Professor Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where we were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, who all looked extremely confused. 

I had an idea. Put on the Invisibility Cloak, and they'll all freak out! I whispered this idea to Harry, and he grinned. We both threw the Cloak over ourselves as Terry, Amy, Suzanne, Shannon, and Draco came over to us.

"What's going on, d'you think?" Terry asked.

"Sirius Black broke in and he tried to get into Gryffindor Tower." George replied.

"But - but - he's trying to - d'you think - he was going to kill Harry and Softpaw, wasn't he?" Terry said, a panicked look on his face.

"Yeah, Daisy -" Draco turned to talk to me, only to find I wasn't there. "Where is she?"

"Where's Harry, too?" Hermione said sharply.

"Fuck, they were with us when we came down here." Fred said.

"Do you remember them coming into the Hall with you?" Amy said hurriedly.

"No, I was too busy in my own thoughts, what about you guys -" Ron said, and everyone else shook their heads no.

There was a tense silence.

"D'you think - d'you think -?" Terry struggled to say.

"That Black captured them when you guys were coming down here?" Draco finished.

Terry nodded, a stricken look on his face.

"Mayb- yes." Draco sighed worriedly.

"Fuck." Fred was swearing. "Shit. Crap."

They all started frantically looking around the Hall.

"Can't see them." George said.

"Oh my Godric, they're dead!" Terry wailed, pulling his hair. "My future wife and brother-in-law are dead!"

Harry and I were in silent fits of giggles.

"We need to go look for them." Draco stepped forward bravely.

"Even though you're not in Gryffindor, you and Hopper always seem to want to act the hero whenever dear old Softpaw is involved and in some sort of danger." Fred smirked at Draco and Terry, but there was still an anxious look in his eyes.

Harry and I nodded at each other and whipped the Cloak off. "Surprise!" I said. "We're not dead!"

Terry flung himself onto me, grabbing me in a death-clutch. 

"Um, Hopper..." Fred said, tapping him on the shoulder. "You happen to be suffocating your girlfriend."

Terry loosened his grip a bit and settled for snogging me instead.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle." Dumbledore told us as Professors McGonagall and Flitwick closed all doors into the Hall. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the Prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the Hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately." He added to Percy, who was looking immensely proud and important. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

Dumbledore paused, about to leave the Hall, and said, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing..."

One casual wave of his wand and the long tables flew to the edges of the Hall and stood themselves against the walls; another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags.

"Sleep well." Dumbledore said, closing the door behind him.

The Hall immediately began to buzz excitedly; the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened.

I wandered away from the group to lean against the wall and think things over. Where was Black now? How did he get in? Is he really trying to kill me and Harry? 

Someone touched my shoulder, and I jumped. I whirled around and saw Floppy standing there.

"Please just fuck off, Floppy, leave me alone for once." I sighed.

* He moved closer to me, and I stepped backwards, hitting the wall. I looked around to call out for help to my friends, but I felt Floppy's wand pressing into my side.

"Don't call for help." He growled.

"What do you want?" I huffed, beginning to get angry.

"To kiss you." Floppy smirked darkly at me.

"No."

We both eyed each other, our faces matching levels of anger.

Floppy suddenly dived for my lips, but I turned my head, and he kissed my cheek instead. 

"Kiss me." He insisted, putting more force into pressing his wand into my ribs.

"Make me." I challenged.

"You're really saying that?" Floppy held up his wand.

"Oh please, it's not like you're going to use it here, when I can scream and where there's hundreds of people - including teachers, my boyfriend, and my brother - to hear me. And believe me, those last two will kill you if they see this." I said.

Floppy looked like he was considering something, looking down at the ground.

"No. The plan was..." He muttered to himself, then looked back up. "I can put a Silencing Charm on you." Floppy grinned at his brilliant new idea. Note sarcasm.

"Yeah, and you don't think they'll know who did it?" I sneered.

Floppy's face turned down in a frown. He suddenly dived for my lips again, this time catching me off guard. He bit down on my lip, trying to force his tongue into my mouth. My arms were flailing around in surprise, in trying to throw him off, and in trying to get people's attention at the same time. * 

Dean and Seamus, who were standing nearby, wrenched him off me, and he stumbled backwards, nearly falling over. I braced myself by putting my hands on the wall, panting.

