"Hey, do you want a ride? It looks awfully cold out there?" The man asked, his face shadowed by a cap, his car puttering slowly to keep pace with me as I walked along a deserted road.

"No thanks," I said, smiling, "I'm, um, just going to meet my brother, I'll be fine." I pulled my jacket closer to me against the cold. Like I would lack enough sense to jump into a car of strange men. Fine, only two strange men, but still.

"It's no problem whatsoever, wouldn't like to keep your brother waiting," this man was rather hard to shake off. I thought rude would be the best approach.

"Lemme state this clearly then, NO WAY, I do not take rides from strange men." I turned and quickened my pace, hoping he would get the message. The car motor started up, it was going to pass me, I thought. It did, roaring off into the distance.

I relaxed, I had no brother waiting for me, I was going on foot to a town I had heard about through rumor. Some people at the inn I had just left had told me of a ghost village.

"We don't go there much," the busboy had said, leaning forward conspiratorially, "People used to go off in that direction and come back with no recollection of where they had been, or who they were. Some people didn't come back at all."

I had done my best to hide my glee; these ghost villages were exactly what I had been looking for. They were my best hope to finding out what happened to my family.

I knew they were important because once, while in London, my brother had steered me away from a dingy looking pub. It wasn't even all there; sometimes parts of it seemed to fade into the mist. For example, at one moment I would be able to see the roof, then I blinked and it was just a shadow. And the sign, I had never been able to read it, even though I knew there were words there. I had been able to get a glimpse of a cauldron before it too had faded.

At first I had thought Gordon was moving me away from it because it was kind of a shady place, not very safe for a 14-year old girl. But that all changed once we were across the street.

"Annie," David had said in a low voice, "do you see that building over there?"

"Yes," I had answered loudly, pointing at it, "but I can't read the—"

"Shh, shh, not so loud," he chastised me, looking around to see if anyone had overheard us, "if you ever see anything like that, all…misty and stuff, don't go near it."

"Why ever not?" I had asked, genuinely surprised, "What's wrong with it?"

"It's a…ghost building, we're not supposed to see them, don't act like you can." David struggled to find the right answer.

"Can everybody see them?" I asked curiously.

"No, well, actually yes, most could if they tried, that's how ghosts came about, people saw such…visions…and believed it to be superstition." He seemed confused with his answer though. Indeed, the eyes of everyone walking by drifted from the bookshop on one side to the clothing store on the other side.

"Wait! Those people just went in—mmph!"

David had thrust his hand in front of my mouth, "Didn't I tell you to keep your mouth shut?" he whispered hoarsely, sounding afraid, "don't let on that you know."

"But they can too," I protested, "why can they admit to it and not us?"

"They…they're not normal," he mumbled, "they're downright dangerous, they are the kind of people who killed Mum."

I haddn't really want to believe him, but after he disappeared, these "ghosts" became my only clear lead to the mysterious circumstances surrounding my family's disappearances. So I had headed from the inn in direction of the ghost village, hoping to find clues.

I shook myself out of my reverie. After the car had passed, I walked several minutes in complete silence, taking my time, enjoying the scenery; there was a deep forest to one side. I walked on, until I came to a gap in the forest, peering through, I saw a decrepit old building. As I leaned forward, I heard a faint whisper about a dentist's appointment but it completely faded in seconds.

Vroom Vroom, I heard the car behind me, I turned to see it coming at me at full tilt, it wasn't going to stop. Without thinking I leapt over the fence and ran towards the decrepit old building.


The Hogwarts symbol, it was the same as the one on my mother's letter. How could I have missed that? It was clearly out in the open, but I hadn't noticed it before. Now I was thoroughly confused, did magic have something to do with my parents' job? Had theybeen witches? No, that wasn't right, if it had been so, then they would have told me about it. But then…what had they been doing with those envelopes?


There she was, his victim. Standing there in the middle of the Great hall looking rather lost and in deep thought. What she was doing here was beyond him. But it seemed to perfect an opportunity to miss, a Muggle, right there. He'd see to it that his plan would go through.


"Hey, if you need somewhere to sit, you can sit here," a voice said to my right; Malfoy.

"Oh," I said, taken aback, usually I didn't dine much in the Great Hall, preferring to stay away from the prying eyes of staff and students, "er…sure."

