"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear."

~ Mark Twain


Chapter 43 ~ Wands


ECOTS


The only thing propping Harry up was his elbows, the uneaten potatoes staring tauntingly far in front of his face.

Reaching them seemed impossible. Not only would it require movement, which his entire body was no longer capable of, but-

He was so damn tired that he'd already forgotten the second reason.

Off to the side somebody groaned.

The occupants of the sparsely populated Gryffindor table looked like they had recently been run over by the Knight Bus.

Ginny Weasley teetered over sideways, bumping against Dean Thomas' shoulder. The tired Chaser didn't bother to correct her new, angled position in life. Instead she just made some incomprehensible, defeated sounds and closed her eyes.

Dean just groaned again.

Harry shot a dark glare in his general direction, just for good measure. Fortunately the Death Eater looked just as miserable as the rest of them. Dean had one elbow on the table, his head in his hand, eyes closed. Hell, he looked to be in enough pain that he was apparently oblivious to Ginny using him as a prop.

Harry's mouth twitched ever-so-damn-slightly in satisfaction at that.

Hermione mumbled something about needing to read some more, her eyes barely open as she missed her own plate, spearing something off of Neville's.

Next to him Kaylens lay slumped face down on the table, murmuring comfortingly to herself, the sound muffled by her thick, golden hair. It lay splayed out all around her face, Harry unable to even see his girlfriend's nose.

At some point the non-witch had dropped onto the table and not moved again.

Harry eyed his girlfriend with mild concern and debated poking her to check for signs of life. He rapidly decided against the idea; it'd require moving.

He shifted his gaze back to the food on his plate, labeling the spuds his new nemesis. "I seriously," he grunted, "might be too tired to eat."

"In that case…"

A fork appeared out of nowhere, flying past Harry's nose as Ron speared his potato and snagged it right off his plate.

It disappeared down Ron's gullet within seconds.

Hermione blearily observed the thievery, chastising, "That's disgusting, Ron."

Harry just blinked at his now emptied plate. "My food." He sounded half-sad.

Kaylens just lifted a tired hand, waving it without clear distinction, as if trying to make a point in Ron's general direction. Well…she was either making a point to Ron, or the goblet of pumpkin juice. It was hard to be sure.

Brow creasing, Harry eyed her oddly. "Huh?" he managed coherently.

Kally's hand froze in mid-air, a huffed sigh heaved from beneath the mass of hair. Then her hand fell flat back onto the table top. Clearly she'd given up.

Harry was with her, the wizard managing to barely move, placing a hand on top of her head, tiredly tousling her hair.

Her protesting grumble was entirely half-hearted.

Ron continued to happily munch on food, a frenzy of activity as he grabbed and slogged down another goblet of pumpkin juice, making enough noise to rival twenty people.

"How," Luna managed in uncharacteristic fashion, "are you even awake?" The witch was so tired she didn't even sound dreamy.

"Phits pheasy," Ron replied, spraying crumbs everywhere.

"Huh," Harry muttered, extremely coherently once more.

When no scolding came from Hermione, Harry felt compelled to glance in her general direction to check for signs of life. Her eyes had slid closed, the cleverest witch of her age not having noticed Ron's table manners.

Hermione was apparently sleeping. What was surprising was that she was sleeping on Neville. Neville just looked too tired to care, even though her bushy brown hair was somewhat in his face. Instead Neville just stabbed at a baked potato, but it was such a weak stab that the fork didn't even spear through it.

The Gryffindor, who had been rapidly progressing in his spell work faster than all but Harry, held the fork up in front of his face and shot it a betrayed look.

Next to him Luna didn't look much better, the normally pale girl somehow looking damn near translucent.

A thump to the side indicated that Ginny had slid off Dean's shoulder and onto the bench. Harry thought about checking on her, but decided against it. His surrogate sister was on her own. "Ron," he grunted, "check on Ginny." Then he looked at his empty plate again and concentrated extremely hard on his next task.

"Potato."

Harry said it very clearly and very distinctly at his plate.

For some reason asparagus appeared.

Harry groaned.

"How are the lot of you this beat?" Ron questioned, clearly having swallowed since his speaking pattern now closely resembled that of a real human.

"How are you not?" The voice had come from beneath the table, it sounding suspiciously like Ginny's. Harry could no longer see her, so could only assume that she'd slid right off the bench.

Ron gave a cocky shrug and grin. "Dunno, maybe I'm just in better shape than the rest of you lot?"

"Meremomf."

Everyone but Kaylens glanced towards Hermione, the witch still laying on Neville. Her brown eyes tiredly cracked open. "It's because you're furry." She had kept her voice lowered and quiet enough that no one not in the immediate vicinity would hear, the witch making a good point.

He was a werewolf that could change at will. That ought to mean something for healing times.

Ron shook his head, loudly chewing on several crisps. "No...I think it's that 'in better shape' thing, Mione." He stopped mid-chomp, apparently realizing something that he didn't like.

"Mione'," he practically growled, "why are you laying on Neville?"

The question sounded threatening enough the Neville actually groaned and moved, taking a hold of Hermione's shoulders and shifting her to lean in the opposite direction, onto Ron.

Hermione, for her part, barely noticed, murmuring something sleepy.

Ron looked considerably happier.

"McGonagall," Dean muttered, "is a sadist."

From around the table came several sounds of agreement.

Other tables around the Great Hall continued their own chattering, all sounding as if they were alive and well. There were only 29 students in the entire school right now, but the other 21 weren't being tortured by McGonagall's sick and twisted training methods on a daily basis. They were just getting more individualized classroom attention. Grand.

The eight of them, Dean now included in that special class, were getting ambushed at random and kept awake at all hours of the day and night. The other students all got to actually sleep, peacefully oblivious to the war training going on under the same castle roof.

Harry cracked an eye and shot them all a malevolent look. Lucky bastards.

"How come they're not being tortured?" Dean muttered, giving voice to his thought upon noticing the pep that the rest of the pathetically small student body had.

Ever since the Board of Governors had withdrawn support from Hogwarts, if not its full credentials, only students and their parents who signed one hell of a waiver had been permitted to remain. Harry was still surprised this many had managed it, the vast majority sixth and seventh years, who were already of age and had been able to make the choice for themselves.

Still, there were a few straggling third years.

"Seriously," Dean groaned, tilting his head as if searching for where Ginny had disappeared to. "I want to know."

"Because they don't have their own pocket sized McGonagall?"

Harry actually winced at Neville's statement. The Professor had kept each and every single one of them awake all last night running drills. Then on the same damn day the Professor had shrunk herself, perched herself in the windowsill of a dark corridor, and ambushed all of them on their way down to dinner.

Despite all of their training it had not gone well. By the time she'd gotten done lecturing them on how they'd all be dead right now had she been an actual Death Eater, Mad Eyed Moody's name had been thrown into the mix, and the retired Auror was apparently on his way to the castle right now to step up their training.

Harry wagered that their odds of survival bordered on the non-existent.

Overhead the Great Hall's enchanted ceiling swarmed with gray-purple clouds, a storm brewing. It'd been two weeks since the last of the quarantined had been released, and their training had begun again in haste.

Lupin had also reneged on his promise to let him know by the end of the week what all his interestings at he and Kaylens had been about.

Harry had half a mind to hunt him and Tonks down, assuming they were even still in the castle.

No one had seen them in over a week.

Thus far he'd been so damn busy that the lack of communication hadn't bothered him much. There'd been no time to get properly worked up about it. Still, every time he looked at Kaylens' damn hand he found his own fingers curling in against his palm, remembering the way Mooney had looked at them, her hand bleeding, his own-

"The dining hall is no place for naps."

Snapped out of his thoughts, he looked up from where he'd been staring at Kaylens' slumped over form. Snape had decided to pay them a visit, the universe apparently deciding to give him something to get worked up about.

The professor had stopped alongside he and Kaylens, sending the top of her head a disgusted look, before turning a scowl on the rest of them. "How….unsurprising. The Gryffindors can't keep up."

Unflummoxed Luna raised a tired hand. "Ravenclaw."

The sneer Snape leveled on her indicated that she was lower than a newt on his personal version of the evolutionary scale. "Indeed…" A second later saw his attention turned back onto Kalliandra, the wizard growling, "In my laboratory in ten, Ms. Kaylens."

At that Harry actually growled, waking up slightly. "We're in the middle of dinner."

Snape met his gaze head on. "Food is for the weak, Potter. Besides, what I intend to have her skinning she will want an empty stomach for." He'd turned and stalked away in a whirl of black cloak, his footsteps loud in the cavernous Great Hall, even amidst the clattering of plates and glasses.

Kally brushed her hair out of her face, cracking an eye at the professor's retreating form. "Oh, goodie."

