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Rescue Begun

Harry was sitting out in the dark, waiting for Athena. Mirage had shown him how vampires apparate, and it was indeed different from the way wizards apparate. Apparently, you only had to think of a name, a picture, or the location in order to apparate, where with wizards, you had to know the location or else you wouldn't go anywhere.

Tonight was the night that he was going to go and rescue Licentia from her hellish life. He was going to bring her back here, and if she was magical, she could begin going to school here. It was possible, but the younger kids were restricted to one building on the compass and had a stricter schedule that they had to abide by. The younger kids didn't mingle with the older ones very often. If Licentia wasn't magical, then Athena was going to find her a muggle school where Licentia could attend while Harry paid for it. Athena had argued, but he had been adamant. Athena couldn't afford it while Harry could, and if all else failed, Harry could always break down and ask Sirius to pay for Licentia's schooling. If Sirius refused, then they would just have to send her to a day school and pick her up between classes or something.

But first things first, Harry needed a location. He didn't think that Licentia would answer to Licentia, so he wanted to having something else that he could have to fall back on in order to find her. That was why they were trying two different things.

One was a location spell, but location spells needed one of three things. An object belonging to the person for whom they were looking for. A name of the person for whom they were looking for. Or some bodily substance or piece (i.e. Hair, fingernail clipping, etc.) from the person for whom they were looking for. They didn't have an object, they didn't have any bodily substances or pieces, and they weren't sure if Licentia would work or not.

The second was Harry's necromancy. He could summon a spiritual being or animal to track Licentia. First he was going to summon Lily and James back and ask them to search for him. If they couldn't do it, he was going to summon a pair of shadow cats, whom were renown amongst necromancers for having the ability to find anyone or anything. They should be able to give Harry a location.

"I'm sorry that I took so long, Harry. I wanted to draw a picture of Licentia in case that might help you." Athena panted as she jogged up. She handed a scrap of paper to Harry before bending over, placing her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. Harry knew that Athena had a asthma problem. Luckily, she carried a muggle inhaler, so she would be okay shortly.

Harry unfolded the scrap of paper and bit back a gasp of surprise. He hadn't known that Athena was such an accomplished artist. If it wasn't black and white, and if he hadn't known that Athena had drawn it, he would have assumed that it was a photograph! It was amazing.

"Will it work?" Athena wheezed, putting her muggle inhaler away. Harry hadn't even noticed her taking it out of her pocket. Harry nodded dumbly.

"Yeah," he continued to examine the picture. Athena flushed.

"I know, I'm not that great. Her ears are a little big, and her eyes have a bit more of an almond shape to them. Her lips are thinner, and her hair is a bit longer then that, but I liked how long her hair was a few months ago better. Also, I've never seen Licentia smile, so I'm just guessing that's how she'd look with a smile." Harry gaped at her.

"Athena, this is bloody brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. Athena stared at him before giggling.

"Your British accent just hit you hard." Athena teased. Harry blushed. The others had teased him mercilessly about his British accent so he had worked hard to get rid of it. This is the first time that he knew of that it had come back to hit him.

"Shut up, Athena." Harry sighed as he looked at the paper again. If Athena was telling the truth, that she had altered some of the things about Licentia in the picture, it might not very well work. He could very well apparate himself to a similar girl's room instead. He tucked the picture into his back pocket.

"Alright, we'll try it as a last resort if you're so positive that your picture is so bad. Lets begin with the location spell." Harry moved to go so they could go to the place where they had set up earlier, but Athena stopped him.

"I asked Mr. Martinez if the location spell would work if I used it on a person with a first name only, and he told me no. He says that you have to have the full name or else you get no cookie."

Harry groaned. He hadn't wanted to summon Lily and James. Sure, he loved them and he missed them, but they were exploring the world right now, most likely scaring the bloody hell out of unsuspecting muggles, and he didn't want to ruin their fun. But this was for the good of a child whom was suffering. Her need was greater then his parents' need of getting to see what they had missed out on.

