Disclaimer: Do you own Harry Potter? No? Then stop asking dumb questions because, obviously, neither do I.

Chapter 22

"Mmmph." Harry rolled over to his left, trying to grab at his blanket, which he'd accidentally kicked off in his sleep. Unfortunately, to his surprise, he ran out of bed. In fact, he ran out of floor too. With a muffled yell, Harry found himself rolling off of the second-floor loft and onto the first-floor… well, floor. Harry groaned and rolled onto his stomach, rubbing his abused back, which happened to be what he had landed on.

"Your ability to end up on the floor no matter where you are never ceases to amaze me, Harry."

Harry looked up into the small kitchen area connected to the living room he'd fallen into to find a grinning Lucas just two feet away, lazily sipping coffee while leaning against the counter. "You could have caught me," Harry responded irritably, getting up slowly.

Lucas smiled leisurely. "I suppose I could have, but then again, how was I supposed to know you'd manage to fall out of the loft at this exact moment?"

"You're a werewolf, and you were standing right there. I'm sure you could have caught me had you wanted to," Harry grumbled.

"Aww, you're just looking for someone to blame. You know what's amazing?"

"No, but I'm sure an annoying werewolf is about to tell me." Harry moved over to the kitchen and grabbed an apple.

"That you somehow managed to miss the couch." Lucas pointed his finger over at a large, expansive couch lying directly beneath Harry's former bed up on the open-mouthed loft. Harry had somehow managed to fall two feet to the right of it.

"Shut up," Harry said, his back still smarting from the fall. "Why was I even on that bed anyways? I distinctly remember claiming the bed next to the wall."

Lucas smirked. "And falling asleep as soon as we got here. Sirius and I decided that seeing as you were already asleep, we might as well move you to the bed near the opening. And since you're the Boy-Who-Lived, we figured that even if you fell off, you wouldn't break your neck or anything."

"Your faith in me just astounds," Harry retorted dryly. "And this is why I say everyone I meet is out to kill me."

"Not everyone, just us and Voldemort," Lucas responded brightly. "And we're actually just out to prove that you're actually immortal, are from another dimension, and are just here to toy with our lives before ending the world in a dramatic apocalypse using rubber ducks and spaghetti-o's."

"Ha, ha," Harry said sarcastically. "'Boy-Who-Died-Rolling-Off-A-Loft.' The Daily Prophet'd have a field day with that one."

"Rather preoccupied with your hyphens, aren't you?" Lucas said amused.

"Whatever." Harry looked around the room critically. "Not exactly the safest safe house ever."

Lucas shrugged. "Well, to our credit, Remus made us pull the couch over there. Not that it helped much, though."

"I knew there was a reason I liked him," Harry muttered. "And speaking of Remus, how come he didn't know who you were until we told him? I thought he would have been able to recognize your scent or something. And I know he saw you earlier."

Lucas grimace slightly, and Harry smirked in remembrance of Sirius and Remus's reactions to finding out Lucas was the Prince of the werewolves, so to speak. Sirius had just laughed and asked if Lucas could set him up with any hot princesses. Remus, on the other hand, well… let's just say that Harry wasn't planning on letting him meet Lucas' father for a long while.

Remus had first gaped in shock for several minutes, causing Lucas to momentarily question the werewolf's sanity. Then Remus had seemed to come to his senses, but that hadn't been much better as the werewolf had immediately bowed down in front of Lucas and started spluttering things about, "His Majesty," and "How should I act?" and "How on earth did you get involved with someone like Harry?"

Harry, of course, had taken offense at that. And Sirius hadn't helped by adding, "Well, he is and prince; and you're a bit of a bum, Harry."

Finally, Lucas had needed to take Remus aside for a few minutes to talk about something. Whatever he said, it worked because Remus had immediately relaxed. Harry had tried to find out what Lucas had said, but the man had refused, saying it was a "wolf thing." Harry had persisted for a little while longer, but as both Lucas and Remus had then proceeded to ignore Harry in favor of talking to each other about similarities between werewolves and other such things. Remus seemed excited, so Harry had figured he must not have met other werewolves often – or at least not werewolves that were not with Voldemort, evil, or just plain unpleasant to be around. (Though technically, Lucas had been with Voldemort and, in Voldemort's eyes at least, still was.)

After that, Lucas had led them to a safe house of his father's, the trip taking less than half the time Harry's first trip with Lucas had taken, despite it being farther away. When Harry had commented, Lucas had just looked down and mumbled something about, "momentarily losing his sense of direction." Harry had laughed until Lucas had said something about just being, "So star struck by THE Great Harry Potter." Harry had grimaced and let the topic drop.

Harry shook himself out of his musings as he realized Lucas had something and was looking at him expectantly. "Oh, sorry, I momentarily forgot you were there."

Lucas smirked. "You sure do know how to make someone feel appreciated, Harry, especially considering it was you who just asked me a question."

Harry smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry. I've just… had a lot on my mind at the moment." Honestly, it was trued. Life had been much simpler at the maximum security wizarding jail Azkaban.

"Yeah, I know, considering what you're doing today…" Lucas took on a softer tone and adopted a concerned look, but Harry shot him a glare that immediately wiped the concern off Lucas' face. He didn't need Lucas to be concerned for him, especially since Lucas didn't know the half of what Harry was setting out to do. "Er, anyways, like I said before, the reason Remus didn't recognize me was because we had a spell in place to get rid of all scents."

Harry grinned. "I've heard of it. But he saw you as well, so why didn't he recognize you?"

Lucas shrugged. "I guess that with my father there, as well as Greyback, Remus was too occupied to notice me. Then there was you, so… do you really think he was paying me any attention at all?"

Harry shrugged. "Good point."

