Vetus Oraculum
by Ayla Pascal

Disclaimer - This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Ayla and the storyline, however belong to me.

Chapter Four – Many things happen

That evening, Ayla managed to slip into the Slytherin common room, after a careless first year who opened the wall and then forgot something and left it open. As soon as she entered the room Ayla hurried at once to her dorm to see if her snake was OK. Rina was still curled up safely in her pure silver cage, looking rather contented with life.

‘Hello,’ Ayla hissed in parseltongue as she knelt in front of the cage.

‘Hello,’ Rina hissed a greeting back, uncurling to greet Ayla.

Suddenly Ayla had an idea, ‘Has anyone been touching my stuff?’ she asked Rina. She prepared herself for an answer.

‘No one has touched your stuff, mistress,’ Rina hissed softly, ‘I wouldn’t let them.’ The snake answered.

‘Good,’ Ayla muttered to herself, this time in English, not bothering to ask what a snake in a cage could do to stop people from touching her stuff, ‘I would have killed them if they had rifled though my things!’ Ayla muttered to herself as she swung her legs of her bed and went over to her dresser. Just then, the door opened and Blaise Zabini walked in and sat down on Ayla’s bed and looked at her.

‘Hi,’ Blaise said in a friendly tone, smiling at Ayla.

‘Come to mock me again?’ Ayla spat nastily, while jamming some books into a bag. Looking over at Blaise she snapped, ‘Get off my bed!’

‘Ok,’ Blaise replied, her blue eyes round with shock as she got up and sat on her own bed, ‘I haven’t come to mock you! I was just coming on behalf of the girls, to apologise for how we have treated you.’ She looked thoughtful for a minute and then added, ‘You had better apologise to Draco though. He isn’t going to let you forget this if you don’t!’ Blaise warned in a serious tone.

Ayla snorted rudely and started to look for her Charms book. ‘I won’t apologise to Malfoy,’ She snapped, gritting her teeth while pawing through her suitcase. ‘Anyway I don’t think you girls are really apologising. You’re just scared of my parseltoungue ability.’

Blaise’s lip curled suddenly, ‘Well if you are going to be like THAT!’ she sneered and stormed out the door slamming it behind her.

Ayla’s face was dark as she slung her bag over her shoulder and stalked out of the Slytherin common room with her head held high. She stomped to the Gryffindor Common Room but before she could beg The Fat Lady to let her in, a dark shadow fell over her. It was Malfoy, with his friends Crabbe and Goyle. They stared at her and Ayla backed down the corridor until she realised that she was in a corner.

‘Well well,’ Draco sneered, the expression contorting his handsome face, ‘Who do we have here. The Mudblood! The wannanbe Gryffindor!’ He smirked at his own wit.

Ayla looked around, Crabbe and Goyle were closing in on her and she had nowhere to run. She stood her ground, ‘No I don’t! I don’t want to be in Gryffindor. I would never betray Slytherin like that!’ she snapped angrily, ‘I may be muggleborn but I am in Slytherin whether I like it or not. Whether YOU like it or not! But, I am not about to betray my own house!’

Draco Malfoy stopped in mid-step, ‘You still want to be in Slytherin?’ he asked rather hesitantly, ‘Even though we call you Mudblood?’ His grey eyes surveyed Ayla critically.

‘Well,’ Ayla mused thoughtfully, ‘I’d prefer you not to but…I will stay in Slytherin no matter what.’ She sighed, ‘What happened?’ she asked almost to herself, ‘you were all so nice then as soon as you heard I was muggleborn you all turned on me.’ She crossed her arms across her chest and looked at Draco.

Draco looked rather embarrassed, ‘It was not the muggleborn part we were worried about,’ he muttered almost inaudibly, ‘It was the fact you were friends with those Gryffindor scum!’ he added vehemently, ‘Our parents don’t like muggleborns but here at Hogwarts, the Slytherin’s are more concerned with the Gryffindor scum!’

‘But why?’ Ayla was amazed.

‘We were …worried you would decide to become a Gryffindor and therefore betray us.’ A voice came from Draco’s left hand side. It was Goyle, ‘Slytherin’s have always associated exclusively with Slytherin’s.’ he added sheepishly looking down at the ground and blushing.

Draco jumped with shock; Goyle usually was a silent hump good for nothing but bashing people up. It was amazing to hear him volunteer information for once. He glanced at Ayla, whose brown eyes were narrowed in thought.

‘Truce?’ She finally said rather reluctantly, thinking about what Blaise had said. ‘I can’t really live in Slytherin with all of you hating me.’

‘Truce.’ Draco agreed, ‘The password is Mudbloods. I’ll tell the others what you said. Just don’t associate with the Gryffindor’s and we’ll be your friends.’ He disappeared behind a tapestry with Crabbe and Goyle following him, leaving Ayla standing in the corridor alone.

