“So,” Ivy mentioned, “Dad’s supposed to deliver a report to the Ministry with Uncle Ron tonight, about everything they found out about Malfoy and ways to capture him. It’ll be odd not having him around, won’t it?”
Jordan stood up stiffly, hugging his books to his chest. “What, you think the school won’t be able to run without Dad? You think nobody can go ten minutes without their precious Harry Potter?” he snapped.
Ivy blinked. “No, of course I didn’t…” she began.
“Right, I think I’ll take a walk,” Jordan muttered, and he skulked away from the other three.
Haley sighed. “Typical Jordan. Well, except for him being all nasty, and Malfoy on the loose, and Ted getting attacked and Quidditch being canceled, it was a pretty good year considering.”
Emma held up a sheet of parchment. “Passed everything again,” she announced lazily.
“Me, too,” added Ivy. “Same with Ted and Jordan, from what I’ve heard.”
Haley looked slightly sheepish. “Erm, not me,” she said. “Ah, well, who cares? Mum and Dad won’t”they’re used to it by now. At least I passed Dad’s class.” Haley was not stupid in the least, but she, like her uncles Fred and George, had never really cared about such petty things as homework, deadlines, and final exams. Instead, she put her talents to other uses-- planning pranks, doing spirited Quidditch commentary, and her chief hobbies of singing, dancing, and acting.
“Yeah, this year wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be,” agreed Emma. “Even our classes weren’t too hard. Well, of course, Zabini was foul, but we got back at him. And Haley, your dad’s a really great teacher… no offense to Ted, of course. Professor Lupin’s really good, too.”
“And Ophidias hardly ever bothered us,” noted Ivy. “Last year, he was always trying to hex us. Remember when he sliced Ted’s head open that one time? He was aiming for me, though…” Her face looked slightly troubled. “Maybe he’s actually scared about Malfoy escaping-- maybe he’s worried about that, too. You never know.”
The giant squid smashed all of its tentacles on the surface of the lake water, soaking the girls thoroughly. “I think that’s our cue to go inside,” Haley told the others, wringing out her drenched hair.
Jordan saw the dark silhouettes of Emma, Haley, and Ivy traipsing back into the castle, and he sighed. There had been a time when they had been inseparable, but now he felt completely estranged from them. Especially his twin sister, Haley. What normal teenaged girl never yelled at her father and was actually happy to have him teaching at her school? But then, she was hardly ‘normal,’ was she? She was the Daughter of Potter.
He had, without realizing it, strolled aimlessly into the Forbidden Forest. It was called the Forbidden Forest for a reason-- no one was allowed in-- and Jordan had only been there once before, in his first year. He hesitated, then continued on. So what if he broke a rule? It was the day before the last day of school. And he rarely got in trouble (in fact, his record was clear) so what did it matter? He was feeling rather apathetic as he made his way deeper and deeper into the woods.
Suddenly, a twig snapped, and he jumped, then was knocked onto his back by…
“Ahhh, don’t tell me that I have the pleasure of meeting little Potter Junior at last?” drawled a cold voice. Not daring to look up at the face of the person before him as he lay helplessly on his back, Jordan thought frantically.
“It’s Malfoy… it’s Malfoy… what am I going to do? I can’t yell for help, no one will hear me… I can’t try and fight him, he’s a dark wizard! He’s just going to kill me right now, and there’s nothing I can do…”
“Look at me, Potter Junior,” snarled the cold voice, and there was a flash of yellow light, accompanied by an invisible force that bent his head backward.
Before Jordan was the tall, gaunt figure of Draco Malfoy, hooded cloak pulled low over his pale sneering face.
“So, tell me, how would you like to die? I’ll be nice and give you a choice. I could kill you now, make it quick and painless. If you like things fair, I could give you a head start and let you try to escape as much as you can before I blast you to oblivion. Or, if you fancy yourself some kind of hero, you can just stand there stupidly and die a long, slow, Gryffindor’s death. Well, which one do you want? Don’t look at me like that, you should be grateful I’m letting you pick”most people aren’t so lucky.”
Jordan was shivering and his heart was racing, but nowhere near as quickly as his brain was. How could this be happening? He never got into this type of situation. He never did anything dangerous at all, with the exception of Quidditch. But now, he was being asked to choose his death, of all things.
