Prologue

Two young girls walked into their common room and looked into their father's face in the fire. They were told to get to the edge of the Forbidden Forest immediately and would get their instructions from there.

The two girls were frightened now as they descended the stairs and rushed to do as their father told them. They reached the edge of the forest just as a brown screech owl signaled its arrival and dropped a note into one of the girl's hands.

The two read the note over quickly and when they were finished and had received their instructions to go to the headmaster with a message, the note burst into flames.

They hadn't walked more than two feet when suddenly a figure appeared in front of them. It didn't say anything, only raised its wand to the girls and shouted a spell.

They were never seen again.

Chapter 1: From Sweet to Dead Meat

April Merriwether woke up that morning with a splitting headache. She rubbed her temples and tried to think of the previous night in the common room. The Gryffindor quidditch team had been successful in their game over Slytherin the day before. April, one of their best chasers had been scoring goals the whole game but the Slytherin chasers were keeping up. Then, thanks to Harry Potter and his great Seeker skills, they won the match three-hundred-fifty to two hundred.

That night all of the Gryffindors celebrated in the common room. The Weasley twins snuck in firewhiskies and butterbeers; April and some others snuck down to the kitchens for the food.

April groaned when she remembered how much she had had to drink and how she probably should have eaten a bit more. She sighed deeply and forced herself to get out of bed and walk to the bathroom where she found the special hangover potion she had snuck out of the potions room; which made her wonder what Snape really did on the weekends.

She snickered at the thought and drank a good portion of the potion. Then she took an icy shower and wrapped her long, silvery hair in a towel. By the time she was done, she was feeling much better.

At least it's Sunday, she thought, and took her time picking out an outfit. Since it was only the end of September and still somewhat warm, she finally decided on a skirt and halter-top. The icy pink skirt was two inches above her knees and flowed loosely around when she walked. The white halter-top she picked out tied at the nape of her neck and left the top half of her slightly pale back open.

Back in the bathroom, April dried her hair with a simple flick of her wand and as it fell behind her to about mid-waist, she thought of what to do with it. After tapping her finger against her bottom lip for a good minute, she decided on a simple ponytail, leaving two strands in the front down. She looked at her reflection in a full-length mirror and, nodding with approval, walked down to the common room.

She laughed aloud at the sight she saw upon entering. All over the floor there were plates and cups some filled with food, others just thrown there. There were bottles of butterbeer and firewhisky everywhere and bowls of food on tables left over from the night before. She spotted Fred and George Weasley and walked over to them, sitting down in the chair across from the couch they were sitting on.

"Hey April," George greeted her when he and Fred looked up. "Fred and I here were just thinking of ways to best clean up the common room. That was some wild party."

April smiled and nodded. "Yep, but it was totally worth it, we had a great game yesterday."

"Yeah but we would have been ahead by more if you had used your Veela charm to distract the other team." Fred put in with a sly grin and a wink.

April rolled her eyes but was still smiling. With her pale complexion, silvery hair, and green eyes it was hard to mistake April for anything but what she was: a half-breed. Part-Veela to be exact. "We've been over this Fred. I don't have the power to set off that whole Veela attraction thing." Not that it didn't make guys take a second glance, she thought to herself with a half shrug.

"Snap," George said. Then he and Fred laughed. "You know we're only joking Apes," Apes was April's nickname at Hogwarts. "We all know you're our best chaser."

"Sure," she smiled. "Well I'm going down to breakfast, Shane's meeting me there." Shane was April's boyfriend for two years. They had started dating when she was in fourth and he in fifth.

Fred and George nodded their goodbyes but when April turned around they both exchanged a dark look. Shane O'Brien wasn't known for being the nicest person around. In fact, the twins had heard some pretty bad things about him cheating on his other girlfriends or just being a jerk in general. But they hadn't heard anything to warn April about in past two years so they had kept that bit of knowledge to themselves.

April reached the Great Hall and spotted her two best friends Marissa and Keeley sitting at the Gryffindor table. The three of them had hit it off big in first year after April had come across the two of them fighting over a seat next to a particularly cute second year and April had walked over and solved the problem by taking the seat herself. They had laughed about it afterwards and had remained best friends since then.

Marissa was short for sixteen but very pretty with her shoulder length black hair and brown eyes. She was the most rebellious looking of the trio with her electric blue hair tips and extreme clothing. But she was very nice and didn't mind getting into trouble, which was why April had to love her.

Keeley was almost the exact opposite of Marissa. She was a little taller than April's five foot six and athletically built though she didn't play any sports. She had long strawberry blonde hair that was redder than blonde and freckles sprinkled across her nose. She was very pretty but had a habit to have a snobby attitude and didn't let anything bother her. She also always knew what was going on around school and April just had to admire someone like that.

Along with April's twin sister, July Merriwether, the four decided that even though they were all opposites they were destined to be best friends, and the trio was some of the most popular girls in school.

When April reached the two they were arguing like usual over the last biscuit. April smiled to herself and sat down across from them, taking the biscuit herself.

Keeley pouted. "You always do that."

April mimicked her. "And you two always argue. I'm just a good mediator that's all." She gave them a quick flashing beam and took a big bite out of the biscuit. "Well you two seem to have gotten through the party without horrible hangovers."

"That's only because we stole some of that hangover potion you took from Snape's office." Marissa grinned. She took a bite of her apple.

