Gone Twisted

After Voldemort finally dismissed her, Ash could have cursed herself. How could she have let that freak get to her? How could she let her feelings slip and take control of her? Shaking her head violently, Ash let her arm pull backwards and let her hand rush into the nearest wall.

"Ouch!" she whined pulling her hand back. "Bloody..." she muttered shaking out her hand again. "Note to myself... Punching a wall equals pain."

"What are you doing there?" a familiar voice asked from somewhere to her left.

Quickly her head snapped towards the side. "Chase!" she gasped, "I-" she said, looking at the wall and her throbbing hand, "Well, I had a little misunderstanding with the wall, it stood in my way."

Chase raised an eyebrow at her before a grin appeared on his face. "If you say so. By the way, I wanted to inform you that the others and I are going to a party tonight. We wanted to ask if you'd care to join us."

Ash looked at her friend with a frown, "I don't think that would be such a good idea," she said, "the Dark Lord wants to keep my joining as a secret." Without glancing at her friend, she walked away from him, only wanting to be alone right now.

"Ash! Wait!" She heard Chase call after her. Inhaling deeply, Ash slowed down and looked over her shoulder, anticipating his next words. "I'm happy to see that your alive and healthy!" he said, walking up to her and hugging her tightly. "I was really worried about you."

Stiffening at his touch, Ash nodded before hugging him back. "I know you did," she sighed, closing her eyes and enjoying the physical, innocent touch of another human being, something that she didn't really have for a couple of months now. "Do you really have to go to that party?" she asked softly, whispering into his ear.

Chase stayed silent for a few moments before shaking his head 'no'.

Smiling Ash nodded and took a hold of Chase's hand, leading him to her room.

"Sit down," she ordered and pointed him towards her couch, where she sat down herself.

"What do you want?" Chase asked as he got comfortable on the couch. He knew her well enough to know what she wanted and intended the whole time, but he wanted her to ask him.

"You know what I want," she sighed. "I want to know everything... What happened the night I disappeared? What happened while I wasn't there? What do you know of my family? Tell me!"

Chase swallowed hard, she never was the type to beat around the bush and now she had so many questions...

"Where should I start?"

"Start at that night."

"But I can only give you my perspective," he warned her. "I lost sight off Blaise and Tracy along the way, so when I don't mention them, I have no idea what they were doing," he said, stopping her interrupting the story before he even started it.

"Where to begin?" he muttered. "Well," he started, "I was sitting on one of the couches in the common room during the party, talking to Isabel, when Blaise walked up to me, looking as if he was searching for something…”


"Chase!" The dark skinned boy with the chocolate eyes called over the loud music that was buzzing through the room.

Turning to look at the other boy, Chase smiled and greeted him. "What's up?"

"Have you seen Ash?" Blaise asked, not looking at Chase, but still scanning the room for the strawberry blond girl.

"No, sorry man, but wasn't she with you the whole time?"

"No... well, most of the time, but she suddenly disappeared," Blaise said sounding worried.

"Oh, don't worry. Ash is a big girl, she can take care of herself."

"I know... but I just have this feeling that something is terribly wrong," Blaise sighed and looked around the room again, concern shining in his eyes.

Frowning, Chase stared up at the boy and nodded, "I'll help you search," Chase said quietly, standing up and clamping one of his hands over the other boys shoulder. "Where did you last see her?"

"At the fireplace."

"And you checked everywhere for her?"

"Yes... except for the dormitories, but why ever would she be there?"

Chase shrugged his eyes venturing around the room, "Mal- Maybe she was tired..."

"That's not what you wanted to say right now. What is it?" Blaise asked giving his friend the evil eye.

Chase gulped and looked away, "I can't see Malfoy anywhere either..." he answered softly.

"She's not with him, if that is what you wanted to incline," Blaise glared.

"I know... but maybe we should check the dormitories just to make sure..."

Blaise fumed at him and snarled, "No, if we go there we're just going in order to prove you wrong."

Together the boys walked up to Tracy who had been searching for Ash as well and told her to check the girls dormitory, while the two of them looked into every room of the boys dormitories.

After a couple of minutes, the three of them met up again and found their search unsuccessful.

"See, I told you she wouldn't be there," Blaise sneered at his friend.

"But we haven't found Malfoy either," Chase sneered back.

That statement made Blaise flip. He roared at Chase and pushed the now trembling boy against the cold stone wall. "She is not with him!" he hissed at him. Suddenly he felt a hand touch his shoulder and as he checked to see who it was, he saw Tracy shaking her head. Grunting, Blaise gave Chase one last rough shove against the rough wall and then let him slide to the ground again.

Chase didn't say anything, only got off the ground, afraid that Blaise would flip again.

"Hey, I heard that you guys were looking for Weasley," a voice suddenly interrupted and three heads snapped at it simultaneously.

"Did you see her?" Blaise asked, looking at the girl in front of him.

"Well, I haven't seen her in a while, but I saw her run out of the common room, shortly after Malfoy slipped away."

As the girl mentioned Malfoy, Chase looked at his friend quickly and nearly felt how Blaise fell into a black pit.

"Thank you," Tracy growled swiftly and dismissed the girl, while her hand grabbed Blaise's arm. Facing Blaise, Tracy said, "Blaise, snap out of it. She's not with that git."

"How do you know? I mean, what if we thought wrong and she isn't over him?" he said sinking into himself.

"Tracy's right, she isn't with him, I'm sure of it. She kissed you, didn't she?"

Blaise looked over at Chase with an hurt expression, "Weren't you the one who suggested it all the time?"

"Yes, but I was joking," Chase sighed and shook his head...

"And then it happened..." Chase said softly, his eyes travelling to the blond girls.

"What happened?" her melodic voice inquired.

Chase looked at her a bit longer, not saying a word, before sighing and continuing.



A loud noise, a noise loud enough to overshadow the music that was blasting, interrupted the party. It was one of the strangest noises that the Slytherins had ever heard, like a screech of some sort. They turned out the music and suddenly a voice bombarded through the common room and spoke to them, it was McGonagall’s voice.

"I repeat, we are under attack, please stay in your common rooms until told otherwise," the voice stated and left everyone in shock.

Suddenly they heard the crashing of things against the walls and the clashing of metal against stone, voices... a maniac laugh...

Then Blaise jumped into action and raced towards the door.

"What are you doing?" Tracy called after her friend in despair.

"Ash is out there," the dark skin boy called back and Tracy sprang into action as well, following the other boy.

Chase stopped talking.

"And then?" the girl inquired, afraid for her friends.

"... I don't know..."

Ash frowned at him in confusion.

"I... I wanted too, really... but... didn't follow them..."

"Oh," was all she answered and looked away.

"But they weren't harmed in any way," he swiftly added, feeling a bit guilty for his lack of action. "They came back after about an hour or so, with a defeated look, but otherwise unharmed. They told us that the Death Eaters had attacked the castle. They told us that Dumbledore had been murdered, that Malfoy had provided them with a route in and that they escaped, taking you with them..."

Ash sat there in silence as she tried to digest the new information.

"Ash..." Chase said quietly, trying to get a hold of her hand, but she pulled her hand away.

"Please, I need to be alone for a bit," she said softly and stood up from where she had been sitting and walked to the window back turned to him. She didn't even look back once she heard the door open and close again.

She knew that she would have to talk to Chase later on again, to get more information, but right now she couldn't stand any company, except for maybe Blaise's... but what were the chances of ever having him near her again?

Standing at the window, Ash stared out into the darkness of the night, a tear running over her cheek as she let her hand reach out and lightly touch the cold window.