Joss couldn't help pacing while he had his private conversation with Albus Dumbledore in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. His heart was broken and the news he had just been handed left him without any of his previous fleeting thoughts of hope.

"You're forcing Harry to go back to Lily's sister? He just lost Sirius, got possessed by You Know Who, and his sister is missing! Not to mention all this Chosen One nonsense in the Prophet," Joss argued, feeling hysterical that Harry was being taken from him as well.

"Joss, please trust me that it is vital Harry goes back to his aunt's house and calls it his home for the time being," Dumbledore replied solemnly.

But Joss pushed back on this, not believing how helpless he was in defending his two children after they had been through so much already.

"Albus, we all know where my daughter is yet you refuse to get her, and now you are telling me that I have to just accept that you are shipping my son off as well," Joss went on with a pleading desperation in his voice.

"We will bring Marnie back very soon Joss, Severus is working determinedly to retrieve her without further risking her safety. As for Harry, I know you count him as your own, but legally Lily' sister is Harry's true guardian," Dumbledore explained without any hesitation for Joss's sentiments on the matter.

Joss's frustration was evident, feeling his hands shaking in fists at his sides.

"If you think that I haven't been the one raising that boy for the past five years, then you are mistaken," Joss replied resolutely.

"I'm sorry Joss, but this is truly what is best for Harry for ensuring his safety," Dumbledore pressed further.

Joss frowned, not understanding what Dumbledore meant, but figured it must mean something against his lack of magical ability. But if that was the case then why was he even part of the Order. He had promised both Marnie and Harry his reasons for joining were to keep them safe, to advocate on their behalf that they were still children and not pawns of war. But now he couldn't even do that much.

"You better bring my children back to me Albus, because as of right now, their lives are seemingly in your hands," Joss sighed in defeated resolution before he turned and left.

Joss felt he hadn't even had time to properly grieve the loss of his friend whose house felt even more stifling now that Sirius wasn't there. Marnie and Harry had both looked up to Sirius and now they were both suffering separately, Marnie being a captive of war while Harry was more of a scapegoat or renegade hero in the papers. Joss despised how the Prophet was outing their speculations on the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, especially when Joss wasn't there to support Harry and answer his questions.

What was even worse though was what they said about Marnie.

Marnie O'Hara, daughter of Lena O'Hara (nee Tress) who was viciously attacked by confirmed Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, disappeared during the break in at the Department of Mysteries. The Auror Department has denied to give any mention of their investigation. We have been unable to get in contact with her family, but sources say that Marnie O'Hara has familial connections to the Chosen One…

When Joss came out of the kitchen he almost stumbled into Fred and George who had obviously been trying to hear his conversation with Dumbledore. The twins had been beside themselves since they heard of Marnie's disappearance and Joss frowned further that he didn't have any good news for them. The twins had since joined the Order but neither of them were very supportive of the plan for waiting to collect Marnie from Malfoy Manor.

"So, that's it then. Marnie's life is now in the hands of that slimy git Snape and we have to wait like Bellatrix and the rest of the Death Eaters aren't torturing her!" Fred's voice broke on the word torturing and both Joss and George winced upon hearing it.

There had already been several meetings concerning the retrieval of Marnie since Remus reported watching Bellatrix Lestrange abducting her at the Department of Mysteries and Severus Snape had since confirmed her presence at Malfoy Manor through his vast social network within the Pureblood society. But the huge hinderance was that Voldemort himself was also calling the manor his base of operations and thought that having Marnie there boded well for having bait to lure Harry. So far, Severus had only reported that Marnie was still alive and was being tended to by Bellatrix Lestrange. No one could stomach the details and Snape no longer came to give reports to Grimmauld Place while he and Dumbledore stayed quiet about how they knew so much about the situation but couldn't yet act on the intel.

XX

"It's going to be tonight. With Kingsley Shacklebolt leading the raid I will make sure O'Hara gets to them. The Dark Lord already knows about it so he won't be present but he's grown weary of Bellatrix's attachment to the girl. I've convinced him that using her won't get him to Potter and he has believed me for the time being," Snape hoped Dumbledore understood just how much patient conviction it had taken to mould the Dark Lord's perception of the girl who very much could have been used to throw Potter and be used as bait.

"It pains me Severus that Marnie has suffered; but it is what those six children knew before they followed Harry to the Department of Mysteries. It is what her mother understood as well when she joined the Order the first time. Lena made the very same evaluation the day she found the Longbottom's and tried to save the Potter's," Dumbledore didn't miss Severus's slight flinch at the mention of Lily under her married surname.

"Lena was an idiot," Snape retorted forcefully. "First Black, then the squib. She was just as smart as Lily and threw it all away just to wind up insane," Snape went on while Dumbledore looked at him with sad eyes.

