I know it has been several months since I last posted; I apologize for the long wait, but I wanted to get these final chapters right. Please read & review but most of all… enjoy!

One More Time

They walked outside and headed to a clearing behind the greenhouses. There was a means of transportation that looked most like a horse and carriage and yet it didn't. Harry was familiar with this as the coach had been used for transportation on the previous search for Snape. In fact, it looked like a smaller version of the carriage that the students from Beauxbatons had used to arrive at Hogwarts. There were five identicle brown horses prepared to pull the coach. They all had beautiful white wings. Sarah stared for a moment with wonderment, temporarily forgetting her situation.

This was the only reasonable way to travel long distances, and it was all new to Sarah. She approached very carefully. Dumbledore had opened the door and they all stepped in. Harry helped his sister take a seat. It was fairly large inside. There were three rows of seats facing forward; the doorway was beside the first row. Harry and Sarah turned right and made their way to the last row where they sat. The space was very tight. The cushions were a little worn and the interior was entirely a murky, dark blue. There were no windows, but faint little lights on each side of every row. As Sarah leaned forward she saw a small tag on the back of Row 2's seat; it said: Property of Hogwarts School. It was very faded; she determined this carriage had been in storage for a long while (which would explain the musty smell of mold that was thick in the air).

After everyone had been seated, Dumbledore stepped inside and closed the door. The coach began to move forward and slowly up. Sarah did not think this was a very obsure way to arrive at Voldemort's stronghold, but then again she didn't know much about this whole ordeal. She couldn't even tell who was driving! She looked at Harry; he wore a very straight face and seemed to be off in his head somewhere. At least he wasn't worried. Sarah thought it would sound immature to ask questions, so she leaned back and closed her eyes... preparing herself for the challenge ahead.

Somehow, as she was preparing herself for future challenges she had fallen asleep and was suddenly wakened by a tremendous jolt that threw her head forward into the seat in front of her.

"Oooh," she moaned as she rubbed her head. She gasped as the carriage was hit by another jolt. She was definitely awake now. Harry looked as confused as she did.

"What's happening," she asked her brother.

"I'm not sure," he said sternly. "We were almost there; we must have been spotted." The others in the coach were trying to move along quickly to do whatever they could. The door was open and the adults were sending their spells out into the night. And then Sarah caught a glimpse of a man on a broomstick outside.

"Death Eaters," said Harry who had obviously seen the man too.

"They're firing at us!" said Sarah in disbelief. She stood up; Harry grabbed the back of her jacket and yanked her back into her seat.

"NO! This is no time for heroics," he said.

"You wanna just sit here and die? I'm gonna go help," and she stood up again and began moving towards the doorway.

"They'll take care of it; the Death Eaters can't see us anyway..." started Harry but Sarah was clearly ignoring him. He took a deep breath and followed her. As Sarah approached the opening one of the wizards, a tall and thin man, put his arm in front of her.

"Go back!" he ordered rather viciously.

"No," she retorted and forced herself under his arm; she now stood at the doorway. The man grabbed her by the arm. Harry was standing next to them holding a handrail to steady himself.

"Get back in your seat," he spit at her.

"Get you hands off me!" She twisted free of his grip, and at that moment the carriage was hit by another strong blast. The tall, thin man was thrown back into the carriage as Sarah, with nothing to hold on to, fell through the opening.

"Sarah!" screamed Harry. He looked out but didn't see her; his heart began to pound faster. "Sarah!"

"Harry!" Was that his imagination or had he really just heard his name? He looked down; she was holding onto the tail end of one of the Death Eater's brooms. The man was trying frantically to shake her off, but she was holding on for dear life.

"Harry!" she cried out again. But no matter where she looked she couldn't see the coach. And then Harry's words came back to her:

"The Death Eaters can't see us anyway..." of course! The coach was invisible. However, she did not have time to dwell on this. Her grip was slipping; everytime she thought of trying to get a better hold, the broom would jolt one way or the other. She was afraid to move her hands.

Harry wasn't sure what to do; there was no way to get to her. His gaze slowly wandered up to the front of the carriage and his eyes widened. He couldn't see them but he knew the horses were there. He felt the side of the coach. Yes, there was some sort of protruding handle running the length of the coach. He took a couple of deep breaths thinking to himself he must be insane. He placed his hand firmly on the rail and tightened his grip. He swung himself to the outside of the coach and gripped the rail with his other hand. He blindly felt his way to the front of the carriage.

Sarah was still desparately holding on when she caught a glimpse of the strangest thing. She was flung around some more before she finally got another look. Harry was floating in mid-air! She almost let go out of surprise.

Harry knew he had to move quickly. Sarah couldn't hold on for long. Fortunately, the fact that she was hanging on to the broom took the Death Eater's attention off the carriage; so far, Harry hadn't been spotted.

Finally, Harry felt one of the reigns linking the horses. He kicked his feet around till he felt the carriage tongue. He steadied himself with the leather harnesses adjoining the horses to the tongue, and quickly walked his way between the horses until he reached the one in front. Harry was surprised that he made it this far considering that the only thing he saw when he looked down was the lights of small towns and the rolling hills. He jumped on the back of the horse and worked his way between the powerful wings until he had his arms wrapped around the horse's neck. He grabbed the leather reigns and pulled out his wand. "Diffindo!" he yelled. The reigns snapped in half; Harry grabbed the horse's neck as the animal pulled away from the others.

