The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change.

—William Shakespeare, Richard II

Chapter Six

"Of all the irresponsible, hare-brained, imbecilic—"

"Now Minerva, it wasn't the poor lad's fault. We all saw, the Bludger wasn't acting normal."

"It's true, Professor McGonagall. I have never seen such a thing in all my years of Quidditch."

"Let's none of us jump to conclusions before the inspection of the Bludger in question has been performed—"

"Is Holly going to be all right, Professor Dumbledore?"

"As soon as Madam Pomfrey forces some rather nasty concoctions down her throat, I am sure she will be fine, Miss Brown."

"Just not too nasty, I hope," Holly groaned out, opening her eyes.

She was in the Hospital Wing, surrounded by half of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, along with Madam Hooch, Phin, Lavender, and Parvati. They were all looking at her as if she was on death's door.

The moment she spoke, her two friends launched themselves at her, hugging the girl tightly. For being hit with a speeding Bludger, Holly felt remarkably fine, though she was a little tender. Her head, though, was still incredibly fuzzy. "I would ask who died," she joked, "but I think I did."

Professor McGonagall gave a great sniff. "You were hit by a rogue Bludger and knocked from the stands. Do you remember? You fell fifty feet."

Holly remembered nothing of the fall. She shook her head, patting the arms of her friends. They pulled back finally, and Holly saw that both girls were in tears.

"Oh, Holly," Lavender said. "You could have died. If Mr. Urquart and the teachers hadn't been able to slow your fall…"

"You were as white as a sheet," Parvati told her in a rush. "We didn't think you were breathing at all."

Phin came forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. He didn't say anything, but Holly understood.

Looking extremely contrite, George Weasley stepped up to the foot of her bed and said, "I'm really sorry, Potter. I was aiming for Higgs, and you just…"

"Got in the way?" Holly suggested. She grinned at George. "Next time you feel like rearranging my ribs, let a girl know first, all right?"

Weasley beamed at her. "All right, Potter."

"That's enough of that," Madam Pomfrey said, coming forward and handing Holly a vial. "No more visitors. Drink up, Miss Potter."

Holly drank. She immediately felt sleepy, and Lavender helped her lay back down, fluffing her pillow for her. As she drifted off to sleep, she murmured, "Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes, dear?"

"I don't think I like Quidditch much anymore."

Holly was allowed to leave the Hospital wing when she woke the next day. Madam Pomfrey was quite stern and kept saying "no exertion!" but Holly was willing to promise anything if it meant she could get out of there. On the way back to Gryffindor tower, it seemed as though everyone stopped her in the halls to wish her well, and it took twice as long as it should have to get to the common room. Once inside, she waved to the first year boys who called to her from the corner table, and climbed up the stairs to her room.

Lavender and Parvati were waiting for her, sitting on her bed and petting Artemis. "Holly!" Lavender exclaimed, jumping up and running to hug her. Holly sank into the feeling of being held. She carefully wrapped her arms around her blonde friend, squeezing back, and savoring the feeling of family. It was over too soon, and then Lavender pulled her over to the bed where Parvati was waiting, and Holly got another embrace.

"We were so worried, Holly, really," Parvati said earnestly.

"We tried to stay with you last night, but Madam Pomfrey kicked us out," Lavender told Holly petulantly, pouting a bit. "Neville invented a stomach ailment at midnight to check on you though, and he said you were sleeping fine."

Holly felt her cheeks heat, and she smiled when Artemis joined in the fussing, rubbing her head against Holly's belly and curling up in her mistress's lap. Holly stroked her hand down the silky black fur, feeling herself relax. That sensation was gone a moment later when Lavender spoke.

"Holly, why did Professor McGonagall seem so concerned for you? More than usual, I mean. And her husband, Mr. Urquart, he was the one that fared-you-well on the train—I don't understand."

Just like that the bottom dropped out of Holly's stomach. Lavender was looking at the redhead with doe-eyes, so it was obvious she hadn't guessed the truth at all. Parvati looked curious, but Holly knew that if she said she didn't want to talk about it, the black-haired girl would accept it. She might not like it, but Parvati would accept it. For a long moment, Holly seriously considered doing just that. It had been point of pride to her that she had managed to keep her two lives separate, and not having them merge. She could trust her friends with the truth, Holly knew, but it had been easier to just ignore it. Now, here it was, staring her in the face.

