Hello my beautiful readers,

It feels like forever, but it's only been a week! I did just fly half way across the world so it does feel like forever, my jet lag has only just faded away, thank god!

thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I love you all so very much. Thank you to everyone who constantly checks in to my updates and reviews, favourites, and follows. You guys make my day!

You're all going to hate my guts when you read this, I can sense it... all I can say is that when I wrote this chapter I cried like a baby and kept rethinking this decision.

Dont forget to review!

"I go to seek a Great Perhaps."

-Francois Rabelais

Beverley, sat infront of the fire in the common room staring at the dying embers. The warm flames cast shadows along her prominent features, bringing a dark beauty to her features. Her cheekbones more hollow, her thick, arched brows even darker, her jaw and nose more contoured and her collarbones more prominent. Next to her lay a daily prophet dated two weeks ago that held descriptions of a group whom were suspected death eaters because, they were in thick dark cloaks near Dufftown which had been attacked two weeks prior.

Her brows were furrowed in deep thought, no experienced death eater would have been stupid enough to celebrate in a bar that was in the attacked town, lest face the wrath of their master if they were caught. If they were caught… Her head shot up, exactly two weeks ago was the full moon, since the school had been so curious as to why Sirius had been away from classes and why the Marauders were more solemn, nobody had paid attention to the Slytherins…

Unless they had classes with them that day.

Her jaw dropped and her eyes glowed, that day several of the Slytherin's had been hanging near Slughorn's emergency potions stores, and several were absent. Her heart beat quicker, that day…if only she was at home and could use the family pensieve. She could feel it rushing through her veins, the answer was right under her nose, she just needed to recall that day in detail. So much had happened in those twenty four hours prior and she had been so sleep deprived at the time.

That day she had unfortunately been partnered with Snape, great for her grade, not her nerves. He had seemed jittery but not nearly in enough pain to have been punished, but then again he was a slytherin, you could never tell with those slimy snakes. Although, she could vividly recall picking up a note that had been dropped near her table…

She let out a soft gasp, and ran her hands through her shoulder length natural hair, her robe. Her heart raced in anticipation, perhaps this was it, perhaps, after all this time, she would finally uncover the truth.

Leaping up she trekked up the stairs to the seventh year girls dormitory, she cast a silencing charm over herself as she manually searched through her robe pockets and trunk, it had to be somewhere, the problem was the size; the note folded was half the length of her pointer finger. She bit her lip in panic, that note could be the key to everything, yet it could also be the key to nothing. Beverley cursed under her breath, it was 10:30 and dark outside, a half moon shining in the dark sky. She was so stupid, if she did well on her NEWTS she would probably faint at this rate. Beverley lifted her want and muttered.

"Accio note I found in Potions." She would prefer not having to sort through Lily and ELizabeths notes just to find a finger sized note, thank you very much, she wouldn't even want to see what was on the notes that were sent between the couples; ew. To her sheer disbelief a note ame flying at her head, she caught it just before it would hit her. A large, toothy grin plastered itself on her face, this was it. Could this solve the mystery for her... Could this note tell her who the Death eaters were? Her heart thudded in anticipation, vibrating and buzzing, like the music at muggle concerts and clubs. Her elegant hands shook in anticipation as she unfolded the note, she shut her hazel eyes before opening them to see softly written text. She squinted to make out the messy scrawl.

Tuesday 7th, 11:25PM, Armoury.

A smug grin plastered itself onto her face, permanently etching itself on her face, someone was meeting in the Armoury room, that night, silently waving her wand the time popped up infront of her.

11:00PM

She had 25 minutes to get to Armoury, as she was slipping on a loose cardigan over her loose white tank dress she heard the rustling of sheets behind her, she turned to see a sleepy Mary sitting up and rubbing her eyes, her light blond, wavy hair sticking up at the back and pillow creases on the right side of her face.

"What are…are you do-ing?" she questioned through a yawn, Beverley smiled affectionately at her friend and sat down on her bed, she was so blessed to have such wonderful people in her life. She grabbed her warm slender hand and squeezed it.

"I think I found something." She whispered, Marys dark blue eyes widened in understanding and she pushed away her covers,

"I'm coming with you." Beverley shook her head and placed her hands on Marys shoulders, she would never, ever allow her best friend to put herself in a position of danger, it was non negotiable.

"No."

"Yes, its like midnight, last time one of us went out after dark by ourselves someone nearly died!" Mary's eyes shone, and her hands trembled excessively. "If something happened to you." She shook her head in denial.

