Lily Snape [3]

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three: 

Days turned into weeks, whick quickly turned in to two months.  Nothing seemed to happen, nobody heard about Ron, Harry or Hermione, nobody knew anything except that Voldemort was getting more powerful as days went by.  They'd taken over the Ministry, though not everyone knew that.  

The Ministry had been taking in muggle born witches and wizards, as well as 'blood traitors' for questioning.  Hermione was number one on their list, and everyone knew it.  It'd been put in the Daily Prophet just the week before.  

Luna still hadn't been found, and though I'd begged anyone who may know anything to step forward, nobody did.  Well, except for one person, who said she'd be found at Malfoy Manor, but I wasn't sure who it was, as the information had come in a letter delivered by a Hogwarts school owl.  

I'd figured as much as that's where I'd been kept when I was taken as well, and I had convinced myself that the next time Fred left the house, I'd go after her myself.  I had promised Neville, after all, and I refused to break that promise.  

I knew that things may go horribly wrong, but I remembered the layout of the mansion pretty well, and I knew exactly where the dungeons were, so I was semi-hopefully that I'd be successful in this particular endeavor, and as luck would have it, Fred, George and Mr and Mrs Weasley planned to go out for the evening.  I told them I wanted to get a bit of sleep, so they let me stay home thankfully.  Ginny had gone to visit her Aunt Muriel, and it left me alone for the first time in two months. 

I took only my wand and the clothes on my back as I walked out of the Weasley's home, heading towards the general direction of where I knew Malfoy's Manor to be.  I had to walk out of the protection bubble that I knew was up, as my father had come by only three days after I'd come back to put a protection over the house and property.  Only I, Molly and Arthur could decide who could come inside of that 'shield' and who could leave.  

As soon as I made it out of the Weasley's property, I held my wand in the air at the curb of a street, as Harry had once told me he'd done in order to summon the Knight Bus.  

Nobody came, even as I waited there for twenty minutes, no bus came to pick me up and so I was forced to try and apparate.  Concentrating very hard on where I wanted to be, which was just down the road from Malfoy Manor, as I didn't want to apparate directly in to it, I closed my eyes and waited for the familiar 'being pulled through a tiny tube' feeling.

When it finally came, I could feel my stomach flip flop in anticipation as I disapparated and apparated just where I wanted to be.  I could see the manor from where I stood, and nobody was coming in or out of the home.  Taking a deep breath, I began walking towards it, remembering to stay low and duck behind anything I could find in order to keep out of sight.  

Once I'd gotten to just behind the house, I sat down behind a few trees and decided it would be best to wait for nightfall before continuing any further, perhaps I'd get lucky and most people would be asleep, making it easier for me to get in and out of the building.  

Sighing, I settled myself down against the rough tree bark and got ready for the long wait until dark.  

----

Nearly five hours later, at about ten o'clock, I finally decided it was most probably safe to enter the house and though nobody would probably be asleep by then, I couldn't wait any more. I was too excited to save Luna and more than happy to get inside, away from the bugs that continued to bite me. 

I snuck across the grounds and sat myself below a window to listen for any movements from inside. When I heard nothing, I quickly peeked through it and realized that I was staring into their kitchen.  I moved to another window, on the other side of the house, and did the same, realizing I was then staring into their main room.  

Nobody was in there either.  

Deeming it semi-safe, I tried to slide the window open only to realize that it was locked.  Growling slightly, I pulled out my wand, whispered 'alohamora' and then attempted to open it again, this time around I succeeded.  

Pulling myself through, I made as little noise as it was probably humanly possible to, and quickly crawled behind a couch, just in case someone were to walk in, they wouldn't see me.  The carpet underneath my knees rubbed against my skin roughly as I crawled around the two couches, but I ignored it as best as I could before getting up and rushing to the doorway.  A quick check reassured me that nobody was in the hallways that led to that room.  

All the way down to the dungeons, I acted like my mother, who was always checking over her shoulder as if someone were following her.  By the time I made it there, I'd spend at least an hour inside of the house, as I was moving so slowly and carefully that it took ages to get where it normally would have only taken a couple of minutes.  

Several times I'd come across a person here or there, and I'd have to wait for them to move on before I could continue on.

With adrenaline rushing through my veins, I came to the dungeon that had three people inside, one of them undoubtedly Luna Lovegood. 

Well I say people, but one of them was something else entirely, I simply wasn't sure what.  I moved closer, staring at the three of them, two of whom were sleeping.  The 'something else' was standing in a corner, facing a tiny hole in the wall that he could probably barely see out of.

I took out my wand, once more and whispered the charm to unlock the dungeon door.  Nothing happened.  Grunting under my breath, I tried several more charms, but nothing worked.  By that time, the Something Else had noticed me, but hadn't said anything, just stared at me as I worked to unlock the door.  Giving up on being subtle, I pointed my wand and in the most powerful voice I had, I used my last resort.

"Expulso!" 

The door exploded, yet at the same time stayed entirely intact, my spell had no effect on it at all, but it certainly had an effect on the three in the dungeons.  Luna and the other person who slept woke up with a jump, and within two seconds I was surrounded by Death Eaters, whose hands grabbed at me.  

I thought for a moment before fighting, perhaps turning into my animagus form and escaping as I knew I could, but then I felt that it would be better if I let myself be caught, then I could stay with Luna and make sure she was okay, and perhaps I'd hear something about Harry.  

If worse came to worse, I could escape using my animagus form later.