Chapter 6

Fallen Warrior

KIARA

"Mina?"

I struggled to raise myself out of the debris of metal and leather that surrounded me; my hands sank into inches of muddy water as I tried to stand. I could not understand where Zira had gone and I expected her to swoop out of the darkness at any moment. Something hot and wet was trickling down my chin and from my forehead. I crawled out of the pond and stumbled towards the great, dark mass on the ground that was Mina.

"Mina? Mina, talk to me - "

But the dark mass did not stir.

"Who's there? Is that Pride-Lander? Are you Kiara Pride-Lander?"

I did not recognise the man's voice. Then a woman shouted, "They've crashed, Tim! Crashed in the garden!"

My head was swimming.

"Mina," I repeated stupidly, and my knees buckled.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back on what felt like cushions, with a burning sensation in my ribs and right arm. My missing tooth had been regrown. The scar on my forehead was still throbbing.

"Mina?"

I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying on a sofa in an unfamiliar, lamplit sitting room. My rucksack and extra bag lay on the floor a short distance away, both wet and muddy. A fair-haired, big-bellied man was watching me anxiously.

"Mina's fine, love," said the man, "the wife's seeing to her now. How are you feeling? Anything else broken? I've fixed your ribs, your tooth and your arm. I'm Tim, by the way, Tim Todd - Nan's father."

I sat up too quickly: lights popped in front of my eyes and I felt sick and giddy.

"Zira - "

"Easy, now," said Tim Todd, placing a hand on my shoulder and pushing me back against the cushions. "That was a nasty crash you just had. What happened, anyway? Something go wrong with the bike? Matthew Dawson overstretch himself again, him and his Muggle contraptions?"

"No," I said, as my scar pulsed like an open wound. "Love Destroyers, loads of them - we were chased - "

"Love Destroyers?" said Tim sharply. "What d'you mean, Love Destroyers? I thought they didn't know you were being moved tonight. I thought - "

"They knew," I said.

Tim Todd looked up at the ceiling as though he could see through it to the sky above.

"Well, we know our protective charms hold, then, don't we? They shouldn't be able to get within a hundred yards of the place in any direction."

Now I understood why Zira had vanished; it had been at the point when the motorbike crossed the barrier of the Order's charms. I only hoped they would continue to work: I imagined Zira, a hundred yards above us as we spoke, looking for a way to penetrate what I visualised as a great, transparent bubble.

I swung my legs off the sofa; I needed to see Mina with my own eyes before I would believe she was alive. I had barely stood up, however, when a door opened and Mina squeezed through it, her face covered in mud and blood, limping a little but miraculously alive.

"Kiara!"

Knocking over two delicate tables and a aspidistra, she covered the floor between us in two strides and pulled me into a hug that nearly cracked my newly repaired ribs. "Blimey, Kiara, how did yeh get out o' that? I thought we were both goners."

"Yeah, me too. I can't believe - "

I broke off: I had just noticed the woman who had entered the room behind Mina.

"You!" I shouted, and I thrust my hand into my pocket, but it was empty.

"Your wand's here, love," said Tim, tapping it on my arm. "It fell right beside you, I picked it up. And that's my wife you're shouting at."

"Oh, I'm - I'm sorry."

As she moved forwards into the room, Mrs Todd's resemblance to her sister Katalina became much less pronounced: her hair was auburn and her eyes were wider and kinder. Nevertheless, she looked a little haughty after my exclamation.

"What happened to our daughter?" she asked. "Mina said you were ambushed; where is Nana?"

"I don't know," I said. "We don't know what happened to anyone else."

She and Tim exchanged looks. A mixture of fear and guilt gripped me at the sight of their expressions; if any of the others had died, it was my fault, all my fault. I had consented to the plan, given them my hair ...

"The Portkey," I said, remembering all of a sudden. "We've got to get back to Dawson Manor and find out - then we'll be able to send you word, or - or Todd will, once she's - "

"Nan'll be OK, Aberash," said Tim. "She knows her stuff, she's been in plenty of tight spots with the Aurors. The Portkey's through here," he added to me. "It's supposed to leave in three minutes, if you want to take it."