"Yeah that really works wonders April!" Keeley commented with an approving nod. She took a quick look around the hall and looked back grinning to April. "Shane's coming I saw him through the oak doors."

"Leave it to you to announce when he comes you freak," Marissa teased her. She smiled to April. "You know what people say about him and cheating on his girlfriend in past and all but I can't see it."

April could only nod in agreement. "Whoever said that is just jealous most likely. Hi Shane." April greeted him when he sat down next to her. She reached over and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

Shane smiled to her, but it seemed stiff, as he pushed his sandy hair back out of his eyes. "Morning April." He looked to Marissa and Keeley. "Morning ladies." Marissa said good morning and Keeley, who had never really liked Shane all that much, just acknowledged him with a nod.

"Hey April can I talk to you for a minute?" Shane asked her. The tone in which he said it had Keeley eyeing him suspiciously. April, who was reading an article in her quidditch magazine didn't notice.

"Yeah let me just finish this article," she answered him, her eyes scanning it.

"Err, it's kind of important. Could we just talk now?" His voice sounded more impatient now than it had only minutes before.

Noticing this time, April looked up and frowned at him. "Yeah sure… what's up?"

"No, not here. Alone… In the hallway." He took her hand and led her out of the Great Hall.

"This isn't good Marissa… Did you notice how his tone went from sweet to steel in such a short amount of time? I never liked him!" Keeley stated looking worriedly after April and Shane's retreated figures.

Marissa could only nod her agreement also watching the two, whose shadows were visible beyond the large oak doors.

Outside the hallway, Shane stopped and April shook her shoulder. "Well something must be wrong for you to yank my arm out of its socket." She grinned but it faded as she looked at his pained expression. Little did she know what a great actor he was in all actuality.

"April you know this is my last year at Hogwarts right?"

"Yes," she answered cautiously.

"Well I was thinking." He decided to make it quick. "We should see other people. I mean we've been going out for what? Two years now? That's an awful long time to be... Well"

"Tied-down?" she offered, already knowing what was coming next.

"Well yeah. This is my last year here and I don't want to be attached to anyone. You understand right?"

The hurt was more than she would have expected it to be. She looked down towards the ground and nodded slowly. "Yeah I understand…"

Shane beamed and patted the top of her head. "I knew you would. You're the best Apes… Well see you around." He walked off and April followed his direction to some seventh year Ravenclaw. That only added to the hurt she was already feeling.

It seemed that almost as soon as he left, Keeley and Marissa were there. "Oh April we're so sorry, are you okay?" Marissa, always the most sensitive of the trio gave her a hug.

"Yeah I'm fine… I'm just going to go for a walk okay?"

"All right Apes. Don't worry if we see him he'll be dead meat." Keeley offered as they watched April walk off. "Poor thing."

April was walking down the hall towards the staircase and took the stairs slowly up a couple of flights. She took a hallway down towards the library and when she walked in, she spotted who she had been looking for. Her sister July.

July Merriwether, April's twin, was in a brown leather chair near the fireplace, her feet up on an ottoman. Her shoulder length silver hair down and waved for the day as she sat reading her book. She was more studious than April but still enjoyed getting into trouble every now and then. She finished the chapter she was on and folded the page over, closing the book and putting it in her bag. She got up to go and noticed April just kind of standing there.

"April? What's the matter?" She could tell something was wrong because April rarely came into the library purposely. And there she was looking miserable as it was.

April sighed and walked over, sitting down in the chair across from where July had been sitting. She gave her a small grin and said, "Shane broke up with me. He wants to see different people because he doesn't want to be tied down in his last year here."

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry." She being the older twin by four minutes, she was good at comforting her younger sister. She gave April a little hug. "When did this happen?"

"Just now outside the Great Hall. He said," She cleared her throat to make it sound like his. "April I think we should see new people." She frowned. "The thing is I'm not even that upset over it. Just kind of shocked I guess…"

July beamed. "Great! Then you'll admit that the entire time you two were dating I was right that he was a slimy snake?"

She got a small smile out of her. "Yeah I guess I could admit to that one thing."

July grinned. "Hey I want to show you something I found the other day in here. It's wicked."

April rolled her eyes and followed July into the back of the library. "How can anything in this place be remotely interesting?"

"Honestly April anything in here can be cool… Ah, here we are." She took out a small sack, about the size of softball, and opened it up. Inside, was a glass vile filled with a swirling blue potion. "Pretty neat huh?"

April stared at the blue vile and picked it up, turning it over in her hand. "Very cool actually… You know July maybe I should come by here more often. But what is it?"

July shrugged. "Honestly? I haven't the slightest idea. I found it in the back here a couple days ago. It feels cold to the touch though, doesn't it?"

"Yeah it does. Pretty nifty if you ask me. Wonder if it's edible it looks like some kind of drinkable thing."

"April you can't honestly be thinking about drinking it!"

"Of course not," she grinned slyly and opened the container.

"April! Don't you even think about it you get could poisoned!" July made a grab for the vile before April could try to drink it but when July grabbed on something weird happened. The room revolved and started to spin faster and faster until everything just stopped and the library came back into focus.

"That was really weird… April?" July turned in a circle, not seeing her twin anywhere. "Oh April, where are you?" She said in a singsong voice. She finally gave up. "This is just great." She started out of the library to see where her sister had gotten off.