She stared at the tapestry Draco disappeared behind and wondered if he was serious or just sucking her in. Wandering back down to the Great Hall, she decided to visit Dumbledore again. However, as soon as she had gotten to his office, the dinner bell rang.

‘Darn!’ She muttered to herself as she made her way down to the Great Hall again. Turning a corner, she suddenly met up with a ghastly sight. A nasty grinning poltergeist was bobbing in midair waiting for his next victim. Ayla spun around but not quickly enough.

‘Gotcha!’ Peeves yelled as he spotted Ayla’s retreating back, pelting her with rotten apples and goodness knows what else. Ayla ran as hard as she could away from the laughing menace, panting and weaving through the hail of rotten fruit. Suddenly the pelting stopped and Ayla skidded to a stop outside the Great Hall.

Looking down at her robes, she saw that they were a complete mess, dripping with fruit juice and muck. The second set of robes I have ruined today, Ayla thought to herself. Groaning dismally, she ran to the Slytherin homeroom entrance. ‘Mudbloods!’ she panted at the wall as it slid open. Running inside and ignoring the stares at her dishevelled self, she skidded into her dormitory.

Pansy Parkinson just about to go to dinner. Without looking up she muttered, ‘I’m sorry.’ Then she looked up to gauge Ayla’s reaction. Her mouth fell open in shock ‘What happened to you?’ she gasped, looking at Ayla who was dripping with fruit juice.

‘Peeves!’ Ayla said grimly, while getting a fresh set of robes out of her bag. Once changed she turned to Pansy and said, ‘Really?’

‘Really what?’

‘Are you really sorry or are you just pretending!’

‘I’m really sorry.’ There was no mistaking the sincerity in Pansy’s voice as she apologised again.

Ayla still looked suspicious but she accepted Pansy’s apology. They made their way down to dinner silently.

The next couple of weeks passed rather quickly for Ayla. It seemed that her first try at transfiguration was a fluke and her Animagi lessons were going dismally. She could not even grasp the basics of Animagi, although that could be because of the overload of work the teachers were setting in preparation of the NEWTS. Professor McGonagall had suggested that she quit trying to be an Animagi and Ayla took up her suggestion gratefully. Perhaps in a couple of years, Professor McGonagall had suggested, you can take up Animagi lessons again. Ayla had nodded but was very doubtful.

The Slytherin’s were still nice to her but it was a rather cold polite niceness. Ayla felt that they were rather scared of her but she welcomed anything but cries of, ‘Mudblood’. She felt that they stopped talking about whatever they talked about as soon as they saw her. Ayla was starting to dread going into her common room, preferring instead to hang around Hermione and her friends or Hannah.

One day when Ayla was walking down to breakfast, she saw Harry waving her over to them on the Gryffindor table. She excused herself from the Slytherin table and wove her way to the Gryffindor table. Upon getting there, she could almost feel 200 eyes staring at the snake embroidered on her robes. Keeping her chin tilted up, she turned to Harry, Hermione and Ron. ‘What’s up?’ She asked curiously.

‘Well,’ Harry said quietly, shooting a glance at the others, ‘Have you heard of the names Sirius Black or Peter Pettigrew?’ His green eyes were piercing as they looked at Ayla’s response.

‘Yes,’ Ayla said slowly, ‘I’ve heard some of the other Slytherin’s talking about Black being a wanted murderer and Pettigrew being the Restorer of the Dark Lord.’ She had sat down on a chair and put her elbows on the table, ‘Why?’

Harry shot another look at his friends before saying in a very hushed tone, while sneaking glances down the table, ‘Black’s my godfather and he isn’t a murderer.’ His words were firm and his face set. ‘The last letter I received from him indicated that the Death Eaters knew where he was.’ His voice shook very slightly as he continued, ‘You’re in Slytherin so could you listen in to Malfoy and his friends and see if they have … maybe … caught him.’ Harry’s voice was pleading.

Ayla’s eyes grew round with indignation, ‘You want me to be a spy?’ she snapped not bothering to lower her voice. She was outraged and she slammed her fist onto the table to make her point.

‘Shhhhh!’ Ron hissed, looking around to see if anyone had noticed, luckily, it was noisy and everyone was still engrossed in their own conversations. ‘Don’t be so loud!’

‘You want me to be a spy?’ Ayla glared, her voice lower but with the same amount of rage in it.

‘Well..’

‘Um…’

‘Yes we do,’ Hermione interrupted impatiently ,‘You are our friend and you are the only one who can hear these things without being caught. Please.’ She looked at Ayla and her eyes said plainly, I helped you once so it’s time for you to return the favour.

Ayla groaned inwardly and looked thoughtful before she finally replied, ‘I’ll try but no-one talks about much in front of me and I certainly can’t ask them. However if I learn anything, I will only tell you about Black, I certainty will not tell you Slytherin secrets.’ She was very firm.

