A/N:Once more! Just in case it's not clear; if a major plot point (like some dying) doesn't get mentioned then you can assume that whatever happens in canon has happened in the story. If not, then it will get mentioned or expanded upon in a chapter at some point.

Also! My next chapter should be out on the 12th of October!


SEARCH AGAIN

Of course it had to be only a few days after the end of Harri's school year that the Dragon Radar decided to finally ping to life with the declaration that there was a Dragonball nearby. Goku welcomed the challenge like one greeted an old friend and eagerly set off to find each one.

Luckily enough, not counting the four star ball Goku already had, the first Dragonball to find had been fairly close by. It took him a little less than a week to get to it and add the five star ball into his coin bag. Unfortunately the rest of the Dragonballs were much farther apart from each other.

First Goku went north west, just skirting around a desert, and after several weeks of walking, eventually came upon a lake large enough that he could just barely spot the forest on the other side of it. He spent days swimming through the place, combing it as best as he could with a radar that couldn't go in the water with him. It wasn't until he came upon a mermaid who was annoyed with his snooping that he was able to ask about the Dragonball.

The merfolk certainly had it, but wouldn't hand it over unless Goku could trade something better for it. Apparently it was their young prince that the Dragonball had been found by and it was therefore considered to be special because of it. With Harri on her summer vacation, she had been able to procure a crystal orb through the owlmail and send it through the Window Wood to Goku so he could use it to barter for the Dragonball. It was something Harri told him had been put for sale for Hogwarts students that were supposed to take divination class. Goku felt lucky that despite the strange mystical clouds that swirled within the orb- or perhaps because of it- the merfolk had accepted it as a trade. Now Goku had the one star ball to add to his collection.

With a dread Goku then headed up north and braced himself for the cold that was to come. Not long after he'd traveled far enough to encounter snow Harri had gotten him a cloak. It kept him warm when he wore it and wasn't so bulky that it would restrict his movements or overheat him. Despite the cloak and the radar combined to help him, he still had the same troubles as the last time he had been in the snowy regions.

Though the snow storms were notably less frequent, there had been part of the land that had felt so cold he couldn't even think straight, even with warming potions in his system. There the white peaked mountains had stretched tall and the sky was a constant grey overcast. It had been an area where he had to be extra quiet. Any loud noises tended echo which made the snow tremble in it's precariously piled places and threaten to cause an avalanche. The land between these mountains swooped down like one giant bowl. If it hadn't been filled with snow and giant piles of stones, Goku would have called it a small valley. And he was pretty sure, amongst those icy stones in the bowl between the mountains, something was down there. His instincts told him so.

Luckily the three star ball was only at the top of a snow peaked mountain. While the climb up said mountain had been more than unsettling, Goku was glad that there had been no need for him to get any closer to the bowl-valley below. Unluckily, it had taken long enough for Harri to start her fifth year at Hogwarts for him to have simply traveled here.

From there Goku made haste to travel south east, glad to leave the snow far behind. He walked until the weather warmed enough for the snow to melt, then made to jog the rest of the journey until he came across a body of water large enough to not be able to see across. The Dragon Radar had pointed him forwards, through the water. Needing to take the shortest path Goku decided to simply swim straight through it.

Three days straight were spent in the water. During that time Goku did his best to go in a straight line. He was only able to take small naps floating on his back. At times he'd nibble on seaweed when he couldn't catch a fish to keep up his energy. He sort of wished there had been more than just the one giant sea serpent around who had thought he looked like a tasty snack.

During those three long days he hadn't been unable to speak to Harri or even look at the radar without fear of either item getting wet. Eventually land came in sight once again and Goku eagerly took the opportunity to rest properly and find himself a hearty meal.

Harri did manage to contact him during that time and Goku was reminded once again just how bad of an idea it was to not talk to Harri about her day and how she was feeling in general.

She'd gotten herself in detention with a dictator of a professor- which Harri had then skived. This professor didn't appreciate that and banned Harri from doing- pretty much everything- anything on school grounds that were deemed 'inappropriate'. Which meant that Harri's record of detentions that she was skiving was only going up. Until the professor started to give other students detentions- which those students stupidly attended- stating that each time Harri did not listen then another student would pay for it. The only way for the dictator of a professor to stop giving out unjust punishments to others was for Harri to attend her detentions. Now there was a bloody sentence on the back of her hand that would certainly scar.

