Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character, story element or plot item originally published in the Harry Potter books or movies that I may refer to in this story. I'm merely playing in the sandbox.

Sarah barely glanced up from the book she was reading when Susan stalked in after dinner. Hannah spoke to her from the doorway, asking why she'd missed the meal. Instead of answering, she headed in the direction of the girl's dormitory. As she passed by Sarah, Sarah's head jerked back by her braid. "Oww! Have you lost your mind?"

Susan never stopped pulling, forcing Sarah to stand and follow her. When the pair, joined by a confused Hannah, reached the Sixth-Year girls' room, Susan slammed the door and locked it. "What's your problem?"

"My problem? You tried to rip my head off!"

Susan glared back at her. "I mean with Brahm."

Sarah sneered. "He treated me like a weak little girl. Said I shouldn't have gotten involved in that fight he was in."

"Was that what he said? Word for word?"

"No, he asked what I was thinking when I did it, saying that I knew better."

Susan nodded, then turned to Hannah, who looked confused. She spoke swiftly, giving Hannah the brief rundown. Finally, she turned back to Sarah, who was surprised that she felt some fear as Susan's eyes fell on her. "Did you let Brahm tell you why he was mad when you grabbed his shoulder, or did you just guess from what he said?"

For a brief moment, she felt doubt, but shook her head, forcing the sensation from her mind. "He was being a jerk!"

Hannah frowned, drawing Sarah's gaze as she spoke. "If his emotions were running high, he might have attacked you. I wouldn't have grabbed someone in that situation. I think we all remember what he did when Draco grabbed him in the hallway on Halloween."

Sarah paused, thinking about it, remembering Draco flipping over and skidding down the hallway. "I guess…I mean, he looked very startled."

"He told me that he was halfway through a silent Cutting Curse when he spun around and had his wand in your face. I can't even imagine what kind of damage a wizard of his caliber could do with a point-blank Cutting Curse, much less to such a vulnerable area." Susan had her arms folded now, clearly waiting for a response.

Sarah felt her skin turn icy. Never mind that she almost lost her head yesterday, she knew how he had to feel about nearly hurting someone he cared for. She remembered the realization of threatening him for several hours back in the summer, that moment when she realized he was Harry and not another Death Eater in disguise.

"And you punched him for it."

Sarah looked at her feet, now beginning to feel sick. "I was angry, I wasn't thinking."

"You called him stupid and said you wish you'd never met him. You did to him what two of his friends did a few years ago."

Sarah made a face as she looked back up to Susan, not sure what she was talking about. Two years. I hadn't even…oh, he's including the time displacement from the repeated summers. That would be… Sarah's hand covered her mouth, mimicking shock. She really just didn't want to get sick on them.

"Finally remember, did you?" Susan shook her head. "He cried, Sarah. I don't know why, but I get the impression that that isn't something he usually does. When I comforted him, he told me I needn't bother, that he knew I was going to leave him behind, too."

Sarah closed her eyes. "I have to find him."

"Good luck. It took me a day and a half to find him, and he isn't even avoiding me." Susan shook her head. "Merlin, Sarah, what were you thinking? I know you wanted nothing more than for him to fall for you, then you did this?"

"I was angry." She sat on the edge of her bed, covering his face. "He was destroyed when that happened, then I…" She was silent.

"You've been angry a lot lately," Hannah said.

"You're one to talk," Sarah said, shaking her head.

"No, she's right, though she has her own issues," Susan said, frowning at Hannah for a moment. "You've been weird since the last Hogsmeade weekend. Where did you go?"

"I…we had to deal with some family things. Part of it had to do with my kidnapping."

"Stirred up memories?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah…"

Susan sat next to her, rubbing one of her shoulders. "When Mum and Dad were killed, Auntie made sure I had someone to talk to."

"I talked with Brahm."

"Someone trained. A Healer."

"I should talk to my uncle about speaking with someone. I'm sure he could find…" She paused, an epiphany hitting. "Mimsy?" Mimsy popped into view, but Sarah could see that something was wrong. "I need to know where Brahm is."

Mimsy looked down. "He said I could not say."

Sarah exhaled loudly. "When he's hurt, he does this…" She knelt before the elf. "Mimsy, I really need to talk to him. Can you tell him that?" The elf shook her head so hard that her ears flapped. "Great, he thought of that, too." She didn't even ask about her taking her to him, they had agreed that they wouldn't reveal that their elves could transport people in the castle. They had spun the story in October to make it an ability of Hogwarts elves only allowed in emergencies by the wards.

"Mimsy, please just make sure he's okay."

"Dobby and I watch him. He's very sad." She paused, looking away, then spoke again. "We're worried he may hurt himself."

Susan knelt down and put her hand on the elf's shoulder. "I don't think you need to worry about that. Brahm's sad, but I don't think he would do that. He seemed better after we talked. He got to let things out."

The elf smiled a little. "Thank you, Miss." With that, she turned back to Sarah, who dismissed her.

After a moment, she looked down. "I can't believe I did this."

"Isn't he overreacting a little?"

"You aren't thinking about the big picture, here," Sarah said, unable to blame Hannah for missing it. "His parents are dead. My parents, his adopted parents are dead and when we arrived here, the only friends he was sure of was me, then Dobby and Mimsy when my uncle arranged for them to help us."

"He did question whether I would just abandon him," Susan said, then frowned. "She mentioned Dobby. Wasn't that a Malfoy elf?"

"I don't know. I never asked." Sarah felt that was convincing.

