Author's Note: I'm back! I'm sorry it took so long to update. I'm a little bogged down by school at the moment, but I'm trying. I really am.

So the diary is seemingly-taken care of, but we already know how tricky Horcrux-Voldemort can be. He's as bad as the One Ring that way, so whether or not he continues to be trouble will remain to be seen.

For now, we have a Rat to catch, a Luna to love, and plots to play with - enjoy!


~ Ratting Out the Rat ~

Harry was becoming increasingly frustrated. He had told the Weasley twins what Su had discovered about Pettigrew – they'd read all about Sirius Black betraying his parents and then chasing after Pettigrew to kill him… but if Pettigrew was alive, then Sirius was innocent of the crime that had sent him to Azkaban.

Additionally, he just didn't understand Black's motivations. He'd spoken to Blaise about it – when he'd had the time – and learned that Black had completely rejected everything that his family stood for, including the Dark Arts, Blood Supremacy, and even Slytherin superiority, going so far as to abandon his home and family – or was possibly evicted – and went to live with James Potter instead.

Harry tried to imagine Neville ever betraying him as Sirius Black had betrayed his father, and found that he couldn't, in any way, imagine that it was possible. Likewise he could not imagine how one of the most fervent, violent, and vocal anti-Voldemort characters could possibly have been a double agent the whole time.

Surely a true double agent would have toed the line – made themselves invisible and small and seemingly insignificant instead of openly killing and incapacitating as many Death Eaters as they could get their hands on. Nothing was adding up.

Unfortunately, Oliver had Harry and the twins bogged down with Quidditch training at every available minute of the day. As much as he admired his Captain, Harry was seriously considering putting the sixth-year in the hospital wing, just to get a break.

Neville himself was also too busy to really investigate the Pettigrew thing, between catching up with homework, keeping an eye on Su – who was becoming increasingly paranoid – and helping Professor Sprout in her greenhouses every other afternoon, no progress was being made, and the mystery was constantly nagging at Harry's mind.

He scowled at his feet as he trudged back up to Hogwarts from Quidditch training, irritably batting Leon-the-pet-Snitch out of his face.

"Hello, Harry Potter," came a dreamy voice to his left, as he stalked down a – mostly – abandoned corridor. Everyone else was at dinner, and he was starving. He blinked at the girl that had suddenly appeared, wracking his brain for her name. Loony or Moony or something like that, right? Lovegood. Yes, Lovegood. Luna Lovegood. Su's friend.

"Hello, er, Lovegood," Harry replied, even as the whimsical girl skipped merrily alongside him. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm looking for my shoes," she hummed, pointing down at her bare feet, her toes slightly blue from the cold. "Most of them have gone missing, you see." She leaned towards him conspiratorially. "I suspect nargles are behind it."

"Is that so?" Harry hummed, remembering a rather odd conversation about nargles with Su, about how they were attracted to trouble. "Most of the time nargles just like to put me in the hospital wing, I think."

Luna nodded sagely. "They do like a bit of variance," she agreed. "If you see my shoes, do let me know, Harry Potter. Here, this is what they look like." She handed him a list of shoes and accompanying pictures, some ordinary, and some outlandish. He could have sworn that in amongst the list there was a pair of shoes decorated with wings.

"I'll keep an eye out," he promised. Luna beamed at him.

"Thank you," she said, before looking more closely at him. He noticed that her eyes were very bright, a pale silvery-blue that seemed to almost glow in the dim light. "Something is troubling you, isn't it? You're worried about something."

"Not really," Harry shrugged, his response automatic. Leon's buzzing wings tickled his ear, and he pushed it away again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Luna asked, her whimsical expression becoming less dreamy and more focused. She stopped skipping and looked at Harry, who was standing in the middle of the corridor. "I can listen, if you like."

Harry sighed and rubbed his scar. "Er, I've just got a lot on my mind. You know, Quidditch and all." Luna just nodded, but she didn't stop looking at him. Harry let out a huff of air and kept walking, Luna following alongside him.

"Well, I'm worried about Su. She's… she's not well. Pale. Jumpy. I can understand her feelings – whenever Lockhart wears purple I just want to run away… well, I mean, I always want to run away from Lockhart 'cause he's a wanker, but the reasons are a bit different. I just… I just want to help her. And then there's this– this thing. With Pettigrew – and my godfather in Azkaban who is actually probably innocent - but I don't know how to prove it and I don't have time to find out because I always have Quidditch on and it's just really frustrating!"

