The dementors didn't catch Sirius Black. Obviously they didn't catch him, because for some reason they continued to be more interested in incapacitating me than in doing their jobs. Several other kids with traumas in their pasts had apparently also collapsed when the creatures swept in, but fortunately five patronuses had been enough to drive off the central mass and most of the students had fled into buildings when they heard Black was on the loose.

I was starting to think we should have prioritized inventing the soulfire charm, which, being the opposite of the killing curse, we theorized could destroy wraiths and dementors. I really kind of wanted to blow up a few of those jerks after what was looking like an intentional set of attacks on me.

One small victory was that most of us were basically right in front of Honeydukes when the dementors showed up, and the shopkeep decided to sell their chocolate at a discount for the rest of the day as well as free samples for those most affected.

After the attack on Saturday, few people wanted to go into town on Sunday. Remus contacted me at lunch to say that he'd had a pretty bad night of it, worried about Black being confirmed to be in town, but he thought he would be recovered enough to teach classes on Monday. I told him to take the morning off, at least.

Sunday also brought muggle news, which further clouded the day. There had been an IRA-related massacre in Ireland, which just capped off a month that had also seen at least two more bombings. We hadn't been able to talk Penny out of keeping up with the news, despite her inability to do anything about it from Hogwarts. She was taking it all very personally, especially since two of the people killed in the shooting had basically been our age, just young adults out at a Halloween party.

Of my friends, only Mathilda and Luna had completely bought into the idea that Maeve was a representative of the fae, and that was probably the only thing that kept Penny from dramatically confronting the sidhe princess.

The Halloween feast on Sunday night raised flagging spirits, but it was hard to feel like the world wasn't on some kind of dangerous brink. In fact, I pretty much expected that the Winter Court was doing everything it could to help push it there, out of some ineffable political ends.

Overall, I'd rate my 18th birthday weekend as A+ (O+ if you're a British wizard) for meals, but not great otherwise. Well, Mathilda making extra sure I was recovered after the dementors once we got back to the castle didn't suck either.

Speaking of, the main reason I'd been adamant about still taking Remus' morning classes on Monday was that the sixth-years were up again during second period. On either side, I had both sets of first-years, and they were as interested in story time as the second-years had been, so that made those classes easy. But I really wanted to give Mathilda a chance to show off.

"Alright, everyone. It's been a month. How are those patronuses coming?" I asked her class, first thing.

There had been marked improvements since I'd first showed them. Most of the class was able to get the silver mist, and a few were even up to the shield. I was happy to see that the few Slytherins in the class weren't the ones that couldn't get anything. But there weren't many of them, so probably the ones already into dark magic in a soul-damaging way had dropped the class after OWLs.

I'd saved Mathilda for last, and gave her a smile as it was her turn. She grinned back, met my eyes, and incanted, "Expecto patronum!"

I hadn't actually been cognizant enough in Hogsmeade to note her imago. Given her interests, I'd expected some form of awesome magical beast. So I was surprised when the silvery animal that formed was a slightly smaller, sleeker version of Mouse: a lioness dog to the lionlike dog that I summoned.

"Hah! That looks just like Dresden's," one of the Slytherins noted, while the Hufflepuffs and other Gryffindors praised her for getting a fully corporeal patronus. A couple of the smarter kids who'd done the full reading gave us speculative looks.

"Alright, everyone, good job," I said, a little flustered. "Keep practicing. Dunn, Wakefield, I think you're both almost there you're just overthinking it. Catch up with me or Professor Lupin if you want some one-on-one tutoring. Class dismissed!" I waited until almost everyone had filed out before taking Mathilda's hand and asking, "Talk, tonight?" I hoped I didn't make her nervous, but I needed to figure out what to say and had more first-years showing up in a few minutes.

"Sure!" she replied, seemingly unconcerned, giving my hand a squeeze and then heading out. Honestly, I wasn't sure if Mathilda was ever really that nervous.

My first period after lunch was my own year's defense class, and Remus made it, looking much better than he had the previous day. While the rest of the class was working on individual projects, I managed to have a conversation catching him up on the morning's classes. "Good for Mathilda!" Remus nodded, when I got to that part. "I take it she figured it out during the affray on Saturday?"

I agreed, "Yeah. Everyone else was spread out and I was out of it from so many, so close, so she had a powerful incentive to finally break that last mental block, I guess."

He smiled, wanly, "If only it weren't horribly unsafe to take everyone on a field trip to attempt it under real conditions. There is always something to be said for field experience."

"At least I have a lot of that," I said. Lowering my voice enough that only a werewolf or someone with hearing as good as mine might be able to pick it out, I asked, "So… her patronus is basically a copy of mine. Is that always a signifier of…?"

Remus' look was musing, but he nodded, "There are few enough people that can cast that spell that I don't think there has been a truly scientific study of the form it takes. But, yes, in all recorded instances that I'm aware of, the only time a couple didn't share the same creature was when the relationship was very new or eventually fell apart. Is it a sign of true love or just shared resonance? That's for the poets to decide." He grinned, "But, congratulations, nonetheless. It's certainly easier to believe a spell conjured from the very soul than mere words."

