"So, you will do nothing on this matter?" The sneer in his voice was clear as Lucius Malfoy looked at the pathetic excuse of a Wizard and Minister of Magic before him. The man was a pawn, never thinking fully for himself. He didn't know how he got to the position he was in now.
"Lucius, I do not want to do anything against Dumbledore, not after last year." The man gave a nervous look to the other Wizard. "I will not embarrass myself trying to either. If Dumbledore is trying to sweep this under the rug, then I've no doubt he will be able to."
Cornelius Fudge, pulled at the neck of his robes, uncomfortable under the cold glare he was receiving. "I know you have a problem with Dumbledore, but with this matter, I can not help you. For all we know your son could have the wrong information and everything was an accident."
Lucius's lip curled at the tone the man used talking about his son. "My son would not give me information about an attempt of murder without just cause. I say you are letting Dumbledore have too much power."
Lucius cut the man off before he could open his mouth to say anything against it, "If you do not want to help, I will find a different way. I don't need the Ministry to get things done..." He paused looking at the paling man sitting before him. "Yes, it would have gotten done faster, but with how serious the matter is, something will be done." Lucius arose from the chair, cane in hand as he straightened his robes out, brushing away any invisible wrinkles. "Have a good day Minister. You will be hearing from me again." He then turned, leaving a sputtering man calling out for him.
Lucius didn't bother sparing the man a look. He had plans for the day. He had gone to the Minster to hopefully get things done faster, but it seems that just wasn't meant to be.
He would have to see if getting the help of the girl's mother would make things go faster. Though he had a feeling Blaise Zabini had already contacted his Mother and she would start things going on her end. If the two of them and the girl's mother made a fuss about this, something would most certainly get done.
Quickly making his way out of the Ministry of Magic, he stepped up to an apparating point before he disappeared. He had to walk a good distance to get to the home of the Higurashi family. They had a small plot of land away from most. If he remembered correctly, there was a Higurashi in the Potions Guild. Living out here would be good for growing one's ingredients.
His grey eyes flickered around the property, a frown on his face as he felt something prickle at the back of his mind. The still of the air around him, the silence which had settled in an unnerving stasis. It was a familiar feeling that came after the chaos of a raid...or an unknown attack. Taking his wand out, he cautiously made his way into the property. He could feel the dark atmosphere around this place. Lucius' instincts had never been wrong, and he made sure to follow them.
As he entered the home, he quietly made his way through the foyer, checking every shadow along every wall. When he got to the kitchen, he stilled, taking a deep breath, he tried to fight off a wave of nausea. The smell was heavy, chromatic, rotting. Illuminating the whole room with a shift of his wand, his eyes settled on a figure that lay lifeless on the table.
Lucius closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. Walking away to make sure the home was clear, once he knew it was he looked the bloody figure over. It was pinned to the table, as if on display. He saw the vacant look on the woman's face. He moved back a couple steps to get away from the decaying smell.
He had authorities to call, the Ministry would have to be involved now, no matter what Fudge wanted. After that, he'd need to get in contact with Severus. Certainly, Severus would be the one to tell either Zabini or Higurashi what has transpired in the Higurashi home.
-x-x-x-
Elsewhere, in the halls of Hogwarts, a young lady in her last year of Hogwarts, was finishing her rounds before bed.
Penelope Clearwater was in her last year of Hogwarts. A glorious achievement simply making it to her seventh year, by all standards. After being petrified for most of term during her fifth year, then follow that up with a Basilisk, Azkaban escapees and other such nonsense. Come to think of it, there was also that thing with a Werewolf.
All hearsay, mind. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if it were all true. Surely they would have noticed a werewolf in their school. Well, perhaps not.
Turning her attention to the younger Ravenclaw who was sitting beside her, she truly felt for the girl. Cho was easily one of the smartest and kindest girls that she knew, and the last few weeks had painted her in such a foul light. Not that she was placing much faith in the rumors around school. She knew her friend better than anyone else. Of course that meant she knew Cho would never purposely hurt another student. The girl, Kagome. She knew her too. A quiet one, never said much, and always avoided those in her house.
Recently she'd been discussing her opinion of the girl with her boyfriend. The fact that she so easily assimilated with the Slytherins, an unsavory bunch of students that caused trouble on their best behavior. Naturally, Percy agreed. Well, sort of. He did think it was strange that she was so openly accepted by the Slytherins, but he didn't seem to agree with her that Cho was quite as innocent as she made her out to be.
"What does that even mean? Made her out to be." Shaking her head, she finished conducting her duties and started to make her way back towards the Ravenclaw Tower. A hushed whisper found her ear and she strained to hear it. As soon as she moved towards the vicinity of the whispering, it stopped. "Hullo?" Penelope called out cautiously to the darkness.
Silence sounded in excess around her. The shadows seemed to come to life as she turned and gave the area a quick look over. Once she was sure that she was losing her mind, she shrugged off the strange feeling that she'd missed something and left.
-x-x-x-
"You two are so lucky we didn't get caught!"
"Shh!"
"Listen Hermione; we know what we're doing. Getting caught isn't in our tea leaves, if you catch my meaning."
"Yeah, I catch your meaning; and you know I don't believe in that nonsense." Hermione frowned, shrugging her shoulder a bit, "Fred, move your arm."