And it all started when Harri had stood up against the lies that the educator was trying to force feed her class. Goku wanted to go visit that professor himself to discuss a few things...

Since he physically couldn't actually go do that, Goku used his frustration and anger for his friend as fuel for the search of Dragonballs and his training.

He'd told Harri how he might have gotten a bit off course while he'd swam but ended up closer to the Dragonball that was somewhere east instead. Determinedly he continued to travel in that direction, pleasantly surprised with how many more islands were in the area. This meant that he could stop on one more often than not, to check his course with the radar, and be able to speak to Harri at that time.

Eventually Goku came across one island that had people on it. Or really, a man-made island. The entire place had been built on stilts in the water. It was a village that lived off what the ocean provided.

After some inquiry Goku soon found that the people here had fished up the Dragonball thinking that it was an oddly round stone. Then it had changed overnight into some glittering jewel. They were glad to be rid of it, now convinced it was evil. While some thought Goku odd for wanting it in the first place, most simply thanked him for taking it off their hands and offered to show him how they made their special reed boats.

Happily Goku added the seven star ball to his collection and continued his travels, directing himself south on a boat he'd made under the villager's instruction.

Despite there being only two more Dragonballs left to find, only traveling under his own power had taken Goku a little more than half of Harri's school year to complete. It was an irritating fact that grated at Goku's nerves. Especially when Harri told him of what had happened to her.

Some students in the school had sought Harri out in order to ask if she could teach them actual useful magic that the new defense professor had forbidden the students from learning. At first Harri had refused. Then Hermione brought up points that made her change her mind.

Considering that Voldemort was back- despite the Ministry's best attempts to ignore it- they'd be giving their fellow students the tools they'd need to survive. They didn't need to teach the others everything they knew, but it would be good to encourage them in learning how to fight another magical properly. And that's all Harri needed, really, to agree. She wasn't going to do nothing when presented an opportunity to help others survive.

Then, sometime after Christmas, someone snitched. Told that same false defense professor everyone hated where Harri and Hermione had set up the meetings for the lessons the students had asked for. Sure Harri and Hermione had both planned for such an occasion, but that didn't make it any less of a duplicity.

Unfortunately it wasn't even an upside for Harri that the snitching actually got Dumbledore to leave the school. Without him there the false defense professor made herself Headmaster, which meant that she spent nearly all her time handing out detentions with the threat of expulsion- getting their wands snapped- if they didn't attend.

(While Harri didn't exactly use her wand all that much anymore, that didn't mean that she wanted it to be snapped. She once described it to be like an old friend. Not to mention, while limiting in the magic it could use, it still amplified her magic and made said magic easier to access.)

If Goku didn't need to finish the Dragonball hunt then he would have gone straight to Karin to get some senzu beans for her and Hermione both. As it was, the moment the wish was made he'd get Harri over to Karin in person so she could get that senzu. In the meantime Goku could only fume with Harri about the false professor, often making a game out of thinking up creative insults for the evil witch so that he could get a laugh out Harri.

There was just a little more than a month or so before Harri's end of the school year now.

As Goku collected the second last Dragonball- the two star ball- from the middle of some forest of giant moving willow trees (which he would be visiting again later because that had been a great place for training), Harri reminded him of the World Tournament that would be happening around the time of her year end tests.

After being directed by someone, Goku traveled due west towards the tournament grounds. As he did so he thought that perhaps the last Dragonball could be picked up along the way... until the radar informed him that he'd need to travel a little more north west to reach that Dragonball.

He'd been left with the choice between the two. Keep going west and attend the tournament. Or head northwest to get the last Dragonball, finally wish over Harri, but most likely miss the tournament completely.

It was Harri who made the decision for him in the end. She pointed out how the Dragonball would still be where it was even after the tournament. After all it's had nearly an entire year to wait already. There was no reason why it couldn't wait a little longer. Meanwhile the aforementioned tournament has a time limit and it only came around every three years now. The choice, for Harri, was simple. She told him to go fight.

Goku felt like they were tempting fate again, but still did as Harri suggested.


For all of the panic Harri felt in her gut, the night felt quiet and calm. She and Hermione had gotten rid of Umbridge.

It was mostly Hermione's fault. She'd brought Rajah out of the Chamber with her.

