Kit nodded and rested her head against her brother's chest again. Cameron took to stroking her hair again while staring over her head, completely lost in thought. He was a bit surprised when her voice broke into his head.

"I want to go home." She whispered, looking up at him again.

Cameron nodded.

"Alright."

The pair left the Room of Requirement. Cameron wrapped his arm protectively over Kit's shoulders and she had her arm around his back, clinging to the back of his robes. They walked out of the castle and straight off the grounds without a word to anyone.

"Hold on." Cameron said.

Kit wrapped her other arm around her brother's stomach and closed her eyes as he apparated them both away.

Seconds later they were standing in front of a small brown house. The shutters were in desperate need of a paint job and they knew some places on the front porch squeaked if stepped on but it was home. Cameron felt a small shudder go through his body as he took in the dark windows and obvious signs of disuse such as the neglected lawn. He looked down at Kit who met his gaze sadly. Together they made their way into the house.

A thin layer of dust covered everything inside the house. White sheets were draped over all the large furniture. Cameron waved his wand to open the shutters to let some light into the depressed house. Kit slowly left his side and wandered into the family sitting room where they'd spent many a night eating dinners and just spending time together. She ran her hands over the sheet that covered their father's favorite chair. Cameron joined her moments later.

"We can stay as long as you want." He said.

Kit nodded and pulled the sheet away. A cloud of dust erupted into the air but it was ignored. The siblings simply stared at the seat for a long time, each lost in their own memory. Eventually Kit was able to pull herself away from the seat and left Cameron standing in the room alone. He spent the time staring at the row of scrapbooks lined up on the bookshelf above the fireplace. Cameron pulled them all off the shelf and carefully spread them all out in front of him on the floor. He flipped through the pages, studying each photo intensely as if searching for some sign or hint that his family was involved with the Dark Lord.

There was no trace of the dark lies in the pictures of the family playing in the snow during holiday break the year before. There was no sign of hidden agendas in the shots of the Cameron's father holding Kit by the wrists and spinning her in wild circles when she was just a little girl. Slowly the images became fuzzy as tears built in Cameron's eyes. He tried to blink them away but they merely came faster.

The scrapbook made a dull thud as Cameron threw it as hard as he could against a nearby wall. He wiped at his eyes angrily with the back of his hand and suddenly realized that he was still alone in the room. Kit hadn't returned yet.

Cameron slowly made his way to her room but when he didn't find her there he knew where to look. He leaned against the doorway of his father's bedroom. Kit was lying in the fetal position on his bed, clutching one of his pillows to her body with her face buried in the fabric. Cameron sighed and climbed carefully onto the bed. He lay on his side, propping his head up on one hand and running his other through his sister's hair.

**

Draco woke up feeling nervous the next morning. He'd dressed quietly, only speaking when spoken to directly. Finally he went to the seventh year dorm where he found Cameron's bed missing his comforter and pillow. Draco found the items in the common room, folded neatly on the couch-the obvious work of the house elves.

"Morning Draco." Nia said.

Draco nodded in acknowledgment.

"You haven't seen Cameron have you?" he asked.

Nia shook her head.

"He's probably at breakfast already." She said simply.

"Morning Nia." Braxton and Blaise said as they entered the common room.

"Hey guys. Have you seen Cameron?" Nia asked.

The boys shook their heads.

"Has he gone to breakfast already?" Blaise suggested.

"That's what I thought." Nia said.

"Why did you ask then?" Braxton asked.

"I think Draco's looking for him." Nia said, gesturing to where the blonde had been standing just moments before. "Draco?" she called.

"He must have gone to breakfast." Blaise said dismissively.

"What about Ashton?" Braxton asked.

Nia and Blaise shrugged.

"Breakfast?"

Ashton looked up from her food when Draco sat down heavily across from her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Draco sighed and shook his head.

"Probably not." He said more to himself then to his friend.

Ashton looked ready to question this comment but Dawson, Thomas, and their personal body guards appeared behind Draco.

"Where's Scott?" Dawson demanded.

"That seems to be the million dollar question." Nia said as she sat beside Ashton.

"What do you want with him?" Draco demanded.

