'Can you help me or not?' the man asked him, his eyes in Dumbledore's eyes.

'Will you stop assisting Voldemort?'

'I can't,' the man leaned back in his chair with a sigh. 'If 'I could, I would but the Dark Lord will have my head for it.'

Dumbledore nodded slowly.

'So?' the man looked up, 'Will you help me?'

Dumbledore took off his glasses and cleaned them with the hem of his robe, 'Can I trust them, Daphne and Astoria?'

'One hundred percent. You can always rely on Daph and well, you know about Tori.'

'Alright. Contact me when they are ready.'

The fire in the fireplace lit up and a man of tall stature came out of it. He brushed the soot off his cloak with a scowl which turned to a smile as soon as he saw Daphne and Tori.

'Daph!' he hugged her and Tori, 'Tori!'

'Uncle Dex,' Daphne smiled. 'I was wondering why you hadn't come to meet us.'

'I was busy, my child.'

They sat down on the couch, 'Tori,' Uncle Dex called her. 'Can I have a glass of water?'

She nodded with an eager smile and rushed to the kitchen.

'I heard about Hercules and Tori,' he said. 'How have things been?'

'Well, mother and father are very happy with Hercules. Not so much with Tori and me.'

'Your father wasn't always like that.'

'But this is how he is now,' she snapped. She was not about to listen to a justification for her father's crimes.

'Yes, yes,' he nodded. 'I actually came here to talk to you about-'

'Hang on,' Daphne interrupted. 'What's taking Tori so long?'

She rushed to the kitchen and Uncle Dex followed her. They stopped outside the kitchen door. Daphne could hear coughs from inside, she hastily opened the door and stormed inside. Tori was lying on the floor with her back against the wall. Trotting over the broken pieces of glass and wet floor, Daphne and Uncle Dex made it beside her. Daphne took her in her arms and patted her back soothingly. 'It's alright,' she would mutter, 'You'll be alright.' But there were tears on her cheeks just as there were on Tori.

There was blood on Tori's face as well as Daphne's hands. The coughing was dying down. She lay down silently in Daphne's lap.

'Come on,' she lifted her, and Uncle Dex gave her a hand. 'Let's take you to your room.'

'Watch over the glass,' they made it to Tori's room and laid her down on the bed. Daphne cleaned her face with a towel. Tori was already drowsy. With her eyes dripping, she fell asleep.

Daphne and Uncle Dex came out and sat down on the staircase. They sat in a moment of silence.

'I actually came here to discuss something important,' Uncle Dex said, shattering the silence.

'About?' Daphne asked without sparing him a glance.

'You need to leave this place,' he said.

'What?'

'Your parents have turned abusive. If it goes this way, they will get you married to some snotty pureblood the moment you turn seventeen.'

'But how do you know-'

'My brother talks to me, you know.'

'So,' she looked up with her eyes, 'You will take us in?'

He shook his head, 'That's too risky.'

Daphne's eyes widened, 'So, where will we go? I am not going to my mother's-'

'You are not going to them, either. Your headmaster has agreed to help us. He will take care of you and Astoria.'

'Dumbledore? You went to him?'

'A war is coming, Daph. Dumbledore is the best chance we have. He won't let harm come your way.'

'Is it necessary?'

'Absolutely.'

She stood up and traced the banister of the staircase, looking up at the chandelier that hung low, unlit. 'No,' she said and turned to him.

'No?' he asked, aghast. 'That's your answer?'

'Yes,' she said, trying to nod firmly, 'It is.'

'Daphne, do you like the abuse on your sister and you?' he stood up and kept a hand on her shoulder.

'It's not that. I can't just leave this all and...and associate with the l...light.'

'So, you want to become a Death Easter?'

'No. No, I just want to-'

'The last time we tried to remain neutral, our sister was killed,' he told her. 'The light shall help you.'

'Killed your sister?'

'I don't want to go into details,' he held up a hand. 'Do you know that the cruciatus helps with the curse spreading inside her body?'

She gasped, taking support of the banister beside her.

'Yes. Dumbledore has promised to help us with Tori's situation.'

