Doxology of Dragons

Doxology of Dragons:

Kayori Night :~

And the road becomes my bride

I have stripped of all but pride

So in her I do confide

And she keeps me satisfied

Gives me all I need

And with dust in throat I crave

Only knowledge will I save

To the game you stay a slave

Rover, Wander, Nomad, Vagabond

Call me what you will...

Harry dabbed his forehead with a towel as he stepped out of the shower. He knew that something terrible was going to happen, but couldn't quiet put his finger on it. But whatever it was, Voldemort had to be involved in. He wanted to tell Hermione and Ron, but settled that he should wait a little longer to see if the pain came back. He could instinctively recall Hermione's and Ron's reaction if he told them about his scar hurting. Hermione would squeak and hold her hand to her mouth and beg Harry to tell Sirius or Dumbledore what had happened. Ron would stare and very silently agree with whatever Hermione said.

Harry dressed quickly and walked out of the dorm without waiting for Ron who was still in the shower. His scar was bright red, and very noticable; Harry tried to hide it with his bangs. What if Voldemort is trying to take over the world again? He thought to himself as he walked down the hallway that led to the common room.

***

Hermione stirred awake as the sun shined through the long drapes of her four poster bed. She woke up and knew instantly that something was wrong. Something was wrong with Harry. She could always sense if something was going to go wrong in the day, and she could especially sense when something was wrong with Harry. She knew everything about him, from the way that he walked to the way that he frowned his eyebrow when he couldn't understand something. Hermione could pick him out of a long line of Harry Potter look a-likes.

She showered and dressed as quickly as she could and headed out the door.

Hawk saw Hermione in her hurry and knew that something was wrong. She quickly ran a brush through her wet hair and followed after her.

***

Voldemort sat in his favorite chair. He wore a black cloak with a big hood that draped over his face, concealing his features and it made Lucius wonder what he looked like if ever he pulled the hood back. He had a snake curled in his lap, and was very luxuriously hissing and moving it's tongue. He wondered if he was still weak from his recent rebuttal, or if the real Voldemort had finally come back.

"Master, everything is ready. The stations are prepared for departure we are only waiting for your command."

"Very good, Lucius, you have been very good. Tell the troops that the hour will soon come." Voldemort laughed stroking his snake as if she were a white cat.

There was a movement in one dark corner of the room and Lucius turned suddenly to see the woman standing there, hands behind her back, feet apart, back straight. The way she was always standing around the Dark Lord. Lucius wondered briefly if she ever moved.

The woman seemed to feel Lucius' eyes on her and she turned a hooded face to look at him.

Lucius turned back to his master and whispered quietly to him, "My Lord, I have the diversionary tactics for you if you wish to go over them."

"Very good, Lucius. Tell me."

"...Er, My Lord, are you sure you want the girl in here listening?..."

"Lucius, I don't think that you have ever been formally introduced to Enyo. And yes, she should be here when we discuss the plans for the war because she will be leading the main army."

***

"Harry, are you sure you're all right? You look kind of...pale..."

"Yes, Hermione, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." Harry sighed. It was getting harder and harder to hide his scar-related problems from his friends every year.

Hawk turned her face up toward him, "You know, Harry, she's got a point. You do look kind of....glumpy...."

Harry looked at Hawk, confused. "Glumpy? What is that?"

"Apparently it's what you look like, mate," Ron chipped in, coming down the stairs finally.

Harry shook his head and looked at Hawk again. He couldn't help but notice her outfit--or maybe that was what she wanted.

The only thing that stood out was her bright green fishnet pantyhose. They showed beneath a black, pleated skirt. Her black, long-sleeve shirt hugged her upper body and there were small slits going across the sleeves from her wrist to her shoulder. There was white letters across the front of her T-shirt that read 'I'm not spoiled, I'm just rotten'. Her dragon necklace showed plainly, hanging on her neck above the neck-line of the shirt. There was bright green rubber bracelets hanging loosely on her wrists and they matched perfectly with her nails. Hawk's hair was reflecting the light of the sun and parts of her almost knee-length, midnight-black hair were turned silver.

Harry was suddenly snapped out of his revere by Hermione snapping her fingers in front of his face and looking at him disapprovingly. Harry blushed and quickly turned away from Hawk-but not before he saw her smile at him.

"Isn't it time for breakfast?" Harry asked to cover up the very evident silence.

"Yeah, I think it is; we should go before Seamus gets your good spot, Hermione." Hawk hurried Hermione out of the common room and Harry silently thanked her.

Out in the hallway Harry and Ron chatted happily about that weekend's trip to Hogsmeade. So happy, in fact, that Hawk didn't want to ruin it by telling them that Sally-Anne was on her way towards them. Hawk hid a smile as she saw Sally-Anne's face light up at the sight of 'her little Ronniekins'.

To not be totally cruel, Hawk cleared her throat in warning but it was too late.

"Ronald!!"

"Dear Lord!" Ron ducked behind Harry but knew it was futile.

"Ronald Weasley, you come here this instant!" Sally-Anne pointed a finger to the space right next to her and tapped her foot impatiently.

Ron poked his head out from behind Harry's shoulder and moved forward slightly, keeping Harry in front of him. "Please don't eat me, please don't eat me," he muttered as he came closer to Sally-Anne.

"Ronald, there is a rumor going around that you are going to break up with me; is that true?" Ron looked at Sally-Anne for a minute while Harry and Hawk immediately began to laugh.

"Sally-Anne, you remember that one day that you and I had that talk alone and I said that maybe we should see other people?..."

Sally-Anne looked at Ron in confusion for a minute. Then her face lit up. "Yeah, and right after that I saw Justin Finch-Fletchly. He was with Hannah Abbot and some other Hufflepuffs in the Great Hall."

It was all Hawk could do not to fall on the floor; Ron just stared at Sally-Anne in amazement at her air-headiness while Sally-Anne just smiled at him angelically. Ron put his hands to his face and shook his head.

"Can someone please explain why the world turns to her; I need to eat something," Ron sighed, and huffed away.

Hawk stepped up next to Sally-Anne who was just watching Ron walk away. "You see, Sally - can I call you Sally?" Hawk didn't even wait for an answer. "Ron isn't like you or me, who opts for the camaraderie of the antipodal coitus."

Sally-Anne looked blankly at Hawk. "What?...."

Hawk rolled her eyes. She didn't really want to explain the whole thing to Sally-Anne. "You know...I'm just saying....he drives his car on the other side of the road....you get what I'm saying?"

Sally-Anne narrowed her eyes. "......What?.....He's not American if that's what you mean."

Hawk's shoulders slumped. She tried again. "No, that's not what I mean. I mean that," Hawk looked around, "he's buttered on the other side of the toast....He's on the other side of the fence at this particular moment in his life....He plays for the other 'team'....He's a little crooked, a little...'fruity'."

Sally-Anne just stared at Hawk.

"He's gay!!" Hawk shouted out and all the people in the hallway turned and stared. Sally-Anne blinked and it took her a while to answer. Hawk could feel Harry beside her laughing.

"My little Ronniekins is not gay! I think I would have remembered something like that."

Hawk put on a face of mock sympathy. "Not if he wasn't gay until after you had broken up," she said sadly. Sally-Anne stared blankly ahead, taking it all in.

"Wha-What are you saying?" Sally-Anne looked as if she was about to cry.

"Sorry," Hawk said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "but you broke Ronald."

***

All of the classes that morning left Hawk mad, confused and hungry.

"Is it almost over?" Hawk groaned, covering her face with her hands and slumping as she walked.

Hermione smiled apologetically, "Yeah, almost. We just have one more class."

"Which one?" asked Harry and Ron. This year all sixth years were taking a class that was new to them. They were only taking it one day every week. It was supposed to come into play later in life when they least expected it, but needed it the most. Harry and Ron, however, thought that there was nothing else that could prepare them for the worst of the world than Snape's potions class.

Hawk looked at her schedule, which was crumpled, torn and dirty from being in her pocket, backpack, hands and the lunch table. She fumbled with it, trying to see past the smudges to their next class. "We have Ancient Studies of Runic Artifacts next," Hermione recited. Everyone stared as she kept walking as if it were merely the alphabet she was saying.

"What is that?" Ron asked, looking disgusted.

"It is a class that the professors think will come in handy later on in life and I think so, too." Hermione said shortly, in a way no one could contradict.

"When will we need it in life? When we are in Egypt, digging up mummies and old cups and plates and somebody's dead cat?" said Ron, looking at Hermione as if she were getting a contagious disease. Hawk laughed at the two of them seething at each other but stopped with the look she got from Hermione.

"Look, Ron, just because you don't think it is important, doesn't mean that it's not. I personally think that it will be one of my favorite classes this year--for no particular reason except that I think it might be fun and educational." When Hermione stopped talking there was a flustered look upon her face and she was blushing slightly. She shifted all of her books to one hand and tried to comb her hair back with the free one. During the middle of the speech Hawk had lost what was said. It seemed the accents grew thicker when they got angry and Hawk could barley keep track at all. But she didn't have to listen to Hermione to get a hint of what was happening inside Hermione's head.