Suddenly, a large clunk as well as a sharp cry of pain sounded, followed by several smaller clunks. Lucas and Harry whipped around in time to watch Sirius fall down the last two steps of the stairs into a heap at the bottom. Sirius sat for a while, dazed, and Remus poked his head out of the top of the stairs. "I told you to watch where you stepped," he called with a grin.

Lucas and Harry burst into laughter.

"Hey," Sirius whined, getting up and brushing himself off. "I could have been seriously injured."

Harry smirked. "And we still would have laughed – you're fine."

Sirius harrumphed and sat himself down at the kitchen counter, sulking. A grinning Remus walked down the stairs. "Okay," Lucas clapped his hands together and reached over for a cloth bag. Sticking his hand inside, he pulled out three pairs of robes – death eater robes. He tossed a pair to each of the men. "Go change, and then we'll head out."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "What? No robes for you?"

Lucas leaned back, a satisfied look on his face. "Being a werewolf prince has its perks. Like not having to wear a dress to try to blend in. Everyone will just think I'm standing in for my father for some meeting and won't bother me."

Harry aimed a small slap at the back of Lucas' head. "Lucky little bugger. I swear, these death eater robes are even more feminine than dress robes."

Luas shrugged. "Sometimes I think being a werewolf is a whole lot better than being a wizard."

"Were you a wizard before you were bitten?" Remus asked curiously.

"Nah," Lucas shook his head. "I wasn't a wizard. I had just gotten into a fight one night with my parents and happened to wander into the wrong London alley at the wrong time. I couldn't very well go home after I figured out what had bitten me, and so, my dad found me and took me in. I haven't seen my biological parents since, but it's alright because I'm pretty sure they're better off without me." Lucas's voice became softer at the last sentence, and his eyes dropped to the floor.

Remus opened his mouth, presumably to ask some scholarly question about just how Lucas had found himself in a London alley close enough to the wizarding world to have a werewolf in it, but Harry cut him off. "Yes, yes, backstory, backstory. Look, I hate to interrupt; but that death eater meeting isn't going to crash itself." Harry made a mental note to talk to Lucas and his father later about the whole biological parents thing later, as now really wasn't the time. But he knew from experience how Lucas felt, and knew he wouldn't want to talk about it in front of so many people anyways.

"You're right," Lucas pushed himself up off the wall he had been leaning on, sounding relieved. He made shooing motions as the three. "We're on a schedule with this meeting, and, personally, I think the sooner Voldemort's gone, the better."

Harry and Remus turned to go get changed upstairs, dragging a confused Sirius with them. "But wait," Sirius called. "What about breakfast?"

MISCELLANEOUSobjectsMISCELLANEOUSobjects

"Sirius, quit squirming around. You're drawing attention to us." Lucas shot a look at Sirius, who was fidgeting, scratching at his back while covered in the heavy, black death eater robes. His hands played with his mask, and Remus had to push them away.

"But it's itchy," he whined, only to get slapped over the head by Remus, who whispered at him to shut up.

They were currently standing in line at one of the back doors to Voldemort's castle. Around them, death eater roamed, waiting to gain admittance through the wards. A small line formed where a higher level death eater – Dolohov or something – checked all entering death eaters for dark marks. Many of the death eaters' attention was on the band of four, but they quickly lost interest when they came closer to the entrance, and Sirius stopped moving around, albeit a twitch or two.

As they headed up to the front, the death eater turned his sneer on them. "Your mark?" he asked, eyes looking the four up and down. They did look quite the strange bunch, with one werewolf in day to day clothes surrounded by three men in death eater robes, one of them another werewolf, one looking highly uncomfortable, and one looking strangely at ease in his surroundings.

Lucas only sighed and held out a small silver snake medallion, signaling that he was a visiting ally. The death eater took a closer look at Lucas' face, and his sneer grew even more pronounced. "Werewolf."

It was a wonder that Voldemort still had any allies if the disgusted way his followers treated any visiting creatures was the norm. The death eater nodded for Lucas to move on in, and was reaching for Harry to grab back his sleeve when Lucas stopped him. "These three are with me."

"Then why are they wearing our robes? And with the hoods up as well?"

"Because they're my men, and I don't want them being openly persecuted like I am. I can handle thugs like you; they shouldn't have to."

Harry watched as the death eater pulled out his wand and cast some sort of spell to throw Lucas to the ground. Tch, lazy, lazy, of course a wizard would never think to just shove someone to the ground; no, they had to use a spell.

"Disrespect, werewolf," the death eater whispered, kicking the fallen Lucas in the stomach. "Now move, filth."

Lucas, to his credit, just stood up and walked inside, neither flinching from whatever pain he must have felt nor acknowledging the death eater who had kicked him or the crowd of death eaters gathered at all. He motioned for Harry and the others to walk in front of him, and they did so hesitantly. Lucas ignored the mocking jeers of the death eaters as he moved past them and didn't even stop when one of the bolder lower-level death eaters shot a cutting curse at him, slicing his cheek open.

By the time they had entered the building and Lucas had pulled them into an empty corridor, Harry was trembling with barely suppressed rage. "Harry," Lucas tried to calm the irate wizard before he even started; but Harry wasn't having any of that.

"How dare they. You are a visiting ally ambassador. How dare they do that."

Lucas sighed. "It's like this every time we come. They're just putting on a show for each other, trying to prove they're strong and powerful by mocking us. It's best just to ignore them."

Harry yanked his hood back, pulled his mask off, and let it clatter to the floor. He glared at Lucas fiercely, enraged. "And what is wrong with you? You just let him do that! And you're saying that's usual! Why would you join with Voldemort when he lets his followers treat you like that? Heck, he probably treats you even worse."

