Disclaimer: I don't own HP. Never have, never will.

Author's Note: Thank you very much to my friends for letting me put them in this story. And thanks to Aryn who became confused when we were discussing about dolls, Yule Balls, and S'mores. Ah, hours and hours of laughter. Good times. Good times.


Chapter 3

I stared at Josh. Out of the blue, just as we thought we had gotten away with something, a group of wizards show up. I couldn't see their wands either, so I was even more cautious. I didn't believe that the Muggles would actually stoop to that.

To cover up my shock, I asked, "Do you know whose house this is?"

Josh nodded. "It belongs to Mark of Gryffindor."

In the back of my mind, the way he said it sounded weird, like he was thousands of years old. It struck me as odd, but then I brushed it aside. He didn't look so dangerous. However, I was still wary. What if they turned out to be Muggles?

I looked at Josh in the eye. "Show me your wand." I said, probably with more force than was necessary.

Josh never broke eye contact as he reached down with his left hand and pulled his wand out of his sock. Again, that struck me as odd. A wizard rarely has his wand so far away from his hand, and the only time he does is when the wand is taken away by force.

As Josh straightened, I saw that his clothes were ironed, flat, unwrinkled. Now I was getting nervous. Would runaway wizards have the time to iron their clothes? I doubted it. Even if they wanted to keep clean, why would they bother ironing them?

Josh handed me the wand, and I studied it. It honestly looked like a random stick someone picked up off the ground. It was all knobby and coarse, and slightly crooked. It looked nothing like any Ollivander wand I had ever seen.

I looked back at Josh. "What core is it?"

"Dragon heartstring." Josh replied almost before it was out of my mouth.

"And the wood?" I asked, examining the wand closer.

"Yew." He said, again almost before it was spoken.

I stared at him. I couldn't find anything other than the way he looked and talked wrong. Maybe he was from some foreign country, and another wandmaker had made his wand. That triggered another thought.

"Who made your wand?" I asked, inspecting his face.

"I have a friend that makes wands." He said, his face smooth.

"Uh-huh." I said, holding one hand behind my back and signaling with my hands that I didn't trust Josh.

I turned to the woman on Josh's right. She was about my height of 5'6", with long black hair. She was a little paler than her other two companions, and she had green eyes. I examined her clothes, and I was slightly startled to see that they were filthy and cut in several places. I could see the ridge in her sleeve that was the tell-tale sign of a wand. I felt a little bit better about her. I could trust her.

"What is your name?" I asked her.

"Aryn." She said, her eyes watching me warily.

I nodded. "Could you please show me your wand?"

She nodded slowly, and then pulled out her wand from her sleeve. It was smooth, flexible. I recognized instantly the work of Ollivander.

"It's core is unicorn hair, and the wood is maple." Aryn told me without me asking. "I got it at Ollivander's."

I nodded. I could recognize Ollivander's workmanship. It was well crafted. The wood was springy but hard, and it was perfect for charm work. I nodded again, and handed her wand back to her.

I signaled with my hand behind my back that I trusted Aryn, and I felt the tension in the room behind me lessen a little.

I turned to the woman on Josh's left. She was a little shorter than I was, with strawberry-blonde hair and hazel eyes. Like Aryn, her clothes were filthy and showed signs of wear. I saw the ridge in her sleeve that told me that she was carrying a wand.

Before I even asked, she had her wand out. "My name is Liv," she said, handing me the wand. "It's made of elm, and the core is phoenix feather. It's by Ollivander."

Again, I could recognize the work of Ollivander. He had quite a reputation. I signaled with my hand that I trusted Liv as well. Again, I felt the tension in the room behind me lessen more.

I felt someone get up and stand next to me, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw that it was Alex. He put his hand on my shoulder, and tapped his fingers in a specific rhythm. First his middle finger, then his pinky, then his index finger, then his thumb, and lastly his ring finger. It was another one of our codes. It meant that Mark said to invite them in.

