The Great Hall was immediately filled with gasps and agitated whispers. Iris actually started crying, and Jaycee Bell had to take her out of the hall for a few minutes to calm her down. The whispering subsided quickly, though. We all wanted to know who the victim had been this time.

McGonagall had stood in the front, calmly waiting for quiet to reign once again before she continued. Once the last whisperer had fallen silent, she continued. "The victim of the attack was Andrew Longbottom."

No one talked. No one moved. I felt the blood drain from my face as I realized that Arthur wasn't sitting with us like he normally was. He was probably with his brother. Professor Longbottom was also absent from the professors' table.

McGonagall didn't allow us long to process the news. She said, "He is very much alive, and will make a full recovery, according to Madam Pomfrey. We believe that the Cruciatus Curse was used on him as well, but for a longer period of time. He is currently in the hospital wing."

She sighed and clasped her hands. "Now, students. Again, I implore you, if you have any information regarding the identity, whereabouts, or motive of the intruder, please come forward. We cannot allow any more of this to happen to the students here. Professor Potter is already doing his best, with the help of several other aurors, to track down the culprit, but if you know anything, tell us. And once again, students, do not panic. You are completely safe here at Hogwarts. We are tightening security, and there is no possible way that an intruder could enter this school and hurt any of you. I do not want any panic, rumors, or pranks regarding this, all right? Thank you."

A very somber mood filled the hall. I caught James's eye, and we left breakfast early, closely followed by Albus and Wren.

"It had to be Ciara," I said as soon as we were out of the doors.

"But why?" Albus asked, sounding more confused than skeptical. "What did she have against Andrew?"

"Maybe Andrew stood up for Arthur," suggested Wren. "She likes to pick on him."

"Very true," James said, grinning.

"Now if only we had a way to get her to confess," I remarked.

"We can give up on Polyjuice Potion," James said. "I asked Professor Sulcan about it, and he said it takes a month to brew. She could attack thirty more people by then."

"Anyway, there's no way we could get into the restricted section to find out about it," added Wren. She noticed James and my raised eyebrows and added, irritated, "without breaking the rules."

James sighed in defeat. "Well, what do we do? Have any better ideas?"

"Um...not yet," she said slowly. "Let me think."

We all stared at her until she snapped, "It'll take longer than two minutes!"

"Ok, ok, you can have two and a half," I said, smirking.

Wren shook her head. "You are crazy. Give me a few days, ok?"

"Fine," James said, sighing. He perked up quickly, and at first I couldn't tell why. I turned around to see who he was looking at and saw Mackenzie Walker and Roxanne walking past us. They smiled and waved, and I forced myself to smile back, but I felt an overwhelming urge to hex Mackenzie. It had absolutely nothing to do with James Potter. Nothing.

~~~~

The strange thing was that Ciara seemed about as on edge as everyone else. She was an exceptional actress, acting just as paranoid as the people around her. She, Nico, and two other Slytherins stayed together all the time it seemed, and they weren't the only ones. Almost everyone was moving in a pack. Wren, Albus, and I were no exception. With the occasional addition of Luna, who was the only one seemingly unaffected by the mounting terror in the school, we walked together to every class, avoiding Ciara whenever possible.

Much to everyone's relief, the next two weeks passed without a trace of the intruder. People started relaxing. Occasionally, you would see smaller groups of two flitting around the halls. No one dared to go anywhere alone, still, but the fear was lessening as Andrew's attack floated away in the past.

Andrew came back within a week, healthy as ever. He told his story to whoever would listen, and everyone listened.

Basically, he had been out after curfew, trying to intercept Arthur on his way back from Astronomy to tell him about some chocolate frog card he'd found (I think those are like bubblegum cards. You know, those things that everyone talks about but no one's seen, with baseball players on them?). Somehow, he got turned around and found himself in an unfamiliar corridor. There, the cloaked figure had snuck up behind him and cast a spell on him (without speaking!) that froze him in place. The figure had walked around to face him, taken the spell off him, and immediately performed the curse.

"That's strange..." James said slowly after he'd heard the tale. "Why wasn't the attacker asking him where 'it' was? She asked Rose."

"Maybe the attacker did..." I said slowly, as a realization dawned on me. "But maybe he's not allowed to tell us!"

James decided that he wanted the full story, so he and I managed to corner Andrew on the Friday after he was released from the hospital wing.

He grinned at us. "Come to hear about my attack again?"

"Kind of," I said.

James rolled his eyes. "More like no. We want to know if the figure asked you any questions."

Andrew's eyes grew wide. "How did you know about that?" he choked out.

"We witnessed the first attack, remember? What did the person say, exactly?"

Andrew frowned. His superior grin from a moment ago was replaced with a guilty look. "I'm not supposed to say."

"It's all right, Andrew, we already know. You can tell us," I said encouragingly.

"Fine," he sighed. "The figure asked, 'Where is it? Do you know where he hid it?' Of course, I had no idea what the guy was talking about, and I told him, so he used the curse." For once, Andrew didn't look brave or excited as he talked about what happened. He looked upset, and scared. I couldn't stop myself from hugging him,and James awkwardly joined in after I kicked him in the shin.

