Past:


"Amy!" Korvin yelled scooping her up into his arms and holding her to his chest as her eyes fluttered back into her head, "Stay with me, Amy!" Korvin yelled shaking the barely conscious girl. Grabbing his wand, he started whispering a chain of healing spells at the girl. The open wound on her neck and shoulder began knitting itself back together slowly stopping the bleeding. However, she had already lost a lot of blood.

"Korvin, we need to leave and get her back to the castle. She needs blood replenishing potions. And if we stay here too much longer reinforcements from the Order will come." Vladimir advised.

"Okay. Meet us back at the castle." Korvin accepted. Korvin picked up the spellbook from Amy's side and put it in the crook of his arm and his side. He reached into Amy's pants pocket and grabbed the feather portkey with the hand not wrapped around Amy. Pulling her closer to himself and making sure the spellbook was secure he repeated the phrase to activate the portkey, "Apple."


Present:


Korvin felt his body being pulled to the castle by the port key. His knees crashed against the stone floor as he cradled Amy's body closer to his chest to shield her from the impact.

"Korvin!" Severus exclaimed as the boy popped into the room. Severus froze as he saw who he was holding in his arms. "Amy!" Severus cried rushing up to the boy.

Tom turned around from his chair at the dining room table in shock there was so much blood covering her clothes, "What happened?" Tom snarled as he rushed over to Amy's side knocking over the chair he had been sitting in.

"She was hit by a slashing spell." Korvin began pointing to the bright scar on her neck and shoulder. "I was able to heal the wound. But she lost a lot of blood. She needs a blood replenishing potion."

"Severus, potion!" Tom barked looking down at the girl in Korvin's arms.

Severus stood up and quickly ran out of the room to get the needed potions.

"Did you kill the person who hurt her?" Tom asked Korvin.

"No, her new basilisk did though," Korvin responded by pointing to the small snake around her wrist as five cracks echoed in the room.

Tom looked down at the small snake wrapped around her wrist. "Thank you, little one." Tom hissed at the snake.

"You're welcome. I have to protect the owner of the book." Emond hissed back.

"You got the book?" Tom questioned.

"Yes," Korvin began as Severus ran back into the room holding a large medicine bag. Severus stopped in front of Amy and knelt in front of her setting his bag down opening it and grabbing the potion he needed. Taking the vial out of the bag and uncorked it quickly pushing it towards Amy's lips. Parting her lips, he poured the potion into her mouth massaging her throat to get her to swallow the potion. Amy coughed as she drank the potion her cheeks flushing as the medicine began to work. Amy cracked her eyes open to see Tom and Severus in front of her and warm arms wrapped around her. She turned her head to see who was holding her to see Korvin.

"Hey," Amy whispered smiling.

"Hey," Korvin whispered back a smile on his face.

Severus brought another potion up to her lips, "It's a pepper-up potion. It'll give you some energy while the blood replenishing potion works."

Amy nodded, opening her lips allowing him to pour the potion into her mouth. Amy swallowed the new medicine down quickly already feeling the effects of the potion on her body. Severus stood up from Amy and began walking over to her team to check if any of them needed any potions while he had his potion bag.

Tom watched as Amy began to look much better as both of the potions started to work. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the team that had accompanied her on the mission before his eyes landed on Severus. Severus, the one that had convinced him to allow her to go on the mission. "It's all your fault." Tom snapped.

Severus turned from administering a potion to Thorfinn to turning to face an enraged Tom. "Tom…" Severus cautioned looking over at Amy. Tom followed his gaze becoming even angrier at seeing her in the state she was in.

"Vladimir!" Tom bellowed.

Vladimir stepped forward falling to his knees as did the rest of the men behind him. "Yes, my lord."

"You were to be in command of that mission and to ensure my goddaughter's safety. Were you not?" Tom hissed his voice barely a whisper.

"I was, my lord," Vladimir admitted looking down at the stone floor.

"And was my goddaughter's safety compromised when she got hurt?" Tom hissed at the boy.

"Yes, my lord." Vladimir agreed.

"And who's fault is it that she was hurt?" Tom snarled pointing his wand at the boy.

"Mine, my lord." Vladimir clenched his fist knowing what would come next. The punishment.

"Cruc…" Tom began.

"Stop!" Amy yelled leaping in front of him and pushed his wand arm down and extending her other arm in an attempt to block the team behind her. "It's not their fault. It was mine. I was stupid and didn't make sure he was, in fact, dead before turning my attention away from him."

