Eve: Hey! This is a really short chapter, and rushed as I'm thinking of quitting. If you like it, say so please. Anyway, things will move pretty fast, but I'm sure the ride will be enjoyable.

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Crawling through this world as disease flows through my veins
I look into myself, but my own heart has been changed
I can't go on like this
I loathe all I've become
Lost in a dying world I reach for something more
I have grown so weary of this lie I live

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Harry Potter tossed and turned in his sleep. His mind was bombarded with thoughts that he could not chase away. Who was this Nevina? The perfect assassin that had snapped her leash and mind? What did she want? That wasn't all that bothered him. "They never told you? They never told you about her? Never said a word about how they left her to die all alone?" Who was she? He had tried to ask many times, only to receive a lecture about how it was wrong for him to have snuck in to talk to her. It doesn't matter anyway, they would tell him after the lecture. She is insane. Probably has no idea who she even is.

Harry pulled his blanket over his head and the next time he opened his eyes he was in a strange new place. He could see a wall of stone and sighed sadly, his eyes falling in some desperation he was trying to ignore. It was impossible though. The silence carried it in and the darkness kept it there. His head was heavy and his gaze dropped again so he was staring at his… breasts? Huh! A low growl brought his gaze to the left where a frightening white wolf was visible. Though it was about the size of a pony!

"Corento, Rial," Harry recognized the voice that escaped his throat as Nevina's. "Es ee fem yavid yed oh ay?"

The wolf nodded and Nevina pat its head. It appeared she was sitting in a large, regal chair in a dark lair of some sort. She spoke in a language Harry did not recognize, though the wolf seemed to understand it. He caught only two words kill, and Harry. Though as she said it something strange happened. He felt a sharp pain, a burning, and a tearing! He felt like he was being torn apart yet no cry of pain escaped his lips. Instead he… Nevina… placed her hand upon her chest, over her heart and sighed. She drifted off to sleep, and Harry woke up. He sat up in bed and clutched his scar as it burned painfully. Something that only happened when Voldemort was emotional. Some side-effect of grandly annoying possibilities. He glanced over at his watch. It was almost morning and he would have to face Umbridge again in a few hours. She was not happy with him. Surprise, surprise.

It seemed that unreasonable troll of a woman had a grudge against dear Harry. She delivered ridicule every time she saw him and it was becoming so bad that once even Snape had called her away. Not that he did not get in his shots every now and then as Harry could not reply if he ever wanted the archives back. They had sent for more, but Snape had been ready and snatched them up rather gleefully. It was the worst year of Harry's life. He dressed and entered the common room to warm up by the fire and await dawn.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as she entered through the portrait of the fat lady. Harry jumped and stared over at her in alarm, "Good, you're up! Look at this!" She sat at a table and took out a book. "It was in the career section!" she explained.

Harry looked at the book. It was a regal looking thing with rich brown leather, brass corners and writing that glistened in the light. It was simply called: Zagan Academy. Hermione yanked the book open and read a description of what attending the Zagan Academy was like. The students sounded impressive and almost awe inspiring. Hermione read on until she reached the end of the chapter about what a rider was and did.

"Why haven't we heard about these people? They sound amazing," gaped Harry, reading about what students had to do to move up in levels. "They could have defeated Voldemort."

"They're a neutral group," Hermione explained, havign already read the entire book. "They can only do what the ministry allows and that they are hired to do. Anyway, these are the people from that article."

Harry nodded, he could not tear is eyes away from the book. To get in you had to get marks even Hermione would have trouble getting, and be physically fit, stable of mind, and strong of spirit. They accepted students from all over the world, provided they cold pass the test. "So this is a rider," he marveled. "Sounds like the only ones who could face off with Nevina."

They had recently seen a picture of Nevina. She was standing near one of the Death Eaters' latest public stunt. Though they only noticed as they had been staring at it for hours, and even then she looked like trick of light. A ghost, something that looked read, but wasn't. A phantom that had lost its mind.

--

"She was standing in the back," Snape reported with half-lidded eyes and the usual drawl. "No one even seemed to notice she was there."

Albus nodded. Nevina was always nearby when the Death Eaters made a move, and she was often seen leaving the meeting houses though no one noticed her. Snape had only recently become aware and that was only after a floor board creaked and he realized she had been standing next to him through the entire hour long meeting. He had tried to follow her afterwards but she'd slipped away.

"She must suspect you," Remus stated, though his tone had continued to be mildly depressed ever since speaking to Irving. "Otherwise she would not have chosen a different spot."

"Well, we can't try to nab her at the school again," Tonks reported with a sigh. "I think she has caught on to me as well. That and Irving has a sharp eye for strangers and keeps making me leave."

"Can't use Fawkeys either," Kingsley recalled, remembering how the last time Albus has sent the phoenix to find the girl it had somehow been held hostage and Albus received a letter from Nevina. It stated quite simply that she would only let it go if she was promised that it would not follow her as it was a nuisance. Albus agreed and awoke to find the unconscious phoenix on the steps to his office.

He knew it was Nevina telling him she could come and go as she wanted and was not afraid of him. They had run out of plans. The Christmas break was approaching and Umbridge had made a rule that everyone was to go home. She wanted to go and if she went, so did they. The rule had been extended to LunarEclipse as well. The OotP had to find a way to find out where Nevina would go. Tonks had already reported that Nevina and Irving did not act as though they lived together. There was an uncomfortable void between them. It was the mistrust Irving spoke of. Yet there was something beyond what he said.

Yes- he had left her to die but that wasn't all. That was disloyalty, Nevina acted as though she had been betrayed. There was a story there that Irving was not telling. Sirius looked up and sighed. "We're stuck."

"When all else fails you bring out the big guns," Moody grunted, though he did not elaborate any plan.

Dumbledore, however, had one final trick up his sleeve. Though it was desperate and he was not even sure how it could be accomplished. "So we hire a rider."

Sirius spit out his drink all over Snape, having been looking for an excuse to do so since the meeting started and he realized he was sitting close enough to do it. "What!"

"None of them would listen," Kingsley argued as Severus snarled at Sirius and was only stopped from attacking him by the two men on either side that were holding him back. "The ministry's got their budget by the balls and I doubt the ministry would allow this."

"Besides, we'd have to go directly to Clef," Remus added. "He is the only one who knows about the ANGEL program and he can't help as he has a school to run."

"I was not intending to ask Clef to aid us himself," Dumbledore confirmed lightly. "Just contact someone."

"Like who?" Sirius asked, ignoring Severus.

"Someone we lost," Dumbledore replied, looking to Remus. "I do think it is time we made contact with him again."

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Eve: Happy, Cota fan club? He's coming back!