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Disclaimer: The epic adventure this tale is based on is written by J.K. Rowling. I am not her, but enjoy this chapter anyway!

A/N: I'd like to thank a few of my friends. To my first ever readers: my friends whose names I will not reveal. You know who you are! They were the first ones to read my fic and urged me to put it on-line. I wouldn't have written more than a few chapters if it hadn't been for them. Pals, thanks a bunch! I'd also like to thank my reviewers. Can't live without ya! Thanks guys! I owe you one.

-EveningSongEnchantment

For Shnitz (aka-Shnitzenhimer)

The previous situation may be terminated, but we can always begin again. Thanks for your support and many wonderful conversations with me. Your help has been invaluable! Thanks for being an excellent Beta. This one's for you. Oh. And remember, save the birds! punches the air, misses the bird, plane AND superman! ;)

Chapter 10: Time's Journey Begins

The six of them slept past noon. No one but a few flitting birds discovered them.

When Neville woke up, he was startled to find himself in the open air sleeping next to five other people. He looked around and remembered last night's events.

He sighed and hugged his knees. So many people had died in the past few years. He (use this name in next sentence) hadn't known them very well or at all, but he felt bad for them all the same.

Neville looked around their patch of earth morosely. The news about the prophecy had brought his emotions up a notch. Then the information the paper had brought had given them all a jarring push in that depressing direction.

Neville looked at the others and remembered the D.A. and what their goals had been. Well, they had reached those goals; they could all fight Death Eaters now anyway. But Neville felt that there was a new goal now: to end all this suffering and pain. To bring the world back to happier days, and the only way to do that was to destroy the horcruxes.

The others were waking up now; Luna was looking around her in that dreamy way of hers. Ginny was scowling at the ground, she still hadn't rid herself of the emotions of last night, and Ron and Hermione rose in low spirits. Harry… Harry was staring at the ground, fists clenched.

No one felt like making much of an effort for breakfast, so they just took out some snacks from their trunks and munched on them.

But Harry didn't get up. He was thinking about Voldemort and his horcruxes. He was trying to concentrate on anything but the pain that he had experienced last night.

"Harry?"

Harry looked up to see Ginny's face inches from his, tears shining in her beautiful, bright brown eyes.

"You should eat something," she said, handing him an apple. He took it gratefully and bit into it.

Ginny sat down beside him, looking at the ground and chewing her pear dolefully. They all sat in silence, not speaking about anything but looking at the paper which still lay crumpled in the middle of the clearing.

Ginny threw the remains of her pear away and stalked over to the paper, snatching it up from the ground.

"They'll pay for this," she said through gritted teeth, glaring at the foremost page, "They'll pay for what they've done…for all that they've done."

She clutched the newspaper with shaking hands, and looked around at the others. New determination filled them all as they looked at the scrap of news she held in her hands. They had to destroy the horcruxes, and Voldemort with them; they just had to.

Hermione got up and read aloud more details from the paper for all to hear.

It seemed that the aurors had been working late when Lupin arrived. The werewolf was on some mysterious business, wanting to talk to Tonks. Then the Death Eaters had come, soundless and deadly.

It seemed that they had all fought bravely, but had been gravely out numbered, dieing before help could arrive. The paper said they had brought down eight Death Eaters with them and had severely injured four more, bringing them to justice.

When Hermione had given the details, they all felt the same rage pouring through them, filling up their every thought and feeling. It rushed through their blood like cold fire and filled them with a sense of utmost determination.

Then Ginny sat up suddenly, staring at the paper.

"August thirtieth… that was…" she looked at the Harry, "That was the night you all left..."

Realization hit them all hard in the face. Harry fleetingly remembered Mrs. Weasley telling them to stay.

"Urgent message… Attack on the Ministry…"

"Can't we-?"

"NO! Stay here and wait for us to return! We'll be back as soon as we can."

That's what had happened that night. That's what the Ministry attack had been all about. The aurors office had been assaulted while the three of them had made their 'escape'.

Ron turned on Ginny. "Why didn't you tell us this before?" he demanded, outraged.

"I didn't know!" Ginny cried in her defense, "Mum came home and the raid was completely wiped from her mind when she found out that you lot had disappeared!"

Ginny had forgotten to tell them about Mrs. Weasley's reaction to their leaving. So she told, in enormous detail, what had happened upon the Order's return.

Harry felt guiltier and guiltier with every sentence. He hadn't meant to cause so much turmoil… but then again, it had been necessary.

After Ginny had recounted August 30th's events, no one spoke. Neville and Luna stared at the sky and Ron, Harry, and Hermione gazed at the ground. All three of them felt guilty about putting Mrs. Weasley through so much.

Harry heard a noise to his left. He looked up to see Ginny scuffing the ground with her sneaker, looking guilty.

"You didn't do anything!" Harry said surprised.

Ginny grinned half-heartedly. "Oh yes I did. I left Hogwarts; Mum will have a letter by now telling her that I've gone missing."

Neville looked up at this, eyes wide. He had not thought about this angle. His Gran would have gotten a letter too, as will have Luna's dad.

How horrible they all must have felt, to find that their children or grandchildren had disappeared during the night.

Now everyone was feeling at fault. Ginny imagined how Mrs. Weasley would react. Now all her children had either left home or gone missing.

Ginny bit her lip. Her mother would probably die of misery. And how would Mr. Lovegood respond to having his only daughter disappear? Or Mrs. Longbottom? She had already lost her son and his wife in a sense, and now she would think she'd lost Neville too.

Ginny saw that Neville must have come to the same conclusion. He was looking sick with himself for causing his family more pain.

Luna however seemed un-phased. Confused, Ginny opened her mouth to ask why. Before she could get a word out thought, Luna noticed and talked first.

"He'll know I'm still alive," Luna said vaguely.

"And how will he know that?" Ginny asked.

Luna shrugged and said, "He'll just know. All families have some kind of connection that tells them these things."

Ginny doubted this; if her mother had the connection then she wouldn't have been worried sick when Harry and the others had left. But she didn't say anything because Luna believed a lot of weird things and didn't like her beliefs being challenged.

"We'd better get going." Harry said still looking at the ground. He went over to his trunk, took out his Firebolt and then started strapping his trunk to it. The others did the same, but Hermione hung back.

