Dark Daughter

Chapter 4: Azkaban and Its Tortures

(Events take place around November 8^th)

The weeks snagged by, with no signs that any thing terrible had happened. For about two weeks Snape did not teach his classes, which made many of the Gryffindors very happy (all except Amy, that is). But by the second week the school began to wonder what had happened to the potions master. Amy was of course the only one who knew. She was wondering whether she would tell her friends about what had happened on during that night. She wanted to tell Jason about Sirius Black but if he took it the wrong way things could turn very nasty indeed.

Professors Flitwick and Delacour had been teaching potions. But on the Friday of the Halloween, Snape reappeared in his dungeons. The Gryffindors had potions with the Slytherins on Fridays.

Amy was in Snape's first class of the day. She was determined not to be her usual goofball-self. She told her friends to be kind and well behaved too and they seemed to understand that Amy couldn't tell them exactly why. Getting Jason to be good for Snape was another story. It took Amy a whole two days to convince him not to do any pranks or take advantage of Snape's possible weakness.

"He was nasty to me when I came back from the hospital wing still ill, remember?" he kept saying.

"But Jason, he did something really good for our side, Pease. And besides, the Golden Rule, treat others as you would have them treat you, even if they don't follow the Rule themselves. C'mon Jase, just be respectful for one Potions lesson, okay, please?"

Finally, Jason agreed. So the whole class stood in a line outside Dungeon Four, waiting for Snape. He opened the door slowly. Amy was in the middle of the line, she wasn't sure why, but being seen by Snape scared her a little. The class filed passed him Amy avoided his eyes.

Snape was as pale as ever and when he walked across the dungeon to stand behind his desk he walked more slowly. Jason watched Snape with narrowed eyes. Amy could almost hear his thoughts, 'He's faking it!'

She looked sideways at Derek, who was pulling his book out of his bag. They spent the entire lesson copying notes from the book. Everyone was strangely quiet. Even Amy and her friends' archenemy, Mordicus Flint, didn't say as many of his rude remarks, though this might have been because the class was so quiet.

Amy thought that maybe she was imagining it, but it seemed like Snape's eyes flicked in her direction more than usual (considering he usually didn't look at her at all). It was odd, but Amy didn't feel in the slightest bit proud of what she had done, though she wasn't ashamed either. It felt like so many of the teachers were trying to praise her, but she didn't think that she'd done anything worth praising. She had to save Snape, and Black, and what would she do if Voldemort's secret information had not been transferred to Dumbledore? He would find out somehow another way and then Amy would be in for it.

Not that Amy had done any of those things just because she had to. But she couldn't see where she had a choice. It was all she could do. She didn't feel much like a hero. There was no one there to reassure her that she'd done the right thing, because she hadn't told her friends. Amy felt incredibly lonely. She knew that if she told her friends there would be a long conversation and Jason would never forgive her for saving Snape. They would, of course, understand why Amy had not told them strait away. But it was very difficult to relive the events.

The snake that Amy had saved was still in her room, apparently it took longer for snakes to heal from Enico Curse, or maybe it took all victims longer to recover when subjected to it more than once. The problem was, that it was hard to get to the forbidden forest with out being seen. Amy had planned on setting him free after or before one of Hagrid's lessons. But that chance had been snatched away when the snake hadn't recovered on the Monday that the lesson took place.

Amy planned to set him free tonight, using her invisibility cloak. Yes, Amy had an invisibility cloak. She had inherited it from her mother, who (she hoped) had bought it or inherited it. But her mother hadn't left much money for Amy and her little half sister, Aria, who was six and a half. Amy and Aria's mother hadn't been what many people called "a good person." She had been a Death Eater. When Voldemort met his downfall she was pregnant with Amy. This much, Amy knew, but she wasn't sure who Aria's father had been, because he'd left once Aria was born, when Amy was six. The reason for this was because her mother had died during childbirth and Who-Ever-He-Was had left.

Amy had lied when she said that she'd lived in a muggle orphanage almost all of her life. She couldn't remember her stepfather at all though. Even as a six year old, she'd learned to stay out of the house or in her room when he came around. Amy was often in daycare, or at muggle preschool during the time that she spent with her mother. She was quite sure that her mother had been afraid of her. But her mother must have known that Voldemort would rise again, because she often made attempts to teach Amy the Dark Arts, though Amy had no idea what she was talking about until she reached Hogwarts.

Amy often thought of her half sister, Aria. But she never referred to her as a "half" sister--she was a sister. Aria was a witch too. But she was only six and a half years old, so she had a few years to go. She was still at "A New Day Orphanage" (that was the name of Amy's orphanage).

A day after the events of October twelfth, Amy was ashamed that she had been ashamed about living in A New Day. She loved the people at her orphanage, they were like family. When Amy came there, they welcomed her with open arms and showed her that she had not lost a family, she had gained one.

