~Astra~

As soon as I saw Zaria Hempsey, I knew we were in trouble. I felt James tense up next to me. under the cloak, as she taunted Wren, roughly pulled her to her feet. He was about to leap out at her. I mean, I understood the feeling; I wanted nothing more than to bash Zaria's head in for treating my friend like that. Wren looked terrified, and unfortunately I didn't have to imagine all the horrible things Zaria had been doing to her over the past few months to cause that terror.

But she didn't know we were here, and it would be infinitely worse for Wren if she found out. We needed to stay hidden, for now. It would help Wren more in the long run.

So, as I glanced over at James, saw him clenching his fist around his wand, I came to several realizations at once. First: if James leaped out to confront Zaria, be a hero, and save Wren, it would ultimately be bad.

Second: James was about to leap out to confront her.

And third: I did have a way to stop him.

Before I could really think through what I was doing, I lifted my wand and cast petrificus totalus nonverbally.

James noticed immediately. I could tell, because his eyes, the only part of him still able to move, darted towards me. I just bit my lip and looked down. I could apologize in a few minutes, after Zaria was gone.

"It's all right, Ciara," Wren was saying. "I'm fine." Her eyes flicked over in our direction for just a moment, and I got the feeling she was talking to us, too. Of course, I didn't believe her, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. We would just make sure this was the last time Zaria would ever be able to touch her.

"There you go," Zaria said. "Everything's fine. That's right." She smirked at Wren, and I bit the inside of my cheek as hard as I could to keep from saying anything. It won't help.

Zaria was pulling Wren towards the door, now. She spared one glance at Ciara over her shoulder before she walked out, just enough time to say, "You can forget about dinner, Malfoy." Then she was gone, slamming the door closed behind her.

I threw the cloak off instantly and lit my wand, and turned to undo the spell on James. Ciara stopped me, holding one hand up, and putting a finger to her lips. For a moment, we listened to their footsteps receding. After it had been quiet for at least a minute, Ciara finally let out her breath and sank down on the cot.

"What the hell, Astra?" James demanded as soon as I'd performed the counter-spell.

"What was I supposed to do?" I snapped. "You were going to duel her!"

"Please be quiet," Ciara said, but we both ignored her.

"No, I wasn't!" he yelled, though I think we both knew he was. He still crossed his arms and glared at me. "Do I look like an idiot?"

"A little bit, yeah!" I shook my head. "Starting fights with Zaria Hempsey is not what we're here to do."

"Letting my girlfriend get tortured by her is also not what we're here to do!"

"Will you both shut up?" Ciara snapped in a whisper. "You're going to bring the guard!"

As much as I wanted to keep yelling at him, I took a deep breath instead. James was glaring at me still, so I sat down next to Ciara to better avoid looking at him. "The best thing we can do for her, in the long run, is find a way to get her out now so that this never happens again."

James narrowed his eyes, then grabbed the cloak and started for the door. "I'm not letting Hempsey touch her."

"James, no—"

I cut myself off instead of protesting more, because despite the fact that James cast a spell on the door, it didn't budge. He frowned, then tried it again, verbally this time, but still nothing happened.

"That's not going to work," Ciara said dully. "They've cast some kind of spell on the door so it can't be opened from this side, magic or no."

He blinked at the door. "Surely there's a counter-spell."

"If there is, I don't know it. And neither does Wren, or Jasper. I doubt you would."

Instead of acknowledging that, James kicked the bottom of the door. Then he cast a volley of spells at the door, each glanced off it as if nothing had happened. I winced as one exploded against the wall, doing no damage to anything except possibly our eardrums.

At that, Ciara stood up and stormed over to him. She wrenched his wand out of his hand, which surprised him enough that he didn't resist. "Shut up," she snapped, glaring up at him. "The guard's going to come, and you'll get yourself caught, and then you won't be able to do anything for Wren at all. Is that what you want?"

James glanced at the door, then back at Ciara. "I can't just give up on her," he said in a hollow whisper.

