"Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby- awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess." –Lemony Snicket

The rope around Sara's wrist was too tight and it was beginning to hurt. It wouldn't matter in a few minutes, though, because she would be dead. She began to regret yelling at Fred. She never got to apologize for that. She never got to kiss him either. There were a lot of things that she never got to do. At least she would be with her dad soon.

"Any last words?" Snape Jr. asked menacingly, preparing to kick over the barrel.

"Yeah," Sara said calmly; a lot more calm then she really felt. "I hope karma comes back and hits you in the face."

"Such kind words," Snape Jr. laughed. He stepped back and prepared to push over the barrel. Sara closed her eyes.

"Hey!" Sara's eyes flew open. Fred was racing up the hill, completely out of breath. Fred? What was he doing here? It didn't matter. She would figure it out later. All she knew was that she had never been happier to see him in her entire life.

"You!" Snape Jr. hissed.

"Me," Fred said calmly. He reached the top of the hill and punched Snape Jr. in the face. Sara heard a crack and blood poured from the man's nose. He sank to the ground, screaming in pain.

Still panting, Fred climbed onto one of the tree branches so he could reach the rope around Sara's neck. He removed it and jumped back to the ground, grabbing her waist and helping her off of the barrel. He untied the ropes around her wrists.

Once he had finished, Sara turned and threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest.

He rubbed her back. He was still breathing heavily and Sara could hear his heart pounding.

"Come on, we have to hurry," he said. He dragged her down the hill while Snape Jr. continued to clutch his nose in pain, distracted from everything else.

"How did you find me?" Sara asked as they ran.

"I found directions and background information on Gallows Hill in his desk drawer," Fred answered, tilting his head back towards the way they had come. "I have your book by the way." She hadn't even noticed that he had it. He passed it to her and she stuck it in her basket.

"Why were you in his classroom anyway? I thought you were with Mallory." She wrinkled her nose.

"About that," Fred said. "George and I think she's a veela."

"She is. She's also under the Imperius curse."

Fred gaped at her. "What?"

"I'll explain later," Sara said, shaking her head. "We need to get out of here first. How did you get here?"

"I took a taxi with George, Katie and Sofia, but they took it back to school to try and get help. I told them to, realizing it actually made more sense than all of us trying to save you on our own."

Fred was looking around wildly and Sara noticed that there was only one taxi in sight, and the driver was about to load the passenger's luggage into the trunk. Fred grabbed her hand. "Come on."

"What are we doing?" she asked.

Fred didn't answer. Instead, he made a beeline for the taxi, flung open the driver's door, and gently pushed Sara inside. She didn't even protest. She would protest later and yell at him for stealing a taxi. She slid to the passenger side and despite the driver's yells Fred got behind the wheel and started the car. He floored it and sped away.

"We just stole a car!" Sara screamed frantically. The yelling couldn't wait. "We actually stole a car!"

"It was necessary if we want to make it out alive," Fred answered, leaning forward to check one of the side mirrors. "Anyway, don't you remember what I told you about spontaneity?"

"I'm not sure this is the time for that. Do you even know how to drive?"

"I told you that I've operated my dad's car."

"You flew it. It's completely different. You didn't drive it on a road with laws and traffic lights and-,"

"Will you please stop yelling? You're making me nervous." Fred kept speeding down the road. "We aren't going home. I think that's the first place Snape Jr. will look."

"Where are we going instead?"

"No clue. I'm winging it."

"Of course," Sara answered, leaning back in her seat.

There was silence in the car. "He was trying to kill me, Fred."

Fred didn't answer, but Sara saw him glance at her out of the corner of his eye. She kept looking out the window. "That's why he Imperiused Mallory and Kevin."

"Kevin too?" Fred asked.

Sara nodded. "Mallory is a veela, like I said. He was trying to get you out of the way so he could kill me."

Fred took a breath and ran a hand through his hair, controlling the wheel with one hand. "Why?"

"For the same reason he killed my dad."

"He was the one who killed your dad?"

"One of them," Sara nodded.

Fred looked upset. "That's absolutely mental."

"He had this all planned out."

"Your neck is bleeding. What else did he do to you?"

"That was from the knife he had," she answered, touching her neck. It stung when she touched it. "I threatened to scream again and he threatened to use the knife."

Fred let out an angry sigh, but Sara continued. "Tonight wasn't the first time, either."

"The first time what?" Fred asked, making a random turn.

"The first time he tried to kill me. Kevin's only been under the Imperius curse for a few weeks and on the night he came to get me and stole his brother's car, we almost got into an accident. Snape Jr. was forcing Kevin to keep driving as Snape Jr. drove out in front of us. Luckily, I grabbed the wheel and avoided crashing."

