Making Strides

by nin1

Its about an American girl who has been attending Hogwarts with her three best friends, Hermione, Harry, and Ron. But as they start their fifth year at Hogwarts no one knew what would happen and that Amy Strider would be left with a major role, Stopping e

The turquise waves crashed on the brightly lit shore, sea gulls called to each other from above and a sea breeze made the grass ripple in the back yard and the trees flutter and wave to the sun. Children's voices could be heard far off, laughing as the waves tickled their feet, and as sand pipers scurried around picking at the food some people threw to them. Amy stood on her balcony, crying softly as she listened to the sounds. She wanted to jump off the balcony and land in a heap on the grass. She wanted to not have to hear her parents yells from downstairs. They told her everything was okay. But she knew it wasn't. She knew her parents hated each other. "Everything is wonderful." Her mother told her through tears. Her father had placed a hand on her mom's shoulder as she said this, though he clearly showed he would have rather done anything else. And when she left the room to began fighting again. As far back as she could remember they fought. Though not as bad as now. Even on her birthday, when she was turning fifteen, they fought. Ginger came onto the balcony, the metal tags on her collar clapping as she walked. She lied on the baking wooden planks and looked at her master. Amy wiped the tears furiously and decided to take Ginger for a walk on the beach. "Come Ginger." She ordered her dog, who trotted infront of her, tail wagging. "Its not my fault I bought them!" Her mother sputtered at her father. "They were important Ministry guests!" 'Of course. She is talking about those damn plates.' Amy thought to herself. Her mom had bought brand new plates and silverware for the dinner. The Minister of Britain had come. And to Amy's disgust so had the Malfoys, and the rest of the heads of the American Ministry. "So!" Her dad interjected through her mom's sentance. "We already had good forks and knifes!" Clearly he agreed with the purchase of the plates but he wouldn't say that aloud. She took the leash from the drawer in the kitchen and Ginger and her made their way across the lawn and down the stepps to the sandy beach. Her brothers were out surfing at another beach where they weren't close to their parents. Ginger broke into a run and Amy was tugged along. They ran down the beach until their three story house was out of view, and they sat in the damp sand. Ginger quickly found a stick and Amy threw it for her to catch. Ginger panted and plopped into the sand heaving air into her lungs. The sun was begining to set along the coast and Amy got up and wiped the sand off her the back of her jean shorts. Ginger shook the sand off her as if it were water. Amy thought about running away, buying a ticket to England and stay with the Weasly's for the rest of the summer. By the time they got home the sun had fallen behind the horizon and the last rays of light had cast the sky into a hue of pink and purple. Chris, Jason, and James had come home and were sitting at the table placing silverware on the placemats. Her mother was making dinner, banging around while cursing her father. She had placed the glass salt shaker so hard on the counter and broke into a million tiny pieces. She cursed it too and took out her wand "Repairo!" and the shards flew back together. She went into the garage where Ginger's food and water bowl was and filled the food bowl with Kibbles 'n Bits. And just becuase she thought Ginger needed a treat she took out a Mighty Dog can and added that. She washed up for dinner and while she changed into her pajamas she noticed her dad's car was gone. "Where did he get to?" She asked herself and decided to write a letter to Harry, Ron, and Hermione telling them everything was fine and she'd see them at Diagon Alley. There was no point on telling them about her family's problems. By the time she got down her mother had managed to break a wine glass and the wine bottle. She glanced at her brothers and shook her head in disgust. The food on her plate wasn't to good to even look at. It seemed to be spaghetti with tomato sauce. She poked it with her finger to make sure nothing was alive. She spun her fork in it and took a bite. It was freezing cold. Chris, James, and Jason seemed to notice it. "So what do you think?" Stacy Strider asked her children who were eyeing the plates with disgust. Jason, who always bugged their mom about her cooking opened his mother to complain. Amy kicked him under the table and said, "Its wonderful, Mom!" The rest of dinner the kids picked at their food pushing it around so it looked like they ate it. And by the time the dishes were washed and placed back in the cabnet they wrre hungrier than before dinner. "She'll go to bed in a few minutes and I'll order a pizza!" She hissed to her brothers, who were angry at her. "Fair enough." Chris said. Amy was the youngest of them all at fifteen. She had long brown hair and bright blue eyes. Jason was a year older than her and had blonde hair and brown eyes. He was much shorter than Amy. Chris was seventeen and was in his final year of school. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and was always tan. He and Jason attened American Academy of Magic. James was the oldest of the four at nineteen. He worked in the Departement of International Affairs and was home for vactaion. Of the lot, Amy was the brightest and the most down to earth. She was also the biggest trouble maker. Yet she hadn't gotten introuble for her latest attack. Well for the most part no one knew of what was going on in their own house. They didn't notice the tape recorders placed in inconspicuious places, such as inbetween matresses, behind dressers and behind paintings on the walls. There were forty in all placed in the five bedrooms, office, kitchen, dining room, living room, den, porch, some places in the back yard, bathrooms, garage, and guest house. They ran around the clock recording every word uttered, every sneeze, every cough, every movement made by the inhabidents. Stacy and Mike Strider both worked for the Ministry. Each a head of an important house and each fighting against Voldemort. They knew more than the Unspeakables and almost more than the Minister himself. Amy suspected that most of their fights were about this information they had opptained. And so had Sirius Black. So it was her mission to find out as much as she could and send it in written form to Sirius who was somewhere near Britain in hiding. So everyday Amy would collect the tapes when no one was home and bring them up to her room, placing a new tape in each recorder. She would spend the rest of the night listening to everyone of them jotting down words that she thought would be informative. Then around five in the morning after about six to eight hours of listening to them she'd call it a night and place them in a box. Tapes with nothing intresting on them were rewound to be used again. So far she had sent Sirius sixty pages of information on Voldemort, The Ministry, and Death Eaters. "Good night everyone." Her mother said. "Night" Her brothers called out to her as Amy picked up the phone and bgan calling Pizza Hut. As soon as she finished ordering she left to get the tapes from the backyard. 'Why am I doing this?' she thought to herself as she stepped behind the flowerbed and collected the tapes. Chris, James, and Jason had busied themselves with watching a football game and Amy was left alone as she climbed the stairs to the third story of the house. She walked into her room which was painted a dark moss color. A beautiful fountain was still running, surounded by about fourteen Bonzi trees which had been freshly purned this morning. Her room was in the style of Japanese and it did indeed. She walked over to the bed which was no more then five inches off the ground and took one of her four pillows. In it was the shoe box with the tapes, and tape player and began listening. "Oh Mike! Will you stop?" Her mother yelled through the headphones. "Stop what?" Her father asked. Amy fast fowarded the tape past their bickering. "So the Minister actaully said they are bringing in a spy? Right into the center of Voldemort's mafia?" Her mother wispered excitedly. "Yep. Thats what he said. Said it was top secret. No one is supposed to know-" 'Now I do and Sirius-' She thought to herself while jotting down what they said on the Legal Pad. "Well how is he going to get in? I mean he has to be incognito, right?" "Yep. He already works for Voldemort but is selling information to us?" 'For how much?' Amy asked her father through her thoughts, listening intently. Luckily her mother voiced it. "He wants two million in U.S. Dollars and a new identity and protection from the Ministry at all times. We told him one million for the information given in coversations with him. And the other million, only if he could give documents, and if we think they are helpful." 'And somehow your going to get away with only giving him one million, you'll probably say 'The documents you've given us were of no help.' When they actually will send half the death eaters to Azkaban and give you information on future attacks which you will prevent before anyone dies. You know why dad? Because you are a sleeze ball.' She thought writing quickly. "Right? And how many papers has he given you?" "Enough to earn a man Fifty Million U.S. Dollars." "Why'd he chose dollars?" "Dunno? Maybe becuase once the Dark Side finds out he'll have to haul his ass out of any country where they might find him. So basicly he has to go live in some thrid world country. And you know how much those few Dollars will turn into in some place like Afganistan? Plenty to live off of about three hundred a year! And thats with luxuries!" Her father chuckled. She frowned at the voice and thought who might this man be. "So he is brilliant, I would say." Her mother said. "Its good in theory, but, he'll have to go to a bank and exchange all that money! Now thats some hell lot of money, even here! What do you think the banks going to think? They'll be suspcious right? Of course! So he will be followed by the goverment in which ever country he decides to stay. And It would be smart to just exchange a little money at a time. Play like your some foriegn Relif Aid worker from the states or the U.K. and pretend your getting small sums of money from your parents. But he'll have to keep and eye on his money, and this man will most likely keep all of it on himself. So what happens when inspectors check him and find millions of dollars in his back poket. Might think he is funding some organization or stole it. So he'll most likely exchange it all. And this transaction wont go unnoticed. And if Voldemort is smart, which I believe he is. He'll have thought of what this man is going to do. He'll track him down. They never forget, Stacy, they never forget. Our man will be dead before we could even settle a deal on protecting him." "Mike, I'm thinking your hoping the Dark Side gets to him!" Her mom said outraged at the thought. "Well, he is a backstaber to their side, I hear he back stabbed us before Harry Potter got to his so called 'Master'-" Hearing Harry's name she stopped writing and listened more intensely. "Who is this 'he' your talking about, Mike?" Stacy asked intrested. "You wont believe me if I told you." "So who is it?" Her mother wispered. There was a sound of a drawer opening and the opening of an envelope. Her father seemed to have taken out a paper and showed to her mom who said, "Him how could it be him! He is supposed to be dead!" "Well he is not as dead as you think. We are keeping a close eye on him. Make sure he doesn't get any of our information. We're acting like we have already heard of everything he tells us. Stacy, Its late and we deal with this everyday at work. Why should we bring it home with us. I'm going to bed. Have to be in the office early." -CLICK- that was the end of the tape. Amy rubbed her temples and racked her brains on who could this man be? Who was the back stabber of both sides? Could he be obbtaining information from the Ministry? She sighed and heard her brother's voices as they pigged out on pizza and bred sticks. Her appitite suddenly left her and she procieded to listen to all the other tapes. By five o'clock she had finished each tape. Tried to go to sleep, but it wouldn't work. She had to many thoughts buzzing in her head. She bolted out of bed and looked out her window which faced the driveway. Her father still wasn't home. She paced the room, palms sweaty and her head cold. Ginger placed her head on her lap and perked her ears up. Amy smiled and layed back on the bed. Whatever she was feeling would have to wait until the morning. She slept very little. Sudden head colds plauged her sleep and she was hot. By the time the sun came up she slept only thirty minutes. And when her mother came to check on why she wasn't at breakfast she slept and hour. "You have a fever dear." Her mother's voice periced through her head.

"Urgh-" "Just lie down and I'll be back with some medicine." "Mom." Amy said in a scratchy voice. "Yes dear?" "Did dad come home?" "Only for a couple minutes. I'm afraid another attack has happened." "Oh." "James had to leave for work too. Jason and Chris will take care of you when I leave." "I can take care of myself!" Amy said fighting to give up. "Of course you can." Her mother cooed as she strode out of the room to fetch the nasty medicine which she would force down her throught with a glass of water. Around one her mother left and her brothers had gone outside to play some football on the beach and meet up with some girls they knew from school, leaving a drozy Amy to her own devices. With a temperature of a hundred and five she was aching and almost blinded with the heat ratiating from her body. Clenching the railing tightly she made her way down the stairs to get the carton of ice cream from the freezer and a box of movies to watch upstairs. The pizza box was still opened and about a hundred ants had migrated from outside and wriggled their way into the house to have a feast. She grabbed the box, opened the window and flung it into the grass. She grabbed the From Russia With A Buzz and the videos and made her way up the stairs. Before she plopped onto the bed she sent a letter to Sirius with another fourteen pages of information and a letter to Harry,Ron, and Hermione telling them she felt like she was going to die. Then she layed down on her bed and began watching the Muggle videos. Before she fell asleep. Something was pounding somewhere downstairs sending waves of pain into her head. She groaned and rolled over right off the bed, with a thud. "OW! Darn it!" She said getting to her feet. She changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt and made her way downstairs to open the door. She was feeling much better but her headache was getting worse with every knock on the door. "Hello?" She said opening the oak doors. A man dressed in deep blue robes smiled at her. "Hi. Is your mother or father home?" He asked. "If your selling something, they'll yell at you for knocking on the door." She told him and started to shut the door. He held it open. "No, I'm not selling anything! I work for the Ministry and there has been another attack. And attack down here in Florida!" He said eyes dilating. "Okay. Well they are at the office go find them there." She said trying to close the door but he was still much stronger than she was. "They are not at the office they went to an attack in Albany! And I was thinking they may have come home?" "Well they haven't! Will you please let me shut the damn door?" She said pushing on it with all her might. "Girl! You brother's were in they attack!" He yelled pushing on the door with all his might also. Amy stepped back and the door went flying into the mirror right behind it sending it into a million peices. The man had falled face first into the wooden and his nose was bleeding. "What do you mean?" She asked him. "I mean they were in the attack! They are okay though. You want to come to the hospital?" "Of course! Let me just lock up!" She said racing through the house locking the windows and doors. She locked thre front door and the blue robed man stood infront of a Ministry car and opened the door for her to get in. She slid in the back and he followed her and told the driver where to go. "So who are you?" She asked him. "Cant say. I work with you parents but not in the same department." "So which one do you work in?" "I am a Unspeakable." He said proudly. "Turn left here Dary." He added to the driver. "Wow. Pleasure to meet you. So about this attack-" "You'll learn about it later. In the newspaper." She frowned and looked at the sky. "The news paper is owned by the Ministry. What ever they want quiet will stay quiet." "Thank god for that." He said. And fell silent, they didn't talk for the rest of the jurney to the Hospital and when they arrived, a gentle rain had begun to fall. Amy hugged her arms for warmth and entered South Florida Magic Hospital. Doctors and nurses were hurriedly walking here and there, talking little about anything but Medicine. Most had bags under their eyes from working all night then being called back to work another shift. Amy made her way past crying families to the front desk. "Name?" The nurse snapped at her. Her eyes were swollen and her hands moved papers nonstop. "Eh.. Strider." Amy said watching her. "Room 617. You have thirty minutes before a doctor will check them. Sign in here." She said poking a spot with her quill. Amy signed and headed down the hall not waiting for the Unspeakable. Doctors jostled her as they ran from room to room with needles, medicine, and other such supplies. She could hear people crying and screaming from pain. She could hear them yelling at doctors. But outside room 617 everything was quiet. She opened the door slowly and entered the room. "Chris? Jason?" She asked. She heard a moan and looked to her left. Both were laying in their own bed, eyes shut, with cuts and bruises on their face and arms. She took a seat inbetween the two beds and starred at them. She was scared out of her life and couldn't believe this had happened to them. 'Where did they go? They said they were going to just be on the beach, its not more than fifty feet from the house.' She thought to herself. Chris clearly looked worse than his brother. Most of his face was either cover in a bandage or a bruise. He moaned a lot from the pain surging through is beaten body. Amy didn't know if she should touch him, wondering if he would have a ceazer. Tears started to fill her eyes as she saw how helpless her brothers were. They had always protected her, as she was the youngest and the sister. And now they couldn't help themselves. She sat there for a long time. She stopped counting the minutes, waiting for a doctor to come and check on them. But when he did a nurse had to bring her out, for a wave of tears had crashed. The kind old lady brought her to a chair and went to fetch a paper cup of water. Her brother came by after the doctor had finished checking on them and he could hardly believe what had happened to his younger siblings. "Oh my god. Oh my god-" Was all James could say, his voice shook as badly as his hands did. Mother and Father arrived before the sun would set, if it wasn't thundering outside. She was crying as she stroked the boys' hair away from their bruises. Dad just stood at the door rubbing his temples. James took Amy home after she had a sneeze attack in the lobby. And told her to go to bed. She did as she was told (probably the first time), and layed in bed for hours. She forgot about the tapes. She forgot about Sirius. She forgot about her friends, across the ocean. She forgot about Hogwarts. She forgot about Magic. She forgot about all the trouble she had caused and was causing. She felt for the first time, just a small little person, whose actions wouldn't affect the whole world. When she woke up the following morning. She felt that her fever was gone, but was replaced with a pounding headache, right behind her eye. She pressed her eye hoping the headache would leave but all sher managed to do was poke herself in the eye. "OW!" She felt her way in the dark trying to find the blinds to open them, tripping over a chair and crashing to the floor. "Oh! For goodness sakes!" By the time she found them and left the sunlight flood in, which blinded her for a moment, her mother had come home crying, no more like sobbing. She layed down on the couch in a fetal postion and let the tears come. Amy made her way down the steps and found her mother, half drunk, howling. She was utterly confused and stood on the last step watching her mother. "Mom? Are you ok?" She asked with caution. Stacy opened her eyes and looked at her daughter. She realized then that her daughter was special and she felt sorry for the childhood she had seen. She felt sorry for fighting with her husband, not knowing how scared Amy was inside. Stacy sat up and sniffled a few times before she got her voice back. Amy had sat on the love seat facing her mother, starring at her. "Mom? What happened?" "Ch-Ch-Chr-Chris is-" She stopped and took in a deep breath. "The doctor's pronounced him de-dead yesterday-"She stopped and cryed some more.