Lucas reached up to yank the hood back over Harry's head, but the wizard moved away, thwarting the effort. "Are you saying that the wizarding world treats us any better?" Lucas' voice turned cold, and Harry faltered just a bit but refused to back down.

"At least they don't attack you."

Lucas gave a bitter laugh, the kind that lets you know there's really nothing to laugh about. "Of course they do, just not in the open like that. I can't tell you how many times a werewolf has come to us beat up because some wizards decided they didn't want 'monsters like them around.' And wizards hurt us in other ways as well. Do you have any idea how many werewolves and their families starve or are forced to resort to illegal things because wizards refuse to employ us? Heck, sometimes they refuse to let us even buy from them. Voldemort and his followers may treat us horribly and may hurt us, but at least they pay us and employ us and let us try to live, if only just barely!"

Lucas slumped back against the wall, breathing heavily and running his hand through his hair wildly. Remus and Sirius remained quiet, not seeming to want to intrude on Harry and Lucas' intense conversation. Harry reached forward to touch Lucas' shoulder.

"I know, Lucas. Things have been horrible for you and your kind, and I won't pretend to understand everything you've gone through." His voice was soft, but his face set in determination. "But we're going to change that. I promise you we will. And someday, no one's going to dare even think about doing anything to you. But before I can work on changing fundamental rules in the wizarding world, I've got another problem I need to take care of. Namely, the fact that Voldy's still breathing – that is, if you can count what he does as breathing."

Lucas nodded and gave Harry a wry smile. "And you know, you're probably one of the only people out there who understands what we've gone through, with people constantly judging you and God knows what else you've probably been through. And… I trust you. Merlin knows why, but I do. And I think that if anyone can help us, you can."

Harry felt distinctively uncomfortable with such a compliment, and he covered it up with a smirk. "Merlin? I thought you said you weren't a wizard."

Lucas full out grinned. "I'm not, but you crazies are contagious."

Harry grinned in return. "Magic does sound crazy at first, but you get used to it."

Lucas let out a short laugh. "If anyone had told me there was such a thing as magic before I was bitten, I would have thought they'd escaped form an insane asylum."

Harry chuckled a little in return. Suddenly, the sound of someone clearing their throat sounded form down the hallway. Harry's hands flew up to his hood, which was down, and his eyes turned to the discarded mask on the ground. Sirius and Remus immediately drew their wands. At the end of the hallway stood a death eater, hood up and mask on. He leaned against the wall, not seeming at all uncomfortable or surprised to see Harry there. If posture could have a facial expression, he would have been smirking.

"Started the party without me, did you?"

Harry relaxed immediately before rolling his eyes. "Of course not, Draco. How could we?"

Draco sauntered forward and stood before Harry. He leaned in to whisper in Harry's ear. "The snake's dead. I made sure of it, and even burned its body with fiendfyre."

Harry's eyebrow lifted inquiringly. "Does Voldemort know?"

Draco shook his head slightly. "Not yet, but you had better take care of him soon; or I'm bread."

Harry paused, dumbfounded. "The term is toast, Draco."

"Whatever."

"Hey, I thought you were straight, Harry?"

Harry blinked at Lucas' odd question and pulled back from Draco. "I am."

"Then why are you standing so close to and whispering with that guy. If he's your boyfriend, you could have just told me."

Harry stopped dead in his tracks, dumbfounded for a second time that day. "Oh, for the love of – I'm about to go face the most powerful wizard of all time, and all you can think about is my romantic life? I'm straight, I tell you, straight!"

"Besides, I'm way out of his league," Draco cut in.

Harry ignored him. "And I have something going on with someone at the moment. –And yes, before you ask, she's a girl."

Sirius and Remus perked up at that tidbit, and Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. Why did no one seem concerned about his safety. He felt a thing sense of betrayal. Did they not care what happened to him? Were they going back to the same mentality that had led to so many of his near-death encounters?

Remus, seeming to sense this inner turmoil, immediately answered. "Because it won't do you any good for us to act worried and fuss. You need support and confidence, not molly-coddling."

"No matter how worried we might be," Sirius added in, voice sure, barely betraying a sense of pain and panic he was feeling inside.

Harry couldn't help the smile that come over his face.

"Yes, yes," Draco's voice ended the moment. "Family bonding, togetherness, blah, blah, blah… Look, the meeting is going to start in a few minutes, and I'm sure all that emotional crap can wait until later, after you've gotten rid of the evil dark lord who wants to take over the world."

Harry turned to look at Draco, a grin on his lips. "But of course, Draco. I live to serve."

"You'd better," Draco nodded, his expression hidden by the mask; but Harry was vaguely sure he was smiling. "Now put on your mask before someone comes along, and I have to pretend to want to maim you."

"Alright, alright," Harry smirked and grabbed his mask again, placing it over his face, before pulling his hood back up.

The mask covered Harry's smirk as it grew wider when he heard Draco muttering about "idiotic Gryffindor tendencies." Draco then looked Harry up and down before nodding. "There, as unattractive as ever, but now you won't be found out, unless you decide to do something stupid again. …Let's hurry it up because it won't be long now until you do." Harry heard Lucas chuckle besides him and tried to shoot the werewolf a glare, but it didn't work, on account of the mask.

"Anyways," Draco continued as he pointed around the corner opposite the one he had come from. "The meeting's down that hallway, and we should get there soon, before anyone gets suspicious. The death eaters always arrive early so that Voldemort won't torture them if he gets there before they do."

"But I thought you didn't want to take any more part of this?" Harry grinned wickedly beneath his mask.

"Bellatrix decided today that since I was sooo dedicated to Voldemort that I would beg others for the chance to feed Nagini, I should be allowed to attend the meeting."

"Seriously?" Harry asked in disbelief.

