Disclaimer to JK Rowling

Chapter Five: Deep in the Dust and Dark

Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed.
But what if I fail of my purpose here?
It is but to keep the nerves at strain,
To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
And, baffled, get up and begin again.

Robert Browning from Life in a Bottle

"You got a cat."

The four words seemed to tumble out of Lacie's mouth and no sooner had she said them and seen Hermione's crestfallen face, she wanted to cram them back into her mouth. She had not meant to sound so blunt, or so matter of fact and she certainly had not meant to hurt Hermione's feelings. Lacie elbowed her sniggering brother and shot a dark look towards Ron and Harry, who were watching with slight bemusement. All notions that the cat had been trying to consume Ron's rat had gone.

"What's wrong with a cat?"

Lacie winced internally, trying to think of a nice way to put how she felt. She looked at her brother, who sensed her discomfort and gave her a knowing smile.

"Lacie hates animals," Draco supplied and Lacie winced even further. He did not have to phrase it quite like that.

Hermione cocked her head, "No she doesn't."

"Didn't you notice she's the only one out of us who isn't taking Care of Magical Creatures?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes at Hermione whilst trying too hard not to smile.

"That's because she doesn't want to take the subject… she had an owl, for Merlin's sake."

Lacie looked to Draco for help again but he only looked at her and shrugged, unable to counter Hermione's reasoning. Even he did not understand her aversion to animals.

"Draco is exaggerating, to say I hate animals is…"

"An exaggeration?" Ron interrupted with a hint of glee, probably because Lacie was getting tongue-tied and was completely frazzled at the thought that she had to tell her best friend that she detested the thing she was clutching like a baby in her arms.

"I like… owls," Lacie said rather pathetically. "But, owls are practical pet to have! They live in an Owlery, they hunt for themselves and they also deliver your post. What are you supposed to do with a cat?"

Hermione frowned at her before stroking the animal, "You are supposed to love him and look after him, come on Lacie, was there nothing in your life you absolutely adored unconditionally?"

Lacie thought about it for a moment and blushed before saying, "Draco, I suppose… and ballet shoes… but they have some sort of purpose… and, well, cats…"

Hermione looked sadly at her friend but still held the cat tightly in her arms. It was truly an ugly creature, but its squashed in face seemed to be enjoying being in Hermione's arms as it purred. Lacie resisted a shudder.

"Oh, did Hermione mention it is living in your dormitory with you?" Ron asked Lacie.

Was the boy not complaining only minutes before that the animal was living in the same space as his beloved rat?

She did not want to upset Hermione. Although they had spent most of the summer together, they had been separated for a week when Hermione's parents had flown over to France to pick her up before the end of the holidays. Lacie had irrationally missed her terribly in that time. They had met up today, and had had such a great time away from her mother and Draco. Lacie had whimpered and laughed as the shopkeeper at Flourish and Blotts retrieved and tied up an aggressive book for Hermione's Care of Magical Creatures class, along with the many others for all the subjects she was taking. When they had dropped off the stacks of school supplies in their room in the Leaky Cauldron, they had wandered out in the bustling street. They ignored the large wanted posters for Sirius Black that seemed to be plastered to every pillar, and had found Harry and Ron eating their way through two huge sundaes.

That was when Hermione had had the marvellous plan to visit the menagerie and get herself a pet for her birthday, although at the time, she had wanted an owl. Hermione had left with Ron, as his rat was significantly less chubby than it had been the previous year and he wondered if there was a cure for it. Lacie had always hated the thing, but even she felt a bit sorry for Ron. He loved that animal, and it was clear that it was on its last legs and he was determined to find a magical cure to delay the inevitable. Not wanting to visit the menagerie, Lacie let Harry drag her to the Quality Quidditch Supplies to stare at something in the window. In the crowd around the shop, Draco had appeared and exchanged a quick greeting with Lacie, whilst ignoring Harry and she was surprised to see her brother carrying almost as many books as Hermione had been. Before she could ask him how many subjects he was taking though, Hermione had appeared with the thing in her arms and was bickering with Ron, which is where they were now.

"…Fantastic," was Lacie's only reply. She only hoped that it would not shred anything of hers to pieces.

