A/N- It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I apologize for the update delay. As I said, these chapters will be coming out more slowly than they did in the beginning, but I am still working on this, have no fear! Finals distracted me for a couple weeks there, but that's all over, and I'm settling in to my new semester schedule just fine, so I have some time again to work on this. Now, since you're all sick of my babbling, here is chapter 16, not-so-hot-off-the-press, but still shiny and with that 'new chapter smell' still intact!

Enjoy, and please leave a review! I love the reviewers I have, but I simply adore new viewpoints. On that note, thank you for all the constructive criticism and lack of flames. You guys make me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Oh, and before anyone yells at me... yes, I know I have like, seven chapters that take place in the same day. I realized that, and I almost smacked myself, but let's just remember that it's an important day, k? And did everyone pay attention to Blaise like I told you to (i think)??? Good, good. You're ahead of the game. Now, I have to get back to writing this thing, so I will leave you with...

Chapter XVI- A Non-Answer to a Why

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It became clear, once they got back to Grimmauld Place, that no amount of sugar was going to help any of them. Despite the piles of ice cream that they had managed to ingest, the five 'youngest' inhabitants of the house could barely keep their eyes open halfway through dinner. It was a good meal, though. Mrs. Weasley had cooked something besides pot-pie, which Draco didn't comment on but was happy about anyway, and Remus Lupin had reappeared. Tonks was also apparently living there at the moment, and her rather flashy presence kept the dinner conversation light and cheerful.

Harry did wonder, though, who else was staying in the house. Remus had made a comment that they had more live-ins than before, but Harry hadn't seen anyone else around yet. He took a moment to ask about it as they cleaned up. Surprisingly or not, it was Tonks that answered the question.

"Well, there's me, and Remus here, and all of you. Old Moody should be back any time now, he left on some business. Mundungus Fletcher was staying a while earlier this summer, but I don't know if he'll be back again before you lot leave for school. And you said Hermione'll be coming to stay tomorrow, right? That brings it up to fourteen all in this house if Mundungus comes back. Plus there's Kingsley, you remember him, and your Professor Snape, and of course Dumbledore, and they come through every now and again. It certainly doesn't ever get boring around here! Enjoying yourself so far?"

The last comment was directed at Draco, who had been half-listening to the explanation but more focusing on the slow shift of Tonks' hair from her green-and-fuchsia of the morning to a cheerful orange. He appeared startled that he was actually being spoken to, but seemed to get along fine with Tonks after a few moments of chatting. Harry was glad for that, it was probably better if Draco started making some ties to fall back on should anything happen. And Harry was sure that, eventually, something was going to happen.

Mrs. Weasley hustled them all off to bed soon afterward, not listening to any complaints about the early hour after watching them all sit around and yawn into their dinners. There was some confusion over who was in which room again, and did George steal my toothbrush? But it was all sorted out eventually. There was some jealousy over the fact that Ginny got her own bed, but, as she reminded them, once Hermione arrived she would be sharing as well.

Harry and Draco had become quite used to their nightly routine, and the process of Harry handing over a t-shirt and pair of pajama pants from his trunk seemed perfectly normal to them (though Harry wondered for a moment why Draco hadn't bothered to buy his own pajamas since he was buying half the clothing store anyway). Ron, however, watched in slightly shocked fascination until he was knocked over by Neville, who had apparently gotten his foot stuck in his own pajamas. The incident was laughed about until Neville managed to laugh at it himself.

Harry was struck by the surreal feeling of familiarity but unfamiliarity at the same time. Sleeping in the dorm for most of the year, he was used to the chorus of 'goodnights' that made their way around the room on the occasions where all the inhabitants were actually going to sleep at the same time. The unfamiliarity in this situation came from the fact that Dean and Seamus were missing, and Draco was there in their stead. Somehow, it made the goodnights seem forced.

"G'night Ron, Harry." There was a brief pause. "Er... Malfoy..." Harry felt rather than heard Draco's near-silent chuckle at Neville's hesitance, and resisted the urge to poke him for it. Ron did almost the same, though his pause was just a hair shorter than Neville's had been.

"Night Ron, 'night Nev. G'night Draco." Harry's voice dropped several notches in volume for the last salutation. When Draco spoke, his voice held a tone which clearly stated that he was only doing this because it was perfunctory, but he was going to be nice about it anyway.

"Goodnight, Weasley, Longbottom." Though he still used their last names, they were simply that. Just names, not sneered or drawn out so as to be insulting. His voice then dropped a few more notches than Harry's had, but remained just loud enough for Harry to hear what could only be described as an affectionate, "Night, Harry."

