3rd Person's POV

Classes continued on like normal, much to Karina's dismay. When they reached the top of the Astronomy Tower at eleven o'clock they found a perfect night for stargazing, cloudless and still. The grounds were bathed in silvery moonlight, and there was a slight chill in the air. Each student set up his or her telescope and, when Professor Marchbanks gave the word, proceeded to fill in the blank star chart he or she had been given.

Professors Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching as they entered the precise positions of the stars and planets they were observing. All was quiet except for the rustle of parchment, the occasional creak of a telescope as it was adjusted on its stand, and the scribbling of many quills. Half an hour passed, then an hour; the little squares of reflected gold light flickering on the ground below started to vanish as lights in the castle windows were extinguished.

As Karina completed the constellation Orion on her chart, the front doors of the castle opened directly below the parapet where she was standing, so that light spilled down the stone steps a little way across the lawn. Karina glances down as she makes a slight adjustment to the position of her telescope. She peeks over and sees Harry's telescope pointed the same direction. She clears her throat quietly making him glance over at her. The two make eye contact and knowingly look back through their lens.

They saw five or six elongated shadows moving over the brightly lit grass before the doors swung shut and the lawn became a sea of darkness once more.

Karina put her eye back to her telescope and refocused it, now examining Venus. She looked down at her chart to enter the planet there, but something distracted her.

Pausing with her quill suspended over the parchment, she squinted down into the shadowy grounds and saw half a dozen figures walking over the lawn. If they had not been moving, and the moonlight had not been gilding the tops of their heads, they would have been indistinguishable from the dark ground on which they stood. Even at this distance, Karina had a funny feeling that she recognized the walk of the squattest among them, who seemed to be leading the group. Her stomach churned in worry as she began to think what was happening.

She could not think why Umbridge would be taking a stroll outside past midnight, much less accompanied by five others.

She heard a distant knock that echoed through the deserted grounds, followed immediately by the muffled barking of a large dog. There were lights on in Hagrid's windows and the people she had observed crossing the lawn were now silhouetted against them. The door opened and she distinctly saw six tiny but sharply defined figures walk over the threshold. The door closed again and there was silence.

Karina felt very uneasy. The fact that so many figures had just walked right into Hagrid's place was weird. No matter how upset he made her, she didn't think it was right for him to be ambushed.

Harry realizing the same thing as Karina glances around to see whether Ron or Hermione had noticed what he had, but Professor Marchbanks came walking behind him at that moment, and not wanting to appear as though he was sneaking looks at anyone else's work, he hastily bent over his star chart and pretended to be adding notes to it while really peering over the top of the parapet toward Hagrid's cabin.

Figures were now moving across the cabin windows, temporarily blocking the light. He could feel Professor Marchbanks's eyes on the back of his neck and pressed his eye again to his telescope, staring up at the moon though he had marked its position an hour ago, but as Professor Marchbanks moved on he heard a roar from the distant cabin that echoed through the darkness right to the top of the Astronomy Tower.

Several of the people around Harry ducked out from behind their telescopes and peered instead in the direction of Hagrid's cabin.
Professor Tofty gave another dry little cough.

"Try and concentrate, now, boys and girls," he said softly.

Most people returned to their telescopes. Harry looked to his left. Hermione was gazing transfixed at Hagrid's.

"Ahem — twenty minutes to go," said Professor Tofty.

Hermione jumped and returned at once to her star chart; Harry looked down at his own and noticed that he had mislabelled Venus as Mars. He bent to correct it.

Karina bites her lip as she glances over at the Professor as he walks by her. He gives her a stare as if she was looking around to cheat, but quickly moves on as she raises an eyebrow and holds up her completed chart.

There was a loud bang from the grounds. Several people said "Ouch!" as they poked themselves in the face with the ends of their telescopes, hastening to see what was going on below.

Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light flooding out of the cabin they saw him quite clearly, a massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people, all of whom, judging by the tiny threads of red light they were casting in his direction, seemed to be attempting to Stun him.

