Woah. I've had this finished this for ages, but never got around to uploading the final chapter here. So here it is! Lol! Hope you enjoy it.

X.P

Chapter 3 A Whirlwind Ride

Nova woke up with fallen leaves stuck to her face. The cloak had fallen off and she shuddered at the possibility of being found while she was asleep. She rubbed her head where she had fallen, trying to remember how she had got here. She heard a girl shriek from a far and it all cam rushing back; the man with the evil face, the woman's body, masked faces and lots of green light. She trembled violently and immediately vomited, unable to control herself.

It took her a while to stop shaking, as she put last night at the back of her head and tried not to think about it. Once again, she heard the girl shriek loudly and quickly got up and hid behind a tree. She looked around her surroundings; it was a clearing at the top of a small hill, surrounded by trees.

She turned her gaze towards the direction of the voices and saw four figures coming from the trees. There were two infants, probably no older than four, Nova thought. The little boy with the black hair was chasing after the little girl with a stick. Behind them were two older kids; a boy, who looked only a year older than Nova herself and a girl, who looked to be about thirteen. She was muttering to the boy in a low voice, when he shouted;

"All right, Regulus, knock it off!" Nova jumped in fright, thinking she had been found out, but breathed a sigh of relief when he shouted at the little boy. He turned around and pulled a face at the older boy, and resumed chasing after the girl.

The older two children were nearing Nova's hiding place and she could hear them speaking softly to one another,

"Are you crazy, Sirius?" the older girl was saying, "If you go snitch on our family friends, your father will chop of your head and stick it on that wall." She shivered at some inner thought, as she came and leaned on the very tree Nova was hiding behind.

"But what are we going to do, Meda?" Sirius asked, "You and I don't fit here, you know that,"

"Yeah, I know what you're saying, but…" she broke off as the little girl shrieked once more.

"Ew, that's gross, Reggy!" she squealed,

"What's the matter, Bella?" Sirius asked the little girl, who had run up to Andromeda and was clutching at her. Nova saw the boy named Regulus, prodding something on the ground with his stick and laughing cheekily.

"Regulus, what is that?" Sirius asked, walking up to his younger brothers. "That's gross, mate," he said immediately after looking at what Regulus was poking at. "C'mon, let's go get something to eat. Eh – I shouldn't have said that," and grabbing Regulus by his hand, he headed back to the girls.

"Someone's spewed over there," Sirius told Andromeda with a sour look on his face. Nova stifled the giggle that had sparked by the look on Sirius' face. Just then, there was a yell and the four children walked towards it, with Nova trailing at a distance lest they hear her stomach grumbling.

There were two women sitting under a large gazebo on chairs. But what took Nova's fancy was the food which was laid out in front of them on a table. The children had already begun eating and she knew it would hard to steal the food from right under their noses.

Taking great pains not even rustle the leaves around her, she made her way towards the table. When she finally got there, she realised it would not be possible to take the food without revealing herself; she would have to take her hand from under the cloak and they were bound to notice a floating hand.

Unfortunately, she had stood there for too long and Bellatrix and Regulus trod over her feet as they ran off to play. The infants didn't hear Nova's cry of pain, which she stifled quickly, but Sirius had heard. He turned his head in her general direction and looked around suspiciously. Nova knew well that he couldn't see her, but knew he had heard her. Heart hammering, she stumbled away as fast as she could and hid behind a nearby tree. She hadn't realised but she had made enough noise running away for Sirius to follow.

She sat at the base of the trunk, her breath coming short and shallow. And very loud. Before she noticed anything, Sirius had thrown himself at her and pinned her shoulders to the trunk. She thrashed wildly, making a lot of noise. With great difficulty, Andromeda, who was behind Sirius, managed to rip off the cloak.

There sat Nova, bruised, scruffy and very untidy. And though her hair was standing on end, her eyes red from lack of sleep she still managed to stare menacingly at Sirius and even attempted to throw him off her.

"Give – it – back!" she yelled, trying to fight off Sirius. Andromeda took out her wand and pointed it at Nova. She froze immediately, staring wide-eyed at the wand.

"It wasn't yours to take in the first place," said Sirius in a stern voice, straightening up.

"I found it! It's mine!" she yelled once more.

"What are you? Five?" Sirius asked her, his eyes blazing, "It's James' and he's getting it back," He took the cloak from Andromeda and slung it over his arm. Just then, Nova's stomach rumbled once again and she was forced to look away, embarrassed.

"Sirius, get some food or she'll starve to death," Andromeda said, lowering her wand slightly. She watched Sirius go and turned to look at Nova. Her brown eyes were soft and full of pity.

"I need that cloak," Nova murmured.

"And what would you do with it?" Andromeda asked, sitting down in front of her, wand still aimed at Nova's head.

"If you must know – this cloak has the ability to change my life; my family's life," she looked up at Andromeda, who did not reply and continued,

"We're – we're very poor people. My mother works day and night to feed five growing children, put clothes on our back, pay the rent and if there is anything left over, maybe even feed herself," Tears had now sprung in Nova's eyes as she tried furiously to blink them away.

"But it doesn't belong to you. It belongs to James…" Andromeda began, but was cut off by a loud snort. She looked at Nova, her eyebrows raised.

"Have you seen how he lives? He has enough money to buy hundreds of these cloaks!" she paused, eyes blurry once more with tears, "Do you know what it's like, to come home and find your mother crying because she doesn't have the money to look after her children? Do you…" she broke off, and suddenly tackled an unaware Andromeda to the ground; her wand sending off sparks as it flew from her hand.

Nova rushed to pick it up and pointed it at Andromeda who looked startled.

