Wow! Look at all the reviews! Thanks to all of you, especially to Leevee of Team Socket. I hope that you all like this next chapter. Here it is!

Chapter 7

A Meeting of the Peers and a Message from an Unlikely Messenger

Mrs. Weasley was true to her word, and in a few hours, a soft hand was gently shaking Persephone's shoulder. "Come up, dear," she whispered into Persephone's ear. "We've got to be going otherwise we'll not get a thing for the school year. I daresay that the Alley is already full to capacity."

Persephone opened her eyes wearily and sat up to rub them. "Yeah," she mumbled drowsily. "Yeah, I'll be down in a sec." Mrs. Weasley smiled slightly and left the room in a blur of moving fabric.

Standing quickly, Persephone once again felt the all too familiar rush of blood to her head. She stretched laboriously and reached underneath her bed for her trunk. She lazily pulled out a pair of faded Levi's and a tight fitting tank top and ceremoniously put them on. Picking up her hastily discarded robe from the floor, she placed it on carefully about her shoulders. 'It feels good to wake up in the Wizarding world,' she thought gladly. 'No Concealment Charms to hide the robes. I love being a witch.' Her thoughts came and went lazily and she hardly paid them any mind as she stumbled sleepily down the stairs to the kitchen.

She was greeted by no less than eleven disgustingly awake faces. They were all eating their food as though there were no tomorrow and mumbled good mornings to her between bites of hash browns and scrambled eggs.

"Good morning," she said in return, barely able to stifle the head splitting yawn that threatened to break through. "Are you ready to go to this diagonally place yet?"

Harry looked up at her in amusement. "It's Diagon Alley, you know. I wouldn't say 'diagonally' to the Floo if I were you." He shot a sheepish glance about the kitchen. "You'll end up in a...less savory...place." He grinned and shoved another bite of eggs into his mouth.

Persephone looked at him curiously for a moment, but, judging by the deepening color in his cheeks, and on seeing that he wasn't going to elaborate further, sat down beside him. Before she could even scoot her chair closer to the table, a plate had been set in front of her and numerous different breakfast dishes were scooped up onto it before she had even a chance to protest. Not that she was about to, really. She smiled at them all faintly before following their example and digging into the pile of food with a newly found will and appetite.

By the time her appetite had been successfully appeased, the rest of the family had finished and were watching her with amused interest. Most of all, Percy. She blushed quickly and frankly returned his gaze for a moment before lowering her eyes once more. 'Wonderful idea Pers,' she thought to herself ruefully. 'Might as well tell the whole family that you've gone completely head over heels for their "Perfect Percy."' She'd heard the twins call him that on countless occasions and rather felt that it suited him. No matter how hard he tried to be bad, or at least a little naughty, he always tended to fall back into the goody-two-shoes category. It was sweet, really, she supposed. He made a much better cowardly lion than a foolhardy scarecrow.

As Percy saw her blush, he knew what had happened. And, just as Bill had said, the byplay was only missed by his mother and his thick-headed little brother Ron. Everyone else smirked at him or gaped in astonishment at Persephone. Unwillingly, he found that he too was coloring and hurriedly stood up and moved over closer to the stove to hide his reddening face. Persephone risked another weak smile in his direction before standing up herself.

"So, let's go to this Diagon Alley now," she said loudly, to draw attention away from Percy and back on herself. "I've got to pick up all new textbooks and some robes." She thought a little bit. "And I'll need to get some new Quidditch supplies."

Ron and Harry looked up at her in surprise, while Hermione groaned loudly.

"You play Quidditch!" both of the boys asked incredulously. Persephone looked at them strangely.

"Of course I play Quidditch," she said to them in a voice that obviously said she doubted their sanity. "Back at Gidgeon, my old school, I was one of Rockwell House's Chasers. I may not get a position on the Gryffindor team, but I don't intend to quit playing all together. I've got to keep in shape somehow, and I doubt that spending my entire day in the library studying is the way to do it." Persephone saw Harry smirk at Hermione, who was an interesting shade of violet, as Ron nudged her with his elbow.