"Nothings going to happen to me, I promise you." Beverley spoke, placing both her hands on Mary's broad shoulders, "Rest up, you have no exams tomorrow morning so you can go for a run, you need energy for that." Mary rolled her eyes than sat back on her bed, she had a point, she always did. It was the most infuriating part about being friends with Bev, she was usually right.

"Alright." She muttered and pulled Beverley into a tight embrace, "Be careful."

"Yes mother." She laughed as she let go and picked up her wand off the floor, she gave no hints of faltering except for once she reached the door, she turned to her best friend, and in a somber tone, "I love you." She muttered, a loving smile spread across her aristocratic features as her best friend mumbled an "I love you." Back which was muffled by her pillow.

Beverley prowled through the halls of Hogwarts towards the Armoury room, in retrospect Mary was right, this could be a trap, perhaps the note was purposely left there for her to find. But the deed was to be done. It was a cold night, Goosebumps prickled her skin and the pale hairs on her arms stood static, every time she exhaled cold fog formed infront of her impairing her vision. For a summer night, it was freezing. Her teeth crashed together in an incessant beat and she rubbed her hands together in front of her.

However the night was still, a cold breeze in the air, nether the less still, the only sounds outside were of rustling leaves and the silent screams of the trees lurching. Occasionally a soft breeze would encircle her bare legs. An erie mist hung over the lake, a light green fog, illuminated by the half moon whose presence was so bright, no stars could be scene near its vicinity. She pitied anyone who got lost at sea that night.

Her eyes widened and she stopped in her path as she heard the loud screeches of a crow, she turned her head to look out of an arched, stained window, in which the shadow of a tree branch was printed, she took a shuddering breath and shut her eyes. She was slowly regretting not bringing Mary down with her, especially to the Armoury room, which was cold and rather frightening.

Beverley's, almond shaped eyes dragged themselves over the engravings on the top of the archway, this was it, this was where she could find out who some death eaters are. Tell Dumbledore so he and the order can keep an eye out or warn the ministry. She had made her decision the moment he'd uttered the words, 'Vigilante group,' She already killed because of the war, she'd already fought, she'd already tried helping with the war effort. Why not make it official?

With great difficulty she stepped onto the otherside of the archway, the moon's rays bounced off the metal of the knights and medals, causing a disco light effect to adorn the walls, there was no heat at all in the room, the shining of metal bounced onto the large mirrors that decorated the walls every few meters.

She was momentarily blinded as the refelction caught her eye. Beverley shut her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, opening her eyes she looked around the dark, reflective room. There was a crease in one of the walls where she wouldn't be visible. She rounded the corner and backed against the wall, the cool concreate causing a shudder to attack her, the hairs on the back of her neck stood static, taking out her wand she checked the time.

11:23PM

Two minutes, she took a deep breath and relaxed against the wall, she tilted her head back and sighed, in two minutes the truth could be revealed, In two minutes a meeting between possible death Eaters would take place just afew meters away from her. A sudden wave of fear crashed over her, what if they found her? what if they found out what her plan was? Before she could ponder she heard footsteps echoing through the hallway, her hazel eyes widened and her breathing quickened…two pairs of footsteps?

Why would someone organise a meetup somewhere and turn up together?

Before she could contemplate the actions of the snakes, a silky smooth voice started speaking, a voice that caused her jaw to drop, and her heart to follow. She knew it all along, but to actually have the proof in her hands.

Snape.

How would she tell Lily? How could she tell her friends knowing that they would crack it? And the Marauders, how smug would they be when she told them the truth.

"Our Lord will not approve of your plans, you don't want a repeat of last time do you?"

A grunt echoed through the room, a chandelier hanging in the middle of the room flickered causing everyone residing in the room to look up in surprise. In hindsight the next voice should not have surprised her either, it sounded stupid but to know that somebody her exact age was part of a terrorist organisation that was basically committing genocide, to be so commited to a cause that you were willing to die for it…

But then again, she was doing the same.

"We cannot allow Mudbloods and filthy blood traitors to roam these halls any longer Snape." She shut her eyes and mourned, Avery, he was a piece of work, but she knew him as a child, he was an old friend of hers, just as Snape was to Lily. Avery was her Snape.

"Here, here." A high pitched, scratchy voice laughed as she stalked into the room with her pointed chin up high, her brother prowling behind her with a large frown marring his features.

Amycus and Alecto, the Carrows.

Bloody fantastic.

