Morgan looked up from the papers on her desk when there was a knock on her office door. She rose slowly, and stretched, before heading towards the door. She opened the door expecting to find a student, but was pleasantly surprised at who her visitor was.

"Colin, what are you doing here?" She smiled at her future son-in- law.

"Would you believe me if I said I was just feeling a little lonely and needed to see a friendly face?"

Morgan laughed, "not quite, but it's a good start. Come in Colin, can I get you anything?"

"No thank you, Mrs. Snape, I'm fine," he smiled as he took a seat in a soft chair. Morgan's office was beautiful, it was hung with bright colored tapestries and the multiple windows were open letting a soft breeze in.

"Colin, you can call me Morgan," she smiled warmly at him as she took the seat across from him, "now, why are you really here."

Colin groaned as he leaned back in his chair, "because I'm in way over my head. Viviane said she wrote you that we set the wedding date for December 26," he watched as Morgan nodded an affirmative, "well, she won't be able to get off of work till a couple of days before that so I have been put in charge of the wedding plans. I need help."

Morgan smiled, "I can't believe she left you to plan all of it on your own."

"Oh, she didn't just leave me to plan it all alone, it was a command."

Morgan laughed, "Yes that does sound like my daughter." She the tears of mirth from her eyes, "I would be more than happy to help you with the planning Colin. And Sev and I would be more than happy to cover the expenses."

"Mrs. Snape, I mean Morgan, I can't ask you to do that." Colin leaned forward slightly.

"You're not asking, we're offering."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me and I'm sure it'll mean a lot to Viviane."

"You're very welcome Colin; it's the least we can do. Now, tell me, what did you have in mind for the wedding?"

"Nothing big, neither of us wants a big ceremony or reception."

"Well that's easy enough; do you have a guest list yet?"

"I need to plan a guest list?"

Morgan laughed at the shocked look on the younger man's face, "I think this is why women usually plan these things. Yes, you need a guest list so you can send out the invitations."

"Ohhhh... well, I think we just wanted family and close friends, I guess I'll have to check that with Viviane."

"Alright, you check on that with her. Now, where did you want to hold the ceremony, and decorations, we need to figure out decorations."

Colin paled slightly, "I didn't realized there would be so much to plan for..." he pulled out a sheet of paper, "all Viviane told me was that she wanted to get married at home."

Morgan nodded, "she had mentioned that to me too, that's fine. I think I'll take care of the decorations on my own that way you don't have to worry about them."

"I don't want you to end up doing all of the work Morgan; I just need to be steered in the right direction."

Morgan brushed that off, "It's not a problem, you just need to let me know if I try to take over too much."

"I'll do that, but I don't think you can take over too much. I'm more than willing to admit that I'm completely out of my element on this one." Colin paused a minute, he didn't want to hurt any feelings with the next part of the plans, "we want a very simple ceremony, and we both agreed that we didn't want to bother with bridesmaids or ushers or anything of that sort. Will your other girls be upset if they don't get to be in the ceremony? I didn't know if there was any concern about them being bridesmaids or something since..."

"Don't concern yourself about that Colin; I'm sure they won't mind in the slightest. I understand your wish to keep the ceremony as simple as possible."

Colin sighed with relief; he didn't want to cause any problems.

The two of them continued to discuss wedding plans for the next hour, and much to Colin's relief it went much smoother than he was expecting. They had come up with a tentative guest list that Colin would verify with Viviane and they planned the invitations.

"Only a few more months and she'll be mine, Mrs. Viviane McIan. I can't wait," Colin smiled as he looked over the notes he had made during the planning.

"I'm very happy for both of you. You will be a wonderful husband to my daughter Colin."

"I hope so; I will certainly do my best."

"I know you will, and I know that the two of you will be very happy," Morgan wiped away a tear.

"Are you alright?" Colin came to his feet, concern written on his face.

Morgan smiled shakily, "I'm fine, just ignore me. I was just thinking about my little girl getting married."

"Oh..." Colin sat back down, feeling only slightly relieved.

Morgan laughed at the look on Colin's face, "you're going to have to get used to female emotions Colin, we do this a lot."

