Hey Guys!

So sorry for the long wait. I have been a busy little kid lately. Who knew that preparing for college could be so much work? lol. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter!

After Harry followed suit with Hermione and headed to sleep, I took a shift at the entrance of the tent,watching and waiting for an attack. I seemed to be taking more and more of the night shifts seeing as I didn't need too much sleep but on a night like tonight I just wished I could escape my thoughts.

Red was gone. Like, for real gone.

The guy wasn't coming back. Period.

So, here we were, our group of four turned into a trio. It was strange how Red just blew up on us like that even with the locket on. I mean, that pent up anger must have been rooted deeper inside him than that; he had to have had those feelings before hand and that is what scared me the most.

Did Red really believe that our mission was a waste of time? Could he really just consider me the orphaned vampire? Was he really that jealous of Harry and Hermione together?

It all just seemed too weird for the normally care-free Weasley and I didn't understand it. But, I guess, we were going to have get used to it because this abnormal new way of life wasn't going anywhere.

However, we will be going somewhere different tomorrow and then,even if Ron wanted to find us, he would never be able to; once we're gone, we're gone. That's it. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.

I sighed, willing the thoughts of Red out of my mind.

To keep my mind occupied through this long night, I decided to go grab a book out of Hermione's pink beaded bag. I went over to the wooden table, opened the bottomless purse, and stuck my entire arm into the thing, reaching into the book section.

I felt a hard covered book glide against my fingers, I gripped the book, and yanked the thing right out of the depths of the bag. This book was freaking huge. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the the title.

It was Hogwarts: A History.

I shook my head at Hermione's strange obsession with this book. It must have weighted about a billion pounds, or, ya know, five pounds, but either way it was totally heavy. I went back to the entrance of the tent, sat down, and plopped the book onto my lap.

I looked at the battered and aged cover, taking in every inch of it. Okay, so I really didn't feel up to reading; I kind of wish I had found a book with a lot of pictures or something in it.

I traced the raised letter on the cover that spelled out the name of the author. "Alright, Bathilda Bagshoot, I'll give you one more try."

I cracked open the book and about ten seconds later closed it again.

I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it.

"Harry, I am getting worried. It has been a week since Red left and she is still walking around here like a zombie." I whispered to him from the top bunk. It was just before sun rise and Hermione was still at her post in the front of the tent.

"What are we supposed to do? She'll get over it in her own time, just like we did." He whispered back from the bottom bunk.

I scoffed before poking my head down below to look at him upside down; my eyebrow raised.

Harry lay there with his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, before turning his head to look at me. "What?" He asked.

"Harry, really? She isn't going to get over this." I explained.

Harry sat up and turned to face upside down me. "And why is that?" It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

I looked over at the mouth of the tent, making sure Hermione wasn't listening in, before going on in a low whisper. "Because she loves him, Harry."

He wrinkled his forehead. "We all love Ron-"

I shook my head, causing my hair it fly around my face. "No, she is in love with him."

Harry stared at me for a moment with the same confused expression on his face as before, causing me to become confused. Did he really not know these two were over-the- moon, head-over-heels and every other cliché in the book with each other? It was so obvious!

"No, they're aren't." He responded, sounding uncertain.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say."

"Well, how would you know?" He asked, challenging my theory.

"I read minds, Harry. I know stuff." I sighed. "And I also know that Hermione is completely crushed. She feels like she lost Red, that he abandoned her. And she is just sitting there wondering what she could have done differently to keep him around. " I paused as I stared off into space, officially rambling now. "She's hurt and confused and she doesn't know how to fix things because they are so screwed up already and-"

"Allie," He said my name to bring me back to the present, to stop me from making a bigger ass out of myself that I already had because we both know that I had totally changed the subject of our conversation. "Are we still talking about Hermione here?"

I stared at him for a moment, acting like he was the crazy one. I scoffed. "Yeah, of course. What else would we be talking about?" I shifted my gaze from his and didn't wait for him to answer before flipping down from the top bunk and booking it into the kitchen where the beaded bag laid. I reached in and pulled out two granola bars.

"Alrighty, think fast, kids." I shouted as I tossed a bar toward Hermione and one toward Harry; both failed miserably at catching them.

I rolled my eyes and sat down on the rickety wooden bench.

"Allie, aren't you going to eat?" Hermione asked as she stripped the granola bar of it's crinkling silver wrapper.

I waved her off. "Nah, I'm fine."

"You haven't eaten a thing in three days. Don't think we haven't noticed." Harry said through a bite.

I just shrugged. "I'm just not hungry, I guess."

