LINER NOTES:

IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL BOTTLE OF INK READERS! As of 31 August, 2005, I will be in the 12th grade (that's the highest grade in the United States school system, for those of you who have different school systems). This will involve a lot of homework, time, and effort. I am aware that BoI updates are already few and far between, and I apologise for that. However . . . with all that is going on in my life, plus my recent branch-out to LiveJournal and the upkeep of The Memory Room, I simply don't have the time to update constantly. Therefore: BOTTLE OF INK IS NOT BEING ABANDONED, BUT IT WILL BE A LESS FREQUENTLY UPDATED STORY. Expect updates to pick back up around Christmas (a particularly inspirational time for me, as well as being vacation time!) and Easter (ditto), and then again in June when I get out of school - assuming the story isn't done by then.

RATING: There is nothing particularly offensive in this chapter except for one usage of mild language, but as earlier chapters are rated T/PG-13, this chapter will be, as well.

THANK YOU TO MY READERS FOR TAKING BOTTLE OF INK PAST 2,000 HITS ON THIS WEBSITE! I can't tell you how positively uplifting it was to see that number. Also, at 86 reviews, it's the most feedback-oriented story I've ever written.

REVIEWS: I got something in my email that appears to be spam, but just in case - we're supposedly no longer allowed to answer reviews in our author notes. I think this is sheer bollocks, and I've written to the site to find out if it is true. In the meantime, I'm just going to answer general questions, not reviews, because I don't want to lose my account. So, here you go:

REMUS' IMMUNITY TO ARSENIC: Think very, very, very hard, boys and girls. It is not Lycanthropy that makes Remus immune to arsenic. Go reread the scene in Voldemort's dungeon, a hint to his immunity is mentioned. Make sure to read very carefully . . .

CONFLICTING INFORMATION: In emails to several people, way back in the early days of BoI (mostly before Severus even entered the picture in person), I said that Remus would be very different onstage than offstage, and that onstage he wouldn't mind being a "boy toy" if it made people laugh. Apparently, this was misinterpreted as him being extremely affection-shy. This isn't the case at all, and it never has been. The most you see of that is in the Christmas Eve chapter, when he kisses Severus and they both blush and look away. He's a very affectionate person and is willing to show it, it's just that he's more of an actions-not-words person, in my opinion. Sorry for the confusion.

"She wants you": This was in the original concept, got cut, got put in a different place, was cut again, was changed and put back, was cut again, and then when I typed the final draft it sort of worked its way in without my thinking about it.So the pun was intentional, but the fact that it's there was accidental.

WIBLE'S REVIEW GAME: I had to laugh so hard when my friends all picked up on this as soon as they read it, without ever reading the Reference Notes. Wible used a miniature football (American kind, the one shaped sort of like a pair of brackets), and it did NOT give chocolate (although sometimes he did) for a correct answer. That was my own magical twist on the game. I'm glad it was so enjoyed, though!

KISSING: Remus and Severus have kissed several times, so WHY DO YOU PEOPLE KEEP SAYING THEY NEVER DO? The first incident was in Chapter 13 (as I number them), "On Reunions and Dark Things," when Severus passes Remus a note that we never find out the contents of - but Remus "unfolded it and began to read, blushing scarlet almost immediately," so you can bet it was probably pretty inappropriate (or overly sentimental for Severus, at least). The next incident (first kiss) is at the end of the next chapter, "On New Beginnings." It doesn't say outright that they kissed each other, but I've not met anyone yet who hasn't figured out that that's what happened. There's another kiss in Chapter 18, "On Christmas," and then the one in the last chapter. So why do you people keep saying I don't have enough in here? Honestly . . . if you want R-rated, go to LiveJournal. There's some good stuff there.

Aaanywayy . . . enough of me. On to Umbridge. Eleonora1, this plot bunny's for you. And this chapter is dedicated to atalantapendrag of LiveJournal, who made me a beautiful new Severus icon (you can visit my LiveJournal at the username masterofone).

"I don't understand why you wanted me to come here with you. I thought you wanted to do this."