"Hello, friends," a cheery voice said behind Lacie, and she turned to find Theodore Nott and almost jumped into his arms to veer the conversation away from the cat. Theo smirked at the cat in Hermione's arms but did not say anything.

"How was your summer, Lace?" he asked.

"Incredible," Lacie replied with a grin as she remembered her lazy days under the Mediterranean sun, and she only hoped that every holiday would be like the last. "Yours?"

"Well, it remarkably improved after Draco stopped visiting," Theo said with a grin before slapping a glowering Draco on the back, almost knocking the books out of his grasp. Theo turned his attention to his friend.

"Some of us are having some tea, if you wanted to join," he said before turning to the rest of the group with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "It is Slytherins only, although Lace, you will always be an honorary Slytherin to me if you wanted to join us."

"No, thank you," Lacie said, as the rest of her friends suddenly found the ground an interesting place to stare at.

"We should go, before Vince or Greg orders for us and we end up with tea and cakes that do not compliment each other," Draco said shortly, "I will meet up with you and Mother later, Lacie."

Lacie nodded.

"Nice cat, by the way," Theo said to Hermione, before pointedly looking at Lacie. Draco snickered under his breath before they disappeared amongst the throng of last-minute shoppers.

"Prick," Ron muttered, it seemed that his language was as colourful as it had been when Lacie had last saw him, and mimicked Draco's words about tea and cake. She ignored him and asked her friends if they had anything else to purchase, and when everyone admitted that they were done for the day, they returned to the Leaky Cauldron.

Whilst Hermione struggled to get her cat in a cat carrier and take it to the room that she and Lacie were staying in, Ron and Harry walked over to the bar where Mrs Weasley was stood. Lacie stood awkwardly away from everyone else, as she was not familiar with Ron's family members at all and she cast a smile at Ginny Weasley. The redhead blushed and hid behind a Quidditch catalogue. Lacie's eyes wandered across the Leaky Cauldron and could see Percy Weasley and a man that Lacie assumed was their father. It was hard to ignore the shiny new badge that pinned onto Percy's robes. He noticed her and offered a curt nod.

"I guess all that hard work watching me over the past two years paid off," Lacie said, as she reached Weasley and flicked his badge. He glowered at her and puffed his chest out fractionally.

"Yes, well, fortunately this year I have more important tasks to conduct than to chase you around the castle," he replied dryly and then deflated slightly as he caught sight of his father, "Although, I am wholly grateful that you slipped past me though to get to the Chamber of Secrets to - …"

Lacie held her hand up to stop him from speaking, as she did not want to talk about it. She knew that he wanted to thank her for her involvement in saving his sister, but she was fine without the sentiment.

She had gone the entire holiday without talking about what had exactly happened in the Chamber of Secrets, and her hand raised subconsciously to the bald spot that was on her head from the healed burn that Riddle had put there. She had only told the story once, and that was to Hermione, after her best friend had been woken up and she had recounted it so clinically that she was sure that she had not felt a single thing about what had really happened.

It was true that her summer had been incredible, but no amount of lazing by pools and laying in the sun could stop the nightmares from coming. She could hear his voice even now, and how he had mocked her, and made her spin on her feet as if she was trapped in a jewellery box. She could feel her lungs burning as she struggled for air in the deep, cold water. It had taken her a while to want to even dance again, but realising that it was the one thing that was most likely to allow her to forget what had happened in the Chamber, she threw herself into it. She wanted to kill Draco for his little trick earlier than summer, but he had seemed so genuinely apologetic about it that she quickly forgot about it. She had not even spoken properly to her mother about it, and as absent as her mother had been during her summer she did not want to add to the list of her mother's problems.

She was glad that at that precise moment, Fred and George Weasley barged their way into the Leaky Cauldron, and the sounds of Mrs Weasley clucking over her twins was enough to distract Percy from continuing his sentence. Both of the Weasley men in front of her joined the matriarch as the twins shouted at their mother.