The bell rang. Amy closed her books, packed them into her bag and walked out of the room, trying hard not to look at Snape. Jason caught up with her when they were nearly to Gryffindor tower. There was barely anyone around, they were all at dinner. Amy braced herself for a tirade about Snape.

"Are you happy now?" he asked angrily. Amy said nothing. "I know he's faking it. I know it! He just wanted time to do whatever dark deeds Voldemort asked him to do. I won't be surprised if we're all poisoned at diner tonight."

"Yeah," said Derek. "You're probably right, Jase."

"I agree," said Joanne.

"We all know he's damn evil, he is. All of them Death Eaters are," said David.

Amy couldn't stand another minute of it. Her face burned. They were at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Finally, the angry balloon in Amy chest burst.

"AND WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT ANY OF THIS?" she yelled. Her friends were taken aback. "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT! Snape is not evil, and neither am I!"

"Amy," said Jason. "We never said that you were--"

"You said that all Death Eaters are evil! Well guess what, I pose as a Death Eater. I didn't ask for it, I don't want it, I don't like it and Snape doesn't either, but have to do it!"

"Amy calm down!" said Jason. "Listen to us, we didn't--"

"NO! It's your turn to listen, Jason!" At this Amy's voice became considerably calmer. "Never judge human beings like that. You don't understand what Snape has done for us. Don't be so eager to judge someone on something that you do not understand . . . And Merlin hope that you never have to understand."

They stood in silence. Jason and David were staring at Amy with disbelief, but Derek and Joanne were staring at Amy with worry and admiration. Amy broke down completely. She'd been holding the secret and the pain of October twelfth's events for too long. She hugged Jason, of all people. She sobbed into his robes.

"Oh, Jason!" she cried. "I'm so s-sorry. I just c-can't st-stand this anymore. I hate being a spy. I w-wish I'd said n-no and Voldemort had killed me!"

She cried harder, clutching Jason's collar. He had been standing quite still and stiff while Amy spoke and held him to her, but now he put his arms around her shoulders and the others came over to hug him and Amy, who still did not release her friend.

"Amy," said Joanne soothingly. "There is nothing to be sorry for. It is us that should be sorry, and we are. Do you forgive us?"

"There is nothing to forgive," she told them without taking her face off of Jason's chest.

"As to everything else you said," said Derek. "Amy, you can stand this--and you will!"

"And if Voldemort had killed you, who would be our Amy?" said David. "We need you, your sister--Aria--she needs you, Dumbledore needs you, even Snape needs you. It was good of you to say yes for our side. You are not evil, and if you say so--Snape is not evil either."

Amy looked up into David's eyes. She still had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Thanks Dave," she mumbled. Leave it to David, she thought.

They found an empty classroom and Amy told them about everything. Told them about what happened to Snape, about her talk with Voldemort, (she, again, left out the part about her being Voldemort's heir). She told about Sirius Black, and his innocence. And she told of her latest lessons that were being taught to her about the Dark Arts by Voldemort. When she finished, her friends sat in silence.

"You're sure you saw Pettigrew, Amy?" asked Jason for the thousandth time. He was in disbelief. "Wow," he said. "My uncle's innocent!"

"You can't breathe a word about any of this though," Amy told them. "Not even about Sirius Black's innocence. It's too risky. And besides, everyone would think you were mad."

Amy felt very happy. She felt like a particularly large stone had been taken out of her stomach. Her friends knew what had happened. She could share her feelings now. It wouldn't be so hard to get out of her dormitory now that she didn't have to worry about explaining to Joanne. Everything was better now.

"Now--about that snake," said Derek. "We'll have to use the Cloak. I don't think all of us should go. Maybe only two."

"Yeah," said Amy. "But I'm a little nervous about going when it's completely dark. Let's go when everyone's at dinner. So, who wants to come?"

"I will," said Joanne.

"Right," said Jason. "We'll go down to dinner. It won't look right if all of us don't arrive. They'll think we're of on a prank, and you know how upset Fred and George will be if they miss the fun."

All of them nodded. Amy and Joanne hurried up to their dormitory and fetched the large, silvery invisibility cloak. Amy retrieved the snake and told him that he was going to be set free. The snake did not have a name, because, as Amy had learned, animals do not name themselves. Amy and the snake had thought for a while and then agreed that if the snake was going to stay for a while, then he would need a name. They decided on Anguis. He liked the name and Amy was pleased.

It was a relief to be releasing Anguis. He was a good friend, but Amy was getting tired of giving all of those dead spiders to him. She didn't like spiders very much and she needed them for her potions class. The headed down the marble staircase, trying their hardest to be quiet.

It was a silent and uneventful journey down to the forest, when the reached it, they both threw the cloak off of themselves. Amy walked over to the base of a large pine and put the snake by one of the roots.

"Goodbye," hissed Anguis as he slithered away. "And thank you!"

