Lucy Riddle and the Boy Who Lived

Find the Locket

Chapter Thirty-Five

Hermione — the only one who passed her test, of course — Apparated them into the middle of nowhere. They had to walk the rest of the way, which took three hours to do. Lucy's legs started feeling like jelly after the first thirty minutes. One thing everyone should know about her: she doesn't run or walk.

I shouldn't have eaten twenty of those delicious brownies Kreacher baked, Lucy thought. Hermione warned me . . . but then again, who listens to her?

Eventually, Ron and Harry were forced to carry her the rest of the way. She did walk for a couple of minutes before she jumped onto one of their backs. It was fun watching the boys struggle.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a smirk forming on Hermione's pretty face. Lucy said in a Snape-like slow voice, "Hermione Granger . . . we all know you're right. Do you have to make a point of it every second you get?"

The boys snickered. Hermione palmed a fallen tree branch and hit Lucy on the back of the head.

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They were finally there.

The place looked large on the outside, but there was no doubt that the house was probably even more ginormous on the inside. Lucy wondered how they could afford a place so . . . beautiful and big. The only expensive thing she owned was a Firebolt, but even then it was already bought for her.

Ron whistled. "Dang, Malfoy really is rich."

"What, you thought he was lying to you for seven years?" Hermione scoffed.

"Uh, yeah? . . ."

Lucy rolled her eyes. She looked down at Crookshanks. "So, Malfoy Manor, huh? I don't like her, but I gotta admit she has great taste in hiding places. Oo, I wonder if Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Dolohov are here."

The estate was vacant. There was no one guarding the front gates, and no one inside the mansion. It seemed like the Dark Lord cleared out before they came, but he wouldn't have been able to know . . .

The floorboards creaked beneath them under the trespassers. It was just as lonely and empty as the front yard. At least there were signs of life in here than out there. The lot searched around the place, hoping to find the locket lying around somewhere, which was really idiotic, but they needed to start off somewhere.

When they all met in the centre of the first floor, they all shared the same disgruntled countenance. The locket was nowhere in the house.

Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Lucy's body suddenly stiffened and a rope wrapped around them. Standing at the end of the stairwell was Fenrir Greyback, — the most dangerous and evil werewolf there was — Dolores Umbridge, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, and Antonin Dolohov.

"Bring the girls to me, Bellatrix. Greyback — you take the boys to the dungeon," Umbridge barked.

Harry and Ron tried fighting against the werewolf's grip with only their heads. Greyback just grumbled away as he led them to the basement. Umbridge had a smirk on her face as Lucy and Hermione were dragged towards the evil witch.

Lucy observed her mum's face. She looked like she was in a trance . . . maybe she was . . .

Her family was under the Imperius Curse.