A Second Chance

by Breanie

Part 2 Kismet Trilogy: What if Sirius didn't spend twelve years in prison but was given a trial after 4 years? Follow the story of Sirius Black as he learns what it means to be a father/brother/guardian & the story of Harry Potter, a young boy with a loving home who learns about the Marauders from the two men who should have raised him. Slow-burn Hinny. M for sex & violence.

217. The One Where Sirius Has the Man-Flu and

Author's Note:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own this fragmented scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that belongs to the lovely JKR.

This one goes out to: thisismegz, imwhite1086-blog, runningtwiceasfast, and nobothersgiventoday for motivating me to post a sneak peek on my tumblr! I hope you enjoy the chapter as much as the sneak peek — it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to think people are waiting so eagerly to read what comes next.

Reviews: To PurpleLotus: A million Kudos would be lovely so thank you; glad I brought you to tears and feels, I must be doing something right! To Pegg7: No anxiousness, just you know, be prepared ;) I enjoy writing the little moments down memory lane. As to the Dursleys, we never found out because Sirius didn't want to know, he just wanted to focus on Harry. To The OneWithWritersBlock: I mean, we could keep just happy and fun moments with no war, no Voldemort, and just lots of embarrassing baby photos but I'm afraid that it would get boring pretty quickly. To Pottermum: Thank you, so much — love is what I was going for! To Steelcode: I agree, reviewing memories can be both painful and can show how much you've grown and I think it's good for Harry to see them and to share them with those he loves, especially Ginny.

To Sayumii: Wow, this chapter made you want to start all over again, well thanks! I am truly amazed by the amount of people who have told me that they've read this more than once! Thank you so much for that! To alix33: Do you really like Tom Riddle Jr more than the Dursleys, damn lol. And I love the slooch scene. To LoveNCIS: Thanks for the mentioning of gay smut, I like writing it and sometimes I think it's needed for the story and sometimes I just want to write smut, this offends some people, but it's my story and I did warn of it in the first chapter. Smut is smut and as Sirius says, love is love, end of story. To Wolf's scream: Harry does "dad jokes" because he's lived with Sirius lol. To SpeedsONEandONLY: Kiki talking to Finn and threatening him would be adorable! I like to think that she said her piece to him. And ha, Harry does need to find some embarrassing photos of Sirius, doesn't he? I'm sure he will one day — though he does have the bath ones. To Complaining guy: I'm sorry that you don't need gay smut in your reading list and impressed it took you 216 chapters before you decided that. Hope you find something you do enjoy and thanks for reading this long! To supersandman86: Ah the Patronuses, we shall have to see! To Anonymous: I am take it or leave it because a) it's my story and b) I put multiple warnings in the first chapter so for those who are angry that I have gays in my story without warning - it's in chapter one, this is chapter 217 now, I can't really warn you any more, but thanks for reading this long.

To Leaf Ranger: Tonks does need a break and she will get one… eventually. To coloredwords: I had to have Sirius bring up Remus proposing in bed, it was too iconic, and the main reason why Sirius didn't tell Remus he was planning to propose — he needed to rub it in his face. To Saz J: It's important for Ginny to have seen some of his hardships. To boomer21b: I love that you would be willing to read this story until Harry is grey-haired and meeting his parents for the last time in the afterlife, but I don't think it will go that far! Thanks for the encouragement though! To criertuckyahoocom: Thank you! I do think the memories add to the narrative. To notthatchhavi: I feel like Zee's patronus had to be a panther! Finn is charming and caring and in my opinion exactly who Theo needs. To maximusresmundi: Thank you, I take that has a high compliment that you view my characters as real and flawed and never out of character, I try to work hard to keep them that way. I know that not everyone enjoys the way I weave the memories in, but I feel like it adds to the story and as an author, I like the recap. Thanks for the reviews and comments!

PS — bit of a long chapter, and yes, I know, you don't mind LOL!

My posting schedule: Once a week.

Thank you to Dusk for her wonderful editing skills!

As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you for all of your continued support!

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CHAPTER TWO-HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN:

Ginny stepped out of the bathroom later on that day and smiled when she saw Sirius kiss Zee rather passionately before he jogged down the stairs. Zee placed a hand over her heart and was grinning widely to herself before she turned and saw her.

"Oh, Ginny, hi. Sorry, we didn't realize that you were up here."

Ginny smiled. "I just came up to use the loo. I didn't mean to interrupt. Zee, I just wanted to say congratulations. You and Sirius are so happy together."

Zee beamed at her. "Thank you! I love him very much. He and Harry, both - and it's like this little instant family. They've both fit me into their lives so seamlessly, it's like I've always been."

"Harry loves you. He was so excited when he came back from his ring shopping day with Sirius. You're everything that he never knew he wanted. Sirius and Remus have been both amazing dads to him, but you're exactly what he needs."

"That means so much to me, Ginny, thank you. You're what he needs, too, you know that, right?"

Ginny shrugged. "He's kinda what I need, too."

Zee smiled. "Well, if you ever need anything, I'm always here for you."

"That's lovely, thanks. Sometimes with the never-ending train of men in my life, a woman is a nice touch."

"Agreed. I'm surrounded by men myself. Us girls have to stay together," Zee said with a smile.

Ginny chuckled at that. "Definitely."

Zee grinned. "Well, I'm going to wash up quickly and then was thinking of doing some baking. Are you and Harry interested in helping me out? I don't want to show up to your parents' house empty handed."

"Trust me, Mum will have enough food to feed an army. But if you insist on bringing something, I'd love to help." Ginny told her. "We'll meet you in the kitchen."

She left Zee to wash up as she made her way downstairs. She saw Sirius lean in on the sofa and whisper something in Harry's ear that made him elbow Sirius in response before they both started laughing. She thought Zee was right. They're bond had always been so tight and so wonderful. Zee fit in as if she'd always been and made them only more of a unit — a family.

It was wonderful to see and most of all, it was wonderful to see how happy it made Harry.

~ ASC ~

After spending the afternoon watching the memories and then baking, the five of them had been invited back to the Burrow that evening for dinner with Ginny, as Charlie had come into town and Bill was bringing Fleur. Mrs Weasley insisted on a full house and had invited not only Harry and his family, but Hermione, Angelina, Theo, and Finn. Dinner was a loud and rambunctious affair. Fred talked Finn's ear off about the shop and Finn laughed uproariously. Mr and Mrs Weasley both asked Finn question after question about his job and his future. Bill and Charlie kept doing the same; Harry overheard Bill tell Charlie that if Finn broke Theo's heart, they were going to deal with him together. It made him smile to think that the entire Weasley family seemed to have adopted the Slytherin in such a way.

Mrs Weasley fussed over Angelina and told George how proud she was of him for going back to write his NEWTs, even if it was only for love. Harry even heard her say that she knew Fred wouldn't write them and she knew that it was the best choice for him.

It was a surprising evening all around. Especially when Bill stood up and announced that he and Fleur were engaged. The couple were met with hugs and congratulations and Harry thought that it had been a really fun-filled holiday weekend.

With Easter over and the big proposal to Zee out of the way, Harry found himself getting anxious for the school year to end. Sirius and Zee were talking wedding plans and places to get married. With the wedding date set for New Year's Eve, they had a lot of planning to do beforehand. Zee was talking about getting away for a holiday, maybe of even going back to America to see Grandma and Grandpa that summer.

The only other thing that Harry had coming up were his tickets to the Quidditch final at the end of May and he was eagerly following the teams in Quidditch Weekly to hear about who would be playing in the match. Ginny, along with Sirius and Tonks, were coming with him, and he was rather looking forward to it. Tonks kept sending him owls, placing bets on who she thought was going to make it into the final three. Harry was rooting for Puddlemere, but the Arrows were on fire this year, and he thought they'd make it to the final match.

