Draco Malfoy sat alone in his bedroom. Well, more or less alone. His new cat, Marley, was curled up in a cat basket in the corner. His family hadn't been too keen on the idea, but he'd managed to convince them otherwise. He was adamant that he was spending too much time by himself since his job at the Ministry fell through. It had been his idea to get a pet, and his parents had been all up for it, his aunt, however, was not. Bellatrix was all too concerned about the idea of animaguses, like Peter Pettigrew. He managed to stay a household pet for near enough thirteen years, and went completely undetected until Sirius Black found him out. She wasn't prepared to have that on her hands, along with everything else she was doing. But, when Draco finally managed to find someone with a cat to sell, he brought it home without warning and gave her no choice. She tried to force it into transforming if it was an animagus, but nothing happened, so the cat stayed.

Marley was just getting ready to go to sleep in his basket, padding around in a circle before laying down and curling his fluffy white tale over his nose, when there was a noise from downstairs that halted him. Draco listened closely to it. It sounded like they were bringing someone else into the house again, another one Snatchers had caught? He would have assumed that until he heard a female voice shouting Bellatrix's name. He recognised the voice, but surely it couldn't be her, that was be ridiculous. She was with the Order of the Phoenix, they'd have brought more in than just her. And, there wasn't any kind of hostilities planned for the Order any time soon. They were having trouble tracking them down, how on Earth would she have been able to find her? She wouldn't. It couldn't have been her. End of. Draco shook his head and sat stroking Marley's white fur. He wanted to know where Cassie was, but he was just hoping she wasn't as close as he feared she was.

A black cat appeared, seemingly as if from nowhere. It was a big, fluffy cat, almost the same as Marley, but completely black. Marley instantly leapt from his bed to meet this new cat.

'Where does that keep coming from?' Draco asked, not really aiming it to anyone, as if the cat would answer him. This same black cat appeared every now and then. It just appeared and disappeared just as quickly, and Draco had no idea how it got in or out or where it lived. He didn't mind though, clearly it wasn't doing any harm. And it was more company for him, even if he was sometimes outnumbered by felines.

Cassie was still kicking against Bellatrix's grip, but she knew it was pointless. They approached the door to the dungeons.

'Let me go! What do you want?' Cassie yelled at her, not that she'd answered before.

'Shut it!' Bellatrix said again with a bored sigh. 'You're not as fun as I imagined.'

Cassie struggled again, but she was just thrown violently into the dungeons, skidding down the steps and landing hard on the cold floor. The door was quickly slammed shut behind her. Cassie pulled herself up from the floor and tried to look around. It was dark, and her eyes took a while to adjust. She heard a voice first though.

'Hello?' It was a female voice, and Cassie recognised it, but couldn't place where from. 'Cassie, isn't it? George's fiancé?' … Luna.

Cassie's eventually become accustomed, in time to see the messy blonde hair of Luna Lovegood approaching her, a goblin close at her heels.

'Yeah…' Cassie replied. She couldn't quite decide whether or not to tell her she wasn't engaged to George anymore.

'Did the Snatchers find you, as well?' Luna asked her. Her voice was abnormally calm given the situation she was in.

'No,' Cassie replied. 'I had the pleasure of being dragged in by Lestrange, herself.'

'Really?'

Cassie's mind momentarily played back the events that brought her here. Anna…

'Luna… who is it?' A horse voice said from somewhere in the darkness.

'Oh… it's Cassie, Mr Ollivander. She was with the Order of the Phoenix.' Luna explained, turning round for a moment.

'Mr Ollivander?' Cassie repeated. They'd got Ollivander? The wand maker? This could not be good news.

'Yes. He was here when we got here. He can't even remember how long he's been in here.' Luna told her.

'Yes, yes, that's all very well,' The goblin interrupted. 'but, Cassie, do you have a way out, or are you just as stuck as the rest of us?'

'Does it look like I have a way out?' Cassie answered frostily, reacting to the harsh tone of the goblin's voice.

'Fantastic.' He muttered, and wandered out of sight. Luna gave Cassie a sympathetic smile.

