Disclaimer: Again I say I do not own the HP characters, story lines, or quotes that I have borrowed, purely for entertainment purposes.

Chapter eight: Stunned

"There's a fine line between love and hate. Love frees a soul and in the same breath can sometimes suffocate it." — Cecelia Ahern

Ivy

It was cold up here. A brutal winter wind blew harshly, holding me tightly in its chilly grip and howling in my red and stinging ears, but still, neither myself nor my companion made any move to leave. Standing a little way away from him I looked over the battlements of the tower, taking in the familiar, snow covered scene below with longing, but knowing even as I was here that this wasn't real, I could touch nothing here, for me all of this was just a beautiful mirage, tempting and far out of my reach. I wished that I didn't know that though, despite the bleakness of this scene I wished with all my might that it was real, because I'd sooner be here and half frozen, than stuck in the exile I lived in now. However, wishing never got you anywhere, and this wasn't my life any more.

Closing my eyes I took a deep breath, breathing in the icy air and stood still, feeling the chilly breeze blow my hair back off my face and clear my mind a little. Opening my eyes again I unwillingly turned back to face my unknowing companion, my eyes drinking in the sight of him despite my reluctance. He was sat on the stone floor, his legs drawn up close to his chest and his arms wrapped around them; he rested his chin on his knees and stared ahead blankly, not seeing the ancient battlements, grey skies and distant mountains. Instead, his thoughts were a thousand miles away, somewhere that I couldn't follow them, though, that was probably for the best. Feeling calm, unusually so in fact, I turned my back on the wintery landscape behind me and crossed the tower, heading towards where he sat under the shelter, the thick layer of snow that rested on the stone floor unmoving under my feet, as I wasn't really there.

Coming to a stop right in front of him I crouched down, lowering myself onto the unforgiving floor and watching him intently, taking in his every detail, from the way the howling wind ruffled his silvery blond hair, to the way his furrowed brows caused his forehead to crease. He must be cold, I thought, noticing that he wore nothing more than a plain black cloak thrown over school robes, which surely wouldn't be enough to keep him warm. He didn't seem to mind though, and aside from the slight bluish tinge of his lips, he had no visible reaction to the harsh weather. He was too lost in thought, I decided, observing the distant look in his eyes from close up. Whatever he was thinking about, whatever it was that had brought him up here in the first place, it seemed that it was far more important that the threat of pneumonia.

Then his blue lips twitched and a violent shiver ran through him, and despite how he couldn't see me, how I was only a spectator, I reached out for him. I don't know why I did it, probably because I knew that it wouldn't have an effect on him, and because regardless of everything that had happened it was still hard for me to see him suffer. But whatever the reason, I reached out with my warm finger tips, brushing them against his cheek before gently cupping it, a tender simile on my face. Even though here I was only a shadow, I could still feel how cold he was beneath my touch, as much as I could feel the winter wind whipping at the back of my neck, he was frozen. However, I didn't sit there with my hand on his face for very long, a second at most as he suddenly jumped. Shocked myself I sprang backwards, pulling myself along the floor away from him, as wide eyed my formerly oblivious companion looked around, back straight, expression confused and alarmed, and still unable to see me. Chest rising and falling with astonishment I watched as he looked around, searching for someone he couldn't see, and then, with a surprising jolt I was shocked into a knew scene.

It was just a flash, the briefest of seconds, a glimpse, but it still frightened me. There was a rush of sound, colour and fear, a hiss, a scream, and the glitter of fangs in a wide mouth coming towards me, and then it ended. Gone as quickly as it had come.

I awoke with a start then, jumping in my bed the same way you do when you fall in a dream, it felt as though I had just collided with the mattress. Springing up right and breathing heavily I looked around, relived to find that I wasn't standing in the snow on the Astronomy Tower, or being attacked my a monstrous creature, but was rather in one of the spare rooms in Grimmauld Place. Running a hand through my damp hair to pull it off my face, I looked across the room at Hermione as I tried to calm down my shaking and my erratic breathing, and spotted her sleeping soundly in her own bed, which meant that this time it hadn't been so violent as to wake her. Good, I thought as I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead, I hated lying to her when she asked me what I had been dreaming about. My gaze flicking around the darkened room Hermione and I had claimed, I picked out its key features, the tall wardrobe standing imposingly across from me, the chest of draws on which Hermione's beaded bag sat, the gold gilded mirror on the right wall Hermione and I had had to cover with a blanked because it insulted our 'inferior' birth, every time we looked in it. It was a fairly simple, bare and impersonal room, but of late it had been Hermione's and mine so I had developed at bit of a fondness for it.

