3rd Person's POV

"First night I was here he came wandering in at three in the morning. Trust me, you don't want to wake up and find him prowling around your room. Anyway..." Ron says as he turns off the lights and gets into his bed.

He settles down under the covers, then turns to look at Harry in the darkness. Harry could see his outline by the moonlight filtering in through the grimy window.

"What d'you reckon?"

Harry didn't need to ask what Ron meant.

"Well, they didn't tell us much we couldn't have guessed, did they?" he said, thinking of all that had been said downstairs. "I mean, all they've really said is that the Order's trying to stop people joining Vol—"

There was a sharp intake of breath from Ron.

"— demort," said Harry firmly. "When are you going to start using his name? Sirius and Lupin do."

Ron ignored this last comment. "Yeah, you're right. We already knew nearly everything they told us, from using the Extendable Ears. The only new bit was—"

Crack.

"OUCH!"

"Keep your voice down, Ron, or Mum'll be back up here."

"You three just Apparated on my knees!"

"Yeah, well, it's harder in the dark—"

Harry saw the blurred outlines of Karina, Fred, and George leaping down from Ron's bed. There was a groan of bedsprings and Harry's mattress descended a few inches as George sat down near his feet.

"So, got there yet?" said George eagerly.

"The weapon Sirius mentioned?" said Harry.

"Let slip, more like," said Fred with relish, now sitting next to Ron.

"We didn't hear about that on the old Extendables, did we?"

"What d'you reckon it is?" said Harry.

"Could be anything," said Karina states while looking at her nails bored.

"But there can't be anything worse than the Avada Kedavra curse, can there?" Ron asks slightly fearful.

Karina chuckles humorlessly as her mind goes off to her recent visions of herself withering in pain, "What's worse than death?"

"Maybe it's something that can kill loads of people at once," suggested George.

"Maybe it's some particularly painful way of killing people," said Ron fearfully.

"He's got the Cruciatus Curse for causing pain," said Harry. "He doesn't need anything more efficient than that."

There was a pause and Harry knew that the others, like him, were wondering what horrors this weapon could perpetrate.

George made to shut the door to drown the noise, but before he could do so, a house-elf edged into the room.

Except for the filthy rag tied like a loincloth around its middle, it was completely naked. It looked very old. Its skin seemed to be several times too big for it and though it was bald like all house-elves, there was a quantity of white hair growing out of its large, batlike ears. Its eyes were a bloodshot and watery gray, and its fleshy nose was large and rather snoutlike.

The elf took absolutely no notice of Harry and the rest. Acting as though it could not see them, it shuffled hunchbacked, slowly and doggedly, toward the far end of the room, muttering under its breath all the while in a hoarse, deep voice like a bullfrog's.

"... Smells like a drain and a criminal to boot, but she's no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my Mistress's house, oh my poor Mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they've let in her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh the shame of it, Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do..."

"Hello, Kreacher," said Fred very loudly, closing the door with a snap.

The house-elf froze in his tracks, stopped muttering, and then gave a very pronounced and very unconvincing start of surprise.

"Kreacher did not see Young Master," he said, turning around and bowing to Fred. Still facing the carpet, he added, perfectly audibly, "Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is."

"Kreacher!" Karina says glaring at him.

Fred holds up his hand to Karina saying it was okay.

"Sorry?" George replies with a smile, "Didn't catch that last bit."

"Kreacher said nothing," said the elf, with a second bow to George, adding in a clear undertone, "and there's its twin, unnatural little beasts they are."

Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not. The elf straightened up, eyeing them all very malevolently, and apparently convinced that they could not hear him as he continued to mutter.

"... and there's the Mudblood, standing there bold as brass, oh if my Mistress knew, oh how she'd cry, and there's a new boy, Kreacher doesn't know his name, what is he doing here, Kreacher doesn't know..."

"This is Harry, Kreacher," said Hermione tentatively. "Harry Potter."

Kreacher's pale eyes widened and he muttered faster and more furiously than ever.

"The Mudblood is talking to Kreacher as though she is my friend, if Kreacher's Mistress saw him in such company, oh what would she say—"

"Don't call her a Mudblood!" said Ron and Ginny together, very angrily.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione whispered, "he's not in his right mind, he doesn't know what he's—"

"Don't kid yourself, Hermione, he knows exactly what he's saying," said Fred, eyeing Kreacher with great dislike.

Karina sighs, "Yes but he was in a house full of Purebloods who of course wanted nothing to do with traitors or muggles. He doesn't know what is right. What he thinks is right is what he was taught."

Karina knew none of them would ever understand. They were living as hypocrites at the moment and none of them could even see it. How they treated Slytherins was the same way Purebloods treated muggles. But if anyone were to try and tell them of their ways, they wouldn't want to hear a peep.