"No!" cried Hermione.

"My dear!" said Professor Tofty in a scandalized voice. "This is an examination!"

But nobody was paying the slightest attention to their star charts anymore: Jets of red light were still flying beside Hagrid's cabin, yet somehow they seemed to be bouncing off him. He was still upright and still, as far as Harry could see, fighting.

Cries and yells echoed across the grounds; a man yelled, "Be reasonable, Hagrid!" and Hagrid roared, "Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!"

Harry could see the tiny outline of Fang, attempting to defend Hagrid, leaping at the wizards surrounding him until a Stunning Spell caught him and he fell to the ground.

Hagrid gave a howl of fury, lifted the culprit bodily from the ground, and threw him: The man flew what looked like ten feet and did not get up again. Hermione gasped, both hands over her mouth; Harry looked around at Ron and saw that he too was looking scared. None of them had ever seen Hagrid in a real temper before.

"Look!" squealed Parvati, who was leaning over the parapet and pointing to the foot of the castle where the front doors seemed to have opened again; more light had spilled out onto the dark lawn and a single long black shadow was now rippling across the lawn.

"Now, really!" said Professor Tofty anxiously. "Only sixteen minutes left, you know!"

But nobody paid him the slightest attention: They were watching the person now sprinting toward the battle beside Hagrid's cabin.

"How dare you!" the figure shouted as she ran. "How dare you!"

"It's McGonagall!" whispered Hermione.

"Leave him alone! Alone, I say!" said Professor McGonagall's voice through the darkness. "On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such —"

Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender all screamed. No fewer than four Stunners had shot from the figures around the cabin toward Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams collided with her. For a moment she looked luminous, illuminated by an eerie red glow, then was lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more.

Karina glares clenching her fists, "Are they insane? They could kill her..."

"Galloping gargoyles!" shouted Professor Tofty, who seemed to have forgotten the exam completely. "Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behavior!"

"COWARDS!" bellowed Hagrid, his voice carrying clearly to the top of the tower, and several lights flickered back on inside the castle. "RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT — AN' THAT —"

"Oh my —" gasped Hermione.

Hagrid took two massive swipes at his closest attackers; judging by their immediate collapse, they had been knocked cold.

Harry saw him double over and thought for a moment that he had finally been overcome by a spell, but on the contrary, next moment Hagrid was standing again with what appeared to be a sack on his back — then Harry realized that Fang's limp body was draped around his shoulders.

"Get him, get him!" screamed Umbridge, but her remaining helper seemed highly reluctant to go within reach of Hagrid's fists. Indeed, he was backing away so fast he tripped over one of his unconscious colleagues and fell over. Hagrid had turned and begun to run with Fang still hung around his neck; Umbridge sent one last Stunning Spell after him but it missed, and Hagrid, running full-pelt toward the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness.

There was a long minute's quivering silence, everybody gazing openmouthed into the grounds. Then Professor Tofty's voice said fee- bly, "Um . . . five minutes to go, everybody . . ."

"Ugh nobody cares about this stupid test." Karina grumbles as she crosses her arms over her chest, wishing the troll down below could feel the heat of her glare.

...

"Take it for me. . . . Lift it down, now. . . . I cannot touch it . . . but you can. . . ."

The black shape upon the floor shifted a little. Harry saw a long-fingered white hand clutching a wand rise on the end of his own arm . . . heard the high, cold voice say, "Crucio!"

The man on the floor let out a scream of pain, attempted to stand but fell back, writhing. Harry was laughing. He raised his wand, the curse lifted, and the figure groaned and became motionless.

"Lord Voldemort is waiting. . . ."

Very slowly, his arms trembling, the man on the ground raised his shoulders a few inches and lifted his head. His face was bloodstained and gaunt, twisted in pain yet rigid with defiance. . .

"You'll have to kill me," whispered Sirius.