"Thanks, guys." I said, grinning at them. 

Harry, Terry, the twins, and the others all came hurrying towards us. 

"The fuck happened here?" Ron gasped.

"THIS happened." Harry fumed, directing his words at Floppy.

Fred, George, and Terry were closing in on him from either side in a triangle formation. Floppy looked shit scared.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" Percy shouted from the front suddenly. "Come on now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!" 

"C'mon. I'll deal with him later." I said to the Insurgents and the others. We grabbed sleeping bags in the middle of the Hall, away from Floppy, and in the centre of everything.

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered anxiously.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be." Ron said.

"It's kinda lucky he picked tonight, though." Fred said, as we climbed fully dressed into our sleeping bags and propped ourselves on our elbows to talk. "The one night we weren't in the Tower..."

"I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run." George said. "Didn't realise it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd - Merlin - he'd have come bursting in HERE."

Suzanne shuddered.

"You know what, fuck it." Terry said, climbing out of his sleeping bag. "It's too cold. I'm crashing with you." He climbed into mine, slinging an arm around me, and I turned around to him. I hugged him to me, and he did the same to me. It WAS cold, but he made it warm again.

I snuggled up to him, laying my head on his chest. Harry was scowling at us, and Fred and George were saying things like, "Aww, so cute." and, "That's SO adorable!" Draco was looking anywhere but at us.

All around us, people were asking each other the same question: "How did he get in?" 

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate." A Ravenclaw said a few feet away. "Just appear out of thin air, you know."

"Disguised himself, probably." A Hufflepuff fifth year said. 

"He could've flown in." Dean suggested.

Hermione went on a rant about he couldn't have done any of that. I wasn't listening. Terry was running his hands through my hair and constantly kept kissing the tip of my nose, teasing me as I giggled.

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!" 

The candles all went out at once. The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the Prefects, and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars. What with that, and the whispering that still filled the Hall, I felt like I was sleeping outside in a light wind.

"You two make me want to puke." Fred said, leaning on his elbow. "You're too cute."

"Just because you don't have a girlfriend!" I exclaimed.

"How do know that?" Fred smirked.

I gasped. "You - you DON'T! Do you?"

"Oh yeah -" Fred started.

"He doesn't, Softpaw, he just wishes he does." George laughed.

Fred huffed. "You just had to ruin it!"

"I think ol' Suzanne fancies your twin, Softpaw." Terry said to me, nodding at Suzanne.

She was gazing wistfully at Harry as he was talking to her, smiling and twirling her hair on her finger.

"Oh yes!" I squealed. "I ship it!"

"Well, I ship US." Terry kissed the tip of my nose again.

I giggled. "Prove it."

He kissed my forehead, then my nose, then finally my lips. His arms snaked around my lower back, and I placed my hands on his chest, feeling his abs through his school shirt. Nice. He had a six-pack - probably from Quidditch.

He bit down gently on my lip. I opened my mouth, and he tilted his head to the side, deepening the kiss as he slid his tongue in and explored my mouth, as I explored his.

He suddenly pulled back, leaving me wanting more. 

"Proved it yet?" Terry asked, smirking.

I shook my head, winking cheekily. I noticed Fred and George watching us with slightly revolted, slightly amused looks on their faces. Why are they watching us? Creeps.

Terry dived for my lips again, pressing me against the floor, crawling on top of me. He passionately kissed me, his arms holding him up on either side of my head, my hands tangled in his hair. He slipped his tongue in, and his hand cupped my chin. My hands tugged on his hair, and he moaned into my mouth. He drew back and left a trail of kisses down my jaw and neck. He reached my collarbone and started sucking on the spot where he left a love-bite a few months ago. I tried to hold back a moan, but failed. He bit down, and left another fucking hickey. He went back to my lips and started snogging me again.

He pulled away suddenly again. "Proved?" He smirked, but his eyes were fastened longingly a few inches down from my eyes.

"Yeah." I breathed. His face broke out into a sunny, toothy grin which made my heart stop.

He kissed me again, softly, slowly, and gently. His hands cupped my face, and mine ran through his hair. His tongue ran along my lips, and I let him in again.