He had his own Quidditch matches to work on as well. After barely scraping by in the last win against Slytherin and then winning spectacularly against Ravenclaw, Gryffindor was once again in the running for the Cup. If they won the match next week against Hufflepuff, they would go on to try for the Quidditch Cup against either Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Harry was determined for them to come out on top since he was captain, and he wanted to show that the title had been worth giving to him.

And he really wanted to win.

On top of that, they had OWLs to get ready for. Every professor seemed to be drilling it into their heads the importance of their Ordinary Wizard Levels. Hermione was starting to stress over them and was snapping at anyone who interrupted her study time. Even Ron seemed oddly irritable when it came to people interrupting him.

Neville was convinced that he was going to fail everything and often was found sitting with his head in his hands as he said 'oh no oh no oh no' over and over again. The only real bright spot to the massive amounts of school work as of late was Defence Club.

Remus had finally deemed it time to introduce the Patronus Charm to his Advanced Class and had asked Harry to help teach it. Everyone was most excited to learn it after watching in amazement as Harry's stag, dog, and wolf ran around the duelling room. When Remus' wolf joined in, everyone was amazed.

"Now, it's important to remember that the Patronus is a reflection of your inner self. It could be connected to the animal you become if you were to be an Anigmagi and it could not be. But the thing that it is most known for is reading your soul. A Patronus is a piece of your soul's magic and often those who are our soulmates will have a similar form. Not always, but often they are of a similar creature or a reflection of those we are destined to be with." He looked around the room with a smile. "We're just going to work on the charm today. The incantation is Expecto Patronum. Repeat after me."

"Expecto Patronum!" The class exclaimed.

"Good," Remus said. "Now you must think of a very happy memory. The happiest you've ever felt, and hold onto that feeling. Let's see what you can do. Harry and I will be walking around the room to see who might need assistance."

By the third meeting of the Defence club, only Ron had managed to make a full fledged Patronus, but Hermione's was a wisp of a start. Remus gave him ten points and dismissed the class.

"Ron, you made a Patronus!" Hermione exclaimed, her eyes dancing in excitement. "I'm so proud of you!"

The back and tips of Ron's ears flushed. "I don't know, I guess I just had the right memory."

Harry slapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Good going, mate! I could tell that Uncle Rem was really impressed. It's a very complex charm and usually it's not even taught before NEWTs."

Hermione nodded eagerly. "I wish that I could have seen what my animal was. Do you think that it will be a fox?"

Ron shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, mine was a weasel."

"But weasels are part of the same family as wolverines, so it's really not that far off," Hermione told him.

Ron nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. "True."

When they returned to the Gryffindor common room, a grim-faced Ginny hurried towards them.

"There was another attack," she said quietly. "It was in the Evening Prophet. Death Eaters attacked St Mungo's. Two healers were killed and..." She let out a slow breath. "They destroyed the children's ward."

Hermione gasped.

"No survivors."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "How many?"

"Twelve," Ginny said quietly. "Eight children and four healers. One of them was Angelina's cousin. He was only four years old and he was being treated for Mumplemumps."

Harry looked over at where George was cradling Angelina in his arms as she cried. "Why? What's the point of attacking sick kids?"

Ron put an arm around Hermione in comfort. "He's sick is what he is. Sick in the head and... I hope it was quick at least."

Ginny nodded, moving to wrap her arms around her boyfriend and snuggle in. "I think so. They blew up the ward with what the Aurors believe to be the same spells they've been using all over London. If they want to create a panic, they're off to a great start."

"What is the Ministry doing? What about the Defence System?"

"I don't know, Harry," Ginny answered.

Harry pulled Ginny upstairs with him as Ron and Hermione followed. The four of them curled up on the floor between Ron and Harry's beds before Harry pulled out his mirror.

"Uncle Sirius!"

It was only a moment before Sirius' grim face appeared in the mirror.

"I guess you saw the paper, eh?"

"What happened?"

"It was a surprise attack. They were getting the children ready for bed. Someone had delivered a chest full of toys as a donation to the hospital, but it was charmed to detonate at a certain time and... it went off."

"So no Death Eaters were at the hospital when it happened?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, which makes it harder to pinpoint. The Aurors are going over the damage and checking out the magical signature, but we know that Voldemort and his followers are responsible. What better way to inspire fear?"

"Were you there?" Harry asked him.

"This afternoon, yeah, and the chest hadn't arrived when I left," he told them. "Trust me, I know how frustrating this is. But we have to let the Department of Magical Law Enforcement do their jobs. He's trying to create panic, and if we allow ourselves to fall into his trap — he's winning."

Harry let out a slow breath. He knew that Sirius was right but it didn't make him feel any better. "Right. Are you okay?"

Sirius nodded. "I will be. Thanks for asking. I'll talk to you later. Go study for those OWLs."

Harry said goodbye and put the mirror away as Ginny gripped his hand.

"Did Sirius know someone who worked at the hospital?"

Harry shook his head. "Not directly. He volunteers there, in the children's ward. He has since I started at Hogwarts. He likes to go and play with the kids. He brings them gifts and reads to them and donates money to the ward to help out. He doesn't go as much as he used to now, what with everything going on, but it's one of the places he frequents often, and I know that he's gotten attached to almost all of the children there."

"Those poor families," Hermione said.

Harry nodded. "He needs to be stopped. We need to find the damn diadem and put an end to it."

"We do and we will," Ginny told him. "We know it's in the castle, Harry."

"We don't know for sure," Harry countered. "We strongly suspect it, but we can't seem to find it."

His friends didn't have an answer for that and neither did he, which only made it worse somehow.

They had to find it.

~ ASC ~

As May breezed in, Ginny found herself struggling to speak to Harry. It wasn't that they didn't talk, because they did, every day — about school, classes, Voldemort, the war… they were never not talking — except when they were snogging. But she wanted to talk to him about something more.

Since spending the holiday viewing the memories with him, she had wanted to ask him more about his time with the Muggles, but she didn't quite know how. She'd rather gotten the impression from Sirius that Harry had almost never talked about it to anyone. They finished Quidditch practice that afternoon and she hurried over to him, holding onto her broom as she grabbed his hand with her free one to tug him close to her.

"Want to go up to the Tower room and snog?"

Harry tugged her up against him, his forehead resting against hers. "More than anything."

Ginny kissed him quickly. "Meet you here after we shower?"

"Deal."

Ginny kissed him again before she hurried off to the change room, unable to resist turning and sneaking one more look at him. She showered and changed, smiling when she saw her boyfriend waiting for her near the stands. He took her broom from her and they walked hand in hand back to the castle, absently talking about the practice and what to look for in the upcoming match. If they won the next match against Hufflepuff on Saturday, they would be playing Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup in two weeks.

When they reached the tower room, Harry immediately pulled her down into his lap on the sofa. She slid her arms around his neck, her fingers slipping into his hair.

"I love you," she said, her lips touching his scar.

He jolted slightly but sighed into her. Ginny kissed his scar a second time and she felt him relax.

"Do you like it when I kiss you there?" she murmured.

Harry's green eyes met hers. "It's… ugly, I suppose, and what it represents is ugly. It was evil."

Ginny pressed her lips to it again. "It's part of you, of your story. It's not ugly."

Harry's hand slid up her back into her loose hair as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. "You always make me feel so comfortable, Ginny, so warm and so… happy."

They sat there for the longest time, just holding each other before Harry's head turned and he kissed her cheek.

"I love you."

Ginny's fingers danced through his hair as she smiled at him. "I've been wanting to talk to you about something and… I haven't been quite sure how to bring it up."

