Begin to Hope

It seemed like it took absolutely forever to get to Voldemort's castle. Klaus wasn't exactly positive where the castle was. All Peter had told him was that it was in south Germany, in a castle. Not very much to go on, was it?

It frankly felt as if we'd been dashing off with nothing but high hopes, which wasn't exactly as much to go on as I would have liked. I was worried it would be Unplottable, and secretly hidden in a desert or jungle or something, and then we'd never find it.

After circling the same area several times, I finally got fed up and dropped onto a nearby tree stump.

"Klaus, do you really have any idea where we're going?"

"Nope, not a clue!" He pulled a compass out of his pocket and examined it thoughtfully, but I knew he had no idea how it worked.

"This is so useless! We have no idea where we're going."

"No idea, eh?" Suddenly there was a noise coming from our left and a withered old man popped out of a bush. The three of us jumped, bringing out our wands to face him.

"Who are you?" Maverick demanded, a suspicious expression on his face.

The man, limping toward us with a walking stick, raised his other hand to show us he wasn't going to harm us. He was dressed in beige-colored britches with overalls and a white cotton shirt, with leather handmade shoes on his feet. His clothes were dirty and there was twigs and sticks in his hair. I wondered how long he had been out in this stupid forest. I wondered how long he had been hiding in that bush.

"I mean you no harm. I'm just wondering where you might be headed?" He seemed to croak as he talked, his voice was that old. I felt sorry for him. He looked so forlorn and alone.

"We were just... you know... wandering around. Not really going anywhere. The three of us were."

"Ah, you are lying to me. You had been speaking of a place. You were distinctly headed somewhere. I don't mind you lying once, but I pray you don't lie a second time, or there may be fatal consequences." He cocked his head to the side to look at us, looking like a wise old owl.

"I--" Klaus looked at me for help. "Okay... we're looking for Vol--the Dark Lord."

The old man raised an eyebrow and nodded serenely. "May I ask your names?"

"Our names?" Klaus swallowed hard. "Well, this--" he pointed to me "--that's Ria, my sister. And my younger brother, Prosper. And I'm--my name is William."

The old man nodded again, as if waiting for Klaus to continue.

"What's your name?" Klaus ventured to ask.

"It is of no importance."

"You must tell me."

"Get used to disappointment." The old man turned and started to walk away, leaving us standing there feeling dimwitted.

"Wait, where are you going?" Klaus yelled, starting to follow.

"You wanted to find the Dark Lord, didn't you? I'll take you to him." Without turning he shuffled away slowly, leading us through the forest at a barely tolerable pace.

"You--you know Vo--the Dark Lord? Personally? You've met him?" Maverick asked, catching up with him.

The old man shrugged. "Mayhap."

"Are you a spy?" I looked at him. He was so old, I supposed that was a stupid question.

"What a stupid question!" he exclaimed. "I'm too old to do anything inconspicuously. Stop asking me moronic things and we'll be there soon enough."

That shut us up quickly. We followed along behind him, giving each other awkward glances behind his back. I wasn't sure if he was really going to show us to Voldemort. He might be leading us into a trap. A trap filled with several dozen Death Eaters, just waiting to kill three unsuspecting teenagers wandering the forest alone.

"Right here." He stopped suddenly, pointing with his walking stick into a hilly patch of shrubbery. We stopped and looked at him.

"Wait, really? It's in that bush?"

The old man nodded twice, much like a robot would.

Maverick took a step forward, peering into the bush. "Is there like a door there? Or--what?"

"Take a step forward and see."

"Aren't you coming with us?" I asked, suddenly terrified of being left alone in the middle of the forest. We were really lost now, and I was sure we'd never be able to find our way out without him.

"No. We must part ways now. Goodbye." Without another word, he threw his walking stick behind his back and ran off in the opposite direction at a surprisingly fast pace.

Maverick lifted his wand and narrowed his eyes at the old man's retreating figure. "I could still get him from here--"

"Don't hex him," Klaus muttered. "Let him go."

Maverick dropped his wand as the old man flew out of sight. "We're never going to see him again."

I shuddered. "I wouldn't want to. He gives me the creeps."

Ignoring my comment, Klaus stepped up and peered through the bushes, trying to see whatever came after it.

"Can you see what's there?"

