A/N: Hello ATE readers! Thank you for your reviews. I really hope that the Knowledge... uh, page? (I'll just go with page, it's not a chapter) has helped. I'll try to keep in mind that only the good stories provoke emotional responses in the audience.

/img .wattpad story_parts/1344578376/images/178e722f050bfa4f679500896379. jpg

(Above is an image that I drew of the two Windows.)

Anywho, this chapter was hard to write. I don't particularly like it... Enjoy?

DARK MARK

When the train arrived in London, an alarm went off in Harri's mind. Hermione hadn't been picked up by her parents.

Immediately Harri had found it odd, considering how Hermione usually received word from her parents well in advance if they weren't able to follow through with a premade plan.

With that in mind Harri decided to accompany her friend to her home. They'd both taken a hackney to the destination, only to find the place surrounded by bobbies and their barricade tape. Dread washed over them both as they took in the many houses on the street that had been tapped off. Harri scooted closer to Hermione when their vehicle stopped in front of her house, which looked far worse off compared to all the others they had passed.

At first the bobbies had tried to get the hackney to move on and had become a bit forceful when the driver at first refused. That's when it was finally understood that Hermione was a resident of the house they were in front of. After proof was given and confirmed, it was then explained that both of her parents were dead (there was too much evidence present to guess otherwise). To Harri and Hermione it was clear as day who did it. The words the bobby read off her record, which had been found burnt onto the back lawn, only confirmed their instant horrified conclusion.

Hermione had lost her parents to Voldemort's followers. Unlike all the other muggles, Voldemort hadn't even left the bodies behind.

To add on to the shock, the same bobby proceeded to ask the distressed young witch if she knew if her parents had enemies all the while the bobby showed some pictures of defilement that had been made to the inside of the home.

At that Harri very nearly broke the statute of secrecy. Harri gave the bobby a very clear image of just how insensitive and inhuman Harri thought she was and dragged the nearly catatonic brunette away from the scene.

Then Harri got Hermione out of there before her friend could snap out of it long enough to break the statute herself. They went back into the hackney and gave the driver the closest address to one of Harri's homes.

They spent the entirety of the summer at Harri's London estate. For the most part Hermione had retreated into her books and only came out to practice some potion making once in a while.

Much to Harri's relief, she'd finally gotten through to Goku. Between fighting and recovering from said fights he hadn't been in any condition to answer before. Apparently Kuririn's killer was as well known in Goku's world as Voldemort is in Harri's because after his fight Goku actually ran into hundreds of reporters who had wanted to interview him about it. Then Goku told Harri all about how he had to pass a test to speak to Kami, who watched over his world from a Lookout way up in the sky. He had to ask Kami to revive Shenlong so that he could be able to revive those whom Piccolo killed. In return for granting Goku's wish, Kami wanted to train him because, apparently, Piccolo had left behind another 'son' to carry on his evil ways.

It was certainly a shock to learn that Goku had actually met and spoken to such a being without having to die first. (Though he'd come close to it, if his description of his wounds was anything to go by- which distressed Harri.) Though it made her wonder if her own world had such a guardian or not. Through Goku, Harri had asked the question, only to be told that Kami had no clue. His domain was Goku's world only, and he could not see or watch over any other place. What Kami did tell them though was that he recognized the Window Wood.

Apparently it was from a tree Kami referred to as a Rerumu Tree. They are both a rare and very old species of tree that can grow to be mountainous in size. That description didn't fit any tree that Harri knew of. When asked, Hermione (who was better at Herbology than Harri) thought perhaps it could be related to their redwood trees but was unsure.

After that Harri spoke to Goku as often as he was allowed to speak to her, since he was technically now training under strict instruction.

On her part, Harri continued to practice her wandless and wordless magic as often as she could. It had started to change so that the magic did as she pictured it to, often before any words could even be thought to accompany the desire. When she showed Goku a lumos as a ball of light that gathered in her hand he had thought for sure she had finally managed to access her Ki.

While Harri knew it was magic, she also knew it felt a bit different than using magic with her wand and with words. This made her wonder if it was an accidental combination of magic and Ki or if this was just what magic was supposed to be.

Harri thought that, before wands and words, magicals would have still had some way of doing magic. With that in mind Harri wondered if the wands were originally created for children, so they could get used to the feel of magic, the words discovered along the way to help direct the magic, so that when magicals were adults they could then use their magic without those things. There were no history books on the use of the wand. Wizards and Witches simply began to use them one day and kept doing so from then on. It was likely though that, in order to sell wands, it was the ancient wand makers who slowly got rid of all knowledge of how to use magic without the objects.

