A/N: I use many hebrew words in this chapter. I have not defined all of them. If you want to know what they are, LOOK THEM UP!

Yom Kippour dawned bright and clear, if a little cold. Hermione woke Rachel, saying she would be late for breakfast. Rachel, using almost all her patience, didn't strangle Hermione, and explained, rather grumpily, instead, that today was Yom Kippour, and she didn't have class. Hermione told her, in a matter-of-fact tone that she still had to eat breakfast, because it was the most important meal of the day. Rachel moaned, and said.

"Hermione. I'm fasting, remember? I'm repenting for my sins and the sins of others, so I don't eat."

Hermoine looked sheepish. "Sorry. I forgot. I thought this was the other one. The new year."

"That's Rosh Hashanah, Hermione! You know child, sometimes I wonder..." Hermione swatted her. "Anyway, I suppose I should get up anyway." Rachel got up out of bed, and put on a casual robe. She followed Hermione down the stairs to the Great Hall.

Rachel tried not to look at the food, though she was already hungry. She sat down at the Gryffindor table and waited for McGonagall to arrive.

"Why aren't you eating?" Harry looked concerned. Ron, meanwhile, shoved a piece of toast in his mouth.

"Yeah!" He said, spraying toast crumbs in all directions. "It's good. You're not an-an-anoreckic? Are you? Hermione was talking about those eating diseases."

"Disorders Ron, not diseases." Hermione spread jam on her toast in a business-like fashion. "But she doesn't have one. She's fasting. Aren't you, Rachel?"

Rachel nodded, but was staring hungrily at Hermione's toast. Her mouth watered, but she swallowed. "Yeah. I have to fast for Yom Kippour. Need to repent for my sins."

Ron grinned and waved his toast around. "You sure one little bite wouldn't hurt?"

Rachel grimaced. She wanted to so bad. Luckily, she heard a sharp voice call out. "Miss Jacobson! I need to speak with you please!"

Rachel got up gratefully, and walked over to Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Jacobson, Professor Dumbledore has taken the liberty to find you a synagogue," McGonagall pronounced it "sy-nay-go-go", but it was really "sin-a-gog" in which you can erm–" Professor McGonagall looked stern. "Worship." Rachel looked at her curiously. Since when had being Jewish been a crime?

"You may want to erm–change your clothes. And, I–I'm sorry, but since you will be out alone, you will only be able to stay at this sy-nay-go-go for a few hours. You will be taken there and picked up at a designated time. Here is a map." McGonagall shoved a piece of parchment into her hands "Professor Sinistra will take you in ten minutes. Good day."

And she walked off.

Rachel had to walk by the Slytherin table to get out of the hall. Thankfully, Draco Malfoy had given up on her, and turned his attention on someone else. Teresa Berenson, a red haired fifth year with a fiery temper. Draco was saying something to her, and she looked ready to spill her pumpkin juice on his head. Why couldn't Draco just choose Pansy? Who actually LIKED him? Oh well. His problem. Rachel shrugged and left the hall. She heard a splash, and Draco's voice say indignantly

"What was THAT bloody for?" But Rachel just kept walking. She went up to her room, and brushed her hair carefully, parted it, and secured it with little blue clips. She put a nice robe. Pretty, but not too formal. This wasn't a ball, after all. The blue fabric hung nicely, and Rachel smoothed it. It was a royal blue, covered with tiny gold flowers. Rachel slipped on a gold Star of David necklace, and went to find the arithmancy teacher.

Professor Sinistra was in the entrance hall. "Do you have the map?" She inquired. Rachel nodded, that yes, indeed, she had the map, and the Professor took it from her. They walked to Hogsmede in silence, then apparated to the shul. [Synagogue, for all those who don't know. And, if you don't know what a Synagogue is, it is a Jewish Church...much as I hate that definition]

"I guess this is it. Someone will come back to collect you." And with that, the Professor vanished, leaving Rachel at the doors of Temple HaShalom, or Temple of the Peace. She pushed open one of the heavy wooden doors and stepped inside.

Since Jewish witches and wizards were so rare, all different religious sects were there. A minyan sat on the bima. Black-hatters with their long beards, reform witches in talitot and kippot. Small orthodox boys with pele and the fringes of their prayer shawls poking out from underneath their shirts.

Rachel, a reform Jew, born and raised, slid a talit over her shoulders. She lifted a prayer book from a cart.

For some odd reason, she ended up next to a tall man wearing a faded shawl and worn looking kippa. He was wrapped in tifilin, and was davening, didn't even notice her as she rocked back and forth, letting out a barely audible moan in Hebrew dotted with bits of French.