Harry nodded his thanks, wolfed down the rest of his breakfast, and bolted out of the hall in the direction of the Owlery.

‘He’s gone to post another letter to Sirius,’ Ron explained to Ayla, seeing the perplexed look on her face, ‘He’s really worried, you know.’

‘If he was caught,’ Ayla thought out loud, ‘wouldn’t his captors be able to know that Harry was writing to him.’ She looked at Hermione who also looked worried about this fact.

‘I was also worried about that,’ she admitted, ‘but Harry won’t listen to reason where his godfather’s concerned.’ She pushed back her brown hair and sighed.

Ayla looked at her watch and stood up, ‘I’d better go back to my table,’ she told Ron and Hermione. Pushing back her chair, she made her way back to the Slytherin table.

‘Why are you still hanging around with them?’ Pansy asked suspiciously, ‘You are a Slytherin! We don’t associate with just anyone!’

‘I told you not to talk to Gryffindor’s,’ Draco was furious, as his grey eyes glittered at Ayla.

‘They are my friends!’ Ayla shrugged and started to butter herself a piece of toast oblivious to the stares at her simple statement.

That night as Ayla drifted off into an uneasy sleep, she dreamt

A dark shadow was looming over Hogwarts, its red slits of eyes narrowed in rage as it lifted its wand. ‘Maralah’ it whispered, as thin skeins of white mist began to unfurl over the great castle. It’s inhabitants slept on but one of them was no longer themselves. Their mind was now bound to Voldemort’s.

Ayla awoke with a start with her blood pounding in her veins. She had the queerest dream and was terrified. The person hovering over Hogwarts looked like Voldemort and if her dream was real then it meant that all the people in Hogwarts had their minds bound to Hogwarts. Deciding to talk to Dumbledore in the morning she fell back into a uneasy sleep. What she didn’t hear was the voice whispering ‘separto Mortim’ as it departed from over the great castle.

The next morning Ayla awoke to the silvery sun pouring through the green curtains surrounding her four-poster bed. Tumbling out of bed and pulling on her robes, she stumbled into the common room. Ignorant of the stares at her dishevelled appearance she stepped out of the common room into the cold dark and damp corridor outside.

Immediately she was grabbed by Harry and his friends. ‘SO,’ he demanded ‘Did you find out anything?’ He looked very stressed and was almost as dishevelled as Ayla herself.

Ayla blinked blearily at Harry and could only manage a, ‘Huh?’ Shaking her head a bit to clear it she replied more clearly, ‘No sorry, but I had the weirdest dream last night. Someone was…’

Harry could have screamed with frustration. ‘I don’t care’ He snapped angrily and turned away to go to the owlery.

‘But,’ Ayla stammered ‘But It’s really important’

‘Leave him,’ Hermione advised wisely, ‘What is it anyway?’

‘I dreamt that someone was hovering over Hogwarts,’ Ayla said slowly ‘They had red slits for eyes and were binding Hogwarts to them. They said something like “Maralah”’

Ron gaped ‘T…that’ he stammered ‘that would be You-know-who! He had red slits for eyes just like a snake. And that ‘charm’ is powerful dark magic used for binding another soul to his. My dad told me. We have to see Dumbledore!’

Ayla rolled her eyes and said sarcastically ‘Well that’s why I said it was important.’ She said this with the air of someone explaining to a small child that 1 and 1 made 2. ‘Should we go after Harry?’

Hermione and Ron nodded simultaneously and the three hurried to the owlery. When they got there, they found Harry tying a message to the leg of a brown barn owl.

‘Harry’ Hermione gasped ‘We have to see Dumbledore’ without waiting for a response, she grabbed his coat sleeve and dragged him towards Dumbledore’s office. Ayla and Ron followed them, their legs moving quickly to keep up with Hermione ’s run.

‘What is this about?’ Harry asked, panting slightly with the exertion of running up three flights of stairs.

‘We’ll explain inside’ Ayla said shortly as they reached the stone gargoyle. ‘Auror’ The gargoyle grunted it’s displeasure and slid aside to reveal the rotating stairs up to Dumbledore’s office.

The four ran up the stairs and knocked on the door. A cold voice answered ‘come in’ and the door fell open. They stumbled inside in a tangle of arms and legs. Hermione was first to look up and when she did she recoiled in shock. Professor Snape was sitting in the position usually occupied by Dumbledore. In fact, Dumbledore wasn’t even in his office.

‘Ah’ He sneered unpleasantly ‘What do we have here? What brings me this pleasure of this visit?’

Ayla found her voice first ‘Where is Professor Dumbledore?’ she demanded.

Snape hesitated for a moment and then replied ‘Professor Dumbledore has been called away for an emergency. He will not me back for a while. He has asked me to take over his position of headmaster.’

