Okay, here's the next chapter; and potentially the last chapter for a while. Sorry, but there is just so much going on right now, both in life and in writing. But rest assured, I will get to the end eventually.

Enjoy.

Chapter 24: Blood Traitor

"I don't care if there are any witnesses!" Vince said to his friends "it's just a muggle!"

Now Lilith was worried again; if they really didn't care about what happened afterwards...

"Dad!" Blaise Zabini ran through the doors drawing his wand, and Xanthe Rivers and Theodore Nott were not far behind.

"Fuck off Zabini!" Deschamps said, pointing his wand at the newcomers. "Do you really think two of you and your useless muggle father can take us on?"

"Don't you dare call my father useless!" Zabini said. "And yes, I think we can take you turds on!"

"Blaise, don't push your luck" Mr. Zabini said.

"Don't worry Dad; Hermione has gone to get help."

"Lilith" Rivers said, spying her on the ground. "What happened?"

"I don't need your help!" Lilith said.

"Looks to me like you do" Rivers said. "Why are your so-called friends ganging up on you? I thought you were all on the same side?"

"She's not on our side!" Harper said. "She's an arrogant half-blood who doesn't know her place!"

"Doesn't know her place?" Rivers said. "What, because she danced with Goyle?"

"A half-blood shouldn't be trying to get into the pants of a pureblood" Harper said.

"But, you're a half-blood" Rivers said. "And from what I've heard, you've already gotten into the pants of a pureblood. Why aren't you the one on the ground crying?"

There was a pause as River's words sunk in, and then...

"I am not a fucking half-blood!" Harper said.

"Stop spreading bullshit you blood-traitor!" Deschamps said.

"Shut up Rivers" Pansy said.

"TAKE IT BACK!" Daphne shouted, running up to Rivers and pointing her wand at her face. "Take. That. Back!"

Lilith had never seen Daphne so angry before. Had she really slept with Harper? And could he really be...,

Rivers seemed unfazed by Daphne's threat, and calmly lifted her wand up, and said "Accio brown envelope of evidence."

Sure enough, a brown envelope flew out from the archway leading to the Slytherin Dungeon, and once River's had it she started handing out documents from it.

"Is that...?" Nott asked.

"It sure is" Rivers said. "Harper's mother is only pretending to be pureblood. See, here's a birth certificate from a muggle hospital, an application for revealment from Ngama Sorcery School, oh, and here are some photos of Brad's brother with his supposedly dead grandparents. Look at those tacky muggle clothes."

The five other Slytherin's looked at the documents and at Harper in disbelief. Daphne had some documents from Ngama, and as she read she slowly backed away from Rivers and lowered her wand.

"Ah, looks like muggle relatives are more common amongst Slytherins than you care to admit" Mr. Zabini said with a chuckle.

"Shut up!" Vince said.

"We'll have to be more careful about who we trust" Pansy said. "We have to check everyone in the AD!"

"But this can't be true!" Harper said, looking up from the letter he had been reading with pleading eyes. "Guy, back me up, you know -"

"No" Deschamps said, turning away. "I'm sorry Brad... but this...you lied to us!"

"I... I didn't know!" Harper said. "It.. it can't be true. Daphne you -"

"Leave me alone!" Daphne said, tears trailing down her face. "I... I can't take this!"

Daphne burst into tears, and ran off towards the Dungeon. Lilith then realised that no-one was paying any attention to her. She pulled herself up, trying not to cry out as the pain where Vince had kicked her flared up. She was about to sneak up the stairs, but froze when she saw her wand on the floor, snapped in half.

Tears escaping her eyes again, Lilith made her way to her wand, and then crumpled to the floor in front of it. She picked it up, and cried even harder.

Willow. Seven inches. Phoenix feather core.

It chose her. But now, she was as powerless as a muggle.

She was dimly aware of the commotion around her as Granger arrived with Professors Zabini, McGonagall, and Snape. She was aware that Professor Zabini seemed angry at her husband and son, but she couldn't follow what she was saying. She couldn't follow what any of them were saying; all she could think about was her broken wand, and how powerless she had become.

Eventually someone helped her up. It was only after she had already taken hold of the offered hand that she realised that it was the muggle Zabini who was helping her. She didn't even care anymore.

Greg also showed up at some point, and helped her up the stairs, away from the scene.

:Later:

"You can't expel them" Snape said for what had to be the third time since Dumbledore had invited him into his office for this private conversation. "How many times do I have to say that?"

