Author's Notes at the bottom

Zasha was being crushed. A boulder was pressing down on her, crushing her ribs and threatening to collapse her lungs. Her eyes flew open and she stared at the dimly lit ceiling. She moaned and shifted, trying to figure out what was on top of her, since there were no signs of an actual boulder. She tried to force a breath into her struggling lungs, but the mass seemed to become heavier.

Pain shot through her arms suddenly and she realized that whatever it was extended to cover them as well. She tried to tug them out but they remained firmly wedged in. The pain lanced into her chest, pooled in her lungs and brought tears to her eyes. She couldn't breathe and she was going to die.

"Zasha! What's wrong?"

'Can't...breathe...' Zasha told S silently. She didn't have enough air left to speak.

"Why not? What's going on?"

'Heavy...' She bucked and twisted as much as she could, but couldn't dislodge it. Spots began appearing before her eyes. 'S!'

"Calm down. What's on top of you?"

Darkness was hovering at the edges of Zasha's vision. She gave one last buck and breathed out as the darkness rushed in.

A boy lay huddled against a wall on a thin pallet of folded blankets. The room he slept in was small and dark. The walls were made of brick painted grey and held no windows or decorations of any sort. In fact, aside from the boy, his makeshift bed, a full bed pan and a tray of empty dishes, the room was empty.

"Excuse me," Zasha said, moving forward slowly. Her voice was soft and breathy and she jumped when she heard it.

The boy did not move.

"Hello! Are you alright," she asked as she stepped quickly over to kneel by the boy. He was breathing slowly, but deeply. Glasses lay in the corner of the walls where he wouldn't be able to break them. The boy was asleep.

Still, as peaceful as he seemed to her now, why wasn't he waking up? What was he doing here like this?

"Sweetie? Wake up, hon. It's time to wake up." Zasha reached down to shake his shoulder, but her hand went straight through. "What?" Panic swelled within her and she began panting. Goosebumps rose on her skin as a shiver worked its way through her body.

"BOY!" Zasha turned, her eyes wide, to watch as the door was flung open. A tall man appeared in the doorway, his body engulfed in billowy robes she had come to recognize as wizard's robes. "Wake up!"

A moan came from the boy below her and she turned back to watch him sit up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes before reached back and grabbing his glasses. Then he looked up and seemingly straight at Zasha with the brightest pair of emerald green eyes she had ever seen.

"Hurry up, Potter! I haven't got all day! Some of us do still have to work."

Potter's face screwed up like he wanted to say something and then thought better of it. He lifted one hand to his face and that was when Zasha noticed a bit of dried blood on his nose and a blackened right eye.

"AH," she gasped. "What happened?"

"I'm coming," Potter yawned and stood.

Zasha squeaked and fell back as Potter walked through her to the door. She watched him, from her position on the floor, shiver and glance down at her. His eyebrows drew together and he worried his lip between his teeth. Light shone in from around the man in the doorway and highlighted the bruises on his face. A bright pink scar seemed to jump out at her from under the black fringe on hair that fell over his forehead.

"Well, you wanna eat or not?"

Potter looked up again and the back down at her before he nodded and moved quickly over to the door. Zasha sat up and watched as he took the tray of food from the man. He turned and started back towards her.

"Wait," the man growled. "Where's the old tray?"

"Let me just put this down and I'll get it for you." Potter's voice was weak, but it held a small note of defiance in it.

"Move it," the man snapped.

Potter nodded and moved quickly over to the pallet. He set down the tray, carefully ensuring that nothing would spill. Then he moved over to the empty tray, collected it and gave it to his warden.

The man snatched it from his hands and left the room with a bang. Zasha jumped at the sound and then wished she had some aspirin to give the poor boy. The sound was loud, but Potter seemed to act as though it had been deafening. He was still holding his head.

"Potter," she said. She reached over to grab a roll from his tray of food, but her hand had just made it when the darkness returned and swept her away once more.

"Zasha!"

It was dark and warm and comfortable. Zasha didn't want to leave, didn't want to move ever again.

"Zash! Please wake up!"

'That voice is the only downside to this place,' Zasha thought. She stubbornly ignored it and imagined herself being swallowed by the comfortable darkness.