‘What about Professor McGonagall?’ Harry asked

‘Albus felt that I was the person most capable of the job.’ Snape said with some hesitation. He, himself had wondered why Albus hadn’t asked Minerva to take over his position. In fact the hurriedly scribbled note he had found on his desk in the morning had sounded unlike Albus, it was almost… no it was absurd…it could not be. It sounded like Voldemort.

Harry, Ron, Hermione , and Ayla looked at Snape with some degree of worry as a range of expressions crossed his face. First surprise, then puzzlement and finally fear. Hermione was the one to ask hesitantly ‘Professor Snape? Is there something wrong?’

Snape shook his head and continued to think to himself. Unbeknown to himself he began to mutter. The other four heard snippets of ‘Curious circumstances’ ‘Could not be’ and ‘Sounds like Voldemort.’

Ron Ayla and Hermione exchanged glances while Harry was still puzzling over it. Finally Ayla gathered up the courage ‘Professor’ She said timidly ‘I had a dream last night. I dreamt that Voldemort was hovering over Hogwarts and was binding someone’s mind to his. He said ‘Maralah’ I wonder if that has any significance.’

Harry gaped at this piece of news but his expression was nothing compared to that of Snapes. Snape’s jaw dropped and he began to stammer ‘N... no it cant be.’

‘What can’t be’ Ron asked curiously.

Snape’s eyes lost their glazed look as he began to speak in a voice quite unlike his own. ‘You may or may not know this but Maralah is a very powerful dark curse to bind one persons soul to another. Your dream last night’ He addressed Ayla in a serious tone ‘was a very powerful foresight. If I am not mistaken, you are a powerful seer. Lord Voldemort has indeed bound someone’s mind to his, and unless I am very much mistaken it was the mind of Albus Dumbledore.’ He sighed and addressed Harry this time ‘Harry, I know I haven’t always been nice to you and I feel that is why The dark lord has chosen me to be the guardian of you. The headmaster of Hogwarts shall always guard the son of the lily and the stag.’ Snape repeated the last sentence like a lesson learnt out of a textbook.

The four students stared at their least liked teacher in undisguised amazement. ‘You mean’ Harry spluttered ‘That Dumbledore has been taken over by Voldemort.’ His face contorted at saying this sentence.

‘That is exactly what I mean.’ Snape sighed, for once his face wasn’t twisted by an expression of loathing ‘Now we have to be on our guard. Weather anyone likes it, I am the headmaster now and I trust that you four will not breathe a word of this out to anyone. It will cause undue panic. I shall warn the other staff and warn the ministry. Unfortunately it may already be too late.’ He seemed to be jerked out of his daze and snapped in a tone reminiscent of his old self ‘Now go to class. All of you.’

The four stumbled out of the door leaving Snape alone in his office. Grabbing a handful of floo powder, he threw it in the fireplace and shouted ‘Fudge!’ Nothing happened. Snape was puzzled and decided to try some floo powder from another box. Walking over to the closet, he opened another box.

This time as he threw it in the fire he shouted ‘Ministry of Magic’ and stepped into the fire. Snape screamed with pain as the fire burnt him. ‘Olarabo’ He muttered wincing at the pain. Immediately it subsided, leaving him to wonder what happened.

The only explanation was that Hogwarts was no longer connected to the outside world, and the only way to do that was by very powerful forbidden dark magic. The only person with access to that was Lord Voldemort. It seemed that Voldemort had put a separating spell on Hogwarts so that no one could get out but anyone could get in. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The spell was a permanent spell and could only be taken off when the person who cast it died or was killed. Snape laughed at this revelation, they could either wait for Voldemort to kill them or try to kill him when they were like rabbits trapped in a cage. What great choices!

Snape hurried out of Dumbledore’s office in a blind panic that he did not even notice that he had run full tilt into someone until…

‘Severus’ a stern voice admonished him. Snape looked up into the unsympathetic face of Professor McGonagall.

‘Minerva’ Snape babbled almost incoherently ‘Hogwarts is in trouble. Voldemort is taking over and has taken over Albus’s mind and had bound Hogwarts and…’

McGonagall looked faintly amused ‘Severus’ she rebuked ‘Please talk normally. You are sounding like a five year old.’

Snape took a deep breath and started over ‘Potter, Weasley, Granger and Pascal have just been to see me with the most amazing story’ he began before he was interrupted.

‘They went to see you?’ McGonagall said sceptically.

‘Well’ Snape muttered ‘Not exactly. They went to see Dumbledore but he has been called away on an urgent errand at least that is what he said in the note he left on my desk. Anyway Pascal said that she had a dream last night about Voldemort hovering over Hogwarts and binding someone’s mind to his. I think that he has bound Dumbledore’s mind!’

‘Ridiculous’ McGonagall cried ‘Absolutely Preposterous.’