Colin smiled and gave a dramatic shudder, "I've already been witness to some of that."

"Oh don't worry, it gets about a hundred times worse when we're pregnant," Morgan winked at him.

Colin stared at her blankly for a minute before shaking his head, "I hadn't thought of that. I think I'm getting myself into far more than I bargained for, but with Viviane it will be well worth it."

Harry smiled down at the letter that a large barn owl had just delivered. He untied the bright pink ribbon that was wrapped around it and felt his heart warm at the simple message.

I love you

He would never get tired of seeing or hearing those three simple words, it was exactly what he needed right now.

He looked at the simple crayon picture with Lily's uneven block letters spelling out his favorite phrase. His little girl was so sweet.

He sighed as he set the picture aside and reached for the stack of requests that had been made for the quidditch pitch so that he could allot practice times to the various house teams.

He looked up when there was a soft knock on his door, "come in." His smiled widely when Ophelia poked her head around the door. He stood up and met his daughter in the middle of the room where he pulled her close to him for a hug. "How is my girl doing today?"

Ophelia sighed, "not good," she pouted slightly.

"Why don't you tell me about it," Harry spoke soothingly as he led Ophelia to the couch. "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes please," she answered softly.

Harry fixed her a cup of tea which he pressed into her small hands before sitting down next to her, "Now, what's wrong."

"It's just been a bad day," she leaned against her father as he slid an arm around her slight shoulders.

"Anything in particular?"

"Not really, I didn't do as good on my potions essay as I had hoped, and me and Nimue kinda had a fight this morning."

"Well I'm here for you sweetheart, no matter what," Harry desperately hoped that he could live up to that, no matter what happened to his marriage or with these new attacks, he wanted to be there for his children.

Nimue washed her face, trying to block out the visions that kept clouding her mind. Part of her cried out to tell someone, anyone, what was happening, but another part of her desperately wanted to keep it all secret. Whatever was happening couldn't be good.

She looked at her face in the mirror, half expecting it to give way to another vision, but only her own reflection stared back at her. She took a shaky breath. She had to stay calm; she couldn't let every little thing scare her like this. She had to stay in control. Unless the visions were controlling her. Were they?

She shuddered at that thought. What if they were controlling her? What if she slipped into a vision and she couldn't pull herself back out? Could that happen? Her breathing became ragged as she leaned over the sink, gasping for air.

As she raised her eyes to the mirror again she met her own violet eyes in the mirror, and then felt a sinking feeling of dread as the colors of the mirror began to swirl. "No..." she gasped out shakily as she pushed herself away.

She took several unsteady steps backwards as she continued to look at the mirror, "no," she shook her head, but couldn't tear her eyes away from the mirror. The same dark cloaked figures were there, it was always the same figures, she debated fleeing when their voices came to her.

"We will take him and then the killing can begin in earnest, we won't stop at mere muggles. Complete control will be ours."

"No!" Nimue squeezed her eyes shut and clapped her hands over her ears as she sank to the floor, "nooo... she rocked herself back and forth, trying to block it all out. This wasn't happening, it couldn't be happening. Part of her reasoned that if she kept telling herself that it might be true.

But part of her knew the truth. The visions would keep coming, and it would only be a matter of time before they had complete control over her. She felt as though she had lost a battle without ever knowing she had gone to war.

"Does young MacNeill suspect anything?" Draco tapped his wand against the fingers of his left hand absently as he leaned against the dark stone wall.

"No, he suspects nothing."

"Good. And how is your little project coming along?"

Macnair grinned, "ahead of schedule sir, we are merely waiting on a shipment of supplies from Syria before we begin the next stage."

"Excellent, do not fail me in this Macnair."

"I would never dream of failing you sir, of course everything should go smoothly since we already have the most important piece of the puzzle."

"Yes we do," Draco pulled a small vile out of his pocket and examined the dark contents closely, "it's amazing what such a little thing can do. But the contents of this vile will be key to bringing down the man who killed my father."

"It won't be long sir."

"No, but it can't come soon enough."

Dierna made her way up to the owlery, a long rambling letter written for Mrs. MacNeill clutched in her hand. She intended to keep her promise to Stefan about keeping in touch with his mother. Mrs. MacNeill loved her like a daughter, and Dierna happily returned the affection.

