The only good news that followed after that incident was that Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. Ron had been spectacular, and every time he saved a goal I would fly past and high five him before we chasers would then take the quaffle back to the other end to score. It was that little boost we needed before exams started, and as I sat down for my N.E.W.T papers, I pushed out every other thought that I didn't need other than what was written in front of me. When it came to the practical side of the exams, we were given directions of what spells to demonstrate, and I used them all perfectly, only in N.E. , you were also given a section in which you can demonstrate something outside of the requested spells if you wanted.

I performed a few of my newly developed counter spells, requesting the examiner to perform certain jinxes, hexes and even a curse or two at me which I effectively countered. I also demonstrated a more powerful shield charm, having improved upon protego, as well as other things that I had kept swimming around in my head all year. By the end of my practical exams, each of the examiners were staring at me as I performed magic they'd never even seen before, and I had a feeling I got extra marks in my transfiguration for the fact that I was an animagus, just like in my O. . In any case, on the very last day of exams, I came away feeling confident that I'd achieved an 'O' in everything again. Cedric caught up with me in order to discuss our answers and how it went, having become something like study-buddies together in the run up to exams. I was glad for them to be over, and I hoped that that would be the end to all other disasters for that year, but then during the night we heard a commotion down in the grounds, waking everyone and I had to keep students from going to investigate.

When the astronomy students returned from their exam, they told us about Umbridge taking aurors down to Hagrid's hut and attacking him, stunning McGonagall in the process. I was fuming. So angry in fact, that I punched the wall which was thankfully cushioned with a thick tapestry. Everyone shared my sentiments, but now with one less teacher who was willing to side with us students, there was even less that I could do by means of outward defiance.

However, I always made sure to keep an eye on Harry whenever I could, so when I happened to see him with Hermione being carted off into the Forbidden Forest, I'd stopped and frowned. From my window I could only see little figures, but Hermione's bushy hair was rather iconic and who else with messy black hair would she be with other than Harry? Being near her office, I started towards it in order to snoop around since I could hear shouts and people struggling, and when I pushed open the door, several sets of eyes were suddenly looking at me.

Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna were all being restrained by members of the Inquisitorial Squad, but now that they were distracted, Ron punched his captor in the jaw as my hand jumped to my wand. I stunned the person holding Luna Lovegood first and in a matter of seconds, the rest had wrestled their wands free and used spells of their own, taking everyone out as Luna just gazed around dreamily then looked down in surprise, as if only just noticing everyone was there. "Everybody alright?" I questioned tentatively, beginning to frown. "What's going on?"

"It's your dad, Mia. Harry had another dream in the middle of an exam, said that You-Know-Who has Sirius and he's being tortured." My wand dropped from my hand, sparks shooting out of the wand tip as I stared at them. An ice cold feeling of dread flew through me in that moment, and a flash of fear I was not used to feeling powered through me. "Hermione managed to trick Umbridge out of here, she was going to torture Harry, it's all messed up…" And then all of them were telling me at once what was happening, and through the cacophony of voices I managed to get a general picture of what had happened.

"Right, well first thing's first, we need to go rescue Harry and Hermione. Come on." I have no idea how I kept my voice so steady as I bent down and picked up my wand, not even waiting for the others as I started to run for the forest. They chased after me as I went over a few more details, making sure I get everything right. "But Harry told Snape? Snape would be able to get a message to the Order, they'll be able to get there to save him."

"But Snape said he had no idea what Harry was talking about!"

"Yes, Ron, because he wasn't going to go telling Umbridge everything by admitting he knew what Harry meant, was he?"

"Oh." Neville had been on the outside of this the entire time, only getting caught when he'd tried to help Ginny but he was looking at us in confusion, running flat out to keep up with us.

"Are you really talking about your dad Sirius Black, Mia?"

"Yes Neville. Long story short, my dad's actually innocent, he was framed by another Death Eater who then faked his death and my dad got the blame for it. I'll tell you all about it another time, but basically, my dad is a good guy." That was enough for Neville, and as we all dashed into the trees, we did our best to find Harry and Hermione, but thankfully they seemed to be on their way back since they weren't too far away and Harry shouting was rather distinctive.

"By the time we've done that, Sirius'll probably be dead!"

"Well, we can't do anything without wands." Hermione responded tartly, their voices getting louder. "Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?"

"Yeah, we were just wondering about that." Ron said jokingly, all of us appearing and when I stepped into view, my eyes immediately fell on Harry who stared back at me.

"Is it true?" I demanded, striding on over to him and gripping him harshly by his shoulders. "Are you sure what you saw was real? Voldemort could be tricking you, he could be planting the images in your head, Harry. You have to be sure!" Adamant that he was certain it was real, Harry then reasoned that he had found out from Kreacher that my dad wasn't at headquarters and was at the Ministry of Magic, so I bit down on my lip worriedly. "Harry, just leave this to Snape. He'll contact the Order, he'll…"

"He won't! He hates Sirius! He'd let him die if he could and he will!"

