Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. All I own is my original characters and settings that will come up later is the story.

I'm going to make a calendar and post it on my website to explain the time duration of all this. There are days in between some of the chapters that explain Harry's changing behavior. As time goes by he's adjusting to his environment. I'll post a note when it's up. It might take some time. I have it written out so I just have to take the time to type it.

--------

"Follow him Draco." The hole was being burned deeper, the liquid decreasing in the depression as it ate through the stone and morphed into fumes.

"What?" The boy was staring at Biara kneeling on the floor, her eyes locked on the caustic poison.

Get him out of here. He cannot find out. He has to leave now. "Draco, follow Potter. Make sure he goes directly to the Great Hall."

"Why should I--" His eyes were bouncing around.

Severus moved to the cabinet and yanked open the door. He grabbed a vial of milky-white liquid from the back of the bottom shelf and poured it on the floor. The fumes swirled and coalesced before fading. "I need to know what that boy is doing." He stared straight into Draco's eyes. "Do you understand me?" Let the boy think I have a mission from the Dark Lord. Anything to get him out of this room. Potter can't be left alone anyway. He tried to kill himself. Did the Dark Lord get to him again? What could have pushed him that far?

"Y--Yes sir." Draco's eyes darted around the room and ran out the door.

Severus threw up silencing and locking charms and sank to the floor next to Biara, wrapping his arms around her. She was shaking. "Biara. I am so sorry. I didn't see any signs of this happening. He said he didn't know how he made the poison, that the Dark Lord had pushed him to do it. He voluntarily gave it up. He's come to occlumency lessons and learned to block almost all emotions. I don't know why he--"

"They have her." Biara's voice echoed in the stone room.

Severus tightened his arms. "What?"

Biara turned and pulled herself closer to him. "Harry knows what I know. If she had gotten away she would have come straight here. Even if she didn't know we'd come here she would have headed straight here to warn Harry. She can identify a Death Eater attack as well as any professor at the Academy. She's not here. Either she can't get away or she's--" She broke down and sobbed into his robes. "I can't do this Severus. I can't lose her. I can't lose him. I have to do something to help him."

The Academy students surrounded the new table in the middle of the room. They whispered and huddled close to each other. The prefects were gathered together close to the head table talking with McGonagall. They kept shooting glances at the students. Lila had her legs pulled in to her chest, her arms wrapped around Julie. They were so small. They were so young. They shouldn't have to deal with this. They were forced away from their school by psychopathic men who wouldn't have given another thought to killing any of them because they sympathized with muggles. He walked straight to Lila and she pulled away from Julia and reached out to him. He lifted her off the bench and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her robes were lying in a pile on the floor.

She sniffed and buried her head on his shoulder. "I didn't see it."

"It's okay Lila. It's okay. It's not your fault." Harry pulled her closer.

"I haven't seen anything all day. I couldn't get to you. I couldn't tell you." Lila started shaking.

She's lost her ability to see the future. Holy crap. She's not safe here. She can't--He took a deep breath. She's survived this long. She knows how things work now. She knows whom to trust. It will be okay. Mom's here now. All of her friends are here. She doesn't have to go back to Slytherin if she doesn't want to. She'll be okay now.

"Richardson? What are you doing here? Why aren't you back in the common room with everyone else?" Malfoy headed toward him.

Lila sighed. "He's too protective for his own good."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, as long as it's his own good he's protecting."

"Harry." Malfoy was standing right next to him. "Put her down."

Harry growled. "Fuck off Malfoy."

Malfoy stumbled back. "Harry? Look, I don't know what the hell is going on, but all the students are supposed to be in the dorms. I have to take her back."

"Try and touch her Malfoy and I'll take your arm off." Harry moved back toward the Gryffindor table. Can't let anyone take her. Have to stay away from everyone.

"Jaime?" Lila pulled on his hair. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Harry extracted his hair from her fingers. "Nothing happened. I'm fine. Everything's fine."

Lila smacked his arm and pushed away, shaking her head. "You're lying. Put me down." She pushed against his chest again.

Harry let her slide to the ground. "I'm not lying."

Lila smacked his leg. "I am not the gullible little girl I act like when I want something from Momma. Cali isn't here. No one knows where she is. You are not okay."

Harry sighed and dropped onto the bench.

