They had gone to Grimmwauld Place to celebrate Christmas. Harry immediately went to see Ella in her room. "Ella?" Harry asked as he knocked on the door. The door opened and he saw Edward there. He had never seen him look so tired, even for a vampire. He looked at Ella and gasped. It seemed that she was in worse shape than Edward. There were wrinkles on her face. Her hair becoming white. Her body seemed smaller than before.

"Harry," she said as she attempted to sit herself up. Edward went to her to help her sit up.

"What's happening?" he asked… unsure of what to say or what to ask.

"It seems that Voldemort's curses have sped up somehow," she explained.

"I don't understand," he said.

"I know you don't. I don't understand it either. Nothing's helping, Harry. Carlisle and my family have tried relentlessly to figure out the antidote but nothing's working and it's making me weak," she said. "When you read the letter, I was doing better but the curses had taken a hold of me at a stronger turn."

Harry didn't know what to say when he heard what she told him. "What can I do to help? There must be something that I can do."

"I've been asking myself that as well as the rest of my family, Harry. There seems to be only one solution that I can think of but of course my family disagrees with it," Ella said, breathing hard.

"What is it?"

"We must do some kind of blood oath, Harry," she said.

"What's that?"

"We need to make some kind of promise to each other, then using an athame and make a cut on our hands and hold hands. Since Voldemort took your blood to have a human body and sustain him, your blood may be the only thing that may support me, Harry," she explained.

"Let's do it, then," Harry said.

"No!" Edward said. "I won't let you do it!"

"Will it let her live?" Harry asked. Edward became silent, "Then we do it. Do we need a witness? I can ask Sirius."

"Ask him. He's the bonder of my Vow to your mother, Harry."

"I'm here, Harry, Ella. I'll be glad to witness this," Sirius said coming into the bedroom. He had an athame in hand. "I know that you disagree, Edward, but it may be the only thing that can save her. If you truly love her like you say you do, then let her do it."

"Does the oath need to be written?" Harry asked.

"No, as long as Sirius holds his wand over our hands and as our witness, the oath will hold," Ella said. Edward and Sirius helped her sit up. Then with her right hand, she stuck it out, palm up, "Sirius needs to cut our right hands. I want you to repeat everything that I say, okay?" Harry nodded as he stuck his right hand out, palm up. "Blood to blood, spirit to spirit, I uphold my oath to thee." Sirius made a small incision on Ella's right palm.

"Blood to blood, spirit to spirit, I uphold my oath to thee," Sirius made another small incision on Harry's right palm with the same knife as Harry said it.

"You need to say it again but this time hold hands," Sirius said. He put the knife on the side table and picked up his wand.

Ella and Harry looked at one another and with each other's respective hands, held it. At the same time, they said, "Blood to blood, spirit to spirit, I uphold my oath to thee."

Not a moment too soon, Ella began shaking and Harry wasn't sure as to what to do, "Harry, don't let go! Don't you dare let go. This is part of the ritual," Ella said, with her voice strained. She groaned as the oath and Harry's blood has taken a hold of her. Harry refused to let go of Ella's hand as it felt limp in his hand.

"Ella, please! I need you here," Harry said. Her body shook and she groaned. Moments later, her body stopped shaking. Her body lay limp, her hand not holding tightly to Harry's, but Harry refused to let her go. "Ella? Ella? Wake up. Wake up! Don't you die on me!" Harry laid his head on her shoulder, crying. He then heard her intake of breath, "Ella?" He looked up at her and saw something that he has never seen before. Slowly, but surely her hair was becoming brown, the wrinkles were disappearing, her body seemed to become full. She was becoming the Ella that Harry knew.

"Harry?"

"I'm here, Miss Cullen," he said.

"Did I say that you can call me Miss Cullen, Harry?" she said, smiling. Harry smiled for the first time since he's been at Hogwarts.

"We should go downstairs. I'm sure the Weasleys would like to have you there for a Christmas toast, Harry," Sirius said.

"I think its best that we all go down there, don't you think?" Ella suggested.

"Yeah," Harry said. Sirius and Harry went outside to the hallway to allow Edward to help Ella change into more appropriate clothing. Once they closed the door, Ella looked over to Edward who seemed to be anguished over what had happened.