'He has?'

He nodded and warmth lit like a lamp in Daphne's heart. But she burnt it out the next moment. Expectations only cause more pain.

'The light will help you,' he told her. 'Ones who remain neutral in a battle end up losing more than the ones in battle.'

He turned around and walked down the staircase. Midway, he stopped and looked up at her, 'You have three days to decide.'

He was gone and Daphne dropped to the stairs. She could go. If it helped Tori, she would do anything. Even support Dumbledore, but would this be the right thing? Would Dumbledore help a Slytherin? A man who can't even bear Slytherin winning the House Cup will help her? But if Tori had even a chance...

She stood up and just as she did, the chandelier lit up over her head. Daphne under the spotlight, it lit the whole staircase.

Her parents were back.

She went down the stairs. They carried a man with them. He was handcuffed and his long and greasy hair hung over his face. They carried him with their wands. His clothes were battered, and Daphne did not see any use in him wearing the rag he wore. She could see every bone protruding out of his body. His chest was nothing but a ribcage with a single sheet of flesh. Daphne wondered when was the last time the man had a proper meal. A groan escaped his lips and Daphne peered closer.

'Who-who is he?' she asked her parents, her eyes wide.

'None of your concerns, go to your room, Daphne,' mother replied.

'But-but-'

'I said, go to your room.'

With the fierce glare aimed at her, Daphne turned around to go to Tori's room.

'H..Help,' she only heard his faint voice but heard nonetheless. But an ear-splitting voice occupied the room for a split moment. The man was writhing on the floor with pain and father stood over him.

'Father-'

'Wasn't I clear?' Mother's voice echoed over the man's screams. 'Leave.'

A chill went down her spine and she rushed back to Tori's room. She closed the door and rested her head against it.

'What was that?' she looked behind. Tori was awake and reaching out for her book from the nightstand.

'Mother and Father have a prisoner.'

'A prisoner? He must be Voldemort's.'

'Yes,' Daphne nodded, 'I can't believe this...'

'Are they going to torture him every day like this?'

'Only god knows.'

'Uncle Dex?' Tori asked, closing her book. 'He left?'

Daphne nodded. She wondered if she should tell Tori about his offer. She decided against it, they were not going anywhere anyway. No use telling her. A scream came from downstairs. It echoed around the whole house, Tori flinched in her bed.

'This has gone as worse as it can go,' Tori said and kept the book aside. She looked at Daphne, 'I have to tell you something.' Daphne nodded and she continued, 'I was reading this book from our library about the curse. I couldn't find anything useful except the cruciatus curse- it strengthens it. It will kill me faster.'

Her face was straight and expressionless. As another scream came, Daphne debated again if she should tell Tori about the offer. Eventually, she decided that she should. She told her everything, about Dumbledore's offer and how he had offered to help with her situation.

'I don't think Dumbledore can do anything about it,' Tori said.

The next day, her father left early for work and mother left for her pureblood tea party. 'Do not go near the dungeon,' she had warned her with a raised wand. Daphne had nodded her head nonchalantly. Astoria had not woken up then. Around midday, Daphne went to the broom shed. She could do with some flying. She pulled the rusty door and opened the door with all her force. It creaked open and Daphne went in and came out with her nimbus. The sky was clear, with white clouds dotting some parts. Right behind the broom shed, in a closed room was the entrance to the dungeon. Daphne was not going in there.

She sat on the broom and launched into the sky. She was no good at quidditch but she liked flying. She went around the grounds and hovered over Tori's window. She knocked at it. Tori did not wake up. She continued doing so. Tori's annoyed face looked out of her blanket and said something.

'Can't hear you,' she continued knocking. Finally, Tori slid out of the bed and opened the window, 'What is it?'

'Wake up and come downstairs.'

'I am going back to sleep- don't disturb me.'

'Come on,' Daphne held her hand. 'Look at the time.'

But she let go of her hand and crashed on her bed again. Daphne went flying again. After half an hour or one, she landed near the broom shed and kept her broom inside. She stopped by the dungeon. The door was slightly open. It wouldn't hurt to look, she told herself. She pushed the door open. Inside was another door of steel. It was locked but the key was hung on the right wall. Daphne took it and slowly opened the door. Stairs went into the dungeons. Daphne descended. It was all dark except one light.

