A/N: Here begins the sixth year of Elizabeth Martin's story. I have a buffer built and I plan to update every Wednesday for right now, so I hope you all enjoy. I have a lot in store for this story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter One:

Dark Times

The young girl was shaking as she stared at the small article in the corner of the Daily Prophet. Her bowl of cereal forgotten next to her as she ran a hand through her mousy-brown hair, her gray eyes scanning over the words printed in black again, hoping they'd have somehow changed:

In the early hours of yesterday morning, Amelia Bones—Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and respected member of Wizengamot—was found dead in her home. After not reporting for work, fellow member of the Ministry and close friend, Thomas Rhode, paid a visit to Madam Bones' home in London.

"It's just not like her to not show up for work," Mr. Rhode commented when asked about what he saw, "When I went to find her...Well, it doesn't really need explaining, does it?"

There were signs of a duel in Madam Bones' home and it is clear that she put up a strong fight against her attacker. With the evidence of the Dark Mark above the home, Aurors are now looking for the Death Eater, or Death Eaters, responsible for this attack.

"Poor Susan..." Elizabeth Martin muttered, staring at the small article. Elizabeth had known Susan practically her entire life and they were good friends, even roommates at Hogwarts. Susan talked about her "Auntie Amelia" often and Elizabeth knew they'd been close.

"What about Susan?" Grace, Elizabeth's mother, asked as she looked up.

"Her Aunt Amelia was killed," Elizabeth said softly.

Grace gave a heavy sigh, running a hand over her face. Her brown eyes were tired from her constant work at St. Mungo's and also now raising a toddler on top of everything. She shook her head, frowning deeply.

"I don't have to work today," she said, "Why don't we bundle up Ursula and pay the Bones a visit?"

Elizabeth nodded, thinking it would be a great idea. She knew all too well how hard it was losing an aunt as her own Aunt Ginger had died not too long before. In fact, that was the reason Grace and Elizabeth were taking care of Aunt Ginger's two-year-old daughter, Ursula.

After Aunt Ginger's death, her husband, Elizabeth's Uncle Xavier, had simply disappeared. This left little Ursula in the care of Grace and Elizabeth. The fact that Grace worked nearly every day had been a problem at first, especially since with how someone had managed to sneak in a deadly plant into the hospital at Christmas the year before. Grace didn't want Elizabeth and Ursula staying in the tea room as Elizabeth had done for years. Instead, Elizabeth and Ursula often spent the day at another of Elizabeth's friends' home, Ron Weasley. His mother was often very helpful with caring for a difficult toddler.

"I'll get Ursula ready," Grace said as she got up, "If you wouldn't mind cleaning up the dishes."

Elizabeth nodded again, gathering up the bowls and getting them washed before changing into a simple floral dress before meeting her mother in the sitting room. Grace was holding Ursula now, the toddler's dark eyes only half-open. She didn't seem too pleased with being woken up.

It was a quick Apparation trip to a Muggle alleyway near the flat that Susan Bones lived in with her parents. Elizabeth had been here plenty of times on play-dates before she began school at Hogwarts and it was a familiar walk into a four-story building and up the stairs. It was one of the few complexes that served only to wizarding families within London, so parents didn't have to worry about their children playing with magical toys in the hallways.

Now, however, the hallways were empty. A couple of doors cracked open slightly as Elizabeth and her mother passed and Elizabeth caught sight of small eyes peering out before parents came behind and closed the doors, blocking off views of their children. Things had changed drastically in just one short month, ever since the Ministry of Magic finally confirmed that Voldemort was rising to power again. People were far less likely to let their children play in the open or stay to chat to passerby.

At the top of the stairs on the second floor, Elizabeth and her mother nearly walked into two of the residents. One was a boy Elizabeth recognized from Hogwarts, though didn't know his name since he had left a couple years before. With him was someone Elizabeth hadn't expected to see: her brother Lewis.

Just the week before, Lewis had left after an argument that led to him blaming Elizabeth and her friend, Harry Potter, for Aunt Ginger's death. He hadn't spoken a word to Elizabeth or Grace since then.

"Oh, Lewis!" Grace said, adjusting Ursula in her arms, "I didn't know you were here, how have—"

Grace didn't get to finish. Lewis pushed past them, heading on down the stairs without a word. The man with him called after him to wait up and followed.