His voice was thick, "Are you back?"

"For good. His blood helped, Edward. His blood will sustain me. Part of the prophecy was right," she said.

"Prophecy?"

"I can't tell you everything now especially not with Harry right outside. When it's time, you'll both hear it. I promise you that, but I will tell you this about the prophecy. It said that only the blood of one will sustain of all three."

"So with Harry's blood in you, you won't age?"

"No, I won't. I will be like this for all eternity… as half-vampire, half-witch," she said.

"Does that mean you could get pregnant?"

"It's a possibility. That's something that we both can test on at a later time," she replied. He walked over to where she was and leaned down to kiss her. She accepted it gratefully. "Let met get dressed so that we can join Harry, Sirius and the Weasleys." Once she had changed her clothes, they met Sirius and Harry outside and walked towards the kitchen.

Molly was the first to notice Harry walking in, "Oh, Harry, Harry. There you are. Happy Christmas."

"Thank you."

"Lovely to have you with us."

"Thank you," he said kindly.

Hermione was watching him carefully. "Harry, why are you so happy?" she asked. Molly looked at him closely and noticed that his eyes were sparkling.

"I don't know how to tell you this but I'd rather show you," he said as he looked back to the doorway and signaled Sirius to allow Ella and Edward to join. They both entered into the kitchen, smiling.

"Miss Cullen," Hermione said. "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm doing much better now… thanks to Harry," she replied. Harry went to a separate refrigerator and grabbed a pint of blood. He then poured them into two cups before returning the blood back into its place. He handed it to both of them. "Thank you, Harry."

"I'm just glad you're here," he said.

"To Harry Potter, without whom I would not be here. Harry," Arthur said from the head of the table.

"Nor would I be here," Ella added.

Hermione, Ron, George, Fred, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley raised their cups and said, "Harry"

"Harry," Edward, Ella and Sirius chimed in.

Sometime later, Hermione, Ron, Edward, Ella and Harry went downstairs. Harry noticed a room as he walked down the stairs and Ella noticed. She motioned for Edward for him to go on as she followed Harry into the room. An elf saw that Harry walked into the room and said, "Nasty brat standing there as bold as brass. Harry Potter, the boy who stopped the Dark Lord. Friend of Mudbloods and blood-traitors alike. If my poor mistress only knew..."

"Kreacher! That's enough of your bile. Away with you!" Sirius called out.

Kreacher turned to see Sirius there and said, "Of course Master. Kreacher lives to serve the noble house of Black."

Ella and Sirius walked into the room, Sirius said, "Sorry about that. He never was very pleasant, even when I was a boy… not to me anyway."

"What… you grew up here?" Harry asked.

"This is my parent's house. I offered it to Dumbledore as headquarters for the Order. About the only useful thing I've been able to do," he said. He motioned to the mural on the wall, "This is the Black family tree." He pointed to a female figure, "My deranged cousin. I hated the lot of them. My parents with their pure-blood mania. My mother did that after I ran away. Charming woman. I was 16."

"Where did you go?"

"Round your dad's I was always welcome at the Potters'. I see him so much in you, Harry. You are so much alike."

"I'm not so sure. Sirius, when I was… When I saw Mr. Weasley attacked, I wasn't just watching. I was the snake. And afterwards, in Dumbledore's office, there was a moment when I wanted to… this connection between me and Voldemort... what if the reason for it is that I am becoming more like him? I feel so angry, all the time. And what if, after everything that I've been through, something's gone wrong inside me? What if I'm becoming bad?"

"I want you to listen to me very carefully, Harry. You're not a bad person. You're a very good person, who bad things have happened to. You understand? Besides, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are," Ella said.

"Ella's right. Look, Harry, it was your parents that helped me to become good and when they died, I thought I couldn't go on. That's where Ella came in. She taught me how to live on and be a better person, not only for your parents and for you, but most importantly for me. She showed me again the very reason that your parents taught me that I don't have to follow the dark path."

Harry looked at Ella and truly realized that she was his only connection to his mother. Then they heard a knock on the door, "Harry, time to go," Hermione said.

