Thanks for the reviews, allthingsbright and luluguineapig! This is…another not-so-happy chapter. This is becoming a trend.

Lily,

Your Headmaster wrote to us about what happened. Don't worry. We can't go to the castle to come and visit you, but you're in the safest place in the world at Hogwarts. Whatever's happening, it will pass. We're proud of how brave you were on the night everything happened – you're doing so well at school, better than even Mum or I could have hoped. Stay strong, sweetie.

-Dad

Also, your grandmother wanted to make sure you're feeling alright. Don't show this to James, or he's going to demand we send some to him, too.

Lily rolled a bag the size of a basketball in her hands, listening to her grandmother's homemade toffee rustling about inside. At least her father had the sense to send it to Al when she'd been in the hospital: James likely would have pilfered half of it by now.

A few feet away, Natalie's bed remained empty. Bits of parchment, two books, and something brown and fluffy stuck out of her closed school trunk. Lily would have just taken it as Natalie shoving things haphazardly into the trunk at first thought, but she'd heard otherwise from Sara, who'd been a lot friendlier to her in the days since she'd escaped the hospital wing.

"The second day after you and Natalie left, he just came in, told us all to leave for a minute, and…I guess he went through her trunk. Nothing in my trunk was moved, so just hers," Sara said, her voice catching in the end. "I don't know why. Trent had already gone to the hospital too by then with a stomachache, and other kids also."

"Who's he?"

"Professor Vos! He just came in and didn't answer any questions."

Lily tossed her grandmother's toffee bag in her trunk and sighed. What had he hoped to find in Natalie's stuff? She'd liked Vos from the get-go, but now with him forcing her into the hospital wing and then this…Lily found herself re-analyzing her opinion of her Astronomy teacher. He'd been so friendly and open in private, but that'd changed as soon as this went down.

Not that Lily had had a chance to say anything to her professor since getting out of the wing. Now she'd have that chance. With classes in the castle back on, Lily didn't look forward to heading up to the Astronomy Tower for once.

She stepped out into the Ravenclaw common room to overhear the end of an argument between a pair of angry fifth-years: "There's no point even trying until break. No Hogsmeade trip, Quidditch cancelled, bloody hell, Care of Magical Creatures was even the best class, and that's cancelled since we can't even walk outside. The best we can do is Gobstones? Really? Absolute bullocks. Yeah, I'm real motivated."

Logan waited for her near the exit to the staircase, his bookbag in hand. "I usually go with Wayne, but he left early with Amir," he said as they departed, leaving a yawning statuette berating them in their wake ("Eagles are diurnal, you dimwits. Do I look like an owl?") "I don't think Amir's taking Trent being in the hospital wing too well since they're good."

"Yeah," Lily murmured. She didn't want to talk about the hospital wing. In fact, she'd be happy if she didn't see the inside of that place ever again over the next six and a half years.

Logan looked around with a tired expression and heavy eyebrows. The Ravenclaw staircase seemed so much darker this Friday night, the flickering shadows from wall-hung torches longer, the new moon outside making glimpses of the grounds seem less inviting than haunting. The barren trees of the Forbidden Forest were an army of skeletons creaking in the wind.

"So no Quidditch and we're shut up in here. What's the point?" said Logan.

"We could go back and sleep," Lily suggested, trying her hand at making him brighten up.

It didn't work. Lily didn't know whether Logan had taken the outbreak particularly hard or whether he was always stuck with his flat, stony, stoic expression. That wasn't helped by his curly black hair and those blue eyes of his, especially set against the black Hogwarts robes. He desperately needed an injection of cheer. Having him talking to her regularly now felt odd, as if Lily had entered the hospital wing from one world and exited it to another, a world where Logan, Wayne, even Sara and her Hogsmeade groupies didn't ignore her out of instinct.

Lily hadn't worked up the courage to suggest Logan try smiling more than once a day.

"Classes are weird with empty seats. It don't feel right," Logan murmured as they walked down a dark, empty corridor towards the Astronomy Tower. Lily nodded, looking down at her feet. It felt stupid worrying about going to class when so many kids still suffered in the hospital wing. Here they were about to take notes while at the same time Natalie might very well be struggling against something horrible burrowing through her body.

"You afraid of getting sick?" said Logan, noticing her pressing her arms into her chest. Lily glanced up at him for a moment before returning her eyes to the floor. She nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Well. If you get sick now, you still might be able to get your old hospital bed back."