Remus huddled closer to Severus and Harry, trying to keep his head down. "I do want to, but . . . "

Harry squeezed Remus' hand, as much for his own reassurance as for Remus'. "It's going to be okay, Remus, really. I mean . . . we're bound to tell the truth, aren't we?"

Remus and Severus both shook their heads. "Veritaserum can be fought in many cases (1)," Severus answered, "especially when you know you've taken it. That's why Aurors try to sneak it into the people they're questioning, to ensure they're not fighting as diligently against it."

The courtroom stood as the Wizengamot entered. Remus whimpered into Severus' shoulder. He hadn't eaten anything that morning. Harry'd never seen him so nervous.

The Minister was not presiding at this trial, unlike he had at Harry's, because of a possible conflict of interest. Instead, Amelia Bones took his place.

"Bring in the prisoner," she declared, and Dolores Umbridge, flanked by Aurors on either side and wearing only a plain grey robe, strode in and stood sulkily in front of the stone chair Harry recognised both from the Pensieve and his own experience. Amelia Bones' voice carried throughout the room.

"Dolores Jane Umbridge, age 53 (2), currently residing at The Oaks manor in the Sussex Downs?" Amelia Bones eyed the toadlike woman standing and sulking on the floor until she nodded, grudgingly, at which point she was ordered to sit. The chains on the chair's arms clinked and clanked and snaked over her wrists.

"Dolores Umbridge, you are here today to answer to claims that you have used an Unforgivable Curse on two humans; that you have abused the powers of your office to an excessive and destructive degree, that you have lied under oath to the Wizengamot in order to meet your own ends or the ends of others instead of the ends of justice; that you have intended or committed acts of harm against a minor; that you have intended and attempted to use an Unforgivable Curse on a minor; that you have set dementors on a minor; that you have set dementors against an innocent person; and that you have affiliated with known members of that group calling and styling themselves the Death Eaters, also the servants of that former wizard known as Lord Voldemort, in an attempt to infiltrate and destroy our manner of government. Anything you say in this court may be used against you or cross-examined. Witnesses can and will be called to testify against you or, if you so choose, in your favor if you have arranged for this matter. You are considered innocent until proven guilty and if charges of guilt are passed you will be sentenced by your peers, those members of the court currently standing before you, at that time."

Amelia Bones cleared her throat. "Presiding: Amelia Bones. Recording: Percival Ignatius Weasley. Are we ready to begin?"

Several nerve-wracking hours passed, and then Harry was called to testify about his own trial almost two years ago, and the reign of terror Umbridge had inspired at Hogwarts (apparently Lisa Turpin had told her mother about Harry's detentions). Remus looked only slightly more relaxed, and Harry suspected he wouldn't relax entirely until after he'd had his turn. Amelia Bones motioned Harry forward, not unkindly, to the small wooden box at the end of the table where he, and the other witnesses, were sitting. Harry put his hands on the ledge and tried not to cringe under the scrutiny. Harry'd started Apparition lessons in October, as a precaution in case he had to get away from Voldemort; the horrible feeling of disappearing into nothing, as though he were no more substantial than a sugar cube, was nothing compared to this. He gave his name and address (none; the apartment building where he and Remus had lived last summer had been destroyed by marauding, disorganized post-Voldemort Death Eaters) and took an oath before Amelia Bones fixed her monocle more tightly over her eye and peered at him.

The matter of the dementors was over in several minutes; the Sectumius quill took a bit longer. Finally, growing tired of the intense scrutiny, Harry held up his right hand, turned the back toward the Wizengamot, and made a fist. "Here, I've still got scars if you'd care to see them," he stated. Amelia Bones sent a representative of the Wizengamot to examine Harry's hand. The short, stout wizard examined the pearly scars for several moments before turning to the people seated along the back wall.

"It says 'I must not tell lies,' Your Honor," the man announced. Amelia Bones nodded for him to retake his seat. The questioning went through Hagrid and Remus' examinations, the removal of Hagrid from Hogwarts, and the Inquisitorial Squad (who had, it transpired, been authorized to use violence to end the rebellion of the students against Umbridge).

If Harry'd thought that was bad, the questioning over her use of the Cruciatus was even worse.

"You are positive this is the spell she intended to use?"

