Perfect Slytherin. Let's see... I know most of you are going to say Snape, but Regulus Black! He was ambitious, and obviously cunning if he managed to fool Lord Voldemort to the point where nobody suspected him, not to mention figure out how to get the Horcrux out of the lake (ah, Kreacher). I don't see why Snape is help up as Slytherin's good guy when there's Regulus, right in front of you! And, of course, there's also Andromeda Tonks, who was a Slytherin too (Sirius was the only Black to not be Slytherin) but we know more about Regulus, so I choose him.

"To the Dark Lord - I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more."

~R.A.B.

~~~~

Our wands flew out of our hands at almost the same time. The people who had disarmed us emerged from the forest on either side us. Scorpius, Colette, and I shifted closer together. The moon had emerged from behind the clouds, but the two people hadn't removed the hoods of their cloaks, so their faces were shadowed. I quickly shoved the Cloak into my book bag, and Scorpius stepped in front of the bag to hide what I was doing.

"What do we have here?" one of the figures finally said, in a distinctly American accent. The triumphant tone of voice instantly rubbed me the wrong way, but I didn't move.

The other figure laughed. A woman, for sure. "It seems we've caught what we're after." They must have seen the Cloak. I didn't move, just in case they trying to trick us.

The man reached up and lowered the hood of his own cloak, and I gasped. I recognized him. It was the criminally insane, psychotic mass murderer, my old best friend's father: Isaac Predatel.

The woman lowered her hood as well. I already had a pretty good guess at who she was, and I wasn't disappointed. Katreena Predatel held our wands up tauntingly in one hand, training hers on us with the other.

Scorpius tugged on my sleeve. "You recognize them," he whispered, barely making a sound.

I nodded the slightest bit. Isaac narrowed his eyes at us. Let's see. I could either let him ask what Scorpius had said, or at least try to unnerve him. It would probably be strange to find that a random British second year happened to know who he was, since he was an American criminal, who'd committed his crimes when I was a baby.

"Isaac Predatel," I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could. Both adults stared at me, surprised. I had caught them off guard.

"How do you know who I am?" Isaac asked, fixing a glare on me to end all glares.

Two choices. Tell him I'd dreamed about him, and be written off as a lunatic by not only him, but also Scorpius and Colette, or make up a story. I decided to go with the second. Maybe I could add in a bit of "scared child" acting. Convince them we were nothing more than lost students, not a threat.

"I-I saw your picture in the paper..."

Scorpius knew there hadn't been a picture when Isaac had broken out of prison last year. He'd found the article, after all. Luckily, he simply nodded. I glanced to my right. Colette looked more confused than anything else. I wondered if she'd made the connection between Wren Predatel and this man yet. I wasn't about to fill in the blanks for her.

Isaac seemed to be content with my explanation. He walked over to his wife. "Now, children, there is no reason to be frightened-"

"I think we have every reason to be frightened. You're a mass murderer," Scorpius said bravely. Colette stiffened next to me.

Katreena tsked. "Now, now. He won't hurt you. You are all descended from pureblood wizards."

I was tempted to tell her that I most definitely was not; my mum was a muggle. However, I decided that might just get me killed.

Colette was the one to challenge it. "Malfoy here is the only-"

Isaac cut her off. "I don't care about that."

"You've been behind the attacks all year?" I said, trying to buy for time. If we could just get to our wands...

"Very good guess," he said, his smile as sinister as any mass murderer's ever was. "Right now, I need to know which one of you sweet young ladies is Astra... What does she go by?"

"Lewis," Katreena supplied.

"Ah, yes. Well, she'll certainly be glad to be rid of that muggle name." I felt my blood run cold. What did he mean by that? Maybe he knew who my father was...

Impossible.

"Why should we tell you that?" Scorpius asked immediately. As he said that, I got the same thought that had probably flashed through his mind immediately. Colette was going to rat us out. I didn't know why they wanted me, but it wouldn't be good, whatever it was. And I wouldn't put it past Colette to turn me in to save herself. We might as well have brought Nico Jasper if we were going for trustworthy.

Isaac frowned. "Well, if you don't tell me, I'll simply kill the boy. I know he isn't Astra."

For a tense second, we remained silent. The only sound was the wind in the trees. Normally, that was a fairly soothing noise. When your friend was about to get murdered? Not so much.

"Fine, then," Katreena said. She pointed her wand at Scorpius. "Crucio."

I think I was the one who screamed as Scorpius started convulsing in pain. He fell to the ground, crying out. After about ten seconds, Katreena stopped, leaving Scorpius gasping for air on the ground.

"Perhaps that loosened your tongues. Are you ready to tell?"

Before I could react, I heard Colette ask, "Why?"

"Very simple, my dear," Katreena said, her motherly tone scaring me. Mothers should not be sadistic torture machines. "We have orders to take you, or perhaps your friend here, whichever one is Astra."

"If you come without a fuss, your friends will not be harmed."

"And if you're a good girl, you won't be harmed, either," Katreena purred. Colette and I both glared at her. Obviously, she wasn't very fond of that term, either.

I couldn't believe Colette hadn't spouted off everything she knew about me immediately, to save herself. Now, I was beginning to wonder if she would at all.

"Well? We don't have all night."

Suddenly, Colette stepped forward. I tried to pull her back, but then she said, "It's me."

I froze in shock, staring at her. Was she mad? What was she thinking? And why was she lying for me? I thought she hated me.

Isaac and Katreena didn't seem to notice anything unusual, and looked pleased that "Astra" had come so quietly. Colette turned to me.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

"Go save your friends," she whispered. "They'll figure out they have the wrong girl eventually. By then you'll be safe. Just run!"

And they'll kill you, I wanted to say, but Isaac was coming our way.

