Author's Note: Hey guys! Hope you all had an amazing Christmas and managed to make the most of it despite the circumstances! Hang in there- keep smiling even on those dark days and please reach out for help or talk to someone you trust if you're struggling. Also, I want to put a small disclaimer in here- * I in no way agree with the horrible and transphobic views of JK Rowling and she has really let all of us in this fandom down. Me continuing this story is in no way out of support for her, but because I love this story and its characters, and I promised I would finish it. If you have ever dealt with any kind of bullying, hate or discrimination, I am linking some charities at the end of this chapter who will support you in any way they can. I really hope that one day we can live in a world far better than the one we have been born into. *

Also, kind of TW for bad language! Obviously the kids are getting older now, so the odd bit of slander will slip out every now and then. And Sirius is Sirius... so yeah.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of the holidays! Next update will hopefully be up next week! Check my Tumblr for any news! Happy New Year! Thanks so much and enjoy!


Chapter 79- Something's Coming

Dumbledore was not at his usual place behind his desk when Sirius threw the door open with a harsh flick of his wand. The door slammed loudly against the stone wall, but Sirius didn't care enough to look back. He was still dressed in his dress robes from the ball, although his hair was no longer combed back neatly. Instead it was wild about his shoulders.

Dumbledore was standing beside the golden casket that Sirius knew hid the pensieve. He did not look particularly startled by Sirius's sudden entrance but had begun to frown slightly as Sirius approached him.

"Sirius?" Dumbledore asked, his voice in that usual calm tone. Sirius felt every inch of his body ignite with irritation. He glared at the Headmaster for a moment, his breathing fast and without any pace to it. Dumbledore simply stared back at him, his blue eyes shining behind his half moon spectacles.

"Is everything ok?" Dumbledore asked, turning fully to face him now.

Sirius let out a laugh. Dumbledore stared.

"No." Sirius said after another moment. "It's not."

Dumbledore didn't look overly panicked by this, but Sirius saw a flicker of something in his eye. He didn't quite know what it was, but he was in no mood to try and work it out.

"Is Harry ok?" Dumbledore asked.

Sirius shot him an icy cold glare. He had been calm so far and had even surprised himself. He had wanted to charge into the room with his wand and trash the whole office. He wanted to scream and shout every swear word he could think of at the old Headmaster. He wanted to know why he had not been told.

"Harry's fine." Sirius growled. "He did, however, overhear a rather interesting conversation tonight."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yeah… And you'll never guess who he heard it from."

"Sirius, perhaps you should sit down. We can discuss this like- "

"Like what?" Sirius finished. "Adults? Colleagues?"

Dumbledore said nothing, crossing the room away from the Pensieve. He looked at Sirius the whole time, his stare not altering for even a split second.

"Harry overheard Karkaroff tonight." Sirius said.

Dumbledore again, said nothing, knowing that Sirius would carry on without him needing to ask.

"Talking to our very own resident Death Eater." Sirius said, taking a few steps closer to Dumbledore. "They were having a great wee chat- all about the Dark Mark. You know, the one on their wrists that they can feel."

"You have more to say." Dumbledore said the moment Sirius had spat out the last word. "You may as well say it."

"Why are they still here?!" Sirius shouted. He hadn't mean to shout, but suddenly the anger from his fight with Mara was also bubbling at the surface and he couldn't contain it anymore. "They can feel the mark burning, Dumbledore! They're killers! Both of them! They need to fuck off from here and- "

Dumbledore stopped him there. "Sirius, I told you four years ago before you came to work here that this rivalry between you and Severus has got to stop. He has as much right to be here as you do."

"Why?! Why do you trust him? He was one of them before, what makes you so sure that he won't be one of them again. What makes you think that the second Voldemort comes back he won't go running to him?!" Sirius shouted.

"I have never asked you to trust Severus Snape." Dumbledore said firmly. "I trust him, and I asked you to put your trust in me, as you have done so many times before."