Luna hummed, before reaching out and tugging Harry down so that she could wrap her arms around him and give him a hug. Her hair smelt like vanilla and caramel, and her hug was very warm in spite of her skin being cold – and he made a mental note to get others to help him find her shoes – and Harry found himself relaxing, although he didn't really understand why.

"It'll be all right, Harry," Luna promised. "You've got good friends. They'll look out for you. Like this one, it's being very comforting."

She pulled back from the hug, and saw that Leon was hovering happily by Luna's cheek, and playing with one of her radish earrings.

"I call it Leon," Harry told her, and he was surprised that the little snitch came up and nudged against his face, it's own expression happily animated.

"It likes you," Luna informed him serenely.

"How can it like me? It's just a snitch."

Luna held up her hands, and the snitch fluttered towards her before dropping into her open palms. "Magic is a very curious thing. Even we, as wizards who have been studying it for many centuries, don't fully understand it. Sometimes, if we invest enough magic, or emotion, or thought into something, it can take on a life of its own. Bigger things, like Hogwarts, take longer, but little things, like your Leon, are quick to pick up on the way that you treat them."

She held her hands up again, and Leon fluttered out and then settled to hover over Harry's left shoulder. "You treat the snitch like it's a pet, and so it acts like one. Your magic must be quite powerful, Harry, for it to like you so quickly."

"Huh," Harry reached up and, er, 'patted' the snitch gently. "I didn't know that."

"Hmmm," Luna shrugged as they neared the great hall. "Well I hope you catch that rat Pettigrew, he sounds unpleasant. I hope there's pudding." She strode away from him, joining Su at the Ravenclaw table, and Harry was so bemused by Luna's… oddness that it took him a moment to regain his senses and wave back at Su.

Rat… he thought, remembering Luna's words. What if Pettigrew wasn't invisible? He knew that McGonagall could turn into a cat… but other wizards could change shape as well! How could he be sure though?

He sat next to Neville, grunting absentmindedly when his best friend greeted him, and shovelling food onto his plate. How would this work, then? How could he find out without Ron getting suspicious? It's not like he could just go up to the boy and say –

"Hey, mate, I think that your rat is actually a dead war hero that's secretly alive and also a former Death Eater. I need to borrow him permanently so that I can free my probably crazy but still innocent godfather from prison. Thanks a lot."

Yeah. No. That wasn't going to work.

He scowled at his plate, glancing sidelong at Ron and his stupid rat. He didn't even know if Pettigrew really was a rat. Maybe he was a flea, on the rat? Maybe Ron was Pettigrew, and the rat was the real Ron Weasley held prisoner? Maybe Pettigrew wasn't like McGonagall at all, and he was speculating about the rat for no reason at all?

Ugh.

"You all right, Harry?" Neville asked, nudging him and jolting him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, fine," Harry sighed, turning his attention back to his meal. "I'm just thinking about… our invisible friend." They both glanced briefly at Ron, and then at the twins, who were looking intently at their little brother. Leon danced around Neville's ear.

"He can't be invisible all the time," Neville reasoned. "We just need to catch him when he's visible. Exposed. Only… we've got class all the time, so…"

"We need a spy," Harry nodded, mind whirring. Leon floated into his face, smacking into his glasses, and this time Harry caught the snitch and grinned. "And I know just how to do it. Remember the twins Spyders, from last year?"

"Kind of hard to forget," Neville grinned, glancing at Pansy Parkinson at the Slytherin table, remembering how she tried to run out of the Great Hall wearing swimming flippers. Ah, good memories.

"We can get them to charm Leon the same way," Harry held out the snitch, curled up in his palm. "And some kind of invisibility, or notice-me-not charm, too. Then Leon can spy and we'll be able to figure out what's going on!"

"How will we get it to follow the right person, though?" Neville frowned. He glanced around to see if anyone was watching, and lowered his voice. "If we set it to follow Ron, we might not get anything. It's not like Pettigrew's going to show himself in front of a student. Besides, Leon's supposed to follow you around."

"The twins are smart," Harry shrugged. "So is Su. If we can look at the tracking charm on the map, and get Leon to follow the right name…"

"You know what, Harry?" Neville grinned, dinner forgotten. "I think that this is possibly the best idea you've ever had."