Harry's eyebrow raised in question. "Oh?"

Her fingers continued to play with his hair as she bit her bottom lip for a moment. "When I was at your house and we viewed those memories of your past…"

Harry's eyes looked guarded and his hands dropped from her waist. "Ah."

"Harry… I don't want to push you to talk to me about it if you don't want to, but I rather got the impression that you haven't really talked about it - to anyone."

"It was a long time ago," he said, examining his fingernails. "I don't remember much."

Ginny nodded. She slid her fingers out of his hair and down his cheeks to cup his face in her hands. "The first time I met you, I knew I scared you a little. I said hello and I kissed you right on the mouth without hesitation. I was a little too outgoing as a child. I thought you were adorable and after I realized who you were, I was so excited. I'd met Harry Potter! But then you came to my birthday and well, you were just Harry. I liked you, but I could tell that you didn't really seem to know how to have fun. I wanted to show you how to have fun. Then that time Dad touched your shoulder and you blew out all the windows in the kitchen of the Burrow… I knew someone had hurt you."

"Ginny…"

She shook her head, her hands still framing his face. "I wrapped my arms around you and you were shaking, vibrating in raw power, and I could feel it, like an electric current was under your skin, but I didn't let go - and degree by degree, you relaxed, so that by the time Sirius showed up, you were okay."

"How do you remember all that?"

Ginny gently brushed his fringe off his forehead. "I remember everything about you, Harry."

"I thought your parents would never let me back there. I thought Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus would send me away because I did freak things… that's what… that's what the Dursleys had told me."

Ginny tenderly stroked his cheek and down his jaw with her knuckles. "In that memory I saw… you said that they beat you?"

Harry nodded. "That first night when Uncle Siri tried to give me a bath, I guess my whole back was cut up from the belt, it was about a week old, but they hadn't been taken care of properly and they'd festered a bit. I have a few tiny scars on my back from it, barely noticeable."

Ginny lifted his tee shirt and he shifted to show her four tiny white scratches that were vertical just under his shoulder blades. She leaned in, gently brushing her lips over each scar and he shivered before he pulled his tee shirt back down and turned to hold her back in his lap.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," Ginny told him.

He shrugged, his fingers playing with the tips of her hair. "I didn't know any different. I just knew that my parents had died and that they were my only relatives. They didn't want me and made sure to tell me almost every day. I was a burden, a freak of nature, and they didn't want my unnaturalness under their roof. I slept in the cupboard under the stairs. They'd lock me in the dark as punishment, and they would starve me. I remember being afraid to tell my dads that I was hungry or too afraid to get up in the middle of the night to use the loo… but Uncle Rem and Uncle Siri, they gave me a home and I never looked back."

Ginny took his hands in hers and brought them to her lips. "Only look back at the good."

"You're amazing, you know that, right?"

She smiled, her hand brushing over the palm of his left hand. "How did you get this scar?"

Harry glanced down at his palm to see the thin white line in the centre. "Broke a glass when I was four and it wasn't properly treated."

Ginny nodded and rolled up her right sleeve to show him a small crescent scar on her elbow. "From when I fell off Charlie's broom when I was eight. I told Mum I fell out of a tree." At his grin, she pushed her shirt aside to show him the scar on her left shoulder. "And this is where Ron pushed me off the roof of the shed when I was seven and I landed on my arm on the side, tore it open pretty bad. Percy patched me up after I made him promise not to tell Mum, and then he helped me get Ron back by pranking him into thinking there were spiders in his bed. Percy and I snuck into his room in the middle of the night and put itching powder in his sheets so he woke up all red and covered in itchy spots and Percy told him that they looked like spider bites."

Harry laughed. "That's pretty evil. I remember that. When I came to stay we had to check every nook and cranny of his room before he'd let me turn out the light to go to sleep."

She grinned. "Don't mess with me."

"I'll remember that," he said on a strangled laugh. He stared at her for a moment before he lifted up his tee shirt again to show her the long thin jagged scar in the centre of his back. "Horntail."

Ginny rolled up the left leg of her pants to show him a tiny scar the size of a sickle just behind her knee. "Gnome bite."

Harry pointed to the small scar near the elbow of his right arm. "Rogue Bludger."

Ginny lifted her right arm to show him a tiny half moon scar under her elbow. "Fred clipped me with his toy broomstick and the wood broke and cut my arm."

Harry bent his head and lifted his fringe to show her a tiny thin barely noticeable red line on the top of his head. "Fell out of the treehouse."

Ginny pulled her sock off and showed him a small cut on the bottom of her heel. "Stepped on a cactus leaf that KJ snipped off her plant."

"That's fresh," Harry said. "And it's not going to scar." He took her foot in his hand and bent his head to press a soft kiss to the cut, making her shiver.

"I ran out of battle wounds."

He chuckled and kissed her foot again. "We're we competing?" He touched the lightning bolt on his forehead. "I win — Horcrux."

Ginny smiled, her fingers slipping under his tee shirt to slide up his chest. "Emotional scars don't leave physical marks, but I know that you can feel those scars just the same. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Harry, but if you ever do want to talk about it, you know that I'm always here for you, right?"

Harry's hands rested on her hips. "I know that."

Ginny's lips curved slightly before she leaned in and kissed him softly. "We can snog now if you'd like."

He smiled against her lips before he let out a slow sigh, his hands sliding up her back into her hair. "Ginny… they treated me like I was an unwanted animal in their home. I guess, sometimes when I do think about it… I still sometimes wonder if they were right and then I hear Uncle Siri and Uncle Rem's voice telling me how wrong I am and…"

"Sometimes that voice gets in your head, no matter how hard you try to push it out. It's been over three years for me, Harry, and sometimes I still hear Tom in my head telling me that I'm not good enough, not pretty enough, not strong enough. I think that voice will always be there, a part of us that we are constantly going to have to overcome."

"You're the most beautiful witch in the whole world," he said as she chuckled.

"Well, with flattery like that!"

Harry smiled at her. "It's one of my favourite things about you."

"That you think I'm pretty?"

"Beautiful," he corrected. "But no, that you're not afraid to be yourself. You're strong and willful and powerful and as much as I want to be the one to protect you, I know you can take care of yourself and that's kind of sexy too. Like with Umbridge, when I saw that bruise on your wrist, I saw red, and I know that you saw that I saw red, and yet you have this way about you, you just kept me calm and I knew that you would handle it. And fuck me, did you handle it — were slipped a potion, swapped the cups, got her to admit all sorts of dirty secrets, and watched her get arrested. I'm almost jealous."

Ginny chuckled. "And I got to watch Macmillan get thrown to the floor by Finn and then hauled out by an Auror in handcuffs."

"Exactly," Harry said with a grin. "You didn't let Voldemort take that away from you. You didn't let him change you. You don't listen to that voice in your head because you know you're strong and beautiful and incredible."

Ginny blushed under his praise. "And you know you're not a freak, right?"

Harry kissed her forehead. "Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus gave me a home. They showed me love and affection and where I know they spoiled me, they also showed me kindness and kept me grounded. When I had a bad dream or if I remembered something about the Dursleys, they'd let me crawl into bed with them and tell me a story or Uncle Siri used to sing to me. I don't remember a lot about them, Gin — that's not me saying it's fine when it isn't, I honestly don't remember that much. It comes in flashes sometimes. Like in second year, when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened and Filch almost strangled me in his rage, I didn't fight back because in my head, I was four years old and being held against the wall by my uncle's hand wrapped around my throat, squeezing, because I'd knocked a picture frame off the table. But before Filch grabbed me… I don't think I remembered that."

