The Perfect Plan

Chapter Seven

The Perfect Plan

Rude Awakenings

~*~~*~~*~

"Okay so what do we have to work with?" Cordelia asked.

The sun had long gone down and the night sky was radiant and scattered with stars, she had zoned out a little after the first half an hour because they were going in circles and always ending in the same place they started off.

"Well we need to look at what they have in common," said Rachel Edwards. Cordelia looked at her; she was a sixth year Hufflepuff and next to her was the other half of her house's representatives, Edward Williamson. He was in the fifth year. They had brought what all Hufflepuffs were famous for, the talent to make people feel special.

"Well, right now the major thing that they have in common is you two." Everyone turned to Chayse and Cordelia. They both looked at the speaker, Jacques Marseilles. He was one of the pair of Ravenclaw representatives who sat next to Samantha Palmer, a fourth year in his house. They had come up with the idea of magic after hours in the corridors.

"I think we established that about an hour ago Marseilles. What we need to do is find a way to use it for what we want." Cordelia turned to Benjamin Zabini, he was Chayse's other half for Reps. He and Chayse were second cousins seeing that their father's were cousins too. He also had a talent for making people come out with the best ideas by just vaguely stating them first. He watched and waited for someone to pick up on his hint.

"I know!" They all turned to Mara Weasley. Her cheeks went pink at the attention she got from her remark. "Fake an accident!" she continued anyway.

"What?" Chayse asked.

"We - my brother's and I do it all the time when mum and dad fight! It's brilliant. Some bruising charms and a cut here and there and they both forget what they were fighting about and unite to look after you. It's flawless and works every time." They all looked thoughtful.

"Not exactly what I was aiming for but it'll do," Zabini mumbled to himself.

The rest of them ignored him and continued where Mara left off. "Ok, we can work on that. Of course there will be a lot more to work with seeing as you'd be in a forest. There should be animals there... Oh! I have a few spells for making animal noises that can make it seem like they're in the vicinity," Palmer said in an excited way.

"Yes and I have tons of ways to create marks on skin," Mara inserted.

"I come from France so I suppose I could inform you on what animals you could find there, if I've left any out there should be some books in the library about them somewhere," Jacques said.

"France?" said Edward. It was the first time he had spoken since he got there. "Oh I have family there that can help you. They live near where you're going so if you ever need help they would be ever so helpful." They all looked at him surprised.

"Okay then," Chayse rounded up. "We can meet a few days from now." He began listing off on his fingers. "I expect spells, chants, charms and whatever else ready for the end of the week in a listed form so it's easy to understand. None of this explanation crap alright? Do your research and then tell me. If there are potions I don't want them to take more than two days to prepare and make sure that they come with detailed ingredients and instructions. Williamson?" Edward raised his head from taking down notes.

"Yes?" he answered.

"I want that address or at least a detailed map on how to get to your relatives homes. If you can't draw one buy one, this weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. These are people's lives that we are dealing with okay so we do not want to mess it up too badly. Does anyone have any questions?" He finished by standing up and helping Cordelia to stand with him.

They were all silent. "Good, Zabini take Weasley back to her common room and stay away from that damn cat if you can." Zabini nodded helping Mara up and dusting himself off. "Everyone else, I expect to see you here the same time on Wednesday of next week which is your deadline. If there are any unexpected changes or if something happens contact each other in the usual way. Do we all understand?" They all nodded. After a moments silence they turned and began walking back to the castle.

When they were a little way off Chayse and Cordelia started walking slowly. "So, soon to be sister, what do you think, are you up for it?"

"Chayse," she began, "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. Plus after a demonstration of how you can take control of a situation like this I am sure that I am in good hands." They both laughed.

They continued walking in silence and walked into the castle through the large Doors and continued along the corridors. "Well thank Merlin tomorrow is Saturday, I don't think I can bare another day of school."

"Oh yes it's a Hogsmeade weekend. I don't think I'll go though my bed is calling me."

"Don't get me started mine's beginning to think I'm sleeping around," she laughed a little as they continued along at snails pace turning corners and not really watching where they were going.