"Yeah and I was wrong about that." Sirius spat.

Dumbledore glared at him with an unreadable expression, but Sirius could not find even a bit of sympathy or anything other than rage towards the old man. He had lied to him, kept him in the dark- and not for the first time. Sirius sat himself down on the stairs that lead to Dumbledore's desk, burying his head in his hands for a moment. He could feel the blue eyes on him, burning into his head, but he didn't care. He could not escape the anger, not this time.

When he finally did look up, he discovered Dumbledore had moved to the bottom of the stairs, his face annoyingly calm as he waited for Sirius to compose himself.

"You were never going to tell me about Peter, where you?" Sirius said. His voice came out in no more than a whisper, but Dumbledore had heard him. He knew by the expression that suddenly came upon his face.

"I was." Dumbledore said. "When the time was right for you."

"Right for me?" Sirius said in complete disbelief. "I should have been the first person you told."

"I did not tell you, Sirius, because sometimes being too close to the problem can make it worse." Dumbledore said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sirius said.

"Peter was your friend. One of your closest friends and one of James and Lily's. He betrayed you all. That much emotion would be too much for anybody to bear, even you."

Sirius stood up. "You told me we had to find him, you said it last year! And what, suddenly I'm too involved for you?! He betrayed me, he got James and Lily killed, he left Harry an orphan and then nearly got me locked up in Azkaban for the rest of my life. So yeah, there's a lot there. But he has a lot to be held accountable for."

"No one is doubting that, Sirius." Dumbledore said. "Peter will be held accountable for the pain he has caused. But not yet. I did not tell you because the last thing we need is you going after him and scaring him off. We need him to talk. We have to know what he's doing."

"Why haven't you done anything then?! You know he's here- we always suspected he was here. But no one ever saw him, not even when we searched last year." Sirius studied Dumbledore's face for a moment. "He's been seen?" he added.

Dumbledore nodded. "Severus has been keeping an eye on him. Minerva, too."

"And?" Sirius demanded. "What does he do?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Not a lot. That's what confuses us all. He merely watches."

"Watches?" Sirius felt the pieces fall together in his head. "He watches Harry."

"And Mara." Dumbledore said. "In recent weeks he has also been interested in Miss Granger and Mr Weasley. Weasley more so. In fact, he sometimes watches Mr Weasley as much as he does Harry. Minerva has also seen him lurking outside the Hufflepuff common room."

Sirius groaned lightly. "Diggory. He's watching Diggory."

"What makes you think that?"

"Mara was sort of- seeing- Diggory." Sirius began to pace. "He's not only watching them, but everyone that they're close to."

"It hasn't been easy, finding a way to follow a rat. Very small animals as you know." Dumbledore said as if Sirius had no recollection of a rat.

"How have you been doing it?" He asked.

"Well at first it was just glimpses." Dumbledore explained. "There are many normal rats in the dungeons as it is. I'm afraid dear Mrs Norris is finding it harder to keep up these days. But then Severus noticed a larger than usual rat lurking outside the Slytherin Common Room most nights. So, he investigated, and found that it always seemed to be not far away from Harry or Mara."

Dumbledore looked almost pleased at this moment, and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"What does he want, a fucking medal? You still haven't told me how you know where Pettigrew is."

Dumbledore frowned at the language but said nothing about it. If he had, Sirius was sure he would have smashed every ornament in the office.

"Severus lay food out in the dungeons that was laced with a tracking potion. He leaves more out every week, allowing us to know Peter's usual location. I'm surprised it worked- I believed he would smell the potion or be suspicious of the food." Dumbledore said.

"Peter never was the most intelligent." Sirius said. "Probably thinks he's gone unnoticed."

"Sirius, I know the anger and hatred you feel towards Pettigrew. But I want you to ask yourself, if he was in front of you now, could you really bring any serious harm to him?" Dumbledore said.