‘Oh’ Snape said coldly ‘Then why can we not get out of Hogwarts?’ Professor McGonagall looked puzzled and he enlightened her. ‘I just tried to contact the ministry and had no success and when I used floo powder on the fire, it almost burnt me.’ Looking at McGonagall sceptical expression he explained further ‘I used the fire in Dumbledore’s office. That fire has no special charms on it to prevent contacting the outside. So… how do you explain that.’

McGonagall’s mouth opened and closed several times before she said weakly ‘You could be mistaken.’

Severus shook his head and pointed to where he had came from. ‘Do you wish to check yourself?’ They had hardly gone two steps when an owl swooped through the open window and headed towards Snape.

‘See’ McGonagall pointed out, relieved ‘That owl got in fine’

Snape’s face turned white as he handed the letter to McGonagall. ‘Read’ he croaked before drawing up a chair, in midair, and sitting on it.

The letter read:

The letter read: Snape, By now even you must have realised that you are trapped. I have placed a ‘Maralah’ curse upon your precious muggle loving headmaster Dumbledore, and I have also placed a binding curse upon the whole of Hogwarts. Do you even know who to trust? Can you trust your students? I have you trapped! Have a nice time.

Lord Voldemort

Ps did you really think that you could fool Lord Voldemort with your pathetic façade that you were biding your time!

McGonagall’s face turned purple as she almost choked on her tongue. Her legs wobbled and she sank slowly to the floor. Turning her face towards Snape, she mouthed weakly ‘What do we do now?’

***

In a high cold room, a man sat on a throne like chair facing his thousands of supporters. It was Lord Voldemort. ‘My loyal Death Eaters’ He cried ‘Hogwarts is ours!’

A loud cheer rose from the crowd as the cloaked death Eaters stamped their feet and shouted excitedly. A puppet like person was jerked onto the stage in front of Voldemort.

‘My loyal supporters’ Voldemort said, this time more quietly ‘We have the muggle loving headmaster at last. He shall be our tool for infiltrating the Ministry. His mind is bound to mine and I control his every move.’

A death eater stood up ‘My Lord’ he said reverently ‘May we write to our children now? I am sure they wish to join the war.’

‘My dear Lucius’ Voldemort replied in a deceptively calm voice ‘I have already told you that the Descendant of the founders is at Hogwarts. We do not want to fight them united, as she can unite them. She could brainwash your children and turn them against us. We can not tell them our plans until we are sure they are clean.’ He then turned towards the unfortunate Death Eater who had spoken out, ‘Crucio’ he hissed.

Lucius Malfoy fell onto the ground in a twitching heap until Voldemort lifted the curse. ‘Do not question me’ He hissed, while laughing a high cold laugh that reverberated off the walls.

***

‘All the students fifth year and above come to the great hall, with their teachers. Teachers teaching fourth year and under please escort them to their houseroom then join us in the great hall.’ Professor McGonagall’s magically amplified voice echoed off the walls of Hogwarts.

Ayla looked up from deciphering the advanced curses in her Defence against the Dark Arts class. She had been expecting this but it was evident from most of the other Slytherin’s faces that they were astounded at this pronouncement.

Whispers flew around the classroom like wildfire, ‘It can’t be him’ Draco whispered to Crabbe and Goyle, ‘We would have been informed.’

‘Well’ Professor Lupin said calmly ‘It seems that we will be finishing this class early. Please read Chapter 12 about the unforgiviables.’ Professor Lupin had been their Defence against the Dark Arts teacher in their third year but he had left in after Snape had let out that he was a werewolf. Fortunately, he was reinstated last year because of the prominent role he held in the Order of the Phoenix.

The Slytherin’s trooped out of the classroom and wandered slowly to the Great Hall. Most of the other students were already seated when they arrived. The four long house tables had been pushed together to produce a sort of W.

‘Sit anywhere’ Snapes voice snapped to the Slytherin’s. They reacted with shock and surprise as they were used to special treatment form him.

Draco hurried to the other side of the hall to sit next to the seventh year Slytherin’s but was stopped by a ‘Malfoy’ McGonagall yelled ‘sit down!’ He was forced to sit down between a group of Gryffindor’s who gave him looks of disgust. Letting his gaze wander around the hall he noticed that Ayla was walking to the other side of the hall to sit next to Potter and his friends, and she wasn’t stopped by either McGonagall or Snape. His lip curled in anger as he noticed this ‘special treatment.’

When Ayla got to where Harry Hermione and Ron were sitting she sat down in a hurry as she noticed that many of the other Gryffindor’s were giving her dirty looks.

‘So’ Hermione muttered to her ‘What’s happening, on the Death Eater side?’

Ayla raised her eyebrows in surprise as she answered ‘None of the other Slytherin’s have any idea what is going on’ She mouthed silently.

