[A/N: has been super weird with not being able to deliver things to my inbox. I hope those of you who subscribed are getting updates. If you're getting frustrated with this site, as I am, I do also post on AO3 with the same pen name if it's easier to read there, and just in case this site ever goes down unexpectedly (which sometimes I feel like it might).]

Rory was pretty sure she was dying. She definitely had a tendency to be dramatic sometimes, sure. But she did not feel good. The pain in her side was almost unbearable, and getting worse by the second. Maybe she wasn't actively dying, but she knew she needed to see a healer or nature as going to take its course. Bouncing around on Harry's back was definitely the opposite of helping. But they had to get away from the others.

They ran from the brain room, back to the room of revolving doors. They pushed through one directly across from them. There was an unexpected set of stone stairs. Rory held the prophecy close and braced herself as they tumbled to the ground.

Spots clouded her vision and she had to will herself to not pass out from the pain. She'd fallen from Harry's back and lay on the floor until Harry pulled her up to a sitting position. They were in a room with a freestanding stone archway in the middle of the room. A black tattered veil hung from it. A chill rolled down her spine.

She could hear voices from the other side of the veil. Like a thousand voices, quietly repeating something.

The dog star may bark no more.

Over and over again, her prophecy rang in her ears.

She didn't have time to tell Harry that they shouldn't be here. Neville appeared a second later, the Deatheaters in tow.

Neville helped the two of them to their feet, but Rory held close to Harry.

Bellatrix closed in on them. Levi and Lucius followed soon enough they were surrounded.

"End of the line," Lucius said. "Hand it over."

"Not a chance," Neville said. She was very dizzy now and every breath hurt. She hated that she was injured. She hated that she didn't have her wand. She felt helpless. Fear and pain gripped her chest tightly.

Bellatrix tilted her head and gave him an unhinged smile.

"Longbottom, isn't it?" she asked. "I think I had the pleasure of meeting your parents."

Rory could see the fear in Neville's eyes, but he stood his ground.

"Here's an idea," Bellatrix said. "Let's see if I can make this one scream. That might get him to give it up. And I'll get to see if he lasts longer than his mummy and daddy."

Bellatrix held out her wand and then WHAM!

The door flung open. Rory wanted to be relieved to see the Order. Tonks, Kingsley, Sirius, Moody, Theo, and her dad had burst into the room. But instead, her adrenaline spiked. She didn't want to be in the room. And she did not want Sirius to be in this room either.

Spells started flying immediately. She, Neville, and Harry crouched down to avoid any wayward spells.

She wasn't sure she'd be able to stand back up. Every breath was agonizing, her head was spinning. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to keep herself conscious much longer. All of her effort was going to keeping herself sitting up, holding the prophecy in her hands, and keeping her eyes open.

Harry took the Prophecy from Rory and put an arm around her.

"Let's get her out of here," Harry said to Neville.

Rory had barely taken a step, fighting literally blinding pain the whole way, before Harry was tackled to the ground. A deatheater pinned him down.

"Give me the Prophecy and I'll let you go," he said.

Neville stunned the deatheater and helped Harry to his feet. Dolohov was back and heading straight toward them again. Dolohov hit Neville with a spell, causing his legs to move uncontrollably beneath him. Unable to stand he fell over, leaving Rory to support herself on her own again. Tears clouded her eyes as pain overwhelmed her. Harry quickly put up a shield charm before stunning Dolohov.

He turned to Rory. She pointed. "Help Neville. He can't walk."

Harry did as instructed and helped Neville to his feet a few steps away. Before they could make their way to the exit, Lucius blocked them. With a flick of his wand and Harry stumbled, the prophecy fell from his hands. He quickly cast Impedenta, sending Lucius tumbling to the ground and Neville managed to grab the prophecy before it hit the ground.

But then a spell hit the stone bench behind them. They all fell to the ground. Rory was blinded by pain again and thought she might actually faint. But she heard a shattering of glass beside her head. A familiar voice whispered in her ear. Lucius shouted in rage.

