Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to TheEverFalling for her absolutely beautiful picture that she drew and painted for me to celebrate 400 reviews. (400 Reviews! Can you believe it?! WOO HOO! ) Well, here it is.

It was late Sunday morning. George was giving Kota a more extensive tour of the school than Harry had given her on her last visit to the castle. Harry and Ron got some cold pumpkin juice from the kitchens and took it out to the lake. Hermione had said that she needed to talk with Ginny, who was grinning and looking very anxious. It was no mystery they'd be talking about the dance.

The two boys sat at the edge of the deeper part of the lake. They took off their socks and shoes, rolled their pants to their knees and dangled their feet in the water. The weather was growing warmer as summer approached.

Everyone was in high spirits, temporarily forgetting their anxiety about O.W.L.s. Lately, there had been a sense of foreboding in the air for Harry and his friends. June was approaching all too quickly and it had been taking its toll on Harry. He was fatigued much more often, and would have groups of days where he ceased to have an appetite. His friends were worried, but did their best not to mention it too much.

This morning, Harry wasn't feeling too great. He knew that the pumpkin juice would probably be the only thing to enter his stomach that day. On the way out to the lake, Harry had had another dizzy spell and with a stumble, had spilled half his pumpkin juice. Ron grabbed his elbow to steady him, waiting until Harry's vision returned to normal. This had been happening so often, though, that no words were spoken about it. He chose not to mention to Ron that he also felt weak and overly hot. The cool water felt nice, and he pressed the glass with the cold juice to his forehead, hoping he wasn't developing a fever.

Despite all that, he was in high spirits. Ron couldn't stop grinning and therefore, neither could Harry.

"So, Ron, have fun at the dance?" he casually asked sipping some pumpkin juice and relishing how it seemed to cool the burning in his throat. Ron's smile, if possible, widened.

"Oh yeah. I had such a good time. Hermione…I mean…just wow!"

Harry laughed. "And how about after the dance?" he asked. Ron blushed.

"You'll never guess what happened out on the balcony."

"What?" Harry asked pretending that he didn't know.

"Ha! I thought you'd try that! You should know 'what,' since I saw you and Eloise spying."

Harry blushed with amused guilt. "We weren't stalking you or anything. You want privacy, go somewhere private!" He shook his head with a lopsided grin. "If you had told me first year that you and Hermione would end up snogging on a balcony, I would have committed you to St. Mungo's mental ward."

"You're telling me! She drove me nutters! Still does, I guess, but...I like it now."

"You're mental. So, what happened after I left?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows suggestively in the same fashion Eloise had the night before.

"Harry!" Ron admonished. "We just talked for a long while. Then we walked back to the Gryffindor tower together and I er…kissed her goodnight."

Harry let out a whistle and Ron smacked him upside the head. "Oh shut it." But he smiled because Harry approved. "I think I'm going to ask her to be my girlfriend." He sneaked a glance at Harry, silently asking for his opinion.

"You'd better."

"Really?"

"Of course. You both obviously fancy each other. You'd make a great couple."

Ron smiled genuinely. "So, how was your time?" he asked, changing the subject. Harry told him about his night, including the Cho incident.

"Jeez, maybe you shouldn't have said no to her. Maybe she takes rejection a challenge. Or a turn-on!"

"Oh god," Harry groaned and Ron patted him on the back, laughing.

Eventually, Harry had to go to the library to work on a Defense Against the Dark Arts project. Each student was assigned a different topic, and he therefore didn't feel the need to wait until the last second with Ron. He had vowed to himself to start it today and wanted to get it over with early so he could be done in time to spend some time with Kota after she was done with her tour.

He grabbed a bunch of books that looked promising and brought them to a back table. Not too long into his research, Hermione came up and joined him at the table.

"Hey Harry."

"Hey 'Mione," he said with a smile.

"So what did you and Ron talk about?" she asked casually.

"Probably the same thing you and Ginny talked about." He paused to watch her blush. "So you really fancy Ron, huh?"

