Remus Lupin, standing in the doorway. Naomi sat bolt upright when she heard her name, then moaned and leaned over to lay her head on Harry's chest. " Save me," she whispered jokingly.

Lupin stormed over to the bed and Naomi grudgingly stood up.

"Hello, Remus," she said miserably, facing him.

"Naomi, I can't believe you! After all we did to get you transferred to Hogwarts, you go running into the forest! You know you could have been killed?"

"I know, I'm sor-"

"It's my fault," Harry said quickly.

Lupin turned to Harry, apparently seeing him for the first time.

"Harry! Why are you here?"

"I followed Naomi when she ran away. I had to." Seeing Lupin's puzzled expression, Harry told about what had happened. By the end, Lupin was staring at Harry, his face expressionless. He slowly turned to Naomi, who was looking like she expected a punishment.

Lupin looked at Naomi, and said softly, "I was afraid you would never be found. I thought I had lost you."

Naomi hung her head. "I'm really sorry, Remus," she said miserably.

Lupin pulled her into a hug and said, "Just be careful. You know you're in more danger than most other people are."

"Yes, I know," said Naomi, hugging him back. "I just wasn't thinking, that's all."

Lupin stepped back. "Well, I'll take you and Harry back to school tomorrow. Good thing it's a weekend, you won't have missed any lessons."

Naomi looked a bit nervous, and she looked at the floor as she muttered, "Um...about that...Ron and Hermione are here, too." She said the last sentence very quickly, as though it would be easier to say if she said it really fast.

"They followed you as well? Naomi, they could have been killed, too-"

"I said I'm sorry," she said, sitting back down onto the bed. Harry had noticed that Lupin's last comment hadn't had an angry tone, but a tone of fatherly concern.

"Okay, okay. I'll have a portkey arranged to take you back to the school tomorrow."

"Thanks."

"...You should eat dinner and go to bed," said Lupin, looking around at both of them.

"Not hungry," Naomi muttered, still looking at the floor.

Lupin looked like he was going to tell her that she had to eat something, but he just shrugged and said, "Well, I've got to get back to headquarters. And if I hear about you getting into more trouble at school-"

He didn't seem to need to finish the sentence.

"Goodbye Naomi--Harry," he said, and disapparated from the room.

Harry turned slowly to Naomi, who had gotten up and walked to the window.

"Professor Lupin is your godfather, huh?"

"Yeah. Especially now, because I don't have any real family anymore..."

Harry didn't say anything. Naomi stepped back from the window as an owl swooped in and perched itself on top of the dresser.

Naomi walked over to it and took the envelope from its beak. She opened it, read a letter from inside, and looked at the other contents of the envelope. She didn't tell Harry what was in it. All she said was, "We should leave for dinner soon. Dawn says it's in like five minutes."

"I thought you weren't hungry?"

"So? I can still be there, can't I?"

She quickly took her hair down from its braid and started out of the room, motioning for Harry to follow. He got up and, as he followed her out of the room, "What else was in that envelope?"

Naomi just smiled and acted as though she hadn't heard him.

××××××

The two of them walked downstairs to dinner, Naomi still refusing to tell what was in the envelope despite Harry's nagging. As they rounded a corner, Naomi stopped, face Harry, and looked into his eyes.

"Harry," she said softly, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Yeah?" Harry asked eagerly, and at the same time thinking, She's going to tell me!

"I'll tell you only if you..."

"Only if I what?"

"Only if you beat me to dinner!" she exclaimed gleefully, turning on her heel and sprinting down the corridor.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Harry shouted, starting after her. Luckily for him, his Quidditch training had gotten him in better shape, so he managed to avoid total defeat.

Harry found that the dining room was on the ground floor as he ran after Naomi. He saw her stop outside a wooden double door, and he skidded to a halt a few seconds later.

Naomi was panting and laughing, grinning uncontrollably at Harry.

"That--was--so--unfair--you--little--" Harry gasped, his hands on his knees as he breathed very hard and fast.

Naomi smiled sweetly. "Too bad, you loose!"

"Well, you can at least be a good sport about it," said Harry, straightening up and regaining his breath. Naomi looked like she was thinking about this for a moment, then she said, "You're right. You get a second-place prize."

Before Harry could say anything else, Naomi stood on her toes and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Come on, Mr. Potter, we're going to be late for dinner!" And she swept off through the doors.

