"Hi, Cadence," Harry said slowly once I had allowed Dumbledore and him entrance into my foyer. I gave him a weak smile and pulled him into a tight hug. He returned the gesture, but with half of a heart. I stepped back and looked him squarely in the face. He didn't make eye contact with me. I tipped his chin up and gave him a serious smile.

"Hi," I said softly.

He smiled at me and looked away again. I had a good idea what he was feeling.

"Cadence, this is a very charming home," Dumbledore said warmly. He always seemed to have a happy-attitude about him, no matter how terrifying the situation of the war.

"Thank you," I said. "Gabriel takes great pride in it, which is interesting because there was a time that he didn't care where we lived."

"He takes pride that this is where his family should be," Dumbledore said with insight into the masculine mind of Gabriel.

"Well, Albus, Gabriel has never been much of a family man," I said. "Come into the kitchen, I'll make you some tea."

"Thank you very much," Dumbledore replied.

"What brings you two out here?"

"I arrived at the Burrow last night," Harry said.

"When Harry said he wanted to come see you, I offered to chaperon him here because I wanted to speak to you about Sirius' estate," Dumbledore said.

"You want to talk to me about it because Sirius left everything to Harry," I said, still with a touchy tone. That was something I had not quite gotten over in the last few weeks. I understood that Sirius didn't know Carrigan' even existed until three years ago, but I felt it was a little unfair. Gabriel had pointed out that Harry was left with nothing but his parents' money, while Carrigan still had us.

"You can have it," Harry said quickly. "Anybody can have his stuff. I don't want it."

I frowned deeply as I put the pot of water on the stove. I turned to face Dumbledore and Harry who had taken seats at the kitchen table.

"Oh no, Harry," I said. "I didn't mean that I thought you shouldn't have it. If Sirius wanted you to have it you should keep it. All of it."

"He hated Number Twelve, why would I want to hold onto some place and something he hated?"

"Because it's the place where we all have the last few memories of him when he was happy. Cherish that place, as terrible as it is, because it's the last place you saw him smile."

"He smiled as he died," Harry said bitterly.

I bit my bottom lip with discomfort at Harry's words. With a frown, I looked back to the stove where the water was starting to boil. As I pulled down some mugs from the top shelf in the right cabinet, I wondered how angry Harry was with Sirius dying? He obviously had some resentment towards Sirius, otherwise he wouldn't be so bitter about how he died. Perhaps Harry thought Sirius wanted to die?

The thought had crossed my mind a few weeks after he had died, but when I thought about it all, Sirius didn't want to die. He would have rather lived to be with Carrigan and Harry. Sirius may had wished it before he went to the Ministry that night in May, but everything that had happened that night—the fight, Voldemort's public return—they would have brought a whole new thrill to Sirius' life. He wouldn't have lived in hiding any longer; the Ministry would have to recognize his innocence. He would have been a citizen again and able to fight side by side with the rest of us. Sirius would have been happy again if Bellatrix LeStrange hadn't killed him, sending him through that veil between worlds.

"Cadence?" Dumbledore's voice brought me back to reality.

"What?" I said standing up straight. The tea kettle was whistling loudly behind me. Dumbledore motioned to the stove. I turned quickly and turned the heat off before grabbing the kettle. I brought the kettle and three cups over to the table, where I sat down with Harry and Dumbledore across from me.

"Anything else you wished to discuss, Albus?" I asked as I poured him a mug of tea.

"I hear you were offered a job," he said with a small grin.

"Doesn't mean I'm taking it," I said quickly.

"What job?" Harry asked.

"The Minister offered me a position as an Auror," I replied. Harry frowned and nodded his head.

"Even though they fired you for conspiring against the past Minister?"

"Beauty of a new administration," I said with a sarcastic smile.

"I think you should take the job, Cadence," Dumbledore said very seriously.

I laughed lightly. "You too? Everyone seems to think that I should take the job so I stop obsessing over Carrigan's kidnapping—"

"Obsessing will not bring her home."

