Yeah, should start with appologising for the late update. Again. Haven't been feeling to well these days - luckily not a certain virus I shall not name. Using a computer when suffering from cluster headaches is not pleasent, that's why I'm late. It's better now, so I'll see you again on the 18th of April, for our next chapter. Hopefully. If anyone is still around. If you are: you have my thanks, sincerely :)

And here we are again, still rounding up the mess surrounding the Third Task - did I mention it gets worse? No? Well, you are warned!

Huge thank you to my reviewers and followers! *virtual hug*

Jane POV

The pain was still soaring through her, as she regained her senses. The pain Harry felt, being tortured -

She stood. Ron and Hermione eyed her uncertainty. "Hermione, go find my dad. Tell him I said: 'where I was found, after the dust settled'. Ron, go with her. And stay in the castle - better yet, stay in the Common Room."

Hopefully, her dad would understand both the fact that Harry was held captive near the house she nearly burned alive in - the one belonging to Tom Marvolo Riddle - and that Harry was injured.

She couldn't wait.

She, better than anyone else, knew how it felt to be under that curse, and what its effects were. She, who still suffered the aftereffects of being held under it thirteen years ago. She, who had witnessed Harry being held under it that very night.

"Treaty!", she called. "If I have a destination in mind, can you Apparate us?"

"Yes, missy. But your father asks you to come-"

"He'll have to wait," she replied shortly.

"I is been ordered to bring you immediately," the elf replied morosely.

Jane closed her eyes. "And I, as your Master, command you to do as I say, before returning for Henry and whoever he deems needed. You hear that, Treaty? As soon as our feet touch the soil, I want you to leave and come back here, understood?"

The elf bowed her head, her bat-like ears drooping. It was clear to Jane she didn't want to follow her orders, and she felt horrible for having to do so. It wasn't like Treaty didn't want to obey, she didn't want to disobey Henry. She knew, normally, Jane always listened to him. Jane thought Treaty probably felt like she was disobeying, and that Treaty would put Jane into danger, but she couldn't ignore a direct order.

The elf took her hand and they left.

Hermione POV

She dashed downstairs with Ron, knowing the clock had to be ticking. There was only one reason why Jane would make such haste, why she would've screamed like that-

"Hermione!", Mrs. Weasley said, shocked. "What were you doing up-"

"We know where Harry is. We need to go see the Headmaster, right now!"

She dashed for the Portrait hole, but Mrs Weasley stopped her. "Love, he probably already is with the Headmaster-"

"Mum," Ron interrupted, "we know he isn't. Please, you have to trust us-"

Maybe it was the pleading, desperate note in their voices. Maybe it was the pure fear coming from their eyes. But Bill stood, tall as he was, and said: "come on, then."

Mrs. Weasley bristled, probably wanting to say something like 'they are just children' and 'the Headmaster knows for the best', but thankfully, she didn't. Normally, Hermione would have agreed. But the Headmaster needed their information to make a decision on the course of action. They walked as fast as they could, up to the gryffin that marked Dumbledore's office. And realised they didn't know the password.

"Oh, come on!", Ron bellowed, frustrated.

"There has to be a procedure for an emergency!", Hermione said, slightly out of breath. "Can't you just let us go up? A student is in mortal peril-"

That seemed to have done the trick. The gryffin let them pass. "Thanks," she whispered, dread settling in her stomach as reality settled in. They were losing time, Jane was there already for a while…

They knocked.

"Come in," the Headmaster said severely.

Hermione couldn't even bring herself to look around curiously. She noticed Harry wasn't there - as she expected - and that was the end of the story.

"Jane has found where Harry is. She said: 'where I was found, after the dust settled'."

Henry cursed, before turning to Jean. "Get a team ready, now!"

Jean nodded, before hurrying off. The news didn't come as a surprise, so a large part of the preparations had been done already.

"What happened?", the Headmaster asked urgently.

"Jane was in the dormitory when we arrived," Hermione started. "She tried to sense where Harry was and found him. She screamed…" Hermione trailed off.

"I don't understand," the Headmaster said gravely.

"My daughter can sense emotions, she can sense where Harry is. She probably got suspicious when he didn't come to the Hospital Wing. She went to the dormitory, because going there makes it easier to sense Harry - he's been there so much. But that also implies she feels what happened to him like it happened to her."

Sirius cursed loudly. Remus stood, pale-faced and stiff, in a corner, eyes flashing.

Dumbledore seemed surprised, but said nothing. Probably realised there were more urgent matters right now. "Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, please return to your Common Rooms. Mrs Weasley and mr Weasley can accompany you-"

"I'll help," Bill said, jaw clenched. Hermione was reminded, once again, that the Weasley were a fierce, loyal lot.