She walked over to the paper and picked it up. Then she tucked it into her pocket gingerly.

Ron had been watching her and asked, "What are you keeping it for? Throw it away; the memory of the thing is bad enough."

Hermione glared at Ron, more tears in her eyes. "I'm keeping it for sentimental reasons; I also didn't get to read what wasn't on the front page."

"So?"

"So, there might be more useful information inside, we shouldn't pass that up just because of what's on the front page." And with that she turned on her heel and started loading her trunk.

Ron stared at her a moment, and then resumed his own packing. It took about five minutes to get all of them set, and then they were off again; this time six of them were flying together.

They traveled in pairs so it would be easier to keep track of everybody. Harry and Ginny were in front, Ron and Hermione were together in the middle, and Neville and Luna were flying next to each other, bringing up the rear.

There were a few attempts at conversation, but they were half-hearted and didn't last long. It was starting to get monotonous, flying over landscapes, dodging behind clouds. Finally, when evening was starting to set in, they reached their destination. Harry signaled the rest to start their descent and they followed his directions.

They landed in a battered, deserted neighborhood. All the widows of the buildings were boarded up and the road was reduced to bricks here and there. Signs depicting their stores' goods were swinging and creaking in the silence. Doors lay on the floor or on broken hinges. Dunesburrow seemed to be uninhabited.

They walked down the street nervously, wands out.

"Er—" Harry said, "Hermione are you sure this is the right place?"

"Yeah," said Ginny, "This place is like a ghost town. Not the kind of place you'd expect an orphanage to be in."

Neville and Ron murmured that they were of the same mind. Luna was looking around, curious.

Even Hermione looked unsure, but then she quickly got her confidence back.

"Well," she said self-assuredly, "I didn't expect it to be a pretty place, since there's supposed to be a horcrux around here. And judging by the state of things," she gestured to a nearby building, "We seem to be in the right place for a horcrux."

There was a creak from the building directly behind them. They all whirled around to an empty doorway. Cautiously, Harry edged towards the door, wand aloft and ready to strike.

He peered around the doorpost, but saw no one in the room. He looked up a flight of stairs and saw no one.

He came out and shook his head at the others, muttering something about the wind playing tricks. They all sighed with relief.

They continued on, wondering down the avenues looking for Burlington Street. It was one of the last streets they came to. It was, if possible, more desolate than the other lanes. They looked for number forty-two but it wasn't there.

Frowning, Harry sat on a bench. Hermione looked puzzled and stared at where number forty-two should be.

Harry knew that there was a charm on the building similar to the one on number 12 Grimmauld Place; they had come to their first obstacle.

He explained his suspicions to the others and it didn't bring happy looks to their faces.

The others thought in silence, Ron and Luna went over to sit by a pair of broken gates that used to lead to what seemed to be a courtyard.

"Harry," said Hermione standing up abruptly, "I've just had an idea. Can you remember the inside of the orphanage? You are the only one of us to see the memory in Dumbledore's pensieve so you're the only one who can do it."

"Do what?" Harry asked, trying to understand what she was telling him to do.

"Okay, imagine a room, any room that you can remember. If I'm right something should happen."

Harry frowned and tried to picture the room in which the past Dumbledore had spoken to young Tom Riddle.

As he pictured the image, a square building surrounded by high railings appeared out of thin air, squeezing into the space between number forty-one and forty-three.

Neville, who had been leaning on a deck banister, jumped back in surprise and tripped over the bench Harry was sitting on. Luna had a similar reaction; she had been standing with her back to the house when it had appeared and had spun around so quickly she lost her balance. She stared up at the orphanage with a satisfied look of her face. Ron was staring at the building open-mouthed while Ginny blinked at it from behind the bench where she was standing. Hermione's expression was that of 'I-knew-it!' Harry just stared at Voldemort's old orphanage in dull surprise.

Hermione smiled and approached the door. She stopped with her hand on the handle, brow furrowed. She turned to the others and asked, "What's the plan?"

"We find the horcrux and destroy it," Ron said looking at the door apprehensively.

Hermione frowned at him and said, "And what about the other—er—complications?"

It was Harry's turn to answer. "We deal with them together," he said.

Hermione nodded and took out her wand, as did everyone else. Slowly she turned the handle, wand at the ready.

They opened the door to find an empty entryway with broken black and white tiles and a flight of stairs leading to the bedrooms. Hallways stared through doors here and there leading to other parts of the house. It seemed shabbier than when Harry had seen it in the pensieve. Harry looked upwards but didn't see anything but an enormous roof.

"We should split up," Ginny said, looking around the entryway and its adjoining halls, "This place is too big for us to all go as one group."

"Uh uh," Harry said shaking his head, "We need to stick together." If something happened to them Harry would never forgive himself.

Ginny looked him in the eye and said, "Harry, you can't always be there for all of us. We can fend for ourselves now, don't worry." She looked up at the ceiling and suddenly smiled.

"And besides," she added, still grinning. She turned to Harry, "I don't think Voldemort counted on having six people dealing with his horcruxes at the same time, do you?"

With that said and done she began putting them into groups. They ended up with their flying partners; Ron and Hermione, Luna and Neville, and Harry and Ginny. These pairs seemed to work best together.

"Right," Harry said, taking control of the operation, though still reluctant to split up, "Luna and Neville, you check out these lobbies down here," he indicated to the passageways on their right, "Ron and Hermione, over there," Harry pointed to their left, "Ginny and I'll take the upstairs rooms."

"And if anyone finds the horcrux…?" Hermione asked.

Harry frowned. What if they did find the horcrux? They would have to risk the other dangers of the house to tell the other groups.

"I've got it," Ginny said, "It seems as though we can all see the entranceway from most of the rooms. Send green sparks into the entry if you've found the horcrux and red sparks if you're in big trouble."

The others nodded.

They followed Harry's orders and spread out; Neville and Luna taking the right, Ron and Hermione on the left-hand side, and Harry and Ginny started up the stairs to the second floor.

The boards of the stairs creaked ominously as they climbed them upwards. Both were alert and ready to strike at any sign of movement.

Harry suddenly became aware of something in his pocket. He looked down to find his invisibility cloak there.