"Yeah, we do," I said. I seized my rucksack, swung it on to my shoulders and picked up the extra bag. "I - "

I looked at Mrs Todd, wanting to apologise for the state of fear in which I left her and which I felt so terribly responsible, but no words occurred to me that did not seem hollow and insincere.

"I'll tell Todd - Nan - to send word, when she ... thanks for patching us up, thanks for everything. I - "

I was glad to leave the room and follow Tim Todd along a short hallway and into a bedroom. Mina came after us, bending low to avoid hitting her head on the door lintel.

"There you go, love. That's the Portkey."

Mr Todd was pointing to a small, silver-backed hairbrush lying on the dressing table.

"Thanks," I said, reaching out to place a finger on it, ready to leave.

"Wait a moment," said Mina, looking around. "Kiara, where's Harold's cage? Wha' happened ter him ter make yeh lose it?"

"He ... he got hit. I watched him fall," I said.

The realisation crashed over me: I felt ashamed of myself as the tears stung my eyes. The owl had been my friend, my companion, my link with the wizarding world whenever I had to return to my grandmothers' cottage.

Mina reached out a great hand and patted me painfully on the shoulder.

"Never mind," she said gruffly. "Never mind. He had a great old life - "

"Mina!" said Tim Todd warningly, as the hairbrush glowed bright blue, and Mina only just got her forefinger to it in time.

With a jerk behind the navel as though an invisible hook and line had dragged me forwards, I was pulled into nothingness, spinning uncontrollably, my finger glued to the Portkey as Mina and I hurtled away from Mr Todd: seconds later my feet slammed on to hard ground and I fell on my hands and knees in the back garden of Dawson Manor, in front of the back door to the kitchen. I heard screams. Throwing aside the no longer glowing hairbrush, I stood up, swaying slightly, and I saw my parents and Chris running down the steps by the back door as Mina, who had also collapsed on landing, clambered laboriously to her feet, as my parents rushed over to embrace me. After about a minute they let go of me.

"Kiara? You are the real Kiara?" Mum cried, touching my face and my hair. "What happened? Where are the others?"

"What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" I panted.

The answer was clearly etched in my parents' pale faces.

"The Love Destroyers were waiting for us," I told them. "We were surrounded the moment we took off - they knew it was tonight - I don't know what happened to anyone else. Four of them chased us, it was all we could do to get away, and then Zira caught up with us - "

I could hear the self-justifying note in my voice, the plea for my parents to understand why I did not know what happened to the others, but -

"Thank goodness you're all right," said my father, he and Mum pulling me into another hug I did not feel I deserved.

"D'yeh know if there's any brandy in there, Nala?" said Mina shakily. "Fer medicinal purposes?"

My parents let go of me, and instead of Mum just going back inside the grand house on her own, my father followed her in. I turned to Chris then, who stepped closer to me. In that moment, I forgot I had broken up with him, I forgot my anxiety about how we would act around each other, I even forgot that Mina was there. All I could think of was that I needed to feel the warmth and comfort of the boy I loved. So I rushed at him and flung my arms around him, holding him just as tightly as he held me, my arms around his neck, one of his arms wrapped around my waist, the other in my hair. After several long moments we let go of each other and Chris answered my unspoken plea for information at once.

"Chrissie and Todd should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them," he said, pointing at a rusty oilcan lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," he pointed at an ancient plimsoll, "should have been Dad and Tanya's, they were supposed to be second. You and Mina were third and," he checked his watch, "if they made it, Geri and Meers ought to have been back in about a minute."

My parents reappeared with my mother carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to Mina. She uncorked it and drank it straight down in one.

"Simba!" shouted Chris, pointing to a spot several feet away.

A blue light had appeared in the darkness: it grew larger and brighter, and Meers and Geri appeared, spinning and then falling. I knew immediately that there was something wrong: Meers was supporting Geri, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood.

My father ran forwards and lifted Geri into his arms, carrying her into the house bridal style. He carried her through the kitchen, down the ancestry corridor, along the front of the house, turned a corner, walked halfway down that corridor and entered the spacious drawing room where the Dawsons were all seated, tense. They jumped up as soon as they saw us and Kestrel, Merida and Dave moved away from the sofa as soon as they saw Geri in my father's arms, Merida, readjusting her hold on my baby brother, Kion. My father lay her down, and as my father stepped back, I heard many gasps as my stomach lurched: one of Geri's ears was missing. The side of her head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.