Mrs. Weasley, sensing an argument of some kind brewing, hurriedly butted in. "Persephone's right. We had better get to Diagon Alley. We've got a full day of shopping ahead of us." She turned to the older members of the family. "You can tag along if you like, but don't slow us up. We haven't got all week, you know. The term starts in three days."

Persephone's head shot up at this new bit of news. "Three days?" she all but shouted. "But--but I thought the year didn't start for another week!"

Mrs. Weasley chuckled gently. "Oh, no, no, dear. There's only three days left. That's why we've got to hurry." She directed that last bit at her family with an almost maniacal glint in her merry eyes.

Mr. Weasley, sensing his wife's seriousness, spoke up. "She's right, chaps and ladies. Today's the day for last minute school shopping. Are you lot coming?" He turned to the elder Weasley boys.

Not surprisingly, they were all coming. Mrs. Weasley, though a little more worry lines seemed to appear out of nowhere on her forehead, seemed pleased. "All right, then. Let's get going."

~`~`~`~`~

In the space of an hour, they were all dressed in their best, had hair combed and parted, and each face scrubbed till it shone red. They gathered around the fireplace and Persephone felt a pang of homesickness as she remembered her last day in Seattle in a similar situation.

"Here, Bill, you first, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, ushering her eldest son forward and into the fireplace. He took some Floo Powder from a small flower pot in his mother's hands, threw it down, and yelled, "Diagon Alley!" and disappeared in the green flames that every witch and wizard knew well.

After the green flames had died down, Mrs. Weasley turned to Percy. "You next, dear." Percy approached his mother with a pompous look on his face. Persephone wondered if he only acted like that around his family to make himself look important. When he was at his work in the Ministry, he was far from pompous. 'More like anxious and eager to please,' she surmised. 'At home he must have to prove himself a lot or something.'

After he, too, had gone, Mrs. Weasley turned on Persephone. "Now you, dear." Persephone took the offered Floo Powder and followed the same steps as the two young men before her.

She slid out of the grate in some rustic and crowded gathering place. She slammed right into two pairs of strong legs. Four arms pulled her up on her feet and she held her head as she tried to stop the spinning.

After she had steadied herself, she smiled up at her two helpers, Percy and Bill. With a sheepish grin and a bright flush across her cheeks, she said, "At least I didn't hurt myself this time." Percy laughed heartily and Bill smirked good-naturedly. She stood between them and shoved them playfully on their elbows. It irked her that she couldn't reach much higher than their shoulders.

She looked around at the rural wooden architecture of the building they were standing in, at the curious faces of all the drinking and eating witches and wizards, and at the toothless bartender standing behind the bar wiping a beer mug with a white rag. "Where are we, Percy?" she asked.

"Leaky Cauldron," he responded absently as he was helping Ginny, the newest arrival, to her feet. "It's the place that connects Diagon Alley with Muggle London. It's sort of a meeting place." Bill nudged him with his elbow. "Oh, yes, and it's a pub."

"A PUB?!" She all but yelled. A few happily drinking witches turned to her disdainfully and she was sure that one surly and pale wizard in black quirked a condescending eyebrow at her. She lowered her voice sheepishly. "And underage people are allowed inside?" she continued incredulously.

"Of course," Percy said, looking at her with interest. "Why shouldn't they be?"

Persephone shrugged. "In America, underage people aren't allowed in taverns. They tend to...get a little rough. Or the kids get drunk with fake IDs. You know how it is."

Bill snorted. "It's a little harder to get around the age limit in Wizarding establishments, you know. Besides, they don't only serve liquor here. There's food and other suitable drinks. It's not like we'd give them Ogden's, now, would we?"