"I try," Harry beamed back.


"Harry you're brilliant!" Su squealed, throwing her arms around her best friend and planting a wet, smacking kiss on his cheek. "Genius, absolute genius! And we can use to the footage as evidence in court… I think. I'm pretty sure. We can try, at least."

"Yeah, sure," Harry pushed her away, wiping his cheek and grimacing. Su just laughed. He was happy with that at least, she was looking more alive than she had in a few weeks – less stressed.

Su might joke about his thinking that she was delicate, but she was a girl, and girls were emotionally fragile – Lavender Brown said so. It wasn't a bad thing for him to worry about his friends, especially since he had never had many, and Su and Neville were the most important people in his life.

"So you think it will work?"

"I do. I'll look into disillusionment charms with Hermione – she'll think it's for out undetectably-extended bags."

"You're still working on that?" Neville asked. Su looked shocked that he asked.

"Of course!" She didn't tell them that she was planning on stocking her charmed pouch with medical supplies, her broom, her spare wand, and other assorted useful items. It wouldn't do for them to think her paranoid. 'Constant vigilance' becoming her mental mantra didn't have any particular significance… and if she could prevent the rise of snake-face-Voldemort, well, then it wouldn't matter if she was paranoid or not anyway, would it?

"Where're the twins?" Neville asked, glancing at his pocket watch. "They said they'd be here."

Harry peered out from behind the mirror that hid the caved in secret passage to Hogsmeade that the twins had told them about. He wasn't worried about being seen, wearing his invisibility cloak draped over his head, but he was worried about the twins. He really wanted to get this done as quickly as possible.

The more he learned about his godfather, the more convinced he felt that the man was innocent – the most compelling evidence for him being Sirius's apparent absolute loyalty to James Potter, and the fact that he had never received a trial. It was rather telling to him that all other occupants of Azkaban – even the terrible Bellatrix Lestrange – had received trials while his godfather had not… and that all others who had been sentenced without trial were already dead, having been picked off over the last decade by starvation, disease, suicide, and Kisses.

He hoped he'd be able to save his godfather before he, too, was murdered.

"I see them," he breathed at last, seeing two laughing redheads appear at the end of the hall, running with all the gangly grace of teenagers who hadn't entirely grown into their long limbs yet. "They're here."

He pulled back into the secret passage, where Su had captured a blue flame in a jar to stave off the encroaching October chill. Not a minute later the twins were darting inside, breathless and laughing.

"What took you so long?" Harry asked, stuffing his invisibility cloak back into his pocket as Su enlarged both jar and flame and the five of them crowded around it.

"Just… distracting Filch for a little while," Fred grinned, high-fiving George. "He won't bother us for a while. He thinks were on the opposite side of the castle. Peeves is helping out – he's a good man, Peeves."

Disbelieving looks from the second years. Fred shrugged.

"Well, when you want a partner for a prank at least."

Su wondered if Peeves would be willing to prank Voldemort should the man ever resurrect himself. She hoped so. A Voldemort in a bright pink wig and wearing Augusta Longbottom's favourite furry green robes was hardly as terrifying as snake-face in his usual Dark-Lord-skeleton-look-alike get up. Well, it was an idea if she didn't manage to prevent the resurrection this time.

"So what's the plan?" George asked, dropping cross-legged by Su's makeshift fireplace.

Harry pulled out Leon the snitch and quickly explained his – and Neville's – idea, including his Luna-induced suspicion that Scabbers might be Pettigrew.

The twins whistled.

"That makes sense, actually," George nodded. "I mean, he's missing a toe – and the only part of Pettigrew they ever found was his finger. He could have cut it off and then transformed… an animagus. That explains so much."

"So we use Leon-the-Spy to confirm our theories," Harry went on. "But how do we get him to reveal himself if we're right?"

"Well, there's an animagus revealing spell," Fred hummed. "But it's pretty advanced. You have to put a lot of power into it, and usually also have a pretty good idea of how animagi work, since it's technically a technically a transfiguration. If you screw it up he might turn into a man with a rat's head."

"I don't think any of us have the skills for that," Neville observed. "Maybe a potion… mandrakes, perhaps? They have restorative properties, so maybe a proper mandrake brew can 'restore' Pettigrew to his natural form?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Fred nodded.