No sooner had my mother bent over Geri than Meers grabbed me by the upper arm and dragged me, none too gently, all the way back to the kitchen, where Mina was still attempting to ease her bulk through the back door.

"Oi!" said Mina indignantly. "Le' go of her! Le' go of Kiara!"

"Timon, just what do you think you are doing with my daughter?" thundered my father.

But Meers ignored them both.

"What creature sat in the corner, the first time that Kiara Pride-Lander visited my office at Dragon Mort?" he said, giving me a small shake. "Answer me!"

"A - a Grindylow in a tank, wasn't it?"

Meers released me and fell back against a kitchen cupboard.

"Wha' was tha' about?" roared Mina, as my father came up to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm sorry, Kiara, but I have to check," said Meers tersely. "We've been betrayed. Zira knew that you were being moved tonight and the only people who could have told her were directly involved in the plan. You might have been an impostor."

"So why aren' you checkin' me?" panted Mina, still struggling to fit through the door."

"You're half-giant," said Meers, looking up at Mina. "The Polyjuice Potion is designed for human use only."

"None of the Order would have told Zira we were moving tonight," I said: the idea was dreadful to me, I could not believe it of any of them. "Zira only caught up with me towards the end, she didn't know which one I was in the beginning. If she'd been in on the plan, she'd have known from the start I was the one with Mina."

"Zira caught up with you?" said Meers sharply, as my father held me tighter. "What happened? How did you escape?"

I explained, briefly, how the Love Destroyers pursuing us had seemed to recognise me as the true Kiara, how they had abandoned the chase, how they must have summoned Zira, who had appeared just before Mina and I had reached the sanctuary of Todd's parents'.

"They recognised you? But how? What had you done?"

"I ..." I tried to remember; the whole journey seemed like a blur of panic and confusion. "I saw Harold ... he took a few swipes at the Love Destroyers, and one of them struck ..." I was finding it really hard to talk by this point. "He fell. I screamed his name as I watched him fall - I couldn't help it! - but ... there was nothing I could do."

My father said nothing but rubbed my back comfortingly, while Meers stood there, looking aghast.

"Kiara, I understand that seeing your beloved pet being killed in front of you is hard, but it was foolish of you to scream his name aloud to people who were looking for you and were trying to capture and kill the real you!"

"So what was I supposed to do, turn my head in the opposite direction and not care about him dying? Do you want me to become heartless, is that what you're saying?" I asked defiantly; just because he didn't care that Harold had died did not mean that I didn't.

"Of course not, Kiara," said Meers with a great deal of restraint, "but as Grumpy said earlier, Triphorm told Zira and the Love Destroyers all about you. You should have acted as if you hadn't known the owl when you saw him and let out your anger and your hurt when you arrived at Todd's parents' house or here. Also, letting those two Love Destroyers fly away without aiming a curse at them was a very unwise move on your part, Kiara. You could have at least tried to Stun them, if not something more powerful!"

"So you think I should have killed those Love Destroyers?" I said angrily.

"Of course not," said Meers, "but the Love Destroyers - frankly, most people! - would have expected you to attack back! Yes, Harold was there to help you, but he's gone now, Kiara, and you must do better at fighting your battles! It's a kill or be killed world out there now, kid! You have to be more careful!"

Meers was making me feel idiotic, and yet there was still a grain of defiance inside me.

"I'm not as heartless as Zira to not show that I don't care for my friends, human or otherwise," I said. "And I won't blast people out of my way just because they're there. That's Zira's job."

Meers' retort was lost: finally succeeding in squeezing through the door, Mina staggered to a chair and sat down; it collapsed beneath her. Ignoring her mingled oaths and apologies, I addressed Meers again.

"Will Geri be OK?"

All Meers' frustration with me seemed to drain away at the question.

"I think so, although there's no chance of replacing her ear, not when it's been cursed off - "

There was a scuffling from outside. Meers dived for the back door; my father and I let go of each other, jumped over Mina's legs and sprinted into the garden.

