I'm so sorry this chapter to so long to post. I went out of town and then I couldn't think of anything to write! I'm thinking about making two parts to this story…not sure yet. Anyhow, here's chapter 9, enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything, except Dani, Taylor, and the plot

Chapter 9: Trials of Life

Dani's POV:

The weeks went by and nothing really exciting happened. Unless you count the second Quidditch match getting rescheduled until after Christmas break, which caused many people to become irritated. My rumor served its purpose; it annoyed and embarrassed Draco greatly. The best thing that came out of the rumor was when Pansy freaked and yelled at Draco in front of everyone. Hermione was still not speaking to Ron—what was worse was that he didn't even know what he did. Boys can be so stupid sometimes. And weird. Stupid and weird—not a good mix.

Taylor had been acting very weird lately. He hadn't been talking to Harry since we started going out. Which was weird because they had seemed to get along ok; I guess it was just Taylor being a "big brother" (he was only two minutes older than me). Oh well, I had other things to worry about besides Taylor acting weird; like, let's think, the whole Hermione-Ron-thing.

"I can't believe," I said sitting across from Hermione in the Great Hall, "that you are taking Cormac McLaggen to Slughorn's party. What happened to Ron?"

She looked at me and rolled her eyes. "Ron's got a girlfriend, and I don't think Lavender would appreciate it very much, do you?"

"No," I said. "You still could've gone with Harry—as friends," I added as she gave me a confused look.

"True, but…I wanted to annoy Ron."

I smirked, "I knew it."

"Does that mean Harry finally convinced you to go?" she asked. I nodded.

She laughed and asked, "So what are you doing for the holidays?"

"We're going to the Weasleys. You?"

"I'm going home and some relatives are coming to visit. You're break is going to be, er, interesting though."

"Yeah," I said, "between Taylor not talking to Harry and Fleur getting on just about everyone's nerves, it'll probably be the first time that I'll actually be happy for break to be over."

"Speaking of Taylor, I haven't seen him around the past few days," Hermione said.

"Neither have I," I said frowning, "we leave the day after tomorrow."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Hermione asked.

"The last Hogsmeade trip," I said.

"Dani, that was Sunday," said Hermione now looking worried. "Maybe you could ask Leah—"

"I can't," I interrupted, "she came back from Hogsmeade with her friends saying they'd broken up."

"Oh."

"Riddle," someone from behind me said. I turned around and saw Snape. "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office."

I stood up and asked Hermione to tell Harry where I went and she said she would. Snape and I walked in silence to Dumbledore's office. When we got there he told me to sit and he left the room.

I looked around the room. The pictures were of past headmasters and mistresses, who were all asleep. There was also the sorting hat and a lot of odd objects around the room. I looked up at Dumbledore's desk and saw a bright red bird perched on top of his chair. It was a phoenix. He looked at me and swooped down and landed on my leg. I stared down at him, he was a pretty bird—I mean it too, I'm not the biggest fan of any kind of bird.

"Ah, I see you've met Fawkes," Dumbledore said.

I jumped and turned around in my seat as Fawkes flew back to his perch.

Dumbledore walked to his desk. When he sat down I noticed he looked tired and…sad. He placed his hands together on the desk—his one hand was still black.

"I'm afraid to tell you Dani," he said, "that your brother is-is in a coma…. He has been placed at St. Mungo's and is being attended to. Mrs. Weasley—"

"How?" I asked.

"Pardon?"

"How—when did this happen?" I asked; my voice was shaky.

"I believe he was taken in Hogsmeade by Death Eaters. Why, I have no idea. The only thing we know is that he was tortured until he fell into a coma—the Death Eaters left him; they probably think he is dead," Dumbledore said, looking at me with a worried expression.

"D-do they know when he'll wake up?" I asked. I realized I was crying and wiped the tears with the back of my hand.

"They know he'll recover, but they're not sure when exactly he'll wake up," Dumbledore said. There was something in his voice—sadness? I didn't know nor did I really care right then.

"May I go?" I asked, standing up.

Dumbledore looked startled but said I could. I turned around and started walking to the Gryffindor tower. My mind was blank and no matter what I did I couldn't stop crying.

"Baubles," I said when I reached the Fat Lady. I'm just going right to bed and I'll—I'll think about this later. Maybe I'll wake up and it won't have happened, I thought. The common room was empty except for a few people who were too busy to notice me.

"Dani th-what's wrong?" Harry asked. I walked over to him; he was sitting farther away from everyone else.

"What's the matter?" he asked again.

I took a deep breath—to try and study myself—and ended up telling him everything Dumbledore had just told me. I wasn't sure if he understood what I said though—I was crying really hard. Apparently he did because he looked angry when I finished.

"I'm sorry," I said when I'd finished. I noticed I'd also stopped crying. "I don't usually cry."

Harry was at a loss for words. He just held me for awhile—which probably helped more than words could have. I realized then that I had other people in my life that I could count on now. It had always just been Taylor and me. After awhile I went to bed and cried myself to sleep.