"No problem," said Amy. "Remember, stay away from the castle."

"If you ever need anything, and I can assist you, please don't hesitate to ask me. Friendship among snakes is not common, especially between a snake and a human, but when it does happen, the friendship lasts forever and is not easily forgotten. Goodbye, Friend."

"Goodbye, Anguis . . . Friend!"

Amy stared after her unlikely friend as he left.

"You sound weird when you talk to snakes," Joanne said crudely.

"Your not the one who hears it come out of their mouth," said Amy. "It scared me out of my wits when I first did it on accident. I've gotten used to it a bit, but still . . . "

Joanne threw the cloak over them again. They hurried up to Gryffindor tower. When the reached it, the two realized that it was unnaturally quiet. Out of the corner of her eye, Amy saw Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley looking particularly grim. Both ran up to their dormitory, took off the invisibility and then hurried down the stairs again.

"What's happened?" Joanne whispered in Derek's ear.

Derek handed Amy a Daily Prophet article and said, "Read it. We can't talk now. Go up to your dormitory. We'll see you in the morning."

Amy and Joanne went back up to their dormitory. They were the only Gryffindor girls in their year, so, naturally, they had the run of their dorm. Joanne snatched the paper out of Amy's hand and began to absorb it, Amy reading over her shoulder.

The Dementors Have Left Azkaban!

Upon arriving at the Azkaban fortress this morning, Ministry officials discovered the island deserted. The prisoners are not in their cells or even on the island.

"The dementors have obviously betrayed us!" says Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge the moment he was informed of this disaster.

"We're doing all that we can to recapture the prisoners," reports Head of Magical Law Enforcement, Albert Arxcis. "We do, however, advise that the magical community exercise extreme caution until all of them are caught!"
Many members of the magical community are worried about more than the prisoners. The dementors of Azkaban can do worse than kill. Many Ministry members fear that the rumors of the Dark Lord's return to power are true. The Minister, however, still denies this. But The Prophet went out and interviewed a few passersby in Diagon Alley.

"S'not them Death Eaters I'm 'fraid of," says Stan Shunpike, conductor of The Knight Bus. "S'them dementors I worry 'bout."

Others only say that, "We can only hope and have faith in the Ministry!"

The Prophet will keep you posted.

Joanne crumpled the newspaper in her hand. She closed her eyes and turned to Amy. When she opened them again, her eyes were filled with fear and worry.

"What're we to do?" asked Joanne faintly. "The dementors are loose, and so are all of You-Know-Who's most dangerous supporters. How're we going to get through this when the Aurors are starting from scratch and Fudge won't admit the truth?"

"I don't know, Joe," said Amy. "Oh--that's what Voldemort was talking about! He was going to convince the dementors to leave Azkaban and join him. Oh no! Oh, oh no!"

"It's gonna be all right, Ammster," Joanne said, coming over to Amy and putting an arm around her. "Like you always say 'as long as there's Dumbledore, we're okay!'"

"I've got to go to Dumbledore!" Amy said suddenly.

"Why?"

"Because I need to talk with him," said Amy.

And without another word, Amy dashed from the dormitory and then slipped out of the portrait whole. She ran down the corridors and skidded to a halt outside Professor McGonagall's office. She knocked on the door.

It swung open immediately and McGonagall's white face appeared in the doorway.

"Miss Evans?" she said.

"Professor--I know it's late but I need to talk to the headmaster!" said Amy.

"The headmaster just sent Professor Flitwick to collect you," said Professor McGonagall in a very matter-of-fact tone. "He wants to speak with you also. Come--this way--follow me."

Amy followed her professor obediently. Professor McGonagall led Amy to Dumbledore's office.

"Lemon Drop," said Professor McGonagall. And the gargoyle jumped aside to allow them entrance.

"Minerva," said Dumbledore, who had obviously been waiting for them. "Phillip just arrived and said Amy wasn't there. But I see that you have found her. Good."

"It was Evans that found me," muttered the Transfiguration teacher.

They all went up the moving stairs into Dumbledore's office. When Amy entered she noticed that the office was different from the last time she'd seen it; there was a large, long table laid out, with a red tablecloth on it. Many people were sitting there. Amy saw faces that she recognized and some that she didn't.

Something of her surprise and confusion must have shown on her face, because Dumbledore said, "Amy, this is the Order of the Phoenix. I would like you to join us. You are my spy and you are one of those who are risking everything (life, pain and family) to work against Voldemort. If you choose to accept, I may call on you to perform missions for me, and you will be something like a worrier for me, against Voldemort, as they are," he gestured to the people sitting at the table.

Amy stared at the old man. Dumbledore saw that she looked overwhelmed and said, "I will give until the end of the meeting to decide."

"This way, Evans," said Professor McGonagall, leading Amy to a chair right next to Snape. McGonagall sat down on the other side of Amy. This made her feel extremely nervous. The two most respected teachers in the school on either side of her.

