The next morning, everyone trudged back up to the Burrow after managing to get a Portkey out of all the chaos. Alex was half asleep by the time they were walking up to the entrance where Molly Weasley had come out.

"Oh thank goodness, thank goodness!" She exclaimed, holding a copy of the Daily Prophet.

Alex watched the reunion with a soft smile as Molly was put at ease that her family was safe. She had even seized Fred and George, talking about the fight they'd had before the World Cup.

Eventually, Mr. Weasley got her to calm down and everyone made their way into the house where Hermione made a cup of tea for the older woman. Alex poured herself a cup as well, listening to Mr. Weasley scan the article that was written about the whole ordeal.

"Who wrote this?" He asked. "Ah... of course... Rita Skeeter."

"That woman's got it in for the Ministry of Magic!" Percy exclaimed furiously. "Last week she was saying we're wasting our time quibbling abut cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! As if it wasn't specifically stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans-"

Alex opened her mouth to beg Percy to shut up but Bill beat her to it as he yawned, saying, "Do us a favor, Perce, and shut up."

That caused her to snort into her tea before she set it down, exhaustion consuming her body as she went to walk out when Mr. Wesley's declared he'd have to go into work.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, catching Alex's attention. "Hedwig hasn't arrived with a letter for me, has she?"

"Hedwig, dear?" Mrs. Weasley questioned, partially distracted. "No... no, there hasn't been any post at all."

"Not even from Al?" Alex asked, taking a step forward as she thought of the letter she'd written to her mum.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head, causing the four friends to look at each other somewhat knowingly.

"All right if I go and dump my stuff in your room, Ron?" Harry said with a somewhat knowing tone.

"Yeah... think I will too," Ron said. "Hermione? Alex?"

"Yes," Hermione responded quickly.

"Right behind you lot," Alex said, following after her friends up the stairs and into Ron's room.

"What's up, Harry?" Ron asked as Alex closed the door behind them.

"There's something I haven't told you," Harry began. "On Saturday morning, I woke up with my scar hurting again."

Alex's eyes immediately widened and she covered her face in frustration. "Glumești, nu-i așa?" She mumbled in Romanian. "Putem avea un an normal?" She spoke before realizing her friends were watching her at her Romanian outburst. "Sorry, it's been slipping out since I saw Velkan at the World Cup."

Ron shook his head before he questioned Harry about his scar. As soon as he mentioned Wormtail in his dream, Alex's blood boiled. If she ever saw that traitorous rat again, she would make him regret ever betraying the Potters and framing her father.

"It was only a dream," Ron said. "Just a nightmare."

"Yeah, but was it, though?" Harry questioned as he looked out the window. "It's weird, isn't it?... My scar hurts, and three days later the Death Eaters are on the March, and Voldemort's sign's up in the sky again."

Alex flinched as he said the name so bluntly while Ron gritted out, "Don't — say — his — name!"

"And remember what Professor Trelawney said?" Harry continued. "At the end of last year?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at that statement with a snort. "Oh Harry, you aren't going to pay attention to anything that old fraud says?"

"You weren't there," Harry told her. "You didn't hear her. This time was different. I told you, she went into a trance — a real one. And she said the Dark Lord would rise again... greater and more terrible that ever before... and he'd manage it because his servant was going back to him... and that night Wormtail escaped."

The four of them fell silent and Alex recalled her own encounter with Trelawney during the Christmas holidays the previous year.

"Harry, what did Trelawney look like when she was in her trance?" Alex found herself asking.

"Alex, you can't be seriously feeding into this —" Hermione tried to say, but Alex waved her off for a second.

Harry shrugged. "She went super rigid and her eyes were rolling as she spoke and then she passed out, but just for a few seconds."

Alex recalled her own experience with Professor Trelawney and the words that she had spoken to the younger girl the previous year, in the same state.

Betrayed...

Death's grasp...

Modify destiny...

"What is it, Alex?" Harry asked curiously.

That snapped Alex out of the trance she was in to see her three friends watching her. She only shrugged, feigning nonchalance. There wasn't any reason to worry her friends since nothing had been mentioned or even happened that would be close to what Trelawney had said to Alex.

"Just thinking about how crazy that old bat is," she stated with a somewhat forced laugh.

They all fell silent, considering their separate thoughts before Hermione spoke up, "Why were you asking if Hedwig had come, Harry? Are you expecting a letter?"

"I told Sirius and Alliana about my scar," Harry told them. "I'm waiting for their answer."

"Good thinking!" Ron stated. "I bet they'll know what to do!"

"Yeah, Mum and Dad will have an idea of what we should do moving forward," Alex agreed with a nod of her head.

"I hoped they'd get back to me quickly," Harry told them.

Alex smiled. "Me too, Harry," she told him, wishing she would just get news that her parents were safe.

"But we don't know where they are... they could be in Africa or somewhere, couldn't they?" Hermione asked. "Both Hedwig and Al are not going to manage that journey in a few days."

"Yeah, I know," Harry said, looking outside as if either his or Alex's owl were about to appear out of thin air.

"The longer they take to write back is probably good," Alex reminded them. "It means they're far from where the Ministry or someone from around this area will recognize them immediately. And if they do, my parents are fairly good about moving quickly to avoid capture. They managed this long on the run, haven't they?"

Harry nodded, smiling at the thought that Alex's parents were safe.