As she continued to grow in her comfortably of not using a wand or any words, Harri was starting to see just how limited the use of magic with the wands and words really were. Maybe that's what made historically famous magicals- like Merlin- so powerful. While there were depictions of Merlin with a staff, there were also plenty of him using magic without it too.

So Harri worked on her control of wandless and wordless magic. As she did so, Harri also made sure to further build up her physical strength under Goku's careful instruction. Since fourth year Harri had been able to keep up the routine Goku had written out for her, they had been adding to it slowly as the years progressed and she kept getting better. It not only felt great but she could see that she was much healthier too.

Her arms were now nicely toned, not overly so, just enough to know that she had muscles. The same could be said of her stomach, which was flat and had no abs but was hard and defined. As for her legs, her muscles showed most in her calves than her thighs, lean and long, generally sculpted but balanced. A product of her running and practice of evasive movements.

On the weekends she'd leave the Window Wood on and sat down to meditate at the same time that Goku did. Mr Popo had been kind enough to nail a peg into one of his trees so Goku's Window could be hung there.

The idea of mediation had been Goku's. She was glad of it too. It had helped Harri with her own grief over Sirius, Hermione's kindhearted parents, the loss and following revival of Kuririn, and the fact that Voldemort knew of Goku.

That fact still scared her. She didn't know what the tosser would do with that information. But she felt the need to renew all of her protective enchantments on her coin purse and did so, even adding new ones like making it impossible for it to be summoned off her person.

On top of that she felt paranoid every time she thought about leaving her protected property, as though she were a rabbit who could feel the eyes of an eagle on her but couldn't see it let alone tell when it would try to swoop down and catch her. It wasn't just for herself though- Hermione's parents had been killed. While it was done by Voldemort, the cause was probably Harri. Or, more precisely, the fact that Hermione was known to be Harri's friend.

If she hadn't gone with Hermione in the hackney when her parents hadn't shown up, would Hermione had made it to Harri's London estate safely or would she have been captured by someone who was looking for a distressed witch- be it Voldemort or the Order? Had Voldemort left someone behind to watch Hermione's house and wait for her return? Surely the Ministry knew that a Death Eater attack had happened on Hermione's neighborhood, which meant that the Order at least knew- which meant Dumbledore. Would the headmaster have sent someone to go get Hermione?

It hurt Harri to think about. She wanted to keep her friend safe but she was starting to wonder if it was best for Hermione's sake to be her friend.

How much better would Hermione's life be if Harri had never been in it? Which lead Harri to think of Neville- how she was certain the blond would have done better without following her down into the Chamber and getting hit by that spell. It should have been just her down there that night.

When she'd told Goku, he told her straight up that she was being stupid. According to him there was no use to contemplate the 'what ifs' and 'should have beens'. Because there was nothing she can do about actions that had already happened and the consequences that had come about. Thinking about said 'what ifs' and 'should have beens' was only hurting her, he said. Then he pointed out that even if she did remove herself from Hermione's life, wipe away any trace Hermione might find that lead back to Harri, it wouldn't fix anything. In fact it might even hurt Hermione more, since the brunette desperately needed her friend at the moment. It'd be running away. Instead he told her to focus on what she could do.

Harri can get better at magic. Be a better protection for her friend, who wasn't very good at fighting in of itself, but who is good at giving Harri backup. So when she managed to clear her mind of what she'd done that week, Harri would meditate about her magic. What it felt like, how she could do better with it. How she wanted her magic to improve.

Eventually Hermione came out of her self-grieving enough to join Harri and Goku (on Harri's insistence) with their weekend meditations. Like Harri, it helped Hermione to sort out what she felt and what she should do. How she would improve herself. It was slow at first, but it did help her accept the death of her parents.

Despite the way it started, Harri could honestly say that a Dursley free summer had been the very best summer she had experienced to date. The entire experience only highlighted by the exchange of presents on the thirty first of July.

To Goku, Harri gifted a dark blue undershirt for his gi. The cloth had been embedded with charms and ruins to have the same weight gaining effect as his wrist bands, along with a mild cooling effect that would kick in only when he'd be overheated like during training. On the other hand, to Harri, Goku gifted a large precious stone that he had gone to find (under Hermione's instruction as to what to look for). It was an oval chrysocolla stone, about the size of a small chicken's egg and colored more green than it was blue. Polished and smoothed to perfection. He had embedded the stone in an intricately designed metal, which he had put together himself. The stone was perfect to store a lot of extra magical energy.

Harri had put the piece onto the Window Wood, so the metal clung to the top and bottom of the piece while it went around the face where it would show Goku's image. It looked a lot like an ornamental frame with the stone Goku had given her directly below the face so it touched the wood. There were even clips in the piece so more stones could be added in the future.

