Lost in Darkness

Chapter Seven: Discoveries

Jay watched the girl she had thought was her friend, terrified. She watched "Padma's" face shift from a mirror of Jay's own back to Padma's face. But it didn't stop. From that the face became longer, her nose changed, her eyes.

Jay gasped. She knew that face.

"Mother?"

"That's right," Lady Jessica Katherine Alicia Roberta Eleanor Malfoy Rawson III hissed.

"Get your hands off me!" Jay screamed desperately.

"Why should I do that? The Dark Lord told me of your refusal to join his inner circle."

"Mother, I'm not like you!" Jay screamed desperately. "I'm not even a Slytherin! I'm a Gryffindor! I don't want to be his heir! I don't want Draco to be his heir either, or O'Connell! And I hate Reagan Malfoy- Riddle!"

Her mother dropped her and staggered backwards in shock. This gave Jay a very good advantage. She turned and shoved her mother against the wall.

"You didn't think I'd never use all the training you gave me? You taught me the Unforgivables before I was even old enough to go into school. And you thought I'd obey your every command? Sorry, mother. Battuo!"

Lady Rawson's head slammed backwards into the wall. A small trickle of blood dripped down onto the floor.

"How long have you been posing as the prefects? Who are the others?"

Her mother glared at her with hate obvious in her eyes.

"Ever since the Master acquired the prefects, the same time he killed the Mudblooded Durseley boy. The same time he killed the Abbott girl's fiancée."

Jay shook her head.

"I hate you," she hissed. "Do not ever come near me again."

"Put her down," the voice of one of the other prefects called from the top of the stairs.

It was Terry Boot. Jay knew Terry was the Ravenclaw boy who had been kidnapped. That meant that "Terry" was actually a Death Eater.

"Not a chance, Death Eater," she told him.

"We have wands on you," he said.

His voice was changing already, becoming deeper.

"No!" Jay screamed.

She recognized that voice. It was her father, the Lord Robert Rawson III.

"Jessica Katherine Alicia Roberta Eleanor Rawson, put your mother down!"

"I have no mother!"

"Drop her," another voice commanded.

"Back off," a familiar voice said.

Jay sighed in relief.

"Harry! I'm so glad you got here!"

"Who are you holding by the throat?"

"I'll tell you later."

*Stun them!* she screamed desperately. *Stun them all!*

*~*~*

Harry suppressed his surprise at the fact that Jay was telepathic. Instead he focused on the other Golds around him.

*On the count of three. One. Two. Three!*

"Stupefy!" eleven voices yelled.

(A/N: For all you slow people, those 11 are Bill, Rose, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Parvati, Fred, George, Alex, and Ally.)

The Death Eaters fell to the floor. Parvati ran forward.

"Where's Padma?" she demanded.

"She was this," Jay said contemptuously, kicking her mother's foot. "Polyjuice Potion. All of these. These are the Hogwarts prefects."

"I can't believe we fell for it," Harry said as he shook his head.

"I can," Jay said bitterly. "My parents were actors in the sixties."

"So these are your family?" Ginny said.

"Sadly, yes."

"I thought you were Muggle-born," Hermione said.

"I don't like to talk about my family. If I say I'm Muggle-born, then no one pesters me to know about my family tree. Now what do we do with these?"

"We should really get Professor Dumbledore," Ginny suggested.

"I will," Rose and Harry said at the same time.

They bolted.

"What's up with them?" Jay said quizzically.

"Think about what the Death Eaters have done to their family," Hermione said.

"They were barely able to keep from doing something stronger than a Stunning Spell," Ginny said grimly.

"How do you know that?"

Hermione looked at Ginny. Jay could tell that they were talking to each other by the expressions on their faces, but they'd sealed off the frequency. She couldn't listen.

"We tell her," they said at the same time.

"Settle down, Jay," Ginny told her gently. "This is kind of complicated."

*~*~*

"YOU TOLD HER ABOUT THE ORDER?!?!?!" Rose screeched at her young cousin and sister-in-law.

"She wanted to know," Ginny tried to explain.

"THE ORDER IS COMPLETELY TOP SECRET!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DID NOT HAVE THE PRESENCE OF MIND TO MAKE UP AN EXCUSE!!!"

"Rose!" Hermione yelled. "She's a White!"