Two figures had appeared in the garden and as I ran towards them I realised they were Sian, now returning to her normal appearance, and Kara, both clutching a bent coat hanger. Sian flung herself into my arms, but Kara showed no pleasure at the sign of any of us. Over Sian's shoulder I saw her raise her wand and point it at Meers' chest.

"The last words Susan Crighton spoke to the pair of us?"

"'Kiara is the best hope we have. Trust her,'" said Meers calmly.

Kara turned her wand on me, but Meers said, "It's her, I've checked.

"All right, all right," said Kara, stowing her wand back beneath her cloak. "But somebody betrayed us! They knew, they knew it was tonight!"

"So it seems," replied Meers, "but apparently they did not realise that there would be seven Kiaras."

"Small comfort!" snarled Kara. "Who else is back?"

"Only Kiara, Mina, Geri and me."

Sian stifled a little moan behind her hand.

"What happened to you?" Meers asked Kara.

"Followed by five, injured two, might've killed one," Kara reeled off, "and we saw She-You-Know as well, she joined the chase halfway through, but vanished pretty quickly. Timon, she can - "

"Fly," I supplied. "I saw her too, she came after Mina and me."

"So that's why she left - to follow you!" said Kara. "I couldn't understand why she'd vanished. But what made her change targets?"

"Kiara noticed her owl attacking one of Zira's latest recruits," said Meers.

"One of Zira's latest recruits?" repeated Sian. "But I thought those who're Imperiused or follow Zira of their own free will were still in Azkaban?"

Kara let out a mirthless laugh.

"Sian, there's obviously been a mass breakout which the Ministry has hushed up. Thorn's hood fell off when I cursed her, she's supposed to be inside too. But what happened to you, Timon? Where's Geri?"

"She's lost an ear," said Meers.

"Lost an - ?" repeated Sian in a high voice.

"Triphorm's work," said Meers.

"Triphorm?" I shouted. "You didn't say - "

"She lost her hood during the chase. Sectumsempra was always a speciality of Triphorm's. I wish I could say I paid her back in kind, but it was all I could do to keep Geri on the broom after she was injured, she was losing so much blood."

Silence fell between the four of us as we looked up at the sky. There was no sign of movement; the stars stared back, unblinking, indifferent, unobscured by flying friends. Where were Tanya and Mr Dawson? Where were Sam, Ferdinand, Todd, Crazy-Head and Mona?

"Kiara, give us a hand!" called Mina hoarsely from the door, in which she was stuck again. Glad of something to do, I pulled her free, then headed back through the empty kitchen all the way back to the drawing room, Sian right behind me, where my mother, Chris and the rest of the Dawsons were still tending to Geri. Noticing Sian, Kopa rushed to her and gathered her in his arms, spinning her around; the rest of the Dawsons, realising Sian was there, ran to her, and Sian, letting go of Kopa, hugged each of her siblings in turn, reassuring them that she was alive and safe. Meanwhile, I moved over to the sofa where Geri lay, and I could see that my mother had staunched her bleeding now, and by the lamplight I saw a clean, gaping hole where Geri's ear had been.

"How is she?"

Mum looked round and said, "Wounds made by Dark Magic can never be properly healed, I'm afraid to say. But it could have been so much worse ... she's alive."

"Yeah," I said. "Thank God."

"I'm glad to see you back safe, Sian," said Chris, hugging her.

"Thanks, Chris. So am I," said Sian, letting her brother go. As Sian moved to Geri's side, Chris and I looked at each other; I wanted to hug him, hold on to him; I did not even care much that my parents, Kopa and the Dawsons were there, but before I could act on the impulse there came a shout from outside the door.

"Timon, I'll prove to you and Kara who I am once I've seen my niece, now back off if you know what's good for you!"

I had never heard Mr Dawson shout like that before. He stormed into the room, his face red and glistening with sweat, Tanya right behind him, pale but injured. As soon as he saw Sian, Mr Dawson strode across the room and held his dearest firstborn tightly.

"Dad! Thank goodness!" Sian sighed in relief.

"How is she?"

Mr Dawson dropped to his knees beside Geri as Sian stood next to him, her hand on his shoulder, which he grasped like a lifeline. For the first time since I had known her, Tanya seemed to be lost for words. She gaped over the back of the sofa at her twin's wound as if she could not believe what she was seeing.