Kreacher was like herself. Only was taught one way of living and only learned that Muggles were known as Mudbloods and anyone who helped them or associated with them were traitors. Anyone who defied the dark lord was a traitor. She was a traitor at the moment. She hoped that they could understand how much was on the line for everyone.

Kreacher was still muttering, his eyes on Harry, "Is it true? Is it Harry Potter? Kreacher can see the scar, it must be true, that's that boy who stopped the Dark Lord, Kreacher wonders how he did it—"

"Don't we all, Kreacher?" said Fred.

"What do you want anyway?" George asked.

Kreacher's huge eyes darted onto George, "Kreacher is cleaning," he said evasively.

"A likely story," said a voice behind Harry.

Sirius had come back; he was glowering at the elf from the doorway. The noise in the hall had abated; perhaps Mrs. Weasley and Mundungus had moved their argument down into the kitchen. At the sight of Sirius, Kreacher flung himself into a ridiculously low bow that flattened his snoutlike nose on the floor.

"Stand up straight," said Sirius impatiently. "Now, what are you up to?"

"Kreacher is cleaning," the elf repeated. "Kreacher lives to serve the noble house of Black—"

"— and it's getting blacker every day, it's filthy," said Sirius.

"Master always liked his little joke," said Kreacher, bowing again, and continuing in an undertone, "Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart—"

"My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher," Sirius snapped. "She kept herself alive out of pure spite."

Kreacher bowed again and said, "Whatever Master says," then muttered furiously, "Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother's boots, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was—"

"I asked you what you were up to," said Sirius coldly. "Every time you show up pretending to be cleaning, you sneak something off to your room so we can't throw it out."

"Kreacher would never move anything from its proper place in Master's house," said the elf, then muttered very fast, "Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if the tapestry was thrown out, seven centuries it's been in the family, Kreacher must save it, Kreacher will not let Master and the blood traitors and the brats destroy it—"

"I thought it might be that," said Sirius, casting a disdainful look at the opposite wall. "She'll have put another Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it, I don't doubt, but if I can get rid of it I certainly will. Now go away, Kreacher."

It seemed that Kreacher did not dare disobey a direct order; nevertheless, the look he gave Sirius as he shuffled out past him was redolent of deepest loathing and he muttered all the way out of the room.

"— comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he's back, they say he's a murderer too—"

"Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!" said Sirius irritably, and he slammed the door shut on the elf.

"Sirius, he's not right in the head..." Karina says with her arms crossed over her chest.

Hermione replies pleadingly, "I don't think he realizes we can hear him."

"He's been alone too long," said Sirius, "taking mad orders from my mother's portrait and talking to himself, but he was always a foul little —"

"If you just set him free," said Hermione hopefully, "maybe—"

"We can't set him free, he knows too much about the Order," said Sirius curtly. "And anyway, the shock would kill him. You suggest to him that he leaves this house, see how he takes it."

Sirius walked across the room, where the tapestry Kreacher had been trying to protect hung the length of the wall. Harry and the others followed.

The tapestry looked immensely old; it was faded and looked as though doxies had gnawed it in places; nevertheless, the golden thread with which it was embroidered still glinted brightly enough to show them a sprawling family tree dating back (as far as Harry could tell) to the Middle Ages. Large words at the very top of the tapestry read: The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black "Toujours Pur"

"You're not on here!" said Harry, after scanning the bottom of the tree.

"I used to be there," said Sirius, pointing at a small, round, charred hole in the tapestry, rather like a cigarette burn. "My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home— Kreacher's quite fond of muttering the story under his breath."

"You ran away from home?"

"When I was about sixteen," said Sirius. "I'd had enough."

"Where did you go?" asked Harry, staring at him.

"Your dad's place," said Sirius. "Your grandparents were really good about it; they sort of adopted me as a second son. Yeah, I camped out at your dad's during the school holidays, and then when I was seventeen I got a place of my own, my Uncle Alphard had left me a decent bit of gold— he's been wiped off here too, that's probably why. Anyway, after that I looked after myself. I was always welcome at Mr. and Mrs. Potter's for Sunday lunch, though."

"But... why did you... ?"

"Leave?" Sirius smiled bitterly and ran a hand through his long, un- kempt hair. "Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pureblood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you prac- tically royal... my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them... that's him."

Sirius jabbed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the name regulus black. A date of death (some fifteen years previously) followed the date of birth.

"He was younger than me," said Sirius, "and a much better son, as I was constantly reminded."

"But he died," said Harry.

"Yeah," said Sirius. "Stupid idiot... he joined the Death Eaters."