Sirius walked towards Harry and walked with him, "When all this is over, we'll be a proper family. You'll see," he said. He turned to Harry, "Come on," he said and hugged him.

"I'm afraid that I need to stay here, Harry. It seems that I'm no longer welcome at Hogwarts… well just as long as Umbridge is there. But Sirius is right, Harry, once this is all over, we'll all be a proper family. Just wait and see." It was a quiet trip back to Hogwarts. The three of them made small talk about training and Dumbledore's army.

A couple of days later, everyone was in the Room of Requirement and Harry was talking, "Make it a powerful memory, the happiest you can remember. Allow it to fill you up. A full-bodied Patronus is the most difficult to produce but shield forms can also be equally useful against a variety of opponents. Just remember, your Patronus can only protect you for as long as you can stay focused. Think of the happiest thing you can. This is really advanced stuff, guys. You're doing well." Nigel was standing near the entrance where the students normally enter and noticed that there was some unnecessary shaking and thumping going on. It became louder to the point of where all of the students stopped what they were doing and looked at what was going on. Harry walked up to where Nigel was standing and noticed a small hole and looked through it. Once he was able to focus on who was there, he saw Draco Malfoy and someone else and then he saw a lot of pink and heard a female voice.

"I'll make short of this," she said, got her wand and pointed at the wall. Harry somewhat pushed Nigel out of the way to protect him and heard "Bombarda Maxima." The wall blew out. Those who worked with Umbridge were standing by, waiting for her orders, "Get them." She and her team managed to bring them all into Dumbledore's office where Dumbledore was with the Minister, "Been watching them for weeks. And see, 'Dumbledore's Army,' proof of what I've been telling you right from the beginning, Cornelius. All your fear-mongering about You-Know-Who never fooled us for a minute. We saw your lies for what they were: A smokescreen for your bid to seize control of the Ministry."

"Naturally," Dumbledore confirmed.

Harry intervened, "No, professor. He had nothing to do with it. It was me."

"Most noble of you, Harry, to shield me, but as has been pointed out, the parchment clearly says 'Dumbledore's Army,' not 'Potter's,'" Dumbledore informed him. "I instructed Harry to form this organization. And I, and I alone, am responsible for its activities."

Fudge turned to his assistant and said, "Dispatch an owl to the Daily Prophet. If we hurry, we should still make the morning edition." He turned to his security, "Dawlish, Shacklebolt, you will escort Dumbledore to Azkaban to await trial for conspiracy and sedition."

Dumbledore stood up, "I thought we might hit this little snag" walked around his desk, "You seem to be laboring under the delusion that I'm going to – what was the phrase? – come quietly. Well, I can tell you this: I have no intention of going to Azkaban."

"Enough of this. Take him," Umbridge called out. Dumbledore clapped his hands over his head and Fawkes immediately flew in and made both of them disappear before anyone could blink.

"Well, you may not like him, Minister, but you can't deny… Dumbledore has got style," Shacklebolt said.

Somehow, Harry, Hermione, Ron and the others were let go and everyone was relieved, Hermione spoke up, "Dumbledore warned Fudge this could happen. He's gonna get us all killed just because he can't face the truth."

"You did everything you could. No one could win against that old hag," Ron commented.
"Even Dumbledore didn't see this coming. Harry, if it's anyone's fault, it's ours," Hermione added.

"Yeah, we talked you into it," Ron agreed.

"Yeah, but I agreed. I tried so hard to help, and all it's done is made things worse. Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore, because I don't want to play anymore. All it does is make you care too much. The more you care the more you have to lose. You maybe it's just best to..." Harry left off.

"To what?" Hermione pushed.
"To go it alone," Harry answered.

"When are you going to get it through your head? We're in this together," Hermione told him. They all reached to Gryffindor Common Room and saw that everyone was quiet, Harry spoke up, "What is going on?" Everyone moved away to show that Ella was there with Edward. "Miss Cullen, Mr. Cullen." Harry went up to Ella and hugged her, shook Edward's hands.

"I hope that you're doing well, Harry," she said as she cupped his face.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Harry inquired.

"It's because we care about you, Harry and it's a way for you to realize that you have reliable people around you, especially during these dark and dangerous times," Ella explained. "But most importantly, it's what sets you apart from You-Know-Who."

