August to September 1994, summer of 3rd year and 4th year

Draco advised Harry to keep the house-elf for now. Kreacher was given a set of very specific orders and then handed over into the care of the Malfoy house-elves, who would try their best to 'bring him back to the standard befitting an elf of a highly esteemed family' – or something like that.

Harry also used the opportunity to discuss potential causes he could donate the money to, once Grimmauld Place was cleared out and sold. He was quite disappointed to hear that the magical world did not have anything remotely resembling orphanages or child support services and then talked with Hermione about possible Muggle institutions. It was a good distraction from the whole house-elf issue, which Hermione was not happy about in the least – she would have probably started a whole tirade about the injustice of their very existence and Lynea was not the only one who didn't want to have anything to do with that particular can of worms. So Harry and Hermione sat together for nearly all of the afternoon to make a list of good causes, while Lynea entertained Neville and Luna. They only stopped when Phyllida called them to the house for the Lughnasa celebrations.

Thelus' wedding took place in late August under a beautiful summer sky. He and his fiancée invited only their closest family, so it ended up being a very small reception. Lynea was happy to see her grandparents for she had barely had an opportunity to catch up with them since she had been accepted into Hogwarts. Nereus took a very deep interest in Harry's presence, but Naenia somehow managed to deceive him without actually telling any lies about why Harry was there and Theodore apologized profusely once his father was out of ear-shot. (Harry waved it off and told him not to worry about it.)

Lynea was still not happy with her brother about the fact that he had never told her he had found someone and she had barely gotten any chance to speak with his fiancée – or wife, now – so she was left to wonder what kind of person that woman was. And it wasn't like she had ever been really close to her brother, so she could neither say what kind of person he wanted in a partner, nor what kind he actually needed. So it didn't really make any sense for her to lose any sleep over it, but, then again, it wasn't like she could really sleep right now anyway.

There was a soft knock on her door and Lynea was immediately awake. She had always been a light sleeper, which made sleeping in the dormitory at Hogwarts rather difficult, but there were enough spells to help with that.

Theodore mumbled something and slowly blinked his eyes open when she moved to sit up and go to the door. He was the reason she hadn't been fully asleep in the first place – sharing a dorm was one thing, sharing a bed another. Lynea despised sharing her bed, but for Theodore she would always make an exception.

That was the thing about Theodore most people didn't know – he liked the calm and the quiet. He liked being left alone. But he didn't like being alone. And whenever his father dropped him on their doorstep, he would come to Lynea's room at night with that lost expression and those endlessly sad eyes and she just couldn't turn him away.

Behind the door, in the dark hallway, Harry looked at her not with sadness but with guilt in his eyes.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Sorry. Could – I –" He fidgeted and started wringing his hands.

Lynea wordlessly opened her door further and ushered him inside. Harry paused when his eyes fell on Theodore, but then went ahead and sat down on her bed regardless. He was pressing one hand to his forehead, right where his lightning bolt scar was, and was gripping his night robes tightly with the other.

"Does it hurt?" Lynea asked softly and Harry nodded.

She gently took his hand from his face and pressed her cool fingers against his burning forehead instead. She could feel the magic coiling underneath his skin, writhing and twisting with tension.

Harry sighed softly. "I had a dream … It seemed so real, but the longer I am awake the more it is slipping away from me. I remember that there were two men that I know and one that I don't – or didn't. I think – I think he is dead." He took a shuddering breath. "They were … in a dark room with a fire burning in the hearth and a large snake on the rug. Peter Pettigrew, Wormtail, and … a cold, high voice – his voice, the Dark Lord's voice."

Theodore breathed in sharply, but didn't say anything. Lynea glanced at him to make sure he was alright and then focused back on Harry, replacing her now warm hand on his forehead with her other one.

"The other man is dead," Harry continued, "the one that I didn't recognize. The Dark Lord killed him and I woke up feeling horrified. They … I don't remember what they were talking about. Something about a – a venture that will soon find its conclusion? And a person they killed and … I think they were planning to kill someone else … me."

"Do you think it was real?" Lynea asked softly, putting her hands in her lap.