Ginny stared into his green eyes as his fingers continued to play with the ends of her hair. "Well, if something happens and you do remember some of it, I'm always here if you need to talk about it."

"I never doubted that," he said softly.

She put her arms around his neck, letting her fingers slip up into his hair again as she leaned into him. "Good."

And then his lips were on hers and she knew that all would be well.

~ ASC ~

Sirius groaned loudly as he held the toilet bowl between his hands. It was the third time in an hour and he was starting to think that he might as well make a bed for himself here on the bathroom floor where he could quite simply die in peace. Zee had kissed him that morning and gone off to work and within two hours of her leaving, he felt like shit on toast.

His head was pounding. He had a fever and he couldn't stop vomiting. He took some Pepper-up Potion, twice, but he kept throwing it back up. He summoned a blanket and pillow from the bedroom and curled up on the bathroom floor, groaning into his pillow.

It was where Zee found him five hours later.

"Merlin, Sirius, are you all right?"

"No — I'm dying. Leave me in peace. I bequeath my bikes to you, take care of Harry."

He barely finished getting the words out before he dove over the toilet bowl and upchucked.

Zee winced. "I'll bring you up some potions."

She returned ten minutes later with two steaming mugs. "Drink this one first, it will help with the nausea."

Sirius accepted them gratefully and drank them down, wincing at the taste. "Thanks, babe."

Zee put her hand over his forehead. "You're burning up. Come on, let's get you into bed."

Sirius groaned as she made him stand and carry his blanket and pillow back to the bedroom. She tucked him in and laughed when he pulled her down into the bed with him.

"Nuh-uh, mister! I cannot afford to get what you have!"

"I promise to take care of you," he crooned, burying his face in the side of her neck as he wrapped his arms and legs around her, locking her in place.

Zee kissed his cheek. "I know you would."

"It's almost June, Zahira, June — no one gets a cold in June! This is torture!"

"You can get a cold any time of the year," she told him. "And it's only May."

Sirius glowered at her, his nose dripping. "This is cruel!"

"Let me take care of you then. Want some chicken soup?"

"Yes, please," he whispered.

Zee kissed his forehead. "Then you better let me up."

By the time she made it to the bedroom door, he was fast asleep already and she smiled at the domesticity of it all.

A week later, Zee was no longer smiling. She was kneeling in the toilet at the Ministry vomiting up her lunch rather spectacularly. She was pale when she stepped out of the stall and the woman at the sink raised an eyebrow at her.

"All good in there?"

Zee grimaced and placed her hands on either side of the sink. "My fiancé has been sick and I think that I just got a taste of what he had."

"Man colds are the worst," the woman said sympathetically. "And then when you inevitably get sick after you took such good care of them, they miraculously disappear."

Zee smiled at that. "Not all men."

She placed a hand over her uneasy stomach and booked it back to the toilet. She definitely needed to get home, she thought. She wanted to be in Sirius' arms; and coddled a little. But as she vomited, she also had a surprising urge to kill him for making her feel like this.

Sirius was right, getting sick in May was the worst.

~ ASC ~

Ron walked next to Hermione as they patrolled the halls. They'd had a spectacular win against Slytherin the day before and secured Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup for the second year running. Ron still couldn't stop grinning as he thought about the game. Not only had he played one of the best games of his life, but Ginny had rocked it as a Chaser. George had opted not to return to the team without Fred, giving their new beaters a chance to continue to play well together, and it turned out to be for the best. They'd slaughtered Slytherin in the match, three hundred eighty to ninety.

He caught himself yawning and grinned. He was bone-tired from staying up all night celebrating, but it had been worth it. Harry catching the Snitch, grabbing it right from under the nose of Malfoy, had just been the cherry on top. Just thinking about it gave him a little skip in his step.

The year was almost over and they had exams starting up tomorrow and he swore everyone in their year was going mental over writing their OWLs. Hermione especially seemed extra on edge, though he knew today she had something else to worry about. He watched her flinch, shifting her body just a little; he reached into his robes, pulled out the large Honeydukes chocolate bar, and passed it to her.

"Eat that. You'll feel better."

Hermione only stared at him. "What?"

"The chocolate, take it," Ron told her.

Hermione accepted the chocolate bar from him in surprise. "Um, thanks."

She unwrapped it and took a bite, letting out a soft purr of pleasure at the taste and he smirked. She broke a square off and held it out to him, her breath hitching when he simply bent his head and took the chocolate with his mouth, his lips brushing her fingers.

"Thanks."

Hermione stared at him, her fingers felt hot from where his mouth had touched them. "You're welcome. Er, how did you know that I wanted chocolate?"

Ron only shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Every single morning without fail, you have a bowl of oatmeal with berries and brown sugar and a little plate of fruit, except for those one to two days a month when you sleep late and eat a plate full of bacon for breakfast. Your hips shift to the left when you're trying to pretend that you're not in pain. I know that chocolate always helps with the er, cramps."

Hermione stopped walking to stare at him. "You keep track of my monthlies?"

Ron shrugged again as if it were nothing. "I've known you for five years, Mione. It was bound to happen."

"Harry doesn't know that."

"Yeah, well, Harry doesn't patrol with you most nights. Look, it's no big deal. I just thought you'd want some chocolate."

Hermione nodded as they turned a corner. It was a big deal. She had never imagined that Ron would have paid close enough attention to her that he knew when her monthlies were. Another cramp shot through her and she shifted awkwardly as she walked.

"Have you ever tried a warming charm?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"My mum," Ron said, his ears reddening. "She always performs a warming charm on her stomach."

Hermione was surprised to realize she had never thought of that. "Thanks."

He nodded. "Mione... can we talk about us and the… snogging?"

Hermione blushed. "It's in the past, Ron. That was months ago!"

"But —"

"— No," she interjected. "You are my best friend. This just goes to show how much you know about me and I won't risk that over a few incredible kisses."

He smirked at that. "Incredible, huh?"

"Oh shut up," she said on a strangled laugh. "We need to finish our rounds and then get back to the common room. We sit our first written OWL tomorrow morning and Merlin knows I will never be ready."

Ron rolled his eyes. "You could write them in your sleep and still do better than all of us."

Hermione chose to ignore this.

"Do you think Harry and Ginny are back yet?"

"I don't know. I guess it depends on how long the match lasts. I can't believe that Harry decided to go to a Quidditch match the night before his first OWL!"

"Well, he did get the tickets for Christmas, and it's not his fault the game was postponed; would have been a waste not to use them. And after our incredible match yesterday, watching a match is a good way to celebrate if you ask me. Wish I could have gone," Ron admitted. "The Arrows are amazing this year and I bet the match was brilliant."

"Mmmhmm," Hermione said absently.

"The Seeker is one of the best in the league and when she needed time to recover from her injury, they just postponed the match like it was nothing!"

"Uh-huh."

"Of course, it would have been even better if the Cannons actually made it for once."

"Yes."

"Then we could all celebrate the underdog victory."

"Of course."

"And I could become the ruler of cheese."

"Absolutely."

Ron took her arm and turned her to look at him. "You're not even listening to me."

"We have Charms to start, Ron, and I'm just trying to revise in my head a little and see what I remember."

"We still have hours until we have to write it," Ron told her. "You'll be fine."

But as he watched her move ahead of him, he knew that she was still going to stress like crazy until she had her results. It was what Hermione did.

Over a few incredible kisses… he grinned at those words, his eyes on her bum as she walked ahead. Maybe she wasn't as immune to him as he originally thought. Ron wondered what that could mean, but he wasn't coming up with any answers that pleased him.