Fred looked sick. "If I ever see him again, I'll kill him." His voice came out in almost a growl.

"Kevin or Snape Jr?"

Fred looked as if he were debating. "Maybe both, but mostly Snape Jr. I think we're far enough away now," he said finally, pulling over and shutting the engine off. They got out of the car and looked around.

"Fred, look where we are." Sara pointed to a sign. "We're at the witch memorial."

"Should we leave?"

"No, let's have a look while we're here."

The memorial looked beautiful, yet creepy in the moonlight. Sara and Fred began walking around looking at the stone benches. Fred intertwined his fingers with Sara's and her stomach dropped.

"How did you break the veela charm Mallory had on you?" Sara asked.

Fred bit his lip. "I'm not sure, but I know that I kept feeling like there was something I needed to remember and after you slapped me, I remembered. I remembered that-," he stopped.

"That what?" She looked up at him. His blue eyes looked even lighter in the moonlight.

"I remembered that I didn't like Mallory," he said. "I didn't like her at all. I came to find you and George caught up to me, saying that he suspected she was a veela. Sophie thought she had heard you scream, so that's when we went looking for you."

"Thank you," Sara whispered. "Thank you for saving me. I know we don't get along and I don't even know if we're friends after all of this, but-,"

"How can we not be friends after all of this?" he snorted. "We've been through hell together in this one night alone if I do say so myself."

She actually gave a small laugh at that.

"Sara," he turned her to face him. "I know we fight, but I realized something else. I realized it a while ago, really, but especially tonight and I think this might be the reason for why I broke away from Mallory's control. I-,"

He was interrupted by a popping noise. They both jumped and turned around. Snape Jr. had found them. Fred stepped in front of Sara. "Don't touch her."

"I thought you weren't going to use magic near us," she said, peeking around Fred's arm, staying close to him.

"I apparated far enough away from you so that the trace wouldn't pick it up. Other than that, I won't be using magic." He pulled out the knife he had used on Sara earlier. "Move aside," he said to Fred, his voice low.

"No," Fred answered, his voice just as low. Sara could feel his body tensing up.

"Well then I have no choice but to finish you off as well," Snape Jr. smirked, walking even closer. He paused. "Maybe if I use magic to kill you both, I could Apparate away before anyone gets here. But on the other hand, I want this to hurt as much as possible." He smirked and paused again before lunging towards Fred.

Thinking fast, Sara plunged her hand into her basket, pulled out her wand, and stepped around Fred. "Stupefy!"

Snape Jr's eyes widened as the spell hit him. As he fell forward, his arms flailed and latched on to Sara, pulling her down with him. She fell forward, hitting her head on the edge of a stone bench. Everything went black.

Sara's eyes were still closed, but she was awake. She had just woken up about five seconds ago, to be exact. She could feel that she was lying somewhere soft and warm. Had she died? Maybe she had.

She opened her eyes. Her eyelids felt heavy and suddenly the pain hit her. Her wrists stung and the side of her head and shoulder were throbbing. She definitely wasn't dead.

Looking around, she saw that she was in a brightly lit room with a large window, a few chairs, and some machines. The sun was just coming up. She looked to the left and saw Fred, occupying another chair, his hand holding hers and his head resting on his arms.

"Fred?" she asked. Her voice was hoarse. She sounded disgusting.

Fred lifted his head up and smiled. He looked exhausted. "You're awake," he whispered, scooting his chair closer, and brushing his hand across her forehead.

"What happened and how long have I been unconscious?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I remember Stupefying the Death Eater and then falling and hitting my head."

"Do you remember anything before that?"

"Yes, everything," she said quietly.

Fred nodded. "Well, the professor got there after she was alerted that we used magic. She said we had to bring you to the hospital the Muggle way so she got one of those trucks with the flashing lights. She sat up front and I got to ride in the back with you. It was fascinating back there, but I wasn't allowed to touch anything. Anyway, they brought you here to the hospital. The doctor said you probably wouldn't have any head damage. You just got a nasty scrape."

That explained the pain. Sara touched the side of her head with her free hand and felt a bandage. "What else?"

"Just a bruise on your shoulder, the cut on your neck, and rope burns on your wrists. You were unconscious for let's see, about six hours."

"What happened to, you know...him?" Sara asked.

Fred knew who she meant. "Well, when Professor Carlson arrived she dealt with sending him to Azkaban. Everyone else thinks he was sent to Muggle prison. They know he was trying to kill you but they don't know the exact reason why. They were told he had a problem with your family."

"I'll say," Sara answered.

