"Ginny, fill in the gaps they have on that picture," Lauren said, handing Ginny the pen.
"Why?" Ginny asked.
"Because whoever let them get their hands on that picture wanted them to know about us," Lauren said, "and the only people that had copies were the high-rank members of the Order. Who are we to argue with them?"
Ginny contemplated arguing the point, but she could see that Lauren meant business, and when Lauren meant business there was no changing her mind.
"When you say home, where do you mean?" Derek asked Lauren.
She turned to him, her dark hair flicking sideways revealing the scar across her face. Derek thought to himself that if she was the good-guy, he really hoped his family never had to deal with the badguys.
"Well, technically Scotland, but London will do. Either way we need to take your car," Lauren said.
"And why should I let you take it? I don't mind giving you a lift," Derek said, "I need that car."
"It's too dangerous. I don't want you putting your life in danger because of us. Besides, I'll pay you back for it," Lauren said, "I'll give you enough money to buy a better car!"
"And why should I trust you to do that?" Derek challenged.
"Why wouldn't I?" Lauren said.
"Why would you? It's a lot of money," Derek said, "You could take the car and run."
"Derek, I'm a Pureblood witch. My Grandfather is the last direct member of the Tanimoto family, my Grandmother was born a McKinnon, my Father an Edwards, his Mother a Prince. Four powerful and ancient Pureblood families."
"So basically you're loaded," Derek said.
"Money is no object to me, I'll pay you back for the car, I promise."
Derek looked uncertainly at the keys in his hand, but sighed and handed them over to Lauren.
"If we're giving you all this information about who to and not to trust, I think you should tell us what you know about this," Hermione said a little while later, while Lauren was busy helping Sarah compile a database of known Death Eaters.
She was holding out her pendant, the same one as Derek had in his car. Derek took it in his hand, tracing the unusual design with some familiarity.
"I don't really know much," Derek said, "just some more old documents that were sent to us, the family that is, not me personally, years and years ago."
He led her over to a cabinet and took out a few loose documents.
"I don't know where this came from," he continued, holding out a particular document to Hermione, "it's almost like it was sent to us for safe keeping. I don't know what the letters mean. They look like Chinese characters or something."
Hermione studied the picture. It looked like an Angel - a girl with blonde hair raised off the floor, glowing white. It was almost very beautiful, but there was something about it that disturbed Hermione. It was the angel's eyes. They were clouded and glassy, like she was dead.
"That picture came with that insignia I have in my car. I don't know what it means - maybe you can make sense of it."
"Not really," Hermione said, "do you mind if I look at this a bit longer?"
"Keep it," Derek said, "if it has something to do with you and the war then it is more use in your hands than mine."
"Thanks," Hermione said.
"What have you got there, Hermione?" Lauren asked, walking over.
"A picture," Hermione said, handing it to Lauren.
Derek watched the dark haired girl's icy blue eyes cloud with memories.
"I've seen something like this before," she said, "When I went to Tibet with Charlie and John. I would say Kimi could probably read the words, but she's blind."
"John maybe?"
"Possibly," Lauren said.
"Well, as I said, you can keep it," Derek said, walking over to Sarah.
"You know, things like this freak me out," Hermione said, "It's almost like someone knew we would be here."
"I don't buy that fate stuff," Lauren said, "Your life is what you make it. Maybe someone's just trying to point us in the right direction."
Lauren couldn't drive. By the time they got in the car, she could barely stand up. She stubbornly refused to admit she was hurting, but it was obvious in the way she gritted her teeth, and stood on her good leg whenever possible.
Hermione was the only other person who knew much about cars. Ginny didn't have a clue, so it was up to Hermione to drive them to London. The rain was still pouring, hardly nice conditions to drive in, but she would have to make do.
Lauren handed Hermione the keys and she clumsily put the in the ignition. She turned the key and the engine spluttered into life, not too unwillingly.
"Ok, so there's about half a tank of petrol, which should get you as far as London, just about," he said, leaning on the open window as Hermione sat in the driver's seat, gripping the steering wheel ferociously despite the fact that the car wasn't moving.