"Thanks, Bill," Remus said. Sirius appeared too lost in thought.

And then, they were shooed out of the office.

Jane POV

They landed near the mansion - or what remained of it, at least. Treaty left before Jane had even regained her balance. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her swirling thoughts. For the first time, she realised how bad things were: Harry was captured, being tortured; she was alone, injured, and a minor. What can go wrong?

She sneaked through the forest. The best explanation for the things she'd seen in Harry's mind - that sounded weird, even in her own head - was that the mansion had had some kind of cabin attached to it, probably used for hunting. The hole Harry had woken up in, was probably some kind of trap for wild animals. And now for intruders, she thought dejectedly. It was not encouraging - but then again, they probably were not expecting the cavalry.

And indeed, as she walked further in the woods, she saw the evidence of hunters rooming the area years ago. They left subtle marks on trees, to indicate where they'd left traps, for example. For an experienced hunter like herself, it was as plain as the day. Although she was willing to bet that most people wouldn't have noticed. As she followed the tracks further into the forest, she saw a clearing. And more importantly, a cabin. Carefully, slowly, she approached it, making sure to come from the side so as not to be noticed. Hidden in the shadows of the trees, she studied the cabin for a while. One entrance, two floors. A small veranda, making an entrance through the front door a very, very bad idea; it would be like announcing your presence beforehand. If she wanted to save Harry, she had to do it sneakily. She studied the area once again.

And noticed the tree standing close to the window of the cabin. Of course, the tree was in the midst of the clearing - probably only there to function as some sort of pulley, back in the day. Meaning that getting there unseen on the ground to climb it, was as good as impossible. But not from the other trees…

Jane sneaked around the edge of the clearing until she found the tree the closest to the tree standing next to the house. Looking up one last time, she started to climb the tree on the side away from the house, as silent as she could. Which was, due to experience, quit silent. Once she was at a considerable height, as high as the first floor of the cabin, she carefully moved to the other side of the tree. This was the most risky part. The thick branch from this tree stretched to a branch of the tree close to the house - but it was still a jump of more than a metre (1.09 yards, as the English would say…). On the ground, no challenge at all. But more than two metres up in the air…

She closed her eyes. No other options, she reminded herself. She needed to get Harry out. She needed to do this. End of story. Opening her eyes again, she let go of the trunk of the tree. Carefully, she waited until she found her balance again. Jane pressed her back to the trunk, took a deep breath, and started to run. In the blink of an eye, she reached the end of the branch and jumped to the other. Her feet landed on the tree close to the house - and slipped. Flinging her arms through the air, desperate for some kind of support… Her hands found the branch she wanted to land on. Her right hand slipped, and she was dangling off one hand. Heart beating in her throat, she listened. Had someone heard her? Nearly had to be so. But no one in the cabin gave any form of reaction. No one came storming out, no one peeked through the door. Slowly, she regained her bearings. Climbing up with one hand was as good as impossible. She looked down - and wished she hadn't, she was afraid of heights - and noticed a broad, not slippery looking branch beneath her. It was only a drop of half a metre, so she let go. Luckily, she landed better this time. As soon as she found her balance back, she looked back up. As she had expected, the branch she'd landed on was damaged, and didn't look safe to climb on anymore. Ever so quietly, she climbed back up on the side the closest to the house, hoping no one would see her. Soon, she was at the same height of the window on the first floor. Once again, she took a deep breath, leaning against the trunk of the tree before leaping forward.

And landed in a dark room. She held deadly quiet for a moment - if someone had heard her… But no, the conversation downstairs carried on, meaning that they were done interrogating Harry for the moment. She frowned; it was strange they hadn't brought him back to the hole he woke in. Now she thought about it - why had they brought him here to begin with? In truth, the hole had been a huge help to find out where Harry was, but really convenient to hold prisoners in. Easy to interrogate them, or keep an eye on them. With those smooth walls, climbing out was simply impossible. But here? If they wanted to keep him here, why had they brought him to the hole to begin with? Shaking the thoughts from her head, she focussed on the task ahead. As quietly as she could, she sneaked to the door. It was locked - not unsurprisingly so - and Jane stared at it pensively. If she used Magic, someone at the Ministry might come check it out. On the other hand, for all she knew, all they did was send out a letter. Which would announce her presence clearly.

Coming to a decision, she opened the door the Muggle way. She came on a dark landing. Keeping the door she came through in her back, she noticed she was on the landing. On her left side were stairs, on the right side another door. She pushed it open a bit; not locked. Moving on, she thought. She went up another floor. Clearly, this all was built on top of the existing cabin, aided with Magic.

