Everyone was on edge. Three attacks so far. No one went anywhere alone, and this time it stayed that way. After two weeks had passed, people were still just as terrified. Other than Luna, no one went anywhere without at least two people with them.

The weeks passed, and Clarissa didn't return to class. James and I were occasionally allowed to visit her, and it wasn't very encouraging. True, some days she would be able to talk and sit up and would act perfectly normal. Some days, though, she would suddenly go from a normal, happy person to a lunatic. She was permanently strapped into the bed so she didn't wander off, because when she wasn't in her right mind, she couldn't remember anything, and would end up hurting herself if given the chance.

James carried the map and the Cloak with him all the time now. He felt a lot of guilt about not having the map when Rose and Clarissa were attacked. "If I'd only brought it, we'd know who did it."

Wren seemed to be getting more nervous as time went by. She wasn't eating as much, and it was starting to worry me. I could tell Albus noticed it too, but neither of us had any idea what to do about it.

February dragged on, and nothing happened. The skies turned into a dismal gray, and the rain seemed permanent.

One Friday at the beginning of March, James and Albus both received identical letters. I glanced over at Albus's and saw, in large, sloppy handwriting,

Dear Albus,

I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three?

I haven't spoken to ya recently. Feel free to bring your friends and all.

Hagrid

Albus glanced up at me. "Wanna come? And you too, Wren?"

"Sure."

"Come where?" Wren asked.

"Hagrid's for tea later."

Wren shrugged. "All right."

"What's Hagrid like? I've only met him once, when he took us across the lake."

Albus stared at me. "You've only met him once?" I nodded slowly. "What? How? James and I haven't taken you to see him?"

I shook my head. "No..."

Albus sighed dramatically. "Well, it's about time you did."

The day dragged on slowly. Luke managed to melt another cauldron in Potions, and I wasn't paying attention to what I put in my potion and made it all evaporate by adding too many horned slugs.

Three o'clock sharp, James met us at the huge entrance to the castle. He warned us not to eat the food unless we wanted to break a tooth, then we dashed across the lawn towards Hagrid's hut, trying not to get too wet in the rain. By the time we'd reached his front door, we were soaked and shivering.

Hagrid opened the door for us, smiling, and quickly stepped aside so we could walk in. "Well, now, James, Albus, introduce me to yer friends here."

"This is Astra, and that's Wren," James said, sitting down at the large table.

"Nice ter meet ya," he said, holding out one of his huge hands for me to shake. I felt like my hand was being squeezed off, but he quickly let go. "Sorry. Forget my own strength sometimes."

We all sat down around his table, and James launched into a detailed description of the past month. Hagrid had heard about Clarissa, of course, but James relayed the whole story of how we'd scared the attacker off. I had to interrupt several times to correct him ("You did not duel with the attacker!"), which Hagrid seemed to find amusing.

"Hogwarts hasn' been this dangerous since the war," Hagrid said slowly.

"Do you think they'll shut the school down?" Wren asked.

James, Albus, and I stared at her. I'd never thought of that. If they closed Hogwarts...what would I do? I had no where to go! I'd get shoved into some group home until I turned eighteen, and then I'd be out on my own, friendless and struggling. Or I'd get sent back to the Lewis's and endure another six years of torture until I could finally leave. That couldn't happen...they couldn't close Hogwarts...

"I don' know..." Hagrid said. "They might, but I think they'll prob'ly just catch whoever's doin' this attackin'."

I let out a sigh of relief. Of course they'd catch the attacker. I'd seen some of the aurors patrolling the halls. If Ministry-sent aurors couldn't keep Hogwarts safe, nothing could.

James grinned. "Anyway, if they closed Hogwarts then Professor McGonagall would have to admit that the attacker is stronger than her powers of protection, and that'd never happen."

Hagrid chuckled. "Professor McGonagall is a good person, James. She'd never put ya students in danger if she could help it."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James wink at Albus. I only had to wonder why for a second, because James said, "Hagrid, is it true you had a dragon?"