"You know, I really do. How on Earth did that happen?" she asked smiling fondly. Harry put down his quill and propped his head up with a hand, his elbow resting on the open book he had been looking through.

"It's been happening for a long time. I think it just took you two a little longer to figure it out."

"Are you saying that you knew this was going to happen before?"

"'Mione, I've known since about third year. Of course, it really became obvious at last year's ball."

"The Yule Ball?" she whispered aghast. "What are you on about? We had a huge row that night! He was making fun of my date and he made it clear he didn't think of me even as a girl!"

"Of course he thought of you as a girl. He just had to make it seem like he didn't so you wouldn't think he'd been thinking about you like a girl." Both of their faces twisted into confusion. "Erm…okay that didn't make much sense. He just didn't want you to know he liked you and so he waited until the last minute when it could be a casual thing to ask you. It was a wonder that you couldn't tell how disappointed he was. And making fun of Krum, come on Hermione, you can't seriously not know what that was about."

She shook her head.

"He was jealous! He didn't like Krum because he thought you liked him."

Hermione sat back in a thoughtful daze. "I think I'm just realizing that I'm going to be very perplexed about the way you males think for a very long time; you're so confusing!"

"Trust me, 'Mione, we're not all that confusing. Now girls are a different story. You want a great mystery in life, become a guy and try to figure out girls."

Hermione laughed quietly, cautious of the librarian. "I think I'll stay a girl thank you very much."

"Wise decision."

"So, er…do you think that Ron, er…" Hermione stammered. It was the first time in his life that he'd heard Hermione become tongue-tied. He smiled comfortingly.

"He fancies you too."

Hermione smiled brightly, looking significantly relieved.

"You know what, Harry?"

"What?"

"You're the best friend I've ever had. I mean that. In my whole, entire life."

Harry blushed. Hermione smiled at seeing her friend's embarrassment, too modest for his own good. Instead of making him respond, she walked over, gave him a hug and kissed him on the forehead before leaving.

"Merlin, I'm going to miss those two," he mused sadly, turning back to his research. His shifting of elbows had flipped the book to a random page. He was about to turn back to the page he needed when something caught his eye.

The Daewarro Curse

The Daewarro Curse is an ancient and widely forgotten curse, yet perhaps more dangerous than any today. This curse doesn't kill swiftly as does the infamous Avada Kedavra Curse, but does it all the same. When the Avada Kedavra Curse is cast, the life of the victim is extinguished and destroyed. Life itself is an energy. Magic is also an energy. When an individual has enough life energy they live, when they have enough magic energy, they become a witch or wizard. The Daewarro Curse doesn't obliterate this energy as Avada Kedavra does, but instead transfers all types of energy, life and magical to the caster of the spell. The more powerful the energy that is taken, the more power that is given to the caster. This makes the caster more powerful, unless some weak entity is attached to the life force, such as a weak magical energy (as in Muggles and Squibs), mental illness, or terminal illness, but since this spell is most often cast on Wizards, this last one isn't usually a considered factor. The Daewarro Curse has many sub-related curses which are more complex and will transfer specific aspects of life, such as the aforementioned terminal illness, but these are far more complicated...

Harry skimmed the rest of the article thoughtfully before making a copy of it. Instead of working on his project, Harry went over this new information in his head. This curse was like the one he had used but much simpler to transfer a whole life force rather than just cancer. If somehow Voldemort cast this spell on Harry under the impression that it would make him more powerful, the cancer would also get transferred over and be attached to Voldemort's life energy, thus killing him. He racked his brain trying to remember something that seemed important.

The dark curse that made the cancer worse. The one that had seemed so awful. What if he cast that right before Voldemort cast the Daewarro curse? Then Voldemort would be killed almost immediately.