"Harry…"

"You don't understand! I have to save him, he's being tortured right now, AND WE'RE ALL JUST STANDING HERE! DO YOU EVEN CARE IF HE DIES?" A mighty crack sounded like the snapping of a branch and Harry recoiled, head ripping backwards as my fist remained held outwards from where I'd punched him, scowling menacingly.

"Harry, I know that Sirius is your godfather, but above all, he's my dad. I will do anything to save him, but we can't go rushing in blindly. We need to plan. We need to send messages, to get the word out. We can't go in alone! Just calm down for a second and think. Recklessness creates mistakes. Moody always tells us that." I reminded him and the sharp shock seemed to be exactly what he needed to refocus. My knuckles ached a little but I ignored it, watching Harry as he massaged his jaw and looked around us.

"How did you get away?" He finally asked as Ron passed him and Hermione their wands.

"Couple of stunners, a disarming charm, Neville brought off a really nice little impediment jinx, but Ginny was best, she got Malfoy. Bat-bogey hex, it was superb. His whole face was covered in the great flapping things. Anyway, we saw you out of the window heading into the Forest and followed." Ron then frowned and looked around the rather quiet forest, seeing no squat looking woman in sight. "What've you done with Umbridge?"

"She got carried away by a herd of centaurs." Now I wish I'd been there to see that. Ever since my herd of wild horses trick chasing her down every time she tried to approach, Umbridge had developed a healthy fear of them. It was irony at it's best.

"And they left you behind?" Ginny wondered in amazement but Harry shook his head.

"No, they got chased off by Grawp."

"Who's Grawp?"

"Hagrid's little brother." Ron supplied to Luna who still looked like she wasn't entirely aware of the situation. "Anyway, never mind that now. Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius or…?"

"Yes, and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him." All of us remained silent as I tried to think, not of transportation, but how to get a message to someone. An owl would take too long, I suppose there is the patronus, but who to send it to? I'd never really sent a message with one before, how could I be sure that it'll make it there?

"Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" Luna stated, as if it were obvious.

"Okay, first of all, we aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron and Mia are the only ones with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll so…" Ginny hotly protested that she had a broom too but Ron told her bluntly that she wasn't going.

"Excuse me but I care about what happens to Sirius just as much as you do." All the while, Neville was just looking back and forth between us, unsure of what to do or say so he just stood there awkwardly. Harry started to tell her that she was too young but she smartly cut him off. "I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosopher's Stone, and it's because of me that Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogies attacking him." Again when Harry protested, he was cut off, this time by Neville who piped up for the first time.

"We were all in the DA together, it was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real, or was that all just a game or something?" Stuttering that it wasn't, Neville nodded his head firmly. "Then we should come too. We want to help." Well, I guess there's no arguing with that, is there? Molly's going to kill me for this, I just know it.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway, because we still don't know how to get there."

"I thought we'd settled that, we're flying!" Eventually Luna made herself clearer by what she meant with flying, as after a curt argument with Ron about something called a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, she pointed across to an empty glad and told us that those creatures could fly. At first I thought she really was a little barmy in the head, pointing at nothing, but when she continued to speak, it all became clearer. "And Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for."

"Thestrals!" I realised, looking at Neville who was staring at them too. "Hang on, there's a spell to make everyone see them. Oculi aperti mea!" Granting us the vision to see them, a sort of tint came across my eyesight like ink dripping into water, making it difficult to see before then all at once, my vision returned to normal and I could see the thestrals for myself, everyone else gasping also. They were big and leathery looking, with pale eyes and glossy black manes, quietly observing us but allowed Luna and I to come over and stroke them.

"Those mad horse things?" Ron whimpered with uncertainty as everyone else edged closer. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?"

"Precisely, but the spell lets you see them for a little while. They're fine, very gentle creatures so long as you don't act aggressively towards them, and no one here's that stupid." I pointed out. Harry was now beaming, also stroking one of the two thestrals that had come to investigate us. "There's only two, however."

"We'll, we'll need four." Hermione said, but Ginny correctly her swiftly by saying five, and Luna disagreeing that we needed seven. There was a short argument and eventually Harry caved in, and before long a load more thestrals had been drawn in by the smell of the blood that was covering Harry and Hermione, who assured me it wasn't there's but Grawp's. I'll have to remember to come back and see him soon, I had only managed to see him once or twice a week for a while now. In any case, we all mounted up the thestrals who threw back their heads and flapped their wings, registering that there were now riders on their backs before Harry took the lead, giving them the address to the visitor's entrance in London for the Ministry of Magic.

Before we took off, however, I wheeled my thestral around and cast the patronus charm, whispering a message and sending it to Dumbledore, hoping that it would find him soon. Then with a great gallop and leap, we were all away, and as we soared over the clouds, I didn't know what I'd rather find. My father being tortured by Voldemort but alive, or turning up and finding out he wasn't there and it had all been a trap. Either way, I was ready for a fight.