Harry could feel his face burning. Hoping no one would notice, he followed her inside.

The dining room had a table in the center that was covered in a white tablecloth. There was a purple-and-blue runner down the middle of it, with a vase of white roses halfway down and golden candlesticks. There was a crystal chandelier hanging on the ceiling, and the walls were peacock blue. Harry found that Ron, Hermione, Dawn, and Shadow were already there. They all sat at the end of the table so they could talk without shouting.

After dinner (which Naomi didn't eat, just as she had said before), they all went into the library to talk. Harry suppressed a smile at Hermione's reaction upon entering the library. She gasped and exclaimed, "I've never seen so many books in one place before!"

Harry was a bit surprised, but he was also on the verge of being overwhelmed by the mass of books there. About five tables stood randomly in the large room, and all of the walls were lined with bookshelves. There was a ladder here and there so that the books on top could be reached, and Harry also noticed that the room was two stories high. A walkway ran around the top of where the ceiling of the first floor would have been, and still more bookshelves were around the outer wall of that. A tightly spiraling staircase led up to the top.

Harry walked across the floor, which was hardwood, only many rugs had been placed on it so that hardly any of it showed. Everyone sat around on big puffy armchairs and poufs, and Hermione stared longingly around the shelves, still in awe of the amount of books there.

"So," Shadow said, casually stretching his tall frame out in the chair, "What do you think?"

"This room is wonderful," Hermione said quietly. Harry could see that she was not even fully sitting down, and her eyes were still on the books.

Ron grabbed her arm and forced her to sit in a pouf. "Hermione, we're not at school, you don't have to do research!"

Hermione glared at him, and Ron said, "No, wait, I meant I'm not going to let you do research. Just take a break."

"Fine, I won't," Hermione said, sitting poutily on the pouf.

Everyone laughed, even Hermione.

They talked for a while, and just when Hermione and Dawn were about to bring up the Quidditch match again, Naomi changed the subject.

"I think we should ask Dawn and Shadow about Percy's note," she said to Harry.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Good idea."

Dawn sat up. "What do you mean?"

Harry and Hermione looked at Ron, so he explained the issue with Percy, but he only told the same thing he had told Harry the year before.

Shadow was frowning, looking like he was already thinking hard about it. Ron nodded to Harry, so he told about receiving the note and reading the message at the bottom once he was at Hogwarts.

"...and that was all it said. Do you think he's lying?"

Dawn bit her lip and looked at Shadow, who had his head in his hands. He looked up and ran his fingers through his hair, then said, "Do you still have the note?"

Harry nodded. "I think so."

Shadow looked at Ron. "Do you think you have anything with your brother's handwriting on it? Before this letter, I mean."

Ron considered this for a moment. "Yeah, I might be able to find something...why?"

"I'd like to see both of those sometime. You could just send it by owl. I just want to see if the handwriting matches up perfectly."

"I think it was his handwriting, it sure looked like it to me. But I do see what you mean. Sure, we'll send it as soon as we can."

"Good. Now, have you asked your father about if that message was true?"

"...No, I don't think I ever did."

Shadow nodded. "You should do that."

They talked for a few more hours, but decided to go to bed when Hermione fell asleep, curled up on her pouf.

×××××

Harry, back in his room, looked around at the calm colors all around him. He felt more peaceful then he had in a while, but he didn't exactly know why. He actually was dwelling on Sirius, and he was feeling very down because of it. He supposed that the atmosphere of the room was making it less painful. The window was open and the cool night breeze played across his face. He sighed and leaned back in the soft armchair, his eyes closed. The only sounds were the trees rustling and an occasional owl, whose soft cry filled the air and quickly died out. Harry opened his eyes for a moment, and saw something flutter past his window. He got up and looked out, but saw that it was only a leaf, tumbling through the wind towards the ground.

He looked out over the country that was unknown to him. Even though it was all unfamiliar, he found that he liked it a lot here. For a while now he had been thinking that he was in his final hours of his stay. He had felt so free here, without the school rules.

Somewhere far off, a wolf's lone howl rose. The long, melencholy note filled Harry's mind, then died slowly off. Harry quickly looked up at the moon, and saw that it was a glowing full circle. He wondered dimly if the wolf he had heard was a werewolf. Leaving the window open, he climbed into bed and soon felt himself drifting off to sleep.

Harry woke with a start as he heard someone shouting. "Harry! HARRY!"