To those of you wanted more Arti and Adrian, here you are. Based on Ch. 34 of Surpassing Danger. Thanks as always to Anne and Dawn for their invaluable help. I must drive them mad.

Chapter 38: We're Here

Hestia came to just as she was being unceremoniously dumped onto rough ground. The bonds around her torso cushioned some of the fall, but she nearly lost consciousness again as her head struck the ground. When the throbbing pain subsided and her head stopped swimming, she carefully opened her eyes to find herself staring at the ceiling of what appeared to be a cave. A thump and a small cry of pain made her start. Slowly she turned her head and sighed with relief to find Lilith on the floor beside her. Wherever she was and whoever she now had to deal with, at least she wouldn't be alone.

"You all right?" she breathed.

Lilith grunted in reply.

Between them stood a man she had never seen before. He had grey hair and a lined face, covered in scars. Hestia tensed as he aimed his wand at her, but he merely severed her bonds before doing the same for Lilith. Maybe they were with allies instead of enemies. But she couldn't be sure.

That stupid sister of hers had betrayed them and instead of being in their dormitories laughing about the stupidity of their victims, here she was, Merlin knew where with Merlin knew who. Hestia seethed. She sincerely hoped Flora and Rivers had been caught, those blood-traitors in Dumbledore's Army were sure to be enraged that two of their own had been kidnapped.

The man stood gazing imperiously down at them. She glared defiantly back, though she supposed the effect was mitigated by the fact that she was lying down. She sat up, continuing to glare. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lilith do the same, moving slowly with her hands splayed in front of her.

"My, my, the current generation of your family is quite incompetent, isn't it?" he asked, shaking his head in dismay as he walked past her. Her eyes followed him as he went. Beyond him she could see more of the cave beyond and realised that they were in a small chamber, off the main cavern. "How could you have been stupid enough to get caught?"

"Where are we? And who are you?" she demanded, jumping to her feet. The man didn't acknowledge her. "I'm talking to you!" she snapped, picking up a stone and throwing it at him. It bounced harmlessly off the wall beside him and landed on the floor.

"And I'm not talking to you," he replied over his shoulder. "I've had enough of you for one day, especially since if you had done the prudent thing - the Slytherin thing and had not risked getting caught, I wouldn't have had to rescue you and risk getting caught myself."

"You dare take that tone with me?" she demanded, her fists clenched.

Lilith let out a groan of dismay from beside her. "Shut up," she hissed. "Do you want to get us killed? Or tortured?"

He finally turned back to face them. "Your friend makes an excellent point. I am not one of your lackeys to command," he said, his eyes flicking at Lilith. Hestia bit her lip. Lilith breathed a sigh of relief. "I can take any tone I like with you," he replied cooly. "You're wandless, I'm not." Panic flooded her as she recalled that Flora had Disarmed them before tying them up. She felt very vulnerable and incomplete now, no better than a common Muggle. He leered at her. It made her want to hex him, but of course, she couldn't. She was at his mercy and it was a terrifying feeling. She had never thought this might happen to her. "And I'm Marked, you're not."

He rolled up his sleeve and looked put out that there wasn't a hint of fear from her or Lilith. Instead, Hestia felt nothing but immense relief. So she wasn't in enemy hands.

"Just because your aunt and uncle are here doesn't mean you're getting any special favours. In fact, they're rather put out with you for getting caught in the first place. Though I suppose it was only a matter of time. You are inexperienced at this sort of thing. You're bound to make mistakes, just like your brother and his friends did, last year. Just be glad this wasn't a mission for the Dark Lord. Imagine what he'd do to you if he found out you'd failed." He leered at her.

Hestia paled. Her legs turned to jelly and she tottered. Lilith moaned beside her. This seemed to please the Death Eater, which helped her regain control of herself.

