Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. If I did I would be a far richer man. And I'd be a woman. I also don't own Star Trek or Stephen King.

Reviews are appreciated but certainly not required.

AN: And so we approach the climax. Not much to say at this point. Enjoy!


Chapter 9: Normal Relationship Problems

Dora was still sitting at one of the desks in the classroom where Tonks had left her when Luna walked in and shut the door. Dora lifted hand in a listless greeting, but didn't raise her head from its position on the table. It was only when she heard the little Ravenclaw murmur several powerful anti-eavesdropping spells that Dora groaned and turned enough that she could see Luna with a single eye. "Damn, you too huh?"

Luna sat down at the chair in front of her and stared. Her eyes were narrowed and her nostrils flared. Taking a deep breath Luna nodded. "We are friends, Dora Kirk, are we not?"

"Of course we are, Luna," Dora replied immediately as she sat up fully and shook her head. "Why would you question that?"

"Because you could have killed me today," Luna stated with a single raised eyebrow. "I have no doubt that you were trying to help. I certainly cannot argue with the final outcome and it was quite satisfying to see the horrible woman laid bare by her own stupidity and gullibility. I am not even mad at your chosen method of action."

Dora frowned. "Wait, Tonks is easy enough to figure, but how did you know what I did?"

Luna leaned back and giggled slightly. "So many months of being friends and you still don't quite understand me or what I see do you?" She waved a hand airily and shrugged. "That is not a conversation for this time. Suffice it to say for now that it was clear to me you'd recently done something you loathed and with Umbridge stating that Minister Fudge told her to attack Harry Potter…it does not take a Ravenclaw to reach the correct conclusion."

"Sooo," Dora asked resolving to ignore the mystery that was Luna Lovegood until she had more time to deal with any weird revelations about the girl. "If you're not mad at what I did or how I did it then what are you mad at?"

"That you listened to the Rumplepinks and let them persuade you to do it alone without consulting anyone else. We could have been better prepared had we known."

"Wait, wait, Rumplepinks? I have to ask, Luna, what's a Rumplepink and why that name?"

Luna rolled her eyes and reached out to tap Dora's temple. "I call them Rumplepinks because they are pink and small and they wrap their lies in truth just like Rumplestiltskin does in his story. The Rumplepinks try to convince people to take a self-destructive course of action and they prance around the target for nearly a day afterwards in glee."

Dora ran a hand down her face and groaned. "Yeah sure, close enough I guess. I was trying to protect you all. You know if this went even slightly sideways before the end that – "

"The Minister would hound us all, yes. Dora Kirk, I already have a target on my back thanks to Daddy's magazine, Hermione already has one thanks to being one of Harry's closest confidants and the Weasleys have one on theirs thanks to their father's relentless pursuit of all things Muggle and staunch support of Dumbledore. Even Neville has a target since his grandmother is quite adamant about Fudge's stupidity, corruption and general unsuitability for office." Luna frowned and looked out the window. "I thank you for your concern, but it was unnecessary. Please don't forget that in the future. We can handle a single Toad. An army might be a bit much until we have exited school, but a single Toad and her handler's inquiry are more than simple enough to weather."

Dora grimaced and nodded. "I'm sorry, Luna. And I understand. I'll do better moving forward. Unless there's a small army I will talk to my friends before acting out again. Okay?" She kept her eyes focused on Luna's forehead instead of her eyes. The fact that if things went wrong there would be a small army at the end of the year was not something she was willing to share with her friend at this point.

"That is all I ask, Dora. Thank you for listening," Luna said. Her face relaxed and she gave Dora a small smile. Getting up, the younger girl moved in and hugged Dora. "Don't try to fight the world all by yourself. Harry does that enough and it destroys him every time. I may not have been friends with him long, but I see a lot more than most. You've done well with pulling him out of that rut. Please don't fall into it yourself."

"I'll do my best. Thanks, Luna," Dora murmured hugging the blonde back. All things considered…it was actually sound advice.


After Luna left Dora was in no mood to try and find Harry or the rest of her friends. Instead deciding it would be better to take a few minutes alone, she made her way up to the Room of Requirement. Three short paces later and she had a lovely little privacy/relaxation abode. It was the perfect little fireplace suite that she and Harry tended to use often when they needed a few minutes away from the crowd. She'd even taken Hermione to the little retreat once or twice to help the brunette study when the Common Room was too lively and the library was too crowded.

None of that ended up working out in her favor today though. She'd barely sat down before the Room suddenly seemed to double in size, copy itself and grow a wall in the middle of the two halves. Dora was busy trying to decipher what the hell had just happened when she heard two voices coming from the other side of the new partition. "You know we could have just talked in a classroom, Hermione."

"Yes, Harry, we could have, but this is more…private."

Dora sighed and started to get up to find a way around the wall to sit with her space invading friends and commiserate about Hogwarts having a mind of its own when Harry spoke up again. "I appreciate the effort to keep your concerns about Dora private, Hermione. You really don't need to pass around the Quaffle though."

Dora froze midrise. Hermione was 'concerned'. Of course she was. She'd basically been at DEFCON 1 before Tonks had dragged Dora away.

"That reference was highly forced and didn't even really make sense in the context, Harry. Please stop reaching for wizarding idioms when Muggle ones do perfectly well," Hermione groaned. "And how do you know I want to speak about your girlfriend?"

Dora settled herself back into the armchair and listened intently. Yes, how did Harry know that?

"Well considering you were glaring at her back when she walked away and that she shouted out a warning before Umbridge actually started to raise her wand I figured that was the main reason you'd grabbed me as soon as the Aurors left."

