April to May 1994, 3rd year

Lynea was still pondering the fact that Harry's Invisibility Cloak was the Cloak of Invisibility, one of the Deathly Hallows, by the time she returned to her dormitory. The other girls had not even woken up, yet, so Lynea changed back into her night robe, put the cloak away and went back to bed. She trusted her grand-aunt would handle the whole situation, while Lynea took a step back and went over everything she had discovered again. The power Death had given her filled her with energy, made up for the lack of sleep.

Pretending not to know anything wasn't very hard, but seeing the headmaster approach them during breakfast immediately made Lynea wary.

"Harry," the old man said and that was his first mistake.

Lynea could feel the attention of all of her housemates on herself, even though they most likely weren't directly looking at her. She ignored them and chose to merely observe for now. This was Harry's business and Lynea disagreed with the notion of having to speak for him. Still, there were rules and the headmaster had not played by them by addressing Harry first and with his given name at that.

She could not say if the headmaster simply did not know or had actually done it intentionally.

Harry gulped down his toast, before answering, "Yes, Headmaster?"

Lynea wondered whether she had imagined the flash of sadness in the old man's eyes when Harry had addressed him as 'Headmaster'.

"There is something important we must discuss." Dumbledore's eyes swept over the other Slytherins, all watching him. "If you would accompany me to my office?"

And there was the second mistake. Slytherins never wandered the corridors alone, headmaster's company nor not.

Harry knew that and accepted that and so he turned to Lynea.

"Theodore and I will come with you," she said.

Dumbledore's mouth twitched. "There is no need for that, Miss –"

"But Professor," Lynea said, deliberately using another form of address than Harry had. "Surely you must be aware that it is not safe for Harry to wander around alone?"

"He would not be alone, Miss Fawley. He would be with me."

"We don't wish to inconvenience you, Professor," Lynea said. "We will wait outside your office and then accompany Harry back to the Common Room."

Dumbledore looked at her for a while with an indecipherable expression on his face and then sighed. "Very well."

Theodore quickly scrambled to finish his tea, grabbed an apple and followed Lynea and Harry out of the Great Hall.

"You don't need to go in alone," Lynea said quietly to Harry, making sure Dumbledore couldn't hear them.

"I'll be fine," Harry replied. "I know what secrets to keep."

Lynea nodded and didn't say anything else until they reached the headmaster's office.

"Do you know what this is about?" Theodore asked after the doors had closed behind Harry and Dumbledore.

"I have a fairly good idea," Lynea replied.

"Which you can't tell me."

Lynea smiled. Theodore knew when not to press for answers.

The conversation took less time than Lynea had expected and when Theodore asked about it, Harry only shook his head. A wise move. You never knew when something might be listening, especially right in front of the headmaster's office.

Back in the common room, Harry told all his curious Slytherins what Dumbledore had wanted. Apparently, Sirius Black had been found and was dead now, though Dumbledore had not been willing to disclose any details. Then Dumbledore had 'revealed' to Harry that Black had been his godfather, that Black had been friends with his parents and that Black had been a traitor, responsible for their death.

"I don't know how he expected me to react, but he was certainly surprised when I remained absolutely calm and unfazed," Harry said.

Draco snorted. "He certainly waited long enough for others to tell you the story. He shouldn't be surprised, it was no secret, after all."

"It was a secret to most," Lynea interjected. "The public only knew about the mass murder." Which Black did not even commit.

"So Black is dead," Draco said. "That means the danger is gone, doesn't it?"

Harry shrugged. "Dumbledore didn't say anything about that. He mostly wanted to hear how I felt, what I was going to do now and so on. I think he wanted to show sympathy and regain my trust."

"I'm curious, darling" Blaise asked. "When did you start losing your trust in the headmaster?"

"For a while now," Harry said with a shrug. "But I think I finally lost my last doubts today, when I realized he was the one who put me with the Dursleys."

"He actually told you that?" Lynea asked.

Harry nodded. "He said my life was in danger back then, because of the Dark Lord's followers seeking revenge. He said the only way to keep me safe was to put me with my aunt and uncle, my blood relatives." Harry frowned. "He also told me that he knew, even back then, that the Dark Lord would one day return and that he 'would not rest until he killed me'. Why does the Dark Lord want to kill me, anyway?"

The Slytherins all exchanged looks and furtive glances, before settling their gazes on Lynea.

"I'm open for suggestions," she quipped. "The only reason I can currently think of is revenge for surviving the last time. But that doesn't explain why he went after you and your parents in the first place."

None of the others had any ideas, though – or if they had, they didn't voice them aloud.

"Dumbledore knows," Harry said. "He heavily implied so at the end of first year, at least. But he said back then that he couldn't tell me." He sighed. "Well, he talked about a lot of things, asked a lot of questions, but other than the news of Black being dead there was nothing valuable in that conversation."

