Harry pounded on the door quickly waiting anxiously for Dumbledore's kind, elderly voice to tell him to come in. "Come in" the familiar voice sounded and Harry burst through the door without even the slightest hesitation. Dumbledore looked over the boy in front of him and instantly knew something was wrong. His hair was untidier than usual, his glasses were askew, perspiration trickled down his forehead, and his emerald eyes were shining with trepidation. "Mr. Potter what is wrong?" Dumbledore asked in the calmest voice he could manage as he stood up from his plush blue chair.
"I had a dream Professor!" Harry exclaimed, "I was Anna. I could see what she was seeing and feel what she was feeling. Bellatrix Lestrange was using the Cruciatus curse on her sir and asking her questions about the Order. She was in so much pain, I was in so much pain" he said in one very long sentence. He took a deep breath and continued, "I could hear what she was thinking... Draco is with her, but I don't know how". As Harry finished speaking he realized how insane he sounded, but if anyone would believe him it was Dumbledore.
Dumbledore listened closely to every word that Harry said. Anna Darcy and Ronald Weasley, two extremely important young wizards, had been missing from Hogwarts since the night of the ball. Every able Order member there was currently was scouring the entire wizarding world for her of course, but so far that had been no luck except for a silver ring of Anna's that was found outside on the grounds. No one knew who had taken the two, how, or why, but Harry's dream seemed to clear a few things up. He had expected Harry and Anna to have these sorts of dreams; he had just never found the right moment to tell them about it.
"So Bellatrix has her... she must be at the Death Eater headquarters if they are interrogating her" Dumbledore thought out loud as he began to pace back and forth in his office. "You say Draco was with her? But isn't Draco here at Hogwarts?" Dumbledore inquired.
"Well yeah, but I specifically heard her think Draco!" Harry responded, "Besides the Draco at Hogwarts has been acting strange lately; he left Anna for Ruby Pickford and started acting all Malfoyish again" Harry explained for lack of a better word to describe his recent jackass behavior.
"What?" Dumbledore blurted out the calmness disappearing from his voice, "Why did no one tell me about this sooner? Come with me Potter" he ordered sweeping so swiftly out of his room and down the stairs that Harry had to jog in order to keep up with him. They walked for nearly five minutes toward the direction of the dungeons when Dumbledore finally stopped in front a large painting of an old wizard with a long, pointed nose and a wart on the tip of it.
"Password?" the man asked in a bored tone.
"Toujours Pur" Dumbledore replied and the portrait hole swung open. After this Harry knew exactly where they were, the Slytherin Common Room. He had been in here once before when he, Ron, and Anna had all transformed into Slytherin students to see if Draco was the one who had opened the Chamber of Secrets. He smiled for just a moment when he remembered Anna as Pansy Parkinson, but a pain in his stomach immediately followed when he remembered his best friend was in danger.
They walked through the rather cold room decorated with the silver and dark green colors traditional of that particular house. It was considerably darker in the Slytherin Common Room than it was in the cheerful Gryffindor one or the sophisticated Ravenclaw one that Anna had snuck him into a few times before. He followed Dumbledore up a flight of stairs he figured lead to the boys' dormitories and jumped in surprise when the old man swung open one of the doors rather violently. The boys who had been sleeping soundly in their beds all jumped up at the noise and Crabbe even went tumbling to the ground making Harry snort a little. "P-Professor, what are you doing here?" he asked.
Dumbledore ignored Crabbe's question and his eyes scanned over the room, "Mr. Malfoy may I speak with you for a moment please?" he asked the pale, blonde boy sitting up on his bed politely. Draco shrugged and rolled off his bed to follow the headmaster.
"What is Potter doing here in our Common Room?" Draco sneered glaring at Harry who just glared back in return.
"Because I want him to be here Mr. Malfoy, if that is your real name" Dumbledore replied and his comment seemed to make Malfoy very nervous.
"What are you talking about, of course that is my real name!" he exclaimed, though he was not wholly convincing.
"We will see about that", Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at him before suddenly muttering a spell and flicking his wand. The person in front of Harry who had originally looked like Draco Malfoy was now a cowering Marcus Flint.