By the end of the summer before sixth year, Harri had seriously contemplated not returning to Hogwarts. She didn't want to deal with anything else that had to do with the school or the magical community of Britain. All she needed to finish her schooling was to take her Newt test (and she'd pass it too, Harri was sure), but Harri didn't care one way or another if she had taken that test as she wasn't going to live the rest of her life in the magical community anyways. However, while at school Harri could to learn whatever else she could from the portrait in the Chamber while also accompanying her friend to some classes. Hermione wanted to expand her knowledge in Herbology this year, as well as potions and magical creatures.

In the end Harri had decided to go.

Almost immediately after entering the grounds Dumbledore had asked Harri to his office. At first, she contemplated pretending to have missed the message entirely. Then, when Hermione saw the look of defiance in her eyes, she was reminded of how the Headmaster would already know that she had gotten the message and that it would only delay the inevitable to not go. She only left to the office after she had opened the path to the Chamber for Hermione and had seen her friend safely descend the stairway.

To say the headmaster of the school was annoyed was an understatement. Harri could see it in the way the old man moved, how he stared at her. At one point he'd even stared at Harri's hand with something like vindication in his eyes. (A notion dawned on her then- that maybe Dumbledore had let Umbridge injure other students last year because he knew that Harri wouldn't be able to let that go on. Especially if it was because of her that they were being injured. It was just another way to get back at Harri for having Sirius kick him and the Order out of Grimmauld Place.) The thought nearly had Harri laugh- surely that was a little too contrived, even for Dumbledore.

Then he'd tried to get into her mind. Harri had felt it a lot clearer this time, the barely present poke Dumbledore attempted to make to read her surface thoughts. Harri didn't let him in though. She had gotten much better thanks to the meditation. If anything the fact that he had tried it at all only made Harri more angry with him, even if she had sort of expected it.

They played a game where they each acted pleased to see one another, and pretended to be anything but angry at each other. The entire time Harri wondered when the old man would come out with it and tell her what he actually wanted with her.

Eventually he told her about a mission that only she could achieve for him. That he needed to learn about horcruxes from a man who was to become their potions professor and to do so she needed to attain a memory from said man. How he suspected it had something to do with Voldemort and how to defeat the mass murderer.

Harri wasn't very inclined to help Dumbledore out, much less give him the book that Hermione had been directed to by the portrait. It had depicted in excruciating detail exactly what one must do to fracture their soul, tear that fracture out of oneself, put it in an object, and all of the 'benefits' that such a disgusting act could do for a person. It was the only book Hermione had ever wanted to burn- and the brunette collected and kept old encyclopedias to look through for fun.

Yet Harri didn't mind someone other than herself hunting down these tainted objects and destroying them. With that in mind Harri decided to help get this new potions professor in the school- if she's attending potions class with Hermione then not having Snape present was easily a benefit. In the mean time she would just copy the pages of the dark book in regards to the definition of what a horcrux is, and present it to the old man as an essay or concept that Harri had found in the Black library over the summer. With the copied definition Dumbledore could then find them on his own and not have to bother Harri with this nonsense.

The night before classes were to start Dumbledore had Harri go with him to fetch the new potions professor, Horace Slughorn. Apparently the man prized getting to know famous people, or people who had the potential to be famous in their world. Slughorn liked being close to influential people, having them be indebted to him. He treated people like shiny objects to collect.

Dumbledore's plan was for Harri to let herself be 'collected', so to speak, in order to get close to Slughorn and receive the untainted memory that the man had of what Voldemort had asked him about long ago and what Slughorn's answer was. Harri would have liked it better if Dumbledore had informed her of the plan before they were right outside Slughorn's house. Like many of the things Dumbledore did, she did not appreciate being used like this.

After Slughorn had been escorted to the school and had gone on his way, Harri gave Dumbledore the copied page on what a horcrux was. It depicted the horcrux as the experiment it had been. How it had been thought of by a witch who was afraid of dying young. Everything in the book had been written down by her friend, who had been of a scientific mind on the subject of the soul. There was more than just horcruxes in the book of course but that wasn't something for Dumbledore to know.

On the suggestion of Salazar's portrait, Harri only added all the unhappy side effects the witch's friend had noted in the margins of the original book, which had been noticed later on in the witch's life. There was nothing on how the horcrux is made specifically or how the split piece of soul could then be torn from the body. Dumbledore took the page curiously, only for his face to grow whiter and his eyes to bulge out with shock as he read it. Before he could ask, because Harri could see the question on his face, she told him that it had been in the Black Library and left it at that.

With a nod Dumbledore didn't ask anything more of Harri and Harri left to the Chamber peacefully.

