Hari was rudely woken up by Remus at four in the morning, the day after her birthday.

"Wha-," she said groggily.

"There's been an attack," Remus whispered, and Hari shot up in bed.

"What's happened?" she asked, suddenly wide awake.

"Dementors in the countryside. They got your Aunt Marge, and some of the neighbors. Moody and Tonks are out looking for your cousin," he explained.

"Fuck," she exhaled and clamored out of bed, throwing on one of Cedric's jumpers as she made her way downstairs.

Hari was pacing in front of the fireplace with nervous energy. He magic was pulsing out of her softly and silver scales cascaded up her arms from her finger tips up to her shoulders. Hermione was sitting on the couch and nursing a cup of tea while Cedric watched Hari pace. Remus was trying not to nod off when the door opened and Hari rushed into the hall.

"Bloody ridiculous, that was," Moody was saying.

"Wasn't all bad!" called Tonks' familiar voice. "Wotcher, Hari!" Tonks piled in after Dudley and slammed the door shut.

Dudley looked thin. There were dark circles under his eyes and his clothes hung off of his body loosely. His hair was longer now too. It fell past his ears in loose curls. His eyes shot open when he saw Hari, and his feet froze in place. Tonks' shuffled around him, oblivious to the tension between him and Hari.

"I'm sorry," Hari blurted out.

Dudley didn't move for a moment, but then began to walk forward slowly. Hari wasn't quite sure what to do at first. This wasn't the way Dudley walked up to someone he was going to punch. His hands weren't balled up into fists, nor were his shoulder taught with tension. He wasn't stomping around and his eyes weren't narrowed. Instinct told Hari that she should run anyway, or at least take a step back. But when Dudley reached her he threw his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. The twins had appeared on the stairs a second before, and were currently gaping at the pair.

"Oh my word," Hermione whispered behind her.

Hari couldn't see the reactions of the crowd, but it was a mixed bag. Remus, Hermione, and Cedric were all shocked, but Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, and Moody were staring at the others in confusion. They couldn't understand why two cousins hugging was weird.

"I'm sorry," Dudley exclaimed. "I'm so sorry Hari. For everything, every single thing I ever said or did to you," he cried softly and held onto her for dear life.

Hari had just been standing there in shock, but after he spoke she wrapped her arms around him, too, feeling just how thin he'd gotten over the past year. He'd probably lost at least sixty pounds, and the weight that remained felt more like muscle than fat.

"It's okay, Dudley," she whispered.

"No it isn't," he pulled back, keeping his hands on her shoulders as he looked deeply into her eyes. "It wasn't okay. It wasn't." He pulled her in for another hug and Hari didn't hesitate this time.

"Thank you," she whispered as they parted.

She led him into the sitting room where and Mrs. Weasley brought him some tea, already fussing over the poor boy.

"Do you need a blanket, dear?" she asked sweetly.

"No, ma'am," he said with a soft smile as he wiped away his tears.

"Just Molly, dear," she replied.

"So," Hari began. "Um, that's Hermione next to you, and Molly, of course. This is Remus," she gestured to the wolf, "And this is Cedric."

"Nice to meet you all," he said. "Wish the circumstances were a little different."

"I'm sorry about Marge," Hari tried to say again.

"Don't be," he said quickly. "She was a nightmare. I tried to tell her, you know? Not the details about m-magic, but I tried to tell her we should take the protection they offered," he looked down and shook his head.

"How'd you escape?" she asked.

"I wasn't there. I was at Piers' place for the weekend."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Remus saved the day, "I thought we'd put you in with Ron, Dudley."

"What about Ced?" Hari asked.

"There's room on the fourth floor," he said, "Sirius finally cleared out Reggie's old room."

"Aw," Hari couldn't help but smile and turn to her soulmate, "you'll be right across the hall."

Cedric smiled back at her and kissed her on the forehead. "Someone should probably wake Ron," he said pulling back.

Hari turned to Hermione, but was met with a worried face. "Can you?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, sure," Hari responded, but gave her the 'we'll talk about this later' look.

"I'll go start on breakfast," Molly said.

Ron was always fun to wake up, and this time was no different. He swung his arms about wildly, almost hitting Hari a couple times before the promise of breakfast got him up. Hari explained the events of the night while they made their way to the kitchen.

Molly was bustling about in the kitchen with Dobby, getting everything ready when they walked in. Remus and Hermione were sitting together at one end of the table talking about Arithmancy, while Tonks' and Cedric were chatting across from each other in the middle. Dudley was next to Cedric but wasn't engaged in any conversation, and she supposed Moody must have left. Hari sat down across from Dudley, next to Tonks and Ron took the seat on the other side of Dudley. The twins were suspiciously absent.