Rose quieted down. White was one of the levels of the Order of the Phoenix closer to the bottom. The levels of the actual Order were White, Bronze, Silver and Gold. There were other levels for those still in training. White meant that Jay was just out of training, telepathic but her individual skill not yet fully developed. This would explain how she was exceptionally good at all of her classes but two: Herbology and Potions, two of the hardest.

"She is? Why didn't we feel it before?"

"She only just advanced to White this afternoon. She was Grey before that."

"Mione, I have a little pop quiz," Rose said carefully. She wanted to know where her cousin had found the information about the other levels of the Order. "Recite the levels of the Order in order."

Rose had subtly woven her voice with certain tones that made people very, shall we say, susceptible to requests. In short, mind control.

"Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, black, grey, white, bronze, silver, and gold."

"And Jay started at."

"Somewhere around Green or Blue."

"And where exactly did you learn all of this?"

"From Jay, who learned it from her mother." Hermione realized what she had said. "Cheat!"

"I was not cheating. You would never have told me otherwise."

Hermione scowled, realizing Rose was right.

Rose looked over at the Ministry officials who were currently arresting the Death Eaters. One of the officials hurried over to Jay and started talking to her. Rose perked up her ears.

"Do you know who these people are?" he was asking Jay.

"Exactly. Lord Robert Rawson III, his wife, Lady Jessica Rawson III, and their daughter, Kerry Rawson. Kerry Rawson is twenty-."

The man took out a notepad and jotted down the names.

"And what is your name?"

"Jessica Rawson."

The man paused.

"Then are you any relation to Lord Robert Rawson and Lady Jessica Rawson?"

"Yes," she said coolly. "I am their daughter."

The man jogged over to another Ministry official. He told him something, and they both went back to Jay.

"Miss, we need to ask you a few questions about.well, about a few things."

Rose's finely tuned telepathic skills figured out exactly what. Her blood pumped hot and her eyes sparked purple. She stepped forward and put her arm on Jay's shoulder.

"Excuse me," she said coldly. "Where are you taking Jay?"

"With us," the first man said. He seemed like the young, arrogant type. "She's from a generational family. She's old enough to be in his inner circle, even."

Rose stepped forward. The man noticed her scar and how her eyes were glowing violet fire. Rose felt her scar getting warm, too. It did sometimes when she was very mad.

"Listen, buddy," she snarled. "Jay would not harm a soul. Is it her fault she comes from a family that sucks? No, it is not. Understand?"

The man nodded. Rose layered her voice again.

"Now turn around and go back to your superiors. Tell them that Jay is perfectly innocent and that you have the names of the Death Eaters."

The man nodded again. He and his pal scuttled off.

"Thanks, Rose," Jay said gratefully.

"No problem, Jay. Now, I have a question for you. Voldemort raised you to White, didn't he?"

Jay's shoulders sagged.

"Yes, and I do know what that means. My power has already begun to develop, so I feel stronger thoughts and emotions." She smiled sadly. "I'm empathic, you see."

Rose instantly felt sorry for her. One of the hardest but the most common power was empathy. Empaths experienced terrible migraines and were extremely weak for quite a while when the power was first developing. It also made you very susceptible to suggestions and disease. She changed the subject.

"Jay, we've found out something else about you. You need to be watched."

"I knew that was coming."

"Parvati is going to put wards around your bed every night. She's switched beds so she is right next to you. Parvati's very good at wards; not much should get through. Does that sound good?"

"For now."

There was a loud pop from someone Disapparating. Jay winced slightly. Rose rested a cool hand on her shoulder and brought down the level of her headache.

"You should go take a nap," she suggested. "It helps a lot."

Jay looked at her with childlike interest.

"You're empathic, too? Do the headaches go away?"

"Actually, I'm multi-talented; basically meaning Harry and I are both freakish abnormalities with all the powers. And yes, they do go away, but you have to be Silver first."

"That's two levels!"

"That's why naps are good. But make sure to take a dreamless sleep potion. Recent Whites have a tendency to have really horrible dreams."

"Sure," Jay said gratefully.

Rose guided her back to her room.

*~*~*

Jay lay curled up in a ball on her bed, her fingers pressed hard to her temples. Why, oh why couldn't she have been a healer or something nice like that? Why empathy? Oh, she hated the Dark Lord, absolutely hated him.

She had only pretended to take the dreamless sleep potion Rose had given her. She wanted those dreams. She wanted to see one, just one. She was curious.