"Once is enough" Dumbledore said. "But Severus, what they did is worth a few years in Azkaban. From what the portraits say, Vincent Crabbe was going to rape the girl."

"Vincent Crabbe will be taking over Draco's mission after the holidays" Snape said. "His father has finally got the Dark Lord to give him the mission. And if you don't expel Crabbe, how can you justify expelling the others?"

"Why would Mr. Crabbe want his son to have an almost suicide mission?" Dumbledore asked.

"That's the problem" Snape said. "Everyone else knows it's a suicide mission, and the Dark Lord has no parents he needs to punish yet. If he can't make Vincent Crabbe take Draco's place, he might scrap the whole plan. Then how are we going to get Deepvoice in a position to do what has to be done?"

"Maybe we need to scrap our plans too" Dumbledore said, looking at the ring on his finger. "After what happened to his wife, Deepvoice may be tempted to use the power we will give him for himself. Maybe Harry should unite the Hallows himself."

"Do you honestly think he will accept his own death?" Snape said. "And what about Luci... erm, Deepvoice? Yes, he'll be tempted with the stone, but who wouldn't? and after all you've put him through, how can you even think about just tossing him aside?"

"So instead we should just ignore the suffering of Lilith Moon?" Dumbledore said. "We should just let her attackers stay at Hogwarts, with a clear message that they won't be punished if they go after her again?"

"What do you think I've been doing all year?" Snape said. "Half my students are going around terrorizing the other half; nothing as bad as this before, but there have been beatings and pets have died. I have to ignore it, because I cannot have rumours of me favouring the blood-traitors getting back to the Dark Lord."

"I can't just let this go unpunished" Dumbledore said. "What other options do we have for getting Harry to Voldemort? Maybe we could use the Slytherin students to our advantage; start a riot, and then it would be plausible if you captured Harry in the confusion and took him to Malfoy Manor."

"People would die" Snape said. "If of course, you could start a riot without those five. You're also forgetting the whole reason why we need Deepvoice; they'll be watching me, but De - "

"I know" Dumbledore interrupted with a sigh. "But can't we do that without the vanishing cabinet?"

"Possibly" Snape said. "But every other option I see will result in more death and suffering. And will be more likely to go wrong. Now that Draco is out of the picture, we need someone else to finish that vanishing cabinet and bring Death Eaters into the school. That someone will have to be Vincent Crabbe."

"I don't like this at all" Dumbledore said. "True, I've never liked anything about this whole plan; but at least we can avoid a war. If we don't stop Voldemort from using Mr. Crabbe."

"Mr. Zabini didn't hear anything about rape and didn't see Crabbe kicking Moon" Snape said. "Apart from the attackers, only the portraits know about that. The portraits will stay quiet on your command, and with a bit of memory altering -"

"What did Luigi Zabini see?" Dumbledore said. "How much memory altering will we need to do?"

:Meanwhile:

Lilith had just finished telling Greg what had happened. They were in the Hospital Wing, even though Lilith only had a few bruises. Greg had tried to fix her wand with as many different types of adhesives as he could conjure or find in the Hospital Wing supply cabinet, but nothing seemed to work.

"It's no use Greg" Lilith said. "It's broken. I'm... I'm completely powerless."

"We can get you a new wand" Greg said. "Even without Ollivander's, there's still the Wandmaker in Knockturn Alley. Well, a lot of their wands are pretty dodgy, especially the bowturkle ones, but they get it right sometimes. I got mine there, and even though troll whiskers are supposed to be bad, it's been good to me."

"Thanks Greg" Lilith said. "But what's the point? If I get a new wand, Pansy will just snap it again."

"I won't let her!" Greg said.

"How are you going to stop her Greg?" Lilith said. "If you stand up for a half-blood, you may as well be one."

"You know, maybe they're wrong" Greg said, recalling his envy of the blood-traitors and attempting to mask the hatred he felt for his supposed best friend.

"About what?"

"Well, the whole blood thing" Greg said. "I always figured the only reason I didn't understand why I was so superior was because I was stupid, but what if they're actually wrong. I mean, Zabini's father helped you, and he's a muggle."

"One good muggle" Lilith said. "How many bad ones?"

"Well, Pansy and Vince are meant to be good purebloods" he said. "But, what they did to you was horrible. Maybe there are good and bad with everyone."

"Maybe" Lilith admitted. "But muggles are still weak. And the Dark Lord will win."

"I hope he loses" Greg said.

"What?"