The other three gave her identical surprised and suspicious looks but McGonagall cut anything they may have said. ‘I know that some of you are wondering why we have called this emergency meeting.’ She began ‘Well as you can see Dumbledore isn’t here.’

Snape cut in by saying ‘We have received notice from the Death Eaters that they have placed a binding charm upon Hogwarts.’ This blunt statement received many gasps even from the teachers table as almost everyone stared incredulously at Snape.

‘But’ Flitwick stammered ‘That is impossible. Dumbledore… oh’ Realisation dawned upon his face as he sat down suddenly.

‘Yes’ Snape said ‘Dumbledore has been placed under the Maralah curse.’ He turned his face towards the Slytherin’s. ‘Perhaps you would like to explain that to the other houses, Draco.’ He spat, ‘how many of you are supporting him’ His eyes roved the Slytherin’s with the snakes embroidered upon their robes.

‘Severus’ McGonagall admonished ‘now as you know You-know-who has bound this school. This means we must be constantly be on our guard. All lessons are now cancelled except Defence against the Dark Arts. All the teachers will teach you to fight against all sorts of curses, even illegal ones.’ Her face turned pale for a minute as she continued ‘now I warn you must not mention this to any of the younger students.’ She looked towards Snape who was consulting with the other teachers.

Professor Snape cleared his throat ‘Ok’ he said in a commanding tone ‘We have to work together on this so there will be no house rivalries. We are to save Hogwarts! Whatever your parents are does not matter. I do not think any of you are pleased that this has happened. Do not follow blindly in your parents footsteps! He looked at Draco in particular, before he continued ‘Fifth year please go with Professor Marks to be divided into your new classes. We have to be prepared to fight!’

The fifth years stood up, surprise and fear etched into all their faces, as they followed Marks out of the hall. ‘Now’ Lupin said suddenly ‘Sixth years, come with me.’

Ayla stood up and trooped out of the hall with the other sixth years just in time to hear Snape say ‘And seventh years with Flitwick!’ They followed Professor Lupin along a winding corridor into one of the dungeons. There they stopped as Lupin surveyed them.

Professor Lupin stood there in front of the group looking at them clustered in their separate houses. Sighing he snapped in a tone unlike his usual mild voice ‘Everyone pair up with someone in their house!’

There was a shifting in the crowd as everyone found a person they liked; soon everyone was paired up but Ayla. ‘Why aren’t you in a pair’ Lupin asked

‘Odd number’ Ayla muttered angrily. It was not her fault that her own housemates hated her.

Lupin sighed and walked around the dungeon and put people in groups of four. Ayla was thrown in a group with Draco, Vincent, Harry and Ron. ‘Now’ Lupin cried ‘There are many curses that may hurt you. Does anyone know which ones Voldemort is most likely to employ?’ His eyes roved the expectant crowd and landed on Draco.

‘Me’ Draco drawled, a trifle nervous ‘Well he could use the Crutatious curse, or he could use Vertis to find out all the information he needs, offcourse the Imperious is always popular, it is a thrill to see your enemies destroying themselves. But by far the most popular one used would be Expecto Mortem.’

Lupin turned an ashen shade as he gasped as Draco’s last words ‘E…Expecto Mortem?’ He whispered shuddering. He seemed to visibly gather himself as he said in a stronger voice ‘Expecto Mortem is a very powerful ancient dark curse that gives oneself the power of a Dementor.’ Half the crowd winced at this statement and Harry in particular shuddered as he remembered the effect the Dementors had on him.

Just then, Professor Snape entered the dungeon. ‘Malfoy, Parkinson, Pascal, Potter, Weasley and Granger, come with me.’ He snapped and then turned on his heel and strode out again. The six looked at each other and followed Snape out of the dungeon.

The six students followed Snape down a long and winding corridor that led into a small round room. Inside Professor McGonagall sat behind a teak desk looking through some papers. As soon as they entered, she said, without looking up ‘There you are.’ She waved to the empty space in front of the desk and six chairs materialized out of thin air. Snape retreated to the back of the room and disappeared into the shadows.

‘Now’ McGonagall said briskly, looking up from the thick sheaf of papers, ‘You are probably wondering why you were called here to speak to me.’

The six figures nodded their heads silently wondering what was going to happen.

‘You six are very special’ McGonagall began ‘Two of you have Death Eaters for parents.’ She held up her hand to stop Draco and Pansy from interrupting. ‘Two have muggle parents. One has parents in the ministry and the others parents are deceased. You six are the key for this battle, either side could win, with your help.’ She paused and let her words sink in.

Draco opened his mouth in shock ‘What makes you think we will help you?’ he sneered, beside him Pansy bobbed her head in silent agreement.

‘Off course we will help’ Ron cried stoutly ‘At least Harry Hermione and I will.’ He shot Draco and Pansy a dirty look and then a half apologetic look at Ayla, as if to say ‘Well you are in Slytherin after all.’