"Obsessing about work won't bring her home either," I said sharply. "She won't come home if I don't look for her. I haven't had a connection to her or my father in months. Carrigan has always been able to call for me when she was in need and she hasn't called yet. Voldemort must be feeling something now, and yet, I have not felt anything from him. Benjamin should be able to find her, but he hasn't been able to. Something is desperately wrong and I will not rest until she is home."

"Why should Benjamin be able to find her?" Harry questioned quickly before Dumbledore could say anything. Dumbledore frowned slightly as he looked at Harry. He looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Harry," I said very slowly. "Carrigan and I both have Guardians, mythical beings that are meant to guide powerful witches and wizards. Gabriel is my Guardian. Benjamin is Carrigan's Guardian."

Harry didn't seemed surprised, but he spoke very slowly. "How can you trust that he is her Guardian?"

"I trust Carrigan," I said solemnly. "She would know best…"

"You don't think he had anything to do with her kidnapping?"

"No," I replied instantly. "I saw Voldemort and Bellatrix LeStrange take her."

The room fell silent. I'm sure there was more that Harry wanted to say. He never seemed to care for or trust Benjamin. But, with the firmness of my comment, he let the topic go.

"I'm afraid I must head out," Dumbledore said carefully as he looked at Harry. "Cadence, I trust you'll be able to see Harry to the Burrow?"

"Of course," I replied with a nod. Dumbledore had made a cup of tea in front of him, but he had not touched it. He stood up from the table with a somber smile and bowed his head.

"Thank you for the tea," he said softly. "I will show myself out. Harry," Dumbledore turned his blue-eyed focus to Harry, who looked up with unsure emerald eyes. But Dumbledore said nothing else. He bowed his head, without another word turned on his heel, and exited the kitchen in a swirl of maroon cloak.

The kitchen fell silent after Dumbledore left. His exit seemed abrupt to me. Perhaps his only true intention was to see Harry arrived safely at my home; he didn't discuss Sirius' will too much and he managed to put his two cents in about my standing job offer from the Minister.

Harry was sitting back in his chair, his right hand extended forward on the table to hold the handle of his tea cup, but he was not drinking it. He looked uncomfortable, as if he didn't want to come see me but Dumbledore or Molly Weasley had made him.

"If you want to go back to the Burrow now, I can take you," I said softly.

"No," he shook his head. "I don't want to be there either right now," he added with a shameful expression in his eyes. I leaned forward to rest my elbows on the table.

"Tell me," I whispered.

Harry gave me a weak smile from across the table. It reminded me of his mother. She had given me a similar expression so many times in the last few days I saw her before she went into hiding. She didn't want to go. She didn't want to run and leave the rest of the world behind…and she was often unsure of her decision to do so.

"I'm feeling too many things to tell anyone how I feel," he replied. "And that's all anyone wants to know—how do I feel? I don't know how I feel."

I nodded in understanding because I felt the same.

"Sirius is dead," he said bitterly. "Carrigan is gone. Voldemort's return is public, the war has started and I'm too young too help. And the prophecy says that 'one cannot live while the other survives.' How am I supposed to feel about all that?"

"No one can tell you how you should feel, Harry," I replied calmly even though his comment about the prophecy had caught me off guard. "You should feel whatever and however you want to—no one can tell you how you should or shouldn't feel. You just have to keep going, keep doing the best you can. That's all we can do."

Harry didn't say anything as he leaned forward to take a sip of his tea. His eyes wandered around the kitchen of the farmhouse as he drank, while I sat quietly across from him.

"This place is really nice," he said. "It's really homey."

"I know," I said with a smile. "It kind of freaks me out how homey it is."

"Why?"

"Because," I whispered. "Home is where my family is, and my family isn't all here."

"Over Christmas holiday," Harry said slowly. "Maybe I can stay with you?"

"I would like that Harry," I replied instantly. "But we must always consider your safety when we send you anywhere now. Voldemort is after you—"

"He's after everyone."

"No," I said very slowly. "He'll kill anyone who gets in his way, but he wants to kill you. And you can be sure that whatever he is planning to do, it somehow has to do with you and how he can get to you."