There was a small clicking sound from one side of the room, and a big black cat sidled onto the scene. Cassie stared at it. Why did this cat look familiar?

'It comes and goes,' Luna said, kneeling down the stroke the cat. 'we can't work out where it goes when it leaves, but there has to be a way out. Cats can't apperate, can they? But it always goes whenever it hears people coming from upstairs.' Did the cat just wink at her?

'And I don't blame it!' The goblin added sourly.

'Well it has to go somewhere…' Cassie told them, looking around the room as if a huge hole would suddenly display itself. It did not. Luna shrugged and walked away from Cassie.

The night dragged on. Everyone else was sleeping, apart from Cassie. She couldn't sleep, and the black cat had taken rather a liking to her, as it curled up by her side. It didn't sleep though, it watched everyone else, its eyes wide open. Cassie felt her eyes slowly dropping, and everything going blurred. She would have gone to sleep, but there was a swift swirling sound next to her. She turned round and jumped at what she saw.

Elysha sat grinning back at her, brushing her messy black hair off her face.

'Elysha?' Cassie whispered. 'What the hell? How did you get here?'

She smirked. 'Meow…'

'What? How? You're not an animagus!'

She shook her head. 'I wasn't.'

'You can't just become one, can you?' Cassie asked her, trying her best to keep her voice down.

'I found something that claims otherwise. I was at school and-'

'You were at Hogwarts?'

'Yes,' Elysha replied as if it was normal. 'and I was going through Snape's office-'

'Snape's office? Are you crazy?' Cassie hissed, her eyes wide. This was reckless, even for Elysha!

'And, I found these papers and pictures, from back when Snape was at school. They were James Potter's things! Him and his friends became animaguses themselves, they made the potion to do it. I thought I'd give it a go. It seemed like a useful thing to have.'

'And it worked?'

'Evidently!'

Cassie shook her head, still barely able to believe it. 'But how do you get out? Luna said you come and go but they never see where you go to…'

Elysha smirked. 'It's rather funny actually.' After seeing the completely un-amused expression on Cassie's face, she continued. 'There's a tunnel system that goes all over the house. That's how I knew to wait here rather than escape – I knew you were coming.'

'How?'

'I heard them talking about it. I was sitting behind a mirror in their dining room, listening to Lestrange talking to Lucius Malfoy, and they were planning when to come after you. I heard it was soon and thought I'd wait for you.' Elysha explained quickly, repeatedly glancing at the door to the dungeons in case it suddenly opened of its own accord. Elysha reached into her bag. 'I was also preparing for you to come. Here,' She handed her a small bottle that looked all too familiar. 'Thought you might need a disguise… and now you can come with me to talk to Marley. He knows everything. No joke. Whatever's going on here; he knows it.'

'Marley?'

'Yes! Now drink that and we'll go!'

Cassie shook her head. She couldn't believe this was actually reality. She was sure she had to be dreaming, she'd wake up in a minute sitting in the dungeons, and Elysha wouldn't be there. No black cat, no tunnels. Just a dream… She downed the polyjuice potion.

The spinning, sickening sensation took over again, and she tried to keep herself silent. This time wasn't like before. She felt everything about her changing. Her bones shifting into an entirely new formation. After a moment, she glanced at herself. She was the exact double of Elysha's cat form. Elysha smiled.

'Purrrrfect.' She smirked, before joining Cassie on the floor as the black cat she now liked to assume. 'Let's go.' She smiled. Cassie couldn't work out what was going on. How did she even know Elysha was smiling? She was a cat! But she knew. Was it something in the way her whiskers moved? Or was it in her eyes?

Cassie followed her to the back of the dungeon, surprised at how well she could see in the darkness she knew was there. A tunnel sat waiting for them, much too small for a human to fit through… but exactly cat sized.

She followed Elysha through the tunnel, having do duck slightly, but enough to make it uncomfortable. They walked past lots of turnings and corners; clearly Elysha had been here long enough to work out her way round the system. There was a light beginning to appear at the end on the tunnel. Cassie clawed at Elysha tail before they left the tunnel.

