Dark Daughter

Chapter 6: Capture

(January 30^th)

The funeral was an unhappy blur to Amy. She remembered that she was one of only twenty people in the chapel and the pastor talked about each person who'd died for about five minutes. Christmas was lonely and at Hogwarts for Amy. But she entered January in far better spirits. That, however, was not the hardest part of the weeks that followed the attack on Elysium village. She had still been going to Voldemort's lessons, except that he wasn't teaching them. Other Death Eaters were teaching her. Amy still had to convince Voldemort that she was glad that she'd destroyed her home and her family and that she was still loyal to him.

* * *

"You are happy about it?" Voldemort asked suspiciously when finally summoned all of the Death Eaters to him.

"Oh yes, Master," said Amy earnestly. "They were all filthy muggles, except for that nasty sister. Master, I thank you. You have saved me from the muggles! Thank you, thank you!"

Amy sank to her knees and kissed the hem of his robes (she brushed her teeth vigorously when safely back inside the castle).

Voldemort did not look pleased or disapproving. "Not that I didn't learn my lesson," said Amy quickly. "I will never volunteer for any more of that crooked old man's missions. I am sorry. I will do whatever you tell me, Master."

Voldemort actually smiled, though it sent shivers down Amy's spine. "Very well, Amilia," he hissed. "You are forgiven. You may leave--you may all leave. Romulus, you know your mission--do it tonight--now!"

When they were out of earshot of Voldemort, a man Amy recognized as Romulus Lupin, caught up with them.

"Why does the Dark Lord favor you so, child?" he asked grudgingly.

"I--I don't know," Amy said, surprised at the tone in Lupin's voice. She was also astonished to find out that he was a Death Eater. "I guess he's just taken me under his wing. I am honored at the very thought."

Lupin looked increasingly sour at this. She knew that he was jealous. Romulus Lupin had always struck Amy as a envious person.

"What's your mission, Lupin?" she asked, thinking that for her safety, at least, she should change the subject.

Lupin smiled nastily. "I have an arrangement with my brother," he said. "There will be a silver arrow involved." His grin widened. "I knew that the Dark Lord would ask me to perform this mission if he needed it. He likes me--likes me almost as much Lucius Malfoy."

At this Lupin chuckled softly. Amy felt sick to her stomach. Crazy person! she thought. As for what he'd meant, she had no idea what it was all about. I've gotta tell Dumbledore what he is. Snape walked silently along slider, evidently pondering something. She didn't feel like asking what it was.

Snape and Amy touched the portkey. Seconds later, they were getting gingerly to their feet.

"Does Dumbledore know that Romulus Lupin is a Death Eater?" Amy asked Snape.

"No," said Snape. "We must tell him."

"Who's his brother?" Amy asked. "I think they might be in trouble if Lupin goes to meet them. It sounded like he was going to do something terrible. Something with a Silver Arrow broomstick, I think. I don't trust him any farther than I can throw him. He sounds crazy to me."

"His brother is . . . Remus Lupin," said Snape slowly.

* * *

Remus Lupin sat in the living room of his small cottage, ruminating. Someone had told Voldemort that Amy Evans had accepted a mission form Dumbledore, someone in the Order of the Phoenix. But who? He'd been working on this case for nearly two months. Who?

Remus looked restlessly around the room, hoping to find some clue or hint. But his eyes fell only on Sirius, who was fast asleep on the sofa. Poor Sirius had to sleep on the sofa, since there was no room for him anywhere else. It was strange to see him slumbering in his human form though. He always had terrible nightmares about Azkaban, which had grown worse since he'd last visited the prison. His only escape was to retreat to his canine form, where they only be duller with less emotion, but still awful.

Finally, Sirius had begun to take a dreamless sleeping potion. It worked wonders except for when it began to wear off, near dawn. A glass with the remains of a thick, purple liquid was sitting on the coffee table. Remus crept to the closet on the other side of the room (the sleeping potion didn't stop Sirius from waking up when he heard loud noises) and pulled out a red blanket. He went over to his friend and wrapped it tenderly around his friend's shoulders.