Harry outright glared after him. "I am really getting sick of him acting like he owns you." It was seriously cutting into his already non-existent free time with her.

"Mmhmm," she agreed half-heartedly. "He's not so bad." Shoving herself off the table and actually sitting up, she raked her fingers through her hair, lips turning slightly. "Still convinced he's part-vampire though, even though I haven't found his coffin down there."

Across the table Neville snorted, Dean just shaking his head. "If you decide to ransack his quarters and live," Dean commented, "I want to hear about it."

Now Harry growled at him.

Ron popped a biscuit into his mouth. "Not sure what you're so worked up about, Harry. You're the one who decided to willingly date Snape's apprentice."

"She wasn't Snape's apprentice at the time," Harry pointed out.

"Still," Ron scoffed, inhaling another biscuit. 'Snape's apprentice. I mean…come on."

"Snape's apprentice has a name," Kaylens interjected dangerously, going for a fork and not looking like she intended to use it for food.

Harry snagged her hand quickly, wrapping his fingers between hers before she had a chance to try to kill either his best friend or him – sometimes it really was hard to tell which one she was aiming for.

Kaylens glanced down at their intertwined fingers, mouth opening as if to scold him, only to get cut off by a suddenly loud sound coming from the entrance of the Great Hall.

The giant-sized doors had been forcefully thrown forward, smashing against the Great Hall's walls with enough force to shake the room¸ owl feathers dislodged from the rafters and raining down.

Then everything went silent.

A loud murmuring arose from the students.

Harry's wand was already out, the wizard on his feet in an instant. He'd drug Kaylens with him, the non-witch's free hand splayed open, fingers flexing as if getting prepared to draw against whatever it was.

Standing there, all traces of exhaustion vanished, Harry's musculature growing stiff.

Everyone within the castle, with the exception of Remus and Tonks, was already within the Great Hall. Even Emily was there, harassing some seventh year Ravenclaws with questions, and the last time he'd checked Lupin and Tonks weren't into grand entrances.

Well, maybe Tonks was, if she accidentally tripped over something.

Harry's grip ground around his wand so tight that his knuckles grew white, the wizard taking a step forward as he prepared to attack, placing himself between the doors and Kaylens. Up ahead Snape had also drawn his wand, the Potion's Master falling back from the Great Hall's doors, standing at tense attention and peering into the impenetrable shadows of the Entrance Hall beyond them.

Beyond the dark doors there was movement.

Kalliandra's fingers tightened around his, Harry's tightening back.

"If this is another of McGonagall's twisted tests," Dean lowly growled from across the table, Harry for once agreeing.

The entire Gryffindor table, all eight of them including Luna, was on their feet, wands drawn. The other tables had begun to stir, the remaining twenty one students looking on curiously, a rare few noting the reactions of those at the Gryffindor table and reaching into the folds of their cloaks nervously.

The two third year Gryffindors, the only other ones from their house within the castle, had been sitting at the Hufflepuff table with friends. They were the first of the other students to jump to their feet, one grabbing an apple and tossing it in hand as if they could potentially pummel the threat to death with nutrition.

"This better," Kalliandra muttered under her breath, "not make me late for potions."

Despite the looming threat he actually looked at her, expression contorted into something so damn bewildered that it left his girlfriend with no choice but to shrug. "What?" she responded. "The professor's insane on punctuality."

"We're going to talk about this," he managed staidly, "later. I have questions." Mainly about her sanity. He was growing increasingly terrified that she might actually want to work with Snape one day.

That'd make his life a living hell.

Not once had his attention fully left the doorway, movement having grown closer, a shielding charm already on his lips-

"Sorry 'bout that! Forgot how light these things were!"

Inside strode the large, towering form of Rubeus Hagrid. The half-giant's beard had grown down to his chest, twigs and leaves sticking out of it, the clothes he wore covered in dirt. A large sack bigger than Harry himself was casually thrown over the groundskeeper's shoulder, as if it were no heavier than a sock.

Hagrid hooked a thumb over his shoulder. "Look who I found in Norway."

Behind him the movements in the rest of the shadows slowly emerged, materializing first into the form of Ernie Macmillon.

The stout Hufflepuff Prefect with pudgy hands raised one in greeting from far across the hall, a bit of a grin on his face. "Heya guys!"

A second later the other forms began to emerge. Next appeared Hannah Abbott, followed by Susan Bones, then Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Terry Boot. Other shadows were stirring, additional people emerging and entering the entrance hall behind them. Katie Bell leading two others he didn't recognize.

Justin walked right up behind Ernie, slapping the Prefect with comradery on the back, tossing out, "Now that was an entrance. Oughta owe you one, Professor Hagrid."

Hagrid made a bashful sound and just tipped a non-existent hat to him. "Ain't no problem at all, Justin. Gotta use me size for somethin'."

Finch-Fletchley just grinned, spotting them and grinning wider. "Harry! You gonna hex all of us or let us in?"

Harry didn't lower his wand. If anything he tugged Kaylens slightly closer and behind him, ignoring her slightly irate hiss. "Hagrid," he demanded, "you sure that's actually them?" Hagrid didn't exactly have a good track record when it came to common sense decisions. The number of potentially deadly and dangerous creatures that he'd adopted and called cute, only for Harry to nearly lose his head to he'd lost count of.

"Sure thing, Harry," came the booming response. "Quizzed 'em all about the D.A. for ya too!"

Justin and Ernie simultaneously rolled their eyes. "Good to know nothing's changed with your paranoia in that case."

The two finally reached them, Harry slowly lowering his wand as Justin strode up and slapped him on the back too, eyebrows rising as he caught sight of he and Kaylens' intertwined hands. "Hrm…interesting. So when did this happen?" he questioned, gesturing back and forth between them before dropping backwards onto the bench.

He wasted no time in snagging a piece of bread and chomping into it. "Last time I saw you two you were trying to remove one another's heads."

Releasing a long breath, Harry gave Kaylens' hand a firm squeeze before releasing it, still not comfortable enough to re-sheath his wand. "End of October," he grunted.

"Yeah Fletchly, it's nearly April. Try to keep up," Ron tossed sarcastically towards him, as if the wizard had nothing better to do than keep himself apprised of Harry's dating life.

Harry ignored that, asking bluntly, "What are you lot doing here? Last time I checked the Ministry wasn't letting students come back."

Justin chomped around the apple, grinning heartily. "Funny thing about that, this whole Ministry business. Seemed a bit messed up so the girls there," gesturing in Katie, Hannah and Susan's directions, "decided that since we'd all turned seventeen and were all legally of age that we ought to ditch the schools the Ministry decided to send us to, and make our way back here." The Hufflepuff wizard winked towards the approaching blondes and brunette. "You know, get the band back together."

Susan Bones reached them, shooting Justin a wry look. "What he means is," she explained, "that we coordinated via owl, then we ditched Beauxbatons and met them in Norway to spring them loose." The witch reached up and yanked her ponytail out, shaking her long hair out, waves cascading around her shoulders. "Really chivalrous of them."

Justin held his hands up and defended, "To be fair, it's not my fault I thought to go there first before going to get you lot."

Neville seized upon that piece of information. "What do you mean going to get them? Weren't you already at Durmstang?"

Justin shook his head, his curly hair flopping over his forehead. "Nah, my parents decided that was a bit too close to all this plague business, so sent me to some private posh school in the states. Paid a pretty penny for it to." Pausing to let that sink in, he pressed, "Bet they'll be pissed once they find out I left."

The grin Justin wore indicated just how much he'd care about that little fact.

Around them the chatter in the Great Hall had started up again, even the Professor's table starting to talk. "Oh you're definitely in for it, Fletchley," Ginny agreed from across the table, the Gryffindor having relaxed enough to kneel on the long bench, no longer standing at alert. "That's wicked though."

Justin shrugged. "Yeah well, when I saw what was happening, soon as I turned seventeen I started to head back." He nodded towards several of the people that Harry didn't recognize, the group still talking with Hagrid. "Crossing the pond solo and getting past all the quarantine zones proved a bit challenging, so decided to bring some back with me."

"Wait, the Americas are quarantined?" The question came from Hermione.

Justin nodded. "Yeah. They're not letting anybody in or out at the moment from the U.K. or any infected areas. The few areas that were infected in the U.S. they blew to shreds. No explanation."

Blew up?

Everyone at the table went eerily silent, Harry's chest clenching. He didn't have to be a wizard with insider knowledge that the plague was bringing the dead back to life to know that blowing up full cities wasn't good. The implications of that…

Ron made a strangled sound. "They bloody killed them?"

Fletchley nodded. "Anyone not out of the areas in the required time frame, yeah. Twas all over the papers there."

"It's not here," Hermione told. "They're not reporting anything about it."

