"Rommy, just get on the broom, we don't have time for this!" James hissed. Everyone else was ready to go, but Rommy was holding her broom, shaking.

She dropped it, holding her face in her hands. "I'm sorry! I just can't fly!"

Lili looked up at the sky. A storm was coming in, and fast too. Everyone was watching Rommy intently, wanting to get this "mission" underway. But all of them were a bit more understanding...they knew why Rommy was afraid to fly. The previous christmas all of them had been flying in the woods behind Rommy's house when a bear had attacked the group. Everyone was able to get away...except Rommy. The bear, confused and angry, and clawed at her, splintering her broom and sending her down a deep ravine. She spent a week unconscious and when she did wake up, she was extremely broom shy.

"Hey, its okay," James reasured. "Here, you can fly with me." Nodding sullenly, Rommy climbed onto his broom and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

"We have to climb fast," Lili instructed. "There's a storm coming."

"And did your thrid eye tell you that?" Caleb joked. He loved making fun of the gift Lili and her mother Camerane shared...only because it made Lili spaz.

But this time she kept her cool and simply said, "Yes." They rose in the sky and soared above the dark clouds that were coming at them, into the starry night. Lili would be the one leading the way...seeking any pattener that was similar to Cory and Calebs, as the baby was their sibling. "I have the baby's mind pattern! To the east!." They all turned their brooms in midair and took off to the east.


* * *

A hazel eyed girl with white-blonde hair stood in the chilly stone hall, her bare feet numb from the lack of heat, listening intently to the events going on in the room next to her. She could hear a small wailing and her father's growling. ''Oh no, not another one!' she thought to herself. If she knew her father, and she did, this child would not last very long in this manor. 'I can't let this happen!'

She creeped forward and peered through the keyhole of the large oak door. All she could see was a squirmin, wailing, child on the solid maple desk. The baby couldnt have been more then a few hours old! She pressed her ear to the door, listening to her father's musings.

"Not exactly the Potter's brat, but it belongs to his best friend...it should have enough power to ressurect the Dark Lord." The girl gasped and backed away from the door. How could he plan such a thing! She'd have thought that after just escaping from the ministry that he'd have more since then that! Was that what the children were used for?! From inside the room she could hear her father pause. "Bethlehem, is that you?"

She stood up and tore off down the hall, running into her room and shutting the door. She hated to think what he'd do if he knew she'd eased dropped...not to her but to the child. A few moments later there was a knock at the door. "Come in," she called, steadying her voice. Her father's face appeared from the hall.

He was the complete opposite of her. While she had pale skin and hair, his was dark. The only thing they shared were the hazel eyes. "Just checking up on you, pumpkin."

"I'm fine," Bethlehem lied. "Just looking for something else to read." It was a good thing she hadn't cleaned her room, because the discarded pile of books on her floor made her story convincing.

"I was just about to make myself something to eat. Do you want anything?" She shook her head no and he disappeared.

Did he suspect? she wondered. She watched him as he walked away down the hall, turning into the kitchen. Her lie had worked...for the most part. Without realy thinking, she ran swiftly and silently down the stone hall, pushing the door to her father's study wide open. The child was still crying, naked on the desk. Poor little girl, Bethlehem thought, scooping the child into her arms. With the care of a new mother, she cradled the child, who stopped crying immediately when she felt Bethlehem's heartbeat. With the stealth of a leopard on the hunt, she ran back to her room, pulling out a small, pale rose blanket out of her closet. It had been burried neneath the tond of stuffed animals her father had bought for...always a new one after he came back from his "work". It was like he thought he could redeem himself in her eyes for being a death eater if he brought her presents.

The blanket had been the one her own mother had wrapped her in as a baby. Now this baby would use it. She wrapped the child securely, then set her on the bed as she herself dressed in some warm pants, a long sleeved shirt and a pair of fur-lined boots. She grabbed her winter cloak from the hook and clipped it around her shoulders. Then she lifted the baby in her arms again and opened her window. The fall was about three feet, but the snow was deep...it would cushion her fall. Holding the baby close to her breast, the 16 year old jumped from the window, landing flat on her back. The baby cried only but a moment, before Bethlehem's soft singing quieted her.

Standing up, she began to jog through the deep, freezing snow. She knew several places where she could hide...and even though most of them would allow her father to follow him it was really only to throw him off. She knew exactly where to go with the newborn girl. A place not even her father knew about...and one hed never think of going to. But first she had to throw him off. So she headed down into the deep forest behind the manner, where her journey would begin.

Back at the manner Bethlehem's father had just returned to his study. The glass of wine he'd poured himself fell and shattered on the ground. The room was void of life...the child was gone. Angrily, he stormed into Bethlehem's room and found it empty as well, though the window was open. He peered outside to see a deep imprint in the snow, and more footprints leading away in the night. With great rage he roared out into the frigid night. "Bethlehem!"