Begin to Hope

"So, you see, I really didn't do anything. I had been in the library the whole time. I had nothing to do with the entire troll incident."

Klaus, Maverick and I sat under a shady tree about half a mile away from the castle, debating about what had happened and whether or not Klaus had anything to do with the trolls. He claimed he didn't, but I felt like I couldn't trust him nowadays. I just didn't ever know when he was telling the truth or not. I knew I shouldn't have been thinking like that, but it was an irritating feeling that I couldn't shake.

"Why didn't you try and find us then, after you felt the castle shaking?" I asked, plucking a piece of grass and rolling it around in my fingers. "We didn't know where you had gone."

"And I didn't know where you had gone! I tried, but by the time I got back to the room, you both were gone."

"Oh," Maverick replied, not really paying any attention to either Klaus or myself.

"Jeremy saved us," I said conversationally.

"Did he?" Klaus asked, an amused expression on his face.

"Yeah, a troll was about to crush us and we barely made it out alive--"

"Wait, you guys were in the room with the trolls?" Klaus asked us seriously.

"Yes," I replied irritably. "I told you that before, but obviously you weren't listening. We went to find you and came upon the trolls--"

"Oh, geez! Did anyone see you?"

"Yeah. Well, no. The Death Eaters did, but I don't know if they recognized us." I looked up at him. "Is that a problem?"

"Oh, fuck, Kerry! What if they track you down and accuse you of letting the trolls in?"

"We've already been over that," Maverick said, snapping out of his stupor. "They even chased us down the hall, but it doesn't matter, as we've got away, haven't we? If they come after us, we'll deal with that when it happens. But right now I've got to go score me a hot chick." With a snap of his fingers, a pair of sunglasses materialized in his hands and he slipped them on over his eyes. He curtly nodded to both of us, and strolled off deeper into the forest, looking for "hot chicks".

"And Maverick and I are both guessing that Jeremy is the one that let the trolls in the castle."

Klaus thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "He couldn't be. He's been here nearly his entire life." He shrugged. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to question him later, if we see him again."

We sat in silence for a few moments, before Klaus turned to me, running a hand through his hair. "Geez, Kerry. What are we gonna do?"

"What do you mean, what we are gonna do? Don't you have a plan? You said you'd have a plan by this morning, or else you promised we'd leave."

He turned a faint shade of pink and I knew whatever spilled out of his mouth was going to be bullshit. "Well... you see, obviously my plan can't be put into action if we're out of the castle, and... well, you know, it is a good plan--it will just take a little while to get started--" He kept on blabbering on about nonsense, but I tuned him out. Instead, I concentrated on the grass beneath my hands. I was watching a little ant attempt to carry a crumb past a particularly large blade of grass and back into its ant hill, but it was struggling. I felt so bad. I wanted to help it, but I didn't, for fear that if I touched it, it wouldn't understand what was happening and have a heart attack and die. I wondered if ants had heart attacks to die from.

Suddenly I got the irritating feeling that someone was watching me. I shuddered and looked around. The woods were pretty quiet, except for Klaus, who was still talking. But then out of the corner of my eye I saw a sudden flash of movement and I silenced Klaus to listen and watch. I heard voices and I realized a few people were walking this way.

"Klaus... duck!" I tackled him into the underbrush, landing on top of him face down.

"What a compromising position..." he said, smirking up at me. I was thinking the same thing, but I didn't say it. I motioned for him to be quiet, and we listened as the people drew closer, and I quickly realized that I recognized one of the voices.

"The Dark Lord will probably transfer me up another Level, once I deliver him this information... and then I'll convince him to go on the raid, and get the remaining bratty-nosed children... even if three of them are missing."

"You're positive you know where they are hiding? You won't screw this up, like last time?"

"Positive."

A third voice spoke up. "What if the three that are missing are out looking for the necklace? Would they be able to find it?"

The first one's voice remained calm and smooth, no sense of hesitation or worry at all in it. "Not at all. It's hidden in the perfect spot. No one would ever be able to find it."

The second one's voice lowered to a whisper, and I cocked my head to the side, trying to hear as best as I could when he said, "Would you mind telling us where? I mean, just a hint won't hurt, right?"

The three people speaking then walked into our line of view, and my worst fears were confirmed.

"Yeah, Orlando, tell us where it's hidden!"

Orlando Broom had once more walked into my life.

At the sight of Orlando, Klaus started coughing and choking like a maniac, presumably because he was so angry he couldn't stay still. I tried to hush him, but the three Dark wizards heard the noise and became immediately alert.

"Who's there? What's going on?"

But before I could plan my next move, Klaus did it for me. He grabbed my body and hoisted me back on top of him, and he lurched out of the bushes, rolling us around on the ground wildly as if we were about to have sex. As we bounced around the ground towards the three Death Eaters, he eagerly took my face in his hands, and leaned his head forward, as if he was about to kiss me--

Two simultaneous spells shot at us. The loud cries of "Incarcerous!" broke us apart and tied us up, leaving us inches away from each other, but for some reason, it felt like I was angrier about being broken apart than I should have been.

"Well, well, well. What have we got here?" One of the Death Eaters knelt down beside me and peered at me. His eyes were the darkest shade of black, a weird phenomenon I had never encountered before. It was horrifying to look at, yet I couldn't tear my eyes away. "A wild romp in the bushes while the castle is under attack, eh? We'll see what the Dark Lord has to say about that." He raised his wand, and I was sure he was about to knock us both unconscious, when Orlando stopped him.

