Lily stormed past the guard that tried to stop her from entering, the big man stopping dead when he saw who it was hidden under the hood blocking her face. Turning on her heel she stormed into the empty room, which would soon be filled with milling bodies and heady music.

"Why Lily what brings you here," a voice said from the darkness and Lily turned to find Eve materialising from the shadows that surrounded them.

"You know what damn well brings me here, where is he!" she yelled as she threw her hood back.

"Where's who?" eve asked with a smirk twisting her lips.

With a snarl of anger Lily pulled her wand from her sleeve and levelled it at Eve, who frowned in annoyance. Before Lily could say a word Eve was in front of her a snarl of anger passing her lips.

"Do not forget where you are Lily, this is my territory how dare you threaten me in my own home," she hissed as she circled Lily.

Lily didn't waver once keeping her eyes on Eve constantly. She knew what she was doing was dangerous but she would do anything for her son. Ginny was in no state to help him at the moment, she had done her part dragging him back from the brink, now it was up to his mother to rescue him from whatever trouble he had managed to get himself into now.

"I know you have him Eve, Harry may not tell me everything but I know of you and your plans."

Eve laughed as she halted in front of Lily, "even if I did have him, what plans could I possibly have for the cat," she laughed again

"He may be a cat Eve but we both know that he is the most powerful shifter there has ever been, no matter how much you don't want to admit it he is more powerful than you," Eve growled but didn't say anything and taking a breath Lily pushed on, "even if he is a cat he could hold the key to unlocking the world for shifters and you know it."

Eve's eyes flashed then and Lily knew she was looking at the wolf she held inside her now. Lily was walking a fine line, but she didn't care she needed to push Eve to get her son back. She wasn't stupid she had felt the net of magic the moment she arrived, knew that Eve was using it to keep her from sensing her son.

"Go home Lily, go back to the war that is none of my concern. Let us take care of our own," Eve growled turning on her heal and stalking away from Lily.

"What about Ginny?" Lily found herself calling.

Eve stopped her shoulders tightening but didn't move and Lily hoped that she had her in.

"You know what Ginny is to Harry; know that he will never be what you need if he loses her. She is one of your own, and aren't all of you precious, do the people you govern know that you are letting a cat, a mated cat, slip through your fingers."

A growl rippled through the room and Eve turned her eyes suddenly dark and Lily knew she was winning the argument even as she knew her life was in danger.

"Do not presume to preach to me outsider, you may have born the one we have searched for but that gives you no place in our society. If I didn't care about the death of my own mother what would I care for your death," with that she turned again and was gone before Lily could say anything more.

For a moment Lily stood starring into the darkness waiting to see if she would emerge again. After a moment she knew Eve had left, gone to where ever they were keeping her son, and she knew she wouldn't be able to follow. Her anger growing deeper she turned to find eyes in the dark shinning at her, holding her breath she turned in a slow circle taking in the fact that she was suddenly surrounded by shifters on all sides.

"You are Lily, mother to Harry," a voice said out of the darkness from where she couldn't quiet pinpoint but she squared her shoulders and replied.

"I am, I have cared for and loved him his entire life until it was time for his mate to take him," she knew most of the shifter community customs and knew that it wasn't as Eve had decreed mothers who cared for shifters were held in esteem, for a good few of them were abandoned by their mothers when they realised their otherness.

As she turned to her left a man materialised from the darkness, and she wasn't surprised she hadn't seen him. He was wearing a black well cut suit and shirt the only colour to him a charcoal grey tie. His skin was a deep mahogany colour, but his eyes were a bright green that spoke of the animal he held within him.

"You have protected the chosen knowing who he was for us, knowing what it could mean for you," he stated in a smooth voice and she simply nodded.

He nodded his head to her and she returned the gesture, "hole faith mother of our saviour all hope is not lost," with that he disappeared into the shadows again and the eyes blinked out.

Harry knew something was wrong the instant he opened his eyes. Everything was white around him, no shape or forms that he could pick out. He could feel his connection to Ginny pulled tight like it could snap any moment, but he also knew he could reach for her if he needed. He had held her in his arms felt the feel of her warmth sink into his skin. Now he was back in the white and didn't know how to crawl out. Something had snapped inside of him and it took a moment for him to remember the power that had crawled out of his body, the fact that it had nearly destroyed Ginny.

Ginny the thought of her brought images to his mind, their cottage bathed in sunlight, the laughter of a child that he knew wasn't real. He had reached Ginny; in the darkness he had reached her knowing she was his only hope. Now he was bathed in white but he was no less saved, he could feel Ginny like an anchor in his mind holding him to this world but that anchor was growing weaker and weaker with each passing heartbeat and he knew it was because she was giving in.

He had shattered her, shattered her so completely that her mind and soul was choosing to live in a fantasy world rather than dealing with what had happened. To the depths of his soul he hated himself, she was the one thing in the whole world that he had promised to protect above all others and he had very nearly killed her. Closing his eyes he could see the darkness that had stained him like an oily coating that he just couldn't wash off.

Ginny had given him a light to burn away that darkness but now it was crawling over him and he knew that without her there to pull him back he would succumb to it and never return.

As his mind drifted in whiteness he became semi aware of his body, the feel of hands touching his cooling skin. Then it wasn't just hands he could feel but heat, fur and magic rolled together and he knew instinctively that where ever his body was it was being cared for by shifters. A part of him was happy for this knowing that they would be the only ones that could stitch his shattered body back together, but a bigger part didn't want that knowing he was away from Gin. He worried that if his body survived this without Ginny, then it wouldn't be his soul that opened his eyes but the darkness that had whispered to him all of his life.