They waited until it was dark. As Ali lay in bed, fully kitted out in Muggle clothes, she waited for midnight as her heart beat quickly. Although she was scared, she was excited. Just getting out of this school would be good, just leaving and knowing that she would be okay was the most important thing. She lay there breathing quietly and listening. Over in the corner Olivia Hutton mumbled something in her sleep about Myron Wagtail, lead singer of the Weird Sisters. Ali sighed and lay listening. Suddenly, twelve loud dongs rang through the castle. Her eyes flicked over to Lucy, who was also wide awake. Amelia had sat up very slowly.
"Let's go." Lucy mouthed and the three girls stood up.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Ali whispered and the three trunks hovered in the air. She opened the door and guided the three trunks towards it. Amelia grabbed her and Ali's backpack and Lucy shouldered her backpack. The three cases were become hard to control and soon they were going to drop. Ali grabbed her backpack from Amelia and muttered an undetectable extension charm. She floated the three trunks to the backpack and once they were snugly inside she shouldered it.
"Right, now out the window." She smiled brightly at her two nervous looking companions. Being a quite athletic girl, Ali could climb out of the window, onto the window ledge and then, holding her wand carefully, she began to climb down the drainpipe. It was slippery and cold, and Ali was petrified for her safety.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Lucy mumbled from above and pointed her wand at Ali. Ali felt herself being carried down slowly. Her feet touched the ground and she bent her knees so she landed softly.
"Come on!" She whispered loudly, and then flattened herself against the wall. A window, right next to her, was dark but she could hear noise coming from it.
"They're playing right into our hands Severus. Soon we'll be able to get rid of Flitwick and McGonagall." A hissing, whispering voice rasped through the room
"Alecto, we will never be able to get rid of Minerva. She'd stay even if the Dark Lord himself was headmaster." Snape's flat voice spoke back to Alecto Carrow. Ali shivered. This was very bad. She looked back up and saw Amelia floating down. Ali grabbed her arm and pulled her down quickly.
"Shush." She put her finger to her lips and Amelia fell silent.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Ali whispered and pointed her wand up at Lucy, whom had just climbed out of the window and was now floating down the wall. She landed next to Amelia, who shushed her and Ali pulled Amelia by the arm towards the grounds. The three girls began to run down the hill as quietly as possible.
"Any minute now, they're going to see us." Lucy panted as they ran down the hill.
"Well then we better keep running." Amelia answered and the three girls kept running until they got out of long stretches of green grass. They approached the game keepers hut, and ran past it into the forest. After they were a little way in they stopped.
"We need to get out of Hogwart's." Ali said as she tried to get her breath back.
"You say that, but where do we go?" Amelia asked.
"None of you thought this through. You just thought, let's all get out of school; let's go on a gap year! You didn't bloody think." Amelia sat down deflated.
"What would our family say?" She asked sadly.
"God knows." Lucy stood up. "I say we go to London. They'll lose us, and we don't have the trace anymore. My birthday was in March, Amelia's was in January and yours was in July. Let's get to Hogsmeade, and then we can move." Lucy smiled and looked over to Ali.
"Good plan." Ali pulled Amelia's shoulder.
"Come on, we know where we're going now." Amelia helped herself be lifted to her feet and was pulled along.
"Trafalgar Square." Ali said and the girls started to run again. It was going to be okay now. As they got closer to the border between Hogwart's and near Hogsmeade the girls began to gather hope. But it was a ridiculous idea. There, just beyond the line of trees were dementors.
"We're never going to get out." Amelia sighed.
"Expecto Patronum." Ali's patronus, a bear came out of her wand, and the dementors moved away from the girls. Just as Ali was giving a sigh of relief, a shout echoed around the forest.
"What was that? Avery, get over here a minute." Ali pushed her friends behind a large tree and looked round it to see what was coming.
"Fuck." She muttered. Dolohov was walking towards her. What could she do? Just wait here for them to catch her and her friends. There were bound to be others. She put her finger to her lips and pointed her wand at Dolohov.
"Stupefy." She murmured. It was barely audible, but it did the trick. Dolohov fell to the ground and Ali walked quietly towards the line of trees again. Another death eater was walking towards the place Dolohov was. She waited until her was right next to her, and she stunned him. She gently lay him down on the ground and then kicked him for good measure.
"Bastard." She hissed at him and then beckoned her friends. The two other girls ran quietly towards Ali.
"We need to move as fast we possibly can" Amelia nodded and Lucy smiled grimly.
"We all need to run, or we won't get out." Ali took Amelia's hand, and Lucy took Amelia's hand.
"On three. One. Two. Three. GO!" The girls ran, and all around them flashes of green light around them. Suddenly, they were through they were outside the barrier. Ali thought of Trafalger Square, and suddenly the three girls were stood in the middle of a large square.
"It's okay, we're here, we need to keep walking." Ali started walking briskly down the street.
"We need somewhere to stay." Amelia said.
"Yeah and some food." Lucy agreed.
"Okay, we need to get to a hidden place; I know somewhere else we can go. London's way to crowded." The girls turned down side road, where there was nothing but a couple of cats and a bin.
"Hold my hand." The girls joined hands and apparated again.
"Where are we exactly?" Lucy asked.
"West Sussex." Ali said. "My Gran used to live here." She led them to a long drive.
"What is this place?" Amelia asked looking down the dark drive.