Harry shrugged. "How would that even work? How would I be able to – to dream about something that is actually happening – or has happened?"

"Your scar hurt."

Harry was silent for a moment.

"The last time it hurt," he eventually said, "was with Quirrel. And we know Quirrel was being possessed by the Dark Lord, so I suppose it was actually because of him. But he can't be here now, can he? The wards around this place are way too strong, right?"

"They are," Lynea said. "If we take up the theory that you saw something that happened in real life, then your scar hurting might be a sign of whatever connection to the Dark Lord made that possible. Although I do not know how or why that should work in the first place."

"Curse scars are very rare," Theodore said slowly, his voice rough with sleep. "Not much is known about them and Harry is the first recorded case of someone surviving the Killing Curse with nothing but a scar – so anything could be possibly."

"He's coming back, then," Harry said. "The Dark Lord is preparing for his return and – and Wormtail is helping him."

"Who is Wormtail?" Theodore asked sleepily.

"No one of importance," Lynea said and yawned. "I think that is enough for tonight, let's go back to sleep. Do you want to join us, Harry?"

Lynea couldn't see his blush in the darkness, but she could hear it perfectly fine in his flustered voice. "Would – Is that – You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all," Lynea said and then ushered Harry to the other side of her bed, so that Theodore could lie in the middle.

Bringing two fourteen-year-old boys to cuddle with each other was more difficult than Lynea had thought possible. She knew they wouldn't hesitate cuddling with her, but Lynea had never liked that sort of physical intimacy. It made her uncomfortable.

She eventually managed to convince them it was for the best – because it was, they needed the comfort – and watched them fall asleep, thinking she could never do that. Choco, who was settling back on top of the bed covers, between her and Theodore's feet, was the only living being she ever managed to sleep undisturbed with.

o

Two days after Harry's nightmare, Lynea and Theodore waved him off to go and see the Quidditch World Cup with the Malfoys. Lucius had acquired special tickets for the Minister's top box and Draco had, of course, invited Harry and the others – although Lynea's and Theodore's invitations had been solely out of politeness, because they all knew neither was very fond of Quidditch – or loud and overly crowded places, for that matter.

Lynea was perfectly fine with spending a day down in Naenia's lab and then reading about the final outcome of the World Cup in the papers the next day and Theodore basically lived in their library anyway.

The Daily Prophet had not arrived, yet, when the wards were disturbed the next morning and Naenia went and came back with Harry, who wasn't supposed to return until after lunch. Lynea found that rather odd, but then Harry told them what had happened.

Lynea sat still through it all, keeping a calm façade, while wondering how it was that Harry had found himself unwillingly in the middle of all the trouble, once again.

First, a possessed professor had tried to murder him, using Bludgers and poison and kidnapping.

Then a house-elf had tried to murder him, albeit not intentionally, keeping his letters from him, messing with the barrier and finally resorting to deadly Bludgers. Not to forget other students having it out for Harry and Lucius Malfoy scheming behind the scenes, setting a Basilisk loose on the school. Lynea supposed she could count Tom Riddle's Diary as well, while she was at it.

And then a mass murderer had escaped Azkaban to kill him, although it had turned out none of that was actually true – which was a very good thing or Harry's sneaking-out-at-night-to-get-some-time-alone could have ended in a terrible disaster. Now that Lynea thought about it, third year might have actually been the least dangerous and that had been the one year they had made sure to give Harry the utmost security. Well, there had been the Dementors ...

"And I kind of acquired another house-elf," Harry finished.

Lynea blinked. "There were Death Eaters on the loose, someone summoned the Dark Mark and you acquired a house-elf?"

Harry ducked his head and smiled sheepishly. "Yes?"

"Harry," Theodore said quietly. "Are you alright? Did – During all that chaos, did you get hurt in any way?"

"No, I'm – I'm fine," Harry said slowly. "Everything was just very hectic, 's all. But nobody attacked me – or, well, nobody except the Ministry people – but their spells didn't hit me and they didn't do it on purpose anyway."

Theodore nodded, looking relieved.

