Ava P.O.V

It's the next day and I'm still at Malfoy Manor. It's half 5 in the afternoon and Draco is just taking a shower at the minute. I was meant to leave this morning but Draco wouldn't let me so I said would leave this afternoon. I don't want to leave him, of course, but I promised Harry that I would help him with the Horcruxes hunt.

I look at the bathroom door. Would it be shitty of me if I just left without saying good bye?

Yes, Ava. Yes it would, a little voice told me.

But I can't say good bye to his face though, I told the little voice, before sighing frustration. I look around the room and see some paper and ink on the bed side table. I grab it and put on my glasses. I open the ink and dip in the quill and start writing.

'Dear Draco,

I'm sorry for leaving without saying good bye, but if I said good bye to your face then I would never want to leave. I never told you that I read your letter. You know, the one you left in your room the night you left the school. Deep down I always knew that you were a Death Eater, that's why I never questioned that bandage on your arm.

You could have told me, you know. I wouldn't have thought any less of you because I would have understood that you didn't have a choice, it's just the life you have been born into. And I could never think badly of you, Draco. I know that whatever you did in our 6th year, you did out of love, and you know what? I don't blame you for doing everything you did. Anyone would have done the same if they were in your shoes.

I love you, Draco. I love you so much and I promise that I will be careful when I'm with Harry, Ron and Hermione. We will look after each other, I promise.

Love Ava xx

P.S. I wore your jumper that you left in the wardrobe, by the way. Just thought I would let you know just in case you thought I burnt it, which I would never do because your jumpers are way to comfy to burn.

P.P.S, Tell your mom and dad that I said thank you for letting me stay and for looking after me. And also say goodbye to Blaise for me.'

I put the letter on his pillow so that he would see it when he comes out of the shower. I put my shoes on and look around for my jacket only to remember that I don't have one. I walk over to Draco's wardrobe and see if he's got a jacket or jumper I could lend. The only thing I could find was his Slytherin Quidditch jumper. I smile and put it on then write down on his letter that I robbed one of his jumpers.

I freeze when I hear the shower turn off. I need to go before he stops me from leaving. I rush over to the window and open it. I climb onto the window sill, turn into a phoenix then fly into the air and make my way to Sirius's house. They haven't called me on the mirror, so I'm guessing they are still there.

I finally make it to his house and land in a tree. I look around and I can see Death Eater at every corner of the street. I fly back into the air and fly over the house and land in the back garden. I turn back into myself, pull out my wand and knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I hear Sirius shout through the door.

"It's Ava Snape."

"Prove it. Tell me something only she would know."

"When we were at the Weasleys for Bill's wedding, you told me that I looked beautiful in my dress and that my mother would have been proud of me."

I hear him open loads of lock on the door before it swung open. He goes to pull me through the door but he stops when I point my wand at him.

"Wait, prove that you're Sirius Black. When me and someone else came to see you in our 5th year, what did we want to talk to you about and who was that someone?"

"You wanted to talk about your father's memoires and you were with my godson, Harry."

I smile and lower my wand. He moves out of the way and I walk into the house. He close and locks the door behind me then pulls me into a hug.

"I'm so glad that you're ok, Ava. We have been so worried about you."

"Are they here?"

"No, they have gone to the Ministry."

I pull away from him. "The Ministry? The same Ministry that's after them? What have they gone there for?"

"They found the real locket. It's at the Ministry with that Umbridge woman" he says, as I follow him into the living room.

"What the hell is she doing with it?"

Sirius points to the sofa and we sit down. "Mundungus Fletcher stole it. He came in the night and stole loads of things. Harry sent Kreacher after him and bought him back here. We were still hoping that he had it but he told us that some woman from the Ministry wanted to see his licence, which of course he didn't have. She was going to lock him up for it but then she notice the locket and had that instead and let him go."

"I don't understand why she would want something like that" I frown.

"We don't understand it either, but at least we now know where one Horcruxes is."

I nod then look at him. "How long have they been gone for?"

"About half an hour. They were waiting for you to turn up but they couldn't wait any longer or they would have missed their chance."

"I would have been here sooner but Draco wouldn't let me leave, so I said that I would stay till the afternoon."

I see Sirius looking at the scar on my cheek from the corner of my eye. "I don't want to talk about it" I say. "Not yet anyway."