"Salazar," Chayse yawned.

"I beg your pardon?" the portrait said.

"I said 'Salazar.'"

"Oh." The portrait swung open and they both walked inside completely wiped out.

A slight chill blew in from an open window but a small uttered spell and the fire roared as they sat down in front of it on one of the large sofas in the common room.

Cordelia looked into the fire and watched them dancing in bright yellows and oranges. Her head was falling and the second it did she jerked it up again a little more awake than before. She looked around her at the darkness of the room. Though it was dark, she could still see the greens and blacks that decorated the walls and the floor.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"In my common room," Chayse spoke through closed eyes.

"How did I get here?" She yawned into her palm.

"You walked - now go to sleep because you're keeping me up."

***

Ginny awoke with a jerk and her eyes flew wide meeting an unfamiliar site. Soft material - what the hell? She distinctly remembered sitting at the train station next to - Malfoy, what did he do to me, where am I? She turned around to a dark space and felt for her wand.

"Lumos." The compartment filled with light and her eyes caught site of blonde hair that looked orange from the way it reflected.

His eyes squinted from the sudden increase of light and he turned to look at her. "Oh you're awake, finally. I thought that I'd have to sit through this journey talking to myself." He swayed from left to right with the movements of the train.

Ginny sat up and rubbed her eyes from sleep. "Have we not reached yet then?"

"Oh yes, about a half hour ago. But you didn't wake up and I didn't know where you lived so I had to apparate with you unto another train and I'm taking you to my house. You can floo from there," he answered in a sarcastic tone.

Ginny returned his tone with a look to match it. "Very funny Malfoy but all you had to say was no." He looked out the window with a smile. "What time is it?"

"I don't know I haven't got a watch on me."

She sighed and looked out of the window. The trees and countryside started to slow down until they came to a stop. They had reached a train station called Rivendell? I didn't know that there were stops in-between.

She was even more confused when Malfoy got up. "Where are you going?"

"Home, I told you this already Weasley honestly you should invest in a hearing charm." He stopped at the compartment door and turned to her. "Well are you coming?"

"I didn't think you were serious! Coming where?"

"To floo home Weasley. I am certainly not going to allow you to stay on this train considering where it's going."

"Where is it going?"

"Somewhere you really don't want to be, are you coming or not?" Reluctantly Ginny got up and followed him outside.

The rain had started to fall so they had to wait for it to stop at the station. During this time Ginny took in her surroundings with a wince. There was an old man staring at her from a station bench. He looked homeless from the way his clothes were torn and the scornful look on his face.

Draco turned and looked at her. "Believe me its better looking in the day. Strange people come out at night so you'll have to excuse it right now. They do make the place look bad. Ignore them if you can they tend not to bother you that way."

Ginny nodded quickly and turned away from the old man whose eyes still bore through her. S

She shivered. "Do you want to brave the rain because I don't think you care too much for that man's staring, do you?"

Ginny turned again to the man, he was walking closer. Ginny tensed and turned quickly to Malfoy nodding. He smiled and grabbed her hand pulling her closer. "Don't look at them, it only encourages them," he whispered in her ear and pulled her out into the rain.

They ran through the market place and past a few small shops and businesses. They were soaking wet by the time they turned the corner into the park. The rain had died down so they slowed down a little and strolled through. Small lamps lit the pathway to the gates and the ground shimmered reflecting the light from above. Ginny breathed in the clean crisp night air. She looked ahead to the other side and saw the exit , which they walked through with ease slipping through the large gates out onto the road that they had to cross. As she looked around she could tell that this place was probably quite nice in the daylight. . She hadn't even notice when Malfoy had stopped on the other side of the road.

She caught her bearings after she almost walked into him and saw that he was getting out his keys to open a gate and having some trouble.

She wondered if there were muggles around and decided not to risk it, so she transfigured her wand into a torch. "Lumos," she said lighting it.

He turned to her. "Thank you," he said finding the key and opening the gate.

"Why didn't you just use an unlocking charm?" she asked as he locked it again from the inside.