Finally, in a halting voice, she said, "Professor McGonagall was a friend of my mother's. They fought against Voldemort together."

Lavender gasped, and Parvati shrieked. "Why did you say his name?"

"Fine," Holly said, glaring at Parvati. "You-Know-Who. They fought together in the war, and when I turned eleven, McGonagall and her husband, Phin, started to reintroduce me to the Wizarding World. I didn't tell you lot because—because I didn't want to make a fuss of it. They are my outside life, where Professor McGonagall is not so stern, and kind of fun. You two might not understand, but I owe them everything." She sighed. "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have known anything before coming here."

"What do you mean?" Lavender frowned. "Surely your Muggle aunt told you about some stuff?"

Holly bit her lip. The weave of her bedspread suddenly became fascinating to her. "No," she said quietly. "My Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon don't like magic at all—they hate it, in fact…and me. My cousins don't even know where I am. They just think I am at a Muggle boarding school." She blinked back the tears that suddenly threatened, not even sure where they came from. Holly Potter was not a whiny crybaby. "Until Professor McGonagall came for me, I didn't have anyone."

"Well, you have us now," Lavender said with a shaky voice, wrapping her arm around Holly's shoulders.

"We're best friends forever, Holly," Parvati said solemnly, taking Holly's hand. "That won't change, no matter what."

"Thanks." Holly gave a watery smile.

"Is this a bad time?"

The girls looked up to see Hermione in the doorway.

"Hermione!" Parvati said, jumping off the bed. The bubbly girl was suddenly very serious. Parvati ran over and took Granger's hand, pulling her back over to where Holly and Lavender were. Parvati sat back down, and Hermione stood there awkwardly. "Hermione," Parvati said commandingly. "Tell Holly and Lavender what you told me."

"Well," the bushy haired girl said, her tone eager and decisive. "It was Snape."

"What was?" Lavender asked.

"The Bludger!" Hermione exclaimed, sitting down on Lavender's bed and waving her hands as she got properly excited. "I know a jinx when I see one, Lavender. I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"How did you see him?" Holly asked. "He was on the other side of the pitch!"

Hermione shifted in place, looking down for a moment, and then continuing, "I was visiting Hagrid, the gamekeeper, when the match started, and he wanted to get a better view, so we went to the Hufflepuff stands, which, as you know, is where some of the teachers sit, and so I had a perfect view of the whole thing! When Hagrid saw what was happening, he got so upset that he bumped into Professor Quirrell, who crashed into Professor Snape in his haste to help, and then Holly was flying through the air, and the Bludger was suddenly harmless again. It was Snape, I tell you." She took a deep breath. "I told Hagrid about the three-headed dog, and he knew all about it! He said his name was Fluffy and it was his responsibility to guard something secret between Nicolas Flamel and Professor Dumbledore!"

"But why would Snape try to kill her?" Lavender asked skeptically. "He's nicer to her than most of the other Gryffindors."

"Yeah, he even gave me back Parvati's skipping rope and everything," Holly said. "Why would he do that if he wants me dead?"

"Plausible deniability," Hermione said, nodding her head as if in victory. "Maybe killing you was not really the target, just a diversion. He's after whatever is down that trapdoor, and I am going to find out what it is!"

"And how are you going to do that?" Parvati asked dubiously.

"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione said. "I have to find out who Nicholas Flamel is!" With that, she swept from the room, obviously off to solve her mystery.

Once she was gone, Holly immediately started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Lavender asked, as Artemis crawled into her lap.

Holly couldn't speak, she was laughing too hard. All she managed to gasp out was, "Fluffy!"