"That's fine. We can talk when you're ready" he smiles. "We have hot water if you want to take a shower, and there's some girls clothes in the room that you shared with Hermione and Ginny. I have no idea who's clothes they are but you can have a look what's in there."

"Ok, I'll be back in a bit" I say, before walking out of the room. I head upstairs and into the room that I shared with Hermione and Ginny and walk over to the wardrobe. I open it and see that there are a few of my clothes in there. I don't really want to get changed out of Draco's clothes so I just shove my clothes into a bag.

I don't need a shower since I had one this morning but I go in the bathroom anyway to see if there's anything in there. I look around and see my perfume that Draco gave me for Christmas. I grab it and put it in the bag then head back downstairs.

I walk into the living room only to find it empty so I walk into the kitchen and see Sirius standing by the kettle.

"Fancy a cuppa?" he asks.

"I would love one" I say, sitting down at the table. I look at the clock on the wall and see that it's been over an hour since Harry, Ron and Hermione have been gone and Polyjuice Potion only last an hour, so they should have been back by now.

"Do you think they are ok?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm sure they're -" Sirius stops talking when Harry, Ron and Hermione suddenly appear in the middle of the room. They seem to be fighting someone. I start to panic when I see that it's Yaxley. He looks at me and smirks before all four of them disappear. Oh no. A Death Eater has saw me.

Sirius rushes over to a cupboard and grabs a rucksack, then grabs my arm and we start to disappear just as Death Eaters crash into the kitchen. I grip tightly to Sirius because it feels like I'm about to fly off in a different direction to him. I groan when my back hits the ground.

I look around and see that we are in some sort of forest that's covered in snow and ice. I hear Sirius groan next to me. "Are you ok? Are you hurt?" I ask.

"No, I'm fine. Are you hurt?"

"No, just a little breathless since I landed on my back."

"Sorry. I haven't Apparated in so long that I've forgotten how to land."

"It's ok, you got us out of there and that's all that matters" I say, sitting up and looking around. "Where are we anyway?"

"The Forest of Dean" Sirius says, also sitting up. "Me, James, Remus and that rat would always come here if we wanted to practicing dulling, or just to prat around after a hard day."

"It's very nice. It's like a winter wonderland with all the snow."

"We should put up Protection charms since we are out in the open, so I'll do that whilst you put up the tent" Sirius says, before walking off.

I walk over to his rucksack and pull out a little tent then put it up using magic. I'm so glad that I'm 17 now and can use magic without the stupid Ministry finding out. I walk into the tent and it's so much bigger on the inside. There's two single beds and a little kitchen area, a little bathroom and a little fire pit in the middle of the tent.

I jump when Sirius walks into the tent. He smiles then walks into the bathroom. I pull out the mirror from my locket.

"Show me Harry Potter" I say, looking in the mirror but it stays black. I tired calling Ron and Hermione but that same thing happens. Hope they are ok and they call me soon. Sirius cooked us a bacon sandwich and we sat down at the kitchen table to eat.

"Are you ready to talk about what happened at Malfoy Manor?" Sirius ask, watching at me carefully. I look at him and put down my sandwich. I sit there and tell him everything that happened and he was pale by the time I finished. He also wanted to kill Draco but I told him that he didn't have a choice because Voldemort would have probably hurt him or hurt me more just to get to him.

"Show - show me your arm."

I take the bandage off and show him my red Dark Mark, or what looks like a Dark Mark anyway. Bellatrix isn't that good at drawing but you can definitely tell what she was implying. Sirius gaps and gentle grabs my arm.

"Ava" he breaths out. "I-I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything" I say, pulling my arm away and put the bandage back on my arm.

"What happened after that?" he asks and I sit there and tell him what I did to the door and Pettigrew and everything after that. "That was very clever of you, Ava, just like your mother. She was always fast thinking in time of need."

"What was she like at school?"

"Cheeky. She had a mouth on her and she knew how to use it" I smile at him. "I remember this one time, me and James were spying on Lily and Jane in the library. We were going to prank them, only your mother got us first."

"Really? What did she do?"

"Me and James were going to throw water balloons at them and Jane pretended that she needed to get a book from the back of the library, but she was really sneaking up on is so she could stick us to the floor. She shouts for Lily and they throw water balloons at us whilst we were stuck to the floor."

This made me laugh. "How did she know that you were going to prank them?"

"Well, let's just say that after that, me and James never talked about pranking them in the Great Hall again."

"They heard you?"

