Hey guys! Sorry about the long wait. I had terrible writer's block (still kind of do, but I'm pushing through it)! I promise I'm going to try my hardest to post in this story (and Family Ties) more often than I have recently. I tried a new character's point of view for this chapter, so tell me what you think. =) Thanks for being awesome!

Dedicating this new chapter to my new friend supahfan11, cuz she is awesome like that!

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Sebastian

 Sitting around the campfire was always an intriguing experience. Despite the circumstances, the five of us were always laughing and having fun together. Though I still felt like an outcast, I knew they were warming up to me for the most part. I had only been with them for a week, but so far we had covered a lot of ground.

That night in particular I just felt like a fifth wheel. It was oddly chilly, though I assumed it had something to do with the rain that had been falling for days now. I was just shocked we had gotten a fire even started between that and the moist sea breeze that was running parallel the coastline. Audrey sat under Artemis’ jacket, his arm wrapped around her holding her close to him. The same was the case for Pansy and Malfoy. I tried not to pay any attention to that, instead putting my mind on the task at hand.

“So where are we going next?” I asked, though I doubted anyone really knew.

Artemis shrugged. “Wherever the wind takes us I suppose. I… thought about following the coast for a while.”

“Might as well,” Malfoy added. “After all, you have to go report back tonight.”

I had almost forgotten about that. I hadn’t spoken to Voldemort or any of the Death Eaters since I had joined up with them. I had already missed one meeting, and I was sure that if I didn’t go tonight I was going to be in trouble myself. “Yea, I suppose so.”

“When do you plan on doing that?” Audrey questioned. Honestly, I knew she was still wary of me. I didn’t know why she didn’t like me, but I thought it would just past with time.

“Here soon,” I replied simply.

“The meetings are always at seven,” Artemis stated. “You probably have about an hour tops before you’ll be late. And Voldemort always hated tardiness.”

I barely nodded. “I’ll be off here in a second, I promise.”

“And what are you going to tell him?” Pansy asked. For some reason I sensed hostility with her too. It was like the girls had their own personal vendetta against me.

“That the last word was that you were in Ireland,” I decided then. “That way he’ll be thrown way off track.”

Artemis nodded as if he knew something I didn’t. “Well… he could be thrown off by that, but only for a second. And to be honest, I don’t know how much I want him in Ireland. My family is still there, and I don’t want that monster anywhere near my brothers.”

Artemis was always so picky. “Well… what do you want me to say?” I inquired. If he had a better idea, I sure wanted to hear it. Artemis’ mind was an intriguing place, that was certain.

“London,” he stated simply. “It’s a large city. It’ll take him a while to thoroughly search it. By the time he’s done, we can be farther away. We don’t want to set a false trail that’s so unbelievable he won’t buy into it.” He stared at me in a way that I had never seen him look at anyone before. Honestly, it scared me quite a bit. “And believe me; he won’t believe that we’re in Ireland.”

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll tell him your story then.”

Not another word was said about what was to be told to Voldemort. The group obviously didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I knew the whole thing stressed each one of them out in their own way, Artemis and Malfoy probably more than their girlfriends. I mean… they were wanted dead by the Dark Lord. I could never fathom going through what they were dealing with. It was crazy! Their lives had barely begun, and here they were wanted men.

For the longest time, all I heard was the crackling of the fire. The aroma from the smoke whisked around us. It reminded me a lot of when I was a child and my mother took me camping. My father was never much for such… Muggle related activities, as he called them. Suddenly my mind drifted off, wondering exactly what my father would say about this. Did he know I was out helping wanted men? And if so, what did he think about it? He’d probably have me killed for it…

However, before long, my thoughts were interrupted by an owl swopping in on us out of nowhere. It landed right in front of Audrey before dropping a small red letter. The bird was quick to fly off, and with good reason. It had dropped a letter known as a Howler. I had never received any myself, but I knew that they were evil little things.

As Audrey slowly picked it up off the ground, I decided to say, “You should probably open that. Howler’s don’t like being untouched.”

She barely nodded, slowly peeling the golden sticker from the front of the letter. She didn’t have to open it any further; the letter began to unfold itself, forming a pair of origami like lips. Within moments, the lips were screaming at her:

“So you just leave in the middle of the night? And what for? We were supposed to be spending the next few days with each other and you just up and left me hanging! Some friend you are. Like seriously. What about your family, your friends, Artemis? Do any of us know where you’re at, what you’re doing? I’m going to assume not. You better hope you’re in some real trouble when I get to the bottom of this, or you will be!”

With that the letter blew a raspberry at her before disintegrating into a heap of scrap paper at her feet. She immediately picked it up, throwing it into the fire. The paper burned easily, and turned the fire an interesting color for a moment. I knew Audrey was angry; it was all too apparent on her face.

“Who was that?” I decided to ask.

“Nikkie,” Audrey muttered.

I had almost forgotten that Audrey had a friend who was in Gryffindor. I had known Nikkie, and she never seemed to come across as the unfriendly type, but that letter surely didn’t make me thrilled about her. Why would a friend just assume things like that?

Artemis pulled her closer to him. “It’ll be okay. She’ll be sorry later on. You know you had a good reason for what you’ve done. I’m sure anyone in their right mind would’ve done the same thing.”

Audrey sighed. “It’s fine. Had I stayed I would’ve died. This is the only way.”

Malfoy stood up and stretched briefly before he sat back down. “Who needs her?” he scoffed. “Once a blood traitor, always a blood traitor.”

The rest of the group dropped the topic. I decided this was probably the best time for me to leave and tell Voldemort the group of lies we had concocted. I stood, taking a deep breath as I prepared myself to lie to the one person I had sworn I never would.

“Don’t leave without me, okay?” I requested. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“Oh believe me,” Artemis said. “We won’t.”

On that last remark, I Apparated away from the group to Malfoy Manor, where the Dark Lord would be conducted his biweekly meetings. I rushed inside the building, immediately finding Voldemort sitting at the dining room’s table.

 I wasted no time in telling him. “They’re in London.”