Harry stunned Lucius and then reached into his robes and pulled out Rory's wand. He slid it into her hands, not bothering to help her from the floor this time. She spotted her dad making her way over. Most of the deatheaters had gone or were incapacitated. The other members of the Order who had been there before were gone. Only Theo remained, watching the only other two people in the room: Sirius and Levi.

Rory saw it in slow motion: a spell hitting Sirius in the chest, watching him fall backward through the veil into darkness, gone forever. Levi cackling. She saw it all in her head. Could still hear the voices beyond the veil, whispering, beckoning. The dog star may bark no more.

Her body screamed at her, rebelled at every move she made as she hoisted herself to her feet. She gripped her wand tightly and ran as fast as her body would let her.

She saw the spell leaving Levi's wand.

"Expelliarmus!" she exclaimed.

The wand popped from Levi's hand. He turned and glared at Rory, then turned back to Sirius. She saw the wheels turning in her uncle's head. Saw the veil behind Sirius.

Rory ran and ran, listening to the voices beckoning beyond the veil.

The dog star may bark no more.

Levi took a step toward Sirius. It would take the simplest nudge to knock him through the archway. But Rory got there first and hurled herself into Levi with all of her might, past Sirius, into the veil.

She felt a yank as Levi passed through the archway, into oblivion. She fell backward onto the stone floor, beside Sirius.

The dog star may bark no more or the false god will fall.

The voices from beyond the veil seemed to fall silent, satisfied.

But there were lots of other voices in the room shouting at her. She could hardly make out most of them. The adrenaline that had pushed her to save Sirius was wearing off. There was no way she could get up from the floor now.

No matter how much she blinked, she could not get her vision to right itself.

"Have you lost your mind? What were you thinking?" Sirius shouted at her. "I think you shaved ten years off my life expectancy!"

"He was going to push you," Rory managed, quietly. Every breath, every word, every second she remained awake was hell. "Technically I added years on."

She felt her knees starting to buckle and Sirius sat her on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked, beside her suddenly.

She turned her head until she found Harry standing a few feet away. He opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him.

"The atrium," she said. "He's in the atrium. Tell them to go to the atrium."

Harry nodded and took off.

"Who's in the atrium?" Theo asked.

The last thing Rory said before she finally gave in to her body's desperate plea to shut down was "Voldemort."

It had been two days and Rory was still not awake. Madame Pomfrey assured Harry that she would be fine, that she just needed to rest. That she'd be awake and up tomorrow.

"I don't think she's going anywhere," Hermione said. She'd bounced back from her attack at the ministry and was heading back to the dormitories, along with Ron. "You should try getting some sleep."

"I have slept," Harry said. In the chair beside Rory's bed. The only time he'd been away from her while she was in the hospital was when he'd first gotten back to school to talk to Dumbledore. Aside from quick trips to the toilet and his room to change his clothes, he'd been sitting right beside her. He'd slept very little though.

Madame Pomfrey had scolded him and tried her best to get him to leave, but Harry was adamant. He was going to be there when she woke up and she would have to physically remove him from the room to stop him.

He knew she was going to be fine. She'd wake up and she'd be physically okay. But how long had she been in the Department of Mysteries being tortured by Voldemort? Any amount of time was too long.

Harry was not going to leave until she was awake. It was going to be a challenge convincing him to leave her alone ever again.

"Let it go, Hermione," Ron said. "You know how he gets."

He glared at Ron. "It's not unreasonable to be worried about her."

"Yeah, but you heard Madame Pomfrey. She's just resting. She had it worse than any of us did," Ron said. "She's going to suddenly wake up just because you decided to get some sleep in an actual bed."

"She might," Harry said. And he didn't want her to be alone when she opened her eyes. Not for a second.

"Like I said," Ron said. "He won't be moved."

"These are obviously extreme circumstances, I suppose," Hermione said.

Ron chuckled. "It didn't really take extreme circumstances before. You two were always permanently attached."

"I'm allowed to want to be around my girlfriend," Harry said.

"Even before you were back together," Ron said. "I mean—."

Hermione elbowed him quickly.

Harry sat up in his chair. "What?"

Hermione and Ron exchanged a look.

"Am I missing something? What happened before we got back together?" Harry asked.

"We just… We know you two were…" Ron started.

"We were what?" Harry asked.