Persephone flushed lightly. "Well, tell me about this Diagon Alley, would you?" She was most anxious to hear of it, but even more anxious to switch the subject away from something that would embarrass her.

Harry, who'd just hopped up, said, "It's absolutely smashing. They've got everything there. You'll want to stop at Madame Malkins, though, for robes. And Flourish and Blotts for your books. Ron and I'll take you to the Quidditch shop while everybody goes to get some ice cream or something. It'll be fun."

Although far from satisfied with his answer, Persephone smiled at him. She did, after all, have an obligation to become his friend, thanks to Minister Fudge. 'Urggh, don't think about that now, Pers,' she told herself with a mental grimace. 'Put it off till later.'

Within the next ten minutes, the whole dozen of them were standing there beside the fireplace, dirty and ragged, but happy. Hermione and Ginny linked arms with her and ceremoniously marched out the doors with her, Ron and Harry only a few paces behind. She laughed merrily along with them, glad to finally be rid of the residual after effects of her memories at last. She stopped laughing, however, when they stopped with her in front of a blank, and impenetrable, brick wall. She looked at them questioningly. Hermione smiled and whispered, "Watch." Persephone obeyed.

Mr. Weasley pushed his way to the front of his large family and gently tapped a few bricks with his wand. Then the seemingly impenetrable brick wall zigzagged its way to the sides to form an elegant archway for the people to pass through. Persephone watched in awe at the obviously superb feat of magic. Despite the fact that she'd grown up knowing she was a witch, she had lived in a strictly Muggle household in a strictly Muggle city and was unused to seeing such conspicuous displays of magic.

Before she had a chance to look more closely at the enchantment, she was once again being pulled forward into a narrow alley filled with old and frail witches, pompous wizards, giggly witch-children, hooting owls, snapping and talking books, zipping and zooming broomsticks, singing and oozing plants, bent over wizards, pointed and crooked hats, swishing and flowing robes, sour-faced shopkeepers, foul smelling potions ingredients, and every other imaginable thing. It was like some story out of a book. Persephone had never seen a place so distinctly magical or odd. She wanted to touch and see everything. The crowded shops were full of all sorts of different kinds of magical folk and whatever sort of merchandises the sign on the doorframe said that they offered. As they walked past, she glanced into each window at fancy dress robes, the newest prototype broomstick ("It's the new StarFall!" she heard one boy say to a tired looking old wizard. "It's the fastest model yet, right, Da?"), a jar full of what was labeled dragon's eyes in fancy script, some neatly arranged stacks of books, and many other things. She could hardly tear her eyes from each thing and probably wouldn't have been able if someone hadn't just then bumped into Hermione, causing her to fall to the ground.

Snapped from her reverie, Persephone turned to help her fallen friend to her feet, along with the person who had knocked her over. She caught a glimpse of platinum blond hair thick with grease beneath a disheveled robe as she took hold of the thick and obviously masculine hand. The young man took hold of her shoulders harshly when he was back on his feet. She looked at his pale and aristocratic face in surprise, expecting someone who looked so obviously rich to be a bit more polite and gentle. 'And soft- spoken,' she added as an afterthought as she winced at his rough tone, but elegant voice.

"Watch where you're going!" he cried angrily as he pushed her away from him. "Bloody hell! My new robes! Ruined! Damned girl!" He looked up at her after brushing off as much dirt as possible. His face lost its angry pinched look as he took in her lovely face and almost impeccable figure. He quickly put on a delighted and conquering smirk and took her hand in his warmly. Now, Persephone had been about to yell back at him but was caught completely off guard by his abrupt change of heart.

He swiftly brought her knuckles to his face and brushed his lips across them in a way that caused her to shiver. "Terribly sorry," he said silkily with a glint in his eye that Persephone immediately recognized. It was the look that the boys of Aravard House (if you don't remember, that's the name of one of the houses at Persephone's old school that I mentioned in the second chapter) at her old school had given her when she put on a particularly lovely Change. It was a look that said, 'My next conquest' and completely disgusted her. "If I had known that it was such a lovely creature that had helped me I would not have been so crude. I beg for your forgiveness, my dearest..." he thought a moment. "What is your name?"

