Deceit (Harry Potter fanfic)

Foxwood Manor

"He's what?" Ari screeched "but he was dead. Like dead, not breathing, no pulse... Are you sure it was even him? I mean everyone knows its impossible to bring back the dead"

"Yes, Ari" I interrupted her "look here" I pointed to the top of a page in the potions book that I had taken from the restricted section. The edges of the book were slightly frayed and the pages had yellowed with age.

"Apariencia Muerte" Ari read "gives the appearance of death. A person who has consumed Apariencia Muerte is able to be motionless without a pulse for up to four hours, in such a state breathing is slowed to an undetectable rate. Commonly used in stealth attacks, once four hours are up the person returns to full consciousness and awareness"

"Well?" I asked.

"Xander isn't awake" she replied "this sounds plausible for how we saw him that night but this says they return to full consciousness and he isn't awake"

"Maybe that was some other spell performed afterwards" I suggested.

She shook her head "from what you've described no spell put him in that coma. I would suggest a fall but the potion must've caused some sort of drowsiness when he woke, not awareness"

"Have you any ideas? I've searched almost every book in the restricted section" I mumbled dejectedly.

"No... Mia, has it occurred to you that he could just be lying to you? I mean how could you control when someone wakes from a coma?"

"I understand what you're saying but perhaps you just haven't heard of something this dark" I deliberated for a while until an idea popped into my head.

"I know!" I exclaimed "lets search my parents' library, there's some awfully dark books in there behind the secret panel. If there is an answer I'll bet it will be in one of those books"

"I don't know..." Ari began uncertainly "what if we get caught?"

"Only Larissa will be there" I stated confidently "she won't turn us in"

"What about Raven, where is he?"

My heart sank, I hadn't seen Raven in days. He'd been avoiding me, which was good but it meant I had no idea where he was or whether he was trying to thwart us.

"Aww, come on. It'll be fun" I pleaded.

"Now you sound like Alice" she giggled.

"Well, perhaps I'll take her instead" I retorted, pretending that she had insulted me.

"Fine, fine. I'll come, what's the worst that could happen?" She conceded.

"We get a months detention for skipping double Herbology" I chirped, Ari merely rolled her eyes at my cheerful reply.

So it was that at a quarter to two Ari and I snuck out of the castle and into Hogsmeade. We had used a simple disillusionment charm so had been able to slip past the few teachers who patrolled the corridors relatively easily. The afternoon air was cool and refreshing and the sun shone dimly between wispy clouds.

"Where is your house, Mia?" Ari asked.

"Near a forest" I replied, a hint of sarcasm blessing my words.

"Very funny" she drawled "I'm serious, how will we get there if I have no idea where it is?"

"Floo powder" I shrugged, handing her a vial of it from my robes "we'll use the shrieking shack"

I don't know why I didn't just tell Ari where I lived, it wasn't that I didn't trust her... It was just the fact that Foxwood was a family secret, an incredibly well kept one at that. When the other manor was ripped apart by Aurors Foxwood remained standing, a symbol of our power-so Raven says- untouched and undiscovered. It was ironic, everything really dark was hidden in Foxwood, the things they found in the other manor were as harmless as little butterflies compared with some of the objects in the Foxwood cellar. Foxwood was and always would be my family's greatest secret, beside myself of course. It marvels me at how they did it, I don't have the trace, I'm not registered anywhere, sometimes I wonder if I even exist. I remember that Dumbledore thought me Muggleborn at first, he got a mighty shock when his little aesthetic tricks didn't impress me. I spun the story that my parents where American and that was why he hadn't heard of my name. I thought he believed me. Now, however, I wasn't quite sure.