A/N: I know, I know, I'm horrible for not updating in ages. I am so sorry. A lot has been happening around here lately and my mind has been elsewhere, which I know that's not really a good excuse. It hasn't helped that I have had bad writers block. I will try my best to make it up to you all… I'm taking suggestions on how to achieve that by the way… Well I guess I have kept you waiting long enough… here is chapter 26… finally.

Chapter twenty six: The Prisoner

OoOo Hermione oOoO

Hermione sat here in silence with the others. It didn't possible that 'the' Voldemort, Lord of all things evil¸ that we knew, could actually want anything to do with his mother. Why would he want the portrait of her and her wedding ring?

"I don't get it," Taylor whispered as she read the text over Amethyst's shoulder, her eyebrows knitted together; eyes lit up in wonder.

"What's not to get?" Blaise asked from across the room. Taylor's eyes snapped towards him in an instant, "Maybe he saw it as some kind of like to his past. One person can only be cold and heartless for so long."

"Not the ring you goof," Taylor said in exasperation, "The necklace, how could it have not been turned to ashes in the fire?" All eyes were on her once more. "Fiend Fire is designed to destroy everything with in its path; otherwise the fire cannot die out." The room fell silent as her words sunk into their minds; she had brought up a very interesting point.

After a little while, once the silence had become too much, Amethysts voice rang through the room once more; Brianne's tale continuing to unfold.

OoOo Mira-Bella Brianne oOoO

"Brianne," I heard Ali's voice chime through the room as I stepped into the common room later that day. I couldn't help but sigh in defeat.

"Yes," I asked as I turned to look at the girl, she was sprawled out on the couch with a book lying on her lap. I could just barely make out the title 'Host' written across the front cover. I watched as she closed the book and laid it on her legs as she sat up.

"Why is there a pile of ash on your bed side table?" my jaw went slack as her words registered through my mind. The bedside table was where I had left the necklace I had found in the room of requirements this morning.

"What?" I asked in confusion, how could it be solid one moment and ash the next? Scientifically speaking it was impossible. Hell, even magically speaking it should be impossible.

"Wait, am I missing something?" Ali asked as I flung my bag onto the floor next to the couch, and made my way towards the spiral staircase that led up to the girl's dormitories. "Bri," I heard her call out when I wouldn't answer her question. Her voice was soon followed by the sound of a soft thud and her feet hitting the wood of the floor as she tried to catch up with me.

I had just opened the door when I heard her come to a stop beside me. "Brianne, what is going on?" She demanded as my eyes flickered towards the surface of the small beside table next to my bed. I could see the necklace lying precisely where I left it, I hadn't moved an inch or changed one bit. I stood there watching it glisten in what little sunlight that hit the table.

I sighed in relief as I walked closer over to the table, fully intending to pick it up and show her that it wasn't a pile of ash. My breath caught in my throat when my fingers glided right on through the shimmering object. "What the hell," I whispered as I pulled my hand back towards my body and stared at it in shock. I was just as surprised to see that it was covered in a chalky, gritty black powder, better yet, ash.

"Bri, are you feeling alright?" Ali asked as she walked up once more to stand beside me, her eyes were locked on my shocked expression.

"Well, I thought I was…" I mumbled as the 'ash' necklace continued to glisten in the sunlight. "Ali, what do you see?" I asked, although I had a good feeling that I already knew the answer to that question.

"A pile of black, dusty looking ash…" Her voice rose in confusion towards the end of that sentence.

"It's not important… I whispered. I whispered as I picked up the wire waste basked next to my bed and held it up to the edge of the table. I took a moment to rake the 'necklace' into it. I wanted nothing more than to get rid of it. I didn't want to be messing with this strange new type of magic, the kind that strikes living fear into my very soul.

"Bri!" Ali scolded me. I knew it was because she wanted me to tell her, but he should have known I wouldn't. I had a feeling that if I did, I might end up dead.

"Ali, Drop it!" I said forcefully as I put the waste basket back in its place. "It's something we shouldn't be messing with." As I said this, I didn't even realize just how true those words were.

OoOo Later oOoO

To my great relief, Ali quickly let the subject drop after that. Usually she would have gone on and on about it. She would have played the best friends card on me.

It wasn't until I reached the great hall for dinner that I began to think about the task I had at hand and all of the stuff that I had learned as of late. I hadn't had a lot of time during the day to think about it. I had been too caught up in trying to not get myself killed, I had already had too many run in's with death. Plus I had had too many slip ups.

I hadn't expected to learn a lot of the things I had, and I guess you could say that I had stumbled across them as if on accident. There had been things I had never imagined. I never would have dreamed that that my grandmother would be one of those discoveries. I confused me as to why grandfather seemed to care about her so much. Let alone enough to have a portrait of her hanging in his den. They had appeared to have a somewhat normal familial relationship, they had seemed close.

I also couldn't figure out why he had stored a part of his soul with in the wedding ring; a ring that should have been lost or with her body.

