"Well this is productive." Draco stated haughtily. Harry elbowed him in the ribs.
"As we're not doing anything at the moment, I'm sure Hermione still wants to know why Ron was here all day and night yesterday." Jas suggested nonchalantly, head resting on Draco's shoulder.
"Erm . . . yes." Hermione agreed hesitantly.
"Well, he was the only person who knew I was pregnant, apart from Madame Pomphrey." She started.
"You told Ron?" Harry asked disbelievingly.
"No, I kinda found out on my own." Ron said.
"You remember the little spell Finnegan did a few months ago? The one that caused me and Ron to get up close and personal?" she said with a smirk.
"Ah, that one, yes I remember." Harry nodded.
"He thought it was yours." She added.
"You would have had her before now if she was." Harry said, Jas nodded in agreement.
"Hang on a second, you two?" Draco questioned, looking between them.
"Once." Harry said quickly.
"Aaah, said in a tone that indicates his lingering beautiful memories of that night." She said sarcastically.
"We were drunk." He defended.
"You must have been, you got hold of Rebecca Scott that night as well." She grinned.
"Don't remind me." Harry cringed.
Jas opened her mouth to retort, but winced in pain and screwed her eyes closed drawing in a sharp breath.
"Jas?" Draco questioned in concern.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Shit." Jas cursed, holding her left arm in a vice like grip with her right hand. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, shining with unshed tears.
"You okay?" Harry asked in concern. She nodded sharply and got to her feet unsteadily and walked slowly over to the kitchen, still holding her arm. She pulled herself a glass of water and drank and few sips.
They watched worriedly as she inhaled sharply and squeezed the glass so hard it shattered.
"Jas-"
"I'm fine." She said shortly, through gritted teeth. "I'll be back in a minute." She murmured and stepped through a door at the back of the kitchen and slammed it behind her.
"What's out there?" Ron asked.
"Balcony." Draco answered, his eyes still on the closed door. They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"HARRY!" an urgent scream came from the door Jas had exited which was now flung open. Harry jumped to his feet and leapt across the room towards the door, he vaguely heard the others following him.
He stepped out onto the balcony to see Jas standing gazing down at the grounds. His eyes were drawn to her arm, where it looked like she'd ripped her sleeve open and dug her nails into her flesh where the dark mark was burnt, if the shallow bleeding cuts were anything to go by. He stepped forward and opened his mouth to say something, but she got there first.
"Harry," she murmured, "Look." She said, still gazing at the grounds, they were only a few levels up so they had a pretty decent view of what was going on down there. Twenty, maybe thirty or more Death Eaters fighting mercilessly with Aurors, teachers and members of the Order of the Phoenix. There were already motionless bodies on the ground. What Jas was pointing at was removed slightly from the fighting, nearer the Forbidden Forest. Harry took in a sharp breath and gaped at it.
"What the fuck is that?" Draco asked as he stood next to Harry.
"It's the veil from the Department of Mysteries." Hermione answered.
"What are they doing?" Ron asked.
"Bringing the people out of it." Jas said quietly, Harry inhaled sharply.
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"It was used as a punishment back before the first war and for most of it, until the Ministry decided it didn't cause enough suffering for the people they were putting through it, supporters of the Dark Lord at the time." Jas told them. "They've been looking for a way to get them out for a while now, some of the people that were sent through were some of His most loyal supporters." She explained.
"What will they do to those that aren't?" Harry asked quietly.
"They'll probably put them under the Imperius curse, to build up their numbers." She said.
"Will there be any . . . effects on those that are sent out?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"I don't know. They were healthy and whole when they were sent in, there's nothing to say they wont be when they come out." She said.
"Has anyone come out yet?" Ron asked.
"No it just appeared, that's why I called you." She said.
"Look." Draco said.
They all looked towards the veil, it shimmered and fluttered for a moment as two Death Eaters pointed their wands at it. They stepped back as a man came falling through it onto the ground.
"Sirius." Harry gasped. The two Death Eaters levelled their wands a Black. "No!" Harry cried strickenly before running back inside.
"Harry!" Hermione called as they followed him.
"Where are you going?" Draco asked as Harry laid a hand on the door handle to Jas' quarters.
"To do something." He said firmly before wrenching the door open and exiting. Hermione and Ron followed him almost immediately. Draco glanced back at Jas who was hovering over Bethany's crib.
"Go." She whispered and he sped out of the door after the others. She took a deep uneven breath and glanced at the clock. It was almost time for her to leave she realised. She put one hand on the crib and held Bethany's tiny one with the other. Seconds later she felt a familiar pull at her naval and her living room disappeared in a whirl of colour.