This meant there was only one thing to do-- something he’d been imagining every night since the school year had begun, but had never actually planned to do even in his wildest fantasies. “N-n-no,” he stammered, trying and failing not to look terrified out of his wits.
Malfoy laughed harshly and slightly madly. “No? What do you mean, Potter? Are the choices I gave you not good enough for the hero’s little boy?”
“Listen to me,” Jordan begged, and he suddenly became very aware of the fact that his voice sounded embarrassingly shrill, like a small child whining.
“Why should I listen to you?” Malfoy asked, sounding rather amused at the absurdity of such an idea.
Jordan struggled to a sitting position. “Because… because I’m not who you think I am,” he whispered hoarsely.
Malfoy laughed again. “Of course I know who you are. You’re Jordan Potter. And I’m terribly sorry, but I can’t let you go back to the castle and tattle to your daddy and your little friends and spoil my plans.” He raised his wand, but Jordan held up his hand.
“You don’t, you don’t understand,” he gasped. “I’m not like my pathetic father and my stupid sister. All that I’ve wanted to do for the past year is… is…” he took a deep breath. “I want to join you. To be an Overseer.”
Malfoy’s hard grey eyes stared into Jordan’s from beneath his hood, but the boy didn’t blink or look away. Jordan knew what he was trying to do-- Malfoy was a Legilimens, and he wanted to know whether or not Jordan was telling the truth. But that didn’t worry Jordan. It didn’t matter what Malfoy saw, because he wouldn’t be seeing anything but the truth behind his eyes.
At last, the Dark wizard looked away. “Then it really is true,” he said softly, astonishment evident in his voice. “Harry Potter’s son turning to the dark side… I must admit, I’m impressed. But you’re not even of age. How can you possibly help me?”
“You became a Death Eater when you were sixteen,” Jordan said, now speaking in a strong and clear voice. This was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but to be doing it at last! “I can give you information about what’s going on at Hogwarts! Or… or I could give my father and my uncle false information and lead them right into your hands. After all, nobody could ever suspect me.” He’d been planning this dialogue for months, but that didn’t make it any easier to say, especially not those cold grey eyes were so closely fixated on his own.
Malfoy looked closely at Jordan again. “Very well,” he said slowly, “But today’s attack on the castle is a trial period. If everything goes well, I’d be honoured to accept you as one of my Overseers. But if you fail…”
Jordan nodded, and kneeled down at Malfoy’s feet. “Yes,” he intoned. “Yes, master.”
“Did either of you see Jordan come back from his stroll?” asked Ivy anxiously, looking out of the dormitory window about an hour later.
“No,” answered Emma. “That’s some serious strolling on his part.” She was plaiting her hair into two braids to sleep in, and was wearing her gold silk pajamas and a maroon-coloured dressing gown.
Haley looked worried. “Jordan would never miss curfew, though, especially with Malfoy on the lo-- wait, what was that?” The edge of a black cloak had flickered just outside the Forbidden Forest and just as quickly disappeared from view.
“That was probably just Jordan coming back,” Emma shrugged. “He always wears black… thinks it adds to his ‘moody genius’ look or something, I guess.”
Ivy shook her head. “No. He was wearing Muggle clothes today, and that person’s cloak had silver designs on it, not like the Hogwarts cloaks. Which means that it must have been someone else…”
All three girls looked at each other. “Malfoy,” they breathed, then tore out of the dormitory into the Common Room, out of the portrait hole, down seven staircases and into the foyer.
“Where--are--we--going?” panted Haley, clutching a stitch in her side.
“Following--you,” gasped Emma.
“I--was--following--you!” puffed Ivy.
“Me--too,” added Haley.
Emma blinked. “What--are--we--waiting--for? RUN!” And they did so, out the front door (It was actually supposed to be guarded by a prefect, but luckily, Haley covered the others with an invisibility cloak-- she always kept the cloak in her ‘pockety’ jacket. In any case, the prefect on duty didn’t seem to be there) and out into the moonlight yard.
As soon as they reached the schoolyard, Haley said in a low voice, “I think I have a plan. Ivy, come out from under the cloak and come with me. Emma, go get Ted from the Shrieking Shack. If Malfoy has Jordan, I’ll send a Patronus back to the castle. And I’ll leave a red-blazed trail behind me so Emma and Ted can follow us. I’ll explain later.”