"Stop whispering," Isaac called, striding over to us. He roughly grabbed Colette's arm, jerking her away. "Now, before we do anything, where is that blasted Cloak?"

He directed the question at Colette, who stared blankly at him. It took me a second to remember that I'd told her about it. She knew exactly what he was talking about. However, she wasn't going to let on that she did, for some reason.

Which made absolutely no sense! There was nothing keeping her from telling them that I was who they were looking for, and that I had the Cloak in my bag, right under their very noses. We'd never so much as spoken without ending in either a heated argument or even a duel. So what was she doing now?

Scorpius groaned, so I busied myself with helping him to his feet. He was doing his best to act worried for Colette, with a scared frown on his face and his brow furrowed, so I decided I'd go with it.

"Astra, don't do what he says," I said quietly.

Colette gave me the swiftest of winks, then said, "It's okay, Iris. Just help Scorpius."

It fooled the Predatels. Katreena looked positively gleeful, which was a little unnerving considering that was the exact same smile she'd worn while torturing Scorpius not more than two minutes ago. I was beginning to think she wasn't exactly sane.

"Now, if you'll let go of me," Colette said, wrenching her arm out of Isaac's grasp, "I'll do whatever you want."

"Perfect," Isaac said. "Kat, I'll take their wands. Go check on our other business."

It didn't take a degree in rocket science to realize that this "other business" could only be James, Rose, and Albus. So, that meant they were nearby. Either that, or the Predatels had for some reason  ridden brooms here, or had a fireplace connected to the Floo Network set up here in the forest.

Kat handed the three wands to her husband, then jogged off into the forest. I watched her to see which way she went, then directed my attention to Colette.

"Now, Astra, you're going to be reasonable, aren't you?" Isaac asked. Colette nodded. "Which of you has the Cloak? I'm sure one of you does, or at least knows where it is." That's when he spotted my bag. "You. Empty that."

I cringed as I slowly pulled the Cloak out of my bag. Colette gingerly took it, not able to stop herself from staring at it. I'd told her it was a normal invisibility cloak. I hadn't told her it was special or important at all. Of course, now she knew that couldn't be true. Isaac seemed to be convinced of her compliance, luckily, because he didn't immediately take the Cloak away from her.

"And of course, you won't refuse to help me tie up your friends?"

Colette didn't move. "Um..."

"For practical purposes, of course. We can't have them running off to find the wonderful Harry Potter as soon as my back is turned."

"Right. Of course," Colette said. I didn't miss the way she was inching closer to him. Specifically, closer to the hand holding our wands. Just as Isaac began to say the incantation to tie us up, Colette grabbed his left arm and twisted it.

It was kind of funny. Isaac managed to shoot ropes out of the end of his wand, but they fell harmlessly on the ground, snaking around the grass and weeds as if looking for something to tie up. Colette wrestled the other wands out of his hand, and in seconds, Scorpius and I were at her side, helping push Isaac to the ground.

Unfortunately, it seemed Isaac had spent his decade in prison working out. He managed to push all three of us off him. Then, he grabbed the Cloak. Colette couldn't hold on, and he ran a few feet before I managed to catch up and grab it.

Isaac tried to shove me away, but I ducked, and he missed, losing his balance. Scorpius took the opportunity to push him, which knocked him over. Colette and I wrested the Cloak out of his grasp, and ran.

He was up in seconds. He knocked me out of the way with such force that I fell over. He grabbed the Cloak, but Colette was not letting go this time. They were soon locked in a tug of war, where Colette was seriously disadvantaged. And they were tugging each other toward the edge of the cliff.

"Look out!" Scorpius yelled. He pulled me to my feet, and we started toward them, looking for a chance to fire a stunning spell at Isaac. Unfortunately, they were moving so much that it would be hard not to shoot Colette on accident. I had never thought that would be a problem.

They were right on the edge of the cliff. Isaac had his back to it, and Colette knew she had an advantage. She pushed him, holding onto the Cloak for all she was worth.

Isaac took a step backward.

There was no where to step.

Scorpius and I watched openmouthed as Isaac fell over the edge of the cliff. In an instant, though, our celebration turned to dread.

He was still holding the Cloak.

Colette was going to fall after him.

I didn't even think. I ran. Scorpius, luckily, had the same instinct. We reached the edge of the cliff, and both caught one of Colette's arms, jerking her backwards onto the ground. Onto safety. I grabbed onto part of the Cloak, as well, and waited to hear a terrible ripping noise.

Nothing. It looked like Isaac simply lost his hold. He plummeted down. We watched him fall, waiting for the moment he hit the ground.

He didn't hit the ground.

Instead, he seemed to shrink. His arms became stubby and black, and coated with... Feathers? His black hair bunched together into more feathers, covering his head. He shrunk and the feathers spread. In seconds, we were not staring at a man falling to his death, but a bird floundering to get his wings working. He managed to spread his wings partially and flew off, flapping his left wing haphazardly, at a weird angle. Not towards us, luckily. He was actually barely keeping himself aloft.

"He's an Animagus," Colette breathed, her face white. She was taking slow, deliberate breaths, but I could still see how much the near-fall had scared her. It had scared me, too. I suddenly felt terrible for every time I'd wished she would fall off a cliff.

"Now what?"

"We save our friends, of course," I said.

~~~~

Now that I've posted this... I wonder just how many times I've mentioned a bird at a critical part of the story...

Question of the day: Out of all the Ravenclaw students we know from the books, who would you hold up as the model of perfect Ravenclaw behavior? (Don't worry, I've practically used up this question!)

*sighs* The Black family really interests me... Maybe when I finish this series I'll write a fanfic about Sirius and Reguglus and their relationship with their cousins.

Vote and comment!

~Ellie