Amy had the sudden urge to run. Run from the house. Run from the beach. Run from Hogwarts, so she would never deal with what caused her brother to die. And so she ran. She ran outside to the back yard and down the steps into the powdery sand the was wet and glistened in the sun. She ran until her legs seized and she fell. She lyed there tears hitting the sand. She didn't think of what people would do if a morning jogger happened to run by. For the most part she didn't care. And no one did come out because off in the distance another storm cloud was racing towards the shore. 'I wasn't there!' She thought to herself, the headache worsening. 'I didn't get to say goodbye. I didn't get to say how much I loved him. This is my fault. I should have played to be sick more than I was. Then they would stay indoors with me. I'm so stupid.' A million thoughts raced through her head, faster than the wind carrying the clouds, like a horse carrying its rider. Within minutes the storm hit, washing her tears away. She walked home, clothes and hair soaked. Amy wanted to leave Florida, she wanted to go and stay with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She wanted to put the past twenty four hours behind her, and to try to smile. At home her father was making tea, adding a bit of scotch to it. Her mother had retreated to the solitude of her room. James was at the hospital, watching over his brother. Her dad ignored her as she went upstairs to change, passing her brother's room. She opened the door, and stepped inside, something she wasn't allowed to do, becuase he said he'd beat her up. It was very messy. Clothes littered the floor. Posters of pretty girls were hung lopsided on the wall. Notes from his girlfriend were on his bed, each with hearts around them, which were obviously his art work. A picture of the four Strider children hung on the wall. It was taken just a week ago. His owl was sitting in his cage fast asleep, not knowing his owner would never come back. Amy went to fetch some owl pellets and fed it to the starving bird. Pegasis hooted happily and ruffled his feathers. Amy felt warm in his room. She felt that he was there, all around her. She could smell him in his pillows. She could hear his laughter. And she smiled. She smiled becuase she knew that he knew that she loved him. She smiled beacause they had so much fun over the years. She smiled becuase she knew what ever was to come, whatever would happen to her, he'd be watching out for her just as he did when he was here. After a week the shock of losing Chris had wore off, and the funeral wasn't as bad as Amy thought it would be. She was thinking she'd faint during the ceremony, but she kept on her feet, even if the tears fell. Somewhere across the ocean the British Ministry heard of the "attack" and gotten a list of people who died. Percy had somehow gotten his hand on it, and told his family, who in turn told Harry and Hermione. So she was recieving letters of condolences that only made her feel worse. She woke up on a sunny August twenty first, smiling at the sun. Her dog was somewhere in the back yard barking and a bird and Jason was sawing away at something. Aromas from the kitched wafted up to the rooms and Amy's mouth watered. Her father had left for work again. Since the death of his son he dispised being home and was often on trips or in the office. "I'm leaving for England." She said to the room, Glancing at the trunk at the foot of her bed. Everything was packed nicely. Her brother had gotten her new books and potion ingredients, when he travled to England for the talks of a treaty that would supposedly stop some attacks. But it was just a bluff, just so it looked like the Ministry was actaully doing something. She had told Sirius about her brother, and he called off the 'spy on your own family' mission. He told her just to give the tapes to him and he'd distroy him. So she sent Chris' owl and her own with the package. "Amy hurry! Your plane is going to leave in like four hours and we have to drive to Miami!" Her mother called from down the stairs. "OK! I'm getting dressed!" She said pulling on dark jeans, a white tank top, and a light pink jacket. She pulled her trunk down the stairs and placed it in the back of their Ford Explorer. Jason was at the table already picking at his eggs and bacon. Amy kissed him on the cheek when she walked by. "Are you going to miss your baby sister?" "NO! I mean yes. Oh, you know what I mean." He said. "You may see her earlier than you think!" Her mother said, eyes narrowing on her daughter. "I dont want to get an owl on how you've snuck out of your dormitory in the middle of the night, or something like that. We pay lots of money to send you back and forth to the damn country over there. And you thank us with letters on things you've done wrong! You know how much I worry for you? These aren't the time to be playing around, Amy! Do you understand?" "Yes mom." She said quietly. "But you dont understand! I only sneek out and get in trouble becuase we are doing something important!" "Like what?!" Her mother asked, nostrils flaring. "Like the Chamber of Secrets! We saved Ginny!" Amy sputtered, failing to cower under her mother's intense glare. Jason had taken his plate and went to eat in the living room. "And what did you get out of it? You were petrified!" "Only for two days!" "Two days, to many." Her mother said. "Now eat before it cools and I dont want a sound out of you." "Meow. Jeeze Biotch." She muttered under her breath and her mother stalked out of the room hands balled up. In five minutes Amy had eaten her breakfast, found her shoes, sent a letter to James and her dad saying bye, listened to her mother lecture her, kissed the dog good bye, got the mail, and was now sitting in the back seat of the brand new SUV. "Why do I have to fly to England? And why Heathrow?" "Because its for secruity?" "Yeah. Well what if your spell works and it doesn't disguise my books and potions?" "It will. And it will wear off in a day or so." "I hope so." Amy said looked out the window as the entered Interstate 95. Amy dozed off in to a dreamless sleep. "AMY! WAKE UP!" Her brother yelled at her throwing his jacket in her face. "Wha-what?" She said rubbing her eyes. "We're here!" "Oh ok." They parked and headed towards the terminal. And when her mom and brother couldn't go any further, they kissed and higged and promised to write to each other. Amy headed past the medal detector and towards Terminal F. She was thrity minutes early and so she bought a book and a cheap airport shop and began to read. She wasn't aware of the man spying on her. "Thanks for chossing British Airways. We will begin boarding at the moment. For all passengers sitting in rows 100 to 110 please step up and head towards the attendant who will be checking your tickets. Amy put down her book and waited for them to call her rows. She still didn't notice the man in dark glasses watching her. "Rows 5 to 10, please." The blonde flight attendant said. Amy got up and hoisted her carry on bag over her shoulder and procided to the second flight attedant who was checking each ticket. "Thank you for chossing British Airways. My name is Aneesa. If you need anything during the flight just ask one of the flight attendants." "Thank you." Amy said making her way towards the plane. The pilot and co-pliot greeted their passengers as the boarded and the shook Amy's hand. The pilot was a greying man who had few wrinkles. His eyes were bright brown and he had a kind smile. Amy hoped he was a good pilot. She jostled around people in an attmpt to get to her seat which was in Buissness class. No one sat next to her and she was thankful for that. She looked out the window at the airport crew, each wearing ear muffs. Once everyone was situated and buckled up the plane roared and began its way towards the runway, parking between two other planes. And once it was their turn Amy's stomache dropped as she waited for the race down the runway and the lift the would send them into the sky. She glanced out her window to see the city of Miami bustling about. Colorful umbrella littered the beach from up above and the water was deep blue. She took out the book and began reading. The book hid her eyes from the man sitting three rows up. Flight attendants sccuried around filling cups with drinks and handing out bags of stale, salty peanuts. Amy had finished her book and was getting increasingly bored with each minutes that passed. She instead began looking at her fellow passengers. She eavesdropped on their conversations, and there was something weird with the man infront. He had black hair that was sleeked back. He wore tourist clothes but Amy could tell he wasn't one. His eyes were covered with dark, Gucci sun glasses, but she noticed that he kept watching her. She found this perculiar and thought maybe he was just as bored as she was, and was looking around too. But he didn't stop looking at her. Well he did look around a couple of times just so it wouldn't be obvious that he was following a girl. But Amy's instincts told her he was dangerous. And the fact that he kept watching her made her heart beat faster, sending Adreniline into her blood stream. Her eyes dilated as they focused on the man who was at this moment sipping rum and tonic. She asked the flight attendant if there was another seat open in coach. "There is a window seat right next to an elderly Spainish Lady." "Can I change my seat there?" Amy wispered. "Sure just follow me." Amy grabbed her things and followed Aneesa past the curtin that seperated sections. She didn't look back to see if the man was looking at her. She thought it was best if she acted like she didn't notice him. The old Spainish lady was plump with curly blonde hair that was turning slowly gray. Amy sat next to her. "Hola." Amy said. "Hola. Habla Espanol?" "Asi-Asi. Como te llamas?" Amy asked her for her name. "Senorita Gonzalez, Et tu?" "Amy." And they fell silent for the rest of the plane ride. The sun slowly set behind them and they planes was thrown into darkness. Amy's heart was still beating fast and no matter what she did it still didn't slow down. She wanted off this plane. She didn't care if she would have to jump out. She wanted to know why was this man watching her. Why would they want to watch her. Could he know about the tapes? Was he on the Dark Side? Or was she just jumping to conclusions? her head buzzed and she couldn't fall to sleep, even if Mrs. Gonzalez wasn't snoring. That when he saw him. He was walking in the aisle on the right side of the plane scanning over the heads of sleeping people. Amy slid down her seat hiding behind her Spainish friend. The man's name was Nathan. He was a sort of thug/hit man who was on a mission to follow the girl, Amy Strider. He wasn't sure why we was following this girl, who was about fifteen. But he was used to strange missions. His boss was a small man who was a ruler of some sort. He was a strange man who wore robes, as did plenty of other men in his group. Yet the only reason why he was working with Lord whats-his-name, was for the money he would be receving. Nathan had thick black hair, brown eyes, and Italian features. Born in Italy, his family was poor. Papa was a tailor, who made his shop on the bottom story of their house. Mama was a maid at the local saloon. He got his poket money from working as a message carry for a man next door. He never knew this man's name, but he knew this man was rich and powerful. He had three thugs with him all the time and often had police questioning him. He told Nathan to call him Papa. And so Nathan did. And Papa showed him to the world of crime and layed it before him on a silver plater. He looked around not seeing the girl. His boss would be angry if he lost her, he thought. What if he kills me? I mean he doesn't show remorse on killing anyone? Nathan decided to look for the girl when the plane landed, he headed back to he seat, ordered Pepsi and Scotch and fell asleep. Our brown haired, micivous girl, had also dozed off. Yet she woke up every now and then to make sure, Mr. Black Greasy hair wasn't starring at her. The sun rose on the west coast of Ireland around five and the sun flew into the plane casting the sky into a pink color. Amy stretched and rubbed her eyes to get them to open. She had to have only been asleep for two hours. She yawned and looked around. Practicly everyone was asleep except for some young kids who had managed to open the overhead compartment and pulled out the air masks. They were giggling at their aceivement. Mrs. Gonzalez was also up, she was reading a Spainish Magazine and was chuckling at some jokes. She smiled at Amy when she woke up and asked her how her sleep was? "Bein gracias, et tu?" "Asi-Asi." So so. And she began ranting about the airplane seats, Amy could only understand half of it. And then out of the shadow that an open lavitory door made she saw the reflection of the sun. She had been found. She had been seen. She held her breath and watched more closely. Mrs. Gonzalez was watching her and she starred at what seemed to be a shadow. Amy gulped and ordered a pepsi still keeping her eyes on the sunglasses. He was no doubt about watching her. And there was no where to run on the plane. She decided that she would sit and wait for the plane to land. Then when they were diembarging she'd dodge into a crowd and run like heck, and find the Weasley's who were bringing her to their house. Amy was relived when the seat belt sign came on, and the man was forced to go back to his seat. But she knew he would be waiting for her when they got off. She took her hand bag and held it tightly, in the case she had to run early. "We are now, landing in London's Heathrow Airport. Thank you for chosing British Airways. I hope you have enjoyed traveling the skys with us. For all those executive members flying today with us, please remeber to pick up your suvinoir at the front desk. And please keep your seat belts buckled until we have come to a complete stop at the Terminal and the seat belt light has shut off. Thank you." A flight attendent informed in a sing song voice. The plane taxied and parked and the seat belt sign came off. Amy said goodbye to Mrs. Gonzalez and hurried out of the plane. She took off her pink jacket and stuffed it in her bag so it would be much harder to recognize her. Taking a leaf out of her stalker's book she placed her sunglasses over her eyes. She walked fast trying to get out of the airport as fast as possible, but a bunch of jabbering Chinese blocked her way. She pushed through them and practicly ran. Her heart was beating fast her hands shaking. She walked by a shop and all of a sudden she felt something grab her above the elbow and pull her back. "If you want to live dont make a scene just keep walking." A man said in an Italian voice. "Who are you?" Amy asked scared out of her wits. "Nathan and thats all I can say. Now shut up and walk." Amy did as she was told. Her mind was still well far off behind the Chinese, trying to peice together what had just happened. Amy held back her tears an thought that she would be the second Strider to die in just a month. She snifled. "Shut up!" He hissed at her. Amy had enough, she wasn't going to be murdered without fighting. She knew what she was going to do she had it all planed out in her head. And with out warning she attacked. She elbowed him in the nose, with the one he was holding. He let go and gave an agonizing cry as she kicked him in the stomach. His nose was bleeding profusely and he doubled over. "RAPE!" She yelled out and ran flat out. Gaurds didn't bother her as they went to go aprehend the apperent raper. Amy got her bags and searched the crowd for a couple of red heads. She made sure that no other thugs were watching her. Thats when she saw Ron. She'd never thought she'd be so pleased to see him. Hermione was there as well. Both were bickering about something like always. She walked up to them. "Hey Amy whats up?" Ron asked, looking releved that the fight had stopped. "Listen just walk. I have to get out of here now. I'll Explain later." "What are you on about?" Hermione asked as they headed towards the exit. "Listen just do what I say, act normal and smile and stuff." "Amy whats happened?" Ron asked in worried voice, smiling nervously. "Where's your dad?" Amy asked glancing around the packed airport. "In the Ministry car. They are parked right outside." Hermione explained. "Ok. Listen, Ron go out and tell your dad to go to the east entrance." Amy gave him instructions. "And if he asks why, just say 'Amy says its easier.' And tell him I have to talk to him about something. "Right. Um... So I'll meet you two in a couple." He said as he left throughtthe automatic doors. "Right. Now Hermione we have to run. I expect someone is watching us. No come on. Dodge into crowds and walk with them and when they turn somewhere else go into another one. Ok. Come on. I see a bunch of Nordics, they're big we can hide amoungst them. Amy ran flat out into the jabbering crowd, with Hermione on her heels. They walked between the Nordics until they turned into a coffee shop, in which Hermione and Amy ran between a group of Chinese. "Amy this is the craziest thing I've ever done." "Just do what I say. I'll explain in the car." It took awhile but the finally made it to the east exit. Ron was leaning against the car waiting. He opened the door for the girls and they slid in. Amy glanced throught the tinted window for anyone perculiar. Mr. Weasley was sitting in the passenger side of the car and a Ministry Driver sat at the wheel. They waited for Ron who lifted Amy's trunk into the back. Amy rubbed her temples. She felt ready to puke. Her body was numb and her finger tingled. "Whats the matter?" Arthur asked. Amy explained everything. From the weird feelings, to the way the man was looking at her, she told them about the Spainish lady, and how close he had come to finding her at night, and noticing that she was found. She told them about yelling "Rape!" And about running for her life. And when she was done, even the driver held his mouth open. "So someone was sent to follow you?" Hermione said through her hands.

