James had his arms wrapped around Lily, and they were on one of Hogwart's many balconies with a dozen others, looking down at a procession. Ministry officers were trying to pull the great white dragon out from under the bridge over the Great Lake. The lake had frozen over, and the dragon had cramped itself below it in an alcove and wouldn't come out.

The day before, Harry had attacked it, grounding it, and so it crawled here.

"Why did this happen?" Lily asked bitterly. "What was Harry thinking?"

"He wasn't very stable, was he?" Sirius said from beside them, hugging himself for warmth against the cold day.

"Something was wrong with him…maybe the dragon tried to attack him first." Remus said in Harry's defense.

"I don't think that was it," James said, because he agreed with Sirius. Something was wrong with Harry…from the very beginning something was wrong with him.

Lily pushed out of James's arms and turned to look at him, very upset. "Don't tell me you think he meant to hurt the dragon! You know he loves it!"

"How can someone love a dragon?" Peter scoffed, giggling behind his scarf which was pulled up to his eye line.

Remus looked down on him and said, "Maybe the same way someone could love a werewolf?"

Peter's laughter tittered out and he shrugged. Remus scowled.

James looked around at all his friend's uncertainty, and then he leaned over the banister and looked down at where the dragon was hidden.

"Maybe he needed the dragon to stay here…and it wouldn't."

"So he blasted a chunk of its wing apart?!" demanded Lily.

James sighed, wishing he hadn't said a thing. He wished also – for the thousandth time – that Harry would come back to the school already and explain it all to him. He had asked Dumbledore about it, but the man wasn't looking too great at the moment, and all he said was that Harry went to find the Dark Lord.

You can't fight him alone, man, James thought to himself.

Looking down, he saw Hagrid trying to get the Ministry officer's attention from the sidelines where they had banished him. Hagrid probably knew more at that dragon than they did; James had seen him patting the damn thing's nose, for crying out loud!

"What are we going to do?" Remus asked, leaning over next to James.

"You could fly down there," Sirius said obnoxiously. "Maybe it'll think you're your nephew and cuddle up next to you."

For his trouble, he got Lily's cold shoulder.

James shook his head. "I don't know what we're going to do, but when Harry gets back, he's going to want that dragon here and not off in some dragon reserve."

"Or dead," Remus said bluntly.

James pulled back from the edge and reached again for Lily, and she came into his arms quickly.

Three days after Harry disappeared, Sirius was sure it had something to do with that Merlin ghost Dumbledore kept locked up in his office. He was with the group of Ravenclaw girls he'd often hire to get him information. With the Christmas holiday coming up in a few days, this was his only chance to learn as much about Merlin as he could, so he'd need to really sell himself cheap.

"How long of a kiss?" he asked now, smiling sweetly down at Holly.

"For a complete history?" She asked, pondering that with a cute blush while Sirius played with the curls in her hair. "Five minutes…every day…until the holidays."

Sirius nodded, delightful. "Deal! And you, Anne?"

"The same!" she said. "Plus I want you to be my date to Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day!"

"What?!" Holly shrieked. "No! Be my date on Valentine's Day!"

Sirius pouted right along with Holly, saying, "Sorry. First come, first served."

Anne looked merrily at Holly, who scowled.

"What will Nancy want?" he asked them now.

"Don't know…" Annie said, "but probably something big; that boy from Hufflepuff dumped her this morning."

Sirius was truly shocked. "He didn't!"

Annie nodded knowingly. "He told her right in front of Professor Slughorn, too. I think it was his idea!"

"Slughorn's?" Sirius asked Holly.

"We think so," she said, still wiping angry tears from her eyes. "You know what he's like with those Slug Club kids…He never thought Nancy was good enough, so he was there for support in case he wouldn't do it."

"That's a shame…" Sirius said, then, "So, I was thinking just a general history of Merlin to start with…then we could go deeper into his apprentices…"

A week after Harry was gone, Lily was still consoling James about the dragon's relocation off school grounds. But these last few days, the morning and evening news was bothering her so much that it was starting to look like James would have to be consoling her soon. It was as if You Know Who was out for a vengeance since his defeat here at Hogwarts, and he wasn't holding back. His ranks seemed to be fully replenished, and there were more death and destruction now than ever.

The Ministry was circling the drain, too. There was unease throughout every department, and Dumbledore was constantly away from the school. Something was clearly happening to the Wizarding World, and they couldn't go on like this. This morning an article had come out about a new proposition to classify the blood purity of newborns. Lily was ready to scream.

Two weeks after seeing James Potter's nephew the night of the Dark Lord's attack, Severus was still seeing a ghost of those green eyes whenever he saw Potter. That look he'd been given in the Great Hall still haunted him. It was as if Harry was trying to tell him something, but he didn't quite catch what.

He had plenty of time to dwell on it now, too. The Christmas holiday was here, and he was one of the few students who were staying over at Hogwarts. It was always evident that staying over at Hogwarts didn't exactly speak of a nice home life…and Severus – as just about everyone knew thanks to James Potter's loud mouth – didn't have it very nice at all.

He was mulling over a picture he'd been doodling on a piece of parchment. It wasn't even close to how Harry looked, but the essence of him was there: wild dark hair…and that look. That look that made his heart beat fast and his temperature go up. This feeling was scary and new, and not something he'd want anyone to know about. He knew he'd have to burn this doodle soon, but for now he was content to stare at it for another hour.

Three weeks after the failed attempt to remove Harry's horcrux and the theft of the Elder wand – and his rescue by the phoenix tears that saved his life – Dumbledore finally had a plan to fix the mistake that was close to destroying the Wizarding World they knew.