Life goes on

by rrabbit

Cassius, Gavin, Lavinia, and Evelyn carry on with their lives as Draco and Ginny's children. It's tough starting your own family outside of the one you already have... This takes place right where When the truth doesn't matter left off.

20. Chapter 20

A/N: It took me a while to write this chapter... And in that time I had received two updates from stories I had been following. It occurred to me, as I clicked on the link, that I had forgotten what story it actually was. That happened with both of them, actually. It had been so long since they updated that I didn't even know why I had wanted to read more of it in the first place. I read the description and I still couldn't remember, so I went back and skimmed through some chapters to figure it out. Once I found out why I had put it on my alert list, I was happy to go back and read the new chapter. To my disappointment, it was a dinky small one that didn't progress the story at all. If you take a year, or even a few months, to update... You need to have more than 6,000 words. I went through a lot of work to remember why I liked the story and I ended up just feeling... Blah. More than 6,000 words, people! It's only fair.

Anyways...

I try to write my chapters like mini TV episodes. That's the way I look at it, anyways. I try to make every thing have a purpose and every chapter to be it's own little story in itself so it's entertaining to read and you don't feel disappointed at the end and think 'wtf' to yourself while getting annoyed that you wasted your time. There is a point to telling you all of this... If people are still reading... I thought I'd catch you up to speed if you forgot, or if you are a bit hazy about some details in the story. Everything after this little note that is center spaced is the play back. It's hard for me to read when everything is in Italics so I just did it this way. It will fill you in and let you know what's happening in the story up to this point.

Below that, the new Chapter starts so you can skip the first part if you have a great memory and don't need it.

Well, enjoy!

Rrabbit.

Btw: The 'catch up' part of this chapter is probably more than 6,000 words all in itself. See! It's easy, authors of fanfiction that I actually like!

Previously on: Life Goes On

Cassius was enticed by Dr. Bailey to go on an archeological dig under the Mediterranean sea in search of artifacts from the Island. The Island is an Atlantis like place of legend from the wizarding world and the holy grail for archeologist who find anything from that era. Accompanied by Paige Montgomery, they set into the ocean where a shot of magic from a giant statue head knocked both of them out and 'ended' both of their lives. Cassius soon found himself on that mysterious Island that was stuck in time, where nothing changed, and people thought he was Apollo. And then everything changed. Statues started to crumble, it rained, people started to heal, and Paige turned out not to be who she said she was. A former resident and joint ruler of the Island, Paige was married to Gregorious, the stupid patriarchal leader who had wanted immortality. In his attempts to gain that, he doomed the rest of the inhabitants by making the first Horcrux that tore them all apart from the real world and trapped their souls in a Horcrux. Which turned out to be his treasured lions head necklace. Paige came back to kill Gregorious and take over under new management, but Cassius didn't want to stay. He found out that his body was still intact and he could still go back to it, if he got there before the window closed. Paige didn't want him to go.

Of course he didn't want to stay.

Finding out that killing yourself was the only way out, and that Gregorious was going to try to get off the Island by stealing his waiting body, Cassius took a leap of faith and jumped off a cliff side into the water below. He woke up in a casket with only minutes to get out before he really died. Luckily for him, Byron and Lavinia had already been working on getting him out with the help of Dr. Bailey who seemed all too eager to help resurrect their fallen friend. Every Malfoy family member ended up in the cemetery that night to help get him out and revive them, their plots overlapping to reach that point. Before going to cemetery, Bailey had given Byron a potion that needed one last ingredient: An illegal flower called the 'blood flower.' It would wake Cassius up and things would be back to normal. No one knew that Cassius was already awake.

Gavin had been having a hard summer. It started out well... He was going out and drinking with his friends with his pregnant fiancee at home waiting for him, then everything hit him at once. He found out that the girl he thought he loved had cheated on him with one of his friends right after finding out that Cassius had 'died'. After drinking most of the night, he made his way towards the Malfoy Mausoleum, where he heard noises coming from inside his brother's tomb. When Cassius was found to be alive and he would be well, Gavin didn't feel the relief and happiness he thought he should. Instead he felt angered and betrayed by every one around him.

He downward spiraled from there, drinking, sleeping with Pansy Parkinson White again, and joining the neo death eater movement. With the help of his father, he was able to get his head on a little straighter but not before practically enslaving Kelvin Marcello with a blood oath. After finding out Kelvin and his friends had defaced the memory of his brother by taking a photo at the funeral and writing terrible things in some back alley wall, Gavin had gone on a rampage and destroyed things that they had loved like Kelvin's prized guitar. In retaliation, Kelvin set a fire in Gavin's flat while Addison was still inside. Cornering Kelvin later proved to be beneficial and he demanded a blood oath by threatening force before he could get away. He's taken advantage of it. To blackmail Pansy White and eventually having Kelvin torture her for information. Gavin has known a darker side, but not one that he deals with directly. After Pansy turned down his offer to give him the Dailey Prophet in exchange for sex he became angry and decided to ruin her with the neo death eaters behind him. He couldn't torture two innocent muggles in front of the initiation group so his father took his place and promised his alliance if Gavin was able to go free. Humiliated by this, but not able to stomach the torture, Gavin went home and vowed revenge against Theo Nott and the others who had put them in that position. And that led him to the catacomb where Dr. Bailey and a creature in the pink dress made a proposition for him the night before his daughter was born. If he didn't find and retrieve Bellatrix Lestrange's wedding dress, then they would kill his mother. He finally gave in and told Draco, who gave him the dress, but not before putting a powerful curse on it that he warned Gavin not to mess with. The intention was to hurt the person who wanted the dress, but out of guilt and anger, Gavin went to Pansy where she was being held in a basement in Diagon Ally after her time being questioned by Kelvin. Reluctant to use his wand because of the regret he felt for asking Kelvin to hurt her, she was able to grab the dress and slip it on.

It blew up. Killing her and destroying the dress.

When Cassius came back, he had realized his little brother was in trouble and took to following him around to try to help. That was easier than dealing with his own problems and his thoughts on the people left on the Island. At one of the meetings he was spying on, he saw a familiar face. An old girlfriend from Hogwarts who was a shoddy character back then had joined the Death Eaters as well and Cassius, still attracted to her, managed to confront her after she kept him out of harms way during the stealing of the one of the Isand artifacts. They slept together and Daniella confessed to Cassius that she had joined the group because she was an undercover Auror sent on a mission to find out who was running things. Always the trusting type, but still hurt by Paige's betrayal and lies, Cassius was hesitant to believe her, but he accepted the necklace that Dorian Bones, Daniella's alleged partner, had brought him. It was the original Horcrux from the Island that Cassius and Byron had wanted to destroy so they could free the souls stuck there. Something or someone broke the wards the next day after receiving it and his mother was taken by peoples unknown.

Lavinia had been having a hard enough time with her tumultuous relationship with Byron Flint even before Conrad Foxworth was introduced. She had always harbored feelings for Byron, but he could be cruel and his self loathing and insecurities were hard to deal with at times. Being with Byron signaled her first serious relationship with a guy and the first time she had slept with or said 'I love you' to a person that was out side of her family. It didn't make the relationship easy and when Eva, a prior lover and coworker of Byron, gets thrown into the mix things just got harder for them. Lavinia had always been painfully shy and her own self esteem was set into question a few times which caused trust issues between the two to grow. Nevertheless, she was sure that she loved him no matter how frightened she could be by the darkness that was in him or how better looking she thought he was than her.

After a horse accident earlier in the summer that resulted in a broken back, Lavinia was introduced Conrad Foxworth. A Healer at St. Mungo's who she instantly felt attracted to. And he obviously was attracted to her as well. Turning out to be part of that Neo Death eater club, Conrad Foxworth was able to move forward after hearing Cassius' account of the Island and what his thoughts on the artifacts were. Meeting up with Conrad at a pub one night while out with her friends, Lavinia was relieved to have an actual conversation about mundane things with a boy. Her and Byron had started off their relationship while trying to help their brother and most things were centered around that, or the issues they had to work through with each other. It was like a breath of fresh air to talk about school and Quidditch, as opposed to Horcruxs, petty jealousies, and insecurities.

Conrad, having favor within his group and more power, had decided that Lavinia would make a good wife. Besides being genuinely attracted to her, he liked that she was from such a prominent pure blood family with a good history of pureblood support. He decided to pursue her and he finally got his chance one night after Byron had stood her up on a date. Depressed and upset over the last minute cancellation that had her sitting in a restaurant by herself for two hours, Lavinia decided to bring her new college friend to the club that Conrad had invited her to. Mostly out of spite, Lavinia showed up ready to have a good time, but not knowing exactly how deeply involved Conrad was going to try to get, she didn't know to watch out. Other Neo Death eaters were at the club, including Daniella, who saw the drink Conrad was trying to give Lavinia and tried to interject and convince her to trade. She was pulled back and Lavinia brushed the concerned looks aside as she drank the drugged cocktail.

After drinking the potion made for her by Byron's death eater grandmother, Lavinia had felt uncommon levels of desire towards Conrad. Mixed with her own genuine attraction and her anger still towards Byron for leaving her alone, she ended up going back to his flat and having a night of rough sex. Not knowing that a potion had been slipped in her drink, Lavinia told Byron of her infidelity and fell into a depression. Her friend, Jessica, had attended a safe sex seminar where she saw an orange potion that looked close to what Lavinia had been drinking and it carried the same symptoms. When Lavinia found out the truth, there wasn't much she could do to prove what had happened, but luckily for her, Byron had seen Gavin's memory where Conrad and his Grandmother had talked about the potion and the outcome from it.

With revenge in mind, Byron asked Lavinia to keep seeing Conrad to lure him into a false sense of security before he struck. She reluctantly agreed and stayed with Byron the night after being out with Conrad. Byron had a plan, and part of it involved going to one of the Death Eater meeting to join with his newly released uncle and Grandmother. Lavinia begged him not to go, but he left anyways and never came home. She received flowers the next day and her worries subsided. Thinking they were from Byron, she went back to her dorm to attend a class. Finding out that a murder had taken place that was similar to the foster home that Conrad had described to her, she knew the pieces fit, she just couldn't put them together until Conrad showed up and asked if she liked the flowers. Hinting that Byron hadn't gotten them at all and he was still missing.

Evelyn was living a pretty blissfully ignorant life for a while, with all the trappings of teenage drama and happiness that comes with adolescence. She was hanging out with her best friend Jeremiah, having her first real boy trouble, and going to ballet classes every week while enjoying what summer brought her. She had only one goal in mind at the start of the story: to have fun and to never be boring. The supposed death of her older brother shook her foundations and our once bubbly and naive youngest found herself a new friend in a the form of a cursed dress holding onto the image and memories of Bellatrix Lestrange. Things began to change after that. Her ideas on blood equality and fairness changed and she was disturbing the people who lived with her. After telling her mother that her magic was weak because she used to play with muggle things as a child, Draco and Ginny knew something was wrong.

Being punished and having to clean the ball room gave Draco and Ginny enough time to search Evelyn's room to find out why her attitude had turned nasty and her thoughts had turned dark. They found the culprit and when Evelyn was done with the cleaning she ran to her room to save her friend and the strange box with the red vials and journal inside. Claiming it had no significance, Ginny went to throw the dress in the fire. Evelyn panicked and grabbed it from the flames before sobbing and calling her mother every hurtful thing she could think of. Angered by what had happened, Evelyn destroyed her parents room, and when she found the wooden box containing Bellatrix's things, she decided to take a drink from one of the vials. Bella, the mirror memory, had been trying to get her to master a tricky and mysterious doppelgänger spell that Bellatrix had perfected in real life. When completed she was supposed to give the vials to the doppelgänger. She thought they would help her, so she drank one. After wards, When the dress was taken away and she was free of the influence of her cursed friend, Evelyn started to have terrible dreams that involved Bellatrix and the wicked things she had done in her life.

Worried, but not wanting to tell anyone, she ignored them. School started and Evelyn was trying to get back into the old habits of Hogwarts but things had changed, she had changed. No one wanted to really know about her anymore. They wanted to know about the brother who had come back from the dead and the one friend she had always counted, Jeremiah, had found himself a girlfriend and was absent from her life in a way he never had been before. Also trying out her feelings for the French ballet dancer, Xavier, she had a lot on her plate. The dreams just got worse until they were to the point where she was passing out from them. To get away from it, she took refuge in the room of requirement that she had assumed was an old junk room. Chloe, Lavinia's best friend, and Lillith, the daughter of a popular music producer had stumbled into the room not long after with pot and uncomfortable kisses that Evelyn witnessed. While in the room, and while smoking pot for the first time, Evelyn found the sword of Gryffindor that hd sparked her interest. Professor Finnegan caught them in the act, and sent them all to his office for a talk.

Things haven't been looking too good for the Malfoys recently.

Now back to our story.

Cassius

The last thing I saw before getting hit with a curse was Dr. Bailey, smiling at me from a few feet away with his chin tilted upwards and his glasses magnifying his large eyes in an almost comical way. I didn't get a chance to utter another question before I was knocked out by a curse to the back of the head. I saw nothing but blackness and then my body slumped over in a weak heap. I heard him tell the others to get the necklace before the darkness covered my ears as well. I thought it was rude and cowardly to hit me from behind. But I was too busy being passed out to really be pissed about it. When I gained consciousness again I found myself being dragged down a brightly lit hallway by two burly men in black cloaks and silver masks. My feet were scrapping against the ground and they had a painful grip on both of my arms that I knew were going to bruise later.

"He's waking," I hear one of the men hiss as they throw me into a room. I shake my head and sit up as I blink against the harsh light. I watch with dazed eyes as one of the men starts to fish through his pockets and pulls out a bright green key. I only noticed it because it was green, a strange bright green color, with a black chord laced through the hole that was long enough to fit around his neck.

"Who are you?" I ask with a cracked voice, still weak and holding onto the darkness as the man in the mask stares at me with dark eyes. He doesn't answer and I flick my eyes down his body. He's wearing a black cloak and black pants and that stupid silver mask, but his shirt is strange. It's white so it sticks out and it has a weird cat thing on it. I open my mouth again to question him but he slams the door and I hear it lock. I glance around me as I rub my temples and try to wake myself up a bit quicker so I can get an idea as to where I am. This isn't a dream, right?

The room is bare and cold, painted a bright clinical white that hurts my eyes. There are no windows. Just one large menacing door made out of metal and a depressing metal chair attached to the floor in the corner. On the opposite side is a small iron bed, home to a filthy looking mattress with nothing else on it but a raggedy blanket and one soiled pillow. A pathetic looking light with a brown shade hangs down from the ceiling and it flickers every other second like it was threatening to go out if I breathed too hard. It felt cold in here... Cold and depressing. I stand and cross my arms, trying to figure out where I am and why I'm here. How did those people get into Malfoy Manor? We have some of the best wards in the country. People don't just waltz into Malfoy Manor on a Tuesday whenever it strikes their fancy.

The only thing that was different was the necklace. What if that necklace that Dorian Bones gave me counteracted the magic and broke the wards, allowing them to come in? I've heard of that before. Where robbers would give people gifts just so it would break their wards and they could get into their house. I sneer. If that's the case then Dorian Bones is a fraud. He must have known what would happen. If we was fraud, that would mean Daniella was too... That does something disturbing to my chest and I don't want to think about it so I shake my head. I know Dr. Bailey had something to do with all of this... I obviously saw him in Gavin's memory with that weird beast wearing Paige's dress, but why was he at my house and why did they take my Mother?

Mom.

I panic and run over to the door, trying with all my might to open it. Nothing works and I end up pounding my fists against it in a lame attempt to force it open. All that ends up doing is hurting my hands and making me wince, but I have to do something. I pat myself down, looking for my wand. I don't find it and I clench my eyes shut for a moment. My brother is going to kill me for losing his wand. I have to get out of here. What they had said in Gavin's memory is seared into my mind now and I can't shake it. What if the deadline to return that dress has passed and they're going to kill her?

I can't stand it.

I hear a loud bang that echoes through my room and it makes me jump. I step back from the door and eye it cautiously.

It happens again.

I narrow my eyes and press my ear against the wall because it's coming from the other side. It keeps on happening over and over again, loud bangs of metal against metal that grate on my eardrums. I go back to the door and try to figure out a way to open it. There's a little slot towards the top and I scrap my fingers against it until the little bit of metal slides to the side. I stand on my tip toes so I can see through it and I furrow my brows at what I see. A hallway, just as bare and depressing as this room, is on the other side and directly across from me is another metal door identical to this one. I see a shadow moving around through the little seeing slot on that door and I squint my eyes as the bangs become louder.

The banging stops after a few moments and suddenly I see a pair of intense blue eyes staring right back at me. I furrow my brows. I would know those eyes anywhere. "Byron?"

"Cassius?"

"What are you doing here?" I ask as I lean up on my toes so I can put my mouth closer to the opening.

"I could ask you the same thing," he says softly and I nod my head in agreement.

"Bailey and a few men broke into my house and took my Mom," I explain to him. "They cursed me and I woke up here." I look around the room again with disgust curling my lip. "What is this place?" I ask as I watch the light flicker again like some cliche in a haunted house..

"I've been here before," Byron says and I look at him through the slot. "I hate it," he mutters so softly I barely hear him. "I was an idiot, Cass. That's why I'm in here."

I'm about ready to ask him what he meant by that, but voices and footsteps start to filter down the hallway. When I see that blond healer named Conrad stop in front of Byron's door with a big oaf of a man, I feel my temper spike. He's wearing green healer scrubs and his hair is a disheveled mess in an almost boy like way, but he looks pissed. Very pissed.

"You deliberately disobeyed me, Oden," he snaps as the Oaf takes a key out of his pocket. Instead of the green one used to unlock my door, that one was red. A bright red boarding on hot pink. "I told you to scare her, not hurt her."

The man named Oden shrugs and puts the key in the lock. "You got what you wanted, didn't ya?" he asks flatly. "Besides, that bitch was annoying me anyways."

Oden is larger than Conrad in width by about one hundred pounds, but Conrad has height and a more muscular body on his side. It was a toss up on who I thought was stronger. Although, It still surprised me to see Conrad snap and push Oden against the door with his forearm pressed to his throat, cutting of his air supply. I watch as the man's face reddens as he gasps for breath and claws at the arm that's hurting him. Conrad seems unaffected by his struggle and he even crushes his arm against his neck a littler more as he starts talking.

"That was a very foolish thing to say," Conrad says with his teeth clenched. It's funny to see him with his healer scrubs and his St. Mungo's ID hanging around his neck, nearly choking someone to death. I guess he's not taking that whole 'do not hurt and help them all' oath to heart right now. "I don't appreciate it when people take artistic license when I give them orders. If you do something like that again, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident." he lets go of him and steps back as he straightens out his shirt. The Oden guy keels over and tries to catch his breath with his hands on his knees as Conrad eyes him coolly. "Not like I'd have to do that, anyways," he adds cruelly as he looks him up and down. "No one would miss you."

"You little bastard," Oden growls out in between breaths and Conrad smirks in a demented kind of way. This is the man who wants to be with my sister and I feel my stomach twist painfully as I imagine them married and coming to family functions together.

"What is wrong with that mouth of yours?" Conrad asks as he gets closer to the man once more and puts his hands on Oden's head. Oden is still bent over, trying to catch his breath, and I wince as Conrad he brings his knee up and bashes it against the older man's nose. I hear a crunch and I cringe. "You need to learn respect, old man," he says and then he steps back as Oden cusses and clutches his nose. "You got blood on my pants," he says flatly before walking away as he tries to magic it out with his wand. "Put your wand away," he says over his shoulder as Oden puts his wand up to curse him. "You know what she'll do if you hurt me."

I look back at Oden as he cusses and lowers his wand, calling Conrad every bad name in the book while he leaves the hallway. Once he's gone, Oden kicks the wall and cusses a few more times before unlocking Byron's door and throwing a black bag at him. I can finally see my friend and I raise an eyebrow at his attire. He's just wearing a pair of navy boxer briefs. His body looks stark white and chalky against the material and his scars look terrible. I've never seen him so unclothed before and I never really realized how many he had. A part of me is sympathetic again for the boy Byron once was. I catch myself doing it and bat those thoughts away. If there's something Byron hates more than his father, it's sympathy.

"I hated being you as much as you do, kid," Oden says around a broken nose and Byron stares at him with a deadly look in his eyes.

"I could heal that for you," he says, sounding like he would do the opposite of healing if he had the chance. "Give me your wand and I'll fix it."

A short small rasp of a laugh leaves the Oafs mouth. "Unlikely. It was a nice try, though."

"What am I trying?" Byron asks coolly and then his eyes flick to mine as I look out the door. They rest on the man again as he balls his fists at his sides. "We are family after all, uncle."

"After that stunt you pulled last night I'd hardly call you family." I furrow my brows as they talk. Family? Uncle? What the fuck?

"You didn't give me a chance to finish what I was going to do," he says and Oden laughs. It's more like a bark, I note.

"You tried to sabotage that whole mission."

"That wasn't a mission," Byron hisses. "That was Foxworth's attempt at revenge. Those kids didn't do anything to him and they didn't deserve to die over a piece of jewelry."

"It doesn't whelp of a boy is the favorite right now."

"Why?" Byron asks earnestly. "Why is he so well protected and why is he allowed to beat you up? You were a great Death Eater once," Byron says, to win him over and it's an act that even I can see through. "How is he allowed to over power you?"

"He had a lot of good information and he's fucking the right person," he says and Byron frowns. "Not your girlfriend, although, I'm pretty sure he's fucked her a few times over judging by the way he acts," he says. Byron twitches. "I was wrong about your mother," he says as he surveys my half naked best friend. "And my misjudgment has hurt me in the long run."

"What are you talking about?" Byron asks, sounding genuinely confused.

"Ah, ah. All in good time, boy," Oden says as he starts backing away. I see an opportunity to take advantage of the blood lust in my friend's eyes and I tilt myself up on my tip toes again to put my mouth against the open window.

"Hey!" I yell and the Oden man turns his head. "Hey you!"

Byron takes advantage of the distraction and picks up the metal chair in his room and bashes it against the back of his head. That must be what was making all the banging noises when I first woke up. Byron banging that fucking chair against the door. It is not that Oden guys day because as he starts stumbling around, Byron hits him again, cracking his skull. He slumps to the ground then and blood starts seeping from the wound as Byron grabs his wand and the key. He walks into the hallway and slams the door, locking the man in as he gets dressed in the dark clothes that were thrown at him.

"Is he dead?" I ask seriously as blood comes oozing out from under the door, staining Byron's pale feet and creating a small pool in the hallway.

"I don't really care," Byron says flatly as he slinks into a shirt and begins buttoning it up. What's going on with him? After buckling his pants, he walks barefoot over to my door, leaving bloody foot steps on the tile as he tries the key in my lock. It doesn't work and tries to use the wand to unlock the door, but that fails too. He runs frustrated hands through his already messy hair.

"It's a green key," I state and his eyes snap to mine. I try to ignore the darkness I see there as I continue. "The key the guy had when he put me in here... It was neon green."

"Alright," he says with a sigh. "Stay here and I'll find it."

"Where else am I going to go?" I counter back and he gives me a look before taking off down the hall, with bloody foot steps trailing behind him. I wait for a few minutes before it gets to be too much and my body is too anxious to just stand here dumbly and wait. I go to sit down on the bed and I bring my hands up to my head as I let my neck drop.

Think.

How does this all fit together?

Think.

If Bailey was in the catacombs with that Paige monster, then did he know about the Horcrux? Did he knowingly send us down there with the pearl earring so it could kill us and send us to that place? Paige knew about it, obviously, so did she tell him? Did he know that the necklace he had originally found was the first Horcrux that made the Island disappear? Why would he do that if he knew? The thing in the catacombs was playing chess with Bailey and wearing that annoying pink dress that Paige had been wearing, but that doesn't make any sense that she would come back. She wanted to stay there, she wanted me to stay.

Body snatching.

I hit my head with my palm as I try to work it out. Gregorius had wanted my body. The only way to get off of the island was to kill yourself and once he found out exactly where my body would be buried he wanted to take it. To come back to life. To come back to the real world. My body was just an empty vessel waiting to be occupied and it was running out of time before it started to go bad. Dr. Bailey had helped Byron with that potion that helped bring me back but I was already awake when he came. He told Byron that Paige didn't make it. He lied. She didn't want to come back.

"Who is she?" I ask out loud as I remember the hissing and the weird voice that she used as she talked to Gavin.

When I followed Gavin to that Death Eater meeting after my drunken night at the pub, they had said 'she would be please'. Who is she? Is she in Paige's body? I hit my head again and rock forward. They wanted Gavin to get a dress or they would kill my mother. A wedding dress that belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange who was my father's demented Aunt who had died when I was a baby. Why do they want her dress? How is it connected? Is it Bellatrix Lestrange in that body? Is the dress another Horcrux? How many fucking Horcrux' can there be?

"Cassius?" I hear Byron whisper and I jump up and run over to the door. "I have the key," he says as I look out of the window.

"That's a yellow key," I tell him as he holds it up. "I told you the key was green," I say with impatience and he narrows his eyes.

"This isn't green?" he asks and I make a face.

"Of course it isn't green," I snap at him. "What's wrong with you?

"I thought it was green," he snaps back as he runs a hand through his messy hair.

"You thought it was green," I say back snidely as he shakes his head in anger. "Are you stupid?"

"I'm colored blind," he says hatefully and I blink a few times.

"What? Since when?"

