The Everlasting Day

15

My life closed twice before its close;

It yet remains to see

If Immortality unveil

A third event to me,

So huge, so hopeless to conceive,

As these that twice befell.

Parting is all we know of heaven,

And all we need of hell.

- Emily Dickenson

Sirius returned from his run tired, aching and very sorry that he had pushed himself quite as hard as he had. He began to wish that he had practised Apparation a little more as he dragged himself up six flights of stairs to reach the guest quarters. The bathrooms were at the far side of the corridor and he decided that he had better take a bath before having to face Ariadne.

He wasn't quite as angry with her now as he had been earlier, but he still wanted an explanation for her reaction to Lupin. He just didn't feel ready yet for another argument just now. Giving her extra time to brood and worry over his reaction was a bonus anyway - he wanted to make her sweat before they had to speak about what had happened. Maybe it was petty, but then he was in a petty mood.

An hour or so later, he emerged from the bath and padded back down to his room clad only in a towel, his hair dripping wet and hanging in clumps over his face and his sweat-dampened clothes tucked under his arm. He almost dropped the lot when he found Ariadne laying on his bed reading a copy of 'Witch Weekly'.

'What the bloody hell are you doing in here?'

She looked up, tossing the magazine aside. 'Hello to you, too.'

Sirius sighed with obvious irritation and walked past her to the wardrobe, dropping his dirty clothes on the floor beside the bed. 'Get out, Ariadne. And I don't appreciate you letting yourself into my room. I thought when I got out of Azkaban I'd be entitled to at least a small measure of privacy.'

'Hey now, that was a little below the belt,' she said sharply, stung. 'I wanted to know when you got back, that's all. I'm sorry about earlier, Sirius. But more importantly, I thought you'd like to know that I've apologised to Remus.'

He turned around suddenly, grabbing for the towel as he felt it slipping down. Ariadne grinned broadly, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. 'You can leave it, you know. It's nothing I haven't seen before. And you have wonderful legs. And other...things...'

He cracked a smile in spite of himself, shaking his head in resignation. 'If I didn't love you so much I'd still be bloody angry with you, Ariadne, flattery or no.'

'Yes, but you do love me,' she whispered, jumping down from the bed and stepping towards him. She encircled him with her arms, her fingers teasing gently through his hair. 'And I love you too, even though you're an argumentative, stubborn arse sometimes.' She leaned forward and kissed him tenderly.

He moaned softly when she broke away from him, his arms slipping around her waist and drawing her back close to him as he nudged his face into her hair and along the side of her neck.

'I'm so easy to get around aren't I? Oh, hell...I'm sorry too,' he murmured, dusting soft kisses along her neckline, 'I shouldn't have lost my temper like that.'

'It's all right. Forget about it.'

'Yeah. I think that might be for the best.'

They held each other for a few moments longer before she let him go, allowing him to go back to the wardrobe for some clothes while she returned to the bed.

'You'd better get dressed properly. I've invited Remus down for a few drinks with us later.'

'Did you? Oh, well, that's good. You did more than just apologise, then. You two sorted things out?'

'Mmm, I think so. I feel bad about what I said to him, but as I tried to explain to him, there was a reason I was defensive of Severus. I didn't mean to hurt Remus or you.' She lowered her head and muttered, 'I know it probably didn't seem like that.'

Sirius had pulled on a pair of black trousers and a ruffled-neck shirt and was in the process of buttoning it as he sat beside her on the bed. 'So what was the reason?'

'Well...Severus and I had time to really talk while you were away and...I...er...I realised that he hasn't had an easy time of it either, these past few years.'

Sirius chuckled, bending over to pull on his boots. 'Really? And why's that? They've stopped making Grendal's Grease Remover for his hair?'

'That wasn't funny,' she said, glaring at him, 'and I really don't like you making glib remarks about him like that, Sirius. You know nothing about him.'

He sighed as he sat back, looking at her. He might have been about to pass some other equally cruel comment, but thought better of it when he saw the steely glint in her eyes.

'All right. I'm sorry. What was it then?'

'I'm not at liberty to give you the details. I wish I could, but I can't. Please trust me and respect the confidence Severus has shared with me enough to not ask again.'

'What kind of confidence? Why would he ask you to keep something from me?'

'It's not from you. Don't take it so personally. It's nothing to do with you, or me, for that matter. Just let it go...please. Just be a little bit more tolerant of him, that's all I'm asking. For my sake.'