Her friends stared at her.
“Go on!” she encouraged. “Well… I thought it was a good plan…”
“When did you come up with that?” asked Ivy.
“Just now,” replied Haley brightly.
“I can’t believe you didn’t pass everything,” muttered Emma. “Well, OK, I’ll get Ted now, but I don’t see what use it’ll be. He’s a slobbering wolf right now, remember?”
“Believe me,” whispered Haley. “I don’t have time to explain, but have I ever steered you wrong?… Don’t answer that.”
Emma shrugged and ran off for the Whomping Willow. Ivy, free of the cloak, followed the still-invisible Haley, who regularly muttered ‘Flagrate!’ and caused streaks of red to appear on the trunks of nearby trees.
The two girls walked on for what seemed like forever, and Ivy didn’t know how Haley knew where she was going. It was like she knew the Forbidden Forest by heart, which, knowing the kinds of mischief Haley liked to get into, wasn’t that improbable.
Suddenly, the blazes stopped appearing on trees and Ivy crashed into her invisible friend. “What’s going--”
“Shh,” whispered Haley. “I hear someone.”
Neither of them moved a single muscle or even dared breathe or blink, as a tall, black-cloaked figure moved toward them through the gloom. Ivy gulped. Malfoy, for the first time in over ten years, was standing before her.
“Go on,” whispered Haley from beneath the cloak, giving Ivy a little push. Her face very white, her expression pinched, and her breathing shallow, Ivy stumbled out from behind a the nearest tree and into a clearing.
“Who’s there?” asked Malfoy in a sharp voice.
“It’s… me…” squeaked Ivy, brushing her fringe out of her eyes.
Malfoy stood as still and pale as a wax statue, staring back at Ivy. Then he pulled off his cloak, revealing his face. Ivy gasped.
This man was not the handsome, youthful father he’d been ten years ago, but he wasn’t the corpselike person in the pictures plastered all around the school. His face was clean now, but still hollowed and lined, and his eyes still looked deadened, gleaming from their sunken sockets.
Though still painfully thin, he was not nearly as skeletal as he’d appeared in his wanted posters, and he was cleanly shaven. His white-blond hair was still long, but now it was neatly groomed and shining, and pulled back into a ponytail that flowed down his back. Under his cloak, his robes looked new and expensive; obviously, his servants had provided him with many things since his escape from prison.
Malfoy smiled, looking eerily like a grinning skull in the dingy light. “Can this beautiful young lady be my little Ivy?” he asked in a disconcertingly soft, warm voice.
This was the voice that Ivy remembered telling her bedtime stories and singing to her from what seemed like a lifetime ago, and she was frightened. She hadn’t been expecting this at all, hadn’t expected him to be kind. She had rather hoped that he might spare her from death, but she’d never dreamed she’d be treated like the child she once was.
“No,” she said quietly.
Malfoy blinked. “You’re not Ivy? You look so much like--”
“No,” she repeated, in a small, hard voice. “I’m Ivy, but I’m not your little Ivy.”
“But how could you not recognize your own father?” asked Malfoy, sounding completely confused and not at all frightening. In fact, he sounded almost frightened himself.
Ivy didn’t know where she was getting all of this courage; she was normally so shy, even in front of her friends. “You aren’t my father. I’ve been adopted, by the Potters. But I do recognize you...how could I not? Everyone in the wizarding world knows about the awful things you’ve been doing to people.”
Malfoy didn’t become enraged like Ivy had expected. Instead, he looked as though he was about to cry. “I’ve been gone too long,” he murmured. “You’ve been brainwashed. Harry Potter will--”
“I haven’t been brainwashed by anyone,” Ivy cut him off again. “At least, not by anyone except you. I know that some of the best witches in wizards in history have been Muggle-born, and it doesn’t make sense to go around getting rid of them if there are more of them than there are purebloods.” She felt like she was explaining to an impatient three-year-old that brown cows don’t make chocolate milk, and she was speaking just as calmly as someone who was. “And nobody told me that. I figured it out myself.”
