Behind the Shadows [Book One]

Chapter Nineteen:

[[a/n: I've altered the timeline in the original books a bit, and I edited ch. 18 also. Originally i said the meeting was called a couple days before christmas, it's been changed to a week and a half before christmas, and we're gonna edit original storylines by saying that school let out for holidays two weeks before christmas and began again on Jan. 3rd instead of Jan 13th.]]

It was done. It had taken longer than the Dark Lord had wanted, which he wasn't happy about but I lived through that (if just barely) and managed to finish it in record time.

When it wasn't done when he said it should be, I went through what Bella described as 'mild torture', and that made me see just how stupid I'd become. I put myself in danger, and I put my family in danger. If I messed up this chance of killing whoever it was I was supposed to be murdering, then it would come back and bite my family in the worst way possible.

To say that gave me motivation was an understatement; I worked myself ragged trying to make everything perfect so that all went to plan. I didn't want anyone hurt because of me.

Well..anyone that I actually knew and cared about anyway.

The Devil's Snare was set in a beautiful pot with the words 'Happy Christmas Uncle Brody' written in scrawling, messy handwriting (courtesy of Draco because I couldn't write badly if I tried) and a sleeping spell had been placed on it so that it would be at least three days before it awoke and began reacting to being touched. I designed a timed-avoidance spell to make sure that during the hours when all nurses were checking and working on patients, they'd not touch the plant and accidentally set it on themselves.

My job was to kill one person and I didn't want anyone getting in the way of my moment to shine and make my family proud. Now I just had to get it in to St. Mungos without it being noticed.

***

Christmas morning, I woke up knowing what I had to do. I put on an ugly Christmas jumper, which Draco had given to me last year when his great-aunt gave it to him and put my hair in the most innocent style I could think of which was two plaits that I threw over my shoulders.

I had Father apparate me as close as he could to St. Mungos without being suspicious and walked the rest of the way there. The morning was too cold, and the sun too bright. To put it simply, I was miserable and it looked as if the misery wasn't going to end any time soon.

I came upon the empty department store Purge and Dowse, Ltd which was 'Closed for Refurbishment' (and had been for quite some time) before glancing around to see who was watching. Deeming the coast to be clear, I stepped through the window much like one would to get to Platform 9 and 3/4.

Immediately my surroundings changed, instead of cold concrete there was white marbled flooring that led in to a room with a small line of people waiting to get a pass to visit their loved ones.

I stepped in to the line only to have a lady look at me oddly.

"Those who are bringing gifts need to be in the line over there."

A quick look at where she pointed directed me to an even smaller line that consisted of only two people, each with a gift in their hands. I walked over and smiled, happy to know that I wouldn't need to wait nearly as long as the others in the line without a gift to give.

"Next," the woman called as the last person walked away from her desk, leaving me and another man behind me to be checked. I hoped that the plant would pass whatever inspection and I'd be free to go drop it off before retreating to safety.

"Who are you here to visit?"

"Broderick Bode."

The receptionist had a kind smile as she looked over the messy print on the potted plant before she simply handed it back to me. "He hasn't had a guest in a long while, he'll be so pleased to see you."

I attempted a smile back but in truth her words had made me feel guilty for this plan, but I knew at this point I had no choice. It was kill or be killed, and I would always choose to kill.

He's sick anyways, if anything you're doing him a favour Amy. Don't think about it as murder, think of it as mercy.

My mind muttered that sentence twice more before I began to believe it and I went up to the fifth floor via elevator where I knew he'd be. I walked the spotless floor for only a few feet before I heard something I certainly shouldn't have. My name.

"Amaryllis?"

Jerking around, I looked for the person who'd spoken it before I settled on a brown hair, green eyed boy who looked much like me.

"Oh...hello Harry. Weasley, Granger," I nodded to them as well, feeling fear pump through my veins. Nobody was supposed to know me here, nobody was supposed to notice me. Now, if Broderick died there would be someone who could place me here with this plant. Should I leave and take it back with me or push through this and give the death-trap to the man anyways?

There was no choice honestly, if I brought it back to the Manor with me, I'd be killed or at least receive a torturing that was a bit more than 'mild'.

"What's that?" Granger questioned, her eyebrows perked up in curiosity as her eyes focused on the potted plant I clutched in my hands.

"It's a plant, Granger, what does it look like?"

"It looks like.. no, it can't be obviously because you're touching it. Who is it for? We don't have an Uncle Brody," Harry replied for her, probably realizing that whatever she said would have a high chance of making me angry and would cause me to have an outburst. Harry was never one for dramatics.

"I volunteer here. We give the ones who don't get gifts or visits from family some gifts of our own and say they're from loved ones so that they don't feel so lonely here."

"Oh, that's.. nice."

"Yeah. So, what are you doing here?"

"We got lost I think. Ron's dad got attacked by a snake, we're supposed to be visiting him. Since you volunteer, you should know where he is, can you direct us?" Hermione looked much too confident in the fact that I wouldn't be able to tell them where to go, proving to me that she didn't believe me in the least bit which was dangerous for me.

"First floor is creature-induced injuries. If you have trouble finding his room, just ask for the Welcome Witch."

I thanked Merlin and all things magical that I'd had a look at the sign before coming to the fifth floor for Broderick. "I hope your dad's okay, Ron," I smiled, trying to win them over with a bit of nice-ness and as soon as they turned around, I went back to my original plan.

Hopefully nobody else would interfere with it.

Finding the room that houses Bode was simple, for there weren't many rooms to begin with on the fifth floor, only eight in fact, and each room housed two people, except for one man who had a room all to himself.

Gilderoy Lockhart.

The name sounded quite familiar but it wasn't until I'd gone to Bode's room and placed the plant beside his bed that I realized why. In my first year at Hogwarts, he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He was a complete idiot who messed everything up and I remember how much he annoyed me. Whatever had happened to him, he probably deserved it.

I smiled at him as I passed his room on my way out of St. Mungo's.