This one's early! I won't be home all day tomorrow so here you are! I hope you enjoy it and please review!

For minutes the only thing that could be heard on the top of the watchtower they were on was the clicking of Anna's heels on the wooden floor. Her friends had stopped chattering when she started pacing and checking her watch regularly. The nerves that oozed from her were practically palpable but all of them knew better than to comment on it.

All of Slytherin House had taken place on the same tower to watch the proceeding of the second task and that was were they were; high in the cold February air, shivering in their warm cloaks and scarves.

Anna held on tight to her soft shawl, hands tense and jaw clenched as she interchanged between glancing at the lake and at the time. It had been more than an hour, it would be naïve to think that the Gillyweed's effects would last this long.

Krum had come out of the water not five minutes ago, half transfigured into a shark and carrying Granger with him. The cheering from her house had been deafening, much to her own disappointment. What good was there in cheering for another school? Even if they weren't on overly good terms with the Hufflepuffs they were still all Hogwarts students.

"Anna," Draco whispered, grabbing her elbow and pulling her to the railing. "You need to stop pacing or the others will think you're worried for Potter."

"I am worried for Harry." She berated him.

"Well, they don't need to know that." He insisted. "There's enough people who resent you."

"Oh, really?" Anna sneered, but she stayed put. There was no need for confrontation with anyone.

Suddenly there was a hand brushing curls behind her ear and she leaned into the touch when she saw Theo standing behind her over her shoulder. His chest was pressed to her back and he covered the hand she'd placed on the rail with one of his own.

"Potter will be fine." He mumbled into her ear.

It did nothing to quench her nerves but even so she closed her eyes and forced her breathing to slow down at least somewhat. Their fingers tangled together as he moved his other arm around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Don't worry so much, Anna." Draco said from beside her. "It's not like Dumbledore's going to let any student drown. Least of all his precious Potter."

Anna hummed. "I suppose so."

She raised her free hand and rubbed her temple. It wasn't that she had a migraine, or at least not in the way she used to get them, but there was a faint thrumming that made her slightly uncomfortable.

Theo turned his face slightly closer to her neck so that his breath would ghost over her skin. She swore the bastard did that on purpose.

"Migraine?" He sounded worried and it almost made her smile.

"No, it's nothing."

She felt him open his mouth to insist but all of a sudden a loud crashing sounded from the lake and she opened her eyes in a hurry just in time to see Harry swim to the tower closest to him behind Weasley and the youngest Delacour girl. With a satisfied sigh she let herself relax against her boyfriend, throbbing momentarily forgotten as she smiled.

Theo was waiting for her by the exit to Hogsmead, leaning casually against the stone wall and brushing his hair away from his eyes with one hand. In the other he clutched a white rose, which he offered to her when she approached.

"Happy Valentine's day." He said, pecking her sweetly on the cheek.

Anna couldn't help the bright smile that stretched her pink-painted lips. She cupped his face with her free hand and kissed him on the lips.

"Happy Valentine's day yourself."

The smug smile that he returned made something flutter in her stomach. He laced their hands together and led her away from the castle.

"What do you want to do today?" He asked her.

She made a pensive sound as she raised the rose to her nose. "I want to go to Honeydukes and buy lots of chocolate, I want to walk around even if it's cold and I want to kiss you until I can't feel my lips anymore."

He laughed. "Let's start at Honeydukes then."

It was the most fun she'd had in some time, free from having to worry about Harry or Barty or the Dark Lord or her parents. It was just them, holding hands and walking and talking and laughing and kissing and she could almost convince herself that there was nothing and no one else in the world but them.

They talked about nothing in particular at first, but then it took a turn to more serious topics. She'd already told him about her past in the orphanage sometime in the summer. Now he told her what his childhood had been like. How he'd had to listen to his father go on and on everyday about how he'd outsmarted the Ministry by claiming he wasn't loyal to the Dark Lord. How the mansion that was almost a palace was so empty without his mother there and that he hated using any more than two or three rooms because of that. How she'd used to paint landscapes and portraits and play the harp and how she would teach him to draw and sing. How the current Lord Nott would put her down at every chance he got and treated her as if she were and imbecile. How his father had been too controlling and driven her to suicide with his horrible and cruel treatment. How he'd been so alone and in pain when she killed herself but couldn't bring himself to talk to any of his friends about it. How they all thought she'd died in an accident because his father had covered it up. How he pretended not to remember what really happened, how he pretended not to have been the one that found her body hanging from the chandelier by the front door. How he tolerated his father's presence and stupid pompousness everyday so that he would have as little contact with the man as possible but hated himself every moment of it.