"Thanks," I told him.

I got so deep in my own thoughts that I didn't really notice class ending or my friends leading me to our classroom for Monday afternoon spell research. "You okay, Harry?" Penny asked.

"Yeah," I said, shaking my head to clear it. "Yeah. Another round of trying to find the right emotion?" I asked. We still hadn't figured out how to cast the exorcism charm, and had spent the last few sessions doing more arithmancy work on the soulfire charm instead.

"The headmaster is joining us, later," Percy nodded. I wasn't convinced having the diadem on hand to try to target was really helping, but it seemed to focus everyone else. Field experience, like Remus had said.

After a few minutes of five people trying different ways to cast a spell, an endless litany of, "Excorio!" in every imaginable cadence and tone of voice, my mind started to drift again. In a very real way, I'd shut down after the fire. I'd always thought Elaine and I loved each other. The signs had been clear for Justin's betrayal, in hindsight, and I'd picked up on them intuitively. But even if he'd put Elaine under the imperius, I think part of my mind believed that if she'd really loved me, she'd have been able to break free. I certainly could, though I had no idea how powerful Justin's curse was.

I had to admit, part of my reticence to date again had been out of a belief that if someone as closely bonded to me as Elaine didn't really love me… maybe nobody could. A therapist would probably have a field day working through my abandonment issues: mother I'd never known, father that loved me but died when I was little, orphanage, ultimately murderous foster father, maniacal godmother. I'd probably put an awful lot on Elaine, without even realizing it, to be my one loving relationship. After all, she hadn't even really chosen me, we'd just been the only one the other had in Justin's dysfunctional training program.

But Mathilda had chosen me. She'd done nothing but, no matter how many times I'd tried to push her away. I'd do anything in my power to ensure that no one would ever cast an Unforgivable at her, but, I realized, I believed that the imperius wouldn't be sufficient to get her to betray me. Maybe I was wrong to assume that I'd die alone. The proof was right there in her soul magic.

Speaking of soul magic.

"Harry! Earth to Harry!" Penny's voice cut through my musings. "You did it!"

"What?" I asked.

"You've been getting a spell effect the last three times you cast the charm!" The exasperated Ravenclaw witch was basically shouting at me, as my other three friends looked on in amusement. "What emotion were you using?"

"I… uh… I was kind of spaced out…" I admitted. "I think…" I nodded, realizing what I'd been thinking about, summoned up that feeling, and cast, "Excorio!" A burst of silver and white light like television static blasted from my unicorn horn focus at the classroom wall. I smiled, "Hope."

It took everyone else a few minutes to dial it in. I had to be a bit poetic, getting them to draw on the feeling they got when they truly believed that good things were coming. That even though the day was dark, the sun would rise again. That even when the servants of the darkness seemed to be winning, ultimately good would triumph.

I may have stolen some of Sam's lines to Frodo from Lord of the Rings to get the point across.

One by one, excoriating static started to burst from everyone's wands as they found the right feeling of optimism. It probably came easy to Gryffindors. After all, a lot of courage was just the hope that this stupid, reckless thing you were going to do would turn out alright. Penny was the last one, and was getting frustrated.

Percy pulled her aside, and I couldn't help but overhear, "Are you okay, Pen?" he asked her.

"I guess I'm just finding it hard to believe things will get better," she admitted. "Ever since the bombing this summer, I feel like there's a dementor following me around all the time. It doesn't matter how many good people there are. The bad people will always be there to kill the innocent just to score some stupid political point. Sirius Black made it into the damned candy shop, and the people that were supposed to protect us just dropped dementors on our head." Her voice rose so no one in the room could fail to hear, "And no matter what we do, Tom Riddle keeps coming back. Every stupid year."

Before Percy could work out what to tell her, Dumbledore walked into the classroom bearing the warded box he kept the cursed diadem in. "I hope I'm not interrupting?" he asked with a twinkle. I hid a smirk, wondering how long he'd been hiding outside the classroom waiting for a good moment.

"No, sir," Percy told him. "We actually have made a breakthrough. If you could set out the diadem?" As the headmaster opened the box and dumped the silver and sapphire jewelry on the table, Percy turned back to his girlfriend. "Penny. It will get better. Evil has to hide in the dark because it knows that society abhors it. Certainly, we will never prevent every atrocity. But for every stone that they kick over, we will raise up ten more. And You-Know-Who is not eternal. No matter what he planned for, he did not plan for a brilliant muggleborn witch who would show us all how to defeat him." He cupped her face in his hand. "No matter how dark it gets, you are the light. Do not let them trick you into going out."

Nodding, taking in a deep, shuddering breath, Penny closed her eyes, thinking, then pointed her wand at the tainted artifact. Opening them with a new resolve, she exhaled, "Excorio."