"Move over, Pansy," Malfoy ordered, nodding the pudgy Slytherin girl sitting next to him. She complied grudgingly, when I sat down, she elbowed me in the ribs. I rubbed my ribs and turned to Malfoy, who was talking to me again.

"Here Annie, what would you like?" he gestured to the grand spread of food up and down the table. I shook my head.

"I'm fine, thanks, I'm not really that hungry, Malfoy," I said, feeling awkward sitting amongst all these staring eyes. I fidgeted with a strand of my golden hair, twirling it around my finger.

"Draco, please," he said, he was being suspiciously polite to me, I was definitely going to have to watch my step. I didn't care if I offended him, but I didn't want to let anything slip either. He threw a roll on my plate, "Here, eat this, you look like you need it. My own mother is like that, never very hungry. Pansy over there eats like a horse."

The elbow dug deeper into my rib, this time I couldn't blame her, Draco had been way too harsh on her, "No, it's just, I already ate." I fibbed, "I tend to eat like a horse as well, at times."

I rarely ate though, it was a habit instilled in me by my mother. She would have me eat before parties and such so I would look like a complete pig when I was there. Even though I had been a young child when I knew here, she had been striving to turn me into a starlet of society. Sweet and well mannered.

"Ah…" Draco said, looking me over quizzically, talk seemed to pause for a moment, everyone looking at us. I glanced back coolly, as though supremely unconcerned with the world. Finally he gave a short nod and talk gradually resumed. I simply listened, not really taking any of it in, picking at my roll. After a minute I realized Draco was talking to me.

"…last minute holiday shopping, I've been dying for a butter beer, what d'you say Annie?" he asked.

"Hmm?" I said politely, pretending to have my mouth full.

"Hogsmeade this afternoon. Its Saturday today, didn't you know?"

"Is it really? Well, I'll be glad to come, though I hadn't been planning on doing so, I'll have to get ready."

"Grand," he said, giving me another one of those false smiles, my gut churned, this didn't bode well, he turned to his groupies, "did you know that the Muggles call it a ghost village? Because they're too stupid to see the whole thing properly?" He began to laugh, everyone else at the table joined in, I grinned feebly, grinding my roll to pieces as I did so, feeling Pansy's elbow dig once more into my ribs. He stood up from the table.

My blood had run cold at the mention of the ghost village. This seemed to good to be true, the other day I had been fishing for anything resembling a clue; today two had dropped into my lap.

"I'll meet you in the Great Hall before lunch, okay?" Draco verified, his gaze hovering over the bits of bread covering me plate. I assented and he left, leaving me to wonder how I was going to manage surviving in a village of wizards for one afternoon.


"What did I tell you?" bragged Malfoy to his three friends, Goyle and Crabbe as usual, but this time Theodore Nott was there as well.

"You're right, I saw how she crumbled her roll to pieces when we mentioned Muggles," laughed Nott.

"Yes, now this plan cannot go wrong, alright?" Malfoy said, leaning forward conspiratorally, "Remember what to do, you must not fail me."

"Yessir," replied Crabbe and Goyle dully.

"Good," Malfoy straightened up and grinned at them all, "well then, lets go to Hogsmeade!"


At 11:30, I was waiting nervously outside the Great Hall, hoping I would come out of this alive. Pansy would clearly kill me the minute she had the chance. One body slam from her and I was done for. I was also worried about my outfit, which was definitely a muggle one. I was wearing worn blue jeans and a green chenille hoodie over a grey tank top, my blonde hair caught up in a ponytail. It was snowing out, but I wasn't too worried, cold didn't affect me much. Then I heard someone grunting.

"Shove aside, shove aside," it was Crabbe&Goyle together as always. They were leading the Slytherin entourage. I rolled my eyes. They really did think themselves high and mighty. Draco spotted me, he was wearing a black pea coat over trousers with a hat, an obvious muggle combination, and the other members of his group were also dressed in various muggle outfits. My clothes were safe then. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come along Annie," he said, grabbing my arm, I found myself being propelled through the Great Hall and towards a horseless carriage. Then, before I could protest, I was in the carriage and heading towards Hogsmeade, full of apprehension.