(Y/N)'s POV

Hermione ploughed her way back to Hagrid's cabin later in the week, I followed her because I had nothing better to do. We spent a while trying to convince him to follow Grubby-Planks lesson plan to appease Umbridge.

He was insistent on doing his own thing, and still didn't tell us how he got injured in the first place. His first lesson back was one of the best one's he's done in my opinion. It was a very pleasant surprise, we were learning about Thestrals.

The second Hagrid called them they all swarmed me, trotting in circles around me, nudging me to ask if I had food. "Hi Percival" "Sorry guys, I'm in a lesson, no food on me, but Hagrid has some" I said, stroking their snouts. "I'll come see you later. Promise."

Half of the class was looking at me like I was mental, which wasn't uncommon, but a few of them where looking at me in awe. Hagrid cleared his throat and spoke "Now . . . put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"

Harry raised his hand. Hagrid nodded at him. "Yeah . . . yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry," he said seriously. "(Y/N) o' course" "An' you too, Neville, eh? An' —" "Excuse me," said Malfoy in a sneering voice, "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"

For answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. The whole class stared at it for a few seconds, then several people gasped and Parvati squealed. I watched as one of the younger Thestrals cautiously shuffled over to the meat and nibbled on it.

Then, deciding the food wasn't dangerous, it decided to really go for it and tore it apart, chewing happily. "What's doing it?" Parvati demanded in a terrified voice, retreating behind the nearest tree. "What's eating it?" "Thestrals," said Hagrid proudly and Hermione gave a soft "oh!" of comprehension which I found adorable.

"Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows — ?" "But they're really, really unlucky!" interrupted Parvati, looking alarmed. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once —"

"No, no, no," said Hagrid, chuckling, "tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! 'Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate — an' here's another couple, look —"

Two more horses came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, "I think I felt something, I think it's near me!" "Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," said Hagrid patiently.

"Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?" Hermione raised her hand. "Go on then," said Hagrid, beaming at her. "The only people who can see thestrals," she said, "are people who have seen death."

"Tha's exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly, "ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, thestrals —" "Hem, hem." Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away, making me jump. "Oh hello!" Hagrid said, smiling, having located the source of the noise.

"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" said Umbridge, in the same loud, slow voice she had used with him earlier, as though she was addressing somebody both foreign and very slow.

"Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?" "Oh yeah," said Hagrid brightly. "Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see — or, I dunno — can you? We're doin' thestrals today —"

"I'm sorry?" said Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. "What did you say?" Hagrid looked a little confused. "Er — thestrals!" he said loudly. "Big — er — winged horses, yeh know!"

He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females."

"This one," he patted the first horse to have appeared, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favourite, firs' one born here in the forest —" I shrugged, walking back to Hermione's side, "I've always called that one Jeremiah" she snorted loudly.

After Umbridge made her round in the class and very unfairly assessed Hagrid, taking the fake opinions of the Slytherins as gospel and asking loaded questions to the others she concluded her observation.

"Well, Hagrid," she turned to look up at him again, speaking once more in that loud, slow voice, "I think I've got enough to be getting along with. . . . You will receive" — she mimed taking something from the air in front of her — "the results of your inspection" — she pointed at the clipboard — "in ten days' time."

"That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!" stormed Hermione half an hour later, as we walked to the castle. "You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again — she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dim-witted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother!"

"Oh, it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson at all — I mean, all right, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but thestrals are fine — in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!" "Nice 'Mione, real nice" she flushed "Oh...You know what I mean."

As we did every week now that Quidditch was over the DA got together for another meeting, I was pleasantly surprised. For the holiday Dobby had decorated the room to reflect the holiday season, which meant there was mistletoe all around the room. Which I of course put to good use with Hermione.

This cheered me up a lot, It gave me excuses to sneak little kisses in with Hermione during practice, behind the others backs, It was awesome, I got a little thrill every time, the best part was watching as she tried desperately to hide her blush from everyone in the room every time.

