Towards the End

It was Ron, who screamed. As soon as she and Harry heard him, they both raced down the stairs toward the living room. 

"What does Colin mean by Dean? How did Dean find this place?" Chris looked at Harry, who mirrored her confusion.

"I don't know," Harry replied just as they reached the end of the stairs.

Harry and Chris burst into the living room to find the room in chaos. Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Colin were talking to a grim and pissed-looking Sirius, while Aurelia and Remus were rummaging through healing supplies. In the middle of the room was Dean, his bloody, battered, and unconscious body was lying on the couch.

"What happened to Dean and is he ok? All that blood —" Chris looked over him worriedly.

"He was on the run," Remus explained as he sat down to treat Dean's wounds. 

"On the run?" Chris repeated.

"Dean's mom is a muggle and he has no idea if his father was a wizard or not," Ginny spoke looking very upset, and Chris remembered Ginny used to date Dean not two years ago. 

"Which is why he had no way of proving his magical bloodline, I assume," Aurelia angrily gritted her teeth. "Of course, the poor boy had to be on the run because of those vultures."

"Unfortunately, today they found him," Sirius looked absolutely livid. "And they decided to torture him for their amusement before handing over him to the Ministry. I have no idea how long those monsters were keeping him and torturing him with spells."

"Who were they? Death eater? Malgin's people?" Harry asked looking somewhere between worried and pissed off. Dean was one of the closest friends and roommates of Harry and Ron, their panic was understandable.

"You said they weren't Death Eaters or Malgino's people, right? Not to mention, Dean is well trained, he was in the DA with us," Ginny hissed like an angry cat turning to Sirius.

"Snatchers," Sirius answered Harry's question with absolute disgust.  "I used to think Malgino, that stupid Darklord, and their followers would be our biggest problem but it's those maniacs, criminals, and outlaws, who have suddenly found a free pass to do whatever."

"With the Government passing new laws in their favor, what else do you think would happen?" Aurelia spat with murder in her eyes. "They are torturing children for fun now. Just two days ago, they were dragging a small family to the MInistry because the young couple couldn't prove their wizard lineage. They were ready to capture their little children as well."

"Thankfully Sirius and Aurelia were able to help the family that day, and today we found Dean before they could do worse," Remus sighed tending the last of Dean's wounds.

"If you are coming across this situation this frequently, it only means that it is happening almost every day and all around," Chris spoke as the horror of the situation sank in. 

"Why do you think we spend so much time out, this is what we are trying to fight more than the Malgino and his followers," Sirius said grimly.

A tense silence fell over the room as Remus and Aurelia helped Dean drink the healing potion. Disgust and anger boiled Chris's blood. The situation was getting worse every day. She needed to stop this. Chris knew the only way to stop this is to go to Hogwarts, find what the Golden Keys unlock, and stop Maligno once and for all. The question was, was she ready? And what about helping Harry to finish his goal? She had to be at this point.

***

After talking to others for some time, Chris decided to go and check on Sol, since he must have been scared when he heard screaming. Chris entered her room only to find, Sol peacefully sleeping and Oziyat sitting beside him on the bed. Oziyat looked up with a smile when he saw her.

"Oziyat? When did you come back?" Chris whispered walking closer to him so that she didn't wake up Sol.

"Just a couple of hours ago," Oziyat whispered back.

"Were you with Sol when Ron screamed?" Chris whispered but then saw Sol steering, and she motioned Oziyat towards the door. "Let's talk outside."

Oziyat nodded and followed her out.

"I was with him when your friend shouted. I even followed you to the room and after realizing that no one was in danger, I came back to reassure Sol. The smell of blood wasn't helping either, so I decided to stay away," Oziyat explained standing outside Chris's room. "By the way, thank you for keeping Sol with you. I don't what would have I done if it was just me and him."

"Don't say that Oziyat," Chris looked over the door and back at Oziyat. "You are a very good uncle to Sol. He trusts you."

