Welcome to Chapter 11! Finally, we are inching closer to winter break, that's where the madness begins!

thank you for reviewing chapter 10 part 2: indigofrisbee and xXMizz Alec VolturiXx

and thank you to the story favorite from: LoveMePlz525

Read on and Enjoy!


Our Time is Running Out

Parchment 11: You're not Alone

Lixella stared at the forest, it was haunting. The woods were as thick as they were pitch black. The trees seemed to go up forever. Even the ground was strange, it seemed to be covered with a slight fog. She had been following the banshee for a while now. She was scared to turn back around, mostly because she knew she was lost. The moon was getting lower, and the stars were slowly moving across the night sky. The banshee stopped, suddenly, almost causing Lixella to bump into her. She turned around, and stared at Lixella with her striking black eyes. She let out a series of toned screeches. It was strange that Lixella could understand her.

"My name is Cordellia" screeched the banshee.

"I'm Lixella. Lixella Cruxshade"

"I know, you are the one we've been waiting for!"

"who's we?" Lixella said in plain English.

"My sister's and I"

A group of banshees, all dressed in white gowns with deathly pale skin, appeared out of nothing. They floated over to Cordellia, and stood staring at Lixella. She stepped back in shock. Her heart was pounding, there wasn't much she could do. The banshees began whispering messages in screeches to each other.

"I dunno, sister Cordellia" said another banshee, "she doesn't seem like she's ready!"

"If we don't help her now, sister Irene, she will be turned over to the darkness, and we will cease to exist!" screeched Cordellia.

"But, ours is the species that taught her family about the darkness!" said another.

"They learned it well.." Crodellia responded, "and did our sisters there a favor by freeing them of their bodies. They were influenced and corrupted by the darkness, they didn't know how to control it. The wizards did, though, which is why we must help her."

"She is not a Banshee" said a rather small one, "how could she ever learn of our way of life?"

"you forget, sister Lacy, this is the reincarnation of Aileen!" said Cordellia. The group of Banshees screeched in surprise. "She can already understand our voice, clearly she possesses what she needs to! We must teach her! She will bring back our fallen sisters."

The group of banshees nodded in approval. They all huddled around Lixella, who was quite scared to move. Her eyes darted around, keeping a good watch on all of their movements. Cordellia then stepped forward, and the rest of them linked hands in a circle.

"Receive this gift, Lixella, reincarnation of Aileen of Duskwood!" she touched a bony, white hand to Lixella's tiara, "Learn of us, and return our fallen sisters to us!"

Suddenly, Lixella was on the ground, writhing in pain. Something had been triggered in her memory.

She saw two men, in crimson cloaks, levitating her body. Their spells caused her to choke. Her breathing became slow, and she fell to the floor in shock. She tried, desperately, to catch her breath. Then, one of them shot her with a bolt of red light. She screamed, and fell to the floor unconscious. The two men stopped, and leaned down to check her breathing. She shot up, and grabbed one of them, her teal eyes became purple. The cloaked figure stared at her with large eyes, "Arclese, I think we did it!" he shouted. Lixella yanked him to the ground, and let out a long and high screeching noise. It broke every glass object in the room. The two men fell to the ground, unconscious, with their hands over their ears. Then, one of them took his wand, and pointed it between her eyes, "Obliviate" he whispered.

Lixella shot up in her sleep. She peered around, at the infirmary room. It was dimly lit, and there was an older witch arranging medicine bottles by her bedside. "Oh, good you're up" said the witch, "I'm Madame Pomfrey, the nurse. You were left here by someone, are you alright dear?"

Lixella told her that she had been at the sixth year party, and must've passed out from exhaustion. She didn't want to actually tell this new witch about her experiences with the banshees. Madame Pomfrey said she was fine, and escorted her to the Slytherin dorm. Lixella thanked her for her help, and walked inside. It had been one of the strangest nights of her life. All she really wanted to do, was sleep. She quietly snuck upstairs, and crept over to her wardrobe to change out of her ball gown. After which, she slid silently into her bed.

A few weeks passed since that strange and wondrous night. It was nearly a week until she would be returning to the Cruxshade manor for Christmas. Usually, she would be happy to be leaving for winter break. However, she did not feel comfortable at her house anymore. She thought it odd that she would be spending Christmas with her aunt and uncle this year, perhaps Arthus would finally be there.