Lila slid over and curled against him. "I'm worried too. But you have to think about this more logically. It's Cali, so she'll be all right. If the bad men do have her, she'll get out. If she can't break out with magic then she'll talk her way out. " Lila glanced around and giggled. "She did convince you to dance on a table."

Harry pulled her closer and rested his cheek on the top of her head. "You aren't supposed to know about that Lila."

She smiled. "I know a lot that I'm not supposed to know. I'm sneaky that way. I'm in Slytherin for a reason you know."

Harry smoothed her hair and shook his head. What happened? He blinked and rubbed his eyes.

"Harry?" Draco slowly took a step forward.

Oh crap. "Hi Draco."

Draco's eyes darted to the group of prefects and the students watching Harry sitting on the bench before lowering himself next to him. "Are you okay?"

Harry rubbed his forehead. "My head hurts. What happened?"

Draco's mouth dropped open. "What happened?! You don't remember?"

Harry chewed on his lip. "I do. I do remember. It's just all--not fuzzy exactly, but not right. I couldn't breathe. I was in the dungeons. I remember what I did and why I did it but I wouldn't do what I did for the reasons I did it."

Draco collapsed against the table. "You know that that made absolutely no sense, right?"

Harry ran his hands through his hair. "Have you ever had a little voice in your head pushing you to do things?"

Draco traced patterns on the tabletop. "No. That was my father's job."

Harry grimaced. "Oh. Sorry. It just--it doesn't make any sense. I know that it's not right--but it makes so much sense. Pure emotion overwhelms--" Harry rubbed his forehead. "I couldn't stop myself. I'm an idiot."

Lila snuggled closer and patted his chest. "Are you okay Harry?"

Harry sighed. "Yes, but I think I'll be in detention for the rest of my life."

Lila giggled. "Did you do something to make Professor Snape mad?"

Harry smirked. "When don't I? But yes, this one was particularly stupid and dangerous."

Draco snorted. "Obviously" He pulled his lip between his teeth. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean, you did just--"

Harry clapped his hand over Draco's mouth. "I'm--decent. I guess. The whole world is still pointless and everything. I still half wish that you didn't stop me. But it's probably better this way and the more I push back the more everything shifts back toward the middle from the extremes. Cali would have killed me if I--" The prefects were staring at the table, at him. McGonagall was handing out pieces of parchment while sneaking glances at him, or at Draco. He dropped his hand from Draco's mouth. "Draco, aren't you supposed to be up there?"

Draco sighed and moved back a little farther, out of McGonagall's direct line of sight. "Probably." He shifted. "All right. Yes. I'll probably get a lecture from her later."

"So why don't you go up there and avoid the inevitable boring lecture about responsibility and duties?"

Draco looked back at the doors. "Professor Snape told me to--" His eyes scanned over the students around him.

Harry rubbed his temples. "Oh." He lifted Lila and set her on the floor. "Sweets, why don't you go find Diana or Jason. Don't let them start freaking out."

Lila sighed and patted his knee. "Okay. I'll leave so you can talk, but you aren't allowed to freak out either." She moved down the table to where Diana sat. Lila scrambled onto the bench and started talking to Meg. Jessica pulled a pack of cards out of her bag and set out a game of solitaire.

Draco coughed and Harry's head snapped toward him. "So Lila Richardson isn't what she seems, huh?"

Harry tried to smile, but he couldn't keep the muscles contracted. All the lines were blurring. What could he tell people now? What was still secret? "Lila's Mom runs the school that was attacked."

"Why was she here then?"

Harry shrugged. "I have no idea. They didn't tell me she was coming. I just saw her at the sorting. I was a little confused. But whatever."

Draco nodded. "Got it. Time to change the subject." He tapped his fingers on the table. "What was in the vial? I mean, it ate through the floor in seconds."

Harry pulled his knees to his chest. Oh it was a harmless little potion that just happens to eat through stone. "It was poison."

Draco's eyes widened. "So you really--you tried to kill yourself. It wasn't just grabbing the wrong potion when what you really wanted was something that would knock you unconscious for eight or nine hours--"

Harry pressed his hand over Draco's mouth. "Yes."

Draco shoved his arm away. "Why?"

