CHAPTER 15

~EPIPHANY IN AN ALLEYWAY~

Sirius crumpled the Daily Prophet he was reading, his conviction on what he was about to do strengthened by the front page article.

"Revolutionising defence my arse," Sirius mumbled as he tossed the worthless rag of a newspaper back at the paper boy he'd just bought it from.

"Oi!" the annoying young man yelled as Sirius began to stalk down the atrium of the Ministry of Magic.

Fudge, in his efforts to make it appear to the public like there was nothing to worry about, had kept security at the Ministry ridiculously light. In fact, Sirius felt over prepared with the disguise he'd put together.

Eugene Kirkwall was a respectable gentleman and if you asked the clerk who checked his wand at the ministry at 8:34 this morning, she'd tell you he had a very charming smile. As he boarded the lift to head down further into the Ministry, he received a remarkably full smile from the lift operator, the man having the whitest, most well kept teeth Sirius had ever seen.

"Good mornin' to ya," the lift operator greeted. As there were no other people in the lift, Sirius knew he was being spoken to.

"Good morning," Sirius returned succinctly, hoping that would be the end of their exchange. The fewer people he interacted with and made an impression on, the better.

"I ain't seen you before," the man said naturally as the lift suddenly changed directions, the sudden change in motion not stopping the operator from giving Sirius a look up and down. "You new?"

"Just visiting," Sirius returned, starting to get annoyed. He tapped the silver badge on his robes that had been given to him earlier by the wand check clerk.

"Oh, so that's what it was," the operator said, as if enlightened. "I'm actually pretty new myself, not seen many visitors yet."

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement," the cool female voice announced as the lift finally came to a stop.

"Cheers," Sirius said as he stepped off the lift, grateful to be rid of the overly inquisitive operator.

"Have a pleasant day, Mr. Black."

Sirius froze before he quickly spun around to see that the lift had already left.

Now, slightly panicked his disguise wasn't as great as he'd thought it was, he cautiously began to make his way forward. Would the operator raise an alarm? How long did he have to complete his plan before he was discovered by someone more significant?

As he walked through the open Auror offices, he managed to get a friendly smile and nod from an Auror who looked overworked and ready to go home only a few hours into his morning. Sirius promptly nodded back at, trying to maintain some semblance of nonchalance after his cover had been blown by a lift operator, of all people. As Sirius approached the office of Amelia Bones, he made sure to catch the secretary's attention and hold it with a roguish smile which Eugene Kirkwall seemed to manage very easily.

"How may I help you, sir?" the woman asked as Sirius came to a stop just in front of her desk. As he captured her attention, he subtly cast a simple spell at the calender on the desk between them before casting a more complex piece of replication magic just to make doubly sure.

"I'm here for my appointment with Madam Bones. I was told it was rather urgent, I hope I'm not too late."

The secretary looked very confused for a moment, clearly not recalling such a meeting being scheduled. "An appointment, you say? I was not aware-" The woman cut herself off as she looked down at the calender before her. "… How strange…" The woman said, quickly flipping to another book but finding the previously unmentioned appointment in that one as well. The woman checked nearly four different books before Sirius gave a slight reminding cough.

"I would hate to keep the Madam waiting," Sirius pointedly reminded, glancing at a fancy watch he was wearing.

"Of course," the secretary agreed, shaking her head. "Just right through that door." Sirius gratefully thanked her and casually made his way to the door that had been pointed at. He took the few moments the secretary spent re-organizing her desk to cast silencing spells at the frame before he entered the office of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Shelby? I thought I said-" Madam bones stopped her sentence and waisted no time firing off a lightning fast stunner at Sirius who had barely managed to raise a shield to deflect it.

"I YIELD!" Sirius shouted at the woman, holding up his hands. "I yield!"

Madam Bones didn't take any chances and quickly flicked her wand to disarm Sirius before also sending another flick his way, causing thick ropes to bind him.

"When I find out who-" the woman began, fuming as she marched towards her door. Sirius quickly struggled enough to move the ropes that covered his mouth.

