Black Aeon

Chapter nine

Where the fun really begins

'My dear Lady,

I was so pleased to learn that you had indeed become a Le Fey just like your mother, Cousin. Unfortunately, your mother was a Gryffindor, and evidently completely against the whole idea of joining me. Foolish girl. I am hoping that you will be more amiable to the suggestion. What do you say? Become my right hand, rule with me by my side? It is time our shared blood line joined forces once again and took the Wizarding World by storm. Wealth, power, and eternal life, if so you chose; it is indeed an honour for you, as I am the only one who is currently immune to Death, that foul disease. I suppose you are wondering why I am being so forward in a letter; I would ask you to meet me, but I know for a fact that you will not, out of loyalty to your brother. How sentimental. I believe that he is the only thing that would make you hesitate in joining me. But we will get around that.

By the way, the streak in your hair is not white. Think of what colour it could be, and why? Ask Dumbledore about a little present I sent your mother seventeen years ago, the day before you were born. Best of Luck, my fellow Heir.

Lord Voldemort.'

Dumbledore... Why was it that he always had the answers to the most foul of questions? Wylow looked up from the letter, the cream parchment held loosely in her fingers. She suddenly felt so cold. Professor Thyme looked at her worriedly.

"Wylow? Are you alright?" She didn't reply, merely grabbed her bag, and swooped out of the classroom, her robes billowing around her furiously. Passers by noticed a letter clutched in her fingers, and decided not to interrupt the girls angry stalking. Wylow stopped when she came to the end of the corridor. "Jay!" her brother turned around from the conversation he had been having with a simpering sixth year, his hand still pressed to the wall over her head. The girl glared at her, her eyes telling Wylow to piss off and let her finish. Wylow ignored her. "Jay, come with me. Now." Her brother rolled his eyes and winked at the sixth year and whispered something in her ear which made her giggle, before he walked over to his sister.

"What is it 'Ganie, I was a little busy just then. Wait a second... What the hell is wrong with you?" He looked at her worriedly, and Wylow felt a small feeling a delight that only she could inspire such emotion from her brother. At least, since his fifth year she was the only one.

"We have to pay a little visit to our esteemed Headmaster. He's been keeping something from us. From me especially." She stuffed the letter into his hand, and watched as he read. His face darkened into shadow.

"Let's go." His voice was a low pitched growl. This was the Jay that she found helpful; the Jay she wanted with her when she was on the war path. The two swept down the corridor together, matching in height, stride, and stony looks. People stepped out of their way as the two moved past in a billow of black material.

Once outside Dumbledore's office, Wylow removed her badge from her shirt front and pressed it into the indent in the gargoyles neck, on the right hand side. "My Father's Land, My Mothers Tongue." With that, the gargoyle sprang to life, and moved aside. Jay shot her an odd look, and she smiled. "Head Girls private password. Set up for Mama when she was still in school, after she faced Voldemort." He nodded, and they walked into the stairway. Without knocking, Wylow kicked the door hard, and it shook open. Inside, a shocked looking Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape stared at them. The Potter twins glared back, and Wylow stepped in smoothly, her bother just one step behind her. "Dumbledore. Oh hello Lucius, long time no see. Aren't you surprised that I'm still alive? Well, you almost succeeded in killing me, but I do tend to refuse to stay dead. Hi Malfoy, I do hope you disposed of that note. And Dumbledore. Now, you are who I wanted to see." The Headmaster looked at her, an angry look in his eyes.

"Miss Le Fey- Potter, I am busy at the moment, if you would come back later-" in the blink of an eye, Wylow was at the desk.

"Later is not good enough! What have you been hiding from me?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Liar!" a large vase exploded on the mantelpiece, and one of the portraits of the Headmistresses began to shriek. A hand touched her shoulder, her twins' hand, but she shook it off. "What was it that he sent my mother? Seventeen years ago? Something that you never gave her!" the Headmaster looked at her, silent, shocked.

"...Who told you this?" She turned, snatched the letter off of Jay, and threw it on the table in front of Dumbledore.

"Tell me everything old man, or I'll use the remains of my swords to cut you a new mouth in your stomach." The headmaster, ignored her threat, and slowly smoothed out the letter before he began to read. Malfoy persistently tried to catch her eye, but one glance with her eyes full of magic put a stop to it. "You must have read it twice by now; talk." Dumbledore carefully folded the letter in half once, then again twice. He looked at the folded scrap of parchment for a moment, and then sighed dejectedly.

"I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this so soon." He stood up, and walked over to a glass orb, with a floating disk of gold in it. If Wylow had been her normal self at that moment, she would have jumped in shock when Dumbledore picked it up and smashed it. He reached into the broken fragments, and pulled out the disk. Wylow saw that it had a tin strip of leather hanging off of it, the double ends swaying gently. The Headmaster stared at it for a moment, then slowly walked back to where the four were seated and standing, the Malfoys' completely silent. "Voldemort always was one to be direct, but this is a new level for even him. This was, indeed, your mothers. Voldemort had it off of her in one battle, and tried to send it back with note. I intercepted it; I thought it best that a new mother who had so recently given birth to not have a fright such as that. I have anticipated this for a while now. This is yours, my Lady." With that, he held the leather and gold jewellery. After a moment's hesitation, Wylow reached out, and grasped the pendant. The room around her vanished.