"Undoubtedly I shall in the end," said the cold voice. "But you will fetch it for me first, Black. . . . You think you have felt pain thus far? Think again. . . . We have hours ahead of us and nobody to hear you scream. . . ."

Karina gasps as she comes back to. She looks around to make sure no one was paying attention to her before rubbing her temple.

Things were about to get worse.

Karina finds her way to Ron and Hermione who were standing around waiting after exams.

"Hey where is Potter?"

Hermione frowns confused, "I don't know. What's wrong?"

"Ron... Hermione!"

The three turn to see Harry running towards them. He pushes students out of the way, oblivious to their angry protests and shouts.

"Harry!" said Hermione at once, looking very frightened. "What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?"

"Where have you been?" demanded Ron.

"Come with me," Harry said quickly, "Come on, I've got to tell you something..."

He led them along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last found an empty classroom into which he dived, closing the door behind Karina, Ron, and Hermione the moment they were inside and leaning against it, facing them.

"Voldemort's got Sirius."

"Well then looks like my work here is done." Karina says leaning against a desk nearby.

"What?"

"How d'you — ?"

"Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam."

Karina wanted to say that she saw two visions. But she figured he would go haywire if she mentioned what exactly she had seen in the second.

"But — but where? How?" said Hermione, whose face was white.

"I dunno how," said Harry. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls, and they're at the end of row ninety-seven."

Karina glares slightly as she crosses her arms over her chest, "That's what you've been keeping from us!? You knew this whole time about what he wanted in the department of mysteries?"

Harry groans, "Not exactly."

"And I'm the traitor?" Karina scoffs.

"Look..." Harry sighs slightly defeated. He knew he was a hypocrite but they didn't have time right now to talk about his mistakes, "He's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there... He's torturing him... Says he'll end by killing him..."

Harry found his voice was shaking, "How're we going to get there?" he asked them.

There was a moment's silence.

Then Ron said, "G-get there?"

"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!" Harry said loudly.

"But — Harry . . ." said Ron weakly.

"What? What?" said Harry.

He could not understand why they were both gaping at him as though he was asking them something unreasonable. Harry peeks over at Karina who just stands smirking. She felt on top of the world from where she stood. Harry looks to her for help but she just shrugs.

"Come on Harold... you didn't really expect them to truly understand? Did you?"

"That's not it, Karina... Harry," said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, "er we just are questioning... h-how... how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?"

"How do I know?" bellowed Harry. "The question is how we're going to get in there!"

"But... Harry, think about this," said Hermione, taking a step toward him, "it's five o'clock in the afternoon... The Ministry of Magic must be full of workers... How would Voldemort and Sirius have got in without being seen? Harry... they're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world... You think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?"

"I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something!" Harry shouted. "Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been —"

"You've never been there, Harry," said Hermione quietly. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all."

"They're not normal dreams!" Harry shouted in her face, standing up and taking a step closer to her in turn. He wanted to shake her and make her believe.

"This sounds very familiar." Karina says messing with her nails.

Harry groans, "How d'you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?"

"He's got a point," said Ron quietly, looking at Hermione.

"But this is just — just so unlikely!" said Hermione desperately. "Harry, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?"

"Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air," said Ron, sounding worried. "He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages —"

"But why," Hermione persisted, "why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?"

"I dunno, there could be loads of reasons!" Harry yelled at her. "Maybe Sirius is just someone Voldemort doesn't care about seeing hurt —"

"You know what, I've just thought of something," said Ron in a hushed voice. "Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he?"

Karina smiles standing up straight, "Finally! Someone with brains. It's very possible that his brother told him the secret of how to get the weapon. Thus being important to the Dark Lord. Now I'm not saying that happened but it is possible."

"Yeah — and that's why Dumbledore's been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!" said Harry.

"Look, I'm sorry," cried Hermione, "but none of you are making sense, and we've got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there —"

"Hermione, Harry's seen them!" said Ron, rounding on her. He glances over at Karina and frowns, "That's why you were looking for him earlier? You saw it too?"

