Akira had used to be one of Terry's friends, but she spent too much time these days staring into space or wiping away what she thought were unnoticed tears. Ever since her fight with Alec at Terry's birthday, she'd been coming around a lot and often stayed most of the day. She kept saying it was so she could see him and James, and she was babysitting them a lot, but if so, why was she always sitting around moping? He'd asked Gran, but she'd just sighed and looked sad and said he was too young to understand.

And then last night Akira had shown up in tears saying that she'd left Alec and would be staying in the Three Broomsticks for a while. Gran had been going to let Hagrid babysit today, but Akira had insisted that she wanted to; that it would give her something else to think about, whatever that meant. They'd wandered around for a while, then gone over to the big field on the outskirts of Hogsmeade where everybody went to fly. Nobody was there today though, probably because it was smelling as though it was going to rain soon. Gran would have hurried them back home or to Hogsmeade at the first sign of a cloud, but Akira had just sat down on a rock and didn't seem to notice. He rather hoped she didn't, he liked playing in the rain and mud but wasn't usually allowed to. The thought of the forbidden delight wasn't as exciting today, though; as there were other, bigger, problems.

Neville kicked a rock and sighed. "Think Akira'll mind if we ride our brooms?"

All three of them turned to eye their sitter, who wasn't looking as though she was going to move anytime soon. "Dunno," Terry finally said. "She might." There was another pause.

"What if we stayed really near the ground?" Neville finally suggested. "Then maybe it'd be all right." They edged towards their brooms, gingerly at first, then more boldly as she showed no signs of…well, anything. There was a nervous pause when they finally got there, then James snatched up his broom with a triumphant shout that transformed into a yelp as all three of them received a shock and red sparks cascaded down.

"I'm sorry…we just wanted to ride… I was going to stay near the ground… we didn't mean to…" the three of them were blurting as Akira shrieked and sprang from her rock.

"What happened?" she gasped as she dashed over. "Are you all right, what'd you…touch…" She suddenly went still, her face turned towards the man who'd just walked into the field. "Alec."

Neville was sure he heard a low moan before she started off towards her former boyfriend. "Alec, now isn't a good time. I pro…"

There was a flash and she crumpled to the ground.

He couldn't move, couldn't think. All James could do was stare at Akira's motionless body and at the man standing over her. Somebody was whimpering nearby, but he couldn't turn to see who; he was aware that his head was tilted up to expose his throat, but somehow he didn't think Alec would know what it meant, much less spare him. The fatal wand whipped through the air and Akira vanished, replaced by a small metal cage that appeared where she'd been. There was a soft thump as Terry's knees buckled, startling Alec into looking up. Sunken eyes focused on the trio.

"You wretches!" he screamed, tears pouring down his face and voice demented beyond anything James had ever heard. "Monstrous wicked little demons; how DARE you?! You took her away from me, she was going to leave me and because of YOU! HOW DARE YOU!" Someone must have peed their pants; James could smell the sharp odor. It was really stupid to be thinking about that right now, but he was so scared he couldn't focus on anything else. He could almost hear Argus' voice from a million years ago, but couldn't quite make out what he was saying.

The day may come…wishes you harm… Something else…what was it…?

"MONSTERS!" Alec screamed again. "Monsters…" and his voice trailed off. He stared down at them, his eyes flickering from face to face. "Come here!"

James' legs yanked him forward one jerky step before he could stop himself. Alec snarled, sounding so wolf-like that James automatically whined back, then the man whipped his wand through the air in a Summoning Charm. There was a second of confusion as the boys collapsed against his legs, then Alec bent down and yanked them to their feet. He grabbed both Terry and Neville with one arm; the other went like an iron bar across James' chest before Alec stumbled into a spin and crushing darkness replaced the cloudy field.

…not going to worry about how much he hurts you…

Yes, Alec's grip was hurting him horribly but it was going to get worse…he was going to kill them, the way he'd just killed Akira, and there wasn't anybody there to save them…and the blackness was starting to spit them out…

…and…neither…should…you.

Light exploded around them as they popped into deep grass next to an abandoned village. Alec staggered and his hold tightened even more as he fought to keep his balance. Fear flashed in an instant to rage and James let out a squall as he twisted and sunk his teeth into Alec's arm.

Blood spurted into James' mouth and Alec let out an almighty howl that turned into a gasp as Terry eeled around and slammed his fist into his captor's crotch, who collapsed to the ground, clutching himself. James turned and ran before Alec could recover, his brother's pounding footsteps right behind.

Weeds grasped at his legs, hiding holes and trying to trip him, but James kept going; running faster than he ever had in his life. He had no idea where he was or why the decaying buildings were empty, but that wasn't important, all that mattered right now was getting away. The sound of Alec screeching out some really rude words from somewhere far behind only spurred him on.

The stream of words cut off suddenly, then the sound of a scream echoed through the buildings for a split second before being cut off in turn. James slammed to a halt and was bowled over by Terry. "What…" James started, before being distracted. Something over between those two houses had just moved.

