A/N: I apologize in advance: I did not proofread this chapter. I was too eager to get it out, sorry.

Chapter 25: Saving Sirius Black

"So then Weasel, you've been taking care of a weapon?" Draco asked Ron in a sneer.

"None of your business Malfoy." Ron snarled in response.

"Weasley..?" I questioned with a note of pleading.

He gave me a strained look as if debating whether or not to trust me."Harry thinks HE has...er... snuffles?" He stopped in question, I nodded my understanding and he continued, "Anyway he's seen something that makes him believe he has snuffles at -er- the place where it's hidden?" I thought for a moment, he must mean Harry had another vision... he had explained to me how he was able to rescue Mr. Weasley just in time. Something was off though.

"Oi Weaslebee, whatcha got there?" Interrupted Goyle.

"I'm 'ungry," Ron responded holding a box of Fred and George's sweets. I smiled, catching on.

"Give 'em here," Crabbe pulled them out of his hands, and he, Goyle, Milicent, and the others began to devour them greedily. They offered them to Draco and I, but with a slight shake of my head to Draco, we both refused.

Not a couple moments later they began to vomit profusely. Draco and I quickly took the opportunity to stun them. "Hurry up Ron, we don't have much time, we need to get to Harry." I stopped, noticing his gawking expression. "Ron!"

"Why is Dr-Malfoy helping?" He asked in awe.

"He's my friend that's why, now come on this is important. We don't want Harry doing something rash." I collected everyone's wands handing them back to them, and turning back to Ron.

"We need to check- we need to make sure Snuffles isn't actually where Harry thinks he is." Ron replied.

"I don't understand..." I looked around.

"Harry came in here to use the fire and find out if Snuffles was at home," He explained.

"Right then, we need to check, I'll go with you, we can search the house."

"How can I trust you?" He looked me over.

"You're just going to have to. Draco," I turned towards Draco, "Do what you can. Find Snape." He nodded and left.

"You three," I directed my attention to Neville, Ginny, and Luna, "Find Harry and Hermione. We can't let Harry leave." They all eyed me with distrust.

"How do we know you're not trying to lead us astray?" Ginny asked stubbornly.

"Now is not the time Ginger, Ron lets go." I grasped Ron's arm and pulled him into the fireplace. I grabbed a fistful of floo powder and threw it down calling out, "Twelve Grimmauld Place!"

As soon as we arrived, we bolted out of the drawing room, Rom calling "Sirius!?" We searched the lower floor and finally found ourselves heading upstairs. As if from a horror film, an old portrait of a woman began shrieking, "Blood traitors! Nasty blood traitors!"

I jumped and squeaked in alarm and Ron sighed in annoyance, "Bloody hell."

"Ronald?" I heard a voice from behind us. I turned around and none other than Sirius Black stood there, aiming his wand towards us. I jumped in surprise as he flicked it, silencing the nasty portrait.
"What are you doing here?"

"Oh thank Merlin Sirius," Ron sighed in relief. "Since You Know Who has been hacking into Harry's brain, Harry is convinced you're currently being tortured at the Department of Mysteries."

"What?!" He exclaimed, rushing past us towards the sitting room. We followed suit quickly. We finally caught up to him as he was reaching for the floo powder.

"What're you doing? You can't go to Hogwarts!" I exclaimed in alarm.

He turned around immediately, finally noticing I was there, then asked, "Ron, who is this?" His expression was making me uncomfortable. His eyes were boring into mine.

"Pansy Parkinson." Ron replied.

"Parkinson? As in Poinedo?" He asked.

"Er... yeah." I was shocked he knew my father, but they must have been at Hogwarts at the same time.

"You look just like you're mother..." He stared at me in disbelief.

"So I've been told," I looked at him oddly, knotting my eyebrows, "This is great and all but we should be worrying about Harry..."

"Right, right." He shook his head, then turned back to the fireplace.

"I will go back and tell them, Ron stay here just in case." I said, walking towards the fire.

"No, Parkinson, you stay- I'll go. You know they don't trust you." I sighed, he was right. I just didn't like it.

"Yeah, okay." He rushed to the fire, calling out Hogwarts as the flames turned green.