"That is good to hear," Lynea's mother said, smiling gently. "We are glad that you are alright."

Lynea blinked, realizing she had never even thought about that – about being glad that Harry hadn't come to any harm. She had just … forgotten it was a thing people did. But Harry was fine and nothing severe had happened to him and Lynea wouldn't have wanted him to get hurt in any way – so she wasn't a bad person, was she?

"Call the elf," Naenia said, waving her hands in a strange motion that Lynea assumed temporarily disabled some of the wards.

Harry nodded. "Winky!"

There was a loud crack and a house-elf appeared in their living room. "What can Winky be doing for Master?" she asked with a deep bow.

"This is Bartemius Crouch's elf?" Naenia asked and Harry nodded. "And you say that Bartemius freed her because she was found with your missing wand?"

"Yes. After Mister Diggory had finished his interrogation, Mister Crouch took it upon himself to 'punish her'."

Naenia tilted her head, but it was Phyllida who spoke next, "That is odd. Normally, they would have taken her to the Ministry for further questioning and legal purposes – house-elf or not, she is a valuable witness."

"And there is no one who is as strict and law-abiding as Bartemius Crouch," Naenia said, watching the elf curiously. "It is odd, indeed."

Winky quivered. "Mister Crouch is right to sack bad Winky. Winky has disobeyed her master. Bad Winky!"

"She has been going on about that ever since Mister Crouch freed her," Harry said. "She was happy enough to come into my service, but she is still worried about him." He glanced around at the others. "I forbade her to punish herself for it."

Phyllida nodded. "A good idea." Then she turned to the elf. "Winky, do you know why Mister Crouch acted so out of character?"

Winky stared at her with large eyes. "I is a bad elf, but I is not be saying Master's secrets. Winky keeps her master's secrets.

Lynea absentmindedly wondered why Winky's grammar was so much less refined than Kreacher's – and Kreacher had still been quite mad the last time she had seen him.

Her mother sighed. "So there is another reason behind that. But we can only guess and wonder. I doubt Barty Crouch is going to reveal his intentions any time soon."

Harry frowned. "Why don't we ask Winky? She is not his elf anymore, is she?"

Winky sobbed quietly.

"I'm afraid that won't work. You might be her current master, but house-elves are sworn to keep their masters' secrets and honour, even after leaving their employment." Phyllida gave Harry a searching look. "What are you planning to do with her now?"

"Er –" Harry gulped and started wringing his hands. "I haven't thought that far, yet. What with the whole chaos at the World Cup and everything happening so fast … I'm not even sure why I decided to take her with me in the first place." He winced. "I don't – I don't like the whole concept of having a slave."

"House-elves be not being slaves, sir," Winky said indignantly. "House-elves be being faithful servants to their masters."

Harry looked even more uncomfortable at that. Lynea kept silent, not wanting to involve herself in that particular issue. She had always tried to steer clear of everything relating to house-elves. (Hermione would probably scold her for it, if she knew – ignoring an issue was just as bad as supporting it, after all. But Lynea could no muster up enough motivation to actually care.)

"You could take her to Hogwarts with you," Theodore suggested quietly. "She could help the house-elves there."

Harry blinked. "There are house-elves at Hogwarts?"

Theodore arched an eyebrow. "Who do you think prepares our food? Cleans our dormitories? Does our laundry for us?"

"Filch?" Harry asked in a tone that made it clear he knew how stupid it sounded.

o

The train ride to Hogwarts was spent with an animated discussion about the Triwizard Tournament – which Draco had told them in a letter the moment he had found out from his father – and what they might need the dress robes for.

Draco proudly told them how his father had originally wanted to send him to Durmstrang, one of the competing schools, where students were actually taught the Dark Arts and not just the defence against them. And then he made an extensive speech about France and the French school Beauxbatons and how his family was connected to the country.

"Are you going to enter?" Draco asked. "I know I am going to."

Harry snorted at that.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "What's so funny?"

"We're fourteen, Draco," Harry said in fond exasperation. "Or nearly fifteen for some of you guys. Do you really think that we stand a chance in a tournament you guys told me was discontinued because of it's high number of casualties?"

