Chapter Twenty

She had to get out of there before she got herself and her family all killed.

She focused on running. On getting back to Sirius. He could help her. He'd been full of great ideas and useful, completely smart and not reckless plans lately. Ava thought that to be a little weird, normally at school he was the one to suggest and pull off all the stupid pranks and get himself and his friends into trouble the size of a fresh heap of dragon dung. He'd grown up she realised, over the course of finishing their sixth year at Hogwarts and now; he had grown up a lot. That impressed her, more than she would care to admit. These thoughts distracted her and soon enough she was back at the hill, Sirius was already there waiting for her.

"Av I didn't find them. Though I did come across a couple of doors that lead to a cellar, I think I heard something but I couldn't tell." Sirius said whilst shaking his head, his eyes flicking up from his boots to Ava face when she didn't reply. "You all right?"
Ava stood with her hands pressed together resting on her chin, her wide eyes staring past him as she sucked in deep breaths between her rosy lips.
"I found them. Sirius I freaking found them!" She whispered to him as she dragged her hands up into her hair.

"They're in there?" He hid his mouth behind his hands and stared past her, towards the cottage. Ava nodded slowly.
"We have to get them out, tonight." Ava said gravely, the colour draining from her face. Her breathing escalated. For such a open area of land there really was no air here Ava thought as she started pacing.
"What happened? What's going to happen? Ava? Stop." He told her whilst he clamped his hands onto her shoulders and ducked his head to look her in the eye. "Breath, slowly." And she did, and soon she was able to control her breathing and her heart rate.
"You can't imagine what they've done to them. I heard a couple of them. Death Eaters. They said. T-they said they were going." Understanding what she couldn't bring herself to say he hugged her.
"How much time do we have? he asked as he rubbed soothing circles into her back.
"Tomorrow. The said they'd do it tomorrow." Ava choked out, her throat felt smaller and unbearably tight. Sirius was lost for words for a moment.
"Godric Ava. Lets get back to James and Lily, so we can get back here as soon as we can." Sirius offered taking a step back from her to look at her properly.
"Yeah. I'll apparate us back." She offered holing out her hand for him and giving a weak smile that didn't reach her hazel eyes.

As you couldn't apparate straight onto their campsite because of their wards Ava landing just outside of it. Their new campsite was on the edge of the woods could easily get to the never ending amount of fields from there new site. It was more open now, and they were more vulnerable now Ava thought; it made her uneasy. A quick look around told her where Lily had left the three white rocks to indicate the edge of their wards. With her hands buried in her pockets she marched up to them and marched through their wards. Her sheer panic had washed away only to be replaced by her anger again. The campsite was half set up which was a good sign of James and Lily being there.

"James? Lily? Are you here?" She called out. She paused to look around their campsite, to see if there were any signs of them being here. Just at the edge of James and Sirius' tents their rucksacks lay on the ground. She called out them again, this time slightly louder.

Lily and James came tumbling out of their tent, looking flushed and ruffled; they were both giggling like a pair of little girls. "Hi" Lily said sheepishly.

"You're kidding me, right? Tell me you two were not fooling around in their." Ava said with her eyes narrowed, nose scrunched and her hands pressed together and pointing at the two of them; Lily stood with her he gaze shifting from Ava, Sirius and the ground. A blush as red as her hair spread across her face. James stood with the smuggest grin on his face.
"Man I wouldn't" Sirius warned him.

"Are you actually taking this whole thing seriously? Because I sure as hell am. Why the hell are you two fooling around in here, when my parents and little bloody sister and being beaten and God knows what else every single day they're in that damn cottage for?!"
"We checked as much as we could today. We came back and you weren't here so we just thought..." Lily left the rest of that sentence unspoken.
"You know why we weren't back yet? It's because we found them! Oh and we also found out they're about to be murdered tomorrow, but if you're busy we'll go save them some other time." Ava was shouting at them now.

"Hey calm down" James told her his face void of the smugness now.
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down. You have no idea what I'm currently going through. Each member of your family will be safe. They can protect themselves James. Mine can't. I thought you would be able to understand that Lily. Ever given one thought how all of this will effect their future or mine? Huh, what happens if I don't save them? What happens if I save them? How damaged will they be? Thought about any of that or is it too time consuming?" Ava struggled to keep her voice level throughout all of that, but she was able to fake a smile. She wouldn't look away from James until he would.

Lily's face was pale now. "Did you find them? Really?" Lily asked quietly. Sirius nodded and told her that everything Ava had told them was true. Ava had turned her back on them all and was rubbing her face with her hands in attempt to control herself.

"Okay so we go get them tonight then." James proclaimed in an attempt to soften the mood. "Did you learn anything about the cottage that we could use." He asked.
"The front door is locked and all the windows are boarded up. We would make too much noise trying to get through those. Wait, Sirius you said something about a door to a cellar?
"Um, yeah" He looked a little shocked to be pulled into the conversation. "It was hidden pretty well by the overgrowth but it looked safe enough to use."
"If we could open that up, we could use it to get in and out. Lily said, her mind now racing ahead to create a plan for them all. "How many floors are there?" She asked.
"Two, and the cellar." Ava said looking at her now. "What have you got Lils?" She asked her best friend now.

"It's basic, really. Not even a plan but we go in through the cellar; check that out. Two of us will check the first floor the other two will check the second floor and pull them out from the cellar. See terrible. How many Death Eaters did you find?" Lily asked Sirius and Ava.
"Not terrible, It will work. I overheard two of them, Sirius?"
"I didn't see or hear anyone in particular."
"Okay so there are at least two of them, whatever happens make sure they're breathing before we leave. They have to be breathing." Lily said making sure that they all looked her in the eye. They all nodded solemnly. "Great lets get packed up then!"

"That's all? No more planning round maps, no secret code names or hand gestures?" Sirius laughed, causing the girls to roll their eyes and James to laugh.

In under ten minutes they had they had their made campsite dismantled and wards taken down. Ava and Sirius had apparated James and Lily over to the hill in front of the cottage. They all had the disillusion charm on; so they could safely cross the distance between the house and the hill, although the dark of the night could of safely hidden them. Crossing that field in the light of the moon leading Ava to the prison that held her family was one of the most difficult things to do. After each step; her body felt heavier, her heart sped up-That was really starting to annoy her now- and her lungs screamed for air. She had never felt so alone, she couldn't see any of her friends and knowing that they were there with her didn't quite help. She began to beg to not feel a thing; feeling numb would be better than this feeling of anxiety. She felt someone nudge her shoulder. It was Sirius. He whispered in her ear that he was 'right here, right here doll' and she sighed in relief, she lifted her head and marched on.