It had been a while since Snape and Evelyn left, and Harry was getting bored of being cooped up in the house. He sat waiting for the water to boil for tea, staring at the shutters on the window. The shutters were blocking the view as they had been told to stay unseen. It was rather like being at the Dursleys' actually, remaining hidden. Harry heard a rustling noise, and saw with curiosity that Maggie had pulled a crumpled piece of parchment out of the pocket of her dress. She smoothed it on the table. Either not realising or not caring that Harry was watching her, she lowered her head so her lips were very close to the parchment.

     "They're coming by thestral," she whispered to it, her voice barely audible. To Harry's surprise the words appeared on the parchment. She then reached down to where her stockings were, and pulled from one of them a wand.

    "Hey!" Harry said, pulling the strange wand from her grasp. "You can't have a wand Maggie!"

    "I will not be thwarted by a child!" she screeched, reaching for the wand.

    "What?"

    "Oh, you haven't figured it out yet, have you?" she said with a cold laugh. Harry was positively bewildered. "I'm not really that wretched little girl you daft idiot! She was captured and taken to the square this morning to be poisoned with the others, she shouldn't have wandered off."

   "W-Who are you?" Harry asked as the Maggie lookalike twitched slightly as though she were in slight pain.

    "Well you're just in time to see!" she said with another cold laugh. Harry backed up as something began to happen.

     Maggie's face screwed up in pain, and as she stepped away from the table, she began to change. She grew taller, her dress growing with her as she stretched upwards toward the ceiling, her childish face turning to one of many scars, her curly hair shortening. This continued until a tall, dark haired man stood before Harry, still wearing the dress. Harry was too shocked to be amused however, and taking advantage of this state,  the man grabbed for the wand, and wrenched it out of Harry's grasp with a loud cackle. He waved it and suddenly the childish dress that had stretched upwards with him turned to black robes. His contorted scarred face loomed over Harry in the dim light from the fireplace.

    "Good thing I charmed that dress to change as I returned to my true form," he said, crooked teeth in grin. "Polyjuice potion boy. Wasn't even supposed to be released by the Potioneer's Society until next year, until it was stolen by a friend of mine that is. Now the recipe is all over the market!"

     "Oh," said Harry numbly, trying discreetly to reach for his wand. He knew he had to keep him talking as this wasn't so different from trying to keep Uncle Vernon from throwing him in his cupboard. Well, this was more dangerous of course. "Who are you?"

    "Jacob," said the man as he shot a spell at the door to lock it. "All of the others in the cave thought I ran off to save myself, but hah! I fooled ‘em didn't I? I'm with McTavish these days. There are three of us now that want all other magical people gone. Imagine the possibilities if we are the only wizards in the world? But such musings can wait. He knows your where your little cave hideout is. Hah! Of course, you know that already. But now, thanks to me he knows where this one is too."

     Harry felt suddenly faint, knowing that he needed to warn Snape and Evelyn, for they had planned to rendezvous here with the escapees.

    "Now, all I need to do is tap this parchment and McTavish will know how they are coming." He brandished his wand menacingly. "Of course, I want to have a little more information written down before I send it ... so hand over the map boy!" Jacob grew nearer to Harry, his grey eyes flashing dangerously. "I want to know which way they are coming from."

    "What map?" Harry asked, stalling for time and completely aware that he map in question was in his pocket. That was all the time he needed to finish getting his wand out of his other pocket unnoticed. He had it drawn under the table now. But for the life of him he could not think of a thing to do. So far at school he had learned how to turn a button into a needle, and levitate objects a little smaller and lighter than a book. Both did not seem very useful in going up against the man towering over Harry.

     "The map that man gave you earlier, the one that shows where they are going and their escape plan," said Jacob impatiently. "I know you have it boy!"

     Harry flinched at the volume of Jacob's voice, and the room rang oddly in its silence after. Suddenly he heard a slight sputtering noise. The kettle! The water was almost at a boil. An idea came to his mind.

     "I put the map in the cupboard over there," Harry bluffed, mentally preparing himself for what he was to do.

    "I didn't see-"

    "I was really careful about it."

     "Stay right there boy," warned Jacob as he went slowly over to the cupboard.

       He seemed to think it was some sort of trap, and was treating the cupboard as though something might spring from it unexpectedly. This was all well for Harry, for as soon as Jacob's back was turned Harry raised his wand and whispered the incantation, concentrating more than he ever had before. The kettle rattled slightly, and Harry held his breath as it cleared the hook and began to float over to Jacob, who was moving things around noisily in the cupboard. It was almost there.

    "I don't see it," hissed Jacob, still searching.

    "By the dried fish," Harry said as the kettle moved further to hover above Jacob's head. Hoping this would work, Harry yanked his wand away from the direction of the kettle.

     In slow motion the kettle seemed to fall, and as it did so it tipped. The boiling water cascaded over Jacob, who screamed terribly and fell to the floor, the heavy kettle falling upon his head. Harry, who was quite shocked, didn't have time to feel guilty. He rushed over to the fireplace and grabbed a heavy saucepan, sprinted the short distance to Jacob, who was lying stunned on the floor. After a second of hesitation he hit him across the head. Harry winced, and with a clang and dull thump the man's head hit the floor. Harry grabbed Jacob's wand and stuffed it in his pocket. Knowing he had little time, he grabbed for the parchment on the table and tossed it into the fire. The door sprung open magically for him and he was out of it and running before the parchment could even begin to burn.

