"We need to let the Order know about Voldemort!" Harry exclaimed as he and the others rushed towards where the other professors were. The young Gryffindor had noticed that many of them winced at his use of Voldemort's name, but he was going to be damned if he called him You-Know-Who.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Potter, we don't know where He is either," McGonagall replied moodily. However, she did send her Patronus off towards Albus. As the brilliant silver cat disappeared through the wall, she glanced towards her student. "However, I've still alerted Albus what you saw." She then threw a powerful spell towards one of the approaching Aurors who were sending various hexes at them. "Honestly, you'd think we were the Death Eaters," she growled before she stunned a few more of the Aurors.

"They might think that, Professor. There was a revolt when Fudge made Umbridge Headmistress."

"Albus has only been gone for two hours, though!" she snapped.

"Yes, but Fudge would never get another opportunity like this again, Professor," Draco responded before sending a Bat-Bogey hex at one of the approaching Aurors who would have hexed Harry. "I'm starting to wonder which one is barmier, Scrimgeour for kidnapping Sinistra or Fudge and Umbridge for ordering the Aurors to subdue us so we didn't run to help Dumbledore."

Meanwhile, as Aurora lay on the ground twitching after suffering yet another bout of the Cruciatus, she couldn't help but scoff at her luck. First, she finds out from Harry that the entire student body has been trying to set her and Severus up by using her in terms of a distraction for Severus. Then Severus finds out that she's been protecting him by silently taking the abuse from Scrimgeour, which Severus yells at her for in front of the Headmaster and Harry. She could understand why he'd be upset about that, though. It was rather stupid on her part. She should have thought about his past and told him about Scrimgeour weeks ago. Yet again, it was another instance of her not being the typical Slytherin and thinking only of herself. Though, one could make the case that most Slytherins loved to suffer in silence. She had learned that particular trait from Severus, which he'd probably rant and rave at her if she ever mentioned to that to him. Lastly, a complete psychopath Auror kidnaps her who ironically enough brought her to an even bigger psychopath.

If she had the chance to redo everything from the past few months, she would have ignored her stupid crush on Scrimgeour and just stuck to the shadows obsessing about Severus like she always did. Numbly, she felt the familiar searing pain flood her entire body, making her arch upwards again and scream in efforts to release the terrible feeling. However, she had to admit that she was starting to become numb to the excruciating pain. Then again, Voldemort and his lackeys had been torturing her for nearly two hours. She wasn't certain whose blood it was on her robes anymore if it was Scrimgeour's or hers. Dimly, she became aware that the pain had ended again, and someone had lifted her back up to her feet again.

"Before he met his untimely demise, Scrimgeour informed us of his suspicions concerning you. Would you like to hear them, Aurora?" Voldemort hissed as he magically held her upright.

"That I'm a damn good kisser?" she cheekily responded, feeling much too drained to be a good Slytherin. She heard rather than felt her bones cracking as he punished her, but it didn't last long.

"No, no, humor will get you nowhere, Aurora. Well, perhaps an early grave," he hissed before chuckling darkly. "No, Scrimgeour informed me that you are a member of Dumbledore's pathetic Order. I must admit that I was rather amazed to hear that from him. After all, I know that you ended up in my noble House, Aurora. It seems to me that it made a mistake with your Sorting, though. I'd think that no respectable Slytherin would join that pathetic group of Gryffindors and other undesirables . . . unless he lied. Well, Aurora, did he lie to me?"

"Sorry to disappoint," she said before spitting out some of the blood that had collected in her mouth.

"Hmm," Voldemort replied as he walked closer to her. His long fingers then roughly pushed her chin upwards so she stared into his dark red eyes. "I'll give you a choice, Aurora. Scrimgeour, for all his many faults, asked that of me. Did you know?"

"No, but then again I don't care what that bastard asked you." Voldemort painfully latched onto her jaw.