"Bloody hell." A painful blow to the right of his head knocked him to the ground. He looked up to see Mirage standing there, cigarette lit and held tightly between pressed lips.

"What have I told you about swearing?" she demanded. Harry flushed.

"Sorry. God damn it!" he swore, but not as vehemently as he had beforehand. Mirage nodded, her expression lightening somewhat.

"Very good. Remember, only swear in the manner that the locals of the country that you're in swears. It's a lot easier to blend in that way." Mirage then turned towards Athena, ignoring Harry's groans and mutterings of how she hadn't needed to hit him so hard, and why did she have to hit him in the head?

"What are you two doing out here?" Athena was questioned by Mirage.

"Nothing." Athena lied instantly. Harry felt like groaning. Apparently Athena didn't know that it was useless to lie to a vampire because they could smell it when you were lying. The only vampire you could get away with lying to is if you lied to a vampire with a really bad head cold.

"Athena's been having visions of a little girl whose in a lot of trouble and we're going to rescue her." Harry informed Mirage. At Athena's look of betrayal, Harry winced. "Vampires can smell it if you're lying." Harry explained. Athena's eyes widened significantly, making Harry shrug. He then turned back towards Mirage. "What are you doing out here, Mirage? I thought you were going to go visit with Mr. West." Mirage blew a ring of smoke before flashing Harry a fang.

"Yeah, well, I've been summoned by the vampire council. They want me to bring you to be presented. I'm going to go tell them that they won't be able to meet you until your next school vacation. I'm going to be gone for about a month, so I want you to lie low and play it safe, okay?" she asked. Harry nodded.

"I'll be a good little vampire." Harry replied. Mirage smiled, patted him on the head before disappearing from the air in front of him without even making a sound. Athena whistled.

"Do ya think she'd teach me how to apparate silently when she gets back?" Athena asked, turning towards Harry, making him laugh.

"I'll teach you while she's gone." Harry promised her, setting off towards the necromancy building. Halfway there, Harry froze and then began to swear. Athena paused and watched him with a concerned look on her face.

"What's wrong, Harry?" she asked. Harry scowled.

"I could have asked her if the bloody picture would have worked." he snarled, making Athena giggle.

"Oh well. You're fault, Catman." Harry shot her a glare.

"Shut up, Catwoman!" he shot back, making her giggle again, and then making him laugh as they finished their trip to the necromancy building. He turned the knob on the door and groaned when he found that it was locked. He let his head make contact with the glass in the door.

"It's night time. Why the bloody hell is it locked?" Harry demanded softly.

"No, Harry. It's why the hell is it locked. Take out the bloody and you'll have it right. Now, let me in. I know how to open it." Athena bumped her hip against Harry's, forcing him out of the way. She then fell to her knees and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair. She winked at Harry, and made it so he couldn't see what she was doing, and after a couple of minutes of silence, Athena finally stood up and pulled the door open. Harry gaped at her.

"How did you do that?" he demanded. Athena giggled and tucked her bobby pin away, back into her hair.

"I felt like learning how to pick locks, so, well, I learned how." Athena shrugged, then her tail began to wave about wildly. "I feel so special! I know something you don't! Yay me!" Harry rolled his eyes at her antics. Vlad was forever saying that she was bi-polar. Of course, he made sure that Athena never heard him say that, otherwise she would use some of the most creative hexes, jinxes, and curses that anyone could ever see or imagine up.

"Alright, calm down, Catwoman. We still need to go inside and summon my parents." Harry said, propelling her into the Necromancy building. She shot him a dirty look as she stumbled.

"I'll break into your dorm room and get my revenge if you're not nice to me!" Athena growled, sticking her tongue out at him. Harry just gave her an amused look as he walked by her.

"I'd like to see you try." Athena gave him a quizzical look before following after him. He led her into Undercomb's classroom after she picked the lock again. Once they were inside, Harry had her set about helping her gather the supplies before he had her sit on Undercomb's desk as he began to draw the diagram on the floor with the purified white chalk that Undercomb normally kept for only really important summonings, like class 10 Demon Summonings.