"I guess. I mean why would someone follow me? What would they want from me. I dont know anything about You-Know-Who or his follow-" She stopped. 'The man! She thought. Chris! The man has to be Wormtail!' "Him how could it be him! He is supposed to be dead!" "Well he is not as dead as you think. We are keeping a close eye on him. Make sure he doesn't get any of our information. We're acting like we have already heard of everything he tells us. Stacy, Its late and we deal with this everyday at work. Why should we bring it home with us. I'm going to bed. Have to be in the office early." She replayed the tape in her head. 'The man was Peter Petigrew. Also known as Wormtail. An unregistered Anamgani (sp?), who sold the Potters to Voldemort. He was giving information to her dad, the Ministry, and all under Voldemort's orders. He was obtaining information. The Ministry Dinner! The Malfoys! And the wife. She went to the bathroom. She must have inspected the rooms! Found the tapes! They know I know. And Chris! It was to eat away at my heart! To kill me from the inside out. They were expecting Jason to die. Oh no. What about the rest of the family. They are being watched too! What if they decide to kill them too.' These thoughts buzzed in her head. She started to shake, which lead to tears. She was so terrified. For herself, for her family. Hermione patted her arm as she cryed. She hadn't cried infront of either of them nor Harry. She took in a shaky breath and held the tears back. She missed Chris. It was her fault he died. She knew it before, lying on the beach. "I'm an idiot." She said in a wraspy voice. "What?" Mr. Weasley said from the front. "I'm an idiot." She said more loudly. "Its my fault he's dead. Its my fault. Its all my fault." She disolved back into tears. Hermione now put and arm around her and stopped her from shaking. Its lucky she didn't spill out everything she knew, she thought later that night in the room her, Hermione, and Ginny were sharing. Otherwise she'd be hauled into the Minister's office and forced to reveal everything she knew. So to everyone else she just seemed like a girl who had lost her brother, and had found some way to make it seem that it was her fault. Mrs. Weasley had made a strong tea for her that night, which made her feel much better. Amy didn't sleep that night. She was to worried about everything to be woried. Jasmine her owl was sent with letters to her brothers. They were the only ones in the family on who she could confide in. And she hoped it would be apon James to watch over the family with out them knowing. A bird chirped somewhere outside and she could here Hermione mumble something indistincly. Amy opened her eyes and looked out at the bright sunny day. Fred and George were playing Quidditch in the back yard, spying slightly on the girls. Amy shut the blinds which returned darkness to the room, except for the tiny peeks of sunlight that faught their way in. "Oh dear! You two should be vampires!" Ginny laughed from the open door. "I've been up for ages." "Hmmm?" Hermione said from the next bed. "I'll look up on that after Potions." Amy mumbled. "Well Mum's making breakfast! You should be up soon. Oh, Harry is coming today at four." "Hmmm?" Again from Hermione. "I've told you a million times. After foul Potions class!" Amy mumbled again turning over in her sheets. Ginny sighed and stormed out of the room snapping the door shut. Hermione let out a loud yawn and got up. She got dressed and poked Amy in the back. "Come on get up." "Aft-" She began. "Now." Amy's eyes snapped open and she pulled the string to the blinds and let the sun filter into the room. She looked around expecting to see the Italian man there, but he wasn't. She was in a light pink room with little girly gadgets everywhere. A mirror stood over the dresser and said nice things when a girl walked by ("You sure do look good in pink.") and evil things to boys ("What are you looking at, scruffy?"). A large jewelry box sat open on a nightstand revealing pearls and old necklaces with diamonds or rubies dangling from a chain. Once dressed the two girls made their way downstairs. Mr. Weasley had gone to work. Percy was wolfing down his breakfast, in a hurry to get to work. Ron was the only one taking things slow this morning. Fred and George came waltzing in, smiling devilishly at something they had just done. "You two, better get that smile off your face." Mrs. Weasley snapped at the twins. This just made them grin wider. Ron shook his head in disgrace and went back to picking at his food. Ginny too was nervous. Most likely because she had a crush on Harry. "Good morning girls." Percy said as the sat down. "Good morning." They recited in unison, like perfect angels. Ron tried not to laugh. "You want to take a walk after breakfast? Burn all this fat we're eating?" Ron asked them. "Sure." Amy said. Picking up a peice of bacon with her hands after she failed to spear it with her fork. "Can I come?" Ginny pleaded wanting to get out of the house. "No!" Ron snapped. "We'll come." George cut in. "I dont think so. After u set fire to the roof with one of your firecrackers, I dont think you'll be doing anything till the first!" Mrs. Weasly said slyly. After the finished a forth helping of bacon and eggs the three of them set off towards the villiage. Amy told them everything from the letter Sirius had sent her, telling her to try and find information. She told them about the dinner party and the Malfoy's. She told them about the day she was sick. And everything from the funeral onward. "-So I'm guessing the Malfoy's told You-Know-Who about what I know. But I still dont see why they would care if a fifteen year old girl knew what the Ministry knew." "I have no clue. Maybe we should ask dad." Ron suggested. "We cant!" Hermione told him. "Because then he would know about Sirius and Amy spying and You-Know-Who and everything!" "Okay so what do you suppose we do?" Amy interjected knowing that they would have started bickering. "Well, what about Sirius? We could tell him about it." Hermione sugested. Ron nodded his head. "Okay. When Harry gets here we'll write him a letter." The trio walked down the road to the quiet villiage. The streets were mostly empty except for a few younger kids playing marbles. Amy waved at them and they turned and headed back to the Burrow. When they got back, they found Fred and George busily washing the dishes under the intense glare of Mrs. Weasley, who kept barking at them for missing spots. In the end they did such a poor job she sent them to de- gnome the garden. Ginny was told to follow them and make sure they did a good job. Around two, Mr. Weasley had come home from work, exashted from a lawnmower who ate the owners cat. Amy felt inclinded to laugh at this, but knew it was some-what serious. Some where in the middle of Siberia, and international mad man had just recieved news of a mission failed. Infront of him stood an Italian Muggle, sent to watch a teenage witch. They were sitting in a circular room blood red. It was the smallest room in the castle but yet the one where most of the "buissness" was done. In the middle was a round table, which was used by Merlin himself. Twelve oak chairs sat around it, with latin words engraved on the back. There were no windows in this room as it was in the heart of the castle. It was a dreary sort of room that reminded Nathan of Papa's house where the thugs and ladies lived. The castle was built in the heart of Siberia, in a place no one would be able to penetrate. It was at least eight stories high with another six under ground. It was gaurded by dementors and on the edge of the grounds wild beasts, to hidious to even mention, lurked waiting for an unsuspecting person to wander by on a hike to meet his doom. This vast kingdom was built for the Dark Side and was the residence of You-Know-Who himself. The thought of people calling him You-Know-Who made him laugh. He was humored by the thought of people being afraid of him, and he used this fear against them. Sixty people and four hundred servents lived in this castle. They protected him, the fed him, they waited on his foot and hand. His living chamber was four floors underground where no one would be able to find him. There were over a hundred fifty secret passage ways and forty ways to get into and out of the castle, besides the front door. It was a safe haven for evil. And even Muggles could sense the foul smell of death and eviil wafting from the grounds. The sun was completly hidden in this part of the world. Stars shone high above and the moon cast a milky light into the forest. But it stopped before it reached the castle. Pitch black it was except for the few lights the shone in the windows. Nathan sat tied and gagged to a chair. Cuts and bruises were all over his face and arms. Punishment for losing the girl. His boss paced around him, completely angry and yet he looked calm. Men with wands and masks stood on the walls watching the scene unfold. "So." Voldemort said in a sly voice. "You lost the girl." A surge of pain shot through him. Nathan screamed though it was hardly audible. He thought he had been electricuted, but he saw that the man used his wand. Beads of sweat rolled down his face. "I dont see why your man recommended you. You know the man I'm talking about. The man who ran the drug and crime business in your home town. The man who told you to call him "Papa"." Nathan struggled against the ropes binding him. Voldemort held up his hand and Nathan stopped. His eyes were buldging, and vain in his neck throbbing out of control. What had this man done to Papa? How'd he know all this? "Oh. After we heard you lost the girl we payed a little vist to Pavia. Found the man you called Papa. He told us all about your childhood, he pleaded with us to spare your life. And besides now that you know about us, where we are located, what we do." He paused. "We cant let you go. You must imagine how pathetic it was to see this over grown man cry to us. He said that you were a poor child and that he ruined your life by showing you crime and death and drugs. He said you could've been anything you wanted to be. But he forced you into his group. If it wasn't for him you would not be sitting here tied and gagged to a chair. You would be doing what ever you Muggles do. You can guess what we did to your what was is? Oh yes, 'Papa.'"

Nathan was so angry he tried to rip off the ropes. The were bound to tightly and the cut into his flesh, like knifes. 'They killed him. They killed him.' Nathan thought, his eyes buldging even more. "So now. I must tell yo why you weren't supposed to let this girl out of your sight. And then you tell me what happened to your nose." Voldemort hissed. The men on the wall chuckled "Well it all starts many years back. Before she was born. Before her mother and father were born. Me and her Grandfather were aquainted. She was a tall, handsome man. Thick head of hair blue eyes. Resembles the girl very much. Anyway, Strider worked for the Ministry of Magic at the time. He was a head of the Intelligence Department. He got wind of what I was doing, well starting to do. He sent a spy to find out exactly what it was. I remeber him well. Young blonde hair. Hardly out of school. Said he didn't believe in Mudbloods mixing with our kind. And I, hard-headed believed him. I took him in and he learned much about our plans, our ambitions, our hit list of people that must die. See, I knew that this Strider was a threat to me. I knew he would get a group of wizards and stop me at my plans most vital stage of development. So I had to get rid of him. And then his little snitch came and told him of all those planed to die. Told Strider he was first. So Strider got his group and he faught. Damn Bastard was out there fighting with him. I got to him and I killed him. He was the first to die...well after the Riddles. Strider's make me sick. I want them all gone. I planed to wipe out two, but only one did die. The girl is the main one I want dead. She is too clever to smart. She is a spy for someone. She was finding out information from the Ministry and sending it to someone. I want them dead. And you better not lose her again. She is going to school and on every weekend out in the village you will follow her. Dressed as a Wizard you will watch her everymove. You'll know when she sneezes, when she blinks, and she talks. You understand?" Voldemort asked shoving his face in Nathan's. Nathan nodded yes. "Good." He snapped his fingers and the gag disapeared. "Now tell me what happened to your nose?" "Hey guys!" Harry said as he climbed out of the fireplace. He had gotten much taller and muscluar than before. Amy couldn't help but look. Hermione giggled and stuffed her fist in her mouth. "Hey. Whats up?" Amy said also giggling. "Uh? Nothing. Whats with you two?" "Nothing. Come on." Hermione said starting to climb the stairs. Amy elbowed her, and the two girls giggled harder. Ron and Harry were lugging his stuff up stairs. "He looks good!" Amy wispered excitedly. Hermione burst out laughing.