Remus went into his room. He sat down at his desk. He was going to do some work but suddenly there was faint pop outside his window. He got up and went to look. It sounded distinctly like a wizard Apparating. He had almost reached the window when a silver arrow came soaring through the glass and hit him the side of the chest, puncturing a lung.

Remus gave strangled yell of pain and fell backwards. He tried to pull it out but hands seized his wrists roughly and held them back.

"Oh no, no, no," said the familiar voice of his brother. "Dear brother."

He laughed evilly. Remus wanted to fight back but the silver was already beginning to drain him of his strength.

"You!" he said hoarsely.

"Me," said Romulus insanely. "I am the Death Eater! And, Brother, you didn't think I would tolerate a werewolf in the family, did you?" He raised a silver dagger in his hand. "Goodbye, Remus. Do tell me if werewolves go to heaven, won't you?"

Remus caught Romulus by the wrist and held back the hand with the knife in it. Moments later, there was an angered cry and Romulus' weight was pulled from Remus' chest. He caught a glimpse of Sirius wrestling Romulus for what seemed like hours until he finally saw Romulus fleeing out the window. There was the pop of disapparition and Remus knew that his brother was gone.

Remus' body went limp, but he was still conscious. He could feel a hand right next to the place where the arrow still was.

"Don't move," Sirius' voice ordered gently.

There was a moment of pure agony and then the arrow was gone. Sirius tossed the arrow aside and lifted Remus' upper torso gingerly into his arms. Remus winced in pain. He could see that Sirius' shoulder had a bad puncture wound on it, there was a cut above his left brow and a bruise was rising under the same eye.

"Remus?" he said quietly. "Remus you'll be alright soon! Don't worry!"

And without waiting even a minute, he heaved Remus to his feet and half carried him to the fireplace.

"Hogwarts: Dumbledore--lemon drop!"

Sirius covered Remus' eyes to protect them from the soot and moments later they were stumbling out of the fireplace in Dumbledore's office.

"Sirius!" said Dumbledore. "Severus and Amy have just told me about Romulus--Remus!"

Dumbledore spotted Remus and rushed to assist Sirius in getting him on to a stretcher that Sirius had just conjured. Remus laid down on the pillow that Sirius had also conjured, closed his eyes and strove to explain what had happened.

"Romulus . . . attacked me . . . said he was--Death Eater . . . I--"

But he passed out.

"The silver is working quickly!" said Sirius in a panicky tone. "It was a silver arrow and half of it was melted when I pulled it out! Albus, we have to work swiftly!"

"You know the secret passage to the infirmary?" the headmaster asked.

"Like the back of my hand," said Sirius.

"Good," said Dumbledore. "Go to Madam Pomfrey, she knows that you're innocent. Tell her what has happened. Help her treat Remus if you can and then come back here."

"Right," said Sirius and he dashed down a door to the right, which was hidden by a painting of a headmaster, and out of sight, Remus' stretcher floating behind him.

Albus flooed Arthur Weasley and asked him to come to his office immediately. He came without complaint. On the contrary, he looked worried. Albus told him what had happened and his concerned expression grew.

"What do you need me to do?" Arthur asked, quite bravely, in Dumbledore's opinion.

"I need you to go to Romulus Lupin's house and bring him back here. Sirius is going to come with you in his dog form. Tell Lupin that you only want to question him. Sirius will be here any minute. When he arrives you must go immediately. Do you understand?"

Arthur nodded. And at that moment Sirius come in, opening the painting-door very quietly and cautiously.

"Come in, Sirius. Come in," said Dumbledore.

Sirius went to stand next to Arthur while the headmaster repeated the mission that they had to do. Sirius changed into his dog form and limped over to the fireplace. He's limping! Arthur thought. He noticed a nasty wound on the dog's shoulder.

"Sirius come here," said Albus.

The dog hobbled obediently forward. Albus bent down and inspected the gash on his shoulder, Sirius wincing as he did so.

"How did you get this?" Dumbledore asked.

Sirius changed back into a man and put a hand over the wound.

"When I was fighting Romulus and trying to get him away from Remus. He was trying to stab him but he got me instead. I swear, that man's gone mad!"

"Hold still," said the old headmaster. "Fawkes, come here."