She hadn't yet been told about the group dreaming issue.

Jay pulled out her wand and cast the wards before falling asleep.

She was sitting in a clearing of trees. The Hogwarts prefects sat on the other side of it. They looked ragged and bloody.

A Death Eater suddenly appeared right in front of her. He was holding a wand, pointed right at her.

"Where is the Mudblood girl?" he hissed.

"I don't know who you are talking about," Jay replied.

She sounded defiant, though she didn't know why.

"Where's the boy, Reagan?"

"I don't know any boys named Reagan."

"Crucio!" he yelled.

Jay felt like thousands of knives were pressing on her skin. She screamed and writhed on the ground. She tried her hardest to resist, but the pain was too terrible.

"Hogsmeade!" she cried. "They're in Hogsmeade!"

She passed out and woke up at the same time. Rose, Hermione, and Ginny came bursting into the room.

"Jay, you didn't take the potion, did you?" Rose asked angrily.

"I was curious!"

"High-level Phoenix Order dreams aren't just little things your brain makes up! They're predictions! And all the other Phoenixes White or above within a hundred-mile radius see it, too!"

"So you saw it?"

"Yes, I did."

She reached up and scratched her arm.

"And we are being summoned AGAIN."

Jay felt a slight itchy tingle in her right upper arm, where Voldemort had burned the Phoenix tattoo in, right above the Dark Mark. She rolled up her sleeve. The white phoenix was shining with a faint pinkish glow where its heart would be.

"Hey, you get to meet the highest levels of the Order," Hermione said. "You already know most of them."

"I don't think so."

"They're mostly professors."

"Come on, we need to go!" Rose said.

They ran for the site that they always Apparated from.

*~*~*

"Stupid, stupid High Phoenixes!" Rose complained bitterly.

They had just come back from their Summons. The High Level Phoenixes had ruled that Rose, Sirius, Bill, James and Lily had to move to Hogwarts to keep a closer eye on things. For the rest of the year.

"Come on, Rose, it's not that bad," Bill said in a lame attempt to comfort his raging wife.

"Yes it is! This is completely ruining my hopes for a job!"

"Why? You don't need a job in Hogsmeade."

"Bill, the job testing for the Firebolt Company was almost a sure thing! Now I can't even step outside to empty the trash unless I have at least three people with me!"

"You can get a job teaching. Sub for Lupin and Snape."

"Sure. Father subs for Lupin and I sub for him. Yeah, right. I may be good at Potions, but I have no desire to get fume poisoning."

Fume poisoning was a disease strictly experienced by Potions Masters, Mistresses, and teachers. It was caused by inhaling large amounts of potion fumes. Very unpleasant disease. The body was literally eaten from the inside.

"Neither do I. Sub for Lupin and Snape stays in his class."

"They wouldn't pay me."

"That can be changed."

"We need another income. Yours isn't enough for both us and the twins."

"Get a job at the school again. Dumbledore says he's bringing back a few old classes that I think you have some experience in."

"What?"

He grinned.

"Snape is teaching part of one, but the job requires two teachers. Personal Hygiene."

"Want to make a bet on how many students charm his hair clean?"

"The other class also needs two teachers. One is Lupin."

"They're bringing back Dueling?! Yes!"

*~*~*

"Look! Harry! They're bringing back the Dueling Club!"

Harry jumped over the over students in order to see the board. Sure enough, there would be a Dueling Class at eight in the Great Hall.

"Who's teaching?" Ginny asked.

"I know Lupin is," Ron said.

"But there has to be another teacher."

"We'll see."

Four came around quickly. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all went. Lupin was already there. The other teacher was not.

"Welcome to our new Dueling Class," Professor Lupin welcomed. "This will be quite different from your previous Dueling Club. You will be taught ways to use defensive and offensive magic with and without a wand."

That got everyone's attention. Lupin continued.

"I'm sure you've all done some forms of wandless magic, mostly when you were quite young. A cookie flying into your hand, a shattered window when you were angry. What most people don't know is that such 'formless' magic can be directed."

There was a sudden screech of heels as Rose slid into the Great Hall. She threw her cloak onto a chair and ran to join Lupin.

"Sorry I'm late," she muttered.

