It was midnight when the small rat

It was midnight when the small rat descended into the sinister darkness of the dungeons. The way was lit with scattered torches, the flickering of which only added to the sense of night, and the rat made certain to stay in the brightest patches. If anyone had been awake to see it, they would have been highly confused by the erratic behavior of the small rodent. Not only did it frantically avoid the shadows, but it scuttled in a frightened, almost reluctant manner, almost as if it were aware of the dangers that the dungeons represented to one as small as itself.

Of course, the casual observer would also assume that this was a normal rat.

Which, in a way it was. In looks, intelligence, and really any other category you could imagine, the rat was completely and utterly average. It was the epitome of normal, nothing outstanding, nothing even particularly lacking, everything in order and the same, boring even, except for one small detail.

The rat was really a boy.

Indeed, despite appearances, it was really Peter Pettigrew who made his way into the belly of the beast, the inner sanctum of the dungeons. He scurried along for a while more, pausing every now and then to sniff the air around him, hunting for the scent of another small animal, which he was to meet in only a few minutes time. He paused in front of a door, sniffing madly. It seemed that he had found the desired odor.

Looking around he spotted a small snake curled up under the tassels of one of the tapestries hanging from the ceiling. He walked over to it, intending to wake it from its apparent slumber, when the snake uncoiled viciously and lunged at the rat as if to strike him. In his surprise the rat recoiled and transformed into the small pudgy form of Peter, clutching a hand over his heart, and looking equally nervous as his rodent counterpart had been.

"Merlin, Lucius, don't do that," he said in a slightly squeaky voice, standing up on shaking feet and staring down at the hissing grey snake at his feet.

The snake gave one final hiss before transforming into the tall, imposing, form of Lucius Malfoy. He looked at Peter in careless disdain, moving to open the door that they were still standing in front of. "I wasn't going to bite, hard."

The two boys walked into the dark room, and Lucius shut the door behind them, casting a silencing spell as he did so, meanwhile Peter set about igniting the various candles that could be found around the room, obviously trying to create as much light as was possible. Lucius watched him with a scowl. "Afraid of the dark, are we Pettigrew?"

The smaller boy shot him a look and snapped, "Excuse me, but I'm the one far from my territory. I don't want to be caught on Slyth ground."

Lucius shut his eyes in obvious disgust at the other boys' stupidity. "And you think that setting the whole dungeon on fire is the way to remain inconspicuous? No wonder you are a Gryffindor."

"Let's just get on with this, Lucius. What do you want from me?" Peter shifted from foot to foot, in nervous anticipation. Lucius was the only one at the school who knew of his true allegiance, and it was not a comfort to be called on by him.

Lucius sneered at Peter's discomfort, and decided to draw out the meeting as long as was possible, if only to watch the other boy squirm. "We have little over a month left in school, Pettigrew and I am no closer to accomplishing my goal. Despite my best efforts, Severus Snape stay firmly rooted in his blasted neutrality. I was making some progress earlier this year, he was sorely tempted by the illegal ingredients and books that I acquired for him, but now it seems that he is even farther from our side than ever."

He started pacing the length of the old classroom, a distinctively angry look settling over his features. "I was given one assignment by the Dark Lord, to turn Severus Snape to our side, and I have had three years to do it, but it looks like I am going to fail," he ran a hand through his platinum blond hair and turned frantically to Peter, "You know how he treats failure, Pettigrew. He'll kill me if I don't pull this off, and I am not sure that I am only speaking figuratively. We need Snape's name, and we need his money, and once he is out of Hogwarts it will be next to impossible to get him to declare any sort of allegiance."

Peter nervously opened his mouth and after a moment of stuttering managed to speak, "Why is he so reluctant? You said you were close earlier."

Lucius pursed his lips, "It's your bloody friend, Mya. He would never do anything to upset his darling Gryffindor slut, and Merlin knows that she'd have a problem with him practicing the Dark Arts."

Peter looked slightly confused at this, "I thought you liked Mya."

Lucius snorted, "Not bloody likely. I've been trying to get her to trust me. I figured that if I could get her on my side, then Snape wouldn't be far behind. However, she has proven to be most difficult. You Gryffindors and your sodding nobility."

Peter looked like he wanted to retort to that, but thought better of it. After a minute of watching Lucius pace he ventured another question. "What does all this have to do with me, Lucius? I'm not good friends with her, so it isn't like I'd have a better chance of getting her to turn."

