Disclaimer : As ever, I do not own Harry Potter's world, only the OCs and the plot!

I know this chapter is a little longer than usual but it came out like that when I wrote it so...hope you all like it :)

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Finding the light

Désirée had been sitting at her vanity for a few minutes now and was still staring intently at her reflection. Three weeks had already passed since her mother had received a second letter from the Snape man, informing her that he had possibly drawn the wrong conclusions and therefore wished to see her daughter again. Désirée sighed, she was not stupid and neither were her parents, it was clear from the beginning that she was not only suffering from excessive tiredness. And she was certain that the Snape man had known it all along too. That's why this sudden plot twist came as a great surprise to them. However, her mother had seemed so relieved that she hadn't voiced her concerns out loud. And, to tell the truth, she didn't have enough strength left to argue.

She cupped her chin and let her index finger follow the line of her cheek ; over the last few months, she had lost so much weight that she had trouble adjusting to her new appearance. To the point that she always jumped when she caught a glimpse of her reflection in a mirror. She definitely looked hollow. Yet, the real hindrance was that she now had to use a wheelchair as her legs couldn't support her anymore. That had led her to put her studies on hold and slowly, boredom had made its way into her life. Truthfully, she didn't place much hope in today's meeting.

The voice of her mother echoed from the stairs to her room, reminded her to get ready and Désirée let out a last sigh before moving herself to her closet to retrieve her outfits for the day. As she began undressing herself, she repeated the plan in her mind. First, she would swallow the disgusting, smelly potion that Severus Snape had sent for her. That was supposed to give her the appearance of a muggle girl who was the handiccaped niece of the man she was pretending to go visiting today. Only she would never see his face. Indeed, her mother would accompany her to St Mungo's Hospital where she would be left alone, at least for a couple hours. There, posing as his niece, she would ask for Gilderoy Lockhart, who would conveniently be doing his afternoon exercices so she would ask to wait for him in the gardens. And only then, if everything went according to plan, would she be met by Severus Snape and the boy her mother had once mentioned. Harry Potter or something. Ever since her mother had replied to Snape's letter, everyday had been spent carefully planning every detail of the meeting. Because, from what she had gathered, it was evident that her mother wished for this Dumbledore guy to remain uninformed of the matter.

Désirée shuddered, this man was probably very clever if they were taking so many precautions. According to Snape's latest letter, the Harry boy was pretending to visit one of his classmate who had been injured by a cursed necklace –- she would know better than accept some piece of jewelry from a wizard-. And Snape would accompany him to get him back to school. School...she really missed it. And she was curious to know what it was like, to study in a witchcraft school. She had asked her mother but...she had been totally opposed to the idea of bringing her to Beauxbatons. Gee.

When she was done with clothes, she wheeled herself back in front of the mirror and tried to apply some make up on her face: unfortunately, it was the only thing that could make her appear slighly healthier these days. But she wasn't too fond of it.

"Close enough." she whispered to herself.

The clock on the wall showed it was one in the afternoon. It was time to go.

Her father came to fetch her and bid her farewell before she joined her mother and a man she didn't know. She smiled a little, her mother had managed to convince Mr Shacklebolt to help her get to St Mungo's in the name of their old friendship. He had given them two hours and someone to apparate them here. Her mother handed her a small vial, probably the one that contained the Potion. It was smellier than ever, yet she had no choice but drink it so...it was even more disgusting than what she had imagined and only with great effort did she keep from spitting its whole content on the floor. Wizard folks were certainly very disturbed!

As she drew closer to the man, she felt a growing feeling of dread overshadowing the changes she was undergoing : what if only a part of her was to apparate ? Could one be dislocated into pieces through such things ? She gulped but still managed to stand on her feet to grab his outstretched hand :

"Stanley Cooper, miss. Nice to meet you."

"Désirée Lenoir." she muttered "Same here."

With a flick of his wand, her wheelchair was reduced to the size of a nut and Stanley pocketed it immediately. He then gave her his arm to hold while her mother grabbed his other. And then, everything went black.

"Daisy, Daisy, you have to wake up, darling. We're here. You're alright honey, it was your first time apparating after all and given your condition..."

She heard her mother's strained voice before she could see her. Ah, so she had fainted. What a horrible way to travel.