I looked down at my hands and began playing with my fingers. I knew that my lack of eating wasn't a big deal but I had a feeling that my friends wouldn't see it the same way.

"I have known you for three years and never once during that entire time have you told me that you weren't hungry." Harry challenged.

"Allie, you need to eat. There is enough for all of us." Hermione said, coming over to her beaded bag and rummaging around for another granola bar.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Just calm yourselves down." I held my hands out to prove my point. "Listen, I appreciate your concern but I'm fine. I hunted two days ago if you remember."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that you don't need human food, as well." Harry said.

Human food...it sounded as if I were something completely alien and weird.

"Guys, stop." I snapped back. "It's okay. Don't worry about me."

The two gave me a quizzical look before finally turning away, semi-convinced, to eat their breakfast in silence.

Okay, so yeah, I was hungry for the delicious little granola bar but why should I eat it when I don't need to? I mean, I can survive without it as long as I have blood in my system so I shouldn't be taking the 'human' food from the humans.

Yeah, I know I'm a martyr. Deal with it.

"So, what is on the agenda for today?" I asked several moments later as we all sat gathered around the wooden table, planning and plotting as always.

My eyes went from Harry's to land on Hermione; she was looking down and playing with a loose thread on the blanket wrapped tightly around her, trying hard not to think about what we all knew.

"Well, it has been three days since we moved camps..." Harry said in a low tone.

My blue eyes shot to Hermione who sat rigid across from me. The girl didn't return my nor Harry's gaze which instantly tipped me off that she was not happy with this idea; I didn't have to read her mind to know what she was thinking.

"Of course, we could stay an extra day. It's really no big deal." I suggested with the shrug of my shoulders.

Harry was just about to answer when Hermione's eyes shot up to look at me, cutting off the words on Harry's tongue. "We should go." The girl paused. "It's been three days and it is time to move despite...certain events. Besides, I doubt Ronald has even been following our trail for the past week." I heard the girl mumble that he would have caught up with us by now if he had.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, an attempt to comfort her that I knew would not succeed; Hermione was miserable.

"Okay, then. I'll start packing up while you guys think up a new place to park it." I stood up and headed away, only to be called back by Harry a second later.

"Actually, I already know where I would like to stop...if that's okay with everyone else." Harry told us, looking down at his hands in the process.

Hermione and I exchanged a glance before I decided to sit back down; I had an idea that I would be needing a seat.

"Which is...?" I prompted.

The boy looked up at me. "Godric's Hollow."

I automatically sighed, knowing all along that this was the place he had been longing to search for quite some time. My gaze once again slid to look at Hermione. I decided to speak. "Harry, why do you want to go there?"

He shrugged. "Why do you think, Allie? I want to see my parents...it's the day before Christmas and I just...I've never been there before...to visit them." He paused. "Haven't you visited your family's graves?"

I chuckled humorlessly. "Harry, Carlisle was over five hundred years old...my dad was at one hundred and twenty...we really couldn't give them a grave stone or else people would start asking questions. They were just...ashes when it was all over."

He stared at me for a moment; I think he was coming to the realization of just how gone my parents were to the world. No one would remember the Cullens save for me, Jake, and the rest of the pack. I looked into his thoughts and instantly felt the pity radiating from him. Harry was thinking that at least the world remembered his parents and he had somewhere to visit them.

"Hey, don't get all sympathetic on me, okay? I'm really fine. But as far as you wanting to visit your parents? I say that is a stop that we can afford to make, right Hermione?"

"Yes, of course. And, you know, this would also be a good opportunity it visit Bathilda Bagshot and see what information she has for us."

My eyebrows furrowed. "The book lady? The one that wrote, like, all of our texts books? Why would we need to visit her?"

"She was close to the Dumbledore's along with Harry's parents...perhaps she has some information that would could find useful...maybe she knows where the sword of Gryffindor is...it could be there with her...don't you think?" Hermione asked, hoping I would say yes to further our reasons to take a trip to Godric's Hollow.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, 'Mione" I smiled before looking over at Harry. "So we'll pack up and head there straight away. I'd like to see where you lived."

Harry nodded, face flat, almost as if he were deciding if he really wanted to go through with this stop. "Yeah, I'd like that too."

So we were all set. The tent was tucked neatly inside of Hermione's ugly little beaded purse and we stood around the clearing in the forest that we had called our home for the last several days. The three of us were all dressed in our warmest, most inconspicuous gear: Harry in his cargo coat, Hermione in her long gray peacoat, and me in my black leather jacket with my black floppy beanie atop my head.

For now we had to look like three normal teenagers, not three runaways with prices on their heads.