A man was tied beside a burning fireplace. Two chains hung from the wall and held his hands. His face was downcast, he looked worse than the previous night. There was blood all over his rag. At the sound of footsteps, he looked up. His eyes wide, he took a step back on his knees. The man must have been thirty-five, Daphne guessed. He had dark hair and black eyes with a big scar on his right cheek. 'Don't...' he muttered, 'Please don't.'

'It's alright,' Daphne stepped closer. 'You're fine.'

'Don't, not-not close.'

'Okay,' Daphne held up her hands. 'Just tell me who you are?'

He did not say anything, his hair hung over his eyes and his knees trembled.

'What do my parents want with you?'

No answer, he kept looking at the floor and Daphne wondered if he had gone unconscious.

'Do you work for Dumbledore?'

The man looked up again but did not say anything.

'Do you?'

But he did not say anything. 'Okay, okay. Do you want anything? Can I get you some water?'

His eyes widened and he gulped down her words before he said, 'Watah.. Water.'

'I will get it,' she rushed back up and went to the kitchen. Bracky was working there.

'What are you doing, Mistress?' she asked her. 'You can't go to the dungeons.'

'No harm in giving a man some water.'

'But-'

She ignored her and filled up a bottle with water.

'No- don't come-'

'It's alright,' Daphne walked towards him, step by step. 'I won't hurt you.'

Finally, when she was close enough, she held up the open bottle to his mouth. The man gulped down the seven-fifty milliliter water in the bottle in one gulp. 'Tha..thank you,' he croaked out.

'It's alright.'

Daphne heard footsteps. When she looked up, it was only Tori.

'Who? No-No...'

'It's alright,' Daphne said to the man. 'She won't hurt you.'

'Daphne,' Tori said to her. 'Bracky has gone crazy, what-'

She looked at the man in chains and stopped herself.

'Did our parents do this?'

'Yes.'

They fed the man some sandwiches. Needless to say, when her parents came back, Bracky told them everything. And again, needless to say, they were punished with the cruicatus. Next two days, Daphne and Tori fed the man again but made sure the elves did not catch them this time. The man still had not disclosed any information. He did not trust them and rightfully so, their parents had tortured him. Each day, the torture would get worse with more blood and more screams. 'I haven't told anyone!' Daphne had heard him scream once.

On the second day, when they sat down for dinner, her parents were discussing their Death Eater duties like every day.

'The Dark Lord's orders are clear,' Mother said. 'Kill him.'

Daphne's eyes shot up from her plate, her fork falling to the floor.

'Focus on your food, silly girl.'

'Sorry, mother,' she muttered, matching her wide eyes with a flushed Tori, and picked up her fork.

'Tomorrow,' father replied. 'When I get back to work, we will do it.'

'What do we do?' Tori asked her once they were in her bedroom.

'We release him.'

'But they will kill us,' Tori said, brushing her hair constantly, 'Like skin us alive.'

'We call Uncle Dex.'

'For?' she asked with a tilted head.

'We leave.'

'But-'

'The cruciatus is weakening you,' Daphne interrupted. 'If it stays like this- just, we have to bid our time. If there is any chance Dumbledore can help you, we'll take it. If we don't do anything, we along with our parents will be responsible for a man's death.'

Tori sat back on the bed, eyes silent but then, she nodded, 'Alright, we release him.'

Daphne wrote a nice letter to Uncle Dex.

Uncle,

Let's come straight to the point, I and Tori have decided to leave. We will do as you say. Get us out of here tomorrow by three.

Yours,

Daphne.

When Daphne woke up the next day, she slid her trunk out from under the bed and opened her closet. Taking out cloth by cloth, shirt by shirt, pants by pants, jeans by jeans, and robe by robe, she folded them and put them inside her trunk. She had left one-fourth of the trunk for her school books. She adjusted them there. After rummaging through her room, the drawers, and the closets, and ensuring that she had packed everything, she closed the trunk and locked it with multiple latches on its side. The cricket poster was still plastered over her bed.