Untangling myself from the sheets, which told me I had been thrashing about again, I lay them flat on top of me and rested my head back down against the pillow, though even as I did it I knew I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now, I was too wide awake. So, abandoning all attempts at sleeping, I instead threw back the covers, made the bed up again, grabbed my necklace from the bedside table, and crossed the room quietly towards the door as I put it on. Expertly navigating around all the creaky floorboards, I opened the door cautiously so as not to wake Hermione, since it still felt pretty early. Slipping out onto the landing I ignited my wand tip, even though I was no longer frightened by the looming shadows, dark corners, and grotesque ornaments of the house, it was still safer to walk about with a light, lest I trip over something. Heading downstairs, losing all the remnant cold I felt from my vision (because I knew that was exactly what that was) thanks to the warm September temperature and familiarity of the house. Passing the decapitated Elf heads without so much as a cringe I tip-toed past Mrs Black's portrait and crept down the last fight of stairs and into the kitchen. The fire in the hearth was lit, but Kreature wasn't in his cupboard, so I assumed he was off doing some early morning cleaning or lighting the rest of the fires, since the clock by the cooker read five o'clock.

Yawning into my hand I pulled the kettle towards me, filled it with water and set it above the fire to boil, before setting about grabbing a cup, a tea bag, sugar and the tea pot. With the kettle boiled I made myself a cup of tea, adding two teaspoons of sugar instead of my usual one, since I was sure I'd need it today. I sat down at the kitchen table with my mug and the tea pot, careful to avoid setting either down on the sheets of parchment that littered it. Blowing the hot liquid and causing the rising steam to swirl, I finally allowed myself to think about that vision again. It was becoming troubling now. The vision was reoccurring, maybe not every night, but most nights I would see the same thing, which convinced me, along with the strange sense that I don't belong their that I got, that it was a vision and not a dream. And every time the same thing happens, I just stand there and watch as Draco sits atop the tower. It had never made any sense to me why I needed to see that, or what possible purpose it could have, which was why I hadn't bothered any of the others about them yet, I couldn't see the point, we already had enough to be getting on with and why should they care that I was having visions of Malfoy sulking? So, I had been dealing with it, pushing it aside as my inner eye malfunctioning, because really, what possible good could seeing that do me? And I'd been fine, for a little while the dreams had bothered me, since it was so far from what I wanted to be seeing, and for some time they had annoyed me and made me think of how much I hated him and how it infuriated me that I felt kindly towards him in the vision, especially when he didn't deserve it. But recently I just got over it and moved on. However, this time it had been different, things hadn't been the same as they always were. This time I had touched him, and he had reacted.

Wrapping my fingers around the warm mug and taking a sip of the scolding liquid, I frowned. What they Hell did that mean? Why, after weeks of the same mundane, irritating vision was that little snippet stuck on the end? It didn't make sense; I couldn't see at all what its function was, and so I resolved not to think about it, at least not for now, I was going to need a clear head if I was going to get through today. So pushing all that from my mind relatively effortlessly, even the attacking creature which was also new to the vision, I took another sip of tea, this time noticing how hot it was and gasping.

Setting the mug back down I looked at all the maps, lists, drawings, spider diagrams and notes that were scattered about the kitchen table, and thought of our plan. Ever since the second day of our being here, when Kreature had told us all about how he had helped Regulus Black steal the locket Horcrux from the cave and how his master died in the process, and we'd forced Mundungus to tell us who he had sold the locket to after he stole it from the house, we had been planning. You see, the sneak thief Mundungus had lost to locket to the very worst person he possibly could have, Umbridge. Just thinking of her had my blood boiling and my teeth clenching, tightening my left hand I looked down at the faint scars there (not as noticeable as Harry's) which read: I must not tell lies. We all hated her and had been devastated and furious in equal measures to find out that the locket was with her, but still, at least we now knew were it was. So, without further ado, we had organised a rota for keeping watch on the Ministry, so we could keep a look out for her and figure out a good way of getting in undetected, and began planning what to do immediately.

Our finished plan was a good one, I thought, and today was the day we had decided to put it to action, the second of September, the day after the Hogwarts Express had left without us on it and the day after we had learned Snape was to be the new head of the school. Much as we were sorry we weren't going, we weren't going to regret not having to put up with him. However, yesterday had kind of pushed us into action, it had made us realise that we couldn't sit around and plan forever, we had to act. So here we were, mere hours away from infiltrating the most dangerous place in the world for us right now, the Ministry of Magic, which was sure to be crawling with Death Eaters and tighter Vernon Dursley's wallet on Harry's birthday. But that didn't matter, the locket was the only Horcrux we could locate right now, we had a plan of how to get it and we simply had to try, otherwise, what was the point in even being here?

Taking a warming gulp of tea I spotted something else on the table, a piece of parchment with faint lines across it, which indicated it had been folded and had only one word written on it. Feeling an odd sense of fondness, gratitude and suspicion, I pulled it towards me and read that one word. 'Run'. Even now, months after the event the letter had been warning me of, I still felt a jolt of fear as I read and the memory of the madness that had ensued resurfaced. I was still no closer to knowing who had written the letter, on the second day of our being here I had shown it to the others right away, however other than saying that, like me, they vaguely recognised the handwriting, they hadn't a clue. They were, however, more distrustful than I was, Hermione suggested that it might have been a trap or an elaborate ruse on the part of the Death Eaters to gain our trust and then lure is in. I didn't think so though, apart from the fear, I got good vibes from this mysterious letter, and was sure I could trust the writer. Not that that made sense, of course. Pushing the letter away I looked up when a loud crack echoed through the kitchen, followed by the shuffle of little feet.