"It's protected from magic so not even intruders, or I, can use it to get in. Plus there's a ward a few hundred feet high above it so they'll have to fly pretty high to get around it. These keys are unique to the lock so if they are replicated they still won't open it."

"Hmm, clever." She followed him up the wide pathway to his house ending the spell on her wand. They passed the garages and a small hut to enter around the back.

"Why are we entering from here?" she whispered. She didn't know why she was whispering, it just seemed appropriate. It was like they were sneaking into the house.

"Because there is a fireplace in the kitchen, you can floo from there," he whispered back.

"So why are we whispering?" she asked him.

"Because I have a -."

"Curfew," they heard. They both spun around to come into contact with a broad shouldered man, maybe it was the darkness but he looked utterly frightening to Ginny. "Mr. Malfoy, Sir, you were supposed to be home two hours ago. What are you doing home so late in this town? We all agreed that we would come home early on the weekends and - who are you?" he said suddenly noticing Ginny was there. "Sir, with all due respect your son said-."

"What my son says is of no importance to you unless he was speaking to you, Alder." He turned to Ginny as if to introduce her. "This is Ginevra Weasley and my son is the reason I am home as late with her, as he and her daughter have decided to become best friends and so planned to destroy each other to get us to come to school. If you wish to lecture me about the time of my arrival home please do it tomorrow, all I want now is a long bath and my bed. Miss Weasley here wants to get home so she shall be going by floo, is there anything that you wanted before I go inside?"

The man stood down from Malfoy's sudden outburst and replied with a meek, "Well - yes actually sir there is. I don't think she can go - you see shortly after you left, one of the house elves were cleaning the fireplaces. Your maid caught him and told him that she needed him to finish something for her and that she'd finish the elf's work on the fireplaces herself. I had gone out for the week's shopping and when I returned I found the fireplaces in a mess. She said she had tried to skip all the hard work and used a spell to clean all at once but it backfired somehow sir and they're - well, you'll see. Thinking that you'd be home early I thought that you could have owled for them to be fixed but-." He sighed. "I shall see you in the morning." He turned and went back to the small hut that they had passed.

Sighing, Malfoy nodded. "Good night, Alder." He stepped inside and held the door for Ginny to follow closing it behind her.

"What does he mean, 'you'll see.' Is there something wrong with them?"

"The last time Simone said she'd do a job for a house elf she almost destroyed my home, twice. I almost fired her again." He went to the fireplace and grabbed a fist of floo power from the jar that sat on top. "Where is it you want to go?"

"Forest Hill," she replied.

"Forest Hill," he repeated as he threw the power to the floor of the fireplace. Red flames sprang from the burned logs on the fire. He shook his head. "No, they're useless. I'll have to get in touch with the damn network again. You'll just have to apparate I guess."

"Apparate? No I can't."

"Why not?"

"If I do, the house will throw me out." He had the grace to look confused. "It's a long story, very complicated you wouldn't understand."

"Well if you don't want to apparate and you obviously can't floo then you'll have to wait until morning so that I can take you back to the station."

"What? No, I don't - I can't stay here. I have - stuff to do."

"Stuff?" he said with a disbelieving voice. He crossed his arms and looked at her.

"Yes, stuff. I need to... water my plants and feed my cat," she said with sudden inspiration.

"I'm sure they can go one night, it's not me who can't apparate home. Why don't you apparate outside and then just walk in?"

"No, that doesn't work either." He looked at her raising an eyebrow. "I had it made a certain way alright, no magic within a certain radius of the house can get near it. If it does the house is fitted with a strong charm - a ward if you might that will get rid of the intruder. Plus it's a muggle neighborhood so it would be too risky."

"Like an alarm system, but a really active one, right?"

"You could say that."

"Well then, it looks like you're staying here." He looked at her and almost laughed at the look on her face, she was definitely sulking. "Cheer up Weasley I'm sure I'll find somewhere," he said mimicking her earlier in the day. She gave him a look of loathing, daring him to continue. "After all, this house is rather large."