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.

21. Chapter 21

Evelyn

I was a little stunned, to be completely honest. Beatrice/possibly Bella had told me to pack my things because she wanted me to have clothing options that would fit my skinny frame. As I walked to that dull boy room off of Molly Weasley's hallway, I couldn't help but be a little creeped out as she followed behind and eyed my body like I was a piece of meat that she was thinking about buying. When I got into the room, I realized something was very off about the whole thing besides the already alarming obvious.

"Where are Molly and Mr. Potter?" I had asked as she closed the door behind us. I went and opened my trunk because I was trying to be casual about this even though I wanted to freak out and run a way screaming.

"Well," she had said as she smiled and leaned against the door. "I sent them on an errand and I promised to watch after you. Don't worry, they won't bother us."

"Right," I had said flatly as I started to throw my things in my trunk.

All the shirts and dresses that I had hung up the night before were just thrown in without bothering to pull them off their hangers and I kept watching Beatrice out of the corner of my eye as she walked over to the window and pulled the curtain back to look into the yard.

"So..." I had said and she raised a brow but didn't turn. I reached under the bed and pulled on the pillow case that had the sword in it, staying low so she wouldn't notice. "How is it that you look older?" I asked and she finally glanced at me. There were white hairs peppering her temples and wrinkles around her eyes. "If you've been drinking polyjuice potion..." I finish softly, treading in dangerous waters, but wanting so badly to know.

"You did drink my potion," she said with her eyes twinkling as I stayed kneeling behind the bed so she wouldn't see the sword. I really didn't know what I was going to do with it but she had taken my wand and it seemed like a good idea to have a weapon at the time.

"I did," I state with a nod of my head. "So, why have you aged? I thought with polyjuice potion…. I thought you just copied that person perfectly as they were when you took the hair."

She sighed like she thought I was a simple idiot. "When you take that potion as long as I have, you begin imprinting on the person that you're copying. It worked out for me. I didn't imagine I would hold up this ruse for so long, but the fact that my age started to appear has helped me. That way no one was suspicious of me. Although," she started as she turned back the window and caught her reflection in the glass. "I am starting to age faster now. The potion is starting to not work."

I quickly put the sword in the trunk when she wasn't looking and slammed it shut. "I'm done!" I had announced and she looked annoyed by my voice but I didn't care. "So..." I trailed off as I thought of it. "If you're Byron's mother... then that means that Lavinia and Byron are like... closely related, right?" I had said as I worked it out in my mind and I made a face at it. How terrible for Lavinia. "That's really gross. They've done it. Isn't that illegal?"

"That boy isn't mine," she had snapped hatefully and I sighed in relief for my sister's sake. How disgusting would it be to discover you've been dating your cousin... or your father's cousin... Or whatever he would be to us. I crinkled my nose at the thought. How embarrassing. "He was already born before I took over her life. He never changes. All he does is cry and whine," she snapped hatefully like it was an old annoyance that was never solved with her. "But the girls," she said smiling smugly in a weird and uncomfortable kind of way. "They're mine."

"But..." she looked at me and raised a brow as I stood up."But, you're so old." She would have been seeing the better part of seventy if this all was true, and Chloe isn't all that old… and... doesn't she have a baby now?

"I told you already that when you take poly juice potion every day for more than a year, your cells start to fuse together." She really didn't tell me that, but I let it slide as she took out her wand and lifted my trunk with a magic spell. "I was able to have children when I couldn't in my original body and Beatrice and I looked similar enough for no one to question it. I don't even know what I'd look like if I stopped taking it," she had thought that part out loud to herself. "But I'm starting to run my course, I can feel it in my bones," she said and I was curious but I didn't say anything as she put her hand around my wrist to drag me. She paused a second and she felt my arm when we were halfway to the door.

"Have you always been this skinny?" she had hissed at me and I nodded my head.

"Always," I answered honestly and she contemplated me as she looked over my body. Then she started dragging me out of the room again.

I slipped on my rain boots before she pulled me outside where that stupid ward boulder was. It was still drizzling a little bit, and I frowned as I remembered my hat still lying on the bedside table upstairs. I wish I had my hat. She went past the boulder and I held my breath as she Apparated us to some strange abandoned hospital building in the middle of nowhere. I didn't see anyone when we walked in and she pulled me down five flights of stairs into the ground level that was dark and damp and very unattractive.

"What is this place?" I had asked as she pulled me down one of the creepy hallways with my trunk floating behind us. I wasn't exactly scared then… I think it was because I still wasn't quite sure what was happening. Was this one of those weird dreams again? Was this real? It felt weird down there all the same and the air was thick. So thick it hurt my lungs to breathe it in.

"A long time ago this used to be a mental hospital," she confessed to me as we passed by large wooden doors with symbols etched into them. I tried not to stare at the symbols for too long because it made me uncomfortable. "My mother and father sent me here when I was a girl."

"Why?" I asked even though I was fairly certain I had a good idea. She's insane.

"Oh, for something stupid." She bated the question away. "Cissa loved the gift."

The gift. Cissa. I remember that. "You killed her rabbit," I said when I realized that the dream I had where she had killed the bunny and gave the foot to my young grandmother had really happened.

"It was a gift," she said roughly like she had to repeat herself a million times until someone believed it. "No one understood that."

"I understand," I lied just so she would be nice to me. She stopped walking and looked over her shoulder as the lights flickered above us. She gave me a broken smile and I shrunk away from it.

"Of course you do," she said softly. "You and I will be alike soon. Although," she says seriously. "You are younger than I hoped."

I had no idea what that bloody meant, but she didn't answer when I asked. "Why do the doors have things etched into them?" I asked as we turned down a particularly dark and scary looking corridor. "And why is this even here? This seems odd for a hospital."

"You talk a lot," she had commented and my cheeks tinted pink.

"I can't help it," I added with a shrug even though I was starting to become frightened and scared of the situation.

"They did testing down here," she said like it was normal for hospitals to do testing. "They tested the patients with new potions and spells so no one would know. After that was outlawed, we started using it for our own gain. The Dark Lord had many great ideas and the Rookwood family owned this place during the first and second war. You couldn't even imagine some of the things and creatures that have been down here… or that are down here still."

She pulled me into one of the rooms that had a strange wooden door and she shut the door in my face when I turned around to face her. I tried the handle, but the door was locked and I swallowed hard. She had taken my wand even before I got a chance to grab it back at Molly's so I had no way of getting out. She left me alone with my trunk and I was confused. I turned around and crossed my arms because it was really chilly and goosebumps started to rise on my arms and neck. I took a tentative step forward and looked around. The room was bare with a metal slab at the center that looked similar to an operating table I had seen in passing at St. Mungo.'s. There were odd things written on the walls in black ink that I couldn't decipher no matter how hard I tried or how focused my eyes were. I edged around the room trying to figure out where I was, but nothing was helping. The floor was made up of tiny white tiles that were cracked and dirty and they lead my eyes to the drain that was in the middle of the room, right under the weird metal table.

That made me uneasy.

I tried the door a few more times and when I couldn't open it I went to my trunk and I pulled out that sword, carefully removing the pillowcase. I thought it would help. After all, it was the only weapon I had and I had seen what Bellatrix was capable of. I backed myself up against the furthest wall and waited with my legs shaking in my cherry red rain boots. When the door opened again, I had stupidly lifted the sword in defense like it would actually do much good to wield a weapon that weighed more than I did. The person who opened the door wasn't who I was expecting, though. It was Mom, wearing one of her airy pink sun dresses that I had always thought was pretty. She was barefoot and she smiled when she saw me. I let that sword clinker to the ground and I ran over to her, wrapping my arms around her middle with my head against her chest. I was more than glad that she had come to save me like she did when she dueled that Pansy woman on that odd beach.

"Mom," was all I could say as she held me closer to her.

She didn't smell the same, and that was odd. Mom always had a certain fragrance to her that was there from as long as I could remember. She smelled warm, if warm could smell like anything, and she smelled like fresh flowers in the spring time. It always reminded me of home to be near her no matter where we were. But she didn't smell like that when I held her to me. She didn't smell like anything and that made me frown.

"Can we go home now?" I had asked after shaking off those odd thoughts about smells. She was here, that was all that mattered.

"Why do you want to go home?" she had asked against my hair and I furrowed my brows as I pulled back. I didn't know if I was having one of those odd dreams again so I shook my head to wake up until Mom put her hands on my face to still me. She could touch me. She felt real. I couldn't touch anything in the dreams. "Oh, poppet, don't be sad."

Poppet? Mom never called me that. "Beatrice Flint is Bellatrix Lestrange," I had blurted out. She needed to know because she didn't seem to be as concerned with our situation as I was. "Well... I mean, she killed Beatrice Flint a long long time ago and she's been taking a polyjuice potion all this time and she brought me here." I said that all in one breath and I inhaled deeply when I was finished.

"She's family, Evelyn," Mom had said gently as she smiled and squeezed my hand. "And we always help out family."

I blinked a few times. It wasn't what I was expecting to hear from her lips and I shook my head again. "No, you don't understand. She's evil. She's killed people."

"She was only doing what needed to be done, darling. Don't fault her for that."

"But..." I was more than confused. I didn't understand why Mom was acting this way and she smiled at me again as she put my hair over my shoulders. "I don't understand."

"Of course you don't," she said gently. "Now, Bellatrix has made a lot of sacrifices and we must be kind to her."

"So, you knew that Beatrice was actually Bella this whole time?"

She nodded her head.

"I thought you said she was an evil woman," I had stated and Mom tightened her eyes before smiling again.

"I was joking. I think she is wonderful," she snapped at me like she was getting irritated and I frowned. "Now, Evelyn darling, we need to get you ready." she had said as she put her hand on my shoulder and started walking me towards the slab in the center of the room.

"Ready for what?" I asked uncertainly.

"You have a very important job right now, Evelyn," she said and her eyes looked strange, they didn't look right. They didn't shine like Mom's usually did. "You know that the Dark Lord is the most powerful wizard in all of history, right?" she had said and I gave her a look because those words would never pass my mother's lips. It reminded me of something Bella in the mirror would have said to me. "Of course you do," she said as she started undoing the back of my gray dress. Why was she undressing me? "Well, Bellatrix Lestrange was his most faithful servant."

"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked as her fingers worked down the buttons.

"After his resurrection, his new body left a lot to be desired. It was weak and half his power was lost due to his deformation. The Dark Lord was always a handsome man, and that used to work to his advantage, but he didn't come back that way."

"Mom?" I had questioned again as she tugged on the straps at my shoulders and let the dress pool at my feet leaving me in the black shirt and tights I had on underneath. Her touch didn't feel right either. It felt cold and demanding. I didn't like it so I grabbed my dress and took a step away from her.

"Being the great wizard that he was, he was able to develop a new potion and spell that would help him live again, in a more agreeable body."

"You're scaring me," I told her honestly as I put the dress back over my head and started buttoning it up in haste as I backed away from her.

"It's not scary," she had said with a simple smile. "It is a wonderful thing. Bella was able to develop a doppelganger spell," That sounded familiar and I felt sick. "But that was only a half live and the soul could only stay in the fake body for a few days before it withered away, but the Dark Lord, his plans were great."

"Mom..." was all I could get out and my back hit the wall.

"So great," she repeated with a creepy smile. "He found a way to attach himself to a body, not like the first time," she said and I had no idea what that meant. "Not like with Quirelle, that stupid stuttering fool, but something better. Where he could have full control of a body and own it like it was his very own."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"He taught Bellatrix these amazing things. He taught her his secrets on how to live forever as a reward for her wonderful service to him." I kind of felt like crying and I looked down. The sword was to the left of me. She was advancing on me and I flicked a worried glance at her before looking down at it again. "Body jumping, Evelyn, isn't it brilliant? Only a genius like the Dark Lord could think of such a thing and truly have it come to fruition."

"Yeah, sure." I didn't sound convincing, but she wasn't listening to me anyways.

"Potter messed up our plans," she had said and my eyes snapped to hers because she said ours instead of theirs. I furrowed my brows even deeper. "He was able to kill the resurrected Lord before we got a chance to prepare a body with the proper potions. He had destroyed so many parts of the Dark Lord's soul by that time that we needed a totally empty vessel, you see." She pulled two red vials from somewhere in her bra and I gulped. I knew those potions.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she repeated. "And we found the perfect replacement. The Malfoy children always have had such a sympathetic look in the public eye. Just imagine being the heir to all of that and owning the Malfoy vaults."

"Wait, what?" I asked when my attention snapped back to her at the mention of our last name.

"Your father was first chosen, you know. I,,, Bellatrix trained him herself to make sure he had all of the skills to be great when the Dark Lord took over, but Potter ruined that," She snapped. "So we set our sights on someone else."

"Who?" I asked. She no longer sounded anything like my Mother any more.

"I think you know who," she blinked a few times and then smiled. "Your brother, of course. It was perfect, Dr. Bailey had gone out on a limb and he would have been right had other circumstances not gotten in the way."

"Wait, so you're saying that you-know-who wanted to take... over my brother's body?" she nodded her head and I shook my head. "So, when he 'died' that was just to clear him out?" I didn't know you could just clear out a soul, to be honest.

"It was a great idea. Very innovative." She smiled again and I crinkled my nose. "You know, this body was originally set to be for Bella," she said as she backed up and put her hands on the skirt of the dress, swishing it back and forth like a young girl would. "It's too old now, but the Dark Lord thought it would have been kind of ironic to use it. They have a history you know, no matter how minor, and for some reason he thought she was pretty enough. It was disappointing when she had to go into Beatrice Flint and pretend to be something she wasn't but you would never imagine how much she learned. Being quiet and reserved has it's strong points. No one suspects you."

I knew that about her. I knew my Mom had a diary where a boy wrote back to her and eventually tried to kill her.

"Why not just use someone in a coma?" I had asked because that seemed logical.

"Because not many wizards are in coma's and we needed a magical body," she snapped like I was stupid, letting her hands drop from the skirt as she took another step closer. "And we needed someone whose brain was still functioning. Brain dead wouldn't have worked." She smiles. "Don't worry, though. We have found a way to fix it."

"Okay," I said even though I really didn't understand. "Then why am I here?"

"Bellatrix doesn't need a clean vessel and the Dark Lord had to go to a different destination when your brother didn't work out," she said with that demented smile again and I eyed the sword. "She only split her soul two times and they're still intact so she's strong enough to take over a body…. Especially when that body had taken her potions."

I gulped. "What potions?" I asked carefully even though I was pretty sure I knew the answer to that question. It was that disgusting red thing that tasted like peppermint and cinnamon and currently clutched in her pale fingers.

She put her hand up and pressed it against my forehead. I closed my eyes. Then there was a knock on the door and she turned her neck. "What is it?" she snapped and I took her distraction to grab the sword. I was convinced she wasn't my mother. I just knew it in my bones and, after the person on the other side of the door answered in a language I didn't know, she turned back to me with a smile on her face.

"It looks like your father is here. Oh goody..." When she looked back at me, she flicked her cold eyes to the sword I had gripped in my sweaty hands. "What do you think you're-"

I sank the sword right into her stomach with my eyes clenched tightly closed. It sounded disgusting and when I opened my eyes again after a lifetime of keeping them shut, my mother was staring at me with wide eyes. It twisted my insides. What if I was wrong? A little bit of blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth as she coughed.

"Why...?" she said with a labored voice as I grabbed the handle again and pulled it out before she fell to the ground.

She still looked like my mother as she clutched her open wound and I brought my hand up to my mouth, trying to hold in the vomit. I didn't know what I had done. I wasn't sure if that really was my Mom or not and I could feel my eyes stinging as I ran to the door and opened it. What if Mom had been under a curse and that was why she was acting strange? I held that bloody sword, dragging it behind me as it scrapped loudly against the cement floor until I found a lift shinning at the end of a hallway. I ran to it and I pressed the button so it would open for me. I needed to get out of here. I didn't care where. I felt wetness on my lips and I looked down at my dress, only to see more blood. My nose had started bleeding again but I ignored it as I waited. When the doors opened and I saw my Dad, I didn't know if he was real or not either.

"D-Daddy," was all I could manage to get out at first.

I just wanted to go home and curl up in bed. I wanted to wake up from this dream. I thought I was almost there when I was in the lift with Gavin, but that backfired, and now we're heading straight back down to that hell. Could Dad really take down twenty plus men who were all carrying wands?

Yeah, I didn't think so either.

The lift door dings and the doors pop open. I clench my eyes shut again, getting ready to be killed by a rain of curses coming from the hooded figures in black. But none come. I open my eyes as Gavin steps out into the hallway. I frown and wrap myself more in that invisibility cloak like it was a security blanket. There's no one there. The men and Dad are gone and I step out as well and look down. There's the sword I used to hurt Mom. I shake my head when I think about it and grab the back of my brother's shirt again so I'm sure this is real and solid.

"Where did every one go?" I ask as he turns around and presses a button on the lift. It doesn't work and all the lights shut off on the inside, bathing us in darkness with the flickering hallway lights.

I hate those stupid flickering lights.

"I have no idea, but I need to get you home," he says gently as he looks at me. I must look strange, just a floating head in the middle of the hallway, but he doesn't seem weirded out by it. "Come on," he says as he puts the hood up and tucks my hair behind my ears until they're hidden as well. I can't even begin to imagine how terrible my hair looks right now. "Follow me. Let's find a way out of here."

I hesitate a second and then I pick up the sword. I know I'm scared of it, but again, it's the only weapon that I have. I tuck it under the cloak and then I scurry to keep up with my older brother who is looking quite fierce and angry at the moment. I choose not to talk to him and he must feel the same because neither of us speak a word as we got barreling blinding down the dark, dimly lit hallways with the strange doors and the musty smells. On top of it all, I have a bad feeling about my father. Where did he go? There were so many men with their wands facing him down when we the lift started moving up. Did they get him and bring him somewhere? Was he okay?

"We've been expecting you, Gavin." We both stop in our tracks at that voice and we spin around. Coming up behind us is a tall man with a goatee and dark hair peppered with gray. He smiles at my brother and Gavin takes a step forward, nearly stepping on my foot.

"Get behind me," he whispers quietly and I follow his order to get out from in-between the two of them. "Theo," he greets with his eyebrows raised as the man named Theo takes out his wand and rolls it gently between his fingers. "This is a lovely place you've got."

"Did you bring the dress?" Theo doesn't bother feel the need to snark back at my brother. He gets right to business. "We've been waiting all day for you."

Dress? That's odd. I wonder if it was Bella's dress that I had. That's the only important dress I could think of. "I didn't bring it," Gavin answers and Theo shakes his head in annoyance. "In fact, it's destroyed."

"What?" Theo snaps in a deadly calm voice. He wasn't pleased by that. Not pleased at all.

"Pansy is dead too, if you cared to know," he adds and I furrow my brows as Theo cracks his neck.

Who's Pansy again? That name kind of sounds familiar.

"I'm not happy with that," Theo says darkly. "I am not happy at all."

"Ask me if I care." My brother's jerky attitude comes out as he tilts his chin up and squares his shoulder. I look down at his hand. His knuckles are white around the wand he's holding.

"But do you care about your new baby, I wonder," Theo asks casually as he takes a step closer to my big brother. "We have people everywhere, Malfoy," he says, changing it up to his surname in an attempt to distance himself. "Always watching and always waiting to strike. So, please refrain from pissing me off. If I were you I would definitely fucking care."

"I don't," my brother says simply and like lightening he lifts his wand and blasts a curse at Theo's chest. I gasp and cover my mouth as he goes flying down the hallway and lands with a sick thud on the floor.

"What did you do?" I whisper as Gavin tightens his jaw. "Did you kill him?"

Gavin turns around. "Where are you?" he asks as he holds out his hand. I place mine in his and he pulls me towards one of those weird wooden doors. "He's not dead yet," he says as he opens the door and turns on the lights. Inside is a strange white room with white metal beds lined up against the walls. They're covered in dingy white sheets and hanging lamps with silver shades hang from the high ceilings. It reminds me of the infirmary at Hogwarts. "Stay in here," is all he says before shutting the door. I place my ear against it as soon as it closes to hear what's happening on the other side.

"Get up," I hear my Gavin say hatefully. Very hatefully. He sounds like Dad on one of his bad days. "I've got a score to settle with you."

The Theo man grunts. I hear an odd noise behind me and I turn around quickly, letting the hood fall back as I glance around me. It looks like there are things under the sheets and I frown as I try to make out what's outlined underneath the covers. Nothing happens so I shake it off and turn my head back to the door. What's happening on the other side of this door is much more interesting than what is happening in here. I press my ear against the door once more and put my hands flat against the wood.

"You think that hurts me?" I hear Theo say with a laugh in his voice. Even though he sounds winded and strained. "You have no idea what pain is, boy, but I'm going to make sure you find out." Something happens and he groans.

I hear another odd sound, like a groan coming from behind me, so I turn around quickly again. Nothing happens. I pause a moment and wait for something to happen, but when nothing does, I face the door again to listen to my brother.

"I'm going to kill your girlfriend for that one, Malfoy," I hear Theo say in pained voice. "You just wait."

"I would like to see you try," Gavin says cruelly.

Another noise happens. This time it sounds like bed springs creaking and I spin around so I can see it happen. There's nothing and I frown before walking further into the room to investigate. The cots are strange and the closer that I get I realize that it looks like there are people lying under the sheets. It gives me a very uncomfortable feeling and my brain is telling me to run away, but I'm just too curious now. When I reach one of the cots, I put my hand out to pull one of the sheets back, but the door opens and I jump. I turn around quickly to face my brother as he steps inside and closes the door behind him. He has a bloodied lip and his eyes look darker than usual.

"Are you okay?" I ask as I walk towards him, forgetting about the lump under the sheet as he touches the corner of his mouth and winces.

"I'm fantastic," he says even though he sounds anything but fantastic.

"Is that guy..." I trail off as I look at the door. "Is that guy still..."

"You don't have to worry about it," he says flatly and I shiver.

"Oh..." I feel uneasy and the lights flicker again, like it knew I was feeling uncomfortable with the room and decided to capitalize on my emotions. We both look up at the ceiling at the hanging lamps. It happens again before they hiss and turn off all the way, leaving us in total darkness. I can't even see anything outlined in front of me. "Turn on the lights." I whisper because I hate being in the dark in this room. It feels unsafe. I feel in front of me, hoping to hold onto something. "Gavin, turn on the light!"

"Hold on a second," he replies irritably. "I have Cass' wand... it doesn't work well for me," he answers and then I feel him grab my hand. I'm thankful for the contact and I squeeze his hand back. "There has to be another light switch or something in here. If I can find it I can magic it back on." I hear him say.

He starts gripping my hand tighter and it hurts so I wiggle my fingers so he'll stop. He doesn't, he just keeps on crushing my fingers together and I frown.