"Since forever," he says as he runs a hand over his face. "I can usually tell the difference," he says as I watch his face. I learn something new about him every freaking day, but I guess the whole color blindness would explain his weird fashion choices and the fact that he's rubbish at potions. Usually the color of a certain potion will tell you what to add or when you stop stirring and he always messed that up. Ask Samantha Flint her thoughts on that. "This yellow and green are just too close in value for me to tell them apart," he says like it embarrassed him and I bite my lip. "I know red, though. Why couldn't the key just be red?"

"Alright," I say with a nod of my head. "Try again, the guy who locked me in, he was wearing a white shirt," I say because it stood out from all the black he was wearing. "A white shirt with a cat or something on it."

"A cat or something," he says and I nod my head.

"I can't remember what kind of cat, but the shirt was white. You can see that right?"

"I know the difference between white and black," he snaps.

"Okay, find him... Find him and find some shoes," I tell him seriously. "You're getting blood everywhere."

"Oh," he says like it never occurred to him before as he goes back down the hallway.

When he's gone I put my head against the metal door. Think. Assuming Dr. Bailey knew about Paige and they wanted Bellatrix Lestrange's dress, did they use her body in some kind of ritual to bring her back? Is that why she's decomposing and horrid looking now? What's the point and what's the gain out of all of this? I ponder it a few more moments, that feels like forever, until Byron comes back wearing that strange dark look on his face and holding the green key in his hand.

"This is green right?" he says as he puts it in the lock.

"That is absolutely green," I tell him and when the door pops open I have half a mind to hug him, but I know he'd just shrink away from me and then there would be awkward silence for a while. I opted to just smile at him. "We have to find my mother," I tell him seriously, letting my smile slide when I remember the soberness of this situation. "They threatened to kill her if Gavin didn't find a dress, and if they took her, I'm guessing he didn't deliver." I had a horrifying thought. What if she was dead already? "Come on," I order as a new sense of urgency fills my body and propels me forward.

"Just a wait a second," he says as he grabs my arm. "You are one of the most recognized wizards in the world right now," he explains. "You can't just go traipsing down a hallway being all Malfoy like with your light hair and pointy nose."

"Pointy nose?" I say, my vanity wounded, but he doesn't seem to mind as he walks over to a stunned guard at the end of the hallway. "This is the first guy I got the key from," he says as he reaches down and gets the man's wand. He hands it to me before unclasping the bloke's cloak and carefully taking off his silver mask. Dead eyes stare back at me and I force my eyebrows together as I look away from it.

"Did you just stun him?" I ask cautiously as I put on the cloak and pocket the wand after accepting the mask. "You didn't..." I trail off because I don't want to finish that sentence and Byron gives me a look as he unties the guys shoes and puts them on his feet. "He had better wake up sometime," I state as I look at the man on the ground.

Byron narrows his eyes. "I just stunned him, of course," he says as he ties the shoes that look a little too big for him. "I'm not a murderer," he says and I look over my shoulder at the puddle of blood that had gathered outside the iron door. "Intentionally, anyways," he adds softly before standing straight.

"It was kind of easy," I comment as I look around the hallway. "To get out of here. Do you think they underestimated us?"

"That," he says gently as he glances at me. "Or they wanted us to get out." I shrug that comment off because it makes me uncomfortable thinking about it. I put up my hood as Byron watches me closely.

"We're going to have to get a disguise for you too," I tell him as we begin walking down the hallway. I slide the mask over my face as we walk forward. I have no idea where the fuck we're going and I let my eyes slide to my friend. "You said you've been here before," I say and he nods his head. "What is this place?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," he mumbles and I roll my eyes.

"I would. I need to know about this place, Byron."

"It's a mental hospital," he says uncomfortably. "I was here once when I was a boy."

I recall what my mother told me about Byron and I look away. "When you hurt that muggle?" I ask, remember my mother saying that he snapped the man's spinal chord with accidental magic.

"You knew about that?" he says as he looks at me with worried eyes. I can't face him, so I remain looking forward. I nod my head and I see his shoulders sag the slightest. "It closed down a few years ago," he says softly. "There were shifty practices with the healers and nurses that were being investigated, so they shut everything down. I'm glad. They were terrible to me here."

"You know your way around here then, yeah?" I say and he nods his head.

I wanted to ask him about what that Oden guy had said to him about the mission and the kids... But I stop myself. Now is not the time and if someone overheard they would know who we are. Now, Byron and I are no Aurors and our sneaking skills are kind of on the rusty side. In reality, we're just a couple of nerdy blokes with history degrees, but we're trying our best and keep our heads down as we turn another corner, keeping our steps light and our faces hidden. I stop dead in my tracks when we come face to face with Daniella who is pointing a wand at my head.

"You," I say with my brows raised. She narrows her eyes for a second as she looks at my eyes through the mask and then she glances at Byron.

"Cassius?" She whispers and then she looks behind her as she lowers her wand. "They said you escaped."

"And you said you were an Auror," I state angrily as I think of my mother. I lift my own wand and she looks at me in surprise. "Your stupid partner gave me a necklace that broke the wards at my home. They took my Mom." I'm jumping to conclusions. But it's a good assumption to make.

She licks her lips and takes a step back as she shakes her head. "Dorian," she says softly like she was disappointed. "Jesus."

"What?" I ask as Byron watches me with a raised eyebrow.

"Dorian is a good Auror," she says softly. "He really is, and he's saved a lot of people... Your sister in fact. He saved your baby sister when Pansy wanted to kill her but..."

"But what?" I say as I let my hand lower so I can listen to her. I lift my mask and glare at her as she sighs and puts a hand up to her forehead. "You have to understand," she says. "Dorian hates this organization. He hates all these neo Death eaters and what they stand for because his parents stood against them. It's what got them killed."

"Okay, then why did he give me the necklace. That's what broke our wards, right?" I say and she nods her head.

"Probably... He's a good man," she says and something like jealously licks my insides because she talking so blatantly about him. We did sleep together, and I don't sleep with just anyone. I'm not like my little whore of a brother. "But your father murdered his mother and the crew that was with him took out his whole family in one night while he was still a baby. He's always kind of harbored a little hatred for Draco Malfoy."

"That I can understand," I say truthfully. I know my father has done terribly horrific things. I'm not going to cover for that. "But I'm not my Dad and my Mother has no connection with the things he did. He put us all in danger."

"He missed out on a lot of things because of what your father did. I think he's always been a little off because of it," she says and I glare even harder. She looks over my shoulder and widens her eyes a bit as she puts her fingers in the holes of my mask and pulls it down so it's over my face. If she knew this, she should have fucking told me.

"What are you doing?" I ask as she takes off her own mask and gives it to Byron, making sure it covers his features.

"Talk about something non important," she says as foot steps come closer and she tries to look nonchalant as she leans against a wall with her arms crossed.

"What?" I snap back as a group of hooded dead eater things pass by us. Daniella nods at them and I watch them out of the corner of my eyes as they go. When they're out of the way, I lift my mask again. "I don't fucking care about your partner anymore," I say in impatience and she seems surprised by my outburst. "Show me where my mother is."

"I don't know where she is," she says and I narrow my eyes.

"Liar!"

"Cassius," Byron scolds me softly and I glance at him. "I believe her," he says like it was proof enough that we should trust her. "And you know I've never liked her."

"Well, thanks," Daniella says sarcastically and Byron lifts his mask to give her a flat look.

"Do you have any idea where they would keep her?" he asks as I take a step back to control my temper.

"I'm not sure," she says softly. "They barely tell me anything here."

"Of course," I state and she snaps me a look.

"Be sweet to me," she says and I raise an eyebrow. "I risked a lot for you. You'll find that out one day."

"Not if my Mom's dead. Will you help us find her?" I ask her as I take a step closer, letting my brain go through our shag session a few days ago and how good she felt underneath me. "Please?" I manage to say softly and I notice her eyes warming considerably towards me.

She licks her lips again and looks at my throat. "Alright," she says and I nearly sigh in relief. "I'm not sure where they're keeping anyone but if they want them to be a secret, it's probably the basement."

"Did you know I was here?" Byron asks in a soft voice and she looks at him. "Why didn't you let me out?"

"If I let you, it would have alerted someone. You pissed off a lot of people last night, Byron," she snaps at him and I give him a look before listening to her. "The fact that you two are gone is now all over the place so we don't have much time."

"Did you know about Conrad Foxworth's intentions with Lavinia?" he asks sharply and Daniella gives him a tired look. "He said you were there the night she went home with him."

"He told you I was there?" she says. "Why would he do that?"

"You knew he slipped something in her drink."

She looks around the hallway and then back at him. He has that weird crazy look in his eyes again. "I suspected. I tried to get her to trade me drinks, but Chance pulled me back. I couldn't do anything or they would get suspicious."

"She left with him," he says as he takes an angry step towards her. I straighten my spine just incase I need to pull him back. Although I don't think Byron would ever attack a woman, I'm not sure if that crazy look in his eyes would let him tell the difference. "He took her back to his place and raped her," he says and my eyes narrow a the word. "She thought it was consensual because of the potion, but she wouldn't have done it other wise. Why did you let her leave with him?"

"I'm doing a million other things and I'm in a high risk situation right now," she hisses in a whisper. "I can't do everything at one time and baby sitting your girlfriend isn't on my to do list. I'm sorry, Byron, but girls know not to drink the orange potion."

"She didn't," he says hatefully and he takes another dangerous step. "She doesn't know that kind of stuff. She's only eighteen."

"Then she's a pretty dense eighteen year old."

"Hey," I snap and her eyes flick to mine. "That's my sister you're talking about."

Her shoulders sag and she shakes her head. "I'm sorry," she says, she steps back from Byron and rubs her head again. "I'm under a lot of stress. I didn't know she went home with him. They just went out on the floor to dance and she had a friend with her. I had assumed the friend would have taken care of her."

"You knew that he was no good, though. You warned me about him," I add and she gives me a look. "You told me to talk to my sister."

"I was just trying to help," she says like everyone was attacking her at once. "We all know that he's obsessed with her, but she hasn't exactly been giving him a reason not to. If she didn't want to go home with him, why did she show up at the club anyways?" she asks, sending Byron an accusing look.

He doesn't waver. "She was angry with me. I had stood her up," he says and I look at him out of the corner of my eye. "You know how sheltered the Malfoy kids are," he says and I'm a little offended, but it is true. We didn't have a lot of restrictions and Dad has been especially strict with my sisters. I'm surprised he ever let Lavinia out of the house when she turned into a teenager. "I was the only guy..." He trails off and bites his lip before resuming his hateful pose and glare. "She doesn't know that stuff. You should have helped her."

"If you've noticed, she's a grown girl," she says and Byron narrows his eyes even more.

"I've noticed," he states flatly and she raises an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry I have to say this," she says as she glances at me and then back at him. "But she is an adult now and she needs to take care of herself." Not a very Auror like thing to say. "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe she just likes him? She was flirting with him at the club and letting him get really close to her even before she drank the potion and Conrad is constantly talking about the things they do together. What if she just likes him?"

I grab Byron's arm and pull him back because he looks like he's about ready to attack. "Just show us the basement and get whatever you need to get to unlock the doors down there." I say to get them off this topic.

"Only one person has the keys to the basement rooms," she says and then we fall silent again.

"Okay, well, let's go then."

"Yes," she says with a nod of her head. "Yes, let's go. Just... Don't do anything stupid. Keep your masks on and your hoods up when you follow me."

We stay a couple steps behind her and I keep the mask on and the my hood up just like she demanded as I try not to think of my sister and the weird mess she's gotten herself in. Daniella was right, she is of age now and she can take care of herself, but Lavinia isn't like she is. She's soft spoken and shy and half the time she goes along with things because she's too nervous to say no. People take advantage of that easily. We pass a few random people in matching masks and then a bloke with a comb over and glasses carrying a stack of papers hurriedly down the hallway. When we turn to the right to go down another white washed hallway, I stop in my tracks when I see two men in cloaks in front of a door. They're holding up a portly man who's looking badly beaten with two swollen eyes and a bloody lip. Byron stops as well and Daniella sends an angry look over her shoulder as the men knock on the door and it creaks open.

"We found the vials and the person who had them." One of the men says as Daniella makes a motion for us to follow her again. "He only had two."

"Only two?" A female voice inside the room snaps back and Byron snaps to attention beside me. I give him a strange look as he straightens his spine and balls his fists. "There should be three."

"Malfoy only gave him two," one of the blokes says and they let the portly man fall to the floor in a loud thud that vibrates under my feet. "He said Malfoy's daughter drank one and he wanted to know what they did."

"Draco's Daughter?" the female voice asks and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge when I hear the mention of my father. I look at the man on the ground again, trying to figure out who he is and how he knows my father... And why he's bleeding to death on the floor. I reach into my pocket to get the stolen wand, but Daniella puts her hand on mine and shakes her head in warning. "Which one?"

"The youngest one, ma'am," the one on the left says before bowing his head in respect. "She's still underage."

"It's Evelyn, then. That explains much. Put him in cell bloke D," the voice says and there's a wresting noise on the other side of the door before a small figure decked out in a black cloak steps out. The hood is so far down that I can't see her face. "I have a field trip I need to take care of."

"I know who that is," I hear Byron Whisper as the dainty thing in the cloak passes by us and Byron follows her movements all the way down the hallway. "I know who that is."

"Who is it?" I ask and Daniella grabs my arm.

"No time for chit chat," she whispers as the burly men pick up the portly lump and start dragging him away. "We're lucky people haven't questioned you yet, now let's go."

"Come on, Byron," is say gently as I take his arm and start pulling him away because he's still staring down the hallway like that figure will come back. Something brushes up against my side and I stop for a second to see what it was. When nothing shows up I shrug it off and continue walking. "Let's go."

We follow Daniella down an empty corridor until we reach a rickety looking rusty lift with sliding glass doors. I give it an uneasy look as Daniella steps on it.

"Is that safe?" I ask seriously as Byron and I step on behind her.

"Safer than the stairs," she says as she presses the base level button. "They have check points there."

"And they don't on the lifts?" I ask as we begin moving down. "That seems like a weak point in security."

"Not really," she says. "They have a blood line spells on the lift. And you being a Malfoy and Byron being a Flint lets you pass."

"What are you then?" I ask as I glance at her and she shrugs.

"Just part of the club."

The basement isn't well lit and the guts of the walls are out for every one to see. Nothing is hidden behind plaster and dry wall like the upstairs area is. The walls are dark and dirty, showing pipes and electrical chords that run through them and the floor is pure cement, dirty with age. Dull light bulbs held together by wire line the ceiling, giving it an all together haunting feel as the musty air suffocates me.

"This is pleasant," I state as I look down the never ending hallway of darkness as the finicky lights flicker every second like a scene from a ghost story.

"Come on," she whispers.

The hallways are long and winding and the farther in we go, the more mysterious looking doors I see. They have ancient words etched into the wood and I get an ominous feeling as we continue to move. Byron seems all together cut off from the outside word as he walks woodenly forward, like he was trying hard not to look at anything that wasn't directly in front of him. Down on the twisting dark hallways, I hear a familiar voice and we all stop when one of those weird door opens. The blond healer with the green scrubs steps out and he has nasty sneer on his face. His wand is drawn, but when he sees Daniella he relaxes and puts his arm down as he eyes us. There's a wicked looking cut on the side of his neck.

"Why the fuck are you down here?" he hisses at Daniella and then his eyes slide behind her to us as he pockets his wand. "You know this is a warded area and you just tripped all of the damn alarms," he says angrily. "And who the fuck are you?"

His skin is white and his lips are pale, like he lost some blood and was sickly. I look at that painful looking cut on his neck and figure that must be why. I would shake the hand of who ever did that to him "I can be here," Daniella tries to distract him by stepping in front of us and his green eyes flame in anger. I see Byron clutch his wand and I give him a look to make him back down.

"Get back to your post," he snaps. "You know who's out. We need everyone on alert." Byron is creepily glaring at him and he must feel it because he looks at us again.

"You're not at your post," she counters back and he narrows eyes.

"I don't have a fucking post," he answers as his eyes glance briefly at her before turning back to Byron. I guess he's trying to figure out if he knows him. I wish Byron didn't have such bright freaking eyes.

"What happened to your neck?" she asks to get him to keep talking and he brings hand up to the wound before pulling it back down quickly.

"Mind your own business," he snaps. Byron makes a weird growling sound and he snaps a look at us again. "Who in the hell are these guys?"

I watch Daniella as her hand slips behind her into her pocket where her wand is and I smirk under my mask when I realize she's going to curse him. This should be fun to watch.

"Are you deaf?" he snaps angrily as he puts his hands on his trim waist. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Conrad?" I hear a sweet soft voice and we all look to the door the just opened, spilling light into the dull hallway. Lavinia comes out holding a small vial in her hands and she looks a little taken a back by the scene in front of her. She swallows hard before focusing on Conrad. What is she doing here? "I found the potion," she says as her eyes slide to Daniella before snapping back to the blond healer. "I can heal you now... If you want."

He faces us again. "I'll be there in a minute, babe." Babe? How disgusting. I make a face under my mask and look over his shoulder at my sister. She doesn't look too thrilled with the name either. "Go back in the room. The alarm will go off in a second." I couldn't hear any alarms, so I guess they only went off in the rooms. She doesn't listen to him. Instead she takes a step further into the hallway and when her eyes lock with mine she tilts her head to the side. Like she knew me and was trying to place it and then her gaze lands on Byron's. After making eye contact with him, she went pale. His eyes are more memorable than mine, I guess. "Take off your masks." He pulls a wand from his pocket again. "Now. Show me your faces."

"No hesitation," I hear Byron mumble as he brings his hands up to his mask with his wand still gripped in his right hand. He stops when Lavinia makes a whimpering noise.

"What's wrong?" Conrad snaps as he looks over his shoulder and Byron stills. "What did you do?" he asks seriously as he turns around and walks towards her.

"The vial broke," I hear her whisper as she holds out her hand showing the broken glass that had cut her palm.

"Come on, this way, " Daniella whispers as she tugs on my hand while Conrad is distracted. "To the right," she says as she pulls me along while I watch Conrad kiss my sister's hand. She's bleeding and he sucks the blood from her fingers. "Think about your mother," she says and I look at her again. Conrad won't hurt Lavinia I tell myself as I start to jog to keep up with her.

Byron doesn't follow and I look behind me only once to see him lift his mask and let it fall to the floor. When we turn down another winding dark hallway I hear a scream and I stop jogging because that's my sister.

"Don't stop," Daniella says breathlessly. "Everyone is going to be rushing to that spot anyways so that gives us time."

We skid to a halt in front of a big wooden door that has runes carved into the it and Daniella pushes me in a dark alcove. "Stay," she says like I was a dog and I sneer mentally before sulking back into the shadows and watching as she gently raps her knuckles against the door.

The door opens and I hold my breath. "What do you want?"

"I have something you want," she counters and whoever is on the other side pauses.

"Do you?" The manly voice says and she nods her head. I can only see her from the position I'm in and her eyes flick to where I'm so bravely hiding.

"Yes," she says. "I know where Cassius Malfoy is," she says and my ears burn but I trust her so I'm going to assume that she's leading them on a wild goose chase or something along those lines.

"Really?" A tall man with dark hair that I recognize as Theodore Nott steps out of the room and looks down at her. "Where is he?"

She lifts her hand and points right me. "Right there."

What the fucking fuck.

For the second time of the day, I get hit with a curse with out being prepared and when I wake up I'm tied to a chair in a room that looks like some physiologist's office. There's a large mahogany desk and shelves lined with dusty books detailing theories on the mind and consciousness . There's a rather comfortable looking leather couch to my left, though. I look at it longingly for a dream like second because the chair I'm in is so hard against my body. I shake my head off the thought and snap back to reality. I fight with the bonds that have me tied to an uncomfortable wooden chair as I cuss to myself and try to figure out what in the hell I did to deserve all this bad karma.

"That's not going to help any." I snap my head up as Dr. Bailey turns the chair around behind the desk and smiles at me. The desk comes up to his chest and I would laugh if I wasn't so confused. "All that will do is give you rope burn and put you in a bad mood."

"I'm already in a bad mood," I state and he smiles.

"Betrayal tastes bitter, doesn't it?" he says and I think he's referring to Daniella and Dorian, but I refuse to rise to the bait as he hops off the chair and walks around the front of the desk to stand right in front of me. "You know, I was quite in impressed with Malfoy Manor. I'd venture to say that your family has one of the best private libraries in the country. I wonder if you have ever taken advantage of such a gift... Or is it so common it goes unappreciated?"

"Let me go," I state as I tug on the ropes one last time only to fail and collapse my arms in exhaustion as he watches.

"No," he says simply and I glare.

"Where's my Mom?"

"Wrong question," he says with a smile turning his old face like a crinkled map. "Try again."

"Why am I here?" I try and he leans against the desk.

"That's closer to target," he says with a laugh and I think of all the various ways I could kill him with objects in the room. Like that bust of a torso, I could bash that over his head if I get my hands free. "The most peculiar girl came to me last year," he says as he takes a fresh apple from the desk and he throws it up and down in his hands a few times. "It was fascinating the things she was telling me. I was so very interested in knowing everything about her. I believed her, you know, when no one else did," he says and I make a face as he bites into the apple, making a loud noises and causing water to fly all over the place. "She told me she was from the missing Island, the beginning of our organized magical awaking, and she explained to me what had happened to it. I nearly had a joyous heart attack when she told me where we could find some artifacts from it. I'm sure you felt the same when I showed you the necklace. It holds a power that speaks to our souls, doesn't it?"

"Paige," I say as I eye him critically and he nods his head in approval as he chomps away on the fruit.

"Yes, yes. As you can imagine, as a historical academic I was intrigued, but all she wanted to do was go back. I was disappointed, but I said I would help her because I saw an opportunity."

"What opportunity?" I ask flatly because I don't really like where this is going.

"Do you know what makes a society great, Cassius?"

That a weighted question, but I say the first thing that comes to mind. "Equality and democracy," I say half because I believe it and half because I know every one in this building doesn't. He laughs. He laughs long and hard and I stare at him. He was once my favorite professor when I was at University and now I barely recognize him.

"Of course not. As much as we hate to admit it, people are stupid and easily manipulated. Equality and democracy are just an illusion created by the people who have been in power and who always will be. Money and fear rule every society. And even 'free' societies like Ancient Greece all the way up to modern America fall under that category. You'd be a fool to believe otherwise."

"What's the point," I snap and he grins again.

"The point, dear boy, is that to have a great society, you have to have a great leader."

"Right," I state sarcastically and he lets that stupid smile drop.

"You don't believe me?"

"Ask Julius Caesar how that Great Leader thing worked out for him," I state and he stares at me for a few moments before laughing again.

"You know, I've always liked you," he says as he takes a chair and scoots it so it's right in front of mine. "You were my favorite student, you know."

"Do you treat all your favorites this well?" I ask as I make a motion to my tied hands and feet. He smiles as I look around the room, looking for ways of escape. "So are you aiming to be the great leader?" I ask to stall and he shakes his head.

"I am not that great," he says with twinkling eyes. "But thank you for thinking so. No," he says with a sigh as he sits back. "I learned my lesson on greatness a long ago. When I was a young man I went to Hogwarts with a boy named Tom Riddle and I knew... I knew he would rule the world one day."

I know who Tom Riddle is and I roll my eyes because he never goes away. "He's dead," I state. "Quite the ruler he is."

He smiles again, in an odd kind of way before sitting forward. "Can you tell me about the Island?" he asks as he puts his chin in his hands as he crosses his legs. "I would love to know what it was like from a first hand account."

"I'm not telling you anything," I say and he sighs.

"It's not like we don't know the story," he says softly. "Conrad Foxworth told just about everyone. Tell me. How was it that you were alive before the potion was given to revive you? That messed up a lot of things, you realize."

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you know that it is impossiable for someone to get into your cemetary plot with out having Malfoy blood in your system? Can you believe that? Goodness, it was quite a challenge. We had to work a few things differently."

"What?" I snap again and he smiles.

"What was it like to die and then come back?"

"Shut up," I snap and he looks taken aback. "Did you bring Paige back?" I ask and he raises an eyebrow. "Is that the thing in the pink dress. I thought she wanted to go back and stay," I say to get him off the subject and he sighs again.

"Muggles are tricky," he says softly. "I didn't take into account that she was raised by muggles," he says with distaste. "Do you know how muggles perform an autopsy?" he ask and I shake my head because I honestly don't. "With wizards it's just a flick of the wand over the body and we know everything but with muggles, oh they are horrid things that defile the body. They cut open the corpse with a knife and they break open the rib cage so they can remove all the organs."

I have a disgusting visual of that and I crinkle my nose in disgust.

"After they're done with them they put them in plastic bags and put them back in after stuffing the body with cotton and wool to make it look real. Then they slice open the skin around the head and peel it away so they can saw open the skull. They remove the brain and put it in a jar while they put the head back together a sow the body all up like some demented puppet master. Then at the funeral home they pump them up with chemicals and glue their mouth and eyes shut after putting pounds of make up on them to make them seem alive. People actually come to look at the versions of these people, stuffed up and sown together like depressing rag dolls."

"Why are you telling me this?" I ask as my lip curls back in disgust.

"I'm telling you all of this because I didn't think it would happen and it fucked up my plans" he says and spit goes flying all over the place as he bangs his hand against his knee. He takes a deep breath and runs a hand over his bald head. "No matter," he says to himself like it was calming him. "We're going to fix it."

"Is Bellatrix Lestrange in that body?" I ask and his large eyes look into mine. "Is her dress holding a part of her soul and that's why you need it?"

"Look at you," he says, giving me a surveying look. "Trying to put things together. You and Mr. Flint are an awful lot alike, I'd say."