Sirius felt like groaning out loud. He didn't want a phoenix crying on him, even if it was Fawkes. But he stayed still as Dumbledore had told him to do and watched as the beautiful scarlet and gold, swan-sized bird came soaring over to land on Sirius' uninjured shoulder. He swerved his long neck around to the other arm and laid his head on Sirius' wound. Thick, pearly tears rolled onto it. Sirius felt the pain in his shoulder lessen and finally, diminish.

"Thanks," said Sirius.

Fawkes let his tears flow onto Sirius' cut brow and then perched himself on Dumbledore's shoulder. Sirius and Arthur left and Albus watched them go, feeling uneasy. What's going to happen to Sirius this time?

Dumbledore called a meeting of the Order and they all arrived, looking concerned. Amy sat stiff and on the edge, like she knew what must have happened. Her face was vivid with attentiveness and worry.

"What's happened Albus," asked tiny, little Professor Flitwick.

"All of you are aware that we suspected a spy in the Order," said Dumbledore. "We believe that he has been found. Tonight, at eleven o'clock, Remus Lupin was attacked by his brother, Romulus Lupin. According to Amy and Severus here, he was at a meeting of the Death Eaters. We are sure that he is a Death Eater, but Sirius Black and Arthur Weasley are going to his house and, if all is going well, are bringing him back this moment so that he can vouch for himself."

No one looked surprised at the news of Romulus being a Death Eater. Mundungus Fletcher asked, "What's happened to Remus? I notice that he is not among us."

There were nods of agreement and others muttered their anxieties.

"Remus is currently undergoing treatment for a silver wound," said Dumbledore. He paused and looked gravely around at the anxious faces. "This wound was given to him by Romulus. I can give you no more news, for I know nothing more."

There was a burst of flame in the fireplace behind Dumbledore and Sirius staggered out, closely followed by Arthur. They were both panting heavily.

"Well?" prompted Minerva McGonagall.

"He's done a runner," gasped Arthur.

"We saw him running from his house about five minutes ago," wheezed Sirius. "We tried to go after him, telling him that if he didn't stop, then we would assume that he was a Death Eater and guilty. But he didn't stop and crossed the Apparition lines of his town. We didn't catch him."

Dumbledore sighed heavily. "Unfortunately, we must assume that he is a Death Eater," he said. "I do believe that he was the one passing information to Voldemort over the past weeks. The second time he was with us was when Amy joined us and accepted a mission. We all know that Voldemort apparently destroyed a whole city, Amy's home city, for this reason."

There was silence in the room. Everyone was looking at Amy, who looked down. The familiar feeling of a thousand hands punching her stomach returning. I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, she told herself firmly. Dumbledore broke the silence and said, "We have no hope of finding him. He has no doubt taken refuge with Voldemort."

Everyone in the room except for Black, Snape, and Amy flinched at the mention of Voldemort's name. Dumbledore ignored it, but Amy could tell that he was deeply annoyed by this.

"Hagrid, are the giants still on our side?" he asked.

Hagrid looked like he was ready to give terrible news. Amy's heart sank; some people were gripping the edges of the table and chairs hard, while some gasped. They rarely saw Hagrid so somber.

"I couldn' find 'em," said Hagrid. "'Til foun' my--my mum, she said tha'--tha' You-Know-Who persuaded the other giants to join 'im. She was 'urt, an' she died few minutes later. She said it was 'cause she refused ta join 'im."

Mrs. Weasley patted Hagrid's hand tenderly. He looked down. Amy knew that he wasn't crying but he didn't want anyone to know if he was crying or not.

Everyone sighed deeply and looked at Dumbledore.

"What'll we do now, Dumbledore?" asked Amos Diggory.

"It is like it was with the dementors, there is nothing we can do. Hagrid, what about the mountain clan near in the mountains of the Dark Forest? Are they still loyal to us?"

"Yeah," said Hagrid gloomily. "But there's only 'bout three of 'um. I don' think You-Know-Who would try to get 'em on 'is side."

"I do not believe so either," said Dumbledore. "Amy, Severus, has Voldemort mentioned any of this to you?"