"Gavin, stop holding my hand so tight," I whisper as the blackness covers my eyes. "It hurts."

There's a long pause before my brother answers. "Evelyn," he says carefully, like he wanted to be gentle so he wouldn't upset me. "Don't panic."

"What?" I snap back. He's going to break my fingers if he doesn't let up. "What are you talking about?" Can he not figure out how to turn the lights back on or something? "Stop holding my hand so tight," I scold again. "It really hurts."

"Evelyn," he repeats worriedly. "I'm not holding your hand."

What?

The lights from the lamps above turn on again and I see him standing on the other side of the room by the door. My heart freezes in my chest as he looks at the thing beside me with his eyes wide and frightened. Gavin is frightened, that's not a good sign. I slowly turn my head to see what's holding my hand in a death grip and I actually scream out loud at the sight. It looks like a dead man, with a bluish pale skin and rotted flesh. There are open red sores covering its body and its teeth are nearly black…. And it's holding my hand!

"Help me!" I scream loudly as the thing turns slowly and looks down at me. Black eyes. I scream out loud once more. "Gavin! Get it away from me!"

"Okay," he says, like was trying to work out in his head what he needed to do.

He lifts his wand and curses the thing beside me. The arm gets torn off and congealed blood mists across my face. Oh, disgusting! It finally lets go of me as the arm falls to the ground with a sick thump against the floor. I stand in horror at what just happened, but the thing doesn't die. It snaps its head to Gavin and makes a growling sound before stalking towards my brother.

"We need to run!" I yell as I turn around and see all the occupants of the other beds are sitting up and the sheets fall down to revel the sickly looking creatures. How can Inferi be in this room? I thought they were only in books and plays! Not in real life! "Gavin!" I scream as they all get up and start walking towards us. Gavin is too busy trying to curse the one armed zombie to care about me and I start backing up with that sword gripped in my hands. "Open the door, Gavin!"

"Give me that sword," Gavin snaps as he blasts another curse at the inferi . He takes advantage of the distraction to run over to me. I feel like I may have a panic attack as the things get closer and closer to me and I imagine if I get out of this it's going to be hard to ever have a good night's sleep ever again. He pulls the sword out of my hand and pushes me further behind him. "I'm sick of running," he says gently. "Things just end up chasing you if you run from them."

"They don't run," I state from over his shoulder as they approach, looking like sick imitation puppets on strings. "They just walk really really fast."

Gavin puts his hand behind his back to push me again, shielding me more.

"Close your eyes."

"Why do you want me to—Oh!" When he cuts off the head of the one armed zombie, I shut my mouth and cover my eyes with my hands. I slide down the wall into the sitting position with my knees drawn up to my chest because I don't want to see this and I trust my older brother to make this okay.

He has to make this okay.

I hear him breathing heavily and moving around. I hear thumps and slams and skids of metal furniture against the wooden floor. I hear Gavin cuss and say hateful things with labored breaths as his footsteps move him across the room until there is only silence. It feels like forever I've been sitting here, but I will not open my eyes. I refuse. If I can't see them, they can't see me. That's my new philosophy.

"Evelyn," he whispers after a few moments. I clench my eyes tighter when I feel hands on my wrists. "It's okay. You can open your eyes now."

I blink a few times before focusing on him. There's a fire in his eyes that I've never seen before and I glance over his shoulder at the stack of dead inferi all missing their heads. "They won't come back, right?" I ask as I try to keep myself from throwing up. That's an all too common occurrence today. He takes his sleeve and pulls it over his hand so he can run it over my face. I imagine he's getting rid of the dead blood that's thick and almost black and all over my skin. I need to take a long soapy shower after this.

"I hope not," he says. "How did you get a bloody nose?" he asks as he runs his sleeve over my lips and chin. "Did someone hit you?" I shake my head and refuse to elaborate further, so he takes my hand and pulls me up. He's still holding onto the bloody sword I used to hurt Mom. That's getting a lot of use today. "Let's get out of here," he says as he pushes his sleeves up to his elbows and opens the door to the dark hallway. "We need to find a stairway or something. Do you know your way around here?" he asks and I shake my head vigorously. He takes my hand and starts pulling me down the hallway.

"I don't know anything," I say honestly.

"You've seen Mom?" he says and I nod my head. "When you sad you hurt Mom..." he trails off. "What did you mean by that?"

"I don't know," I state seriously as my lower lip trembles at the memory. "I'm confused."

"Don't worry," he says gently. "I'll get you out of here in one piece."

"That's reassuring." I enjoy having all of my pieces.

We turn down another hallway and Gavin lifts our brother's wand at a hooded death eater who does the same. All of us come to a dead halt as the person on the other side of the hallway slowly lowers their wand. Gavin tilts his head to the side from the movement as the Death Eater pulls their hood down to reveal a face. It's a girl, a pretty girl with chestnut hair and green eyes.

"Gavin?" She says with a tilt of her eyebrows.

My brother's expression doesn't change, he just stares unblinkingly back. His wand is still pointed at her chest. "Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you."

She tightens her jaw and puts her hands up in surrender. "I'm helping. That's a good enough reason."

"Not good enough for me," he says seriously.

"Check my back pocket," she says and he furrows his brows. "Here," she says as she holds out her wand and gently places it on the ground with my brother's keen eyes on her. She kicks it to him and I pick it up. "Now..." she goes to reach into the back pocket of her jeans but Gavin stops her.

"I'll do it," he says as he walks over to her, his wand still ready as he keeps his eyes on her as he puts the sword under his arm. "I've had one too many surprises to just let you put your hands down," he says as he reaches behind her and pulls out a leather wallet looking thing from her back pocket. "What is this?" he asks as he backs up to me again as he eyes the brown leather wallet.

"Open it," she says and he sends her a suspicious look before flipping it open with one hand. "That's my Auror ID," she says and I blink a few times as I crane my neck to see it. I've never seen an Auror ID before so I wouldn't know what to compare it to. It had a picture of this girl, with her name in gold letters, and the backdrop was a dark plum color. Her name's Daniella and I look back to her trying to remember if I know her or not. "There's going to be a raid here within the next five hours," she says seriously.

"Within the next five hours?" Gavin states flatly. "Do you realize how much could happen in the next five hours?"

"Listen," she says as she sends a sideways glance to me. I realize my hood is still down and I'm just a floating head because of Gavin's cloak, but I don't care right now. "You've got to get out of here." She flicks a glance at me again. "How did she get here?"

Gavin gives me a look as well. "How did you get here, Evelyn?" he asks softly, not once wavering his wand hand so it's still pointed at the other girl.

"Beatrice Potter brought me," I tell him seriously, not wanting to go into details on who she was and what she had done just at the moment.

"Gavin, you have to let me through. There are things upstairs that I have to get out of here before they use them.

"The necklace and earring thing?" he asks and she nods her head. He pockets her ID and she looks confused.

"I also know where your mother is," she says as she pulls a necklace out from under her shirt to reveal a gold key. "I need to let her out."

"You know where my mother is?" Gavin says, his interest peaked. "Where is she?"

"You need to get out of here," she repeats.

The lights turn off yet again and it makes my heart race because I hate the darkness and what it brings. I listen to myself breathing heavily for a few seconds and then suddenly a loud blaring alarm sounds. Red lights from the ceilings start flashing, blinking on and off, making everything red one moment and totally black the next. "What is that?" I yell over the noise as I cover my ears.

Water starts to blast from the ceiling, floor, and walls, drenching us all.

At least I have my rain boots on.

It's always good to stay optimistic.

"The fire alarm!" That Daniella woman calls over the loud alarm. "Gavin, get her out of here," she says as she spits out water from her mouth. "The stairs are down this hallway and to the right. Get out and run like hell!" she calls.

"Are you lying to me?" Gavin asks seriously, like he really wasn't sure of the answer. "Don't fucking lie to me, Dani." He says as he wipes his hair away from his face. The water makes his already thick hair even heavier and it falls into his eyes.

Someone's hand slides over my mouth and I widen my eyes as I struggle to get away. I try to scream, but I can't as I get pulled back. Gavin and Daniella are too busy fighting with each other to notice and I kick my legs and wiggle my arms as I try to get away. The cloak falls off and lands on the ground, officially making me visible. I bite the hand and pull it down as the man behind me cusses and throws me over his shoulder.

"Gavin! Gavin!" I scream and both their heads snap to mine as I try to get away from the person holding me tight and running away with me.

Everything is bathed in red light, and then it turns pitch back. Red and then black. I see Gavin's panicked face and then nothing at all as the alarm makes my ears ring. Water gets in my eyes and I hold out my hands towards my brother as the red alarm lights flashes and makes everything look demented. I wish I wasn't so skinny so I could make this hard. "Gavin, help me!" The man holding me runs further down another hallway and I start scratching and hitting at his back. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go, you brute! You're hurting me!"

"Evelyn!" my brother yells as he takes off after me, but I get pulled into a room and the door gets slammed shut before he can save me.

Lavinia

I screamed.

I didn't expect Byron to lift his wand and perform an Unforgivable. Granted, he was doing a lot of things that I never thought he'd do today, but seeing him put the cruciatus curse on Conrad really sealed the deal for me. I was afraid of him, and a part of me hated him for making me believe he was something different.

"Stop it!" I yell as Conrad convulses on the floor, making terrible painful noises that make my eyes water. "You're hurting him. Stop it, Byron!"

"Why should I?" he asks calmly as the light from his wand illuminates his face in a sick red light. "Nothing stopped him."

I don't know what that means, but I'm not in the mood to find out. "What is wrong with you?" I snap as I lift my wand and shoot a curse at his arm to make him stop. His wand flies out of his hand clatters against the wall as he hisses in pain. Serves him right.

I keep my eyes on him as he lifts his sleeve to see the damage done with my curse. I pick up his wand and put it in the pocket of my dress right along with my mood manipulator that stopped working right when Byron decided to freaking torture someone. I edge closer to Conrad as I glare at him.

"Lavinia, why are you looking at me like that?" he asks worriedly as I bend to my knees to see if Conrad is okay. He's still breathing, but he's unconscious.

"Just go away!" I yell at him because I can't think of anything else to say and when he takes a step closer to me, I raise my wand and point it right at his chest. "Get away from me," I say with venom in my voice and it must sting because he takes a few steps back and blinks a few times in rapid succession.

"What's going on with you?" he asks carefully as I put my hand on Conrad's head. He's heating up, of course. His body is in shock. "Did he make you drink a potion again? Did he curse you?"

"No one did anything to me but you, Byron Flint," I hiss as I remember the pain on my face from earlier, when he hit me.

I can't believe he actually hit me.

"What are you talking about?" he asks and I narrow my eyes at Conrad's chest.

"Just get away from me. You used an Unforgivable… that's unforgivable!"

"I'm not going to leave you here with him."

"I don't want you here," I tell him as I stand up and face him with my hands on my hips. It was an angry pose that I couldn't help but contort my body into it. "I hate you too," I tell him scornfully because it had hurt so badly when he said it to me earlier and I wanted him to be in pain. He blinks a few times, like it was taking a moment for him to process my words, and then he shakes his head like he was sure he possibly couldn't have heard me right.

"You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do. You're pointless, Byron, and I hate you." I look him up and down in a cruel way so he knows what I'm doing. I notice the Death eater outfit and the mask he put on the ground. "Why are you here anyways? With Eva I suppose."

"No, that's not why I'm here," he stats softly, like his feelings were badly hurt and I'm glad for it. "So that's it, then? You want to be Lavinia Foxworth, having sex potions slipped into your drink every night?" he snaps because he was getting angry and my eyes flamed.

"It's better than being Lavinia Flint!" I yell back. I really didn't mean that. Neither was a good option right now but I just wanted to keep hurting him.

"Don't say that. I just came here to help you."

He didn't say anything else and that pissed me off so I shook my head. "Liar." I didn't know if he was lying or not but I was too upset that he hit me to care. "I bet you are here with Eva. She isn't as fat as I am," I repeat his harsh words from before and his eyebrows shot up.

"What are you talking about?"

"That's what you think, isn't it?" I snap and he takes another step closer and shakes his head. I raise my wand at his chest again. I don't want him any closer. He's a woman beating criminal.

"I don't know what this is about," he replies. "I don't know what this is. I never said that, or thought that. You know that I love your body." he turns his head to the side. "Why are you looking at me that way? Please, tell me. I honestly don't know why it is. I've been locked up here since last night, Lavinia. Whatever you think I did... I don't think I did it. I shouldn't' have used that curse on him, you were right," he says, talking fast and desperately as he looks at Conrad. "I was just so mad," he whispers and I narrow my eyes.

"If you've been locked up, how did you get out?" I ask suspiciously. I hate it when people lie to me and I couldn't figure out if that was what he was doing. A part of me, a small desperate part of me that loved him more than anything, wanted to jump up and accept those words right away, but I needed to be careful. I didn't want to end up like my Mom and just accept the situation until I couldn't remember why I was angry in the first place.

"My uncle had taken my clothes," he says softly, like wasn't sure if I would believe him or not. "When he came to return them, I overpowered him and got out. I helped your brother get out too."

"Cassius." It wasn't a question but he nods anyways and I let my wand slowly go down.

"I swear to you, Lavinia. I am not lying," he says as he places his hand on his chest.

I stare into his eyes for a few moments. He looks so sincere and this is the Byron that I know... it wasn't the dead eyes of the Byron that attacked me in the alley. I hear footsteps coming down the hallway and my neck snaps towards the noise. I can only imagine that it's more of those stupid death eaters that have been crawling around here. They've been reporting back to Conrad on finding 'him'. I don't know who they're talking about, but I know that's them. They were going to come here and see Conrad on the floor and then they would see Byron...

"Help me," I tell him as I open the door to that weird potions room I had been in before to heal Conrad's neck. I grab Conrad's limp wrists and start to pull him into the room. "Grab his legs," I order as I start to drag him.

We hefted him onto the bed once inside and I made Byron hide underneath it because I wasn't about to let those men kill him. There was just one medical bed in the center of the room and shelves lined every wall which were full of dusty bottled potions and off looking medical instruments. There weren't many other options for good hiding places and I told him so when he gave me a sour face and tried to resist me as I pushed him under. Two seconds later a group of men stormed into the room and I felt my heart jump.

"We know an unforgivable happened in this hallway," one of the men says as he takes off his mask. I send a worried look to the passed out Conrad on the bed before turning back to the men.

"Yes?" I say and it sounded weird on my tongue but I pushed myself to keep going. I couldn't be shy and withdrawn right now. I had to take control and get them away from here. "What about it?" They look at Conrad too, so I step in front of him and try to look annoyed. "He cursed Byron Flint. Flint ran away and now he's tired because the potion I gave him to heal his neck made him really drowsy. If you try to wake him up, the potion will fail and then he'll die because his neck will start bleeding again and he has already lost so much blood!" I can't believe my voice has gotten so loud around these scary men I don't know how I did it and I can feel my cheeks heat up, but I keep pushing myself. "The fact that you lot are even in here is harming his health. So go do something more important, like catching Byron Flint, now would you!" I walk them back until all are in the hallway. "He's not going to be pleased with you!" I yell before I slam the door.

I lock it.

When I turn around again, Byron is standing by the bed staring at me with those cool blue eyes of his. "I didn't have to hide," he says and I roll my eyes. "I could have taken them."

"Of course." I state with a flat voice, not impressed by that stupid Gryffindor bravery at all. Sometimes it's better to lie than to be noble all the damn time. "Nothing works better against a hoard of armed murderers than male pride."

We were quiet for a few moments because I didn't know what to say to him. The Byron that hit me seemed different and strange... Byron did say that his uncle had taken his clothes and he feels like Byron now as opposed to before. What if it was his uncle that hit me?

"Byron?" I ask my voice soft as I look down at his chest. I don't know why it was harder for me to face him when I wasn't sure if he had done it or not. "Does your uncle wear a ring?"I ask as I bring a hand up to my cheek where the cut had been.

"I don't know," he says seriously. "Why?"

"Byron, you came to me earlier today," I tell him seriously so he knows. Just in case it wasn't him. I want that so badly. "You came to my dorm and you hit me really hard in the face." His eyebrows furrow. "It hurt really badly and you told me that you hated me and that you wanted to be with Eva." In so many words, of course. "I believed you."

"Why would you believe that?" he says as he walks around the bed to get closer to me. "I love you. I would never do anything like that to you."

"I thought you might have been drinking," I tell him as I look at him from the corner of my eyes. We both know what he turns into when he gets drunk.

"It wasn't me," he says with a head shake and when he's close enough, he touches my back. "I would never do that."

I stare at him for a few quiet moments. His eyes looked earnest enough and my eyes flutter shut when he bends down and places a soft kiss against my cheek, healing the spot better with that than anything Conrad could do with his potions or wand. I believe him and I told him so right away. I felt his body relax.

"Right," I say after a few quiet moments. I look back at Conrad's unconscious form on the bed. I lick my dry lips nervously. "How could you use that curse?" I finally ask as I send a look up to Bryon.

"What?"

"That curse," I say nodding to Conrad. "How could you use it?" He doesn't say anything and I shake my head. "You shouldn't have. I don't want to be with someone who can do that curse."

"You don't think he deserved it?" He asks with a tight voice, like he was trying to hold himself back from saying other things.

"I don't think anyone deserves that," I say honestly as I remember the way he screamed. "It's an unforgivable for a reason."

Byron stares at me for a few moments. "You're right," he says as he turns away and runs a hand through his black hair. I suspect he doesn't actually think I'm right. "I just hate him," he spits out as he looks down at him. "I'm angry," he states and I believe it. "And he's used the curse on me before. He needed to know how it felt."

I turn away and nod my head, accepting his answer.

"What do we do with him?" I ask and Byron sighs. He's standing so close to me that it ruffles my hair.

"Leave him, I guess." I bite my lip as Byron's hand runs up and down my back. "Can I ask you something?" He says softly and I nod my head. "Why are you here?"

"I came here with my brother," I say seriously and Byron tilts his perfect lips down. "Gavin," I specify. "He knew that Cassius and my Mom were here. I saw Conrad," I say as I flick a glance to the unconscious man on the bed. "I thought he would help me find them."

"He's not going to do anything for you," he says flatly and I shiver because of the coldness in his voice. "Let's get out of here. I'm going to take you home."

"Wait... what about my brothers and my mom?" I ask as I pocket my wand. I remembered that I placed Byron's in my dress pocket as well but I dismissed it, figuring I'd give it to him later.

"Daniella is helping Cassius... I think they'll be fine."

"No, we need to help."

"Lavinia," he snaps as he runs a hand through his messy hair. "I can't think straight if I know you're here. I need to get you some where safe."

"I'm not a damsel in distress," I tell him hatefully. "Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean you need to look after me like I was a little girl who didn't know anything." Being around Conrad makes me very defensive about my gender apparently.

"I know," he says as he brings hand up to his temple like I was making his head hurt. "I know, but I just want you safe. Not because you're a woman," he says slowly like I was stupid. "But because I just would feel better if the woman I loved wasn't under threat of being killed."

I stare at him long and hard. There is still a seed of doubt in my head. I can't help it. "Do you really fantasize about raping me?"

"Lavinia." He snaps like I had said something offensive. "What are you talking about?"

I think about what Conrad had told me…. about Byron wanting to tie me up and cut me… about him wanting to kill someone. Why am I letting that get to me? I guess the whole thing in the alley made me wake up a bit and even if it wasn't my Byron… I still see him in a different light. The curse, what he does when he's drunk, and the whole rape fantasy aren't exactly making him very lovable.

"When you think about me," I start softly. "Do you think about forcing yourself on me?"

"Where is this coming from?"

"Just answer the question. Is that your fantasy? To tie me up and cut me with a knife?"

"A knife?" he says in disgust. "That's not my fantasy," he says harshly. "That's his." He points to Conrad and I follow his finger until it's resting on the man on the bed. I must look confused, because Byron starts talking again. "He showed it to me the second time he put the cruciatus curse on me." He makes a sneering face and I turn away from Conrad again. "God," he snaps as he runs more angry fingers through his hair like he was stressed. It's standing up every which way from it. "You need to start trusting me Lavinia," he says heatedly as he lets his hands drop. "This is never going to work if you don't start trusting me. You know me better than anyone. It's never my intention to hurt you or cause you pain. You have to start believing that."

I feel tears stinging in my eyes because I feel stupid and he lets that hateful look on his face fall and he shakes his head. "No," he says as he takes a step closer to me. "No, don't cry."

"I'm okay," I tell him as I put my hand up so he won't come any closer as I run my fingers under my eyes to get rid of the tears that are starting to fall. "You're right. I'm sorry." I cover my eyes with my hand. "It's just… someone is always lying to me. I never know what to believe."

All pretenses gone, I feel very alone right now and Byron takes another step closer. He holds out his hand. "Come here—"

Before his fingers brush mine, a jet of green light streams from behind me and it hits Byron right in the chest.

That's the sickening green light of a killing curse.

My eyes widen as he gets blasted backwards and I blink a few times with a dry throat before snapping my neck to the source. Conrad is sitting up from the bed with a fierce look on his face and Byron's wand in his hand. I look down at my pocket. He snatched it from me. "What have you done?" I whisper because I can't even process this. Byron's body slumps to the floor and I blink a few times before running towards him.

"He cruicio'd me. What did you expect?" Conrad says haughtily as he studies Byron's black wand. I stare at Byron for a few moments before bending down. It was a green light... he couldn't have just… he didn't just do that.

"Did you kill him?" I ask with a shaky voice. His eyes are closed and I can't bring myself to touch him. I don't want that to be a reality and I'm a coward.

"You sound surprised," Conrad says with a thick voice as he dusts something off of his shirt. "Do you have any idea how badly it hurts to be crucio'd. I could feel the madness coming. He wouldn't have stopped if you hadn't been here," he says dismissively. I bring my hands up to my mouth and blink back a few more tears. This honestly can't be happening.

"He could have killed you," I say seriously. Through my hands it sounds muffled but I hope he can hear how hateful I sound "He could have, but he didn't."

"Only because you stopped him," he says, but I'm not looking at him. I bring a shy hand out to touch Byron's arm. I was expecting him to feel different, but he still felt warm. I shake my head. "You didn't get a chance to stop me. He wanted to kill me, Lavinia," he says smugly. "You don't have to read his mind to know that."

"Oh, my god," I say as the weight of his action sinks into me. "No. No. No. No. Take it back." I snap as I grab Byron's face and try to tilt his chin up. It's like dead weight in my heads and I let painful tears slip from my eyes. "No. Wake up. Take it back!"

"You can't take that back," Conrad says flatly and I look over my shoulder, glaring at him so harshly that I hope it cuts his soul.