"Morning, Kreature." I said pleasantly as the Elf shuffled somewhat merrily about the room, having been in high spirits ever since he'd found out we were going to avenge his beloved master and we had given him the locket.

"Good morning, Mistress Ivy." Kreature said, somewhat unsurely but nowhere near as rudely as he used to, since despite being Muggleborns, I thought Hermione and I were beginning to grow on him.

He then asked me if I'd like breakfast and after I said that I would he busied himself making it, while I looked over the plan again for the thousandth time, just to be sure I knew it. A short while later, which was really half past six since we had an early start, Hermione walked into the kitchen, unlike me already dressed and ready to go. Nervous she recited her jobs over and over again as Kreature served us both hot rolls and I refilled my mug.

"Thanks Kreature," I said as I sat back down and the boys shuffled in, still looking quite a bit bedraggled, though, I supposed that I probably did too.

"Morning," I greeted and they both echoed it, somewhat sleepily.

Across the table from me Hermione completely ignored her breakfast, which to me was also looking less and less appealing by the second what with my sudden nerves, as she ticked off a list of all the things we needed. This had to go of without a hitch, things had to be perfect or else we'd all be as good as dead and we will have failed everyone, I thought as my stomach turned and I eyed my food warily, suddenly I could understand Hermione's barely contained panic. A lot was at stake here. Hastily wolfing down food with the others, more for nutrition than for want, though it did taste good, I was just taking another gulp of tea when my eyes went wide, my stomach rolled for an entirely different reason, my head span and I froze. My mug slipped from my stiff fingers and a new vision took me.

Caught in the impenetrable blackness which consumed me before a vision, I stared out into the never ending nothingness before a new scene opened up in front of me. Noise suddenly filled my ears, a stark contrast with the quiet of the kitchen and the silence of darkness, the disjointed roar of conversation came at me from all sides, the click, click, clicking of heels on tiles echoed around me, and the whoosh of people appearing out of the fireplaces reached my ears. From a height I looked around the Ministry of Magic sheepishly as I made my way through the crowds, before turning to my left and noticing that I wasn't walking alone, three other people walked beside me. A short witch with grey hair, a small weedy looking wizard and a tall, taller even than me, man with a thick black beard, curly hair and an impressive build, were my companions. The weedy man gave me a shaky wink, the tall wizard a loose smile and the little witch only looked at me nervously, as together we walked, so far untroubled, towards out destination.

Resurfacing with a gasp I found myself face down on the table, the right side of my face pressed against a puddle of tea.

"Ergh," I said as I quickly sat up, though I regretted it as the visions effects were still wearing off and I swayed where I sat. Ron, who was the closest, quickly reached out for me and stopped me from ending up on the floor, Harry meanwhile was on his feet watching me anxiously and Hermione was torn between pulling the sheets of parchment away from the spilled tea, and reaching across the table to me.

"Ivy?" she asked worriedly and I waved my hand dismissively, not up to speaking yet but really quite alright. No one looked convinced by my attempts at reassurance. Ron's grip on my arm tightened and Harry walked around the table so he was standing by my side.

"What did you see?" Hermione asked after pulling a disbelieving expression and still looking stubbornly worried.

"Nothing bad," I said with a smile at them all, which seemed to surprise them as Ron said,

"I think she hit her head too hard, does anyone know any healing spells?" and with that he put a hand on my head unsurely, which I batted away.

"I'm fine," I insisted somewhat sharply.

"You must be," Ron agreed "that's much more like you're usual self." And at that he and the others laughed lightly while I rolled my eyes.

"Anyone want to know what I saw?" I asked irritably.

"Tell us," Harry said seriously from where he stood next to us.

"It wasn't anything much," I said honestly "but I think it's what we all need to hear right now. I saw the four of us safely - well as safe as we can be – inside the Ministry, in our disguises and everything looked to be going well." I told them and they all looked relieved.

"Thank goodness," Hermione said as she got to her feet and took her bag in her hand "well then, there's no point waiting around any longer, we'd best get going."

Sharing a look with the boys, since it had taken a lot for us to convince Hermione that we should be doing this today, but saying nothing, I quickly dashed upstairs, cleaned the tea from my face, got dressed and ran back downstairs to meet them in the Entrance Hall. With one last run over of things and a few words from Kreature, who assured us he would have dinner waiting for when we got back, we opened the front door. Balanced precariously on the front step we glanced over at the Death Eaters standing across the street who could not see us and apparated. The crushing pressure of apparation, a fitting reflection of the gravity of what we were about to do and the strain we were all under to get this right.

