An account of what happened next:

This has been written a long time later. Other people's sides of the story have been included too, to get as accurate an account of the events as possible.

------------

Professor Longbottom immediately left the Greenhouses to send an owl reporting the news to the Minister of Magic. Max and I also left and went our separate ways.

I returned to the common room for about half an hour. I was happy to see Anita and Jared were both in there. They were playing Wizards' Chess, taking my danger warning seriously.

I noticed Antonius was also in the common room, talking to Dominic over by the windows.

I wondered why I was feeling so anxious, as I sat down and began writing in my diary. There were more than 24 hours between now and the ritual, and Professor Longbottom had already gone to get help.

I went to check on Lotty and Ed, wishing I could smuggle them both into our common room and keep them safe until Midsummer's Day had been and gone. I met Lotty outside the Gryffindor common room.

"Max told me,"she said,"do you think everything's going to be alright now?"

"I hope so,"I said.

"Is it true that you discovered Silas might try to sacrifice someone in a ritual?"Lotty asked.

"Unfortunately it is,"I said,"that's why you have to be very careful to stay away from him and his gang. He needs a pureblood sacrifice, and he could still succeed, even though Professor Longbottom has gone for help."

"You can't just tell me to avoid Silas and his gang,"Lotty responded,"it's not so easy as that for me."

"That's what I'm worried about,"I said,"but I've got an idea. Follow me."

I took Lotty down to the dungeons, and went into the common room while she waited outside.

"Anita, does the Sivril have any more questions remaining for today?"I asked.

"It does,"Anita answered,"two questions."

We joined Lotty outside.

"Is there a way for Lotty to stay safe, away from Silas' gang on Midsummer?"I asked.

Lotty picked up the parchment it provided,"go now to Emily Smith,"she read,"Emily Smith?"she added.

"That's Emily!"Anita said,"Jeffrey's sister."

"I need to ask one more question,"I said,"is there a way for Ed to stay safe too?"

"In Ravenclaw Tower, there is a tiny room for quiet study that is not known by enemies, I will show the way,"was the response.

Anita told Lotty where to find Emily.

"If you can't find her, go down to the castle kitchens and get Hoppy to fetch her,"Anita said.

I went with Lotty. First, I summoned Ed, told him what to do, and gave him the Sivril. Then Lotty and I looked for Emily in the library. We found her sitting in a corner, reading a book. We explained to her that Lotty needed to hide, somewhere safe, away from Silas' gang outside classes and meals.

"Even in the night?"Emily asked.

"Especially in the night,"I responded.

"I might have an idea,"Emily said,"but, Lotty, you're going to have to disguise yourself as a Hufflepuff... I know!"

She got up, closed her book and put it into the bookcase behind her,"I have a plan! It involves the hospital wing, and some other things, but I'm sure it should work..."

Satisfied that Lotty was safe with Emily, I left them in the library. I had an idea to ask Oliver if he could help by keeping an eye on Silas for me. I was on my way to see Oliver, when I was suddenly surrounded by members of Silas' gang.

"Where do you think you're going?"Lauren asked.

"None of your business!"I responded,"get away from me!"

"We're not letting that happen!"Amber declared,"you're coming with us!"

"What for?"I asked.

"You're being brought to trial,"Kenneth said.

"For what?"I demanded.

I couldn't get away from them. They took my wand. Hilary clapped a bracelet on me that I couldn't remove. Even though I wasn't 17 yet, it was to prevent me from being able to apparate. I wouldn't be able to remove it from myself.

They didn't seem to be taking me to the Courthouse, they were taking me to the treehouse woods - Silas' secret base! I began to panic, but then I remembered Professor Longbottom would have sent an owl by now, and the ritual wasn't even going to be tonight - it was tomorrow night.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I was locked in the main part of Silas' base and left there. I realised the members that captured me must not know about the secret tunnel behind the wall. I wondered if I would be able to chance escaping through the tunnel. I just had to find a way of opening the way through, but I didn't have my wand.

Last time I had been locked in there, Lotty and I had tried for hours to find the way back through the wall, and that was with our wands.

After a long examination of the wall, I discovered a hidden lever, it wasn't even magic.

I made a dash for it! It was just as Silas and Kenneth were coming out of the potions room. Silas noticed just in time.

I knew he'd catch me, but I decided to run. There was no light to greet me from the hole in the ceiling. All was in darkness. Silas must have repaired the hole in the tunnel.

I ran on into the darkness. I didn't have my wand and I couldn't see in front of me. I kept on running as I heard them shouting behind me. They were chasing me through the tunnel, and I was sure they'd catch up with me, even though I was running as fast as I could.

A jet of red light flew past me. They were firing spells in my direction to stop me! I quickly rolled onto the ground, grabbed some rocks, threw them in front of me and lay flat on the floor.

Silas and Kenneth ran on straight past me! Just as I hoped they would. When they had gotten quite far ahead, I ran back in the direction of Silas' base. They'd left the tunnel entrance open, and the door to the potions room!

There didn't seem to be any more of Silas' gang members around. I climbed up the ladder, went up as fast as I could go. At the top, I remembered the treehouse. I could hide in there!

I climbed up into the treehouse and lay low, hardly daring to breathe. I hoped Silas didn't know about it already. He seemed to have a knack for knowing about secret places, but this was one we had built, and maybe he would never suspect a secret place like this to be so close to his own secret base.