"But don't you think some sacrifice is needed to truly appreciate love?" Dumbledore countered but this only caused Severus to sneer rebelliously.

"Is that what you call letting O'Hara be tortured for the past month; sacrifice?" Snape replied snidely before he took his leave.

He had his task set out before him and felt anger for his old headmaster turned boss. This time Dumbledore was asking too much of him. Snape would save the foolish girl but by the end of this year, Snape questioned how he would be able to carry out the headmaster's last wish.

XX

I couldn't tell if the voice in my head belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange or if the curse had now buried itself inside my mind. It was like the physical pain turned into words that hurt so much more than the fiery piercings of the Cruciatus Curse.

You said you wanted him dead. It's your fault Sirius Black is dead.

"I didn't mean it! I didn't know!" I screamed but I could no longer feel my mouth moving.

The boy you love is dead

"Fred?" I whimpered.

You disgusting girl! Have you already forgotten you gave your heart to Cedric?

"No, never! I love Cedric!"

Answer me girl, is your father a squib?

This voice sounded different and I opened my eyes to see a mess of black hair floating in front of me.

Answer me you damned girl. Is your pathetic father a squib? Did your stupid mother marry a squib?

Even though I figured it was Bellatrix standing in front of me, now I could only see the face of Marcus Flint.

"Where is Harry Potter? Does little Potty think of you as his sister?"

I spat up instead of answering and tasted blood in my mouth. More filled my mouth when Bellatrix slapped me across the face for spitting at her. I barely felt it though after being put under the Cruciatus Curse on an off, day after day, when Bellatrix didn't forget she had left me in the dingy basement of Malfoy Manor.

I lay still on the floor for several minutes before I realised that Bellatrix must have been summoned away. I was alone on the cold cement and the darkness was pressing on my mind. By now I found it more and more tempting to just give in to it. But every time I felt my mind reaching its limits I would always see a flash of red and allow myself a small smile. Even in my desolation, Fred's stubbornness is fighting for me to stay strong and keep going.

"Fr—Fred," his name is coarse in my throat but I swallow before continuing the words that always ground me back to reality. "Fred is m—my boyfriend."

Flashes of another boy cross my mind and suddenly the word boyfriend confuses me because I see both Fred and Cedric, so I start again.

"Fred Weasley is my best friend," this fact settles easier in my mind so I continue on.

"Angelina Johnson is my dormmate," I see Angelina's big smile and determined gaze on the back of my eyelids as I picture her.

"Katie Bell is my friend," Katie is wearing her quidditch robes in my memory and I catch an image of dreadlocks over her shoulder.

"Lee Jordan is Katie's boyfriend," I smile at this, knowing Fred and George always make fun of them for being so awkward about their relationship.

"George Weasley is my best friend," I see both twins together in my mind. Us all playing pranks, going to the kitchens late at night, heading to Honeydukes before our third year.

"O'Hara," I hear my last name whispered impatiently and it takes several moments for me to realise that the voice isn't inside my head.

"Stop your mumbling and move!" the voice is urgent but I don't listen until I feel a hand clasp on my shoulder.

I wince at the sudden contact from it.

"O'Hara stop this foolishness and come this instant!" my eyes flew open and landed on my old Potions Master looking at me much like he did whenever he was impatient for an answer in class.

Suddenly I was on me feet but found I didn't have much strength past the adrenaline that was pushing me to walk out the door of my prison chamber. I could hear voices up the stairs and suddenly felt dread for what I would walk into once we climbed the stairs.

"Go!" Snape sneered once more and I finally let my feet carry out his order before I pushed open the door into the brighter hallway of the greater manor.

Once I was out the door I turned around but saw that suddenly I was standing alone, Snape having disappeared from my escape attempt. My mind and body weren't fully cooperating with each other, so making a mad dash for it now, without my wand, wasn't as easy as I wanted it to be. I tentatively stepped towards the louder voices and audibly yelped when I heard a voice I recognised. I must have been louder than I thought since suddenly a frock of red hair, similar to the image in my mind that allowed me to keep my sanity, appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Marnie? Merlin's beard it is you!" Arthur Weasley quickly approached me before encasing me into a very paternal hug, lifting me into his arms.

I was slightly surprised that he could manage to lift me so easily but I also knew I had lost weight. My bones were pressing against my skin in more jagged edges and the school robes I was still wearing were now loose around my frame.

"I've got you Marnie, we're going home," Mr. Weasley's voice was more angry than I had ever heard it, but I knew it wasn't at me.

