Dudley picked up the mug of coffee that one of the wizards that had taken him from his tattered house had brought to him a while ago. It was cold now, but Dudley still drank it.

He didn't know where he was, exactly, but he saw hundreds of wizards running past the room looking panicked about something. Suddenly, the door opened and Harry walked in.

"Harry," Dudley said, setting down his cup at once. "What's going on?"

"Same thing that happened over twenty years ago, I'm afraid," Harry sighed. "Another dark wizard, has taken over."

"Dark wizard?"

"Witch, actually," Harry said. "She struck today. Nearly everything's in her control."

Dudley appreciated the fact that Harry clearly wasn't sugarcoating anything for him, but that didn't help the chill that went down his spine. "What-what about the school? Alexandra-"

"-Is okay," Harry said. "I saw her myself just a little while ago."

Dudley sighed, relieved. "Where is she now? Can I see her?"

"We evacuated all of the students to an area just outside Hogwarts," Harry said. "You can pick her up now. I need to talk to you, first, though."

Dudley nodded.

"That creature that attacked you," Harry began. "It's called a Thestral."

"Glad to hear it has a name," Dudley muttered.

"Normally they're pretty peaceful," Harry said. "Stay well enough out of everyone's way. In fact most people can't see them so they never even know they're around."

"They're invisible then?"

"Not exactly. The only people who can see it are those who have seen death. Which is why, I'm guessing, after you shot it, you finally saw it."

"Yeah, I did," Dudley said. "Thing was far from peaceful, though. It nearly killed me."

"The witch who was responsible for everything," Harry sighed. "Claridina Wretermoust, she bred these Thestrals out specifically to kill. She made them monsters. She had each of them target a specific person to kill."

"Target?" Dudley frowned. "But then why would one of the Tesles or whatever they're called be after me. I'm not a wizard; I've never even met this woman."

"Because," Harry said slowly. "You're related to me."

Dudley blinked. "Because I'm related to you?"

"Claridina has it out for me," Harry said. "I put her away years ago and now she knows that I'm going to do whatever I can to stop her from getting any more power. She's going after everyone that has a connection to me."

Dudley took a moment to let this sink in.

"You're going to need to go into hiding," Harry said softly. "They have places that are probably like where you and your parents stayed when we were seventeen. Back when it was Voldemort we were fighting. Somebody here will tell you the location that only you and a few Aurors will know."

"Where-where are we?" Dudley asked, trying to make sense of what he was hearing.

"It's an underground ministry base," Harry replied. "After Kingsley became Minister of Magic nineteen years ago, he created it in case anything were to happen that would crumple the main offices. People called him paranoid for it, but well, I suppose they've all been proven wrong by now."

Dudley nodded.

"Anyway," Harry said, opening the door again. "I know you'll be wanting to go and get Alexandra. Bloke at the end of the hall will apperate you to the school and he'll bring the two of you back here again until a location has been secured for the two of you…I've-I've also asked two Aurors to go and pick up your mum. She can stay with you, or we can put her in a separate place."

"Any way you could put her in a separate, nearby place?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. That could be arranged."

He turned to leave the room, but then looked back at Dudley. "I'm sorry," he said, just as Dudley had opened his mouth and said "Thank you."

…..

"My uncle Ron came for us," Fred told Alexandra. "We didn't know the fire had reached the castle yet, so when we saw all the flames when he led us out of the common room it was a real shock."

"He led us out quickly, though," Alanna said. "After we went up to the Ravenclaw common room we got out of the castle in less then two minutes, probably."

"We saw a bunch of Aurors fighting out here, too," Fred said. "Claridina's followers were too distracted to notice us, though, so we went through the Whomping Willow safely."

"How did you get out?" Alanna asked.

"I, um, just tried to run as far away from the fire as I could," Alexandra said. "And eventually, I got to the exit."

The three were silent as another frantic-looking parent was led into the room to retrieve his child.

"Wonder what they'll do with the students who don't get picked up," Alanna said softly.

"No one's going to leave their kid in this mess," Fred said.

Alanna said nothing and looked down at her feet.

Fred frowned. "You-your mum's not coming?"

"I doubt it."

Fred was about to respond when suddenly his parents, along with Bill, Percy, and Ron, came into the room.

Fred jumped up and ran to his parents.

"They-They might have trouble getting a hold of a lot of parents," Alexandra said quietly. "You won't be alone."

"I suppose," Alanna nodded.

Fred came running back over to the girls. "Alanna. My mum and dad said you can come with us."

Alanna looked up. "They-they did?"

"Yeah. They don't want you being left here after everything. They'll try and contact your mum with the fellyphone or teltone or whatever it is and then take you back to your house later."

"Are you sure it's alright?"

"Uh-huh. We're all going over to my grandparents' house. Teddy will be there and he's practically an Auror, so we'll be safe."

"Thank you," Alanna smiled.

Fred turned to Alexandra. "Do you know if your dad is coming?"

"I-I'm not sure," Alexandra said. She didn't know if she was supposed to wait; if Claridina was going to send someone to pick her up, since it looked like she would be living with her mother now. "I think somebody will-"

Just then the door to the room opened again and in walked another body. Alexandra's eyes grew wide. "Dad!"

…..

"Don't see why dad wouldn't let me go up," James said, trying to find a place to site amongst the sea of students.

"Because you're thirteen years old and wouldn't stand a chance if one of Claridina's followers was still out there," Rose suggested.

Albus looked around the room and spotted Scorpius sitting near one of the cracked windows. "I'll be right back," he told his brother and cousin. He walked over to the boy and sat down across from him.

"Have you heard?" Scorpius asked, not looking Albus in the eye.

Albus nodded gravely. While the students had been sitting in the room, stories and rumors had been flying around, but one stuck out to Albus. Apparently, Scorpius's father had been seen fighting in Hogsmeade. "Is it true?"

"Yes," Scorpius said softly, still not looking Albus in the eye.

Albus didn't say anything.

"I'd leave now, if I were you," Scorpius muttered. "Wouldn't look too good for Harry Potter's son to talking to someone with a father involved with Claridina."

"No," Albus said. "It doesn't matter."

"What do you-"

"You're not your father," Albus said firmly. "It wasn't you out there fighting today. So why should you be treated as though you were?"

Scorpius finally looked at Albus. "Not too many people would see it that way."

Albus shrugged. "That's their problem."

….

"Dad!" Alexandra cried, running to her father and throwing her arms around him. She was crying, and she could see that he was too.

"Are you okay?" Dudley asked, not letting go of his daughter.

"Yes," Alexandra responded.

He was alive. Her father was alive, that's all she could think. She couldn't remember feeling this relieved in her entire life.

"I'm afraid we're not going to be able to back home," Dudley said softly.

"What do you mean?" Alexandra frowned.

"This Claridina woman sent some sort of winged horse thing after me," Dudley explained. "It destroyed the house. And Harry's concerned that I'm going to keep being targeted because of my relation to him. He's arranged for us to go into hiding."

Alexandra let go of her father. She could feel her hands shaking.

The Thestral had belonged to Claridina? Harry did in fact care about her and Dudley?

Then if sank in. She had been played.

Alexandra suddenly felt very dizzy as she remembered her pact to Claridina. What had she done?

…

AN-Just to clarify, Scorpius DOES know that his father is a spy for Harry. He cannot say anything, though. Albus, on the other hand, doesn't know this.