"What? I didn't hear you."

"I asked if I could turn my head. It's kind of hard to be heard with a pillow over my face." Angelina shifted uneasily.

"That's fine, but when I start no more moving." Luna pulled out her wand and touched it to the prone woman's spine. "Are you ready?"

"Will it hurt?"

"No. You will feel slightly uncomfortable though."

"Oh, so same as always."

"Yes, same as always." Angelina closed her eyes and breathed deeply as a feeling of something cold and vaguely wet was being pulled from her lower back. "You were right; I'm resisting the urge to scratch."

"Do so. Usually we have people restrained when we do this. Most cannot truly boast of the muscle control needed to do it unaided."

"What's getting me through is the fact that one day soon I'll be on a broom again." She opened her eyes and grimaced.

"Almost… done."

"Good." Luna smiled and ran her wand down the length of Angelina's back, and nodded and scratched some notes with her quill. She repeated the same process as before, peeling away the second spell, stubborn and as tight as new leather. Angelina hissed and forced herself not to tense.

"I'm pleased to tell you that the spell removal was successful, and you are indeed healed. Congratulations." She sat up and turned around, and moved delicately, lifting her arms over her head and bending backwards.

"It feels heavenly to do that." Angelina laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "For the past six months just stretching was a chore. I must say though, the whole ordeal finally did something my mother wanted all along."

"What's that?" Luna asked as she packed her instruments.

"It fixed my posture." The two women laughed and Luna handed Angelina a vial. "For Harry?"

"Yes. I know he'll need it soon. Did you have any questions about what we talked about?" Angelina shook her head. "Alright then, I'm due back at Mungos."

"Thank you Luna. For everything. I know you go out of your way to do these house calls. I really appreciate it."

"I just want you both to know you mean a great deal to me." Angelina was taken aback.

"The both of us? Why me? We didn't know each other in school."

"I know, but it was hard not to know of you and well… Harry has deemed you important, so you are. Good day." Luna left her to ponder the meaning of that statement.

> > > > >

Getting out of the carriage, it was easy to see in the mind's eye the old Hogwarts. It rose as majestically as it always did, soaring turrets and towers, statues looking down at her with benign intentions… then the mind would shift, and her eyes could pick out the new brickwork, a tower where it wasn't when she started on her journey at Hogwarts. "Is Madam going inside?" The coachman asked patiently, noticing the tears that glistened in her eyes.

"Yes, yes. I'm sorry." She handed him her fare and walked up the steps and into the lobby. It was quiet now, classes in session, scattered Prefects on free period and the occasional frightened looking first year was all she encountered as she made her way to the newly formed Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom.

Hermione smiled and touched some slight scorching that someone missed, a reminder to the brave fight three fourth years had before falling to Voldermort's followers. The door opened just as her hand touched the cool metal, and a room full of eager students gazed at her with the desperate attention of those who wanted distraction from their current lecture.

"Mrs. Weasley, how good of you to join us today." Lupin said easily, setting down the skull he had in his hand.

"I'm sorry; I was told you had a free period. I can come back later." She said, horrified that she interrupted a lesson. The professor shook his head quickly.

"No need. I was almost finished here. The schedule has changed; my free period was pushed back. Children, do we know who this is?" A few hands rose in the room, and one overly eager, reminding Hermione painfully of her. "Nerys, do you know?"

"That is Hermione Weasley, nee Granger." Nerys answered primly, the self satisfied smirk of one who thought herself clever above her class. "She was instrumental in the Invasion four years ago."

"That is correct. Ten points for Hufflepuff."

"Why does she get points for a question that any of us could have answered? How could you not know her, their picture was all over the Daily Prophet for years?" A ruddy faced boy with dark brown hair said with a sour expression.

"Donald, I didn't ask you the question, so you don't get awarded the point. If we have to go over the rules again, I'll have you for detention. No talking out of turn until discussion time." Lupin frowned slightly as the low bell rang twice, signaling the end of class. "Please read the last half of chapter 8, and I expect a foot of parchment on today's subject. Good day ladies and gentlemen." The class rose and the noise level mirrored the action as the kids filed out of the classroom quickly.

"I am sorry Professor, I wasn't told of the change in schedule." Hermione said, slightly red at being put on display in front of so many people.

"As I said, not a problem. The change only happened today. What can I do for you Mrs. Weasley? Are you taking care of yourself?" He asked as they walked towards the back of his class, and up the stairs to the private office.

"Of course. Everyone keeps asking me that same question, but how could I not with Molly hanging over my shoulder, looking to see if the imaginary plate I seem to carry around with me is empty. I swear she wants me to puff up to at least 80 kilos."

Remus laughed and sat down heavily in his chair behind his desk. "That would be interesting to see… tea?"

"No thank you." Hermione looked at him briefly, and looked away.

"You don't know how to start off the conversation that you want to have, is that right?" He asked, face searching hers. She nodded, sighing and leaning back in the chair across from him. "I would think you would trust me enough to know that you cannot injure my pride, nor offend me, so out with it."

"I… I want to ask something that might be perceived as rude." Hermione started slow, trying to build to her question.