"This meeting of the Order of the Phoenix is now in session," said Dumbledore. "As you all will have noticed, we have a new maybe to-be member. Her name is Amy Evans. I expect you to treat her with the same respect as you would if she was an adult. Is that agreed?"

There were many nods from the other people in the room. Amy noticed Sirius Black sitting in a seat near Dumbledore, right next to him was a man named Remus Lupin. Amy knew him because he was her Defense Against the Dark Arts in her first year. They gave her a grin and she grinned back. Little ways down was Mundungus Fletcher, David's uncle. Next to him was a lady Amy recognized as Arabella Figg. Amy didn't know much more about her except that she had a load of cats. She saw many more faces, such as many of the Weasleys, Mad-Eye Moody, and--the Diggorys?

The whole school of course knew about Cedric Diggory's death at the end of last year. He'd been one of the Hogwarts champions in the Triwizard Tournament. Harry Potter had been chosen by the Goblet of Fire too, as part of the Dark Lord's plan to return to power. Diggory had touched the Triwizard Cup/portkey along with Potter and the two had been transported to Voldemort. Diggory had been killed immediately. Amy knew that Harry still blamed himself for his fellow student's death.

Amy supposed that the Diggorys wanted to avenge their son's death. They must not have wanted any other parents to experience what they had. A man named R. K. Lupin entered the room, closing the door behind him.

"Ah, Romulus, come in, come in," said Dumbledore. He paused, and then he began to speak, his words sounded grave.

"Now, as would all know by now, Azkaban has been broken open. According to Harry Potter, this is what Voldemort's plan was from the beginning," the old man paused again, looking older and graver than ever. "I'm afraid that there is very little we can do. No one can convince the dementors to return to out side, and it will be extremely difficult to recapture the old prisoners of Azkaban if most of them have rejoined Voldemort. We must inspect the island of Azkaban. I am asking for volunteers--I need two."

There was a long silence in which no one and nothing moved. Finally Sirius Black raised his hand. Remus Lupin stared at him as though he couldn't believe his eyes. Others stared at him too. Amy couldn't believe it. Black was willingly returning to Azkaban? He was braver than Amy thought.

"Thank you, Sirius," said Dumbledore. "Are you sure you want to take this mission?"

"Yes," said Sirius. He, like everyone else in the room, was pale and worried, but Amy could see the bravery.

"Anyone else?" said Dumbledore.

Amy raised her hand. Everyone stared at her, just as they had at Black. She wanted to shrink back into her seat, but she stayed upright and stared at Dumbledore.

"Does this mean that you accept--you want to become a member of the Order of the Phoenix?" asked Dumbledore

"Yes," said Amy, quite clearly.

"Are you sure that you want to take this mission?"

"Yes," said Amy again.

"Very well," said Dumbledore. "Amy, go to your dormitory, tell your friends that you may not be there for a while, don't tell them why, or where you're going. I'm sure they'll understand, knowing your friends. You can tell them when the mission is over, but tell no one else. Gather all materials that you may need, as long as they can be carried on your back. You may go now."

Amy nodded and hurried from the room. The others stared after her.

"Brave, that one," said Mundungus Fletcher once Amy was out of earshot. "She's friends with my nephew. And yours, Sirius."

"Let us get back on the subject," interrupted Dumbledore. "Charlie, would you please go and fetch Hagrid. He will need to contact the giants again, to make sure that they are still on our side."

Charlie left and, instead of staring after him too, the others stared at Dumbledore.

"There is nothing else that we can do, you are dismissed."

Most of them left, but Sirius stayed, so did Lupin.

"Good luck, Padfoot," he said. "Just try not to get yourself cursed this time, okay."

Sirius laughed. "Don't worry so much, Moony. I'll be fine. Will you?"

"Yeah," said Lupin. "Just don't set a bad example for Amy. I taught her, remember?"

"Sirius," said Dumbledore quietly. "Look after Amy for me, won't you?"

"I will, Albus," said Sirius reassuringly. "By the way--how are we supposed to get there? I'm not swimming again."

"You could take Buckbeak," suggested Dumbledore.

"All right," said Sirius.

Amy Evans walked back into the office. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder.

"Ready?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah," said Amy. "Are you, Sir?"

"Yes. Let's go!"

"Good luck to you both," said Lupin and he left.

"I, too, wish you luck," said Dumbledore.

So Amy and Sirius walked down to the edge of the forest together. Amy couldn't believe what was going on. She was going on a mission who, until a month ago, she thought was criminal. She was being treated like an adult. It was just unbelievable.

"How old are you, Amy? Can I call you Amy?" asked Sirius.

"Amy is fine," said Amy. "And I'm thirteen."

"Thirteen?" said Sirius in disbelief.

"Yeah," said Amy. "So that may explain why I'm so short."