"Hey, Hermione...who's the teacher for this class?" Harry asked, frowning slightly and looking at Hermione suspiciously.

Hermione looked flustered and avoided Harry's eyes. "What?"

"Who is the teacher?" This time it was Ron, catching on. Hawk was somewhat confused and decided to try not to get lost in the halls...while listening to their conversation, anyways.

"The um...the, er...teacher? Is that what you asked?"

"YES!!" they both screamed and Hermione began to look panicky.

"The teacher is um...it's-"

But who it was, Hawk never heard. Hermione mumbled the last word and all Hawk made out of it was something that sounded strangely like 'rockfart'. Then Hawk frowned, No, that can't be right...why would a rock fart?

Harry and Ron, though, seemed to have no trouble understanding Hermione at all.

"Lockhart?!" Ron screamed.

"Hermione," Harry sounded rather disappointed in Hermione. Hawk was more confused than ever, but of course, 'Lockhart' made a lot more sense than 'rockfart'.

"Lockhart?!?!?" Ron seemed in shock. His face had gone pale, except for two red dots of fury on his cheeks that were slowly spreading.

Hermione was looking down at the floor (and slightly ashamed), so Hawk thought it a good time to break in.

"Who's Lockhart?" She asked. A very simple question in her minds eye, but Ron nearly exploded.

"Some low-down, two-bit, good-for-nothing, conceded, prissy old fart that can't do a bloody thing for himself!!!!"

Hawk looked at Ron and nodded slowly, afraid of breaking eye contact for fear that he might attack. Finally she turned to Harry. "So, who's Lockhart?" she asked Harry, raising an eyebrow. Harry grinned and shook his head.

"Professor Lockhart is not an old fart! He's actually very young," Hermione looked appalled at the very idea of this Lockhart character being old. Hawk smiled and looked at Hermione, "You sweet on him, or what?"

"What? Sweet? No, no, no, no. I just uh...um."

"Good God!!"

"Oh, shut up, Ron!!!"

"Hey!" Harry seemed to have had enough of their bickering and he looked at them sternly. "Both of you behave!! I will not be embarrassed by you two anymore." He turned to Hermione. "If I hear one more peep out of you, we are turning around and going straight back to the common room." Just as Hermione was about to protest Harry turned to Ron, "And if I hear one more peep out of you, we'll leave you in there with the maniac all by yourself. 'Cause God knows I don't want to be in there, but you don't see me complaining!!" When Harry finished his eyes were burning and his cheeks were slightly red. Hermione and Ron shrank back from him a little and then lowered their heads and continued walking in silence.

Hawk wanted to laugh, but decided it was best not to. Harry seemed in a very bad mood since he found out that Lockhart was going to be their teacher, and Hawk was determined to find out why everyone hated him so much.

She left the sulking Hermione and Ron behind and walked a little faster to catch up with Harry, who had stormed off after he had finished yelling.

When she caught up to him she put a hand on his shoulder to slow him down. "What did he do?" She didn't even have to explain who she was talking about.

"Well, first of all, he was born." Harry's voice was still hard and Hawk decided it was best not to encourage him anymore. Ron and Hermione had caught up by now and were listening to their conversation. "He was our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in our 2nd year."

Ron lent a hand, too. "He was always acting like he was better than everybody else and he would act all high-and-mighty about things he said he did but never even considered doing."

Even Hermione joined in. "One time, when Harry was playing Quidditch, he fell off his broom and broke his arm and Lockhart tried to heal it, but he only made it worse. He's the biggest snob I have ever seen."

Hawk turned to Hermione, "Then why do you like him?"

Hermione blushed and looked down, "Because he's also the best looking snob I've ever seen."

Hawk and Harry smiled and Ron tried hard to hide his disgust, but Hawk could tell that this was not the last time they would fight over Lockhart.

Without even noticing it, they found themselves at the classroom.

At the door, Hermione tried once again to comb her hair with her hands. Ron made a noise in the back of his throat and rolled his eyes. Harry shook his head and Hawk laughed. "Just open the door, already," said Hawk, getting impatient.

"No, no!! Not yet!!" Hermione whispered frantically, but Ron put his hand on the door and pushed it open.

It seemed that they had this class with the Hufflepuffs. All the sixth years were already settled into desks all along the room. Ron opened the door a little more, so that the others could see the rest of the classroom.

It was big. Big enough to hold a young dragon. I wondered what we are going to do with a classroom this big, Hawk thought. She looked over at Ron, Harry, and Hermione. They all shrugged and walked into the classroom. They found four available seats next to each other and sat down, with incoming students milling about all over the place.

Hawk looked at Hermione. She was slightly flushed and her eyes seemed glassy. I wonder what he looks like if he has Hermione acting this way, Hawk thought, and she didn't have long to wait to cease her pondering. Everyone had gotten there and was sitting down when the door to the classroom opened and in walked their teacher.

He certainly was handsome, but-Hawk noticed this right away-he was more the type that was pretty to look at, but was so annoying and infuriating when he opened his mouth. And sure enough, she was right.

The first thing he did was say to the class: "Yes, yes, I know I look good, no need to stare."

Hawk shook her head in disappointment. There were so many of his kind back in New York. She had never found any good men in there. But it also seemed that there were many of his kind right in Hogwarts. The thought stuck as a mental picture of Draco Malfoy crept into her head. Hawk frowned and looked at the teacher, trying her best to force the picture out. As she studied the teacher--who was fixing his hair in a mirror in the back wall (no doubt put there for that very purpose) and ignoring the class that was staring at him--another thought crept into her mind and she could not help pushing it away.

Hawk choked back a laugh as the teacher walked to his desk at the front of the class.

"What is it?" asked Harry, frowning.

Hawk smiled and leaned over. "Those curls are so fake." She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle the laugh that came out. Harry didn't even bother: his laugh echoed in the dense room.

Lockhart looked up with a stupid smile on his face. "What may I presume is so funny, Mr.-?"

Harry's lips curved into an evil smile which sent a shiver down Hawk's spine. "You don't remember me?" Harry asked. The look on his face gave Hawk an idea of what he was going to do, and his voice was a little too innocent.

Lockhart with the stupid smile on his face, gave a little shake of his blonde head.

Harry managed to looked indignant and angry at the same time. "How could you not remember your own son!?!"

The class giggled and laughed and some gasped. Hawk, Ron, and Hermione managed not to let their laughter show, because Lockhart was now staring at Harry with wide eyes.

"My-my....what?!?" Lockhart seemed speechless.

"Your son," Harry repeated, grinning now.

"But-but...I can't-I don't have a son..."

"Daddy, how can you say that!?!"

Hawk, Hermione, and Ron couldn't help it and they broke out laughing.

At that time Dumbledore walked into the classroom-but there was no sound of a door being opened or closed so he must have been in the classroom all the time. "Mr. Potter, that is quiet enough. You don't want to distress you teacher."

Harry, still laughing, looked down and nodded his head. Dumbledore turned to Lockhart and took at least 10 minutes to convince Lockhart he did not have a son.

When Lockhart was sure, Dumbledore walked out of the classroom, albeit smiling. Lockhart cleared his throat. "Now that'll be 10 points from Gryffindor for Mr. Potter's crude sense of humor." An inaudible sigh went through the room, but no one really cared.

"Now, on with the lesson. Welcome to Ancient Studies of Runic Artifacts. I am here to teach you how to spot ancient artifacts and how each one is used. I personally don't think it's a very much-needed subject, but what with You-Know-Who still out there, Dumbledore wants all his students to know what old dusty things can kill him." He clapped his hands together. "So, lets get started."

He went up to his desk, opened a book and motioned for the class to do the same.

"On page 121 you'll find the chapter on The Heart of the Dragon, also known as The Soul of the Dragon, and the Wings of the Dragon. The chapter goes on forever describing what it looks like, but, to make a long story short, The Heart of the Dragon is a tiny glass sphere that changes colors whenever you come within a 100 foot range of a dragon and it keeps on changing every 10 feet or so.

"The purpose of the stone was to control dragons. Hundreds of years ago, when it was first made, people practically killed each other to try to get it, because, as we all know, dragons are one of the most powerful magical creatures in the wizarding world. Even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is scared of them. Some say, actually, that dragons are the only thing that can kill him because-not many people know this, but-dragons are kind of like the unofficial keepers of Time and Life. They live so long that the oldest one can tell you what happened in the world at least a 100,000 years ago. They are also the only creatures that can kill something or someone that is immortal--Which would be why He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is afraid of them.

"The last thing anyone saw of the crystal was at least a 100 years ago. The seer claimed then that it was a pendant on a chain of silver made by the Elves. There are ways to spot it, of course. When you see through it, it's like seeing the night stars at the peek of dawn. And if you lift it up to the light and look through it, you can still see the stars, but you can also see a dragon's eye.

"That is why it is sometimes known as the Eye of the Dragon, though, its proper name is The Heart of the Dragon because, if you will turn the page, there is a story saying that the stone came to be when a virgin princess pulled it out of the heart of a dying dragon to kill her evil father, the king, and rule her kingdom with peace and love," he closed the book.