Luna rolled her eyes. "Big surprise there. Daddy always said the Prophet was trash. "

Right then Ernie Macmillan joined them, already shaking his head. "There's something the Ministry there and here isn't telling us. Why would they risk killing their own citizens over an illness? No…we're missing a piece."

"You don't say," Dean Thomas drawled, bleeding sarcasm. "It's almost as if there are undead picking themselves up and walking around."

Harry shot him a look so fierce that Thomas actually shut up. Then his gaze instinctively shot towards Kaylens, the non-witch gnawing on her lower lip thoughtfully. She knew better than most what the reason for that was, even if the information hadn't been spread in the papers. Yet.

It was only a matter of time. If the undead part of the plague escaped Dublin, there'd be widespread panic on their hands.

That was a bit more information than he'd planned on discussing during dinner. Turning his attention back to Justin and Ernie, he shook his head. "We'll catch you up when we're not…here." Looking around the dining hall, the two Hufflepuffs nodded, catching on.

"So if everything's quarantined," Ron questioned, "how'd you get back over here from the States then? Swim?"

An unfamiliar voice answered for them. "That'd be by me."

They all turned around to find a wizard, looking just a bit older than them, striding forward, knee high dragon hide boots squeaking as he walked. He stopped right in front of Harry. "This him?" he asked Justin.

Reclining casually on the bench, Justin nodded. "That's him."

The wizard nodded, extending his hand. "Heard there's a fight worth having here," he stated, tilting his head back towards the other strangers. "We're in."

A distinctly uncomfortable feeling squirmed within Harry, leaving him looking at the wizard's hand for a second. A gold-colored ring with a dragon crest emblazoned on it adorned the wizard's right index finger. "Not sure you'd say that if you knew what you were signing up for," he ventured.

The wizard did not move his extended grip, but merely smirked somewhat severely. "Dark, evil overlord hell-bent on killing all Muggles and Muggleborns, complete with his own personal army, a plague with a hundred percent kill rate sweeping the world, corrupt government officials in the dark overlord's pocket, not enough wizards on the good side trying to stop it, with insurmountable odds against us? That about cover it?"

Harry internally cringed. When put like that, they were screwed. The wizard didn't even know all of it. "General gist, yeah," he agreed.

The wizard's hand remained extended. "Justin here says you trained him. He's good. I'm Jake."

Reluctantly, not sure why the hell he was being singled out, Harry grimaced and reached out a hand, clasping it with the other's bear paw. "Yeah, he is," he agreed. "Harry."

The American shook his hand firmly, severe smirk disappearing into a grin. "Well howdy Harry. This here is Matt, Jessica, and Aiden."

Harry found himself with nothing to do for it other than nod at them each individually.

"Not to interrupt," Ron cut in, "but I'm still hung up on the 'did you or did not swim' thing."

Justin and Jake both turned towards his best mate, the latter grinning. "Not sure about you, but I'm not a big fan of sharks, so cashed in my inheritance and bribed one of the few ships leaving port."

"We spent the better part of a week stowed away in the hull. Fun times."

Jake just grinned at Justin's comment. "In case you were wondering, he means the opposite." The wizard's gaze left Ron, stopping on Kalliandra, looking her over for a second in a way that made Harry seriously want to pummel the newcomer.

"Jake," he greeted Kaylens very specifically, extending a hand. "And who are you?"

"My girlfriend," Harry growled almost carnivorously, before Kalliandra even had a chance to respond.

He entirely missed the open mouth look she shot him, Jake's jaw turning into an amused grin as he withdrew his hand, holding both up now. "My mistake," he apologized, gaze turning and landing upon Ginny. "Why hello there."

"That," he now snarled, "is my sister."

It wasn't Harry's imagination now. The American was actually laughing. "Again, many apologies. I love how protective you Brits are of your women. In the states we trust them to take care of themselves."

"Excuse me but us women do take care of ourselves," Kaylens snapped, eyes narrowing dangerously at him.

Harry didn't back down but just raised an eyebrow at her. There was no way in hell he was letting a good looking American with hair that behaved and an inheritance hit on her right in front of him.

Jake seemed oblivious. "So which one would it be safe to say hello to without…"

"Luna," Ron immediately supplied, grabbing Hermione's arm and tugging her slightly away from the table.

Hermione rolled her eyes, tugging her arm away from his best mate and muttering something about troglodytes under her breath.

Jake had already moved on, spotting Luna as if just seeing her for the first time. The Ravenclaw looked slightly startled at the sudden attention. Ron just shot Justin a look as if to say 'you seriously brought them?'

Fletchley shrugged in response to the silent accusation. "Do we, or do we not need help?"

"How do you know you can even trust them?" Ron demanded.

"Them," drawled one of the Americans, echoing Ron's wording, "can hear you."

The irritated look Ron shot them was borderline war-worthy. "I stand by it. How do we know you're not on his side."

The one called Aiden stepped forward, dark brown hair and dark skin both glistening. "Since his plague killed my baby sister." The words were so dark that an immediate, penetrating silence fell over the table. "She was seven." Something burned in the wizard's gaze, it chilling. "So any further questions or do we pass?"

If possible the silence grew thicker.

"Er…" Ron said, very coherently. "Sorry mate, didn't know."

Justin just winced. "They all lost someone guys, that's why they came."

Ron could be seen glancing nervously at Ginny, shifting on his feet as if suddenly uncomfortable.

Neville cleared his throat. "Well we're not so good on track records for vengeance, but we'll take any help we can get. So thanks for coming."

Hermione yanked herself away from Ron and was already walking over, introducing herself to the newcomers. Harry wasn't entirely certain if he was glad she'd decided to play at welcome party again or annoyed that she wasn't as suspicious and he and Ron.

Then again she wasn't trying to prevent a girl from being stolen by a tall wizard with an inheritance.

Harry grimaced, surveying the scene. Terry and Ernie were already talking with Dean, Neville and Ginny. Justin had gotten up, walking over to Hermione and the other Americans to make introductions. Jake was clearly hitting on Luna.

Oddly Ron was also eyeing Jake with barely veiled malevolence over that as well.

Across the Great Hall Hagrid, now talking with a rather irritated looking Snape, caught Harry's gaze, a wide grin breaking across the half-giant's face as he lifted a large hand to wave. Harry couldn't help it: he also grinned. Hagrid had been gone for months, he and Olympe Maxime trying to form further allegiances with giants before Voldemort could.

That was assuming they weren't already enslaved.

The powerful, loud sound of an ancient throat clearing suddenly echoed throughout the Great Hall. "It appears," Dumbledore's enhanced voice called out, "that we have acquired some guests. Welcome, welcome. Please make yourselves at home and might I suggest that, since there are so few of us, that the students all perhaps congregate at the centermost table together?"

A frenzy of activity began, students moving plates and shifting, all heading over towards where their housemates and the Americans were, Harry finding his teeth grinding slightly.

Shrewd brown eyes caught his, Hermione studying him knowingly. How could they trust them? He knew better than to voice that thought aloud though. The last time they'd had wizards from another school there, Hermione had torn he and Ron to pieces over not being welcoming enough to foster positive inter-school relations, or some garble.

He had no way of proving that these people had lose anyone either.

Tearing his gaze away from Hermione, he leveled a look at the Headmaster. The wizard appeared to be studying the scene with careful thought, the slightest trace of a benign smile on his weary face. Harry still didn't know what the hell to make of it. How did he reconcile the Headmaster he'd known, that had saved him on more than one occasion, with the one that had used Kaylens, Ginny, Neville, Fred and George, as pawns?

As if hearing his thoughts Dumbledore turned to look straight at him. Harry just grimaced. There was no way in hell that he was ready to speak to the Headmaster. Not yet. Not after what he'd done, even if Fawkes was still visiting him every other day with visit requests.

Harry wasn't ready to forgive anything just yet.

Ernie Macmillan walked on up, snagging a pastry, the wizard's stout figure looking to have grown more muscular since the last time he'd been there. "So what do you think, Harry?" he questioned, flexing slightly and tugging his attention away from the Headmaster. "Durmstang did me good, yeah?"

Harry shot him a slightly bewildered look, somewhat amused despite himself. "Anything that makes you harder to hex, Ernie."

Macmillan grinned, then caught sight of where his fellow house members had just taken a seat, heading towards them.

Susan Bones looked like she was considering following him, only to pause, looking at those there and frowning. "Is this it then?" she questioned. "Is this all that's left of the D.A.?"

Ginny answered for him. "Right now, yeah."

Susan wrinkled her button nose in concern, Hannah stepping in. "Better than nothing. We'll at least have a fight on our hands if anybody catches up to us again. And,"she added meaningfully, "others are coming, just as soon as they turn seventeen."

That got his attention. "More are coming?"

