"Listen up everybody!" Kim shouted. Everyone stopped what they were doing. "All right, before my dear Draco gets a sense of his eyes and ears and begins re-growing his bones and muscles, I'd like to explain to you why you're REALLY here." Everyone looked at her eagerly besides Cindy, who was tying her shoe. "You've been brought here because most of you have family members or friends in the Order of the Phoenix. The reason you were taken is not that simple, I'm afraid. The Dark Lord is gotten his grasp upon a legendary torch known as the Green Flame Torch."

"My sister had a book with that legend in it," Lance interrupted, "some weird torch made of green flames that changes love into hate?"

"Right," Kim replied. "Like Lance said, this torch changes love into hate. It's the Dark Lord's wish to first use this power on the Order's members in exchange for your lives."

There was a little muttering and Cindy began to sob again. Harry, who was closest, bent down and tried to comfort her slightly - a sight that Ron seemed slightly shocked by - and Kim vaguely realized that he was very good with kids. She wondered what it would be like to have a family with him. Then she caught a grip on herself. He only kissed you as a thank-you for setting him free, she chided herself, get a grip on yourself. You're going to live in a big, fancy, stuffy old house with too many rooms and live with Karl, who will demand to have his arousal pleasured every waking moment for the rest of your life.

"Why do they need all of us, then?" Ron asked, one arm around Hermione, who looked pleased that she was free and with Ron.

"Because they're not taking any chances," Kim replied hastily. "They figured that the Order members might want a better reason than just one child, who might possibly escape or die, to fulfill the Dark Lord's plans."

"What exactly are his plans?" Ginny spoke up.

"I can't tell you," Kim answered. "All I have to say, is that Green Flame Torch must be taken before we leave, but even touching the handle will make you hate."

The puddle that was Draco began to bubble a little bit.

"Obliviate!" Kim said, pointing her wand at the oozing mass. "Draco is regaining his senses. What I want all of you to do," she turned to the group of nineteen people there, "is to scatter. Keep close to Cindy, Gabrielle, and Serelina-"

"I am not a little child," Serelina interrupted angrily and pursed her lips.

"No, you're right, you're not," Kim agreed, but then pointed out, "but the three of you will be running out there against a bunch of full-grown Death Eaters, trained by the Dark Lord, himself, without wands."

Serelina looked at her feet and muttered something about being too young to do anything important.

"Anyway," Kim continued, "Nassandra has agreed to help us out. She'll be causing the distraction and once it's caused, you'll have to run for it. Try to stay away from windows, because you need to go as far into the center of the castle as possible. There's a small portal that looks like a hologram hidden in the very center of the castle. That's how we Death Eaters get around the world. You simply say where you want to go and it will appear in front of you. You must get the Green Flame Torch first. Under no circumstances are you to touch this torch: use the levitating spell. No one touches it, am I clear? One of you will go to Hogsmeade and go straight up to the castle to deliver the torch to Dumbledore. Warn him what its powers are and why he must not touch it. The rest of you will be going back to Grimmauld Place, where you'll be safe."

"What will you be doing and how are we supposed to get the torch if we're running around the castle?" Ethan spoke up.

"You all need to find a hiding place where you think the Death Eaters won't look for you. Go through the hidden entrance," she rammed into the side of the wall and a passage opened, but the moment she stopped applying pressure to it, it slid shut again. They won't think to look for you that way. I'll change Draco back to normal and pretend one of you got loose and hexed me. Once he's off looking for you to save his reputation, I'll give three clicks," she clicked her tongue three times and you can give me a sign of where you are, if there's two, don't move and shut up. I'll deal with the snakes. Questions?"

Three hands rose into the air.

"Lance?"

"Can I call for outside help? I know a Crumple-Horned Snorkack who can-"

"No. Orlando?"

"What if Natalie wakes up and turns into a werewolf?" he asked, giving the girl on his shoulder a wary glance.

"If she remains stunned, she should be fine. Harry?"

"How are you supposed to take on that snake by yourself? Voldemort's got a huge one that'll kill instantly," he demanded frowning.

