Where we left off...

The twins are on their way to collect ingredients from the forest with Lee Jordan. Hermione has just told Harry that she is engaged, and Draco has just told Snape that he likes Harry.

D

Harry stopped pacing and landed on the floor next to the chair he had been attempting to fall into.

"Harry, say something!" Hermione whispered violently, perched ridgedly on the edge of the loveseat. Harry stared up at her.

"What on god's green earth am I supposed to say? Engaged? Hermione, I didn't even know you were seeing anyone!" Harry said accusingly.

''Well, if you had paid attention, you would know what's going on, wouldn't you?'' Hermione retorted. "We've been engaged for almost ten months, and we were seeing eachother long before that.''

Harry wracked his brain. Who could it have been?

"Hmmm... He's either a sixth or seventh year, obviously. It isn't Dean, he has a girlfriend. Would it be... Not Neville, right?" Hermione flinched. "Thought not. And Victor got married a few months ago... How close are you to the sixth- years?" Hermione groaned.

"Harry, no. He's not a sixth year. It's George." Hermione turned pink and bit her lip.

"George? George who?" Harry stopped, and stared wide-eyed at his best friend. "Hermione? Please, please, don't tell me that you're engaged to George Weasley." Hermione nodded, her face a strange mixture of shock, worry, and ecstatic happiness.

"I love him so much, Harry! But Ron is my best friend. I don't want to hurt him, but I know I have to. It's terrible, we've hated keeping this a secret." Harry wrapped his arms around the shorter girl.

"Everything will turn out alright. I'll help you tell Ron when the time is right, okay? Maybe in the meantime, you can explain to me how this relationship got started." Harry felt bad for Ron, but wanted to be happy for Hermione at the same time. That, and he was awfully curious as to why he hadn't noticed one of his best friends carrying on a long term relationship.

"Well, it's been very hard to hide. Fred only found out a few months ago. It all started, one day at the Burrow..."

R

"Oof! Gah, does it ever warm up here?" Fred grumbled. The three guys had apparatted directly on top of a snow bank, and Fred had wasted no time in falling face first into the deep snow.

"We don't even know where 'here' is. We stumbled on it by pure luck, remember?" George replied, grinning at the memory as he bent to help his brother stand. Fred laughed, brushing snow from his body.

"Yeah. Mum was mad that time, wasn't she?"

"Well, it taught you guy to keep your joke wands at the shop." Lee reminded them. George laughed.

"Yeah, well, it was fun while it lasted. C'mon, we're out here for a reason. Fred, climb up that tree and drop the mushrooms down." Fred shook his head.

"Uh-uh. Why can't you go up there?" he countered.

"Because, I'm holding the bag." George replied flippantly.

"Well, Lee can go up then." Fred said triumphantly, pointing up the tree.

"Nope. You're much more limber than I am. Wouldn't want me pulling a muscle, now would you?" Lee teased. Fred threw his head back and laughed.

"No, you're right about that one. You win." and without another word, he started up the tree. George let out a cough that sounded oddly like 'whipped,' and grinned when his brother flipped him off.

Fred began tossing down forked mushrooms that grew on the underside of high branches.

"Y'know, I wouldn't talk if I were you, George. You're the one who's about to be tied down with a... holy shite!" Fred quickly began scrambling down the tree, raining bits of bark and mushrooms down on his twin. Lee jumped away from the tree.

"What the bloody hell, Fred?" George exclaimed, brushing twigs from his hair and collecting fallen mushrooms from around his feet.

"Shut up, you idiot! There's Death Eaters over there!" Fred dropped to the ground, his face white as a sheet. "I think we're in a really bad way right now. Lee, go home. George and I will be back soon." Fred stood with his hands on his hips, staring at his boyfriend. Lee raised an eyebrow.

"Do you really think that your stare is going to work on me now anymore than it did before we got together?" Lee would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious.

"Fred, I think you're sadly mistaken. Let's go." George poked his brother. "Which way?" Fred headed into the woods, closely followed by George and Lee. A few minutes later...

"Holy bloody fuck." George whispered.

Fred had led them to a large clearing full of masked, cloaked figures. Voldemort stood in the center of the gathering, a shallow hole dug in front of him filled with glowing stones. One Death Eater was standing over the area, pouring various vials over them. Another was on his knees, and looked as though he was pleading with his lord.

"My Lord, I understand your haste, but it is my belief that more harm than good will come of marking the boy while he is still in school. If you could just-"

"Enough! Bring the boy forward, and both of you remove your masks!"

"Yes, my Lord." the kneeling Death Eater whispered bitterly. He gently took another smaller figure by the arm and pulled him forward. He then removed his mask.

"Snape!" Lee hissed. "I knew that fucker was evil!"

"Shh, he's on our side." George replied quickly. Lee's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to speak. Fred covered the other boy's mouth.

"We'll explain later." Lee looked confused and angry, but continued to watch the scene in front of them silently. The small figure began removing his mask, but all of the sudden, Voldemort lifted his hand.

"Stop. Nagini tells me we have intruders." Voldemort let out a wave of magic which sent Snape and the other figure flying. The smaller body hit a tree and sank to the ground, while Snape slammed into the body of another Death Eater. The dark wizards were dissapparating left and right, and Voldemort was screaming curses and hexes in a raspy voice. Fred dropped to the ground, and watched his twin fall beside him, hit with a stray curse. He couldn't see Lee anywhere, and the last thing he felt was a sharp pain in the back of his head. Then, the world faded into darkness.