As school started, Harri skived all of her classes except for Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures. (Technically Harri wasn't in care of magical creatures, but it was run by Hagrid and she liked creatures and learning about them.) The only time she attended the other classes was to hand in homework and take part in tests. At first Harri thought she'd receive a lot of push back from Hermione on not attending classes. Only, her bushy haired friend had decided to join her in the skiving of most of her classes too.

It had shocked Harri but Hermione had reasoned that the classes she was skiving weren't detrimental to their survival, unlike the work that they were doing together in the Chamber, and she'd rather pour her time into learning what she'd need to help rid the world of Voldemort rather than go over the school work that she and Harri had long since surpassed. Anything in her advanced studies she had trouble with Hermione could simply ask the portrait or the teachers. The only classes Hermione bothered to attend other than Potions with Harri, were Herbology and Ancient Ruins.

When the Professors realized what the two witches were doing, they tried to get them to do otherwise. They gave them detentions, took away house points, and took away privileges like desert. Even Dumbledore tried to interfere with the threat of suspension.

The two ignored the detentions that were given entirely, reminding the entire school of the previous year a little too much. (The Professors didn't start punishing other students, thankfully. They didn't ever want to stoop to the same level as Umbridge.) They were more than used to the glares received for loosing points on their house (it wasn't all that different than in fourth year, honestly, hexes in the halls and all) and neither of them had been in Gryffindor Tower since fourth year. Hermione didn't eat very many sweets in the first place and the sweets Harri liked were all brought to her by Dobby (whom Harri noticed really liked to spoil her with them). She ate them sparingly however, as she wanted to keep healthy. As for suspension...

Neither Harri or Hermione really minded if they were. They could simply spend whatever time they were given within the chamber and have Dobby do the running around for questions instead of them. The only reason they didn't do that from the beginning was because of how much Dobby was doing for Harri already and for the fact that it was sort of nice to get out of the damp underground Chamber.

To solve this, when Dumbledore did give them suspension time, Harri and Hermione took that time to explore outside of Hogwarts grounds. They took Rajah, Crookshanks, and Hedwig with them. All three kept nearby to keep an eye out for wayward dark magicals. Always Dobby was only a cry away from bringing them back to the Chamber upon emergency. Despite how cold the land was quickly getting Harri and Hermione had enjoyed their exploration of the sottish landscape.

They both did their classwork, and their tests, and spoke to the Professors when they didn't understand material (never mind if that material wasn't actually related to what the others were learning in class). All the while they were the top students in their year. Just what did Dumbledore and the Professors have to complain about? Not seeing them for more than an hour or two all day? Technically Hermione was an adult now, by magical standards and law, and Harri had been acknowledged as such the moment they let her participate in the first Triwizard task.

At least Goku seemed to enjoy the tales of chaos that the two caused for the Professors.

When Kami would allow it, Harri would leave the Window open to talk to him as she and Hermione took exploratory trips outside of Hogwarts. They quickly found that the land was mostly covered in forests around the castle, slowly thinning out until there were only rolling hills with patches of trees scattered throughout it. It was especially exciting when they came across wild magical plants- nearly all wanting to kill them. Hermione tended to gather bits of these plants and brought them back with her to the Chamber in order to start her own little garden.

On Halloween the two witches learnt about how Katie Bell had been in possession of a portkey near the end of the Hogsmead visit. According to Alicia Spinnet, who had been with Katie at the time, Katie had been compelled to carry said portkey object to the Headmaster but hadn't been able to resist the temptation of touching it for herself. As a result the girl disappeared.

It was alarming just as it was terrifying. Where exactly did she go? How did she come to possess such a thing? Since the portkey was originally for Dumbledore did that mean someone was actively trying to be rid of him?

Much like in third year the entire school came under lockdown. Only, without any dementors (thankfully). Sure enough Katie Bell hadn't been the only student missing, though she was the only half-blood gone.

In total they were missing four.

When asked students reported being told by their missing friend that they were about to do something- go to the loo, get something forgotten, meet up with them in Hogsmead, and go into the shop only they needed to visit for supplies. Only Alicia had seen her friend Katie come back from such a trip.

Second night in and it was announced that the school was being monitored by the Ministry for any portkeys being used. At the same time aurors had come by (members of the Order, Harri recognized instantly) to interview the students friends before they went out to search for them.

In the meantime Harri could feel the eyes that were starting to turn on her. Being gone often, only attending classes she wanted to attend or if she was needed for a test, it was easy to blame Harri Potter for the disappearances and cast doubt on Hermione Granger who had started to follow Harri's ways. Instead of the title Girl-Who-Lived they were starting to call her the Second-Dark-Coming. (In Harri's opinion it was an even lamer name than Girl-Who-Lived.)

As though to redirect conversation around the school, all topics had soon been turned to the Christmas party that Slughorn was throwing in December. Only selected students would be attending.