The next floor was like a copy of the previous one. Right in front of her and on her left were again two doors. She tried the one in front of her first.

"Harry," she whispered, entering the room without hesitation. Quietly, she tip-toed over to his bed. It looked like he had been tortured. She recognised the spasms of his muscles. He was gagged, and each limb was bound to a corner of the bed frame. Apart from the bed, there was nothing in the bedroom. She removed the gag.

Harry let out a low noise, she couldn't quite make it out. It sounded like his vocal cords might have taken damage from the screaming - something else she was awfully familiar with.

"Harry?", she asked, lowering her head until her ear was near his lips.

"Tr...p", she heard.

She whirled around.

"Stupefy!"

The last thing she knew was that she'd been caught by Barty Crouch jr, and that she was in deep trouble.

Jane POV

When she woke, she had no idea what time it was. Someone had blindfolded her, and she couldn't make out a thing. She focussed on her other senses. One other person was in the room - likely Harry. She wasn't in the same room she'd been knocked out in, but she had to assume that not much time had passed - otherwise, the rescue mission would've rescued them already. Struggling a bit, rolling her head from left to right, she lost the blindfold.

"Hi," she said softly to Harry.

He just eyed her. She could easily discern the feelings coming from him: you shouldn't have come. She stared back. "As if you wouldn't." She tested the bonds, while her hands were digging in the dirt -

And cursed her stupidity. They were back to the place Harry had woken in. Meaning, they had used him to trap her. That is, if they knew of her abilities. She considered the option. They'd always been very careful, so as not to expose her; but truthfully, after years of working as an ambassador, it was not impossible she'd let something of her powers leak through the facade, and that someone had spotted that. And even if they know what I'm capable of - they don't know that I'm the supposedly dead cousin of Harry Potter. That's two separate events in their minds.

Reassured, she tried the bonds again. Her hands tied up behind her back was not comfortable, so with a bit of twisting and turning - thanks to her being young - she managed to get her hands in front of her. She searched her shoes, and shins; normally, she kept two knives there: one summonable, and one not-summonable. The summonable had mysteriously disappeared - unsurprisingly so. Luckily, the not-summonable one had remained where it was, and she carefully pulled out, after checking the environment. Harry was still eyeing her, then shifted so that he was partially looming over her, blocking her hands from view. It made it easy for her to cut his hands free, although the rope they'd conjured to bind them with, was tough. Five long, tense minutes passed, as she tried to cut them without stabbing either of them - delicate, small movements were hard if your hands had been tied up for a while, constricting the blood flow.

But then they were free. Jane held her breath, as scanned the environment with her eyes and ears, but also with her sense for the emotions of others. Nothing. Except-

Someone had spelled it so that no one could enter or leave the hole without an alarm going off.

She got up, stiffly. "Come on. I'll give you a step up. Run as fast as you can, then you call Treaty and leave. Rescue mission is already on the move, okay?"

Harry stared at her. Again, she could feel how reluctant he was to leave. "I know," she whispered. "But the fewer hostages, the more chance the others have. You're doing this to help me; not to abandon me. Go on. Please, Harry."

After another few, long minutes, he came to a decision and got up himself. As he approached her, she made a step with her hands, at hip height. He put his foot on them, climbed up to her shoulders and then her head, and jumped, just reaching the edge with his fingertips. With clear effort, he pulled himself up.

And ran.

Without so much as a last glance, she heard him leave. She eased herself to the edge of the hole. She couldn't blame him for not looking back; had it been her, she wouldn't have either, because she might not have left at all after seeing him for the last time…

She didn't have to wait long for a reaction. The alarm had been silent, Crouch wasn't. Or perhaps it was a stampede of rhinoceros. Whatever it was, made enough noise.

It wasn't the rhinoceros. Pity, since she'd preferred that over Crouch. The Death Eaters that kept her, had been talking reverently about how he'd tortured the Longbottoms. The worst punishment she got from them was from the time she'd deliberately thrown up as they told the story again.

"Where's Potter?", he hissed.

She stared back with a blank face.

"It is of no importance, Barty. Lift our guest up," a voice said.

Cold fear settled in her stomach.

"Apologies, I seem to be late for tea," she blabbed when she was on the edge. Nerves, they made her talk too much.

Lord Voldemort smiled. She resisted the urge to scream at the sight.

"On the contrary," he replied. And he smiled some more, if possible even more creepy.