Before she could answer, he was pushed away by two pairs of strong hands from behind her swiftly against a wall. She recognized them immediately as Harry and Ron, but barely could recognize them from the unfamiliar murderous looks on their faces.

"Leave her alone, Malfoy," Ron hissed through clenched teeth. "She wants nothing to do with a wizard like you." The man, Malfoy, stared at Ron in surprise that quickly melted into indifference.

"So she's yours, then, I take it, Weasley," he continued in a voice as slick as oil. "Pity. I thought that perhaps she was above such filth. She looks far too good to acquaint herself with a wizard like you. I suppose that she's nothing more than a tart, then. Pity."

As quick as they had gotten hold of him before, they had him held up by his robes a few inches from the ground. Persephone looked from Harry to Ron in stunned silence. She had suspected them to be a naturally good-natured bunch and couldn't fathom the looks of utter loathing that they were giving the young man, Malfoy, as they held him up.

"Say that again, Malfoy, and your head will be so far up your own arse that even Pomfrey won't be able to retrieve it," Harry threatened venomously. They let him drop roughly to the ground and turned around to the girls who, Persephone noticed, were looking at the fallen man exactly the same as the two guys.

"Come on," Harry said to her a bit more gently. "Let's go." With one last confused glance at the seething blond boy, she took Harry's offered arm and followed him without a word.

As soon as she was sure that they were out of earshot, she turned back to Harry and Ron. "Who was that?" she asked softly and carefully, not wanting to make the return of the frightening faces they had earlier at the mention of the blond.

"Draco Malfoy," Ron replied with a sound that sounded halfway between a derisive snort and a harsh laugh. "The snarkiest Slytherin to walk the Earth since Tom Riddle."

Harry smiled darkly. "He's in our year as well. You'll be seeing a lot of him. He tends to show up when he isn't wanted, especially around the three of us." He nodded towards Ron and Hermione. "Now that he knows you're with us he'll take time to be rude to you too. Just ignore him." He thought a bit and continued with a smile. "Or you could give him a good whack across the face like our Hermione did once." Said girl blushed in embarrassment.

"He deserved it, as you very well know, Harry Potter," she said sheepishly. "Besides, it wasn't me who punched him smack in the gob and got banned from Quidditch for life by one Dolores Umbridge."

Persephone gaped at Harry openly. "You've been banned for life!" she cried, disbelieving. Harry turned a bright crimson.

"Not for life," he amended. "Only for the year. Although if Umbridge had her way it would have been for life, but she went...galloping mad, you could say." He cast a sideways glance at Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, who were all holding in laughter.

Though it made Persephone uncomfortable to hear all the inside jokes, she laughed appreciatively before asking another question. "Why do you hate that Draco Malfoy character so much?"

Ron snorted. "What's not to hate? He's slimy, he's crude, he's lewd, and he's a goddamned nuisance if you ask me."

Hermione gave the redhead an annoyed glare. "You should be a bit more closemouthed with your opinions now, Ron Weasley. He's Head Boy and will show no qualms when given the opportunity to deduct points from Gryffindor if he hears you talk like that," she scolded.

Ron shrugged, mollified. Ginny turned to Persephone to share her side of the story as well. "And his father's no prize either, Persephone. A known Death Eater and a regular snake in the grass. He's done nothing good ever and he's done far worse things than a few name callings. He's--well, he's done more things than Draco can boast. Things that have or almost caused people their lives." She shivered and Harry let go of Persephone to place a comforting arm about the girl's slightly shaking shoulders.

Just as Persephone was on the verge of asking more prying questions, a voice called out from amidst the throng of bustling wizards and witches. "Harry! Ron! Hermione!" The three turned around to face a tall, thick- looking, and pleasant faced young man with short and slightly tousled brown hair. "It's good to see all of you again. I haven't seen anyone since last year except Gran." He shuddered. "Not very good company, that."

