"Scarier than Voldemort"

June 1996, 5 months later

Of course, with the possibility of death eaters being nearby, the third years and a handful of the fifth years avoided leaving the school grounds even as the weather warmed up. Leslie preferred to stay in the castle anyway and was more than happy with the arrangements the girls made when quidditch season started again.

When the teams weren't practising for the tournament later in the year, Circi and Leslie were permitted to watch practise and cheer Mica on. She was one of two fill-ins for beater and as rumours of the Weasley twins leaving before they finished their N.E.W.T.S she anticipated a promotion very soon. Circi had to admit she was transfixed by the way Mica played and had never been so focussed on a match before.

Leslie was never too interested in the practices considering they had no direct affect on him and spent his time doing homework on the stands beside Circi. And, even though they were all doing their own thing, they were glad to be together.

After practice one day, the girls had a meeting with the DA and struggled to lose Leslie.

Circi, admittedly, felt guilty for leaving him so often. Especially now that he was in a much cheerier state than in the winter months. He often confronted her in the common room about where they went after lunch or at the weekends and she had no choice but to lie to him. Once, she had suggested recruiting him to Carmen and Harry after a meeting but they had been met with a significant amount of protests. He had an 'untrustworthy nature'.

It used to be easy. When he could care less for Hogsmeade they simply used it as an excuse. But deliberate exclusion? She hated it.

"Why do you two keep disappearing?" They halted, shocked that he had somehow managed to cut them off on their route after losing him the first time. He had his bag strap gripped in his hand and was looking expectantly between the two. Every muscle in his face was tight as he tried to mask the hurt. "You keep avoiding me."

"We're not avoiding you." Mica was quick to cut in but stumbled as she searched for the next thing to say. Could she tell him they were part of a club he wasn't invited to? No, it would hurt him more so. "We, um-"

"We're, uh," Circi looked at Mica then down at her feet, unable to look him in the eyes as he adjusted his reading glasses, "being tutored by- by Carmen." Peering over at him, he raised an eyebrow and adjusted his bag.

"You're a terrible liar Circ. If you don't want to be friends with me anymore then fine, but tell me, don't just exclude me." Her heart ached as he said this and she looked to Mica, pleading with her to say something or tell him the truth. Mica, however, had zoned out so Circi tugged on her hand.

"Right. We do want to be your friend, Les, you're our best friend," she looks down at Circi, a smirk growing on her face as she stared deep into her friend's eyes, "but we're more than friends." The surprise on Circi's face and the faint blush made her chuckle as she gripped her hand harder and looked back at Leslie.

He also looked surprised, his mouth agape and staring at their hands.

"You two-" Mica tugged Circi closer and rubbed her fist against her head.

"Yep! We're trying to figure out what we are exactly which is why we've been going away a lot."

"Wha- when?"

"Yeah," Circi hissed in Mica's ear in a low voice, "when?" Her heart was beating in her chest when Mica's brown eyes met hers. Something in them captivated her and suddenly she was buying into the lie. Merlin, that look made her knees weak.

"Our second trip to Hogsmeade. I kissed her outside Honeydukes."

"Kissed?" Both of them were looking at her wide-eyed but she simply bit her lip and glanced from Circi's eyes to her lips and back to her eyes before releasing her hand and approaching Leslie.

"I'm sorry you feel like we've been avoiding you, Les, we weren't sure when to tell you. But you can't tell anyone, okay?" He nods, dumbfounded, and lets them continue their journey without interruption.

The rest of the journey would have been silent if it wasn't for the blood rushing through their heads. Mica was buzzing, anticipating a flurry of anger at her performance. She was speeding ahead, her red and gold quidditch robe catching on the rolls of her socks as she walked. Pausing for a moment to roll her sock back up, she stood up in time for Circi to take her shoulder and push her against the wall.

"What was that?" She stepped away, creating a significant space between them. "Kissed me? You never kissed me!" Mica stood up straighter, shushing her loudly. She had stepped towards Circi, who pushed her back against the wall. In response, Mica wrapped her hand around the girl's loosely knotted tie and used the momentum to drag her with her.

The force of the pull made Circi stumble and catch herself on the wall. Their faces were inches away from each other and Mica stood up straighter, smirking at the way she was trapped between her arms and licked her lips on impulse.

"I could kiss you now if you want?"

Bold, brash, unexpected, Circi stepped away. She almost recoiled but caught herself and, before she could fully comprehend the offer Professor Umbridge's voice echoed down the corridor.

Of course, her decree that boys and girls aren't permitted within eight inches didn't apply to them but the actions still made Circi step back even more and tighten her tie. They turned and jogged down the corridor, intending to warn the DA of her approach and, they had entered the Room of Requirement in enough time for the door to conceal itself. They had time enough to sprint around the duelling students to tell Harry what was going on but soon they were interrupted by a series of bangs.

