The Jade Malfoy Book 3: Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 20

     "Ursa," Dumbledore starts after she finishes her lessons one night. "I have a question to ask you."

     "Yes sir?" Ursa questions.

     "What do you know about Horcruxes?" Ursa freezes.

     "Nothing sir, never heard of them." Ursa lies.

     "You expect me to believe with all your Dark Arts knowledge, you have never heard of Horcruxes."

     "Sorry sir, I cannot help you."

     "You know you are a terrible liar sometimes Ursa."

     "Damn it." Ursa mutters. "Fine. I've heard of them before."

     "Good, good. What do you know about them?"

     "That they are a type of Soul Magic which is one of the darkest forms of Dark Magic. Not much more than that. Beatrice kept me away from the darker forms of Dark Magic. To keep me sane."

***

     "Good morning," A man from the Ministry says at the first Apparition lesson. "My name is Wilkie Twycross and I shall be your Ministry Apparition instructor for the next twelve weeks. I hope to be able to prepare you for your Apparition tests in this time. Now spread out amongst yourselves." People spread out and Twycross waves his wand. Old fashioned wooden hoops appear in front of everyone. "The important things to remember when Apparating are the three D's! Destination, Determination, Deliberation! Step one: Fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination, In this case, the interior of your hoop. Step two, focus your determination to occupy the visualized space! Step three, and only when I give the command... Turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation!" Ursa closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She pictures the space in front of her. "On my command now, one, two, three." Ursa turns on the spot and feels weightless. When she opens her eyes, she is in her hoop. She looks around to see people staring at her in shock.

     "What?" Ursa questions.

     "Y-you..." Neville says.

     "I what? I did it on the first try, so what?"

     "Miss Malfoy," McGonagall says. "please go back to the start location and do that again, with your eyes open."

     "Okay?" Ursa steps back to the start location and turns on the spot with her eyes open. She gets the weightless feeling again and notices something odd. "Did I just... turn into smoke?"

     "Uh-huh." Hermione says.

     "Shit." Ursa mumbles.

     "Miss Malfoy come with me immediately." McGonagall says. "Severus, please join us." Snape nods and follows the two out. The three enter Dumbledore's office. Fawkes is sitting on his perch.

     "Oo. Two professors, what did you do this time Baby Bird?" Fawkes asks.

     "Shut up." Ursa replies.

     "Oh someone's irritated." Fawkes teases. Ursa flicks her wrist towards Fawkes and green sparks shoot at him.

     "Miss Malfoy!" McGonagall exclaims. "Don't attack Fawkes."

      "Haha, you're in more trouble now."

     "Shut up!" Ursa says to Fawkes.

     "Excuse me?" McGonagall asks.

     "Sorry Professor. I wasn't talking to you." McGonagall nods.

     "So two professors?" Fawkes questions. "Two important ones at that. You must have really screwed-"