Hannah nodded, her blonde hair still in pigtails at seventeen years of age. "Yeah. Pavarti and Padma are at least. I think they're planning to bring some other girls from Beauxbatons with them to." She fixed him with a blue-eyed look, telling, "We weren't learning enough there, Harry. Not like the D.A. And now there's a plague and Death Eaters and….if we want to live we don't have time to waste. So when are we starting?"

Harry suddenly felt like the weight of the world had been put on his shoulders. Everyone was looking at him, as if they expected him to somehow train them well enough to survive. He might have been able to train them in the D.A. last year, but he wasn't even passing McGonagall's stealth ambush tests at present.

Truth be told he actually felt a bit sick, shifting nervously on his feet. "Um…"

"Tomorrow," Hermione supplied loudly, apparently overhearing. "Harry will be ready tomorrow, right Harry?" The meaningful look his other best friend shot him didn't leave him much room to protest.

"Er…right?" he agreed, dragging a hand through his messy hair.

Apparently that was all Hannah had needed to hear, the witch smiling. "I can't wait, Harry. It's good to see you!"

The witch then flounced off to join Ernie, Terry and Justin, leaving Harry standing there wondering what the hell had just happened. One of the Americans shot Harry a thumb's up, as if eagerly anticipating whatever it was Justin had promised them.

Neville approached, the wizard frowning and surveying those gathered. "Even counting all of them, Harry, we're still going to be outnumbered if Death Eaters attack."

"We have the Professors," Hermione pointed out, abandoning the Americans and wandering over by he, Neville and Kaylens, whom had remained unnaturally quiet.

"Still outnumbered," Neville muttered unhelpfully.

Harry seriously wondered if it wasn't too late to escape Hogwarts. He only entertained that for a second though. "Outnumbered or not," he muttered, "we'll have to do what we can. We can't just give up."

"Do they really think they're going to attack here?"

Everyone looked at Kaylens, who had finally said something, the non-witch still gnawing on her lower lip and looking around. Spotting their looks of incredulity, she made a gesture at them with her hands. "Well you're all talking like you think they'll attack here, at Hogwarts. Is that what we think is going to happen? Or have we been training to bring the fight to them?"

Harry realized in an instant that she was right; they had been talking about an attack as if it were bound to happen here, at Hogwarts.

And they'd done absolutely no planning for that contingency.

Now Harry had a whole new reason to feel sick.


ECOTS


The clock struck midnight, Harry looking up from the large scroll they had rolled out on the floor, Hermione's neat, crisp handwriting already covering three feet of it.

"We are so screwed in the morning," Ron commented, seeing the clock. Harry couldn't help but agree. They'd already been awake for over 24 hours. If they didn't get to sleep soon it'd be 48 by the time they got another chance.

"We'll be fine," Hermione dismissed. "If we don't come up with a lesson plan for Harry before tomorrow then the D.A.'s going to be a disaster."

"Gee, thanks."

Hermione looked up from where she'd been fanatically looking up things in a book – Harry still had no idea what things, but he was apparently supposed to be teaching them tomorrow – and looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry Harry. I know you'll do well with whatever you teach them but…oh what Kally asked about Hogwarts getting attacked really got to me!"

Ron groaned, thudding his head into the nearest open book. "Why," he questioned, "do you let anything anyone says get to you, 'Mione." He glanced up, chin propped in the binding. "Seriously, you're brilliant. Pretty sure a forest full of accromantulas could attack and you'd still think of a spell to stop them."

Hermione blinked at Ron, startled. Ron, realizing what he'd said, turned a deep shade of crimson.

Harry couldn't keep the amused grin from his face, but decided to bail them both out anyway. "He's right Hermione. You're the clever one. Maybe you should be teaching this." He hopefully slid his open book towards her across the floor, the three of them sprawled out on their stomachs in front of the fireplace.

The bushy haired witch immediately shook her head in the negative, crushing his hopes. "Harry I told you last year, you're the one that's talented in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It's actually hard for me."

Ron gave her a seriously skeptical look. "I seriously doubt anything is hard for you."

Hermione sputtered, hissing, "Maybe if you opened a book once in a while you'd have some appreciation for how much effort studying actually requires!"

"Guys!"

Harry cut them off before they could really get going, their heads jerking towards him, Ron's mouth already half opened with a half-retort ready to go. Harry groaned, internally wondering when the two of them would ever get it together.

"If we don't get this done," he pointed out, instead of slapping them both upside the heads like he wanted, "we're never going to sleep. We have potions tomorrow. I don't think Snape is going to take pity on us just because we're tired and teaching guerrilla warfare tactics on the side."

Ron's mouth closed, as if realizing he was right. The only reason any of them were even awake right now was due to Hermione's ability to con Madame Pomfrey into pepper up potions.

They'd all drank theirs two hours ago, but Harry was pretty sure whenever it wore off that they wouldn't have the energy to even make it up the stairs. They'd just face plant right there on the floor.

"Fine Harry," Hermione relented. "What do you want to teach?" She unceremoniously shoved the long scroll of ideas towards him, Harry frowning as he looked it over.

"They need to learn all of this," he honestly told her. Pointing at a word he didn't even understand, he added, "What's this?"

Hermione let out a sigh. "Anti-inferi spell. We should learn that too. I don't know if it'll work against those people Ginny told us about, but it might."

Now it was his turn to frown. He'd heard all about those things from Kally, but all the Order members had discussed it in another impromptu dorm room meeting afterwards. "I doubt it will. Kal said you had to hit them in the head or cut off their energy supply." The latter of which she could do, but the rest of them could not.

Ron folded his arms on his open book, shooting him a smirk. "Kal?"

Harry just glared. "Shut it."

His best mate shot his other best mate an amused look. "Oooh, they've resorted to pet names."

"Oh honestly, grow up, Ron."

Ron frowned, looking suddenly serious, like he was considering something, only for Hermione to cut him off by suddenly shoving a book directly at Harry's nose. "What about this one? Can you do this already?"

Harry blinked, the book so close in front of his eyes that he couldn't even focus. "Um Hermione…"

"Sorry," she said absently, yanking it back but not relenting as she continued to point to a spell. Harry scanned the paragraph quickly. It was a defense spell that you placed on the ground, and if anyone walked over it then it exploded like a Muggle bomb.

Harry re-read it just to make sure Hermione was suggesting that he actually teach people how to do something that could kill other people. Lifting a hand he carefully placed it on top of the book, shoving it down slowly to peer over it at her. "Hermione, since when did you start embracing violent magic?"

Her brown eyes met his, a fleeting trace of pain in them. "Since they took my parents," she said coldly. "Now, can you do this or not?"

Harry and Ron both looked at her, at a loss. There was literally nothing either of them could do, but they all knew that her parents were probably dead. Otherwise Voldemort had been imprisoning them for over half a year.

Somehow the latter thought was more horrifying.

Hermione had already yanked the book away, flipping pages. "I was thinking if Hogwarts was attacked, we could charm the grounds with those as a first line of defense. You know, thin their forces out a bit."

"Yeah, until some unsuspecting third year or other students coming back to Hogwarts step on one," Ron pointed out, making a kaboom gesture with his hands.

Hermione winced. "We could put up warning signs-"

"So the Death Eaters will know to just hop on their brooms and fly in, yeah?"

"Well we have to do something, Ron! We can't just leave the castle undefended."

Harry had snagged the book back during their argument, flipping through pages. "Maybe we could cast this on the castle entryways only if attacked. That way no one has to run out onto the actual grounds and risk getting hexed and no one accidentally is blown up in the interim. Then if Death Eaters try to go through a door or window to get to anyone inside they blow up. That solves the problem of them being able to fly right over it."

Ron and Hermione both looked at him with identical grins.

"That's bloody brilliant, mate."

Harry felt like his cheeks had turned slightly red. Since the others had gotten back several hours earlier he was getting a bit uncomfortable with people telling him he was 'bloody brilliant' at what he did. As far as he was concerned all he did was put everyone around him at risk, even getting some of them killed.

"There's one other thing we could try…" Hermione suggested hesitantly, eyeing Harry in a way that made him nervous.

"Out with it 'Mione."

She sighed. "You could talk to Dumbledore. The castle's old. There's bound to be loads of old magical defenses already in place. Planning a defense would be a lot easier if we knew exactly wha-"

"No."

His firm tone left no room for question, the consternation on Hermione's face making him positive that she was going to argue.

To his surprise she didn't. Instead she just made a tutting sound, quickly returning to the scroll. "Okay, so we can review the patronus charms, I think everyone in D.A. last year finally got that anyway, but the Americans probably need help-"

"Can we trust them? We don't even know them. How do we even know that kid sister is real?"

Harry nodded, supporting Ron's question.

Hermione placed both of her hands flat on the ground, peering at them both very seriously. "We're not the only ones in the world who want to get rid of Vo-Voldemort," she forced. "Remember what Dumbledore said? We are only as strong as we are united?"

