Kelly was sent back to their dorm where she remained sleeping. May did some serious memory work before venturing a goodbye and swiftly heading off. Harry and Ron discussed only two things up until lunch: Kelly and the match. Neither he nor Ron could really make a decent guess as to what Kelly wasn't telling them, but they did have a lot more to say about the subject of Quidditch. Ron and Harry discussed the moves they'd been practicing, opinions on whether or not the three Slytherin Chasers would try these moves on them, and soon they were back to discussing tactics.

When lunch came, the Gryffindor Quidditch team sat together, though many regretted answering Ron's summon to join him. He boiled them with reminders, when to do certain moves, what times required dire action… Harry was more concerned that Parvati hadn't woken Kelly for lunch. All of them needed to be well fed.

"I tried," Parvati said, not troubling to keep her voice down over Ron's ramblings, "but when I told her that, she said they also needed to be well rested and shoved a pillow over her head."

"Lucky git…" Kirke muttered again, having been eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Well, do try and get her up as soon as you're finished eating? I've got to talk to her," Harry pleaded.

"I can try," said Parvati.

"PARVATI! HARRY! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!"

"Sorry, Ron," Harry murmured, careful not to look at Parvati lest he burst into laughter.

Harry walked out halfway through Ron's elaborate explanation on how to pull off the Woollongong Shimmy for the fourteenth time since lunch started. He quietly walked out onto the grounds where very few people were finished with lunch. He swiftly maneuvered through the few people and sat down, leaning against "his tree". Hopefully Kelly would know to come here to see him.

Time passed. Harry constantly looked at his watch. What was taking Parvati so long? Harry, again, looked at the great oak doors for any sign of Kelly. He had to ask her about what she saw that morning, when Voldemort traded bodies with her. Did she see Hermione? Were there any new clues as to her whereabouts? Harry checked his watch again. It had been half an hour since lunch. Was Ron really holding them up that long?

A scream.

Harry jumped up and took out his wand faster than lightning, as though he'd been expecting this sign all along. He quickly raced up to the great oak doors leading into the Entrance Hall and wrenched them open, dashing through without a second thought as he smacked into Colin Creevey. Harry knew that scream--he'd heard it earlier that year, the very first day, when Hermione and Kelly had been kidnapped. Parvati had just screamed from Gryffindor Tower, and that meant something had happened to Kelly.

Harry dashed up the Grand Staircase and flew past a very disapproving Professor Sprout, who was obviously deaf to Parvati's continued screams, now added by someone who sounded like Lavender. Harry flew past Diane without a second thought, paying no attention whatsoever to the smirk on her ugly face. Harry flew up and completely ignored Trelawney who was shouting something about her "foreseeing this". He had just reached the seventh floor when he ran straight into Professor McGonagall, who, instead of falling, grabbed him with a firm grip and refused to let him go.

"Professor!" Harry struggled. "Let… go!"

"N-no, P-p-potter," McGonagall stuttered.

Harry stopped and looked at her. Her face was ashen white. She was shaking, and stuttering as she spoke.

"P-potter, you c-c-can't g-go in there," McGonagall said.

"But Par--"

"Minerva? What is it?"

Dumbledore had arrived.

McGonagall was at a loss for words, but pointed a shaky finger towards the Fat Lady. Harry raced out of her grip and shadowed Dumbledore, who did not object. McGonagall did not try and get him again.

"Twinkleshaft," Dumbledore said to the Fat Lady, who opened immediately. Dumbledore waited no longer but instantly climbed into the hole, closely pursued by Harry.

When Harry entered, he didn't know what he was expecting. Blood everywhere, perhaps. Voldemort or his Death Eaters about to strangle an innocent Gryffindor? However, when Harry arrived, the common room looked normal, save the scared faces all around. All of them seemed to tighten with dread as they looked at Harry.

Here we go, Harry thought. It's got something to do with me….