As per the plan we reappeared in the alleyway we had all been using to hide in when it was our turn to spy on the Ministry entrance. A panicking Hermione turned to the fire door we were going to hide the people whose identities we'd steal for the day in, and blasted the padlock off, before pulling it open and anxiously going over what she had to do next. Meanwhile I went to the mouth of the alley, and keeping to the shadows peered out to watch the Ministry workers pass by, many of which I'd observed before, looking out for the next of our soon to be victims to arrive, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. This had to work. Less than a minute later a crack sounded out behind me but I didn't start, I was expecting it, it was the witch Hermione was going to pretend to be apparating into the alley, as she did every day. I turned; wand in hand, just in case there was a problem, but there wasn't, Hermione stunned her and with the boys' help dragged her through the fire door and took some of her hairs. She added the silver hairs to her portion of Polyjuice Potion before quickly drinking, and once she was the exact double of the short witch with grey hair she hurried towards me.

"Hi," I said smiling at Hermione, or Mafalda as Ron had found out she was called, the assistant in the Improper Use of Magic Office. "Our next victim has just apparated across the street," I told her in a hushed voice "he's checking something but he'll cross over the road like he always does at any moment."

"Okay," Hermione said before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the alley just as the weedy man reached our side of the street. Smiling at him Hermione managed to convince him to eat a Puking Pastel and I hurried backwards towards the boys as he ran into our alley to be sick. They threw the Invisibility Cloak over the three of us when I reached them and we watched as Hermione convinced the vomiting man to go home. He seemed reluctant though.

"Urgh," Hermione said as she dodged around a puddle of sick after the puking man left, leaving only his bag behind, and Harry pulled the Invisibility cloak us. She started towards us and I resumed my post by the mouth of the alley. "It would have made much less mess to stun him."

"Yeah," Ron agreed as he held out his own portion of Polyjuice Potion for Hermione to drop the hairs she'd gathered while comforting him, into. "But I still think a whole pile of unconscious bodies would have drawn more attention. Keen on his job though, isn't he?" Ron said, voicing my own thoughts about how the man really hadn't wanted to leave.

"You're name is…" Harry said as he hunted through the man's bag and pulled out a set of navy Magical Maintenance robes and read the name tag on them "Reg Cattermole."

"Right," Ron said as he drank the potion, winced at the transformation, shrinking down into the wispy wizard and getting changed into his new robes.

"Mine is next," I said as I looked around the corner of the alley and spotting the woman I had chosen walking up the street, she was incredibly tall, and wearing high heels to boot, had bright red hair and her face was covered in freckles, the way I saw it, she was about as far away from me as you could get.

"I'll be back in a minute," Hermione said before hurrying out into the street, I watched in the shadows a moment, the others hiding under the Invisibility Cloak, until I heard Hermione again.

"…think she's hurt. Quickly, follow me; I don't know what to do!" Hermione said sounding distressed.

"Calm down, Mafalda," the other woman said in a confused and slightly airy voice "I'm coming."

And then Hermione rounded the corner with the redheaded woman, since I was hidden in the shadows she didn't seem me, and once she was firmly in the alley, looking around for someone that was hurt, I stepped out and pointed my wand at her back.

"Stupefy." I muttered and she fell like a ton of bricks to the floor. Ron and Harry emerged from the under the Cloak and I looked from the unconscious woman to the boys "you were supposed to catch her!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah," Ron said as he and Harry went to pick her up and took her towards the fire door "sorry about that."

As Hermione followed them to pluck some hairs from the redhead I reached down and picked up her handbag, where I found some tokens that we had learned we needed to get into the Ministry now, and an identification card that read: Rosalind Lankan of the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee. If I hadn't spent the past seven years in the magical world, I might have been surprised by that, but I wasn't, I didn't even laugh, it was just the right about of crazy for the world I lived in.

Hermione returned with my Polyjuice Potion then so I put the card back in Rosalind's purse, next to a photo of two smiling redheaded children, and put the purse back in her bag. Drinking the potion, which tasted like raw carrots, I tried to ignore the pain as best I could as I began to shoot upwards to Rosalind's height, feeling my robes flapping about halfway down my legs rather than around my ankles. When the transformation was complete and I felt dark red curls tumbling about my shoulders and I was approximately six foot tall, I noticed that Hermione had gone off to get Harry's disguise and changed into my new robes while the boys were busy trying to shut the fire door. When Hermione got back, as I was tucking the ring behind my new set of robes, and Harry transformed into a tall, imposing man with a thick beard and dark black curls, we were all good to go and with one shared look of reluctance, we shared out our tokens and headed out of the alley. Sucking in a lung full of air I felt myself shake with nerves but I ignored that, this had to go perfectly, so I focused on walking as I had seen Rosalind do, with a slight bounce in her step and making maximum noise with my unnecessary heels.