Harry remained awake for some time after the others had all drifted off. He lay there on his side, facing Draco who was facing him, listening to the soft sounds of his roommates shifting in their sleep. It wasn't that he wasn't tired, or that he couldn't sleep. Rather, what kept him awake were his own thoughts. Thoughts about what exactly was going on, and what might be meant by all the little touches, by a tiny kiss, and by the affection in the voice of a boy who so often seemed to be made of ice. All that, and why, on a bed that could easily fit four if they all had the same, slim Seeker-build, he and Draco were all of about three inches apart. These thoughts were what occupied his mind until sleep finally came to claim him.

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The 'woke' again in the field, this time blanketed with heather, which gave it a soft, misty appearance. The house was again some way off in the distance. Harry stood, looking around calmly and waiting for whoever needed to see him. She appeared a moment later, walking towards him from his right. It was a woman again, though not as young as the first nor as old as the second. For a moment, he could have sworn that she bore a striking resemblance to his mother, but the sensation was gone almost as fast as he could recognize it. She, like the others before her, wore a simple sundress and seemed to fit perfectly into the scenery around her. He couldn't help but bow slightly when she arrived; prompting what he could have sworn was a giggle.

"Greetings, Harry Potter!" She seemed quite a bit... happier, than the other two had been. The feeling Harry had gotten from the first was one of weary resignation combined with a faint sense of hope. The second had been as reassuring as the first hadn't, but had seemed somehow untouchable. This girl, however, seemed to glow with simple joy. Upon close inspection, though, he realized that she had the same strange eyes as the others. He ventured a cautious 'Hello'. She smiled gaily at him.

"Don't worry, Harry. I know all about you already! You've met my sisters, haven't you?" Ah. Harry's brain finally clicked into a functioning mode, and the similarity of their eyes suddenly made sense. All three of the women he had met in this strange place were related, they were sisters. Yes, it made perfect sense. But the woman was continuing.

"We felt you should meet me, Harry, it seemed only right, after all, even though you probably won't see me very much at all. My sisters know quite a bit more than I do, you see. It's they that will be training you. Oh, I'm so glad you've decided to help us!" Even if he hadn't decided to, Harry realized, it wouldn't have been possible for him to turn her down after the look of utter gratitude she was now giving him.

"And I'm so glad you and your partner are getting along! I was worried for a while, really I was. Well, more like my sisters were worried and told me I should be. It's hard for me to worry about anything for very long, you see." She smiled apologetically. Finally, Harry's brain caught up with the one-sided conversation, which was speeding by too fast for him to catch. He held up a hand, requesting a pause. The woman looked at him quizzically, her chestnut bangs falling across her forehead in a way that would have been quite attractive to Harry, were he ten years older and not preoccupied with what she had just said.

"Partner? What partner? Why do I..." He stopped, realization finally making itself known. "Draco. You mean Draco?" She smiled beatifically.

"Right in one! He's just perfect for it, too! And you complement each other nicely, it should do very well. If the partners don't connect well," She continued, leaning in and whispering conspiratorially, "very bad things can happen." She paused briefly, then continued at her normal pace and volume. "But you two are the best I've ever seen, really! It'll all work out well, I know it will!" Harry held up the hand again, stopping the flow of words.

"So you," he caught her look, "or your sisters, you're responsible for this..." Harry searched for a word, not quite finding one. "This thing that's going on with us?" The feeling of Draco's hand in his, the fleeting touch of lips brushed across his mind for a second. The woman laughed and clapped her hands together joyfully.

"Oh, no! Not at all! My sisters and I, we can't do things like that! It's not our area, and there are rules, after all. We simply brought you two together and removed some barriers. Not the ones you made, of course. We cannot unmake your decisions, that's free will. Not even we can change that!" She smiled again. Harry was struck for a second with just how much this particular... what was she, anyway? He'd ask eventually, but no matter what, she sure smiled a lot.

"We can't remove your decisions. We simply removed a couple factors, that's all. Nice and simple! After all, it wouldn't work if you two kept hating each other, there isn't another one like him until... what do you call it again, Germany? Yes, that's it. And that's much too far! All we required was a simple tolerance, but more is wonderful, just wonderful! Of course you have our blessing, if that is your concern, and of course we'll give back what was taken, when the time is right! Oh, I simply can't wait to get started! I can just tell that you'll be perfect together! We haven't had such a good match in, oh, at least a few hundred years!"

Harry was trying to pay attention to her speech, but there was a relentless tugging at the back of his mind that seemed to whisper that he was waking up. He hurried, finding the words to phrase his question.

"Who are you? What are you?" He interrupted as panic struck, the edges of this strange reality beginning to swirl at the first sign of his awakening. She giggled.

"Why silly, you haven't figured it out yet? We-"

Her final words were cut off as Harry woke up.

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Update: FF. net is being by and won't show Crying Trowa, so here is how to build him and see for yourself:

(just remove spaces) ---> . ;