Author's Note: So many reviews yesterday!! You all deserve the next chapter right now.

The I Ching is used extensively in this chapter. It is a real Eastern fortunetelling technique, and the hexagrams I cite are presented here as faithfully as possible (I have edited them somewhat for length). I am indebted to the website for the translations from the Chinese.

As Madam Pomfrey promised, I was feeling much better the next day, and I caught up on my homework and such quite quickly. I took my Transfiguration quiz on Friday during a free period, and Professor McGonagall did not chide me for my absence on Monday, but merely said, "I suppose you've been saving all of Christendom with your parents?"

I allowed myself a small smile. "Something like that, ma'am."

"Splendid," she said. "Now have a seat and do your House proud on this quiz."

I did well on the quiz, I knew, since I'd been assiduously keeping up in all of my N.E.W.T. classes. If nothing else, I wanted to glean ideas of how I could save my father at year's end.

January eased into February, and before long Valentine's Day was upon us. Harry hadn't approached me about the final Horcrux because, I assumed, he felt terrible about how injured I'd gotten during the last mission. He finally broke his silence a few days before the Hogsmeade Valentine's Day weekend.

He found me coming back from the Divination tower that Thursday afternoon, and buttonholed me as I walked back to the common room. "You must know what I want," he said.

"Indeed," I sighed. "You're going to have to wait a while, though."

"Why?" he demanded.

"Well, the last Horcrux . . . it's a situation similar to the one with the locket," I said. "There are only two days a year you can find the last Horcrux."

"Two days a year? Which ones?"

"The equinoxes."

"So the next is . . . late March?"

I nodded. "You'll have to get it then."

"What is it?"

"It's Godric Gryffindor's armband. His ancestors had been tribal chieftains in the days before the old monarchs. The armband was the mark of his status. Right around the time he died, William the Conqueror laid waste to the northern half of England, so Godric's children fled to the south. The armband made their heritage clear, which made it too dangerous to own, so they hid it using an elaborate wizarding ritual. No Muggle would ever be able to find it."

Harry looked dazed by the surplus of information. "Well then, where is it?"

"We're going to have to go to the stone circle at Avebury at the equinox and perform the ancient ritual," I said. "There's no other way to get at it."

"Is it Dark magic?" he asked worriedly.

"No," I replied, "just ancient. Not the sort of magic we're used to anymore. But not Dark."

"When can we start tackling it?"

I sighed again. "After this weekend, all right? I just want . . . I just want a normal Valentine's Day Hogsmeade trip, without any worries. Is that okay?" I considered telling him that my chief worry at the moment was, in fact, that very Hogsmeade trip, but decided against it. I didn't think the forecast would do him any good.

He looked at me for a long moment. Finally he said, "You've got a date for this weekend."

It wasn't a question. "Yes."

"Neville."

Another non-question. "Yes . . . ."

"He's the right sort, Neville," Harry said, obviously trying very hard to seem nonchalant. "Good on you."

Something swelled in my chest. As weird and backward as this all was, my father approved of my boyfriend. "Cheers, Harry."

He left then, and I was left to struggle with my knowledge that this Hogsmeade weekend would not be fun or relaxing -- it would be horrific. Regardless, I couldn't handle the thought of beginning to study the Avebury ritual, not while I was holding my breath for the weekend.

That Friday, we were back in pairs in Divination again, and I was back with Luna Lovegood, to my dismay. It wasn't that I disliked Luna -- quite the contrary -- but her fate sat at the back of my mind like an itch I couldn't scratch.

The topic was the I Ching, a method that Chinese wizards and witches used in Divination. Trelawney claimed to have visited the country and learned her stalk-casting technique from a Chinese master. While I highly doubted the veracity of her claim, I didn't suppose it much mattered: our class was using the more modern and popular method, the casting of coins. Besides, no matter what method I used, I wouldn't be able to make the I Ching tell me anything.

We sat down on the floor of Trelawney's classroom, Luna holding three Knuts in her hand and balancing the giant interpretive text on her lap. "Luna?" I said, and she peered up at me through her huge glasses.

"Yes?"

"Would you . . . would you cast the coins for me?" I asked sheepishly.

She kept staring at me. "Why?"

I held her gaze and tried not to betray my anxiety. "I'd like to know something about the future, and you're much better at Divination than I."

"You think so?" she asked, seemingly pleased. "I don't work very hard in this class; it's nothing like Charms or Transfiguration."

"I know," I said. "I don't think you work that hard, necessarily; I just think you have a talent."