"It's okay," Lupin stammered back. Aloud he said, "Please welcome Professor Weasly-Potter. Those of you that were here in fifth year will recall that she was our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Yes, I know she used to be Professor Potter."

There was tremendous applause from all houses but Slytherin, who booed.

"Professor Weasly-Potter has agreed to demonstrate a simple wandless defense charm."

They backed up about ten paces each and bowed to each other. Lupin pointed his wand at her.

"Battuo!"

The spell came speeding towards Rose. Rose threw up her hands, palm outwards, and threw them quickly to the left. The spell rebounded off some invisible shield and hit the wall just over Lupin's right shoulder. The students clapped politely.

"That is what is called a 'reflex spell.' Professor Weasly-Potter threw up her palms and pointed them towards the Boxer's Curse I cast, and her magic sensed the danger and made a shield. Usually a spell bouncing off a shield like that would backfire on the caster, but Professor Weasly-Potter pushed the spell up and over a bit. Try it yourselves. Simple spells only!" he warned. "If I hear anything stronger than the Boxer's Curse the caster will have detention for a month!"

The Golds made sure not to pair up with a Slytherin, instead pairing with each other. Ginny went with Hermione, Harry went with Ron, and Seamus went with Parvati. They each deflected the spells but Seamus, who got hit with the Boxer's Curse and got a bloody nose.

"That was a fun lesson," Ginny said cheerfully.

"Whatever you say," Seamus said.

He was dabbing at his nose with a tissue. Hermione reached up and touched his nose. The bleeding stopped.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"When's the Winter Ball?"

"Christmas Eve, dummy."

"Shut up, Dean."

"Don't be a prat, Seamus."

"I'm a prat?"

"Both of you shut up!"

They did. Hermione was very good at shutting them up.

"So who do you think the Slytherins are going to replace O'Connell and Durseley with?" Harry said.

"No idea."

"We need a new player, too. Two, actually. One Beater and a Chaser. Charlie Johnson and Danny Johnstone didn't start the year. Their parents are too paranoid; they think Hogwarts is going to be attacked by Death Eaters. Any suggestions?"

Everyone looked at Jay.

"What, me?" she asked, pointing at herself. "Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no."

"Didn't you say you played on Krum's team?"

"He may be a nasty, cheating son of a bitch," Hermione said, "but he's a really good Quidditch player. He taught me."

"All right, all right, I'll play for you people," Jay said.

"Chaser or Beater?"

"I was Chaser on my old team."

"Then Chaser it is."

"Who for Beater?"

"Excuse me, but I have an idea," Jay admitted. "When I say it, promise not to laugh or interrupt me until I finish."

"Okay."

"Neville." She held up her hand. "You promised. You didn't think I was teaching him only classes did you? I've been teaching him how to play Quidditch. He's an excellent Beater. Please, please give him a chance."

Her companions sighed. Jay was very good at convincing people. Too good.

"He can try out. I'll hold invitation tryouts, just because I don't what the Creevey brothers showing up."

"I agree."

"Who else should we send invitations to?"

"I dunno."

"Ahem!"

"NO, Seamus. No offense, but on the first day of flying lessons, you fell on your ass."

"It wasn't my ass. It was my back."

"Right."

"Oh, just send invites to the whole house."

"NOT the Creeveys."

"Speaking of Creeveys-"

They heard the telltale click of a camera shutter.

"-they're right behind us."

"Oh, no," Harry groaned.

*Okay. Pretend you don't see or hear them, and quickly but casually walk back to the prefect house.*

*Wow, thanks, Mione. What's the Invisibility Spell you use to wander around and spy with?*

*I won't say.*

*Hermione!*

*Oh, fine. The Invisibility spell is Imkiliarus.*

*Imkiliarus!*

Harry disappeared. The Creevey brothers looked very confused and started looking around, as if Harry had Apparated behind them to grab them by the backs of their necks.

When they got back to the prefect house, Harry still had not figured out how to make himself visible again.

"Mione, Please, please tell me?"

"Why should I do that when it's so fun to hear your disembodied voice pleading with me?"

"Hermione!"

"Oh, I'd better tell you, else Ginny can't make out with you and she'll go into snog withdrawal."

"Mione!" Ginny protested.

Her cheeks were bright red. Harry's probably were, too, except you couldn't see them.

"Okay. It's Ilikmiarus."

"Ilikmiarus!"

Harry shimmered into view. Hermione's guess had been right. He was bright red.