"That's none of your business Malfoy." Dawson snapped sharply.

The pair glared deeply at each other but Dawson finally smirked and looked away.

"If you see him, tell him to find me."

"Oh yeah we'll get right on that." Blaise muttered under his breath as Dawson and his group walked away.

Draco absently stabbed at his eggs but didn't actually eat any of them.

"What's going on Draco?" Ashton demanded, setting down her fork and staring at him intently.

The blonde shook his head.

"Nothing." He snapped, looking her in the eye.

Ashton narrowed her eyes and held his gaze. Draco stared back intently. On either side of the pair Braxton, Blaise, and Nia looked back and forth nervously.

"Erm…so what are we going to do about all the possible junior death eaters wandering the school?" Blaise whispered.

Draco and Ashton's gazes immediately snapped to the teen who involuntarily flinched.

"I-I just wanted you to stop staring. We don't actually have to talk about it." He said quickly.

"Of course we can't talk about it here for Merlin's sake!" Ashton hissed. Above them owls began soaring in through the windows. Letters poured down on the school. Ashton, Draco, Blaise, Braxton, and Nia all received a letter with different colored envelopes and unrecognizable handwriting.

"That's odd." Ashton stated. She never received mail since her parents insisted that it was unsafe to send anything by owl post, including a simple note asking how their daughter was doing at school.

The teens all opened their letters and read them in silence.

"That's really odd." Ashton breathed. She glanced at each of her friends and realized they must have received letters similar to her own if the expressions on their faces were any hint.

"What is this a…" Blaise started but Braxton quickly slapped a hand over his mouth and pointed to the final line in the letter.

This letter is strictly private and must not be shared with ANYONE failure to follow this instruction will be dealt with severely.

Blaise nodded as Braxton removed his hand. He wondered why it would matter if he talked about a secret letter with other people who'd received the same secret letter but decided not to press his luck. Along with the warning came a series of directions leading to a supposedly unknown classroom and a date and time. As the letter stated would happen the ink slowly began to disappear off the parchment until it was completely blank.

The group sat in a strained silence for several moments until the bell finally broke the spell.

**

Cameron and Kit spent the rest of the day looking through the scrapbooks and reminiscing about their times spent as a family. They lit a fire to add life to the sad looking house while Cameron fixed them a simple supper.

The pair ate in silence but Kit set down her plate before all her food was gone. Cameron glanced at her curiously.

"Is it that bad?" he asked with a small smile.

Kit grinned and shook her head.

"No it's fine." Her eyes drifted to the fire. Cameron set down his plate as well and shifted a bit closer to his sister.

"Kit?" he said questioningly.

"If I tell you something, do you promise not to get mad?"

Cameron raised an eyebrow at his sister but nodded slowly.

"I promise." He answered, matching her suddenly soft tone.

Kit continued to stare into the fire for no other reason than to avoid looking at her brother's piercing sapphire eyes.

"It's about Dad." She said finally.

Cameron waited with baited breath for her to continue.

"Do you remember right after Mom died Dad got that job as a traveling cauldron salesman because he said traveling would keep him from going crazy?" Kit asked carefully. Cameron nodded fractionally.

"He lied." Kit finally looked into her brother's eyes and found the wall she'd spotted earlier was still intact; preventing her from knowing what was going through his head.

"What do you mean?" Cameron asked, feeling his stomach twist nervously.

"One day Dad and I were outside working in the garden and I accidently grabbed his arm. When he acted like it was in pain I got worried and fought with him until I could pull back his sleeve because I thought he'd cut himself by mistake or something. But there was no cut just the…"

"Dark mark." Cameron said breathlessly as his chest constricted.

Kit's eyes snapped open wide and she gasped slightly.

"You knew too?" she asked.

Cameron shook his head slowly. He suddenly felt very cold despite the roaring fire.

"I found out from Snape last night." Cameron stood slowly, still staring at his sister as if seeing her for the first time.

"You've known all this time?" he whispered. "And you didn't tell me?"

"Dad asked me not to! Cameron please don't be mad." Kit begged, standing as well but when she took a step towards her brother he took a step back.