Harry wrapped his arms around his knees. "My world just crumbled around me. Magnify everything by a few hundred times and you're bound to do something stupid." He dropped his feet and pushed away from the table, pacing in front of Draco. "There's only so much longer that Professor Snape can give me the potion to block the--the thing that wouldn't let me concentrate in class. The only person who knows what's wrong and has a chance of fixing it is now in the hands of Death Eaters who want her for who knows what reason if they were even going after her specifically at all, we have no idea where she would be and have little to no chance of finding her before they decide that she isn't useful and she outlives her time as a fun torture toy and we find her bloody body staring up with blank eyes in the middle of the forest. Do you know what someone looks like when they've been hit by the killing curse? I don't want to see it anymore. Everyone that tries to help me ends up dead and I'm getting more than a little sick of it!" He jumped as a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

Dad turned him around and pulled him into a hug. "It's all right Harry. Though if I hear you say that this is your fault one more time I might have to set Crane on you."

Harry forced out a laugh. "I already beat him up. We had a disagreement after defense class."

Dad shook his head. "What are we going to do with you?"

Harry shrugged. "Hide me in a room with lots of sugar and movies? It worked last time."

Dad covered his eyes with his hand.

Harry chewed on his lip. He's acting like it's okay but it's not okay. He's falling apart and I'm doing nothing. Maybe Snape as a Death Eater can't find her, but I'm a wizard for goodness sake. Why not try magic at least before concluding that Voldemort is in a shielded hideout? No one ever suggested that he was a sane and practical resurrected monster. He squeezed Dad's shoulder. "I'm going to get the guys together and try scrying. Everything is probably warded but there is always a chance that they were stupid enough to leave us an opening to find a way through."

Dad smiled and patted his back. "That's my boy. Do you need anything?"

Harry shook his head. "We'll figure it out."

Dad nodded and scanned the room. He froze and with a quick squeeze moved across the room toward Dumbledore who entered the hall with Fudge and a group of aurors trailing behind him.

Harry forced himself back toward the table.

"Who was that?" Draco grabbed his arm as he walked past.

"Huh? Oh, that's D--Chris. I have to--there's something I have to do."

Draco dropped his arm. "What?"

"Nothing it's--" I don't have a map. They won't have a map. They don't have any reason to randomly carry a map of England. All right Draco, but in for a penny, in for a pound. "If I tell or show you something, do you promise not to tell anyone?"

Draco scoffed. "What are we, six?"

"I'm serious Draco. No one. Especially not anyone in your family. No friends of your father's if you know what I mean."

Draco pursed his lips. "It's great to know you think so much of me Potter. Screw you. And after I--" He threw up his hands and headed toward the prefects.

Shit. I didn't mean. He grabbed Draco's shoulder and pulled him back. "Sorry. I didn't mean--it's just really--I don't want anyone to know. I can't let anyone know. I promised. But I need your help." This has to work. If we wait too long they'll probably remember to fix whatever they forget the first time around. If this is going to have a chance of working it has to be done now.

Draco rolled his eyes. "How do I get myself into these things?" He waved his arms. "All right. I promise." He sighed and shifted. "I really promise. I won't tell anyone."

Harry smiled. "I need a map of England. Do you have one?"

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Yeeees. Why do you need a map of England? We're not even in England."

Huh. Good point. "Good point. How about a map of uh localness? I don't know. I just need a map of any country where Voldemort's likely to be holding hostages."

"What good would that do you anyway?" Draco waved his hands waiting for an answer. He rolled his eyes. "Gryffindors. Merlin only knows why I put up with this. I'll get you your bloody map." He turned and stalked out the doors. McGonagall stared after him, her lips thin.

Step one completed. Harry rubbed his hands together. He could do this. "Jason!" He jogged over to the boy.

Jason smiled. "You're in a better mood all of a sudden." He frowned. "I was really worried about you over there, and where did you go when you ran out?"

Harry brushed the questions away with his hand. "Not important. I--"

"It is important if you're faking being all right again. I don't know how to get on the roof at this place but I still do not like heights."

Harry growled. "How many times do I have to tell you that I had no intention of jumping off the roof?"

"Enough that I can banish the image of you standing on the ledge with your arms out at your sides?"

Harry smacked his arm. "I like flying and I, unlike you, love heights despite the times I have been pushed or fallen from said heights." He coughed. Too bad Jason isn't as far off as I'm making him think this time. Stupid Voldemort. "Now as I was saying. We're gonna scry."