     Harry ran down to the gate and out into the trees that Evelyn and Snape had disappeared through. Once in the cover of the trees, Harry pulled out the map. It wasn't too far to the place where Evelyn would be with the thestrals, and judging by the fact that the sun wasn't quite at its highest point in the sky, he had a little bit of time. Going west, Harry jogged as quickly as he could. The day was cool at least, and so he was not too hot as he ran through the trees. He would walk a ways, and then jog for a while. It was certainly a good thing he was in shape, for between all the years of running from Dudley's gang and more recently Malfoy's cronies at Hogwarts, he could make pretty good time.

     At last Harry knew he had reached the halfway point when he came to a small creek. A muddy footprint that Harry recognized as Evelyn's was on the other side. Harry was glad she had missed this one when erasing her tracks, because he knew for sure now this was the right way. Without even bothering to try to find an easier place to cross, Harry splashed through the water and onto the other side, his robes dripping and well past his knees. But he did not care. He was so close.

     It seemed like forever until he finally saw the outskirts of town. As quietly as possible he navigated the tree line around the hill. He glanced at the sun, and according to its position it was almost noon. Midday. He quickened his pace, throwing caution to the wind as he tried to find Evelyn. He didn't think he was going the right way, and was about to turn back to search in the other direction when he heard a loud whoosh by his ear. It sounded like it came from a thestral. He looked to his right and saw Evelyn in her raven form perched in a tree, the floating ropes that held the thestrals together tied around the trunk. Harry was very happy with the thestral that had decided to breathe on him.

    "Evelyn!" Harry hissed frantically.

      Harry heard a slight squawk come from her, and she fluttered down to where he was, shifting to her human form a ways from the ground. Her feet landed with a soft thump on the mossy forest floor.

   "What is it Harry?" she whispered, a look of terror in her eyes. "Where's Maggie?"

    "She was kidnapped and taken to the square earlier today," Harry gasped, still trying to catch his breath. Evelyn put a hand to her mouth. "Jacob used Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be her and he said that McTavish knows where your cottage is because he told him! We can't go back because they know. I stopped Jacob from sending a message to McTavish that said we were planning on using thestrals to rescue everyone."

     "That traitor!" she said, trying with difficulty to keep her voice down. "Well nothing to be done now. Good work Harry, but are you alright?"

    "Yeah."

    "The wards, that was why they were weakened," she muttered eyes suddenly wide in realisation. "The person riding the horse, the one you said went by, must have put them back up to make sure we weren't aware someone had gotten in. That was why all the spells weren't in place, they didn't know them all! I wonder who it was. I don't think it was McTavish ..."

    "Why wouldn't McTavish come and capture you and Snape if they thought you might be planning something and Jacob knew how to find us?"

   Evelyn looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, it would be easier to let us come to them, would in not be?"

    Harry nodded.

   "It's almost time now," said Evelyn, glancing at the sun. She set to work untying the thestrals, motioning Harry to help. Once they were untethered, she began to speak to them. "We need your help to rescue some people held in the town square over that hill. When you are flying over it, you will land in the middle of the people held captive. They will look scared, and dirty compared to the onlookers. They will probably be holding some sort of cup or bowl full of a poison. You must let them get onto you and fly them wherever they tell you to go. You will have at least two passengers, probably more. It will be dangerous and you might need to dodge arrows."

     It was slightly absurd to see Evelyn talking to a crowd of invisible things, for she looked to be talking to herself. However, some of what she said must have reached her invisible audience, for Harry heard a nickering sound coming from the thestral nearest him, which had taken an interest in his hair a moment earlier.

    "Good," said Evelyn. "Harry, you will be riding one and I will be flying in under the disguise of my animagus form."

    "Er, how do I get on if its invisible?" Harry asked, feeling around for a thestral.

    "I'll help you," Evelyn said.

She came over to him and put his hand on one of the thestrals. She then gave him a leg up.   It was strange sitting on something you couldn't see, and quite frankly Harry couldn't imagine how much stranger it was going to be to fly like this.

    Evelyn strode over to the front of the group of thestrals and pulled at a string hanging around her neck, lifting up to her eyes what looked to be an ordinary stone attached to it. Harry didn't want to distract her so he didn't ask what it was. In a moment however, he got his answer, for the stone began to emit a pulsating green glow.

    "That's the signal," she said shakily. "Fly!"

    With that last word she leapt into the air and became a raven, seconds before gravity could take its toll. As she soared up into the air Harry felt his thestral begin to rise, and around him the sound of flapping wings erupted. The sun, high in the sky blinded Harry as they emerged from the canopy of yellows and reds. As his eyes adjusted he saw their destination, and his heart began to hammer in his chest. This was it. Flying low over the tree line, they pressed on, moving ever closer to the battle that loomed before them.