And Harry attracted more than enough trouble as it was. Lynea just hoped people would be too distracted by the tournament to cause Harry any problems this year. They deserved a quiet year without incidents, for once.

"Well," Draco said with a sniff. "Even just being chosen as a champion is a very high honour."

"But neither of us needs that."

Pansy snorted. "I think some of us could do with a bit of glory. But, alas, you are right, dear Harry. The Triwizard Tournament is way too dangerous for us little fourth-years. Although, maybe Lyn could hold her own."

"Maybe," Lynea said sceptically. "But I doubt it."

Harry frowned at her. "You've got more than enough experience in combat training and you can do wandless and nonverbal magic."

Which was not wrong, but he was selling himself short there.

"Old Magics," Lynea corrected. "They are technically wandless and nonverbal, but they are also fundamentally different from the way most people perform wandless and nonverbal magic these days. The Old Magics are actually not all that difficult – if you know how they worked originally."

"So everyone could learn them?" Harry asked curiously. "I thought that was another Necromancer thing and that's why Naenia refuses to teach me."

"Hm," Lynea tilted her head. "I mean, you do need to have an aptitude for them – just like you need one for the Forbidden Arts – but it is more wide-spread and you could definitely at least learn the basics even without an aptitude. The Old Magics are the origins of our magic, after all. Wizards and witches had no need for wands and incantations in ancient times. They just grew lazy and forgot how to do it properly over time. And the Lémures are the only people left in Britain who remember the old ways, because they have the privilege of immortal family members that actually were present when the Old Magics still were the norm."

"Why don't the Lémures teach other people, though?" Blaise asked, intrigued.

"Because they look down on the rest of the magical population for growing lazy and forgetting in the first place," Lynea answered. "Officially, it's all about maintaining neutrality and not upsetting the power balance, but they are really just greedy and selfish when it comes to knowledge, I think."

Just then, the trolley lady came by, offering them sweets and other snacks. Lynea, who still did not have the best relationship with food, just sat back and watched the others make their purchases. Harry stayed in the hallway for a moment longer, talking to a girl with long, black hair.

"Who is that?" Lynea asked curiously.

Pansy snorted. "Cho Chang, Seeker of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team."

Lynea frowned. "Cho … Chang?"

"Well, the correct pronunciation would be –" And here Pansy made some sounds that Lynea wouldn't have been able to enunciate, even if Pansy repeated them in a much slower pace. "– Zhāng Qiū. But there are barely any people here who can pronounce that and she has certainly never complained about it. Not as far as I know."

And Pansy knew almost everything that was going on in Hogwarts.

"She doesn't mind," Harry said from the door. "I asked her about it, once. Listen, is it alright if I go and look for the others? I want to catch up with Neville, Hermione and Luna." And then he actually blushed. "And there was something I have been meaning to talk with Cedric about."

Lynea stared after him, as he waited for his housemates to nod and then disappeared. "Does he have a crush on Diggory?"

"Everyone has a crush on Cedric Diggory," Pansy said. "That's not even worth gossiping about."

Lynea blinked. "I don't have a crush on him."

"Yes," Pansy said haughtily. "But you are weird, Lyn."

"Well," Blaise said. "I guess I am weird, too, then."

Pansy furrowed her brows. "But you –"

"Have slept with him, yes," Blaise interrupted her and shot Lynea a smirk, when she raised her eyebrows at him. "Multiple times, actually, the guy knows what he is doing. But that doesn't mean I have a crush on him. Or any other feelings of a romantic kind other than appreciating him for his good looks and amazing sex. Actually, maybe he would be up for a quick round before we reach Hogwarts."

Several people choked on air. Lynea just raised her eyebrows even higher.

Blaise smirked again. "I'll go and ask him. Maybe I'll rope Harry in, too, if he is willing. Don't wait up for me when we reach Hogsmeade, okay, darlings?" And then he winked, blew them a kiss, and disappeared down the hallway. They didn't see him again until they had reached the Great Hall.