"Sirius Black!" he yelled, causing her to freeze with her hand on the door knob. "I'm Sirius Black."

The office was silent for a moment before Amelia opened her door.

"Shelby? Cancel all my other meetings for today."

"Madam?" Sirius heard the secretary ask. "And the Minister?"

"Tell him I'm busy and can't be bothered."

"… Yes Madam Bones." Amelia nodded and closed the door firmly, casing her own litany of spells on the door before turning and staring at Sirius who was still bound and unmoving on her floor. Suddenly, in a rapid series of swishes and flicks, Sirius found himself seated and still bound in front of the woman's desk.

"You have thirty minutes to convince me of your innocence," the woman began as she came to sit down behind her desk and in front of Sirius, her eye without a monocle narrowing. "Do that, and the rest of the day will be spent building up a case."

"And if it takes longer than a day?" Sirius asked neutrality.

"Then we will use the rest of the week. Then the rest of the month. But right now, you have twenty eight minutes."

"I thought it was thirty?!"

"… Twenty seven…"

"Alright, alright! But before all that, I need your word on something."

"… Mr. Black, you're hardly in the position-"

"It's about my godson, Harry Potter."

"… What is your request?"

"No matter how this goes, please don't let him get charged with anything because of what I've done. He was… he is desperate to connect to any family he has and… I don't want him to get pulled into this because I… I took advantage of that."

"…"

"Please," Sirius pleaded desperately in a low, strained voice.

"I will do what I can. Now, I believe you have fifty four minutes to convince me of your innocence."

"Fifty four? I thought-" Sirius stopped at the raised eyebrow of Madam Bones' un-monocled eye. "Right. Fifty four, then. Let's begin right at the start."

Daphne finally settled in for the evening, doffing her evening jacket and settling into her bed, quickly casting an underpowered heating charm on her sheets at finding they were a bit too cold for her liking. As she shifted into the mildly warmed sheets, she tried to calm down her thoughts, a tough thing to do with all that had happened recently. The week had been entirely too hectic and it was only Wednesday evening.

First, that miserable failure of a teacher, Umbridge, had decided to not only sabotage their chances of passing their Defence O.W.L.s, but have a go at all their other subjects by making herself some kind of overseer of Hogwarts' curriculum. The headline she had read on Monday had been enough to earn quite a few scoffs from others less practised at hiding their disapproval. What kind of dunderhead in the ministry thought the title 'High Inquisitor' would be a good idea?

So far, everything had seemed above board, or, at least as above board as an obviously political move by the Ministry could seem. Innocent sounding questions here and there for a select student or two, a seemingly genuine question for a professor every once in a while, maybe a request for some kind of demonstration if one could be applicable. But anyone who knew anything about the current political situation between Dumbledore and Fudge knew what was really going on.

And as if that hadn't been enough, the very next day, another major headline made its way to the Prophet's front page.

'Sirius Black Surrenders Himself For Re-Trial'.

It was simply unthinkable to her. Certainly, she knew the Ministry was corrupt, Malfoy boasted of his father's influence too often for anyone in her house to doubt that, but to openly announce someone who was so publicly related to the Potter's death was going to possibly get a re-trial and have a chance to be cleared…

That, more than anything, was what had frightened her. That was what was making her week thus far a nightmare. And that was why, tonight, she would break the promise she had made to herself nearly five years ago, on the night that had been her last before coming to Hogwarts.

Daphne had finally settled down enough that she now knew her body was asleep, drifting in a pleasant inky darkness that had the faintest touches of warmth. She gently reached out, not with her hands, but with her mind, searching for a presence that was so very much like her own, but different in many, significant ways.

She knew that like her, Astoria would be troubled by the news of Sirius Black. No, troubled was too soft a word.

Terrified. That word was much more apt.

It had been so long since she had last done what she was currently trying to do, she almost missed the presence of her sister. It had changed a bit in the past five years, but tonight, it had the signs she had recognized long ago as belonging to someone who was currently trapped in a nightmare. She felt a pang of guilt for not having kept up her duties as her sister's guardian and quickly weaved herself into her sister's dream.