Draco sighed. "Yes, really. Personally, I think she just smells that something's up and wants to keep an eye on me while I'm here so that I don't cause too much damage. …A bit late for that, really."

"And Voldemort just lets death eaters bring guests to his meetings?"

"Actually, uh," Draco paused and coughed. "Bellatrix only hinted that I should come, and I took the liberty of stunning one of the higher up death eaters who's about my size so that I could take his place. I figured it won't matter if you win, but if you end up dying, I can always just blame Bellatrix."

"Finally, someone who questions my ability to win!" Harry sounded exuberant, which was strange, but what about him lately wasn't strange.

Draco shrugged. "It's not so much that I question your abilities, but more that I just like to have a backup plan."

Harry rolled his eyes, which, once again, was a useless gesture because of the mask. "Such a Slytherin. Anyways, let's get going." Harry turned the corner Draco had pointed at only to suddenly catch sight of a dementor. Harry immediately turned back around, running into Sirius and Remus, who had been following him. "There are dementors here." IT wasn't a question, and Draco flinched at the dangerous tone to his voice.

"Oh, right, yes, there are. I forgot to tell you. Voldemort likes to have a few patrolling his halls at all times." Draco seemed to mistake Harry's tense posture as concern about getting attacked. "Don't worry; they are ordered not to harm anyone unless under his orders. They really only serve to make allies easier to bend to his will through their effects. Though, strangely, the dementors don't seem to affect Voldemort himself."

Harry smirked slightly at that before zoning off. There were dementors here. Harry was eternally grateful for the mask then, as it covered the longing on his face. If there were dementors here, then maybe Juan was here. Harry desperately wanted to talk with him. He wanted, no, he needed, to talk to someone about what he was about to do. And neither Sirius, Remus, nor Draco would understand in the least.

Harry made his decision and came back to the world, only to find Sirius snapping fingers in front of his face and Remus looking as if he was contemplating whether or not to remove Harry's mask. Lucas was watching the entire the rather concernedly but seemed as if he thought he'd better leave it to those who had known Harry the longest. Draco just looked bored. Harry shifted his weight, startling Remus and Sirius, who jumped back and tried to look as if they hadn't been doing anything.

Draco looked up from the hem of his robe, which he had been inspecting. "Your fit of insanity over?" he asked in a seemingly disinterested voice. But Harry caught the slight tremor in his voice and internally winced in sympathy. Draco was using sarcasm and bravado to mask his fear. Yes, he was afraid. And Harry couldn't blame him for it; crashing a high-ranking death eater party had to have major consequences if you were caught. And Draco, being a Slytherin, probably wanted to avoid breaking any of Voldemort's rules, just in case Harry didn't succeed.

Meanwhile, Sirius and Remus had turned towards Harry, posture tense and hunched at the "insanity" comment. Lucas looked a little lost at this, not understanding their reactions to an innocent comment. Harry just laughed it off. "Yeah, yeah, my 'fit of insanity' is over." Harry glanced around the corner again at the dementor and swallowed thickly. He didn't want a confrontation here.

"Look… Lucas, I want you, Remus, and Sirius to go on ahead without me." Harry could feel their eyes on him as they stared incredulously, and he shifted nervously.

"Maybe this fit of insanity isn't quite over yet," Draco said slowly.

"Harry," Remus tried to reason, "We need to stay together. We are in the middle of Voldemort's castle! We can't leave you on your own; you wouldn't be safe. …Or at least not as safe as you would be if you stayed with us."

Harry pointed his thumb at Draco. "I wouldn't be alone. He'll be with me."

Sirius snorted.

Draco drew himself up haughtily. "'ll have you know that your golden boy would be perfectly safe with me. I'm–"

"Yes, yes," Harry broke in. He just wanted to go, in case the dementor decided to leave the hallway. "You're a Malfoy, a great wizard, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera." He suddenly reached forward and grabbed both Sirius and Remus by their shoulders. "I wanted to let you do this of your own free will, cut here goes. Sirius, Remus, I order you both to go with Lucas into the meeting."

There was a long, drawn out pause, in which Harry waited to see if they would try and object. But they couldn't. Harry had driven them into a corner, and protesting wouldn't do any good. Harry turned to Lucas. "You'll go with them?"

A flurry of emotions seemed to pass over Lucas' face – confusion being the most prominent – but some of the desperation he felt must have seeped into Harry's voice as Lucas nodded minutely. "Thank you." Relief colored Harry's voice. "Now please go."

Lucas walked forward and grabbed Sirius and Remus' arms, dragging the obviously reluctant two behind him. They were about to turn the corner when Harry's voice betrayed him. "Wait!" Surprised, they turned to look at him, and Harry fumbled with what to say. This might be the last time he ever got to talk with them. Harry reached forward and grabbed Sirius in a hug and then proceeded to grab Remus in one as well. Harry released both of them before they could respond. "

"Harry," Sirius breathed, voice fading away as he realized he didn't know what to say.

"Just… be safe, okay? And don't worry about me."

There was a small silence as the two processed his words, and Harry silence Sirius when he opened his mouth to yell so that they would not be caught. He watched as Lucas grabbed Sirius again and pulled him and Remus away as he struggled. Harry hadn't, however, expected Remus to speak up.

"Harry, what are you going to do? Harry! Harry! Don't do anything rash! Harry!" he called frantically, panicking over whatever it was that he thought Harry was going to do.

"Just go." Harry flicked his hand at Remus, silencing him. Lucas looked at Harry hesitantly before dragging the two around the corner. And… awkward silence descended between Harry and Draco.

"Touching." Draco tried to nudge a silent Harry into conversation.

Harry ignored him.