"I can't do anything about it." He finished, putting another chocolate in his mouth, being too casual for his behavior to be real.

The pile of bonbon boxes and candy bars and assorted sweets had been almost too large for them to carry, but now they sat on a fallen tree on the edge of the forest pressed against each other with half of the boxes already empty.

"What would you want to do?" She asked.

Theo shook his head. "He's a worm. If I had my way I would destroy him for what he did to her." He sighed. "Mother was by far not the smartest or kindest woman there was. She wasn't the prettiest or best at magic but even then... she loved me unconditionally and she talked to me and listened to what I had to say even when I could barely string two words together. Nobody could ever have said that she didn't care about me and in a world like ours, that's difficult to come by."

Anna frowned slightly at his words but said nothing as she buried her face into his neck. She gently kissed the skin above his collar, not knowing how to comfort him.

"Whatever it is you're doing... You're doing it for family, right?" He continued, trying to make his voice sound casual rather than the urgent tone it actually had.

"Yes, mostly."

"My father is my blood relative, but that doesn't mean he's my family." Theo told her. "To me, family are the people who care about you, truly care about you and love and support you, like my mother did with me. Father is not my family, he'd rather kill me himself than let me even think about going against what he perceives to be 'the family honor'."

"Where are you going with this?" She sighed. "You don't have to force yourself to talk about any of this, you know."

"I do know, it's just... you should really be careful with who you consider to be your family." He muttered. "You should definitely give your blood relatives a chance, but don't stay with them if it hurts you."

"Are you suggesting that I-"

"No." He pulled his face away and looked her straight in the eye. "Just don't lose yourself doing things for people who wouldn't do the same for you, and if they hurt you don't hesitate to take revenge just because you share blood."

A gentle smile formed on her face. "You really do care for me."

Theo rolled his eyes and kissed her deeply, one hand behind her head and the other pulling her closer by the waist. Anna's eyes fluttered closed, tasting the cherry jam and chocolate in his mouth as her fingers tangled themselves in his scarf and tugged him against her.

When they broke apart they kept their faces close enough for their lips to brush together as they spoke.

"You should accept that by now. No matter what your plans are, you're not getting rid of me."

"I don't think I'll ever want to."

This time she kissed him more forcefully, climbing onto his lap and combing her fingers through his hair. He wrapped his arms around her, pressing her to him as he responded enthusiastically.

Anna broke through Barty's shield with a vicious swipe of her wand, curls blowing backwards with the force of her spell. The sound produced resembled that of glass breaking and it echoed through the Chamber.

She didn't take time to congratulate herself as she kept going, wordlessly twirling between the spells launched at her and sending back curses of her own. The battle was silent; the only sounds were their heavy breathing, their footsteps on the wet stones and the crashing as stones broke when impacted by magic.

The air was lit by the different colors and it was thick and heavy with the stench of rotting snake carcass and dark magic. Sure, dark magic was not the only type of magic they used, but since both of them found it easier that was what they used most.

Anna bit her lip as she sent an especially potent curse towards her sparring partner.

Barty barely managed to deflect it before he raised his hands. "Shall we take a break?"

She lowered her wand. "Alright."

Two chairs were conjured up and soon enough both of them had sat down and deflated in exhaustion. Dueling against a partner was more tiring than just practicing magic by yourself, but it was much more constructive; one learned much more about what one's own weaknesses were and how to improve them.

"You know, I could write to the Dark Lord about your involvement as soon as I got back to my office."

"Don't start this again." She snapped. "What happens if it's intercepted? I get taken away from my family again and you get sent to Azkaban."

"But-"

"Shut up, Barty. You're being stupid."

They lapsed into a tense silence.

"So you speak parseltongue?" Barty asked after a while.

Anna shot him a look. "I suppose so, yes."

"Didn't know that sharing his magical core would do more than enhance your core." He insisted. "How come you can do that?"

"I wouldn't know, would I?" She lied. "I'm not the one who did the ceremony. Besides, it's not like this has been done often enough that you can know what to expect, right?"

Barty watched her from the corner of his eye for a small while before apparently deciding to give it a rest. However, that didn't mean he was done talking.

"You may look like your mother, but you're more like your father." He told her.

"How so?"