"Su, do you think you can take some time off your extend-o bags to research mandrake potions?"

"I don't know, it's sort of a joint project with Hermione," Su frowned. "But if I work hard, I think I can get far enough ahead in Astronomy to have time to research during class – Blaise won't mind… I hope. Besides we still need the right notice-me-not charm for Leon, don't we?"

"Not a problem," Fred grinned at his twin. "We know heaps."

"Comes with pranking territory," George agreed.

"Good," Harry nodded, smiling at the twins. "Right, so you two can help me turn Leon into a spy. Neville and Su, you can research the mandrake potions – and maybe ask Professor McGonagall for more information on animagi. Let's not get too confident, though – the rat's missing toe might just be a coincidence. It might not be Pettigrew. We should have some back up plans in case we're wrong."

"Well, I can't really think of anything that we can do until Leon discovers how he's hiding for sure," Neville said. "But since we're researching mandrakes anyway, I think Su and I can look for anti-invisibility charms, too."

Harry grinned. "I think this just might work."


Neville and Su found a good potion to reveal animagi before Harry and the twins found a way to get Leon to follow the right person. The notice-me-not charm, and 'camera'-charms were pretty easy, since they'd already done the same with their Spyders last year, but the right tracking charm was coming along a little trickier.

"The snitch is a bit different from the Spyders," George admitted. "But I don't want to use them because Ron hates spiders, and he'd cotton on if we had some fake ones following him around. No need to get his hackles up… especially if there's a Death Eater hanging 'round him all the time."

Harry was unsurprised by the venom in George's tone at the last sentence. No matter how they picked on their brothers, they loved Percy and Ron both with a fiercely protective streak – apparently something they inherited from their mother. If there were a creepy Death Eater that had been sharing a bed with both brothers – as Scabbers had belonged to Percy before Ron – well, there would be hell to pay.

Fortunately Neville and Su had better luck, and were already brewing the animagi-revealing potion with Snape's supervision as a 'personal project'.

Harry wasn't sure how they'd convinced the surly potions master to allow them to brew a fifth-year potion, but he suspected it had something to do with Su's nearly prodigious skill in Potions and the fact that a truce of sorts had been called between the Bat-Man and the trio of second years. Also, Su was a surprisingly good actress when she wanted to be, and in another life could easily have been a Slytherin.

So they were halfway-there – if Pettigrew was the rat – but Neville was still looking for something to reveal an invisible person that could be wielded by second or fourth year students, so backup was coming along nicely.

"How will we get him to eat the potion?" Neville asked.

"Easy," Su shrugged. "We dip the bacon in the potion and put it in front of Ron. The rat eats directly from his plate, so we'll get him for sure. And the potion won't work on anyone who's in their natural form, so if the rats just a rat, nothing will happen."

"This way we've also covered the Ron-is-really-the-rat and Peter-is-disguised-as-Ron possibility," Harry nodded. "The only disguise potion that I know of is Polyjuice – didn't Madame Locke mention that one? At any rate, it's a pretty resistant potion, so the change might take longer than if it was just a transfiguration, but the mandrake potion will speed up the rate that the Polyjuice wears off so…"

"Wow, you've really thought this through," George whistled.

"I think you're more paranoid than we are," Fred nodded, impressed.

Su huffed, crossing her arms and muttering about 'not being paranoid, just vigilant'.

The boys ignored her.

"The snitch will be ready in a few days," the twins assured the trio, having taken Leon off Harry's hands to work with it. "It might take a week or two, but I think we'll have caught some footage of Pettigrew revealing himself. Whether he's the rat or invisible, he'll have to return to normal at some point, otherwise his magic will drain – if he's invisible – or he'll forget what it's like to be human – if he's the rat."

"We can try for the reveal on Halloween," Harry nodded. "That way we'll multiple witnesses from all families – pureblood, half-blood, muggle-born, Light, Dark, whatever – and the ministry won't be able to say that we're lying. Plus all the teachers will be there to help us capture him."

Su swore, and the boys turned to her in surprise. They were honestly not expecting such language from her. Su always seemed so… er… well, not the swearing type.

"Lockhart," she said shortly. The boys groaned. If anyone was going to screw up their plot it would be Lockhart. The man was a walking disaster.

"I wonder if we can put him out of commission," Fred hummed.

"In hospital wing?" Harry asked, not bothering to disguise the hope in his voice.