"This place is cool," Dudley said.

"Don't let Sirius hear you say that," Hari laughed, "He hates this place. You'll meet him later, he's my godfather. And this is Ron."

"Nice to meet you," Dudley addressed Ron, who nodded back. "Sirius is the convict, right?"

"Yeah," Hari smirked, "but he's innocent. And he's a big softy."

"I used to steal your newspapers," Dudley blurted out. "They said he got your parents killed."

"It was all a big misunderstanding. And then they just threw him in jail during the chaos, he didn't even get a trial."

Dudley nodded and moved onto his next question, "How did that guys eye work?"

"Moody's? I have no idea," Hari admitted.

"No one does," Remus laughed.

Molly and Dobby brought out breakfast and everyone dug in, conversations forgotten. Every once in a while something obviously magical would happen and Dudley would watch curiously. He almost yelped when the juice goblet refilled his glass on its own.

"So, um… what exactly happened to Aunt Marge?" Dudley asked when most of the food was gone. "They didn't really explain."

Hari set down her utensils and pushed her plate aside to put her elbows on the table. "They're called dementors," she began. "They're magical beings that feed on human emotions, particularly happiness. When you're close to one, you feel cold and… kind of empty. You feel like you can't ever be happy again. Like it's something you've never known. What happened to your aunt, and all those other people, is what we call the Dementor's Kiss. Her… her soul was sucked out of her body."

Dudley processed the information for a moment before asking, "Was it painful?"

"No," Remus answered. "She wouldn't have felt much of anything."

"Were they looking for you?" he asked Hari.

"Not exactly, Dudley. They were… well-," she paused, unsure of how to get the words out, when Dudley beat her to the punch.

"They were sending you a message."

Hari nodded sadly, "Yeah."

"They did it on your birthday," he said absentmindedly.

"Yeah," she said again.

"So he's back, then? The guy nobody names?"

"His name is Tom Riddle," Hari said, a little unsure of how he'd gotten to that conclusion, "and yes, he's got a body again. It's a complicated story, but he performed a ritual in May in which he used my blood to craft a new body for himself."

"How'd he get your blood?" Dudley asked.

"He sort of… kidnapped me for a couple hours," she replied.

"Why didn't he kill you?"

"He tried. I got lucky," she said with a shrug.

"Stop that right now," Hermione scolded. "You dueled the Dark Lord and you got away. It wasn't luck."

"She's right you know," Cedric agreed and grabbed her hand across the table. "I wish you wouldn't downplay your power so much."

"If it wasn't for Dobby-," she tried to explain.

"Hari," Cedric squeezed her hand and leaned forward so that he was the only thing she could see. They were the only two people in the whole world and nothing else mattered. "You're bloody brilliant. Don't sell yourself short."

"Alright, whatever. I'm amazing," she relented and let out a laugh as she realized the Cedric wouldn't stop glaring at her until she paid herself a compliment.

"He was really trying to kill you?" Dudley asked, looking a little out of his depth. "You… you fought him?"

"Yes," Hari said.

"You never fought me," Dudley laughed awkwardly.

"You never went for the kill," she replied without emotion.

Dudley clenched his jaw but didn't look away from his cousin. "If you wanted me dead, how much effort would it take?"

"Almost none," she replied honestly. "But I don't want you dead, Dudley. The way they treated you was abuse too."

Dudley scoffed and put his head in his hands. "Could I… could I lay down for a bit?"

"Of course," Hari replied softly. "Ced will take you up."

He nodded and let himself be dragged away.

"Well that was…" Hari trailed off and used her good arm to gesture about wildly in the air, "…something."

"Why'd you tell him that, Hari?" Ron grumbled.

"Which part?"

"The part where his death would take almost no effort," he said with bitterness in his voice, though Hari wasn't sure why it was there.

"Because it's true," she snapped. "A lot happened last year. A lot. I'm a lot more powerful than I was at the beginning of the school year, and the only person who knows everything, is Cedric."

"And why is that?" he asked, standing up and working himself into a rage. "How come he gets to know things that we don't?"

"Sit down, Ron," Hari said instead of answering his question.

"Why does he get to know, Hari?! Just because he's fucking you?!" Ron hadn't sat down, his temper was off the rails. Hermione, on the other hand, had made herself as small as she could and was actively avoiding eye contact.