"He wished for me to offer you the chance to spare your life. All you need to do is—"

"Yeah, not really into selling my soul to the devil, sorry," she drawled. Within seconds, he threw her against a column of the old manor. Her back slammed hard against it, causing her to scream out. She then drew in a painful gasp of air before forcing herself to glance up at Voldemort. However, she noticed a Death Eater slowly slink from the shadows to join the rest of the group. Severus, she thought with a bit of hope.

"There must be a reason that Dumbledore kept you around, and I'm going to find that reason, Aurora," Voldemort growled before whirling around. It then became silent for a few moments as he made his way back to his followers. He stopped momentarily in front of who Aurora believed to be Severus. "Ah, yes, perfect," he hissed before turning back around. "Amycus, Lucius, bring our guest inside."

"Yes, my Lord," both replied as they roughly yanked her up on her feet and dragged her into the manor. As soon as they were in a large room, both wizards released her, causing her to slam face first against the marble floor. She remained lying face down in efforts to conserve her energy.

"Severus," Voldemort hissed, a few seconds later.

"Yes, my Lord?"

"Heal her," he responded with a sickening smirk while he sat on his skull throne.

"Of course, my Lord," drawled Severus.

Slowly, she felt someone tugging her up into a sitting stance. When she caught the dark robes next to her, her eyes flickered towards Severus. He still had his silver Death Eater mask on, which truthfully sent chills down her spine. She also noticed that he refused to meet her eyes. She could understand that. He focused solely on following Voldemort's order, which seemed to be a good thing for her presently, but she knew it wouldn't last. Severus gently touched her side, feeling for internal injuries. She winced slightly, but refused to scream from the horrible pain he was causing her to feel. His hand then roughly grabbed her neck before he yanked her forward slightly, which she guessed was him checking to see if she had any neck injuries. If he hadn't been that rough with her, her eyes would have widened when she felt the familiar cool touch of the pendants against her skin. She had to force the soft smile from reaching her lips. It was too dangerous right now for both of them. He then pulled back from her and drew his wand. Sighing softly, she could tell that she had fractured numerous bones. But she also knew that was the least of her worries.

It wasn't long before she felt her bones snap back into place. Unfortunately for her, Severus had casted it on every single bone that she had broken simultaneously. She couldn't hold back her piercing scream or even the tears that streamed down her cheeks. If they were anywhere else, she would have castrated him for that. But if she thought that was bad, then she was in for a real surprise when he suddenly wrenched open her mouth and poured in some foul tasting potion. She nearly spit it back at Severus, but he seemed to have thought of that because he painfully snapped her mouth shut before she could. Unfortunately, her tongue hadn't moved back from her teeth in time when he did this. She grimaced and groaned when she bit herself. The familiar metallic taste filled her mouth, which thanks to his rough ministrations she swallowed along with the potion. He waved his ebony wand down her before briskly pulling back from her and inclining his head towards Voldemort.

"Excellent, Severus, most excellent," Voldemort replied with that same smirk on his face. "Please, Aurora, do stand up for me."

She drew in a breath, but felt that she'd humor Voldemort. Her dark eyes stared into his red ones. She knew that for both Severus's and her sake she'd have to keep her mouth in check and cooperate with whatever the psychopath wanted. She didn't have to wait to learn that.

"Severus, she is your colleague at Hogwarts. Is she not?"

"Yes, my Lord," he replied instantly.

"What do you know about the skills she possesses?"

"She is an excellent duelist, my Lord. However, that is all she is good at doing."

"And did you know that she was in Dumbledore's group?"

"I had heard of the rumors, yes, my Lord, but I did not know it for certain. It seems as if the old coot keeps things from me also, my Lord."

"So it seems, so it seems, my son," Voldemort hissed. "What do you believe her odds to be of winning and surviving duels with every member of my Inner Circle, Severus?"

"I believe she would have no difficulty defeating Bella, my Lord," Severus replied truthfully.