"The idle is set too high, so if you flat out the accelerator it won't matter if you snatch the clutch. It might wheel spin and jump a bit, but it will go. It'll make one hell of a noise, but don't worry about that - I don't think you're too worried about keeping the car in good condition."
"It's a Landrover..." Hermione joked weakly. Derek smiled at her reassuringly.
"The steering and brakes aren't powered, so it will be hard to steer until you get up to about twenty miles an hour, and if you brake too hard the wheels will lock and you'll skid, so you have to remember to pump the brake," he continued to explain, "You aren't likely to meet any other cars in this weather, so control isn't going to be too much of a problem, but just in case I would have your front fogs on so they can see you from further back, and yes before you even ask, this old pile of junk does have them..."
"Again in English?" Hermione asked.
"Basically, put the clutch all the way down, A B C from the door..." Lauren said at her bemused face, "stick it in first gear, floor the accelerator and lift the clutch up slowly. Let me worry about the rest."
Hermione breathed in deeply, and did as she was told while Lauren released the handbrake. The car began to roll forwards, the engine screaming, and Derek stepped back.
"Good luck!" he said.
"Thanks for everything!" Hermione called back as Lauren gave her instructions to change into second gear.
"You're welcome," Derek said as the car picked up momentum, disappearing into the pouring rain.
With sigh he headed back into the house where Sarah and the twins were stood waiting for him.
The next day the rain stopped. Four days after that Derek received a letter in the post containing a cheque, signed Kazuo Tanimoto, with a note scribbled on parchment that said:
Lauren
...
"I still don't understand any better," Neville said, after he explained to the others what he had seen.
"I'll show you the way?" Erin asked, "people only ever follow me if they want to trip over!"
Harry gave a small laugh, but he felt disheartened. They were no closer to understanding anything than they had been before they came.
"Lets just get out of here guys," Harry said, "Before we get caught."
"Oh, it's too late for that," cackled a cruel voice from the doorway.
After the battle, no one ever really understood how the Death Eaters had known that the kids would be in the Ministry that night. People had their suspicions (Dumbledore believed it was Voldemort using his newly acquired powers to catch them out while they were alone and vulnerable) but most put it down to good luck, or bad luck, depending on whose viewpoint you looked at it from.
While Lauren, Hermione and Ginny made their way to London painstakingly slowly through the awful rain, Bellatrix Lestrange turned her wand on Harry, Ron, Erin and Neville.
"Where's the rest of you?" she demanded, "We've been looking for your little friend Miss Edwards for nearly six weeks now, where is she hiding? We thought the rain would flush her out, but she's not that pathetic is she."
"We don't know where she is, no one does," Harry said defiantly.
"I'm bored of your incessant heroics already Potter," Bellatrix sighed, sending him flying into a door with a casual flick of her wand, "perhaps one of your friends would like to tell me, hmmm?"
She looked down at them, her crazy eyes trawling across their faces, stopping finally at Neville. With a malicious grin she turned her wand on him.
"I think little Longbottom will talk, don't you?"
"I don't know where she is either!" Neville said.
"Let me help you remember..." Bella said.
Erin, Harry and Ron all went to attack her, but their spells were deflected by other Death Eaters. Erin gulped nervously.
"I've had it up to here with you lot," Ron said, making a pushing gesture with his arms that didn't touch any of the Death Eaters, but sent them all flying.
"Come on, lets get out of here!" he said, grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him to his feet.
They ran through the ministry, opening every door open that they could to try and confuse the Death Eaters. They would never get out of here without putting some distance between them, or getting help. Ron concentrated all he could on trying to transmit the plea for help to whoever he could.
John was sat doing his homework in the library when he felt a buzzing in his head. He winced, dropping his quill so it made a splatter of ink on his page.
"Are you ok there dear?" Madame Pince asked as she walked past, carrying an armful of books.
"Yeah," John said, then quickly changed his mind, "...no. Something's wrong."
"Do you want me to take you to the hospital wing, dear?"
"No," John said, "I want you to take me to Professor Dumbledore, now!"
Harry, Ron, Erin and Neville ran as fast as they could through the corridors, avoiding the odd spells that got flung in their general direction. Erin was gasping for breath despite their intense training, as terror slowly crept over her.