A gravelly chuckle intruded on her warmth and she could feel a gentle pushing sensation back out of her comfortable nest. "As nice as it is to have you as close to me as this, you need to wake up, Zasha. I don't know what happened, but whatever it was, you can't stay here. I'm not that desperate for companionship."

Zasha gasped and her eyes flew open, but instead of meeting the eyes of her new companion, she saw the tear-streaked face of Kali.

"Oh, thank God!" Kali launched herself down on top of Zasha, wrapping her arms around the girl in a hug that Zasha found to be suffocating.

"Kali," Zasha gasped out. "Air!"

Kali screeched as she flew back again, her momentum sending her tumbling from the bed onto the floor. She popped back up before Zasha could do more than sit up, however.

"I'm so sorry, Zash! I woke up and I was wrapped around you and you weren't breathing! You were blue!"

"So you were the boulder," Zasha said softly. Her chest hurt, but aside from that she couldn't detect any harm to her from her sleeping companion's over-eager snuggling the night before.

Kali gave a small sob. "I'm sorry! I really am! But you started breathing almost immediately after I got off you-"

"Courtesy of your favorite thinking friend."

"But you still wouldn't wake up! You were out so long! I thought I'd killed you!"

Zasha sighed and threw her legs over the side of the bed. "If I was breathing, then you couldn't have killed me." Kali sniffled in response and Zasha rolled her eyes. "You're just never going to be allowed to sleep with me again."

"I'm so sorry! Are you ok? I didn't hurt you or anything?"

"I'm fine," Zasha told her. She stood and felt a small ache shoot through her chest. She grimaced, "Although, my chest aches a little."

Kali jumped up and started shoving her towards the door. "We'd better get you to that nurse then!"

"It's nothing! I'm fine!" Zasha tried to pull her arm back, but her muscles felt weak and it came across as only a little tug.

"No! You have to get it checked out! I'm heavy!"

Zasha raised an eyebrow as she smirked at her friend. "You actually admit to that?"

"Zasha!"

Zasha gave a breathy laugh which soon turned into a hacking cough. She felt Kali rush over to pat her enthusiastically on the back.

"I think she's right," S told her once the coughing had died down. "I think you're ok, but that was pretty close, Zasha. For a little while there, even I couldn't find you."

Zasha allowed herself to be pulled out into the corridor. 'Fine, but I won't like it.'

"That's alright, I never like-"

Another coughing fit took Zasha over as she was slammed into something hard. It gave and she fell forward to land on top, hacking all the way.

"Are you alright," asked a familiar voice.

Zasha gulped and tired to hold in her coughs as she looked up to see the curious eyes of the first man she'd met in this world, Remus Lupin. And the was not only sitting on him this time, she was LAYING on him. The hacking took over and she lowered her head quickly, hoping he'd take her fiery face to be from all the coughing.

'I landed on him again...' she moaned to S.

S. snickered. "Who, Remus? Old boy probably is enjoying this!"

Zasha's face did the impossible and turned an even brighter shade of red.

"Zasha, are you alright," Remus asked her. He shifted so that he was sitting with her curled up in his laugh.

"I'm sorry," Kali cried. "It's all my fault! I should be named a human disaster area!"

"No, that would be me."

That voice was unfamiliar, but decidedly feminine. Zasha could tell from the high, tight tone women usually reserved for when they thought someone was coming on to their men and saw their men as being the impossibly oblivious creatures they naturally were.

'Uh oh.'

"What," S. asked.

'I think I'm upsetting his girlfriend.'

"Moony has a girlfriend!" Sirius sounded delighted at this news.

Zasha had managed to stop coughing after Remus had gotten her into a sitting position and now took the time to stand on unsteady feet.

"I'm ok," she rasped. "I think Kali just strained my chest muscles when she used me for a human teddy bear last night."

S snickered as Kali flushed bright red before hiding her face in her hands.

"Human teddy bear?"

Zasha looked over at the new woman. She was thin and had short, spiky blue hair. Her dark eyes were watching Zasha and Remus carefully, though they now had two feet of distance between them.

"Yeah," Zasha told her. She gulped some air and licked her lips quickly. "We were reading together and she fell asleep in my bed. I was next to her and didn't feel like going to her room, so I just turned off the light and left her. I woke up this morning with a Kali boulder on my chest just before I passed out again. This time from lack of oxygen."