Sirius met Dumbledore's eyes once more, but he said nothing. He didn't know the answer to that. He liked to believe he had it in him to finally give justice to James, but then he pictured Lily's face with the emerald eyes- the same ones he saw every day on Harry, and he knew deep down that she would never have asked this of him. Lily was kind through and through, right until the end.

"You had the opportunity to kill Pettigrew once before. But you walked away." Dumbledore said softly.

"I walked away for Remus. And for Harry." Sirius said.

"Was that not enough?" Dumbledore asked.

Sirius couldn't bear talking about this a moment more and began once again pacing around the office. "Why haven't you stopped him? You know he's here; you know what he's doing… so why haven't you captured him?"

"We must know what he is planning. There is a reason he is watching them. We need to figure out why." Dumbledore said.

"So, the current plan is to what? Just keep following him and allow him to be so near a bunch of children?"

"If following him allows us to see what his true intentions are at Hogwarts, then yes."

The anger was rising again, Sirius could feel it.

"Tell me you are not saying what I think you're saying… Tell me you are not using kids- my kids- as bait?!"

"Sirius, there is no point in- "

But Sirius didn't hear the rest. His anger had come pouring out of him as he made for the office door. He would not sit there and listen to this old man try and excuse using his children as bait to lure a death eater into showing them his plan. There simply was no justification for that, not in Sirius' mind.

He heard Dumbledore call after him, but he did not even turn to glace at him. His rage had become so much he knew he had to get out of there. He raised his wand just as he reached the door and flicked his wrist hard. He heard the crashing and smashing of Dumbledore's trinkets as they fell to the ground, but he did not turn back.


"He definitely said that the mark's getting darker?" Ron asked, his arms crossed as he paced behind Harry.

"Yup. And that they feel it burning them." Harry said.

They were sitting at the end of the Wooden Bridge, the afternoon cold and crisp despite the streams of sunlight that poked through the clouds. Harry felt exhausted. He hadn't slept in nearly three days- not since he had overheard the discussion between Snape and Karkaroff. His eyes were red and itchy from the tiredness, but he knew that even if he attempted to sleep it would be no good.

Normally, Sirius would have been on his case by now, but his godfather had been absent for most of the past few days. He was in one of his moods again, Harry was certain of it. And the best way to deal with a Sirius Black mood was simply to avoid it until things eased up. Although, between the revelation of Snape and Karkaroff, the discovery of Dumbledore keeping him in the dark yet again and the silent treatment he was receiving from Mara, Harry didn't blame Sirius in the slightest for being distant.

Ron sighed, finally sitting down next to Harry. "What a mess."

Harry scoffed in agreement, nodding slowly as he and Ron stared out across the grounds.

"Dad told me some stuff about the mark. After the world cup, yanno." Ron said.

"What did he say?" Harry asked.

"That it's not just a symbol of loyalty. It's… more than that." Ron said, his voice fading off.

"There's something going on, Ron. There has to be. All of this can't be a coincidence." Harry said, standing up and leaning over the bridge. His stomach lurched slightly at the view of the sudden drop, but it soon disappeared.

"All of what?" Ron said, staying where he was. There was nobody else near them, so they didn't need to worry about being overheard.

"Oh, come on!" Harry snapped, suddenly agitated. "The world cup, my dreams, Mara nearly being kidnapped, my name coming out of the goblet and now the Dark Mark burning on old Death Eater's arms! Something is going on, Ron. I can feel it."

Ron moved so he was standing next to him, his red hair blowing slightly in the gentle breeze. He was watching Harry in a way that was completely new, but Harry had become to agitated to care.

"Mara said something during the summer." Harry continued. "She said… what if these… dreams I have… well, what if they aren't dreams. What if they're visions."

Ron's face paled, but he held Harry's eye. "Visions?"

"What if what I'm seeing in these dreams is actually happening. And I'm just able to see it?" Harry said.

"But you've had dreams about you know who before. You didn't think they were visions then, did you?" Ron asked.

"No." Harry sighed. "They were different."

"Different how?"