"That of course, though, is a fairy tale. No one really knows how the stone came to be, but there are many different stories and ideas." Lockhart looked up from the book and stared at the class. "If you could take notes for the rest of the period on pages 123 and 124, that'd be great." He flashed the class a winning smile.

A long while later Lockhart got up from his seat at his desk where he was fixing a single curl on his head. "Well, that's it for today, I guess. It's just about time for you all to go so I won't give you any homework, since you probably have enough already, but the next time I see you, you will get homework from me," and then he looked at Harry. "Especially you. That reminds me, Harry-and all your little friends, there-will you all stay and help me with--"

But Harry , Hermione and Ron were ready for this:

"Oh, sorry professor, I really need to go and finish that essay-"

"My doctor told me I couldn't do any heavy lifting-"

"I was planning on helping Filch out with some cleaning-"

And they all grabbed Hawk and ran out the door as students filed into the hallway.

***

After Ancient Studies of Runic Artifacts, they had lunch.

Hawk sat at the table, unable to eat anything but not knowing why. Granted thoughts of the past days swept through her mind, but the one that came back and taunted her the most was the class that they had just left.

Hawk poked her food with her fork, but to no avail. It was still there and seemed to have no intention of going away on it's own.

Finally Hawk couldn't take it anymore and got up. "I'm going to go over to the little garden, okay?" she said to Hermione.

"Are you okay?" she asked

Hawk nodded, "Yeah, I just...can't eat." She shrugged.

"Can you get there by yourself?" Harry asked .

"Yeah, I'll see you guys later. What do we have next?"

Once Hawk got the times and their classes for after lunch, she walked out of the Great Hall and made a bee line for the garden, suprised that she actually did remember the way.

Once Hawk was inside the garden, she let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding. The garden was so tiny and soothing that Hawk let loose and slumped, knowing that no one would come to bother her with the real world until lunch was over.

Hawk walked over to the fountain and sat down on the stone next to the water that was in the little pool. There was a torch burning nearby and it gave the water a golden glow. Hawk cupped her hands and put them into the water. She brought her hands up to face and splashed the water on it. Cool water dripped down her face and onto her neck. The water caught on her necklace and held onto the chain and pendant, the shortness of the thin chain around her neck not letting the water go any further.

After a couple of seconds, the wetness started to get to Hawk and she took off the necklace to dry it and her neck.

As she was polishing the dragon, the light from the torch caught in the crystal ball and turned it a golden-red for just a moment. Once it was gone, Hawk frowned. She picked it up to the light, wanting it to happen again, just to make sure that it wasn't just an illusion.

It wasn't.

Hawk saw the torch through the tiny crystal for a split-second but then that faded out and suddenly, the inside of the crystal turned a brilliant shade of white and all inside the crystal, little, extremely tiny patches of even brighter white light could be seen. It was as if a globe had been filled with moonlight and hung before her in a net woven of the glint of frosty stars.

Hawk slowly got up and walked closer to the torch without upsetting the image inside the crystal.

Up closer to the light, the image slowly changed.

The stars stayed the same but the edges blurred out and when they came back into focus, there was an outline in the inside of the ball and it was yellow. In the center, there was a black vertical pupil that reminded Hawk of a cat's eye.

As she pulled back from the crystal a little to get the whole image and not just what was inside the ball she gasped.

It was like seeing a starry night sky with the sun up, but reflected in a cat's eye.

Or a dragon's.

Hawk gasped again and almost dropped her necklace. The lesson she had just come from came rushing back in a second and Hawk had to sit down again before her knees gave out.

She sat there for a least half an hour before Hermione came to get her and tell her that they were late to their next class.

All during the class, Hawk could hardly believe what she was wearing around her neck. She didn't tell Hermione because she knew what she would do, but the weight of it stuck in her mind and wouldn't let go. How could she never have known?

As she listened to the teacher drone on, Hawk's eyes closed on their own accord, since she hadn't been getting much sleep because of her dreams. As she slipped off into unconsciousness, Hawk's mind started to form the beginnings of a plan. But they quickly vanished as the dream she had the other night came into Hawk's mind and stayed. Even when she was woken up by Hermione to go to their next class, the dream was there. And in the next class, when Hawk slipped into a rapture once more, the dream was there again. The other one this time and the process was repeated again.

***

Dinner was unfortunately calm and uninterrupted. The food tasted bland in Hawk's mouth, and her throat was dry no matter how much water she drank.

She was going to do it tonight. She had to. The dreams were coming more frequently and persistently--and more horrible and vivid than ever before. She had about two in every class she had since lunch, when she fell asleep. She searched frantically for Draco, to see if he was there. He wasn't.

Her heart sank to her feet. She really didn't want to do this alone. But it seemed she had no choice if he was still going to stick to what he had said the night before. The food that she was trying to swallow came back up and she had to force it down with a gulp. Hermione noticed her distress and leaned over so that she could whisper, "Are you okay?"

Hawk nodded, being unable to talk. Hermione saw through that, though, and said, "You're not still thinking about last night, are you?" Her voice was sad, and there was concern in her eyes. Hawk hadn't seen that look directed at her in so long that it hurt her inside, to think that she was going to have to lie to Hermione. But it couldn't be helped. She knew that anyone who knew of her plans would try to stop her, and she couldn't let them do that. This was for their own good.

Hawk looked away from Hermione, down to her plate, and shook her head. "Of course not. I know that it's stupid and dangerous, and we talked about it, remember?" she looked up at Hermione again, "You don't have to worry about me--I'll be fine."

Hermione looked in Hawk's eyes as she said the last to her. There was a hidden meaning in those words that Hermione knew was bad. But before Hermione could ask Hawk anything else, Hawk got up.

"I'm not feeling too good, I think I'll go lie down in the dorm."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at her. "But you said that you would come with us to see Hagrid after supper," Harry said, looking-much to Hawk's humor-a little sad.

"Yeah, I know but...um...I'm not-not feeling good..."

"Well, what's wrong?" Hermione did this on purpose. She knew, in the back of her head, that something was wrong, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Um...well...it's, you know......cramps," Hawk said quickly. If it would get her out of going with them, then.....

Everybody looked down and Harry and Ron squirmed uncomfortably in their seats. "Oh, well, okay then, I guess we'll see you later..." Harry said, still not looking up at Hawk.

Hawk turned and smiled as she walked away. But then she stopped suddenly and turned around. She had almost forgotten... "Oh, and if I'm not there when you guys get back, don't worry, I'll probably be at the nurse, or something, so don't wait up." And she turned around and walked out of the Great Hall.

In the hallway, Hawk let out a tiny sigh of relief. She hated lying to them but there was no other way. Hawk needed to leave soon, and she didn't want anybody who went with her to get hurt, so she had decided not to ask anybody to go along with her. But then Malfoy had shown up and it seemed that she needed him. But if she could go alone, that would be even better....

The group had given her the perfect opportunity to leave when they had mentioned that they were not going to be in the common room that night. So Hawk had planned secretly all day and during lunch and in between classes had gotten some things together in private. Now all she needed to do was finish packing and then go.

Then go.

Hawk's stomach knotted as she realized how close she was to actually leaving. But she couldn't turn back. And if you can't turn back, then the only place left to go is forward.

Hawk got into the common room and climbed the steps up to the dormitories. The room was, thankfully, empty, and Hawk went over to her bed and pulled a tiny box out of her trunk at the foot.

The box was about as long as her index finger and about as wide. She lay the box down on her bed and then searched the room for other things she might need. She put two sleeping bags that she had jacked from some house elves earlier that day, an extra shirt, some food she had taken from the tables at lunch and dinner, hers-and for some weird reason Draco's-sword and all the money she had in her trunk on the bed next to the box. Then she took out her wand. She muttered something softly, not wanting to be heard by anyone else, even though she was alone, and the things on the bed began to shrink.

Hawk picked them up before they got too small and when they were done shrinking to the size of a flea, she dropped them, one by one, into the box. Hawk proceeded to put the box into her pocket along with her wand. She then reached into her backpack, pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil and wrote Hermione a quick note-for later-and folded it neatly on her pillow.

Then she changed quickly, putting on more comfortable clothes and taking off her huge-soled, black, buckle-up boots in exchange for some clog Mary Janes that she could maybe run in, if it came to that. She was sure to put her clothes back in the trunk, so that Hermione could not come in and get suspicions. As she turned away from her bed, Hawk went back to her trunk and brought out her left boot. From a tiny pocket inside the boot, Hawk pulled out her dagger, thin, wide and deadly, and slipped it into the boot she was wearing now.

Before Hawk left the tiny dormitory, she put her hand to her throat and felt the cool metal of the dragon that clung to the base of her neck. Her hands ran along the length of it and her fingers stopped on the crystal ball that was resting on the hand of the dragon.

A hundred doubts popped into her mind: What if she was wrong? What if the necklace was just another necklace? What if she had imagined what she had seen in the garden?

With those thoughts in her mind, what she was about to do seemed like a suicide mission.

But even as those thoughts came to her mind, the crystal warmed under her fingers, and all the thoughts in her mind drifted to nothingness as she closed her eyes in the middle of the stairs. When she opened them again, only a calm sense of surrender was with her. Hawk reveled in it for the moment, not sure how long it would last and if it would came again.