A

Seamus sat bolt upright in bed, instantly awoken from a deep sleep.

"What the hell is that noise, Sea?" Harry mumbled, patting the nightstand in search of his glasses.

"Someone has sounded the alarm. We hafta find me mum." Seamus replied, no trace of sleep in his voice, fear coloring it instead. They scrambled into the hall and met Ron and Hermione on the stairs. Ron had his hands placed firmly over his ears, and Hermione was wide eyed, her hair poofed out in a huge brown mess. Seamus waved frantically at them to follow him.

"We have to get to the medic hall! Something has happened!"

The four teens raced down two flights of stairs and came to a halt in front of a portrait. It's occupant stared down at them for a moment, black hair falling into his face, and familiar black eyes looking down his hooked nose at them. Everything went eerily quite.

"Professor Snape?" Hermione asked, "Professor Snape is the entrance to your hospital?" Seamus shook his head.

"Mum must have known him once." He spoke the password in Latin, and the portrait swung open. None of them noticed the portrait's eyes following their movements curiously, nor how much younger portrait-Snape appeared.

The four tumbled gracelessly through the main entrance to the medical area. Harry stood stock-still in shock, the others bumping into him from behind.

The room was filled with all sorts of magical creatures. A centaur lay on his side next to a bleeding unicorn, moaning and crying out to the gods of the sky. A hippogriff whined painedly in the corner as several men held it down as two more stitched up a long jagged wound running from wing to flank. But it was the sight of the humans that was the most shocking.

Severus Snape lay unconcious in the closest bed, wearing nothing but a pair of pale blue scrub pants. Draco Malfoy was on the next bed over, angry red welts roping his body. There was a light blanket pulled up to his waist, and was strapped to the metal frame of the bed, screaming. His eyes were tightly closed, and sweat and blood matted his hair. Three medi wizards were waving their wands over him while another poured potions into his open mouth. He choked, coughed several times, and moaned weakly. One mediwizard turned, accidently brushing the hem of his shirt against the boy's torso. Draco let out a viscious howl, and his body arched from the bed, convulsing. A foamy trickle of blood ran from his mouth, and one of the wizards yelled a spell. His body stilled, screams reduced to a whispy muttering. A few moments later, he stopped moving completely. Harry glanced at his friends. Seamus had grabbed his hand, and looked sick. Hermione was horrified, but Ron was staring at the other two occupied beds. He let out a holler, and ran across the room.

"Fred! George! Lee, what happened? Did Malfoy come after you?" Hermione let out a strangled cry, and grabbed George's limp hand. Lee sighed.

"We were in the woods, and stumbled onto a DE meeting. Fred got knocked out by a tree branch, and George was hit with about three stupefies. They'll be fine when they wake up." he replied, exhausted. Hermione was livid.

"What the hell are these medics waiting for? Ennervate!" she hissed pointing her wand at George. His eyes opened slowly, and he grimaced.

"My leg..." Hermione pulled back his blankets to reveal his left leg bent oddly.

"You idiot, you've broken it." she trod to the nearest cuboard and pulled out a small vial of gray liquid.

"Here, drink this to be sure it heals properly. Reparo. Let me see Fred." The other twin was concious, and feeling the back of his head gingerly. Hermione tsked at him, and poured something over his head.

"Ow! That burns!" he exclaimed, reaching back to touch his head, but Hermione grabbed his arm.

"You'll think twice before dragging your brother to a DE meeting, won't you!" She muttered a spell at his skull, watching as the flesh knitted itself back together. "Lee, did you do anything stupid that I'll have to heal?" the dark boy shook his head.

"Nah. Just some bruises. Maybe you should help them with Malfoy. Little prick got himself thrown into a tree. Some Irish lady healed Snape up right, but she said she couldn't stay. Something about going back to the clearing and collecting fallen DEs." Hermione shook her head.

"His wounds are a combination of magical burns and broken bones. It's too complicated for me to handle." She sat on George's bed. Harry watched as they both seemed to instantly relax, and he left them to their own devices. He wanted to see how Malfoy was doing. Seamus followed him as he wandered over to the blonde boys bed. Sweat was still rolling from his body, but he seemed calmed, and was sleeping.

"He looks terrible. And he's so skinny." Seamus said softly, brushing the blonde hair out of the boy's face. But Harry was only interested in one thing. He released Malfoy's arms from their leather bindings and turned them over. Seamus gasped.

"Harry! There's no Mark!" Harry sighed.

"I didn't think there would be, but l had to be sure. Seamus, Malfoy isn't exactly who we thought he was." He seated himself on his boyfriend's lap.

"What do you mean, Harry?" And Harry launched into the story of his new perspective on the sleeping blonde.

Y

A/N Well, here's another one down. There is one great reviewer who deserves all the credit for me getting this chapter out, honey, you know who you are, and I love you dearly for it. It's my senior year in high school, and things are mad busy. I'll try to keep updating as much as I can, and i might revamp some of the older chapters too, if I get the chance. So, let me know, Like it? Love it? Hate it? Just don't be all flamey, because that's no fun.

Huggles to you all!

Mel