Walking together, trying not to look too anxious or suspicious, we approached the Ladies and Gentlemen's toilets we'd seen the Ministry workers disappear into every day we kept watch, and with meaningful looks at each other, we unenthusiastically split off, and Hermione and I left Ron and Harry and disappeared into the Ladies. Both our heels clacking on the cracked, dirty tiling of the Ladies toilets we followed a group of gossiping witches and watched as, still talking rather cruelly about some poor woman named Tabatha whose husband had left her, they selected cubicles and stepped inside. The sound of four separate flushes followed and Hermione and I looked at each other. The witches didn't come back out.

"We'd better get going," I said as I heard voices behind us and Hermione nodded, sharing one last cautious look Hermione and I walked into separate cubicles and closed the doors behind us. Once inside the toilet I stood on the lid and daringly (and sociably-unacceptably) peered over the top into the cubicle next door, where one of the gossiping witches had been, only to find it empty.

"Ivy?" Hermione whispered from next door, quietly so that the approaching voices couldn't hear.

"Yes?" I asked just as quietly, pressing my ear against her side of the cubicle.

"You know what I think we have to do?" she asked, sounding none too happy about what she had decided and looking down at the toilet I had to agree with her.

"Yeah, I think I do." I said before slowly lifting my foot of the floor and pulling a face as I dipped the black shoe into the water in the bowl, only I couldn't feel any water at all. Pleased, I put in my other foot so that I was standing completely in the toilet bowl. I then looked up and spotted the chain, dangling from the cistern.

"See you in a minute." Hermione said and then I heard flushing from her cubicle.

"Right then," I muttered to myself, taking the chain in my hand and taking a breath, closing my eyes I pulled the flusher and then the next second I found myself falling a short distance before stumbling out of a fireplace in the Ministry of Magic.

Unused to being this tall I recovered my balance but nearly hit my head on my way out of the fireplace, thankfully I didn't though, and instead I spotted Hermione and went to stand with her, she didn't look happy and was shaking her hands as though their were germs on them. Though I had to admit, I didn't like the thought that I'd just flushed myself down a public toilet any more than she did. Looking around the grand Atrium, crowded with people, Ministry workers and Death Eaters alike, all blended together so tightly that it was impossible to tell who was a friend and who was a foe, we spotted Ron and Harry looking up at a recent addition to the Atrium. In the place of the old statue, the one that had been destroyed when Dumbledore fought Voldermort in our fifth year, was a brand new, completely horrific one. Sitting on what appeared to be thrones, were a finely dressed witch and wizard, their beautiful faces staring out regally over the bustling Ministry workers. However, as we got closer Hermione and I noticed that they were not, as we had first though, sitting on thrones, instead the witch and wizard were sitting on mounds of humans, with ugly faces, twisted bodies and vacant expressions. And a plaque underneath all of this bore the words: Magic is Might. It turned my stomach, and feeling cold with revulsion and hot with anger at the same time, I heard Hermione say.

"Muggles, in their rightful place." In a dead, sickened voice.

However, refusing to dwell on this very clear display of how things had changed around here since our last visit, I turned my attention to my friends, gave them all reassuring smiles and together we headed across the Atrium, blending in with the crowds and heading for the lifts, just like in my vision. When we joined the queues by the golden lifts something happened that I hadn't seen coming though. An angry voice shouted out Ron's alias' name and shouted at him to stop the raining in his office, or else Cattermole's (the guy whose appearance Ron stole) wife would be in even worse trouble. This reminded me of something else we had found out recently, that the Ministry was now interrogating Muggleborns, accusing them of stealing magic and of really being Muggles, which was something which disgusted me and reassured me that I was making the right choice by doing all of this. So I knew that Cattermole's wife must be a Muggleborn.

Feeling a surge of hatred towards the man who had shouted at Ron, who I now recognised as one of the Death Eaters who had been in the school the night Dumbledore was murdered, I had to work incredibly hard at not saying anything at all to him and to keep up my persona. Meanwhile, as Ron panicked about the fate of this poor woman, which now rested on his magical abilities, and Hermione tried to coach him on the best way to stop it raining in the Death Eater's office, the gilded doors of the lifts opened up and we stepped inside. Ron decided, despite our protests, to go and stop the rain alone, so that we had more time to search Umbridge's office for the Horcrux, and asked Hermione again to explain what she though he should do.

However at that moment the lift doors opened and a short man stepped inside and began to talk to Harry, who he called Albert and we had to take his word that was name since we didn't know. The man didn't seem very nice; he spoke in a low, almost greedy voice, about something Albert had done to someone called Dirk Cresswell and how he was sure to get his job now. His presence didn't concern me for long though, as he had only the time to throw me, Hermione and Ron, who was being whispered instructions, a strange look, before the lift doors were opened and a harassed sounding voice exclaimed,

"Rosalind!"

Harry, Hermione, Ron and I all jumped, and feeling alarmed I watched as a short blonde haired witch hurried towards me and stopped the lift doors from closing again with a flick of her wand.

"Rosalind, where are you going?" she asked in a stressed voice, wide eyed and not sure how to react I quickly said,

"Nowhere," which seemed to be the right answer as the witch smiled thankfully.