"Indeed?" Voldemort said with a dark chuckle. "And what are her odds of beating you, Severus?"

"Dismal at best, my Lord," he drawled.

"Such confidence, Severus," Voldemort hissed.

"Distastefully, my Lord, the witch has for some time now been obsessed with me. If I just whispered to her that I loved her back, she would most likely do anything I ask of her. I do not doubt for a second that if I asked her to kill herself, that she would then only be too happy to do so for me. It is rather sickening, my Lord."

"Ah, but her blood is pure, Severus. You could enjoy her as Lucius enjoys Narcissa's company.

"I admit that I have given that some thought, my Lord," Severus replied lowering his voice in a low growl as he glanced towards Aurora. His dark eyes trailed down her body before he whirled back towards Voldemort. "I would definitely enjoy her very much. However, she is a blood traitor, my Lord."

"Yes, she is that, but if anyone can break her, it would be you, Severus." Voldemort then inhaled. "My faithful followers, you shall witness a wonderful event tonight. Inner Circle, each of you will duel Miss Sinistra in terms of rank and magical strength. However, do not kill her unless you wish for death also."

"My Lord," several of the Death Eaters shouted.

"She is to be Severus's prize when he wins."

"Such confidence, Lord Voldemort," Aurora drawled with a smirk. She nearly kicked herself when she heard her words. However, he only stared at her, which made her mouth foolishly open again. "What makes you think I can't kick Severus's ass, Lord Voldemort?"

"This," Voldemort replied before lazily flickering his wand towards Severus. Almost instantly, Severus dropped to his knees before screaming and arching his back as the Cruciatus surged through his veins.

"STOP, STOP, PLEASE STOP!" she shouted, which Voldemort did instantly. Stupid, stupid, you just showed your weakness to him, she angrily chastised herself. How in Merlin's name did I end up in Slytherin? "Then why even go through this farce if you know he'll win?"

"Because there's a reason Dumbledore kept you in the shadows, and I'm going to learn it, Aurora. Enough talking," he suddenly shouted. "Alecto, you're first."

Aurora watched the other witch slowly walk towards her. The woman was sneering as if she was certain she was going to win. When Aurora saw her silver wand flying towards her, she quickly grabbed it. Well, that improved her odds slightly. Both witches whipped their wands in front of their faces before going into their duel stances. Aurora had always modeled hers after Severus's stance. It was the most natural feeling one for her. She took in the witch's stance and smiled soon after.

"Begin," hissed Voldemort as his red eyes lit up with pure amusement.

"CRU—," yelled Alecto.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS," Aurora yelled just a hair bit faster. It hit, but Aurora knew she hadn't won. She quickly pointed towards the ceiling and shouted, "CONFRINGO!" Large chunks of plaster came toppling down on the other witch, which made Aurora relax just an inch. It seemed that she was going to instigate a bloodbath, but the old saying 'kill or be killed' kept popping up in her mind. She knew, however, that she'd have to keep from casting Unforgivables even though they were definitely going to be hurtled at her nonstop.

Aurora watched a scruffy looking wizard walk in next. She watched him tap his wand against the side of his leg and sneer at her with his large uneven teeth. She drew in a breath, though. They bowed to each other before she went back into her stance. Here, we go again, she thought bitterly.

An hour later, Dumbledore glanced at the silver cat racing towards them. He held up a hand instantly, which stopped the others. Minerva wouldn't have sent her Patronus to him unless something horrible had happened. Yet again, Dumbledore wasn't wrong.

"Snape called away by the one who has her, Albus!" Minerva's voice yelled from the Patronus cat. "We don't know where, but Potter saw it." The silver cat then vanished.

"Isn't that great? Potter gets a vision of where she's at only to find out that she's with You-Know-Who. The one place we can't go," growled Moody.

Dumbledore glanced towards the aging Auror before sighing. Unfortunately, Moody was right. It would be suicide to race into Riddle's lair to save her. He hung his head and thoughtfully stroked his long beard.