"I hope he loses. Because then, it wouldn't matter that I'm a pureblood and you're a halfblood with no connections or social standing."

"That... would be nice" Lilith admitted. "But the muggles -"

"They can't be as bad as what our friends are becoming" Greg said. "At least, not most of them. And you know what? Potter is really strong. And so is Dumbledore. Maybe the Dark Lord won't win."

"Then we'd be in trouble for supporting the wrong side" Lilith said.

"Well, let's stop supporting the wrong side" Greg said.

"Greg, you'll turn seventeen during the holidays. Aren't you supposed to pledge loyalty to the Dark Lord. What would your parents say if you didn't."

"Well... maybe they don't need to know" Greg said. "Let's run away."

"What?"

"Let's run away; no more Pansy and Vince, no more Eugenie, or Dark... or V-V-Voldemort. Let's just go, and be together."

"What if the Dark Lord defeats Potter and Dumbledore and comes after us?" Lilith said.

"Would we really be any worse off?" Greg said. "Look what Vince was going to do to you. Look what Pansy did. And the others helped. We may as well risk it."

"But nothing bad is going to happen to you" Lilith said. "You'll just have to be married to Eugenie. If she doesn't find someone else and her parents call off the whole thing anyway."

"And I'll have to become like Vince" Greg said, clenching his fists has he thought about the monster Vince had become. "But, even so... It would be bad just knowing that you're my inferior."

"I am your inferior Greg."

"No you're not" Greg said. "Lilith, I want to be a blood-traitor. Please, run away with me."

:Later:

Tracy Davis hadn't seen most of her friends in ages. It actually worried her quite a bit; Pansy and Vince had looked livid as they watched Lil dancing with Greg, and Millicent was still comforting a distraught Eugenie.

Tracy knew Lilith was in trouble. She knew and it chilled her to the bone; but she didn't do anything about it. How could she? It was a pureblood word out there. Her father had known that; that's why he killed his muggle relatives, and she sure knew it too. If she stayed by Lilith's side... what would happen to her?

She was sitting by the dance floor, watching all the other couples. A seventh year half-blood named Paul had asked her to the ball a few days ago. He had seemed like such a nice guy; if her mother hadn't been negotiating with the Crabbes - if she hadn't had a chance to court a pureblood - she would have said yes.

Of course, Vince had gone with that Ally bitch, who was now dancing with Paul. Tracy accepted that it was a pureblood's world; that didn't mean she had to like it.

Near Ally and Paul, she saw Ron Weasley dancing with some Gryffindor slut. She was glad her earlier conversation with Lilith had been interrupted. The two of them were being so open, that if Tracy had had a chance to answer, she may have blurted out the name of the idiot boy she had had a crush on for the past two years.

Normally, that wouldn't be a problem since she and Lilith were such good friends. however, they now lived in dangerous times. If word got out that Tracy had a crush on Ron Weasley, things would get hard for her very quickly.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around in time to see a paper plane fall to the ground next to her seat. She picked it up, and deciphered the barely-legible handwriting inside.

Lil got hurt dut is allrite now. Plese meat us in the closet first left from the toq off the marbal starcase. bo not show this letter to anyone.

- Greg

Tracy got up and left the Great Hall. True, these were dangerous times, but she still didn't suspect a trap. And besides, Lilith and Greg were her friends. She went into the Entrance Hall, up the marble staircase, and after some searching found the closet Lilith and Greg were hiding in (it was the first one to the right.) They were both wearing muggle clothes (or in Greg's case, the most muggle-like clothes he owned) and had large backpacks.

"What's going on?" Tracy said. "Lilith, are you alright?"

"I'm fine" Lilith said, much too snappy for someone who was so fine.

"Our friends attacked her" Greg said, sounding uncharacteristically cold. "We're running away."

"What?" Tracy asked. "What happened?"

"They... didn't like that I was dancing with Greg" Lilith said.

Tracy bit back her reply. She had often told Lilith that in such matters you had to play by the pureblood rules; in Lilith's case, by having her and her mother beg the Goyle's for a chance for courtship. Of course, this was not the time for 'I told you so.'

"After that, Pansy, Vince, Daphne, Guy and Brad cornered me and well... Vince kicked me. And Pansy snapped my wand."

"They were going to do worse" Greg said, his voice sounding dangerous. "Fortunately Zabini's father stopped them."

"The muggle stopped them?" Tracy said.

"Well, stalled might be a better word for what he did" Lilith said.