The back door of the Leaky Cauldron opened again and Narcissa Malfoy appeared with a tall bespectacled man that Lacie had never met before. Her mother glided across the Leaky Cauldron towards her daughter, and attracted the attention of its patrons. The women in groups huddled together and furiously whispered to one another. Even Mrs Weasley paused her lecture to her sons to gawk at Lacie's mother. Narcissa Malfoy only smiled and walked towards her daughter.

"Amos' son is more than happy to be your piano teacher," Mother simply said before ordering herself a tea at the bar, and a drink for her friend. "I have purchased all of the necessary materials for you."

Lacie peered at the thin bag that her mother was carrying. She had thought that it had been stationary for Draco, but upon realisation of what it really was, Lacie frowned.

"Piano lessons?"

"Oh, Lacerta, you were always so good at it and then you gave it all up," her mother said, before gently touching the man that Lacie assumed was Amos, on the arm. "She was the most beautiful pianist; I could simply listen to her all day, oh and Draco was an excellent violinist - the two were a perfect duo."

"You have some talented children, Narcissa," the man replied with a smile.

Lacie crossed her arms and interrupted their conversation, "Why are you pushing for me to have lessons? You know I hated it."

"Well, maybe Amos' son will be able to reinvigorate your passion for it."

Her mother gave her an all-knowing smile before paying for the drinks. Mr Weasley stumbled over towards them and greeted her mother's friend.

"Amos! What brings you to London today? I thought you had done all of your shopping for Cedric already."

"I was having a spot of lunch with my friend Narcissa, here, I'm sure you've -…"

"Briefly," Mr Weasley said coolly, glancing over at Lacie's mother for a moment before returning his gaze back to Amos, "Have you known each other long?"

Amos looked at her mother, as if he was struggling to remember where their friendship began, but Lacie had been taught by her mother to read facial expressions and tells, and she could clearly tell that he was looking at her mother tentatively, as if asking her to respond. Lacie wanted to know what the secret was, and how they seemed to suddenly know each other. Lacie had never met the man before, and she did not know her Mother consorted with men like that. The men that her parents usually invited to parties had the same dour look and tailored robes. This man had neither.

"Ministry parties," her mother said smoothly, "When you attend so many, you make friends outside of your friendship group. Amos has always regaled Lucius and I with the most entertaining stories."

At the sound of her father's name, Mr Weasley paled and Lacie was sure he had clenched his jaw.

"And how is Lucius?"

"I would not know, as he and I have been separated for several months. What he did was unforgivable, and not only did he put your child at risk, he put my children and my daughter's best friend at tremendous risk. Mr Weasley, you must know that a mother's love is formidable."

"Indeed it is," Mrs Weasley had clearly been eavesdropping on the conversation, and came walking over, "It must have been difficult to leave your husband as you did."

Her mother gave the much shorter woman a nod, and motioned towards Lacie. Lacie walked to her mother, and the woman placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We should be going," she said to Mrs Weasley, "Busy day tomorrow."

Lacie had expected the other woman to nod, and bid them farewell before chattering to her husband about the encounter with Lacie's mother. She would also not put it past the woman to mutter something to her sons about how being a pureblood does not mean you have to exude class and the Malfoy family were too representative of the old ways. She did not expect an invitation to join them for dinner, as their children were all friends and she had never formally thanked Lacie for her involvement in finding and 'saving' her youngest daughter in May.

She also never thought that her mother would also agree to it.

x-x-x-x-x

Dinner with the Weasleys was a strained affair. Mother graced one end of the table, and was flanked by her two children, but as no one really got on with Draco, Hermione sat in between him and Fred so the twins would not prank him throughout dinner. Lacie was sat next to Harry, who seemed to watch on with great amusement. Lacie watched as Arthur Weasley ate his dinner meekly whilst monitoring the interactions between the two matriarchs at each end of the dinner table. Lacie was more interested in watching Hermione and Draco fervently whispering on the other side of the table, and Lacie only wished she would hear what they were muttering to each other about.

She was surprised that they were still being friendly. One of the conditions for Draco to remain in the villa in France was to act as if Hermione was his friend, and if there was the slightest of indications that she wanted to leave, Draco was to go. It had shocked Lacie to see Draco concede to it, and once back in England, to continue with it. There was an ease to how they were conversing that relieved her. Maybe for once her best friend and her brother would be able to get along at Hogwarts. If not, they always had their little bet.