Chris noticed Oziyat winced slightly hearing those words.

"Oziyat?" She looked at him questioningly.

"Christina, I think you should know something," Oziyat said as though the words were physically hurting him. 

Chris got worried as Oziyat paused to take a few deep breaths, but she decided not to rush him.

"Christina . . . I met with one of our spies today, and I think . . . Rosaline is . . ." Oziyat' words got quieter and quieter until Chris couldn't hear him anymore. But fear gripped Chris at the mention of Rosaline.

"Rosaline is what, Oziyat?" Chris whispered fearfully.

"I think my sister sacrificed herself completely," Oziyat's eyes got redder as he tried to hold back his tears.

Chris had never seen Oziyat like this. As soon as she understood what Oziyat meant she hugged him fiercely. 

"I'm so sorry, Oziyat. I'm — I don't know what to —" She hugged him tighter as Oziyat's arms wrapped around her loosely and he rested his head on her shoulder.

Chris's eyes became tearful again and her heart gave a painful tug. She wanted to be there for Oziyat as long as possible despite the complication of their relationship. However, Oziyat pulled back after a few moments and for some reason didn't meet Chris's eyes.

"Christina, if I can request something . . ." Oziyat began quietly looking back at the door of her room. "Please don't tell Sol about this now. He is just recovering —"

"I understand," Chris nodded solemnly and Oziyat gave a small grateful smile.

Oziyat opened his mouth to say something else but he stopped looking at the stairs. Chris followed his gaze and after a moment Harry walked up to them.

"Chris, I needed to talk —" Harry stopped as his eyes fell on Oziyat.

"You can go, Christina. I will stay with Sol," Oziyat said before Chris could say anything and walked back into the room.

"Did I interrupt you?" Harry asked looking watching the door Oziyat just closed after him and noticing the frown on Chris's face. 

But Chris shook her head as she met Harry's eyes, though she was still worried about Oziyat and hurt hearing about Rosaline. But Chris quickly blinked and her pain turned into anger. She will not let Rosaline's sacrifice go to waste.

Taking a deep breath Chris walked away from her room a little bit.

"You were saying something?" Chris asked Harry, but when Harry didn't reply, she stopped to look back at him, only to find him staring at her. "Harry?"

". . . Huh?" It took a while for Harry to realize that Chris was talking to him. "Yeah, sorry . . . what?"

"What were you thinking?" Chris asked seeing his flustered and embarrassed face.

"What? Nothing!" Harry looked away flushing completely red then changed the subject. "Oh, the thing I came to tell you . . . Remus said Dean will be fine even though his injuries are brutal, he must have held fought them physically and internally. They think he will wake up by tomorrow."

"That's good to hear," Chris sighed.

"Also, Chris, I was wondering what and how we should approach this. According to Ginny's 'friend,' the Hogwarts security has increased significantly, which means even if we get into Hogwarts, searching for the Horcrux will be difficult. Especially when we don't know exactly what the Horcrux is." 

"You don't have any ideas what it could be?" Chris asked thinking.

"I mean it has something important related to Ravenclaw house," Harry offered.

"Yeah . . . you know what I think someone can help with the search once we got to Hogwarts," Chris said confidently and saw Harry smiling at her. "What?"

"You look confident," Harry said with an adorable smile as if he received his first Christmas gift.

"I . . . " Chris looked around self-consciously.

"That's the best look on you," Harry said very quietly but Chris caught it. 

"Thanks, Harry . . . for everything," Chris smiled but soon her smile changed into a resolute. "Now, let's go to Hogwarts before I lose this confidence again and more people like Dean get hurt."

"We have to end this as soon as possible." Harry nodded looking equally determined. 

Chris paused looking at Harry's determined and focused attitude and decided at least someone needed to know what was going to happen once they reached Hogwarts. Maybe not the full extent but Harry deserved to know who or what she was.

"Harry, I need to tell you something."

[To be continued. . .]