And as she slowly descended the stairs to the common room, the only real thought she had was that the spot she had left behind had felt faintly of her grandmother.

***

Draco leaned against the heavy oak door of the infirmary. He could go back in, tell Madame Pomfrey that he didn't feel well.

It wouldn't really be a lie, that was the best part of it. It wouldn't be a lie. Draco hated to lie, especially when the person he was lying to didn't deserve it.

He could just turn the knob of the door and walk back in and tell Madame Pomfrey that he didn't think he should have been let out the day before, that his wound hadn't yet healed completely. That he didn't think he could make it back to the Slytherin common room without his leg giving out on him and the pain sending him back into unconsciousness, like it did when he had tried so many times before.

And it wouldn't be a lie. True, it had been almost two days since he had been stabbed, and his leg hadn't bothered him before now, but still...

Just as he put his hand on the knob a face came to him. A pretty face, all smiles and laughs and long black hair. Then the laughing turned mocking and the smiles turned to smirks. The long black hair tuned to a cloak of dark evil as it wound it's way around the face, moving in an invisible wind.

No.

He couldn't let that face-the face that came to him the same way every time he tried to walk on his leg-win this time. He had to fight it. Which meant that he had to leave the infirmary.

As Draco slowly limped down the hall, he silently cursed the girl and her wretched sword. He didn't remember a wound ever hurting-or ever suppose to hurt-like this one did.

It would not stop throbbing. Even though Madame Pomfrey had said that there was no infection or swelling, Draco's leg felt as bloated as a blowfish getting ready to attack, and it may have just been his imagination that made him think of a thousand diseases he that could get into the open wound. Or maybe it wasn't his imagination.

Draco scowled and cursed Hawk again.

His father had taught him about certain swords that had different powers when they were driven into their victims. Some had the power to put their victim into a deep sleep, others had the power to make the victim have hallucinations, or become a slave, and even a prisoner to the sword or the bearer. Draco

had not taken his father seriously when Lucius had first started-and even after-teaching him. Now he dared to believe. It was the only explanation Draco had. He was not someone who would normally be worried about things like infection or swelling, or even pain for that matter, but this was something different.

Maybe he should just go back to the common room.

The common room. He shook his head. Anywhere but the common room, with its noisy, nosy, and repulsive inhabitants. Draco just didn't have the strength for the common room at the moment. So he decided to take a walk, maybe that would take away the pain.

He started walking, not knowing where he would end up. His head was buzzing with memories of the past couple of nights and he kept on forcing the pain to go away. Before he knew it, Draco was standing at the door of the room he and Hawk had opened the trap door to last night.

Draco frowned. Why was he here? Every time he let his feet lead, he always ended up here.

I have really got to stop doing that, he thought. He was about to turn away when a sound of movement came from inside. He frowned again, but then comprehension dawned in his gray eyes and he knew without a second guess who was in there and why they were there. He silently opened the door, and slipped inside, the image in his mind confirmed. Inwardly, he groaned.

***

Hawk stood at the mouth of the trap door, readying herself for she knew not what. All she knew was that it might be dangerous and she had never done anything like this before. She had spent over an hour at the mouth of the trapdoor, it was late. Hawk never looked at her watch but her body registered the lack of sleep and she knew that she had spent a lot of time just standing in the tiny room.

Finally, she lifted a long stick she had found on the grounds and dropped it into the darkness. About 7 seconds later, it hit the floor with a shallow bang. 7 seconds, that's a long time. A tiny voice in the back of her head told Hawk that this was stupid, that she could get seriously hurt doing this and moreso afterwards. She hadn't been able to find Draco to bring him with her, but it seemed that the door hadn't completely locked the night before. She was about to turn around and walk out, but then the images of her dreams came back, more vivid and real and frightening this time than any other, and she knew deep in her heart that this had to be done, and she had to be the one to do it. And at that very moment, Hawk made a promise to herself to go through with this no matter what got in her way.

Hawk took a deep breath to steady her nerves and prepared to jump into the dark abyss below her. Just as she was about to leap, an all too familiar and all too hated laugh cut through the quiet air. Startled, Hawk lost her footing and almost fell in, but managed to keep her balance and turn around.

At the far corner of the room, by the door, a slim figure stood, leaning against the wall. Hawk knew immediately who it was. The insolence in the stance of the boy only spoke of one person, the sharp edges of the profile of his face were distinguishable only as his own.

"What are you doing here?" Hawk asked, turning her voice icy.

"I don't think you should be the one asking that question." The sound of Draco's voice resonated deep in her chest and made her knees buckle slightly. She caught herself in time, though, and walked over to him, just to prove to him that he did not have that kind of effect over her, which was, of course, a lie.

She waited until she was close enough to him so that all she had to do was whisper and she could still be heard. "You thought wrong,...now leave." The last words she let cut through the air and hang, a command waiting to be carried out. But Draco would not be told what to do, especially by her. He just continued to lean back, casually, against the wall, letting his smirk show in his eyes.

Hawk groaned in her mind. Great, just great. "If you don't mind, I have a very pressing matter on my hands and I don't have time to take you back to 'mummy', so, if you'll excuse me-?" And she turned around and walked back to the trapdoor.

"You must be so much stupider than you look," Draco said, pushing himself off the wall and walking over to stand next to Hawk, who was looking into the darkness with a clouded look in her eyes. "Do you even know how deep that is? Do you know what's at the bottom, waiting for you? Do you know where exactly this passage will lead you?!?"

"Listen, I don't need your approval in this, okay? I know exactly what I am getting myself into and I can assure you right now that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself-"

"Oh, yeah, 'cause we all know that you can at least get to the Great Hall without tripping and breaking you leg, or getting lost!!" Draco let the sarcasm hang in his words and hit her hard.

"Just because I am slightly clumsy, doesn't mean that I can't do this!"

" 'Slightly clumsy' is an understatement. And no, it doesn't mean you can't do this, it just means that you'll get killed in the process. If you actually do go through with this, it will be extremely dumb of you and there will be no one to blame later but yourself, you do know that, right?"

"Listen, I don't need you to dictate to me, okay? Now run along and go count something."

"....You think you can do this all by yourself, don't you?" Draco walked closer to her and started circling her, much like a lion stalks its prey before finally pouncing, and it made Hawk nervous. "Well you can't. You need help, especially with this, you need so much help. He does not take to rebellion easily. Believe me. If He catches you, if any one of them catches you..." Draco shook his head, as if the thought were too sad and painful to express in words.

Hawk turned slightly so that she was looking directly into his eyes. "If you are trying to scare me, I'll tell you right now that I will not be that easily swayed." But she had to try desperately to keep her voice from shaking.

Draco shrugged, as if she had already chosen death and there was nothing he could do about it. "It's your choice," he turned and started walking towards the door. Hawk let out a tiny sigh of relief. "Just don't say I didn't warn you...." He reached the door and pulled it's great wooden handle open slightly, looked outside, and then closed it quickly.

"Did you tell anyone about this place?" he asked, keeping his hand on the break of the two doors, as if he were pushing on it to keep something out. "Any professors, your little 'gang'?...Anyone at all?"

Hawk frowned and shook her head, "...No, I don't remember telling Harry or anyone and I didn't want to tell any teachers....Why?"

"Because someone is coming. I heard voices down the hall. They sounded like professors." He put his ear to the crack of the two doors. "They're getting closer. It sounds like...McGongall...and Filch.....and-bloody hell-and Dumbledore." Draco turned around and looked at her, his eyes deadly serious. "They're coming this way."

Hawk paled slightly. Again, she had thought of every other bad thing happening-and prepared for them-except this one. "What?...No, no...maybe they're just out for a midnight stroll or something..." It was a long shot, but in that moment anything seemed possible.

"Oh, yeah, because Dumbledore, McGongall and Filch always walk around at one o'clock in the morning looking for a good place to have their little orgies, right?..."

Hawk glowered at Draco while he was busy listening to the sound of their oncoming doom. If Dumbledore opened the door and found Hawk in here, she would have to tell him about her dreams and visions and he would stop her from going out.

No. She couldn't let him do that. She had made a promise to her grandmother-and to herself just a little while ago-that she would not let anything stop her and that she would do this, even if it meant getting killed.

Then reality kicked in and as it did, so did suspicion. Hawk looked at Draco's back and something tugged at the back of her mind. Hawk reached out and embraced it as her grandmother had taught her and it hit her like a wall of brick.

"What were you doing here?..." she asked the back of Draco's head and she saw him stiffen and she knew that she had him.

He turned around slowly and gave her a fake, nervous smile. "What?" He asked it as if he were pretending that he didn't know what she was talking about--and it totally gave him away.

"You heard me. What were you doing here? You were just standing there..., and there must have been a reason--" Hawk cut off as everything finally clicked. She was speechless for quiet some time and when she finally found words, she had some difficulty getting them out.