What she currently found herself in was a nightmare, and for her sister, it was her current reality.

When she was young, Daphne had discovered that her dreams often matched the dreams of her family, even to the point where she could describe their dream without them having to tell her a single thing about it. In the beginning, she couldn't control when or who's dream she would join, it would just happen sometimes without rhyme or reason. Her mother had chalked it up to accidental magic and left it at that.

But it didn't stop. Eventually, Daphne learned how to control her intrusions into other people's dreams and even control whether or not certain things happened by coming across an ancestor's diary in their family library who described having the same abilities. She hadn't understood everything at the time, being as young as she was, but she knew enough to figure out that her sister suffered from nightmares almost every night. And that she could help her.

For years, Daphne would come to her sister's rescue when her dreams would take a turn for the worse. Astoria eventually got better at handling what fuelled her nightmares, but every so often, Daphne would feel the need to ease her sister's burden.

Nearly three years of entering her sister's dreams and nightmares had taught Daphne many things about Astoria, and after the headline about Sirius Black, she knew just what her sister would be dreaming of tonight.

Their father.

"Tori?" Daphne called out. She was in their family home, but everything was oversized, making her feel small, and every step she took, the floorboards under her feet would creak and groan and the lighting was several shades too dark. Daphne quickly recognized this dream as being similar to one of Astoria's most common reoccurring nightmares and made haste towards where she knew her sister would be.

Astoria's room still had a closed door, which put her a little at ease, but she still quickly made her way into the room and towards her sister's closet.

"Tori?" Daphne asked gently and calmly.

"Daphne?" came her sister's reply, shrill and frightened. "Quick! Get in before he comes!" Daphne felt her emotions warble dangerously. It had been so long since she had been close to someone with such raw emotion in their voice that it almost instantly eroded the varnish she'd polished over herself.

"Hurry!" her sister repeated anxiously, opening the door just enough for Daphne to see her sister. Her self image was younger than she really was, perhaps only eight or nine.

"No, it's okay," Daphne said back, being mindful to keep her voice calm even though she could feel Astoria's influence trying to make her feel just as scared and anxious as she was.

That was one of the dangers of Dreamweaving, as she had come to call it. If the person who's dream you were joining had a stronger will, they could easily sweep you up in their own emotions.

"Please," Astoria pleaded, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "He's coming soon! He's coming back soon! Black made it out, so can he!"

Daphne felt the words her sister was saying resonate with her own fears, doubling the effect of her sister's already potent emotions. What if their father also managed to escape like Black? What if he also had sympathisers in the ministry, anxiously awaiting for a man with talents like his to aid-

"No," Daphne tried saying resolutely, attempting to reign in her own emotions. "No, he can't hurt us any more."

"Please, sister!" Astoria desperately pleaded, openly crying now, tugging at Daphne's nightgown. "He'll… he'll get you too if you don't-"

"Well, well, well," a deranged voice said from Astoria's doorway. "Both my daughters in one convenient place. How thoughtful of you both."

Astoria froze in fear, her hands seizing on Daphne's sleeve and refusing to let go. Even Daphne felt a tingle of panic run down her spine at the hauntingly familiar sound of her father's voice. She'd nearly forgotten it in the nine years since she had actually last heard it, but it seemed Astoria remembered it perfectly. Despite the fear she now easily felt, Daphne rose up, only feeling her legs tremble slightly.

"You'll not hurt us," she said with as much conviction she could, finally meeting those cold, piercing blue eyes that haunted her every time she looked into a mirror. The eyes that she, and only she, had inherited from him, that cursed her and made her sister flinch with every look.

Astoria must've bought into Daphne's bravado as their father began to lose some of his arrogant smirk they both remembered so well. Her sister's confidence in her helped Daphne rally herself and once again establish a more firm control over the dream. She used her will to brighten the room and began to return furnishings to their original proportions.

"You can't hurt us," Daphne claimed, her voice now completely free of any doubt. Their father began to cower before her, and Astoria even managed to come out of the closet she'd been in, even though she remained firmly behind her sister.

Daphne weaved in her wand, finding Astoria easily allowing the object to come into existence.