Very suddenly, despite the growing rumors, Harri found herself asked by several students to go to the party as her date, a complete opposite as to the Yule Ball in fourth year. (Harri supposed it came with the reputation Slughorn had created for himself over the years- if you got invited to his parties then you were sure to be successful in life.) Most alarming however were the plans that Hermione had overheard. Apparently Roma Vane wanted to slip Harri a love potion in order to be asked to the party by her. Harri was more than glad for her own careful forethought now, in having Dobby make sure none of her food or drinks were potioned. Of course Roma had dropped more than one hit that he fancied Harri but she hadn't thought that he would go to such extremes to try and get her to return those said feelings. (Something like that was usually left to the Witches, not the Wizards.)

Luckily for Harri and Hermione both, they were able to spot two members of the D.A group they had run the previous year and ask them to attend the Slug Club Christmas party with them as guests. Both Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein agreed while their third friend Michael Corner declined as he was currently dating Cho Chang. While Harri informed Terry of his role as a deterrent to other males bothering her about the party, Hermione and Anthony actually hit it off and tried the dating thing together. They seemed to like one another enough to keep it up, even after Christmas came and went.

While happy for them, Harri found that her time being left alone in the Chamber had suddenly increased. Hermione only really put an effort to go to the monthly excursion outside of Hogwarts with Harri (and Goku if Kami allowed it) which was when Hermione took the opportunity to gush all her knowledge about her boyfriend and how well their relationship was going. This lead to Harri and Goku discussing topics around dating, and what the other envisioned such a relationship to look like. Which lead to long talks about family or building one with someone, what that would look like, or what they'd expect it to entail.

Throughout the year Harri had visited with Dumbledore at least twice a month, revisiting memories of Voldemort's from the perspective of those whom knew him or knew of his family. Harri started to know her enemy much more than she would have ever preferred to. It was near the end of the year when Harri had enough, snapping at the old man to divulge why it was he was showing her the memories. (She'd asked before and after each memory but this time she'd put her foot down. If she didn't get her answer this time she wasn't going to come back.) Apparently, by going through these memories, Dumbledore had divulged several locations in which Voldemort could have hidden a horcrux. And as he watched those memories Dumbledore became even more certain that the unaltered memory Slughorn had would hold a vital key in the search.

As it happened, for the introductory lesson that year, Slughorn had given away a vial of Felix Felicis- or liquid luck- to the one lucky student who could manage to brew a perfect potion. Harri had found a very good book in the old potions cabinet to help her (she had ordered hers and Hermione's books by mail rather than visit Diagon for their things). That evening Harri had gotten a tie with Hermione, so they'd both procured a vial of the stuff. (When they'd gotten their books Harri traded hers for the one she had found in the Potion's room. Then she promptly gifted it to Hermione, who advanced greatly in the field because of it.)

Originally Harri had planned to use her vial before an important encounter- much like the one at the Ministry at the end of last year- as with the increasing number of missing magicals cropping up all around Britain (not just in the school itself) it was more and more likely that a dangerous encounter would happen again.

Not knowing if Dumbledore was right in this or not, Harri still felt that it wouldn't hurt too badly if she listened to him this once. So just as it was getting dark she took barely a mouthful of the lucky potion- it wouldn't last forever, the entire vial was supposed to last an entire day- and set off to get the memory.

Harri ended up with more information than she'd set out to get.

After letting Hagrid and Slughorn drink themselves to sleep, receiving the memory right before Slughorn passed out himself, Harri turned her attention towards the Forbidden Forest. Like it had been all night, Harri had the uncanny feeling that she should enter. So she did.

Entering the Forbidden Forest was a lot like stepping into another world- or so Harri imagined. Immediately everything was different. The thick pencil straight trees were closely packed together, hardly any sound ever went through them. Trails between them were small and made by game that picked their way carefully through the thick brush. Three steps into the woods and one lost all sight of both Hogwarts and any daylight the Hogwart's Grounds had provided. Even the very air of the forest felt different. When she was younger Harri remembered wondering why that was. Now she knew it instantly, thanks to her meditation and practice of wandless and wordless magic. The magic of the Forbidden Forest was thick, so much so that Harri could feel it brushing up against her skin, follow each breath that she took in her lungs. It was invigorating- even more so than the little bit of Felix Felicis she had taken.

Deeper in the forest the trees slowly started to space out, some massive ones having had fallen after being choked out by the others. While Harri knew the Forbidden Forest held many fantastical magical creatures, she did not come across any- save one. A single unicorn. The breathtaking creature had gotten it's tail far too stuck in the brush to free itself. Harri had noticed the unicorn at the same moment that it had noticed her.

