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Chapter Twenty-Four: A Fun Conversation

"For even as love crowns you
so shall he crucify you."

-Kahlil Gibran

Sirius padded softly towards the room, stopping only to tap lightly on the door before pushing it open.

"Harry!" he called gently, letting the soft light of his wand fall across the boy's bed.

Harry mumbled incoherently in his sleep.

"Harry!" Sirius said again, shaking him by the shoulders.

"Sirius?" Harry asked drowsily, his eyes snapping open.

"Shhh! Come outside into the hallway, quick."

Once Harry had detangled himself from his sheets and retrieved his glasses, Sirius shoved him hastily out into to hall.

"What? What is it? It's 11:30!"

Sirius scoffed, pushing Harry down the hall. "Like that's incredibly late. Besides, don't try and tell me you four weren't up talking until an hour ago anyway." Sirius tapped his nose knowingly. "I'm not as stupid as I look."

Harry sniggered. "That's not saying much, Sirius, as you look pretty stupid."

Harry ducked as Sirius' hand came to collide with his head.

"Smart ass. But you were up talking."

He smirked. "Okay, so maybe we were up talking, but still, why did you have to sneak into my room in the middle of the night instead of just talking to me after dinner?"

"Because, silly, if I had have just asked to talk to you, Molly would've blown her cork, like she did downstairs after dinner. As much as I love the woman, she seems to think you have the mental capacity of a three-year-old. Besides, Hermione and Ron would've wanted to know what I was talking to you about, and this is something that not even they can know. Okay?" he asked quietly as they neared the bedroom door.

"Okay," Harry said, rather sullenly. "This is about Anna isn't it?"

"Yes," Sirius answered as he pushed open the door.

Inside, Anna was lying down on Sirius' bed, engaged with a large book. She looked up, smiling nervously. Sirius noticed she winced slightly, tensing her muscles as Harry neared the bed.

"Hi," Harry said uncertainly, taking the chair next to the bed as Sirius plonked down on the end of the mattress. "How're are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, thankyou Harry. I suppose you're wondering why I passed out?"

"Er, yeah, just a bit," Harry muttered. "Wouldn't want to think that I'm that repulsive."

Anna and Sirius sniggered. "No, Harry, nothing like that, thank God," Sirius said jokingly.

"Harry, do you know what an Empath is?" Anna asked tentatively.

"Not really, no. I suppose I could just ask Hermione though, she knows about everything under the sun."

She smiled warmly. "That she does. Well, an Empath is someone who can feel other people's emotions. And I'm an Empath."

She paused for effect. She got no reaction.

Anna continued. "The reason I collapsed when I touched your hand was simply a reaction to your emotions. From what I'm told, you had a pretty traumatic experience in June, and I guess I just felt what you've been going through. It sort of... overloaded my brain. It can be extremely overwhelming sometimes, for an Empath to feel that, especially when they're particularly sensitive. And seeing as though we had just had an Order meeting, I was more open than usual. It shouldn't happen like that again, I just have to get used to being around you."

Harry thought for a moment. "Does that happen with a lot of people?"

Anna twiddled her thumbs, looking at her hands. "Not really. It happed when I first met Sirius; I was out for three hours. And it happens when I'm around Remus, although I have a certain control over that now, but I still shouldn't touch him. But no, not very often."

Harry nodded silently. "So you can feel what everyone else is feeling? Like, you can feel what I'm feeling right now?"

"Mhmm." Anna closed her eyes. "Right now you're feeling... confused; that's a pretty obvious one... you're feeling guilty, like you think it's your fault... you're still feeling a little bit angry at Sirius for waking you up... there's an underlying feeling of... uncertainty... anxiousness... happiness, because you're here with Sirius, rather than the Muggles... sadness... and..." her eyes snapped open. "Suspicion."

Harry looked dumbstruck. "Woah. You could fully be a phycologist."

"A what?" Sirius asked, dumbfounded. "Phycolologolist?"