"Be gone," Daphne commanded the man, "and never return."

To emphasise her point, Daphne fired curses at the man who had been their father, causing him to flee. Daphne chased the man out of the house, Astoria following a safe distance behind her sister. After she had driven the pathetic man away, Daphne turned to her sister again.

"He can't hurt you, Tori."

Daphne was nearly knocked off her feet when her sister tackled her with a wet and heavy hug.

"I know he can't," her sister said into her chest, "not while I have you."

Daphne hesitated, remembering the reason she had sworn not to do this again.

Intervening every once in a while wouldn't hurt her sister, but genuinely help. However, frequently saving her sister from her own nightmares would have the same effect as saving her from a real problem. It would make her overly reliant.

Daphne knew what she should say. Knew what she should do.

But…

It felt nice.

To be relied upon and trusted. To be hugged, to be liked. To be loved.

Her friendship with Tracey was still distant, and no one else in Slytherin would dare open themselves up like what her sister was doing right now. Even in the waking world, moments like this just weren't possible at Hogwarts.

"Yes," Daphne finally said, feeling her sister tighten her grip around her as she returned the hug. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

Luna quite liked Hogsmeade. Ottery St Catchpole was a wonderful place, after all, her father lived there, and her house was there, and the Weasleys, and even with Cedric Diggory gone, his parents were still there. But Hogsmeade had even more magical people living in it and none of them had to hide from Muggles.

Perhaps that would mean that magical creatures would be more inclined to inhabit the nearby environment?

She would have to investigate, but not today. Today, the first Hogsmeade weekend since Professor Dolores Umbridge was announced by the Daily Prophet as High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge, she had promised Ginevra that she would come to the Hog's Head for an important meeting. Strangely, she'd heard some of her fellow students whispering about the same meeting, even though she knew Ginervra had told her to keep it secret. Someone was clearly infested with-

"… Harry's going to teach us himself."

"He is?" Susan Bones asked Hermione Granger.

"Yes. Come to the Hog's Head this afternoon if you're interested. But either way, please keep quiet about it."

"Of course," Susan Bones quickly assured Hermione Granger. "Um, wait, Hermione?" the girl asked after Hermione Granger before she quickly walked off.

"Yes?"

"Could I bring someone else too? They're… a bit younger, but I think she would really benefit from it."

"Of course," Hermione Granger replied warmly. Luna had never gotten that kind of warm tone from Hermione Granger, or anyone at Hogwarts, before and was surprised to hear her use it. She was normally a very cold and snappy girl whenever she and Luna talked. "The more people we can help, the better." With that, the two girls departed.

Well, it was a little disappointing to learn that the information breech wasn't due to an infestation, but privacy charms were a bit easier to fix anyway. Skipping after Hermione Granger, Luna quickly caught up with her as she was making her way towards the Great Hall.

"Hermione Granger?" Luna called after the fifth year Gryffindor.

"Yes?" Hermione Granger called back in curiosity until her eyes fell upon Luna. "Oh. Luna." It was easy for Luna to see that the Gryffindor wasn't exactly pleased to be to speaking to her, so Luna decided to try and cut to the point. Of course, there was still the chance that this conversation could be overheard itself, so a little subterfuge would be necessary to throw off eavesdroppers. Luckily, Hermione Granger was a smart girl and Luna knew she would be able to interpret the true meaning easily.

"I was walking through the corridor just now and could've swore a Humderflinger shot away from just over there," Luna said as she pointed to the spot Hermione Granger had just had her conversation with Susan Bones. "I was concerned another one might be lurking around somewhere and thought I ought tell you that a good silencing charm should help keep him away for the rest of the day."

"A… a what now?"

"Humderflinger. They don't have eyes, you see, and have to rely on their keen hearing to get what they want."

"I don't… what?" Hermione Granger quickly looked around before she scowled a bit. "Luna, is a… Humderflinger? Is it another one of those animals in the Quibbler?"

"Issue number three hundred and-"

"I see," Hermione Granger quickly cut off. "In that case, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for your… creature." Without another word, the Gryffindor stalked off towards the Great Hall, leaving Luna a bit less skippy then before.