'If only I was allowed to do magic outside school,' she muttered to herself, wiping her forehead, 'This would be so much easier.'

She was about to lift the trunk when a crack resounded across the room and she dropped the half-raised trunk on the bed.

'The breakfast is ready, Mistress Daphne,' Bracky, the house elf squeaked. She gouged around the room with her wide eyeballs. 'Are you packing, Mistress?'

Daphne shifted slightly, to cover the trunk. But nothing escaped those large eyes.

'No, I was just-'

'I can help,' she offered, bowing her head slightly.

'No,' she said, firmness laced this time. 'I was just looking for something in my trunk.'

'Okay. I came here to inform-'

'Yes, I will be right down when Tori is ready.'

The house elf looked around one last time before it was gone. Daphne sighed, a bead of sweat had dripped down to her brow. She wiped it off. She couldn't trust the elves. As helpful as they were, they were fiercely loyal to the Master and Mistress of the house.

Daphne lifted the trunk from her bed and pushed it under it. She opened the door and went across to Tori's room. She was still in her bed, her face and a hand stuck out. She read a book.

'How do you feel today?'

'I am great,' she squeezed under her blanket with a bright smile. Daphne gave her a curt smile. 'Did you pack?'

'Yes,' Daphne replied. 'Bracky almost caught me.'

She ducked under Tori's bed and pulled out the trunk.

'I can pack myself,' Tori protested.

'As if you won't leave it to the last minute.'

Tori gave her a flat stare but then grinned and went back to her reading. By the time Daphne had kept in half of her clothes, Tori was asleep again. Trying her best to not scowl at the condition of the clothes kept in Tori's closet, she folded them and kept them inside the trunk. In no time, the trunk was packed. But Tori was asleep. She walked over to her side. Her face was buried under a burrow of dark hair, she smiled slightly in her dreams. Daphne wondered... how long did she have? She stretched out her hand and just as she was about to pull her cheek, her eyes flittered open.

She grinned at him, combing her hair out of her face, 'Come on, Daph. Those two must be gone and I am starving.'

Daphne nodded and they went down the stairs for the breakfast. When their parents had left, Daphne and Tori went to the dungeons. The house elves were doing laundry. The man was there just like every day. His nails had been plucked out and the thumb of his right hand chopped off.

'Tonight,' he told them. 'They are going to kill me.'

'No, they are not,' Daphne replied. She pulled out a key from her pocket and went for the chains.

'They...they will kill you.'

'Don't worry about us,' Tori said to him as one of the chains was unlocked. 'We will be fine.'

Daphne unlocked the chain. He looked at his free hands and twisted his wrists. He looked up at them, 'How can I ever repay you?'

'You don't need to,' Daphne said to him and they carried him upstairs. Daphne pointed to the gate behind the grounds. It was the second gate of the house. 'That one remains open. Just outside the gate is the apparition spot.'

He turned to them and gave them the first smile in three days, 'Thank you.' The scar on his cheek stretched to the corner of his eye. He left.

At the stroke of three, Uncle Dex came out religiously.

'So,' he looked at their trunks. Daphne had ordered the elves to work in the garden outside and brought down the trunks with great difficulty and not much help from Tori. 'You have decided to come with me.'

'Yes,' Daphne groaned and Uncle Dex smiled at her.

'This will be the best decision you will ever take.'

'How will we leave?'

'Apparition.'

They walked outside the manor, to the apparition spot.

Daphne nodded in understanding. They held his hand with one hand and their trunks with the other. With a surge and a sinking feeling in Daphne's stomach, they were gone from the spot. They appeared in a narrow alleyway. A man was standing beside Daphne who fell to the ground. His hair frizzled and face dusty, he stepped back, 'What... Where?'

He stood up and ran away, screaming like a neighing horse.

'Don't worry about it,' a man stood in the alley, 'Muggle addict.'

The man came forward, into the light.

'Professor Snape?'

'Dexter, you can leave now.'

