NOTE: These characters do not belong to me, but rather, to J.K. Rowling. Their backstory can be found at http/ at http/ and at http/ This story contains spoilers up through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and is AU after that.

The Kidnapping

Li had taken to only spending time out of the Ravenclaw Common Room when the corridors were abandoned, generally during free periods or close to curfew, or when she was going to the library or classes. Though her dormmates seemed more than slightly disturbed at how solitary she had become, Li took comfort in the silence that her loneliness afforded her, especially as there was no one to whom or about whom she wished to speak but Theodore. Several people had attempted conversation with her, but Li was not particularly cooperative when they did. She felt mildly guilty for ignoring Daphne's attempts at discussing the Submergence and slightly mean for not speaking to Stephen since coming back to school, but neither feeling was strong enough for her to break the silence she'd found.

When she was completely honest with herself, Li knew that the only thing that would cause the silence to be broken would be Theodore, if he ever reentered her life.

He was always there, in the back of her mind, like the heavy necklace she'd taken to carrying with her everywhere. He'd become a haunt. A madness. An obsession. In the silence, she could always hear his voice, cool and calculating. When her eyes slid closed at night, she saw his sea green ones staring back at her. She had, on several occasions, attempted to owl him, but with little success. Whenever she did come up with a letter that she found suitable, she would spend several days arguing with herself over whether or not to mail it, and when she finally did mail it, it would go unanswered. She had tried contacting him through the journals, but with no success. Their last contact had been with regard to his father refusing to allow her to visit them, and that had been more than a month ago.

And no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, Li was worried. She was terrified that, while she had been at school (an increasingly useless pursuit, she was discovering), something had happened to him, that his father's "exercises" had gone too far or that he had failed the Dark Lord in some way and was killed for his mistakes and shortcomings. Her one comfort was in the Daily Prophet, which she knew would surely report the killing or arrest of a known Death Eater by Aurors or Ministry officials. They had nothing to report, generally speaking, so the news of Theodore's death or arrest would make the front page, and so far, she had not been able to find it.

But that did not prevent her worry.

The only thing that could keep the fear and worry from overwhelming her was a long walk around the Hogwarts grounds, something which she did every afternoon, between the end of classes and the beginning of supper. Her usual route took her far away from the bustle of people, close to her thinking spot, near the lake, and near several nooks and crannies where she would sometimes stop and take out the necklace, with the purpose of remembering that night at her house. The details came in much more sharply and clearly than they used to, even the night following his visit. The blues and reds of the lanterns in the garden, the smell of strawberries, the feel of his lips against hers…

This was how Li passed the days of September, right through to the beginning of October. It was October 3, to be exact, and it was her eighteenth birthday. Despite her constant obsession with Theodore, she was still very flattered by the champagne truffles left on her bed by "a secret admirer" that morning. Her parents had sent her an extremely expensive set of Egyptian spellbooks, shipped directly from Cairo two days prior, and carefully hexed to protect them from anyone who might try to steal them. Each of her brothers had sent her a different piece of silver jewelry, including Jiang Fu, whose simple pendant was now around her neck, resting softly on her breastbone. She had even received cards in the post that morning, which was a new experience entirely. All-in-all, Li rated it as the best birthday she'd ever had.

It still lacked something, however, and it did not take the great mind of a Ravenclaw to guess what that thing was when she started her nightly walk about the grounds. After all, she scolded herself, rounding the corner of one of the open corridors on her way to one of the quieter nooks, Theodore didn't even know when your birthday was. You should be ashamed of yourself for expecting anything.

I wasn't expecting anything, though! another voice insisted from the back of her head. I had hopes, but that's all they were—hopes. Not expectations.

Vaguely considering for the thousandth time that she could possibly be insane, Li reached into the pocket of her robes and drew out the necklace. She stopped walking and held it up in the fading sunlight, looking at the red cameo brooch and the heavy chain carefully as if trying to read their already memorized shape and design. As she stared, however, a movement from the shadows caught her eye. Quick as a flash, Li whipped out her wand and pointed it at the shadow. "Whoever you are, show yourself!" she ordered, still clutching the necklace in her right hand. Yet what she saw caused it to slip from her fingers and hit the stone floor with a quiet tinkle.

"A bit jumpy?" Theodore asked, moving from the shadows and into the light so that Li could see him properly. "I hadn't realized that the halls of this school were so dangerous as to cause people to draw their wands at the slightest difference in scenery."

Li didn't respond. She couldn't. Any words she might have spoken at that moment seemed caught in her throat with their enormity. A weak whisper finally managed to escape her lips. "Theodore."

"Good to know that you still recognize me," he stated colorlessly and began to move closer. Before he could reach her, however, the sound of voices down the corridor caused them both to jump and draw their wands. Li stared in the direction of the voices, as Theodore spoke to her. "There is much to say, but it is not safe for me here. When they've passed, Disillusion yourself and meet me down by the Forbidden Forest, at the farthest corner of the grounds. I will wait there until seven o'clock."

She didn't hear him leave, but she knew he was gone, long before the gossiping group of Gryffindor fifth years passed by.

Despite how much she abhorred Disillusionment Charms, Li was rather proud of the one she'd produced that day. She felt rather silly, wrapped in a dark cloak and running across the windy grounds of Hogwarts to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, like the heroine of a Muggle fairy tale or some gothic romance. Her heart pounded a frantic drumbeat, and when she finally reached the edge of the Forest, she was shaking horribly. "I'm here, Theodore!" she called in a pale voice. She removed the Disillusionment Charm and pulled the hood of her cloak from her hair. "I'm here waiting."

"You're not waiting at all. You've only just arrived." There was a smirk in Theodore's voice, though she couldn't see him. "Step into the Forest, Li."