Grace's expression fell and Elizabeth gripped her hands into fists. She had grown used to Lewis treating her like that over the past year—as much as she hated it still—but seeing him treat their mother so disrespectfully was hard to take.

"Let's get going, Elizabeth," Grace said and Elizabeth could hear in her tone that her mother was forcing her voice to stay steady. That just only made her angrier at her brother. She wanted nothing more than to march downstairs and give Lewis a piece of her mind, but she held back. They were here to visit Susan.

As they made their way on up to the top floor, Elizabeth found herself wondering if Susan knew Lewis was living here as well now. After all, the two had dated for nearly a year before the Ministry's smear campaign against Harry had caused a rift between them.

When they reached the Bones' flat, Elizabeth knocked on the door and it was soon answered by a tall man with the same dark hair and eyes as Susan had.

"Hello, John," Grace said, "I hope you don't mind us just dropping by..."

"No, it's fine," Mr. Bones said, "Come on in, we just finished up breakfast."

Elizabeth followed her mother into the main room of the flat, where Mrs. Bones was cleaning up dishes from the kitchen and Susan—her long, dark hair pulled into a braid—was curled up on a couch with a book in her lap.

"Hello, Susan," Elizabeth said, coming over and sitting next to her, "I'm so sorry about your aunt..."

Susan frowned and Elizabeth realized her eyes were red. Elizabeth thought back to how often she cried in the first week since Aunt Ginger's death—and how she still found herself crying at random moments—and her heart went out to her friend. She put an arm around Susan comfortingly as Susan closed the book she'd been reading. Elizabeth glanced at the cover, which was of a man in a cloak, the hood pulled up so only part of his face was seen in the shadows as he kept glancing over his shoulder.

"Shadowy Intentions," Susan said, tapping the book, "Mum got it for me for my birthday. I've only recently started reading it, though."

"Is it good?" Elizabeth asked, looking over the cover again.

"So far it is," Susan said, "I think Niles Doge deserves the fame he's starting to get."

Niles Doge, a name Elizabeth recognized. With Voldemort's return no longer a secret, the Daily Prophet jumped on any good news they could. Most authors wouldn't become such a minor celebrity after only one book, but Niles Doge had become something of a household name simply because he was one of the youngest authors in the Wizarding World, as he was barely a year out of Hogwarts when he published Shadowy Intentions.

"Reading helps take my mind off things," Susan said after a moment.

"I know," Elizabeth replied. She had first-hand experience of what Susan was going through—after all, she was still going through it herself. Keeping her mind off of what was going on helped a lot.

A door nearby creaked open and Elizabeth and Susan looked over to see a small girl with dark hair and bright blue eyes poked her head out, but when she saw her family had visitors, she disappeared into her room again. Susan sighed and shook her head, but Elizabeth couldn't help but smile as she leaned forward on the couch some.

"You'd think after all these years, Sarah would stop hiding from me," she said.

"Well, you haven't been around in a long time," Susan said, "Plus, she hides from everyone."

"How's she going to handle Hogwarts, then?"

Susan's smile faltered at that and she stared down at her book, running her finger along the edges.

"Mum's been talking about keeping us at home," she said softly. Elizabeth stared at her.

"What?" she asked in disbelief. Their fifth year had only ended a week ago. Mrs. Bones had to be overreacting over something.

"Because of what's going on," Susan said, "She's worried about us, especially Sarah. She'll be a first year, after all."

"But Hogwarts is a lot safer than here!" Elizabeth said, "Especially with Dumbledore there!"

"But it's not a fortress," Susan pointed out, "Mum keeps talking about all that's happened there. I mean, students getting Petrified in our second year—"

"No one was killed, though," Elizabeth cut in, "Everything turned out fine."

"Only after that Weasley girl was kidnapped," Susan said, "Then there's our third year with Sirius Black...It's still so strange to think he wasn't actually the one that killed all those Muggles years ago. I'm not sure I'd want to be around him either way."

Elizabeth bit her lip, fighting the urge to defend her friend. Explaining things about Sirius often got complicated and having to bring up things he didn't want to strangers to really know—like the fact he was an Animagus.

"Then there's everything with the Triwizard Tournament and Cedric, and what happened to you and your friends last month..."

Elizabeth had no argument for that one. It was hard to defend Hogwarts as a safe school when a student had been killed, or a group of students had sneaked away and got into a fight with Death Eaters.

"Those...Didn't exactly happen at Hogwarts," Elizabeth tried weakly anyway.