"Neville?" Hermione asked disbelievingly with wide eyes. "Neville, is that you?"

The boy looked at her shyly. "Yeah," he mumbled. Ron, Harry, and Ginny's eyes widened just as Hermione's had. "It's me."

"Oh, my gosh, Neville! What happened to you?" Hermione stared at the magnificent spectacle of gorgeous young man. "You look so...different."

He shrugged as his face turned the color of a ripe tomato. "Gran's idea," he answered. "She says if I can't be a great wizard then I could at least be good at hard labor." Again, he shuddered. "You wouldn't believe the things that she had me do over the hols. I don't think I'll ever be able to get my muscles to stop aching."

Harry shook his head in amused bewilderment. "Well, whatever she did, she did it well. You look a right picture, you do."

With a final wave and promise to see them on the train, he ducked into a potion's ingredients shop. Persephone looked at her four companions dumbfounded expressions with amusement. "Who was that?" she asked after the look was gone from their faces. "He seemed nicer than the last one."

Hermione turned to her, as if just remembering she was there. "Oh, that's Neville Longbottom and he is very sweet. I'm sorry that we didn't introduce you, it's just that I was a little.overwhelmed by the new him." Harry and Ginny laughed at her crimson face. Ron, on the other hand, looked about ready to murder someone.

They ushered her into a horrendously crowded little bookstore and began pulling book after book after book from the shelves and into her open and rapidly filling arms. Though after they had put any where from ten to twenty books in her arms, they took her to the cashier's desk so she could pay for her things. When he asked for fifteen Galleons, 12 Sickles, and 7 Knuts, she gladly paid and left with a huge bag in one of her hands.

While they were all chatting about normal teenage things, they were interrupted by another voice, this time, though, it was that of a girl. "Harry, Ron, Hermione. It's really nice to see you." A girl with long honey-colored hair, lightly smiling lips, and vacant, protruding eyes stepped out of nowhere. Though they were all startled by the abrupt appearance, Persephone's friends did not seem too terribly surprised to see her there.

Ginny embraced the blank faced girl carefully while Ron placed a tender hand on her shoulder. "Luna," Hermione beamed. "Absolutely marvelous to see you again. It's been a while." Though they were considerably more subdued and gentle with this person than they had been with Neville, Persephone could practically feel the magic coming off of her in thick waves and she knew that she was one of the most powerful witches in Britain, even if she didn't look it. Persephone carefully tapped on Hermione's shoulder, wanting to be noticed this time and introduced rather than asking questions after the person had left.

"Oh, Persephone! I forgot that you were there," she said in response. "Luna, this is Persephone McCain. Persephone, meet Luna Lovegood." Persephone shook the distant girl's hand with a smile which, surprisingly, Luna returned. "Persephone's from America. Her mother used to work in the American Ministry of Magic, but was transferred here and Persephone and her family came along too. She'll be in our year at Hogwarts and in Gryffindor."

Luna turned her strangely alluring face to Persephone after hearing that she was from America. "My dad has been to America. He says that somewhere in a place called Kentucky there is supposed to be a five-winged Bladruun and in Florida there are the elusive Flig-bopples. I don't suppose that you've ever seen one?"

Persephone felt her eyes widen in surprise, but she found her voice for long enough to answer. "I've never been to Kentucky or Florida, I lived in Washington State. Come to think of it, I've never heard of those animals either. Have you seen one?" Persephone couldn't tell if the odd girl was making up the names or not, but she was truly curious.

Luna shrugged and the corners of her mouth drooped, but the distant look in her eyes didn't fade. "No, but my father says that he might have seen a Haggle-Spined Rethnix in Vermont. No matter. Someone always sees them and reports it. I'm sure that they're just shy animals."