"It wasn't me!" she protested indignantly, scowling at him. "Flora and Rivers, they turned on us! They Stunned us and tied us up." She paused and looked up at the man. "They'd have turned us over to the Aurors if you hadn't come along," she said breathlessly, batting her eyelashes at him. She hated herself for it. She hated even more that she was in his debt.

"Did they now?" he asked, sounding amused. "I was wonderin' why there weren't more of you. Well, then it's a good thing I didn't try to find them before I nearly got caught myself. Hogsmeade was filled with Dumbledore's lot, swarmin' all over the place. It didn't take them long, did it?"

Hestia bristled. "We delayed them this long, didn't we? They'd have figured it out eventually. Even if they know the brats are gone, they would never find us here. Besides, we wouldn't have told them anything if they had caught us."

"An' bloody right you wouldn't," he snarled. Hestia took a step back nearly tripping over Lilith. "As to why you're here, Alecto sent me to find you." He sighed resignedly. "If they're comin' then I should go warn them."

"None of the rest of them know where we are, thank goodness. I was right not to trust anyone else with that. And since you can't trace a Portkey..."

"Of course you can," he scoffed. "Once they get the Aurors involved, it'll be a matter of minutes before they're here. We'll have to get the kiddies out of the way, in case they do show up here. No sense in taking any chances. I'm sure Runcorn wants his kid. And we shouldn't have them all in one place at any rate."

"They're here?" Hestia breathed. "The Mudblood and the brat?"

"Why wouldn't they be here?" he asked impatiently. "That's what you wanted, wasn't it? That's what you've been planning for the last eight months? Are you that incompetent that you didn't think it would work? Pathetic," he sneered. "They're here, as is that Pritchard boy." Hestia's eyes widened. "Yeah, he came with 'em. Looks like you can do something right after all. I'm off then," he said, walking out into the passageway. "Don't move until I come back for you. If you're good, I might even let you say hello."

Lena squeezed her eyes shut as she gripped Roger's arm. He turned on the spot and after several uncomfortable moments, they landed on hard, uneven ground. The roaring in her ears made her jump. It took her a moment to realise that they must be near a waterfall. She groaned inwardly. If they had to go through a waterfall that sounded that powerful, it was not going to be as easy as she had hoped. They'd be lucky to get through it alive. Slowly she opened her eyes and sighed in relief. They were standing on a rocky bank, downriver from al waterfall some fifty feet away. It was beautiful and not as big as her she had initially believed. In fact, it was rather small. This was one of the disadvantages of being an Animagus with a form that had good hearing.

She stood mesmerized for several seconds until a loud pop alerted them to the arrival of Maya and Lee. Seconds later, they all had their wands aimed at each other before Lee cast his Patronus. The others followed his lead, relaxing at the familiar forms.

"I'm glad there's a foolproof way to identify someone," Maya said as they watched the Patronuses gliding around before disappearing.

The others nodded in agreement. Before they could look away, Lena caught their eye with a determined look.

"If we find them, they're mine."

No one disagreed.

Arti turned to Adrian the moment Lena and the others were through the gate. "How long should we wait until we go after them?" she asked, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"We won't," he said, his voice hard.

"Won't wait?"

Adrian sighed. "We won't go after them. I promised Lena we'd stay put. She'd kill us if the Death Eaters don't. And frankly I'd rather let them." Arti managed a rueful smile. "And you're not going after Vane either."

"I wasn't going to. I'm sure the DA can take care of Vane and whoever else they find until they get back. And even if there was anything for us to do, we'd be too worried to do it properly. Though I think Anne's out with the lot in Hogsmeade. I don't know how she does it. But I think it's best if we stay here. That way we'll be here when they get back."

Adrian couldn't argue with that.

"Come on," Lee said as he hurried toward the waterfall.

"But how do we know that's where they are?" Roger asked.

Lee pointed and Lena and Roger looked where he indicated. Neither of them it seemed had noticed the dark tunnel beyond the cascading water.

"I wish we'd have known we were going into a waterfall before we got here," Roger said ruefully.

