A/N: For those of you who aren't 'Mione fans (you know who you are), this chapter is for you. She will not appear in this chapter, except for in passing. "Hilah" fans, rejoice!

Lilah and Harry were still sitting under the big oak tree during their free period. The weather was perfect - hardly a cloud in the sky, the air was warm and filled with only modest humidity, and the two friends just sat and listened to the birds chirping and leaves rustling.

"We have a few minutes to kill before we need to go to lunch, Lilah. I rather enjoy us talking - learning just a little bit more about each other every day," Harry said rather joyfully. "I'm glad you're my friend. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect first friend."

Lilah smiled at Harry. "Hmm... what else can I ask you? Oh, what's your middle name, Harry? That's one I'm sure you're comfortable enough to share with me."

"James," replied Harry. "After my father."

Lilah beamed at Harry. "Harry James Potter," she repeated softly to herself. She then looked back at Harry. "I'm sure he was a terrific wizard. Mine's Louise, after my maternal grandmother."

"Lilah Louise Darling," Harry repeated. "That does sound rather lovely." He smiled at Lilah. "She must be very proud of you."

Lilah looked into the sky, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm sure she is... but I'm afraid she passed when I was only five. She perished in a skiing accident in the French Alps. She was only fifty three."

Harry took Lilah's hand and squeezed it very gently. "I'm so sorry to hear that, Lilah. You know she's looking down on you... she's resting well knowing what a smart, kind, patient, generous, and beautiful witch you are."

Tears flowed freely from Lilah's beautiful eyes as she and Harry embraced. "Thank you, Harry," she said between gentle sobs. "I barely remember her, but my mum has told me all these fantastic stories about her, I wish I got to know her better."

Lilah was pleasantly surprised with the progress that has been made - Harry didn't tell her much yet, but at least what he did share with her was something, a start. And if it meant helping Harry deal with his past, Lilah knew that she had to be open about herself and her past as well, so she had no problems telling Harry the story about meeting her first ever friend. She would do anything for this boy, she thought. Harry was special, he deserved all the friends in the world.

The two friends then got up to make their way to the Great Hall. They continued to chat on their way to the lunch room, and were so lost in conversation that they didn't even notice Malfoy and his goons lurking at the edge of the Slytherin table. Malfoy quickly stuck his foot out, and poor Harry didn't even notice until it was too late. Harry dove face-first on the floor, dropping his bag. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle snickered into their sleeves.

"Have a nice trip last fall, Mister Potter?" Malfoy asked mockingly. Crabbe and Goyle guffawed at the corny joke.

Lilah seethed at Malfoy. "Leave him alone, Malfoy!" she snapped through clenched teeth.

Malfoy smirked. "Awww, got yourself a girlfriend, eh Potter? Tsk, tsk, and I thought you would have picked someone that wasn't a mudblood, like Darling."

Lilah's face turned beet red in anger. She threw a particularly nasty left hook straight at Malfoy's lip, catching him completely off guard. His head reeled back ninety degrees, and his lip started puffing up and bleeding slightly. He simply grinned menacingly at Harry. "Pathetic, Potter. I thought you would have been above having a girl fight your battles for you."

His grin then melted into a sneer. "I had such high expectations for you. You disappoint me, Potter. No... actually, you disgust me. You're nothing but a blood traitor," he spat with contempt.

Harry glared at the bully. "Blood status means nothing, Malfoy. Being pureblood can't be that great if you have nothing but purely bad blood to begin with."

Malfoy's sneer widened as he gestured toward Harry. "You will see the error of your ways someday, Potter. Mark my words." He then directed his sneer to Lilah. "As for you, Darling, I hope that lucky hit was worth it. I shall report your act of violence to Professor Snape directly. Perhaps a night of detention under his close supervision will make you think twice before doing something so rash again."

Lilah shook her head. "Come on, Harry, let's get to a friendly table before this gets any worse." Harry couldn't agree more.

As the two friends sat down at the Hufflepuff table, Harry just looked at Lilah, his emerald-green eyes filled with amazement.

"Thank you, Lilah, from the bottom of my heart," Harry said. "You didn't have to do that, you know."

Lilah smiled sweetly. "Harry, you're my friend." She gave him a look with those soulful light blue-grey eyes. "My best friend. I'd do it again without question." She gave him a teeny peck on the forehead.

Harry returned the smile. "Lilah.. do you mind if I ask you a silly question?"

Lilah giggled. "That depends on how silly it is. Ask away."

"Are you a southpaw? I noticed that you swished and flicked your wand with your left hand in Charms the other day, and you threw Malfoy a particularly nasty punch with your left. I don't think there are many left-handed witches or wizards."

Lilah beamed. "Well Harry, I am rather sinister... sinister meaning left-handed," she squeaked with a note of pride. "No, there aren't many lefties in the wizarding world. Maybe even fewer than in the Muggle world."

A minute later, Susan sat down with Harry and Lilah. Her eyes were as big as saucers. "Lilah, I heard you slugged that prat Malfoy a good one," she gasped.

"I did what I had to do, to defend Harry," Lilah said matter-of-factly.

Susan gave her a rather stern look. "But you'll likely get a night of detention for it, you know Professor Snape isn't going to stand for that sort of thing. He is a very close friend of the Malfoy family, after all. And I especially hate that it happened on your birthday, of all days. I do hope you know what you've gotten yourself into."

"I don't care," admitted Lilah. "Some things are bigger than birthdays, house points or detention. Friendship is certainly one of them. I'm not going to let a git like Malfoy walk all over Harry like that and get away with it. And I'll talk to Professor Sprout if I need to. She might not be able to get me out of detention, but I think she needs to hear our side of the story."