She walked up an aisle on the far side of the owlery and stopped in front of Boudicca. "Hello darling," she scratched the snowy white owl under her beak, "feel like going out for a bit?"

Boudicca ruffled her feathers slightly and gently nipped at Dierna's fingers affectionately.

Dierna laughed softly, "at least you don't try to take my hand off like that blasted dragon did." She tied the letter to her owl's leg, "take this to Mrs. MacNeill for me sweetheart." She watched as the snowy owl spread her wings and flew out the large window.

"I've finally caught you alone, how... fortunate."

Dierna stiffened as an arm came around her waist, she hadn't heard anyone approaching. "Get off of me now Connor."

"Why should I? You know you want it."

Dierna cringed as his hand started to slide below her waist, "I told you to get off of me."

"But I'm not going to, what are you going to do about it?" Connor pulled her back into him, his breath hot and heavy on the back of her neck.

Dierna wrenched herself out of his grasp and moved towards the door, she was almost there when Connor grabbed her wrist and spun her around, clutching her to his chest. Dierna struggled against his grasp, "if you don't let go I swear I'll scream."

"Go ahead, there's no one up here to hear you."

Dierna was seething, "let me go down," she spoke through clenched teeth.

"I already told you I'm not going to."

Dierna pulled herself far enough away from Connor to get her right arm free. She clenched her hand into a fist and felt a strong sense of satisfaction when she swung and felt it connect with Connor's jaw.

"You little..." Whatever Connor was going to call her was cut off by a stern voice.

"What is going on in here?!" Remus Lupin stood in the doorway.

"Nothing, just a little misunderstanding," Connor instantly regained his composure.

Dierna stared at him, mouth hanging open. How could he blatantly lie like that? Sure, Dierna had lied countless times to her parents, but they almost always saw right through it, and if they didn't her conscious got the better of her and she told them. But it appeared as though Connor had no problem claiming that every thing was fine, and it looked like he would get away with it.

"Well, do you have something to add Miss Snape?" Remus looked at her pointedly.

Dierna's mouth moved, but no sound came out. She didn't even know where to begin, "he tried to, he tried to..." Dierna paused, what had Connor tried? Dierna knew that he hadn't come up there with the intention of rape. He would have tried that somewhere more secluded. But the touching, the groping, the verbal abuse, where did that all fall?

"Well?" Remus waited for her to continue, but Dierna merely hung her head. Remus sighed, it was obvious that something had happened, and knowing the two students the way he did Remus didn't doubt that Connor had somehow started it, however he had walked in to see Dierna punch him. "Both of you have detention for what I observed. Acts of violence are not tolerated here at Hogwarts. Is that understood?"

Connor shrugged, "if that's all can I go?"

Remus leveled the younger man with a stern gaze, no, he didn't trust him at all, "go, I'll arrange your detention later."

Dierna sniffed, and quickly blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill over. She did not cry, she would not cry. She glanced up when Professor Lupin laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

Dierna nodded mutely.

"Are you sure? Because if he tried anything..."

"He just tried to scare me, it wasn't anything."

Remus had the distinct feeling that he wasn't getting the whole truth; there was more to it than that. But he wasn't going to force the girl to tell him. "Where are you headed to now?"

"Back to the common room," she sniffed again.

"Would you like me to walk you back?"

Another mute nod.

"Alright, come on," Remus slid his hand down to her back and led her out of the owlery and down the narrow flight of stairs to the long corridor that would lead them back to the Gryffindor tower.

Dierna stopped at the beginning of the corridor, "don't you have something more important to do, I mean you didn't come up to the owlery for no reason," she gestured to the letter in his hand.

Remus smiled, "it's nothing urgent, just a letter to a good friend of mine in Greece, it can wait. Right now I'm more concerned about you."

"Oh..."

Remus looked down at her, and made a quick decision. He started her walking again, but not in the direction of the Gryffindor tower. In her distressed state Dierna didn't even notice until they came to a stop in front of her mother's office.

"Why are we here?" Dierna looked up at Professor Lupin, a confused expression on her face.