"And they should have known better," Tom argued.

"They were locked in their fights for their lives at the time. And when they weren't it was too late the Order member had already hit me with the curse. It's not their fault. Or Severus's." Amy contended.

Tom paused looking around his goddaughter to the men all kneeling behind her. She was right; it wasn't their fault she got hurt. It was the order member that shot the curse at her. Tom sighed and put his wand back into its holster. "Fine, your right it wasn't their fault."

"Good," Amy nodded lowering her outstretched arm back down to her side.

"But you will not be going on missions with this team again. You will only go out with my senior members." Tom commanded.

"No," Amy cried out. Tom looked at her in shock as she cleared her throat. "No, they are my team, and I will only go out on missions with them. I trust them."

"Amy," Tom exasperated.

"No, they are my team." Amy glared back at him.

"Fine," Tom growled in frustration. "If they are your team then they will be training with you. They will become you permanent escort. And you will be responsible for any of their mistakes."

"Okay," Amy agreed hugging him, "Thank you!"

Tom rolled his eyes while hugging the girl back, "You're welcome. Now Korvin escort her up to her bed so she can rest. We can go through the mission debrief tomorrow." Tom finished releasing her from the hug.

"Yes, Tom" Korvin nodded grabbing Amy's hand. "Let's get you up to bed Amy. You have to be exhausted." Korvin directed at Amy.

Amy nodded and began to walk out of the dining room with Korvin beside her.

"The rest of you are dismissed. Get out of my sight!" Tom grumbled loud enough that Amy could hear as they continued to walk out of the room.

Amy and Korvin then walked up to her bedroom in silence. The only sound between them is the sound of their footsteps echoing off of the stone floor. Amy opens the door to her bedroom and grabs a change of clothes from her dresser. Once, she had secured a change of clothes she liked she crossed her room to the bathroom to get changed for bed leaving Korvin at the opening of her room. Returning from the bathroom now changed for bed Amy quickly crawled under the covers. Korvin stacks all the letters up on her nightstand next to the bed. "You promised you would read them and respond…" Korvin announced.

Amy sighs, "I know. I'll read them before bed."

Korvin nods crossing the room back to the opening of her room, "Goodnight Amy."

"Goodnight Korvin," Amy responded as the door closed.

Amy watched as Korvin left before rolling over to look at the menacing stack of letters. Draco's letters. The man she had left behind. Right before kissing another man, the same man that had been with her all day. Right by her side. Just like she had been when she brought him here. She didn't want to begin to think of all the horrible things that Draco was saying about her and how he felt about it all which was waiting for her inside those dreaded letters. Even when the first letter was delivered, she couldn't even bring herself to look at the message. Instead, she had run down to Korvin's room and sat with him while he was unconscious. Not the best plan as the letter was still there when she got back. But she couldn't bring herself to get rid of the message. She knew deep down she wanted to know what was in it. Then more letters came as the week went on. Now she had eight different letters waiting for her to read them.

She had even promised Korvin she would read them and respond to him. But that didn't mean it had to be tonight. She was exhausted and had cheated death. Amy touched her fingers to the raised up inflamed scar that ran down her neck and shoulder. Tonight she would sleep. Tomorrow she would respond. Amy closed her eyes quickly drifting off to a dreamless sleep.


The next day Amy woke up feeling like she never wanted to move again. Everything hurt. Even muscles she didn't know could hurt, hurt. Amy groaned as she opened her eyes to see that the letters were still on her nightstand. But there was also a little potion next to the letters with a note around the vial. Amy rubbed her eyes trying to clear them from the sleep that still wanted to take over. Blinking she saw that the bottle was in fact still there. Reaching her hand out Amy grabbed the vial from her nightstand. Bringing it up to her face she saw the writing on the jar was Severus's. 'For the pain' was written across the potion. Amy took the top off of the vial and brought the vial up to her lips and chugged down the liquid in the bottle. She could feel the effects of the potion as the pain in her body began to numb. Amy sat there for a few minutes letting the medicine work its magic. Once she was sure, the potion was working she sat up to sit on the edge of the bed. Her feet dangled off the side of the bed barely touching the cold floor below her. She pushed off of the bed standing up her feet fully touching the cold floor now. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she felt something slithering up her leg. She looked down to see the little basilisk, Emond, sliding up her body. Amy extended her arm down to allow the small snake to coil around her wrist as he had the day before.