~~~~

"I don't understand..." Wren said slowly. "Why would Ciara want to know where someone hid something?"

James shrugged, and sat down on one of the tables in the common room, propping his feet up on the chair below him. It was a few weeks later, just before Quidditch practice. We had decided to bend our promise a bit and tell Wren. After all, she already knew about before. I told her practically everything. Since then, we had had a conversation like this a thousand times. Wren would point out the flaws in our theory, and James and I would adamantly back it up, even without evidence. She hadn't come up with any ideas to force a confession out of Ciara, either.

"Let's start with what we do know," I suggested. "Ciara is looking for something, and she thinks someone, a boy, hid it. She thinks Rose Weasley and Andrew Longottom might know where it is."

Wren frowned at me skeptically. "We don't even know if it's Ciara, Astra."

"Fine. Someone, probably Ciara, is looking for something, thinks a boy has it, and thinks Rose Weasley and Andrew Longbottom know where it is. I don't understand. What do they have in common?"

Albus and James seemed mildly surprised. "Don't you know?" James asked. "Mr. Longbottom and my dad fought in the war together. My parents, Rose's parents, Luna's mom, and Andrew's dad all went to the Ministry and fought Lord Voldemort, once."

"And Mr. Longbottom and my mom actively fought against the Death Eaters in the school before the Battle of Hogwarts," Albus added proudly.

"But what does that have to do with Ciara?" I asked in bewilderment. "Why would she care?"

James sighed in defeat. "I don't know. I just don't know what else would connect them."

"Why are you so sure it's Ciara?" Albus asked.

"Well..." Why was I so sure? Yeah, it made sense in Rose's case, sort of, but not Andrew's. Maybe I was just so desperate for a cause that I was willing to blame it on anyone? "I-I don't know."

"I don't think it's her, Astra, honestly," Wren said quietly.

James groaned. "I guess they're right, really. It doesn't make much sense. Looks like we have to start over. Great."

I nodded in agreement, however grudgingly. After all, Ciara was only a first year. It was ridiculous to think a first year was behind this. The question now was: Who is it?

Unfortunately, no one had any answers. We couldn't think of anything that a person might be looking for that both Rose and Andrew would know about. The only connections I could see between them were that they each had a close relative as a professor, and their parents fought in the war. That was it.

Wait. Their parents were close to Harry Potter. If this person was looking for something a man hid, it could be him who hid it. Maybe, the attacker wasn't trying to get information from the kids. Maybe, just maybe, he was targeting the kids to squeeze information out of the parents.

"Are you ok?" Wren asked, pulling me out of my whirlwind of thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah, listen!" I quickly explained my theory. James looked relieved to have another idea, but Albus looked scared.

"That means that James and I might be attacked next."

"Well then," Wren said matter-of-factly, "just never go anywhere alone. The attacks always happen when the person is alone."

