The next morning Sarina awoke wondering why she felt so miserable and then she remembered what had happened the night before, she got out of bed and dressed quickly she had to talk to Harry, she had to tell him that she was no-where near Anthony last night. She walked into the Common Room and seen him sitting with Ron, she walked over to him hesitantly and took a deep breath.

“Harry could I talk to you please” said Sarina quietly.

He turned to her his eyes blazing. “I don’t want to talk to you Sarina” he said coldly.

“Please Harry” she said pleadingly. “I did not kiss Anthony Goldstein last night or any night for that matter, I was waiting in the library for you I never even seen Anthony there”.

“I know what I saw Sarina”.

“Then go and ask Anthony and he will tell you that we were not together last night.”

“Just stay away from me Sarina”

Then he and Ron got up and stormed out of the Common Room, Sarina went and stood by the window tears streaming down her face. She turned when she heard someone calling her name.

“Sarina what’s going on?” Hermione asked in a gentle voice. “I just heard that you and Harry broke up – what happened?”

“Well you’ll have to ask hard done by Harry for the full details but apparently I’m the wicked witch of the west at the moment” laughed Sarina bitterly.

Hermione looked at her stunned “I don’t understand.”

“Yeah well neither do I, apparently Harry saw me kissing Anthony Goldstein outside the library last night.”

Hermione raised her eyebrows at her but said nothing she waited for Sarina to continue. Sarina looked at Hermione helplessly.

“You know I wouldn’t do anything like that Hermione, I’ve been in love with Harry for ages and we’ve only just got together why would I just throw that away now. Besides I wouldn’t be that deceitful if I had found someone else I would have the decency to tell him first not go running off behind his back” she broke down as another rush of tears fell over her face.

Hermione came over and put her arms around Sarina. “You need to tell him that” whispered Hermione.

“I’ve been trying, he won’t talk to me Hermione he runs off before I have time to explain” she wailed. She grabbed Hermione by the hand and looked her in the eye. “You believe me don’t you Hermione, you must know I would never do anything to hurt him.”

“I believe you Sarina but we’re going to have a hard time convincing Harry especially since he says he saw you” Hermione said thoughtfully.

“I know” sobbed Sarina.

By lunchtime that day the whole school knew that Sarina had been kissing Anthony Goldstein outside the library and was caught in the act by Harry. Nearly all the girls in the school were staring daggers at her and whispering about how she could do such a thing.

Sarina and Hermione were walking back from the Great Hall after lunch to their next class when they passed another group of whispering girls.

“If they would just take the time to talk to Anthony they will all know that I am telling the truth” Sarina muttered angrily.

“Well that’s the problem isn’t it” said Hermione. “Anthony left the school early this morning to go home, apparently his mother is ill. So nobody’s been able to ask him.”

“Well that’s just great” mumbled Sarina.

The night of Slughorn’s party arrived and Sarina was sitting alone in the dormitory pretending to read a book. Hermione entered the room after having been to the bathroom and was getting ready for the party.

Sarina closed her book and looked at Hermione. “I can’t believe you’re going to the party with Cormac McLaggen, Hermione are you mad?”

“Well revenge is sweet” retorted Hermione.

Sarina shook her head. “You know this can go horribly wrong.”

“Yeah well…. What are you going to do Sarina sit around here and mope all night?”

Hermione stood there with her hand on her hips eyes flashing hoping to get a reaction out of Sarina, snap her out of the zombie like state she’d been in for the past week. Sarina looked at Hermione mocking her and felt the anger rise, but as quickly as it came it went away again she didn’t have the energy for an argument in fact she didn’t have the energy for anything anymore. She sighed and opened her book again and ignored Hermione.

Hermione finished dressing and took one last look at Sarina and walked out of the room shaking her head. Once Hermione had left the room Sarina put her book down and got off the bed and pulled her trunk out and finished her packing. Once she was finished she headed out of the dormitory, out of the portrait hole ignoring the stares and whispers and headed down the corridors until she reached her destination.
Looking up she said “Chocolate Frog” hoping this was still the password. The doors opened revealing the spiral staircase; she stepped onto the staircase as it took her upwards. A minute later she was knocking on the door.