By the time they finished their patrol, Harry and Ginny were back in the common room and giving a play by play of the match. The Arrows had come out victorious and apparently had slaughtered Puddlemere United in a whomping six hundred and seventy points to three hundred and ten. According to Ginny, the Chasers had been on fire and the Puddlemere Keeper had broken his arm during one of his saves. Oliver Wood had jumped in to finish out the match as Keeper and saved every goal except one, but the Arrows had been too far ahead. The match had been two hours and incredibly intense.

Afterwards, Sirius and Tonks had taken them out for Thai food before returning them to the school. Harry was telling them that Sirius and Zee were planning on taking another trip out to Georgia this summer and that Harry wanted Ginny to come with him.

"In America?" Ron asked in amazement. "Don't know if Mum will allow that one!"

"It's safer than here," Ginny told him. "And she let me go to Anguilla last summer."

"Is Zee feeling any better?" Hermione asked, changing the subject before Ron and Ginny could start bickering.

Harry shrugged. "Somewhat. Uncle Sirius said that the cold knocked him out for almost three weeks and she's going on her third week now. She can't seem to shake the nausea and she's still rather congested. Everything she's been eating has been giving her heartburn which apparently is one of the side effects to the cold potions she's taking. She blames Uncle Siri since he got sick first."

"Understandable," Ron said. "But that blows! Especially when the weather is just starting to get nicer."

"She's back to work though. She only missed a week," Harry told them.

"I can't believe that you went out instead of studying for Charms," Hermione said. "Even Zee went back to work and she's still feeling under the weather!"

Harry grinned at her. "I'm not worried about Charms, Hermione. It's one of my best subjects and I plan to go over some of my notes before I turn in tonight."

Hermione only huffed in annoyance and stomped over to the other end of the common room to study.

Ron shook his head, turning to Harry. "Don't mind her. On top of her stress, it's her time of the month."

Ginny kicked his leg and he yelped. "Don't be an insensitive prat!"

Ron only glared at her.

Ginny stood up and bent down to kiss Harry. "You need to study. I'm going to head up to shower and get ready for bed. Good luck tomorrow."

Harry tugged her close and kissed her again. "Thanks. Goodnight, Ginny."

Harry's eyes stayed on his girlfriend until she disappeared and then he turned back to grin at Ron. "It really was an amazing match. Next time I get tickets, I'll make sure you come as well."

"That would be brilliant," Ron told him, standing up. "I think I'm going to head up to bed as well. Patrolling with Hermione ended up being a pretty detailed night of revision. I can't study anymore."

"All right," Harry said. "Goodnight."

Ron made his way upstairs to his dorm and got himself ready for bed, eyes on the clock that told him it was just after ten. He stretched out in his bed, hands behind his head. He was nervous for OWLs, he would admit. But he couldn't let it consume his life the way Hermione seemed to. There was so much going on and writing tests almost seemed superfluous in comparison. The attack on St Mungo's a few weeks ago had been one thing, but then reading about how another family had gone missing just that morning only made the war seem that much more real. The Aurors believed that Crouch was once more responsible for their disappearance, but he was still nowhere to be found.

Ron didn't find that very reassuring. When he finally drifted off to sleep, he should have known it would come back to him. It had been a while since he'd dreamed about the night of the Yule Ball. It always started fairly well. He would work up the nerve to ask Hermione to dance and then they would kiss on the dance floor, Viktor would be jealous, and then she'd break up with him and tell Viktor that she chose Ron.

But then Ron's conscious would kick in and he'd find himself out there in the front entrance.

The bloody horrible mess that was the tortured skin-less corpse of Bartiemus Crouch was hanging upside down and staring at him. Tonight was no exception. Ron woke with his heart pounding and he found himself running to the toilet to upchuck the memory. He knelt on the bathroom floor, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. The terrorist attacks, the missing families, the continued hunt for Crouch Jr… it was fresh in his mind, and it was the only thing that could have sparked the dream.

Ron cleaned himself up, brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth multiple times until he felt better. He grabbed a jumper from his trunk and threw on a pair of socks before he made his way down to the common room.

The fire was still roaring so he headed to the large sofa, planning to stretch out. He was only a little surprised to see Hermione there. Without a second thought, Ron lifted her legs and plopped himself down right next to her before dropping her legs onto his lap. She jolted in surprise and then her eyes met his.

"Really, Ron, the whole common room is empty and this is the seat you choose!"

Ron smirked. He loved her annoyed tone. It pissed him off and aroused him simultaneously. "I wanted the sofa. You can share."

"That's not the — oh never mind," she said in exasperation.

He grinned, his hands resting on her legs as he pulled the blanket down and wrapped it around both of them. "What are you doing down here?"

"I couldn't sleep. I keep dreaming about our exams and I fail them all and they kick me out of Hogwarts — don't laugh!"

"Not laughing," he told her. "But we both know that will never happen. Not only are you the smartest person I know, but you've studied a shit ton. You'll be fine."

"Don't swear."

Ron smiled at her, nodding at the Charms book on her lap. "The written isn't until nine. Charms is one of your best subjects."

"Can't help it. I'm nervous."

"Well, I could use the distraction. Go on, quiz me."

"You want me to quiz you? Really? Why are you awake at two in the morning? I know that you weren't dreaming about OWLs."

Ron's eyes met hers. "Crouch's dead body decided to make an appearance in my dreams. Didn't much feel like going back to sleep after that."

Hermione reached out to hold his arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. It's more of the same. Like I said, I need a distraction. So unless you want to crawl up into my lap here and snog me senseless — open that book and quiz me for this exam."

Hermione's cheeks heated, but she didn't say anything.

Ron took her hand in his, surprised that the words had left his mouth and he boldly and slowly kissed each finger, watching her brownish gold eyes widen in surprise. "An answer would be nice..."

Her breath hitched and he took that as a sign. He gripped her legs in his large hands and tugged and she slid into his lap. He moved her right leg over his thigh so that she was straddling him, and then he spanned her waist with his hands. He kept his eyes on hers the whole time.

"Kiss me."

Hermione stared at him. He thought maybe that he'd pushed his luck too far, but then she leaned in, and did just that. The moment her mouth touched his, he moaned. His hands slid up her back to tangle his fingers in her bushy curls. Her lips met his fervently, softly, and then harder, and when her tongue brushed his, he dove deeper into her mouth. Her hands fisted at the bottom of his jumper, but he wasn't sure if it was to pull him closer or push him away. But then she leaned into him, pressing her whole body against his, and he trembled.

Ron pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against hers. Piercing blue looked into golden brown as he spoke.

"Fluke?"

Hermione blinked owlishly for a moment, her fingers coming up to touch her lips. "I..."

Ron brushed his lips against hers, over her jaw, and down her neck. "I've wanted to kiss you again since the last time I kissed you. I dream about kissing you..."

"Ron," she whispered, her hands letting go of his jumper and slipping beneath it, under his shirt and up his chest. Her fingernails grazed his skin and he shivered.

"Mione..."

Her name seemed to jar her because she removed her hands, her eyes on him and she stood up.

"I — um... I — I need to get some sleep."

Ron took her hand. "We need to talk about this. This thing here — it's not going away."

She bit her lip and she nodded. "Three makes a pattern."

"You said my kisses were incredible," Ron told her, squeezing her hand in his. "It's not a fluke. We need to talk about this."

"We will," she said quickly. "Just… after our OWLs…"

Ron looked at her swollen mouth and he nodded, dropping her hand. "After our OWLs."

As he watched her hurry up the stairs, he wondered if talking it over was really a good idea. Hermione Granger was nothing if not a slick talker, and he was terribly afraid that she would talk her way out of this. He pulled the blanket up around him and grinned.