In any other room they could be mistaken for knocks, but not this room.

A small hole cracked in one of the glass walls and the students creeped forward, some raising their wands. Mica and Circi stood by Carmen, away from the immediate action but wands tight in their hands. They heard something from behind the door and the wall suddenly blew up. Debris showered into the room, missing the students who had run from the target and Umbridge stood on the opposite side with a few inquisitorial squad members and Cho Chang, a ravenclaw member of the DA.

Incidentally, they all got in trouble and were submitted to Umbridge's version of punishment. To any onlookers, they may have been doing an exam but in reality they were only writing on their palms, using their own blood to write their essay.

Each student had been submitted for questioning and there was no point in lying, they had been efficiently outed. And as the news spread, Leslie began to question them because he was not ignorant to the fresh scarring on their hands.

He stopped talking to them completely at one point which made dinnertime and any downtime in the common room awkward.

Circi had Draco, of course, even if he was annoyed she had partaked in something so reckless. But he wouldn't tell on her and was always present whenever she was being questioned.

One night, as the year was coming to a close, Circi couldn't sleep. She was awake in the common room writing letters by candle light after everyone else had gone to bed when the entrance opened and Carmen ran in with her wand lit and her prefect bag winking in the darkness.

"What is it?" Circi stood, folding her letter and pocketing it. She blew out the candle and lit her wand to lighten the room more so. Carmen, by this point, was dragging her out of the room by the wrist.

"Come on, we're needed!"

"For what?" They hurried alongside each other and Carmen knew that dragging Circi into this would be dangerous, but she would want to be there.

"Harry had another vision, apparently the DA are needed at the ministry. We were going to use the floo network in Umbridge's office but they got caught. Harry, Hermione... Mica." The name had the effect she wanted. There was no need to list off the others who were caught, no need to mention Draco's presence, only to suggest Mica was in danger. They sped through the castle, nearing Umbridge's office and squeaking when they collided with a group of students running away. Carmen shoved the wand pressed under her chin away and lifted her lit wand. "Put it away, Weasley, we're on your side."

Ginny Weasley, Ron's little sister and easily the most headstrong of her siblings, lowered her wand and led the group. She was flanked by Neville Longbottom, a Gryffindor boy notorious for being a late bloomer in every sense of the word. Luna Lovegood, a blonde Ravenclaw who always seemed to have a dazed look in her eye, trailed after them followed closely by Mica and Circi who were being ushered ahead by Carmen.

They were running across the bridge, a shortcut to the forbidden forest where, apparently, the golden trio had taken Umbridge.

The lack of explanation surrounding the events troubled Circi, more so when she was greeted with the invisible creatures that draw the carriages to and from the castle. Harry and Luna had assured them that they were real creatures called Thestrals, only visible to those that had seen death which was why none of the others could see them.

Riding them was a sensation Circi would never like to experience again. They were told they were like winged horses and so, in anticipation of flight, Circi partnered up with Mica, wrapping her arms tightly around her friend's waist who was too excited to be flying on a creature they could not see.

And so, Circi spent the entire flight with her eyes squeezed shut and her face pressed into the back of Mica's cotton tank top.

Being in the Ministry of Magic at such a time was eerie. Circi had been once before with her father after he had promised to spend the day with her and tried to go to work. But the place was deserted, unlike usual when witches and wizards swarmed from every direction.

They followed Harry deeper into the ministry, winding through corridors until they were finally directed down a final corridor by Carmen to a door labelled 'department of mysteries'.

Behind the door, they were greeted with floor to ceiling shelves holding rows upon rows of crystal balls filled with fog only those with 'the vision' could read. Harry was running ahead, counting in his head as he tried to identify what he saw in his vision. The hairs on the back of Circi's neck stood on end and she slowed down.

Most of the others were too focussed on keeping up with Harry but Mica was alert enough to see Circi break off down an aisle.

They continued further into the darkness, directed only by the faint glowing of their wands and a whispering only Circi could hear. Rushing to keep up with her, Mica glanced over her shoulder occasionally and was whispering in an attempt to speak reason into her friend.

"What are you doing?" Circi stopped, looking up at a crystal ball two shelves above my head.

"Can't you hear it?" She began slowly, in truth, Circi had no idea if the ball was doing something important because she had opted not to take divination unlike most of her peers. "It's like it's calling my name." Mica glanced over her shoulder again.

"I don't hear anything, we should really get back to the others..." the relative silence they hadn't realised had fallen over the place suddenly struck them as odd. The crystal ball was no longer speaking to Circi, only murmuring quietly, and the two girls were creeping back towards the aisle they had entered the room in. A high pitched voice stopped them in their tracks.