"We should get you to Madame Pomphrey," Remus told her. His eyes were on Kali, though, as she moaned dejectedly into her hands. "Come on, Kali."

Kali nodded and moved over to help Zasha. Zasha simply shook her head at her friend.

"I'm out of breath, Kali, but I can make it on my own. You can't damage me that much."

Kali looked as though she was going to burst into tears when the blue-haired woman threw an arm around her. "Wotcher, Kali! I'm Tonks. Don't worry. If there's anything wrong with her, Madame Pomphrey will have her fixed up with time left to steal some breakfast."

Kali stared up at Tonks's smile. Her lips twitched slightly before she nodded.

Zasha gave a sigh of relief and a small cough before turning her own smile on Remus. "Well, time to get moving then." She began to move back down the hall.

"We'll come with you," Remus said.

"You don't have to," Zasha rasped.

"Yes, we do," Tonks said. "You're going the wrong way. You'll never get there at this rate. You'll just end up wandering the halls in your pajamas."

Zasha blushed and Remus laughed. He moved over to her and placed a hand on the small of her back. "This way, m'lady." He gave her a gentle push to get her started and they led the way to the castle infirmary together.

"You've been here three days and you're already in my care," Madame Pomphrey tsked as she shoved a glass of foul smelling liquid under Zasha's nose. "Keep this up and you'll be giving Mr. Potter good competition."

Zasha jumped and looked over at the nurse, her dark blue eyes wide. She opened her mouth with the intention to ask about this Potter and gurgled as the nurse shoved the foul smelling liquid between her lips and tipped it down her throat. The potion tasted worse than it smelled. Zasha gasped and tried to spit it back out, but Madame Pomphrey quickly covered her mouth with a cloth to make sure it stayed in.

"Swallow girl. Can't heal your bruised lungs if you don't swallow."

Zasha swallowed and glared Kali, who stood laughing at the foot of the bed.

"That was the most disgusting-"

"But the look on your face was priceless," Kali exclaimed. "I haven't seen you look so surprised since-"

"You don't need to go there!"

Tonks laughed from her position on the next bed, where she sat watching with Remus. "So, you're not as innocent as you look!"

Zasha snorted and shifted to allow Madame Pomphrey to continue her examination.

"Well, you can argue well enough now. You should be fine in a few more minutes. Then you can go have some breakfast, just don't exert yourself too much today," Pomphrey said as she moved away.

Zasha nodded and watched the older woman leave the room.

"I didn't think Harry was that frequent a visitor here," S said.

'You know who she was talking about?'

"Ready to go, Zasha," Remus asked. Zasha turned to look at him. "Breakfast is half over, but there's still plenty of time to make it."

Zasha nodded and gingerly made her way out of the bed. "Just let me change into those clothes that Kali went and got me during the examination."

"I'll just step outside."

Kali snickered as Remus left. "He's so cute. He blushed!"

"No, he didn't," Tonks said.

"Yeah he did," Kali replied. "Didn't you see the tinge of red over his cheeks bones?"

Zasha pulled off her pajama top and slipped her bra on, all the while keeping her back to the other women. "You like guys that blush, Kali. Could it be you've got a crush?"

"Zasha! I don't go for older men! At least not that old."

"He's not that old," Tonks told her in a icy voice.

Zasha glanced back over her shoulder at the blue-haired woman before pulling her robe over her head.

"I think Remus and Tonks have gotten closer since I left..."

'You knew them?"

"Once..."

The robe dropped over her head and she regarded Tonks curiously once more. She dropped her pajama bottoms off through the cotton fabric.

"Ready," Remus' voice called in.

"Just about," Kali called back. "You can come in now though."

Remus poked his head around the corner as Zasha picked up her pajama pieces and began folding them. "Thought I heard my name?"

Tonks made to reply but Zasha grinned and hurried to answer instead. "You did! These two were just fighting over you!"

"Zash!"

"Zasha!"

S snickered as Remus sighed. "I highly doubt that. Still, we'd better get going. We don't want to rush with your lungs still healing."

Zasha tucked her clothes under her arm and moved to join him. "You shouldn't underestimate yourself there, Remus. You may have a few greys, but you're a good guy." She started down the hall, hoping her red face wasn't seen.

"Go Z," Kali yelled from behind her.

