Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable

Previously:

God, it was like trying to draw blood from a stone. Harry paused and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Rhia," he said.

Well shit.

"Seriously?" Ginny gaped at Skye from the couch in the Head Common Room.

"Yep," Skye nodded. "I normally would keep these things quiet but I seriously do not know what to do."

"Geeze, I can't blame you," Ginny said. "Harry and Rhia? That's really...unexpected."

"Tell me about it," Skye sighed. "Now I'm never going to be look at her without imagining how she would look with Harry. What's with my friends all going out with each other?"

Ginny laughed.

"I'm sorry Skye," she said. "But in all fairness, you only became friends with Blaise because I was going out with him."

"I suppose so," Skye said, sighing deeply. "But honestly? Harry and Rhia? I can't see Rhia liking an overprotective boyfriend. She always likes to be in control of the relationship. And Hermione? I can't support either side; they're both my friends. It's obvious Harry wants my help, I mean, he came to me first. But I can't do that to either of them."

"Damn," Ginny swore. "That's some dilemma."

"What's this dilemma?" Rhia teased as she entered the Common Room.

"Nothing," Skye muttered. "What's up?"

"I have my own dilemma," Rhia said, sitting down. "I've recently developed feelings for this guy and it's different to any other crush I've had before. Deeper, you know? Anyway, I shouldn't be feeling like this. It's wrong, not to mention my Dad will kill him if he ever finds out."

"Who is it?" Ginny asked.

There was a silence.

"Harry," Rhia rushed.

"Fuck," Skye muttered.

"I know, I know, it's so, so wrong," Rhia said quickly. "He has a girlfriend who happens to be a friend of mine and we're basically family but I can't help it and..."

"Whoa, whoa," Skye said, holding up her hands. "When did this start?"

"It's kinda been since forever," Rhia said. "When I was six and had that crush on Harry, it never fully went away. But now I've been noticing it more; blame it on my hormones. The fact that his hair is pure black, but can look a little lighter in the sun; the way his eyes are pure emerald and light up whenever he smiles and the fact that he has a killer body that I really want to..."

"Okay, okay," Skye interrupted her quickly. "I don't need to hear that about Harry."

"I can't help it," Rhia looked close to tears. "I don't want to change what we have but I'm scared if I wait too long it'll be too late. I love Hermione, you know that, she's one of my best friends..."

"But..." Ginny prompted.

"But I want Harry more," Rhia lowered her eyes. "It's so, so wrong and selfish of me but I really don't care. I don't care about the fact that Dad will absolutely kill him or the fact Hermione will probably hate me for the rest of my life or the fact that this could screw things up between us for good. I don't care. I really think I'm falling for him."

Skye closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

"Geeze Rhia," she said. "Fuck. This is all too fucking much. I can't deal with this shit. Damn, it's not right. Harry's with Hermione and yet the two of you...fuck."

"Skye?" Ginny asked tentatively.

"I want to see Harry happy," she exploded. "I really, really do. But I want to see you happy too. And you Rhia, and Hermione and every single fucking person I know. I can't help it. It's just what I do. I need everyone to be happy so I don't feel guilty about being happy. And I have to help people. I have to help them be happy. Make them happy so I can be. It's my thing, my job in life. But when something like this comes up...fuck, I just get so confused. How am I supposed to make everyone happy? How am I supposed to make sure everybody gets what they want?"

"Skye, you don't always have to make other people happy," Ginny said.

"But I do!"

"No, you don't," Rhia continued. "You just think you do. You need to let go."

"I can't," Skye whispered. "I can only be happy when everyone around me is happy cause I'm never going to be happy by myself again."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was with Draco," Skye said slowly. "I wanted everyone to feel as happy as I did but if they weren't, it didn't really matter because Draco was making me happy. I couldn't not be happy. I love him so much that every single time I saw him I had to smile. It was impossible not to. But then we broke up and everything changed. I saw him and it hurt. Every single fucking time I saw him I felt like I wanted to cry instead of smile. But then there was a little part in me that told me to smile as well. And I was so confused with the signals my body was giving me that it felt like I was tearing in half."

"Skye I'm so sorry," Rhia whispered. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I don't want to be treated like someone who's about to break," Skye explained. "And I think I wanted to be over him so much that I started to actually believe I was. The holiday's changed me and the way I thought about him; probably because I couldn't actually see him. But being back here with him is fucking painful. It reminds me that I'm not actually over him no matter how much I pretend I am."

"I...I don't know what to say," Ginny said. "I can't imagine life without Blaise and we were never in as deep as you and Malfoy were."

"And I haven't really talked to Hermione in so long, like really talked," Skye said. "I've been caught up in all of my shit and we're not sharing a dormitory anymore either so it's not like I actually see her all that often. And we know that she won't let herself get distracted in class. So that's out. I want to know how she really feels about Harry so I can get an idea of how to make everyone happy."