Each time I did it she would whisper shout at me, calling me many different variations of "Idiot" but I could tell she enjoyed it too, for someone who was against me risking getting caught kissing her, she spent an awful lot of time absentmindedly wandering under mistletoe. I'd figure she'd be more careful.

After our last DA meeting before the holiday, Harry came into the common room looking like he was in utter shock. "What kept you?" Hermione asked, as Harry sank into the armchair next to her, he just stared at her blankly.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Hermione asked, peering at him over the tip of her quill. Harry gave a halfhearted shrug. "Earth to Harry" I said, waving a hand in front of him "What's up?" said Ron, hoisting himself up on his elbow to get a clearer view of Harry. "What's happened?"

Hermione seemed to get bored of waiting. "Is it Cho?" she asked in a business-like way. "Did she corner you after the meeting?" Numbly surprised, Harry nodded. Me and Ron shared an excited look.

"So — er — what did she want?" he asked in a mock casual voice. "She —" Harry began, rather hoarsely; he cleared his throat and tried again. "She — er —" "Did you kiss?" asked Hermione briskly.

I giddily bounced up and down in suspense, Ron sat up so fast that he sent his ink bottle flying all over the rug. Disregarding this completely he stared avidly at Harry. "Well?" he demanded. Harry looked around the room, seeming to snap back to reality, and nodded.

"HA!" Ron made a triumphant gesture with his fist and went into a frenzy of laughter that made several timid looking second years jump. "YES!" I cheered, grabbing Ron as we shared in our excitement and danced around the room, cheering and whooping.

It devolved into me mockingly Frenching a pillow while Ron laughed. A reluctant grin spread over Harry's face as he watched us, Hermione told us to calm down "Well?" Ron said finally, looking up at Harry. "How was it?" Harry considered for a moment. "Wet," he said plainly.

We paused "Gross" I said, Ron nodded in agreement. "Too much tongue? Did you forget to breathe and then have to come up for air halfway? I had that..." I asked curiously, then trailed off as Hermione gave me a secret death glare, so I dropped it "Never mind..."

"Because she was crying," Harry continued heavily. "Oh," said Ron, his smile fading slightly. "Are you that bad at kissing?" "Dunno," said Harry "Maybe I am." "Of course you're not," said Hermione absently, still scribbling away at her letter.

"How do you know?" I said quickly in a much higher voice then I meant to. "Because Cho spends half her time crying these days," said Hermione vaguely, I let out a relieved breath and decided I didn't have to convert to a life as a Death Eater.

"She does it at mealtimes, in the loos, all over the place." "You'd think a bit of kissing would cheer her up," said Ron, grinning. "Ron," said Hermione in a dignified voice, dipping the point of her quill into her ink pot.

"You are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet." "What's that supposed to mean?" said Ron indignantly. "What sort of person cries while someone's kissing them?"

"Yeah," said Harry, slightly desperately, "who does?" Hermione looked at the pair of them with an almost pitying expression on her face, I knew that expression. Then it clicked in my head "...oh" was all I could think to say, Hermione nodded.

"Don't you understand how Cho's feeling at the moment?" she asked. "No," said Harry and Ron together. Hermione sighed and laid down her quill. "Well, obviously, she's feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she's feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can't work out who she likes best."

"Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking it's an insult to Cedric's memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she'll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry."

"And she probably can't work out what her feelings toward Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that's all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she's afraid she's going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she's been flying so badly."

"Women hurt my brain" I stated, then Ron said, "One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode." "Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have," said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.

"She was the one who started it," said Harry. "I wouldn't've — she just sort of came at me — and next thing she's crying all over me — I didn't know what to do —" "So you started snogging her? Good plan" I scoffed.

"Don't blame you, mate," said Ron, looking alarmed at the very thought. "You just had to be nice to her," said Hermione, looking up anxiously. "You were, weren't you?" "Well," said Harry, "I sort of — patted her on the back a bit."

