Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I own the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting or Neverwinter Nights 2. Those belong to JK Rowling and the geniuses at Wizards of the Coast and Obsidian Entertainment, respectively.


Yet, Never, in Extremity

Rescue Me


"Hope" is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –

And sore must be the storm –

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm –

I've heard it in the chillest land –

And on the strangest Sea –

Yet, never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb – of Me.

- Emily Dickinson


Uncle Vernon sounded really angry.

Not that he wasn't angry all the time, four-year-old Harry Potter thought as he curled himself into as small a ball as he could in his cupboard. But Harry had hardly ever heard him sound as angry as he did now.

He scooted a little farther from the door; maybe Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would throw whoever made Uncle Vernon so mad into the cupboard with Harry. That wouldn't be so bad, would it? He'd have company besides the spiders, at least.

Uncle Vernon was still yelling. He was probably that funny purplish-red color by now. But it sounded like it was moving closer to his door and – if he was really really quiet – he could almost hear someone talking back to him that wasn't Aunt Petunia or any of the grownups that Uncle Vernon usually shouted at.

His stomach growled, and Harry quickly wrapped a thin arm over his stomach to try and make it quiet again. It seemed so horribly loud to him – maybe it got louder the hungrier he was? And he was so very hungry – that he would have been surprised if anyone outside of his cupboard hadn't heard it.

Uncle Vernon was practically roaring now, but then there were two loud noises and Harry couldn't hear his uncle anymore. Sort of a funny loud crunching, like when he put his finger through a piece of the thick Styrofoam that came with the new TV. That, Harry thought glumly as he burrowed his head deeper into his arms, had got him three days straight in the cupboard that time.

He couldn't hear Uncle Vernon still – and that was more than a little weird – but there were footsteps coming towards his cupboard. Someone opened the door with a soft creaking noise from the hinges, and that was how he knew it wasn't Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon, they always ripped the door open and made the hinges squeal.

"Harry?" The voice was…kind. He didn't know how someone's voice could be kind, but the lady who'd opened his cupboard had a very kind voice. She looked kind, he thought when he raised his head to look at her, kind and so very pretty. She didn't look like she belonged in a zoo, at least, not like Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and stupid Dudley.

"Hello, Harry," she said quietly as she ducked inside and crouched down next to him. "My name's Lyssi. I was a friend of your mother's."

"Y-you were?"

"Mm-hm. We went to school together."

There was a shout from Uncle Vernon, then a loud sort of thump. Miss Lyssi stuck her head out of the cupboard and said something in a language Harry didn't think was English before turning around and leaning in towards Harry. "Your uncle," she said softly, "is very stupid, isn't he?"

He had to try so hard to muffle the giggles.

"Harry, I want you to listen to me very closely, all right? I'd guess that you're wondering how I suddenly showed up now? Well, when you were brought here, I had my aunt put a magic spell on you that would tell me if you needed my help. She'd been watching your relatives all day, you see, and she didn't much like the looks of them."

"But…Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia said magic isn't real…"

Miss Lyssi smiled a sad little smile and gently ran a hand through his hair. "Your aunt and uncle are fools, Harry. There's magic everywhere, if you just know how to look for it. Your mum and dad were magic, you know. We went to a school just for people with magic."

"Really?"

"Really. They didn't want you to stay here if anything happened to them, you know. Their first choice was your godfather, then the Longbottoms – you probably don't remember but you used to play with little Neville all the time, and then me. So I have a very important question to ask you, Harry," she said, backing out of the cupboard and watching him as he followed her. "Would you like to go home with me and my friends?"

Harry poked his head out the open door, and saw the other people that Miss Lyssi must have come with. One was a tall man who had Uncle Vernon pinned to a wall with a dark look that didn't seem to fit his face, along with the threat of the giant spear that the man held as though it were no heavier than a toothpick. The other person…well, if Harry had needed solid proof that magic was real… The other lady was dressed in long red robes that looked like what wizards in storybooks wore, and there were black drawings over her head where most people had hair. She was shorter and not as scary as the man that had Uncle Vernon pinned against the wall, but the amber-eyed glare that she had turned on Aunt Petunia was enough to keep her against a wall and as white as the paint. Harry almost thought he could see the paint peeling around Aunt Petunia.

"Are you a witch?" Harry clapped his hands to his mouth as soon as the last word had left his lips, and he could feel the heat rising in his cheeks.

The woman looked over from the corner of her eyes and smiled a little. "Not quite, little one," she said in lightly accented English. "Lyss, this one would make a good student for me. We'd have to shave his head, of course…"

There was a snort from the man who had Uncle Vernon against the wall, and Miss Lyssi's mouth was twitching like she wanted to smile. "'Fiya, behave."

"Don't I always? Who do you think I am? Gann?"

The man with the spear pointed at Uncle Vernon didn't quite manage to keep his chuckles quiet and said something in that odd language that made Miss 'Fiya give him a really dirty look.

"Can I really go with you, Miss Lyssi?"

"If you really want to, Harry. Are you sure?"

"Oh, yes, please!"

Miss Lyssi's smile was very bright, he thought, and he didn't mind the hand that ruffled his hair even though he pretended to scowl like Dudley always did when Uncle Vernon did that to him. "Go and gather up everything you want to take with you, all right? You won't ever be coming back here, so don't forget anything. I just need to…talk…to your aunt and uncle for a minute."

Harry darted forward and hugged Miss Lyssi around the waist before scampering back to his cupboard. He was going to leave the Dursleys' house, something he'd dreamed about for ever and ever.

He wouldn't miss his relatives in the least.


"Lyss? Are you all right?"

Lyssi sighed heavily and lifted her head, smiling weakly at Gann as he sat down next to her. "I…, how could anyone do that to a child? Much less their own nephew?"

"Harry's aunt and uncle. I should've guessed that was what was bothering you. He was more badly treated than we thought?"

"They practically starved the poor child, locked him in that little cupboard for days on end, made him work his fingers to the bone while they did nothing… Cyric's blood!"

Gann didn't say anything, just reached an arm around her back and gently tugged Lyssi to curl up against his side. She sighed again and buried her face in the junction between his neck and shoulder, letting an arm snake around his waist. This…this was one of the reasons she loved him, that he could make her feel better without needing to say anything, that he didn't feel the overwhelming need to offer advice or treat her as though she were made of glass.

"Come, my love," he said softly after a minute. "Come back to bed. There's nothing you can do about those people now, and you know the boys are going to run us ragged in the morning. Callum is going to want to poke and prod at his new older brother, and you're going to be keeping our son from prodding the poor child to death."

"Dare I ask why me?"

"Because I will submit myself to Kana's mercy to start sifting through reports for you?"

"I knew there was a reason I loved you."