Donna awoke slowly the following morning. There was a moment of disorientation before she opened her eyes, where she realised she was not sleeping in her own bed. The mattress was just a tiny bit too hard, the pillow just a little too soft. Still, it was good that it was an actual bed. She'd slept in worse places.

Then she woke up fully and knew she was lying in a bed in the hospital wing, after a detention gone just a bit wrong. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sat up and looked around. Harry and Neville were still sleeping, but Hermione was already awake, leaning against her propped-up pillow.

"Hi," she said softly when she noticed her friend looking. Donna was glad to see she wasn't shaking anymore.

"Morning," she answered. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm... I don't know. I'm not hurt or anything, but in my head I keep replaying that moment. I can't switch it off. I was so scared, Donna! Am I really a Gryffindor?"

Donna got up off her bed and padded over to Hermione's to give her friend a hug.

"Hermione, you were standing in a dark forest in the middle of the night, staring at a monster straight out of a horror movie. And what was your first reaction? Instead of screaming and running away, which still would not have said anything about your Gryffindorish qualities, you ran up to it to help me. You, not a Gryffindor? The three of you are the Gryffindoriest Gryffindors I know. Did you think I wasn't scared out there?"

"You didn't look it."

"I was terrified, Hermione. But if travelling with the Doctor has taught me anything, it's that there will always be monsters, but the only way they can succeed is if good people do nothing. How does the saying go again? Courage is not the absence of fear, it's doing the right thing in spite of the fear. Something like that."

Hermione smiled weakly. "I guess. Doesn't feel like it though."

Donna squeezed her hand. "Give it time. And you know you can always come talk to me if you need it."

"Thanks, Donna."

They talked a bit more, until the boys woke up and they were discharged. Before they left, Donna asked madam Pomfrey about shrinks. As it turned out, there was a group of people called Mind Healers, but meeting with them during the school year was not possible. Because nothing traumatic could ever happen in a school, of course. The troll from Halloween and now the creature who might be Voldemort begged to differ.

The matron did give her some names to contact during the holidays, so that was something, she guessed. Now to convince the others that they should make use of their services.

During breakfast they received a summons from McGonagall to join her in her office at ten. That gave them an hour in the common room to assure the other first-years that they really were ok, despite spending the night in the hospital wing. They didn't mention Voldemort's name, as Donna thought not all of them were ready to hear the Dark Wizard might make a comeback. She did hint to some people that they should come and find her after her appointment with McGonagall, if they were really sure they wanted the full truth. She felt that anyone who was determined to find out the truth should be allowed to know.

The biggest problem that she could see was, if that really was Voldemort they'd seen, and he'd held on for 10 years, he would be back at some point – if not now, then soon. So, Donna reasoned, the sooner people knew the possibility was there, the better they could prepare. Not that many would, of course. Humans were humans, and many of them would deny the possibility of a return until he was knocking down their doors, but still. Better to try than keep quiet.

Once most of the questions had died down and they'd managed to answer most of the concerns, they started out towards McGonagall's office. Donna let Harry and Hermione take the lead, and walked beside Neville herself. She hadn't heard him say much since volunteering to go with them last night, and she was wondering if he regretted the decision.

She'd also noticed him studying his wand with a thoughtful expression on his face. She linked her arm through his – all her friends were quite used to her physical displays of affection by now.

"How are you holding up?" she asked quietly.

"Something changed last night," he said after a moment of silence. She looked at him, but didn't press for an elaboration. Yes, something changed, but she got the feeling he was not talking about Voldemort.

"It's my wand. You know how I've been having problems with charms and everything? All the wand-based classes? What am I saying, of course you do, you've been there for me since the beginning. Those shield charms we've been practicing, they were always a little weak for me, right, just a little smaller than the rest of you, no matter how carefully I pronounced my spells and moved my wand?"

"Yeah. You described it as having to cast through a wall or something once, I think?"

"Through something, anyway. Well, it's gone."

"Gone?"

"The wall, barrier, whatever. It's gone. Look."

And Neville conjured a shield, as solid as any they'd managed during their study sessions.

At her squee, Harry and Hermione turned around just in time to see her give Neville a tackle-hug.

"That's amazing, Nev! Im so proud of you! And that happened last night, you say? I wonder why. We could maybe ask that Ollivander creep about it if we're in Diagon Alley this summer? You did get your wand there, right?"

"Oh! No, I never told you? I have my dad's wand. My gran gave it to me, as a way to honour him."