Sirius and I stood awkwardly for a moment, before he spoke. "So, you're friends with Harry?"

"Er... yeah. For a while now actually." I replied.

"So you know about...?" He turned to me.

"Everything, pretty much." The room had a strange tension, as if the both of us had something to say.

"Ah," He looked down at his feet. It was quiet for a bit before he spoke again, "Would you -er- like some tea?"

With that, I let out an airy chuckle, causing him to turn to me in confusion.

"What?" He asked

"It's just that- this whole situation... and not only that but the dangerous-mass murderer Sirius Black just offered me tea..." I chuckled again, "Harry really doesn't ever have a dull year, does he? I hope Ron gets to him in time..."

We both stood their in silent anxiety, before he gestured for me to follow him into the kitchen. I sat at a table while he put on the kettle. Time passed slowly. I stared at my fidgeting hands while he busied himself with various tasks. We were both startled by the whistle of the kettle. After he poured the tea, we both sat at the table quietly.

After about an hour passed, we both heard a loud bang. The front door had just been slammed shut and we could hear loud footfalls coming our way.

"Sirius!" The kitchen door burst open and Remus Lupin walked through.

"Si- Pansy?" He looked startled, "What are you...?"

"What's happened, Remus?" Sirius was out of his chair, rounding on the other man.

"It's Harry- he's gone to the Department of Mysteries to look for you!" Lupin exclaimed breathlessly.

"What?!" We both yelled.

"I don't understand... Ron... he was supposed to tell them. I don't understand." I shook my head in disbelief.

"I'm going after him." Sirius stated, marching out of the room.

"Sirius, you can't- damn it. I shouldn't have told you, Sirius!" He chased after him.

I stood there shaking my head for a minute before following them into the entrance hall.

"Sirius, you can't leave." Remus grabbed his friend's arm.

"You're not my babysitter Remus!" Sirius yelled.

"Something isn't right." I broke in, they turned to look at me. "Ron would have returned, he would have told us he couldn't get to Harry. Harry thinks Voldemort is at the ministry torturing you..." I paused while the two of them looked between each other and me. "That's it- Legilimacy! It's a trap! Of course it's a trap but... that doesn't explain why they still went. I have to go back to the school..." I turned to head back to the fire.

"Pansy wait-" Remus called back to me.

"Professor Lupin," I turned around, "We know this is serious. If they went to the Ministry then they need protecting, does the rest of the Order know?"

He nodded his head, "They should by now."

"You can't go- the Ministry is the worst place for you to be," I turned to Sirius. Those eyes again, they were shockingly familiar, but I blinked it away.

"I'm sorry girl, but I have no idea who you are. I don't even know if I can trust you. This is my godson we're talking about. I have to protect him." He shook his head, clearly done arguing.

"No! If you go everything Harry has done will be a waste!" I yelled, not sure why I was so adamant on him staying.

"Look," He growled.

But I was through listening, I pulled out my wand, pointed it at him and yelled, "Stupefy!"

"Pansy!" Lupin exclaimed in disbelief. Sirius Black was out cold.

"You need to go and protect those kids. He will be fine." I commanded. "I have to go and find out what's going on at the school." I stopped again, "Oh and Professor Lupin," I turned slightly, "Be careful". With that, I headed back to the drawing room and bent under the fireplace, tossing the floo powder to the ground, "Hogwarts".

I felt the rush of floo travel and ended up back in Professor Umbridge's office which was now near empty.

Something was wrong. Draco was stunned on the floor. I quickly went to him, and pointed my wand, "enervate". Draco gasped, sitting bolt upright.

"Are you okay? What happened?" I rubbed circles in his back.

"Weasley- only it wasn't Weasley, it was Daphne." He spoke

"Draco, slow down. What happened?" I sat knelt in front of him, encouraging him to speak.

"When Weasley returned, it wasn't actually him. He morphed into Daphne- it was Daphne. She had taken a polyjuice potion." He paused so I could taken in the information, "She stunned me before I could do anything."

"No..." I sunk to the ground defeated. Harry was about to walk into a swarm of Death Eaters, Voldemort would probably be there. "But that means! That means Daphne knows where Sirius is! I have to go move him!"