"Because you look like you need to be with someone, I'm not going to leave you alone after what happened. But, before we go in I want to make one thing very clear. I understand that you probably had very good reason for punching Mr. Macnair, but that is still not acceptable behavior. This is your one warning about the use of violence Dierna, unless he physically harms you don't do that again."

"Yes sir," Dierna looked down at her feet, she almost felt bad for hitting Connor, she only wished she had hit him harder.

"Good, I'm glad that's settled," Remus raised his hand and knocked on the door to Morgan's office.

He rested his hands lightly on Dierna's shoulders; he could feel the girl trembling slightly. He had the strong suspicion that whatever had happened between her and Connor and affected her much more than she was trying to let on.

Remus was slightly surprised when it was Severus who came to the door and not Morgan, but he quickly covered the surprise. He was convinced that Dierna just needed to be with at least one of her parents right now, perhaps they could get her to describe exactly what happened. Remus didn't personally feel like he could broach the subject of sexual harassment if Dierna wasn't going to open the subject. He also knew that she would be much more likely to open up to her parents. "I brought you something," he kept his voice light even though his expression was dark as his eyes met Severus'.

"And to what do we owe this visit?" Severus asked as Morgan appeared at his side.

Remus calmly explained the situation as he had witnessed it. He watched as Morgan reached for her daughter and embraced the much taller girl.

"Are you alright darling?" Morgan let go of Dierna and looked her in the eye.

Dierna nodded, "yes Mum, I'm fine."

Morgan frowned slightly, she had a feeling her daughter was anything but fine, "come sit down with me darling," she gently led Dierna to the couch and sat down with her arms still around her daughter. "Remus, stay and have a cup of tea?" She looked to her colleague.

"I'm afraid I'll have to decline, I still have a few things to take care of," he held up the letter in his hand.

"Remus," Severus stopped him before he could leave, "I would make one request, don't let Connor and Dierna serve detention together. I don't want him near my daughter any more than absolutely necessary."

Remus nodded, "I had planned on taking care of that. Although what I observed clearly put Dierna at fault, I have every reason to believe that it's lucky for her that I showed up when I did. Your daughter has a pretty mean right hook," Remus smiled bitterly, his eyes remorseful, "but Connor could probably overpower her, he has his size to his advantage. I'm definitely going to keep a closer eye on him now."

"As will I, I feel responsible for the actions of the members of my house, no matter how deplorable those actions may be." Severus' face was hard. Yes, his daughter had been in the wrong when she used physical violence, but he could tell that she had been hurt far worse emotionally.

Remus nodded in agreement before he turned to leave, he did feel responsible for Dierna since she was a member of his house. However, he had the benefit of turning her over to her parents, something that he often wished he could do with some of his other students.

Severus turned back to face Morgan and Dierna who were still sitting on the couch under a large open window. "What happened?"

Dierna glanced up at her father, "Professor Lupin told you what..."

"I want to hear it from you," Severus kept his voice calm; he knew that she was trying to avoid something.

Dierna shrugged, "Connor was trying to bother me and I guess I overreacted, I'm sorry I hit him," well, not really sorry if she was being truthful, but that didn't matter.

Morgan gently took Dierna's face between her hands, forcing her daughter to look at her, "did he say or do anything to you that was at all questionable."

Dierna sighed, "Really Mum, he tried to scare me, but he didn't hurt me."

"Dierna, please don't lie to me like this. I can clearly see that you're not alright. Did he try to..." Morgan felt her voice catch in her throat. The thought of her daughter being harmed was too much for her.

"Mum, he tried to scare me, he did put his arm around me, but I am fine. Don't worry about it anymore." Dierna's voice was stressed. She didn't need her parents watching her every move. She would just make sure to stay closer to Nick now, Connor wouldn't bother her than.

Severus seemed to read her thoughts, "I don't want you wandering around the school by yourself; make sure you're at least with either Serena or Nick."

Dierna nodded.

Severus sat down next to his daughter and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders, "and just between you and me, I cannot wait to see if you gave Connor a black eye."

Dierna smiled to herself. That would be something she would enjoy seeing.