meanwhile, THE BURROW

Sarah pulled her abused truck to a cluttering halt in the Burrow's driveway. Beside her, in all its clunky glory, stood the flying car that Harry and Ron had used in their second year. Nia had playfully dubbed it "Supercar" which infuriated and embarrassed Ron to no end. Sarah allowed herself to snicker quietly at the memory. The front door of the Burrow opened, and Molly came hustling across the lawn, her housedress fluttering about her stocking feet. Sarah's sculptured lips quirked at how the yellow-and-gray striped stockings contrasted humorously with the flowered dress pattern. She quickly gave this up when her lip split again, and she tasted blood in her mouth. Molly was fairly running to meet her, her wild rust-colored and gray- streaked hair flying crazily out behind her. Before she could take ten steps, Sarah was engulfed in a Molly-sized hug. It didn't take too much energy to keep a squeak of protest from spilling out of her mouth-too many years of hiding injuries had made it habit.

Sarah allowed herself to be led into through the front lawn and up the stoop. However, she looked up as she passed through the gate, and the drapes in Nia's bedroom suddenly closed. They swung for an instant, and then were still. Sighing almost imperceptibly, Sarah drew her gaze back to the front door. Molly didn't need to know.

After permitting Molly to fuss over her for a few minutes, Sarah gently rebuffed Molly's efforts to feed her more food. The rest of the family crept into the kitchen in ones and twos, Nia arriving last and most inconspicuously. Sarah frowned when she realized that the only recognition Nia's family gave her arrival was a brief comment from Molly to come to table sooner. After that, she was left alone. 'Interesting,' Sarah thought, 'very interesting... I'll have to observe this more carefully.' But then she made eye contact with Nia, and the silent communion between the two women was mutually understood. They would talk at night, when all was quiet and such things could be said without causing panic or suspicion.

Over lunch Sarah made small talk. She caught up one the boys' adventures, and gave the required mock-rebuke to the twins, and scolded Percy on his detached and workaholic attitude. She nearly jumped in surprise when she noticed that Nia had already left the table without her taking notice. 'She's getting better at that,' she thought darkly, 'I'll have to school her in that. It's not safe for her to be popping about like that these days. And I doubt that Molly and Arthur-much less the majority of the magical community-would approve of what I'm teaching her. But it's for her own safety... and theirs... Gods, if they only knew...' Then she remembered Harry. 'Jesus Cluny Frog on a freakin' pogo stick! I didn't tell them about Harry!' Nia chose that moment to slip quietly back into the room, having sensed the change in the air. Sarah rubbed the knot of tension in her neck without Molly noticing. Ron noticed, however, and gave her a concerned look. She shot him a glance that conveyed her desire to leave it alone. He shrugged, and gulped more milk.

"Sit down, Molly," Sarah began quietly. Stilling herself in mid-scoop of some mashed potatoes, Molly sat down in her chair with the air of someone who just knows that what they are about to hear will shock them to the core.

"I have some news about Harry," Sarah continued, noticing how the whole Weasley family clenched fists and gripped the table with white knuckles. "He's staying at Gatewood House right now."

"Why is he at Gatewood House, Sarah?" Arthur slowly asked her suspiciously. His voice had a sharp edge to it, not characteristic of his normal self. There were bags under his eyes. Sarah stared at Nia while she spoke, seeing Percy and Ron in her peripheral vision.

"Do you know how the Dursleys have been treating him?" she couldn't keep the venom out of her voice when she spat out that filthy name. Her skin still crawled at the memory of that fat slug Dudley eyeing her up.

"They treat him like shit," Ron said without hesitation.

"Ronald Weasley!" his mother scolded absentmindedly. Ron cringed when he heard his mother's sharp tone.

"Well, they do, Mum," George piped up.

"You should've seen how they had him living the summer before his second year!" Fred added. Ron nodded vigorously. Sarah glanced at him before catching Nia's eye briefly.

"That was child's play to what they've done to him now," Sarah said quietly. She waited for that to sink in. Nia refused to meet her eyes anymore, which had turned a dark, smoky gray. Occasionally, a yellow spark starburst amongst the charcoal pupils.

"What have they done to him?" Molly's voice was just a whisper. Percy hung his head in his hands. Sarah shifted her gaze from Nia to Molly.

"When I got there, they had already beaten him badly. I got him to Gatewood House as soon as I could," she felt Nia briefly pierce her with a hot glance, but ignored its implications, "Most of his injuries were a day or so old. There was a lot of internal bleeding. His bones have been set, and are healing nicely... but he's under a fever right now, so we need to be careful." Silence pervaded the Burrow.