"If we can," George grinned.

"Maybe we can sic Snape on him?" Su mused. "Or… I have it! It's fool-proof, or Lockhart-proof as the case may be." The boys turned to look at her and she grinned, sharp toothed and a little bit evil. "Curse his beauty products."

The twins mirrored her grin in sync.

"I like the way you think, ickle Su-Su," George winked at her.

"Why aren't you in Slytherin? Or Gryffindor?" Fred asked, sweeping her up into an enthusiastic hug.

"I look better in blue."


The boys swore. Harry felt sick. Su reached out and held his hand, and Neville came to hover by his shoulder, a comforting presence.

They'd – finally – managed to get Leon on to tracking Pettigrew. Sure enough, most of the footage they had was of the rat, lazily living out each day sleeping, eating, and drooling a stain in Ron's pocket.

However, a night, the rat would sneak out of the Gryffindor common room, through a tiny secret passage that none of them had even known existed. He would make his way to the kitchen and eat a full meal prepared by the House Elves.

Harry was kind of surprised to see that crazy elf – Dobby, wasn't it? – pop up and chatter earnestly with a few other elves before disappearing again. Was the elf seriously keeping an eye on him and looking out for danger? He hadn't seen any evidence of plots to attack Hogwarts yet, and had begun to relax his guard… the elf didn't even spare a second glance for Pettigrew, so he obviously wasn't the conspirator…

Weird.

They all flinched when Leon's 'camera' zoomed in on the Dark Mark exposed on Pettigrew's left forearm. The man might have been dirty, disgusting, mannerless and utterly creepy – sharing a bed with prepubescent boys was just wrong on so many levels – but to see the evidence of his betrayal, of how far gone he must be to have sided with the psychopath that murdered his parents…

Harry clenched his fists. He'd get revenge. He made a mental note to 'accidentally' step on Ron's rat the next time he saw it.

"Darth Volder's insane," Su murmured beside him, her palm was sweaty where she held his hand tightly, and he could feel her trembling. He wondered if she was afraid. Su was afraid – afraid that it might not work, that Pettigrew would escape and that they'd never free Sirius… that Voldemort would rise and kill Harry and that it would be all her fault for messing with the plot…

"I can't believe he brands his people. Like slaves. That' just…" she trailed off, pulling a face. Harry and Neville shuffled closer. The twins moved forwards, too, until the five of them were crowded in the secret passage behind the mirror, watching Leon's 'film' flash through 'A Week in the Life of Peter Pettigrew'.

"Well, now we know," whispered George. "When… when will the mandrake potion be ready?"

"Halloween, I think," Neville admitted. "The mandrakes don't have to be fully mature to supply the sap for the potion, but they do have to be large enough to survive the loss, even if I do take some from multiple plants."

"Halloween, that's cutting it a little close, don't you think?" Harry asked, squeezing Su's hand as he spoke. He still couldn't quite believe that Pettigrew had been living like this, so close to him, a former friend of his parents, the man who betrayed his family to Voldemort, and Harry had never known. Never suspected.

"As long as it's ready before dinner time," Su murmured. "The elves like the twins, they don't mind helping out with a prank sometimes, as long as it's not messy."

"We're only messy sometimes," Fred nodded.

"Are you nervous?" George asked, looking at the second years.

They hesitated before nodding.

"I feel like I'm going to be sick," Su admitted. "I mean, sure, we're exposing him. But Pettigrew's still a Death Eater, what if he attacks someone while he's trying to escape?"

"We should all be ready with Body-binders then," Harry told them. "The twins can use stunners, right?"

"Well, we could theoretically," Fred frowned. "But Lockhart's kind of useless in that sense. I think we can find some snakes to practice on, though. Don't you?"

"Absolutely," George nodded. No one commented on how pale the twins' faces were. They were all feeling a little terrified, now that Halloween was only a week away and their plan was coming closer and closer to fruition.

"You've got the ingredients?" Fred asked Neville, who nodded, and pulled out a few packets of plant leaves and ground up twigs.

"You can handle Lockhart?" Harry asked. "He's vain, he'll never want to come to the Halloween feast looking anything less than perfect. If you can get into his office, get his robes too. We want to be thorough, and Lockhart can't be allowed anywhere near us."