I reached up and patted Alex's hand, to let him know I got the message. When I turned to look back at the newcomers, they all had slightly confused expressions. I smiled at them reassuringly.

"Would you like to come in?" I asked, stepping aside.

"Certainly." Josh said, and he walked in, followed by Liv and Aryn.

As soon as they were inside, I shut the door. When I turned around, Josh had this gleeful look on his face, while Liv and Aryn looked slightly nervous. The looks on my friends' faces matched Liv and Aryn's.

Mark was the first one to introduce himself. But he didn't use his real name.

"Hi. I'm William." Mark said, shaking Josh's hand.

Following Mark's lead, we went around the room, using fake names. We kept glancing at one another, trying to send messages with our eyes. The ones I got were all the same. Be careful. They are strangers. We can't trust them yet.

After all the introductions were done, we all stood around awkwardly. Josh kept looking super excited, and I made a mental note to have at least one pair of eyes on him at all times. I tapped Alex's arm, which was right next to me, in the pattern that told him my thoughts. He patted my arm, and then tapped Candle's arm, which was right next to him on his other side.

Liv's quick eyes noticed the tapping, and she smirked slightly. She looked like she was going to tell Josh, but then she stopped. Looks like she didn't trust Josh either. Instead, she stared at everyone in the room, holding their gaze.

After another minute or two, I cleared my throat. "Would you like to sit down?" I asked the newcomers, gesturing to the circle of chairs.

After a moment's hesitation, Liv and Aaron sat down. Josh however, stayed standing.

"Could I make a phone call?" he asked, pulling what looked like a cell phone out of his pocket.

I glanced at Mark, who nodded. I turned back to Josh. "Sure."

Josh nodded, and then walked into the kitchen and out of sight. I nudged Alex, and nodded in Josh's direction. He took the hint, and stealthily followed Josh out of the room.

Liv and Aryn watched Alex with amused expressions. After Josh and Alex were out of sight, they broke into wide grins.

"We are so glad to finally get rid of Josh." Liv said.

Aryn nodded. "He's been acting suspicious from day one. We just kept being around him to keep an eye on him."

I looked at Aryn sharply. "What do you mean by 'acting suspicious'?"

She thought a moment. "He never has done magic in front of us, and he always seems to have a new outfit."

Renee jumped up and started pacing the room. "The Ministry thinks that there are traitor wizards and witches. That would explain Naiomi getting captured. Traitors have been feeding information to the Muggles." She said while pacing.

There was a moment's silence. "But why haven't we been caught yet?" Andre asked.

"It's because of Alex and me." I said, leaning against the wall next to the door. "No one expects us to hang out with witches and wizards. If the traitors told the Muggles that we were hanging out with you guys, the Muggles would arrest the traitors and say that they were feeding them false information."

Paul nodded. "But I bet they have lots of information on us."

I sighed. "That's what I was thinking. We'll have to change cars regularly, or change the license plates, and park farther away from our destination. We should probably get new cell phones too."

Candle nodded. "Muggles are being very smart about this. They probably have the license plate numbers recorded, and the cell phones written down."

There was a silence, broken only by Mark's stomach growling.

I smirked. "Hungry Mark?"

He grinned and rubbed his stomach. "Hey, these rescue missions are hard work."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. I did most of the hard work."

"How about a campfire?" Naiomi piped up. "That's the tradition to welcome newcomers."

Chris grinned. "You sure you want to continue after last time?"

I laughed. "That was your fault, not mine."

Aryn looked between Chris and me with a confused face. "What did he do?"

"Chris melted the food and nearly burned the yard." Andre said, leaning out of Chris' arm length.

As Aryn and Liv were laughing, Chris groaned. "You make it sound worse than it was."

Paul snorted. "Yeah. Like you didn't actually burn the grass and make the trees look like toothpicks."

I laughed again. "He tried to make dinner 'special'." I said, making the quotation marks in the air with my hand.

At that moment, Alex came in the room, and then was followed a moment later by Josh. Josh had this triumphant look on his face, and Alex looked slightly nervous and confused. Alex came to stand by me, and Josh went to stand against the opposite wall.