"The Dark Lord ought to be grateful to us, for taking initative." Avery spat at Snape, Snape's greasy hair hung around his long face, a sneer plastered itself onto his pale face,

"I will not take part in this." he hissed.

"Then go!" Amycus screeched, "You coward!" Much to Beverley's surprise Snape rolled his eyes and walked away with a subtle swish of his wand , Amycus flinched in pain and sneered. As Snape disappeared further down the corridor Amycus turned to Avery and smirked. "Now what?"

"Watch and learn, my dear, watch and learn." Avery muttered with a wink, "Homenum revelio." Her eyes widened as a cold wave came over her, her pulse ramped up and beads of sweat appeared on her brow. They were going to find her, and merlin knows what they'd do to her when they did. Would they throw her around a bit, give her a taste of cruciatus, would they rape her, take her to their lord? Avery let out a cold laugh that brought shivers up her spine, "Come out, Come out wherever you are Sweet cheeks."

A sudden realisation dawned on her, it was all a trap, all of it.

She felt a tear of sweat drop down the side of her face, she froze- her breath suddenly trapped as if a lion in a cage. She strained to hear Alecto muttering about nutheads from the corner. She took a deep breath, they may rough her up, threaten her…but they wouldn't kill her, not in Hogwarts, the ward would warn someone. With this knowledge she summoned all the Gryffindor courage she had, she had been placed in Gryffindor and not Slytherin for a reason. With a deep shuddering breath she stepped out into the open.

"So you wanted to see me." She stated, staring straight into the cold, calculating grey eyes of Avery, whom had a smug smirk on his face,

"Yes, yes we did sweetheart." He drawled, and moved closer towards her, step by step her breathing came harsher and faster. "For weeks you've been hunting us down." He muttered, he slowly moved his large hand to her face, moving a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear. He dragged his hand down her neck towards her collar bone, She flinched and shrinked back at his cold touch, she hated this, she hated the feel of him, she could feel stubborn tears or anger and fear welling in her eyes as he ran his rough, calloused hands over her arms, and slipping over her cardigan.

"You suit your natural hair colour." He whispered as he ran his spare hand through her short locks, "You look beautiful like that." An unknown anger welled up in her, how dare he speak to her as if they were old friends, how dare he touch her without her consent, how dare he speak to her after the pain he's caused her and her friends.

Without due warning she spat in his face, a flash of anger went through his eyes and to her surprised he hit her, a gasp went through her, her cheek stung and she was sure that it was going to bruise, tears welled up in her eye at the stinging sensation making its way over the left side of her face, she spat out blood that gathered in the corner of her mouth.

He smirked as he moved to whisper in her ear, "What you don't know is, we've been hunting you down too." It was all a ploy, a game, a trap...a trap set because they all knew of her thirst for revenge, a shiver went down her spine, did they know of the order? Or her hidden notes? She turned her head to the side in a bid to escape his hungry gaze, she jaw dropped slightly when she saw a reflection in the mirror, standing right behind her, her back straightened as she felt someones hot, putrid smelling, breath on her neck, hands dragging up her tense torso, pausing at her bust, nausea welled in her throat as he unabashedly groped her, he slid her cardigan down her pale arms, he ran his hand down the crease in her spine causing her to arch into his lanky form.

Avery put his wand at her head and held her chin up, a shudder of disgust went through her at the hands on her body, she felt hate at him; how could someone she grew up with be able to treat her in such a degrading manner, how could he treat her as if she was a common whore. His eyes were full of anger and dark with lust. She recoiled in disgust at the realisation, were they going to use her and wipe her memory, or worse, use her than kill her?

"You killed one of us, now we're going to kill you."

In the moment where she lapsed from fear a petrification spell was thrown at her, causing her body to fall back stiff onto Alecto whom was standing behind her. He threw her over her shoulder and stalked out of the room.

She felt a fear unlike any other, this was it...they were going to kill her.

"The kind beings that we are, we thought, 'who wants to die in an armoury room'" Avery chirped brightly, Beverley strained so hardly so she could let out a scream, a screech, anything, but she couldn't, because she didn't realise how much danger she was in until the very last moment. "So we decided that we're going to kill you in the middle of nature, how nice of us. You can die with the filthy beasts out there, fitting for a blood traitor, don't ya think?" Beverley wished so badly to scream, to cry and to scratch. She didn't want to die weakly, she didn't want to die restrained, this wasn't the plan, she was meant to have a glorified death, in the midst of battle, she was meant to take someone down with her… but no, she was going to die at the hands of her former cowardly friends. Merlin, nobody would find out what happened to her...In a way she was thankful, they wouldn't ever find out she never got the opportunity to even fight back.

