Author's Note: First, thank you for still reading! Second, we move onto the next part – which I will try not to make too depressing. We all deal with depression differently and I think Harry could react to this in several ways. I really believe that when the response can be so varied, it is always best to write what you know. Therefore, I am going with my interpretation of how I would react given everything that happened. In the interest of not spending pages and pages of Harry being in a catatonic state for a month before he returns to Hogwarts and boring the hell out of you or being incredibly sad - I will be moving him to Hogwarts relatively quickly. That is where he will deal will a lot of his issues and come to terms with things. And not everything he does will be rational because no one deals with these things rationally.

Also, do not fear: Umbitch will get hers in a most delicious way – even if it may take awhile.

Just wanted to give a big thanks to all those who have reviewed or sent me a PM or really anyone that is reading it.

Posted 8/4/15

Standard disclaimer about not owning anything; I am so thankful for JKR and all that she did for us. She gave us one of the greatest gifts, and so many people have taken to this site and played brilliantly with her creation. We should have a JKR day and it should be a global holiday!

Harry remained unconscious for an entire day. The emotional toll from losing Cedric combined with his exhausted energy levels from casting his Patronus had been a shock to his system. He would have woken up sooner but his mind was still trying to come to terms with what had happened. The grief was still too near for him to be able to process it properly, and so his unconscious mind had simply cut off his access to most of those memories and feelings and buried them deep within the recesses of his mind.

However, he would still be vaguely aware that something terrible had happened to Cedric – but only to a point; he wouldn't be able to think about what exactly had befallen his boyfriend or that it was permanent. If he passed that point, then he would risk unleashing a flurry of unresolved issues and forcing him to deal with them.

However, his body would certainly be able to feel the loss even if his mind was allowing him to be in denial of some of the issues. An ache settled into the center of his chest that would stay with him for quite a long time.

Harry's sleeping form had been watched over by Sirius, who had remained by his side the entire time, his hand protectively holding onto Harry's and willing him to wake up. And eventually, his eyes did open – but they had changed. They were no longer vibrant and the color of shining emeralds, now they were dull, lifeless orbs that were speckled with gray streaks. From that moment on, Sirius knew that the road to recovery was going to be a long one.

And those first few, conscious breaths that Harry took were some of the hardest that he had ever taken…

Ministry Seeks Safety Reform

By Rita Skeeter

My Dear Readers,

In a landmark move, the late August session of the Wizenagamot enacted legislation that will impact the lives of the young witches and wizards that attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The new bill, Educational Decree Number Twenty Two, provides for a Ministry employee to be a member of Hogwarts' staff to facilitate easier and more effective communication between the two illustrious institutions. The Minister is pleased to announce the appointment of Dolores Umbridge to the post, who in addition to her Ministry duties at Hogwarts will also fill the vacant position in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ms. Umbridge was recently appointed the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and has his full confidence in this endeavor. Furthermore, the legislation also provides an Auror to be stationed at Hogwarts. This is hoped to foster a safer environment for our children who attend the celebrated school in light of that tragic event concerning wayward Dementors…

Harry's indistinct, green eyes quickly read the beginning of the front page of the Daily Prophet before starting to feel an uncomfortable sensation that threatened to overwhelm him as he read past tragic events involving Dementors. He quickly and quietly passed the paper along to Hermione, who accepted the wrinkled pages as they were offered. Her eyes were wary and heartbroken after watching her friend silently suffer over the past month.

Both her and Ron had essentially moved into Grimmauld Place about a week after his birthday, which Sirius had been grateful for, seeing as how he didn't really know what to do. Harry had barely spoken in the month since Cedric's accident, and everyone assumed because it was too difficult for him to speak about, let alone process. Though, they were sure he hadn't even begun to deal with it.

Sirius had been unable to find a way around the wall that Harry had put up in the aftermath of the tragedy that had befallen Cedric. Harry was devoid of most emotions that one would have expected him to run through: he didn't cry, scream, or really even get angry. Sirius had even had a Mind Healer come to Grimmauld Place – since leaving his home was something that Harry had showed no interest in doing – but even a professional couldn't get Harry to open up about what he was feeling or even mention Cedric. Harry had just sat there, ignoring what the Mind Healer was even saying, until he had simply had enough and got up and left the room.

Harry acted like he was on autopilot: he would respond to yes or no questions but never offered anything further. He would spend most of the time in his room outside of meals and using the bathroom. And when he did venture about the halls of Grimmauld Place, it was usually to go to the library to pull out yet another ancient tome that he would spend the rest of the day perusing. Unbeknownst to the others, he had already gone through his books for the upcoming year.