Ciara didn't raise her voice again or tell him off like I was expecting her to. Instead, she stared at him for a moment, shaking with what I assumed was anger until she let her shoulders sag. "I get it, James," she whispered. "Really. Do you think it's easy to watch her walk off to that every other day?"

A shaky breath told me James was in danger of crying. I almost hopped up to go comfort him, but the tenseness in the air held me in place. "How do you do it?"

"I don't know." Ciara glanced in my direction, though she didn't really seemed to be looking at anything in particular. "I... I just know that she doesn't ever want me to do anything. It would be harder for her if I did. And it wouldn't help, ultimately..." She sighed and glanced back at James. "You do see that it wouldn't help now, right?"

I held my breath as James frowned darkly at the door over Ciara's shoulder. It was a little bit too long before he finally nodded. "Yeah. I do."

Ciara managed a sad smile. "She'll be back in an hour or two. She always is."

"In the meantime, we can figure out what our plan is," I suggested. "That's probably the most helpful thing, anyway."

James nodded mechanically. He followed Ciara back to the cot, and sat down on the floor next to me. I reached over to pat his shoulder, and Ciara pretended not to notice as he surreptitiously wiped at his eyes. "So, um, what's our best way out?" I asked Ciara.

She just shrugged, giving me a slightly concerned look.

"What was Wren saying about an alarm?" James asked seriously.

"She told me..." Ciara scrunched her face up in thought. "I think her mother had said they'd put a spell on her, specifically, so that if she left the premises by any means, an alarm would go off. That would rule out flooing, if you could even find any floo powder, or trying to walk away, or a portkey, or anything else."

"And it's on Cassie, too?" I asked.

"I think so."

"What about you?"

Ciara let out a hollow laugh. "I'm not that important. Besides, I'm trapped in a cell."

"Okay, so there's something," James said, nodding. "We could sneak you out the way we came in. Then we'd just have to find something else for Wren and Cassie..."

"What else?" I frowned. "Even if we had floo powder, that can be tracked. And you're the only one who can apparate from here."

"Shut up. I'm thinking."

"You can do that?" James glanced up in surprise, but Ciara winced nearly as soon as she'd said it. "Sorry. Old habits." She shook her head. "Maybe you could take Wren by side-along apparition and meet Astra and I somewhere? I assume you two have been staying somewhere?"

James frowned. "The truck is too close to the manor. I wouldn't want you two to wait there for us. But maybe..." He glanced at me. "Do you feel comfortable driving?"

Capable? Maybe. But comfortable? Absolutely not. I nodded anyway. "I think I could do that."

He nodded. "Perfect. If we give you two a big enough head start, they won't find you if they start searching around the manor when the alarm goes off."

"Have you ever driven a car before?" Ciara asked skeptically.

"Yes," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Was he the one who taught you?"

Something about her tone seemed to imply that wasn't a good thing, which I suppose I couldn't really blame her for. I just winced. "Maybe?"

Ciara sighed. "I suppose that's better than nothing."

"Come on, Ciara," James said, rolling his eyes. "I'm getting a whole lot of ingratitude and judgment, considering we're here to rescue you." Ciara hesitated, seeming suddenly regretful, but James just smiled and waved it away. "I'm joking. Relax."

She managed a smile, but I cast about for a change of subject anyway. "I don't suppose you'd happen to know where your wand would be? We might be able to get it if it's around here."

"Wren said there's a chest full of them next to the guard's station. It's probably in there."

"Perfect." I glanced at James. "I could re-enchant the cheap cloak, and maybe Ciara and I could share it to sneak out?"

"That won't work," James said, shaking his head. "It's too small for two people." He frowned thoughtfully. "I think I might need to take you one at a time, maybe. Take Ciara, then bring the other cloak back for you? Then I would be able to sneak around here with Wren and find Cassie after you're both gone."

I gasped. "Cassie! Bloody hell, I forgot. How are you supposed to apparate them both out? The alarm will go off as soon as one of them is gone."