"We can't just stand here and do nothing, Dumbledore!" Sirius yelled. "He'll kill her."

"Yeah, and we can't just tiptoe quietly into You-Know-Who's camp either, Black," Moody growled. "Then we'd all be dead unless that's what you want."

"That's enough, both of you," Remus yelled, pointing his wand at both wizards. "Your constant arguing isn't helping anyone either."

"What are you thinking, Albus?" Arthur quietly asked as he walked beside Dumbledore.

"I'm thinking that as long as Severus is with her, she'll live."

"You're just giving up?" Sirius yelled, completely outraged. "Would you do the same if it were Harry?"

"Sirius, enough," Remus snapped. "Albus is right. As long as Snape is with her—"

"Oh, yes, because good old Snivellus always took care of others, didn't he, Remus?" Almost instantly, a hand slapped Sirius across the face with such force behind it that his head snapped to the side. "What the hell, Tonks?" he growled.

"Don't you ever insult him again," Nymphadora Tonks snarled as her hair turned fiery red. "Severus Snape is ten times the wizard you are, Sirius. You best remember that."

"On what planet?" he retorted.

"I know you weren't there in the hospital wing earlier, Sirius, but he loves her and she loves him just as much if not more back. He won't just stand by and let You-Know-Who kill her."

Snape watched the scene with utter distaste. Aurora was winning her duels. She had easily defeated the Carrows, Rookwood, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and McNair just as he thought she would. However, that was the only good news that he saw. Blood and dirt matted her dark curly hair. She had numerous gashes to her faces that bled profusely. Her left arm was shattered in two different places. He could see the intense pain in her face as she continued to duel for her life. Knowing that he couldn't do anything until their duel, he waited and stood by helplessly as she fought with Dolohov.

More than a dozen times already, Snape's heart had painfully constricted in his chest. Dolohov wasn't holding anything back in his duel, but Snape hadn't expected as much from the Death Eater. Dolohov had sent his powerful trademark curse towards Aurora numerous times, but somehow she always managed to escape the purple flames just before it hit her. Snape clenched his teeth once more as he saw the purple flames race towards Aurora. He then slowly released his controlled breath so that it looked as if he was just normally breathing. Yet again, she had leapt to the side, ensuring that Dolohov's curse missed her.

By Snape's count, Aurora had casted his specialized cutting curse over a hundred times so far. However, much like him nowadays, she aimed it in such a way that she didn't kill anyone. Throughout the majority of her duels, he had noticed that hesitation on her part. Many of her castings meant to incapacitate her opponent, not kill. It was a weakness that she clearly was showing the others, and he knew they would definitely exploit it.

Snape's dark eyes then glanced towards the three that she still had to duel yet. Rodolphus would be another Death Eater that she would have to stay moving from lest be tortured mercilessly. Bella would just be plain sadistic and crazy as always. However, at least with Bella, Snape knew that Aurora already had some prior knowledge of what would be in store for her. Out of all twelve Death Eaters in the Inner Circle, Lucius Malfoy was the one that concerned Snape the most in terms of Aurora's safety.

Lucius would toy with her as a cat would to a mouse. He'd seen it many times before, and it always sickened him. While at one time Snape looked up to Lucius with great respect, all that went away when he learned how truly sick Lucius really was. Lucius was always the first to 'prove his loyalties'. Forced to watch that too many times before, he shuddered secretly inside thinking that he would have to watch it again. Lucius had that sickening smirk on his face as he watched Aurora. It was a smirk that Snape knew all too well.

"You—" roared Dolohov suddenly.

Snape's dark eyes darted towards the grisly scene. Aurora had clipped Dolohov in the inner thigh with another successful casting of Snape's trademark curse. Snape waited for the Dark Lord to ask him to step in and heal Dolohov, but the Dark Lord remained strangely quiet.