By this time, they'd reached McGonagall's office, with some minutes to spare.

"Ollivander told me the wand chooses the wizard," Harry said. He'd got the gist of what they were talking about. "Not sure how true that is, but it did take a while for me to find a wand."

"I wouldn't trust that Ollivander as far as I could throw him," Donna replied, "too creepy by half. But I do believe he knows his business. I still say he's the best person to ask."

"There's very little information available in the library about wandlore," Hermione agreed. "I looked."

Donna smiled fondly at her friend, but the door opening prevented an answer. As they filed into McGonagall's office, Donna was glad she'd at least been able to talk to two of her friends already. They were a lot more responsive now than they'd been during the night.

Harry seemed to have bounced back quite quickly, even though he'd been the worst off with his scar hurting like that. That didn't mean she wasn't going to talk to him, though. She knew how little he liked to bother other people, thanks to his relative's tender care, but she was going to have him talk through his feelings if she had to tie him down to do it.

After they'd explained in more detail the exact events of the night, McGonagall had promised it would be investigated. She did ask that they not reveal Voldemort's presence to their classmates, so as not to 'needlessly' worry them.

Well, that answered that question. Make sure anyone she told was trustworthy, and that McGonagall didn't hear about it. Got it.

When they left, Donna took up the conversation like nothing had happened.

"So, just to be sure, you know what's going to happen now, right?"

"What do you mean?" Neville asked curiously.

"If your spell work starts to improve in class."

"What's going to happen?"

"Absolutely nothing. You have a reputation for being a near squib. Everyone is going to keep seeing you like that, unless you do something spectacular to show them you're really not. Thing is, being underestimated has its advantages. I'd understand if you really wanted to show the Malfoys of this world how wrong they are about you, but you know you have a choice in what you show people."

"Donna!" Hermione sounded scandalised. "You're not suggesting he deliberately does badly in class, are you?"

"What? Of course not, Hermione, weren't you listening? I'm suggesting he learn as much as he can from the classes, which is what they are for, while not drawing attention to the fact that he's really much better than they give him credit for. In any case, Nev, whichever way you go about it, being called a squib is going to lose all its power now. You know better."

It was getting on towards evening by the time she managed to get Harry alone. They were sitting in the common room, close to the fire. He glanced at her when she bumped her shoulder against his. "Next on the list, am I?" he asked with a slight smile.

She laughed. "Noticed that, did you?"

"I do that sometimes. Not often, I'll admit. Just sometimes."

"Seriously though. Are you ok? That was quite a scare you gave us last night."

"I'm fine, Donna."

"Uh-huh. I know your particular brand of fine by now. The Doctor was very often fine. So was I, come to think of it. You were scared, you were hurt... it's ok to be not fine for a while, Harry. Please talk to me."

Harry sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Well, ok. I keep thinking about Voldemort," he said eventually. He paused, as if waiting for her to flinch. When she didn't, he shot her a grateful look.

"I feel like he could come out and get me any time, finish the job. I'm not even sure how much I'll be able to concentrate on the exams, feeling like this."

"An understandable fear. He was targeting you at the time of his disappearance, so it'd make sense for him to want to continue where he left off. There are, however, some things to take into consideration. One, if he had the opportunity to do so, why didn't he come after you in the ten years you lived in the mundane world? And second, at the moment he's so weak that he needs the unicorn blood just to survive, and we didn't let him have that. I don't think he's in any shape right now to do anything but hold on to life, however he's been doing that up to now. My best guess is he's waiting for something to happen, probably to do with the Philosopher's Stone, and won't make a move until then. So I suggest we slay those exams, and just keep our ears and eyes peeled for any changes, ok?"

Harry nodded as he sighed again.

"Ok. Thanks, Donna."

"Anytime. And you can always talk to me if the feeling gets too much, ok? One conversation isn't magically going to solve everything."

The following day, Donna was accosted several times by people who had picked up on the omissions in her account the day before. Anyone who did go to the trouble of asking her again received an honest reply from her, but only if they were really sure and promised to not let on to McGonagall they knew as much as they did.

By the end of the day, she had given Fred and George Weasley, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, and Susan and Hannah the little nugget of information, amongst others. They took it rather well, all things considered. She did reassure them that Voldemort was very weak at the moment, but they should know that he was not nearly as dead as the wizarding world liked to pretend, and so the possibility existed that at some point in the future he'd return to full strength. They should prepare for that eventuality.