"Yes." (Severus had already told him not to get impatient and start in with "I already told you . . . " because, in the interest of ensuring everything was correct, things did tend to get repeated.)

"And you are certain of this in what manner, seeing that it was not cast on you?"

"She said she was going to use it, for one, and for another she was halfway through saying the spell before she was stopped."

"And how was she stopped?"

"One of my friends pretended to tell her what she wanted to know. Load of rubbish, actually," Harry added, thinking of the "secret weapon" hiding in the trees of the Dark Forest.

"And what exactly do you mean, Mr. Potter, by 'a load of rubbish?'"

"I mean Hermione - a friend of mine - made up a story to distract her so she wouldn't curse me."

"Ah." A short pause. "And this, as I understand, is how the accused found herself in the Dark Forest that stands on the Hogwarts grounds?"

"Right."

"And was then attacked by a herd of centaurs."

"After she made a right good job of insulting them, yes."

A pause. "Thank you, Mr. Potter." Another pause. "Does the accused wish to object to any of the statements made by Mr. Harry Potter?"

Dolores Umbridge nodded furiously. "I certainly do!"

"The accused will please proceed."

"Mr. Potter refused to act appropriately in class," Dolores Umbridge began furiously. "I reprimanded him several times before giving him detention. Later he would take part in an illegal group that was learning the Dark Arts in order to overthrow the Ministry. And finally, Mr. Potter and his aforementioned friend led me into the Dark Forest, leading me to believe that there was some kind of weapon hidden within it, and then set the centaurs on me. In addition, I caught him breaking into my office to converse with a person or persons unknown, although I had reason to believe he was contacting Sirius Black."

Harry made a sound of disbelieving anger in his throat. Amelia Bones turned her attention to him. "Does Mr. Potter wish to object to any of the statements made by Miss Dolores Umbridge?"

"Yeah, I do," Harry answered, his rage rising. "I didn't listen in class because what she was teaching us was rubbish - we didn't even get to practice the spells that are supposed to protect us in the real world. I mean, even if Voldemort hadn't been out there, that's not to say that nobody else could try to take his place at some point within our lifetimes, right? Someone we'd have to defend ourselves against? I taught the Defense Against the Dark Arts group she talked about, and when I taught it I only knew three Dark spells - the Unforgiveables - and that's because we learned about them in class the year before. I couldn't cast them then, and I can't cast them now. We never even discussed them, except in the context of how to protect yourself against them. I taught things like disarming and Stunning and how to conjure a Patronus, not Dark magic. And we wouldn't have had to lead her into the forest so we could get away from her if she hadn't tried to curse me for one, and if she hadn't let the Slytherins hurt - and almost kill - several of our other friends for another!"

Amelia Bones looked impressed. Apparently Harry's latent talent for instant comebacks was growing thanks to his contact with Remus and Severus. Harry took a deep breath. "And finally . . . I was in her office because all our mail was being searched for no apparent good reason, and the Floo network was being monitored, also for no apparent good reason. and I had to talk to Sirius - she was right about that bit - but I couldn't because of - all the stuff going on - you know."

Umbridge sat gaping like a fish. Amelia Bones nodded at Harry. "Thank you, Mr. Potter. You may stand down." A pause.

"Remus Lupin will take the stand."

Remus stood up, looking ready to faint. Severus forced him to take a small baggie of vegetable crisps (3) with him. Remus nibbled halfheartedly on the corner of one of the crisps until he was asked to take the oath, at which point he set the baggie down on the ledge of the box so he could put his right hand on his heart and his left in the air. He seemed to relax visibly once the oath was taken, and he finished his first crisp before starting on another while the Wizengamot rearranged papers and so on. He'd finished a grand total of four crisps before the questioning began. Harry was stunned to learn that the adult werewolf Umbridge had cursed was in fact Remus.

"This occurred when?"

"In . . . oh . . . I'm going to say maybe March, in 1992. It was cold, but most of the snow was melted except for those big piles that take forever to disappear. I remember that."

"And you gave the accused no just cause to attack you?"