"A good guy? He's been dumped by a woman who sat on him! Twice!"

'It was a compliment!"

Remus stepped up to walk beside her. "Still feel all right?"

"Yep." She looked over at him. "So who's this Potter Madame Pomphrey was talking about?"

"Harry Potter. He's a kind of celebrity that is in his sixth year at Hogwarts. He can't seem to avoid trouble. That's why Pomphrey sees him so often." Remus answered.

"So we'll get to meet a celebrity come fall," Kali asked, appearing at their shoulders.

"If we can find him before then..." Tanks said, her voice mournful.

"Find him! What happened to Harry?"

"What happened to him," Zasha asked.

Remus stopped and turned to glare at Tonks. She blinked and then her jaw fell open as she apparently remembered something. Her hands flew to her face. "I'm sorry, Remus! I forgot not everyone knew yet! But it's not like they're going to be telling!"

Remus sighed and turned his head to look at Zasha and Kali. "Harry's guardians were killed a couple of nights ago and he was kidnapped."

"WHAT!"

'Ow...'

"Ask him what happened."

"Do they know what happened?"

"Why are you so interested," Tonks asked.

Zasha shrugged as Kali answered for her.

"Zash hates to hear about children being hurt. So you can chill! We weren't even in this world when he was taken."

"No..." Remus said. "But you did appear the same night."

"Are you accusing us," Zasha asked.

"Just tell him to answer the question!"

'You shut up too!'

"I WILL-"

'I can't do anything while you're screaming in my head!'

"No, but it is true... I never thought of it before." Remus' eyebrows drew together over his eyes.

Zasha tsked, "Whatever. I'm gonna drop these off in my room and tidy up a bit. I'll grab something when I head up to the library." She started back off briskly, ignoring the enraged threats S was hurling at her.

"I'll come with you," Kali told her.

Zasha waved her off. "I'm fine. You go eat. I'll see you at work."

"But-" Kali started, but Zasha turned the corner and flew down a staircase that began moving after she'd stepped off it. Zasha could feel her friend's eyes on her until she'd entered the next corridor and was shielded from sight.

'Hold on a minute, S. I need to talk with you when I get to my room.'

"Why? All I wanted to know about why Harry! Couldn't you have just asked again?"

'Remus wasn't going to tell me anything. Just hold on though. I want to ask you something when we get to my room. About Harry Potter. But I don't want to out here.'

S growled, but fell silent. Zasha walked as quickly to her room so that by the time she reached it, her chest burned from the effort. She opened the door, locked it behind her and flopped onto her bed.

"Finally! My chest hurts! I need a rest."

"Well," S growled. "What do you want to ask me so much you couldn't find out who took m- Who took Harry?"

Zasha raised an eyebrow, but decided to ignore the small slip for now. "Do you know what Harry looks like?"

"WHAT DOES THAT MATTER!"

"After I passed out this morning I had a dream. It might be nothing, but it felt so real..."

S was silent for a moment, "What happened in this dream?"

"There was this boy. He was a prisoner in this dark room and his jailer came in to feed him. The jailer called the boy Potter."

"Did he wear glasses and have a jagged scar on his forehead?"

"Yes..."

"Harry! Where was it you saw him?"

"I don't know. And I could touch him or speak to him."

"Was he alright at least?"

"He was beat up, but nothing serious."

S started growling unintelligibly.

Zasha sighed and got up to grab her brush. "What do you think I should do?"

"Who was it that had him?"

"I don't know. A Wizard definitely, but the lighting only let me see that he was wearing robes. I couldn't see his face or anything."

"Damn!"

"What should I do?"

"Go to Dumbledore. He at least won't think you're crazy for it. Or at least he rarely does immediately. Shame really... Might not have to put up Snape otherwise..."

Zasha sighed and eyed her bed. "All right, but first let me lay down for a bit. My chest still burns and I'll have to find the office first. Won't help if I collapse along the way."

S growled but agreed and Zasha lay back down. "I'll have to redo my hair again."

"Do it on the way to Dumbledore!"

Zasha snickered and yawned. Soon her eyes drifted closed and sleep swept her away.

The boy Zasha now knew to be Harry Potter sat on his bed with a book pulled up to him. Next to him sat a small oil lamp that Zasha guessed had been brought to him for this purpose.