Once every hour, a teacher would reappear in the Hall to check that everything was quiet. Around three in the morning, when many students had finally fallen asleep, Dumbledore came in. I watched him looking around for Percy, who had been prowling between the sleeping bags, telling people off for talking. Percy was only a short way away from us, so we quickly pretended to be asleep as Dumbledore's footsteps drew nearer.

"Any sign of him, Professor?" Percy asked in a whisper.

"No. All well here?"

"Everything's under control, sir."

They discussed where they had searched, but nothing of interest came up. 

I fell asleep with my head on Terry's chest and his arms encasing me protectively.

~~~

I woke up suddenly about an hour or two later. Or something like that. Everyone was still asleep, and it was still dark.

I looked down at Terry. I was cuddled up to him, my head was still resting on his chest, and his arms were holding me to him.

He looked so peaceful sleeping. There was still a trace of the grin that he always had on, on his lips. They looked so kissable...but I wasn't going to wake him up in the middle of the night just to kiss him. He looks like a little kid when he's sleeping. I gently stroked his face, smiling softly down at him. 

Do I love him?

I snuggled back down in his arms, staring up at the starry enchanted ceiling. 

Do I love Terry Boot, the boy who I always want to be everywhere with, the boy who I would give anything to kiss, the boy of my dreams? Do I love the handsome boy who matches my personality, who would do anything to keep me from harm, the boy who is fiercely protective of me? Do I love the boy who loves me?

Do I love Terry Boot, the boy I would die for?

I turned back to Terry, planted a soft, light, lingering kiss on his lips, then rested my head back on his chest, and fell asleep in no time.

Because I don't know. I don't know.

~~~

When I woke up in the morning, it was to see nearly everybody getting up and stretching, and to see Terry smiling up at me from where I lay on his chest.

"Good morning to you." He said, his morning voice husky. I fangirled in my head.

"To you too." I grinned. I tried to get up, my head whirling because of my stupid morning problem, but Terry pulled me back down. 

"Stay here." He whined. "I don't wanna get up yet!" 

"And how does me getting up make you get up?" I questioned, smirking to myself because I already knew why.

"Because you're warm, and I wanna kiss you." Terry moaned.

"Alright, fine." I collapsed back down on him. Terry dragged the sleeping bag back up over us, and I snuggled up cozily to him. He drew me closer to him, kissing the top of my head. 

But I tilted my head up, as we lay on our sides, facing each other, and our lips met. He instantly ran his tongue over my bottom lip, and I let him in. Our tongues battled as we got more and more into it. Terry pinned my hands to the ground, flipping us over so that he was on top, and this sudden motion startled me, so his tongue won. It wasn't my fault!

He smirked against my lips, and I escaped one of his hands to punch him lightly on the shoulder, then tangle it in his hair. He removed his hands from mine and used one to hold him up so that he wouldn't fall on top of me and possibly kill me (I am the smallest girl in the year, being 5"1 and really thin), and the other to cup my chin with. My other hand snaked around his bare (!) back, feeling the strong muscles, then to his chest, touching his abs, then to his arm, gliding over even more muscles. Geez, how many PE lessons did this guy actually participate in?! (I never participated in PE at Muggle school; maybe once every two months did I actually 'remember' my kit!)

"Oi, you two! Get up!" George said, kicking the side of our sleeping bag lightly.

"Yeah, stop making love and get out of there!" Fred added, kicking the other side.

"We are NOT making love!" I shrieked, wrenching myself from Terry and sticking my head up from the sleeping bag.

"It certainly looks like it!" Fred sniggered, pointing at me. I looked confused, so George handed me a mirror.

My hair was all tousled, my clothes were all messed up, my shirt had rode up, my cheeks were flushed, and my lips were red and slightly swollen from all the kissing. 

Terry emerged from the sleeping bag too. He looked the same, (though his shirt was actually missing from him), his hair was messy and sticking up, his trousers were crumpled, there were little scratches on his back, chest, and arm from where I must have accidentally scratched him when we were kissing ("Sorry, Hopper!"), and his lips were red and slightly swollen too. They were also smirking.

