Yay! It's a chapter! :D Sorry for the very long wait, but I was in Germany for a month with a school exchange program, and I've been taking part in the Fanfiction, School of Imagination competition over the summer... so not much time left to write other stories... :P But I'm going to try to get back into it! I promise!

Anyway, thank you to Moon Lantern, DragonSlayer2187, fuzzysocksandwriting and sparks lupin for reviewing the last chapter! :) Hope you all like this (rather long) chapter! :D

Chapter 18: Close Call

I don't know how long I sat there until I could hear him yelling for me.

"Leah! Leah! Leah, where are you? Leah?" I heard echoing from far down the hall. I ignored my brother's calls for me and continued staring out the window to the wide, gorgeous view of a lake with snow-tipped mountains behind it. My mind was swimming in the midst of confusion and pain.

Ever since I was a child I had longed for a family. At the orphanage a family meant freedom and love – two things that were in short supply at the City House for Girls. In my many years of staying at the orphanage I had seen perhaps a hundred children come and go. Friends and enemies, girls and boys, tall and short and younger and older. A few years earlier I had been distraught when the twentieth set of prospective parents had turned me down on the basis of wanting a 'less strange' child as part of their family.

My words, not theirs (theirs were sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker, but they all meant the same thing; I could tell). I had gotten into the habit of leaning against the wall outside of Mrs. Smith's office during her meetings because of the very thin walls through which I could hear all but the softest spoken words.

I remembered a few of the times prospective parents had visited the orphanage, only for them to hear the purposely loud stories gossiped around the playground and stairwells or actually witness one of my episodes of accidental magic. Many had screamed and run away after such episodes, but some had gone farther. I winced, remembering one family who had yelled that I was a child of the Devil and coming at me with fists, necessitating Mrs. Smith's reluctant intervention. None of the families had wanted a "special" child though, regardless of their definition of the word. Not a one.

And now that I knew it was magic, now that I had found my actual family, it didn't make a difference. My parents had been murdered before I had even gone to the orphanage.

And Dumbledore hadn't even told me. I had to find out from my brother. The one who had watched them be killed.

I remembered his voice as he spoke of my mother screaming, of her yells for Voldemort to spare Harry and kill her instead. I remembered how he spoke of the green light that often haunted his dreams. The green of the killing curse that he had survived. His voice had been toneless, as though he had already shared the story more than enough times that the feelings had been dulled; the feelings of worry and fear had been replaced by a cold apathy that kept him from revealing more than he wanted to.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the window, letting the chill spread through me. I felt some tears I had long been holding back slip out from my eyes and fall onto my hand, which was gripping the cold windowsill tightly. My fingers automatically wiped their remnants off of my cheeks, but more replaced them after only seconds. Another thought popped into my head, but far from helping to slow my tears, it only caused them to multiply.

Why had Harry only mentioned my mother telling Voldemort to spare him? Did she even think about me in her dying moments?

'Not Harry, not Harry' he had quoted from memory, making no mention of her telling him to spare me, to let me go.

The chill from the cold air suddenly went deeper, causing a terrible numbness that went all the way down to my bones.

I heard the sounds of doors opening and closing and fast footsteps growing louder. Harry was running closer and closer toward where I was. As he got nearer, I could hear him panting for breath.

"Leah! Leah!" he called, his voice getting even louder. "Leah! "Le-"

His voice stopped with his footsteps as the door to the empty classroom I was in opened. He took a few more steps and I could tell he was right behind me.

I felt his hand on my shoulder and I flinched, pulling away from him slightly.

"Leah?" he asked, touching my shoulder again. "I just wondered, well, are you alright?"

I scoffed, wiping a few more tears off my face with the edge of my sleeve. "Just as alright as I was a few minutes ago in Dumbledore's office. Except now I don't think I'm going to lose control of my magic and wreck his office again."

"That's good, I suppose," Harry started. "Hang on, you said you wrecked his office before? After only being here for two days? How did you manage that?"

I could feel a pink flush running over my face at that. "Well, I might have possibly lost control of my magic - 'cause I'm not trained and stuff yet - while remembering a... a traumatic experience yesterday. I ended up magically exhausted and from what Madam Pomfrey said, the headmaster's office was in shambles after my display."

I scratched my neck as I usually did when I was nervous, wondering what his response would be.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, sounding very worried and crouching down to look me over.