Penny's spell connected her to the diadem on a pulsing column of silver sparks, soulfire swarming over the object. I saw her grit her teeth and double down, the dark enchantment not willing to give up without a fight. A keening wail began to emerge from the cursed diadem, and Dumbledore stepped farther back, readying his wand to defend us if necessary.

But, with one final shriek that sounded so much like Voldemort's anger, a cloud of darkness flew from the relic and quickly evaporated into the air. When Penny ended the spell, it almost seemed like an invisible tarnish had been removed. Dumbledore quickly did several detection spells, and broke into a huge smile when it came back clean.

Tears running down her face at the success, Penny and Percy embraced. This time, I managed to tune out whatever they were saying to each other as far too private for my ears. I instead walked over and gave Dumbledore the synopsis.

"It does seem appropriate," he nodded. "The young are our hope for the future. Where I would have destroyed the diadem and forever lost a priceless relic, you've all given it back to us. With hearts and minds like yours on our side, I think this old man might be able to hope again, as well." It looked like Penny and Percy had finished their moment, and he asked, "Ms. Clearwater, would you like to do the honors?" She nodded, and stepped forward, but Dumbledore raised a finger and said, "Actually, wait one moment. I believe we need a few more witnesses."

Ten minutes later, we were joined by Flitwick, McGonagall and, surprisingly, the Grey Lady, a castle ghost that had remained mute the few times I'd encountered her.

"As promised, Helena, your mother's diadem has been freed. I suggested that the Ravenclaw student who removed the taint should be allowed to try it on," Dumbledore told the ghost.

She nodded, voice hollow from disuse, "It never worked for me, else I should have not gotten us to this state. It does seem appropriate that she who undid my folly should attempt to bear the diadem once more."

With the approval of her house ghost and Flitwick's obvious trembling excitement, Penny lifted the diadem and tentatively placed it upon her head. After she didn't say anything for most of a minute, just looked like she was thinking, the diminutive professor couldn't wait any longer and asked, "Well?"

"I think… actually, I'm sure of it," Penny began. "Obviously. You know how you have second thoughts about solutions? If it's doing anything, I think it's squashing those before I can talk myself out of the right answer. It's like I can hear a voice in the back of my head telling me to go with my gut. You know they've actually done studies that second guessing yourself makes you turn a right answer into a wrong one more often than the opposite? It's a little like being under the liberatus, actually, I just feel more confident about my answers."

The ghost smiled sadly, "Perhaps it did work for me after all, then. And let that be a warning, for I was quite confident that stealing it from my mother was the right answer." She thought for a second, "We were estranged in the first place because she was always so certain she was right about everything. I wonder if we would have had a better relationship had she not invented the diadem?"

Flitwick seemed sad at that counterpoint, "Well warned. But we shall fully examine it and see if we can determine exactly what it's doing. Ms. Clearwater, if you're finished?"

"One moment, sir," she grinned. "Before I second guess myself out of it…" and she turned and gave Percy a giant kiss. Everyone politely turned away, but I caught the Grey Lady looking wistfully at the couple.

I excused myself, not actually willing to wait until after dinner, and made my way down to the hallway outside the potions lab to wait for Mathilda to get out of her afternoon class. Fortunately I'd timed it right (Belby rarely actually required the full triple period for NEWT potions, so let people out early often), and I didn't have to wait long. I motioned her over to an alcove nearby (probably the same one where I'd wound up negotiating with Draco a year and a half earlier).

Noticing Maeve give me a calculating look as she left gave me a primer on where to start. I waited until everyone else was clear and said, "There are still things I can't tell you. Not that I don't want to tell you. That I can't." I still hadn't figured out how to get around my oath to my godmother, even though Mathilda had figured out a lot about Maeve.

"I get it! You have some kind of geas that keeps you from telling me those secrets."

"And I still feel like you don't know everything and it's dangerous," I put up a hand to stop her from telling me I didn't have to protect her, "but I know that you don't care about that. I should let you trust that I'm doing my best that you don't get hurt by the things I can't talk about, and be ready to back me up if they become a problem anyway." That got a nod. "And I realized today that I've been trying to protect myself as much as you. Because I didn't have much hope for the future, after everything that's happened to me."

"Harry! I know I don't know everything that happened to you. But from what I do know? That makes sense!"

"Right, and I'm saying that I've been trying to push you away because I didn't think I deserved to be with anyone else. I think I was just using Elaine as an excuse. My nightmares aren't about her anymore, they're about bad things happening to you."

"Babe! You don't have to convince me you're over your ex. I've never actually been worried about that, you know. I don't think so, at least!"

I nodded, trying to explain what I was trying to get to, and said, "I just… I didn't want you to have the patronus thing out there and be hanging on, wondering and… I'm just going to say it. Mathilda Grimblehawk… I… I love you."

Her eyes twinkled in amusement in the torchlight and she gave me her best Han Solo face.

"I know."