"What is with you?" Ron asked as few steps behind them. Once they placed Harry's stuff under his bed, the locked the door to Ron's furnace orange room and told everything on what had happened. They sent an owl to Sirius and were called to dinner by Ginny. "Coming!" Ron shouted through the door. "Have you told anyone else?" Harry asked Amy as they descended the stairs, Ron and Hermione ahead of them chatting fast. "Yeah, my brothers. To keep them on their gaurd you know." "Thats really weird. And you have no other reason on why they would be following you?" "Search me." Amy said looking out in the garden where a table had been placed and was sagging into the lush, soggy grass. "James might find out and tell me something. But otherwise I have no clue." The seven Weasley's, Harry, Hermione, and Amy sat under the stars enjoying the vast amounts of food prepared my Mrs. Weasley. Amy filled her plate with boiled potatoes, steak, salad, and corn. It was all delicious. Talk around the table circled around the World Cup. Hermione and Amy listened as the men replayed the action. On her right Ginny and her mother were talking about some dress in Witch Weekly she had saw. Amy Strider smiled truely for the first time. By nine o'clock the stars were shinning more brightly than before. Mrs. Weasley had brought the dessert to the table and they were begining to eat their way through. Harry and Ron were still talking about Quidditch. Harry was trying to convince Ron to join the Gryffindor team. "Oh, I know! Isn't it so pretty?" Ginny was telling the girls. The dress was beautiful. "Where would you wear it?" "Dunno-" Hermione laughed. "Well its stunning but I dont think I would spend my money on it." "Your right. So how was your summer?" She asked. "Well I went to Germany this summer, and it was so beautiful. I found so much information there on Wizards I re-wrote my whole Magic in the Midevil Times, essay. I hope I dont get marks taken off for it being to long." Hermione said. She took a sip of pumpkin juice and continued jabbering about the fascinating Witches of Germany. Amy looked around the garden. The untamed flowers had been pruned to not much luck. They were still creeping slowly out of their beds. A pond in the corner was covered in Lily Pads and frogs sarenaded the glutons as the finished the last of the homade ice cream. "Off to bed with you. I'll see you in the morning." Mrs. Weasley said. Hermione and Amy helped her clear the table before the climbed the stair to Ginny's room where she was already fast asleep. The changed into their sleepwear silently. Hermione was dabbing some clear liquid on her face and Amy brushed her hair straight. She giggled at the girliness. Hermione frowned. "Whats up with you?" Amy asked her as she dug through her bag. "I dont know. I'll tell you later." Hermione said, still frowning. Amy shrugged her shoulders and fell into her bed. She sighed and wrapped the comfortor around her body and closed her eyes. Crickets played somewhere in the grass below, as the frogs still sang near the pond. The moon rose high into the night sky and the room was set into a milky glow. As the moon rose in England the sun rose near Siberia. Snow still blanketed the ground. Out in the forest a russian man was on his way to meet with the owner of the savage beasts the roamed the forest. The man had short prickly dark hair and large nose and narrow eyes. He puffed on a cigarette and rummaged in his poket for his wand. His name was Oleg Patrovitch. The man he was seeing was even more frightning than the beasts he raised. The men called him Lude. Lude was Croatian for crazy. And even though the man was brilliant, his looks could send anyone running with fear. He had gostly blonde hair, and pale blue eyes. His eyes were what scared people the most. They were tiny hardly there but the color was different from anything he had seen. Lude's skin was as white as the moon and his face was scarred. His hands shook non stop, rumor was that one of his beasts damaged a nerve ending in his brain. He was at least five foot. The snow and ice crunched with every step Oleg made. And each stride, he was closer to the hut on which Lude lived in. He had already seen a beast. It was like a mix between a bear and a humungus dog. Its fur was matted and filthy. The stench of the animal wafted around it warning off others. Oleg actually felt sorry for the thing. The cigarette went out and he pulled out the box and picked another, lighting a match and puffing hard on the thin paper. Just off in the distance he could see the hut, and more noticable he could smell it. Lude was working outside in the paddock where he kept some of the beasts. A few were horses that had gone terribly wrong. A few were dogs that had been bred to evilness. But they were calm when Lude petted them. And only Lude would do such a thing. "'Ello." Oleg said as he approched the fence. He had a very thick russian accent. "Oleg! My friend! What can I do for you?" Lude said dumping grain into a bucket for the horses to eat. "The Lord wants a pet." Oleg told him as the two walked to the door of the hut. "What kind of pet?" "'E says 'e wants something that people would run away from." Oleg stpped inside. The hut had two rooms. The first was a living room/experiment center. Gross things floated in jars filled with differen't color liquid. A sort of pen was built next to the fire. Inside was some pups. No doubt would turn into the evil things outside. "Well, well..." Lude said opening a notebook with information on every animal he owned. "What about a pup?" "No." Oleg said hands stuffed in the pockets of his cloak. He looked around and puffed the cigarette. "Put that out! You'll disturb my experiment!" Lude shouted taking the cigarette from him and pinching out the flame. Oleg was annoyed by this but didn't say anything. "Something big. Something scary. Think of him. What would 'e want?" "What about one of these bear dogs?" "Thats is it's name?" Oleg asked leaning over the book. "The breed. Its big and very well trained." "What like sit and roll over?" Oleg chuckled. "No. More like attack and kill." Lude said without a trace of amusement. The smile quickly faded from Patrocitch's face. He cleared his throat and nodded his head. "That should be the one." Lude blinked and looked at his friend. "This isn't the real reason your here. Dont lie to me Oleg!" Lude's voice was rising. "No its not. But-" "Why are you here?" Lude demanded. The bear dog was somewhere outside the door. "I can nots tell you!" Patrovitch said. "I know why your here. Your damn Lord doesn't believe in what I say. He thinks I'm a fool a liar! Well I'll tell you something, your 'Lord' did this to me!" Lude pointed to himself. "Now I'm the laughing stalk of the whole Dark Side. And its all because of my father being a spy! Well let me tell you something Oleg Patrovitch." He spat at the six foot tall man. Oleg lost his temper and threw a punch at the short man. Lude was knocked down on the floor, his hands shaking even more than usual. "Let that be a lesson to you Lude. Dont you dare talk to a Luieteniet in that mannor." He kicked the man in the face. "Perhaps a little vist of my 'damn Lord' will set you straight." And with that Patrovitch swept out of the hut and into the forest passing the bear dog on his way. Lude shakily got up. He called the dog over to him. "Kill him." He commanded and watched his creation bound into the forest, his thick big pads on his feet made him silent. Lude smiled and limped back into the door. No one that night heard the scream of Oleg Patrovitch. The bear dog attacked him and killed him before he had time to reach for his wand, not that it would do much. The dog panted, his breath condencing in the cold air. He looked down at the mangled heap and trotted back to the hut where he lied down and began to clean himself in the snow. Lude looked out the window and smiled wickedly. In the morning a search party was formed to find Oleg and question Lude. Lude promised that he didn't know anything about the death and when the found the body the barried him quickly and left no remorse. Oleg Patrovitch showed no respect for anyone, and many people hated him for that. The search party was headed by Valdir Minloich. He was a strong beefy man, as many death eaters were. He had short prickly blonde hair and blue eyes. "Sir, we found him!" One man shouted. Valdir turned around. And saw the blood on the snow. "Just bury him 'ere." He told his men. "Lets go back. Is cold isn't it?" "Not as cold as what we're doing? What about his family?" Alex asked from the back. Alex was a Polish brown hair, brown eyes. "No one." Minloich lied. There was something about Alex that made many men suspicious. He was always much kinder and thoughtful than the rest. They wondered why had Voldemort picked him when the ususal cream of the crop was a large husky man with little to no brains who could be minipulated. But no one dwelled on it to long for there was work to be done. "Right, someone was sent to talk to Lude. So lets just go back and tell him what we found." Miloich said as he started back to the castle. Alex ran up to him. "Sir, vut if, you know, someone finds the grave?" He asked shakily. "No vun will find out if no vun says anything!" Valdir spat. "Vut if someone is?" Alex pleaded. "Are you?" "No. Why would I?" Alex asked eyes brows raised. He had to be less than twenty five. "Well I dont know you tell me." Alex stopped in his tracks and waited for the rest of the party to catch up to walk with them. He knew what people thought of him. He was just returning a favor to the Lord. The Lord had saved his life long ago, and Alex was here to repay it. Even if he didn't agree with all they did. Life at The Burrow was very relaxing to Amy. She wasn't forced to think of Nathan or Chris. And on September First she was sad to say good bye to Mrs. and Mr. Weasley. They boarded the train and waved good bye as it started to huff and puff. Fred and George went to find Lee and some monsterous idea Lee had cooked up in his brain. The train wizzed by farms, cows, sheep, forests, lakes, mountain, hills, and small villiages. Their friends came to look up on them half way through and the boys decided to play a game Exploding Snap leaving Hermione and Amy to talk about whatever girls talked about. Amy couldn't help but think that Harry and her kept catching each other's eye. Finally Amy decided to just look out the window and listen to Hermione complain about easy homework in Potions. Thats when Amy remebered- "Hermione what were you going to tell me before?" She hissed at her. Hermione giggled and looked at the boys' "Well I think, I'm not sure..." She began. Her face was flushed. "I think I like Ron." She wispered so low, Amy had to strain to hear what she said. The two giggled even harder. The boys' heads turned in their direction. They tried to stiffle it but nothing worked. "Dont mind them." Ron said annoyed. "They've been giggling non-stop since middle of august." "Oh shut up!" Amy snapped back. The train began slowing down soon after the sun fell, and finally came to a complete stop. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Amy felt to find a carriage that would take them to the castle. "Are you ever going to tell us what you two are laughing at?" "Maybe-" Amy said. "Sometime later." Hermione said. The carriages arrived and they squeezed into one. Amy felt glad to be back at Hogwarts. Lights shone from the castle and poured outside onto the grounds. The first years were piling into their boats and a couple had already started off across the lake. Second years and above sat down at their house's table and waited for the first years to be sorted and for the feast to begin. Ron starred at his plate as thought he hoped his gaze would make the food pop onto his plate. Once the first years had been sorted and six new students joined the Gryffindors, Dumbledore stood to give the rules for the first years, which had differed slightly from the year before. Such as no students could be out of the castle after five in the evening. "Also, Mr. Filich would like me to tell you that there has been another four hundred and seven items not allowed on school grounds. If you would be intrested in what these might be, visit Mr. Filich's office on the second floor." Dumbledore's beard twitched. "Now, let the feast begin." Food appeared on the gleaming golden plates. Quickly students began filling their plates with chicken, steak, mashed and boiled potatoes, and other yummy dishes. Chatter filled the hall and bounced off the walls. Neville was telling them about his summer, which was filled with falling, tripping and forgetfullness. They laughed when he told them about his cooking dinner and almost burning the house. Once they ate through dinner and dessert, Dumbledore called it a night and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Amy made their way down corridors and up flights of stairs. "What do you think about this whole cerfew thing?" Amy asked as they waited to scramble through the portrait hole. "Its stupid!" Ron explaimed as he peered over the crowd to see what was holding them up. "And so is this line." "Yeah, how the heck are we supposed to visit Hagrid now?" Harry said as they reached the Fat Lady who was hanging open. "I guess right after our last class we run to see him?" Hermione shrugged. "What a great fifteen minutes that would be! 'Hi Hagrid! Whats up? Oh we have to go. Bye Hagrid'. That sound like a jolly ol' visit to me." Amy said sarcasticly. "Well, I'm going to bed to ponder this question. See you two in the morning." She added as Hermione and her climbed the steps to the girls dormitory. Back in the castle Alex was telling Voldemort on what they had found in the forest. He described in very good detail the postion and profile of the body. He told him what the man who interveiwed Lude said and was no watching Lord Voldemort closely. He slapped the desk causing many Death Eater's to jump in alarm. "Lude! We cant kill him for secruity but we cant let him live to kill!" Voldemort thought hard. "Place the curse on him! Make him do whatever we want him to do. This way he cant wipe us out. Malfoy take Crabbe and Goyle and go down there and do it." They left leaving Voldemort and Alex alone. "Now Alex. I want you to do something for me." He said in a silky voice. "What would that be sir?" Alex asked, hoping it wouldn't be anything terrible. "I want you to be the head of you prision when we begin taking prisioners." Alex looked up at him. "Why would we?" "To get information of course. Now why dont you go and look at the dungeons where we are building the prision. I do hope you like it. In the mean time I have to go meet with Manicor. I was hoping he might be able to look after these beasts, but he says there are to many. Its so hard to find good hope these days." And with that Voldemort strode out of the room. Alex rubbed his temples and followed him out. He went down cold corridors which were only lit by a few torches in each. He traveled down to the last dungeon which was more like a corridor with metal doors. A few workers stopped and looked up at Alex. "I'm Alex. I'll be the head of the Prision. Continue working." They nodded and began putting a door on its hindges. He had a good look inside before they closed the door. The room was square with a small torch that gave its only light. There was a selve sort of thing that he expected would be a bed for the person trapped inside. The floor was made of stone. He felt terrible for who ever would be locked inside. That week was maybe the worst for Amy. Malfoy had found out about her brother and began teasing her about him. On Thursday she cracked after Ron and Harry held her back. But he kept going at it that she broke free, which sent Ron crashing into Hermione and Harry into the wall. She hit Malfoy harder than anyone before. She managed to give him a black eye knock out a tooth and make his nose bleed before Crabbe dragged her away from Malfoy. Crabbe flexed his muscles and went for a punch at Amy, but Ron and Harry both kicked him and Seamus and Dean pulled her away from him. Snape came down the hall seeing Malfoy doubled over bleeding. Right away the Gryffindors, on que, burst out explaining what happened. The Slytherins gave a counter attack and voices echoed through the hall so that it was completely impossible to understand what anyone was saying. Snape raised his hand and they stopped. Amy was breathing hard wanting to kick Snape too. "Parkinson! Take Malfoy to the Hospital wing." He snapped at Pansy. Then he turned on Amy. "Strider! The week back and your already causing trouble! Go to Dumbledore and tell him what you've done. And I'm giving you a week detention's for this. Now get your stuff and see the Headmaster!" He glared at her, his lip curling. Amy told him to do something that made Hermione gasp, and Snape much angry than Harry had ever seen him. Yet Amy was out of hearing range. She stormed away to the Headmaster's office and knocked on the door. "Come in." He said. Amy opened the door and came inside. Tears were burning in her eyes. She looked up at him and sar down. "What can I do for you." "Proffessor Snape told me to come and tell you what I have done." She said voice weak. "Fire away." Dumbledore said looking up from his paper. "Well, all this week Malfoy has been mocking me about my brother and he was doing it again before the bell rang. And I dont know, I guess I was just blinded by anger and I cracked and I hit him. I think i've given him a black eye and bloody nose." "And thats all?" The Headmaster asked. "I guess. I have a week detention and who knows how many points taken away." "And Mr. Malfoy has been doing it all week?" Dumbldore asked. Amy had no clue where this was going but something told her not to expulsion. She nodded and Dumbledore smiled. He jotted something down on a peice of paper and handed to her. "The note explains to Profferssor Snape that twenty points have been taken away from Slytherin, and that fifteen should be added to Gryffindor, for keeping your cool until now. And that you will serve your weeks detention. And that Mr. Malfoy will get a letter home and have to serve three days of detention." Amy's mouth dropped in suprise. "So I'm not getting a letter home?" She sputtered. Hoping that Dumbledore would say no. "Not today. But if you do hit someone again you will. I would go back to class if I were you." "Oh yeah. Thank you Proffessor." She said as she grabbed her bag and dashed out of the office and down to the dungeon. She walked in and handed the note to Snape who starred at it. He watched her as she took out her potion ingredients. "You read what he said. Take away twenty from Slytherin and add fifteen for the Gryffindors." She said aloud. The Gryffindors laughed. Not only did Amy beat up Malfoy (something they had all dreamed of doing themselves) but now only thrity five points were being taken away. The Slytherins looked sulky. "That was brilliant!" Ron exclaimed as they headed for lunch. "I just didn't think you would've called Snape that." Hermione said. "Oh come on Hermione, you have to admit that was cool." Harry said. "I guess." She said shrugging her shoulders. News of that afternoon spread through Hogwarts. People were laughing as Malfoy passed them, and they were giving Amy extravagent praise. Detention was terrible though. For one she had to spend it with Snape who made her scrub the floor. And even worse was becuase Malfoy was there and so the split the space they were cleaning in half. Malfoy who had never Muggle cleaned in his life took a long time to scrub. And in the mean time they shot words back anf forth. Each night she would come back to Gryffindor tower, arm seized, and knee caps busted from standing on her knees for two hours. But it was all worth it, she thought when she went to sleep, I hit Malfoy for everything he has done. Maybe now he wont be such a snob. Fat chance. A week after Alex was asigned Prision Head, the dungeon was completed. Voldemort smiled wickedly as he stood outside the door and starred into one of the cells. Alex had a sudden urge to push him in there and lock the door, but he restrained it and gave a forced smile. Alex was given a German Shepard as company and protection in the dungeon. The dog usually just layed at his feet. Alex asumed the dog knew what was going on and was angry for it. He scratched it's ears and gave it something to eat. "So Alex what do you think?" Voldemort asked him. "Its a bit empty." Alex said, holding back the dog for he was trying to get at Voldemort. Vokdemort kicked it and a loud yelp issued from the dogs mouth. "Stupid animal. Well I'll be off." He strode out of the room. Alex got on his knees and stroaked the dog and held it close to him. The dog was shaking like mad. "Its all right. Its ok. No one is going to hurt you." Alex cooed and the dog leaned closer on him. "What am I gonna call you?" Alex scratched his head. "How about Zeus?" The dog licked his face. It was the first day of Winter holidays. And Amy was still fast asleep. Her alarm had gone off an hour ago and she hadn't heard it. Her eyes snapped opened and she sat up in bed. Yawning she looked at her clock.

"Oh no! I'm late for breakfast." She said as she pulled her robes on and brushed her hair. Makeup could wait. She grabbed her back pack, for Ron, Harry, and Hermione were going to the Library to look up something on animals for Sirius. She walked quickly down the stairs and ran through corridors. As she walked through the entrance hall she heard something. Slowly she spun around. "Hello?" She asked. No one answered. She could've swore that she had heard something. She walked towared the marble stair case. She shrugged her shoulders and she heard it again. It was like a wisper. She turned around and called out again. "Hello? Is anyone there?" She asked, adreniline was pumping through her blood and her instincts were telling her to run, but she stood there looking around. She shrugged her shoulders, to one look around and headed towards the Great Hall. She was completly winded by what happened next. Something had tackled her and whatever it was and sent her crashing to the floor. Her breath escaped her body and she felt light headed, almost like she was drowning. A dull pain surged through her body. She moaned and tried to get up but the thing grabbed her and sent her into a suit of armor. What ever it was grabbed the sword and even though she was dazed and couldn't see her other seconds kicked in to high gear. She heard it being pulled out of the sheath, and felt the air disterbance as the blade came closer and closer to her neck. She rolled away in the nick of time just as it hit the wall, three inches from where she now stood. Her vision was still a little bit fuzzy but she could see at least what her attacker was, and it was a man. But not an ordinary man. She knew this man, this man was Nathan. She screamed hoping it would be heard from the Great Hall. Nathan lunged for her and sent back onto the floor. Her head banged against the cold surface and she fell unconcious. He tied her and dragged her out of the castle, carrying her into the Forbidden Forest where three wizards stood waiting. Back in the Great Hall the sound of someone screaming interupted their breakfast. The teachers froze as did Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Dumbledore was the first to stand and head out followed by Snape and McGonagall. The reached the entrance hall which was littered with peices of metal. The doors stood open letting the cold morning air rush in. "What the hell is this?" Snape asked. "Minerva. Get a list of all the students staying this holiday. Find them all and tell them to go to the Great Hall. I'm afraid for the worst-" Dumbledore said. He blue eyes on fire. Proffessor McGonnagall ran into the Great Hall to tell the six students there not to move. "What about Amy?" Hermione hissed. "She is still in bed." "McGonaggall will find her." Harry said, his voice shaking. "What happened?" "Search me." Ron said taking a spoon full of Hermione's oatmeal. Proffessor McGonagall came in with four other students each looking drozy and in the sleep wear. "Potter, Granger, and Weasley do you know where Strider would be?" She asked, her face white. "Well she wasn't feeling all to well last night, and when I got up she was still asleep." Hermione told her. "She wasn't there when I went to go look." She told them. Fred's mouth dropped and George looked up at her. Ron dropped his spoon and it fell with a clunk to the floor. Harry blinked and Hermione shook her head like she didn't understand something for the first time. Back in the forest the unconcious girl was gagged so if she was to wake up no one could hear her scream. Nathan was getting praised by the three and he smiled and spat at the girl who caused him so much trouble with the police, Voldemort, and pain. "She cant yell 'Rape' anymore to save her." He said. The men chuckled and got out their wands to apperate to the Dark Castle. At the castle a man was quickly running through the corridors looking for Lord Voldemort. He ran to the living chamber and found his leader eating lunch. The man skidded to a hault and panted, he could hardly breath. Once he caught his breath he told the man. "We got her. We got Strider. Nathan and the three just came. She is unconcious though." Voldemort threw his napkin on the table and told the house elf next to him to clean the mess and go alert Alex that he would have a prisionor. The house elf scurried off with the plate. "Smith!" He called to the man behind him as he put on his best robe. "Put her in the cell, and tell Alex I'll be there in five minutes to greet our special guest." Smith nodded and took a deep breath before he jogged out of the room and down to the dungeon. Alex sighed when he recieved the news of the girl. Zeus stood behind him as he opened one of the metal doors. He looked inside and felt bad for her. She was just fifteen and going through all this trama. The men carried her in. She was regaining conciousness and her eyes fluttered a few times. They sat her in a chair and tied her to it so she couldn't get up, even if she had the strength for it. Voldemort swept in, smiling. "Well, well, well. Our first prisionor." He said. "Why hello Strider." He said walked around the gagged and bruised girl. His hands were behind his back and he trotted around with authority. Alex heard the girl moan and open her eyes. She looked up and groaned. Her hand wriggled trying to free herself but she was tied to tightly. She rocked the chair so much, that it was indanger on tipping over. Voldemort laughed at her, and she glared. Her stare so tight on him that Alex knew he would've backed off. "Oh how I do remeber those eyes. The same ones your Grandfather had." Voldemort told the girl. "Right before I killed him." The girls eyes dilated and she wriggled her hands much faster and tried to kick her legs. She let out a muffled scream and tears rolled down her usually rosy cheeks. "Oh I'm not going to kill you." Voldemort said still pacing. "At least not yet. What I want from you is to know what you know about me and the Ministry." He snapped his fingers and the gag fell to the floor. Amy glared at Voldemort with thought deep blue eyes of hers. Her head was spinning and felt like it weighed a ton. He asked again for what she knew. She was pissed. Anger creeped through her body like poison. "So tell me what you know." Voldemort said. She spat in his face. "Never ever." She said her voice shaking. He wiped his face and placed his hands on the edge of the arm rest and placed his face infront of hers. Fear now began to take over. "Stupid bitch!" He yelled. "Your a peice of shit! Tell me now!" "Maybe you didn't hear me before but I said I'd never tell you." She said cooly. He staighted up and Amy thought he was turning for the door. Oh how she was wrong. He spun on the heel of his shoe and hit her upside her head. The chair teetered for a second before it crashed to the floor along with Amy who was tied to it still. She was still awake but in emense pain. "We'll have a little chat later in the week." Voldemort said. "Maybe you'll come to you senses." Amy held her tears back as the men left. Zeus came into the cell and nudged her head. She struggled against the ropes that were slowly constricting her air supplie. Once a door somewhere outside closed, Alex came in and untied her. He helped her to her feet and sat her down on the bed. "I'm Alex." He told her as set the chair up right. She glared at him. "I'm not as bad as you might think." "Yeah thats why your a Death Eater and on the Dark Side." She shot back at him. She rubbed her head and wrists. "Its not my fault. I'm hear to repay a debt." He said. "Why should I believe you?" She asked. "Well, we'll be talking a lot. I'm in here pretty much all day and night. Oh, and I'll be the only one to stop him from killing you." He said.