Hermione looked as though she was restraining herself from rolling her eyes with extreme difficulty. "Well, I suppose it could have been worse," she said. "Are you going to see her again?" "I'll have to, won't I?" said Harry. "We've got D.A. meetings, haven't we?"

"You know what I mean," said Hermione impatiently. Harry said nothing. "Harry, my advice, just go with it, don't over think it, if you do it will take you ages to do anything, and If you panic too much you worry, so just try to enjoy it while you can" I smiled.

Ron burst into laughter, "Your one to talk, experience do you have with girls?" I smirked "More then you, that's for sure." "Oh yeah! Who've you been snogging then? Luna? Alicia? Eloise? Millie Bul-" I chucked a pillow at him, which shut him up.

My eyes flashed to Hermione, she was busy pretending to pay attention to her letter, so I decided against telling them, even if I wanted too, I'd make sure she was ready first, so instead I said. "First off, so many jokes..." reminding him how good of a set up that was.

"Second, well, if I told you I'd have to kill you...and while I'm not opposed to the idea, we'd be down a keeper and Angelina would have my head" I smirked. "But just know, it's someone awesome." "Angelina wouldn't have your head if you were snogging her, so she's-" Another pillow.

Ron was ticked off for a while after that, but it worked, the spotlight was off Harry, who seemed to have calmed down a bit. "Who're you writing the novel to anyway?" Ron asked Hermione, trying to read the bit of parchment now trailing on the floor.

Hermione hitched it up out of sight. "Viktor." "Krum?" "How many other Viktor's do we know?" Ron said nothing but looked disgruntled. "Tell him I say hi" I said, peeking over Hermione's shoulder to read the letter, she made a noise that I assumed meant "Fine"

"Well, 'night," said Hermione, yawning widely, and she set off up the girls' staircase. "What does she see in Krum?" Ron demanded as we went to bed. "Well," said Harry, considering the matter, "I s'pose he's older, isn't he . . . and he's an international Quidditch player. . . ."

"Yeah, but apart from that," said Ron, sounding aggravated. "I mean he's a grouchy git, isn't he?" "Bit grouchy, yeah," said Harry. "Well, he likes her back, he's tall, they both read a lot," I listed off, my heart sinking a little each word and my mouth desperately fighting the urge to tell them everything.

"But If I had to guess, probably the fact that he actually talks to her about stuff she likes, that...or the nose" I said, lying in bed. Ron threw a pillow at my head, "What was that for!" I lobbed it back with force "Being a git."

I had a sickening dream. It was feelings mostly, I couldn't see anything, but I instantly knew what these feelings were. First was a slick feeling of blood hitting my face. The second was a feeling of pride I got as I heard a scream of agony from my prey. The third was the most frightening, it was the delightful feeling of flesh in my mouth, blood running from my mouth, over my lips.

I was woken by shouting, I bolted upright, fast enough that my head was spinning. The first thing I heard was "Harry! HARRY!" I turned to the commotion, "Harry!" Ron was standing over him looking extremely frightened, I watched as he rolled right over and vomited over the edge of the mattress.

As Neville and Dean went to get help, he started mumbling. "Your dad's . . . been attacked. . . ." "What?" said Ron uncomprehendingly. "Your dad! He's been bitten, it's serious, there was blood everywhere. . . "Harry, mate," said Ron uncertainly, "you . . . you were just dreaming. . . ." "No!" said Harry furiously

Then my brain seemed to comprehend what was happening, my voice kicked in "The snake" passed by my lips, Harry looked to me and nodded. "It wasn't a dream . . . not an ordinary dream. . . . I was there, I saw it. . . . I did it. . . ."

This was the first time this morning I could clearly see Harry's face, something about his presence filled me with absolute dread, before I could try to calm myself a voice split the air. There were hurried footsteps coming up the stairs, and he heard Neville's voice again.

"Over here, Professor . . ." Professor McGonagall came hurrying into the dormitory in her tartan dressing gown, her glasses perched lopsidedly on the bridge of her bony nose. "What is it, Potter? Where does it hurt?"

