Thanks for the review, I'm glad someone likes it! Here is another chapter I'm sure you've been anticipating :)

Chapter Six

As soon as she heard about the trip the Weasley's and Remus were taking she had formulated a plan. She had made it clear to the old man the night before that she intended to leave, and with that she expected him to make sure she was kept an eye on. Still, this was the best opportunity she would have and she would take it, she would take it or she would never leave.

River was, at that moment, propped up on her bed with a particularly thick book on her lap. This book was on potions, it was similar to what muggles would do with drugs, except they didn't make them in cauldrons but in high tech labs with microscopes. Most of the potions did what muggle drugs did, there were potions to stop infections, to help one sleep, instant death, nutrient mixers, pain killers and so on. Of course there was also the odd one, like liquid luck. How she would have liked to get her hands on that! There was no such substitute for that in muggle hospitals.

As she turned the next page her eyes lost focus and she felt a dizzy spell come on. Closing her eyes she put the book to her side and moved her legs off the bed so they were touching the wooden floor. Her stomach rolled and she dropped her head between her knees, breathing deeply. She didn't feel so well, and she knew why. Though she didn't quite fully understand the mechanics of it, she knew it was the forced core magic that was making her sick, she had felt it, pressing, squeezing when she had first awoken. But now, it was intensifying. In wizard terms, she was supposed to be a muggle, her body couldn't handle the magic it had been infused with, if it could, she WOULD be a witch. This was why there were muggles in the world, because not everyone could handle the core magic.

Taking another deep breath she got to her feet. The others would be leaving soon, after a late breakfast. Sirius, as usual, intended to spend time up with the Hippogryph, and wouldn't come looking for her for at least two or three hours. More than enough time for her to slip out and vanish into the crowd. She just hoped it would be difficult for them to track her for surly they would go after the moment she was found missing.

She listened intently as the group downstairs used the floo powder in the fireplace and called out their destination. She counted as each of them stepped through and knew they had all left the moment he house fell silent. They hadn't known whether to offer her to come or not, but, deciding since she was actually a muggle and didn't have a wand they had, instead, offered to get her a few sweats. She had thanked them, knowing she wouldn't be here when they returned and busied herself with plans on how she would get to where she needed to go. She knew she just had to get out of the house, to get away from the compressing smothering blanket of magic and she would be able to find the machine.

She had packed in a knapsack the small amount of clothing she had managed to acquire, along with some food and tools she had found (for lock picking), she had a feeling she would need them.

Waiting another ten minutes as she heard Sirius walk up the creaking stairs she slung her bag over her shoulder and gracefully, without a sound, headed to the front door. She looked around for the last time, took hold of the door handle and turned it, slipping out into the street.

So as not to attract attention she walked briskly, not stopping or turning back around until she was five streets away. She continued to wined her way through the streets, until she came across a neighbourhood, grass as green as if it had been painted, flowers sitting perfectly in line and stone statures, white and pristine enough to be brand new. She made her way to the fifth house down, knowing that it was empty. She easily scaled the fence in seconds and was by the door, inputting the security codes before anyone could see her.

The house was three stories, the stair case the colour of white Perl and magnificent. Each peace if furniture were as if it were sculptured and placed elegantly around the room. She moved to the study where she knew a spare laptop computer was kept. She would need to borrow it to make a few arrangements.

The problem with muggle technology was that it was useless around wizard magic. The combination of a wizards magic and muggle electricity was that electricity simply refused to work. It was something to do with the electrical bonds that became unstable when they meet up with core magic, so most wizards and witches didn't know how to work muggle technology, let alone know what it was used for. For those who did, and there was a minute few, muggle technology had a short life span, this being a few days at the most, if used sparingly and in a place not thick with magic. This was an advantage for River though, she couldn't control or even really use the magic she had been given, therefore she hoped she wouldn't be so destructive to technology.

Hacking into any computer system software was embedded into her mind thanks to some help from the alliance academy she had been trapped in so she could easily boot up the laptop and decrepit the password. The first order of business was to acquire money which she did by creating a sub account for one of the credit cards she would find locked in the safe upstairs. Transferring a small sum she then set about ordering a passport as flying was the fastest way she could travel. She knew now where she needed to go so she booked a one way ticket to Halifax, the perfect place to hide an energy converter, lots of forest and a shore line to skip away on a boat if the need arose.
Even though she'd ordered her passport for the fastest delivery time and for a sizable fee in this time and age it would still take at least two days for it to arrive, she'd sent it to another address down the street who also were conveniently out of town for the holidays as she knew she needed to keep moving.

Still, she had to admit, she was exhausted after her little escapade and wanted nothing more than to take a quick sleep before she made her joinery, and seeing as she had to wait awhile for her papers, she may as well do it here, in this beautiful mansion that reminded her of what her first home had once been.

She found a smallish, spare room on the second story; semi closed the curtains and made herself comfortable, not bothering to get under the sheets. If she needed to leave, she needed to do very quickly. Her knapsack was also by the bed, her newly acquired laptop included inside. As soon as her head hit the pillow she fell into an exhausted sleep.

Severus was furious at him! Sirius had been given one job, one job! He was supposed to watch the Tam girl while the others were out and Severus had come into the dark grim house ready to slip some truth potion into the girls drink. Dumbledore had asked him to try and get any answers out of River, as she had been most uncooperative the night previous. Nothing a little drop of truth potion couldn't cure.

The house had seemed awfully quiet but he had guessed it was due to the two mostly nonspeaking occupants. Unfortunately when he grew tired of knocking politely on River's door and getting no answer, he'd opened it to see she wasn't there. He checked every room carefully through the house before storming up to the attic where Sirius had perched himself, talking to his pet Hippogryph.

"Where is the girl?" He'd demanded, making Sirius's furious as well at having him intrude into his personal space.

"What are you talking about?" He scrawled back.

"Miss Tam, she's not in the house!"

Sirius's face went blank for a moment before realization hit him. "She was in her room." He mumbled as he shoved past Severus and went for himself to see what he already knew.

Throwing open the door he looked dumbfounded at the empty bed, everything neat and perfect as if the girl hadn't been there at all.

"Where could she have gone? She has no money, no wand. She couldn't make it in either world!" Sirius threw his hands up.

Severus on the other hand whipped out his wand. "You'll need to inform Albus on the situation. I will use a tracking spell and find her." And with that he was out the door.

Breathing in the fresh air he concentrated and cast the spell. Following the tug his wand gave him hr retraced River's footsteps down the street.