Draco, feeling that Harry had, in some way, challenged him, decided to ignore Harry as well. It only lasted a few blessed minutes ,however, before Draco spoke up again. "Why are we just standing here? We're going to miss the meeting."

Harry nodded. "You're right. I just wanted to make sure they got in. You should go on in as well."

Draco pushed himself up off the wall he had been leaning on. "You aren't coming?"

Harry shook his head. "I have something to take care of."

Draco hesitated only a second. "You're going to do something incredibly idiotic, aren't you?"

Harry broke into a grin. "Of course."

Draco paused again before strolling down the hall and out of Harry's sight, calling behind him, "Don't flub this up, Potter!"

Harry smirked and waited a few more minutes. Then he ripped the suffocating mask off his face and ran around the corner. The dementor was still there. Thank God. Harry jogged up to the dementor, whose back was facing Harry. "Hey." The dementor ignored him. "Hey!" Still being ignored. Irritated and on edge, Harry pushed the dementor with his hand, accidently causing said dementor to stumble.

"Juan, if that's you, I swear I'll…" The dementor trailed off as he turned around and saw that it was Harry. "You're not Juan."

Harry nodded happily. "Rather bright, aren't you? Juan's a good friend of mine."

"You're Harry Potter," the dementor stated, eyes trailing up to Harry's scar.

"Wow, two in a row. Your mother must be proud. Who are you?"

The dementor answered slowly, seeming to size Harry up. "My name's Jeremy. You wouldn't know me because I've been assigned here in the castle since before you came. You're much more sardonic that Juan described."

"How did he describe me?" Harry asked curiously.

Jeremy shrugged. "He said that you were a brat, but not that you were a sardonic brat.""

"Of course he would," Harry muttered. Harry leaned in close to peer at Jeremy. "Look, it's Jeremy, right? I swear, you dementors purposefully give yourselves the most mundane names possible. But anyways, look, I haven't been having the best of days. Can you please just go get Juan for me?"

Jeremy's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, you're here to… Man, I don't blame you for being kinda hostile. I'll go get Juan."

"Thank you," Harry breathed in relief.

Jeremy glided down the hallway, and Harry heard a "good luck" before the dementor was gone from his sight. Harry sat down on the floor, back against the wall, deciding to hex any death eater to come around the corner. He didn't have to wait long because a few minutes later, on rounded the corner. Harry raised his hand to cast a curse when the death eater suddenly pushed back… her hood.

"Luna?" Harry asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Luna happily skipped over the where Harry was and sat down next to him. "Draco invited me."

"What?" Harry felt his anger rise. This place was dangerous! How could Draco invite Luna?

"Well, he accidentally let it slip that you would be here. He gets quite mixed up when you use muggle phrases around him, you know."

"I see," Harry pondered that. So maybe he wouldn't seriously injure Draco, gut maybe he could lock him up in a dungeon somewhere. Perhaps his own dungeon. – That would be ironic. Draco should have known that even if he'd just mentioned Harry coming here, Luna would show up. She tended to do that.

"But he didn't mention why you were here," Luna continued airily, but her gaze grew more serious as she stared at Harry.

"Oh, uh, about that," Harry fumbled with words to use. "I'm here to, uh,"

"Defeat Voldemort by letting him kill you to get rid of the piece of his soul which has been attached to you and then to kill him yourself?" Luna kept a completely innocent look on her face.

Harry stared, as series of emotions flashing through him, before settling on bemusement. Of course Luna knew. Luna always knew. At least she didn't seem angry with him. Harry had never seen Luna angry, (he wasn't sure she was even capable of anger in any sort of normal way) and he hoped to keep it that way. But it was how she knew what he'd been planning to do that baffled Harry. He hadn't told anyone but the dementors, and she couldn't talk to them… could she?

"Um, yeah, uh, how did you know that?" There might have been something akin to a cross between awe and amusement in his voice.

Luna smiled benignly. "Oh, I ran into Juan, and he told me."

Harry blinked. "You ran into Juan." Luna nodded. "Here." Another nod. "And he told you."

"Yes," she said serenely.

"I'm obviously missing something here. Okay, where is he? Maybe I'll understand him better."

Luna looked behind her. "He was behind me when I walked over here, but then he seemed to say something along the lines of 'I'll leave you two love-birds to it,' and left." She glanced around the corner curiously. "I'm assuming he's still here because he seemed to want to talk with you."

"'Seemed to say?'" Harry shook his head slightly. "Never mind. Juan?" Harry raised his voice slightly, knowing Juan would hear him. "Get out here." Harry waited a few moments and then grinned widely in relief as Juan glided around the corner. He came in close and leaned forward to look at Harry, as if inspecting him.

"Hmm, you remind me of a friend of mine. Just as short and skinny, same horribly messed up hair. He's a git, my friend is, and quite the brat. Of course, though, even he wouldn't be stupid enough to come here alone, now would he? I know he's stupid, but surely not that stupid."

Harry jumped forward and grabbed Juan in a manly man on man – er, man on dementor – hug. "Shut up, Juan. I'm not here alone; I just wanted to be alone to with you, idiot."

Juan let out a small laugh. "Good to see you, Harry. Say, have you gotten shorter since the last time I saw you?"

"Jerk," Harry smiled, letting the feeling of companionship Juan provided warm him. Nothing beat being with family, which really, Juan was – family, that is. Harry had begun to miss the dementors a lot, and he couldn't wait to end this so that he could go home and see Cindy, Uncle Morty, and the others. Then Harry pulled back to eye Juan speculatively. "So how did you find Luna and get her to understand you?"

Juan smiled sheepishly. "Actually, she found me. I was just on patrol when she suddenly showed up next to me and started talking. I don't even know how she knew it was me."

They both turned to look at Luna, who waved at them cheerfully. "I can see that happening. But how on earth did she figure out what you were saying?"