Even in the darkness of the forest the unicorn's coat gleamed silvery white as though it produced moonlight. It's horn seemed to have a soft blue glow about it that matched it's eyes that seemed to regard Harri uncertainly at first, then knowingly. The creature stopped it's nervous stomping of it's golden hooves and waited patiently for Harri to approach.

Barely able to breathe, despite the unusual calmness that the Felix Felicis had given her, Harri carefully went forward and helped to untangle the stallion's tail. Instead of running off the moment he was free, as Harri had expected him to, the majestic creature instead turned to Harri calmly. It felt surreal as Harri lifted a hand and let her fingers gently fall on the unicorns velvety snout, all the while still watching the creature attentively. As though compelled, Harri watched as the unicorn closed his blue eyes and she leaned forward to rest her head against his.

Then... Harri wasn't entirely sure what happened. A feeling- much like the prickle of a limb waking but without the pain- rippled down through Harri's being. Her vision behind her closed lids had gone completely white. And knowledge, facts Harri had not known before, seemed to seep into her with ethereal calm. (Her spirit had been injured... She was not to blame for what had been done to her... A fractured tainted spirit had tried to consume her spirit and failed... She is not to blame for the evils of others... The touch of another would not hurt her... Fractured and tainted spirit would be gone soon... She will achieve her deepest desire... There is more hardship to come... She is strong for what she has overcome... Both love and death do not discriminate between sinners and saints... Her memories had been tampered with... She knows magic... She is loved...)

Tears had started to pour down Harri's face as she took it all in, knowing with all her soul these facts were true. Great heaving sobs left her, unbidden, made her entire body shake. That rippling sensation had lasted all of a few seconds though it had felt like an eternity.

Slowly Harri calmed. Eventually, a little dazed and tired, Harri opened her swollen eyes. The unicorn's warm breath blew gently across her belly, it's own clear blue eyes watched her calmly. In that moment Harri also knew that the Felix Felicis had finally worn off. Carefully she wiped away her tears, basking in just how light she now felt. Some old burden inside Harri hadn't even realized was there until then had been touched, lifted from her. Her chest suddenly felt light. Harri hadn't realized just how heavy her heart had felt until that moment, how the last time it had felt so light had been in the moment that she discovered she could summon a Window in the wood under the stairs that let her speak to kind people.

The second last day of the school year, right after the end of year tests- and when Goku had set out to search for the Dragonballs once again- Harri showed Dumbledore the memory that she had attained. After viewing said memory in Dumbledore's pensive, Harri knew that retrieving the memory had been the correct decision. If she hadn't had gotten that memory, they wouldn't know how Voldemort had not made merely one horcrux. He had planned to fracture his soul seven times. The only catch was that Harri did not know if Voldemort had succeeded in achieving that number. While Harri had been repulsed by the acts of making a horcrux before, after the unicorn, it was absolutely repugnant in an entirely vile and appalling way she hadn't understood before.

Dumbledore then announced that he knew exactly where a horcrux was, snapping Harri out of her horrified state, and that he wanted Harri to accompany him in it's retrieval. Shocked as she was from the knowledge the memory provided, Harri didn't put too much thought into Dumbledore's request. She simply agreed to go, wanted to rid the world of the abominations that Voldemort had created.

Harri was taken to a cave at the edge of a great black lake, upon a great cliff that was constantly battered by the water. No boat would be able to approach without being smashed against the rocks. Without magic- if anyone was able to get near enough to climb it- it would have taken an uncommonly skilled mountaineer to reach the cave near the top. Immediately upon sighting it Harri wished once more how Dumbledore would have told her of the trip beforehand rather than spring it upon her as he had. She realized that Hermione and Goku would have both offered plenty of advice on what to look out for if the old man had in actuality planned her death out here.

But after going into the cave and through the traps that Voldemort had set up, Harri only found herself to be shocked when Dumbledore asked her to feed him the potion that simulated poison to the drinker. It didn't take long before the old man fell to his knees, unable to drink anymore on his own, and Harri was left to force-feed him the rest of it. Even as the deed was being done, Harri knew his cries would haunt the many nightmares that would come from this day in the future.

Despite her many grievances with the old man Harri found herself in tears by the time that the basin was empty. She snatched up the ornate locket from within, dragged the Headmaster over to the boat and left the inferi infested inner lake (distracting Dumbledore with the water-making charm to keep him from actually touching the water in the cave), then left the cave itself entirely. Safely outside the cave, Harri finally allowed Dumbledore to drink the water from the black lake. He was exhausted and Harri didn't know what to say to him after what he had asked her to do.

They returned to Hogsmead via apparition. But when they looked to the school, it was to find the Dark Mark in the sky above the Astronomy Tower.