A person walking by the kitchen window would have sworn the place was frozen in time, so still did the party at the table hold themselves. Nia kept her bright eyes on the tabletop. Sarah broke the stillness when she brushed red hair irritably out of her eyes, jamming it mercilessly back into her braid with more force than necessary.

"How soon can we see him?" "Have you notified Albus?" "How the bloody hell could they let something like this happen!" "I told him that Harry would be safer with us!" The comments all came at once, like a torrent of rain from a cloudburst. Sarah took a sip of her water as the table erupted into shocked chaos. They stilled when she stood up, unnoticeably wobbling for a split second.

 "Harry is now safely living at Gatewood House from now on. I will not have it any other way, seeing as his only other relatives are either deceased or on the run from the law. I am going to Hogwarts tomorrow to inform Dumbledore, since he is too pre-occupied with finding a leak in the ministry to bother with anything else. I give you my word, Molly; I will give him a piece of my mind. And I doubt he'll like it.

"But right now, my truck could do with some repairing, and I believe that you have the right tools, Arthur. Would you be so kind?" Used to Sarah's rapid change of subjects after years of friendship, Arthur Weasley knew when the topic was closed. It was useless to argue with Sarah now. He sighed resignedly.

"Come on, Fred and George; let's go see what we can do. No doubt it'll have gone through World War Three. Percy, you too," he said rising from the table. The boys got up and followed him out, leaving behind Ron and Molly. Nia had already left inconspicuously. Sarah muttered darkly about it in her mind.

"Is there anything I can do?" Ron asked, looking pleadingly up at her, interrupting the morbid thoughts she was holding inside. Sarah loved that about him-he was so open and honest about things. It was an endearing quality many people lacked these days.

"Inform the Grangers for me. Use Percy's owl—Errol wouldn't stand up to the weight of what has to be said. And Ron," she gazed at him seriously, "Write to Gatewood House. Write to Harry; tell him how you feel. Errol can carry that one." The redheaded teenager nodded pensively. Sarah offered him a quick, soft half-smile which he weakly returned.

 "Is Harry going to be alright?" he asked in a timid voice. Sarah sighed, and came around the table to kneel in front of him. Her knees protested this greatly, but she ignored it. His warm brown eyes met her dark gray ones directly. He radiated concern for Harry.

"He will be if I have anything to say about it," she answered him gravely, "And I give you my word Ron, I have a lot to say." He held her gaze solemnly for a long moment, as though assessing her very soul. She almost shivered with the weight of it. 'There is much power in this one,' she thought with mild surprise, 'I will have to keep an eye on him. Molly and Arthur have no idea what is happening. I doubt if he even knows.'

She was about the blink when Ron broke eye contact himself. He got up quietly, his feet softly thumping up the staircase. The ghoul in the attack dropped a few pipes. Sarah quirked the corners of her mouth for a second. Then she turned to find Molly vigorously scrubbing pots and pans. Sighing heavily, Sarah rolled up her sleeves and took up a drying cloth.

"He's right," Molly said softly, "It is too quiet in here."

"It is the right time to be quiet, Molly," Sarah said kindly, the gray in her eyes shifting slightly to make room for brown starbursts. She lay a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I know, it's just that...." Molly heaved a great sigh, trying not the let her tears fall, "Just that.... I wish that Albus would have listened to us! We warned him that something like this would happen... Arthur even tried to find a way of sneaking Harry away! But nobody would listen! Poor Harry... and Dear Lord! Poor Sirius-he must be out of his mind with worry!"

Sarah let her hand drop from Molly's shoulders. She hadn't thought of Sirius Black in years. Nadia had refused to speak his name after Lily and James had died, leaving him the only suspect. She cried every time it was spoken, so everybody stopped mentioning his name around her. It got so that his was a name that was never uttered in Gatewood House anymore.

"And dear Professor Lupin... poor thing, he loves Harry just as much as Sirius does. Oh dear me, oh dear, oh dear!" The name of her old friend Remus Lupin shocked her greatly. The last she'd heard of Remus, he'd disappeared shortly after the deaths of Lily and James. She recalled his handsome face with ease, trying to imagine how his undoubtedly tough life had aged him. In a burst of feeling, years of hiding emotions coming into reflexive action, she hugged Molly close. She could feel Molly's tears soak her black shirt at shoulder level. Her heart hurt, her body hurt, but she would be strong in order for others to find their own strength.

Sarah led Molly to dry her soapy hands and sit at the table again. Her fellow redhead hunched her shoulders. After a few moments, Sarah performed a small spell to prevent Molly from getting a headache. Then she set about washing and drying the dishes. The warm, soapy water helped to ease the slight ache in her hands. But it did nothing to ease the ache in her heart, nor that of her body.

