The puzzle of the soul 6: The black snake

17: Carrow

The door closed and Shane stepped away from Jones, "I'm sorry, but you know—"

"You're weird." Jones said after casting a silencing charm, "It's obviously about Lilac."

"Weren't you on last names?" Shane asked before shaking his head, "I'm sorry, tell me what's happening."

Jones took a breath before she explained what she had to do.

"But Tyran and Shane are safe, right?" Shane asked first.

"Yes," Jones said as she fiddled with a strand of hair, "That's what Lilac said anyway."

"Okay... and now she wants to have some psychopath on her side?" Shane leaned against the planks which were full of school books and dust, "I knew she was stupid, but does she realise—"

"I don't know." Jones said harshly as she huffed and tried not to scream in frustration, "I do not fucking know."

"Okay." Shane said calmly, "What do you know?"

Jones frowned. She hadn't expected this question, "Not a lot."

"But it's still something." Shane reminded her before he sat down on a stack of books, "So let's hear it."

With a sigh, Jones leaned against the door and together they suddenly constructed a plan.
"Won't you get hurt?" Jones then asked.

"Well, it's nothing new." Shane shrugged, "I can take it."

"That's not what I asked." Jones glared at him, "I can't have you getting hurt just so I can get some stupid task done."

With a gentle smile, Shane just shrugged, "It's for Lilac."

"Oh, you can't be serious." Jones rolled her eyes, "Why would you—"

"Let me be more clear then, it's for the brighter future." Shane rolled his eyes, "Either way, I think it's worth getting hurt a little."

"A little?" Jones frowned, "...What did they do to you on that night?"

Shane didn't drop his gentle smile, "How about we go and convince Carrow to be on our side."

With a sigh, Jones lifted the silencing charm.
"Just... try to avoid detention." She whispered before she exited. She send Shane one last smirk to finish the act. Nobody would actually care, but Jones knew there were a few ambitious idiots who would do more than staying out of trouble to avoid detention.

The next Dark Arts class, Jones tripped by 'accident' and was caught by Amycus Carrow so she wouldn't have to tumble down the stairs.
"I'm so sorry." Jones said as she quickly stepped away, "It won't happen again."

Carrow just waved it off. When Jones sat down in her next class she couldn't believe Lilac's trick worked when she did it herself. She send Shane a smile when the Professor looked away. Now they just had to be patient.

That afternoon Carrow walked to dinner and suddenly, his legs gave out. His eyes closed and the sounds of the new footsteps echoed trough the otherwise empty corridor.
The two students grinned at each other and quickly grabbed his legs, dragging him into a cupboard.

"Okay, so when he wakes up...?" Jones looked at Shane to finish the sentence.

"When he wakes up he will be blinded," Shane said, "And  then he won't know who we are, and we simply—"

"To late for that." Carrow shot up, "What on earth—"

"Oh crap!" Jones hid behind Shane, "Your plan failed."

"No—" Shane tried to defend himself before he sighed and turned to Carrow who was getting up from the ground. Shane thought the odds of surviving this one were small, but still he just went with it as usual.
"Alright, Carrow, don't get mad—"

"Speak, what is your reason behind this!?" Carrow said as he looked for his wand, "And hand me back my wand!"

"You'll curse us," Jones said, "But we can tell you what's wrong."

"We've got a message," Shane said quickly, "And we needed to tell you in secret, but we didn't know how else to—"

"You fools!" Carrow said, "Just come by my office, that's what office hours are for!"

Jones pressed her lips together as Shane was freaking out in the back of his head.
"Well," Jones started, "We were told to say this; Lilac is fine."

"Who—Black? What...?" Carrow squinted his eyes as Jones just shrugged.
"Who told you to say this?" Carrow asked softly, his eyes betraying he wasn't thinking of murder or torture.

Shane quickly fired a spell and the next moment he and Jones ran trough the corridor, leaving Carrow to hesitate, should he yell after them?