(The Basilisk eggs that had been incubating for several years had hatched on Halloween. One of the babies took a liking to Hermione after it followed it's parent through the pipes, out of the caves attached to the Chamber, and had gotten lost. Hermione barely lived through waking up to the snake, just a little longer than her hand, curling up at her stomach that very morning. It was a good thing Harri had been in the room with her. Later that evening, after Harri had the little basilisk promise not to reveal itself if it left the Chamber with Hermione except when she said it was alright, Hermione had dubbed it Rajah. Crookshanks, who had found his own way into and out of the Chamber as he pleased, had been decidedly unhappy at the development.)

However, since Harri hadn't said anything when she'd heard her friend's snake speak from within Hermione's school robes, Harri figured that she was equally to blame for what happened.

Umbridge had tried to grab Hermione when they'd been in her office. Rajah didn't take kindly to that and bit the toad-faced witch. As the only known cure for the venom was a phoenix tear, Umbridge had died within a minute. They both panicked when they realized what had happened and eventually turned the body into a tea cup, which was then left on the desk next to the tea set.

Then there was just who had turned up to help her tonight. To either side of her were two more threstrals, both with two riders each. On her right were the Weasley Twins.

They're jokesters of the Weasley family but wicked smart when it came to inventing new spells and curious magical products that did all kinds of stuff. The two had planned to play a prank on Umbridge as soon as everyone's last tests were done for the year, but they'd heard of Harri's fainting after her last test and had gotten worried enough to put it off a day in order to check on her. Harri thought it rather sweet of the usually rambunctious duo, even if they did end up picking up their little sister and their sister's friend along the way when the two had overheard the situation.

In fact, all year the Twins had been trying to make up to Harri and Hermione both for how they had been treated by the rest of the Gryffindors last year. While it wasn't their job to do so, when Harri had asked, they told her how they had felt guilty for how their girlfriends had treated her and Hermione. How they felt their relationship with their girlfriends would have been threatened if they had tried to be outwardly kind or inclusive of Harri or Hermione.

So when Harri and Hermione hadn't bothered going back up to the Tower this year the Twins had often helped. When Harri or Hermione needed a distraction to get into the Chamber in secret, before Umbridge could find either of them, they would pitch in. In a way, there was some fun in it, as Harri and Hermione discovered more entrances into the Chamber that could only be accessed by a parselmouth and often needed to act discreet to access them in their unlikely places.

On the threstral to her left were Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood. While Harri found Luna to be good company, albeit odd and a bit disconcerting, Ginny... Harri didn't know what to do with her.

The little red head had a serious hero worship thing going on, which had only gotten worse after Harri had saved her life during Harri's second year. That made Harri feel even more uncomfortable than the title Girl-Who-Lived ever could. Goku had encouraged Harri to try and be friends with the girl before but... Harri was pretty certain by now that the red head couldn't see past Harri's deeds (Harri being conscious of those deeds or not) enough to see Harri as herself.

Anything new Harri did with her hair was immediately copied. The foods Harri liked, Ginny liked them too. If Harri had torn a hole in her book bag she'd find it had been hand repaired with a little praising note attached by the very next morning. Harri was fairly certain that if she didn't have special locks on her luggage then personal items would have gone missing- the only reason they didn't was because Harri was never foolish enough to leave personal items laying about carelessly; she had too few of them in the first place to afford that. But any quills that she had put down in the library, in order to get up and go get a new book from the shelves, often went missing.

Last year she'd fallen asleep in the Room of Requirement after a DA meeting. When she woke her glasses were gone. Thankfully, with all the potions Hermione had looked up the previous year, she was able to make the Oculus potion. Now Harri didn't need her glasses, or even contacts, to see properly. Needless to say, while at Hogwarts, Harri didn't allow herself to fall asleep anywhere that wasn't in the Chamber anymore.

While Harri had tried to tell Ginny it wasn't necessary to do the things she did, all that did was encourage Ginny to be more subtle in her execution of her worship. And yes it was worship. Harri had overheard a conversation- between two Gryffindor girls a year younger than her, whom therefore shared dorm with Ginny- speaking of how Ginny had set up wards around her collection of Girl-Who-Lived merchandise so that they couldn't touch anything anymore.

Mostly though, Harri was worried that the littlest red head was going to be following Harri to her death. It was her worry for each of the people here tonight. In fact, Harri had tried to leave everyone but Hermione behind. She had gotten on her threstral, allowed Hermione to get on behind her, and they had flown away first. The Twins, Fred and George, along with Luna and Ginny had caught up on their own threstrals soon after.