"You're going to pay for that! AVADA—" Dolohov's casting, however, never finished. A bright green light struck him in the chest, and the man slammed against the floor with a thump. The long bone wand then slowly tucked back into the Dark Lord's robes again.

"Take out the garbage, Rodolphus," the Dark Lord hissed before chuckling.

"My Lord, forgive me, but I am to duel her next her."

"I am well aware of that, but I do not believe we need your expertise. I am certain that Severus can make up for the loss without risking any permanent injury to her." The Dark Lord then glanced at Bellatrix. "Bella, my dear, make her scream. I do miss her screams." Both witches bowed slightly to one another in their stance.

"Begin," hissed the Dark Lord a few moments later.

Snape forced himself not to show any outward appearance of hatred as Aurora screamed on her knees. Each moment was another that he screamed inside himself. It dragged on for minutes before Bella finally released her. In response, Aurora fell onto the marble floor face first shaking horribly from the aftereffects.

"Such a pretty scream you have, Sinistra," Bella drawled before yanking Aurora to her feet again. "Tell me. What makes you think that Severus would even want you?"

Snape clenched his teeth slightly, itching to whip his wand out and hex the crazy witch to hell and back. He knew, however, that Bella was only trying to get a rise out of her prey. For once, Aurora wasn't rising to the easy bait, which he thanked Merlin for profusely. Then again, he wasn't sure how long her self-preservation would last. He could see the extreme fatigue in Aurora's face. Unconsciously, his hand touched the spot where his black pendant rested underneath his robes and shirt against his pale skin. He hoped she lasted long enough for him to duel her. Everything was resting on that.

"Do you think because your blood is so pure that he's yearning for you, Sinistra? Because no matter how pure your blood is, he won't ever be yours. Do you know why?" Bella hissed.

Snape waited for Aurora to respond wittily. However, she remained quiet, which was starting to concern him slightly. She hardly ever stayed this silent for this long. His eyes narrowed on her just to ensure that she was in fact still alive. Her chest heaved heavily as she panted, but there was no emotion in her face.

"Because he belongs to the Dark Lord," Bella whispered harshly in Aurora's ear. "No matter how good you think you are, Sinistra. You won't ever be able to sway Severus from us. He loves us, not you, you filthy blood traitor! He doesn't love you!"

Aurora suddenly then went limp, which forced Bella to grab her. Bella instantly glanced towards the Dark Lord with an uncharacteristic look of shock on her face. Snape glanced from the sight to the Dark Lord and waited. If Aurora was playing dead, then he hoped she had a plan.

"Release her, Bella," the Dark Lord softly hissed before standing. "Sev—no—Lucius, examine her."

The change wasn't lost on Snape. He glanced towards the Dark Lord to see if there was any inclination for the reasoning behind the switch at the last moment. Snape knew his Occlumency barriers were firmly in place so there was no way the Dark Lord knew his plan. He had ensured that by drinking a special draught prior to arriving earlier. He even had his magic back, albeit also temporarily.

"Do not be disappointed, Severus. You'll be touching her soon enough," the Dark Lord whispered with a smirk. The Dark Lord's words didn't settle Snape's frayed nerves any, but at least he had his answer.

Meanwhile, at Hogwarts, the students were still fighting to regain control of Hogwarts much to the displeasure of one Dolores Umbridge. She and Cornelius were in the little entryway to Dumbledore's office, scrambling to find a way to break in. All throughout the term, she had reported to Cornelius about the gross misconduct of the professors and students at Hogwarts. While she had embellished certain elements, she was rather correct overall. She reported how Dumbledore had locked himself up in his office all term, barely coming out even for staff meetings. She reported her suspicions of impropriety between Dumbledore and his Deputy Headmistress after Dolores encountered the foul Gryffindor witch walking back to her quarters.