"It's Ron's dad," he said, sitting up again. "He's been attacked by a snake and it's serious, I saw it happen." "What do you mean, you saw it happen?" said Professor McGonagall, her dark eyebrows contracting.

"I don't know. . . . I was asleep and then I was there. . . ." "You mean you dreamed this?" "No!" said Harry angrily. "I was having a dream at first about something completely different, something stupid . . . and then this interrupted it."

"It was real, I didn't imagine it, Mr. Weasley was asleep on the floor and he was attacked by a gigantic snake, there was a load of blood, he collapsed, someone's got to find out where he is. . . ."

Professor McGonagall was gazing at him through her lopsided spectacles as though horrified at what she was seeing. "I'm not lying, and I'm not mad!" Harry told her, his voice rising to a shout. "I tell you; I saw it happen!"

"I believe you, Potter," said Professor McGonagall curtly. "Put on your dressing-gown — we're going to see the headmaster." "ME TOO!" I shouted; she must have seen the determination in my eyes because she didn't protest but told me to follow.

My body felt numb and I felt as If I was the weakest I'd ever been, and after losing a hand, I didn't think that was possible, even as McGonagall led us to Dumbledore's office, my throat was parched and any time I looked at Harry I had the same sickening feeling like he was something that I should be afraid of.

Before I knew It I was sat in Dumbledores office, McGonagall explained the situation then tended to me and Harry, "Here (L/N), drink this" said McGonagall calmly, handing me what I assumed was tea, I took it with my still shaky hands and put it to my lips, the second I did I had the immediate urge to spit it out, remembering the feeling of blood on my lips.

"-But it wasn't an ordinary dream . . . it was real. . . . I saw it happen. . . ." He took a deep breath, and continued his story, Harry spoke, then, noticing their disbelief he looked for help. "(Y/N) can back me up!"

He advanced towards me, reaching for my arm "Tell him! You saw, you can-" But the feeling intensified, the sickening feeling made its way through my body again and I panicked. "Get away from me!" I shouted, "Don't touch me!" I screamed.

Instinctively I began leaning away in my chair, immediately regretting it, Harry's face dropped, it was a moment of weakness that I would regret for the rest of my life. My hands were shaking as I said it.

"How did you see this?" Dumbledore asked quietly, still not looking at Harry, and completely ignoring my outburst. "Well . . . I don't know," said Harry, rather angrily — what did it matter? "Inside my head, I suppose —"

"You misunderstand me," said Dumbledore, still in the same calm tone. "I mean . . . can you remember — er — where you were positioned as you watched this attack happen?-" I cut him off "We don't have time for this! We can sort the details later."

All eyes turned to me, I racked my brain, combing through it like I had practised countless times at St. Mungo's and found my voice again "He needs help. Now! He's with what he was guarding!" I shouted, hoping he would understand my urgency.

Dumbledore looked at me and stroked his chin then nodded. He turned to me, "How do you know this?" Dumbledore said "Because the snake did, and you do..." I said, he merely nodded. "Everard?" he said sharply to the picture just right of him.

"And you too, Dilys!" "You were listening?" said Dumbledore. The wizard nodded, the witch said, "Naturally." "The man has red hair and glasses," said Dumbledore. "Everard, you will need to raise the alarm, make sure he is found by the right people —"

Both nodded and moved sideways out of their frames, neither reappeared. After Harry explained his side of the story and a few tense minutes we finally got news. "Dumbledore!" "What news?" said Dumbledore at once.

"They've taken him to St. Mungo's, Dumbledore. . . . They carried him past under my portrait. . . . He looks bad. . . ." "Thank you," said Dumbledore. He looked around at Professor McGonagall. "Minerva, I need you to go and wake the other Weasley children."

"Of course. . . ." Professor McGonagall got up and moved swiftly to the door. "And Dumbledore — what about Molly?" said Professor McGonagall, pausing at the door. "That will be a job for Fawkes when he has finished keeping a lookout for anybody approaching," said Dumbledore.

