The oak tree at the edge of my yard has always been one of my favorite places. Its branches provide shade, tempering the summer sun and forming an ideal place to sit and relax. Almost every day in the summer after my first year, I would take my homework underneath the old tree. Now, though, I can never be alone in this peaceful place. It has become home to my brother's grave.

The granite slab juts from the ground near the side of the tree facing my house. The grass around it has been torn up, leaving a circle of bare dirt. Chiseled into the face are a few simple lines;

Jacob Serantos

March 17th 1965-?

Lost but still loved

I hate it, this ugly thing that mars my relaxation spot. You would expect me to show more respect to my brother's final resting place, but the grave is empty. Jacob is alive. My parents buried nothing but a lie.

The platform was almost empty by the time I found my dad. I stopped in shock, one hand still gripping my trunk. Dad had never come to pick me up before. Normally Mum came and Apparated home with me. Dad is a Muggle, and never seems comfortable in magical places.

"Dad?" I asked. "Where's Mum?"

"She's finishing up a few things," he said. "Come on. I'll drive you home."

I dragged my trunk to Dad's car, an old red Ford Cortina. He got it close to fifteen years ago, and I'm sure he would like to replace it, but it's not practical. He's the only one who ever drives it.

I loaded my trunk into the car and sat in the backseat. We live half an hour from King's Cross Station. The first fifteen minutes of the drive were spent in silence, as I stared out the window at the passing scenery.

Finally, Dad broke the silence. "You went looking for the vaults," he said. "After you promised you wouldn't." There was no anger in his voice, only sadness.

I had always planned to keep my search for the Cursed Vaults a secret, but since Professor Dumbledore wrote to my parents, that was no longer possible. I was suddenly filled with a desire to explain everything and get them on my side, so we could find the missing piece of our family together. "I have to find Jacob."

"What you have to do is stay safe," Dad snapped. "If you go looking for the vaults, you'll only end up like Jacob. Missing."

I refused to believe it. I wouldn't end my quest as a voice in someone's head, but a girl reunited with her long-lost brother. "So you want me to give up on him?" I asked. It hurt, but I knew the only chance I had to persuade him was to make him feel guilt over his words.

I saw pain flash in Dad's eyes in the mirror. "Jacob's never coming back, Celena. If he could have, he would already be home."

He can't come back, but I can still find him, I thought, but I didn't say it out loud. It was obvious that he wouldn't be able to help me find Jacob. Everyone always says that adults are wiser and more responsible than kids. So why can none of them understand why I have to find Jacob?

I never answered Dad, and he never said anything else. I spent the rest of the drive staring out the window. A single tear left a damp trail down my cheek. Both of us were only trying to help, but instead of solving problems, we seemed to be causing them.

When we reached our home, I was expecting to haul my trunk up the stairs before joining my parents for dinner. What I was not expecting was to see my mum standing in the yard with my friend Nola's family and a slab of granite.

Mum said something to Nola's mum, who nodded. I opened the trunk and started to take my trunk out, but Dad took it from me. "Go talk to your mum," he said.

I followed Mum into the kitchen. "Mum, what's this all about? Why is Nola's family here?"

Mum took my hand in hers, very gently, and spoke as if she were talking to a five-year-old. "Celena, it's time for you to move on."

I stared at her. "What?"

"Jacob's dead. We're having a funeral," Mum continued softly. "We thought it would be good for you to have a chance to say goodbye."

"He's not dead." My voice sounded odd, hollow. I looked around and realized that Mum had hidden all signs of our magic. She and Dad must have been planning this for a while, maybe since they read Dumbledore's letter.

"Honey, I know how hard it can be to lose someone-" Mum sounded so caring. I couldn't take it, her grief for someone who was still alive.

"He's not DEAD!" I repeated, my voice getting louder and more hysterical, so that I practically screamed the last word. I wanted to tell her about how I hear Jacob's voice sometimes, but it only would have made her think I'm insane.

"I know you miss him," Mum said.

At that point, I lost it. I started sobbing. I did miss Jacob, but I was trying to bring him home, and the people who should be helping me were doing nothing.

Mum wrapped her arms around me, but I could take no comfort in her presence. I had never needed her more, and she was leaving me all alone.

Not alone. I have my friends. I dried my tears, comforted by thoughts of my fellow students, the ones who had helped me find and open the first vault. I told Mum I was ready to go back outside.

"I'm so sorry about your brother," Nola whispered. It was clear that she'd been crying. Nola was an only child. Jacob had been a brother to her almost as much as he had been one to me. His supposed "death" would have hit her hard, especially since she didn't know the truth of how he disappeared.

I gave her hand a squeeze, and she gave me a tearful smile. Jacob's actions had already hurt so many people, and the ripples kept spreading. Where would it end?

Together, the six of us dug a hole for Jacob's gravestone. Our actions transformed a spot that was the symbol of my lost childhood into a symbol of loss, and something that forced me to grow up too fast.

With every shovel of dirt, the hole in my heart became a little more raw. Jacob was in desperate need of help, and yet my family was giving him up for dead. They were abandoning him when he needed them the most. I was surrounded by people, and yet I had never felt more alone.

Don't give up on me, Jacob's voice said in my head, as my parents did just that. You're my last hope.

I won't give up on you, I promise, I replied silently. I've never been very good at keeping promises where the vaults are concerned, but this is one I will keep. I have to. For Jacob.