When she was finished with the dishes, Sarah rooted around in her satchel. She found her pain meds, and downed them quickly. With a small nudge, her conscious reminded her that they weren't as effective as before. She made a mental note to up her dosage when she got back to Gatewood House. Heading back into the kitchen, she stopped in the doorway. Molly had fallen asleep at the table, her frizzy mane of graying red hair cushioning her head on her arm. Sarah left her that way.

GATEWOOD HOUSE, that same Wednesday, Noon (12PM)

Brian lay down next to Harry Potter in Sarah great bed. He and Lady Bryn had changed the sweat-soaked sheets just a few moments ago. She had left then, drifting ghost-like through the door, heading for the kitchen. Brian could smell the tangy scent of Sarah's special healing herbal tea brewing downstairs. He hoped that they could get Harry to keep some of it down this time.

The Boy Who Lived stirred in his feverish sleep. Concerned, Brian laid a cool, dry hand on his forehead. Harry stilled then, and his dry tongue ran over his dry lips. Brian reached for the glass of water he had on the bed stand, dipped his fingers, and ran them over Harry's mouth. That seemed to help a little.

Nadia waddled into the room, big as a house in her pregnancy. Brian looked up at her from on the other side of Harry's frail form. She was staring at Harry with a peculiar intensity. "He has Lily's eyes," she said quietly. Brian nodded silently, trusting her judgment as he had never known Lily Potter. He had seen pictures of her and James, but couldn't recall them clearly enough. Nadia came further into the room, standing beside Harry. Her hand flitted at her side before resting on Harry's thin wrist.

"He's too thin," she remarked, "We'll have to feed him right when he gets better. James was thin, too... but Quidditch put muscles on him. Harry's the same way, I'd wager."

"Sarah told me that he won Gryffindor the House Cup more than once because of Quidditch. He's their seeker," Brian said quietly.

Nadia nodded slowly, not saying anything. She suddenly leaned over Harry, brushing his sopping hair away from his forehead in a motherly way, exposing his famous scar. She lightly brushed a soft kiss over the lightning bolt, then straightened abruptly and left.

HOGWARTS, same Wednesday, 7pm.

Sirius Black had a headache as he stared out from the balcony of the Marauders' old Gryffindor rooms. And that headache went by the name of one, Severus Snape. He sighed in frustration. 'I hope Harry's having a better time than I am. That boy deserves a bit of a normal childhood for a while-even if it is with the three most horrible Muggles I've ever laid eyes on,' he thought with a heavy heart. Remus must have sensed his distress, because the werewolf laid a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I don't like it either, Sirius," said Remus softly, "But Dumbledore has his reasons for everything, even if we don't ever find them out."

"But it just doesn't make sense, Moony," Sirius cried, "They treat him like shit! Why would Dumbledore.... how could he just leave him there! How could he..." He trailed off. Remus looked thoughtful.

"How could he send Harry back to the Dursleys, who are horrible to him, instead of sending him with the Weasleys or Grangers, where he would be loved and treated well? Or why not have him stay at Hogwarts, even?" the werewolf asked gently. Sirius nodded, furiously running his hands through his newly-cut hair. It stood on end now that it was short, which Remus cast an amused glance to.

"I just wish that there was something that could be done," Sirius said, staring morosely out from the balcony across the landscape. The Forbidden Forest seemed to shimmer in sunset. Its color reminded him sharply of Nadia O'Connor, the one and only woman he had ever loved. The dark gray, so dark it was almost black, reminded him of her eyes... he shook his head to clear it when his heart stabbed him painfully. It wasn't safe to contact her yet... no doubt she was still worked up about him being loose from Azkaban.

"I wonder if there is anything we can do, Padfoot, old friend," Remus said sadly, his handsome face pensive. He, too, stared out at the Forbidden Forest in the sunset. He heard Sirius sigh. One glance at the former Marauder's face told him all he needed to know: Sirius was thinking of Nadia again. The werewolf echoed the escaped convict's sigh, propping his elbows on the balcony railing and resting his chin in his hands. His prematurely-graying hair tickled his ears in the wind.

"I have a headache," Sirius stated drearily, and turned away from the painful memory of Nadia, "I'm going to bed." Remus watched him as he crawled into bed. He almost smiled when he realized that it was the same bed that Sirius and James had alternated sleeping in during their Hogwarts years. When he remembered that it was also the bed that Harry usually slept in, his heart contracted painfully.

Remus shook his head, deciding that he wasn't ready for sleep just yet. He left the balcony and headed down the stairs and out of the deserted Gryffindor dormitories. His feet padded silently through the deserted corridors as he walked aimlessly through the corridors of Hogwarts Castle. The Great Hall's ceiling was clouded and misty as he ambled through it. All was silent and oppressive. He jumped when he saw that he wasn't alone.