Rachel was in her own little world. She no longer noticed her hunger as she prayed to be inscribed in the book of life for one more year. She prayed for Harry, Hermione, Ron, and on second thought, Seamus and Lavender as well. She said the mourners kaddish for Cedric, feeling tears burn the backs of her eyes as she finished the last verse. She was praying for all her friends in America when she felt a hand touch her arm. She looked up to see Dumbledore, wearing a kippa that he must have picked up on his way in.

"This is utterly fascinating!" He turned around, taking it all in. "But I'm afraid, dear, you have to come back to school." Dumbledore took Rachel's arm, but, in doing so, accidentally bumped the davening man next to Rachel.

"Yom Tov, good sir!" said Dumbledore, bowing his head slightly. Dumbledore was a very learned man, but, judging from his accent, this was probably almost all he knew how to say in Hebrew.

"Are–are you Albus Dumbledore?" The man had a rough and gravelly voice, with a definite touch of French.

"That I am." Dumbledore straightened.

"May you be inscribed in the book of life!" The man clapped Dumbledore on the shoulder. Dumbledore, in turn, smiled and said

"Same to you sir, but I have come to take this lady back to Hogwarts." No sooner had the words left his lips then smoke filled the air.

"FIRE!" A woman in a long skirt called in many languages. "FIRE IN THE SHUL!"

The smoke was spreading rapidly, filling Rachel's eyes, nose and throat, and the room was also dark with the soot. Rachel felt choked. She was blinded. She couldn't moved.

"Someone save the Torah!"

Then there was someone touching her. "Girl! Girl!" Rachel could barely make him out, but shaking her was the gravelly voiced man, kippa askew, two Torahs cradled in one arm. "You have to go! Get down, away from the smoke. I will stand, keep from dirtying the Torahs."

"Give me one! I can apparate!" Rachel managed to choke out, in a voice much different from her own. In speaking, she swallowed too much smoke, and felt dizzy. The air was so clouded, and thick. The man looked wildly around, then thrust into Rachel's arm a Torah. She apparated out.

She was standing there, blinking and coughing in the sunlight, when the Shul positively exploded in flame. Rachel, and everyone else, would never see, or hear, the gravelly voiced man again.

Dumbledore was holding a Torah. He took his and Rachel's and handed them to a black-haired man. The man's hair and beard were streaked with soot and ash. Dumbledore's normally shining silver beard was covered in ash, and smelled of smoke. Dumbledore put his arms around her waist to hold her upright, and took her back to Hogwarts, first apparating into Hogwarts, then walking to the school.

Rachel was taken to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey took one look at both Rachel and Dumbledore, and was speechless. Her mouth opened and closed for a moment, then she crossed herself and whispered

"Sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" Then she took Rachel and brought her to a bed.

"I will go to my office, Poppy. However, I will return momentarily." And with that, Dumbledore strode off, still managing to look regal in his charred robes, though his eyes were dark and hard.

Rachel managed to look in a mirror as she sat in the hospital bed. All her clothes were ruined, and what wasn't covered by clothing was black with ash. Her eyes were red and bloodshot. There were two streaks of pale skin down her face where she had cried.

Madame Pomfrey returned with a potion in a little bowl. Rachel refused to drink it, stating that she was still fasting. She also wouldn't change out of her sooty robes. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't do it. Her mind kept returning to the gravelly voiced man.

Dumbledore came in, wearing fresh robes, and a stern expression. Madame Pomfrey ushered him outside for a moment, where they spoke briefly. Rachel managed to catch some of their conversation.

"Still in shock...won't take medicine...won't change her clothes..." Madame Pomfrey said, in a concerned voice.

"Let me talk to her." Rachel heard Dumbledore say, and though his voice was soft, it was filled with a kind of controlled anger. He walked in and sat on her bed.

"Rachel, that was not just a fire in that shul. It was arson. Death Eaters had targeted that shul today, because they knew there would be a lot of people."

"But why?" Rachel's voice was hoarse, and she could barely speak. The inside of her mouth was black and dry.

"That man, the one next to you,"

"Yes?"

"His name is–was Johann Lepsitz. He is a very famous Muggle-born that is very adamant about Muggle and Muggle-born rights. He knew he was a target."

"Why didn't he apparate out? He could have lived!"

"Johann was a very powerful wizard, but an accident that happened to him as a child prevented him from apparating. He could do many other things, but he was well known for his lack of ability to apparate. The Death Eaters chose to burn the Shul, because they knew he would try to save others and never get out."

"He–he saved my life."

"I know, Rachel, I know. You have been blessed to have that man in your life, if only for a moment. Fate works in mysterious ways." He turned to go, but, right before he left, he said. "Poppy, I do believe you will be able to get her to take her medicine when the sun goes down. Until then, don't push, and just let her rest." With that he nodded, and went out.