After leaving The Three Broomsticks she was so awestruck what had happened with Ted that it took her a few moments to notice the presence of destruction in the village. Fires had been starting in a number of shops and broken glass had left imprints in the dusting of snow on the ground. In the distance Andromeda could hear a scream that was all too familiar and she found herself running straight through the carnage. Hooded figures were swarming the quaint streets with their wands held high and their masks curled into a chilling grin.

"Stupefy!" Andromeda cried at the nearest Death Eater, causing them to fly backwards and gradually into the ground without protest. She removed the mask, hoping to see a coarse tangle of black hair, but was instead looking at an unknown man whom she left in the street. Running amongst the chaos that had invaded Hogsmeade she noticed that the students were still around; many of them cowering behind flaming buildings or wedged between statues. Amongst the braver students she spotted Sirius escorting his younger brother to safety with a calm yet serious expression on his face.

"Wait here and don't move until I come back for you" he instructed Regulus authoritatively.

"You can't tell me what to do!" the boy bellowed, "and they won't hurt me; I'm in Slytherin!" and with that he had back into the open where he could no longer be seen by either of his relatives.

"Sirius, what happened?" Andromeda asked her cousin.

"I don't know, me and James were in Honeydukes when all the windows exploded! Remus and this other boy we don't really know were waiting outside and they said the Death Eaters apparated all over the village and started throwing curses all over the place. Apparently- well. . ."

"What?"

"Seventeen students are supposedly dead, as well as over twenty villagers and tourists; there was nothing we could do"

"Of course not" said Andromeda; terrified and upset, "they would've got you as well as if you'd attempted anything. Is there somewhere safe nearby where we can evacuate people? Somewhere that the Death Eaters don't know about?"

"Well, yes; but it's risky" he replied. He appeared to be hiding something; perhaps he didn't want to show this secret hiding place to a Hogwarts professor but nevertheless there were children dying and she urged him on.

"We need to get there, Sirius"

"Then find the students and follow me". She was surprised at the way he spoke with authority and confidence; something that made her proud to be related to him; not all the Blacks are bad, I should've known that all along. She rounded up as many students as she could, including Regulus Black and Remus Lupin (who was aware of Sirius' secret location and would rather have fought to the death rather than go there, it seemed) and she ushered them all towards the fleeing Sirius, who was casting spells so rhythmically that it shocking he was only a third year.

"I counted thirty-six people; that's minus the losses we know about and including us so we're missing one teacher and one student" said Remus in a military fashion; he too appeared to have matured in the crisis of battle.

"So who are we missing?" inquired Sirius, although Andromeda was just about to ask the question herself.

"The teacher is Professor Larkin; the Divination teacher" he specified for Sirius' benefit as apparently he didn't study Divination; "and, I'm sorry, but the seventh years are saying that your younger sister's missing, professor".

Andromeda's heart sank as far as it could do; it didn't matter that Cissy was in Slytherin house becaused these Death Eaters clearly had no shred of mercy. She couldn't bare the thought of seeing her little sister huddled in the snow, her lightning white hair streaked with the red of blood pulsing out of open wounds. She composed herself and addressed the two boys who had been much braver than she had:

"Take the students to the place you mentioned; I will look for them both and then come and find you all" she informed them.

"But you don't know where it is"

"I know you Sirius, you're a trouble-maker and a delinquent; even I couldn't resist one of the most haunted buildings in Britain" she smiled at him heartily like a parent would to a mischievous child, "now go". As the two boys headed north of the village, Andromeda began to run a circular course around the winding streets of Hogsmeade in the hopes of finding the two lost Hogwarts residents. The streets were lined with bodies; thankfully some of them were Death Eaters and none of them were the two people she was looking for. For a second she thought she saw a figure in the background behind her, but it must have been her imagination; she moved forwards to the edge of a street corner.

"Avada Kadavra!" The voice was so chillingly familiar that Andromeda had to grab hold of the nearest street lamp as she fully absorbed the snide echoes that came from around the corner of the nearest building.

"Excellent, Bellatrix. You have really made progress in my ranks; keep up this usefulness so I don't have to kill you". The man standing next to her sister was hooded and had his back to her, but Andromeda knew who he was immediately; the darkest wizard since the infamous Grindelwald, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The referral to Bellatrix's execution hadn't swayed the eldest of the Black sisters at all, only reinforced her encouragement to please her master. She was draped in black robes of leather and gauze which made her look almost like a dementor when combined with the tangled mane that had gotten wilder during her years abroad. Andromeda could barely look at her sister without feeling disgust and embarrassment; but nevertheless she listened to the conversation tentatively.

"My Lord, do you wish for me to have the Death Eaters patrol the village?"

"I should think so, Bellatrix. After all, you have not yet completed the task I set you all the months ago. I doubt that you want to disappoint me".

"Of course not, my Lord. I will see to it immediately". As she scuttled away the gleam of her wedding ring caught the sunlight, almost of a symbol of the transformation she went through after killing Ted and Andromeda's best friend. The hooded man made a sly hissing noise and, after lingering a few moments longer, also evacuated the square. Andromeda ran for the body of the witch or wizard that suffered under the wand of Bellatrix Lestrange and saw, with solemnity for her school and relief for her sister, that the lifeless form was that of the Divination teacher, Professor Larkin.

She carried on with her desperate search to find her sister, hoping against hope that she too wasn't dead. Occasionally she was forced to cast disarming and stunning jinxes at patrolling Death Eaters and was lucky to have only been hit once (and by a disarming charm) so she was still on her feet and determined to find Cissy. In a clearing near the far exit from Hogsmeade, she saw two witches duelling fiercely. To her horror she realised that, not only was one of them Bellatrix, but the fight was talking place all-too-close to the giant boar heads that signified the entrance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Petrificus Totalus!" screamed the younger of the two witches, her almost-white hair rippling behind her as she flourished her wand frantically.

"That's not going to work on me, Cissy!" Bellatrix shouted back; deflecting the paralysis jinx with ease, "just give it up, I'm not trying to kill you!"

"How do I know you're not lying?" the girl who Andromeda now recognised as her younger said asked defiantly.

"Would I lie to you?" came the smooth, enchanting voice that Andromeda hadn't heard for some years now; but remembered all the same.

"Lucius? You- you're one of them?"

"It's for the greater good; the Dark Lord wants you to join us and help Bellatrix fulfil the quest that he has instructed her to embark upon. It is an honour".

"But-"

"If you don't come willingly then I use the Cruciatus curse on you, so are you going to do the right thing or not, Cissy?" her oldest sister asked menacingly. Lucius Malfoy didn't appear at all happy about Bellatrix's methods of persuasion but he didn't intervene as she started to withdraw her wand once more.

"Fine" Cissy spat at them, "I'll come with you". Andromeda wanted to cry out; she had already lost one sister to dark magic and she couldn't let another follow the same path. As she reached for her one wand to stop the trio from leaving she noticed a mysterious figure moving in the background, quite similar to the figure she thought she had spotted earlier; she didn't know if it was a good wizard or a Death Eater but it was strange. Whilst she was distracted by this new mystery she missed her opportunity and Bellatrix, Lucius and Cissy had run through the gates; up to the castle which was supposed to protect its residents from evil forces.

As Andromeda made her way towards the location that currently contained thirty-six students she knew that she had to do three things; find out what Bellatrix's mission at Hogwarts is, save Cissy and hundreds of others from death or worse, and discover the identity of the mysterious figure.