Luckily, her classes were going very well. She had begun losing contact with Draco, since the night she'd found out that he was, in fact, a death eater. It was difficult, now, she had to hold her tongue whenever Harry would mention his theory of Draco being a death eater. She couldn't tell anyone, she cared about him too much.

"So…I nevah' did ask ya where you went durin' the ball a few weeks ago?" asked Jynx one day as they studied.

"Oh…erm, I was…distracted" she said, sticking her face into her book.

"Mm hmm" Jynx exclaimed, not believing her. "Really? 'cuz, I remember…Draco, left a little early as well" her eyes darted to Lixella, waiting for an answer. Lixella sighed, heavily.

"you must swear that you will never tell this to anyone!" Lixella exclaimed with force.

"Oh! Juicy secrets….le's 'ear it then? I won' tell!" Jynx said as she crossed her heart.

"Draco and I…were dancing," Jynx's jaw dropped, "we were dancing on top of the astronomy tower."

"N-no….no…you are not….you did not!" she said, surprised, "Ya must've been undah the imperious curse or something?"

"No, he just, started dancing with me" she store off into the distance.

"Oh….please tell me ya aren't turning into Pansy" Jynx exclaimed.

"No!" Lixella scoffed.

"Y-you're really doin' this to me? Fallin' in love wit' Draco Malfoy!" Jynx looked at her, she was very displeased by this news.

"Well, not really….we aren't in love. I haven't talked to him since then." she exclaimed

"Go figure! He's the kiss an' run type. I always knew it!" Jynx sat back in her chair, her arms crossed. She kept glaring eyes on Lixella, she was not happy with her right now.

"What?" Lixella spat

"An' 'ere I thought you were different from the others!" Jynx shook her head.

"I am….how many people do you know that actually like him for himself?" Lixella said forcefully, "How many people actually know him?"

"Hmm, I guess ya got a point there. But, that doesn't change that I'm angry wit' ya!"

"Why?"

"'cuz, I thought you were different. Soon you'll be one of his minions too."

"Oh…come on Jynx, it's not like I'm changing! And I will never be anyone's minion!"

"Whatevah….Let's stop talkin' about this." Jynx exclaimed. Lixella was happy to drop the subject, she knew Jynx would not approve of her story. She turned back to her textbook, trying to study banshees. Ever since that night in the forbidden forest, she had wanted to know more about them. She was trying to find the name "Aileen", when the boys dorm door screeched open and then closed. Out of it walked Blaize Zabini, and Draco Malfoy. They both were heading towards the exit, talking about Slughorn's party.

"I don't understand why he wouldn't want to invite me. Does he know who I am?" Draco exclaimed.

"Well, I think he's scared of you…ya know. What with your dad in jail and all." said Blaize.

Lixella tried to not look up from her book, but she couldn't help it. He passed by behind her, and looked over his shoulder as he walked away. She looked up from her book at him. His expression became distant, and a bit unhappy, then he turned away and kept walking. Lixella turned back to Jynx, who was now staring at her, disapprovingly.

"changn'!" said Jynx, "you two are startin' to act strange!"

Lixella just sighed and turned back to her book. After hours of homework, she headed upstairs to go to bed. She tossed an turned in her bed, she had been unable to sleep for a while. It was probably because she had gone to bed so early. She decided to get up and stretch her legs. She grabbed her wand off of the bedside table.

"lumos maxima" she exclaimed. A bright light shimmered at the end of her wand. She headed out of the dorm room, and down to the common room. She despised the rule that she had to be in bed after dark. Her research books were still sitting on the table in the common room, Lixella almost hit herself for leaving them there. She picked them up to take them back upstairs, when suddenly, one of them fell to the ground.

She leaned down to look at it. It was titled, "Famous Folklore and Tales of the Magical World". It didn't belong to her, it was Jynx's. She sat down, and began flipping through it. A page in the book had been marked with a paper bookmark. Lixella opened it to that page, it read , "Tales of the Duskwood Banshees". She sat reading it. It was about her family, and their defeat of the banshees in the Duskwood forest. It said that her family had killed them for their power, but Lixella remembered one banshee saying that it was to help them. She kept reading. There was a leader of each side. From the wizarding side, was Selena Duskwood, her very great grandmother. From the banshee side, was Aileen Darkmoon. Lixella's eyes grew wide, as she read.