I jumped up, but Draco grabbed my hand to stop me, "You can't-"

I wrenched my hand from his, "I have to! And we have to stop Daphne before she gives away this information! Come on, I'll need your help."

I sprinted back to the fire, throwing the powder in and pulling Draco with me, "12 Grimmauld Place!" We ran to the entrance hall where Black was still knocked out on the floor.

"Where do we take him?" Draco asked, staring at his cousin.

"I don't know..." I had no idea who knew about him. We couldn't take him anywhere. "The Weasleys, yeah. They're all in..." I trailed off, not wanting to tell Draco about the Order. "They're friends. Now where is it they live again...?"

"The Burrow." He drawled.

"How-" I asked confused.

"You don't want to know." I didn't ask.

"Come, help me lift him." I took his legs, and Draco took is torso. We walked awkwardly to the drawing room where we distributed him on the floor. We both looked at the fireplace, then back at each other realizing there wasn't much room. "We'll have to hold him up between us."

He nodded, and quickly we were on our way to the Burrow. We fell out and onto the floor. Covered in dust. Someone screamed. I looked up and saw a stocky red-headed woman whose knitting lay abandoned on the floor. I quickly I got up and dusted myself off. "You must be Mrs. Weasley." I observed.

She shook her headed silently, looking upon the scene in disbelief. "I'm-"

"Pansy?" I looked up to see George with Fred alongside him and there father standing behind them. "Malfoy?"

"Is that Sirius?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"You're Pansy Parkinson?" Mrs. Weasley had turned toward me.

"Er- yeah. Look, I'm just bringing him here because I didn't know where else to take him. His location was discovered." I explained. The boys and Mr. Weasley quickly helped their dark-haired friend onto the couch.

"Why is he unconscious?" Mr. Weasley asked me, eying Draco.

"I-er- sort of Stupefy'd him," At their looks of alarm, I quickly reassured,"He'll be fine! I was stopping him from leaving. He was going to leave to-"

Mr. Wealsey shook his head, nodding to the boys and his wife. Clearly they were in the dark about the situation.

"Anyway, I was stopping him from leaving. After that I found out from Draco that his location had been compromised." I winced, noticing all the dust, "I'm really sorry about your sitting room. I'm sorry I brought him here- I really didn't know-"

"It's alright Miss Parkinson, thank you for bringing him here. You two should get back to school." He pressed.

"Arthur-" Mrs. Weasley protested.

"Not now Molly, I will explain later." He urged his wife.

"Let's go Draco," I turned to my closest friend. He nodded, clearly uncomfortable with the current situation.

"Pansy," George spoke from behind me, I turned to look at him. Confusion all over his features.

"George," My voice cracked. I knew right then and there that it would be a long while before I saw him again, at least I hoped not. My eyes began to fog up and he stepped closer to me, "I have to go," I turned quickly, pulling Draco into the fireplace with me. I grabbed a fistful of floo powder and turned around. My eyes connected with his, "Hogwarts". Now they were only a memory.

Once we arrived back at the school, I turned to Draco,"We need to figure out how to deal with Daphne" I stressed.

"She'll have already passed on the information, it's been too long since it happened," He gestured to the clock. He was right, too much time had passed.

"I'm going to play it off as if I knew..." I said slowly, formulating a plan. "I'll tell her that it worked, that I convinced Sirius to stay there. You'll act like you were in on it. We can pretend Umbridge had it all planned, she wanted me to gain their trust..."

He nodded his head, "Sounds like that's all we can do. Ready?"

We left the office and headed down to the Slytherin common room. Once we walked in I sighed audibly, spotting Daphne in the corner. "That took forever!" I fell into the nearest armchair.

"Well, it's finally done with," Draco played along.

"Finally we have the location of Sirius Black, Umbridge will be pleased." I laughed humorously.

Daphne couldn't handle her curiosity. She approached silently.

"What's going on?" She asked feigning a small amount of interest, even though I could see the hunger in her eyes.

"Oh Daphne, it was great!" I jumped up with excitement, "We framed Potter and his friends into giving up the location of Sirius Black! Too bad we couldn't get Dumbledor- or that oaf, Hagrid!" I cackled convincingly.