How did that get there? He asked himself, coming to a halt. Then he remembered. He had put it in his pocket when they had left.

Ginny stopped too and stared at the invisibility cloak, eyebrows raised.

"You've had it all this time?" she asked accusingly.

"I suppose I have," Harry said, "But I only just realized it was there."

He hitched the cloak more securely in his pocket and found that it contained something else.

He dug into his pocket and drew out an old, ragged piece of parchment. It was the Marauder's Map.

Harry stared at it. When had he put it there?

"I don't remember taking this," he said to Ginny confusedly.

He shrugged and replaced the items in his pocket. Then he turned to Ginny and grinned.

"Do you have anything in your pockets?" he asked her jokingly.

"Why yes," Ginny said, "As a matter of fact I do."

She fished around in the back pocket of her jeans and brought out a bag of the twins' Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes merchandise. It was Harry's turn to raise his eyebrows.

Ginny laughed at him and said, "They're yours. I found them in your trunk earlier when I was getting you that apple."

She handed the bag to him. As she did something fell out, a dungbomb fell out of the bag before either of them could catch it. It toppled down the stairs and landed two steps below them, but it didn't activate.

"I'll get it," Harry said, pointing his wand at the dungbomb.

"No, I will, it's my fault." Ginny said and gave incantation for a summoning charm.

But Harry had already said the spell in his head. Their charms hit the bomb at the same time and it rocketed in their direction. They both ducked to avoid being hit in the face. The dungbomb whizzed over their heads and hit a wall at the top of the stairs and bounced off it. It hit two other walls in quick succession and came to rest on the floor at the top of the stairs.

BOOM!

Harry and Ginny grabbed at the banisters as a quaking explosion shook the second floor. Ginny almost fell over her banister but Harry seized her around the waist just in time.

The step they were standing on groaned, then cracked and started to cave-in. Both of them quickly jumped and landed on the step above them. Then the whole staircase started falling apart.

"GO!" Harry shouted, as his the boards at his feet splintered and split. Harry lunged for the top of the stairs, Ginny scrambling as best she could behind them.

They got to the last stair when they were finally overtaken by the destruction. Harry felt his feet leave the ground. He was falling, falling to the floor about sixteen feet below them. Ginny screamed and reached for the landing at the top of the stairs. Harry did the same and felt his fingers come in contact with the floorboards of the second floor. He gripped them with all his might, willing himself not to let go.

They hung there, sixteen feet above the ground, clinging to the planks on the floor above them. Ginny set her face and not looking down, began to heave herself upwards. Harry took a deep breath to calm his nerves and tried to find a foot-hold. Kicking didn't do any good, finding no support from anything below him he strained his arms as he tried to get onto the landing above.

He got his head above the boards but his arms gave way and he plunged downward. He was still dangling from the flooring and his arms felt like they had been wrenched out of their sockets. The force with which he had fallen caused him to swing perilously on the edge of the landing. Something hit his right arm and it let go of the landing. He yelled as he was forced to hang one-handed.

"Harry!" Ginny cried, trying to help him. She reached out her left hand, but this motion caused her to sway worse than Harry. She hastily grabbed the edge again.

Harry was hanging by his fingertips now, desperate; he flung his right arm out as far as he could reach and clutched the rim of the flooring. But he was back to square one again.

Beside him, Ginny was making more progress. Red faced and sweaty she was able to lift herself slightly above the rim and caught a hold of some kind of furniture by the stairs with her right hand. Taking a leap of faith, she let go of the floor with her left hand and swung it around to grasp the furniture, falling slightly as she did so.

Harry looked around for something he could hold onto, but there was nothing on his side of the floor. He heard a scraping sound and whisked his head around to look at Ginny.

The furniture, in this case a table with long dead greenery, was scooting slowly towards them because of Ginny's weight.

Ginny was looking at it fearfully and then looked around for something else to hold onto.

"No, no, no," she was muttering to herself, frantically looking for something else to take a hold of.

The table slid a few more inches, the pot in which the greenery sat fell to the floor and crashed, shattering. The table was at the edge now; Ginny was desperate to find something to hang on to.

Harry was trying to help her, trying to push her into a more secure position, but all he did was worsen the situation. As Ginny swung to the right, the table lurched and the leg she was holding on to came over the edge.

Ginny let out an earsplitting scream, looking fearfully at the ground far below.

Harry let go of the border of the second floor with his right hand and held it out to Ginny.

"Take it!" He shouted to her.

She shook her head. "No! I'll bring you down with me, you can't hold that much weight with on hand."

"Quit being so noble and take my hand!" Harry said, stretching his arm farther so he could almost grip her wrist.

"You're always being noble!" she argued hotly. The table gave another frightening lurch and Ginny made up her mind. She twisted around and grabbed Harry's outstretched arm, as she did, the table fell off the landing completely, plummeting towards the ground.

Harry felt the full extent of Ginny's weight and could hardly hold her. She saw this and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Don't you let go!" He roared.

Ginny looked him in the face and then did something quite unexpected. Using his arm like a rope, she swung herself acrobatically towards the landing. Then, at the right moment, she let go and soared towards the edge. Her hands met with the rim of the landing and she gripped tightly.

She then proceeded to pull herself up, grunting and groaning with the effort. She got her elbows over, and then swung her leg up. After that she rolled over onto the landing and lay on her back, panting.

She looked around and noticed a crater right next to her where the dungbomb had landed.

The floor must have been hexed, she thought. Voldemort knew what he was doing.

Harry's arms were getting tired from holding on to the second floor so long. He tried again to pull himself up, but it was no use. He came back down to his original position.

"A little help here?" he called up to Ginny.

Ginny snapped out of her thoughts, Harry was still hanging over the edge! She crawled as quickly as she could to where his hands were gripping the rim. They were white with the effort of keeping himself from falling.

"Try and pull yourself up so I can grab on to something besides your hands here," Ginny instructed.

Harry did as she asked and pulled himself up. When he got high enough for her to reach his arms he could do nothing but hold his position till she had a hold on him. His abdomen was screaming for release; it had never been put through this much use before. He must have done an amount equal to thirty pull-ups today; at least… that's what it felt like.