"So you knew all along then...You knew what it would do if we went down to that stupid statue head?" I state angrily and he nods. "You knew what it would do but just because you wanted her body you made us go." I stomp my feet. "Why are you doing this?" I snap in frustration because he's talked a lot but didn't tell me a damn thing and I strain against my confines again while he watches.

"You're still not asking the right question," he says. "You're getting warmer."

"What's the right question, then?" I snap back hatefully as he gives me a serene smile.

"Haven't you wondered yet," he says and I furrow my brows. "Haven't you wondered why I sent not only one... But two people to the bottom of the ocean that day?"

"What?"

"You know that someone took Paige Montgomery's body," he says and I feel something uneasy pooling in the pit of my stomach. "Haven't you wondered... " He says as he watches my face. "Who was supposed to take yours?"

Evelyn

"Hogwarts has always held a zero tolerance policy when it comes to drugs and alcohol," Professor Finnegan says and I slide further down in my seat hoping to become part of the furniture. This isn't fair! It wasn't even my idea. "I could expel you right now and be totally justified. The rules are in the handbook," he says as he lifts up said handbook and waves it around. "I am very disappointed in you girls," he says, eyeing each of us with a very successful disappointed look on his face.

"Are you going to expel us, Professor?" Chloe asks softly. I know it's an act and I wonder if the fact that Finnegan is friends with her step Dad will help us out of this. "It's the first time we've ever done anything like this."

I nod my head in agreement. For me, that's not a lie. "I was young once," he says with sigh. "I know what it's like. So, no, I'm not going to expel you." I smile a little. I can't help it and I sit a little straighter. "But." Oh, darn, that's never good. "I can't let this transgression go unpunished."

"Punished," Lillith replies sorely. I doubt that's a word she hears very often.

"As the three of you know, Professor Sprout has terrible arthritis in her hands." This is going no where good. "She could use some after hours help with the garden and helping other students with their garden plots. I'll sign you three up for it tonight."

"But," Lillith sits forward and we all look at her. "But that's working with dirt," she says and I roll my eyes.

"I don't mind," I say, because, honestly, it's better than some boring detention or being kicked out of freaking school.

"I could add more," he says and we all shake our heads with wide eyes. He smirks. "I thought so. Now, What I want-"

"Excuse me, Professor Finnegan," Someone peeks their head in through the door and I turn in my chair. Mrs. Rosenthorpe, one of the school aids, looks uncomfortable. "We need to see Evelyn Malfoy in the headmasters office immediately.""

"What?" I say as my eye brows shoot up in surprise. I snap myself back to Finnegan. He looks confused too, so that doesn't mean I'm in trouble with the big guy, right?

"Alright," he says as he looks a little taken aback by the worried nature of the secretary. "Miss Malfoy, you may be excused."

"Why do you I have to go to the office?" I ask as I turn in my chair again and put my hands against the back of it. I stare at Mrs. Rosenthorpe, but she doesn't let her beady eyes meet mine.

"It's a personal matter, please follow me."

I send a worried look to the girls before I reluctantly get up and walk slowly to the door. This feels weird and I hate that everyone is staring at me. "What did I do?" I ask innocently. I mean, besides the whole smoking weed on school grounds thing... "Why must I go to the office?" I say as we begin the trek down the long dark hallways.

"It's a personal matter, Evie," she says and I slouch my shoulders and start chewing on my nails to cover my nervousness. What if they did find out about the whole pot thing and they expel me! But, that wouldn't be fair! Chloe and Lillith should be gone too. I blink rapidly as I think on it and I don't look up until we're in front of the statue that hides Headmaster Spinnit's office. "Here you go," she says sympathetically as I she ushers me onto the stairs and she says the password.

Why does she look like that? Why is she looking like she pities me?

The stairs start to creak and spiral upwards and I sit down on one of the steps as it snakes up to the second floor where his office is. What is this all about? It's worrisome for me and I don't like that it's all secretive. When I reach the door to his office, someone opens it for me as I sit up and dust off the bottom of my pants. Ancient Spinnit is sitting at his desk with his hands stapled in front of him. To the right is a broad shouldered woman with a boy haircut and to the left is my uncle. Ron Weasley. Both of them are wearing plum colored auror robes and I gulp and mess with my hair nervously before stepping inside.

"Please take a seat, Miss Malfoy," Spinnit says and I don't like the way he said my name. I don't like that the others are here and staring at me and I don't want to sit down! After a moments hesitation, I trudge to the high backed seat across from his desk anyways and plop myself down with my arms crossed tightly in front of my body. "Evelyn..."

"I didn't know they were smoking weed," I say quickly and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise as I sit up straighter. I will defend myself to the death if I have to. "It's not fair that I'm being singled out. It wasn't even my idea!"

"Miss Malfoy..."

"I've never even smoked weed before. I didn't know!"

"Miss..."

"I just went somewhere to be alone and then they showed up and I didn't know what they were going to do and they started kissing and I was confused... And I give into peer pressure really easy! Please don't send me to jail!"

"Stop talking," he says and I flinch and slouch back again. "I don't know what you're going on about, but we're not here to talk about that."

Oh.

I feel my cheeks heating up in embarrassment and I slide even further down in my seat. Stupid me. "Then why am I here?" I manage to ask, trying to keep as much of my dignity as I can.

Weasley and Spinnit share a look before the red haired uncle that I've never really met before clears his throat. "There's been a disturbance at your home." he says and I frown.

"My home?" I ask and he nods his head.

"Sometime this afternoon the wards at Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire were broken and the aurors were called to investigate," he says mechanically, pretending that we're not related. "The place had had obvious trespassers and a couple of the residents were missing."

"Residents," I repeat back flatly. "My family? Who is missing?" I ask, sitting up and giving them my full attention. This doesn't mean what it thinks it does, does it? "What are you talking about?"

"We haven't been able to locate your mother or oldest brother," he says. "They were both allegedly in the house at the time of the break in. We think they were taken."

"Taken?" I repeat like an idiot because none of this is sinking in. "What about my father?" I ask. Daddy fixes things. He could fix this. "Where's my Dad?"

Another look is exchanged and that makes me feel uneasy. "He's being held for questioning."

"Questioning for what?" I mutter softly and Spinnit is starting to look sympathetic for once. "What... What does that mean?" I ask desperately. "What happened to them?" I ask as I look pleadingly at Ron Weasley. He blinks a few times before answering me.

"We don't know yet, but with your father's connections with the up and coming death eater movement, we don't think it's safe for you to be here."

"Safe?" I repeat again. I realize I'm starting to sound like a moron, but this is so confusing for me. "Where else am I supposed to go?" Isn't Hogwarts supposed to the safest place on the planet?

"Your parents will didn't list any other guardians if something were to happen to them." Will? Why are they talking about a will? I feel like throwing up. "So, we're going to have to place you with your next of kin."

"Who's that?" I ask softly, unsure of what that answer will be.

Spinnit sits forward and looks into my eyes. I stare at his chin. "Molly Weasley, your mother's mother."

Oh, hell no.

"What about Gavin?" I ask because he's the oldest next of kin I have if the other three are gone. "And what about Lavinia? I can stay in her dorm room!"

Spinnit looks uneasy and when I turn my eyes to Ron Weasley, he looks away as well. "I'm sorry, Evelyn," Ron says and he sounds anything but sorry, that old troll. "We haven't been able to get a hold of them either."

"Where is everyone!" I yell and I resist the urge to stomp my foot. "I don't want to go with Molly Weasley. She is mean and she doesn't even like me." I don't care if that's his mother, she's hateful. "I want to stay here!"

"I'm sorry, but it's not safe here," Spinnit says and I scowl at him. He sighs. "This is only temporary Evelyn, and Mrs. Weasley was kind enough to offer up her home for your safety. It would be easier on everyone if you just accepted the situation."

"Then why can't I stay with Daddy when he's done being questioned?" I ask fiercely and another aggravating look is exchanged.

"That's not a good idea right now," Ron Weasley says like I was a slow girl in the post room and I sneer. "Our job is to protect you and this is the best thing we can do right now."

He's not exactly the greatest at handling a confused and upset teenage girl, because that just made me angrier. I decide I'm done talking to them, so I cross my arms and sit back in my seat as they tell me more things. Try as they may, I'm going to give them the silent treatment because I hate this situation that they are telling me to accept and no one was telling me how or why everyone was missing.

"Why don't you go get your trunk packed and ready," Spinnit says and I narrow my eyes.

"I have to leave now?" I say. What about my schooling? What about my friends? What about Jay? Oh, Jeremiah is going to be so lost with out me here to boss him around.

"You can take your time," the girl chooses to speak for the first time. She actually sounds sympathetic and I shake my head. "I know it's a lot to take in. We'll be here when you come back."

I pick myself out of the chair and I spare them one more irritated glance before leaving the office. I take my time going down the hallway, passing classes that are full of students learning and listening to lectures. I can't even wrap my head around this and my mind is going a mile a minute as I try to put the pieces of this puzzle together. Where could everyone have gone? Why did the wards go off and why is Daddy being questioned? Better yet, who is questioning him?

"How terrible this is," I say to myself as I take the dark stairs that lead to the lowest level of the castle where the Slytherin dorms are. When I get to my dorm room, I sit down on the bed for a while and just stare at the wall. The bell sounds and I can imagine everyone is packing up their books and heading towards their next class. I wish I could be with them. Instead I'm here, on this bed, staring at the wall and wondering what the heck is going on.

Like a person under a spell, I get up and gather all of my things, throwing them into my trunk without care and gathering all of my toilet trees from the bathroom, stuffing my toothbrush and bath things into a plastic bag so they don't ruin my clothes. I stand on my bed and peel down the pictures I had hanging above my head board. A majority of them are of me and Jeremiah but I have a few with my dorm mates and one of me and my sister riding our horses. I gently place those on the top of the trunk and gather up the shoes I had stuffed under my bed. This is kind of depressing. I wonder what my dorm mates will think when they come back and all of my stuff is missing. Once my trunk is packed, and I check and double check my things, I finally decide I'm ready to go. I go to pull out my wand from my pocket and I frown when it's not there.

As I think about the various places I could have left it, I remember where I was last. That strange room with Chloe and Lillith. I must have left it in there. With a sigh and a glare at my heavy trunk, I grab the handle and start pulling it along the floor. With out magic to help, it was hard to get that freaking thing all over the place. As I was going up the stairs, it clunked heavily against each flipping step and my back was starting to hurt because the weird angle my body is in from dragging it. It keeps on hitting the back of my ankles and I end up stopping in a random hallway to give it a good kick out of frustration.

"Ow," I hiss as I stub my toe and it starts to throb painfully. I grab my foot and hop around on one foot for a while, cursing under my breath and blaming everyone under the sun for my misfortune before I finally take a deep breath to calm myself. "Get yourself together," I whisper and with a decisive nod of my head I start towards that weird room again.

It takes me about half an hour to find the door and I'm pretty sure it just popped out of no where because I could have sworn I walked passed it a few times before it actually showed up. I drag my stupid old trunk into the room with me and I find my wand laying among some old news paper clippings at the bottom of a gold bird cage. I have no idea how it ended up there, but I don't really care to find out. Not right now when I'm so worried about other things. I pocket it quickly and go to walk out of the room but something shinny catches my eyes and I stop and walk back a few paces to stare at the sword.

I like it.

And no one else can claim it, really, since it's in this old fuddy room with all this forgotten junk.

I glance at my trunk.

I glance at the sword.

I'm taking it.

I don't care how weird it is, that is a cool sword. Maybe when this all blows over I'll hang it in my room. I think it would look cool. I pop open my trunk and I have to push down a few things to get it to fit, but I manage it. I make it fit. With my wand in my pocket and the stolen sword in my trunk I head to the headmasters office once again. When I get back in there, they all seem annoyed with how long it took me, but I don't really care. The woman did say to take my time and it didn't hurt them any to wait.

"We're going to floo," Ron Weasley says after I drag my trunk in. No one offers to help me and I think that is quite rude to do. There are two men in this room and I am a lady. They should offer regardless of what they think. My Daddy would. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, I believe so," I say tiredly because I'm not looking forward to this at all.

We floo to Mrs. Weasley white washed kitchen and I grip the handle on my trunk a little tighter as the grandmother I never knew approaches me with a grim smile. "Evelyn," she says and I glance around her small kitchen, taking it all in. "I'm sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances."

"Me too," I say gently.

"Let me show you your room." She makes a motion with her head, signaling me to follow her and I grab my trunk again. Annoyed once more that no one is offering to help me with it, or at least using magic for me considering I can't because I'm out side of school... Wait a second. "Am I allowed to use magic?" I ask as we get to the small stair case off the living room. Ron Weasley says something about getting back to work. I don't even bother looking his way as he leaves. "Since I'm technically in school and all."

"If you're still here after this week then we'll have a government appointed tutor come to help you," she says, never once looking back as my trunk slams against each step. "You can use magic then, but no other time. If you need anything, just ask."

"Okay then." I mumble because that doesn't sound like much fun.

"Here's where you can stay," she says as she stops in front of a bedroom door. "The bathroom is across the hall and my bedroom is right down there if you need anything."

She opens the door and I step inside. It's a small bedroom, barely a fraction of the size of my old room at the Manor and it's so impossibly boy that I can't help but make a face at how dull it is. The walls are a weird beige color and there's a small wooden twin size bed against the wall with red and blue plaid bed clothes. There's a small beat up wooden bedside table with a small lamp on it and an empty closet. That's about it.

"Are you hungry?" she asks as I drag my trunk into the room. It skids across the floor boards loudly until I finally let it bang down. She jumps.

"Maybe a little," I say honestly because it is almost lunch time.

She nods her head. "I'll make you something to eat. Come down to the kitchen when you're ready."

"Thank you," I say softly as I look around me once more with my arms crossed tightly over my chest. "Mrs. Weasley?" I say before she closes the door.

"Yes?" she asks in surprise like she didn't expect me to talk to her.

"Do you know what happened to my family?" I feel much younger than I actually am right now and I'm feeling very vulnerable. I want to be comforted, but I don't know how to get that from a woman I barely even know.

"I have a pretty good idea," she says and my hope perks up a bit.

"You do?"

She nods her head and eyes me for a few moments. "I'm going to be completely honest with you, Evelyn," she says and I nod my head. "Your mother wanted a divorce from your father." What? "He's always been controlling and I think he has something to do with all of this."

That's not right. Daddy wouldn't do anything like that and they love each other. "Is that why he's being questioned?" I ask. My voice sounds desperate and I don't like it.

"Yes."

"Am I here because they think he'd do something to me?" I ask and she eyes me once again before answering.

"Yes."

I shake my head. "No, you don't understand," I say as I walk closer to her. "My father isn't like that. He wouldn't..."

"I know it's hard," she cuts me off shortly and I frown. "Unpack your things. I'll be in the kitchen."

With that she leaves and I sit down on the small bed and pull a pillow to my chest. I blink back tears until it becomes too overwhelming for me and I curl into a ball and start sobbing. I'm hoping that this is one of those weird dreams and soon I'll wake up and be fine, but a part of me knows that's not going to happen so I just keep crying. I don't know how long I laid like that, it could have been hours or minutes, but I eventually pulled myself up and I looked around the dull boy room once more. Even though I am hungry, I know I won't be able to eat, so I go to my trunk instead and start unpacking my things. I hang up my shirts and fold my pants to put in the closet. I carefully tuck the sword under the bed after wrapping it in a pillow case and I put all my panties and bras in the drawers in the bed side table. Once I'm finished with that I sink to my knees and stare at the ceiling for a while. There's a crack running from one of the corners of the bedroom right to the middle and I follow it with my eyes for a while before a knock on the door makes me jump.

"Evelyn," It's molly Weasley and I look at the door. "You didn't come down for lunch so I know you're hungry. I just made dinner and we have guests. Please come down."

"Oh," Guests? Wtf? "I'll just be down in a minute," I say as I wipe my eyes off with the heel of my hand, getting rid of unwanted tears that keep on falling without my permission.

"I'll wait," she says and I frown again. There isn't a mirror in here, so I can't look at my reflection as I take my hair down and unbraid it, tugging a brush through my curls so I don't look like a mad woman when I go down stairs. I tie it back up in a neater pony tail and I try to dry out my eyes before I open the door and step outside. Molly is leaning against the opposite wall with her arms crossed.

"What guests do we have?" I ask and she looks down at her watch.

"Just a few family members," she says and I sigh.

Bloody wonderful.

"Okay then," I say because I'm a team player and I follow her down the stairs and back into the kitchen. I really don't know any of these people crowded around the table and I sit down at an empty seat when she tells me to.

Hermione Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fluer Weasley, a few kids and some other redhead I don't know are all sitting down and eating already and I can feel their stares as I look at my empty plate. This is weird. Why are they all here and why did Mrs. Weasley think this was a good idea? This is bad taste, I'd say. I feel like a circus attraction that everyone came to stare at.

"Fill up your plate, Evelyn," Mrs. Weasley says, making a motion to the food set out on the table. Oh, I guess they don't have elves. I grab the spoon that's dipped into a large bowl of mashed potatoes and I put a lump on my plate and then I get some corn because those are the two things closest to me and I don't want to ask anyone to pass me anything. This is an odd dinner no one seems to care that there is only one fork by my plate. There's a salad too. There should be another fork!

I take a sip of water, but I don't touch my food. I'm finding my appetite gone.

"Do you need anything else?" Molly ask me. "You're not eating."

"I'm not hungry," I snap and she blinks a few times before shrugging me off. Honestly, who would do this after a girl lost her whole family? I decide that I'm not happy with this turn of events, so I slouch back in my seat and cross my arms as I stare at everyone else. Hopefully I make them uncomfortable.

"Evelyn, I haven't seen you in ages," Hermione Weasley tells me and I look at her blankly. "You've grown up."

"It happens," I tell her with a bitter smile and she matches my uncomfortable grin.

"Of course it does."

Shouldn't these people being doing something else other than eating? How can they eat? My whole family is missing. I feel my eyes narrow and I stand up. "I'm going back upstairs," I announce to anyone who cares and no one bothers to stop me as I stomp all the way back up to that pathetic bedroom. I watch the sun disappear and I take out my music player and blare my music so loud that my ears sting when I use my headphones. Mrs. Weasley comes back a few hours later to check on me I don't really care. I don't feel like eating.

I don't want to stay in this stupid old boy room any longer so I tuck my music player into my pocket and I keep my ear buds in as I go to explore the house. Malfoy Manor is so big a person could get lost there, and there are things even I haven't seen because the place is so huge. There is so much to see at my home, but Molly Weasley's house is of a modest size. There are a bunch of pictures hanging on every wall, but none of them have my mother in them and when I reach a mysterious looking clock with peoples name on it I squint my eyes to read them. George Weasley, Charlie Weasley, and Aruther Weasley's names are all pointing towards the word dead and I crinkle my nose. What a morose clock to keep around. My Mother has a hand as well, but her name has been etched out. It's still working, though, because it's pointing towards mortal danger. That makes me uneasy, but at least she's not in the dead category yet. Two stories and a bit of magic to stretch some of the rooms make the house and I look into two bed rooms and a supply closet before finding the door that leads to the attic. A wall of humid air hits my face as I stare up at the narrow stair case and darkness. I take out my wand and light the end with a lumos spell before holding onto the railing and making my way up. Interesting things are always in attics and I find a dangling light chord and pull it, illuminating the small area in a warm glow.

Molly's attic is like everyone else's, really. It holds junk you don't really want anymore but for whatever reason you're holding onto it because you just can't let go just yet. I found an old box of plus sized dresses that looked just terrible and I found some kitchen appliances as well that looked like they had seen the worst part of the first world war. In one box I found toys and board games. In another I found some old records and a broken radio. I sifted through some other dust covered things before finding a small cardboard box crammed under a few other heavy plastic containers. It didn't have anything written on it and I was too curious to not open it. I sat down on the floor with my wand secure in between my teeth as I took off the lid. Inside was a pink baby blanket and I held it up to the light as I took out my ear pieces, letting them rest on my shoulders so my music was like a soft whisper in the background. A small G was carefully stitched into the corner and most of it was covered in blackness like parts of it had been burned and had smoke damage. I put that to the side and found a photo album full of pictures of my mother from the time she was a baby up until her teenage years. This book looked eaten by fire at the corners as well and I took a few moments to study the pictures. I never knew what my mother looked like as a child, really. We never had any pictures and Mom said they must have gotten ruined during the fire that burned down her childhood home. But somebody had saved them and here they were. She reminded me of a mix of Lavinia and Cassius, with Gavin's smile and Molly Weasley's eyes. I wonder if there's any of me in there.

My mother was once a cute little girl who loved her brothers and parents. That much was obvious from what I was seeing in the album and I felt bad for her all over again for having to be cut off from them. You would think time would heal that wound, but I guess it never did. I found a few more things that were once my Mom's in the box and then I pushed it to the side. How strange that this house was full of so many things, but my mother's life was condensed down to this tiny little box. To be honest, I was surprised they kept it, and I decided that she would want these things. It was just wasting away in an attic here where no one liked her anymore. I took the box and put it under my arm as I walk around some more. I found another more recent box on my way out and it was marked odds and ends. I figured odds and ends could be interesting so I popped the lid off.

There was a picture of Cassius, and I pulled it out as I set my mother's box to the side. It was an article the Dailey Prophet did about him while he was studying abroad in Egypt during his second year at the University. I furrow my brows and pull out another piece of paper. Mom had won an art award last year and here was the exert from the magazine announcing it. There were a million other things in this box, some recent and some that went back years. There was my birth announcement and Lavinia's graduation notice... One of Gavin's team schedules from the one year he played summer Quidditch and Cassius' obituary... Along with a whole stack of his coming back articles.

Why does she have all of these things?

Buried along the side of the box is a pink booklet and I pick it up. It's a playbill from Sleeping Beauty... That was just last month. I flick through the pages of the book and see that my name is underlined. Did she go to the show? What is all of this?

"Evelyn?" I hear Molly call and then I hear her footsteps. I don't even bother to try to hide what I'm doing as I pull more things out of the box. An Article on Cassius' volunteer history, a picture of Lavinia during a piano recital, a photo of Gavin getting ready to board the Hogwarts Express... All having to do with my family. "What are you doing up here..." She trails off when she sees me and I look over my shoulder.

"You don't hate us," I say flatly as I hold up a stack of photographs of us taken from magazines.

"Of course I don't hate you," she says as she flicks her eyes to the box I had gutted, looking at it like I had discovered some dirty secret that she was trying to hide.

"Why do you act like you do?" I ask boldly as I set the pictures on the floor. "Why do you keep all of these things?"

"I always have," she says as she walks over and starts putting things back in the box. I pick up my mother's measly little box and I stuff it under my arm. "I'm not totally heartless you know," she says as she tidies up the mess I had made. "You are my grandchildren, of course I'm going to keep track of you."

"Were you at my dance recital?" I ask as I take the play bill and show it to her. "Did you go?"

"Why does it matter?" she asks as she snatches it away and stuffs it in the box. I blink a few times before pursing this further.

"Why did you go? Did you see me fall?" What a terrible thing that would be.

She puts the lid on the box and pauses a second before looking at me. "I thought you danced beautifully," she says and I stare at her for a few moments.

"Why didn't you let me or my mother know that you were there... That you were paying attention to all of theses things?" I ask as I make a hand movement towards the box. "Why do you hide that?"

"I'm not going to lie to you," she says as she stares at the wall and then her eyes flick to mine. They're like my mother's, I notice. "I hate your father. I hate him more than I have ever hated anyone in my entire life."

I swallow hard before replying to that pleasant comment. "He's really not so bad," I say and it sounded lame even to my own ears, but I was going to keep going with it. "He can be very loving and he's funny sometimes too," I add, grasping at straws. "You might even like him if you gave him a chance. He's not bad at all and he never says anything bad about you." Maybe.

"Evelyn, I have memories in my head that are not my own," she says as she touches her temple like it physically hurt her to think. "Because of your father I spent the better part of two years believing my daughter was the reason why my Charlie was dead. I have memories of her confronting us, telling us she hated us and how disgusted she was. I remember her helping set the burrow on fire. They're not real," she says sadly. "I know that now. I believed it because of a curse Draco Malfoy put on us to make us hate our baby."

"Oh," I say because I didn't know that and I look down at my hands.

I feel her grab my hands and I look up. She's staring right into my eyes now with a brutal intensity. "What he did to your mother is unforgivable," she says and I hold my breath. "I know this is hard, but you need to hear it. Your father forced your mother to marry him, he forced her to stay with him, he forced her to have his children, and he forced her to love him," I try to pull my hands back, but she pulls tighter. "He abused her, he threatened her, and he raped her." I try to pull back even harder because I don't want to listen. "He cut her off from everyone that ever loved her just so she would feel alone and have no one else but him. He wanted Arthur and I to hate her so we wouldn't try to help her, but he was wrong. We never stopped loving her, even when we thought she was the evil person he wanted us to think she was.

I feel tears in my eyes, but I blink them back. I want her to stop talking now. I want her to let go of my hands so I can run away.

"I hate him and I'm angry that he's been given so many chances in life. He doesn't deserve them. He doesn't deserve your mother and I'm mad, Evelyn," she says as her old eyes stare deeply into mine. "I'm so mad that your Mother could have left him many times. We were in the position to help, but she refused time and time again and Draco has too many powerful connections for us to do much but hope she comes to her senses. I thought she never would. She's sick, Evelyn. I can't blame her, but there is no way that she truly loves him. There is no way. You have no idea what she used to be like before him." she says and she looks away again, like she was remembering something nice. "She was always shy, but she always said what was on her mind, and she was kind and funny..." She trails off and her hold loosens on my hands. "And she loved Harry. Being with Draco for so long has totally changed her that sometimes I can barely recognize her. I try to tell myself it's not her fault. It happens to women in her situation, but I get so angry."