"They were sitting right behind us at the Slytherin table, only we didn't know. Remus tried to warn us but we didn't listen to him."

That just made me laugh harder. I definitely needed to hear that story to cheer me up. Sirius must have realise because he went on to tell me different story about my mom and the pranks she pulled with James and Sirius. It was nice hearing about everything she got up to and the fun that she had with her friends.

Sirius was about to say something else but stops when my locket starts buzzing. I open it and pull out the mirror then snigger at the look on Sirius's face. I look into the mirror and see Harry, Ron and Hermione's worried face looking at me.

"Ava, god thank" Harry sighs. "We have been so worried when we realise that a Death Eater had seen you."

"Same, but Sirius managed to Apparate us out of there as just the Death Eater turned up."

"Where did he take you?" Ron asks.

"The Forest of Dean" Sirius says, moving closer to me so he could look into the mirror.

"No way" Hermione gasps. "That's where we are now."

"Where are you in the forest?" I ask.

"We are by the lake" Hermione answers.

"That's perfect" Sirius smiled. "There's a little cabin just at the east end of the river. We will meet you there and make sure that you pack everything, don't leave nothing behind or someone could track it. We will do the same and meet you there as soon as we can."

They nod and disappear from the mirror. I put it back in my locket then we pack everything up and make our way to the lake. It's a good job that Sirius knows where he's going because I haven't got a clue. We wasn't walking for that long when I saw them all standing front of the cabin.

I run over to them and just dive on them. "Ava" they all breathed, hugging me tight. Sirius checked the cabin but it was unsafe to sleep in so we put up Hermione's tent since it was bigger than Sirius's. Me and Harry did the Protection Charms whilst Ron made us all tea.

We are all sitting around the kitchen table and Hermione is telling me and Sirius how to destroy a Horcruxes.

"The sword of Gryffindor is goblin made."

"Ok" I say slowly, a little confused on what that means. I glance at Sirius and he just shrugs.

"Dirt and rust have no effect on the blade" Ron adds. "It only takes in what makes it stronger."

"Ok" I say still confused.

"You still don't understand?" Harry smirks.

"Hey! I bet you didn't understand it the first time either!"

"He didn't" Ron snots and Harry gives me a 'don't tell her that' look.

"Harry has already destroyed a Horcrux" Hermione says. "Tom's Riddle's diary in the Chamber of Secrets."

"I remember" I say, nodding. "He stabbed it with a Basilisk Fang."

"Yes, but he killed the Basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor. The blade is impregnated with Basilisk venom."

"Oh, I get" I says. "The sword can destroy Horcruxes because of the venom."

"Yes, that's why Dumbledore left it to Harry in his will" Ron says.

"But isn't the sword missing?" Sirius frowns. They nod. "So how do we find a missing sword?"

"We haven't got that far yet" Hermione sighs.

"Did you manage to get the locket?" I say. Harry nods and pulling it out of under his top. "Why are you wearing it?"

"To keep is safe. We didn't want to leave it lying around."

"How long have you been wearing it?" Sirius asks.

"Since we got back from the Ministry, which was almost 2 hours ago now."

"Here" I say, holding out my hand, "I'll wear it for a bit." Harry takes it off and hands it to me. I put it on and frown when I hear tiny little hissing coming from the locket. I look at Harry and he nods, letting me know that he can hear it too.

"This is so creepy" I say, pulling it under my top. "It's like he's here with us."

"I know" Ron shivers. "I said the same thing."

"So" Harry says slowly, looking at me, "what happened to you at Malfoy Manor?"

I look at them one by one then explained what happened. Just like Sirius, Harry also wanted to kill Draco but me telling him that he didn't have a choice didn't calm him down in any way. Ron took him outside for a few minute so Harry could take his angry out on some trees.

"Show me your arm" Hermione breaths out with pure horror on her face. I take the bandage off and show her my red Dark Mark. She gasps loudly.

"Ava, oh my …" she trails off, squeezing my hand.

Harry and Ron walk back into the tent but stop in their tracks when they see my arm. I quickly pull my sleeve down and grab the bandage, I'll put that get on in a minute.

"She's dead!" Harry growled angrily. "I'm going to kill her!" he walks back out of the tent before we could say anything. We glance at each other then jump when we hear a loud bang coming from outside. We go to stand up but Sirius stops us.

"I'll talk to him" he says, before walking out of the tent. Me, Ron and Hermione look at each other, but say nothing.