"Hey, Sam! Wait up," I jog after the Gryffindor now waiting for me at the bottom of the Astronomy tower. It's been about a week since classes started, and finally I've managed to piece together a mental map of all my classes and getting lost is a rarer and rarer occurrence.

"Hey John, what's up?" Sam greets.

"Not much. Just Slytherin, you know how it goes," I shrug. Okay, maybe I'm downplaying it a bit. I've just come from Transfiguration, which Hufflepuff shares with Slytherin. Among those Slytherins is Mark James, who has to all appearances made it his mission in life to make mine horrible. This particular lesson, he'd stuck his foot out to trip me as I passed him to my desk. It half worked, and while I tried to hold back an uncharacteristically confrontational urge, I didn't restrain myself from slamming my retrieved books onto my desk with a glare at the one responsible. We step into the current of students hurrying up the stairs.

"You too? Harry's being harassed by them as well. Probably because he's famous and wasn't put in their house. Even Snape picks on him." I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

"Really? I feel sorry for the guy. I've only got the one guy after me, but the whole house? I don't even know what he's famous for."

"Neither did he, till he got to Diagon Alley a month ago. He's surrounded by people - definitely not me, I'd never heard of him before - who know more about his history than he does."

"Do you know why he's famous now though?"Which would be

"Oh, yeah. He's famous for defeating this evil wizard when he was a baby. Apparently when the guy used the killing curse it backfired on him and Harry was fine. That's also why he has the scar." As he says all this, Sam sketches his finger down his forehead in a mockery of the lightning scar. "Both his parents were killed, and so he went to live with his muggle aunt and uncle. Apparently they aren't the nicest people." At this point I'm barely listening to Sam, his words registering on the periphery of my awareness. People are bustling about me, and I'm hardly thinking of Astronomy anymore. I'm focussed more on my thoughts and the anxiety settling on my mindseed of doubt taking root in my mind.

None of us were babies when we arrived on Earth. And as far as I know - and experienced, the protective charm doesn't leave scars when activated. And everyone only had one Cepan. The only thing that's caught my attention is the fact that the killing spell rebounded and didn't harm Harry. It sounds like the charm. But nothing else fits. However, it's enough to leave me uncomfortable and it's not nearly enough to quell the panic rising up in my chest. I haven't been trying to stay away from him, and we've probably bumped into one another in Herbology a few times. Which could be bad. Very bad, if he's another Garde. The protective charm, the one that may have shielded Harry from that evil wizard Sam mentioned, would be broken and everyone would be vulnerable. But the timeline...his parents...his scar...

My concentration on my thoughts is shattered by a sudden strong tug on my wrist. I slowly become aware of Sam calling out to me to get a move on as he tries to drag me up the stairs to the classroom. It's all I can do to stumble after him and stay upright.

"Hi Seamus," I say distractedly as I take my seat on the other side of Sam. My eyes are flying around the room, looking for Harry or Ron; the two usually together.

"Hey, John, are you alright there? You look a little out of it," Seamus replies with only a hint of his usual humour, leaning forwards to peer around Sam, who's also looking at me weirdly.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. You haven't seen Harry's ankles, have you?" The expressions on their faces is somewhere between disturbed and trying to hold in laughter.

"I dunno, where'd he lose 'em?" I roll my eyes at Seamus, and a bit of my dread eases. Similarly, I can't help the grin that tugs at "Yeah, yeah I'm fine," I try to school my face into something resembling a reassuring smile.

I catch a glimpse of Ron's red hair out of the corner of my eye and turn to watch both him and Harry enter the classroom. I don't realise I'm staring at Harry until he meets my eyes with a bit of confusion.

Apparently Sam had been watching me, and when I looked away from Harry, I'm met by Sam's pained gaze.

"Sam? You alright?"

"Please don't act any differently around Harry now because you know why he's famous, he gets it enough and he needs people who see him as a person," Sam says quickly and quietly. I only nod, watching the boy in question take a seat further back in the corners of my mouth. "Here's Harry - and look at that, he's found his ankles. Hey Harry! Let's see those ankles!"