"Don't get me wrong, I admire your mother, but your father was always more composed. He was... is... dangerous in a very vicious sort of way. Your mother, on the other hand, is brutal. The difference between them is like killing a person by slitting their throat -your father- or cutting off their head -your mother."

Anna hummed in response, not quite knowing how to respond.

"But you're... much more innocent than them, baby Annie." He smirked. "You're ruthless and all, but you're not unnecessarily violent. Or at least, what you think is necessary."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Do explain yourself, dear Barty." Her voice was dry. Azkaban had truly done a number on his mind.

He rolled his eyes. "I know that there are things you would never do, like torturing the Longbottoms to insanity like we did."

She wrinkled her nose. "That was uselessly cruel and in poor taste."

"That is exactly what I mean." He pointed at her mock-accusingly. "You'd never do that for anyone."

"Because I have more brains than to keep torturing someone when they quite obviously know nothing." She scoffed.

Barty shrugged. "They deserved it."

"No one deserves that." She snapped.

Barty's deranged laugh rang out like thunder. "Ironically, what we're doing will set the people who did that, and will continue to do that, free." He kept on laughing bordering on hysterical before catching his breath again. "Sometimes being cruel to people and betraying them is the only way to get what you want." Then he dissolved into fits of chortling once more.

Draco couldn't remember the last time he'd felt nervous to talk to someone, let alone his own cousin. Still, tension bubbled in his stomach as he sneaked out of his room and padded over to hers. It was past midnight, but he doubted she'd be asleep. He knew for a fact she rarely slept more than five hours a day nowadays. He'd already given up on complaining.

Gently, his knuckles rapped on his cousin's door, the sound barely reaching his own ears. She did hear him, however, as less than a minute late she'd opened the door.

Anna's hair was undone, her make up had been washed off and she was wearing a simple white nightgown that made her seem paler than she already was. Her brow furrowed in surprise when she saw him but she stepped to the side to let him enter.

Once the door was closed behind him he studied the room. It was far from being a mess, but there was a pile of books on the desk taller than he was and there seemed to be three drafts of the same essay spread on her bed. Everything else was tidy; the clothes were in her wardrobe and trunk, her books were in the bookshelves and there was nothing on the floor except from the shoes she'd discarded that afternoon.

She took a seat on her bed.

"Is there something you need, Draco?" Her voice was soft and warm, as it always was when she spoke to him. The love in it was unmistakeable.

"I needed to talk to you." He told her and stepped closer. In one swift move he pulled her to her feet and into a hug. It pleased him that she hugged him back with no hesitation.

She didn't push him, and he was grateful.

Eventually he pulled back and studied her. Anna had a very pale complexion which made the dark circles under her eyes stand out, it made him ashamed to think that Mother made her self-conscious enough to have to hide her exhaustion. If she was tired, she should be allowed to show it. But even if Mother hadn't focussed so much on her looks, his cousin would never let herself expose her own 'weakness' in that manner.

"I want to help you, Anna."

She opened her mouth to protest but he hushed her.

"I know that you think it'll be better for our conscience and that it'll be safer for us and that you know that what you're doing is not 'right' but... but I'm your cousin and I can handle it. I'm always on your side, you know that? No matter what you do."

Anna didn't respond. She turned away and picked up the scrolls from her bed, placing them carefully on her nightstand before beckoning him to lay down beside her. He squeezed under the sheets with her, turning on his side to look at her. The bed was a one person bed, but they fit just fine in their opinion.

After a long pause opened her mouth. "Even if you could handle this, which I'd not saying you definitely can since... since I can't quite handle it either, I think there's something you should think about first. Something I've been pondering too.

Being my cousin shouldn't guarantee that you stay by my side, least of all if it's for something that makes you uncomfortable. Being my cousin is also not a guarantee for you loving me in any way, look at what Aunt Narcissa did to Aunt Andromeda."

Draco frowned. She shouldn't be talking like this. "You're not going to betray us like Andromeda."

"That's right. What I'm doing is much worse than falling in love." She gave him a sad smile and kissed his cheek. Then she turned on her other side, arms wrapped around herself.

Draco sighed and turned off the he fell asleep he managed to give her some advise.

"You shouldn't do stuff that makes you unhappy or hurts you in any way for people you've never met, Anna."

He didn't know if he'd imagined the sobs that followed.

"Connors! Come with me!"

Anna's head whipped around to see Barty stomping along down a corridor by the courtyard they were in. Theo's arm around her tightened just the slightest bit.

