Disclaimer: Bear with me as I recite this tired declaration. I do not own any Potter characters nor do I own much of the side/back plots; those belong in whole to JK Rowling. I do, however, own Karmina Lupin and Mr. Grossman and the main plot. Sadly, I do not own "Dreamland" from which the passage below was taken; it belongs to Christina Georgina Rossetti and I would recommend checking out the whole poem.

Waking Up

Rest, rest, for evermore
Upon a mossy shore;
Rest, rest at the heart's core
Till time shall cease:
Sleep that no pain shall wake;
Night that no morn shall break
Till joy shall overtake
Her perfect peace.

-From "Dreamland" by Christina Georgina Rossetti

"I just don't understand."

"But she's here Remus. A person might be able to disguise her outward appearance but-"

"I know she's not under disguise Molly. I just don't know how she got here or how. . .how she's not dead. I just don't understand."

"We'll find out once she's woken up then won't we."

"She can't speak."

Try as she might, Karmina couldn't block out the half-muffled chatter circling over her head. She felt numb and clumsy, like she was drugged. It felt like something was slicing through her head. What she wanted most was for the voices to stop and the light to turn off. She tried to bring her arm up to her face to shield her eyes but it felt like lead. She only succeeded in bringing it up a centimeter before it fell back down to the mattress; the gesture succeeded in drawing everyone's attention however. The chatter immediately stopped much to Karmina's relief. All eyes turned to her as she forced her eyes open.

"Dim the lights," a sharp voice ordered. "I'm sure she has quite a headache." The owner of the voice, an old-ish woman with a strict look on her face, hurried over. "Give her a little room, come now Mr. Lupin. I know what I'm doing." She brought up her wand and murmured "Lumos" before shining the light into Karmina's eyes. "Hold those eyes open now dear," she ordered. Karmina was forced to comply. After performing a run of tests, the witch backed away, her hands on her hips.

"What's the diagnosis Madame Pomfrey?" the woman with bubble-gum colored hair asked eagerly.

"Well, other than her muggle-inflicted injuries, the young lady is severely magically drained. I'm not entirely sure how it happened; most witches and wizards would have stopped before it getting to this point. Something must have kicked in and gotten her this far. As for the other injuries, she's got a mild concussion, broken ribs, third-degree burns, bruises, breaks, collapsed lung- you name it, she's got it. I'd like to meet the buggers who did this to her, give them a piece of my mind." Remus cleared his throat, bringing Madame Pomfrey out of her rant. "Yes, well, the physical injuries were easy enough to heal though she'll still be feeling the after affects for some time. Magic can only do so much. I've left a few potions she'll need to take hourly before she's up and about. That shouldn't be till the end of the week at the very earliest. Keep her from draining herself magically if you can. If you have any problems or questions, you know where to find me." With a swirl of her robes, Madame Pomfrey left the room, walking down the rickety stairs to the fireplace.

Remus turned slowly to face his daughter who was currently staring directly at him. She looked more like Madeline than she did Remus though she had inherited his ears and nose. She was short like Madeline but lacked the womanly figure his wife had posessed. Though he knew her to be sixteen, she didn't look it. She looked more like a twelve or thirteen-year-old.

She bit her bottom lip nervously, dropping her gaze. The potions seemed to be fading a bit so she could move a little easier. As discreetly as she could, she looked around the room at the other inhabitants. The man who had taken her from Charring Cross was shifting uneasily next to a plump red-head who was gazing at her sympathetically. A black-haired boy stood next to a shorter woman with bright pink hair and behind him stood an extremely tall, red-haired boy. Next to him was a bushy-haired girl with her hand grasped around the red-head's forearm nervously.

Not knowing quite what else to do and still feeling a little fuzzy, she mimed the familiar need for a pen and paper. Arthur immediately complied and she took the parchment and quill eagerly. In a messy, awkward hand, she scrawled Hi and passed the paper to the graying man who she assumed was her father. He took it with a look of apprehension on his sunken features. He looked like he was about to fall down sleeping at any moment. Reading the note, his face broke into a grin and he let out a strangled laugh. "Hello, I-I'm Remus Lupin," he put out his hand to be shaken but decided against it and bent down to give her an awkward hug. She shrunk back from the gesture though she found it oddly pleasant.

Living with Amycus and Eldred, she hadn't been exposed to any signs of gentility or care. He stepped back immediately as if she were on fire. She held out her hand for the parchment but he misunderstood and shook her hand, blushing. He was certainly a bumbling sort of fellow she thought. She rolled her eyes and gestured at the parchment. He handed it to her and she wrote a second message under the first. Where am I?

"How do I explain this?" Remus ran a hand over his face. "You're at the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, the group fighting against You-Know-Who." She stared at him blankly. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" she arched her eyebrows. "Voldemort? Right, well, Merlin," he looked around the room for a little support. "You don't know anything do you?" Understanding his meaning, Karmina shook her head slowly. He was about to explain further when she brought her hand quickly to her head, wincing. The pain was coming back with a vengeance.