Susan smiled sweetly at Harry and Lilah. "That is true, Lilah. And I'll be honest - I'm glad you did it. He totally deserved it. That ugly face of his probably looks better with that fat lip." The three friends laughed heartily.


As luck would have it, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor shared a flying class that afternoon. Madam Hooch told all the students to stand next to a broomstick and told them to wait for further instructions.

Lilah looked at Harry nervously. "Harry, I'm... I'm a little scared," she said softly.

Harry shrugged. "Why are you scared, Lilah? Flying should be one of the easier classes."

Lilah looked down at her shoes. "I'm... afraid of heights," she admitted with some reluctance.

Harry gave her an encouraging smile. "Just stick very close to me, Lilah. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise. You had my back earlier, now it's my turn to have yours."

Lilah looked at Harry with an expression of genuine gratitude. "Okay, Harry."

Madam Hooch looked over her group of students. "All right, students. The first thing I need you to do is to grab your broomsticks - but there is a very certain way of doing it. You need to summon it - you must say UP! very clearly and with confidence."

The students yelled out UP! with varying degrees of success. It came very naturally to Harry, as the broomstick very easily jumped to his hand.

Lilah's broom stood up, and immediately fell back over.

Hermione's broom wiggled some but didn't come close to reaching her hand.

Neville's didn't do anything at all.

Harry smiled at Lilah. "You heard Madam Hooch. Say it clearly and confidently. You have to believe in yourself, Lilah. I know you're scared - but you are a very talented witch. I've seen what you can do. Try it again."

Lilah beamed at Harry. "I think you're right, Harry. But I'm still a bit scared."

Harry chuckled. "The Sorting Hat knows what it's doing, but in my opinion, you'd have made a great Gryffindor. Being brave is not the same as being not scared. It's about being scared but doing scary things anyway. I know you can do it."

Lilah nodded at Harry. She knew that he was right. She stood up straight, and calmed herself down. She took a deep breath. "UP!" she barked. And just like that, the broomstick glided to her left hand.

"See? I told you that you could do it," Harry said gently. Lilah hugged Harry tightly. "Thank you, Harry," she whispered. "I'm glad you're here to help me."

Madam Hooch noticed Harry encouraging Lilah. "Mister Potter, a quick word with you please?" Harry approached the flying instructor, who beamed at him. "I couldn't help but notice you helping Miss Darling a moment ago. You seem to be a natural at this - your father was an expert at flying, so that does not surprise me in the slightest. What did you do to get her to summon her broomstick?"

Harry blushed a little bit. "Well, Madam Hooch, I just told her that despite being sorted into Hufflepuff, she'd have made a terrific Gryffindor. She really is a brave little witch. I told her that being a witch includes doing scary and different things, but being brave does not mean not being scared, it means that she just does scary things anyway."

The flying coach nodded at Harry. "That is some very sound advice indeed, Mister Potter. Five points to Gryffindor." She turned around to continue teaching, before she turned back to Harry. "Oh, and Potter? I think some of your Gryffindor cohorts need that friendly reminder. Could you be a dear and help them for me please? I'd really like for everybody to be on the same page before I proceed." Harry nodded respectfully.

"Gryffindors," Harry called out as loudly as he was able. "Who in Gryffindor need help summoning their broomsticks?" Several hands shot up. Harry gave his fellow Gryffindors a similar rendition of the pep talk he had just given Lilah a few minutes earlier.

Most of the Gryffindors were able to successfully summon their broomsticks in time, except for Neville. Harry then approached Neville to help him individually.

"Hey there, Neville," Harry said cheerfully.

"Hi, Harry," Neville said, in a rather disappointed tone. "I'm not sure if I can get this. None of this comes easy to me..."

Harry smiled at Neville. "You have the capability, Neville, I guarantee it. What you need is to believe in yourself. You're Neville Longbottom - you're a Gryffindor for a reason," he said reassuringly. "What do you want more than anything in the world? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to share, but I want you to think of it for me, at least."

Neville nodded. "Okay, Harry. Now what?"

Harry grinned. "I want you to think of that thing you want more than anything else, and while you are imaging that thing you truly want, I want you to yell UP! loud and proud. Don't just say it - shout it out. Don't worry about what the others might think."

Neville closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate. He held his right hand out, still somewhat nervously, but with more confidence than before. "UP!" he yelled out. And finally, the broom jumped to his hand.

"You see? You can do it," Harry remarked. "You just have to believe."

Neville beamed at Harry. "You're amazing, Harry. Thank you."

Madam Hooch was pleasantly surprised with the progress that was being made. "Next, students, we're going to kick off a bit. Just a few feet is all. Kick hard, keep your sticks steady, and then after you rise a few feet, lean forward a bit to come back down. Steady as she goes."

Harry then went back to Lilah to be her rock.

"Are you ready, Lilah?" Harry asked sincerely.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Lilah admitted with some reluctance. "I'm still a bit nervous."

"On my whistle," Madam Hooch called out. "Three, two, one..." TWEET!

Lilah kicked off as instructed, but clutched her broom stick as tightly as she could. She lifted off just a couple of feet, and leaned forward somewhat to come back down. "That's about as high as I'm comfortable going for now, Harry," she said as she came back down.

Harry smiled at Lilah. "That's fine, a couple of feet is plenty for today. You did exactly what Madam Hooch instructed and that's enough for now. You still faced your fear head-on, and you did great. Baby steps, Lilah. But you'll have this down before you know it."

Lilah smiled radiantly at Harry. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Harry. I'd still be stumbling with summoning my broomstick."

Harry grinned back at Lilah. "It's what friends do."