Perhaps roused by the sound of Tanya and her uncle's arrival, Geri stirred.

"How do you feel, Ger?" whispered Sian.

Geri's fingers groped for the side of her neck.

"Saint-like," she murmured.

"What's wrong with her?" croaked Tanya, looking terrified. "is her mind affected?"

"Saint-like," repeated Geri, opening her eyes and looking up at her sister. "You see ... I'm holy. Holey, Tanya, geddit?"

Sian released a breathy chuckle. Colour flooded Tanya's pale face.

"Pathetic," she told Geri. "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for holey?"

"Ah well," said Geri, grinning at a pale-faced Sian. "You'll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, Sian."

She looked round.

"Hi Kiara - you are Kiara, right?"

"Yeah, I am," I said, moving closer to the sofa.

"Well, at least we got you back OK," said Geri. "Why aren't Chrissie and Sam huddled round my sickbed?"

"They're not back yet, Geri," said Sian. Geri's grin faded. I glanced at both Chris and Sian and motioned to them to accompany me back outside. As we were walking through the kitchen, Chris said in a low voice, "Chrissie and Todd should be back by now. They didn't have a long journey; Great-Aunt Lizzie's is not that far from here."

I said nothing. I had been trying to keep my fear at bay ever since reaching Dawson Manor, but now it enveloped me, seeming to crawl over my skin, throbbing in my chest, clogging my throat. As we walked down the back steps into the dark garden, Chris took my hand.

Kara was striding backwards and forwards, glancing up at the sky every time she turned. Mina and Meers, now joined by Sian, stood shoulder to shoulder, gazing upwards in silence. None of them looked round when Chris and I joined their silent vigil.

The minutes stretched into what might as well have been years. The slightest breath of wind made us all jump and turn towards the whispering bush or tree in the hopes that one of the missing Order members might leap unscathed from its leaves -

And then a broom materialised directly above us and streaked towards the ground -

"It's them!" screamed Sian.

Todd landed in a long skid that sent earth everywhere.

"Timon!" Todd cried as she staggered off the broom into Meers' arms. His face was set and white: he seemed unable to speak. Chrissie tripped dazedly towards Chris, Sian and I.

"You're OK," she mumbled, before Sian flew at her and hugged her tightly.

"I thought - I thought - "

"'M all right," said Chrissie, hugging her sister back. "'M fine."

"Chrissie was great," said Todd warmly, relinquishing her hold on Meers. "Wonderful. Stunned one of the Love Destroyers, straight to the head, and when you're aiming at a moving target from a flying broom - "

"You did?" said Sian, gazing at Chrissie with her arms still around her.

"Always the tone of surprise," said Chrissie a little grumpily, letting go of Sian to hug Chris.

"That you are, Chrissie," he said. "Nice one."

"Thanks, Chris," said Chrissie. "Are we the last back?"

"No," said Chris, "we're still waiting for Ferdinand and Sam and Crazy-Head and Mona. I'm going to tell Dad and the others you're OK, Chrissie - "

He ran back inside.

"So what kept you? What happened?" Meers sounded almost angry with Todd.

"Katalina," said Todd. "She wants me quite as much as she wants Kiara, Timon, she tried very hard to kill me. I just wish I'd got her, I owe Katalina. But we definitely injured Nuka ... then we got to Chrissie's Great-Aunt Elizabeth's and we'd missed our Portkey and she was fussing over us - "

A muscle was jumping in Meers' jaw. He nodded, but seemed unable to say anything else.

"So what happened to you lot?" Todd asked, turning to Sian, Kara and I.

We recounted our stories of our own journeys, but all the time the continued absence of Sam, Ferdinand, Crazy-Head and Mona seemed to lie upon us like a frost, its icy bite harder and harder to ignore.

"I'm going to have to go back to Downing Street. I should have been there an hour ago," said Kara finally, after a last sweeping gaze at the sky. "Let me know when they're back."

Meers nodded. With a wave to the rest of us, Kara walked away into the darkness towards the gate. I thought I heard the faintest pop as Kara Disapparated just beyond Dawson Manor's boundaries.