She inhales deeply and then exhales through her nostrils.

"And now I think that bastard did something to her again because she was trying to leave," she says, spitting out the words like it was venom. "She wanted a divorce, she was going to tell him, but he couldn't handle it because he wasn't in control of her anymore."

I shake my head and wipe my eyes after I snatch my hands back. "Cassius was gone too," I say as I remember what Ron Weasley told me in Spinnit's office. "And the wards were broken. Dad wouldn't of had to break the wards to get in... And why take Cass too? He's a full grown wizard now."

"One thing I've learned through all of this," she says as she stands up and dusts off her dress. "Is that nothing in life makes sense. Now, come on. It's getting late. You should go to bed."

I follow dumbly behind her. The weight of her confession to me weighing down on my chest as I clutch at the box under my arm, making it difficult to breathe. "I know this is a lot to take in," she says when we reach the bedroom door. "But you need to know the truth about things."

"Okay," I state softly as I stare at the door.

She opens it and I step inside and put the box under the bed. I feel weird now. Like I know things that I should have never known. I shake my head to rid it of those thoughts as I shut the door and I strip out of my clothes to get into my pj's because I have nothing else to do. The room looks menacing in the dark and I pull out the white tee shirt that I had taken from Jeremiah and I slip it on to sleep in. It still smells like him and that's comforting to me. I crawl under the covers and curl into a ball again as I try to clear my mind and go to sleep. Sleeping can be peaceful.

If I could sleep.

Shadows creep across the walls and I end up staring at that crack on the ceiling. When a spider crawls out of it I grab the pillow and blanket from the bed and march down to Molly's room. I've never been the loner type, especially when I'm upset, and I just want to be by some one so I gently knock on her door.

"Yes?"

"Can I come in?" I ask softly and she hesitates for a moment before saying I can.

When I open the door I see her sitting in bed with a few candles lit. She's wearing a white night gown with a pair of spectacles perched on the end of her nose, and resting on her lap is a book. She must have been reading. "What can I help you with?" she asks as she looks at my pillow and blanket. I walk over to the rug in the middle of the floor and start making camp there. "What are you doing?" she asks as I start to make my bed.

"Oh, I guess I should ask first," I mumble to myself before glance at her. I never really asked Mom and Dad when I stayed in their room. I just went right in and either climbed in between them or put a few blankets down by their bed because the couches were too far away. "Can I sleep in here?" I ask. I don't think I need to give an explanation, but I'll give her one anyways. "That other room is too dark."

"Too dark?" she repeats and I nod. "You could leave the light on," she says and I look at her before realization dawns on her face. "Oh, I see." she scoots over and folds back the covers. "I have plenty of room in here if you don't mind sleeping with an old woman."

I look at the rug and then at her bed. The bed is the better option. I slide into bed beside her as she blows out the candles and I turn my back on her as I tuck my hands under my pillow and close my eyes.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," I say because I do feel safer with someone by me. Even if that someone hates my father with a passion.

"You're welcome," she says as she gets comfortable under the covers.

We lay in silence for a while. I hate the silence.

"Mrs. Weasley?"

"Yes?"

I bite my lip in the dark and open my eyes to stare out the window. It's a starless night. "I love my father."

She sighs. "I know you do."

"I love him so much and I don't think he was the one who took Mom."

She doesn't answer for a few moments. "Then for your sake, I hope I'm wrong."

You are wrong, I resist saying. "Mom was eighteen when her and Daddy got married," I say as I play with the edge of the covers. "He's only a year older than her, so he was young too. Maybe he didn't know any better," I say as I try to explain to myself the things that she told me, trying to make sense of them. I always knew my parents had a shady past, but I always tried to ignore it.

"If he didn't know any better than he's more messed up than I originally thought," she bites out and I scrunch up my nose. I let the conversation die off and then she sighs loudly. "You know, sometimes I find myself not blaming him either," she says softly, like it was a secret. "Lucius Malfoy was not a fun man to live with, I'm sure."

"You knew him?" I ask as I raise my brows and turn on my back to give her my attention.

"I knew him well once," she says, with her back still towards me. "He had a terrible temper. I was glad when he died."

I mentally flinch. That was my grandpa and my grandmother had loved him. "That's not very nice," I mutter and she sighs again and turns on her back as well.

"I know, I'm sorry," she surprises me by saying. "Life has made me bitter." She pulls the covers further up her chest. "You're right, Evelyn. Draco was young and someone should have stopped him. Someone should have taught him right from wrong instead of spoiling him and making him believe he could do whatever he wanted. Lucius probably let him get away with being awful like that because he was making up for the love he couldn't give."

"How well did you know him?" I ask curiously. No one I've ever talked to has admitted to knowing him well besides Dad and he doesn't like talking about him too much.

"Well..." She trails off again, like she was debating how much to tell me. "We dated for three years in Hogwarts."

"Three years?" I repeat back. It seems silly really. I mean, she's Molly Weasley... And Lucius was always a put together, handsome aristocrat.

"I know it's hard to believe but I was young once too," she says and I hide the smile I was starting to form. "And I thought the sun rose and fell with Lucius Malfoy."

I don't know how to tread in this conversation. I want her to keep talking about this, but I don't want to seem too eager. "Three years is a long time," I settle on saying. I can not believe she's talking to me about this! How curious. "What happened?"

"I grew up," she said simply. "I realized that you didn't have to be mean to people to make you feel better. I realized that looks were no judge of character and I found out that when he shouted at me, it wasn't because he loved me, but because he was just a bad person who I didn't want to waste my time on."

"So you broke up with him?" I ask. I bet Grandfather Lucius was not pleased with that.

"Well, Arthur, my husband," she says like she didn't think I would know who he was. "We were always friends through school, a fact that Lucius despised, but I woke up one day and realized that he was what I wanted. He loved me, he was kind, and he didn't have warped ideas of superiority. Lucius was always hanging out with a very spiteful crowd and when..." She trails off and shakes her head. "Nevermind that. Anyways, I made my choice. I wasn't surprised when his son came to Hogwarts, just as snooty and terrible as he was but a part of me always hoped that he would get better... But people don't change like that. Lucius didn't have much of a childhood, and I doubt Draco did either."

I think on that for a few minutes and I close my eyes because it's so dark that there's not much of a point to keep them open. We don't talk again after that and eventually she starts snoring. I frown at it and cover my head with the pillow as I try to go to sleep. It's hard, but I end up dozing off before daylight comes. I was expecting the dream though, so I just went along for the ride when I found myself in an old house in the middle of the night, standing next to some masked death eaters. I sigh tiredly and lean against the wall, waiting for it to be over with. These are starting to get tiresome.

"Bellatrix, what are you doing?" One of the masked men snaps hatefully at the death eater that's randomly wondering around like she was lost. "Get back in formation."

"What?" Bella's voice sounds airy and strange. Some one grabs her and pulls her back with the others as I slump against the wall like the surly tired teenager that I am.

"Now," One of the men says. His voice is deep and gruff. "Remember what we're looking for. Kill everyone else."

The house they're going into is dark and I follow them as they break up into small teams to search it. Belltrix takes off her mask and squints against the dark. Her eyes look strange, like they're glazed over and hazy. Someone hisses at her again and she blinks a few times before following a few of the Death Eaters up the stairs. I follow as well and duck when a stream of curses get sent our way by hidden people unknown.

"Fuck!" One of the Death Eaters calls as more curses go flying. Bellatrix looks surprised by it and she drops her wand and starts running the opposite way. She's acting very strange. I follow her as she goes into one of the bedrooms and shuts the door tight, trying to get away from the fighting. Hiding. I didn't know it was prudent for her to hide. She was always such a smug hateful thing.

I hear shuffling around in the room and Bellatrix's head snaps towards the noise. She looks frightened and her eyes widen when a young boy around my age steps out from behind the bed with his wand drawn.

"You're a death eater," he says and she doesn't say anything. She just keeps on staring at him. "You killed my father." Again she says nothing and then the boy surprises me by throwing the killing curse at her chest. She slumps against the wall and the boy climbs out the window.

Is she really dead? I walk over to her as her body slides down the wall. The Death Eater mask falls back down on her face as her arms and legs go limp. What a anti climatic way to die. I kneel in front of her and study her face through the mask as time passes. I hear the fight out side die down and then footsteps carry in front of the door as I stand up and back away.

"I'm proud of you," I hear a man's voice say. "You've done well tonight."

"Thank you," I hear a soft woman's voice answer and then someone opens the door.

"Beatrice Potter?" I say outloud as I look at the younger face of Harry Potter's wife, all decked out in Death Eater robes with a mask resting on the top of her head. She looks around the room and a smile curls her lips when she sees Bellatrix slumped against the wall.

"Anyone in there, Bea?" A gruff voice asks and she shakes her head.

"No, but I'm just going to take a moment, if you don't mind," she says as she walks into the room and closes the door behind her. I raise my eyebrows at her as she walks into the room and kneels in front of Bella's body. "Oh, my my my, what have you done, hm?" She takes off leather glove from her right hand and presses two fingers against Bellatrix's pulse point on her neck. "Well, that boy didn't curse you strong enough. Still hanging on there, are you?"

She takes out her wand and lifts the mask. Bellatrix isn't under there anymore. It's Beatrice and I blink a few times as the live Beatrice looks at the almost dead version of herself. What is going on? "Do you know how many hairs are on the human head?" she asks as she pulls out a bag from inside her robes. "About 110,000. Do you know how many poly juice potions that will make?" she asks as she takes out her wand and starts cutting the hair off of the woman. "You had the right idea, Beatrice. When people think you're weak and stupid, you can get away with so much more." She puts all the hair in the bag and sits back on her haunches. "I hope you had fun being me," she says as she points her wand at her chest and blasts her with a curse. She really is dead this time and blood dribbles from the corner of her mouth as her body slumps once more against the wall. I watch as the woman masquerading as Beatrice Flint takes a necklace from under her shirt and pulls it out. I know that black stone necklace. It was in that box with the potions and book!

"Second time is a charm, darling," she says and she does a few weird things with her wand and a complicated curse that hurts my eyes because it makes the room so bright. "Now, we can't leave you looking like this," she says to the newly bald corpse of Beatrice Flint when she's done with whatever curse she just cast that made her look tired and drawn. She puts the necklace back under her shirt and she lifts her wand again to do a masking spell, making the dead girl look like Bellatrix once more.

She smiles at her handy work and lowers the mask once again, then she stands up and dusts off her pants as I stare at her with a slack jaw. This can not be real. She walks over to one of the mirrors and smiles at her reflection. "You were goodlooking. I'll give you that." Whatever spell or potion she was taking seems to be wearing off and Bella's features begin to appear on her face. She smirks again at her changing reflection before taking out a flask and taking a sip, making Beatrice's features come back again.

This can't be real.

This can't be real because if Beatrice really died that night so long ago... Then that means that...

The dream jumps and I find myself in a brightly lit peach colored bathroom. With Beatrice/possiablyBellatrix giving a baby a bath in he sink. It's a sweet looking baby with black hair and bright blue eyes. I look down. It's a boy. Could it be Byron? I take a step closer and look at the Beatrice imposter with wary eyes.

"He promised me it would only be for a little while," she spits out hatefully as she washes the baby. "He said only a few months." she pours water over the baby's head and he starts crying. "I hate this fucking place, I hate pretending to be this woman, and most of all..." She stops talking to herself and looks down at the crying baby. "I hate you."

She looks at the little baby for a few moments as he cries and then she takes him by the shoulders and pushes him under the water.

"What are you doing?" I snap as I run over to her and try to pull her hands out. My hands go right through her so I won't be much good as she holds him under water and tries to drown him. "Let him up!" She doesn't and I start to panic. "Let him go!"

"What are you doing?" Both of our heads snap to the door way where a man with crooked teeth is glaring at her. "What the fuck are you doing?" he snaps as he runs into the room and pushes her hands back, picking the baby up and putting him against his chest. The dark haired baby starts coughing and crying and I sigh in relief. "You tried to kill my son," the man looks fierce as he yells at her and it scares me. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Oh, you don't even like him," she snaps hatefully and he gives her a hateful look before he leaves the room. I don't know where he put the kid, but when he came back he was looking deadly.

He hits her hard in the jaw and I gasp. "If I have catch you trying to hurt him again. I will kill you. Do you understand?"

She clenches her jaw a few times before nodding her head and he leaves the room with a slam of the door. She cusses a few times before destroying the whole bathroom in a fit.

I get pulled again to another place. Fog flows into the room and when it clears I'm in a cave, a dark cave with Bellatrix and a scary looking snake man with pale skin.

"Why is this taking so long?" she snaps and then she reels in her anger as she looks at the snake man. "I apologize for my outburst, my lord, but you told me that it would only take a couple weeks, but it's been a year already."

"Patience, Bellatrix," He says. "Soon our plan will be set and we'll have two new beautiful bodies," he says as he lets a bony hand travel down her arm. "And we'll live forever. I was foolish with my first resurrection," he says seriously as he taps his fingers against his non existent lips. "This is not a body fit for a leader," he says and I would agree because he looks like a monster. "With the things turning as they are and Potter still free we need to be careful. He has to live. He can't die... Do you understand, Bellatrix? You are my most faithful servant, aren't you?"

She smiles.

The fog comes again.

I hold my stomach because the move hurt me and I blink a few times when I find myself in a bedroom. A little boy with black hair is crying as he lays face down on the floor. All he's wearing is a pair of white briefs and his back is bleeding terribly. I run over to him and get down on my knees to see his face. He looks no older than four.

Beatrice is in the doorway... Or Bellatrix... With that flask in her hands and she watches the boy cry with an eyebrow raised. "You shouldn't have pissed the bed," she says before taking a drink and walking away.

The child keeps crying and I try to touch him, but I go right through. "Bywan." It's a little girl voice and I look to the doorway where a little girl with black hair is standing. "You okay?"

"Go away," he sobs and when I realize that it is Byron Flint I sigh in sympathy.

The little girl, who I bet is his little sister disappears and when she comes back she has a wet wash clothe. She shuts the door and walks over to her. She looks so young but her hands are steady as she bends down and puts the clothe on his back. He hisses and arches as she wipes away the blood.

"Did Father punish you?" she asks and he nods his head as he tries to relax. "Mother said she wouldn't heal you."

"I know," he says and his voice sounds thick with tears.

"Where did your bed go?" she whispers as she looks around the room, apparently noticing that there is no bed anymore.

"Be quiet, Sam," he says and then he hisses again when his clothe goes across one of the long gashes across his back.

The fog comes and I find myself in a strange living room. I'm done with this now. I want to wake up!

"Why do you have this!" The man with dark hair and brutal teeth is yelling at her as he holds her flask. "Why is there poly juice potion in here!" She doesn't say anything she just glares at he grabs her arm. "Answer me!"

"Fuck you," she says and then she spits in his face.

His eyes flame in anger and he hits her a few times before taking her arm and snapping her wrist. I cringe and look away while little Byron comes running into the room.

"Stop!" he says as he runs closer to her. I cover my mouth when he gets hit by the big guy too. His nose makes a sickening crunch sound and blood starts gushing from his nose.

"Who are you?" the man asks Beatrice as he glares down at her. "You belong to me, so tell me who the fuck you are!" She pulls back her unbroken hand and aims a punch right at his crotch. He lets go of he and doubles over and the Beatrice Bella thing grabs her flask and picks up Byron as she goes running out of the room. She grabs Samantha as well and they run towards one of the fireplaces where she puts some powder into the flames and floos away.

She ends up at Malfoy Manor. I watch as my mother heals her and her children. I watch as a little Byron sneaks out of the room that night and I watch as Bellatrix follows him to the top of the stairs. She hangs back as Byron hides behind the banister and she looks on with an odd smile on her face as the big man with black hair and crooked teeth tries to rape my Mom. She looked positively ecstatic when Daddy came out. She hides more in the shadows as Mom comes running up the stairs and then she reappears as she watched my Dad... My Dad...

"Oh, God," I whisper as I cover my mouth with my hand. My father was doing something terrible and I just couldn't bare it like the Bella creature is, or the way little Byron Flint is as he holds onto the railing of the stairs. I turn around and cover my eyes as I listen to the terrifying noises that are coming from down stairs and when they're finished, I peak over my shoulder at Byron's little body. He stands up and turns around to head back to the bedroom. His face is as white as a sheet and he looks glassy eyed... Like a dead person.

Before he reaches his room, though, Bellatrix takes him by the arm and pulls him towards her, looking right at him as he stares up at her. "That's what happens to bad boys," she hisses at him and I frown. "And you're just like him."

I go to chase after the poor boy, but that aggravating fog comes again.

I move to a place I recognize again. The Manor. In one of the upstairs guest rooms Beatrice, or Bella under the polyjuice potion, is standing in a tight blue dress and she glances down at some old trunk before going downstairs. I follow her. On the way she passes a little Cassius and I smile at my brother in his smaller form before we stop outside of my father's study. She cracks her neck and pats down her hair before walking into the room.

"Umm, hi."

Dad looks young here and he's sitting behind his desk. I try to pretend like I didn't witness what he had done to that man with the terrible teeth. I try to pretend that I'm not picturing his handsome face covered in blood right now. When he looks at her he raises an eyebrow, which is his usual greeting when he's not really thrilled to see someone. "Yes?"

"Could you help me?" she asks softly, looking down at her hands in a false sense of shyness. I crinkle my nose at her. "I was able to get one of my trunks from my old home, but I can't get it open."

Dad looks reluctant and he makes a face before nodding his head and standing up. He follows her all the way up to one of the guest bedrooms where an ancient looking trunk with brass handles is sitting on the bed.

"Do you have a key?" He asks, looking at the thing with disgust. Daddy has never been good at hiding his feelings of revulsion.

"Yes, and I already tried it but the lid is stuck. The hinges must be rusted or something."

He sighs before bending down and trying to open it. "Will magic not work on this?" he asks as he tries to pry it open again, only to fail.

"No," she says and when he tries to open again and she smiles, only to let it fall when he glances at her. "It's charmed to repel spells and whatnot."

That does not please my father and he lets out an annoyed breath before trying again. With a frustrated grunt he puts the trunk on the ground. Then he unbuttons a few buttons on his shirt and rolls up his sleeves before trying again. His cheeks are flushed and he's starting sweat as he tries to get it and after a few moments of work it finally pops open. Beatrice watches him with interest in her eyes as he sits back on his knees and wipes the sweat from his forehead.

"Oh, thank you so much!" she says after he backs up and she starts sifting through her things. One of them is the dark wooden box that looks familiar to me.

"No problem," he says as he goes to leave.

"Wait," she says as she stands, when he turns around to face her she looks down at her shoes. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me and my family," she says softly. "I wish I could pay you or something."

He shakes his head. "That won't be necessary."

"You know," she says as she takes a step towards him. Her timid eyes look predatory now. "Ginny's really lucky to have a guy like you."

He sneers and then his eyes flick down her body, like he just figured out a complicated puzzle. He takes a step back. "What?" he snaps hatefully and she takes another step closer.

"You know I've been with Marcus since I was... Sixteen," she says like she had to think about it. "I don't think I've ever met a guy as nice as you," she says as she pushes her body right into his. I scowl.

"Yeah," he says and then he coughs uncomfortably as he takes a step back. "I need to go find Ginny."

Something like lust flashes in her eyes and she smiles at him. The she tilts her head and kisses him. Ew! That's her nephew! He keeps his eyes open and he blinks a few times before grabbing her arms to push her back.

"What the fuck?"

Dad spins around to find mom in the door way. Mom and Daddy exchange words and Beatrice/Bella tries to apologize, but she ends up storming out of the room with Daddy chasing after her. Beatrice smiles and goes back to her trunk where she pulls out the box. Inside is a necklace, her small journal, and three vials of that red potion. I watch as time passes. Dad comes into yell at her and she pretends to cry and then she sneaks downstairs to the dungeons where she buries the box in one of the cells for me to find years later. What the hell is going on?

I go through more memories of her life as Beatrice Flint. How she convinced healers that Byron was unwell by giving him potions that would make him sick. How she gave birth to Chloe with Mrs. Weasley there holding her hand as she cussed and raved like a lunatic, saying things that would damn her if she wasn't in that situation. I watched her life with the muggle men that she was slowly poisoning and convincing everyone they had hit her. I saw her abuse of Byron that she covered by altering his memories, and her marriage to Harry Potter. It hurts my brain and when I finally wake up my nose is bleeding so badly that it's covering my lips and staining the top of Jeremiah's shirt. I look over at Molly Weasley to make sure she's real and I bring a hand up to my nose. Blood is on my fingers when I pull back and I drag myself out of bed to take a shower to wash my body and my mind from all the things that I've seen. It can't possibly be real.

After an hour long shower where I scrub my body until it's raw, I go back to the room that was meant for me and I sit in the middle of the floor, waiting for morning to come as I hug my knees to my chest and stare at the wall. The sun finally rises and creeps through the windows as I hear Mrs Weasley get up and start her day. After a couple hours she comes into the room.

"Oh, there you are," she says and then her smiles falls when she sees me. "What's wrong?"

"I'm hungry," I say softly. It was a bad lie, but I didn't feel like talking about it.

"Well, get dressed and come on down," she says, eyeing me worriedly.

"Okay," I say as I stand up on shaky legs.

I sort through all the clothes I brought after sending a look out the window. It looks like it's going to rain, so I put on some black leggings and a long sleeved black shirt. Over it, I throw on a sleeveless gray dress to match my mood and the sky outside. Bright colors will just depress me more, I bet. I open the window and feel the chill from the morning on my face. It's actually kind of refreshing, maybe after breakfast I'll take a walk to clear my head. In preparation for that walk, I tug green bucket hat on my head and I pull on a pair of cherry red rain boots that make a funny plastic sound when I walk. I send one more look out the window before I walk down to the kitchen. Molly gives a me a funny look because of my attire, but I ignore it as I take a seat at the table. She had made toast, bacon, and eggs and I filled up my plate and attempted to eat some, but I wasn't having much success with it. I felt like throwing up everytime I looked at the food and I couldn't help but think about what I saw last night. It was just a dream right? Just a dream. Mrs. Weasley doesn't talk to me, which I'm grateful for, and I just spend my time staring at my reflection of my silverware. I jump when someone knocks on the door and the fork I had been holding for the past half hour clatters to the ground..

"That must be Harry," she says as she puts her napkin down to answer the door. Must be Harry? Why is Harry here?

When she opens the door, Harry Potter walks in and I recognize him immediately from the magazine articles and stories from the paper. He looks tall and his face is drawn out from years of exhaust. I give him a curious look as he walks in and greets Molly Weasley with a hug before I bend down to get my fork so I can avoid his gaze when it falls on me. "How are things at home, Harry?"

"They're fine, Molly, thanks for asking," he says politely and then his bright eyes turn to me once I come out from under the table. I smile uncomfortably and pull down my hat a little further to cover my curls that I'm sure are a mess because I didn't bother to tame them this morning. I put the fork on my plate and put my hands on my lap. "Hello, Evelyn," he says and I nod.

"Good morning." It wasn't a good morning. I don't actually know why I said that.

He nods his head tightly and then takes a seat in front of me. Scratching the wooden chair against the floor in the most annoying and loud way. I cover my ears with my hands and he notices, but doesn't say anything.

"Did you not sleep well last night?" he asks and I shake my head as he puts his hands on the table. "No, I imagine I wouldn't sleep well if I were you either. I'm sorry about your family."

"Do you know where they are?" I question and he sighs.

"No, I don't," he says and I slump in my seat. I have no idea why he's here and talking to me. It's not like he's an Auror any more. I pull my sleeves over my hands and bite the insides of my cheeks as he stares at me. "I'm sorry," he adds after a few moments of silence and I make a face at the table.

"You're not sorry," I mutter, but he ignores me.

"I wanted to ask you a few questions," he says as he takes a notepad from his pocket and a pen from behind his ear.

"Why? You aren't an Auror," I say and it must sting him where it hurts because he winces.

"I know I'm not," he bites out like he was angry. "I just want to ask you some questions, okay?"

"Okay?"

"Have you been receiving any odd owls or letters from anyone recently?"

"No."

"When you got on the platform for school, did anything strange happen, where people there that looked out of place, or that you felt shouldn't have been there."

"No."

"Where you aware of the decline of your parents marriage."

"No, you old loon." I snap and he raises his dark brows. I stand up and the chair scoots against the wooden floor. I have no patience for this right now. "For your information, your wife isn't who you think she is," I snap hatefully before turning to Molly Weasley. "I'm going outside."

I don't even bother to ask for permission as I open the front door and go stomping out. "Stay with in the wards!" I hear Molly call after me as I walk aimlessly forward with my rain boots squeaking with each step. "Don't go past the large boulder out there!"

"Whatever," I say with an eyeroll as I cross my arms and go stomping off.

There isn't much to Molly Wesaley's yard. Just some pitiful grass and an old oak tree that looks like it's seen better days. And a boulder. A really large and ridiculously out of place boulder that marks the end of the ward. Talk about class difference. We have a large ornate looking gate with our last name on it... and Molly Weasley has a large rock. There is a tire swing attached to the oak tree, though, and I take advantage of it and slide inside as I let my feet push against the dirt. It's obviously been used by the Weasley grandchildren for years because no grass grows underneath it and the rope looks dirty. I grip it with my hands anyways. I'm not a prude like my sister, and I hold on to it as I let my feet swing me back and forth.