His inability to sleep for more than a few hours contributed significantly to the amount of material that he could go through. It was easier for him to fully focus on this than to think about his real issues. Only a few times did he ever come close to touching on what he needed to come to terms with, but even as his left hand played with the ring that Cedric had given him, he never completely was able to shake his denial. It was as if he thought to himself that Cedric was just away and would be coming back eventually.

Any of the life or joy that Sirius or Remus had witnessed on the morning of his birthday when Cedric had been over was gone, replaced with a haunted, almost vacant expression. Sirius had stopped trying to get Harry to open up, and hoped – for that was all he could do – that, in time, Harry would find some way to get through this.

Sirius had even gone to the Ministry and convinced Amelia and the Minister to let him rejoin the Aurors, which he said he would do for no pay if he could only be stationed at Hogwarts for the year. His only goal - his only thought - was to be as close to Harry as possible during the upcoming year and the Ministry had jumped on his generous offer, knowing that it would help allay some of the fears in the wake of Cedric being kissed.

The populace was terrified and didn't know what to think. Some were even calling for the removal of the Dementors from Azkaban so that they could be sacrificed; the only problem was that no one knew how to kill a Dementor. The best one could hope for was to be able to drive them off, and the Ministry was forced to offer sessions where they attempted to teach the Patronus Charm.

Sirius had gone to them with his request after Harry had said that he would return to Hogwarts, which Sirius would not have forced him to do – he didn't have it in him to cause Harry one more iota of discomfort if he could help it. Harry had only elaborated that it was something that he had had to do and so he would do it.

Back at the kitchen table, where Hermione had just been given the Daily Prophet that featured Educational Decree Number Twenty Two, everyone present was lost in their own thoughts that centered on this unfortunate event. At times, they would have the occasional stray thought about what things would be like if it had never happened at all. That was much easier to think about than the present, but it also made the present that much ore difficult to return to. So, they tried to keep those thoughts at bay or put them in the future about things were going to turn out.

All of these thoughts were in running through everyone's mind except Hermione, who had accepted the article that Harry had given her and read it, albeit taking more careful consideration with the announcement than the others had. She wondered if this recent Educational Decree and had more to do with Voldemort's return or what had happened to Cedric. She, of course, knew about Sirius' new position because she had inadvertently given him the idea one day, and Sirius was hoping to use that to give Harry something, anything, to be slightly cheerful about.

Hermione folded the paper and set it down, conveying to Ron that the article had appeared with a slight side-to-side movement with her eyes, going from Sirius to Harry. He nodded his understanding, pushing his plate that still had food on it away. Ron had felt so horrible for Harry that he had lost weight in the past month because he was too unhappy to eat.

Hermione then motioned to Sirius, who was trying not to stare at his Godson, wishing that he could do anything to take the pain away. Hermione hoped that this would cause Harry to smile, but she doubted that it would have any effect, and that Harry would react to it just like he had reacted to everything else.

"Did you see the paper, Harry?" Sirius still had a faint trace of optimism in his eyes that this could help bring Harry out of his shell.

Harry nodded, absentmindedly finishing his meager breakfast – but at least he was eating – and reading his newest book that prevented him from thinking about Cedric on this particular day. And when that was finished he would simply move onto the next book, allowing him to put off thoughts of Cedric indefinitely.

"Curious as to who the Auror will be?" Sirius asked hopefully; he had been saving the news of this for a few days.

Harry barely shrugged his shoulders and kept his focus on the text.

Hermione gave Sirius a pained look, but hoped that Sirius would never give up on Harry, no matter how long it took – because she never would.

"I will be the Auror, Harry. I'll be able to stay close by all year." Ron's eyes were torn between Harry and Hermione, who he had gotten used to communicating silently with so as to not say certain things in front of Harry.

It hardly registered on his face, but he did nod his head, in par with the reaction they had expected.

"May I be excused?" Harry asked quietly. "I need to finish packing," he stated dully; however, it was the most he had ever said at one time, and they would hold onto any positive sign or thing that they could.

"Sure, pup. Did you need any help?" Everyone at the table, besides Harry, noticed the pleading in Sirius' voice.

Harry simply shook his head, moved his dishes to the sink – Kreacher had even stopped trying to protest him cleaning up after himself because he too was concerned over Harry's well-being and had been ordered by Sirius to 'just go with it' – and exited the room.

It was silent for a few moments until Remus placed his hand on Sirius' shoulder, giving the man some form of comfort. The four of them were used to being in the kitchen together. They had spent many hours, sometimes going well into the early morning talking about Harry and debating what the next step should be.

