CH4: Nigel Newbarrason

Harry POV

Flashback to summer after third year

"She doesn't know" Hermione informed me, totally out of the blue.

She'd been weird lately, definitely not the Hermione I knew. She got weird right after Bella arrived, although, I admit it took Ron & I a few days to really figure out something was up… I mean it was exam time… we thought she was just being a bit barmier than usual.

However, it soon turned out that she was actively ignoring the newest girl in our class, Bella. After we realized it wasn't just Exam-Hermione that we were getting, Ron chalked Hermione's behavior up to being poor with other girls, Ginny said she thought Hermione was jealous of Bella's easy relationship with Ron, but I was convinced Hermione knew something or was on her way to figuring something out.

Turns out I was right, 'Mione had a theory and she shared it that summer. It happened while we were sitting under the old oak that had to be at least as wide as Gryffindor tower, and had several low branches.

Hermione and I were sitting on one of these branches while Ginny and Ron were teaching Bella the basics of being a Chaser- her old school was apparently not interested in the sport, but she was obsessed as soon as she heard it was played several feet up in the air on brooms. She claimed to have found a recent love of flying as it gave her a rush… Hermione simply turned to me and said three little words:

"She doesn't know."

I was about to refute her and tell her that there was not a thing for Ginny to know, because I didn't fancy her, nope not me. No fancying my best mate's little sister.

But during my inner freak out, Hermione kept speaking. "People are planted in their new lives with a false history of their story. It is rare that they are found out and even more rare that they remember. Nigel Newbarrason was the only wizard to ever realize what happened to him, but the mind healers were never quite able to sort him out."

She had lost me, completely. What on earth was she talking about and more importantly 'who' was she talking about?

"'Mione, you've got to give me a bit more to go off of here… what/who are we talking about?" I asked.

Exasperatedly she replied, "Harry, what magical school doesn't have a quidditch team?! Better yet what magical community doesn't discuss quidditch like their lives depend on it?! Honestly, it is the only thing all witches and wizards can actually discuss! Think Harry! She shows up right after we figure out Snuffles is your godfather. Dumbledore places her in the care of the Weasleys after all this time when her parents were supposedly killed years ago? There are too many parts moving for this to be a coincidence." She fiercely whispered to me.

I wanted to agree with her. I did. But there was something about Bella that seemed so familiar and safe that I couldn't distrust her. "Alright 'Mione, we'll watch 'er. But we've got to be fair about it."

Hermione seemed like she was going to argue with it, but with a twitch of her lip she decided to let it go.

Hermione insisted that we only tell Bella what we told Ginny, and did not hold back the smirk as I reddened at Ginny's name.

For weeks she kept Bella at an arm's length, but Bella wore her down...

Bella was emphatic in her studying and her preparation for OWL's. She almost rivaled Hermione's mania and I think she was granted the Granger stamp of approval when she pulled out a study calendar the first week back. Hermione soon cared for her like a sister. During the tri-wizard tournament, it was Bella who pulled Ron's head out of his arse (first with the Harry sitch and then again with Krum). She was able to get Ron to do things Hermione had been trying to persuade him to for years...

Who knew the boy would respond to food bribes? And when that didn't work a spirited whack on the arm or a 'conversation' often brought him round.

That year they all worked together to plan out Harry's survival and hopeful success in the Tournament. When Harry was too oblivious to think of Ginny for the ball it was Bella who suggested it, to Ron's chagrin.

Hermione and Bella became 'too close for comfort' as Ron put it and they would often disappear for 'girl talk' and come back in fits of giggles. They even began to prank Forge after the boys interrupted Bella's date with one of the Durmstrang gents during fourth year. The twins' hair was green for a week and the boys' skin looked like carrots, the girls even enchanted a garden gnome to follow each of them and bite at random intervals. Together they were utterly terrifying.

Harry never forgot though, that Hermione once believed Bella to be 'planted' among them. Hermione isn't usually that wrong or that far off base, and that fact bothered Harry quite a bit.