It starts to sprinkle as little water droplets land on my hands and shoulders. I sigh and I put my chin on top of the tire and frown at the leaves in the yard. Fall is officiously coming and most of the trees around here are brilliant shades of oranges and yellows that make the landscape look beautiful. I wonder where my family is... I hope they're not hurting or scared. I look up at the branch that holds the tire swing and a rain drop falls on my face. I flick it off before looking at the trees again. I hope they are safe enough to enjoy the leaves changing colors on the trees. I do so love Autumn. I don't know how long I've been sitting on the swing. The dirt under my rainboots turn to mud and the sun moves across the sky as I stay, trying not to think about anything but thinking of absolutely everything. Stupid things are popping up on me now. Like all the fights I used to have with Xavier at Ballet.

We really used to hate each other.

I remember one time I had bumped the corner of my mouth on a kitchen cabinet and had a red mark when I came into class. Xavi convinced everybody that it was a cold soar and told me I had mouth herpes and it was contagious. Half the class avoided me until it went away and in retaliation I started the rumor that he had lice. I might have even put a few little bugs on his shoulders to solidify the rumor and he never figured out why people stopped talking to him. Not that he cared. He's so grouchy with people. He cut holes in one my leotards before a performance once and I put a live frog in his water bottle. I don't know how we ever ended up kissing.

"Evelyn."

I sigh when I hear Potter say my name and the leaves crunch under his shoes as he approaches me. It's stopped raining "What is it?" I ask, trying to sound polite, but failing.

"Mrs. Weasley had me check the house, just in case," he adds as I look up at him when he stands beside me. "Just in case you were being tracked."

"Yeah?" I say and he nods. "Well, am I being tracked, then?" Stupid Potter.

"No," he says as he sighs and puts hands in his pockets. "But... I did find a sword under your bed."

Oh, that. "Is it illegal to have a sword?" I wonder out loud. Does that count as a concealed weapon if a sword is stuffed under a bed inside of a pillow case?

"Where did you get it?"

"I found it," I say as I lift my chin from the tire so I can start swinging again with my hands on the rope.

"You just found it," he says and I nod my head.

"Are you going to take it away from me?" I ask as I glance up at him. "I thought it was pretty. I wasn't going to use it on anyone. I just thought it would look nice hung up on a wall or something."

"You found it at school?"

"Yes, I found it in a room full of rubbish. I didn't think it belonged to anyone," I state honestly as I face forward and let the wind slide through my hair as I swish front and back... Front and back... "I quite like it."

"That's the sword of Godric Gryffindor," he states, like it was some proud knowledge that he possessed. "It had helped me a few times when I was at Hogwarts."

"A sword?" I question as I look up at him. When he looks down at me, I face forward again. "Sounds like your school time was hardly boring."

He smiles. "Hardly."

"So..." I trail off and make a face at the sky. More clouds are rolling in from the west. A storm is coming. "Are you taking it from me, then?"

"You didn't find that sword," he says and I stop the swing and glare up at him again, thinking he's accusing me of stealing.

"Yes, I did. It was laying right in that room. I didn't steal it from anyone."

"Of course not," he says as his green eyes look into mine. "No one finds the sword of Gryffindor," he states and I frown. "It finds you."

I narrow my eyes. "That sounds stupid."

"Yeah, well it's the truth."

I start picking at the rope. "Can I tell you a secret, Mr. Potter," I ask and he nods his head. "I've been having terrible dreams," I tell him and his eyes become serious. "Terrible terrible dreams," I mutter as I remember them. I think of the series I had last night and I shiver. "Do you believe that dreams can be real? Like, you're seeing someone else's life that you were never supposed to see?"

"Yes, I do," he states seriously. "Who's life are you seeing?"

I bite my lip. "Do you ever notice bruises on your new baby?" I ask and he faces his body towards mine and furrows his brows.

"What are you talking about?"

"How well do you know your wife?" I ask and he narrows his eyes.

"Just get to the point. What kind of dreams have you been having?"

I inhale deeply and squint my eyes because my head is starting to hurt. "I don't think your wife is really who she says she is. I could be wrong," I mutter as I bring a hand to my temple. "It's just a dream."

"Jesus, your nose is bleeding," he says as he hands me a handkerchief from his pocket. "Here."

"Thanks," I mutter as I take it and bring it to my nose. I look down at my dress and pout at the mess I made. "Does blood stain?" I ask and he sighs.

"Come back inside," he states as he helps me out of the swing while my blood saturates the handkerchief he gave me. "Do you get nose bleeds often?" he asks as we start walking towards the house and I shake my head, causing my curls to bounce in front of my face.

"Never."

When we get into the house, Molly widens her eyes and rushes over to me. "What happened?" she asks as she pulls the hanky away to look at me and takes off my hat so she can tilt my head back. It's still bleeding and it dribbles down my lips. "Did you get hit?"

"I need to lie down," I say as I start to stagger away but she grabs my arm.

"Not until we stop that bleeding, you don't."

"But I just..." I close my eyes as drowsiness comes over me. "I'm just so tired."

I must have fallen asleep just standing there, because I woke up in a nice warm bed with a cover up to my chin. I stretched out my arms and then quickly brought them to my nose. Clean, no blood. I sigh in relief and turn on my side, blinking my eyes slowly in an attempt to wake myself. I was in Molly Weasley's room and I buried my head into the pillow because it was comfortable. It was nice to sleep and not dream. I wonder how long I was out.

"Good, you're awake."

"Molly?" I state drowsily as a cloaked figure walks towards me. The bed sinks down when whoever it is sits on the bed and I try to sit up.

"Nope," the thing says as I reach for the bedside light and turn it on. The figure is wearing a dark cloak and pale hands come up to push back the hood. I swallow the scream in my throat when I see Beatrice there. After the dreams I can't picture her any other way. "Hello, darling," she says with a charming smile and I gulp.

"Um, hi," I state weakly as I grip the covers a little tighter.

She smiles again as she studies my face like she's never seen me before and then she takes my hand. "Get your things," she says and my heart stops beating with fear. "You and I have a lot to talk about."

"Oh." is all I say and I look to the bedside table where my bucket hat and wand are laying. "Can I bring my hat?"

That's all I could say as she dragged me from the comfortable, warm, and safe bed.

Lavinia

"Where is Byron?" I ask stupidly as I let him pull me towards the Apparation point. Why did I give him my freaking hand in the first place? "How did you know where I was?" I ask as I think about the flowers left at Byron's flat.

"You weren't at the first place I checked, so there was only one other option. I must say," he says as he drags my reluctant body. I wonder if other people are watching this and wondering what's happening. Shouldn't a good Samaritan see my reluctance and try to help me? Saying something along the lines of 'the lady doesn't look like she wants to go with you' or something noble like that before brandishing a wand and hexing the hell out of him. Or does that only happen in books? "I am not pleased with you."

"Where's Byron?" I ask again and he snaps me a glare that makes a chill go down my spine.

"Do not ask me that again."

When we get to the blue Apparation sign, he slings an arm around my waist as he takes out his wand. This is a terrible idea. I'm not bloody doing this. I won't leave with him to some unidentified location. God knows what he wants to do with me and he's obviously angry. I need to stop obeying people with out thinking it through.

"No," I state as I push at his chest and I try to get away from him. "I don't want to go to lunch with you."

"You're going to make me splinch you," he says as he holds on tighter to my waist, crushing my chest to his so that I can barely breath.

"Let go," I snap as I try to pry myself away.

"Stop. Fighting. Me." he says through clenched teeth, trying to limit my struggle while keeping his voice down so he doesn't bring attention to us.

I'm going to start screaming for help if he doesn't let me go. I try to fight him by myself one more time and when he doesn't let up, I bring a hand up and smack him across the face. My heart freezes as he glares at me and I deflate because of the fear I feel after he grabs my arm so hard that it makes my eyes water. All thoughts of screaming and fighting are washed away as he stares me down with his eyes fierce and his body strong against my own. His cheek is red from where I hit him, but it's no match for the fire in his eyes that's threatening to burn me up. I've never felt more like the weaker sex than right at this moment. He is bigger, and older, and stronger, and way more powerful than I am and I can feel it. It scares the hell out of me.

"Are you done?" he asks flatly after a few moments of just staring me down and intimidating me. I felt like a primitive animal being shown my place by the bigger alpha male and I didn't like that at all. "Well?" he snaps and I sealed my fate by looking down in submission. Our weird little tug of power was over and he won. "Good. I'm hungry," he says as he lifts his wand and pops us away.

We land in front of an old looking mansion with blue siding and an iron widows walk lining the top of it. Stain glass windows from the top floors stare down at me like a menacing haunted house and as soon as he lets me go, I step away from him and wrap my arms around my middle in a weak attempt at comforting myself. I resist crying as I glance at the house and then at him. He's staring at me, so I look at the ground.

"I know Foxworth hall isn't as grand as Malfoy Manor," he says as he pockets his wand. I look around timidly at the well kept landscape and the flower bed of red tulips that surround an old looking well made out of stone. "But it has it's own charm to it."

He keeps on staring at me and my palms start sweating so I uncross my arms and rub them against my skirt. "So, this is your home?" I don't know why I'm trying to make conversation by asking that stupid question. I just get nervous and being polite is my go to plan in those cases.

He nods and looks at the house as well. "Do you like it? It's still going through major renovations, but it should be done before Christmas. I think we're going to paint it white"

I look at the house as well. I hate it. It gives me a bad feeling. I know the Manor is like a museum. It's big and old and cold, but this house gives me the creeps just from looking at it... Like the skeletons in their closets were probably overflowing and walking around in the bedrooms. "Yeah," I lie because he won't stop freaking staring at me.

"Good," he states simply. Let's go eat, then."

He starts walking towards the front stair way, but I can't find it in me to move. I stay rooted to my spot with my stupid sweaty palms and bad feelings.

"What are you doing?" he snaps when he reaches the stairs and he glares at me over his shoulder. "Come on."

"Stop being so mean to me," I say as I blink back tears. Why wouldn't he answer my questions about Byron? Why is he bringing me here? "I'm not hungry and I don't feel well."

"Don't make me do it like this, Lavinia."

"Do what?" I ask as I take a step back. "Force me to have lunch with you. What are you?" I snap, finding some bravery because he's so far away. "Who does this?"

"I do," he sneers and I look down again. "I do because I can, now come here."

"No," I state bravely as I search around for my wand. Where did I put it?

"I have it," he says as he takes a step away from the stairs to get closer to me. "Don't even bother."

"Give it back."

"Come here," he counters and I shake my head like a child as I take another step back. "Stop acting this way," he orders and I make a face because he just keeps on demanding me to do things. "Now, come on," he keeps walking towards me, and I keep walking back. "This is silly. I just want you to have lunch with me."

There is no chivalrous gentlemen who's coming to save me. That just doesn't happen in real life, so I take a deep breath and tilt my chin up. "I don't want to have lunch with you," I state, trying to sound courageous before turning around and running away from him like a coward.

It was stupid. I'm not good at running. I get winded easily and hate being all hot and stuff,but I'm finding that, when being chased, I can be quick. I could probably lose twenty pounds if I had a workout routine that incorporated running for my life and trying not get hit by curses. A wayward hex hit's a tree that I'm running by and it cracks the bark. I can't believe he's actually firing at me! What a jerk! I detour off into a small forest and I weave in and out of the tall trees and small plants that littler the floor. I wonder if this is how a deer feels when being pursued by a hunter... I'll never go on a hunting trip after this, that's for sure. I lose one of my sandals halfway into the forest, and my foot gets cut up by the rocks and tree roots on the floor, but I ignore as I keep going forward.

The fact that I'm not in any kind of shape creeps up on me and I get such a bad pain in my side that I have stop running all together. I'm breathing so heavily I think I may faint and I am starting to feel light headed as little dots appear in front of my eyes. It really isn't funny how bad I am at this. I am not made for this kind of activity. I hear crunching of leaves and I reluctantly look up as I lean against a tree to catch my breath. Conrad doesn't look out of breath at all. In fact, the only thing to attest to the fact that he just sprinted a long distance would be that his cheeks are a bit flushed. He doesn't look like he's in pain, or like he's miserable like me. He actually looks thrilled and there's a lustful smirk in his eyes as he approaches me. I guess this puts the whole 'thrill of the chase' thing to new heights for him. Jesus, I wonder if my poor women ancestors had to deal with this. Running for their lives from a man who wanted to marry them and drag them off to their cave. It wasn't something I wanted to share with them.

I want to tell him to leave me alone again, but I can barely get anything out because I'm breathing so hard. I push off the tree and try to stay on the defensive to appear in charge. Maybe I can pick up a rock and throw it at him. He smiles and laughs a little and I look for that rock.

"I would like to see you try," he says and I shake my head.

"Stop doing that," I snap because I hate that he gets into my mind and knows what's there. That makes me nervous... Just about everything makes me nervous.

He starts circling me like a wild animal getting ready to pounce on it's prey and I feel helpless. God, I wish I wasn't in this stupid position. "You tried to curse me!" I yell in between deep breaths as I back up against another tree, successfully trapping myself as he gets closer and closer.

"I wasn't actually aiming for you," he says nonchalantly, not winded at freaking all. "I just wanted you to stop. If I wanted to hit you. I would have."

I open my mouth a few times, but think against it as I lean against the tree and lift my foot from the ground because it hurts. I know eventually he's going to win this. I don't have my wand and I can't get away from him because he's in better shape, but I'm still going to make it difficult for him. I pick up a stick and throw it at him. It's embarrassing, really, how non-athletic I am. It really borders on pathetic. Even though he's only a yard or two away from me, the stick misses him by a mile and it lands somewhere to the right of me in a bush. He laughs and I try to run again, but he catches me around the middle before I even make three steps.

"I don't think so," he says as he turns me around. My left foot is so torn up from the ground that I stumble back and I end up falling on my backside. Conrad takes advantage and he's on top of me in a minute with his hands holding my wrists down as his body settles on top of mine. How can he move so freaking fast? My legs part to accommodate him because it hurts to have his knees pressing against me, but I realize that was a stupid mistake to make as his hips cradle between my thighs. It was too intimate and too suggestive and I could tell that he was a little turned on. Ugh.

"You caught me," I say so he'll get off. A rock is digging into my back and it hurts.

"Of course I did," he states smugly and when I glare, he smirks. "You're an indoor cat, baby," he says and I bristle at the name yet again. "You weren't meant to play outdoors."

"You can get off now," I say as I look away, angry that he got the better of me.

"So you can run away again?" he ticks his tongue at me. "I think not."

"I'm not going to run away," I snap back and he smiles at me like I was a kitten doing something adorable. Indoor cat, indeed. "I'll go inside your scary house and eat freaking lunch with you, okay?"

"You're not being very respectful," he says with a brow raised and I sneer.

"I don't respect you," I state honestly. After what he did with the potion, that went out the window.

That angered him, but he covered it. "Well, if you don't respect me, then let's see if we can make you feel something else towards me, hm?" he says as he reaches his hand down and starts creeping up my skirt.

"No," I snap as I bring my free hand down to claw at his wrist as he gets closer to my place that he does not have my permission to touch. "Stop it, Conrad," I demand as he starts outlinging my knickers with his finger, shifting his own hips to the side to give him more room. "This isn't funny."

"Not funny at all," he agrees with darkness in his eyes as he bends down to kiss me.

He presses his lips to mine and I bring my hand up and yank on his hair. He pulls back and gives me a lustful look and grinds his hips against my leg. I forgot he liked it rough and fear shoots down my spine like ice. How do you fight off a guy who likes it when you fight? When I say no, he'll stop, right? He's not that bad of a guy. Hopefully. I look at the golden watch on his wrist as he turns my face to the side so he can kiss my neck. Yeah, not bad at all.

"I don't want to do this," I state seriously.

"Yes, you do," he says and I narrow my eyes. "Stop ignoring... Hey!" he snaps at me when I go to smack him again. He catches my wrist and hovers above me with a dangerous look on his face. "You don't get to hit me," he says angrily.

"You don't get to rape," I snap back equally as hateful as he glares down at me.

"I wasn't going to rape you, you stupid girl," he says and the word girl stings me when I think of Byron and my fears on our age gap. "You want me just as much as I want you, but you're just too focused on that stupid boyfriend of yours to care. I saw him last night," he says and my eyes snap to his as I search his eyes. "I did. Did you know he was joining my group?" he asks and I nod my head. He raises an eyebrow as he looks over my face. "Did he tell you he was going with Eva Bones?"

"Do you know where he is?" I ask and it must have killed the mood before he nearly growls at me before sitting up on his knees so he's above me. I sit up as well, but he holds on to my legs when I try to scoot back and put them together. I stop moving in hopes that he'll answer my question. "Is he okay?"

"He is perfectly fine. I don't understand why you even like him. There is something very wrong with him," he states as he takes out his wand and runs his fingers long my left leg until he reaches my hurt ankle. "He's kind of an asshole to you too."

"No, he's not," I say as he takes my injured foot and puts it on his lap so he can heal it. I cringe when I see it. It looks dirty and a little worse for the wear. I need to take a shower.

"Yes, he is. I don't understand why you won't even try to like me," he snaps like a pouting child as he heals the cuts and bruises on the bottom of my foot.

"Because you scare me," I state honestly and he stops healing to look into my eyes. When he's sure I'm telling the truth he goes back to the spells that will mend my foot.

"And he doesn't?" he asks carefully as he puts his wand behind his ear and starts massaging my ankle.

"No."

"We both know that's a lie," he says as he flicks his green eyes to mine.

"He never put a potion in my drink to make me sleep with him," I say boldly and he raises his brows again. "Like you did."

"You think you wouldn't have slept with me otherwise?" I glare and he laughs. "You wanted to. I could practically smell how horny you were. I could tell... Just like I can tell that you don't really hate me as much as you want to," he says as he searches my eyes with a weird little smile tilting the corner of his mouth. "It wouldn't have worked if you didn't want to, sweetheart. Does your precious Mr. Flint know that? Does he know how turned on you get when you think about me," he says as he puts his hands on my knees and he forces my legs apart. I try to snap them shut and push his hands off, but he's stronger than I am and I fail. "I know it. I know a lot about you."

"No, you don't," I say, trying to keep my voice steady as I rest back on my elbows. That was just giving him more room to molest me so I sit up straight and mentally scold myself for the stupid move.

He bites his lip, in an odd impression of what I do, and he leans back again. "Do you believe that?"

I look at him and I remember last night, when I really thought he read my mind. "You scare me," I admit again in a whisper and he tilts his head to the side.

"And Byron Flint doesn't?" he asks again.

I shake my head. "No."

"Now," he says as he puts his hands on my waist and leans over me again. I try to push him off but he grabs my hands as he stares into my eyes. Why is he looking at me like that? "You're lying."

"Let go of me."

"How many times have you said that to him, hm?" he asks as he presses himself against my legs so I can't move them. "How many times has he grabbed you or pulled you, Lavinia?"

"Stop it."

"What about when he hit you?"

"He didn't mean to. It was an accident," I say and then I stop myself because how did he know about that. "How did you know?"

"You're like an open book," he says. I try to bring my hands up again, but he clamps down against and tightens his jaw. "Have you seen his mind, Lavinia? I have and you would be surprised to see what goes through his messed up head."

I can't help but be interested by that, even though the situation is strange. "And you have?" I say and he nods his head with his brows high.

"Do you want me to tell you what I've seen?" I don't say anything, but he smiles. "I thought so. He is terribly twisted."

"No, he's not."

"You don't think so?" he says with a curious tilt to his head. "You don't really believe that. Would you like to know what he fantasizes about? Do you want to know what your lover really gets turned on by?" I send him a troubled look and he smiles again. "He wants to have control, total control, of you." I lay back against the grass because it hurts my body to try to sit up against him and he lays more on top of me. I hate this position. It makes me feel weak and conquered, butt I guess that's what he's going for. "Sometimes he fantasized about tying you down and cutting your clothes of with a knife."

I stare at him and shake my head.

"He gets really hard when he cuts you and he licks the blood as you beg him to let you go."

"You're lying," I tell him and he shakes his head.

"I saw it all, Lavinia. He actually wishes he was bigger," he laughs and I close my eyes while shaking my head. "Because in this fantasy, he actually forces himself on you. Oh, you end up liking it of course, begging him for more, ...all Rape fantasies turn out that way.. But he wants it to hurt just a little bit. It's all true. I couldn't even make that up."

"Those are his personal thoughts," I say, trying a new tactic as I open my eyes to glare at him. "Those are his thoughts and it's rude to go diving into someone's mind. That's mean."

"Mean?" He say as he leans most of his weight on his elbows to give me more room. He laughs again and I narrow my eyes. "Do you want to about something else I saw in his mind?"

"No."

"I'll tell you anyways." He ignores me. "He wants to know what it would be like to kill someone. He thinks about it constantly. When he's at work, when he's eating... When he's fucking you. That would be the ultimate control for him. He just really wants to kill someone. Maybe he already has... Probably... But he wants something more intimate."

"Stop it."

"And after he does, he imagines you'll being pleased with him."

"Stop it."

"He wants to bend you over and ram into you."

"Shut up."

"He'll bite you and make you scream and you'll love Every. Fucking. Minute. Of it."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" I yell as I kick my feet and yell into his face. "Leave me alone!" I try to move my arms again, but he doesn't let up so I end up looking down at his throat. "Let me go." I start crying as feel trapped and claustrophobic with him pinning me against the ground. "I want to go home!"

"Tell me," he says as I try to block his voice out. "If you would still love him so much if he were ugly."

"His looks have nothing to do with it." I state sharply and he laughs again.

"Come on, now. What else does he have to offer? I'm a heterosexual man, and even I have to admit that he's good looking... But that's about it." I can feel him staring at me and he lets one of my arms free as he brings his hand up to my neck. "Look at me."

"No," I say as I flex my fingers and think about hitting him.

"I won't say it again," he states seriously. "Now, look at me."

"Why are you doing this to me?" I ask pitifully as I reluctantly turn my eyes to his.

He smiles and leans in to kiss me. I let him because I see no other way to get away from it. I part my lips when his tongue slides against them and he smiles. "Good girl," he whispers before letting his hand travel to my hair.

I feel like crying again and when I start kissing him back I think a few tears actually do escape, but it doesn't seem to bother him very much. I bring timid hands up to his shoulders once he finally lets my other hand go and he pulls me closer to deepen the kiss. "Such soft lips," he whispers as he pulls back and then he looks down at that golden watch. "It's getting late," he says as he sits back on his knees again. I take the distraction to back away from him and bring my knees up to my chest. "I've wasted half of my break chasing you around. Let's get back to the house."

When I go to stand up, I just crumple to the ground again and he stares at me. "What's wrong?" he snaps as I hold onto my leg. "I healed your foot."

"I think I pulled a muscle," I say as it tightens and hurts. "I'm not made for running!" I snap like it was his fault and I hear him laugh as he kneels down beside me and pushes my hand away, I'm reluctant to do so, but he is a healer and he did heal my foot. "How do you justify it?" I ask as I watch him massage my leg and put his wand in between his teeth.

"Justify what?" he asks as he tries to determine which muscle is tightening.

"Being a healer when you're part of that group," I ask seriously. "You hate so many people, but you take an oath to help everyone."

"I don't hate any one," he states and then he pauses with his hand on my leg. "Well, that's a lie. I hate some people, but not a whole group. I just believe in evolution and natural selection. I think there is meant to be one master race and muggles are not supposed to be running everything."

"So, if a muggle came to you, you would just let him die?"

"If a muggle was dumb enough to come to me, he'd be dead already," he states darkly and I swallow the lump in my throat as he heals another part on my body.

I look at his watch again as the light catches the gold and makes it shine. "You killed that woman didn't you?" I state softly, afraid to say it too loud.

"What woman?" he asks carelessly as he bends my knee and moves his wand against my calve some more.

"That foster care lady who had taken your watch when you were a boy," I say and his eyes snap to mine. I nod to the watch. "You took that back from her, didn't you?"

He stares at me for a few moments, and then he goes back to my leg. "I think you're all finished. I'll carry you back. It's going to be a little soar still."

"I can understand why you wanted your watch back," I say seriously. "But why did you kill the kids too? They had nothing to do with that woman being mean to you. Why did you let them die?" He doesn't say anything to that. He just stands up and dusts off his pants.

My leg is still hurting when I stand but not as bad as before and I gasp when Conrad scoops me up bridal style. I do not want to be carried like this but when I tell him that he just tells me to shut up. I accept my fate and let him carry me as I relax against his chest because he threatened to drop me if I fought him. I don't want to get hurt again, so I just let him do all the work.

"How are you ever going to be a good father if you kill kids?" I question seriously and he pauses a second before continuing to walk with out a word.

Conrad is an odd Monster. Although he does despicable things and is really mean and scary sometimes, he also has this good old boy side to him that makes him hard not to like and that bothered me. If the pieces fit as I thought they did, then he did kill that old woman, and he did burn down that house with all those kids inside of it. How can that be the same person? I tried to ignore those thoughts and when we reached the house he finally let me down. I started pulling twigs and leaves out of my hair as we reached the stairs. Then he said something that made my heard skip a beat.

"My Mother is going to have a good introduction to you," he says as he walks beside me and takes a key out of his pocket to unlock the front door. "You're presentable," he says sarcastically as I pluck a fuzzy nature thing off my shirt. I hate nature.

I stop in my tracks and look at him with wide eyes. "Mother?"

"You look like a homeless person with that stuff in your hair and one shoe on." his eyes travel up and down my body. "You're filthy."