I let his warmth console me in a way I hadn't felt in a long time. My eyes were droopy, something that didn't scare me so much now. Staying awake had become more and more difficult when I wasn't being tortured since I didn't have any energy to spare and it made it easier to cope with the loneliness, misery and boredom if I just passed out.

Allowing myself to fall asleep now in Mr. Weasley's arms was more comforting and felt like a great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

XX

"Where is she?" Fred didn't bother with niceties and noticed he had startled his mother and Tonks from his abrupt arrival into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place.

"Your father brought her straight to St. Mungo's," his mother's response was both sad and relieved in her tone.

Fred turned around to leave without another word but suddenly George's hand was on his shoulder to stop him. He wanted to shove him off without another thought but saw the look reflected in his twin's eyes that he must have gotten from their mother.

"Joss and Remus are with her now, but they're not allowing her any more visitor's love," his mother's words were supposed to be gentle but Fred felt them grind against him.

He had waited, none to patiently, for the past month for Marnie to be rescued. He had fought against his father and Kingsley, who orchestrated the raid under Dumbledore's suggestion, to go to Malfoy Manor himself but had been denied since the mission was under the official mandate of the Auror Office. Now he was being denied again to go see the girl he had loved since he was eleven and found his weary patience was long gone.

"Mum, please don't tell us to wait anymore," George spoke the angry words in Fred's head that came out much softer than what he would have done.

Fred still hadn't turned back, wanting to avoid the pitying stares from the congregated Order members. His mother had been fussing over him, not even bringing up the fact anymore that he and George had skipped out on their NEWTs to open a shop she didn't support; even though they had been doing quite well for themselves. Angelina and Lee helped out a lot to keep the store running ever since they all found out Marnie had gone missing at the Department of Mysteries.

Fred had blamed himself a lot over the past month for selfishly skipping out of school. He knew that if he had stayed just a few measly weeks to graduate with his friends then he would have followed Marnie and Harry to the Department of Mysteries. He would have fought by her side and never would have let her go chasing after Bellatrix Lestrange in an angry fit after having watched Sirius die. Remus and the other Order members had vividly filled the rest of them in on what happened at the Department of Mysteries, trying to get every detail that led to Sirius's death and Marnie's disappearance.

"We'll be at the hospital mum. We'll go as far as the doctor's will allow," George finally spoke, granting Fred permission to start moving again.

He didn't stop moving until he was out of the house and immediately apparated to St. Mungo's, hearing his twin by his side. Fred muttered to the mannequin that they were here to see Marnie O'Hara before they were allowed entrance into the building.

The waiting room they walked into was sparsely filled with patients and a few visitors. He remembered his feelings from when he was here only six months ago to visit his father, and how much dread he had felt then. But nothing compared to the anxiety rising in his chest, pushing his feet to find whichever room Marnie was in.

"We're here to see Marnie O'Hara. She was brought in today by our father," George stepped up again to talk to the woman who was sitting at the front desk and Fred knew he would have to make it up to his twin for having to be the calm one when Fred knew just how panicked George really was.

The administrator looked through a number of scrolls in front of her before frowning back at them.

"I'm sorry, but Miss. O'Hara isn't able to see any visitors right now," she answered in a formal voice.

But Fred couldn't register her politeness and only focused on her refusal.

"I need to see her dammit!" Fred bellowed fiercely and once again George was holding him back from walking past the desk in search of his best friend.

"I'm sorry sirs, but she's in a secure ward…" the witch began reciting some protocol nonsense but thankfully the three of them were interrupted by their father.

"Fred! George!" Arthur Weasley came jogging forward, looking ruffled and exhausted.

Fred realised his father hadn't been home to change since taking part in the raid this morning at Malfoy Manor. By the looks of his tattered robes, it hadn't been easy to retrieve Marnie. But Fred had to remind himself that despite being denied access to Marnie's healing room, she was safe.

"They won't let us through," Fred explained with a harsh edge in his voice to which his father ignored.

Instead Fred saw that same pitying stare that made his heart wrench. His father had seen Marnie for his own eyes so Fred didn't feel confident now that his father was giving him this same look as all the others.

"They won't let me in either. Joss and Remus are with her now. Healer Poke, the same man who looks after her mother, is with her," Arthur explained grimly.

Fred inhaled sharply at this.

"Is she—" George asked with tense worry, daring to voice the question that was heavy in Fred's mind.

Arthur shook his head but his lack of outright denial made both brothers uneasy. Their father instead led them to a secluded corner in the waiting room and motioned for them to sit down.

"She knew who I was when I rescued her. She's a lot thinner and was still wearing her school robes, but despite a few of Malfoy's house guests giving us a hard time, it was pretty straight forward. She was even waiting in the hallway for us," their father ran a tired hand through his hair and Fred didn't miss his father's nervous tick.