"No, no, no, no," Terry repeated frantically as he backpedalled. The creature moved slowly out into the overgrown street, but James had been around Hagrid's pets enough to recognize stalking when he saw it. He edged backwards, matching Terry's careful, painfully-slow movements. Frantic eyes swept the area, but there wasn't anyplace to hide, and that…thing…looked as though five legs would definitely outrun two. It hissed angrily at their retreat and lowered its front legs so that the face on top of the abdomen could see them better. It didn't seem to have a head, just a body and those thick hairy legs.

James kept backing up because there wasn't anything else to do. His eyes were fixed on the rotting wooden ladder propped against one of the houses, but there was no way of getting to it without running past the monster. He was going to have to distract it somehow…give Terry a chance to… A hairy shape shot from around another house and slammed into the original monster before it could stop, knocking both of them to the ground. Nownownow…"GO!" James screamed as he took off. The wood trembled as he grabbed it, the ladder was barely standing under its own weight but what choice did they have?

He could hear cracking and the wood was falling apart right before his eyes; his vision swam for a second and when it cleared the cracks were even worse but the ladder was still holding up somehow… Ahead of him Terry's heels scrambled onto the roof and James followed, right as one of the monsters lunged after its vanishing meal. The ladder had held up under the twins, but this was far too much for it, and it collapsed into kindling.

A face popped into his field of vision and James almost fell backwards over the edge until he recognized his brother's white face. "We made it," he whispered. It didn't feel real somehow.

"Yah," Terry agreed. There was a pause. James felt the blood drain from his own face as he realized what was wrong.

"Where's Neville?"

Terry's eyes widened and he spun around frantically. "He was right behind us; I thought he was right behind us!" He whirled again without waiting for an answer. "NEVILLE, NEVILLE!"

"TERRY!" came an answering scream, which sounded close to tears. "Where are you?" There was a soft thudding as Neville dashed into view…and caught sight of the monster which was still at the base of the house the twins were standing atop. There was a second of surprise, then the thing seemed to decide it wasn't taking chances with this latest offering and hurled itself at Neville. The boy flung his arms up, but it never reached him; instead bouncing off…nothing. Screaming with rage, it leapt back up and tried again but couldn't break through the invisible shield. Terry was making a strange noise in his throat, like he wanted to scream but couldn't. Neville was laughing hysterically for some reason; sounding as insane as Alec had earlier.

The laughter cut off as three more of the monsters edged into the square, eyeing one another suspiciously and hissing whenever one got too close to another. Two of them had blood on their fur. James knew without being told that Neville's shield wasn't going to hold up under a combined assault. He ran for the edge of the roof with the half-formed idea of diving off and piling into the monsters; of giving Neville a chance to run for it.

James was almost to the edge when there was a crunch and his left leg smashed through the shingles up to the thigh. NO! NO, NO, NO! This wasn't supposed to happen, he needed to get down there NOW, but he couldn't pull his leg free. He scrabbled desperately, but nothing changed; and down below the monsters were starting to close in. James was still trying to wriggle free but he couldn't take his eyes off his friend, who had frozen in panic. NO! Neville, no! Run, something, anything; WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!, THEY'RE COMING…!"

He stopped breathing as Neville floated into the air. It had to be a dream, there was no way that could have happened; he didn't dare look down because if he did the dream would vanish and he'd see his best friend under a pile of monsters…don't look down, don't look at…Terry…

Terry stood at the edge of the roof, holding a wand aimed directly at Neville. "Wingardium Leviosa," James whispered, and glanced down before he could help himself. He'd yanked his gaze up again a second later, but paused. Something… He made himself look this time. Three monsters clustered below the hovering figure that was not lying dead on the ground. Even as he watched one of them made an especially high leap, grazing Neville's shoe. Terry yanked the wand farther up, but Neville wobbled and almost fell out of the sky, making Terry grab the wand with both hands to steady it.

A woman's scream cut through the air. "OH MY GOD! Everybody, get over here NOW!" A red-headed woman on a broom carefully maneuvered herself next to Neville and tugged him onto it in front of her. Two other people zoomed into view and pulled up short.

Their shock was brief; and seconds later one rather burly man was hauling Terry up, while another flew over to James, eyed the roof and decided to stay on his broom. "Come on lad," he coaxed, reaching out a large hand. There was a blinding stab of pain in his leg when he moved and James screamed. The man swore loudly and took a closer look. He was partway through cutting James' leg out of the hole when yet another man flew up.

"Body over there. Adult, I think," He swallowed hard, "pretty big mess. I've got a shield over it."

"Not now!" the woman exclaimed, pointing at the boys. "I don't need a description, not in front of them." She glanced down at Neville, who had fainted, then flew over to the twins. "Was there anybody else with you?" she asked gently. James glanced sideways at Terry, but his brother was staring over the rooftops with blank eyes. "Was there anybody else?" the woman asked again, a bit more firmly this time.

Oh, right; he was supposed to answer. His voice wasn't working, but he managed to shake his head. It sounded like they'd found Alec, and both Terry and Neville were right here. "Nobody else", he finally managed.

"I'll check anyway," a young man volunteered, the only one who didn't have a child perched on his broom. The woman nodded; then turned back.

"Hold on, this is going to be a bit scary." Without further warning, she and all the others dismounted. James' and Terry's screams mingled as the group twisted in midair and vanished.

A.N. For a chapter that I've pretty-near DREAMED about for over two years, it certainly took awhile to set down. At least this means it won't be bugging me anymore.