He was beginning to get excited about this idea. Then, he wouldn't have to die in vain. Of course, this would be near impossible to pull off. First, he'd have to get into a battle with Voldemort, and a fifteen year old boy asking to fight a dark lord would be slightly suspicious, not to mention dangerous for anyone around. Of course, Harry had been suspecting since the first attack on Hogwarts that Voldemort would try again. Second, the spell seemed to have been forgotten and the chances that Voldemort would just happen to use it were slim.

Nevertheless, he spent the next hour tracking down the spell to increase the cancer. What was it? It was a simple one with two words. Recnac Moon-something? Or was it Recnac Something-moon? He flipped through pages, scanning the titles quickly. Finally he saw it. Recnac Sunimoon, that was it. He copied the page down and wrote a few notes about his thoughts with it. He looked down at the last thing he'd written.

How to get Voldemort to use it?

He tapped his quill on the paper. He checked the clock. He had completely missed dinner, but wasn't hungry at all. It was now getting late and he'd be getting ushered out of the library in the next fifteen minutes.

'Think, Harry,' he scolded himself. 'All right, if I was Voldemort...then I'd be the ugliest git in the entire world. No, think. Okay, if I was Voldemort, what do I want? I want to kill me (Harry) and Dumbledore and basically everyone else, but especially me. So, how do I do that? Well, I either attack Hogwarts, which I've already tried, or wait until summer, but by now he, er, I mean I, must know that I can't touch the house. So it's at Hogwarts then, since I (Harry) sure won't be falling for any more Portkeys that lead me away from Hogwarts. So, it's either this year, or I'd have to wait until next year, which I don't want to do since I'm a greedy git who wants power NOW. So, I'd plan for a second attack on Hogwarts. Last time, the information got out so this time, I'd be really secretive about it, even more so than last time, but the attack would be much grander.'

He tapped his quill again. He wasn't sure where this was leading him, but decided to go on with it anyways, since it was more progress than he'd been making.

'So, I'd only trust a few people. My most loyal Death Eaters, if any at all. But I might take information from any of them, I guess. I'd just check it out a lot first.'

Harry smiled, he was on to it.

'So, if one of my Death Eaters came to me saying he found a spell that would not only get rid of, well me (Harry) and transfer my worst enemy's magical energy over to me, in theory, making me more powerful, I'd definitely check into it.'

So all he needed was a Death Eater to suggest the spell. If Voldemort even looked into it, Harry knew he'd be enticed, if not for the extra power, then for the revenge. He now understood how useful spies could be.

Under "How to get Voldemort to use it?" he drew an arrow and wrote "Snape." The trouble would be getting this crazy plan to actually work.

Suddenly, his vision went white again, and all sound was blurred into a distant humming. His head spun and ached. Harry grasped the edges of the table and looked down, trying to focus on objects. The whiteness formed little squares, like a chess board with white squares intermixed with squares of vision. Finally all the white faded away until he could see once again, but the sense of vertigo pounded in his head.

He decided it might be best to go lay down for a bit.

He got up and walked out of the library toward his dorm, crashing straight into Neville.

While Harry had been in the library, there had been a conversation going on in the Gryffindor dormitories between Kota and Neville.

"Yeah, he stays over at our house a lot during vacations. Well ever since we moved in of course. I was so shocked when we found out he was a wizard. I'm still having a hard time believing it, but how more real can it get?" Kota said happily, sitting on the comfortable sofa.

"It's just as weird for me. I can't believe you're here. You know, a Muggle at Hogwarts. I've never met a Muggle before," Neville said excitedly.

"Really? That's crazy. Have you ever seen a movie?"

"No. What's a movie?" Neville asked curiously.

"Ask Harry sometime. I make him watch them all the time at my house," Kota said fondly.

"He must go over to your house a lot."

"Yeah, he does. He's practically family."

"Well he must really like you guys to do what he did," Neville said with a sad smile.

"You mean with my dad's cancer? I thought he'd be in big trouble if people found out. That's why he told us not to mention it in front of any wizards," Kota said, slightly worried. He didn't want Harry to have gotten into trouble.