"Good," she said reaching into the lift and grabbing my hand "I haven't a clue what I'm going to do about this latest problem, and I know you're not due to start for another hour, but I need your help to think of something." And without waiting for me to consent to help her she began to pull me out of the lift and hurry me down the corridor.

"Err," I said looking back over my shoulder helplessly at the others, who were watching me with wide eyes but I noticed Hermione motion for me to go, we needed to keep up appearances.

"Come, come," the witch insisted as the lift doors shut again and she carried on pulling me helplessly down the corridor, this wasn't good, we didn't ought to be separated. Looking at the woman though I noticed that even in heels she was about half the height of Rosalind and her blonde hair was wispy and messy, as though she had been running her hands through it.

"Honestly," she said as she turned and pulled me onto a new corridor, the plaque above which said: Muggle-Worthy Excuses Office. So, this was where Rosalind worked then, I thought as we trudged down a corridor lined with offices, I spotted Rosalind's name on one of the doors. "Some people have no sense of discretion," she said in a tired, wound up voice "I mean, do they honestly try to make our lives difficult or are they just all plain stupid?" she ranted and apparently a response wasn't needed as we reached the last door in the hallway and she pulled me inside.

According to the nameplate this office belonged to Faffia Doddal, Deputy Head of the Muggle-Worthy Excuses Office.

The witch, who I took to be Faffia, went straight to her desk and began to rummage through the papers there, muttering about not being able to find it, until she produced a piece of parchment and put a pair of red framed glasses on her nose and began to scan the page. Meanwhile I was looking around the small, cramped office, with stacks of paper piled everywhere, towering dangerously and looking as though they might fall over, and thinking of the others, would they be okay without Ron and I, was everything alright, and how was I supposed to get away from here to help them?

"Ah, here it is," Faffia said, pointing to something halfway down the page "No less than one HUNDRED Muggles witnessing a broken down rollercoaster vanishing into thin air in Blackpool, after two barely-of-age-and-brainless wizard boys were having a play fight in the Haunted Mansion, the spell shot out a window and hit the ride. What am I supposed to do with THAT? There were one hundred witnesses and countless others have seen that it's not there."

"Which ride was it?" I asked thinking of the last time I had gone to Blackpool Pleasure Beach with my family, and knowing that how bad this was depended on how big the ride was. Also, I felt a twinge of sadness, missing my family again.

Faffia looked at me as though I was mad "how would I know that?" she asked me irritably "it doesn't matter, it's back now, what I need to know is what do we tell the Muggles, it was all over their news last night and the people up in the Office of Improper Use of Magic have only just let us know about this." she snapped, clearly ready to pull her hair out over this one.

"I don't know," I said racking my brains, because, the sooner I got away from here the sooner I could find the others "what have you thought of so far?"

"I don't know," she whined, pulling her hands down her face "I thought about telling them that it had been dismantled for cleaning or repairs, which would work because it was broken down, but at the same time I don't think Muggle repairs work like that. I could say that it was just a trick of the light and sprout some gobbledygook about how the angle of the sun light caused it to appear to vanish…or I could just say that aliens stole it," she groaned sarcastically "I really don't care any more."

Thoughtful for a moment I stood there and considered it, thinking of possible explanations but coming up just as empty as Faffia had, those kids had certainly caused a problem here, this wasn't exactly a small thing, there was no other explanation for it but magic. Then it hit me.

"Why don't you say it was a magic trick?" I asked and she stared at me blankly "you know? Say that it was one of those Muggle magicians doing an illusion, for entertainment purposes, you could even ask someone from the Ministry to do interviews and stuff pretending to be the person that did it, so that it's believable, maybe even do another trick for everyone." I suggested and Faffia's eyes widened.

"Of course!" she exclaimed slapping her hand on her forehead "why didn't I think of that? I suppose it's too early in the morning for me," she joked before dashing behind her desk and pulling out a piece of parchment to quickly write down what I had said "thank you." she said gratefully as her hand flew across the paper.

"No worries," I said with an easy smile as I headed out the door "I'll just be off then."

"Where are you going?" she asked looking confused and glancing up at me "you might as well stay here for now, you start work soon."

"Oh, I know," I said calmly, despite the fact I was desperate to leave and already half way out the door "I just skipped breakfast is all, and I wanted to go and get something."

"Oh," Faffia said in understanding, smiling at me and returning to her work "see you in a bit then, Rosalind."

"Yeah," I said weakly as I started briskly down the corridor, heading back the way I had come and making my way towards the lifts, maybe if I hurried I could catch the others up.

Calling up the lift, which was mercifully empty, I stepped inside and waited for it to take me to the next level, where we knew Umbridge's office was, when I reached the floor I wanted I stepped out of the lift into another corridor, almost exactly like the one I had just walked down and the others were unfortunately nowhere in sight. Unsure but knowing they had to be down here somewhere, I started to walk down the corridor, checking the plaques on the wooden doors, searching for Umbridge's name though I couldn't find it. Heart pounding with worry but determined to keep a cool head I carried on in my search however. About halfway down the corridor though, I looked up and glanced around, feeling lost, but something else caught my eye at the end of the corridor. A small black and white poster. It was too far away at the moment for me to see it properly, but there appeared to be a moving picture on it, and in massive letters at the top, which dwarfed to picture, were the words; 'Undesirable No.2'. Confused, I squinted and started to walk towards the picture, suddenly dreading what I would see there but also having to look, as the person in the picture anxiously toyed with their midlength dark hair.

