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Echo Kiwina Echo slipped silently through the halls. Her hair hung about her pale face and she stared at the ground.

Then she heard them.

The screams.

Her dreams had proven true.

Echo's pace quickened as her keen mind tracked the source of the horrible noise. Closer... closer... and then she stopped- a couple feet away from the Great Hall's entrance. What she saw inside locked into place in her mind.

Dead people. Sobbing people. Panic. And what was going on. Two men and a woman stood, wands at ready, in the middle of the room. Brooke stood before the woman screaming. Serenity just stared. And Gem had joined up with Lys. On the side of evil.

Echo's tired eyes, suddenly wide, darted about the room, and tears began forming in her eyes. Terror and rage swelled inside her. "No....no... not again... not again..." Visions of Flynn danced before her eyes, then were replaced by another. Echo's hands clenched into fists. Saturn...

Anger, fear, and sorrow burst from inside her in one statement.

"WHERE'S MY SISTER?!"

She slammed a fist against the wall from rage, then collapsed to her knees, sobbing.

"Where's my sister..."

~~~

Professor Infinity Gates On of the seventh year Gryffindor students had arrived on the scene. After a rushed greeting to Medic Connor, Infinity was beside the sobbing girl. The previous year Prince had stolen her sister away from Hogwarts. She wasn't here now, so where was Saturn?

"Please, Echo, get a hold of yourself. You're a Gryffindor, remember - home of the brave." Forcing a smile, she helped the girl to her sleep.

"Echo, I need you to go to all the common rooms and get any students out of the school, can you do that?"

~~~

Daiva Danuliete "Oh hello," said Daiva, all friendliness and amiabilty. "Do you know my Brookey?" she asked, pointing at Brooke who was screaming and slamming her fists into her head at the side of the Great Hall.

"She seems a little upset," said Daiva worriedly. "I don't know why..." she trailed off, then suddenly a devious look came into here eyes,

"Which of you has done this?" she hissed and pointed her wand between Echo and Inifinty. "Who hurt my Brooke?" she yelled, then almost to herself she muttered,

"Probably Saturn the slattern, the useless thing, never gets anything right, never polishes my shoes properly," she said looking down.

~~~

Professor Infinity Gates The wand pointed between herself and Echo didn't even make Infinity blink.

On your first day at Dardanelles, a large wizard forces you up against a wall, his wand aimed squarely between your eyes. All in a matter of seconds. If you blink he repeats this every day until you don't.

"I think Brooke's just a little surprised to see you," said Infinity, adopting a soft, comforting tone of voice. It was like trying to calm a wild animal. Daiva had been dangerous before Azkaban - she'd been at Hogwarts when the Triwizard Tournament was held, a fifth or sixth year. It was hard to remember now in her present state of mind. Now that Azkaban had taken at least some of her sanity, Daiva was like a bomb waiting to explode.

"Speaking of Saturn, do you have any idea where she is?"

~~~

Daiva Danuliete "The slattern? Ha! Probably not where she should be," Daiva frowned. Although she appreciated the service of slave labour, some of JP's left a lot to be desired.

Then she dismissed all thoughts of the useless baggage and returned to her central concern of the second.

"You think Brooke is happy then?" she said doubtfully, looking at her daughter who was clawing at her hair. "Just pleased to see me? Maybe I should get her to play with me, do you think?" she asked seriously.

~~~

Professor Infinity Gates "I think you should just let Brooke think about things for a while, Daiva. Did you know she's eighteen now? A lot has happened since you've been gone. She may be a bit shocked to have you back in her life."

Her expression suddenly turned to one of concern. "Are you alright, Daiva? You look a little tired."

She dropped her arm to her side. Her wand, which had been hidden up her sleeve, dropped into her waiting hand. She'd muttered a sleeping charm before Daiva could register what had happened. Moving quickly, she caught her before she fell onto the stone floor, and laid her down gently. She couldn't help but feel a sting of sympathy for the woman.

But, she reminded herself, the was a killed. Unfortunately, with someone as powerful as Daiva that particular spell would last ten minutes at most.

"Echo, get out of here now," she snapped.

~~~

Brooke de Black Brooke saw Ren's mum pull her wand on her own mother and for a second all thoughts of what Daiva had just done left her. Her face bright red and her eyes bloodshot she ran over to Professor Gates and waving her own wand shouted,

"If you've hurt my mum I won't be responsible, I swear it,"

She gulped for breath through her tears. She couldn't lose her. Not after she had just found her again. And in that moment Brooke forgave her mother everything. After all, she had read about Azkaban. She had read and read avidly seraching for all details and she knew just what a living hell her mother had been through. It was that which must have changed her. But Brooke would stick by her. She was sure her mother just needed a bit of help and she would be OK.

Not rational thoughts perhaps, but it was not a situation which was at all condusive to rationality.

~~~

Professor Infinity Gates Calmly, Professor Gates regarded the seventh year Ravenclaw. "It's just a sleeping charm. In about nine minutes she'll be up and as good as before."

'Good' seemed to be the wrong word to use when describing Daiva Danuliete.

"Can you please put your wand down, Brooke?"

~~~

Brooke de Black Brooke eyed her suspiciously for a moment. But then it was Ren's mum she was talking to and she had always been very kind to Brooke, particularly when she had stayed at her house with Ren in the school holidays a couple of times.

So reluctantly she lowered her wand and bent over the prone form of Daiva. It was true she seemed to be sleeping and Brooke knelt down and took her mum's head off the cold stone floor and onto her own lap.

"Just checking," she muttered at Professor Gates and stroked her mum's hair. Daiva snored slightly and smiled.

~~~

Echo Kiwana Echo had not left, but she had pulled herself together. Her welled up emotions had been released. Now she stared at Daiva Danuliete's sleeping form, hatred burning behind her blue eyes.

Slavery?... Not her sister. She wouldn't let it be so. But the matters at hand had to be dealt with.

Turning to face Professor Gates, Echo said in a strong voice, "Professor, I'll get the students to safety. But I'll be back. I have to find my sister. We promised to stick together, and I intend to do so." Then she got to her feet and dashed into the Great Hall towards a sobbing group of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students. She pushed over a table as a temporary shield. Then she knelt behind it and turned to the students.

"Okay guys," she hissed with a cough, taking the hands of a little one, "We need to get out of here. Okay?" They nodded anxiously. Echo turned and flicked her wand at more tables. Like soldiers in a drill routine, the tables slammed up into a makeshift passage to the door.

"GO!" she shouted, and began tiredly running as fast as she could while ducked down. The others followed. The occasional zap could be heard now and then. Eventually they made it to the door, and Echo led them down a corridor a little away from the disaster.

"All right. Does anyone here know how to get to Hogsmeade?" A lack of motion sent a frown across her face. "Never mind. Follow me. And stay together!" With that, she headed down the hall towards the statue that led to Hogsmeade.

"Okay," she said, pressing the button to open the passage, "Everybody down this tunnel, when you get to Hogsmeade, meet up with any other students you can find. If not, head to the inn for help." The students poured down the hole and soon they were all headed to safety.

Echo sighed with relief. Suddenly a twinge of combined pain and exhuastion zipped through her head, and her hands flew to her face. Luckily it passed as quickly as it came, and she headed back toward the Great Hall.