"I... I was thinking that Cassie might be small enough to try to apparate with all three of us at once?"

My immediate thought was that was far too dangerous, but I guess I didn't know anything much about apparating. I glanced at Ciara, who was frowning thoughtfully. "That could be very dangerous... but I think it could work."

"Really?"

"I mean, when Scorpius and I were little, my father had to apparate with us both more than once. And we were never splinched." She frowned. "I suppose it would be a little different here, since you're not nearly as experienced as my dad was..."

"That's a little rude," James said, frowning.

"I'm just stating a fact," Ciara said, putting her hands up. "It wasn't meant to be rude. Besides, that's not the only difference. Wren's practically an adult, and Scorpius and I were both children. But... I mean, Cassie's small, and if you all hung on tightly..."

James considered that for a moment, then nodded. "It sounds like that's our only option, anyway. If you really think it could work, at least."

"How good are you at apparating?"

"I mean, I apparate between here and France nearly every day," he said, shrugging. "I'd say I've gotten pretty good."

Ciara raised an impressed eyebrow. "Then maybe you could handle it."

"Perfect." James nodded, smiling. "So that's our plan."

"Not quite." I tilted my head. "Where are we meeting up?"

"Oh. I don't know..." James frowned. "I mean, ideally, they're not going to even realize Ciara's gone for a while, right? And you two could be far enough away..." He trailed off, clearly pondering something. "Perhaps... perhaps we shouldn't meet up."

"What?"

"Just... Wren and Cassie are both probably going to need to go into DA hiding immediately, right? Maybe we should apparate somewhere they can be safe."

"Where would that be?" I demanded, not because I didn't agree with him, but because I felt just a little slighted. Objectively, he was right; Stillens would be sending out his people to look for Wren everywhere, and the quicker she could disappear, the better. Trying to meet up with us, especially if Ciara and I were in the truck, might be too tricky. Besides, the odds that the girl who'd been following us had just given up were low. What if we ran into her?

"I don't know." James pursed his lips as he cut into my thoughts. "I'm not sure who any of their secretkeepers are."

Well, that was an easy problem to fix. Teddy and Toire's flat was in Edinburgh, and I was the only one who could tell anyone where. But I somehow found myself not wanting to tell him. All this time, we'd been working together, trying to find Wren, trying to save her. And I know he'd mentioned going off to do something else once we had, that the whole ruse in France was so that he could do something useful, but now that we'd finally reached that point, I found I hadn't really been thinking about any of that at all yet. That had been the far off future. I hadn't been expecting to have to split up today. And after we'd just found Wren again, I was going to have to say goodbye...

"Perhaps you could get to Hogwarts?" Ciara suggested. "Professor Haverna could help."

"That's probably too dangerous," James said, shaking his head. "Madam Cantha and Nico Jasper both work for Stillens, after all."

"Right. Then..." She frowned. "I don't suppose any of your family hasn't gone into hiding yet?"

"None except the kids at Hogwarts. Which... again, won't work." James pursed his lips, and I knew that wasn't the only reason he wasn't too keen on seeing his family again.

"You don't know of any other places?"

"No. DA information is on a need to know basis, and I never needed to know before." He sighed. "It wouldn't be such a big deal, I'm sure... I know enough protective spells for my house to be fairly safe. But fairly safe isn't really safe enough. Stillens could find a way past that, if he really wanted to. I'm sure he will, too. I think a fidelius charm is the only thing that could keep Wren safe, at least, but it's not like we could just cast our own."

I sighed. "87 Morningside Road. In Edinburgh."

Ciara and James blinked at me for a moment. It took a second for James to shake his head and say, "What?"

"It's Teddy and Victoire's flat. You can go there."

Now James was still blinking at me, but his expression had changed to one of surprise. "You're their secretkeeper? All this time?"

I shrugged, trying not to look as miserable as I felt. I was being selfish, after all. "It's not that big a deal, James. I'll tell Wren. Maybe write it down for Cassie, since I guess I probably won't be able to see her. You can take them there."