Chris and Andre were still arguing about the outcome of the last campfire, and they were almost at blows. I sighed, then pulled out my wand and cast a Protection Charm between them.

Almost immediately, they turned to me and glared. "What?" I asked in an innocent tone.

Before they could complain about the shield, Liv asked, "How come you guys can do magic when you aren't seventeen?"

I turned to her. "The Ministry decided that because of this war, witches and wizards of all ages were allowed to use magic, because there are so many circumstances where magic would be required. Apparently, it would be too much work."

Mark picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet and tossed it to Liv. "It says it all in there." He said as she caught it.

She nodded, and then she and Aryn started pouring over it.

"So when should we have the campfire?" Naiomi asked, crossing her legs.

I shrugged. "Now is fine. But I have to call my mom and tell her that Alex and I will be home later than we thought."

Andre's eyes lit up. "Did you bring the brownies?" He asked eagerly.

Everyone laughed except for Liv and Aryn, who were ignoring us and reading the paper. Andre had an innocent look on his face, but his eyes were full of laughter.

"Yeah, they are in the car." Alex said. "I'll go get them before Andre starves." He walked to the door and said, "Don't do anything interesting while I'm gone." Then he was out the door.

I smirked. "Yeah. Like a day with you guys isn't interesting."

Candle nodded. "Never a dull moment."

Renee laughed. "At least we're never bored."

Alex walked back in, and tossed the brownies at Andre. "Here. Hope you don't starve."

Andre glared at Alex, and then dug into the brownies, getting them all over his face.

Paul rolled his eyes. "Don't you want room to have s'mores?"

Aryn looked up from the paper. "S'mores? What about them?"

Marked grinned. "Only that they are the best with milk."

Aryn stuck her tongue out at him. "No, they are the best with peanut butter."

"Milk."

"Peanut butter."

"Milk."

"Peanut butter."

I sighed and turned to the others, Aryn and Mark still arguing in the background. "Did you guys hear that this year is the Yule Ball at school?" I asked.

Candle gasped. "Really?"

I nodded. "McGonagall told me last year."

Renee squealed. "This will be so much fun!"

Mark snorted, apparently interested in our conversation. "Yeah, dressing them up. Great."

Aryn had a confused look on her face. "Dressing up our s'mores for the Yule Ball?"

I burst into laughter, doubling over. I don't know what made me laugh so hard, maybe the tone she said it in, or maybe the look on her face, but I was doubled over in laughter. I heard everyone laughing around me too. When I looked back at Aryn, her face was even more confused.

"What did I do?" She asked, looking at all of us.

I looked at everyone else, and their faces were all red. I guessed that mine was too. Looking at each other made us laugh harder. I fell to the floor, I was laughing so hard. I heard several other thuds, and I gathered that others must have fallen to the floor.

It took about twenty minutes for us all to calm down. Every time we looked at each other, we would burst into more laughter.

"What color should I dress mine in?" Mark snickered.

"I'm thinking about pink for mine, what do you think?" Renee giggled.

"Ooh, will blue look good on it?" Candle laughed.

Aryn was still looking at us in confusion. Her face was somewhat red, and her voice had risen in pitch the longer we laughed. "What's so funny?" she asked again.

I finally calmed myself enough to answer, "Just the idea of dressing up s'mores for the Yule Ball."

A look of understanding dawned on her face, and then she blushed. "I wasn't trying to be funny."

I giggled. "So? You achieved it."

Alex was still on the floor. "So what now?" he asked, sitting upright.

I thought about that for a moment, and then glanced at my watch. I was surprised that it was only about eight.

"Well, I guess we could have a campfire, but I'm sure we don't want to risk Chris burning down the place." Mark said, leaning against the wall.

Chris rolled his eyes. "It was an accident." He insisted.

Paul snorted, but didn't make a comment. But his thoughts were written across his face.

Josh was typing on his phone, probably texting. I was able to glance over his shoulder, and I saw that he was conversing with Professor McGonagall.