The threstrals themselves keened quietly to one another as they all flew, long leathery wings hardly making a sound. It was completely different to the wings of the hippogrif Buckbeak, whom she had ridden atop in her third year. They sped along quickly, at speeds Harri was sure she hadn't flown at since before this night, with their wings hardly beating. Despite having been up in the air for a while now, they showed no signs of tire nor had they slowed.

Between the riders, no one really had anything much to say to one another. The distance between each animal and the wind in their ears made it nearly impossible to hear one another without shouting. So it was with silence that Harri eagerly watched the sun lay itself to rest amongst the Scottish hills, more than ready to call Goku with her Window Wood so that she could get an update about his tournament results.

After the last three days of eliminations, preliminaries, and quarterfinals, she wanted to know who had won the finals. They should have ended a while ago. In the finals Harri was told that Goku would go up against a guy named Tien, who had acted cruelly in his preliminary match against Yamcha.

(Oddly enough- given her reaction after Goku told her he was training for it- Chichi had shown up to the tournament. She had beat an odd wolf-man creature to get into the final rounds. Kuririn, who had been present when Goku was speaking to Harri, told her how he found it unnerving how Chichi wouldn't stop staring at him, Yamcha, and Goku- who had stood near one another- the entire time. Goku had gotten annoyed with how Chichi had behaved during their preliminary match. First she hadn't allowed the match to start until she had pressured a promise from him- that he'd do one thing that she wanted him to do if she won. Then he had let her attack him, but when he went to attack back she had broken down crying- wailing even- of her disbelief that he'd even consider attacking her. It reminded Goku so much of the girl who had participated in the last tournament that he had simply gone through with a different attack to force Chichi into a ring out. As predicted, she had tried to attack again, but he had been ready. Then Chichi ran from the tournament, still crying, and declaring that she'd her promise from him. Goku then told Harri that he was glad she didn't try to fight like that 'cause that sort of behavior would get Harri killed. Harri had felt the odd mixture of shame on Chichi's behalf and pride at the acknowledgement of her own valor.)

Harri was waiting for sunset though, to allow time for Goku to get celebratory dinner with his friends. While she felt confident that he'd win, Harri still had a squirmy feeling in her gut. It felt like something was wrong.

Unable to wait any longer for the last rays of light to disappear, Harri simply opened her coin pouch and retrieved the Window Wood. At the movement, Harri felt how Hermione leaned to one side to get a look at what Harri was doing and felt more than heard how her friend gave a laugh at her. Harri nudged Hermione in the gut with her elbow but that didn't seem to bother the other witch nearly as much as Harri had wanted it to- it just made Hermione laugh harder.

"Just admit that you like him already Harri!" Hermione teased quietly, speaking just loud enough for Harri to hear over the wind.

Face red, "he's my best mate, of course I like him." Harri huffed, only to get a light tisk from her friend.

"Oh no, I'll have none of that Harri Lily Potter. I'm your best mate." Hermione poked Harri in the back of her ribs, "you fancy him. If it weren't for the fact neither of you can go through the Window, you'd be together already."

"I..." Harri swallowed, face now crimson at the thought. Then she shook her head, unruly raven locks whipping Hermione in the face due to the wind. "I dunno about that, Mione. I don't really know how a relationship like that works... I mean, look at what happened with me and Cedric."

"Cedric was a prick! Setting you up like that...!" Hermione growled very humanly.

It was nothing like the sound that Goku was able to produce when he was really angry. That was a noise Harri never wanted to provoke in him, it didn't suit him and his sunny personality. (It was just another thing that set him apart from humans. Not that Harri minded. Goku was Goku and that's all that really mattered to her. In a world where dinosaurs roamed and animals could speak like humans or shapeshift into objects willingly, it wasn't very surprising to think on how unlikely it was that Goku was a human.) He'd try to hide it, but like the night of the Yule Ball, he couldn't hide just how upset some things made him. Honestly Harri appreciated how he'd get angry on her behalf, there were lots of things that she didn't even know she was supposed to be angry about until he got angry for her.

"Normally, I don't speak ill of the dead- but bloody Cedric!" Hermione spit, like the name tasted of acid on her tongue. "I still can't believe it took Cho Chang under Umbridge-influenced truth serum for us to find that out. I told you that hag was still with that bloody chav! Even Goku could tell something was up and he gets all his information secondhand! And to think that he would scheme with bloody Malfoy- of all people- to get you alone so that the little rodent could-!"