"Professor Carlson is talking to the doctors now. She'll be in soon. George and Katie are in the cafeteria but they brought us some clothes from home." He pointed to a chair where her clothes were draped, along with her costume. For the first time, Sara noticed that someone had changed her into a hospital gown and that Fred was no longer dressed as a scarecrow.

"What time is it?"

"It's about five in the morning."

"Have you slept at all?"

"Not once," Fred shook his head.

"You should go home and get some sleep. George and Katie, too."

"I told George and Katie to go home after they ate. We didn't know when you'd be waking up, but I'm not leaving. Are you kidding? I can't leave you in this Muggle hospital with all of these scary machines."

Sara took note of the machine attached to her that was making a beeping sound. "What's this for?"

"The nurse said it's for your heart rate."

Sara nodded. "Have you even eaten?"

"No, I haven't left the room since we got here."

"Please, Fred, go eat," Sara pleaded as she heard his stomach growl.

"No," he shook his head.

"I'm okay. I mean, I've woken up, there's no damage, and look, the machine says my heart rate is fine. I'll be okay. Go eat."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Now go eat your weight in hospital food like I know you want to." She smiled.

"I've heard this food isn't very good, actually," Fred smiled as he stood up and headed for the door. He paused and turned towards her. "Can I ask you one question?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Why did you use magic?"

"He was going to kill you," she said simply. "And despite what you might think, I don't want you dead."

"You're quite cheery after all that's happened," Fred noted with a smile. "Joking and everything."

"I'll be a mess later when it all sinks in."

"It'll be okay," Fred assured her. "Oh, and Sara?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

She smiled. "Anytime, but one more thing before you go. We didn't lose any points on the project did we?"

Fred laughed for the first time in a while. "No, we didn't."

"Good," she sighed. Fred left the room and a few minutes later, Professor Carlson came in. "Ah, Fred said you were awake."

"I'm awake," she smiled.

The professor sat down in Fred's empty seat. "Fred stayed with you all night, you know."

"I heard," Sara nodded.

"You've got quite the friend."

Sara sighed and smiled. Fred was a good friend. Sure, they argued, but it had never been anything too serious. He hadn't been himself when they got into that big blowout a few weeks before. The only thing was that she liked him as more than that.

"You like him a lot," Professor Carlton stated.

"I do," Sara answered, not even trying to hide it.

"Do you think he feels the same way?"

"I'm not sure. The whole thing with Mallory threw me off."

"I think he does. How else would he break the veela charm on his own?"

"That's what did it?" Sara asked. She wondered if that had been what Fred was going to tell her at the memorial.

"I think so," the professor nodded. "Really strong feelings for another can often break a veela charm."

Sara blinked and stared at the blankets as she processed that.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize what was going on with the Death Eater sooner. I had been making regular checks on all the groups, like I said I would. I was well hidden and in disguise of course, but every time I checked on you four, things were going fine."

"It's not your fault and the guy's in jail now."

"I should have been more responsible."

"It's not your fault," Sara repeated. "Don't stop doing this project with other students in the future. It's a good idea and plus, I'm pretty sure I'm the only student in Hogwarts that a Death Eater wanted to kill. Besides Harry of course."

Professor Carlton laughed. "True. I'll just have to be more aware when I check on people in the future."

"What happened to the real math teacher?" Sara asked.

"Well, since the school and the police believe it was him that attacked you and it's impossible to explain what really happened because no one would believe us, he naturally no longer has his job and he had to have his memory modified."

"That's not fair!" Sara exclaimed. "Is there anything you can do?"

"No, I can't get him his job back, but I can try to pull some strings and get him a job somewhere else."

"Please do," Sara said. She felt bad for the real Mr. Furtivo.

"So now that leaves me with one more question," Professor Carlton said. "Do you want to go home early or do you want to stay the last few days? Your last day is the fifth, so including today, you have five more days."

"I want to stay," Sara said at once.

The professor smiled. "That's what I thought." She stood up and headed for the door. "You should be able to leave the hospital tomorrow."

"Good," Sara said, relieved. She hated having to stay in bed.

"George and Katie brought the last of your homework if you want to do that."

"Yes," she said at once. She had to finish it and she could tell that she would have been bored out of her mind if she hadn't had anything to do.

The professor laughed again. "It seems as if some things haven't changed about you."

Sara began finishing the last of her homework. She really had changed over the course of a month and it had all been thanks to Fred. She had acted on her anger and slapped him and then acted on her fear to save him, use magic, and risk her grade, something she would have hesitated about before. Not that she would have let him die, of course. She would have at least tried to save him without magic.

Apparently Operation Fun and Operation Spontaneity had worked.