"And since when has that mattered to you?" He saw the look on her face and laughed. "I'm sorry, it's just that you're tiptoeing around the issue, and I've never seen you do that. You're blunt and to the point, which is why I'm terribly intrigued now."

"I want to know if your… haggardness of appearance is due to the fact that you're a werewolf, or is it because that werewolves are usually unable to sustain employment due to discrimination." Hermione said all in one breath, obviously glad she got it out of her system.

"What you're asking is if Harry can expect to look like an old man before his time." She nodded and laughed mirthlessly.

"I torture myself with scenarios I run in my mind, ways that his life is going to play out. I want to know if it's different for everyone, or is it the same. I don't know of any other werewolves I can ask."

"It's not as hard to talk about it as you think. It's not my fault that I was bitten… I was just a child. The transformations are intensely painful, mentally and physically exhausting, and disturbing every time you do it. It takes a little out of your body each time… so in a way you're well off if you already have a fair amount of magical energy to work with… but if you don't have so much…" The rest of the statement died on the air, and Hermione looked out of the window, which overlooked the space between the school and the Quidditch pitch.

"If you had a cure… would you take it?" She asked finally, and was surprised slightly by the look on his face. It was a cross between anger and resentment before being swallowed up in indifference. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I know you didn't. Sometimes I wonder if you were placed in Ravenclaw, would you think more about what you're about to say before you say it." Remus inhaled and looked at the ceiling. "Of course I would. I would be insane not to... But what concerns me is that you wouldn't ask this of me blindly… which means either you're judging my mental state or you really have a cure. Which is it?"

"It is neither, and I'm sorry." Hermione stood. "I just… I just wanted to know… I don't know what I wanted to know."

"Look, Harry is a fairly strong young man, and I never had the chance to really measure the level of raw magical power he has. With or without lycanthropy he has a long life ahead of him. He'll get used to it eventually, and when he pulls himself out of his pity, he'll see there is a new world of people he could help." Lupin sighed and rotated his neck gingerly. "The full moon is coming."

"…I know. "

> > > > >

Ron pulled back the hood of his cloak, and as soon as his red hair cleared, the door opened in front of him. He glanced back at Harry and they both walked in, Harry keeping an eye at the moving shadows behind them. "Blimey, I do hate Knockturn Alley. You get a bad reputation by just turning down here by accident." Ron said, pulling his cloak off.

"The only people down this particular turn are witches of ill repute."

"That's a nice word for it." Both men turned to the sound of the voice. It was a familiar one, worn by the events of past years. Padma Patil smiled wanly and swept both Ron and Harry into a brief hug. "It's been a while since we've been in the same room."

"Under anything less than dire circumstances… I was told you went back to India." Ron said, digging his hand into a cookie jar that appeared on the table next to him.

"For a while, but my home was here… I couldn't leave England. I've grown accustomed to the rain." She said humorlessly, looking at Harry. "I heard."

"I thought you would have." He said evenly, involuntarily scratching at his neck underneath the collar. Padma Patil was hard to look at. Not that she wasn't beautiful with her liquid brown eyes and almost impossibly long raven hair. It was the face that caused his heart to beat, because he saw Dean hold Parvati in his arms as she died.

"I've heard quite a many things. That's my job now." She motioned for them to follow her.

"I need some information. Hopefully you can help us." Ron pulled a small piece of parchment out of his vest pocket and slid it across the large oak desk that dominated the room that was Padma's office. She took a look at it and an eyebrow rose.

"Verbatim Whitman? What has he done to warrant suspicion?"

"It's more of a feeling really." Harry shrugged and looked back at her from the curious pieces on the mantle. "I can't say that he's done anything but be a self absorbed egotistical maniac."

"Fair enough."

"I don't know… maybe I was wrong to come here. I can't investigate someone because of a bad feeling."

"If you can't, who can?" Ron shrugged. "I trust your judgment. Now, if you were constantly petty and mean, then I wouldn't advise it. This is a last resort." Padma smiled and sat down in her chair.

"I'll take the case."

"About your fee-" She held her hand up, stilling Harry's words.

"Don't be so crass as to assume I'm going to ask a knut of you. This… this I'll do for free."

"Nothing fancy mind… just some financial reports, anything you think we'll find interesting, anything you find interesting… the like." Ron nodded. "That's easy, right?"

"As easy as sneaking out of Ravenclaw Tower at midnight." He nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Padma and Harry staring at each other.

"I'm sorry." He said hesitantly.

"Sorry for what?"

"Not... not being fast enough. Sorry that she got hit instead of me." Harry shrugged and sat down at in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. "I've heard you've been looking around for Death Eaters."

"I want them all to die." She said simply, eyes never leaving his. Harry nodded, understanding.

"I just hope that it doesn't... turn into an obsession." The answering smile he saw didn't reach past her nose, the eyes slightly frosted.

"I do believe I'm no longer on suicide watch. I no longer obsess."

"Don't lie to me." Harry's voice was a whisper, but the air changed and it was Padma that looked away first.