Dora slapped a hand to her face at that. She had really screwed up that entire situation…

"Oh. Yes. Well. You noticed that too then?"

"I'm reckless and noble, not an idiot, Hermione," Harry said chuckling.

Dora could practically hear Hermione rolling her eyes. "It wasn't just that, Harry. She was also nervous since waking up and was very cagey when speaking about Umbridge prior to the attack. She had to have known that something was about to happen, yet she didn't say anything about it to any of us!"

Harry sighed. "Well, yeah. I'm willing to bet she was the Fudge in Umbridge's potion induced rant."

"Which is a major problem, Harry."

"Just so we're clear," Harry said slowly, "do you think Dora intentionally advised Umbridge to kill me?"

"What?!" Hermione shouted, scandalized. The surprise in her voice lifted a weight from Dora's shoulders. That had been where she thought that Hermione was going as well. That the brunette didn't think she'd sunk that low…it meant more to Dora than she had expected. "Harry! She obviously loves you! Of course she'd never set someone to kill you!"

"Okay, we agree on that. Wait you think she loves loves me? But I'm just…never mind, that's not important right now. Anyway, I fail to see the problem here regarding her actions."

Hermione huffed, "It was reckless and foolish and could have easily gotten you seriously hurt even if Umbridge hadn't been completely insane."

"So she fits right in as a Gryffindor then?" Harry asked nonchalantly.

"What?" Dora found herself nodding along with Hermione's complete flat-footed response.

"Hermione, Dora hasn't done anything that you, Ron or I haven't done already."

"I find that very hard to believe. Harry, this is serious! She goaded Umbridge into attacking you in public just to get the Toad discredited in a way that she couldn't come back from!"

"And it worked!" Harry sighed. "Hermione, think about it. What have we done? Philosopher's Stone first year; all three of us ran straight to it when we knew it was being guarded by Professor level traps and a teacher was trying to steal it. Sealed platform barrier prior to second year? Ron and I steal a flying car instead of waiting for the dozens of parents to realize something was wrong. Chamber of Secrets at the end of second year; Ron and I just jumped straight into that basilisk's hole with the worst possible backup imaginable plus a broken wand! Third year, you and I jump through time to save someone we'd just met! Last year it was you and me against the entire student population of three magical schools! This year you've helped Dora to impersonate McGonagall to hoodwink Dumbledore and then half of us waved our wands in his face! Hermione, we do 'crazy and reckless' like it's on sale for a single pence."

Dora frowned as she considered that. He really did have a point there…Apparently Hermione agreed as she was quiet for several long moments. "It was still almost always two or three of us, Harry. She should've consulted with us first."

"I agree, but I'm not going to yell at her for it. She's already been yelled at."

"Yes, I'm certain that Tonks did a decent job of that, but that's no excuse not to express our disappointment and – "

Harry cut her off with a sigh. "And did you see her when she ran away after Luna came out of that room?" There was a long silence before Harry continued on. "She looked like someone had just killed her puppy, Hermione. Those two have done a very good job of convincing her that this was a stupid plan. I'm not going to heap onto that pile; especially when no one was hurt and the Toad is gone."

Hermione groaned and the dull slap of a body hitting the soft couch cushions resounded through the partition. "Fine! When you put it like that I can understand. I'm still angry with her though!"

"And just what were you planning if she hadn't beaten you to it?" Harry asked with an amused lilt to his voice.

Incoherent grumbling was the only response that Dora could hear though apparently it was just as unintelligible to Harry. "Gonna have to speak up there, Hermione," he laughed.

"I was considering brewing a Draught of Living Death, staging an argument with Snape and then framing him for it." The silence that spanned that statement was deafening. At least until both Harry and Hermione burst out in laughter. Dora had to grab a pillow and smother herself with it to prevent her own laughs from escaping. "Alright, alright you've made your point. I won't say anything to her. I reserve the right to confront her with this poor judgment later though if it's required."

"Of course, Hermione. Whatever you say." He teased.

A snort of laughter and a light playful slap were soon followed by, "Boys. Sometimes I wonder how you can all be so thoughtful yet exceeding moronic at the same time!"

"At least we make sense," Harry replied. "Girls are just insane all around."

"Hey!"

"You know you are. Now come on, let's go find my girlfriend so I can give her a hug and tell her I still want to keep dating her."

"Oh very well, if I must I must I suppose..."

The slam of a door was followed almost immediately by the room dropping back into a single lounge configuration. Dora glared at the walls before rolling her eyes. "You know you should be more careful, Hogwarts. Keep doing things like that and some might start to wonder just how 'alive' you really are." She stood and patted the wall lightly on her way out. "Thanks," she murmured. "I needed to hear that."


The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully until Dora tried to settle down to sleep. Yet again rest eluded her and she tossed and turned for nearly ten minutes before giving it up and padding out to the Common Room with just her robe and slippers. She pulled up short and blinked in surprise seeing Harry sitting on one of the couches and waving to her. He stood up and grabbed a bundle next to him, walking up to her. "Um…hi…" she murmured.

"Hey," he replied leaning down to lightly kiss her lips. He pulled back and eyed her figure with a nod. "Well at least you remembered the footwear this time. Guess I can leave the shoes behind. Trousers are still a requirement though it seems. Here you go." Passing over part of his bundle, the rest was banished back up the stairs to the boys dorm leaving Dora frowning in confusion at the pants in her hand.

"What's going on?"

"You were heading to the Astronomy Tower right?" he queried.

