About fifteen minutes after Nassandra had gone, Kim heard a small mewing noise in the corner.

"Killer!" she cried happily and scooped up the bow-legged Kneazle into her arms.

Killer didn't look so forlorn any longer. True, he was still a bit scruffy-looking, but was quite well fed and happy. He was also very protective of Kim and refused to let her out of his sight whenever possible.

"Has he been hanging around here ever since Christmas?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Nope. He's been everywhere with me, haven't you, Killer?" she crooned over him. "Look, daddy's here, too!" Her voice suddenly changed very commanding, "Draco, give your son a hug!"

Killer meowed and stared at Draco through big, yellow eyes.

"No way! I'm not touching that thing, it has fleas!" he refused, aware Ron's silent fits of laughter.

"Now," Kim ordered, eyes flashing. She was determined to make a fool out of Draco before she ruined him.

"Fine, only just this once," Draco consented and carefully picked Killer up in his hands, clearly unaware of how to hold him.

Killer purred and seemed to smile at him.

Harry burst into laughter and even Lance Vance seemed to be trying not to laugh. Ron followed in suit until almost everyone in the room was surpressing giggles.

"Shut up or I'll curse all of you," Draco exclaimed, making almost everyone fall silent except Ron, who couldn't seem to stop laughing. "Think it's funny, do you, Weasley?"

Killer began to growl and dropped to the floor.

"Yeah, Draco's a daddy," Kim went on.

"You shut up or I'll hex you," Draco spat.

"Big talk... that's all you are, Draco," Kim said smoothly. If I play my cards right, she realized, I won't even need to stick to the plan.

"What did you just call me?" Draco asked angrily.

"Like I said before, I love it when they turn on each other," Lance Vance said with a sigh.

"You shut up," Draco exclaimed and turned his wand to Lance, "Kinita!"

Lance suddenly began to look rather sick as the color rushed from his face and his lips turned blue. Hermione began to shriek and covered her eyes.

"Stop it! You'll kill him!" Kim cried. "Kintaray"

"What? Now you're sticking up for the prisoners?" Draco questioned as Lance returned back to normal, panting.

"No. You've forgotten that you NEVER EVER use a curse that someone has made themselves without permission from the curse-maker," Kim retorted, "and in this case, the curse-maker was me, so you'd better cut it out or I'll use it on you!"

"You're too much of a goody-goody to use a curse like that on me," he sneered.

"Say that one more time, Malfoy," she whispered dangerously, "I dare you."

"You're too much of a goody-goody to-"

"Winkemegalos" Kim cried angrily.

Before their eyes Malfoy began to screech in pain as he fell to the ground in a puddle-like blob.

"What did you do to him?" Susan screeched, recoiling.

"I removed all of his bones and muscles," Kim answered simply as if it were nothing.

"Put him right!" Serelina pleaded.

"For once I agree with 'er. It's 'orrid," Gabrielle agreed, covering her eyes.

"Sure. In a few minutes, though," she replied cheerfully. Since he can't see or hear a thing, due to lack of muscles in his eyes and ears, I'll just explain something to you, shall I?"

"We don't want to listen to you!" Harry spat at her. "You're a traitor!"

"No, she's not, Harry," Hermione intervened. "Go on," she said politely.

"All right," she said clapping her hands together. "I've got all of your wands and I know how to get you out of these shackles. I can't be long. I've sent Moody a message, which I hope he's gotten by now, but I can't be sure. I've lain out a plan with Nassandra-"

"Can you trust Nassandra?" Michael asked quickly.

"Oh, yes," Kim replied, "if she weren't bound to this place, she would have left ages ago. You heard her..."

"Why can't she leave?" Ron asked, overcoming his surprise at finding out that his kidnapper was on his side.

"Because of enchantments," Kim replied sadly, "and I would have been in her position, too, if I hadn't become a Death Eater, which is why I am."

"Why don't they modify her memory and let her go?" Hermione asked. "Or... kill her like the barbarians that they are?"

"Because she's... well, I dunno if I should be saying this in front of some of you," she glanced at Cindy, who didn't seem to be listening, "because... she's a sort of slave... a, er, pleasure slave. Why do you think she has so many children?"

Everyone who had been listening let their mouths fell open in horror and disgust.

"Anyway, so I've got a plan set up," Kim continued. Even Cindy turned to look.

Lance seemed to be doing serious thinking.

"I have a plan, but I need you all to help me thwart what the Dark Lord is doing in this castle. Is everybody willing to come?" Kim asked.

"I'll come," Harry and Ron chorused together.

"Oh, very well, I'm coming, too," Hermione added.

"Maybe I could bite somebody," Michael said hopefully.

"Then we're coming, too," Orlando and James chorused.

"Don't leave me out!" Lance Vance called. "I've got a friend who might be able to help."

"I refuse to be left behind," Ginny said quickly.

"Oi! Don't leave me and Eric out!" Ethan called.

"I'd be honored if I were able to come," Luna whispered.

"I'm coming, too, you can't leave me behind!" Neville added, hopefully.

"I was in the D.A.," Susan said, shooting Harry a glance, "so what I learned might help a bit."

"Woah!" Kim exclaimed, accidentally stepping into the puddle that was Draco. "Okay, so Brandy Randy has a wand, but he's got a hangover... Drekinata"

Brandy Randy got up and blinked a few times, stupidly and reached for the bottle of Firewhiskey that had rolled away and out of reach. Kim made it disappear with a flick of her wand and he looked at her angrily.