"Fix this," I tell him harshly and he just stares at me with cold green eyes. I stand up and face him with my hands clenched into fists. "You fix this and make him better!"

"I can't, Lavinia, stop being silly." Silly! "He's dead. Get over it. Why do you care?" he asks and I bring another hand up to my forehead because it hurts. "He hit you, remember?"

"He didn't hit me," I hiss as I try to look at everywhere but where Byron is laying. "That was a lie. Someone took on his appearance and did it." I feel my lower lip tremble. "How could you do this! I love him!" I scream and Conrad lifts an eyebrow like my outburst was unexpected and entirely not welcome. I hate the calm way he's looking at me. He should be as upset as I am. He just... I can't even think the words.

"Do you want to see what was in his pocket?" he asks as he reaches into his healer pants and pull out something small and silver. "Oden found it, of course," he says as he tilts his hand to show me a simple silver ring with etchings around the band. "Do you know what this is?"

I don't answer. I just shake my head and cover my face with both hands, trying not to break down.

"It's a wedding band," he says. I don't uncover my face. "A very old fashioned one. Antique really. Byron found it when he was in Rome, helping your brother out on a dig two years ago," he says and I shake my head again because I can't freaking talk. "Do you know what he was going to do with this?"

"No…" I say weakly. I don't know what I'm saying no to. I uncover my eyes and look at Byron.

Still dead.

"Can you believe he was actually going to ask you to marry him with this thing," he says and my eyes finally focus and snap to him. "This belonged to some long dead woman and he was just going to give it to you as a sign of love." He makes a disbelieving noise. "He is seriously messed up. There aren't even any diamonds on this. You're one of the richest girls in the country, diamonds are a must."

I continue to stare at him.

He smiles.

He throws the ring in the air and catches it in his palm as he stands from the bed. "I would never even think to give you a hand me down wedding ring I found in the dirt," he says with a cruel laugh. "Jeez, he was really something, wasn't he?" Is he intentionally trying to hurt me right now? Because that's what it feels like. "No, I'm not trying to hurt you," he says and I'm even surprised that he did anymore. He doesn't respect people's personal boundaries. "I'm just trying to make you see why it would have never worked."

He looks at the ring again. So do I.

"He kept this long before you two were together," he says conversationally like he didn't just kill the only man I had ever loved. "When he still wrote about Selene," He says and I remember his journal. Where is his journal now? "That wasn't very clever, was it? He was just afraid your brother was going to pick up that old book of his and see how hard he got thinking about his best friend's little sister."

"Shut up." I whisper. It doesn't sound too convincing.

"He's been carrying this around for months now," he says as he holds it up to the light. "Wouldn't you have been disappointed if he asked you to marry him using this little bit of tin."

"Shut up."

"I'm not finished talking," he says flatly, staring right at me as I stand up.

"Shut up." I repeat as I grab a potion bottle off one of the shelves and throw it at him.

He dodges it.

I pick up another and throw it, and another and another and another and another and another and another and another until the room is full of sparks from the mixing potions and Conrad finally changes his appearance to one of more urgency.

"Stop it," he snaps as I pick up more and throw them until a small fire starts after a red potion bottle lands on the bed in the middle of the room. "You're going to burn the whole place down."

"I don't care," I say flatly as tears flow down my face and I keep on throwing more and more potions into the fire until it cracks and hisses and grows into something frightening. Conrad points Byron's stolen wand at me but I don't care.

"Stop it!" he snaps again. When I don't obey, he makes a frustrated noise and runs over to me, grabbing my wrist as the smoke clouds the room. "Stop feeding it. That's fiend fire and there's no bloody way to put it out."

"You killed him," I say again and I snap my hand back when he tries to pull me out of the room.

"Come on," he says hatefully. "You're going to die from the smoke before the flames even get to you."

"I don't care!" I yell as yank myself away from him. His grip is painful and he's not letting up. He is stronger than me and he starts dragging me towards the door against my will. "I'd rather die than be with you, you murderer!"

"Shut the fuck up and stop being so bloody dramatic," he snaps hatefully as he opens the door. Smoke comes billowing out with us and I look at Byron's body on the floor beside us. I won't leave him in here to get eaten by the fire.

"Let me go!"

"Shut your fucking mouth," he gives me another variation on being quiet, but I refuse. I hate him more than I hate anything in the world and as he's dragging me out I pull out my forgotten wand and point it at his chest. He pauses a second as I stare at him with deadly eyes.

"Let go of my arm," I tell him in a deadly whisper as the heat burns my back. "Or I will kill you."

He smirks. "You don't have it in you."

"I do right now."

I mean it. I really do.

The fire is getting closer and he looks at it one more time before sending me a hateful look. "If you survive this," he snaps as he lets go of my arm. "I'm going to make your life a living hell."

"You already have," I tell him as he spins on his heels to run down the hallway.

I look towards Byron's body once more. I can't leave him in here. I'm starting to sweat from the fire that's starting to climb its way up the far wall and I grab Byron's arm's to pull him out of the room. He's really heavy and I'm crying, so it's taking all my energy to keep moving. When I finally get to where the air is sufficiently cooler, I slump against the wall and pull his head to my lap. I can't carry him anymore and I don't have the energy to do any magic. I resign myself to my fate as I stare at the flames flicking their way around the room, ready to reach the hallway. I run my fingers through Byron's hair, noticing a streak of white at his right temple. The curse literally took the color out of some of his hair. I close my eyes as the potion bottles inside burst and turn the fire different colors of purples, gold's, and greens. It's almost like a fireworks display. A fireworks display that's going to kill me, that is.

I take a deep breath and keep my eyes shut as the hallway lights go out and a red light starts flashing. A loud alarm starts wailing as water starts pouring from the ceiling, floor, and walls, soaking me and everything around me, but failing to kill the cursed fire. I lean my head against the wall behind me as I put my hand on Byron's chest. I hope my family gets out before the fiend fire eats up this whole building. I look down at Byron as the fire alarm starts blaring louder and the hallway flashes red. He does look like he's sleeping and I bend down and kiss his forehead as I wipe wet hair away from his handsome face. He really is too handsome for his own good.

I sigh and look around the hallway again, there's a little flash of silver that catches the red light every time it flashes and I tilt my head. It's that ring that Conrad had. He must have dropped it in his haste to leave the room. By the way, that was really sweet how quickly he left me, wasn't it? A real gentleman, that Conrad. I shake my head because I do not want to think about that guy right before I die, so I reach my right arm out and lean down until I reach it.

I pull back up into the sitting position and study the ring every time the red light comes back. It is a simple little ring, Conrad was right about that, but I think it's perfect. I slip it on my ring finger and hold out my hand as the smoke starts to envelope the ceiling. It fits perfectly. I put my left hand back against Byron's chest and I look at the ring as the alarm gets even louder. I wince and look up at the red flashing lights. Maybe I can muster enough magic to kill those things because it really is hurting my ears. Suddenly, I feel something against my left hand and I furrow my eyebrows as I look down at his chest once more. Did I just feel something? I unbutton the first few buttons of his shirt as the fire reaches the hallway and I put my hand on the bare skin of his chest.

"Holy fuck, that's a heartbeat." I state out loud even though no one can hear me and I jump up with my wand in my hand.

Maybe it wasn't his heart beat, he might have just breathed in deeply, but he did move. Now that I'm not so fuddled and depressed, I've been snapped into action and I try to think of a million different things to do to get us out of this situation. A clean air spell only works for a couple of minutes before dying out, but I put one around me and Byron anyways. My lungs feel a million times better and I didn't even realize how much smoke I was breathing in.

"Okay," I say with new hope as I point my wand at Byron's chest so I can lift him and get the H out of here. Another burst comes from the room from the bursting potion bottles. It makes the fire bright pink and it makes the walls vibrate. I can't find anything to hold on to, so I stumble, and my wand falls out of my hand. I watch as it rolls towards the flames. "No!" I yell as the flames eat it up. I love my wand!

"Fuck it," I say, cussing more in this little span of time than I have in my whole life.

I grab Byron arms again and start dragging him down the hallway, hoping that our fresh air spell holds a little bit longer than normal because the smoke is everywhere now. I keep on dropping him, which probably isn't good in his current situation, so I lean down and wrap my arms around his upper chest so I can have more leverage. The smoke is so thick I can barely see in front of me and the fact that I'm walking backwards isn't helping anything.

"How are you so heavy?" I ask him as I drag his dead weight down the hallway. "You're so bloody thin."

I didn't know I had this much strength and I can feel my muscles groaning in protest as I do the type of physical labor that I have never done in my life. I keep on going, though, determined to live as we go deeper into the weird labyrinth of the building. I can hear neo death eaters calling to each other over the sound of cracking wood and burning furniture.

"That's fiend fire!" I hear one man shout as I continue to pull Byron along.

"We have to stop it before it destroys everything!"

"Why is it pink!"

The sprinkler systems are still on and it's making my hair and clothing heavy and wet. My hair curls when it gets introduced to water and it's getting in my face, making it even harder to see. My knees finally collapse at the end a dead end hallway that I stupidly turned down.

"I can't go anymore," I whisper because it was true.

I was seeing the dots in front of my eyes again. A tell tale sign that I had over exerted myself and that was true. I couldn't even move my arms easily after I fell to the ground in a weak heap. I'm breathing in deeply, trying to catch my breath as my skin prickles and my side hurts. I probably pulled another muscle and I probably lost a few pounds today considering all the exercise I keep getting. It's too bad I'm going to die in a fire before I get to enjoy it.

Byron coughs, and my hope soars again as he blinks his eyes against the sprinkles coming down on us. "Fuck," I hear him say around coughs as he brings a hand up to his chest and turns his head to the side to avoid the water, but there's no avoiding it because it's coming from everywhere. The floor, the walls, and the ceiling are all spewing water to put out for the fire that can't be put out.

"Hey," I say with a happy smile when his eyes open to mine. It flashes red and then I can't see anything, when the red comes back, I put my hand on his face and kiss his pale lips. This may be a figment of my imagination. I might be kissing and carting around a dead Byron Flint, but I don't care because I want it to be real too badly.

"Hey," he says with a voice that sounds like he swallowed a thousand needles. "Fuck," he says again and I laugh as tears cling to the water droplets already on my face. "I hurt."

"You're dead," I tell him with a soft smile that's threatening to break off if I think of it too much. I furrow my brows as his bright eyes look into mine and I glance at the water pouring down on us from the ceiling. The red strobe lights are giving me a head ache and I bring my hand up to my temple in an attempt to deaden the pressure. "If you're dead and talking to me, that means I'm probably dead too." I ponder out loud like it wasn't a big deal and I feel his hand against my cheek.

"We're not dead," he states and I roll my eyes.

"He shot you with the killing curse right in your chest, Byron. You're dead. So either I'm dead too, or I'm crazy. I don't really care anyway," I tell him honestly and he sits up with labored movements until we're face to face. The red light alarms are still going off and it makes everything down here seem so demented and chilling. The red lights illuminate the planes of Byron's smoke tinted face making him look like some gothic hero who just killed a dragon. The reality isn't as romantic and I bring a hand up and touch that little streak of white again, wondering how it would look in normal lighting. I wish there was a window to liven the place up a bit.

"No," he says with a head shake. "He used my wand, didn't he?" he asks and I nod my head. "My wand isn't going to kill me. They have more loyalty than that."

"Really?" I state flatly. What in the blazes was he talking about? "My wand rolled itself into a fire right when I was going to use it to save our lives. I had to drag you all the way to this spot without magic." I say as I cross my arms. "Talk about loyalty... and if we're not dead yet, we will be soon because the fresh air charm I used is going to stop and the smoke will get us before anything else."

He stands up, and leans against the wall as he brings his hand up to his chest again. "It really burns," he tells me, but I don't care because I'm sure this isn't real.

"Do you think they let people have sex in heaven?" I ask out loud and Byron gives me a strange look. "I guess if you're dead, having sex would defeat the purpose, but I like having sex with you."

"It's sweet that you think I'd go to heaven," he says as he pulls something from his pocket.

"I'm not sure if I believe in it," I state honestly as I rest against the wall as the water chills me to the bone. "It just seems like a good idea right now. I mean, how much closer to hell can you get?" I ask as I stare at the red lights on the ceiling and the loud alarm that's making my eardrums bleed.

"Even though I love this talk on the afterlife that we're having," Byron says as his eyes flick to mine and he holds out his hand for me to take. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"I can't move," I tell him honestly. My body hurts too much and that initial shock of adrenaline that had pulled me to this spot has all but died.

"Come on," he snaps as he grabs my arm and pulls me up. "I'll carry you."

"No," I snap back as my knees buckle. I'm just being stubborn now, really, but there's no point. He's dead, I'm dead, whatever. "I weigh more than you," I tell him. I thought that was logical.

"No, you don't," he sneers as me pulls me against his chest. I open my mouth to retort but he covers my mouth with his hand and he looks into my eyes. "Shut up." he tells me and I blink a few times as he goes to scoop me up. I move away from him.

"I can walk," I tell him and he scoffs. "I don't need you carting me around. I'm more than capable-"

"I get it," he snaps. "You're a modern woman. Equal pay for equal work and all that fucking rot, but right now we need to leave this spot and I will fucking carry you if you can't move. I'm stronger than you are, just let me be stronger, okay?"

"Spoken like a true gentlemen," I reply and he narrows his eyes as he takes my arm and starts pulling me down the red flashing hallway.

"Snap out of it, Lavinia," he says harshly as I hurry my legs to catch up with his long strides. My body screams in protest and I really should rethink that whole 'he shouldn't carry' me thing. I look around me, never noticing that all the doors with the weird markings are now wide open. What does that mean? "This is real, we're not dead, and we're not going to die."

"I saw you die," I whisper.

He stops and turns around to face me. "I didn't die," he says softly as he takes my face and presses his lips against mine in a deep kiss. When he pulls back he takes my hand and he furrows his brows when he notices the ring. He brings it closer to his face to see what it is with each flashing light. "I thought they took it," he whispers.

"They did," I answer honestly and he kisses my hand before turning back around to hurry down the hallway where all those weird doors are all open and banging against the walls like there was a dark wind coming by and upsetting them.

He continues to drag me down the passageways that look haunted with...

"Holy fuck that's a dementor!" I scream as the hooded figures come floating towards us. Dark wind, indeed. "What is this bloody place?"

Byron stops dead in his tracks and seat belts me with his arm, making me fall back behind him.

"I thought they died out during the last war!" I yell as they come closer. I felt chilly before, but now I feel downright bone cold and I feel even more dread pooling in the very pit of my stomach. I feel like I'll never be happy again and that's a feeling I've been all too familiar with today. "We don't have our wands," I panic as I start to back up, pulling Byron with me by his belt loops. "What do we do?"

"You thought we were dead," he says and I sneer as the ragged black cloaks that smell like death come closer.

"Stop being a dick," I tell him because survival instinct has kicked in yet freaking again. "Oh, my god, what do we do? I don't want my soul sucked out!"

"Jesus Christ," Byron whispered and I panic even more.

"Jesus Christ, what?" I snap because I have found out that when people mention JC it usually isn't a good thing. "What!"

"I think I know why there are dementors here."

Yes, because that was well explained to me. "Wait," I say as I reach into my pocket and pull out my mood manipulator. "They feed on misery, right?" I say and Byron gives me a sideways look. "Give me your wand," I tell him because I have a good idea how to get those stupid old dementors to back off. What happens when a Dementor feels happy?

"I don't have my wand," he states harshly and I curse out loud when I remember why neither of us have our personal magical instruments. "We just covered this."

My plan absolutely failed and I gulp as the things get closer to us. Byron reaches around until he finds my hand and we slowly start backing up again, knowing that we probably won't get away from them down here. We have a fire chasing behind us and about ten dementors in front of us. What do we do? As the dementors, with their wicked stench and disgusting looking cloaks draw nearer, a bright light cuts through the red alarm lights and dark water. A beautiful white horse comes running past us, right at the dementors. They shriek in terror and start making terrible noises before they dissolve and depart. The horse fades once all the dementors are gone and I grip Byron's hand so tight I'm sure I'm going to break a few bones.

"Patronus," I hear Byron say and we both turn around to the footsteps that are running towards us.

"Are you okay?" the voice asks and I stare at her. She's wearing just a small dress slip that clings to her skin and almost completely see through from the water.

"Mom?" I say as her lower lip chatters and she crosses her arms over her chest with her wand in her hand. She blinks a few times before lighting her wand with a lumos so we're bathed in normal warm light. My brain sighs in relief

"Are you dead too?" I ask.

Gavin

I can't see one fucking goddamn thing with these fucking red goddamn lights!

I try to open the door that the man just carried her into, but I can't make it open. I kick it, I curse it, I even ram into it with my whole body but it doesn't even budge. "Wait a second," I state as I see Daniella try to get away out of the corner of my eye. "Help me open this door. I need to help my sister."

"I have other things more urgent," she says and I narrow my eyes.

"She has your wand, you idiot," I tell her because I'm not in the mood to be kind. "I don't bloody care what you have to do."

"Gavin, I have a mission and I need to see it through. They're not going to hurt her just yet. We have time."

"Hurt her?" I snap back and she shakes the water out of her hair. "What the fuck are you talking about? Why would they do anything to her? She's just a baby." I knew for a fact that Evelyn was fourteen and starting that awkward transition into a woman... but to me, she'll always be my baby sister.

"I have to go," she snaps as she starts backing up and when she's far enough away from me, she starts running.

"Fucking bitch!" I yell after her as the red lights blink and the alarm blares. "I'm showing fucking everyone your Auror ID and they're going to kill you," I mutter angrily to myself. I chopped off a few heads already today. I'm not in the fucking mood to be kind and I am still holding a bloody sword.

When she's out of eyesight, I sneer and turn back to the door. I only had one job. And that one job was to take Evelyn home. How in the fucking hell did manage to screw that up as well? I'm going to start to get a complex if shitty things continue to happen to me like this. I'm fucking done with it.

I hear a few loud crashes and I stop trying to bust the door open to look towards the noise. A group of masked Death Eaters are running my way… but they're not charging to kill me. They're running away from something and I narrow my eyes as they come splashing by, the water hitting me harder with their movements kicking it up.

"What's going on?" I ask. I don't care if they try to curse me. What could be so bad that they have to run away like that?

"Fiend fire!" One of them yells over the alarm and I furrow my brows as I look down the hallway. Smoke comes barreling behind them, followed by fire the color of pink bubble gum.

"What the fuck?"I whisper to myself before turning back to the door and banging on it in a panic. "Open the goddamn door. There's a fire coming," I yell as it approaches. I've only read about fiend fire in school and I know it's damn near indestructible and it destroys absolutely everything, especially people. I wipe heavy hair away from my face and curse the fucking water that's getting all up in my eyes. "Get out of there!"

The fire creeps closer and I can feel the heat against my skin I bang a few more times. "Let my sister go!" I yell once more in desperation. The fire is too close now, it's making me light headed and the smoke is compressing on my lungs. I kick the door and I even try to bash it open with the sword but nothing works. A beam falls nearby and I pick up the soaking wet invisibility cloak that had fallen off of my sister and I bring it up to my face to deaden the amount of smoke that I'm inhaling. I slam myself against the door again.

"I'm fucking serious. Open the goddamn door!" I yell again as I continue to kick it and curse it with my wand. It doesn't open and the walls start to shake as the ceiling collapses at the end of the hall. "Evelyn!" I yell. "Evelyn! You need to get out of there." I cough, the smoke is thick. "Evelyn, get out of there!"

The fire gets close enough where I literally feel like I'm going to pass out and I stand in front of the door for the longest most painful second of my life. When it doesn't open even after I pray for it to, I close my eyes sadly before backing away and running, leaving Evelyn in that room with the fire coming.

I feel sick.

I keep running until I find a staircase.

A staircase.

Where has that fucking been this whole goddamn time?

I look over my shoulder once to see the pink fire eating the entire hallway, including that room. I feel like someone has put a ton of bricks on my chest and the amount of guilt I feel right now is so overwhelming that I can barely move when I get to the top of the stairs and I drop the sword as soon as I reach level ground.

I just left her there.

But I couldn't have opened the door.

I would have died in the fire.

Maybe I could have tried a little harder.

Maybe I didn't do enough to get it open.

What would Dad have done?

Where is Dad?

Is he down there with the fire?

He probably would have been able to open the door.

I punch the nearest wall and my hand goes right through the plastered dry wall. "Close the door," I hear a familiar voice say and I look over my shoulder as that blond healer named Conrad runs towards me and slams the door that leads down to the basement shut. He takes out his wand a does a few spells and ward charms. That voice wasn't his and I look behind him where a woman is sitting on the floor, looking pale, wearing a pink dress covered in blood, and holding her stomach.

"Mom," I say as I run over to her, kicking the sword out of my way. She looks alarmed when she sees me. "God," I say as I look her over. She looks like she was hurt really bad.

Evelyn.

"Did Evelyn do this?" I ask as I try to put it together.

She nods her head and winces as she shifts her body. I cover my mouth.

"Fuck," I swear again as I look back at Conrad as he moves his wand around the door. "What's he doing?" I ask.

"You have to let fiend fire run out on it's own," Mom says with a labored voice and I look at her sympathetically. "We're containing it to the basement so it doesn't come up here."

"We?" I say as Conrad pockets his wand and comes walking back towards us. I stand up on the defensive. He raises his eyebrows and sends a look to my Mom like he knew her. "Where's Lavinia?" I ask because I had left her with him.

He sends a sad look to the door and this time a whole house feels like it was dropped on my chest. I even stumble back as few steps. I brought her here. I brought her here and she was down there with the fire like Evelyn. They were my responsibility and I failed. I killed them.

"Open the door," I say and he shakes his head.

"It's eaten up most of the basement by now," he says and he sounds genuinely hurt by it. "Everything down there is dead by now."

That sadness disappears and is immediately replaced by anger. Anger towards him. I'm going to blame him. I grab him by the shirt and throw him against the wall. "Why did you let her stay down there?" I snap as I push him into the wall I had punched.

"She didn't want to come with me," he snaps as he pushes me back. "I tried to get her to come with me but she didn't because she wanted to stay."

I hit him.

Then I hit him again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

"Gavin," someone says my name but I ignore it as Conrad slumps to the ground. I start kicking him.

I kick him in the stomach.

In the legs.

In the chest.

In the face.

In the head.

In the…

"Gavin! If you kill him who is supposed to bloody heal me!" I'm breathing heavily and I pull myself back before I really do kill him. I turn around and bring my hands up to my face, running shaky hands through my hair. "Get him up and heal whatever the hell you just did to his face." Mom snaps. She doesn't sound the same, something is odd about the tone of her voice and I stare at her. "He could only temporarily close me up because we didn't have any time downstairs. I'm starting to bleed so fucking help him!"