Karina nods.

"Okay," she said, looking frightened yet determined, "I've just got to say this..."

"What?"

"You... This isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do... sort of... I mean — don't you think you've got a bit of a — a — saving-people- thing?" she said.

He glared at her. "And what's that supposed to mean, a 'saving- people-thing'?"

"Well... you..." She looked more apprehensive than ever.

"Oh for the love of all that is holy, spit it out Granger!"

"I mean last year, for instance... in the lake during the Tournament you shouldn't have... I mean, you didn't need to save that little Delacour girl. You got a bit...carried away..."

A wave of hot, prickly anger swept Harry's body — how could she remind him of that blunder now?

"Oop... tea..."

"... I mean, it was really great of you and everything," said Hermione quickly, looking positively petrified at the look on Harry's face. "Everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do —"

"That's funny," said Harry in a trembling voice, "because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero. Is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?"

"No, no, no!" said Hermione, looking aghast. "That's not what I mean at all!"

"Well, spit out what you've got to say, because we're wasting time here!" Harry shouted.

"I'm trying to say — Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Karina down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you're the — the sort of person who'd go to Sirius's aid! What if he's just trying to get you into the Department of Myst — ?"

"Hermione, it doesn't matter if he's done it to get me there or not — they've taken McGonagall to St. Mungo's, there isn't anyone left from the Order at Hogwarts who we can tell."

"Um rude... I'm standing right here." Karina glares, "But no offense Harry I kind of agree with Granger this once. It doesn't seem safe. It's definitely a trap."

"W-what? What is going on right now? Do you all not understand, if we don't go Sirius is dead!"

"But Harry — what if your dream was — was just that, a dream?"

Harry let out a roar of frustration. Hermione actually stepped back from him, looking alarmed.

"You don't get it!" Harry shouted at her. "I'm not having nightmares, I'm not just dreaming! What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted me prevented from seeing these things? Because they're REAL, Hermione — Sirius is trapped — I've seen him — Voldemort's got him, and no one else knows, and that means we're the only ones who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, fine, but I'm going, understand? And if I remember rightly, you didn't have a problem with my saving-people-thing when it was you I was saving from the dementors," He turns to Ron, "Or you—"

"I never said I had a problem!" said Ron heatedly.

"But Harry, you've just said it," said Hermione fiercely. "Dumbledore wanted you to learn to shut these things out of your mind, if you'd done Occlumency properly you'd never have seen this."

"Two points to Granger. I see visions Harry, you see what HE wants you to see because you're mind isn't closed."

"IF YOU TWO THINK I'M JUST GOING TO ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN —"

"Sirius told you there was nothing more important than you learning to close your mind!" Hermione retorts not caring how upset Harry was becoming.

"WELL, I EXPECT HE'D SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT IF HE KNEW WHAT I'D JUST —"

The classroom door opened. Harry, Ron, and Hermione whipped around. Ginny walked in, looking curious, followed by Luna, who as usual looked as though she had drifted in accidentally.

"Hi," said Ginny uncertainly. "We recognized Harry's voice — what are you yelling about?"

"Never you mind," said Harry roughly.

Ginny raised her eyebrows, "There's no need to take that tone with me," she said coolly. "I was only wondering whether I could help."

"Oh of course you were." Karina moves her hand in a twisting way towards her mouth as Luna slaps her arm, "Ouch! What?"

"Well, you can't," said Harry shortly.

"You're being rather rude, you know," said Luna serenely.

Harry swore and turned away. The very last thing he wanted now was a conversation with Luna Lovegood.

"Wait," said Hermione suddenly. "Wait . . . Harry, they can help."

Harry and Ron looked at her.

"Listen," she said urgently, "Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left headquarters —"

"I've told you, I saw —"

"Harry, I'm begging you, please!" said Hermione desperately. "Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London — if we find out he's not there then I swear I won't try and stop you, I'll come, I'll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him —"

"Sirius is being tortured NOW!" shouted Harry. "We haven't got time to waste —"

"But if this is a trick of V-Voldemort's."