She had only taught Harry up to class 3 Demon Summonings, saying that if he wanted to learn how to do up to class 10 to class 13 Demon Summonings, then he would have to take Advanced Necromancy where they would build up from class 4 to class 13 Demon Summonings before she would take him to get his Necromancer's license.

It took Harry an hour to set up everything before he knelt down in his designated circle. He grinned impishly at Athena, who was watching him curiously, peering at the four foot summoning circle that he had drawn around him that had several unfamiliar symbols

"Am I drawing you into the dark?" he asked in a chilling whisper. Athena flashed him a cute smile.

"Nope. You're just making me consider becoming a Rune Mancer." Harry blinked at her before grinning.

"I'll become on with you. It's one of the required classes in order for me to get into Advanced Necromancy."

"That's terrific! Now we can finally share a class together that's within both of our interests and is neither light nor dark!" she squealed, and made to run to him, but stopped right outside of the diagram. She bit her lower lip.

"Hug me after the summoning?" Harry suggested. Athena smiled.

"Hug you after the summoning." she confirmed.

Harry nodded then placed his hands on the outline of the diagram. He closed his eyes and found his magic center, and concentrated it. He forced the magic out through his hands and out into the diagram. He felt the magic spread through the chalk until the entire diagram was filled with his magic, and pulsating with the strong magic.

"I summon James Ezekiel Potter from his wanderings of this earth. I summon him to me on this very night, so mote it be!" Harry picked up the dagger on the floor next to him and pricked his finger, allowing a single drop of blood land on the diagram. There was a loud pop and James appeared in the middle of the diagram.

"I summon Lily Anne Potter nee Evans from her wanderings of this earth. I summon her to me on this very night, so mote it be!" He pricked his finger once again, allowing another drop of blood to land on the diagram. Another loud pop sounded and Lily appeared next to James in the middle of the diagram.

"To bind them here to me, I surrender my life's blood. To bind them to my will, I surrender my life's blood. To bind them to this earth, I surrender my life's blood. So mote it be!" Harry let three drops of blood drop onto the diagram before it glowed bright yellow and disappeared. The entire diagram disappeared, leaving Harry in the room with his ghostly parents and Athena.

"Cool. I didn't know that you could do that with necromancy." Athena said, then jumped up and ran to Harry. She hugged him and then skipped away behind Lily and James. "I can say that I hugged Harry! YAY!"

"Uh," James began, looking confused. "Weren't we just in France?"

"Harry, dear, what's going on?" Lily inquired. Harry climbed to his feet, then gave his mother a soft look.

"There's a lot that's going on and has gone on since you left, but that's not why I summoned you guys back here. There's a little girl whom needs our help, and we need your help to help her." Lily and James gazed at him curiously.

"We're listening, son." James said softly. Athena suddenly got serious.

"Almost ten years ago, a man found a baby abandoned in a dumpster. So, having plans, he took the baby out of the dumpster and took it home with him. When he got home, he took care of the child and raised it. Once the child reached the age of four, he began to use the child for sexual acts. When the child was five, he began to film the sexual acts and distributed the tapes at a profit. When the child was seven, he began accepting money from other people to use the child in sexual acts, which he filmed, and then sold the tapes. The girl is now ten years old. She's never been to school, she has no name, no records, nothing. When I started school here, I began to dream of her. Two months later, I realized that she was real and began to search for her. Five months after I began dreaming of her, I finally gave her a name. Licentia. It means freedom. Please help us find her!" Athena ran straight through Lily and James and into Harry. Harry easily caught her as she began to sob into his chest, remembering all of the terrible things that she had seen happen to Licentia in her dreams. Harry softly shushed her, and then looked up at Lily and James.

"So, do you think you can help us?" he asked. Lily and James looked at each other before turning back, a purposeful look on their faces.

"We'll help." they both informed him. "We'll return in two weeks if we can't find her." James and Lily informed him. Harry nodded and watched as his parents floated through the wall and out of the building.

He hoped that they found Licentia soon. No one deserved what she was going through. No one. Not even Voldemort.