"You've had the dreams too,... haven't you?....You've seen what I've seen, you know what I know....Don't you?..." Hawk stood there, knowing that she was right but having to know for sure anyways. When Draco didn't answer her the first time, she asked again, this time with more pressure in her words. "Don't you?...Why won't you answer me?!...." Hawk nodded her head, positive in herself and in the next notion that came into her head, crazy though it might seem to him...

"Come with me...."

She barely even whispered it, but Hawk was more than positive that Draco had heard her. He turned his head up towards her and looked her straight in the eyes. Cold steel met liquid honey and Hawk knew that he wanted to go. But he wouldn't turn over without a fight and she knew it.

"Come with me," she repeated, inching closer to him as solemnly as she could. "There is no other way to stop Voldemort and you know it. You know what He is doing is wrong and you are well aware that your father is doing it, too. You know it's wrong. I know you know. And no matter how impassively trained your father has you, he has not broken your mind. You are free to think and feel what you want...but not for long. They will break you eventually, no matter how hard you fight. Is that what you want to be?...Some little free-spirited horse that they will tame and break-in so that you will become nothing but a mind-slave to them? Doing their bidding, living their life? Never being you, never being free?!... I know that is not what you want, but I also know that you are afraid to want anything else. But I can help you...I can. But I need your help first." And she held out her hand to him, silently asking him to take it, to do what they both knew was right, and to change the lives of so many, for the better or the worst.

Draco moved closer to her so that they were standing over the hole to the trap-door and looked at her hand. The voices in the hall grew closer and closer and Hawk was aware of the apparent danger...but she did not budge. She looked at the door, as if she could see through it to the corridor outside. "We don't have much time, hurry," and she opened her outstretched hand more.

Draco finally took his eyes off her hand and looked her in the eye once more...nodded, and placed his hand lightly in her own. The only clear thought she had before they both plunged into the black-hole beneath them-pulling the door down above them-was that his hand was incredibly soft.

***

Harry sat up in his bed. The blankets were tangled around his feet and his breathing was unsteady. He had a dream. He couldn't remember what it was about, but he knew that it had been important.

He pulled the hangings of his four-poster bed back and flung his feet off the edge of the bed. All around him the sound of teenage boys sleeping soundly assured him that there was nothing to fear in the tiny dormitory, but the feeling of unease grew.

Harry lay back down again, but all he could hear in the silence was the pounding of his own blood in his ears and it disturbed him for some reason. What he didn't know was that it was distracting him from remembering his dream, because, even without him knowing it, Harry's brain was killing itself trying to remember what his dream had been about.

Getting up, Harry walked quietly to the door of his dormitory, opened it and walked down the steps to the common room.

The room was empty (as it well should be at 1'o clock in the morning) and at the far end, the embers of a dying fire were giving the entire room a reddish, and very eerie, glow.

Harry walked to a chair in front of the grate and sat down. He let his mind wander, thinking that would soothe him to sleep. Instead, it brought in a barrage of images and thoughts. To Harry's immense suprise, most of them were about Hawk. Harry frowned and sat up in the chair. Why was he thinking about Hawk? About the sound her laugh made, the way her hair moved around her face when she turned, the way she walked?

Then a voice in the back of his head broke through the wall of pictures. Because you like her...

He sat up straighter. What? No, no. That's not it.

Yes. Yes it is. You like her...You want her...

NO!!! No, I don't!! That's not it. She's my friend!! I can't!-

You just think you can't. And that's fine. But she should know.

Know what? That I have no feelings for her whatsoever?

She should be able to make an informed decision about where your friendship will go. And if you tell her, it would help.

But why would she decide to take our friendship anywhere?

Everyone's seen the way she looks at you. Just tell her. Maybe then you could get some sleep and you wouldn't be up at 1:00 in the morning talking to yourself!!

Harry leaned back against the chair again. His head was buzzing with the new-found information that he had no idea was there before and the strange realization that his innervoice sounded an awful lot like Snape.

About 20 minutes later, he finally decided that he would tell Hawk, if only to get some sleep. He got up and walked up the steps to the girls dormitory.

When he got to the door, he took a deep breath and tapped lightly on the door.

No one answered.

He did it again.

This time there was a shuffling noise inside. Three seconds later Hermione opened the door, looking bedraggled and mad.

"What...do you want?!"

Harry took a step away from this new part of Hermione. "I, um...just wanted to see if I could talk to Hawk." Hermione glowered at him and mumbled something that sounded like 'hold on' and then walked off into the darkness of the dormitory.

A suprisingly short time later she came back, looking more awake and aware now than she had just a few moments ago. But something was wrong. Harry knew it, he saw it in her eyes. She looked a little scared and frantic. She appeared at the door way out of nowhere. "She's not here."

Harry frowned, "What? How could she not be there?"

Hermione came out of the room and pulled the door closed quietly, and then pulled Harry back downstairs.

When they were in the common room again Hermione held up a piece of paper.

"I found it on Hawk's bed."

"All she left was this note?"

"Oh, for God's sakes! What the hell does Hawk think she's doing?"

Ron walked out of the boy's dormitory tying his robe around his waist." Whassamatter with you two? Isn't it a little late to be making out?" he said very groggily.

"Shut up Ron," said Hermione going a bit red.

"Why do you guys always leave me out of everything?"

"We don't. We were going to wake you up in a little bit so we could all have one big orgy," said Harry who was getting a little exasperated and wanted to read the note that Hawk had just left.

"Ron, Hawk's gone and she left this," said Hermione handing the note to Ron who opened it and read it aloud to Harry and her.

"Hey guys,

Probably not the best time to be quirky but I'm going to give you an explanation of why I'm not in my bed staring at the ceiling right now."

The three look at each other confused.

"Come on guys that was a joke you were supposed to laugh,. . . never mind. Hermione,

remember when we were trying to figure out what exactly was on my chain the other day? We never really found out what it was even though we had some ideas that didn't quite hit it. Then today we got

to 5th period. Lockhart's lesson got me thinking, so that's why at lunch I left and went to you all's

garden. I got my chain out and held it out into the light. What I saw surprised the hell out of me.

Staring back at me was The Heart of the Dragon."

Harry, Ron and Hermione gasped.

"I possess not only a star charm, and a tracking charm, but the Heart of the Dragon itself.

Harry I know that you are probably confused right now, but I know that you have been feeling bad

lately; and you know why. Voldemort is back. I have to do something about this because I have predictions of where Voldemort will strike first. Draco Malfoy is the keeper of the gates. He is the

one who will help me throughout the journey. He has bloodlines of which I do not know of, but

for that reason I desperately need his help in this journey. I am doing this for everybody. I do not

want anybody to get hurt. So please do not try and go after me. Remember that I am always with you.

In case something happens to me I give you permission to rip Malfoy's guts out if it was his fault.

I love you all,

Eva Maris Vela

"And you would think that she had some sense, going out in the middle of the night with Malfoy!" Ron finished, folding the note once again. "Thinks that she's saving the world--she's going to get herself killed!"

"She possesses the Heart of the Dragon. How did she get that?" asked Harry as he sat down in the chair that was next to him.

"Wait, wait. Ron give me her note," Hermione held out her hand towards Ron. She quickly opened it and read it over. "Eva Maris Vela - that's Hawk's full name?.... I've heard that before. I know that I have!"

Hermione walked around the room a little muttering "Maris Vela, Maris Vela, Maris Vela" to herself. She suddenly stopped and looked at Harry and Ron. "I recently checked out a book from the library over the wizarding trials done over the past century. Voldemort's deatheaters were some that were among those. And a name caught my attention. Adrianna Maris Vela was Voldemort's leading general in the past wars. She helped reign, destroy and capture the Goblin Lands. She was said to be the best Deatheater and helped Voldemort rule over his lands. Adrianna Maris Vela is Hawk's grandmother."

For a moment the three stood there in awe. "Then does that mean that Hawk could be part of Voldemort's plan?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, that would explain why she went with Malfoy. We all know that Malfoy is nothing but trouble and that his family would jump at the chance to join forces with Voldemort," replied Ron.

Harry stood up. He couldn't understand what was happening. He could not believe that Hawk was a traitor. To think that he had actually liked her.... The very thought that Harry would have asked Hawk out was repulsive to him suddenly. How could have he been so blind and stupid?

Suddenly Hermione stepped forward a little, the last dying embers of the fire casting an eerie shadow on her face. "I don't know guys, I really don't know who Hawk is anymore but if she really is on Voldemort's side, we are going to find out. Pack your bags boys, we're going on a little road trip...."

***

A loud thump echoed in the darkness as Hawk and Draco fell to the hard ground. All the air left Hawk's lungs in a gasp as Draco's full weight fell on top of her.

They stayed where they were for a minute, Draco's body pressing hers into the hard ground, Hawk trapped and not being able to move. The darkness around them seemed to press in on them and the tiny sound of water dripping from the stone walls resonated in the emptiness, sounding ten times bigger.

"Uh, Malfoy...I know that you might be enjoying this but you have to get off of me or else you're going to have to pry me out of the ground with a shovel."

Draco pushed himself up and sat back allowing Hawk to sit up. "You still think I'm fat, don't you?" The disapproval in his voice almost made Hawk laugh but she was in no mood to be toyed with. Not in the current situation.