He was going to do everything he could to distract her from letting that happen. If there was one thing Ron knew about his friend it was how to distract her, and he had a feeling that he could let his lips do that without even talking. He smiled as he stretched out on the sofa and when he closed his eyes, it was Hermione he dreamt about with a smile on his lips.

~ ASC ~

Ginny left Transfiguration with Luna and Colin. The last few weeks had been oddly quiet since her boyfriend and her brother were amidst the struggle of OWL examinations. Lately she saw Harry for a quick kiss and hello before he was tugged away by Hermione to study. If Ginny was the jealous kind, she might be annoyed by this, but she could see how hard her boyfriend was working and she knew how stressed all of the fifth years were. Still, she missed her boyfriend and she was counting down the days (three!) until he wrote his last exam so that she could curl up in his lap and snog him senseless. She had three exams left to write herself and then she was going shopping with Theo.

Theo wanted to completely redecorate and fix up Norfolk Manor. He had so many ideas and had spent the last few weeks before OWLs going over them with with her. He had a book started full of paint samples, new flooring, wallpaper, and furniture ideas. Not to mention lists of ways that he could even change some of the rooms to be more usable. Every time she saw him, he had a new idea in his mind. When they weren't studying, the two of them sat with their heads together as they looked and discussed ways to change it. Over the holiday, Theo had taken photos of every room so that they could go over them. He had even found a decorator to help him and had spoken to McGonagall and Snape about going out with Ginny to meet with the interior decorator and do some shopping after his last OWL exam on Tuesday morning.

It had taken some persuading, but McGonagall had allowed it, as long as Mr and Mrs Weasley had given their permission to allow for her to do so. They were planning on heading into Hogsmeade after Theo wrote his exam to meet with the decorator. Ginny was rather looking forward to it.

Her last year end exam was Potions and she was writing it tomorrow afternoon, meaning come Tuesday, she would be as free as a bird. Then she was free for one whole week until the train would take them back home. Ginny was looking forward to the summer. She wanted to relax and to spend it with her boyfriend and her friends. Harry had even mentioned that he might be going to Georgia and he wanted her to come. The thought thrilled her.

Colin hurried off to the paper, promising to catch up with them after dinner and shaking her from her thoughts. Ginny turned to smile at Luna. She loved Colin, but since he had become so involved with the paper she felt like she almost never saw him anymore. She needed to make sure she made plans with him this summer otherwise she knew he would consume himself in his photography.

"Colin is always so busy with that paper, but his photos are always wonderful. It's hard to be annoyed with him when he loves it so much," Ginny admitted. "But sometimes I miss him."

Luna nodded in agreement. "It's what he loves to do, but I can understand what you mean."

"You've been very quiet the last few days, even for you," Ginny said, watching her friend carefully from the corner of her eye.

Luna nodded. "Something's just been itching in the back of my head."

Ginny frowned. "Want to talk about it?"

Luna led Ginny over to an alcove near the window. "I asked the room for the diadem."

Ginny's eyes widened. "I thought Hermione already mentioned that and nothing happened?"

Luna shrugged. "She did, but I thought I would try it… and yes, nothing happened, but I felt like it was because I didn't know enough."

"You didn't know enough about what? The diadem?

"It's about the Gray Lady."

"The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?" Ginny asked in bewilderment.

She wasn't sure she was following her friend's thoughts. After initially discovering the hidden magical room and the shock factor having worn off, Hermione had mentioned simply asking the room for the diadem. When it hadn't worked, they had all decided it would be too easy for the room to simply give it up, but that it still had to be somewhere in the castle. The thought of Luna trying again intrigued her.

"I know that she told me about the diadem, but... the more we've been searching for it, Ginny, the more I think that she left something out."

Ginny glanced at her friend in surprise. They hadn't really talked about the Gray Lady since Luna had originally told her at the end of last year. "Why do you think that?"

Luna let out a long sigh before she turned to stare off into space as she spoke. As if she could see something that Ginny could not. "It belonged to her mother. She would love to have it back, yet she knew that he had it and did nothing... granted, she's a ghost, but she could have told somebody. Dumbledore or Flitwick even… but I think that she knows where it is."

Ginny frowned. "Maybe… but if she told Dumbledore or Flitwick, they would have said something, right? I mean, Dumbledore knows about FUVP and I doubt Flitwick would keep something like that hidden from him?"

Luna shrugged. "I don't know. I've been wondering that since we went down to the Chamber… if she's told anyone else. She's hard to track down and whenever she sees me this year, she runs off in the opposite direction. I wonder if she regrets telling me that You Know Who had been the one to find her mother's diadem. I think that she knows something, Ginny. Something else about it and… I don't know, she seems scared."

"Can ghosts be scared?" Ginny asked.

Luna shrugged. "Well, they are a manifestation of their human selves so if humans can feel fear, why can't a ghost?"

"Insightful and accurate," Ginny said, making Luna smile. "I'll mention it to Harry. Maybe we can get her to talk to us later and see if you're right."

Luna nodded. "I just can't shake the feeling that there's something else, you know?"

"Why don't we try to talk to her together?" Ginny suggested. "Do you think maybe she would talk to me?"

Luna tucked her long blonde hair behind her ear as she sat her wand behind it. "I don't know. Let's try it."

Ginny smiled as Luna took her hand and the two of them headed towards Ravenclaw Tower, but instead of going inside, Luna led her around the other side of the corridor where a transparent figure with dark hair was floating along, looking out the castle window as if lost in memories.

"Lady Ravenclaw?" Ginny asked.

The ghost froze for a moment before she turned slowly. She saw Luna and turned away.

"Hey — wait — come back!" Ginny shouted.

She paused, floating a few inches from the ground. Ginny thought she was beautiful, with her waist-length hair and floor-length cloak, but she also looked haughty and proud. Ginny recognized her as a ghost she had passed several times in the corridor, but to whom she had never spoken.

"You're Lady Helena Ravenclaw, the Gray Lady, aren't you?"

She nodded, but did not speak.

"The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?"

"That is correct."

Her tone was not encouraging.

"Please, we need some help. We need to know anything you can tell us about the lost diadem. I know that you already spoke to my friend Luna, but please, will you tell me?"

A cold smile curved her lips.

"I am afraid," she said, turning to leave, "that I cannot help you."

"Please," Ginny said quietly. "We want to stop him. We know how evil he is, how he tricked you into telling him where it was… we would never trick you."

"We just want to stop him," Luna whispered.

"You are hardly the first students to covet the diadem," she said disdainfully. "Generations of students have badgered me —"

"This isn't about trying to get better marks!" Ginny retorted. "Luna and I know how to work for our own grades. It's about Voldemort — defeating Voldemort. Aren't you interested in that?"

She could not blush, but her transparent cheeks became more opaque, and her voice was heated as she replied. "Of course I — how dare you suggest —?"

"Well, help us, then!"

Her composure was slipping.

"It — it is not a question of —" she stammered. "While the diadem bestows wisdom," she said with an obvious effort to pull herself together, "I doubt that it would greatly increase your chances of defeating the wizard who calls himself Lord —"

"Haven't I just told you, neither of us is interested in wearing it!" Ginny said fiercely. "We know what he did to it! We know that he defiled it with dark magic. We know that… please, can you just tell us your story? How did you get the diadem from your mother? How did Voldemort get it?"

The Gray Lady remained quite still, floating in midair, staring down at them, and a sense of hopelessness engulfed Ginny. Of course, if she had known anything, she would have told Flitwick or Dumbledore, who had surely asked her the same questions himself.

"Surely you told someone the story outside of Luna, perhaps Professor Dumbledore or Professor Flitwick? Someone trustworthy?" Ginny prompted.

Luna put her hand on Ginny's arm and she could feel the tension coming from her friend as they stared at the ghostly figure of the woman before them.