Had it been at two in the afternoon, Dolores wouldn't have thought anything of it. However, it had been two in the morning when she saw McGonagall walking out of Dumbledore's rooms with a slight smile on her face. There is only one reason a witch would be smiling at two in the morning after walking out of a wizard's quarters. After all, it would have been absurd to think that McGonagall left his quarters smiling because she had finally beat the old man at a game of wizard's chess and just won herself a very nice bottle of Scotch, which was what actually happened unbeknownst to Dolores.

Dolores also reported to Cornelius the mysterious comings and goings of Snape at all hours of the night. While she had conducted a review of his teaching methods and even sat in on his fifth-year Slytherin and Gryffindor potions class, she had some suspicions about the thoroughly unpleasant man. He seemed almost weary of her presence for some reason. However, she truly tried to think nothing of it because she had to admit that she rather enjoyed seeing his doling out of his punishments carelessly and easily to the imbecilic Gryffindors, especially the nasty little boy named Harry Potter. Oh, how her mouth salivated at watching Snape punish Potter. She could see in Snape's dark eyes that he hated the nasty little liar just as much as she did.

In addition, Dolores informed Cornelius about the numerous injuries that she had seen on Aurora Sinistra. Casually, Dolores once even tried to see if the witch had a Dark Mark, which only made Sinistra snarl at her to leave her the hell alone. Sinistra's review had not gone well at all. The witch had nearly hexed her when Dolores tried to sit in the Astronomy class. She informed Cornelius of that naturally, but he only responded that she was probably having a bad day and that she shouldn't worry about it.

However, when Scrimgeour kidnapped Sinistra and Dumbledore promptly fled after her, Dolores and Cornelius decided to strike. Everyone in the world knew that as long as Dumbledore was in charge of Hogwarts that it was nearly impenetrable. Yes, Dumbledore had kowtow to the Ministry as much as possible, but Dolores and Cornelius were convinced that truthfully Dumbledore was gathering an army against the Ministry rather than saving his Astronomy professor. In fact, neither of the Ministry officials would put it behind the white wizard if everything they encountered were part of a rather elaborate ruse to keep Cornelius off his guard.

Cornelius had been up in the hospital wing when Dolores ordered the Aurors to subdue the students. She had expertly lied to them and said that Dumbledore had mounted an attack against the Ministry that very minute. It had taken a bit of coaxing, but soon the Aurors listened to her. She wasn't after all the Undersecretary to Cornelius Fudge for nothing. Let the little brats try to beat us, Dolores mused. The Ministry shall never fall.

A Strengthening draught later, Aurora was once again standing. She, however, swayed slightly and moaned in pain. She wasn't at all strong enough to survive yet another duel. Tightening her arms around herself, she tried to keep from screaming. Her entire body ached, but her abdomen hurt the most. She had a tremendous amount of excruciating pain rippling throughout her midsection, which she assumed was the result of massive internal bleeding.

"I must say that I have yet to see anything spectacular from you, Aurora," drawled Voldemort.

Aurora didn't respond. What was there for her to say anyway? Gee, sorry to disappoint you, Voldemort, but you see I'm just having an off day. She then slowly lifted her head up before stumbling and falling back onto her knees. She moaned again, desperately wishing that she could just lie down and die. No, no, I can't think like that. Get up. She hissed exhaling loudly as she slowly tried to push herself back up to her feet. She would continue her lovely and perfectly sane conversation with herself in her mind. That's a girl. Don't let Voldemort win. You're stronger than this, and you know it, Aurora. Just . . . just ignore the pain. Grumbling, she thought, Easier said than done, though.

"In fact, all I see is a pathetic witch. Perhaps I should just tell Bella to finish you."

"Go . . ." Aurora started to say before gasping as another sharp pain rippled in her chest. "Go ahead."

"You don't fear death?"

"She's right. No . . . no matter what I do. It won't make a damn bit of difference because he's still yours. Why would I want to live my life without him?" Aurora moaned before glancing at Severus. He hadn't even acted as if he heard her, but she knew he had. She was too beat down frankly to care what she was saying. She guessed that might be another symptom of the extreme amount of blood loss or it could be a result of her fatigue. Either way, though, she truly didn't care, which frightened her.