Malfoy looked shocked and horrified. “Ivy, I don’t know where you got that, but it’s a lie. All of it was cooked up by Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers, and there’s not a drop of truth in it. Not one respectable witch or wizards has ever been Muggle-born or Muggle-raised, and anyone who has any Slytherin pride would--”
“Maybe we have different definitions of the world ‘respectable,’” Ivy said quietly. “My father was Muggle-raised, and he’s the best wizard I’ve ever known. And I’m in Gryffindor.”
Malfoy’s face contorted like that of a constipated gargoyle sucking a lemon. “I can’t believe my own daughter would--”
“I’m not your daughter!”
“--would believe this. I can’t let them twist your mind like this. It’s not who you really are.”
“It is,” Ivy replied in the same small, hard voice.
“NOW!” roared a familiar voice from behind a tree, and instantly, two people appeared from under an invisibility cloak. It was Haley, along with Emma, who must have followed them and somehow joined her cousin beneath the cloak.
“Hey, Malfoy, don’t talk like that to our best friend!” yelled Emma, whipping out her wand in a show of characteristic boldness to the point of stupidity. “There. It’s three against one, and we fight like you’d expect the daughters of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley to fight-- hard.”
Malfoy’s eyes became cold slits. “I was thinking more along the lines of ‘badly,’” he hissed, and he snapped his fingers, the sound echoing throughout the silent forest. Instantly, two more figures materialized, both completely unrecognizable under black hooded cloaks and masks. One was about the same height as Malfoy, and the other was much shorter. “Well, it looks I’m not outnumbered after all. And we have the upper hand here-- how can three silly little girls possibly match the Dark Arts? Also…” he snapped his fingers again, “I’ve brought along a few little friends, in case you try to escape.”
Several Dementors appeared just as suddenly as the Overseers had, their ragged hooded forms causing an unearthly chill, their scabbed hands protruding sickeningly from tattered sleeves.
Terrible memories swirled through Ivy’s head, all of the most horrible, lonely moments of her life… all of them accompanied by the bloodcurdling soundtrack of Ted’s inhuman cries of pain as the werewolf ripped into Ted’s face on Christmas Eve… she felt herself fading into blackness and let it envelope her without struggle.
Haley saw Ivy fall to the ground, but there wasn’t time to check on her. She and Emma exchanged glances, and each ran toward an Overseer. Emma chose the tall one; Haley, the short one.
“What’s the point of fighting?” snarled the short one in a strangely familiar voice as Haley pointed her wand at him. “It’s so much easier to give in. You know you’ll only die either way.”
“Yeah, unless you do first,” Haley panted, more bravely than she felt. “STUPEFY!” But the Overseer simply laughed and sent out a shield charm, causing Haley to have to duck as her own spell came rebounding back at her.
“AVA--”
“EXPELLIARMUS!” Haley shrieked, and the Overseer’s wand slipped to the tips of his fingers-- though he managed to retrieve it before it flew away. His reflexes were excellent.
However, as he leaned forward to grab his wand, the mask slipped from his face. As he tried to pull at his hood, attempting to cover his face completely, Haley spotted a bright green eye peeking out from between two fingers, a lock of messy black hair escaping from beneath the hood. She froze-- she couldn’t believe it… she wouldn’t believe it. This Overseer was…
“JORDAN!” she screamed in a state of disbelieving shock, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. “YOU…”
“Yes, I’m an Overseer,” Jordan informed her calmly, tearing off his mask. “Our father will be crushed when he finds out who killed his precious little daughter, won’t he?”
“JORDAN, I’M YOUR SISTER!” she hollered hysterically. “WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID? I’M YOUR SISTER!”
“Yes,” said Jordan, still in the same horribly calm voice that did not befit him at all. “But loyalty comes before family.” He raised his wand.
Haley’s eyes, identical to the ones peering out from the Overseer’s hood, narrowed. “You’re right,” she breathed. “Loyalty comes before family.” This Overseer might be her brother, but who what terrible things he could be planning? He needed to be stopped. Before her twin had time to react, before even she had time to think about what she was doing, she had pointed her wand at him and shouted, “AVADA KEDAVRA!”
