Amelia Riddle and the Serpents Stone

Amelia was sucked forward, and with a step the world once again stood still. Without the crackling of fire and whizzing of spells, the grove was eerily silent. Drei slowly unwrapped from around Ribky's neck and over to Amelia's arm. He slithered up and around her shoulders in a comforting manner, and tucked his head below her ear. It was silent in the now homeless grove for a while. Ribky and Drei watched their mistress and let her slowly come back to herself.

"There are no edelweiss here," was all Amelia said. The ground was rough and sparsely covered in weeds. No soft grass had been placed yet, nor the strangely beautiful mountain flowers. Ribky took her mistress's hand into her small tender one. Amelia's shining eyes looked over the dark grove dolefully. What would be large swooping trees, in time, were now only two stories high and youthful looking.

"It's so quiet," whispered Ribky. Amelia silently agreed.

"Let us leave this place," hissed Drei into his mistress's ear, "the dead have yet to lay here, yet I feel we disturb their slumber." Amelia breathed in shakily and raised her hood. A spell in place quickly forced the shadows to spread across her features. Ribky did the same with her small hood, with the same enchantment in place. With a flick of her wrist, the lady and her companions vanished without a sound and appeared just as silently before a dimly lit brick building. The only light source nearby came from the dirty diamond glass windows. An old wooden sign hung crookedly above a door. On it was an eerily painting hog's head and the words 'hog head's inn', respectively, carved below it in beautiful script.

Amelia pressed forward on the inn's front door, only to meet resistance. Magical energy hovered over the knob. Amelia glanced back and forth down the dark alleyway. Seeing no one of suspicion, she turned to the knob and muttered words quietly under her breath. A blue glow faintly covered the old rusted knob before it turned itself and the door opened. With a quick look around again, Amelia swiftly entered the low lit inn. Dried leaves and dirt were dragged in by her low hanging cloak. Behind her mistress, Ribky jumped when the door shut and locked itself behind them.

As Amelia made her way around the many tables and chairs she slowly brought back her hood. Drei moved below his mistresses neckline, out of site. Amelia came to a stop in the middle of the room, and Ribky beside her. Silently the lady and her elf friend scanned the room.

"The brother is near. He will reveal himself soon," hissed Drei for only his mistress to hear. A barrier invisible to the naked eye covered Amelia's right side. Not a moment later a spell flew and hit the shield with a flash and fwap. In a single moment the entire room was clearly lit, and Amelia located her assailant. With a mere turn of her hand a wand came flying into her palm and a light illuminated the room. Ribky spelled the, now wandless, caster still. In the new light a shocked old man, with a long striking grey beard, was revealed, frozen in a battle stance, breathing heavily.

"Hello Aberforth," Amelia said. With a signal from her mistress, Ribky snapped her small fingers and released the old wizard from the stilling spell. For a moment it seemed that he might strike with wandless magic, but he eyed the elf who was staring intently at him and thought otherwise. Pulling a letter from inside her dark cloak, Amelia stepped towards the wizard. "I have word from a mutual friend." She held the parchment out. Aberforth stared down at the letter in distrust, and didn't move to take it. "You don't need to touch it to recognize the magic, Aberforth." The man glanced up at the strange woman, and seemed to do as she said because his thick grey eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Rawena?" He looked to the witch for confirmations, as if he needed it. She simply gestured for him to take the letter, and with only a slight hesitation, he did. Quickly, almost too eagerly, the old wizard opened and began to read the message. It was silent in the room as Aberforth read the lovely written script of his old friend. Slowly, as if in a trance, he backed up and fell into a chair that slid into place behind him. A low mumbling filled the room as Aberforth began reading aloud the letter. His brows furrowed and jaw tightened as he read on. The mumbling slowed to a stop and a cold feeling of dread filled the air. Aberforth leaned forward and his long grey hair fell, covering his face. The letter slipped from his loosened grip and fell to the floor. A moment later the parchment caught fire, quickly burned away into nothing.

The floor creaked as Amelia stepped closer to him.

"You are the only one I can trust, Aberforth." She said softly, holding out a beautifully carved wand of equal light and dark wood. Slowly the old wizard looked up, looking weary and red eyed. He grasped the wand in his aged hand. "She knew this. You know this." Aberforth blinked at the witch, and slowly lowered his head again. It was quiet for another long period of time. All of a sudden, a green light filled the room. Something was coming through the floo. Aberforth flew up from the chair in alarm and Amelia quickly drew her hood and slipped into the shadows, followed by Ribky. Out from the flames flew a letter which landed directly in one of Aberforth's hands. He read it with urgency and suddenly spat something foreign. He continued reading on, pacing back and forth, until he came to a sudden stop.

"He's not truly gone, is he?" He whispered sadly.

"No," Amelia replied, "he is not." Aberforth sighed in pain and slid back into the chair he'd previously occupied.

"My brother has informed me of the Potter's unlikely demise, and the boy who survived the strike of a killing curse…" He paused for a moment, "There's more, isn't there?" Amelia and Ribky stepped away from the shadows.

"Yes." Amelia said. Aberforth waited for more, but it seemed that the witch wasn't going to say anything further. "In time, I will tell you more. Such things should not be said on a night like this." And with that, the witch turned towards the front door and began to walk away, followed closely by her elf companion. As she reached for the knob Aberforth stood from his chair.

"Wait," he said. Amelia stopped and turned around. "Where are you going?" Amelia blinked.

"I'm not quite sure, but I have already taken up enough of your ti-" She stopped as Aberforth started shaking his head.

"No, you will not be leaving. You will be staying here, with me." He stated, "I've been given the task of helping you, and help you I shall. He may be defeated for now, but his followers are still out and about. There is space in my personally living quarters, away from the inn and away from the public eye. You will stay there, here, until things have settled down." And so it was decided: Amelia, Drei, and Ribky were moved into the owner's suite with Aberforth.

As the world mourned the murder of the Potter's, and celebrated the defeat of the dark lord, Amelia was hidden away in the rooms of the Hog's Head Inn. In the weeks to come, the boy who lived was given to his last remaining blood relatives, the Dursleys, away from the wizarding world. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were put to rest in a grave near their destroyed home in Godric's Hollow. Sirius Black was wrongfully sent away to Azkaban, and a rat ran free into the hands of his next unsuspecting victims. The Order of the Phoenix had disbanded for the time being, as the war was over and the world was safe. And in the highest tower of Hogwarts, while the students and teachers were gone and celebrating, a dark figure laid curled on the ground, weeping the loss of his first and only friend and the little freedom he had had left.