There was a young woman lying on the ground. From the moment Wylow saw her, she knew that it was Morgan, and that she was dead. There was a look of resolution, and the reminisce of pain on her face. Her cold, still face. A figure stepped over her, and then collapsed onto their knees beside the dead woman.

"Oh gods... Morgan, what have I done?" the blond man gathered the still form up in his arms, and buried his face in her hair. The blond and red strands mingled together as his long hair spilled down onto and over hers. Wylow looked up and away, just in time to see a woman standing in the shadows of the doorway, a five year old girl holding her hand. The girls hair was strawberry blonde, and in corkscrew curls, and her eyes were huge, long lashed, and brilliant green. She had the same pale skin and bone structure as the man, Wylow saw from the brief glimpse of the man before he had hidden his face. The woman dragged the girl away, and the last Wylow saw of her was the flutter of a travelling cape that matched Morgan's. It must have been Morgan's daughter! The blond man looked up, her face tear streaked, and he blanched as he looked in her direction. "Who... who are you?" he was looking right at her!

"I am nothing. I am a shadow of what shall be." The man racked his eyes over her, and then looked at the face of the woman in his arms.

"You... you are Morgan's?" He looked miserable; he must have thought that Morgan had been unfaithful to him. Then he saw the brilliantly white streak in Wylow's hair. "And yet... you have signs of me too." Wylow froze. Could it be? The white streak wasn't white, but blonde? Then that would mean...

The man spoke again. "You know who I am; I am Salazar Slytherin. And you..." he reached out, and his hand hovered over her hand. "You are my Heir, so named by me. You are mine and Morgan's Redeemer. " There was a flash of black light edged with white, and Wylow screamed as the world around her vanished.

Wylow's eyes snapped wide, and her mouth opened in a feral scream. Black light, edged in white, just like the light she had seen in her vision, flew out of her mouth and surrounded her. The air filled with whispers in a strange language, and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

~

On impulse, Harry grabbed the necklace out of her hands. Everything went black, except for a face. The face could have been his, but for the eyes and the lack of earring.

It was his father.

"Hello Harry." The voice echoed, as though from far away.

"Dad..."

"I don't have long son; I was lucky enough to be able to get a link, as your sister left the Passage open as she left. I have a gift for you, something to help you in your fight. Your mother didn't know about this, so don't tell her or she will kill me. Again." Harry felt a hand touch his cheek, and suddenly all around him was the scent of new life in the spring, and all the things people associated with the Earth. "This is pure Earth magic. You can use this. You will know what to do when the time comes. I have to go. I love you, and your sister. As does your mother." With that, he vanished, and the room returned. The necklace fell from his fingers with a soft 'thunk', and as Harry collapsed onto his hands and knees, a small electrical type charge ran through him, and the whole office shook. Weakly, only half conscious, he curled an arm around his sister protectively, and drew her to him, just before he lost consciousness as well. No one would hurt his sister in her weakened state, no one. Not while he could breathe.

~

Ok, she had really had to stop fainting.

Wylow sat up and shook her head to clear it of the cloudy feeling. She pushed her brothers' arm off, and glared at the Headmaster, who was calmly sitting in his chair watching them. Malfoy and his Father were also in their seats, looking at them with a mix of worry, amusement and curiosity in their gazes. She rolled her eyes, and stood up.

"And I would like to thank you all for helping my brother and myself up from the floor. It was so incredibly kind of you." Dumbledore smiled and nodded.

"You're welcome Wylow." He was acting as though he HAD helped the two of them up, rather then just left them lying on the floor. She sighed, and knelt down to prod her brother.

"Oi, Jay, time to wake up." He groaned, and ignored her. "You can't sleep on the floor. Plus its day time and you're going to miss dinner if you don't shift your arse." One brilliant green eye opened, and he glared at her before sitting up.

"Sometimes I wish I could throttle you 'Ganie."

"The feeling's mutual love. Now be a dear and wipe the drool off your face, it really isn't becoming." Malfoy made a sound of choked back laughter as Jay turned bright red and hastily wiped his sleeve over his face. As he moved his feet, something chinked against the stones of the floor that was not covered by the deep, plush rug. Jay slowly turned, and picked it up. It was the necklace. He appeared to weigh it in his hand for a moment, and then held it out to her. Hesitantly, she took it, and stared at the gold glimmering innocently at her. She handed the necklace back, and lifted her hair off of the back of her neck. "Help her Jay?" Without commenting, her twin fastened the leather strips around her neck, and the pendant settled in the hollow of her throat. She dropped her hair back down, and looked towards the desk where the three others were sat. It was then that she noticed that Lucius Malfoy was staring at her. At the necklace around her throat to be more exact. Wylow raised an eyebrow. "What is it Mr. Malfoy?"