It was sunset. Orange and red and purple painted the sky. The last lights of day hit Goku softly, illuminating his features with it's golden hues. He was on Nimbus, headed to the location of the very last Dragonball. (A record, really, because it had taken Goku a little less than three days to find them all.) But despite the beauty of the world around him, his attention wasn't on the sky.

There was a frown on his face as he looked to the young woman who stared back at him from the surface of the Window Wood. "Ri... are you sure about this? You could just cut this short and come here already. Kami wouldn't oppose to having you around while I train, I promise."

"I..." Goku could see in her eyes how much it hurt to say the words. "I'd love to, really I would. But I can't. Not yet." Tears had started to flow down her cheeks as she spoke and the sight had Goku's heart wrench with pain. She wiped at her emerald colored eyes with her sleeves. "I may not have cared much for that manipulative old man but he seemed set upon destroying Voldemort, at least. Even if it was helping himself in some way, he would have gone after that absolute monster. Now... there's no one but Hermione and I who would dare. And I already almost lost her due to Voldemort's attack on the school. If she hadn't had Rajah with her at the time..."

"Is she still recovering?" Goku asked with a sad tilt of his head, only to receive a nod in reply. He sighed, "if I hadn't left already, then I could have given you some Senzu beans from Karin."

"It's okay," her voice was a little muffled from her jumper but she still managed to give him a slight smile. "At least this way there won't be any questions on a new magical plant that would amaze the mediwitches of my world. Especially when they can't find it for themselves later."

Goku tilted his head in a curious manner, but Harri could see the mischievous glint in his eyes as he spoke. "Is that a downside?" he questioned innocently.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd take that question seriously." Ri responded with a fond roll of her eyes, amusement pulling her heart shaped mouth into a smile that was a little wider.

"Common, Ri, happy thoughts!" Goku grinned back, shooting her a wink. "Or you'll get wrinkles like Bulma."

That got a short laugh out of her. "Don't let her hear you say that." Ri warned teasingly, "she might try and put bullets through you again. Then what would I do?"

"You're right." Goku sighed, "you'd be lost without me."

"Well, I'd certainly be out of entertainment." Ri lamented, earning a fake hurt look from her tailed friend.

"Hey!"

They both laughed together at that. Inside Goku felt warm. Warmer than how the sun had baked him in the desert. Yet the two feelings were also different. The one inside was pleasant and uplifting while the warmth from the desert had been tiring and draining. Every time he'd see Ri give him a smile, or hear her laugh, or hold a conversation with her, or even simply be able to see her, that warmth inside would grow. He wasn't sure when it had started, but he did notice that it always filled him whenever Ri was around. Most recently he'd noticed how it was even there when he thought or spoke about her too. It filled him with a fluffy happiness that made him feel all fuzzy inside.

A loud pop sounded from the Window Wood, catching Harri and Goku's attention both.

"Mistress Potter," it was Dobby the House Elf.

Ri had told him how under Dobby's care the entirety of the Chamber went from a desolate place to a gleaming hall that was rather awe inspiring to stand in. He had gotten pictures of it, but apparently standing in it was another sort of feel to it entirely. Goku supposed that's how he felt when he'd shown some of the Lookout to Ri and she didn't give him the response he'd been expecting.

"Dobby? Hey, I thought we talked about this. Just Harri is fine." Ri tilted her head and Goku spotted the elf at the edge of the viewing area. Large green eyes much like tennis balls darted between Ri, the Window Wood, and the floor. He scuffed a scrawny bare foot against the flagstones in a nervous gesture, backing away some then moving forward again repetitively. With his long and thin nose pointed to the ground Goku couldn't really hear what the elf said. Whatever it was had Ri glance at Goku briefly.

"While that's true, Goku won't think less of me if you call me by my name. I appreciate the thought though." Ri responded and Goku watched with curiosity as the elf rose his head and his bat like ears rose happily with the motion. While Goku had seen a picture of Dobby and had heard of house elves during his conversations with Ri, this was the first time that he'd seen Dobby appear on the Window Wood.

"Then, Dobby will do as you say miss." The elf straightened, "Dobby has come to inform Harri Potter that her friend is awake. Dobby..." he hesitated for a moment, glanced in Goku's direction once again, then tilted his head shyly when he noticed Ri's encouraging gesture. "Dobby recommends Harri Potter to go get her friend before her friend finds out what happened to her prospective mate on her own."

For a moment Ri's green eyes widened before they saddened. She swallowed, "yeah. You're right. I'll do just that. Can you keep her company until I arrive, Dobby? It'd be appreciated, I should just be a few minutes."

As though tasered the little elf jumped to attention, his eyes determined as he saluted. "Yes! Dobby will do as Harri Potter, miss, says!" With a snap of his fingers and a great pop the elf was gone.