I looked up at him, seeing the concern in those green eyes so much like my own. I could see his brow furrowed in that way that meant he was thinking hard – just like mine did. A rush of warmth ran through me knowing that he cared enough to ask

"Yeah," I said. " Madam Pomfrey fixed me up and I'm here right now, aren't I? You probably know better than me that she wouldn't have let me leave if I wasn't. I just need to keep from doing magic for a few days. That was another reason why I left Dumbledore's office just now. She's pretty strict when she wants to be, and she expressly forbid me from doing any magic." I smiled wryly, remembering her words to my brother the night he had ended up in the Hospital Wing.

"I certainly know it," Harry scoffed. "I've been in the Hospital Wing enough times." His comment made me smile again, making me feel better with his obvious hate of the Hospital Wing.

"The first time I was there was for magical exhaustion," he added, shifting his gaze to the view out of the window behind me. "I was unconscious for three days."

"Oh."

I had no idea what to say. His worry was definitely understandable now. I thanked whatever gods existed that my magic hadn't been so strained as to be out for days. "What did you do to be so magically drained?" I asked awkwardly, breaking the silence and unsure if he would even answer as his distant gaze focused and hardened.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence, before he spoke again.

"Voldemort was at the school and I used up all of my energy fighting him. My friends and I were trying to keep him from getting the Sorcerer's Stone from him. We were eleven."

I froze, feeling my breath shorten and catch in my chest. My heartbeat felt double the norm. "H-he was here? Here at Hogwarts? Voldemort was here?"

My worst fears were coming true. Not only did it seem like there was no safe place to hide from that monster, but even Hogwarts - where both Dumbledore and Snape had assured me I was safe and free from his reach - he was able to penetrate. He had done so almost four years ago; who's saying he won't be able to do it again?

His words to me in my last dream echoed in my mind. You ran... And you will pay for it.

"It was only my first year," Harry said, now studying the stone wall intenly. "But he was-"

"He was still here wasn't he?" I asked, my voice rising alarmingly. "At the school?"

"Yeah, that's what I-"

"Which means he could be back if he really wanted to? He could get in?"

"No, the wards don't let him in anymore. I'm sure Dumbledore made sure of that as soon as he could. Not to mention that no one really wants to take the Defense Against the Dark Arts post anyway. And since Voldemort's back in his body, he can't posess another person like he did Professor Quirrel..."

Harry was rambling, which only caused my fears to grow. Possession? Voldemort could possess people? My fears were growing by the minute.

He finally looked at me, caught my eye and noticed my state of mind. Granted, it probably wasn't difficult. I could feel my arms and legs trembling and my breath was still coming in short bursts.

"Leah! Oh, I didn't mean to frighten you!" He said, sounding worried. "Really! I mean, I didn't know it would scare you so much! Do you need something? Professor Snape? A glass of water? I did mean it when I said he wouldn't be able to get in now that he's got a body again, even though that means he's stronger... but Dumbledore is the only person Voldemort was ever afraid of! So Hogwarts is definitely safe."

He grabbed my hands frantically as he spoke, helping me to calm myself and turn my thoughts away from the less plesant things.

I took a deep breath and bit my lip hard. I was unsure whether I should smile or not. I was still worried about Voldemort getting into the castle, but my brother's attitude made the whole thing seem much less important and almost amusing. And from what I had been able to tell, Dumbledore was a very powerful wizard...

I thought over what he had said, then came across something I hadn't noticed while he was rambling on.

"Just a moment- you said 'now that he's got a body again'? Does that mean he didn't have a body for a while? But he was still alive?"

That was disturbing to think about.

Harry scratched the back of his neck and messed with his hair. "When he came to my- to our house when we were little and tried to kill me, the curse sort of rebounded on him. His body was destroyed, but his spirit was still around. After that he actually hid in Albania before he enlisted the help of one of his followers to get his body back last year. He had to use a dark ritual to do it..."

His voice trailed away.

"How do you know that?" I asked, half stunned and half amazed.

Harry suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Dumbledore figured out most of it, to be honest. I just learned about it when he told me. And as for getting his body back," He ran his fingers through the fringe covering his forehead, letting out a great breath of air in a steady hiss. "I was there."

I gaped at him, and was about to ask for more detail when he stood up suddenly and anxiously, as if he were about to start pacing back and forth.

"I really don't want to talk about it," he said shortly, tapping his thigh with his fingers as he anticipated my question. "It- it happened right at the end of last year at the end of the- I just- Ugh!" He turned sharply and hit the wall with a closed fist causing me to jump in surprise.

He was silent for quite some time and I was afraid to disrupt. He was tense and shaking slightly, though I knew it was different from my own trembling.