"When you said she knew who you were, what does that mean?" Fred steeled himself to ask his most dire question.

In response his father exhaled slowly and met both boys' gazes before he decided to answer.

"It's evident that Marnie was put under the Cruciatus curse. We don't know how many times or what she fully endured over the last month. I was there when she woke up… she's quite shaken up. It took the healers several minutes to calm her down and she didn't even recognise Joss or Remus right away. It seems she might be alright with them now, but it also seems like she doesn't know what's real and what's not," their father finished solemnly.

Fred appreciated his father's candid response but also couldn't stop picturing Marnie screaming awake into her dazed new reality. He didn't know if it was overconfident of him, but he could only think that he would be able to calm her down. He wanted so much to go and find her and wrap her into his arms. He would hold her and wait for her to return to him because he would never give up on her.

"It might be days or weeks even before anyone it allowed to go see her," their father finally spoke but both Fred and George settled into their seats.

"We're not going anywhere dad. We're going to stay here for a while and see what happens," George replied more forcefully this time.

But their father only nodded before telling them he would return to headquarters to fill everyone else in on the situation. Fred only hoped his father would be given a few moments to rest and get washed up, he looked like he really needed it.

Before he could leave, Fred stood up and silently embraced his father.

"Thank-you," Fred whispered and choked on the tears that were threatening to spill over as he leaned on his father's shoulder.

His father squeezed him tightly in return before nodding at the two boys. Seeing that they had both made up their minds to stay, Arthur finally took his leave and disappeared out of the waiting room.

"She'll be alright, Freddie. Marnie's brave, a bloody brilliant Gryffindor," George exclaimed proudly, making both boys smile despite the unshed tears in both of their eyes.

"Right, Georgie. Hare is safe and that's all that matters," Fred replied before both of them settled in, staring at the main doors for anyone they recognised or for word of Marnie.

XX

Waking up sent an unnerving feeling throughout my body as I felt the constricting blankets over top of me. I didn't care that I felt warmer than I had in a month or didn't feel dehydrated anymore because I still didn't know where I was. I wasn't home or anywhere familiar, so I didn't feel safe.

"Marnie. Marnie! Calm down sweetheart, I've got you," my father's voice pierced through my panicking mind even though he wasn't shouting.

I was half sitting up, ignoring the shooting pain throughout my body, looking around the room before I spotted my father and Remus standing over me.

"Dad?" my voice crackled but I couldn't quite trust my mind that this was real.

I had pictured him and Remus too many times to count while I was being tortured to stay grounded and fight off the impending insanity in my mind.

"J—Joss O'Hara is my father," I started my ritual to see if I could willfully change what I was looking at or confirm if this was real and that my family was actually in front of me.

"Yes darling, of course I'm your father," he replied but sounded uneasy.

I couldn't trust that such an answer was real.

"Re—Remus Lupin is my uncle," I continued, feeling the corners of my vision start to settle but the restlessness didn't abate.

I kicked off the blankets and fought back when some unknown man wearing a white coat came to put them back over me.

"Marnie, let us cover you up. You'll get cold," Remus took over for the man who I had kicked in the shoulder when he bent over me.

I didn't fight back against Remus but scowled at him when he went to tuck the blankets. Thankfully this caused him to just leave the blankets loosely over me. Not that warm blankets were some sort of torture device, but somehow something so constricting made my mind hazy and my stomach nauseous.

"Fr—Fred Weasley is my best friend," I continued speaking but the images in front of me didn't change to show me who I wanted to see.

It was still my father, uncle and some stranger in my room. I didn't know whether to feel relieved or panicked.

"Why is she saying all this?" my father asked but I couldn't think of an answer to give him.

If he was just in my mind then I wouldn't have to give him an answer, but if this was real life, well, I didn't have a good answer to that.

"I want to see Fred!" I felt myself growing impatient that the images in front of me weren't changing. "Why can't I see him! FRED!" I started calling out frantically but the three men in front of me descended upon me instead.

"It's alright darling. Fred is probably just outside," I could hear my father speaking but his words didn't matter.

I started thrashing around again, throwing the blanket off and then aiming wild fists at the man who returned to my side with his wand raised. I didn't want this stranger anywhere near me and braced myself for the Unforgivable Curse he was about to cast. But instead of feeling the unbearable pain I was used to, his nonverbal spell was soothing and I felt myself grow instantly sleepy.

I smiled at this at least, knowing that in the comfort of my own unconsciousness I would see that frock of red hair I was always chasing. I wanted to catch up to Fred and tell him I loved him, because I didn't know how much longer I was going to last before the darkness finally took over.

"Please, I just want to see Fred."