"No." Remus took a deep breath the same way he did in classes. "I was in this sort of dead-end alley place in London - one of those with three or four tiny little shops in it - because I was looking for this place someone in the soup kitchen told me about. I was coming out of the alley when I ran into her - I didn't know who she was at the time - and I figured since she was there I'd ask for directions. She gave me this sort of disgusted look and said she guessed next I'd want money. I told her I'd be happy to take any spare change she was willing to give up because I was tired of eating cold bag lunches from the food van (4) but I wasn't going to make her give me anything if she didn't want to, and that was when she cursed me."

"You didn't approach her in a threatening manner or declare violent or harmful intentions?"

"No. I just sort of bumped into her by accident when I was coming out of the alley. It just happened that she was a witch. It could have been anybody on the street, that sort of thing happens all the time in London."

"And what were you doing in that alley?"

"I was looking for a homeless shelter someone at the soup kitchen told me about. I didn't have a place to live at that point and I'd been sleeping in a garage for most of the winter, but then the owners came back from holiday and I didn't think they'd appreciate having a strange man staying there even though I never took or damaged anything. So I needed a place to sleep other than down a dead end hoping it wouldn't snow and freeze me to death."

"So it would have made no difference to you if she had been a Muggle?"

"No. I've got a lot of Muggle friends. It doesn't bother me. I just wanted directions."

"Do you think she could have misconstrued your actions as aggressive?"

Remus paused. "I don't see how," he finally answered. "I mean, I told her straight out that I didn't want anything she wasn't willing to give, and all I was carrying at the time was a peanut butter sandwich in a baggie and a paper with really, really bad directions and an address on it. My pockets were mostly empty, and what was in them wasn't anything big, so she couldn't have thought I was carrying a weapon, even, unless she knew somehow that I was a wizard and carrying a wand, and I don't see how she could have."

"Assuming that the accused had given you money, what would you have done with it?"

"That would depend on the amount."

"Why?"

"Because I was basically saving coins out of the gutter at that point," Remus reminisced. "I think the biggest thing I ever found was a watch that I returned to the owner and got a five-pound reward for, and the largest amount of money was no more than half a pound. If I'd had enough I would have gone and got something hot to eat or a new pair of shoes - mine were mostly held together with glue I'd got at a discount store. If not I'd just have kept saving."

"How long were you subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, Mr. Lupin?"

Remus looked perplexed. "I have no idea. I didn't own a watch then and there weren't any of those clocks you see sometimes outside market buildings. I don't think I was actually under it for very long, but it felt like a good deal of time."

Amelia Bones nodded understandingly. "And when it was lifted what happened?"

"She told me that no decent citizen ought to be subjected to my kind of filth."

"Do you have any idea what she was referring to?"

"I think maybe - well, I think one of two things. I hadn't had a chance to wash my clothes in two or three days, and like I said it was some time around March. You walk the streets all day and sleep in doorways at night, you're bound to get unbelievably muddy in a startlingly short period of time at that time of year, so I didn't exactly look like a rose in June. That's one. And I think the other might have been the idea, however erroneous, that homeless people are all lazy, or drug addicts or alcoholics or things like that, therefore they're scum."

"And did you reply to the comment made by the accused?"

"I was still trying to catch my breath. She walked away before I could say anything."

"I see. Could I ask you about your examination by the accused when she held the position formerly known as 'High Inquisitor'?"

"Of course."

"I would like you to recount it, if you would, Mr. Lupin."

Remus detailed the day Umbridge had watched the class, citing her constant interruptions and attempts to undermine his authority, as well as her disapproval of his disciplining a student for inappropriate behavior. He continued the narrative up to the point that he received the letter demanding his resignation, and then, at Amelia Bones' request, narrated the day that Nefertiti Jones had spent in his classroom as opposed to his first examination. Umbridge seemed too much in shock to protest, but when it came her turn to do so she did so quite soundly - unfortunately for her, Remus' clear and careful recitation of the facts had rattled her to the point that she left several gaping holes in her version of the story - including the part where she made no attempt to hide the fact that she agreed quite thoroughly with Draco Malfoy about his comments in class. The Wizengamot was asked to deliberate. A two hour recess was ordered. Harry supported his guardian as they left the dungeon courtroom to go get a breath of air and a bite to eat. Remus was muttering worriedly about the possibility of Umbridge getting off, and what would happen to his job if she did.

