Previously

I shook my head slowly. "That's not all of it and you know it too," I told him knowingly. "I know you act like you don't care. Maybe you can even convince yourself that you don't. But you do. You've watched the two Potters grow up, go through hell, then pull each other back. And you've grown to care for them. They are strong and stubborn as bulls and appear arrogant in all of their strength and glory but you know them. They are as clever and loyal as James, as smart as Lily, but most of all, they care. They care and they are gentle creatures, even in the midst of their misery. You've grown to love them. You do all of this for them as much as for Lily. And though you hated James Potter, you do this for him as well. I know what you did. I also know what you do now for recompense. You feel guilt. You care so much that you pretend to not care at all. What you did, Severus, you did the best you could. Had any of Voldemort's followers heard what you did, the Potter children would be dead as well. You saved them as much as you killed their parents. Remember that when you wallow in guilt at James and Lily's death. Remember that you are a good person. Remember that because of you, Audra and Harry are stronger."

Snape seemed lost in thought, considering my words. "Maybe so," was all he said before turning in a flurry of his black robes.

I smiled slightly. He did care. He knew he did as well. No one could not care about Harry and Bella.


Harry POV

I groaned, twisted so I had my feet up on the chair beside me. The sound of the door closing behind Edward and Severus had woken me from my uncomfortable slumber. One glance at Audra immediately told me she was suffering. She hated, absolutely abhorred, sleeping on her back. She said it was so limp that it made it hard to breathe.

Silently, I twisted my baby sister onto her side, tucking her knees up to her chest like she always used to sleep when we were young. Most people called it fetal, but Audra said it was safe, secure, and tensed. When the beatings first began, she would curl up on her side like that to stave off the edge of the pain. Of course, as time grew on, she learned to take the beatings standing still, but she never ceased to sleep in a ball.

I wrapped her arms around her knees, completing the position.

Sighing softly, Audra smiled a content smile, resting her cheek against her knee.

I settled myself back into my chair, taking her hand back into mine as I drifted back off to sleep


In the Morning

Audra POV

I stirred slowly, twisting so my head was propped up against my arm. I nearly laughed aloud when I realized what position I was curled into. Harry knew me too well.

"Bella, angel, are you feeling better?" Edward's smooth voice whispered gently.

"I'm fine," I mumbled, feeling more and more stupid as the seconds passed. "So… I nearly drowned in a lake… I feel so very, very cool right now." I stressed the sarcasm on the last statement, but I needed something to alleviate my humiliation.

Edward chuckled lightly, resting his forehead against my shoulder. "I was so worried about you. I guess you're fine but God… Can you at least try not to make your life such a melodrama? Everywhere I turn, you're almost dying."

I grinned cheekily. "Something has to keep you on your toes. You've spent a century sitting around waiting for life to smack you in the face."

"I guess it finally has," he smirked, resting his cheek on the pillow beside my head.

"You have no idea what you just signed up for," I sighed, clicked my tongue disapprovingly.

"I think I can manage," he smiled, brushing my hair away from my cheek.

My eyes widened as realization struck me. "Come seek us where our voices sound," I murmured in awe. Before Edward could even voice his confusion, I had all but leapt out of bed, shaking Harry non too gently awake.

He flopped unceremoniously out of his chair, before bolting upright then stumbling. "What happened? Audra?"

"Harry where's the egg? Where's the egg? Answer me damn it!"

"Uh… um… I have it… It's under that chair," he pointed groggily to the chair his feet had been on.

I snatched it up, tucking it under one arm before racing from the room.

Edward was in front of me in a flash, holding both of my wrists in his hands. "Bella, angel, what are you doing?" he asked, his gaze flickering over me worriedly. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"Yes, Edward, I'm fine," I all but screamed. "I know what the egg means! I know it! I get it!" I wrenched my hands from his, racing down the corridor. I knew in the back of my mind that Edward could have easily stopped me, but I kept running. I also knew that Harry could have outrun and caught me at any moment, but that didn't stop me either.

I burst into the girls' bathroom, twisting the faucet on the largely oversized swimming pool of a bathtub. It filled quickly and shut off automatically.

"Bells, maybe water isn't the best idea for now," Edward said, eyeing the water carefully. His arm snaked cautiously around my waist, holding me away from the steamy water.

"Edward, I can swim," I sulked indignantly. "It was that stupid freezing draught."

"I know you can swim, angel," he sighed, smoothing my hair with a gentle hand.

"Good problem solved," I interjected quickly. I plunged into the bath, followed not a second later by Edward and Harry. I cracked the golden egg open on my thigh, allowing the ghastly voice to fill the pool.

Come seek us where our voices sound.

We cannot sing above the ground.

An hour long you'll have to look,

To recover what we took.

Before I could move a muscle to propel myself to the surface, Edward and Harry had lifted me out of the water.

"I'm not helpless!" I shouted, my voice echoing off of the stone walls. I smacked their hands away. "Did you hear that, though? The singing?"

Harry nodded. "Come seek us where our voices sound. So, obviously, their voices don't work somewhere."

"Yes Genius-boy, the next line so cleverly 'says we cannot sing above the ground', implying that there is a below the ground. What isn't above the ground?" I mused, draining the tub with a lazy flick of my wand.