"Yeah, I know- I was there." She rolled her eyes.

"Right, yeah. I almost forgot- you were fantastic." I smiled. "Guys, they're going to be so pleased with us."

"Guess what else?" Daphne smiled wickedly, "I convinced the actual Weasley that you had passed on a message saying Black really wasn't there. I bet they're on their way to the Ministry to rescue him. Oh, and I've floo'd my parents informing them of what happened." Then her face melted to a look of sympathy, "I'm sorry guys, I didn't realize you were in on it and I might have told them that you were on Potter's side. I'll fix it- I'm going to send a letter now." With that she got up and left.

Draco and I sighed simultaneously and fell onto the sofa. I then jumped back up from the couch.

"Draco!" I screamed, eyes wild.

"What is it?" He asked worriedly.

"Draco, he's going to kill him. He's going to kill Harry!" I screeched in horror. "I'm going after them, I can't let this happen-" I hurried towards the exit.

Draco wrapped his arms around me, "Pansy, you can't. They'll kill you too. They can't know. Potter will be okay," He assured me, but by then- I couldn't hear him. I was struggling uselessly against his hold. At this point I was now on the floor sobbing. "He'll be okay Pansy, they'll protect him."

"No Draco!" I exclaimed, then quieted, "No, I have to do this. I have to do something..." I whispered hopelessly.

"You've done enough. Come on." He lead me back to the sofa, and pulled me into his arms. I fell asleep eventually, tears rolling down my cheeks.

We were awoken a few hours later, by an irritated slam of the portrait door, followed by a feminine "Ergh!"

Draco bolted upright, rubbing his eyes, "Wha-?" He asked groggily.

I sat up slowly, confused, and looked around. Daphne was walking toward us, fuming.

"Potter's back." She growled.

As soon as the words left her mouth, I was off the couch. Everything flooded back to me. "What?" I asked.

"Yeah, bunch of people in the hospital wing..." She replied, irritably. "Apparently they were rescued. Dumbledors back as well. I don't know what happened though..."

"What time is it?" Draco asked.

"It's seven." She answered.

"Come on Drake, let's go get breakfast." I said, pulling his arm up.

We all stopped, the fire had suddenly began to crackle loudly. We turned to see a face forming in the flames. The fireplaces must be back to normal. "Draco, is that you dear?" The voice of Narcissa Malfoy spoke from the fireplace. Indeed her face was that which had formed.

"Mother? What-?" He asked, suddenly confused.

"Draco, darling. I wanted to tell you before the rumors started. Sweetheart, your father- he's been arrested." She paused, letting the information sink in.

I turned to Draco, a look of outrage was on his face. "Continue," He replied, his voice low.

"He was ordered to go to the Ministy for... certain reasons, along with a few others. Potter," She spat the name, "and his friends caused them to be caught when the authorities arrived. I'm sorry sweetheart."

"Thank you for informing me mother." He spoke, his voice flat. Narcissa took this as a farewell, and bent out of the fire, assuring Draco she would see him at the train station.

"Pansy, you go ahead and get breakfast without me," He turned to his room, "I'd like to be by myself right now."

"You coming?" I turned to Daphne, silently hoping she would decline.

"I've already eaten. Besides I've got things to take care of." She replied, leaving the room.

As soon as she had gone, I fled from the room. I ran all the way up to the Hospital Wing where Harry was sitting with his friends. Tears immediately sprung up in my eyes.

"Pansy?"

I rushed forward. Looking frantically around, doing a mental headcount. "Is everyone okay?" I asked hysterically. Everyone seemed to be in pretty poor condition.

"We're all oka-" Harry began, but I interrupted.

"Professor Lupin- is he okay?" I asked, still in panic.

"He's fine- how did you-?"

Again, I interrupted, "Black. He didn't join you, did he?"

"Actually, we don't know where Sirius is. He wasn't at the Ministry. He was never there. Dumbledor is going to find him." Harry explained. "Everything is fine. We're all fine. No casualties. Just a bit of healing to be done." He stopped, then asked, "How did you know all of this?"

"She tricked us Harry!" Ron yelled.