I knew I shouldn't go, especially since we were out of Polyjuice Potion, but I wouldn't stay behind; Harry needed me. This would be the first time he would see his parent's graves and he would need comfort from both me and Hermione. So I was going...despite the danger.

I pulled the hood of the gray sweatshirt, that I wore under my jacket, over my head, concealing most of my face and hiding what was visible in shadows during the process, before turning to take Harry's hand. I smiled up at him before taking Hermione's hand who stood on my other side.

"You guys ready?" I asked.

They both mumbled some version of the word 'yeah' before I took a deep breath.

"Here we go then."

The next second I sucked us all into the small tube that was the apperation. We twisted and turned through the pipe like magic before being spit out the other end-catching our breath once it was over-to see that we were on a quiet little street in a quaint town.

It was late already-probably close to eleven o'clock-and everyone was pretty much tucked away in their houses, awaiting Christmas to arrive tomorrow morning.

I toned my vampire hearing in to the surrounding pubs, trying to see if I could hear anything suspicious, but drunken laughs and chitchat were the only sounds I could really make out. It seemed that our presence was unnoticed; we were nothing more than three silhouettes on the snowy street to the people inside, thank Merlin.

I gave my two friends a nod, letting them know that we were in the clear, before the three of us started down the lane.

Snow began to fall silently, leaving me with the strange feeling of someone watching us but, as I already knew, no one was.

Harry led the way with Hermione and I slightly behind him. It was like he knew where he was going, like he remembered this place from his first year of life.

"Girls," I heard Harry call all too soon.

My head snapped to the side and sure enough a grave yard stuck out like a sore thumb on the main road.

We all stopped dead in our tracks, wondering the exact same thing: where were the Potter's?

Hermione took a step forward, grabbing Harry's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze in the process, while I kept my eyes on the surrounding buildings and roads. It would look suspicious if a couple of kids were skulking around a cemetery.

"Allie?" I heard Hermione say, pulling me out of my vampire-safety state. "Are you coming?"

The two were at the entrance gate, hesitating as they waited for my response; it actually looked like Harry might jump out of his skin with the anticipation.

I shook my head. "No. You guys go ahead. I'll stay here and keep watch."

I saw Hermione's face ruffle up in confusion but she, along with Harry, just nodded.

"Be careful." Harry shot my way before walking slowly into the grave yard, looking at headstones as he took each deliberate step. Hermione followed behind him a second later.

To be quite honest, I wanted to go with them, be there for Harry when he found his parents, but the whole idea of going into the actual grave yard scared me. I think it had something to do with all of the death that was contained inside those gates...it's something that I would never be experiencing.

I would never be buried in the ground, rotting; I'm just going to be gone. When Voldemort kills me I assume they will burn whatever is left of my body, getting rid of any piece of evidence showing that I ever existed. It'll be just like my parents with nothing left of them but a legacy and a name.

My parents...

I backed up against the wrought iron gate and slid until I was sitting on the ground, my ass going numb within seconds.

I tilted my head back and let the snow fall down onto my face; it was not even melting because of my low body temperature. The thought of my parents, dead and gone, led me to thinking of Jake and what he was doing now. Was he nothing but a memory anymore? Had he been hurt in the battle for a world that was not his own? My heart was telling me no but my head was saying that it was illogical to think so.

Everyone was hurting now and that must include Jake right?

I needed to stop thinking about this.

"Are you alright, my dear?"

The sound of a foreign voice scared me shitless considering I hadn't heard anyone walking this way nor any unusual thoughts. My eyes shot open and I was standing in an instant. My adrenaline was preparing me to fight an army of Death Eaters but standing before me was only an elderly woman.

I took a few deep breaths, forcing my vampire side to calm down. I looked at the woman and forced a small smile. "I'm sorry. You scared me."

The woman before me looked to be, like, a million years old with matted, dirty gray-white hair and a wrinkly face;she wore tattered cloths and fingerless gloves. The stench of old age hung around her like a perfume,making it seem that she was even older than I believed her to be. But, somehow, I knew her face. I squinted into the darkness, making sure I was seeing correctly.

"Bathilda Bagshot?" I whispered as if it were some huge secret.

The woman nodded. "Yes, I am...and you are, precious?"

I was just about to blurt out my real name but, thankfully, I was able to hold back word vomit. "Um, it's Emma." I told her, remembering my fake name from the Bill and Fleur's wedding.

The old woman nodded her head slowly as if she did not necessarily believe me. But she couldn't know who I truly was, could she? I mean, it looks as if she had been completely out of touch with reality a while. Nevertheless I pulled the hood over my head even more to hide my face in deep shadows.

I looked into her mind but saw nothing; I wasn't surprised that she knew how to block her mind from people like me. It seemed like everyone could do it now, making me feel like that particular vampire power was kinda useless at times.