Lily stopped and flinched. She looked up at him, expecting Logan to be scowling at her. Instead she something funny – the hint of a smile curling up the corners of his lips. Something strange slithered through her insides. That cold feeling she'd felt so many times during her first two months at Hogwarts fought for ground in her stomach, but at the same time, something warm, something that wanted to laugh and smile, pushed back.

She bit her lip and let out half of a high-pitched giggle. It was a start. An awkward one, but she had to start somewhere.

Astronomy felt like pulling teeth. By the time Lily and Logan reached the tower loft, most of the Ravenclaws had arrived, and Lily had no time to confront her professor one-on-one. Unlike Sara, Evie hadn't warmed up to Lily at all since her ordeal: If anything, she tried to put as much distance between them as possible, as if concerned Lily was contagious and would strike her dead with one touch. While Evie commandeered their telescope to watch Jupiter ("I'll do it. Just write things down when I tell you to,") Lily watched Professor Vos as he strolled along the outside of the outdoor portico, scanning the Forbidden Forest and the lake when he wasn't checking in on the first-years.

"Homework," Vos belted out after a draining couple of hours, "is three feet on Jupiter's moons of Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, including their history, importance, and what each moon could hold for the future. That's all."

"Three feet? Bye-bye weekend," Wayne groaned.

Vos overheard him. "There's more than enough for three feet. Any less and it'd be a godawful essay," he said. "Imagine you're me, and you have to read parchment that says by Wayne Torres at the top. That's already agony. It's almost as bad as reading what the Gryffindors give me."

The other Ravenclaws laughed, even Wayne, but Lily only stared off into the darkness. She'd come up wanting to grill her professor, but now she just wanted to leave.

"Alright, get out of here," Vos said to them all. "Need someone to help me clean up the telescopes. Lily, you're conscripted. The rest of you go pass out."

Lily had a feeling that wasn't a random pick.

After the last of the first-years filed out, Vos flicked his wand at the telescopes, gathered them into one cluster, and shuttled them off into a corner of the loft. "I can already see you're furious with me," he said, relaxing against a pillar of the portico and crossing his arms.

"I'm fine, sir," Lily murmured.

"Do you understand that I had a good reason to put you away in the hospital?"

Lily said nothing, keeping her eyes on her feet. She didn't want to give her professor the satisfaction of an answer. Vos ushered her into his office once more, within the same confines of an enchanted moonlit evening overlooking the plains of what Lily figured was her professor's native Africa. The blue ball in the corner still hummed and leaked its mysterious fog, and the dagger still hung beneath the red and green flag.

"When I saw Natalie sick, I threw up a shield around myself, just like I did around your bed in the ward," he said. "For all I knew, Natalie had touched something, or brought something into the castle, that had gotten her sick. I had to do something to safeguard things, and since you were holding her, I had to take precautions. I went through Natalie's things the very next day and found nothing with any trace of disease. If I could've released you then and there…if it was up to me, you would've been out."

"I wasn't sick, sir," Lily muttered towards her lap.

Vos watched her for a moment, quiet, before laughing and saying, "Come on, Lily, you're a smart girl. I fished out that dead merman you and your brother stumbled upon. And knowing your brother, you've at least heard what happened last term regarding a certain centaur. That's three incidents in half a year. And this latest – forty-five students go sick in four days, and then that's it all of the sudden? No more sick people? Put the pieces together. That's not natural."

Lily looked up at him at last. "Something did all three?"

"I don't have evidence, but you going to call that coincidence?" he scoffed. "Something's trying to worm its way past our defenses and get in the castle, for…whatever reason. I know what I saw in the eyes of that dead merman. It was Imperiused before it died, and given the castle's protections, it had no chance when it ran into the magical shell. Wham, splat. So when I say I wanted to protect you when I sealed you up in the hospital ward, know that I mean it. Hell, I think you're one of my better students. I want you to do well."

"The Healer and the Headmaster didn't care too much about me."

"St. Mungo's chucked Justman at Hogwarts three years ago, and I think they were happy to pawn him off," Vos scoffed. "As for Headmaster Maribor…he's a brilliant administrator, unrivaled in the magical community, and an even better fighter. In the second war against Voldemort, he was part of the Auror's Office and escaped during the Ministry takeover. He fought three Death Eaters near Surrey, all by himself, and killed them all. Didn't stun them. Didn't incapacitate them. Killed them, and inventively, not through Unforgivable Curses, but by legal means. But – and you didn't hear it from me – he's not a very relatable man. The public, and the board especially, love him because he picks the effective solution over the sympathetic one every time."