I look her over. She looks so pale. I can't let her die too. Dad would kill me. I go over to Conrad and I turn him over. "God," I say as I focus on the damage I did on his face when I was hitting him. It's all bloody, broken, and swollen. He spits something at me. I realize it's a tooth. Gross. I take out my wand and start doing that healing spell I used on my father earlier as I try to remember any other healing spell I know. Which I fucking don't know many, so this isn't going to be very successful. I even attempt to fix the broken nose and the jaw that looks cocked out a little funny. I've never healed anybody after a fight.

"I need him coherent enough to get me to the beach," she says and it was a weird thing to say so I look over my shoulder at her again. Why does she feel off to me?

"In America?" I say as I think of the beach house there and she makes a face at me.

"Is he awake?" she asks, craning her neck to see.

He groans in response.

"Just let me take you to St. Mungo's," I say in irritation when I realize I'm wasting fucking time by attempting to heal this fucking guy when I don't even know how to do it in the bloody first place.

"No," she snaps hatefully. "I need to go to the beach." She closes her eyes. "In the cave by the shore is a door on the floor," she sings to herself and I force my eyebrows together.

I think she might have gone mad. I don't know how else to explain the way I feel around her right now. She looks like my Mom…. But she doesn't feel like my Mom. Does that make any sense? Mom feels like home, but right now she feels like… like something unstable.

"In the cave… by the shore…."

"Gavin," I hear someone else whisper my name and my face snaps to it. Lavinia. I stand up right away as she comes running over to me and I hug her.

I actually hug her.

I can't remember the last time I hugged her like this.

"You're not dead," I say against her hair. She smells like fire and she shakes her head hard as she gets down on her knees and takes out a wand from her pocket.

"We were able to get out," she says as she starts healing Conrad's face. She's better at it than I am. "People are dead all over the place," she whispers worriedly as she pulls back his lip and winces at the missing tooth. She does a complicated looking spell that makes it grow back. "So we were able to get their wands."

"Don't bother with him," I say quickly. "Heal Mom," I tell her as look over at Mom who is still singing that fucked up song. "There's blood everywhere," I say as the pink dress she's wearing becomes even more saturated with blood. I try to hold it together. I hate fucking blood but I can't let myself do anything fucking girly like faint. How terrible that would be.

"That's not Mom," she says like it didn't faze her in the least bit and once Conrad's face is back to its former glory, she starts working on the other wounds. I didn't' even realize his hand was twisted in that painful looking way.

"What do you mean that's not…"

Byron Flint walks towards us, he's shirtless and every single one of his fucked up scars is visible against his pale skin. There's something odd about his chest, though. In the middle of his torso is an odd black burn, and the veins surrounding it look black. I make a face at it before turning the person walking beside him. That someone looks like my Mom. She's wearing a man's dark shirt and not much else but a slip underneath. I feel my eyebrows rise.

"Lavinia," Byron says gently. He walks beside her as the second Mom walks up to me and pulls me in for a hug. I don't move for a second, keeping my body tense and ridged against her as she wraps her arms around me.

And then she did it.

She started to run her fingers through the hair at the base of my neck the way she used to when I was upset as a boy and then I could feel it. This was my Mom. I hug her back with a vengeance, crushing her to me and gently lifting her off the ground. I'm so glad I found her. I hate hugging, but I was just so glad that she felt like she was supposed as opposed to…

I let that thought trail off as I look over my shoulder at the other one still sitting on the ground. Still singing. I look at Mom as I set her back on her feet and she smiles a little in a sad kind of way as she smoothes some hair away from my face.

"Lavinia," Byron says again while putting a hand on her shoulder as she re-sets the bones of his wrist. "Stop healing him," he says like she was a child doing something wrong. I agree with Flint for once, though. She shouldn't fucking heal him. "He tried to kill me."

She gives him a fierce look and he lets his hand drop from her shoulder. "We're better than he is," she says harshly, like she wasn't pleased that she decided to heal him either. "I think one of his ribs is poking his lung anyways," she says as she lifts his shirt to study the damage. I did kick him hard.

"Well, don't heal all of him anyways," he adds because he lost whatever silent fight they just had. "Non-life threatening things can stay."

I look at Lavinia as she works on that Conrad guy and then I look at Byron. I squint my eyes because there seems to be a white streak of hair starting at his right temple. What the hell is that? That sword is lying by the locked door and he walks over to it and picks it up. I watch as he studies it with interest and his eyes light up in recognition as he reads something etched into the blade. I look back at Mom as she touches my lip. I wince.

"What happened to you, sweetheart?" she asks as she takes out her own wand and starts healing the cut I got on my lip from dueling with Theodore Nott.

"Have you seen Dad?" I ask as I ignore her question and my voice sounds weird and raw.

"Draco's here?" she whispers. She looks surprised so she obviously didn't know that he was here and then we both look towards the locked door where the fire is eating up the bowels of the building. I hear her intake a sharp breath and I blink back annoying things in my eyes.

"Mom…" I say as I turn back to her. "Evelyn is down there too." I needed to be honest with her right away. I hated saying that out loud but I feared I'd never be able to say it at all if I let it fester for too long.

She shakes her head and takes a step back. "No, she's at Hogwarts."

"She's not," I say and my eyes are watering. I think it must have been from all that smoke downstairs. "I was trying to get her out of here because Dad told me to, but this guy grabbed her ran with her into a room. It wouldn't open and they wouldn't listen to me. I tried everything but the fire was coming and I couldn't get the door open."

She tightens her jaw and looks away. "I'm sorry," I say because it was my job to get her home and I didn't do that.

"It's not your fault," she says seriously but I can tell she's hurting. "Maybe she's okay…. How did she get here?" she asks as she glances up at me. "Let me see your hand," she whispers as she takes the hand I had used to beat that Conrad guy and she starts healing it. I didn't even realize it hurt.

"I'm not sure," I state honestly. "Dad and I were going down to the basement to try to find you and Cassius, but we found Evelyn. She looked like she had seen a ghost and she was holding that sword," I say as I point to Flint who's still fucking with it. "She said she hurt you," I say and my eyes flick back to the other mother because I honestly forgot that she was there. Still singing, fucking weirdo. "She said Beatrice Potter brought her here."

"What?" Lavinia, Byron, and Mom all say in unison.

"In a cave by the shore is a door on the floor…" she keeps singing and the silence rings around us, making her craziness noticed again. We all turn towards her as she holds her stomach.

"Who is that?" I ask as Lavinia stands up and Byron steps over to slide in front of her like he was a brick wall, blocking her from harm.

Mom pushes me to the side as she walks over to the clone of herself and she bends down so she's eye level with it. She tilts her head to the side as the other Mom snaps her eyes open and stares right back.

"You're wearing my dress," Mom says flatly as she looks at the blood that's covering it. "That dress is dry clean only." She says and the other Mom laughs. It sounds painful and I cringe as blood comes from her mouth.

"I can't die," she says smugly.

"It looks like you're dying," Mom says gently as she takes the other one's hands to remove them from her stomach. The other mom snaps her hands back into position.

"I can't die," she repeats again as my Mom sits back on her haunches.

"Who are you?"

"Who do you want me to be," she responds and then she laughs.

Mom's quiet for a few moments and then she pulls a metal chain from under her shirt. A large black stone is on the end and the fake Mom widens her eyes.

"Do you know what this is?" mom asks softly. "Your friends missed it when they took off my dress."

"That's mine," the other mom hisses and she goes to snatch it away, but she's too weak.

"I've been carrying around for a week," Mom explains. "I wondered if it was like the dress…."Mom looks at her lap before inhaling deeply. "How are you alive?" she asks, like she knew who she was talking to now.

"I've always been alive, Ginny," she says seriously. "I just made sure to take precautions so I would never die. You see this," she points to her bleeding stomach. "Is nothing."

"Evelyn stabbed you with a sword," she says but she doesn't wait for an answer. "She knew you weren't me…. Why were you pretending to be me to talk to my daughter?"

"I need somewhere to go, don't I?" she says, sounding innocent and I narrow my eyes because I don't understand.

"Where have you been?" My mom asks and the other mother looks at Byron and smiles. He looks confused and the smile must have creeped him out because he looked away. Unfortunately, in wanting to look away, he ended up looking at me and I never keep my mouth shut.

"What the fuck?" I ask him and he looks away quickly, shaking his head in answer.

"How many of these do you have, Bellatrix?" she says and that names rings familiar with me. I narrow my eyes. She did mention something about a dress. I know about a dress…

"Like I would tell you," she hisses and my mom nods her head.

"Okay," she says gently. "If you say so." She walks over to the locked door that leads down into the basement and she moves her wand over the door a few times. Muttering a spell I've never heard of and when she opens the door, black smoke funnels into the room.

"Mom," Lavinia warns about the fire as my Mom holds up the necklace to show the fake version of herself.

"How do you feel about this?" she says before throwing the necklace down the stairs. I hear the fire eat it and something down there explodes as my mother slams the door against the flames and puts the spells and wards back up.

The woman on the floor hisses again and starts throwing profanities of every caliber at my mother. "You fucking bitch!" she snaps as she tries to get up, but fails and she grabs a wand from a fold in her dress and points at my mother. No, can't accept that. I lift my own wand and point it right at her. "We used to be friends! Don't you remember? Is this what happens when Draco stops beating the shit out of you, because if it is, then he needs to start—"

Mom walks over and smacks her.

I've never seen Mom hit anyone before and she looks upset that she let herself do it as well.

"I'm going to kill you for that," the woman whispers hatefully.

Then it starts happening. Whatever potion she took to take on Mom's form starts to wear off. Red hair becomes coal black and brown eyes turn a light bluish green. She drops her wand with the change and my real Mom kicks it to the side.

"Mom?" Byron steps forward and I raise my eyebrows so high in surprise that I think they may become part of my hair line. "What…. I don't understand," he says as he looks at my little sister like she would have an answer for him. "What does that mean?"

"Like you didn't know already," Beatrice Potter tells her son and Mom stands up with her brows furrowed in worry. "I told you we used to be friends, Ginny."

"This doesn't make sense," Mom says as she shakes her head. Byron shakes off my sister's arm and starts walking closer to the creature. "I thought you were Bellatrix Lestrange."

The woman smiles.

"What did you do to Beatrice?" My mom asks as Byron gets closer and kneels in front of her.

"Byron knows," she answers as she looks at her son who's now only a foot away from her. "Don't you, By?"

"I don't understand," he says, sounding just as confused as I'm sure I look.

"Oh, poor Byron," she says as she shakes her hand. She brings a bloody hand out to touch his face. From this angle I can see all those scars on his back and I cringe because they look disgusting. "You always forget the important things, but I raised you well, didn't I? I raised you like a good mom would. We had our differences, but I was good to you. We were united weren't we? Against that terrible Marcus Flint."

"What do you mean?" he asks and his voice sounds thick with emotion.

"Your medication never helped you with your nightmares," she says and Mom takes a protective step closer to Byron. "They just created new ones. One day I think it will all come barreling back to you, and then you really will go mad."

Lavinia gasps and we all turn to towards her. Conrad had gained consciousness and he was up with his arm around Lavinia, pinning her back to his chest. His wand is pointed at her neck. Everyone's focus shifts.

"Everyone put down your wands," he says menacingly.

I narrow my eyes and Lavinia whimpers when he presses his wand even harder into her soft skin. "I healed you," she says indignantly.

He pushes down her cardigan so her shoulder is exposed and kisses her there. My temper flares. "You should have listened to your boyfriend," he whispers to her and then he looks at the rest of us. "Put down your wands and kick them away."

"Just let her go," Mom says gently. "There's no point in doing that."

"Put them down," he says harshly and awkwardly we all comply, kicking the wands that we have towards him. "Pick them up," he tells my sister with his wand still against her neck and her eyes are watering as she bends down and starts gathering them. "Don't even think about turning around and using them on me, beautiful," he says and I've decided I'm going to kill him. "If you turn around, I'll blast your head off. Speaking of dying," he eyes Byron with distaste. "Why aren't you dead?"

Byron doesn't answer.

"Lavinia, I'm so glad you're not dead," Conrad whispers as she stands back up and he takes the wands from her and puts them in his pocket. He puts his hand around her middle again and pulls her tight against him. "You're shaking."

"You're pointing a wand at my neck," she answers bitterly. Her eyes flick to Byron. "You were right. I shouldn't have healed him," she says with teary eyes and Conrad puts his hand over her mouth.

"Don't talk to him," he says like a crazy person. "Now, you're going to help me, darling," he says as he looks around at all of us. "Go stand against that wall," he tells us, nodding his head to the far wall of the lobby. "Do it now." We don't move right away and he does a spell with his wand that makes a slash across Lavinia's neck. She closes her eyes in pain as I clench my fists in anger. "Against the wall," he repeats.

"Do as he says," mom says gently, like she knew me, or Byron for that matter, wasn't going to back down. I hesitate, but when he slices her shoulder I give in and walk towards the wall, putting my back against it and keeping my body on ready just in case I see an opportunity.

That Conrad guy is a fucking creep. He licks the blood from the cut on her neck and when she starts crying, he kisses her temple. "I'll heal them before they scar," he tells her like that was the only bloody thing she was fucking concerned about. "Now, take off your cardigan," he says and Lavinia looks really worried at the demand. "I can help you," he tells her as he puts his hand on the material that's hanging off her cut shoulder and starts lowering it. What the fuck is he doing? He lowers the sleeve on the other side as well and when it falls down to her hands, he tugs it off and hands it to her. "Go over and use this to press your hands against her stomach. Press down to slow the bleeding while we take her out of here."

He lets go of her mouth and pushes her forward. She trips and falls on her hands and knees in her nervousness and Conrad just stares at her, not bothering to help her up. Byron jumps forward and Conrad points his wand at him.

"Down, boy," he says with a smirk, like he was talking to a dog and I feel my lip curling back. I don't like Byron very much because I think he's fucking weird, but he's bounds above this bloke on my likable meter. "Get up and do what I told you, babe," he says and everyone seems to have cringed at the pet name.

Lavinia is upset and she's not moving quite right. Her steps are stiff and ridged because she's doing something she doesn't want to do and I can tell she's trying not to look at any of us, because she might cry or do something stupid. When she gets to Beatrice Potter, or whoever the fuck she's supposed to be, she bunches up her cardigan and presses her hands against her stomach. The Bella woman was all but passed out, but she hissed when that happened.

"Where are you taking them?" Mom asks as she watches Lavinia breathe heavily, trying not to cry to loud.

Conrad doesn't answer, he magically lifts Beatrice, making Lavinia stand as well. "Let's get to an fireplace," he says as he keeps his eyes on us. "Go in that room," he says, pointing to one of the large lobby rooms of the hospital. "I'll be right behind you."

He follows after them as they leave the lobby and before they reach the door, Lavinia sends a worried look over her shoulder before disappearing. Conrad hangs in the doorway and smiles at us. "Mrs. Malfoy," he says with a fake bow. "I can see where your daughter gets her looks," is all he says before he disappears as well and I push off the wall, letting a frustrated growl leave my mouth.

I run into the room, using the same door that they did, but they were gone and I step over to the window and look around the gloomy yard.

Nothing.

"What the fuck was that?" I snap as I put my hands up to my head. I walk back into the room to see the other two. Byron stays stone still and Mom starts pacing around the room, in that larger man's shirt that probably belongs to Byron. "What the fuck are we supposed to do now?"

"Stop cussing," Mom says dismissively and I roll my eyes."Who was that guy?" she asks but no one answers.

"Where would they have gone?" Byron asks flatly, looking at the air in front of him with a blank stare. He's still shirtless and his scars are distracting so I pull my black jumper over my head, leaving me in the white collared shirt that's covered in the blood I whipped off of Evelyn's face.

"Here," I tell him as I throw it to him. He catches it and stares at me long and hard like he was trying to figure out my motive before he puts it on. His body is built more like Cass' is. They're both long and lean, so the jumper looked a little big for him, but it served its purpose.

"Thank you," he whispers before fisting his hands in his hair like he was trying to think.

"We should go back to the Manor," Mom says after a few quiet seconds. "Draco has those location spheres in his study. We can find them if we use those."

It sounded like the best plan at the moment. I couldn't even think straight. I didn't really want to leave, though. I kept sending looks to the basement door, hoping that Evelyn or even my father would come busting out of there at any moment. But nothing like that happened and I only started moving when my Mom took my arm and started to drag me into a room that had a fireplace. I felt bad for leaving. Like I was leaving something very important behind and it didn't even register with me that Mom had flood us to the Manor.

She had thought she was going to have to put down the wards to let Byron in, but when she saw the Auror tape, she frowned. "What is this?" she asks softly as she walks further into the room.

"You should see the library," I say and when she looks at me with a worried tilt of her head, I sigh and cross my arms. "They think Dad kidnapped you and Cassius," I fill her in as she looks around the living room. "They think he killed you for trying to leave him."

"How did anyone get in?" she whispers to herself as the three of us walk into the main hallway. The front doors are blasted open and there's broken glass on the ground. Our home doesn't feel safe anymore and I hear something clink beside me. Byron is holding that sword I used to kill all those zombies.

"I don't know," I answer as I follow her to my father's study. She hurries over to his desk and opens one of the drawers.

"Should we call the Aurors?" Byron asks softly. I had forgotten he was here, to be honest.

"Doubtful," I tell him as I cross my arms and bring my hand up to my mouth so I can chew on my nails. I'm nervous. "Greengrass has the Aurors in his pocket and Daniella claimed she was an Auror. Look what fucking happened with that."

"Daniella was the girl who got me out of that room," Mom says as she sorts through Dad's drawers. "She helped me."

"Did you see Daniella?" Byron asks seriously and I nod my head as I pull the Auror ID from my back pocket and I throw it at him. "Was Cassius with her?"

I snap him a look. "Why would he be?"

He looks away and sends a dark look to the fire place. He looks like he's about ready to blow. "Byron," Mom says softly as she looks through his drawers. "Have you noticed anything strange about your mother lately?" she asks. "Do you have any idea what that was about?"

"No," he answers shortly, that dark look never once leaving his face.

Mom finds a sphere and pulls it out. "Usually he has like ten of these in here," she mutters to herself as she sits on top of the desk and she looks around her. "None of us have a wand, do we?"

I shake my head.

Byron doesn't do a damn thing.

"Draco might have an extra one upstairs. Wait here."

She takes off, leaving Byron and I in my father's study by ourselves. It's never fun to be alone with bloody Flint. I don't know how my sister does it. "So…" I say because I don't like silence. "How fucked up was it that that was your Mom?"

"Very fucked up," he whispers as he walks over to one of the windows and he pulls back the thick curtains. He fingers are twitching. He wants to use his wand, he wants to curse someone. I look down at my own hand and notice that it's doing the same.

"What is that?" he asks to take his mind off of things as he nods to the silvery material stuffed in my pocket.

"Oh," I say as I take it out. I don't have enough energy to lie. "An invisibility cloak." I tell him as I pull it out, letting the material slide along my fingers.

"Is that how you got all those answers to those tests," he says and I raise an eyebrow.

"What?"

"In school," he says flatly. "Is that how you were able to get into the professor's offices and steal the answer keys?"

"You heard about that?" I say smugly because it was an ingenious idea of mine. I would sell the answers after I stole them and that way I had my own money so Dad wouldn't know what I was buying all the time.

"Everyone did," he mutters softly as he squints his eyes. "Cassius knew you were the one doing it," He adds and I tilt my head to the side. "He could never figure out how."

"Did he?" He never confronted me about it and my brother was always in the habit of pointing out my wrong doings when we were at Hogwarts together.

"You're lucky he never told anyone," he says as he spares me a little glance before looking back out the window. "They would have kicked you out."

"He told you," I tell him and he narrows his eyes.

"I don't count," he says so softly I barely hear him.

I survey him again. "What happened to your hair?" I ask and he looks at me with a lifted eyebrow. I bring my own hand up to my temple and point. He looks confused.

"What do you mean?" he asks, but he doesn't get an answer.

"I know where they are," Mom says as she comes running into the room, carrying one of Dad's 'just in case' wands and a glowing location sphere. "And they're all alive."

"What are you doing here?"

We all turn towards the voice of a pudgy man in plum colored Auror robes. He looks way too surprised to see us standing in our own house and there are about ten Aurors behind him in the same outfit, all wearing matching looks of surprise.

Mom furrows her brows and lets her eyes slide to mine before facing the men again. "I live here," she says and I would have laughed had the situation permitted it. "What are you doing here?"

"We're searching for Draco Malfoy," he says and I raise my eyebrows. He takes out a scroll of paper and unravels it. "He's wanted for questioning in the disappearance of his wife and son."

"I'm right here," she says like the man was stupid. "And I am his wife so there is no disappearance."

The man flicks a glance to me. He knows very well that he's bullshitting right now. He has orders from another source. "He's wanted for leaving in the middle of an interrogation."

"Did you charge him with anything?" My mother asks and the man narrows his eyes. "If you were just questioning him, he's allowed to leave whenever he wants.

"He cursed three ministry officials before leaving and hee flooded the Auror department. He busted the pipes in the toilets. That's a bio hazard!" The man's face turns a dark shade of red. I smirk. "He's lucky no one got hurt! He's also charged with vandalism, intent to cause bodily harm, and disrupting the peace!" I feel like he just made that shit up.

I can't hide a smile at that, though. "It's not his fault the Auror department is a joke," I say and his eyes zero in on me. I lift my brow in challenge. Out of the corner of my eye I see Flint pick up that location sphere and stare at it. "Incompetent idiots," I say to add insult to injury and I see that more than a few of them want to curse me. "How does one man get one over on a whole department?" I ask to stall time and the main Auror narrows his eyes.

"He got lucky," he answers. I give Flint a look as he grabs the sword and walks towards the fireplace with the sphere, ignoring absolutely everyone in the room. Fucking weirdo. He probably doesn't know where he is.

"My Dad doesn't get lucky," I tell him honestly as I look back at the Aurors. "He just gets angry."

"You can leave my house now," My mother says as she takes a step forward. "I live here, and you just can't take advantage of the broken wards and come in whenever you want," she says seriously. "This is private property."

"We're performing an investigation," the man says and I cross my arms. "This is a crime scene."

"No it's not," she says. "I'm here, there's nothing to investigate."

Flint throws some floo powder into the fireplace and disappears. That makes all of the Aurors draw their wands. Where the bloody fuck is he going?

"Nobody move!" They say and I sneer at the thought of Byron Flint as my Mom sighs loudly. Something rings in the man's pocket and he puts up a finger to tell us to hold on as he walks off towards the left. I watch as he pulls a small compact mirror from his pocket and opens it so he can look inside. "Yes, sir," he says as I look down at my cloak and then at my Mom. "We'll do that."