"Nope... and there's only one way to find it." Klaus took a step into the bush, standing right in the middle of the underbrush. At first nothing happened. I figured the old man had just led us on. Then suddenly, as if a trap door had let loose beneath his feet, Klaus dropped right through the ground, disappearing from sight.

"Klaus!" I screamed, dropping to my knees to the gaping hole in the ground. Suddenly the patch of ground swung back up and hit me in the face. I reeled backward and held my nose.

"Dammit!" Getting back up, I saw that it was a trapdoor, built to look like bushes, only opening when someone stood on it. Without thinking, I threw myself on top.

"Wait!" Maverick yelled, the last thing I heard before the chute opened and I fell through.

I tumbled down the chute, much like a slide, getting covered in mud and dirt as I slid through. I covered my head with my hands and tried to not make too much of a racket as I bumped and bruised my way through the hole, finally coming to an abrupt halt when the chute stopped and I didn't. I fell through the chute down into a room filled with people, landing right on top of Klaus. He made an oof! sound and the combination of both our weights landing roughly on the wooden table made it collapse, sinking to the ground in a mess of wood and dust.

"Stop! What are you doing?" A heavily-accented voice commanded us.

As the cloud of dust lifted, I could finally look around at the circle of people surrounding us, all with their wands raised angrily at us. The group of twenty or thirty of them, dressed in black robes and cloaks, with masks over their faces, were most definitely Death Eaters. Startled, displeased Death Eaters. I put my hands in the air, stood up slowly and started to back away from them, cornering myself into the wall.

"We mean you no harm, we simply wanted to join your ranks--"

"Don't think you can lie your way out!" Another one called. A few of them nodded maliciously, looking scandalously back and forth from the tallest one in the center to where we stood.

Before anyone else could make another move, we heard more noise from above us and everyone ducked as Maverick came soaring down through the chute, screaming like a girl as he fell.

He landed roughly on the mile of debris, moaning and grumbling when he landed.

"That was absolutely terrifying--I can't believe you lead me here--Ah, shit. Who are these friendly guys?" Maverick asked, standing up and looking around. A few of the Death Eaters raised an eyebrow at him, as if they couldn't believe he wasn't scared.

"Oh, man, Trapper, what's up?" he called to one of the pack, pretending he knew him. He sauntered over, lifting his hand for a high-five, which the Death Eater obviously denied.

The tallest one, arguably the leader, looked from Maverick to Klaus to me to 'Trapper'. "You--know this one?"

'Trapper', shaking in his boots, shook his head, looking terrified that their leader had actually spoken to him personally.

The tall one strutted over to Klaus, who had one of his hands in his pockets, probably clutching his wand.

"Then who are you, and what are you doing here?" Being about eight inches taller than Klaus, he looked straight down and uttered these words with as much force as he could, spit emitting from his mouth as he did. He started pacing the ground in front of Klaus, still not letting his eyes leave Klaus'.

"The old man--in the woods--he told us we would find you here--"

"That cursed old man! Blakeney, Swenson, find him and bring him here for questioning." He motioned for them to leave and they scurried away. "--You're the fourth group to fall through this week. I'm getting sick and tired of these blasted people falling through in the middle of important meetings!" He stopped pacing and looked around at the group. "Well?" he barked, "Why aren't you doing something?"

Immediately the majority of the group left to find something valuable to do, leaving only a few of the men to hurry about the room making preparations and doing all sorts of activities.

"Westen! Decker!" Two men stepped up to his side, looking eager to help. "The three of us are to question you three, separately, in different rooms. After we question you, we'll all compare. If you all have the exact same stories with not much of a difference, you're telling the truth and you get to stay. However--if one of the stories is different--" he smiled evilly. "Well, we'll just wait and see what happens then."

Shouting directions to the rest of the men still in the room, he pushed us forward out of the meeting room and into a long dark corridor with several doors on each side of the hall.

Muttering as soft as he could under his breath, I just barely caught Klaus saying, "Tell as much of the truth as you can!"

I nodded before one of the two men pushed me inside, closing the door behind us.

The room was nearly empty, with only two wooden chairs and a small table crowding the middle of it. The man pointed one fat grubby finger at the farthest chair and I took a reluctant seat, peering around in the dimly lit room at my gloomy surroundings.