"I don't know. They just were. These are more than that, I just know they are." Harry said.

"What did Sirius think?" Ron asked.

"You already know what he wanted to do. Wanted to drag me to Dumbledore, remember? You know, I actually did consider going to him, but after everything that happened at the world cup I didn't need to." Harry explained.

"You reckon Sirius told him?"

Harry scoffed. "I know Sirius told him."

They stood in companionable silence for a while, the fresh air blowing around their faces making Harry feel more awake than he had previously.

"Do you think he's planning something? You-know-who?" Ron said after a while.

Harry sighed. Sometimes Ron's unwillingness to say the name really pissed him off.

"He has to be." Harry said. "Last time my scar hurt; he was going after the stone."

"Honestly I feel like I need a bloody book to keep up with that scar of yours." Ron said.

"Try living with it on your head at all times." Harry said, catching Ron's eye and grinning slightly.

"I don't think you need to worry about Voldemort while you're here, Harry." Ron said. "Dad says Hogwarts is the safest place to be. Especially now Moody is here- he's completely bat shit mental."

Harry wanted to point out that being at Hogwarts hadn't keep him safe when Voldemort had wanted the stone, or when Riddle had opened the chamber of secrets using Mara and Ginny body and had sent a massive basilisk after him. But he decided against it, and instead went back to looking at the view. Everything was still covered in snow; a fresh white layer having fallen just that morning.

"Sirius still not talking to Mara then I take it?" Ron asked.

"Nope. And she's in refusal to be in the same room as him." Harry said.

"Jesus. That's a rough one, mate."

Harry shrugged, although it was becoming exhausting to be stuck in the middle of the never-ending silence between his godfather and Mara. He had expected them to sulk with each other for a day or so, but four days later and neither of them where showing any sign of backing down. Mara had refused to even so much as take a step inside Sirius's quarters, and Sirius passed her in the hallway as if she were just another student. In fact, he actually acknowledged the students more, waving back and smiling at them when they all called out to him as he passed. There would never be any denying that Sirius was by far the most loved teacher at Hogwarts.

"They just need time to cool down, that's all." Harry said, not really believing his own words. He reckoned it was going to take a lot more than that to bring Sirius and Mara back together. Some stuff had been said on both sides that would be a very bitter pill to swallow.

"I mean, not telling her about Esme was pretty bad, if I'm being honest." Ron said.

"That's just Sirius being Sirius. He thinks he's doing the right thing." Harry said.

"What? Did he honestly think she wouldn't read the paper?"

"I don't know what he was thinking." Harry said, trying his best to defend his godfather's sometimes bizarre parenting methods. "I just know he didn't want to hurt her, not after everything."

"And the thing with Cedric?" Ron asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Let's be honest, who didn't see that coming." Harry said. "I'm shocked he lasted until Christmas."

"Yeah but… didn't you say she was sneaking off with him?" Ron said quietly, as if there was someone around to hear them.

"…Yeah?" Harry narrowed his eyes.

Ron was blushing and began to shift uncomfortably on his feet. "You don't think they were actually… up to anything do you?"

Harry raised his eyebrows, immediately understanding what Ron was getting at (although he wished he didn't).

"Jesus shit, Ron!"

"I'm sorry, but literally this whole castle has become obsessed with relationships and snogging! Even Hermione!" Ron said defensively.

"Hermione went to the ball with Krum, doesn't mean she was up to anything with him!" Harry hissed at Ron, who's face was as red as his hair by this point.

"I didn't say that!" Ron said.

"You implied it. Sometimes that's enough." Harry bit back. "Have you apologised to her yet?"

Ron looked practically furious. "Why should I apologise to her?!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Because you did behave like a complete pillock, that's why."

Ron didn't say anything else, staring out at the view with an angry expression and his arms folded. He seemed to know he was in the wrong even without Harry's harsh words.

"Come on, I'm getting cold." Harry said jerking his head back towards the castle. "It's lunchtime anyway."