He closes the mirror and puts it back in his pocket as I walk over to my mother.

He looks at the other 'Aurors' and then nods his head towards us. "Tie them up," he says and I unravel the cloak and put it around my Mom's shoulders. She disappears and I snatch the wand out of her hand as I push her back.

"There will be no tying up," I tell them as I point my father's spare wand at the main Auror's chest. "I'm not into that," I say with a suggestive smirk to one of the female officers in the crowd. "Right now, anyways," I add and Mom pinches me.

"Where did she go!" he yells. I feel Mom squeeze my arm before letting go and her footsteps travel backwards. Hopefully she'll go do something productive.

"Magic is a wonderful thing," I comment before throwing a curse at him. It just a regular stunning curse that hit him in the chest and I knew I was in the shit after that judging by the looks on the other Aurors face.

"So, are you working for Theodore Nott?" I ask, just because I hated him and I wanted to stall time. "Because I cursed the hell out him earlier tonight as well. I seem to be on a roll."

"You're going to pay for that, boy," one of the older one's in the crowd says with his wand pointed at my chest and I shake my head. I hate it when old people call me 'boy.'

"We'll see about that," I reply, knowing very well that they probably were going to make me pay. The odds were against me at the moment.

I smiled as a thrill ran through me as they all lifted their wands at me. I prepared myself for the curses that were about to come my way…. I might even die, actually. Dirty Aurors were notorious for killing during a duel and blaming it on the other person. But they didn't shoot. They were all looking at something behind me and I turned and glanced over my shoulder as one of the Aurors revived the fat one that I stunned.

"Are you here to join the party?" I ask my supposed to be Uncle, Ron Weasley. He has a few Aurors behind him as well… and my Mom. Did she get them? Is that where she went?

"What are you doing, Chamberlain?" Ron asks and I figure I am no longer in the conversation, so I move out of the line of fire. "Shacklebolt gave no such orders to come here."

"We don't work for Shacklebolt anymore," The revived fat one says as the others help him stand. "Now, we have orders and we intend to carry them through."

Ron Weasley sighs and pulls out his wand. "I can't let you do that."

"You're a joke, Weasley," he says with a laugh… I agree with him there but it seems like Ron Weasley might actually be on our side for once, so I keep my mouth shut. It's difficult for me, but I can manage. "With all the ethic complaints against you for sharing top secret Auror files with Potter for that stupid investigation business you two started, I doubt anyone is going to care about what you have to say. I know I don't."

"Where is Harry?" Ron asks and that explains why he's fucking here. That would be the only reason why he'd come. "And where is my Mother?"

"We don't know," the fat Auror snaps and my Mom puts her hand on her older brother's arm so he'll look at her. I suspect that's the first time they had touched in years and it obviously felt odd for both of them. I felt awkward just watching them do it.

"I think I may know where they are, Ron," she says as he studies her face. "Maybe," she adds like she didn't want to be wrong. "Draco keeps—"

The fat Auror lifts his wand towards them and I shake my head as I lift my own and blast his wand out his hand. Everyone stares at me for a long moment before they all start flinging curses at each other. I seemed to have caused a fire storm with that. Oops. We start dueling, with Ron and his Aurors on one side and the fat Auror with his group on the other. My mom doesn't have a wand, so I run over to her and push her behind me.

"Dad doesn't happen to have another spare wand, now would he?" I ask as I reflect a spell that was headed towards me.

"Here," Ron Weasley shoves something at her and she takes the wand he pulled from his sock. "Use mine. Feel free to use your bat boogey hex, Gin," he says as he curses the cute female Auror who looks extremely pissed off because of it. "I haven't seen that done well in ages," he says and he even smiles a little at her.

Hm.

Now that Mom has a wand, something changed and she was the one pushing me behind her so she could hex a few rogue Aurors. It was a site to see. Nero, that stupid Dalmatian puppy that belongs to my little sister comes running into the room, barking up a storm at the intruders. I try to ignore the damned thing, but when it grabs a hold of one of the Auror's robes and tugs on it viciously I can't help but smile.

"Good boy," I tell him after he bites the Auror's ankle and he comes running over to me after a curse barely misses his tail. I pat his head and decide that this may be an animal I can tolerate after all.

I look at Ron Weasley once more with a thoughtful tilt of my head as he stands beside us.

I never thought I'd see the day when my Uncle and I were fighting on the same side.

I guess there's a first time for everything.

Mom does a strange curse I've never seen before and I stop for a moment as I see the after affects on one of the unfortunate men across from us. I cringe. That doesn't look like much fun.

"And that is how you do a bat boogey hex," Ron Weasley says proudly and I look at my Mom.

She smiles.

Cassius

"Evelyn?" The man throws her on the ground and she whimpers as she lands against the carpet. "What's she doing here?" I turn back to Dr. Bailey with a panicked voice. "Why is she here?" I turn back to my sister. "Are you okay, Evie?"

"I am not okay," she snaps as she stands up and dusts off her clothes. She's completely soaked, like a bucket of water had been poured on her head and she moves heavy curls away from her face with a swipe of her hand.. "I just want to go home." The man that brought her in is standing beside her and Evelyn brings her foot up and stomps on his toe. He cusses and smacks her across the face, sending her flying to the side with a surprised gasp. I fight against the ties as she whimpers again and holds onto her cheek. "You're not supposed to hit ladies!" She screams at him.

"She's just a kid," I state as I try to get out of the bloody chair. "Don't treat her like that."

"I'm afraid Mr. Malfoy is correct in that," Bailey says as he walks towards the man who smacked my sister. "Apologize to the girl," he says softly. "She is very important to us."

"Why is she important?" I ask worriedly as the man apologizes to my sister who's still holding her face like it was in pain. "What does that mean?"

No one answers me and then I jump when someone starts pounding on the door. "Open the goddamn door. There's a fire coming," someone on the other side yells and my eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"That's Gavin," Evelyn says as she tries to run over to the door, but the brute that brought her in catches her around the middle before she can get there. "Let me go! That's my brother."

"Let my sister go!" He yells once more from the other side and I recognize my little brother's voice. He sounds desperate. "I'm fucking serious. Open the goddamn door!" He keeps on banging on the door and then there's a loud crash and a few loud thumps like something very heavy just fell. He pauses a second before starting to plead in earnest. It sounds like he's throwing his whole body into the door. "Evelyn! You need to get out of there." He coughs. "Evelyn, get out of there!"

"I suppose we should be going," Bailey says lazily as he looks down at his watch. "The others will have to meet us there. Cyrus," he looks at the man who's still holding my sister around the middle like she was a rag doll. "Take the girl. It looks like we're going to have to floo and then Apparate. According to the man in the hallway, there is a fire coming."

"Yes, sir," the big guy says as he walks over to the fire place and grabs a handful of floo powder.

"Hey! Where are you taking her?" I snap. Evelyn, always the scrappy little thing, grabs the man's forearm and bites down on it with her sharp little teeth. He cusses and let's go of her. She lands on her feet this time and runs over to me with her thin legs stretching out like a gazelle.

When she gets close enough, she throws herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and nearly sending the chair crashing to the ground as she jumps in my lap like she was a little girl again. Her body is shaking against mine and I wish I could bring my hands up to comfort her properly.

"I want to go home," She whispers with her eyes clenched shut, like if she did that long enough and then opened them, she really would be home and this would all be a dream. Her heart beat is fluttering against my chest a mile a minute and her breath is coming out in short gasps. The water from her clothes is saturating my own and a shiver runs through me because of the cold. "I want to go home."

"It's okay," I reassure her even though it doesn't feel right to lie to her because right now I can't see this turning out alright.

"No, it's not," she sobs, totally calling me out on it. "You're tied to a chair and Gavin is outside with that fire! How is any of this okay?"

I kiss the top of her head because I can't do anything else.

"This is touching," Bailey says with a smile and I narrow my eyes at him. "She can't weigh any more than a bread box, Crabbe. You should be ashamed." He clicks his tongue at the large death eater and shakes his head. "Now, let's try this again."

"She keeps hurting me," the man mutters angrily as he nurses his hurt forearm.

"She's a little girl," Bailey snaps, his patience gone. "Use your wand if you have to."

Evelyn starts shaking even more. "Leave her alone," I tell him. "I'll do what you want, just leave her alone." The man lifts his wand and the curse hits Evelyn in the back. She slumps over, passed out against my chest as the big man comes over and lifts her. "Bailey," I say earnestly as he walks her over to the fire place. "Please. I'll do whatever fucked up thing you want. Just leave her alone."

They disappear into the flames and my heart clenches. "Now, Malfoy, I'm going to untie you," he says as he walks over to me with his wand drawn. "You're not going to give me any trouble, are you?"

"Are you going to take me to where Evelyn is?" I ask seriously and he smiles again.

"Yes, of course."

"Then I won't give you any trouble," I say through clenched teeth because I want nothing more than to get out of this fucking chair and kick his teeth in, but I have to go where Evelyn is now. I have to make sure she's okay. I can't leave her in the fate of a large Death eater who isn't afraid to smack a fourteen year old girl.

"Good," he says as he waves his wands and unties my bonds. I crack my wrists and move my hands and feet around for a few moments as the feeling flows back to them. I didn't realize how tight those bonds were. "Follow me, then. This is all very exciting."

Smoke comes billowing in from underneath the door and he stares at it for a moment before walking to the fireplace. I look at the door as well. I hope Gavin is okay.

"We're going to go together so you don't get lost," he says. "So hold onto me."

I reluctantly hold onto his jacket and we floo to some random house fire place at Caldron Cove, which has the highest murder and drug rate in the country for magical folks. The room we floo in looks almost green, like there was some kind of thick fog clouding my vision of the room and the furniture was a mustard yellow color and dark with age. An old woman in a long black skirt comes swishing into the room with hooded black eyes and a yellowing ruffled blouse. She looks like she hadn't slept in years and I know I've seen her before. From Gavin's memory. She was the woman who gave Conrad that potion to give my sister.

"Where is everyone else?" she asks with a raspy voice and I look at the mantel piece where there's a few framed pictures resting.

"Hopefully they will meet us there," Bailey says nonchalantly. "Where did Crabbe go?"

"He went ahead and left," she says as she eyes me seriously. "He was afraid the girl would wake and run away."

She would. I smile as I think of my sister before letting it fall again. There's a picture of an old Slytherin Quidditch team and I squint my eyes as I look at the players all smirking and waving at me from behind the frame. I don't recognize most of them, they were way before my year, but there is one Slytherin I know. Dad. He's smirking at me and he winks smugly with a black broom resting in his right hand. I would sigh because the pose is so impossibly Dad that it's not even funny.

"Do you suppose she will forgive me for the things I have said?" The older woman asks seriously. "If I had any idea…. I have been most faithful to him all of these years. Why did she never tell me who she was?"

"I don't need to explain her motives to you… now, we need to be going. Are you going to wait here for the others or are you going to come with us now?" he asks and she looks uncomfortable as her eyes slide to mine again.

What would Dad do? That's my new motto. I raise my eyebrow and eye her coolly until she looks away.

"I will go now. If you will wait, I have to get the potions ready," she says before disappearing down a dark corridor.

"Where are we going?" I ask as her footsteps carry her away.

"Somewhere special," he says seriously as he takes a seat on the mustard yellow couch. "You may want to take seat," he says as he pats the cushion next to his. "This woman is notoriously late when gathering her things."

I eyeball the puke yellow arm chair that's across to him for a few moments before taking a seat. I cross my legs and impatiently tap my foot up and down against the disgusting carpet. What do I do? I can't even form a plan in my head right now, not until I know my sister is alright. What was she doing in the building anyways? Did they take her out of Hogwarts? How is that even possible? Spinnit is no Dumbledore, but he's not a pureblood sympathizer in the least bit.

I start chewing on my fingernails because I can't do anything else with my hands. I want to pick up one of those picture frames and bash it over his stupid bald head, but I try to restrain myself. I take deep breaths and count to ten a few times, trying to reign in my temper. Nothing good will happen if I allow myself to get angry. I'll just lose control and then everything will get even more fucked up than it already is. I think of Daniella and another burst of anger goes through me, but I ignore it and count to ten again.

The fire flames to life and I open my eyes as more people step through. I stand up when I see that Conrad bloke and my sister, who has her bloody cardigan pressed against some woman's stomach.

"What happened?" Bailey snaps as he stands as well and runs over to them. Lavinia and I make eye contact, but we don't say a word.

"She was attacked," Conrad answers with his chin tilted up. "She'll make it through another hour, but we have to complete the spell soon. One of her Horcrux's was destroyed."

"Who attacked her?" He asks and Lavinia gives him a double take as he approaches.

"Dr. Bailey?" she whispers with a furrowed brow. He doesn't even bother to acknowledge her as he moves her hands aside to have a look at the damage. "What… Why are you here? I don't understand."

"I'm sorry, dear," he says as he pats her cheek, leaving a bloody handprint on her skin. "No time for questions right now. Now," he says as he raises his brows towards Conrad. "Who did this?"

"Evelyn Malfoy," he answers and Bailey furrows his brows.

"She is a rough little thing, isn't she?" he says as he backs away. "I think her and Bella would get alone swimmingly."

Lavinia looks at me again and I question her with my eyes as I take in the cut on her neck and shoulder. My eyes then snap to Conrad as he takes a rag from his pocket and he starts wiping off her bloody cheek like it was an intimate, sweet thing to do. She looks uncomfortable by it and she looks at his chest as he whispers something against her ear.

"I'm ready… oh," the older woman comes back into the room and glares at my sister. "It's you."

"Be sweet to her, Agnes," Conrad says with a smirk as he throws the rag on the ground. "You're in a lot of shit right now."

"Let's not waste anymore time," Bailey says. "Time is ticking."

Lavinia bites her lip for a decisive moment and then she lets go of the bloody cardigan and runs over to me. She wraps her arms around my neck and presses her body into mine in a tight hug. I'm getting hugged a lot today. "Lavinia," Conrad snaps but she just hugs me tighter. She smells like fire.

"He has three wands in his right pocket," she whispers softly against my ear. "One of them is yours."

Mine? That means he must have run into Gavin at one point or another. I furrow my brows as she pulls back and I stop myself from opening my mouth. There is so much I want to ask her, so much I want to say, but I can't. Not with them staring at us like that. She looks so sad right now and there are ash marks all over her pale skin. I bring my fingers up and touch the cut that's slashed across her shoulder. She winces and so do I because it looks painful.

"Lavinia," Conrad calls to her with irritation and she narrows her eyes at my chest. "Come here. Now."

He's calling her like a dog and she clenches her fists before pulling me into another warm hug. "Conrad is very good at reading minds," she whispers so softly I barely hear her. Her breath is just a tingle along my ear drum. "Block your mind."

"Don't make me tell you again."

"Don't speak to her like that," I snap at him and he gives me a dismissive look before walking over and grabbing her wrist, yanking her back. "Hey, stop it," I say hatefully, but he ignores me as he hands her that bloody cardigan.

"Put pressure back on the wound and keep it there while we Apparate," he says stiffly and she inhales a few frustrated breaths before doing as he says.

"This is a cashmere sweater," she mutters bitterly and he smirks to himself.

"I'll buy you a new one," he says like she was a stupid little girl. "Don't walk away from me again. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she mutters hatefully. "I understand. You don't have to be so mean to me about it."

"Just do as I say and things will work out."

"This is just…. This is just the worst day ever," she says as tears slip from her eye.

He sighs like it was annoying. "Stop crying, already," he says as he does a few things with his wand over the woman's wound. "It's starting to irritate me."

She shakes her head as Bailey comes up to me and takes my arm. "I should have left your face caved in," she says under her breath as she wipes away tears on her arm because she can't move her hands and Conrad laughs.

"Well, you learned a valuable lesson today. Didn't you, baby?"

"Stop calling me that," she snaps as Conrad magically lifts Beatrice… wait….

"Who the hell is that?" I ask as I realize that the woman currently bleeding all over Lavinia's cashmere sweater is my best friend's Mom. "What's that all about?"

"Question time is over Cassius," Bailey says seriously as we all walk outside and once on the porch, he grabs both of my arms. "Hold on tight."

I find myself at a beach. A dreary looking beach with sever rock formations spiking up through the earth. "Be careful now, son," Bailey says as he starts hopping up the rocks to the mouth of a very depressing looking cave. It makes me think of the cave from the Island with the weird woman and the little boy with leprosy. Beware the fraud. Whatever. "Come on. Come on. Hurry up, every one."

When we get into the cave Bailey and Conrad both lift their wands in a lumo's spell. The walls have drawings on them and I study them for a second before getting pulled towards a small wooden door on the floor of the cave. What the hell? Bailey walks over to it and lifts the latch so the door opens. A musty smell hits me and I crinkle my nose at it. It smells like dead things.

"Foxworth, bring her down first," Bailey instructs as he nods to the bleeding Beatrice Flint. "Then you can take this lovely lady to my cottage," he says as he smiles at Lavinia. "It is very good to see you again, my dear. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances."

"Why are you doing this?" Lavinia asks as she crosses her arms over her chest. "I thought you were a good man."

"What is good is in the eye of the beholder," he says and then me smiles at me. "Isn't that right, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Don't talk to me," I snap at him because I really don't want to hear his voice right now. What would Dad do is still my motto now. WWDD.

"Oh, dear, someone is in a bad mood," he says and he smirks at Lavinia as we wait for that Conrad to come back. When he reapers, climbing up from the hole in the floor, he has an arrogant smirk on his face. "Everything in order?" Bailey asks and Conrad nods.

"It sure is…. Are you sure I can't stay for this?"

"We need a limited amount of people down there, and besides," he says as he looks at my sister again. "Who is going to watch her?"

Conrad looks disappointed for a moment and then he looks back at my sister and smiles again like he was thinking of something sinful. "Come with me," he says as he takes her hand and intertwines their fingers like they were lovers. "We need to celebrate the new world we're going to wake up to tomorrow."

"Wait," she says as she tries to pull back. She looks at me. "What are you going to do with Cassius?" she asks as her eyes slide to Dr. Bailey.

"Don't worry, girl," he answers as he walks over to the door on the floor. "He's in good hands. Why, when you see him again, he'll seem like a new man." He thought that was funny and he laughed.

"What does that mean?" I ask as I send a troubled look to my little sister who's looking at me oddly, like she was trying to say something to me. She looked at Conrad's pockets and then back to me. I didn't know what she was doing so I raised an eyebrow.

"Let me know when everything is complete," Conrad says before pulling my sister along to the mouth of the cave.

Lavinia trips, making Conrad drop his wand, and it flies out of the cave to the rocks below. She lands on top of his back as he tumbles to the ground as well. "Goddamnit, Lavinia." He uses that dog voice with her again as she wrestles around to get off and then he laughs smugly as he pushes her off. "Getting a bit frisky, are we?" he asks as he gets to his feet and holds his hand out for her to take. She has something in her hands and she rolls it in the dirt, hiding it with the rocks.

"I didn't mean to grab you there, you pervert," she snaps at him and he laughs as he pulls her up.

"Say goodbye to your brother, sweetheart," he says as she looks over her shoulder. "He's going to have one hell of a night."

"Goodbye Cassius," she says like it really was the last time she was ever going to see me and I run over to the mouth of the cave as Conrad starts dragging her out. She keeps tripping and falling on the rocks, but he doesn't care as he tugs her along.

"Where is he taking her?" I ask worriedly as she falls down again as they reach the sand, landing on her knees and whimpering when he yanks her up.

"Don't worry about it," Bailey says as he walks over to me as well. He pats my back. "Conrad has had a rough day, but he really is a sweet kid once you get to know him," he says and I would snort in disbelief if I wasn't so worried. "He likes her a lot, almost as much as Mr. Flint does. Hm…" he says like he was thinking and then he shakes it off as he starts walking back to the door. "Oh well. Let's go."

I look to my left, where Lavinia had put that thing in the dirt and my heart leaps. My wand! That clever girl. I bend down and grab it real quick, stuffing it in my pocket and turning around when I hear Bailey opening that strange door.

"You first," he says with a big smile, his bug like eyes blink at me behind his glasses.

I tighten my jaw and resist hexing him. I need to find Evelyn. I walk over stiffly and start climbing the odd looking stone stairs down into the darkness. The stairs are long and torches light the way down as it spirals into the earth. I feel like I'm going to the pit of hell it's self with Bailey trailing behind me, giving me the history of the limestone walls and torch holders. The bottom was a large watery pit, with large rocks growing from the depths and little patches of land uncovered where torches are stuck in the rock to light everything. There were about twelve robed death eater's all with their wands out, standing around at the ready.

There were four large stone slabs that had etchings along the side at the very center of this odd cave thing. They were rune signs and I narrowed my eyes as I tried to read them in the darkness.

"Cass!" My eyes snapped to my sister as she tried to come running towards me, only to be pulled back by that brute.

"Where are her clothes?" I snap hatefully as I see her cross her arms and shiver. She's not wearing the gray dress and leggings I saw her come down in. Evelyn is so thin that I don't even think she needs a bra and she's just wearing a pair of blue knickers and a thin tank top that most girls wear under their shirts… and her red rain boots. "Where are your clothes?" I ask her worriedly. This makes me very uneasy.

"Oh, don't worry about anything like that," Bailey says as he walks behind me. "Bring him out," Bailey says and I raise my eyebrows when I see Harry Potter being carried to one of the stone tables. They lay him on without care and I narrow my eyes. He's not wearing any clothes either… just a pair of briefs. "It's nothing dirty. We need you to remove your clothes as well."

"What?" I ask as a robed death eater comes up to me and starts unbuttoning my shirt. I push them back and they stumble, falling into the water. "Why do you need my clothes off?"

"Not all your clothes," he says as he walks over to the slab and starts doing something with his wand over Potter's chest. He must be passed out because he's not moving. "We'll save your modesty, but clothes are just another barrier to go through and what we're doing is going to be difficult enough as it is. Bring Bellatrix here," he says as he snaps at someone to the right. "Put her on the stone by Mr. Potter please. Now, do we have any of her things?"

A guy comes out of the shadows, I recognize him as Theodore Nott. He has an icepack up to his face and when he brings his hand down I wince at the bruises and cuts on the right side of his head. "Gavin said he destroyed the dress and she," he says nodding to Bellatrix on the table. "She said that Ginny Malfoy destroyed her necklace. So, no, we don't have any of her things."

"Well," Bailey says in irritation as she moans in pain. "We'll have to do this the hard way, then. Put the girl on the table and you," he says looking directly at me. "Take off your clothes please. I won't ask again."

He turns back to a few cloaked figures and waves an irritated hand. "Bring him out as well…" he says and they gasp in excitement. I watch as the brute dumps Evelyn on one of the tables and when she tries to get up, he pushes her back down. "Bellatrix is going to take too long and we have to start on his before the body dies."