Dora nodded. "Well yeah, but…man you really are the best, you know that?" Dora smiled and kissed his cheek then slipped on the trousers and linked her arm through his. "Got the Cloak?"

"Right here." He pulled out his Invisibility Cloak and draped it over the two of them. Walking as one, Dora and Harry quickly made their way out of the Common Room and through the quiet castle to the top of the Astronomy Tower. They were sitting and just staring at the stars together for nearly half an hour before Harry made to speak again. "I know that you manipulated Umbridge into that spectacle this morning, Dora."

She grimaced and wriggled deeper into his side shutting her eyes as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"I really do appreciate you looking out for me Dora and getting my broom and Quidditch back too."

"But…"

He sighed and shrugged as best he could with her on one shoulder. "But you really need to let one of the rest of us know next time. I do crazy things a lot, but I rarely do it alone. I almost never listen to someone telling me it's a bad idea, but there's always someone there to get help if it's needed. A second set of eyes, a second wand, a second voice of reason…You need to tell us, Dora."

"I wanted you all to have plausible deniability," Dora said softly. "Fudge is going to demand that he either be let off or submitted to the truth serum. Either way, an inquiry is eventually going to come down. I didn't want you all to have to worry about beating veritaserum questioning. Or to worry about feeling guilty about setting a woman up to head to Azkaban."

Harry nodded. "Again, I appreciate the attempt, but it should have been our choice. And I rather doubt that any one of our friends would care about her being sent to the Dementors. Hermione was apparently planning something almost as bad!"

Dora snorted at that. Yes, the Draught of Living Death would have been a great ending as well; if perhaps not as flashy. "I promise I'll do better in the future. You should probably know that I don't really consider myself 'light' anymore, Harry. I…" she paused and clutched at his hand hard enough to make him wince slightly. "You'd probably be better off with someone else, Harry. Someone better than me."

Harry remained quiet for a long time. Long enough for Dora to seriously consider if she should leave. She even let her morph go on her hair and felt the default brown seek through. Eventually he reached up with his free hand and turned her face to meet his eyes. "Is that what you want, Dora?"

"No," she whispered. "I'm selfish and I don't want to let go. You, Luna and Hermione are basically all I have now. I don't want to let you go."

"Then don't," Harry said. He leaned back in and she felt his lips brush her own. A soft moan escaped her and she pushed roughly back grasping the back of his head and pulling him into her. They stayed locked together until both pulled back for air leaving a small smile on Dora's face as she snuggled back into him.

"Dora," he said wrapping his arms around her. "I care about you a lot. You need to start trusting me more though. This isn't my first time through this stuff. If you can't trust me when the shite hits the fan then this is never going to work. Promise me you'll tell me when something big comes up again?"

Her insides flipped. This was the perfect time to tell him everything. All she had to do was take the leap. She could tell him who she really was and how she got here and how things had gone bad and why she was still being so…so…she could…And what if he leaves and I can't save him?

"I promise," she said softly. There would be time to tell him everything after the Ministry. After she made sure he survived this year. After she had just a few more weeks with him.

"Good," Harry said pulling her close. "Dora…if Umbridge had been just a bit better of a shot…or even a bit worse of one…You could've died today just as easily as me…I can't lose you. Not now. Not…I can't lose you, Dora…"

"I'm right here, Harry. I'm not going anywhere. You're going to have to kick me out yourself to get rid of me," she stated softly. Reaching up, she rested one hand against his cheek and pulled his head down close for a deep kiss. Her other hand snaked inside his shirt and wrapped around his back using the leverage to press herself deeper in his embrace.

"That's not going to happen, Dora," he replied, his breath against her ear sending shivers down her spine. Shivers that Harry apparently noticed. "You're cold."

"Not why I'm shivering, Harry," Dora purred as his words breezed past her ear again.

She pulled back to smile up at him and after a moment saw the light click on for him. "Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense too…Dora…would…err…would you like to…go to the Room of Requirement for the night? It's…I would really like to spend the night with you, and to remind the both of us that we're each still here."

I'd like that, Harry. I'd like that a lot."


The week before exams Dora found herself wandering through Hogsmeade with Harry. It was the last weekend they'd have to relax before the exams started. Before Dora would finally be certain, one way or the other, if she'd been able to make enough changes to steer things away from the inevitable. Harry, Hermione and Luna had all noticed how her hands had been curling into fists more often than not and how her back was near constantly ramrod straight with her muscles coiling tightly under her skin. Even without the more subtle signs of her increasing stress, there was the fact that she'd dropped her hair color change game and taken to keeping it a simple, deep blue. This Saturday trip to Hogsmeade had been practically shoved down her throat by her friends. While Luna seemed to understand that Dora's time trip incident was likely imminent, her fellow Gryffindors were blaming her stress on the looming exams.

"Dora you don't have to jump every time the door opens," Harry said chuckling into his butterbeer across the table from her. "I think if Voldemort was going to attack us in The Three Broomsticks there would be a lot more screaming beforehand to alert us he's on the way."

"Hahaha," Dora deadpanned glaring at him for a moment before rolling her eyes and playfully kicking him in the shin. Her friends hadn't had to try very hard to convince her to come on this date. Spending time with Harry was certainly a worthy distraction; even if she couldn't quite keep the Auror aspect of her brain from constantly screaming in muted panic whenever a loud noise sounded nearby. "You know it could always be another Ministry flunky come to torture you again too."

"Nah, not with Umbridge gone and Fudge being kicked out. Shame he didn't get Azkaban," Harry said with an exaggerated sigh.

"From what I understand Madame Bones couldn't actually pin anything on him."

Harry smirked. "Too bad being an obstructive idiot isn't punishable by law."