“Enter” she heard a voice say from inside.

She opened the door and entered the room. “Good Evening Professor Dumbledore” she said quietly. “Sorry for the intrusion but I was wondering if I could have a word.”

“Please sit down Sarina” said Dumbledore softly gesturing with his hand towards the chair.

She sat down on the chair and looked at Professor Dumbledore; he had done a lot for her over the years she hoped she wasn’t pushing her luck to ask him for one more favour, she took a deep breath.

“I was wondering Sir if I could leave to go home tonight and……” she faltered for a moment. “And if I could leave school and finish the rest of my studies at home like I did before” she looked down at her hands clasped together in her lap.

Dumbledore watched her closely for a long time before he spoke. “Have you thought this through properly Sarina before you came to rest on this decision” his voice was soft and calming.

“Yes I have Sir” she whispered.

“Are you sure about that” he spoke a little louder now. “I didn’t take you for a quitter Miss Taylor especially after what happened at the Ministry, I saw a girl who was willing to fight to the bitter end for her cause. I guess I was wrong” he said with disappointment in his voice.

She looked at him her eyes brimming with tears. “I don’t have any fight left in me” she sobbed. “I feel like I’m dying without him.”

“I know” said Dumbledore gently. “The rest of us feel it as well”.

“I don’t understand, what do you mean?”

“You will in time. Now I will permit you to leave tonight but you will return after the holidays, use this time to think things through. Never give up on something that is worth fighting for remember that” he said standing up from his chair. “I will organise your transportation.”

“Thank you Professor.”

The holidays were not an enjoyable fun fair that she was hoping for but for the sake of her aunt’s she tried to be as cheerful as possible. She had not forgotten Dumbledore’s words and as a New Year’s resolution she decided to stop moping she would go back to school with her head held high. She knew that she was telling the truth and she decided to fight her cause so that everybody else knew it as well.

She arrived back at school the day before term started and made her way up to the common room, she took a deep breath and climbed through the portrait hole as she walked in the chatter died away and everyone in the room was staring at her. She could see Harry sitting with Hermione by the fire, he was looking at her and she noticed that he was not carrying that angry accusing look on his face in fact he looked as miserable as she felt. She remembered her New Year’s resolution and she straightened her shoulders and held her head up high and proceeded up to the dormitory to put her trunk away. She noticed that Hermione gave her a big smile as she passed.

The first day of classes were hard for Sarina, there was no escaping Harry as he was in most of her classes. The day was long and tiring but she kept her resolve not to let anyone get to her. She sat in the library doing her homework with Hermione.

“Are you going to try and talk to Harry again?” asked Hermione in a whisper.

“No! He’s made his mind up that I’m a lying, cheating so and so. I’m just going to get on with my life” she said fiercely.

“You miss him Sarina, you’re miserable without him don’t you think it’s worth another try.”

“Yes I am miserable without him but I’m also angry with him. Now I don’t want to talk about it anymore” said Sarina angrily.

“Look you’re being stupid about….”

“Thank you Hermione not only am I a liar and a cheat but I’m also stupid. How long has it been since you’ve spoken to Ron?” Sarina hissed.

“I…well….”

“Yes exactly. So don’t go giving me lectures on my love life when you can’t even sort out your own” snapped Sarina and she got up and stalked out of the library leaving Hermione on the verge of tears.

Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson sat at a table in the corner of the library watching the heated conversation between Sarina and Hermione. When Sarina left the library they turned and gave each other a high five.

“This is going better than I expected” said Malfoy excitedly. “Soon she’ll have nothing left.” He leaned back in his chair with a triumphant gleam in his eye.

Harry was sitting in Dumbledore’s office finishing off another one of their lessons, Harry made to get up and leave but Dumbledore gestured for him to sit back down.

“Now Harry before you leave I understand that things are not going well between yourself and Sarina – why is that?”

Harry was stunned was there nothing that went on in the castle that Dumbledore did not know about.

“Well we…uh…we broke up” stammered Harry.

“And the reason for that would be” probed Dumbledore.

“She….er….I saw her kissing someone else” Harry muttered.

“I see, let me give you a piece of advice Harry, nothing is as it seems especially in the magical world” said Dumbledore giving Harry a piercing look. “Think about that.”