The man grinned toothily at me as he took out a checklist from the inside of his dirty robes. He was a fat, short man, probably in his mid-forties. He smelled like rotting fish, and looked much worse.

"My name is Morpheus Westen, and I will be your questioner for today." he said, showing off some of his missing teeth as he spoke. I wish he had been missing all of his teeth, though. The few remaining ones were so black and scummy I couldn't help but stare.

"Name?"

"Ria...Ria..." I couldn't think of a suitable last name, and I panicked. What if we all told them different last names, and they talked to the old man, whom Klaus had told we were all siblings? Tell as much of the truth as you can. "Ria... Truth."

Glancing upward at me only to roll his eyes, he scribbled something down on his parchment. "You know you'll die if you lie."

I nodded. "I'm not lying."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. Age?"

"Sixteen."

"Names, ages, and relation to the other two you were with?"

I took this moment to reflect on how much the three of us should have talked about something like this before we got down here. "Prosper and William. Fifteen and seventeen. They're my brothers."

He looked upward at me again. "They didn't look much like you."

I shrugged. "Different genes." I said, as if it were obvious.

"What did you come here for?"

"We wanted to join the Dark Lord's forces. We want to be strong with him. I recently came to terms with how right he was about everything, and our best course of action was to follow him into battle to fight the rest of the world."

"Just recently?" Westen asked, looking at me suspiciously. "How recently?"

"Uh, three years recently."

"Uh huh..." He marked several other things down on his parchment, occasionally glancing upward at me to snigger.

"Just what is so funny?" I demanded.

He stopped writing and laughed harder. "I just can't wait to get you in bed with me--after the Dark Lord sentences you to death--"

I jumped to my feet, my wand raised, ready to strike him down, but before I could even utter a single curse Westen had shouted, "Expelliarmus!" and I was thrown backwards, hitting the concrete wall behind me hard. I landed at the foot of the wall, my eyes welling up with tears.

He settled back down comfortably in his chair. "You try that again and I won't hesitate to kill you.

I nodded weakly, not even trying to get back in my seat.

"Have you ever spoken with, contacted, talked, written, or in any other way communicated with Hermione Granger or her band of rebels?"

I internally patted myself on the back. "No."

"Have you ever spoken with, contacted, talked, written, or in any other way communicated with Gabrielle Delacour or her band of rebels?"

A name to go on! Gabrielle Delacour... we'd have to remember it to send in a letter to Humphrey, to see if he could find out any information about her.

"No."

"Are you willing to sacrifice everything you have for the Dark Lord?"

"Yes."

The questioning went on for another half hour; Westen continued snickering at some of my responses. Some of them were truly ridiculous, including vows and such that I swore not to use my powers for good. I really almost gagged at some of the things Westen had me repeating, including, "I swear on all that is good and true that I will never turn to the light side, but remain on the Dark Lord's side, for if I were to switch sides I would be given instant death."

Talk about your picker-upper.

After a way too-long questioning, Westen finally stood up, winked at me, and headed for the door.

"Where are you going? Am I done?"

"This is phase one of the questioning. If this checks in with what the other two have said, you are given a temporary pass to move in. Depending upon what you plan to do while here, we will set you up in the appropriate area and get you started, and time allowing, you will have another questioning in a week, that time by a professional Legilimens."

I cringed. I didn't even know how to do Occlumency. How was I to defend myself from a man who had probably practiced Legimency for his entire life?

"Wait here until I return." He closed the door behind him and I heard it lock shut. I sighed and put my head in my hands, hoping against hope that all of our answers matched together. If they didn't--if even one of us had messed up, just a little--it would be death.

I suppose I had fallen asleep, because next thing I knew I was being roughly shaken by a grungy man with a purple hat. "Wake up! Your stories matched! You are free, at least for this week!" And away he went out the door.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and rubbed my eyes to dispel the sleepiness. I got up and stumbled to the door, pulling it open and peering out. Several Death Eaters passed by, not even stopping to glance in my direction. They were all busy at work, helping the Dark Lord with every trivial thing.

I stepped out of the dimly lit room and into the musty corridor. I looked to the left and saw Maverick and Klaus coming out of their rooms as well.

The three of us immediately embraced, enthralled that we had made it thus far.

And I realized what this meant. We had made it several hundred miles and were now in the thick of Voldemort's lair. We were about to find out everything we needed in order to destroy him.

We were in.