'I tolerate him every time we're in the same room together because he's still walking around with all his teeth,' Sirius muttered nastily. 'And limbs.'

'Sirius, please...'

'All right, all right,' he sighed, rubbing his hand over his face and throwing himself back into the pillows, 'if you don't want to tell me the truth, fine. I'm sure it's vitally important that you don't.'

'Sarcasm isn't clever either.'

Sirius made some noise in the back of his throat that was part way between a tut and a growl. 'I just wonder what secret is so important that he asks you to keep it from me. Considering the mutual malice between us, forgive me for thinking that he has

ulterior motives.'

'You trust me though, don't you?'

'Oh come on now, of course I do, Ari, sweetheart,' he said, propping himself up on his elbow, rubbing her back with his free hand, 'but I can't help thinking that he might have said something to you that for some reason makes you believe that you can't trust me.'

She reached over, brushing the back of her fingers along his face. 'You know that's not true. Nothing anyone could ever say to me would make me doubt you, Sirius.'

'So he has said something.'

'No! You're twisting it...'

'Then tell me.'

'Oh...' she groaned, her head lolling back on her shoulders, 'Sirius...come on... give me a break, would you? We've just finished making up after yet another argument and I'm not about to walk straight into another one with you.'

'I'm not arguing, Ari. I'd just like to know what's so important that you feel you have to keep it from me. It implies that you don't trust me and that hurts.'

Suddenly, Snape's words to her came floating into consciousness - how he didn't want to risk quarrelling with her again over Sirius. How he had decided to make an effort, his acknowledgement that he had been wrong, and his apology. He hadn't wanted her to tell Sirius about Erytheia, but he hadn't said anything about Medea.

After all, no one could harm her now.

'All right, Sirius,' she sighed, pulling herself up onto the bed beside him and allowing him to enclose her in his arms. 'What I'm about to tell you isn't common knowledge so I want you to keep it to yourself. Not even Remus must know, okay? I'm trusting you with this.'

'You know you can, sweetheart. You don't have to keep telling me.'

'There are reasons why Severus wants it kept quiet and in time, you'll know why, but for now, you'll just have to accept what I'm telling you.'

Ariadne told him about Medea, about Snape's time within the Death Eaters and the great, painful burden that her brother carried around with him every single day. Everything except Erytheia. When she had finished, the colour had blanched from Sirius' face and his eyes had taken on something of the dark, lost, haunted look that had clouded them when he had first turned up on her doorstep.

'I feel like such a low-life,' he murmured, and Ariadne felt his arms suddenly tighten around her when he pushed a kiss into her hair. 'I had no idea. I always had him chalked up as a cold, selfish...well, you know what I thought about him. If I'd known...oh, I'm sorry, Ari...you must think I'm such an insensitive arse...'

'No, I don't. It's not your fault. You weren't to know, hardly anyone does. I know Severus doesn't exactly endear himself to people sometimes, but I've always tried to tell you that he's not everything that people think he is. I just thought that it might make you a bit more tolerant of him and that's certainly important if we're all going to work together to pull this off.'

'I don't think I'll ever look at him in quite the same way again,' he muttered to himself and then, as though suddenly woken from a dream he said, 'Hang on, hang on...what do you mean, "we're going to work together?"'

'Well, we have this meeting to go to tomorrow night and...'

'No, Ariadne. I was going to talk to you about that. I don't want you to go. That's why I asked Remus to come back with me, I want you to go back home and I've asked him to stay with you.'

'You've done what?' she asked, outraged, sitting up and pulling away from him.

'And if I had any doubts before, I don't now. Knowing what Voldemort did to Medea has only strengthened my resolve. You're not going, Ari. Not now, not ever. You're going back home where he won't be able to find you. You have to take care of Beaky and Remus will look after you both in case anything should happen to me.'

'No! We agreed, Sirius! I'm not letting you walk in there alone! I started all this, don't you think I'm going to see it through? Besides, Medea's problems started when she stopped going to the meetings. If I stop...'

'Why did she?'

'Why did she what? Stop going to the meetings?'

'Mmm,' Sirius nodded.

'Well...she was having doubts about the morality of what the Death Eaters were doing. Severus stepped up his activities to try to protect her, but it didn't work.'

'So if Voldemort's suspicions of her were growing, why did she go back at all? It doesn't make sense, Ari.'

