"Alone?" Sirius shook his head, "Lily, that's exactly what he wants."

"He might hurt Dorcas or my Mum, Sirius, I have to go alone!"

"No, you don't need to!" Sirius said, yanking me back my arm, "God, Lily, you are a bit hysterical - "

"Well, you would be too if your best friend was a spy, had pretended to be you to kidnap your mother! I'm sorry for not being the picture of calm right now!" I snapped, attempting to get away from him.

"Lily, I'm not saying we make it obvious but we're animagi, James has a cloak - "

"Which Voldemort can see through! And you two stupidly transformed in the manor - "

"They didn't see us," Sirius cut in, continuing our theme of interrupting each other, "They didn't see us transform. Maybe they witnessed it somehow but you're talking to the boys who snuck out every month. I know that James said he wanted to wait for the Order but if he thought you were in danger, he would be reckless again. We're not letting you go alone."

Despite the fear inside me telling me to escape again and find Dorcas and my mother on my own, he was right. If Sirius Black said you should wait, it was serious. Slowly, I stopped struggling.

"Do you think they'll kill my Mum before I get there?" I asked softly.

"No. Voldemort doesn't work that way," He replied, "Trust me, my family knew about him from the beginning. You never kill a hostage."

We were careful to take the knocked out deatheater with us, apparating them back to Remus and Sirius's apartment. The people in there had multiplied quickly, they'd been joined by several unfamiliar Order members, James included. I had expected James to be annoyed or angry but instead he pulled me into his arms and I hugged him back trembling slightly.

Sirius had two issues, one of course was the hostage situation but the other was that his flat was now filled from wall to wall with Order members. James also had several questions about why this was necessary too which Sirius hastily dodged.

Convincing everyone of the truth turned out to be a lot easier than expected, especially now that we had an unconscious Deatheater with us. Marlene was the only who refused, simply looking blank and occasionally murmuring an objection to it. Either way, whether they believed us or not, the fact was my Mother had been taken and we knew where she was; even if they didn't believe us about Dorcas, they had to help us now.

Eventually all the arrangements had been made; Sirius, James and Peter would lurk in animagus form, one bizarre witch said she could 'guarantee she couldn't be seen' (somehow) and the others were only a spell away. Strangely although I was scared, I had no nerves about doing this and I think I finally understood what Euphemia had said about being scared and overcoming it. This was bravery, if I did say so myself.

The theme park was just as awful as I remembered although last time I'd been surrounded by several of my closest friends. Now, despite the reinforcements, I walked alone. I quickly realised a flaw in my plan, the theme park was absolutely massive, I had no idea where to even begin. I abruptly stopped, closing my eyes and trying to figure where I'd been last time. We'd first spotted Peter in rat form by the ghost train and then ran alongside it, only to find the bounty hunter standing there. It was sad to think that at the time, my biggest worry was whether James had agreed to stealing files or not; it seemed so trivial now, especially when I thought that if I'd only agreed to work together, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess right now.

Walking slowly, with my wand hidden in my pocket, I walked along the edge of the ghost train, my fingers tracing along the faded paintwork.

"Hello?" I called nervously, "I'm here, alone. You have Lily Potter alone, now show yourself."

"Lily..." I whipped around, hoping with my wholeheartedly that it was just some random deatheater and not the one person I couldn't face right now. But of course, Voldemort liked to keep it psychology; it was always going to be her.

Dorcas.

Her white jumpsuit from earlier was not muddied and tattier and her hair was in disarray, as if she'd been pulled along by it. That wasn't  the only difference though; her blue eyes looked hollow, glistening with tears which had streaked her face. Yet despite all of this, she was still Dorcas.

"Please don't curse me."

"You think I could do that?" I asked, my fist tightening around my wand, "You think after all this, I could do that?"

She shook her head quickly, "No, I ... I don't know, Lily."

