AN at the end. Enjoy!

Don't own Harry Potter or any character, situation or place, etc., created by J. , I don't earn any kind of profit from this and I only play with things for fun.

Chapter 8: The Midnights

Location: Somewhere in England

Eagle strolled in a determinate manner through the halls that had become her home, rust-old-dirty feeling it gave and all, one of her light brown hands closing tightly around a piece of parchment, owl perched in her shoulder comfortably.

The flocks of birds following her chirped worryingly, and the cat that had become her companion had stopped purring, choosing instead to hiss angrily at her. Eagle ignored the Tabby and turned right into a passaway that to most looked like a brick wall, a corridor that was the only entrance into the room that only a few selected people were allowed into: the Leaders Meeting Hall.

She stopped dead in her tracks as she stepped foot into the Hall and growled at her fellow leaders. All together were known as the Midnights, a group of wizards and witches with certain abilities sworn to protect both muggles and magic folk – but in truth they were formed by each Leader's own groups (such as the Lightning), each specialized in some sort of ability, and formed by people with the same type of ability – with the exception of Harry's own handpicked group (where all members had a different Energy ability); but nobody minded, with Harry being High Leader (and in Eagle's mind, some sort of older brother) to all of them.

At least, that was what she thought before the problems had started rising. It began with only rumours: how Harry wasn't capable anymore, how he was losing his touch; but then the threats started. Such an example of this was currently on Eagle's hand, and such example of a problem was currently happening on the Hall. Honestly, Eagle was a little tired of this pressure. With Harry gone, the responsibility to take care of everyone was, unfortunately, hers, his second.

She took in the sight that met her eyes: Shadow and Light face to face in a heated argument, Moon and Ivy – the twins they were – glaring at Mind and Mischief. Whoever said that opposites attract had obviously never met her partners. Holding in a sight, Eagle raised her hand, and a blinding light filled the room, accompanied by something that sounded like a Lion's roar. Satisfied at the silence that followed, Eagle glared at the six teenagers, daring them to defy her.

"If you are done acting like little children, there are more pressing matters to take care of."

Nobody muttered a peep. Eagle smiled before continuing.

"Good, now, Harry sends news. He says the wards are almost completely created. The Order suspects nothing about their true mission, but Dumbledore is seemingly curious about them," Eagle recited, Harry's words still on her mind.

Shadow snorted, "Let them continue believing they have the upper hand, the power, even if it's blatantly obvious they don't."

"So now we hold the power?"

Mischief smirked, sharing a look with Shadow.

"When are you going to stop kidding yourselves and admit that we don't have a chance in this war?" he said, head held high, voice mocking.

"Now –"Light stood, livid, ready to continue her argument, but Eagle stopped her with a raised hand. Seriously, she thought, how Harry managed to do this was way above her.

"Whoever is going to win," Eagle said, tiredly, "It's our part to try to stop the war from even continuing. That's our job, okay? Nothing more. We hold the fort while Harry tries to help the Order – however indirectly that is – and stop Voldemort from his annual attempt to destroy the Chosen One."

She nodded towards the door, thus ending the admittedly-short reunion. Shadow, Mind and Mischief left without a glance back, but Ivy, Moon and Light stayed behind, eyes glistening with what Eagle identified as concern.

"There is something else, something more, isn't it?" Ivy asked, stepping forward to place a warm hand on Eagle's cold, uncovered shoulder.

Eagle sighed in defeat at their unwavering questioning looks (normally, she wouldn't have, but she was just tired of leadership), and showed the now-rugged parchment to Ivy, who read it out loud.

"THE TIME IS COMING. SOON, NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STAND IN OUR WAY. NIGHTMARE BETTER BE PREPARED FOR HIS LOSS."

Ivy turned the parchment over, but finding nothing but a blank space, shrugged her shoulders and gave the note to Moon for him to check it over.

"They are getting worse," Light commented, chewing her nail in anxiety. "And what do they mean with loss – what loss?"

Moon sighed, "Something is very wrong. Did you listen to any of the crap those fools were saying?"

Eagle nodded, bubbly, dark curls clashing against her back.

"It was almost as if…" Ivy started, tanned fingers messing with a strand of brown hair.

"Let's just, for the moment, do as Harry asked. How are you doing with finding the Horrocruxes?"

Light sighed. "So far my friends and I have only managed to locate one possible option, but we have come across one viable way to destroy them. Nothing certain…"

"It's something," Eagle reassured her blonde friend while giving her a small smile.

"How many are we looking for?" Moon asked, "Has Harry contacted you with any new info?"

Eagle bit her lip.

"Yeah, he has been snooping around Dumbledore's office, and after a very interesting trip into a pensieve, he is certain that there are at least," Eagle hesitated, looking elsewhere but her friend's eyes, "er, six?"

"Six!" Ivy exclaimed in horror.

"Is that even possible?" Moon thought out loud, his face showing the same disgust that Light was showing.

"Apparently," Eagle sighed, "Harry said he would send more news, something about some other memories of Dumbledore, but he nearly was caught, so he would tell us later."

"Let's hope its good news, for a change," said Light, but none felt hope.

As soon as Shadow stepped out of the Hall, he sent a meaningful look to his partners, and after a nod, he separated from them, disappearing into the shadows with a flicker of his wrist, and appearing in his room. With a quick look around, he concluded with pleasure that there was no one, and so he went to the fireplace, where he disappeared into green flames.

"Malfoy Manor!"

AN. Okay, so I hadn't planned to upload this today even if I wrote it weeks ago, only because I wanted to be done with the chapters by the time I did so. Unfortunately, something has came up, and I had to reformulate all the things that were going to happen in this fic, so I will have to take some time to put it into paper (or Word), so I decided I will put this one up while you wait and I work. Love, Lily.