"I saw a classmate die," he whispered finally, just loud enough for me to hear. "I saw him die in front of me, murdered by the same Death Eater who ultimately brought Voldemort back to life. That rat-" he added furiously, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes tightly, hitting his fist against the wall again.

He seemed to have forgotten that I was even there. Muttering under his breath, he placed his head against the cold stone wall and put his fist above his head, which was starting to shake back and forth. "I won't... I can't-" I heard him say.

"Harry?" I said softly, again not wanting to startle him. "Harry?" I called again, raising my voice slightly.

He whipped his head around to look at me and I saw his hate for the Death Eater he had mentioned burning in his eyes, but it quickly left as he shook his head and walked a bit closer to me, grasping my hand again as if to reassure himself that I was there. He sighed and relaxed a bit.

"Thanks for that, though I'm sorry I reacted that way. That lying traitor did terrible things and I just-" he paused and swallowed with a bit of difficulty, squeezing my hand again. "I can't let you get hurt."

I smiled and was about to thank him when I heard crisp, sharp steps coming down the hallway, almost sounding like high heels.

"Damn!" Harry whispered fiercely, shooting up to stand straight, pulling me with him. "Find somewhere to hide! Quickly!"

Gazing around the room, I saw a shadowy corner that held some dusty boxes with a tarp over them. I scurried over, quiet as I could and snuck behind them, pulling the tarp over my head and trying to slow my frantic breathing. The steps came right up to the room we were in and the door creaked open all the way.

"Mr. Potter, what are you doing here?" Asked the supercilious voice of a woman. "Why are you not in your afternoon classes? Monday afternoon for Gryffindor fifth years? You should be in Divination, then my class. In about... twenty minutes."

I bit my lip, trying to imagine what kind of excuse he would have for - whoever it was. I hadn't even thought about the fact that classes were in session and that that was the reason the halls had been empty.

"I-I got lost Professor," Harry started, and I almost groaned aloud. It was obvious that he was lying. "I went to the bathroom, but forgot the trick staircase on the fifth floor doesn't lead back to the Charms corridor on Mondays or Wednesdays. It leads up here instead. I was just looking out the window to get my bearings when you found me here."

There was a tense silence that felt longer than it probably was.

"You expect me to believe that you, Mr. Potter, in your fifth year at this school, don't know your way to your standard core classes?" Her voice was sickly sweet and it sent shivers down my spine. "I highly doubt that anyone who has been here for so long could get lost so easily. And surely with the amount of rulebreaking you get up to you would know your way around much better than most of the students. Tell the truth, Mr. Potter, or I will be forced to etch my message even deeper."

A sharp intake of breath warned me of Harry's impending denial.

"Of course, Delores, Mr. Potter has lost numerous brain cells over the years through his many Quidditch injuries. It could be that his simple inability to remember things as simple as the way to classes is the reason his grades are so abysmally low."

Severus Snape's voice made me jump and I was grateful for the lady professor - Delores's squeal of surprise that concealed my bumping of a nearby crate.

"Professor Snape!" she shrieked, sounding like a student, or at least a much younger woman. "What are you doing here?"

"Simply returning to the dungeons from the headmaster's office Delores. I had a matter I needed to discuss with him immediately. I simply heard raised voices and at first thought they were students skipping classes."

"But he is! Mr. Potter is skipping class! I know it!"

"Is that so?" Snape asked, his voice dangerous-sounding, making me cringe. "Then I will just have to punish him, won't I?"

"I was really thinking that I could take his detention, Severus," she began sweetly, as if trying to butter him up. "After all, I was the one who found him."

"Pity. I was already listing the things that needed disemboweling for storage... Horned toads, eels-"

He was cut off by a noise of disgust from Harry. I didn't blame him. Disemboweling dead animals for detention? That was utterly disgusting!

All of them were silent for a moment, before Delores spoke again.

"Hm... Very well, Severus. Perhaps a bit of manual labor will make the message sink in. Yes, you may take his detention. Though I expect you in my class in thirteen minutes, Mr. Potter! No excuses!"

And with that she stomped out of the classroom, her heels clicking on the stone floor as they grew quieter and quieter.

Once I was sure she wouldn't be coming back I peeked out from the crates I was hiding behind.

My eyes landed on a very angry Professor Snape.

Whoops. ;) So, what do you think happens next? Did you like it? Hate it? See something I need to fix? Please tell me!

And I just want to thank you readers for getting this story up to 4000 views! :D You guys are awesome!

Oh, and I came of age (in the Wizarding World) today! :D So pretty please a review for my b-day? Thank you! :)

~Megan out!