"Mione, please." Harri cut off, trembling at the memory. This wasn't the first time Hermione had blown up about it but that didn't mean it made it any easier to have those memories dragged up all over again.

In that moment all she wanted to do was ask Goku for his blanket again and wrap it around herself. While it wasn't him, the blanket was warm and smelt of him, which allowed Harri to imagine that his hugs could be like that too. And wasn't that an odd thought? Actually wanting physical contact from a male.

After an incident when she was little, she wanted nothing to do with physical contact, especially from adults. The Yule Ball only cemented that, extending that blanket rule to anyone she didn't know. Though even Hermione's closeness would bother Harri if it lasted too long. But Goku... Goku wasn't just any male. He is also her friend. Her childhood friend who has been her rock through everything. And if he were here? She knew he'd do everything in his power to keep her safe. The frustration he'd felt for not doing so had been plain to see. While he hadn't said so aloud, or so directly, he showed it to her through his actions, and with every year he went to gather the Dragonballs. So something like a hug? Even if it wasn't a long one, if it was from Goku, Harri was sure she would relish it.

With sigh, Hermione leaned back from the other witch, "sorry Harri." She offered, "I didn't mean to bring it up like that." With a scowl the brunette added, "you're my friend. I don't like how you've been hurt."

"It's... it's okay." It really wasn't. Harri breathed though, tried to get her voice under control once again. "I understand." She did. Harri would yell at Hermione too if Hermione let emotions cloud her judgement and almost get her killed. That seemed to be Harri's roll though, in their friendship.

They both went quiet. Harri got her thoughts in order while Hermione calmed.

"You know," Hermione added a bit after, anger gone to be replaced with a half hearted teasing. "If you don't tell him how you feel sometime soon, someone else might and... he might just accept."

Stiffening, Harri half turned to look at her friend. While she could see how her friend wanted to be gentle, it was clear she was serious. Harri gaped.

"You...?" Bewildered and taken off guard, Harri found that she couldn't even finish what she wanted to say. But even as the seconds passed a hot angry thing sprang to life inside her, not happy with Hermione at all. The violent urge to start clawing Hermione's eyes out came to mind and Harri felt sick. Most of all, Harri suddenly felt very betrayed and threatened and she didn't know what to do about it.

What she felt must have been plain to see for Hermione.

With an apologetic look, "well... yes." Hermione answered shyly, face flamed. She took a breath and looked at Harri straight in the eyes. Hermione spoke before Harri could even make a noise of disbelief. "He is quite alluring after all, and I don't just mean his appearance. After all this time how could I not notice and take a liking to that?" With less of a flush and more of a reassignment, Hermione gave a sigh. "But I can also see how much you both do for one another. How he only wants to see you happy. He really loves you, Harri. I don't know if he knows that you love him back in the same way, but I do know that I want something like what the two of you have for myself."

The initial anger and betrayal Harri had felt faded the longer she heard Hermione talk. There was no real threat from Hermione, which calmed Harri immensely. However that didn't mean the warning wasn't glaringly clear.

Swallowing, Harri ducked her red face behind her hair. "I... I'm going to start the call now, okay?"

"Okay, Harri." Hermione agreed, "just know that I won't be the only girl other than you whose taken notice of him." Again Hermione poked at her friend in the ribs. "Don't you let him get away!"

Face too hot to even comprehend it anymore Harri let out a squeak, "okay!"

For some reason that earned her a laugh from her friend, but Harri was just grateful that she was no longer under attack. It took a bit of time before Harri felt cooled enough to speak with Goku in a reasonable level of excitement.

The sudden fuzzy fluttering she felt inside was just a combination of flying at high speeds several thousand feet in the air and anticipation to know who had won the tournament. It had nothing to do with the topic of conversation from a moment ago.

With another exhale, Harri swept her previous thoughts aside as she instead focused on what she wanted to talk to Goku about. She called his name, and the Window Wood came to life in her hands. Soon the image cleared and Goku was looking back at her. Only something in his gaze was off.

Immediately, "what's happened?" Harri demanded, her gut swirling at the familiar look she spotted go through him at the question. It reminded her a little too much of the night that- no, that just couldn't be right. The halfhearted smile of greeting fell from his face. Any happy feelings left over from earlier evaporated. "Goku?"