"Actually you're quite tall for thirteen," said Sirius. "This way. What beats me is why Voldemort would want to have a thirteen year old as a Death Eater--no offense."

"I don't understand either," Amy lied.

"You do seem to be more powerful than other students your age," said Sirius. "Remus--Mr. Lupin to you--told me. He and the other teachers were deeply impressed when you were in your first year."

Amy went scarlet and muttered, "They don't like me as much anymore, now that I do so many pranks all of the time."

Sirius stared at her.

"Really? I was a prankster too."

"You wrote the Marauder's Map, didn't you, Mr. Black?" said Amy.

"Yeah, I--how on earth do you know about the Map?"

"Fred and George Weasley," she explained. "My friends and I do pranks with them. They got hold of it and showed it to us. They gave to--Er--someone--"

"Harry," said Sirius. "Am I right?"

"Yeah. Well, we used it to plan a lot of out pranks--it's brilliant!"

"Thank you," said Sirius. "I wasn't the only one though."

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin and Pettigrew wrote it too, right?"

"Yes, they did," said Sirius. "How do you know all of this?"

"The Headmaster told me, that night when you were cursed. You probably couldn't hear, but he explained everything. He didn't tell me about the Map, of course--I figured that one out on my own. But he explained the nicknames, because Voldemort calls Pettigrew by his nickname."

Suddenly Amy stopped as they reached a small paddock, where a gray hippogriff was tied to a pole.

"Wow," she gasped. "He's beautiful!"

"What do you say, Buckbeak?" said Sirius, smiling. "I'm sure if he could talk, he would say thank you."

Amy walked up to Buckbeak, and for a terrible second, Sirius thought that she didn't know how to approach a hippogriff. But she bowed and Buckbeak bowed back almost instantly. Sirius did the same and this time, Buckbeak bowed right away. The two mounted.

When they took off Amy gave a strangled sort of scream and threw her arms around Sirius' chest.

"You all right?" asked Sirius concernedly.

"I don't like heights," she whimpered.

"Hang on tight," said Sirius. "I'm not a bad flier, I promise."

"I trust you," said Amy. "It's me who I don't trust!"

These words made Sirius feel a strange amusement in his stomach. This girl hadn't known him for more than a month, she didn't even know him, she'd only met him twice and if you added up the time they'd spent together, it had only been about an hour or so. And yet, she trusted him. He felt warmth in his stomach, there were people who believed him and respected him, other than Remus, Dumbledore, Harry and his friends.

Sirius flew for a long time; it was beginning to get light. They didn't talk much; it took Amy many hours to get used to Buckbeak's way of flying. But after a while she stopped holding so tightly to Sirius and straitened up, looking around at the scenery.

"Amy," said Sirius, he thought it would be a good idea to talk a little, though talking wasn't his favorite pass time since he escaped from Azkaban. But Amy was no doubt as scared as he was, and Sirius was indeed afraid. He had to get her mind off of the mission. Finally he decided to ask about Quidditch, he always loved Quidditch as boy, he still did. "Do you like Quidditch at all?"

"Oh, yes," said Amy with a twinge of joy in her voice. Yes! Good one, Padfoot! "I'm on the Gryffindor team," she informed him.

"You are? I thought you were afraid of heights," said Sirius.

"Well . . . I'm not really afraid of heights. It would just take too much time to explain--sorry. But I'm really afraid of riding hippogriffs. You see, I was in Care of Magical Creatures class and, by some unlucky circumstances, I was supposed to ride on a hippogriff with my least favorite student at school--Mordicus Flint. He pushed me off and I--well I missed quite a few days of classes," she grinned. "And dear Flint got quite a lot of detentions. It's not the hippogriffs, really, but still, it really hurt."

Sirius sat in silence for a bit, then he said, "Well that's understandable. What position do you play?"

"Oh, I play chaser," said Amy, she paused for a moment, then she said, "I heard--I heard in first year that you played beater for Gryffindor. And you were really good. The way Fred and George talked about it they sounded like you were the greatest, even if they still thought that you were a criminal."

Sirius laughed. "Yes," he said. "I was a beater. But I don't know if I was that good."

"Bet you were," said Amy. "If you're anything like Jason."

Sirius laughed again. He was beginning to like his new, young friend more and more by the second. But her words made Sirius want to know more about his nephew.

"What is my nephew like?" he asked. "Does he play on the house team?"

"No, there's not an opening, but he's a great friend," said Amy. The mention of her friends seemed to make her happy. "I'm not sure how to start, all of my friends are great. But Jason--he was my very first friend at Hogwarts (or on the train) and then we met David Fletcher my other friends."

"Have you seen my brother, Thomas Black? Do you know if he's alright?"

Amy looked down, and Sirius looked over his shoulder at her and felt like a rock had fallen into his stomach.

"Nothing's . . . happened to him, has it?" he asked shakily.