It went against her better judgment, but Li did it anyway. Part of her wished that the entire ordeal would just end there, that he would kill her or tell her that he wanted no part of their relationship anymore, but the other part wished that the Forest would open up and swallow them, taking them away from everything else to some perfect world where there was no war to make life unsafe for them. Walking forward, she saw that he was leaning against a tree, looking pale and tired, but still very handsome. She fought back the urge to run to him and throw her arms about his neck, and said in a calm voice, "What do you want, Theodore?"

"A warmer reception, for one."

Though it rarely happened, at that moment, Li's emotions got the better of her. "Oh hell, Theodore, what am I supposed to say? Perhaps you'd like to hear how terrified I've been in the last several months, wondering if you've been killed or tortured, what's happened to you, why I haven't heard from you. Or maybe you'd like to hear how I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since that night in the garden and how all I've wanted since then was to kiss you again and never let you out of my sight for a moment. Or perhaps how I feel as if I'm going mad, staring at that bloody necklace of your father's, imagining that somehow by staring at it, by touching it, I'm somehow touching you." She was breathing heavily and unconscious of the tears that had begun flowing down her cheeks in a shimmering river. "Is that what you want to hear, Theodore? That you've made me feel for once in my life? That I hate you for making me feel, but that I feel as if I love you in the same breath? Is that it?"

To his credit, Theodore kept his wits about him. "Well. You have been busy since we last spoke, haven't you?" he asked dryly.

Li had no response to that, except to glare at him as if she was trying to melt him with her eyes. Theodore seemed unfazed by the glare and continued to speak to her, almost arrogantly. "And aren't you wondering what I have been doing since we last spoke? Are you only concerned with your own hysteria?"

"Hysteria!" If she knew how, Li would have hexed him to death on the spot. "Is that what you think this is? Hysteria!"

"You're certainly not acting rationally."

"No! I'm not!" Li rushed forward with an angry sob and began to pound her fists against his chest as a little child having a tantrum would. "Nothing about my life has been at all rational since you kissed me that night! Nothing whatsoever! And I hate it! I hate it!"

Theodore, of course, had never seen her this way. His voice sounded more than a little surprised as he spoke her name, his hand moving to her hair. "Li…" A moment later, it had regained its usual aloof tone. "I'm not here to discuss such things with you. There are more important matters at hand."

Li pushed away from him angrily. "That's how it is with you. Always more important matters and this bloody war. Don't you feel any of the things I feel?"

He ignored her. "I've come to take you away from Hogwarts and to extend an invitation from the Dark Lord to join our ranks. If you choose not to accept His invitation, it will be several days before we can leave Hogwarts, for I will have to find another to take your place. If you choose to accept, we can leave immediately. My broom is waiting a few paces into the Forest."

His words were shocking enough to stop Li from continuing with the angry tirade she'd wanted to begin. "The Dark Lord wants me to join His forces?" she repeated shakily.

"Not you specifically," Theodore clarified. "He wanted me to come here and find recruits. I knew that no one was more up to the task than you are."

Li was mildly flattered by his comment, but the entire thing had her reeling. "Where will I live?" she asked. "I couldn't possibly live at home. My parents support the Cause, but they believe that a woman's place is to stay at home and cook and clean. They'll never take me back into the house if I join…"

"I left my father's manor several weeks ago," Theodore answered simply. "I have a small flat above a shop on Knockturn Alley. You have a place with me, should you choose to take it."

"Even if I choose not to accept the Dark Lord's invitation?"

"Do you really want to stay here?"

Li frowned at him and looked down at her hands thoughtfully. "If I do choose to accept His invitation…?"

"You will be initiated on October 13…ten days from now…with any other new members. You will receive your Mark on that day and be given your first task as well." Theodore's voice took on a more personal tone. "I won't lie to you, Li. The initiation is not easy. You may find yourself unable to tolerate it."

"I can handle a lot," Li answered him with confidence, though still not answering the invitation definitely either way. "And if I choose not to accept the invitation…"

"You may still live with me. That I will have to recruit someone else will give you a few more days to gather your things so that you can have your studies to divert you while I am about the Dark Lord's business. And, as you know, there are many ways to serve." She looked up at him to find him giving her one of his most intense looks. "One need not be a warrior to help battles to be won."

"And along with my studies, I suppose I shall still be diverted with the constant worry that this assignment will be your last—that you'll be caught by Aurors or killed?" Li wondered aloud. Without waiting for a response, she raised her head a little higher. "No, Theodore. I am not one to sit around and wait for news about housemates or lovers." She heard him inhale with a sharp hiss. "I will come with you now."

"I thought you would." Theodore, she noted, had managed to keep his voice from betraying any reaction to her decision. "We must go now. You'll be missed before too long, and I'd rather not be taken to Azkaban just yet."

"I hardly think they have a waiting list," Li observed coolly. "Let's go, then."

Without another word, Theodore took her by the hand (she felt her heart jump into her throat) and led her in a brisk walk to a quiet glade where his broom lay, waiting. Theodore didn't let go of her as he mounted the broom (now holding Li around the waist so that she sat—rather awkwardly—in his lap) and shot into the sky like a comet. It was not a moment too soon. Professor Flitwick was the first to notice Li missing, and chaos soon followed. The rumor that she had been kidnapped spread around the Hogwarts campus like a wildfire, and by the next morning, the Daily Prophet spoke solid fact when it proclaimed, "RAVENCLAW GIRL KIDNAPPED FROM HOGWARTS BY DEATH EATERS; PARENTS BE WARNED." Within the week, no fewer than a dozen more students had been pulled from the school, and, scanning over the headlines, Li and Theodore were quite pleased with the panic they had caused.