"Remus, calm down. She's been stripped of her credibility now. Even if she gets off, she can't touch you," Harry reasoned. "And anyway . . . if Dumbledore and Severus aren't enough to protect you . . . " a grin spread slowly across his face. "You've got sixteen hundred people who stood up for you before, and they'd do it again, I'm sure."

Severus carefully removed Remus' scarf from his partner's hands - in his anxiety, Remus had twisted it almost to the point of shredding it. "Harry has a point, Remus," the darkhaired man pointed out, trying to be careful of Remus' hands - sans the scarf, he was now wringing his hands desperately and Severus was slightly worried about the possibility that Remus would have bad bruises on his hands, lycanthropic blood or no. "They can't do a thing."

Remus nodded absentmindedly. Sympathetic to Remus' nerve-twisted stomach, Severus ordered him a bowl of chicken soup and some crackers with tea when they sat down at a small streetside cafe. A more ravenous Harry chose a chicken salad and a dish of shepherd's pie. Severus didn't order anything but a cup of iced coffee. (Harry was highly amused when Severus promptly emptied half the coffee into a second cup, finished filling the first with milk, and added three teaspoons of sugar.) Apparently Severus' nerves weren't faring any better than his partner's. Harry, however, didn't have any worries. Umbridge had had this coming to her for years, he was sure.

"The Wizengamot finds Dolores Umbrige guilty of using an Unforgiveable curse and recognises the claimants: Remus Lupin and the mother of Emily Greenhorn. However, because of a corollary to the original sentencing laws in regard to the use of the Cruciatus curse . . . Dolores Umbridge has been sentenced to two years in Azkaban on each count of use of an Unforgiveable curse, to be served consecutively (5)."

The courtroom, filled with Hogwarts students (so many of the older students had begged to go to the trial in order to show support for Remus that all students in fifth year and above had been excused for the day), began to buzz angrily. Four years for her crimes? Outrage!

The spokeswitch for the sentencing continued placidly. "The Wizengamot finds Dolores Umbridge guilty of abusing the powers of her office to an undue and destructive degree, and has voted in favor of Dolores Umbridge being suspended from Ministry work in addition to a two year sentence in Azkaban, consecutive to the sentence of the former charge."

More buzzing, though it was slightly more satisfied. The witch plowed on.

"The Wizengamot finds Dolores Umbridge guilty of four counts of perjury and sentences her to three years in Azkaban per count, to be served consecutively to the sentences of the former charges."

"That's a total of eighteen years!" Hermione whispered to Lavender Brown, who was sitting next to her and glaring with all her puppy-eyed might at the grey-clad toad. Lavender smiled and passed this news on to Ginny and Luna behind her, Parvati to her immediate left, and Dean Thomas and Ernie MacMillan in front of her. Hermione repeated the news to Ron (sitting on her right), who lost no time in conveying it to his seatmate, some fifth-year Hufflepuff girl he didn't actually know. The buzzing began again.

"The Wizengamot finds Dolores Umbridge guilty of twenty-two out of forty-six counts of violence or harm intended or committed against a minor or minors unnamed and sentences her to three months in Azkaban per count, to be served consecutively to the sentences of the former charges."

More angry buzzing.

"Further, for each of the remaining twenty-four counts, Dolores Umbridge will complete ten hours of unpaid service in the Werewolf Liasion Office upon her release from Azkaban."

Several people snickered as Umbridge paled.

"The Wizengamot finds Dolores Umbridge guilty of two counts of violation of the Dark Creature laws as regard Dementors, one of these counts against a Muggle minor(6). For this crime the Wizengamot sentences Dolores Umbridge to one year in Deleohominum (7) Institute."

Remus gasped this time. Sirius had got off lucky on one count for not having a trial: he would surely have ended up in Deleohominum if he had, and if he had he'd have never survived for twelve years. Deleohominum Institute was the Wizarding version of death row; once you got in, you really didn't get out. Nobody had even attempted a true breakout from Deleohominum in its 400-year history, much less succeeded at one - not even an Animagus from the 1700s who'd tried to worm out as a snake. Remus almost - but not quite - pitied her.