It was like something out of a nightmare. Green light burst forth from the end of Haley’s wand, illuminating the forest in an otherworldly emerald glow, accompanied by a loud whooshing noise. There was something strangely ominous about it, like the flapping of the wings of a thousand vampire bats. For a moment, everything was still. Emma and the tall Death Eater stopped dueling, Malfoy stood in place, and even the Dementors didn’t move.
Then Jordan hit the ground hard, with a terrible ‘thump’ of finality, and Haley’s throat constricted with the sudden realization of what she had done.
“NO!” She had killed a person. She, Harriet-Lily Potter, had killed a person. And not just any person-- her own twin brother. He was gone forever.
Although he had been an Overseer, he’d also been her brother, and he’d always been there in her life (with the exception of the first three minutes and thirty-six seconds.) Haley couldn’t help but think that he would never again fly his broom around the Quidditch pitch, never again read one of his books, never again play his bright red guitar, never again annoy his sisters… it must have been her imagination or wishful thinking, because Haley could have sworn that he had just moved.
She blinked… and so did Jordan! He got to his feet with a groan and a strange sneering smile. “You thought you’d killed me, didn’t you?” he panted. “No, you’re not powerful enough to cast an Unforgivable Curse. That’s the biggest difference between you and me; you’re weak, you don’t have the skill to push back your feelings and focus on what you’re trying to do.” He shot a beam of purple light her way, but Haley ducked it and replied,
“That’s NOT the biggest difference! The biggest difference is that I’m not stupid enough join the Dark Side just to be different… PETRIFICUS TOTALIS!”
Jordan ducked this spell, too, and he made to cast another, but he suddenly stopped. Noticing that her brother was looking at something behind her, Haley whirled around.
Apparently, Malfoy had been slowly edging away as they dueled, because a silver-brown blur was streaking toward Malfoy from behind a tree. Haley gasped; she had been so busy reeling in shock from the discovery that Jordan was an Overseer that she’d nearly forgotten about her plan. She had told Emma to bring Ted in his furrier incarnation for extra help if Malfoy tried to get away.
Ted the wolf snarled and lunged toward Malfoy. Emma and the tall Overseer she’d been dueling both screamed, Emma’s scream fake-- they knew that Ted was in perfect control of himself, and he was just trying to frighten Malfoy.
He was doing a good job, too; if Haley hadn’t known him, she’d have been quaking in her pink sequined ballet flats. “AWOOOO!” Ted threw back his wolf’s head and let out a blood-curdling howl that made the hairs stand up on the back of Haley’s neck.
“Oh no, Ted forgot to take his potion!” Emma yelled, though Haley could tell that she was acting. Hopefully, though, Jordan wouldn’t be able to see this. He’d never been very good at understanding people, and now it was working against him.
Now Ted was chasing Malfoy around a tree. It would have been funny if Haley hadn’t been so terrified-- Malfoy was yelping at a rather high pitch and was running around flailing his arms like a cartoon character. In the confusion, the tall Overseer ran for cover, Jordan and Haley stopped dueling and the Dementors began to move closer.
Haley felt cold and frightened-- the Dementors were making her remember things she’d rather not. She was three, watching her uncle kill Fenrir Greyback on her front porch during an attempted attack on Harry’s life; she was eleven and was being told by Professor Zabini that she was pathetic and useless, stupid to boot, and would never amount to anything; she was twelve, failing miserably at Quidditch tryouts in her second year; she was fourteen and learning of Malfoy’s escape; she was watching the werewolf rip into Ted’s face; she was learning that Jordan was an Overseer… she wondered what kind of memories Ivy had that had caused her to faint.
Ted the wolf was now chasing Malfoy around a mulberry bush. “Round and round the mulberry bush, the werewolf chased the ferret,” Haley couldn’t help but think. Trust her to come up with a song at a time like this.
“P-POTTER!” puffed Malfoy. “What are you standing there for? ATTACK!”
Jordan smiled. But it was an odd, twisted smile, the one he wore when he was being sarcastic. “Will do… master. STUPEFY!” He pointed his wand and a red beam jetted out, hitting his target squarely in the chest. But his target wasn’t Haley. It was… Malfoy.
As he stumbled backward, a Dementor moved forward, and by some odd twist of fate, their paths crossed.