"I'm – I'm sorry, but that cloak can change our lives and I will not let anyone take this opportunity from us!" But apart from looking scared or angry, Andromeda sat propped on her elbows, smiling in an amused fashion. Just then, Sirius walked in with a plate of food with the cloak still draped over his arm. He stared at Nova and then at Andromeda, who was grinning from ear-to-ear. He rolled his eyes at Nova and said;

"You don't have a clue of what you're doing, Muggle," he said, cautiously walking up to her.

"Stay back! I've seen enough to know that this thing can kill," she stabbed it at Sirius and green sparks rolled out of the end. Sirius stopped and looked at Nova, "Just give me that cloak. That's all I want," she said.

Slowly, he held out his hand and Nova snatched the cloak from it. She wrapped it around her shoulders so it looked that her head was floating around in mid-air.

"I'm sorry. I'm not normally like this," Nova said and without a second glance, she pulled the cloak over her head and disappeared completely. But before she could get much further, a voice stopped her.

"Hey! My wand – can I have it back?" It was Andromeda; she was standing up and looking at the last place she had seen Nova's head. Ten feet away, Nova threw the wand back at her feet and raced off into the woods; hungry and full of adrenaline.

Night drew on and the moon rose high into the sky as Nova sat invisible at a bus stop, clutching her stomach. She was lucky there was no one around to hear her groans. She had walked for a whole day and regretted deeply not stealing any food from that boy.

It was well past midnight when she noticed a dim light at the end of the street. Jumping at the chance to find some food, she rushed over to it and found herself in a dimly lit alley way which was blocked half way by a wall. There people lots of people cramming the alley, waiting for something. Suddenly, they all started to move and Nova had to walk carefully so as not to get trodden on or revealed. Following the crowd, she stepped through a door and found herself – outside.

It was a busy market place, lit by the moon's glow and numerous lamps and torches. Nova noticed everyone was wearing dark robes and suspicious looks. It didn't take her long to decide that this was a black market and the chances of finding food would be slim to none. She stepped out of the door, which was remarkably disguised as a tree. Nova would never have guessed it if she hadn't seen people using it.

As she stepped out, she found she was in a shop. A drug store as a matter of fact. Nova looked around and spotted some food. Being careful not to attract attention to herself, she grabbed a bag of chips. Nova should've realised that her luck had long run out as she saw the old shopkeeper stare right at her! She tried to move, but his yellow eyes had her transfixed on the spot with terror. He had almost reached her when a brawl erupted in the market place and people piled onto the shop floor, strangling and hitting each other. Taking the opportunity, Nova bolted out the door and kept running till dawn.

Once again she awoke to find herself looking up at a dark blue sky speckled with tiny stars. Sitting up, she scrambled around for her packet of chips. After she had eaten, she settled down to sleep once more, hungrier than ever. Unfortunately for her, she missed seeing a group of men appearing out of nowhere right where she slept.

Nova opened her eyes slowly and saw her mother's face beaming down on her. Behind her, Mrs. Potter was standing, looking just as happy.

"We're glad you're awake," she said, coming to stand at the foot of her bed.

"You had me so worried. How could you run away like that?" Her mother cried, tears running down her face.

"I'm sorry, but I had no choice. They would've taken the cloak from us – it would've made us rich, Mum. You wouldn't have to work so hard to look after us all," she paused, sitting up and hugging her mother tightly, "I just wanted to help," she said softly

"My dear child – you must work with the hand that is dealt to you – you cannot cheat your way through life. The future might change for us yet. All we need is hope." She smiled and kissed her daughter's forehead. Nodding slowly, she looked up at Mrs. Potter.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken the cloak,"

"It's okay dear. We understand," she replied lightly.

"How did I get back? The last thing I remember was sleeping behind some rock,"

"Stonehenge, dear. That's where you were. It seemed you stole some food from old John Witshire. He's the shopkeeper who found you out. Well, he informed the officials about what had happened and they tracked you down. You were quite lucky – had they not found you in time –" she broke off, looking uneasy. "Well – I suppose it wasn't all bad. Because of you we caught some wanted criminals and a black market," she winked at her, but her smile slowly faded as she told Nova that she would have to forget everything that had happened to her in these past few days.

"It's won't hurt, but I'm afraid we can't allow you to realise our existence." Nova nodded in understanding

A few hours later, when she was well fed and thoroughly clean, three men, all dressed in the same navy blue robes entered their room. One of them, Nova recognised as Mr. Potter. Smiling at Nova, the three placed five spinning crystals in a pentagonal shape, with Nova and her mother in the centre. Then, they took out their wands and Nova closed her eyes, clutching her mother's hand. Through her closed eyelids she could see intense blue light as her head began to spin. She screwed her eyes up harder as she felt every problem dissolve into nothingness. She was calm and at peace, her mind empty of all things. Then, as quickly as it had begun, it stopped.

Nova woke up to see she had slept through most of the day. She didn't know why but her whole body was aching and she smelled exceptionally clean. She had also had an unusual dream. It was a boy, dressed in black robes and a white mask. He was singing "I Will Survive" over and over again.

"It must've been that roast we had last night," Nova muttered to herself as she clambered out of bed.

Nova was spending her holidays as usual; reading battered old books and wandering around the house aimlessly. She would be starting secondary school soon, but she wasn't awfully excited about it. She felt it wouldn't make a difference to how people saw her. Brooding over these thoughts, she didn't realise an owl had flown in until it dropped a heavy letter on to her lap. She looked up to see it fly back out through an open window.

It was addressed to her;

Miss. N. Jennings

The Living Room

17 Indigo Place

Plymouth

Hands shaking violently, she turned over the package to find a red wax seal; it was the letter 'H' surrounded by a lion, snake, badger and a raven. She pulled out the first letter. In glittering green ink, it read;

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed or even read this. This is not my greatest piece of writing, but we've all got to start from somewhere.

Have a great day!

X.P