"Your potion must be wearing off," Remus put in, rushing to the table where Madame Pomfrey had arranged the multi-colored bottles of potions. "We should talk about this later; you should sleep some more." He brought over a purple vile and a deep red one. "The purple one's a sleeping drought and the red one's is a pain suppressant. I'd recommend taking the red one first." He handed her the red vile and she poured it down her throat. She gagged and Remus laughed. "Yes, it's not cherry flavored or anything." She accepted the purple vile with a little more apprehension but downed it, too tired to ask any questions about potions and this Voldemort bloke.

When she woke the second time, the room was dark and silent. For a moment, she thought herself to be back in 118. Looking around, however, she found this to be untrue. The room was large and filled with musty antiques. The bed in which she was currently positioned was a large, mahogany four-poster with dusty yellow hangings. She felt like she was sleeping in a museum. Her head ached mildly but nothing like piercing pain she had felt before. She looked down at her arm and noticed a tube running into it. So that's why I'm not screaming out in pain. After closer inspection of the room, she noticed a figure slumped down in a chair near the door. It was none other than Remus Lupin, her father.

She groaned inwardly, wishing she could force out a sound, trying to tell herself it was okay to speak again but it was no use. She fumbled around on her bedside table and noticed a heavy book perfect! She could barely pick it up and had no sooner brought it off the table that it came crashing to the floor. Remus nearly jumped out of his skin at the noise. Wildly, he looked around, his gaze falling on Karmina and the book.

"You startled me." She smiled sheepishly. "Don't worry; it's all right. I suppose now is as good a time as any to explain. Then maybe you could explain some things to me?" She nodded slowly; it was a big maybe. She had not planned this far ahead. She was not ready to be safe and happy, as strange as that sounded. Though it is a welcome change, a positive change does take some getting used to. "I asked Madame Pomfrey to put the tube in your arm by the way. I didn't want to accidentally be late on a potion. It's on a timer. I hope you don't mind." She shook her head, pushing herself up against the pillows.

"Alright, I suppose I should start at the beginning?" Karmina gave a reassuring nod. "You are a witch; I am a wizard. We are in a magical house in a world of magical people." Karmina tried to hide her surprise. Yes, it made sense. It explained the strange things she was able to do but was she prepared to believe in fairy tales? She gestured for him to continue.

"Okay, there is a magical school called Hogwarts where I went to school. Next to Hogwarts is a small village- Hogsmeade. That's where I met Madeline, your mum." It took everything in Remus to continue. "I met your mum when I was visiting Hogsmeade. It was the middle of the war and, well, how do I explain this delicately? We rushed into a marriage after a whirlwind romance." Karmina didn't know why he was acting so embarrassed; it sounded incredibly romantic to her. "A week after we were married, your mum was pregnant with you. Nine months later, you were born and around four months after that-" Remus stopped. He could feel his pulse quicken at the memory. "You and your mum. . .died."

He remembered it well. He had come home, still torn up over the death of the Potters and Sirius' betrayal. His marriage wasn't going well and hiding Karmina from the Ministry was getting to be too difficult for him to handle. He had opened the door, not really wanting to walk into what was sure to be another verbal boxing match. As it turned out, simply sharing lycanthropy was not enough to create a happy marriage, go figure. He would never get the image from his mind-Madeline and Karmina lying bloody on the kitchen floor.

He jerked himself from the memory. Karmina was giving him a baffled look. "I know; I can't explain it either. I buried you and your mum. I saw you. . . Mina, where have you been for sixteen years?"

The question hung in the air like a gas, cutting off Karmina's air supply. She had been in hell. That's where she had been and she'd be damned if she explained it only satiate the man's appetite, even if he was her father. She turned her face to the wall. She didn't need to know any more. "Okay, I guess that's enough for now."

For the rest of the week, Remus avoided asking his daughter any questions, though the suspense was killing him. He had done his best to explain the rest of the situation to her but didn't know quite what to say. This was the wrong time to have an injured daughter come into his life. The war was in full swing and he had Harry to worry about. Luckily, only the Order seemed to know of her presence. He didn't want to deal with Ministry on top of everything else.

Karmina saw very little of her father during the day; he stayed very busy. While he said it was war business, she suspected he was avoiding her. She had had several other visitors, however. The most frequent was the black haired boy she had later come to know as Harry Potter. Not being able to talk or get out of bed made her a perfect listener and the boy-who-lived seemed to have a confidence in her she found baffling.

In that first short week, Karmina found out more than she had ever wanted to know about Lord Voldemort. She also discovered the two things that kept both Harry and her father from being happy, two things she desperately wanted to rectify-the deaths of Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore. The only question was how. . .

A/N: Yes, it's shorter than the first chapter by a considerable amount but I figure since it's coming out a day later than the first chapter, the length is acceptable. Thanks to the two of you who reviewed. I hope to add some more with this chapter. Please tell me what you think; I desperately want to know. Cheers!