DISCLAIMER: I do not own a thing in these universes. I own nothing. I am but a humble reader and fanfiction writer. Nothing interesting here.

AN: I am so sorry that I haven't updated for a while. I have been very busy and I have been having troubles keeping my schedule together (and myself in one piece). Nine reviews, though, people! Thanks!

Only six pages today, peeps. Sorry.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

!!!!!Previous Chapter!!!!!

Draco was confused.

Draco was very confused.

He had little people inside his head?!

!!!!!DM!!!!!!

"Professor-?"

"Quiet, Mr. Malfoy."

"Professor… I have little people inside my head…?"

"Yes. Well, not little, but-shh!"

Suddenly Snape leapt back from Draco, again, snarling, "Potter."

"Oh, those people!" Draco said, intelligently. He understood, now, "All seven of them, or what?"

Snape looked critically at Draco, "Seven?"

He grabbed Draco's hand again and, after a moment, made a face, "Yes. Seven."

"Wha…"

!!!!!HAH!!!!!

The seven people in Daja's (Draco's) head, watched as Snape grabbed Daja's hand again and made a face, thinking, 'What are…'

"We don't know, honestly. We were just walking back to Discipline and then we were transported here," said Daja.

"But we did feel the effects of the Cruciatus Curse right before we blanked out," Hermione added.

"And it hurt!"

Snape looked taken aback, 'But…you're in Mr. Malfoy's head, how?'

"We've already said, we don't know," Harry reminded his professor.

'Well, then, where were you before you fainted?' Snape demanded, looking annoyed.

"We were-" "I was-" "And Lupin said," "My group, with Draco, and then he-" "…and all of a sudden," "…ran off, and…" "…decided that we had to…" "-that Black guy…"

'SILENCE!' Snape was noticeably distressed.

At that moment, Draco pulled Daja's hand away from Snape's grip, asking, "What was that, Professor? What are you doing?"

The people in Draco's head waited silently for Snape's answer.

Snape shot an even more annoyed look at Draco and answered, "I'm talking with the little people inside your head. Please stay silent for a moment."

Everyone roared with laughter.

"Li-little p-p-people!" gasped Ron, between laughs, "That's great!"

Snape grabbed Draco's brown hand, thinking, 'We should probably hurry up this conversation incase the-'

"Death Eaters come back," finished random people inside Draco's head.

"Professor-?" Malfoy interrupted.

"Quiet, Mr. Malfoy," Snape snapped.

"Professor…" Draco continued, "I have little people inside my head…?"

"We're not little!" Briar laughed.

"Yes. Well, not little, but-shh!" Snape told Draco.

"Harry is!" Ron chuckled, "He's the only midget here."

"Hey, I'm not a midget," Harry shot back.

Snape pulled his hand away from Daja's, snarling, "Potter."

"Oh, those people!" Draco said, nodding his head a little.

"Oh, those people," Ron mimicked, sounding ill.

"Stop it, Ronald."

"All seven of them, or what?" Draco asked.

Snape looked at Draco and blinked, "Seven?"

He grabbed Daja's hand again.

"Wow, he can count," Harry joked.

"Which one?" Ron asked.

"Well, I meant Malfoy."

"He's not stupid," Daja defended, then added, "He just acts like it."

"Yes. Seven," Snape affirmed, looking back at Daja's face, a sneer on his face.

"Wha…" Draco started.

"I don't know, Mr. Malfoy," Snape said, exasperated, "And neither do they, but they think it has something to do with the Cruciatus curse that you were put under. They felt the effects of it as well."

"Yeah, that's about right," Hermione confirmed, "As far as we know, anyway."

"Must have to do with the whole mind-connection-thing." Draco mused.

"'Mind-connection-thing'?" Snape wondered.

"Oh, erm… When we came here…"

"Never mind, this sounds like a long story."

"Right… er, I'll sum up. All eight of us have a mental connection of sorts. I can mentally communicate with Harry, Ron, and Hermione."

Snape's eyebrows rose into his hair, "Harry, Ron, and Hermione? Not Potter, Weasley and Granger?"

Draco looked abashed, "That's what I meant to say!"

"Fancy that. Draco used our first names."

"You just used his first name too."

"I know that, Ron. That's because he used our first names and it's common courtesy that we do the same," Hermione replied, curtly.

"Malfoy's aren't commonly anything." Ron retorted.

"Even if they aren't, we should be!" Hermione snapped back.

"Can we please stop fighting for a moment?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I'm with Potter," Briar agreed, "You two are enormously annoying."

'Although I am loathe to say it, I also hope you two will cease your bickering. Now, where do you… er… seven think that you would be the most safe, where someone could figure out what is going on?'

"That'd probably be Discipline Cottage," said Daja, "I'm pretty sure that's where everyone else that we can trust is going to be. I'm sure Lark and Rosethorn are there, and I'm pretty sure that Niko is, too. Come to think of it, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Black are probably headed that way right now.'