Sirius sees Karina flinch out the corner of his eye. He curses to himself forgetting that her parents had done the same and died because of it.

"You're kidding!"

"Come on, Harry, haven't you seen enough of this house to tell what kind of wizards my family were?" said Sirius testily.

"Were— were your parents Death Eaters as well?"

"No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the Wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having purebloods in charge. They weren't alone either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colors, who thought he had the right idea about things... They got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first."

"Was he killed by an Auror?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Oh no," said Sirius. "No, he was murdered by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort's orders, more likely-"

Sirius watches Karina clench her fists tight as her eyes slightly darken. She gets up and storms out the room slamming the door behind her. George and Fred stand up to follow her but Sirius shakes his head.

He knew she needed a moment to herself.

"I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out. Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death."

"Lunch," said Mrs. Weasley's voice.

She was holding her wand high in front of her, balancing a huge tray loaded with sandwiches and cake on its tip. She was very red in the face and still looked angry. The others moved over to her, eager for some food, but Harry remained with Sirius, who had bent closer to the tapestry.

"I haven't looked at this for years. There's Phineas Nigellus... my great-great-grandfather, see? Least popular headmaster Hogwarts ever had... and Araminta Meliflua... cousin of my mother's... tried to force through a Ministry Bill to make Muggle-hunting legal... and dear Aunt Elladora... she started the family tradition of beheading house-elves when they got too old to carry tea trays... of course, anytime the family produced someone halfway decent they were dis- owned. I see Tonks isn't on here. Maybe that's why Kreacher won't take orders from her— he's supposed to do whatever anyone in the family asks him..."

"You and Tonks are related?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Oh yeah, her mother, Andromeda, was my favorite cousin," said Sirius, examining the tapestry carefully. "No, Andromeda's not on here either, look—"

He pointed to another small round burn mark between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa.

"Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so—"

Sirius mimed blasting the tapestry with a wand and laughed sourly. Harry, however, did not laugh; he was too busy staring at the names to the right of Andromeda's burn mark. A double line of gold embroidery linked Narcissa Black with Lucius Malfoy, and a single vertical gold line from their names led to the name Draco.

"You're related to the Malfoys!"

"The pure-blood families are all interrelated," said Sirius. "If you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry purebloods your choice is very limited, there are hardly any of us left. Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur's something like my second cousin once removed. But there's no point looking for them on here— if ever a family was a bunch of blood traitors it's the Weasleys."

But Harry was now looking at the name to the left of Andromeda's burn: Bellatrix Black, which was connected by a double line to Rodol- phus Lestrange.

"Lestrange..." Harry said aloud.

The name had stirred something in his memory; he knew it from somewhere, but for a moment he couldn't think where, though it gave him an odd, creeping sensation in the pit of his stomach.

"They're in Azkaban," said Sirius shortly.

Harry looked at him curiously.

"Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch, Junior," said Sirius in the same brusque voice. "Rodolphus's brother, Rabastan, was with them too."

And Harry remembered: He had seen Bellatrix Lestrange inside Dumbledore's Pensieve, the strange device in which thoughts and memories could be stored: a tall dark woman with heavy-lidded eyes, who had stood at her trial and proclaimed her continuing allegiance to Lord Voldemort, her pride that she had tried to find him after his downfall and her conviction that she would one day be rewarded for her loyalty.

"You never said she was your—"

"Does it matter if she's my cousin?" snapped Sirius. "As far as I'm concerned, they're not my family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming in to Azkaban. D'you think I'm proud of having relatives like her?"

"Sorry," said Harry quickly, "I didn't mean— I was just surprised, that's all—"

"It doesn't matter, don't apologize," Sirius mumbled at once. He turned away from the tapestry, his hands deep in his pockets.

"I don't like being back here," he said, staring across the drawing room. "I never thought I'd be stuck in this house again."

Harry watches Sirius walk out the room but turns back to the tapestry. His eyes look over the faces once more before he sees a family that he hadn't seen the first time. His finger drags over the last name, Grey.

Karina's grandmother Raine was beside her grandfather who she never talked about. He was connected to some other Pureblood family but not the most well known. Karina's father, Avalon, was connected to her mother, Salli. Then there she was at the top of the family tree.

Harry knew he had to talk to her. He had to find out answers for what he had heard from Voldemort. He had to find out how Karina was connected to Voldemort and make sure that she would stay away from the Malfoy's. He didn't want Karina to be a death eater and he didn't trust Draco. This year he would make sure that his friend was safe.

...

Karina's POV

Sitting up in bed I can't help but play with the silver bracelet on my wrist while I pet my cat. I've never taken it off and would be absolute deviated if I were to lose it. It's very dear to me and always brings my thoughts back to Draco.