"And finally . . . The Wizengamot strikes its sentence of unpaid service -" the buzzing became so loud that the spokeswitch actually held up her hand to abridge it - "in light of the fact that it will never be served. The Wizengamot finds Dolores Umbridge guilty of consorting and conspiring with known members of that group calling itself the Death Eaters, comforting and abetting members of aforesaid group, and passing on confidential intelligence from within the Ministry with the full and coherent knowledge that said information would be used by the Dark wizard formerly styling himself Lord Voldemort. For these crimes the Wizengamot sentences Dolores Umbridge to life in Azkaban."

Grimmauld Place was a great scene of jubilation that evening. Most of Harry's classmates had crowded in along with several of the teachers, Sirius, Remus' sisters Bugsy and Catherine (they'd even dragged Ty along with them, and Catherine had brought her husband Stephen), and once classes ended on the other side of the Atlantic, Mary Anne Floo'ed through to "party hard" with her older brother. It was close to eleven o'clock when everyone finally got back to wherever they were supposed to be going (Mary Anne only left because it was time for supper back in Maine), at which point Severus and Sirius sat at the kitchen table, staring at each other, and Remus finished wiping up a few last dishes. Harry was sitting at the far end of the kitchen table, staring at his hands and acting oddly morose. Finally Remus sat down and poured himself a cup of tea. Harry stood up and made to leave the kitchen.

"Hey there, where are you going?" Remus called, and Harry wheeled abruptly, sitting back down at the table mechanically. "What's going on with you the past few days, Harry?" Remus prompted. Harry shrugged. Severus cut in.

"This is about -" he gestured between Remus and Sirius - "isn't it?"

Harry looked up without quite raising his head, creating the overall effect of a kicked puppy. Sirius rolled his eyes and reached out to ruffle his former godson's hair. "We already talked about this, Harry. I'm not such a bastard I'd take you away from a place you're happy in." He paused, and then gave his trademark mischievous grin. "Anyway, Remus probably makes a far better father figure than I do. He'd be the one grounding you for going out and getting drunk, and I'd be the one passing a six-pack in through your window."

Harry couldn't help but laugh slightly at that. Then Remus said his bit.

"I really think you'd be better off staying with Sirius, though, Harry," he interjected, trying to be gentle about it. "I mean, I've been looking for another apartment, but I haven't been able to find one - and I know we've got about two months until the end of school, but the way things are going I'm probably going to end up staying there over the summer. At least here you'd have a real roof over your head, instead of being out on the street."

"Complete bollocks," Severus cut in, and Remus turned to stare at him. "Don't talk rubbish. You're coming to Kent."

"What's in Kent?"

"My house."

Harry looked puzzled. "I thought you had an apartment."

"I did. When Voldemort was still alive. I haven't been there in four years, but I daresay if we took a week or two to clean it up we could make it pass."

Remus looked shell-shocked. "You mean - we could -"

"It's a decent-sized house." Severus paused. "Well . . . compared to a normal house, it's fairly large. Don't ever hold it up next to Malfoy Manor, though, because you'll make it look like a fish shack."

Harry stared at Remus. Remus stared at Severus. Severus pretended to be nonchalantly examining his fingernails. Finally Sirius stood, walked to the carving table, and removed the butcher knife from the rack. He returned and set the knife down in the middle of the table. Everyone stared at it, then at him. Sirius smiled demurely.

"Just figured somebody might want to cut the tension."

"Doesn't that seem awfully fast to you, Harry?" Hermione prompted, her quill hovering nervously, quivering, over her essay on Polyjuice Potion. "I mean, they haven't even been together for a year -"

"It's not like Remus is throwing away his whole life for it, Hermione, give Harry a break. Aren't you the one who keeps telling him to finish his Potions essay?" Ron cut in. Hermione huffed and refused to look at him.

"He's got a point though, Hermione. If we'd still had the apartment, I don't think Remus would do it, but we really don't have anywhere else to go."