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Voldemort's POV:

"He's dead?" I asked.

"Yes, my Lord," said Bellatrix. "He died under the Cruciatus Curse."

"Weak," I muttered.

"Did you get any information out of him before he died?" I asked.

"No, nothing we didn't already know," she said.

"Very well," I said, "we must continue to try and bring the girl here. Severus, you are responsible for making sure she and Potter get if young Malfoy fails."

"Yes my Lord," he said.

"Now go and continue with your work!" I shouted.

They bowed and Apparated out.

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Dani's POV: (THREE DAYS LATER)

I woke up in Ginny's room lying on some kind of cot. I got up and changed into a red T-shirt and black sweats. I then went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. The red in my hair had almost grown out and my eyes were red from crying. I washed my face with cold water—it helped and my eyes weren't as red—and I headed downstairs.

"How's Dani? Is she ok?" asked Lupin.

"I don't know—she doesn't talk much. Not that she talked much to begin with, but now she never talks," said Ron.

"Well how'd you feel if I was in a coma?" asked Ginny defensively.

I listened to them talk before I entered the room.

"Good morning Dani," said Mrs. Weasley.

"Morning," I said, sitting down next to Harry.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know." For the past few days I hadn't been talking much. I thought it was just shock at first, but then I realized I was angry and sad; I wasn't talking 'cause I wasn't sure how to express myself right then.

"They think he's dead," I said quietly.

"Who think what?" asked Ron.

"The Death Eaters and…Voldemort think Taylor's dead," I said, while picking at the toast on my plate.

"Dani, I'll be taking you to St. Mungo's," said Lupin, "when you're ready to go just say so."

I nodded. "I'll be down in a minute." I went upstairs to finish getting ready and grabbed a black hoodie and went back downstairs.

"How are we getting there?" I asked.

"Floo powder."

"Inside a hospital?" I asked in disbelief.

He nodded and led me over to the fire place and told me what to say. After a whirl of green I was stumbling out of the fireplace and into a white room with about five other fireplaces. There were other people coming and going through the fireplaces.

"This way," said Lupin, leading me through a door at the end of the room. The door lead into a waiting room were Lupin left me to go see where Taylor's room was.

"He's on the fourth floor; room one hundred six."

We walked upstairs to the fourth floor and made a left.

"One hundred four…one hundred five…ah, yes, room one hundred six," said Lupin, steering me toward the room. He pushed the door open and walked inside. I took a deep breath and followed.

It was a small room with two occupants. The room was painted a pale yellow. There were no windows, but there was a yellow curtain dividing the occupants. The one occupant closet to me was a middle-aged man with slightly grey-brown hair. His blue eyes were misty and he seemed to be mumbling to himself.

Lupin gently guided me toward Taylor's bed. I gasped. His arms were scraped up badly and there were two deep cuts on his right cheek. His skin was extremely pale and cold. His breathing was shallow. He was hooked up to a few machines—they looked like machines that you'd find in a Muggle hospital.

I felt hot tears start streaming down my face. It's Christmas Eve and Taylor's in a hospital. And in a coma.

"Taylor, you have to try and get better," I said squeezing his cold hand.

I leaned back in my chair and held my face in my hands. I tried to see if he was thinking anything, but he was just reliving old memories. I talked and cried for about an hour when Lupin came back.

"Ready?" he asked.

I nodded; stood up and bent down to give Taylor a kiss on his forehead. "I'll be back. Don't give up," I whispered giving his hand one last squeeze.

As we walked back to the room with all the fireplaces I found was no longer sad. I was mad. Why hadn't Snape done something? Anything? Wasn't that his responsibility as a godfather? Lupin seemed to notice my sudden mood change.

"What's wrong Dani?" he asked me with concern.

"Why didn't Snape do something? Wasn't he in Hogsmeade that day?" I asked my voice full of anger.

Lupin sighed. "I don't know, Dani, I really don't. But no matter how mad you are, you cannot yell at Snape."

"Why not?" I asked my tone mutinous.

"Because he believes that Taylor is dead."

"What!"

"Dumbledore thinks that if we don't tell Snape it'll keep Taylor safer. You know, the whole Occlumens issue."

"Right," I said. We were now in the room with the fireplaces.

"Here," Lupin said handing me the floo powder. After another whirl of green we were back at the Burrow. I walked straight to Ginny's room and curled up on my bed. The door opened: it was Fleur.

"'Ow vas zee 'opital?" she asked.

I shrugged, "I still have mixed feelings about everything right now."

"I vould probably feel zee same eef eet vas my seester."

I nodded.

"I'll go now; I vas just coming up to say zat deener vill be soon."

She smiled and left. I fixed my appearance went downstairs. It was nice to know that what had been feeling was normal. But now, I felt different; I wasn't angry or sad—I wasn't anything.

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The next few days past by in a blur. I visited Taylor two more times before we returned to Hogwarts. I slowly started to act normal again, but I was now constantly aware that Voldemort would not stop until he found me. My visions were no longer confusing—they were as clear as day. And I didn't like it one bit.

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