"Well, he tried to hide it for a while but after he collapsed in the hall, our school nurse found out and told the headmaster. They're not going to punish him for it or anything, what would be the point?" he sighed.

"What do you mean he collapsed? What do you mean about the school nurse finding it out? I'm confused," she said, now getting extremely worried.

"The cancer," he said confusedly. Surely the girl knew that Harry would eventually start showing physical signs of the illness. "The effects are starting to show."

"Wait, what are you saying? What effects?"

Neville looked at her incredulously. "From the cancer. You know, from transferring to himself."

"What? He did what?"

Suddenly, Neville gasped, remembering Harry in the Hospital Wing saying that he hadn't told the Stensons. Neville had been in such a state of shock that he hadn't registered Harry's words, remembering them for the first time now. He looked up at Kota with fear in his own eyes.

"Oh crap."

Kota's breaths were coming short and quick. "No. Oh my God. No. He didn't."

"Please, just forget what I just said," Neville begged, knowing it would be impossible. His eyes began filling with tears at his betrayal of Harry's wishes.

At that moment, George came back into the common room to find Dakota.

"Hey Kota, I got some pumpkin juice. You've got to try some," he said, approaching from behind the couch. When he saw the expressions of Kota and Neville, he immediately grew worried. "What's going on? Are you guys okay?"

"Did you know about this too?" Kota asked shakily.

"Know what?" George asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"No, Kota, please. Harry would kill me. He did even want you to know. I screwed up. Please, don't. Just let me…let me get Harry," Neville pleaded desperately.

"Know what? Is Harry okay?" George asked, concerned for the boy he thought of as a brother.

"Where's Hedwig? I need to send a message to my parents," she said quietly, eyes slightly unfocussed.

"No, please don't. Just let me get Harry before you do anything," Neville begged her.

"George, please," she said standing up, turning her back on Neville to face George. "I need to use Hedwig now."

George looked from Kota to Neville. The sad look in her eyes caused George to give Neville a sympathetic look. "I'll bring you to the owlery." Kota nodded and walked out of the common room, George running to catch up with her. Neville ran out after them, yelling at Kota to stop.

When she didn't, Neville ran to find Harry, nearly crashing into him as he was returning from the library.

"Harry, Merlin, I'm so sorry! I've been looking everywhere for you. I'm so sorry, Harry, I don't know why but I thought she knew! I forgot that she didn't until it was too late! I'm so sorry!" Neville immediately start ranting, looking very close to tears.

"Neville, what are you talking about. Who didn't know what?"

"Kota," Neville moaned, "your neighbor. I thought she knew!"

Harry's blood went cold. "Oh no. What did she say? What did she do?"

"She's going to the owlery to find Hedwig. She's going to owl her parents. Harry, I'm so sorry!"

Harry ran past Neville and toward the owlery, ignoring the dizziness lurking in the back of his head.

He raced into the owlery to see Hedwig flying out the window with a note attached to her leg. He wanted to run to the window and call her back, but knew it would be pointless. His secrets were out and there was no turning back.

Kota looked up, her eyes red and puffy from trying to repress her tears.

Harry stood there looking helplessly at his neighbor.

"Kota, I…" he started, but his voice died out when he couldn't think of what to say.

George shot both of them sympathetic looks, even though he didn't know what was going on. "I'll leave you two alone," he said quietly, walking toward the door. He patted Harry's shoulder and then walked out.

"Is it true?" Kota asked in a much higher voice than usual.

He wanted to deny it but knew it would be pointless. Harry sighed and met her desperate gaze with guilty eyes. "It was the only way. I searched everywhere but there isn't any magic that can destroy cancer, only one spell that can transfer it. And before you ask, I can't transfer it again," he explained somberly. This wasn't what he had wanted to happen.

"Oh God," she said in a whisper, sinking to the ground. Harry tentatively walked over and sat down next to her on the straw-covered floor. "But why?" she moaned in despair.