"Who?" I ask worriedly.

The men disappear into the murky darkness of the cave and when they come back, a thing in a pink dress is stepping beside them. The skin on her is even more rotted than before and it looks like chunks have literally fallen off. I cringe and I'm glad there is a hood covering her face.

"Very good," Bailey says as he walks over to the thing and puts his hand out for her to take. "Now, let's get you in place, shall we?"

"Who is that?" I ask to anyone who will listen.

I look at Evelyn. She's crying.

"Go outside and wait, Crabbe," Bailey says as Crabbe holds my sister down. "Guard the cave and make sure no one gets in or out. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir," the large man says before disappearing and Evelyn sits up straight and crosses her arms like she was cold…. And I guess she is, really. It's freezing down here. One of the remaining death eaters walks over to her and makes sure that she sees his wand so she won't try to move.

I put my hand in my pocket to pull out my wand and I'm about ready to sneak over to my sister, but something holds me back and I glare over my shoulder at the robed death eater. Instead of calling me out, or cursing me, whoever it is brings a hand up to their lips to signal for me to be quiet. The lips...the jaw line… it looks familiar to me, only there are weird red scars on the exposed skin and I tilt my head down to see the person better but a splash makes me shift my focus. I look over as they try to put the thing in pink on one of the tables.

"Now, just to clarify what's going to happen," Dr Bailey says as he looks over the thing in pink. "We're going to extract the fragment of your soul from Potter's body so you can be more whole, if you will. That way you can jump into another," he tells the thing. The thing hisses back at him and I scrunch up my nose. Am I that other he's talking about? "This is probably going to hurt," he says. "But this is all groundbreaking magic and I'm sure you appreciate it."

"What are you talking about?" I ask and Bailey looks up at me with a smile.

"We're making history here, Cassius. No one has ever seen magic like this before."

"Who is that?" I snap as I point to the thing on the table. "I don't understand."

"Well," he says as he smiles down at the thing in pink. "It's Our Lord… and he is due for a comeback."

I narrow my eyes. "You kept saying it was a she," I say in disgust because I don't really know what the fuck she is. "You were calling it a she," I say as I remember Gavin's memory.

"We all have different aspects that make us who we are," he says like we were back at the university and he was the professor again. "Our soul is similar to our mind… it's is split into many facets. Civilized, primal, unconscious, conscious, male… female. Even our Dark Lord is divided that way and here is a whisper of that very faint but very present part of himself that has survived."

"So, he's a chick now?" I ask and Bailey bristles.

"No, he's not a chick," he snaps at me. "Once I take out the bit of soul he placed in Harry Potter he will be more like himself. Stronger, confident, more of his male side…. and when he has his vessel he will be like his old self again. It's amazing magic and you will respect it."

I reach for the wand in my pocket again, but a hand on my arm stops me and I glare at the person again only to see a pair of familiar silver eyes staring right back.

"What…"

"Sh," he says quickly so I don't continue and he puts his hood back down to cover his face. "Don't do anything," he says under his breath and I hesitate a moment before doing as he says. "Wait."

Bailey takes a dagger and walks over to Harry Potter who's still passed out on the stone table. Bailey mumbles a few words that make the runes etched into the stones glow and then he slashes a cut down Potter's chest. I wince and close my eyes as he mumbles more things.

"He's going to kill him," I say because I want my Dad to do something… to let me do something.

"Not yet," Dad says seriously and I frown as Bailey takes out his wand to do more things.

"Bring me the stones," he says to one of the followers and someone brings him a handful of clear looking crystals that Bailey arranges on Potter's body. One on each thigh, one on his right sounder, one of his left, and then one right in the middle of his chest where the blood is. He says a few more ancient words and pours some odd looking potions on Harry's open wound.

The potion starts to sizzle and I crinkle my nose as Potter arches his back and his chest rises in the air. He starts making a weird gasping noise, like the lungs were being ripped from his body and the stones start to glow an odd yellow color. I start to run forward to stop it, but my father holds me back.

"Cassius," My father whispers. "Let this happen. He needs it out."

I can't help but feel anxious as his body starts shaking and then he collapses against the slab in a weak thump once the lights in the crystals dim. Bailey pauses a second before picking up the stone that's at the center and handing it to one of the robed figures that's waiting for it. He pushes Potter off the slab like he was nothing and Potter splashes into the water, landing on his back. Bailey puts the stone in a goblet and after a few whispered spells it becomes a liquid that he forces the thing in pink to drink.

"This will make it better, My Lord," he says as the thing chokes on the potion. "This is you."

Once it's all down, the thing on the table starts thrashing and spitting and hissing all kinds of things before silence falls and it sits up straight.

I gulp.

"Now," it says in a deep dark voice that doesn't fit the body. "Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now." The male voice gets louder with each word and Bailey sets his eyes on me as it echoes around the cavern. "Now. Now. Now."

"Bellatrix will have to wait," he says dismissively. "Cassius, you come here now," he says and I send a look to my Dad before doing as he says. "I'm sorry there isn't more time to explain this to you," he says as he pushes me down on the slab and he opens my shirt with the blade, almost nicking my chest with the knife as another Death Eater pulls off my shoes. "I'm sorry, but we need you empty and there is only one way to do that."

"Now. Now. Now. Now…" the thing keeps on repeating as Bailey motions to another man.

"Bring the Dementors out now."

Dementors.

Oh… holy fuck….

"Absolutely not," I say as the thing keeps on chanting. I have a pretty good idea how they're going to 'clear me out' and I'd rather not take part in that.

The robed figure that was holding my sister comes up and holds my arms down. I don't know why he thought that would do any good because I roll my back and kick him in the face. He cusses and pins my arms down with a body binding curse. He steps back as the Dementors get closer and I fight against the bonds, stopping when I feel an icy chill as the Demantors approach.

"You know our deal," Bailey says as the beasts in the cloaks that smells like death and dirt get closer. What the fuck is my father doing? "You only get the people who we tell you you can have."

They don't respond, they just start coming towards me and I fight against the bonds as Evelyn starts screaming. The things get closer to me and all I can feel is misery and despair and terror. There's not a face, just blackness, never ending blackness and I arch my back and throw my neck back.

"Dad!" I yell, feeling like a little boy again. "Dad, do something!"

I clench my eyes shut when I feel an icy hand on my face, holding me still. This can't be happening to me. It's not fair. What the fuck is my Dad doing? Then, just as quickly as it came, the feeling was gone. I felt normal again and I shot up as a white horse went running through the cave, making the demontors hiss and scream and run away. I see Bailey's confused face and we both turn towards my Dad at the same time as he lifts his wand to control his patronus. He has a fierce look on his face and I glance at the bodies of the robed Death Eaters lying around him. All that's left now is Bailey and the creature in the pink dress. I guess that's what he was doing.

"Get up," Dad says as he walks closer and kicks Potter in the shoulder after taking the binding curse off of my arms. I sit up quickly. "I know you're not dead."

"Dad…." I say as Bailey takes out his wand and I jump off the table and take out my wand.

"Take your sister and get out of here," he says. Potter starts to wake after Dad kicks some water on his face. "Get up, Potter," My Dad growls out as he throws a wand at Potter's cut up chest. Potter hisses and a curse comes flying towards us that my father deflects with a swish of his wand like it was nothing and Bailey sneers in anger. "Get up," he snaps again as Potter blinks his eyes a few times. "I don't know how to speak snake and I need to fucking know what he's saying," he snaps and I guess he's talking about Lord Voldemort in the pink dress that is hissing up a storm.

"Give me a second," I hear Potter say in a groggy voice as Bailey starts to attack my father. I duck and grip my wand a little tighter to help but my father pushes my shoulder.

"Your sister," he says, never taking his eyes off the small professor. "You have one job."

I look over to where Evelyn should be. She's jumped off the table and is hiding behind it. The Death Eater that was guarding her lays dead a few feet away and all I can see is the top of her curls as she peaks over the edge. Bailey, for as little as he is, is fierce with his wand and he starts dueling with my father with a vengeance. I doge the curses that come flying by me as I run to my sister and I slide behind the stone table as she crouches with her knees drawn up to her chest.

"Come on," I tell her as I take her shivering arm. "Let's get out of here."

"That's a good idea, I think," she says with chattering teeth because she's cold and I hold her hand as I check around the table again to make sure it's safe to move.

The thing in the pink dress has gotten up and has found a wand from one of the dead Death Eaters. It's blocking the stairs and I send a worried look to Evelyn as Harry finds his barrings and approaches it after realizing where he is and who that is.

"Why won't you just die," he says tiredly before they start dueling. The Pink Dress starts hissing again and my Dad cusses.

"What is it saying?" he snaps as he throws a curse at Bailey. It hits the professor in the shoulder and he groans.

"I don't know… I can't…." Potter dodges a curse that was aimed at his head. "I can't understand it anymore."

"Then you're pointless to me," my Dad retorts cruelly and I bite my lip as I try to work out how to do this. Dad sees me and Evelyn hovering behind the table and he glares. "Get away from the fucking stairs, Potter."

"What?" Potter says breathlessly as he fights and my father narrows his eyes as he deflects another curse from Bailey.

"Do you not understand English now either?" he says hatefully. "Get the fuck away from the stairs."

Potter takes the order and starts running towards the water. The Pink Dress follows and I glance at the two men dueling before gripping Evie's hand a little tighter. "Now," I say as I start running. Curses go flying towards us and my Dad cusses out loud.

"I don't think so," he says as he sends the killing curse at Dr. Bailey's chest in retaliation for trying to curse us. It hits him in the chest and he widens his eyes before falling back into the water.

I'm not even shocked…. In fact, I feel a little justified, and I don't move for a few seconds until Evelyn grips my hand.

Right. Get her out. My one job.

We start running up the stairs and I look over my shoulder one time to see Harry Potter and my Dad fighting side by side against the Dark Lord in a pink dress. It's almost funny, really, when I think about it. The Dark Lord in a pink fluffy dress. Hilarious. Dementors start to lurk around, though. I see them creeping out from the darkness and I send a worried look to my father before I blast open that stupid door on the floor… or door on the ceiling from this perspective, I guess. It splinters off its hinges and breaks into a million pieces. I climb out first and lift my wand as the burly guard that Bailey sent up and he looks bloody surprised when I point my wand at him and accio'd his wand. I snap it in half.

"Give me your clothes," I tell him as I point my wand at his chest.

"What…"

"Give us your clothes," I tell him hatefully as I blast a curse at the ceiling of the cave, making a few rocks crumble to the ground to prove my point. Everything crumbles. He starts removing his clothes and when he hands me his shirt, I give it to Evelyn. It fits her like a baggy dress.

"Your boots too," I tell him and he looks nervous. I'm barefoot and this place is covered in jagged rocks.

The boots are too wide for my foot and I have to tie them tight to keep them from slipping off. I'm not a girl, so I don't know how to change the size and I don't want to bother Evelyn to do it.

"Come on, Evie," I whisper as I take her hand and we leave the cave. What would Dad do in this situation? He'd probably kill that man who had smacked Evelyn and treated her so terrible. "Hold on a second," I tell her as I go back into the cave. "One more thing," I tell the man as he starts to head down the stairs into the murky cave bottom. I curse him with a pretty terrible stinging curse and I smile as he slumps against the cave wall and cusses.

Karma is a killer.

Evelyn picks up a rock and throws it at him as well. It hits him in the head. "Stupid old jerk," she hisses as he tries to deaden the pain of the stings as he moves around against the cave floor.

I couldn't kill him like my father, but I can hurt him.

"I don't know where we are," I tell her as we step out of the cave and start climbing down the jagged rocks. "I'm not sure if I can Apparate us home."

"Look up there," Evelyn whispers. She points to lights coming from a small little house on a hill nearby. "Do you think they have a floo network?" she asks.

"Maybe," I say as I bite my lip. Bailey had told Conrad to take Lavinia up to his cottage. Was that his cottage? "I guess we could find out."

It takes us a good while to get up there, it was quite a track, and half way up the large hill where the house is located, Evelyn complains about her legs hurting. I let her climb on my back and I carry her piggy back style the rest of the way up. She's so tiny it barely even bothers me. The windows are open and I let Evelyn down on her feet as I walk over to one to peek inside. I don't want any more surprises, but what I see surprises me more than anything. Lavinia is straddling Conrad on some makeshift bed on the floor. She's not killing him, or strangling him, though. She's kissing him. I furrow my brows and Evelyn stands on her tip toes so she can see as well.

"What's she doing?" she says after seeing Lavinia pull off Conrad's shirt and kiss him with so much passion that it would make any smut story proud. "Why is she doing that with him?"

"I don't know," I answer honestly and I cover Evelyn's eyes when Lavinia starts pulling down the top of her dress.

"Wait," I hear Conrad say as he flips their bodies and settles on top of her. "Let me heal you first. I don't want you to scar."

She kisses him in response and I narrow my eyes. What is she doing? I have a terrible thought of her being in on all of this, but I shake that away. Not Lavinia. She wouldn't. He takes out his wand and runs the length of it against those violent red cuts against her skin, humming to himself as he does it.

"Tomorrow morning is going to be a new world," he mutters to himself as she runs her fingers up and down his arms. "It's going to be amazing." He smiles down at her like she was the greatest thing he'd ever seen and then he pulls another thing from his pocket. "Look what I have," he says as he clicks the side so a switch blade appears.

"Why do you have that?" she questions lightly, still stroking one of his arms and she leans up to kiss his cheek as he smirks at the blade.

"Your dress is filthy," he says suggestively. I look over at Evelyn, she's pulled my hand down and is watching what's going on with wide eyes as Conrad takes the knife and cuts a strap of her dress.

I pull Evelyn down under the sill. "What are you doing?" she asks worriedly as I take out my wand. "Stay down here and look out behind me," I tell her seriously. "I don't want you to see this."

I stand up to throw a curse as he continues to cut the dress from her body, but the door to the little cottage gets kicked open and Conrad jumps up with his wand at the ready. It's Byron and I hesitate going in.

Is he holding a sword?

"Are you holding a sword?" Conrad practically pulled the thought from my mind and he laughs a little. "How very medieval of you," he comments. Lavinia is stripped down to her bra and knickers and she stands up behind Conrad and wraps her arms around him.

What was she doing?

"I think your noble knight has come to rescue you, darling," he smirks as she sucks on his neck.

"Take the curse of off her," Byron says sternly and Conrad laughs again.

"What curse?" He asks and she nuzzles his neck. "Lavinia, tell Byron how much you love me."

Lavinia looks at Byron. Her eyes look odd and glassed over. Cursed eyes. "I love him very much, Byron," she says in a monotone voice and Byron's lips press in a thin line.

"Take the curse off of her," he demands again and Conrad smirks as he pulls Lavinia from behind him and hands her the switch blade.

"Drop the sword," he says carefully as Lavinia stares at him like a love struck teenager. Byron doesn't move. "Lavinia," he says again and she blinks. "Cut your arm."

She does it without question and I inhale deeply when I see the blood start to appear. She starts breathing deeply as she brings the knife down and blinks back tears. "That hurt," she whispers as her hand starts shaking.

"I know it did, sweetheart. It was because he wouldn't do as I say." He looks at Byron again. "Put it down or I'll make her do it again. I've had a long day and I'm not in a forgiving mood."

Again, Byron hesitates and he nods at her. This time she cuts her forearm and she hisses in pain and curves her spine like that would deaden the pressure.

"Stop it," Byron says in a panic as he drops the sword. It clatters to the ground and he kicks it to Conrad who smiles as Lavinia turns into his arms and rests her head against his chest like a wounded child. He pulls her back to heal the cuts and then he kisses the side of her head.

"See, that wasn't so hard, now was it, Flint?"

"Take the curse off of her, Foxworth," Byron says gently like he was talking to a wild animal. "Even you know that's wrong. I thought you liked her."

"It's been a long day and I deserve a reward," he replies heatedly. "You know, I almost thought she was dead," he says softly as he traces Lavinia's face with his fingers. She leans into his touch and he smiles like it was a real reaction. "It hurt. It really did and I wanted to celebrate how wonderful things were going to be for us." He gives Lavinia a thoughtful look and then he smirks at Byron. "Why don't you take a seat? I think we're going to finish what we started."

"Conrad," Lavinia says gently in that weird cursed voice. "I don't want to…"

"You would do anything for me, wouldn't you?" he cuts her off and she nods her head as he tilts her chin up with his finger. "Good. Now, if Flint tries to stop what we're about to do, I want you to slit your throat with the knife. Do you understand?"

I gulp and she nods her head. "I understand."

"And you would do that for me, wouldn't you?"

"Yes," she says softly and he smiles before kissing her forehead.

"Good girl. Lay down on the bed."

She does as he tells her to and my heart beat starts to hammer in my chest. What do I do now? If I tried to stop them… would she still do… that... with the knife? I waited too long to use my wand and I curse my stupidity as she looks up at him with loving eyes.

"If he tries to leave…" he trails off as he climbs on top of her. "I want you to do that same thing as if he were going to stop us. Okay?"

"Okay," she whispers as she puts the knife up to her neck. I glance over at Byron as he sits in the chair with his hands white knuckled against the arm rests. His breathing is coming out in short gasps and his eyes look positively murderous as he glares at Conrad Foxworth. I'm sure we're sharing the same panicked facial expression right now.

He begins exploring her body like he was preparing himself to have sex with her and I feel my stomach lurch as he fiddles with her bra strap. I'm going to throw up if I keep watching, so I slump against the house and sit next to Evelyn who has her knees drawn up to her chest.

"I can't do anything," I whisper as I bring my hands up to my head. I could try to get the knife out of her hand with my wand, but if I missed… what if she thought that was Byron trying to stop him and she slit her throat? She would die and it would be my fault and I'm sure Lavinia can't beat an Imperio curse put on her by that guy. He seems like a guy who's studied the Dark Arts.

"God," I hear him say. "You taste so good," he says. "She has the perfect body, doesn't she Flint?" he asks as I hear him kiss his way around her body and I clench my eyes shut. "Full where she needs to be full and slim where she needs to be slim. She's made for fucking, isn't she?"

I cringe.

"Do you fine me attractive, Lavinia?" he asks between kisses and I'm sure that's for Byron's benefit.

"Yes," she says breathlessly and I pull Evelyn to me and I cover her ears.

"Am I more attractive than Byron Flint?" he asks and there's a long pause.

"No," she answers and the kisses stop.

"What?" he says darkly.

"You are not more attractive than Byron Flint," she answers honestly and I hear him growl.

"I have a better idea," he says and I hear him stand. I peek over the window again to see him pull her up. "Go kneel in front of Flint," he tells her as he throws her towards Byron who is still sitting helplessly in the chair.

She stumbles for a second before catching her balance and with quiet steps she walks over to Byron. She drops to her knees in front of him with the knife still in hand. Conrad starts pacing behind her.

"Do you think he's handsome?" Conrad asks sharply. I think he's lost his bloody mind. He looks fucking mental.

Lavinia reaches a hand out and runs her fingers over Byron's jaw like she couldn't help herself and Byron closes his eyes. Conrad's face becomes twisted in anger when he notices. "Yes," she whispers. "He's the most beautiful boy I've ever seen."

"He won't be for long," Conrad says scornfully. "I want you to cut his face."

"W-What?" She stumbled with the demand and that inflamed him further. He walked over to her and yanked her back by the hair. Byron sat straight, but Conrad pointed his wand at his chest until he backed down. This was a nightmare.

This had to be a bloody nightmare.

"Do as I say and cut his face. I want it unrecognizable by the time you're finished."

She blinks a few times, obviously struggling with the curse. The curse must have won out because she shakes her head and turns towards Byron. She brings up the knife to his cheek, but Byron grabs her wrist.

"Every time he tries to stop you, I want you to cut your own face," he says as he steps back and starts chewing on his knuckles like a mad man. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," she says and she's crying as she tries to pull her hand back to cut herself, but Byron tugs on her wrist again, pulling it closer to him.

"I'm not going to stop you," he whispers as he takes her hand and presses it against his cheek, slicing it down so he cuts open his own skin. He barely makes a noise, but his body tenses up.

"Do the other side," he demands and Byron turns his head and does it again. Conrad cusses under his breath. "Flint, Jesus Christ. I know you're into self mutilation, but you are taking all the fun out of this for me. Put your hand down." He hesitates. "Put it down," he demands again and Byron reluctantly puts his hand down. "Good, now… cut him again."

Lavinia's whole arm is shaking as she brings the blade to his jaw and slices down. I wince as Byron tries to muffle a painful groan. She does it again, slashing across his the tip of his right cheek down to the top of his lip. Conrad watches with dark amusement as she does it again, cutting from the tip of his hairline down to his dark eyebrow. This time he can't hold back his cry of pain and he squirms in his chair because he wants to get away but he tries to calm himself by closing his eyes and breathing in deeply before opening his eyes and staring right at her. He really is brave, that Byron Flint. She pauses a moment as she stares into Byron's eyes, blinking furiously like she was trying to wake up from a bad dream.

"Do you still think he's handsome?" he asks and she closes her eyes. "Answer me now, Lavinia."

"Yes, I do," she says with a shaky voice and Conrad narrows his eyes.

"Cut off his ear," he says and my heart stops beating. She furrows her brows. "Cut off his ear," he snaps and she shakes her head. He becomes enraged and he walks over to her and controls her hand as he slashes it across Byron's face, deeper than before, and Byron actually calls out as the cut splits open and starts bleeding.

"Do it again," he says as he drops her hand and I can see her knuckles are white around the knife. She doesn't move and neither does Byron. "Do it again," he demands and he goes to storm over to her, but I see my opportunity.

Lavinia drops the knife and I lift my wand, shooting a curse that hits Conrad right in the side. He slams against the wall and falls against the ground, unconscious from the impact as I climb through the window and help Evelyn do the same.

"That was messed up," I voice out loud as Byron stands up and pulls Lavinia into his arms as she tucks herself against his chest. "Are you alright?" I ask them just to make sure and when Byron nods his head, I walk over to her dress and pick it up. It looks like it's been cut to pieces. "We all seem to be very limited on clothes," I say as I look at the tatter and back at Byron who's stony face is staring unblinkingly forward as blood drips from his wounds. Lavinia cries against his chest and apologizes to him over and over again.

"I'm so sorry," she cries as she fists his jumper in her hands. "I couldn't stop. I was trying so hard!"

"It's okay," he replies flatly. "I know you didn't want to."

"What is wrong with him?" she asks against his chest. "Why would he do this?"

"I don't know," he answers in that same dead voice. I know that voice. Byron is pissed.

She pulls back and looks at his face. It makes her cry harder. "I am so sorry. I can heal you. I promise."

