Helena shut the door of the Hospital Wing quietly, trying to fight back the tears that would surely run down her face sooner or later. Numbness filled her body, however, and she couldn't feel a thing.

She checked her watch, which said 11:20 PM. It was extremely late, she wasn't aware of the time whilst she was in there for the last hours of life of her sweet, sweet Katie. She walked slowly to the Slytherin Common Room, wondering what she could do next - and how she can get there. Before she could reach the entrance, however, Voldemort stopped her.

"Why are you out so late, Helena? Aren't you aware it's past curfew?" He asked.

"Yes, my Lord, I am. However, I was just with Katie. She's having some 'rest' at the moment, so I thought I should leave her to go back to my Dormitory. Is that a problem?" she asked. She couldn't bear to say that she was dead.

He looked at her for a few seconds.

"No I suppose not," He finally said. "Just don't make a habit of it. Goodnight, Helena."

"Goodnight, my Lord."

She left as quickly as she could without running. She heard a door being locked, but she continued until she got to the door. She said the password and the door swung open. There was a large crowd of people and several tried to stop Helena from going up to the Dormitory for an update on Katie. She said nothing, just simply barging past them.

The first thing she noticed about the Dormitory, was that Katie's things had gone. It was like she never went there. Once again, she fought the tears by blinking rapidly, to attempt them from flowing. This was not the time or the place. She grabbed her backpack and cast an undetectable extension charm in hopes to fit everything in there. She briefly went through her trunk, but it mainly contained her books that didn't really contain any relevance. In fact, she didn't put any books into her backpack, except one to lean on. She also got several quills, one bottle of ink, her muggle clothing which included the dress she wore to the Yule Ball as she was feeling a little sentimental about it, she found a bottle of Dittany and several bezoars that would be useful if she got poisoned. She pocketed her wand so that it could be easily accessible, even though she didn't really need it. She decided to leave rest of her things there rather than vanishing them as it would look like she was taken away or whatever. She proceeded to make the backpack light like a feather, so she wouldn't have to trek it around. She was finishing up, when she heard someone come into the dormitory.

"Helena?" said the voice of Melissa Tully.

"Yes, Mel?" she replied.

"Where you going?"

She wanted to say 'What gave it away?' but instead -

"I'm... going to spend the night in the Hospital Wing with Katie."

"Why do you have a backpack with you?" she asked. There was no fooling her.

"It's to make her more comfortable. It was a really bad curse but... You know."

"I see. Wish her well for me."

"I will."

"See you around," she said as she got ready for bed.

No, you won't, Helena thought.

"Yeah, you too."

She left the dormitory quietly as Melissa was looking on at her, oblivious to what Helena was doing.

When she re-entered the Common Room, she just said that she needed to be with Katie right now. Oh, but they'll know in the morning... But for now, they're having fun.

She left through the door and a strange sense of freedom wiped over her.

But then reality returned to her. How was she going to get out of here? She couldn't leave through the door as she heard Voldemort locking it.

Without conscious thought, she ran. She didn't know where to, but her legs just carried her. She didn't run into any teachers, surprisingly, and that was suspicious in itself. But finally, she realised where she was.

Her body had brought her to the Seventh floor corridor, near where the Ravenclaw Dormitory was. Painstakingly, she remembered that Katie had brought her here once. But that was before all of this mess happened.

But I can't go there, it's closed, she thought.

Look closer, a small voice in her head said.

I need a place to go, not a dead end, she argued. But at the end of 'I need a place to go' a door appeared.

However -

"OI!" shouted a voice from behind. Helena turned to see Bellatrix Lestrange. Helena smiled sweetly to her. "JUST WHAT YOU THINK -"

Before she could finish her sentence, Helena struck her with a Killing Curse. She then vanished her body.

She turned to see the door gone, but then she concentrated.

I need a place to go from here. I need -

The door re-appeared.

"The Room of Requirement," she whispered. She had read about it in one of her books, but she had no idea it was real.

She pushed the door open and she was greeted by a large room with numerous of hammocks and beds. On the walls were all of the house crests apart from Slytherin's. What exactly is this place? she wondered.

"Hey!" someone shouted at her. Her heart and body froze. Who are these people?

A man who was around eighteen years old came up to her and pinned her against the wall and held his wand to her throat. He looked so angry, but scared and his eyes -

No, Helena, her inner consciousness said to her. Your girlfriend just died. This isn't right.

I don't care, she replied. Have you seen his eyes?

"Hello," she replied as calmly as possible. "It would be better to hold your wand against my temple, as right now I could take your wand and kill you and everyone in here with it. However, I'm not here to harm any of you, I'm just looking for a way out."

"Why are you looking to escape?" he demanded. "Are you muggle-born?"

"Depends, would you kill me if I was?"

They laughed at her.

"No," the man replied, easing his wand ever so slightly. "We're all muggle-borns here."

"What if the Dark Lord finds you?" she asked.

"Well he did put a Death Eater outside. Wait, how did you get in?"

"I - um. Just killed her, actually."

Muttering broke out and Helena blushed.

He scowled at her.

"My name's Justin. What's yours?"

"Helena," she replied. "Helena Prince."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and just stared.

"Seriously?" he asked. She nodded. "Well you're bad ass. So, how come you do want to leave?"

"I'm hunted... My friend just died... You know, the usual reasons. Apart from being muggle-born, of course."

"Oh that reminds me."

He finally let her go and he instead showed her a battered edition of advanced potion making.