The twins, holding poker faces, pointed slowly at the scratches, then burst out laughing. "Yeah, totally WEREN'T having sex, Softpaw!"

"We weren't, you idiots!" I huffed, and I stalked out of the Hall, Terry following.

"We can, if you want." He whispered huskily to me, wrapping his arms around me from behind me. 

I blushed furiously, then realised something.

"Shouldn't you go get your shirt, Hopper?" 

Terry cursed, then ran back into the Hall to grab his shirt from our sleeping bag, amidst all the giggles that rang out all around. Fred and George called out, "Away to fuck Softpaw, Hopper?"

Terry and I swore at them as they fell into a laughing fit.

~~~

The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days. The theories about how he had entered the castle became wilder and wilder; Hannah spent much of our next Herbology class telling anyone who would listen that Black could turn into a flowering shrub. 

But Harry and I were now being closely watched. Teachers found excuses to walk along corridors with us and the Insurgents, Draco, and Percy (probably acting, as Harry had told me, on his mother's orders) were tailing us everywhere like guard dogs. To cap it all, Professor McGonagall summoned Harry and I into her office, with such a sombre expression on her face I thought someone must have died.

"There's no point hiding it from you any longer, twins." She said, in a very serious voice. "I know this will come as a shock to you, but Sirius Black -"

"We know, we know." We sighed.

"He's a scary mass murderer -" Harry began in a dramatic, sarcastic voice.

"- Come to kill us both!" I waved my hands over my head in mock fear.

And Blaise Zabini had pinned a poster on my back saying, 'Fuck Gryffindor, Slytherin for the win!'.

I was so getting back at that little bastard. 

So I told Terry, Fred and George what I was doing, hid some Ecstasy in my mouth, and found Zabini alone in a corridor, hurriedly doing homework before class.

I sashayed up to him and placed my hands on his chest, even though my entire brain was screaming at me to get the fuck away from him.

"Hey, Big Boy." I winked at him. He looked stunned, and his papers and quill thudded to the ground. 

"W-what - I-I-I -"

"Shut up and kiss me." I reached up and slipped my arms around his neck, tracing the back of his neck with a feather-light touch.

He growled animalisticly and pressed his lips down on mine. I winked at Terry, Fred, and George who were watching excitedly from around the corner. Well, not Terry. He was trying not to look furious. He was TRYING, Godric love him.

Zabini flicked his tongue over my lips and I gladly opened them. His tongue darted into my mouth, and mine into his, pushing the drugs into his mouth and down his throat.

I pulled back immediately and tried to get out of his strong grip, but he didn't let me go. So I kicked him in the balls, and he released me. I sprinted down the corridor towards the Insurgents, and we giggled as we watched Zabini slowly lose control of reality.

Revenge is sweet.

Terry, still feeling jealous I assume, picked me up, whirled me around, then bent over me while still standing and touched his lips to mine. I giggled into his mouth, and Fred and George started sniggering in the background.

~~~

At the match on Saturday, we discovered that Hufflepuff were taking Slytherin's place in playing us, because their Beater's arm was still 'injured'. Bullshit. Floppy had me pinned to the wall and ground, and still was strong enough to keep me there and overpower me. He was NOT hurt.

It was a thunderstorm. The rain was pelting down heavily, and it was very dark. The wind was whipping our hair and robes back and forth. We couldn't hear the cheering or even each other over the sound of the thunderstorm. 

We hopped on our brooms and took off as we saw Madam Hooch blow her whistle. 

We couldn't even hear Lee's commentary.

I battled through the rain and wind, searching for the Snitch. I saw red and yellow blurs shoot past, but I had no idea what was going on in the match.

I avoided a Bludger and ducked beneath Cedric Diggory who was streaking in the opposite direction.

I turned, intending to head back towards the middle of the pitch, but at that moment, another flash of lightning illuminated the stands, and I saw something that distracted me completely: the silhouette of an enormous shaggy black dog, clearly imprinted against the sky, motionless in the topmost, empty row of seats.

My numb hands slipped on the broom handle and my Nimbus dropped a few feet. Shaking my sodden hair out of my eyes, I squinted back into the stands. The dog had vanished.

