Aly glared at the Daily Prophet a week later.

"This is unbelievable," she growled.

Damien looked up. "What is unbelievable?"

Aly, Amanda and Damien were sitting on the couch in the Boyles' living room, enjoying the breeze coming through the window. Hayden and Char were outside, helping Mrs. Boyle garden.

"This," Aly said, pointing to the newspaper. "I can't believe this!"

"What? You-Know-Who's dead?" Amanda asked sarcastically.

"No," Aly said, frowning. "Apparently, they're doing a three part series on the Aldaines." She looked down at a picture of William Aldaine in chains, surrounded by Ministry officials. It was taken in 1980.

"Oh," Damien said, looking away.

"And," Aly continued, "Security is so tight that it takes five hours for one person to access their vault from Gringotts."

"Are you serious? That is unbelievable," Amanda agreed seriously.

"Lucky for us," Damien said grinning, "Mrs. Boyle contact Bill Weasely, you know, the cool one, and he volunteered to get our money for us so when we go to Diagon Alley, we won't have to wait forever to get it."

"That's a relief," Aly said absently. She scanned the paper again.

"Aly, should you really be obsessing over the Aldaines?" Amanda said, shifting on the couch.

"What d'you mean by that?" Aly asked sharply, putting the paper down.

"Well..." Amanda shifted uncomfortably. "You really have been all over the paper. Don't look at me like that. I just don't see why you care about them! Adam said he never wanted to talk to you again."

"Yeah," Aly said, her eyes narrowing. "Except for one little fact. Adam is in pain. He doesn't know where his family is, if they're even alive. His celebrated his birthday alone and he's sous surveillance twenty four seven. He is being checked to make sure he's not a death eater. He's doing all he can not to rat me out, Amanda. I can't let him go through that anymore."

"And what exactly would he rat us out for?" Damien asked, looking at her.

"Not us. Me. All he knows it that I met with John. Apparently, John never mentioned you or Char. If he were to say anything about me, I'd be in the same position he is; being questioned constantly, checked to see if he's a death eater, separated from my friends and family. How would you feel if that was me?"

Amanda looked away from Aly and stared out the window.

Char suddenly appeared in front of the open window, dusting himself. "Hello."

Damien and Amanda looked away from each other and Aly was frowning at the paper.

"Well, don't all yell out at once," Char said jokingly. No response. He looked over at Aly and raised an eyebrow. Aly looked at Amanda and Damien quickly and then stood up and crossed the room to the window. She leaned on the windowsill, sighing.

"What's going on in here? You look like you're ready to kill each other," Char said slowly.

"It's not my fault," Aly muttered, looking at an ant climb up the windowsill. "They're harping on me about Adam."

Char rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe," he suggested lightly, "If you didn't talk about it so often, they wouldn't jump on you like they do."

"Who else can I talk to?" Aly said bitterly. "Everyone disagrees with me."

"You can talk to me." Aly looked up at Char's brown eyes and sighed.

"I'll keep that in mind," she said, smiling weakly. She looked up at the blue, cloudless sky. "Is there anything I can help with?"

"No," Char chuckled, "You just go entertain yourself. Play with your wand."

"Can't," Aly said automatically. "We're not of age, remember?"

"One more year," Char reminded her, smiling. He sighed and then looked over his shoulder at his mother, who was standing with her hands on her hips.

"I've got to finish helping Mum," Char said smiling sadly. "But I'll come in and we can chat, ok?"

"Sounds good."

Char kissed her briefly on the lips and then walked back over to his mother and the garden.

Aly turned around and sighed, noticing that Amanda's eyes suddenly darted to the ground. Aly frowned and walked back over to the chair she was sitting in, grabbed the paper and walked upstairs.

She slowly walked to her room and sat down on the bed, sighing. She opened Minako's cage and she fluttered over to Aly's bed.

Aly stroked her softly, sighing again.

"What happened, Minako?" Aly asked Minako, stroking her. "Why can't things go back to the way they were?"

Minako's amber colored eyes stared up at Aly.

"You're right," Aly chuckled. "They won't, will they? You-Know-Who will always win. Adam's practically in jail. I don't even know if Bella's alive."

A soft purring sound rose in Minako's throat as Aly continued to stroke her.

"They're probably fine," Aly said, reassuring herself.

"Don't worry, Aly. We're just great."

Aly looked up.