Dora just snorted and shook her head at him. Not that she disagreed, but…well, just getting the fool out of power would be good enough for her. It was still a tossup on whether Bones or Scrimgeour would fill the top slot when the emergency election went through. Considering their current temporary replacement Pius Thicknesse was doing absolutely nothing – and had even gone as far as sending Dawlish to replace Umbridge for the remainder of the school year – it would be somewhat hard to wind up with someone worse. She was quietly hopeful for Bones, but Dora didn't really think that the Director would ever actually accept the position without quite a bit of yelling from multiple parties.

"So how's the exam prep going? Do you think we got you good enough with the Runes to be able to pass the O.W.L. for it?" Dora asked.

"Probably," Harry said. "I'm honestly more worried about being able to stay awake in History long enough to finish that exam."

Dora chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, somehow I doubt I'll do good there either. Hermione's probably the only one who'll be able to finish it."

"No argument there." Harry let his thought trail off as Hedwig swooped into the pub, circled the rafters once and drifted down to land on Harry's shoulder. "Hey, girl, what are you doing here? Just saying hello?" Hedwig affectionately nipped at his ear before hopping onto the table and sticking her leg out to Dora.

"Me, huh?" Dora asked raising her eyebrows. She reached out to take the small piece of rolled up parchment from the owl and smiled as Hedwig took a sip of her drink as payment before hopping back up onto Harry's shoulder. "Wonder who it's…oh. Padfoot."

"What did he say?"

Dora read through the letter a second time and felt warmth spread through her insides. Sirius had been short and to the point not mincing any words in his correspondence. Dora read it a third time and let her hair switch to a light green before turning it over and showing Harry.

"Welcome to the family with a small winky face next to it," Harry read. He quirked his mouth for a moment obviously trying to determine just what the line meant, before groaning and wiping a hand through his hair. "I am going to have to have some serious words with that old dog."

"I think it's cute," Dora commented folding the parchment up and tucking it into her pocket. "He obviously approves of our relationship."

Harry glared at her. "No offense, Dora, but we are way too young for Sirius to making marriage jokes! We've barely even been officially going out for five months!"

Dora just smirked and patted Harry's hand. "And he's over the Moon that you've managed to bag a beautiful bird like me." She held her head up high and struck a small pose lengthening her hair to make it more regal and lady-like. "Hedwig agrees with me don't you girl?" A loud affirmative sounding bark met that remark and the owl flew over to Dora's shoulder bobbing her head at Harry.

The poor boy was left to roll his eyes and hold his hands up to the heavens. "Merlin help me, I am surrounded by maniacs with a horrible sense of humor!"

"Takes one to know one!" Dora replied laughing and letting the high-and-mighty morph go. She shifted back to default Dora and grabbed her drink while giving Hedwig a piece of her food. "You know you love us, Harry."

He smiled and looked down into his drink. His response was so soft that she barely even caught it as Harry whispered, "Yeah, yeah I do."


Exams. O.W.L.s. The end of the long year. The end of a beautiful lie. The end of a beloved fantasy. The culmination of months of stress and hard work.

Dora felt like she was going to throw up.

She was under no delusions that the end of this school year would lead to the end of Voldemort. There was simply no way that she would be able to convince the Order members that she knew exactly when and where a large group of the inner circle would be meeting. Not without casting suspicion on herself anyways. Even explaining everything with the aid of veritaserum, Legilimency and a Penseive wouldn't help matters. At best they'd consent to admitting a danger and then fall in line with Dumbledore's policy of 'wait and see, only react after it's too late to be truly effective'. It's what she would have done if confronted by a time traveling version of one of their members – even if that member was herself…Why risk everything on setting a counter-ambush for something that may not even happen? Why risk resources, political capital and personnel on something where – even if the information wasn't tainted – events could have been altered enough to change the circumstances for the Death Eaters? Why risk the potential fate of the wizarding world over the word of a single individual with questionable origins and intentions?

Maybe if she had come out with the truth right off the bat to a few key individuals it might be different. Maybe if she had trusted herself or Moody or her mum or Minerva or…maybe, maybe, maybe! None of it mattered now. She'd done what she could, where she could.

Despite knowing it probably wouldn't help much, she'd sent a warning note to Tonks. It lacked specific details, but advised her alternate to be prepared for an attack soon and to gather as many Order members as possible for short notice operations 'just in case'. Hedwig had immediately returned with a simple note: We'll hang around Headquarters for a few days. I want full disclosure once your O.W.L.s are done. –Nymphadora

"She's mad. She's really mad," Dora murmured as she tucked the note into a pocket.

"Who's mad?" Hermione asked around the corner of her History book never once lifting her eyes from the page. The brunette's other hand reached out and groped for her bagel; nearly half-a-foot to the left of her plate.

Harry chuckled and reached over to pick up the errant piece of breakfast and deposited it into Hermione's still groping hand. "Careful, Hermione, you nearly strayed into the path of Ron's foraging there."

"Hey! I wouldn't have speared her with the fork, I'm careful when it comes to food!" Ron scoffed around his mouthful. Dora groaned. She'd managed to drag some measure of basic manners and forethought from her redheaded friend, but all efforts at improving his eating habits had fallen completely flat.

"Thanks for the save, Harry," Hermione murmured as she took a distracted bite and flipped her page. "Oh my goodness! I completely forgot that Henrick Warhammer led the Second Contingent in the 1452 uprising!"