McGonagall cleared her throat ‘All of you must be on the same side’ she whispered in a high clear voice, rather like that of Professor Trelawney. Her head bowed she continued ‘You must all be on the same side, or disastrous results will happen.’ Lifting her head, they say with a shock that her eyes had turned a dark violet colour, fixing them with a lucid stare. Then without warning, her head dropped and she slumped onto the desk.

Hermione jumped up at once and rushed to her side. Bending down she put two fingers at the side of McGonagall’s neck, ‘Still breathing’ she muttered ‘Pulse weak..’ An arm reached in front of her line of vision and she looked up for a second. Professor Snape was standing there.

He gently lifted Hermione ’s arms from Professor McGonagall and in a voice unlike his own he said gently to her ‘She wanted this to happen, it was the only way she could warn you.’ His eyes roved the room, and each of the six students felt his piercing gaze penetrate their eyes. ‘Stay here’ he muttered abruptly and scooping McGonagall’s limp body in his arms left the room.

The six students left there eyes each other with looks of incredulity and suspicion. ‘Well’ Harry said at last ‘What do we do now?’

‘Well lets throw a party, and invite all the Mudbloods’ Draco snapped sarcastically, brushing a lock of his silky blonde hair from his face. His grey eyes shone with fire as he hissed ‘Well Potter, look at the fix you have gotten us into!’

Harry recoiled in shock and glared at Draco ‘Me’ he spat ‘It’s your parents who are the Death Eaters, they have left us here to die. When they get here, you will get to join in their glorious battles. It’s what you want isn’t it?’ Harry’s emerald eyes glinted as his fists clenched and unclenched rhythmically on the table.

Draco looked like he was going to retort angrily when his eyes suddenly fell. He looked uncertain when he replied softly, ‘I don’t.’

‘You don’t what?’ Harry taunted ‘You don’t even want to risk your miserable life for Voldemort do you. Coward!’ He turned his back to Draco.

‘No!’ Draco replied grabbing the back of Harry’s robes and pulling him to face him. ‘No’ He repeated ‘I was not informed of this battle. For all I know my parents have left me here to die with you mudbloods.’ His eyes flickered with an unearthly light as he continued slowly ‘I was born into the Malfoy family. Understand this, I have no choice over my life! I have to be a Malfoy … must uphold the family honour.’

Pansy’s eyes widened as she heard what Draco was saying. ‘Draco’ She hissed outraged ‘What are you doing?’

Draco turned unseeing eyes towards her, he sighed ‘Pansy’ he muttered ‘haven’t you ever felt stuck, felt like you didn’t have a choice, felt like everyone took you for granted.’

Pansy bit her lip. Memories flashed through her mind. Her mother screaming at her for not inheriting the family beauty. Her father with his whip lashing out at her after a particularly difficult day. Draco, saying absentmindedly ‘get me coffee’. Pansy’s eyes flashed furiously as she realised that she had been used her whole life. ‘Yes’ she hissed, brown eyes blazing, ‘You have used me, took me for granted.’ She shook sterling silver twined ring off her finger. ‘We’re over’ She spat at Draco ‘I refuse to be your girlfriend any more!’

Draco gasped in shock as he struggled to come to terms with what Pansy, the wallflower had just told him. ‘You dumped me’ He choked.

Pansy smirked and was about to come up with another retort when Ayla interrupted them, ‘Shut up already’ She snapped ‘It’s nice to know that you aren’t evil after all, Draco, but I have no wish to know about your love life! We have to figure out what to do!’ There was a long and pregnant pause after her words and everyone looked at a loss of things to say.

‘Well’ Ron said quietly at last ‘Perhaps we should wait for Snape to come back.’

Draco exploded again at these words ‘Well we see yet another example of Gryffindor wit here.’ He yelled furiously ‘What do you think we are doing here already …’ Suddenly a sound cut his screaming off as a dark figure stomped into the room.

The dark figure shook himself off and yelled to someone behind him ‘Maxime, come ‘ere.’

‘Hagrid?’ Harry gurgled ‘Is it you?’

‘’arry!’ Hagrid cried in surprise ‘Wat are ya doin’ ‘ere?’ His eyes roved over the Slytherin’s who were sitting beside the Gryffindor’s.

‘Haven’t you heard?’ Ron cried in surprise

‘What’ A voice came from behind Hagrid. It was Maxime. Her massive body almost filled up the entire room and she was robed in robes of shocking orange.

The entire room goggled at her, she looked like one of Hagrid’s giant pumpkins, blown up. It was all very creepy looking.

‘Well’ Harry said at last ‘Dumbledore has been captured. There is a binding spell on Hogwarts and us six are very special and we are supposed to be the turning tide of the battle.’

Hagrid and Maxime just stared, their enormous eyes growing to the size of dinner plates.