"But they'll have--"

"Anywhere with hostages warded to the teeth? Probably. But if I've learned one thing from my numerous Voldemort encounters, it's that he's cocky. He thinks nothing can touch him. Maybe he did that this time. If he did, we might be able to get a read on her. The longer we wait, the less likely the chances are that they'll remain as stupid as they start out."

Jason nodded. "We'll need a map."

"Covered. Draco is getting one right now. Anyone here have a crystal?"

Diana unclasped the chain from her neck and dropped the clear quartz into his hand. "I told you it would come in handy one day." She smiled. "I believe this means you owe me some money?"

Harry laughed. Nothing had changed. "Don't you worry. I'll pay up. So we've got a map and a crystal." Anything else? The only other thing we have is a giant room full of people, several of which really shouldn't see what we're about to do. Room full of--Harry giggled. Power. It was rolling off them in waves. Maybe this wasn't as pointless as all that. Harry smiled and draped his arm over Jason's shoulder. "Gather the troops my lovelies. Just maybe we can blast through whatever gets in our way. We will need a distraction for those that aren't supposed to know this is possible."

Diana laughed. "I think a fight should do the trick, don't you think?"

Harry blew her a kiss. "Brilliant as always I see. You set it up, we shall gather."

She nodded and slipped down the table. She leaned in between Brian and Sean. They were nodding with big smiles on their faces.

"They won't be able to keep it going for as long as it will take us to do this, but it should distract them from seeing it starting." Jason jerked his head again, bringing two more toward them.

"There's Draco."

Draco handed the map to Harry, watching Jason out of the corner of his eye.

Harry spread the map out on the table. "Draco Jason, Jason Draco."

Jason held out his hand and Draco shook it. "Nice to meet you."

Dara sidled up to Draco. "Well hello."

Jason snorted. "Very subtle little princess."

Dara smacked him. "I'm not your princess asshole, so unless you want those to be the last words you ever speak you should be nicer to me."

Draco's eyes widened.

Harry laughed and pulled him between him and Jason. "Don't worry. She's a sweetie if you don't try and demean her womanly power of beating the crap out of you."

Draco opened and closed his mouth and shifted closer to Harry as Dara forced her way onto the bench next to him. "Um." He coughed. "Hello."

Dara laughed and smacked Draco's arm. "I see you've gotten the friendship of our boy. Be careful. We spent a lot of time constructing that. You break him you bought him."

Diana dropped onto the opposite bench with a laugh. "We're set. They'll go on the signal."

Draco laughed nervously. "Who will go on what signal?"

Harry shrugged. "Oh you know. This and that. No big deal." He counted off those gathered around the map as he smoothed it out. The twelve were present and accounted for. "All right guys. We're going to try and scry for Cali. I figured with enough power we might be able to break through."

Ara dropped her head onto her palm. "Don't we need something of hers?" She waved her other hand. "Well I know we don't need it, but would it work better?"

Harry dropped the crystal to the table. Damn it.

Lila dropped an envelope onto the table. "She may be crazy, but sometimes it comes in handy. Where will we be far enough away that we can play cards?"

Diana pointed toward the far end of the Slytherin table.

Lila nodded and ran to her friends. They grabbed their cards and headed off.

Harry pulled the flap out from the inside of the envelope. He snorted.

Jason tried leaning over Dara and Draco to see in. "What is it?"

"The freak sent Lila her hair."

Jason laughed. "What, you didn't get yours?"

Harry shrugged. "Well yes, but I don't carry it around with me or anything." He tried to force the blood away from his face. Just because it was in his album didn't mean-- "Anyway, we can do this now." He pulled out a few strands of hair and wrapped them around the crystal.

Draco turned Harry toward him. "What are you doing? Even that bat Trelawney wouldn't believe in this. You can't find people like this."

Everyone was looking at each other, managing to hold back their laughter. Harry shrugged. "Well I guess we'll see won't we." He held the crystal over the center of the map while everyone else pressed their palms on the edges. "Plus, anything that Trelawney doesn't believe in must be a good idea. Now Diana."

She nodded and Brain and Sean moved to the front of the room on the other side of the prefects. "You bastard!" Brian threw a punch toward Sean. He missed and pulled him to the ground. They jumped up and circled each other, arms flying. Students at the ends of the table ran to surround them while the others stayed at the table to shield the group from direct view. The prefects, along with Dumbledore and the aurors, were headed toward the group.