Juan shrugged, and Harry could have sworn he was blushing a bit. "I didn't think she would understand, so I decided to have fun trying to act it out, and, well… she's good at charades."

Harry resisted the urge to face palm in exasperation. If Luna had been anyone else, she would have been trying to stop him at all costs. Harry sighed and looked at Luna curiously. "Aren't you affected by being around Juan?"

Luna showed him her wrist, which was sporting a bracelet a bracelet that had something resembling a radish hanging off of it. "Juan said he was trying to block most of his powers, and my rutanga keeps me from being hurt by what he can't control. I can even touch him." To demonstrate her point, Luna grabbed Juan's hand in hers, shocking both Juan and Harry.

"…" Harry looked at her for a while. "I take it the rutanga is the radish-thing." Luna nodded happily and released Juan, who was still shell-shocked that he had been touched by a human other than Harry and was staring at Luna with open-mouthed disbelief. Luna had that effect on people. "I guess radishes have many uses."

"Yes, they do. It's a new invention Daddy and I have been working on ever since you told me about the dementor conspiracy," Luna began excitedly.

Juan looked over at Harry and mouthed, "Dementor conspiracy?" Harry just shrugged and looked bat at Luna, who was chatting animatedly.

"It's supposed to negate the effects of dementors so that they can interact with humans. You see, what we did was take a radish and we dipped it in…" Luna kept talking, and Harry glanced at Juan, who's eyes had glazed over.

"Luna."

She stopped talking immediately, looking at Harry curiously, his extremely serious gaze not seeming to phase her. "Yes?"

"Look, Luna, I," For the third time that day, Harry tried to find words and was unable. If things went wrong, this could be the last time he ever saw Luna.

Luna put her hand on Harry's, gaining his attention, and smiled at him sweetly. "I know," she said softly. "Just go so what you need to do and come back."

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" Harry asked incredulously.

Luna looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean? Of course, I am worried some, but you're a much better wizard than Voldemort is. Also, the nargles have a grudge against him, and they like you, so you'll definitely win."

"Yes," Harry agreed bemusedly. "But I am going to die. Aren't you worried about that?"

Luna frowned at him, as if he had just said something incredibly stupid. "Some, but you'll be fine. It's all about faith, Harry. And besides, I told you before, you're a much better wizard than Voldemort, and he's survived death. He's not the first, though."

"He isn't?"

"No, no, of course not. There's Merlin, Oz, Houdini–"

"Wait, Houdini was a wizard?" Harry asked, surprised.

Luna nodded. "He was. And quite a terrible one at that. Why else do you think he went into the muggle world in only because he couldn't make it in the wizarding world? If he could survive dying, then you certainly can."

"How did he survive?"

"He somehow managed to summon a geranged blumber,"

"Wait, a deranged plumber?" Harry interrupted, confused.

"No," Luna corrected. "A geranged blumber. They're quite common in Africa. This happened to him after having fallen into a herd of blood thirsty Gernumbli. The blumber took pity on him and brought him back to life afterwards."

Harry stared at Luna. "But aren't Gernumbli just garden gnomes? I thought you liked them."

"Yes, but you see, this group of Gernumbli were living in the forest, and that type of Gernumbli had a much more animalistic and aggressive attitude than normal gnomes. That's why they were banished to the forests by the others."

"I see," Harry nodded. "But how–"

"I don't mean to interrupt," Juan butted in, completely unsure of how they got off into this topic and whether or not it was actually a topic at all. "But if we don't go soon, the meeting will be over."

Luna glanced at Juan. "He's right. I'll go ahead and leave you two alone." She reached up on tiptoes to give Juan a kiss on the cheek before turning to Harry and placing a quick peck on his lips. She smiled at Harry and pressed another bracelet she had been keeping somewhere ambiguous in her robes into his hand. "Don't forget to make sure and position yourself so that when he kills you, you don't hit your head and then wake up later with a headache."

And with that, she was gone, skipping down the hallway merrily. "Where is she going?" Juan asked, a hand placed to his cheek. Harry couldn't help but smirk. With the weird turn (well, weirdest in a series of weird turns) in his life, Luna really was the perfect one for him. Who else did he know who would be able to openly touch and display affection for dementors only a few days after having discovered they weren't evil, soul-sucking monsters?

Harry didn't even bother to answer Juan, who was too preoccupied to notice. And so they stood, minds far away and awkward silence pervading while minutes ticked on and on. Finally, "The meeting's probably already started, hasn't it?"

"Oh, it probably started a while ago," Juan answered.

More awkward silence.

Harry didn't quie know how to bring up the subject of his impending death. Juan sighed. "Look, Har,"

"Don't call me 'Har.' That's dumb."

"Okay, look, Ry,"

"Don't call me that either. Harry's already a nickname, so that's just over-simplifying things."

Juan sighed a second time, though this time in exasperation. "Fine, fine. Here I am trying to be all comforting and deep, and you're nitpicking about what I call you." Juan moved closer to Harry and put his arm around the young wizard's shoulder. "Look at me, Harry."

Harry slowly looked up into Juan's black eyes, eyes full of sympathy, eyes that were seemingly endless. It was times like these more than any other that Harry could understand that Juan was hundreds of years old, though he refused to tell Harry how old. IT was easy to forget how mature Juan could be at times and how much he must have seen. … But that was mostly because of what an idiot Juan was most of the time.

"Harry," Juan repeated softly. "I know you must be scared."

Harry shook his head vehemently. "No, I'm not. I'm merely concerned about everyone else's welfare." Harry felt his eyes drop down to his feet again as he lied.