From behind me, I could here the sounds of footfalls crunching into snow; the sound was coming closer meaning so were Harry and Hermione. I smiled up at the woman as gently as I could while I waited for my two friends. Only a moment later the gate swung open and the two walked out of the cometary and onto the sleepy main street.

"Whose your friend?" Harry asked skeptically, being careful not to address my name in front of a stranger.

"Guys, this is Bathilda Bagshot." I introduced.

Harry's eyes widened slightly while Hermione smiled at our luck of finding her so easily. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Bagshot." Harry said, taking a step forward and holding his hand out for her to shake.

The aged woman looked down at his hand for a second before looking back up at Harry's face. She shook her head before turning away from him and walking a little further down the lane; when we did not follow her she turned back to wave us on, as if silently saying "come with me."

I glanced Hermione's way. "Should we?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't know..."

"Girls, it's an old woman." Harry whispered, turning back to look at us. "What threat could she possibly pose to us?"

I wanted to remind him that if she were a vampire then she would pose a great threat despite her age but I know she was not one so it didn't count. I sighed. "Well, despite how much that comment could come back to bite you in the ass...come on. I'll humor you. Besides, we don't want to leave her out here too long or else she will catch her death."

We followed Bathilda off of the main road and down a dark lane lined with houses. I was keeping my eyes and ears peeled, waiting for some unknown enemy that I assumed was about to pounce but nothing showed up.

From the corner of my eye I saw Harry suddenly stop, causing me to spin and hold out my wand, ready to attack. Jeez, I was jumpy.

Nothing was behind me; shocking, I know. In fact, nothing was around except a half burned down house and that was what Harry turned out to be starting at.

I looked over at him and saw as his eyes darted from the house to the gate that surrounded it's yard and then back again. My gaze followed his until I came to see a small sign mounted on the stone gate.

I read the sign twice over just so I could wrap my mind around it...this was Harry's house. The one in which Voldemort killed his parents and attempted to kill him. And the people of Godric's Hollow kept it the same way as they had found it that night...as a memorial to the Potter's.

My hand went automatically to his, knowing full well just how hard it is to see the place where everything you had even known changed; I went through the exact same thing the summer before our fifth year.

"I'm sorry, Harry." I whispered.

The boy just nodded in response, not being able to describe the words for what he was feeling...I couldn't really blame him.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see that Bathilda Bagshot was nodding for us to continue on with her to where ever she was taking us to.

"We need to keep moving. I think she thinks it's not safe out here for us...I would have to agree." Hermione said gently.

I looked up to see Harry nod; he had had enough with the house. He dropped my hand and moved past me to follow Bathilda who was already moving farther down the road.

Hermione and I followed the two down the silent street until we came to a house that looked almost as bas as the Potter's home...except it had all of it's walls intact, thank merlin.

Bathilda led us into the house and closed the door.

It was dark inside, dusty and dank too; the entire house smelled like a rotting animal was hiding. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she had a pet and didn't know that it had died. It's what I would assumed an old, rather senile, woman's house would look like. We walked further in to see that a room I guessed to be the living room was stacked with books from floor to ceiling, papers were scattered everywhere as well; the place was a pig stay and, to be quite honest, it was really gross.

"Great place you have here, Ms. Bagshot." I called to the woman who was already walking upstairs.

I furrowed my eyebrows-but she could not see since it was so dark and my hood was still up-at her as she stopped to look back at us. Why wasn't she speaking? I found it rather odd.

I took a calculated step towards her, trying to figure out what was going on. "Are you alright, Ms. Bagshot?" I took another step, at the stairs now.

She shook her head at me, silently saying no, then looked over my head and pointed to Harry.

It was his turn to furrow his eyebrows. "You want me to come with you?" He asked, earning a nod from the elderly woman.

Harry and I exchanged a glance before he walked past me and up the stairs to follow the woman.

I waved for Hermione to follow us before stepping onto the first creaking step; my footsteps were followed closely by Hermione's. The next second I heard Bathilda stop suddenly and turn back. She looked at me and then Hermione before shaking her head again.

"I don't think she wants you to come with us..." Harry interpreted.

"You can trust us, Ms. Bagshot." Hermione called up to her.

Yet again, the woman shook her head.

I sighed and looked back to Harry. "You gonna be okay?"

He nodded. "Of course."

I did the same in return. "We'll be down here then. Call if you need anything."

My feet backtracked down the stairs and turned to see that Hermione was already rummaging around in Bathilda's books and belongings. Usually, I would be the one to do that because she would be to worried about getting caught...I have corrupted her well.

