A few hours later, after being cleared to leave the Hospital Wing, Bloom and Harry are talking with Professor Lupin.
He made the Dementor on the train leave, so he could theoretically teach them to do the same.
He tells them he could teach them, but it won't be easy.
Bloom has a question that's been burning inside her head ever since the incident on the train. "Professor, why are Harry and I affected more than the other students? Hermione and Ron just got sort of cold and depressed - Harry and I blacked out!"
Lupin considers them both carefully, and says "Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They feed on every good feeling, every happy memory, until a person is left with nothing but his worst experiences. Neither of you are weak. The Dementors affect you two most because there are horrors in your past, true horrors. Horrors your classmates could scarcely imagine. You two have nothing to be ashamed of."
Harry knows what his horror is: Voldemort murdering his parents when he was a baby.
He watched his mother die, sacrifice herself to protect him.
He remembers what Bloom told him at the end of year one, how her planet was destroyed by three ancient witches and how she keeps seeing it in her dreams.
She's come to class tired more than once during the past three years, now he realizes it's a lot more horrible than he thought.
He thought she was seeing glimpses of it, a piece here and there - it's when Lupin tells him that the screaming he keeps hearing is likely his mother's that he realizes the cackling Bloom heard must have been that of the three witches.
Lupin promises to teach them the charm after break, as Harry releases Hedwig for the winter.
A few weeks later, Ron, Hermione, and Harry are walking to Hogsmeade with the rest of their class and Professor McGonagall - but Bloom is nowhere to be seen.
She said she had to talk to Professor Dumbledore about something, and they can guess it's about Sirius Black and the Dementors.
Harry told Ron and Hermione what Lupin told them, leaving out Bloom's horror - that's hers to share, if she wants - and neither of his friends envy them.
Ron mutters "Fantastic luck you have Harry! Not only does the guy take your parents and get you stuck with the Dursleys, now you black out every time a Dementor gets near you!"
Harry nods grimly, and says "Well, there's nothing for it right now. Professor Lupin's going to teach us a charm that can protect us against them after break."
Bloom is sneaking out of the castle invisibly, planning on stretching her wings and flying to Hogsmeade.
As soon as the cold air hits her wings, she lets out a few muttered words about how cold the wind feels at the base of her wings and starts walking.
She goes to take a running start, but Fred and George appear and drag her back.
"Clever Bloom, but not nearly clever enough."
George asks "Wait, why don't I feel cloth?"
Bloom hisses "You know perfectly well why! Now either say what you want to say, or let me go - this outfit is freezing!"
They give her a map called 'The Marauder's Map' and show her how it works.
You tap your wand on it and say 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' and an entire map of Hogwarts appears - with moving dots marked with names.
One dot is Dumbledore pacing in his office, another is Filch heading this way.
They tell her to give it to Harry, as his needs greatly trump their own, and also say to tap your wand on the paper and say 'Mischief Managed' so nobody can read the map when you're done.
Bloom hurriedly thanks them, then takes off at a running start and takes off flying towards Hogsmeade - hoping her wings will warm up on the flight.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione go over to look at the supposedly haunted house, and Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle appear.
"Looking for a house you two? Isn't this place a bit grand for you WeasleBee? Don't your entire family sleep in one room? And where's your freaky girlfriend, Potter? Shut away in detention or something? Or did she get a bad omen and chicken out?"
Ron yells "Shut your mouth, Malfoy!"
"Maybe we should teach WeaselBee to respect his superiors!"
Hermione says "I hope you don't mean yourself, Malfoy."
Draco scowls at her, and says "How dare you speak to me, you filthy mud-"
He doesn't get any further as a snowball suddenly hits him hard in the face. "Who threw that?"
It couldn't have been the three of them, it came from the entirely wrong direction.
Suddenly, more snowballs hit all three bullies at the same time as Crabbe and Goyle start for Ron, Harry, and Hermione - and then Draco says "Wait, there's something out there."
They all look around, until Draco's ski mask is floated off his head, and he is lifted up and goes flying like he was kicked hard in the bottom - he sure sounds like it, they can hear his muffled complaints.
The tall tree nearby suddenly shakes, and Draco is getting up while under a large pile of snow balancing on some branches - a pile that suddenly falls directly on top of him.
Even Harry, Ron, and Hermione are looking around uneasily, even though they're trying keep from bursting out in laughter, but it's worth it when Crabbe and Goyle go to help Draco up and suddenly land on top of him.
Crabbe yells "This place really is haunted!" All three run off, each trying to not be the last in the tiny pack.
Suddenly, Harry breaks out in a grin and asks "Bloom?"
Ron and Hermione look at each other, and Hermione sputters out a frozen laugh.
Ron scoops up a snowball of his own, and throws it when new footprints appear from nothing in the snow.
It's a direct hit, and they can tell she falls to the ground by the sudden dent in the snow.
"Ron! You have no idea how cold this snow really is on-"
"Wings?" Harry asks with a grin before helping her up.
"Yeah, wings. I flew here from Hogwarts."
Harry can feel her shivering, until heat suddenly blooms in front of him and the snow starts melting.
Hermione says "Well, change back and take the spell off!"
"Unfortunately, I can't. Nobody saw me come here, so I can't just show up with everyone else when we come back. Also, Harry, Fred and George gave me something to give to you. It's called the Marauder's Map."
A thick roll of parchment appears in his hands, and he says "Its blank."
"I'll show you how to work it in the dorm. Wait…is that, Professor McGonagall and Cornelius Fudge?"
She turns them around to see the two people in question going into the Three Broomsticks.
They pretend to have a snowball fight nearby, while Bloom listens to the conversation - all four hear Madame Rosmerta exclaim "Harry Potter?!"
Bloom flies over and whispers into Harry's ear "I'm following them." and disappears.
There's no footprints to track her, but she disturbs the swinging doors when she flies over them.
Bloom silently flies to the door, and does a spell so she can hear what they're saying from the other side.
She hears the most shocking thing possible: Sirius Black was good friends with James and Lily Potter, and he betrayed them, killed twelve muggles and another friend named Peter Pettigrew, sold them out to the Dark Lord - and he's Harry's Godfather.
Bloom barely manages to stifle a gasp, then teleports out of the pub in a vortex of flames before someone can discover her.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione are still going with their snowball fight, but stop when they feel a rush of heat from nothing and see footsteps leading away from the pub.
They follow them, and find Bloom sitting on a rock.
From what they can tell, she's shell-shocked and nearly frozen through.
Harry sits beside her, feeling disbelief and shock coming off her in waves - along with something she wants to keep from him to spare him pain.
He carefully puts one arm around her shoulders, trying not to hurt her wings, and Hermione asks "What happened?"
Ron adds "Tell us everything."
Bloom does tell, stammering and pausing at first but it quickly turns to nonstop talking without many spaces for breathing.
When she's finished with the fastest explanation of her entire life, Harry is looking at her in shock and anger.
He isn't angry at her, he's angry at Black for betraying his parents all that time ago.
AN: Yes, this is how the Marauders Map gets to Harry! Also, there are some side-perks to secretly having wings on your back at times - like being able to scare Draco Malfoy out of his skin and have no consequences. Bloom's getting really tired of blacking out from Dementors, but that's what the Patronus Charm is for.