Vos went quiet for a moment, watching his glowing blue ball, before going on: "All I really want you to know is that you did the right thing. Sticking by Natalie's side that night might've cost you, but that's the kind of everyday courage we need more of in the world. Maybe it's not the kind of brash heroism and bravery the Gryffindors espouse, but…well, your mother and father would have made the same choice."

Lily huddled tighter in her chair. She'd gone from raging inside at her professor to wanting to cry in the middle of his office. "Did – do you know my mum and dad?" she asked, her voice very quiet.

"By reputation only," said Vos. "I wasn't even in Britain during the second war against Voldemort. But..." he paused, looking at Lily with his brow clenched. "Lily, you've twice ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bad timing, I guess, but be careful."

"What do you mean?" she whispered.

"If something is trying to attack Hogwarts, something…look, Lily. When I went to Germany to work under their officials in the early years of this century, I mentored under a man who took me across the world. We once went to Malta, back in 2005. There're ruins there, ancient ruins the non-magical community knows as the Hypogeum of Hal-Saflieni. They're incredibly old. We investigated a cavern the…the Muggles don't know about, an underbelly of the ruins. We found something there. Something old. Much older than Hogwarts, dating back to an era when magic wasn't so structured and organized, and when the Killing Curse wasn't the worst thing that a wizard could inflict on another. Arcane magic. We worry today about dark wizards like Voldemort and Grindelwald, people little different than you and I except for their willingness to do evil, but all I'm saying is that there's also evil out there that's unspeakable. Something odd's happening around Hogwarts, and we all should be careful. That's all. That, and…I was worried about you and Natalie in the hospital."

They were quiet for a minute. Lily watched the gazelles roaming in Vos's enchanted window, wishing she could hop into the picture and escape this world. It looked so peaceful there with the eternal full moon, the breeze blowing the tall grasses, the distant, flat-topped mountains, the animals serene and oblivious to the horrible things that could happen.

Vos got up all of the sudden, grabbing a quill and a piece of parchment. "Oh, wanted to give you something. The St. Mungo's people are going to clear the hospital wing for visitation on Sunday. Overheard one of them talking. I think if they're willing to do it by Sunday, then tomorrow's good enough."

He signed the parchment with a flourish and handed it to her. "Go visit Natalie. Based on…er…she'll like that. Give that to Justman. If he throws a fit, either come get me and I'll put him in his place, or…I think you've probably learned the fire-making spell in Charms by now, right?"

Lily smiled and nodded. "Then go sleep, you rascal," Vos said. "Wake up in time for lunch, at least."

She got up much earlier than that the next morning, even though she was tired when she saw the sun barely hanging over the horizon outside of Ravenclaw Tower. The other first-year girls slept on, still compensating for the late bedtime after the Astronomy lesson. Lily dug the piece of parchment Vos had given her the night before once she'd changed and moved to hurry out to the hospital ward, but she stopped when she saw Natalie's empty bed. The brown and furry thing hung still out of her trunk.

Stupid idea. She was violating her friend's privacy…but…

Lily looked around, and when seeing nobody watching her, popped open Natalie's trunk. An old, scratched-up, brown and white stuffed rabbit lay inside atop a pile of clothes and books. One eye had fallen out long ago, replaced by a black button someone had stuck on with a spell. The rabbit's left ear looked as if a dog had taken a bite out of the tip.

I should just leave it here. It's not my business. As much as Lily wanted to listen to her mind, however, she picked up the rabbit, closed Natalie's trunk, and hurried out of the first-year bedroom.

The halls were empty, and the hospital wing was a solemn affair. The golden light of the sunrise bounced off of shiny tiles across the floor, but it was a sad brilliance of color knowing what awaited behind the many white curtains up in two rows along the walls and windows. Healer Justman reclined in a chair beside a desk at the front of the ward, sound asleep and snoring.

Lily cleared her throat to get his attention. No dice. "Sir?" No dice. Getting nowhere, Lily swallowed hard and slammed her palm against the desk. Whap!

Justman woke with a start. "Merlin! Bah – what do you want? Why are you even here?"

He was perhaps the last person Lily felt like being civil to. She tossed Vos's parchment on the desk, folding her arms across her chest as Justman read it. "Man's interfering in things way beyond him. What do you want, girl?"