"Why didn't he tell me? Why am I the only one who didn't know?" Cameron's voice rose with every other word. His entire body was trembling with rage and betrayal.

"He knew you would be angry!" Kit said, her voice shaking with tears.

"Weren't you?"

Kit nodded.

"Of course I was but he seemed so upset about it I couldn't stay angry with him. You didn't see how scared he was."

Cameron growled angrily, picked up his plate and hurled it against the wall. Kit jumped back in fear, tears streamed down her face.

"I suppose you knew about mum too?"

"Cameron…" she sobbed but her brother simply raised a hand at her and shook his head before storming out of the house. Kit stared after him with her arms wrapped around herself and tears falling down her cheeks.

**

That night after dinner Draco and the others met Snape in the place designated on the card.

"Professor?" Nia asked curiously. "What's going on?"

"Now is not the time for questions Ms. Ells." Snape answered curtly. He waited in silence until the final members of their party arrived. One was Eli Richmond from the quidditch team. The other had long blonde hair and intense hazel eyes. Her name was Jessa-Lynn Jenson.

"Good evening Professor." She said with a nod.

"Ms. Jenson." Snape then turned and motioned for the teens to follow him.

Dumbledore watched over the tips of his fingers as his colleagues lead students from their houses into the Room of Requirement through four different doors that the Room had provided for them.

McGonagall entered first with sixth years Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, and seventh year Skye Summers trailing after her. All seven were silent as they took their seats on one side of the large pentagon shaped table Dumbledore had conjured in the Room. After McGonagall came Professor Flitwick with his sixth year Ravenclaws Trey Tollen, Luna Lovegood, Terry Boot, Daphene Stant, and his seventh years Emmit Bolden, Carey Ebbs, and Jayden Sleet. The six students sat in their seats beside the Gryffindors while Flitwick took his place beside McGonagall who'd taken to standing behind Dumbledore's seat at the top point of the table. Next to enter was Professor Sprout with her seventh year Hufflepuffs Jordin Erics, Vince Tescotte, Trenton Kyles, and Valarie Tennor and her sixth years Drake Moor, Angela Kash and Vicktor Mank, all still sporting slightly pink skin from the incident.

The entire group sat in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes before Harry cautiously spoke up.

"Erm…Professor. What exactly is going on?" He asked.

The heads of all the students turned to Dumbledore.

"All will be explained once Severus arrives with his chosen Slytherins."

This comment unleashed a wave of curious murmurs that were silenced as soon as the last door swung open and Snape swept in. He led his seventh years Jessa-Lynn Jenson, Eli Richmond and Nia Ells and his sixth years Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Ashton Jameson, and Braxton Cross to the last row of empty seats before taking his place at the end of the line of professors.

Dumbledore nodded to the man before standing.

"Welcome all of you and thank you for coming under such curious circumstances." He started. "You have undoubtedly noticed the increase in unfortunate…accidents…around the castle." The students all nodded and grumbled slightly, casting dark looks at the Slytherins who matched their stares with glares of their own. "Naturally house reputations have led you to believe that you've all pinpointed the ones responsible for these incidents. I am here in part to tell you that you are in fact wrong."

This brought shocked, skeptical looks from the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors and smirks from the Slytherins.

"The fact stands that we do not have any proof at all as to who is responsible. Indeed only two of the four houses have been directly targeted but under close inspection I have realized that these things could not have taken place unless individuals from the targeted houses were involved."

"Are you saying it's one of us?" Trenton Kyles said, shooting suspicious looks around the room.

Valarie Tennor reached back and smacked him across the head.

"No you dolt, he's saying whoever set this up did it with help from inside our houses."

"Very good Ms. Tennor." Dumbledore said.

"So you brought us here because you think we might know who the traitors are?" Emmit Bloden asked.

"Not quite." Dumbledore answered. "You have been selected by your Heads of House as being the most trustworthy and talented witches and wizards of your house. As such I am asking that you use those admirable traits to help me capture those responsible for putting our school in such disarray."

Ashton glanced sideways at Nia who shrugged. Since when had Nia been considered trustworthy?

"How would we do that?" Ron Weasley asked.