"So are you," I respond because I will not let him make me feel bad about my appearance when it was his fault I look this way. "What did you mean Mother?"

"She wants to meet you," he says as he pops the key in the lock and twists it. "Stop looking like that. She's nice."

"She was in Azkaban," I state and he gives me a look like that hurt his feelings but I don't freaking care. He stares me down again, so I admit defeat and look at my feet.

"Hey, chin up," he says as he puts his finger under my chin and tilts my face towards his. He's pleased that I'm going along with him. I'm sure. "I know she'll like you."

"Unlikely," I state and he tilts his head. I don't care if his Mother likes me or not. What is his problem?

"You are going to be a good girl, aren't you?" he asks, something like a threat lining his voice and I nod my head. "Don't forget," he says as he opens the door. "I can easily imperio you or make you drink a love potion. I could spend the rest of my life with a compliant wife who did as she was told. So remember how nice I'm being to you."

Nice. Right. Thanks for not putting an unforgivable on me. What a dick.

"Let's go inside."

Lunch was as weird and as awkward as I anticipated it to be as soon as I learned his mother was going to be there. I haven't even 'officially' met Byron's mother for that matter and the handful of times I was around her she wasn't very pleasant towards me. I was kind of nervous to meet the woman who had given birth to the maniac who wouldn't leave me alone and who had been in Azkaban for twenty plus years. She wasn't as demented looking as I had pictured, though. She actually looked pretty put together, to my surprise. She had the same honey blond hair that Conrad had, only hers was more frosted along the edges from age and she was also very tall with broad shoulders and nice bone structure. I suspect that the Foxworths were Vikings at one time because I felt dwarfed and weak next to mother and son as they conversed with one another and ate the odd lunch that was placed before us by human servants.

"Do you not have house elves?" I ask as a servant girl fills my glass with water. It's odd having human servants. "Thank you," I tell her as I try to make eye contact. She keeps her eyes on the ground and walks off with out saying anything. Hmf. They're like waiters in your own home and I always feel bad when I ignore my waiter. It's really uncomfortable to ignore another human being.

"Unfortunately ours were killed after I was sent to Azkaban," Alicia Foxworth says. She's one of those women that has a cold, deep voice that never changes pitch or key and I could never imagine her as a loving mother... I wonder if she was different before she was in jail. "So we have to hire our help from outside camps."

"Oh," I say and then I pretend to eat a roll for the next twenty minutes. I don't talk much anyways, but for the first half hour I think Alicia Foxworth thought I was handicapped because she kept on giving me sideways glances that made me feel stupid. Finally, she asked Conrad is a I was a mute and he told that I was just a shy girl. I wish they didn't talk about me like I wasn't here, sitting with them.

Conrad has been staring at me the whole time as well. It didn't help that the dress that Alicia had let me borrow kept sliding off my shoulder. She looked terribly disgusted when she first laid eyes on us after we had walked in and Conrad told her we had been horsing around outside, playing some sort of game that involved quidditch stuff. She wasn't amused by that either, but she bought it. Playing around... I nearly snorted out loud when he said it. He made me running from him and him trying to force himself between my legs sound like innocent fun. She had offered to give me clothes because I didn't have anything to change into and the stains in my skirt wouldn't come out with a spell. I couldn't even find my voice when she handed me a heavy looking dress that looked like spring had puked on it. The skirt part went well past my knees and it had shoulder pads that made me look like I was on some old woman quidditch team. The neck line was so wide that it kept slipping and it looked like this dress was probably in fashion decades ago.

Who was I kidding?

This mess was never in fashion.

She handed me beige sandals to slip on after that and they were too big as well. I had the suspicion that Alicia Foxworth was once a large man or an Amazon woman because no normal lady could possibly be this big. Conrad tried not to laugh when he saw me, but I ignored him the best I could and resigned myself to the awful lunch I was going to have to sit through. The whole time I had to focus on keeping the dress up because I saw the look in Conrad's eyes when he saw my bra strap once and I do not want to go through with what happened in the forest again.

"So, Conrad tells me that you go to Antioch University," she says as she looks at me with hooded eyes.

I nod my head.

"Do you have any idea what your major is going to be?"

I look down at the roll I'm tearing apart and shake my head.

"What did you like to do, then?" she asks an open ended question, hoping I'll finally talk, but I refuse to be his 'good girl'.

So, I shrug.

"Well, can't say I didn't try," she says as she focus' back on her son. "At least she's pretty."

"She's very pretty," Conrad says and he winks at me when I catch his eyes.

They start talking about some book I've never read and when I cough they both look at me. "May I be excused?" I ask polity and Alicia nods her head. I stand up and put my napkin on the table as Conrad watches me.

"Where are you going?" he asks as I start walking out of the room, lifting my shoulders to stop the shoulder pads from slipping off.

"To the restroom," I answer and he raises an eyebrow.

"Really?" I nod my head and blush at the conversation. "Do you know where it is?"

Oh, I guess I don't. I shake my head, embarrassed, and he gives me a suspicious look as he stands as well.

"Let me show you," he says like he thinks I'll take off running again. He holds onto my elbow and steers me into the hallway as his mother watches us with a raised eyebrow.

"You could just tell me where this is, you know," I state harshly and he pulls me along.

"I don't want you to get lost. We're doing a lot of construction stuff around here and I don't want you getting hurt."

When we get to the bathroom, I shut the door in his face and lock it as I take a seat on the sink. I turn on the water to stall time as I begin biting my nails. I don't know what to do or what I'm doing. I'm scared, but not afraid and my thoughts are all messed up. I look down at my watch. Dad. I stand up straight and bring the watch up to my mouth. Maybe he'll come and straighten this all out. He would make Conrad leave me alone. I send a look to the door before pressing the button on the side of the watch.

"Dad?" I say softly. Nothing happens and I frown. "Dad, are you there? I need your help."

Silence.

I bite my lip. My father has never not answered when I called him.

"Just say something... Please..." I inhale deeply and blink a few times before trying again. "Daddy, please?"

He didn't answer. And I even said Daddy... And please...

Where is my Dad?

I stall for a few more moments before Conrad knocks on the door. "What's taking you so long?" he asks and I turn off the sink.

When I open the door Conrad is standing on the other side of the hall with his arms crossed. "Take me home now," I tell him. "I don't feel very well."

He checks his watch, and to my surprise he agrees to take me back. That was odd. I say an uncomfortable goodbye to Alicia Foxworth, who I am completely positive does not like me and when we reach my dorm I wrestle my way away from him and keep walking with out looking back.

"I have your wand," he calls out to me and I wave him off.

"Send it to me or I'll buy a new one," I snap with out even turning around. He doesn't chase after me and when I get to my room I strip out of that ridiculous dress and take an hour long shower. As I'm getting dressed into simple little dress I hear a knock on our dorm door. Kim answers it and then she bangs on mine afterwards as I towel dry my hair.

"Your boyfriend is downstairs," she says and I furrow my brows. I know two people who would probably call themselves my boyfriend.

"Did they give a name?" I ask carefully and I hear her sigh. She has no idea what I've been through today. You would think she could be more sympathetic.

"How many boyfriends do you have?" she snaps before walking away.

"Just one, hopefully," I say as I tie my hair back in a knot and I slip on some shoes before cautiously making my way down stairs. In all honesty, I had expected to see Conrad there with my wand, but it was Byron and I know my face lights up as I go running towards him. I rain kisses over his face as I hold onto his neck and I find myself grinning in relief. "I was so worried," I tell him between kisses as the people at the front desk stare at me. I have the decency to blush and I pull him outside to get away from the stares. "Where have you been?"

"I could ask you the same question," he says flatly. I step back to get a good look at his face. He looks different, there's something odd about the level way he's staring at me and I furrow my brows.

"You never came home. I was worried. Byron, Conrad knew about where..."

"I don't care what he knew," he snaps at me and I step back. "Did you leave with him?" he asks and I blink a few times before answering. "Did you leave with him?" he repeats again, slower this time and sounding so unlike Byron that I keep on staring at him to make sure he's real. "Answer me."

"He made me," I say carefully because of the wild way he's looking at me. "I didn't have a choice."

"You always have a choice," he snaps at me and I can't believe he's actually speaking to me this way.

"What's wrong with you?" I ask. "What happened last night?" I gasp when he grabs my arm and pulls me around the building. I am tired of being man handled today and I tug away from him and rub my arm as I glare. "Stop this."

"Did you fuck him?" he asks and I widen my eyes before looking around the empty alley we're in. The windows facing this side of the dorm are all closed and blocked off because the dumpsters are back here.

"Excuse me?" I say because I can't believe he asked me that and in such a hateful way.

"I asked if you fucked him," he says in a deadly calm voice and then he takes a step closer to me so I take a step back. I've done this way too many times today. "I don't really know why I'm asking. I already know the answer."

"Why are you doing this?" I ask as I search his face. I barely recognize him. Even when Byron is at his worse I've never seen this look on his face.

"I bet you fucked him," he says and then his eyes change as he looks over my body. I cross my arms and furrow my brows as he smiles and takes a step closer. What is going on with him? "You look like you'd be good at it."

"Good at what?" I ask because I'm so confused that I'm not even following the conversation. Why is he smiling now?

"Show me your room," he says as he takes his hand and lets it travel up to my shoulder.

"You've already seen my room."

"Show me again," he says and I raise my eyebrows.

"Are you drunk?" I ask because that's the only way he could be acting like this.

Then he put his hands on my breasts and it was really weird and really awkward so I smacked his hands away. He didn't like that and his jaw tightened as he grabbed a hold of my arms.

"You love me, don't you?" he asks and his voice holds anything but love, but I nod my head anyways. "Then show me to your room," he says and I shake my head.

"I'm not going to have sex with right now, if that's what you think." What is it about to day? Do I just have a sign above my head that says please sexually assault me?

"Come on," he says with a low voice. "I want to see what color knickers you have under your clothes."

I make a disgusted face and push past him to go back inside. The more steps I take, the angrier I get, and I spin around to face him. He had been following me and he was way closer than I anticipated. It suprised me for a second before I remembered I was mad at him.

"Where you with Eva last night? Is that why you never came home?" I ask with a hand on my hip. If he can ask questions like that, so can I. "Did you sleep with her?" I speak pg-13, though, not rated R.

"You don't get to ask me questions like that," he replies and I roll my eyes.

"Fine," I snap. "Goodbye then. I'm glad you're alive."

"Don't walk away from me," he hisses when I go to do just that. He grabs my arm again.

"Let go! I told you already not to pull on me like this," I remind him angrily and he pulls me against his chest.

"I hate you," he says and I blink a few times. That kind of took the wind out of my sails and I feel my shoulders sag the slightest bit.

"What?"

"I hate you, and you were right. I was with Eva last. She's better than you'll ever be," he says and it stings me, but I try not to let it show. He sends a cruel look down my body. The body that he wanted to have sex with just a moment ago, mind you. "She's not as fat as you are."

What.

I stare at him for a few shocked moments. No matter how messed up it is, you can call a girl a bitch, you can call a girl a slut, but nothing seems to cut deeper than being called fat... And he just hit a nerve.

"What did you just say?" I hiss in a whisper because I can't even wrap my head around it.

"You heard me," he says and I furrow my brows. "I don't even know why I bother with you. All you do is complain and cheat on me."

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is, and you're not even worth it." He sends another cruel glance at my body and I tighten my fists.

"You know what?" I state harshly, hoping to hurt him. "I'd rather be fat than a broken little boy with scars. I'm tired of babysitting you and putting up with these mood swings of yours. Everyone was right about you. You are crazy." I narrow my eyes and tug away from him again. "You're a jerk, Byron Flint."

"Fuck you, bitch," he says and my eyes narrow again.

"You come from a trash family," I tell him to hurt him and his eyes flame with anger. I don't know why. He knows his father was a monster. "And you're acting just like them."

I hope that hurt him, but it doesn't register on his face as he brings up his hand to slap me.

The sting of the contact and the shock of actually getting smacked across the face by someone I thought I loved makes it impossible for me to move, or even blink.

"You don't talk to me that way," he says as he brings up his hand to hit me again. I catch the glint of a ring on his finger as brings his hand down and I turn my head to the side to get away from him. "I don't need you."

I had my eyes closed so I couldn't even see his fist coming, but I felt it. I had never been hit before...on Purpose anyways... And it felt weird, like I had been smacked up side the head with bludger. It just felt tingly before it started to hurt. I guess it was my body pumping endorphins to my brain because I slide down the wall and let my hair fall over my face to hide myself more from him. I thought he said he never would hit me. He promised.

"I hate you," I hear him say before he walks off. Once I'm sure he's not coming back, I let my shocked body curl up and cry. My face now feels like it's on fire and I bring a hand up to my hurt cheek and pull back to see blood. Did he cut me too? Why was he wearing a ring? I can't recall him ever wearing one.

"Oh, my god, Lavinia."

I try to curl up more when I hear my name because this is embarrassing and I really don't want to be found by him. He puts his hand on my shoulder to push me back and I flinch as he tilts my head up.

"Jesus," he whispers as he studies my face. I refuse to open my eyes, because if I open my eyes then it makes it real. "Did he do this to you?" I hear him ask and I nod my head with out even knowing if he knows who it was. "Fuck,'" I hear him swear as he moves hair away from my face. "He shouldn't have hit you. I'm going to kill him for this." He touches my hurt face with a critical hands and then me pulls me to my feet.

"Can you heal me?" I ask with a sob. He is a healer, might as well get some use out of him.

"Yes, but I need to get you to St. Mungo's. I'm going to give you a potion to take down the swelling first."

"Fine."

When we get to St. Mungo's, Conrad uses his little healer pass to get me a room and I slump down on the paper sheeted bed as he moves about the room. "It's not in here," he says as I can feel the side of my face swell up and throb. I can not believe he hit me.

I can not believe he actually hit me.

"Let me go grab one real quick," he says.

I get up and walk towards one of the mirrors that's hang over the sink. Ouch. My reflection is not kind. Not only are my eyes puffy and blood shot from crying, but a harsh looking bruise is already forming on the right side of my face.

"Take a seat, babe," I hear Conrad say as he walks into the room with a small potion vial in his hand. I glare at my reflection because of the pet name before I do what he says.

"It's bleeding too," I say as I bring my hand up to the small cut on my cheek.

"His ring must have cut you," he says and I shake my head.

"He doesn't wear a ring."

"Well..." Conrad gives me an uncomfortable look as I sit on the bed. "He does now."

I drink the potion, and when the swelling goes down he runs his wand along my cheek and heals the bruise. "Thanks," I whisper as the warming tingle of healing runs through my body. He holds my face for way longer than is necessary and I finally look up at him to convey how awkward he's being.

"I'm sorry," he says and I frown in confusion. "He shouldn't have hit you. I've healed you more times in one day than I would have cared to."

"It's not your fault," I say as I move my head to get away from his hand and I cross my arms as I stare out the window. What do I do now? Do I tell someone? Do I get him in trouble?

"Do you want to file charges?" Conrad asks as I narrow my eyes against the sun.

"I don't know. I just want to go home and lay down in my bed." Today has been weird enough. I just want to take a potion and sleep like nothing happened for a while. "And I don't need you to Apparate me. I can do it myself."

I slipped off the bed and I started to walk away. I could feel him staring at me. Halfway across the room, I stop and look over my shoulder. I look him over once more, feeling a little bolder. He's wearing his green healer scrubs, that glittering gold watch on his left wrist, and his honey blonde hair is a tousled mess ontop of his head. It looks like he gelled it today.

"Thank you, Conrad," I whisper before leaving the room.

I make it all the way to the front door when I spot another familiar face. "Gavin?" My brother turns around and faces me and I look down at his arms. "Why are you holding a baby?"

Gavin

"I had sex, obviously," is my answer to her question, but she doesn't even crack a smile.

"Is that your baby?" she asks as she leans up on to toes to get a better look at the baby girl that's sleeping in the crook of my arms with a pink hat on her head a pacifier in her mouth. "Did Addison finally..."

"Her name's Emma," I say after she trails off, and I watch as my sister pulls back the covers a bit to get a better look.

"She's cute," she says and I smile smugly. I feel and odd sense of pride right now and that's weird to me.

"Of course she is," I state and Lavinia gives me a little smile before looking at the baby again. "You're an Aunt now," I say and it sounds strange to me. "That's weird, isn't it?"

"Are Mom and Dad here?" she asks as she looks around the waiting room like they might be standing around somewhere. She spots Addison with her mother at the front desk. Addie is sitting in a wheel chair, filling out papers. When I shake my head, she bites her lip. "Have you talked to Dad lately?" she asks and I raise an eyebrow as the baby moves against my chest. I smile down at her and then look at my sister again.

"I talked to him yesterday, why?"

"I haven't been able to get a hold of him," she says worriedly and then it strikes me that she's actually here.

"Why are you here?" I ask as I hear Addison's mother's voice filter over the waiting room like the bloody harpy that she is.

"No reason," she says with a shrug. It was a bad lie, and she knew it because she wasn't looking at me.

"You're just hanging out at St. Mungo's for no reason," I state flatly and she nods her head. "Right, and I'm Harry Potter."

"Don't be rude," she says and then she looks at the baby again. "May I hold her? She's just so small."

I smile. "Yeah, sit down."

She falls into one of the waiting room chairs and I look over my shoulder once to see what is taking Addison so freaking long before I carefully set her down in my little sister's arms. "Don't drop her," I state seriously and she gives me an amused little smile before looking down at the baby.

"I can't remember the last time I held a baby," she says as I kneel down in front of her just in case something happens and I need to help. "They're so fragile."

"Yeah," I say seriously. "The first time they handed her to me, I thought I was going to break her if I breathed too hard."

Lavinia smiles and then she looks at me. She looks sad, but trying to cover it with pretend happiness. "I think you're going to be a good father, Gavin."

I smirk. "Probably not," I state honestly and then I look back down at the baby again because I can't stop staring at her. "Here," I say as I put my hand on the small little cap and I pull it back slightly. "Look at that."

"Aw," she says softly as she looks at the thick blond hair on top of my baby's head. "Like yours," she whispers like talking too loud would hurt the baby's ears. "What...What are you going to do now?" she asks as her eyes flick to mine. "I mean are you and Addison going to move in together... And what about the wedding?"

"I don't know," I state honestly with a shrug and she bites her lip.

"Lavinia," I say after a few moments and she looks me in the eyes.

"Yes?"

"Why are you here?" I ask and she looks down at the baby again. If she would have intentionally said she had come to see me, I would have understood that. But she was just here in the lobby, wondering why I was here. That doesn't make any sense. "Did something happen?"

Her eyes start to water and I furrow my brows. She turns her head away and sniffs, freeing up one of her hands to wipe tears away.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask softly and when she doesn't say anything I get up and sit in the chair beside her so I can put my arm around her shoulders. She is my baby sister, and even though I'm not as affectionate or as.. Nice... As Cassius is, I still feel bad when one of my siblings is upset. "What is it?" I ask as I rub her arm. "What happened?"

"Have you ever..." She trails off and sniffs again while running a finger over the baby's smooth cheek. It's hard not to touch something so new and soft. I know that for a fact now. "Has someone ever done something to you that you never thought they'd ever do?"

I look at Addison, remembering quite clearly the pain I felt when I found out she had cheated on me with one of my friends. "Yes," I state flatly and she looks at me. Her face is starting to get blotchy from crying and her eyes are swimming with tears. She must be really upset and squeeze her arm. "What happened?"

She shakes her head, signaling she doesn't want to talk about it, but I won't let her off that easy. "What did Byron do?"

"Why do you automatically assume it was him?" she asks with her voice sounding shaky.

"Because you love him," I state simply and she looks at me. "You're not pregnant are you?"

"What?" she snaps fiercely and the baby opens her eyes. "No, I'm not pregnant. Why would you ask that?"

I shrug, but inwardly sigh in relief. Having a baby is tough work. I know that. "I'm just trying to figure out why you're crying in the waiting room at St. Mungo's is all."

"Well, that's not it," she says and I sit back a little further, retracting my arm because I think she's done bring upset about it.

"Do you want me to beat any one up?" I offer, half joking and she sighs.

The corner of her mouth tilts up and she glances at me out of the corner of her eye. "Violence is never the answer," she says and I snort.

"It's always the answer," I joke, but she looks sad again and she turns away.

"We're ready to go," Addison says as her mother wheels her towards us. I don't know why the staff insisted she be taken out in a wheel chair. It's not like she's going to use one at home or anything. "Everything is filled out, they just need your signature on a few things, Gavin."

"Okay," I state and I look at my sister. "Are you okay?" I ask referring to the baby she's holding and she nods her head.

As I'm walking off, I hear Addison greet Lavinia and I feel the prickling on the back of my neck signaling I'm being glared at by the grandmother of my child. She hates me now. Ask me if I care.

"Hi," I state when I reach the desk. "I have to sign some papers..." I trail off and the nurse behind the counter hands me a clip board.

"Sign here, here," she turns the page. "Here, here, and here."

"Am I promising you my kidney's or something?" I ask as I take the quill and start signing. Usually someone giggles at that and I glance up at the nurse as she stares blankly back at me. No courtesy smile or anything. "Oh, I see, you're boring. Okay then. I guess I'll sign until I get carpel tunnel."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, sir." The nurse was clearly a girl, but my response clearly got a reaction out of her, and a funny one at that.

The ink I'm using to sign my soul over to the hospital is red, and the tip of the quill breaks on my second signature. "Fuck," I whisper only to be chastised by the nurse as I watch the red ink saturate the paper and expand. Like blood. Like the blood that covered me after that dress blew up and killed Pansy. I might gag. "Give me a new fucking quill," I demand heatedly because I don't want to have a panic attack right here in the middle of the waiting room.

She glares at me and hands me a new one and I don't even bother reading what I'm signing as I fly through the papers and lay the clip board on the desk. I turn around and start walking away with out another word. Addison is holding Emma now, stroking her cheek and looking warmly at her. I close my eyes to get Pansy out of my head as I walk closer.

"Everything signed," I state and Addison's Mom raises a sharp eyebrow in my direction as I loosen my collar. "We can leave now."

"Finally." Addison's mother chirps and I give her a look that Lavinia catches and she raises her brows as she stands up. "Let's go, Addison."

"Wait," I say as I stop the chair from moving with my foot in front of the wheel. I look down at Addison earnestly, trying to ignore the hippo in the flower dress that's sneering at me. "I really wish you would come home with me," I state, sending a thick look to the mother. "I have a bedroom for you and my father bought me all of the baby things we would need. We would be set," I tell her. For some reason, I don't want to be apart from them. I don't want them to be unattainable to me. I know Emma's new, but she's grown on me in the past couple of days. "Let's just try it."

"Mr. Malfoy," Addison's Mom says sharply as she maneuvers the wheel chair so it's free again. "You don't have the capabilities to deal with a baby and a healing mother at this time," she says and my blood flames in anger. I can not curse her...Not here, anyways. "We need to go home and get Emma settled. You can stop by tomorrow."

"Mom..." Addison says but she gets cut off by the banshee.

"No, he can not decide to just come back into your life now that all is said and done." I give Addison an annoyed look because it's her fault her mother thinks that way. When they leave I feel something weird weighted down on my chest and I bring a hand up to rub my eyes. I didn't even kiss her or say goodbye.

"Are you crying?" my sister asks and I scowl.

"No, I'm not fucking crying," I snap and I glare at her. "I have to talk to Dad anyways." I whisper to myself to justify why it's okay for the hippo to take my child away.

"Are you going to find him?" she asks and I look at her. "Can I go with you?"

"No," I state as I stuff my hands in my pockets so I can walk outside. She follows.

"Gavin, please. I need to talk to him too."

"What do you need to talk to him about?"

"What do you need to talk to him about?" she counters and I stop and glare at her. Tears are still stuck in her eyelashes and her eyes are still red rimmed.

Oh, for fucks sake.

"Okay, come on!"

The first place we look is his office. Dad has been working over time lately and he is always at Malfoy Enterprises for one thing or another. When we get there, a blond little secretary with boobs way too big to be natural looks up at us with an eyebrow raised. The retarded one. "Is there anything I can help you with today?" she asks as she puts her quill down.

"Yes, there is," I say as I stop in front of her desk and she tilts her head to the side. "I need to speak to my father."

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Malfoy has already left the building."

"Then why are you still here?" I ask seriously as I eye her up and down. "There's no point for you to hang around if he's gone."

She blinks a few times before smiling at me. "You should come back at another time."

"Do you know if he went home?" Lavinia asks. We could easily go back to the Manor and find him if that's the case.

"No, I'm not sure where he went," she says, waving a polished dismissive hand. "Go run home, Gavin."

That triggers a memory in my mind.

Go run to mommy, Gavin.

The cemetery, the muggles, my father and his wand...

I'm not in the fucking mood for this. I put my palms down on her desk and lean down to look into her eyes. Lavinia gives me a curious look because of the odd movement, but I ignore it because I'm glaring at her. Her voice seems familiar to me. I didn't notice it when she was at the Villa, but I notice it now and I'm pissed.

"You know what I'm good at," I say and I raise my eyebrows as she stares right back. "I'm good at lying. Guess what you're not good at."

"I have no idea what you mean," she says tightly as she takes out a nail file and starts going to town on her nails. I glance at Lavinia, she looks down at her own bitten fingernails and then hides them behind her back self consciously.

Another reason not to like this girl.

I snatch the file away from her and suddenly I'm more serious than I have ever been before. "I didn't catch on before," I says as I throw the file over my shoulder, letting it fall where it may. It barely misses Lavinia's head and she swerves to the side to dodge it. "But I have heard your annoying voice before."

