CHAPTER 31
UNWANTED AND DEADLY HELP
"Does Dumbledore usually do this to you guys?" Draco asked as they walked towards the Womping Willow.
"What, you mean tell us to sneak out in the middle of the night? Not really." Ron said as he reached for the knot in the tree making the branches freeze in place.
"I wonder why Dumbledore wants us to go to the Shrieking Shack." Hermione said thinking to herself out loud.
"I thought that place was haunted." Draco said.
"People thought that because every full moon they would hear howling coming from there. But really it was Professor Lupin."
"Ah. So, any idea why we are going here?"
"Not a clue." Ron said.
"And you two have been here before?"
"Yes, back in our third year. It's where we met Sirius." Draco had heard stories of Sirius through Aeryn.
"So why am I coming again? Dumbledore said you two should go right?" Draco asked.
"We thought we'd include you. Show you the side of us you always wanted to get into trouble." Hermione said with a slight laugh.
They crept down the tunnel until they reached the shack. They looked around with lit wands and listening for anyone who might be there. They heard a scraping sound coming from the floorboards above them. They quietly walked down the hall to the stairs and slowly climbed them. Hermione's heart skipped a beat when they were at the top. On top of the shabby bed was a huge black dog. The dog wagged his tail at the sight of Hermione and Ron. Draco was behind them but not easily seen.
"It can't be…" Ron whispered. The dog finally caught sight of Draco and instantly started to growl and move towards him. Draco started to back up; he didn't like dogs that well. Both Hermione and Ron came between the dog and Draco.
"He's a friend." Hermione said to the dog. The dog stopped and looked at Hermione.
"How are you alive?" Ron asked. The dog then transformed, Sirius was still looking at Draco. He was interrupted though by Hermione who hugged Sirius.
"You have no idea how good it is to see you. Harry is going to be so happy when he comes back." Hermione had let go of Sirius, she had tears coming from her eyes. Sirius took her by the shoulders and looked at her.
"It was all a trick Hermione. I'm back now. I would have came to see you sooner but I've had a memory charm placed on me for the last week and could remember how I escaped." Sirius explained.
"Who cast the charm?" Ron asked.
"I believe you know Aeryn." Sirius stated.
"You've seen Aeryn?" Draco quickly broke his silence. Sirius looked to Ron and Hermione.
"Why is he here? He's the son of a Death Eater."
"Doesn't make me a Death Eater too." Draco snapped. "I'm going back to the castle." And with that he left.
"What did you do that for?" Hermione asked Sirius.
"What? He's a Malfoy."
"How much time did you spend with Aeryn?" she asked.
"About twenty minutes." Hermione rolled her eyes. "What?"
"You just happen to have scared away Aeryn's current love interest." Ron said modestly.
Sirius sighed; he made a mental note to talk to Aeryn about her taste in men if or when he saw her again, but right now he had other things to do.
"Well You should head back to the castle yourselves and get some sleep. I've got to be somewhere soon. I just wanted to see and tell you that I saw Aeryn about a week ago in New York City. She seemed to be doing ok other then both she and Harry are in deep undercover."
Hermione and Ron went back to the castle like they were told while Sirius, Lupin and some others from the order went behind Dumbledore's back and headed for the now know locations of Voldemort's lair.
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Harry could not tell where in the world they were. He knew that they were in a forest, one that was heavy with ancient trees. Harry was in a group with other soon-to-be-Death-Eaters. Aeryn was by herself, the only female at the back, in her place. The group consisted of five other people besides Harry and Aeryn. They had been walking for about an hour in silence. If Harry had to guess they were somewhere in Europe, judging by the difference in the position of the sun. They had left New York at noon and when they arrived at the unknown location moments later it seemed to be late afternoon. There were escorted by the older Death Eaters, none of which Harry recognized.
`Something's not right' Aeryn's thoughts interrupted the silence `this place should be crawling with muggles'
`You know where we are' Harry asked.