"Caverns, caves, tunnels, tombs, water…" Edward listed off.

Memories flashed behind my eyelids. "Water! That's it! Mermaids can't speak out of water!" I shrieked delightedly. I threw my arms around Harry's neck. "We figured it out!"

Edward chuckled a low sound at my excitement.

"An hour long you'll have to look, to recover what we took," Harry said slowly as soon as I had calmed down. "So they'll take something and I'll have to find it in under an hour. Simple enough."

"Well… Harry, what if it's at the bottom of the lake? How is this at all simple?" I asked. It was later that evening as we sat in a semi-circle around the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room.

Edward squeezed my hand gently, trying to soothe the worry creasing my brow.

"I dunno," he said, grinning lazily. "I've got the egg figured out though, haven't I? At least that's something."

"That something is not enough," Hermione snapped at the same time that I growled, "That's not good enough!"

"Harry," I said through clenched teeth. "You wanted to do this God-be-damned tournament, now you're going to get out of this alive. Which means that you cannot slack off! You have to work hard!" Tears stung at the back of my eyes. I had held myself together since the night of the champions' announcement but this? Him. He was so relaxed. He was so blasé. I wanted to scream.

Harry slid from the couch where he had his feet propped up as he played idly with a golden snitch that Sirius had sent with him for his fourteenth birthday. He knelt in front of me, taking both of my hands in his.

"I'm not slacking off on this," he insisted gently. He stroked my cheek gently, before hugging me as tightly as he could without hurting me. "I'm going to be fine. I promise."

"I'll hold you to that," I grumbled tearfully, but I couldn't help but laugh. Harry would be as fine as he could be.


Harry POV

I recognized the look of fear in my baby sister's eyes. She was too young to feel this pain. I wanted to punch something, scream, hurt something. I wanted something, anything to feel pain for my sister's terror. She had suffered for too long, so, so long. No one so young as Audra should ever have to feel the anguish she had gone through.

I made a silent vow to myself as I stared at Audra, curled silently in my lap. She was still light as a feather and skinny as could be. She had begun to gain weight after she and Edward had become inseperable again, but she was still much too thin. Her lack of an appetite usually made her tired and sluggish, long before any of the rest of us, but her fear of the night terrors kept her up long past the rest. She would sit up, staring into the fire, curled into a ball under her thick sapphire blanket that Remus had spread on her bed when we first moved in with them.

I would train. I would practice. I would do anything to erase the fear from Audra's sad doe eyes. She would smile. She would have no reason not to. She would be happy. I wouldn't make her fear any more than she absolutely had to. I would protect my baby sister the way I should have during our stay with the Dursleys'. I would take care of Audra.

Edward nodded, smiling sadly as he stroked Audra's forehead with one hand. He met my eyes with his sad onyx gaze. I wasn't the mind reader, but I knew what his gaze conveyed. He would be there. He wouldn't let any harm come to Audra, Bella, while I was away. He would keep her from doing anything stupid or reckless.

My eyes flickered over our circle of friends. Edward, Audra, and I sat against the stuffed scarlet couch. Beside me sat Hermione and Ron, bickered aimlessly. Fred and George sat on the opposite side of them, conversing jovially with Emmett and Jasper about the pro's and con's of muggle sports versus quidditch. Rose and Alice sat against the wall next to the fire, giggling and gossiping away with Ginny about the latest news as the three painted their nails. Ginny laughed a sudden, loud laugh, as beautiful as a bird's song, shaking her fiery hair out behind her.

Audra would be well protected. We were a close knit group and, though we still had our misgivings about the Cullens, voiced most obviously by Fred and George, saying they were Bill and Charlie's advocates, we had accepted them into our unconventional family.


December 16

Audra POV

"Harry are you ever going to ask anyone to the Yule Ball?" I asked as I lounged in the Rehearsal after a particularly long practice.

Fred sat at his drum set, a charm placed over him so only he could hear what he was playing and he could practice in peace. George was strumming at his base, using the same charm Fred was. Ron, however, sat with a guitar in his hands, trying to play Never Again. He was getting much better. We had decided not long ago that Ron would switch to guitar. (Sorry! I had no knowledge whatsoever of band aesthetics so I put two people on base instead of on guitar! I'm trying to fix it!)

"Yeah mate," Fred chimed in. "I'm going with Angelina."

"Have you already asked her?" Ron asked incredulously, dropping his guitar on his foot. "Bloody hell!" he burst out, rubbing his foot gingerly.

"Come to think of it, no I haven't," Fred mused thoughtfully. "I'll have to do that at breakfast won't I?"

"Let's go then, Mr. Ego," I laughed, tugging on his hand to bring him to the Great Hall. "I'm hungry and now we don't have time to go back to the Common Room for my books."

"It's breakfast, not study-fast," he said approvingly. He hated when I showed initiative, the way teachers wanted us to. Fred and George were determined that I needed to slack off more on my school work. "Fail a few classes," they had said in unison, smiling their trademark Weasley smile.


I'm working on the next chapter as we speak. Then I'm going to work on the chapters for Forever Hunted then Promise Me Something. I'm trying to get at least a few chapters up before I travel.

I can't wait to write the Yule Ball so I might actually write two more chapters of this story before moving to my others!

Love,

Sea