One could dream, at least.

"Hermione, Ronald tells me that you scored perfectly in your end-of-year evaluation, and that you've chosen to do all of the extra third-year subjects," Percy said, interrupting their conversation. Hermione looked away from Draco to the elder Weasley brother.

"Er… yes," Hermione replied. "They all seemed so interesting, and I couldn't pick between them."

Ron snickered, "That was probably the most Hermione thing you've ever said."

Lacie rolled her eyes, and had she been sat next to Ron, she probably would have stamped on his foot, Mother's approval or not. Harry chuckled, and Lacie nudged him. Hermione had flushed a deep shade of red.

"I do not see what was so amusing about that thought that you had to speak it aloud."

The dinner table went quiet, and Lacie shot a glare at the person sitting across from her, who looked deep in thought, but he continued, "Surely everything that Hermione says, by virtue of it being from Hermione, would undoubtedly sound like her?"

Lacie was more surprised that he had addressed Hermione by her first name in front of her friends than the fact he had chosen to pick a fight with Ron. Ron seemed dumbfounded as to what to say next. It was rare that Ron had not thought of his actions and their consequences, maybe the joke had been one too good to pass up to think it through properly or there had been some unprecedented variable that had occurred he had not factored in. Lacie certainly had not expected Draco to stand up for her best friend.

"Draco," Mother started to warn her only son.

"But, Mother, it was one of the dumbest things I have ever heard…"

"Like you're much smarter, how many extra subjects are you taking anyway?" Ron questioned, cutting him short. His expression had moved from gormless to angry in the space of a few seconds. His own mother then chided him, and the boy went pink.

Draco raised an eyebrow at him before saying rather nonchalantly, "Four."

Again, Ron did not know how to react, and neither did Lacie.

"That is one more than I am!" Lacie exclaimed across the table, to which Mother tutted at her, and reminded her to remember her manners at the dinner table. Lacie stopped herself short before she could tell her mother exactly what she thought of her precious manners.

Draco regarded her for a moment before saying rather smugly, "Well, they do say that I am the smarter twin."

"No one says that," Lacie may have said with an inkling of composure but she was anything but composed. Inside she was bubbling with irritation. He had done it on purpose, knowing that he would be touted at the cleverer twin, and that was something that absolutely could not happen. Lacie's hands clenched around her cutlery as Draco looked at her with a smug look.

"Children," their mother warned. Lacie and her brother shot their mother matching glowers. Mother ignored them and stared straight ahead at Mrs Weasley and sighed.

"Twins," she simply said with an air of exasperation.

"I know the feeling," the other woman replied with a smile.

One of the Weasley twins frowned at their mother, and the other asked how they were getting to King's Cross in an attempt to change the subject.

"The Ministry are sending some cars over in the morning."

"Why?" Percy asked, his attention piquing.

Mr Weasley looked shiftily at his wife, and his ears reddened. Lacie noted that it was a similar trait owned by his youngest son, and he was clearly thinking of a cover story for the reason why the Minstry were providing cars.

"I called a favour," Mother suddenly said.

Everyone turned to look at her as she added, "It would have been cacophony having us all on that… is it the Tube? Well, dear Cornelius was more than willing to loan me a several Ministry cars and I extended the invitation before dinner."

It was a story that seemed plausible to everyone else as they carried on eating their dinner and meaningless chatter began again around the table, but Lacie was not like everyone else. It was the second time that her mother was wearing a mask that day, as if she was concealing her real emotions and thoughts. Lacie wondered as she ate her way through her dessert what secrets her mother was keeping, and why she was so quick to explain everything. Lacie looked over at the Weasley parents and saw that they looked uneasy.

What is going on?

Lacie felt a hand upon her own, and saw her mother regard her for a moment before saying, "I would not look too deep into things."

Why? What were they all hiding?

x-x-x-x-x

"But… that is impossible."

Lacie had listened patiently to Harry as he told them about what he had overheard the previous night in the Leaky Cauldron. They were well settled in their compartment that they were sharing with another person, who Hermione deduced as being the potential new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Hermione had tried to release her familiar on the compartment but after protests from Lacie and Ron, she was outnumbered and it stayed in its carrier, scratching the living hell out of the lining of it. That was when Harry launched into his explanation.