I was shaken from my thoughts when a familiar owl dropped a mall parcel onto my lap, causing me to knock my fork onto the ground. My eyes shifted towards a magnificent bat like creature as she soared back up to the ceiling. It always amazed me that she could maintain such wonderful posture and grace.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see several of the other students watching me with curiosity. It was that kind of curiosity that was going to get me killed in the long run. I knew instantly that I needed to wait to open the letter; I couldn't risk anyone discovering what I was up to. If anyone found out, I would have a one way ticket to Azkaban.

I took in a deep breath as I pretended to read the front of the parcel, and after a moment I shifted around to place the parcel securely in my bag. I remained where I was, tying to appear unaffected by the letter and finished off my dinner, I didn't want to risk exposure by getting up too quickly.

As soon as I finished I made to stand up, trying my best to remain calm. There was no denying that I was nervous. My heart drummed wildly with in my chest the entire time I walked to the common room.

"Bri," There you are, Ali's voice called out for the second time, as I walked into the common room a few moments later. I jumped at her abruptness. I hadn't expected anyone to be back in the common room yet. Especially not with the Quidditch game taking place to night. I was relieved to see that it was only Ali and Jace that were in the room with me.

"We have been looking all over for you," Jace said, I could tell from the look in his blue eyes that something was wrong. There was something that he wasn't telling me.

"I was eating in the great hall," I trailed off as fear started to course through my body, I instantly got the feeling that I had been found out.

I watched Jace closely as he turned to look at Ali with a scowl on his face. "I thought you said you checked the great hall," I watched her turn a funny shade of pink.

"That's where I was heading when I met up with you in the Entrance Hall, I forgot to go in and check." She said defensively.

"Why was it so important to find me?" I asked as I looked between the two of them. I watched as the color drained from my boyfriend's face.

"Brianne," Ali said when she realized that no words were coming out of Jace's mouth. "You may want to sit down," as I listened to her words, fear began to course through my body once more. This was it, I was done for, and we were going to have to go into hiding. Or so I thought at the time.

"Why," I asked not moving an inch, to be honest I couldn't move. I could feel myself starting to myself starting to hyperventilate. I was already preparing myself for the worst.

"Bri," Jace said as he took a step closer to me, ready to catch me if I fell. I was already beginning to feel light headed. "Harry has been caught," Although that wasn't what I had been expecting, it still managed to knock all of the air out of my body, causing me to stagger in place.

"What…?" My voice broke through the overwhelming silence that had seemed to overtake us the moment his words left his lips.

"Harry has been caught," Ali said as she took a few steps towards me. Jace grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. He held me close so that I wouldn't fall. "No one knows where they are keeping him."

"Then how do you know they have him?" I asked, I was clinging to all the hope I had, that Uncle Harry was safe somewhere.

"The death eaters sent a letter to the ministry. Voldemort defiantly has him trapped." Tears spilled down my face as Jace confirmed my worst fears. It wasn't long before I could feel a very large part of my life come crashing down around me.

OoOo Hermione oOoO

Hermione listened as Amethyst's voice halted causing the room to go silent. Most of the people in the room had tears in their eyes. It was hard for them to all imagine that if things had gone different, their only hope would have eventually been eliminated. They would have been left alone to die, without a chance of ever winning the war.

"How could he have caught Harry?" Ginny's shaking voice finally interrupted the silence, tears were pouring down her pale cheeks. She was clinging to her fiancé's hand. "Harry has always been good at evading dad. The have only ever caught him once, and that was during the last task of the tri wizard tournament.

"It was bound to happen eventually," Taylor whispered as she looked down at her hands, she was trying her best not to cry, she knew that her words would strike a nerve.

"How can you say that, Taylor?" Ginny screamed in in fury, "It sounds like you are taking 'his' side.' The girl continued to scream as she pointed at her father. Her eyes were raging with a fire that none of them had ever seen before.

"Well think about it, Ginny, No one is invincible!" Tears were spilling down her cheeks now, "Bad things eventually happen, he made it seventeen odd years without being caught, and he couldn't have stayed hidden forever." Ginny continued to glare daggers at the girl.

"She's right Gin," Harry said as he pulled her into him. "I'm only human." Ginny looked up at him In outrage.

"How can you say that, Harry," She choked out as she pushed away from him. "I need some fresh air." The girl said as she stood up and dusted herself off. It wasn't long before she was out of the room.

Silence fell among them all once more. It soon became too much for Hermione to stand, so she set off to go find her sister.

OoOo A/N oOoO

I am so sorry for how late this was, so much has been happening around here. I have been caught up in it all. I hope that you can forgive me. Okay, so I'm sure you have noticed that the spelling of Ali's name does a lot of changing; well I have officially decided it will be spelled Ali, and I have been going back and fixing that. I have been editing chapters as well. I have gotten to around chapter 17… I think… So If you want you should go back and read them again.

What was your favorite part of the chapter?

What do you think about Harry being caught?

What is in the parcel Bri has yet to open?

What shall happen next?

Are you going to forgive? I hope so.

Please review! I need them for inspiration!

I am working on the next chapter now, so I hope to have it up soon. Again I am so sorry for making you wait so long.

~Taylor (Slytherin at heart)

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