Mr Dawson came running down the back steps, Chris behind him. Mr Dawson hugged Chrissie before he and Sian turned to Meers and Todd.

"Thank you," said Sian, "for my cousin and my sister."

"Don't be silly, Sian," said Todd at once.

"How's Geri?" asked Meers.

"What's wrong with her?" piped up Chrissie.

"She's lost - "

But the end of Sian's sentence was drowned in a general outcry: a Thestral had just soared into sight and landed a few feet from us. Sam and Ferdinand slid from its back, windswept but unhurt.

"Sam! Thank God, thank God - "

Sian rushed to her, but the hug Sam bestowed upon her was perfunctory. Looking directly at her uncle, she said, "Crazy-Head's dead."

Nobody spoke, nobody moved. I felt as though something inside me was falling, falling through the earth, leaving me forever.

"We saw it," said Sam; Ferdinand nodded, his head bowed sadly. "It happened just after we broke out of the circle: Crazy-Head and Mona were close by us, they were heading north too. Zira - she can fly - went straight for them. Mona panicked, I saw her cry out, Crazy-Head tried to stop her, but she Disapparated. Zira's curse hit Crazy-Head full in the face, she fell backwards off her broom and - there was nothing we could do, nothing, we had half a dozen of them on our own tail - "

Sam's voice broke.

"Of course you couldn't have done anything," said Meers.

We all stood looking at each other. I could not quite comprehend it. Crazy-Head dead; it could not be ... Crazy-Head, so tough, so brave, the consummate survivor ...

At last it seemed to dawn on everyone, though none of us said it, that there was no point waiting in the garden any more, and in silence we followed Mr Dawson and Sian back into Dawson Manor, and all the way to the drawing room, where Tanya and Geri were making themselves and everyone else in the room laugh.

"What's wrong?" said my father, scanning our faces as we entered. "What's happened? Who's - ?"

"Crazy-Head," said Mr Dawson. "Dead."

The twins' grins turned to grimaces of shock and the laughter immediately died. Nobody seemed to know what to do. Todd was crying silently into a handkerchief: she had been close to Crazy-Head, I knew, her favourite and her protégée at the Ministry of Magic. Mina, who had followed us inside, had sat down on the floor in the corner where she had most space, was dabbing at her eyes with her tablecloth-sized handkerchief.

Sam walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Firewhisky and several glasses, Ferdinand helping her.

"Here," she said, and with a wave of her wand she sent twenty-one full glasses soaring through the room to each of us, holding the twenty-second aloft. "Crazy-Head."

"Crazy-Head," we all said, and drank.

"Crazy-Head," echoed Mina, a little late, with a hiccough.

The Firewhisky seared my throat: it seemed to burn feeling back into me, dispelling the numbness and sense of unreality, firing me with something that was like courage.

"So Mona disappeared?" said Meers, who had drained his own glass in one.

The atmosphere changed at once: everybody looked tense, watching Meers, both wanting him to go on, it seemed to me, and slightly afraid of what we might hear.

"I know what you're thinking," said Sam, "and I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn't they? But Mona can't have betrayed us. They didn't know there would be seven Kiaras, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you've forgotten, it was Mona who suggested that little bit of skulduggery. Why wouldn't she have told them the essential point? I think Mona panicked, it's as simple as that. She didn't want to come in the first place, but Crazy-Head made her, and She-You-Know went straight for them: it was enough to make anyone panic."

"She-You-Know acted exactly as Crazy-Head expected her to," sniffed Todd. "Crazy-Head said she'd expect the real Kiara to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. She chased Crazy-Head first, and when Mona gave them away, she switched to Kara."

"Yes, and zat eez all very good," snapped Ferdinand, "but still eet does not explain 'ow zey knew we were moving Kiara tonight, does eet? Somebody must 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. Eet eez ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan."

He glared around at us all, silently daring any of us to contradict him. Nobody did. The only sound to break the silence was that of Mina hiccoughing from behind her handkerchief. I glanced at Mina, who had just risked her life to save mine - Mina, whom I loved, whom I trusted, who had once been tricked into giving Zira crucial information in exchange for a dragon's egg ...