"But she may already know . . . that excellent clock of hers . . ." We waited in a tense silence until they arrived "Harry — what's going on?" asked Ginny, who looked frightened. "Professor McGonagall says you saw Dad hurt —"

"Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the Phoenix," said Dumbledore before Harry could speak. "I am sending you back to Sirius's house, which is much more convenient for the hospital than the Burrow. You will meet your mother there."

"How're we going?" asked Fred, looking shaken. "Floo powder?" "No," said Dumbledore, "Floo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is being watched. You will be taking a Portkey." He indicated the old kettle lying innocently on his desk.

"What about me?" I asked quietly. Dumbledore nodded "Your mother is also awaiting your arrival" I nodded. Me, Harry and the others gathered around Dumbledore's desk. "You have all used a Portkey before?" asked Dumbledore.

We nodded, each reaching out to touch some part of the blackened kettle. "Good. On the count of three then . . . one . . . two . . ." It happened in a fraction of a second: In the infinitesimal pause before Dumbledore said "three,"

The next second we had arrived in the gloomy basement kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Sirius was hurrying toward us. "What's going on?" he said, stretching out a hand to help Ginny up.

"Phineas Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured —" "Ask Harry," said Fred. "Yeah, I want to hear this for myself," said George. The twins and Ginny were staring at him. He shakily explained his story again.

"Is Mum here?" said Fred, turning to Sirius. "She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet," said Sirius. "The important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore's letting Molly know now."

"We've got to go to St. Mungo's," said Ginny urgently. She looked around at her brothers; they were of course still in their pyjamas. "Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything — ?" "Hang on, you can't go tearing off to St. Mungo's!" said Sirius.

" 'Course we can go to St. Mungo's if we want," said Fred, with a mulish expression, "he's our dad!" "And how are you going to explain how you knew Arthur was attacked before the hospital even let his wife know?"

"What does that matter?" said George hotly. "It matters because we don't want to draw attention to the fact that Harry is having visions of things that are happening hundreds of miles away!" said Sirius angrily.

I was suddenly very angry, I realised later it was because I was tired, stressed and upset myself, which meant I was also picking up on the negativity of the Weasley's current moods, "Who cares!" he looked at me in shock.

"So they have to sit here and suffer for Harry's sake? Well, good to know nothing's changed" I said, glaring daggers at Sirius. He still tried to defend his point "Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that information? The Order-"

"We don't care about the dumb Order!" shouted Fred. "It's our dad dying we're talking about!" yelled George. "Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won't thank you for messing things up for the Order!" said Sirius angrily in his turn.

I couldn't contain myself, I punched him in the mouth before he got another word out, everyone looked at me in shocked silence. Sirius spat blood out his mouth and groaned but kept going "This is how it is — this is why you're not in the Order — you don't understand — there are things worth dying for!"

"Easy for you to say, stuck here!" bellowed Fred. "I don't see you risking your neck!" I added, the little colour remaining in Sirius's face drained from it. He looked for a moment as though he would quite like to hit me, and part of me wanted him to.

I would very much like an excuse to hurt something right now, but when he spoke, it was in a voice of determined calm. "I know it's hard, but we've all got to act as though we don't know anything yet. We've got to stay put, at least until we hear from your mother, all right?"

We received a letter from Mrs. Weasley a few hours later, "Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum." George looked around the table. "Still alive . . ." he said slowly. "But that makes it sound . . ." He did not need to finish the sentence.

Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen after a few more tense hours. She was extremely pale, but when they all turned to look at her, Fred, Ron, and Harry half-rising from their chairs, she gave a warm smile. "He's going to be all right," she said, her voice weak with tiredness.

"He's sleeping. We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work." Fred fell back into his chair with his hands over his face. George and Ginny got up, walked swiftly over to their mother, and hugged her. Ron gave a very shaky laugh went to join them.

Mum shuffled into the room a few minutes after, she immediately wrapped me into a warm hug. This made me feel better instantly, she asked how I was and fussed over me, and then asked me what I had seen.