Evelyn walks over to an odd chest of drawers and starts sorting through it. "Here are some clothes," she says as she pulls out a gray hooded sweat shirt and green sweat pants.

Lavinia doesn't move from her spot against Byron as Evelyn walks over to her and hands them to her. I turn away as she starts pulling them on because that seemed too personal to me. I had seen Lavinia in a swim suit before and she was my little sister, so seeing her so unclothed really wasn't much of a shock, but watching her try to awkwardly get dressed again felt wrong to me. The pants are too short for her, of course, and the sweat shirt shows off her midriff with the sleeves up to her elbows. Those are definitely Bailey's clothes. The thought of him leaves a sour taste in my mouth and I shake it away.

"Let's go home," I state as we start walking towards the door. There's not a fireplace in here and I sigh tiredly. "Do you know where we need to Apparate?" I ask Byron and he tightly nods his head.

"Let's go outside the gates," he answers as I walk over to Conrad and I start rummaging through his pockets.

I find two wands and I hand them to Byron and Lavinia. Evelyn gets shafted because she's the youngest and least experienced of us all, but she doesn't seem to mind. She's too busy trying on shoes that are stacked against one of the walls. She finds a pair of white trainers and she feels the tips for her toes before taking them off.

"I think theses will fit you, Liv," she says as she hands the shoes to our other sister. "There are a bunch of rocks outside," she explains as she pulls back on her red rain boots and I glance out the window. It's getting even darker, if that's possible. Night time is officially here and the moon is covered with clouds. I realize how quickly this fucked up day has gone. Out of the corner of my eye I see Lavinia walk back over to her dress and she digs through the tatters until she finds a small ball and she rolls it in her hands for a few moments before putting it in the front pocket of her sweat shirt.

I take Evelyn's hand and I usher her to the door with Lavinia and Byron trailing behind. When we get to the door, I hold it open, but when it's Byron's turn to pass the threshold, he pauses.

"What are you waiting for?" I ask as he looks over his shoulder at the passed out Conrad.

"Give me a second," he says as he goes to shut the door, but I stop it with my hand.

"What are you doing?" I ask seriously, but I feel Lavinia push my hand away until the door snaps shut. "Lavinia…" I say but she cuts me off as she takes my arm and leads me away from the house.

"I learned my lesson," she says flatly and I have no idea what she's talking about.

A few minutes later, Byron comes out of the house, carrying that sword and wiping off the bloody blade with a dirty towel. I don't even want to know, so I pretend like I don't see it as Lavinia walks over to him and brings her hands up to his face. She starts kissing him all over his face like her lips could heal the cuts. I look away again because it felt like another intimate moment I wasn't supposed to see. They started mumbling things to each other in hushed voices and he brings one of his hands up to her hip and plays his fingers along the curve of her body… I tried looking away again. It wasn't working well for me and I couldn't help but feel a little bit bitter about it.

I realized at that moment that I was jealous of them.

Out of all the relationships that I have had in my life, never did I tell a girl I loved her. I've never been in love, to be completely honest, and that kind of pissed me off. I'm twenty three years old, what have I been doing with my life? I should at least be engaged by now. I sneer when I think of the one girl I had my eye as of late and how she sold me out to Bailey and his little team of washed up Death Eaters. What is wrong with me? Why do I attract the worst girls?

"What's that?" Evelyn asks as a black cloud comes swarming towards us.

I squint my eyes and then I inhale deeply when I realize that it's not a cloud at all. "Dementors," Lavinia says worriedly as pulls herself away from Byron long enough to look.

There are a lot… too many. I've never seen so many. "Do you know how to do a Patronus?" I ask my sister and she nods her head as I push Evelyn behind me. "Feel free to use it," I tell her as I lift my own wand and try to focus.

It's not an easy spell to do and I was a little out of practice. I don't run into dementors very often and the last time I used this spell was when I was actually learning how to do it my last year of Hogwarts. It's needless to say I was a little rusty. I wish I could say that my Patronus was something cool and manly like a lion… or even a panther like Gavin's, but I have no such luck. My animal is some type of bird. I'm not completely sure what kind of bird it is, to be honest. I never really cared to study it but when it busts out of my wand and flies towards the hooded soul suckers, I kind of wish I knew. Byron's silver wolf goes running out next and after a few silent moments a small lamb trots out of Lavinia's wand.

"Really?" I say sarcastically as the little fluffy thing goes running towards the dementors who start to scatter.

"I can't help it," she whispers fiercely and I shake my head. "They keep coming," she points out and after our weak spells die, more dementors replace the ones that had run.

I already escaped getting my soul sucked out, thank you very much. I'm not going to go down again and I lift my wand to do an even stronger patronus charm, but something warm and fuzzy and happy courses through me. I smile and I look to my right where Lavinia is holding a small glowing ball. Her mood manipulator.

"I am very pleased that you used that," I tell her with a smile and she hands it to me.

"Throw it at them," she says with her eyes twinkling, the mood manipulator shaping her emotions into something content. "You have a better arm than me."

I wind up and throw the glowing ball right into the cluster of hooded figures. They start hissing and screaming and then there's a loud pop noise before they all disappear. The mood manipulator falls somewhere on the ground and turns off as ashes come pouring down on us.

"What is this?" Evelyn asks as she holds out her hand to catch some of the ashes and I make a face as the emotions manipulator rubs off.

"You're catching a dead dementor in your hand," I tell her flatly as I put my wand in the pocket of my pants. Evelyn cringes and pulls her hand back.

"It's kind of sad that being happy destroyed them," Lavinia whispers softly as we start walking outside of the ward gate of Dr. Bailey's home.

"What's the point of dementors, I wonder," Evelyn says by my side as Byron wraps his arms around Lavinia's waist and I pull Evelyn towards me. "What about Dad?" she whispers and I tighten my jaw.

"I have to get you home," I say and I look over to Lavinia and Byron.

"Byron," I say seriously once we get to a safe Apparation zone. He looks at me. "Can you Apparate two people at the same time?" I ask and he studies my face before nodding his head.

"Thank you," I tell him as I hand off Evelyn to them.

"Wait, no," she says as she tries to push Byron off. Lavinia seems to understand and she takes her hand, trying to pull her back. "What are you doing? Where are you going?"

"Just go home with them, Evelyn," I say and she makes a sad face before Byron pops all three of them away.

I stare at the spot they just left for a few moments before taking out my wand and turning around. I start running back towards the beach, pumping my legs and jumping over rocks and other annoying things that are in my way. When I reach the beach, I climb up the rocks to the cave and pause a second when I realize that the brute isn't there anymore. Where did he go?

I narrow my eyes and start running down the stairs, two at a time. The torches make my body cast a shadow, but I ignore it as I continue to run. Potter is over by Beatrice, holding her body to his chest as he cries and I make a face when I see it as I look around for my father.

"That is Bellatrix Lestrange, you fucking pounce. Would you please stop hugging a dead woman and fucking help me," I hear a hateful voice say.

Well, my Dad is definitely here somewhere.

I take tentative steps further into the cave and I glance around. Where could he possibly be?

"Why are you fighting against me?" I hear the deep dark voice ask. It's the same voice that came from the pink dress creature. "Your family has always been loyal, Malfoy. We would own the world again."

I walk around one of the large rocks and see them. Lord Voldemort, in the puffy pink dress and decomposing body, is standing over my father who's sitting in the shallow end of the water, like he just got hit with a curse and was in the process of standing up. There's some blood in the corner of his mouth and I tighten my hand around my wand.

"You know I wasn't going to let you do anything with my children," Dad says seriously.

"It's a privilege," Pink dress says seriously. The deep man's voice sounded demented and weird coming from the corpse woman's mouth. "You should be proud your son was chosen."

"You can't even begin to understand how wrong you are," Dad says and the Dark Lord sneers.

"I understand everything," he says like someone had called him stupid and he was offended. The Dark Lord was a legend in the magical world, but I just couldn't see the man who had murdered thousands and nearly took down an empire wearing a pink dress.

"Why didn't you just use someone else?" My Dad says hatefully as he stands up. "Anyone else. One of your fucking followers would have worked. I might have even cared to help you, but you had to use my children," he says like the thought angered him so much that he couldn't contain his temper. "My children," he repeats again, like it was the worse betrayal. "And that was your greatest mistake."

"How dare you speak to me that way," The Dark Lord hisses.

"Oh please," my Dad scoffs as he kicks away a rock that was by his foot. It ripples against the water. "You're wearing a pink dress and your followers were referring to you as a woman for the past few months. I can speak to you however I fucking want."

The creature sneers and I notice for the first time that my father doesn't have his wand. He's at the disadvantage here. "You know what I'm going to do, Malfoy," It says as he tilts his head to the side, speaking in a calm like manner that makes me feel uneasy. "I'm going to keep you alive," he says seriously. "So you can witness what I'm going to do."

"What's that?" My Dad asks flatly as he looks over the pink dress. "Knit me a sweater?"

"I'm going to kill your children," he says and I feel my spine tingle. "But I'm going to take my time doing it,"he says as he starts walking around my wandless father like a predator circling its prey. "I will crucio your oldest son into madness and then I will take his body," he states and I swallow the lump in my throat. "And then I'm going to take the other son that you have, the one who acts just like you," he says as he glares at my father. "I'm going to cut out his eyes and make you wear them as a necklace while I flay him alive and use his skin to decorate my new house." He starts walking again. "I'm going let every pervert in Azkaban rape your daughters and then you'll watch while I cut off their heads and then burn their bodies."

Dad tightens his jaw, but looks unflinching forward as the Dark Lord walks closer until he's standing right behind my Dad.

"And then," It says against my father's ear with a demented smile on it's rotted flesh. "I'm going to use your son's body to fuck the wife that I gave you." It pauses a moment for that to sink in. "I might even keep her," he says thoughtfully. "Just so you'll know when you die, that the son that you created is now home to me and the woman that you love will be forcefully fucking her son." He laughs. "She might even start to like it like she started to like you. Who knows? The world is a funny place."

It pauses another moment before stepping back and walking around to face my father again so it's back is to me.

"But it doesn't have to be that way," it says after a few silent moments. Switching it's tone to something more sympathetic. What a manipulative jerk. "All you have to do is apologize and pledge yourself to me again."

What the creature had said had shook my father. I could tell that and even though I never knew the Dark Lord in his prime, I know the stories and I know that he is brutal. Brutal and powerful. What he just told my father wasn't just talk. He meant it and he would do it. Dad is a very prideful and stubborn man, so I could see him wrestling with his decision. The Dark Lord, even in this form, is a stronger wizard and Dad doesn't have his wand. A part of me has to wonder what's going through my Dad's head right now. A part of him has to want to agree and go along with it. He once followed this creature whole heartedly and believed everything he stood for.

He had tortured people and killed people for it.

Dad looked down. There's nothing he can do right now but give in or accept whatever cruel fate the pink dress thing has in store for him… he doesn't have his wand.

But I do.

I step out from behind the rock and lift my wand as my father starts to answer.

"I—"

"Avada Kedavra," I say softly.

The cave lights up in green and the curse hits the creature right in the back. There's a second of dead silence where I thought my curse didn't work. I was starting to panic because I didn't know what to do. I was afraid my curse wasn't strong enough and that the creature would turn around and really torture me like it said it would, but a moment later the person in the pink dress falls face foreword into the water, making a splash. I just kept on staring at it. I've never killed anyone before and I didn't even realize my father had moved until he took my wand out my hand.

"It's okay," he says because he has to practically pry it from my hand.

"I've never killed a person before," I state out loud as I look at the body slumped on the ground.

"Your record is still clean," he says seriously. "That wasn't a person." He tilts my head until he finds my eyes. "Cassius." I blink a few times until I look into his eyes.

"Yeah?"

He puts his hand on my neck. "You did the right thing," he says like he felt like he needed to tell me that and I blink a few more times before I exhale. I didn't even realize I was holding my breath.

"I know," I say even though I didn't sound convincing. I swallowed hard. "Evelyn is safe," I say just to say something. I look at him and nod my head. "She is home and so is Lavinia." My eyes keep wondering to the pink lump in the water.

I had killed it.

Killed it like it was nothing and there it was. Dead.

I just, I feel like that was a little anti-climatic. I wasn't dueling. I wasn't fighting face to face. I had killed someone with a curse to the back and I didn't feel okay with that.

He nods his head and smiles a little. "Good," he says.

"It's…" I look at the thing again. "It's not going to come back again, is it?"

"He had better not," Dad says seriously. "Potter was the last—"

He gets cut off by a yell and we both snap our head towards the person running towards us. It's that brute that I cursed and Dad lifts his eyebrows as he comes barreling towards us.

"Is he really doing that?" My father asks before lifting my wand.

He doesn't curse him, though, someone else beats him to it and when the guy falls over, we see Potter standing behind him with his wand drawn. His eyes are still all watery and he's still only wearing his underwear.

"Oh, good, you decided to help," my father says sarcastically as he hands me my wand. "What impeccable timing."

"Shut up, Malfoy," Potter says as he wipes his eyes under his glasses.

"Let's go home," Dad says as we start walking towards the staircase.

"Wait," Potter says as we start walking up. "I don't understand this. Why is she here?" he points to Beatrice Flint on the table. "What did you mean when you said that thing about Bellatrix? I don't understand what happened here!"

My Dad sighs and stares at him for a long time before walking back up the stairs. "Come on, Potter," he says over his shoulder. "We'll find someone to answer those questions for you because I'm too tired to do it."

Potter hesitates for a moment and he sends one more sad look to the woman on the table before following us out.

We Apparate home, with Potter trailing behind us. "Here," I say uncomfortably as I take off my shirt and hand it to him. It was ripped open with a knife, but it was better than nothing.

"Thanks," he says as he puts it on. Dad watches me from the corner of his eyes. I feel odd. I don't feel well. I know killing the Dark Lord is a good thing, but it doesn't feel good.

The front doors are still blasted open and Dad pauses for a moment to look at it before turning to me. "Go inside, Cass," he says tiredly, taking off his glasses. "I need to talk to Harry."

Harry. I've never heard him call him that before.

"Alright," I say cautiously and I send a look to Potter before walk inside.

Inside I find Mom talking to a group of Aurors which include my distant Uncle, Ron Weasley. Gavin was off to the side, wincing at a wound on his arm and all heads turned towards me when I entered.

"Oh, thank god," Moms says as she runs over to us and hugs me like I was a child again again. "I was so worried."

"What happened here?" I ask as I look at Ron Weasley who's talking to a group of men in Auror robes in hushed voices.

"Where's your father?" Mom asks sharply, like she just realized he should be with me. I explained to her what had happened at the cave, and I told her about Harry Potter and Dad pushing us out as they fought against Bailey and his dementors…. I also told her about Lord Voldemort in the pink dress. She started to look a little pale. I let her know that he was out side, talking to Potter right now "Oh." Is all she says. "Hold on a minute," she whispers as she goes back to talk to Ron Weasley. I glance at Gavin as he goes into the living room and I walk in to talk to him.

"Are you alright?" I ask as I sit beside him on the couch.

He nods his head and pulls something out of his arm. It looks like glass and I cringe. "Glad to see you're alive," he says sarcastically.

"Likewise," I tell him and he spares me a painful little glance, like it hurt him to move his neck. I remember what the creature had said about him, what he would have done, and I try to shake the words off

"Is Dad okay?" he asks quietly as he turns back to the wound on his arm. Evelyn walks into the room with tired steps and I watch her as she comes over to us.

I slump back in my seat as Evie takes a seat in-between us like the annoying little sister that she is. "Yeah," I whisper.

"Do you suppose everything will be normal tomorrow?" Evelyn asks tiredly as he leans her head on my shoulder. "I am so very glad you're okay."

"Probably not," I answer honestly as Gavin shifts in his spot to give himself more room.

"I wish things would be normal again," she says seriously, then she yawns. "I do not like interesting things so much anymore."

"Yeah," Gavin says flatly. "I know what you mean."

After a few moments, Evelyn falls asleep against me and her body slumps further back as she opens her mouth in exhaustion. I give her a sad look before glancing at Gavin. He raises his eyebrows for a moment before facing the fireplace with a sigh.

"Cassius," Lavinia says in relief as she walks into the room. I give her an acknowledging nod. "They sent Aurors to that Hospital," Lavinia says tiredly as she walks further into the room with Byron walking closely beside her. "Weasley says that they sent 'top secret' Aurors… whatever that means."

"He's only doing that because of Harry Potter," I say bitterly because I know he could care less about our father.

"At least he's doing something," she says as she takes a seat on the chaise lounge that's against the far wall. She kicks off Dr. Bailey's shoes and cracks her ankles a few times before laying back and covering her eyes with her arm. Byron stares at her for a few moments before he crawls in behind her and kisses her temple.

Gavin makes a noise and looks away in disgust as the lay beside one another and Lavinia turns so her back is towards us as they whisper to each other. What are they talking about? I'm irritated with their relationship all over again and Gavin and I share a look of annoyance before going back to staring at nothing before us. A part of me is glad that we're all here, all safe, but another part is pissed off that we all had to go through this.

"Gavin," I say after a few silent moments as Byron plays with a ring on Lavinia's finger. He kisses her palm and I look away. Ugh. "Tell me about your daughter."

"What?" he snaps distractedly and I turn my neck towards his.

"Tell me about your baby." I want to think about something pleasant.

"Oh," he says and a very uncharacteristic look crosses his features. He looks almost…almost happy. I haven't seen that warm look on his face for a very long time. Maybe I only ever did when we were boys and he didn't know any better to hide it. I think the look suites him. "You'd like her," he says and he smiles a little to himself. I find myself smiling in reaction to his. "She's cute."

"What's her name?" I ask as I shift Evelyn's head so she's resting against my lap so I can see Gavin better.

"Emma," he says as he looks at the fireplace. "Emma Josephine Malfoy," he says softly like he was trying it out on his lips. "What do you think of the name?"

I smile at him. "I think it's a great name."

"I didn't really get to choose it," he says softly. "But I think I like it."

"I can't wait to meet her," I tell him and he smiles at me before turning away like he was catching himself doing something embarrassing. "What color hair does she have?" I ask to keep the conversation going and he smirks.

"Blonde," he says smugly and I laugh a little at the proud way his voice is. "Like ours."

"That means it's there to stay then," I tell him jokingly and he smiles again and then looks at Evelyn who is slouched down in between us.

"Do you remember when she was a baby?" he asks and I nod my head. "She had white hair." He puts his hand out and touches a lock of her curls. "I wouldn't mind this color either," he says like he was weighing the options in his mind as he twirled Evelyn's strawberry blonde curl between his fingers.

"Hopefully she won't be as mean as Evleyn was," I say as I remember her as a child.

"She wasn't mean," Gavin states and I roll my eyes.

"She didn't hit you all the time," I tell him. She used to smack me every chance she got and Mom tried to say it was because she liked me, but I knew better.

"She just didn't like you," he says smugly, smirking at me. "She loved me."

"Because you would put soda in her bottle," I say sourly. "That's the only reason she liked you more. You're lucky her teeth didn't rot out."

"Hey, they were baby teeth . They come out anyways."

"Oh, that's wonderful logic."

"It works for me." He pauses for a second. "I saw Mom curse an Auror," he says as he stares ahead of him. He laughs a little. "It was glorious." I smirk, thinking of it as Gavin glances over at Byron and Lavinia. "What happened to his face?" he asks and turn to him.

"Who's face?"

"His," he says nodding to Byron and the cuts on his cheeks. "What happened with that?"

"Oh," I say as I turn away. "You don't want to know," I say darkly and I can feel him staring at me questionably.

There's commotion in the hallway and Gavin and I both snap our heads towards it. I see Mom run towards someone and I suspect it must be Dad. Something close to relief washes over me, I don't know why, really… I knew he was okay, I guess I was just worried about that talk he was having with Potter. I carefully slide Evelyn's head from my lap so I can stand up. I glance at Lavinia and Byron once to see if they're going to follow Gavin and me out… but they're both fast asleep as well. I guess everyone has had a tough day.

Standing in the front hallway is Dad, Harry Potter, and small group of Aurros with gold Phoenix badges on their Auror robes. Daniella is the only one with plain clothes on and I cross my arms when I see her. Those new Aurros must have come in with my Dad. She's holding a large golden necklace with a snarling lions head on the end. I know that necklace.

"They ran as soon as the Aurors came," Dad states in that deep bold voice of his. "When they saw what she had, they panicked," he says as he nods to Daniella. "And they started to ward down the building."

"I couldn't get the other one," she says as she walks towards Ron Weasley. "I didn't have my wand and the guy protecting it was very hard to get pass."

"Terrance," Gavin snorts. "That's doubtful. He's an idiot."

I give him a look before turning back to the conversation. "Darren will try to cover this up, you realize," Dad says seriously. "With the others getting away they're going to be able to spin this."

Out of the corner of my eye I see Gavin pull out a chain from under his shirt. "Who was left at the Hospital?" Ron asks.

"A lot of people they had stationed at different posts. As soon as they went to the beach there was a signal for all of them to go to the hospital. They were probably preparing a celebration. They were putting up unplottable wards when I left. I'm afraid what they will do with that other artifact now that their plans fell through."

"What is that?" I ask Gavin as he stares at the red button on the necklace. He looks at me and tucks the necklace back under his shirt. "What is that?" I repeat as he looks away.

"Nothing. I'm not that cruel," he says softly as he walks out of the room. "I could use a drink," he says to me, ignoring everyone else in the room. "Do you want something?"

He doesn't even bother with my answer as he leaves.

People start talking to each other and Mom pulls Dad to the side and studies the scars on his face, barely able to contain her worry. "What happened to you?" she whispers as she touches one that runs from his neck to the tip of his cheek bone.

He doesn't say anything and I stiffen my spine when Daniella finally sees me. She sighs in relief and runs over to me, pulling me in for a hug. I push her back. "Thanks for selling me out," I tell her sharply and she tightens her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Cassius, but it gave me a distraction. We knew we were going to go to the beach anyways to help you. Nothing would have happened."

"You would have been too late," I tell her hatefully. "If my Dad wouldn't have showed, I would be someone else right now. Way to throw me under the knight bus."

"I…." she trails off and shakes her head. I look at the necklace in her hands. I think of all the people's souls stuck in limbo because of it and I think of the life I took today. "I'm sorry. I thought I was doing what was best. It worked out in my head when I was coming up with a plan. I was able to get the key to get your mother out."

"Give this to me," I tell her shortly as I snatch it from her hands and I walk back into the sitting room. Evelyn is still gently snoring on the couch and Lavinia and Byron are still wrapped around each other, deep in sleep. Byron had dropped the sword by the chaise. I walk over and pick it up as I put the necklace on the table.