"There's no way we're going to out run them for much longer," she said, "and we don't really stand a chance at fighting them!"
"We have to get back to a fireplace, floo out of here," Harry said.
"And have them follow us back into the Gryffindor common room?" Neville asked, his voice shaking a little.
"I've tried to call for help, but I don't know if anything got through," Ron said.
"Then what do we do?" Erin asked.
"Keep running," Harry said, diving to the side as the Death Eaters suddenly appeared again.
They ran through the various corridors, ending up in the Death Chamber, where the cataclysmic battle had been fought two years before. They were surrounded completely.
"Deja vu?" Harry said to Neville who could only bring himself to nod.
There was something comfortable and familiar about the way the Order burst through the doors into the Death Chamber. Remus, Tonks, Kingsley and all the other older members of the Order certainly experienced a strong sense of Deja vu.
Everything they were fighting for, all they had done, it kept coming back to this department. The Department of Mysteries. Tonks wished it was the Department of the Blatantly Obvious. Maybe then they'd have more luck seeing how all this connected. How they could end it.
Even the Death Eaters didn't look surprised as the Order launched into their attack. It was almost like it was supposed to go like this, and everyone knew it. As wands blazed, Harry almost expected to see Sirius, battling with Bellatrix, taking that last graceful fall towards the central veil.
Ginny had been dozing in the back of the car when she suddenly sat bolt upright.
"We need to get to the Ministry," she said, "Ron's in trouble."
"How do you know?" Lauren asked.
"I don't know, I just do," Ginny said.
Hermione, who had been concentrating fiercely on the road before her, swerved sharply, stopping the car at the side of the road.
"Hermione!" Lauren said as she grabbed onto the door handle to support herself.
"Sorry," Hermione said, "I just got this intense feeling in the back of my head that something was wrong."
She glanced in the rear view mirror at Ginny.
"It felt like Ron."
Lauren watched them. They had the same look on their face. Not blind fear, but knowledge, knowledge that made them afraid. Lauren had felt nothing, but then she had never been particularly close to Ron.
"Keep driving, head straight for the ministry," she said, opening the car door, "Get there as soon as you can."
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.
"The same place as you," Lauren answered, "I just hope to get there a little quicker.
Hermione nodded and Lauren shut the car door. As Hermione drove off towards the city centre, Lauren stood in the rain, eyes closed, her arms stretched out. Her jacket was quickly soaked through, and even though she had put up her hood, her hair was getting wet as the rain steadily leached through.
She tried to clear all thoughts of the rain, the pain in her leg, of Harry, Ron, Erin, Neville and all the others she hadn't seen for over a month now.
Charlie...
The roar of the rain falling around her became her focus and she thought of that sound, using it to push everything else out. Once her head was clear she thought of the place she wanted to be, and tried to push herself there.
When she opened her eyes she was at the top of the stairs, looking down at the Death Chamber in the Department of Mysteries. There were loads of people fighting, duelling ferociously, but one battle stood out amongst the others, to Lauren's eyes at least. Neville pinned against a wall by Bellatrix, who was torturing him with the Cruciatus Curse.
Lauren reached into her jacket, pulling out her Sai knives. She twirled them in her outstretched hands, growing quickly accustomed to their weight, then started to walk towards Bella.
With her hood still up, no one could tell whose side she was on, so no one went to attack her as she walked. When she finally reached Bellatrix, who was so engrossed in the act of torturing that she hadn't noticed her approaching, she grabbed her wand arm and pulled her round with it, slamming her into the wall. In surprise Bellatrix dropped her wand, and the curse on Neville ended. To stop her making a reach for her wand, Lauren kicked it away then stabbed one of her Sai through Bella's palm, pinning her to the wall.
Bellatrix shrieked in pain, gripping at her wounded hand with her free one, but was unable to removed the blade. With horror etched across her face she turned to face her attacker.
"C-carly?" she stammered, through pain and disbelief.
"That's right, Bella," Lauren said, putting on the Italian accent again, "Long time no see, old friend, at least, it is for you, for me it was about two weeks ago, but that's a long story..."