They made their way back along the wooden bridge, heading up the grounds towards the entrance hall. There were more students here than there had been on the bridge, most of them also making their way back towards the castle.

The Great Hall seemed busier than usual when they arrived. Harry sat with Ron at the Gryffindor table, ignoring the usual stares from the Slytherins. They were less intense that they used to be, seeing as Harry was now on the house team, but it seemed like with Quidditch being cancelled this year they had forgotten this. Harry paid them no attention, tucking into the roast beef and mashed potatoes. He hadn't felt it while he had been speaking with Ron, but he was suddenly ravenous.

Harry looked up at the teachers table, which was empty apart from Moody at one end, who's magical eye was scanning the hall while his normal one seemed to be locked in Harry's direction. Sirius was sitting at the other end of the table, poking food around on his plate and seemingly not eating very much. Harry caught his eye, and waved up at him, which Sirius returned with a weak smile.

"He seems to still be in a mood." Ron said, his mouth full of gravy and mashed potato.

"He'll be ok." Harry said, taking a large mouthful. "I'll speak to him."

"Thought you said it was best to leave him alone when he gets like this?" Ron said.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Do as I say not as I do."

"Twat."

They finished off their lunch in silence, piling their plates high with the trifle that had been served for dessert. Harry was feeling very full, and suddenly also very tired. He wondered if he was now tired enough to squeeze out even an hour of sleep. They were still on their Christmas holidays, the castle much busier than usual with everyone having had stayed to attend the ball. Harry debated heading up to Sirius's quarters then, but he was pulled from his thoughts by a sudden shout of his name.

"Harry!"

Harry spun round on the bench to see Mara flying down the aisle between the tables, coming to a halt right before him and sliding down the remainder of the bench until she crashed into Harry's side. It was only for Harry's grip on the table that they both didn't fall off.

"Fuck me, Mara, you nearly killed me!" Harry gasped. He could already feel Sirius's stare on the back of his head. He chose to ignore it and not turn around.

"Don't be such a bloody drama queen." Mara said, rolling her eyes. God, she looked so much like Sirius when she done that. "You have to come with me!"

"What? Where?" Harry said.

"I can't explain it! Just come on!" She grabbed his sleeve and dragged him from the table.

"Jesus, you are a lot stronger than you look!" Harry said as she tugged him down the hall. Ron was following behind them.

He allowed Mara to drag him down corridors and up countless flights of stairs, her grip still strong on his sleeve. Eventually they stopped outside a door located on the left of some statue that Harry could not recall having ever seen before. All he knew was that they were on the fifth floor.

Mara had finally let go off him. And had walked right up to the door.

"Pine fresh." She said, and the door swung open.

"What the hell is going on." Harry said, frowning at Mara's back.

"Oh my god, stop moaning for five minutes and you'll find out! Come on!" Mara entered the room, holding the door open for Harry and Ron to follow. Harry was immediately hit with the scent of all different kinds of fruits and flowers, the strongest seeming to be lavender.

They were in a large room made completely from white marble, softly lit by the most extravagant chandelier Harry had ever seen. There was a large rectangular hole in the floor- nearly the size of a muggle swimming pool- which was filled up with pale purple water. A large stainless glass window completed the room, a porcelain mermaid sitting on a rock brushing her long red hair. The afternoon light was shining through, making the whole sight quite spectacular.

"This is the prefect's bathroom." Ron said from behind Harry, his voice in utter amazement.

"It's amazing." Harry said in complete awe.

"I might have to become a prefect just for this." Ron said.

"Believe me, it isn't all it cracks up to be." A voice said.

Harry looked up, and there sitting at the other end of the bathroom on the edge of the large bath, was Cedric Diggory. He was smiling at them in his usual stupid way, his eyes glittering. Harry looked over at Mara, who was staring down at her feet with sudden interest. Harry walked over to her; his eyes wide.

"Are you mental?!" He hissed at her. "Sirius is going to kill you. You have a literal death wish."