Harry's eyes dropped to the ground, focusing on a random piece of straw. "Because your family saved me. You treated me like a part of your family, more than I ever knew with my own. I couldn't just let your dad die when I could do something about it. He means so much to your family and without him…I don't know… it would all fall apart."

The tears began to fall freely from Dakota's eyes, her body shaking with sobs. "I thought this was all over," she cried. "God, Harry, I want to hit you and thank you at the same time. Why did you lie to us? Why didn't you tell us? When were you planning on us finding out? After you died?"

Harry's heart sank, both with guilt and with Kota's words. It always made it seem more real when people acknowledged that he would die out loud. "I just wanted you all to be happy. I didn't want you to treat me differently. I didn't want to see you cry and know it was because of me."

She looked at him through his tears and began pounding her fists against his chest, but not with enough conviction to make it hurt.

"You...you...you..." She couldn't seem to figure out what to say. She wrapped her arms around his neck and began weeping hysterically into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her back.

"Shh...don't cry. Shh...it's okay," he whispered calmingly. Her sobs died down until her crying ceased all together.

"My parents should be here soon to pick me up. I already told them in the letter. My dad's going to be furious," she said quietly, still sniffling. Harry's face paled and he nodded. He stood and pulled Dakota to her feet. The two began to make their way to Dumbledore's office where the Stensons would be Portkeying to shortly.

When they got to the gargoyle, Kota quietly said the password (Fizzing Whizbees) and they made their way up the stairs, a feeling of dread growing with each step Harry took.

When they got to the door to Dumbledore's office, he could already hear frantic screaming inside. Harry couldn't bring himself to knock, so Kota did. The shouting stopped.

When Dumbledore opened the door to let them in, his eyes shone down on Harry with sympathy. Harry gave him a pained smile in return and stepped into his office behind Kota.

He was immediately pulled into a very tight hug as Mrs. Stenson pressed kisses into his hair, her tears dripping onto him. "Stupid, stupid boy. I can't believe you did this. So stupid," she said, hugging him even tighter.

"I'll give you some privacy," Dumbledore said quietly as he stepped out the door.

She finally let go and scooped her daughter up into her arms, leaving Harry to face Mr. Stenson, who's eyes were slightly wild. He looked livid.

"You are transferring it back!"

"Wait, wait," said Mrs. Stenson, a little wildly, "let's talk about options. We could transfer it to someone else, or-"

"And let someone else die for me? I don't think so."

"There's no reason it has to be you!"

"I can't it back. I mean, it can't be transferred again. Anyway, I chose it, I wouldn't chicken out even if I could." He tried to sound brave, but he didn't really feel it.

Mr. Stenson turned to him, jaw shaking. "You stupid boy."

Harry blinked, knocking back a step. He hadn't expected that at all. "I-I'm sorry."

"Sorry? SORRY? Sorry won't give you back your life, Harry! Do you understand what you've done? You are going to die. You're going to DIE! For me? You hardly know me! How could you be so goddamn stupid?" Mr. Stenson bellowed.

The words stung Harry. He had felt like part of their family and Mr. Stenson was saying that they hardly knew each other. He hung his head and muttered another apology, trying not to cry.

"How do you think this makes me feel, Harry?" he yelled, advancing on Harry. "I'm going to have to live with this guilt for the rest of my life. I'm going to feel like a murderer!"

Harry shrunk back. "You're not! It was my decision!"

"Dear Lord, you're fifteen years old! Why would you trade your life for mine?!"

Harry just hung his head.

"Well?"

Harry said nothing.

Mr. Stenson grabbed his arm roughly and shook him. "Answer me, damn it!"

Harry tensed and flung his free arm up to protect his face, his whole body stiffening, preparing for the blows.

But the blows didn't come. Mr. Stenson was crying. Harry cautiously lowered his arm. The older man pulled him into a tight embrace. Harry felt the man's body tremble with sobs.

"Harry, oh God, I would never hurt you. What did you do? What did you do?" he sobbed.

Harry felt tears welling up in his own eyes, his throat burning with trying to keep them in. "I couldn't let you die when I could stop it," Harry explained quietly.