"We know the two of you were sneaking around together," Hermione said pointedly. "That you were… Well, you know."

Harry stared at them in shock and then barked out a laugh.

"What?" Harry asked. "Why would you possibly think that?"

"Well, you were sneaking around. You were really diligent about not missing any of your lessons with Snape. And then Rory was always conveniently gone," Hermione said.

"Plus Neville heard you talking that day Fred and George left," Ron said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"He said you were having 'private lessons' and that you wanted to keep things a secret," Hermione said.

It clicked.

"Oh! I was having actual private lessons with Rory. For Occlumency. Snape stopped teaching me before Easter," Harry said. "We weren't even dating then and you thought we were sleeping together?"

"You were behaving very suspiciously," Hermione said.

Harry shook his head. "You're giving me way too much credit. No one is sleeping with anyone. I mean some people are probably, but those people aren't us. I actually think I've spent more time studying with her than I have snogging her since we got back together."

"Well, that's good to know."

"Hi, Mister Lupin!" Ron and Hermione said in unison. Harry frowned and turned around to see Remus standing at the foot of Rory's bed, just on the other side of the room divider.

Yep. Why wouldn't he hear this conversation?

"Ron, Hermione, I'm glad you two are up," Remus said.

"Thank you," Hermione said. "Madame Pomfrey said Rory's doing well. Just resting."

"Yes, she's been keeping me informed, thank you," Remus replied. "I actually have some news to share with you all. They're having Sirius's conviction thrown out. In a few hours, he'll be a free man."

Harry's jaw dropped. "Really?"

"Really," Remus said.

"That's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed.

"It's about time. They barely had a case to begin with," Ron said.

Harry nodded in agreement. He glanced over at Rory, sleeping. He wished she was awake. She'd be beyond herself with excitement.

"Oh, good," Madame Pomfrey said appearing, almost from nowhere, "perhaps you can talk the boy into leaving."

"Pardon?" Remus asked.

"Just sleeps in that chair and won't go to his room," Madame Pomfrey said. "Maybe you can convince Mister Potter that her condition doesn't warrant constant observation."

Harry felt his cheeks redden and he looked back to Rory. Madam Pomfrey put a salve on the bruise on Rory's face.

"Not going to have trouble from the two of you, am I?" Madame Pomfrey said to Ron and Hermione.

"No," they said in unison.

"Good," she replied. "I expect she'll be up tomorrow." She threw Harry one last stern look and walked away.

"We were just heading back to the tower," Hermione said.

"Right," Ron said. "I expect you're not coming?"

"I might, later," Harry said, even knowing as he said it that it was a lie.

"Alright," Hermione said.

They walked off and Harry tried to relax. He hadn't been alone with Rory's dad since the summer when they'd had a chat about boundaries. He strongly suspected he was about to have a similar conversation right now.

"So when did the two of you get back together?" Remus asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"A few weeks ago. A day or two before she got your letter about the hearing," Harry said.

Remus nodded.

"It wasn't meant to be a secret or anything. But with the hearing and then OWLs, she was too wrapped up in studying to even be bothered with me," Harry said. "Which is pretty on-brand for Rory, if I'm being honest. She made it very clear that I wasn't allowed to distract her with exams coming up."

"I'm glad she still takes her studies seriously," Remus said. "Do you think you did well?"

Harry shrugged. "Guess we'll find out. Was only really worried about potions."

"Not my strong suit either," Remus said. He gave Harry a once over. "When's the last time you slept?"

"I've just been here, mostly," Harry said. "It's not a super uncomfortable chair."

"I understand that you haven't left," Remus said. "But have you slept?"

"A bit," Harry said with a shrug.

"Unfortunately, given your current state, I don't know if I believe you," Remus said.

Harry returned his gaze to Rory. "I keep thinking about how she was after Crouch locked her in that closet last year… And that was nothing compared to what she probably went through with Voldemort. And I keep worrying about what happens if she wakes up and no one is here. And even if I weren't worried about all that… Every time I do sleep I keep replaying back what I saw… Over and over and over."

"What you saw? You mean how you knew she was in the ministry?" Remus asked.

Harry nodded. "I wish I could forget. I wish I never had it in my head to begin with… So, yeah. Not sleeping well at all."