Anna laughed. "A phycologist, Sirius. Their like Muggle Empaths."

"Oh."

They both looked at Harry.

"Well," he muttered eventually. "That explains why you collapsed, but it doesn't explain why my scar burned," he said rather callously. "Are you a Death Eater?"

Sirius began to protest, but Anna held up her hand to silence him. "No, Harry, I am not a Death Eater. I never have been, nor will I ever be. Let's hope that when that time comes, I make the right choice," she added quietly.

"Then why did my scar burn? It was the worst it's ever been. Excluding the time that Voldemort touched me in June."

"It's a long story, Harry," Anna murmured resignedly. "But you have to know it. At least some of it." She sighed. "A century ago a prophecy was made by a great Seer. She said that the only way Dark would ever overcome Light was if a child of evil and empathy was born and bent to the will of the Dark. Voldemort discovered the prophecy in the early years of his rise and took it to mean that if he had a child with an Empath, then he would win the war.

"So, he searched for an Empath, finally finding a young woman, the same age as you are now. He took her, got her with child, and locked her up. She was my mother."

Anna looked to Harry, waiting to read his reaction. He only nodded for her to continue.

"We were kept with him for eight years, and the whole time he tried to turn me to his side but it didn't work, because he didn't know the second prophecy, the one saying that that I could only be turned by my own choice. Eventually we escaped. My mother was killed in the raid and I was sent to live at Hogwarts with Professor Dumbledore.

"A year after I graduated from Hogwarts, Voldemort reappeared, as you know, trying to steal the Philosophers Stone, so I went into hiding up in the Scottish Mountains. Unfortunately, Lucius Malfoy found me, so I was brought here. And that's why your scar hurt you when we first touched."

Harry was silent, an grave expression of deep thought on his face. After a minute or two, he spoke. "Okay. I believe your story. I believe you."

He held out his hand.

Anna smiled. "Thankyou, Harry." She shook his hand, eliciting no reaction. They both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, Harry, I think it's a tad past your bedtime," Sirius said in a mock-stern voice.

"Yes, Dad," Harry teased, rising out of his chair.

They both stopped, realising what the boy had said. After a moment, Sirius slid an overly bright smile on his face, clapping a hand on Harry's back as he steered him out the room.

"'Night, Anna," Harry called over his shoulder.

"Goodnight, Harry," she said as the door swung closed.

"I'm proud of you, Harry," Sirius said suddenly as they stopped outside Harry's door.

Harry looked up at Sirius. "Why?"

He sighed, running his hand through his black hair. "Because a lot of people aren't going to accept Anna as easily as you did tonight. They're going to hate her, and accuse her of being a Death Eater, or a Dark Creature. Just like a lot of people do to Remus."

"But it's not who they are, Remus and Anna, it's not their fault."

"I know, Harry, But a lot of other people don't think like that, not at all. That's why I'm proud of you. They way you acted tonight shows a deep maturity and integrity on your part. Not to mention intelligence that you have the brains to realise that what people are doesn't necessarily equate to who they are. I'm proud of you, Harry. James would've been too."

Harry smiled sadly.

"Now, you know that you can't tell anyone about this. The Empath thing is fine, everyone already knows, but not the other stuff. Most of the Order doesn't even know."

"Okay, Sirius. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

"Good." He smiled down on the young man. "You're getting taller." He ruffled his hand through Harry's hair. "I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

"'Night, Sirius. Seeya later."

A/N: Hhmmm, don't know if I like that chapter. Oh well. Oohh! I have figured out what I'm going to do about my little 'to sequel or not to sequel' dilemma. I've decided that I'll break the story into two parts, this one is obviously Harry's 5th year, and the next one will be his 6th and 7th, and that will have some of Harry's perspective as well. And guess what! I have holidays in three weeks so I'll be able to get heaps done, although its coming up to School Certificate time, (equivalent to OWLs.) All right, please review, everyone! Seeya!