But what if he cast Revealing Spells? Surely my position would be made known? I went up to Wise Wizard's Watch. From there, I could see far and wide. For once, I was actually using it for the purpose of looking out for enemies!

I noticed APS seemed to be doing patrols. It was like they were guarding... certainly not normal behaviour. Also, I realised that if I made a run for it, I wouldn't be able to get past them. I decided to lay low for now.

After a while, I heard voices below me. Kenneth and Silas. They must have realised what I'd done, and they'd come back out of the tunnel.

I kept as still and quiet as I could. They were looking around for me. Silas told Kenneth to wait, and disappeared into the Forbidden Forest. I wondered why he had gotten Kenneth to wait. Did he suspect I was still around somewhere? I hoped Professor Longbottom would get help soon. Maybe I didn't even have to worry about Silas finding me in the treehouse now? It was just a matter of time.

Suddenly I thought I felt something moving near me. I looked around, but couldn't see anything. I peeked out of a window, and to my horror, I saw Silas looking directly up into the trees! It was like he knew I was up here!

Then I heard him and Kenneth casting Revealing Spells down below. I felt something move again, and then I saw it, just a glimpse for a moment, before it disappeared. It was a snake!

That was when I realised Silas was communicating with snakes, using them to find me! If I didn't get out of here quickly, I'd be trapped with no way out! I climbed out of one of the windows onto a large branch, and quickly swung myself down, dropping into the bushes.

I knew the moment I ran out from the trees into open land, Silas and Kenneth would be able to catch me easily. I also knew that if I stayed here, they would find me very soon. I had to run. But not in the open.

I decided to make a dash for it into the Forbidden Forest. I did! I wasn't sure if they'd seen me, but they might have, and even if they hadn't, the snake I'd seen probably had. That was when I realised it might be to my advantage to be able to speak Parceltongue right now. Then I would be able to hear what Silas was asking the snakes.

I had the potion with me. I'd decided to keep some of it on me at all times in case of emergency (coming across the Basilisk). I hid behind a tree and gulped down one vial. It might not even work, but now was as good a time as any to give it a go...

I listened for footsteps, or the sound of anyone running through the trees. I saw another snake. It was looking for me. As it crawled away, I called after it,"he's asked you to look for me, hasn't he?"

The snake stopped, looked at me again and said,"you won't be able to escape."

Well, that was both reassuring and not assuring at the same time! Suddenly, I heard the sound of Silas' voice not far behind me. I started running, but Kenneth jumped out in front of me! He hit me with a stunning spell, and I fell to the ground.

Stunned or not stunned, I was determined not to be caught! For all I knew, Silas was going to do something drastic, like obliviating ALL my memories, and then I wouldn't be able to do anything!

I summoned every ounce of will power that I had in me to MOVE. Even though all I could do was crawl at that point. The further I got, the clearer I could think, and my vision became more steady.

I could hear Silas shouting to Kenneth. I staggered to my feet and ran into Kenneth, pushing him over. I ran on into the forest, stumbling on roots, rolling down bankings. Silas and Kenneth were always just behind me, but I was clinging onto the faint possibility, however small, of escape!

Kenneth could run a lot faster than Silas. He was always the one first behind me, the closest.

Then, something unexpected happened. The ground I was running across gave way under my feet, and I began falling into the earth. Kenneth fell down with me, grabbing onto me as he fell. Then we were rolling, rolling down into a narrow space.

The earth crumbled around us, as though it was going to consume us. When we finally stopped rolling, Kenneth cast Lumos, so we could actually see where we were.

We were in a very low, hollow cave. More like an animal warren than a cave. There was a ledge of rock above us. Kenneth climbed onto it. It went up into a larger cave.

Up there, the earth was crumbling, falling. It was raining dirt! There was an opening quite far up, in the large cave. Silas looked down through it.

"Silas!"Kenneth called,"the roof is caving in!"

"I can only get one of you out!"Silas shouted back.

The dirt continued to fall around and onto us. Faster and faster.

"Catherine!"Silas shouted down to me.

I didn't look up at him, I didn't want the dirt getting into my eyes.

"Catherine! Come to me!"Silas called,"I can get you out!"

"Silas!?"Kenneth called.

"No!"I shouted back.

Silas threw down a rope. Kenneth ran for it, but Silas hit him with a stunning spell.

"Catherine! Take it!"Silas urged me.

"No!"I yelled back.

"If you don't take it, you'll die!"Silas yelled.

"You can dig us out!"I called,"use a digging spell!"

"I can't!"Silas called down to me,"you've fallen down an Earth Trap! I won't be able to use any spells to get you out! If you don't come to me now, you'll be buried alive, and you'll suffocate down there! Come on! Time is running out!"

I remained where I was as the dirt piled around me faster and faster. The opening quickly disappeared, the rope along with it. Kenneth had dropped his wand, I picked it up,"Lumos!"

Below us, I saw the opening of the smaller cave we'd crawled up from. There was a shelf of rock there. I crawled down onto it. This low, hollow cave didn't have any dirt pouring down it.

"Kenneth! Down here!"I called.

Kenneth crawled through the dirt, trying to brush off the soil that was falling on top of him. He half-fell down into the lower cave. The dirt kept on pouring, and soon any opening above the shelf of rock was completely hidden. No more dirt was pouring around us, but we were completely sealed in, with no way out!