Karina whistles making both of the two Gryffindorks halt in their arguement. She takes a step towards Harry as Luna tries to pull her back.

"Enough. Now you listen to me and you listen to me well, Potter. You have a whole group of friends behind you. A whole squad who will do anything for you. They care and they will help in any means necessary. But you have to be sure that this is real. You're putting their lives in danger as well don't forget that. Now what we are going to do is check. And if you don't like that, I don't give a flying fuck. You're not going to have them go in blindsided for a hitch."

"Fine... But how?" Harry demanded. "How're we going to check?"

"We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," said Hermione, who looked positively terrified at the thought. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."

Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny said immediately, "Yeah, we'll do it," and Luna said, "When you say 'Sirius,' are you talking about Stubby Boardman?"

Nobody answered her.

"Okay," Harry said aggressively to Hermione, "Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now —"

"The Department of Mysteries?" said Luna, looking mildly surprised. "But how are you going to get there?"

Again, Harry ignored her.

"That's what I'm saying loony."

"Right," said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks. "Right well... One of us has to go and find Umbridge and — and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her — I don't know — that Peeves is up to something awful as usual..."

"I'll do it," said Ron at once. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way..."

It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that Hermione made no objection to the smashing up of the Transfiguration department. "Okay," she said, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace.

"Now, we need to keep students away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin's bound to go and tip her off..."

"Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," said Ginny promptly, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garroting Gas."

Hermione looked surprised at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie.

Ginny shrugged and said, "Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."

Karina sighs with a slight shrug, "I guess I shall distract my friends..." Off the look they all give her, she rolls her eyes and continues, "I'm not doing this for you. If he is taken... then I'm doing this for Sirius."

"Okay," said Hermione, "well then, Harry, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak, and we'll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius —"

"He's not there, Hermione!"

Karina rolls her eyes. Harry needed to relax. It was a high possibility that Sirius was taken. But he couldn't go in guns blazing. These were witches and wizards that did deadly spells for centuries. Harry was nothing but a child. He would be killed instantly if if wasn't for his circle of friends.

"I mean, you can — can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don't think you should be in there alone, Lee's already proved the window's a weak spot, sending those nifflers through it."

Even through his anger and impatience Harry recognized Hermione's offer to accompany him into Umbridge's office as a sign of solidarity and loyalty.

"I . . . okay, thanks," he muttered.

"Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," said Hermione, looking relieved that Harry seemed to have accepted the plan, "not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around."

"Five minutes'll be enough," said Harry.

Karina quickly makes her way down the hall and finds Draco standing alongside Pansy and Blaise. She shakes her shoulders trying to rid herself of any nerves, before walking up to the group.

She clears her throat not fully looking at Draco as he turns to stare at her in confusion. She hadn't talked to him in a week, so he wondered why now.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?"

Draco nods.

"Alone..."

Pansy and Blaise nod quickly following one another down the hall that Karina had just came from. As she opens her mouth to tell them the lie about the gas, Draco holds her hand distracting her instantly.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Um... I um-"

Draco chuckles darkly shaking his head while taking steps closer to her. She backs away confused and slightly turned on as he raises his arm to rest on the wall above her head.

"Did you really think Umbridge wouldn't figure it out?"

"Wait w-what?"

"Potter sneaking into her office."

Karina groans, "Shit." As she moves to go warn the boy, Draco's hand lightly pushes her waist making her freeze against the wall.

"Why are you helping him?"

Karina stares at the boys Grey orbs and shakes her head, "You already know the answer to that, Dray... why are you helping her? Hmm? Answer me that. You know how much I hate her. How much pain she's caused me..."

Draco sighs looking into her eyes with a pleading gaze hoping she would listen and not want to argue. That would only make things worse.

"The truth? Or a lie?"