"Why would you want to help me?" "Can you keep a secret?" "Of course thats what he wants from me. A secret." "Well he cant kill you until you give him information. And you dont have to do that, you can fight the curse you know?" "Yeah, its one of the Unforgivable Curses. Life in Azkaban, learned it all last year." "Well, when I was little, he saved me. I dont know why but he did. And he told me I'd have to repay him. And my hardheaded self believed him. So now I'm stuck and when the Ministry bursts through the front doors I'll be hauled into Azkaban." "Well, If that happens and I'm still alive, I can help you out on that. If you help me." "Friends?" He asked sticking out his hand. "More like aquaintences." She said shaking his hand. She has to trust him she thought. How else am I ever going to get out of here? She wanted to see Harry, Ron and Hermione and just give them a big hug. Tell them how much she loved them. Her family! They are going to be sick with grief. Tears would fall that night as she lied in the closed cell. She inspected every little bit of it. She still had her back pack and read her potions book just to keep her sane. It was hard to admit but she even missed Snape. Voldemort made another visit on Friday and Alex managed to get him not to hit her by saying, "She'll just be more inclined not to say anything, I read it in 'Children's Minds, How To Get Them To Talk To You." He even managed to get Amy to go outside as long as he was with her. Amy was sitting in her cell doing homework for the next term, when Alex came bounding in. The pair had become good friends, under the circumstances and with the promise of helping him at trial he was doing all he could to get out of here but a plan was not set out yet. "Hey." He said, holding rolls of parchment and a quill and bottle of ink. "Whats all that?" She asked. He handed the three rolls of parchment and she looked at the first and biggest one. It was a map of the world she studied it very carefully, it was detailed percisely with all mountains, lakes, rivers, and seas named. She opened the next on which was a map of Russia. It had cities and towns names. And the next parchment was just a concealer for what was inside. A dozen little strips of paper fell out and picking up one she noticed they were tickets. A ticket to here and a ticket to there. Most on boats and a few on train. She glanced up. Alex was leaning against the door. "I was thinking a plane." He thought. "But thats what they'll be thinking so better go somewhere else." "What if they find me?" She asked glancing at the map. "They wont. I'll make sure of that. I lead them towards China." "Are you sure that will work?" She said skeptical. "Listen," He said sitting next to her. "I'll get you out and then run east. Screaming your name and shit like that. I'll set fire to a tree saying I tried to curse you but you moved out of range or what ever. They'll be like 'where did you see her running to?'" He said in a deep voice, making Amy laugh. "And I'll just say east." "Alright. So when?" "Winter is approaching even though it already looks like it has come already so late winter I suppose. You light and you'll be able to run through the melting snow they are heavy they cant." "Wont they just fly?" "Well they have to hide from muggles?" Amy frowned. "Why would they care if Muggles saw?" "Just trust me okay?" "What else can I do?" She said. Back at Hogwarts, the Christmas spirit had been dampered. Hermione often came into the boys' dormitory to sleep there, to afraid to be by herself. Ron kept glancing out at windows as though he'd she Amy running back, and Harry was in just absolute shock. Dumbeldore had sent letters to all parents, including Amy's about the kidnapping. His usual cheery smile had faded into a frown and he was doing all he could to find the loctation of his student. McGonaggall was often sniffling and even Snape didn't seem himself. Stacy Strider was quickly cleaning the mess the dog had made on its rempage through the house, knocking over planting pots and plates. She was cleaning out the stain from the wine out of the carpet when she recieved a letter. "Ginger if it wasn't for Amy you would be out of this house in an instance!" She growled at the dog who was watching the spiffing up of the room from her doggy bed. Stacy wiped her hands on the towel before she ripped the letter open. It was from Hogwarts. "Amy Strider if I hear you've done one wrong thing I'll-" She stopped as she read the letter. Breathing became short and difficult. She stumbled towards the chair but fainted before she even go close to it. "So what are the maps for?" Amy asked Alex as she ate a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich he had brought her, studying them carefully. "Well, I can get you only so far away from the grounds, you'll have to run pretty much all by yourself out of the forest and to the nearest city. And thats where the ticket with the number one comes in. Its a bus ticket that will take you to Arkhangel'sk. Then you will take a ferry to Murmansk. The Murmansk Cruise Ship will take you to Hammerfest. You'll need your passport which I have had the liberty of making for you. Once you enter Norway pay for a bus ride to Stavanger. There you'll need your passport again. It'll take yo to Aberdeen and then your on your own. You'll have to plot Hogwarts by yourself." Amy looked up, she had been tracing the route with her finger. "It sounds much eaiser than it will be to do. One, I'll have them on my heels. Two if any goverment finds out about a fake passport they'll be tracking me down too. I'm starting to get scared." "Well,"Alex said over his paper. "You'll have to build your muscles for the journey and whatever lies before you. Oh and I'd get cracking on the Hogwarts thing." And so she did. She looked at a physical map of England. Begining with London she traced her way through the lakes and mountains the Hogwarts Express passed. She began the long mathamatical problems so she could plot it exactly in the right spot. It tool her four days to do it, and every fiber of her being prayed it was correct. And so a reutine was set up. Alex was able to get Voldemort to let Amy and him go for walks. They walked along every square inch of forest and plotted important marks on the map. Alex often pushed her to the ground and yelled at her just so if anyone was watching them, they would know Alex was doing his job. He made Amy run for miles until her muscles jammed, and back in the cell they practiced fighting without a wand, as it was snapped in half when Voldemort went through her bag. Everynight she would do push up, cruches, sit ups, and lunges to get her body into shape. Alex was getting provisions, such as water, sandwitches, canned fruit, canned soup, and such things that would not spoil. Back at Hogwarts there had been no word or sign from Amy. The Ministry was bringing the search to an end. Amy's face was all over the papers. Parents were sending letters to their children everyday, telling them to keep in touch with them and not to break any rules. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were slowly going back to normal, yet their hearts were heavy. Malfoy was taking this to full advantage, and ended up with a broken nose and another black eye, after both Harry and Ron had jumped him for saying Amy was better dead. "Come on we're going to be late for dinner!" Hermione said aggitated at the boys who were playing Exploding Snap. "Dumbledore said he had something important to tell us!" "Alright! We're comming." Ron called out to her as she headed towards the portrait door. Harry grabbed the cards and shoved them in their box as he hurried to keep up with Hermione and Ron at her heels. They headed past the entrance hall. His eyes darted around the hall, he had imagined what had happened to his faithful friend, ever since that winter morning. Puddles of melted snow were starting to evaporate and the scattered metal had been peiced back together. His mood dropped from bad to worse when they walked into the Great Hall. Black curtins, such as for Cedric's death, were draped along the wall. He felt his stomach drop and his eyes burned. Hermione was busy wiping her eyes as they sat down with the Gryffindors who were also somber. A few people told them they were sorry. Ron's face was burning with anger. The Slytherins were looking pleased with the decorations and some were even laughing. The rest of the school shot angry glances at them. Up at the High Table, a few teacher's were crying softly, Hagrid among them. Once all the students were situated and accounted for, Dumbledore, who had been gazing into the enchanted ceiling, stood up and cleared his throat. The hub bub ceased. "Today the search for our fellow student, has been ended. They will pronounce her dead at four tomarrow at a press confrence. I will ask you tonight to keep Amy Strider in your thoughts, for she may be alive, somewhere, somehow. She was a coragous young woman, who always fought to find the good in people. She was the shoulder to lean on for most and the inspiration to continue on, when most found hope to be gone. Please raise your glasses in solute to Amy Strider." He said. He watched as the students took their glasses and lifted them into the air. "To Amy Strider." The hall murmured. She slid into an uneasy sleep around three in the morning. Her thoughts buzzed in her head all night long, panging her dreams with dreads. She huddled in her cloak for warmth and used her arms as pillows. There was a bang of a door opening and Alex hissed at her to get up. Rubbing her eyes she looked up at him as he fought the locked door to open. "Amy! I heard...I heard..." He panted. "What?" Amy said getting up. "Amy! You have to leave now!" He sputtered Amy stopped in her tracks and looked at him, utterly confused. Her eyes went wide. "Alex, what are you on about." "They called off the search!" He said. "What search." She was becoming more and more confused by the minute.

"The search for you. The ministry was searching for you! Voldemort, is going to kill you tonight!" "But... but..." She began. "Listen they dont give a damn anymore about what you know. They are just going to execute you right away. They are sending for Manicar! Amy get your stuff and lets go n-" "Not so fast!" Said a sly voice from behind Alex. Amy backed into the wall as Alex spun on the spot and came face to face with a beefy man, who looked like he could take out Alex in a single punch. Alex took a step back and tried to stutter something. Glancing around the wall, an idea sparked into her head, slowly and quietly she edged along the concrete block wall twoards the torch that perched somewhere above her head. She sat on the selve and as the two men bickered she stood up. The large man noticed what she was doing and knocked Alex out of the way on as he lunged for Amy who had jumped up in the nick of time and grabbed the torch. She huffed the fire out as the man started to get up and sent the cell into complete darkness. She could here the groan of the wood as the man used it to get to his feet. Silently she went right behind him and to a swing at the man's head. She hit him again and went to find Alex in the darkness. "Come on!" She hissed at him as she got to his feet and followed her into the dimly lit hall. She placed her backpack firmly on her shoulders as she followed him out of the dungeon that had been her prision for so long. She took a glance back and smiled as a rush of adreniline swept through her body. Slowly they crept through the halls until the reached the front door which was gaurded by two death eaters who paced the hall talking in rapt German. Alex cursed them with the body bind and they fell to the floor with a thud. As the opened the door something called out behind them. "Where do you think you going?" Manicar asked. Alex and Amy took one good look at him before the dashed through the forest running swiftly through the trees. But Manicar who was light and fast caught up with them and lunged for Alex. "Amy run! I'll hold him off!" He shouted to her. Amy stood there starring wildly around for something to hit Manicar with. "Amy god damnit run! Go!" He shouted again as Manicar's axe missed his ear by a few millimeters. Amy tried to hit him but was pushed away. Alex pleaded with her to run. And something came over her. It was a will to live. She quickly peiced together what she should do and leftt Manicar to Alex. She dashed through the trees, looking back every now and then. The castle grew smaller and smaller as she ran faster and faster north west. Her back pack thumped against her lower back as she quickened her pace. She didn't notice the strange blue eyed man stroaking his pet as he watched her run. Lude wasn't going to kill the girl. What was it to him if Voldemort lost a captive. He held the Bear Dog back as it tried to run after the girl. "Not yet dear." He said to it. By nightfall Amy had reached a part of the forest in which it hadn't felt winter's wrath. The forest floor was covered with pine neatles and rotting leaves. Snow was in patchs and Amy set her foot prints heading east. She down on a falled tree and drank a sip of her water. She huddled in her cloak and glanced up at the heavens. She hadn't seen the stars' twinkle in so long. She prayed for the first time in her life. "Chris. Please help me!" She asked her brother. "I cant believe she had to get away at this time of the month!" A man said far off in the distance making Amy jump. "It must be below freezing." "Oh no!" Amy said as she ran faster into the denser part of the forest. There was no where to hide. She wold just have to sit and wait for them to leave. But her coer was given when she startled an owl who screeched loudly. "Over there." One of the men said. "Great!" Amy said to the bird. She saw their faces much more clearly now. Quietly as she could she dasked to another tree, and then to another. Once she was a good mile or two ahead of the men she ran flat out through the trees. She ran swifter than the wind and she reached the edge of the small town by dawn. I few old men were chatting quickly as they placed fire wood on the back of a horse, who was very aggitated. Amy quickly took off her cloak and stuffed it in her back pack. She smiled at the men as she walked by. The waved and continued on their job. The took out the ticket with the number one on it and glanced at the date. Like magic the date changed to what she guessed was today's date, January tenth. A funny lurch came from deep inside her stomache. It was her birthday. She was sixteen. She sighed and continued down the brick road. She guessed the bus station would be somewhere on the other side of the town and according to the map it lied on the main road, which she was standing on at the exact moment. A woman sweeping dust out of her shop glared at Amy as she walked by. Amy knew she stood out but what was she supposed to do. She smiled at the woman who called out to her. Amy laughed and said "I speak only English!" The woman started ranting in what seemed to be a 'your-a-stupid-American' which just made Amy laugh more. She sat on a bench next to the bus station and glanced around her. Her biggest fear was that a Death Eater would be there, she would be killed on the spot. For some reason there was a tug on her heart. Her stomach lurches and she couldn't help but smile when she thought about going back to Hogwarts and seeing- Harry awoke with a start. His dream had carried him somewhere half way across the world and he had seen Amy. That was the thing that frightened him most. He looked out the window at the cresent moon and thought about the dream. He had been walking along when he saw her, withered to the floor, skin wrinkled and tight over her face with a greenish tint. Her hair wasn't sleek, but matted and tangled. She was bone thin and her bright eyes that always had shone their light into Harry's heart were dim. His dreamself had squatted next to her and held her hand. And that one act, caused her to come back to her realself. Harry noticed how he had felt so happy when she became the Amy he knew. Could he be falling for her? Back in the British Ministry of Magic, a tall brown hair American had walked in. He looked clearly angry and barked at the secratary to tell Fudge they needed to talk. "Calm down!" The blonde said. "I will not calm down." He said a vein throbbing in his neck. "You have no idea with the shit I've put up with from you people! Give me Fudge now!" "I'm sorry but with cant just do that. You'll need an appointment. Now we have an opening on the twenty forth at five o'clock. Sir? Sir where are you going." The American had had enough. He strode into the hall way where plenty of Wizards and Witches were working and hurriedly going from room to room. He came apon the door for Minister Fudge's office and threw the door open. Fudge was reading the comedy column of the Daily Phrophet and chuckling to himslef. He looked over his paper and steaming cup of tea. "What can I do for you James?" He asked. "Sit down please." "You-you-you called of the search?" James asked voice rising once more. "Why yes. You see we looked in all the likely places and she combed through them and found her no where." "The likely places? You think Voldemort is going to be in a 'likely place?' God Damnit Fudge. Your an idiot." James snapped at him. "Mr. Strider I dont know what your implying-" "Minister, you told me that you would handle the search, as it was in Britian. You said you wouldn't stop until you've found her. You said you would do all it takes to get her back. But Minister, I see you are a liar and a lazy man." James leaned over the desk hands placed firmly on the edge. "I dont think that'll make you look good in the News." "What are you-" "Minister what I have here," James said holding a notepad. "is a news article that was going to be printed in America. The news article was about my sister. And about you. It points the rather nasty parts of your personality. Such as you called off searches for people gone missing when the clues led to somewhere outside the country. And that you dont like to get your feet wet." "So what do you want." "To have my sister back." "And if I help will you not print that article?"Fudge asked his voice tight. "Nope. But if you do not find her it is going in. Trust me on that Fudge." "Right now-" "I'd get your searchers in here and tell them about the plan. And if your bluffing Fudge this is going in and so is my fist in your eye." The bus thundered down the winding road out of the town and further from the prision Amy had to live in. Russian folk music played over Amy's head. She told herself that the elderly couple in the back would not jump her, just so she could get a blink of sleep. Amy woke up somewhere in the middle of the Urals. She yawned and looked out her window to see the towering mountains above her. Snow capped the tops of each one, and a farmer and his son could be seen taking their flock of sheep to graze on the lush green grass. Voldemort was more angry than anyone had ever seen him. He through his cup of tea at the wall. The porcelin cup shattered into a million peices and the tea stained the wall and carpet. "What do you mean she escaped?" He asked, vein in his temple throbbing. "You know what I mean. She escaped." "Where is Alex? He was her gaurd!" Voldemort said sitting in his chair throwing things off his desk. "We cant find him. He just disapeared-" A man came runnng in panting from running and having to carry is large beer belly. He put his hands on his knees to regain strength and wiped the sweat off his upper lip. "Sir. We've found Manicar. He is dead sir. He has a gapping cut in his side and his axe is covered in blood. I think she killed him with his own wepon." Voldemort's eyes bulged as he yelled "STRIDER!" He glanced at the men around the room. "Scour the country. Every square inch. I want her dead!" The men hurried out the room muttering to themselves as the went back into the frigid, cold, forest. The air seemed to be like glass, scraping and cutting at their lungs as they took in a breath. Amy watched the mountains change slowly into rolling hills, and then into a wide plain that stretched to the horizon. They were inching their way closer and closer to Arkhangel'sk. Amy noticed they were slowing down and tried to look ahead of the bus to see what they were stopping for. "We cant be there yet." Amy said to herself. She didn't see the Barents sea or any water for that matter. The driver said something in russian as he opened the door to the bus. Amy's heart stopped when she saw who it was. She wanted to scream but her instincts told her what she was to do. She grabbed her back pack and slid under the seat, she inched foward under the seats toward the bus door, as military men had to do in training. She saw their feet as they headed towards the back, looking in each row. Amy reached the door got up and ran out the bus without the Death Eaters or the men knowing she had escaped. She was very wrong on this one. She came face to face with another Death Eater. Before he had time to figure out what had happened, in his slow mind. Amy hit him hard in the face hoping she had broken his nose. She kicked him in an unmentionable spot and ran like hell. With no where to hide in the plains she ran towards the farm she had seen earlier. Just as she thought it couldn't get worse, the death eaters on the bus noticed her and the jumped out of the emergancy window and ran after her, as they tried to curse her. Amy saw the jets of light stream by as she ran. She took one good look behind her and saw the fence to the farm, just off in the distance, with trees swaying in the wind. It was her haven. She concentrated on getting to the farm, but the men were much stronger and pulled her to the icy grass. She struggled against them, but they were to strong. Tears sprang from her eyes from the pain. She had to fight. She had to win. She had to live. Those thoughts sent a signal to her brain to release adreniline. She stopped struggling as that was what made them get a harder grip on her. Thinking they had won the men go up and heaved the cold air into their lungs. They wiped their sweaty hair from their eyes as the watch the girl closly. One chuckled and soon the other joined them. Amy on the mean time, was laying face down into the grass, breathing in the smell of it. She glared at the men as she waited. The energy in her body was building up. She was ready to jump to attack. And after their fit of laughs subsided, they walked forward to the girl. One aimed a kick at her, but this was what Amy had been hoping for. It was in slow motion for her. The man's foot comming ever so closer to her face. When itwas only three centimeters from colliding in with her head she grabbed it and twisted it. The man screamed with pain as he went flying into the air, landing in a heap in grass. The second man came plowing into Amy, and the two of them fell into the grass. But Amy was quick in thinking and she kicked him in the stomach with both feet, such as a kangaroo might do, and the man landed next to his partner in crime. She took one good look at them and ran to her haven. She came apon the door to the cottage and hammered on the door with her fist. Her breathing was quick. And her eyes darted back and forth. Finally a plump woman answered the door and brought Amy in, handing her a cup of tea, that she had just made. She jabbered in Russian and seemed to ask a question, and when Amy didn't answer she was confused. Amy looked up and said, "I am American. I speak English." She said slowly pronouncing each syllablle clearly. "Oh." The lady said and hurried out the room. Amy wondered what she had gone to do and in the mean time inspected the room. the walls were made of planks of wood, that had darkened from beging wet at one point. The room was a split between a kitchen and a living room. Where itchy couchs were placed. In the kitchen she saw a very old stove and oven. A small refridgorator that came up to Amy's waist, hummed loudly. And Amy saw something that made her heart leap. A wand. She smiled and nearly broke out into laughter and tears from how happy she was. The lady came waddling back into the room with a smile on her face. Behind her was a young girl of about twelve. Amy smiled back and waved to the girl. "Hello. My names is Mia." The girl said in broken English. "My name is Amy." She told the girl. "I'm a witch too." "Yes. We know all 'bout you." Mia said taking out a paper from her apron. She unfolded it and handed to Amy. It was an article all about her. Many wouldn't think that Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry would be the first place a prisionor would be snatched from, by You-Know- Who. And yet just two days ago a charming fifteen year old was taken from the 'safest place'. Amy Strider is a normal American girl, with loads of brown hair and dark blue eyes that resembled the ocean on a cold day. Yet she attended Hogwarts each school year for the last five years. It was a normal day. A snow storm had blown over the castle the night before and newly fallen snow covered the grounds. It was also the first day of the holidays and Strider had slept in. From what investigators told us, Amy woke up around seven thirty and left the dormitory at seven forty. She was in a hurry to get to breakfast until she was attacked from behind by something. "There was deffiently a struggle between Strider and the abducter." Said one investigator. Its not known where Amy Strider might be or if she is even alive. Yet if she is not found in at least thrity days, she will be pronounced dead. The Ministry is urging that if you know something to send them a letter with all infromation you have. Amy starred. "They think I'm dead. They've most likely called off the search for me." Amy said in a low haunted voice. "Yes they have. You must send a letter to yer Ministry vright away!" Mia said. "I dont have an owl though." Amy said. Mia talked to her mother in Russian while Amy read the article again. She folded it back up and handed back to Mia. "No yer to keep it. And mother says you may use our owl." Mia told her as she fished through a drawer to find a quill and peice of parchment. She placed a quill, ink bottle, and parchment infront of Amy. Amy thanked her and began thinking what she would say to the Ministry. But three people popped into her head. She looked at Mia and her mother, then back at the parchment. "I'm not going to send it to the Ministry." She said flatly. "What are yer talking about?" Mia exlaimed. "They wont do anything." Amy said, frowning at the parchment. "So who will you write to?" Mia asked sitting next to Amy. Mia had long black hair that was full of fly aways. Her skin was pale and she had grey eyes. She was an akward looking girl with her patched wool dress, and apron. Amy looked at her. The girl was so sweet. And so was her mother. They were as poor as anything and yet they had such hospitality. "I will write to my three closest friends." Amy said. She dipped the quill into the ink and started jotting down words in English that Mia seemed very intrested in. Dear Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hi! This is going to seem so akward. I guess i'll start by saying, i'm alive and well. At least I think. I've managed to escape Voldemort and run away. I'm not exactly sure where I am at the moment, but i'm somewhere in western Russia. Voldemort's headquarters are in Siberia. Smack in the middle of this huge forest. There are so many Death Eaters and I cant believe I have escaped them. Yet their after me. Just and hour ago I came across three. Listen there is something you need to do. First is show Dumbeldore this letter. Second is to write down this name: Alex Milan. He is a polish guy with loads of brown hair and brown eyes. I have no clue if he is dead or not. I want someone to find out and for the Ministry to know, that he should not be charged of any crimes. He helped me out and with out him I would've been dead already. He got me out. The third thing is write a letter to my parents and tell them I love them and that I hope to see them soon. You dont know how much I miss you guys. I think about you everyday, its like a constent headache. I know for a fact the Ministry will not look for me. I'm going to get back to Hogwarts if it kills me. I will send another letter once I get the chance. Love you always, Amy