"By simply being yourselves but with more focused ears and eyes you will be able to pick up tidbits of information that is easily slipped past professors. We will join in here once in a while to share things you may have picked up on. It is my hope that we will be able to weed out the guilty to save the innocent. To do so however, it is crucial that these meetings remain secret to all not in this room as of now."

"This sounds a lot like what we did in my fifth year." Harry said.

Dumbledore nodded.

"I admit that did play a part in deciding the whereabouts for the meetings and how to keep in touch with all of you."

Dumbledore reached into his shimmering robes pocket and pulled out a large black sack.

"In this bag are special galleons that will allow your Heads of House and myself to speak with you indirectly. If you feel the coin heat up it is crucial that you find either your House Head or get to this room as quickly as possible. I have modified the Room slightly so that it will completely lock itself against any outside visitors so that we do not encounter the situation Harry's group had last year."

Dumbledore set the sack in front of Daphene Stant who was closet. She reached in, pulled out a galleon and passed it on. The bag made its way around the table quickly. When it finally reached Dumbledore again it was completely empty. He rolled it up and stuffed it back into his pocket.

"Thank you all once again for coming and I am truly sorry that this has come so far. It is not your place to handle things of this nature and I wish there was another way but at this point in time I just do not see one." Dumbledore admitted.

The students around the table glanced at each other and nodded. Dumbledore turned and signaled to the other professors.

Professor Sprout gestured with a wave of her hand to her students and they all rose, following her out in the same line they'd entered in. Professor Flitwick took the Ravenclaws next, followed by McGonagall. Snape led the Slytherins out of the room as well but ordered them not to wander off.

The teens followed the potion's master into a deserted classroom which he placed under a heavy silencing charm.

"I don't believe I need to tell the seven of you how especially important it is that you all keep your mouths firmly shut against sharing what you heard tonight with anyone who was not present." Snape's voice left no room for argument. Nia shuddered when the man's gaze landed on her for several seconds. She nodded firmly, understanding the warning.

"Do I make myself clear?" Snape asked.

His students answered positively so he excused them. Draco hung behind, waving his friends away when they paused to wait for him. When they were gone the blonde turned to his godfather.

"Is something bothering you Draco?" Snape asked, noting the slightly panicked look in his godson's storm grey eyes. Draco nodded hesitantly.

"I haven't seen Cameron since last night. I've looked everywhere I can think of but he wasn't in any of his classes and no one else has seen him either. At first I thought he might have gone into the forest again but no one has seen or heard from his sister all day either and I know Cameron would never take Kit into the forest."

"Where else could he have gone?" Snape asked.

Draco shrugged hopelessly.

"I don't know. You don't think he ran do you?"

"For the sake of both him and his sister, I hope not." Snape answered bluntly.

"What do we do now?"

"It is possible that Cameron and Katherine simply want to be alone for the time being. If they do not return by nightfall, we will alert the Headmaster." Snape said.

Draco nodded; glad to have some type of plan. He left the dungeons and found his friends waiting for him in the corridor.

"What was that about?" Braxton asked curiously.

"I was wondering if Snape knew where Cameron might have gone off to." Draco admitted.

"And?" Blaise pressed.

Draco shook his head and noticed all his friends' shoulders slump slightly.

"Why would he just disappear like that?" Nia asked.

Draco shrugged.

"I dunno." He lied.

The group made it to the ground level of the castle and Draco glanced out the first window they past. It was a perfect view of most of the Forbidden Forest. The sun was beginning it's decent, giving Cameron less than an hour to return. Draco sighed heavily before following after his friends.

**

Cameron returned to the house as the sun was beginning to set. Kit was sitting on the front porch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders against the cool air. She looked up at her brother hopefully but felt it melted when she saw the glazed look in her brother's eyes and how his jaw was set in a way that made him look as if he were trying hard not to say something.

"We have to get back." He said firmly.

Kit nodded wordlessly and cautiously moved towards her brother. He didn't look at her as she wrapped her arms around his stomach. The second they arrived outside Hogwarts' gates, Cameron pulled out of his sister's grip and started up to the castle alone. Kit stared after him feeling more alone then she'd ever felt in her life.