After an explanation she nodded in understanding, "it's okay (Y/N), it's okay. I'm here now." She said, hugging me as finally all the stress, fear and anger got to me, forcing hot tears to burn down my cheeks. I fell asleep that night with her watching over me, to make sure I had sweet dreams.

The next morning I awoke feeling rested and decided it was best to write a letter to Hermione explaining our absence, of course I made sure to use code and kept out any specifics, but it was really just so she wouldn't worry.

After everyone was up Moody, Tonks and Mum escorted us to St. Mungo's. It was odd to be back, especially under these circumstances, Mum held my hand the whole time to calm me down, honestly any other day I'd be embarrassed, but with the night I had, I welcomed the comfort.

As we approached Mr. Weasley's room we all sort of shuffled outside, unsure of what to do "We'll wait outside, Molly," Tonks said. "Arthur won't want too many visitors at once. . . . It ought to be just the family first." Mad-Eye growled, Mrs. Weasley nodded appreciatively.

I paused outside the room, Harry drew back too, but Mrs. Weasley reached out a hand and pushed him through the door, saying, "Don't be silly, Harry, Arthur wants to thank you. . . ."

She then extended an arm to drag me inside too, but I wasn't sure if I should, Mum gave me an odd look and then scoffed, then shoved me inside too, "Get in there you pillock."

As I awkwardly shuffled in and tried not to trip, Mrs. Weasley wrapped an arm round me with a smile, which I returned. Mr. Weasley seemed to notice us, he looked around as we walked toward him and, seeing whom it was, beamed.

"Hello!" he called, throwing the Prophet aside. "Bill just left, Molly, had to get back to work, but he says he'll drop in on you later. . . ." "How are you, Arthur?" asked Mrs. Weasley, bending down to kiss his cheek and looking anxiously into his face.

"You're still looking a bit peaky. . . ." "I feel absolutely fine," said Mr. Weasley brightly, holding out his good arm to give Ginny a hug. "If they could only take the bandages off, I'd be fit to go home." "Why can't they take them off, Dad?" asked Fred.

"Well, I start bleeding like mad every time they try," said Mr. Weasley cheerfully, reaching across for his wand, which lay on his bedside cabinet, and waving it so chairs appeared at his bedside to seat us all.

"It seems there was some rather unusual kind of poison in that snake's fangs that keeps wounds open. . . . They're sure they'll find an antidote, though, they say they've had much worse cases than mine, and in the meantime, I just have to keep taking a Blood-Replenishing Potion every hour." He smiled cheerfully.

After he spent a while in tedious conversation about the other patients, the younger Weasley's seemed to get impatient "So, you going to tell us what happened, Dad?" asked Fred, pulling his chair closer to the bed.

"Well, you already know, don't you?" said Mr. Weasley, with a significant smile at Harry and Me. "It's very simple — I'd had a very long day, dozed off, got sneaked up on, and bitten." "You were guarding it, weren't you?" said George quietly. "The weapon? The thing You-Know-Who's after?" "George, be quiet!" snapped Mrs. Weasley.

"Anyway," said Mr. Weasley in a raised voice, "this time Willy's been caught selling biting doorknobs to Muggles, and I don't think he'll be able to worm his way out of it because according to this article, two Muggles have lost fingers and are now in St. Mungo's for emergency bone regrowth and memory modification."

"Just think of it, Muggles in St. Mungo's! I wonder which ward they're in?" And he looked eagerly around as though hoping to see a signpost. I was in utter awe of the man. The last time I was here, I felt like I was going to have a breakdown.

But here he was, happy as Larry after just being attacked by a snake and nearly killed. It almost made me feel silly, I still had nightmares of being trapped with Voldemort in the graveyard, and Mr. Weasley's biggest concern was some fingerless muggles.

Part of me wanted to ask him why he was so calm, how he was so assured that everything would be alright, despite all the evidence to the contrary, but the question died away once I looked around and saw his family staring at him lovingly.