Ginny had taken his right arm and was now seizing his left. Then she began to pull him towards her. Pulling with all her might she started to drag him over the edge and onto the floor in front of her.

Harry knew she was succeeding, but couldn't keep it up for long. He tried as best he could to help her, but he could do nothing but wait. He had his waist above the edge now; he swung his leg over the rim of floor just as Ginny's strength gave way. She fell over backwards, yanking him the rest of the way over.

They lay there, panting and gasping for breath, looking at nothing but each other. Relief was written all over their faces.

"I think…" Ginny panted and took a deep breath, "I think that was a challenge. Don't you?"

Harry nodded tiredly and said, "Thanks."

Ginny smiled grimly and said, "Thanks yourself; if you hadn't caught me…" She looked over the edge to the floor below them and shuddered, "Well, I wouldn't be here to talk about it." (its really well written, but wouldn't Ron and Hermione have come to see what was up? And Harry or Ginny probably would've used their wands. But keep it this way! Its good!)

They slowly got to their feet and surveyed their surroundings. They were standing on the perimeter of what looked like a living room. There were couches and a small television set, broken and useless. More tables with dead greenery were here and there, smashed by something unknown. A big crater where the dungbomb had landed was to their left and to their right were a number of long hallways leading to the bedrooms.

"Let's try this one," Harry said, pointing to a hallway directly in front of them. They would have to cross the living room, but that didn't matter much.

They both raised their wands and proceeded to the hallway. As he got to the middle of the room, Harry felt a slight difference in the floor; it felt like it was sloping a little. He looked down at the carpet but didn't see anything. Ginny seemed oblivious to the change, so she kept on walking.

"Ginny wai—" Harry began but before he could say anymore Ginny stepped past him and into the different leveled floor.

Her foot sank through the carpet. There was a splintering and cracking sound and the floor seemed to break. Ginny was falling, screaming again.

"ARRGGH!" she screamed as her head disappeared underneath the floor.

"GINNY!"

Harry dove for the spot he had seen her last. He landed on the edge of something, not daring to go further; he took out his wand and pointed it at the place where Ginny had disappeared.

"Specialis Revelio!" He cried.

The spell did its job; it revealed what was hidden in the floor. There actually wasn't any floor at all, it was big hole.

Ginny had managed to grab the rim and was dangling above something very dark. It seemed to be a downstairs room. Her face was as white as a sheet, and she was looking down into the darkness below.
Harry reached out to help her when something from below let out a screech that chilled his blood. Something down there had either seen or smelled them.

Then the sound came again, this time from behind Harry. Harry looked over his shoulder to see a monstrous creature bearing down on him, its teeth bared.


Hermione and Ron edged along the passage they had taken. They were alert and watchful for any sign of danger.

"What do you think is in this place?" Ron asked Hermione quietly.

"I don't know something dangerous no doubt," she replied.

They reached the end of the corridor when it happened. An explosive rumbling that shook the foundations of the house erupted from somewhere behind them. Ron and Hermione were thrown off their feet, Hermione grabbed at a lamp that was hitched to the wall for support. Ron fell and hit a table with a vase that was directly behind him. The vase shattered and the rickety table collapsed under his weight. A picture that had been hanging on the wall down the passage fell of and landed with a loud clang on the floor, its glass broken.

As suddenly as it had come, the rumbling stopped. Ron and Hermione looked around cautiously, wands raised. But there was no sign of any danger.

Hermione coughed as dust swirled around the hallway.

"What was that?" Ron asked, looking back the way they had come, "Do you think the others are okay?"

Hermione looked towards the entranceway worriedly. "I don't see any red sparks, do you?"

Ron shook his head and continued to stare in the direction of the entryway.

"I'm sure they're all fine," Hermione said reassuringly, though not very confident herself.

Ron got up and dusted off his jeans.
"Yeah," he said, trying to convince himself, "yeah, they're alright, they're fine,"

He led the way down the rest of the hallway and came to a fork, one hall led to the right, and the other wound sharply to their left.

"How big is this place?" Ron asked, leaning over to try and get a good look down the left passageway.

"Probably not that big," Hermione said, peering down the right-hand fork, "it's only an orphanage after all."

They stayed a little longer, trying to figure out which way would be best to choose.

"Look," said Hermione softly, "We'll try the left and if we don't find anything down there we'll take the right."

"And if there's another fork on the left passage?" Ron asked uncertainly.

"Then we either choose a passage or come back here and take the right. I'm sure it won't branch off again, this building shouldn't be that big."

Ron nodded, though far from being reassured.

They took the route to the left and walked down it. This one was darker than the last; no lamps were to be found.

"Lumos" They both said, and they raised their wands high above their heads, illuminating the corridor.

It was completely demolished; pictures lay everywhere and vase fragments littered the passageway. Tables with dead plants had been knocked over by someone… or something more than likely.

Ron looked around nervously. Whatever had wrecked the corridor could still be here! Hermione saw his fear and smiled as she bent down and wiped one of the picture frames with her finger. It was covered with dust. She grinned at him and said, "Don't worry, these things have been like this a long time, judging by how thick they are with dust."

She wrinkled her nose and wiped her dusty finger on her shorts. Then, looking ahead she saw a door down the hallway that was opened a crack. Light was pouring through it.

Ron followed her gaze and saw it too. He frowned and looked at her questioningly.

"It could be a trap," Hermione said, frowning as well, "But it's the only sign of life we've seen in this dark and dank building." She raised her wand higher and tiptoed towards the door.

They had to pick their way through the debris of smashed paintings, vases and greenery, but finally reached the room.

Hermione peeked through the gap in the door and saw nothing. All was darkness because the light had gone out.

Strange, Hermione said, I don't hear anything moving. What could be in there?

She looked over at Ron and saw that he was ready for action, whimpering slightly.

Why oh why do I get into these situations? He asked himself, then he gulped and nodded to Hermione.

She took a deep breath and turned the doorknob slowly. The door squeaked as she pushed it open a little. They both froze, listening for any sounds from the room within. Hearing nothing, Hermione pushed the door a little further. Still nothing.

Swinging the door wide she raised her wand, prepared to strike. But nothing was in the room.

She crept further into the room, hardly daring to breathe. Something moved in the corner.

