Chapter 1

With a sigh of relief Skye threw the last hoodie into her bag and levitated it down the hallway. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had already arrived and were standing grinning in her front room.

"Are you ready yet Skye?" Ron demanded and she rolled her eyes at him before nodding and joining them.

"I can't believe we're going to America!' Ginny squealed, making Ron sigh dramatically. He was clearly excited though and he couldn't help but laugh as his friends continued to grin like maniacs. After the battle of Hogwarts, which had taken place a few months ago, they had decided to go on holiday to get away from it all, especially as everyone was still reeling from the many deaths that were painfully raw in the mind. Skye shook herself mentally; this was going to be an awesome holiday, just the break they all needed to get back on track with their lives.

They grabbed each other's' hands, yelled goodbye to England and apparated. Skye felt the horrible sensation of being squeezed through a rubber tube and gasped as the air was sucked from her lungs. She tumbled forwards and landed in soft warm grass. She had never enjoyed apparating, either solo or side-long, and so she took a moment to find her bearings. The first thing she noticed about her new surroundings was the heat; it must have been at least 35 degrees Celsius. She pulled off her jacket which was fast becoming sweltering in the heat and glanced around. Ron was helping Hermione to her feet and Harry and Ginny were already scouting the area for the house in which they were intending to stay.

"Oi, over here," Harry gestured to a building in the distance.

"Yup I see it," Skye replied and slung her jacket over her shoulder. Together the small group made their way towards the house, able to take in more detail as they got closer.

The house appeared to be some sort of barn conversion, with a spacious, open ground floor that contained a kitchen-come-dining-room as well as a sitting room and an upper level with three bedrooms and a small bathroom. The rooms were light and airy, the sun filtering in through large windows and the high ceiling was supported with light oak beams, a perfect combination of old and new. The walls were white, making the rooms seem larger than they were. The group spread out to explore the building and in no time at all Harry and Ginny had started an ultimate pillow fight (which involved cushions zooming through the air at high speed), Hermione was fretting about breaking things, to Ron's incredulity ('Are you a witch, or not?') and Skye was subtly trying to scope out the bedroom with the best view. Finally they congregated in the kitchen area to discuss rooms. The two couples had rooms to themselves and Skye managed to bag the room looking out onto a small stream that ran through the field, which backed onto a small wood.

"The last one to finish unpacking has to make dinner!" Ron yelled from the room he was sharing with Hermione and the house was suddenly filled with thuds as clothes were thrown into draws and wardrobes were slammed shut. Hermione, who had attempted to pack her own personal library, became flustered as she tried to charm them onto the small set of shelves in the corner of her room. Unfortunately, Ron was rushing past to put some clothes away and received a face full of Hogwarts; a History.

"Oh my gosh Ronald, I'm so sorry!" Hermione squealed as Ron went down like a sack of bricks.

"Looks like you two are making dinner!" Skye hollered as she passed their door. "Oi Harry, do you have the brooms?"

"They're here," Harry called from the ground floor.

"Fancy a game of two-on-one?" Ginny asked as Skye joined them.

"Sure thing," she beamed and they ran out of the house, mounting their brooms as they went.

Ron groaned as he saw them zoom past the window and Hermione shook her head at him fondly.

"Come on," she said, "let's get a start on food." She was actually quite glad that she was able to stay in and cook rather than playing Quidditch.

The game was fast and tough. It might have been two against one but the snitch they had brought with them was quick and Harry was pulling off some moves that he had perfected over the last month. He had spent a lot of time in the Weasley's garden, flying to keep his mind off more serious matters. Eventually Skye and Ginny managed to corner the snitch between them and Skye whooped as Ginny grasped it in her fist. Harry laughed and pushed a hand through his wind tousled hair. They angled gently towards the ground and dismounted, trudging back to the house where the beautiful aromas of spaghetti bolognaise hit them. Hermione was grinning and Ron scowling as they crowded around the dining table but soon the air was full as laughter and the food disappeared faster than Snape confronted with shampoo.

That evening after a quick game of Wizard Chess (in which Ron utterly destroyed Harry, putting him in a much better mood) they retired quite early and decided that tomorrow would be a good day to explore the wood behind the house that Skye had spotted earlier. They bid each other good night and climbed the stairs to bed.

The first week passed in a blissful haze of peace, relaxing and not doing much. There was a decent sized pool at the back of the house which provided hours of entertainment, mainly Ginny inventing a multitude of different ways to splash the boys without having to actually get wet herself and Hermione and Skye felt no need to stop her, as she was having so much fun. Another fun game was hide-and-go-charm, a game similar to the muggle 'hide-and-seek.' The wood was the perfect place to play and the idea was to find the people hiding and then hit them with the most inventive (but harmless) charm one could think of. By the end of the first few days Ron's hair was a becoming mix of green, yellow and pink and none of the charms Hermione tried could get rid of the sparkly pink unicorn that had tattooed itself onto Skye's face. According to Ron it would fade in a few days but so far Skye was having no such luck.