Hagrid smiled, then quickly frowned. "Who told ya that?"

"My dad. He said you had a dragon egg and it hatched."

Hagrid sighed. "Well, yeah, I had a dragon. Norbert was the cutes' little thin' too. He's in Romania now, though, and livin' a happy life with yer uncle Charlie."

I stared at him. "Where on earth did you get a dragon egg?"

"Oh...ya know...found it..."

James rolled his eyes. "You just found a dragon egg lying around?"

Hagrid nodded. "Just found it. Let's talk about somethin' else."

Albus started talking about his owl, complaining about its name for thousandth time. Hagrid looked like he's heard the tale of Dumbleton more than once, but listened politely and refrained from banging his head against the table, unlike some people (cough James cough).

After about an hour, we said goodbye and walked back to the school, discreetly dropping the rock cakes he'd given us into a flower bed. James said the gnomes liked them, which was more than I could say about us.

James and I had to rush off to Quidditch practice, so Wren and Albus darted inside while we trudged through the rain to the pitch. Fred caught up with us on our way out, bearing an umbrella. It didn't work well with three people, so James insisted that he liked getting wet, and to prove it twirled around and ran the whole way to the pitch while Fred and I laughed at him.

The rest of the team was waiting for us when we got there. Caroline Long and Jaycee were already practicing with the Quaffle, while Drake tried to keep them from scoring. When Ryan saw us, he released the Bludgers and the Snitch. James and Fred instantly mounted their brooms and took off after the two black orbs. I zoomed off after the Snitch.

At seven, Ryan called us all back. Drake helped James and Fred round up the two Bludgers, and I carried the Snitch (which I caught forty-five times during practice) down to the little box the Quidditch balls were kept in. Then Ryan called us all together.

"Our game against Hufflepuff is in a month, right?" We nodded. "Now, last year their team was awful and we were trying our hardest to let them score a few times, right Jaycee?" Jaycee nodded, smiling.

"Well, this year they've got a new captain, and a new team, really. And if you remember, Teddy Lupin was really good as a Keeper last year." James glanced at me and grinned as Ryan continued. "He's trained his team well, and they beat Slytherin last week."

Everyone anxiously waited for Ryan to continue.

"However, they also didn't beat Ravenclaw a month ago, and we did." Ryan smiled. "We've got this game in the bag. If we win, the Cup will be ours!"

A cheer went up from the team; James mounted his broom, zooming around our heads whooping. Jaycee eventually had to chase him down.

We hurried back inside after that, shivering from the cold rain. The Great Hall looked warm and inviting as we walked in.

I plopped down next to Wren, and James sat next to me. I thought I saw Wren wink at Rose, sitting across from us. I ignored them and focused on my food.

James and Albus got into a heated debate about Quidditch, and I would have paid attention except I didn't know anything about professional Quidditch. I only cared about the games we played at school, though I had a feeling if James and Albus heard about that they'd spend a week teaching me everything there was to know about professional Quidditch, and probably drag their mom into it since she reports on it for a living. The end result: I'd become obsessed with it, kind of like when I read Narnia and became obsessed with it. Mrs. Lewis kept a huge old wardrobe in the basement and I used to sneak down there and open it all the time, trying to find Narnia.

Eventually, after I almost fell asleep in my soup, Wren led me upstairs to the common room, and soon we both went up to bed. Strangely enough, as exhausted as I was, I took a while to fall asleep.

Clarissa's attack had gotten me thinking. Obviously, the attacker hadn't found what he wanted yet, or he wouldn't have tortured Clarissa to the brink of madness...or beyond. And that meant that sooner or later, he was bound to strike again. And, since the end of the school year was only a few months away, he was probably growing more desperate. I just wished I knew when, and who, and why.

I drifted off to sleep while I was trying to figure out the answers to those questions, and my mind must have stayed on that topic, because my dreams that night were full of those questions.

