A/N: Finally!!!! Chapter two, now all you NDA girls can STOP PESTERING ME! Here's your stupid chapter, thank lolo for typing it for me cause I am entirely too lazy to do it, plus I had some major writer's block. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own none of the Harry Potter Characters, but the rest are all from moi! The phrase "Woah Skippy!" Came from my friend Sydni. She used to say this whenever I started to talk too fast or got ahead of myself in any explanations. So don't even try to sue me 'cause you won't get nothin but a quarter because I've suspended myself from getting my allowance- long story, ask if you want the whole tale . . .

Chapter2-The Beginning

Lilah turned one final corner and pulled into the parking lot, still laughing at something Hermione had said, but stopped as soon as she pulled into the parking lot. She gasped in horror at what she faced. A parking lot completely empty save Tally's Lexus SUV parked near the mall's entrance.

"What the hell?" she almost screamed.

Danni was balled up in the passenger's sear muttering to herself. "Oh no. Not here. Not now. Please don't let this happen now..."

"What's going on? It's almost noon. The mall should be open and running by now!" Ron yelled from the front seat of his car.

But Lilah wasn't listening. As a matter of fact, she wasn't even in the car anymore. As soon as she had recognized whose car the Lexus was, she had jumped out of the car and ran as fast as she could to see what had happened.

Danni climbed into the driver's seat and drove to the front of the parking lot in silence, Ron and the boys right behind her. When they reached the parked Lexus, everyone got out of the cars and faced each other.

"What's going on?" Seamus asked tentatively. Lilah stared straightened up from the window of the front seat of the Lexus where a tall blonde sat getting ready to get out of the car. When she emerged, Seamus saw that the chick was taller than he expected. In fact, she was almost as tall as he was. He grinned stupidly at her when he realized how pretty she was and she smiled back, flashing pearly white teeth. Out of the passenger's seat climbed a girl of medium height with bright blue eyes, her dark red hair was pulled back into a ponytail that reached halfway down her back and several freckles dotted her small nose and cheeks.

"Um, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Dean, these are my friends Talulah Kaves, Tally for short," Lilah said, pointing at the blonde. "And this is Laurel, Lor for short. Tally, Lor, meet Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas."

"Nice to meet you," said Tally, with a slow southern drawl as she smiled and nodded.

"So, what's going on?" asked Seamus again.

"Well, we don't exactly know, but we have an idea what it could be," Tally said, looking grimly up at the mall building.

"I know exactly what's happening," Danni said in a small voice. "Guys, we've been trying to avoid this for months- years now and we can't avoid it any longer." She cleared her throat and became bolder and stronger visibly. "It is inevitably going to happen so we might as well stand up and face it. This is a war. There is no escaping it. We've got no choice." With that, she reached into her sweatshirt pocket and whipped out a wand, drawing gasps from their foreign friends.

"Woah there, Skippy! Don't you think we should explain what's happening so they don't freak out on us?" said Lor coming from around the Lexus.

"Too late," Ron muttered with wide eyes.

"Wait a minute. You guys are witches?" Hermione asked trying to clarify the situation.

"Well, yeah. Really we're Research Aurors in the American Magic Ministry. Please don't be afraid of us," Danni muttered, looking pointedly at Dean from under a mop of curls.

"Hold on! We're not muggles either! I'm a witch and these four are wizards." Before anyone could even blink, all four girls were in front of the foreigners brandishing their wand tips.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, beginning to get scared.

"IF you're who you say you are, then you already know that there is a war going on between the Dark side and the Light Side and that there are traitors in our midst. That being said, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to show the inside of your left arms. You could be one of 'them', trying to lure us into a trap," Lor said.

"Have you gone mad?" Ron yelled. "Do you have any idea who this is?" he yelled, pointing to Harry. "It's HARRY POTTER! The Boy-Who-Lived!" Harry smiled sheepishly and rocked back and forth on his heels. He was still a little self-conscious about this whole Boy-Who-Lived thing.

"Do you have proof?"

Harry raised his eyebrows at this, but proceeded to brush his hair off his forehead, showing his famed scar to his newfound friends.

"Wow!" said Lilah, lowering her wand. "Isn't that where Voldemort, you know." her voice trailed off at this point. She was unable to find words to explain the horrible thing the Dark Lord had done, he was gone, but it was still a bit scary. Harry was shocked to learn that someone besides Dumbledore and himself wasn't afraid to say Voldemort's name. It was just a name after all. He nodded anyway.

"Does it ever hurt?"

"Sometimes I had dreams and connections with Voldemort, but only when he was feeling particularly murderous or hateful."

Suddenly a scream pierced the air and all heads snapped around to face the entrance to the mall.

"They're in there. I know it," Tally said, sounding very determined. "And I think they have hostages."

"Well, if they do, we have to go in there and fight them back. They will never win this war," Hermione said, staring around at everyone. "We just need to make them realize it."

"Let's go kick some Death Eater ass!" Dean yelled, slapping five with Seamus and watching and Lilah and Danni did some sort of handshake.

"They're not death eaters." Tally said with a serious frown.

"Huh?" Seamus said not comprehending.

"They're not death eaters."

"Oh, okay, I could have sworn she said that those weren't death eaters."

"I did stupid."

"Then what are they?"

"Malefica, you'll see when we get in there, but a word of advice, be on your guard."

"Right then, let's go," Harry said, putting on a serious face. He and Lilah lead the way to the glass double doors and as they opened them, they held their wands at the ready just in case a Maleficus planned a surprise attack. Once they were all inside, Harry stopped but didn't put his wand down. Everything looked normal but the halls in front of them were empty on both sides. The shops all looked like their owners had just started opening when the Malfica had attacked. Some of the shops were still locked, some were open, and still others had the bars only halfway open.