"Harri," his voice was soft and rough at the same time. It was filled with sorrow. Yet his eyes burned with anger. Harri felt her heart plummet at the absence of her nickname. There was no mincing of his words, "Kuririn was killed."

Green eyes widened with surprise and horror, "what?" she choked out.

Deep sorrow crept into her gaze then, a hand came up to cover her mouth with shock.

On the last Dragonball hunt, Harri had gotten to know Kuririn better. When she spoke with Goku Kuririn would give comments of what he saw or add to the conversation (though most of the time it was some sort of teasing remark- like telling her how Goku had stared off into space until Kuririn mentioned Harri's name to get his attention), much like how Hermione might do the same on Harri's end. The thought that the mischievous but kindly boy was just gone- it gouged at her like the claws of a horntail. It felt as though she'd lost Hermione... or Nevil and Grandpa Gohan all over again. No wonder Goku's look had reminded Harri so strongly of the night Gohan had died.

"I'm going after his killer." Goku continued, teeth grit. Only then did Harri notice that he was up in the air too, on Nimbus. "He's not getting away."

"Goku-" Harri's words died in her throat.

When he looked at her then, she could see the determination in his eyes. Goku wasn't about to be persuaded otherwise in this. Not that she would have asked him to do otherwise.

No, she wanted to be there at his side and help in this endeavor. To go after the one who had simultaneously caused him pain and took away a friend. All the while Harri felt that feeling of trepidation grow in her gut.

She cleared her throat so her voice wouldn't be so shaky. Understanding his desire perfectly. Gentler, "pass me the coin purse will you?"

For a second surprise flickered through his eyes, only for the emotion to melt into a gaze that Harri found set her blood afire. She glanced away from him as she waited for him to pass the coin purse through the Window Wood, Hermione's words suddenly echoing through her head. Is that what that look was? Harri knew this wasn't the first time she'd seen it on him, directed at herself. It always made a pleasant thrill go through her, exciting and terrifying all at once. But she hadn't had any reference to give a name to the look.

Boys had been giving her looks while she passed through the halls and attended classes. Those Harri had come to understand were of lust. Occasionally one brave soul might try their luck on doing more than just looking, like Malfoy had nearly succeeded with that dreaded Christmas, and Harri proved herself quite capable while her senses were not robbed.

Even since the Yule however, Harri and Hermione both made sure whatever they drank or ate came directly from Dobby as the elf checked their sustenance for any potions that could have been laced into it. (When Harri did receive mysterious treats, she did her best to be rid of them quickly. Often they went to whatever animal happened across them on the Hogwart's grounds, though she did have the delight in managing to feed them to Umbridge once and had watched with the rest of the hall as the woman had thrown herself at one of the older students for just over a full day. Harri suspected that the other teachers had only put at stop to it by then because they didn't want the toady-woman to actually follow that student to bed.) So, lust, Harri could spot.

Goku's gaze... it went so much deeper than just that. It was thrilling because she knew instinctively that she liked that gaze directed at herself. She was even sure she felt the same, especially when he did something sweet like capturing live mice for Hedwig. (The snowy owl was seriously spoiled rotten: when she had started to show serious annoyance at having to leave the Chamber each time she wished to hunt Goku had gotten the idea of catching the mice and other small rodents for her. Harri had conjured a cage for the creatures to keep them safe while they went through the Window directly. Even with the cage however, not all of them survived the trip. Hedwig had calmed down significantly since she had started to get her dinner delivered to her and had even started to pair the Window with the arrival of said dinner.) What was terrifying was that Harri had no idea how to handle what he felt- never mind what she felt. She had no idea what to do with the feelings, let alone go about it. And it certainly didn't help that they were separated in two different realities. Saying it all aloud? Trying to discuss that with him...? Harri didn't know if she could do that just yet.

Harri turned to look back at Hermione.

The brunette witch had a curious expression on her face as she looked over her teary-eyed, red-faced friend, only for it to change into worry at Harri's request for certain potions. Hermione had made it a habit to keep on hand several potions ever since the start of the tournament last year. Most of them were often sent over to Goku anyways, but the potions Harri currently requested were more for preparation of a battle than the healing ones that were normally requested for him. While there were plenty enough of potions that Hermione knew they'd still have some for the fight that was surely coming, it was still worrying. After all, knowing Goku since third year, Hermione considered him to be a friend by now.