"Oh, Mr. Black," said Amy tearfully. "He--he died about two years ago . . . of a magical illness that I don't remember the name of. I'm so sorry!" she added.

Sirius sat in stunned silence for a long time, Amy waiting anxiously for his response. Finally, when he spoke, his every word trembled.

"No--no one ever told me! He's been dead for two years? I don't believe it!"

"I'm so sorry," Amy repeated.

"It's not your fault," said Sirius. "I should've known. He was ill last time I saw him. It was his job. He was trying to find cures to incurable magical ailments. Was he a good father?"

"Yes," said Amy quietly. "He was. Jason and his brother loved him and still do."

"How are they?"

"Jason's better, but I think the closer we get to the holiday season, the harder it gets. I read somewhere that it takes longer for kids to really get affected by grief and that it comes back to haunt us about a year afterwards. I don't think Mrs. Black understands."

"Ah, I see," said Sirius.

They were quiet for a long time again. Amy made some remarks about how beautiful the landscape was, but immediately went back to being quiet. Sirius was having a lot of trouble understanding why on earth Voldemort wanted someone so kind and understanding on his side. But then she was powerful, and she must act cruel and evil when around him. This girl reminded him of someone, though he couldn't think of whom.

The morning was beautiful but once it was twelve, Sirius knew that he had to land somewhere until it was dark. He found a forest by the sea--the sea in which the island of Azkaban was located. The forest was so dark under the trees that it felt like night. They landed softly near a large pine. Amy jumped off and helped Sirius tie the hippogriff to the tree.

"I'm going to transform," Sirius told Amy. "If that's all right with you. We need to sleep, and I have less dreams when I'm a dog."

At this Sirius went red. Amy nodded and said that she understood. She curled up next to Buckbeak. But she gasped and clutched her arm the moment she'd gotten comfortable.

"What's the matter?" asked Sirius.

"My, arm!" she moaned. "Oh, no. Voldemort's calling the Death Eaters to him! I can't get there. Oh no!"

Sirius had put a hand on Amy's shoulder. "Why can't you get there?"

"There's a portkey in Hogwarts," Amy explained as she straitened up. The pain was leaving now, but she new that it would be back when she hadn't showed up. "It takes anyone who touches right to Voldemort's side. I can't Apparate, so I use that."

"Oh," said Sirius, sitting down. Thinking he should probably change the subject, he said, "It's a bit nippy. If you want to get warm you can sleep under Buckbeak's wings. He lets me, I reckon he'll let you."

Amy nodded and looked at the enormous hippogriff. She approached him timidly. He looked at her as she reached out a hand to pat his beak. He nudged her hand in the way he usually did to Sirius, which must mean that he liked her. Buckbeak lifted one large wig, urging Amy to curl up under it, as he often did for Sirius. Amy crawled forward on her hands and knees. Sirius almost smiled to himself as Buckbeak cooed like a dove in happiness that Amy was lying under his wing.

"He's very sweet," said Amy, as she reached up to pat the hippogriff's beak again.

"He is," said Sirius. "Good ni--Er--I mean--day, Amy."

And without another word, Sirius transformed into Padfoot, curled into a ball and closed his eyes.

"Good day, Mr. Black," said Amy sleepily and she closed her eyes too.

Almost immediately, she slipped into dreams filled with visions of the Dark Mark and Voldemort eyes. She heard the screams and cries of children and saw a blast of green light. Then a high pitched, cruel laugh started in the distance and grew louder and louder until--

"Amy! Amy, wake up!"

Amy sat up gasping for breath.

"NO!" she cried.

"Shhh," cooed Sirius, much in the way Buckbeak did. "It's all right, you were dreaming."

"What?" said Amy, staring frantically around. "Oh . . . oh, Mr. Black, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"No," said Sirius. "I was already awake. It's time to go. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yes," Amy said firmly. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, Mr. Black."

They mounted Buckbeak and flew off. Amy was not scared this time. She talked pleasantly with Sirius for about an hour until they saw the island of Azkaban and fortress that stood upon it.

"That's it, is it?" said Amy quietly.

Sirius didn't speak; he couldn't speak, so he nodded. Amy understood and she was silent for the remainder of the journey.

The island was surrounded by a large, black cloud, so it impossible to see the fortress. When they landed, Amy lit her wand and took the rope around hippogriff's neck and tied it around the base of an extremely large and skeletal bush so that Buckbeak could lay under it and no one, not even in the air, could see his enormous form.

The island appeared to be deserted, but the dememtors' cold still lingered about the place. Amy shivered. It was the most terrible place she'd ever been. Though the sun had not set all the way, it was colder and darker than night. A cloud was over the island and created a thick black mist. It was impossible to see and thing beyond the island, but Amy was sure that the cloud hovered only around the island and that outside of the cloud, it was probably still light.