“Yes Sir…uh goodnight” mumbled Harry.

“Goodnight Harry.”

The next month flew by and even though she was keeping herself busy Sarina was very lonely. There was a distance between Hermione and herself after their argument in the library and Harry was still not speaking to her. She got up early on Sunday morning and decided to go down and have breakfast before everyone else. She climbed through the portrait hole and heard the Fat Lady call out “Happy Valentines Day.”

“Oh great that’s all I need, having to watch all the lovebirds exchanging Valentine’s” she muttered to herself.

She quickly ate her breakfast and went outside, the air was still cold even though the snow was starting to melt and that horrible depressing mist was hanging around again. It had disappeared for a while but was back again thicker than before. She walked down to the lake’s edge; the ice had melted leaving just a few ice bergs floating on the water. She bent down and picked up a few pebbles and started throwing them in the water.

Back in the common room Harry and Ron were just about to head down to breakfast when Hermione called out to Harry.

“Can I talk you for a moment?” she said urgently.

Harry hung back with Hermione while Ron went down to breakfast with Lavender.

“What is it Hermione.”

“I tried to tell you last night but you had already gone to bed. I was in the library last night when I overheard Malfoy and Parkinson talking. They set Sarina up Harry, they used Polyjuice Potion to turn themselves into Sarina and Anthony and then they staged that little scene for you to witness. Malfoy was bragging about how well it worked said they didn’t even need to put Anthony under the Imperius curse in case you went and asked him because he had left the school the next day. Don’t you see Harry, Sarina was telling the truth, Malfoy has been working on breaking you two up for months” Hermione cried.

“God I’ve been an idiot” groaned Harry. “I need to go and talk to her; do you know where she is?”

“No, she had already left the room before I got up this morning.”

Sarina stood at the lake for hours staring at the water aimlessly and throwing stones into it. She heard a noise behind her and turned quickly to find Harry standing there.

“Hello Sarina” he said quietly.

Her stomach did a somersault at the sight of him; he had come to talk to her.

“Hello Harry” her voice was barely a whisper.

“I’ve come to say how sorry I am for not believing you, I know now that you didn’t kiss Anthony Goldstein.”

“And how did you come to that conclusion?” she asked him.

“Hermione told me that she overheard Malfoy and Parkinson talking last night, how they set you up by using Polyjuice Potion” he told her.

“I see” she said softly.

He looked at her nervously, a look of deep regret on his face. “I’ve really missed you, I’ve been miserable without you” he said.

She looked at him standing there, silently asking for her forgiveness and she felt the anger start to boil up inside her.

“So I’m supposed to just forget all about these last few months of everyone thinking I cheated on you. YOU were miserable how do you think I felt, no-one wanted to talk to me all treating me like a leper. I was going to leave school, did you know that but Dumbledore wouldn’t let me, that’s how great I was feeling” she raged.

She was breathing heavily and it took all her self control not to walk over and slap him in the face.

“If Hermione hadn’t found out that I had been set up, would you be down here talking to me?” she asked.

He looked down at his feet, put his hands in his pockets and shook his head silently.

“I didn’t think so” she said quietly. She walked over and stood in front of him. “You know what hurts the most Harry, was the fact that you didn’t trust me even though I told you I loved you. I just don’t throw those words out there Harry, when I said it I meant it. I would never do anything to hurt you and I thought you knew that but obviously you didn’t. Trust Harry it’s very important and without it, I can’t see any hope for us.” She walked away leaving him standing there with tears running down his face. It took all the strength she had not to run back to him and throw her arms around him. She kept walking not looking back once brushing her own tears away.