"You'll be seeing later," Kim answered with a secretive smile.

"But-!" Harry began, but he was cut short by a loud, echoing bang that ricocheted through the entire castle and made them all clamp their hands over their ears.

"That's the signal!" she cried, hitting against the wall and opening the door, which she ushered them through. "Keep Natalie out of the moonlit windows!" she called after them. Then she turned to Draco, "Obliviate! Jinttericita!"

Draco returned to his normal state, clutching his head. Kim sprang to the floor and acted as though she'd been stunned.

Draco stood clutching his head for a moment before looking around at the empty room. "Damn!" he cursed, "Ennervate!"

Kim pretended to wake up with a headache.

"What in bloody fucking hell happened?" he exclaimed.

"I..." Kim began. "I was just using the counter-jinx on you... ow, er... I saw someone... I can't remember who... They stunned me! They were free the whole time and snuck over while my back was turned and stole their wand!"

"Damn!" Draco repeated and muttered a stream of swears and curses. Kim was surprised at how easily he bought it. "Come on! They probably escaped through the door!" He scooted around Nassandra's still-full cauldron of sickly-looking soup and ran for the door, wand held out in front of him.

"I'm coming!" she exclaimed and ran after him, bolting through the door and skidding down the eerie stone hallway.

Kim watched Draco come to the split in the halls, "You go right, I'll go left!"

Kim agreed, as she'd sent them to the right. She began softly clicking her tongue three times after checking that the coast was clear. A sudden movement occurred in front of her and she realized that the wall was moving! She scooted away, but then realized that it was Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ethan, Eric, Serelina, and Ginny in well-done Disillusionment Charms.

"Where do we go from here?" Ginny breathed.

"We go down as many stairs as we can. If you see a silvery gas in the air, avoid it at all costs, as it will set off an alarm if it doesn't recognize a Death Eater's mark on at least one of you. Come on, follow me for now."

She walked swiftly along, with the others following. She heard a noise up ahead and made a quick motion for them to hide in the shadows again. She began pacing.

Then, the very last person she wanted to see in a dark hallway, all alone (or supposedly alone), came around the bend: Karl.

He stopped in his tracks and stared at her. Kim realized that he couldn't see her friends simply because it was dark and because he wasn't looking for them. Kim, however, could see Harry's glasses if she looked closely enough.

"Ah," he said with a wicked smirk, "Kimberly... just the person I wanted to see..."

"And why did you want to see me, Karl?" Kim wondered, hoping her voice didn't sound as weak as she felt right now. She saw Harry's eyes snap to look at Karl.

Karl looked particularly greasy tonight with his black hair slicked back, much in the way Draco did his. He looked at her like a wolf who had just scented a wounded rabbit and smirked wider. "You've been avoiding me."

"That's right," she snapped back. "I can't tell you how much I loathe you, Karl. I wish you would drop dead."

"I know," he said in his deep voice, "that's why I like you, Kimberly – feisty. Yes, but you'll crack eventually. You almost did around Christmas, I could tell. No, you and I will be engaged and very soon. So soon, in fact, I can almost taste it..."

"You're crazy, Karl," Kim replied. Her voice had gone weak. This was not the time to have to be dealing with Karl.

He had a look of triumph on his face. "You're cracking right now. I can feel it. Come here, Kimberly." Kim took a step back and gripped her wand tightly. "You can't run away from me..."

"Shut up, Karl," Kim tried to order, but took another step back. He was peeved about something and he wanted to take it out on her! She had to get away!

"Come on now," he said in a deadly whisper, "that's no way to treat your future husband."

"Eat dirt," Kim spat, then tried to take another step back.

"Why should I do that?" he said softly. "Just give in to me. You know you can't resist."

"I can resist you for as long as I feel want to and that want will be held for the rest of my miserable life," she replied.

"No, I'm afraid not, Kimberly. This is my night... or should I say... our night." He said silkily as his eyes scanned over her body.

Kim whimpered. For the first time, Karl was in control. She hadn't understood why, but there was no dissuading him now.

"That's right. No one to stop me now, is there?"