"Just a little place. I broke in here once with a group of kids when I was little. All the locals are scared of it and they all stay away." Lucy looked at Ali with a grim expression.
"Any particular reason?" Amelia asked nervously.
"Well, I think some wizards lived in there at some point. There was just a load of old magical stuff, if I remember correctly." Lucy grinned.
"Let's hope it's not all bad." The three girls began to walk up the long drive.
"I don't like this, it's really creepy." Amelia grabbed Ali's hand and Lucy took Ali's other hand.
Hand in hand they walked down the drive not knowing what was going to happen. They were at the end and the beginning of the journey, yet what was in store for them, no one knew.
"It's okay, there's no one here." Ali walked confidently around the large house. It was dark, and some of the windows were smashed. Amelia and Lucy cautiously stood near the door, wands raised.
"It's okay, there's only a couple of Bogart's, nothing too bad." Ali wasn't too confident about this, but decided that seeing as she was the one who had brought them here that she should do an inspection. She walked around the house; there was just a lot of old spell books. It was all the way that she remembered it. She got into the kitchen; it was the way she remembered it apart from the paper on the table. It was a copy of the Daily Prophet, which wasn't really out of the ordinary, apart from the fact that it was from a couple of days ago. Ali picked it up and read the front page.
UNDERSIARABLE LIST POSTED BY MINISTRY by Andy Smudgely
The Ministry of Magic's undesirable list of this year was published early this morning. The Minister of Magic, Pius Thicknese said that this list was "One of the largest that we have ever had, it just shows that many, many people are resorting to criminal ideals in this time of change."
On the list are many famous names including Harry Potter and two of his friends Hermione Granger, a mudblood, and Ronald Weasley, son of well known crackpot Arthur Weasley. Of course, you are urged by Ministry of Magic to read this report (printed at the back of the paper) and watch out for any undesirables that are on this list.
Ali shivered and looked up as there was a banging noise from the kitchen door. She raised her wand and walked over to the door she pushed it open gently. Outside was an owl, with a copy of the Morning Prophet in its beak. Ali walked up to the owl cautiously and looked around the drive it was completely empty. However had lived here must have had a subscription. Ali picked up the paper and went back inside.
"Lucy, Amelia?" She shouted through the house. There was no answer.
"Crap, Lucy? Amelia?" There was still silence. Ali started to run around the large house. She checked every room and then she found them. The two girls were curled up on a large sofa in what was supposed to be a sitting room; both of them were fast asleep. Ali smiled and walked over to one of the windows, there were shutters on all of the windows around the room. She shut all of the shutters of the window of the front room and then walked around the house closing all of the shutters, when she was stood in the large hall she raised her wand.
"Lumos maxima." She muttered and a large ball pulsed around the house. It was about five in the morning, but it was still dark and it was starting to get cold. Ali found her backpack and pulled out the three trunks and got blankets from all of them. She went back into the sitting room and put the blankets over her two sleeping friends. She went over to fire place where there were a few blackened logs which had already been burned slightly.
"Lacarnum Inflamarae." She pointed her wand at the fireplace and the logs caught fire she sat down by the sofa she picked up the Daily Prophet and looked at the front page, which merely supported the heading:
HOLYHEAD HARPIES VICTORY OVER CHUDLEY CANNONS
Ali sighed. Lucy wasn't going to be happy. She loved the Chudley Cannons. As she turned the page, as small article caught her eye at the bottom of the front page.
HOGWARTS PLEA: THESE GIRLS NEED TO BE BACK AT SCHOOL
It was announced this morning by newly instated Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Professor Severus Snape that three girls from the school have gone missing. The three girls, all in their last year of education, all in Ravenclaw house were discovered to be lost early this morning. Alison Robinson, Amelia Williams and Lucy Green are all missing from school. Severus Snape, published a statement this morning stating that "These girls are valuable members of our society and everyone at the school is at a loss without them." If any of the girls are seen, it is imperative that you contact the Ministry of Magic or Hogwarts School.
Ali took a deep breath and stood up. They'd be looking for them now and the last place that any of the girls wanted to go was back to Hogwarts she raised her wand and cast all kind of spells. The Muffliato charm, disillusionment charms and Muggle repelling charm. After she was sure that they were all safe she sat on the floor again and picked up the paper again. On page two a large picture of a face she recognised, and then there was a caption which made Ali's heart stop.
WOOD ON THE RUN
After the Ministry of Magic recently published their undesirable list, which contained the names of many Muggle borns and famous names such as Harry Potter, Oliver Wood the famous heart throb, teenage witch crush whom plays for Puddlemere United spoke out against the list in an interview.
Wood stated that Harry Potter is a "Good person and there is no reason for him to be on this list." He then proceeded to voice many criticisms of the Ministry. It is believed that Wood was under the Imperius curse at the time of his interview and Ministry workers have been looking for him since his interview, as there are many worries about his current mental health state.
Ali looked at the picture. It was Oliver Wood, last year at a Puddlemere game signing pictures. He was smiling at a female fan that was looking star struck as she spoke with him. Under the picture was the caption of:
What Wood we do without him? Wood last year at the end of the Puddlemere match against the Wimbourne Wasps signing pictures.
Ali sighed and laid the paper down beside her. She pulled a blanket around her shoulders and lay down on the floor. It had been a long day.
"Nox." She mumbled and the light went out. The house was dark and silent as the three girls slept.