I was running through a hallway. It was a corridor here, in Hogwarts. I didn't know exactly what I was running from, but I knew it terrified me. I whipped around a corner and dashed through the empty hallway, fleeing an unknown pursuer.

I turned down a hallway and was met with a dead end. I tried to backtrack, but was met by the cloaked figure.

It reached up a gloved hand and lowered its hood, revealing...

Wren?

But even as I saw that, it morphed into Albus. Then Luna. Then Arthur. James. Rose. Scorpius. Iris. Lacy. Luke.

I tried to scream, but my voice wasn't working. I tried to reach for my wand, but my limbs felt like they were moving through thick syrup.

The figure with the changing faces, currently showing Lillie, but quickly changing to Roxanne, lifted its wand and pointed at me. I couldn't even move as the person whispered, "Crucio."

I sat straight up, twisted up in my blankets and panting. Rose, Lacy, and Iris were sleeping contentedly across the room, and I began to relax. That was just a nightmare. It was something I've always been afraid of: that my friends might purposely hurt me one day. Even as I thought that, I laughed to myself. Albus, hurt me? Wren? It was ridiculous. There was something insane about that dream, the kind of insane nightmare I hadn't had in a long time.

My mind flashed back to my last nightmare, with the woman killing the man. That...that was different than this, somehow. It hadn't seemed like a dream at all, really. More like I was watching the events unfold, as if they actually had. Maybe that was like most dreams... This was different. I shrugged. If I had a phone and Internet connection, I would have looked up different kinds of nightmares and exactly what they mean. I supposed that the insaneness of the one tonight was from being overly exhausted.

I glanced over at Wren's bed, hoping she would be awake, possibly. I needed to talk to someone, or else this dream might haunt me for a while. Anyway, if I didn't get my mind off it, I definitely wouldn't be falling asleep again.

Strangely enough, Wren wasn't even there. I frowned, and glanced at the clock Rose kept next to her bed. 1:38... Where was she?

I stood up and tiptoed down to the common room, expecting to see her curled up in one of the large chairs by the fireplace. She was no where to be seen. Starting to get worried, I conducted a quick search of the common room, before running to get the first person I thought of to help me find her.

James.

I quietly padded up the stairs to the second year boys' dormitory. I hesitated before pushing the door open, painfully aware that I wasn't supposed to be here. However, what was happening at the moment was more important than stupid rules.

Luckily, all three boys were asleep. It only took a moment to figure out which one was James. Marcus Dillingham and Colin Creevey both had blond hair. James's bed was the closest to me as I walked in, and I slipped over to it.

I frowned at him. It would be a whole lot easier to just wait for her to return in my warm, comfortable bed. There was still time, I could just sneak back to my room like nothing had happened.

Of course I couldn't do that. There was a lunatic on the loose. For all I knew, Wren could be the next victim of the Cruciatus Curse. I couldn't let that happen to her; not if I could stop it, at any rate. I gently shook James.

His eyes fluttered open immediately, thank goodness. He stared wildly about for a moment, then focused on me. "What're you doing in here?" he whispered.

"Wren is gone...I'm worried..." I said softly.

James frowned, and quickly sat up. "She's just...gone? You didn't see her leave?"

I shook my head. "I woke up and her bed was empty."

He hastily flipped the lid of his trunk up and pulled the silver Invisibility Cloak out. "Let's go."

We had hurried down the stairs before James thought of bringing Albus along. It was only fair, really. As strange as it may seem, I got the impression he was jealous of how often we snuck out of the dorms. And, of course, Wren was his friend, too.

I refused to go back up into the boys' dorms, so James left me by the fireplace and raced off to wake his brother. In a matter of minutes, he was tugging a yawning Albus downstairs, and throwing the Cloak over the three of us. Then, we set off.

After we had gone down about two floors, James cursed (making Albus gasp) and said, "I forgot the map!"

"Should we go back for it?" Albus asked instantly.

"No, Wren might be in trouble," I said firmly. "She's already been gone for at least twenty minutes."