Amy wiped the tears from the eyes and folded the letter and tied it to the owls leg and watched as it disappered into the sky. A peice of her heart seemed to be in that letter floating up towards the clouds and towards her friends, her family, her hope, her life. At the Ministry of Magic, all things were hectic. There had been another attack and Fudge had called the search for Amy Strider again, yet with less enthusiam. Six workers had quit from stress and there were no clues to lead them to Voldemort. That was until they would hear of the letter, that was on its way at a steady pase for Hogwarts. Mia and her mother introduced Amy to the rest of the family. There were two older brothers and a three year old sister. Each with black hair and gray or brown eyes. Mia's father was a thin man who knew little English and when Amy greeted him he said, "Bye." Mia translated what the family said to Amy, who responded back. The brothers went to take a shower and Mia was showing Amy how to sew. Her little sister was silent and stood bye Amy like a gaurd. "You should go take a shower while Mama makes dinner." Mia insisted showing Amy to the bathroom. Amy thanked her and locked the door as it snapped shut. Amy disrobed and stepped into the shower that was freezing cold and no doubt came from a river nearby. Amy didn't care for the temperature of the water, as long as she was clean. Mia came in (obviosly the lock was broken) to take her clothes to wash and hand put a towel on a heating pad on the towel. Amy wasn't used to this lack of privacy, but she decided she would live. She didn't know if there was a set amount of water so the shower was quick and she wrapped herself in the towl while she waited for her clothes which was done in remarkable time. But then again it was magic. She put on the warm clothes and followed Mia back into the kitchen where the family was preparing to eat their dinner. Amy thanked them and discussed with the father (through Mia) how Amy would be getting to Hogwarts. Amy explained about the map and the route she was to take, and he found it amazing. He explained about in town that there was a bus depot and that she could sneak onto the bus and manage to get to Arkhangel'sk. She smiled and said she would leave as soon as possible so she would not be a burden to the family. He chuckled and then he asked questions about America and the whole family listened as Amy talked of the cities and the beaches and the people. After dinner Amy insisted on helping with the dishes but was wacked on her back by the mother who yelled at her for trying to help. Mia giggled and took Amy to her room which she had all to herself. She had posters of some American superstars and books such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and other such classics littered the floor. Amy yawned. She didn't realize how tired she was and Mia told her to sleep in her bed because she might not have a peaceful rest in a long time. Amy felt so grateful to have come along these people and she fell fast asleep. She slept a total of five hours before she was woken up by yelling in the kitchen. Mia came running into the room, pale face even paler. Amy sat up and asked her what was going on. Her little sister was crying somewhere in the backround. "Amy, they are here. They are here-" Mia managed to sputter out of her mouth. "Who? Mia whats going on?" Amy said throwing the sheets off her and getting to her feet. "The men. The Deatheaters!" Mia said shutting the door. "Amy run! There is a feild of corn. Run there and hide." Mia opened the window, as Amy flung herself out of the room and into the steely cold air. The as bright as ever and pointed Amy towards the feild in which she was to hide. Her heart pumped. And she hoped they wouldn't hurt Mia's family. She ran flat out towards the stalks of corn. But she didn't go unnoticed. Inside the kitchen, Mia's mother was clutching her three year old and yelling that they had seen no girl run through the farm. Her daughter sobbed, frightened. The two boys stood behind their father who was too arguing that no girl had been seen. Mia edged along the wall and towards the window, so that Amy would be hidden, but one of the Death Eaters saw Amy enter the feild and disapear against the green. [I]"There! There!"[/I] One Death Eater said as he looked out the window and pointed. [I]"Lets get her. Sorry for bothering you. We will get rid of this pest as soon as we can."[/I] His partner called out to the family as the ran back out the door and towards the feild. Meanwhile Amy was slowly losing energy as she ran through the forest of corn stalks. Her zig zagged her way to the end of it, but she didn't notice that she was making the stalks around her rustle as she ran, giving the Death Eaters a way to find her. But Amy who was bright, took notice of this. She knew it was to late to hide, when the mens footsteps could be heard not far off as they followed the trail, like a pack of dogs. The stench of Alcohol reached Amy's nose first and that gave her a way to know where they were. As slowly as she could she back farther into the forest, her footsteps light and the crunching noise quieter. She crouched down and waited. She had no clue exactly what she was waiting for. Was it life or was it death? She noticed her breath condencing and took one deep breath and held it in her lungs. [I]"Come here you little git!"[/I] A man said in a language she could not understand. [I] "You've got to be here somewhere." "Come out, come out, where ever you are". [/I]Said another. Their footsteps seemed to echo and the breathing seemed strained. The rancid smell was getting stronger, and Amy realized her senses had gotten stronger as she could not see where they were. [I]"She is not here. I think she is trying to get to the mountains to hide from us. Lets go and tell Lord Voldemort." [/I] The man said and Amy heard them move away. She had no clue where they were going or if she should move but she took in another breath waited. She waited in the same position, not daring to move and inch. She strained her ears trying to find the men. Her leg had seized and she felt like she was going to faint, but she heard someone running through the feild and she perked up and listened. "AMY! Where are you?" Mia yelled out. "AMY!" Amy's heart lept and she went running towards the voice. She feet pounded against the muddy ground and she felt her heart pump her warm blood faster into her legs. "Mia!" Amy yelled out. "Mia! I'm okay!" Amy ran straight into Mia, who tugged her out of the feild and towards her mother who pulled Amy in a tight embrace. This sent a surge of tears down Amy's face. Not only had she slid out of death's grasp, once again, but she hadn't been given a hug as though from a mother in such a long time. A fuzzy memory came over her. It was her eighth birthday party and all her friends and family had been situated outside in the back yard with the sounds of the waves crashing onto the shore and seagulls sqawking at each other, in the backround. Brightly wrapped presents were stacked on a picnic table and her friends were playing a game of soccer and laughing when one would fall into the soft grass. Her brothers had all been there and were also joining in the game. Amy had been passed the ball and as she was dribbling it down the yard into the makeshift goal she noticed her mother fighting with her father in a corner. Amy had stopped and watched her parents as they bickered over something. A kid on the other team stole the ball from her and made his way back towards her teams' goal. She quickly forgot out her parents when it was time to blow out the eight sparkling candles on her birthday cake and open her gifts. The party was a blast for this newly made eight year old. Yet, when the others had left and Amy had inspected each gift with percise acuracy, she was left with the memory of her parents fighting. This would be embedded into her mind, and twenty years later when she would look back on her birthdays she would think of her parents. So Amy did something she regretted the minute it issued from her mouth. She had asked her mother 'why?'. It was something she had wanted to know since she had first abserved them at it, but why at her birthday party? Her mother didn't say anything. Yet actions are better than words, and the hug Stacy had given her daughter left a large mark in her heart. It had let Amy know that no matter what her parents loved her. It told her their problems were not her fault. And it said that she would always be there for her. And yet, Amy thought, she wasn't always here. She wasn't with Amy at Hogwarts. And she wasn't standing next to her at this moment, in this strange country. She wasn't here to take the emense pressure on Amy's shoulders off. Amy started to howle histaricly in the tight embrace of Mia's mom. The rest of the night as a gentle breeze blew outside and the house moaned and the fridge hummed, Amy lied awake thinking of Harry. She thought of all the fun times the two of them had. She thought of the adventures, she thought of the trouble, she thought about her mixed emotions. Amy woke with a headache the next morning. Mia was up and doing her chores and her mother was cooking. Amy knew she couldn't stay here forever. She had to get on her way and she planed to walk to the twon and do exactly what she had talked about during dinner. Slowly she got up and dressed. She sat down at the table and gobbled her breakfast and gave Mia's mother a big hug and started doing the dishes even though she was being yelled at in a complete different language. "Hey Mia." She called over to her. Mia was peeling poatoes. "Yeah?" "Tell you mother in America we do dishes." Amy said with a smile. Mia laughed and told her mother who burst into laughter and said "Oi." Once she was done she told Mia what was going on and gave each member of the family a big hug and told them she would send a letter when she got to Hogwarts and tell them all about her adventures. She gave Mia and extra big hug and placed a five dollar bill in her hand. "For the corn that got trampled over last night." She said. "Oh no. Its no problem take your money." Mia said blushing. "No. Its for the corn and the hospitality and the kindness you and your family have given me. I'm am so glad to have met you." Amy said. And hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders. "I hope I will see you soon Mia." Amy waved good bye and gave the little girl an extra hug and headed towards the road and towards the small town. The little red roofs could bee seen against the green of the mountin and with each step Amy took she felt that she was going forward to a better start than before. She made it finally to the bus depot, with a little help from some kind, english speaking, teenagers who pointed her in the right direction. She asked the lady when the bus to Arkhangel'sk would leave. "In five minutes. Would you like to buy a ticket?" The lady asked behind the booth. "Oh no! I was just wondering because my brother is leaving." She lied, and walked away. she sat next to the bus and read up on her studies. [I] There is such magic that one can obtane with out the use of a wand. Such magic is useful when your wand had been broken or is lost. Its much like the wand magic but this kind is more primitive. All witches and wizards have a form of magic within them. The question is: how to use it and how do you get it? This magic relies on hand motions rather than the flick or swish of a wand. The most used hand motion is a gentle glide. Look on page forty eight for a demonstration. To cast a spell with this type of magic, you simply think what you want to do and the atoms of your being will cause a chain reaction and the spell will be preformed. Yet the key to any magic making is to concentrate.

So start with something basic like bringing something to you. Hold out your hand with your palm facing upward and say "Accio". Practice this until you have mastered it. Once that is completed you will be able to preform other such spells without your wand. But not many wizards are capable of such acts of magic. [/I] Amy looked around and made sure no one was watching. She put her hand infront of her and saw a small coin on the asphalt. She spaced herself out and concentrated all of her mind on that tiny piece of silver. [I] Accio coin [/I], she thought and put more concentration on the coin. She was utterly suprised when the coin lept into her hand. She inspected it and then threw it father away from her and thought of it leaping it into her hand again. It did. Amazed she stuffed it into her poket and walked up to the bus where people were begining to board. Silently she cut a man and climbed the steps and sat in the very last seat.