"Where is my mother?" I asked, my blood boiling inside of me although deep down, I felt like breaking down into tears, "Is she here, hidden away somewhere as they watch me get taunted and played with."

"I... I genuinely don't know - "

"Stop lying!"

"I'm not!" She yelled back, her body visibly shaking, "I'm not. They sent me out here to ... greet you but I don't know where she is."

"Are we being watched?" I asked and after a long pause, she shook her head.

"Remotely," She admitted, "But they... they let me come to see you alone because I think... think it works better for them and for me too."

"For you too, what the hell does that mean?" I spat, "I don't want to see you, I want my Mum."

"I wanted to explain, explain why I'm doing this."

"No need, it's Glenn... or maybe it's you," I shook my head, "Maybe you're hiding behind Glenn, when really you masterminded this. You're a Ravenclaw, you could do this. I bet... I bet you planned this - "

"Lily, please," She begged, her eyes welling up as she stepped forward slightly, "Please let me listen."

"No, you helped my mother get taken, you... you tried to push me and Marlene apart and you pretended to help," I said, covering my ears, "You don't deserve a chance to explain."

"Lily, I'm begging you, I'm still your best friend and I didn't want to do this - "

"Well, then why did you?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" She yelled back, "You don't understand how hard it was, Lily, he just came to me one day and he was bleeding and when I first met him, he said he wasn't affiliated with them."

"Glenn?"

"Yes, Glenn. He promised me he wasn't and that he knew about me being in the Order which is why he knew I'd be safe. He came during your honeymoon or I would have told you but by the time, you came back he'd already told me nobody could know about him staying there. I almost told you that day at your Mum's - "

"But instead you told him her address and our safe words," I said dryly.

"I didn't tell them," She said quickly, "They extracted it out of me, I swear, Lily, I resisted."

"Carry on with your story," I said, keeping my face blank, "I would leave but they want me to suffer first, don't they? You're just a level I have to defeat to get her back."

She didn't deny it, simply continuing on, "And then it turned out he was with them but he'd... he'd fallen out of favour and needed a way to get back up to the top and I was that way! Lily, I loved him and he began to get me to do stuff, he said people would get hurt if I didn't so I stole addresses, nobody suspected me, literally nobody. I'm blonde and white and everything thought I was just a kind person with a dirty mind, they didn't seem to notice what I was doing. And when Glenn said how easy I did it, he began to ask for me and then the whole investigation came along and he got the letters."

"What about Marlene and me? Who did that?"

"Both of us," She said, "I didn't want to but I... I needed to be your sole confidants. And then you began to get close again, despite what we were doing, she wanted to come to the funeral but he said he had to be there instead, we had to. There were many Order members there but... but Sirius intervened and he got us kicked out. Glenn said that you kicking him out meant you didn't care anymore - "

"But I do, Dorcas! I do care and I always have done and I... I always would, how could you believe him!" I yelled at her, tears overflowing out of my eyes which only made her cry more.

"I didn't want to but he... he said you were angry and that you needed to be taken down anyway, the Dark Lord - "

"The Dark Lord? Who even are you, say his name! It's Voldemort - "

"Not so loud," She hissed, "People don't say his name, Lily, you'll only anger him more."

"I don't care, I'll kill him," I said, my hands shaking, "I'm not scared of him, that's why he wants me dead or on his side, isn't it?"

"I don't know, Lily, this spy thing... it's not a two way thing. Glenn didn't tell me things, he just made me do stuff," She said desperately, "Please Lily, please believe me! I do care about you, please but you don't...you don't understand what it was like to have someone everyday telling you that you had to do things, that you had to comply or people would get hurt. You have James, he wouldn't do that, you've never had that with anyone but it gets too much and when it's there everyday, it begins to get to you, eat away until your just shell of your former self. Please, Lily - "

"I think you've said quite enough, lover," Dorcas's eyes widened in fear, looking at something behind me. I spun on my heel, only to see Glenn advancing on us although his eyes weren't fixed on me; they seemed to boring into Dorcas who looked more and more frightened by the second.