"I need to learn that spell…" Orlando murmured.

"And the French girl, er-"

"J'mappelle Fern Meadowes!" the French girl said.

"She says 'er name ees Fern Meadowes," Gabrielle translated.

"Right, and Fern has her wand." Kim glanced around, "I take it that Cindy, Serelina, and Gabrielle don't have their wands, yet? Right?"

"Right," Serelina replied, "so that leaves us unprotected."

"Well, Brandy Randy is about as much help to you as a Poltergeist," Kim pondered, thoughtfully as Brandy Randy gave her a spiteful glare. "Unless he decides to help. If he does, then I'll buy him some really strong alcohol that he can drink that's better than firewhiskey," she added hopefully as an afterthought.

Brandy Randy beamed, but Orlando frowned and murmured, "Nothing's better than firewhiskey..."

"So what kind of plan is this?" Susan wondered aloud.

"I'll tell you after I set you all free and return your wands," Kim replied as she forward to Ron absent-mindedly and unlocked his shackles, making him fall with a thud and a skid.

"Ron!" Hermione cried.

"I'm fine, Hermione," Ron said feebly, head throbbing from being held upside-down for so long.

"Guttosinch" Kim said, pointing her wand at Ron and throwing his own wand at him.

"Hey! What'd you do?" Ron asked. "I feel better!"

"Yeah," Kim said absent-mindedly and released Hermione from her bonds and shoved her wand into her pocket. Ron and Hermione immediately jumped onto each other and began snogging, while Harry turned away and looked at the opposite wall.

"Ugh, get a room!" Ethan called.

Kim undid Brandy Randy's shackles and handed over his wand. She untied Neville, who got up and stretched then scratched his nose for several minutes, while Orlando was being released.

The moment he was set free, Orlando jumped on Kim and kissed both her cheeks, obviously overjoyed. Kim smiled at him as he stretched, "Thanks, Kim!"

"Yeah, don't mention it," she replied, before releasing Gabrielle and Serelina.

She undid Ginny's shackles and Ginny have her a hug, "I should have know better than to think you were a traitor!" She then continued over to her brother and Hermione and attempted to pull them apart from their tangle of bodies after receiving her wand.

Kim released Ethan and he shook her hand, gratefully. She released Lance, who gave her a huge hug and an overly warm handshake that nearly popped her arm out of the socket.

She rotated her arm a few times to pop it back into place and released Eric, who was the more outgoing brother, gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, Livingston," Kim said, stopping in front of James.

"Pettigrew," he acknowledged.

"Didn't expect me to be partly evil, did you?"

"Of course I did. Anyone who turns me down has some evil force controlling them," he replied. She set him free and he, too, began snogging her. She let him and he raised his eyebrows at her before trying to kiss her again. She pushed him away and headed in the opposite direction, remaining true to herself and completely unattached.

She walked over to Natalie, set her free and called, "Would someone please carry Natalie until we get out of here?"

"I'll do it!" Orlando volunteered sportily. Kim thanked him and continued on her way as Orlando slung the unconscious first-year over his broad shoulder.

She moved over to Luna, who was talking to Lance and began releasing her before returning her wand.

"I could always try to call the Crumple-Horned Snorkack," Lance said, thoughtfully.

Luna seemed to like Lance. "The Crumple-Horned Snorkack doesn't answer to humans, though, Lance..."

"I know they normally don't, but..."

She didn't really care about what Lance had to say about the mythical creatures, so she moved on.

Kim carefully reached into Michael's robes and pulled out the Blood-Flavored Lollipop before setting him free. He thanked her and Kim smiled at him and set Susan free as well as Fern.

Kim stopped in front of Harry, "I'm sorry if you still think I'm a traitor. They would have killed all of you if I hadn't played along. I need to talk to you about things regarding this escape."

"No, I don't think you're a traitor anymore," he replied, breathlessly as she removed his shackles. He stood up and stretched a bit. "What do you need to say?"

"It's about the plan," she said, while she set little Cindy free, who hugged her around the knees.

"You know," he said, thoughtfully, "maybe you shouldn't come with us, you might get discovered or hurt."

Kim giggled, "I'm flattered that your interests include my well being, Harry, but I'm quite able to take care of myself."

"You've been through a lot already," he frowned, "do you think it's best-"

"It doesn't matter what's best, Harry," she snapped. "The future doesn't really matter too much for me. Look what you've been through, though! My future is already written in stone, so if I die, it'll just be better off for me. I personally would love to see the Dark Lord overthrown," she added as he frowned, "but I'm already set to marry Karl, have a few kids unwillingly but forced upon me, and die in battle with the Dark Lord. I just hope that I could do some good in my life before I go. Why do you think I joined the Order?"

Harry's frown was becoming more deeply etched into his face, "I don't know much about future, which you can check up on in my Divination exam results, but I don't think you're going to stay on that path unless you want to."

"Oh, really? What other future is there for me?" she wondered, raising an eyebrow.

Harry stared at her, not in a rude way, but in a thoughtful way. A sense of foreboding rushed through her body as well as a shock of thrill and completeness as he began to kiss her smoothly, placing his hands around her waist.

She didn't know how long she'd been kissing Harry before she pulled away and looked at him oddly, realizing that her arms were around his neck. She quickly pulled them away and fidgeted.

"Think about it," he said softly, "you wouldn't have to follow that path at all. Just think about it."

"I am thinking about it," she replied, staring into his emerald green eyes and wondering...