Malfoy Manor
Lucius called Mulciber into his house early in the morning, interrogating him about what had happened on that ill-fated night. Mulciber hinted in every way that Peter Pettigrew was to blame. Malfoy, to be honest, suspected Mulciber so the conversation didn't go well.
"Do I look like a clown, Tony?" Malfoy was pale, cold and very, very angry.
"No, Lucius."
"Then why my words amuse you?"
Mulciber swallowed, tried to smile.
"They just sound strange, Lucius," he clarified. "You say that you walked along the corridor, entered your room, felt someone stick wand in your back, and then nothing. But Peter Pettigrew, of course, is not to blame for anything. It's odd, don't you think?"
"Pettigrew is our only source among the whole herd of Gryffindor sheep who obeys Dumbledore unconditionally. We carefully selected all possible candidates. Pettigrew is a loyal friend of Marauders, but without support he's weak. He will break. And he won't have the strength to play a double game."
Anthony was quiet, staring skeptically behind Malfoy's shoulder. He didn't need to argue because he didn't care about the common success; being a Death Eater was just entertaining, he didn't pursue a great goal.
"Do they call themselves the Order of the Phoenix?" Mulciber smirked, changing the subject.
"You think 'the Death Eaters' sounds better?"
"At least our actions─"
"Leave grand rhetoric for newcomers."
"At least we're doing something," Mulciber corrected himself. "Our performance is higher."
"Then why I don't see the results?"
Mulciber scowled.
"Because we need time. Everybody sure was glad that the potion works, but as it turned out, it's not perfect. It turned out that its effect is extremely short. Large doses work without fail, but the signs are too obvious already at the first stage. And the headmaster is on the alert."
"So, Snape is not as good as they say?"
It sounded too joyful and Mulciber pretended not to notice.
"Apparently," he answered flatly. "But no one believed that he would cope with this task. Now he rose even higher."
Mulciber with polite interest looked around the room. He didn't quite understand what they had left to discuss and began to suspect the hidden goal of this conversation. But Malfoy kept silence, absently tapping fingers on the armrest, and Anthony could only humbly wait.
"I need Emily," Lucius finally said.
"I'm sorry, who?"
"Parker, dammit!" Malfoy exploded. "Emily Parker from Ravenclaw!"
Mulciber pondered for a long time, wrinkling his forehead and staring at distorted with malice face of his rival. Malfoy's discontent didn't bother him at all, none of the purebloods is obliged to remember by name all the mudbloods he ever met.
"That lass?" he drawled, "The one we chased in the forest?"
"Yes."
"Do you need her? Or the Lord?"
The silence was long. Malfoy shifted his grey eyes to Mulciber and said nothing.
"I'll bring the girly to you," Mulciber responded reluctantly. "Do whatever you want. I won't tell anyone."
Lucius and Anthony have always been competitors. Both were handsome, smart, successful and ready to do anything for the sake of their own ambitions. They trusted each other as only very old enemies can. Having a common goal, they went one way but each waited for the other to falter. Malfoy would've asked someone else for help, but neither Avery nor clumsy Nott nor cowardly Regulus inspired his confidence.
"When?"
"What?"
"When will you bring her?"
"Soon, Lucius. The Easter holidays are coming. They were delayed because of all this fuss with the dead girl," Mulciber grinned. "But parents want to see their children very much, so the investigation is temporarily suspended and everyone goes home. Where Dumbledore doesn't watch the girl, it'll be easier to take action."
Malfoy nodded.
"If someone notices she's gone, it's only her stupid friends. And they will necessarily take matters into their own hands and won't say anything to Dumbledore or the Ministry. They won't wait," Mulciber smiled contemptuously. "Then, we couldn't find her in the forest because of Sirius's brother, but now... I always catch game. My father taught me how to hunt."
"Just do it. And keep her in your manor."
"It's not very convenient, Lucius. My parents─"
"Like I don't know how many mudbloods have visited your secret basement under the guest house during the summer holidays!"
"Fine," Mulciber grimaced. "I'll do it."
✨ ✨ ✨
Wrapped in dark robes and cloaks in an attempt to protect themselves from the distraught wind, students came out of the school in a string, smiling timidly because of leaving so inhospitable recently Hogwarts.
Frank walked forward, holding Alice by the hand. He briefly waved Sirius and turned away. Neither Frank nor his wife will return to Hogwarts, as well as the half of all the other students.
"Oi, are we going or what?" James came up to Sirius, holding Lily's waist in one hand and heavy suitcase in the other.
"Where?" Black asked absently, watching the group of Hufflepuffs with their parents sitting into the carriages with invisible horses. Goons from the Ministry kept a sharp eye on the students so that none of them were killed on the school grounds.
"To your place, Blackshire," James pulled Evans closer. Her cheeks were flushed in the cold, her hair disheveled, she looked damn pretty.
"Huh? Fuck, yeah."
Sirius looked around. Remus and Emily, James and Lily, Beata, Peter, Marlene – everybody was ready to leave. Only Eliza refused, having complained that she needed to visit her father, still weak after his wife's death.
They decided that they would leave school and spend the Easter holidays together, because in fact, all of them had nowhere else to go. And they didn't want to be separated from each other because at a time like that one of them could not come back.
"Everyone's ready?" Sirius asked frowningly. Chorus of dull voices was immediately carried away by a raging wind. "Well, then let's go."
They stepped out of the yard, passing by the line of approaching and leaving carriages, and headed across the field between Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest. Nobody stopped them; headmaster probably expected something like that and ordered not to bother them.
"Your mother already taken Regulus?" James wondered casually.
"Yeah. Arrived in her emerald box and didn't even bother to go out. I saw her looking out the window."
"Gloomy chicklet," Beata snorted. "Sleek, beautiful, but old. And eyes like a dead cat."
Sirius grunted, but his look was satisfied.
With a dreary creak, an old pine tree cracked nearby and dropped like a dead weight on the furry branches of neighboring trees.
"Wonderful weather. I hope, we won't be blown away," Emily's attitude towards the forthcoming plan was extremely skeptical.
"We go to the carriage, Parker, and these mute goons from the Ministry will accompany us. Straight to fucking Blackshire. I don't really want to invite them over, so sorry not sorry."
"You're very inhospitable since you agreed to fly on a broom," Emily snorted.
"Tell me about it. Besides, I'm not going to fly on it."
At the very edge of the Forbidden Forest, James took brooms out of the hiding place, carefully wrapped in an enchanted cloak. Him and Marlene had their own, another one James seized from Frank, giving it to Remus.
James threw his leg over the shaft and soared above the ground just enough for Lily to climb behind him. She wrapped her arms around him like a new-born koala, leaning her head against a tobacco-smelling leather jacket, and closed her eyes.
Emily, cursing and grimacing, sat behind Remus. She immediately put her hands under Remus' sweater. He shuddered from the icy touch and, turning around, kissed the top of her head.
Sirius saddled the bike, starting the engine and listening with pleasure to the familiar roar. Beata sat next to him.
Black took off first, leading the bike away from Hogwarts. For a second, he thought that headmaster's disapproving look burned his back, but he just hit the gas.