'Were you down there all night?' Amy asked the basilisk.

'Yes, I wanted to stay close to you.' The snake began, 'And your python, Schlange, doesn't seem to like me.'

Amy chuckled, 'I'm sure it'll just take time for him to be comfortable around you. Have you eaten yet?'

'No, I didn't leave your side to go hunt last night.' Emond responded.

'Well, why don't we go down and get breakfast. Then after I'll take you out to the garden to hunt.' Amy suggested.

The Emond settled onto her, 'Okay.'

Amy smiled walking across the room and opened the door to her room. Outside her door, she saw a tired Vladimir standing up against the wall like he had stood guard outside her door all night.

"Vladimir?" Amy asked.

"Amy." His eyes snapping to the girl in the doorway.

"Did you stand outside my door all night?" Amy asked walking to stand in front of him.

"Yes, as your godfather ordered. We are now your guards and escorts as well as your team." Vladimir announced tiredly.

"Vladimir, I'm sorry." Amy began.

"No! It's much better than what I was doing before. I can prove that I am more than just a common death eater. I would have never got this chance without you." Vladimir grinned, "I offered to take first watch. The guys and I will be rotating who's on guard overnight so after tonight it will be much better."

"If you're sure." Amy grimaced.

"I am. Thank you!" Vladimir laughed. "Are you ready to go to breakfast, Amy?"

"Yes," Amy answered.

"Great! I'll escort you down. Korvin already went down a few minutes earlier. I had Thorfinn, and the rest of the team walk down with him. Once, we get there I'm sure your godfather will want a full debrief of the mission." Vladimir shared pushing off of the wall he had been glued to all night.

Amy nodded, "Okay. Well, let's get down there and get this over with."

Vladimir motioned for her to lead the way which caused Amy to smile at him before turning and walking down the hallway to the stairs that led to the dining room. They walked in silence the whole way down to the dining room. Thankfully the journey to the dining room seemed to take less time than it had the day before. Even with the limited conversation. Or no conversation. Amy sighed as Vladimir stepped from behind her to push open the doors to the dining room. The dining room was booming. The table in the center of the room had been grown out to fit her whole team and to leave two extra chairs for her and Vladimir. Each member was sitting at the table as well as her godfather and Severus who was chatting amicably with her team. It was strange to see them all talking like this especially after her godfather had lost his temper yesterday with the same people he was now chatting with as nothing had happened.

"Amy, come eat!" Tom invited motioning for her to sit beside him in the empty seat.

Amy smiled and walked across the room with Vladimir following her. Amy sat down on the chair that was open on her godfather's right-hand side. Vladimir sat down in the only other chair available on Amy's right-hand side. Everyone around the table began to settle down as both of them sat down. Amy grabbed her spoon and began to eat the cereal that had appeared in front of her.

"Amy, are you ready to give us a full debrief of the mission?" Tom asked as the girl finished the bowl of cereal in front of her.

"Yes." Amy answered, "Will the quick version work?"

Tom nodded, "That'll work."

"Well, we found the way down to the Order's Archive by an old table elevator in the middle of the house. Thorfinn, Vladimir, Korvin, and I went down to the archive while the other three stood guard. Once, we got down there Korvin, and I went to search for the book while Thorfinn and Vladimir gathered as many artifacts as possible. Korvin and I eventually found the book at the bottom of a well. Surrounded by basilisks. To get the book I had to look one of them in the eye and survive which is how I got the book. After I got the book, we heard someone running towards us. It was Vladimir. He told us that we were being ambushed and we needed to leave and that Thorfinn had gone upstairs to help the others. Then we left the Archive site to help the others, and you know how that ended." Amy disclosed.

"Well, it certainly does sound like you had an eventful first mission." Tom began pondering over the story of the mission.

"Indeed!" Severus agreed from the other end of the table.
"Amy, why don't you and your team go down and train with Bella for the afternoon?" Tom suggested. "That would make it easier for her to give you and Korvin your tattoo's."

"Really?" Amy questioned.

"Of course! You earned it. You completed your mission. Now go on." Tom smiled at her.

Amy smiled back before racing out of the room with the rest of her team following her out of the dining room.

"Why didn't you say anything about Thorfinn tripping the alarm?" Severus asked.

Tom shrugged, "She's trying to gain there trust. So, for now, we'll keep a close eye on him and make sure he doesn't compromise her safety again."