"Have you?" she asks and I furrow my brows. "Of course you have, you were there when I was dropping off sweets to your father."

"Not only that time. Before. You were there that night, weren't you? In the cemetery."

"I don't know what you mean," she says in a way that states she knows exactly what I fucking mean. I stare her down and she scoots her chair back with a devilish smirk on her face. "I have no idea, but if you were wondering if I would laugh if I saw you shaking in your boots until your Daddy came to rescue you then the answer is yes. I would laugh if I saw that."

I take out my wand and it takes me a second to realize it isn't mine. That's Cass' cherry wood unicorn hair based wand from when I swapped him mine to get into his place. I sigh because it's not going to work as well as my own, but oh well. I know her. She was that fucking girl who mocked me at that Death Eater initiation when I couldn't torture those muggles. Does she know about the whole get the dress or your mother die's deal? I point my brother's wand at the blonde's inflated chest and she frowns.

"What is happening?" Lavinia asks worriedly as she takes a step back.

Why does this fucking blonde look so pleased?

"Lavinia," I say and she looks at me with a worried tilt of her lips. She looks so young sometimes that it's almost painful for me to see her.

"Yeah?" she whispers timidly like she was afraid. I don't want her to get caught in the cross fires if I end up dueling this bitch, so I spare her a stern glance before turning back to the blonde.

"Step outside and wait for me."

"Yeah, okay," she says quickly before scurrying out of the room. She must have known I meant business because she didn't hesitate or bother to argue with me.

I turn back to the blonde who raises an eyebrow at me.

"Where is my father?"

"Have you listened to the news today?" she asks and I narrow my eyes as she scoots her chair back and crosses her legs. The skirt rides up her thigh, exposing more of her smooth skin. She looks like a slag. "I bet not. If you did, you'd be asking a different question."

"What are you talking about?" I snap, annoyed with her.

"Here," she says as she rolls her chair back to the radio resting on the table behind her. "I'm sure someone's talking about it now. It's big news, you know." She clicks on the radio and bites the corner of her glossed red lip as she tilts her head to listen. She goes through the channels with the turn of the dial before stopping on one station. "Ah, here we go."

"It's said that Draco Malfoy has a history of abuse..." She clicks her tongue as she looks at me while the man on the radio speaks. "He's been called into questioning for the disappearance of his wife and eldest son after Aurors were alerted to a ward break earlier this morning. One of the first to arrive on scene..."

I lift the wand and splinter the radio with a well learned spell. She jumps back and then glares at me. "What did you do that for?" she questions and then she stands up. "It was just getting good."

"What happened to them?" I ask seriously and she smiles.

"Weren't you listening? Why, your father has a history of abuse. He probably did something terrible to them. Probably something like he did to those muggles in the cemetery. Do you remember? Hm, I don't know if you recall what happened... You did run away with your tail between my legs."

"What's your game?" I ask as I point my wand at her chest. I saw a woman blow up yesterday, I really don't care about her. "I thought you wanted to fuck my Dad."

"Crude words," she says with a head shake. "It's not a secret that your father would have been a great asset to our cause. Even when he agreed to help after your failure, his heart still wasn't in it. Did you hear his latest press conference with Greengrass? It was a nightmare. He started talking about equality and mutual understanding... Oh, it was vomit inducing to hear such things come out of someone who used to be so great. It was my job to..." She trails off and smiles again. "Well, you can imagine what I was supposed to do but your father didn't give in even though I gave him my best. I question his sexuality, but it doesn't matter, I've been given a great mission to achieve now."

"What's that?" I ask flatly.

"After all of this goes through, I get to kill you," She confesses as her eyes light up.

She can't possibly be real.

"You really are stupid," I say as I remember how much my brother detested her when she showed up with brownies.

"I am not," she says haughtily with her nose proudly tipped in the air.

"You haven't killed me yet, though?" I say and she furrows her brows and shakes her head. I almost feel bad for her. "Okay, well this is going to be easy then." I state as I stun her. She didn't even have her wand drawn and she fell with a thump on the floor. I go over to where she's laying and stand over her body with my head tilted to the side. "Everybody knows you don't reveal your game plan until the end. If you read books you would probably know that." I tell her before dragging her into my fathers office and locking the door.

No one will dare go inside his office with out permission and the curse I put on her is pretty strong. She might be here a while. I make sure she's watching as I take her wand and snap it in half, letting it fall to the ground in separate pieces. When I leave the office, Lavinia gives me a puzzled look.

"We're going to the Manor," I tell her as I grab her arm and pull her along.

"What?"

"No talking," I snap because I'm too annoyed to listen to anything or to answer any questions she may have. The front gate of the Manor is all taped up with yellow and black Auror tape and I give it a look before flicking through it and running up the walkway. Lavinia trails behind me and she's out of breath when we get inside. She really isn't a running kind of girl.

"What's going on?" she asks in between deep breaths. "Why is there Auror tape around here and what did that girl say to you at Dad's office?"

"Hold on," I say as I speed walk to dad's study. I dig into one of the drawers of his desk and I pull out a location sphere. I point Cass' wand at it and say my mother's name. Nothing happens, the ball just turns cloudy and I frown.

"Why are you looking for Mom with that thing?" She asks as I shake the ball and tap my wand against it a few times just in case.

"Ginny Malfoy," I state firmly, a little louder. The ball spins and turns right back to a cloudy black. That makes my stomach uneasy. I tap the ball again and try a different route. "Cassius Draconis Malfoy," I say as I think of my brother.

The ball lights up and turns a golden yellow. I stare at it and read the address that pops up. I have no idea where that is.

"Lavinia, do you know where the Golden Meadows health facility is?" I ask as she looks around the room like she had never seen it before.

"No, what is that?" she asks as I stare at the ball. "Where are the house-elves?" she whispers quietly, but I ignore her.

I tap the ball a few times so it will give me the coordinates and I'm pretty sure I can apparate there. "Okay," I mutter to myself. What do I do? Do I go and get them? I glance up at the fireplace.

"Look," Lavinia says, but I don't look. Out of the corner of my eye I see her bend down and pick something up. "My mood manipulator. I haven't seen this in ages."

I spare her an irritated glance as she picks up that fucking ball and then it hits me. My Invisibility cloak. They probably took my Mom because of the dress and I was for sure they were intent on their threat. Did they know it's totally ruined? Did they know Pansy is dead? Is that why they did this? I don't buy that bullshit about my father being the culprit because I know him too well. This is all my fault. I need to fix this.

"Stay here," I say to my sister as I go over to the fire place and turn on the floo network. I'm glad Dad's is always working considering he and mom block all the others.

I floo to my town house and two seconds later, Lavinia bumps into my back before I step out the grate.

"What are you doing?" I ask in a sharp voice as I turn around and glare at her. She bites her lip with soot covering her face.

"Where are you going?" She asks softly, like she knew I was on a mission and she wanted to be part of it. She kind of looked like lost little puppy following me around, begging for affection. It was kind of sad.

"Just stay here," I tell her as I find the shiny material of my cloak in the bottom of my closet and I put it on, hiding my body. Lavinia looks a little stunned. I guess she's never seen my cloak before.

"What is that?" she asks as she walks closer to me and pokes a finger where my chest should be. That fucking hurt.

"What does it look like? Now, just stay here. There's food in the fridge."

"I'm not fat," she says and it surprises me to hear the venom in her voice. "I don't need to eat all the time."

"Okay, I don't know what fucking girl thing is happening with you right now, but I need you to stay here."

"No, I'm going with you."

"You don't even know where I'm going." I counter and she plants her hands on her hips.

"I know you're going to that Golden Meadow place. Do you think I'm stupid? Why did you use the location sphere for Cassius and Mom? What do you know that I don't?"

She deserves to know the truth, but I'm not going to tell her right now. I put the hood up so she can't see me and I go to leave with out her, but before I get to the apparation point I feel something heavy on my back. When I land out side of the abandoned looking hospital building, I push her off of me and push the hood of the cloak back. "What the fuck, Lavinia?" I snap angrily and she dusts off her dress.

"The door was blasted open at the Manor and there was Auror tape everywhere. Something is wrong and I won't let you just leave me alone at your place." She looks down for a moment and then back up at me. "Please... I don't want to be alone. Not right now."

"Go find some friends."

"I don't have any friends."

I glare at her and she glares back. Goddamnit. "Get under the fucking cloak," I snap at her as I pull her to me and I hide us both. We're both too damn big to be doing this and we have to crouch down so our feet don't show. "Cassius and Mom are missing," I explain to her in whisper as we walk towards the building. "They wanted me to get this dress thing or they said they would hurt mom."

"A dress thing?" she asks and I nod.

"But something happened to it," I explain as I think of Pansy and how she's blown bits all over some basement in knockturn Alley.

I might find use with that duck therapist after this after all.

It was harder to get in than I had previously realized because the wards prevented us from opening the door, cloak or not. So we waited, leaning against the building as I tried to think up ways to get inside. It was getting cold outside, fall is coming and I look out at the trees. They're starting to change colors now and it's starting to sprinkle with rain.

"What's our plan?" Lavinia asks and I glare at her as she pulls something from one of her dress pockets.

"My plan is to go inside and find Mom and Cassius." I tell her seriously. "Your plan is to stay out of the way and hide."

"I can help you, you know," she states sourly as she rolls the ball around in her hand nervously. "I'm not totally incompetent. I helped that Bailey guy and Byron get Cassius back."

I give her a look, but I snap my head towards the door when someone walks out. It's that healer who is creepily obsessed with my sister. He doesn't look too pleased and he's wearing healer scrubs with his healer ID around his neck. We can follow him in. I'm sure of it. He shuts the door behind him and runs his hands through his hair before taking a deep breath and unscrewing the lid of a water bottle that he takes a long drink from. Lavinia inhales deeply and taps the ball a few times until it glows pink and then she starts to move from under the cloak.

"What are you doing?" I snap, trying to keep my voice quiet as I pull her back. She feels warmer and when I touch her I feel... I feel really very possibly content. I shake it off and glare at her again. "Are you mad?"

"Gavin, he'll help me if I ask," she says as she tries to push my arm off of hers after putting the ball in her pocket. "Let go."

"He's not going to help you," I whisper fiercely as I remember what he was talking about at the Lestrange house. "He's a fucking pervert, now get back under the cloak."

She looks at me, looking more serious and grown up than I have ever seen her. "I have to try, Gavin. What other plan do we have?" My hand becomes lax on her arm and she gets away. I cuss to myself as she becomes visible and runs down the pathway.

That Conrad bloke seems very suprised to see her and he looks over her shoulder as she runs over to him. "How did you get here?" he asks her suspiciously. She stops in front of him and sends a worried look to her feet. It begins raining harder and he watches as she crosses her arms and shivers. "You've been flooing," he states evenly as he puts a hand on his hip. "You're covered in soot."

She nods her head.

He looks her over with a raised brow, seemingly unaffected by the weather as he puts his water bottle down. He's at the top of the stairs and she's at the bottom, dwarfing her already small statue next to his. "Why are you here?"

The sister that I know finally comes out and her face reddens in embarrassment and she inhales a few times looking at him nervously.

"Lavinia?" he snaps at her and I clench my hand around my brother's wand. I should stun him, but there are so many death eaters wandering around right now that it would be pointless for us. They'd kill me on the spot and we would never get in. "You know your brother is here," he states plainly like he was reading her mind.

"It's just that... I-I heard..." She trails off painfully and she starts walking up the stairs. When she's only one below him, she brings a timid hand up to take his hand. My sister is not a good actress and this is all looking bloody ridiculous. "My Mom and my brother are missing," she whispers softly. I strain my ears to hear it from my hiding spot as he looks down at her with cold eyes. This is getting to be too much. My temper can't handle it and I want to tear his head off. "I thought... I thought you could help me."

"How could I help you?" he asks flatly as his arms stay rigidly by his side.

"Well... I..." She's pitiful at this. She really is. She inhales deeply and bites her lip as she takes his left hand and pulls back the sleeve, showing his golden watch. "It took me a while," she says as she runs her fingers over the face. "But I know you get the things that you want."

She glances up at him and he continues to stare at her.

"No one says no to you, right?" she says and the corner of his lips turn up in a smug smirk. "And you always get what you want." She makes it up to the final step and he steps back to give her more room. She brings one of her timid hands up to his hair and brushes a piece away from his face. The movement is odd and stiff. She's not convincing anyone. "Don't you want to help me?"

"You feel awfully warm," he says as his eyes darken. He takes a step closer to her and presses his hips against hers. "I'm liking the way you feel right now." It must be that mood manipulator thing she talked about because I felt the same way when I touched her. That is disturbingly gross. He shakes it off as well and steps back, narrowing his eyes."Tell me how you got here," he says, not buying into her bullshit but amused by it none the less. "And maybe I'll think about helping you."

"I followed you," she lies and he raises both his brows, obviously he doesn't believe her. "Don't look at me like that," she says, having caught on to it. "Please, just... Just help me... Like you helped me earlier," she says. What the fuck? "I'm very grateful and... and I realize I haven't been fair to you."

He pauses a second and then he brings a hand up to her face, running a finger along her lips. "How many times can a girl cry in one day?"

She reddens again and looks down as she lets her hands drop from his. Her breathing is heavy. She's scared.

"Do you know where they are?" she asks gently and then she looks up at him again. "Are they okay? Please, just tell me."

He looks around him, like he was checking the yard for spies and then he sighs as he looks down at her. "You shouldn't be here," he says as he searches her face and he takes her hand and starts walking her towards the front door. "You're lucky you didn't run into anyone else before you found me. They would have killed you," he says and she gulps. I guess she didn't understand the magnitude of the situation until now. He licks his teeth and then he stares at her again before opening the door with a ward breaking password. "I'll make you deal," he says and she blinks a few times as the door creaks open.

"What kind of deal?"

"I'm tired of pursuing a girl who's resistant to my advances," he says seriously. "It hurts my pride, if you could believe it, and I think I've been very forth coming with you."

"Okay..." She says shakily like she doesn't know what's in store. She wipes her eyes with the palm of her hand and he takes her wrist and brings it down to get her attention. She flicks a glance to where I'm standing as they walk inside and I run behind them and slide in just as the door starts to shut.

"If you promise to be a good girl for me," he says and I feel my lip curling back in disgust as I lean against he wall while he continues to pull her further into the building. The inside is in ruins. The large front hall looks like it used to be a reception area when this place was up and running. It has peeling paint on the walls and debris on the ground, with chairs and desks that look forgotten and warped with time. There's also a leak from the rain coming down from the ceiling and being caught in a metal bucket. Classy. "I'll show you that your brother is okay."

"What about my Mom?" she asks and he smiles.

"Why don't you kiss me first?"

She bites her lower lip and then she gives in and reaches up to kiss him. I've had enough. I take out my wand and curse him but because I have my brother's wand, it fails to hit target. He falls against the floor, though, and men come running out from every direction as Lavinia rushes to his side. He's clutching his neck and I figure that curse took a pretty big chunk from his flesh. I look away when he starts to bleed, though, because I'll never fancy the look of blood. She falls to her knees to see if he's alright as the men tug her back and I step forward again ready to throw another curse if they hurt her. "It wasn't her," I hear Conrad say with a wince as the men try to pull her back with their wands drawn. "You know who's still out. Find him."

Find who? They don't know about me. Could it be Cassius?

"Here, I can heal you," my sister says gently as the men go running in every direction. Conrad stands up and tries to stop the blood from gushing from his neck.

"We need a potion first," he snaps angrily as he glares around the room like he would be able to see who had done it. "I know this curse and it needs more than a wand. Come with me," he says as he takes her hand and start dragging her away.

I go to go after her, but she looks over her shoulder. "I'll be okay," she says out loud and Conrad stops and looks at her. "Do what you have to."

"Who are you bloody talking to?" he snaps as his eyes dart along the room. She was talking to me, I know that, and I grip my wand a little tighter, deciding if I should obey her.

"Conrad," she says glancing my way again. "You would never intentionally hurt me, would you?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" he snaps and I know she's just asking for my benefit so I'll let her go and not follow. He grabs her chin and forces her to look into his eyes. They're both silent for a few moments as he studies her face. "What are you blocking from me?" he asks seriously and she shakes her head.

"Nothing."

He tightens his jaw, but then he begins stroking her neck. "You are so warm right now," he repeats dreamily and then he shakes his head. "I'm going to bleed to death if we don't get moving. Come on."

He pulls her away and I bite the inside of my cheek as I decide what I want to do. She said she would be okay and I need to find Cassius and Mom. She sends one more look over her shoulder before they disappear into another hallway and I let out a slow breath. I hate being unsure about things and not knowing what to do. That seems to be the constant state I'm in right now. I decide to let her go, a decision I'm still wrestling with as I walk further into the old building with the broken windows and crackling ceiling. If I were these people, and I was holding Draco Malfoy's son, where would I put him?

More Death Eaters scurry past me and I watch them move around frantically. I go deeper into the building, past holding cells and office rooms with files spilling from cabinets. I pass by Daniella and I accidentally brush against one of the men who's following her and I hold my breath as he looks over his shoulder and pauses. I know he felt me, but he shrugged it off and kept walking as I let out a breath. Down one dreary looking hallway I found someone familiar.

Things just got a lot more interesting.

"You're supposed to be at your post," an angered man in a mask says to Terrance as the lump goes barreling down the hallway.

"I've been there all day!" he snaps and he keeps walking. "I need to make a floo call. I'll be back in a second."

"You have one job!" The man calls but Terrance waves him off.

I follow him and we end up in an abandoned room where he grabs a handful of floo powder from a cracked pot and throws it into an empty fire grate that looks like it's about to collapse on it's self. The address he calls is very familiar to me and I step closer with rage roaring in my insides. When Addison's Mom's head appears in the flames I grip my brother's wand tighter.

"What can I do for you?" her mom says politely and I roll my eyes. The last few days she has been anything but bloody polite to me.

"I need to speak to Addison."

"Can I ask your business, please?" she asks and I figure she must not know Terrance. I think a part of me is pleased by that.

"I want to congratulate her," he says as he gets down on his knees and leans forward towards the flames. "I'm a friend."

A fucking friend. Right.

A few seconds later Addison's head appears in the flames. She looks as drawn out and tired as she did when she left the hospital and her face turns to surprise when she sees Terrance. Then she narrows her eyes. Good girl.

"What do you want?" she snaps at him and I inwardly smirk because she didn't sound happy to see him.

"You haven't responded to any of my owls," he says desperately, sounding weird and girlie. "I've been trying to get a hold of you. I miss you, Addie."

"I'm not doing this with you," she says and she starts to pull out of the flames but he stops her.

"Wait! Just wait. I just want to talk to you."

She sighs loudly and looks behind her shoulder like something was there before facing him again. "Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"How's the baby?" he asks softly and I narrow my eyes because that's my baby that he's talking about. He's not allowed to talk about her so casually. Hell, I don't even want him thinking about her. "I heard you were released this morning."

"She's fine," she says flatly. "She looks just like Gavin."

I smirk with pride.

"Listen," he gets even closer until his head is almost in the flames as well. I gently close the door and lock it with my wand. He doesn't notice. "God, I've missed you," he says as he looks over her face in the flames like it was really there in front of him. I tighten my hand around my wand and step even closer. "Wait," he says again when she makes a face. "Just let me talk. I know you're angry with me."

"How could you tell him what happened?" she asks and I think she's talking about me so my ears perk up a bit.

"You weren't going to tell him."

"Because it didn't mean anything!" she says in frustration and Terrance makes a wounded face, like she had hurt him. "I was drunk and you took advantage of the situation. I was miserable afterwards and you were right, I wasn't going to tell him because it would just hurt him and I didn't want to do that."

"I did not take advantage of you," he snaps and I narrow my eyes. "I just told you the truth."

"You told me that he was stepping out on me."

"He was," he snaps hatefully. "Gavin has always been a cheater and he always will be. Everytime we went out he picked up a different bird and you know that. Any one who read the papers knew that and I couldn't stand that he was doing that to you. You know I love you!"

"He told me he never did," she says gently. "But I believed you instead and look what happened with that."

"I didn't have to convince you. Why do you think you were drinking in the first place? Gavin always left you at home while he went out and partied. He did that because he didn't want you to get in his way when he met a girl. Do you think that's ever going to changed"

"You're lying," she says as she shakes her head, but I can tell there's something in her voice that still believes him. I can't say I blame her. I was terrible to her once and I was the worst boyfriend in the world. The baby starts crying in the background and it makes my heartbeat speed up painfully. I should be there with her, helping her, but I'm on the other side of the flames with fucking Terrance. "I have to go. I guess I'm glad it's all out in the open now because I don't feel as terrible as I did before. Now that he knows and he still wants to be in Emma's life even though I hurt him. I'm not going to ruin that again because of you. Don't contact me agian, Terry."

"Wait," he says again and she rolls her eyes. "He's a liar, Addison. You know that more than anyone. Don't you see what he's doing? He was the asshole to you and now he has you being grateful that he's still in your life? Come on. Even you can see through that, can't you? He only came back because of the kid, not you. He's never liked you that much anyways."

"Don't say that," she says softly, like it hurt her that he would think such a thing. I'm pissed about it too because it wasn't true. In reality, I had liked Addison more than I had liked anyone I had ever dated. I may have even loved her.

"It's true he's a self centered jerk and you know it. Why do you even care? Is it the money?"

"I don't care about his money," she says fiercely and Terrance laughs bitterly.

"Good, because he won't have very much soon."

"What are you talking about?" she snaps and he smiles. I'm curious too so I resist the urge to throw my cloak off and attack him.

"I just wouldn't count on that fortune if I were you. The Malfoy's are in a very bad position right now," he says with a dark smile and I scoff. We've always had money, and we probably always will. There's just no way one family could go through that much money because more is constantly pouring in from our business' and investments. Dad also has pockets of reality everywhere in world that serve as financial back up if something were to happen with the banks.

"What do you mean 'they're in a very bad position?" she asks slowly, like she was worried and Terrance puffs his chest out proudly.

"Have you been following the news at all?" he ask and she frowns.

"I just left the hospital, Terry, and I just had a baby. No, I haven't been following the news."

"Well, if you did then you would know that Mrs. Malfoy and Cassius Malfoy are missing and presumed dead."

"Presumed dead?" she says with her eyes widening. That sentence cuts me as well and I watch him closely.

Terrance nods. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy has been brought in for suggesting. They think he killed them because Mrs. Malfoy wanted a divorce."

Addison shakes her head. "That doesn't sound right. I know them... Mr. Malfoy would never do that to Ginny or Cassius."

"You never know," he says like he knew a secret like a fucking little school girl. "Those Malfoy men are unstable. If Mr. Malfoy gets the death penalty..."

"Wait, the death penalty? What are you talking about?"

"If he gets convicted for the killings... He'll get the death penalty."

"This is all happened very quickly," she says suspiciously. "And why are you so pleased about it? This is a terrible thing to happen to a person."

"According to their will, the family money is supposed to be divided amongst all four children when the parents die," he says and she watches him closely as well. "With Cassius gone his part would go to Gavin... But..."

"Why do you know anything about the Malfoy's will?" she asks sharply and I want to know the answer to that question as well. "And what do you mean 'but'?"

"The Aurors haven't been able to find him. They suspect that Draco Malfoy got to him too. You know, when faced with abandonment husbands often kill their wives and kill their kids as punishment."

"Is that a known statistic," I state outloud and he looks behind him quickly. The baby cries get louder and Addison starts talking to someone outside of the fireplace. I suppose it's her mother.

"I have to go. Don't go anywhere," she says as she disappears away from the flames. Terrance stands up and looks around him with his wand gripped in his hands. He has no idea I'm only a few feet in front of him. This cloak is convenient and it's kind of ironic that he was the one who gave it to me.

"Who's there!" he yells and it hurts my ears so I make a face. "Show yourself." I lift my wand and mumble a curse under the cloak. His wand goes flying to the side and I don't think I've ever seen a person so scared looking. "Show yourself!" he demands again and I start unclasping the cloak while he backs up and bats around him like a crazy person.

"Is that going to help?" I ask and when I become visible to him, he pales and starts walking backwards towards the fireplace like he's just seen a ghost. I put the invisibility cloak on a nearby chair, painfully aware of his wide eyed stare.

"How did you get in here?" he asks as I put a hand in my pocket. I have a cigarette in there that I had hid from the St. Mungo's staff and I take it out, lightening the end with my brother's wand as Terrance shakes in his boots.

"Do you remember when you gave that to me?" I ask as I nod to the shimmering cloak on the chair. I blow smoke out of the corner of my mouth and look at the ashes I flick on the ground. This is going to be my last one. After this I'm quitting.

"Yeah," he says. "I didn't think you'd fucking keep it. It was a family heirloom."

"Hey, a bet is a bet," I tell him seriously and he gulps as he looks at my wand lying casually in my hand. "I have one question for you." I say before inhaling more smoke and flicking more ashes on the ground.

"What is it?" he asks cautiously as I begin twisting my wand through my fingers like it was a baton.

"Who was supposed to come and get me?" I ask curiously and he furrows his brows. "If this whole thing is set up so it looks like my Dad killed us all, who was supposed to get me?"

"Holly..." He mutters and I laugh.

"The blonde retard in the skirt? She was serious when she said that?" I tisk my tongue and lift my wand again. "Well, luckily for your lot I came here on my own, right?"I look him over with a sigh. "I used to like you," I say outloud and he gulps nervously. "Why did you have to fuck that up?"

"I didn't do anything."

I drop the cigarette and snub it out with my shoe. "You slept with my fucking girlfriend."