Suppressing further laughter Harry just rolled his eyes at his friend and turned to Dora. He pointed to the pocket Tonks' reply had disappeared into and shot Dora a look. His raised eyebrows left little question over the nature of his inquiry. Dora shrugged and said, "Tonks. I just have a bad feeling and she's still a bit annoyed that I can't explain it well."

"You could just say Luna said something to you," he said.

Dora sighed and shook her head. "One thing I have figured out about our dear little Ravenclaw is that she definitely is not a Seer. I don't know how that girl knows what she knows, but it's not because she's seeing the future or anything."

"Okay. Well if your worries get anything more concrete let me know. If we follow the pattern of my last four years we're due for a crisis soon anyway."

Hermione nodded and flipped another page while waving a fork towards Harry. "Please tell whatever goddess of luck or fate you have your feud with to wait until tomorrow, Harry. Or at least this afternoon, please? We only have History and Ancient Runes left after all."

"Wait, Dora and I already took the Ancient Runes one?" Harry said frowning. "Hermione I think you've been studying a bit too hard…"

Hermione shook her head and tried to stab an egg; her fork just barely missed Ron's hand who yelped and cast a dark look towards the oblivious girl. "Sorry, I meant, I have Ancient Runes left. The Arithmancy instructor had to leave early due to family problems so all of us in that course swapped the Ancient Runes and Arithmancy exams to help him out."

"Oh. I was wondering why I couldn't find you while we were waiting yesterday…"

Dora tuned out the rest of their chatter. There really was every chance that nothing would happen. After all, things had been altered so far. She was dating Harry. Snape completely ignored his existence. Dumbledore seemed to be thinking a tad more than usual. The Order was more fractured. Hermione cared far less for authority. Sirius didn't seem nearly as depressed.

And most important of all…Harry had Occlumency barriers. She still wasn't entirely certain whether her hunch of Voldemort drawing him to the Ministry via induced visions was correct, but it certainly made more sense than receiving a threatening owl post or letting Draco deliver a message. It would fit with Snape's poor instruction in the subject as well. If Harry was conned into the trap through a mental connection then they just might make it through this week without any problem.

But would Voldemort just give up if he couldn't get through to Harry to set the bait? Where would he attack then? Using Draco was idiotic, but not necessarily out of the question. He could also try to attack Hermione's mental shields. That wasn't supposed to be possible, but he shouldn't have been able to attack Harry from a distance either so it wouldn't surprise her if the bastard could get to Hermione too. Dora had been alternating with Harry in buffing Hermione's defenses whenever they could drag the girl away from her study efforts. The brunette witch was doing remarkably well in the mind art and Dora was confident that she'd be able to repel anything sent remotely against her shields.

Dora's cheeks pinked slightly as she remembered the last memory she'd witnessed before Hermione managed to fully keep her out. The six year old walking around with a huge hardcover copy of Lord of the Rings had been utterly adorable. The memory has quickly linked to another decidedly less childish memory. The vision of Hermione in an elf getup and with Harry looking like Legolas pinned beneath her was most definitely a fantasy. Having Tonks on a nearby chair regally morphed into a leering Galadriel and Dora laid out beside them looking like Arwen had ended that particular lesson rather quickly.

Focus, Dora, focus! Rule Number 6: Maintain focus or die! Dammit, I can't keep running in circles like this. I have to start running contingencies and more contingencies. Rule Number 11: Know what to do when it all goes to shite.

She lifted her head up and blinked in confusion as she stared at the exam paper in front of her. When had she gotten to the History exam? With a grimace she realized she was going to do even worse on this exam than the first time she'd taken it. At least Tonks had managed to write some responses. This paper consisted primarily of doodles of Voldemort being stomped on by an angry Hulkish Harry with a few stick figures cheering him on. One of them was probably Hermione judging by the wild lines representing her hair and since one was labeled 'SNORKACK' that was probably Luna…"I am so screwed…" Dora muttered.

Scowling at her own lack of attention to, well anything, she took a glance around the rest of the classroom. Her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of Harry grimacing in the next seat. Dora nearly dismissed it for simple difficulty with his last O.W.L. but the way his teeth were grinding together and the rhythmic clenching and unclenching of his fist…

"Shite!" Dora murmured. The time for contingencies was past.


"Harry?" Hermione asked as the class filed out of the History of Magic O.W.L. "Harry, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Harry responded. The fact that his reply was forced out between clenched teeth did absolutely nothing to reassure Hermione. Or Dora – though Dora had a fairly good idea of just why he wasn't fine.

"No, you're not," Hermione replied. She bit her lip and looked down at her watch before turning to Dora. "I have to go. If I don't hurry I'll miss the Ancient Runes exam. Will you – "

"Take him to the hospital wing and make sure he gets there?" Dora asked trying to force her face into the semblance of a smile. Considering the deepening frown on Hermione's face she wasn't too successful. "Sure, Hermione. I'll take care of him. Get to your exam. You can meet up with us in about two hours yeah?"

Hermione looked at her watch again and glanced down the corridor. She shut her eyes and turned towards them. Her mouth had opened to reply before Harry cut her off. "Hermione, seriously, go. I'm sure it's just a horrible headache. I'll be fine. Dora's here, Ron's…Ron's probably around the corner with Neville. Go. Madame Pomfrey will have me sorted out in a minute."

Hermione squeezed her hand into a fist and shut her eyes. A moment later she nodded jerkily. "Alright…alright, Dora? Please come let me know if there is something actually wrong. I'll try to finish up quickly." She turned and left at a pace approaching a run and all of a sudden it was just Harry and Dora.