Ciara nodded seriously. "Okay, good. Where are we going, then? Has to be somewhere we can drive to, I assume?"

James nodded, though he didn't seem to have heard what she said. He was still looking at me, and his surprise had turned to concern. "Are you all right, Astra?"

"I'm fine," I said, in as light a tone as I could muster. I didn't really want to get into an argument about this, not right now. We didn't really know how long it was until Wren was back, after all, and the more details we had nailed down, the less she would have to take issue with. Though James didn't seem entirely convinced that I was fine, I ignored that. "Yes, it should probably be somewhere we can drive to. Which... I mean, I would suggest home, but that's pretty far..."

"Where are we, exactly?"

"Wales," James supplied with a sigh. "Near... well, a lot of small villages. Squarely in the middle."

Ciara perked up a little. "We're probably only a few hours away from my home, in that case." She glanced at James. "Depending on home much of a head start you were planning on giving us, we might even get there before anyone realizes we're gone."

"Is your house safe?" I asked skeptically. Uncle Draco and Aunt Astoria weren't in the DA, after all. Though, on second thought, that might be best; I still didn't want to end up with the DA, and have them trying to protect me from Stillens. That would only lead to more people getting hurt. But I wasn't about to substitute the DA for my own family.

"Didn't you literally get kidnapped in your own garden?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

For a moment, Ciara hesitated. Then she nodded. "There's no way my father wouldn't have done anything after that. He's probably cast a ridiculous amount of protective spells around the property. It'd be safe enough, at least." She glanced at me. "Provided they don't know you're involved, at least. I don't think I matter enough to put forth that much effort."

"At the very least, you could get in contact with the DA from there," James agreed, nodding. "They could get you to somewhere safer, if necessary."

"I'm not contacting the DA," I said automatically.

"Fine, don't. But Ciara probably should." James pursed his lips. "You... you probably should, though."

"I don't care. No one else is getting hurt trying to protect me. Stillens would find out, and target the DA even more than he is already. I'm not letting that happen."

"All right." James put his hands up. "I didn't say you had to." He glanced back at Ciara. "Your official story can be that Astra wasn't involved at all. I broke you out when I broke Wren out, helped you get off the property so you could apparate home. That way, Stillens still doesn't know where she is and won't go after her or your family, and my front isn't ruined."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes, Your oh-so-precious front."

"Oh, shut up. You don't know what I want to do."

Rather than get into an argument about that again, Ciara just shook her head and asked about what we'd been doing all this time. That took a while to explain, since it kind of amounted to a lot of wasting time, now that I looked back on it; why on earth had we spent so long looking for the tunnels when this would have worked better the whole time? And, of course, that brought up James's escapades in France, which led to the girl who'd blown up all the streetlights (Ciara thought that might be a girl Wren had met a few months ago, named Artemis), which led to why we'd started camping out in the truck, which led to the whole story of breaking in.

Then, of course, we wanted to know everything about what Ciara's time here had been like. It didn't amount to much, she claimed; other than the first few weeks, when Jasper had apparently been acting up, she'd been left down here in her cell, undisturbed by anyone except Wren. Unfortunately, Wren hadn't been so lucky, it seemed. Ciara told us she'd had to see Zaria every few days for "interrogation," which basically boiled down to torture so horrible that Wren often was unable to even describe it afterward. For months now, Ciara had been trying her best to be supportive and encouraging, watching our friend be tormented and manipulated and unable to do anything about it. But Wren was trying to be the same thing to her, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out.

By the time we'd finished, I'd lost all track of time. When I glanced down at my watch, I was surprised to see that it was several hours into the night.

"What?" James's face looked pale in the light of our wands. "It's past eleven?" He glanced at Ciara. "I thought you said she'd be back in a couple hours."

"I... she always is. I can't imagine why she wouldn't be this time..."