I stared at him in shock. How in the world could he be talking to Professor McGonagall? He was supposed to be a traitor, for crying out loud!

He glanced up at me, and saw my face. "What?" he asked, a little self conscious.

"I – you – Professor – traitor – how?" I stuttered.

He laughed. "I'm acting as a spy for the Muggles, but I'm actually a double-spy. It was Professor McGonagall's idea."

I looked at him skeptically. "How do we know for sure that you aren't just a spy for the Muggles?"

He thought about that for a minute. "Well, the fact that I'm talking to Professor McGonagall should be enough, but I came here to warn you about one of your own."

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that one of your own is the traitor." Josh said slowly, glancing around the room.

I stared at him in shock. Would he really accuse someone here of being a traitor? Around me, I heard nervous laughter, and I recognized it as Naiomi's. But everyone else was dead silent.

"Who?" Paul asked, glancing around the room.

Josh studied everyone, probably trying to guess if we would rip his head off when he told us. I kept my gaze locked on his, and I hardly blinked. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched everyone else. They all had similar looks of shock and irritation.

Finally, Josh said "The traitor is Naiomi."

There was a pause, but then there was an explosion of shouts.

"No way!"

"You're lying!"

"Naiomi, a traitor? Impossible!"

"You're the traitor, not Naiomi!"

Josh took the yells in silence. He watched us with a calm expression, like this had happened before. It occurred to me, in the back of my mind, that this probably had happened before.

"What about your wand? It looks like a stick you picked up off the ground." I accused him.

"I showed you the Muggle version of my wand. There are Muggles watching this house, and they couldn't see my actual wand or else I'd be in trouble." Josh said, while at the same time digging something out from his pocket. He pulled something out, and I realized that it was a wand. An actual wand. I recognized Ollivander's work.

I glanced around, and I could see everyone staring at Josh's wand. They weren't yelling anymore, and I could see the gears turning in their heads.

"Okay, I see that your wand is an Ollivander wand." I said, my tone a little less skeptic. "But how can we be sure that Naiomi is the traitor?"

Josh looked at Naiomi. Naiomi was bright red and fidgeting with her shirt. My mind realized that Naiomi's capture might not have been a capture. It would have been the perfect opportunity to expose our group.

I stared at her. "Why?" I asked.

She looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry. But they threatened my family. I couldn't do anything else."

I looked at her coldly. "You could have died for us. What happened to the Gryffindor I knew? A Gryffindor wouldn't have hesitated to die for her friends."

She seemed to wither under my look. "I'm sorry. But what's the difference? I mean, they'll just take you to a holding facility until this war is over."

"The difference between bravery and cowardice, Naiomi. The difference between Gryffindor and Slytherin." I told her. "Did you really think that they were just going to hold us? They'll kill us. They want no more witches and wizards in the world."

Naiomi looked stricken. "I'm sorry." She said.

"Apology not accepted." Paul snapped.

I looked back at Josh. "How long do we have before the Muggles show up?"

He looked down at his watch. "I was told that they would come tomorrow." He said.

"I didn't tell them about you, Nita. They don't know that you are a witch." Naiomi said, her voice coated with sadness.

I stared at her. "Do you really think that I'll believe you now?"

Her face fell a little. "Please. I swear that I didn't tell them. They have no idea."

I nodded slowly, but I didn't press that any further. I turned back to Josh.

"We should get out of here. Go into hiding. We were already planning on it." I said, ignoring the whimpers of Naiomi.

Josh nodded. "We should send you to different parts of the country, far enough that no one will connect you together."

I stood up and paced the room. "We should go in pairs though, so it's not so suspicious."

"Yeah, that will be best. That way we have people looking out for each other." Andre said, twirling his wand in his hands.

"Okay, the pairs will be Candle and Chris, Paul and Renee, and Mark and Andre." I said, pacing faster. Because I was the leader, no one opposed to this idea.

I looked at Josh. "Are you and your friends staying with us?"