"You died," Bella said, like she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing, and was trying to convince herself it was an illusion.
"Not died, disappeared," Lauren said, "If I was dead I couldn't be standing here right now, could I? I don't think you ever believed I died either, did you?"
Bella whimpered slightly, tugging at the Sai pinning her hand to the wall again. She was still unable to move it.
"Where have you been?" she asked, a hard glint appearing in her eyes, "Seven years I spent looking for you, there was no body, I couldn't believe that you had just died in the fire. But you had vanished, gone without a trace!"
"And you only stopped looking when they threw you in Azkaban," Lauren said, "how touching..."
"Where have you been?" Bella demanded.
"Right in front of you," Lauren said, letting the accent slip.
"No!" Bella said with horror as she started to recognise her voice.
Lauren pushed back her hood and stared coldly at Bella, who recoiled in shock and hatred.
"That's right, Bella, best friends with your husband's murderer," Lauren said, forcing Bellatrix to look at her with her free hand.
"It's not true!" Bella shrieked.
"I went back in time," Lauren explained, "I went to your house, I sweet talked my way in. Scarlett Valentez? She doesn't exist - I invented her! I went to you for information, but you were too smart, even when we became best of friends you still wouldn't tell me what I wanted to know, so I went to someone else. Tell me, Bella, whatever happened to Regulus?"
"He died!" Bella replied, "He was killed for betraying the cause! He gave away important and top secret information!"
"I wonder who too..." Lauren said sarcastically, "Regulus was easy," she continued, "I got close to him then gave him a scare. He told me everything I needed to hear, all to save his own sorry life. Well, it caught up with him in the end, didn't it? He tried to run away, afraid of what Voldemort would do if he found out. But Voldemort knew, didn't he? He knew what Regulus had given away. You always had a soft spot for Regulus, didn't you? Tell me, Bella, who killed him in the end?"
"I did," she spat.
Lauren laughed.
"How ironic," she said with a smirk.
"It's your fault!" Bella hissed, "You forced him to tell you things, you made me kill him!"
"Au contraire, Bella darling," Lauren said, slipping back into the Italian accent, "Who told me it would be a good idea to get close to him in the first place?"
"I did," Bella whispered, horrified.
"Then it's your fault," Lauren said.
Bella started to scream and cry, trying to cover her ears with her one free hand as Lauren listed all the things that she thought would hurt her most.
"You befriended your husband's killer, murdered your favourite cousin, allowed for all of Voldemort's secrets to be obtained by your enemy, and the best thing about it is, until now you didn't even have a clue."
"I won't believe it," Bellatrix hissed, "You are trying to trick me! You're not Scarlett."
"No?" Lauren said, pulling the Sai from Bellatrix's palm, "Then how do I know about this?"
She spun the Sai between her fingers and stabbed it down into Bella's chest, piercing her heart. Bellatrix's body convulsed in shock, and she coughed, tasting the bitter metal of blood in the back of her throat. Slowly, Lauren removed the blade, holding it out to Bella as the red liquid dripped over it, revealing the hidden letters which spelt out the name Scarlett.
"No," Bella said weakly.
"Yes," Lauren spat, loosing her cool, calm attitude at last, "Now when you go to Hell you will know exactly who sent you there. And I hope I've made you suffer in the last few moments of your sorry excuse for an existence, as much as you have made others suffer!"
Bella's whole body shook as it went into shock. She coughed, blood spraying from her mouth onto her hands. One last time she looked up at Lauren, her eyes betraying the intense sadness she had tried to hide with anger, before she fell to the floor dead.
Lauren breathed out a long, slow breath. The Sai she held clattered to the floor as she lost the strength to hold them. She took three steps backwards and fell to the floor.
"Lauren!" Neville said, rushing to her side.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Lauren said, as he helped her sit up, "I've just hurt my leg."
"What happened to you, where have you been?" Neville asked.
"A long way away," she answered.
click me ------>
"You wanna know where Coop went. Try the place with the most gross exploitation of children."
"Scenario number two, Coop went to Disneyworld"
Hahaha, love this movie, so funny!
Anyhoo, please rate and message!
Happy guessing! Xx
