Harry sat there for a moment before realizing he didn't know what to say. He didn't know where to begin, and he didn't know what he would say once he got started. He knew he was supposed to get Lana to...speak? No, that wasn't it. He was supposed to do two things. Inform her about the wizarding world and…help her get better. Heal. That was a good way of putting it. Help her heal. From whatever she had been through. But how? Healing physically was easy enough. Emotionally, mentally…Dumbledore must really overestimate him. Harry wasn't a therapist. And Harry felt though he might have been through more than Ron or Hermione, Lana was far worse off than him. This wasn't a job to give a sixteen-year-old kid. "What on earth was Dumbledore thinking?" Harry sighed. What was he going to say to Lana? She turned around to face the wall on her bed, exposing a good 3 inches of her back. Harry saw nasty looking bruises, worse than any he'd ever seen. They splayed across her back, more visible in the lighting here. The bruises were the purple-red-blue-black kind. And they weren't faint. They were clearly defined against her pale skin. He could see every bone in her spine. Her shoulder blades stuck out, and Harry figured that Linda's guardians didn't feed her.

He realized he had been silent for over 5 minutes, and sighed, still at a loss for words. He eventually decided to just tell the truth.

"Dumbledore wants me to talk to you. He wants me to get you to talk. He wants me to teach you the ways of the wizard. I don't really know what to say though." He looked over at her, trying to see if she was listening. She was still facing the wall.

"The thing is, is that I don't know how. Dumbledore makes me frustrated. He…Well, I suppose he's brilliant. But sometimes, I have a hard time seeing where his logic comes from." Still no movement. "Like last year. He had kept a secret from me, one that could have saved my-my godfathers life." He stuttered, and choked on his words, but continued. "Dumbledore had known of a prophecy that told that me and this evil wizard, Lord Voldemort, were supposed to have a huge battle at some point. It's either him or me who has to win, fight for the death. If I win, he has to die. If he wins…" Harry trailed off. "Anyway, he tried to do it when I was a baby. He killed my parents…Well, we told you all that stuff. But anyway, after that, somehow we were linked. Our brains somehow…Like I can feel his really strong emotions. And sometimes what's happening in his life when I'm asleep. Unfortunately, it meant that he could…plant visions. Making it look like he was doing something that he wasn't. He made it look like my godfather…" Harry spilled the entire, awful story. He didn't know why he felt like talking about it with Lana. Well, to Lana. He still didn't know if she was listening but he still continued on, eventually his talking leading him to other stories. He told about Sirius and how Harry and the rest of the world thought he was a murderous criminal who betrayed his best friends.

Eventually he realized that he had been talking for almost 2 hours, and it was now dark out. He was now extremely hungry. He sighed and stared at Lana. In his talking, he hadn't noticed how Lana had turned around and was now staring at him intently. He smiled slightly at her and she showed no reaction. He stood up and walked to the door. He turned around before going through and said goodbye. She didn't respond; her eyes hadn't even followed him. He sighed. "Well, can't expect her to open up right away."

He headed downstairs, figuring it must be past dinnertime. He found he was right, and he also found that the dining room was off-limits because of an Order meeting. He heard voices and he wondered what they were talking about. He tried to get closer to the door to listen, but it threw him back when he touched the door. He sighed, and headed to find his friends, probably outside on the balcony. He headed over to the balcony to discover them sitting, sipping lemonade. Ginny was telling a story apparently, and Ron and Hermione were laughing. He sighed, a sudden feeling of dread passing over him. It had been near impossible for him to…connect with the others anymore. After Sirius' death, he suddenly seemed to realize that he and his friends had nothing in common. They all had happy, loving families. They were able to goof off and play around like normal teenagers. Harry didn't feel as if they understood at all about his predicament. They knew about the prophecy, he owed the story to them, after dragging them along on a wild goose chase to save someone who didn't need saving. Harry had liked talking to Lana better. He didn't know why. Maybe because he knew she wouldn't judge, or respond, or even try to comfort him. She just…well, it was nice for him to be able to talk to a person without them being overcome with pity. Maybe he felt she might be able to understand, maybe just a little, tiny bit. He hoped so anyway. He really wanted to believe she did. But even if she didn't, it was nice to talk to someone who didn't talk back, but listened. It was feeling Harry couldn't explain. But it was a bad one and a good one all at the same time, bad because he barely knew her and didn't know what she was like, and good because he did have someone to talk to.

He walked onto the balcony, and they all stopped laughing. Hermione smiled and said, "Come over and talk to us. Mrs. Weasley told us how you were assigned to talk to Lana." Harry feigned a smile. "It's not that bad." Ron raised an eyebrow but shrugged his shoulders, and they all got back to talking and laughing, occasionally trying to include Harry in the conversation.

"I wonder why her guardians beat her. She's obviously been through crap. I wonder how she feels. Is she angry with them? Sad? I bet it'd be awful to find out you were forgotten. Even her godfather forgot about her. Hey wait, how did he know her parents? …"

"Harry. Harry!" someone was asking him something. "Wha-what?" "I asked you if you were glad you were going back to Hogwarts."

"No duh."

"Yes, of course, ummm, I think I'm going to turn in early, okay? I'll see you guys later."

"So early? Harry it's only 8:00!"

"Yeah, but I'm really tired. Bye." And with that he walked off.