'Now?' Uncle Dex asked, 'Can't I atleast-'

'No,' he replied and turned to the other side. 'No risks.'

'Okay,' he nodded slowly and turned to Daphne and Tori. 'Take care, both of you. You will be safe there.'

With farewells and goodbyes and a last 'I will see you,' he was gone.

'Let's go,' the man said and they both followed him, dragging their trunks. They came out from the alleyway, in the middle of the hustle of London.

Professor Snape turned to the left, his robe waving in the air behind him.

'Where are we going?' Daphne asked but Snape continued walking.

'You work for Dumbledore?'

No response.

Daphne did not try anymore but just drawled the trunk forward, Muggles casting odd looks at Daphne and Tori and their old-fashioned trunks. Trunks, too magical for muggles to understand. After passing by two blocks, Snape turned to the right. He stopped in the middle of the road in a neighborhood that did not look so friendly. The houses had battered doors and some of them had rubbish strewn at the doorsteps. No humans seemed to live here, and the houses looked as if they were frequented by Dementors.

'Where, now?'

Snape opened his palm and handed her a piece of parchment, 'Read it carefully.'

It said:

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve Grimmauld Place, London.

Just as Daphne raised her head and looked up at the houses. There was number ten, number eleven and there it was number twelve. It was not there before. The door looked ancient with grimy windows. The walls seriously needed some painting. Snape took the parchment from Tori who was reading it and set it to fire with a wave of his wand.

'Order of the-'

'Silence,' Snape said and moved to the door to Number twelve. The door was black and had a serpent-shaped knocker. Does this house belong to someone from Slytherin?

Snape opened the door with a tap from his wand. They moved inside.

The house was grimmer than its neighborhood. The hallway was dark and smelled like moth-eaten wood. The house had been abandoned for a long time. Daphne wondered if this was a plot to kill her and Tori.

'Don't we have some light here?'

'I can see perfectly fine,' Snape replied but lit a light with his wand. It lit the gloomy hallway. The posters on the wall were ready to come out. A large number of portraits hung on the wall. All of them were asleep.

Daphne clutched Tori's hand. Snape walked on without any hesitation like an owl.

They stopped at the end of the hallway outside a door.

Snape turned to them. 'You might find it hard to adjust here but this is your only chance.'

His face was expressionless like always. He turned around again and opened the door. In that gloomy and cold house, this room was the exception with warmth and laughter. More than a dozen people sat around a dining table, chattering and laughing. But Daphne stood frozen to the ground. Half of them were Weasleys. And all of them were Gryffindors. The room fell silent for a moment before almost everyone smiled at them and the chatter resumed. A bubbly woman, with red hair and a bright smile, came up to them.

'These are the girls?' she asked Severus but did not wait for an answer as she patted their cheeks affectionately. 'You both must be starving, come on, sit.'

Again, she did not wait for an answer and rushed to the kitchen. Snape motioned to them, and they set their trunks aside and sat down on the table. Daphne's mouth was still half-open. Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were peering at her from the other end of the table. And more surprisingly, Cedric Diggory sat with them. They were whispering among themselves. Perhaps Potter was the only nightmare missing.

'Of course,' Daphne whispered to Tori. 'How could I be this stupid? It's Dumbledore, he would have all his Gryffindors here.'

'It looks like some sort of Anti-Voldemort army,' Tori replied.

They fell silent as Mrs Weasley returned with pancakes on a plate for them. She kept it before them. 'Eat, dears. Don't be shy if you want more.'

She beamed at them and walked back to her kitchen. Daphne was about to open her mouth again but another redhead had come to them. It was the youngest, Ginny Weasley. She grinned at them, 'Hey Astoria, Daphne.'

Daphne smiled with a wave. Another boy came behind them with blonde hair. He was Jason, another of Tori and Ginny's classmates. He waved at them. In moments, Ginny, Astoria, and Jason were in a conversation. Daphne looked around and rolled her eyes. She thought, 'What have I landed myself into?'

'You get used to it,' a man sat beside her. His hair was silky and his face grim. Daphne almost jumped out of her seat.

'Sirius Black?'