By mid-December, the Black Lake was frozen solid. Overnight, the castle and grounds had been covered by several feet of snow, and the sky seemed perpetually covered in stormy clouds. Holly's favorite season had arrived with a vengeance, and all of Hogwarts seemed to be preparing for Christmas. The Weasley twins, in an effort to make up for George almost killing Holly, had taken to surprising her with pranks everywhere she went. They charmed the boughs of holly to sing personalized Christmas carols at her whenever she walked past, and one day for lunch, everyone ended up eating the Holly Potter special: Shepherd's pie, pumpkin juice, and treacle tart. They even bewitched snowballs to follow Professor Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban—though Holly was not so convinced they did that one on her behalf.

It seemed as if no one could wait for the holidays to begin. While Gryffindor tower and the Great Hall had roaring fires to keep everyone warm, the drafty corridors had become icy and a cold wind screamed against the windows all through classes. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a fine mist before them, and they kept as close as possible to their cauldrons. Holly had charmed her own clothing, and Lavender and Parvati's, with warming charms, but it seemed as though the cold seeped into their very bones.

Draco Malfoy had been practically smug after the Slytherin win of the Quidditch match, but Ron Weasley had stuck a dungbomb in his bag at lunchtime, and any superiority Draco felt had vanished quickly. The blond boy had not fully recovered his standing among his Housemates after the flying incident. Holly had noticed that in the first two weeks of school, the Slytherins had seemed to present a united front to the rest of the school, but after Draco's meltdown, several little factions had sprung up and none of them seemed to want to let Malfoy speak for them. Still, that hadn't stopped him from trying to reclaim what he saw as his rightful position by picking on the school darling.

"I do feel so sorry," Draco said, one day in Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

He was looking at Holly as he spoke. She had just finished her pepper-up potion, and chose to ignore him.

Pansy Parkinson snickered behind her hand.

Holly had put her name down as one of those who was not returning home for the holidays. Professor McGonagall had come around with a signup sheet the week before, and Holly had signed up at once, and sent a note to the Dursleys to say she was staying by one of the school owls. She didn't mind, of course. Though she couldn't go home with McGonagall and Phin because they weren't her guardians, Holly was going to spend her birthday with them. Phin had also promised to take her ice skating. Holly was very excited for the holidays, and Draco Malfoy certainly wasn't going to be able to put a dent in that.

"But really," Malfoy continued, "what can you expect from Muggles and those with Muggle blood in them. No proper idea of family values."

"Malfoy," Holly said sweetly. "The next time you speak badly about my mother will be the last time you speak at all."

"Supplanto!" Lavender whispered from next to Holly, shooting the redhead a wink. As promised, when class was dismissed, Malfoy got up and immediately face-planted on the cold, hard floor.

"Nice going, Fall Boy!" Seamus called out.

"Oh, dear," Parvati said, laughing as they walked out of the dungeons. "You two are going to make Malfoy afraid to walk at all."

"That's the idea," Lavender grinned.

Holly's twelfth birthday on December 23rd, dawned bright and clear. In the entrance hall, she fare-welled her fellow students, giving great big hugs to Lavender and Parvati, and shook hands with Hermione, which Holly thought was very civil of her. The bushy haired girl had spent every waking moment in the library since the Quidditch match, and Holly had sometimes seen the books she was reading: Important Modern Magical Discoveries, Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, and so on. They all looked dreadfully dull, and Hermione seemed to get more and more moody as time wore on, so Holly supposed she hadn't found what she was looking for yet. Like Parvati and Lavender, Hermione was going home to see her parents. The only Gryffindors staying behind that Holly knew were the Weasleys.

After the students had departed, Holly wandered around for an hour until noon, at which point she met Professor McGonagall in the Great Hall.

"Ready?" the stern witch asked when she saw Holly, fastening her tartan cloak.

"Ready," Holly confirmed, pulling on one of her gloves.

The pair of them walked down the main path of the school, making for Hogsmeade. The great village was set in the valley below Hogwarts, and much of its wealth was due to the presence of the school at its doorsteps. The day students who made the trek to and fro each day were children of the wizards and witches who lived in the village's borders. Many of them worked in Hogsmeade as well, but there was an even greater number who went to work elsewhere. As Phin had told her, there was a great desire to live amongst purely magical folk, and the Scottish village was the only one of its kind.