Harry POV

He ran as hard as he could, but it wasn't very hard. So many rounds of Cruciatus Curse would do that to you. At some point, while screaming in that blasted hole in the soil, he'd felt something snap. And suddenly, he could no longer scream. He'd vomited. He'd vomited quite a few times. Lord Voldemort had made his displeasure known…

"Potter," he heard from everywhere around him. A faceless voice, floating through the air. Surprised, he stumbled to a halt. "I know you can hear me. If you don't wish for your little friend to die, you come back this instant. But keep running, for all I care; do know the knife is already in her throat… We'll see how many rounds of Cruciatus she can hold… You have one minute, Potter."

Harry stiffened when he realised what Voldemort had done. He'd stabbed her in the carotid artery, but not through it. She wouldn't bleed out, as long as the knife was there. But if it twisted, if it moved - there were several important veins and arteries and what-not there… He closed his eyes. What to do?

Jane would say he needed to move. For all he knew, she was already dead. If not, she wasn't helped by him going back… But what if he could buy her time? Help was on the way already…

And before he'd consciously taken a decision, his feet were taking him back, as he ran in the exact same direction he'd come from, a little faster now, since his muscles had recovered a bit… He slowed down before he reached the place where they'd been held captive, slowly moving through the forest. In his dark clothes, in the dark of the night, he was barely visible if he kept a sleeve over his pale face.

"My Lord," he heard Crouch whisper, "what if he doesn't return?"

"Saint Potter will return," Voldemort replied off-handedly.

"And what if the girl alerted someone before coming here?", Crouch pressed on.

Voldemort laughed highly. "Who would believe her?"

Harry felt his stomach turn. They had a very good point there - what if they didn't believe Jane?

"Potter, come here," Voldemort commented off-handedly, without sparing so much as a glance to where Harry was standing.

Harry closed his eyes, knowing he had been caught, before stepping out of the shadows. Jane looked at him with wide eyes, the knife still pressed to her throat, a trickle of blood having escaped. Voldemort loomed over her, while Crouch was using her as a living shield. Harry held his hands clearly visible to his sides, completely wandless, willing himself to appear as harmless as he could.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort whispered, "we had not finished our conversation. Am I to understand you grew tired of my company?"

Harry stared back, trying to find the safest way to reply to this maniac. He gestured for Voldemort to let Jane go. There was no way of charming his way out of this, not when the other was a complete psychopath.

"My, my," Voldemort replied, a cruel smile playing around his lips, "having demands now, have we? Perhaps I should teach you a little manners, Potter. Your parents certainly didn't live long enough to teach you any, but still, one would expect better from you."

He swallowed, standing there, defenceless. Closed his eyes, so as not to see Jane's expression when he said the next words. He heard the rustle of a cloak, and opened his eyes again. Don had joined them, once again. "If you let her go, I'll come quietly with you to a place of your choosing, where I'll duel you." His own voice sounded hollow, cracked and death in his ears.

Jane stared at him, visually trying to shout something. But she couldn't, Crouch had Silenced her.

And suddenly, all happened at the same time.

Crouch pulled the knife back, crudely, pushing Jane away at the same time, maximising the damage done. She fell to her knees. Harry stiffened, watching the amount of blood squirt out of her veins. Too late, he noticed Voldemort pointing his wand at him - but Don 'fell' against Voldemort, and the curse hit a tree. And suddenly, the clearing was the theatre of jets of light passing, of twenty and more wands. Harry saw Jean, Henry and Dumbeldore engaging Voldemort, while Sirius and Remus fluently duelled Crouch. Don, in turn, was running, and the remaining Aurors he didn't recognise, engaged either Crouch, Voldemort or went after Don. From the corner of his eyes, he saw one fall at Voldemort's hands already, as he ran towards where he'd seen Jane fall. It seemed to take forever before he reached her, but once he did, he dropped on his knees next to her. He brushed the hair out of her pale face, making soothing noises. He couldn't really talk very well, not after all the screaming - the conversation with Voldemort had been the maximum of what he'd been capable of. In the hustle and bustle of the fight, there was no way he'd be able to make himself audible. She tried to speak, and he made some distinct shushing noises. As much as he tried, he couldn't stop the bleeding.

He had no idea how long it had been, when Henry kneeled next to him, muttering Charms already. Harry looked up; the clearing was the epitome of rest, all of a sudden.

"One escaped, Voldemort disappeared, and we caught Crouch," Jean reported briefly. "There are five injured out of twenty, one death."

Harry looked at Jean, surprised and sad at the casualties. "We are trained to identify threats in a crowd, to protect 'our' VIP, but not to fight a war. The most we do is fight while the rest gets clear. It showed."

Sirius hoovered over Harry and Jane. "C'me on, Harry," he said softly, "we need to get back to Hogwarts. We need to check you out, mate."