"My arm is above you, love."
"No, George's arm is above me, yours has taken to resting on my shoulder, and it’s heavy!" She hissed indignantly.
"You can't get one past this one, Fred,"
"I see that, George,"
"You two!"
"Shh!"
Blushing, and a bit irate, Hermione fumed at the level of teasing she was receiving from the twins. Shaking off the two, she focused her attention back on the task at hand.
The three following in the direction that Penelope had taken off in. They kept after the blonde with quick but silent steps. Their goal wasn't so much her, as much as it was getting inside of her house.
The trick... was not getting caught. Which, of course, they wouldn't. All three of these juniors in espionage were all quickly becoming masters in the trade. While the twins had a year more experience in Hogwarts, they'd been sneaking around for years and not getting caught. Hermione on the other hand, perhaps was new to the arte, but was an exceptional student and a startlingly fast learner. She wasn't afraid of her skirmishes with danger, nor was she perturbed by the idea of getting caught. Not anymore, at least. She knew better than anyone what she was risking, and what it might cost her.
Reputation aside, she was ready to fight this battle in the shadows. One of her fellow classmates needed some help, and she was more than willing to abide.
“Right, Hermione, we’re leaving the rest up to you. We’ll wait in the shadows, so be quick.” Fred whispered in her hair, keeping his voice as low as possible so as not to go heard by the Ravenclaw Head Girl who was answering a riddle to get inside her house dorm. Shimming out of the invisibility cloak that Harry had lent to Hermione. The excuse, ‘to peruse the restricted section of the library for a topic of curiosity’ may have been used. She would explai myn to him later what she’d really needed it for.
Pulling the cloak tightly around her. She moved after Penelope as the door swung open. Leaving the twins in the shadows to wait for her. They would be setting up phase two of their tactical plan. Actually, to their utter amazement, Hermione had played a huge part in coming up with the floorplan for their scheme. However, the first part was the most important, and that meant Hermione couldn’t get caught.
Up the stairs, silent footfalls matching with the Head Girls. She stepped up behind her, just a foot out of reach. Holding her breath when Penelope paused and turned around. She looked right through her. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she scoffed at her anxiousness and pushed the door to the girls dorms open. Before she could sleep, she had to check on her house mates, making sure that they were in bed and fast asleep. Head Girl and Head Boy had the privilege of interhouse access. While Percy oversaw Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, she was responsible for Ravenclaw and Slytherin.
Hermione let out a careful breath, silently stepping in past the door before it could close on her. She walked along beside Penelope as she checked each room, stopping at one door, she sighed and opened it. Hermione wasn’t sure why she seemed so bothered until the door opened to reveal Cho. The asian beauty lay sleeping peacefully on her bed with two others in the room asleep with her.
“...you shouldn’t have to go through this, Cho.” Penelope’s voice broke Hermione out of her thoughts, those that were on the items scattered around the armoir and bedside tables. The blond had moved to Cho’s bedside, her fingers trailed up along the girls cheek, brushing a lock of long black hair from her face.
Her eyes betrayed confusion and surprise. ‘Does Penelope really believe that Cho is innocent in this whole thing!? How many others are blinded by Cho’s lies? Justifying their actions, the way they treated Kagome... how convoluted these Ravenclaws. It’s outrageous!! I simply can’t understand how they can’t see that Cho is in the wrong here. She should have been expelled!’
Penelope moved back to the door and with one last look back at Cho, she closed the door with a subtle click. As her footsteps faded into the background, Hermione quickly got to work. ‘It needs to be somewhere she’ll be sure to see it.’ Her eyes quickly scanned the room before settling on the corner of her bedside table, right next to the frequently used brush. Hermione pulled a single wrapped Pumpkin Pasty and placed it down. Laced with just enough Veritaserum to indulge the school in a full day's worth of truths, she had been saving it for something special, but... well, this seemed a bit more important and worthy of the use. Placing a glamour charm on the sweet, she made sure that Cho wouldn’t be able to miss it. The charm would encourage an early snack and the rest would be... history, and Hermione did so love History.
Making her way out of the room, she glanced up and down the hall while closing the door silently behind her. Moving back to the dorm door, she took her time moving down the steps before leaving through the Ravenclaw portrait and returning to Fred and George, or... more specifically, where she knew the twins were supposed to be. “...Fred? George?”
“So how’d it go?”
Jumping nearly a foot in the air, she felt a hand slip past the cloak and cover her mouth so she couldn’t scream. Secretly thankful, though mentally exhausted. Moving the hand, she pulled the cloak from her head and her hair flew all around her with static electricity. Grinning up at the twins, she couldn’t conceal the mischievous glint in her eyes. “It went well, and you both set up a barrier?”
“Oh yes, brilliant this is. Can’t wait to see how they react tomorrow.” Fred smirked at his brother as George leaned into his shoulder.
“Right you are, Fred. Until then, let’s adjourn to our beds and sleep this escapade away. Come on then, Hermione.”
The night was bleeding into the early morning. While light couldn’t be seen yet sneaking a peek through the stone traceries of the castle, it wouldn’t be long. Beneath the safety of an invisibility cloak, three Gryffindors returned to their dorms with the feeling of a job well done. None so much as suspected that this prank would have dire consequences, for...another.