"I couldn't sleep," he said when Severus Snape pinned him with a stare that conveyed annoyance and something very near hatred. The man had always made him slightly nervous, although he would never tell him that.

"And how, exactly, is that my problem?" Severus snapped impatiently. Remus gave him a passive look. The potions master shrugged stiffly, and began to walk away.

"Severus," Remus called out on impulse. The black-cloaked man paused, but didn't turn. "Do you know what Albus plans to do about Harry, should we not find the leak?" Remus asked. Severus barely turned his head.

"If the headmaster has any such plans," came the soft-wistful?-reply, "I am unaware of them. Goodnight, Lupin."

"Goodnight, Snape," Remus sighed. 'Why won't you let anyone in, Severus? Why won't Dumbledore do anything?'

 "Damn!" he exclaimed as he accidentally stubbed his toe on a bench. He sat down on it, rubbing his foot in exasperation. He noticed with a peculiar feeling in his gut that he was sitting at the Slytherin table. He looked out across the Great Hall. He stopped massaging his uninjured foot.

The Great Hall looked awfully big and cold from there.

THE BURROW, that Wednesday night, Midnight.

"What happened?" Nia hissed at Sarah as she let herself quietly into the room. Sarah closed the door silently and turned to face the youngest member of the Weasley household. "Keep your pants on, Virginia," Sarah snapped, jamming stray hair back into her braids, "I ran into some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"The stubborn, stupid, half-dead idiot kind," Sarah sighed, rubbing her face gingerly. Virginia placed her hands on her hips. She looked a lot older than her fifteen years. "Dementors, I take it?"

"Hole in one. Give that gal a cigar!

"I took care of it, but couldn't risk porting," Sarah sat down on Nia's desk chair, the back of it between her legs, her head resting on its top.

"Too much interference?" Nia asked, cocking her head to one side, regarding Sarah sharply. Her red hair, a few shades darker than Sarah's, fell into her eyes. She ignored it.

"No—the rush of energy would have set me off Voldemort's radar like the Fourth of fucking July. I couldn't risk exposing Harry like that, so I drove the truck. Hence the fucking damage Arthur had to repair today."

 "I see," Virginia said, her brown eye solemnly staring out into space for a few seconds. For one incredible second, Sarah almost thought she saw a young Lily in her place, but Lily had startlingly green eyes. Nia blinked, and the moment was over.

"What do we do now?" she asked Sarah.

"We keep our eyes open, as usual. Use any contact, any means necessary, to find this Goddamn leak in the Ministry. Keep this away from your parents; they have enough worries of their own." Nia nodded, the moonlight coming through her window casting a silvery, blurry aura around her body. To her, Sarah's eyes had a feral, cold quality to them. She shivered under the weight of her stare.

"And watch where you portal to," Sarah said earnestly, "I don't like how you're popping about. It isn't safe anymore, not even for one so heavily warded as you. It doesn't matter that your family doesn't notice—you still have to watch yourself. What I'm teaching you is dangerous," Sarah continued, "It could turn the whole magical community, including your family, against you. I've seen it happen... it isn't something that needs to happen. At least," Sarah added, "Not yet, anyway." The two conspirators stared at one another. Minutes past, and the ghoul in the attic dropped some pipes overhead.

 "You and your family will come back to Gatewood House for the remainder of the summer," Sarah said finally.

 "Mom won't go in for that," Virginia said, "And besides, won't Dumbledore object to that as well?"

"Molly will come. Dumbledore will have a piece of my mind before tomorrow is out," Sarah stated confidently, "He may shun me, but he knows that I am needed now. He'll have to swallow his Goddamn precious fucking pride and accept my aide. He has no other choice, if we are to beat Voldemort."

 "But you've been fighting behind the scenes for years," Virginia protested, "You mean to tell me that all this time, since he found you out, even after all has been said and done, that he'd just-"

"Dumbledore doesn't like me. He doesn't like how I do things." Virginia sighed. They were both so tired... but they were both knew that one of them would always be awake.

 "Go to sleep. We'll make this right." The door closed quietly on the dark figure of Harry's savior.

A/N: Hi all! No, this is faaaaaaaaaaaar from over!!!!!!!! I just wanted to give you all an early Christmas present. I wasn't planning on doing this, but I'm going home in five or six days (depending on how ya count 'em) and won't have access to this story. So Merry Christmas to All.... and to All A Good Night! (With many wonderful ahem Slytherin... OR Gryffindor... dreams.... heh heh heh)