The few sentences that include and , are translations from the original language.

Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet with evident disgust when Harry and Ron entered the common room.

"Have you read this?" Hermione demanded, waving the morning issue of the newspaper in their faces.

"No, Hermione, we haven't." Harry said tiredly. "We've only just woken up."

"Well four whole villages have gone missing and Umbridge has been made headmaster of Hogwarts." Hermione retorted angrily.

"What!" Harry and Ron said at the same time.

"I've been talking with those of us with muggle parents over the last few days, we've decided to get out of Hogwarts while we can." Hermione said grimly.

"That's insane!" Ron blurted out.

"It's not." Hermione sighed. "Haven't you noticed that there are fewer students here?"

"I was wondering why it seemed so quiet, especially when O. coming up." Harry admitted.

"Exactly, and with Umbridge now in charge of the school it's only going to get worse. So there are a few of us that are going to sneak out in a few days time, I don't know where we're going to go yet." Hermione said sadly.

"You know you can always stay at number 12." Harry reminded her.

"I can't just let everyone else have nowhere else to go, and there's not enough room at number 12 for all of us. We'll work something out though." Hermione muttered, tearing up slightly.

She ran out of the room, offering a muted 'I'm sorry' as she left. Harry and Ron looked at each other, each had a sickening look of worry on their face.

"It's getting bad isn't it?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, it is." Harry replied.

"So even now we still have no idea where Voldemort is?" Harry asked Lupin who flinched at the name. They were currently talking through the Griffindor common room fireplace, Lupin's head appearing as a moving pile of logs.

"No sorry Harry, even with all the disappearances, hundreds of people taken from all over the world. We still don't know where he is, only that he's getting more and more followers." Lupin told a despondent Harry. "We think he has amassed an army of several thousands, and we still don't know how to defeat him. The only person who might is currently imprisoned."

"Couldn't Rock and Strength break him out? Like they did with you?" Harry asked.

"No, we don't know where he is, he's not in Azkaban. We know that for sure." Lupin replied.

"So we've got no choice but to wait for Voldemort to come to us." Harry muttered.

"I'm afraid so Harry, you must understand that despite everything that's going on there. Hogwarts is still the safest place for you." Lupin reminded him.

"Yeah, it's safe enough. As long as you're not muggle-born." Harry said bitterly.

"Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done about that. Our numbers are too few, any attempt to block that decree would have meant more of us in prison." Lupin said sadly.

"I just don't know what to do, I've got this horrible feeling that Voldemort is coming for me and there's nothing I can do about it." Harry despaired.

Lupin's eyes shifted around the room.

"What? What is it?" Harry asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Arthur told me yesterday that the whole of the Department of Mysteries was shut down and no one was allowed access to it." Lupin said uncertainly, as though he thought Harry shouldn't know about this.

"So what?" Harry asked.

"There is a section of the Department of Mysteries that houses every prophecy that has been made, one of them tells of a boy born on the 28th of the seventh month. The Dark Wizard shall mark him as his equal, and neither may live while the other survives." Lupin paused. "That's the quick version, I don't remember it in full."

Harry felt sick.

"That means that one of us has to die for the other to live?" Harry asked.

"It does." Lupin confirmed. "But is doesn't say if you have to kill each other or if someone else can."

Harry got up and ran to the bathroom, ignoring Lupin's cries behind him. He reached the toilet and threw up.

How could he be expected to kill, to take a life? Although Lupin had said that it might not mean he had to be the one to do it, it still meant a life had to end before this would end. Simply being in prison wouldn't be enough, someone had to die.

Harry wiped his mouth and washed his face and hands in the sink before looking at himself in the mirror, he cricked his neck.

That bastard is the one who's going to die! He thought.

A tall woman with thick, long black hair battered open the doors to Malfoy Manor, behind her, suspended in mid-air was a teenage girl. She walked through the grand house before entering a large dining hall, all the occupants turned to face her.

"Is that her?" A tall bald man asked, his face was pale and translucent, devoid of any nose, instead he had two narrow slits for his nostrils along with thin lips and red eyes.

"Yes my Lord." The woman, Bellatrix Lestrange declared proudly.

Voldemort stepped towards the girl and with a flick of his wand, roused her from unconsciousness.

"Koko wa doko?" The girl asked in terror.

"Does she not speak English?" Voldemort asked.

"No, my Lord. Only Japanese." Bellatrix responded.

Voldemort pointed his wand to his throat.

"What is your name girl?" The dark wizard asked in Japanese.

"Kuroi, Kuroi Mato." The girl replied, eyes wide open at the sight of the man in front of her.

"And what do you know of the Otherselves?" Voldemort demanded.

"N-not much, I only really know about Black Rock Shooter." Mato stuttered.

"What does she look like?" Voldemort asked.