Harry made a face, not wanting to talk about Dumbledore, but Hermione was fortunately already moving on. "Besides," she said casually, "I can make them sign the same form the others signed last year and put a better hex on it. If they do anything untoward we'll know."

Ron leaned heavily on one hand, his eyes starting look lidded. "You're bloody brilliant, Mione."

Hermione blushed heavily.

Harry deeply considered gagging.

The four newcomers, three American wizards and one witch, had gone to stay in the Hufflepuff dorms, that making sense since Justin Finch-Fletchley had brought them here in the first place. Luna had returned to the Ravenclaw dorms, justifying that by saying she didn't want Terry Boot to be sleeping alone with the cruel seventh years.

Harry had some questions about that, wondering if they were the ones who had used to steal her books, but he'd saved them for a later time. He'd help defend Luna later, preferably when she and Hermione weren't looking. He had some choice hexes hexes for Luna's antagonizers that he guaranteed neither would approve of.

"So we have the Patronus charm, blasting hexes, stunning spells, cutting curses-" Hermione started.

"Harry can't do a cutting curse!"

"Actually," he corrected Ron, "I can."

Ron turned two astonished blue eyes on him. "Bloody hell mate. That's dark magic to the highest degree."

Harry just grimaced. "Better they get hit with it than us is how I see it."

His best mate looked like he wanted to say something else, but didn't. Instead he contented himself to extending his claws out and looking at them, Harry still not used to the fact that Ron was a werewolf that could change at will.

The thought was actually somewhat horrifying. Ron had been bitten by Lupin, one of Voldemort's experiments. If he had been able to create a version of werewolf like that, what else had had managed to create?

They still didn't know, and Snape had kept a radio silence up on how the experiments were going beyond what species were involved.

"We could also cover levitation charms used defensively, and maybe some other non-defensive charms that can be repurposed," Hermione said firmly, trying to get them back on track.

"I think you should teach those ones, Hermione," Harry told, Ron bobbing his head in agreement. "You're the best at those."

Hermione nodded, and Harry couldn't help but notice that she didn't blush at his compliment like she had at Ron's. It made him smirk just a bit.

"Okay…I think that should be it for tomorrow's lesson then," she said, staring to roll up the scroll.

"Bloody hell, Mione," Ron exclaimed. "You expect Harry to teach all of that tomorrow."

"Yes, of course. Why? Do you think it's not enough?" She reached for the scroll as if to unroll and add things to it, Ron snagging her hand to stop her.

Hermione blinked, looking totally startled.

Ron, realizing what he was doing, also looked startled.

Harry also noticed that neither let go. He decided to take pity on them and not say anything about it, instead clearing his throat. "So um…I needed to talk to you both about something."

They both looked at him, even if they did seem somewhat distracted. The fireplace crackled loudly, the embers beginning to burn down.

Glancing around the common room nervously, making sure neither of the third years that remained had snuck down when they were supposed to be asleep, he told, "It's about Kaylens. How am I supposed to keep what she is quiet at D.A.?"

Ron looked at him as if he were the dumbest person alive. "Easy. She doesn't come, Harry."

Hermione frowned, shaking her head. "She's his girlfriend, Ron. People might ask questions or not trust her if she doesn't."

Harry found that something pleasurable still squirmed inside of him at hearing that. Girlfriend. Godric, how in the hell had he managed that one? To Hermione's point though he nodded, looking at the two and hoping they could come up with something.

"What about unbreakable vows?" Ron suggested. "We could make those in the D.A. take one and-"

Hermione looked horrified. "That's a bit extreme, don't you think?"

Ron shrugged. "Could just say she's brilliant at potions and Snape is keeping her at all hours of the day." Gesturing pointedly at the clock, he added, "It's not like it isn't true."

Ron was right. Snape really still was doing that. Kalliandra had been missing since just after dinner, obviously down in the dungeons skinning whatever it was that Snape had promised.

"That…that might work," Harry said.

Hermione nodded. "Okay, so we have that figured out. We have the D.A. lesson plan for at least tomorrow figured out." Glancing around furtively, she lowered her voice further, whispering, "What about your animagus forms? Have either of you gotten farther along on that?"

They'd been researching animagi since the start of the year. Ron had tried to claim he wasn't going to do it, on account he already could turn into one furry beast at will, but Hermione had smacked that idea down quickly by pointing out that a werewolf couldn't just stroll through Diagon Alley without drawing attention.

Harry nodded. "Principles, yeah. I used that kunnskap Dumbledore gave me." Tugging it out from beneath his shirt, showing them the vial of memories Dumbledore had given him months prior, he quickly tucked it back in. "Just haven't tried to actually do it and didn't make the potions involved or anything."

Hermione nodded. "We can use Moaning Myrtle's bathroom again and start brewing it there." Apparently part of the process, which they wouldn't have known had it not been for Dumbledore's kunnskap, was that a wizard or witch's DNA needed primed to change forms, and a potion was needed before one could ever achieve that.

It was apparently a crucial step most wizards, who did try to change forms, missed.

Once taken though the change to their DNA was permanent. There was no going back, and if they messed up the potion….

"Can't believe I'm saying this," Ron muttered, "but I think we need Kaylens to help with that."

Given Ron and Kaylens' previous dislike of one another, Harry still found himself somewhat surprised whenever his best mate said anything remotely positive about his girlfriend. At least they seemed to relatively like one another now.

Hermione looked pensive for a moment. "Agreed," she finally said, sounding thoughtfully. "She's been doing one-on-one training with Professor Snape for almost a year now. I think she's qualified."

Harry frowned. "I thought it was only since November?"

Hermione looked bewildered. "Harry she's been having private lessons with him since summer." Tucking a quill behind her ear, she added, "I'm surprised you didn't know that. Regardless, she's qualified. She and I can make it."

Abruptly Ron turned a fierce look on him. "She poisons us, and I make no promises about what I try to do to her."

"Do to who?"

All three of them looked up abruptly, finding that Kalliandra had returned, not a single one of them having heard the portrait open and shut.

She looked pale and exhausted.

Hermione was already rooting around in her bag for another pepper-up potion sample, Ron brutally honest as always. "We want your help with brewing the animagus potion. Just was warning Harry that if you mess it up, I'm reserving the right to hex you without him trying to kill me."

Her brow furrowed, lips twitching in tired amusement. "Fair enough."

She sat down in a heap alongside him a second later, Hermione rolling a potion vial across the floor towards her. "Here, better take this."

Kally shot the three of them a questioning look. "Do I really look that bad?" she questioned staidly, picking it up and eyeing it with suspicion.

Ron nodded adamantly. "Keep turning up like this and it'll be a wonder if Harry ever snogs you agai-OW!"

Harry might have wandlessly sent the book Ron had been leaning on smacking shut, it essentially bitch slapping his best mate in the face. Harry just smirked innocently, directing his next words to Kaylens. "You look great."

"Uh huh," she said even more skeptically, uncorking the vial and downing it, some color immediately returning. She closed her eyes, clearly enjoying the warmth of the potion as it swept through her. The first few seconds were the best part of a pepper up potion. After that you just felt oddly awake, assuming you weren't sick. Then you just felt less deathly ill.

"So," she questioned, gaze turning to him as she sprawled herself out on the floor alongside him, "you're still trying to turn yourselves into fuzzballs then?"

"Unfortunately," Ron groaned, "'Mione's making me."

"If I choose a dog," Harry questioned with mock seriousness, "you're not going to try to put a collar on me, are you?"

A golden eyebrow rose curiously. "Was that ever an option?"

"Ron," Hermione muttered beneath her breath, "is getting a shock collar."

"What?!"

Kaylens shot the two a concerned look, before reaching a delicate hand out and stealing his book right out from beneath his nose. She slid it casually across the floor to be under her nose. Laying next to her, both of them on their stomachs, Harry was left with few options for retaliation.

"Mmm," she murmured knowingly, looking up at Hermione and not him. "Getting ready for the D.A. you guys talked about then?"

"Yeah, I was trying to get a lesson plan going but," Hermione was already unrolling the scroll and scrutinizing it again, "I don't think we have enough planned."

"The hell we don't," Harry croaked. Spotting the look Hermione threw him, he held firm. "What? You're not the one that has to teach this lot all," making a gesture at her growing list, "that on no sleep."

Hermione ignored him with the ease of practice, turning back to Kally. "We also decided that we'll just tell the new people that you're not there because of your apprenticeship." The second hand of the clock ticked in the background, the fire crackling comfortingly.

Kaylens just looked confused. "That was even a discussion?" Tilting her head to look at him, her long golden hair falling and brushing against the rug they lay upon, Harry found himself meeting her curious gaze. He didn't say anything. Instead he just studied her, noting that even with the pepper up potion she still looked pale.

