The Potions Master's Daughter (Book Five)

Chapter 1

I sighed. It might finally all be over tomorrow. I wanted to go home more than anything. I had been able to send messages back to Severus on occasion if there was little chance of them getting intercepted but I still missed him. I also missed sleeping on a bed, warm running water, and clean clothes. Above all this I missed my friends most of all. I had already turned down an invitation to go to Neville's and Grimmauld Place this summer, and I was running out of excuses. I had only been able to send two letters to each of my friends, I was sure they were going to think I was being distant.

Blake and Draco had proven to be pretty good company, but there wasn't much we could talk about that we could risk getting overheard. Instead we had to stay to safe topics like school, which we eventually ran out of things to say about. We tried to train everyday, and I think roughing it in the wild had given both of them the edge they needed to perform some of the curses. Both of them were getting proficient at both the Imperius and Cruciantus curses, along with some other dark magic I was showing them to show off some more.

We got some food. Gosh I missed the food at home too. Then we went to practice in the field behind the tents we slept in. We dueled for about an hour before I declared it a night and we all went to bed. Each of the 34 days before this were roughly the same. Sure the place changed almost daily, and the people we fought were different each day but for the past month we had been fighting people daily, doing surveillance, and finally getting pissed when we were thwarted yet again.

I hadn't been able to use all of my power to capture them, or we'd have gotten them on the first day. No, instead I had to let Blake and Draco seem to have the main role. Besides Fenrir couldn't know how powerful I was either, that could go poorly. The full moon had been 5 days previous, and the thirst behind his eyes while we were fighting wasn't something I ever wanted directed on me. No, it was much better for him and I to appear to be on the same side for now.

I had packed every single potion Severus had for sleeping when I went, but there had only been enough for two weeks. Now I was out, and I was back to hardly sleeping. It was making me irritable, and my strength in spell casting was weaker too. I also wasn't as alert as normal since I was tired all the time. I had nearly gotten Blake seriously injured a few days ago because I didn't notice someone sneaking up behind him. Luckily I did at last minute, but Blake still came out of that fight with some pretty nasty bruises. The lack of sleep was also creating a short in my thinking abilities. Things weren't fitting together as well as they used to, I often forgot what I should say, or I would forget things. Nothing I said sounded even slightly intelligent, instead I was fine just following commands or doing the least I had to. I needed to get home and get some sleep.

Just before I went to bed to try to rest my eyes and body I turned on the radio and heard, "In other news, Death Eaters are rumored to be behind the collapse of the bridge. With the Dementors publically siding with he-who-must-not-be-named and the most recent breakout from Azkaban crime rates are up substantially. The number of attacks on Muggles has increased by 400% in the last month alone. All aurors are on deck trying to find you-know-who's followers but if they can't put an end to this terror, it is just a matter of time before something even worse happens. For more information about how to keep your house safe from Death Eaters call 87-"

I turned it off and sighed. There was no need for me to hear more news about the havoc being created by the Death Eaters and Dementors. It was starting to get really bad now that everyone knew Voldemort was back. It was seeping into the Muggle world too, they had begun to notice something was off. I worried every night that someone I knew was going to be hurt, but I knew they were all capable of taking care of themselves, and it would be a while longer before Death Eaters tried to attack Order members at their own houses.

The next morning I was called out of bed by a loud horn sounding. I put on a sweatshirt to guard against the chilly morning air and walked out of my tent. The sun was just beginning to rise, it couldn't be any later than 6 in the morning.

Fenrir was standing on top of a table under the main tent, "We are going to attack the mansion this morning at 7:30 sharp. Everyone get ready and get prepared to leave by then. Malfoy and Cox will be leading everyone with Snape's help, so you better all listen to them. Today is the day men, if everything goes well, tomorrow we will be kings!"

There came a cheer from the dirty men I was surrounded by, but I had neither the energy or inclination to cheer. The sooner it was over the better but this wasn't something I was looking forward to.

I searched the crowd for Blake and Draco and after finding them, I walked over and said, "Well are you guys ready? We've been training for this and you guys have gotten a lot better with command and strategy, you're going to be fine. I'll be there to help, and if anything goes super badly I can always step in."

They nodded, but the twin looks of fright didn't disappear from their faces. Silently they left to go back to their tent to get ready.

I went back to mine too. I changed into better clothing, strapped a knife to my side and threw my hair into a ponytail. Hopefully I packed everything into my trunk, though I knew there was a big possibility I wasn't going to go home today. If anything went wrong and we didn't get them today, then it could be a few more days or even weeks before we were done.

Once we were all set Fenrir addressed the group once more, "Okay we are getting ready to move out. I will hand it over to the kids, you guys better listen to every word they tell you and follow their orders as if I was the one giving them."

Blake Draco and I got up on the table and Blake announced, "We will be sending sector 1 ahead with a mirroring charm to try to draw as many of their fighters away from the main entrance as possible then they are going to run away and get as far away. Then they should be able to make it to a portkey we have waiting for them further into the forest to take them to safety. Lars is in charge of that sector and we've already spoken to him, so go to him with any questions before coming to us."

Draco took over, "The rest of us are going to wait a little while before we send some smoke bombs into the house to force everyone out onto the lawn. From there it's going to be a frontal assault by sectors 2 and 3 while sector 4 comes with the three of us around back to go right after Rodgers and Allen. We know they have two very skilled bodyguards that won't join the fighting at all, so we will need to get past them, but hopefully that's all the trouble we get from back there."

"And remember," I chimed in, "These men are fighting for pay. They aren't going to care about anything other than getting paid. As soon as we have Rodgers and Allen they will probably give up. If we can even convince them that their lives are in danger there is a good chance they decide to run. They have no loyalties to these men, and that will work to our advantage. Just follow what your sector leader tells you, or what any of us tell you, and this should be able to be marked down as a victory for us."

There again came the cheer, as if I was some glorious general preparing troops for battle. This was all forced upon all of us, we had zero desire to be here. Still I gave them all a smile as I stepped down from the table.