A Future Threatened

A Future Threatened

by Winnie Matthews

* * *

Chapter Five

Over the next few months, Susannah felt as though her entire life had changed. She, Harry, Hermione, and Ron worked together to track down the Horcruxes. The first one, Riddle's diary, of course, had been destroyed nearly five years before. The second, Marvolo's ring, Dumbledore himself had been destroyed. And after months of searching, they finally managed to track down the locket, which had been taken by Mundungus Fletcher out of Grimmauld Place and sold at one of the black markets of the wizarding world.

Susannah managed to get some information from one of her future contacts, only his past self. It wasn't until several months later that he got some information for her, vital information that told her that the locket had been sold at a shop down in Knockturn Alley.

"Knockturn Alley?" Hermione repeated when Susannah told her where the locket was. "Somehow I'm not surprised. Dung did have a habit of getting in places where he couldn't get out of." She shook her head in exasperation. "Have you told the boys yet?"

"No, Harry was still in the shower and Ron was still sleeping when the owl delivered the letter to me this morning," Susannah explained, twirling her hair around her finger. "Don't look at me like that, Hermione," she added, seeing Hermione's shocked look. "It was already sealed and we've got a code that we use, so there's no way that anybody could break it. Here, look." She handed the letter over to Hermione, who took it and read it.

"Oh, for goodness sakes, Susannah," Hermione said, sounding impatient, like she was talking to a two-year-old. "This is just Morse Code. Written, at least. Anybody could break it if they looked in the books for the letters that correspond with Morse Code."

Shaking her head with suppressed anger, Susannah shot back, "You do not change in twenty years, you know that, Hermione?" Her green eyes flashed and Hermione blinked in surprise.

"Wait, you and I know each other in the future?" she asked curiously just as Harry came downstairs, shaking excess water from his damp hair. Susannah swore under her breath and cast a helpless look at Harry.

"Did you get that information from your contact?" Harry asked, looking between the two girls. Hermione gave an aggravated noise and swept off to go get Ron out of bed.

"Yeah, he says that the locket has been sold to a businessman in Knockturn Alley," Susannah said, slightly relieved that Hermione had left. "I've never heard of the shop, but it might be shut down in the future. Borgin and Burkes?" she asked, supplying the name of the shop.

To her surprise, Harry made a face. "I had hoped that I would never have to go anywhere near that place again. Never seem to have good luck whenever I'm in Knockturn Alley. Your contact is reliable, isn't he?" he added as he poured himself some milk.

"He's trustworthy," Susannah assured him. "He's one of our most valuable contacts in the future."

Harry grinned. "The Order's still fighting in the future?" he asked. "Some people were talking that it was going to disband since Dumbledore died. Remus was trying to keep it going."

"Who said anything about the Order of the Phoenix?" Susannah asked, bemused. "It did disband, right after you and Ginny died. When I started going to Hogwarts, Voldemort's reign was gaining further control and my best friend and I started the Resistance, an underground movement against Voldemort."

"A sixteen year old started a movement against Voldemort?" Harry echoed, startled. "Now you're kidding me."

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Susannah muttered as she reached across the counter and picked up a bag, which made a sound like glass tinkling as she did so. "Potions," she explained at Harry questioning look. "Just in case."

"What kind of potions?" Hermione asked at once. She had returned, followed by a still-half-asleep Ron. The gaze that she was looking at the bag with looked an awful lot like suspicion.

Pulling the vials out of the bag one by one, Susannah said, "Explosive, smoke bomb, acid." She gave a shrug. "They're the ones that we use for the Resistance, in any case. Plus, they might come in handy, in case we need to get out of there, quickly."

"Wait, you're going to make us go into Knockturn Alley and then you want us to break out of it?" Ron asked, startled. "Don't you think that's a bit aggressive?"

"Can't always play nice, especially with Voldemort, Ron," Susannah said quietly, tossing them each three vials. "You meet up with Death Eaters, thirty against one, do you think that you would just start shooting spells and hope for the best or throw a potion that would knock them off guard?"

"She's got a point there," Harry said, pocketing the vials. Throwing a disgruntled look at her, Ron reluctantly did the same, followed even more reluctantly by Hermione.

* * *

"Okay, in and out," Harry whispered as they walked through Knockturn Alley, "we do this fast. I don't want to be down here any more than I have to." All four of the wizards had their hoods pulled up, hiding their faces, but they weren't the only ones. Almost all of the wizards there had their faces hidden.

"Not exactly going to be an easy feat, mate," Ron said, stopping abruptly, apprehension filling through his face. He nodded towards the shop they were heading towards.

"Uh-oh," Susannah said, spotting the CLOSED sign on the door. The other three of them looked at the shop unhappily. How in the name of Merlin were they supposed to get in? "Even Dark shops are closing now? And I thought my future was bad enough . . ."

"Now what are we going to do?" Hermione muttered, but Susannah was reaching in her hair, pulling out a Muggle hairpin to keep her hair out of her face; not an easy task, with her untameable locks. "What are you doing?" she whispered as Susannah climbed the steps and knelt down beside the door.

"Keep an eye out, will you?" Susannah replied, sticking her tongue between her teeth as she began to pick the lock. While she may have taken after her father in almost every respect, she had inherited one thing from her mother: the ability to pick any lock.

"Why am I not surprised you know how to do this?" Hermione grumbled as she watched Susannah. Harry gave her a warning look as the lock clicked open and the door swung free.

"Not bad," Ron said admiringly. "Guess Fred and George aren't the only wizards who think that picking locks is a useful habit."

Susannah ducked to hide her grin as she rushed inside. "You go get the locket, we'll wait here in case somebody shows up," Harry said and she nodded as she shut the door behind her.

But the minute the door closed behind her, Susannah wished that she hadn't picked that lock. Because standing in the room looking through some Dark objects was none other than Jeremy Weasley!