Breakfast with her house was just like it normally was, which meant no one bothered her as she quietly ate her food. It was a bit different from home, where she would frequently have lively discussions and debates with her father about where they might find a Crumpled-Horned Snorkack and other rare magical creatures, or what kind of business Fudge and his Ministry sycophants might be up to.

When Luna had first been sorted into Ravenclaw, she had hoped these academic debates would've continued, but her housemates were seriously lacking knowledge on all the important events the Quibbler reported on, so she had stopped trying to strike up conversations with them to keep them from feeling left out.

"… already made plans," Luna overheard Cho Chang say as she was trying to mind her business with buttering her waffle.

"Oh, that's a shame," Luna heard a boy with Hufflepuff robes say in a disheartened voice. "Perhaps next week?"

"We'll see," Cho Chang replied, clearly thinking next week wouldn't work out either. As the Hufflepuff walked off, one of the girls beside Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, spoke up.

"You should've gone with him, he's cute and I heard he treats girls nice."

"But Harry's meeting," Cho Chang pointedly reminded, at least having the common sense to look around for a Humderflinger. Marietta Edgecombe didn't seem pleased about being reminded of either Harry or the meeting he had apparently scheduled later today.

It seemed the meeting Luna had been invited to was quite large, and that thought got her stomach all bothered, as if the Ministry had successfully placed one of their eavesdropping Doxies there. Her next swallow of waffle was a bit larger than absolutely necessary to try and teach the menacing creature a lesson.

The ride to Hogsmeade was quite enjoyable, if a little lonely. The Thestral was good company though. She wondered if Harry Potter still had doubts about the creatures, he had seemed particularly troubled by suddenly being able to see the creatures after having spent all last year not seeing them. But the revelation that he could now see them had helped Luna solidify her choice to fully support and believe Harry Potter.

As Luna began to walk towards Hog's Head, she heard some cruel laughs down an alley nearby. Cautiously, she peered around a building and saw Draco Malfoy flanked by Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe all pointing their wands at something on the ground. Luna felt her curiosity rise at what they were doing, but also felt a tingle down her back that told her not to be seen by the boys. Instead, she continued on towards the Hog's Head.

Luna was surprised by the large group that was in Hog's Head when she arrived. Students from every house except Slytherin and nearly every year were inside the bar, and if the twitching eyebrow of their barman was any indication, this was more people he'd had to deal with in quite a while.

Once everyone had gotten a drink, they began to settle down around Harry Potter and his friends.

"Right then, is that everyone?" Harry Potter asked. Luna could tell that even though his voice was steady, Harry Potter wasn't at all comfortable talking in front of them all yet. When he received general murmurs of assent, he pulled out his wand and cast up towards the ceiling, murmuring under his breath as a clear dome briefly shown over them before disappearing.

"What was that?" A curious sixth year Luna couldn't see very well asked.

"A privacy charm," Harry Potter answered easily, quickly causing people to murmur in surprise and doubt. Luna, however, was glad that somebody took the threat of Humderflinger's seriously.

"Now," Harry Potter began again, his easy confidence of answering what impressive charm he'd just used gone and once again replaced by his forced steadiness, "who here is satisfied with the instruction that Umbridge is giving in Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

He was met with silence as nobody raised either their hand or voice.

"Right. Well, neither am I. In fact, with few exceptions, I've not been satisfied with any of the instruction I've received in Defence for the past five years I've been at Hogwarts." Murmurs of assent once again were heard as a little more confidence began to make its way into Harry Potter's stance and voice.

"Whether the Ministry acknowledges it or not, there are threats out there that will hurt and… and kill you if you're not prepared," Harry Potter said, his momentum momentarily broken.

"What, like You-Know-Who?" a Hufflepuff near the front asked confrontationally, causing the group of people to break out of the trance they'd fallen into.

"Well, Dumbledore believes that-" Hermione Granger began, coming to her friends aid.

"Dumbledore believes he's back because he believes he's back," the blonde Hufflepuff nodded at Harry Potter with an angry squint.