"That necklace.... That Mudbl- Evans used to wear it." So the man wasn't as stupid as he appeared to be. And his memory wasn't as bad.

"Yes, it was my mothers. Good to see that you do have some sort of memory, Mr. Malfoy. Speaking of which, do you think you could... remember why you tried to kill me this summer? Well, why you did kill me." At that, Malfoy himself looked inquisitively at his father, but didn't speak. Dumbledore smiled slightly.

"Actually Lucius, I believe all of us to be curious as to why. Care to inform us?" Jay scoffed beside her.

"Like he's going to tell us the truth, the bloody Death Eater."

"Shut up Potter, you don't know anything!" Malfoy's usually pale cheeks were a brilliant pink colour, and his silver blue eyes flashed angrily. Wylow placed her hand on Jay's arm, before he lunged at the Slytherin boy. Instead, thwarted of his chances of ripping out his least favourite teenage boys' throat, Jay growled angrily, and his cheeks took of a vague red stain that showed how angry he was. Lucius was glaring at his son.

"Draco, this is of no concern of theirs. Let them prattle." Ok, that was just annoying and patronising for the two of them, and she would not stand for anything like that. Wylow rose, and calmly walked over to the older man.

"Mr. Malfoy, it is a concern of mine. I would like to know why you had to kill me, and if you felt any glee in doing so. If you did, I'm afraid that I will have to kill you." The blond man smirked, and leaned back in his seat. He didn't give a damn that she was threatening him. That pissed her off. With a wolf like growl, she grabbed the front of his robes, hauled him out of his seat and lifted him of his feet, keeping her eyes on his. "Answer me damn you man! You, who hold blood in such high esteem, answer a fellow Pureblood! Now!" Lucius's eyes opened wide, and he nodded, obviously trying to ignore the fact that his collar was swiftly cutting off his air supply. With a disgusted feeling about herself in her stomach, Wylow dropped the man back into his chair, and leaned back against the desk, keeping her back to Dumbledore. "Ok, explain then." The blond man was taking deep breaths, and trying to smooth his rumpled up hair with shaking hands.

"Right... right... yes..."

"Oh get on with it man! None of the three of us want to miss our dinner; we're learning students you know!" She didn't know why she had included her house mate, but she had.

"I certainly don't wish to miss dinner either." She half turned her head with a snarl.

"Frankly Dumbledore, I don't care whether you starve into a hollow husk. Shut up." Mr. Malfoy nodded, and looked at her oddly.

"You're so much like your mother. The poison behind the beauty... it's amazing. It's just your hair that makes the difference..."

"Blah blah blah, please get on with it." Behind her, she heard Jay getting up off of the floor, and walking up behind her, but he didn't speak.

"Yes... this summer...

"I was acting under the orders of the Dark Lord. The plan was to either wound you and kidnap you, or kill you. If you were wounded, you were to have had your memory wiped, and replaced with that of being the Dark Lords only child, and one who hated Harry Potter to distraction. You were to have been given the task of assassinating him. If you were killed, we were to collect the body, and you would be resurrected, and been given the same orders, but knowing you were his sister, though you would not have cared, or acknowledged it. You were resurrected anyway, but not by Necromancy; you were sent back to your body by a ghost itself. By your mother."

"Wait, how do you know that?" The blond man smiled, and reached out to her. She flinched, and then stared as he removed one of her earrings.

"It's a tracking device. It would tell me, who created it, whether you were dead of alive. When I discovered that you were alive, I sought out how. That's what I found from my... contacts."

"I don't really want to know. So, why are you here at the moment? And why the hell did you suggest a marriage between me and Malfoy to Remus?" She heard Jay's sharp intact of breath, and Dumbledore's noise of question. Both she and Lucius ignored them.

"Because I was trying to make a permanent link to you."

"May I ask why?"

"To protect you from the Dark Lord." Jay opened his mouth then.

"Rubbish; you were trying to control her."

"I assure you, I was not. Now that Severus has been discovered as the spy amongst the Death Eaters, I have offered to replace him. He will no longer be the spy, but there will still be information for Dumbledore, and I am unlikely to be suggested as the spy."

"But why are you doing this?" Lucius shifted uncomfortably.

"Let's just say that some old ghosts won't leave me alone until I do as they wish. Also, I rather think that no Pureblood should kneel before a half cast like Voldemort." He had finally said the name. Wylow was surprised, but not shocked. Damn it all if the man didn't have a brain! Lucius Malfoy stood, took her hand, and kissed it. "My Lady Le Fey, I apologise for the harm I caused you, and for any offence I have made to you in the suggestion of your marriage to my son. Good day." And with a final bow to her, and touching his sons shoulder, he left in a sweep of cloak. Wylow stood for a moment, looking at the younger Malfoy, who shrugged. She then turned to her brother.

"Well Jay.... What do you say to that?" he shook his head; he had no idea either. "That's just what I was thinking. Let's go and eat; Hunter will be wondering where I am."