"Fine! Listen to me, Karl, and listen to me good," she took a step toward him and tried to stand up straight and not go weak-kneed. "I'll agree to spending the nights with you whenever I'm here as long as you let me alone for tonight."

Karl smirked, "Oh, no, no, no. How thoughtful of you to offer yourself. But like I said, Kimberly, I'm not taking 'no' for an answer. You've held me off for too long. I want you, now..."

Kim began to whimper. Her entire body was shaking. She did not want this, especially now.

"Accio," Karl murmured smoothly and Kim tried to grab for something before she was pulled over to him. "Now... I'll show you why I'm in control. I promise it's something you won't forget..." He started dragging her down the stone hallway, while she kicked and punched and struggled, trying to aim for his groin.

"Petrificus Totalus!" someone cried from behind Karl, who had his arms wrapped tightly around Kim's lower abdomen so she couldn't escape.

He fell to the ground in the Full-Body Bind. Kim looked up at her savior: Harry, who was breathing rather hard and looking very angry.

"Lortiscorcious," Kim muttered under her breath. Karl's eyes flipped over and he seemed to be having some sort of seizure.

Hermione and Serelina, whom Kim had expected to tell her to remove the curse, were silent and staring at Kim with pity and horror at the scene they'd witnessed. There was a moment's silence where Kim shuffled her feet a bit and everyone stared at her.

"Thanks, Harry," she said finally. "Shall we move on?"

"Kim," Ginny said, carefully choosing her words, "is he... always like that?"

Harry twitched slightly when he glanced at Karl, who was quite still and was now foaming at the mouth slightly.

"Let's get out of here," Kim murmured, ignoring Ginny. She stowed Karl in a room a little farther down the hallway. They walked along in silence.

Another loud bang that made them cover their ears echoed around the castle and Nassandra was seen flying along the passage, her messy green hair bouncing. She bumped into Kim and said, "Was that a good enough diversion?"

"Yeah," Kim said in a downcast voice. "It was really good. What did you do?"

Nassandra chuckled, "I let the kids have the knives in the kitchen, but they almost began stabbing each other. So I lent them the Dark Lord's wand-"

"You gave them his wand?" Ron piped up, unable to control his voice.

Nassandra looked wildly around and realized they were under the Disillusionment Charm and smiled, "Exactly. They've still got it, but who knows what they're up to. Last thing I saw, they were sending the Cruciatus Curse after Macnair." She sighed, "They've got such bad influences here." She turned to Kim. "Do you think there's some way you could get Zute and Zilch out of here? You could give them up for adoption, as long as it's with a wizarding family, for all I care. They don't need this."

"I'll think about it," Kim replied.

"Did Karl come after you?" Nassandra said suddenly frowning. "He was in a foul mood because the Dark Lord gave Draco permission to marry Pansy and, well, he got a bit... restless... well you know how he gets, right?"

"Yeah, I know. He's foaming at the mouth in a spare room back there," she replied, then changed the subject, "look, we really have to go. You can come if you want, but it's dangerous-"

"Danger? Ha! Count me in!" Another boom echoed about the castle. "Actually," she said, frowning, "I'll go in the room with Karl. I'll make it look like... you know... that way the kids can keep on distracting..." She hurried off.

"Wait a sec!" Kim called after her.

She stopped, "Yeah?"

"Where'd you let those kids loose?"

"Ninth floor. They shouldn't bother you."

"One last thing..."

"Yeah?"

"Did you happen to see anyone who was one of the students we kidnapped wandering around?"

"Er, now that you mention it..."

"Yes?" Kim asked eagerly.

"I saw four kids, two boys and two girls, wandering around the third floor in the East Wing."

"What did they look like?" Kim said quickly.

"One if the boys was rather clumsy and round-faced, the other was a bit weedy-looking and mousy-haired. They were in mostly shadow, though, so I didn't get too good of a look..."

"Neville and Lance," Kim muttered. "What about the girls?"

"One was named Susie or Susan or something, and the other was Luna."

"Luna, and Susan," Kim added to her list. "Did they see you?"