"Harry, come on you need to sit down – and maybe to take a sedative too," Dora murmured grabbing his arm and trying to lead him down the corridor towards the hospital wing. If she could get him unconscious then whatever Voldemort was trying to force into his head would be irrelevant since she could keep him out long enough for the trap to be exposed. Probably.

Harry groaned and rubbed at his forehead. "It feels like someone is bashing on my head with a bloody hammer. Dora, this feels like a Legilimency attempt. I thought you needed eye contact to do that."

"You do. I've never heard of any Legilimency that could be done without eye contact. We're wizards not psychics," she said scowling. How was Voldemort doing this? Even the mages in Merlin's time had needed line of sight to do mental spells! This was almost like the two…were…linked…"Oh bloody hell. Harry – "

Her thought was cut off as Harry cried out in pain. He clapped both hands onto his forehead and went limp in her arms as a strangled sob burst forth from him. Dora's eyes widened and she increased her muscle mass to be able lower the sudden dead weight that was her boyfriend to the floor of the corridor. "Shite, shite, shite, shite! I can't knock him out now – not while the bastard's already in. Shite! What now, what now?! Come on, Dora, think, think!"

Harry surged to life again beneath her arms throwing her off through the sudden movement. He bucked up to a sitting position, a growl of rage and pain echoing down the corridor. "He has Sirius. He's going to kill him. Come on!" Leaping to his feet, Harry grabbed Dora's arm and started running down the corridor.

A detached part of Dora calmly analyzed Harry's ragged cry and found the logic within. Sirius; of course. That would be the perfect way to get him to waltz right into an ambush. Hermione, me, Ron, Sirius, probably even Ginny. Pretend that any of us were being tortured and Harry would run off without a second thought. The plan was good. Too good. Talking Harry down from blind rage and panic would be next to impossible with Sirius' life on the line.

She'd have to come clean immediately if she wanted to keep him in the castle. But what if he didn't believe her? What if he thought that she was a deep-cover agent for the Death Eaters trying to keep him away? What if he completely ignored her? He knew that she had set Umbridge onto him. He knew that she was a metamorph and her basic form was…fluid. He knew she'd come into the school without any real credentials. He knew that she avoided talking about her 'home' in the 'Coven'. He knew that she was hiding secrets about her past.

Harry wasn't stupid. But he most certainly was noble and reckless.

"Harry, stop! Where are we going?"

"Dumbledore! He'll be able to get the rest of the Order together and we can rescue, Sirius!"

That wasn't a bad plan. Except for one glaring flaw. "Dumbledore was called away this morning remember? The lead examiner sent word from the Minister about a last minute ICW meeting!" Shite! Why would you remind him of that?! The goal is to stall him! Stall, Theodora, stall!

"Bloody hell!" Harry shouted. His fingers tightened on hers. As they ran into the next intersection Harry twisted to the left and kept running. It only took one more turn before Dora realized he was heading for McGonagall's office.

"Thank, Merlin," she muttered as they ran around another corner.

"What?"

"Min-McGonagall is a good idea! She'll help!" Dora shouted barely managing to catch herself. Her beating heart and rapid breaths were going to become a liability if she couldn't keep her mouth from making things even worse.

Harry barely even slowed enough to wrench the door open before jumping into Minerva McGonagall's office. They were halfway across the room before a very surprised and flustered Deputy Headmistress managed to even lift her head and gape at them. "Mr. Potter! Miss Kirk! What has happened? What is wrong?"

"Voldemort has Sirius and is torturing him right now!" Harry growled as he came to a stop in front of Minerva's desk. "I saw it. Just like with the snake and Mr. Weasley. We need to save him!"

McGonagall's face paled and she immediately pushed back from her desk standing up to fix Harry's eyes with her own. "Did you see where he was?"

"A room with a lot of shelves and glowing spheres. Looked like a storage facility. I don't know!" Harry growled and let go of Dora's hand to wrap both fists in his wild hair.

Dora could only clench her own fists in panic. Here was where she couldn't drop the ball. Not now. To lose hold of the situation at this point would bring everything right back around full circle. "Professor, can't you contact him? This could be a trap and we should make sure that Sirius is safe first before we run blindly into an ambush."

"Exactly my thinking Miss Kirk," Minerva stated as she strode around the desk and towards the Floo. Taking a pinch, she tossed it into the fire and leaned down sticking her head into the flames. "Number 12 Grimmauld Place! Sirius Black, if you are there get your mangy arse into this kitchen, NOW!"

The shout from their professor drew surprised stares from both students. "I didn't know Professor McGonagall could yell like that…" Harry muttered besides her. Dora just nodded. She'd only ever seen Minerva truly scared once and it hadn't been a pleasant experience.

"Kreacher! Where is your master? Do not take that tone with me! I may not be your mistress, but you are still bound to obey me as with any other Order member; now tell me where Sirius Black is!"

"Please, let this work, please let this work, please," Dora muttered. She felt Harry's hand clutch hers again and she squeezed him back. Minerva would handle this. Tonks and the rest were already at Grimmauld anyway so this was simple. It was simple. The crisis would be averted any moment. Yup, aaaannnnyyyy moment…

McGonagall pulled back from the fire place with her face even whiter than before. Dora sucked in a breath and found it difficult to get enough air. "Kreacher states that Sirius is not there. I do not trust the elf though so I need to check for myself. Wait here, I will return once I have verified whether your godfather has actually left the building or not."

"We're wasting time!" Harry said scowling with his hand tightening on Dora's. "We need to figure out just where that room is and – "

"Mr. Potter, please," McGonagall said softly laying a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I will be but five minutes. You can try to ascertain the location in the meantime. Just. Stay. Here." Harry gave her a curt nod and Minerva disappeared into the fireplace. The flames died out almost immediately with a soft pop.

