It was nearly eight o'clock by the time Harry had returned to the Horned Serpent tower. The day's events had taken its toll on him; he felt his eyelids getting heavy and a couple of yawns escaped his lips.

A small smile tugged on the corners of his mouth as he caught a glimpse of his friends playing Egyptian Rat Screw on a coffee table near the corner of the common room. Ana was the first to catch sight of him; needless to say, her smile was so broad that her petite face was barely large enough to contain it. She immediately stood to her feet and greeted Harry with a tender hug.

"Harry," she exclaimed. "I was so worried about you… I heard some rumors about you disappearing during your detention. Several faculty members had to go after you and this other girl… I'm just glad to see that you're all right."

Harry's gaze was fixed downwards, but his eyes managed to meet hers for a brief moment. "I'm okay, Ana," he murmured. "It's true that I disappeared, but I swear it was an accident…" Ana arched an eyebrow, and her mouth tilted in such a way that Harry knew that she wasn't convinced.

Harry sighed. "I've been to see the Headmaster… I'm not in any trouble, honest… but considering what all I've been through during detention, he and the other faculty in his office made me promise not to tell anyone what happened. If I make a promise, then I'm going to do my best to keep it - I take them very seriously."

"It's okay, Harry," Ana replied with a slight nod. "I understand. I won't prod, but what's important is that you're safe." Her lovely smile returned to her face. "Would you care to join us for a card game?"

Harry chuckled. "I'm rather tired, though I suppose I could squeeze in a quick game."

After a couple of rounds of Egyptian Rat Screw, Harry felt a bit of a second wind coming on. He was about to slap a pair of deuces on a particularly sizable pile on the coffee table when a familiar British accent pierced the din. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming back, Potter."

Just as Harry turned around to face the unexpected voice, Othniel took full advantage and slapped the doubles. "Thanks for the distraction, Nova!"

Nova was unable to suppress a giggle. "My pleasure, Beckett." She then turned to Harry and gestured toward the common room exit. "Follow me, Potter," she purred. Harry followed Nova to the common room exit, down Old Margie, and across several hallways until she stopped at what must have been the school's choir room.

"If I knew the muffliato charm better, I'd have cast that in there… Merlin knows, my grandparents do it all the time to keep eavesdroppers away… I've tried it but I can't really get it to work just yet…" She shrugged. "It's a fifth-year spell, but there's still time for me to get it down before they actually teach it." She gestured to the door. "After you."

Harry found a pair of hard wooden chairs in the center of the room and sat in one of them, and waited for Nova to take the other. She daintily took her seat next to Harry, and placed her hands on her lap. She offered Harry a pleasant smile before addressing him.

"Firstly, Harry, I want to apologize for acting so cold and distant toward you earlier," she said in soft voice. "I'm so sorry if you got the impression that I was an insufferable bitch… I truly don't mean to be. I'm a very self-conscious girl, and I've put up so many walls and moats around myself that I sometimes forget to add the occasional door or bridge." Her smile broadened – even with her rather uneven-looking teeth, it was lovely enough to rival Ana's. "And I did think about your offer about coming with you to visit my birth parents in Canada; I'd love nothing more, though I think I'd rather do it during the Thanksgiving break rather than Christmas, if that's alright with you."

"Thanksgiving's next month – would that be enough notice?" Harry asked.

Nova put a hand over her lips, barely suppressing a giggle. "In Canada, yes, Thanksgiving is in October. At Ilvermorny, we observe the American Thanksgiving, which is in late November. You should have ample time to owl your aunt and uncle your intentions of inviting me over."

"Great," yelped Harry. "You know they'd love to see you for the first time in, well, forever. They never talked about you in my presence, but I think I know why. There are certain topics that are very painful for them to discuss – my parents being one of them, and I'm sure losing custody of you was equally painful."

Harry could sense the uneasiness in Nova's countenance. "My godfather Sirius would love to see you too," he added. "He's just as important to me… ever since he relocated to western Canada when I was six, he's made it a point to be a constant part of my life. He's been to all my ice hockey games, he's told me a few cool stories about his time at Hogwarts… he's just a really cool guy."

"My grandparents never thought very highly of him," admitted Nova. "They think he's shady and untrustworthy, and by being a former Gryffindor, he was never a real Black. They were none to pleased to learn that he was eventually found innocent of the massacre at Godric's Hollow." Her lips curved into a faint smile. "That's said, I'm sure your godfather's a wonderful man. I'd be delighted to meet him."

Harry tilted his head. "A personal question, Nova?"

Nova smiled sweetly and nodded. "What's up, Harry?"

Harry looked downward for a moment before meeting Nova's gaze. "Ana – who has an unusual name herself – told me your real name once, but I forgot what it was. Could you tell me again please?"

"Anneliese Edith Nicole Woodward is my legal name," admitted Nova. "But I've gone by Nova for as long as I can remember. My grandmother would call me by my full name if I misbehaved or did something to incur her wrath… which was more often than I care to admit."

"That actually sounds rather lovely," remarked Harry. "Maybe even more than Anastasia."