"No, I was a bit busy," Nassandra replied and headed off to the room containing Karl.

Kim turned to her companions, "We know that they've made it pretty well down, then. So we're still looking for James, Cindy, Fern, Orlando, Natalie, Michael, Brandy Randy, and Gabrielle." She clicked her tongue three times. No one emerged. She motioned for them to follow and clicked her tongue a little more, until a broom closet door opened and two eyes peeked out.

"Kim," Orlando cried exasperatedly and flinging himself out of the closet, towing Natalie behind him. Fern followed him. "So glad we found you. We were with the others, but then we got separated!"

"Calm down," Kim said swiftly. "Hermione, can you please Disillusion these three for me?"

Hermione nodded and moved forward, startling Orlando and Fern for the moment, before performing the charm.

"Where did you loose them?" Kim asked Orlando as he blended in against the wall.

"A little ways ahead. When we'd found that they weren't with us, we just stopped and hid in the closet," he replied.

"All right, now shut your trap for now and somebody tell Fern the same."

0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0

They traveled on in silence. It wasn't until they heard shouting that Kim cursed and leapt out of the way as a Death Eater named Potley came barreling around the corner swearing and yelling.

"Stupid kids! Oh, master will have to listen to someone! Hopefully he'll kill those stupid children and be gone with them! Why she keeps them, I don't know..."

He ranted all the way down another corridor and didn't give Kim a second glance. They continued on, with Kim clicking her tongue a few times.

Finally, Kim spotted the back of Luna's head and clicked loudly. The group of four turned around and headed swiftly over. Hermione performed the charm once more.

They continued on until they reached a very welcoming person at the moment: Snape.

"Snape," Kim whispered, almost desperately and looking around to make sure he was alone.

"What do you want, Pettigrew?" he said greasily.

"I've got fourteen people around my age behind me and we need to get out of here," she replied. "We're still looking for the other five. If you see James Livingston, Michael Chatfeild (they're both Gryffindors, you know them), Randy Fletcher (he's a Ravenclaw), or a little five-year-old girl, and a girl with long, silvery-blonde hair, they're captives. We're trying to get to the portal. They're the only ones not found."

Snape looked behind her with a look of urgency on his face that she'd not seen him wear before. "The portal has been closed."

Kim stood as still as a statue, not daring to believe it. "W-What...?"

"There are several Order members that have come inside. They've found the group of five you're talking about and they're safe. Shacklebolt took off with them to the Headquarters. There are seven of them upstairs on the top floor."

"What about the torch, sir?" she asked desperately.

"Still in the Dark Lord's hands," he answered curtly. "The problem now is the Order members waiting upstairs for your return to them in exchange for use of the torch upon them. I want you to get up there using the secret passages. There's one around here behind a statue, I believe. I'll go head the others off."

He rushed off in the direction that they'd come in.

"Kim, what's going on?" Orlando asked.

"Keep quiet for just a moment longer," she whispered and began tapping the walls. Finally, she came to a statue of a snake about to strike on some unseen prey and pulled its head. Nothing happened. She pulled its fangs. Nothing happened. She tapped the wall behind it with the same result. Finally, she twisted the tail and the statue sprang aside, revealing a crawlspace only big enough for someone to get through on their hands and knees before entering a large room and many staircases.

"Come on," she whispered and ushered them inside. A Death Eater named Neilcuber stomped by when Ethan, Neville, Harry, and Luna weren't inside yet. Kim quickly told them to press themselves against the wall and then slouched on the part of the wall where the opening was.

Neilcuber stopped in front of her, "Why aren't you upstairs?"

Kim shrugged, "Should I be?"

"Yes," he hissed in replied, although looking at her with an odd expression. "You're the higher-rank, aren't you?"

"Any problems with that?" she asked coolly.

His eyes narrowed but he slouched on without glancing over his shoulder. Kim exhaled heavily in relief once his footsteps died away and hurried Ethan through the little space, who was followed by Luna, Neville, and then Harry. Finally, she tapped the snake's tail tip back into place and jumped inside just in time before it closed.