"At least they're not that cruel to him," she mumbled and crept up to look at the book too.

The book contained what seemed to be instructions on casting spells. Diagrams showed the movements of the wand arm and what the end product should look like. It looked to be a curse as the person on the page seemed to be in a good amount of pain.

"Is this a school book," she exclaimed as she leaned forward. She lost her balance and fell forward, through Harry, to hit the wall with her head. "Owww..." She sat back rubbing her head.

"Is there someone there?"

The boy's voice was soft and raspy, but Zasha still heard it. She blinked for a moment, he hadn't been able to feel her last time...

"Yes, Harry. I'm here. But where are we? Who took you?"

"I felt you before, but I couldn't let them know you were there. Touch me if you're still here."

"Huh?" Zasha looked into Harry's eyes and gasped. They were unfocused and she didn't reflect in them at all. But she was right in front of him. She reached out and touched him. Harry smiled and looked down at his arm where her hand still lay.

"Are you on my side?"

Zasha reached out and touched him again, this time running her hand down his cheek.

Harry smiled. "The ministry took me and hid me in the Department of Mysteries. Can you tell someone for me? Dumbledore?"

"Of course I will, Harry. I just hope he believes me."

Harry smiled, "Thank you."

The door banged open. "Who are you talking to in there, boy! Get back to studying!"

Zasha turned to glare at the man and found herself spinning into darkness again.

Zasha was swimming in darkness again. It was warm, but very comfortable. She was really getting to like it here. She felt that this might be a bad thing, but she really couldn't bring herself to care. It felt too safe. Too right.

"Zasha," a voice whispered into her ear. "Are you ok? Wake up. You shouldn't be here."

"S..." She whispered and snuggled in. "I like it here."

"Wake up," he screamed into her ear.

Zasha's eyes flew open and she sat up with a gasp. Her chest was painfully tight this time. "S! What'd you do that for?"

"You'd be stuck here if I didn't!"

"Oh. Thanks then."

"Fine, but what happened? Kali come back?"

"No, but I think I've found Harry."

"Where is he!"

"The Department of Mysteries, wherever that is. He told me the Ministry took him."

S began to growl. "Fudge! HE did this!"

"Fudge?"

"The Minister of Magic. He's a power crazy idiot that made Harry out to be an idiot all last year when Harry warned him the Dark Lord was on the move again."

"Harry really can sniff out trouble, can't he?"

"Just go get Dumbledore! We have to get to Harry before Fudge does something even more bloody stupid."

Zasha nodded and got up. She ran out her door and down the corridor. She stopped at the end, however, holding her chest. "This really hurts..."

"Zasha? What's wrong?"

"I'll be ok in a minute..." She tried to sound reassuring, S sounded extremely frantic now, but her chest was so tight that it came out weak and raspy.

"Zasha?"

She looked up and saw Dumbledore moving swiftly down the hallway towards her, McGonagall and a tall, black man at his heels. She gulped and tried to straighten up, but her knees picked that moment to give out and she fell to the floor.

Dumbledore knelt beside her and rolled her onto her back. "What happened?"

"I found him," she rasped. The darkness was gathering at the edge of her vision again, but she fought it off. "I don't...know how. He's at the...Depart..ment of...Mystery..."

Her strength gave out and the darkness took her over again.

A/N:

Ok, I'm hoping that since ff.net supposedly fixed the prob, my italics will show up. If not, that's ok, I have it so they're not needed.

Anyway, sorry for the long absence. I had a lot to do for school and work. I do both full time you know. Though soon I will be quitting my job. Won't have much more time though. Have to get ready to move to Scotland!!! I have my tickets! Sept 16 I board the USAIR plane bound for Glasgow at 8:30pm and arrive there at 8:30am!! YAY!!!! I WANNA GO!!!

Anyway, I think this story is moving a little quick for me... But it'll still work. I've got plenty to torture you guys with. Poor Zasha though. She takes a real beating this chapter. But I'm sure Remus was happy! Heh... Anyway. Harry has been found. Go 'Harry! Next chapter, the rescue!! First, however, Dumbledore has to get there and find him again! Hopefully it will not take as long as this chapter...

Oh and you can thank Mira Spiegel for my getting this out finally. She inspired me to get moving again! I really should be sleeping now... Hope you enjoyed!