Draco Malfoy. The absolute love of my life. My rock. My best friend.

Looking down tears start to form as my eyes glance over the small charms hanging from the jewelry; the snake charm to show my house, Slytherin, a green d for Draco, also a k for Karina, a pink heart with arrow, and now the newest charm that I have yet to open.

Marvel jumps up in fright as I leap off the bed and walk over to the desk in my room. While apologizing to marvel, I pick up a cream colored envelope and stare at it. The wax seal closing the envelope was dark green as well as the tie around it. I can't help but smile as I take the envelope and leap back onto my bed with a giggle. Marvel meows and jumps off my bed making me roll my eyes. My fingers lightly graze across the name on the front of the envelope.

Draco Malfoy did this to me. He makes me soft and giggly. He makes me sweet... he makes me weak.

Criss crossing my legs I sit up against the headboard and carefully rip open the envelope. Out falls a small velvet bag about the size of my palm. Yanking open the bag, I reach my fingers in and pull out a golden charm that was shaped like a key. The engravings on the key had a heart right in the middle.

I quickly attach the charm to my bracelet not wanting to misplace the new piece of jewelry, then I pick up the letter that was inside the envelope as well.

'Dear Karina,

I hope you like the new charm. I figured you needed more to add to your collection. I know you're probably wondering what this charm represents and honestly I'm glad I am only able to write to you... there is no way I would be able to tell you this face to face. Sometimes I'm too much of a coward but when it comes to you Karina you make me want to be strong. You make me want to conquer all my fears. You Karina Grey also make me weak. Over the summer not even getting to be near you and see your face has been a struggle since we have grown slightly closer. I know we both messed up and we've been through a lot... I just want you to know that I'm always here. I'll always love you. And you'll always have the key to my heart. Always.

Love Draco '

A tear drops onto the letter as I let out a laugh of joy. During this second month of summer I've been trying to better myself and not harm myself any longer. Fred and George have helped out a lot with that. But the one person who had pulled me out of my dark pit has been Draco. Even though we can't see each other, he has written me in the journal every single day.

Speaking of the journal.

The wide grin on my face makes it feel as if my cheeks are about to fall off but I don't care. Feeling under my pillow, I grab my journal and rip it open. Flipping past tens and tens of full pages I stop at a blank one and wait a second before seeing Draco's handwriting appear.

Morning love

Insert squeal as I kick my legs giggling while holding the journal to my chest. Taking in a deep breath I calm down and begin to write.

Morning Dray

Did you receive my letter?

Of course. And I received the charm. Thank you so much. I love it.

I'm glad Karina. It means a lot to me that you love it.

It means a lot to me that you took the time to not only find it but to share your feelings about what it means to you and what it represents.

I sit and wait for a moment not seeing him reply. Biting my lip I wonder if maybe I scared him away. He really has a hard time talking about his feelings but I believe he's gotten better every year.

Karina you mean everything to me. Everything is going to change this year. The Dark Lord has risen of course and is trying to gain back his power. I know many things will be a struggle this year but through it all I only care about one thing. And that's keeping you safe. If I were to lose you... I would lose myself. Karina Grey I love you. And this year may be hard but my only worry is that you stay hidden from the dark lord and that you better yourself mentally. As I've said before we both need to grow and fully better ourselves for one another. I think this time apart has been eye opening... as much as I would love for you to be in my arms, the timing is still off. In order to keep you safe we still need to be separate...

You mean at Hogwarts. We need to distance ourselves?

Sadly yes. But I will be there for you whenever you need me to. I love you more than anything in the world Karina Grey. I just want you to remember that.

Sighing sadly I hold my face in my hands. Even when things get better there's always something that makes it worse.

Closing the journal I fall face first onto the bed and try to think back to a time when Draco and I were together in love. As much as I want to run into his arms now I know I cannot. It's a horrible situation but I know that in the future we will be together.

...

Draco's POV

Sighing I close my journal and hold my face in between my hands. I had been sitting waiting for some kind, any kind of reply from Karina. But I knew that she was hurt and that those weren't the words she wanted to see.

I love that curly haired stubborn outgoing Slytherin more than life itself, but with the dark lord around 24/7 it wouldn't be smart to be around Karina. And that's all I care about her safety.

My father being loyal to the dark lord is now doing everything in his nature to prove that he can be trusted. And because of that, it also means I must do everything I can to show my loyalty.

Pulling out a picture from the pages within the journal I can't help but smile looking at an old photograph of me and Karina.

I'll do everything I can to keep her out of danger, the only thing I can hope is that she does the same.