"I wish I knew what to do," Sirius sighed into his hands, dropping his head onto the table.

"Even if you did everything right," Remus' steady voice sounded, "Harry needs time to deal with this in his own way. We all know what his life has been like these past few years, and the only thing we can hope is that he finds a way through this."

"I just want to know he is going to be fine. I even went to Dumbledore about this last week. I pleaded with him to perform Legilimency, to make sure that we hadn't lost him to misery."

Remus didn't know the man had been that desperate to do something that he knew wouldn't work. It must have been during a weak moment where he couldn't stand the pain hurting Harry anymore and simply being unable to do anything about it.

Ron and Hermione had learned somewhat about Occlumency and Legilimency, but didn't fully understand the implications of what they were discussing.

"Albus tried to comfort me then. He reminded me of what I knew: Legilimency would be of no use in this situation based on how Harry was acting. He said that Harry was likely so entrenched in his own mind that in this state he would be likely to keep out even Voldemort, the most vicious Legilimens in the world."

In fact, Albus had been quite concerned with how Harry was taking this, and, even though he wanted to know what was going on in Harry's mind, he wouldn't have performed Legilimency even if he could have. There were some lines that even Albus just wouldn't cross.

"Dumbledore went on to say that we have done all that we can do and to just keep doing it. He said that both of you," he looked to Ron and Hermione," should continue to stay by his side in case he opens up, which he assured me would come."

Ron and Hermione didn't have to look at the other one to know that they were equally committed to their friend for life and would do anything to help him become whole again.

"Albus reminded me that I had been at rock-bottom before, with losing James and Lily and then spending all of those years in Azkaban. And he was right: I did manage to come out of it, but I had people to help me through it." He looked Remus, his oldest living friend, and grabbed his arm.

"We have to promise to be there for Harry. No matter what." Sirius finished.

They all nodded in agreement and then relaxed into their chairs.

"Where do we go from here?" Hermione asked, her brown eyes looking at each of them in turn before settling in the general direction of where Harry's room was.

Remus answered her.

"You and Ron just keep doing what you have been doing. I'm sure there will be some stares at school, but I'm told the teachers will be on hand to head a majority of this off. I expect that Hufflepuffs will take this the hardest since he was really looked up to in his house."

"Is Harry going to go visit Cedric before we go?" Ron asked, wringing his fingers in his agitated state.

"I don't think so," Sirius uttered, knowing that each person responded to tragedy differently.

"I know it can be difficult to understand his reasoning in this, but I think he is still in denial now. Seeing Cedric, lying there in St. Mongo's, will make it final for him. The Mind Healer said as much to me after things didn't go well with her session with him."

Hermione had understood it when it had been put that way.

Sirius refilled his steaming cup of tea, and sat there, thinking about when he went to offer his condolences to Amos and his wife. They had been unaware of Harry and Cedric's relationship and Sirius had told them that Harry was bereft at the loss of a close friend, which they could understand under the auspice of Harry's youth. Sirius couldn't imagine their loss, but at the same time, was thankful that they harbored no ill will towards him or Harry or anyone that had been at The Weasleys that night.

They considered the event for the simple tragedy that the Daily Prophet had made it out to be: rogue Dementors raining terror down upon the countryside. They were just thankful that more lives hadn't been lost, even if they wished that it had happened to someone other than their son. To them, Cedric's life would forever be at St. Mongo's until his body gave out. Wizards didn't believe in ending someone's life support, despite knowing that the soul was no longer there.

Sirius's thoughts were interrupted by Hermione and Ron getting up from the table, with Hermione so lost in her own head that she left her dishes on the table for Kreacher to clean up. Normally, she tried to do everything in her power to not be a burden on the elf, which just made him mad at having more person around that didn't need him.

The pair of teenagers moved to the library, where instead of grabbing one of the many books she would have liked to read, she just sat down on the other end of the large sofa that Ron was seated at. They shared a deep, meaningful look before returning to their own thoughts. Soon, they each drifted off to sleep, the many nights of staying up late finally catching up with them.


The news of the Dementor attack had interested him greatly. How had two Dementors found their way so far from where they were bound to serve the Ministry at Azkaban?

At first, he had been enraged, thinking that either Bella or Barty would have been so monumentally stupid as to do something involving Harry Potter without his explicit permission. But they had denied it, even under the duress of his Cruciatus Curse.