"Yeah," Ron answered for him, "reckoned the newcomers who don't know about your," he waved his hand vaguely across the floor at her, "issue, might wonder why Harry wasn't competent enough to bring his chick. Pre-planning for any questions."

"No one's questioning Harry's competency Ronald."

"They might," Ron defended.

Harry ignored them. Now that Kally was laying on the floor alongside him, so close to him, he shifted to get a better look at her. Her smooth skin had an almost ashen cast to it, Harry having seen that before the last time she'd overdrawn.

"We're you drawing?" It came out less a question and more a demanding accusation.

A shadow of confusion passed across her countenance. "Of course, it was potions." She said it as if it explained everything.

"You weren't skinning anything were you?"

She winced. "At first. We're still making antidote though, and Snape and Regulus haven't figured out how to replicate-"

"What about your wand?"

An infinitesimally guilty look touched her expression. "Didn't use it."

Harry grimaced. "Have you even tried it?"

She didn't respond. Watching the firelight reflect upon her pale skin, lending warmth to her pallor, her silence was enough of an answer.

He actually groaned, closing his eyes. "Kal…" he muttered, "you have to at least try it."

She made a small, unhappy sound. "I'd really rather not."

His gaze flew open, locking onto hers, heart pounding. "Why?"

Her lips parted, looking like she wanted to give him an answer, only had none. Harry waited until her lips once more pressed together, an unreadable expression upon her familiar face. He didn't mean to seem like he wasn't glad to see her right then, but he sure as hell didn't want her to overdraw and wind up dead.

Not when Snape and Regulus were hell bent on draining her dry to make antidotes. Not when there was this new potential option for her. One she'd stubbornly refused to even try for the past fortnight.

"What wand are you talking about?" Hermione asked shrewdly.

"Lupin got her a new one," Harry answered, not once removing his eyes from Kaylen's fierce hazel ones. "Reckoned it might actually work, but apparently Kaylens here doesn't want to even try it."

"Potter, that's not fair," she murmured, her upset palpable.

"What? Why?" Ron propped his elbows firmly on either side of the open textbook, apparently pre-emptively preventing Harry from sending it bitch slapping him again as he eyed Kaylens like she were a different species. "Why wouldn't you want to see if you could do magic?" Catching their questioning glares, Ron shrugged. "What? If I were a Muggle I'd be ecstatic if there might be a way I could-"

"She's not," Harry gutturally interjected, "a Muggle."

"Now try saying it like there's nothing wrong with Muggles, Harry," Hermione chided, sounding annoyed.

Kalliandra made a frustrated sound, folding her arms and dropping her face into them, a muffled growl thrown into the rug.

Harry was not going to let something as minor as an irritated girlfriend prevent him from finding out why she hadn't tried it yet. "Kaylens come on," he tried, suppressing the temptation to reach for her. "Why won't you-"

Hermione cautiously interjected, "Harry maybe you shouldn't-"

"'Mione, he's just trying to help," Ron interrupted.

Besides him Kalliandra began banging her head against her arms, muttering, "Should of…stayed…in…the…dungeons," with each bump.

Right. Harry was fairly certain that once the point of physical violence to oneself was reached that it was time to intervene. He'd snagged an arm around Kaylens' shoulders and with one firm tug had rolled her onto her back, his arms trapping her, boxing her in on either side. Smirking down at her, he lifted a challenging eyebrow. "Sorry Kaylens, not getting out of the question so easy tonight."

She closed her eyes as if the mere act of doing so would make him go away, groaning sadly.

"Yeah," he mock agreed, "I'm real happy to see you tonight too. Missed you, fancied a cuddle. Now why are you refusing to try your wand?"

It was a mark of how curious Ron actually was that he didn't crack a single dirty joke at that.

Kaylens looked up at him wearily, gnawing on her lower lip. She was so close that it was a special kind of torture to be basically on top of her and unable to do anything about it due to nearby witnesses. Somehow he restrained himself, fixing her with a challenging look, eyebrow raised. "Well?"

"Potter…" she pled.

"Kaylens," he countered.

"Harry seriously," she entreated. "Can't we just go to bed?" The feel of her chest rising and almost brushing against his was damn distracting, the thought of hauling her into bed doing undeniably good things to him.

Harry summoned inner strength he didn't know he had, fixing her with a firm look. "No." Remaining right where he was, hovering over her, he pressed, "Not moving until you answer. So out with it."

Kaylens made a pathetic sort of whimper, which he responded to by merely drumming his fingers impatiently along the floor on either side of her.

Finally she hissed a breath. "What if it doesn't work?"

Harry's fingers froze mid-tap, his green gaze studying her. Not only did she actually look frustrated and pale, but she also looked borderline worried. He admittedly wasn't the best with girls, but even he was able to grasp the problem here.

"You're scared it won't work?"

"I'm scared I don't have enough magic to make it work even a little," she quietly muttered, looking anywhere but at him, even though he was only a foot from her face. "I already barely belong here. That'd just be proof I don't."

Whatever she was looking at off to the side of his arm must have been fascinating. Harry opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to think of something coherent to say.

What came out instead was a laugh. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

The dagger-like glare that was suddenly turned on him just had him laughing harder. "Kay-Kaylens seriously," he told, disbelieving that they were actually having this conversation. "You're a bloody Reach. If Hagrid or Fleur belong so do you."

"They can use wands," she countered.

He couldn't sodding take it. Dropping his face abruptly alongside hers, burying his face in her hair, Harry growled in her ear, "You do wandless magic, Kaylens. Do you have any idea how hard that it?" She might not be able to do much, but the one or two rather terrifying things she could do were effective as anything he could do. "Magic enough in my book."

The warmth of her pressed up against him, Harry tugging his face away from her ear to look at her very closely. The fact that she looked somewhat shaken rattled him, his mouth twitching all the same. "It'll be fine, Kally. Worst case scenario nothing happens, and even then you're still magic."

"I feel," came Ron's half-awed, half-horrified sounding comment, "that this is how pornos start."

Harry and Kally's heads jerked back so fast that they got lucky: they were in time to see the utter smackdown Hermione gave him.

"You unbelievably foul-mouthed, crass, un-romantic-"

Ron, in an attempt to defend himself, puffed out his chest and sat up straighter, gesturing at them. "What? Come on 'Mione, he's got her pinned to the floor right in front of us and doesn't care! If it wasn't Kaylens I'd be high five hi-"

Harry's pinky flicked ever-so-slightly, the textbook flying up and smacking Ron right in the face.

"AH! Harry what the hell?!"

He just shot his best mate a rather stern smirk. "Stop implying my girlfriend's not high five worthy, and I'll think about requesting that the various tomes around here stop abusing you."

Hermione covered her mouth to hide a smile, Ron rubbing his chin woundedly. "Real funny, Harry."

Harry just waggled his eyebrows, before turning his attention back down to Kaylens. She hadn't moved, just laying there looking tired, pale, and a smidgeon upset. "Will you please try it?" he requested. As good of a mood as being near her put him in, the pallor to her skin sent his chest thundering.

He knew her odds of death were high. If a wand could help channel her drawings better, to make magic easier on her body to handle, then Harry desperately wanted her to use it, because he didn't want to lose her.

Waiting, expectantly studying her, he felt a slight amount of relief as she let out a resigned sigh. "Fine. Now will you please get off me so I can go hex, Ron?"

The loud thudding indicated that Ron had moved with speed, leaping behind the nearest couch to get out of the line of fire. "You know ever since you two started dating you've both gotten bloody violent," he called.

Harry's mouth twitched, reaching a hand down to drag her up and against him. Snaring an arm behind her back, just to keep her close for a second, he peered towards Ron's hiding place. "Pretty sure she was violent before me."

A skeptical sound emanated from Ron, the feeling of Kalliandra shaking with quiet laughter in his arms good.

Giving her a quick squeeze he released her, Harry reaching for his back pocket and grabbing his wand. Holding the eleven inches of holly in hand, he considered the only thing standing between he and Voldemort – priori incantatum.

Then Harry considered her, he considered this. Seeing her hesitant, upset look…it was so uncharacteristic it'd rattled him. At some point he'd crossed a line with her, one he couldn't turn back from, even if he wanted to.

He sure as hell didn't want to.

What he knew right now, in that damn instant, was that he wanted to make her feel better.

If she was scared she didn't belong there, he'd show her otherwise.

"Okay," he started rather stiffly, as if talking to anyone else in the world but her, "did you ever try a regular wand?"

The sleepy look she shot him indicated she'd rather be headed to bed.

"I'll take that as a no."

Kaylens ran a hand through her long hair, tousling it and looking like she rather wanted to pull it out. "I did," she intoned softly, still sounding nervous and eyeing his wand like it was a viper. "Dumbledore…arranged something with Mr. Ollivander, then Hagrid took me. Just none of them worked." She paused, wincing, "Well, one did. Badly."