"We didn't have time," Lee pointed out. "Besides, what'd you have done about it if we had?"

Roger shrugged.

Lena was glad it wasn't raining, it would have been a miserable trip it it had been. After about twenty feet, the bank suddenly ended and they had no choice but to wade into the water. Lena had never really cared for swimming but was too anxious to be scared. Her son was trapped with who knew how many Death Eaters. She could handle a little water.

Their robes billowed around them as they stood shivering for a moment. Then Maya dove into the water and struck out for the waterfall. The others followed. The deafening noise made Lena's head hurt. And the closer they got to the waterfall, the colder the water became.

Halfway there, Maya stopped and the others came up beside her.

"Can we get in?" she shouted as they treaded water, staring warily at the entrance to the cave.

"Only one way to find out," Lee said and dove.

They couldn't see him through the curtain of water and waited anxiously for him to come back. Lee reappeared on the other side of the waterfall a few minutes later and beckoned them forward.

Arti was sure she would wear a hole in Lena's shoes, and probably fall through the stairs too, before they got back. But she couldn't sit still. She didn't understand how Adrian could just sit there, popping Bertie Botts by the handful into his mouth. That was until he started gagging and spat them out. She giggled. Adrian ignored her.

"Maybe I should eat them one at a time. Sardine, strawberry, peanut butter ice cream and olive is a horrible combination."

She stuck her hand into her pocket, pulling out a toffee and handed it to him. He took it and unwrapped it with more care than necessary before popping it into his mouth.

"Will you please sit down and stop pacing?" he demanded after he had been staring at her for several minutes. "You're driving me mad."

"No, because I can't just sit there and wait. And I'm driving you mad?" she asked with a smirk. Adrian harrumphed, slouching against the wall beside the castle door glowering.

After another minute, she said, "If it's annoying you that much, you could easily stop me."

"I could, but I wouldn't."

"All you'd have to do was Stun me. Then I wouldn't have to spend the whole time worrying. I wouldn't mind that."

"I couldn't hex you. 'Sides, if I did, you'd hex me when you came to."

"I would not."

"Not that there aren't other ways of rendering you unconscious."

She stopped and turned to face him. "How?"

"What?"

"How could you do that?"

He pulled her to him, running his fingers through her hair until they rested on either side of her neck, about an inch below her ears.

"Like that. It doesn't last very long, maybe a minute or so, I think, and you'd feel awful when you came to. Not that I'd try it, since I don't know how to do it exactly and I'd probably mess it up. There are many other ways that I would also never try on you, a blow to the chin, for example. And of course, depending on where and how hard you hit someone you could do a lot of damage to bones and internal organs, if not kill them."

"Well, I'm glad you're not the only one who knows such things," she said, putting a hand on the back of his neck and pressing a finger into the base of his skull, "If I had a hat pin, I could kill you too. Not that I know how to do that either. I'd probably paralyse you or something if I tried."

Adrian shifted uncomfortably.

"Come on," he said, taking her by the arm and leading her around to the side of the castle.

He fished in his pocket and pulled out a small, rectangular box. He opened it and handed it to her. Arti's eyes widened.

"Since when do you...?"

"I don't, as you see. But they work as a currency of sorts with some of the people we encounter."

She took out a cigarette and lit it with her wand. Closing her eyes, she leaned against the wall and took a long drag. When she opened her eyes, Adrian was staring at her in surprise.

"What? This isn't my first," she said, tapping it against the stone wall and letting the ashes fall to the ground

"I can see that."

"Not that I make a habit of it."

"I'm just glad you didn't light yourself on fire."

She rolled her eyes. "That's Seamus's area of expertise. Here." She handed it back to him and watching in amusement as he inhaled, then started to cough. She patted him on the back. He handed the cigarette back to her and she took another drag.

"I wonder what's taking Mother and Father so long?" she asked, biting her lip as she looked toward the gates.

