Chapter Thirty
Gemini looked over the letter her mother had sent, biting at her nails. It was a disgusting habit that her parents would have happily slapped her for, but the sharp shocks of pain as the skin broke helped her think. All her books were now dotted with little specks of blood.
It was the overview of the latest meeting that the Dark Lord attended. They were nearly all held at Lestrange Manor now, their family, or more importantly Bellatrix, were at the right hand of the Dark Lord.
It gave her hope that in a few years, when everyone had stopped looking at her as though she were just a child, she too could have a place at Lord Voldemort's side. The thought made her bubble with a happiness she'd rarely felt.
Her mother rarely gave details, at least details that weren't important or needed immediate action. Bellatrix still didn't trust Severus completely. He had turned back to his mudblood whore once before, and she was sure he would do it again if given the chance.
Umbridge wasn't even worth the time to think about. She had little power, and even less idea of how to use it. She was annoying and grating and once they won power completely she would do everything she could to keep Umbridge out of the inner circle meetings.
Gemini were her parents' eyes and ears at Hogwarts, therefore she was given slightly more information than she should have been.
She read over the letter again, they were going to kidnap the Lovegood girl in a little over a week. There were no plans to harm her yet, but just to control her stupid insane father.
Bellatrix had ordered Gemini to keep an eye on both Luna and Severus, and to alert her if she suspected that anything might mess up their plans. Bellatrix had added her normal warning to keep all the information to herself, telling her daughter to burn the letter once it had been read.
Gemini scanned the letter one more time, trying to make sure she remembered everything. Her memory hadn't been brilliant lately, she blamed the stress of everything messing with her mind.
Rodolphus was walking over, snapping at Corvus and pulling at his shirt. Gemini threw the letter towards the fire and picked up her book. Her brothers, especially Rodolphus, should have been given the information as well but Gemini revelled in keeping it to herself.
"What on earth are you two doing?" Gemini hissed.
Rodolphus seemed to finally notice his sister was sitting there, "What are you doing?"
Gemini rolled her eyes, "Reading. Now let me rephrase, why are you two making a scene in front of the entire common room like two common drunks?"
"I wasn't doing anything." Corvus huffed, "I was studying when he came over and started grabbing at me. Get off!"
"He was sitting at the same table as that Longbottom kid he can't get enough of." Rodolphus hissed, giving Corvus another slap, "Again!"
Gemini threw her book down, "Stop it!" she snapped at Rodolphus, "You are making a scene. Corvus, you know that this is an important year for us, you have to think about someone other then yourself for once in your pathetic, meaningless little life."
Corvus glared at her and took a deep breath, "I spend my entire life thinking about someone else! About everyone else! I never stop thinking about this stupid family and what you all want! At the end of the day I need to study!"
"How dare you talk to me like that!" Gemini barked, digging her nails into Corvus's arm until she drew blood.
Corvus shrunk away from her, the pain growing as she twisted her fingers in cruelly, "I'm sorry… Gemini… Really I am, I'll… I'll study in my room from now on."
Gemini blinked, confused as to what she was doing, her fingers cramping from the pressure they were exerting, letting Corvus go quickly, "Well… exactly. Just remember we are always on show. We must set an example for those around us."
Corvus nodded, staring at his shoes. His eyes flicked towards the fire and saw half a letter that had fallen out. It was very charred but there were a couple of words still there.
"I'm really trying to give a good impression with my school work." Corvus said, thinking quickly, "Here, look at my latest essay…"
He pulled the roll of parchment out his bag with a flourish, making sure he dropped it towards the fire.
Gemini let out a loud huff, "Pity you can't have lessons in not being clumsy."
Corvus gave an awkward laugh, ducking down to pick up his homework, making sure he grabbed the burned letter at the same time. He could feel part of it crumble under his fingers and just hoped that some of it would survive. Something told him it was important, or why would someone have tried to burn it? More than that, Gemini was the only one sitting near the fire.
"Never mind." Corvus shrugged, "I'll just…. Go finish this in my room. You can read it then!"
"I can't wait." Gemini said, trying not to roll her eyes, Corvus needed all the encouragement they could give him.
"He's so weird." Rodolphus said, snorting a laugh.
"And you're useless. Yet I'm stuck with the both of you." Gemini smiled nastily, picking up her book again.
Corvus slammed the door of his dorm shut far more loudly than he'd meant to. Thankfully the room was empty, everyone else was apparently being normal, and spending time with friends.
Corvus shoved a large pile of clothes off his bed and onto his trunk to sort later and carefully pulled out the letter.
Nearly all of it was gone, either blackened to much to see anything or had crumbled completely to ash. The only two words that he could still read were, 'Lovegood' and 'Kidna…' which Corvus assumed was once 'kidnapped'.