A chill went down my spine, which seemed entirely separate from the damp cold on the dungeon. "Do you think she's all right?"

"I don't know," Ciara whispered. She bit her lip. "Maybe... maybe Hempsey took a little longer than normal? Wren's mother makes her be at dinner on time every night, and she's not supposed to come back here after. Maybe she didn't have time?"

I desperately wanted that to be true, though my mind was running through worst case scenarios like a hamster on a wheel. "Right. That's probably it."

James seemed unconvinced as well. He glanced toward the door, a pained expression on his face. I reached out to put my hand on his shoulder, but he hardly seemed to notice. "I'm sure she'll come back first thing in the morning," I said in a more even voice than I was expecting, though I really wasn't sure at all. "I don't think there's much we can do about it, except wait."

"Probably best to get some sleep," Ciara said, nodding. "Tomorrow's going to be a big day, after all."

James nodded mutely, but didn't move as Ciara and I started moving things around, trying to make the stone floor at least semi-comfortable with the few worn blankets and cloaks we had between the three of us. Eventually, I asked James if he was going to sleep, too, and he just mumbled something I couldn't quite hear, and moved over lean against the wall. I eventually just extinguished my wand and tried to go to sleep.

I didn't dream. That might have meant I didn't ever fall asleep fully (highly probable), or it might have just been one of those lucky, rare nights when my inner eye decided to take a nap, too. I can't say it was the most restful night, though. I might not have been dreaming about Wren, but she still filled my thoughts.

I'd drifted off again, I suppose, when Ciara shook me awake. The cell looked no different now than it had in the middle of the night, and it took several moments to blink away the disoriented sleepiness. "It's morning, Astra," Ciara said softly.

James was still sitting against, cloak laying across his knees and giving the very odd illusion that he was just a disembodied torso. I chuckled a little, though it died on my lips as I noticed the dark circles under his eyes. "Did you not sleep?" I asked as I scooted over, handing Ciara back the blanket I'd slept on.

He shrugged instead of answering, which I suppose I should have expected. Moody James was not the most talkative fellow, after all, even when it was just the two of us. He was probably just as concerned for Wren and I was, and he didn't have the practice of six months of not being able to sleep well.

"She has to go to breakfast with her family," Ciara was saying, "then I bet she'll come down afterwards. About an hour from now, probably."

I glanced down at my watch. It was a little past nine thirty now. "I don't suppose we have any food in here, do we?"

Ciara gestured to a plate by the door. "Someone brought porridge earlier."

I raised an eyebrow. "And James is still here?"

"They slid it through the grate in the door," he said, voice dull.

"Ah." I hopped up and walked over to the door. In the light of my wand, the porridge looked gray and slimy. I couldn't help making a face. "This is what they've been feeding you?"

Ciara shrugged. "Were you expecting something better?"

I suppose not. After about two seconds, I decided it would be better to deal with a growling stomach than that porridge, so I walked back to the cot. "I might have some granola bars in the bottom of my bag."

Some scrounging did indeed bring up some very crushed granola bars. James passed them up, but Ciara seemed grateful to take one. We'd just opened them when footsteps in the hall made us freeze. I hurried over to James, who sighed and pulled the cloak over our heads. Ciara made quick work of stuffing our cloaks and my bag underneath the blankets on her cot, and was just getting up, presumably to move the porridge, when the footsteps stopped. Just outside the door.

I held my breath. Ciara had said it would be about an hour until Wren turned up, so who could this be? Maybe Nico Jasper had done something wrong, and now I was going to have to stand by and let my cousin get hurt, too. I wasn't sure I could handle that. James's sudden, strong grip on my arm told me he might not be able to, either.

The door swung open, but instead of anyone gruffly dragging my cousin away, someone slipped inside. I saw Ciara's face light up before I could register that it was actually Wren.

"Wren!" Ciara smiled, seeming relieved. "I was so worried when you didn't come back..."

"Are you all right?" James had leaped up, throwing the cloak off both of us. He'd crossed the room in two strides, and now had his hand protectively hovering over her shoulder, as if unsure if she would actually want him to touch her.