Both shook their heads. Amy said, "Voldemort doesn't give as much information to us. He mainly speaks with Lucius Malfoy. It's a very smart way to operate--not to tell all of them at once."

"Would Draco Malfoy know that his father is a Death Eater?" Flitwick asked. He was looking at Amy. Snape told her with his eyes that he would like her to explain.

"No," said Amy after a moment of thinking. "No, Lucius Malfoy is very secretive and respected in the ministry. Even I was surprised to find out that he was really a Death Eater. Draco respects his father and I know that Mr. Malfoy didn't even tell his son, he told me. Draco Malfoy didn't see his dad leaving the house, I know for a fact that he was gone during the summer, at his friend, Goyle's house, Mr. Malfoy told me that too."

"Goyle is a Death Eater too," said Arthur, more to Amy that anyone else.

"Yeah," said Amy. "But Mr. Goyle was gone all summer, well for the part of the summer that Malfoy was staying there. He stayed at Crabbe's house, and I know that Mr. Crabbe is a Death Eater, too. But I asked them how they kept the fact secret from their sons. Well, Crabbe and Goyle will tell me anything. They said that they alternated having Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle at their houses while the sons stayed at one another's house. I don't know how they're going to keep it secret from their sons for long, but apparently it worked for the summer."

Everyone sat in silence and went over what Amy had said. Most of them were awed at how much Amy knew. She sat in silence and waited patiently for one of them to reply.

A man named Dedalus Diggle spoke, "I heard that Voldemort recruited young Death Eaters at the end of their fifth or sixth year. Is that true?"

There was a long silence in which everyone looked at Amy, who looked bewildered that she was so important in an adult conversation. She could tell that Snape was urging her on with his eyes.

"That's true for a Death Eater's child," she said slowly.

"And you--you're not a Death Eater's child?" a woman named Doris Crockford blurted out.

Amy sat there, staring around; this was getting far too personal! Black seemed to want to help, but knew better. Amy gripped the edges of her chair and went very red. I don't want to tell them! But I guess I have to.

"I--I don't know who my parents were," she muttered quietly.

Everyone looked down, Doris looked particularly embarrassed and ashamed to have blabbed her curiosity.

"There is nothing more we can do tonight," said Dumbledore. "Thank you--all of you. We leave this meeting knowing more about Voldemort than before. You may go."

Everyone rose from their chairs and made for the door. Amy exited in silence to listen to everyone asking how Lupin was doing. Black appeared surprised by their concern, as though normally Lupin was ignored.

"Well . . . Er . . . he's doing better. The silver's being extracted magically at the moment, so I reckon that if you tried to visit him Madam Pomfrey would forbid it. I really can't tell you any thing more--I don't have any answers."

He transformed into a dog again. He looked at Amy with warm understanding blazing in his eyes and Amy grinned without actually grinning, she just stared into his hollow and deadened eyes before he left, heading for the infirmary.

Amy left too, heading for the Gryffindor common room. It was empty except for her four friends, Lee Jordan, Fred and George Weasley. She went over to them. The looked like they had been waiting for her for a long time.

"Where've you been?" asked Fred crudely.

"Talking to the headmaster," Amy said, shrugging.

"Oh, what about? You weren't in trouble, were you?" asked George.

"I don't want to talk about it," said Amy.

No one went further into the subject.

"Listen, Amy," said Fred. "We were planning on a prank tonight, and we were wondering if you guys are up to it."

"And we said we needed you," said David.

"Yeah, that'd be great," said Amy.

"We shall be spreading the laughter in the bathrooms tonight," said Fred an innocent tone. But all of them knew that "spreading the laughter," meant performing a prank.

"And what will we be doing?" asked Jason formally.

"We're going to use these magical toilet cleaning tabs," said Lee, and he held up a small, white tablet. "We're going to engorge them and put them in the toilets closest to the Slytherin common room, no one except Slytherins ever go there."

"When they flush--if they flush--multi colored bubbles go all over the place!" said George.

"We would make the bubbles read and gold but that would be too much of a give away," explained Lee. "So, what to you think?"

"That's terrible," said Joanne, grinning. "Let's do it!"

