Alone

Chapter 15

"Say nox!" Blaise shouted, blocking the light from his eyes. Lucy was frozen in shock; she didn't know what to do. The light was so blinding that she couldn't see the tip of her nose.

"What?" she asked, not quite knowing why they were shouting when they were sitting next to each other.

"NOX! SAY NOX! IT ENDS THE SPELL!" Blaise shouted as Lucy winced.

"You don't need to bloody shout in my ear! I am right next to you, you know!" Lucy said grumpily as she felt around for the wand that she had dropped earlier. Feeling for the familiar length of the smooth piece of wood, Lucy picked it up.

"Nox," she said and the light started to grow fainter.

When the light receded completely, Blaise and Lucy were blinking back stars.

"Whoa, what was that?" Lucy asked uneasily as she stared at the wand in her hand. Blaise just smiled triumphantly.

"See? You are a witch, so there!" he exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at her in a childish manner. Lucy snorted in amusement.

"You sure you didn't do that?" she asked suspiciously. Blaise got off the floor and rubbed his bum, where he fallen on in surprise.

"Now why would I do that?" he asked sarcastically. Lucy shrugged a little hurt.

"No need to be sarcastic," she said in a small voice. If truth be told, she had a little crush on the black haired man. Blaise's eyebrows rose in surprise. Since when did Lucy care about him being sarcastic? Shrugging it off, he picked up the books and put them in front of Lucy.

"Your powers were locked up by your mother," he explained. "She used a spell that didn't let you use your powers and I just freed them, that's all. You're what? Twenty-one? After twenty one years of not using something that was supposed to be used, the first spell is always powerful and multiplied by a hundred fold or something like that."

Lucy nodded slowly, eyes still narrowed in suspicion. Blaise sighed and threw his hands in the air.

"I didn't do anything. Here, I'll prove it to you," he said exasperatedly. He placed his wand on the table and held his hands up, so Lucy can see them.

"Now try the spell again," he told her. Lucy held up the wand and looked at it.

"Lumos," she whispered and the tip of the wand lit up.

"Whoa," she exclaimed again and dropped it in surprise. Blaise smiled triumphantly, again.

"See?" he said. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Alright, so I'm a witch. Now what?" she asked casually as Blaise's jaw dropped.

"Now what?" he screeched. "You put me through hell for the last four hours because you didn't believe that you were a witch and now all you can say is now what? The least you can do is be polite."

"So, now what, please?" Lucy tried. Blaise was not amused. Instead, he thrust a thick book about Divination at her and watched with a satisfied smirk as Lucy's face fell.

"I have to read that?" she asked in disbelief. Blaise's smirked widened and he nodded. Lucy grumbled under her breath, but snatched the book out of his hands and opened it to the first page.

~~*~~

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do Potter. While you were playing with Muggle Boy here, I was actually doing something useful and as I said before, requires the actual use of brain cells," Draco retorted smoothly, watching with satisfaction as Derek bristled at being called Muggle Boy.

Jake restrained Derek before he could do anything physically destructive to Draco.

"Alright, let's hear it," Jake demanded, holding on to Derek's arm. Draco smirked.

"Well, there's this door in Malfoy Manor that my father doesn't know about and I doubt anyone else knows about either. I only found it by accident and as soon as I was allowed to use magic, I sealed it so that it can only be opened by me," he said smugly. Jake raised an eyebrow.

"And?" he asked, motioning with his hands for the blond to continue. Draco rolled his eyes, but complied.

"If we can get to that door, then we'll have no problem getting into the manor and to Lucy Campbell," Draco said slowly as if he was talking to a slow person. Jake glared, but nodded.

Derek clapped his hands together cheerfully.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go," he said happily. Jake sighed, exasperated.

"We are not having this conversation again. You. Are. Not. Going," he said forcefully, highlighting each word with a jab in Derek's chest.

"I thought I told you to stop jabbing me already. And of course I'm going. Lucy's my friend too," Derek argued. Before Jake could say anything, Hermione cut in.

"Look, Derek, I know you want to go and save Lucy with us, but you can't. You're a Muggle and if Voldemort gets his hands on you, then you're dead. Remember, you can't do magic, you can't save yourself if you're in danger. It'll be not worth it and frankly, if you go, you'll be more of a baggage than any help," she said gently, but firmly. Derek looked towards Jake, his eyes begging him to let him go.

Jake sighed and ran his hand through his hair and sent an apologetic look towards him.

"I'm sorry, Derek, but I agree with Granger on this one. You will be more of a baggage then any help if you come with us," he said as Hermione's eyebrows shot up. Was Jake agreeing with her?

"But it's not fair!" Derek whined, not caring if he sounded like a five year old.

"I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go!" he demanded. If there was a table there, Jake was sure that Derek would have been beating on it like a baby. Jake hid a smile and patted his friend soothingly on the shoulder.

"Derek, don't be stubborn. You know that you can't go," Jake pointed out as Derek's face fell.

"You know that you're being stupid and you know that you won't be of any help," Jake continued gently and watched as Derek slumped, defeated.

"Besides, I don't want you to die because of me," Jake said quietly so that only Derek could hear him. Derek sighed and realised how selfish he had been. Of course he knew he couldn't go and that he wouldn't be of any help. But he never considered that he'd probably die, no one ever does, until they die that is.

"Alright, I won't go," he said in a grumpy voice. Jake smiled and mentally sighed with relief.

Draco cleared his throat. Everybody turned back towards the blond.

"As I was saying, if we can get to that door, then it won't be a problem getting into the manor," he repeated.

"How do we get to the door then?" Jake asked his voice polite for once. If Draco was surprised, he didn't show it.

"Well, I remember the way, of course, so you can follow me. The door will open, so that won't matter. What I'm afraid of most is that we don't have any idea where Lucy is and that Lucius might have new hexes and curses up," Draco concluded. The Order digested this information.

"Well, I think the best thing to do is just to go up to the manor, dodge as many as you do know, and deal with the new ones as the time comes," Remus said. The rest of the Order nodded their agreement.

"What do you think, Jake?" Sirius asked attentively. Jake looked at him for a long time before shrugging.

"Whatever, all I care about is getting Lucy back," he muttered. If Sirius was disappointed with the answer, he didn't show it.

"There is only one problem," Draco said hastily. Jake looked at him suspiciously.

"What?" he asked.

"You can't go Potter," Draco said as Jake's jaw dropped in disbelief.

~~*~~

Voldemort sat in his throne, deep in thought. When would it be time to tell Lucy the truth? She already knows part of it, but not the whole thing. For one, she didn't know who Tom Riddle was.

All that Voldemort knew was that she had to be told after she got all her powers. Then it would be easier to manipulate her to do his bidding. She would be powerful, but unbalanced, and that would be the perfect time to make her hate all that she loved before.

It disgusted him to know that Lucy was living as a Muggle for the first twenty or so years of her life.

But it would be an advantage Lucy will have. She will know both worlds instead of just one, Voldemort thought with a satisfied smirk before draining the goblet of wine in his hand.