We both looked at Liv and Aryn. They were watching us all with looks of pity.

"I think…I think that we'll go on our own. That will be safer. You guys are known fugitives now – " he threw a glance at Naiomi. "Now that you are known fugitives, we'll be safer if we go separate ways."

I nodded. I was expecting that. "Of course. I wouldn't expect you to risk yourselves for us." I dug the car keys out of my pocket and tossed them to Josh, who caught them. "Here. There's your getaway vehicle."

He looked surprised. "But what about your family?"

I shrugged. "Dad's in a position right now to get another car. Besides, I can tell them that you all are going on a trip and needed the car."

Josh had a thankful look in his eyes. He turned to Liv and Aryn. "Time to go." He said.

Liv and Aryn got up, and they shook hands with everyone. When they got to me, they had sympathetic looks.

At the door, Josh paused. "Thank you." He said, twirling the car keys on his finger.

I nodded. "No problem. Thank you for telling us about Naiomi." I replied.

"No problem." Josh said. "Well, see you around." And he turned around and walked out the door, followed by Liv and Aryn.

I turned back to my friends. "You guys heard the groups. Start packing. You can leave on the morning of my birthday, and you can just hide out until then. I'll get the plane tickets and everything you'll need."

They all nodded and got up. "Mark, I'd like you to keep an eye on Naiomi until you leave." I added.

Mark nodded, and then went to stand next to Naiomi. Her eyes were full of sorrow.

"Please don't tell them our plans." I begged her. "We need to get away."

She nodded. "Of course. I've done enough damage already."

I turned back to the group. "Hurry and get packed. We should vacate our houses immediately."

Once the group had left, I walked home with Alex. He was tense and unnaturally quiet. He kept jumping at every sound, gripping my arm tighter. I understood how he felt. We had trusted Naiomi, had confided in her, and yet she betrayed us. I felt like that I couldn't trust anybody.

"What are you thinking?" Alex asked.

I shrugged. "That I feel like that I can't trust anybody, that we need to keep our friends safe, where to put my school things where the Muggles won't find them."

Even though it was super dark, I could see Alex nod. "I was thinking the same things. Except for the school part, of course."

"Yeah."

There was silence for a few moments. One of the best things about Alex is that he doesn't press you. He leaves you alone with your thoughts without interrupting. He also keeps his thoughts to himself unless he thinks it's necessary to comment. That really helps when I have problems with the war.

"You could hide your school things in the basement of the school. No one ever goes down there, not even the janitors." Alex suggested.

"Thanks Alex. That's a good idea."

He patted my arm. "You're welcome."

We continued walking in silence. We were about halfway home, but I didn't hurry. Alex seemed to want to take things easy, so I followed his lead. We were so close that I could understand his thoughts like they were written across his face. I told him everything, and he told me everything.

"What's the D.A.?" Alex asked suddenly.

I smiled. The D.A. had been one of the best things at Hogwarts. "During my third year at Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic was afraid of Voldemort. They didn't want him to come back, and they called those who said he was back a liar. Harry Potter had witnessed Voldemort come back, had fought him, and had survived yet again."

"Harry Potter? He's at the center of almost everything." Alex interrupted.

I laughed. "Yeah. Well, if you were targeted by the most evil wizard in history, who just wouldn't die, you'd be at the center of the stories."

Alex nodded. "Right. Go on."

"Well, Albus Dumbledore knew Harry was telling the truth. He took action to start a resistance against Voldemort. The Order of the Phoenix, which was filled with the most talented witches and wizards of the age, was a standard of hope. But the Minister decided to interfere at Hogwarts. He sent Dolores Umbridge to Hogwarts to 'keep an eye on things'." I said, making quotation marks in the air with my hands.

Alex shuddered. "Even her names sounds evil."

I nodded. "Yeah, it does. Anyway, Dolores started making Educational Decrees. They were more like limitations, really. No more than three students in a group, boys have to stay at least a foot away from girls, groups will have to be approved by her, and so on. Most of all, she didn't teach them Defense Against the Dark Arts. She refused to believe that they should be taught anything. When Harry Potter insisted that Voldemort was back, she made him write 'I must not tell lies' in his own blood."