The eight of them bent over the tablets and engorged all of them to be roughly the size of an adult hand. Derek stuffed the large circles into a potato sack and into his pocket. They crept out of the common room.

It took a very long time to reach the dungeon bathroom and get through the door without much squeaking, mostly because Peeves had been lurking around a corner and they had to wait for him to move. Finally, when they were safely inside the bathroom, everyone got two tablets and dropped them into separate toilets.The Slytherin toilets were slimy and cold. Their footsteps echoed in the silence, which was broken only by the eight's hysterical laughter. When they left, David and Jason were having trouble stifling their laughter.

"We should split up," whispered Lee. "Last time was too close. Remember our new resolution? 'Don't get caught so much.'"

"Right," said Derek. "How about . . . Amy and Jason--you take the normal way, because there's less of you. David, Lee and Joanne--you go down Portrait Passage, Fred and George--you take Tapestry Tunnel, and . . . Er--I'll go with Fred and George."

All of them nodded. And Amy and Jason set out together. They tiptoed down the corridors. There were the distinct sounds of male voices ahead, and it wasn't any of their friends. Jason gestured for them to go closer. Amy expected it to be someone on a nighttime stroll. But no, it was two men talking. Jason and Amy flattened themselves against the wall and listened intently.

"Should we get Snape?" asked a man's voice. It was a second before Amy recognized it as Romulus Lupin's voice.

Amy took out her wand and Jason did the same.

"No," said Lucius Malfoy's voice. "Severus can't do anything suspicious," he paused for a moment. "God damn it! Lupin, why didn't you kill your brother and Black? If you had, then we would know what that old fool, Dumbledore is planning to do."

"I told you, Black came up from behind," Lupin sounded angry. "Besides, there's always Severus."

"He resigned from the Order of the Phony," said Malfoy. Amy saw Jason clench his fists. "The Dark Lord was not happy, but the Dark Queen resigned too."

"Must we call her 'Dark Queen?'" asked Lupin. "She's just a scrawny little student. She hasn't any special powers, as The Dark Lord has."

"Lupin," said Malfoy in strange voice. "Must you be so consumed by envy? She does have powers--extrodenary powers. You should be respectful to her, because soon she and The Dark Lord rule Britain and, indeed, the rest of the world!"

Lupin snorted. They walked onward. Amy wondered what on earth they were doing here. Why were they in the castle? The teachers all knew that Romulus was no good, and Malfoy was a suspicious character. She and Jason took a secret passage that led further down the corridor. They stopped when they were ahead of the two Death Eaters, listening once more.

"We need to get to that fool, Hagrid's house, see how much he knows, then we can kill him," said Malfoy.

Jason and Amy looked at each other. Amy heard footsteps coming towards the Death Eaters.

"Who are you?" said Fleur Delacour's voice. "What are you doing? You are not students? Get out, now!"

Amy could tell that Delacour didn't know who they were, but she didn't even have time to scream, let alone find out, before she was stunned. Amy tugged at Jason's sleeve. They went halfway back down the passage.

"We can't revive her," said Amy. "It'll take too much time. We've got to go and stun Malfoy and Lupin before they do something to Hagrid!"

"Right, but, Amy, we'd be out in the open on the grounds, they're sure to see us. You can't blow your cover!"

"Right," said Amy. She raised her wand and focused hard on her invisibility cloak. "Accio invisibility cloak!" she said.

She waited for a few seconds. Something that was normally soft hit Amy hard in the back. She smiled. She'd done it right. Amy picked up the silvery cloak and threw it over Jason and herself.

They set off down the corridors, Amy let out a loud scream to let someone else in the castle know that something had happened to Fleur and would come to her aid. They ran as fast as they could down the corridors to find the oak front doors agar.

"Shit!" said Jason under his breath. And they hurried down the lawn, wondering how they were going to stop another attack.

* * *

Harry Potter sat drinking tea in the gamekeeper's cottage. Hagrid had been most upset when Harry had arrived at his cabin at eleven o'clock in the evening. Harry had heard from Ron, who had had detention in the hospital wing, that their old teacher, Remus Lupin, was in the hospital wing of Hogwarts.

