Disclaimer: You know how it is. I don't own it.

A/N: Oh my, I'm about to write 'Chapter Thirty.' This is so scary!

Chapter Thirty: Healing

Only in silence the word,

Only in dark the light,

Only in dying life:

Bright the hawks flight on an empty sky.

-Ursula Le Guin 'A Wizard of Earthsea'

Almost an hour later, nine very sticky, very exhausted and very happy people trudged into the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Luckily, Molly was nowhere to be seen. Sirius didn't even want to think what she would have to say about the afternoon's misdemeanours.

Sirius sat down at the table with a satisfying squelch. "Well. That was mildly entertaining."

Harry sighed, sitting down opposite to Sirius. "If that's what you call 'mildly entertaining' I'd hate to think of what you used to get up to at Hogwarts."

Remus laughed as the rest of the group sat themselves around the table. "Trust me, Harry, that was nothing compared to the mischief that Sirius and your father used to get up to at Hogwarts. I swear, most of the grey hairs on Professor McGonagall's head grew because of them."

"Ah, but she loved us all the same," Sirius said as Anna, left with nowhere else to sit, perched on Sirius' lap, hooking her arm around his neck. "Do you remember at graduation, Moony? The poor woman was in hysterics, seeing us leave. I seem to remember her telling me that she would 'miss me terribly, despite what a troublemaking fool I was.'"

The group laughed appreciatively.

"Well," Tonks said as she got to her feet, "I think I might head home now, take a shower. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," they all called happily in return.

"Mmm, a shower definitely sounds good right about now," Hermione proclaimed as she rose from the table. "I think I might go take one."

Fred laughed wickedly, jumping to his feet. "Not before I do!"

"Hey!" she called indignantly as Fred and George raced up the stairs, laughing manically all the way. She turned to Ginny. "Come on, guys, let's go upstairs."

Ginny and Ron acquiesced, leaving only Sirius, Remus, Harry and Anna sitting in the dank kitchen.

"How long until your trial, Harry?" Remus inquired.

"Two days."

"Ah."

"Mmm"

"Are you nervous Harry?" Anna asked carefully.

"Is there even any point in me lying?" Harry smirked.

She laughed shrewdly. "Not really, no."

"Actually, Anna," Remus said after a moment, "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Ask away."

"Can you do Empathic Healing?"

Anna fidgeted uncomfortably in Sirius' lap. "Yes, I can."

"Oh," was all Remus said.

Sirius gave Anna a nudge with his shoulder. "What's Empathic Healing?"

"Just that. Healing," she said shortly.

"Care to elaborate?"

Anna sighed. "When people go through traumatic experiences their†auras are clouded. Their grief and sadness sort of hangs around them; like a veil. It's like a dark, thick mist surrounding their auras," she explained carefully.

"You can see our auras?"

Anna nodded. "Yep, only when I want to though. And I don't like to do it to often, I feel like I'm invading personal space."

"What do they look like?" Sirius prompted.

"It's hard to say," she said pensively. "Mostly it's just colour; like a big swirl of colours around the body. People who can see auras can read them as well. It's a fair indicator of what kind of personality that person has. With Empathic Healing, you can heal the aura. It's hard to explain, but you sort of allow them to let go of their grief; let go of all the black stuff."

Remus nodded thoughtfully. "What do our auras look like?"

She swallowed. "Apart from Severus Snape, you three have the darkest auras I've ever seen."

There was a deep silence that sank like a stone.

"But at the same time," she continued, "the most beautiful." She closed her eyes, her brow furrowing in concentration. She looked toward Remus, studying him carefully. "Your's is mostly green; this lovely dark, foresty green colour. All along your skin is a dark, murky brown. I think it's the pain from the transformations. Then, around your heart is a creamy, soft pink with a silvery shine to it. Around your head is a halo of pale blue. It all has this†shine to it... "

She leant her back into Sirius' chest. "Sirius' is this beautiful dark purple," she began, not needing to turn around and face him; as if she had him permanently emblazoned in her mind. "It pulses, like a heartbeat. Around his head and eyes are these little wisps of white, mixed in with golden threads. And then in his centre is this dark, bright red. His is the hardest to see; it's so clouded. But right in the centre of the red is this bright, gold glow."

She smiled across at Harry. "Yours' is dazzling. I think it might be half the reason I passed out when I met you. I've never seen anything like it before. It's all gold. All of it. Once you work through the dark around it, you're entirely clothed in this soft, shining gold. Like spun gold threads all around you. It's so bright, it's almost blinding. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

A soft tear fell from Anna's eye, crawling a small path down her porcelain cheeks. She wiped it away with her thumb.

"Would you let me Heal you?" she asked the three men in a timid, hushed voice. "You don't have to say yes, it's just that†you three are such beautiful people and there's just so much dark and I just" she wiped another tear from her cheek. "I just want to help."

Sirius drew Anna closer into him as the three men nodded solemnly, touched by her words.

"Thankyou," she whispered quietly, closing her eyes. "Thankyou."

A/N: Oh... Sob, sob. That was sad. Did anyone else think that was sad? Don't really know where this chappie came from, certainly wasn't planned. Oh well, my rather vivid imagination has run off again†Hehe. Please review, tell me what you think.