"Cassius, I need to bring that to the Auror department. The department of mysteries said that it needs to put it in its data base. They have a specific room designed for cursed artifacts,"

"Yeah?" I say because I'm really not listening. I put the tip of the sword to the lions head and I tilt my head to the side as I put both my hands on the handle.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she asks as I bring the sword up. "You can't just…'

I bring the sword down and it cracks into a million different pieces. It starts smoking and hissing and then it turns silent as it lays scattered across the table and floor. I feel better now. I feel like all those people on the Island are finally going someplace better and I felt like I actually did something good today. I feel good about that. I take in a deep breath as I let that settle in. They're where they need to be and we're all alive. It wasn't such a terrible day after all.

"What have you done?" she asks in a panic as she gets down on her knees and starts scooping up all of the pieces. "This is tampering with evidence."

"Ask me if I care," I say, sounding so much like Gavin that I almost annoy myself. "It's better this way," I whisper to myself as I drop the sword.

I know I should do the same with the other Horcrux, but it's unattainable to me right now and if I really think about it, why would I even bother? No one is stuck on that artifact. No one but Paige. I think of her and shake my head. Yeah, she can wait it out.

Dad comes into the room and then eyes slide to Evelyn on the couch. He goes over to her and lifts her up like she was a little girl again. Scooping her up bridle style without even bothering to say a thing to me. She makes a sighing noise as she wraps her arms around his neck because this was a routine she was used to and he puts his arm under her legs so her feet dangle in the air.

"Daddy," she whispers tiredly as he carries her out of the room.

"Gin," he whispers as he walks by her. "I'm going to put her in our bed. I don't think she should wake up alone."

"Okay… I'll lay down with her," she says, looking a little frazzled as she pushes hair away from her face. "Can you…" she looks back at the Aurors and Potter before looking back at him. "Be nice to each other."

She follows him up the stairs and she puts her hand on his back as they walk, like she just wanted to touch him and I have to wonder if she'll still wants that divorce.

"Cassius, are you listening to me?" Daniella says. I look at her with a raised brow. I wasn't even aware that she was talking to me.

"No," I state honestly as I lean against the door frame and cross my arms.

"I was saying that I hope you can understand why I did things the way that I did."

"Yeah, sure," I say tiredly and she takes my hand and kisses my palm. I raise my eyebrows at her.

"Dani," Ron Weasley says with a stern voice and she drops my hand. "Professionalism, please."

She blushes and walks towards the other Aurors. Gavin approaches me with a bottle of firewhiskey under his arm and two glasses filled to the brim with the liquor. He hands one to me and leans against the opposite door frame as we watch people we've never thought we'd ever see in our house converse civilly with each other. I take a sip and wince as it burns down my throat.

"So," Gavin says seriously. "Why is Harry Potter half naked in our foyer?"

"It's a long story," I tell him as I take another drink and he laughs tiredly.

"One I'm sure you'll tell me sometime, right?"

He looks at me and I nod. "Right. Sometime."

Dad comes walking down the long stair way, barking orders to a house elf that's trailing beside him. When the elf pops away, Dad pauses with his hand in his pocket and stares at all the people in his house.

"This should be fun," Gavin comments as Dad puts his hand on the railing and starts jogging down the rest of the stairs to talk to the others.

"What happened to him?" I ask as I look him over. He has red scratches all over his face and neck, like he was attacked by some kind of clawed monster. I didn't really notice it before because I was kind of shell shocked. "Why does he have all those cuts?"

"They're scars," Gavin says softly, taking an emptying gulp from his glass and unscrewing the lid to the bottle so he can pour himself some more. "I'm not very good at healing."

"What are you good at?" I ask, trying to joke, but he doesn't smile. He just shrugs.

"Chopping the heads off zombies," he states seriously and I stare at him. After a few moments he notices and turns to me as well.

"For real?" I say because I would believe anything. Things have been so fucked up.

"For fucking real," he says seriously and I give him a surveying look.

"Well, cheers to that," I say as I hold out my glass and he clinks his against mine. I smile to myself. "Gavin the Zombie slayer," I say out loud and he snorts.

"It sounds nice," he says with a small smirk tilting the corner of his lips. "I should put it on my business cards."

"Hm, that would bring in a lot of new business to Malfoy Enterprises."

"Look at Dad," he says as he nods towards my father who is in a deep discussion with Ron Weasley. "His wand hand with practically twitching. He can't stand that guy."

"But they're all trying to be civil," I point out as we watch Potter push up his glasses as he and my father tell their story to Ron Weasley who writes it down in a small notebook.

"You can't fucking do anything!" Dad ends up yelling in frustration and he tries to calm himself by cracking his neck and taking in a deep breath. Civil time is over, I see. "You know that Darren is going to cover this up. If anything, we will be blamed for what happened. They're going to spin this. You're no longer important at the Ministry, Potter."

"Thanks to you," Potter say bitterly and my Dad raises a condescending eyebrow in his direction.

"Dad killed about fifty people," Gavin whispers seriously. "He would definitely go to jail if they spun this." He pours himself another glass and I give him a concerned look.

Even though that's shocking news…. It's kind of sad to admit I'm not surprised. I saw the damage he could do when we were in that cave. Dad is a force to be reckoned with.

"What do you mean he killed fifty people?" I ask and Gavin glances at me before looking away.

"Get out of my house," Dad snaps. "We'll discuss this later. I need to put the wards back up and I don't want any of you fucking welcome."

"Pleasant as always, Malfoy," Weasley says. "We need to take some statements from everyone. Piece this all together."

"I wasn't joking when I said to get out," he says with a tight jaw. I finish my glass as they all awkwardly stare at each other. Good old Dad. "I'll contact you."

"Malfoy—"

"Get out of my house," he snaps again, this time more hatefully.

After a few tense moments they all start leaving with other Aurors that have been tied and bound. I raise my eyebrows at it but don't question it as I tap my glass against Gavin's arm so he'll refill it. He does without looking and, when everyone is gone, Dad walks over to the busted door and looks down at it with his hands on his narrow hips. I put my wand in my pocket as I go over to help him lift it back into place.

"Where the fuck is my wand?" Gavin asks like he just realized I should have it and he walks over as well. "If I remember correctly, you were the last one to have it," he says as he walks beside me and bends down to help us lift it. It's a heavy fucking door. One of the front doors at Malfoy Manor isn't just made out of paper.

"I'm sorry I lost it," I tell him seriously as Dad counts to three and we heft it up. It strains my muscles and I can feel the veins in my neck bulging. "I don't know what happened."

"Great," he says with a strained voice as we lift up the door.

"We can get you a new one," Dad says as we walk the door to where it's supposed to be and we prop it into position. "Hold it still while I seal it back on," he says seriously as he pulls the wand from his pocket. He begins to put the door back on and once it's in place, he opens and shuts it a few times before slamming it shut and locking the door.

He starts putting up the complicated wards while Gavin and I start repairing the broken things in the hallway, a vase here, a candle holder there…. Putting the place back the way it was before all this crap happened.

"Mr. Malfoy." Byron steps out of the sitting room, looking uncomfortable as he pulls the sleeves of his sweater over his hands. We all turn towards him and I wince again when I see those cuts on his face. "Could you heal me?" he asks uncomfortably. I wonder what was going through his head when my sister was doing that to him. It must have been hell.

I have more respect for him now than I ever did before because he sat through that and took the torture instead of letting Conrad force my sister to do it to herself. I hope everyone else can see what a good guy he is now.

Dad stares at him for a few moments. "Is she still asleep?" he asks, referring to my sister and Byron looks behind him before nodding his head.

"Let me get my wife," he says as he runs a tired hand over his face. "Cass, will you bring your sister upstairs? Your Mom is in my bedroom, so ask her to come down and put her with her sister. Byron…" he looks at him. "Let's take a seat in the kitchen. Gavin will bring you something to deaden the pain."

"I will?" Gavin says.

"Gavin will," Dad confirms as he walks over to Byron and puts his hand on his shoulder so he can steer him towards the kitchen. "Get a pain relief potion from the medicine cabinet please."

I walk past them so I can go get my sister as Dad and Byron start walking down the hall "Tell me what happened…."

I walk up to the chaise and look over Lavinia with a sigh. Should I carry her? I probably could. I bend down to scoop her up, but her eyes flutter over and she blinks a few times before moving away from me. "Lavinia, come on," I whisper as I touch her arm. "Let's go to bed," I whisper and I go to pick her up again but she shakes her head and sits up.

"I can walk," she says with half lidded eyes and her voice thick with sleep. She blinks a few times before standing up tiredly.

"Where's—"

"He's talking to Dad," I answer before she can finish and I put my arm around her as I lead her out of the room.

"Oh," she says, not fully awake as she lets me guide her to the stairs. She leans her head against me as we walk.

"You're tired," I point out and she nods her head.

When we get to my parent's bed room, Lavinia crawls in beside Evelyn and lands heavily against the pillow. Mom's awake and she sits up.

"Dad would like you to come downstairs," I tell her as she moves hair away from Evelyn's face. "Byron needs to be healed."

"Okay," she whispers as she stands from the bed. "Let me change first."

"I'll be downstairs," I answer.

I pause a moment as she disappears in the closet and I look down at my sisters as they sleep. I wish things would be normal for our family. They're both lying on top of the blankets, so I go over to the couch by the fireplace and I take the quilt that's resting along the back. I unfold it and go back over to them to cover them with it. What a wild day.

I look at the closet again before grabbing one of my father's shirts to put on. I chuck off those disgusting boots before leaving the room because I don't want to wear them and be reminded of what happened. I jog downstairs, catching the tail end of Byron and Dad's discussion as I walk into the kitchen.

"He used the Imperio curse on her," Byron says softly. Gavin is standing across from them with his arms crossed as he listens. "She couldn't stop."

"Damn," Gavin says as he hands a potion bottle to him. "You're lucky she didn't get your eye."

"Gavin," my father gives him a looks because he's being insensitive as Byron drinks the potion. "What happened to him?" Dad asks and Byron looks at his knees.

"You know," Byron says after licking his teeth. "She was trying really hard," he says quietly. "I could tell. She was fighting it and even before Cassius cursed him, she beat it. She dropped the knife first." He sits back like he was thinking of something. He smiles a little. "She really is a powerful witch."

"Okay, what do I need to do?" Mom walks past me with her wand ready. She takes one look at Byron and sighs sadly. "What happened?" she asks as she walks towards him and kneels in front of his chair. "What kind of curse was used?"

"There was no curse," Dad says gently as he stands back. "It was a knife."

"That's some good news," she says sympathetically. "They won't scar," she says and Byron shrugs as she takes his chin in his hands.

"It wouldn't matter," he answers as Gavin goes back to his bottle of firewhiskey. Dad takes it from him and takes a long swig. "I have so many."

"We're going to have to talk about your mother, Byron," she whispers as she closes up the cuts on his fact. "This is all very confusing and Harry is very confused as well."

"I know," he says seriously. "But…. But I don't want to talk about it now."

"We all need to rest," Dad says as he leans against the wall and watches Mom as she works. "Why don't you and your brother start cleaning up the library," he says seriously as he looks at each of us. "At least seal the windows so that animals don't get in. The elves don't know how to do that kind of work."

"Alright," I say and Gavin makes a face before following me out. We barely speak to one another as we seal up the library and after half an hour Byron comes into help, his face looking nearly perfect again, but I notice something different about his hair. He has a white streak at his temple that stands out sharply against his black hair. I try to ignore it, but I can't. I won't ask him about it, though. Not right now. Gavin finally steps back after we turn over a few tables the right way and he puts his hands on his hips.

"I'm going to take a shower," Gavin says. "Are you going to go home?" Gavin asks and Byron stares at him.

"Where's that?" He answers flatly and I feel like I should step in.

"Come on, Byron," I tell him and when he looks at me I make a motion for him to follow. "You can borrow some of my clothes."

"Thanks," he mutters tightly. Gavin disappears as Byron and I start walking out of the room. Halfway up the stairs I realize I forgot my wand.

"I'll meet you up there," I say and he raises his eyebrows. "I left my wand."

I jog past the kitchen to get it from the library, but stop in the door way when I see my parents. Mom has her back to him as he takes another long drink from the alcohol bottle.

"We're going to have to have a talk about all of this," Mom whispers as she finally turns to face him. "I can't believe all of this has happened."

"I could obliviate their memories, if you'd like," he offers and Mom frowns.

"Yes, because that worked out so well for you." She snaps and he raises an eyebrow. "You're not doing that to them."

"It was just a suggestion," he says tiredly as he puts the bottle in the sink.

Mom looks him over for a few moments. "Do they hurt?" she asks softly after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Does what hurt?"

"Those scratches," she says as she takes a step closer to him and runs a hand along one on his cheek. "Do they hurt?"

"Not anymore."

She pulls her hand back and turns around again, pretending to tidy up the counter. "You should see a proper healer. They may be able to get rid of them."

"Ginny."

"What?" she says dismissively as she picks up a random napkin and puts it in an empty tea cup just so she has something to do with her hands.

"Look at me." She doesn't. There's a long bout of nothingness as he stares at her back. "Look at your husband, Ginny," he says in a deep voice and she freezes. His tone must have made her pause because she started to turn her neck so she could look over her shoulder.

"What?' she says lightly with a fake curious tilt of her eyebrows.

"Did you really fight against some Aurors today?" he asks and the corner of her mouth tilts up.

"Did you really fight with Harry Potter today?"

"There's a first time for everything," he says. His movements are quick. He grabs her arm and turns her around, moving forward so he can press his body against hers, pinning her to the table. "Do you still think I'm handsome with these marks?" he asks and I glance down the hallway towards the library.

Is it worth it?

"Yes," she whispers honestly as she stares at his lips. "Of course I do."

He smiles and then he bends down to capture her lips in a passionate and disgusting kiss. I make a face. It's not worth it. I leave my wand behind as I close the kitchen door and head back upstairs. When I reach my room, Byron is laying on my bed with his arm thrown over his eyes to block out the lights. I stare at him for a few moments before I'm sure he's asleep and I click the light switch off so he's in darkness and I close the door.

I hear a click and then I see a flash of light out of the corner of my eyes. I snap my head towards my little brother as he reels back the film on the camera that's hanging around his neck.

"Why did you just take a picture of me?" I ask and he shrugs.

"I'm going to go see my baby girl," he says as he looks up at me. "Would you like to come?"

"Yeah," I say after a few moments. "Yeah, I would."

I smile at him as we start heading towards the stairway to hopefully see one of the silver linings in the large dreary cloud that's been our life lately.

"Where are Mom and Dad?" he asks as he messes with the camera and I make a face.

"Shagging in the kitchen."

"That's disgusting," he says and I snort.

"Says the man who just had a baby."

"Says the man who's not getting any," he says before snapping another picture of me. I grab the camera from him.

"When did you get this thing anyways?" I ask as we walk down the stairs. It looks like a muggle camera and I bring it up to my face to look through the lens. We reach the landing and start walking towards my father's study to use the floo network.

"Mom gave it to me," he says and I give him a look, but I don't bother asking more. He turns on the floo and grabs a handful of floo powder after giving me the address.

When we floo into the Addison's living room, I kind of feel uncomfortable because there was no one there to greet us. That told me two things. Obviously no one knew we were coming, and that Addison's family had terrible wards.

"Wait here a second," he says as he ventures further into the house as I look around the room. It's all floral and polished oak wood.

I hear an odd noise coming from the cloak closet. I walk towards it and press my ear against the door. When I hear it again, I gently creek the door open and frown at what I see. A small bassinet is at the center of the little closet and I look around once more before stepping towards it timidly. I peek over the edge and see a baby. A tiny little baby with pink cheeks wrapped up in a purple blanket. I look around the room again. Uh, why is the baby in a closet? Who does that? I set the camera down and tilt my head to the side as I look at her.

She looks just like Gavin.

She's wearing a small knit hat and I push it back gently, smiling when I see blonde curly hair. I jump when she makes a noise and I send another look around the room, waiting for someone to come out and take her. Where is everyone? The baby moves her head a few more times and then she starts to cry.

I panic and try to calm her.

"It's okay," I say as I put my hand on her stomach. "Don't cry. What do you need? What is it?" I don't know why I'm asking a baby that can't talk what it needs.

Even if she was capable of telling me, I'm sure I'm not the one who should be doing it. She has a blue pacifier by her hand and I pick that up and ease it into her mouth. I have no bloody idea what to do and I'm too nervous to actually pick her up. She looks too small and too breakable for that. She stops crying after a few moments with the pacifier and I sigh in relief as I bend down and wipe a few tears away from the side of her face. She really is tiny. Her little hand wraps around one of my fingers and I smile.

Yes, I like her.

But why was she put in here with all of these forgotten things? What did that mean? I know this is no way to treat a newborn.

I hear footsteps behind me, so I look over my shoulder. "This is really odd…" I start off saying, but I trail off when I see the look my brother has on his face. "What is it?" I ask because he looks shell shocked, like he'd just seen something he wished he could unsee. "Gavin, what's wrong?" I stand up straight and face him.

"I can't…" he says and his eyes are blood shot and watering, like he's about to cry. "Theo told me…" he trails off and hits the wall with his fist, breaking the plaster and shaking the frames on the wall. "I didn't believe him." The noise wakes the baby wake and Gavin's head snaps towards me when she starts crying. "What was that?" he asks as he runs over to me and pushes me aside so he can look into the closet.

"I heard a noise," I tell him as he picks the baby up and looks over her face like he was trying to make sure she was real. "She was just lying in her bassinet."

"They were trying to hide her," he whispers as he cradles her against his chest and stares at her in a relieved way only a father could, I guess. It's a look I've seen my father have a few times today.

"Where are they?" I ask slowly, almost dreading his answer as he walks into the living room and sits down on one of the couches.

"Upstairs," he says distractedly as he places the baby on his lap and starts to unwrap her from her blanket, like he was checking to make sure she was all there and okay.

I watch him for a few seconds and he lets a tear escape from the side of his face as he counts his daughter's fingers. I haven't seen him cry since we were little boys. I furrow my brows and look at the stair way. With careful steps I start heading up, with my hand on the railing and my stomach doing weird turns. It's like my body knew I was coming upon something terrible.

I found Addison's parents in the hallway, slumped over each other on the floor with their eyes open and staring straight ahead. I knew they were dead right away. I could just feel it and I felt my heart twist as I passed them and pushed open one of the bedroom doors where I found Addison on the bed. Gavin must have covered her up because there was a sheet over her body. I couldn't help myself, I walked over and lifted the sheet just in the off chance that maybe she was still alive. Maybe there was some hope that she wasn't dead, maybe there was a spark left that could be revived… but as soon as I pulled back the sheet I knew there was no point in hoping for any such miracle.

Whoever had done this to them was not kind to Addison and I knew that this was some kind of punishment for my brother… or my family… I don't know which. It looked like she fought because her hands had blood on them and few of her nails seemed to be broken. She was covered in bruises and her pants seem to have been torn from her body… there was a generous amount of blood between her legs. I covered my mouth when I realized what that meant and I shook my head and put the sheet back down. I doubt I'll ever be able to get her open blank eyes out of my head now. That's going to be something that will haunt me the rest of my life and I felt my own eyes burning because I knew her. I knew her and she was dead.

I thought of my brother downstairs and then I felt anger for the people who had done this to them and to him. I've really never seen anything like this before and with heavy steps I made my way back downstairs. Gavin was right where I left him, sitting on the couch and speaking softly to his daughter on his lap. I notice he's let a few more tears slip out.

"I'm so sorry, Gavin," I say gently as I walk into the room. He doesn't even bother to look at me and I put my hand on the back of my neck because I feel terribly uncomfortable. "We should call the Aurors or something."

"Which ones?" he asks spitefully. "The good ones or the bad ones? What's the point? They're already dead and, like Dad said, the Ministry would just cover it up anyways."

I knew where he was coming from, but I still felt like we should do something.

"They said that all of those Death Eater's who survived went back to the hospital right?" he asks and I nod my head as I watch him closely. He blinks more tears away, so I cave and sit beside him, putting my arm around his shoulders even though I know he probably wants to shrug me off. He doesn't like to touch. "They put up the wards so no one could get inside. They're going to be safe there until Darren sorts this all out for them."

"I guess," I answer softly and I move my arm when he moves back and pulls that strange necklace from under his shirt again. "What is that?" I ask as I look at that odd looking red button dangling from it.

"Cassius," he says seriously as he stares at it with the baby in the crook of his arms. "What was that place like?"

"What place?" I ask carefully, cautiously.

"That place where you went when you died," he says calmly.

I know what he's talking about. The Island. Why is he asking, though? It wasn't like a real afterlife, or at least, I hope it's not. Addison wouldn't be there if that's what he's thinking.

"It was like a repetitive hell," I tell him honestly and he nods his head tightly before pressing the button on the necklace. "Can you explain to me what that is?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"No," he says and he starts to hand the baby to me after putting that necklace back under his shirt. I lean back because I wasn't ready for it. "Hold her for a moment. I'm going to pack some of her things."

"Oh… oh," I say as he places her in my arms and he stands up. I watch him walk out of the room and I look back down at the little girl. "I'm sorry, Emma," I tell her once I'm sure I'm not going to break her by breathing too hard or anything. I feel bad for her. She lost her mother before she ever got to know her. "I'm so sorry."

"Okay," Gavin comes back into the room with a bag slung over his shoulders. "Let's get out of here. I think I got everything I'll need."

"Are you sure you don't want to contact the Aurors?" I ask as I stand. He comes over to me and takes the sleeping baby from my arms.

"I just want to get out of here. Then we'll tell them," he states seriously and when we floo home he stops in front of the fire place. I nearly run into his back when we floo in.

"What are you doing?" I ask as I step around him.

"Cassius," he says seriously as he looks at me. The baby's is crying now, probably because the flooing scared her. "What… What am I going to do?" He asks, looking generally lost and I sigh as I look at the baby.

"Let me get Mom," I tell him before hurrying out of the room. I tentatively knock on the kitchen door and peak my head in because I don't want to catch them doing anything nasty.

"Yeah?" Dad says and when I open the door all the way I see them sitting at the kitchen table, facing each other and drinking tea from mugs. Thank God.

"Mom, Gavin needs you," I tell her and she tilts her head to the side before standing up. "He's in Dad's study."

"Okay," Mom runs her hand along Dad's shoulders as she passes him. "I'll be right back."

When she's out of the room, I shut the door. "Are you okay?" Dad asks as he sits back in his chair. "I know it's been a tough couple of days."

"Dad…" I say because I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to say this. "I need to talk to you," I tell him before walking over and sitting in the chair across from his. "Things just got more complicated."

He replies with a tired voice, putting one of his scarred hands around his mug. "Story of my bloody life," he says before taking a sip and listening to more bad news that I have to tell him.

It seems to be the story of my life as well.

Oh, the joys of being a Malfoy.