use a spell to dislodge us from the wall." Basil assured and looked to her blond friend.

"I can't, my wand is on the ground." Basil looked and his wand was dropped from where they stood before. "You have your wand though."

"I can't. I don't know how to do a simple spell. I don't deserve this gift-"

"No! Basil you went through enough this year, you deserve every bloody gift you have. Now get us off this wall!" Scorpius shot back and gazed at Basil's hand.

"But what if-"

"Basil! I promise if you get us off this wall I'll always be civil with everyone."

"Still-"

"Think of Anna! She's going to be dead if we don't get ourselves out of here!" Scorpius yelled. Basil flinched and went for the wand.

Basil did have her wand in her hand, ready to strike, but she thought she could never muster enough confidence to do anything. Scorpius was staring with intense eyes, watching every movement, hoping for Basil to make her move. Basil didn't know what to do or what spell to use though. Here goes nothing. Basil thought gravely and flicked her wrist. The invisible ropes that held them snapped and fell to the ground.

"I knew you could do it!" Scorpius congratulated.

Scorpius seemed to go for a hug but Basil glanced awkwardly when he went to reach out for her. After both of them returned embarrassed looks and red faces, both of them jumped to their feet and went for the door that held Albus behind it. Scorpius swung open the door to reveal Albus, almost free, and he seemed glad to see them. Basil hurriedly told them what had happened and scratched away the remaining moss from Albus's shoes.

"You mean he was behind it the whole time? I can't believe this!" Albus shouted and brushed off the plant from his jacket.

"He's after Winchester now." Scorpius reminded.

Albus's eyes grew as big as saucers and fiery with rage. It didn't take long for Albus to make a sentence of curses and spring away from them to find the exit. Basil and Scorpius followed, quickly growing tired, and stopped to catch their breath.

"Anna is in trouble! Come on!" Albus barked and slammed his hand against the wall.

Basil couldn't reason with Albus when he was angry; his eyes were blazing, his face was bright red, and his punched every wall around him. Scorpius didn't try either, mainly because he didn't want to start a fight with Potter.

"There has to be another way out!" Scorpius gasped and fell to his knees. His breathing was uneasy.

"Well, Basil, you have a try at it. You seem to be the chosen one." Albus laughed bitterly.

"I'm not a 'chosen one'." Basil spat and spun around.

Basil analyzed the interior of the passage, it seemed like solid stone, but from what she saw from her grandfather, there must be a trick. There are doors everywhere. Basil reminded herself and placed her hand on the wall in front of them; groping it for any signs of an opening or a door. Open…open! Basil gazed down at the key in her hand and back at the wall, the key...it has my name on it. Work for me! Basil pounded on the wall and it made a giant Pop. Scorpius and Albus jumped back and watched the wall swing open and turn into a door.

"How'd you do that?" Albus panted and crossed the threshold.

"Doesn't matter, let's go save Anna." Basil shot back. She didn't know herself but it really didn't matter right now. All that mattered was finding Anna and beating her own grandfather, Arnold Sweets.