"I have the best idea," Rhia said, her eyes lighting up.

"What?" Skye and Hermione asked in unison.

"We're having a girls night," Rhia grinned.

Skye didn't know how Rhia and Ginny managed to organize it but that night the girls were sitting in the Head's Common Room. Draco was nowhere in sight and it seemed as though Ginny had had some help from Blaise to keep him away. The girls had even invited Iris to join them.

Skye had snuck down to the kitchens and, with some help from Rhia, ensured that they had enough food to last them the entire night and more.

"So, you and Brady are just friends then?" Hermione teased. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," Skye grinned.

"But is he sure?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," Skye rolled her eyes. "We sorted this out the other day."

"Sure sure," Rhia said.

"When you get married I'll remind you of this moment," Iris grinned.

"I'm not going to marry Daniel Brady!" Skye exclaimed.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much," Hermione quoted teasingly.

Skye scowled and the girls burst into laughter. Suddenly, the lights went out and the Common Room was thrown into darkness. The laughter stopped instantly.

"Er...Skye?" Ginny asked uncertainly. "What's happening?"

"Don't look at me," Skye shrugged in the darkness. "This has never happened before."

"That's odd," Hermione mused. "I thought the lighting ran on magic here. It can't have just turned off. It must have been tampered with."

"Who'd tamper with the lighting in Hogwarts?" Skye said. "Anyway, where are our wands? We can use them as lighting."

The girls searched around them as well as they could in the darkness.

"They're not here," Rhia said slowly.

"Don't be stupid," Skye rolled her eyes. "Of course they're here. It's just hard to find them in this fucking darkness!"

"Skye, I left mine on the table," Rhia said. "I found the table and my wand isn't there."

"Maybe you left it somewhere else," Hermione suggested.

"Maybe," Rhia said dubiously.

Neither girl sounded sure.

"So what now?" Ginny asked.

"I guess we just wait. The lights must be off everywhere. Dumbledore will fix it," Skye said bracingly.

There was a flicker of light.

"What was that?" Iris asked, her voice trembling.

"I dunno," Skye whispered.

The light flicked again and there was a loud clap of thunder. The girls screamed.

"What the fuck is happening?" Rhia asked.

"I dunno," Skye repeated. "Any ideas 'Mione?"

"No," Hermione's voice sounded far away.

"Where are you all?" Ginny asked fearfully. "I don't like the distance. Let's get to the couch."

Slowly, the girls all crawled over to where the couch was. There was another crash and the girls screamed again.

"Sorry," Iris said. "That was me. I ran into the table."

Skye laughed, though it sounded forced.

"Come on," she said. "The couch is straight ahead from the table."

Iris reached the couch and curled up on Skye's lap. The lights flickered again, shining on a piece of parchment that was now on the table.

"I don't remember that being there," Hermione said.

"Neither," Ginny and Rhia both agreed.

Sighing, Skye stood up went to the table and grabbed the parchment. She sat back on the couch and unfolded the parchment quickly.

"Damn," Skye swore. "I can't read this. It's too dark."

The lights flickered again and Skye took the opportunity to read the parchment. She gasped.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"It says, be afraid...we're coming for you," Skye said, her voice shaking.

"Oh god," Rhia breathed.

"I'm scared," Iris said.

"Look, maybe it's just someone trying to scare us," Hermione said logically.

Ginny screamed.

"Something just touched my leg," she said shakily.

"It wasn't me," Skye said.

None of the other girls had touched Ginny either.

"Oh god," Rhia breathed again. "Something's in here."

"Someone has to go out and find somebody," Hermione suggested.

"Not me," Iris said quickly.

"Or me," Ginny added.

"Skye knows the room best," Rhia said. "Maybe she should go."

"Okay," Skye said, trying to swallow her nerves.

Where was the Gryffindor bravery when you needed it?

"If I don't come back, tell my mother that I love her," Skye joked, trying to lighten the mood.

The girls let out a short laugh and Skye considered her job done. She tiptoed slowly to where she knew that the Common Room exit was. She was almost there when the lights flickered again.

She caught a glimpse of a figure wearing a large, black, hooded coat. The hood hung low, obstructing most of their face. As the lights flickered again, the figure stepped forward, arms outstretched.

Skye took a step back, stumbling over something as the figure kept coming closer. Skye's back collided with something solid; something alive.

As a pair of arms tightened around her, she let out a blood curling scream.

A/N Dun dun...review and the next chapter will be up faster!

Also, a message to anonymous reviewer 'me'–it's called fanfiction, sweetie, and so I can write whatever the fuck I want. This story, in case you didn't realise, is an AU which means it's an Alternate Universe which therefore means it's not supposed to follow the story line of the books. So, I'm sorry if you don't like it but build and bridge and get over it. Thanks.