As the bus' engine started to rumble she smiled and took the coin out of her poket. there was a small hole near the top of the coin and she took off her neckace and made the coin a good luck pendant. For the rest of the ride Amy practiced magic without the use of her beloved wand and she came to two conclusions. Either she was brilliant without ever knowing it, or somethings just come at ease when you are on the edge of death. The bus veered to a stop and Amy and the rest of the passengers diembarged.The smell of the salty sea mixed with the chilled air and Amy made her way up the streets passing shops full of people escaping the weather. Amy left for a small marina with a name she could not pronounce. People smiled as she walked by and Amy decided she would have to buy some new clothes, as people were starring at her shirt, which had a large grass stain on it. She walked into a small clothes shop and picked out a nice looking blue fleece shirt, a tan jacket that fell to her knees, that had fake fur on the collar and cuffs, and a new pair of jeans. She took it to the counter and as the lady rang up the total Amy pulled out the right amount of Russian money that Alex had given her. Amy paid and went into a bathroom of the next door resturant and changed. She decided to order something to eat. And she mangaged to get in all the essential nutrition that she needed. With help from an elderly man she managed to find the tiny marina. Amy wondered why such small ships were docked there. She walked up to a fisherman and ponited to the name of the boat she was to set sail on. He pointed down the dock and begun unloading his catch to sell at the open market. Amy walked down to the end of the dock, the wood groaned under the weight. Amy walked up to a man on board who was busy gathering the large snake like rope into piles. "Hello?" She said warily. "You must be Strider." Was all the man said. "Um...yeah thats me." Amy said glancing out into the sea. The man dropped the last rope and clapped the dust off his hands. He had brown hair that was slowly getting gray. He had green eyes and slight wrinkles appeared on his face. "My name is Peter call me that and nothing else." He barked. Amy starred at him and wondered why was he so antsy? She shifted her back pack and starred at her feet. "Well get up here before anyone sees you!" He snapped and Amy jumped onto the deck. He grabbed her by the neck and dragged her down the stairs into a small hallway with one light that swung back and forth with the waves. The wallpaper was peeling and it smelled lightly of fish. "You are to stay here until we leave the marina and are out of sight, you hear?!" He barked again, making Amy jump and quiver with fear. "The room to the left will be yours." He added as he waddled but the stairs and into the sunshine. Amy starred at the spot where Peter had stood and shook her head at the lunacy and opened the door to the room where two bunkbeds sat and a rather attractive boy was lying on one with his head resting on a pillow. He looked up when the door creaked and Amy stepped inside. He noticed the pink patches on her cheek and her deep blue eyes. "Oh sorry. I'm guessing Peter told me the wrong room." She said taken aback. The boy had the same brown hair and green eyes as Peter. He was tall and amazingly handsome. "No. You have the right room. My name is Stephan. You must be Amy. Sorry it is a bit cramped in here." He said in broken english and a thick accent. "Oh, and sorry for my Eng-lash." "You Englash-I mean English is very good." She tired hard not to giggle but she could feel her face turn beet red. The window let in no sunshine as it showed them the undersea world. At the moment a few small fish were swimming around and Amy felt like a fish in a bowl. She looked at Stephan. "Is your dad always like that? And can I call you Steph beacuse Stephan seems to long." She said in a cute girly sort of way. "Sure call me what ever you like. And no he'll get nicer its just that he knows they are after you and he is scared." Steph said. "So you live with your dad on this boat?" Amy said sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Just during vacations. I go to The Russian Academy, but as you know with Voldemort here and the country teeming with Death Eaters, we haven't been in school for a few months now." He said with a sad look on his face. "Father has been giving me home lessons though. Not to that great of affect." "Oh, I'm sorry." Amy said not really knowing what to say. They fell silent for a few minutes clearly bewildered or taken aback by each other. Amy was fully aware of Stephan's eyes, which wandered around her body. She felt a sudden pang of guilt. What about Harry? She had had feeling for him since the third year, but she had been put down becuase of Cho. So what was the harm with flirting with Stephan? Amy took in a shuddered breath. Love and Lust wasn't what she should be thinking about on her qwest to get back to Hogwarts. And then why was she wanting so badly to get to the castle? Harry. Amy was jostled out of her thoughts when the boat's engine was abruptly turned on and made the room shudder out of control. Amy was glad that the beds were bolted tightly to the floor. The fish scattered as the water bubbled and slwoly the boat retreated away from the dock and into the Barent's Sea. After awhile under the deck Stephan decided it was alright to go outside and got up and walked out the door with Amy following closely. A gentle breeze blew over the boat consently and the salty air felt better against her lungs than the cold glass air she had left behind. Amy walked over to the side of the deck and looked down over the railing and disputed with herself the color of the water, and she finally settled for a blackish blue. Some kind of strange sea bird that Amy had never seen before called out to them. Peter came down from the steering room to talk to his son. Amy paid them no attention and glanced in her reflection in the water. A single tear fell from the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek and dropped into the water. "Whats the matter?" Stephan asked behind her and made her jump with fright. Amy looked at him with wide eyes and shook her head. "I cant tell you. You wouldn't understand. I'm sorry." And with that she turned her back to him and went back to watching the water, not really seeing it. That night, Stephan had made dinner of beans and fish. Amy was suprised to find that she really liked. Peter entertained them with stories of the days when he and his father traveled the sea each winter on the exact same boat. He tweaked it just a little, but it was very funny and made Amy feel better when she couldn't stop laughing. Once dinner was over, Peter had left to go to sleep, leaving his son at the wheel of his boat and Amy to the dishes. Once she was done she wiped her hands on a towel and walked up the short flight of stairs to where Stephan was controling the wheel. Amy leaned against the wall as she watched him keep them on course. "So how long have you been sailing?" She asked. "All my life." Stephan said. "Did you have a boat in America?" "Yeah, but nothing as big as this." Amy paused. "Never got to use it either." "So you mean you've never sailed?" He said in amazement. "Well-" Amy began. Stephan looked over at her and then grabbed her hand and yankwed her over to him. She brought her over to stand infront of him and took her hands and placed them in certin spots on the steering wheel. "You know I'm going to crash the boat if you let me do this." Amy said laughing. "Dont worry I'll have one hand on the wheel too." He said. The two of them were so close that he could rest his chin on her shoulder. Amy looked at him and smiled. Moonlight filled the room and something came over her. She felt lighter and a balloon seemed to be blowing up inside her. Without knowing what was happening, their eyes locked on each other and slowly they moved closer and closer to each other. Amy's eyes fluttered and then closed. His hands went around her waist and her arms around his neck. Their lips touched and the two of them were locked in a passionate kiss. Amy's thoughts vanished and she held on to Stephan like she would fall into some dark abyss, if she were to let go. But even though her body ached for some kind of love from anyone, her brain was telling it to pull away. But she didn't she let it continue until the drew apart and the weight of of what just had happened seemed to sink in. Stephan knew something was wrong by the look in her eyes. He didn't know what to say so he just pulled her into a hug and wispered an apology in her ear over and over again. He had never met anyone so beautiful and so strong and yet so fragile. He had never met someone so brave and yet so scared. He just held her as she started to cry. He knew if they would not fall in love that they would be good friends. And he made a vow to himself and to Amy that he would help her no matter what. He didn't know that the vow he just made would lead to death. A strange looking owl was circling the castle waiting for the percise moment to dive. It waited for the other birds to head into the window. It sat perched on a limb of an extreamly old oak tree that over looked the lake. It seemd to be dead, but when the first few birds flew into the Great Hall, it perked up and jumped off the tree, plumting a few feet before regaining itself and flying towards the window. It flew in and looked around. The thing was tired and landing wouldn't be very good but it had to land anyways and so it picked a bowl of pudding to fall into. "URGH!" A few people yelled as they were showered with the choclate thick and creamy sweet. A boy grabbed the owl and dislodged it from the messy substance and untied the letter from it leg. "Oh shit!" Said the black haired boy as he slowly slid the letter open. His two friends moved closer to him as he read the letter. The girl sprang into tears and the red head seemed confused as anything. "She got out. She is alive." Harry kept muttering. "Come on lets show it to Dumbledore!" Ron said snatching the letter from Harry and walked up to the high table with Hermione and Harry scrambling after him. Amy fell asleep right away to the sounds of the engine below and the waves above. Her dreams were plauged problems and no solutions. That is if you would call sinking in quick sand or being attacked by a lion a solution. Yet in the morning she was woken by the sound of someone snapping shut a trunk. She opened her eyes just a little to see what was going on. It was Stephan but he was getting dressed. Amy noticed that he had a lot more mucles then she realized. She wanted to scream. Why was she thinking about him? Why was she thinking of Harry? Why was she feeling guilty for kissing Steph? Her and Harry weren't an item. She was annoyed with herself and she turned her back to Steph. That morning Amy helped out with the deck chores, such as scraping salt of the deck planks. This wasn't very fun for Amy or her back. Then it was off to cleaning the fish which Amy was disgusted by. So by the time Amy finished, she was happy she didn't want to be a sailor. "Amy we need to talk." He said as she sat down the bench. "About what?" "Just now?" Dumbledore asked curiously. "Yes, the owl just flew in!" Hermione exclaimed as the four of them sat in Dumbledore's office. "I'll show it to the Ministry. I doubt they'll do anything though." "So is anyone going to help her?" Harry asked. "I'm afraid we cant there is no way to find her." Back in the Ministry, Fudge was angrier than a bull. James sat in a chair and shook his head at what he was hearing. "We cant find her! There are no clues! No leads! Not anything!" Fudge yelled at the top of his lungs. James didn't say anything. He just shook his head. She was gone and he had to just admit it. "Whats happening to the letter?" Ron asked. "I'll send it to the Ministry. But there is no way that she would be able to know where it is. I'm guessing its just a prank by Voldemort." Dumbledore said. "Now off to class." "James listen. Just go back home. Take the day off and tell your mum that you should start planning the funeral." Fudge said more calmly putting a hand on James' shoulder. And so with that the whole world gave up on ever finding Amy Strider, the brown haired girl who had made so many people laugh, and now at her funeral that would be held during the Easter Holiday, she would make so many people cry. And without knowing it, Amy was alone to fight for her life, except for those few who knew she was alive. But they could only do so much. Again she would be asking for a miracle to save her. It was their third day at sea, and Amy felt like she was finally leaving the torment of being chased down by Death Eaters. There hadn't been any news of any new attacks in the newspaper, and Amy was begining to think that the Ministry might have a good hold on Voldemort thanks to her letter.