'Who then,' he had thought, 'would have done it?' He was sure that Dumbledore and the Ministry would have assumed that he was behind it, but the increased awareness of the populace to some of the horrors of their world and the increased defense of Hogwarts were some of the last things that he wanted. His goal for right now was to quietly build up his strength and then attack; he didn't want them prepared, he wanted them weak and susceptible. The Dark Lord was displeased that there was someone unknown to consider, a new player emerging and throwing a wrench into his plans.

He wondered if perhaps one of his former followers had tried to please him and atone for not serving him fully after that Halloween night. It was too soon to make his presence fully known to his Death Eaters, but he would soon get to the bottom of it. Of course, that person would be punished for daring to make things harder for him if that turned out to be the case.

The Dark Lord was interrupted from his musings by a knock at his door and threw the Daily Prophet article to the side.

"Enter," he commanded.

Bella and Barty entered his study, and walked towards him; both had their heads bent and kept their eyes focused on the floor, remembering all too well the effects of his curse that still lingered in their nerves.

"Yes?" he blurted impatiently.

"We have the information you requested, my Lord," Bella prostrated herself before him while Barty handed a thick envelop over to him.

"That will be all," he drawled, his red eyes alight with excitement at the contents that they had no doubt been researching far into the night. It was so much easier for him to have minions to take care of the mundane tasks so that he could focus on more important matters.

Bella quickly picked herself up off of the floor and followed Barty out of his chambers, leaving Voldemort to begin devising his plan of acquiring the prophecy with no one being the wiser.


Dolores Umbridge patted herself on the back. Finally, she would get some of the credit that she was due. It had been difficult with Harry living in a place that was unplottable, but she had been patient and a perfect opportunity presented itself at his birthday party of all things. Well, not quite so perfect. She would have preferred him to either be kissed or kicked out of the magical world for performing underage magic, but too many adults had witnessed it to be able to play that angle.

'Serves him right, the little liar,' she thought, not even disappointed that her target had managed to survive while some Diggory boy had been kissed instead. The effect was still the same: she had been promoted to a special position that came with great publicity after what had been denied her in the wake of the Triwizard Tournament. Then, she just had to teach at Hogwarts for a year and work in a few more Daily Prophet articles that celebrated the important work that she was doing. Hopefully, by that point, this whole charade of preparing for war with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will have settled down and she could return to a hero's welcome at the Ministry and finally take up being Senior Undersecretary in the way it should have happened the first time.

And from there, with all of that power and recognition, she could make her bid for

Minister after Cornelius left. Oh, the thought made her giddy with anticipation and she could hardly stop her sweet and sickly smile; this had ended up working out far better than she had hoped. Dolores congratulated herself on a job well done and finished packing all of her fine, cat-adorned china that she would be taking to Hogwarts.


The journey to King's Cross from Grimmauld Place was short. Sirius had offered to take Harry directly to Hogwarts with him later that evening so that he didn't have to face the other students on the train; but Harry had just mumbled something about getting it out of the way.

They arrived early and quickly found an empty compartment in the back of the train, which Harry wasted no time in pulling out his current book and getting comfortable after he stowed his belongings.

Hermione and Ron finished putting their things away and then quickly changed into their robes, knowing that they had to serve as prefects later in the journey. Ron had felt weird that he had been selected over Harry, but his friend had simply given him a brief nod and that had been the end of that. Still, Ron tried not to make it seem like a big deal, and had prevented his mum from trying to have a party over it to celebrate.

Harry was pretty much silent for the entire journey and barely even acknowledged when Ron and Hermione went to get their instructions from the Head Boy and Head Girl this year. Although, they didn't use the term Head Boy because Cedric would have likely gotten it and they had gotten used to steering clear of all references of Harry's brief boyfriend.

After they left, Harry casted a few charms that would keep nosy people away from him. He had no desire to have a run-in with Malfoy and would have had no patience for dealing with his tripe or any qualms about using his wand to silence the boy. He may have been in denial about coming to terms with what happened, but he had learned a great deal of magic this summer.

Plus, with the considerable amount of time that he had spent inside his head during the month of August – especially at night when he couldn't sleep - nearly all of his memories were stored and he had a tremendous ability to recall a majority of what he had learned, instantly. Though, not all of his memories had been successively dealt with; the ones that involved Cedric in some way had been relegated to a distance corner of his night sky, near the horizon where he never had to deal with them. This also partly explained his behavior over the past month, because doing all of this had given him something to do to occupy his time and thoughts.

Eventually Hermione and Ron returned when they were approaching Hogsmeade, and passed through Harry's wards easily and unknowingly.

They lingered behind on the train for a moment, letting all of the other students disembark before catching one of the last carriages to the castle.

Let me know what you think!