"Yes, sir!" The twins saluted Harry. They sighed as the 'film' flickered away. The twins cancelled the tracking charm on Leon, but didn't remove the 'camera' charms just in case they ever needed a spy again. "Here's your pet back, Harry."

"Thanks."

"You ready?" Su asked as they all left the passage and walked down to dinner, scowling at Lockhart on the way. The boys decided to join her at the Ravenclaw table, not wanting to be anywhere near Pettigrew if they could help it.

"As we'll ever be," Neville mumbled, his face white.

"I think Luna's about to recommend we eat some chocolate," Su whispered as they approached the first-year, still sitting all alone in her small section of the Ravenclaw table. The trio ignored the odd looks they got when they went to sit with Su's eccentric friend – Harry hated the attention, but suspected this time it had more to do with 'why would anyone willingly subject themselves to Loony Lovegood' than 'I can't believe that's Harry Potter!' although, in all fairness, it might have been a bit of both.

"Hello, Harry Potter," Luna hummed. "Hello Su Ren. Who's your friend?"

"Luna, this is Neville Longbottom. Neville, this is Luna Lovegood," Su introduced.

"Ren?" Harry whispered.

"My middle name," Su whispered back.

"You're looking awfully pale," Luna informed them, her eyes glued to the ceiling.

"We're planning a little mischief," Su admitted.

"Got any advice to keep the nargles away?" Harry asked. "We've got enough trouble on our hands without them stirring things up."

"You should make a mistletoe trap," Luna hummed. "It's not Christmas season, but it is getting colder. You might fool them."

"We should put the mistletoe in Lockhart's office," Neville mused. "Can't be too careful with him. Crazy madman."

"He's a fraud, you know," Luna hummed. "He's not a real wizard at all. He's Humphrey Bogart's mucked-up homunculus, and the Ministry's trying to keep it under wraps."

"Is that something you read in the Quibbler?" Su asked, by now used to Luna's odd theories and conspiracies. "Or is at an absolute secret you share only with your father."

"The Quibbler did a series on him when he became the Defence teacher," Luna hummed, ignoring the roast beef in favour of the only bowl of chocolate pudding on the table. Harry wasn't surprised to see it, not really, and thought that Luna might have some sort of arrangement with the House Elves.

Hermione Granger – whose parents were dentists – would probably have a fit if she knew about Luna's sugar intake. It was a thought that made him laugh, and when he shared the joke with his friends, it helped break up the tense atmosphere.

One week 'til Halloween.

One week and all hell would break loose.


"Stop pacing." Su jumped, startled, and turned around. The Girl was standing there frowning at her, blue eyes wide and luminescent.

"You can't tell me what to do," Su scowled, and returned to her pacing, making sure to keep as far away from the Veil as possible. "Especially since you usually don't even talk to me. You can just get over yourself. I'm sick of you."

"Why?"

"Because you're haunting my dreams, and I don't even know who you are, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of freaking out here!"

The Girl looked at her, and Su scowled.

"Ana."

What?

"Pardon?" Su asked. "What was that?"

"My name is Ana," she said, drawing out the ahs out long and drooping, so that it rhymed more with tiara – er, sort of – rather than the shorter dropped syllables or a regular 'Anna'. "My brother called me that."

"You have a brother?"

"Had. I'm dead now. Sort of."

Su blinked. What the hell?

"So… you're dead?"

"As dead as you are."

"So I am dead."

"Well, you were. I was." Ana sighed, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I know you still sort of think that I'm a figment of your imagination… maybe I am. Maybe you're just dreaming this whole world. But I think I'm real, which is something."

Su dropped to the floor, her knees refusing to hold her up any longer, even in a dream.

"This is so weird."

"So why were you pacing, then?" Ana asked as she cautiously approached, and then sat opposite, Su. "Are you worried about something?"

"Do you talk to other people?" Su asked. "I mean, in other dreams, in other people's heads?"

Ana shook her head. "No. I live here, in your brain. I live vicariously through you."

"Vicariously," Su snorted, trying to sort through the confession that Ana lived in her head and wasn't that really, really weird? "Good word."

"Learned it from you," Ana held up the book, which Su realised was titled Su's Vocabulary. "This is your dictionary… sort of."

"This is so weird." Su repeated.

"So… you want to talk about it?" asked Ana.

"I thought you lived vicariously through me?" Su frowned. "Don't you already know what's going on, if you live inside my head?"

