Chapter 22
ALDER EVANS
The plan for taking down Lucius and his group was easier made than executed. The Map and the Aurors were one part of it. As a few weeks passed, he was able to narrow down the location of their usual meetups, and they met nearly every week or every other week in an abandoned building at the edge of Hogsmeade.
Thankfully, Voldemort had not thought it worth it to ward the building against any intruders, so Alder had simply slid out through one of the secret tunnels one weekend and to visit the building so that he could move onto the next plan, for he needed to bug the place so he could eavesdrop on their plans.
Initially, he had thought about using a spell or a charm, but the more he thought about it, the more he began to question the idea. Despite his evil nature, he could not underestimate the magical prowess of Voldemort. He was a genius, and given how he had transformed his entire being through magic and rituals, he feared that he might be able to sense his spell or charm.
It was a long shot, but one that still needed consideration. So, he had begun thinking of other options, and the answer had been rather surprising. A recorder. It had not been easy to procure one, or one that didn't immediately stop working because of magic.
But still, he was able to find one that was capable of getting the job done, and so with some magic, he had placed it under the floor, making it so that he could listen to their conversation whenever he so desired.
Yet planning and setting this all up had taken the better part of the month from him, and soon enough, it was time for the Christmas Holidays. It was a shame to have his plans interrupted, but in the end, Lucius and his friends got to be free for a few more weeks.
But Christmas meant one more thing.
Family.
"So, brother, I had an i…."
"No," he stopped Lily before she could finish her sentence, and the coy smile from her face shifted as she added.
"But you didn't even let me finish…."
"Because I already know what you are going to say," and after weeks of planning and plotting, he had decided to take an evening for himself as he simply sat in the dorm resting and doing nothing.
"And what is it that I was going to say?" Lily challenged, and he finally turned to face his twin.
"You were going to ask to stay at Alice's to help her prepare for the wedding," and her face twitched, for he had gotten an invite similar to hers.
"But the answer is no. We are going home," and he was firm in that.
"But it's my first wizarding world wedding. I want to see it for myself. The dresses, the traditions, the customs," and he raised a brow.
"And you will also get to spend time with your newly found boyfriend as well," he added, and her cheeks gained a red tinge, as she shook her head.
"No," she lied, pretending as if that did not matter at all.
"James is coming as well?" she asked, pretending as if she did not know that already.
"Don't pretend like you didn't know that. I have gotten the invite as well," and so had Ted.
"It's not about him, really. I just want the experience," and their parents would never let her go by herself, so she needed his support.
"No," he answered after giving it some thought.
"We already spend so much of the year away from home, we can't just stop showing up for Christmas as well," and she groaned.
"But it's boring. I love mother and father, but Christmas back home is so boring. I want to spend it with my friends, I want to experience new things," and it was rare for Lily to show this young, excitable, and child-like side of her.
She was usually so high and mighty that it often made one forget that she was still a teenage girl.
"Petunia…."
"She doesn't even like me," Lily added, a bit angrily, and despite his various attempts at mediation, there were some things that even he could not do.
Petunia had not taken well to both him and Lily having magic. Before that, she had been prickly and haughty, but everything had changed after the letters had come. Their parents had been simply too caught up in the awe of the magical world to understand the feelings of their eldest child, and any attempt at mediation on his part had been seen as nothing but pity.
He had tried, but Petunia had always felt overshadowed by them both. He was the brilliant athletic prodigy who was skipping grades at school, while Lily had always been the bubbly, confident, and beautiful girl born with natural charisma.
While Petunia had always just been the eldest sister. Not so smart, but not dumb either. Not overly beautiful, but not bad to look at either. She was simply average, and while their parents didn't intentionally treat them differently, Petunia did feel neglected.
And with every passing year, the effects of that showed more and more.
"That's not true," he consoled her, and Lily scoffed.
"It is, and you know it. She doesn't like you either," Lily added, and the words were hurtful, but she was his younger sister.
"For once in my life, I want to spend the holidays not watching my words and actions lest they upset someone," and he had always thought that he was helping, but as he looked at Lily's face, he realized that family drama was far more complicated to deal with than a magical Terrorist Group.
"Ok," and Lily's face beamed at that.
"But, we go home for a few days first," he compromised, and she wanted to say something.
"And I will forget to make a mention about you having a boyfriend," and she knew better than to push for more.
"I don't have a boyfriend," she retorted, still pretending, as he raised a brow.
"You went to Madam Puddifoot's with him," he reminded her, as she began to look away guiltily.
"Deny it as much as you want, but Potter is your boyfriend," and he would not be his first choice, but the boy had a good heart, and they had long set their boundaries so he could hardly interfere in her choices.
"Ok, but you are not so innocent yourself," and she looked around as she leaned closer, and whispered.
"You are dating Narcissa BLACK! BLACK!" she repeated.
"How do you think mother will react when I tell her that their perfect son is dating the equivalent of Wizarding Royalty, racist and very complicated royalty," she added, moving her face.
"But Royalty still," and he shrugged.
"She is not royalty," and Lily rolled her eyes, as the two of them simply sat there and bantered like they had not in months.
"You are the one who had me read all those books on Britain's Magical Families. The Blacks are as close to anything resembling royalty that they have," and that was true in a way.