"Is this yours?" Austin asked.

She took it and looked at who it actually belonged to, because it wasn't hers. It said: 'This book is the property the Half-Blood Prince.'

Half-Blood Prince? Then she remembered that she was a Half-Blood Prince. A spark of electricity shocked her suddenly.

"Yes," she lied. "Thank you for returning it to me, I was wondering where it went." She then put the book in her bag. He nodded slightly at her.

"Well. I suppose seeing that this book helped us a lot, we should let you pass."

"Thank you, but what are you going to do without it?"

"Oh. We've copied it up already. I'll just open up the passage for you..."

"What if she tells someone that we're here?" someone called out.

"You won't, will you?" he asked her quietly.

"No," she replied truthfully. "But I can't guarantee anything that can be tortured out of me. I'll try my best though, it's nice here."

He nodded to her once more.

"I'll open the passageway. Hang on."

He climbed up a ladder against the opposite wall and there was a blank portrait.

"So you're really leaving?" a girl asked her.

Helena nodded.

"Damn. We're all only here because we're scared to leave. Like, it's so dangerous out there... You can stay here if you want, even though you're not really a muggle-born."

"No. I thank you for the offer, but I guess this place gives me too many memories."

"Okay, well. The portraits open. I'll see you around, maybe?" Austin put out his hand. Helena smiled and shook it.

"Yeah. Hopefully not too soon. Thanks for everything."

She climbed up the ladder and before she walked through the passageway, she waved to them and they all waved back.

It was all so surreal to how all of these people were here.

She took one last look around the Room of Requirement and the walked into the passageway. The portrait closed behind her.

It was darkness all around her. She took her wand out of her pocket and lit it up. It was quite narrow, and from here it seemed quite long. She sighed and walked along it quickly. After all, being claustrophobic didn't really help with these close quarters, so she tried to go as quickly as possible.

At one point, at about half way through, it got extremely cold. She supposed it was the dementors guarding the boundaries of Hogwarts above her. She couldn't be far off...

After a while, she got bored and tired, but finally she came to a frame that was rectangular and she pushed it open. She unlit her wand.

"Who goes there?" asked an angry voice.

"Sorry I - I didn't mean to startle you, I'm just hoping to pass through."

The man came out of the darkness. He had long grey hair, with an extremely long, grey beard. His eyes were bright blue and she remembered them from somewhere. He busied himself with bread and butterbeer.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Helena," she said. "Prince," she added.

He looked at her with those bright blue eyes of his, looking at her curiously.

"You're Aberforth Dumbledore."

He snorted.

"Know my brother do you? You're probably too young, though. But, you should try an alias. A name like yours could get you into masses amount of trouble."

"I didn't know your brother," she said truthfully. "However, I did see his portrait. Besides, I wouldn't know a name to use. All of them are risky."

"Gotten into trouble, have you? But I can't say I'm surprised, technically you should be dead by now. I knew your parents, they were good people. Made a few mistakes, though. Spoke too loudly around the wrong crowd, I'd say. Rather like you in a way. Now do you see why you should be dead? But I'm not the one to judge, the entire Order were the same. That's what got most of them killed. Apart from me, of course. No one ever really expected me to be a part of it. But of course, I still have a pub to run."

"You were a part of the Order?" she asked.

He smirked at her.

"Come on, get yourself down from there. You seem like a nice girl, contrary to popular belief."

Helena jumped down from inside of the wall.

"Why, what does popular belief say about me?"

"Ah, not much. Just that you're probably clinically insane, due to the many times you've defied You-Know-Who."

"I've only defied him twice," she muttered.

"Twice too many," he said wisely. "Although I should be as dead as you are."

Helena laughed.

"So I have hope, then?"

"I wouldn't count on it. You just got to learn how to stay low. But seeing as you've left where you're supposed to be, you're looking for all kinds of trouble."

"Yeah. I know what I'm doing. I think. What time is it?" she questioned.

"Near midnight, I should think. You'd better be getting a move on, if you don't want to be found. I have Death Eaters checking this blasted place at twelve thirty, pisses me off to be honest. Oh, I forgot. You can't apparate here."

Helena rolled her eyes.

"Of course you can't, because that'd be too easy."

"Sorry, kiddo. It's a safety feature over the whole of Hogsmeade, which includes here. You're welcome to stay until morning, when it lifts."

"Nah, you're okay. Any chance I can create an illegal Portkey?"

He smiled at her.

"That's what I like to hear. Sure, knock yourself out. Just don't make it to where you're actually going to. I assume you're of age. Not being tracked, are you?"

"I'm of age, yes. Am I being tracked? I don't know, I guess I'll find out the hard way, won't I?"

She made an object appear out of thin air.

"Right. Portus." The object turned blue briefly, then it changed back to it's original colour.

"Made a Portkey before, have you?"

She grinned.

"I missed a train once."

He put his hand out.

"See you around, kiddo. Look after yourself. Don't do anything stupid."

She took it and shook it.

"Hopefully not too soon, though. I'll try my best. I've already done something stupid by leaving Hogwarts, remember?"

He smiled, but not from her jest. This was a grave smile.

"Goodbye, Miss Prince."

"Goodbye, Mr Dumbledore, it was nice doing business with you."

She touched the Portkey and she was gone.

He sighed as he closed the portrait door and looked at the painting of his dead sister.

"Oh, Ari, you're the only one who understands these things."

He rolled up his left sleeve and called the Dark Lord.