"I presume they've gone to tell Roger's parents and the rest of your family, if not his. And mine. Which will probably take a while since I assume everyone will start to panic. Besides, there's really not much they can do. And they'd only be trading one set of worried relations for another. Although it'd just be us."

She sighed. "No, I suppose not. I suppose it'll make the waiting worse, to have them all here, crowded into some unused classroom, pacing and arguing and fretting."

He gave her a wry smile. "I doubt they'll bring everyone. Could you imagine the chaos with all of our entire families here? It'd be mad."

"I'd probably kill someone." He chuckled. She grimaced. "Bad choice of words." She sighed again.

He took his DA Galleon out of his pocket and began tossing it in the air and catching it. After a few repetitions, Arti snatched it out of the air.

"Sorry," she said, as she handed it back to him. "It's making me nervous. Like if you dropped it, something bad'd happen to them or something. Silly, I know," she said, looking embarrassed.

"Nah," Adrian said, pocketing his Galleon. "No sillier than all the ways you're supposed to be able to ward off vampires and werewolves and the like. Or all the elixirs everyone tries to sell you to do well on your O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s."

Arti looked at him uncertainly. "I'm not sure if I've just been insulted or not."

"If I did, it was unintentional."

She shrugged. "I've been called much worse than silly."

Casting a Bubble-Head Charm on herself, just in case, Lena quickly dove into the water. She would have liked to have kept her eyes closed, since she knew any shadow or hint of movement would make her jump out of her skin. Not to mention, she didn't want to her imagination to get the better of her as it had in the storage room earlier. But she couldn't do that of course. She had to see where she was going. It wouldn't have helped in any case, since she couldn't keep her mind from conjuring up countless horrors for Zach and the others. Death Eaters could be torturing them, trying to extract information about the DA, or anything else they thought the children might know. Or they might be threatening to torture Zach. The thought made her stomach churn. Panic seized her.

"Do you think we'll know if something happened to them while they're out there?" Arti asked. She sounded like a child seeking reassurance; reassurance Adrian knew he couldn't give.

"What do you mean?"

"Does magic work like that between siblings or parents?"

"I don't think so," Adrian said gently.

Arti sighed. "So all we can do is wait and worry?"

" 'Fraid so." He hugged her.

She leaned her head against him hesitating for a moment before putting her arms around him. A few minutes passed in silence, then Arti extracted herself from his grasp. She turned and kicked the wall angrily. Then, just as suddenly her anger was gone and she turned back to him with a heart-wrenching expression.

"What if they don't come back?" she whispered.

Adrian didn't know what to say.

Someone grabbed Lena by the back of her robes and pulled. She opened her eyes as her head broke the surface. Her rescuer set her on her feet though it took her a moment to gain her footing. Relief flooded through her, followed very quickly by fear and an increased sense of panic. Was this friend or foe? Whoever it was cast a spell and a moment later, she could hear properly as though her ears had popped.

"You all right?" Lee asked patting her on the back.

"I'm fine now. Thanks."

"Any time."

She taking great gulps of air, all the while struggling to free herself from her robes wrapped tightly around her, rendering her quite defenceless. Oh how ridiculous she must look. Indeed Lee was snickering. She blushed.

"You do realise that you could breathe underwater, right? You did cast a Bubble-Head Charm on yourself."

"Oh." Lena flushed deeper. "I forgot."

Her lungs were still burning and her heart was racing as she looked around. Maya was in front of them, her head bobbing eerily above the water. She glanced back and upon noticing how far behind her they were, she started swimming back toward them.

Roger was nowhere in sight. Lena grew frantic and was just about to dive back into go find him when Roger's head emerged from the water. Her panic subsided. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"You all right?" he asked.

"Yeah. Fine."

Roger glanced over at Lee. "Thank you."

"Welcome."

"You all right?" Lena asked Roger.

"Aside from the fact that you nearly kicked me in the head, fine."

"Sorry."