"What?!" I asked in alarm.

"Yeah, you said Sirius wasn't there. You said he went to the ministry." Ron accused.

"Actually Weasley, if you remember correctly, that was Daphne who told you I said that." I turned to Ron whose face melted into a look of realization.

"Oh," He mummbled, "Sorry."

"It's alright. As for Sirius," I turned back to Harry, "He's at the Burrow."

"What!?" Harry yelled, "How-?"

"Draco and I took him there." His look didn't calm any. I sighed, clearly I was going to have to explain everything. So I did. I told them all about how Daphne used Polyjuice, how I had been to Grimmauld place and when I had learned about Daphne learning his location, how I brought Draco to take him to the Weasley house.

"Malfoy is going to turn him in out of revenge, Pansy." Harry stressed after I finished my story.

"He won't," I shook my head, "But that doesn't mean he might not accidentally let something slip out of rage. He needs to be moved. I'm sure Dumbledor will take care of it." I reassured.

"Let's hope so," Granger spoke for everyone. They were all in pretty bad shape, must have been a rough time. I sat while they all explained what had happened. I sighed, thinking about what this summer was going to bring. Voldemort would be furious about his loss, which meant I was going to suffer. Draco would surely be punished for his father's mistakes. I left with this in mind, assuring the rest I'd see them again before we arrived back at King's Cross.

Draco was angry, nervous, and frustrated. We all were. This summer was sure to test our every nerve. Even Daphne was nervous. Although she was excited, the twisted witch. Draco, I learned, did take his anger out on Harry. Not that he much minded his father was in prison, he knew he deserved it. He just didn't want to suffer for his father's mistakes.

I didn't see Harry again until we were on the Hogwarts Express. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle had been missing for a while, so I got up to look for them. On the way, I passed Cho and Marrietta. I rolled my eyes as they passed. A few compartments down I saw Harry, Ron, Ginny, Granger, and Longbottom in a compartment. I knocked the door and opened it.

"Er-?" I stopped, noticing chess pieces all over the compartment.

"Don't ask," Hermione simply stated, looking back to the Prophet.

"Right," I turned to Harry, "I just wanted to wish you a good summer. I don't expect I'll be able to write much..."

A look of realization took his face, and he stood up quickly. "No- you can't!" He yelled. Everyone was watching us. I walked further into the compartment, and closed the door.

"I won't. Harry, I won't. It doesn't mean that I'm not going to have an eventful summer though," I explained.

"Just run away- you can-" He argued.

"I can't run away, you know that." I shook my head, when he opened his mouth again. "I just came to say I won't be able to write. I'll see you next year, Harry." I turned to walk away, then remembered something.

"Weasley," I said, turning back around

Both Ron and Ginny replied, "Yes?"

"Er- I guess it doesn't matter which one... can you, er-" My face feel my face grow hot, and knew I was blushing, "Can one of you give this to- to George?" I pulled out a letter, holding it out to them. Ginny took it. She nodded reluctantly, clearly she still didn't trust me.

I turned back around and Harry pulled me into a tight hug, "Please be safe." He whispered.

I nodded, "I will."

It turns out Draco and his stooges had been cursed by a large group of the DA for attempting to attack Harry. I let Draco know I was ashamed. He didn't care, he was still angry. Not that it mattered, he was covered in goo and looked extremely nonthreatening. When we got off the train, I found my parents standing with an distressed-looking Narcissa Malfoy. Many people were giving her nasty looks. Draco went immediately to her, wrapping his arms around her. I bid my Slytherin friends goodbye and walked up to my parents. They were talking to the Greengrass family now, so I turned away looking around for nothing in particular, but spotted a few familiar people.

Professor Moody, Professor Lupin, a few people I didn't recognize, and the Weasleys were all talking to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. I spotted Fred and George amongst them, adorned in outrageous-looking jackets. This made me smile. They all began walking, but Ginny stopped George and handed him what looked like my letter. She said something to him, and he looked around. We made eye contact briefly, until my mother's voice interrupted.

"Pansy darling, we're leaving." I turned away and followed.

Glancing behind me, I could just make out bright red hair amongst the crowd.