"Must be lonely," Lynea said. "To be at the top, to have everyone relying on you, yet no one who is equal, no one who can just be your friend without being part of your endless schemes. But it is his choice."

"To be lonely?" Harry asked.

Lynea caught his eye. "To be alone."

There was another moment of silence.

"Alright," Lynea said. "Now that we are finished with that particular topic – could I talk to you for a moment, Harry?"

"No need to get up, darling" Blaise said. "We will just go ahead and wait for you in the library. Do you want one of us to wait?"

Lynea shook her head. "I think with Black dead there is no need for that anymore."

Blaise nodded and then ushered the others out of the Common Room. Lynea glanced around and then cast a privacy charm.

Harry, who was used to this kind of behaviour by now, only sighed. "Is this the point where you ask me how I feel and I tell you I'm fine, but you don't believe me, so we have a back and forth about who is right?"

Lynea chuckled. "Do you want us to do that?"

Harry considered it for a moment.

"No," he then said. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Sirius Black was not the traitor," Lynea immediately said.

Harry blinked and just sat there, dumbfounded, for a minute or so. "Uhm. Could you – maybe – elaborate on that?"

And so Lynea told him a less bloody version of last night's events, stressing how this must be kept between the two of them. Harry took it better than she had expected and when she asked him about that, he only shrugged.

"The person that betrayed my parents just bears a different name, now." He sighed. "And I already made peace with the fact that revenge won't get me anywhere. I guess it is a relief to know that it wasn't my godfather after all – the person my parents trusted to have that title. But nothing really changed, did it? The traitor is still out there."

Lynea watched him for a moment, before speaking up again. "Would you have wanted to meet him – your godfather? Knowing he was innocent."

Harry shrugged. "Probably. The man has been in Azkaban for twelve years, so I'm not sure it would have been a good idea, but … He knew my parents. He was their friend."

"So was Professor Lupin," Lynea said.

Who had witnessed Black's death and then gotten his memory altered. Lynea had left that part out entirely and instead told Harry they had asked the dead Sirius Black – which they had and he had confirmed everything, so it technically wasn't even a lie.

"That's true," Harry said. "Maybe I will ask him about them, after all." He noticed Lynea's grin. "I am not going to ask Professor Snape, Lynea, don't even suggest it!"

Lynea laughed. "Alright, I won't. But he did know them, too. And having a different perspective can't hurt."

Harry drew his legs up to the sofa and tucked his knees under his chin, his eyes distant and wistful. "I miss them. I was looking forward to Samhain, to see at least one of them again, but then Black had to ruin that."

Lynea kept her eyes trained on Harry as she laid a hand on his shoulder. She had been thinking about things she could say in this kind of situation just this morning. (Although she had imagined she would need them for the topic of Black's death, not that of Harry's parents.)

"Death is a gift, not a tragedy," she said softly. "Be grateful for the life they have led, not sad for what could have been."

She left her hand on his shoulder, but changed her tone to a more light-hearted one. "You could also go to Hagrid and ask him for the names of other people who knew your parents – that's where he got the pictures for that photograph album from, isn't it?"

Harry nodded. "That's actually a pretty good idea. Do you think Naenia would help me meet up with some of them?"

"If you ask her nicely."

"As if that would affect her in any way," Harry said dryly, a small smile appearing on his lips. "You know what I've been wondering? Why didn't Professor Lupin tell anyone about their Animagi forms? He is convinced Black was guilty, so he must have wanted him arrested."

Lynea shrugged. "You are asking the wrong person about that. Now, do you intend to sneak out at night again?"

Harry blinked at the sudden change of subject. "No?"

"Good." Lynea leaned down to retrieve the silvery cloth from her bag. "Then I suppose I ought to give this back to you."

Harry's face brightened in joy and it made it easier for Lynea to ignore the feeling of loss and longing when she handed the cloak over. It was rightfully his, after all.

"Let's go and join the others," Harry said. "And Lynea? Thank you."

o

The Ministry presented Black's death just like Naenia had predicted it – as a Dementor's Kiss. Since Black was now no longer a threat the magical world had to fear, the Dementors were all sent back to Azkaban and Hogwarts as a whole heaved a sigh of relief. Harry was a bit disappointed that he couldn't put the Patronus Charm he had put so much work into to practical use now, but at the same time wouldn't have wanted the Dementors to stay just for that.

Professor Snape seemed very smug about the whole issue, while Professor Lupin seemed sad and gloomy – even more so than was usual with the full moon approaching, although he tried his best to hide that from the students.

Lynea didn't have a subscription for the Daily Prophet – there were enough Slytherins who were happy to share their copies – but received the latest issue together with a letter from her mother that told her Naenia had been called to the Ministry as Harry's guardian. Apparently, Sirius Black had stated in his will that all of his belongings would go to his godson Harry, but the scheduling of the reading of his will had been disrupted by none other than Albus Dumbledore. Naenia had only been informed about the will in the first place, because she had connections in the Ministry that were always happy to inconvenience Dumbledore.