Ana shrugged. "Isn't it good to have a sounding board?"

"Why are you talking to me now, though?" Su frowned, now completely distracted from the Pettigrew Problem. "I mean you never have before – not really. Why now?"

"It's lonely," Ana admitted. "You don't exactly have an abundance of imaginary friends that I can talk to. I was afraid before that… that you'd try to get rid of me. But I've been thinking about it, and I don't think that you can – not without killing yourself. We're stuck together, two souls in one body."

Su groaned, dropping her face into her knees. "My brain hurts," she mumbled. "I have no idea what's going on. No. Idea."

They sat in silence for a while, Su trying to wrap her head around what Ana was saying – two souls? Death? She had a brother? She had a personalised dictionary?

Ana just watched her, knowing what Su was worried about, in a vague sense… but living in the other girl's head had only given her access to her knowledge, and to looking at the world through her eyes, like the 'films' that Su watched sometimes.

She didn't really know what Su thought about the world around her, though she could guess, a little. And she really was lonely.

"Okay," Su breathed out. "I guess I can sort of accept it. Were you… were you that silver mist I saw? When I fell through the Veil? Is that why we fell through – because two souls have more life than just one? So why was I the body that came out? Why not you? I don't understand."

"Don't tell the Department of Mysteries," Ana pleaded. "I don't… some of them scare me. What if they… what if they try to separate us, and we die for real?"

Su frowned. "I don't think Beatrice would let that happen… but she's not the only Unspeakable around. You're right, it's possible that they'll separate us and accidentally kill us. They don't know any more about this than we do."

"We can do our own research," Ana offered. "You might not have a photographic memory, but I can look through what you've seen in more detail. Two heads are better than one, right? It'll be like multi-tasking thinking."

Su laughed. "This is so weird," was becoming her catchphrase tonight. This Ana was almost as crazy as Luna… and suddenly so sociable. When did that happen?

"Sure," she said at last. "Can't hurt, though I don't really know what titles we'd look at. Theories on souls, I guess. Magical auras. I bet some of the stuff will veer into Dark Arts territory, so I think we'll look into that as a last resort."

Ana beamed. "I'm glad we're friends now."

"Is that what we are?" Su asked, bemused. "Sure. Whatever you say."

"Do you want to talk about Pettigrew now?"

The rest of the dream was spent ranting about Pettigrew (Su) and listening to woes (Ana) – they talked about everything from Su's knowledge of the Harry Potter books, to what might have changed due to Su's interference in the timeline, and the possibilities that Voldemort might either be defeated earlier than scheduled, or might end up ruling the world depending on how Su acted from now on.

"I'm scared," Su admitted. "That what I'm doing is wrong, that I've ruined everything."

"It's too late to change now," Ana told her. "You've just got to do your best to get the most positive outcome. You're already rescuing an innocent man from Azkaban, and stopped Mrs Norris from getting petrified – not to mention all those other students."

Su's thoughts went to Colin Creevey, who was surprisingly adorable. It kind of broke her heart that such a sweet and enthusiastic kid had been petrified by a… a…

She swore.

"What?"

"I can' remember what Slytherin's bloody monster is!"

"Is that important? You've already got the diary. You've already stopped it."

"Are you sure?"

Ana nodded.

Su sighed. "I guess I'm just paranoid. A lot of last year followed the plot of the books even though I tried to avoid it."

"The confrontation with Quirrell," Ana nodded.

"I just hope that the diary doesn't get out again. I've buried it at the bottom of my trunk, but I think the only way to be sure is to destroy it."

"Well, one problem at a time," Ana told her. "Handle Pettigrew first. Then worry about the diary."

"Halloween's tomorrow," Su sighed, looking over at the Veil, fluttering in some non-existent wind. "I just hope we're doing the right thing."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Ana assured her.

Su didn't really feel comforted though, being told that by a dead person.


A/N: I'm actually really happy with this chapter! It might be my favourite so far! We've got smart!Harry, sneaky!twins, Leon-the-Spy, and loveable!Luna.

The identity of the Mysterious Girl is (sort of) revealed! This will be a continuing plot point, so feel free to guess what's going on.

What do you think will happen next? Will Pettigrew escape? Will he be captured? Will Harry be able to live with freed!Sirius, or will Dumbledore interfere and send him back to the Dursleys for 'his own protection'?

Feel free to review and tell me what you think!