On the morning of the 6th day Skye woke up early to the singing of birds and sun streaming through the gap in the curtains. The others were still asleep and it was so quiet that the moment felt magical. More magical that is, than a house full of wizards. She grabbed a book and her wand, pulled on a loose blue top and some shorts, and made her way out to the pool, glancing in a mirror on her way past. Amazingly the pink was almost completely gone but her face was still distinctly glittery. She sat down in one of the deck chairs by the pool and closed her eyes, now was a good time to get some serious tanning done. Could this day be any more perfect?

Suddenly there was a loud crack and Skye shrieked as a curse flew through the air towards her, narrowly missing her head and blasting a chunk out of the wall behind her. Out of pure instinct and with a yell she threw the first thing she could get her hands on, which just so happened to be the book she had brought out with her, a heavy leather bound version of the Sherlock Holmes collection and pulled out her wand. There was a dull thunk and a yelp of pain as the book collided with the head of a tall man wearing a long black robe and a mask. Death Eater.

Skye opened her mouth to scream a curse when four more cracks tore through the air and more hooded figures appeared. Skye's stomach dropped and a chill spread through her as she gazed at her opponents. She raised her wand again in defiance just as Harry and the others ran out the door in varying states of undress, having been awoken her cries. They hurried to her side and in no time a full blown wizard duel had broken out. Skye narrowly dodged a bright green curse and a Death Eater howled. They were aiming to kill.

"Hold on!" Skye called to the others, intending to apparate, but just as they were about to leave, a Death Eater clamped down on her wrist, pinning it in a vice like grip, but she had already started to turn. The last thing she heard was Ron's seemingly distant yelling, as they were whisked away to Dumbledore knew where.

Skye stumbled as she landed but scrambled up to continue the fight. Great, she had managed to bring the Death Eaters along too. She glanced around to get a grip on her surroundings, while keeping one eye on the Death Eaters that were still firing at them, to see if there was anything that would assist them in their fight. Behind them was a big hill, on top of which was a pine tree but apart from that all Skye could see for miles around were fields. Wow, helpful. They duelled until Skye thought she would collapse from exhaustion and finally there were only two Death Eaters left standing, the others having been stupefied or frozen. Suddenly one of them made a violent slashing movement which Hermione was only able to partially block. She fell to the ground unconscious. That's when Skye began to see red. After everything they had been through together this couldn't be happening. They were finally out of the darkness that had enveloped the wizarding world for so long and Skye would fight tooth and nail to prevent her friends from falling prey to further harm.

She flung her wand arm out in front of her and screamed, "Crucio!"

"Skye, No! Stop!" She was only vaguely aware of Ron stunning the other Death Eater while Ginny and Harry ran towards her. It felt as if they were moving in slow motion, as her anger and fear for her friends coursed down through her wand to be transformed into pure agony. The Death Eater writhed and screamed on the floor as she violently repeated the torture curse. Skye slowly became aware of a soft hand on her arm and her vision blurred as she collapsed into the comforting and familiar flowery scent that was Ginny. She dropped her wand and desperately tried to stop her body from shaking as she was fought against the overwhelming surge of anger and fear that they would never be free of Voldemort's curse.

"It's okay," Ginny whispered soothingly. "Skye, it's over. Harry's sent his patronus to Kingsley. They'll take the Death Eaters to Azkaban, don't worry."

But suddenly everything seemed too loud, the colours too bright. Skye couldn't breathe as she curled herself into a tight ball drawing in breath desperately. Tears ran down her face but she neither cared nor noticed, focussing only on the tightening in her chest and the sick feeling in her stomach. She vaguely heard Ginny's anxious mutterings and caught sight of something flash past her vision. Assuming the Death Eaters had come back for more she tried to reach for her fallen wand but before her fingers had closed around the smooth wood a wonderful feeling of deep calm overtook her body. Her breathing came more and more easily and after only a short space of time she felt able to sit up and slowly wiped the tear tracks from her cheeks.

"Thank goodness that worked," she heard Ginny sigh, and turned round to see her friend pale faced and still holding her wand.

"What happened? What did you do?" Skye asked in amazement.

"It was just a spell which creates a similar effect to a calming draught," Ginny replied softly. "I'm just glad it worked properly, it's the first time I tried it. You were having a panic attack. To be perfectly honest I'm amazed that it hasn't happened before now to any of us considering what we've been through."

"Thank you," Skye said earnestly, hugging Ginny tightly and pulling back slowly. It was only then that Skye noticed the bewildered looking boy with messy black hair standing gaping behind them.

AN: So this is set after the Last Olympian. Percy and the gang are 17 and the wizards are 17, apart from Ginny who is 16. I know according to the books they wouldn't have been this age at the same time but it works for my plot line. Enjoy...