"Glenn, you said you were remote - "

"You also know I'm not a man of my word," He spat, slipping past me towards her. For a brief moment, I considered running but emerging from the shadows where several other cloaked figures. Fear began to rise inside me like magma in a volcano almost overwhelmingly. At that moment, running along one of the higher railings, I noticed something running alone, a tiny rat which slipped out of sight. I wasn't alone, not really and I found my courage again, drawing my wand out of my pocket.

"Take me to my mother, I won't fight you but take me to her,"  I said. Despite my promise not to fight, there was one spell I had to. Whipping around, I pointed my wand at Glenn who was advancing on Dorcas, a devilish look in his eyes, "Expelliarmus!"

His wand flew out of his hand, landing several feet away but it had the desired effect, he stood up abruptly and Dorcas used this chance to jump away from him, fleeing behind me. I was more angry and hurt by her than I'd ever been before but she was still my best friend and I wouldn't wish this on anyone, not even my worst enemy. Of course, my spell meant that any hoped of being taken peacefully went out the window and within seconds, the Deatheaters descended on me and I found myself on the floor. Even that was temporary, as just as quickly I was pulled back onto my feet, being dragged towards the place where my mother was being kept.

"Please don't hurt her!" Dorcas began to scream but she was quickly silenced by Glenn, with his now recovered wand and she was pulled with just as much ferocity as I was.

Time seemed to blur as we walked towards a strange clearing, surrounded by several crumbling stands which had presumably been used to sell candy floss and other fun prizes. In the centre, an object was floating a few meters above the ground. It took me a few seconds to realise what it was: my mother. Lurking behind her like a childhood nightmare was Lord Voldemort himself.

His twisted smile grew wider as we arrived but I kept my face blank; he'd see no fear in my eyes. Glenn let go of Dorcas, allowing her to fall to the floor before gliding over to the Dark Lord and whispering something.

"Lily Potter, so lovely of you to join us," He said, his voice monotonous, "I'm terribly sorry about the state of our meeting but since Arbury Hall was compromised, we had to find a new location. I hope you don't think ill of us."

His words dripped with twisted sarcasm but I still refused to give him the response he wanted, "Give me back my mother."

"If you cooperate, then of course I will, I am a man of my word, Lily. But we can't begin right just yet," He said, his eyes narrowing further. Slowly, I watched as he turned to Dorcas, "Dorcas Meadowes, Glenn tells me you haven't been behaving yourself of late."

I began to struggle against my captors as he walked closer, desperately adding, "If you do anything, I won't comply!" over and over but Voldemort was disinterested.

I wanted to scream and bite him again as he took her face in his hand as if admiring a precious object and she let him, simply to weak to fight back, "You have been of great use to me, Dorcas Meadowes, but your usage has come to an end. We are ... eternally grateful but all good things come to end."

"My Lord, you did say - " Glenn began but he was cut off by Lord Voldemort's powerful voice.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The blinding green light seemed to fill up the dark clearing and my brain took a few seconds to register who had been hit by. For a second, Dorcas's face was turned up to the sky, her lips forming a scream which was cut short by her breath being snatched from her by that blinding green light.

"My Lord, you promised...." Glenn began, jerking forward but being held back by several Deatheaters.

My decision to stay silent was overturned and a strange wretched scream emerged from my mouth, as I began to struggle to get to her even though it was no use to her now. She'd always been beautiful in life and none of that had been lost in death. Her blonde hair was fanned around her like a halo and her beautiful blue eyes were wide and glassy. But none of this mattered, none of this would bring her back.

Dorcas Meadowes, my best friend who could light up a room with her laugh was dead.

I began to scream and cry harder giving Lord Voldemort exactly what he wanted.

His thin lips twisted into a malicious smile again, "Now, Lily Potter, we can begin."