A/N: All I can say is that I'm sooo sorry for the long wait, but my life has been hell recently. I also want to apologise for the quality of this chapter, not only is it a filler, but it also is quite fragmented due to the fact I had no time to sit down and write it all in one go :( So I'm sorry, but I felt like I ought to give you guys an update!
I also want to thank Gruffard, Moon Lantern and Twibe for the reviews to the last chapter. They're much appreciated! :)

The doors of the vast mansion room burst open, breaking the crisp silence, and a gaunt-looking woman, followed in by several other haggard men, hurried forwards to kneel on the cold stone floor at the foot of a large throne-like chair, which was turned away from them, obscuring their view of the person who had summoned them there.

"We came as soon as we could, my lord," the dark-haired woman explained earnestly. "There was a slight complication over rooms, Lucius was–"

"You're rambling, Bellatrix." The voice that interrupted her was high and cold, a voice that seemed to make the room temperature drop dramatically, making the group shiver involuntarily as their silence seemed to reverberate off the stone walls.

"I'm sorry, my lord, it was not intentional," the woman apologised quietly after a moment, bowing her head. "I am very grateful to you for breaking us out of Azkaban–"

"As are we all," a man with dark hair butted in before Bellatrix turned and gave him a warning snarl.

"I am very thankful to you, my lord" she repeated forcefully. "But I think we are all wondering why you summoned us so soon. Is… is there something wrong, my lord?"

"To succeed, I need people I can trust." The voice was strangely calm. "While you were trapped in Azkaban, your fellow Death Eaters managed to let the Potters' boy escape. He must die! As long as he is alive, he is a risk to my rule and a risk to the world of purebloods!"

The group nodded and murmured their agreement before Bellatrix spoke out once more.

"My lord, may we see you? It's been so long and…" she trailed off as the man in the chair stood up and walked round to face them…

Ariella woke up gasping, sitting upright in her bed as images of a man with narrowed, blood-red eyes, pale skin and slits for a nose flashed through her mind.

"Ella? Ella? Are you alright?" Lottie's concerned voice rang out in the darkness and suddenly a dim light flickered on, making the young witch flinch and cover her eyes from the brightness, curling up on the bed as the realisation of what she'd just dreamt about came to her.

"Oh God, oh God, it was another one. I had another dream about her!" she cried desperately, then lowered her voice slightly as she heard the Scarlet's bed creak next to her. It wouldn't be fair to wake the others. "And You-Know-Who was there! Oh God, oh God!"

"Hey, hey, calm down!" Lottie was over to her friend's bed in a flash, holding her. "It's alright. It's only a dream, I'm sure it means nothing!"

"It feels like it should mean something! What if I'm dreaming about what's actually happening?"

Lottie stared at her a moment. "What do you mean?" she asked finally.

"I mean, what if what I saw is real? What if Bellatrix meeting You-Know-Who is what is happening right this moment?"

"I'm sure it's not, Ella. You've had a very trying day, it's probably that, or it could be that necklace playing tricks on you. Please don't think about it too much, you need to sleep!" At that point, Lottie yawned and Ariella, seeing this, sat up.

"Go back to bed, Lottie," she told her friend. "I don't want to keep you up." When the auburn-haired girl opened her mouth to argue, Ariella cut her off. "I mean it, I'll be fine."

"Only if you're absolutely sure?"

Ariella nodded and then the bed creaked as Lottie clambered off, blowing out the light and climbing into her own bed.

As Ariella lay there, it suddenly came to her that she could get into an awful lot of trouble if anyone were to find out about her dreams. They would think she was mad, or worse; a traitor! Therefore, no one could know. No one apart from her, Lottie and Arcturus. If Hermione found out, then she'd only fret, and Ariella didn't want the attention that would bring. Her sister was already overly protective of her as it was, without adding more reason for her to be that way. No, no one could know anything…

Sighing as she sat up in bed, Ariella raked a hand through her curls, pushing them out of her eyes and looked out of the window at the sun in the April morning sky. Months had passed uninterrupted since the Azkaban breakout. No weird dreams. No unexplainable events. In fact, the name Bellatrix had never passed anyone's lips, and for that, Ariella was truly grateful.

"Come on, Ella, get up! You're going to be late for breakfast again and then Archie's going to have eaten all the toast!" Lottie called to her, making the young witch jump up.

Archie and the other first-year Gryffindor boys had recently taken to getting up earlier and rushing down for breakfast, leaving nothing for when the girls came down. They saw it as a joke. The girls did not. So this time they had gotten up earlier in an attempt to get there before everything was gone.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Ariella called, hastily pulling on her uniform, grabbing her brush and rushing into the bathroom. After a few minutes of attempting to tame her wild curls, she gave up, pulling it into a loose plait over her right shoulder and hurrying out to meet the rest of the girls in her dorm before they went down to the Great Hall.

They managed to catch the boys just as they'd started to tuck into their first bite and Ariella and Lottie headed straight over to Archie, sitting either side of him, both glaring with their eyebrows raised. He coloured immediately.

"This time you're not eating it all without us," Lottie told him.

"We caught on to what you boys were doing," Ariella added in. "Did you really think we were that stupid that we wouldn't figure out what you were up to?"

"It wasn't my idea!" was all that came out of the young wizard's mouth.

Ariella rolled her eyes and was about to retort back when she heard Hermione calling her name. Turning round, she saw the bushy-haired girl hurrying towards her.

"Ariella, I think I forgot to tell you, but there's a DA meeting this evening at seven," she whispered hastily into her sister's ear.

"You think you forgot to tell me? You did forget to tell me!" the young girl hissed back angrily.

"I'm sorry, Ella, but I have a lot on and seeing as though we haven't had one since the Azkaban breakout…"

The young witch tensed up at those words, having been reminded of one of the most horrible moments in her life. Seeing this, Hermione trailed off.

"Are you okay, Ella?"

"Yes, yeah, I'm fine," she said a little distantly.

Not convinced, the bushy-haired witch continued. "If it makes you feel any better, I know that Harry is hoping to teach us how to cast a patronus."

Ariella was jerked out of her thoughts. "What? Really? Tonight?" she asked incredulously. Casting a patronus had been something that she had been looking forward to ever since Harry had mentioned that he could do them. She was especially curious about what shape it would take. She only knew that she didn't want it to be something like a snake or a rat. An animal like a swan would be better; something elegant and graceful.

So, with all previous thoughts forgotten, the young witch smiled at her sister and turned to tell her friends the exciting news.