However, I didn't get to see what, or rather who, was on the poster, as suddenly invisible hands wrapped around my wrist and started to pull me back down the way I had come. Harry.

"Come on," he urged as he pulled off the invisibility cloak and revealed the black beard and curly hair of the man who was his disguise, which took a moment for me to adjust to since despite knowing where we were I had still been expecting to see my messy haired, bespeckled friend. "We need to find the others and get out of here."

"Why?" I asked as we came to a stop in front of the lifts, suddenly noticing another absence "where's Hermione?"

"Umbridge took her; apparently Mafalda was perfect to help her out in the Muggleborn trials." He said and I felt sick, poor Hermione. "We need to get her out of there and find Ron too, we need to leave."

"Why?" I asked again as the lift opened and we stepped inside the empty cage "what's happened?"

"Nothing yet," he reassured me though he still looked nervous "but the locket wasn't in Umbridge's office, it was stupid to think it would be in the first place, and we need to get out of here before the potion starts to wear off. There are wanted posters for us, you know?" he asked before suddenly looking even more serious and glancing away.

"What is it?" I asked tentatively, not sure that by Harry's expression if I even wanted to know.

"I saw your poster," he said looking sheepish and I thought about the poster I'd seen on the corridor, that must have been one of what he was talking about. "Ivy, I'm sorry, but it says on it … I think that maybe they know," he paused, obviously not sure how to say this "Ivy, I think the rest of the Wizarding World knows what you are."

I froze, letting his words sink in and expecting a horrible feeling of realisation and dread to hit me, but it didn't, instead I felt numb, I didn't feel very good, but I didn't exactly feel terrible.

"It doesn't matter," I said calmly though I felt a touch on the queasy side "I was going to tell other people sooner or later, I just wanted to avoid the pestering while I was at school, it was more of an old habit than anything." I said with a shrug and Harry looked surprised.

"But what about Voldermort?" he asked, looking worried since we both knew that Voldermort had tried to recruit me and my sight over Christmas only he had been persuaded at the time that I wasn't really a true Seer, and now he would know that had been a lie.

"He was always going to find out, if the Ministry fell, they've got it on record. Besides," I said as the lift reached level two and stopped "I cant be in any more danger than I already am, we're already running from him."

The doors of the lift opened then, just as silence descended upon the lift and Harry thought about the truth in what I'd said, and in stepped a soaking and miserable looking Ron, or rather Reg Cattermole, however he didn't recognise us at first.

"M – morning," he said anxiously to Harry and I, and despite everything, how we were separated in the Ministry with our Polyjuice disguises running out, and the Ministry were now putting the fact that I was a Seer on wanted posters, and we still hadn't found the locket, I laughed.

"Ron, it's us," Harry said, smiling himself as Ron's eyes widened.

"Wow," Ron said in surprise and with a slight grin of his own in place "I'd forgotten what you looked like, hey," he said, his smile fading "why isn't Hermione with you?"

"She's fine, Ron." I quickly assured him, hearing the concern in his voice.

"She had to go down to the courtrooms with Umbridge," Harry elaborated "she couldn't refuse and -"

However, at that point the lift's doors shuddered open again and, to all of our great surprise, in stepped Mr Weasley and an old, blonde witch.

"…I quite understand what you're saying, Wakanda, but I'm afraid I can't be party to-" but Mr Weasley cut off as the lift doors shut behind him and he glared at Harry, taking us all of guard and making things even more uncomfortable.

Not sure where to look, I smiled at the elderly witch, who grinned at me as though she knew me, and then looked at the floor. Hoping this wouldn't be our undoing.

"Oh, hello, Reg," Mr Weasley said to Ron, more pleasantly "Isn't your wife in for questioning today? Er – what's happened to you? Why are you so wet?"

Looking thoroughly uncomfortable Ron told his unknowing father about how it was raining in Yaxley's office and that he couldn't stop it, Mr Weasley kindly suggested a charm and Ron almost slipped up by almost calling him dad when he thanked him. Mr Weasley looked at us all oddly then, as though sensing something was up. However, things were made much worse when the lift doors slid open again and the old witch stepped out, closely followed by Ron who was heading off to fix the raining office, Harry tried to follow but found his way blocked by a redheaded man carrying a stack of files. Percy. Harry and I blended into the corners, unnoticed as Mr Weasley's gaze met with the son he no longer spoke to, and for one awful second they just stood there staring, before a proud Percy turned on his heel and walked away from the lift. The doors clanked shut and I stood there, once again completely ignored, as Mr Weasley threatened Harry, or rather Albert Runcorn, for what he had done to the man called Dirk Cresswell. Obviously as uncomfortable as I was, well actually probably more so, that Mr Weasley was using such a harsh tone with him, Harry somehow stayed in character but managed to warn Mr Weasley that he was being followed. I didn't know if Mr Weasley believed him, but hopefully he would be careful.