As they got closer, Holly saw that Hogsmeade looked like a Christmas card. The little thatched cottages and shops were all covered in a layer of snow, and decorations such as holly wreaths and boughs had been strung across thresholds, and strings of enchanted candles were hanging high in the air overhead, as well as strung through the trees. Sleighs with horses were prancing through the streets, and little snowmen were dotting the pavements. McGonagall held tight to Holly's hand when they got into the village proper, which allowed the redhead to look around at will.

They met Phin in the Three Broomsticks for lunch, where he was waiting for them with mulled wine for Professor McGonagall and warm Butterbeer for Holly. There were four presents on the table, one from McGonagall, one from Phin, and a third and fourth that were both wrapped in purple paper with a pink bow.

"Happy birthday, sprite," Phin said, his eyes bright. "Now, little miss, it seems you have some presents to open."

Holly happily tore into the one from Phin first. It was a bright red, leather-bound journal. On the front, there was a lock, and a little key dangling from it. "Ooh, thank you, Phin."

"You're welcome, Holly girl. Now, that lock is completely unbreakable, so don't go losing the key, or you'll never be able to open it again."

Grinning, Holly promised she wouldn't. Next, she opened the present from the professor. It was a plain brown box and inside was a bag of puzzle pieces, only, they were all the same color and didn't look like they would make a picture at all. "Thank you," she said to the stern witch, confused.

"The picture only shows itself once you have all the pieces assembled," Minerva explained.

"But what is the picture?"

"That," the professor said, "is a surprise."

Holly smiled and thanked her again. The last two presents, she quickly realized, were from Parvati and Lavender. She opened Parvati's first, and grinned stupidly when a bright purple scarf fell out. She had been admiring one of her friend's the other day, and lovely teal one, when Parvati had gotten an impish look on her face. Holly had not known what the expression meant at the time, but now she did. Next, Holly opened Lavender's and smiled when a gold-colored woven leather bracelet fell out. That had been her friend's project for December, and Holly had liked this one better than all the others before. Putting on the bracelet, she thanked McGonagall and Phin once more, and dug into her food which had just arrived.

After lunch, Minerva had needed to do Christmas shopping and Holly was only too happy to join her. Phin had went off to Upper Flagley in Yorkshire to meet a friend, with the plan that all three of them would reassemble for Holly's birthday dinner. McGonagall and Holly flitted around the village, and Holly was able to get a Witch Weekly subscription for Lavender from the bookstore, a beautiful pair of chopsticks for Parvati's hair, and she even got a package of pumpkin pasties for Hermione. Tartan gloves were purchased surreptitiously for McGonagall, and Holly got a book on winter gardening for Phin, who was always talking about his glorious delphiniums.

In the early afternoon, even as darkness was already beginning to descend, Holly was waiting just outside Dervish & Banges for the Transfiguration professor. A chill had come with a storm, and snow was falling, deepening the layer that was already on the ground. Holly could see her breath before her face as it came out in an icy mist. Silence was settling over the village, and Holly had almost grown used to it when there was a slamming of a door, and a loud CRACK—like the sound of a whip.

Startled from her reclining position, Holly's eyes darted around hurriedly. Flashes of light were coming from the alley way around the corner, but they did not look like the flickers of Christmas lights. Creeping silently, Holly followed the wall of the shop to the corner, peeking around and gasping in shock.

A man was kneeling on the ground, clenching tightly at his wand. Above him, some ten feet away, three assailants were sending a rapid amount of spell fire at him. The three men attacking had a mean look to them. Their robes were in disarray, and their eyes were cold.

The amazing thing though, something Holly quickly realized, was that despite his position, the man on the ground was holding them off! Their duel was completely wordless, the only sound was the occasional bang that accompanied some of the spells.

Standing rooted to the ground in shock, Holly didn't recognize the things the men were sending at each other. Some were purple spells that caused the attackers to bleed and lose bits of themselves, and others were yellow spells that seemed to cut into the walls when they missed. Almost none of the spells hit the man on the ground, though one obviously had because blood was pooling in the snow by him. One red spell was countered by the prone man throwing up a clear, blue shield. Still, the rest he flicked away as if they were nothing. Though within a minute, Holly noticed him beginning to tire. His wand movements were getting sloppier. This was the end.