‘Please tell me that’s a joke’ Maxime whispered weakly.

The entire room shook their heads solemnly, not one hint of a grin was visible on any face. Ayla voiced what had been hovering around everyone’s minds ‘Why didn’t you know this?’

Hagrid looked acutely embarrassed ‘Well…’ he muttered ‘We were sent as a peace treaty by Dumbledore.’

‘That was months ago’ Hermione said, a teasing smile playing around her lips, ‘What have you been doing since?’

‘We…’ Hagrid began before he was interrupted by Maxime.

‘Hagrid was just showing me Norbert, you know the dragon you rescued in first year.’ She said with a knowing grin.

Draco was silent up until this moment but he suddenly burst out, ‘So there was a dragon!’ He then added in a disgusted voice ‘And I got detention for it!’

Harry looked sheepishly at Hermione as they both remembered to the night in first year when they were smuggling Norbert up to the astronomy tower. Hermione bit her lip ‘So’ she said ‘What are we going to do now?’ She shot a warning look at Draco as if to say no funny business.

The entire group was silent at her words when suddenly Snape walked back into the room. ‘Well’ He said, his coal black eyes surveying the room, taking in Hagrid and Maxime. ‘Please leave us.’ He said to them and as they exited, he continued. ‘I suppose you six want to know what to do next?’ The six nodded mutely. ‘Well’ He continued ‘One thousand years ago Salazar Slytherin made a prophecy.’ He suddenly stopped ‘I believe that the Gryffindor’s and Ayla have already heard part of this.’

‘Part of this’ Ayla burst out ‘What do you mean part of this?’ She blushed as she realised that she was talking to a teacher, but Snape seemed to take no offence.

‘I mean that’ he said quietly ‘That Dumbledore didn’t feel that it was necessary for you to hear the entire prophecy. I have it here with me now.’ He took a large roll of parchment out of his pocket and smoothened it out on the table to read. The six crowded around to see it.

The four houses of Hogwarts were united once and will be united again. In 1000 years time there will come my true heir who will continue to purge the world of ones unworthy of having magic. However, the first-born child of the lily and the stag will be his downfall. There will also be another and she shall unite all four houses under the Hogwarts banner once more. She will be the descendant of all four founders of Hogwarts and possess all their powers. There will be six vital instruments in providing this fate and all must unite in common faith.

Ice will defect from the dark side and will be the power of the group.

Seeker shall be the first born of the lily and the stag. He shall defeat the Dark Mage if all goes accordingly.

Ancient Magic unites Flower to Ice.

Head shall be the brains of the group, being the only one able to see though evil.

Fire shall be the protection of the Seeker, encircling the Seeker until the Final Battle.

Finally, the Descendant shall unite these five powers in a common interest.

The six looked at each other in amazement. ‘You mean’ Pansy croaked ‘That we are the six, Slytherin procephiesed about?’

Snape nodded solemnly ‘you have a duty to perform.’ He said seriously ‘I trust you perform it well.’

‘But’ Draco questioned ‘Wasn’t Slytherin part of the Dark side? Why would he make a prophecy about it being defeated?’

Snape looked sad and when he replied his voice shook slightly ‘Salazar wasn’t always the self engrossed dark wizard.’ He sighed and stood up ‘I will leave you alone now’ He left the room, leaving the six occupants still in a state of shock.

‘Well’ Ayla muttered, after it was silent for almost five minutes ‘Draco, you’re obviously Ice, because of your hair colour. Harry, you are the Seeker. Pansy …’

Pansy interrupted her angrily ‘I don’t want to be part of this’ she burst out ‘How dare he…plan out our lives like this. I refuse to be part of this! I don’t believe my parents would have abandoned me!’

Harry looked at her and slowly nodded his head in agreement ‘I believe we should fight against the Death Eaters’ he said slowly ‘but in our own way. Anyway, I don’t trust Slytherin. He was a dark wizard; this is probably a ploy to trap innocent witches and wizards. We happen to fit the picture, but so what? Where are thousands of witches and wizards who do, why do we have to be the ones.’ He suddenly looked very tired ‘I’m sick of fighting’ he muttered.

The other three nodded their agreement, each for different reasons. Ayla looked at them in despair ‘Come on guys’ she pleaded ‘It’s Voldemort we’re talking about!’ They flinched at the name but stood their ground. Draco and Pansy were positive their parents would come for them and Harry, Ron and Hermione distrusted Salazar Slytherin.

Ayla glared around the dungeon and stomped out in a fit of anger. She started to walk towards the Slytherin common room but cold fingers went around her mouth. She tried to scream but all that came out was a muffled snort. The person dragged her down a corridor and muttered a word to a wall. The wall slid open to reveal a large open cavern, with many cloaked figures standing inside.

‘Avery’ a cold voice hissed ‘You’re back.’ These were the last words Ayla heard before she blanked out.

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