Early update! Be grateful and review generously!

I got poked a lot today. If you want to hear the story, read this author's note – if you don't, just skip down to the story.

So a group of friends and I were doing an English project about humanity. We were making a film about clones, whether they where human or not and whether it would be acceptable to kill a clone, et cetera. In one scene I was the clone, and it was meant to be set in a school – we got some of my classmates to surround me and whisper amongst themselves, just to show how the clone didn't belong. Anyway, one of my friends was directing and encouraging them, and she said, "Just whisper amongst yourselves. Say things like 'I heard she's a clone' and one person can poke her." I swear I almost got poked to death.

Anyway, on with the chapter!

Meanwhile, James had been descending a set of stairs that seemed to go on forever. He probably only spent a few minutes going down them, but it felt like eternity.

Finally, he stood outside a heavily locked wooden door. James was almost certain this was where Ron was being kept prisoner. Despite his haste, he raised an eyebrow; it seemed odd that the Death Eaters would use Muggle means to imprison their enemies when magic could have been just as effective.

He shook his head. He was being paranoid – there was no time for that.

James studied the door carefully. Would a simple alohamora open it, or would it take something more complicated?

"Alohamora."

Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. James gritted his teeth. This was going to be more difficult than he'd anticipated. He rapped on the door.

"Ron! Ron, mate, you in there?"

A weak voice murmured a "yes".

"You hurt?"

"My right leg feels like it's a broken. Could be a sprain, but I can't walk."

James cursed. That wouldn't exactly help the two deserted members of the group.

"Got a wand?"

Ron's voice immediately became noticeably prouder. "Down my sock. Managed to stuff it down there while apparating. Death Eaters didn't even think to check if I had anything they couldn't see."

James snorted, even though it was a totally inappropriate situation to do so. "Right, I'm gonna try and get you out of there. Was there any particular way they got you in?"

"Nah – I was knocked out cold as soon as I got here. Don't even know where I am – in case I managed to get in touch with you, I guess. But – " here James could imagine him smirking " – I'd wager good old fashioned methods might be the safest bet."

As soon as he had heard the idea, James was completely convinced it would work. He instructed Ron to stay back.

"I'm about as far from the door as possible already," was the response.

James drew his wand.

"Incendio!"

The door burst into flames. Luckily, the fire didn't spread onto the stone walls and floor, but just slowly enveloped the wood until it was all in flames. That was when James lifted the spell, peering into the room.

Ron sat in the corner, propped up on his elbows. His right leg was splayed out at an odd angle and, while no healer, James could tell it was badly injured.

"C'mon – we have to get to the others."

He managed to pull Ron up. The two made their way out of the basement and up the stairs, Ron leaning heavily on James.

AAAAA

Lily stood still in the corridor, staring at the sword in her hands. It was beautiful – rubies glinted at the hilt and the original owner's name had been engraved along the blade. She doubted anything man-made could be this stunning.

Why had Snape given it to her? It made no sense – he was most definitely a Death Eater, most definitely on the opposite side to them – he had killed Dumbledore, for heaven's sake!

Her head was beginning to ache with all the suspicions and theories that kept flitting in and out, each one more confusing and unrealistic than the one before it.

Lily gathered that Ron was not there – hoping that James had found him, she turned and ran as fast as she could down the stairs she had alighted only minutes before, gripping the hilt of the sword as hard as she could.

"Lily!" a familiar voice called, and she turned toward the source of the noise. James was approaching her slowly, his normal speed hindered by the figure leaning on him. While Ron had tried his best to be helpful and not a burden, his hurt leg had prevented him from doing just that.

"We have Ron," James said grimly when they neared. "I found him in – wait, why do you have a sword?"

"I'll tell you when we get back to Grimmauld," Lily told him. "Let's get Harry and Hermione back before we start telling stories."

"What? Aren't they here?" Ron asked urgently, the news new to him.

James and Lily looked at each other nervously. "The Death Eaters have them. So we need to – "

"Need to what?"

All three looked up, startled. Harry and Hermione were running towards them, slightly out of breath.

"How did you escape?" James asked them.

"I think we've got a guardian angel or something," Harry gave a slight grin. "First we're told to come to Malfoy Manor. Then someone opens the gate for us. Then our Death Eater friends get attacked by someone. We don't know who, because we had to escape before they called You-Know-Who. Shame, because I'd like to thank them."

"Got a sword as well," James indicated the long object in Lily's hand, causing the two who hadn't seen it yet to gape at it.

"I suppose we'd better get back to Grimmauld then," Hermione said, tearing her gaze away from the sword.

The others nodded. They needed some down-time.

There's been quite a lot of action in the last few chapters, but everything should calm down a bit for a while, now. Which means more character-based chapters, which I find easier to write!

Anyway, please review!

Also, if anyone is interested in seeing what I actually look like, look on my deviantART account of the same name.