"He isn't going to find out!" Mara hissed back. "Besides, I wasn't breaking any of his rules, but then Cedric found me and said he knew something about the second trial!"

"Well, it's more than likely you won't live to see said trial once Sirius gets wind of this, you idiot." Harry said.

"How many times, he isn't going to find out!" Mara said determinedly.

"He was in the Great Hall! He watched us leave. Hell, he probably followed us!" Harry explained, but the expression on Mara's face did not waver. "You're being an idiot. He told you to keep away from Diggory."

"Yeah, and since when do you do everything Sirius says!" Mara bit back.

"Since- "Harry began.

"Not to ruin your little spat or anything, but I can totally hear everything you're saying." Cedric said, jumping off the bathtub and landing lightly on his feet. He crossed the room to stand beside them. Harry felt his cheeks burn red.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"The last thing I want is for anyone to get in trouble- including myself." Cedric said, sending Mara a side grin as she rolled her eyes yet again. "But this really isn't about me and Mara."

Harry glanced at Ron, who shrugged at him as if to say, 'what's the worst that could happen'. He nodded at Ron before looking back at Cedric.

"Fine." He said.

"Fantastic." Cedric said. "Now… did you ever try to open your egg?"

Harry felt his eyes burrow together in a frown. "Yeah, back at the beginning. On the night of the party."

"I did too." Cedric nodded. "Wasn't so good on the ears."

Harry shook his head. "No, it wasn't."

"Well…" Cedric suddenly looked very smug. "That's because it isn't meant to just be opened."

He said it how you would say a punch line to a joke, as if expecting a round of applause. Harry simply stared back at him, not quite understanding what he meant.

"I don't get it." He said.

"Oh, come on, Harry!" Mara persisted. "Think about where we are."

"We're in a bathroom." Harry said, sounding a little bit blunter than he had originally intended. He glanced around the room once more, staring at the large bath, the golden sinks and the toilet cubicles. He knew there was something he wasn't getting. But then he found his gaze drifting back to the bath, full just a little bit of water, and he suddenly understood.

"Water." He said in no more than a whisper. "It has to be opened under water."

Cedric was grinning ear to ear, while Mara nodded eagerly at his side.

"What made you think of that?" Harry asked Cedric.

"Oh, just my pure genius mind as usual." Cedric said, again sending Mara a side grin.

"Shut up." She said. Harry could tell she had meant it to sound serious and harsh, but a smile was creeping into the corners of her mouth.

Harry walked over to the baths edge, staring down into the water. Ron joined him.

"So, he just opens it under water, and it tells him what the second task is?" Ron asked.

"It's a little more complicated than that." Mara said, standing next to Harry. "It's only a clue to the task."

"Yup, the rest we have to figure out on our own." Cedric said.

"Ok." Harry said, crossing his arms. "So, let me get this straight. I open the egg under the water, it tells me a clue and I have to figure out the clue?"

"Correct." Mara said.

Harry turned to her. "When did you find out about this?"

"This morning. Cedric cornered me when I was coming out of Sirius's quarters." Mara said.

"You spoke to Sirius?" Harry's heart did a little flip of joy.

"No. I sneaked in when I knew he was gone. I needed my Care of Magical Creatures book." Mara said, and Harry felt the bit of relief he had for even a split second completely disappear.

"You're going to have to talk to him eventually, you know." Harry said matter of factly.

"No, I don't." Mara said, leaning against a large column of white marble. "He likes to point out how he's the adult all the time. Well, it's not very adult like to hold such a petty grudge, is it."

"You're both being stupid." Harry said.

"You heard what he said!" Mara half shouted.

"Yes. And I also heard what you said. It works both ways."

"He lied to me, Harry." Mara said. "He didn't tell me about Esme."

"He was going to…you said that yourself. He didn't want to worry you." Harry argued.

"Well, that didn't work. Consider me worried. Do you know nobody has seen even a trace of her? The ministry is doing fuck all about it, too. It's not even in the paper anymore."