"Now!" Moody thundered.

"Fuck." Anna cursed and got up in a hurry. "Don't wait for me!" She called over her shoulder to her friends and ran after Barty with short steps.

She didn't hear Theo say anything and Draco hadn't spoken to her since their talk a few days ago, not even to complain about Hagrid's Nifflers. He wasn't angry, that she was sure of, he was confused. Draco wouldn't want to talk to her until he figured out his own thoughts.

Within a few yards she caught up with the older man, just as they exited the castle and took the shortest route to the forest. Her hand reached out and caught his arm to steady herself as they hurried over the uneven ground.

"Why are you wearing those ridiculous shoes?" He asked her, not taking his eyes off a parchment he held up to his face.

"Because they're pretty." She snarked. "What are we doing?"

"Got a letter this morning from Wormtail. My father escaped confinement, useless rat." He muttered as he dodged trees. "Been keeping an eye on Potter's map since then; he's here in the forest and heading towards Potter and Krum."

"What?" Anna exclaimed, voice slightly louder than appropriate. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"No need to worry you uselessly, Annie." Barty argued. "I can see how tired you are. You're fourteen for Merlin's sake."

Anna huffed. "If you and everyone else would stop worrying about my wellbeing we'd be much further along and we wouldn't have these moments of panic."

"Someone has to worry about you if you won't."

Anna didn't respond.

By now they'd gotten deep into the forest, so deep, in fact, that the sunlight couldn't break through the treetops and the spring warmth that had driven all students outside no longer reached them, making goosebumps appear on her bare legs and arms. Not for the first time she regretted putting on a dress, even if it was very pretty with its white lace and light blue silk underdress that peeked out under the hem.

A few minutes later they got close to the edge of the forest and from the shadows they could see the hunched over figure of Crouch senior leaning on Harry. Beside the Gryffindor stood Krum, watching apprehensively as the younger boy tried to communicate with the crazy old man.

"Mr Crouch?" Harry said loudly enough for them to hear at a distance. "Are you alright?"

"What is wrong with him?" The bulgarian asked from behind him.

Harry had just started answering him in a lower voice that they couldn't hear when Crouch wheezed out an order.

"Dumbledore!" He clutched at Harry. "I need... see... Dumbledore-"

"Dammit." Barty growled. "Old man could never keep anything to himself." He raised his wand but Anna grabbed his arm.

"Don't." She hissed, voice dangerously close to Parseltongue. "We'll wait a bit."

"But-"

"Shut it, Barty."

"Get up, Mr. Crouch," said Harry loudly and clearly. "Get up, I'll take you to Dumbledore!"

"Now?" Barty urged.

"Wait." Anna shook her head. She could feel Harry's panic.

A small battle took place as she struggled to keep a firm grip on the man's arm but while they were doing that Crouch let go of Harry and started talking to a tree. The boy told Krum to stay put and ran off, presumable to get Dumbledore.

"Now." Anna muttered, letting go of Barty's jacket and pulling out her wand. Without a sound she knocked out Krum.

"Wipe his memory." She ordered and stepped closer to Crouch, keeping her wand pointed at his face.

Dimly she registered Barty doing as he was told, which she was glad about, before she stunned Crouch too.

"You should have killed him." Barty argued. "Here, let me d-" He froze.

"What?"

"They're coming." He walked over to her. "Levitate him away from here and kill him. Get rid of the body so they don't find him. I have to leave so they don't suspect me."

"But-"

"Go! Now!" Barty pushed her away.

"Wingardium Leviosa." Anna whispered and, as soon as the body was up in the air, she took off her shoes and ran further into the forest. It was hard, she had to make sure not to step into anything with her bare feet, but she also had to make sure that Crouch didn't hit anything and that she didn't drop her shoes.

She didn't know how long she ran, there was too little sunlight to tell the time, but eventually she couldn't see any light around her at all, which must have meant she was pretty far in. Crouch had started to groan but as soon as she let him fall to the ground he passed out again.

The old man's face was paler and more wrinkled than she remembered from the opening feast. His simple but strict robes were dirty and ripped and his mustache looked like it hadn't been trimmed in months. Wormtail truly hadn't been kind to him.

Crouch wasn't a good person, neither was he just but he wasn't bad in the same way that cruel people were bad. It had been wrong to punish Uncle Sirius without a trial, it was bad to send his own son to Azkaban, but she supposed he had realized that now. No crime went unpunished, even if you thought you were doing good.