Draco was sitting on the couch in the common room, ignoring all the activity around him when Cameron walked in. The blonde leapt out of his chair and met his friend.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" he hissed, although he couldn't keep the relief off his face or out of his voice but the relief quickly turned to a look of concern when he noticed the off look in Cameron's eyes.

"Are you okay mate?" he asked.

Cameron nodded.

"I'm fine, just tired. I think I'll go to bed early." He said and without another glance at anyone he went to his room.

Draco just stared after him in confusion for several seconds before turning to go tell Snape the missing teen was back.

Cameron hesitated when he realized the dorm wasn't empty. Dawson was reclining on his bed, looking as if he'd been there for quite a while. He didn't look at Cameron as he spoke.

"I've been looking for you Scott." He said.

Cameron ignored him and sat down heavily on his bed. He was about to pull the curtains on his four poster closed when Dawson sat up and faced him.

"You're time's almost up." He said sharply.

Cameron's hand froze on the curtain. He glared deeply at the other teen.

"Bugger off." He snapped, letting his current anger override his fear of the larger boy. Dawson's dark eyes flashed but he made no move to stand up.

"Let's see how long that attitude holds up when your sister ends up at the Dark Lord's lair as a hostage."

Cameron jumped to his feet.

"You leave my sister out of this!" he shouted.

Dawson stood as well and crossed the room so he was only inches away from Cameron.

"What happens to her is completely up to you Scotty. You've already wasted one day and you only get three to make up your mind."

Cameron felt an icy shiver shoot down his spine.

Dawson smirked at the resignation in Cameron's eyes.

"Two days Scott." He snapped before shoving the smaller teen back on the bed and walking calmly out of the room. Cameron made no move to stand. He suddenly felt as if he wasn't getting enough oxygen. Everything was happening so fast. In the last twenty-four hours he'd finally managed to conquer his fear over his enemy, discover an ugly secret about his parents and then find out that his find out his younger sister knew about it all along. Now he had two days to figure out how to avoid getting drafted into being a Death Eater or having Kit stolen away as a hostage.

Feeling pressure build up in his stomach and move slowly up his chest Cameron leaned over the side of his bed and was sick all over the floor before he threw himself on his back, pulled his pillow over his face, and screamed as loud as he could. Without removing the pillow Cameron pulled his wand out of his robes and cleaned up the mess on the floor.

An hour later the door creaked open and Braxton looked in uncertainly.

"Is he in there?" Ashton asked from behind him. Braxton turned and nodded to her before pushing the rest of the way into the room. Ashton, Blaise, Braxton, and Nia formed a half circle around the bed. Cameron didn't remove the pillow before grumbling for them to go away.

Ashton gently sat on the bed close to her friend's head.

"Draco won't tell us what's going on. Where have you been all day and why did you skip all your classes?" She pulled the pillow off his face as she spoke but Cameron quickly covered his face with his arm.

"Please…" he groaned pathetically. "…just go."

Ashton looked up at her friends uncertainly. They all met her gaze with worried expressions of their own. They'd never seen their friend so distraught.

"Mate you've got to tell us." Braxton said carefully.

"Yeah we've been worried about you." Nia added, sitting on the other side of Cameron. She rested her hand gently on Cameron's arm but he shrugged it away.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Ashton sighed.

"Will you at least let Draco tell us? He's been driving himself crazy looking for you all day and we can tell there's something worrying him."

Cameron was still for several minutes. His friends almost thought he'd fallen asleep but eventually he sighed heavily.

"I want to talk to him first." He said thickly.

Ashton nodded, although her friend couldn't see it.

"Okay." She looked back up at the rest of her friends and motioned for them to leave. They all cast a final glance at Cameron before turning to leave. Soon only Ashton remained. She sighed and ran her finger down the small bit of cheek she could see. Cameron didn't shrug away from her touch like he'd done to Nia. Neither of them spoke and soon Ashton left as well.

Cameron watched her leave from under his arm and had to fight back the urge to call her back. He needed her strength. He needed her to snap him back into shape and force him to come up with a plan of action better than the only two he could come up with. As Ashton shut the door Cameron couldn't help but feel as if he'd just been locked into a box with no way out.