"Aileen was the only banshee known to possess black hair, and purple eyes. She was named Queen of the banshees after her defeat of the dark creatures in the forest. Upon defeating the most terrifying creature, the basilisk, she received a blessing of black hair and purple eyes, from the dark woodlings who feared the beast. Her hair and eyes were a symbol of blessing from the moon goddess Illunia. The blessing also made it possible for her to communicate with other creatures. Therefore, she was the bridge between the banshees and the wizards of the Duskwood family."

Lixella could not believe it. Was she really the re-incarnation of this queen, surely not. The banshee queen sounded powerful. Lixella always thought herself bright, but she was never powerful. She had quite a few flaws. She was stubborn, prideful, snarky, sly, and sometimes dramatic. All of those were traits she pictured as negative, and there were still others, she was sure. Plus, she wasn't good at everything, mostly just divination and defense against the dark art. Then, it hit her, all this queen had to be good at was defense against the dark arts. She read on.

"It has been told that after Queen Aileen died, she left a curse on the Duskwood family. She said that she would return to raise her fallen sisters. She would be reborn into the Duskwood name, as a witch."

Lixella gasped, and chucked the book across the room. It plopped onto the other couch. She stared at it for a second, as if it would sit up and tell her more soon. She then took her wand and headed towards the girls dorm room. A whisper suddenly whisked past her ears. It was strange, and distant, but it was calling her. She walked over and smacked the book with her hand. However, this did not stop the whispering. She turned towards it's direction. It was coming form the entrance. Lixella began following it, almost involuntarily. She wandered out of the door and up the stairs as if she was in a trance. The sound was calling to her, she had to know where it was coming from. The voices called form down the hall, Lixella could see a small light around the corner. She walked cautiously, her wand lighting the way. Suddenly, the voices stopped, and she was standing next to a window. She looked out of it, and gasped. There, floating outside, by the forbidden forest, was a cluster of banshees, floating above the trees. It wasn't a dream, there actually were banshees, and Lixella was in fact the reincarnation of their leader. The banshees glided with grace around the treetops. They were singing a song, that to anyone else would sound like screeches. However, to Lixella, it sounded lovely and clear. She stood at the window, admiring the beautiful singing voices, when she heard footsteps around the corner.

Lixella ducked down, she couldn't be caught at this time of night. The footsteps stopped, and she could hear talking. She extinguished her wand, and peered around the corner. Snape and Draco had just entered into a classroom, and shut the door. Lixella noticed a corridor next to the classroom, she darted across the hall and sat by the wall. Her mother had taught her some spells for sleuthing. She tapped her wand on one of the bricks, and held her ear to it. The two of them were arguing, about some strange unknown plan.

"I swore to protect you, I made the unbreakable vow." sneered snape.

"I don't need your help. I have help!"

"You can't be placing important things like this in the hands of people like Crabbe and Goyle-"

"they're not the only ones, I've got other people on my side, better people!" Draco sneered at him. They kept arguing. Lixella wondered what plan they were talking about. It was probably the reason why Draco was a death eater, it was always obvious to her that Snape was one. Snape sounded a bit more worried though, talking about this unbreakable vow. The whole thing seemed complicated, and too secretive for safety. Lixella leaned in closer to the wall, then, there were footsteps. She heard the classroom door slam, she crouched into the shadows. Draco stomped passed the corridor she was hidden in. Snape rushed out soon after him.

Lixella sat there, her heart pounding. She could not bring herself to think about what awful things Voldemort was telling Draco to do. The worst part was that he probably felt honored to accept the job. She buried her head in her hands, and began sobbing quietly. Then, from around the corner, came Harry. He stopped suddenly, and turned to the corridor. He couldn't see very well in the dark, but he was able to make out a figure sitting in the corner.

"Lixella?" he asked, "are you crying? What's wrong?"

Lixella held her breath for a second. Why was he here?

"Yes…I'm crying. I just overheard something terrible." she exclaimed

"Ah! So you heard that conversation too?" Harry sat next to her.

"yes, it's horrible! He's a death eater" she said, "isn't he, Harry?"

"Well, that pretty much proved it, I suppose!"

"Oh god!" Lixella started sobbing again, "what do you think he's been assigned to do? It must be something awful!"

"Hey, why are you so unhappy? I thought you hated him?" Harry asked.