The other men seemed to know it too, for one who had a chunk of ear missing from his head, now grinned feral-like even as blood was pooling in his hair. He raised his wand for a final time.

This, perhaps, above all else made Holly loose her shock, and caused her to act. "Oy!" she yelled, running into the mouth of the alley way. "The aurors are coming! The aurors are coming!" Holly then pointed her wand into the air, and let out a deafening boom. She silently thanked her Father for his book of silly spells.

All three men seemed to come to a collective agreement, and turned, running away. Holly let out another deafening boom, hoping Professor McGonagall would come soon.

"Help me! Help!" Holly screamed, before running forward to where the man on the ground had fallen into the snow. He was face down, and Holly quickly rolled him over. She looked for the wound, but couldn't find it, so she simply tapped his face with her gloved hand. "Wake up!"

He was elderly—the age of Phin, or even older. The man had black hair, heavily streaked with white and grey. His features were straight and even, and his robes seemed to be made of nice wool. The wand that lay in the snow beside him was made of ebony, and there was a small black-on-silver signet ring on his left pinky finger.

Holly slapped his face again. "Wake up! Don't go to sleep!" She clearly remembered learning about wilderness survival when she was in the Girl Guides, and the troop leader had said that the one thing you never wanted to do was to go to sleep when there was a danger of hypothermia. You could just drift off and never wake up. Holly's tights and robes were soaked through now, but she didn't even feel it. She shook the man by the shoulders. "Wake up, sir!"

His eyes flickered for a moment, and she saw that they were the color of the sea. "Where…?"

"They're gone," Holly told him. "I called for help."

McGonagall chose that moment to arrive, along with several townspeople who had heard Holly's distress calls. "What on earth?" The professor said when she arrived, before gasping in shock.

"Three men attacked him," Holly told her. "They were going to kill him." She felt faint even as she said the words. She had seen scary things before, but this was different. Something silver shot out of Professor McGonagall's wand, and it departed, flying up through the village in the direction of Hogwarts. One of the shopkeepers, turned the victim's shoulder, causing the victim to cry out in distress. His eyes were blinking rapidly now.

"The poor bugger was stabbed in the back, he was," a man said, looking at the witch next to him.

Minerva stepped forward, leaning over the fallen man. Whatever she saw in his face caused her eyes to open wide with shock, and she stepped back, grabbing Holly's hand and guiding her away from the scene. "Come away, child. You've done enough."

In five minutes, or even less, Madam Pomfrey had arrived with Professor Dumbledore. The medi-witch had hurried over, examining the patient and treating him immediately. After some quick steps were taken, she nodded to Dumbledore, who conjured a stretcher, and led the man back to Hogwarts.

That afternoon had draped a pall over Holly's birthday, though Phin and McGonagall had tried not to let it. Back at Hogwarts the next day, the Hospital Wing had been closed to all traffic, and Madam Pomfrey was letting no one in or out. Holly had wanted to know why, but to no avail. Holly had tried to get information from the professor, like who the man was and why some people had been trying to kill him, but McGonagall wouldn't speak of it. The Transfigurations Professor was curiously tight-lipped about the whole event. "Such things are not the subjects for children," McGonagall had told her stiffly. Holly's curiosity did not abate though.

On Christmas morning, Holly woke to a pile of presents at the foot of her bed. It was empty in her room without her roommates, and Holly missed them keenly—even Hermione. Still, it felt as though she had a bit of them with her when she opened a hair care set from Parvati, and a pair of woolen earmuffs from Lavender. She also received a book from Hermione, called Charms for the Charming, which was all about appearance-related charms, like ironing clothes or buffing shoes. It would actually probably be pretty useful. From McGonagall, Holly received a wand servicing kit, and from Phin she got a pair of ice skates.

Holly was surprised, though, to see that there were two more packages left. One was from the Dursleys, which had a small parcel with a note attached: We received your letter, and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Robert. Her cousin had drawn a picture of a Christmas tree on the note, which made Holly smile. The Dursleys had also enclosed fifty pence.

The last present was very light. Holly picked it up, unwrapping it, and something the color of silver slid from the packaging onto the bed. Holding it up, Holly realized that it was a cloak. She would have said it was for formal wear, but for the fact that there was no embellishments on it. Then, Holly noticed that a note had been included.