Soon though Hermione, Ron, & Harry pulled her into the fold. She was told about year one and the Philosopher's stone one night after a particularly violent game of wizarding chess where she and Ron were equally matched. Ginny and Hermione told her about the Basilisk when we were all studying one evening and Ginny's Herbology textbook was consulted for a spot busting salve, apparently mandrake leaves are also used for spot treatment.

They even confided in her about Sirius after Trelawney read her leaves after class one fall afternoon. Bella was quite shaken and missed dinner that night. Her head had been pounding fiercely after the tea and incense. She attempted to beg off from Professor Trelawney but the professor held her in place with a light hand and light and grainy voice. "The grimm and swan will meet answering to both. Time knows not the bounds of either pole. Ice in veins with hearts aflame the grimm and swan will meet." The boys helped her laugh it off and shared her last grimm prediction and what actually happened.

Fifth-year was upon them in what seemed to be a flash. The ministry and all its horrid doings, sham hearings, Umbridge, the DA, Gwap, The Centaurs, and the Hall of Mysteries.

She was absolutely terrified that night in the Hall of Mysteries. They all were, but Bella's fear began while they were still at Hogwarts. She could see the Thestrals, as always, but what she didn't know was that no one else could except for Harry and Luna. She never knew that the other students couldn't see them, the carriages weren't exactly a common topic of conversation. But when they arrived in the forest her life changed. She thought of the rememberball from earlier in the year, it's red smoke filling the glass. She wouldn't forget something like this… would she? She had seen someone die… and forgotten it. Was this the thing the rememberball was alluding to?

Harry didn't exactly have time to consult with who could see the Thestrals and why he presumed Bella had witnessed her parents' death and went on with it. Sirius was in danger and he needed to go. NOW.

Once they arrived they realized they were tricked. It was an impressive battle of teens against wizards and witches much older and much darker. The Order arrived while Bella was tending to the blitzed Ron. She heard Harry's scream from the atrium. She was attempting to floo Ron to St. Mungo's, instead, she was locked inside the atrium to mind a barely conscious Ron with Dumbledore, Harry, and Lord Voldemort. She watched him duel Dumbledore and possess Harry. She had no idea why he ignored the two of them. Perhaps her shield charm had worked better than she thought. Harry's struggle with Voldemort was horrifying and for a brief moment, they locked eyes. Harry's eyes were red and she was back in a room of mirrors undergoing the worst pain imaginable. Harry shook Voldemort after locking eyes with Bella, she reminded him of his happiest memories and of the Mirror. Voldemort escaped and the rest is history.

It took Harry a long time to come around after Sirius's death, but he did.

Bella broke him out of the Dursley's often and they just sat. Sometimes she would break in only to sit with him. Ron and Hermione couldn't stand to see him like this, but Bella knew he needed it. She, again couldn't remember why or when, but she knew that this was what his heart needed- to shut down, to feel nothing, for now.

A few weeks into summer she pulled him outside to Sirius's motorcycle. She needed to see his spark back in his green eyes, the flat dead color had recently become unnerving. She said nothing, handed him a helmet and waited. He climbed on, she scooted on in back of him and they took off. It was as close as they could get to flying when they were in muggle areas. She loved it, and Harry felt something for the first time since Sirius died.

They became ridiculous. Skydiving in Newbury, surfing in Thurso, mountain boarding in West Sussex, coasteering in Pembrokeshire, and got drunk at muggle and magical pubs alike. They went to raves, took MDMA once and almost exposed the wizarding world (luckily everyone was shooting sparks that night) and sometimes they hiked up impossible cliffs with sticking charms from the elder Weasley Brothers and would just sit atop a cliff face. The 'adrenaline' as Bella and Hermione called it worked to distract Harry and the drinking let him open up more than he had before. Sometimes Ron and Hermione would join them, but often one of them needed to cover for Bella. Ginny was a frequent companion on the less dangerous items but would beg off before the pub. Harry healed, through hangovers, bruises, and ragers. It wasn't always healthy, but it was working.