What would happen to her then?

Anna shook her head, trying to push away the thoughts. Truly, she was procrastinating having to think about her actions but she just wasn't strong enough to truly think about what she was doing.

But would she end up like Crouch? Alone, broken, lying on the ground at someone's mercy? The thought made bile rise up in her throat.

Her wand was pointed directly at his jugular.

Avada Kedavra

That's what she wanted to say, but somehow the words constricted themselves in her mouth and her teeth wouldn't open and no sound came from her larynx. She couldn't do this, that she knew. You had to mean it and the only thing she felt for this man was...aversion. Not disgust, not pity, not anger... she just wanted absolutely nothing to do with him or the thoughts he forced into her head.

There was a ticking sound, though. Where was that coming from?

She turned her head, only to spot a huge spider crawling down a tree close by. Her heart started thumping erratically as she froze in fear. Acromantula.

Anna swallowed with a dry throat and shook herself into action, taking a few steps back and killing the light of her wand without a word. Within seconds her eyes were accustomed enough to the dark to make out the outline of the spider as it headed towards Crouch. She was already hiding behind a large tree and she felt tiny spiderwebs cling to her hair like mist. How she'd missed this as she ran, she didn't know. Perhaps she'd passed through empty places. Traps to make creatures think the area was safe.

With a morbid fascination she watched as more and more spiders turned up and fixed her problem for her as they wrapped Crouch -who was still alive- in thick webs. She couldn't rip her eyes away as the arachnids crowded around the old man, hungry fro his flesh. Crouch seemed to have regained consciousness sometime between the first spider arriving and being wrapped up because he struggled against the webs. His limbs were too weak to break free, though, and soon he couldn't move at all.

A single spider turned her way when she let out a soft gasp as she heard the man whimper pitifully, but it seemed to decide to stay with the prey they already had rather than chase down a new one. Within minutes they had a human shaped powder white package on the ground and somehow they pulled it away into the dark, leaving Anna crouched behind a tree clutching her shoes.

Her body was shaking and not of the cold that had already turned her toes blue. Her heart was lodged in her throat and her hands trembled so badly that her shoes knocked against each other audibly, though the was too numb to be afraid of making noise. She kept her eyes clenched shut and her head bowed between her legs, taking deep breaths through a clenched up trachea.

Those things. Those monsters. She felt sick to her stomach. She'd just let them take a living man away to eat him. A muffled whine escaped her lips but she forced herself to her feet, straining herself not to fall back down or vomit. But soon enough her thoughts slowed down and became sluggish. She barely registered the fact that she'd started walking.

With a shoe in each hand she trudged her way between the trees, not bothering to wipe away the small spider webs that clung to her hair and clothing, forming a sticky layer around her that made her skin itch.

When she got out of the forest the sun had already grounds were empty.

Somehow she figured she must be in shock, if the overwhelming numbness coupled with irrational nausea and deep rooted panic that itched to break out but stayed in the sidelines were anything to go by. It would be better not to run in to anybody but she found it hard to make a conscious decision.

Her knees had almost buckled under her with every step she took and the way out of the forest had not been short. She'd walked on automatic pilot, not knowing where she'd end up but she had to reach a border sometime. She was by the lake, far from the castle, but she was in no hurry.

Her feet took her directly to the common room and she stood still in front of the blank wall, racking her brains for the password.

As... asphodel.

Anna struggled to get the complicated out of her mouth. Her vocal cords didn't work and her lips wouldn't move, but eventually she succeeded.

Once inside she let her knees buckled as soon as she reached an armchair and her fingers, which had gone stiff during her walk, slowly let the shoes -pretty as they were- fall clumsily to the floor. Her hands were still shaking as she placed them on her lap. Grey eyes stared into the green fabric of the armchair across from her in a daze as she still tried to process what had happened.

She didn't know how much time had passed but suddenly there was talking and muttering and people trying to talk to her, but she couldn't seem to look at them or understand what they said. That is, until Draco kneeled in front of her, eyes identical to her wide with worry, and Theo kneeled beside him. Both were studying her face with concerned looks and Theo was stroking her face with his thumb.

"Anna, what happened?" Draco asked.

Her lips opened and closed again, mind scrambling desperately for a way to explain. They gave her time, passing her shoes to someone behind them. She couldn't recognize who it was; she could barely focus enough on the ones before her.

Finally her mouth was able to articulate an answer.

"Spiders."