`Only one of the most magical places in the whole world. We are in the legendary Sherwood Forest. All these trees are really old, like 600 years old. Very magical. I swear Hermione's knack for reading better rub off on you, you need to learn about the world around you more'
`Can't help it if I've lived a sheltered life' Harry snapped.
`Sorry. Gee can the tension in the air be any thicker?'
`I'm just nervous.'
`Me too. Hopefully the magic from the trees might help us in the long run.'
The final destination was a really, really old tree. The spread of the branches was about ninety feet, the girth about thirty. The older Death Eaters led the group past the fence that surrounded the ancient tree. The led Death Eater waved his wand about the trunk and a hidden doorway appeared.
`Major Oak'
`huh?'
`This tree is called Major Oak' Aeryn explained to Harry and they stepped through the door way and down a spiral staircase. `It is where Robin Hood and his Merry Men hung out. I'm guessing that they really hung out down here.'
The staircase descended into darkness passing an odd touch here or there. When they finally reached the bottom they found themselves in a small touch lit circular room. The air had become hot and stuffy. The lead Death Eater then turned to face the recruits.
"You need to turn over your wand to us. You are free to explore and get use to your surroundings. After the branding tonight you lot will be spending the rest of your lives with us." He reminded Harry of Mr. Filch the Hogwarts caretaker. "Do try to stay away from the vampires and the werewolves. They both have been edgy tonight."
`Could this get any better for us?' Aeryn said with slight excitement.
"Be back here in two hours, if your not, well you might as well stay lost." The Death Eater chuckled. All the Death Eaters left the room taking everyone's wand. As soon as they were alone the five others turned to face Aeryn.
"So Miss Goth," one of the guys, a Britt, addressed Aeryn's gothic look, "how's it that you are the only lady here?" He stepped closer reaching out with his hand and caressed Aeryn's cheek. Harry was about to step forward but Aeryn was faster; she grabbed the guy by the throat and whirled him around so that he was against the wall with Aeryn cutting off his air supply.
"How is it that you are not the only powerless egocentric male here?" Aeryn replied in return. She then let him go leaving him to sag to the ground coughing. "The name is Claire, stay out of my way." She warned the rest.
`Let's go explore'
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
Harry and Aeryn had split up; they thought it would look less suspicious that way. So no one would think the two of them knew each other. After an hour of exploring the small group o seven made it to a balcony of sorts to a larger circular room. It was the room Harry recognized from his dream back in October.
`This is it.'
`Ok let's star setting up the crystals and candles.'
Each of them carried half the crystals and candles. Thing couldn't have looked better. Here was Voldemort's defeat on a platter. A perfect circular room with a balcony all the way around. In the center was the throne like rock formation. The lava pit closer to one of the walls. Harry and Aeryn set out to lay five candles and fifteen crystals to form the points of a pentagram.
`Make sure the quartz crystal is facing the center' Aeryn reminded Harry, `and the skinny crystal, the Zincite, goes on the left side.'
`All right I got it.'
Aeryn had managed to get one set done; she was walking along the corridor of the balcony. Suddenly Aeryn thought she heard something, she cocked her neck to listen, there is was again, it was like a muffled yell. She moved closer to the wall that was about thirty feet away from the edge of the balcony. It was darker then it was closer to the balcony, Aeryn's eyes taking a few seconds to adjust. She then saw what looked like ten people tied up tightly in a web like cocoon leaving the top half of their face exposed. They were all conscious and yelling through the muffled webbing. Aeryn's blood went cold as she recognized one, then two of them. Thud! Aeryn's world went black.
Bellatrix Lestrange stepped out from the darker shadows tossing a rock up and down in her hand. She studied the red, blonde, and black haired girl lying unconscious on the floor.
"Don't know who you are yet," she said, "But my dear cousin looks quiet well for being killed by you."
Sirius could only look on in horror as Aeryn fell to the floor. He struggled against his restraints but still couldn't escape. He was starting to think it was a mistake coming here to `help.'