Hey all,

Thank you so much for reading, sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I've been really busy with school and then travel... Anyway, as always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

Happy holidays!

"Harry!" I said, panic rising in my voice as my boyfriend rolled on the floor, clutching his scar. "Harry!"

"Harry!" I shouted once more, kneeling down beside him with Ron following my lead.

Then, Harry opened his eyes. I made a noise in relief ane practically threw myself on him.

"You all right?" Ron asked Harry when I finally pulled back.

What do you think? I wanted to shout. But Trelawney had it covered.

"Of course he isn't!" she said excitedly, pushing me aside. "What was it, Potter? A premonition? An apparition? What did you see?"

"Nothing," Harry said, though I could tell he was lying. I elbowed my Divination professor out of Harry's space and then helped him up, trying to ignore the shakiness that seemed to vibrate through his entire body as he kept glancing around the darkly lit room.

"You were clutching your scar!" Professor Trelawney said. "You were rolling on the floor, clutching your scar! Come now, Potter, I have experience in these matters!"

Harry looked at her. "I need to go to the hospital wing, I think. Bad headache."

"My dear, you were undoubtedly stimulated by the extraordinary clairvoyant vibrations of my room! If you leave now, you may lose the opportunity to see further than you have ever —"

"I don't want to see anything except a headache cure," Harry said firmly.

Trelawney looked like she was about to retort, so I quickly interjected. "I think that's a good idea. I'll go with him to make sure he gets there safely. That is, unless you want to force him to stay in class when he's clearly in pain. Imagine what Professor Dumbledore would think about that."

Trelawney's lips curved into a snarl, but she didn't try to stop us as Harry and I bid goodbye to Ron and climbed down the stepladder.

"Thanks," Harry said when he reached the bottom. "You didn't have to come, though."

"I know," I said, hopping off the last rung. "But if it's a choice between listening to Trelawney or escorting my boyfriend to the Hospital Wing, it's an easy decision."

"I'm not going to the Hospital Wing," Harry said.

"Even better. You want to go back to the common room, or I swear I saw a broom closet somewhere along this floor..."

"I'm going to Dumbledore's office. Not to do that," he added at my raised eyebrows. "I need to tell Dumbledore about the vision I just had."

"How about me? Are you going to tell me?"

"I thought it would be easy to tell the both of you at the same time."

"Can't you at least just give me the gist?"

"Alright then," Harry said, a little reluctantly. "I was riding this owl. It took me to this room where Voldemort was with his snake and... um, assistant. He accused this assistant of making a blunder and was going to feed him to his snake, but the owl brought news that 'he' was dead, so the assistant wasn't fed to the snake. Instead, the snake was going to be fed to... someone else."

"Is this someone else you?" I asked quietly.

Harry hesitated but then nodded slowly.

"But this doesn't mean anything," I said. "You-Know-Who has wanted you dead since you were a baby. Of course, he's going to threaten to feed you to his pet snake. And anyway, it's not actually real. You-Know-Who is dead. I mean, did you actually see him?"

"No, he was sitting in a chair with the back facing me. But I know it was him. If you don't believe me..."

"I'm just trying to get the whole picture," I said defensively.

When we got to the stone gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office, we realised neither of us had any idea what the password was.

"Sherbet lemon?" Harry tried, with no luck. "Pear Drop. Er— Licorice Wand. Fizzing Whizbee. Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured has Beans, oh no, he doesn't like them, does he?"

I shrugged. Then, feeling impatient, I shouted at the gargoyle to just let us in.

Nothing happened.

"We really need to see him, it's urgent!" Harry pleaded, but the gargoyle remained motionlessly. Even when Harry kicked it, it caused him to clutch his toe and swear loudly in pain.

"You alright, Harry?" I asked.

"Yeah, fine," he muttered, now standing on one leg. "What's your favourite candy? Or chocolate?"

"Chocolate Frog," I tried. "Sugar Quill!"

"Least favourite?" Harry suggested.

I thought about it for a second, then shouted; "Cockroach Cluster!"

It worked. The gargoyle moved to the side, giving us a clear path.

The two of us quickly stepped onto the spiral staircase as it started to move slowly upwards. When we reached the top, we hesitated before knocking on the headmaster's door. There were voices from inside the office. Sharing a look, we pressed our ears against the polished oak door and listened.

"Dumbledore, I'm afraid I don't see the connection, don't see it at all."

I recognised that voice. It belonged to Fudge, the Minister of Magic. I listened more closely as he continued.

"Ludo says Bertha's perfectly capable of getting herself lost. I agree we would have expected to have found her by now, but all the same, we've no evidence of foul play, Dumbledore, none at all. As for her disappearance being linked with Barty Crouch's!"

"And what do you think happened to Barty Crouch, Minister?" Moody growled.

"I see two possibilities, Alastor," Fudge said. "Either Crouch has finally cracked – more than likely, I'm sure you'll agree, given his personal history – lost his mind, and gone wandering off somewhere—"

"He wandered extremely quickly, if that is the case, Cornelius," said Dumbledore in his usual calm matter.

"Or else – well... well, I'll reserve judgment until after I've seen the place where he was found, but you say it was just past the Beauxbatons carriage? Dumbledore, you know what that woman is?"