It a few minutes of looking around with their wand light before Sirius and Amy realized that all that remained of the prison was a ruin. You could still walk around in the many hallways and cells, but the walls would only come up to your waist.

"Oh, my God," Amy gasped.

"They destroyed it," Sirius whispered.

"How're we going to look for clues now?" Amy breathed.

"I'm not sure," Sirius told her. "But we have to try."

They had to make a start. Amy began on one end of the small island and Sirius started on the other. This was probably an unwise decision, because, after about thirty minutes of searching (in which they found nothing) the air was full of the sounds of wizards Apparating. Amy hid in a large dumpster-like bin that had a lot of musty, old gray robes, while Sirius hid behind a wall that had a bush behind it, so he crouched in between the bush and the wall and was completely concealed.

As Amy lay buried under the robes, she listened to what the wizards were saying.

"We gotta get rid of the bodies," said a dull voice of a man that Amy recognized Crabbe.

"Yes," said Macnair's voice. "We must remove all evidence. Master ordered it. Come, we must go quickly, before the Ministry sends searchers."

"Why didn't the Ministry search the island before?" asked Crabbe.

"Too, scared," said Macnair's voice. He sounded amused. "They hurried back to the mainland the moment the realized that the fortress had been broken open. Probably wet their pants."

At this, both burst out laughing. Amy wanted to be sick. She listened for more, but there was nothing else that the two Death Eaters said. She could hear them moving, and walking around, but nothing else. She didn't dare move in order to look but he knew that they were moving, she could hear the rustle of fabric. She also heard the distinct sound of something heavy being dragged along the ground.

"Crabbe," said Macnair impatiently, "We can use magic to do that!"

"Er--right." Crabbe sounded embarrassed. They were silent for a while after that.

It must have been half an hour, Amy thought later; before she heard one of the Death Eaters, Macnair, yell.

"Enico-necare!"

"Calm down," said Crabbe. It was just a rat!"

"I'd go see if I preformed the curse right, but we're nearly finished," said Macnair. "Right--time to transfigure them."

Amy heard the characteristic sound of something being transfigured. They're probably transfiguring the bodies of the prisoners who didn't want to join Voldemort, thought Amy.

She heard two small pops and looked out from her hiding place. Crabbe and Macnair had left. She set out to look for Black. When she found him, she felt the gnawing feeling of panic in her stomach.

Sirius lay sprawled on the ground by a large bush. His eyes were closed, he was trembling all over and his chest heaved with each breath.

"Shit!" Amy muttered.

Sirius had obviously been hit with Macnair's Enico Curse. His face was growing green. Amy wasn't sure she could cure Sirius entirely. She happened to know that Macnair's Enico Curse was very poor. He was constantly practicing it, but never getting any better.

"Mr. Black," she whispered. "Mr. Black, can you hear me?"

She reached out a hand and shook his shoulder. Black coughed and opened his eyes.

"Amy?" he whispered. "I g-got hit w-with that bloody c-curse again."

"It's all right," Amy told him soothingly. "I can cure it."

She made him sit up and lean against the wall (Black grunted all the time that she did this), then she rolled up her sleeves and raised her wand.

"Medicor!"

Sirius lurched foreword and gasped for breath.

"Mr. Black!" Amy half screamed. "Mr. Black, are you alright?"

She pushed him up right again and was horrified by what she saw. His face was pale and tinted with more green, he was wheezing worst then ever. His eyes stared foreword with a half terrified, half agonized expression. The countercurse hadn't worked! This must mean that Macnair had preformed the curse wrong, and it was hard to reverse a curse gone wrong. Amy couldn't be sure how long she had to get Black help.

"Mr. Black," said Amy. " Mr. Black, you'll be all right, I'm get you out of here. I'll be right back, okay?"

She grasped Black's shaking hand. For some reason, she did not hesitate in holding Sirius' hand, a man she had only met twice in her life. He stared at her with eyes that seemed empty except for pain and fear. Amy put a hand on his shoulder and shook it.

"Mr. Black, do you understand? You're going to be all right!"

With a huge effort, Sirius pulled himself out of the dark mist in his brain and nodded weakly.

"Good," said Amy in a comforting voice . "I'll right back. Just stay here, okay?"

Neither Amy nor Sirius thought that he would have much luck in moving from his place on the ground but he nodded again all the same. Amy hurried off to where a pile of bones lay. Death Eaters always changed bodies into bones. She rapped them in a piece of cloth with care and put them safely in her pack. Then she pulled out the spare cloak and went back to Mr. Black. She wrapped it around his shoulders.

"I'm going to go get Buckbeak now, okay?"

Amy didn't wait for a response. She ran in the dark, tripping and stumbling over the rubble. Finally she found Buckbeak, and bowed. It took a long time for Buckbeak to bow, but eventually, he bent his knees. She patted his beak reassuringly and guided him back to Sirius.