Harri directed the creature she was on to fly a little higher. The coin purse jumped out from the Window Wood and Harri caught it before it could be lost to the land far below them. From the corner of her eyes she could see how the action had caught the attention of the riders on the other threstrals but Harri easily ignored the odd looks sent her way. From their positions in the sky, they couldn't see much anyways.

Using her wand Harri carved the name of each potion, how long it had left until expiry, and a brief list of it's effects onto the side of each bottle with a practiced ease before she put them inside of Goku's coin purse. That done, Harri put away her wand and sent the coin purse back to it's owner.

"Take the Wideye potion first, alright?" Harri told Goku, she had spotted the tiredness of his features almost immediately. "It should help keep you alert."

A grin was on his face. It wasn't the same bright carefree look that Harri knew. There was a grimness present that didn't suit him. He was out for revenge and that's exactly what he'd find. They both knew it.

"Thanks, Ri."

"Of course." Harri nodded, though a frown still followed. "Goku..."

He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. That pained look was back on his face again. It twisted something sharp in Harri's heart. She bit her lip. The words carved in the back of her left hand burned.

"I can live through another year." Harri intoned softly. Goku still flinched, like she'd struck him. Taking in a breath, Harri wiped away some of the tears that fell. "...but Kuririn won't get another chance."

When he looked at her then, she could see how he knew she was right. There was a slight resentment there, though not directed at herself. Most dominant of all was his sorrow at the situation, mixed with frustration. Something almost always seemed to get in their way.

His eyes flickered ahead. Frustration turned to furry as his dark eyes set on something and seemed to deepen into an even darker shade.

"Found him." The words were more of a growl.

Once again Harri found her heart skipping a beat. How she wished she was on the cloud with him, about to face the danger together. Whatever had killed Kuririn must have been strong.

Still, swallowing her fear, Harri nodded even though Goku no longer looked at her. "Take the Wideye. I'll call you back later."

Only delaying enough to witness him take the potion, Harri cut the connection from her magic. She stared at the blank face of the wood for a long moment. Simply using the pad of her finger to brush against her carvings gently. Eventually Hermione put her chin on Harri's shoulder, an action that had her flinch. If it weren't for the fact that she wouldn't be able to hear Hermione otherwise, Harri would have pushed the other witch away.

"Are you okay?"

Quietly, "how much did you hear?" Harri asked back, strained.

"Not much." Hermione responded honestly, "but I can see you're upset."

The raven haired witch let her shoulders fall. "Kuririn... he was killed." Harri replied slowly. Her voice was nearly void of emotion in her attempt to push away the pain. After all, it wouldn't help her at the moment. Not with who she was to face tonight.

"So the wish..." Hermione sounded shocked and saddened all at once. Harri felt the other girl wrap her into a hug, squeezing her elbows into her sides. While the affection was appreciated, it didn't come from the person Harri really wanted it to. "I'm sorry, Harri."

A wobble entered her voice, "I'll live." Harri answered back, the task ahead of them all seemed to grow larger and all the more daunting. Hermione ended the hug but kept close enough to hear, "we'll get that prophecy first. Whatever Dumbledore has tried to hide... The dragon can only grant one wish. I don't want to be forced to come back after it's been made."

The thought pained her, but Hermione still had her doubts about the entire ordeal. She'd wanted to push against the idea of going more than she'd already had.

But Harri was on a frantic one track route. Hermione had seen that Harry wouldn't have anything interfere with her plans on leaving this world. Whatever this prophecy was, it was important enough for Dumbledore to hide it in the Ministry and for Voldemort to want badly enough to send Harri a painful vision about it. How Voldemort knew what the inside of Grimmauld Place looked like wasn't very important when compared to the threat on Sirius' life that Voldemort had proposed. Hermione thought though, that secretly, Harri just wanted her fight with Voldemort to finally be over. That Harri planned to face the murderer and felt ready to end it all tonight.

So Hermione made Harri go with her back to the Chamber first, to pack everything that they might need for an ambush, and took Rajah as well. This would be a fight for their lives- there was no way Voldemort wouldn't be there.

While Harri felt ready for it, Hermione felt very differently. She was more of a back up with potions and concealment spells with a deadly snake to act as her main protection- never you mind that Rajah was still a baby, he was still incredibly deadly. Hermione just wasn't a front line fighter like Harri.