"Who do you think you are questioning Albus Dumbledore's judgement?" Ernest Macmillan asked affronted, going as far as standing up in outrage. The Hufflepuff who'd spoken out looked a little taken aback, but rose to stand as well.

"Zacharias Smith," the boy said defiantly, "and I think we all got the right to know-"

"Right to know?" Harry Potter suddenly cut in, a dark look on his face that caused everyone to suddenly take a breath. "A right to know… what, exactly, Zacharias? How a boy named Cedric Diggory was killed by a wizard you've been told is back but you refuse to believe?"

There was silence in the room as everyone looked at Harry Potter, waiting for what would come next.

"I'm not about to tell anyone here about how a brave man named Cedric Diggory fell to a vile man who calls himself Lord Voldemort."

Everyone in the room had some reaction to the name, except for Harry Potter who continued to look unflinchingly into the eyes of Zacharias Smith.

"So, if that is why you're here, I suggest you clear out." Harry Potter held his stare with Zacharias Smith until the boy finally made up his mind to sit down. Ernest Macmillan sat down as well, but not before sending a final weathering glare towards the arrogant Hufflepuff boy.

"… So," Hermione Granger began, her voice very high pitched as she tried to break the tense atmosphere. Harry Potter allowed Hermione Granger to continue with the meeting, working with everyone gathered to get some times when they might all be able to meet up. After assuring everyone she wouldn't interfere with Quidditch, they decided to have her message them the meeting time and place of their first meeting. Before they all left, Hermione Granger pulled out a piece of parchment.

"We've all seen just what kind of woman Umbridge is," she began putting the paper down on a table. "If you sign this, you're agreeing to keeping quiet about this group. That you'll not tell Umbridge, or anyone else, what we're up to." Some people gathered were more hesitant to sign the parchment than others, especially Zacharias Smith, but in the end, and through some veiled threats from the Weasley twins, everyone signed. Harry dispelled his privacy charm and everyone began to leave.

"WHAT?" Luna heard Ronald Weasley shout after a few moments of people leaving. She'd stuck around to finish her drink and was now being treated to a very surprised red head looking at Hermione Granger incredulously.

"What do you mean Ginny's been going out with Michael Corner?!"

Luna was hardly surprised by that news and was curious why Ronald Weasley was, but decided not to eavesdrop and left Hog's Head. However, before she made it back to where the carriages would take students back to Hogwarts, she stopped when she spotted a girl kneeling in an alleyway, the same one Draco Malfoy and his friends had been in earlier.

"Are you alright?" Luna asked the girl, walking down the alley a little ways. The girl quickly turned around, showing Luna that they had Slytherin accented robes and a slightly pudgy face. However, the girl remained crouched and didn't move more than to look over at Luna before glancing down at whatever was in front of her.

"I don't know how to help it," the girl said as Luna came up beside her, looking down at the ground and seeing a wounded rabbit, its leg twisted in a violent manner and a few bloody cuts staining its brown fur. Before Luna could ask what had happened or who the Slytherin girl was, another voice came down the alleyway.

"Luna?"

Harry couldn't handle Ron and Hermione's arguing any more. How the two of them could flip from sharing a close moment in the library to being at each others throats made him more confused than he wanted and so he decided to sneak away while they began to argue over who was good enough for Ginny. It wasn't like that was any of Harry's business anyway.

He was about to head back to the castle and call it a day when he noticed a long tress of hair down an alleyway on his way towards the carriages that made him stop.

"Luna?" He called out, sure that the brightly coloured hair was that of the fourth year Ravenclaw. She was standing beside some other girl with shorter brown hair that faintly reminded Harry of someone he'd seen around before.

"Harry Potter," Luna said, an odd look on her face. Normally the girl was a bright presence, but currently, her face was marred by a troubled look that just faintly looked relieved by his presence. The girl beside her though, looked like Harry's sudden appearance made her want to run. And after a moment, he realized why.

"Millicent Bulstrode, right?" Harry asked hesitantly as he walked towards the two. Millicent gave a single nod in reply before turning to look back down at whatever was in front of her. As Harry came up alongside the two, he realized why the two girls had looked so… troubled.