He shrugged.

The four of them stood huddled together

"I don't suppose they know we're here," said Maya anxiously, eyes darting around.

"You'd think they would have set alarm spells or something," Lee agreed.

"Unless they were too cocky to think we'd find them," Lena muttered. "Which is good for us."

"Or maybe it's something only they can hear?" Maya asked, biting her lip.

Lena hadn't thought of this and she shivered at the thought of what could happen to the children if the Death Eaters were alerted to their presence. After an agonizing minute when nothing happened, they decided to proceed.

"Speaking of hearing, I doubt they can hear us coming with that," Roger said, waving hand at the waterfall.

The others nodded in agreement.

To their immense relief, nothing seemed to happen as they entered the cave. No force field seemed appeared to repel them, no alarms rang and no one came to investigate.

They split up, Lee and Maya going for one bank and Lena and Roger for the other. They clambered onto the rocks and stood shivering, their teeth chattering, as they clumsily cast warming charms on themselves. Unfortunately, Lena's hand was shaking so badly that her aim was off and she got a gust of warm air in her face. But she didn't mind very much as she was now warm and dry. Still, she couldn't stop shaking. She sagged against Roger as he put an arm around her.

"You scared?" Roger murmured.

She chuckled. "I'm no Gryffindor. I can't go into battle without being scared. You have no idea how terrified I am. For me, for us, for them. I don't know how they do it. You?"

"Yeah, me too."

Somehow this almost made her happy.

"I wonder if they found her."

"Vane?"

"Yeah. Or any of the other girls involved, though they're probably much harder to track. Vane couldn't even Apparate yet. Her poor parents."

Adrian stared at her incredulously, his fists balled. "How can you feel sorry for them?" he demanded. "Look at what their daughter has done!"

"But she's not like the rest of them! Carrow and her lot. She didn't grow up learning about how evil Muggles were! She only turned to them because we kicked her out of the DA and ignored her! Besides, she's only fourteen."

"Why are you making excuses for her?" Adrian demanded in disgust. "You think we should have let her stay after what she did?"

"We let Chang stay! She betrayed the DA and would have gotten us handed over to Umbridge if we hadn't escaped. And she got to come back!"

He was momentarily at a complete loss for words.

"How can you even say that? After all she's done? She's the reason your nine-month-old nephew, a fourteen-year-old boy and a thirteen-year-old girl have been kidnapped by Death Eaters! She's the reason your sister, her fiancé and best friends have gone off to rescue them and might not come back. Don't you dare tell me Vane deserves to be pitied."

Lena stood shaking her head in a vain attempt to rid herself of the throbbing in her ears. While everyone but Roger had Animagus forms that could see in the dark, their keen hearing was little use to them with the waterfall behind them. But that also meant that it would be harder for the Death Eaters – or whoever was waiting for them – to hear their approach. At least until they got closer. Or so she hoped.

Wands raised, the four of them cautiously picked their way along. Lee and Lena were in the lead while Maya and Roger kept an eye out behind them. Lena was half-tempted to transform into her Animagus form as she was sure it would have made it easier to proceed.

She was glad they had cast Warming Charms on themselves. It was quite cool inside the cave and it grew cooler the deeper they went. Once or twice they slipped on slimy stones or tripped on loose rocks and sent them rolling into the water with a soft splash. Lena cringed at the noise, but nothing happened. No one came.

Adrian was leaning his shoulder against the wall blocking her view of the gates or she would have seen the two pairs of parents coming from them. As it was, it wasn't until Mother spoke that either of them knew they weren't alone.

"So they've gone then?" she asked.

Arti whirled to face her, the right side of her body hitting the wall painfully. Her hand scraped the stone and she dropped her cigarette before Vanishing it with a flick of her wand.

"Did they both go?" Mrs. Davies asked.

"Yes. I doubt we could have stopped them."

"No, I suppose not," she agreed.