"I'm fine...I guess."

Stanley helped her to her feet, then she was placed back into her wheelchair. She felt so useless. But she had to focus on the meeting:

"How much time has passed ? Are we still on schedule ?"

"Yes don't worry Daisy, you passed out for two minutes only."

Well, that was a relief.

"It's up to you now, honey. I'm staying back. Mr Cooper will only accompany you up to the reception area."

"I know, we're going then. See yah!"

"See you!"

"Yes mom, whatever you say. Love you too!"

And off she was. Stanley tried to help her by pushing her wheelchair but she angrily pushed the wheels on her own. Even if it cost her a lot now, she didn't want to give that up. He seemed to understand as he silently walked by her side until the gates. There he bent forward and told her:

"You're supposed to be very ill from now on."

"I know, sorry. If you please..."

Once they were authorized to enter the Hospital, Stanley pushed her to the reception where a round-cheeked, busy woman was welcoming the patients.

"Hello, Madam."

"Oh hello, Miss! Is it an emergency case ? What happened to you ?"

"It's nothing. I just came to visit my uncle, Mr Gilderoy Lockhart."

"Really ? But I thought Mr Lockhart hadn't any family left."

"Yes, any wizarding family. But his muggle sisters are still very much alive and so am I."

"Oh, I see! Of course, he was a half-blood. I remember now! A great thing you were all so acceptant of his gift. Well that's very nice of you to come and see him, especially in your state. You see, the poor man still hasn't recovered from the spell, he probably won't remember you at all."

"That's alright, I will be happy enough to see that he's well looked after."

"As for that, you don't have to worry, dear. And this must be your dad, I suppose."

"Oh no, Mr Cooper is only my attendant, given my state.

"So interesting, do all disabled muggles benefit from those kind of services ?

"No, unfortunately."

"I see. Well, let me check out his timetable. Mmm, sorry sweetheart but your uncle is currently doing his afternoon routine. You know, for his brain. And it might take an hour or two."

"That's fine. I can wait."

"Really? Well, I don't know if it's really safe for a disabled muggle to remain in a place filled with injured wizards of all kind..."

"Maybe you have a quieter place where I might wait, like a garden for instance ?"

"Oh yes, that's a good idea. You might just go there and wait. The weather is so nice today, it will probably do you some good. You just have to turn left, then right and it will be the last door. Mr Cooper will push you, right ?"

"No, he can wait for me in our car, really. I wouldn't force him to wait such a long time with me."

She faked a small, embarrassed laugh. The matrone looked slightly taken aback but just as she was opening her mouth to say something, her voice was drawn in the ruckus caused by the arrival of two desperate-looking witches who were carrying a creature half-human half-rabbit. From what she understood- both were yelling really-the creature was a two-timing man who had wanted to boost his libido but had failed miserably. Désirée held back her laugh and took advantage of the situation to vanish in the direction that the matrone had previously indicated her. She didn't look back to see Stanley ; she had felt him leave his place behind her back. Once she arrived at the door, she managed to push it open by knocking her wheelchair sideways into it. She was now out in the open, in what looked like a neat, huge garden. The matrone had been right, the sun caressing her face was definitely a nice feeling. But oddly enough, the place was rather empty. She was probably the only one there. Severus Snape's information had been correct, most of the patients were probably doing exercices or resting after lunch. She located the corner mentioned in the man's letter. That was the meeting point. Now, all she had to do was wait...and hope her efforts hadn't be in vain. She was so tired that she could have easily fallen asleep there...

"Miss Lenoir, did you seriously think this was the most appropriate place to take a nap ?"

Désirée almost jumped out of her wheelchair, she had only closed her eyes for a few seconds. Yet, she relaxed slightly as she had recognized the voice. Sure enough, the pale, greasy-haired man was standing a few feet away from her, hair greasier than ever and an annoyed look plastered on his face.

"Oh hello Mr Snape, I didn't hear you coming."

"I noticed..."

His voice was dripping with sarcasm. Then slowly, he turned to someone standing behind him, that Désirée hadn't notice at once for he stood in the sun. He was a teenage boy with round glasses, crazy hair and a bolt-shaped scar on his forehead.