As he said that, Harry suddenly felt all the more tired, drained and pained. He looked at Jane, then at Sirius, hoping he'd get the hint.

"She won't wake again for some time," Remus pointed out reasibly, "and you need help, too."

Harry blinked, feeling dreadfully tired all of a sudden. Slowly, he tried to get up, to get his foot down to argue, really argue, but as he rose to his full height, black dots appeared in his vision. He swayed, felt himself being steadied, and then his legs gave out and he knew no more.

Jane POV

Waking up was a surprise in more than one sense. First, she hadn't expected to ever wake up again. Not after the damage-

She sucked in a deep breath, willing her mind to wander elsewhere and think of something else. She looked around, in an attempt to distract herself, and blinked. She wasn't home, she wasn't at Hogwarts. Still a hospital, though. She laid there, for a while, wondering whether she'd be in St. Mungo's or not.

"Ah! You're awake," a surprised male voice said from the doorpost. "I'm Healer Matthews. How are you feeling?"

She stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Tired. Kind of achy, like the type where you've exercised too much? Like all your muscles are protesting, but not really painful."

"You'll feel tired for some time, miss Davidson. Fortunately, your magic sealed your wounds before too much damage was done. Still, that was the second time that happened in a relatively short time span. Your magic did what it could, until the point of dangerous exhaustion. And still, the damage to your arteries and veins was quite extensive. It took us various hours to stop the bleeding entirely, patch up the damage and get you out of critical condition. You'll be on a strict Potion regime the upcoming month, and for months after that, you'll need extensive revalidation."

Perhaps some of the surprise showed on her face, because the Healer smiled grimly. "Your father warned us not to withhold information from you. Speaking of him…" He turned to the door frame, and Jane followed his gaze.

"I'll leave you now," the Healer said, "a nurse will step by with breakfast and Potions, young lady."

Jane didn't even bristle at the 'young lady'. She stared at Henry, who looked more tired and older than she'd ever seen him, but also relieved beyond measure. He gave her a hug, silently. "How are you feeling?"

She grimaced. "Like I was hit with a bus."

Henry snorted. "Well, don't go taking on Dark Lords on your own, then."

She gave him the stinky eye, knowing full well he had a point. "Cedric?", she asked softly, hoping she'd somehow misunderstood.

Henry shook his head.

She closed her eyes, and felt hot tears drip out of her eyes. She stared at the ceiling, then took a shaky breath. Showing her emotions like that wasn't her style, but she'd been through a lot. She just was too tired to stop it. "How are things?"

Henry hesitated. "Well, quite some time has passed…" He trailed off.

"How long is 'quite some time'?", she asked suspiciously.

Henry closed his eyes. "It's the 24th of July."

Holy shit, she thought faintly. A month. She'd been in a coma for a month. No wonder they all appeared surprised.

"The Healers thought you'd never wake up again," Henry amended softly, trying - and failing - to keep his voice level, to keep the pain out. "They said that the combined neural damage of previous… and recenter tortures were too much. You kept rejecting their Healing Magic…"

Jane frowned, digesting the info, filing her most recent near-death experience away for later thinking. "Then what changed?"

"Harry passed by… I- I wasn't there when he came. The Healers had convinced me to go rest. No one knows what he said, or what he did, but the next time they tried to help you… It worked."

Jane stared at the ceiling, wondering what in the world had happened. "How did Lara take it? What will the Ministry do against Voldemort - are they assembling-"

Henry held up his hands, smiling in a strange way. "Wow, one question at the time, young lady! Carefully think what question you'll ask."

She frowned, stared at him. Through the haze of pain and Potions, she tried to figure out what he was saying, exactly. There was an anxious edge in his voice, very subtle, but still there. And then what he had said…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, and a nurse entered. A tray floated before her. "Welcome back, young lady! You gave us quite the scare, now. Eat all of it, hmm? You'll feel better, dear." The woman was overbearing, in a motherly fashion.

"She's still a bit out of it, confused," Henry stated.

Jane frowned, then tried to grasp the emotions in the room. The nurse was apprehensive of her, wary. Henry was downright nervous and scared, not off her, but for her.

She nearly gasped.

There were Aurors outside her room - British ones.

So the question was - were they here to protect her, or to protect the world from her?

She turned to Henry, as the nurse left. "How is my sister faring?", she asked neutrally.

"She's been filling in for you. There's quite a lot of formal balls this Summer."

Jane fronwed. Normally, those were held in the Winter months. Was her sister using them as a guise to gain support?

"And about what happened at the Task?"

Henry looked down.

Then looked her straight in the eye.

"They've arrested Harry for the murder on Cedric, and the attemptive murder on you."