Remus put a hand on his shoulder. "I won't try to coax you into leaving, but I'm going to have a word with Dumbledore. I'll stop by again to check on Aurora before I go. Try to sleep a bit. I have a feeling that someone would want you to get some sleep as well if she were awake."

Harry agreed. Rory would definitely get on his case about keeping watch over her instead of resting.

"Thank you, Harry," Remus said, "for always looking out for her."

It felt like a silly thing to thank him for. Maybe he did have a thing about playing the hero. But he would do anything for Rory. He always would. "How could I not?"

Rory no longer felt like she was dying, but her head did feel like it was full of rocks.

She opened her eyes, squinting against the light as she did. She brought her arms up to cover her face.

"You're awake."

She turned her head to the sound of Harry's voice. He was sitting beside her bed, a newspaper in his hand. She was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. She'd almost made it the whole year without winding up here.

"Since when do you read the paper?" she asked. Her throat was dry and her chest had a deep ache in it. She sat up slowly and Harry tucked some pillows behind her.

"There's actually something worth reading today," he said. He turned the pages until he got to the front. Taking up half the space above the fold was probably the most wonderful headline Rory had seen in her entire life: Sirius Black Exonerated.

She brought her hands up to cover her mouth, holding back a yelp of delight. Tears stung her eyes.

"This is real? I'm not dreaming?" she asked.

"Yep," Harry said grinning. "He's here, actually. Talking with Dumbledore. And your dad. He just walked right in… It was incredible honestly."

Despite the lingering pain she felt, her heart was full of joy. She didn't think she'd ever heard anything so wonderful before. The thought of Sirius being able to leave his house without looking over his shoulder, wondering if today was the day that he'd go back to Azkaban or face the Dementors. She'd been afraid he was going to die, but she'd saved him. And now he would get to live, truly live, like he deserved.

"Theo told them everything," Harry said. "Had to in order to help Sirius. But with Levi out of the picture, she felt like your brother would still be safe if people found out who he was."

"Helps that he lives on a different continent," Rory replied. But she was glad. The fact that Theo finally came forward about Sirius and probably about the Servants of Pythia meant she could have her life back too. "What about the cult?"

Harry sighed. "Everyone knows. About Levi. About you. The Servants of Pyhtia" She sighed. "Yeah. Next year's going to be fun, I bet. You missed a lot. You've been out of it for three days."

"Three days? That explains why I feel like shit," she said.

"Dumbledore showed up just after you passed out. He was fighting Voldemort in the atrium," Harry said. "Then Fudge and the rest of the Aurors showed up and he ran off."

"Fudge saw Voldemort?" Rory asked.

Harry nodded. "Pretty hard to deny that someone's back when he saw him with his own two eyes. And Lucius Malfoy got arrested, among others."

"Holy shit," Rory said.

"Fudge is supposed to be resigning," Harry said.

"Good riddance," Rory said.

"Your dad said the same thing, but he used a lot more words and he was far less polite than I've ever heard him," Harry said. "If Fudge hadn't pushed so hard for Levi to have his hearing and then immediately take you away from your dad, you wouldn't have been at the ministry in the first place and then almost died."

Rory nodded. "True."

A thought crept into her head, the night replayed in her head.

"Levi's really dead then?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged. "It was a really long night."

"You didn't know he was going to—."

"I did know he was going to die if I pushed him through that veil," Rory said firmly. "Either I pushed him, or he was going to push Sirius. I didn't even need to think about what I had to do once I saw it. I don't regret it. I'd do it again."

It felt weird. She'd killed a man, but she'd done it to save Sirius' life. But shouldn't she at least feel a little bad about it? There'd been no time to think of an alternative. She knew that either Sirius was going to die or that Levi was going to die. She'd made her choice.

Harry grabbed her hand. "It's alright. Levi would've killed Sirius for no other reason than just to do it, to hold onto power. You didn't kill him just because you wanted to or for some selfish reason—unless not wanting Sirius to die is selfish, and in that case, who cares."

Rory squeezed his hand. "I might need you to remind me of that repeatedly a few more times."

"Happy to," he said.