Karina pouts then bites her lip looking off to the side, "A lie..."

"Because I think she's right."

Karina's head snaps back as she stares at Draco in awe, "The truth..."

Draco takes a deep breath as his free hand grazes her face, "For you... I know what she did. The curse she used on you... I made a deal with her so that you would never feel that pain again."

Karina gazes at him with wide eyes, "Y-you knew?"

"I was trying to protect you."

A tear slides down her cheek as she feels her heart release all the worry and pain she had been feeling when it came to thinking Draco and her friends betrayed her.

"I thought I lost you to her."

Draco shakes his head brining his head down to press his lips to Karina's forehead, "Never."

Karina wraps her arms around his waist and hugs him as his chin rests on her head, "I didn't know what to do. Who to tell..."

"I know... it's okay."

Karina thinks back to when she asked Aubrey about the reason why Draco and her friends joined the trolls squad. She frowns realizing he wasn't very truthful.

A quick vision flashes through her mind as she gasps inwardly. She feels herself tremble slightly as Draco holds her tight.

"Hey... what's wrong? You're shaking."

Karina sighs, "I've got to go do something. Something stupid."

Draco frowns, "You really don't. You can stay here. Be smart. Safe."

"Where's the fun in that?"

Draco shakes his head, "Not the joking time, Karina. What did you see?"

"How do yo-"

"Karina I know you like the back of my hand. The sudden emotion/ mood change. The trembling. Your hands shake after every time you get a vision. It's like a tremor kind of."

Karina lets out a huff then nods, "We've got to stop him. To save Sirius."

"You know it's a trap."

"Maybe something can change."

...

Karina strides down into her room and goes through her bag of books. She throws around notebooks and looks for what she believes was the answer to most of her questions. It seemed as if the Dark Lord was always a couple steps ahead of them. And Harry's mind being connected with his was not that big of a problem.

Groaning in annoyance Karina throws her bag to the ground and looks around. Where could it be?

Rubbing her temple, she takes in a shaky breath and stands up exiting the room. As she quickly yet slyly moves along through the boys corridor, Karina can't help but think something was definitely not right.

"Alohomora..."

The lock on the door clicks making Karina gently place her hand on the door knob. The dark quiet room made her feel uneasy but she had just seem all the owners of the room a couple minutes ago.

"Lumos..."

Karina's grip on her wand tightens as she walks past Blaise and Draco's empty bed. She stands beside Aubrey's and feels around for the book that had recently been in her possession. Peeking behind her she looks at the door making sure it was still closed. Nodding to herself she continues to search the bed and finds herself feeling a hard book underneath his pillow.

Her heart beats out her chest as she brings the book up to her view. This book she had in her room, on her nightstand literally an hour ago. She had been in the fence about opening it, but she was nosy and bored. Now she was scared and worried.

Turning the first page, Karina sees a name signed on the cover page.

Aubrey Lestrange.

Her heart falls into her stomach. She felt like throwing up.

Flipping pages she reads every conversation and wants to cry and find the boy to kill him at the same time.

'Karina is part of the Order of Phoenix.'

'Dear boy, find a way to get anything on her and Harry Potter.

'I'm sure she has been teaching the gang of little heroes a few spells. Nothing that will stop you.'

'How cute. Let them live in their delusional little world. Soon they will all die.'

'She's helping to teach him how to close his mind.'

'The more she helps him. The more vulnerable she becomes.'

'She cares about a couple people. It would probably be good to hit her where it hurts.'

'She's a big influence on them. Take her away, they have nothing.'

Karina quickly shuts the book and throws it on the bed. As she goes to leave the room, she feels herself smell a scent that made her vision start to blur. She shakes her head and feels around for the dressers to help her get out of the room. From what she could she, the room starts to fill with gas. Cursing to herself, she stumbles over to the door. As she opens it in relief, she jumps seeing a figure lean on the doorway on the other side.

"Hey."

Before she can do anything else, her vision goes black.