Hermione didn't know why she said it, her instinct told her to be as quiet as possible, but she did.

"Who's there?" She called out. There was more movement in the corner and then something came streaking out of it… right towards her!

Before she could even scream the creature was upon her, sucking her breath out of her and smothering her.


Meanwhile…

"How far do you think this goes?" Neville asked Luna, who was walking beside him to his left.

"It may go on forever for all I know," Luna said indifferently.

They were walking cautiously down the corridor on the right hand side of the entryway.

Neville sighed. Why did she always have to be so strange? Ah well, this was no time to think about those things right now, they had to get down to business.

Keeping their wands ready they slowly crept down the corridor, watchful for any signs of danger.

When the corridor turned sharply to the right they peered around the corner cautiously; there was nothing but darkness. Neville looked at Luna, who blinked and walked straight down the passageway.

Neville hesitated a second longer, and then followed her into the non-illuminated corridor. As he rounded the corner he walked right into an old chair. It crashed to the ground with a resounding bang.

Neville cursed his clumsiness. Why did he always have to do it at a time like this?

Luna froze, looking for any signs of life that might have heard the disturbance. But the blackness of the corridor stayed silent.

This place seems uninhabited, she thought.

"You okay Neville?" she asked softly. And then, "Lumos!"

A small light emitted from Luna's wand, lighting up the hallway. Neville lay sprawled across an old chair.

"Yeah," Neville said, equally quiet, "I didn't hurt myself, just knocked over a chair."

"Oh," said Luna distantly, the old mysterious far-off look coming back into her eyes.

Neville got up looking highly embarrassed. They stared at one another for a moment and the Neville cleared his throat.

"We should move on," he said, sidestepping the chair which could have been their downfall should something have heard it.

Luna nodded and Neville lit his wand. Together they continued their search for the horcrux, checking rooms here and there but finding them all empty. They both felt curious as to why they hadn't met any more obstacles yet. Was this all Voldemort could throw at them? An invisible house that they had found so quickly due to Hermione's brilliance and Harry's memory? Well, this wasn't so bad after all.

The passageway turned left, then right, and then took another left. They were getting farther and farther away from where they had started, the old house's floor boards creaking under their feet.

"This place is simply enormous!" Neville exclaimed, still keeping his voice low.

"Yes," Luna said, "Isn't it though?"

They went on for what seemed like hours, though it was only five minutes. And then something happened. It started far away, and then made its way towards them; an earthquake-like shaking.

The wall beside Neville cracked, and he looked up just in time. A shelf loaded with dust ornaments was about to fall on top of their heads!

He lunged at Luna who stood looking around for the disturbance.

"What the—?" was all she said before she was tackled to the ground and out of harms way.

The shelf and ornaments came crashing to the ground where they had been standing a second before.

They both coughed as a cloud of dust enveloped them. The rumbling ceased, bringing with it an unearthly silence.

"What was that?" Neville asked apprehensively, looking back in the direction they had come.

"I… I don't know," said Luna looking thoroughly shaken. She was staring at the ornaments that had nearly given her a concussion.

They both stood up and brushed off their clothes which were covered in dust. As Neville bent down to extract more dust off his socks he heard something moving in the dark corridor ahead of him. He froze, listening. Luna hadn't appeared to notice anything and was sweeping her right arm off.

Neville brought up a hand and motioned for her to be quiet. She stopped, and stared at him. Neville pointed in the direction where the sound had come from. They both stood stalk-still, listening intently.

Luna grasped her wand tightly as the sound came again, this time closer. Neville backed away one step and raised his lit wand, trying to see what it was that was coming.

Whatever it was had obviously seen the light, for sounds coming down the passage indicated that it had broken into a run.

Luna raised her wand higher, getting ready to stun it. But as the creature, for it was a creature, came into view she was too shocked to do anything.

The creature stood upright at about five feet tall, the size of both of them, if not bigger. Its two legs were bent backwards, like that of a flamingo. Its was scaly from its head to the tip of its long, spiky tail and its arms were as long as it's feet, but hung above the ground due to the creature's long back. It had sharp, lethal looking, blood-red claws on its hands and to-big feet. A long, scaly snout protruded from its small, cunning face. It had bat-like ears and slit-shaped nostrils that were currently sniffing experimentally as it looked for whatever had made the noise and the light. The creature opened its mouth to reveal a snake-like tongue and rows of long, jagged teeth.

Neville would have called it a huge dragon or a lizard if it hadn't been standing on its hind legs or had those bat-like ears.

The creature advanced on them, spreading its arms wide, blocking the passage. Only then did Neville notice that it had wings too; thick, leathery wings. They were attached to it's arms and were a deep, sickening yellow color

Neville and Luna raised their wands, and as they did the creature opened its mouth and issued an unearthly, banshee-like screech that chilled Neville to the bone. He couldn't think; it was like his brain had shut down. All was blank; he couldn't see or feel, he just felt emptiness.

Luna was having the same problem. She couldn't move, or send any messages to her limbs with her brain. She wanted desperately to raise her wand and stun the beast, but for some reason her body wasn't obeying the commands she was giving it. Neville wasn't any help. He wouldn't budge either.


Harry only got a glimpse of his attacker before he rolled out of the way. It was as tall as he was, scaly, with bat-like ears. He heard the crunching of wood as the creature took a mouthful out of the floor where he had previously lain.

Harry jumped up and pointed his wand at the monstrosity.

"Stupefy!" he shouted, aiming between the creature's eyes. To his surprise his stunning spell was thrown back at him as it bounced off the scaly creature's head.

Harry sidestepped to right so quickly to get out of the way that he tripped over his own feet. He landed next to another hole in the floor which collapsed upon itself as he touched the edge of it.

He crawled rapidly backwards, away from the hole. The creature was on the other side of it, watching him hungrily.

How it would love to devour him. It hadn't eaten something so big in such a long time… just mice and other unfortunate small animals that had wondered across its path.

It looked at the gaping hole in the floor, then snorted and spread its wings.

Harry backed away even farther, only to find another booby trap hole; this time he nearly fell in.

The lizard-creature leapt into the air and soared towards him, screeching triumphantly at the top of its lungs.