"I'm sorry," Wren said softly. She was wearing the same blue cardigan as yesterday, I realized as she pulled it closer around herself. Not only that, but she was shivering, as if she was cold. Which... I mean, it was a little chilly down here, but not that bad.

"Don't apologize," James said. He finally settled on reaching down to take her hand, which she hardly seemed to notice, but his eyes widened. "You're so cold. Are you all right?"

She glanced down at her hand, as if she hadn't been aware of that, then looked up at James. "I... I don't know..."

"What happened?" I asked quietly.

Wren took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she said again, which made James's brow furrow in concern. "It just... it takes a while for the effect to wear off..."

"The effect?"

"Have you been with Hempsey all this time?" asked Ciara.

She managed to shake her head. "That would have been better." She hesitated for a moment, then closed her eyes. "It was the dementors."

I gasped, though I might not have been the only one. James clenched the hand that wasn't holding hers, and Ciara reached up to gently take her arm. "Would you like to sit down?"

Wren nodded, and Ciara and James led her over to the cot. James sank down on the floor, still holding her hand, and I knelt down next to him. For a moment, Wren just stared at the floor. I could see her shaking, still, taking deep, intentional breaths. As much as I wanted to reach out and put my hand on her knee, be comforting somehow, I wasn't sure that it was a good idea. She was so much jumpier now than she'd been before, and she'd already been easily startled by touch. Best not to do anything, probably.

"We have a plan," Ciara said after a few minutes of silence. Wren glanced up at her pretty quickly, which was a good sign. Ciara smiled a little. "It's not too bad, honestly. Even if Astra and James came up with it."

A faint smile appeared for a moment, and Wren's gaze passed over James and me. "What sort of plan?"

"One that helps everyone," I said firmly. "Don't argue until you've heard it all, all right?"

She nodded, and did a remarkably good job of listening as the three of us took turns explaining everything we'd come up with. I mean, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised; if any of my friends had self-control, it was Wren Predatel. I just wished I didn't have to worry that maybe the fact that she wasn't arguing was because she'd spent a night with the dementors and didn't have the energy to, rather than that she just wanted to give us a chance to explain.

When we'd reached the end, she got a thoughtful look on her face. I found myself holding my breath, waiting for her response. If she started with that won't work, you need to leave...

"That sounds a little dangerous."

Well, that wasn't an outright refusal to go along with it, at least. I glanced at James, daring to be hopeful, and found my thoughts mirrored on his face. "Yes," he said slowly. "It could be, I suppose. But it could work."

Wren studied him for a moment. "I guess it could."

I grinned. That was as close to agreement as we were going to get, I had a feeling. Best to get started now, and not give her a chance to reconsider. "Perfect! Let's do it!"

James jumped to his feet and glanced around the room. "I don't suppose there's anything here you want to take with you, Ciara?"

She rolled her eyes. "Does it look like there is?"

"Cool." He tossed the cheap invisibility cloak to me. "Re-enchant this, if you will. We'll stop and get her wand on our way out, and I should be back for you within an hour or so."

"We'll meet here?"

He glanced at Wren. "Would that work?"

"Um..." Wren blinked. I got the impression that she was a little overwhelmed by how fast everything had started moving. "I think so. I normally spend all morning down here, anyway. No one should think anything of hearing me talking to someone."

"Perfect." James looked back at me, then sighed. "Why haven't you enchanted that already?"

"Oh, sorry." I held the very opaque cloak up. "Fulgore perstri." It disappeared from sight, though I could still feel the rough material in my hands. I tossed it to Ciara. "Have fun."

Ciara caught the cloak, then set it down next to her as she turned to Wren. "Good luck. I'll miss you."

"Oh." Wren hesitated as the dots seemed to connect. "Right. You're leaving."

"I love you."

"I love you, too." Wren reached out to hug her, and whispered something I couldn't hear. When they finally pulled back, both of them had eyes seemed a little shinier than before.