"And they happen at night," I added.

"So far..." James said slowly. "Who's to say that the attacker wouldn't strike during the day, if he thought he could get away with it?"

"Wait..." I said slowly. "He's attacked Rose and Andrew. He probably won't be able to attack you two, because you're never alone. But who is alone? All the time?"

I watched the blood drain from all three of my friends faces as they realized who I was talking about. It was obvious who the next victim would be, at least to me. The only person who seemed unafraid, and wandered the halls by herself. Luna Scamander.

~~~~

Of course, when I warned Luna, she shook her head and laughed. "Astra, I'm fine. No one will hurt me. Professor McGonagall said we're safe here." And she glided away.

I was about to run after her when a familiar voice said, "Well, well, look who it is."

I whirled around to face the blonde nightmare. "Ciara." Nico stood with her, a smirk on his face as he casually twirled his wand around.

"You're the one who started the rumors that I was behind all this, aren't you?"

"What?" I hadn't told anyone except Albus, James, and Wren...and Luna...and Arthur...and honestly, anyone who cared to listen could have heard me talking about it in the common room. Perfect.

"Well trust me. I don't even know the Cruciatus Curse, or I'd use it on you for lying about me."

"Really, Astra, you stooped as low as outright lying?" Nico tsked. "Shameful."

I pointed my wand at the pair of them, hand shaking. "What do you want?"

"Simple. Revenge." Ciara pointed her wand at me and calmly said, "Petrificus Totalus."

Suddenly, my arms were locked to my sides, and I started falling backward. Nico and Ciara snickered as I hit the floor, unable to move. That didn't stop me from feeling the dull ache as my head collided with the floor. But that was the least of my worries. In seconds, Ciara and Nico were standing over me, staring curiously down at what they had accomplished.

"Wow, it worked," Nico said. He must have kicked me, though I couldn't see, because I felt something hard connect with my side, and pain rippled through me.

"Don't sound so surprised!" Ciara said crossly. "Of course it worked."

"Now what?" Another kick.

"We leave her somewhere, of course. Wingardium Leviosa."

Suddenly, I felt my body rising in the air. When I was about level with Ciara's, elbow, she flicked her wand slightly and I began moving forward.

I don't know where they took me exactly, since I could only stare at the ceiling, and I'd never spent enough time staring at the ceiling to know where I was based on only the ceiling. Ciara made sure that I bumped into about every doorway, wall, and suit of armor in the whole castle, though. Finally, I flew through a doorway into a small, dark room.

"Have fun rotting," Ciara's spiteful voice said. "I'll tip off McGonagall...some time. I don't quite feel like it yet. Once I do, you'll be in trouble anyway. 'No rumors,' remember?"

I heard the door slam behind me, leaving me in complete darkness.

Great. What now? I couldn't move my mouth to say the the counter-spell, Finite Incantatem. I had no idea where I was, and even when my friends started wondering where I was, how on earth would they find me? Knowing Ciara, I was probably in some out-of-the-way broom closet that no one would find before I was dead.

So. I had no hope of undoing the spell by speaking. Maybe I could...without speaking? I'd heard it was possible, if very hard. I decided to try, and focused very hard on the counter-spell. Finite Incantatem. Finite Incantatem. Finite Incantatem.

I don't know how long I lay there, thinking the spell over and over. Eventually, I realized I could wiggle my fingers. In another few minutes, I could move my head, and muttered the spell out loud.

As I pulled myself off the floor, one thought kept flashing through my mind. Ciara was so dead.

~~~~

I was seriously tempted to release this when I wrote it (just after I published the last chapter) to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday. But I decided to let you guys be tormented for a few days with wondering who got hurt and what happened. Ya know, cause I'm evil and all. And trust me. It'll get way worse.

You know, for the first time ever, I'm actually putting a lot of thought into foreshadowing and things. So, be on the lookout.

Anyway, vote, please!

And comment. Your comments give me life. They make me smile, even when I'm having a terrible day and can't see any light in the world. Thank you!

~Ellie