"So, what are you going to do?" Susan asked.

"We're going home tomorrow. That's Christmas break and I know he'll want to spend it with us. The train ride will give me time to think of something."

She didn't comment on the clear lack of conviction in her tone, or the similar look on Susan's face. He'd never really had a normal Christmas. She remembered him saying that. She just hoped that he wouldn't let this prevent him from having one this year.

Brahm knocked on Professor Sprout's door, an hour and a half before the train was scheduled to leave. "Professor?" The door had shifted, and he heard a voice asking him to come in.

"Mr. Evans, how can I help you?"

Brahm glanced around, making sure he didn't see any threats. Sprout's office was virtually a greenhouse, and she did seem to have an interest in some of the more dangerous plants. Feeling safer after identifying what was there, he walked further in, sitting on a chair that looked whimsically like a large mushroom. He found he liked her office, other than the threat of possible death by plant.

"I need to add myself to the list of those staying over the holidays. I have a project I'm working on and I didn't get as much done as I thought I could."

The professor's usually smiling face turned into a slight frown. "But it's Christmas, don't you want to spend it with your godfather and that lovely young lady that's usually glued to your side?"

Brahm kept a smile on his face, but his stomach lurched. "I'm sure they'll understand. We are here to learn, after all."

"Mr. Evans…Brahm. I know about the fight you two had. Even if one of the prefects hadn't come to me, I would have had some idea that something was going on. You haven't been to a single meal with your house since those Slytherins attacked you and Sarah has gone from angry to miserable the last few days."

"She said she wanted me out of her life. She startled me after I took down the last Slytherin that I had seen…I nearly did something horrible then. At that range, I could have seriously hurt her." He sighed. "She's right to want me gone and I won't ruin the holiday for her. I'm perfectly fine up here, working on schoolwork."

"You will be alone. No one else from Hufflepuff signed up to stay."

He shrugged. "I didn't think they would. They all have places to go, and loyalty is big here."

She didn't look happy, but she nodded. "I will add your name to the list. Remember, if he wants, your godfather can Floo to Hogsmeade and come get you. So, if you change your mind, you can contact him."

He didn't bother arguing, instead choosing to thank her and wish her a Happy Christmas. After leaving, he slipped into a nearby boy's loo and used his portkey necklace to land in the Chamber of Secrets. His landing was rough, but he was distracted with everything going on at the time. He sat for a moment, collecting himself, before rising to his feet.

In the tent, he had a fire going and he sat in front of it, staring into it. "Just need to hide out a few hours, then she'll be gone, and I can get to it."

He sat for a moment, then rose, pulling out some tools that he would need to take care of his next mission. He knew certain members of the staff would be out for a mandatory meeting at the Ministry. That would give him a chance to take care of some business.

Vernon hadn't been so nervous before in collecting a letter from Snotrag. He drove home and Petunia and Dudley both sat at the table. "Well?"

"I haven't opened it yet." He sat, reaching for the waiting water glass, and taking a sip. "I thought we'd open it together."

They nodded and he slit the envelope, pulling the folded parchment out and opening it, smoothing it carefully. "He says…he says he's coming. He's going to talk to Luna and see if she can come too."

"Oh, wonderful," Petunia said, smiling. "I want to make a special dinner. I'll ask Winky the next time she's in what his favorites are. I know she'll want to help."

Vernon nodded. "We have a few Christmases to make up for, so I think that's a fine idea. Ask the elves what they enjoy, too. I'll make sure we have some for them."

Author's note: I was surprised at the reaction to last chapter. Rereading, I may have been a bit abrupt, but I am struggling at the moment to see how to better transition. So, to address a few reviews. No, there is not a scene missing. Simply put, like many real-life projects, there are periods of silence and peace. Also, I don't really enjoy writing fluff, so if nothing is happening, what we'll be left with is a large pile of fluff. Like marshmallows in a hot chocolate, I think fluff scenes should be an accent in a story like this, not a large portion. I could have written a transition, but it just didn't strike me to do that at the moment.

The review from griezz got it best, I think. Not just the weight of being undercover (some of my work here is based on talking to real police officers over the years and knowing someone who worked undercover at times) and some is based on the fact that the two are teenagers taking on an adult task. This is written from Harry/Brahm's perspective and he doesn't entirely grasp what's going on here. Admittedly, if I were to include a scene with the Auror and the Unspeakable, I could write in some perspective, but then it would be hard to make it real that he's clueless now, plus it would add to the flashback confusion that one reviewer brought up…so I'll stick to one flashback. He just reacted. Both are a bit damaged, remember. I will spoil it a bit: the conversation later will bring up that they both need more help than they are getting.

As for the question of who is comforting Luna/Sarah…she's angry. She's convinced she's right. She's just opened up the wound from before and is feeling very fragile about the idea of being weak and treated as weak. She didn't need comforting until now.

For Joe McLuvin, there are TWO mistakes, so far, not just one. While a minor oversight on my part, it's not one I'm going to fix because it fits with the other one, I left it in deliberately. It was one I made and realized into editing, then realized that it fit another issue: their age and frankly just being people. Neither remembered at that moment and it fits. Let's see if you can figure out the second…I will say that I would fix it if it didn't fit with the minor imperfections, I think every character should have. If I said in the narrative that no one knew and I had done that in the article, I would have fixed it somehow and noted in the comments with an apology. For this, though, I'm fine with the characters being wrong about something. People are sometimes

I appreciate the reviews. Let me know your thoughts and hopefully keep enjoying the story!