Your father left this in my possession before
he died. It is time it was returned to you.
Use it well.
A Very Merry Christmas to you.

"Use it well," Holly repeated. "What the…?"

There was no indication on the note of a sender, but maybe her anonymous benefactor wanted her to wear it to Christmas dinner? Holly shrugged, walking to the mirror and throwing it around her shoulders. She very nearly screamed.

Her head was suspended in midair, and there was nothing below her now. Holly's entire body was gone. She quickly pulled the cloak back off, and then her body reappeared. "That's not possible, right?" she murmured to herself.

A half-remembered line of handwriting immediately sprang to her mind, and she rushed over to her bedside table, pulling out Junior Jinxes and Helpful Hexes. Flicking through the pages at a rapid fire clip, the book eventually fell open where Holly wanted it. There, written in pointed script, above the section on disappearing jinxes was written: All bollocks, just get an invisibility cloak.

An invisibility cloak, it had to be. Going back to the mirror, Holly swung it over her shoulders once more and flipped up the hood. She disappeared. Giving a little laugh, Holly took off the cloak and looked over to the Muggle picture of her parents that was sitting on her window sill.

"Thanks, Dad."

Holly blew his still face a kiss.

By the time Christmas dinner rolled around, Holly had almost managed to forget about the mystery of who sent the cloak—almost. She felt very strange about it, actually. She had plenty of things that had once belonged to her parents, but this was different. Why had her father given away something that could have protected them? Or maybe Invisibility Cloaks could be seen through by Voldemort, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway…? Holly had no answers, only questions.

She was stuffed to the gills by the feast. A hundred turkeys, and mountains of roast beef and potatoes filled the tables, along with vegetables of every kind and whole sections devoted just to dessert. But the feast was nothing to the Christmas Crackers. Holly pulled a wizard cracker with Fred, and it didn't just snap, it went off with a blast like a cannon, and engulfed them in a cloud of blue smoke. Inside, Holly found several live mice, along with an Admiral's hat that Fred laughing plopped on her head. Artemis, who had followed Holly down to the feast—it was as if she too was convinced that Christmas was the time for family—had happily chased the mice all over the hall.

"Hey, Holly," George Weasley called out across the din at one point, reading from his cracker joke. "What kind of motorbike does Father Christmas ride?"

"I don't know," Holly called back, taking a bite of pudding. "What kind?"

"A Holly Davidson!" George cackled.

"That's pathetic," Fred groaned.

By the time Holly left the table, she had tons of things that had come from the Christmas crackers. There were non-explodable balloons, her own Wizard's chess set (though she didn't even know how to play), and a lipstick that turned colors according to her mood. After being roped into a snowball fight with the Weasley twins and their brother Ron, Holly headed back to her room, dripping wet. She took a long, hot bath, enjoying not having to hurry or be bothered by anyone coming in. Once Holly was done, she pulled on her nightgown and bathrobe, and went down to the Common room where the redhead had a supper of sandwiches, roasted marshmallows, and Christmas cake with the other Gryffindors.

It had been Holly's best Christmas ever, even beating the last one where she had known about magic for a whole two days, and finally had access to her parents' trunks. Yet, even as she tried to go to sleep, her mind would not shut off. Artemis was lying next to her, dead to the world, but Holly was not so ready for sleep. The mystery of the cloak came back to the forefront of her mind, and then Holly realized just what had been bugging her all day.

She had an invisibility cloak.

Holly could go anywhere.

The thought had barely formed in her head before she had leapt from her bed, throwing on her bathrobe once more. Artemis opened one eye, and then gave a cracking yawn before turning around and going back to sleep. Holly pulled on her slippers, and then the cloak. Looking downwards, she saw her body missing once more—it was a strange thing.

Quickly, she crept out of her dormitory and tiptoed across the common room, climbing through the portrait hole.

"Who's there?" the Fat Lady called out, but Holly said nothing.