"Where do you think we are?" Her voice was tiny in the vast emptiness.

"Beats me. Probably somewhere underground."

Hawk looked over at him. "Underground? Nah, really?...You come up with that all by yourself? We just fell fifty feet of course we're going to be underground!" Hawk tried to keep her voice down, not knowing who-or what-might be able to hear or what might happen if she yelled.

Draco just sat there and looked at her. "I don't think we fell that far...."

Hawk sighed and pushed herself up, ignoring him. She tried to look around but could see only black. Her hand felt around inside her pocket for her wand and she pulled it out muttering, "lumos." Draco did the same and their surrounding area of about ten feet was lit with an eerie greenish-silver glow.

Hawk turned around and looked about her. They seemed to be in a tunnel that was about fifteen feet wide and immensely long. Behind her was a stone wall, ahead a dark infinity.

"I guess we go that way," Hawk's voice shook ever so slightly but she hid it very well.

Draco got up and they both looked ahead of them, as if trying to see what they would encounter. They both stayed where they were, each not wanting to move first. Finally Hawk became very impatient (after about ten seconds) and pushed Draco out of the way. "Oh, for the love of crap!"

Draco took a step back. "Hey! What was that for? There's no need to get physical here!"

Hawk smiled, glad that there was someone here with her, and kept on walking. "Believe me Draco Malfoy, when I get physical, you'll know," she called over her shoulder.

Draco stayed put for a second, taking it in, and then ran to catch up with Hawk.

They walked in silence for a while, not knowing what to say. There was still much tension between them. It was like running away with a murderer for both of them. They just didn't know what to say to each other. So they decided to remain quiet and dwell in their own personal thoughts about the stupidity of them both.

***

"Whose there?!!!" screamed Filch as he walked into the abandoned chamber. "Ms. Norris my

sweet, tell me who was here."

McGonagall and Dumbledore walked in looking groggy and tired. "Filch, whassamatter? Why did you have to wake us up this late at night?" said Professor McGonagall rubbing her eyes in a lazy manner.

"There are students up late at night, I can feel them professor."

"Well apparently there is no one here Filch, what exactly did you hear?" asked Dumbledore.

"I heard footsteps and some arguing, it had to be students trying to sneak out! Or some nasty little

fellows doing inappropriate things in inappropriate chambers!"

Dumbledore hid a small smile at the mention of 'inappropriate things' around in Hogwarts. Because as much as people thought that Dumbledore did not know, he was very well aware of the 'incidents' that happened in the Astronomy Tower and in the many halls and chambers of Hogwarts. Besides, Dumbledore had an idea on who was in the chamber, and he knew only of two people that can be heard arguing that loudly while trying to hide.

"That will be enough Argus thank you for patrolling the halls but I am sure that it was nothing more than Peeves trying to play a prank on you"

"Peeves, Peeves where?! Why that little-!"

"Come along, Minerva. Come along Filch."

***

Almost an hour after they had found the note, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were walking down the hallway under Harry's invisibility cloak (do they still have the invisibility cloak?). With all three of them under it, it was very crowded and Harry had to keep from opening his mouth when someone stepped on him.

"Do you even know where we are going?" Ron asked.

"....Not really..." Hermione admitted.

"What? You don't even know where we are going?!" Ron stopped walking, making Hermione bump into him and the cloak slipped off of Harry, exposing his head to the night air.

He tugged the cloak back on, "Hermione, how come we are going somewhere when we have no clue where it is?" Harry asked calmly.

"We had to go after her! I think I know where, anyways."

"Where?"

"She is probably in the room with the trap-door she is was talking about. We just have to find it. I think she found it on the first day she was here. But I didn't find her when she went off by herself that day and there was no other time she could have found it."

Harry and Ron looked at each other. Harry sighed, "So you want us to take you to the room," he said. "Ron and I found her in the third floor corridor. I guess she found the room there."

Hermione stood there for a little while, not moving. "Well, then, lets go," she said suddenly and began walking.

When they got to the third floor corridor Hermione stopped again.

"Do you guys remember which way?"

Harry pointed, "It was somewhere down there. We don't know which door, though."

Hermione sighed and began walking again. She stopped when they got to the doors. "We'll never be able to find out which one it is--Ron, what's the matter?"

Ron turned to them, pale in the darkness. "Someone's coming."

Harry pulled them against the wall, just as Dumbledore, McGongall, and Filch came out of a room two doors down from where they were standing.

"Someone was in the corridors not but a half an hour ago, headmaster, I'm sure of it. Mrs. Norris claims there were two. Two!! And at this hour of the night! It's unspeakable!!"

McGongall stifled a yawn, "Filch, there was no one there. Where could they have gone? Into the floor?" she asked sarcastically.

"Now, now, Minerva, if Filch says someone was there, then maybe someone was there. I'll ask the other professors and the prefects tomorrow. For now, I think we had best be going to our beds; there are things we need to attend to tomorrow and I would hate to keep anyone from what they need to do."

Dumbledore said this just as he passed Harry, Hermione, and Ron. As he passed, he turned and looked at their invisible forms and they all knew instantly what was happening and that he knew, too.

The teachers turned the corner and were gone.

They all looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Is there anything that guy doesn't know?" Ron asked. "Every time something happens, he always knows."

"He's Dumbledore," Hermione shrugged. "Now, they came out of that door there."

They took off in that direction and opened the door. The door was heavy and when they opened it, it lead them to a plain room with torches on the walls.

"It really doesn't look like anything is in here," Ron said.

"No, something is wrong with the floor. It's all real dusty except for that one part there." Hermione threw off the cloak and walked over to where she had been pointing. Harry and Ron walked over, too.

They all bent down and crouched over the spot. On closer inspection, they found a wooden door that blended in with the floor. Hermione reached out to touch it and as her fingers lightly brushed the wood, something clicked underground and the door popped open a little ways.

Harry, Hermione and Ron looked at each other in awe.

Suddenly Hermione got up.

"Come on. Lets go."

***

What seemed like hours later, Draco walked aimlessly behind Hawk, his wand outstretched before him to give him light. The greenish light reflected off of Hawk's back.

She was definitely different, that was for sure. For the first time in Draco's life he was not being followed by some over driven hormonal girl whose mind was set only on getting into his trousers.

To most sixteen year old boys, hormonal girls are all that they dream of. To Draco, though, they were all that he had ever had in his life and he grew tired of it. He very well knew that all he had to do was wave his hand and have any girl that he wanted. Hawk however, never showed him any direct signs of infatuation, which was a total shock to Draco. Who could resist this face? He thought to himself as he continued walking.

It seemed to Draco that tolls were taking a different turn. He was taking notice of every little detail in Hawk, not the other way around. Perhaps it was the fact that she was so different from what Draco had ever seen that interested him so much. Her very clothes alone were extremely unique.

She was wearing a pair of black pants that hugged her hips but were slightly baggy as they came down her leg. The shiny glint of several zippers in odd places caught the light of his wand. Her fitted shirt raised a little above her waist line and almost made him smile. He really wondered where in the world she got her shirts. The one that she was sporting at this moment housed a picture of a smiling white rabbit that had a paw up to it's mouth in a very sheepish manner and a greenish glow surrounding it. Under the rabbit were words that read 'Cute But Phsyco - Hey, It Evens Out'. A pair of bright green suspenders that matched perfectly with the glow of the bunny held everything together.

Millions of thoughts crossed his mind and he didn't know what to make of them. Only one thing stood out clear in his mind: He must have been crazy. There was no other explanation. Why he had gotten out of his nice warm bed, why he had come to the God-forsaken room...why he had taken her hand....

It was evident, he was crazy.

And a little scared now, too. This was the first time Draco had ever gone against the wishes of his father--but it wasn't just his father that he was rebelling against. It was Death himself.

What Voldemort would do to him-what he would do to Draco's father was....not something Draco wanted to think about. So instead he looked ahead of him. Hawk's hair blended in with the blackness surrounding them and almost got lost in it. The only thing that stood out was her pale skin. She had not said a word in all the time they had started walking and Draco wondered briefly what she was thinking.

But then again, maybe he didn't want to know.

***

It seemed they had been walking in the tunnel for hours. The only light that was given to them was what came from the pale green fire of the torches that burned in their brackets on the walls and their wands. Strangely, the fact that there were torches that did not need to be lit in this tunnel where she was sure no one ever traveled did not disturb her in the least.

The walls of the tunnel itself were stone, with a strange look to it, as if they were slightly wet. Hawk wanted to touch them, just to get a feel for the tunnel, but, knowing better, she didn't.

The trip had been a silent one, Draco didn't talk and Hawk let him ponder his actions and smiled, knowing that Draco knew that he couldn't go back on his actions now. He was stuck with this no matter what he did now. Draco couldn't go back.

The tunnel was straight with very slight turns-when there were any-and there was a chill in the stale air.

Hawk stifled a yawn. The only sleep she had gotten had been in the classrooms and even those had been interrupted by the nightmares. The last good night sleep she had was before her grandmother had gotten sick, and that was weeks ago. At first her insomnia had been caused by worry, and then, once her grandmother had died, grief. Then, when they had come to Britain-bearly a day after the death (supposedly because they were on a very tight schedule)-Hawk had not slept much because there was too much to do and what little she did sleep was plagued with the first of the long procession of nightmares. Lack of sleep up to now was solely because of the uncomfortableness of Hawk's present life and, of course, the nightmares.