It took great self-control for Harry not to try and shove Dumbledore up the girl's dorm steps. Apparently the Headmaster could make them remain stairs for him. Harry was amazed when he walked up them without a slide appearing beneath his feet.

Dumbledore, seeming to know exactly where he was going, swept toward the sixth year girls' dorm, his cloak billowing behind him despite the lack of wind. Harry's heart sank--what had happened?

Harry was about to walk in, but Dumbledore held out a hand, blocking Harry from entering the room, and therefore shielding him from view of what had happened. Harry looked up at the Headmaster's face, annoyed now. He looked slightly ashen himself, though he kept his hand steady.

"Professor?" Harry asked. He sensed rather than heard Parvati and Lavender creep up behind him to see what the Headmaster thought.

Dumbledore slowly lowered his arm, amazement etched all over his face. "It has begun."

Harry looked at him inquisitively, but Dumbledore did not look at him. Harry slowly, cautiously, edged around to see into the room.

Harry would have vaguely registered the girls' dorms were a lot nicer than the boys, had they looked normal. The sixth year girls' was a disaster area at the moment, however. One bed in particular caught Harry's eye--the curtains around it were slashed violently; blood was everywhere on this bed. Harry could hardly breathe as he realized Kelly's trunk was before the four-poster. What he saw first, however, and what took his breath away, was a message, clearly written in someone's blood:

His patience is running low. Come get her or you'll find her body on your uncle's doorstep.

No one spoke. Harry's breathing was constricted and ragged. He had kidnapped Kelly now, too. Harry was in too much shock to even move. And he had let Kelly sleep! He should have gone back up here and told Kelly to get down to lunch and eat and this would never have happened….

"Harry," Dumbledore said abruptly, "I need you to go. Alert Professor Snape and tell him DA1 is submissive. Tell him also that DA2 and DA3 will be aware. I need you to be quick.

"Miss Patil, Miss Brown, if you will please tell Professor McGonagall 3741 needs to be put into action, that would be most helpful. Hurry!"

Harry, Parvati, and Lavender turned and bolted, trying to keep the odd codes in their heads. The three went as far as the third floor together when Nick said that he saw McGonagall pacing the corridors just around the next corner. With quick goodbyes, they went their separate ways.

Harry flew down and into the Entrance Hall, ignoring Colin as he knocked him down again. Harry's brain was still mostly numb, but he thought he remembered Dumbledore's message.

Harry stopped at the entrance to Snape's office and started pounding on the door senselessly, not paying any attention to Snape's yells that he was coming.

"WHAT?" Snape yelled, his face red with fury. "POTTER!"

"Professor Dumbledore sends word. DA1 is submissive. DA2 and DA3 will be aware."

Snape stopped in a mid-sentence rant. "AND THEREFORE--submissive?"

"Yes," Harry confirmed.

"The screaming… it wasn't because of Peeves? It--" Snape cursed loudly. "Potter, go back and tell the Headmaster I'm on my way. It was said at 24:5."

"O…kay…" Harry said, racing back up the stairs. He almost ran into Parvati and Lavender on the third floor as they were returning to Dumbledore with messages, too.

"The nest is knowledgeable," they chorused. "What'd Snape say?"

"He's on his way. It was said at 24:5," Harry said, shrugging.

The Fat Lady was already open when they arrived and they quickly flew through the portrait hole. Dumbledore was waiting. They relayed their messages. Dumbledore nodded quickly and started toward the exit.

"Wait!" Harry cried out suddenly.

Dumbledore turned hastily. Harry searched quickly for the twinkle that was usually there--if it was there, it was hidden under the graveness he presented now.

"What does all this mean?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore looked at him, and his eyes looked somewhat sad. They seemed to be apologizing without words for an unspoken lie. Dumbledore looked around at the rest of the common room before answering. Harry, guessing he figured they wouldn't understand, waited anxiously for an answer as Dumbledore said, "It means that Voldemort just stole the greatest weapon of the Order of the Phoenix."