She rushed quickly down the corridor. The cloak seemed to move with her, keeping itself closed even with the rush of air against it. It was as if it had been made for her to wear. Her feet made little padding sounds against the floor as she walked, but Holly didn't hear it over the sound of her heart roaring in her ears.

The Hospital Wing was dark when she entered it, but for a small candle flickering on a single bedside table. She couldn't see the light directly, it was blocked by a curtain divider. Holly crept quietly forward, coming around the separator to find the patient looking in her direction, pointing a black wand at her.

"I know you're there," he said, his tone cold. The man's blue eyes were glowing in the candlelight, and on his lap was an open book. He was dressed in pajamas and a dressing gown that looked to be made of silk. The stranger looked much as he had on her birthday, but for the tight expression. Holly dithered for a moment about what to do. Should she go back?

Her decision made, she pulled off the Invisibility Cloak.

The man gasped, looking flabbergasted for a long moment. "A child?" he murmured, as if to himself. His midnight-colored wand wavered for a moment, and he tilted his head to the side. "What is it you want, girl?"

Holly crept forward, shooting a look towards Madam Pomfrey's office. "I just wanted to see if you were all right," she told him. She took a seat on the chair at his bedside. Holly noticed that he had loosed the hold on his wand, but he had not put it down. His attacking must have made him very cautious, she realized. "No one would tell me anything," she continued, whispering.

"You shouldn't bother yourself with things that don't concern you," the man said, frowning. His black eyebrows pulled together sharply, and he said in a rich and cultured voice, "Don't you listen to your elders?"

"This does concern me," Holly said, draping her invisibility cloak across her lap. "I was the one who found you."

That caused a reaction from him. His eyes widened in shock. Reaching forward, the man took a lock of her hair from off of Holly's shoulder, holding it up to the light. "Red," he murmured. "The little angel. I thought I hallucinated you." The man let her hair fall down again, and picked up the candle, holding it up so that he could see her fully. His mouth dropped open then. "You can't be who I think you are."

"I'm Holly Potter," she told him. Holly was certain that she ought to be afraid of him, but she wasn't. There was nothing like that for her at all. He was a very stiff and formal man, it seemed, but Holly thought he just was sad.

The man began to chuckle mirthlessly, setting the candle down again. It didn't look to pain him, but his breaths did come in little gasps. "Well, there you go, child. That is you reason as to why no one would tell you about the wizard you saved from certain death. I am sure your Professors don't want you mixing with me. Most likely, Minerva McGonagall is ruing sending for aid at all."

"But why?" Holly asked him, properly confused now. "Who are you?"

The man gave a little half bow. "Arcturus Black, at your service."

The name Black sounded familiar to Holly, but she didn't know from where. She grinned at the man. "You don't seem so fearsome to me."

He laughed then, a proper one that sounded as if it had been out of use for years. "Apparently not, if I need rescuing by little girls." His face became serious, and Black met her eyes steadily. "I am in your debt, Miss Potter. You saved my life."

"I only scared those men off."

"And if you hadn't, I would have died from a Killing Curse to the chest," Arcturus told her. "And then, if I hadn't been turned over so that the snow was against my back, slowing the blood flow, I would have bled to death before I could be treated. Believe me, young one, the healers from St. Mungo's made quite certain I knew how close I was to death."

"Why are you not in St. Mungo's then, if it was so bad?" Holly asked him.

"Your Headmaster, as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, prevailed upon me to stay here until my attackers are caught."

Holly nodded.

"So, little witch," Arcturus said, growing serious. "I owe you a Life Debt."

"What's a Life Debt?" Holly asked him.

"Well, simply put, I am obliged to find a way to repay your saving my life," Black told her. "Either by saving your life in return, or by rendering a service to you."

Gaping at him, Holly was uncertain what to say to that. "Well, thank you Mr. Black, but I don't think I need anything."

The wizard laughed again. "It doesn't quite work that way, child."

A noise from Madam Pomfrey's office startled both of them, and Holly gasped, throwing her cloak over her head and running from the room.

She rushed up the stairs, heading straight for Gryffindor tower. Even once she was safe in her own bed, Holly's heart was pounding. Absentmindedly, she rubbed her scar as she drifted to sleep, Arcturus Black's words echoing in her head.