"Maya and Lee too. Her aunt and uncle aren't here. I think they're staying with Graham's sister. Not sure about Natalie's parents, but they might be here. Anne's probably with everyone in Hogsmeade. She was helping earlier so she might have stayed. Someone in the DA ought to know."

"And you stayed behind?" Father asked in surprise.

"Unwillingly," she replied sullenly. Father cracked a smile. "Besides," she went on. "Someone had to take care of this."

Adrian handed her the envelope. Arti had given it to him earlier for fear that she would tear it shreds while they waited. She tried to hand it to Mother but she simply stared at it.

Mother closed her eyes, an anguished expression on her face as she groped for Father's hand. Arti wasn't sure whether it was a trick of the light, but his hair seemed greyer than it had the last time she had seen him.

Mrs. Davies's face turned grey and she reached out to steady Mr. Davies who swayed precariously.

Arti looked away, feeling awkward.

"Do you know what happened?" asked Mrs. Davies after the adults had regained their composure. "Your parents didn't know too many details."

Arti and Adrian glanced at each other. Adrian gestured for her to speak.

"I'm not sure how, but Lena and the others found out that Vane was partially involved. She didn't come back to Hogwarts so they went to look for her in Hogsmeade, since as she's underage, she couldn't have gotten very far. Lena figured out that her roommates were involved too, so I assume the DA and the Order are also looking for them."

"Who's Vane?" Mr. Davies asked.

"Romilda Vane. She's fourth-year Gryffindor. She got kicked out of the DA for, well, for doing something stupid and everyone shunned her, so she got drawn into the bad crowd. We don't know how involved she was or who of the three, if any of them, were the intended victims, but I'm sure once they've found her, she can explain everything. I'm sure the Slytherins are long gone by now."

"You mean that the girls Lena's been living with for seven years were involved in this?" Mother asked in alarm.

Arti and Adrian nodded.

"More than likely they instigated it," Arti said darkly. "They wouldn't have dared gone after her at Hogwarts, she has too many allies here, so they waited until she was vulnerable." She snarled in disgust. "And they had to use Zach to get to her. Merlin they're sick. I shudder to think who else is involved or how long they've been planning this, since I have a feeling that getting Graham and Natalie to take Zach today was part of their plan too."

"You think Lena and Roger weren't the intended victims?"

"Well, they were in a broader sense. But Zach was the target, I think. And Natalie, presumably. I think Graham just got caught up, so to speak, and taken along. I think he tried to stop Natalie from being taken by the Portkey."

The four parents looked stunned at the enormity of the situation, looking helplessly at each other. For a long time, no one spoke.

Wanting something to do with her hands, Arti extracted another cigarette and lit it. She could feel Mother's gaze on her and she turned to look at her. She stiffened, expecting a reprimand, but all Mother said was,

"Your sister has gone off to rescue her son and her friends who've been kidnapped by Death Eaters. You're having a cigarette isn't the end of the world. I'm just glad you didn't go with them. I suppose we should be glad it's not anything worse. And if you have, I don't want to know."

"I wouldn't tell you. And if I ever wanted to, I'm sure I could get it very easily, especially now that Adrian is going around to Knockturn Alley," she said, looking at Adrian who frowned back at her.

"I'm not fool enough to give you anything I find."

Pushing herself off the wall, Arti followed her parents around the corner toward the front door, Adrian at her side. Mr. and Mrs. Davies followed behind them.

"Well if you aren't going to share, I can always ask someone in the Gobstones Club."

"Gobstones Club?" Father asked. "Really?"

She nodded, smirking. "Myrtle's bathroom is quite the meeting place I hear."

"Why did I never know this?" Adrian asked.

"You never asked."

"I'm so sorry we took so long," Mother said, hugging her.

Arti shrugged. "There's nothing to do but wait. And worry."

Adrian put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned her head against his chest.

"They'll come home safely. Don't worry."

She wasn't sure who he was trying to convince.