Harry thought as fast as he could for a spell… anything that would help him. Stunning spells didn't work but did…?

Harry rolled over and pointed his wand into the air at the beast, shouting, "Petrificus Totalus!"

The monster had been flying over the middle of the hole when its limbs suddenly snapped together, wings along with them. It fell through the floor without a sound.

Harry laid his head back on the floorboards, taking in deep, relieved breaths.

"Harry!" Ginny's voice came from the first hole, "Harry, are you there!"

Harry jumped up and cursed himself for allowing himself to relax while Ginny was still in danger.

As he rushed over to the hole Ginny screamed. Another one of the reptilian creatures had flown out of the hole; it was now impatient and wouldn't wait any longer for Ginny to fall.

Harry used the same tactics he had with the other one.

"Petrificus Totalus!" he bellowed as the creature made to tear Ginny apart.

The spell missed the monster by inches. It turned on its enemy and gave that bizarre screech.

Harry covered his ears, blocking out the sound. He knew that it did something, something horrible and he didn't want to find out what.

Harry whipped his wand around and cried, "Silencio!"

The offending racket ceased immediately, the charm had worked. The creature cocked its head, jaws wide. It didn't seem to understand why it couldn't make the sound; it had no idea what had happened.

The creature shook its head and tried another approach. It charged so quickly that Harry barely had time to react. He dived to the side, but not before one of the animal's claws caught him at the last second. Pain seared through his back as Harry landed heavily on the floor boards, yelling in pain.

It stung badly, but Harry didn't have time to think about it. He spun around and tried again.

"Petrificus Totalus!" he roared. This time the spell hit its mark and the dragon-ish animal keeled over and fell to the floor with a thud.

Harry put his wand in his pocket and ran to where Ginny was still hanging on the edge. The creature seemed to have gotten her too; her left calf was bleeding.

When Harry had heaved Ginny up she collapsed in his arms, breathing heavily. Harry pushed her away gently; this was no time for anything like that. They had to get moving.

"Let's go," he said.

"What about those?" Ginny asked, pointing towards the nearest hole.

Harry frowned and then spotted a metal rod lying on the floor nearby. Testing the floor with his foot, he made his way over to the rod. It was safe ground all the way over. He picked up the rod and tapped it, grinning at Ginny.

She understood and smiled. Together they made it across the room, testing the floor with the rod before they stepped.

None of the rooms yielded much, just beds, wardrobes, and the occasional beside table. They came out of the last room empty handed and disgruntled. A new problem arose as they thought about meeting the others. How were they going to get back downstairs?

They searched all the rooms again, this time looking for something that might be able to help them accomplish this task.

It was only when Ginny mentioned something about "wish we could summon another staircase" that Harry thought of it. Almost every muggle house had ladders, why didn't they summon a ladder? But would this place have a ladder tall enough? Only one way to find out. "Accio ladder!" he said, pointing his wand in no particular direction.

There was a clanging sound and the creak of an opening door. Harry turned around to where the stairs had been and saw a heavy, steel ladder coming their way. It stopped in front of Harry, waiting for him to put it to use.

Harry scrutinized the object, looking for anything that would make it extend. He found it, a little lever on the side of the ladder. He cranked it one way and the ladder became smaller. No, that was the opposite of what he needed. He cranked it the other way and the ladder lengthened.
Harry lengthened the ladder to its fullest extent, and then lowered it over the stairs, hoping that it would reach the main level.

It did, barely.

"After you," he said to Ginny. She laughed and started down the ladder.


Ron watched in horror as something came at them from the corner and captured Hermione. It was like a black shroud that glided along the ground.

"NO! HERMIONE!" he screamed, running towards her.

Ron took out his wand, panicking.

"Stupefy!" That had no affect whatsoever. Of course, it doesn't seem solid.

"Reducto!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Impedimenta!"

He was throwing every spell he knew at it, but one by one they all failed.

"Ron…" Hermione's voice came from under the creature, barely audible.

Through his panic Ron strained his ears to hear what she was saying.

"Ron…" she gasped, "Pa… Patronus…"

What had she said? Patronus? He had to conjure a Patronus! No… he wasn't able to do it yet…

Ron tried desperately to think of something happy, anything… but all that popped into his head were visions of horrible creatures and experiences.

No, he thought, willing himself to think of something happy… Hermione was in danger! Hermione…that's it Hermione!

Ron thought of her, nothing but her and was filled with a warm tingling from the tips of his toes to his finger tips. Memories of her came rushing to his mind, Hermione at age thirteen, bent over the Pollyjuice Potion. Hermione reading in the library, Hermione in the first ever D.A. meeting, Hermione…

"Expecto Patronum!" he yelled.

A puff of silver smoke.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The silver dust started to shape and then died away.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

At last, something in a definite form emerged from his wand. It was small and looked like a little dog, a Jack Russell Terrier in fact. It pelted towards the shadowy creature at top speed on its little legs.

The creature shied as the Patronus made contact with it, making an eerie sound as it backed away, screeching in protest. The little dog Patronus advanced, swiftly and jerkily. The creature tried to get at Hermione again, to finish what it had started, but the Patronus was in the way. Instead it swept towards Ron; the Patronus headed it off and touched it again.

Screeching in rage, the creature backed off again, then with one last look at its pray, swirled out the door to darker places where it could hunt in peace.

The Jack Russell disappeared as well, the shimmering light it had provided was gone with it, making the room a lot darker than it had been before.

Ron ran to Hermione's side, calling her name. She was still breathing… but only just. Hermione's eyelids fluttered open and she saw Ron over her, staring down at her; his face lined with concern and it was as white as a sheaf of parchment.

His eyes were as blue as ever, opened wide in concern… his blue, blue eyes…

"Hermione?" he asked anxiously, his chin quivering. Hermione blinked and saw tears in his eyes. Did he…? No.

"I'm alright," Hermione croaked trying to get up but sank back to the floor with a groan.

"You sure?" Ron asked in concern.

Hermione nodded and took in deep breaths of the stale, but wonderful air.

"What was that thing?" inquired Ron, looking out the door where the monster had left.

