CRACK! Hallie had apparated outside of the shrieking shack, or what was left of it. Twice in the past five months she had found herself there in the middle of a fight and now it felt somewhat taboo to be there. The first time she'd come across her friends hostage at the hands of death eaters before engaging in a duel with Alexis D'Eath whilst Maura was being mutilated by James Darling. Oh the irony in his name made her sick.
Then the second time she'd returned ad a trainer auror. After getting wind of a violent battle raging on Hallie travelled via the floo network to fe Three Broomsticks before hurrying up to the shack to find it ablaze and a mass of order members and death eaters engaging in ferocious duels. It had been that night Hallie had made her first captive: Charlotte Topez. Pro-Quidditch Player. It was only too bad that her captive was then found dead in the Ministry Atrium at, after a long investigation, the hands of a student named Cordella. Little did Hallie know that Cordella had very little to do with the death.
However here she was again at the ruins that further scared her bloody history. Fortunately this time it wasn't to visit the shack itself, more to use it's facilities and by facilities the secret passage that led into Hogwarts. All the time Hallie had been at the school she'd used the passage, along with the one from Honeydukes to the one eyed witch statue, to leave Hogwarts and now. Now she was sneaking back in.
Hallie could have chosen to enter via the gates but that would have meant arranging a time and date with Theodore Rookwood or her Mother - not that there would have been anything wrong with asking her Mum, but she wasn't Toby. Hallie needed to meet Toby first, see how he was doing, find out if he had met their Mum.
No doubt he had in Hallie's mind. Why else would he have not wrote back to her and why would her Mum be acting suspicious in writing. Amelia had even requested Hallie come to Hogwarts as soon as possible! Things weren't looking optimistic for the trainee auror. If Toby had met Amelia then there would have been an awkward conversation about him leaving... Would Hallie's Mum already be aware that it was her own daughter that had resulted in the exile of Toby Cooper?
As Hallie made her way through the earthy tunnel into the Hogwarts grounds she wondered whether Toby would meet her. Although her brother was a fifth year, in all honesty, he was a first. It was his first year at Hogwarts and there was a chance he wouldn't know where on earth the whomping willow was. Hallie had described it briefly in a letter confirming the rendezvous, admittedly not that great. A 'crazy tree' wasn't very specific of it's location. There were hundreds of trees by Hogwarts given to the fact that there was a forest. Hallie just hoped that he hadn't gone off to find her in there.
Finally Hallie saw light filtering down through a thick set of roots. She'd reached Hogwarts. Oh gosh. She'd reached Hogwarts! She was about to discover her fate within the family. Was she about to be hated on? Would it be her turn to flea?
Taking a deep breath Hallie pursed her lips together, fought back the nerves and climbed up out from the roots of the whomping willow - making sure to press the freezing knot on it's thick trunk.
by 
