The days seemed dark and long. Fear was in the hearts of both student and teacher with the Headmaster gone. There was the usual gossip between students, but it didn't seem to be targeted at anyone besides Draco Malfoy, his father being the one responsible for leaving them all practically defenseless. Luckily, there hadn't been an attack in weeks, but the fear of it was growing stronger. The little freedom that they had left was gone, making the mood even worse since they were constantly stuck with each other. There was no more Quidditch, no trips to Hogsmeade, and no one was even allowed to leave the castle at any time for any reason.

Fred, George and Zavy sat at their usual spot in the common room. In the weeks that Dumbledore had left the castle, her anxiety levels had risen to her all time high, and she found herself stoned more often than not. It was the only thing she could think of to help her cope with the stress. The only good thing going on right now, was that everyone had only been petrified, but Zavy feared that next attack would result in death, and everyone would be sent home. Her and Brenden would be going back to the Leaky Cauldron, and the twins back to the Burrow. She looked at them both, sitting there with bored expressions. She went upstairs without saying a word and walked up to her dorm. Since they were all confined, she had to apparate to and from the bathroom to go for her smokes.

She apparated to her spot near the treeline of the Forbidden Forest, behind the giant boulder. The weather was starting to get warmer, which meant that the mandrakes would soon be ready to be made a cure of. Zavy was over seeing that process, and planned on being there for every step, to further improve her knowledge. She had started talking to Professor Sprout about all the different kinds of plants, for healing and the poisonous ones, and how they had healing properties as well. With Madam Pomphrey's knowledge of anatomy and the healing arts, and Zavy's excellent potion brewing skills, she seemed born for this. Both women were impressed at how much she took in from them, and were prepared to help her every step of the way. But her talents weren't as great as believed, there was an uneasy feeling drifting in her.

"Can't you feel it Z?" Brenden asked her while they were in the library.

"Feel it? I practically breathe it," she told him in a hushed voice.

"And the worst part is, I don't think there's anything we'll be able to do to help whatever is coming our way."

"I know, we aren't strong enough yet."

She opened her eyes, taking herself out of the memory. That conversation had taken place only three days ago, when the feeling of dread first started. She knew that something was going to happen today, but could not tell what. She sighed, exhaling her last puff of her joint and then lit a smoke. Thankfully, the twins had never questioned her diappearances, even as they became more frequent. She didn't want them to know about her bad habits, especially as they seemed to get worse. She flicked her smoke away, looking at the buts everywhere on the ground. She vanished them, deciding that if they did need to go home soon, there would be no need for Hagrid to find them. She apparated back to the bathroom, feeling better because she was stoned. She walked back downstairs and plopped on the couch, her head on George's lap, and her feet on Fred's.

"Oi, some of us have external genetalia," Fred reminded her.

"Oh my, you're right, how silly of me to forget something of great importance. Sorry George," she replied, smiling innocenlty at Fred.

"No respect," said Fred, tickling her foot. She flinched away.

"Don't touch my feet, unless you want to get kicked in the head," she warned him dangerously. Fred grinned evilly, and latched on to her ankles, holding her in place.

"Hold her down Forge," he instructed George, as he tried to hold her in place. George bear hugged her, having a bit of a difficult time while Fred tickled her feet and she flailed as much as she could, laughing uncontrollably. Fred showed no mercy, and no sign of letting go. Zavy's face and stomach hurt from laughing... until she fell to the floor with a bit THUD. She sat up and looked at them, about to ask why they just dropped her like that, but the look on their faces told her that such was not the case.

"What?" she asked them, wondering herself what just happened.

"You... you just did something very ghost like..." George told her, awestruck.

"Ghost like?"

"Yeah, we were holding on to you, and then you just... fell thru us... like a ghost," Fred explained better.

"You mean I just phased thru you two?"

"Yeah," they both said.

"Cool, never knew I could do that," she replied, sitting between them again. They fell silent again, back into their bored reverie. The common room was often crowded, so it was never quiet, it was just so dreafully boring.

"Alright, that's it. I'm sick of sitting here, we're going to Hogsmeade," Fred declared, standing up to emphasize his point. Zavy and George looked at him incredulously for a few moments. They looked at each other and shrugged, getting up to follow Fred. Zavy thought it was funny when Fred and George went into stealth mode, unaware of the charms she put over them to keep out of sight. It kept them in practice, and helped her improve her defences as well, so she never bothered to tell them.