'No one ever said that anything You-Know-Who does has to make sense,' she replied evasively, 'but there it is. And anyway, you're trying to change the subject.'

'No, I'm not. It's perfectly simple. You're not going and I'm sure that Severus would agree with me. Is he happy for you to come with us?'

'Well...no...of course he wasn't, but...'

'There you go then. End of subject. I won't risk you, Ari. You're too important to me. You and Remus are the only ones I'd trust to do the right thing by Harry if anything should happen to me. If we all go and Voldemort realises what we've done, he'll kill us all and Harry will have no one left. I can't do that to him. That poor kid's been through enough as it is.'

'But Sirius, if...'

'I said "end of subject'," Ariadne. I'm not discussing this with you anymore and I don't want to spend what quite possibly could be my last night on this earth quarrelling with you. Now, you said Remus is coming by, didn't you?'

Ariadne sighed and closed her eyes hopelessly in defeat. She was frustrated by his refusal to listen to her, but she supposed that she had dug herself something of a hole by telling him about Medea. All the same, he must have been planning to leave her behind anyway if he had brought Remus back to Hogwarts with him. He only had her best interests in mind and, though it irritated her, she had to admit that his logic with regards to Harry's welfare was undeniable.

'Yes,' she sighed, 'he is. I told him that I'd give him a shout when we'd...well...when we had started speaking to each other again.'

'And we're doing that now. Great,' he grinned, touching a brief kiss to her lips, 'all the nasty stuff out of the way, the three of us can finally get down to some serious alcohol consumption which is a very long time overdue.' He jumped down from the bed, pushing his hair away from his eyes as he crossed to the door. 'I'll go get Remus. I won't be long.'

'Great,' she echoed sarcastically, tossing a pillow at him as he closed the door.

* * *

The following morning found Ariadne collapsed sideways over the bed, Sirius curled up in a ball like a dog in the corner of the room and Remus sprawled in the armchair. It had been quite a night. Far more Firewhisky had flowed than Rosmerta probably served in a week. Between the remnants of the bottle that Remus had brought and the two that Sirius managed to coax from the house elves in the kitchens, all three of them were too drunk by the end of the evening to even remember their names let alone where they were or what they were planning to do the following day.

It had just been like old times. They had reminisced over their Hogwarts days, shared memories of Lily and James; Remus and Ariadne talked about what they had been doing over the past few years and Sirius had been surprised to find that he had genuinely enjoyed hearing their stories; he had been afraid that maybe he would have found them painful to listen to, but he actually felt more as though he was doing something positive to recapture some of that lost time. They had laughed, teased and even made plans for what they would do when they succeeded in delaying, if not completely halting, Voldemort's return. Malfoy was also the target of much of their jokes as they drank most of the night away and then eventually fell asleep more or less where they had been sitting...or fallen.

'Oh...Merlin's beard...that must have been some pretty good Firewhisky,' Sirius groaned, turning over and pulling himself to his feet.

'The best,' Remus agreed, blinking into the sunlight streaming through the leaded glass windows. At least he didn't seem to be hungover quite as badly as Sirius. Maybe it was the wolf within him, he thought glibly, as he forced himself to sit up.

'Ari, sweetheart?'

Ariadne groaned, not even lifting her head from the pillows, just waving her hand at him. 'Sirius...that's the last time to talk me into drinking that stuff again. I feel like my head's about to explode.'

'You'd better fix us a sobering draught then, and quickly.'

* * *

By the time they had arrived for breakfast, all three of them were feeling a hundred times better than they had been, thanks to Ariadne's wonderful concoction of milk thistle, Iceland moss, black horehound, something that smelled like lavender and a host of other herbs and infusions that Sirius had never heard of. Despite the punishments their bodies had been put through, twelve years worth of resentment, anger, guilt, grief and loneliness had finally been laid to rest last night and the atmosphere around the breakfast table in the Great Hall was decidedly lighter than it had been yesterday. Even Snape made the effort to contribute to the conversation.

Perhaps it was the nervous energy being generated by them all. So much was hanging on the outcome of the meeting that would take place that evening that none of them really wanted to think about it or even so much as acknowledge it, yet they all felt its presence like a heavy, cloying blanket hanging over them all. Or a malevolent, dark, unseen presence in the corner of the room, watching them as they laughed and smiled and joked...waiting.