Steph and her had become quick friends and he was helping her plot on a map where Alex might be if he was alive. Amy knew she would have to find him and bring him justice. It wasn't his fault he had died or was roped into the Dark Side. She told Steph all about her adventures at Hogwarts and her friends and her enemies. He was amazed on how much trouble four people could make in one year, let alone five. The sun rose around five thirty and the black water became blue. Amy was up lying in the comfy blankets all nice and warm. She watched the fish scurry by and slowly she yawned and got dressed in a red sweater, kaki colored pants, and a black jacket. She went into the small kitchen and dining room and began to prepare bacon and eggs for the rest of the crew. She savored the aroma wafting from the pan. She didn't know if this would be the last time she ate, so why not enjoy it? Steph walked in wearing his pajamas. He sat down on the table and propped his feet on the table. "Smells good." He said sniffing the air. "Wow. Your making it the muggle way. I'm impressed." "Dont be. I wasn't trying to impress you." Amy said, shoveling the food onto a plate and setting it front of Steph. He put his feet down and peirced the eggs with his fork and took a bite. He nodded at her in a reasuring way and continued to eat. Amy too, digged in and they were finished by the time Peter woke up. The day had gone by quickly and by early afternoon the weather began to cool just slightly and they were so close to land that you could see the people walking, but Peter couldn't dock just yet. Amy and Steph entertained themselves by walking around the deck and talking, but they were just going to go down to dinner when they heard two thumps behind the cabin. Steph pushed Amy inside the hall way. "Oh Peter. Its time we have a little chat." Said one voice. It was low and raspy and Amy froze. She recognized it as the Death Eater who came to Mia's house. She froze against the wall and waited. Steph looked confused as the two men could be heard pacing above them. Amy started to shake with fear. "This is the end." She wispered. Steph grabbed her hand and pulled her into their room. He grabbed her stuff and and a couple blankets and stuffed it in her bag, placing a water resistent charm on the items. "Steph! Their Death Eaters. They're going to kill me-" She whined. "Not if I can help it." He said wrenching a floor board loose. It was stalked full of goodies, such as M&M's, Snickers, Toffes, and other chocolates. But it was also stalked with canned food. "What are you talking about?" She asked him as she watched him stuff the food in her back pack. "Amy its just you and me on this boat right now. Well, and them." He said looking up as he zipped the bag shut. "What are you talking about." She said more urgently. Steph got up and handed her the bag which was suprisingly light. "What I'm saying is that my father had to leave on Ministry buisness. He is a Unspeakable. He was called to the office." Amy shuddered with fear. "And I'm not letting you die. Its my vow I made that first night." "Your going to die if you help me. I'm practicly a death omen. First my brother, then Alex, and who knows who else died because I was some how connected. And then you'll be next." Steph grabbed her face and kissed her lips. "Amy my school was taken over by Voldemort. My dad is always working now, beacuse of Voldemort. The person who tought me to love is being chased by Voldemort, Amy I dont care if I died becuase if I died today, I would know that atleast I got to meet you and to help you, and to love you." He said squeezing her hand slightly. Suddenly the power to the boat stopped and the engine stopped humming and the lights went out putting them in complete darkness. Amy held onto Steph more closely as they retreated into the shadows that the bunk bed made. They heard the heavy footsteps comming down the steps and then the kitchen door being kicked open. "Now's our chance! Come on!" Steph hissed as he walked quietly to the door and opened it slightly. Amy slid through the space and followed him as they crouched as they walked past the open door. The climbed the steps avoiding the creaky one, and went outside into the sunlight. They heard something crash, and the heavy footsteps comming back up. Amy pressed herself against the back wall of the cabin room as they watched the men head back to their brooms and kick off into the air. "What are they doing?" Amy asked suspiciously. "They are leaving!" Steph said. "We're safe we're-" He stopped abruptly as Amy put her hand up to silence him. She listened carefully, there was another sound. It was like a clock- "Oh my god! They put a bomb on the ship! And in the kitchen! Where the propane is!" Amy yelled. Steph had gone pale and starred at Amy. He didn't understand a word she said. Or atleast he didn't want to believe it. But there was no time to dwell on it for Amy was tugging him towards the Port side of the ship. "Steph! We're going to have to jump." She said glancing at the cold water below. "I trust you." Steph said as the climbed over the railing. "Steph listen. Once the intial explosion occurs we are going to jump, beacuse then a fire ball will erupt and by that time we will be in the water. But if we jump now and we are in the water when it explodes we'll most likely drown. You comprehend what I'm saying." She said trying to keep her voice calm. Steph nodded his head and strained his ears. He was shaking like mad now and was saying his final good byes in his head. Amy too, was listening intently, but her final good byes had been said so long ago that she didn't feel the need to say them again. She knew she would surive beacuse she had to survive. Yet she wasn't sure yet what she was going to have to do. Suddenly a loud explousion reached their ears before the felt the boat shudder and were thrown into the water. Their hands got lost and they drifted away from each other as the faught to get deeper and deeper into the water. Amy didn't even feel the coldness of the water. All she concentrated was on staying alive and with her back pack it was becoming harder and harder to just swim. Once she thought that it was safe to go back for air she swam towards the surface, and when her head broke the surface of the water she took in a sweet breath of air. The reckage of the boat span as far she could see, with some wood still burning. "Ste-Steph!" She called out but all that came was a wisper. "Amy! Are you Ok?" He called back to her. Amy swam fanticly towards his voice. She was scared to see what she would find but he was all intact except for a slight scrape on his face. He pulled her onto a shuck of wood and they slowly tried to regain their strength, but cold began to inch through the bodies like poision and hypothermia was setting in fast. Amy's blood retreated to her vital organs, keeping them warm. She had turned gostly white, as did Steph and their lips became a blusish purple. "We have to get to land." She said in a low raspy voice. "Your right. We should start now and maybe we'll-we'll warm up-p-p-p- p." Amy began kicking with her legs and Steph followed her suit and the sped off towards the shore. But it was harder than they thought. Hyporthermia had set in and Steph started to shake. Amy was afraid the first time but told him that they had to keep going or they'd die. Yet Amy couldn't stop the feeling cursing through her body it. She felt her joints get more rigid and just trying to kick wasted all her energy. But somehow in the middle of the night the managed to hit shore and roll onto the sandy beach. But their fight for life wasn't over. Steph was in bad shape and Amy grabbed the dry blankets from her bag and began to warm him with those. She took his wand and made a small fire for him to curl next to, as she would run into the edge of the town looking for someone who would help. She felt afraid to leave Steph there but soon she would be getting worse and there would be no hope for either of them. There was an upside to this situation though. Voldemort would stop searching for Amy also. He too, believed that she could not survive, a city girl in the harsh winter of Russia and an explosion that if she survied it would be thrown into freezing water. So Amy Strider was dead to all people. Now Mia and her family would think she was dead when they get word of the boat exploding for they knew all about where she was going. Steph was shivering inside his wet clothes and the blankets that were repelling water did not do much to keep him warm. He couldn't walk so he pulled himself as close to the fire as he could get with out getting burned and slowly his clothes began to dry but hypothermia was setting in and he was losing consicousness slowly. Back in the outskerts of Murmansk Amy was running down the road searching for something she did not know. The early hours of the day were begining to shine over the hills and it cast the land into a dewy pink color. There was no one who she would think would help. And soon Amy decided that she would have to take care of Steph by herself. She still had plenty of money in case they needed to pay for a doctor and to buy new clothes and food. But that was if he was still alive. She turned around with a heavy heart and headed back to the forest next to the sea, where she had left him. Her footsteps echoed in his head and Steph opened his eyes, which were begining to freeze together. She said his name and he moaned to let her know she was alive. Amy wasn't sure what to do with him, except make him change into warm clothes. So digging through her back pack she found the wad of his clothes he had stuffed in there and told him to change his boxers and then she would help him with the rest. He mumbled which Amy knew was another sign of Hypothermia, and it made her more scared as she turned around so he could change into his dry under clothes. He mumbled something again as he tried to put on his shirt and Amy went over to help him. She pulled it over his head along with a sweaters and then she helped with his jeans. She took one of the blankets and layed it down in the snow and sat him on that and placed the other blanket over his body. "I'm going to change and if you look I'll let you lie in the snow without the blanket." She threatened not exactly meaning what she said. She also changed into fresh clothes in and looked over he shoulder every now and then to make sure he wasn't looking, but he was curled up shivering slightly in the blanket. The sun wasn't completely up yet, but Amy knew that no one would be comming by into the dense forest. She took his wand though and put it in her pocket as she went to lie next to him under the covers to keep him warm. He fell asleep quickly and was out cold nothing seemed to wake him up. Amy too, had fallen asleep but she woke up every now and then to make sure everything was okay and to check Steph's vital signs at the best she could. In the morning Amy had made water appear out of no where with his wand, and had mixed dry milk with the cold water and was now heating the 'instant milk' on the fire. Steph soon woke up and seemed to be much better for he didn't slur his words anymore, but he was still pale and light headed. She handed him the warm milk and he thankfully drank it. She opened a can of fruit and they shared the what was now the most wonderful tasting thing in the world. He reasured her that he was much better and that if he did have Hypothermia it was only mild. They sat close together as they ate and discussed what they would do. Should they wait for his father to come to Murmansk or should they just continue on their way to the port which was going to take her away. "Amy, lets just run away. Me and you. Live in some little house and farm for a living. No one would no we were alive so no one would bother us. What do you say?" Steph asked her, he sounded hopeful. Amy chuckled, "I think not. I couldn't live a lie and be away from my family and my friends. But you can always dream of it." They decided in the end that they would towards the port and Amy would leave on the Muggle Cruise ship. Steph wasn't all to thrilled with the idea but he finally agreed. After she would leave, Steph would head the the Russian Ministry Headquarters in Murmansk, where he would find his dad and explain what had happened. At noon when the weater was warmest the pair packed up and started walking towards the city. "I should've looked." Stephan said angry at himself. Amy bewildered asked, "What are you talking about?" "When you were changing I should have taken a peek." He said playfully. "No you shouldn't have!" Amy said pushing him off the road and into the snow. Harry was wide awake, lying in his four poster bead, looking up at the dark ceiling. The room was filled with Neville's snores at mignight and Ron turned over in his sleep. Harry was thinking again of Amy. Dumbledore had convinced his two best friends that she was dead. And the whole world seemed to think this too. Except for Harry. Now one knew what happened to him after she had gone missing and was pronounced dead. No one knew what happened at night or what he would day dream about. During the day he could hear her voice call out to him from the forest during Care For Magical Creatures classes. He could feel her in Hogwarts. But that wasn't anything to him. What he really wanted to do all day was sleep. The reason for this was becuase at night he would see her. She would be waiting for him when he would fall into dreams and would take his hand and lead him through adventures. He imagined of the things she had seen and done. But tonight was different as he drifted off into his sleep. She wasn't there. And the backround wasn't very nice looking either. It made his dreamself's hair on his neck stick up. He thought he was in Hogwarts, but it looked evil and run down. He headed down the hall which had only one room. He opened it and found something horrifying. Amy was lying on the dark concrete floor pale and lifeless. She was lying face down in cold blood and next to her was Voldemort laughing. Harry tried to fight but was thrown against the wall. And just as Voldemort's wand came up to throw a curse at Harry, Amy's dead lifeless body kicked him and Harry's realself woke up in cold sweat and panting. Amy never really knew why she didn't feel anything when she had to say goodbye to Steph. All she could really remeber was his brown eyes filling with tears and the tight hug they shared before she pulled out the ticket from her bag and walked up to the ship in her new clothes. She made her way to the deck of the cruise ship and waved fanticlly at him as the ship began to tug itself out of the port. She took one good look at him not knowing if she'd ever see him again. Once he was lost amoungst the crowd, Amy headed towards her small room, where she caught up on sleep and energy lost. Once up she felt restless and took a walk around the ship. She felt suddenly alone and wished she had stayed with Steph. And with the prospect of becoming a new person when she would enter Norway. Amber Johnson would be her new name and since there was most likely a Amber Johnson in America there would be no problem she hoped on getting into the country. She felt out of place on the ship and she could feel the other people's eyes on her back as she passed them. Plenty of boys were intrested in her, but she was different than everyone else. And they never saw she with anyone else, so many people thought she was orphaned, which Amy thought was quite right, she was alone without parents and for all she knew they thought she was dead. Voldemort sat behind his desk reading the paper and sipping tea, in an oddly formal way. His closest chums and servents were sitting on the couch or standing next to the wall waiting for an explanation on why they were asked to join him. Voldemort finally folded his paper and placed the cup on the saucer and stood up to join his guests. "I know you are very confused on why I have sent for you." He continued. "I have come to a conclusion, we will take over Hogwarts." "Your Lordship-" One of the men began. "SILENCE!" Voldemort roared. "We will do what I say and I say we take over Hogwarts. We need a strong threshold in another part of the world and Hogwarts will be the first school for the Dark Arts. So Vevlovitch you will come up with a plan and Claich will obtain a map of the school with every detail on it. The rest of you go inform everyone else on the plan. Get Malfoy, Manicar, and Goyle to round up the Death Eaters in Britain. NOW!" He added for no one had moved. Back in the kitchens, the four year old daughter of the head chef was looking after the German Shepard, Zeus. She brushed his coat and listened to the talk of the adults. Her oldersister who was fervishly mixing igredients in a bowl looked concerned. The dog got up and ran through the open door, even with the wailing of his new owner. Amy sat down on a chair and faced the ocean. It was the end to a beautiful day, and every minute Amy was closer and closer to Harry. And every minute Voldemort was closer and closer to a plan. And every minute Steph was closer to his dad. And every minute good verses evil was closer and closer to crashing with a terrible price. Amy breathed a sigh of relief as she exited the port and stepped into the country of Norway. She was greeted by friendly smiles as she left for the bus station next to the port and handed her ticket and boarded the vehicle. She was glad Alex payed for two seats so she would by herself. "He really thought of everything." She said as she looked through her backpack and found copies of the maps incase she lost one. And he had gotten her plenty of money which she had a nasty suspicion that it was his money. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt. She hadn't been able to search for him if he was alive and if he was dead it [i]was[/i] her fault. But her mind had switched off her emotions and she knew that if she wanted to live and survive that she couldn't think of the past nor the future on that matter. All she had to focus on was the present. She must concentrate on what was happening at that exact moment if she wanted to make split second decsions, that were correct. And for the moment she knew that she wouldn't have to think of anyone follwing her, unless the goverment found out that she wasn't really Amber Johnson. So she was not without fear still and there was the ever present loom that she came across a Death Eater but for now all seemed quiet. "What would you like to drink." Said the lady above her. She was pushing a cart stocked with soda's, teas, coffee, beer, and vodka. Amy glanced at her and didn't say anything. "Dear? What would you like to drink." The lady asked again. A sudden fear had come over Amy, and when she spoke her voice shook. "A Coke please." "Alright then. Are you traveling by yourself?" "Eh? Yeah. I'm visiting my cusin." Amy said quickly coming up with a lie. "Well have fun." Said the kind lady as she poured her drink and strolled off pushing that cart. Amy had a funny feeling about this bus and the man she identified as a muggle sitting near the front. Twice she saw him make a reach for his back poket, but she couldn't jump to conclusions. He could be just reaching for gum or a tissue or something. Amy fell asleep and after an hour or so of doozing she was awaken by an angry yell. She bolted up right and quickly tried to find out what had been going on. It took her no longer than a milli second to decide what was unfolding. The man she had been watching was up yelling at the passengers waving a gun around like a cheerleader baton. Amy stood horrified as twice she was able to peer into the barrel of the gun. She sat down and watched as the man stomed to the drivers seat place the gun against the man's ear. He yelled something else and the bus went quiet. Amy froze. She had no clue what was going on and not speaking the language was even worse but just as she was thinking that something happened that made her heart stop and people scream. The man seemed trigger happy and decided to kill the bus driver. Amy felt like throwing up. It was disgusting as the man stopped the bus and opened the door and pushed the driver out of the bus and then he took to the wheel and the bus rambled off. Everyone seemed to scared to do anything and Amy was with them. One he had a gun, and there was no other use for a gun then to kill, they were built to kill, and each year they took to many lives and no one wanted to join the group. Yet something also came over Amy, she realized this man was suicidel. He was going to take as many lives as he could with him, and for Amy this would delay her getting to England. So it was time for drastic action. She had learned magic with out a wand and she was going to use this knowlage. She slumped in her seat and wispered the latin words for fully body bind. Amy saw the man freeze and now it was time to save all their lives. She ran foward to the drivers side and pushed the man out of the seat and took the wheel. Sure she knew how to drive an automatic car, but a manual bus? She slammed on the brakes. Breathing deeply she wispered the counter curse but before he had time to move she grabbed his gun and was pointing it at him. "You speak English?" She asked the man while kicking him in the stomach. He coward and mumbled something. He was shkaing with fright at this girl who had did something to his body where he couldn't move. Was she the devil he asked god, but god did not give an answer. "HELLO? DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!" Amy yelled at him again. He hadn't given an answer so Amy kept at it. Then she turned to the lady with the cart who was pinned on a window. She had gone pale except for the few flecks of blood from the driver. "Call your policemen now!" She ordered her and instantly the lady ran to the dispatch and called for help. While Amy sat there gun pointed at the man's head she realized she couldn't be interviewed by the police and put down in records! They might realize she was not Amber. And then how many strange questions would pop up and what if it was printed somewhere and a Death Eater found it? So Amy did something drastic. She took the gun and threw it at the guy three seats behind her and told him not to let him out of his sight. She ran back to her seat grabbed her stuff and kicked open the window hoping that she didn't leave to many finger prints. She jumped out of the bus and ran down the road again not knowing where she was or where she was going. But what she didn't realized was that again something good had come to her again. Something to help her. She was just a mile or two away from the city of Stavanger. Zeus ran harder than he had ever run in his short life, he stopped only when he needed a drink of water. It was getting harder to run for the snow was melting and his paws sunk in the snow. He had eaten very little since he left the castle but that did not matter to him, he was searching for his master. He knew he had to be alive somewhere so Zeus kept searching. He went west, towards Warsaw which Zeus had heard his master lived before. And in a week of running through forests, plains, cities, farms, and mountains, he had crossed the border of Russia and was now sprinting through the heart of Belarus. But at the moment Zeus was now stalking a small white rabbit that was busy munching on the fresh greens of the spring season. Hidden in the dense brush, Zeus waited for what seemed like an eternity, until the rabbit turned its back to the brush and Zeus lept onto it. Flecks of the rabbits blood splashed onto the wet snow and within a matter of seconds the bunny became still and Zeus layed down to his dinner. Amy in the meantime had managed to get out of the country without stirring up suspcion and was also on the run, she had a strange feeling that she had to get to Hogwarts as soon as she could and with her map and her strength she was going to get there. She was still trying to search for Alex, but she was giving up hope on him being alive. But then Amy thought, as she sat down at the base of a tree, that if the world gave up on her so easily, why should she give up on Alex, beacuse who knows he could be alive? Amy took a sip of water from her canteen and slurrped a canned peach into her mouth. She took the map out of her back pocket and plotted where she was. She had become very good at this. She looked up and saw an owl blinking up at her and in her mouth was a letter with hand writting that looked like- "ALEX!" She screamed with delight, causing a few birds in near by trees to take flight in alarm. She snatch the letter from the birds beak and ripped it open. She was extatic as she unfloded the letter and read aloud so the trees could listen too. [I] Dear Amber, I'm not sure if this letter will reach you or not, but I have a strong feeling you are alive at the moment. I have recieved a letter from Stephan and have been in correspondence with him for awhile. As you can tell I am alive and well. I wont write where I am, in case this letter is read by either the Ministry or Voldemort. My wounds are healing nicely and my docter says I will live. I miss you and Zeus dearly. I wonder what they have done to him, or where he is? He will probably be alright, for he is a good dog. Amber just please keep your eyes open and look out for danger. There is plenty of evil lurking everywhere and I have a strange feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. Love sent from, Alex [/I] Amy/Amber re-read the letter and then grabbed a quill and began to scribble as fast she she could. The owl hooted softly above her as his eyes searched the ground for a meal. When she was done she read what she wrote and and made sure she hadn't forgotten anything. [I] Dear Alex, I have recieved your letter, and am happy to say i'm alright too. A little shaken, a little scared, but fine all the same. I'm so glad to hear that you are alright. I have been trying to search for you but on a map it doesn't work out to well. You seriously thought of everything, with the tickets and the money. I'm sure Stephan informed you on our adventures. And thanks to him I am on my last leg of the mission. I'm so close, but I too sense something. I think it might be danger, but i dont think so. Well on the bus there was this mad man and he shot the driver, but I stopped him from killing anyone else with this type of magic i've read about, but then I was afraid about the police and if they would find out about the passport thing so I ran. But that was like the last dangerous thing I've run across, if you dont count this whole plan. Alex can you please try and find out what is going on, for if you and me are feeling something from our sixth sense, something big must be going to happen. Oh, and I sent a letter to Hogwarts but I have not gotten a reply so can you see if they have printed anything in the Daily Prophet? Hugs! See you soon, Amber [/I] She handed it to the owl which clasped it, tightly in its beak and flew off in the gray sky. Amy watched it soar up and away, and once it was out of sight she continued south towards her school, her heart was incredibly lighter for hearing that Alex was alive, but much heavier, in feeling that something was shaking the earth. Back at the Strider House her mother and father were planning for her funeral. They had catologs on everything they would need for decorations and invitations. Her casket color would be a light periwinkle, and guests were asked to fill it with things Amy would like or what they remebered about her. "Mike?" Stacy asked quietly as she she skimmed through the books for an idea on the flowers which she had thought to pick red roses, for Amy was as beautiful and as delicate and yet as strong, as a rose was. "Yes dear?" Her husband replied as she starred towards the ocean, which he had done when Amy was little and would go out to the ocean to play. He had always kept a close eye on her. "Dear, I'm thinking its our fault that-Chris-and Amy are gone?" She said her voice choking and tears falling down her red hot cheeks. Mike Strider turned to his wife for a second and then continued starring back out into the vastness of the powerful sea. He too, had been feeling this but didn't say anything to his wife. Who got the message, and returned to skimming through the books once again. But if they could know their daughter was alright? That she was at the moment racing against time to get to Hogwarts and stop something, she didn't even know was comming. If anyone could know, that Amy Strider would hold back the evil from comming ever so closer with her bare hands. If anyone knew- Zeus ran onto the cobblestoned road and towards the house that was built nearest to the forest. He was just outside of Warsaw, and hot on the scent of Alex. The dog ran as fast as he could and once he reached the door, he scratched franticlly at it. Alex who was inside reading the papers got up and limped to the door his wand slipped in his back pocket. He opened the door a crack and something big pushed its way in and began to howl. Alex couldn't believe his eyes as his beloved dog stood in front of him, booming loud heavy barks. Alex hugged the dog like and old friend. "Nice to see you found me, Derek. Would you like some tea?" "No thank you there is much we need to discuss and we have to find Strider before anything terrible happens to her!" Said a tall sandy blonde haired man, with blue eyes. He looked famished and went to the kitchen as he explained what he had overheard. "-And they are planning to take it over in about a week!" He finished as he munched on a sandwhich while his friend stood in the dining room bewildered. "In less than a week?" He sputtered. "We dont have anytime to find her!" Derek pointed to the owl infront of the window and said, "Write to her and tell her what she needs to expect." "I wish I knew before becuase thats her letter most likely." Reluctantly Alex threw the window open and took the letter from the owl. And hands shaking slightly he opened it and read it aloud.

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