James nodded. "All right, then."

We advanced silently after that. Suddenly, James pulled all three of us against a wall as two aurors ran past. I glanced at him, alarmed.

James's eyes mirrored my worry. We quickly took off after them, struggling to run and stay concealed under the Cloak.

We came to an abrupt halt in one hallway near the dungeons, where a group of about six people were clustered around something on the ground. James edged closer, then sighed with relief. He pulled us back about twenty feet before whispering, "It's not her, though I think the kid was still attacked."

"Who is it?" Albus and I asked in unison.

"I think it's Trilia Bones..." James said, frowning. "It's some Slytherin girl, anyway."

"If it's Trilia, that makes sense. Her mum was in the DA, remember?"

"Is she hurt a lot?" asked Albus.

"I don't think so," James said, shaking his head. "She was talking, and they were helping her sit up. Probably, with so many aurors here, they scared the attacker away before long."

"You'd think someone who was doing the Cruciatus Curse on innocent children would know enough to put some sort of sound muffling spell on the area..." I said.

James nodded. "Like muffliato. Anyway, now someone from every House has been attacked."

"W-we should go get the map..." Albus said, fear evident in his voice.

James sighed. "That's probably a good idea..."

"We should have in the first place," I said. "Sorry."

James shrugged, then said, "Let's just go get it, ok? If Trilia is here, then Wren probably wasn't attacked, anyway."

We quietly plodded back the way we'd come, avoiding aurors and Filch and Mrs. Norris. I couldn't help feeling guilty. If I had just gone with Albus's suggestion of returning for the map, we might have even stopped Trilia from getting hurt. Sure, it was Trilia, and she was almost as bad as Nico and Ciara, but she still didn't deserve the Cruciatus Curse.

Albus and I waited outside the portrait hole as James dashed in to retrieve the map. On his return, we instantly unfolded it and scanned it for Wren's name.

"There," whispered Albus, finally. "He pointed to a spot near Ravenclaw tower, with two dots displaying Wren's name and Elias Brown's, Iris's brother.

"Well, let's go." James led the way, and we ran through the corridors, throwing caution to the wind. If she was with Elias, everything would be fine. The attacker hadn't yet taken on two people.

Everything was not fine.

We reached the corridor where their dots were still placed, unmoving, to find both of them on the floor, unconscious.

We immediately abandoned the Cloak, rushing to their sides. Wren looked like she'd been stupefied, with her wand on the floor, inches from her hand where it must have fallen. Elias looked much like Rose had Halloween night, curled up on the floor, whimpering occasionally.

As we dropped to our knees, Elias started moaning, and his eyes fluttered open. For one moment, he stared at us, completely terrified, but then our faces seemed to register as friends, and he relaxed. James and I sat next to him.

"Albus, go get Dad and McGonagall," James hissed. Albus jumped up and ran off in the direction of his father's office.

"What happened?" I whispered, trying not to scare the poor boy.

He stared up at the ceiling. "Is he gone?"

"Who?" I asked excitedly. Had Elias seen who it was?

"The...the person w-who did this..."

"Did what?" James prodded.

"The...you know... Crucio..."

James nodded. "Did you see who did it?"

"I...no...well...they lowered their...their hood...but I couldn't see anything...they had already cast the spell..." His voice trailed off.

James looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but I mouthed not right now, and he nodded. Elias closed his eyes again as James and I pulled out our wands, wary of any more attacks.

In minutes, two aurors, Professor Potter, Madam Pomfrey, and Professor McGonagall had arrived on the scene. Elias was able to sit up by now, and Wren was stirring, and Madam Pomfrey announced that both of them seemed perfectly fine. McGonagall nodded grimly before leading us up to her office.

She motioned for Albus, James, and I to sit, while conjuring two comfortable chairs for Wren and Elias, next to one that was already occupied by Trilia Bones, who glared at us as we filed in. The aurors all left, except Professor Potter. Madam Pomfrey began fussing about each of her three patients, every few minutes muttering under her breath that, "This would be so much easier in the hospital wing."