Ciara nodded to whatever Wren had said and managed a smile. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Right." Wren smiled, too, though she didn't seem entirely convinced of that. "See you soon."

James leaned over her to kiss the top of her head. "I'll be back before you know it. I love you."

"I love you, too," she said, though she still seemed a little overwhelmed.

James and Ciara donned the cloaks and disappeared. I couldn't tell when they left except by the sound of their breathing fading away. Wren was still staring at the place James had been standing, so I eased myself onto the cot next to her. "Are you all right?"

She took a shaky breath. "I... I mean, yes. I think..."

I hesitated, then reached out for her hand. She didn't pull away, which was a good sign. "He'll be back soon. This is going to work."

She didn't say anything, but she did squeeze my hand a little. I felt a smile growing across my face, though there was also a lump in my throat. Why did I feel like crying?

"I'm really glad to see you," Wren whispered. After a moment, she glanced at me. "I'm... I'm sorry if it seemed like I wasn't, yesterday. I was overwhelmed."

"It's okay." I chuckled. "I mean, it was pretty dangerous of us to break in here, I guess. You weren't wrong. You never are."

"That's not true." Wren bit her lip and looked away. "I'm sorry that... that I made you feel responsible for... like you needed to—"

"It's all right," I said, cutting her off because I knew what she was talking about. I hadn't been able to let her die, and she'd somehow decided that was something she needed to apologize for. Not that I necessarily regretted it, I guess; she wouldn't be here to rescue, if I'd been able to. But... I don't know. It was complicated. And Wren trying to apologize for everything only made it more so. I sighed and closed my eyes, as if that might block out my thoughts. "I'm sorry. We can leave it at that. Just..." And here was the question I didn't know how to ask. "I just... honestly, do you wish I'd been able to?"

Wren didn't answer right away, and I got up the courage to open my eyes and glance at her. She was staring into the distance, seeming deep in thought. I watched her for a few moments, then squeezed her hand gently. She turned her head in my direction at that, but her eyes didn't quite reach mine. "I... I don't know," she said softly, seeming unsure of her words even as she said them. "No. I don't think so. But..." She hesitated, as if the thought was a little painful. "I think... I would rather die than go through any of this again. But I'm not sure that's the same thing."

I nodded slowly. "Right. Okay." She winced, and opened her mouth again, probably to say she was sorry again, so I shook my head before she could. "Don't apologize, Wren. I know this has been..." I trailed off, finding I couldn't find the words to do justice to exactly what I'd seeing in my dreams, what she'd actually been living for so long. Instead, I shook my head again. "And it's okay to be confused, after all of this."

Wren had looked down. "It's normally not so bad," she said softly. "This was the first time they've tried the dementors, after all."

I blinked at her for a moment. 'Normally not so bad'? Who did she think she was trying to fool? "Wren..."

"Really, I've been all right." She forced a smile, and I could tell she was forcing it. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

"By an absolute miracle, and the fact that you're the strongest person I've ever met." I shifted, turning so I was facing her. "I've dreamed about you, nearly every night since you were captured. Please don't lie to me about this. You're not sparing my feelings. It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, but just say that."

Wren was staring at me, a mixture of horror and concern on her face. "You've been..." She blinked, and the light of my wand caught the tears in her eyes. For a moment, she seemed to try to keep from crying. "I'm sorry you had to see that," she said softly, her voice shaking.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Her lip trembled. It was like something cracked, and within a few seconds, she'd started sobbing. Without really thinking about it, I leaned forward, pulled her into a hug, held her tightly. I might have been crying, too. All the guilt, fear, everything that had been held back just a little by the fact that we'd had a goal was crashing back down on me, but it didn't matter. She was here. And soon, she'd be safe.

~~~~

Question of the Day: There are two chapters left in Act I, after this. Any ideas on what might happen?

Answer: haha, that's spoilers.

Vote and comment!

~Elli

Word count: 5940