Draco Malfoy stood some distance from the lake hidden in the shadows by the castle watching the exchange between Harry and Sarina. It looked at as though Potter had found out about his and Pansy’s little act and was now trying to apologise, he watched as Sarina walked away from him brushing the tears from her face. Ha thought Draco smugly looks like she’s not so forgiving, but it wouldn’t be long and they would be back together. Draco sighed he should have handled things differently with her, if he had then maybe she would have been with him instead of Potter and her life could be spared, as it was…… Draco sighed again. He looked down at the letter he was holding which he had just received that morning giving him orders that he was to use any means possible he could think of to separate the two. The letter shook in his hand as the words jumped out at him “any means possible” he knew what that meant and he felt the nausea sweep over him. He groaned why couldn’t he have kept his mouth shut he had strutted around trying to make himself the big man, boasting and bragging that he could accomplish something that the other Death Eaters could not and so he was given the Mission. At first he thought he was privileged to be given the honour but now, well now he was having second thoughts he wasn’t so sure he could go through with it. But what choice did he have if he didn’t do it they were going to kill him. He took a deep shuddering breath and walked back inside the castle and headed back to his common room sorry Taylor he thought it’s my life I have to think about now.



Later that night Sarina sat in the dormitory alone again when Hermione walked in.

“Hello” she said stiffly.

“Hermione I’m really sorry for biting your head off I know you were only trying to help and I took my frustrations out on you. You’re the only one here that believed me when everyone else didn’t and I threw it back in your face and for that I am truly sorry” cried Sarina.

“Thank you Sarina that means a lot to me and I’m sorry for trying to interfere” Hermione said.

“Hey that’s what friends do and I also want to thank you for uncovering the truth about what really happened that night.”

“It was my pleasure. So did Harry come and talk to you?” Hermione asked.

“Yes he did and I’m not quite ready to forgive him just yet. He hurt me by not trusting me and I can’t forget that at the moment.”

Hermione went to say something but thought better of it, they would have to work it out themselves she just hoped that they didn’t let pride get in the way of what was the best relationship between two people she had ever seen.

Two days later Sarina was getting ready to head down to breakfast when one of the school owl’s soared through the window and dropped a letter at her feet and flew back out again. She picked up the letter and read it through quickly her eyes narrowing when she finished. Why did Snape want to see her at eight o’clock that night she hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe it was about her work she knew she hadn’t been doing her best over the past month but she’d had other things on her mind, she shrugged her shoulders she’d have to wait until tonight to find out what it was about. She threw the letter in the bin and headed out the door.

At ten minutes to eight Sarina left the Gryffindor common room and made her way down to the dungeons to Snape’s office. She stood outside the door and took a deep breath and knocked, there was no answer she tried the handle and pushed open the door.

“Professor Snape” she whispered.

Looking around the office she noticed that it was empty. Should she wait maybe he had been held up elsewhere, she thought it best to wait for him he would probably give her detention if he thought she hadn’t shown. She took a seat at his desk and sat down and waited. After fifteen minutes though she was starting to get anxious Professor Snape still had not shown and she had a peculiar sensation in her stomach, something was not right. She stood up and decided to leave she would rather face a detention then sit here her any longer on her own. Her stomach was clenched with fear, she had a bad feeling about this and she hurried to the door.

Draco stood in the shadows of the dungeon corridors waiting. The door to Snape’s office opened and Sarina Taylor slid out from behind it. Draco raised his wand and had to use his other hand to support it as it was shaking so much, he could feel the sweat rolling down his face as he tried to swallow back the bile that was rising in his throat, his mouth had gone dry. He followed her quietly I can’t do this he screamed in his mind but he had to the consequences were too great if he didn’t, he pointed his wand at her back.

Sarina walked out into the dungeon corridor and proceeded back up the way she had come. She was lost in thought as to why she had been called to Snape’s office and then he didn’t show, she walked slowly thinking it though it didn’t make any sense. She heard a noise behind her and she stopped her heart beating furiously in her chest and her stomach churned horribly. She said a silent prayer and saw the stone walls illuminate in green before she crumpled to the floor.

Draco stood with his wand raised, his hand shaking badly he felt the corridor swim before him and he reached out and put his hand on the wall for support. He bent over and vomited all over the floor, when he had finished retching he lent up against the wall and wiped the sweat from his face with a shaking hand. He looked over at the lifeless body of Sarina Taylor and he retched again, what have I done he thought as he felt tears run down his face. He stood there for a few more minutes before pulling himself together he had to get out of there before he was caught. He waved his wand over the pile of vomit and it disappeared, he straightened his shoulders and walked back up the corridor but he would not look at the body lying on the floor, he went straight back to the Slytherin common room and joined in the conversations as though nothing had happened.