"Look…" Lixella lifted her head and dropped her shoulders, "we've been friends since we were little. I can't remember much from then. I just know that he shouldn't be doing this, ya know? I just, I care…he can do better than working for Voldemort as a death eater!"

"yeah…" Harry said awkwardly

"I mean, he just has this passionate need to prove himself to someone. It's so annoyingly terrible. He wants it so badly, that he's willing to do Voldemort's dirty work to get it! That's how he controls all of them, Harry."

"how?"

"By using them, making them want his approval! He takes people who want someone to praise them, and offers them that chance, for a terrible price. He's a sick, sick man…..not to mention I bet he's freakishly scary in person!"

"Oh…he is, trust me!" Harry said, remembering his encounters with Voldemort. This remark cause Lixella to bury her head back in her hands. Harry sat there with her for a second, trying to figure out what Draco was plotting. Also, what he'd done to make Lixella so unhappy at the current news. When he'd first met her, she seemed to care less about what Draco did, now she was sobbing for him. Harry wished he knew why she had such a sudden change of heart.

"I'm sorry…it's probably really weird seeing me like this." she said, "I mean, you're so used to the me that bickers with him, and keeps him in check. This must be weird for you."

"Yeah, it is." he stated plainly, "but, I've seen stranger things."

"I bet, if you hadn't then I wouldn't think you were Harry Potter."

He laughed, "I don't like being famous though, ya know?"

"Well, yeah….I mean the paper is always lying about you, Harry. I would've beaten someone in by now."

"Trust me, I would like to…especially with all of this, chosen-one business."

He got up, and offered a hand to Lixella. She smiled and grabbed it, he helped her up. She wiped the tears from her face, and they both walked back down the hallway together. Harry had to get back to his party, he didn't want to leave Luna there.

Lixella headed back to the Slytherin dorm. When she arrived there, she found Draco sitting on a couch, staring at the floor. He looked worried, and sick. He had gotten a lot paler since she had last seen him, and his eyes looked deathly tired. He looked up at her, unable to find words to say.

"Look…I don't know what you are planning to do" she started, "but just know, that I'm scared for you. You need to be careful!"

"God, will everyone stop worrying about me" he stated unpleasantly, "I can do this myself!"

"Do what, Draco?" she asked, "what do you have to do?"

"None of your business, Cruxshade" he spat

"It's getting you in a lot of trouble, Draco!" she snapped, "My job is to keep you out of trouble."

"Oh yeah? Well, good job on being there from age 10 to now! Really? I've shaped up quite a lot thanks to your helpful guidance. You mind telling me why you can't remember anything, Lixella? Anything other than leaving my house that one summer?"

"You know darn well that I cannot answer that" she said.

"oh really? You sure? Do you even know anything about yourself, Lixella. Who you are?" She averted her gaze from him. "You're really bloody important, I'll tell you that. You think all of the strange things happening to you this year are just coincidence? You are the one who needs looking out for! At least I know what I'm doing, you don't have the slightest clue what's in store for you!"

"I….wait, in store for me?" she asked

"yeah, you'd better be careful this winter break. He knows about you!" said Draco, "and he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants from you. You need protecting, Lixella, and no one is going to give it to you, because no one can protect you from him!"

Draco plopped down onto the couch, "not even me. I can't even protect you from him." He began staring at the floor again. Lixella sat down next to him, her eyes were wide with shock. He looked over at her, and sighed heavily. "He knows what you're capable of, now. He's known for quite a bit. That's why he sent your parents to the ministry, he knew they wouldn't return, forcing you to move to England, and end up here."

Lixella didn't know what to say. He seemed to sincerely care about what was going to happen to her. She moved closer to him on the couch, and put her head on his shoulder. He was warm, and smelled like fresh forest air.

"what do I do?" she asked, staring at the wall across the room.

"There's nothing you can do. He's got you, right where he wants you. But, it'll be okay, I'll be there with you. We're going to get through this."

He kissed her lightly on the top of her head, which was on his shoulder. She scooted closer to him, and buried her face into his chest. Lixella didn't know what she was in for, but at least she had help. At least she had Draco.


Woohoo...chapter 11 is complete! I hope you liked it...it should clear up a few things before i get into winter break!

Thanks for reading, and I will see you next time in chapter 12!

Thanks for reading ^_^