As the empty plates vanished from the table to be replaced with coffee cups and pots, Sirius thought that it was about time he told Dumbledore the reason that he had brought Lupin back from Dartmoor.

'Sir, we've decided that Ariadne won't be attending the meeting with Severus and I tonight.'

'Oh?' Dumbledore said casually, as if this was not new or unexpected.

Snape paused, his cup halfway to his mouth before he slowly lowered it back to its saucer, a strangely curious expression on his face.

'I asked Remus to come here with me so that he could accompany Ariadne and Buckbeak back home and watch over them until Severus and I return. I just want them to be safe, in a location completely unknown by the Death Eaters. If anything should go wrong tonight, the first people they will target will be Ariadne and Harry and I have to know that they will be all right. You understand that, don't you, sir?'

'Of course,' Dumbledore nodded, gazing at Sirius over his half-moon spectacles, 'but I must point out that Hogwarts is far safer for them than some isolated location that Voldemort would have no real difficulty finding if he wanted to. As skilled as I know Remus is, he will not be able to deal with several Death Eaters alone. I agree with your conclusion that it would be best for Ariadne not to attend any more meetings, certainly not tonight, but I do feel that you should reconsider returning home.'

'I would ask that too, Ariadne,' said Snape. 'You are far safer here. Hogwarts is protected by numerous enchantments, not to mention being under the protection of the Ministry itself. It is far better to be in plain sight, protected and armed, than it is to be hidden away with no defences.'

'She would be protected, Severus,' Lupin interjected, leaning forward onto the table, 'I would protect her.'

'Remus...even you must surely acknowledge that you cannot take on more than one Death Eater by yourself and they do not go anywhere alone. Ariadne, by her own admission, is not skilled in duelling.'

Lupin was still reeling from Snape's use of his first name for what had to be the first time ever. More than that, he had actually said it in a civilised manner instead of spitting it out like something that left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.

'It's not really my strongest point,' Ariadne admitted, 'I probably wouldn't be able to do much if the Death Eaters were to turn up, Sirius.'

'So what are you saying? You want to stay here?' asked Sirius, turning to her, 'I thought that you were happy to go home.'

'Well...I was...but I suppose that the Headmaster is right. There is safety in numbers, isn't there? Perhaps it would be for the best. After all, Buckbeak seems happy here with Hagrid and he takes far better care of him than Remus or I could. And Hogwarts is far better protected than the cottage.'

'All right,' Sirius said, 'I suppose it doesn't really make a difference to me, as long as you are protected and safe and Harry's care is assured should anything happen to me.'

'Good. Then that is settled. You will stay too, Remus?' asked Dumbledore. 'Until Severus and Sirius return?'

'If I am welcome, then yes, sir. Thank you,' Lupin replied. 'I would feel happier knowing that the meeting turned out well before I go back home.'

'Yes, of course. Good, good...well then, perhaps you should all enjoy what remains of the day before making arrangements to leave for the meeting tonight.'

* * *

The rest of the day slipped by so quickly that it seemed as though no sooner had the sun risen, it was beginning to set again.

Ariadne's good mood after the previous night seemed to slip further and further away throughout the day. She grew so quiet and introspective that by the time Sirius and Snape were almost ready to leave, her behaviour was bordering on depression.

She just sat on the edge of the bed, chewing her fingernails and staring into space as she waited for Sirius to change into his more formal robes.

'Are you going to straighten this collar for me?' he asked, pulling on his leather gloves.

'Yes...yes, of course,' she muttered distractedly, standing up, laying the collar down for him and making sure that the shirt sat properly beneath the robes. 'There...that's better.'

Her hands lingered on his neck, her thumbs gently moving back and forth along his jawline, her eyes still fixed to his chest.

'Ari?' She looked up, smiling softly as his arms slipped around her waist. 'You're okay, aren't you?'

'Yeah,' she sighed, 'I'm just a bit worried, that's all. I feel this is all my fault. Neither you nor Severus would be risking your lives if I hadn't been so stupid as to think I could take on Lucius Malfoy. It's just...I've been on my own so long...and now you're back and...I just can't imagine how I got through all those years without you...I'm frightened...I don't want to lose you again, Sirius. I don't think I could stand it...'

'Hey...come on now,' he whispered, drawing her close, dusting sweet, tender kisses along her hairline, 'I'm not going anywhere. Severus and I are going to be just fine. This will be easy, believe me. We're not alone, we have the aurors behind us. There were many times, back when I was in the Order, that I didn't have that luxury, you know. And I'm still here. I know how to take care of myself, Ari. So does Severus. We'll both be back before you know it.'