What was most odd about the situation in of itself is that it happened at all.

When Harri had gotten her first vision at the beginning of the year, the portrait of Slytherin had told them how it sounded like Harri had been attacked through the mind. He invited them both to read his books on the subject of occlumency and legilimency. They did, and Hermione and Harri had both practiced their occlumency and legilimency together, for hours on end, under the instruction of the portrait in the Chamber. It had been enough to keep Harri from getting more nightmare visions but that didn't mean it was good enough. Those nightmares were mind attacks from far away after all, and they needed to know if they could withstand someone attacking at full power without reservations.

So Harri visited Professor Snape. Hermione had found out that the man was practiced in the art, just as Dumbledore was. And while Harri liked Snape no more than she did Dumbledore, she trusted that the man was too proud and too hateful of her to ever say anything if she succeeded in keeping Snape out of her mind.

That's why Harri had tested herself against him. While she had managed to resist the attack for a nearly a full minute, he had still managed to get in. But he did commend the effort for what it was afterwards, stated that it would be enough to last against dark attacks until Harri herself or a comrade would attack the attacker in a different matter and likely succeed in that endeavor since they would be otherwise occupied.

So how on Earth did this vision slip through? During the day no less?

Harri had been much too frantic at the time to be asked the questions and Hermione still didn't know. Somehow it only made the portrait's warning to them- something about a horcrux- sound all the more ominous.

When they got back- because they would survive this and get back- Hermione would make sure to look the word up within the school library or even within the Chamber's books. Hermione had the distinct feeling that if the portrait found it important enough to mention then he'd allow her to look through his books for it.

They'd run into the Weasely Twins in the hall, on the way back from the Chamber. It was with their help, and Ginny and Luna, that they snuck into Umbridge's office to use her floo. Harri had used the fire to make a call to Grimmauld Place, to give Sirius the warning that Voldemort knew where he was- only to be told that Sirius wasn't home.

That's when they'd gotten caught by the pink tyrant of a teacher. Only for Umbridge to try and grab Hermione first. At first Hermione had no clue as to what had happened. Umbridge sort of gasped, as though surprised, took a few steps back. Her eyes rolled up and then the toad-faced witch was down in a dead faint on the floor. It was then Hermione felt the movement on her arm, how a green snout disappeared back into her sleeve. She'd dropped down to Umbridge's side and shakily pressed her fingers to the old toads throat. There had been no pulse.

By then Hermione was in a panic- she'd just killed someone!- which made Harri panic. At some point in their frantic shouting about what to do, Harri had pointed her wand at the body and suddenly a perfectly pink teacup was in it's place. Hermione was the one who put it with the tea set on the desk, only now thinking to pity whomever mistakenly drank from it in the future.

Harri then called upon Dobby. Asked him to locate Sirius and tell him of the threat on his person, that she wanted him out of Grimmauld Place and to go to the Chamber of Secrets instead, that if he was willing to help Dobby could bring Sirius there (Dobby looked a bit insulted that anyone could think he would have refused helping Harri bring Sirius to safety), and that she was going to the Ministry to get whatever it was that Dumbledore had hidden there.

Once that was done and Dobby had disappeared, they'd once again run into the Weasley Twins, Ginny, and Luna in the hall.

Hermione took a fist full of the back of Harri's robes. She didn't want her friend to die. She'd help as much as she could, after all, Harri is her first friend. The first to look past her bookish nature and all-knowing attitude. While she still prided herself on knowing a lot, Hermione now understood that it wasn't needed to keep her friend.

Harri was plenty smart on her own, often looking up extra things with or without Hermione's help, in order to excel in her classes and pull ahead. It wasn't until the end of third year that Hermione understood the why behind Harri's drive.

The raven haired witch was trying to absorb all she could before she'd leave this world for another.


A/N: Goku is on his back in the sea, staring up at the night sky with his tummy rumbling.

Goku *sing/chant* : Oh great serpents~... I look so tasty~...

Sea Serpent: *notices Goku*

Goku *sing/chant*: Don't be shy~... Trrrry to take a biiiiiiite~...

Sea Serpent: *opens mouth to swallow him whole*

Goku *sing/chant*: I'd love to eat you~... Oh great serpents~... You are so tasty~...

Sea Serpent: *freezes* ?!

Goku *sing/chant*: Don't be shy~... I'd like to trrrrry to take a biiiiite~

Sea Serpent: *flees*