Mara looked practically furious, but Harry was determined to hold his ground against her and make it known he was on completely neutral ground in this argument. Mara looked as if she was about to bite back at him, but Cedric, who seemed to have sensed the tension between them, spoke first.

"We have your egg here, Harry. I think you should open it."

Harry frowned at him. "How'd you get it?"

"I lifted it from your bedroom this morning when Cedric told me." Mara said standing up. "We don't know if the clue will be completely the same."

"Ok." Harry said. Cedric had lifted the golden egg out of Mara's bag and handed it to him. It seemed heavier than he remembered. He heard Ron gulp loudly. Harry went to the edge of the bathtub, settling down on his knees as he prepared to open the egg and dunk it in.

"Ah, forgot to mention… You're going to need to be under the water too, mate." Cedric said awkwardly.

"What?!"

"You won't hear it unless you're under the water with it." Mara said, nodding in agreement with Cedric.

"For gods sake!" Harry moaned, running a hand through his hair. "In that case, do you lot mind going away so I can… you know… get in."

"Yeah, of course mate!" Cedric said, quickly lifting his bag. Harry saw the outline of his egg, weighing down his shoulder ever so slightly. Cedric made for the door, but Harry stopped him.

"Why are you telling me about this?" He asked. Cedric turned back to face him.

Cedric shrugged. "You told me about the dragons."

"No I didn't. Mara did." Harry said.

"But you didn't stop her. Without that information, I wouldn't have even got passed the dragon to get this egg. So i guess you could say i owed you one."

"Ok... So we're going to pretend this has nothing to do with you wanting to impress Mara?" Harry asked. Cedric smirked.

"Of course it has something to do with Mara. I've never denied that. She cares about you, Harry... And i care about her." Cedric began to blush slightly, and so he took himself off to wait by the door. Ron, who had moved closer to Harry, hung back for a moment.

"You sure you don't want me to stay?" Ron asked shyly. "I'll turn around, promise I won't look."

Harry smiled at him weakly. "Thanks, Ron. But I'll be fine."

Ron joined Cedric by the door, waiting for Mara, who had also lifted her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She smiled at Harry warmly.

"We'll meet you in the library, yeah? We can research whatever it is your clue says."

"Ok. I won't be long." Harry answered, and Mara smiled once again at him. She turned and began to walk away, when Harry called after her. He hadn't meant to, but he knew if he didn't say it now then he never would.

"Promise me you'll talk to him."

Mara stopped for a moment, looking back at Harry with a look of desperation on her face. She wanted this fight with Sirius to be over, Harry knew she did, she was just far too stubborn to admit to it.

"Harry, I- "

"You don't have to forgive him. And he doesn't have to forgive you. Just… talk to him. That's all I'm asking." He hadn't meant it to sound as if he was begging, but he was aware that it had sort of come across that way. "Something's coming, Mara. I can feel it. Everything that's happened- it hasn't been a coincidence. And we're gonna need each other when it does...more than ever."

There was silence for a long moment, but then she spoke.

"I promise."

Harry watched as all three of them left the room. He stood in the silence, the bathroom feeling colder without his friends there with him. His nostrils were filled with the lavender scent coming off the bath. It was making him dizzy now, but he knew what he had to do. He undressed in one of the cubicles, praying that he was left undisturbed by the other prefects. He walked across the room, the marble feeling cold against his bare feet.

Harry turned the tap on, topping up the bath with some warm water for a while before gently dropping himself in among the bubbles. It took a long time for him to do it, but he finally reached for the egg that had been waiting for him by the bath's edge and lowered it into the water.

He opened the clasp, waiting for the shrills screeches. But no sound could be heard.

He took a deep breath and plunged his head into the water, the sound of melodic singing greeting him like an old friend.


Please check out these pages if you are in need of support! It won't let me link them but internet search the names and you'll get there!

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'Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.' - Martin Luther King Jr