Chapter 1:

The Ride

Lupin looked at the girl skeptically. The name "Veronica Noares" seemed to smooth to be a lie, yet to honeyed to be the truth... He just watched her as she surveyed them, her slitted eyes taking everything in. When Harry moved toward her, though, Diana moved away.

Harry looked at her, puzzled, and would have stepped forward again if Lupin hadn't come up behind him.

"Leave her," Lupin whispered. "She won't trust us yet. Be glad she hasn't run."

Harry nodded. "I am glad. I don't think I could keep up." Lupin smiled slightly at that, then looked at Diana.

"Veronica, am I to understand that's not the first time your... step-father... has beat you?" He put a careful emphasis on her name and "step-father". She understood this emphasis and barely contained an instinctive flinch.

"You are correct. It is not the first time." She shivered, biting her lip suddenly. The pain had disappeared below the surface as the problem of these two rose, but now it was back with a vengeance. She stumbled slightly, and Harry caught her arm. She immediately tensed, but then looked up.

"I won't hurt you," he said softly.

She swallowed and stood carefully, then said "Are you sure?" Without another word she looked at Lupin. The world tilted, the edges blurred... She shut her eyes as blackness took over. The last thing she knew was Harry's arm catching her around her waist. Then she fell into a merciful faint.

Harry picked her up carefully as Lupin opened the door.

"I'll get a healer out here," he said, leading the way into a well-kept, well-used bedroom. This had to have been the father's, there was no doubting it. They walked through a few door, soon finding Diana's room.

The walls were a light lavender with a forest green border. The bed had a canopy of powder-blue, the sheets were a darker blue, almost indigo. There was a dresser, two bookshelves, and a wall mirror.

Harry laid her gently on the bed on her side, careful not to touch the new welts. "Don't be long," he told Lupin, who was already leaving. "I'll stay here." Lupin nodded and left.

Harry stood and looked towards the bookshelves. There were quite a few there that he reconized, and a few he didn't. He realized that a few of them were hidden in the shadows. He pulled them out and was startled to see a few titles of sorcery books before him. He looked back at Diana, who had stirred.

'That must be how she could get on the Platform,' he realized. 'She's got sorcerer ties, and she's trying to learn...' Plans began to form in his mind. Most of them were well thought-out by the time Sirius appeared.

Harry told him what he'd learned and what he'd begun to plan. Sirius nodded now and then, but didn't looked away from Diana.

Suddenly, she stirred, and her eyes slowly opened. She winced as she turned slightly, the bed pressing against her newest welts. She shut her eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them. She sat up and looked at Sirius.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"Don't mention it," he said gruffly. "I'm Sirius Black," he said abruptly.

Unlike the most people that jumped and made to run, she merely nodded. "Di – Veronica Noares," she said, catching herself. Harry raised an eyebrow, but she said nothing.

Sirius looked at Harry as Diana looked around. Harry shrugged, watching Diana as she looked towards her bookcases. Something crossed her eyes, something like panic. She looked at the book Harry had in his hand. Her throat dried, but she hid all outward sounds of panic and instead made to put her legs over the side of the bed.

Lupin entered at that moment, one of the doctors from a nearby hospital at his back. He immediately walked forward and, ignoring the momentary flash of panic, placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back down. "You need to rest while Karen here helps."

Diana, unable to say anything, nodded slightly and turned, giving Karen her back. When the first healing salve was applied, she did nothing but shiver, then lapsed into a shocking silence, not noticing Lupin, Sirius, and Harry walk out.