"He knows how to play." The woman continued to talk, her voice switching from cheerful to threatening. Staring at each other, eyes wide and creeping back into the darkness with unlit wands as they watched a shadow pass by, they watched two masked death eaters pass by them, stalking their friends. Circi looked to Mica, terrified and desperate to run. Mica, wand poised, had an expression distinguishable only in the darkness as a mixture of fear and determination.

Cracks and whips filled the air as spells were rallied and the death eaters began to apparate around them. Lighting her wand again, Circi spun and sprinted in the opposite direction. She ran out into a corridor lined with the shelves and whipped her head back and forth. Her hair swept forward, catching on her eyelashes when she turned her head.

A death eater stepped into the corridor behind them, firing a spell which was blocked swiftly by Mica, who had just ran into view. Not stopping, she grabbed Circi's arm and ran in the opposite direction as she fired the stunning charm at them.

They ran down an empty aisle and out into another corridor, one with less crystal balls which seemed dead. The smoke that filled the others they saw was black, almost non-existent.

"Dead prophecies," Mica breathed out under her breath, turning on the spot. She had taken divination, "unfulfilled prophecies. Whoever was involved died before they could fulfill it." They were still hurrying down the aisle, although they weren't running this time, only walking fast enough to warrant a brief skip.

The murmuring from the crystal ball grew louder and Circi stopped at the entrance to the aisle two rows away. She watched as one of their friends ran by the entrance, firing a spell. And then a whoosh disrupted the noise and a mass of black smoke crashed down in front of her. Mica tugged on her sleeve, ready to fight or run depending on Circi's choice.

They waited long enough to see the face of the death eater. Tall, proud, unmasked and shrouded in shadows, Lucius Malfoy towered over them. He stood straight, wand poised and sneering over his nose. Mouth curled up with a curse on the tip of his tongue, he choked on his words.

Circi was looking up at him with wide eyes. His sleeve had fallen down to his elbow when he raised his arm and she could see the dark mark slithering along his arm. A beat passed between them, both Malfoys processing who was stood before them. And then Circi recovered.

She screamed.

It was a blood-curdling, fear-fuelled scream that ripped through him like a letter opener. The girls sprinted away, not even hesitating to unarm him or stun him. Circi was running the fastest, her arms pumping, her heart thumping and her head spinning. She was not accustomed to this much exercise. Adrenaline can be a fickle thing, and this time it served her well in putting as much distance as possible between her father and herself.

She continued to run even after they managed to find a door and escape the room. She continued to run even when Mica called for her to stop and to remind her their friends were still in danger. She wheezed and coughed and cried and ran.

Mica had no choice but to follow Circi. She felt obliged to ensure her friend's safety as they ran through a room which held only an archway atop a rock and, at a different time in her life, she would have loved to stop and observe but her friend was still running. Although they didn't get much further because Circi's legs gave out.

Falling to her knees, she braced herself on the ground and coughed out a sob. For a moment, all she had was images of her father appearing out of the darkness, ready to- what? Kill her? Was that his plan, if he found someone else?

She screamed again when Mica put her hand on her shoulder, scrambling away from the touch. They could hear voices again down the hall, the others were nearby and Mica wanted desperately to join them and help but her better conscious told her to stay where she was. If anyone other than Lucius Malfoy found them there was sure to be a fight.

For a while it was relatively silent, the voices had become quieter until they were inaudible. But in a few minutes of the lull, footsteps approached and she swung around with her wand poised.

Down the corridor, she watched the light from the tip of a wand bounce as its owner ran. They nearly ran by but turned back to see them. Christian Rier, Mica recognised him from the papers her father used to read.

"Girls, Circi, are you hurt?" He kneeled down, careful not to touch Circi, and waited for her to shake her head.

"Mr Rier-" Mica struggled to find her voice. "How- that way... the others..." he didn't stay to hear anymore and ran off to help. Watching him go, Mica took a deep breath and nodded. She hesitated one moment more and turned back to Circi. "I'm going to see what happens, scream if you need help."

Leaving no room for a sufficient answer, Mica sprints down the corridor. She walks into the open room in time to see that the death eaters were gone and a variety of witches and wizards were comforting the students. She had a sinking feeling someone had died but saw no body. Harry wasn't around which concerned her, the thought of that prophecy dying chilled her blood.

She moved towards the only other exit, assuming anyone fleeing would have gone that way and would be able to give her answers. But upon taking a few steps forward she was caught by the waist and walked back a few steps. Looking up, she meets Carmen's melancholy yet stern brown eyes. Her head shook minutely.

"Don't. Where's Circi?" With no other choice, Mica escorted Carmen to where Circi was sitting and watched as the two hugged, feeling as though she had spent the entire time babysitting instead of fighting.

A/N

it really is starting to kick off now