The Last Drop |Tom Riddle|

Chapter Eighteen: You're Next

Eleanor walked into her office this morning much earlier before anyone else even arrived to work to find a single piece of paper on her desk. There was another rally today and she really only had a few minutes to herself before her and the others needed to prepare.

Dropping her belongings on the extra space on the desk, she picked up the peculiar note and studied it only to find it blank. Of course, it had been a spell concealing the message and she assumed it had to be from Abraxas. But normally, he would simply come and speak to her.

Waving her wand over the paper though, Eleanor was not expecting to see such ragged writing.

It wasn't Abraxas.

It wasn't even more than a few words, but those few words sent her stomach churning.

"You're next Eleanor"

Eleanor was frozen in place. Every shadow in the room suddenly crept in on her as she reeled back from the moment. She didn't bother fearing such little things like this but for some reason, she couldn't help but feel the hairs on her neck stand as she read it over and over again.

Before Eleanor could even do anything with the paper though, it caught itself on fire and she gasped, dropping it, but it turned to ash before it even hit the desk.

---

Today's gathering in Little Hangleton was more a more mild location for such a rally, which already raised a high level of concern for the Aurors. Eleanor, however, could hardly pay attention as her head was on a swivel after the note this morning.

Her and Colin idly stood by in the back of the Muggle church with several others covertly watching in disguise. Similar to her were the three infiltrators she assigned and she could see the back of their heads closer to the front. The Minister assured her that she could choose so that not a single soul but Eleanor knew. It almost made her excited to be there now despite how the message Ruby and Feeney were spewing made her blood boil. Not even that was enough to distract her nerves though.

They wanted to burn down the Ministry. They wanted the heads of those who failed to support them.

Funny, she knew someone else who did too.

On top of that, they had posters of known members of the Ministry who had gained public attention lately coming out against this organization against the Purebloods. Eleanor was one of them.

The sight brought back a similar nauseating feeling from earlier.

"It seems I'm more famous than I ever was before." Eleanor mused, rolling her eyes.

Colin glanced down at her.

"I wouldn't be so proud of this one."

The second she whipped her head towards him, he sighed. "I don't mean it that way. I doubt anyone could ever kill you, let alone get within five feet of you before you made them run with a look alone."

"That's better." Eleanor huffed.

But her mind was spinning at the prospect of Colin being the one who put it in her office.

Ruby shouted on, raising enough violent cheers that made her ears ring.

"When do we shut it down and get the arrests going?" Colin asked.

The idea of it was appealing but to bring in more suspects only for them to be dismissed seemed useless anymore. Perhaps, for this one time, she would let it go, considering she didn't want to accidentally arrest one of her infiltrators. More importantly, if arrests were to begin, Eleanor was left vulnerable to whoever wanted to target her next.