"No," I said aloud, and they all looked at me, surprised: the Firewhisky seemed to have amplified my voice. "I mean ... if somebody made a mistake," I went on, "and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault," I repeated, again a little louder than I would usually have spoken. "We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Zira."

More silence followed my words. They were all looking at me; I felt a little hot again, and drank some more Firewhisky for something to do. As I drank, I thought of Crazy-Head. Crazy-Head had always been scathing about Crighton's willingness to trust people.

"Well said, Kiara," said Tanya unexpectedly.

"Yeah, 'ear, 'ear," said Geri, with half a glance at Tanya, the corner of whose mouth twitched.

Meers was wearing an odd expression as he looked at me: it was close to pitying.

"You think I'm a fool?" I demanded.

"No, he doesn't," Mum answered for him. I looked at her; she was smiling slightly at me. "You know, Kiara, every now and again you remind me of myself, for even I would mark it as the height of dishonour to mistrust my friends."

I knew what my mother was getting at: that she had been betrayed by her friends, the Absters. I felt irrationally angry. I wanted to argue, but as I looked at my father, my anger faded, for he was smiling proudly at me.

"What?" I asked him.

"You're right, Kiara," he said, putting down his glass and walking over to me. He put his hands on my shoulders, looking right into my eyes and said, "Trust is something that can be easily made, and just as easily broken, so therefore we must not take it for granted. We all have to rely on each other if we want to make it through this. You've reminded us, yet again, Kiara, just what's at stake here." My father then kissed my forehead, and I didn't know whether to be comforted or feel guilty by his words.

We were then brought back into the room by Meers, who had set his glass down upon a side table and now addressed Sam, "There's work to be done. I can ask Kara whether - "

"No," said Sam at once, "I'll do it, I'll come."

"Where are you going?" said Todd and Ferdinand together.

"Crazy-Head's body," said Meers. "We need to recover it."

"Can't it - ?" began Sian, with an appealing look at Sam.

"Wait?" said Sam. "Not unless you'd rather the Love Destroyers took it?"

Nobody spoke. Meers and Sam said goodbye and left.

The rest of them now dropped into chairs, all except for me, as I remained standing. The suddenness and completeness of death was with us like a presence.

"I've got to go, too," I said.

Nineteen pairs of startled eyes looked at me.

"You're not going anywhere," my father said forcefully. "Not tonight!"

"But Daddy, I can't stay here."

I rubbed my forehead: it was prickling again; it had not hurt like this for more than a year.

"You're all in danger while I'm here. I don't want - "

"Kiara, don't be so silly!" said Sian. "The whole point of tonight was to get you here safely, and thank goodness it worked. We risked a lot getting you here, Kiara; surely Crazy-Head is proof of that? Besides, your parents and little brother are here, you can't just up and leave them and the rest of us tonight just because you feel guilty. And Ferdinand's arranged to get married here rather than in France, we've arranged everything so that we can all stay together and look after you - "

She did not understand; she was making me feel worse, not better.

"If Zira finds out I'm here - "

"But why should she?" asked Mum.

"There are a dozen places you might be now, Kiara," said Mr Dawson. "She's got no way of knowing which safe house you're in."

"It's not me I'm worried for!" I said.

"We know that," said my father quietly, "but Sian is right; it would make our efforts seem rather pointless if you left."

"Yer not goin' anywhere," growled Mina. "Blimey, Kiara, after all we went through ter get you here?"

"Yeah, what about my bleeding ear?" said Geri, hoisting herself up on her cushions.

"I know that - "

"Crazy-Head wouldn't want - "

"I KNOW!" I bellowed.

I felt beleaguered and blackmailed: did they not think I did not know what they had done for me, didn't they understand that it was for precisely that reason that I wanted to go now, before they had to suffer any more on my behalf? There was a long and awkward silence in which my scar continued to throb, and which was broken at last by Sian.

"Where's Harold, Kiara?" she said coaxingly. "We can put him up with Piggledon and Cattonia and give him something to eat."

My insides clenched like a fist. I could not tell her the truth. I drank the last of my Firewhisky to avoid answering.

"Wait 'til it gets out yeh did it again, Kiara," said Mina. "Escaped her, fought her off when she was right on top of yeh!"