I had gotten my answer without ever having to ask my question. "I'll keep an eye out Mr. Weasley" I smiled, he nodded. After Fred and George begged for answers Mrs. Weasley snapped "That's enough," she said crossly.

"Mad-Eye, (M/N) and Tonks are outside, Arthur, they want to come and see you. And you lot can wait outside," she added to all of us. I nodded and Mum passed me as I left, the only thing I heard was "It's one way to get off work Arthur" before the door closed.

"They still don't trust us! Harry was the one who found him!" I whispered angrily. Fred raised his eyebrows. "Fine," he said coolly, rummaging in his pockets, "be like that. Don't tell us anything." "Looking for these?" said George, holding out what looked like a tangle of flesh-coloured string. "You read my mind," said Fred, grinning.

"Let's see if St. Mungo's puts Imperturbable Charms on its ward doors, shall we?" He and George disentangled the string and separated the Extendable Ears from each other. Fred and George handed them around.

"Okay, go!" Fred whispered. There was nothing at first then Tonks whispering as clearly as though she were standing right beside us. ". . . they searched the whole area but they couldn't find the snake anywhere, it just seems to have vanished after it attacked you, Arthur. But You-Know-Who can't have expected a snake to get in, can he?"

"I reckon he sent it as a lookout," growled Moody, " 'cause he's not had any luck so far, has he? No, I reckon he's trying to get a clearer picture of what he's facing and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would've had much more time to look around."

Then Mum said "Arthur I'm sorry, I should have been-" Mr. Weasley seemed to frown and said "Nonsense! 's my fault for dosing off" then Mum murmured another apology. "Don't fret over it dear" piped up Mrs. Weasley, "He's safe now, that's what matters."

"So Potter says he saw it all happen?" said Moody "Yes," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded rather uneasy. "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this. . . ."

"Yeah, well," said Moody, "there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that." "Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning," whispered Mrs. Weasley.

" 'Course he's worried," growled Moody. "The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake. . . . Obviously, Potter doesn't realise what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him –"

Harry pulled his out, making me miss what he said next, but I kept listening, "What about (Y/N)?" demanded Mum, sounding concerned, there was a pause, "The way Dumbledore put it was" said Mrs. Weasley, taking a minute to think, "(Y/N) felt what Harry didn't, If Harry took the role of the snake in his dream, (Y/N) felt what the snake did instead."

This was the most relieved I had felt in a while, the thought of Voldemort entering my mind again, the thought had been scaring me since I woke up. "He didn't enter my mind, he entered Harry's, what I got was just...feedback" I reasoned. I was happier than I should have been.

After that Mum decided it was best for us to go home for a bit, she said it might help us both relax, I was in no mood to argue, so we went home, It occurred to me that since my time at Hogwarts started.

I had never gone home for the Holiday, Christmas or otherwise, with the exceptions of summer holidays. The second we entered the front door I could hear Winky apparating beside Mum, waiting, smiling as usual "Morning Mistress!"

Mum sighed as she shuffled inside. "Winky dear, for the millionth time, you don't have to call me that." Winky's cheery tone never faltered, "But Winky Is a good elf. I is speaking proper to the Mistress."

"I is cleaning and doing the clothes, I is also feeding the kitten. She is arriving this morning, with the Masters things." As I walked inside Winky seemed to gain a bit more cheer. "Greetings Master (Y/N)" she said.

I turned to look at her, she was no longer wearing her tea towel toga, Mum had insisted that she got something that at least kept her warm. Now she wore a pale blue blouse and a darker blue dress.

A lot of colour was back in her face and she looked very happy. "Hello Winky, lovely to see you" I smiled widely, leaning down a bit to give her a hug. We did what we normally did whenever we were at home.

Mum promised we were going to Grimmauld Place to join the Weasleys for Christmas. I got a letter from Hermione earlier in the week, she wasn't going on her skiing trip after all, instead staying back like we were.