"I'll be safe at Hogwarts," Harry said mostly to reassure himself.

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful. Carrigan was with me and most of the Order when she was kidnapped."

Harry frowned deeply when Carrigan's name was mentioned again. A terrible sinking feeling entered the pit of my stomach when I saw his expression. Before I could say anything, he spoke.

"It's my fault," he said. "It's all my fault—Sirius dying and Carrigan being taken. It's my fault."

"No," I said quickly. "No, Harry those things are not your fault—"

"But if I had followed directions and closed my mind off to Voldemort he wouldn't have been able to use our connection and trick me into coming to the Ministry. If I had listened to Hermione or even Carrigan about it—"

"Harry," I said sternly. "You had a dream that someone you care about was in danger. You checked, to the best of your abilities, to see if he was in danger and when you had no evidence that he was safe you acted on your instincts as we all would have. Sirius death is not your fault. Sirius death is Bellatrix LeStrange's fault. Carrigan's kidnapping is not your fault. She was taken by Voldemort and Bellatrix. You are not responsible for their actions."

"If I hadn't gone to the Ministry," he insisted quickly. "They'd still be safe."

"You can't blame yourself for acting on instinct—"

"—MY INSTINCTS WERE WRONG!"

I frowned at his outbursts and sat back in my chair. He was angry, which was understandable, and red in the face. He pushed his circle-rimmed glasses back up the bridge of his nose and sighed with exacerbation.

"I'm sorry," he whispered with a frown. "But I was wrong. My instincts were wrong and now I don't know how to trust myself…"

"You can't doubt yourself, Harry," I said seriously. "And you have to stand by the decision you made. Some good did come out of what happened at the Ministry in May. Voldemort was forced out of hiding, you discovered the weapon that the Order had been trying to protect, what it means and why it was so important to protect. Sirius would have died to protect that prophecy just as he died protecting you and your friends. He would have wanted to die that way…"

"If I could go back I wouldn't do it again," he shook his head. "Not if I knew what I knew now."

"That doesn't mean that Sirius wouldn't have died and Carrigan wouldn't have been taken," I replied. "As I have learned, when something is meant to happen, it happens. Intervening with fate does not stop an individual's destiny."

"You really think that Sirius was meant to die in front of my eyes and Carrigan was meant to be kidnapped?"

"Yes," I said sadly. "Because seeing Sirius die will motivate you in a way that nothing else can. His death will motivate you to be the one who survives, like the prophecy says. Carrigan was meant to be kidnapped and I am meant to find her."

"Telling me that it was meant to happen doesn't make me feel better."

"Oh, of course not," I said instantly. "If anything, I imagine that it would make you angrier," Harry nodded in agreement. "And that's fine, Harry. Be angry at what happened, be sad, but don't fight fate and most certainly don't lose trust in yourself because of it. Sirius would not want you to do that. He would want you to go on and keep fighting."

"He would not want you to give up on Carrigan."

"I haven't," I said with a reassuring smile. "Although, it seems like everyone else has from time to time."

"Are you going to take the job at the Ministry?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I'm not crazy about spreading my attention. And they want me because of who I am, not what I can do for them. They want me at the Ministry because in their minds there are only two possible people who can stop Voldemort—me, because I'm his daughter, just as powerful as him and a betrayer to his blood; or you, because you've survived his killing curse and nearly destroyed him before. Out of the two of us, I think you're the more likely candidate. I've just burnt his house down around him where you have actually weakened him to the point of near death."

"Yes," Harry sighed bitterly. "I'm the Chosen One."

"Is that what you believe?"

"The prophecy surely makes it sound that way," Harry said quickly.

I nodded. "I agree."

Harry frowned. "Really? I was hoping that you would say you're the chosen one."

We both laughed softly at his sarcastic comment. He looked a little more comfortable, but still edgy as he finished off his tea. He appeared to always be on alert, which was understandable; he had to be on alert now. He was the Chosen One. Evil, Death Eaters and Voldemort were always going to come after him now because Voldemort could not survive while Harry lived.