"I want to see Natalie. Natalie Hightower."

"Well, everyone here's sick. Come back when we open visiting hours. You're disturbing the peace."

Lily stuck out her lip. "I'm getting Professor Vos," she said, turning and taking a step forward before Healer Justman stood up and knocked his chair over.

"Fine, fine. Absolutely devilish. Wait – what's that?" Justman spotted the stuffed rabbit and snatched it out of Lily's hands. "I need to check this over. Might be contaminated."

Lily hadn't accounted for this. Thinking fast, she lied, "Professor Vos said I could bring it to her. I'm going to get him."

"Fine!" Justman barked. "Fine! Just blackmail me, then! Come over here."

Pleased with herself, Lily snatched the rabbit back and followed him over to a familiar stretch of the ward. She shuddered as she eyed an open bed on the right side of the aisle. Someone had replaced the bedsheet she'd ripped a hole in.

"She's asleep," Healer Justman said, pulling open the curtains before a bed with a small figure resting on it. "You can come back later. Or wait, if that's your thing."

"I'll wait. I'll be quiet," Lily sniffed, pushing past him and dragging a chair up to Natalie's bed.

Her friend looked different. Her nightgown was ratty and dirty, and her bright blonde hair was stained with sweat and curled up in bunches and knots. Dark circles ran under Natalie's eyes. Most frightening of all, long purple blotches lined her neck and the top of her shoulders. Lily almost recoiled in horror: That's where the…worm thing…crawled. It'd left its mark behind. She laid Natalie's rabbit against her feet, sat back in her chair, and waited.

An hour passed. Then another. Someone woke up in a bed nearby, grunting and groaning to greet the morning. Finally, when Lily's eyelids threatened to drop with exhaustion, Natalie stirred.

She breathed in and balled a fist, rubbing her eyes but keeping them closed. After a minute Natalie opened her eyes. She looked to her left at the curtains, frowning, and then glanced up to see Lily. She started, jumping back into her pillow and grabbing her neck with one hand to cover up the purple welts.

"Hi. It's alright," whispered Lily, putting a hand on the bed and forcing a smile. Gosh, I didn't even think. If she'd been in the same position, she would've felt something far beyond self-consciousness over scarring like that. "I…Professor Vos let me in. Are you okay?"

Natalie didn't say anything. Her lip trembled, and she pulled her nightgown up as high as it would go. Something had transformed inside her during her stay: No longer was she the spunky, boundary-pushing girl Lily had known over her first two months at Hogwarts. Natalie was still here, but the light inside her had died. Her green eyes had lost their sparkle. She wasn't anymore the girl willing to trade barbs with Logan and Wayne and shoot plant gunk at Alroy McLaggen, but just a scared kid huddling on a hospital bed, terrified that her classmate would judge her for what had happened.

"I, er, brought you something," Lily said. She hesitated: She couldn't very well tell Natalie that she'd dug in her trunk. Time to lie again. "You left something on your bed, and I saw it before I came here, on accident, and I thought…I mean I figured you might want it."

She bit her tongue and set the rabbit down on the bed. For a moment Lily thought Natalie would yell at her, accuse her of violating her privacy and barging in where she wasn't welcome. Natalie picked up the stuffed animal, her bottom lip trembling as she held it closed to her chest. Then, without warning, she burst into tears. Lily didn't know what to do. Natalie wasn't just crying – she was sobbing as if someone had killed her family, weeping into her rabbit while clutching it to her chest with enough force to choke the life out of the stuffed animal. "Nat, it's alright," Lily said, fighting back tears of her own now. "It's alright."

"No one came," Natalie cried at last. "My mum didn't come. My dad. No one came for me."

Lily wanted to tell her that no one was allowed in, that the castle was shut down, that they were stuck in here until otherwise notified, but her voice didn't work. Maybe it was because she recognized this all too well: Here was Natalie, at her lowest and feeling as if everyone had left her behind.

Anger welled up in her gut. If Vos was right and there was something on the offensive against Hogwarts, it had done a bang-up job already turning this place upside-down.

You're supposed to smile at Hogwarts, not cry. That's what Al had said. There wasn't much smiling going on these days. Lily had looked forward her whole life to coming to this great castle of unity and friendship and exploration and love, and she'd found a place brimming with fear and paranoia, sinking deeper into the mire every day.

The light wasn't just dying out in Natalie's eyes.