All disclaimers are in place. Refer to the Prologue section for details.

A/N – Sorry it's so much shorter than usual, I've had tons to do at work lately but everything should be back to its normal schedule soon. Thanks for reviewing!

PART NINE: DESPERATION

Halo was surprised.

More than that, even… she was amazed that Oliver hadn't spun on his heel and fled the room. He'd managed to control his desire to interrupt as she explained to him everything she knew.

"But there's something he isn't telling me… and I know it has to be about me. I've stopped asking him, because if I bring it up he refuses to talk to me for a while," she concluded. Her eyes looked on her friend harshly. "Now you must promise you won't breathe a word of this, if my father finds out I told you or anyone else, it could put his life in danger. He's supposed to be hiding me."

Oliver blew out a breath. "So… you can make a guy realize the error of his ways and punish him by making him suffer for his moral injustice?"

"Well… not yet. All my true voice can do at this moment is inflict destruction. But… your summation is correct, nonetheless."

"Wow."

"What?"

"Now I know why you do the things you do."

"Well, that's part of it. You notice I've been more civil toward school property as of late."

"But then why do you look so upset?" Oliver reached for her hand.

"I suppose I'm afraid of your reaction."

"I haven't left," he offered gently. "So… where's your mother in all this?"

Halo opened her mouth to say something, then didn't know how to word it. When the subject of parents had come up in the past, Halo had repelled the topic like a polar magnet. "I… don't have one."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Oliver lowered his eyes to the floor, but continued the pressure of his hand on her tangled fingers.

"Don't be." She sighed. "And I don't really have a father either… Professor Snape only adopted me, if you can call it that. All I know about it is that my father's name is Linnaeus Mandelor. He gave me to Professor Snape when I was a baby because they were old friends and he was being pursued by Death Eaters. I assume they found him and killed him."

"Damn it all Halo, why didn't you tell me any of this before? I could have been there for you. You know I would have been."

Halo was stunned, she had no idea he would be so openly supportive.

"I was afraid. I'm not anymore." Halo knew that wasn't true, but she wanted her friend to know that she trusted him. "Now you have to promise…"

"I promise not to tell anyone what I know." He squeezed her hands on the word 'promise.'

"Thank you." Tears began to well up in her eyes. Despite the sudden comfort, her heart was still wrenched with pain. She didn't realize that it was because, for the first time, she had openly given over to trust.

Oliver looked on her sympathetically, realizing she was about to burst into tears and pulled her into his arms, fully prepared to release her if she pulled away.

He was quite relieved when she didn't.

Instead, she literally fell into his arms and sobbed, fumbling at his shoulders, never having hugged anyone before and not sure what to do, but it was comforting all the same.

"Shhh… it's all right, I'm still here," he soothed, rocking her back and forth and stroking her dark, still-damp hair.

They sat that way for a long time. Halo, who was so adamantly hostile toward anyone attempting to touch her, was now so immersed in the arms that held her that she didn't know how she was going to let go of this simple human comfort. She pressed her face into his chest and inhaled the light, freshly-laundered scent of his Gryffindor sweater.

When she finally pulled away from his contact with some regained composure, he decided to openly voice his amazement at her sudden resolution to allow him this close. "Are you okay with this?" he asked, as he stroked her hands softly.

Halo nodded, sniffling. She closed her eyes briefly as he reached up to wipe a few stray tears from her cheeks.

"I'm still so scared… I feel as though there's something seriously wrong with me. I thought telling you everything would make me feel better, and I do… I do feel better, it's just…" she stumbled to find the words, "… I can't help feeling there's something else..."

The haunted look that her eyes released shot through the depths of his soul. Oliver's heart went out to her.

"I'll be here for you, whatever you find out. Now let's get some breakfast, I'm starving!"

They talked… well, he talked, about the upcoming Quidditch game that evening. About how he felt about Gryffindor's chances, about how much faith he'd put in the team (the team being that Harry Potter) and how the weather might spoil their chances.

The rain hadn't stopped by late afternoon when Halo entered the library for some weekend studying. As usual, the few students who were there cleared off abruptly when they saw her coming.

It just isn't fair… they'll never see me as anything else. I'm nothing but a monster to them. She didn't feel like crying, but her stomach was tense with nausea as she flipped through a remedial transfiguration manual, feeling particularly worthless on the subject.

She had to get out.

The last of the students were leaving for the Quidditch game, scurrying out in lines led by teachers carrying rainproof-charmed torches that lit their way to the playing field. In the distance, Halo could make out a cloud of dark forms, those which her father had warned her about on the very first night of the school year.

Dementors.

And they were moving toward the stands.

How convenient. Halo pulled the hood of her heavy winter cloak down over her face and set out into the dark night.

Her feet padded over the soaked ground. The shadowy figures had indeed left the vicinity and her path was clear. The path to where, however, was uncertain… she found that she had simple chosen a direction and went that way, not being able to see much through the rain.

Great trees loomed ahead. The cold must be getting to me, she thought when she swore she saw a big black dog… Fang, perhaps… bounding out of the woods, headed for the Quidditch grounds.

"Hold on a second… where on earth am I going to end up?" Halo said out loud. "Just look at me! It's pouring rain, I have nothing but what I'm wearing and I'm within running distance of foul creatures who would like nothing more than to suck my soul out through my ears and leave me to rot." Her rant ceased and she cocked her head to one side as she considered the possibility of said scenario being an improvement over the present situation.

She began to count pros and cons on her fingers. She started and ended with the pros of staying outside. "I have no friends, no real family, I'm failing Transfiguration and probably Arithmancy as well, I'm not terribly good at anything except getting into trouble, and to top it off, no one could ever possibly love me in this lifetime." She sighed as her stomach began to cramp violently. So the cold really was getting to her.

Or maybe it was that black-hooded figure standing just meters from where she stood at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.