Buckbeak knelt next to Black; he apparently knew what to do. It was getting Mr. Black onto the hippogriff that was going to be difficult. Luckily, he was conscious enough to grab hold of Buckbeak's feathers while Amy pulled him onto the giant creature's back.

"You rest now, Mr. Black," Amy told him. "Just hold on."

And then the seriousness situation finally hit Amy: she had to fly Buckbeak to Hogwarts! How on earth was she going to do this? She knew very little about flying a hippogriff and she didn't know the way to Hogwarts. She also had to go extremely fast, in order to save Black.

"Buckbeak," said Amy hesitantly. Maybe he knew the way! Maybe she could communicate with him. It was worth a try. "Buckbeak, we need to get to Hogwarts, quickly, do you understand?"

The hippogriff cooed like a dove again and made a gesture, as if nodding.

"You know where Hogwarts is? It's where Hagrid lives, the big castle, you know where that is?"

Another coo and a nod, so Amy said, "Can you get us there, please?" There was yet another coo and nod. "Thank you, Buckbeak. And could you go as fast as you can? Sirius, here, is very ill, he needs medical help. Could you please hurry? I don't know the way to Hogwarts, so that's why I'm asking. Will you please take us there?"

When Buckbeak cooed, but this time, it was very reassuring. He nodded one last time and took off. They flew over the familiar forest and over the beautiful landscapes that Amy had noticed last night. About half way through the return journey, Sirius woke up enough to speak.

"I'm not goin' . . . be able to look . . . Moony in the . . . face for a . . . week," he mumbled.

Amy remembered what Dumbledore had told her the night she met Black, how he and Lupin still called each other be their nicknames.

"Did he tell you not to get cursed this time?" asked Amy.

"Y-yes," whispered Sirius, but he couldn't say anything else because he passed out again and nearly fell off Buckbeak, but Amy caught him. She had gotten used to how fast Buckbeak was going in the hours that she had spent on his back.

Finally, just as it was beginning to get light, the Hogwarts castle came into view. Upon glancing down at the Quidditch field, Amy realized that her first Quidditch match would take place in a few hours. Her toes brushed the tops of the trees beneath them, and the sight of the castle made Amy feel calmer than any time during the entire mission.

As they landed in the small paddock that Amy had first seen Buckbeak in, Amy sent out the ghostly messenger bird (Dumbledore had taught her how to perform the spell) and it flew off towards the Headmaster's office. Amy didn't dare remove Black from the hippogriff's back; for fear that she would drop him. But Buckbeak lay down and Black began to roll off, but Amy caught him in her arms, holding him with one arm under his knees and the other supporting his back. She sagged under his weight (though he was very light for an adult). It was a very uncomfortable situation--holding a fully-grown man in her arms and Amy was relieved when she laid him in the grass and crouched next to him.

She didn't wait long before her ghostly silver bird returned to her, with Lupin and Dumbledore trailing behind. Amy jumped to her feet and ran to meet them. And hurried along side them as they made their way over to Sirius.

"He was hit with the Enico Curse," she explained.

"I thought you knew how to cure it?" said Lupin, as they reached Black and he crouched next to his friend, taking his rapid pulse.

"I do," said Amy. "But this curse was preformed by Macnair--he's not very good at it. It's hard to reverse this curse when it's not done properly. I did the countercurse (or tried to), but it only made it worse. I think the only cure, now, is the Mandrake Restorative. Is there any in the castle?"

The headmaster and old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher stood and stared at Amy, amazed at how much she knew. Finally, Dumbledore said, in a soothing voice, "There is a Mandrake Restorative in the castle, Amy."

"I think we need to hurry," said Amy frantically. "I think that when I tried to perform the proper countercurse I made it so that there was less time. Or maybe getting

hit with the curse twice makes it harder to reverse. I don't know enough about Voldemort's curses to be sure."

They all ran up to the castle, and Dumbledore took them through a secret passage that led to his office. It was dark and was mainly a narrow twisting staircase. Amy was made to promise that she would never tell a fellow student about the passage, and, of course, she had no complaint.

The headmaster opened a cupboard. Amy glimpsed a large stone basin with runes around the edge and shelves with tons of strange-shaped bottles and vials filled with liquids of all colors. Dumbledore took a bottle with a green-brown potion in it, which Amy recognized as the Mandrake Restorative. He closed the cupboard and approached Black, who had been seated in the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. He tipped the potion down Sirius' throat and then stood back.

"It worked!" exclaimed Remus, as Sirius stirred and grunted.

He began to open his eyes and Dumbledore said, "Amy, you may go if you wish."

Thankful for a reason not to have to talk to the man she'd just saved, Amy hurried out of the room. She walked down the deserted corridors (it was still early) towards the Gryffindor tower. But, in her haste, Amy walked strait into someone walking in the opposite direction and he seemed to be in the same hurry as her.