"Hi Seamus. Sam, John," Harry says politely as he walks past. Ron follows him, staring at us with bewilderment as he mumbles something about 'bloody paddies' under his breath.

Sarah slides into the seat next to me and puts her hand on my forearm. I flinch a little at the unexpected contact and momentarily lose my train of thought.

"So what's so special about Harry's ankles?" Seamus pursues, and I feel my face heat up as Sarah gives me a rather bizarre look.

"I just wondered if he has anything weird on his ankles. Like tattoos or scars or anything."

"Tattoos? Why would he have tattoos on his ankles? I mean, I don't think I've seen anything like that, I like to think I would have noticed it." Sam was nodding in puzzled agreement with Seamus' words. The relief I'm feeling is like a massive weight off my shoulders.

"Just, he lost both his parents, some people get something to remember the people they lost." I shrug, able to make the change of subject I make next seem a lot more genuine and less forced now that I have some reassurance that Harry is a weird coincidence. "We didn't have any homework here, did we?" I turn to address Sarah more. Apparently I've managed to convince the Gryffindors at least that it was a moment of mad curiosity and that everything's fine. Sarah raises an eyebrow but goes with the new topic.

"Not due this lesson. We have a constellation map due in next week." I smile my thanks at her, then turn my attention to the front of the room as the professor arrives. Now it's just back to keeping a wary distance from Ravenclaw and keeping my head down. Puzzling out what happened to Harry Potter when he was a baby would be interesting but now reassured to be not vital information. I send one final glance back at Harry and Ron before I turn my focus onto the lesson, putting my worries behind me.

Halfway through class, the professor finishes teaching and leaves us to work on our charts. Sam discards his oversized glasses on the desk and turns to doodling in his notebook. Sarah pulls a scroll out immediately and starts working on it with precision.

My eyes flick over to a picture on the wall of space, the stars slowly moving along their orbital paths. My gaze automatically seeks out Lorien's sun and the space around it, knowing that my home planet is invisibly circling it as I watch. Smaller than Earth, yet so much older. At one point in the distant, distant past, my ancestors had encountered what Earth is facing today: pollution began to slowly kill the planet. To survive the Loric got rid of everything harmful and became a peaceful and sustainable civilisation. Years later, some people began to express gifts, as though the planet itself was rewarding the people for their care and respect. Those with powers became the protectors, the Garde of Lorien. Those without were the diplomats, the teachers, the people who ran the planet, the Cepan.

A frustrated sigh and the shuffling of papers beside brings me out of the hypnotising draw of memories and the swirling star map. Sam scrunches up his paper, tearing it from his book. A sheet of paper pokes out from underneath it, a title reading "Entire Montana Town Abducted by Aliens." His eyes go to the poster I was so transfixed in a minute ago. Abruptly he snaps back to his desk and pulls out a scroll with his chart work already started on it and begins to do his work, but he seems a little sadder.

I file the occasion away and turn to focus on my own unstarted homework. I stare at the parchment in front of me for several minutes before getting out a scrap piece of paper and start to write a letter to Henri.

Henri -

Have you come across anything about Harry Potter? I met him recently and he's a pretty big deal in the wizarding world. I miss you. I also miss the internet. But I have made friends, and they're pretty cool. Sam has a thing with aliens, and Justin's finding another group to hang out with. The Gryffindor house seems nice. That's all for now, I hope you're alright.

- John

I fold it up neatly and tuck it into my pocket to send later. With that off my mind, I can focius a bit more on my work, and I start to make some progress.

A/N: Long time no see! So sorry for the massive wait on the next chapter, I don't have much internet access lately. Working on fixing that. Please be patient and aware that this has not been abandoned, rather just delayed due to busy sailing (pirate's life, why not?) and interwebs :P I apologise profusely for the gap, and hope some people out there are still reading this.