"These Are Dark Times, Indeed."

Chapter Five: An Unfortunate Coincidence (By Steph)

Helaina walked off, away from Alex, and away from the rest of the camp. She needed time to think about her life and her situation. Before she had a chance to take a decent look at her surroundings, she noticed that she had wandered far beyond the 'safety' of the survivor's camp. In fact, she had strayed all of the way to Hogwarts. Before she had a chance to change direction, and head back, she heard some overly familiar voices. She gasped, far too loudly for anyone to not hear her. "Oi! Who'as that?" A slurred, barely English accent  called out in Helaina's general direction. She took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows.

"Hello Adam." She said to her uncle, in a tone that could be considered as either overy confidednt or completely terrified, either way, it caused Adam to smile. She was tempted to use a patronus, but spat at the ground bitterly, remebering that she never learned how to make one. They weren't exactly considered as 'useful' to most Death Eaters.

"Oh, 'elaina, I thought yeh got yehrself killed out there." He told her, taking a few steps towards her. The trees' shading somehow made all of his features become more sharp and menacing. His typically light brown hair now looked like a dark chesnut, his brown eyes appeared to have dark circles under them, and he even seemed slightly taller somehow. Maybe it was just Helaina's over-reacting brain making him appear more terrifying.

"Well," She began sarcastically. "If you were worried about me I'm fi-" She stopped as he grabbed her blank left arm.

"Where's yer Mark, love?" He asked. His breath reaked of Firewhiskey, and Helaina had learned from experience that her uncle was not a safe man to deal with when drunk. She pulled away.

 "Oh, hehe, about that..." She said, and began explaining about Jazz and Alex, and how Alex had removed her Mark against her will. She conveniently left out the bit about her not trying to kill them instantly, and how she had accepted their generosity. Instead, she told a quick-thought story about how they had kidnapped her. The story obviously struck a nerve with Adam.

"Here's your wand." He said, now looking away from Helaina. He shoved her 11'' willow wand into her hand. "Yehr gonna need it."

"Well, I'm not going to argue with you there, but why will I need it, exactly?" She asked, nervousness taking over her voice ever so slightly. Adam didn't respond to his niece, and stormed into the woods. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were worried about me." She said smugly.

"Wasn't, actually I was kinda 'opin' yehd get yherself killed, be one less mouth teh feed." She rolled her eyes, but knew these words were true.

Within an hour, the two had managed to make it back to the camp. Helaina knew her uncle couldn't have any good ideas. "We're here because...?" Her voice drifted off, allowing Adam to answer her question/statement.

"We're gonna attack."