"That's not…" Dora's mouth dropped open as she stared at the fireplace. She'd seen that happen before; Grimmauld Place had just been completely sealed off. But when McGonagall doesn't come back Harry's going to…oh Merlin…oh no…I need to make sure he doesn't realize where Voldemort is leading him to.

"I know I've seen that door before…" Harry muttered. He dropped her hand and screwed his eyes shut. "Why did it look so familiar?"

"Harry, maybe we should find Snape or Hagrid. Both of them can help as well. In case McGonagall takes longer than expected we can have backup ready and…"

"It was the snake. The snake saw that door. Mr. Weasley was on guard duty…"

Dora grabbed his hands and squeezed hard enough to leave marks. "I know that Snape's ignoring you, but Hagrid will be perfectly willing to help and even Snape can't brush off a half-giant!"

"…at the Ministry…"

"Come on! We can be back before she even knows that we're gone!" Please, please stop…

"THE DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES!" Harry shouted, his eyes sprung wide and he stepped forward to wrap Dora into a hug. "He's at the Department of Mysteries! Professor I – " Harry cut off and stared at the fireplace with its single wisp of smoke curling up from the center of the Floo. Harry's eyes narrowed and his face twisted into a deep scowl. "Floos don't look like that when someone steps through."

Dora managed to pull her hands back from his grip and placed them on each side of his head. She shifted mass just enough to be able to look him eye to eye as she pulled his head back to look at her. "It's sealed, Harry. Please, just wait here for her to get Kreacher to unseal it and we can tell her where you saw in your vision."

Harry's scowl dropped somewhat as his eyes searched hers. "Dora? If the Floo is sealed that's even more proof that something is wrong. If the Order can't get out of the house and Dumbledore is gone…we have to go save him ourselves."

NO! I will NOT LET this happen AGAIN! "Harry, listen to me," Dora said actively using her abilities to force her breathing into a semblance of calm and avoid hyperventilating. That was a new one. Using morphs to force her diaphragm into specific configurations was something she'd have to explore more in the future. "This positively reeks of 'trap'. Your Occlumency is strong. Voldemort would have to actively be trying to get through to break your shields. It's not something that would just leak in."

"I know, Dora!" Harry snarled pulling back. "It doesn't change anything! Just because we know it's a trap doesn't mean I can just ignore it!"

"And what if Sirius isn't even there?! Voldemort knows that you would run after him without thinking! Come on, don't be a Gryffindor right now, think like a Slytherin!" Not again. Not again. This would not happen again. Not again.

"Can you tell me without any doubt that Voldemort doesn't have him?" Harry asked his voice deadly calm.

"I-I-I can't…I don't…Harry please!" she couldn't think of anything to say. Everything was falling down around her and all the clever plans she'd come up with for worst-case scenarios were flying out of her brain.

Harry took a deep breath and pushed Dora back to arms length. "We'll ask Hagrid and then I'm going to save my godfather, Dora. You can come or you can stay. It's your choice."

Harry walked around her and strode to the door to McGonagall's office. Tears streaming down her cheeks Dora stayed frozen until the sound of the door slamming into the wall shattered what very little remained of her calm. Twisting on her heel Dora ran after Harry not even noticing that her hair had morphed to a mousy brown and her legs had lengthened slightly.


Dora caught up with Harry as he exited the castle doors at a run. "Harry, wait!" she shouted. He glanced back over his shoulder and slowed just enough for Dora to catch up as he ran towards Hagrid's hut. They reached the hut at almost the same time and Harry starting banging on the door to the hut. A frantic scrambling at the door and a quiet woof gave evidence to Fang's occupancy at the very least.

"Hagrid?! Hagrid open up! Please! We need your help!" Harry yelled.

Answer the door, answer the door, answer the door! Dora's thoughts kept looping back to death and disaster and every time she tried to come up with a way of getting Harry to abandon this as pointless she ran into a brick wall.

"Dammit! He's not here!" Harry turned from the hut and Fang's whines to fix Dora with a firm stare. "Dora, I'm going to rescue him."

"Harry, please…I have to…I have tell you something," she got out, blinking rapidly to get the sheen off of her eyes. Her hands trembled and she clenched them into fists hard enough that her nails bit into her palms. "I've-I've lived through this before. It…it didn't end well. Please, don't go…"

Harry frowned and he opened his mouth to say something before shaking his head and sighing. "Look I get that bad things happened when you left the Coven, Dora, but I can't just leave him. He's my godfather. He doesn't have anyone else…"

The damn Dora had been desperately holding back cracked further. She wasn't being clear enough and she couldn't get her thoughts together enough to make him understand. "That's not what I meant! I mean that I've experienced this! You can't go to the Department of Mysteries!"

"Dora, I don't have time to figure out what you're talking about! Sirius is being tortured right now!"

"You're not listening to me, Harry! I know what happens if you go to the Ministry! Almost everyone dies!"

Harry scowled and ripped his hands back from her grip. "Why do you think I'm not calling for the DA? Every time I go up against Voldemort it gets worse. Now he has followers. I know this is probably a suicide mission. I still have to go, Dora." Harry stayed silent for a long moment before gazing out at the castle gates and saying softly, "Can you tell me – without the shadow of a doubt – that Sirius Black is safe and sound at home and not being tortured in the Department of Mysteries?"

This wasn't going to work. Even if she could sit him down long enough to explain clearly that she was from the future in the state he was in…it just wouldn't matter to him. He'd go after Sirius anyway because that was the kind of person he was. Dora would have to stun him in order to get him to stay in the castle and then she'd be lucky to have his hate restricted to the same level as what he felt for Snape.