Watching her in the dying firelight, he seriously considered whether or not pushing her was a good idea.

Spying her pale coloration though, he decided it didn't matter if it was a good idea or not, it was needed.

"So that's why they did the pre-magicked wand," Hermione followed along, nodding as she sat up, curling her legs to her chest.

Kalliandra nodded, looking like she felt out-of-place. "Yeah. Hard to hide someone at a school of wizards and witches without a wand so…" she trailed off, her crystalline eyes meeting his. "Do we really have to do this now, Harry?"

Despite himself he spun his wand in hand, smiling slightly. "Unfortunately yes," he said, this time sounding almost apologetic. "Not getting out of it that easy."

Then he spun his wand around in hand, extending the hilt of it to her. "Here, try it."

Kaylens made a face. "I'd rather not."

Harry tilted his head. "Kaylens…"

She met his gaze very, very seriously. "Potter, what if it explodes? Then you're out of a wand and the last time I checked that particular wand was rather important to you."

A smirk crossed his jawline. "It's not going to explode, though I appreciate the concern." He left his wand extended out.

"Um Harry…" Hermione interceded. "She might not be entirely wrong to worry about that."

They both glanced over at her, Ron even poking his head up from the behind the couch.

Hermione smiled apologetically at Kally. "It's just…her magic is a totally different type from ours. She's an energy shifter. Not a witch who can do all types of magic, so…we have no way of knowing what would happen if she tried to use a wand with a core as powerful as yours."

Harry looked down at his extended wand, dumbfounded. "Hermione I really don't think-"

"Harry please," Kaylens half-pled, obviously seizing upon any excuse to not go down this path.

In the middle of the night, in the dimly lit common room, he shot the two witches a resigned look. "I just wanted to show her that even if nothing happened with mine, that hers couldn't be any worse."

"I know, Harry," Hermione said, placating him.

Muttering beneath his breath, he turned his attention back to Kaylens, who was still staring with slight fear at his wand. Something occurred to him, Harry staring at her in sudden disbelief as he realized what another part of the problem was.

"Merlin, you're afraid of wands aren't you?"

The way her eyes shot up from his wand to his face caused him to actually laugh. That was answer enough. "Okay seriously Kal, I can't have my girlfriend afraid of wands. Will you please just touch it?"

"Does no one else here how that sounds?" Ron demanded, sounding rather distressed.

Harry shot him a look, before turning his attention right back onto Kaylens. "Seriously Kally, I've seen you less afraid of a Death Eater that was trying to kill you than you look right now. Just take it. You don't have to try to do anything with it, just hold it."

She made a slight whining sound like a cornered animal.

Despite the late hour, despite the bone deep exhaustion still crawling through him, Harry grinned. "Oh, you're going to take this."

Then he lunged for her. She dodged his first attempt, Harry almost barreling into the fireplace and only just stopping himself by grabbing a hold of the mantle.

"Harry is this really the time-" Hermione started.

"Absolutely," he cut her off, Kaylens' golden head of hair ducking behind the couch. He bolted after her, finding that she'd taken a hold of Ron and was attempting to use him as a shield.

To Ron's credit, he just threw up both hands as if surrendering. "I give," he said sullenly.

Kaylens peered out from around Ron's shoulder, his best mate taller than her by at least a head. Harry grinned diabolically at them both. "Good, then you'll forgive me for this. Petrificus totalis!"

Ron's entire body went utterly rigid, teetering over the back of the couch and toppling onto the cushions. He laid there, motionless, looking rather like a wizard napping.

"Harry!" Hermione scolded, rushing to Ron's side and eyeing him. "Actually, I suppose we could leave him for just a little while…"

Kaylens just stared at him completely wide-eyed in shock. "You just…"

"Don't act so surprised," he drawled, spinning his wand and miming blowing smoke off the tip. "Not the first time I've stunned a hostage." Kaylens of all people ought to know. He'd once stunned her to get rid of the Death Eater behind her.

She was already backing away, eyes glinting less with fear and more with stunned amusement. "Every time I think you're starting to develop a bit more sanity, Potter…"

He casually followed her, stalking her around the common room and waiting for the opportune moment to pounce. "You know you'd get bored if I was any other way."

An unbidden laugh seemed to escape her, Potter miming lunging one direction and then going another.

She fell for it.

He snared her in a tight grip, tugging her back firmly against his chest, trapping her arms against her sides. She struggled for only a few seconds before giving in, Harry laughing lowly, face dipping into her hair once more. "Now take it, Kally," he ordered, the scent of her hair filling his senses. Holding up his wand in front of her, he felt her entire form grow instantly stiff against him.

Instinctively his grip on her loosened, but only slightly. "I guarantee it will be okay," he drawled promisingly, mouth already finding her ear, Harry easily getting distracted by her warm presence.

Now the wand wasn't the issue. It was the taste of her skin, the feel of her lithe form, the way each and every single small squirm from her felt completely and utterly agreeable against him.

Mouth moving to her neck, he felt her entire form shudder, a breathless sound escaping her as he muttered, "Sooner you do this, sooner we leave…"

The non-witch made an incensed sound, finally reaching up and grabbing onto the holly, her fingers brushing against his own, the Reach practically wincing as if expecting it to explode.

It didn't.

Harry's lidded gaze had cracked to observe her reaction, finding her in his arms, staring at it in sheer astonishment. "Told ya," he goaded, breath ghosting against her cheek.

He felt her form shiver against him, her golden gaze blinking as if still half afraid. Harry slowly released his grip on his wand, Kaylens now holding it entirely by herself.

It was like watching a kid light up upon learning how to ride a bicycle for the first time.

"The last time I held a real wand longer than a few seconds," she murmured, Harry aware that she'd broken a Death Eater's before, "it blew up."

Harry's mouth had begun tracing a path down the back of her neck, his hands – now both freed – running along her sides. At that though he froze, a truncated, "Come again?" coming out of his mouth.

"The wand," she told him. "It blew up."

Swallowing Harry slowly, very slowly moved, reaching to take his wand back. "I think I'll just…take this back now," he told, prying it out of her fingers. Soon as he had it back she'd spun around in his grip, now facing him, her arms sliding up to wind around his neck.

"You know," he told, looking into her gaze, "we'll have to work on that 'sharing pertinent information before it becomes relevant' thing."

"Mmmhmm," she murmured in agreement, her lips curving into a downright impish smile. It took him a second to realize that she was reaching into his back pocket, trying to swipe his wand back.

Harry snagged her hand in his, curtailing her attempt with wry amusement. "Glad to see you've gotten over that 'being afraid of it' thing and jumped straight to the 'using it to torture me' stage." He had a dark feeling that she was going to try to nick it off him repeatedly now, just to watch him twitch.

Kaylens merely smiled. Somehow her silence was terrifying.

"By the way," he asked, "what happened to that 'nothing happened when you tried the other wands' thing?"

She shrugged carelessly. "I said it was just the one that blew up."

"Uh huh," he said, now the one sounding skeptical.

Her eyes flickered over his. "It was the only dragon heart string core they had me try," she said. "I can think of a few reasons why it might have done that, can't you?"

Hovering there within the dark common room, Kaylens' arms around him, his around hers, Hermione finally having taken pity upon Ron and de-petrifying him in the background, it took Harry a bit longer than it should have to realize the significance of that statement.

Dragon heart strings.

He looked at her, a shadow crossing his eyes. Harry was always acutely damn aware, but sometimes he forgot the mechanism. Kaylens was an energy shifter, a living grim, a Reach. She killed by stopping hearts. Harry swallowed roughly, grinding, "Yeah."

He sounded far hollower than intended, and Kaylens sure as hell heard it.

Instantly the small smile upon her face faltered, Harry quickly lifting his hand to the side of her face, thumb caressing her cheekbone as if doing so were the most important thing in the damn world at that instant. "Sorry," he muttered, "I ...just sometimes I forget."

Eyes locked onto hers, Harry waited. His own heart hammered, one he harbored no fear of her ever harming, given he'd die before he let someone harm her, and still…

He harbored the damn fear of her leaving, dying.

It was why he so oft felt the driving need to touch her, to feel that she was there, safe, beneath his hands.

He still needed that.

Kaylens wet her lips, slowly whispering, "You sure that's the only reason? That you forgot?"

Everywhere that his skin touched hers a gentle tingling had arisen, Kaylens true magic tracing across his skin with her upset. He'd felt it more than once before, now knowing what it meant. "Think I can handle," he muttered, "you crushing hearts, long as it isn't mine." And he didn't mean in the literal sense.

Her lips parted, failing to form words.

He didn't bother to wait. Harry lowered his mouth to hers, the almost electric feel upon their warm contact sending his heart pounding harder. Groaning he gathered her tighter against him, clutching as hard as he dared without causing her physical pain, his lips moving slowly over hers for as long as it took for Ron and Hermione to decide they were better off heading to bed.