Luna sat down next to him and sighed. O.W.L.s were creeping ever closer, and even she was feeling the strain. Harry took her hand encouragingly. Hermione tried not to grin knowingly. (She didn't succeed.) Luna closed her eyes and leaned on Harry's shoulder. "I've spent all day writing essays, Harry, do you know that?" she murmured, tipping a bagful of parchment rolls on to the table. "Oh, my eyes hurt . . . "

Hermione waved her wand and handed Luna a small, cool pack of - something - to put over her eyes. "You've probably got eyestrain, Luna," Hermione admonished. "You really ought to write your essays as they're assigned - "

"I have been," Luna replied. A feistier tone would have suggested an argument, but she sounded pale and worn out. "Professor Flitwick assigned one yesterday, and so did Professors McGonagall and Snape and Binns, and I had almost two hundred pages to read for Muggle Studies . . . N.E.W.Ts aren't this bad, are they?"

She sounded like she wanted an optimistic answer, not a true one.

"Well . . . we haven't taken the real N.E.W.T.s yet, but I know Remus has two sisters who are taking them this year and they're both doing pretty well. Well, Mary Anne is doing well. Margarette kind of freaks out about everything."

Luna nodded, picked up her bag wearily, and moved toward a carrel in the back of the library - she still had hours of cross-referencing ahead of her. "Thank you for the ice, Hermione," she shot over her shoulder as she walked away, and Hermione smiled at her as she glanced back over her shoulder.

Luna was no more than just barely out of earshot when Ron poked Harry in the side. "What was that all about, mate?"

"Er - nothing. Ron, do you know what causes Imperio Potion to curdle?" Harry bent his head toward his parchment to hide the blushing grin growing on his face.

(The fairly long) REFERENCE NOTES:

(1) JKR confirmed this in an online interview when someone asked why Fudge didn't simply apply Veritaserum to Sirius when he was caught in PoA, or even before that when he was first captured, to ensure that they had the right man. Barty Crouch Jr. would have had a hard time fighting it because he was a) caught unawares and b) just waking up from being Stunned when he was questioned. However, if you know it's coming, it's sort of like pain - you're better steeled against it. You can also be allergic, resistant, or immune to it - so it's not as reliable as Snape makes it sound in GoF.

(2) I couldn't remember her age being listed in the books, so I checked the Harry Potter Lexicon (a source JKR also uses, so you better believe it's pretty accurate) where, lo and behold, no age is listed; I therefore gave her an age, place of residence, and so on. If this information is listed in any foreign (non-US) copies of the book (most likely OotP), please pass it on to me. Also, an additional sidenote: Although Harry is tried by the full Wizengamot, his is not a criminal trial to this extent, nor are the trials of Barty Crouch Jr/the Lestranges/unknown man, or Karkaroff, that we see in the Pensieve. Therefore, this trial setup is basically created by me.

(3) For those who don't remember from earlier in the story, "crisps" are what we Americans call "chips." I am thinking here of a kind of cracker, actually, that is called Vegetable Thins - I think it's made by Nabisco, but I wouldn't swear to that. I know giving someone potato chips/crisps on an empty stomach (especially when said person is quite nervous) is about the stupidest thing you can do, hence the final draft changed this from "crisps" to "vegetable crisps," which are actually quite sustaining and delicious.

(4) Don't know if anybody knows the real name for these, but I do hope so. They're sort of mobile soup kitchens that move around day to day so they can help as many homeless people as possible. Some of them also offer free medical care to homeless people and hand out "new" (donated - usually gently used, Salvation Army-type) clothing.

(5) This means she'd be serving the sentences one after the other, as opposed to simultaneous serving (serving both sentences at the same time). Also, this corollary does, sadly, deal with the fact that Remus and little Emily were both werewolves. Keep it in mind, because I might end up using it again (and as Hermione would say, if you'd done your homework and paid attention to Remus' lessons, you'd have known this was coming AGES ago, because Cho asked about it . . . LOL, okay, that one was a bit obscure).

(6) When the Dementors attacked Harry and Dudley in OotP. Umbridge later confirmed that she'd "sent" them, in order to destroy Harry's credibility.

(7) Same Latin site as before.

Deleo: to destroy, wipe out, erase. blot out, erase /annihilate, destroy. to obliterate, efface.

Hominum: Human ("genus hominum" means "human race").