She smiled again, but there was no humour, joy or relief in it. Just sad resignation to her small part in a much larger play. She reached up both her hands to caress his face, pulling his lips to hers and kissing him with all the passion and love that she had ever felt for him evident in her every touch. When she moved back, silent tears were falling over her cheeks. He touched them gently from her face.

'Don't cry, Ari...I never could stand to see you cry,' he said, hearing the strength vaporising from his own voice. 'Everything'll be all right...I promise you...but just in case anything should...'

'Oh God...'

'Wait,' he cut her off, kissing her forehead once more and running his hands down over her arms before stepping over to the desk beside the window. He pulled open the top drawer and removed a small envelope, hesitating as he looked at it for just a moment before handing it to Ariadne. 'I want you to give that to Harry, if anything should go wrong.'

'Oh, Sirius...you tell me everything will be fine and then...'

'Ari, listen to me. This is important. I will be fine. Think of it as my will, if you like. People make wills all the time, don't they? They don't have to be at death's door or about to leap from their broomstick over the ocean...it's nothing really. It's just important that you see that he gets it. You and Lupin will be all that kid has without me, you understand that, don't you? I wouldn't trust anyone else. He means the world to me...'

'I know that, Sirius,' she said quietly, turning the heavy cream-coloured envelope over in her hands, 'I'd love him like he was my own, you know I would, and so would Remus.'

He nodded, closing his eyes as he sighed with relief.

'But I'd rather it if you were there with me too, Sirius.'

'I will be. That's why we're doing this, remember?'

'Yeah...I know.'

Ariadne said very little more as he walked hand in hand back downstairs with him to the entrance hall where Snape, Lupin and Dumbledore were waiting for them. Snape was dressed in his usual black robes, but they were slightly more formal than usual -Death Eater custom - and the large glass phial containing the purple-coloured draught was clutched in his hand.

Lupin and Dumbledore shook both Sirius and Snape's hands and wished them luck, urging them to return as quickly as possible, and confirmed that they had heard word from Whitley Kennings, one of the most senior aurors in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, that there were currently six aurors hiding out at the church and in the surrounding area. Dumbledore then pressed a small, whirring silver sphere into Sirius' hand.

'This will allow you to reach me if you feel in any way that you or Severus are in danger. You don't have to do anything, simply having it on your person is enough. I will know, the aurors will know, and help will come immediately. Neither of you are to put yourselves in any unnecessary danger, you understand?'

Both Sirius and Snape nodded dully, exchanging slightly harried looks.

Ariadne hugged them both in turn, whispering warnings to each of them that they were to take care of the other. They swore they would, and Ariadne was relieved to hear the sincerity in their promises.

'You ready then, Severus?' Sirius said in an effort to sound jovial, even though that was the last thing he was feeling at the moment, seeing everyone ranged around him as though he were about to go off to war. Or an execution.

Maybe they were, he thought morosely.

'I rather suppose I have to be, don't I?'

'That's the spirit,' Sirius laughed, clapping him on the back as though they'd been friends for years.

At least it raised a smile from Ariadne and Lupin too, to see the look of forbearance on Snape's face.

'Take care, old friend,' Lupin said, watching them open the front doors and step outside into the rapidly dying sunlight.

Sirius smiled. 'You too, Moony. Remember what we talked about.'

'I will, Padfoot. Of course I will.'

A moment later, they were gone.

'Well...there's nothing more to be done now but to wait,' said Dumbledore, turning to Lupin and Ariadne, 'I think I will head up to my office for a nice cup of tea. Would you like to join me?'

Ariadne was still staring at the door, an empty, hollow look on her face. But she allowed Lupin to put his arm around her and she leaned gratefully into his shoulder.

'Yes, I think we'd both like that,' Lupin answered for her, giving her a gentle squeeze of support.

'Actually, you know Remus, I'd like a minute or two to myself, if that's all right. I'll be right up in a little while, I'd just like to get changed first.'

'Are you all right?' he asked, rubbing her arm. 'You've been very quiet all evening.'

'I'm fine, Remus...really.' She smiled to reassure him as she slipped out of his arms, 'I'm a bit worried, that's all. I'll be all right. I'll be right up.'

Lupin nodded, although he didn't seem entirely happy with her reassurances and left to follow Dumbledore to his office.