"Are you trying to blackmail me?" he questioned, and she shook her head and leaned back.
"But I would have," she smirked, "if you hadn't agreed," and she was cunning.
"A week," he added, and she shook her head.
"Two days," she countered.
"Five," she challenged, as both of them looked into each other's eyes.
"Three," he offered, and she nodded.
"And you get me money for the trip," and that was a reasonable arrangement.
"I will give you the money, but you will have to try to get along with Petunia, especially during the Summer," and Lily was happy to agree.
"We have a deal," and they shook on it.
"So how much do you need?" he asked.
"Twenty Galleons would do," and he stared at her, like she hadn't just asked for their yearly allowance.
"You are a glutton," he added, but she simply smiled, knowing that he wasn't the kind to refuse her.
"Don't mention it to father," for while the Evans' were not poor, they were not rich either. Their father had a stable job, but he did not like to burden him any more than necessary.
"I will get you fifteen galleons," and suddenly she had her arms wrapped around him, to his surprise.
"Thank you," she whispered, and she seemed genuinely grateful, and he let himself bask in her warmth before he added.
"Ok, that is enough. You can get away from me now, you witch!" and he pushed her away as Lily chuckled.
"Still, one day you are going to tell me how you have so much money," and it was a running joke in the Evans household that he was secretly working for MI5, given how he was never short of money.
"One day I might," and the whole Malfoy thing had run him dry, so he would need to procure some new funds soon.
Well, he did have a week to do just that.
"But that day is not today," and in that moment, he saw McKinnon come up to them with a smile on her face.
"Well, if that hug was anything to go by, I believe you have the permission," and of course, she was in on it.
"Yup," Lily added, jumping to her feet.
"Did you have to blackmail him for it?" and Lily shook her head.
"It did not even come to that," and he shook his head as he whispered his age-old insult.
"You truly are a witch, Lily Evans," and his twin laughed, as she twirled away with her partner in crime.
"That I am…"
.
.
.
And so, a few days later, Alder found himself standing in front of dead corpses of around ten acromantulas, their bodies now drained of all their venom and silk, which rested safely in the bag on his belt.
And then he weaved his wand, and a massive glob of dirt lifted off the ground, as he moved the bodies into the makeshift grave.
"I do hope you won't be missed…"
0000
NARCISSA MALFOY
There were a few things that Narcissa dreaded more than returning home for Christmas. Despite its own challenges, she felt more at ease at Hogwarts than she did at her home, and this year the return home was further pained by dread about the Family gathering, and the distance that it would put between herself and Alder.
Alder himself had been somewhat preoccupied for the last few weeks, and it was not because of homework, given that he was way ahead of their usual coursework. She had wanted to ask him, but in the end she had decided not to pry.
Their meetings had grown quieter as the Holidays came closer, yet as the world blurred in the window, she found herself missing that warmth already, as the Express took them to the station.
Andy sat with her in the compartment, staring at her. She heard her sister close down her book as she added.
"Don't be so worried," Andy added, as Narcissa glanced towards her sister.
"What if they know?" she asked, and her sister scoffed.
"One benefit of having parents like ours is that they don't care about you enough to know anything," and that was right in a way. Neither her father nor her mother had any interest in their lives beyond favorable matches for their own goals.
"Did you feel like this as well?" she asked, and Andy frowned.
"When you came home the first time after Ted, you know?" and Andy nodded.
"I was," and her sister took a deep breath, as she had a longing smile as she added.
"And that was the Summer I realized the truth that our parents did not care about us all. I was so jumpy and fidgety, and yet they did not even notice a thing," but she had, and she remembered.
"That was two Summers ago," she added, and Andy's eyes narrowed.
"Indeed, it was," and that filled her with some warmth, and yet she was not the only one.
"Just remember our plan. We will badmouth Malfoy and Lestrange to grandfather, tell him that they have no respect for our family, and our name," and that was the plan that they had come up with.
"I will talk to Regulus as well, and see if he can chime in a word or two as well," and she did not have much hope there, but Andy had assured her that their young cousin was not as simple and docile as she thought him to be.
"Do you think he will come?" she asked, and Andy frowned.
"Who?" she asked.
"Sirius," and his name had come up a couple of times with Alder, who was friends with her other cousin. In the Black House, that name was a taboo, given that his mother would snarl at anyone who would dare take the name of her eldest son and heir.
Technically, his father, Orion, was to be the heir. But he had always been sickly, and before Sirius's rebellion, it had been speculated that he would succeed their grandfather as heir, not his father.
But the plans had come crashing down, and Aunt Walburga claimed that he had been kicked out of the family, leaving Regulus as the heir.
But she had heard the whispers. Whispers about how their grandfather had refused to do that, and that Sirius was still part of the family.
"Probably not," added her sister as the train stopped at the station, but the two of them did not move, as they waited for the bustle to die down.
"I don't see why he would," and that was what she thought, but Alder had told her to expect a surprise, and she could think of no other surprise than this.
"Let's go," Andy added a few minutes later as they grabbed their bags and walked down the train, and yet as they came upon the platform, she stilled at the sight in front of her, for it was not a servant or their parents waiting for them.
It was someone much worse.
They were not much older than her and looked a mix of both her and Andy.
"Bella…."
0000
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