The eleven surrounding the map started chanting. Harry closed his eyes. I really need to learn Latin. He brushed all the thoughts out of his mind and pushed his energy into the crystal. Morganna Caliope Richardson. Where is she? The crystal circled the map lazily. It edged toward one side, moving in smaller and smaller circles. Where is she? The chain jerked and the crystal thumped against the map. Harry's eyes shot open. We found her! The map burst into flame. Jessica strangled her scream and Kyle waved his arm, dousing the flames. The map was ash. Harry couldn't breathe. No! We were so close. "Did anyone see where it landed?"

Jason slammed his fist on the table. Samantha dropped her head into her hands. Remara let out a deep breath. "England. It was definitely in England. Somewhere near London."

Everyone locked on her green eyes. She shrugged. "I cannot get any closer than that."

She could be anywhere. They could be doing anything to her. This is all my fault. I have to--Harry growled. "Voldemort."

Draco flinched. "What?" He shook his head, his eyes shifting back into focus. "And what the hell just happened?"

Ron dragged Sean toward the wall. Chris was holding a cloth to Brian's face. Someone had gotten a good hit in. Brian caught his eye and smiled before grimacing at Chris. Chris looked over and shook his head, smiling.

"Voldemort tapped in and realized what was happening and torched the map." My thoughts were empty. What did he catch onto? "Him. He felt that I was looking for him." Harry let out his breath and smiled. "So since he doesn't know what we really looking for we haven't lost any of the time we have to get her back." He tossed the crystal to Diana.

She yelped and dropped it to the table. "What the hell?" She rubbed her hand.

Harry glanced down at his palm. The links of the chain were still visible. They were burned into his skin. Pain shot through his hand. "Ow!" He shook his hand. Jason conjured a bucket of ice and he stuck his entire hand in.

Ara snorted. "Way to listen to your body Potter."

Harry glared at her and pulled his hand out when he couldn't feel his fingers. Jason banished the bucket.

Draco couldn't seem to get enough air into his lungs.

Harry winced. Oh crap. Information overload for poor Draco. He wrapped his dry hand around Draco's shoulder. "I think you should head back to the dorm Draco. Get a good night's rest."

Draco looked at him but his eyes kept jumping around the group.

This is not going to be a fun conversation and I am going to break so many rules. "I'll explain things tomorrow, okay?" Draco's eyes locked onto his. "I promise."

Draco nodded and slid off the bench. He meandered through the students standing around the table and disappeared into the shadows outside the hall.

Kyle clapped him on the shoulder. "Next time we do that maybe we should make sure there aren't any new people around." He laughed. "Boy, you going to have fun with that conversation tomorrow."

"Ha ha." Harry pushed his hand off.

Dumbledore raised his arms and everyone fell silent. "We have created an area for you to stay until matters can be resolved. Professor McGonagall will escort you there and explain how to access it. I would ask you not to reveal these details to any students here for your own safety. Madam Pomfrey assures me that those of your classmates in the hospital wing will all recover within a few days so do not worry about them. It is late and we should all get a good night's rest."

Professor McGonagall moved toward the door, the students following after.

Jason hugged him. "We did good tonight. Better than any of us expected. We'll find her." He moved away, lifted Marjore into his arms and trailed after the group. Marjore slept peacefully on his shoulder.

"Harry?" Hermione stood a few feet behind him wringing her hands.

No. Tomorrow was not going to be a fun day at all. "I'm fine. Can the explanations wait for tomorrow?"

Hermione opened her mouth but Ron stepped in front of her. "Sure mate. You look exhausted.

Harry sighed. "I don't feel any better than I look either." He stood, turned toward the door, and caught himself on the table as his knees collapsed. Perhaps he had channeled a bit too much energy into the crystal. Ron pulled Harry's arm over his shoulder and helped him toward the doors. Hermione rushed up and draped his other arm over her shoulders. The trip to the tower was silent. Harry could barely find enough breath to make it up the stairs. Ron helped him up the stairs, calling goodnight to Hermione.

Harry collapsed into his bed. Ron slipped his glasses and shoes off and pulled the covers over him. "Goodnight mate."

"Night." He buried his head in the pillow and dropped into the darkness.

-------

Leave a review. :) I just couldn't stop writing and then we have another chapter so soon. I wrote another six pages at the dance recital shows I was at yesterday for eight hours. Happy Reading all.