After what felt like hours, but was really several minutes she could hear the lapping of water, the chirping of birds, the loud rustling of the leaves in the cold breeze. She could feel the cold breeze drifting over her bare skin. And then she was unceremoniously dropped.

Her body loose, and able to move again, immeadiantly she leapt up and rushed over to Avery who stood with a shocked look on his face, she pushed him to the ground and screamed, an echo through the eerie expanse of Hogwarts, a large slew of birds flew out of the forest and it seemed for a moment the wimping willow stopped moving. She screamed in a bid to save herself, to at least be able to say, she tried. She scratched his face tearing at his dry, pale skin, she punched him and slapped him and pinched him before she was roughly pulled off by Alecto and Amycus, the latter of whom, long fingernails were tearing into her porcelain skin. Avery nodded to them, which Beverley barely saw through the tears welling in her eyes, salty tears stinging her iris and burning them. They dropped her and using her strength she crawled away only to find her hand immersed in gooey mud.

A strangled mix between a scream and a sob escaped her, the lapping of water was so loud, she could feel the mist surrounding her and dirt splaying on her white dress. Avery grabbed her hands and pulled her up, he looked into her eyes, Suddenly the lust in his chartreuse eyes lessened as did the anger. He looked into her eyes with regret and adoration. His voice laced with Poignancy he spoke.

"You were my best friend." His voice cracked slightly, The words brought tears to her eyes, not only because the images of their broken friendship flashed through her mind, but she thought of Mary, of Lily and Liz, Of Sirius, of James and Remus, and of Peter. Oh Peter, sweet innocent Peter, who she yelled at and scorned for nothing but his kindness. "But sometimes we just gotta do what has to be done." He spat on the ground, she mourned, she mourned all the lost lives, all the innocents that she couldn't save, she mourned lost friendships and lost souls, "For the greater good of course." She stumbled back as he shoved her into the water, she spluttered as flecks of dirt splashed her face, As she tried lifting herself up he marched towards her, forcing her to wade deeper and deeper before a deep seated panic set in, she couldn't feel the bottom, a hysterical sob escaped her and tears welled in her eyes.

"You might not remember our fears." He smirked in a predatory way, referring to the Boggart class all those months ago. "But we remember yours." A fear unlike any other gripped her heart and squeezed it as she felt the water saturate her clothing and pool around her thighs, and then she was submerged, she tried forcing her head out the water but it was being pushed down, she tried moving her arms and legs, but they wouldn't move, there was no leverage around her as she was forced into the water, and then she was lifted out, for a moment she thought that it was over, maybe they were to cowardly to follow through with their threats, as she coughed and spluttered and splashed she was once again submerged.

She screamed into the water as cold water filled her lungs and burnt her body, blood pounded behind her ears and her heart, she could feel her heart thumping in her brain. She shut her eyes as they began to sting with dirt and salt and tears. Her bones were aflame. Slowly, she felt her limbs become heavy and drag, she knew it was coming and she wished she could feel the tears rolling down her face, she wished she could feel blood pouring out of her body, she wished she could feel the cold air on her bare legs, she wished she could take one more pure breath, she longed to feel the velvety texture of lipstick on her lips, she wished to smell her friends once more, get ink stuck to the hands, lie back on her bed after a long day.

But there were much larger, more important wishes to make, she wished to feel the embrace of her friends once more, to take another bloody photo for Elizabeth's scrapbook, to hear their laughter, to take one more exam, she wished to find a cure for Remus, and she wished to see the end of Voldemort. She wished she could cry in her brothers arms once more, or hear her mother say I love you.

Her lungs screamed for air, they craved it, the water blanketed her body but left her cold and gasping, she kicked as hard as she could, but her limbs would not move, her panic and fear slowly numbed as her heartbeat slowed…she had no more energy to fight back, no more energy to use to panic. She gagged and spluttered, she gasped for air only to swallow salty water than burnt her throat. Black spots danced across her vision.

This was it, as the darkness consumed her she remembered the last conversation she had, she remembered the joy in her heart yet, in hindsight, the finality of that sentence.

"I love you." She muttered, a loving smile spread across her aristocratic features as her best friend mumbled an "I love you," Back.

She had promised to return safely, she broke the last ever promise she made to her best friend.

For a moment her body felt like it was floating, serene and calm in the expanse of the ocean, her hands tried clawing at the water one last time.

And then the darkness engulfed her and she knew no more.