"It has everything to do with you Pettigrew, although you're right about your not being able to turn her. As if you had the ability to manipulate anybody. No, the only way to handle her is to get rid of her, and I'm going to need your help," with this Lucius stopped pacing and stood in front of Peter.

"Get… get rid of her? Lucius are you mad? I'm not killing anybody!" Peter looked slightly green, as if the mere thought were making him sick. To his very obvious surprise Lucius broke out laughing.

"Kill her? What kind of person do you think I am? Merlin, Pettigrew, and under Dumbledore's nose too, I'm not that big a fool," Lucius wiped a tear from his eye, and Peter looked relieved. "However, I stand by my statement. She needs to go, and I know just the spell to do it. The less you know about it, the better, but I'll tell you this… we won't have to bother with her again for a long time," Lucius laughed at this, and Peter cracked a wary smile, although he had no idea what Lucius was going on about. "All I need from you, Pettigrew, is a hair from Potter, Lupin, Black, and yourself, and for you to keep the marauders occupied during the main event, two very simple but very important tasks."

"What do you need hair for?" Peter was extremely confused at this point, and was coming to the conclusion that his companion really had gone mad.

"Never mind about that, just get them to me as soon as you can," Lucius pulled a golden pocket watch from deep inside of his robes and gave a little groan. "I'm late to meet Narcissia. We'll discuss the details later. Oh, and Pettigrew? Discretion is the word here, we can't have your friends getting suspicious," with that Lucius turned and walked out of the door, leaving a very confused Peter standing alone in the middle of the room.

Hermione sat in the common room practically buried beneath a pile of books. The N.E.W.T.S were a week away, and she had put every spare minute into studying for them, including sending Severus back to his own room most nights. This was one of those nights, and she sipped at a cup of coffee that she had nicked from the kitchens, drinking the caffeine laden liquid as if it were water. At the moment she was going over her notes from History of Magic, making a new set of even more complicated notes, complete with color coding, footnotes, and cross references. She furrowed her brow as she came across a particularly complicated trade agreement between the goblins and centaurs of Greece. Opening another ridiculously large text she started looking for the obscure reference that she needed.

Behind her on the stairway to the boy's dormitories Sirius stood watching her, debating to himself whether or not to go try to talk to her. The pair hadn't spoken since the Whomping Willow incident, and it was getting to the point where he wondered if they would ever speak again. He bit his lip and moved down a few stairs before stopping uncertainly again. Despite this silence between them he considered her to be his best female friend, and he couldn't stand the thought that he might have truly lost her. He moved down a few stairs again when her voice broke the silence of the empty room, startling him so much that he nearly fell off of the stairway altogether.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at me all night?" She didn't lift her eyes from the book she was reading. Sirius gave a little start before walking the rest of the way down the stairs to move into the seat beside her. She put down the quill she was writing with and looked away from him. "That wasn't an invitation."

"I think it was," she turned and looked at him and he continued, "come on Mya, you can't stand it either. I miss you, and I know you miss me. Can't we just be friends again?"

She looked down and sighed. "I do miss you, Sirius, but I can't forgive you for what you did."

He grabbed her hand from under the table and squeezed it lightly. "I don't forgive myself either, it was wrong, and I know that, but there isn't anything I can do about it now but say that I'm sorry," he ran a hand through his dark black hair, but didn't let go of her. "We're leaving school in less than a month, we're going to go out and start our lives, and I don't want to do it without you."

Hermione sat with his hand around hers, and thought about what he had said. He was talking about the future, about life after Hogwarts, unaware of the fates that would befall him and those he loved. Tears started to well up in her eyes, thinking about the life he was destined for: betrayal, death, and despair. Suddenly she felt horrible about causing him pain, when soon pain was all he would feel. Besides, it was true that she missed him. In the nine months she had

Результаты (русский) 3:

В полуночи при малых rat погрузилась в зловещий темноте подземелья. В настоящее время горит с разбросаны факелы, мигание которого только добавить в смысле ночь, и в RAT, оставаться в яркие патчи. Если у кого-то было пробуждение к см. его, они были бы весьма запутались в нестабильное поведение малых грызунами.Они не только не сказал офицер в тени, но он срывал в испуге, почти не хотят таким образом, почти как если бы оно было известно о той опасности, которую в подземелья, один, как сам по себе.ветровому конечно, случайный наблюдатель также считать, что это был обычный rat.ветровому, в виде, как это было. В дизайн, разведки, и действительно любые другие категории, которую вы могли бы себе представить,