Sweet Sacrifice

Katia had brought Ai to the very outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, still holding on to her hand as they arrived. She enjoyed guiding people. Leading people places was fun. She came to a halt eventually, letting go of Ai's hand and stroking a tree instead, wondering where exactly the wards to the school started. Before now she'd just made sure to not go to close, but she was a bit curious. Impenetrable wards.

She turned back to Ai, a smile on her face as she did so. "This will do," she said in a quiet voice, turning to look around them, pleased to see there was no one about. They weren't hiding so much, people who were hiding were clearly up to something. They were just having a nice little talk next to the forest.

"Are you ready to hear what will get their attention?" she asked, eyes glittering. This was one of her better ideas. "This'll be exciting. You'll love it. I love it."

Ai smiled and nodded.

"I'm sure I will" she said. "Bring it on" she waited, wondering if Katia's plan had anything to do with Hogwarts.

Katia held her hands up, excitement dancing in her eyes as she spoke, the whole thing becoming more and more intense as time went on. "Okay, this'll be lots of fun," she was nearly dancing from foot to foot with all the excitement. Oh, excitement excitement excitement! "You're ready? Right. Here's the plan."

She stepped closer, lowering her voice, taking one of Ai's hands. "You bring a gift to the next meeting, a gift that clearly says that you're on their side. Once you've gotten the gift, I'll send you a message to tell you where to come, and you bring the gift with you when you come there. We've got to know you're dedicated, Ai. You saw what happened at the Ministry. You know what we're willing to do for our cause."

Katia wrapped both her hands round Ai's. "You bring a Muggle hand as a gift. To show your dedicated. Ohh, I love this plan. This is my favourite plan."

Ai thought about this plan for a minute.

"How will I prove the hand belongs to a muggle?" She asked. "Do I kill the muggle or just take the hand?" She grinned. "I want to make sure I make no mistakes"

Katia waited eagerly for Ai to come to a decision, really hoping the answer would be yes. This was such a fun game, and she'd love to have Ai in their little group. She was different to the others. Katia knew it.

"I'll be watching you," she promised. "To make sure it's a muggle hand. You can do what you want with the muggle, let it live, let it die, kill it, don't care. We just want the hand. The Dark Lady will trust my word on whether or not it's a Muggle. Though I'm sure there'll be a way to tell. They're different to us. Very different. They don't have our magic. There'll be a way to tell if the hand is from a magical being or a Muggle."

"What do you think?" Katia asked, eyes flashing. "Will you do it?"

"I'm in" Ai said firmly. "But I want to pick the muggle" her eyes narrowed. "If you're up for a trip to Japan, I think it's time to pay my cousin a little visit. After all, what is family for?" She really hoped Katia was up for the trip. She had waited years for the opportunity to exact her revenge.

Katia nearly squealed when Ai said that she was in. She clamped her hands over her mouth to stop it as Ai continued talking, feeling the excitement bubble inside her as the girl said she wanted to pick the muggle. Oh, this was interesting, wasn't it? Motivation always made these sorts of things more fun to watch. She was almost disappointed she wouldn't be actively involved.

And then Ai offered to take her to Japan, of all places! Katia grinned widely and bounced up and down, nodding so hard her curls sprang about randomly. "Yes, yes, yes! Japan! We can definitely go there, it's only fair you get to pick the muggle. Oh, hohoho! This is going to be so much fun, it'll be like a mini-holiday! When shall we go? Before you start teaching, obviously."

And everyone knew how much Katia loved family.

Ai grinned.

"We can go any time" she said. "I'm free for a while" she thought for a minute. She wanted to do things right. "In a couple days it is the anniversary of my father's death. I should like very much to attend. My cousin will be easy to find as he will be the one giving the speech"

Katia nodded happily as Ai said that in two days there was the anniversary of her father's death. That sounded like a perfect time to go. Plenty of time to warn her housemates that she was disappearing to Japan for a sort amount of time to go play with her new friend. She really doubted they'd particularly care. Fyedka would probably be glad to have her gone for a short time, so he could be free of her insistant teasing.

"That sounds like a very good time to go. I've got very little planned the next few days, so we can meet again to head over when you think is best, really, and then come straight back. Unless you have any other business in Japan you want to take care of?"

Though Katia couldn't understand what other business the girl might have. Then again, Katia's hometown was no longer on the map other than as a pile of ashes.

Ai cocked her head and thought about whether or not she had any plans in Japan other than torturing her cousin.

"I think once I have completed the task, I will be done with my family for good" She said. "I will meet you in two days time" She grinned. She had been waiting for this for a long time. "We'll meet in the Forest of Dean and then apparate to Japan" She said. "Sound like a plan?"

I created the new thread for our mission.
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