'What?' Elysha hissed.

'How long will the polyjuice last?'

Elysha rolled her eyes. 'Long enough.'

'How long?'

'I'll make sure we're back, okay?'

Cassie didn't reply. She didn't really have a choice in the matter.

The room they entered was familiar. It had been a while since Cassie was there, but she knew it was Draco's bedroom. For a moment her mind replayed the last time she was there, it was at the beginning of her sixth year at Hogwarts, when Blaise had drawn a scar on Draco's forehead. She smile briefly, before remembering some other incidents of her sixth year, ones she'd rather forget. She shook her head and jumped out of the tunnel after Elysha.

A white cat looked up from his bed.

'Ah, Elysha!' The cat greeted her. Cassie was no wondering how on Earth they were understanding what the cat was saying to them!

'Marley!' Elysha replied in a similar tone.

'And who have you brought with you now?' Marley asked. It was strange hearing a cat speak in this way. Cassie knew what he was saying, and he just sounded like he had a posh London accent, but he was cat! How can a cat have an accent!

'This is Cassie.' Elysha told him, glancing at Cassie for a second.

'Charmed.' Marley smiled at her.

Elysha turned the conversation. 'What've you got for me today then?'

Marley paused for a moment. 'He's not been around today. He left quite early, and hasn't come back yet.'

'Where did he go?'

Marley shook his head. 'I don't know. Bellatrix fetched him and he just didn't come back. I got the feeling she wanted him out of the house for some reason.'

Elysha threw a worried glance in Cassie's direction. There'd only be one reason she'd want Draco out of the house. And when she went back into the dungeon for Cassie… she wouldn't be there.

'So nothing else has happened?' Elysha probed.

'Afraid not. All been rather boring. I did see that Snape character leaving the house earlier, when I was sitting by the window. He didn't stay long either. Maybe he took Draco with him.'

'Let's hope not, eh?' Elysha replied quickly.

'Indeed.' Marley agreed slowly, brushing his whiskers with his paw. Elysha glanced at the clock.

'Sorry, Marley, I gotta go.'

Marley smiled. 'Been a pleasure, as usual.' He nodded at Cassie politely.

Elysha once more led Cassie back into the tunnel system.

'Where now?' Cassie asked her.

'Dining room,' She replied. 'if Lestrange is going to bring you out today, she'll be discussing it with someone, hopefully.' She took a sharp right turn and then skidded left to a dead end. Cassie joined her, and found that she had a clear view of the dining room.

'Can they see us?' Cassie whispered, as Bellatrix Lestrange sat with her feet on the table, stoking a knife, opposite a hooded figure they couldn't see the face of.

'No,' Elysha replied. 'It's a one way mirror.' They fell silent and listened to the conversation before them.

'I sent him back with Severus,' Bellatrix was saying. 'not sure how long he'll keep him – although he said he'd probably send him back later today, which I told him was no use! But then again, Snape rarely is much use, is he?'

'No,' A grating voice replied. 'I've never liked him much.'

Bellatrix smiled at him. 'I've got Draco's ex girlfriend in the dungeon, you know.' She added casually. The man opposite sat up straighter.

'Really?'

Bellatrix nodded slowly. 'Yeah. Dunno what to do with her though. If I kill her it'll send Draco into pieces… but at least he wouldn't have an distractions…'

'You can't kill her, Bella,' The man told her softly. 'although – would Potter come after her if you held her here long enough?'

Bellatrix took a moment to think about it, before concluding: 'No,' She sighed the continued. 'She wasn't with any of the Order when we took her. She was working in the Leaky Cauldron. Hardly any of the Order have real jobs. She's alone.'

'Probably ran away when she realised she couldn't hack it.' The man shrugged. Bellatrix nodded in agreement.

'Probably,' She repeated. 'I do wonder though; what happened to the Weasley kid? She was meant to be marrying him, so why was she on her own working in that pub? Where was he? No one killed him did they?' She asked it like she was asking if no one had delivered the paper that morning.