"What in bloody hell?" Harry exclaimed seeing his old school bully kneeling on the floor.
"Just like I expected" Dumbledore said before saying another spell to tie him up, "I will alert the Aurors to bring him to Azkaban immediately and also to start up a greater search. It seems we have three students missing now, rather than two" he sighed. His usually sparkling blue eyes were scared and had slowly begun to fade as these hard times passed by. Everyone looked up to the old wizard like he was Superman, so many people counted on him and hung on his every word, but the truth was Albus Dumbledore was getting old. Not even the man who was perhaps the greatest wizard there has ever been could defeat the horrible thing known as time. Time could beat the highest mountain down to the ground, kill the strongest king, ruin the largest city... in the end time won out; time was the strongest force on earth from which almost nothing could escape.
Harry paced back and forth in the Room of Requirement running his fingers nervously through his black, untidy mop of hair. Luna was staring off into space with worry in her dreamy brown eyes, Blaise was looking dazedly into the fireplace, Hermione had buried her head in Seamus' shoulder, and the rest were all sitting around looking very anxious. The entire DA had been gathered together in the room after Dumbledore had told Harry that there was nothing he could do for his friends. Of course Harry didn't listen; three of his friends were in danger and he was not just going to sit back and do nothing about it. He could feel the urgency pulsating through his veins; somehow he could feel what Anna was feeling. She was petrified and worried about something; he had to save them by any means possible.
"You all know why I called this meeting today" Harry began still pacing. Everyone stopped staring off into space or into the fire and turned their attention towards him. "I have told you all about my dream, but it goes further than that. I can feel what she is feeling right now at this very moment and she is frightened about something. She needs our help, Draco needs our help, and Ron needs our help desperately" he sighed as he stopped pacing for a moment to look at the group hanging on his every word, "Consider this our very first mission my friends".
"Where do you children think you are going?" a voice asked from behind the three of you. It wasn't a cold or sneering voice, it actually sounded familiar to you. Instantly your heads spun around to see who had discovered you and there was Rudolphus Lestrange standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest and an eyebrow raised.
You pointed Raven's wand, which you were still holding even though you were being carried by Ron and pointed it straight at him. "I am not afraid to hex you, I am getting out of here and you are not going stop me" you said in a calm, cool voice that would have made anyone nervous.
To your shock he actually smiled at your words, "You are your mother's daughter" he sighed, "She had such a fire in her that I just couldn't resist when I was a boy at Hogwarts. She was so strong, fierce yet beautiful at the exact same time. I fell in head over heels in love with her, but it seems now that she never even cared who I was, I was a rich pureblood and that is all that mattered" he reminisced. "Unlike her you have found better uses for that fire of yours. Take care of her you" he chuckled pointing at Draco, "Good luck my daughter and if anyone asks, I was never here" he finished with a wink before turning his back to you and walking off down the hall as if he had never even seen you.
"Wh-what just happened there?" Draco asked trying to comprehend what had just happened. He still had his wand pointed out in front of him ready to jinx the man who could have been your road block to freedom.
"I don't know, but let's get the hell out of here before he changes his mind!" you snapped back and both Ron and Draco came out of a sort of daydream like state and both ran to the door at the top of a flight of stairs. Draco threw open the door and you all walked out into the sunlight, it stung your eyes after being locked away in the dark for such a long time. "Run!" you ordered not knowing how long you had until someone discovered Freddie or Raven, they didn't need to be told twice. Both Ron and Draco took off in a mad dash toward a forest not too far away; Ron a little slower because he was still holding you in his arms. When you reached the forest for the first time in awhile you felt safe, even though part of you still knew that you weren't really safe until you were back at Hogwarts.
After nearly twenty minutes of flat out sprinting both boys stopped. "You can put me down" you told Ron and he thankfully rested you gently down onto the ground. He then collapsed down next to you and rested his head against a patch of soft moss. Draco sat down next to you still panting heavily; he gently lifted your head and rested it on his lap. He leaned over and kissed you lightly on the forehead.
"How are you feeling love?" he asked intertwining his fingers with yours.
"I'm feeling alright" you answered, "Just happy to be alive I guess".