"Black and Lupin?" Snape said, out loud.

"Huh?" Draco wondered, "What about them?"

Snape looked at Draco directly, "Black and Lupin are here?"

"Yeah, they've been here quite a long time. Black showed up here a long time ago and then figured out some potion that brought Lupin here. They both ended up hurting themselves, come to think of it."

"They did not," Harry said, not really worrying about anybody else hearing him, "Sirius was tortured by Death Eaters and… well, Remus just hit his head on a rock."

"Fascinating. Well, as much as I dislike those… men… I admit, this Discipline place would most likely be the safest place to send you eight. Try to keep them on-task. I think it would be prudent to get you back into your bodies."

"When are the other Death Eaters coming back?" Tris asked, practically.

"I believe they will be back fairly promptly, so you may as well leave. I will summon something to burn, so it looks like it was you, Draco. Good luck."

Snape took a step back and faced the opposite direction, pulling out his wand.

"Accio," he said quietly. He crouched to the ground and began performing numerous spells on the object he had summoned.

Draco, struck dumb, didn't move for a moment (the seven people who were in his head weren't helping very much, as he couldn't hear them). After he regained his composure, he turned tail and sprinted away.

!!!!!SB!!!!!

Sirius was disturbed… he didn't know quite what to do… all four of his charges had been screaming at the tops of their lungs, and then they had fallen limp.

Enervate hadn't worked on them, when he'd tried it, and he really didn't know what to do next. He had tried touching their hands to see if he could communicate with them mentally, but it had turned out that it was impossible.

Pacing around the small group, Sirius decided that his best bet was to levitate them to Discipline. Unfortunately, this was easier said than done, as there were four of them, but he hadn't been too bad at charms during school.

There was a huge explosion and Sirius flinched. Deciding that that wasn't his prominent problem, Sirius raised his wand and cast the levitating charms.

!!!!!RL!!!!!

Remus Lupin's difficulties were parallel to Sirius's. Coming to the same decision (only a bit quicker, it would seem) Remus levitated the three students. Carefully, he snuck behind a dark blue colored building and led the way around the other side of a patch of trees.

After hearing the same explosion, he passed a small greenhouse which was full to bursting with bright colored plants, the likes of which Remus had never seen before. Knowing he didn't have the time to stop to examine the wildlife, Remus continued on his way.

Rosethorn walked through the back door to see Niko reading. Surprising really, as he had so much else to do.

"What are you doing?" Rosethorn asked absentmindedly, as she walked past him.

"Reading," Niko answered, just as absentmindedly.

"I know that," Rosethorn pointed out dully, as she collected the items she needed, "What is it that you're reading?"

Rosethorn and Niko both felt a twinge of magic, together became more alert, but neither said anything.

"It's called The Jour- " Niko started, but was interrupted when a large explosion went off, somewhere in the distance.

"Oh, Goddess spare us," Rosethorn murmured, angrily, completely and efficiently hiding her trepidation.

Niko set down his book and walked outside. Pushing the door open, gently, he saw an enormous curl of smoke rising from near one of the walls that surrounded Winding Circle, but curiously, there seemed to be no visible damage.

Rosethorn took a step closer to the smoke, and Niko put out a hand to halt her.

"It's a distraction… there's nothing there."

"I know that, but we must warn the othe-"

"They'll be fine. I'm worried about the children. They would be running away from that… unless they can't."

Rosethorn quite agreed and followed her friend across the yard.

END CHAPTER!!!!!

Once again, I am sooo sorry, for taking so long to update and for updating so little.

PREVIOUS REVIEWERS:

Nikka Malfoy: Thanks.

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Alanna Hrncir: Oh, thanks. You can put it in a binder as long as you don't sell it as your own (not that anyone would, mind you… sigh)

STARINA69: I'm trying to continue… I really am! continues as fast as she can think

anna: I know, I can't keep the names straight. I'm sorry. I am trying to continue as fast as I can (see previous review answer)

Eggo Waffles: You're very welcome, I like your writing style, and I'm glad you like my story (at least enough to review it… that's always a good sign.)

still lazy!! : Yeah… heh… sorry about the wait.

Lioness Anya : I absolutely don't think that Briar would be scared of Sirius, but it fit in with the story, so I wrote it that way… I'm sorry. Also you'll probably have to use your imagination for some of what I write, as it isn't correct when one uses common sense… but I think I lost mine years ago, so… (btw: you are probably more correct than anything I could say about anything, so keep criticizing, plz… huh that didn't make sense in the least. Oh well)

Alcapacien : Yeah, I like how I portrayed Snape in this one (how I surprise myself sometimes) I don't think he is remotely accurate, but it was fun to write.

insanity-is-my-life: Thank you very much. I appreciate the compliment. And I like your name.

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