Miss Moony would like to dedicate this chapter to peacockgal17 for being the first reviewer.

Miss Moony would also like to thank Unknown-Dreams (eleven times!), shazia)Riavera and Bookworm for reviewing.

To Unknown-Dreams: Hello again, mellon nin! Yes, distraught!Harry is wonderful, isn't he? And Harry/Briar; they go so well together. The comparison between Little Bear and Padfoot also made me slightly sad. I think it's just one of those little things that reminds everyone of how much he's lost, and of the tragic ending to OotP. Yes, Harry is quite sad. But we love him anyway, right? And… (snickers) Briar. Very cute. Yeah, Harry's beginning to come to grips with things in chapter six. The mind-entering thingy was just a spontaneous whim of mine: Tempting. So very tempting. Yeah, Harry foul moods are infectious, as always. Glaki is adorable, isn't she? I loved her in Shatterglass, but she's even better when she's not a four-year-old any more. I think she reminds Harry of the childhood he never had, which is why he's so fond of her. Harry/Blaise is one of my favourite pairings, and I think that it's seriously underrated. I made the decision to put their past relationship in when I first joined the ship, to make things more complicated, and also just because I love Blaise (naturally). Communal baths (snorts). I love the concept. And Harry would be horrified by the idea, even without all the scars. I love that scene.

To Bookworm: Yes, a reasonably happy ending. Though I have a soft spot for endings where one of the main characters suffers a tragic and moving death, I seem unable to actually write those kinds of scene. Neways, I've already finished writing Lupines and Lilies: there are 16 chapters in total, including the epilogue (which I'm especially fond of).

To shazia)Riavera: There are four books in the Circle of Magic sequence, but in total, there are eight Circle books: The Magic in the Weaving (Sandry's Book), The Power in the Storm (Tris' Book), The Fire in the Forging (Daja's Book), The Healing in the Vine (Briar's Book), Magic Steps, Street Magic, Cold Fire and Shatterglass. The last four are from the Circle Opens sequence, and she's writing another Circle sequence, too: the only named ones so far are The Will of the Empress: The Circle Reforged and Melting Stones.

------- I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good -------

Chapter 12

'Harry? Briar?' Rosethorn called out to them as soon as they'd got back from the baths.

'Yes?' Briar answered, and Harry looked 'round to see what she wanted them for.

'Could you both run down to the carpenter's to pick up the cot they've made for your room?'

'Sure,' Briar answered, blinking, and Harry merely nodded. This was good. It meant that he wouldn't have to share a bed with Briar any more.

They were about to leave when there was a disturbance in the cottage. Little Bear was barking loudly, and Chime could be heard screeching for all she was worth in the kitchen. The door opened, and Harry caught the briefest glimpse of a man dressed in the yellow tunic of a Dedicate of the Air Temple, before ducking, as Chime let loose missiles of colourless, sharp glass.

'Crane!' came Lark's shout. 'Chime, Little Bear, calm down! Dedicate Crane, what are you doing here?'

Harry frowned, and scooped up one of the glass pieces on the floor before getting to his feet. He glanced at Lark and Crane, who were discussing something in hushed voices – something important, by the looks of it – and he would have stayed and strained his ears, if Rosethorn hadn't come in at that moment to see what all the ruckus was about, and sent him and Briar on their merry way.

As they made their way silently towards the carpenters' workshop, Harry stared thoughtfully at the bloody glass in his hand, and by the time they arrived, he had had a brainwave.

'Can I take a small piece of wood away?' he asked the carpenter quietly as he and Briar gathered up the pieces they would need to assemble the bed.

The carpenter – a middle-aged, mousy man – looked surprised, but said that he was welcome to.

'Thanks,' Harry said, and he picked up a long, thin block of wood, which he placed in his pocket, along with the glass spike, before gathering up some more parts of the "cot".

They made their way back to Discipline Cottage together, again, in silence, and as soon as they'd finished setting up the bed in Briar's room and Briar himself had gone out to help in the garden, Harry sat himself down in the corner of the room, where he got out the glass, wood, and a sharp rock that he'd found, as well as a tin of broom polish from his trunk, and then he sat down and got to work.

He used the rock as a chisel of sorts, and soon he had what looked like a thin stick in his hand, and quite a few pieces of chipped wood on the floor. A small, wandless spell was all he needed to bury the glass inside the wood. Finally, he covered the whole thing with a thin layer of broom polish, and looked at his work. It wasn't as good as, say, one of Ollivander's, but it would do.

He grinned, and when he left the room for dinner, he was in a better mood than he'd been in a long while.

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'What did Crane want?' Briar asked Lark and Rosethorn at dinner, immediately grabbing the attention of the rest of the table.

Lark smiled, and Rosethorn sighed, shooting a glance towards Harry. 'He volunteered to be Harry's teacher,' Lark said.

Harry looked up, and Briar could see quite a large amount of apprehension in his eyes. 'What exactly would that entail?' he asked.

'You'd just have to turn up at the greenhouse for meditation, and he'd teach you control of your magic,' Rosethorn said. Briar – and, from his expression, Harry, too – detected no small amount of venom in the way she said the word "greenhouse", and Harry balked.

'Greenhouse?' he repeated, and Briar noticed that the squeak in his voice had returned. He was beginning to see why this Blaise guy had called Harry "Mouse", but he didn't understand why Harry was so scared of the idea of being taught in a greenhouse.

Rosethorn nodded, and both she and Lark were frowning by now. The rest of Discipline's current residents just stared curiously at the exchange.

'You know, I really don't need a teacher any more,' Harry said hurriedly. 'I've been being taught for almost seven years now, and I've learned enough to be able to control my magic easily enough.'

Rosethorn frowned again, and Lark said kindly, 'Is there some objection to the greenhouse?'

Harry nodded, and seemed to shrink slightly in embarrassment.

'Greenhouses aren't nice, I know,' Briar spoke up, 'but Rosethorn and I managed to work in one without too much trouble.'

'Why?' Lark asked, ignoring Briar's words.

'Hermione,' Harry said quietly. 'Her body was found in one of the school greenhouses.'

For a moment, Briar thought that he was going to be sick. Hermione Granger was one of the people who'd been depicted on Harry's chest – an otter.

Lark blanched, while everyone else tried very hard not to do the same. Rosethorn answered that she'd tell Crane in the morning, and then everyone went to bed, spirits considerably lower than they had been earlier.