"How are the others?" she asked. "How's Hermione?"

"Everyone's fine. Ron and Hermione left the hospital yesterday. Neville and Ginny only stayed her a night just in case. Matilda and Luna barely had a scratch on them. You took the worst of it. They said you had five broken ribs, a collapsed lung, internal bleeding, and a concussion. Dunno how you were managing to keep yourself upright, let alone throw yourself at Levi," Harry said.

"It hurt a lot," Rory said bringing her hand to her side. "Still does. I wonder if I'd have handled it better if I hadn't—."

She stopped. She remembered. The agonizing pain before she ever hit her head, before Bellatrix Lestrange ever kicked her. Rory's stomach turned.

"It's okay," Harry said. "You're fine now."

But Rory wasn't fine. Tears stung her eyes. "I would've told him everything, Harry. It wasn't just the curse… He was in my head. I saw… He made me see things that—."

"You don't have to talk about it," he said. "Not right now. And not ever if you don't want to."

Rory started to sob and Harry gently pulled her into a hug, being sure not to squeeze her too tightly.

"I told him… I don't know what I told him," Rory said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"He wanted me to tell him things about the Order, but we don't know anything obviously, but he made me… He made me look," Rory said.

"You told him something about the Order?" Harry asked.

Rory nodded. "But I don't even know what it meant or what I saw. My head was basically Swiss cheese by then. I couldn't make sense of it. But he knew what I was talking about."

"What did you tell him?" Harry asked.

"That they'd be watching the other minister," Rory said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "The other minister?"

Rory nodded.

"If it means something to Voldemort, it probably means something to the Order too," Harry said. "Maybe the new minister of magic?"

"That would make sense," Rory said, but it felt wrong somehow. Everything felt wrong. "He knew why you called me 'Fish.'" She pressed her face into his chest.

Harry exhaled a deep breath. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

"What's your fault?" she asked.

"All of it, Rory," he said. He pulled back from her to look her in the eye. "Voldemort knew if he took you he'd be able to get to me. He knew that if I saw you—."

"Harry you tried to shut him out," she said.

"But I didn't," he said. "I mean, I did, a bit. With you. I didn't try at all with Snape. And I know you said I had to learn to keep that door closed before I could just open it whenever I wanted, but… I just kept thinking, what would happen if I couldn't open it back at all?"

Rory's heart sank. "That doesn't mean it's your fault. You know as well as I do he was going to come after me anyway."

"Do you really think Voldemort enlisted Levi's just to get ahold of you, or did he know that if you were in danger I wouldn't hesitate to save you?" Harry asked.

Harry was right, of course. There was no chance Voldemort was going to leave Levi around with a cult of followers at his beck and call. Even if Levi agreed to defer to Voldemort, there was no way he would take the risk. But it did give him an advantage. Rory. The perfect bait for Harry Potter. To his immense good fortune, she happened to also be a seer.

"I should have tried harder," he started. "He never should've known about our conversations. He shouldn't have been able to use anything in my head to get to you… I shouldn't have practiced Occlumency with you in the first place. I wasn't-." He stopped and his frown deepened.

"You weren't what?" she asked.

"There were things in my head that I didn't want you to see, so sometimes I really did try, but mostly… I just liked having a reason to be around you," Harry said. "And I was always thinking about you, so of course I wouldn't be dreaming about the Hall of Prophecy anymore."

Rory held his hand and squeezed it tightly. "It's not your fault. You didn't torture me. You didn't break my ribs. You didn't try to kill Sirius. Maybe we should have done things differently, but no one should have been coming after us in the first place. And that's not our fault."

Harry pouted. "Look at you lying in a hospital bed and you're the one trying to console me. I don't know why you even put up with me."

"It's because you're so pretty obviously," she said.

He kissed her. Then wiped a few stray tears from her eyes and kissed her again.

"I love you," he said. "When I saw you were there with Voldemort… I'm pretty sure that's the most afraid I've ever been in my entire life."

She let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around him. "Me too if I'm being perfectly honest… Have you really not left the hospital wing the whole time?"

"I haven't and you're not talking me out of leaving either," he said.

"No," Rory replied, shaking her head. "I don't want you to go."