The loud sound of laughter erupted from the tall blonde, whom was running across the grassy path, it was cruel that the sun was shining so brightly, when such a day was going to go anything but brightly. The woman bent over and covered her mouth in mirth as her boyfriend panted and caught upto her.

"Why are you making me do this!" Remus groaned, his hair stuck to his forehead as sweat dripped down his strained face. the things he did for this girl.

"Because you are a supportive boyfriend, you are helping me." She retorted whilst rolling her eyes, she took a deep breath and sat down on the grass. Remus looked down at her sceptically, she let out a laugh, "I'm giving you a break."

"Yep, sure you are Mare." He laughed and stared out at the lakes great expanse, his hand in hers. He saw her squinting at the lake in confusion, her face dropped and she turned to him, her eyes wide in fear,

"Do you see that?" she whispered, she pointed out to something floating in the lake about half a kilometre away, Remus stood up and squinted, he nodded, Mary looked at him in panic, "It looks, it looks like a…" the words were unspoken between them, they both heard the unspoke words…body, someones dead body.

Mary suddenly stood up and pulled off her shoes and jacket, Remus stared at her and regretted not being able to admired her sweat soaked form, "What are you doing!" Remus gasped as she ran towards the edge of the lake,

"I'm going to see what it is, stay!" She dived in and sprinted across the lake as fast as she could, Remus stood on the bank and stared out, fear gripped his heart, what was it, who was it? Within two minutes was at the place where the floating debris was, he saw her still and roll the thing over. But he knew that nothing would chill him more than the shrill cries that escaped his beloved. Her pained screams echoed across the expanse of hogwarts.

"GET DUMBLEDORE! GET POMPHREY! FIND SOMEONE!" he heard the sobs she was holding in, was it someone they knew? His heart froze as he contemplated the thought, he couldn't deal with that...

Mary's entire body froze as she used all her weight to push the body over, She had not been expecting, no, she never wanted to feel the pain she felt in that moment, the anguish and fear, the deep crack that went through her heart. Those eyes, and that dress and the hair… Beverley. A sob escaped her and she wanted nothing more than to clutch her best friend, to hold her.

Mary gathered the thin girl in her arms and used all her strength to swim to the shoreline, through the tears welling in her eyes she could see several figures waiting for her. She looked down at the girl in her arms and she felt a new onslaught of emotions cascade over her. This wasn't happening, it was a decoy, it was polyjuice, someone was impersonating her, she would go upto the dorm and she would be there hogging the mirror or shower, she would be lying on her bed and whining about her homework. She dragged her body by the arms onto the bank and collapsed next to it with a heaving sob, she hands trembled as they went to her neck.

Nothing.

Not a beat, not a sound. Mary put her hands on her best friends chest and pumped, tears blurred her vision, her body trembled and her hands were inconsolable. Her face was contorted in agony, her chest ached and the place where her heart was felt empty. It felt as though someone had punched her in the stomach. Dry sobs escaped her and tears flowed down her red cheeks.

"Beverley!" she cried, she shoulders shuddering as she heaved, "MERLIN WAKE UP!" she screamed, "DON'T LEAVE ME! YOU PROMISED ME!" she felt a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. No, how dare they try stop her, she was alive, she wasn't dead, she was too young, too alive, too real to be dead.

"Mary." She heard Remus whisper as he ran a hand over her shoulder, her heart pounded behind her ears and her blood thumped through her. Her breaths were short and sharp, harsh and her vision spotted and blurred.

"NO!" she screamed and gripped her best friends body, she lied across her chest and put her head where her heart was, and let out a sob, "YOU LIED! YOU PROMISED ME YOU'D COME BACK!" she heard Remus let out a shaky breath as he rubbed her back, she hiccupped on her tears.

This wasn't happening, none of this was real, it couldn't be.

"COME BACK! I LOVE YOU!"

But it was.

Alert, this isn't a joke...I swear on this story, it isn't a joke! All I can say is Sorry! I actually cried so much whilst writing this chapter, my mum kept telling me that if writing this was causing me so much pain to stop, and I at some point deleted the work and tried re planning the story, but alas... we're here. As compensation, here is a lovely sneak Peek, and if you're my 130th reviewer, you'll get an even larger sneak peek :)

The ministry said it was suicide, The Gryffindor's said it was murder.

I can say that you guys are going to need the wait for next chapter to buy all the tissues you're going to need, I cried even more writing next chapter than this one!

I love you all very much and don't forget to review!

Ruby xo