"Man, she's a strange one, isn't she? I mean, this place is disgusting, not to mention that awful smell. I think something died in here...probably a pet or something." I said, earning only a nod from Hermione who was looking at a book with a purple cover. "You know, she was talking to me before you and Harry came...I wonder if she is shy or if it's the vampire thing...part of my vampire nature is for people to trust me way too easily-"

"Allie, come look at this." Hermione said, sounding angered and flabbergasted at the same time.

I went over to her and looked at the cover of the book she was holding. It read: The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore with a picture of our fallen headmaster right below it. If the book it's self wasn't enough for me to loose it, I went completely nuts when I read who the author was.

"I am going to kill her." I snapped.

"Allie, don't say things like that."

"No, Hermione! She has been getting away with this for too long. She ruined my reputation and Harry's and Cedric's in our fourth year. The bitch tells lies and I bet she has no proof to back up what is in the book. No evidence whatsoever-"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Hermione said, handing me a note written in acid green ink.

Dear Batty,

Thanks for your help. Here's a copy of the book; hope you like it. You said everything, even if you don't remember it.

Rita

"How dare she pray on an insane woman? It is clear that Bathilda Bagshot is mentally ill and Rita used that to write her book. It's sick." Hermione spat.

"It's Rita." I said, taking a deep breath.

Once the air hit my nose I had to gag. "Merlin, it reeks in here. I can barely breath."

Hermione shrugged. "It's not pleasant but manageable. It must be your vampire senses in high gear. You can wait outside if you want-"

"Yeah, right. If anything happens up there I need to be able to get there in a second...something isn't right, Hermione. Something is going happen; I can feel it." I paused, moving away from the living room and going further into the house. "I think I'm gonna find whatever is in here and get rid of it for her...poor lady."

So, from there, I followed my nose. From what I could tell it seemed to be coming from upstairs but I couldn't go there just yet...I would give Harry and Ms. Bagshot another moment.

As I stood at the base of the stairs my mind began to run, thinking that the smell of the house is probably what caused the elderly woman to smell so bad. Wait...was the stench of her old age or...death.

My brain kicked into high gear: figure-it-out-before-something-goes-down mode.

Why would she only talk to Harry alone? She did not mind that I was coming until...until Hermione wanted to come to.

Why did she smell of death and decay if she were still alive? Was she...

"Something's wrong..." I trailed off, thinking more and more of what could have been going on.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, running to me and looking terrified.

"I don't think it's an animal that's dead..." I looked up at her. "I think it's Bathilda."

Just as the words left my mouth, I heard a scream coming from up stairs; it was Harry.

"Harry!" I yelled as I vampire ran up the stairs and into the rickety bedroom above.

I stopped at the doorway to see that Bathilda Bagshot was, in fact, dead; but, that was not it. From the inside of her body, a snake slithered out of her skin like it had been wearing her as a costume. I knew what snake this was without ever laying eyes on her before: Nagini.

The snake hissed before going for Harry's torso, wrapping it's self around his waist and squeezing in a second. I reacted just as quickly, grabbing the snake and attempting to rip it off of him; I even tried to squeeze it in hopes of crushing it's bones but the snake was magically protected.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and panting breaths at the doorway.

"Hermione! Stay back!" I warned as I got a good grip on the thing and began to pull it off of Harry, causing the boy to hiss in pain all the more. The sound of a popping apperation sounded in my ears followed by all light draining from the bedroom but I couldn't think about any of that just now; I had to get this damn snake off of Harry.

"He's here!" Hermione screamed as she began to run toward Harry, the snake, and me. With all the might I possessed, I grabbed the snake and forced it off Harry. It hissed in anger as it unwound it's self from the boy who lived before I threw it across the room.

Hermione helped Harry up and I was running towards them, about ready to apperate the hell out of there, when I felt sharp fangs bite into my shoulder. I cried out in pain but managed to to shake Nagini off of me after I elbowed her in the spot right between her eyes.

I stumbled over to my two friends, feeling the venom of the snake seeping into me -faster than I thought possible-and managed to collapse against Harry before feeling the apperation pulling us into it's constricting tube.

We were just spit out again-in another forest from what my blurred vision could see-when I felt the full blow of the venom. I knew I wouldn't die so that wasn't an issue; all I wanted to do was sleep it off...

I felt so numb...

"Allie! Hold on...just hold on." Those were the last words I heard before my eyelids closed and I fell unconscious.

Remember that move with Samuel L. Jackson? Where the snakes were on the plain or something? Well, just like him, I have had it with fucking snakes.

It's a little rough, I know. But I hope you liked it just the same! Thank you so much for reading!