"That's enough, Ron!" George shouted as he and Fred appeared in the doorway and moved to force Ron to sit down. Ron flailed in an attempt to get them off of him, but was unsuccessful.

Molly was gaping at her youngest son, too shocked to reprimand him.

"There is a very good reason why Ced gets to know things that you don't. And if you were participating in the occlumency lessons, I would tell you."

"What does that have to do with anything?!" he shouted back.

"Because knowledge is power, Ron! Because if Tom gets his hands on you, he'll torture you until you spill the beans! And you can't spill them if they aren't in your possession."

"So I'm out of the loop now?" he snarled.

"Until your mind is protected, yes," Hari told him.

Ron scoffed and pushed his seat away from the table aggressively, then went up to his room.

"I take it you know what that was about?" Hari asked Hermione.

"Yes," she replied quietly. "Let's go up."

Hari nodded and followed her up to the room she shared with Ginny.

"So…" Hari said awkwardly once the door closed.

Hermione sat of her bed and looked around for any distraction to prolong the inevitable.

"She rejected him," Ginny supplied, barely awake.

"What?" Hari responded, taking a step forward with her eyes wide.

"He asked me out when they first moved in," she said.

"And you said no, obviously," Hari sat on the bed and put her arm around Hermione. "That sucks."

"It does," Hermione exhaled deeply and leaned into the hug. "I just… I knew he had feelings for me, given his reaction to me and Viktor. But it's also not a secret that Viktor and I are still together. I may not be visiting Bulgaria this summer, but that's only because we're at war. We still write to each other twice a week. And Ron knows that," Hermione almost growled. She was properly angry now, and had scooted away from Hari so she could wave her arms about the way she does when she'd enraged. "He knows that I have a boyfriend, and he still asked me out! Not only that, but he acted like I would immediately dump Viktor and get with him! He really thought I would just drop everything and jump into his arms!" Hermione was pacing now, and Ginny had given up trying to go back to sleep.

"He even," Hermione continued, "said that I was only with Viktor to make him jealous, and that it was wrong of me to lead Viktor on now that I could be with the person I really wanted!"

"Holy shit," Hari whispered.

"I've been hexing him every time he tries to come up here," Ginny said.

"Fuck, Mione, that really sucks. I'm so sorry Ron's being a arsehole."

"It's not your fault, Hari," Hermione.

"I know that, but it still sucks and I'm still sorry about it. Merlin, why would he do it as soon as they moved in?" Hari asked, mostly rhetorically. "He set himself up for failure. Honestly, he doesn't have any reason to be acting this way. Sulking is one thing, but this is…" Hari gestured about in air but said no more.

"Can you let me out?" Ginny asked after her third attempt at the door. "Unlike you two, I haven't had my coffee yet."

Hari let her out and then turned back to Hermione, putting the wards back in place silently. "Give me an update on Viktor," she said. "He and I chatted a bit before we found Crouch, but we never got another chance."

"He told me about that," she said with a smile. "He explained… courting to me," she shook her head and sat back down, all the anger had been wrung out. "It's a bit complex, but he sent me some books, too. I was going to spend the holidays with him, and, um," she blushed furiously, "I've agreed to a betrothal."

"Mione!" Hari laughed and pulled her friend in for a hug.

"It's basically just like dating," she said with a laugh of her own. "It isn't a promise to get married, like I thought it was."

"And you're happy?" Hari asked frantically, "He makes you happy and he treats you right?"

"He treats me amazingly," Hermione gushed. "He's really intelligent, Hari. His written English is a lot more advanced than his spoken English. He always responds to my rants with detailed questions and theories, he's even sent me some Bulgarian books about some of the topics I've been interested in. Stuff that isn't illegal here," Hermione reassured her, "but also isn't sold here. And he's a poet, Hari! A poet! He sends a new one with the first letter of every fortnight."

"I'm so happy for you, Mione," Hari hugged her again. "You deserve to be treated like a princess."

"Thanks Hari," Hermione said.

They separated and Hari cupped Hermione's face with her hands, "If he hurts you, I'll kill him," she said gravely, but Hermione only laughed.

"I think we both know that I'm much better equipped for murder than you are," she joked.

"Yeah, but you'll need me to help you bury body," Hari replied.

"You don't bury the body, Hari!" Hermione scolded. "You take what you can for potions, and you dissolve the rest."

"Of course," Hari replied, looking ashamed of herself. "I should have known."

They looked into each other's eyes for about two seconds before bursting into giggles and falling back into bed.