Professor McGonagall frowned at me and James, then sighed. "Why is it always you two?"

James shrugged. "Trust me, Professor, we don't want this anymore than you do." I could have sworn Professor Potter winked at James.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "So, what happened this time? Why were you three out of bed in the first place?"

"Well..." I said hesitantly, "We were actually looking for Wren."

That surprised her. Professor McGonagall's eyebrows shot up, and she turned to Wren. "Why were you out of bed, then?"

Wren opened her mouth to answer, then frowned. "I...I can't remember..."

Professor Potter cleared his throat. "We think the attacker didn't actually use the Cruciatus Curse on her. Only stupefied and obliviated the memory."

The headmistress nodded. "All right. Perhaps Mr. Brown will be able to clear up some details in a few minutes." She turned back to us. "What exactly did you witness this time?"

"Exactly what you did, actually," I piped up. "The attacker was already gone when we got there."

Madam Pomfrey interrupted just then. "If you're done speaking with Ms. Bones, she really needs to be in the hospital wing..."

Professor McGonagall waved her away, saying, "Take her, that'd be best." Madam Pomfrey gently led Trilia out of the office.

Elias took a shaky breath. "Professor? The attacker kept asking me where something was..."

McGonagall glanced at Professor Potter, whose brow was creased. "What exactly did he say?"

"Well... H-he said... 'Where has he hidden it? Where is it? Find it!' I-I didn't know what that meant..."

"Then he used the Cruciatus Curse?" James guessed, getting a frown from both teachers.

Elias simply nodded. "I think Wren might have scared him away, though."

"I did?" Wren asked.

"Why were you out of your dorms, Mr. Brown? And do you happen to know why Ms. Predatel was wandering around near Ravenclaw Tower?"

"Well...yes..." Elias looked down at his lap, where he was clutching a small package that had been on the floor next to him. "It's Iris's birthday tomorrow, and I wanted to have her present waiting on her bed in the morning, because that's what we always do in my family... So I asked Wren if she could take it and put it out tonight...I suppose I should have just given it to her and had her hide it..." He started crying, and Wren comfortingly patted his shoulder, apparently bearing no ill will to the boy who put in her the position to be stupefied.

"Professor?" James said, making everyone stare at him. "When we got there, I don't know if he remembers this, but Elias said that the attacker lowered his hood as he attacked him... Maybe that's why Wren got obliviated and stupefied instead of...you know..."

Professor Potter raised his eyebrows. "You saw the attacker?"

"N-not really...I couldn't see much...just the outline...I don't remember..." Elias choked out, through tears.

McGonagall decided it was high time that Albus, James, and I returned to bed, and Professor Potter walked us out. Just before we climbed through the portrait hole, he took something out of his coat pocket and handed it to James.

"The Invisivility Cloak..." James glanced up at his dad. "I'm sorry, I forgot it in the corridor, but everything was happening so fast and I-"

"It's ok, James," Professor Potter said, trying to look stern. It wasn't working, though; a smile was breaking through. "Just, next time, be more careful."

At the words next time, James grinned over his shoulder at Albus and I. Albus instantly shook his head, paler than a ghost, but I smirked back. Of course there would be a next time. What fun would Hogwarts be without sneaking out at all hours for no reason at all?

~~~~

So...

I'm thinking this will have 20-25 chapters, all right?

Honestly, this book will probably be done within a month, tops.

Wow...

That's the fastest I've ever written a book...

YOU GUYS SHOULD BE PROUD -

YOU'RE NOT ONLY READING MY BEST WORK -

YOU'RE READING MY FASTEST!

Oh yes, I have two questions so far for the Q&A at the end, but I'd love some more, so any questions you'd like me to answer, ask them right here in the comments, ok?

Literally, anything is acceptable as a question. Anything. Even "What is Albus's favorite color?" or something.

Vote and comment please!

*waits for comments*

Thanks!

~Ellie