Harry was sitting in the common room the next night trying to finish up the essay Snape had assigned when Hedwig appeared, tapping on the common room window. He got up and found she had a letter from Sirius.

Harry,
Be careful. Do not walk back from Quiditch practice alone. Do not wander Hogwarts alone (especially past curfew!). ( Do not enter the Forest. I'm only saying all of this because I care about you, Harry. Be on your guard. Despite anything and everything Dumbledore might do the last battle is coming and you're going to be part of it no matter what we try to do to avoid it.

Sirius P.S. Hope your term is going well.

Harry crumpled the letter angrily. Why did everybody assume he couldn't take care of himself?
"Because you've got enemies enough that anybody would need a helping hand." Renata smiled at him.
"You reading my mind again?" he asked, suspiciously.
"No, just your face, and it's written plain enough there." She sat next to him. "If you'd just let all of us help you, you'd be a lot better off. You don't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. I can tell just by the way you're sitting that you've got a whole bunch of tension built up and no seventeen year old should have that much worry in his face."
He said nothing.
"The letter was from Sirius?" It wasn't entirely a question.
"Of course it was. Look at it, I know you want to." He handed her the crumpled parchment and looked away.
She read it through. "Well, those are all valid points. But I'm sure he'll be delighted to know that I will accompany you at all times and keep you from wandering off," she said cheerily. She picked up a quill and parchment and began to write. Harry leaned over her shoulder to see what she was writing.

Sirius,
Have no fear; I'll keep watch over Harry. I'll make sure he doesn't walk back to the castle from the Quiditch field alone. I'll make sure he's back in the common room by curfew and keep him company if he's not in the common room. And I'll keep him out of the Forest on the grounds. I'll also make sure he doesn't go off on any more early morning flights on the Quiditch field. ( I'll even make sure he does all his homework and studies for his tests. Be good, Sirius, and Harry'll promise to behave too.

Renata P.S. Don't get yourself killed.

"What do you think?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at Harry.
"I can't believe you wrote all that."
"And I mean every word. C'mere, Hedwig. Yeah? You want to deliver this to Sirius for me?"
Hedwig nipped her on the finger and gave a low hoot, a signal that she would do it.
"Good girl." Renata took out a piece of toast from that morning's breakfast and gave it to Hedwig. "See you later." Hedwig flew out the open window.
"I can't believe you just did that!"
"Did what?"
"You answered my mail and then used Hedwig to send it."
"I saved you the trouble of having to write a letter."
Harry just shook his head.

^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ *

A reply letter had come just three days after Renata had sent her letter to Sirius and it had said that he was going to hold her to her word. She was of course more than happy to oblige. In the weeks that followed Renata hardly left Harry's side, she kept all her promises to Sirius.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were intense. They worked with complicated spells and learning to recognize when they were being lied to and how to discern what was really happening with the government. Dumbledore also explained how easy it was for the Ministry to take hold of media and keep things from being printed or twist words. He demonstrated how he could say any number of things and have an entirely different meaning without lying.
Malfoy kept his distance from Harry in Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and any other time they saw each other.
In Herbology Harry heard about Tracey's death from one of the Hufflepuffs. Most of them, being so much older, hadn't really known her but they remembered her being a sweet little girl who got picked on sometimes by bullies. None of them knew she was Draco Malfoy's cousin or knew how she died (other than that she'd been killed by dark wizards) and Harry didn't tell them.
Before he knew it is was already mid-October.

* ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ *

The first Hogsmeade weekend was fast approaching and Harry wanted to ask Renata to go with him. He decided it would be best to run this by Ron first and see what he thought. It was only by lucky chance that Renata finally left him alone for once so she could go send a letter to her mum. Harry used this opportunity to tell Ron that he intended to ask Renata to Hogsmeade.
"You didn't know, Harry?"
"Know what?" he asked, there was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"She's going to Hogsmeade with Seamus."
"Oh."
"But I bet if you ask her she'll go with you instead," Ron said earnestly.
"No. It's okay. I don't even think I really want to go. It's not that big a deal."
"Oh, come off it, Harry. You know she's just taking Seamus to make you jealous. Just suck it up and tell her that you want to go to Hogsmeade with her. I'm sure she'll understand."
"No. She wants to go with Seamus, that's fine with me. I've got to go to the library. There's a book I want to get to help me with my, er, transfiguration homework. See you later."
"But, Harry! If you'd just talk to her."
Harry didn't listen to whatever the rest of what Ron was going to say was. He couldn't listen to it.
The library was closed by this time but it was the only place he could think of to tell Ron where he was going. But since he couldn't go there he changed course to go to the Owlery.
Unfortunately he forgot that that's where Renata was. He ran into her as he entered.
"Oh. Hi, Renata. I didn't realize you'd be here."
"Did you leave the common room by yourself?"
"What?"
"I'm not going to break any of my promises to Sirius, Harry. I knew you'd never agree to such promises with him, you've got too much of a rebellious, adventurous spirit in you. But I promised him that I was going to make sure nothing happened to you and I mean to keep that promise. I don't want you hurt and I don't go back on my word. Am I going to have to ditch my date for Hogsmeade to make sure you don't wander off?"
When he finally replied his voice was quiet, it took an effort for him to say the words but he said them, "No. Have fun on your date. Have a great time. I'm probably not even going. If I do go to Hogsmeade I'll just be hanging out with Ron and Hermione like usual."
"Harry, if you don't want me to go, I won't go. All you have to do is say it."
Harry desperately wanted to tell her, "Exactly! I don't want you going with him. Me!" but he didn't. Instead he said, "No. Enjoy yourself."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"I just want you to be happy. Besides," he tried to lighten his mood, "you need a break from babysitting me."
She smiled. "Come on, I'll walk you back to the common room."