"That was so funny!"

"Was not!"

"Whatever."

They laughed and started on their homework.

*~*~*

The rest of the month was fairly uneventful. Gryffindor won against Hufflepuff later that month, due to their new Chaser and their excellent new Beater, Neville. Several Hufflepuffs had gotten broken noses for underestimating Neville.

"He's really very skilled and smart and quite powerful," Jay had told them. "No one cares about him much, so he doesn't think he's good at anything. That makes him not good in real life. You just need patience."

Apparently, patience was something Jay possessed in abundance. Neville's grades shot up and he had much more confidence. Jay and he walked everywhere together, as they had identical schedules. Jay's grade in Herbology had gone from a D to an A.

Christmas rolled around quickly. Rose kept bringing the twins around to the common room. They were already walking and had been taught several rude names for people, thanks to Fred, George, and Sirius. They were incredibly advanced for their age, now ten months.

Poor Dean wasn't going to the Winter Ball since Padma still hadn't been found. She was under a Shield Charm, which could be broken only by a Rainbow Spell. Unfortunately, Padma was one of the few people who could perform it. The only possible substitutes hadn't been trained, which would take weeks. So Dean would have to sit around in the common room unless one of the other girls decided to go with him.

Danny Anderson was bringing Oliver Wood. She was absolutely thrilled to be engaged to the Keeper for Puddlemere United.

Dean was dawdling in the halls one day after classes, thinking about death, when a ghost flew right through him. She whirled quickly.

"Oh!" she said in a high voice with an Irish accent. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you were there."

She was very pretty, with shoulder-length ringlets that looked like they must have been black in life. Her eyes were very wide, and still a shocking blue even after death, and she was wearing a very fancy medieval gown. There were no signs of stab wounds or rope burns, and she looked about thirty or so.

"Who are you?" he asked curiously.

"I'm Keena. Keena Charlotte Gryffindor Potter."

Dean looked surprised.

"Any relation to Harry Potter?"

She laughed.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I'm his great-grandmother. Obviously I don't mean I'm his grandmother's mother. I'm an ancestor of his."

"You must be Godric Gryffindor's daughter."

"Yes. His youngest."

"It must have been wonderful to be around when Hogwarts was founded."

"It was. There were these two teachers very popular with my older sister and me. We both ended up marrying one. I married Thomas Potter, and my sister married Daniel Weasly."

"Were the other founders interesting?"

"Oh, yes," Keena said eagerly. She seemed not to have met too many people. "All but Slytherin. He was jealous of my father, because my father had the power to speak to all things furred. Slytherin could only talk to snakes, and snakes aren't exactly really helpful things. Mammals are very friendly and will be quite helpful most of the time. So Slytherin heard about when my baby brother was born and he went and killed him and my mother. So my entire family ended up as ghosts because we needed to stay around and avenge his death. Unfortunately, we all failed and he died of natural causes."

Dean accidentally dropped his books.

"You mean the entire Gryffindor family is still floating around Hogwarts?" he croaked.

"Yes. But Father generally hides. Mother stays with him, and my sister Harriet is obsessed with the library. I jump out of walls and scare people; lovely things like that."

"You don't seem to do that too much. If anyone had seen the daughter of one of the founders they would tell half the school, if not all."

There was a loud bang and a cackle somewhere down the hallway.

"Peeves," Keena said. She leaned close to Dean and whispered in his ear. "Tell Rose that Keena and Harriet say hi."

And she jumped through the wall. Dean gathered his books and ran before he bumped into Peeves.

*~*~*

The Winter Ball was the next day. Dean had decided he was going to mope in his room. The girls decided to cheer him up a bit and persuaded Lavender Brown, who had no date, to ask him. He was quite grateful and accepted. Lavender wore Padma's outfit, the one they had picked at Halloween.

"I think we should all match," Hermione said. "We almost always do and it looks nice."

"Sure," Alex said. "Ally and I can do hair."

"Sure!"

Alex and Ally twisted the girls' hair into buns in the middle of their heads. There were a few strands of hair left out to dangle on the shoulders. It looked nice, as the shirts were strapless.

"Jay, you have such good taste in clothes," Ginny said admiringly.

"I think the colors work out," Jay said.

"They're perfect," Hermione told her.

"Thanks, Mione."