Nova blushed. "I prefer Nova, but I suppose you may be right." She giggled again – Harry rather liked the way they sounded, sort of like high-pitched squeaks. "In case you're curious, her full name is Anastasia Kay. And don't tell her I said this, but Anastasia is a very suitable name for a pureblood Slytherin princess. From what I gather, plenty of girls in that house have Greek-based first names."

Harry shrugged. "I thought you weren't all that close. Anyway, I think it's a very suitable name for any witch, regardless of school or house."

This time it was Nova's turn to shrug. "She's not my closest friend, but she is quite dear to me nonetheless." A sneaky grin crossed her face. "She's a sweetheart, but she can be quite the snarky one as well."

"Yeah, she called me clumsy before," groaned Harry. "Though I probably deserved it… I bumped into her once, and fell in front of her just a couple hours later."

Nova burst into full laughter. "Yes, you probably deserved to be called clumsy for that… the poor thing is so thin, a gentle breeze would knock her over! She can't be much more than six stone…"

"I'm not sure how much that is," admitted Harry, who was more comfortable with metric measurements than traditional English ones, "but the stack of books in her arms looked like almost too much for her to handle."

"That's a girl who's happiest when her nose is in a book," replied Nova. "She'll just as happily read a spellbook as much as one of those romance or mystery novels!" She scrunched her nose, and flashed another sneaky grin. "Okay, Harry… my turn to ask a personal question."

"I s'pose what's fair is fair," replied Harry. "Whatcha got?"

Nova bit her lip, and thought of the most tactful way to phrase her question without offending Harry. "I'm sure you've been told that you're the Boy-Who-Lived… what's it like, living with that scar on your forehead?" She smiled sweetly. "I mean, scar or not, you are a cute boy, but have you experienced anything strange prior to coming here? Or perhaps since coming here? I'm not referring to accidental magic… I mean, visions – premonitions, even."

Harry squeezed his eyes shut and stuck out his tongue – although Nova meant it in the most positively way possible, he really didn't take well to being called cute. Nova, to her credit, simply giggled at his reaction.

Harry's eyelids fluttered in thought. "Before coming to Ilvermorny? Not that I recall, but right after I got my wand, I saw these visions… flashbacks, really, and they were horrifying. My scar tingled, maybe even burned a bit."

Nova looked into Harry's emerald eyes. "Are you comfortable telling me what you saw in those flashbacks?"

Harry nodded, albeit slowly. "There's something about Elder Gomer… like, he's not an ordinary wizard – and wizards are anything but ordinary – the way he took my wrist and looked at me, well, I got the feeling that he knows me better than I know myself, and I've never met him before in my life! It's like he saw through my soul, and I relived these events that I was too young to remember, like seeing my parents die, watching Voldemort evaporate, and then me being taken in by Uncle Roger and Aunt Rhonda."

"He's a Sage of Narragansett, Harry," Nova answered solemnly. "These sages are a very secretive brotherhood of wizards. They're unusually long-lived, even by wizarding standards, and practice a magic that incorporates both European magic and traditional Naragansett shamanism and druidry. The Shamanism classes they teach at Ilvermorny is radically different than the brand these sages use – even Professor Hataali admits that Naragansett magic is exponentially more difficult to master."

"Are you taking Shamanism?" Harry asked, wide-eyed.

Nova nodded. "I am, but unlike Charms, Potions, and the like, it's an elective, meaning you don't have to take it. All classes during your first and second years are what's known as core classes, meaning they're required."

"How do you like it?" asked Harry, his voice dripping with curiosity.

Nova smiled. "It's fascinating, really. Professor Hataali is very proud of his heritage and it shows… nothing gives him greater joy than sharing his culture with others. It's a challenging branch of magic, to be sure, but in a sufficiently-skilled practitioner, it's exceptionally potent. Someone who has truly mastered shamanism can summon a powerful thunderstorm on command, for example. They can also heal those on the brink of death, and even communicate with spirits from generations past." Her expression darkened, almost gravely so. "He warned us that great caution must be exercised as it's an even more dangerous discipline of magic than transfiguration… often times, the first mistake a shaman makes, is also their last."

"I met him just a couple of hours ago in the Headmaster's office," Harry murmured. "He seems to be very powerful – like Elder Gomer powerful." He hung his head down low, fearing he had already told Nova too much. "I'm afraid I can't tell you what happened in there, as they told me I was not permitted to discuss the details with anyone outside the office, but I can tell you that I wasn't in trouble."

"That's okay, Harry," Nova replied gently. "I understand that the discussion in Fontaine's office is not of any concern to me." She flashed another friendly smile. "Thank you for sharing, by the way. I'm enjoying getting to know you a bit better, and I hope you feel the same way."

Harry grinned. "I'm glad to finally get to know the girl behind the icy stare. She turned out to be pretty cool." He looked away for a split second, before looking into Nova's lovely sky-blue eyes again. "So, does this mean, erm, we're friends now?"

Nova smiled and nodded. "Definitely."