"Daisy!" Oliver's anguished yell came from the Gryffindor goalposts. "Daisy, behind you!"

I looked wildly around. Cedric was pelting up the pitch, and a tiny speck of gold was shimmering in the rain-filled air between us...

With a jolt of panic, I threw myself flat to the broom handle and zoomed towards the Snitch.

But something odd was happening. An eerie silence was falling across the stadium. The wind, though as strong as ever, was forgetting to roar. It was as though someone had turned off the sound, as though I'd suddenly gone deaf - what was going on?

And then a horribly familiar wave of cold swept over me, inside me, just as I became aware of something moving on the pitch below...

Before I'd had time to think, I had taken my eyes off the Snitch and looked down.

At least a hundred Dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at me, were standing below. It was as though freezing water was rising in my chest, cutting at my insides. And then I heard it again...someone was screaming, screaming inside my head...a woman...

"Not the twins, not them, please not the twins!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside, now..."

"Not them, please no, take me, kill me instead -"

A shrill voice was laughing.

"Not the twins! Please...have mercy...have mercy..."

Then more voices intervened.

"Hello, Daisy Potter...I am Tom Riddle...you are certainly something...I want your powers...Cooperate, girly...I need someone to satisfy my needs - and be too afraid to tell anyone...You know what a nice little curse is, Potter?...The Cruciatus Curse...The torture curse...Crucio...I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Daisy Potter...Avada Kedavra..."

I was falling, falling through the icy mist.

"We'll rule the world...together..."

Then I knew no more.

~~~

"Lucky the ground was so soft."

"I thought she was dead for sure." 

"Harry didn't even break his glasses."

I could hear the voices whispering, but they made no sense whatsoever. I didn't have a clue where I was, or how I'd got there, or what I'd been doing before I got there. All I knew was that every inch of me was aching as though it had been beaten.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life." 

Scariest...the scariest thing...hooded black figures...cold...screaming...the Muggle...Floppy...Tom Riddle...

My eyes snapped open. I was lying in the hospital wing. The Gryffindor Quidditch Team, spattered with mud from head to foot, was gathered around my bed, and the one next to it. Harry was lying on it, blinking slowly. Terry, Draco, Ron, and Hermione were also there, looking as though they'd just climbed out of a swimming pool.

"Softpaw!" Fred said, who looked extremely white underneath the mud. "How're you feeling?" 

It was as though my memory was on fast forward. The lightning...the Grim...the Snitch...and the Dementors...

"What happened?" I said, sitting up so suddenly they all gasped.

"You and Harry fell off." Fred said. "Harry only fell twenty, but you must've been - what - fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died." Terry said, shaking. 

Draco made a small, squeaky noise. His eyes were red.

"But the match." I said. "What happened? Are we having a replay?"

No one said anything. The horrible truth sank into me like a stone.

"We didn't - LOSE?"

"Diggory got the Snitch." George said. "Just after you fell. He didn't realise what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a re-match. But they won fair and square...even Oliver admits it."

"Where is Oliver?" I said, suddenly realising he wasn't there.

"Still in the showers." Fred said. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

I put my face to my knees, my hands gripping my hair. Fred grabbed my shoulder and shook it roughly.

"C'mon, Softpaw, you've never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it." George said. 

"It's not over yet." Fred said. "We lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff lose to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin..." 

"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points." George said.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw..."

"No way, we're too good." Clearly, Terry...

"But if Slytherin lose against Hufflepuff..."

"It all depends on the points - a margin of a hundred either way -"

I lay there, not saying a word. We had lost...for the first time ever, I had lost a Quidditch match.

"Dumbledore was really angry." Draco said in a quaking voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the pitch as you guys fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he whirled his wand at the Dementors. Shot silver stuff at them. They left the stadium straight away...he was furious they'd come into the grounds, we heard him..."

"Then he magicked you into stretchers." Terry said. "And walked up to school with you floating on them. Everyone thought you were..."

His voice faded away, but I hardly noticed. I was thinking about what the Dementors had done to me...about the voices. I looked up and saw them all looking at me so anxiously that I quickly cast around for something matter-of-fact to say.

"Did someone get our brooms?" 

"Er -"

Everyone looked awkwardly at each other. 

What?