But Hawk would have to sleep some time soon. She couldn't go on like this forever. Especially not with the things she would possibly have to do later.

Hawk thought briefly of just lying down and sleeping in the tunnel but she quickly came to the conclusion that that wasn't very safe and, plus, what would Draco do while she slept? But Hawk's eyelids were getting harder to keep open and she was stumbling more frequently, her vision blinded and her mind clouded by the need to sleep.

"I'm going to have to stop soon," she said to the person walking behind her, not turning around. "Once we get out of this thing I need to sleep."

A grunt of acknowledgment met her statement.

As any normal person would be in their sleepless state, Hawk was cranky. Everything that had gone on was wearing on her patience and nerves. Especially Draco. Anything out of him that was sarcastic or very non-caring about what they were doing would make her snap. For now, though, Hawk held her tongue.

Seeing was becoming more and more of a much needed but not had priority and Hawk stretched her wand out more. The soft light lit up the path in front of her as opposed to the dull torches that Hawk really didn't see a purpose to, as they didn't really help much. They just added to the eeire feeling.

The light from her wand didn't seem to be any better, though. Hawk still stumbled on nothing and bearly had enough strength to catch herself.

Tripping on nothing was something that Hawk barely had strength for but when her foot caught on a stone that seemed stuck to the floor almost half an hour later, it was all too much.

Hawk stumbled and, being too weary to summon the strength to regain her footing, she fell, her wand slipping out of her weak fingers. But before she hit the ground Hawk felt strong arms catch her around her waist and put her back on her feet.

Draco didn't let go of her, feeling how limp she was.

"We can stop here," Draco's voice was soft in the darkness and he kept his grip on Hawk.

"No, we have to at least get out first." Hawk squirmed slightly in Draco's grasp.

Draco shook his head, "You're too tired."

"Draco...let go of me..."

Hawk felt the arms around her waist leave and turned around just as Draco bent to retrieve her fallen wand. When he got back up, he and Hawk were face to face.

Draco looked at her and Hawk waited, thinking that Draco had something to tell her. But after a couple of seconds she began to grow uncomfortable. Just to have something to do, she reached out and took her wand out of Draco's hand.

"You have to sleep," he repeated, still looking at Hawk, "You look like shit."

Hawk laughed. Both the way it sounded with his accent and the bluntness of the statement rang in her mind.

"Well thanks, that's the look I was going for. It's so totally in season right now--"

"Hawk," Draco said gently, interrupting her.

"Once we get out," Hawk promised almost immediately, just to keep him from saying anything more.

She started to walk again, Draco close behind in case she fell again.

"There can't be that much more, we've been in here forever." Hawk said it more as an encouragement to her as to assure Draco also.

As they kept on walking, neither talked. Hawk supposed it was because they just had nothing to say to each other. The silence was heavy all around them and it made Hawk uneasy--or sleepy. It didn't matter which one because both were bad at the moment. Something had to be said, if only to keep Hawk sane. But she really didn't have anything to say to Draco and she didn't feel like embarrassing herself by starting a dead-end conversation and making herself sound needy for companionship....Twisted as it sounded. But something really needed to be said....

"Don't loose your way

with each passing day

You've come so far don't throw it away..."

Hawk's voice echoed in the dark emptiness and it sounded like there was five of her, even though she had barely whispered the song to herself.

"What?" Draco asked from behind her.

Hawk smiled. "It's a song that my grandmother used to sing to me." Hawk looked down, even though she was sure Draco couldn't see her and her voice got quiet. "It was the last thing she said to me before she died...."

Still walking behind her Draco cringed. The way her voice sounded Hawk must have loved her grandmother very much. There was a carefulness in the tone she used that seemed as though she didn't want to offend her grandmother's very memory by talking about her with nothing but love and devotion.

"Live believing

Dreams are for weaving

Wonders are waiting to start..."

Draco relaxed just a bit as Hawk's voice filled up the darkness. It wasn't exactly musical or in tune for that matter, but it was simple and-with her accent-it stood out. It was very Hawk.

"Did your mother ever sing to you, Draco?" Hawk asked quietly, simply. Draco noticed how she sometimes called him by his first name and sometimes by his last. Whichever the current situation asked for.

"What?" The question took him slightly aback. Draco thought that everyone at Hogwarts knew about his parental situation. But then he remembered that Hawk hadn't been at Hogwarts long enough for all the horrible rumors about Draco Malfoy to get to her.

"My grandmother used to sing to me whenever I was sick or sad," Hawk said, "Until I was about six I thought that everyone sang to their children," Hawk laughed at her own foolishness.

"No," Draco said shortly. "My mother never sang to me."

"It's really an amazing feeling," Hawk said quietly, as if she didn't want to make Draco jealous that someone cared enough about her while she was growing up to sing to her. It didn't really make a difference to Draco.

"I really couldn't care less, Vela."

"If we hold on together

I know our dreams will never end

Dreams see us through to forever

Where clouds roll by

For you and I..."

"Your accent," Draco said suddenly, "It's...?"

"Mexican," Hawk said simply.

"Mexican?"

Hawk frowned in the darkness, as if she really didn't know how anyone could not know. "Yeah, you know...Mexican." And when she felt that Draco still couldn't comprehend, "As in 'from Mexico'."

"Why not say Spain?" Draco asked suddenly, confused.

"Because I'm not from Spain, although that was where my grandmother was born. Spain and Mexico are two different things. They have different concepts, different backgrounds and they even speak a different language."

"Oh," was all that came from Draco. Hawk shook her head and smiled.

"The inscription on you necklace, what does it say?"

"It says 'The stars of the night will show you the way in the darkness and bring you home to the light'."

"Oh." Again all that was said.

"Your name..." Hawk began.

"What about it?..." Draco's voice held a harsh warning.

"Well, it doesn't really suit you."

Draco didn't say anything for a while, as if he didn't understand what Hawk had just said. "What?"

"Well, I mean, it doesn't go with your facial features. It goes with your personality just fine," Hawk said quickly, "but you don't...look like a 'Draco'."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Then enlighten me, please, Vela," he said sarcastically. "What name exactly does my face just scream out at you that I have been so deaf to all these years. Please tell me that way I can change my name to please your high standards of naming every person on Earth by their facial features. Pray-tell, what is my name?"

"Francine."

For a long minute Draco said nothing. Then, when he did speak, it was very controlled. "Francine?...."

"Yup." Hawk hid a smile. She knew how much this was getting to Draco.

"Francine?!"

"Yes," Hawk's smile grew bigger.

"Do I look that gay to you?...."

Hawk laughed out loud. "It has nothing to do with you looking gay, Malfoy. It's just that you have very soft facial features so you need a soft name to go with them."

"Good. Because I'm not gay."

Hawk laughed again. "If you say so. I'm not here to judge."

"Well, you don't look like a hawk," Draco stammered out quickly.

Again Hawk laughed. "Gee, Malfoy; I don't really know if that's a pro or a con...."

"You know what I mean," Draco said curtly.

"Do I, Malfoy," Hawk said, mocking seriousness, "Do I really?"

At first Draco didn't answer and Hawk thought that he was just being difficult again but then she felt a hand on her arm keeping her from taking another step.

"Malfoy?..."

"Look, up ahead. The tunnel breaks up." Draco was squinting through the darkness ahead of them. Hawk held her wand out in front of her more and took a cautious step forward.

Through the dim light of the wands Hawk made out three dark tunnels, each one with an open doorway that was four feet wide and about seven feet high.

"Which one are we supposed to take?..." Hawk didn't mean for her voice to sound so feeble and scared but it did. She had never thought that she would have to make a choice like this. Life or death situations certainly, but not on how to get out of a never-ending tunnel.

Draco walked over to each and began inspecting each one carefully. "Just give me a second, there might be a spell or something...."

Hawk frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. The tunnel was cold and her feet ached. For a long while Draco was quiet, not talking, just thinking. During the lapse of sound Hawk's mind kept on returning to the song and her mind repeated it over to Hawk.

Growing more impatient every second Hawk began looking at the tunnels, too. But, unlike Draco, who was inspecting the bottom part of the stone walls, she began looking at the top.

Her wand cast shadows over tiny parts on top of each of the tunnels when she reached up to shine the light there.

"Draco," Hawk whispered as the shadows became clear when she pulled her wand back slightly, "There's something at the very top. Right over the center."

Draco looked up and held his wand higher. With the combined light of both wands Hawk was able to make out the designs on each tunnel entrance: On the far left, a star. The center, a moon. And the one on the right, a sun.

"That's really strange," Draco commented to himself. "But I still don't know which one to take."

The song that Hawk's grandmother sang came back to her and Hawk let out an audible gasp.

Draco turned quickly, startled by her sudden reaction.

"Draco, I know which one."

Draco looked at Hawk skeptically.