"I consider her to be a very able headmistress — and an excellent dancer."

"Dumbledore, come!" shouted Fudge. "Don't you think you might be prejudiced in her favour because of Hagrid? They don't all turn out harmless — if, indeed, you can call Hagrid harmless, with that monster fixation he's got —"

"I no more suspect Madame Maxime than Hagrid. I think it is possible that it is you who are prejudiced, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, keeping his calm matter even though my blood was boiling as the Minister of Magic talked about my friend like that.

"Can we wrap up this discussion?" Moody asked.

"Yes, yes," Fudge said. "Let's go down to the grounds, then."

"No, it's not that," Moody said. "It's just that Potter and Malfoy want a word with you, Dumbledore. They're just outside the door."

I froze and turned to Harry. "How did he...?"

"I think his eye can see through stuff," he whispered back. I frowned – that thought made me very uncomfortable.

The door to the office opened, and Moody invited us in.

"Harry!" Fudge exclaimed happily. "How are you?"

"Fine," Harry replied.

"We were just talking about the night when Mr. Crouch turned up on the grounds," Fudge explained unnecessarily. "It was you who found him, was it not?"

"Yes," Harry said. He hesitated only a second before adding, "I didn't see Madame Maxime anywhere though, and she'd have a job hiding, wouldn't she?"

Fudge suddenly looked quite embarrassed. "Yes, well, we're about to go for a short walk on the grounds, Harry, if you'll excuse us... perhaps if you just go back to your class—"

"We wanted to talk to you, Professor," Harry interjected.

Dumbledore nodded. "Wait here for me, Harry. Our examination of the grounds will not take long. As for Miss Malfoy," he directed his next words to me," I'm sure Professor Trelawney will be missing you in class."

How did he know I had Divination? I wondered to myself.

"Actually, Lean's a part of this too..." Harry lied.

"It's okay, Harry," I said, giving him a small, supportive smile. I was afraid that once Dumbledore realised Harry was lying about me being a part of his weird dream, he might not trust him in the future. And I had a feeling Dumbledore and Harry were going to need that trust in the upcoming years.

"I'll see you at dinner," I said to Harry before leaving with the rest of the adults. Dumbledore and Fudge led the way, with Moody and I bringing up the rear, walking a little further behind the others.

"So, how's Potter going?" Moody asked as we walked – or in his case limped – down the spiral staircase.

"Sorry?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"The third task is coming up in just a few short weeks," Moody reminded me. As if I needed reminding. "I'm presuming Potter's told you what the challenge is. You're not in trouble," he added at my silence.

"If I'm not in trouble, what is this?" I demanded, a little too aggressively.

"I simply want to know how Potter is tracking. Is he prepared?"

"He will be," I said with strong determination.

"Good," Moddy growled. "Then I'll see you in class, Miss Malfoy."

He limped down the marble staircase after Dumbledore and Fudge, leaving me to walk up the staircase towards my Divination classroom. I thought about what was waiting for me up there. Then I looked at my full bag. What would be the point of me returning? I didn't need to grab any of my books. I wasn't learning anything from the lessons anyway.

So, instead of going back up, I waited until I could't hear the murmur of conversation from the others and then went down the staircase, constantly whipping my head around to make sure no one was coming my way.

I made it all the way down to the entrance hall without any encounters.

I'd been to the kitchens many times with Fred, George, and Lee, so it was crazy that I'd never noticed my old house-elf working there.

I moved quickly and quietly, sneaking through the door and down the stairs to the stone basement corridor. I hurried over to the painting of the bowl and fruit and tickled the pear, which giggled and transformed into a green handle. Grinning in anticipation, I opened the door and stepped inside.

As usual, the house-elves greeted me eagerly, offering to make this and that, to which I politely refused..

"Thanks, but I'm actually here to see someone," I said. "Is Dobby around?"

"MISS LEAENA!"

I turned around just as Dobby threw his weight at me, squeezing me around my middle a little too tightly.

"Hey, Dobby," I greeted, wincing in slight pain. "It's good to see you."

"It is good for Dobby to see Miss Leaena too!" the house-elf said excitedly.

"Just Leaena is fine, Dobby, or even just Lean," I said hastily. "After all, I'm not your mistress anymore."

"Dobby knows," the house-elf said, nodding his head eagerly. "But Dobby had no idea, Miss – I mean just Leaena had come to Hogwarts! Dobby thought she was in America."

"I was, but now I'm back and at Hogwarts. And how about you? How long have you been working here?"

"Six months," Dobby said proudly. "Professor Dumbledore is paying Dobby one galleon a week and is giving Dobby one day off a month."

"Seriously?" I said. "That's great, Dobby! I'm sorry my family and I weren't as good to you."

"No, Leaena," Dobby said, shaking his head furiously. "Leaena was very kind to Dobby. He missed her very much when she went to America."

"Aww... I missed you too!" I smiled. "I would've come visit sooner, but Harry didn't tell me you were here until just today."

"Is Leaena friends with Mr. Harry Potter?" Dobby squeaked excitedly.

"Yeah," I answered with a dreamy smile. "Really good friends, actually."