"Please," Ginny said again.

When she didn't answer them, Ginny sighed and she and Luna made to go, but the quiet words stopped them in their tracks.

"I stole the diadem from my mother."

"You — you stole it?" Ginny asked, trying to remember if Luna had mentioned that part before.

"I stole the diadem," Helena Ravenclaw repeated in a whisper. "I sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother. I ran away with it. My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she still had it. She concealed her loss, my dreadful betrayal, even from the other founders of Hogwarts. Then my mother fell ill — fatally ill. Despite my perfidy, she was desperate to see me one more time. She sent a man to find me… a man who had loved me for a long time in spite of my spurned advances. She knew that he would not rest until he had done so. He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I refused to return with him, he became violent. The Baron was always a hot-tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me."

"The Bloody Baron," Luna whispered to Ginny.

"The Bloody Baron, yes," the Gray Lady said, her eyes on Luna, and she lifted aside the cloak she wore to reveal a single dark wound in her white chest. "When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse. He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and he used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence… as he should," she added bitterly.

"And… and the diadem?" Ginny asked carefully.

"It remained where I had hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward me. Concealed inside a hollow tree."

"A hollow tree in a forest in Albania, right?" Luna prompted.

"Yes. A forest in Albania. A lonely place where I thought was far beyond my mother's reach… only now…"

"Albania," Ginny said, her eyes on Luna. "That's where Voldemort was. You told him this story as well. Did he ask you about the diadem?"

The ghost closed her eyes, her expression almost pained as she nodded. "I had… no idea… he was… flattering. He seemed to — to understand, to sympathize…"

Yes, Ginny thought, Tom Riddle would certainly have understood Helena Ravenclaw's desire to possess fabulous objects to which she had little right. If anyone knew how quickly he could manipulate them, she did; she understood why the woman before her felt responsible.

"Well, you weren't the first person Riddle wormed things out of," Ginny told her. "He's very persuasive, charming, and utterly manipulative. Often you are agreeing to him before you've fully realized it. You're not responsible for falling under his thrall."

The Gray Lady nodded, but she didn't look like she agreed with Ginny's statement. But Luna had been right. Helena Ravenclaw had told Tom Riddle the diadem's hiding place, perhaps as soon as he left Hogwarts, before he even started work at Borgin and Burkes. And wouldn't those secluded Albanian woods have seemed an excellent refuge when Voldemort had needed a place to lie low, undisturbed, for ten long years? But since the diadem became his precious Horcrux, it had not been left in that lowly tree. No, the diadem had been secretly returned to its true home, and Voldemort must have put it there the night he asked for the job here at Hogwarts, just like Harry had told them.

"Lady Ravenclaw," Ginny began, clearing her throat. "Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, he hid the diadem in the castle, the night that he asked Dumbledore to let him teach here. He must've hidden the diadem on his way up to, or down from, Dumbledore's office… I bet he was hoping to try to get a hold of Gryffindor's sword as well — but where did he hide it?"

Generations of students had failed to find the diadem; that suggested that it was not in Ravenclaw Tower — but if not there, where? What hiding place had Tom Riddle discovered inside Hogwarts Castle, that he believed would remain a secret forever?

"You do know, where he hid it, don't you, Lady Ravenclaw?" Ginny asked quietly.

Luna gripped her friend's hand tightly as they both stared at the ghost before them.

"It's here, in the castle… if you have to ask, you'll never know. If you know, you need only ask…"

And then she seemed to fade through the wall, disappearing from their sight.

Ginny turned to look at her friend. "What does that mean?"

"If you have to ask, you'll never know, and if you know, you need only ask…" Luna repeated.

"It's hidden somewhere in the castle" Ginny said, almost to herself.

Now they just needed to figure out where that was.

And they had to tell Harry.

~ ASC ~

Harry looked between Luna and his girlfriend that evening dumbfounded. "So let me get this straight — you two decided to try to make the Gray Lady talk to you again? What possessed you?"

"Luna," Ginny told him. "She said that she thought Helena was hiding something. She was right. She knows more than she originally let on."

"But she wouldn't tell you what she meant?"

Luna shook her head. "If you have to ask, you'll never know. If you know, you need only ask…"

Harry frowned at that. "Ravenclaws, always with the riddles."

Ginny gripped his arm. "But it's here, Harry. You were right, she confirmed it."

"But we don't know where this place is, Ginny," Harry said slowly. "It's nowhere that we know of so we don't even know if it's on the Marauder's Map, which means that Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus have probably never even heard of it."

"Maybe Dumbledore knows?" Hermione suggested.

Harry nodded. "It's possible."

Hermione looked pensive for a moment before she spoke. "Well, we have two OWLs left to write. I think that we should focus on those and then on the nineteenth we can try to figure out what the riddle means."

Harry was itching to do so, but he knew his friend was right. Waiting two days wouldn't hurt anything and on Wednesday they'd have more time to search.

"No, you're right. I'll tell Uncle Rem our plan in the morning and maybe Uncle Sirius can come to help us. We're sure we found all of the secret passageways that led up from the Chamber of Secrets, right?"

Ginny squeezed her boyfriend's hand. "It's an ancient castle, Harry. This place was built on secret passageways. We'll find it."

Harry kissed her fingers and he nodded. Wednesday, he thought, two days and they would search for the diadem. But first, he had to get through his last two OWLs and by the look on Hermione's face, it was time to study again. He kissed Ginny, wishing he could kiss her longer, and turned to his friend, opening his textbook.

Two days, he thought.

~ ASC ~

"I knew that you would come before the full moon of the seventh month," the Seer said as the two men stepped into the cave in dark cloaks.

The words jolted him.

Voldemort had been positive that he had finally found the one who was known as the Guardian. When he stepped through the cave, deep in the mountains of Iceland, the colourful lights danced along the walls as he heard the woman speak — it only made him more sure of his find.

"Well, that's your job, isn't it?" he spat disdainfully. "Telling the future, divining the secrets of the prophecies…"

The Seer looked at him, her eyes white cloudy orbs. She was ethereally beautiful with long flowing silvery blue hair and skin like porcelain. She appeared human, but the raw power vibrating from her told that she was most definitely something more; something other. "Knowing will not help you. You set the prophecy in motion and knowing now will do nothing to alter the fates."

"I don't believe in fate," Voldemort snarled. "I don't believe in weaving destiny… you are a descendant from Freya?"

The Seer didn't answer. "An unloved child, looking for family and instead finds deceit and lies… yet you chose violence... violence was alway your fate."

"I want the damn prophecy!" he demanded, his voice echoing in the room. "I need to hear the words! I need to see the boy's power! You are the one they call the Guardian! The one who is a direct descendant of the goddess Freya, the weaver of destiny, of the fates… tell me of your power! Tell me how to learn of the prophecy!"

"The boy whom you fear is almost a man. He has love. He has friends. He has family. He is protected."

"No one is protected forever."

The Seer's eyes clouded grey. "What is meant to be will come to pass."

Crouch's hands gripped her from behind and he violently threw her to the ground. The Seer didn't flinch. She didn't make a sound.

Voldemort glared at her. "I have family as well and they are willing to do anything to help me find what I need. I know about the ice curse. I know that the prophecy can't be removed by magic. You will get it for me."

"I am not meant to hold that kind of power."

His wand slashed and sliced her cheek. "Tell me how to obtain it!"

"My lord," Crouch said reverently. "May I?"

Voldemort stared at him for a moment before he flicked his wand; Crouch crumbled to the ground as the Cruciatus shot through him. Voldemort watched him suffer for a moment, his red eyes gleaming, and then he lifted his wand.