"How are you sleeping?" She asked me on the first night. I couldn't lie to her. "Bad...real bad." Her brows furrowed. She looked at Bones quickly. Then to me with concern. "Is it the voices in your head again?"

I shook my head. "Nightmares. I've gotten loads better at controlling my Legilimency, barely hear them now, unless I lose focus." "That's my boy." She said gently, ruffling my hair. "Has Bones been helping?" I nodded.

"Do you want me to make you some sleeping draught in case it gets really bad?" She asked. I thought it over for a moment then nodded once more. She sighed, "You should have told me in St Mungo's silly."

"You'll have to suffer it for tonight, I'll make you some in the morning. In the meantime." She passed me a cauldron cake with a wink, then scooped up Bones and plopped the cat in my lap, Bones immediately began purring. "These'll do. I'm proud of you for being honest."

We fell into a routine in a few days, I would do anything I could to kill time, read books, listen to music from (B/N)'s old collection, even help Winky clean. But every day ended the same, Mum, Winky and Me sat down for dinner, talking about our day.

Winky almost had a heart attack when we first proposed this, but I think she had started to enjoy it. Every so often she would mutter to herself, "Winky is a good elf" or "Winky wears clothes now."

Occasionally something along the lines of "Need a butterbeer" sometimes she got very sad about Mr. Crouch, but we tried our best to help her, I think that's why she cleaned so much, It might take her mind off things.

A few days before Christmas Mum seemed oddly chipper at the dinner table, which was always a bad sign, either she was pranking me, or I was in trouble. Turns out this time was the latter. "So, how long have you been an animagus?" She said casually between mouthfuls.

I almost choked on my food, but she smiled. "How did you-" she interrupted me "I'm an auror sweetie, it's my job. But I must admit I'm impressed" I looked at her, lost for words. "If I had some complaints..."

"You should have used your brother's wand to do the incantations. That way the Ministry can't prove it was you." I shrugged, keeping that in mind "Knowing him, it would probably blow up in my face" She smiled and nodded in agreement.

She smirked at me devilishly "And you should have done it alone, too many eyes" I was oddly nervous "Who did you have help you? Hermione?" I shook my head, caught red handed "I can't say" she laughed.

"I'm not interrogating you (Y/N), you're not in trouble I just want to satisfy my curiosity, you know what I'm like with mysteries" she promised. "See, you say I'm not in trouble but-" she gave me a 'just tell me' look.

"Professor McGonagall" I admitted, I expected her to shout, but she chuckled. "My clever boy, going to another animagus. I'm surprised you didn't ask Black, that was my guess" I shrugged, "I would have, but exchanging letters would be a pain."

She nodded, her eyes filled with wonder, "So what are you? Something cool?" I nodded. "A panther I think, I haven't done it in a mirror yet" she gave me the look again "(Y/N) don't lie" I shrugged "Yeah, I look so cool"

"Who knows?" I took a moment to recall "Just me, McGonagall and Dumbledore...And now you and Winky" I transformed into my animagus state. Bones scampered into the room, keen to see what the noise was because of her ongoing obsession with drama.

As soon as she saw me, her eyes widened, her back arched and she hissed, darting away to another room. I think she knew it was me, but couldn't quite process how it was me, so had retreated for now to plan her next move.

"Winky won't tell on her master, Winky is a good elf"  the house elf said cheerily, but I could tell the thought of a panther scared her a bit by the way she leaned away, so I changed back. "Winky, sweetheart, we aren't your masters, but thank you anyway" she smiled widely at me.

After dinner I went up to bed, Mum called up to me. "Oh and by the way (Y/N)... your grounded for...a month" I groaned "but Mum-" she made a tutting noise, "You know the rules, you do anything illegal, you get grounded" I huffed but went up to my room.

As I was going up the stairs she called out "I'm proud of you!" and suddenly being grounded for a while wasn't too bad. I mean, if she actually found out about all the illegal stuff I'd done at my time in Hogwarts I'd never get to leave the house.