There were things he could definitely do with her, right then, alone in the common room at that hour, his blood pumping as hard as it was.

He definitely wanted to.

Somehow, pulling his mouth from hers, he restrained himself. "Kaylens," he muttered hoarsely, tiredly against her lips, "you need to try your wand. Tonight. No more stalling."

Her eyes had not even fully fluttered open, her expression still relaxed, serene, lips parted and breathing slightly harder than their kiss had warranted. "You're relentless," she whispered in awe.

"Better get used to that."

Her eyes remained closed, Harry silently willing them to open as he cupped her chin, tilting her face up to regard her. When her eyes finally did flicker open, the incredible gold mixing with flecks of brown and green, they studied him intently. "Slow learner," she countered, lips twitching. "Might take a few tries before I do."

Harry wet his lips. "Come on Kaylens," he ground, not seizing onto the bait to continue snogging, "don't make me frisk you for it."

In his arms she sighed, reaching into the folds of her cloak and finally pulling it out. It was wrapped in a cloth, as if she hadn't wanted to touch it with her bare skin.

Harry inclined an eyebrow. "Mind if I…?"

She shook her head, Harry taking it and unwrapping it, nothing having changed about it since Lupin had given it to Kaylens two weeks prior. There was something strange about handling another person's wand. The feeling of it against his fingers…

The thing practically thrummed, that alone making him nervous. Cramming that many magical objects into one wand's core…he wasn't a wand making expert but if Ollivander had required convincing to make it…

Harry studied it a moment longer, expression unreadable as he seriously hoped that Lupin and Snape knew what the hell they were doing.

Eyes lifting from the wand to her, he considered their options. "Want to try this out at the Room of Requirement?"

"Now?" she asked incredulously. "Potter it's half after midnight."

"Best time," he told, "to ensure no one sees us." He forced a smirk, claiming her hand and uncurling her fingers, before pressing the wand against her palm. "Magic's not the only thing we can do there."

Kaylens' lips parted in sudden understanding. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh. You know, after you've tried out your wand."

Watching her, her countenance went through several different expressions in a swift time frame. He was bribing her, in a manner of sorts, but he shamelessly didn't care. Their first class wasn't until 9:30. If they skipped breakfast, there was time for all of that and sleep.

"You're creating a reward system, aren't you?" she finally accused.

Harry just grinned, seizing her hand and tugging her towards the portrait.

They were in the Room of Requirement within fifteen minutes, Kaylens looking shaken as she stood alone in the room's center. She'd banished him as far away from where she was going to try this as the room permitted, leaving him leaning against the wall, silently watching.

Her complete and utter fear of accidentally hurting him made something warm squirm within his chest, Harry realizing something.

In war there were many battles. Some were brazen, blatant, leaving the dead scattered in their wake, but standing there, watching Kaylens as she eyed her wand with the trepidation of a first year, it occurred to him that there were smaller, personal ones that happened every day.

Leaning against the wall, arms crossed, Harry grimaced. He'd personally witnessed the non-witch standing before him be tortured, cut, and hexed, only to stare down those Death Eaters and werewolves and spit in their faces. She possessed far less magic than the rest of them, yet fought harder than most fully qualified wizards.

She'd tackled Death Eaters, distracted unhinged Ministry of Magic officials, risked discovery by drawing to find Pettigrew, all for him, either unafraid or never once showing it.

He hadn't been there for all of it, but he knew for a fact that she'd faced worse: carnivorous undead, the death of her family, betrayal of friends, train wrecks, burning warehouses...

He guaranteed that she hadn't so much as blinked over any of it.

Yet despite all of that it was a simple, little wand that was making her look nervous.

Kalliandra Kaylens stood within the empty Room of Requirement, gnawing on her lower lip, wand held in between her delicate, pale fingers, looking uneasy.

Despite himself Harry Potter found himself smiling.

Whether he was ready for it or not, he was in love with the girl.

His chest squirmed warmly. "You've got this, Kaylens."

He just hoped he did too.

Impossibly golden eyes flickered towards him, his girlfriend nodding, a scared smile touching her lips.

A second later the room began to change, shadows and a breeze blowing through it, sending her long hair rustling around her form, cloak billowing as the room shifted, changing from the castle's training room to a field ensconced deep within the Forbidden Forest, one they had both once seen, been within, alone.

It was where he'd first kissed her, Harry's heart pounding as the reeds in the pond began to sway, lightning flashing violently overhead, leaf-strewn grass rustling in the wake of the oncoming storm. The castle wall he had been leaning on changed into the rough bark of a tree, the popping crackle of trees on fire, the flames lending a fierce heat to the scene despite the rain that had begun to pound down, soaking them both.

From the shadows emerged a Death Eater, the room knowing and conjuring the needed assailant for her.

In a smooth, furious motion Kaylens elegantly dropped to her knees in the mud, as if bowing, her dark cloak flying out around her as the Death Eater approached, the room's intense wind picking up-

Harry barely saw her wand's tip touch against the mud-laden grass, a golden light beginning to glow at the tip.

It happened suddenly.

Lightning struck.

The wand's light blazed brightly, a sudden trail of gold shooting from its tip towards the Death Eater, snaring the conjured construct around the legs and snaking its way up the bastard's body in the rain. The faceless figure's skin was suddenly glowing, its veins bright with an aberrant gold, Kaylens' magic infiltrating every cell of the assailant.

The construct fell to its knees, clutching at its chest…

Lightning fired overhead, the steady downpour of pounding droplets striking the mud so loud that Harry could barely hear the Death Eater's screams, let alone if Kaylens screamed or not.

The body fell forward, face first into the water-laden grass, mud splattering at the impact.

Harry had never seen her draw so quickly.

The trail of magic that had encased the Death Eater was now moving in reverse, snaking out of the Death Eater's dead body and moving back across the wet, dark ground towards her, swiftly returning via her wand's tip.

The backlash was entering the wand, not her.

Already shivering from the fierce, wet cold, none of it real, Harry's gaze darted from the wand, to the downed figure in the cowls of Voldemort, and back to where Kalliandra remained kneeling. Only…

Her head was no longer bowed. Instead, Kally was looking right at him, her irises blazing rings of gold within the storm.

Slowly she rose to her feet on her own accord, for once looking steady.

Harry shoved himself away from the tree quicker than he would have believed, walking towards her with haste, mud flinging behind him as he moved to her. Kaylens remained standing, eerily still as the wind battered them both, Harry reaching her in only a few steps.

The glow at her wand's end was only just fading when he grabbed onto her, the electric shock shooting through them both, Harry quickly smoothing the wet hair sticking to her face away from her mouth.

His mouth found hers in a heartbeat, her hands clinging to the front of his wet robes, Harry doing his best to begin removing hers. She was alive. She had drawn. The backlash had went into her wand, not her. She stood a chance now. His heart was thundering so damn hard it was nearly beating out of his chest.

Harry knew the significance of this. He knew what it meant. Just like he knew what it meant to be sliding her cloak off her. Not everything. Not now. He promised himself he'd treat her better than that. But…

He still wanted something from her, and he wanted it an hour ago.

As the clearing's harsh, lightning-filled sky slowly changed, the rain warming considerably, wind dying even if the storm itself did not abate, he'd urgently slid off her shirt, Kaylens hands removing his, her mouth already trailing down his dripping chest with intent. Harry's fingers tangled in her sopping hair, clutching onto her as his belt was removed, her agile fingers…

Harry gasped, groaning, the two pausing for only a moment as he gasped the question, needing to know if she was okay.

Even in the dark Harry saw what he needed to see.

A smile was touching Kalliandra's lips, her irises still glittering with aberrant magic that he could feel coursing through him at her touch. Only for him…

It didn't kill. It didn't hurt. It felt good.

He was alive.

So was she.

They spent the next hour celebrating exactly that in the rain soaked Room of Requirement's clearing, only barely stopping themselves from crossing lines they couldn't come back from. The way her lips had wrapped around parts of him, the way his found her in kind…

Harry was fairly certain he could have died and been happy, but he didn't. Instead the damn good feeling that was his life continued.

It was a long time before either rested, finally sleeping there, in the Room of Requirement, in a conjured field, in each other's arms as the warm rain finally stopped.

Perhaps the most surprising thing of all about it was that neither of them over slept potions, and that McGongall didn't happen to find them. She did use the Room of Requirement to conduct evil trainings after all.

A certain house elf may have had something to do with that, Dobby the house elf firmly resolving to ask Mr. Harry Potter who the golden haired girl was the next day.

For now Dobby had to finish hanging the 'out of order' sign on the Room of Requirement's door, the elf grinning sneakily to himself, rather pleased at his own cleverness.