At first, Harry had been wary to have the conversation whilst other people could hear, but when it was made clear that the man in their carriage was clearly fast asleep, Harry could not get the words out of his mouth fast enough. Some of it seemed to make sense, but a flood of questions seemed to also appear in Lacie's mind.

Ron Weasley cocked his head at her, "How?"

Lacie remembered back to a conversation that had happened so long ago that she was not sure that she remembered it correctly. She was sat in McGonagall's office once more, and she was sharing her fears about being a Gryffindor in a family full of Slytherins. Of course, those fears were naïve musings of a naïve girl, and there had been nothing to fear. She remembered how the conversation soon turned to the Azkaban convict, and how Lacie thought in that moment she would be disowned just like her cousin had been.

"Well, why would Sirius Black want to kill Harry? It does not make any sense. He was Harry's father's best friend, after all."

The other three turned to face her with incredulous looks upon their faces. None of them seemed to know this information, and Lacie suddenly felt embarrassed, especially after Harry demanded to know why he had not told him so.

"Well, how was I supposed to know you did not know?"

"Why do you even know?"

"McGonagall told me in first year… anyway, the reason why he went on that murder rampage was because he went mad after his best friend was killed by the Dark Lord."

Ron narrowed his eyes at her, "Why are you so defensive over Black?"

Lacie shrugged, "Sometimes I feel like I can empathise with him."

"A murderer?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No, as a person who was raised with certain values and beliefs but did not necessarily agree with them, and then gets Sorted in a different house as the rest of their entire family and having to coexist between the two spheres," Lacie explained, "He was a Gryffindor, like all of us."

"He is also her cousin," Hermione said lazily as she perused one of her new textbooks. Harry and Ron's mouth fell open.

"What?"

"That explains so much."

Lacie did not know who to address first: Hermione for completely dropping her in it; Harry to assure him that she did not have a pro-Sirius Black agenda, despite the man apparently attempting to kill Harry; or Ron because he was being his usual smug self.

"Second cousin, Hermione, and Ron you are related to him too!"

Harry looked at Ron with his mouth agape and Ron narrowed his eyes at her.

"No, I'm not… otherwise I would be related to…"

Ron's own mouth fell open as he put two and two together, before pointing a long finger at Lacie. Lacie's smirk seemed to confirm one of his worst fears. She swatted Ron's finger away.

"Only very distantly, but I am not happy about it either."

Harry burst out laughing next to Ron; completely ignoring that one member of the compartment was fast asleep. Hermione looked wildly amused behind her book. Lacie rolled her eyes. He slapped Ron on the arm, and Ron had a face like thunder.

"Do not expect me to treat you like family."

"I would not," Lacie said, "Did you see what Harry did to his?"

Lacie puffed her cheeks and mimicked being blown up and floating, which sobered Harry up. It was Ron's turn to snicker and even though Harry had pursed his lips to refrain from laughing at his own magical outburst, he was soon chuckling. Hermione flicked a page in her book and carried on reading as Lacie and Ron teased Harry relentlessly about blowing up his own aunt. Lacie wondered if her best friend ever had her nose out of a book, or if the contents of an Arithmancy textbook were more interesting than teasing Harry.

Well, she would not find relentless teasing amusing, considering she was bullied before she went go Hogwarts, a quick voice said at the back of Lacie's head. The thought sobered her up, and she pressed ahead with different topics.

The witch with her trolley passed soon enough, and Harry was having severe trouble with containing several of his animated confectionary. Lacie rolled her eyes, as Ron stuffed his face with anything savoury. Hermione sipped on a Gillywater, still engrossed in her book. Seeing as her best friend was more taken with a tome, and the boys were talking incessantly about Quidditch, Lacie stared out of the window and as the trees flew past.

There was something about how the trees were slowing down that seemed to hypnotise Lacie, and she did not notice until too late that there was something quite wrong.

"What is going on?"

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, moving over so he stood next to Lacie and peered out the window, and a similar look of confusion crossed his face.