Training with Bella had surprisingly gone quickly. She had focused on training the rest of her team more than Korvin and herself. Bella had them concentrate on reacting quicker and trying to catch each other off guard which was quite tricky. Korvin always seemed to be on guard. After hours of training, she had only caught him off guard once. And when she had, she couldn't even feel what he was thinking or feeling. It was like he had closed himself off from her. After one day it seemed like he had already figured out how to close her out. It wasn't too surprising he was a very skilled legilimens after all. Once training was completed for the rest of her team, Bella then told them it was time for them to get their tattoos. Getting the tattoos wasn't that bad, they stung a little bit after, but Bella had said that was normal. Amy and the team even got to have a little spare time to go out and hunt with Emond before dinner. Once, dinner was over though Korvin finally got his second alone with Amy.

"Did you read the letters last night?"

Amy sighed, "No, I didn't. I'm going to go upstairs and read them now."

"And you're going to respond?"

"Yes, I'm going to respond. If I finish reading the letters in the next thirty minutes one of the Ravens should be able to deliver my response before dinner at the Hogwarts." Amy answered.

"If you need anything, just let me know."

Amy nodded, "Alright, I'm going to go and try and get through all of the letters."

"Try just reading four." Korvin suggested as she began to walk towards her room, "You should be able to get everything you need to know out of four of the letters."

"I'll try." Amy agreed before opening the door to her room, walking through the opening, and closing the door behind her. Amy crossed the room to sit on the edge of her bed. Amy stared at the intimidating letters sitting on her nightstand.

'Just four letters.'She told herself sighing as she picked up the first letter on her nightstand and began opening the envelope before unfolding the letter.

Amy

How could you kiss him?! Right. In. Front. Of. Me.

Does what we have mean that little to you that you would just run off and kiss another guy and then disappear with him?!

Why is this happening? I thought that we were happy. Please respond, Amy. I need answers.

Draco

Amy sighed this was harder than she thought it was going to be. She understood why he would need answers after all she hadn't told him anything. Amy ripped open the envelope for next letter like ripping off a band-aid and unfolded the letter.

Amy

Ginny told me that what I saw was most likely part of some plan to get Korvin out of the castle. But I can't understand why that plan would include kissing him because every explanation I come up with hurts me so bad. Amy, please I need you to explain to me what happened.

Draco

Amy set down that letter letting out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. A few more. She only needed to read a few more. Picking up the next letter she began to open the envelope before bringing the letter inside the envelope up to read.

Amy

Please answer me. I need to know what's going on with us. I love you, Amy. And I don't want to lose you to him. Please tell me I'm not going to lose you to him. That you'll be home soon and everything will return to normal. I can't stand the thought of losing you. Please don't make me go through that.

Draco

Amy wiped away the single tear that had formed in the corner of her eye. As she continued, the letters were getting harder for her to read.

Amy

I tried to come to the castle today to see you. But I was stopped by your godfather. He sent me back to Hogwarts saying that you didn't want to see me. Amy, what's going on? Why don't you want to see me? I don't understand what is going on Amy. I can't imagine a world without you. I love you so much, Amy. I still want to be with you no matter what happened with Harry, or Korvin, or whatever he's being called now. I still need you. Please don't leave me. I swear to you no matter what happens I will always love you all my life. Please come back to me, Amy. Let's fix this.

Love always and forever,

Draco

Teardrops fell onto the letter in her hand. Amy angrily wiped the tears away trying to focus on the next part of her promise. Her response. There were so many things she needed to say to Draco. And so many things she couldn't bring herself to put on paper. Like all of the time she had spent with Korvin. The mission she had gone on without him. Her almost dying. The pain she was feeling from hurting him. Amy exhaled a shaky breath rubbing her hand over her face drying the remaining tears. Amy took a few calming breaths before picking up a piece of paper and writing her response back to Draco. Amy paused multiple times throughout writing the letter trying to compose herself to finish the message. After numerous attempts, she finally finished writing the letter. Her letter was a response to most of Draco's questions. Amy breathed in deeply trying to remain calm, so she didn't cry all over the letter she had just written. Standing up from her bed she walked over to the opened window and let out a soft whistle in a few seconds, although it felt like minutes to Amy, a raven appeared in front of her.

The raven extended its foot allowing Amy to tie the letter to it once it was secured Amy muttered the instructions to the bird. "Please bring the letter to Draco Malfoy and don't wait for a response." With that, the raven pushed off the ledge of the window and flew off into the night.