"It wasn't me," I said flatly. "It was my wand. My wand acted of its own accord."

After a few moments, Sian said gently, "But that's impossible, Kiara. You mean that you did magic without meaning to; you reacted instinctively."

"No," I said. "The bike was falling. I couldn't have told you where Zira was, but my wand spun in my hand and found her and shot a spell at her, and it wasn't even a spell I recognised. I've never made gold flames appear before."

"Often," said Mr Dawson, "when you're in a pressured situation you can produce magic you've never dreamed of. Small children often find, before they're trained - "

"It wasn't like that," I said through gritted teeth. My scar was burning: I felt angry and frustrated; I hated the idea that they were all imagining me to have power to match Zira's.

No one said anything. I knew that they did not believe me. Now that I came to think of it, I had never heard of a wand performing magic on its own before.

My scar seared with pain; it was all I could do not to moan aloud. Muttering about fresh air, I set down my glass and left the room.

As I walked into the dark back garden, the great, skeletal Thestral looked up, rustled its enormous bat-like wings, then resumed its grazing. I stopped before the dark wood surrounding the grand house, staring into the dark trees, rubbing my pounding forehead and thinking of Crighton.

Crighton would have believed me, I knew it. Crighton would have known how and why my wand had acted independently, because Crighton always had the answers; she had known about wands, had explained to me the strange connection between my wand and Zira's ... but Crighton, like Crazy-Head, like Pumbaa, like my grandfather, like my poor owl, all were gone where I could never talk to them again. I felt a burning in my throat that had nothing to do with Firewhisky ...

And then, out of nowhere, the pain in my scar peaked. As I clutched my forehead and closed my eyes, a voice screamed inside my head.

"You told me the problem would be solved by using another's wand!"

And into my mind burst the vision of an emaciated old woman lying in rags upon a stone floor, screaming, a horrible, drawn-out scream, a scream of unendurable agony ...

"No! No! I beg you, I beg you ..."

"You lied to Lady Zira, Wandwick!"

"I did not ... I swear I did not ..."

"You sought to help Pride-Lander, to help her escape me!"

"I swear I did not ... I believed a different wand would work ..."

"Explain, then, what happened. Narissa's wand is destroyed!"

"I cannot understand ... the connection ... exists only ... between your two wands ..."

"Lies!"

"Please ... I beg you ..."

And I saw the white hand raise its wand and felt Zira's surge of vicious anger, saw the frail old woman on the floor writhe in agony -

"Kiara?"

It was over as quickly as it had come: I stood shaking in the darkness, clutching on to a low-hanging branch from a nearby tree in the garden, my heart racing, my scar still tingling. It was several moments before I realised that Chris, Sian and Chrissie were at my side.

"Kiara, come back inside the house," Sian whispered. "You aren't still thinking of leaving, are you?"

"Yeah, you've got to stay," said Chrissie, putting an arm around me.

"Are you all right?" Chris asked, close enough now to look into my face. "You look awful!"

"Well," I said shakily, "I probably look better than Wandwick ..."

When I had finished telling them what I had seen, Chris' face had paled, Sian looked downright terrified and Chrissie looked appalled.

"But it was supposed to have stopped!" Sian cried. "You're scar - it wasn't supposed to do this any more! You mustn't let that connection open up again - Ma wanted you to close your mind!"

When I did not reply, she gripped my arm.

"Kiara, she's taking over the Ministry and the newspapers and half the wizarding world! Don't let her inside your head too!"

0000

Later that night, in my room at Dawson Manor, I thought back over the most important points of the day: saying goodbye to my grandmothers, aunt, uncle and cousin, the Order members turning up, the seven Kiaras, Harold dying, Zira turning up, the strange golden flames that shot out of my wand, Geri losing an ear, learning of Crazy-Head's death and Madam Wandwick being tortured. As the events of the night caught up with me, the weight of all that had happened finally stole over me, and at last, I allowed myself to cry. I cried for Harold, for Crazy-Head, for Timmy and for my grandmothers, who had taken our home with them.

Between my own sobs, a couple of doors down, I heard another girl crying harder and louder than I, but for different reasons, I imagined, as I cried myself off to sleep.