"This, is Mr Potter. Come over here Potter, at least show some manners in front of the person you were so eager to meet."

"Thank you for your introduction, Professor."

Oh oh, given his tone, it was clear that these two weren't exactly chummies—at all. She sighed inwardly. That was going to be one really strained afternoon.

"I'm Harry , Harry Potter. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Désirée Lenoir. Same here. I can call you Harry ?"

"Yes, of course."

"Well Harry, thank you for coming and...taking Mr Snape with you I guess..."

Both men looked slightly surprised. Harry had immediately noticed her accent though her English was really good. But he was reminded of Fleur. She was probably French too. He took a moment to examine her: pale blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin. She looked quite common really.

"Why do you say that ?"

"Well, I'm not stupid enough to believe that Mr Snape had a sudden change of heart regarding my...condition, am I right ?"

Harry smiled.

"I guess you already know the answer. But we don't have much time, I thought that maybe we could tallk about your mother's Sight or maybe you could just tell me your story..."

"Could it be that a human brain has finally started to develop in this thick skull of yours, Potter ? Probably a side-effect of Merlin's curse."

"I don't think so Mr Snape, in fact I believe that most people just adjust their level to the people they are talking to."

Now Harry was grinning broadly. That Désirée girl seemed nice enough. On the contrary, Severus Snape was looking very sullen at the moment.

"Anyway Harry, you're absolutely right. So, moving on to my story, to put it simply I was on holidays here in England, when I stumbled upon a moving picture of a group of wizards..."

"A team of Quidditch actually. Professor Slughorn probably lost it while he was squatting those muggle houses."

"I was going to say it, if you hadn't interrupt me."

She glared at the Professor.

"So yes, a Quidditch team of people who attended your school decades ago. And then, I don't know, it sort of "clicked" inside of me."

"What do you mean ?"

"It was like some kind of pull, a craving really. Every cell in my body was telling me to go and find him."

"Him ? Who is he ? Do you still have the picture ?"

"Yes, I got it back before coming. Here, look. It's him, center front."

That left Harry speechless. He knew that face. He had seen him at Grimmauld Square, Sirius...Thinking of his godfather still hurt him. But he was certain that the boy in the picture was the same one that Sirius had pointed as his brother.

"Regulus Black ?"

"So that's his name...I like it, it suits him, little king."

"Ok so...you have some sort of connection to Regulus Black, right ? But what's the deal with me ? I mean, I don't see how I can be of any help."

"Well, my mother had a Sight of us three."

"You too ?"

Harry had turned to Snape with a horrifed look. The latter smirked:

"Yes Potter, now do you regret setting up this meeting ?"

"Please listen, my mother told me you were involved in a prophecy, something that said you were the chosen one or whatever. I'm not saying it's crap or anything because I'm obviously not a Seer or a witch, but I can tell you this much : I'm going to die soon and so are you. As for you, Mr Snape, I believe you've already died a while ago, though I'm not sure why. So the three of us are condemned. No emergency gate. We already know the end of the story. Great, right ? Well, as for me, I don't want that. I want to be free to choose if I let go and when I let go. So, even if it means risking everything for one light, then I'm willing to do it. I want to believe that we can always find our happiness, even in the darkest of times."

When she had finished, tears were blinded her, but she bit her lip to keep it from falling. She didn't want to look weak. Her body could fault her, but not her mind. Not yet. Both men looked slightly moved by her speech as both were oddly reminded of Dumbledore's words from a few years ago but neither looked convinced nor determined to act.

She bowed her head in defeat when suddenly a ray of sunshine fell right onto her face. And as she was blinded, she was struck by an extraordinary idea. Maybe that was the light she had been talking about after all. She straightened up and looked at the two men standing before her. That was her last chance, so it had better work. She forcefully grabbed one of their hand, almost surprised at the sudden surge of energy she felt rushing through her.

"Now, do you feel it too ? The pull..."

She waited for a few seconds and then...it happened. Harry looked at her in disbelief. He immediately turned to the Professor's side for an explanation but was surprised to see his own expression mirrored into his face. And that's when she knew she had succeeded. They were feeling what she was feeling.

"What's that ?"

"That –is called a chance. A chance to be where you're most needed."