"Harry! Look at me." Harry's eyes swung once again back up to Juan's. "I know you are scared, and I don't blame you in the least." Juan's voice was steady and sure, and he kept eye contact with Harry, whose protests of not being scared died on his lips. "You're about to go die, and I can't have any way of knowing how you feel. Dementors don't die, or at least not like you do. We just kind of dissipate when it happens, but we usually know when the time has come, like you do now.

"But here are some things I do know. You're not going to be alone; you're friends and I will be there, and while I don't know if your friends will be able to stay the whole time, I will be there the entire time. I know you won't mess up, and you will be able to save us and kill him. And finally, I know you will survive. You. Will. Come. Back." Juan suddenly smiled. "So just get in there and get it over with; you're procrastinating. It's just like taking off a Band Aid. …Besides, you're Harry Potter. You'd have to work really hard at it to die and stay dead."

Harry gave a small chuckle. "Why is everyone so obsessed with my name?"

"Because you're so obsessed with your name," Juan replied with a swat at the back of Harry's head. Silence filled the room again as Harry contemplated what Juan had said.

"You'll be there?"

Juan nodded, a soft smile on his lips. "Yeah, I'll be there."

Harry smiled and looked down. "Okay, then." Suddenly, Juan grabbed Harry in a head lock, surprising a yelp out of the wizard. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Aww, is little Harry done wimping out on me?" Juan smirked teasingly while Harry struggled and tried to get out of the dementor's grip.

"I was NOT wimping out!"

"Then what do you call all that whining?" Juan didn't even try to hide his amusement at the struggling Harry's predicament.

"Hey, I'm entitled to a bout of self-pity every now and again."

"Yes, yes," Juan said consolingly, any sympathy in his voice belayed by the fact that he had Harry in a head lock. "Now are you ready to make your big entrance?"

"I will be once you let go." Harry finally managed to throw off Juan's arms and turned to glare at the dementor, who was grinning unabashedly. "Idiotic dementor," Harry muttered, walking down the hall.

"Wrong way," Juan called.

"Whatever," Harry turned around and grabbed a snickering Juan's arm and pulled him down the way everyone else had left. "Idiotic dementor," he muttered again.

"Hey," Juan grinned. "That's discrimination."

"Shut up, Juan!"

Harry marched down a few twisting hallways, following Juan, who took charge. Strangely enough, this whole thing had Harry feeling better and more self-assured than ever. It was probably more because of Juan's presence than because of what Juan had said. Harry didn't quite know why, but he felt safer and more comfortable around dementors than he ever had around wizards. Eh, maybe Azkaban had made him a bit crazy.

Harry noticed idly as he walked behind a happily chatting Juan that none of the death eaters he passed even spared a glance at him, despite him not disguising himself. Draco must have a lot of influence. Harry also noticed that the few death eaters he saw were few and far between and they all seemed to lower-level. He guessed that most death eaters were too smart to hang around where one of Voldemort's "all important meetings" was taking place.

Well, no one had ever accused them of being idiotic, reckless, or brave to the point of being suicidal. …Harry could not claim the same.

And so there they stood, in front of the door to the death eater meeting, a talking dementor with an attitude (and possibly mental) problem and an allegedly insane but insanely powerful wizard with revenge problems. One might wonder why, in fact, no one was guarding the door to make sure no one interrupted the meeting. Well, one's question would not be answered.

Harry turned to Juan. "So,"

"Do you have a plan for what you're going to do once you get inside?: Juan asked suddenly. "And isn't the door locked?"

"Nope, no clue, and it probably is locked."

"Git,"

"Idiot."

Juan and Harry both grinned at each other. "Luck, then" Juan saluted Harry and floated through the door. "See you on the other side."

"Cliché using cheater," Harry called, marveling once more at the wonders of dementor magic.

And so, Harry then stood alone, trying to decide on how to enter. Who knew what was going on in there, as Harry was a good hour late. Luckily, though, Harry knew from experience, though use of his bond, that Voldemort was a long-winded talker and would only be about half through with the meeting. Finally, Harry took a deep breath and blasted open the door.

MISCELLANEOUSobjects MISCELLANEOUSobjects

Harry may have been expecting a surprised, "Potter!" or outraged "How did you get here?" or something of some such nature, but, as we've learned by now, things never go the way Harry expected.

No, instead, Harry walked into the meeting and the first thing Voldemort said was, "Why did you have to destroy the door. It was my favorite." On a lesser being, it may have sounded whiny, but from Lord Voldemort, it was incredibly menacing and intimidating. …Or not.

Harry just blinked. "I think your repertoire of insults needs updating."

Voldemort just smiled widely and gestured around him, a rather unbecoming look on him. "I do not believe you are in the position to be making suggestions, brat."

Harry glanced around at the death eaters before his eyes rested on… no. Harry felt his anger rise, molten and hot. He turned his eyes back to Voldemort. "What are you doing with them?"

Voldemort laughed cruelly. "Why entertaining them, or course."

In the corner of the room, huddled together, were Lucas, Sirius, Remus, Draco, and Luna, all chained together. The chains looked painful, but other than a few already forming bruises on Lucas and a nasty black eye on Sirius, they looked relatively harm free. Draco looked rather disgruntled, though, as if being held captive was beneath him. Luna, however, looked like she was having a grand time, though if you looked closely, her smile was just a tad nervous.

"Okay, look," Harry's nerves were abuzz. His friends were captured – heck, Luna wasn't even supposed to be there – but he needed to get this over with. Hopefully, he wouldn't be dead long enough for Voldemort to cause any damage. "Are you going to stand there and monologue, evilly mapping out your malicious desires, or can we get this over with?"