"But you gave up your life," Mr. Stenson insisted through his tears.

"There are more people who need you than need me. You have a family. They love you," Harry said, self-conscious. He never liked admitting that he hadn't managed to get anyone to love him like that, but it was the truth. It was the reason behind it all.

Mr. Stenson put his hands on Harry's shoulders and held him out at arm's length, looking horrified. "Harry, just because you were cursed with a horrible family doesn't mean that nobody cares. We care. We've always cared. God, those awful relatives of yours should burn in hell for what they've done to you."

Suddenly, Harry's vision went white again, and the sound began to buzz.

'Oh Merlin, not now. Not now!' he silently pleaded, but there was nothing he could do but wait for it to go away. Maybe they wouldn't notice.

He tried to look natural, hanging his head so they wouldn't see his eyes, but doing so made him feel even dizzier. Mr. Stenson lifted Harry's chin to make Harry look at him, as they often did when speaking about the Dursleys, and Harry stumbled back, grabbing onto Mr. Stenson's arm to steady himself.

"Harry?" he heard Mr. Stenson asking frantically. He still couldn't see the man in front of him, but at least he could hear him.

"I'm fine, just give me a sec," he said quietly as the white began to fade.

When the white was completely gone, Harry looked up guiltily at the two female Stensons. They looked terrified. He then turned his gaze to Mr. Stenson's eyes, apology written all over his face. Mr. Stenson was shaking his head in shock.

"I'm okay. I was just a little dizzy. It's nothing serious," he insisted, hoping he sounded truthful, but the Stensons saw right through the lie.

Mr. Stenson hugged Harry to his chest. "God, not like this. Anything but this," he whispered.

"When are you going to tell me that you'll find a way to fix this?" Kota whispered, hugging herself. "I believed you could fix everything."

"It's better this way," he said. "I would have been killed by that dark wizard I was telling you about anyways. This way, though, it will actually mean something," he said, trying to convince himself as much as her.

"Harry, dear, how about you come home with us?" Mrs. Stenson asked gently.

"No one knows what you're going through better than I do. It might help to have someone to talk to and to be there who understands," Mr. Stenson added.

"Yeah, Harry. You're part of the family. Come home," said Kota with a sad smile.

It was everything Harry had wanted to hear.

But it wasn't true. He had dreamed that it would be. If he dug down to the secrets he kept even from himself, a tiny voice might admit that he'd imagined them finding out, imagined them loving him for it, imagined that his sacrifice would be so big, it would finally make him worthy of a family.

But he could see it, the way they drifted toward each other. The way Kota and her mom had both hesitated at the idea of Harry giving the cancer back. The way even now, they were grouping together, away from him, facing him.

He wasn't one of them. He wasn't one of anyone.

He felt, suddenly, very empty. Like his insides had been scooped out leaving nothing for him. "I...should probably stay here."

The Stensons clung to each other, sorrowful. "You always have the key to our door if you ever need it," Mr. Stenson said.

He nodded, but he realized the key would never feel right in his hand. He'd never feel okay using it.

His throat stung. He hadn't earned it after all. And if it wasn't good enough for the Stensons, it wouldn't be good enough for Sirius either.

It would all come back to the Dursleys. Just them and Harry. It was all he was worth.

Dumbledore chose that moment to re-enter his office, looking somberly at the people in front of him.

"I have the Portkey. Are you ready?" he asked, addressing the Stensons. Mr. Stenson nodded.

Kota burst into tears. "Harry, I'll see you again, right?" she sniffed.

He nodded. "Yeah," he said, his voice tight. "Of course you will."

Kota nodded numbly.

The Stensons each embraced him one last time. The only words were a whispered "thank you" by Mrs. Stenson. They each put a finger on the goblet Dumbledore had brought and disappeared.

"Goodbye," Harry whispered, gazing at the spot they had just been standing in. He thanked Dumbledore and then left the office himself.