A silence fell between them. Ri's shoulders had fallen. Her eyes stayed where Dobby had just disappeared from and bit her lip. Goku frowned. He could practically read the worry from her expression.

"This is Hermione- practically another Bulma. She won't blame you, Ri." Tone affirmed, Goku made sure to look Ri in the eyes when she looked his way again. "You couldn't have known what was about to happen."

"I understand that I couldn't have known..." Ri gave a soft sigh as her hands came up to grab at her arms as though to warm herself. Something painful flashed in her eyes, "I just... I'll have to see."

There wasn't anything more that he felt he needed to say. "Okay." Goku accepted. He remembered the tears that Ri had often shed when they were younger. What had caused them. It wasn't something he'd likely forget any time soon, though he knew she tried her hardest to do exactly that.

They both paused. Knew it was time to say goodbye for the night but still wanted to drag the moment on.

"And... the wish?" Goku asked after a moment, almost too quietly. He still wanted her to change her mind. A flash of guilt in her green eyes turned steely and any hope he had was dashed.

"A list of what the horcruxes are, their location and protective enchantments, along with how to destroy them." Ri responded.

Goku... all he could do was stare. He took in her features. The way that the edges of her fringe had been allowed to grow out to reach just below her ears while the rest stayed just above her eyebrows to better hide the scar on her forehead. How the rest of her hair had been left to grow long and wild. It's length was now just barely reaching her ribs, the longest Goku had ever seen it be.

No longer confined to what the Dursleys expected of her to wear, Ri wore her casual clothes on every opportunity she had. Form fitting. Most shirts had frills. Skirts and dresses were favored when relaxing. All things that she hadn't been allowed to wear until she'd taken over her wardrobe herself.

Most notably was how healthy she now looked. Her round eyes usually held a brightness to them nowadays, always expressive of what she truly felt. There was much that Ri conveyed with her eyes alone. High cheeks were no longer slightly sallow but held a more permanent refreshing glow. While her mouth remained small, her full lips were no longer constantly chapped but left smooth to the eye.

Over the last month Goku had noticed how Ri started to retreat into her thoughts more often. Especially when the topic of the Dragonball hunt was brought up. He'd suspected for a while that she had come up with a plan, with something else that would involve said magical stones. While he hadn't known until the start of this conversation what she had in mind, he'd speculated. Goku hadn't wanted to hear what the change would be. He'd wanted to delay it. Now, hearing the wish that she had in mind, despite it all, he couldn't quite believe it.

Something in his expression or posture must have conveyed the utter disappointment and hurt that he felt. Tears came to Ri's eyes. Her voice lowered to a whisper, but her tone still wavered.

"Why would he go through the trouble of kidnapping students? Why take the bodies of our dead when he's left so many non-magicals behind? He's up to something. Something bad. And I have this sinking feeling it's because he's trying to get to your dragon." She took a shaky breath, her eyes pleaded. "I can't let him do it. I need to deal with him here. ...Please, Goku."

It took another moment before he could speak. He hated that he could understand. He sort of wished that he couldn't understand because the understanding hurt. Worst of all, Goku knew if he were in her shoes he'd want to go after the guy- he'd already done as much to Piccolo and trained to go after Piccolo's son at the next World Tournament.

"You know, Ri..." his words were incredibly soft. Tentative with his suggestion and a little tired. She had to lean forward to hear. "It'd be okay if you were a little selfish."

Tears came down in earnest then. She choked on them. Chin ducked down to touch her collar. Still she shook her head. "I... I can't. ...Not on this." She was resolute. She was sorry. The very last person she wanted to hurt was Goku.

One of his hands clutched a fist full of his gi pant fabric. Anger flared in his gut. Six years they'd both worked hard preparing for when Harri could leave her world and come to his. Eleven years they'd wished and waited for the moment when it could finally be reality. Goku didn't want to think about the numerous times over the years where he'd thought that he'd never get to make the wish. Where he thought that they ran out of time, where they'd skipped the opportunity, where he'd been sure she'd died.

Finally, here was the perfect moment where Ri could simply come straight here. There were no dead to wish back to life. No one else would steal this wish. Everything in him screamed that this would be his only chance. Something dreadful laid ahead, if he didn't make the original wish. He could feel it.

"I'm sorry..." Her eyes fell on his. They were sorrowful. Regretful. Pleading. The sight had him suck in a painful breath and he closed his eyes against it.

"Ri..." The nickname came out, instead, as some garbled noise. He couldn't really speak. The fight had already left him. He'd seen it there in her eyes. A fire not unlike the one he'd felt himself before.

She'd regret it her entire life if he didn't let her go through with this new wish.

And... all he really wanted was for her to be happy. He couldn't let his world become her new cage. Bile rose in his throat. He couldn't win this fight.