"Who did this?" Harry asked as he knelt down and began to reach towards the rabbit.

"No!" Millicent warned. Harry pulled his hand back in surprise and looked up at Millicent who reddened a bit but spoke after a moment.

"Malfoy put a curse on it," she said quietly, as if what she was saying was something she wasn't supposed to. "You can't touch it without getting the same injuries."

Harry looked down at the rabbit again, his heart clenching at the pathetic sight.

… The reasoning was if you can know and recognize your own magic, it'll be easier to recognize magic that isn't yours. Recognizing individual people's magic is very useful in curse removal, which was what the course had focused on.

"I'm… going to try something," Harry told the two girls, pulling out his wand.

"But-" Millicent began, but stopped when Luna put a comforting hand on the girls shoulder.

"I believe in Harry Potter, and so should you."

The simple statement held Millicent up for a moment, the two girls just looking into each other's eyes for a moment before Millicent nodded.

"Okay," she said, sliding back from the rabbit a little to give Harry some room. Bolstered by the faith the two girls had readily and willing put in him, Harry closed his eyes and began to reach out with his magic like the book he'd borrowed from Mr. Greengrass had taught him.

He had done this a few times before, but each time, he'd gotten confusing results. Back in Diagon Alley, at Grimmauld Place, at Hogwarts, every time he tried he could never get the results he was supposed to. Even as he began now, he was getting the same jumbled mess he'd gotten every time before. But, just as he was about to give up, he felt something… malignant.

Every time Harry had reached out before, he'd felt a confusing jumble of emotions and sensations, ranging from a tickle, to a tingle, all the way to a sharp pain. But right now, as he focused on the wrong feeling he'd just briefly felt, the feeling of dread and wrongness increased until he had to physically repress a shudder. This was what the book had been mentioning when it talked about finding a specific piece of magic, and Harry suddenly realized why he'd not been able to do it before. Every place he had tried had been surrounded by background magic, and only now that he was focusing on one particular thing, could he pick up anything significant.

Now that he had found the curse like the book had told him to, he began focusing on the polar opposite sensations and feelings, channelling those thoughts through his wand. With his eyes still closed, his focus wavered slightly when he heard Millicent let out a gasp, but he refocused quickly and after a few moments, he could no longer sense the horrible wrongness around the rabbit.

Gently, he reached out to the animal and brushed his hand along its head, causing its ears to twitch.

"You did it," Millicent said needlessly, a sense of disbelief in her voice. Harry wasn't sure what to say without sounding full of himself and was glad when Luna spoke instead.

"I know a couple of healing spells for animals."

She crouched down with Harry and Millicent and began to cast at the rabbit using spells Harry vaguely recognized from some of the books he'd read at the apothecary. As soon as she finished, the rabbit bolted from their group, only sparing a backwards glance once it was at the exit of the alley before bounding off towards the Forbidden Forrest at the edge of Hogsmeade.

"You helped me," Millicent finally said. Harry and Luna both turned back towards the heavyset Slytherin. Harry felt as if he'd helped the rabbit more than he'd helped out Millicent, but kept silent. "Why?" the girl finally asked.

"Because…" Harry began, unsure what to say. Why had he helped out? Millicent had said he would've gotten the same injuries as the rabbit had he not be able to pull off what he just did, and he wasn't even sure how he'd even done it.

"Because that's just what you're supposed to do," Harry finally finished lamely. "You help out people when you can." Millicent was quiet a few more moments.

"I can't do that," Millicent finally said softly as she turned away from them.

"She's got a very bad case of Nargles," Harry heard Luna mumble as the Slytherin walked away.

AN: And there you have it, chapter 15, another one of those 'split-perspective' chapters. Some more background information about the Greengrass' for you as well. In case you've not picked up on it, I've radically changed some of the 'standards' when it comes to their family, along with some other things here and there. So, if you were wondering about the conspicuous lack of Daphne's father, there you have it. I hope you all enjoyed, and I look forward to seeing you all in the next chapter!