"That's nice of you to say," she said dreamily. "Well, if you'd like, I'll cast the coins with you in mind. Here goes nothing . . . ."

And she began casting the coins and making notes in her notebook, which sat on the floor on her right side. Each time she shook the coins firmly, cast them in a wide, beautiful arc, looked for a moment, made a note in her notebook, and gathered up the coins with one sweep. She did it six times, and when she was finished, she made a couple more notes.

"Hexagram Nine," she said finally, and paged back in the book on her lap. After a moment, she spoke. "It's called 'The Taming Power of the Small.'

"'The wind drives across heaven: thus the superior man refines the outward aspect of his nature.' That's the image."

I shook my head. I couldn't make any sense of it.

"Do you want to hear the line interpretations?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, though I didn't believe they would be any help.

Luna cleared her throat. "'One: Return to the way. There is no blame in this.

"'Two: He allows himself to be drawn into returning.

"'Three: The spokes burst out of the wagon wheels.

"'Four: If you are sincere, blood vanishes and fear gives way. No blame.

"'Five: If you are sincere and loyally attached, you are rich in your neighbor.

"'Six: The rain comes, there is rest. This is due to the lasting effect of character. Perseverance brings the woman into danger. The moon is nearly full. If the superior man persists, misfortune comes.'"

I gaped at her. In my mind, the message of the I Ching couldn't have been clearer: I had to tell everyone who I was and where I came from. Even Neville. Especially Neville. And furthermore, I had to go back to my own time, whether or not I could save Dad. "'Return to the way. There is no blame in this,'" I murmured to myself.

"Do you think it means you have to go back to America?" Luna piped up.

"Oh, yes, I rather do," I said distractedly. "'If you are sincere . . . .'"

"Shall you cast for me now?" Luna asked.

"Oh no, Luna, I'll make a terrible mess of it all. You do it; I'd like to watch again."

And so she went through the whole ritual again of casting and collecting. It was mesmerizing in its rhythmical nature. I could've watched her cast for everyone in the class twice over.

At the end, she did her calculations. "Hexagram Thirty-Six," she said, and flipped forward in the book. "'The Darkening of the Light. The light has sunk into the earth: thus does the superior man live with the great mass: he veils his light, yet still shines.'"

I thought to myself that that wasn't a bad assessment of Luna. She did her best to hide behind her specs and long hair, but she had her moments of luminous understanding that were impossible to hide. "Go on, Luna, what do the lines say?"

"'One: Darkening of the light during flight. He lowers his wings.

"'Two: Darkening of the light injures him in the left thigh. He gives aid with the strength of a horse.

"'Three: Darkening of the light during the hunt in the south. Their great leader is captured. One must not expect perseverance too soon.

"'Four: He penetrates the left side of the belly. One gets at the very heart of the darkening of the light.

"'Five: Darkening of the light. Perseverance furthers.

"'Six: Not light but darkness. First he climbed up to heaven, then plunged into the depths of the earth.'"

I looked at her, shocked. "What did you ask it about??" I whispered.

"The final battle between Harry and Voldemort," she said casually.

"Luna, you're amazing!" I cried. "That was the clearest reading of the I Ching I've ever heard!"

"You think so?" she said, sounding a bit perplexed. "I can't tell from that who ends up winning. Who's climbing to heaven and plunging into the earth, Voldemort or Harry?"

I shuddered a little. "I can't tell either."

"Well, it sounds like a proper battle, anyway," she said. When I stared at her, she explained, "I hate the thought of Harry being killed by some lackey, or in his sleep or something."

I winced. "As do I."

"That's all right then," she said cheerfully.

By that time, class was all but over, and we watched Trelawney frowning at her casted yarrow stalks for the remainder of the class period. We giggled when she surreptitiously moved a stalk from one pile to another to change her result. She frowned now at her I Ching book, and then, when she realized class was over, slammed it shut, still scowling.

Back in my dorm before supper, I turned the words of the I Ching over and over in my mind. In the moments when the meaning had become clear to me, my certainty that telling Neville was the right thing to do had been clear and shining. Away from the Divination Tower, though, things got murkier.

The plain fact was, I knew that in telling him, I stood a good chance of losing him, and that thought was unbearable. But he would find out eventually, and the longer I went without telling him, the more painful it would be for us both in the end.

Then I thought about what the weekend would hold, and my resolve dissolved again. How could I heap this truth upon the events that were coming so soon?

When I slept, I dreamt of shadows on winged horses, and moons that burned brighter than suns.