'That again,' he groaned. With trembling hands, Daphne took out her wand.

'It's a long story,' he said, running his hand through his hair, 'But I am innocent, alright.'

Daphne's wand fell out of her hand. Everyone in the room was staring at her. She looked at Snape, he nodded curtly at her and motioned her to sit down. Recollecting her breath, she sat down in her seat.

'I'm sorry,' she said to the man, her cheeks red. Everyone just gave a hearty laugh. Sirius Black had a grim face but then, he winked at her, 'I have gotten used to it.'

With twitchy hands, she pocketed her wand again.

'What were you saying? About getting used to it?'

'It takes time to adjust, after running away from home.'

'You too?' Daphne looked at him directly.

He nodded, his lips twitching, 'I was sixteen. In fact, this was the very house I ran away from.'

'This is your house?'

'Well, my parents'. I gave it to Dumbledore, to be of some good use.'

'To be honest,' Daphne began, taking a bite of the pancake, 'Anyone would run away from this house.'

Sirius snorted, 'It was much worse with my 'family' around.'

'So,' Daphne turned to Sirius and looked around the room, 'What is this Order of Phoenix?'

'It's an organisation Dumbledore found in the last Wizarding War to fight Voldemort. He reinstated it just after the third task.'

'So, what are you all doing? Raising an army?'

'That,' he took a sip from a glass of water, 'And spreading awareness about Voldemort.'

'He's lying low.'

Sirius raised an eyebrow, 'Your parents are Death Eaters?'

'Not officially but they serve him. My brother is an official one.'

Sirius stared at her, but he wasn't looking at her. He was thinking about something.

'So, Potter isn't here?'

Sirius looked at her for two more moments before he leaned back in his seat and said, 'He will be here tonight. Around dinner.'

'Where does he live?'

Sirius scowled, 'With his aunt and uncle. Don't know why Dumbledore kept him there. he can live here with me, his godfather.'

'You're his-'

She was interrupted by a crack across the room and the Weasley twins materialised in the room. They laughed among themselves.

'I have told you a hundred times to not do that,' Mrs Weasley yelled at them.

They laughed again and turned to Sirius, 'Sirius likes it.'

'I like your eavesdropping more,' Sirius raised an eyebrow.

'Come on,' they huddled around him. 'You won't tell anyone, won't you?'

'No one,' Sirius raised a finger to his lips. One of the twins- Fred or George turned to her, 'Look, George. We have Daphne, the princess here herself.'

'Shut up, Fred.'

She had been friendly enough with the twins.

'Hello, Tori,' George slung a shoulder around her.

'Hey, George.'

'I didn't know mum was talking about you both,' George said.

'Well, here we are.'

'George, Fred,' Mrs Weasley called them. 'Why don't you show them to their room so that they get settled in?'

'Come, Princess,' Fred said to her and picked up her trunk.

'Stop calling me that.'

George picked up Tori's trunk. They moved towards the door but with a crack, the twins disappeared.

'Come on,' Ginny called them. They moved up the stairs through a door. There were heads of elves decorated like showpieces on a wall.

'That's welcoming,' Tori muttered.

Their room was on the second floor. It was a large room with two beds and a window at the far end. Two portraits had been taken off and kept on the floor. The twins were already there with their trunks.

They left the room alone with Daphne and Tori.

'Well,' Tori said. 'Despite the looks from Potter's friends, it was fine.'

'I just wonder about our parents...'

'They do not deserve any thoughts,' Tori turned to the other side of the bed. 'I am off to take a nap.'

Daphne decided to take a nap too. she woke up with a loud shout from the next room. Someone was shouting in that room.

'I suppose Potter's here,' Tori said.

'Don't know what he is complaining about, it's not like he knows how much harder it is for others.'

'Everyone has their own problems, Daphne,' Tori said.

The shouting died down after a minute.

'It's time for dinner,' Ginny poked in from the door after another two minutes. Daphne nodded, they both changed and moved out of the room.

Harry Potter was standing in the hallway, staring at her.

Author's note: Thank you for reading. CaskettFan5, your point has been noted and I will work on that.