"It can't happen again Harry. The Death Eaters came back into power because the stupid adults thought that they did enough, and they could go home to their lives. You and I both know it's never really over." He nodded slowly, adjusting his collar.

"But don't make it your life."

"I watch you too, you know."

"I've seen one of your people. Tell the one with the blond hair, he tries to look too inconspicuous. I spotted him immediately. And why are you watching me?"

"Because I was worried. You can't go into hiding."

"And why the hell not?" He didn't bother correcting the fact that he wasn't in hiding. He couldn't lie to her after telling her she shouldn't lie to him.

"Because you're different from everyone else. With great power comes duty to protect those who can't. I watch. I watch and wait, because if someone gets it in their head that they would fancy themselves the new Dark Lord, then I would make sure that they're put in his place. If I recall, there wasn't even a body left, was there?"

Harry shook his head, eyes unfocused as he remembered the last moment of Voldermort's life on earth. "No, I couldn't be that stupid. I made sure Ron burned the body. I couldn't even trust Hermione to do it. I went to his family's plot and banished every piece of bone that was left. I wasn't going to let the same thing happen again."

"That's all I'm trying to do." Padma twisted the rings on her index finger, a sapphire with a raven on the sliver band and a ruby with a lion on the gold band. The rings that her father gave her and Parvati when they got their acceptance letters to Hogwarts.

"Just... just make sure you don't start to find that the shadow is easier to live in than the light. Trust me, it makes it awfully hard to be happy."

"My happiness died when my twin did. My heart no longer beat the way it did, and I can no longer look at the world as a shining place. But just because I can't doesn't mean I'm not prepared to die to make sure no one else goes through the same thing I went through... the same thing we went through." She said quietly. The clock on the wall ticked loudly in the silence, and Harry nodded.

"Be safe Padma."

"You too Harry."

> > > > >

Harry searched around his cloak for a trinket he found for Angelina, before pushing the door open to his bedroom. He whirled around, wand in hand and face emotionless. It was Angelina, wildly joyful as she crossed the space between them and threw her arms around him.

"Harry, you're home!" She kissed his cheek and laughed, not letting him go.

"Yes, Angelina… you don't have your walking stick…. What's in your hair?" He pulled back and removed a couple of twigs that were lodged in her curls. "Have you fallen? How long have you been outside?"

"I'm fine. I've been flying for the past few hours. It's so good to be back on a broom!" Angelina laughed again and kissed him on the lips. "Luna came by and said that it was time to remove the spells on my spine. I'm healed, everything went perfectly!"

Harry hesitantly put his hand on the base of her back, feeling the curve of spine. It finally felt normal, and the scars were almost gone, faint crisscrosses barely raised above the skin. The relief in his heart must have shown on his face because Angelina smiled tenderly and kissed him again.

"Thank you for sticking by me Harry. I go a little crazy when I can't be on a broom. You managed to survive my idiotic temper, which is no mean feat."

"Its okay. Besides, you're beautiful when you're angry." She rolled her eyes and laid her head on his chest.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"Will you stay the night with me again?" He frowned and looked her in the eye as she rose up to meet his gaze.

"It's a bit close... don't you think?'

"There is no danger of you turning early. All I want is for you to be with me, and if the answer is now, then I'll understand, really." Harry smiled and realized all he wanted to do right then and there was kiss her again. He must have been staring at her lips because wetted them nervously. "Are you listening to me?" She asked, and before the words completely made it to his brain he leaned in and closed the distance between them, physically and emotionally.

Somewhere within a growl reverberated, and some small part of his brain told his body that Angelina still needed to be treated gently, that she shouldn't be handled this roughly, but his body said NOW. She melted against him, and his hand roamed over every curve he had dreamed about or lusted after. Lifting her into the air, Angelina's long legs wrapped around his waist, causing him to stumble to the bed and fall onto the soft mattress, a billion times thankful for the gentle landing.

Their lips broke apart momentarily as Harry gained control of himself, but the smoldering look in Angelina's eyes mirrored the storm inside. Her full lips parted and exhaled a small...needful sound that tightened Harry's body to the point of pain. His hands trailed down her face, stopping to brush her entirely too kissable lips, to the aquiline curve of her jaw and graceful yet strong neck. Her fingers ran through his hair and pulled him down again, devouring her mouth with almost painful force.

Clothes were torn from bodies and Harry strained to maintain control. Angelina groaned at his hesitance. "Harry, I want this! Right here and now. What's the problem?" She closed her eyes and calmed her voice. "What's the problem?"

"I don't want our first time to be just animal fucking. I want more than that, and you deserve more than that." With difficulty he pushed himself up and off of her lush body, cursing himself inwardly. Angelina nodded dazedly, trying to find a downside and failing.

"What do you want, or a better question is what do you think I want?"

"I'm not even going to try and think about that. What I do want is our first time to be nice and long, because that's what the wait's been."

"What's wrong with now?" She smiled and rolled to look at him.

"If we do this now, I'm not going to last five minutes, and trust me, I have a lot of things I've wanted to do to you." The look in Harry's eye made her shiver, and Angelina nodded shortly.

"Tonight then?"

"And probably the next morning too."

"Promises promises."