"S-she's pale, looks like me, she always w-wears a l-long b-black coat and carries a large gun." Mato answered, tears streaming out of her bright blue eyes.

Voldemort turned around and addressed the rest of the room.

"We have the final piece, we move towards Hogwarts!" Voldemort declared raising his arms in triumph.

Ron had been depressed ever since Hermione had left and Harry had given up on trying to cheer him up, all he could do was keep him somewhat focussed on school work. He didn't even respond to Fred and George's teasing about him being madly in love with the smart bushy-haired girl.

Harry went to speak to McGonagall, only to find Rock already in her office discussing something.

"Professor, is this a bad time?" Harry asked as he knocked.

Rock nodded then stood to one side.

"It's okay Potter, we were just talking about Umbridge." McGonagall said bitterly.

"Oh, okay. I was going to ask you about Hermione." Harry said.

"Ah yes, Miss Granger and several other students disappeared, we haven't been able to locate them. Have you got any word on what happened?" McGonagall asked.

Harry shook his head.

"Nothing Professor, only that they left of their own choice, before they were made to leave." Harry replied.

"Smart girl." McGonagall said sadly. "It's a sad state of affairs when we cannot protect our own."

"I thought she might have said something to you, or one of the other teachers before she left." Harry said.

"I'm afraid not Potter, you have more information than us at the moment. But I dare say it's safer out there for muggle-borns than inside these walls." McGonagall said, shaking her head.

"That was it Professor, Ron's taking Hermione leaving hard and I thought if I could give him something to go on he might snap out of it." Harry said.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you." McGonagall said sadly. "If I knew anything I would tell you."

Harry nodded and left, feeling a little better for trying to help Ron but immediately feeling worse because he hadn't.

As soon as Harry had closed the door, Rock approached McGonagall.

"Can you do it?" McGonagall asked.

Rock nodded.

"Wands away, books out." Umbridge said cheerfully as she strode through the class.

Nobody had bothered to take their wands out, they hadn't had a practical lesson all year, why would this one be any different.

"Well then, if you could..." Umbridge trailed off as she spotted a certain pale, black haired girl sitting in the back corner of the classroom.

"What are you doing here?" Umbridge demanded. "I thought you had been expelled!"

Rock nodded, she pointed to herself then tilted her head, closed her eyes and placed her hands to the side of her head, pretending to be asleep. Then she pointed towards the ground.

Umbridge looked at her in confusion before Harry spoke up.

"She lives here Professor." Harry translated.

"That doesn't explain why she's here in the first place!" Umbridge fumed.

Rock pointed at the short plump woman.

"Me? What about me?" The pink woman asked, taking a step back.

Rock stood up, threw off her robe and pointed the Black Blade towards Umbridge. She pointed out the window.

"I don't understand what you're saying you filthy half-breed!" Umbridge snarled.

"I think she's telling you to leave." Harry said, trying to suppress a smirk.

"I'm not being forced out of my own school by a stupid animal!" Umbridge bellowed, getting angrier by the second.

"I wouldn't make her angry Professor." Harry grinned, enjoying every moment of what was unfolding.

Before anyone could blink, Rock was at the woman with her blade pressing into the pink neck of Dolores Umbridge. Just then the classroom door opened and Professor McGonagall swept in.

"Minerva, tell this animal to let me go!" Umbridge demanded.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, you see you expelled her, remember? She doesn't answer to any of the faculty, the only one she might listen to is safely locked away somewhere inside the Ministry of Magic." McGonagall said.

Rock dug the tip of her weapon deeper into the woman's neck, causing a tiny trickle of blood to spill out of the wound.

"I suggest you do what she wants." McGonagall said impassively.

"The Minister will hear about this!" Umbridge screamed. "You will all lose your jobs and be sent to the deepest part of Azkaban!"

"I don't doubt that, but the girl currently at your throat was the one who broke into Azkaban last year. I don't think she's worried." The elderly witch said.

Rock bared her teeth and allowed a small flicker of flame to burst out of her right eye.

"Alright, alright!" Umbridge screamed. "I'll go, but you'll all be sorry about this!" She cried. As she fled the room, the whole class cheered. McGonagall walked to the front of the class.

"This lesson is over, all of you need to go to the Great Hall." McGonagall said with no hint of amusement in her voice.

Every student and faculty member was inside the Great Hall, also present was ex-auror Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley and several others who Harry knew were members of the Order of the Phoenix but didn't know the names of.

McGonagall stood in front of everyone and cast a stern eye over the room, she breathed deeply, suppressing a shudder, before speaking.

"Voldemort is in Hogsmeade, and he's coming this way."

A/N

It's all going to kick off in the next chapter, only two or three left, or just one really long one.

BRS Project and the Harry Potter franchise are not owned by me.