They walked into the Hog's Head, decided that the Three Broomsticks would be too conspicuous for three Hogwart's students. They picked a table near the corner, away from everyone and sat down. Zavy walked up to get their drinks, startled at the bar man. He had eyes just like her god fathers, the same blue colour. Though she knew it was not him, she still felt a pang towards him, wherever he was. She went back to their table, and they cheersed to a good time.

They drank for hours, drinking, laughing, laughing and drinking. Inebreation was a good thing at times like these. Zavy didn't have a care in the world, and she liked the feeling of being stress free. They decided to leave before Honeydukes closed. Walking into the castle thru the front door was probably not a good idea. Once they had emerged from the one eyed witch, they weren't staggering as much as before, and started walking back to Gryfiindor tower, when they heard McGonagall's voice.

"All students report to their common rooms immediately. All teacher proceed to the second floor at once."

The three of them shared a look, then back tracked a bit to gather where the teachers were. There was an urgency in her voice that suggested there was another attack, and they wanted the details of it all before the story got embellished by rumor mill. They stopped when they saw Snape and stayed a safe distance away.

"-safe. I'm afraid we'll have to send the students home," McGonagall was explaining.

"Sorry I'm late, what did I miss?" Lockhart announced his arrival, looking at them all.

"Actually this is excellent timing, I think perhaps we should leave this to you," Snape said in a slightly amused voice.

"I beg your pardon?"

"A student has been taken by the beast inside the chamber itself. Weren't you telling me yesterday that you knew where the chamber was all along and it was just a matter of the right moment before going down there? I think. that moment. has arrived."

"Uh, yes, yes of course. Excellent Severous. If you'll excuse me, I'll be going back to my office to um.. get ready," Lockhart told them, turning to leave.

"Minerva, who was taken?" Madam Pomphrey asked.

"Ginny Weasley," she replied gravely. Once she uttered that name, Zavy immediately put a silence of Fred and George, and binded them so they wouldn't give away their position. The teachers vacated the area and Zavy stood there, stunned for a minute, processing what was said. Thankfully, she was able to get that done before the twins reacted, but couldn't imagine how they were feeling. Moments later, they saw Harry and Ron off in the direction of Lockhart's office. Something clicked in Zavy's head. She turned to her friends that were giving her and evil eye for putting the spells on them like this. She released them, but kept on guard... just incase.

"Let's go!" Fred shouted, starting to walk towards Lockhart's office.

"No," said Zavy sternly, "let Harry and Ron handle this. We need to get out of here."

"To hell with that, my sister is down there!"

"I know. But this isn't your fight, it's theirs. We need to go back to the commons, and wait until they come back."

"No! We need to follow them and help them get my sister back!" George yelled at her. She didn't react as she normally would've, only because of the circumstances. She was a bit frightened however, seeing as they had never been angry like this before.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you. Now let's go back to the tower and wait for them to get back."

"YOU can go, I'm going after my brother and sister!" Fred snapped, walking past her. Zavy sighed and stopped him.

"I'm sorry Fred, but I need you to trust me. This needs to happen, please, don't interfere," she told him. She wanted to make them both undertsand that she knew they weren't supposed to go. She did not know how she knew, but she did, and convincing them to leave it as it was is the only thing she could do. She looked into both of their angry eyes. They stared back at hers, that turned a a greyish blue. They were worried eyes, pleading.

George put a hand on Fred's shoulder, "We should go back. Their probably already in the chamber, and we wouldn't know where to go." Zavy was relieved that George's rational mind was functioning. Zavy took the bind off Fred, and he nodded, stomping grumpily back to the common room. They sat in their usual spot in front of the fire, not one of them saying a word. Anxiety getting the better of her, Zavy went upstairs and apparated to her smoking spot. She lit up her joint and smoked more of it than she usually would, feeling the relaxing sensation it gave her. She then lit a cigarette, finished that quickly, and had another, smoking the second one slower. She was halfway thru it when the pendant around her neck begane to itch and burn. She flicked her smoke away and held the thing in her hand.

-ZAVY!- Brenden's voice sounded in her head.

-Brenden?-

-Where have you been?-

-I'm outside right now-

-Get to our god father's office right away-

She focused her mind and apparated into Dumbledore's office beside Brenden. He was standing in front of Fawkes, just staring at the bird.

"What's up?" she asked him, confused as to what was so urgent that she get there quickly.