"It's the one on the right." Hawk had a certain tone in her voice, as if she was completely confident in her decision--or she just didn't know what would possibly happen to them if they chose the wrong passage. Draco thought he should enlighten her.

"Vela, I'm sure you've become accustomed to guessing on major decisions in your life-what you'll eat for dinner, what people think about you, tests....But this isn't exactly like picking letter C on a scantron because it's the one that occurs most on an exam."

"No, I'm not guessing. I'm positive....And it's B."

Draco narrowed his eyes at Hawk's total lack of relativity. "What?"

"It's actually letter B and not letter C that is the letter that would have most the answers on exams."

Draco shook his head. "I'm not even going to doubt you on that since you seem to know so much about it and all, but this is slightly different-"

"No! Listen: 'Don't loose you way with each passing day you've come so far don't throw it away," Hawk didn't sing the words this time but said them, slowly and deliberately.

Draco didn't quiet understand. He said as much.

"Don't you get it; 'With each passing day'...Look at the symbols up there. There's a moon, a star and a sun. Which seems a little out to you?..."

Draco almost couldn't believe it. "You're playing 'Single out the Weirdo' with something as serious as this?!"

Hawk scoffed. "Hey! I resent that!! And plus, it's not the game I'm basing this off of; it's the proven facts."

"What?!"

Hawk walked over to the tunnels. "Fact: We are down here because I have been having really horrible feelings about things happening and they actually are. Fact: My grandmother was a key factor in opening that door. Fact: I have found out that nothing she gave to me as a child is without purpose anymore. Fact: The song matches pretty damn good with symbol."

"Stop saying 'fact' and how can you bloody tell!?! There is one word in the stupid song that just happens to be the symbol over one of the tunnels: Big tooty-fruity! If we go down the wrong tunnel we could die, Vela, I don't think you understand that part!"

"Look, I know what could happen to us if we go down the wrong tunnel and I know how bizarre this sounds...I know. But I also know that this is right," Hawk gestured toward the tunnel that had the sun over it. Her voice got very soft, almost sorrowful. "You've trusted me so far Draco...trust me again..."

Draco's voice was hard and unforgiving. "I haven't trusted you: I've submitted to your delusions and so far they've proven to be right--by luck. But that's not trust."

"We don't have a better choice!" Hawk was close to a state of angered frenzy. "You don't have the slightest clue on where to go and even if you did, we could still die. We could go down the right tunnel and still die!! Life is a chance, Malfoy; but you don't get a coin to help you decide in this." She calmed down a little. "You may not have trusted me before and I'm not asking you to now. But if you want to at least make it out of this God-forsaken tunnel then you're going to have to submit to my delusions one more time. I know I can get us out of here."

"How can you be so confident, Vela? Death could be five feet away and you seem like you don't even care," Draco's voice was quiet this time.

"I don't fear death, Malfoy. It's all just part of the process. And I know for a fact that we are not going to die in here." She smiled. "We're too important."

"But how can you be sure we won't die?"

"I was loved, Draco. And the one who loved me has gotten us this far--she wouldn't quit now. We have a purpose and we have a destiny. This is our purpose. It leads to our destiny. Celestial beings that I have no control over have been leading us when we have been blind and they still are. They will guide us to the light and not let us down," Hawk pointed down the tunnel, "And this is the way to that light."

There was a long pause when Draco said nothing at all. They both just stood there. The light of the wands reflected off of his face and Hawk saw at that moment just how tired he was, too.

Just when Hawk was beginning to think that they were going to stand there forever Draco began to walk. Down the tunnel. Shocked, Hawk didn't move at first. Draco had to stop and turn around.

"Are you coming, Vela, or do I have to go on without you?"

Hawk snapped out of her initial shock and started off after Draco.

When they entered the tunnel, the torches stopped and there was no more light except that which was coming off of their wands. It was stuffy, from lack of ventilation, and the walls seemed closer together than they were in the original tunnel. It was a lot smellier, too.

Hawk held a hand up to her nose and pretended not to notice, but after a while, she just couldn't help it.

"Do you....smell....that?..." she asked Draco.

When she turned to look at him, he had his hand up to his nose, too. "Vela, I would have to have been born lacking in at least three of the five senses to not smell that. What the hell is it?"

"I want to say it's probably a rotting corpse in a puddle of hundred year old, congested skunk shit...but I don't think we're that lucky."

Draco moved his wand over the surrounding walls of the tunnel. Molded moss and dead plants surrounded every inch of all of the walls. Thinking about it now, Draco could almost recognize the putrid smell from that one time were he was put in detention with Madam Sprout in his third year. He had to help her take out all the rotten, dead plants in the greenhouses. It was a disgusting job, but the smell! The smell had been the worst part. A mixture of rotting dirt and old sweat.

Pushing back the memory Draco sighed at the discovery. "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's just dead plants. I guess we are lucky after all," he joked with a tiny smile.

"Draco, look at this." Hawk stretched out her arm to show Draco. Her hand pushed up against a wall.

It was a dead end.

***

"Are you saying that we have to go through that hole in the ground, fall to the depths of the unknown, maybe risk breaking our necks on the way, not to mention a couple of fingers, arms, and a leg?" Ron said restating this to an attentive Hermione who nodded very matter-of-factly without saying a word. "All right just checking. Sounds good to me."

"We have to be careful," Hermione finally spoke. "We don't know if she's dangerous. She might be after all. She's not the Hawk that we know anymore."

Harry stood there looking into the black depths of the underground tunnel. The idea that Hawk was a traitor would not fit in his mind. But all the facts pointed to this decision and he could not ignore them. Secretly he wished for something else, that maybe it was not all true. Just like Sirius being a murderer was not true, it was false, even though everything pointed to his godfather being a killer it was not true. Sirius was innocent.

"All right let's do it," Harry said looking up from blackness to Hermione's light face.

"Ron you first."

"LETS ROCK-AND-ROLL!!!" was all that could be heard as Ron dropped down the dark abyss.

***

"No, no it's not. The exit is just covered with those plants. You see the light that is coming out of the edges over here," Draco walked closer to the end of the tunnel to show Hawk where the light was coming through when he realized something. "Vela - these are - they're -"

"Dead Mycrocysts," she finished. "I thought they were marine plants that needed lots of water to survive."

"Yeah, they are. This naturally means only one thing: At one point or another, this whole tunnel was underwater. I think this was a secret passage way into the lake."

"Well whoop-de-do Malfoy, that's great but we really need to get going," Hawk walked next to Draco as they both cleared the Mycrocycts away from the exit revealing a door.

As they scraped away the last of the aquatic plants they both stood back to look at what they had uncovered.

The light of two wands illuminated to their owners a huge doorway with two large pillars on each side. Like the pillars the door looked to be made of oak. It was made fact when the stench of rotting wood caught their noses.

Hawk walked up to the door and held her wand closely to it. The flickering soft light showed intricate designs on the wood before her.

On the pillars the outline of constellations could be seen, each one exact in it's description and location. There were other symbols scattered at random throughout the wood, too, but what they meant Hawk was unsure of.

On one of the doors a bird in mid flight seemed to have been carved, on the other a dragon with it's wings outstretched and it's teeth bared. In between the two carvings a woman stood, her hand on both designs. The parting of the doors seemed to go through her in exact symmetry. The same symbols that Hawk could not make out on the pillars were also nestled deep in the wood of the doors, except this time they were not scattered abroad. Each one was placed around the head of each the bird, the dragon and the woman, as if they were halos, and each symbol was different.

Hawk stared at the woman on the door. She looked strangely familiar though Hawk knew that they had never met. Behind the woman the faint outline of another dragon could be see, this one bigger than the other dragon that she had her hand on.

Along the edges of the doors and at the bottom and top of the pillars thinly carved words could be seen. But they were so old and faint that, even with both wands Draco and Hawk could not make them out.

"How do you suppose we get through?" Draco asked, his eyes big and innocent.

Hawk ignored the taunt and answered him. "I suppose like we got through the trap door in the floor."

Hawk shrugged. They began searching for a hole to press the necklace into. While running her hand along the edge of the two doors Hawk found it in the middle of the woman, around the stomach section, the line of the door going through it in the exact center.

Hawk caught Draco's attention and pointed to it.

"I guess we put it in," she whispered softly. She reached behind her and gathered up her hair in one hand, putting it over one shoulder, leaving her neck exposed. Small fingers began working on the clasp and soon the necklace was in her hands and both she and Draco were staring at it.

Before Hawk could change her mind, she held it against the door and pushed it into the keyhole that was there. They both whispered the incantation together, pressing the necklace farther in, Draco's hand on top of Hawk's.

There was a rusty clicking noise and the sound of something heavy being moved. The doors slowly began to move outward, the thin light that had shown through the narrow cracks growing bigger.

Hawk and Draco stood side by side, not moving, hardly daring to breath, Hawk's hand gripping her necklace so hard the metal bit into her skin and she felt blood swell. Draco moved beside her and she relaxed a little, knowing that she was not alone in this.

The light that shone through was suddenly blinding and both Hawk and Draco brought their hands up to their faces to shield their eyes from the dazzling white light that was coming in from the doors that now stood open, revealing what they had traveled so far for.