Hermione took another gulp of air and then said, "A lethifold. It smothers its prey and then eats them basically," she frowned, "They're supposed to live in tropical places though; not here of all places, it's too cold for them." She pondered a little longer and then said, "I'll bet Voldemort did something to either the creature or this place," she gestured towards the ceiling.

"Lethifolds," she went on, "are dangerous creatures… marked as impossible to train or domesticate by the Ministry of Magic. They're known wizard killers too. The only defense against them is the Patronus Charm." Her eyes widened.

"Your Patronus!" she cried, "Ron, you produced a Patronus! Congratulations, you must feel elated."

Ron blinked; he had been so worried about Hermione that he had completely forgotten the fact that he had just conjured a Patronus for the first time.

"Yeah…" he said staring at the wall, "Yeah! I actually did it!" A smile spread across his face and leaned against the wall, trying to remember how he had done it.

He looked at Hermione and his ears went red. She noticed this and looked at him confusedly.

"I thought that you would like to have a Patronus?" she asked in a hurt sort of way.

"It's not that…" Ron said, shifting uncomfortably, "It's just that… well… we've—we've been together all these years and…" he took a deep breath and looking Hermione in the eye he said sincerely, "I… I love you Hermione."

Hermione looked shocked. She seemed for once to be at loss for words. Ron quickly looked away; he had screwed up again… he shouldn't have told her. He chanced a glance at her and was astonished to see joy radiating from every part of her body. He could almost feel it!

"Oh, Ron…" she said, tears of happiness leaking from her eyes, "Ron… I love you too, Ron."

She flung her arms around his neck and pulled him into a breath-taking kiss. Ron could smell her, feel her soft lips against his… ah, bliss.

After what seemed an eternity, they broke apart, all smiles. Hermione looked at Ron mischievously and said, "I think we need to work on your settings. This isn't the most romantic place you know."

Ron's whole face went red, and Hermione laughed. Ron went, if possible, even redder and grinned sheepishly at her. Well, he had done it, and it hadn't been a total fluke.


At last, Luna was able to move her head a centimeter to her left. She caught sight of Neville's blank face and knew that something was wrong with him.

Then she realized the creature was there. She experienced the same horror she had when she had first seen it.

Where did that thing come from? She asked herself. Then she remembered everything; the rumbling; the falling shelf; the creature emerging out of the shadows…

Why hadn't I remembered this before? What is going on?

Yet again the creature made the sound. Luna felt her brain trying to slip into nothingness but fought it with all the brain power she could muster.

She felt light headed and shaky, but she pressed on. Finally, whatever spell had been working on her was broken. She raised her wand and took aim.

"Stupefy!" she yelled. A jet of red light issued from her wand and headed for the creature's left side. The spell made contact, but it bounced of its scaly hide and rocketed back towards Luna.

She ducked and heard something shatter above her. It was one of the lamps that hung on the wall along the passageways in the house. Luna threw her arms over her head as she was cascaded with broken glass. She jumped sideways, out of the way of the glass fragments, and slipped on the scattered glass pieces on the floor.

She had the monster's full attention now; it swiveled away from Neville and made its way towards her.

Luna landed on her back and got up as fast as she could, looking around for the creature, only to find that it was right behind her ready to spring!

She dodged quickly to the right and it landed where she had been just a moment ago. It roared in rage and charged her.

Luna dodged again, but knew she wasn't quick enough. Her suspicions were confirmed when she felt on of the creature's claws rake across her cheek. Fortunately that was all the creature had done to her.

Neville was coming out of his stupor now, when he saw that Luna and the monster were engaged in battle he sent a stunning spell at it; only to find, as Luna did, that its scales repelled the spell.

"Incarcerous!" Luna cried whirling around and flourishing her wand at the reptilian. Ropes flew out of the end of her wand and whizzed towards the fiend.

But the monstrous animal saw it and darted under the ropes with surprising agility. It went for Neville now, wanting to take care of what it saw as the lesser problem first. With a screech it pinned him to the ground, trying to sink its teeth into him.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Neville bellowed. The raptor-like monster stiffened and then fell on top of him, its limbs fastened together against its body.

Neville heaved the form of the petrified lizard off of him, grunting as he did so. Luna rushed over and helped. They panted and heaved, and together they pushed the creature, which felt as if it weighed a ton, off Neville.

They were both breathing heavily now, as if they had run a mile in half a minute flat. The adrenalin that had come at the first moment of the attack still ran through their veins. They didn't pause to rest; they got away from that place as fast as they could, huffing and puffing down the hall.

They finally collapsed at the end of it, sinking to the ground as they could go no farther. While they rested, they kept a sharp lookout for any other creature like the one that had attacked them. Fortunately, no more creatures lurked in this passageway.

When their want-for-breath-attack subsided, they sat looking back at the hallway where the now paralyzed creature lay, motionless. They both shuddered and looked at each other.

"Should we get on?" Neville asked, turning towards the doors ahead of them.

"Uh huh," said Luna calmly, getting up and striding down the passageway with a sort of spring in her step.

Neville followed her with raised eyebrows; they had just fought one of the most horrible creatures on earth and she was bouncing jovially across the hall! Oh well, that was Luna for you.

They found nothing in the rooms, though one interesting one held broken pictures of some of the children that had lived there.

"I wonder which one Tom Riddle was," said Neville suddenly.

Luna examined the unmoving figures in the muggle photographs.

"That one," she said, pointing to a black haired youth about ten. He had a maniac glint in his eye and all the other children in the photo seemed to be afraid of him. "He's probably that one."

"That'll be him," Neville agreed furiously. Already at age… ten, Voldemort had been inspiring fear into people's hearts. Not only that, but he had put fear into little children's hearts.

They looked at the pictures a little longer, picking out Riddle in every one and seeing his and the other children's reactions to each other.

These were not happy photos. Well, there were a few exceptions: the pictures of young Tom Riddle at a younger age than eight. He seemed to not have found his powers yet and was a loner, sulking in the back of the frame while all the other children were smiling happily.

They found no more interesting things, and no horcrux. So they set off along the small maze of corridors to the entryway where the others were waiting.


"Find anything?" Harry asked as Neville and Luna emerged from the right-hand passageway.

They both shook their heads and Harry noticed a deep cut on Luna's right cheek.

They all noticed like-wise the scratch on his back.