"The trees… or the train rather are slowing -…"

The train suddenly stuttered to a stop, and Lacie stopped talking. The trunk that sat in the luggage rack, rattled and came close to falling. The cat carrier housing the thing, also shook and a strangled mewling came out of it. Hermione looked desperately at Lacie, who forcefully shook her head. Harry stood up and walked to the compartment door and peered out of it, Ron wiped the condensation away from the window and looked out of the window for any clues as to why the train had halted. Hermione seemed nonplussed and was absorbed as ever in her book again. Lacie was not even sure that the girl cared that the train had stopped, or that Hermione thought it was normal for it to do so.

"Why has the train stopped?" Lacie asked, and Hermione looked up to assess the scene before her before returning to her book.

Harry pulled his head back into the compartment and shrugged. Lacie could hear voices outside of the compartment

"Maybe we're at Hogwarts."

Hermione put her book down at last and checked her watch, and frowned. "We shouldn't be there for another hour or so."

"Also I did not remember this amount of shrubbery at Hogsmeade," Lacie said, pointing out the window.

Without warning, the lights turned off and Lacie could hear screams down the compartments. As night had fallen outside, they were in complete darkness. Lacie steeled herself in the darkness as she heard panicked whispers around her. The compartment door opened and several people fell in to the discomfort of the occupants of compartment. Neville Longbottom had never been the most graceful of people, and as he collapsed over Harry's legs, Lacie was glad that she was just out of his way. She had not been so fortunate when Ginny Weasley stumbled in and sat on her, earning herself a venomous hiss from Lacie. The other girl squeaked and moved off her immediately. Lacie was glad that there was not the ginger monstrosity to deal with in this situation as well.

The compartment door opened again, but this time it was not a friend, or another student. Lacie could tell, because as soon as the door slid open the room went cold. It was so cold that where there had been once condensation on the window, it had frozen over. Goosebumps trailed up and down her arms, and she crossed her arms for warmth as a cloaked figure floated into the compartment. Its bony fingers wavered in the air, and Lacie could see her breath.

She could also hear an ear splitting scream.

"Do you know what the Dark Lord does to the families of traitors?"

She was in the Chamber of Secrets again, and her throat constricted as if someone was holding her by it. Someone was screaming, screaming so loud that Lacie raised her hands to cover her ears but the screaming did not subside. She could smell burning flesh, and she was suffocating in the scent, along with the piercing screams.

Please, please stop.

"Lacie?"

The lights had returned and Lacie was cowering in her seat. Next to her, Harry lay still with his eyes closed and Ron was shaking him. Hermione looked pale, and her book had dropped to the floor. Neville had his hand on Lacie's shoulder. The new Professor that had been asleep was gone, but the lights had returned and the train was moving again. It had taken a while for Lacie to notice Ginny, but she was sitting resolute in her seat, a thin sheen of sweat visible on her face. Lacie could not stop shaking, and Neville's hand tightened on her shoulder. Hermione seemed to notice and looked at Lacie with concern.

"Are you alright?"

Lacie was saved from answering as Harry's eyes fluttered open, and he looked bleary eyed before taking his surroundings.

"Who screamed?"

"No one screamed," Hermione said, confusion filling her face.

"No," Lacie whispered, "Someone screamed, I thought I was going to go deaf with the noise."

Hermione glanced at her with confusion and slowly shook her head before repeating herself. "No one screamed, Lacie."

"But, Harry - …"

The new Defence professor swept in, and assessed all of the students, leaving Lacie's words hanging and unanswered. As he handed everyone a slab of chocolate, and watched as everyone consumed their piece, Lacie was wrapped in her own thoughts.

What was that creature, and why had it had that effect on me?

A/N: A bit Lacie-centric but things are always interesting in her POV.

Small note to say that for the next two weeks whilst I crack down on my Master's dissertation, I will not be updating. I really should focus on editing my dissertation rather than my FF - as frustrating as that may be - but, I do have to prioritise.

In the two weeks that I won't be updating, you can catch up on the story with Bright Star and Bound By if you haven't already. The events of this chapter links with Chapters Seventeen - Nineteen (22-24 on FF).

Happy reading,

CSxo.