Ariadne sighed inwardly, finding the insulating silence that surrounded her in the entrance hall as consoling and comforting as Sirius' arms around her would have been. If he were here. Silence demanded nothing...it didn't need to be reassured that she was all right...it didn't care how she was feeling...it was simply there. Nothing existed in silence...not hate, not love, not anxiety, not fear...it was pregnant with expectation...while there was silence, there couldn't be the sounds of someone telling her that it had all gone wrong...that Sirius and Snape had both been killed and were now lying alone in a deserted field in the middle of nowhere, as cold and empty as her heart would be without them.

She wished she could Apparate in the castle because she had neither the energy nor the inclination to climb the staircase. But she struggled up, each step getting harder and harder as the weight she carried seemed to get heavier and heavier.

As she arrived at his room and opened the door, more welcoming silence greeted her and drew her inside. She went to the bed and lay back into the pillows which still held the scent of him, closing her eyes as she remembered how he had felt beside her...

The whoosh and roar of the green flames as they leapt to life in the hearth startled her in her sensitised state so much that she fell off the bed, hitting her head against the corner of the wardrobe.

'Bloody hell,' she muttered, pulling herself to her feet and gazing through eyes that refused to focus at the fireplace. Even through the mist, she recognised her mother's voice.

'Ariadne? Where are you?'

She shook herself and crawled across to the hearth, peering at a face she hadn't seen in more than fifteen years. 'Mother?' she murmured, disbelief, confusion and an odd feeling that she could have sworn was an upswelling of affection for her vying for prominence. 'Mother...my god, I...I didn't think that you...'

'Ariadne, you must listen to me. I know that there's so much both of us need to say, and the time will come for that, but for the moment it is vital that you listen to me.'

'All right,' she replied numbly, still unsure of how she felt at seeing her mother again in so odd a set of circumstances. She felt very surreal, as though she were still dreaming.

'Severus told us that you know about Erytheia.'

'Yes, I do...but you shouldn't be mentioning names over the network, Mother...'

'I don't think that matters anymore,' she replied darkly. 'She's gone, Ariadne.'

Ariadne sat up, terrified into rationality. 'What the hell do you mean, 'she's gone'? Gone where? What's happened?'

'She's missing...she didn't come home from her friend's house this afternoon. Your father and I are beside ourselves...we don't know what to do...we've informed the Muggle police, but they can't do anything until so much time has passed...they said she's just a teenager and she's probably off with other friends or something...but she's not like that, Ariadne...she always lets us know. Your father is doing everything he can, he's working just about every incantation he can think of, but he can't ask for help from the Ministry because Severus didn't want us to tell anyone else in our world about her and...oh...Ariadne.' She paused to press a handkerchief to her eyes. 'I tried contacting Severus, but he's not replying and...I'm so worried about her...I don't know what else to do.'

'It's all right,' Ariadne said quickly, her mind racing, her heart thumping so hard in her throat that she felt as though she were being choked, 'we're wasting time here. I'll tell Dumbledore right away. I know where Severus is, Mother. Leave it to us...I promise we'll find her. I'll let you know as soon as we hear anything, okay?'

Her mother nodded, but even through the flames, she could still see the tears glistening on her aged face. 'Please hurry, Ariadne...please.'

'I will...don't worry. I love you, Mother. I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...'

She smiled tearfully and sighed. Twelve years just vaporised away with three simple words that said everything that needed to be said in the limited time they had been given.

'It's all right...I love you too, Ariadne. Quickly now.'

Her mother's head disappeared from the flames and a second later, the flames flickered and died.

In the ensuing silence that now seemed like a force of gravity she couldn't bear, she felt at once more terrified, more angry and more determined than she had ever felt in her life. Her parents were not the kind of people to react in such a way unless they had grave cause for concern and her mother's words were more than enough to make her realise that something was very wrong.

As she tore open the door and flew down the stairs and along the corridors to Dumbledore's office, anxiety and fear choking her breath away, she began to understand just exactly what was wrong.

She exploded into his office, her hair in complete disarray, her face and clothes soaked with perspiration and her breath coming in short, ragged bursts as she saw Dumbledore and Lupin looking at her as though she were a screaming banshee.

'Good God, Ariadne, what's wrong?' sputtered Lupin.

'They know...they know everything...the Death Eaters...they've taken Erytheia! It was all a set up! They know!'