After rather lengthy farewells, she, too, left them in search of Neville. She said that she was curious to see if he truly did look as different as they had said he did. "He might have come across a Gadflee or a Naplice. They're said to cause physical transformations. I think that I shall go and ask him. It would make a good article for Dad." Persephone looked to her friends after she had gone.

"So, her name is Luna, you say?" Persephone laughed lightheartedly. "I like her. She's interesting."

"I daresay she is," a rough, but silky smooth voice said from behind them. Persephone turned around in surprise to face the sallow-faced man who had raised his eyebrow at her in the Leaky Cauldron. She hadn't noticed before, but now that he was closer to her, she saw that his hair was far too greasy and his nose was far too hooked and his eyes were far too narrow. Even at first glance, she knew that this was a man that would be hard to find fondness for.

"Snape!" Persephone heard Ron say in astonishment from behind her. The man's black eyes narrowed even more as he turned to look from her to Ron.

"Professor Snape to you, Mr. Weasley." His voice had a slight edge to it, but he didn't lose the silkiness. "I have to take Ms. McCain from you now, if you don't mind." He grabbed hold of her upper arm with his spidery-thin hands.

"What?!" all five of them said at once. Snape winced, but didn't let go of her arm.

"Are you hard of hearing?" he snapped angrily, his eyes sparking with a fire that was in no way friendly. "I said I have to take Ms. McCain from you now, and I intend to do so. Now, if there are no further interruptions..."

But, of course, there was a quintuple of interruptions. Persephone, though, won out, considering that it was she who was about to be spirited away to who knew where.

"Why do you have to take me, Mr. Snape?" she asked him in confusion. He winced at the use of his name in such a familiar manner, but she continued before he had a chance to correct her. She closed her eyes in dread as the thoughts came unbidden into her head. Ugly and horrible thoughts that didn't end happily, but ended only in death, pain, and guilt. "Something's happened, hasn't it?"

Her voice, so morose and calm, surprised them all, especially Snape. He had been expecting anger, confusion, even hysterics, but he wasn't prepared for the quiet or the stillness. Surprise must have addled his brains somewhat, because he didn't give her the answer that Albus Dumbledore had provided him, but told her the straight-out, unadulterated truth.

"Yes. Something's happened."

She hissed sharply as she sucked in air between her bared teeth. After a few more breaths like that, she reopened her eyes and looked at him, almost knowing the answer before he said it. "What happened?" she asked, knowing that he wouldn't answer unless she did.

For the first time that Harry could remember, he saw Snape sigh with an emotion that could have been called sympathy, pity, and even compassion. Words that just didn't mesh with the name Severus Snape. He looked at his Professor's face in surprise as he realized that the frown he had was not one of annoyance or anger, but of outright pain and sadness. He waited for the words that were on the tip of Snape's tongue with bated breath. Just like Persephone, he knew that it was something horrible.

"Ms. McCain, I would prefer to answer that in private. Preferably with Albus Dumbledore present. It's not exactly good news that I've come to deliver."

Persephone's eyes narrowed until they were almost as small as those of the man before her. "Mr. Snape, if you don't tell me here and now I won't come with you. Tell me."

Ron had to hide the most inappropriate smirk that was coming across his face. He knew that the situation they were all in was serious, but he hadn't ever heard someone stand up to Snape so calmly and evenly. If circumstances were different, he would have laughed out loud, even though it would most likely cause him to lose house points. 'Hell,' he thought, 'if she does it again, house points be damned.'

Hermione, though she was terribly amused, could find no room in her heart for laughter. Whatever Snape wanted to say was terribly important. And very possibly hazardous to Persephone's health. The girl was already so frail, despite her outward appearance, and Hermione didn't think that she could handle very much more stress without falling apart. She was proud of Snape for realizing that (he didn't, but she didn't know that) and treading carefully on tiptoe around her.