Adrian handed Arti a few Bertie Bott's as they walked. She popped a white one, which she hoped was marshmallow, into her mouth. A moment later, she grimaced and spat it out.

"Of course it would be soap. I was hoping for marshmallow." Adrian sniggered. She cautiously tried another bean and sighed in relief. "Strawberry. I thought it might be blood." She paused and shuddered before handing the bag back to him. The last bean was also edible – peppermint – and she sucked on it slowly as they walked inside.

"We'll go talk to Dumbledore," Mother said as they went through the oak doors into the Entrance Hall. "I'm sure the McDonalds could use some company at a time like this. Would you like to come with us? Or stay here?"

"I think I'll stay. I'd like to be here when she gets back. Though maybe I might wait in McGonagall's office."

"I'll go to Hogsmeade, let Anne and the rest know you're here. And maybe they have news," said Adrian.

"Thank you," said Mrs. Davies.

Mother nodded. "Will you be all right?" she asked, looking at them with concern.

"We've managed this far," Arti said with a sigh. "We'll come find you if they come back while you're gone. Though I suspect it'll be a while before they do."

Mother squeezed her shoulder reassuringly before the four of them went off, leaving Arti and Adrian alone once again. Some childish part of her wanted to cling to her mother's robes and beg her not to leave. Mother turned back after a few steps.

"You won't go after them?"

"No. We promised we wouldn't. And Adrian's right, we'd probably just get in the way.

Mother nodded in satisfaction before following Father and the Davieses into the castle. They were alone once more.

"Do you think Lena'll find them? Or the other group?" asked Arti.

"If the others do, I'm sure they'll save them for Lena and her Pride."

"I almost feel sorry for them," Arti said with a wry smile.

"I don't. Whatever happens to them, they deserve it."

Arti glanced at Adrian, then hurriedly looked away, wrapping her arms around herself.

She suddenly felt very alone.

As they went further into the cave, it became quieter and darker. She was Aphrodite, come to rescue her son Adonis from the Underworld. At least she wasn't alone, she thought, with a rush of gratitude toward Maya and Lee and Roger.

It seemed to take an eternity, as though they were simply walking in place instead of advancing. Lena was starting to feel as though this were a dream and if it was, she hoped she would wake up soon. It had gone long enough already.

The river narrowed to a trickle and the four of them were side by side once more. It felt good to be close enough to Maya and Lee to touch them again.

Maya stopped suddenly and they nearly crashed into her. She turned back to them, her eyes and teeth gleaming in the darkness as she smiled widely. Lena cocked her head, inhaling deeply as she tried to sort out the various sounds and smells. Graham, Natalie and Zach were very nearby, as were roughly three others. Her heart leapt into her throat before she realised that the latter group seemed to be unconscious. Or so she hoped since she couldn't hear them moving. She could hear the children's voices, but but the echo distorted their voices. She turned to Roger and they grinned giddily at each other for a moment, though their anxiety was still high as they couldn't be sure Zach was there, let alone if he was safe. The four of them ran forward.

Lena found herself in the lead as they rounded the last corner. Natalie came stumbling out toward them. Lena and Roger breathed sighs of relief to see Zach in her arms. A moment later, their relief turned to terror as a flash of green light illuminated the cave behind Natalie. Lena caught Natalie before she could hit the ground and passed her to Roger as she, Maya and Lee surged forward just in time to see a pair of wizards Disapparating. Two Death Eaters lay unconscious on the cave floor. Then their eyes settled on the third figure. Graham Pritchard, aged fourteen, lay dead.

A/N: The "I forgot to breathe while underwater despite having something that allowed me to do so" was something that happened to me a few years ago. I went snorkeling and completely forgot I could breathe "underwater" and started to panic. Luckily the person with me was able to grab me and get my head out of the water and explain to a very bashful me that I was in no danger of drowning. Thankfully my friends were not with me or I'd never live it down.

So there you have it. And this is only the beginning.