Alex cringed. "How evil can someone get?"

"Oh, believe me, Voldemort was much worse. But anyway, the Ministry believed that Dumbledore was creating an army to rise against the Ministry. So, they refused to teach the students anything. Now, Harry knew that it was only a matter of time before Voldemort decided to come out in the open. He knew that the students had to be prepared to fight Death Eaters, Voldemort's followers. His friends, Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger convinced him to teach the other students Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Alex stopped. "Wait. You are saying that the Ministry, the group that is supposed to protect the people, refused to believe and take action against the most dangerous wizard ever, leaving the responsibility to a fifteen year old?"

I nodded. "Yep. And it wasn't just for the one year. Harry got a group of kids together and formed a group. They named themselves Dumbledore's Army, because that's what the Ministry was afraid of, and Voldemort had never picked a fight with Dumbledore. They communicated with wizard coins, the same way that Mark decided to use. They were so secret about it, the meetings were able to be held for months. Harry taught the students how to Disarm, Stun, cast Patronuses, and much more. Eventually, Dumbledore's Army was caught, but not before many of the students had learned things necessary for them to survive. In years to come, Dumbledore's Army was much like the Order of the Phoenix. They were the symbol of right and hope."

Alex was silent for a long time. "And what about the branding into the forearm?"

I grimaced. "That's what Voldemort did to his followers. He branded the Dark Mark into their forearm, and they had but to touch it to summon him, or he had to touch his for them to come to him."

Alex grimaced too. "Okay, I think I prefer the coins."

I laughed. "Yeah, me too."

We were almost home now. Alex was deep in thought again, and I was just enjoying the cool night air. It would probably be a while before my life would be this peaceful.

"Were you part of Dumbledore's Army?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. I was. That's where I met Mark, Renee, and Andre." I said, walking up the driveway to our home.

Alex nodded, but didn't talk about it any further. We were too close to Muggles to talk about it.

I opened the front door, and found that Aurelia must have decided to re-do her room, because her things were strewn across the stairs and hallway. I could barely see any floor.

"Mom, we're home." I called, picking my way across the mess.

"You're home early." Mom said as she appeared in the kitchen door. I could smell cookies, and my mouth started watering.

"Yeah. Everyone said that they had everything under control, so I left. Well, more like they kicked us out." I told Mom. "What's Aurelia doing?"

Mom rolled her eyes. "Apparently she needed to 'de-clutter'."

Alex and I laughed, and Aurelia's head popped out of her room. She stuck her tongue out at me, and then disappeared back into her room.

I looked back at Mom. "I'm going to bed. My friends told me that they were moving, or going on a long trip. I need to help them pack and move tomorrow." I headed up the second flight of stairs. "Oh, and I gave a few of them the mini van." I added.

I heard Alex say goodnight to Mom as well and follow me up the stairs. At my door, I we stopped and preformed our secret handshake. It was our tradition to do that right before bed.

"See you in the morning." I told him.

"See you." He replied, and then he turned and went into his bedroom.

I walked into my bedroom and shut the door behind me. I hesitated a moment, then pulled out my wand and pointed it at the door. I muttered "Muffliato" under my breath, and then dove under my bed. There was a loose floorboard there, where I kept my school things.

I pulled out my school books and robes, and then chose a backpack from my closet. I stuffed everything from under the floorboard into it, and then zipped it up. I was ready for the morning. I looked around the room, and then decided to put in a spare set of Muggle clothing, and my ID.

Once I had everything, I set the bag at the foot of my bed. I set the alarm for 6 A.M., and then got into bed. As an afterthought, I ended the Muffliato curse on the door and fell asleep.


What did you guys think? Was it good, boring, great, too long? Please review! And again, thanks so much to Aryn for the Yule Ball and S'mores! Also, cameo roles, still available!