Voldemort smirked, pulling his wand out of his sleeve. "A man of action, I see, Potter. Just like your father. And – lucky you – you get to die like him as well." Harry resisted the urge to lunge at Voldemort. Attacking him wouldn't do any good… yet. "Oh, yes," Voldemort twirled his wand in his hands before turning to the group of captured people who were Harry's friends. "But before you die like your dog of a father, perhaps I should give you a chance to venture into the past a bit – more specifically, your mother's past."

Harry watched in rage as Voldemort raised his wand up to Sirius' throat, the sleek wound touching his skin causing the wizard to tremble. "I wonder how she felt," Voldemort breathed, voice barely more than a whisper. "Watching her husband die, knowing she couldn't save her son." Voldemort pulled back a few steps and pointed his wand, a twisted smile on his lips. "Well you'll find out exactly how she felt soon enough, now won't you? Ave–"

Harry lunged forward, pushing several death eaters out of the way, to fling himself in front of Sirius, whose eyes and fists were clenched tight in the face of his death. Voldemort's eyes widened in surprise, but he did not stop the spell. If anything, he looked even more excited.

'I guess I really am like my mother,' Harry though absently as Voldemort's lips formed the last syllables and green light emerged from his wand. " –da Kadavera!"

And just like that, he was dead.

MISCELLANEOUSobjects MISCELLANEOUSobjects

Harry didn't even remember losing consciousness. But he must have, as he woke face down on the ground at what seemed to be the area outside of Azkaban, waiting boat and all.

"I suppose I should thank you."

Harry jerked out of his sleepy faze at the foreign voice and pushed himself to his feet. Turning around, he found himself staring at a dementor. Not just any dementor, though, as he was larger still than dementors normally were, his cloak a silvery grey instead of black, and his hood even longer than a normal dementor's and pulled up to cover his face completely. He was male, though, of that Harry was sure.

"Why say thank you? All I've done so far is stab a few things and die. And no offense, but I was kinda hoping for – well, I don't know what I was hoping for, but seeing Cindy or Uncle Morty would be nice."

The dementor let out a deep, resounding chuckle. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not your Uncle Morty, but I'm afraid most dementors could not speak with you post-death. And as for thanks, whether you defeat him or not later, you have paved the way for another to."

Harry threw his hands into the air in exasperation. "The lack of faith! Finally, someone truly doesn't think I can win, and he's a total stranger! …By the way, what do you mean by 'most' dementors?"

The dementor let out another laugh and extended a grey, gloved hand to Harry, who took it warily. "I am the Lord of the–"

"Rings?"

"–Er, no, dementors."

"Oh," Harry looked a bit put out. "Yes, I've heard Juan talk about you. But you might want to work on title because that could confuse some people at first."

The dementor leaned forward to inspect Harry. "Are you quite sure dying hasn't scrambled your brain at all?"

"Should you really be saying that?" Harry asked curiously. The Lord of the Dementors shrugged. "Got a shorter title?"

The dementor coked his head. "Just call me Dave."

Harry rolled his eyes. "What is with you dementor and your mundane – look," Harry pinched the bridge of his nose before looking up with a sly smirk. "How come I haven't met you before if you rule over the dementors?"

Dave winced a little. "It's a long story, but let's just say that Voldemort decided I was too much of a threat and is keeping me trapped in his castle, unable to do anything more than command my dementors who can move around. I was physically unable to come meet you, as much as I would have liked to. However, as you are here now – and dead – I was able to meet you here."

"And where is here, exactly?" Dave shrugged again. "Dementor of few words, aren't you, Dave?"

"Nah, it's just hard to describe. I guess you could consider it a type of limbo between death and life. Here you could decide to go on and let someone else take care of Voldy or you could go back and try to kill him yourself."

"I'll go back," Harry said immediately.

Dave's stature suggested he was surprised. "Don't you want to think about it at all?"

"Could my friends possibly die if I don't go back?" Dave nodded. "Could I still live a happy life with them if I go back?" Another nod. "Would innocent people die if I don't go back?" Nod. "Then there you have it."

"What about your parents?"

Harry's expression softened. "I've waited my life to see them again; I can wait for another good few years. I'm sure they'll understand. Now how do I go back?"

"I've never met a man quite like you." There was pure admiration in Dave's voice. "I'm proud to think that you're Salazar's heir, and I cannot wait to speak to you in the real world."

"You mean this isn't real?" Harry asked, surprised.

Dave shrugged again. "Your guess is as good as mine. And really, muggles believe magic isn't real, but there you are. Who are we to judge?"

Harry shrugged in agreement; he had a point.

"Now just click your heels together three times and say, 'There's no place like home. There's no place like home.'" Harry glared. "Worth a try. Just try to wake yourself up; I'm sure it'll work eventually."

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, muttering about how unhelpfulness must be a character trait of dementors and how everywhere had incompetent leaders as the world – if that was what it was – faded away.

Author's Note: Okay, so first off, I came to realize I had been misspelling my page break and have now fixed that. (Thank you, Bonar, for pointing that out. I have no idea how I missed the misspelling.)

And secondly, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry it has been so long since I last updated. I have just kinda gotten a kick in the pants by life, with a term paper (that I'm still not finished with), my sister in law giving birth, getting sick for an entire weekend, tennis, and a really close friend (now barely an acquaintance as of last week) taking out her boy trouble on me. So . . . . . . . . I've really only had time to write on the weekends, and even then I don't have a lot of time.

But, rambling apology and excuses aside, I tried to make it extra, extra longer to make up for the wait, and I will do my very best to update again sooner. On another note, my story only has about two more chapters left, if my estimation is right. Just thought some of you might like to know that.

As for the story, Juan and Luna return, and how everyone got captured, as well as their reactions to Harry's death, will be explained in the next chapter. I hope the made up creatures were alright. Thanks so much to all of my reviewers, and please keep reading.