"Now?" Neville asked.

"Not quite!" came Lavender's response from upstairs.

Neville groaned. He whispered to Harry, "I didn't know you'd have to wait so long for a girl." He added, "Where's Kelly?"

"I can only imagine she's putting on twice the amount of make-up she needs, sees one hair sticking up and is desperately trying to flatten it, or fell asleep and no one realizes it," Harry said, grinning as he pictured each image, which he surprisingly could.

"I'm ready!" Lavender said from the top of the stairs. She look pretty in bright red robes, to match Gryffindor's color.

"okay," Neville said, watching Lavender come down. The two were going to the dance together. He held out his arm, and she took it, and together they walked out.

And so Harry was alone in the common room.

At least, to an outsider, he would seem alone.

"Ready?" Harry whispered, not quite knowing why.

"Ready," Kelly said in the chair across from him. The chair was empty.

Harry got up and Kelly took off the invisibility cloak so he could come under. Together they walked out of the common room, and were out of Hogwarts within fifteen minutes.

It was a misty, cold night, the snow looking gray because of the absence of daylight. The forest, as it so commonly did, was swaying slightly in a breeze that Harry couldn't feel. Hagrid's cabin had smoke coming from the chimney, and two enormous shadows lay behind the curtains.

"Hagrid's got company," Harry muttered.

"Hagrid's got a special friend," Kelly said, grinning.

"Madam Maxime, but you probably already knew that," Harry said. "Your old Headmistress. I didn't think she'd be able to come though, since she's a Headmistress. Wouldn't she need to stay with her school?"

"When you're Headmistress, you get to make… certain exceptions for yourself… as long as you make them for others, of course," said Kelly.

"Are you serious?" Harry asked.

"Of course!" Kelly exclaimed.

"Oh, well then the first I'll do if I become Headmaster of Hogwarts is fire Snape, the ugly git, and then…"

Kelly giggled. For having switched bodies by Voldemort earlier that day, she seemed to be doing rather well. Kelly had come back shaking, and said that they were correct about Malfoy Manor. Ron and Hermione were alive, chained to a wall. As for informing anyone else, they hadn't told anyone anything yet. They weren't about to until they were back.

They stopped at the edge of the forest. Harry stopped his ramblings and turned to her. "Look, this might be pretty weird. I don't know if you can see them--"

"I can," Kelly assured.

Harry was about to ask who she had seen die, but in a glance saw the merest trace of a warning look in her eyes. He turned back toward the forest and they walked in.

Harry had been in the forest many times, and this occasion was no different. It was still a dark forest that got darker the farther you got in, until there was no light at all. Spiders roamed the place like dust in a wasteland, centaurs were always watching, and now the threat of Grawp was exposed. The forest was just as unsafe as ever.

They walked a long time without incident. The hair on the back of Harry's neck was sticking up, and the distinct feeling of being watched by unseen eyes was upon him. Harry looked to his left and right and saw nothing. Harry started to walk on, but Kelly saw something he didn't.

Kelly stopped. Harry kept on walking, and the cloak almost came off because of it. He walked back and gave her an inquiring look. Kelly gave the merest nod to their left. Harry turned and looked at what she meant. A centaur, chestnut in body with black hair, was watching them with eagle's eyes. Harry doubted it could see through invisibility cloaks, but realized then that must have been making a lot of noise. Looking back, he saw footprints in the dirt.

Neither they, nor the centaur moved for fifteen minutes. Then the centaur, convinced it must have lost its prey, or that he was going to get help, left them and turned away. Kelly took out her wand and pointed it at the ground. She muttered something incoherent and their footprints disappeared. She whispered something else, then turned around.

"All right," she said. "We won't leave any more footprints behind. I've taken care of that. Now we need to be quiet and move on. That centaur will be back, I promise you."

"Just a bright ball of sunshine, aren't you?" Harry asked sarcastically.

Kelly nudged him in the ribs. "C'mon, or you'll be dead before we even get there!"

They walked farther into the forest, and now it was almost pitch black. Harry looked down at their feet, or where their feet should have been. Indeed, no footprints came from them, no matter how hard he tried to make them. Kelly stopped suddenly, and Harry bumped into her, having changed to walking behind her.

"What?" he whispered.

"This is it!"

There was a fence, and Harry recognized it as the one Hagrid had brought them to so they could see the thestrals the year before. Harry looked around, but no thestrals were in sight.

"Kelly…"

"I know. Just a sec."

She quickly pulled the cloak off of her, making sure to keep it on Harry. After pulling out her wand, she did a series of wand movements. Finally she muttered something, though Harry couldn't understand it. A ton of red flew out of her wand, and Harry was in doubt no more than a moment that it was blood.

And then they waited. Harry stood there, looking around, hoping to see a thestral, but to no avail.

"Are you sure they can--"

"Shh…" she cautioned.

Harry waited silently. Then he heard it, too: a rustling in the bushes just ahead. Harry looked closer. There was something there, but he couldn't tell what it was.

Kelly stepped up cautiously. "Hello?"

A thestral stepped out. Kelly sighed. She, like Harry, must have been thinking it was a centaur or something worse. Kelly stroked the thestral and motioned for Harry to step out from the cloak. Harry did, and walked over.

"We need another," Harry reminded her.

"More will come." Kelly was certain.

The thestral stepped away from them and toward the blood, where two more thestrals they hadn't noticed were licking it.

Kelly walked over to the one that had just left them. "So, we ready?"

"You sure about this?" Harry asked. "We can go back. I don't want you to feel pressured--"

"Harry, are you sure you want to do this?" Kelly asked, grinning, stroking the thestral.

"Of course," Harry said, taken aback. "I just didn't know if you really--"

"I do," Kelly said, grabbing the thestral and pulling herself on. "Now, come on. What was it you said? Midnight?" She looked at her watch. "Harry, it's a quarter to nine!"

Harry got on his thestral, though with a little more difficulty. "okay, let's go." He looked down at his thestral. "Um…" It had just occurred to him that the thestral probably wouldn't know where Malfoy Manor was.

"Malfoy Manor," Kelly said for him.

The thestrals didn't move.

"Please?" Harry pleaded.

"You know, Malfoy Manor. The place where Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco Malfoy live?" Kelly added hopefully.

The thestrals moved restlessly. Then Harry's, seeming to have an idea of where it was going, leaped into the air, and Kelly's followed it.

"Oh… oh… oh, not good, not good, not good!" Kelly screamed behind him as the forest quickly became nothing in the night.

Towns and cities passed below them; the only way Harry knew of their existence was the little dots of light below them. One city… two cities… three…Harry lost count. They must have passed over fifteen fields, Harry thought, because there were more long, dark areas than others lit by lights.

"How much longer?" Kelly yelled from behind him. He just barely heard her. The rushing wind made him blind, the whistling of the quickening wind deafening him to most sounds. Harry gripped his thestral even tighter as it turned. If he slipped…

"I'm not sure!" Harry yelled back.

Kelly screamed. Harry looked back, and almost fell off himself.