...

"We need to get back up to the castle," said Hermione faintly.

"By the time we've done that, Sirius'll probably be dead!" said Harry, kicking a nearby tree in temper; there was a high-pitched chattering overhead and he looked up to see an angry bowtruckle flexing its long twiglike fingers at him.

"Well, we can't do anything without wands," said Hermione hopelessly, dragging herself up again. "Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?"

"Yeah, we were just wondering that," said a familiar voice from behind her.

Harry and Hermione moved instinctively together, peering through the trees, as Ron came into sight, with Ginny, Neville, and Luna hur- rying along behind him. All of them looked a little the worse for wear — there were several long scratches running the length of Ginny's cheek, a large purple lump was swelling above Neville's right eye, Ron's lip was bleeding worse than ever — but all were looking rather pleased with themselves.

"So," said Ron, pushing aside a low-hanging branch and holding out Harry's wand, "had any ideas?"

"How did you get away?" asked Harry in amazement, taking his wand from Ron.

"Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx," said Ron airily, now handing back Hermione's wand too. "But Ginny was best, she got Malfoy — Bat- Bogey Hex — it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. Anyway, we saw you heading into the forest out of the window and followed. What've you done with Umbridge?"

"She got carried away," said Harry. "By a herd of centaurs."

"And they left you behind?" asked Ginny, looking astonished. "No, they got chased off by Grawp," said Harry.

"Who's Grawp?" Luna asked interestedly.

"Hagrid's little brother," said Ron promptly. "Anyway, never mind that now. Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know- Who got Sirius or — ?"

"Yes," said Harry, as his scar gave another painful prickle, "and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him."

They all fell silent, looking rather scared. The problem facing them seemed insurmountable.

"Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" said Luna in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice Harry had ever heard her use.

"Okay," said Harry irritably, rounding on her, "first of all, 'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so —"

"I've got a broom!" said Ginny.

"Yeah, but you're not coming," said Ron angrily.

"Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!" said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking.

"You're too —" Harry began.

"I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know- Who over the Sorcerer's Stone," she said fiercely, "and it's because of me Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogeys attacking him —"

"Yeah, but —"

"We were all in the D.A. together," said Neville quietly. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real — or was that all just a game or something?"

"No — of course it wasn't —" said Harry impatiently.

"Then we should come too," said Neville simply. "We want to help."

"That's right," said Luna, smiling happily.

...

Karina groans as she sits up slowly. She feels herself tether to the side as her arms are tied behind her. Pulling at the rope that was attached to her hands, Karina curses realizing she had fallen for the good boy act that Aubrey had been playing.

"Wakey wakey child."

Karina looks up glaring at the slightly familiar voice. She had heard it once when she was a baby but the mere fact that it scared her to no end was why she remembered it.

"What do you want with me?"

Bellatrix Lestrange smiles with rotten teeth as she skips around Karina who sat on the ground glaring up at her.

"Not I darling. But the master! You had to know he would find you eventually. And all it took was my boy. The master will be so proud of him. Unlike yours Malfoy."

Lucius Malfoy stands nearby rolling his eyes, "I believed the two to no long be friends."

Bella gasps, "Draco lied to you. Oh no that won't do. Not to worry, he will soon join us-" Bellatrix halts in place and silences her speech as she hears firm footsteps making its way closer to them.

Karina turns her head and her heart drops as she stares at the very nightmare she had been running away from.

"Well well well if it isn't my favorite niece... well my only niece. I have finally found you thanks to apparently the only capable follower I can count on." Voldemort says as he lightly glares at Malfoy who bows his head down to him.

"Apologies master."

Voldemort hisses then kneels down to Karina who tries not to show how hard her whole body was trembling.

"What a beauty you are. You look just like your mother. From what I have seen, you're as stubborn as her too... we will have to fix that."

What did we think of this long chapter?!

Voldemort finally has Karina in his hands. What do you think will happen?

Future predictions?

Any special requests...