"Do not interrupt me again, Bart."

"I'm sorry, my Lord," he gasped.

Voldemort turned back to the woman, gripping her by her long silvery-blue hair and dragging her to her knees. "You will tell me how to get it or I will make you wish for death."

"Death will come for me when it is destined to do so, whether I tell you what you wish for or not."

He sneered at her, throwing her back to the ground. He twisted his wand and she flew up from the ground flipping upside down and he said, "Crucio!"

The curse tore through her and this time she screamed, the sound echoing off the walls and out into the night. He lifted the curse, slapping her cheeks before his lips twisted into a cruel smile.

"Ever heard of the death by four horseman? It's a lovely tale, where I tie your arms and legs each to a separate moving object, and watch as you are torn apart, but I won't use horses — oh no — and I won't watch them run..."

The Seer's limbs were shackled to the pillars he made appear around her. Then he waved his wand and moved the pillar attached to her left leg one inch. Her leg stretched forward.

"How long will you deny me when I stretch you one inch at a time… as your muscles tear and crack, followed by your bones and then your limbs… as they are removed from your body?"

The Seer only stared at him. "I am the Guardian of the Orbs. Those who shall not be destined to lift the orb will not have the power to lift the prophecy."

Voldemort shifted the pillar another two inches and her ankle snapped. She screamed, but refused to say anything else.

It was four hours before both of her legs were removed from her body and one arm. Voldemort used the Cruciatus on her, but her screams wielded nothing new.

"Only the destined..."

"Who are the bloody destined?" he demanded. "I was told it was you!"

"I am the Guardian of the Orbs. I am the Eye of the Fates. I am the Eagle in the Sky. I can only show you what is destined to be."

The Cruciatus ripped through the Seer again as her screams echoed into the night. Voldemort lifted the curse, his breathing heavy as he stared at the Seer.

"Get me Abraxas."

Crouch only nodded and Disapparated.

It was ten minutes before Abraxas arrived. Voldemort watched him cooly look over at the carnage of the woman before his eyes met Voldemort's and he gave a small bow.

"My Lord, Crouch thought that you might want a little Veritserum to help loosen her tongue? Severus left some in the cupboard."

Voldemort nodded. "Make her drink it."

Abraxas forced the potion down the Seer's throat. "So you're the Guardian… not what I expected."

"Nothing ever is what we expect," she said when she swallowed. Her eyes were wide in shock and her limbs had been cauterized to stop the bleeding, but the wounds were hardly sterile.

"She should be compliant, my Lord."

Voldemort nodded. "How do I learn the prophecy?"

"Only the Chosen. I am the Guardian of the Orbs. I am the Eye of the Fates. I am the Eagle in the Sky. I can only show you what is destined to be."

Voldemort screamed in rage. "What does that mean! How do I take it?"

"Only the Chosen," she repeated.

Voldemort made a slashing motion in an x with his wand; blood spurted from the woman across her abdomen, and in minutes she was gone.

Crouch stared at the dead body before him, eyes wide. "My Lord?"

"The Guardian was useless, Bart! Only the chosen… I need to know the contents of that prophecy!"

"Dumbledore knows it."

"Getting it from Dumbledore isn't an option!" Voldemort shouted. "He will hardly tell me the words and his Occlumency is as strong as mine!"

Crouch's eyes stayed on his as he nodded. "Right, sorry."

Voldemort blasted the torn body of the Seer and her corpse burst, splattering blood, bone fragments, and gore everywhere. Only then did he catch his breath.

"Get — me — answers! Potter may be just a boy but he's... get me some bloody answers! Torture whoever you need to, but find out!"

Crouch wiped the guts off his face as Voldemort turned back to Abraxas.

"Abraxas, come with me."

Malfoy followed Voldemort as he stormed out of the cave until they were away from the body, not daring to wipe the blood from his face. Abraxas didn't have to for as soon as the Dark Lord saw that he was covered in carnage, he vanished it from his clothes.

"I apologize for that, Brax. The Guardian was extremely unhelpful and I lost my temper."

Malfoy nodded. "Understood. My Lord, forgive me if I am wrong, but the chosen may indeed have been your answer."

Voldemort's red gleaming eyes snapped to his. "Explain."

"Well, if the Order has tried to obtain it, and has been unsuccessful through magical means, then it goes to show that only the one or one(s) chosen can access the prophecy."

Voldemort's eyebrow rose and a cruel smile twisted his thin lips. "Chosen… Potter."

Malfoy nodded. "And yourself. My Lord, if the prophecy was indeed written about you, it goes to show that you yourself would be able to pick it up. Does it not?"

Voldemort's eyes gleamed in success. "I think that you may be onto something, Brax. Get the Dementors ready. I think a plan is coming together. Get me Lucius as well, he's met Potter, and he may be able to shed some light on my idea."

Malfoy hurried off as Crouch came out of the room, still covered in blood and guts.

"Bart, change of plans. Get rid of the body and meet back at Selwyn Manor. We have a great many things to discuss."

~ ASC ~

Snape left Hogwarts early the next afternoon to meet Crouch in a pub. With the students on their last day of exams, he had been able to sneak out during lunch. Crouch was disguised as a woman, a very voluptuous woman with huge breasts; Snape went up to the room with her. When he closed the door behind him and turned, he realized that Crouch had Polyjuiced himself into Rosmerta, the barmaid. And Crouch was now naked and fondling her rather large tits.

"She's glorious, isn't she? Want to shag her?"

"Put your damn clothes on, you bloody fool," Snape hissed.

Crouch refused and instead began to use his finger to explore between his legs. "Where's the fun in that?"

Snape ignored him. "I have places to be, Crouch. What's the message from the Dark Lord?"

"The Guardian is dead."

Snape's head shot up. "He found him?"

"Her," Crouch stated, his fingers still exploring between his own legs as he squatted. "In Iceland. She was merely a blind young woman, a descendant of the goddess Freya with divining powers quite unparalleled and yet oddly — she was not afraid of anything, not even death. Oooh… this feels wonderful…"

"Stop fingering yourself! What did she say?"

"Only the Chosen can remove the prophecy."

"The Chosen?"

Crouch was sitting on the bed now, his legs spread wide as he slammed his fingers into himself. "Those who the prophecy was made… about can remove it… from the — ooh, yes… Hall."

Snape's eyes widened, trying not to watch the way Crouch was working himself. "Potter and the Dark Lord."

Crouch started flicking his clit and his eyes rolled a little before he answered, his other hand fondling his breast. "Exactly."

"So the Dark Lord is planning to invade the Ministry?"

Crouch grinned at him. "Tonight. Thaddeus and Lucius are in charge of obtaining the orb until he gets there. They both have their own plans for that. Abraxas and Selwyn are commanding their armies… he's making a move. Ooh, yes… Merlin, come on, Snape… I want to feel a cock pounding into this wet pussy…"

"What does the Dark Lord want from me?" Snape asked, trying not to stare at the way Crouch so diligently pleasured Rosmerta's body.

"He wants you to keep an eye on Dumbledore and tell the Order that he plans on going in. He doesn't want you anywhere near the Ministry. He said that keeping your cover is what's important so telling them about his attack is a wise move as his spy, dearie."

"I can do that."

Crouch's eyes widened as his fingers vigorously rubbed her clit. Snape watched his body tighten as he cried out in pleasure. He caught his breath, eyes wide in amazement before he grinned at Snape. "Women are a wonder, aren't they?" He casually stood up from the bed. "Tell the Order. The Dark Lord wants to show his power tonight and show that he's not afraid of Potter or Dumbledore."

Then he Disapparated and Snape was left alone, wondering how he could stop Voldemort getting the prophecy before it was too late.