Mr Weasley said no more and quickly exited the lift with nothing more than one last dark look at Harry, when we reached the Atrium, however Harry and I continued downwards, towards the Courtrooms. As we descended Harry pulled out the Cloak and motioned for me to get under it too, I complied and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"Stay quiet, we'll see if we can sneak her out unnoticed." He said as the doors opened and the long corridor that led to the Courtrooms stretched out before us.

"Right," I said as we stepped out and hurriedly made our way towards the rooms, conscious as we did that we might not have very long before the potion began to wear off and so we needed to be quick.

Trying to keep my heel clicking to a minimum, I shuffled along beside Harry, feeling a twisting sensation in the pit of my stomach as I spotted the dark door that led to the Department of Mysteries, and instantly thought of the last time we had been there, and how we hadn't been able to save Sirius. I quickly tried to push those thoughts aside, but worryingly found that I couldn't, abruptly they began to consume me and I could feel my strength begin to drain and a sense of hopelessness fill me, what was the point in all of this? If I couldn't even save one man what chance did I have at saving the whole world? And I felt cold.

"Harry…" I breathed, still having the presence of mind to be alarmed by my sudden moroseness; however, he was one step ahead of me.

"Dementors," he whispered in a grave voice as we reached the foot of the stairs we had been descending and turned right, where a sight awaited us that was so chilling I felt my blood turn to ice in my veins.

Feeling sick I watched as tall, hooded figures floated about the dark corridor, horrifying the devastated looking Muggleborns who were forced to sit and wait in their presence. They looked so hopeless, just sitting there, heads in hands and shaking with fear, it was as though in their minds they had already lost their case, they were at the mercy of these cruel monsters already. Suddenly I stopped and Harry turned to look at me questioningly, I sent him a torn and pleading look, not about to leave these people here and to let them be subjected to this. However, at that moment the doors to the courtroom were thrown open and a screaming man was dragged out, insisting that he was Half-blood and his face dripping with desperate tears. He fell silent and stopped his thrashing when Umbridge threatened him with the Dementors Kiss, and feeling sick with hatred and just plain revulsion I let Harry guide me out of the way as the man was led by.

I watched him go, feeling keenly the injustice of this all, a sentiment which was made a thousand times heavier by the presence of the Dementors, and I knew that if I hadn't been friends with Harry, this could have been me right now. Harry motioned for us to move as Mary Cattermole was called forwards, this was the perfect opportunity for us to sneak inside, but I shook my head firmly.

"I cant leave them," I mouthed at him and Harry looked annoyed, clearly thinking about how the chance to get into the Courtroom had almost passed as the woman reluctantly stepped forwards, but also worried about leaving me here alone, since I might fail and then our cover would be blown.

Grudgingly Harry nodded, I returned the motion and walked with him towards the door and slipped out from under the cloak just as Harry made it inside and the door was firmly shut behind him. The Dementors noticed my presence instantly, in fact they had probably known ever since I had arrived, but now they turned their hooded heads towards me and for a second I froze. Feeling the collective weight of their misery bearing down on me as they sucked my happiness from me, I felt chills run over my body, an aching pain throb in my heart and searing loneliness and betrayal hit me. Not that memory, I thought desperately as they pulled from me my worst moment, the agony, which I had slowly been becoming accustomed to, returning tenfold. Any memory but that one, I thought as I suddenly regretted this decision to stay and wished I'd gone with Harry, I couldn't stand the pain of his betrayal again. It hurt too much.

But I saw them then, looking around the Dementors as they glided eerily towards me, I spotted my fellow Muggleborns, all looking at me with something akin to hope on their faces, the Dementors' effects temporarily lifted. And something inside me clicked then, I suddenly remembered why I was doing this and with a new sense of determination I drew my wand, turned to face the Dementors and latched on to the first happy memory I could think of.

Focusing with all my might on this one memory, I turned my wand on the Dementors, who were still approaching me, and said the words,

"Expecto Patronum," quietly but forcefully so that the people in the courtroom wouldn't hear me.

However as I felt the whoosh of relief that came with the spell, and my Patronus shot forth in a brilliant burst of light from my wand tip, I felt myself numb and my wand almost slip from my fingers. My eyes suddenly widened, my heart froze in my chest and my stomach dropped as I stared in nothing short of horror at the creature fiercely driving away the Dementors. It wasn't my faithful Staffordshire Bull Terrier. My Patronus had changed; it was no longer a dog. Instead of the familiar terrier with its big eyes and loyal expression, a shining, silver, Ferret scurried through the air.

Author note: Quick question, how's my story flowing so far? It's bothering me and I want to be sure it doesn't read funnily. Thanks for reading :)