Harry had received a letter, himself, this one from Naenia, which told the whole story in more detail and asked whether he had any specific wishes she should follow as his legal representative. Since neither Harry nor Naenia knew at this point what Black's will contained, Harry decided to leave all decisions in Naenia's hands.

They didn't hear any news about the matter until after Beltane, which was somehow the one sabbat they had been able to celebrate under the stars each year so far. This would also be the last time they had to return to the Common Room before midnight and secretly continue chatting there. Fourth years and above were allowed to stay outside and dance around the bonfire for much longer (and get up to certain activities behind the teacher's backs). Lynea had barely managed to ask for a tree sapling from Naenia and receive it in time, because she had originally thought Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn't allow them to celebrate Beltane, Dementors or not.

It did not come as a surprise when Dumbledore had an older student deliver a note to Harry the next day that requested his presence in the headmaster's office.

"Professor Lupin was there," Harry told Lynea afterwards. "He told me about the funeral and he – I think it was accidentally – but he implied there was no body in the casket and he sounded a bit suspicious about the whole thing."

Lynea hummed. "Dementors leave bodies. Well, not corpses, but close enough. I know Naenia restored Black's body and was planning to hold a funeral rite at the Blacks' private burial grounds."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know anything about that. But Lupin and Dumbledore were both very interested in what I knew."

"And did you tell them?"

"Of course not." Harry ducked his head. "I'm not as good at lying as you or the others, but I tried my best to cover it up as being uncomfortable with Black's death, even though I didn't know him, never met him personally. I think they believed it."

"I suppose we must keep an eye out, in case Professor Lupin decides to give into his suspicions and investigate. Then again, it is the Ministry that wants to cover the whole issue up, so he has no reason to question us. That is entirely on Dumbledore."

Unless Lupin somehow discovered that his memories had been altered.

"I don't quite understand why he believes I might know more about this," Harry said thoughtfully. "If it wasn't for your weird Death-intuition and your decision to tell me the truth, I wouldn't be involved at all."

Lynea shrugged. "Maybe he thought Black sought you out, talked to you – or that you sought him out."

"But why? Everyone thinks Black was after my life. No one knows he was innocent." Harry shook his head. "And Dumbledore said he interfered with Black's will for my own safety. He told me he wanted to make sure first that anything Black left me was harmless."

"So what did his will say?"

"He left me everything," Harry whispered, his eyes wide. "Everything! Why would he do that?"

"He was innocent, Harry," Lynea said gently. "And that means he really cared about James and Lily and their son. He had no children of his own, his brother died in the last war. Who else would he leave his possessions to, if not his godson?"

"Okay," Harry said and took a deep breath. "I think I can understand that. So he left me his old family home, which is in a terrible state of disrepair and full of dangerous creatures and dark objects, at least according to Dumbledore. Then there is the house-elf that comes with Grimmauld Place." Harry scowled. "I'm not sure how I am going to handle that, yet. Draco told me not all house-elves are like Dobby, but I don't like how everyone thinks having slaves is perfectly normal." He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "And lastly, a number of Gringotts Vaults. Some of them are apparently also full of dark and dangerous objects."

"Does Dumbledore intend to clear the house and the vaults before granting you access?"

"He did, originally. But Naenia prevented him from doing do."

Lynea couldn't help but laugh at that. "And he admitted that to you?"

Harry gave her a lopsided smile. "I specifically asked about Naenia's involvement seeing as Dumbledore is not actually my legal guardian." The smile left his face again. "I think I made Professor Lupin very sad with that statement, though I don't know why."

"The Lémure reputation, maybe?" Lynea shrugged. "Or all the things that are implied by the simple fact that you do not live with your relatives or anyone else who was ever close to your parents in any form. Or maybe he wants you to live with him, but he knew you can't because he is a Werewolf."

"Why should him being a Werewolf be a problem?"

Lynea gave Harry a look that made him put his hands up in defence.

"Because of their bad reputation?"

"Yes," Lynea said. "And because most Werewolves don't have the luxury of access to the Wolfsbane Potion. Professor Lupin doesn't dress in rags because he wants to, after all. Werewolves usually have a hard time getting a proper job. So. What happens now?"

Harry shrugged. "Dumbledore didn't seem happy about Naenia's involvement. Naenia is probably not happy about Dumbledore's involvement. I am certainly not getting in the middle of that, I don't want Dumbledore to go and ask me backhanded questions again. So I'll just wait and see what happens."

"Naenia does so greatly dislike the headmaster," Lynea mused. "I do not know what he thinks of her, though."

"And you don't?" Harry asked. "Dislike him, I mean."

Lynea shrugged. "I often do not agree with his actions – I certainly am irritated at not being able to celebrate Samhain every year – but Dumbledore, himself, is not important to me. He does not matter to me."

"Most people don't matter to you, do they?"

"You do," Lynea said honestly.