Jay stared at her glittering red nails, the same color as her tank top. She was nervous for some reason. She wasn't sure whether to trust her sense or not. All her senses had been acting up since she became White.

"Ready?" Lavender said.

"Ready!"

They had arranged to meet the boys in the Great Hall.

"Let's go!"

All seven girls swung down the stairs and ran into the Great Hall. It was covered in the traditional decorations. The Christmas trees nearly brushed the ceiling. There were tables for four spread out along the edges of the Hall. They looked as if they were made of ice.

"Where are the boys?" Ginny said as she scanned the room.

"Over there," Hermione said, pointing.

There was an unusually large table that could seat sixteen. (A/N: For you slow people, they are Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, Ally and George, Alex and Fred, Neville and Jay, Lavender and Dean, and Seamus and Parvati.)

"You should have seen McGonagall's face when Fred tried to 'quietly' push four tables together," Ron said, laughing.

Jay smiled, but knew she was pale. She leaned heavily on the table as she sat down. Neville noticed. Such a nice guy.

"Jay, anything wrong?' he asked her.

"Nothing," she lied. "Just a little tired."

"The teachers have been unusually cruel lately," Ron commented.

"The N.E.W.T.s are coming up," Hermione said. "We need to be prepared."

"Prepared does not mean worked to death," Seamus commented.

"I have been staying up until one in the morning lately," Dean said. "How about you, Jay?"

"Um, not that late," she fibbed again.

"Lucky."

Everyone picked up their menus and ordered. Jay got a salad, but didn't eat more than about two leaves. The rest she pushed around her plate so it looked like she'd eaten more. No one noticed.

Music began to play, Muggle again. Neville was eager to dance after his success at the Halloween Ball, but Jay felt a little dizzy. They went into the garden instead.

There were ice benches charmed to feel warm and they were under a huge glass dome constructed just for the event. It was about seventy degrees Fahrenheit, so they were quite warm.

"Jay, something's wrong," Neville said. "I know you say you're just tired, but it's more than that."

She sighed and sat down onto a bench.

"Kerry and my parents escaped from Azkaban."

"Oh, no."

Jay felt something like a bubble swelling up inside of her, inflating and inflating until it popped.

She hugged Neville and started sobbing on his shoulder.

"And plus there's all the work we have and Snape's been picking on me and my grades are dropping and the Slytherins have been beating me up again," she cried hysterically. "I can't take it! Durmstrang was almost worse!"

Neville awkwardly patted his sobbing girlfriend on the back. Jay knew he could feel the bones poking out.

"Jay, why didn't you tell me any of this?" he asked quietly.

"I didn't want to worry you. Ever since your gram got sick, you've been really stressed."

He pulled away.

"How could you tell?"

"I just could," she said irritably.

The room started to sway a little. She put her hand on the bench and steadied herself.

"Whoa, Jay. You need to get back to the common rooms. You're completely exhausted."

Jay didn't fight as Neville helped her up the stairs. She didn't even make it to her dorm. She passed out somewhere in between the garden and the common room. She vaguely felt herself being lifted, carried, laid into bed, and felt Neville kiss her gently on the forehead. She tried to thank him, but her voice didn't work. She dropped off immediately after he left.

*~*~*

George and Ally were furiously making out behind the bushes. They knew they weren't the only ones, too. Alex and Fred had disappeared behind some bushes a few minutes ago.

"George, I will love you forever," Ally said between kisses.

"And I will love you just as much," George said back.

They leaned away, but continued holding hands. George took a small breath.

"There's something I want to ask you."

Ally looked up at him, hardly daring to believe it.

"I've wanted to for a long time, but I didn't really have the nerve. Neville's little speech about Gryffindors being brave is what inspired me."

He took a small velvet box from his pocket and went down on one knee. He popped the lid of the box, revealing a single gold ring, encrusted with diamonds.

"Alice Summer Bernard, will you marry me?"

Ally didn't answer for a moment, then pulled him up and hugged him.

"Yes! Yes! Of course I will!"

He slid the ring onto her finger and they kissed again.

*~*~*

Behind the bushes, things between Alex and Fred were really heating up.

"I swear that I would rather die than be without you," Alex said as they passionately kissed.

"I love you, Alexa Autumn Bernard."

She increased the pressure a bit. Fred went for the tie on her tank top. She started to unzip his pants.

They didn't know how big of a mistake they were making.