"You only care because she was 'your' girlfriend at the time. Not because you really liked her."

I go to curse him, but since the wand isn't mine it malfunctions and misses him. Hitting the fireplace over his shoulder. A vase on the mantle piece explodes and he looks at it in relief before looking back at me. "Damnit," I say as I look down at my brother's wand and I tap it against my leg a few times. Terrance watches me and then he looks at his wand that's resting under a table on the other side of the room. "Don't even think about it," I tell him as I point the wand at him again.

"That's not your wand," he points out and I refuse to reply to that stupid comment. "It's not going to work properly for you."

"It might," I tell him seriously. It's a hit or miss with wands really. My brother and I are just so damn different that his wand isn't letting me do the fucking curses he wouldn't do. "Don't test me. Why are you here anyway?. I never saw you at the meetings," I state honestly and he puffs his chest up again. He looks like a fool.

"I'm a new inductee," he says proudly and I would roll my eyes if I cared enough. "Just finished my initiation. I heard about yours, though," he gives me an amused smile.

"I couldn't torture people I didn't know," I tell him and then I smirk. "But I'm sure I could muster up the magic to crucio you."

"Come off it, Gavin, you lost all credibility when your Dad bailed you out. That's never going to happen again, though," he says and I push my brows together. "After tonight your whole family is going to be dead. Well, with the exception of your sister. I think Conrad Foxworth is going to turn her into his personal sex toy."

I go to curse him again, but the fucking wand malfunctions again and the curse fizzles out even before it leaves the wand. "Goddamnit," I snap angrily as I glare at Cassius' wand. Terrance laughs. That wasn't a good idea. "Oh, well,'" I tell him as I pocket the wand. "I don't need fucking magic to beat the shit out of you," I tell him darkly. "You know that from personal experience, don't you?"

"You're not going to do anything to me, Gavin," he says smugly as he pulls a necklace out from under his shirt. "If you take one step closer I will press this button."

"Okay," I say as I take a step closer and I roll up the sleeves on my shirt. "Press the fucking button."

He takes another step back and puts his hand up to stop me. "You don't want that, I assure you. I guard one of the most treasured things in this building. If I press this button then every member in the building is going to come here."

"What are you guarding?" I ask as I look around the room. "A floo pot?" I ask and he makes an annoyed face. "You aren't doing a very good job, princess."

He sneers at the nickname. "No, not a damn floo pot. It's not in here," he says and I raise an eyebrow.

"So if you press that button, won't everyone go to where the 'special' thing is?" He hesitates a second and he opens his mouth a few times. "I thought so." I say as I take another step closer. I love busting through his weak logic and he looks panicked.

"It doesn't matter if you beat me up," he says bravely as he cocks his head up in the air. "You're going to die tonight, Gavin. You're going to die and so is the rest of your..."

BAM.

I pause as he falls to the ground in a heap, covered in floo powder and broken ceramic chips from a floo pot. Standing behind him is Addison wearing an old Black College T-shirt and baggy, unflattering sweat pants. I don't think I've ever seen her look better. She's breathing heavily and she looks down at him before up at me. She looks kind of sheepish and I would almost call the expression cute if I didn't think she might have put him in a coma.

"You just bashed his head in with a floo pot," I state flatly, almost laughing at the ridiculousness of it.

"Is he dead?" she asks timidly as I walk closer and bend down to put my hand in front of his face.

"He's breathing," I say and then I look up at her. She looks a right mess. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm... I'm fine. Are you okay?" she asks and I stand up and step over Terrance's body to get closer to her. I've decided to forgive her right here and now for that one move. I grab her face and kiss her hard. She melts into me before pushing back and taking my hand. "Come on," she says as she sends a disgusted look around the filthy room. "Come with me. The floo line is still open and this place isn't sanitary."

"I'm not going with you," I tell her honestly and she opens her mouth to protest but I cut her off. "My family is still here. I'm going to find them."

"But... You heard Terrance. They're dead... Or someone is killing them." She brings a hand up to her forehead. "This is all too much. Come back with me. I don't want you to get hurt."

"As happy as I am to hear that, I'm going to need you to go back to your mother's house and turn off your floo line."

"No, just.."

"Just wait for me, alright?" I say as I step on Terrances chest as I walk to the couch to get the invisibility cloak. "I'll be home later." I say and then I realize she won't be there because she's with her Mom. I shrug the sick feeling off. "I'll come see you when I'm done."

"What if they kill you?" she asks. She crosses her arms as I pick up the cloak and fold it over my arm. "You don't want Emma to grow up with out a father do you?"

I look at her. That was a question that struck deep and I debated my options for a few moments before shaking my head. I knew for a fact that Cassius and Lavinia were here. I wasn't going to leave them.

"I'm staying," I tell her and she steps on Terrance's passed out body as well as she walks over to me.

"Then I'm staying too," she says as she pulls her wand from the waist band of her sweat pants. "Mine actually works." she says and I sigh.

"Cassius' wand is just being fussy like he is," I tell her seriously as I take her wand and put it back in her pants. "Just go home. I would be more focused if I didn't have to worry about you too."

"I can hold my own," she lies and I shake my head.

"No, you can't," I tell her honestly. Not to hurt her pride, or anything, but it's the truth. She's worse than Lavinia is when it comes to dueling and that kind of stuff... And Lavinia is like an mentally handicapped kid sometimes so that's not saying much. I look down at her chest and hide a smile. "Besides, you need to go change your shirt," I tell her as the front of her shirt becomes saturated with milk. I would be disgusted that she was literally leaking, but I couldn't find it in me to feel that way about her and what her body was doing because she had had my baby.

"What," she looks down and crosses her arms in embarrassment. "Oh, Jesus Christ."

"I don't have a lot of time. Go home and feed our daughter," I tell her and I kiss her forehead. "Wait for me."

"I always wait for you," she says with a pout turning her lips and I smile sadly because I know that's the truth.

"Yeah," I say as I press my hand against her cheek. "And I always come back, right?" She doesn't say anything, but I don't wait for her answer. I take her hand and walk her back to the fireplace, scooping up some floo powder by Terrances body as I go. "Go home and kiss my baby," I tell her before throwing the powder into the flames and pushing her in. When she disappears I turn the knob on the fireplace so she can't come back and I look at Terrance again.

"Now," I say as I kneel beside him and I take that necklace off of his body. I study it. It's black with a red button hanging off it like a pendent. I put it around my own neck before propping him against the wall in the sitting position. He a fat bastard and it took some energy. "You're going to tell me what I need to know about what you're guarding."

I glare down at Cassius' wand, praying that it works for me this time before I wake him up. The spell works well enough and he blinks groggy eyes open as I put a body bind spell on him. "Hey, what are you..."

'Shh," I tell him and he looks insulted as I sit back on my knees. "I can't crucio people," I tell him seriously. "I can't kill people. I guess I'm too weak for that." He stares at me like he was relieved. I look down at Cass' wand. "But I can perform one unforgivable pretty easily."

"You're not going to..."

"Imperio," I say as I point the wand at his chest. His eyes glaze over and he blinks a few times. I feel quite proud of myself and I smile a little bit. "Tell me you're an idiot" I order.

"I'm an idiot."

This could be fun.

"Terrance, tell me where my brother is."

"I don't know."

"Do you know where my mother is?"

"I don't know."

Damn. I lick my teeth before trying again. "What are you guarding?"

"A necklace and an earring," he says.

"Jewerly? You're guarding jewelry."

"Ancient Jewelry."

Ah, that makes sense now. I had overheard some people at the meetings talking about some statue head that could help them win 'the war against the muggles'. That's why I asked Cassius a couple of weeks ago if it would hurt people or not... I really don't know what it does. I hear a loud blast and a few yells, so I try to hurry this up and I look at him intently.

"Why are you guarding it? What's it's purpose?"

"I don't know."

Hmf. "You're useless."

"I know." he says and I blink a few times before laughing at him.

"I'm glad you think so too," I tell him. "Stand up." He stands up immediately and I do as well. "Where are these things?"

"On the top floor, in the storage room because no one would look there."

Someone must have told him that detail.

"Go back to guarding your jewelry and if anyone talks to you, tell them you're a fucking douche bag who has no friends."

"Okay," he says as he gets up and walks with mechanical steps out of the room. I wonder how long the imperius curse lasts before it comes off. I don't know that kind of stuff but it felt good to be a big spiteful. I put on the cloak and start to head for the door to follow him up... But I stop when I leave the room. There are a few men in black cloaks laying on the ground. They look dead and I furrow my brows as Terrance continues to walk like a zombie. I step over a few lifeless bodies with worry creasing my brow line as Terrance finds a back stair case and begins walking up.

Um... What the fuck happened to those guys?

I really can't worry about them right now and when we reach the storage room, a tall red head that I recognize as Dorian from the Lestrange house is waiting patiently outside of the room. Beside him is a beautiful redhead with the same deep red colored hair and she picks at her fingernails as Terrance approaches.

"Where the hell have you been?" Dorian asks as he stands up straight.

"I'm a fucking douche bag who has no friends," he says and I smirk. "I've been downstairs," Terrance answer after a moment of the two redheads just staring at him like he was a moron.

"Fine, whatever. Here," he says as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a bag full of gold coins and hands it to Terrance. "After you touch the earring, you have ten seconds to leave this place before you go down with it, do you understand?"

"Yes," Terrance says flatly and Dorian gives him an odd look.

"That's just for good faith," he says as he takes a golden gringotts key from his shirt pocket and hands it to him. "And this vault is yours if you make it out. I'm serious," he says sternly. "It was activated this morning by Bailey. They have what they need now and they want to use it in London tonight." He grabs Terrances hand and cuts a odd geometrical rune shape on his hand. Terrance winces and hisses in pain. "Put your palm face down on the pearl," he says seriously. I'm so utterly confused that all I can do is listen. "There's going to be a big bang, but you have to Appareate out of here before you pass out or your as good as dead as the rest of them."

"Okay," he says flatly.

Dorian makes a disgusted face like he doesn't think that he would understand.

"Wait twenty minutes..."

"Thirty," the pretty redhead says, overriding the guy who has to be related to her because they look an awful lot a like. The taller one glances at her and she makes a pouting face. "Come on, you know I have to let Byron come too. I like him too much."

"We don't have time for that," he snaps. "If we want this to work, they all have to go down. Byron's father was Marcus Flint so it's justified. No one here is innocent of it. Think of all the families he ruined."

"I like Byron." she says like a woman who is used to winning arguments. "He is too good looking to just kill anyways." she insists. "Besides, you saved Mafloy's daughter on the beach."

"She's just a baby," he says in frustration. "Now Malfoy and I are even. He spared my life when I was a kid and I spared hers. He killed the rest of my family and they're all going to go down with the rest of these disgusting creatures."

I feel offended.

"I'm sure the Auror department will love that explanation," she says and he sends her a wide eyed look before looking at Terrance... He seems relieved that Terrance is picking at a thread in his cloak and didn't hear that slip.

He shakes his head and walks towards Terrance again. "Twenty minutes, Terrance," he says. "Twenty minutes and everyone here is done."

He walks past him and the woman with red hair who may or may not be named Eva.. Or Eda or something I can't really remember, slithers up and touches his shoulder. Terrance shivers as she puts her lips to his ear. "Thirty minutes," she corrects the other guy again as she sways her hips going after him.

When they're far enough away, I turn back to Terrance and narrow my eyes. "What the fuck was that?" I ask, still under my cloak but since he's under my spell he answers.

"A bribe."

"A bribe for what. You said you didn't know the purpose of the artifacts."

"I don't."

"Then why are you going to touch it with that fucked up thing on your hand?"

"So I can get a lot of money," he says simply.

"Of for fucks sake-" I get cut off by a scream and I snap my head down the hallway. The tall lanky fellow throws a curse at someone unseen and I hear a loud manly cuss before he gets blown against the wall. The girl gets the same treatment after she brandishes her wand and she gets thrown threw a window. I stare as who ever did that damage emerges down the hallway.

The figure gets closer and closer and I let my mouth hang open in surprise.

"Terrance, go in the room and forget about everything that those red heads told you."

He obeys and the figure raises an eyebrow halfway down the hallway.

"Where did you learn that?"

That's my Dad's voice and I look at him for a few moments in shock. He looks terrible. There are violent red cuts on his face and judging by the stains on his white dress shirt there are more under neath his clothes. I was going to answer him, but I stop myself. He shouldn't be able to see me. I'm under the cloak and he was far enough away where he couldn't hear me when I talked to Terrance. He stops a few feet in front of me and looks down at something in his hand. He taps it with his wand.

"Gavin Scorpious Malfoy," he whispers. The ball glows and he looks up, directly where I'm at. I stay still as takes a step closer to me and pulls my cloak off. He used one of his location spheres to find me and I just stare stupidly back at him.

"What..."

"What are you doing here?" he asks as he walks into the room where I ordered Terrance to go. Dad shuts the door and locks it after I follow inside and he walks over to a small desk where a large half pear looking thing is laying. Runes are etched into it and beside that is a golden necklace with a large snarling lions head. It looks like it pains him to walk, but he keeps his head tilted up and his shoulders straightened as he turns to me. "How did you get in?"

"Are you..." I squint my eyes and grasp the wand. Terrance tries to talk but I order him to stand in the corner. Dad just watches me, looking none too pleased with it, but he doesn't say anything else. "Dad?" I say because I'm honestly not sure if it's really him. Is my mind playing tricks on me or is my father seriously standing before me covered in blood in black trousers and suspenders. "Are you fucking with me?"

"No, I'm not," he tells me as he pockets his wand and winces as he moves his arms to pull his suspenders down. He pauses a second like it hurt him before he starts unbuttoning his shirt.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he takes off his shirt and he tugs off the shirt he had underneath. His chest is a mess. There are long angry looking slashes on his arms, chest, and back. The wounds look fresh and blood is still beading from them. I wonder if that's the curse Dorain threw at him. I cover my mouth in disgust. I hate blood. "Why are you getting undressed?" I ask carefully with a muffled voice. This isn't going to turn into some weird fucked up torture scene, is it?

"You have to heal me," he says as he takes a seat on a wooden table covered in old newspapers. "If I lose any more blood... I'm getting light headed. I'll tell you the spell, I'm just not strong enough to do it myself right now," he says. I hesitate before walking towards him.

"I'm not good at healing charms," I tell him seriously. There is so much blood. I shake my head and take a step back. "And I have Cassius' wand... It doesn't work very well for me... I... Lavinia is here," I tell him and his eyes snap to mine and he hisses as a cut on his neck opens more from the move. More blood. I blink a few times. "She's okay." Hopefully. "But she's good at healing charms..." I feel a little out of it to be honest with my father practically bleeding to death before me. "I can go find her."

He gives me his wand. "Mine is closer to yours," he explains. "It will work better...Just put the wand to one of the cuts." He takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge his nose with his fingers. "The last time this happened to me, I blacked out. God, this fucking hurts."

I remember being covered in Pansy's blood and I shake my head. I hate blood. I can't stand it. I shake my head against as I feel the bile in my throat. "I'm sorry, I can't..."

"Gavin," he snaps as I take another step back. I look into his eyes. They look like steel. "I need you to be strong right now or I'm going to bleed out. You're okay and you can do this."

"Okay," I say with a shaky voice.

"If you can use the Imperius curse, you can do this."

I nod my head and repeat the spell that he gives me as I press the wand to one of his cuts. They're really deep and I can only imagine how badly it must hurt for him. It takes me a few tries, but I do manage to close up one of the cuts. I look at the sea of other ones and gulp. This is going to take forever, but with a shaky hand I keep going.

"These are going to scar," I tell him worriedly. The cuts that I am healing aren't glossing over very well. They just look like red scratches, and the color won't fade. It looks like Bryon's back.

"It doesn't matter," he says gently.

"How did you get here?" I ask to distract myself from blacking out, but he doesn't answer as he hunches over while I heal the cuts on his back and side. "They're trying to say you killed Mom and Cassius," I tell him and he nods his head.

"I know."

"They took you in for questioning," I say and he sits back so I can get the front of his chest. "Were you at the Aurors office?"

"Yes."

"And you got away?"

"Obviously," he says as I close up a rather painful looking one running along the line of his collar bone. I think I saw bone on that one.

I look into his stormy eyes and he looks right back. He's definitely my father, I know that. "How?" I ask as I move to his face so I can close up the cuts there.

He doesn't answer again and when I'm done healing him, he stands up and takes his under shirt so he can wipe away the rest of the left over blood. He looks down at his chest at the red scars and then he feels his face. I feel bad that I couldn't be better at healing, but it was the best I could do and I'm so out of it that I couldn't keep my hand steady.

"I guess my modeling days are over," he says as he puts on his button up shirt and begins doing it up. I would laugh if this wasn't so serious and he puts on his glasses again after I hand him his wand. "I want you to go home. I'll take care of this."

"Let me help you," I tell him honestly. "Just... I can help."

"No. Go home." he says sternly as he looks me dead in the eye. "Now."

This sounds very familiar. I just had this conversation with Addison not too long ago. "No," I say solidly, finding my voice. Dad doesn't need to come in and save me this time. "I have an idea," I tell him, just thinking it up so quickly that it nearly made me feel high.

"I'm sure you do," he states stiffly. I frown at his lack of faith in me, but I don't care.

"Yes," I say as I take out that necklace with the stupid button on it. "If I press this, everyone in the building will come running into this room," I tell him.

He gives it a dismissive look. "Half the people in this building can't run anymore," he says and that stops me for a second before I continue. I think of the dead men in the hallway on my way here and I shake it off.

"That is what took Cassius away from us," I say as I point to the white pearl earring thing laying on the table. "That's what made him appear dead. The redheaded bloke you cursed in the hallway was bribing Terrance into activating it. He marked up his hand and told him he would have to touch and then Apparete out of here so it would to do all of us what it did to Cassius. Practically kill everyone."

"What's the point in that?"

"The girl said he was an Auor," I say and he raises his brows. I just realized something and I looked at Terrance's back with a sigh. "That would have framed Terrance. If he really was an Auror it was a good idea to have Terrance do it. He hated everyone here and he especially hated you," I add carefully.

"Do you know why."

"No, not really," I lie because I don't feel like going into it, or repeating it. "Anyways, I know that Cassius and Lavinia are here... If we can round us all up then we can get out of here in time. I can tell Terrance to put his hand on that thing after I press the button and we lock everyone in this room."

"There's a lot of holes in that plan, son," he says.

"It could work," I add and he looks at me seriously, taking my shoulders in his hands as he looks directly into my eyes.

"I don't need an elaborate plan to kill everyone in this building," he says seriously and an eerie feeling runs up my spine because of the way my father looks. He looks frightening like I imagine he looked thirty years ago. "I'm going to do this the old fashion way. No one messes with my family and gets away with it."

I stare at him for a few moments before he lets go of my shoulders and he walks towards the door. I watch him go before turning to Terrance who is still dutifully in the corner. "If I press this button," I say as I hold it up and he looks over his shoulder. "I want you to put your fucking hand on that artifact."

"Okay," he says simply and I look at the earring for a few moments before following my father out.

This time I can help him. I don't care what he has to say on the matter. He cracks his neck and goes to walk out of the room, unlocking the door with his wand before stepping out. I grab my cloak and follow behind him. We go down another hallway and I stop, letting my jaw fall open when I see this paticular hallway that my father has turned down. When I came in there were about six death eaters standing around at different areas, now they're all dead and I send a sideways glance at my father. He looks unperturbed and he steps over a dead body like it was nothing as he goes walking further into the building.

"Put the cloak on," he snaps at me as I step behind him, staring down at one of the bodies. "If your going to follow me, put on that damn cloak."

I don't need to be told twice and I put the cloak on while I walked through the sea of dead neo death eaters. I don't even want to ask him if he did all of this because I think I know the answer and I don't want it to be said outloud. A cloaked figure comes towards us from the right and Dad flicks his wand at him, like it was nothing, and the green light hits him right in the chest. I just saw my father actually kill someone like it wasn't a big deal and I watch him slump to the floor as my father keeps walking forward like this was a normal day to randomly kill people.

Holy fuck.

I watch as he takes the small location sphere from his pocket. He looks at it before turning to the right. "Can that tell the exact locations?" I whisper because I thought it just gave a general outline of where a person was. Dad tightens his jaw, but he can't see me because I'm under the cloak so he keeps walking.

"How do you think I found you," he snaps as we reach a lift. When the doors open, my Dad curses the two Death Eaters that were going to step off and he steps inside. I follow and make a disgusted face at the bodies slumped on the floor.

"What are we doing?" I ask as I look at his face. The scars slice across his cheeks and down his neck. I wonder if those will go away if a real healer was to heal him. I hope so. He looks like he was attacked by a demented werewolf.

"Your brother and your sister are both down stairs," he states roughly and I look down. "I want you to find Lavinia. Do whatever you have to and then leave. Go to the beach house, that's still protected. Did you bring the dress?" he asks and I look away anxiously. "Gavin."

"I... It's not together anymore," I say as I remember what happened. "Pansy... I went to talk to her and she put it on and then she kind of..."

"Goddamnit," he snaps angrily as he turns around and puts a hand up to his face. "Why didn't you fucking listen to me? I told you to be very careful with that. There was a plan, Gavin."

"I'm sorry," I state, feeling like a chastised little boy as he shakes his head.

"It doesn't matter." He sighs loudly, trying to control his temper even though I know he's extremely pissed with me. "I'm sorry. You're too young for this." I won't argue even though I want to. He takes out the location sphere again and taps his wand against it as the lift goes further down into the bowels of the building. "Ginevra Molly Malfoy," he whispers. The ball twirls and clouds over. I watch as his face narrows in anger before he tries agian.

"I tried that too," I tell him softly as I take off the cloak so he can see me. "Does that mean that she's dead?" I hate that I had to say that and it hurt my heart.

"No," he says stiffly. "It means I can't bloody find her." He hits the wall of the lift with his hand, making the whole thing vibrate. "Why did I fucking take off her ring. I'm her husband. I'm supposed to protect her. I'm a bloody idiot." What is he talking about? "She was wearing it for over thirty years. You think some of that magic would have imprinted on her by now, right?"

He's talking to himself and he taps the ball again, trying desperately to locate my Mom as the lift dings and the doors slide open.

What's waiting for us on the other side makes my mouth run dry. Dad finally looks up and he stares for a few long moments as well, until the doors start to slide shut and I kick my foot forward to stop it as I stare at my little sister. Evelyn's nose is freely bleeding, running down her lips and onto her clothes... and she's holding a bloody sword.

"Baby," Dad says carefully as he pockets the ball and takes a careful step towards her. What is Evelyn doing here? He looks down at the sword as she stares back at us with wide frightened eyes. Like a traumatized deer or someone who just saw something really bad. I wonder if I have the same look. "What happened? How did you get here?" he asks carefully.

She finally looks him in the eyes. They connect and make her real and I realize that my little sister really is standing alone in this dark fucking hallway with flickering lights holding a bloody sword.

"D-Daddy," she says like a small child and Dad blinks a few times as she inhales deeply. "I'm tired," she admits and she looks fucking tired, but what in the bloody hell is she doing here?

Dad takes another careful step closer to her and puts his hand on hers until she drops the sword so it falls to the ground. Clanking against the cement and echoing down the hallway.

"Sweetheart, what happened?"

"I didn't mean to do it," she whispers with a voice thick with tears. The doors try to shut on us again so I step forward so it doesn't move. "I didn't know. I was confused."

"What's wrong?" Dad asks as he pulls her to him, holding her head against his chest while she cries. I just kind of stand here, a little shell shocked. "Evelyn," he says gently. "What did you do?"

I see her pale hands grasp the back of his bloody shirt as she leans into his chest. She cries for a few moments before he pushes her back and moves hair away from her face before cupping her cheeks.

"Evelyn, tell me what happened."

"I think I hurt her real bad," she says softly as she looks into Dad's eyes.

"Who did you hurt?"

Evelyn's lower lip trembles before she clenches her eyes shut.

"Mom."

What? I hear movement in the background and my head snaps towards it. I widen my eyes when I see a group of people running towards us. "Dad," is all I say as I grab him and pull him back while pressing one of the buttons that will make us go up. Evelyn gets pulled back into the lift as well by Dad and he pushes her to the back. Curses go flying at us and I grab Evie's arm and pull her behind me to protect her more. I feel her grab the back of my shirt like she needed something to hold on to to be real as I lift Cass's wand and fling a few curses while the door slowly shuts.

"Gavin," Dad says seriously as I put my cloak around Evelyn's shaking shoulders. I glance at him. "Take her home," is all he says before he jumps out of the lift where all the fucking crazy people with wands are.

The door shuts all the way and starts moving up as I try to make it stop. He's going to get fucking butchered down there. There had to have been at least twenty people coming towards us. Halfway up, the lift makes a loud moaning noise and the whole thing shakes before stoping all together.

Evelyn pushes my cloak off of her head so I can see her face. She is so pale right now, and there are dark circles under her watery eyes. She looks up at the needle on the lift that tells us where we are... We're stopped somewhere in between the fifth and sixth floor. "What does this mean?" she asks softly as she reaches out and takes my hand.

"It means we're fucked," I state honestly.

The lift moans loudly again before the lights turn off. Evelyn grips at my shirt and presses her self against me. I can practically feel her heart pumping frantically against my chest. Everything is silent, painfully silent, and then lift shakes and the lights flicker...Then it starts falling so fast that it makes Evelyn and I both stumble as it heads straight back down.

"We're definitely fucked," I hear Evelyn whisper as we fall.

I look at her.

I've never heard her cuss before.

Now is a better time than any to start, I guess.