Ginny was simply confused. She saw by the expressions on her companion's faces that the situation was dire, or in Ron's case, funny, but she didn't understand completely. Sure, she knew that Persephone had a dark past, but there wasn't one person she was close to who didn't have some horror or other behind them. She knew something important was about to happen, for better or worse, and that it was going to affect them all. She could feel it. Ever since her escapade with Tom Riddle and the Chamber of Secrets in her first year, she got feelings when something bad was about to happen. She got the feeling in her second year the minute Professor Lupin walked in the classroom door, the minute Harry's name was pulled from the goblet of fire, the minute they had gone into the Department of Mysteries. Each time something horrible had happened and now was no different. Lives were on the line, and not just that of Persephone, but of all of them. The air around her was changing and she could feel it in her bones. For now, however, all she could do now was wait for Snape to spill the beans and see what happened next.

Snape sighed again, a longer and more emotional one than before. "Ms. McCain, we, that is to say, the Headmaster and the teachers, have received word from Minister Fudge this last night, or early morning, depending on your view point." Persephone's heart froze momentarily at the mention of Fudge before quickening with fear and dreadful anticipation. "It seems that your sister and her family were found in their home." He paused for a short breath. "They were dead. Murdered by someone of the name Nodoren. I am sorry. Now, you must come with me. You must see Dumbledore. You must be brought abreast of what has happened concerning the Dark Lord and this Nodoren. Come now." He tugged on her arm, but she didn't move.

Persephone heard his words, but couldn't quite understand them fully. She heard him say that her sister was dead. She heard him say that her sister's family was dead. She heard him say that she must come with him now. She heard him say he was sorry. She heard everything, but none of it hit her. That is, none of it but the word Nodoren. She heard and understood Nodoren. Her heart seemed to stop and her body went rigid. Her heavy bag of books fell like a stone from her suddenly nerveless hands. She looked ahead blankly for a moment, barely feeling his insistent tugs on her arm. Then, as though someone had set fire to every nerve in her body at once, she began to shake. Not just a little shiver, but flat out shake. She felt hands try to steady her, but she kept shaking.

"Oh," she said simply. Her shaking didn't stop entirely, but it slowed, and her muscles itched for movement. She felt a soft thin hand grip hers sympathetically, but she couldn't think of who it was. All she could think of was a pair of yellow eyes. "Oh," she repeated.

Then, before anyone could react, she shot away from them like a bat out of hell. Her legs thrust out in front of her only to fall harshly on the cobblestones underfoot. She pushed her way past people, ignoring their surprised and rude remarks, and ran. She ran for peace, she ran for solace, and she ran for vengeance, but she couldn't make any sense from her actions. Her mind was, thankfully, blissfully blank (for the most part) and she truly could feel no pain. Only a distinct, if unrecognizable, hollowness. It felt similar to the large hole that she had already had for a long time, but the edges of this new addition were obviously much more jagged. She knew that the strange hollow was something she should know, but the overwhelming feelings she knew she'd get if she dwelled on it were enough to make her hesitant to explore her thoughts.

She reached a less populated, but certainly still busy, bookshop at the end of the Alley and sat down on the hard stone ground in exhaustion. She could feel tears pricking at her eyes, but still couldn't fathom what they were there for. It just didn't make sense. Snape had said that her sister was dead, that Nodoren had killed them, but it just didn't click in her mind.

As she thought, she felt a light, but strong, hand fall on her shoulder. "Persephone?" its owner asked. She started and turned up to look into the slim and handsome face of the person she most wanted, and most didn't want, to see. He knelt down beside her. "What's the matter?"

She looked at him for a moment, hesitating on what she should say. Finally, she decided on an easy, "Oh, Percy," and fell into his arms with a sob.

~`~`~`~`~

All right, all right, I know that wasn't a spectacular chapter, but hey, the story's coming along. Things will start happening more now and, well, we might just get to see a little more Percy/Persephone action. Who knows? ( Well, review, please!