He frowned, confused at what it could possibly mean.
"Are they going to kidnap Luna?" Corvus mumbled to himself, "Why would they want to do that?"
"What about Luna?" one of his room mates asked, munching on an apple, "Because while she's pretty enough, even you could do better."
Corvus wrinkled his nose slightly, "She's not might type. I just was wondering if she managed to do the History of Magic homework." he gave an awkward laugh, "I mean it's kinda tricky and I'd feel even more stupid if she could do it and I can't."
"You're really weird." he muttered, shaking his head and proceeding to ignore Corvus, digging into his trunk for a text book.
Corvus rolled his eyes, "Whatever." he was used to being called weird by now.
He grabbed his bag and the letter, safely tucked into a book, and left the dorm.
Corvus waited until Gemini was distracted, mocking one of her cronies for losing at chess, before sneaking from the common room. There was still a little over an hour until curfew, Corvus just hoped that he could find someone to tell that Luna might be in danger in that time.
The teachers weren't an option, even if they did believe him there was nothing they could do. They were all being carefully watched by the Death Eaters, it seemed like nothing they did went unnoticed.
"Corvus!" Thomas smiled, spotting him rounding a corner.
"Hi Thomas." Corvus beamed, feeling instantly calmer from just being around his friend.
"Are you OK?" Thomas asked, guiding him into an empty classroom, "I was worried when Rodolphus found us studying together." he knew Corvus had been struggling, being pulled between his friends and his family.
Corvus smirked, "Since the summer I've just been slightly less caring of them. They scare me while I'm with them, but as soon as I'm out the room it all seems to melt away."
"Your arm is bleeding!" Thomas gasped, digging a tissue from his school bag, "It's clean, I promise."
Corvus waved his hand dismissively, "Not sure you actually have germs to make things unclean." he smiled, "Don't worry too much, it barely hurts."
Thomas laughed and gently dabbed at the small crescent shaped cuts on Corvus's arm.
"It was weird." Corvus frowned, "For a second, it was like Gemini wasn't herself, she just lost control and wasn't in there any more."
Thomas snorted a laugh, "Gemini never has control. She's been psycho since the moment I met her. Sorry, I know she's your sister, I shouldn't say stuff like that."
"This was different." Corvus frowned again, "I don't know how to explain it."
"Is that why you went for a walk?" Thomas asked, hopping up onto a desk, "To get away from her?"
Corvus shook his head, "Actually I was looking for someone… I think Luna is in trouble."
"Why? Did she write something rebellious in her homework again?" Thomas asked; Luna was one of the few who refused to bow down to the Death Eaters.
Corvus laughed despite himself, "No… well almost certainly, but that's not what I'm talking about. Gemini got a letter from mater and there was this. She tried to burn it but I managed to save this bit."
"Lovegood and kidna…" Thomas read, as another bit of the paper crumbled, "Oops."
"I think it once said kidnapped." Corvus explained, "You know how angry the Carrows and Umbridge were when that Hufflepuff got caught with a copy of the Quibbler, and Snape has banned it out right."
"You really think she might be in danger?" Thomas, chewing his lip.
Corvus nodded, "I think we'd be stupid to ignore the chance this is a warning, we're not going to get many of them after all. But I don't know what to do! Who to tell or anything!"
Thomas put his hands on Corvus's shoulders, "Don't worry about it. I'll handle it."
"How?" Corvus asked, wishing Thomas would pull him into a hug.
"Just trust that I will." Thomas said firmly, "And just… forget about it."
Corvus nodded, "OK."
"I'll see you soon." Thomas promised him, giving his a quick hug before leaving Corvus alone in the classroom.
Luna was happily sleeping, dreaming about a large field filled with cornflowers that she was making into a very elaborate crown. She could hear her mother singing in the background as the grass and flowers rustled in the gentle breeze.
She could often hear her mother singing in her dreams, it seemed like every memory she had of her mother had her singing. She never saw her in her dreams though, her mother's voice always coming from behind her, Luna knew that it was partly because she didn't remember her mother's face all that well any more, her memories were haunted by the twisted and bloody version of her mother laying dead. It was better to just hear her mother's voice.
Luna was snapped from the peaceful dream as a hand clapped over her mouth.
"Shhh." Daphne whispered as Luna mumbled at her.
Daphne looked around to make sure that the others in the dorm were still sleeping, which thankfully they were, although it did little to slow her frantic heartbeat. She was sure the last few months had taken years off her life.
"You're under the invisibility cloak." Daphne whispered, "I know this is really scary, and very unexpected but we have to leave, now. Pack your things in here, it'll hold more than it looks." she gave Luna her magically extended bag, forcing the fabric into Luna's fingers.