"It's quiet," Ron muttered softly. "Too quiet." Just then they heard the scream again.

"It sounds like a little girl. They're torturing an innocent child!" Lor said, looking scandalized.

"I'm afraid that they would and only find it much more fun that torturing adults," Tally said putting a hand on her shoulder with a sad look on her face. "But we'll save them and end this before they can do too much damage. I hope." She added the last part under her breath.

Again they heard a cry, but this time it was words. "NO! PLEASE! NOT JANE! TAKE ME! I'LL DO ANYTHING!" Came the anguished cry.

"SILENCE!" yelled a very deep-pitched voice, it was graty almost like rocks clashing together underwater. A screaming child's voice followed and then stopped abruptly.

"Oh, Merlin! It's him!" Danni whispered. "Now we have to be extra careful. What ever you do, don't get him angry. He can't kill us, but we still have to be careful."

"What do you mean 'he' can't kill us?" Harry asked, looking interested.

"It's a long, long very old story and I promise I'll tell you if we get out of this alive," Lilah said to him.

"I'd like that," Harry said, smiling a little in spite of the serious situation they were all in at the moment.

"Hate you break up the moment you two, but what are we going to do about our current situation?" Tally asked with a slight smile playing on her lips.

Harry and Lilah blushed, but Lilah recovered quickly and said, "Well, here's what we're going to do. Ron, you go with Harry. Seamus, you go with Dean. Tally, you go with Lor. And Hermione, you can come with Danni and me."

"But what if 'he' thinks he can hurt you. You're girls and defenseless. He'll take that to his advantage," Dean said, sounding a little worried as he hot one nervous glance at Danni and then looking at Lilah again.

"One thing you need to know about Lor, Dean. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT call Lor a helpless girl to her face. She may be tiny, but she's probably got as much strength as you and Seamus combined," Lor said.

"I doubt that," Seamus muttered.

"Oh yeah? Want to try me?" Lor asked, fire flashing in her eyes. "I could take you anytime, anywhere."

"No thanks. Really. I think I'll take a rain check," Seamus said, backing away from Lor a bit.

"Well, we better get going then. We've got people to save, Malefica to beat into a pulp...you know the drill," Tally said, stepping between the two, not wanting to see a cute guy dead. "Now take your partner and get!" she nudged Seamus towards Dean before grabbing Lor's shoulder and yanking her along a deserted corridor to their left.

"Where is she from?" Seamus said, looking after her in awe.

"She lived in Atlanta up until third grade when here family moved out here. We've all been friends ever since," Danni said. "Well, let's take her advice. Lilah, Hermione, let's go!" She led the way down the corridor on their right without looking back. Lilah nodded at the boys, then Hermione and Lilah followed her.

When Lilah looked over at Danni's face, she saw determination etched in every curve of her face and her eyes flashed dangerously. It surprised her because Danni was usually calm and quiet unless she was playing her bass. She never acted this way and she usually hated battling the Echthroi and usually was the first to Apparate to the Ministry with the survivors. Something must have happened to her. Lilah mused. I'll ask her about it later.

They continued down the corridor searching the shops for clues and slowly making their way towards the food court. Once they got there, they gasped and stared in horror at what lay there. People dead and wounded were everywhere, mostly early shoppers and store owners. The girls hadn't seen their cars so they guessed they had parked on the other side of the mall.

"I think I'll need back up in the healing department." Lilah murmured.

"Oh, Merlin!" Danni said, rushing over to a bleeding and crying child. "She only looks about five. How could he do this to someone so young? Doesn't he have a heart?"

"No, he doesn't," Lilah said quietly. "Remember, Harry was only one when Voldemort tried to kill him. He isn't much different, and he doesn't have a heart and if he does, it's completely made of stone and ice. I wonder if she's the one he tortured?"

"Probably, but what do we do now?" Danni asked.

"I'll call an ambulance from the LA branch of St. Mungo's, just in case the damages are magical," Lilah said, pulling out her cell phone and walking a couple feet away. They could hear bits of the conversation from where they stood. "Remember, this does not get out to the press, muggle or magical, just tell them that all the attractions today are canceled due to remodeling or something!" She was waving her arms in frustration and the attendant was barely listening to her.

Hermione walked around, stepping carefully over dead bodies and surveying the damages on those that were still breathing. Most were odd, very interesting. She puled on a pair of white rubber gloves and moved through the massacre slowly, checking wounds to see if they were fatal, most of them were. There were only about there that would probably make it through the night, including the girl.

"Hey Danni! Come here and look at this!" Hermione called from across the food court. Danni nodded and picked up the child rocking her as she walked to where Hermione was keeling next to an unconscious woman.

"This must be her mum. Looks just like her."

"Yeah, she's dead." Hermione said checking her pulse. She turned to the little girl and patted her head affectionately. "Wonder if she has a father? She'll need someone to take care of her."

"Yeah."

"I knew that the attacks were bad in America, but I didn't know that they were this bad. I thought that after the last battle, the attacks would stop."

"No, they've only gotten worse." Danni said seriously. "My sister is fifteen, every day she comes home saying that girls are missing from her school. He is killing everyone. Last week, her friend made it into the school play with a leading role, she never showed up to the first practice on Tuesday. That night we went to see if she was just sick or something, but the house was in ruins, smoldering in the dark of the night. My sister fainted on the spot, she'll never be the same again."

Hermione just sat in silence wondering how someone could be so evil.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry watched Lilah, Danni and Hermione creep towards the food-court then disappear. He turned to Ron and Dean and Seamus and nodded, saying that it was indeed a war, not just a scrapple between good and evil, it was a downright war.

A/N: Well, some things were changed and some things were added. What I want to know is, did you like it? . . .