'Don't think so,' The man replied. 'Not been much about the Weasleys recently.' He suddenly sat up again. 'Antonin told me something though. You know how they were keeping tabs on Xeno Lovegood's place?'

Bellatrix nodded.

'Well, when he said the taboo, y'know, when Potter and his mates arrived, they saw the Weasley boy. The one that's supposed to be dying of spattergroit! He's completely fine! Just caught a glimpse of him before they all disapparated.' He told her.

'Really? Well that is interesting. She had something going with him when she was at school, you know. Because when I went there, when we got Dumbledore, I saw it in her mind.'

'Would he come after her then? Because Potter would certainly come if we got hold of Weasley.'

Bellatrix shook her head again. 'There'd be no way of him knowing. She's out of contact with everyone who was in the Order! She was by herself, Roddy, there's no way anyone would come for her.'

'What are you gonna do then?' He asked finally.

Bellatrix shrugged. 'Just have a bit of fun probably. I've still got the Lovegood girl, the goblin and old Ollivander in there. Might just shit them up a bit.'

'When?'

'Now's as good as ever, I suppose.'

'Hang on, but you said-'

Bellatrix interrupted him. 'What've I told you about listening to me? Half the things I say are complete bullshit and the other half I never remember saying. Alright?'

'You remember everything you say! You just choose to forget.'

Bellatrix rolled her eyes. 'Yeah. Problem?'

'You're meant to be my wife, Bella! When's the last time we were actually together for something that wasn't an official meeting?' he asked her angrily.

She glared at him. 'Do you not think I have enough to think about?'

'No, I didn't mean… Bella, don't-'

'No!' She shouted, leaping up from her chair. 'I'm supposed to be the Dark Lord's right hand woman, okay? That's a big responsibility! I can't be worrying about how often or not you're getting any!'

'That's not what I meant!' He yelled back. He paused to collect his thoughts. 'And besides, it's not as if you're not getting it anywhere else, is it? Half the people I meet are very eager to talk about you! It's all and how's your wife? So when am I going to see Bellatrix? Not like you're shagging anyone else, right?'

She drew her wand on him. 'Finished?'

'Quite.' He sighed and sunk back into his chair.

Bellatrix walked around the table and kissed his cheek. 'I'm busy. It doesn't mean I don't love you.' She turned on her heels and walked out of the room.

'Yeah,' He sighed to himself. 'but don't pretend you love me more than the Dark Lord. Everyone knows that.' He shook his head angrily and left the room through the opposite door.

Elysha got up abruptly and led Cassie back through the tunnel system, back the way they'd come. They appeared back in the dungeons just in time, as Cassie's polyjuice began to wear off practically as soon as they'd got back. Elysha transformed back into her human self, and stared around the room. Shouts began to issue from upstairs.

'What the hell?' Elysha muttered to herself, spinning on the spot. 'Where is everyone?' She jumped as she saw something else in the doorway. 'Holy shit…' There was a body slumped on the floor – dead.

'Who is that?' Cassie asked her quietly, edging around the scene.

'Dunno…' Elysha replied, trying to get a closer look without having to move the body.

Both girls jumped and as more noises issued from above them. They then heard a voice they recognised.

'Fuck me…' Elysha mumbled. 'It's Harry!'

Cassie swallowed. She just hoped she hadn't got him into the this mess. There was fight sounds now, spells hitting things, screams, shouts. Then silence.

Cassie heard a name she'd been hoping not to hear: 'Draco!'

Elysha glanced at her, willing her not to do anything stupid. Thankfully, Cassie stayed rooted to the spot. There was a terrible crash, and the sound of smashing glass breaking around them. A few shards dropped down the stairs in front of them.

'You stupid house elf! You could've killed me!' They heard Bellatrix scream.

'Dobby never meant to kill…' The familiar voice of Dobby the house elf replied. 'Dobby only meant to maim… or seriously injure!'

There was a snap of disapparation and then nothing for a while.

'Well,' Elysha turned back to Cassie. 'This does not bode well for you.'

'And it doesn't look peachy for you either…' A cool voice said, as a figure appeared in front of them.