And the worst part was…he was right. She couldn't say absolutely that Sirius was safe. Subtle things had changed due to her meddling; nothing truly major yet beyond ousting Umbridge and Fudge, but…well that wasn't to say that she hadn't affected other things with the dominoes. Minerva had never gone to Grimmauld, Grimmauld had never been sealed. Hagrid hadn't been missing, Tonks hadn't been on the lookout for anything weird…What if something she had done had inadvertently led to Sirius actually being captured this time? She still didn't know exactly what Voldemort even wanted in the Department of Mysteries!

"I-I can't…I…"

"Dora," Harry took her hands and leaned in to place a fleeting, gentle kiss on her lips. "I have to go save my godfather. I'll take a thestral. Hagrid said that they're supposed to be faster than brooms for long distances and I don't even know how to fly to the Ministry by myself anyway. Stay here okay, if McGonagall gets back let her know where – "

"NO!" Dora spat. She shook her head hard enough for her hair to flip into her normal, blue eyes and she scowled. "Screw that shite! I'm going with you! You need someone to watch your back and you are not leaving me here to pick up the pieces!" She could watch him. Just him. She was a trained Auror and a powerful fighter. She knew offensive and defensive tactics and styles both in the magical world and the Muggle world. She had no chance of protecting a group of six students…but a single partner who was also decently skilled…

If she couldn't stop him from going then she could at least make certain that he survived the trip this time.

"Dora, that's not a good idea. You should stay here and – "

"I. Am. Going. With. You. Harry Potter!"

Harry met her eyes for several interminable moments before nodding and clenching her hand. "Okay, let's go grab a thestral and we can go."

"Screw that shite, we're taking the Floo," Dora said scowling. If they were doing this thing then they were doing it properly. It was still only 4 pm. There should still be some people at the Ministry. If they got there fast enough she could send someone to grab the Aurors to provide backup. They might even get lucky and have some of the Unspeakables still working. You know that's not going to happen. Voldemort wouldn't have triggered his trap if he wasn't ready and the place wasn't deserted. Dora growled low as she quieted the traitorous part of her mind.

"The Floo was sealed though. Dumbledore and McGonagall are the only ones who can get through the castle Floos aren't they?" Harry said.

"Then we take the one in the Three Broomsticks," Dora replied.

Harry's eyes lit up and he smiled. "Yes! Great idea, Dora! Let's go!"

"Just – where – are you – two – going?!" a frustrated shout rang out through frantic gasps for air. Dora and Harry both turned to see Hermione pulling up behind them bent over double with her hands on her knees. "You – two idiots – have better have – a good reason – for this!"

Harry stared at his friend in confusion powerful enough to break the frantic mold his mind had fallen into over the past few minutes. "Hermione? Weren't you taking a test?"

"Saw – you both – through the window. Told – Professor Babbling and the examiner – I had to go." Hermione finally seemed to catch her breath and stood up straight, her face still flushed. "That's a lot of stairs. Well, out with it, what's going on and who are we fighting against this time?"

"Err…" Harry looked between Hermione, the castle, Dora and the gates before sighing. "Voldemort sent me a vision of torturing Sirius while in the Department of Mysteries. We went to Professor McGonagall for help and she got sealed into Headquarters by Kreacher. Hagrid's not here. Snape would either ignore us or knock us out to make sure that Sirius dies."

Hermione's eyes narrowed and she looked back and forth between Harry and Dora. Dora swallowed hard and couldn't help but notice how Hermione's eyes locked for a moment on her hair. "You realize this is almost definitely a trap?"

"Yes."

"And you're going anyway," Hermione stated. She scowled and turned back to Dora. "You haven't been able to talk him out of it."

Dora's hands started trembling again and she shook her head. "I can't. I've tried. I've tried to tell him this goes really bad, but…he's right. We can't be sure that Sirius isn't there…"

Hermione's scowl deepened. "You're right unfortunately. With Headquarters being sealed there is a chance that Voldemort really does have Sirius. Very well, how are we getting to the Ministry?"

Dora's mind froze. Not again. I can't protect them both at the same time. I'm good, but I'm not that good!

"…Three Broomsticks. We have to leave now." Dora finally tuned back into the conversation as Harry finished up and started moving towards the castle gates. Dora felt the sheen back over her eyes. Everything was falling apart.

"Wait!" she shouted. Both teens turned to look at her and Dora hurried to cast her patronus. As the ethereal silver lioness shot out of her wand Dora spoke, "Tonks, get your arse to the Department of Mysteries asap. Red Alert. Bring the party." The lioness flew off in a streak of silver and Dora turned back to her friends. "Now we can go."


AN: Much thanks to RhysThornbery for his beta assistance on this.

For those curious, Hagrid is actually busy with assisting on the Care of Magical Creatures exam.

\/\/\/\/

Mad-Eye's Rules For Successfully Reaching Retirement:

Rule Number 6: Maintain focus or die.

Rule Number 11: Know what to do when it all goes to shite.

\/\/\/\/

Fic Recommendation: "The Lion Tamer", "Lion's Pride", and "The Lion's Roar" all by James Spookie. This trilogy is Harry/Daphne and is mostly canon through year 5 though Ron dies in place of Sirius at the Department of Mysteries and the changes leap high afterwards. It's pretty good though there are some spelling errors that do compound and several continuity issues that can get annoying (especially across the gap between novels). All three are complete though and it's a very good trilogy as long as you space out the separate stories!