"He has followers," he said.

"Followers aren't friends. Followers can be easily thrown away and killed. Friends aren't," Ella gently explained. "Friends stick by your side, no matter what comes your way."

"Miss Cullen's right, Harry," Hermione said. "Remember what Umbridge said how she tried to instill discipline and respect for decorum, just so we can supposedly respect the Ministry?"

"She actually said that?" Seamus asked.

"Yeah, she did," Hermione answered "But the thing is that Umbridge only wants control over us. Why do you think that she's coming up with all the decrees? She doesn't want us to fight. Dumbledore's Army's supposed to be about doing something real and it's against what she wants. Think about what Dumbledore is teaching us. He's teaching us the same thing but in a more loving and firm way."

"Harry, we all prefer to learn magic the way Dumbledore's always taught us, not through what Umbridge wants. But the thing is, Harry, we can't fight this war alone. We all need each other," Dean said.

"I think we've showered him with a bit too much advice," Ella commented. "But Mr. Cullen and I came to talk with Harry privately, so it would be best if we went to our home to discuss news." The trio left the Common Room for the house.

Once they were in the house, Ella made Harry sit on the couch. Based on what Edward told her the fear that she could smell off of Harry, she knew that he would collapse if he didn't sit down. "I don't…"

"I know, Harry. You're confused and unsure of what to do. That's why we're here, Harry," Ella responded. "We thought that if you spoke to me about what you're thinking and what you're going through, somehow it'll help. The answers won't be obvious if you don't talk about it."

"What about Sirius?" Harry asked.

"It's too risky for him to come all the way over here," Ella replied. "Edward is being our link to our family in Grimmwauld place. He'll tell us anything that we need to know while we talk." Harry nodded. Edward left to the other room, knowing that Harry wanted to talk to Ella alone but he went into the library to do some research but he still listened to their conversations, so that he wouldn't miss anything. "How are the lessons with Snape going?"

"It's difficult. I'm struggling with how to control it and still protect myself," Harry answered. "How is he doing this?"

"I honestly don't know. Dumbledore won't tell me and he's blocking his mind to Edward but there is one thing I know about Dumbledore," she said.

"What's that?"

"Dumbledore warned Fudge this could happen. He's gonna get us all killed just because he can't face the truth," Ella replied.

"Fudge knew?" Harry asked, shocked.

"Yes, but he's still denying it," she replied. "Just look at the Daily Prophet. He said, 'We have confirmed that 10 high-security prisoners in the early hours of yesterday evening did escape. And of course, the Muggle prime minster has been alerted to the danger. We strongly suspect that the breakout was engineered by a man with personal experience in escaping from Azkaban, notorious mass murderer Sirius Black, cousin of escapee Bellatrix Lestrange.' He's still blaming Sirius because he refuses to believe that Voldemort is back."

"But he is," Harry said.

"We know that, but he doesn't. Fudge needs to see things with his own eyes before actually doing anything about it."

"Maybe with all this going on, I should go at it alone? I tried so hard to help, and all it's done is made things worse. Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore, because I don't want to play anymore. All it does is make you care too much. The more you care the more you have to lose," Harry said.

"I don't believe that, Harry. I don't believe that for one second! I believe that the more you care, the more it motivates you to fight alongside your friends and your family."

"But I haven't had any family," Harry commented.

"Yes, you do! You have me and your godfather," Ella said as she somewhat forced him to look at her. "If you go at this alone, are we not your family? What about your friends? Do you not care about them being dead? Voldemort will find ways to kill them if you go against him by yourself."

Harry looked at her and he could feel tears threatening to come up. "But there's still a chance that they can die if they fight with me."

"Yes, that's true but the thing about war, people on both sides die. No one truly escapes war without losing numbers," she responded. "If anyone understands what it's like going to war, it's me, it's Sirius and it is never easy losing the ones you love to death but knowing that you did all that you could do with them there with you helps lessen the pain in some ways."

"How?"

"You're fighting for the same cause. And as long as one survives, he or she will always carry their friends and families' memories alive, in here," she pointed to her heart, "and here," then pointed to her mind. "As long as you do that, they're truly never gone."