"Okay" Tracy said, not thinking of the slight relief she felt as she decided that muggle Zabini's actions made no difference to her views on muggles and muggleborns.

"Anyway, we're leaving" Greg said. "And we thought you might like to come with us."

For a second Tracy wanted to say yes. However she thought of all the sacrifices her parents had made so that they could have a decent place in pureblood society. About all her mother had done to make some pureblood families see Tracy as an acceptable candidate for their sons despite her heritage.

Tracy wasn't going to let all that go to waste, and she wasn't going to be on the losing side of a war.

"I'm not going anywhere" Tracy said. "I'm not a traitor!"

Tracy saw the hurt looks on Greg and Lil's faces and wondered if she had taken things too far. After all, Lilith was her best friend and had been since they met on the Hogwarts Express. The last year had changed thing yes, but she was still Lilith.

"I won't tell anyone I saw you though" Tracy said. "And... good luck. Both of you."

Tracy hugged Lilith, and realised that her friend was crying. How had things come to this?

"Thanks Tracy" Greg said, as she and Lilith parted and he gave her an awkward one-armed hug.

"I hope we'll meet again" Lilith said. "At a more peaceful time of course."

"Of course" Tracy said. "Good-bye."

Greg and Lilith closed the door of the closet behind them, and Tracy knew deep down inside that she would never see them again.

Later

Dumbledore and Snape's conversation was interrupted by Madam Promfrey rushing in to the office to tell them that Lilith Moon and Gregory Goyle were missing.

"Thank you Poppy" Dumbledore said. "I'll get on it straight away."

The matron left, and Dumbledore turned to the window and begun muttering.

"What did you just do?" Snape asked once the headmaster was finished.

"I lowered the wards around the school."

"What? Why?"

"Because I don't think Mr. Goyle or Miss. Moon know any secret passages out of the school."

"You want them to... oh."

"Yes. If we are not going to expel Vincent Crabbe, then those two are better off away from here."

"You're right. So when shall I begin the search?"

"You can start now" Dumbledor said. "But stay away from the Quidditch Pitch and don't go flying; those two are the type to use their brooms to run away."

"I agree" Snape said, heading towards the door.

"Severus" Dumbledore said. "There is one other thing on my mind."

"Yes headmaster?"

"Pansy Parkinson is the leader of the purebloods, right?"

"It appears she is."

"And we also know she snapped Miss. Moon's wand, right?"

"Yes, it was her."

"I see. In that case, I should be able to justify expelling her and giving the other four detentions for the rest of the year."

"I suppose so" Snape said. "With Parkinson and Draco both gone, things might improve next term."

"Let us hope so" Dumbledore said. "Now go look for those children Severus. I hope you don't find any trace of them."

The Next Day

Harry had mixed feelings as the Hogwarts Express begun its journey back to London. The disappointment he usually felt whenever he had to leave the school was there, but he also felt relieved to be getting away from all the fighting that had been going on.

He also had mixed feelings about spending the holidays with Neville; on one hand, it would be nice to get to know his quiet friend better, especially after what they went through in the Department of Mysteries. On the other hand, Neville wasn't Ron. And on the third hand, Neville's grandmother seemed kinda scary.

He looked across the compartment; Neville and Luna were playing a game of exploding snap, and Ginny and Xanthe were browsing through a magazine together. The only person who looked anywhere near as conflicted as him was Hermione. She was gazing out the window, lost in thought.

Harry didn't know how things were between her and Theo at the moment. He knew Theo had taken her aside to tell her how he felt, but then they had been interrupted by Dave and the confrontation between Mr. Zabini and the purebloods. This morning, Theo and Hermione had seemed ill at ease around each other. Especially when Theo left with the Zabini's and gave Hermione an awkward one armed hug.

Harry didn't even know if it was safe to ask Hermione what was going on.

Luna and Neville finished their round of exploding snap and invited Harry to join in the next one. He accepted; no matter what else was going on, he still had a lot of good friends, and that was good enough for now.

:Meanwhile:

Draco was awake.

He could see an unfamiliar ceiling, but there was something wrong, something different about the way he was seeing it.

He also couldn't see his parents; but he'd thought they were just there with him. They'd both been disappointed in him because he'd made friends with Jung. He'd promised to be good but -

He raised his hand, and couldn't take look away. That wasn't his hand; it was huge.

Then he remembered. He was older now, and hadn't seen Jung in years. He had been a good son to his parents. He wasn't a blood-traitor.

But where were they now?

Draco dropped his hand, closed his eye again, and fell back into oblivion.