It was as though Haley was watching the scene in slow motion: Malfoy’s body fell in a neat arc, his head snapping back just as the Dementor leaned over. There was a horrible rushing, sucking noise, a gurgling rattle, and something pearly white escaping from between Malfoy’s forced-open lips as his body hit the ground, motionless.
And then there was a terrible silence.
Haley stood blinking, trying to take in what had just happened. Malfoy had just experienced the Dementor’s kiss-- his soul had been sucked out through his mouth. He was worse than dead. And the person who had cast the spell was Jordan, Jordan who was apparently an Overseer… it was all so confusing. She looked over at her brother.
Jordan was slightly green, his eyes looked strangely huge, and he was breathing very hard. But the expression on his face reminded her of someone else she knew. He was standing perfectly straight, which was a definite change from his usual slump. His jaw was firmly set, and his brow was furrowed.
Suddenly, Haley remembered why it seemed so familiar: this was how her father looked when he was concentrating particularly hard or was having a difficult time. “And he always says he’s nothing like Dad…” she thought.
Just then, there was a loud rustling from behind them, the sound of twigs snapping as many feet crashed through the underbrush. “A little deeper in!” a very familiar voice called. “They left a trail.”
Ten people ran into the clearing wearing stark black Auror robes. “Haley! Jordan! Emma! You’re all right!” was the first thing out of Harry Potter’s mouth. Then he did a double take and noticed the Dementors, Ivy sprawled out on the ground, the werewolf pacing beside her like a guard, and Malfoy’s unmoving body.
“EXPECTO PATRONUM!” one of the Aurors yelled as though he did this every day. Something silver burst forth from his wand like a gorilla-shaped shield, illuminating the glen in silvery light and driving the Dementors away. Haley’s head was beginning to ache. So much had happened in such a short period of time, and she didn’t understand any of it at all.
Harry stepped forward. “What,” he said in a voice that clearly radiated authority, “is going on here? ”
Everyone began to speak at once.
“Malfoy was out here in the forest, we saw him from the dormitory, so we all came down here because I thought he had kidnapped Jordan, and””
“AWOOO!” (That was Ted.)
“It’s Jordan, Uncle Harry, Jordan’s an Overseer, he””
“No, I’m not.”
Everyone turned to look at Jordan. He was smiling, though he was still a strange shade of greenish-white and was shaking slightly.
“I’m not. Ever since I heard he escaped, I’d been making plans to get rid of Malfoy. The one I liked best was to convince him that I was on his side, then blast him when he was least expecting it. But I never planned on actually doing it… it was just a fantasy, something that I liked to think about. I mean, everyone likes to imagine themselves as a hero, no matter how unrealistic it is. Well, I was going for a walk earlier tonight, and I ran into Malfoy. And I had a choice--I could die, or I could use my plan. And, well, you can see what happened. I stunned him, and… and the Dementors… they finished up the job for me.”
Harry looked shocked, worried, impressed, disappointed, proud, and confused all at once. “Why, though? Why did you think that it was safe for four kids-- all right, five if you count Ted-- to take on Malfoy? He’s killed about fifty people, and you were one of his main targets! Why didn’t you summon the Order?”
Haley looked her father square in the eye. “What would you have done, Dad?” she asked.
Nobody spoke for a moment, then a slight smile spread across Harry’s lips. “You have a point there… but that doesn’t mean that it was the right thing to do. I’ve been known to do some incredibly stupid things. Now, we’re going to have to move Malfoy’s body--” he shuddered slightly here, “and Dale, Farley, there should be an escaped Overseer on the grounds. Try and get him before he crosses the school boundary, because he’ll be a lot harder to catch if he leaves the school grounds. We don’t want him to Apparate away.”
Haley suddenly realized that the tall Overseer that Emma had been dueling had slipped away during all of the confusion.
She was beginning to feel very tired indeed. Suddenly, without warning, she burst into tears and fell into her twin brother’s arms, crying from mingled fatigue, happiness, and fear.
At that same moment, the large, brindled wolf padded gently over to where Ivy lay on the ground, her long blonde braid spread out behind her. The wolf licked her face with his pink, flexible tongue, and her eyes snapped open at once. She sat up and wrapped her arms tightly around the neck of the tame wolf that she called her friend, and his warmth was just as reassuring as always, no matter what he looked like.
It had been a very long day indeed.