"Wait. Let's see what they know first."

Klaus shook his head defiantly. "Leave us alone! We just wanted to spend some time together."

Orlando sneered at him for a second, almost turned away, but then looked back. "Wait--you look familiar." He studied Klaus' facial expression and the way he struggled against the ropes binding him. I could feel my palms growing sweaty as Orlando examined him. What if our disguises didn't hold up? What if Orlando realized who we were? I could feel this plan deteriorating in front of my eyes. And I knew they wouldn't hesitate to dispose of us, only bringing back our bodies to show to Voldemort.

"How long have you been here?" Orlando demanded of Klaus.

"A week." Klaus replied, trying to stare Orlando down.

Orlando stared at Klaus only for a moment more before shaking his head and waving his hand casually at us, but it was a crazed, painful look, as if he was just trying to get a memory out of his head.

Just then we heard an announcement coming from the castle, even though we were quite far from it and I wouldn't have suspected the sound being able to travel that far. "The castle is now clear, and everyone is free to reenter as they please. I repeat, everyone may now reenter the castle. Thank you."

Orlando looked around, as if jolted awake by the announcement, and then made a brushing motion with his hand.

"Let them go. They didn't mean anything."

"But--what if they heard something?" One of the Death Eaters protested. "Shouldn't we erase their memories?"

"No. Just let them go."

The Death Eater looked unhappy as he waved his wand and Klaus and I were both set free. Orlando motioned and the other two Death Eaters, with glares back at us, began to walk away. Orlando took a step forward and smirked at us.

"But if you did hear anything, I'll find out, and I'll come and find you, and kill you personally." And he turned and hurried to catch up with his buddies.

Klaus and I looked at each other with concerned expressions on our faces. We both started talking, our sentences overlapping.

"They were talking about us--"

"And they know where the others are hiding--"

"And they're going to go and kill them--"

"But how could they have found them?"

"Unless Peter Pettigrew got away!"

"We have to go, right now. We have to--" He started pacing back and forth in front of me, his head in his hands, a grim expression on his face. "Alright, alright...think."

"We're going to have to warn Annabelle and the rest. And get them out of Hogwarts. Voldemort will go after them in an instant," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and looking about uneasily. Even with Orlando and those other two Death Eaters out of earshot, I still didn't feel safe.

"But someone will also need to stay here and find out where the necklace is. I swear, if we just had the necklace, then we could go after Voldemort with no problems!" He stopped pacing suddenly and looked up at me. "Alright, you are going to have to return to Hogwarts as quick as you can, gather all of them, and take them somewhere safe."

"Me? Alone? But--but where will I take them?"

"It doesn't matter. Anywhere. In the meantime, we'll have to send Maverick to chase down the Beauxbatons group."

"What for? They could be anywhere! Klaus, you have no idea what you're talking about. This is a major project, and we should plan it, take our time--"

"We don't have time, Kerry! We have to send Maverick there to gather them, rally support, because we're going to fight Voldemort."

I swallowed hard. "Fight?"

He nodded solemnly. "It's time."

"And... what are you going to do while we're out finding these people?"

"I'm going to have to go after the necklace."

I shook my head. "No, Klaus, stop, you don't know what you're getting into--we have nothing to go on, and nowhere to go."

"Kerry, the time is now. We have to do this right now, or we'll never be able to get it done. We have to gather all the support we can, and attack the Death Eaters ourselves. I know we don't have much of a chance, but... we have to give it our best shot."

I looked at him with a pained expression on my face. "I trust you, Klaus, and I'll follow your instructions, even if I don't..." I didn't finish my sentence.

"You better leave, right now." A chill ran down my spine at his words, and I nodded. We embraced, an awkward motion meant to comfort each other, but it did nothing but give me an aching feeling in my stomach. I turned and raced off back towards the castle, and looking behind me, I noticed that he didn't move, but only watched my retreating figure.

I crept around the corner as silently as I could, avoiding human contact with the people that were milling about the castle, trying to figure out what to do with themselves while the setback in scheduling was dealt with. When I was sure no one was watching, I ducked into an empty classroom and shut the door behind me. Seeing that the room was indeed empty, I breathed a quick sigh of relief and hurried over towards the teacher's office. I didn't know who the teacher was, specifically, but I heard tell from a whispered conversation in the hallway that she was in possession of a flying broom, which was exactly what I needed to make my escape back to Hogwarts.

Using a bit of magic, I managed to break open the lock on the door, and I shuffled inside. I lit my wand and used to look around, finally finding the broom in a closet.

Before running off with it, I glanced down at the handle. A Cleansweep Five. I groaned inwardly. Broom manufacturing had been stopped many years previously and I hadn't expected anything spectacular, but this old broom wouldn't get me anywhere. I glanced once more around the room, and not finding another broom, decided this was the best I'd find anywhere.

I hid it under my robes and although I looked misshapen, it didn't look that suspicious. I ran down hallway after hallway until I finally found a loosely guarded exit. I hopped outside and danced around for a moment, glad to be back outside and away from the horrible gloomy depths of the castle.

Spotting a few bystanders watching me curiously, I ran into the forest and didn't stop until the castle was out of sight. There, I hopped on my broom, held up my middle finger back at the direction of the castle, and pushed off the ground.

I was off to save the wizarding world.