"Where are we going?" Luna asked, trying to wake up, "What's going on?"
"I can explain more in a moment but right now I just need you to pack and come with me." Daphne insisted.
"You want me to trust you?" Luna asked.
"No, I need you to trust me." Daphne said, begging her to listen.
"Ok." Luna shrugged, throwing off the blanket, "You keep the cloak on. They never notice me anyway."
Daphne huddled under the cloak as Luna pulled a cloak over her cat-cus covered pyjamas. She shoved her clothes into the small, beaded bag that Daphne had given her before shoving in her knitting, crochet and sewing. Lastly she piled in her books and writing things, pulling a hat on over her messy plait.
"Where are your toiletries?" Daphne whispered.
"Oh yeah." Luna said, laughing a little and grabbing a bag from under her bed, shoving it into the beaded bag, "Ready."
Daphne double checked all of Luna's things were packed before she slipped the cloak over Luna as well as herself and tiptoed out of the sleeping dorm.
"It's two in the morning." Luna whispered, looking at the large clock that sat above the fireplace.
"Yes." Daphne said simply.
Neville was standing next to the common room door, next to the large statue of Rowenna Ravenclaw.
"Neville is here as well?" Luna asked.
"Yes." Daphne said again, "I know you must have a lot of questions, and I promise you that we will explain everything as soon as we are safe to do so."
"Ok." Luna shrugged, "I will trust you."
"Are we ready to go?" Neville asked.
"We are." Daphne called.
Neville mumbled the disillusionment spells over himself, before they left the common room.
Luna held tightly to Daphne's hand as the crept through the empty corridors, darting out of the way of ghosts and teachers until they reached the front door.
"It's locked." Neville sighed, "We knew they'd start sooner or later."
Daphne guided Luna into the classroom that, until recently, Firenze had used to teach Divination.
"We'll simply have to be quick." Daphne said, pulling the cloak off her, "There's no way we'll make it out of the window while we're both hidden under the cloak."
Luna looked worriedly between Daphne and the window, "We're leaving the school?"
"We are." Neville said, pulling open the large, cross hatched window, "Well ladies first." he grinned.
"Get your butt out of that window." Daphne ordered him.
Neville laughed and climbed from the window, reaching up to help Daphne and Luna down. They'd walked round the castle one sunny Sunday early in the year, finding the best window to climb out of should they need to. This one not only faced the front of the school, leading directly to the forest but all also was low to the ground and had a convenient stone that jutted out from the bottom of the wall that they could climb down to before then stepping onto solid ground.
Neville held tightly to Luna's hands as she jumped down.
"Not what I thought I'd be doing tonight." Luna smiled, brushing some dirt off her hands.
Daphne covered them both in the invisibility cloak again as they walked quickly to the forest.
Once they were safely in the cover of the tees, Daphne removed the cloak while Neville took off the disillusionment charm.
"So… what's going on?" Luna asked, looking absently around the trees.
"We think there might be a plot to kidnap you." Neville said, earning his a shocked look from Daphne, "What? There is no nice way to put that."
"You're not the ones kidnapping me, are you?" Luna asked, worry flooding through her.
Daphne forced herself not to look at Neville, knowing it would start her giggling which wasn't fair on poor Luna, "No of course not, I'm sorry if we've frightened you. We received some information that suggested that you weren't safe at school, that the Death Eaters wanted to… remove you from Hogwarts. We agreed to get you out of there as soon as possible. There's no proof, and we might be completely wrong about it all but-"
"Better safe than sorry." Luna shrugged, "I get it. Who do you think the danger comes from? Nargels? I think they might have quite a hold on the Death Eaters."
Daphne forced herself not to roll her eyes, "No. At least, not this time. It came from Bellatrix Lestrange. We think the Death Eaters plan to kidnap you and use you… possibly due to your father being such a brilliant supporter for Harry. He loves you greatly and… it would be easy to persuade him to do what they wished if you were in danger."
"Daddy is very brilliant." Luna agreed, "And I'm happy to stay away from school if it means he can keep being brilliant. It wasn't that much fun this year anyway."
Neville was about to throw down a chunk of meat he'd taken from dinner when a Thestral appeared anyway, walking straight over to Luna.
"I come here a lot." Luna grinned, stroking the Thestral's black face.
Neville grinned as well, he should have known. He gave the Thestral the meat anyway and helped Luna and Daphne on.
"Are you not coming with us?" Luna asked.
Neville shook his head, "Nope. I'm going back to the school, make sure the window stays open for Daph to get back in. Good luck."
"You too." Luna said, giving his hand a squeeze, "Thank you."