"We need to figure out how to help Harry and Ron. Harry, though capable will need still need outside help, and Ron's wand is just useless. We need to find a way to send them help," he explained, never taking his eyes off Fawkes. Zavy sighed, deciding that starting at Fawkes wasn't very producting. She saw the sorting had on the shelf and looked at the raggety old thing. Something shiny caught her eye. She looked in its direction and spotted what looked like a hilt. She grabbed it off the shelf and her eyes widened. In her hands, she held the sword of Godric Gryffindor. She knew that this would stand a chance against Slytherin's beast. She turned to Brenden who was still staring at Fawkes.

"Brenden, look," she said, showing him the relic.

"Fawkes won't be able to carry that to where ever they are. We have to find a way to make it manageble for him," Brenden mused, turning his attention to her.

"I don't know, do you have any ideas?"

"We could shrink it?"

"But if Harry doesn't have his wand, how will he bring it back to normal size?"

"Alright. I'd say we could transloacate it, but we don't know where he is at all."

"I know, and we can't even use our minds to track him without knowing the location."

"The problem lies in the fact that it's to heavy."

"Might I be of some help?" said a new voice. Zavy whipped around to it's source and looked around. She saw that the sorting hat had come alive. "I have a suggestion if you care to listen?"

"Okay..." they both said, not really sure on what was going on.

"You can put the sword inside me, and I'll take away it's weight, making it possible for the phoenix to carry to where it's needed," the hat told them. It took them a moment to process that the had was talking to them while neither of them were wearing it. "Time is of the essance!" it bellowed, making them jump. They nodded at each other, and put thier plan into action. Zavy picked up the hat and carefully placed Godric's sword into it, hoping it wouldn't just poke thru. Then she brought the hat over to Fawkes.

"Please, take this to Harry. He needs our help," she pleaded with the bird, extending the old had. Fawkes grabbed the hat with his talon and flew off out of the office. Zavy and Brenden stood there a moment after he had disappeared.

"I hope this works," said Brenden softly, before apparating out of there, most likely back to his dorm. Zavy followed suit.

Harry, Ron and Ginny returned to the common room sometime early in the morning. Fred and George were asleep on the couch, and Zavy dozed in the chair near them, a book on her chest. She awoke when she felt their presence, looked at Ginny and a wave of relief swept over her. Ginny looked worn out, as they all did, but they sat down anyway.

"I'm glad to see your safe," Zavy said in a quiet voice, so as not to wake Fred or George. She looked at Harry, who held the sword and hat in one hand, and a destroyed book in the other. She smiled, their plan had worked after all. The three of them were exhausted, as the first rays of light began to peek up thru the horizon. "Care to share your heroic tale?"

Harry began to explain everything that happened to her. How they had gone to Lockhart with information, but he was planning on leaving, how they had found the chamber, how Lockhart had finally revealed himself to be a fake, how his own spell backfired on him with Ron's wand, how Harry found Ginny, how the diary was actually Tom Riddle/Voldemort, how Fawkes had arrived in time, how Harry had defeated the basilisk, and how they had come out from the chamber.

Zavy listened to thier tale, truly amazed at the boy sitting in front of her. He was destined for greatness, that was something anyone, magic or no magic could feel it. Fred and George started to stir, rising from their slumber, probably at the voices.

"Awake yet? They got ya good eh?" Ginny said to them. They focused her eyes on her for a moment, then looked fully alert, realizing she was actually there.

"You brat! Why didn't you wake us?" George accused, relieved that she was okay.

"Were not going to go easy on you anymore," Fred told her, sounding more like himself. Ginny just smiled tiredly, and trudged back to her dorm for a much needed rest.

"Ginny, wait," Zavy called after her. She handed her a sleeping potion, figuring it would help. Ginny smiled in thanks and walked away from them.

Zavy awoke with a start, but this time, it wasn't from her dream. It was a familiar and warm voice in her head.

-Zahava-

-God father?-

-Perhaps it is time for you to send Harry up to my office please-

-Of course-

Zavy put a sweater on, and walked downstairs to where Harry was still sitting in front of the fire. It was three hours ago that she had gone up to bed, and she was exhausted, but she could never say no to her god father.

"Harry," she said.

"Yes?" he acknowledged.

"Don't you think it's time you went and saw Dumbledore?" she hinted at him.

"Is he back yet?"

"I believe so. Go on now," she urged, sitting beside him and giving him a nudge. Wordlessly, he got to and left her where she sat. Zavy relaxed on the couch, too lazy to go upstairs. Fuck it she decided, letting sleep overcome her once again.


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