"Mum doesn't see the difference," Susan said, sighing, "Dad and I are trying to convince her we need the education at Hogwarts. Learning there gives us a lot more than learning at home and I need all the advantages I can get for N.E.W.T. exams if I want to be a Curse Breaker."

"Ron's older brother, Bill, was a Curse Breaker," Elizabeth said, "He works a desk job at Gringotts now. Maybe I can talk to him and he can talk to your parents. I'm sure he could explain that Gringotts prefers workers with a formal education rather than home education."

"Thanks," Susan said with a small grin, "I really do want to go back to Hogwarts, despite everything."

"The Hufflepuff common room wouldn't be right without you," Elizabeth grinned back. "Who would keep everyone in line?"

Susan laughed a little.

"You'd think I was the prefect, not you or Ernie."

"We just don't have your persuasive skills," Elizabeth said.

It was a good afternoon, chatting with Susan and her family. Every now and then, the subject started to drift to Amelia Bones and Aunt Ginger, sharing family stories and remembering the good things about their fallen family members, but for the most part they tried to keep the subject away. Instead, they focused mainly on talking about the latest gossip from Witch Weekly or the upcoming new author Niles Doge. Susan and Elizabeth spent nearly an hour cheerfully arguing with Susan's father about the Montrose Magpies' chances in the Quidditch league this year compared to the Pride of Portree. The entire time they were there, however, Sarah never came out of her room except to get herself a sandwich around lunch and she instantly disappeared from sight again before Elizabeth could even tell her hello.

Elizabeth and her mother stayed most of the day, but as the sky began to grow dark outside the window, Grace began to gather Ursula's things again and said that they should get going.

"Thank you again for having us," Grace said, "Especially since we showed up so unexpectedly."

"We welcome the company," Mr. Bones said, "Come by again whenever you wish."

"We'll see if I get the chance," Grace gave a sigh as she handed Elizabeth the bag of Ursula's things, then picked up the toddler herself, "Work has been keeping me very busy."

"I'd imagine," Mrs. Bones said with a frown, "Things aren't quite what they used to be."

"No, they're not," Grace shook her head, "We should get going, however. Goodbye."

Elizabeth bade Susan goodbye as well, saying she'd get in touch soon, then she left the complex with her mother. They made their way back out to the alleyway they arrived in and quickly Apparated home.

"I should get Ursula to bed," Grace said, "And then get some sleep myself. I have to be at work early tomorrow, so you shouldn't stay up too late."

"We're going to the Burrow again, right?" Elizabeth asked. Grace nodded. Elizabeth didn't mind, however. Spending her days with her friend, Ron Weasley, and his family was nice. She just wished Hermione and Harry were there as well—though Ron said they should both be coming to stay relatively soon.

Elizabeth bade her mother goodnight, then headed on to her own room. She changed into a nightgown, then brushed through her hair as Cream jumped onto her bed. As Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed herself, something silver caught her eye on the floor by her nightstand and she bent down to pick it up, then felt a jab of guilt.

It was a silver braided bracelet, and Elizabeth recognized it as the one that Harry had given her for her last birthday, though the mouse charm that had once adorned it had broken off at some point. Elizabeth thought it might have been during the battle at the Department of Mysteries, she wasn't completely sure. Elizabeth hadn't noticed the mouse was gone until nearly a week later.

What worried Elizabeth was the fact that she hadn't been too upset at the loss of a charm her boyfriend had given her. She tried to pass it off as focused on her aunt's death, but now she seemed to worry more about what Harry would think of her losing the charm than the thought of not having it.

Elizabeth put the bracelet in the drawer of her dresser and sighed as she stretched out on her bed, petting Cream next to her. Things had been changing between her and Harry. They had been a good couple in the beginning, but it seems things fizzled out fairly quickly. Looking back, Elizabeth realized that very shortly after that kiss in the Owlery, they were right back to way things used to be. They were great friends, but she felt now that they should have stayed that way.

The problem was, Elizabeth was worried about bringing this up to Harry. After all, Harry was her best friend and she didn't want to lose that friendship. Still, she felt that they just weren't fitting as well as a couple the way they were in the beginning. She had no idea what she should do about it.

Elizabeth sighed. She wasn't going to figure this out tonight. She rolled over in her bed and pulled the covers up, much to the annoyance her of Siamese cat next to her, and closed her eyes. She'd worry about what to do with her relationship with Harry later. For now, she just needed to get to sleep.