"Come and have a game of Quidditch in the orchard, Harry," Ron said. "Come on - three on three, Bill and Charlie and Fred and George will play... You can try out the Wronski Feint..."

"Thanks for the invite, Ronald," Alex said with an eye roll but she was exhausted and could benefit from a nap.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to come and play —" Ron began but Alex smiled and shook her head.

"I think I'll join later if you're still playing but I need a little more sleep to function properly again," she said, rubbing her tired eyes.

"Ron," Hermione cut in, "Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch right now... He's worried and he's tired... We all need to go to bed..."

"Yeah, I want to play Quidditch," Harry said, ignoring Hermione's comments. "Hang on, I'll get my Firebolt."

Hermione rolled her eyes and stood up, Alex following after her as they began to make their way to Ginny's room. Alex could've sworn she heard Hermione mumble, "Boys," under her breath.

"Hey Alex!" Ron called from up the stairs as she was making her into the entrance of Ginny's room. "Can I borrow your Firebol-"

"No," Alex stated before shutting the door behind her, leaving no room for argument.

⊰ ⁜ ⊱

Walking down the unfamiliar road, Alex glanced around, trying to find a landmark to indicate where she was or some kind of sign.  The air was cold as she walked along, every breath she took formed into a cloud in front of her face as her feet crunched under the graveled path.

"Hello?" She called out, glancing around since she knew she felt like she wasn't alone.

But there was no other person around that she could see.

Up ahead, a clearing in the trees appeared and she walked towards it, hoping for a clue as to where she was. Coming up, she gasped as she looked at the graveyard before her, dozens of headstones in the ground as she walked along.

She knelt down in front of one, her mouth falling open in shock as she read the name before her:

SIRIUS ORION BLACK

November 3, 1959 -

Loving Husband, Father, Brother and Friend

Always in our hearts

Alex felt her heart stop as she read her father's name across the headstone. The date that would indicate his death was blurry and she was unable to make it out, no matter how much she brushed the debris on the headstone off of it.

She stood and rushed to another headstone, reading the name and covering her mouth in shock at another familiar name:

CEDRIC DIGGORY

September 10, 1977 -

Loving Son and Friend

Kind until the very end

Again, she couldn't see the date that would indicate his death and that worried her because she didn't want to even imagine her friend's death being close, not when they still had their lives ahead of them.

She rushed to another headstone, a strangled sob leaving her mouth as she read the familiar name:

FRED GIDEON WEASLEY

April 1, 1978 -

Loving Son, Brother, Friend, and Twin

Laughing to the very end

"Fred!" Alex sobbed, covering her mouth in shock. Again, she couldn't see the date, which was beginning to frustrate her. She ran to the other headstones, seeing familiar names but she couldn't see the dates of their deaths.

Lavender Brown

Colin Creevey

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Remus John Lupin

There were other names but she wasn't familiar with too many of them.  And each one, she couldn't see their death date, which made her pull at her hair in frustration.

"What is this place?!" She yelled out to no one in particular.

A sound behind her caused her to turn and gasp as a hooded and cloaked figure was standing beside a headstone she had yet to look at.  She released a shuddering breath, reaching for her wand but not finding it there.

"Who are you?" She asked, her voice shaking.

The figure said nothing, just staring at her.  The hood over their head made it impossible to see their face, so she took a cautious step forward.

"Where am I?" She asked, her voice sounding firmer the more angry she got over whatever this place was.

The figure continued standing there, making no move to indicate they were even listening to what Alex was asking.  As she took another step closer, she could see their cloak was tattered and torn, making her brow furrow in confusion as she came up to stand right in front of them.

"Who are you?" She repeated.

The figure finally moved, merely gesturing to the headstone Alex hadn't looked at yet. She released a shaky breath before reading the name and letting out a scream:

ALEXANDRIA BLACK

September 17, 1979 -

Loving Daughter and Friend

When death finds you, you may find it alive

With a gasping scream, she sat upright in the bed, right into a worried Fred's arms as she felt a cold sweat covering her body.  She gasped for a few seconds, whimpering as Fred immediately wrapped his arms around her trembling body.

He knew it was wrong to barge in, but he'd been walking by Ginny's room when he heard Alex whimpering in her sleep.  He'd even heard her mumble his name once and when she screamed was when he rushed in and she'd woken up.

"It's okay," he whispered into her hair as he gently rocked her.

The tears from Alex's eyes didn't stop as she tried to forget the image of the gravestones.  She hadn't even seen a dead body but thinking about any of those people dying was haunting her thoughts.  Including herself.

"Fred, you're okay," she whispered, pulling back to caress his face as she examined him.  "You're not hurt or —"

"No, I'm fine," he assured her, gently grabbing her hands and pressing her hand to the middle of his chest.  "See?  Heartbeat and everything, are you okay?"

She let out a soft sigh, her breathing calming down as she felt his regular heart beating underneath her fingers.  With a sniffle, she rested her forehead on his shoulder.

"Yeah," she lied softly, her hand still clutching the front of his shirt.  "I'm fine."

⊰ ⁜ ⊱

Look at me! Being good about updating!

And I may have a surprise for anyone interested either tonight or tomorrow, just depends on how quickly I can get cleaning done around my house because it needs it desperately!

Also, I am having the urge to post more of my stories so I have multiple works in progress up and for people to read and depending on my mood, just having them to write in. Should I do it???

Please vote and comment!

-Squid♡