Madam Pomfrey had shooed Ron out and he had hurried back to the common room to tell Harry and Hermione. Harry had gone alone. When Madam Pomfrey had not let him in and threatened to take points from Gryffindor, Harry had gone to get information from Hagrid. Hagrid was not at all pleased and was still fuming. Harry felt bad, but he was still glad that he had at least gotten some information about Remus.

"Still can' believe tha' ya came all the way down here jus' fer information!" said Hagrid. "Ya coulda been killed. Harry, tha' was ruddy stupid!"

Harry looked down. Hagrid was right. "I'm sorry, Hagrid," he said.

Hagrid was about to respond when a loud blast behind him threw the half-giant forward.

"HAGRID!" Harry shouted.

He ran forward to find Hagrid unconscious. Half of the cabin was destroyed. Fang was barking madly at two figures emerging from the dust that was settling. Harry took out his wand, but before he could say anything, he heard one of the figures yell, "Stupefy!"

* * *

Halfway across the grounds, Amy and Jason were running towards a cloud of dust. They could hear Fang barking. A loud yell rent the air.

"HAGRID!"

A pause and then someone yelled, "Stupefy!"

The dust was settling and Amy realized that the two Death Eaters were dragging a boy with them--it was Harry Potter! He appeared to be unconscious. Another form was rising from the dust--Hagrid!

"Let him go!" Hagrid yelled croakily after them. "HARRY! Wake up!"

He obviously hadn't heard the Death Eaters stun Harry. He struggled to rise while Amy and Jason ran to the gamekeeper's cabin. By the time Hagrid had got to his feet, the Death Eaters had entered forest and apparated with Harry's limp form in their arms.

Amy and Jason reached Hagrid and threw off the cloak.

"No!" Amy yelled and she tried to follow the Death Eaters, but Jason held her back.

"Your supposed to be one of them," he hissed so that only Amy could hear.

"What're you doing here?" asked Hagrid incredulously.

"We heard the Death Eaters talking," said Jason, releasing his friend. "We heard them say that they were going to hurt you Hagrid."

"Let's go to Dumbledore," said Amy. "We need to save Harry--argh!"

"Amy, what's wrong?" asked Jason, alarm.

Amy fell to her knees, hunched over her left arm.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore," Amy said, her voice riddled with pain. "We can explain on the way."

Hagrid hoisted Amy and Jason into his arms and began to run.

"Where were the Death Eaters?" he asked.

"They were in the castle," Amy grunted, but then her body relaxed, she let go of her arm and looked up. "Malfoy and Lupin--Romulus Lupin. We followed them. We planned on stunning them from behind. They got ahead of us--way ahead of us. We saw a sort of explosion at your house. I guess they had planned on getting you, but Harry was there, so they took him instead. We heard them stun him."

They entered the entrance hall.

"Hagrid, what're you doing?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Harry was captured, Professor," said Hagrid, letting Jason and Amy down. "But it'll take too long to explain. We need to see Dumbledore."

"I can't," said Amy. "I was called by Voldemort. I can get Harry out of there, Professor. If I get there quickly."

"Miss Evans, you could be killed," exclaimed McGonagall.

"Not if I make it look Harry's escape is an accident, and it was my fault," said Amy, thinking quickly of ways to free him. It was going to be by no means easy. "Professor, what's the password for making a portkey that can get into Hogwarts?"

"Condiscipula," said McGonagall. "But Evans, what will that do?"

"Where in Hogwarts will the portkey take the person?" Amy asked.

"Here, in the entrance hall," said McGonagall, bewildered.

"Okay," said Amy. "Professor, could you--or someone--be here? I'm going to try to get our seeker back."

And at that, she turned around and ran down the stone steps that led to the dungeons.

"Be careful," whispered Jason.

Amy flew into the dungeon that contained the portkey. Snape was standing there, holding the sculpture of the Dark Mark in one hand. He looked faintly terrified.

"C'mon Evans, let's go," he said. "I don't like Potter at all, but can't stand it if he dies."

"I know," said Amy, she touched portkey and said the words.

Amy didn't know how she was going to do it or exactly why she was doing it, but she was saving Harry Potter all the same. She was going to save Harry; nothing could stop her, not fear, not pain, not even death.