"Are you—?" They all asked at once, and then laughed. It seemed like they were all one big family, concerned about each others problems. Now they were voicing their concerns at the same time.

"I'm fine," Harry and Luna at the same time. Then they all told theirs stories about what had happened in the house.

When Harry and Ginny had finished recounting their adventure, after many gasps of horror, the other four exclaimed, "Oh, that's what that was." They of course were talking about the stairs blowing up.

Then it was Ron and Hermione's turn. Ginny started as Hermione described the experience of being seized by the lethifold.

"You shouldn't have done that though," she said when they had finished, "call out to it."

Hermione went red and said softly, "I know."

"There's one thing I've been wondering," Ron said, looking at what remained of the stairs, "How come we didn't hear each other screaming?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Well that's obvious isn't it? Voldemort put a silencing spell on the whole place so no one would hear each other screaming. I wonder if he expected to have a team of people searching this place." She looked around and shrugged.

Neville and Luna told their adventure next. Harry and Ginny's eyes widened as they described the creature that had attacked them.

"It was the same kind!" Ginny said, interrupting their tale. "It was the same kind of creature! I wonder how many of them are in this place."

The others shivered, hoping that there were no more. Then as Neville told them about the photos Harry smirked grimly. He had suspected as much.

After Neville and Luna finished recounting their venture, Harry said, "So, no horcrux. But we haven't checked the basement yet." He pointed to a door under where the stairs had been. The others nodded and made towards the door when…

It was that sound…the sound that those reptilian creatures made! Harry turned around and saw one coming out of the right-hand side corridor. He looked up and saw the two that attacked him and Ginny coming from above. How had they escaped the body binds? No time to ponder now.

"COVER YOUR EARS AND RUN!" Harry bellowed. Ron and Hermione stared in terror at the creatures approaching them. Luna and Neville ran for it, towards the basement. Harry grabbed Ron's arm and Ginny grabbed Hermione's, and together they sprinted after their companions. They had almost reached the door when one of the creatures blocked them, making that eerie, desolate noise.

They all pressed their hands to their ears, shutting out the sound. One of Harry and Ginny's monsters jumped out of nowhere at Ron.

Hermione screamed and went to her wand.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" she squealed.

Thud. The creature fell to the floor, motionless. The other two creatures screeched in fury and charged.

Harry wrenched the door open and the others pounded down. Harry was about to follow when something rammed him between the shoulder blades.

"AARGHH!" he yelled, tumbling down the stairs head-first. He hit Ron's legs and he fell into the others. Like a stack of dominos they all plunged down the stairs. Harry saw a shimmering gold mist ahead and tried to stop, but it was no use. They met the barrier head-on, falling into its depths.

Whirling and spinning of color and sound. Harry was being pushed all over the place, running into the others. They were being pushed from all sides. Harry seized Ginny's hand and she grabbed Ron's, who grabbed Hermione's. Hermione clutched Luna's hand while she held onto Neville. They were all spinning now, but together at least.

Spinning… spinning. Harry felt all his air supply being sucked out of his lungs.

THUD!

They all landed on yet another wooden floor, hard. They were too dazed to look around, just panting and gasping.

Ginny regained her composure first, she looked around and saw that they were in a boarded up old house. One broken bed stood in the corner and to her right were double doors that were ripped off their hinges.

Neville had seen too.

"Hey!" he cried, looking through the doors. They led to some stairs. "Is this the Shrieking Shack?"

Harry's head snapped up under the jumble of bodies. He flung Luna off him and stood up, gazing around the room.

"Not our Shrieking Shack," he said, turning around and around, taking in his surroundings, "we had two more beds in here and those doors aren't there anymore." Hermione was up too, looking anxiously around the room. Then she turned directly to Harry.

"Okay," she said urgently, "let's get this straightened out. Check the Marauder's Map."

Harry didn't know what good it would do, but he took it out of his pocket all the same.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The passageways of Hogwarts appeared, winding their way onto the map. Dots formed here and there all over the map.

Harry looked at one of the dots and drew in a deep, surprised breath. It read, Severus Snape.

"Snape!" he cried. The others pushed forward to look over his shoulder. He pointed to the map. Snape was in the dungeons, no surprise there, but how could he be at Hogwarts?

"How did he get in?" Ron asked incredulously, staring at the dot, "with all the aurors at every entrance."

"That's because there aren't any aurors Ron," said Hermione in a scared voice. Harry looked at her and saw that her face was chalk white.

Harry scanned the grounds, no one was there.

"Where did they all go?" he exclaimed, scanning the corridors for any patrolling staff or aurors. There was no one patrolling, the corridors were empty now.

"Wait a minute!" Neville said, pushing forwards and examining the map so quickly his eyes were a blur.

"Where's Seamus? Dean? Parvati, Lavender, Ernie? I don't see anyone we know. Who are these people?"

Harry scrutinized the map closely. Marina Jensen, Kyle Fold, Krista Newman… what was going on?

Out of the corner of his eye he saw something moving across the grounds. His attention snapped to it.

Three people were walking across the grounds from the castle. No… it—it couldn't be! Hermione saw them too and gasped.

They were labeled Peter Pettigrew… Sirius Black, and… James Potter.

It couldn't be, all of them were dead but Pettigrew… unless... this couldn't be… the past!

It took Harry a while to accept that they were probably in the past. That barrier they fell through must have sent them here.

Then… if it was the past… and they were all on the grounds, probably in an invisibility cloak…it was a full moon!

Hermione gave a little scream and stared wide-eyed at Harry. They had both put it together.

"LUPIN!" they cried in unison.

As they did there was a tremendous howl at the bottom of the stairs and there came the sounds of crashing and banging.

A/N: Wow! Was that chapter action-packed or what! Boy am I pleased with that one! How'd ya like it? Huh, huh, huh? jumps up and down in excitement over her best accomplishment to date

Oooh! My first cliffy! Will the friends escape the vicious werewolf? How have they ended up into the past? Will they survive? To find out, stay tuned for the next chapter!

EveningSongEnchantment

P.S. If anyone likes Warriors by Erin Hunter, I suggest you stop by Shnitz's section! Shnitzenhimer. Don't forget the name! Just look her up in the search and read her fabulous writings!