"Hmm . . . yes, I see your reasoning. Kill her, Bella. I grow tired of her presence."

Bellatrix grabbed Aurora's throat and sneered with a nasty smirk on her face. Her dark wand slowly trailed down the side of Aurora's face before she pulled it back. She then pointed it directly at Aurora's chest.

"My Lord," Severus's voice quickly interrupted. "You promised her to me."

"Yes, so I did, but there will be others, though, Severus. You will find another witch who is much worthier to be yours than this pathetic one. I am doing you a great favor, my son. Kill her, Bella."

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Two hundred miles away, Harry screamed as he fell to his knees screaming and clutching his scar. Numbly, he felt someone touch his shoulder, but he roughly pushed it off. His entire body was hypersensitive before the vision took over. To him, that one comforting touch felt like hell.

As the vision appeared, Harry found himself in a large marble room. He glanced around and saw numerous bleeding Death Eaters. His eyes then found Professor Sinistra lying flat on the floor with another witch who could have been her sister on top of her.

"Rise, Bella," Harry felt himself hiss. He hated it when he was Voldemort. Harry's eyes then narrowed when the woman lying on Professor Sinistra didn't move. "Lucius," he growled. Harry watched the tall blond Slytherin gracefully walk over and yank Bella upwards. However, Malfoy's dad dropped her a few seconds later and stepped backwards. "So . . . you casted the ultimate Unforgivable, did you, Aurora? Now what will you do, I wonder. Are you going to kill me?" He chuckled darkly.

"Actually, your . . . dearly beloved Bella casted it," Professor Sinistra snarled. "I just forced her to take it."

"Perhaps I was mistaken, Severus. Perhaps she is perfect for you," Harry snarled as Voldemort. "Now, what will you do with Lucius? You still have to defeat him before you can duel Severus." He then looked her over. "I wonder if your newfound strength will last. Lucius will not be as gentle as Bella was. You see, he enjoys his women. They are like a delicacy to him. And once he begins—"

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry watched a familiar black-handled switchblade suddenly dart out of a nearby Death Eater's robes. He had seen that same knife slice various ingredients effortlessly in his numerous detentions. He could recognize that switchblade anywhere. It belonged to none other than Severus Snape. Harry was in pure awe when the blade suddenly appeared before piercing the back of Lucius Malfoy.

"Controlled wandless magic, impressive," Harry hissed as Voldemort. "You've been holding out on me. Haven't you, Aurora? McNair, dispose of Bella and move Lucius." He then chuckled darkly. "Well, Severus, it seems that I have no choice. Take your place, my son." Harry watched the tall dark haired wizard slowly walk into the middle of the room. He noticed Professor Sinistra's wand hand shake slightly, but for the most part, she seemed perfectly in control. Silently, he wondered if he was going to witness the entire duel. However, he got his answer a few short moments later when something yanked him out of the vision violently just as Snape sent a hex towards Professor Sinistra.

"Potter, are you all right?" Draco asked, staring at him oddly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Draco," Harry responded quietly before glancing at Dumbledore. "Sir, you're back."

"That I am, my boy," Dumbledore softly said. "I take you had another vision just now?"

"Yes, sir," Harry answered. "Professor Sinistra is dueling Snape right now. I can't be sure, but it's as if Voldemort is trying to find something out about her. He's making her duel numerous Death Eaters."

"I see. What else did you witness in your vision?"

"She . . . she killed Bella, whoever that is."

"Whoa! She killed Bellatrix Lestrange?" Ron and Neville exclaimed.

"What about my father, Potter?" Draco quietly asked. "Did you see him?"

"Yeah," Harry replied nodding slowly. He wasn't sure if Draco wanted to hear it.

"Is he dead?" When Harry shook his head, Draco muttered, "Dammit. That would've been nice to hear."