And it was then that he heard a scream. He used what he had left of the reigns to turn the creature around. He saw Sarah falling from the broom. He dived. He reached as far as he could; closer, closer. She was reaching skyward. They were falling so fast, but Harry knew he could catch her. He knew he could; he must.

A hundred yards from land, he heard his name one last time echo desparately in the night. He reached and his hand closed on her wrist. He pulled up hard and gently lowered Sarah, the horse, and himself toward the ground. He let go of Sarah shortly before he landed.He jumped off the horse and walked over to where his sister lay shocked and wide-eyed on the ground. Harry thought if he listened any harder he'd be able to hear her heart as it beat a million miles an hour. He leaned over and grabbed her forearm, pulling her to her feet.

"That bloody thick head of yours is going to get you killed!" Harry yelled at her. "I told you no heroics."

All she could stutter was, "Yeah." He looked up at the dark sky. There was no sign of the coach or the Death Eater on the broom.

"Well, I think we're pretty close to the mansion; we'll have to find the others later." He walked up to the top of the nearest hill with his sister close behind him. He stood stunned overlooking the hollow below him. There it was... Voldemort's stronghold. It didn't look like much on the outside; it appeared to be a mansion that had been forgotten for a hundred years. It was leaning slightly with all kinds of plants growing up the sides. The last time Harry and the others were here, this was as far as they got. They had decided it was too risky at the time; apparently most the Death Eaters were meeting together at that time, so Dumbledore decided to wait until most of them left and then try again. Harry ducked low so as not to be seen. Sarah, seeming to have somewhat recovered, did so also.

"Is this it?" she asked. Harry nodded. "Well, let's go." She attempted to move forward.

"What? No way, that's not the plan."

"But Snape is in there," she urged.

"No, we must wait for the others; then we'll follow their lead."

"Harry, we don't even know if the others made it. We can't afford to lose any more time; we must go NOW."

"That's insane! We can't, we just can't." She stared firmly at him.

"He's my father." Belly to the ground, she began to crawl forward down the hill.

"Sarah!" Harry scolded in a loud whisper. "Get back here! Remember the last time you didn't use reasoning... you fell out of the sky and nearly died."

"Nearly died; as long as I have you I'm fine." She squirmed her way to what appeared to be a back door. Harry reluctantly followed her. She placed her ear against the wall. "Are you sure this is the place? I don't hear a single thing."

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay, I'm gonna open the door, and you go in."

"Me? This is your idea..."

"Oh, shut up and get ready," she said.

"Okay, but wait. There's something you should know."

"What? Make it quick."

"Julienne is a friend of mine; I met her while I was staying with the Dursleys."

"Oh, great," Sarah shrugged. "Why don't you ever tell me these things. Is she the one you spent Christmas with?" Harry nodded, blushing. Sarah wiped her forehead with her arm. "So that's why Voldemort kidnapped her; he wants you to come save her."

"That's why I think we should wait. He is prepared for us," Harry replied.

"We have to go inside eventually. So let's just go."

She reached for the handle and pulled the door open toward her. Harry peaked inside but didn't see anyone. What he did see was a rather nice room inside... nothing like the run down shack on the outside. He glanced at his sister and walked in. She followed him. "You'd think they would have better security," she whispered.

"This could be a trap; they knew we were in the area."

"We'll keep our eyes peeled." And they headed to the door at the other end of the room. It was cracked open. Harry peered through the crack into an empty corridor. They turned left and made their way slowly towards the center of the mansion. There was a door up ahead in the distance. It was as good as any since they didn't know where to go anyway. But then, it opened. Harry and Sarah froze; they could here a conversation as a man began to step out. Harry looked behind them but there was no where to hide. They would not be able to make it back to the room in time.

"Hey, who are you," the man called angrily. Harry didn't know what to do; there was nowhere to go. But Sarah had already pulled her wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" She yelled. The man seized up, immobilized.

"Run." Harry grabbed her arm and they fled down the hallway.

"Stop," Sarah whispered. She could hear voices shouting from the other end. They were trapped. And then Harry's attention was caught by a certain groove in the wall. He moved his fingers along it; it was a door! And yet, there was no visible way to open it.

"Harry, open it… and hurry!" Sarah shouted.

"I'm trying. I just don't know..." And then he noticed something. There was a small bookshelf beside the door and on it was a sculpture of a snake. "Of course!" he said. He faced the door. Whatever was on the other side was probably secretive since the door was hidden. This must have something to do with Voldemort, and there was one thing he and the Dark Lord had in common. He focused his attention on the door and the snake, and commanded, "Open!" But it was not English that he spoke. Before Sarah realized what had happened, Harry pulled her inside and closed the door.

"Harry," she said shocked, "you never told me..."

"Yes, I'm a Parselmouth. Now let's keep moving." A short, wide hallway lay before them. There was a grand two-door entrance at the end. Harry leaned against the wall to one side of the door and Sarah posted herself at the other side. They had their wands drawn. Harry reached to push open the door, but as his hand was about to touch the polished wood, the doors opened themselves. Harry jumped back against the wall so as not to be seen. He could hear a girl's pleading cries coming from the room.